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Dubbed as one of the nation's "captains of the airwaves" by Newsweek, Smiley hosts the late night television talk show, Tavis Smiley on PBS, and The Tavis Smiley Show on public radio. He is the first American ever to simultaneously host signature talk shows on both public television and public radio. He's had celebrated conversations with politicians, newsmakers, performers, writers and world figures from around the globe. In 2006, Tavis Smiley made publishing history when the book he edited, the Covenant with Black America reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In his latest book, What I Know for Sure," Smiley shares in vivid detail the challenges of his childhood as one of ten children in rural Indiana, and the key events that changed his life forever. Tavis Smiley is committed to community-building and giving back. In 1999 Tavis Smiley launched the Tavis Smiley Foundation to enlighten, encourage and empower Black youth. Tavis Smiley Presents, a subsidiary of The Smiley Group, Inc., brings ideas and people together through symposiums, seminars, forums and town hall meetings. The annual State of the Black Union Symposium is one such event. I had the opportunity to spend a few moments with Tavis Smiley while on tour for his book, "What I Know For Sure." A true trailblazer, I'm honored to have Mr. Smiley share his passion with Keeping Family First as we celebrate our 2nd Anniversary.
KFF: Mr. Smiley it’s so wonderful have you here with Keeping Family First. TS: Thank you. KFF: “What I Know for Sure” is a very insightful, inspirational and personal work that summarizes many of the lessons you’ve learned over the last forty years. Why was it important for you to write this book now, and do you think it’s important for others—whether famous or not—to tell their story and write their story as well? TS: I think that life is about essentially about whom and what has influenced us, and how we share those influences with other people. These experiences aren't often easy to share, in part because sometimes there is so much dysfunction in our past, so much pain in our past that we don't want to relive it— not even rethink it. But I think to the extent that we live long enough and there are lessons—as the book's title suggests—that we learn for sure, then perhaps it would be good to share those with other people in the hopes that it will empower them to live better lives. I hope that's what the book does. KFF: Absolutely. I was very inspired by it. You state in your book that individuals who are employed by others must take an entrepreneurial approach to their careers. You state that the keys to entrepreneurship—self-motivation, intelligent planning, autonomy and an unrelenting work ethic—can work for a journalist as well as for a businessmen. I found that statement very compelling and I think it's an approach that more individuals should take —but where does one start? TS: With the thing that's right in front of you. I get asked that a lot in terms of where people ought to start in their lives with regard to a lot of different considerations. I always say start with the thing that's right in front of you. If you want to become an advocate, if you're trying to figure out your purpose, what your passion is, what your product is, what your brand is—consider those things right in front of you. And to that extent, I learned the lesson what you just shared which I offer in the book when I got fired by BET. I was already moving toward a path of entrepreneurship in terms of owning and controlling my brand to begin with, but the minute that I got fired by BET it made my path, my direction much more easy to follow because it gave me much more clarity. What I do is radio, what I do is television. What I had been doing was working for people who owned radio outlets and who owned television outlets. So that the minute that I decided that I wanted to own my TV show and own my radio show, the path that I needed to take became abundantly clear to me. And since that day, since the day that BET fired me, I made a commitment to myself and to all the folk around me that everything I did I would own, and we have kept our word since we got fired in 2001. There is nothing that we have done since then that we don't own and have complete control of. KFF: You talk about public service and the importance the serving others and you began your career in the mayor's office. Do you think you'll run for political office? TS: Let me put it like this, Uh…No. (He laughs) KFF: Okay, that's very clear. KFF: What's your passion? TS: My passion is my work and my work is empowering people to live better lives. I am troubled always when I see African Americans in particular, but people in general, living beneath their privilege, living beneath their possibility. When I run into people and I see the energy, I see the spark, I see the talent where I can sense there is a gift here, and we all we are gifted in some way. But if you stay in my presence long enough and I get a sense of what that gift, what that purpose, what that vocation is, then I'm interested in having a conversation with you about how you are maximizing what gift and what skill you have. So I just don't like it when see people living beneath their privilege. One of my college roommates who to this day is one of my very best friends, whom I hope is not listening to this conversation, but if he is, he has heard it twenty million times anyway— has more talent in his pinky finger than I have in my entire body. The problem is that he is gifted and skilled in so many different arenas, so many different areas, that he has not figured out what he wants to do when he grows up. But he has more gifts, more skill and more talent than I could ever have. All I can do is run my mouth and I'm glad I'm able to make a living at it, but if I couldn't talk I don't know what else I would do. He is gifted on a multiple number of levels but he can't figure out what he wants to do. And as such, he's a few years older than I am, but still is trying to figure out what he wants to do when he grows up. So it's really about compartmentalizing I think—focusing and figuring out what that vocation is and starting with the thing that is right in front of you— the thing that you're most passionate about. I tell young people all the time to extricate the word "job" out of their vocabulary. Stop saying "job." You do not want to have a job. What you want to find is your vocation, your call, your purpose. You don't want to have a job. And that’s the message I hope comes through in the book. You want to find that thing about which you are passionate and build your life around it. KFF: Absolutely. What's next for Tavis Smiley? TS: Finish up this book tour. In November of this year we will celebrate 15 years of being in the media—15 years of being in the broadcast media fields. We have a nice little party that my friends and colleagues are throwing for us at the Museum of Television and Radio in Los Angeles later this year. It should be a lot of fun. So after the hectic schedule of the tour we'll get a chance to get our party on for a couple days around that. Then in February, back to work, seriously—we'll do as we do every year, host our Annual State of the Black Union Symposium, we'll bring all these great Black thinkers together that C-Span covers live every year. So '07 will be really significant, not that '06 wasn't-- in '06 we released The Covenant with Black America book. That was a huge symposium, goes of course to number one on the New York Times Best Seller list— a moment now in Black History, the first Black book to ever do that on the nonfiction list for the Times. But in February we're in Jamestown, Virginia. 2007 believe it or not, is the 400th anniversary, the 400th commemoration of the settlement of Jamestown—which means that 400 years ago the Africans were preparing to arrive at this Jamestown settlement. So imagine now that we've been here in American for about four hundred years. That requires a conversation about the African American imprint on America and essentially where we go from here. So we'll be in Jamestown in February 2007 for that conversation and we'll be releasing the next phase in this covenant movement—a new text called "The Covenant in Action." What we've been doing with a team of people is tracking what people have been doing with The Covenant since the book came out, because it really is about us taking control of our own destiny. I really hate it when people don't engage follow through. In all the companies that I run, follow through is very important to us. So I want to know what happened once—I know it made #1 on the New York Times list, that's cute, but that's not the reason why we did it. The reason we did it was to empower people's lives, and in that regard—what has happened since the book came out. So we're going to put a document out next year that explores that and shares with people what’s been happening. It’s going to be a busy year. KFF: Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it and I wish you the very best in well in all your endeavors. Thank you for what you’re doing in the community. TS: I’m delighted to speak with you and thank you for the opportunity. KFF: Thank you. TS: Thank you. Copyright ©2007 by Keeping Family First.
Visit Tavis Smiley's Website: http://tavistalks.com |
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The "Master of the Interview," as I like to call him, Tavis Smiley needs little introduction. He is a broadcaster, author, advocate, philanthropist and an outstanding voice for change. 
