Doing the Hard Stuff
Marcus Robinson, principal of Robinson Financial Group, doesn’t shy away from the hard questions.
2020 has thrown everyone for a loop—you don’t need me to tell you why. I’ve kept this blog dark for a few months because I felt it was more important to leave open space those whose messages really count right now—our medical and public health professionals and peacemakers. Nattering on about book development and copywriting and branding seemed trivial and counterproductive.
But a while ago, a professional I respect—Marcus Robinson, principal at Robinson Financial Group, posted a video message on his professional Facebook channel that was so off-brand, so heartfelt and difficult, it stunned me and reduced me to tears. And made me think.
Professional branding and marketing are in large part about making your audience feel comfortable, and that’s one thing Marcus’s video definitely didn’t do. But there was an urgent and critical reason why he did it, even at the risk of alienating some of his clients. Watch his video for yourself and you’ll see why.
After watching his video, I just had to ask Marcus: Why? Why go online and share what had to be some of the most terrifying and humiliating moments of your life with an audience that wants to hear about life insurance and financial planning?
In short, he told me, after viewing the video of George Floyd’s murder and the uproar that followed, he felt a need to share some of the similarly disturbing events from his own life.
“The truth of the matter is, I hadn't even told my wife about some of that stuff,” Marcus said. “You try to suppress it and forget about it and kind of keep it out of sight and out of mind. But I realized that I needed to not be hypocritical and tell my truth and tell my experience.”
But this wasn’t an easy experience for him.
“I needed to get some of that stuff off of my chest, so it was therapeutic for me. But it was it was challenging—the first video I did, I did not do live. I recorded it, and I couldn't even make it through. The truth is I was crying like a baby. It was that traumatizing.
“So by the time I got to do it live, I was I was much more refined. I had talked to my wife about it, I had talked to a couple different people about it. And so I was able to articulate and express it differently and better than I had originally on my first recording. It was a challenge, to say the least. But I have a lot of friends and families members that have those same stories. And they have those same challenges.”
Marcus said he has no regrets about sharing his stories. He added that it garnered largely positive responses, including some serious heart-to-heart conversations with White friends grappling with the uncomfortable reality of being a Black man in America.
“The truth of the matter is the healing comes by conversation,” he said. “It really starts the process. Maybe it’s not complete healing, but it at least it starts that process, which I think is important. And a lot of people might never have met anyone who'd had that kind of experience. Now they can say, ‘oh, my gosh, this is a guy I know—it's a guy who's respected and who I respect, and this happens to him.’ So now they know it's a real thing.”
Serious conversations are nothing new for Marcus—as a life insurance specialist, part of his job is helping his clients and prospects work through the tough questions about what they want to leave their loved ones at the end of their lives. But there’s a through line connecting his surprising video with his daily conversations with clients—making one’s legacy and life experience count in a positive and constructive way.
And as a storyteller, I knew that the most important and impactful stories are often the most uncomfortable ones—and Marcus’ story is one that deserves to be told and heard.
And one last parting thought: Black Lives Matter.
And no, this doesn’t mean your life matters any less if you’re not Black. Compassion is not a pie—sharing more with others doesn’t mean there’s less for you.
Seriously. You know that, right?