Clifton Taulbert (born 1945) is an American author, business consultant, and
speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
. He is best known for his books ''
Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored'' (1989)
and ''
Eight Habits of the Heart: Embracing the Values that Build Strong Communities'' (1997). Taulbert offers courses in Character Education and Building Strong School Communities through Knowledge Delivery Systems, an online resource for educators
Kdsi.org
Taulbert's book ''Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored'' was adapted into the 1996 film '' Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored''.[
]
Biography
Clifton Lamar Taulbert was born in 1945 in Glen Allan, a small town in the Mississippi Delta. He graduated from O'Bannon High School in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1963 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from Oral Roberts University and a graduate degree
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.
The organization and struc ...
from Southwest Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. Taulbert served in the 89th Presidential Wing of the United States Air Force and has been inducted in the Enlisted Airmen Hall of Fame.
A former Oklahoma banker, Taulbert is president and founder of the Freemount Corporation, a consulting company focused on human capital development and organizational effectiveness. Since the founding of the company, his philosophy has been embraced by such companies as Lockheed Martin, Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
, Baxter Healthcare, Pacific Coast Gas, the U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
, the U.S. Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
and K-12, and post-secondary academic leadership around the world, from China to the Mississippi Delta.
Taulbert was chosen by CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
at the turn of the millennium to represent one of the many voices of community. Taulbert, who has served as a guest professor/lecturer at Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business
The Darden School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School offers MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. The school was founde ...
, and the United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...
, said he could have failed had it not been for the community of unselfish people who surrounded his life. We should never underestimate the power of our influence on the life of others, according to Taulbert.
Taulbert has authored 13 books, several of which are foundational to his consulting philosophy: ''Eight Habits of the Heart'' and ''Who Owns the Ice House: Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur'' (''Who Owns the Ice House'' is part of a Kauffman Foundation-sponsored education initiative to expose the impact of the entrepreneurial mindset at all levels) and, more recently, ''Shift Your Thinking: Win Where You Stand'' and ''The Invitation: Living beyond the lingering lessons of race and place''. Taulbert's Eight Habits has become foundational to his work on leveraging community as an asset in the workplace, and garnered him an invitation to address members of the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
as a personal guest of former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and the ...
.
Taulbert is a trustee of the University of Tulsa, has been recognized international by the Sales and Marketing Academy of Achievement, the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
, the NAACP, Rotary International as a Paul Harris Fellow and has been a recipient of the Jewish Humanitarian of the Year Award and the Richard Wright Literary Award. The Freemount Corporation is located in Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, Oklahoma.
He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his wife Barbara Taulbert.
Works
*Nonfiction
**''Who Owns The Ice House? Eight Life Lessons From An Unlikely Entrepreneur'' (2010)
**''Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored'' (1989)
**''The Last Train North'' (1992)
**''Watching Our Crops Come In'' (1997)
**''Eight Habits of the Heart: Embracing the Values that Build Strong Communities'' (1997)
**''The Journey Home: A Father’s Gift to His Son'' (2002)
**''When Little Becomes Much (2005)
**''The Invitation''
**''Shift Your Thinking: Win Where You Stand''
*Children's books
**''Little Cliff and the Porch People'' (1999)
**''Little Cliff and the First Day of School'' (2001)
**''Little Cliff and the Cold Place'' (2002)
References
External links
Clifton Taulbert's official website
*
''Voices of Oklahoma'' interview
First-person interview conducted on May 23, 2018, with Clifton Taulbert.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taulbert, Clifton
Living people
1945 births
20th-century African-American writers
American memoirists
Oral Roberts University alumni
People from Washington County, Mississippi
Writers from Mississippi