Will Waller is no stranger to adversity, but every time someone opened a door for him, he pushed that much harder toward his purpose. And now, he’s on a mission to create more opportunities for people with disabilities. Don’t miss this wide-ranging conversation as Billy and Will discuss current workforce challenges, the rise of remote work, the power of sports, how employers miss out on a talented, highly resilient portion of the labor market and how you can support the National Wheelchair Basketball Association moving forward.

Intro/Outro (00:05):

Welcome to the winning link, a show dedicated to dissecting business and leadership excellence. We take a deep dive into various aspects of business and operational excellence, current events and personal and leadership development topics. The guests on the podcast will be credible industry leaders and practitioners offering a portfolio of techniques and methods for positive growth.

Billy Taylor (00:30):

Welcome to the winning link. We’ve got an exciting guest today on the show. Uh, I, he needs no introduction, but, uh, Mr. Will Waller, he’s had a great career in business. Um, I’ve actually had the privilege of working with him and he’s taken his talents to another level, but I’m excited to have him on the winning link because he is a link to success. So I’m gonna let him introduce himself without any further ado. Mr. Will Waller.

Will Waller (00:56):

Thank you, Billy. I appreciate it. It’s a pleasure to be here with you today. Uh, to your point, I’ve had a pretty broad career, um, have spent 20 years doing corporate HR roles, uh, supporting different aspects of three fortune, one 50 organizations mm-hmm <affirmative> and I’m currently the CEO of the national wheelchair basketball association. And, uh, we’ll talk in a little bit about, uh, my journey in wheelchair basketball.

Billy Taylor (01:22):

Absolutely. I tell you, Mr. Mr. Waller is a, a master at building culture, uh, and, and shaping talent, uh, uh, but let’s, let’s start back to his journey. Uh, he’s been able to overcome, uh, diversity and use diversity as a platform to help others, uh, learn from his struggles and his challenges in life. And, uh, that’s kind of how we got, uh, uh, uh, connected, uh, over time and built a real side of relationship. So, so will, let’s go back and talk a little about, uh, your, your upbringing and, uh, you know, uh Will’s uh, he, he, he has, um, inspired many people from the LeBron James foundation where he, he talked to kids at, at the blimp hanger and, uh, he helped many kids, uh, basically build a platform for success in leveraging his challenges and how he overcame. So will tell me a little about you and your upbringing in, in Chicago,

Will Waller (02:22):

For sure. Well, uh, I like to say to people, first of all, uh, I’m not supposed to necessarily be where I am people, unfortunately, uh, who grow up in an impoverished background, which I did, uh, who grow up, uh, surrounded by a lot of negative influences, whether they be, uh, gangs, drugs, violence, uh, they don’t always get second chances. Um, but I’m fortunate enough to, uh, have had second, third, fourth and, and fifth chances. But, uh, I came up in an environment Billy where, uh, education, wasn’t not because, uh, people knew the benefit of education and chose to disregard it. It’s just that generation after generation in my family, unfortunately, hadn’t pursued education. So I didn’t have those examples of what education can do to open up doors for you. So I did the absolute bare minimum, uh, to get by in high school. I, uh, was one of the few people in my family that graduated with a high school diploma.

Will Waller (03:26):

And unfortunately, without a vision of what I could be or the confidence to pursue something beyond that from a, from a, um, uh, post-secondary education, I ended up going down the path that many people unfortunately go down, which is I joined a gang and I started selling drugs. And, uh, almost one year to the day, uh, from my graduation from high school, I ended up getting shot in a gang related shooting. And, uh, that ended up, uh, rendering me needing to use a wheelchair full time. So not sure if the camera can see it, but I’m sitting in my chair. And, uh, I recently hit the 30 year mark of, uh, of, uh, my disability journey. Um, so it was, um, it was, uh, a tragic situation, a situation that I didn’t know how to deal with at first. Um, but eventually, uh, came to open up a lot of doors for me,

Billy Taylor (04:22):

But, but you know, what, what what’s astounding for me is I always say will still standing, right? And, and it is just the way he carries himself from the minute he walked into the office building today. Um, Robin Robert said it best make your mess, your message. And I, I, I think you’ve done that better than anybody I’ve ever seen. Right? You, you, you talked about your journey, but your starting point is not definitely your, any point. And, and I’ll say this about you and this is coming from me, right. You’re probably going a lot further than you thought you could go, but now that, you know, you can compete, you ain’t going as far as you’re capable.

