IAM2244 – Founder and CEO Empowers Communities through the Future of Learning

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David Richards: So people in the community, the students, the parents, the teachers, that really can see a new paradigm for education, it's empowering them to say, like, what do you believe would be best for the kids that you serve? Because there's so many things that are broken about the current system.

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Intro: Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview. If so, You've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

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Gresham Harkless: Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have David K. Richards. David, excited to have you on the show.

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David Richards: Thanks for having me, looking forward to

00:49 - 01:19

Gresham Harkless: it. Yes, I'm excited to have you on and talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before we jump in and do that, I want to read a little bit more about David so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And David is the founder and CEO of Changemaker Microschools, a network of microschools and an incubator for school founders who want to usher in a new paradigm for the future of education. He also coaches leaders and has a mastermind called the Wise Warrior and a podcast called Changemaker EDU. David has

01:19 - 01:46

Gresham Harkless: worked in education reform for over 25 years as a teacher, principal, and founder of several innovative schools. He lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and 2 children and holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MA from Stanford University. And before I was of course jumping into today, I was reading a little bit more about David. And 1 of the things I loved is to hear how mindfulness and meditation has completely changed his life. He basically said it took him from the grind and hustle of daily life to a life of peace and freedom while

01:46 - 02:04

Gresham Harkless: still being able to work on new ventures, creating lasting impact for so many other people. And I think so many times in our lives we can think either or, but I love being able to combine both and better. And so, David has done a phenomenal job with that. So super excited to have you on the show. David, are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

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David Richards: Absolutely, I'm really excited to be here.

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Gresham Harkless: Awesome, well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit. Here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CO story.

02:14 - 02:39

David Richards: Yeah, so I was, I like to say that I was a banker turned educator turned entrepreneur and to put a little flavor on that story. When I graduated from college, I was the first 1 in my family to go to college. I did not have a great experience with education, a pretty mediocre experience with education, but I found a way to get to community college and then transfer to Berkeley and then ultimately get a degree from Stanford. But when I was right out of college, you know, I was like, oh, okay, I've made it out. Like,

02:39 - 03:09

David Richards: you know, this is supposed to be my path to a successful life. And I didn't know what to do, but I kind of wanted to be a teacher, but I was like, that's not really a very profitable, you know, prosperous career in terms of money. So I decided to go into corporate banking. And I did really well there. And I was working 2 blocks from the White House and kind of living it up that way. But I was really not happy inside. And the entrepreneurial part of me was not excited. The service side, the community, the

03:09 - 03:32

David Richards: teachings and none of those none of my zones of genius were really lit up. And so I was doing things on the side like teaching Ethiopian immigrants how to speak English and working with urban youths, coaching basketball. It was like all those things for lighting me up. And I'm like, I'm literally just waiting to get out of this building every day so I could do what I love. Right. And so 1 day I just decided that I would do what I love every day. And I thought, you know, if I could coach basketball every day and

03:32 - 03:58

David Richards: get paid, I would do that for the rest of my life. And so the original story was I went into teach high school and coach basketball. And then I totally fell in love with teaching. I loved being with teenagers are like so fun. And, you know, the world is their oyster. They just have these amazing views on life. Like they're just excited, right? They're also kind of moody and there's a lot of other sides. But we only hear about the bad side of teenagers. There's a lot of great things about teenagers. And then from there, I

03:58 - 04:31

David Richards: found this amazing charter school organization that ended up opening 10 schools across the San Francisco Bay area, which allowed me to go from teacher, principal, and then to help them start several schools. And then we ended up putting that curriculum and that school model into 300 schools across the country and had checks from Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, all the big philanthropists. And I found myself turning 40 and realizing that that was not exactly what I was looking for, which sounds kind of crazy, right? Because it was such a... But I was, I, I gleaned a lot

04:31 - 04:56

David Richards: of success and loved those 10 years I was building that organization, but I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. So this is how I go from educator to entrepreneur. So I felt like I needed to leave that organization even though I was second in command and Kind of in line to be the superintendent because I really wanted to get back to serving kids again And I also wanted to build something that was my own So I think a lot of your listeners can relate to this I told my mentor and the founder of the

04:56 - 05:23

David Richards: charter school organization that I always wanted to be the head coach I was like look you're never leaving. You're the founder. So she's like, yeah, not for a while. So I'm like, I gotta go. So that was a good conversation because she understood it. And like I said, I think a lot of people that are entrepreneurs understand until you start something that's your own, it's just not the same. So that's what led me to start my own charter school the last 5 years, actually 9 years, and then started doing consulting. And also, I'm now onto my

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David Richards: latest venture of helping people start microschools across the world.

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Gresham Harkless: Nice. Well, I appreciate you so much in sharing that story. And I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear how you're doing it. Can you take us through a little bit more on how you're making that impact for the, the, the cut, the students, customers and clients that you work with?

