We are thrilled to kick off the week with Bill Strickland, President and CEO of the non-profit Manchester Bidwell Corporation, which he formed in 1968 to focus on art, education and music. He is a winner of the MacArthur Genius Award and the 2011 Goi Peace award. An internationally acclaimed speaker, author, artist and community builder, Bill has remained active locally, but simultaneously internationally, as he expanded his work around the world. Bill will talk about Pittsburgh, the state of our world now through his eyes and experience, paired with his continued passion to build social enterprises around the world based upon his original vision that emanated from Pittsburgh's North Side organization in Manchester.
Transcription:
Good afternoon. This is Audrey Russo president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. And I'm pretty thrilled to kick off this hot week of July and welcoming Bill Strickland and in a moment, we will bring him to the forefront. But before we do, I want to give you a little bit of housekeeping. First of all, thank you to Huntington bank for believing in us right from the onset, as kicked out, kicked off this business as usual. And I guess we must be close to 75 or 80, in terms of our daily conversations, and we are going to continue to have conversations that we know are important to all of us across the tech ecosystem. And today is just another example of someone who's an innovator and a creator and doing amazing things. So I also want to thank Webb law firm. They've been around since 1845. They've been longtime partners of ours and their expertise as an intellectual property. And they've been involved in big in big cases around the world and represent some of the best and brightest that are both in law and represent engineering and science related to international intellectual property. So a couple of things, we have muted your microphones. And as a result, we don't want to hear anything in your background, and just to be considerate of our guests. And then we also have a chat and the chat will give you an opportunity to ask some questions, but we just ask that you do not sell your wares. You're just here to ask questions and see what we can do to engage our guests as well. So on that note, I'm going to jump right in and I am going to introduce bill Strickland. I just want to say a few things about this man. He has an unyielding philosophy That shaped his life and work. His environment shapes people at 19 years old. When Martin Luther King was assassinated, riots were pervasive across most of the US cities, and Pittsburgh was no exception. He opened up a ceramic studio while student at the University of Pittsburgh, while an esteemed Potter he graduated with the degree in American history in foreign relations. Yep, all these different things to build struck them. For the next five decades, Bill built a world renowned organization, Cultural Arts Center and vocational training school that only he has been able to build. Sure he has had investors philanthropy, government investment, but no one in Pittsburgh, probably no one anywhere, had built something across these decades like what he has. He has won the following awards. These are just some of them countless honorary doctorates, I believe he's in at least up to number 25 In terms of honorary doctorates, but in 1996, he won the MacArthur Fellows Program award. That's a Genius Award a grant 2000 strong men and women 2007 pittsburgher, the year 2011, the boy Peace Award, I can go on and on. He has also written a book that is a must read. And now it's a must read for many that are actually entering college, I would say it's a must read for all of us. And it's called Making the impossible possible. It's it's important, and it's really important for now, and I would say for always, so he's also working on another book. So he tells me, so no surprise, and I want to bring right to the forefront, Bill Strickland. And I want to thank you for taking the time for being with us today. Bill.
Thank you. Good to see you again. It's great to see you. Thank you for taking the time. So let's just go in there. Let's just jump in. So 19 years old, you live in Manchester. You're in college at the University of Pitt. It's a period of major unrest in our city as well as many across the US. What were you thinking? What are you thinking about them?
Well, I was thinking, how could I make a contribution to contribute to a positive outcome for my community, and what would be a strategy that would be ubiquitous and have the best chance of success? So I really quietly wanted to create an alternative to the rights. And because I knew a lot about the arts, I felt that that might be a universal opportunity to recruit and train many of the kids who were in paths of self destruction in a very visible way. And I started with a row house. I lived upstairs in the sleeping bag, recruited kids from the street and started hearing back from the school system that whatever I was doing with these kids, they're starting to show up at school more regularly. And after a while, I figured it out. There wasn't anything wrong with the kids. That affection and commitment and an aspirational idea couldn't cure. And it turns out I was right. And that particular program has now been thriving for 50 years.
Wow. How did you become a potter?
All of our high school 1965 I was walking down the hallway to high school. The art room door was open and there was this white guy with a potter's wheel a made this great big ol ceramic bowl. It was magic. I'd never seen anything like it. So I stood there at the door and said what is that He said that ceramics I said I want you to teach me how to do that. He says, well get your homeroom teacher to sign a piece of paper says, you come in, you're good to go. So for the rainy two years of high school economic classes, I was smart enough to give the teachers whose classes I was cutting the pottery I made, and they gave him passing grades. That's how I got out of place. And Frank says, You're too smart to die. I don't want to my conscience, you're going to college. So he hounded me till I filled out an application in University of Pittsburgh in pencil. slump, the Scholastic Aptitude Test never have exceeded before and got in as a probationary student. But I ended up graduating with honors, became a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh and they gave me a PhD and I was the commencement speaker. And my commencement speech was don't give up on the poor kids. They might end up being the commencement speaker.
