My Worst Day: One on one with the Potter's House Founder Bishop TD Jakes

[Music] [Music] in 1980 at the age of 23 Jake's became a pastor of greater Emmanuel temple of faith a storefront Church in West Virginia with ten members the congregation grew to encompass a hundred members and was notable because it was racially integrated in September 2016 TD jakes launched the TD jakes show an intellectual invigorating yet practical daytime talk show where Bishop helps his guests lead empowering lives through candid conversation with the proclivity to disrupt the status quo Bishop TD jakes is one of the most coveted faith-based influences in business education film and entertainment Jakes has advised the last three presidents in 2009 he was featured a speaker in the inauguration of Barack Obama and in 2011 he gave remarks at a White House Easter prayer breakfast from Savoie magazine recognizing Bishop Jake's as one of the top 100 powers-that-be to ebony magazine honoring him on their power 100 list Bishop Jake's continues to show the world how to lead with a purpose [Music] [Music] let's talk about your early childhood you were born in West Virginia what was it like for you growing up what type of child were you Oh take the child I was rambunctious entrepreneurial all of my life my father demonstrated business in front of me so I've always had a business acumen I cannot remember an age that I didn't have a job right yeah I mean always was was involved in some aspect to visit my mother grew vegetables in the garden and I sold them to the neighborhood and gave receipts to the people Wow like eight years old oh yeah I've always hustled you know and and tried to if my father was like that and I think it was his impression of my life that made me emulate his characteristics and his propensity to be somebody who we really had to work hard to survive we were not wealthy at all fairly poor and and I've readily assume the responsibility of being a contributor to the family rather than to just take from the family considering that you weren't born into a wealthy background which some of the misconceptions would be I mean given the height of your success and what were some of the challenges you faced growing up oh my gosh I mean it was my father grew a business and ultimately it became successful but I remember when it was not successful and I think that watching something grow cause me to be a builder I like to build things from the ground up and to watch them evolve I'm glad that it wasn't handed to me there's a feeling often of entitlement that comes with that and we had many challenges well the way I watched him get contracts and lose contracts and get deals and lose deals and watch him rebound he became ill and we had to hold the business together while he was sick and later he died so growing up in that tempestuous environment I had to be responsible early my father was the kidney patient so we had the responsibility of balises twice a week and so I didn't have a childhood I can't remember an age that I didn't have to bear the weight of responsibility and act like an adult because there was no role in our lives for me to be childish yeah and do you feel that because you didn't have a childhood do you ever have dreams or you know I want to be a pilot so I want to be Superman or were you always kind of I want to be a businessman what was the vision when you were young in terms of your career I didn't know what I was going to be I knew I was going to be something I knew that I was different I knew that there was something inside of me that was just different and I didn't know that it would be massive or famous or successful but I knew I was marked in some way I was born with the veil over my face it and my neighbors came down and took my mother they she had birthday profit because I had a veil over my face and and I knew that I was in some way different and don't paint this wrong I wasn't always godly or spiritual I was a regular global person but there was something inside of me that said I was supposed to do something in the world with my life and it's always guided me and it still does to this day how did you I don't know if I can say stumble upon or how did you become enlightened to God's calling on your life how did you manage to get that vision and directed into this that's it's a good question I actually would that it was a very it was a great conflict for me because I didn't want to do that I liked music and I was a piano player and I played for the choir and so I was going to play for the choir and I was gonna be like a gospel artist or something and I've noticed that when I introduced the songs they had more impact didn't the song itself and then I had a in the middle of the night that I was sitting around the Book of Jeremiah where Jeremiah was struggling with his calling because he was a child yeah when I open when I woke up that morning I opened up my Bible and it will open right up to that same thing and God called me to minister my big struggle at the time was nobody will believe this because I'm a kid when I was a teenager and I wrestled with that and ran from it for a couple of years and I did start preaching till I was 19 and though I knew I was called around 17 my father died when I was 16 and about 17 I really understood fully that God had called me to minister and the funny thing about it was because I've had to work all of my life I was always working and growing some sort of business even when he called me so that kind of carried over into my ministry and never totally walked away from being entrepreneurial because I