from all in 2016 right now I am the
founder chairman of Kuroda’s asset
management ah
but today you know I just really want to
talk to you guys about redefining how I
learned the difference you know of what
success meant to me because I understand
that you know there’s a certain image
and certain things that I may exude but
typically you know I’d start off when
I’m speaking in front of crowds it’s
typically no shareholder meeting or an
investor meeting or something like that
so it you know typically start with
alright ladies and gentlemen please I
would say you know and will will open up
and start talking about last quarters
you know earnings but that’s Chad P
Crowe is present CEO today I want to
talk to you guys as chapter ODIs former
Walton alumni and we’re gonna start that
by telling you about when I went to
college and decided to get a tattoo like
any good story start with a pit bull and
ends with the girl that definitely don’t
overanalyze that one but so I went to
college at Baylor and in Texas and my
you know I had a I was in a longest it’s
really shift my I’m a high school
sweetheart and then things obviously you
know we probably we were broken up one
day and back together another day and
you know it’s kind of one of those
patterns and in that time my roommate
decided it would be a good idea for us
to adopt a pit bull I mean right you
know college freshman doctor brilliant
you know let’s do it
so we got a pit bull ah and then we
realized oh my god we’re going on spring
break to Cancun tomorrow so we get on
Facebook or
and you know who can you were in the you
know college Facebook groups who can you
know babysitting dog-sitting etc etc etc
and eventually we got someone to come
back and she you know it said I’ll do it
so I sent her the address and she came
ended up you know she dog said whatever
then you know she came back and I said
okay well it’s time for me to pay you
you know can you come pick up a check
and as you guys know I mean I could have
been mowed her like what 19 20 year-old
writes checks I mean that’s not nothing
but I said yeah come pick up a check and
then I said if you also want to have
dinner you know that’d be great bubble
blah
so what started as dinner ended up
turning into a four and a half day trip
to Oklahoma um where I got a tattoo um
mom was not happy to see that when I
came home needless to say so like I said
I understand that you know I exude a
certain image and I’m sure all of you
have already formed a perception about
me maybe you know it’s it’s obnoxious
its bold its outspoken yeah
but behind all of this in behind
everyone else I think that there’s a
story and that’s really what I want to
talk to you today about is because that
I think we’ve all kind of seen you know
that like pyramid of your I guess it’s
like the iceberg where it’s success at
the top and then all the other things
that um you know go under it everyone
who really likes to talk about the
success but there’s so much more that’s
not talked about and you know well I
this definitely might have been a
pinnacle in my career when Waka Flocka
refers to you as big Chad definitely you
know an exciting thing but there’s so
much behind that and the reason why I am
the way that I am the you know it stems
from a certain manner and I’m sure
you’re thinking okay you know elephant
in the room
your
young white male that grew up in a
fluent community like you know how how
many struggles and troubles could you
have had and you’re you’re right
honestly for the first you know good
good part of my life it was there were
there was no struggle there and then in
2008 as I think I’m sure many of you can
attest to my dad was he did real on the
steel industry and then things started
to I guess hit the fan so to say and I
think that this was a pretty good
description of the picture you know just
kind of the current situation like we
were trying to be that perfect East Cobb
family but it was like whoa what’s going
on here so you know it was definitely
the little things started getting taken
away you know more of the material
things they eating out okay big deal you
know the certain things like not as many
vacations okay big deal you know they’re
people people have a worse and then that
continued as especially growing up is
you know Walton students know in kind of
having to exude that that’s Assad of
keeping up with the Joneses and it
definitely got tough and you know it’s
it I don’t wanna go into too much detail
of how tough it got um but needless to
say financially you know our family’s
world got flipped upside down and then
kick down the car and it really wasn’t
missing the material things for me but
it was kind of seeing just the I guess
difference in morale and our overall
family dynamic between you know my dad
when when everything was taken care of
and comfortable as opposed to when you
know there weren’t the the resources
there so then you know like I said it
was little old keeping up with Jones so
here was my freshman Spring Break in
Seaside as obnoxious as so shorts are
coming it’s hot those are bad those are
good but you know so I kind of I was so
sick of having to be around you know all
of this I guess this pressure to fit in
and not having the means and resources
to just go and swipe dad’s Amex as vain