Will Waller (04:59):

I think that’s very true. And I, I think, um, I think sometimes you have to hit rock bottom, uh, to realize that there’s nowhere to go, but forward mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, um, and after I sustained my disability, I had two really difficult years, um, trying to figure out, you know, how to overcome the psychological setback. So a lot of people think about disability and they think physical barriers. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> these physical things that are gonna stop you. Um, my biggest barrier wasn’t physical at all. It was the constraints I was putting on myself mentally mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, which went on top of the constraints I already had on myself by not believing that I could be something. And, um, and it took a few different people believing in me and convincing me that I could do more than I thought was, was possible. And it was a combination of beginning to get my education in junior college and starting the sport of wheelchair basketball beginning to compete in it that I finally learned the, the relationship between hard work and results mm-hmm <affirmative> and slowly but surely that began to help me realize that there was more potential in me than ever thought possible.

Will Waller (06:13):

But if I was left to my own devices and my own thoughts and my own lack of positive beliefs, yes. Then I never would’ve made that connection between, between those things. But yeah, I’ve, I’ve come certainly, uh, a long way. And we could talk a bit about what that journey has looked like for me, but, uh, one thing that is absolutely clear, there’s still so much more to go, whether that be, you know, my own personal goals from a career perspective, mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, but, uh, you know, how, how well I want to be, uh, a father and what that looks like with my three kids, but most importantly, how many more lives can you touch through your own, uh, journey, because there’s a blessing and a lesson.

Billy Taylor (06:54):

Absolutely. Abso you know, I think about the context of business, and I’m gonna talk on two topics. We will today. One is corporate America and building teams, the value of that talent development, that value of inclusiveness. And then I’m gonna talk about the, uh, the wheelchair NBA, and, and in that journey and how he’s taking that journey. I remember watching you, uh, doing the Olympics right on, on social media. And so, but I’m gonna start back to corporate America, uh, the building of talent. You talked about how you invest in, in, in others. So, uh, gimme a little bit about corporate America. Why is it important of talent development and getting people on the front line with you?

Will Waller (07:35):

Well, I, I think first and foremost, uh, it’s the people of an organization that makes it tick, you know, so every organization has a mission, a vision values, you know, you can go on websites of every one of the fortune 500 companies, and you are gonna see that they’ve all checked the box as it relates to each of those things. You know, they either internally, they, they come up with it or some consultants will help pull it out of the leaders to kind of talk about, um, where they want to go and, and how they want to get there from a values perspective. Um, but at the end of the day, if you don’t truly convince the people who work at that organization, that they literally are the most crucial ingredient to the success of that organization, then you’re either gonna take longer than you want to get there.

Will Waller (08:29):

Absolutely. Or you’re never going to get there. Absolutely. Um, so any, any good HR professional or business professional is gonna have as one of their main sort of focus areas, attracting the best people, developing the best people, retaining the best people, um, through engagement strategies and, and things of the like, and it’s only those departments, those functions, those supervisors who truly not through what they say, right. But how they behave mm-hmm <affirmative> that are going to, um, convince the people who work in their, uh, department or organization that they matter. And, and why is that important? Because when you do you get more discretionary effort from those individuals mm-hmm <affirmative>, and, and that’s, that’s what makes, uh, the best organization successful.

Billy Taylor (09:17):

What do you think are some of the challenges, especially after COVID and, uh, the new way of working right. Zoom, right. Leaders that used to have command and control no longer have that, right. Do that camera. And it’s a combination of ownership, right. And when people own it, you get more out of it. So leaders that did not put people in a position where they included and felt they owned it. I always say in the apps of ownership comes blame when people don’t own it, they blame. And so when you look at the new workforce where people are now behind that screen, and you have to look at influence, right. Respect, trust, but you look at this new way of working, cause you have a deep understanding of human resources. What do you see as some of the challenges? It’s twofold question, some of the challenges and what are some of the recommendations now, uh, because now you are leading an organization, so you’ve got the, the whole, uh, sombrero now, so to speak. So,

