Bill English's rise from 3M's first Black salesman to chief diversity officer

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: OK. We have some different theme music now starting a new series today. We're calling it Connect the Dots. We're asking community elders in Minnesota to share their wisdom and lessons learned about what really matters in life. MPR's Senior Economics Contributor

Chris Farrell has been interviewing people for 70 years or older for insights that might prove useful to younger generations. I think you've probably heard of some of the people he'll interview. Many more will be less known. Chris is with us right now. I got to say, I love this concept.

CHRIS FARRELL: I'm so glad. This will be fun, Cathy, and we're going to learn a lot.

CATHY WURZER: Now, what's the inspiration behind the title, Connect the Dots?

CHRIS FARRELL: So I've long been taken by this moment, and it's from the commencement address at Stanford University by the late Steve Jobs. And he tells this story, Cathy, about how he formally dropped out of college, but informally, he still took courses that intrigued him-- most notably, a calligraphy class. 10 years later, what he learned about calligraphy informed the typography designed into the first Mac computer. And Jobs noted that you can only connect the dots looking backwards.

STEVE JOBS: Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something-- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

CHRIS FARRELL: So Cathy, this phrase, "connect the dots"-- it also suggests hard-earned wisdom, at least to me. I mean, we're asking people to look back on their experiences and to draw critical lessons about what they've learned about what truly matters. Connect the dots for the rest of us. What makes for a life well lived?

CATHY WURZER: Like I say, I'm going to this series a lot because I'm really interested in hearing what our elders say. Who'd you talk to for this particular segment?

CHRIS FARRELL: Feven Gerezgiher, a reporter and producer for MPR News, and I talked with William "Bill" English. He's 89 years old, and I think the best way to introduce him comes from the subtitle of a book that's being written about him. The title is Here For a Reason.

BILL ENGLISH: And I made the subtitle. Memoirs of an African-American man from poverty to corporate, social justice, and political servant leadership. That's who I am.

CATHY WURZER: I know Bill English. I am just so happy you talked to him. Give the rest of the class here a quick biography of Bill.

CHRIS FARRELL: All right. So he was born and raised in Brooklyn, Illinois, which you may know as Lovejoy. And whatever name you use, it's one of the oldest Black towns in the US founded by slaves who crossed the Mississippi River for freedom. Bill moved to Minneapolis in the late 1950s with the idea of getting a graduate degree in sociology. However, he needed support his growing family and instead got a job as the first Black salesman hired by 3M.

Four years later, he moved to the computer company Control Data where he worked for 32 years in several positions, including Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer. And Cathy, I want to play something he said about his years at Control Data. Before he agreed to go there, he said, I want staff, and I want a budget. He got both. He mentioned several people he worked with at Control Data with affection.

BILL ENGLISH: Nevertheless, for 32 years, I went to work every day expecting to be fired, and that's the truth. Why? Because I never knew I was going to be anything but a Black man in a white company.

And therefore, I was going to have to watch my back but become a professional and not use race as a crutch or not allow it to be treated indifferently. In other words, you had to accept me as a Black man. I wasn't going to try to be white, and I was going to do the job you hired me to do.

CATHY WURZER: And he's done a whole lot more since that time, too.

CHRIS FARRELL: Oh, he has. He's been involved in a number of non-profit organizations. He's now based at the University of Minnesota's Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center in North Minneapolis, and his focus is helping to bring good jobs to North Minneapolis.

CATHY WURZER: Because he's had such an interesting life, I can only imagine some of the insights he had to share with you.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, one of them is that he rejects the idea of retirement, at least in that traditional meaning of the word, which is to retreat. Like a growing number of older people, retirement isn't part of his vocabulary.

BILL ENGLISH: I am pleased. I'm in reasonably good health. I cannot retire and sit down. I remember my mother saying to me, I'm going to wear out, not rust out. And that's my words.

CATHY WURZER: I'm going to remember that. I'm going to wear out, not rust out. Love that. You covered a lot of topics, I'm sure, during the conversation. What stood out to you?

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, one highlight was when I asked him, looking back, what one piece of financial advice would you give to younger people? And his answer, which recalls a talk he gave at Howard University-- it's targeted at a Black audience, but the insight is universal.

BILL ENGLISH: I remember talking to the B school at Howard years ago. And I remember saying to them, most of you will never work 30 or 40 years for a company as I will. But you should go to work for those companies. Learn as much as you can, and become entrepreneurs.

Learn your skill. If you are a doctor, become a doctor that owns your own clinic. If you're a dentist, go to practice and own your own practice. And so my point is community control is critically important, and we must all strive for that.

CATHY WURZER: What else did you talk about?

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, I was curious-- and I'm sure you are, too. What inspires him at age 89? What gives him purpose, that reason to get up in the morning and embrace life's opportunities and challenges?

BILL ENGLISH: Getting up every morning, knowing that this work has yet to be done, that I got an unemployment level that is unacceptable. I got Black kids graduated from high school who can't read.

I see Black women going to college and Black men going to jail. That's wrong. And so I have a lot of work to do.

So I get up every day and put on my big man pants and commit myself to working as hard as I can that day to make myself a better person and to do good in confronting in a positive way, or in the confrontational way, racism, wage inequality, and lack of political power. That's what keeps me going.

CATHY WURZER: Bill English is a force. I'm telling you that. Did you ask him about gratitude? I'm curious about what he might be grateful for.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, I did ask him, and he liked the question. And it was a really reflective moment.

BILL ENGLISH: That's a great question. It's difficult for me to say I'm more grateful to God than I am to my mother, so I treat them pretty close to the same. So it's kind of [INAUDIBLE] mother. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for growing up with a community that raised me to be respectful of other human beings.

I used to ask my mother why she fed hobos who were traveling during World War II to try to find jobs. She would give them our food. And she said, have you ever missed a meal? I said, no. She said, well, I give them people food because they were hungry, and they need it. And I'm taught to feed the poor.

So I'm doing that. Now, I always feed them and then give them a lunch and then tell them, now, you had one meal, so you share this with somebody else when you jump back on that train trying to get to Detroit or Chicago for a job. And that's what she did. And that taught me. That's the lesson.

CATHY WURZER: We're talking about connecting the dots and looking backward. And when Bill looks back, has anything changed about who or what matters to him well?

CHRIS FARRELL: Cathy, his answer captures a worry I think many people share these days.

BILL ENGLISH: Here's what's changed. Many Americans have come around to believing that America, its promise, has not been achieved, and they want to work hard to achieve it.

What matters now is that we mobilize and make sure the messaging is absolutely on point that the democracy is in trouble.

CATHY WURZER: Well, voting matters no matter what your political beliefs. Say, did he leave you with any other wisdom?

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, he did. He mentioned so many people, Cathy, during our discussion, people that he's known over the years, people that had a positive influence on him, people who mentored him. And most of the names-- I didn't know who they were. They were unfamiliar to me. But they were drawn from his life. So the underlying message in this litany of names was really clear to me. Connections are critical to a life well lived.

CATHY WURZER: Indeed. Absolutely. Thank you, Chris Farrell.

CHRIS FARRELL: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Our series is called Connect the Dots. The interview is with Bill English. It was by Chris Farrell, MPR's Senior Economics Contributor, and Feven Gerezgiher, Reporter and Producer for MPR News.