Love is the Foundation of Leadership

During this week’s conversation about love, I was immediately intrigued when Sylvester led our talk by suggesting that love is not just an emotion. Love is everything we do daily. This concept has sat with me for many years since my near death experience. It was refreshing to talk with someone else who sees life similarly. But where did he get this idea from? 

After years of working with people with disabilities and foster kids, Sylvester’s wife noticed all the love he was pouring into people over the years and suggested he open up his own business. In June 2020, he and his wife founded Together Everyone Achieves More or TEAM for short. This business provides foster care, community, group homes, and shared living. A couple months ago he also began The Executive Locker room, a brand where he talks about leadership and discipline. While owning these two businesses is more than impressive, Sylvester has a much deeper calling. 

Although he is a logically minded businessman, everything he does is from the heart. Beginning in 2017, he and his wife were called to take in foster kids. They have had as many as seven kids at a time in their home. When asked what made him want to start this journey, he had few words. It was really just a calling. A deep desire. He chooses to do this not because they are kids but really because they are humans. We simply do not get to choose to come into this life and we need each other.

Further, Sylvester was raised in a very loving home in Benin, West Africa before moving to Omaha for college. His dad was a hard worker while his mom stayed home with him and his siblings. There was never a time that his parents were not there for him. They were always present whether he was unhappy or happy. To him, love is safe, consistent, and steady. He believes this presence he experienced in his early years really helped shape the man he is today. He has noticed that the kids he has taken into his home do not have parents who are capable of being consistently present. Because of this, the kids learn to act out to get that kind of attention they yearn for from their parents. Sylvester helps them learn good behaviors simply through positive reinforcement, setting a good example, and being present with them. 

Over time, Sylvester has been able to witness several successes where the children are able to go back into their homes and live a healthy life. But it doesn’t just happen overnight. He had one boy in his home at age 12 to 19. He felt so loved that he offered to pay some money towards rent to stay there while he got out into the working field. This meant a lot to Sylvester that he was able to make him feel that safe and at home throughout the years. Another boy who lived with him for four years, still comes to visit him every Friday. He will knock on the door and ask if he can come in. Sylvester just smiles and reassures him, “Of course, this is your home.” 

Not only does his brand reflect discipline, leadership, and accountability but his life does as well. “Discipline is really just love for the future, leadership is love for a team, and accountability is love for growth,” he explained to me. These principles rule his life, but love is the foundation of every single one of them. Each day he wakes up to step forth into these which not only pour into his life but himself and those around him. The way he sees it, love wakes him up every morning and gives his life meaning. 

THAT’S LOVE.

Most Loved Omaha Spot:

Longhorn Steakhouse. He loves a good steak with some mashed potatoes and broccoli. 

Shana Schoone writes “The Heart of Omaha,” a weekly column celebrating all the ways love is shown in the O.