Potential was Present Before the Pathway was Clear
Dr. Dwan Anthony Jordon reflects on mentorship, educational leadership, and his recent appearance on America in Black and White.
One of my earliest memories is my mother teaching me to pray.
We prayed together. She also read to me every night. I knew some of those books so well that I could pick one up and repeat it from beginning to end. People thought I was reading. Much of it was memory, but something important was already developing: language, confidence, and a love of books.
Later, I was the student reading poems at assemblies.
By junior high and high school, however, I was a capable young person without a clear direction. The potential was still there. I needed more guidance about what to do with it.
That distinction has shaped my life’s work.
People helped me see a future
A band teacher used my interest in music to keep me engaged. He invested time and became a father figure. Years later, he played at my mother’s funeral.
Two houses down lived Mr. Sullivan and his wife. They encouraged college, took me to church, put me in programs, and exposed me to possibilities I had not seen.
At first, college did not feel like a future that belonged to me. No one in my family had done it. The Sullivans kept making the possibility more concrete.
Shaw University changed my trajectory. So did Mr. Goode, who helped build my confidence and placed me in settings where my ability could become visible.
These people did more than encourage me. They invested time, created exposure, and helped me take the next step.
Receiving opportunity creates a responsibility
I recently joined Charles King on America in Black and White. Preparing for that conversation brought me back to the relationship between my personal journey and my professional commitments.
I did not enter education through a perfectly planned career path.
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An internship introduced me to work inside a school. After graduation, I became a substitute teacher in a classroom that had already experienced repeated teacher changes. A principal saw something in me, encouraged me to pursue teacher preparation, and later helped develop me toward leadership.
I have tried to carry that investment forward.
As a teacher, principal, and educational leader, I have worked to help students recognize possibilities beyond their current performance. I have also helped educators prepare for responsibilities they had not yet held.
That requires more than telling someone they have potential. It requires honest feedback, preparation, access, and support.
Building opportunity must become dependable
My writing and research keep returning to this question: how can institutions make guidance and opportunity more reliable?
A student should understand the path toward graduation before a scheduling mistake becomes a crisis. An educator should receive useful feedback before a difficulty becomes a permanent judgment. A developing leader should have opportunities to learn how decisions are made before being expected to make them alone.
Building Opportunity expresses that commitment.
Leadership Under Real Conditions examines what it requires when leaders face pressure, competing obligations, institutional politics, and imperfect information.
The adults who invested in me could not remove every obstacle. They helped me see possibilities, prepare for them, and move toward them.
Today, I want to help build institutions that do that work deliberately.
Potential was present before the pathway was clear.
Leadership carries a responsibility to help connect the two.
Watch my conversation with Charles King on America in Black and White:
https://www.dwanjordon.com/podcasts
About the author
Dr. Dwan Anthony Jordon is an educational leader, researcher, and author whose work focuses on leadership development, organizational conditions, mentorship, and building opportunity. Explore his writing, research, and speaking work at www.dwanjordon.com.