Will Waller (10:15):

Yeah. Well, I think, I think first of all, what, what COVID and a lot of the virtual, um, reality, if you will, of work, uh, has done is it’s exposed the cracks that existed. So for the leaders who weren’t, uh, operating as a servant leader, mm-hmm <affirmative> to give their teams the tools and the resources that they need, the ones who were more of a top down hierarchical command and control, as you said, um, type of a leadership style, uh, what, what this virtual reality’s done is it’s exposed. The cracks that already existed, right. Is sort of put a bit of a, of a, of a microscope, you know, on it and, and kind of showed where some of those leadership gaps, if you will, mm-hmm <affirmative> may, may have existed. So, so first and foremost, uh, for those people who already struggled as leaders, or didn’t really see talent as the key differentiator, um, they’re probably struggling even more to retain the best talent and, and keep them on their team, whether they leave the organization or they move to a different department.

Will Waller (11:22):

Yes. Um, it’s, it’s probably created that type of an issue. And the other thing that I think a lot of them are confronting is that a global pandemic forces, everyone to take an inventory of what’s important. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so us individually, you know, various, uh, people who work in different organizations, they’re probably asking themselves, have I put my own personal goals enough, you know, high enough up on my own priority list, have I put family as enough of a priority, right. Because everyone’s lost someone. Yes. Everyone’s seen the struggle related to the pandemic and that forces people to take an inventory of what’s important. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so, uh, one of the challenges I think in general, is finding a way to get your workforce current and future, get them to prioritize work the way that they may have in the past. Yes. Everywhere you go. There’s a talent shortage.

Billy Taylor (12:18):

Absolutely.

Will Waller (12:18):

It’s because people are taking an inventory mm-hmm <affirmative> of what’s important to them. And I think, uh, a lot of organizations are also probably still trying to figure out, do we need everyone in the building, right. Or can we do this virtually mm-hmm <affirmative> and how do you arm leaders to be able to understand and, uh, learn how to handle a more distributed and virtual workforce? Mm-hmm

Billy Taylor (12:42):

<affirmative>, you know, it’s something I saw. I was watching some, two things I wanna talk about. One is you, you talked about the people, you and I were getting coffee and the person behind the counter heard a shirt on and said introvert, and you talk, you, you gave another word, but the person’s answer was I I’m only an extrovert when I’m getting paid. And I thought that was interesting because that, that that’s not sincere. Right. And, and, and it’s like, I, I, at the end of my Workday, I don’t want to talk. I don’t, I wouldn’t care if I didn’t talk to anyone. And I thought, wow, wow. Cause me, I have a two foot rule. You give then two feet to me. I say, hello. And it’s something my mother taught, man, there’s that you make people visible

Will Waller (13:25):

And they make you valuable.

Billy Taylor (13:26):

That’s right. And so we should talk about that. And so I was, that was really interesting to me, but I wanna go back to a com uh, a comment from Elon Musk, he, man, it mandated that everybody come back into the office. And then I, I thought, what that’s, that’s his confidence, his prerogative, but it was, it was, it was funny. His, his tweet, I think it was, was, he goes, well, if they don’t like it, they can pretend to work somewhere else.

Will Waller (13:50):

So, so it’s funny that you bring that up. I was, uh, scrolling through LinkedIn mm-hmm <affirmative> and there was a recruiter, an internal recruiter at United airlines. He posted the article that said what Elon Musk had declared. Right. Which is that everyone has to come back into work. And he said, United airlines is looking for people who, uh, wanna work virtually. So if you Tesla employees want to continue your virtual work situation, uh, come on over to United airlines and put the link in there on how they could find opportunities at United airlines. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so I, I think this is a perfect example of every organization has to decide what does the new, uh, way of work look like for them? Mm-hmm <affirmative> and I, and I understand, you know, Elon’s perspective, right. Uh, and, and, you know, it’s interesting that he’s in a much younger organization, you would think traditional hundred year plus organizations would be the ones that want everyone back quicker that’s right. Right. But, um, but it’s the reality of everyone has to decide what, what they want their work environment to look like. But the truth is people are gonna capitalize mm-hmm <affirmative> right. So the fact that you see another organization so quickly because of the war for talent, that still exists to this day already capitalizing on it and putting messages out to the people at Tesla. I just thought was really interesting.

