Mick Unplugged - Dream Bigger: Janice Bryant Howroyd’s Success Code

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Janice Bryant Howroyd is a pioneering entrepreneur, global business leader, and fierce advocate for equity. As the founder and CEO of the ActOne Group, she became the first African American woman to own and operate a billion-dollar business, transforming a $900 loan into a multibillion-dollar global workforce solutions company operating in over 47 countries. An innovator in staffing and technology, Janice credits her family and humble beginnings in Tarboro, North Carolina, for shaping her values of resilience, ethical entrepreneurship, and the power of culture. Her personal mantra—never compromise who you are personally to become who you wish to be professionally—has inspired countless entrepreneurs and leaders worldwide. Takeaways: Authenticity Drives Success: Janice emphasizes the importance of staying true to oneself, advocating that you should never compromise personal values for professional aspirations. Culture is Foundational: According to Janice, company culture isn’t just a branding exercise—it’s woven into every action, relationship, and decision, impacting both business results and personal fulfillment. Service and Purpose Matter Most: Real success, in Janice’s view, is measured not by wealth but by the impact on family, community, and integrity—the worthy realization of a worthy ideal.  Sound Bites: “Together we win” isn’t just a Bryant family theme; it became a cornerstone of her billion-dollar business. Her FEET philosophy (Freedom to innovate, Excellence in delivery, Everyone and everything matters, Time to understand) is the actionable framework driving her company’s growth and culture. Success is less about financial achievement and more about aligning with a higher purpose and uplifting those around you. Connect & Discover Janice: Podcast: Ask JBH Instagram: @jbryanthowroyd LinkedIn: @janicebryanthowroyd Book: Acting Up: Winning in Business and Life Using Down-Home Wisdom Facebook: @JaniceBryantHowroyd 🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥   Mick Hunt’s BEST SELLING book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers. 👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million   FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: @mickunplugged  Facebook: @mickunplugged YouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast  LinkedIn: @mickhunt  Website:  MickHuntOfficial.com Apple: MickUnplugged Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What will you do with your yes? Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes terms and conditions apply ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another episode of mick unplugged and this episode is very touching for me on many ways i'm talking to the queen she turned a nine hundred dollar loan into a billion dollar enterprise becoming the first african-american woman to own and operate a billion dollar business she's a trailblazer and staffing a fierce advocate for equity and a leadership icon who's redefined what's possible she's brilliant, he's bold, legendary, she is the queen.

We're talking to none other, Ms. Janice, Bryant, Alroy. J.B.H., how are you doing today, dear? Wonderful, Mick. What an introduction. Wow, thank you. It's a revisit for me, actually. You mentioned staffing. You mentioned a billion dollars. And I think about what that meant when I first realized that was happening in the company. By the way, it wasn't just me. It was the incredible team of people who worked within the Act 1. group. And here we are now at a multi-billion dollar company operating in over 43 countries, and we're primarily providing technology solutions and the technology itself to enable companies

to plan, to hire, and to retain workforces they desire. And we're also delivering agenda to solutions as part of that, how work gets done environment that we operate within. So thank you for the revisit as well as an incredible introduction, Mick. Absolutely. So innovative, so cutting edge in everything that you do. And, you know, I've been a huge fan of you all of my life, studied you, I became an entrepreneur, a lot based on some of the wisdom and teaching that you were showing, not just telling.

And that's why I love you with all of my soul. And I know that entrepreneurship for you didn't start in 1978 when you started the company. I know that you had a moment in the 11th grade when you realized there was something for you. I'd love for you to just talk to us a little bit about those beginnings. But in particular, when you knew that there's something bigger. You know, earlier I was talking with the gentleman who has had an amazing transformation. his life and by doing so has transformed the lives of others and transformation is the big word right now all companies are doing it AI is encouraging it sometimes forcing it but always providing a support

to it for us now it's not a new thing although people talk about it is new it's been around for a while and that's how i look at my journey of entrepreneurship while i really became inspired that I would do something with my life that would be a light about who we are as a people. At that time, who we are was referring to us as black people in the South. Today, it refers to us as entrepreneurial people who want to do good. I'm sitting right now in conclave in Mexico with entrepreneurs who are looking at how we build democracy forward in an ethical and inclusive way. And so my journey, though, to entrepreneurship started before I was born, and I didn't realize it, Mick, until much later, in talking with my mom.