and you know shallow was that sound it’s
you know the the unfortunate truth so I
said if I can’t
that then I need to create my own
reality so I started really just
starting you know getting into business
and had that kind of business mind of I
never want to work for anyone else I
always want to be able to create what’s
coming next for me and you know really
just put myself in that mentality and
you know I actually when I was putting
this together I thought it’d be better
actually of just riding and just got it
speak naturally and I pulled all of my
tweets from you know when I was in high
school so that’s when I was a freshman
and you know I would do things like I
would buy and sell iPhones and you know
just babysit cash is king and the IRS
didn’t know about that one and you know
just anything that could make a dollar
I would absolutely always do and it got
to the point that I realized okay you
know I want to make a difference I want
you know servant leadership so I thought
what better way to do that then run for
class president so that is what I did
and sort of been fighting alcohol um you
know first of all if Donald Trump thinks
he was the first one to use Twitter as a
political platform stick
step aside Donald thanks Chuck check the
dates on this and it really did mean you
know a lot to me that this was something
good I want to do because anything that
I do you know I that’s always been my
prerogative I’m no smarter than the next
you know guy or girl I’m no you know
really no different in certain regards
but I’ve always kind of been hungry and
determined to drive you know I that
level of tunnel vision so it meant a lot
you know I really got in the moment and
unfortunately due to fake news the
election tonight come out as as planned
in I actually totally forgot about this
until I pulled up my tweet and I you
know personally thought it was hilarious
especially going with all the I guess
political climate going on right now
kind of seeing the parallel between that
because this is before that
I think someone had made up a story that
I had bought someone a cookie for a
voter you know if you’re gonna make up a
story make up a good one you know but
you know at the end of the day it didn’t
work out so that was my first real you
know I fail hard like I put everything
into something that I wanted and I just
so from there I still realized you know
I kind of had this realization that
everything does happen for a reason and
I’ve always had that passion for servant
leadership in I’ll you know aside with
business you know it’s it’s two things
that I think coincide very very closely
and they complement each other one
another because this is you know really
what Bill’s brings the fulfillment so I
started an organization called Atlanta
children’s charities which is here at
Walton still I started here and it grew
very very rapidly and we basically
volunteer with different organizations
such as the Ronald McDonald House st.
Joseph’s mercy care and just various
organizations around Atlanta that our
goal was to kind of plant the
philanthropic seeds in these you know
young people growing up and you know a
shelter honestly you know community like
East Cobb and putting them in an
environment where we were providing you
know through the means of donations and
you know volunteer time providing the
resources to give kids in other you know
areas that are very very close you know
to ours the resources and the tools to
build you know the metaphorical houses
that you know we built as Walton
students and you know we may have used
tools that they didn’t have so I figured
well if we could provide them the tools
you know the nation they could build the
house is not really where you know
that’s where that stemmed from and that
was absolutely I mean to this day the
most fulfilling thing cuz I can realize
you know Wow
yes the exterior success is – you know
it’s exciting to a degree it’s fun for
like 10 minutes you know it gets old
this I started to realize you know after
hearing people’s personal story
personal anecdotes that what I was
taking for granted people were praying
for in that I mean is it just a
statement that once I had that
realization I wrote it in a journal and
it just kind of every time I hear it the
hairs of mine on the back of my neck
just kind of raised because it’s very I
mean if you put that into perspective no
matter what level you’re on in anything
it’s something that I think is very far
to think about but on the same token you
know I kind of knew that I needed to be
able to pay for you know college and
things like that because unfortunately
there was no trusting to fall back on
although if there’s any donors out there
that would like to start one but my
whole mentality was as I said you know
create your own reality and on and on a
pursuit of success and what I thought
success was was because you know I had
the the family to infrastructure the
friends the community the only thing
that was missing
I guess so my element of success was
money and that’s I mean honestly that’s
what I decided to chase and I chased it
and I chased it hard so when I was 16 I
got the coolest job a 16 17 year old
could have and I was selling private
jets and private jet charters to
different celebrities and CEOs and
things like that so I would you know one
