Author Dr. William Keyes shared powerful reflections on how mentorship and high expectations can transform lives during a conversation Wednesday night centered on his new book, The Stories They Hear: Expecting Greatness as the Key to Success.
The book is filled with the same lessons and stories that Keyes shares with scholars at the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, an organization he founded to support some of the country’s best and brightest African American men.
The idea for the Institute was born from Keyes’ frustration that these promising young men were too often overlooked.
“The reason I created the Institute was simply to reverse that and to say, ‘What happens if we take really bright African American students and give them the support that they need to be extraordinary?’” he said.
The answer, he said, is on the book’s cover: five of the Institute’s six Rhodes Scholars.
“Not that I’m trying to be overly competitive,” he said, “but there’s no other person who could do that picture. There’s no college, there’s no fraternity, there’s no anything where they have more African American male Rhodes Scholars than we do.”
Throughout the evening, Keyes challenged conventional ideas about mentorship and success.
“Mentoring is not just patting kids on the back and telling them, ‘You can do it,’” he said. “I’m not the person who’s just going to pat people on the back and say, ‘You can do it.’”
Instead, Keyes encourages mentors to provide better guidance for young people.
“God has blessed you with something special,” he said. “I believe He expects us to work hard to identify what that is, to develop it, to maximize it and to use it to be a blessing in the lives of other people.”
The Institute accepts just 12 scholars at a time, providing them with summer internships, housing, stipends, mentorship and access to a powerful network of alumni who are expected to succeed.
“Your job is to bust the doors down for all the guys coming along behind you,” he said.
Elijah Heyward, a member of the Institute’s first class, did exactly that. During his time at Yale Divinity School, he performed so well and was so well respected that he helped pave the way for the next Institute scholar, Christopher McKee, to gain admission. Earlier in the night, Heyward surprised Keyes by showing up to the event and introducing him to the crowd.
Some have asked why the Institute doesn’t take more students. Keyes’ answer is simple: he’s aiming for impact.
“From my standpoint, success is so far below what I’m looking for that it’s not even funny,” he said. “What I’m looking for is people like Elijah because when he walks into a room, that room is never going to be the same. We’re trying to prepare people to be difference makers.”
The event was co-hosted by Meeting Street Schools, Buxton Books and BHC.
