Robert L. Wallace is an internationally known entrepreneur, author, speaker and consultant. With more than 40 years of business experience spanning engineering, energy and IT, Bob blends decades of research with practical real-world advice to educate and inspire entrepreneurs and executives worldwide. His rags-to-riches story began in the Baltimore projects amidst poverty and racial segregation, before overcoming obstacles to establish three companies: BITHGROUP Technologies, Bithenergy, and through http://RobertWallace.com, EntreTeach. Now, he shares his innovative strategies for success with other corporate and community leaders through his growing library of books and other content, and through his energetic keynote presentations and training workshops. Wallace earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, and his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where he began his research on the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. He was also awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters (Honorary) from Sojourner-Douglass College.

Bob is a passionate community leader and devoted church elder who believes in the intersection of spirituality and business. He’s written six books on wealth creation, strategic partnerships, business spirituality, emerging markets and entrepreneurship. His books address the challenges faced by women, people of color, and entrepreneurs of all stripes from domestic and global emerging markets. Bob tells the story of these amazing people with an insightful approach that makes his writing equally compelling to large corporations with an “intrapreneurial” spirit.

Politically, he also made history when he became the first independent candidate for Mayor of Baltimore to earn a spot on the ballot in 2020. Garnering close to 50,000 votes, Mr. Wallace has built a coalition that will forever change the political terrain of Baltimore City.

When he’s not researching, mentoring or presenting to other business leaders, Bob enjoys spending time with his wife of 44 years, their five children and ten grandchildren.

http://RobertWallace.com

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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God chose us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Dr. Wallace.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

So right now I'm in Maryland.

We just got back from Panama and we're heading to New England and then California.

Wow, that's east, west, no, east, north, west.

So what's responsible for you traveling as much as you are?

So we spend a lot of time in Latin America and Panama because we love the area, love the country.

We have five kids and 12 grandchildren who are spread out all over the place.

So we actually, we're going to California to visit our newest granddaughter in California and that will make 12 grandchildren.

Wow.

Well, we do love the number 12 here.

Yes, we do.

Amen, brother.

That's amazing.

Did you ever envision that this is what life would be like today?

Well, it depends on what phase of my life we're talking about, right?

Because when I grew up in projects in South Baltimore, because of the environment, because of the experiences, I had a very narrow view as to what I could be and what I could do.

But as God gave me life and I continued to grow and to learn, then I began, my scope began to expand into the kinds of things that I've done and am doing now.

And so, yes, as I have come to know God and come to know Christ and I, my vision for myself and of myself has expanded.

So yes, it's been, it depends on what part of my life you ask me, where I address that question.

How did you meet Jesus?

So in an indirect way, you know how some people say they saw a light or they were, no, that's not how it happened to me.

When I was a young man, I was raised in the projects of South Baltimore, very tough neighborhood.

And we lived a tough life and did things that I look back on that I'm not very proud of.

But during that period as a young teenager, I got into a point where I began to see how we were living and what we were doing from a spiritual standpoint.

And when I looked at it that way, I said, this is not how we're meant to live, right?

I mean, we were getting drunk, we were fighting, we were, you know, being disrespectful.

We were, you know, all the things that are ungodly kinds of behavior.

And it wasn't until I was about 13, 14, and we had an incident where my guys, because I ran with some pretty tough guys in Baltimore, but they were about to do something that I looked at and I said, we can't do this.

I can't do this.

And so I intervened in this situation.

The young man's life was, I believe, saved.

And he was able to get home safely, a little bruised, but get home safely.

And it was at that moment that I looked at my homeboys, I looked at myself and I said, God does not mean for us to live like this.

There's got to be a better way.

So I went home that night and I knocked on mama, mama and daddy's bedroom door.

And I said to mama, mama, next morning, next Sunday, tomorrow morning, which was going to be Sunday, when you go to church, wake me up.

I'm going with you.

You know, I didn't understand.

I didn't, you know, I wasn't reading the Bible.

I wasn't, you know, I just knew there had to be something better than how we were living.

There had to be a better way than the way that we were moving.

And I thought that mama was the spiritual leader in the family.

Daddy believed, but mama was the leader.

I believed that what she had and what I observed in her was a better path than what I was on, okay, as a thug, right?

I can't put any playing in that, right?

So that was how I met, I began to meet Christ.

And I didn't know him that right away.

It took some time, took some time, brother, because I was still hanging with my boys, but I was, but I had pivoted.

I had like, okay, there's a better way.

Let me learn more about this way.

And so the rest of my life became about learning more about that way.

And then of course, God put people in my life to give me guidance at each strategic node of my life.

And I think that made a difference.

Is it challenging having that initial building block of your foundation being that individual who has to take what he desires or take what he wants for very good reasons.

Yeah.

And for every other reason that we can talk about, but is it challenging in the, as you're going through navigating the business world or even just education, let's start with education here and fighting with the mindset of, I can't just take this, this is required.

And I'm pointing to my brain while I'm speaking here.

This is the thing that's required and the spiritual aspect of me.