05:39 - 06:06

David Richards: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I, like I said, for years I've been, I think I've always had that education, excuse me, that business side to education, like really seeing I was a great teacher. And I've always been a teacher, like every role I've ever been in, I'm teaching somebody, but I really have always seen the business side. And so with my latest venture, it's really thinking about like we were saying, you know, really empowering entrepreneurs on the ground. So people in the community, the students, the parents, the teachers, that really can see a new paradigm for

06:06 - 06:31

David Richards: education. It's empowering them to say like, what do you believe would be best for the kids that you serve? Because there's so many things that are broken about the current system. Like, you know, as a teacher, as a as a grandmother, as someone in the community, a family member, you know, what do you think schools should look like? What do you think it could be and really empower them to? To enact that vision because again a lot of them are sitting in classrooms and they're not inspired by teaching or they're Working in job. I have like

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David Richards: lawyers and accountants that have want to start schools and they're sitting in jobs or they're you know, like we were saying they're not really inspired and so what we do is we essentially allow you to build a friend to open we call it an affiliate but it's basically a franchise where you can open a micro school in your community. And we will basically set everything up for you, like we'll help you with the business side, we'll help you get the facility will help you with the curriculum will help you everything you need. So you can do

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David Richards: like we said, your zone of genius, you can be working with the kids you can be and micro schools are anywhere from 5 to 150 students. So it's almost like a if you thought about homeschool going into a building, it's like smaller groups. And now you have, you know, some people I get a lot of phone calls, like, I really want to homeschool my kids, because I don't want them to be in the school system anymore. But then they're like, I don't want to homeschool my

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Gresham Harkless: kids all day.

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David Richards: So this is kind of like the solution to I don't want to put him in a school, but like a traditional school, but I also don't want to be home all day with him. And it's not always the best for the kid, right. So this is allowing you to have the best of both worlds. And like you said earlier, I'm definitely a fan of the end. I've never on any time I hear either or I'm already going into like, what's the end? What can we do here? So for me, this is the end like you can

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David Richards: have your kid in a great school that is run by somebody who's really passionate and not kind of like, you know checked out and We're gonna help you open that school and It's been really exciting and super fun to do it with a bunch of people across the country.

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Gresham Harkless: Nice. I absolutely love that. Would you consider that to be part of what I would like to call your secret sauce? It could be for yourself, the business or a combination of both, but is it that ability to be able to say like, there can and there will be a better way and go out and do that? Do you feel like that's part of your secret sauce?

08:09 - 08:35

David Richards: Yeah, that's part of the secret sauce, I would say that and the community and the culture. So we're building a movement here. And I feel like, you know, we're we're building a movement that's coming from the grassroots, right, the ground up. And so it reminds me of some of the like presidential campaigns have been passed or any social movement, you know, where they really inspiring people on the ground, and they're going to be the ones that change the policy, right? Not the other way around. It's not a top down, like, here's the policy now go enact

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David Richards: it. So yeah, the secret sauce is that we're asking people on the ground that really believe no 1 cares more about a kid than their parents, nobody.

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Gresham Harkless: Yeah,

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David Richards: right. There's other ones that come close, like grandma, maybe like their favorite teacher, but nobody cares more than a parent So if you get the parents actively engaged and you have educators that really want they got into education because they really wanted to help kids But the system like you said is there's so much red tape that they're they're spending all their time trying to get around that. And so just let them have a place where they can just thrive. And so yeah, it's that culture of community. It's that culture of we can do this together.

09:10 - 09:19

David Richards: It's that culture of we can get this done. This is a movement. You're part of something larger than yourself And you get people really inspired by that. And it's amazing what happens.

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Gresham Harkless: Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple Book or even a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

09:29 - 09:53

David Richards: Yeah, you previewed it for me in the very beginning, which is the meditation and mindfulness. So I'm not somebody who ever thought I would be doing meditation and believing in mindfulness. So people listening that are rolling their eyes. That was me. You know, it's always that way. It's a person that rolls your rolls our eyes up into becoming the champion. But yeah, so I was a guy who rolled my eyes like I don't have time for this. Like I'm a I'm a I get stuff done. You know, I don't need this. But for me, it was

09:53 - 10:18

David Richards: what I can tell you from my own experience is that just by meditating every day for 20 minutes, it actually changes the whole trajectory of my day. So you know what I used to do and they've done research on this right like in terms of productivity, if you work like 6 really in 6 hours and flow versus 12 hours of just kind of grinding, you actually get more done and you're more creative and you're more productive and all that like there's all even though we have all those research studies for whatever reason, especially in this country,

10:18 - 10:46

David Richards: we just ignore them. And we continue to push, push, push, push, and try and squeeze more out of you know, more water out of the rock as the day goes on. And so for me, it's been the biggest hack ever. And there's a really great book called the 15 commitments of conscious leadership. And it talks about how it actually previews the 2 CEOs, the 1 who is up at 4 a.m. Checking their phone and just going, going, just stressing, and just always trying to make something happen versus the 1 who's like, does some meditation and then

