JeVon McCormick knows what it’s like to "edit himself" as part of an effort to fit in. He ultimately made the decision to go by “JT” instead of “JeVon” because, as he explains, “JeVon didn’t get callbacks and interviews, but JT did."
It’s part of a concept he has seen outlive its usefulness, and he refers to it as an outdated playbook in business that leaders used to follow.
“The old playbook has also defined our business culture, like how we talk, dress and behave,” McCormick told the Austin Journal. “If you’re on the outside looking in, that culture feels impossible to be welcomed into. All you can do is try to fit in or edit yourself, but it won’t let you enter unless you change your story and your name.”
McCormick touches on that notion in his latest book, “Modern Leader,” which hit the USA Today Bestseller list on July 14, 2022.
In hindsight, he wonders if maybe he was taking the easy way out and helping to perpetuate an archaic idea.
“That’s how the old playbook gets reinforced,” he says now. “When the only way to get in the room is to assimilate to its culture, nobody inside the room ever sees anything different. So, they never wonder what they’re missing. They don’t know there’s anything else to miss, though in reality, they’re missing out on a lot.”
To get closer to reality, one has to realize that the old playbook “has been falling apart for years because its exclusionary rhetoric doesn’t meet the needs of the modern world we live in,” he said.
Hence, the book’s title.
“Modern problems call for modern solutions,” McCormick said. “Leaders and companies who don’t tear up and throw out the old playbook risk being left behind.”
McCormick was born the son of a Black pimp father and a white single mother on welfare. Today, he’s the CEO of a multi-million dollar publishing company, Scribe Media, that was recently ranked the No. 1 Top Company Culture in America by Entrepreneur Magazine and was recently named Best CEO in Austin.
What sets today’s “modern leader” apart from a leader of yesterday is simple, he said. “A modern leader is focused on people and always puts them first. Modern leaders understand that people and profit aren’t on opposite ends of a dichotomy.”
He differentiates the two leadership styles further, saying that leaders of the past sit atop invisible corporate ladders. “I challenge the idea of leadership sitting high above everyone else,” McCormick said. Rather, he added, a modern leader should serve and support the people who make the organization thrive.
McCormick built his philosophy about leadership from his own experiences as he moved up the ladder.
McCormick served as the president of Headspring Systems from 2013 to 2016. His work there caught the eye of Tucker Max, who lured him away to take the helm of Scribe Media, a company that helps people write and publish books.
Not long after, McCormick published, “I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream.”
He touches on today’s buzzwords of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
“Hiding ‘diversity’ behind an acronym does more harm than good,” McCormick said. “When you use ‘DEI,’ what are you actually trying to say? Who are you really asking about? Black people? Gay people? A person with paraplegia? Who?”
That’s another holdover from the old playbook, McCormick said of the thinking that characterizes diversity as a project. “If you’re not putting people first, you’re not putting diversity first,” he said. “And if you’re not putting diversity first, you’re not putting people first.”
Even before his latest book hit the bestseller list, his leadership points were attracting attention, notably from David Goggins, a retired Navy SEAL and the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training, Army Ranger School and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. Goggins, author of The New York Times bestseller “Can’t Hurt Me,” wrote the foreword to “Modern Leader.”
“I’ve known David for over four years now, and he is someone I deeply respect,” McCormick said, calling it an honor to have Goggins contribute to his book. ”Given that ‘Modern Leader’ is a book on leadership and David is famous for the phrase, ‘Lead from the front!’ I asked David if he would do me the honor of writing the foreword for ‘Modern Leader.’ And David said, ‘Done.’”
McCormick said he dedicated “Modern Leader” to anyone who has ever felt like they weren't welcomed by and never fit into the “old playbook.” Though he uses that phrase when talking about the book, he described it as a misnomer.
"I also wrote ‘Modern Leader’ for all the business leaders and executives out there who agree that there’s a problem in the business world,” McCormick said. “I wrote it for people who know they’re missing something but can’t pinpoint exactly what. ‘Modern Leader’ fills in those blanks, but it’s not a playbook. Leadership is not a game.”
When describing the book’s purpose, he defines it as this: "I want everybody out there with a name like mine – RayVonte, LaToya, Tyre, Imani, Rosalia, Jesus, Miguel and so many more – to be welcomed for exactly who they are in the business world. Not only that, but once they ‘get in,’ I want them to see they won’t be alone. A JeVon made it into the boardroom, and they can, too.”