one night I think I was a junior in high
school and we we had a work party that
night before and we flew in on a
helicopter landed on the roof of a hotel
for a party and then you know flew out
for the party
and then I went to school the next day
and first period of it’s kind of you
know that that dynamic was definitely
strange um but it was something that I
created these opportunities myself I
kind of really didn’t have a last name
to piggyback off because that would have
made it a lot easier and well I did have
you know maybe some benefits that others
may not have there’s always people that
have overcome obstacles and I’ve always
thought of my I guess you know youth as
a platform not so much a boundary so I
continue to do that and I realized that
even though like I said I had the
it’s still you know the world just was
enough for me and that’s unfortunately
the weight that I am so I decided to go
out and start with software company you
know and it’s it just from failure and
that’s just how I learned and you know
we can sit here and talk about the
successes all day but the failures are
what led up to this and it’s being told
no so many times to where you just you
know almost it becomes a game like ok
let me just get it yes just forget you
know kicks and gigs so I I did that and
you know as I said finally I kind of got
that balance of you know work life and
my high school sweetheart who I asked
her prom on a helicopter just because
I’m super obnoxious and over-the-top and
she said please do not do anything
over-the-top or embarrassing so I and
you know we had these cool opportunities
you know we were able to travel over the
world because I had this you know
personal financial independence and
someone to share it with at a young age
you know and we’d go to different events
and you know I was connected different
immunities and that’s you know Evander
Holyfield who honestly I had no idea who
he was until in you know he was like a
kid like he didn’t you know I was
supposed to know who he was like oh you
don’t know who I am but you know we have
those opportunities and honestly that I
think that this was one of the best
balances that I’ve had in my life having
that personal and financial dynamic and
I was like wow you know I found success
and then I went to college and you know
left left home left the nest and kind of
definitely got out of my comfort zone
and had leveraged those I guess that
financial cushion that I had built for
myself and went over the top of that
needless to say so this was a taxidermy
leopard that we had in our dorm that
died of natural causes
so that is a disclaimer no animal was I
mean this was it was a natural cause
I just thought it’d be you know my
roommates family had owned an exact you
know animal ranch and it got bit by
staying so I thought what if we just put
it on the wall you know so I would just
do always over the top and just it
extravagance just always just been been
my thing and standing out regardless of
you know the reception of how that you
know may seem and you know kind of was
away from home away from you know the
the girlfriend and you know all those
things and started to really definitely
kind of explore the opportunities that
money would bring and realize how
temporary those things were and I you
know really start have those
realizations so while it was fun to go
out you know by you know
tables and everyone became your friend
you know when you when you buy a VIP
section everyone’s your friend but then
when those things don’t you know aren’t
there it becomes hard to determine so
eventually you know I kind of had this
coming to coming to God moment and had
realized that it wasn’t about you know I
was misinterpreting success in so many
different ways at first I thought it was
material and then I thought you know it
was all about fulfillment and then I
kind of realized it was nice to have
that mix between the two and then after
I lost the mix then it was you know back
to material and when I had the material
you know just I mean things or had never
been worse so it was just I was so
confused and it was hard to figure out
at such a young age and not having that
foundation and that guidance to really
understand that so that’s kind of what
my the reason why I got that tap tattoo
and when I got that it’s still here I’ve
gotten it removed yet but it’s I’d
rather just do it make the mistake learn
from a mistake because out of all the
mistakes I’ve had I think I’ve had ten
times the opportunity and I’ve had a lot
of like a lot more mistakes and I’d be
willing to admit I mean so I think it’s
just all about creating or but you know
your unreality if that’s you know
success and I think at the end of the
day everyone want success but what it
comes down to is what’s the
this means to you you know not everyone
wants to be allowed outspoken obnoxious
you know this and that’s fine and it’s
really about chasing what you really
want in understanding what you want so I
think I’ve kind of redefined success
personally is a balance and that’s
between happiness trials frustration
failure encourage so that’s how I
learned kind of my mission and my
purpose of success by going from you
know one in to the other and then ever
in between so thank you guys so much I appreciate