Billy Taylor (15:13):

I am, because, you know, it’s a cutting edge, uh, labor society now. And what I mean by that, the dynamic of the workforce has truly changed and think about great, my great, great grandparents, right? They worked so that they could live. I talk about this, they had the farm, they had to go out and, and plant so that they could eat where you look at me, I worked so we could live, right. So I, I wanted to pay for my kids college, try to minimize their debt, put, give them a leg up my kids today. And the people that didn’t work for today, they work and live. And so by going virtual, the way they did it created the platform. So you could drop the kids off at school, pick them up. You may work later, but it was a work life balance. And, and you saw that. And that’s what created also the war on talent, because people wanna reserve that right. To work and live. And it’s the new society. And those companies that don’t do that, I think they would suffer some repercussions down the road. I think there’s a fine shift, a small shift or compromise, whatever you wanna call it to adjust to the new workforce. But how do you feel about that?

Will Waller (16:19):

Well, I, I think, um, I think every generation has a little bit of everything in it. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you know, so there’s still, you know, you hear about millennials and, and, you know, a lot of people like to poke at what they can’t do or what they won’t do and, and whatnot, but there’s really hard work in millennials too, right? Yes. So every generation is, is comprised of a lot of different work styles and whatnot. But, but what I think, um, what I think that this virtual work reality requires is that you have the right systems and tools and processes in place that allow for the people who do want to work their, uh, schedule in the office. You got the tools that allow them to effectively do that for the people who prefer to work either all the time at home, or in some type of a hybrid situation, 50 50, what have you, mm-hmm <affirmative> that those individuals also have the tools.

Will Waller (17:16):

So your tools are flexible to accommodate these different work styles, which are gonna become more and more standard or normal. Absolutely. You will. So how many times is a leader checking in for their one on one? How many times is that leader shifting that one-on-one to be more about what the employee is looking for versus what that leader needs from that employee so that they could hit their bonus at the end of the year. Um, and, and how do you create, uh, a performance management system and a talent management system that accommodates, uh, the culture of what you’re trying to create from a, from a performance and talent perspective? Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, instead of just relying on, well, I had it in the leader’s job description

Billy Taylor (18:02):

That’s

Will Waller (18:03):

Right. That they had to be an engaging leader. Well, okay. What’s that got to do with anything that’s right. Because once, once you got the job, no, one’s pulling the job description back out.

Billy Taylor (18:11):

That’s right.

Will Waller (18:12):

That’s right. And, and, and when, when these leaders are being assessed for their rewards at the end of the year mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, how many people did they retain on their team? Absolutely. Right. How many, how many people were promoted from within absolutely. How diverse, uh, does their team look mm-hmm <affirmative> right. How what’s the engagement, uh, survey say about how that leader leads? Absolutely. And so the, the systems have to go along with the words, you know, absolutely. That are stated as a value statement.

Billy Taylor (18:44):

Yes. Because I think there is also some gaps, some leaders get there fast and they don’t get developed. Right. And, and that’s a missed opportunity, especially with, with, with people, right? The, the, the, the war on talent is not going to go away. It is here to stay. Um, the mindsets are different, right. COVID changed a lot of mindsets. Um, you know, I wanna transition for a minute, uh, into right. The, the, the wheelchair NBA, because I want to give that some exposure, because what you’ve done in that role has been remarkable. And, and, and, you know, um, I definitely support it. Uh, we’ll be supporting it at the end of, uh, the podcast again today, just because I love what you’re doing so well, let’s talk about the w uh, NBA, the wheelchair NBA, and you’ve actually started to really give that a lot of exposure. I know you in Akron, and I’ve seen you all the way in Tokyo. Uh, so tell us a little about

Will Waller (19:44):

That. Yeah, well, I have the privilege and the honor to be the, the CEO of the national wheelchair basketball association, an organization that’s been around since 1949. So, uh, a lot of, uh, a lot of responsibility and weight goes into, um, playing a part in the history of, of the organization. And the mission of the organization is pretty simple. It’s to create access to sport for people with disabilities, but not just because, you know, playing, uh, games and, you know, competing for national championships and, and gold medals is important. The reason why we want to create access to sport for people with disabilities is because it’s proven that people who do participate get improved quality of life, whether that be relationships, education, or career outcomes, and, and ultimately makes them high upstanding, uh, members of society who contribute through their taxes to the <laugh>, to the, to the organization.

