Be The Messenger

A seat at the table doesn't mean you have power.

We have spent decades fighting for representation.

And representation matters.

But I believe we have to ask a harder question:

What happens after we get into the room?

Who controls the resources?

Who sets the agenda?

Who determines what gets implemented?

Who can say no?

Who can actually change something?

In Messenger Memo #007, I develop a concept I've been working on inside the Be The Messenger Framework:

Proximity to Power Without Authority.

Because an institution can become visually diverse while remaining structurally unchanged.

And sometimes...

the organization gets the benefit of your presence without accepting the consequences of your authority.

This one is heavy.

Watch the full Messenger Memo:

https://youtu.be/GCJ7JgBIbtc

Then come back and tell me:

Have we confused getting a seat at the table with actually having power at the table?

#BeTheMessenger #Leadership #InstitutionalPower

2 days ago | [YT] | 0

Be The Messenger

NEW GUEST EPISODE 🎙️

What good is intellectual accomplishment if your soul is broken?

Dr. Ahmad Washington and I are both sons of Columbia, South Carolina.

Both Black scholars.

Both products of formal education.

And both shaped intellectually by things that happened long before the PhD.

Hip-hop.

Community.

Black culture.

Family.

Schools.

Barbershop conversations.

Racial realities.

Lived experience.

So this conversation became something different.

We talked about who gets to decide what counts as knowledge—and what happens when institutions teach people to distrust what they already know.

Then Ahmad took us somewhere much more personal: therapy, Black men's mental health, surviving an aortic aneurysm, rediscovering joy, and realizing something many of us need to hear:

The institution continued without him.

This is one of those Be The Messenger conversations where healing and justice actually meet.

🎥 WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION:
https://youtu.be/OBTnIMWsuKA

Then come back and tell me:

What did your life teach you before the classroom did?

5 days ago | [YT] | 4

Be The Messenger

NEW MESSENGER MEMO CLIP: SELF-JUSTICE

Here's the question:

Can you practice justice in the world while continually practicing injustice toward yourself?

Every time you ignore your values.

Every time fear makes the decision instead of purpose.

Every time you know your truth and silence your own voice.

Something happens internally.

That's where Self-Justice begins.

🎥 Watch the full Messenger Memo:
SELF-JUSTICE

Then answer this below:

What's one way you're learning to practice Self-Justice?

#SelfJustice #BeTheMessenger #Leadership

6 days ago | [YT] | 0

Be The Messenger

THE UNIVERSITY TRAINED THE SCHOLAR.

IT DIDN'T CREATE HIM.

Whew.

I had to sit with that one myself.

I've spent a significant part of my life learning how to enter rooms.

But lately I've been asking a different question:

What happens when you become so dependent upon being invited into the room that you start believing the room is the source of your authority?

That's the question behind this week's Messenger Memo #006: Platform Sovereignty.

And this one gets personal.

Professor.

Researcher.

Bail bondsman.

Prevention specialist.

Consultant.

Coach.

Author.

Speaker.

Podcast host.

The titles and containers have changed.

But if all those titles disappeared...

would my voice disappear with them?

Platform Sovereignty is about learning to receive access, recognition and opportunity without surrendering ownership of your authority.

The new Messenger Memo is live.-https://youtu.be/Vfuhi3D7XH8?si=E3Bul...

Watch it. Then come back here.

I want you to answer one question:

WHO ARE YOU STILL WAITING ON TO CHOOSE YOU?

#BeTheMessenger #PlatformSovereignty #PublicIntellectual

1 week ago | [YT] | 0

Be The Messenger

What happens when the career you spent years building suddenly disappears?

For Dr. Corey Holmes, something happened that he didn't expect.

He found freedom.

In our new Be The Messenger conversation, Corey takes me from Detroit to HBCU life, South Africa, public service, fatherhood, mentorship and eventually a career disruption that forced him to confront who he was beyond the institution.

And today, he says something remarkable:

“It's the happiest I've been in my adult life.”

Later, he tells me:

“I can't go back.”

That stayed with me.

Because sometimes the role that helped build you eventually becomes too small for the person you've become.

This conversation is about identity. Purpose. Fatherhood. Leadership. Loss. Mentorship. Freedom. And having the courage to become who you are when the title no longer tells you.

The new episode is LIVE.

