You've Got... Ryan Blair

Former gang member Ryan Blair explains how finding a mentor helped him change his ways and eventually become a successful CEO.

Comments

[Bob Oh]

08:55 AM on 02/14/2012

The Ryan Blair secret to success is to have you mom get married to a wealthy guy.
If you give ANY gang member a very wealthy step dad he/she will turn their life around.
I recall him bragging about his AK-47 - how many unsolved shooting did he commit? He's been convicted of strong arm robber and now he's the CEO of a pyramid scheme selling commodity protein powder at premium prices.
Why not interview REAL SELF MADE millionaires? Have a wealthy step-dad help you does not make you self made.

[MyLocator]

11:35 AM on 02/14/2012

his step father was the only one that would invest in him. the system does not invest enough in our youth. failure by design. he took a loan and turned it into something nobody could ever imagine. appears to be giving back the community something we never hear other college grad ceo's doing. he shares valuable advice. all selfmade millionaires get a loan somewhere along the road to success they just needed a lender/customer/bank/family that believed in them.

[Bob Oh]

12:07 PM on 02/14/2012

His step father saved his family - which is great - but I don't buy his "self-made" story, when Blair, left to his own moral compass, commits violent crimes ( by his own admission) and only turns it around when his rich step dad funds his ventures. Wealthy people know other wealthy people and it was these connections that got Blair started. Not exactly self made... more like rich kid gets richer with dad's help.

[King7David]

06:27 AM on 02/18/2012

Wow, interesting point Bob. Where is his story, I couldn't find it here?

[Bob Oh]

09:45 AM on 02/18/2012

he's got a book out that you can borrow or get at the library. If you read it, the story doesn't add up ( do a bit a research and you'll see much of the story is fabricated ) and the book is marketing material for his MLM.

Also, these spots are not news - they are paid ad by his PR people.

[stephan67]

06:14 AM on 02/14/2012

A former gang member became a CEO ? But I think ,it's the same job!

[georgecarlin76]

04:40 AM on 02/14/2012

People need fathers that dont leave.

[Zaida Adams]

03:05 AM on 02/14/2012

I love when people change their lives for the better. Perhaps more positive mentors is what our hopeless ones need. After all, gang members become members when their other members are they have to rely on as family.

[PanFx]

02:17 AM on 02/14/2012

Gang member. Uh huh. And I'm Lucky Luciano.

[Banghouse]

03:42 AM on 02/14/2012

Skeptical? Why? Doesn't he fit the description?

[Venmaker1]

02:00 AM on 02/14/2012

Inspiring and good advice.

As an aside, he is a handsome man.

[orthobobsuruncle]

08:59 AM on 02/14/2012

As an aside, he's completely over the top gorgeous.

[Rex Devious]

01:00 AM on 02/14/2012

If he really wants to express his gratitude at the chance he was given, let's hope he doesn't run his company they way so many CEO's do: trying to get as much money as possible with no regard for who they hurt in the process. Otherwise, he will not have changed nearly as much as he thinks he has.

We allow companies to do many of the same things that we hope to avoid by keeping kids out of gangs. Sometimes we do this by allowing lobbyists to inject loopholes in laws and regulations, sometimes by allowing the fines for doing it to be far less than the profit, but usually we allow this by leaving the enforcement of the law up to individual citizens who are actually expected to personally sue multi-billion dollar corporations *after* they've been robbed (like having their home stolen using the claim of defaulting on a mortgage the bank doesn't even have).

And while it would be great to have unlimited resources to enforce the law against cooperations (who of course can't be jailed), it would be a lot easier if we had more CEO's that *didn't* run their companies like gangs, so the public could move their business away from the ones that did.

At least this guys knows enough about poverty to think the answer lies more in things like mentoring, than in things like creating a "work ethic" through having kids scrubbing public school toilets for 25 cents a day.

[JScott]

02:13 AM on 02/14/2012

Is there more here, it's inspiring but low on the specifics.

[Rex Devious]

02:37 AM on 02/14/2012

I wrote it more that way first, but it was boring and a bit too off topic.

Suggest a specific area though, health insurance, consumer electronics, banking, patents, whatever - and if I can't find a good example written by someone else, will try to provide you with one myself.

Cheers.

[Bob Oh]

12:54 PM on 02/14/2012

MLM hurt most family's that get involved with them. In order to succeed in a MLM you have to make exaggerated claims about your products and lure new distributors in by making exaggerated claims of success.. I think Visalus is using very deceptive advertising to push their products ( commodity protein powder ) and to lure in new distributors. For example: "FREE BMW" is in bold print.. but it's in your name and you are the hook for it when visalus stops your bonus checks.. not exactly free. So if you have a CEO who had no problem committing strong arm robbery now using deceptive business tactics to pick your pocket.

[loki]

12:30 AM on 02/14/2012

So you do illegal acts, then use those funds gained from them to start a legitimate business and your suddenly hailed as a wonderful and intelligent human being. Oh what has America become...

[Banghouse]

03:44 AM on 02/14/2012

Gee is that what said or did you pull that out of your derriere?

[Bob Oh]

12:59 PM on 02/14/2012

EXACTLY! This guy's a violent criminal who paying for these spots through his PR team. It's not news - these are paid info-mercials for his MLM

[breakingpoint]

12:16 AM on 02/14/2012

they got it wrong - all CEOs are potential gang members

[orthobobsuruncle]

09:00 AM on 02/14/2012

That was my first thought.

[ScaredAcademic]

11:56 PM on 02/13/2012

I don't get it. I thought street gang was the apprenticeship for CEO unless you took the easy way out and got a Harvard MBA.....

[B Wayne]

11:56 PM on 02/13/2012

Good for you - on my way myself. Here's to continued success!