Will Waller (20:45):

But honestly, it it’s about making people fully integrated into society in all aspects of life. And sport builds the confidence in the tools in individuals. People know it doesn’t have to be adaptive sport. People who play any sport know that, right? The leadership skills, you get the communication skills, you get the teamwork skills you get. So, um, so that’s what the mission is. And, and that’s why we do the work, uh, that we’ve done. Uh, but I, I came into this role shortly after leaving Goodyear, uh, felt a desire to, uh, work a bit more on a passion of mine. And in fact, I’d say that, you know, it’s, it’s more of a purpose. Um, so for so much of my career, I was running from my past. Got you got, and then what, what has happened over time is I wanted to begin pushing towards my purpose.

Will Waller (21:39):

And, um, and what is that? We talked a bit early on in the discussion about, uh, my own journey in sport. And, um, the, the game literally saved my life. People who come from the background that I had typically, uh, they will end up in prison on drugs or dead. And I told you, I’ve had second, third, fourth, and, and fifth chances. But the one thing that gave me that aha moment, two plus years after, uh, being in a wheelchair, was getting on the court around other individuals who look like me, mm-hmm <affirmative> and feeling quote unquote, normal again.

Billy Taylor (22:21):

So, and that’s an interesting topic, and I’m gonna, I’m on save a little bit this later, cause I wanna have a little fun with this, but when you’re talking about diversity, equity and inclusion, when you said people that look like me, and he’s, you’re not talking about tone of your skin, he he’s talking about CD diversity equity inclusion is, is, is, is it covers, it covers multiple platforms. It’s no different than if you and I were in a foreign country and we both heard each other speak English, right. We started to migrate to each other from a standpoint of diversity, equity and inclusion. Cause we’re comfortable in that space. Right. But I’m gonna come back to that later. Did you play in the, uh, wheelchair NBA?

Will Waller (23:02):

Yeah, so I, um, my very first year, so two, two years after sustaining my disability, uh, after people tried to get me to get out multiple times, I finally caved in and on a Wednesday night, in 19 in the summer of 1994, I went out, uh, it’s in Addison, Illinois suburb of Chicago. And I played in my everyday chair. I had push handles on the back of it. It had armrest on it. It had breaks, looks nothing like my chair today. <laugh> and, uh, and I, and it had a backrest that came all the way up, like almost to my shoulders. Um, but it was the first time literally that I felt free and that I was instantly hooked. Um, I was hooked because, uh, it was competitive. Uh, there was a team aspect of it. I was talking trash, even though I was shooting air balls, <laugh> it didn’t, it didn’t matter.

Will Waller (23:56):

Um, and it gave me some feeling of connection and bond to other people, as I’m saying, that looked like me. And, and to your point on D E and I, I know we’re gonna come back to it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, it is people with disabilities are typically the afterthought for organizations, right? And there’s, there’s so many different segments of the population that, uh, it’s important for organizations that have a strategy for, but, you know, people with disabilities are usually phase two or phase three mm-hmm <affirmative>, despite the fact that, uh, one in four individuals have some type of a disability, one in four, the spending power of people with disabilities is the same as, uh, Latinos, African Americans, et cetera. So whether you think about the available population of people with disabilities yes. As a talent pool, or you think about them as a targeted market segment that you would be going after with your products and your storytelling mm-hmm <affirmative> people with disabilities should never be an afterthought,

Billy Taylor (24:56):

Right. That’s right.

Will Waller (24:58):

Yep. So, so, uh, so yeah, I, I used, uh, the sport, uh, for myself, it ended up opening up collegiate opportunities to be a, a, a student athlete in college at the university of Illinois. And, uh, it was there that I first got a tryout for the national team first for a world championship team, and then eventually for a Paralympic team. Um, but, uh, uh, I attribute all of the successes that I had to that introduction that occurred. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So when I say pushing towards my purpose and this role with the national wheelchair basketball association is because I wanna work as hard as I can to create more outlets of the sport so that people and communities throughout the country, when they’re ready mentally mm-hmm <affirmative> to give the sport a try, the sport is available for them in or near their community, so that they have the opportunity for that light bulb to go off mm-hmm <affirmative> that they’ve got potential and the sport can be a tool to help them pursue their potential.