I didn't value back that when my grandma Dora and my grandpa Dan were running a barbecue house over on Panola Street in Tower, North Carolina, and they served white people at their dining room table, and they delivered. place to black people based on what the black people's income was, not based on what the food costs, because they knew they'd get around to making it up somehow. I saw them practicing their version of ethical entrepreneurship. I saw them practicing their version of building forward for their family and taking care of their community in ways that certainly became a part of my emotional mindset, my academic mindset didn't capture it all until I was later sitting in a class at North Carolina, A&T State University, Aggie party. Aguette, right? Let's go.

The instructor gave some data that referenced what poverty line was. And just as you're doing, I tilted my head back and I thought, oh my, according to this data, we are poor. Yet in my community, I actually thought we were rich. We certainly were enriched by what mom and dad were teaching and giving to us. And we ate better than many wealthy people do now because we were growing food. We figured out how to grow stuff four seasons out of the year back there in the deep south. And we, I said often publicly, you know, my mama was planting these gardens in her yard long before Michelle planted one at the White house. And so, you know, I just really thought about life differently sitting in that class.

And that was an epic moment for me that, again, as you mentioned, fed back to the 11th grade. When I was, and for your listeners who are not familiar with what you're referencing, my 11th grade year, I was one of the few students who participated in the integration of the schools in my hometown. And so I was it for the 11th grade. And it was probably the worst year of my life aside from the year that people who I've loved have the years, people who I loved have transcended. But it was worse even than that in ways because it was the killing of dreams and my soul that occurred in that room. And my dad was so brilliant at building me back up. And dad had this incredible way.

I think it was a blessing, actually, that he had a gift. of not just with me, but in particular me in this moment, building a person up from a really low and sad place by painting the picture of their potential and giving them the evidence of how they could move forward. And that's what he did for me that year. It was one of the most building years of my life as a human, and I think it impacted how I look at humanity today.

My dad taught me to love people who were actively, physically, socially hating me. And I learned something from him that later was epitomized in a couple of lines out of a book called As a Man Thinking. I gained the right to rewrite that book into as a person thinking. And what those two lines say is we think in secret. and it comes to pass, environment is but our looking class. And he taught me that if I didn't like what I was seeing around me, that it was within my capacity and my responsibility. And we were very Bible-based and Christian then, as I remained today.

And so he taught us that it was a responsibility as well as an ability to build forward and to be inclusive. And don't hate people because you hate them, because that's a sickness and that's an illness they have. There was no pushover, mind you. You didn't want to get on the wrong side of Mr. John Hardy, Brian. He didn't do what he needed to do. I think importantly, he loved his family and he taught us to be together.

One of the main themes in my company throughout the years has been together. We win. That started. That was formulated in my home. There were 11 kids, one mom, one dad. That's how we did it back then. and together we win was kind of a Bryant household theme. And that meant that if your siblings weren't getting good grades in school,

then you couldn't brag about the grades you got until you helped them get it. If somebody didn't finish cleaning the kitchen properly, then you had to get in there and help them. And each of the older ones had a younger one who we were responsible for, and it wasn't just about getting homework done. It was about making sure they were clean. They were properly practicing hygiene, that they were. completing their chores, and primarily they were holding a positive attitude toward life.

Never did I imagine how mom and dad so, so absolutely fanatical about us keeping a positive attitude would impact my life as I journeyed away from that small hometown. And now, as I've said, have opened in over four. I said 43 countries were actually in over 47. 47. That's amazing. You've never had a girl from Taubour, North Carolina. Let's go.

Let's go. Tarborough stand up. JV.H., you don't know this, but you're probably the most quoted person in my household. I have looked up to you, like I said, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur for quite a long time. And you have something that's a core pillar in not just my household, but the four companies that I run, too. You have this quote and you say, never compromise who you are personally or who you want to be professionally. When you're flying Emirates business class, relaxing in an exclusive airport lounge, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better.

And that's a pillar for who we are in my businesses as well, because I need all of my teammates. I don't call them employees. I need all of my teammates to understand. I want you to be the best human being that you can be first and foremost. Because that's a part of our culture. And culture runs our business, not me, not you. It's who you are as a human being.