WATCH: He Lost the Career. Then He Found Himself. | Dr. Corey Holmes

After you watch, come back and answer this:

Have you ever outgrown something you once worked incredibly hard to obtain?

#BeTheMessenger #CoreyHolmes #BrianChadStarks

1 week ago | [YT] | 0

Be The Messenger

WHO ARE YOU WITHOUT THE TITLE?

This week's Messenger Memo got personal.

I've spent much of my life becoming things—professor, criminologist, business owner, consultant, coach, speaker, author, father, friend, podcast host.

But I've been wrestling with a different question:

Which of those things are actually me—and which are roles I've learned how to perform?

In Messenger Memo #005: Identity vs. Role, we're doing some heavy lifting around:

The Title-Based Loyalty Trap
Identity Erosion
Integrity Fatigue
Behavioral Authority
Platform Sovereignty

And eventually we arrive at the hardest question:

If every title disappeared tomorrow, who would remain?

This one isn't theoretical for me. I'm doing this work right alongside you.

Watch the full Memo: https://youtu.be/Y3FIQ_z3Jaw?si=2JM3n...

Identity vs. Role — Messenger Memo #005

Then tell me in the comments:

What role are you learning to separate from your identity?

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 1

Be The Messenger

NEW EPISODE | BE THE MESSENGER

What happens when the life you spent years building suddenly changes?

And when the title, position, and institution are stripped away...

Who are you then?

My latest conversation with Kathryn Booker-Veloz goes far beyond career transition.

Kathryn takes us from growing up in Oklahoma to the Peace Corps, international development, U.S. diplomatic service, leadership at USAID—and ultimately to the moment when the professional life she knew changed almost overnight.

But what stayed with me was the deeper conversation about identity, culture, community, faith, service, and purpose.

We wrestle with what it means to live among people rather than simply study them.

We talk honestly about DEI, justice, language, and respect.

And we explore something I've been thinking about a lot lately:

What happens when what you DO becomes so connected to who you ARE that losing one makes you question the other?

This is a conversation about disruption.

But it's also about becoming.

🎥 Watch the full conversation:
Kathryn Booker-Veloz | Be The Messenger

After you watch, come back and answer this:

Who are you when everything changes?

Healing First.
Justice Always.
Reform 4Ever.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Be The Messenger

🌍 COLLECTING MESSAGES FROM THE WORLD

One Question. One Person. One Message.

This Sunday's message comes from Samuel, whom I met at Podcast Summit.

His message:

Be inspired.

Live your life.

Elevate your life.

Work on yourself every day.

And above all...

Keep the faith.

Now I'm handing the microphone to you. 🎤

👇 What's your message to the world?

Leave it in the comments.

You never know who may need to read it today.

🌎 BeTheMessenger.org

Healing First. Justice Always. Reform 4Ever.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Be The Messenger

BLAME WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO HEAL YOU.

That's one of the central propositions behind Action Over Blame.

Blame may help us identify what happened.

It may help us identify responsibility.

But eventually we have to ask another question:

What am I going to do now?

That's where agency begins.

🎥 Watch the complete Messenger Memo:

https://youtu.be/ULtCPkdkDUQ?si=yD7jb...

📅 And if your organization is struggling to move from blame, conflict, or misalignment toward action:

Book a Strategy Call with Dr. Brian Chad Starks

www.BrianChadStarks.com/

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Be The Messenger

NEW MESSENGER MEMO: HEALING AS INFRASTRUCTURE

I've spent more than twenty-five years watching institutions.

Courtrooms.
Universities.
Corporations.
Scientific organizations.
Government agencies.
Nonprofits.

Different systems. Different missions. Different people.

But eventually I started noticing the same pattern.

Sometimes organizations aren't failing because they're poorly designed.

They're standing on wounded foundations.

That observation led me to an idea I call:

HEALING AS INFRASTRUCTURE.

In Messenger Memo #004, I'm unpacking why the internal condition of the people entrusted to lead may be one of the most important—and overlooked—forms of organizational infrastructure.

And I'm asking a difficult question:

“What are the people around you being asked to carry because you haven't healed?”

This one requires some heavy lifting.

Watch Messenger Memo #004: Healing as Infrastructure.

Healing First.
Justice Always.
Reform 4Ever.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1