Billy Taylor (26:05):

You know, we talked about the world on talent and you, you know, uh, one of my, my, as she diversity, uh, the head of diversity inclusion for Goodyear, um, my biggest, how I say the, the most, the thing that I’m most proud of was creating an environment where people could be their authentic self. Yeah. Through our employee resource groups, uh, people were comfortable being who they were and coming to work. I still get messages on LinkedIn. I still get personal emails from, from people from different backgrounds. Let’s talk about the opportunity for talent, uh, people hiring people with disabilities. And like you said, often is second tier it’s the second look. Yep. It shouldn’t be right because will Waller was talented period

Will Waller (26:53):

Fact just happened to have a disability fact.

Will Waller (26:57):

Yep. Yep. No, I think, um, I, at the end of the day, organizations all have to start somewhere mm-hmm <affirmative> right. And, uh, and people with disabilities, um, whether they’re the first phase, second phase, or what have you, as, as long as it’s listed in, they’re pursuing it sooner than later mm-hmm <affirmative> than, than I appreciate what organizations are doing. And I understand that it’s not hard mm-hmm <affirmative>, but for me, it’s a matter of people opening up their mindset and their aperture. Cuz when you think disability, the, the big misconception is the, the first things that come to someone’s mind are what someone can’t do. Right. So, so I get it that it, it’s not always gonna be first, but through exposure and awareness building and getting different people in to support them in educating them on disability. Um, people with disabilities are gonna be one of the most resilient, uh, groups of your employee base mm-hmm <affirmative> out of them all.

Will Waller (27:57):

So yes, we all have a story. You’ve got a story. Absolutely. I’ve got a story. Absolutely. You can see mine because I’m sitting in a wheelchair. Absolutely. But almost by definition, people with disabilities have had to overcome some extreme circumstance, whatever it may happen to be. Absolutely. And think about in that, that in the workforce, right. Someone’s got a project timeline, someone’s got a major initiative and they’ve gotta hit a KPI. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, some people are built for a challenge more than others through their experiences and whatnot and, and people with disabilities, uh, are a group who can handle pressure mm-hmm <affirmative> and, and they have perspective on what real pressure means. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, and, uh, and so to me, that’s, that’s just an important aspect of it. So when you think about a talent pool, um, what kind of talent pool you want, you want, you want a tough group of individuals. You want people who can deal with a crisis cuz they happen. Absolutely. Uh, you want people who, uh, can communicate challenge through challenge as well and whatnot. And, and so instead of thinking about people with disabilities and starting off with what they can’t do, right. If you just flip your mindset and, and understand, uh, most of their journeys, you’re gonna, you’re gonna end up pivoting to a mindset of what they can do. And then they, then they hopefully become a targeted resource for you. Mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, as you’re building out your team.

Billy Taylor (29:24):

Yes. What, what, what are some of the recommendations you’d give to a company? Uh, that’s looking to broaden their, their talent base. Yeah. That’s inclusive of people with, with

Will Waller (29:34):

Disabilities. Yeah. Well, I, I think it would first be, uh, educating yourself on how you can tap into some of those populations. I mean, so the national wheelchair basketball association is an organization with 3000 members. Certainly we’re an organization that has events that bring critical mass together. Um, we have not only that population of members, we have alumni and we have followers, some who have disabilities, some who don’t. So finding a way to tap into a database, if you will, mm-hmm <affirmative> and building early connections with this population so that when you do get opportunities that you wanna vet, you could potentially do it with a partner like the N w B a mm-hmm <affirmative>, but there’s many other organizations like ours. Um, universities have, uh, disabled student organizations. They have departments that focus on catering to this population as they’re going through their education process and whatnot. And then there’s other associations that are out there. So first and foremost, like any recruiting strategy, where does this talent, uh, exist? Where does it hang? What’s the best way to connect with that group? Right. So if, if we were trying to go after early career professionals who happened to be Latino or African American, uh, might be going to the society, Hispanic MBAs that’s right. You know, the black, national, black NBA mm-hmm <affirmative> right. So you, you figure out where’s the critical mass. Yes. And you go after it, disabil is no different. Gotcha.