And I would love for you to elaborate on that quote because it changed my life. It made me when I started my first company, it made me understand you have dreams, you have visions, but don't compromise who you. you are. And then who I am is who my business is too. You're so on point there. And, you know, thank you and thank God that you find something that I do that is worthy of expressing that forward in how you're living your home and how

you're living your business. That examples a lot about your own personal culture. May I, in preface to talking about that statement, because that is my life mantra. Just talk a little bit about culture. Culture is often referred to as something we can get around to or something we can have a marketing team design for us when we're in business. It's often referred to as a very social singular thing when we're talking about communities or individuals when in fact it encompasses everything about us. It is how we live, you know. And so culture. is important because it also is a very threadable and a very expanding

thing for us. And you try to sell something into a community without understanding its culture. You're going to go flat broke. You try to sell an idea. You try to sell a relationship into someone's home or someone's person without understanding their culture and you're going to get closed down. And chance

are you'll be closed down long before you realize that your trying is in vain. And so how that feeds into who we are personally is about making certain that we don't, you know, there's a lot of conversation about appropriating as well and we can get so granular in how we look at relationships. What I found in my life, Meg, is that we need to get in touch with who we are. That's where all the strength. That's where all the growth. That's where all the pain can be healed is when we understand who we are. And so I came to, I'm sitting in Mexico right now. I left the East Coast for the West Coast in the 70s and the 1970s. And I arrived in Los Angeles in the middle of what was very exciting time for my sister and her husband. They were in.

in the entertainment industry, and I met so many stars, people who I'd read about in Jet Magazine and seen on the cover of Ebony Magazine, the scene on TV. I was meeting these people, and I was meeting people who were mixing, marrying, working, building across races as well as across their talents. And so it was an exotic time for me as well. And I looked at them and I felt so different than them because here I was, as I mentioned earlier, a Navajo a color girl from October or North Carolina talking very southern. And my husband used to say he could tell when I'd been on the phone with my mama because it took me two or three hours to get my standard American English cut back in place. And I look at them and I realized I'm not

going to be these people. I am me. I ain't going to have straight water wave hair. I ain't going to have bright white skin. I ain't going to have light eyes. And you know, I'm probably going to keep the hips and boobs too, you know. And so I just thought that was so surface about how I was looking at myself, because that was how people got the opportunity to move forward in that industry, how you look matter a lot. And Peaches and Herd, who went out on the rose singing weren't peaches and her who were singing in the studio. And so, you know, I thought to myself, what am I going to do? And my brother-in-law said to me, you owe it to yourself to prove yourself before you go back. Mind you, I come to the West Coast on a vacation.

Still on that vacation, Mick. Look at life. Look at God. And so I determined that I couldn't value myself out of opportunities because of how I look. I had to understand about who's I was and not just who I was and the disrespect to my parents, to my ancestors, to my creator, and to my opportunities by devaluing me and changing me to look a certain way or behave a certain way. way in order to get ahead in life. And I'm so glad that my sister and I had many evenings, many of them with tears, many of them with laughter, working on me, doing the work on me to help me to realize that that person who I was in Taubour and North Carolina was the person

I was designed to be. And it's how far I thought I could take her that made the difference, not how far someone else thought. And so I decided that I would never compromise who I was personally on my values in order to become who I wish to be professionally. And it enabled me by doing that to let go of the hostage I held myself to around things like appearance, things like personal culture. I was able, once I accepted, my culture was good. And then once I celebrated that it came from a strong and enduring place to be able to

identify who I was inside. And some people, that's a flip side journey for them. When I arrived in Los Angeles back in the mid-70s, it was a very visually stimulating place. And so it threw me in the face and it gave me an opportunity to decide, who am I? What do I stand for? And in my company today, we have a credo that we stand on these feet. And that's how we grow forward. And feet, F, E, E, E, T is F, freedom to innovate, E, excellence in delivery,

E, because everyone and everything matters. T, invest the time to understand. F, E, E, T. Now, when you give a person freedom to innovate, you are basically saying you have permission to make mistakes, make them fast, be transparent about them, and let's all learn how we grow from them. Sticky note pads that many people use to this day,

even in this digital age. We're an accident at one of the national entities where we do exploration, and it was an attempt to look for how to put planes together with glue. And some folks from 3EM walked in, and they said, wow, this, we can commercialize, we can monetize it. They didn't see the value in it as scientists,

because it wasn't achieving what they looked at having it to solve. But 3M said this is exactly something we can innovate from and built a multi-million dollar empire on somebody else's mistake. And so giving people the freedom to innovate and allowing everyone that opportunity is valuable, whether you're doing that in a personal or a business relationship. Excellence in delivery, the young man I talked with Earl. at the day Shaka said it better than I can.

