Detavio Samuels, the CEO of REVOLT, has always said that he’s passionate about Black culture, the Black community, the future of content, and the future of media. With inspiration from another respected CEO, Samuels decided to showcase the culture with his show “The Blackprint” which is in its third season.
Samuels spoke with rolling out about “The Blackprint” and the importance of telling stories as a CEO.
What inspired you to create “The Blackprint”?
The crazy thing about “The Blackprint” is I never wanted to be on camera talent. I never wanted my own television show. The only reason I created “The Blackprint” is because of Munson, the creator and founder of rolling out. Munson and I had dinner one day and as we were leaving that dinner, he asked me, “Why is it that you run a TV network and you don’t have your own television show?” I told him there’s no way I want my own television show. I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want to be known. My dream was always to be the mob boss in the back. When you come into the restaurant, the mob boss isn’t in the front with everybody; he’s in the back with the pizza. Munson very quickly checked me and told me that I didn’t have a choice and that it was my responsibility to have my own show. He told me it was my responsibility for a couple of reasons.
One, he just believed that I had wisdom and insights that were worthy of passing on to future generations but what got me is the representation thing. He just told me there are a ton of young Black and Brown people who need to know that they can do what you’re doing, that you can be a 43-year-old CEO and that you can make it at this level, so you owe it to them to show them who you are and that you exist.
Why should CEOs continue to tell their stories?
One of the big fundamental changes that I think has happened over the last couple of decades is that our audiences, our consumers, the people we serve, no longer want [us] just to make a good product and good profit. They want us to make good products, good profits, and make the world better. Everybody thinks making the world better is different so they specifically want you to make the world better, and the way that they want to see the world kind of manifests and comes to life. Edelman has done a survey every year about trust around the world and within the last five years, one of the constant points is people trust CEOs to fix the world more than they trust media, more than they trust government, and more than they trust anybody. Now you take those two ideas, people want CEOs to make the world better, and they’re the ones that people trust to do that work.
I believe that what changed is CEOs have to operate almost more like politicians. You have to have an agenda that you believe in, and that you are pushing through your business that aligns with the audience that you’re trying to reach on the other side. You have to play the role of like you’re running for president, so every time you see me, you’ll see me announcing our agenda, telling the people what type of world REVOLT is trying to create, because I think that’s what’s required in this day in age from a business standpoint, and from a CEO standpoint.