was the minister I just included it and the ministry was so small I had to to survive so I wasn't self-sustaining or anything like that now I understand growing up you didn't actually get a college degree was that a intentional choice that you made or was it financially difficult at the time what was the steps it was money we didn't have scholarship we didn't have a scholarship and we didn't have the money at the time and so I went to college for a while and then it took a summer job and got a chance to get a really good job and it carried over into full-time position I would want to work right and did you ever feel that that would be a hindrance to your calling until your entrepreneurial journey it's a funny thing it is not a hindrance to success but education is definitely an asset and I've worked hard to educate myself along the way but it certainly was an asset I think there's a misnomer that people think that if you have a degree it is a guaranteed to success but I think success is driven from an inner place that comes from within you and education accessorize it but it does not create [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in terms of when you look over your childhood when you look over your journey to being who you are today I'm sure you're no strangers to difficulties as you were shared with us but I must ask what has been your worst day in business so far I think the worst day for me it wasn't that it was catastrophic financially though I didn't lose money in the process but I had entered into a partnership with the company called Tecna and through it we were able to produce a talk show not only was a talent on the show but I was also producer of the show Tecna actually is a company that is primarily television station owners they were not content producers so both of us were going into something we had never fully done before and the industry was not positioned in our favor because had we been successful we would have changed the model for everybody and so you had to fight the forces that did not want us to win and we were very successful to a degree but we they locked us out of California and locked us out of New York and we couldn't get aired space there which is necessary to get the kind of advertising dollars that you need to sustain yourself so about it's about a twenty five million dollar a year expense to run the talk so then to be able to recoup it fast enough to stay afloat we had to be able to get it to New York in California we were never able to do that I love the show because I got to sit with Denzel Washington I got to sit with over Winfrey I get to sit with some of the most amazing influential people in her country and and I felt like it was an opportunity for me to bring my faith to the public square you know it wasn't a preaching atmosphere but still you bring all of you to whatever you do and to cross that bridge in America is difficult because America tends to segregate faith from the public square and I was one of the first to successfully reach into daytime television morning so and I'll be able to do that type of show and had we succeeded it would have been a paradigm shift economically and spiritually for a country which we desperately needed so when it did not succeed we did our season and we got to the end of season we didn't get removed for the next year it was pretty tough because my heart was in it yeah it was a financial loss and it was also an emotional loss because I was ready to go you know I was out on crime scenes I was interviewing police chiefs I was doing town hall meetings about racial issues I really could do good from there and I think I grieved over it more from the loss of a tool through which I could do good than just a business factor alone in terms of the actual concept of the show was that something that you personally actually devised or was it it's all my it was TV jig show nothing made it to air that we didn't mutually agree on so I was deeply involved in the mechanics of the show I was a producer on the show and so I'm in front of the camera and behind the camera at the same time and I like that because I've given my life to building a brand for myself and I wanted to be sure that I did not lose control of Who I am allowing other people to make decisions about me in terms of the impact you wanted the show to make was you looking at a global expansion of the show was you hoping that it would be syndicated globally over a period of time well we actually got syndication into Africa and it airs in several countries in Africa even post airing in the US and we were able to do that and we were going to Forge over into India America is starting to understand more fully the whole global aspects of television and Africa's television entertainment components have grown exponentially in the last 20 years consequently we are having we are crossing back across the waters into Africa now in a way of thinking about Africa differently didn't before and because I have such a love for my brothers and sisters on the continent of Africa it was a natural process for me to engage him because for the last twenty years or so I've been flying back and forth over there and just loved being a part of the African people right so in terms of the show when you realize that it wasn't going to continue from the outside perspective I thought everything you touch turns to gold I mean your words I have a huge impact on millions billions of people's lives globally but how did it affect you emotionally and in terms of your confidence when this vision this venture that you had entered into