I paraphrase him, but he said, why settle for good enough when excellence can be yours? You know? And so we look to deliver excellence by encouraging each other to be our best in our company. And I think it works well in your personal life. And then everyone and everything matters. it's in the details Mick it's in the details you think you're rolling

you think you're doing so great but it can be that one little thing that you were thoughtless to unaware of or had no knowledge about that can paralyze the opportunity can hurt somebody

can lose you the deal and so everyone and everything matters years ago when I would go into Sanford's Francisco on an early morning United flight from L.A. and then catch the United flight back that same day. You could do that in, you know, the matter of a couple of hours. Now it takes you a couple of hours to get through security. Wow, those were the days. I mean, I'd go into the large buildings there

and I'd notice people rushing by and signing in. They had receptionists at the front entry. And I never noticed people saying hello or engaging well with the receptionist. And we'd always stop my team and I. We'd take time. How are you doing? You know, how's Joe, your little poor? Oh, last month you said, did he make it? Did he make it on the team? Those kinds of things, you know. And one lady said, oh, you always smell so good and your breath is so fresh.

I never thought about the impact of people's breath on a receptionist, right? And I handed her a packet of gum that I had. I said, this is what I use. And she loved it. And, you know, so when I came back, she said, oh, I look at her chatting with it. She also told me everybody who've been in before me to make a presentation, what their energy was, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And I didn't ask her for that. She felt that we were in a community.

She felt we had a culture of shared experiences. She'd rathered to read about me. She knew that I come from humble beginnings as had she, and she knew that I was an example of who she could become. But most importantly, she knew she mattered. She knew she mattered in my life. And boy, did she prove it because actually, we want a contract in large part because of that young lady being so thoughtful and so caring to help us to understand that one of the people we were going to be going in to present to

had a particular crisis they were dealing with. And we were able to be sensitive to that, that showed that company that we were going to be sensitive to how we demonstrated our expertise and not just go in there and try to, you know, show them stuff. And that kind of leans into time to understand. You know, time is the most precious. commodity, yet it is one that all of us have. And we share that same amount by day, depending on how we separate our days. Sometimes I think we work five day weeks and have longer hours

than a day when we blur the lines of when we start and finish. Time is something that is so important. We have but amount of it, but a certain amount of it on Earth. And I think how we invest it is so important. I no longer spend time. I invest time. When I talk with my employees, I remind them, you know, it's okay if you want to spend stuff. But make sure you're only spending 10% of it. 90% of it has to be invested. You have to be thoughtful. You have to be intentional. You have to be caring about how you invest your time. It's one of your most And I'm really grateful for the time that you're allowing me to share with you, Mick. This is a masterclass.

I'm over here taking notes on everything that you, because, again, you are like that mentor that you didn't know that you were to me. And so we're going to have one of my companies, we're having a team meeting tomorrow and we're going to talk about feet. Oh, beautiful, beautiful. You know, it's a measurable thing for us. Oftentimes you go into environments and you see things on the wall, especially pre-COVID, and you see how people brand themselves. And, you know, it's kind of sad when those occurrences happen that they are purchased ideas, but they are not practiced ideals.

and companies put logos and mottos up all around because they're catchy. They catch the attention. They catch the niche that someone's looking for. Or you're giving it all to your external customers and never delivering it to your employees who are your internal customers. We're all customers to each other, you know. And so we measure feet. It's how we get paid.

It's not just what we tell clients about how we operate. I love it. I love it. I mean, again, this is something I'm going to incorporate because it's one of those must-have things. If you really have a culture of trust, if you have a culture of transparency, to me, it starts with your feet. No pun intended. Absolutely. That's how you get.