10:46 - 11:12

David Richards: does a morning walk and kind of gets their thoughts in order, gets clear with their values and their why and then that guides them throughout their day and whether you believe the productivity argument or not, I just know that I don't want to be that. Yeah, that doesn't see their kids and that's strung out and probably going to have, you know, health issues later. And I don't want to be that CEO. And I did work in Silicon Valley opening all those schools. And I experienced that life of, you know, 12 hour days, which is 1 reason

11:12 - 11:36

David Richards: why I left because my kids were 2 and 4. And I really felt like I could see that the future like, Hey, dad, nice to see you. I haven't seen you for 6 months. I didn't want to be that parent, you know, I didn't want to be that person. And so for me, it's like, if you can find even just a short time throughout your day, and now there's so many resources with the calm space and the different apps, and there's so many different resources that I just go to YouTube and just do guided meditation. But

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David Richards: people are gonna have time say, Okay, so do it 5 minutes a day. You know, that's not true that you don't have time, but you believe that's true. So do it 5 minutes a day. And then try it 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes before you go to bed or just try it 5 minutes at lunch, whatever. I used to meditate in the janitor's closet when I was a principal. So there, whether there's a will, there's a way. And when you start to see the benefits of that, you'll start to want to do it every

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David Richards: single

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Gresham Harkless: day. Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. This could be a little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client, somebody you're coaching, or if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

12:17 - 12:44

David Richards: Yeah, I think it's to believe in yourself, which sounds kind of, you know, whatever, like that seems so easy, but I think I would take it a little bit deeper to say. So for me, for example, like when I made those courageous jumps, like you said, III scratched it. Like They went for it. It was like I was so stressed out and nervous the whole time. Right? Like every time I make a big jump like that, and I didn't trust or believe in myself because everyone else said something else. Right? No 1 knows you better than

12:44 - 13:07

David Richards: yourself. So when I left the bank, my family was just like, what is wrong with me? You're the 1 who's supposed to like be our security financially Like you're the 1 with the fancy degrees or over here trying to make ends meet and now you're quitting the job That is like you make the most of anybody in the family. So they were not happy about that So I had to really trust myself, you know when I left my executive job to go start a school, which was again, was very illogical, like, a lot of people, like

13:07 - 13:30

David Richards: I had to not talk to people, right, because people would say, they just get into your head and all those negative voices. Now they're saying them out loud to you. So really, what I would say is believe in yourself believe in your passions and you know like when I left the bank the biggest argument from the people that were telling me not to do it was that I wasn't gonna make enough money well I doubled my income in 7 years by going into that school I didn't know I'd be at a charter school I thought I'd

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David Richards: just be making 40 or $50, 000 forever, and I didn't care. But I actually did make more money than the bank. So when you start to follow your passions, and you really follow what you believe in, it's the money's going to come and you're going to be so much happier. And so you're going to have so much more impact in general. So I would, I really just say, believe in that wisdom, believe in your own, like what you know to be true, like really believe in it. And when people start to try and push you off

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David Richards: of that, that center, just continue to tell them like, I don't like, you don't know me, you're not right. Like, I'm sorry. And then find the people that really are trying to bring the best out on you and spend time with them.

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Gresham Harkless: Yeah, that ends up being so huge. So now I want to ask you 1 of my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, or goes out different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So David, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:18 - 14:40

David Richards: Yeah, I love this question. And you had sent like a you know, look what other guests said and I didn't look at it because I was like, okay, if I look at that, then it's going to change my answer. I could just you know, to actually to what we're just talking about. Right? Yeah, I'm like, I want this to come from the depths of my belief and not be swayed by other ones. But what came to me was really you are the chief, what I was gonna say is like the chief light bringer, probably another way

14:40 - 15:05

David Richards: of saying it, like you're the visionary, but you're also the person who's bringing light, right? People are looking up to you. People are they want it people want to, they want to follow a vision, they want to follow something bigger than themselves. And so your job is to really bring them hope to bring them and then you're also the chief teacher, the chief coach, like to coach them towards that vision to coach them towards whatever it is that you're saying is possible and bring them that hope and then show them how to do it, right? Instead

15:05 - 15:25

David Richards: of just saying, cause you get some CEOs that are very visionary, but then they don't provide the structures, right? And it's like, let's get the visionary CEOs and also provide the structures to empower the people to leave the best version of themselves. And so it's, yeah, you're really holding the light, you're holding the vision, you're holding the hope, you're holding the values, and that would be my answer.

15:25 - 15:43

Gresham Harkless: Nice. I love that definition of perspective. Well, David, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get out of you, listen to your podcast, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

15:43 - 16:02

David Richards: Yeah, you already allowed me to say my number 1 message, which is believe in yourself, trust yourself, trust your intuition, trust your inner wisdom, whatever you want to call it, your leadership gut, just trust that trust that get clear on that. And so I'll just reiterate that. And then you can find me it's really easy. You can find me at David K Richards.com, which is my website. And that links you to everything else I'm doing.

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Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. And to, of course, make it even easier, we're gonna have the links and information, the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But David, truly appreciate all the awesome work that you're doing. I'm definitely inspired by everything you've been able to build. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of

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David Richards: the day. Thanks for

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Intro: having me. Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, It's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a 5-star rating. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.