wasn't didn't play out exactly as you anticipated even at the height at me and now that it there were things I could have done better and then don't see it as a failure because anything that you fail at becomes a teacher to teach you how to do it better so when I looked at it I looked at in retrospect I should have partnered with the company that already had distribution and a you know hindsight is 20/20 and and there were a couple of things that I could have done differently I had like maybe a week that I felt kind of low about it but I quickly rebound because I believe that whatever God has for me is for me and if it's not bad it's something else so how can I turn this corner and turn it into a positive rather than a negative and I did we evolved and we've now partnered with a lifetime and we're doing things with them we're producing movies for them we've continued to produce movies for Sony Pictures produce many many movies for them and continue to do that and so I don't think that it is good to spend a lot of time grieving over what went wrong yes you have to quickly rebound to what went right and then take what you learn from what went wrong that is a form of profit to wisdom is a form of profit too and I took that and went for it and replace the the in terms of the actions that you took from hearing the news from going through the posts of the show no longer continuing what were they what were their step-by-step actions that you took and what were you learning throughout that process well we were all fighting for it so we were all disappointed my partner was disappointed we were disappointed and as it began to go down I begin to look at what could I do to take that energy and place it towards something that was going to be productive because for me I'm very passionate with I can't do anything that I don't care about I have to have a deep care about the door doesn't work and and so I thought what's next and I began to talk to them how are we going to dissolve this and protect my brand and then how are we going to take this and turn it into a positive and we begin to have meetings in Hollywood and meet some of the various CEOs and I wanted a real good synopsis of the quality of the tale and everybody said the show was amazing so as long as I knew that the failure was not me yes then I didn't personalize it and allow a defeatist mentality too overwhelming so in terms of now reflecting back was there anything that you feel you would have done differently I know you were talking about the distribution partners but in terms of other elements that you would have maybe overseen was there anything in terms of contracts well in America television is declining right and the internet is exploding and I think that I showed up at the party too late I said was talking to my friend Oprah and she said when she got on television there were three stations when I got on there were 300 so the competition is amazing and there is a ratings driven business I think it would have been smarter in hindsight to direct those energies to where the industry is going is moved from the big screen to the television screen from the television screen to the phone screen yeah so long as it moves to the phone string and technology has developed to the degree that it is people want entertainment they can hold it in their hand and so we're rebounding and readjusting to accommodate amazing rapid pace in which we are moving deeper deeper into technology and people throughout the industry in television are struggling and I realized that I started on with the business that was on the decline when I wrote my books or one of the things I talked about I used an analogy about building a plane I said I don't care how well you build the plaintiff wins against you you're gonna have trouble getting in the air and and so I think in hindsight my business advices don't just focus on the infrastructure what you're building but look at where the trends are going because if you can't get in the right trend you won't get the wind to get it to soar at the level you really need it to go something that I find quite remarkable about you is that not only have you established yourself globally as one of the most successful bishops or a classy man of God ever exist orally but you've actually merged it with that entrepreneurial spirit now how are you able to do that successfully first of all I think you have to be who you are I don't think that everybody should do that I don't think that everybody should emulate that I think you have to be true to yourself because that is honestly Who I am I just bring me and with me comes my faith in math fears and my business and and my curiosities my respect for other cultures and other people when I walk into a room or I walk on a stage or I sit down in a boardroom everything that has happened to me sits there with me and I think that you are best when you are true to your core that you are honest with yourself and you bring all of yourself to the table it took a while for America to understand me but I refuse to morph into who you expect rather than to be Who I am and as I as they got used to me they they begin to embrace me I'll be loved people throughout Africa he mediately understood and they embrace me in a way that uh it was it was mind-boggling that to be understood and and had to be needed and to watch an emerging country who is also a country filled with faith understand that faith becomes a catalyst for underserved people to move from one dimension to the next so I become a strong motivating force to say to people throughout the continent