REVOLT’s Detavio Samuels is one of corporate America’s youngest and most accomplished senior executives. With more than a decade of upper level management experience, he has helped top global companies like Walmart, McDonald’s, AT&T, Chrysler, the NBA, and Johnson & Johnson build impactful brands with deeper connections to their consumers.
Samuels was present at Black Tech Week and spoke with rolling out about what he calls the “10 Black Tech Commandments.”
What are 10 Black tech commandments that we should all know?
- Be there. Whatever it is, do not get left behind. It is imperative that our people show up.
- Play in whatever place is best for your gifts. Don’t go out there trying to solve somebody else’s problem. Don’t go out there trying to emulate somebody else in the tech space, solve the problems that you are uniquely gifted to solve.
- Don’t let what you see today be the limitation of what you think is possible. Black people have a gift of creativity, we have a gift of innovation. Shame on us if we are playing in spaces like tech, and only thinking about what exists as opposed to imagining the future and what that can be.
- Specifically for tech entrepreneurs, don’t just create a tech company. Create a tech company that can change the world, create a tech company that can change things for your community, and create a tech company that has purpose inside of it.
- Have fun, because if you’re doing all of this work in the tech space and you’re not having fun, then you know you’re not going to last long.
- Have your go-to places when you need inspiration, encouragement, help, coaching, and mentoring. It’s imperative that you have those people around you. For me, my faith and God are also important.
- Have faith in things to keep you anchored and grounded.
- Do not be afraid to center Black people in our work. I fundamentally believe that the work that we create for our people is applicable to all people. We were just talking about this idea that a lot of times Black people can’t even go to the bathroom or wash their hands because the faucet doesn’t see us. If we were creating technology with Black people at the center, those things would never happen. Then you would have a faucet that not only worked for Black people but worked for everybody else.
- Do not let technology allow you to lose your humanity. Make the tech but stay human. Build tech that is human-built tech that can operate and move with the heart.
- See you at Black Tech Week next year.