So but were you in Are you And art. When you went to Pitt, you went I thought you were like a history major. I want to be a history teacher in public school system.
Right? So that's what you did.
So you you graduated from college what was the Manchester like as a neighborhood then?
All in a death spiral going down big time. And it had been abandoned when I grew up there. When I was youngster, I used to go to sleep watching the Greek Orthodox and All Saints Day, and the women with these big white candles and their stocking fee, walking down the neighborhood. And it went from that to an all black neighborhood within 20 years. So I started off with what is now called a multicultural neighborhood. Back then we call it her neighborhood and it was Italian and slowly In German, etc, spoken in my elementary school. And the Greek Orthodox Church was there, the Russian Orthodox Church was there, etc. So I went from that, to seeing the community come apart at the seams.
So here you are 19. And you know, you start the studio and you're going to the university, and you're a kid that was a leader at a very, very young age, right? I mean, you have, you're a leader, you've always been a leader, no one's ever managed you, you've run it, you've run your organization for over 50 years. So you've never worked for anyone. I mean it basically.
Right. So what were you thinking about back then in terms of leadership and community building amidst all this unrest, I wanted to build a world class Training Center in order to change the conversation about how you view people from the inner city. I wanted it to become an asset conversation, not a liability conversation. And the best way to do that was to build a world class center that would demonstrate in physical terms, exactly what I had in mind. And that's what I think we accomplished.
So about what When did you start drawing these plans for the Manchester classmates?
When I went to see fun water was my high school teacher, Frank Ross. And I walked into falling water and said, that's the school I want to build. It won't be a house, it'll be a school. And so I hired a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, fantastic excellus to build the center, and it was modeled of the old from the old Pittsburgh airport and the fountain in the courtyard. You can the light elements in the building and the ambience in the environment, drove the philosophy of the plant. And still that you have been unrelenting. lis I mean, in terms of, or beauty, high quality in almost everything that you've done when it when it, you know affects the school or any of your teachings. You've not wavered from that at all. How did you? How did you get away with that?
Well, if you don't have any money, better learn how to talk is my my, my philosophy. And I didn't have any money. So I learned how to talk. So what I was able to do was to repackage poor people and have the world look at them as assets, not liabilities. And that's what I got good at. Very good at it, in fact, and we built 14 centers now around the world, including one in Israel for Arabs and Jews. So we have 14 centers open and operating around the world. And it's turned out to be a pretty interesting story.
And so what do you find out About Is there a demand now you have 14 of people calling you all the time for more? Yeah.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. We have 20 centers that are in basic early planning, Puerto Rico, Vancouver. We think next year we're going to Belfast. So and we got three in Pennsylvania that are open and operating Sharon Brockway. areas in early planning, Westmoreland counties in early planning Titus fills in early planning. So we've got at least six more on the drawing board for Pennsylvania. And I think we can double that number in the next 36 months.
Wow. So is it your second center was that in San Francisco?
Well, they argue about who was second, but yeah, I think Cincinnati and San Francisco were probably closer, close, closer than you think.
We'll talk about what happened in San Francisco because I think the tech community would be in interested in knowing the origins of that?
Well, phone and jesco became a friend of mine. And he invited me out to Silicon Valley with a little slideshow. And I got up and showed the slides and the God came out of the audience's man. It was a heck of a slideshow. So that's cool. What do you do for a living? So I bought a company called eBay. That's cool. You got a card. I ain't got I have a card. And so I went back to Pittsburgh and asked one of the little techie kids, I think, say, Have you ever heard something called eBay? He said, Yeah, Mr. Strickland FC electronic commerce network. I said, Holy smokes, I met the guy that built the company. And so I said, Mr. scoff come to have a much deeper appreciation of who you are man. And he said, I thought you figured it out sooner or later. Here's a million bucks. And they gave me a million dollars. And he started we went to a bistro in Palo Alto and he's drawing on the napkins. So what are them circles? He said, this is your Global Strategy, we're going to scale you globally. And that's how I met Jeff Skoll 20 some years ago. Wow. And how is it going in San Francisco right now?
Off The Charts?
