Achievement and Appreciation

Purple Cow

Seth Godin authors books for people who want to market goods and services to consumers. One of his books encourages people to think different—and to think differently—about how they message.

He used an analogy of cows in a pasture. People don't pay much attention when they drive down the road and see cows grazing in a pasture. Yet they would pause for a second look if they saw a purple cow in the field. The purple cow might captivate their attention.

That book gave me a new perspective on how I fit into a prison setting from the perspective of many staff members. Like everyone serving time in the penitentiary, I wore khaki clothing. In their eyes, every person in prison merited about as much thought as a cow in a pasture.

Instead of recognizing our common humanity, many staff members viewed me as registration number 16377-004. Unless I did something to differentiate myself, my past bad decisions would always define my life.

Incremental Achievements

What does the other side of a prison term look like? Statistics show that most justice-impacted people face monumental challenges when they leave prison. The irony of corrections is that recidivism rates in many jurisdictions show that seven out of every ten people in jail or prison return to custody after release.

People can speculate and draw conclusions about the reasons behind those dismal success rates. Rather than dwelling on the reasons behind failure, I always encourage participants to think about success. Regardless of where participants begin working through this course, I hope they will architect a release plan. That plan should lead them to where they want to go, and the legacy they want to leave society after they're gone.

For example:

• Socrates lived more than 2,500 years ago—yet his leadership and teachings still influence people today.
• Frederick Douglass died in 1891, but through the books he wrote, and others wrote about him, we see an example of excellence in advocacy for good.
• Viktor Frankl did not allow the losses he suffered in a concentration camp to stop him from bringing change to the world.
• Nelson Mandela died in 2013, and others have written volumes about his leadership, despite the 27 years he served in prison.

Those people left legacies that people revere, despite the time they spent in bondage.

Building a Support Network

My life is different today because of the incremental achievements that began inside of that high-security penitentiary, back in 1987. I can still trace the steps:

• While I languished in a solitary cell, Officer Wilson gave me a series of books that taught me about Socrates, Frederick Douglass, Nelson Mandela, and others.
• Frederick Douglass' story inspired me to develop communication skills.
• Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Viktor Frankl, and many other leaders showed the path to succeed as an advocate.

Every achievement begins with incremental steps. Some of those steps will be harder than others, but people who commit know that each step should lead to an intended destination.

Engineering that release plan became the first step toward becoming a purple cow.

The Power of Alchemy

On a path of preparing for success after prison, I learned the power of alchemy—converting adversaries into advocates. While locked in a cell in the Special Housing Unit at the federal prison in Lompoc, I met Captain Matevousian. An officer cited me with a disciplinary infraction for publishing a manuscript, which brought me to the attention of the prison's head of security.

Years later, following my release and a presentation at a Ninth Circuit event, Mr. Matevousian approached me. He told me his career had advanced—he was now a Warden. He invited me to create a course that would show people in prison how they could begin making decisions that prepare them for success upon release.

That conversation spread the program through the Bureau of Prisons and several state prison systems. It led to the birth of Prison Professors, a website I created to help all stakeholders of the system, including all justice-impacted people.