and various countries said I've gotten ago I haven't gotten to go to all the countries in Africa many a minute but not all you can do this and you can you can do this and be a person of faith and you can pull yourself up and don't be afraid to leave your mind at home because you have your Bible in your hand you can have both of them you don't have to sacrifice intellect for spirituality I when you look at your journey it's been a lot of highs and lows but a lot of success points what would you say in this position now your view of failure is I think the only thing that matters at the end of the day is that you fail to get out of you what God put it it doesn't matter the highs and lows as long as you reach your destination if we get in a car and we go down the road you're gonna take turns and you're gonna go up hills and you're gonna go through valleys but as long as you reach the destination it doesn't matter about the process and I'm very goal-oriented you know I set out to accomplish certain things every day and I won't stop until I get it done I'm relentless I'm tenacious and I would like to say that I'm fearless but that's not true I have learned how to use my fear as fuel it makes me careful it makes me ask more questions it makes me do put a lot of energy into something before I leave it's hard to get into business with because I'm gonna ask you everything and examine everything imaginable before I do because I have learned to get in and then get curious is too late mm-hmm you have to do your due diligence upfront and do it thorough and sometimes it's caused me to miss good opportunities but I kept my name and I kept my brain and I kept my integrity and at the end of the day the real value of of a person is not in the abundance of the things they possess it is in who they are yes you're preaching to me right in terms of there's so many young people that look up to you what would be the advice that you'd give to a young person that said I want to be the next Bishop TD jakes I love their fire I kind of relate to them you know a lot of people my age have hung up their boots and sat down by the fire the satyr you know where they're gonna retire or die I don't feel like that I feel like the young people I feel like what's next so I kind of relate to them and because I started very early in life I think that there is a tendency in me to connect with them to the young people say never give up on your dreams never give up on your groups fight for your dreams understand that your dream will not be as easy as you dreamed it it will cost blood sweat and tears I find that one of the biggest problems with young people today is that they embrace the promise but not the process they want it now and if it doesn't happen now well maybe that wasn't for me so they try something else and aggressively and they see us at a finished stage and they want to give they make sweet well I've been doing this for 41 years and I'm 16 so if you're 22 expect to get there by 22 is unreasonable I wasn't there at 22 I wasn't there 25 but I was on my way if they would monitor their steps rather than looking at the destination and saying I should be there by the weekend they underestimate how hard it is to be successful and so I try to coax him and encourage him and believe in them because a lot of them have never had an older person who encouraged him and he believed in them and kind of understood them because what they don't know belief is great here I'm a lot of like this I'm pretty get up in the morning and let's do it yeah and when I look at your CV in terms of the numerous accolades you've achieved one of the ones that stand out to me is you are actually known as one of America's best preachers but also I'm one of the most influential preachers ever now when you look back at your journey what would you say your purpose in life is first of all I've kind of laugh at the notion of being the best preacher I think the best sermon you ever heard is the one you needed the most when you heard it so you know how do you quantify great preaching I mean it's relativism it's a matter of opinion so I never sought those kinds of titles my purpose in life was to communicate to my generation and to the generations with whom I would make contact so whether to books it looks like I'm doing a lot of things but I'm really only doing one but whether two books two films still modeling real estate endeavors or whether it's preaching in the pulpit or whether it's during an interview such as this I'm a communicator and I'm just having the top that's lasted 60 years with my generation and I'm talking my way back home and as I do that I do it through every movie I'm talking to you in the movie every book I've ever written it's just like this we're talking in the book I can sit down and if I get in a rhythm and I sit down at my computer I can really start talking to you like you there and describe something - you can see it because I will my fulfillment is to make you see what I see inside and you can be in a multiplicity of businesses if you can find the common denominator between them yes so I found my common denominator is communication and and I'd seek to communicate with my generation and thank you so much [Music] you [Music]

Channel: CNBC Africa

Views: 64,416

Keywords: My Worst Day, Forbes Africa, Forbes Africa Woman, Forbes, Peace Hyde, Zenith Bank, African business, Bishop TD Jakes, TD Jakes, The Potters House Ministries, Potters House Ministries, The Potter's House

Id: 5dlOAQ1jH8A

Length: 26min 57sec (1617 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 28 2019