Oh, yeah. Off The Charts, doing digital video film. They have a training center, world class Training Center. That's just a gym, a model. And the kids are spinning off social enterprises and video and film. And they're doing commercials, like for a lot of the sports teams in San Francisco as well. So it has become an incubator for innovation for young people now, and so how that's that's really fascinating. And I've been to San Francisco and is it what is it called out there?
The Bayview center for Arts and Technology Baker?
Okay, great. What's the most exciting A project right now that you have in the hopper, you've met. You've mentioned Israel and and yeah, we're going to Belfast, I think next year and won an award called the art Rooney award. And they're going to give me this plaque next year on St. Patrick's Day. And the Rooney family voted unanimously for me to receive this award. And so I'm going to get the award next spring and St. Patrick's Day. And I mentioned to the Rooney family that I would like to build a center in Belfast. So we have a backer who is going to match the money that we raised, and we're going to build a center right in Belfast.
Well, so now let's, you know, let's talk about your entrepreneurial piece that I don't know if everyone knows this piece of your story. It's about the recording studio. Talk about what how that also came to be And how that's part of the Craftsman skill, the entrepreneurial piece.
The piece about the musicians, the jazz.
Oh, well, Mr. Ross used to bring in jazz albums all the time when I was in high school. And I loved the music. So I hired a guide later, they Marty asked me when we built the center, and he came over to me and he says, I understand you bought a music hall? I said, Yeah, I did. Why? He said, Well, I want to work for you. I said, Well, which you have a resume? He said, Yeah, I got a resume. And he said, Call this guy he'll vouch for me. So I happen to know the guy's Billy Taylor. And I said, there's this white kid in here named Marty asked me to claim he's a jazz producer. And Billy Taylor said hire him before he changes his mind. So I gave him the keys to the music hall. And he built the chess program from scratch and we won six Grammys and we have the highest win rate. A very small record company in the world. It's turned out to be an 600 recordings. By the way, this turned out to be absolutely astonishing.
And, you know, many of these jazz greats, I mean, I know you talk about dizzy, I may talk about Stanley. Stanley turned us from Pittsburgh.
Yes. He had his brother.
He and his brother and then and then they help too. So a lot of the jazz greats. Were actually from Pittsburgh. And yeah, sorry to hear that today. Many The only remnants that we have of them is through your organization.
That's correct. I really wanted to preserve the history and the culture and the recordings. And we have all three going big time.
You did Who's your favorite movie? We never the movies called we never knew what we had. And it features a lot of the grades in the movie. We made and it's turned out to be a, I think what's going to be a world class movie celebrating the artisanship of jazz musicians from Pittsburgh.
When is that going to be released? It has been released and didn't really? Yeah. Okay. Last year, I think it came out. And we were featured Manchester classrooms guild and a lot of the artists from Pittsburgh were featured in the movie, including George Benson, and Freddy Cole, who we just lost, etc. And so these icons of the music came here, played celebrated the music, and just sorry that Mr. Ross died before he saw his food and build a center to celebrate this music.
Wow. was George Benson from Pittsburgh?
Yes. He went to commonly vocational school and they used to call him crazy job. Because he walk up center Avenue with this guitar with three strings, playing for quarters and the barber shops. And while he ain't crazy now, he's not crazy now. And as it turns out, I was on a plane to Australia with him and thanked him for his contribution to the world of music. He's wonderful man.
Wonderful plane. Yes, quite, quite. In many ways. It's a it's a bit of a tragedy that we still don't have the presence of all of them, but thankful for the work that you've done to keep to keep that alive.
And apart. Laurie Ashby is the guy who really built this thing. And it's turned out to be legendary. And everybody who's anybody has come through here or is coming through here. So it's just been a great ride. It's just, I went back to doing my own jazz recordings with Marty. In the studio, so I've got about six shows out now, and which I set up in the studio and just pick music at random and comment about them and this turned out to be pretty popular.
That's great. I think he did a TED talk with Wade, who played the piano,
Herbie Hancock, Herbie Hancock, right? Herbie Hancock plays. If anyone ever heard about this, go to the one of the TED Talks, you'll find it and you'll see bill Strickland riffing about his history with Herbie Hancock plan site quietly, but in a clever way, which was 1000 hits. It's one of the top 10 TED talks of all time.
That's what I love about you. That's what I love about you. So let's fast forward just just quickly, and not that we can solve all the problems but today, these times are they different than 1968. Is this a true inflection period for America? I think gate was
I believe this is an inflection period because the sensibilities are so much enlightened, in part because of the pandemic, in light because of George Floyd. In light of the fact that, you know, the country knows it's in trouble. And a lot of these iconic Civil War figures are coming down as they should have come down many years ago. So I think the country is kind of trying to realize or realize it's conscious. And before it's too late, and I think the people in Germany talking about George Lloyd, you Mm hmm. You can't even speak English, or celebrating the life of this extraordinary man, his inflection point when the Confederacy outlaws the showing of the Confederate flag at NASCAR, that's called change. Mmhm. And we didn't see that in 1968 is what you're saying? No.