Each step of your growth is determined by your feet. Yes. Absolutely. Again, this is a masterclass. You know, I normally ask this question at the beginning, but I wanted to ask you this now. You know, I asked my guest, what's your because? That thing that's deeper than your why, right? Simon Seneca wrote a book, start with why, and I think it became a phenomenon. We talk about your why. To me, that's cute, but your because to me is deeper. Your because is your purpose. It's that mission that drives you. Right. If I were to say, You know, what's your why? People tell me their kids, their spouse, their family. But when I say, but why, it usually starts with, well, because, blah, blah, blah, blah. I care about the because. So if I were to say, Ms. Janice, today, why do you keep doing what you do?

What's your because? What's that purpose that keeps you igniting and inspiring the millions that you do? is because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Staying close to my basic belief. We started our conversation, Mick, around my personal mantra, never compromising who you are personally to become who you wish to be professionally. The beauty, the joy, the freedom of, Shaka said to me earlier today, you know, I was in prison when there were no walls and I was free when the doors were locked.

I get to decide. He learned from his studying of Mandela that his mind was so crucial to how he saw himself and how he saw himself. was crucial to how he elevated himself, above the circumstances, above the past, and beyond the limitations. And that's so important to know, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's my because. That's my because, Mick. And when you do things through Christ, you've got to study the whole text and the context. Yes. Okay.

I'm not saying I can do all things because some things aren't proper for me to do as me, you know, but I can do all things. When I seek to, and, you know, I'm Bible-based and we are taught, Seiki first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you, people often will speak about me in terms of what they see I've done in my life. I measure my success by what I've done with my life. And I do believe that it's so important for us, no matter where we find ourselves, whether that is in the context of society, in the context of politics, in the context of finance and business, wherever we find ourselves, seeking first the kingdom of Christ for me is important. If that's not your measure, find out what that thing is that is higher than you, that is bigger than you, and that is embracing of you that you can aspire to. Years ago, a young man in my company, Zia Islam, shared something with me that I've kept forever.

And Zia, I asked Zia, how did you find your strength, Zia, during certain circumstances? And he shared with me, his father had taught him, Zia, never chase the money, let the money chase you. And I've thought on that for years because people so, they find it complimentary, think it complimentary, and find it so casual to, speak about my success in terms of the billions of dollars that my company generates a year, volumes out at a year, or the billions of dollars that the entrepreneurs who I've mentored aggregate over a year. The truth is, if those entrepreneurs aren't happy, if they're not going home to families they treasure and who know they are treasured, If my grandbabies don't know me because my children don't want to know me, if those things are occurring in my life, then any measure of gold is not going to satisfy success for me.

Success is the worthy realization of a worthy ideal. And I learned that through study. That wasn't me, you know, who thought of that. Earl Nightingale put that in front of me years ago. And so when you live with that measurement, make no mistake. We've got to do the finance. We've got to keep the numbers if you're in business. We're not talking about, you know, just working on faith.

Faith without works is dead. But it's about finding that balance about where you are and who you are that allows you to continue to elevate. And you come from an environment as I do. If you say you grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and I'm in Tarver, North Carolina. Carolina, we both come from a community and a mind and a culture that taught us we can do well and do good at the same time. And in my house, it was, if you're doing well, be certain you're doing good at the same time. So I don't know if I've answered you, but I share it with you

transparently my truth. J.B.H, again, this has been a master class. I have so many notes. I have so many takeaways. I know the viewers and listeners are receiving this as well, too. I also know you talk about time being your best asset. You took time to be with us today. And again, you have no idea what that means. I just, I owe you upon owing you upon owing you because you are one of those figures in my life that I've always tried to shape myself. I owe you that gratitude. to make thank you for this invitation and thank you for the work that you're doing living gratitude living grace you got it you got it where do you want people to find and follow you and ask jbh is one of my favorite podcasts out there so we're going to have links to that out there as well

too all right well if they're doing that they can follow me through that i'm on all the social platform, so they're very welcome to do that. And if they're urgent to any communication, they can DM me. Look at that. J.B.H, thank you so much. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. You've been plugged into Mick Unplugged. Don't just listen and take action. Rate and subscribe. Follow me on social and get the full experience at Mickhunt official.com. Keep building. Keep leading. And most importantly, keep dominating.