Billy Taylor (31:06):

So, so let’s talk about I’m, I’m gonna stay with the, the, the, the theme of, uh, the national wheelchair basketball association. Give me some, gimme some, uh, an overview of your proudest moments since you’ve been in that role, uh, with the organization as a whole. Yeah. Because, and after that I’m gonna get into, you know, what are some of the challenges to taking it to the next level, right?

Will Waller (31:29):

Correct. Correct. Yeah. So, so first and foremost, I think, um, if, if you look at, when, when I first started the role, um, the organization had had an inverse relationship with revenue and expenses mm-hmm <affirmative> so the preceding seven years, uh, expenses exceeded revenue to the tune of in aggregate 1.4 million. Okay. So, uh, so in the negative, uh, to that extent, 2019 was the first, uh, full year in the role. And, uh, we ended up flipping that relationship and having a 200%, uh, improvement from, from where we were. Um, so the first time that we had been in the black for, uh, for an extended period of time. So, so by doing that, and by no means, was that an individual accomplishment, there was a group of individuals that participated mm-hmm <affirmative> in that success. Um, everyone knows what happened in 2020, the pandemic hit, but had we not changed that trajectory, uh, from a revenue and expense perspective, we may not have made it through the pandemic.

Billy Taylor (32:36):

Got

Will Waller (32:36):

You. Um, so, so that’s probably the, the biggest, but then you say, okay, well, life still has to go on. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so, yeah, you’re in the pandemic, um, in the pandemic with, uh, a population of people who have more underlying conditions and whatnot. So how do you reintroduce the sport in a safe way? Yes. Uh, for your population and make it available for those people who still want to participate, they can. And for those people who don’t, that there’s no negative consequence to those people who don’t, they wanna focus on their health and safety. We appreciate that. We respect that. Um, but you know, we had this little thing called the Paralympics that took place as well. Everyone knows, well, most people do that. The 20, 20 games, they were still called the 2020 games, but they were moved into 2021. Yes. They took place at the same time in the year that they were supposed to.

Will Waller (33:29):

Uh, but the, the USA national teams or the USA Paralympic teams, we were the only country in the sport of wheelchair basketball to go to Tokyo and return with two medals. Uh, so from a, from an accomplishment perspective, mm-hmm, <affirmative> the staff and the athletes and, and the people behind the scenes all did a, a great job of coming up with creative waves to make sure that the teams could still train mm-hmm <affirmative> and, uh, bring their best selves in an environment where everyone’s questioning what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Yes. Um, to still be able to go to Tokyo and put their best effort, uh, on display for the world to see which by the way, NBC did an incredible job with coverage funded by the support of Toyota. Who’s a sponsor of the N w B a, um, more people had a chance to see the Paralympics, but also the sport of wheelchair basketball than ever before in the United States.

Will Waller (34:25):

And so I’d say not only did we perform well, right. And come home with those two medals, but we did it with more eyeballs on the sport than ever before. And, and it’s great because more people got to see it, but why is that great? Because there’s a young woman or a young man at some point throughout the country, uh, who didn’t know that the sport existed before mm-hmm <affirmative> and they got to see people who look like them that’s right on the television. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, moving freely, being mobile. Yeah. They’re sitting down, they’re strapped in they’re in a wheelchair, but they see a different version of themselves in these heroes and shees that they get to see on the television. Yes. And, and that’s why that awareness that Toyota, uh, provided was so important. So, so I feel really great about all of that.

Will Waller (35:17):

And then when you, when you pivot into the challenges, how do you raise enough revenue so that you can build the tools and resources and competencies and the current member base of the member teams, but also those tools and resources for people who are thinking about starting programs throughout other areas of the country, it’s all about bringing in enough money. So we, we could write down the best strategy in the world. Right? Right. A lot of smart people in, in our organization. And we could come up with 75 different, great initiatives that all make sense. But if you don’t have the revenue to fund that, then it’s, it’s only really good words on a sheet of paper.