Now what we saw in 1968 were people getting shot. And back then they were getting shot and I'm recognized now at least again shot and recognize. So we're doing trying to do something about what the black community is known for years that you know, 1000 black folks got killed by the cops last year. Only a small percentage of them were even taking the court. That has changed.
So you have hope. I have I live on hope.
That's cool. That is your that is your one of your taglines, right.
Yeah. Guess call said you manufacture hope as a commodity. That's brilliant, because that can be scaled globally.
Wow. So what in the world of tacking entrepreneur ism there's there was something called harbor gardens.
Yeah. What is Harvard Well, that was my venture into real estate. I decided I want to build a real estate building. So I did. And it turned out to be pretty successful, very successful. And the greenhouse is actually basically attached to the building. So we built a 40,000 square foot green high tech greenhouse, and the 60,000 square foot office building. That turned out to be a commercial enterprise. That generated revenue, and we paid off the building, and we made half a million dollars. So I did all right from our first real estate venture.
You did? You did? So did you always know you were an entrepreneur?
Oh, yeah.
You knew since one, since you were 19.
I was always selling something to somebody.
I back then I want something called a MacArthur Genius Award. And because they give you money for saying out loud, what do you used to say under your breasts, as did Gregor would say. And so I figured I could sell anything. And so I base my life on those principles.
But you also were probably one of the few if only black men that would go to the Duquesne club, raise money on your terms, and then execute amazing things.
Well, that's the key is the execution is the key, not having the idea. Lots of guys walk in women are walking the street with ideas. So what the issue is, can you build it and more importantly, can you sustain it?
So how did you get did ceramics and pottery give you the confidence?
Yeah, I'd say that. Well, that plus I ended up I don't know about Somewhere in my book, I flew seventh 27th also, I flew for Braniff airlines. And that experience alone, plus ceramics plus, building the center, all of those elements really created a sense of being invincible. I figured if I could figure out how to fly 727 with no background in math, or I could do anything.
And so I did.
So what advice do you have for the rest of the world when it comes to confidence?
Well, you have to start off
clearly about where you're headed first, and then figure out how to get there. But you got to know where you're going or you I guarantee you're never going to get there.
And this is from a guy who Got into the University of Pittsburgh on probation who was brought there by his ceramic teacher.
That's basically right. Well, and my mother, who raised me in such a way that she believed in me, even when I didn't believe myself, Mm
hmm. Which is really important. So, you know, you have been a part of, you know, you've been an integral part of Pittsburgh's, you know, political policy, economic development. You've sit on board civic engagements, in addition to all the things that we've articulated. So what's your guidance to us now in Pittsburgh? What's your guidance that you know, this this whole side effect of the pandemic? Well, and the anticipated changes that we're going to return to or not return to? What do you want to say to us? What do you want to yell at us?
Well, I don't want to yell, I want to encourage
And by that, I mean, we've got to use this as an opportunity. tunity to elevate the circumstances of African Americans of people of color, big time. Our community, the African American community was suffering the pandemic before the pandemic. And we've got to use this as an opportunity to change this conversation. The pandemic has only revealed what has been going on all along. And we now have an opportunity, I believe, to really Marshal the forces to change the trajectory of people who are economically distressed. I think that the economic opportunities will ultimately solve most of the social issues. If you have a salary that pays you a living wage, so that you can buy a house, educate your kids, etc, etc. Your health care falls into place the opportunity for your children to get an education falls into place, etc, etc. that I believe should be ought to be one of the keys, really to the emancipation of inner city people in the economic side.
What do you how do you think public education is trending right now in Pittsburgh?
Well, I think public education is trying to figure out how to elevate the technological profile of its students because they're challenged. And the technology gap, as you know, I'm talking to the Technology Council is widening, not shrinking. Right. And the school system needs to be assisted in closing that gap. Big time.
What What do you think we should be doing though?
He should be building more Craftsman skills should we ? Oh,absolutely. No, absolutely. But what we should be building is a political and economic infrastructure that can sustain ideas like the one we've been talking about. That's where the decision making process has got to go. So that in other words, public policy has got to be developed in a way that elevates this consciousness to a level where it is doable and more importantly, sustainable. And I don't have a far to go to look for a workforce. You know, I have, let's see four cases at the Harvard Business School. Here's the Trivial Pursuit question as a morning, who are the only two people in the world I've ever got four cases at the Harvard Business School.