Yeah.

Without answering the question that I think it is.

Yeah.

Well, it's always challenging.

I mean, and it always has been, and it always will be right.

Why?

Because there's, there's this continual battle between the spirit and the flesh, right?

My flesh wants to be in charge.

My flesh wants to be dominant.

My flesh wants to dominate.

My flesh wants, you know, is selfish and, and, and self-centered which is contrary to the spirit of Christ.

And so this, this friction always exists and will always exist.

I mean, I'm 70 years old.

I turned 70 this year.

Wow.

Let me put this in here though.

Wow.

You look great for 70.

Do you have like the thing on zoom on that's doing like, like fixing you with AI?

That'd be my brother.

God been good, man.

It's this tension, you know?

And so whatever I'm doing, whether it's business, whether it's education, I mean, I went to university of Pennsylvania, undergrad study engineering.

I went to Dartmouth college to study my masters in business.

I've lectured at all kinds of universities all over the world.

God's been good to me, but there's always this tension between the spirit and the flesh.

And I will submit to you that that tension will always exist.

Now, as I come to know Christ better on a daily basis on my daily walk, okay.

What, what tends to dominate between the two spirit and flesh is the one that you focus on the most.

So as I have learned to focus on the spirit, focus on Christ more than that force.

And over time begins to dominate over the flesh, but make no mistake about it.

The flesh is always there.

The flesh is a daily battle and you have to go to God every morning and say, Lord, help me fight this battle.

Help me to overcome this flesh.

So I don't kid myself about that.

Especially as you can become more visible, sir, it's become more visible as God bless you more resources and, and wealth and things like that.

Then Satan gets real busy.

Then he gets, Oh yeah, let me see if I can get him from this way or this angle or that angle.

So you got to get even closer to Christ as you, as you ascend the ladder of society.

Oh, you're talking about the educational aspect.

Take me to the person responsible for allowing you to have as many children and grandchildren as you did have.

Yeah, absolutely.

Tell me about your wife.

Yeah.

My lovely wife.

My wife is that is the angel.

She is also, we're both engineers.

She's biomedical engineering.

I was mechanical.

We actually met at college.

We met freshman year in college.

And I would like to tell you that it was love at first sight.

It was love at first sight for me, but not for her.

Cause I was like, I was very attracted to her.

And I was like, this is going to be my wife.

But she had in the beginning, she had no interest in me.

She was hard to get right.

But she don't know a kid from South Baltimore.

If we put our minds to something, we don't get it.

Right.

So I pursued her, you know, if it was today, I might be in jail for stalking.

Cause I was talking, I mean, I was talking to her big time back in the seventies.

But we know we finally hit it off and got married right after college.

Matter of fact, start having children.

And she comes from a very big family, nine children.

I come from a big family, five boys, all boys, and we wanted a big family.

So we were kind of we weren't clear on the exact number, but we wanted to have a big family.

So we started out, you know, and we have four boys and one girl and we got to number five and we said, okay, this is getting kind of expensive.

So maybe five is the right number.

I remember buying diapers and pampers and the medical care and the education.

I tell my kids all the time, brother, I say every one of you, me and mom have invested at least a million dollars between education and raising them and vacations and sending them to camps.

And I mean, at least a million dollars per child, but, but it's a labor of love.

But we did get to five and we said, okay, this is probably enough.

Yeah.

You didn't even factor in the fact that you're looking after them the time that could have been somewhere else.

Yeah.

Amen.

Amen.

And I remind my kids all the time of that fact.

Five years from today, you are listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

It is the same thing I tell young people today.

Number one is get to know God early and while you're young, spend time building on the relationship, right?

And then leveraging the resources and gifts he's given you to, to, to go back and honor him in that process.

I think that's, what's going to be, that's what's going to be key.

And years from now we're reviewing this interview.

I would say the same thing because life is so short, brother.

It's so short.

Like I said, I'm 70 years old, man.

I'm like, man, where does 70 years go?

It's like, it's so fast.

And so if you don't be intentional about using what God has given you, I'm giving you and put under your stewardship, that time will go by and you will say, man, what did I do with that time?

I don't want to have that conversation.

Someone's listening, they immediately connect with you, your tone, your voice, your truth.

What's the best way for them to be introduced to how they can do what you've done?

Absolutely.

So I tell all my friends, people who want to connect with me, they can start at my website, www.robertwallace.com.

They can start there.

And then from there, they can branch out.

They can see the books I've written.

They can see the businesses I've started.

They can see our mission trips we've done in different countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

They can get a really good glimpse of who I am, what I believe in, what's important to me.

So they can go to www.robertwallace.com.

They can also go to www.bithgroup.com, which is our technology and energy companies.

It's been an honor speaking with you.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

I'm just glad that there's a brother like you who's out there in the media world, representing our God, representing our Christ.

Not ashamed, not afraid, not fearful, but just communicating.

This is the most important thing you need to learn on this planet, is to get to know the God of the universe and make him your God and be part of his kingdom.

Dr. Robert Wallace, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired.

Thanks for having me on.