Billy Taylor (35:59):

Yeah. You know, I, I, I, I support because I don’t look at it as even a donation. I look at it as an investment. Right. Uh, everyone, I know everybody, I know that has someone in, in their family that has some type of disability. You said it yourself, right. Every one out of four, right. You just can see, uh, yours. Right. When you say you sitting in a wheelchair, but investing in those, those people, uh, that’s why I contribute. So how do people contribute? How, how would they donate to, to help?

Will Waller (36:31):

Well, we’re gonna drop a link in the description okay. Of this, of this, uh, podcast. And, and that’s, uh, one way, another way is really, uh, simple. You can go to nwba.org/donate, and there’s a way to give there. But one of the things that, uh, we’ve also done is partnered with people’s donor advised funds. They have different organizations that work with, uh, people’s portfolios and, and things of the like mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we’ve worked with various organizations that manage a donor advised fund, but we’ve also come up with a process and tools where if somebody wants to make a donation with their stock, uh, as they’re thinking about managing and mitigating all the capital gains that they may have in their portfolio, um, they can make a stock donation directly to us. And because we’re a, a nonprofit 5 0 1 C three, we can then transact that stock and there’d be no capital gains impact to them. And it’s a write off for the individuals. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so a

Billy Taylor (37:34):

Win-win.

Will Waller (37:35):

Yeah, absolutely. So you, you have the opportunity to give to a great cause that changes lives, and you have the opportunity to do it in a way where it might provide some tax benefit, uh, to you and, uh, and yeah. And then there’s other ways to get involved. Right. So when you talk about giving you talk about time, talent, and treasure, absolutely. What we’ve just described is, uh, the monetary aspect of giving, but there’s information on our website nwba.org/donate, where you could also learn how to, uh, volunteer for a local organization, or find other ways to get involved with your thoughtware and, and your, uh, thought leadership.

Billy Taylor (38:16):

I like that. So, well, you’re an exciting and dynamic guy to talk to. So how do people get in contact with you?

Will Waller (38:22):

Uh, well, the, the easiest way to get in contact with me is over email and that’s will, will waller.com. Okay. And, uh, and I’d be happy, you know, if people are considering wanting to help their organization on their disability journey, happy to offer my insights, happy to connect them with other individuals, uh, for me, at the end of the day, it’s about creating more access, uh, to opportunity for people with disabilities. I’ve been the beneficiary of many people, opening doors for me, mm-hmm <affirmative>, and I’ve had to push through ’em and, and do the work and all of that. But the truth is without them ever being opened in the first place will Waller would not be, will Waller. So for me, I just want to facilitate that process for as many people as possible and help those individuals realize they have potential mm-hmm <affirmative> and help them go after pursuing it.

Billy Taylor (39:13):

I love it. Well, I’m going to hit that link that we will talked about, uh, as an investment. And well, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and what you’ve done. Um, I remember you being at the, uh, blump hanger and you were talking to kids and kids were looking at you. They may not have been, uh, what they, what they’d say in the confines of a wheelchair, but they were in the confines of something else and you showed them how to release themselves, right. Because that’s important. Uh, and I’m gonna end with DNI, right? Uh, diversity, uh, is who makes things happen? Inclusion is what makes things happen, right? And if you don’t put everybody in that, I tell people I have 13 degrees when I was working in north America. And I said, a pretty smart guy. I said, I was smart enough to earn two. And I hired 11, and I used all 13 of those degrees. And that’s what inclusion is because I hired also to compliment me, right. Not to compete with me. And I, I, I let everybody come to the table because like I say, I’m an end with, if you make people visible

Will Waller (40:19):

That make you valuable.

Billy Taylor (40:20):

So I tell you what, well thank you for being on the show. Uh, this episode is an exciting one for me, reach out to will those that, uh, want to continue the discussion and hear more about the, the, the wheelchair national basketball association are just to touch base with, will around the talent, the war on talent. And so with that said, I hope you enjoyed the winning league because will Waller is a winning link. Have a good

Will Waller (40:45):

One. Thank you, Billy. All

Billy Taylor (40:47):

Right. Thank you.

Intro/Outro (40:49):

Thank you for listening to the winning link. Please go to our website for links to everything that was mentioned in today’s episode, please subscribe to the winning link to be notified of our latest news events and updates. We welcome you to the link team.