Let me see. Would it be Bill Stricklin And I don't know who Steve Jobs.
Come on. That's true. Okay, that's awesome. Okay, so so when I went to the Harvard Business School I said don't go for, you're going to be my workforce that helps me change the planet.
So, here we are in Pittsburgh, the pandemic hits, it becomes so evident. The digital divide is more profound than anyone would have thought. It is. It is wretched. You know, we in the tech community worked with with neighborhood allies in Aurora and Google to get kids brand new devices, everything they needed work with Comcast to get Wi Fi. Make sure people had what they needed. But the divide is huge. And it's not just throwing laptops even though that's that's a great place to start. Like the world according to bill would say That's not the answer.
That is one of the answers. It has to be a multiple tiered strategy, building the environment, which I religiously built, believe in. Because every center that we build is not a poverty center. It's a world class Training Center. That's that's not a play on words. That's a way of thinking about people who are distressed. And by the way, race has nothing to do with this concept. Poverty is poverty and, and economic opportunities, economic opportunity. Four of our centers don't have black students. They have poor white students. Hmm. But the methodology and the environment is the same.
So back in the back when you started, the Craftsman guild and you started doing the work while you were in undergrad. Pittsburgh was a very different town. It was a big corporate town. All Corporate you know, we were like number three and fortune 500 companies that had corporate leaders here. It's changed since. And so the group that you're talking to now is the next generation of leaders were intact from small businesses and midsize businesses. A few are in LA and in a few of the large corporations but actually working in tech. So what's your advice to us? We're the we're representing the next iteration of Pittsburgh post, post COVID. A lot of working from home. A lot of people looking at what it's like to to work. We're seeing a lot of people left behind.
Join the movement.
I'm determined with your help to change this conversation. The pandemic has just slowed me down from the moment but that changed anything. I'm still headed in the same direction. And I need very smart people present company included They help me get there. And we got to make, we got to make a lot of noise, consistently and permanently. And that's how this conversation I believe will change. If you don't think that's true, let's dial it back to I'm a black kid and all of our high school gets into college on probation. Winston MacArthur has four cases at the Harvard Business School at 24 honorary PhDs, so I must have fit and flew 727 so they have a captain's rating. So the point of the story is, don't give up on the poor kids, they might end up being the solution to the problem.
Well, we can't leave get rid of the, you know, not pay attention to the poor kids because, you know, intelligence level is equally distributed. That's really important that we can't we're leaving people behind. We're leaving all people behind.
That's correct. And that's gonna change your, the country's not gonna make.
So what's your parting words to us? We've spent more than 30 minutes with you. You're amazing. It's always a treat for me to have a conversation with you. If you haven't seen any of his TED Talks, if you haven't read his book, you need to you just have to share it with your kids. Share it with your friends. He is one of the most positive people I've been around that is just filled with practicality, not naive optimism. So what's your parting words for us? What do you wanna?
What by parting words are joining the movement?
I have no intentions of backing away from this. Tell everybody that you can touch even people that you can't touch. But this crazy black man from the north side, you have the nerve to think he can actually change the planet. And the man's not crazy. You can tell them that part too.
And so people also need to buy any music from the grapes. The money actually goes right back to the Manchester crashes. Good. tighly and it goes right back. And he's been able to amass the greats of jazz to do recordings and that money goes right back into the work that he started this and then the book, you know, we're now close to 100,000 in sales and so and the audio recording I donated all that money back to the center. Wow, that's that's incredible. You are an icon. People have written amazing comments about you in the chat. I don't want to take up any more time. Your time is precious. You are precious to all of us. And for more information, you can actually go to build hyphenated Strickland comm he's got a website of his own. You can see all the things that he's done. And I can't thank you enough bill for just being a good friend and a leader and always being so candid and like that.
Yeah, I'm I'm Certainly the number one odd Russo fan. And I noticed that you're taking good care of that platter I gave you. Yeah, it makes me very happy to see.
Everybody.
Love it. Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining. Thank you. I know there were some questions. Mostly were statements. Thank you, Jonathan, for being with us. You're right, Courtney. He's a living legend. He is a good man, but you can't mess with them. Don't think he's good, but he's tough. He's tough. So thank you, everyone. This is recorded as well. And if you want to know more about the Manchester Craftsman Guild, anything else it's easy to find easy to contribute to. And stay tuned because bill Strickland still has a lot to do.
Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai