Abraham George | Finding Meaning in Life, Building Credibility with Clients, & the 3 Pillars of Excellence in Training Our Children for Success

“I had one goal, to do my very best.” ~ Abraham George

In this week’s episode of the Remarkable People Podcast, we delve into the inspiring story of Dr. Abraham George. From his early days as an officer in the Indian Army, where he survived a near-death experience, to his entrepreneurial successes in the United States, Dr. George has led a remarkable life devoted to helping others. Discover how he used his wealth and influence to create transformational educational opportunities for the underprivileged in India, eliminate leaded fuel, and promote social good. Learn about his ’50-50 Plan,’ his philosophies on life, leadership, and compassion, and how his initiatives have changed countless lives. This episode is packed with life lessons, practical advice, and touching stories that showcase the power of dedication and selfless service

SHOW NOTES & LINKS: 

• Website: https://www.shantibhavanchildren.org/contact
• Netflix Daughters of Destiny Series: https://www.netflix.com/title/80092926
• Abraham’s 3 Pillars of Excellence: academic excellence, leadership and communication, humane values
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shanti-bhavan-children’s-project/posts/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanti_bhavan
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShantiBhavanSchool
• X: https://x.com/ShantiBhavan
• FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/ShantiBhavan

REMARKABLE LISTENER SPECIAL OFFER(S):

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Transcript

Abraham George | Finding Meaning in Life, Building Credibility with Clients, & the 3 Pillars of Excellence in Training Our Children for Success

David Pasqualone: Hello, friend. Welcome to this week's episode of the Remarkable People Podcast, the Dr. Abraham George story. Some of you may have heard the name Dr. Abraham George from business. Some of you might have heard his name from the Netflix special that was made about his work, the Daughters of Destiny. Some of you may have heard about him because of the global work he did, removing leaded fuel where children in the city's led content in their body was north of 50% higher than it should be.

You're also going to hear about the man, his life story, his journey, how he was an officer in the Indian army and almost blew himself up. And that led to his 50 50 plan that he's lived for life, which you're gonna learn what it means and how it can apply to you. And then you're going to hear about how he started schools to give back.

To help the less fortunate, the poor, and to raise them and develop [00:01:00] them, and these concepts he's using, especially the three pillars of success. It's not just something for India, it's not something for Great Britain. It's not something for just America. It's common sense for the whole world that we can apply within our own homes starting today.

So this episode is packed with truth and packed with stories, and packed with information that you can not only be entertained with, but you can apply to your life. So at this time, get your favorite beverage, get a pen and paper, and get ready to learn from our friend and remarkable brother. Dr. Abraham George.

Now

Epic Voice Guy: The Remarkable People Podcast, check it out,

the Remarkable People Podcast. Listen, do Repeat for Life,[00:02:00] 

the Remarkable People Podcast.

David Pasqualone: Hey Abraham, how are 

Abraham George: you today? I'm fine David. I am happy to be with you. I look forward to our conversation. 

David Pasqualone: Oh, we do as well.

I just told our listeners a small bit about you and what to expect in this interview. But for people who are new to our podcast, or for people who've been with us all six years and listen to all 300 plus episodes, if you guarantee them, if they listen to your story when it's said and done, they'll be able to not only hear a topic, but be able to apply it to their life.

What is that information you're gonna bring them today? 

Abraham George: Well, you know, I have been doing social work, um, trying to help people in poverty and also people who have been discriminated because of [00:03:00] their social status in India. I am here now in a remote village in India. Uh, there is a caste system, uh, and.

Which means that certain people are lower than others and that puts some at a disadvantage in getting good education and, uh, and an opportunity to succeed in life. So I left America 30 years ago, and I go back every year, but I left America to start on this project and I came to a place I never been before, uh, to work in the village with people who are in the social, you know, deprived category.

Um, so my goal is while my project is pertaining to poverty and social discrimination, uh, I'm still an NGO [00:04:00] non-government organization. Um, and my experience of these 30 years, if I share with your listeners, uh, they might, uh, pick up some things that might help them if they are looking for, uh, embarking on doing social good.

Um, you know, in my, uh, experience, there are a number of people who have, uh, become quite affluent. You know, they made some money and, but they're not still happy. They're looking for a purpose in their life. And maybe, uh, you know, I was an entrepreneur in the United States for 25 years. I had my own company.

I made quite a bit of money. I sold everything. And I came here. So maybe my experience will tell them, uh, that you can look for a meaning to your life through social service. And I want to share [00:05:00] my, my story. Um, it may not be directly applicable to them. Uh, they may want to do something else. So, um, but I think, uh, they may pick up some ideas from this conversation.

David Pasqualone: Absolutely. So let's do that. Let's take a look at your life where you started. You know, we don't want to ever dwell the past, but who we are, our upbringing, all that, the challenges, the controversy, the struggle, the blessings, everything makes us the men we are today, right? So, Abraham, where did your life start and what was your 

Abraham George: upbringing like?

Well, I was born in a seaside town in the southern most tip of India. Um, and the, that's an state called Kerala. Um, and at the age of 14, I, um, joined, uh, a military academy for training officers. [00:06:00] And, um, I. And I became an officer in the Indian Army artillery at the age of 18. And the first posting I had was to the Himalayas, bordering China, bordering Tibet.

Actually, I had a very high altitude, 14,000 feet above sea level, you know, where you temperatures are below zero and shortage of oxygen and all kinds of things. And I'll talk about what happened there. But, um, I, in that part of my life, I realized that, uh, while military service is a very honorable thing, and, uh, you know, I, I have no complaints about it, but I felt that this was not something I wanted to be in for the rest of my life.

Um, I [00:07:00] realized from something that happened to me in the Himalayas that I need to devote some part of my life, uh, to social good. And so at the age of 21, I came to America to, uh, go to school. Um, I went to NYU Stern Business School and I did couple of masters and, uh, doctoral work there. And then I joined JP Morgan, and then after two years I started my own company.

That is the beginning of my life. There are a lot of things that happened in between, but uh, that was my story, you know, early story in N Essence. 

Yeah. And then from your family structure, did they support you joining the military? Was it required service? How did that work? 

Abraham George: Uh, no, it was not a required service.

[00:08:00] Actually. To become an officer in the Indian military is very, very difficult. In fact, from my state, only one cadet is Staker, you know? So it was a very prestigious thing to go to this academy. It is in the traditional West Point and Sanders in England and so on. Um, and so, uh, to become an office in the Indian military was something great at that time.

You're talking about many, many years ago, 50 years ago. So, um, it's an old story, but, um, my parents, uh, felt that, um, you know, I was, uh, very smart guy wanted to do something and so they didn't object to that, but they didn't know that I would be, uh, in, uh, you know, danger, uh, in the Himalayas and things like that.

Uh. Which I, that was not [00:09:00] the reason for my leaving. My reason for leaving was entirely different. And I'll talk about that in a minute. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, no. So go ahead, get your story. It's your life. So go through, I have tons of questions, but I'm sure they're gonna fall into place talking about the Himalayas and what you saw there.

'cause 14,000 feet, that's no joke. I've been to 13 five and I mean, you had altitude sickness and it was, you know, correct. Very, very, you 

Abraham George: have, you have to acclimatize yourself at different levels for you come up to that altitude. Otherwise you can have pulmonary edema and you can die of, you know, lung, uh, problem if you just go up there or you are, uh, dropped by a helicopter somewhere there, you know, it's very dangerous.

But anyway, um, I was, uh, on a passage from China to India that is a passage through which the Chinese invaded in [00:10:00] 1962. Uh, came through this valley and came to a place called Sailor. That's where I was posted, not too far from the border. I was in the artillery, so I was slightly behind the infantry. And a sailor was a beautiful place, absolutely stunning view.

And the frozen lake, you know, by the valley and everything else, um, it was, and everything is white powered by snow. And I was there for 11 months. And during that time, uh, my job was to blast the rocks, uh, blowing up rocks to establish, uh, heavy gun positions. And so, and also underground, uh, uh, bunkers to live in.

Everything had to be below the ground because, you know, it's a dangerous zone. And so I [00:11:00] was, uh, working with the soldiers, blowing up all these things. And we used to joke about it with all the blasting going on. We are moving the Himalayas. And, and then we, everybody used to laugh at that, uh, comment. But, um, and I used to climb, uh, another hill at that feet, uh, that will take me to another thousand or so feet higher.

And I used to sit on top. Um, as an officer, you are not really blasting, uh, think the soldiers are doing the blasting. You give the direction and, uh, and establish the protocol that nobody gets blown up and all of that. I used to sit on top of the hill and watch down what's going on, and I watched the sky.

The sky was below me, the clouds were below me. They were there, was floating below me. And, uh, it was so amazing a scene and sitting there for 10 months, uh, every day, [00:12:00] go up there and, uh, you reflect on your own life. Though I was 18, I was quite mature. I had read a few books, I'll talk about that too, uh, which had a profound impact on me.

But sitting there and thinking about the purpose of what I am doing, um, I was trained as an officer to kill the enemy. And then I began to ask the question, do I want to kill people? For sure if they're attacking, I need to defend the country. But is that a profession I want to be in? Though I was a very, very successful officer and everything else, um, I felt this was not my calling.

Um, and, you know, my, my friends, my comrades, they used to talk about dying for, for the country and things like that. And I wasn't prepared to die for anything other than, you [00:13:00] know, uh, defend. Uh. The, the border and, uh, protect my soldiers. So that was the period. Um, I was, uh, I made the decision. I was barely 18 or 19 when I made the decision that at some point in my life and actually, uh, I coined something called 50 50 plan, and I'll talk about that too.

Um, and, uh, I made a decision that at some point, I believe the army, um, and pursue some other career, uh, which will enable me to serve poor people.

David Pasqualone: And then what was it, did you see Indi indigenous people on the Himalayas? Or what made you get to that point? 

Abraham George: Right. Um, you know, the people who live there are the, the tribe called [00:14:00] mpa. Mpa, that's a Tibetan tribe. They're essentially Buddhists, uh, followers of Dalai Lama. And, uh, just so that you know, when the Chinese, uh, um, uh, came to his, uh, place monastery and came to take him, he escaped and he came through this valley and, uh, from a town called, which is a border town.

These are all historic places. Dalai Lab walked all the way and came via Sailor and to finally end up at a lower altitude, 8,000 feet, a place called Bomb De. And that's how he escaped, uh, through that valley. And I didn't have much to do with the mum, but there have been very, very interesting experiences I had going to the village to fetch a few chickens.

Um, [00:15:00] the, the Mumbas were living at a lower altitude of 8,000, 9,000 feet. They were not living at 14,000. So I would take my Jeep and go down and exchange a rum for chicken. That's just, uh, one of those joys of, uh, living there. Uh, I was, I used to do it once or twice, uh, a month. Uh, come back with a few chicken and, uh, we have a nice dinner.

So, um, and there have been amazing experiences. Uh, I had with the MPAs. You asked me about indigenous people. Um, one event I need to tell you is that, uh, I couldn't talk to them. They, they speak some other, I think, uh, some other language. Uh. I'm not sure what language they speak, um, Tibetan language. And, um, so I couldn't communicate, uh, very clearly, but I used to speak also Hindi so I could say something [00:16:00] and with my hands and everything else.

And I show the bottle and, uh, I mean, people can understand what you're trying to do. And I show the chicken, I want those chicken, you know, like that. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. 

Abraham George: But one time, one time when I went there, the whole village was crowded, uh, together in, in the center of a field. And they were chanting and I didn't know what it was.

Uh, so finally I got hold of someone and I asked him, and they said they're preparing the burial of one of the people. And then I found out that the customers to cut the body into 114 pieces and lay on a stretcher type of thing with flowers and everything, and they carry to the river and feed the fish.

And that amazed me too. You know, the why do you want to burn it or bury it? Give it to another [00:17:00] living creature, the fish. And that was their custom. Um, so even though they were not educated and so on, they, they had some traditions and ways of living with nature, uh, that, uh, appealed to me. I didn't want to question them.

I, I wasn't there to judge them. Uh, you know, one could say it is so, uh, repulsive and act, but no, they, they found it as their duty. And so, uh, that is one experience. I had many others too, but, um, uh, if you want me to talk about, uh, what happened to me in the hi in the Himalayas, I'll be happy to say it. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, absolutely.

The things that happen to you. So everything that happens to me, everything that happens to you, we can learn from one another. So the things that influence your life to the man you are today, absolutely. If you feel like sharing them, because then our listeners can not only connect, [00:18:00] but can learn from the experiences as well.

And we can all be better people. So if anything happened in your childhood, anything happened as an officer in the Himalayas, definitely share it. And then we'll just keep moving forward chronologically through your life story. 

Abraham George: Right. You know. Uh, our soldiers, American soldiers had been in Afghanistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and so on.

That type of terrain is different, uh, that the kind of people you are dealing with is also different. Uh, here you are in a no man's land and you are, you are surrounded by these mountains. Uh, amazing mountain of some distance away is Mount Everest, for example. And so it is so majestic and you realize how infinitely, uh, small you are, you know, in this universe, you know?

And, uh, and at night the [00:19:00] wind blows through the valley and it's so shrieking sound. Uh, you know, you get scared and, uh, by the sound out, and then by morning you could be totally covered by your tent, could be totally covered by snow. That much of snow has fallen. And if you walk 10 feet, 20 feet, you are short of breath.

So it's a different life. And, uh, while you were very young, so you could endure all these things. And I, I know I didn't even have a bath for a couple of months because you couldn't take your clothes off. It was so cold, and there is no bathroom, nothing, nothing. You know, you had to melt ice to get water and, uh, and warm it up.

Uh, with so much of, uh, you know, there is no wood to burn. You have to burn it under a stove, over a stove. And, uh, so, uh, that's a different life. And your fingers are all frozen all the time, and your years are all [00:20:00] frosted. Uh, so you go through all these experiences, but, uh, uh, you endure it. Uh, and you are a leader, as a leader, as a military officer.

Uh, you have some 300 people, you know, in your command, and you have to make sure that you protect them. Uh, you, you do everything for their welfare and, uh, make sure they, you know, they don't suffer the cold too much. Uh, everybody's gonna suffer the cold, but, uh, you know, you have to do the best you can. Uh, so that's what I was doing, uh, looking after the men and be work.

In fact, the first day when I woke up, the military rule was we had to wake up at six 30 in the morning. And, uh, when I came to the parade ground, everybody was cheering so cold, and I said, the very first day, Hey, no more, six 30, we'll [00:21:00] start at nine o'clock and we will, uh, we will end the day at three o'clock before the sun sets, but between nine and three, we will work so hard.

We'll put in a day's work. And it happened. The soldiers wouldn't stop. They wouldn't even stop for lunch. Uh, they put in that, uh, you know, six hours. Very, very hard work. So, you know, sometimes you have to follow, uh, follow the, um, uh, rules. I mean, you don't follow the rules necessarily what the army sets you do.

What is good for this, for the, uh, for the, uh, soldiers, and we know their loyalty. So the lesson I learned was, um, you know, how do you win over someone else? Uh, you know, not from your authority, but from the, the fact [00:22:00] that, uh, they respect you, uh, for what you are. Uh, they appreciate the caring you give and, and the, and, and, and the interpersonal skills that you have.

Uh, I was barely 18 at that time. Uh, so it was an amazing experience. And then, um, then happened one day, uh, I got into a major accident. You know, we were blasting the rocks with dynamite and gun coran and so on. And, you know, essentially, uh, you have a detonator that is plugged into the dynamite, uh, gun coran, and then a fuse wire.

And the army supplies the fuse wire. But, uh, we were so far away from our base camp, and I guess they didn't have enough fuse wire, so they were, it wasn't coming. So I start cutting the [00:23:00] length of the fuse wire from 12 inches to six inches. And then still the supplies didn't come. I couldn't stop working, so I cut it to three inches, three 12 inches.

Give you approximately 10 seconds. 

David Pasqualone: That's what I was gonna say. For people listening who've never worked with explosive length equals time. Exactly. 

Abraham George: You can see this thing, you know, uh, uh, lighting and going fast, very fast towards, uh, blast to the gun curtain and 10 or 12 seconds you have. So when you got it to six inches, it became six seconds.

Uh, three inches. Three seconds. So, um, at that point I told the soldiers, I can't let you. Blast. So I will start blasting. And they, they, they were protesting that, uh, I, I cannot be put in danger. I said, nothing doing, uh, you can't do it. I'll do it. And I did it for a couple of days. On the third day, I don't know what happened.

I didn't notice the lighting. The moment it [00:24:00] lights, I turn around and jump. That was my routine and I'll be flat on the ground. And the sharpness, uh, the rock pieces go flying over me. Um, and this time I didn't see it. And the last sec, last second fraction of a second I saw, and I turned around and jumped.

But by then, uh, it was sort of late. Uh, I was literally, I turned around. So I escaped all the sharpness, hit my back and my back of my head and a little bit on my face. And, um, I did die. Uh, I was bleeding and everything else, and I was carried to the base camp and treated. And I escaped death at that time, I realized why was I saved?

There must be some reason why I was saved. If I was a fraction a second late, um, I probably wouldn't [00:25:00] have survived. And that was my turning point. 

David Pasqualone: And talk about that. I mean, I believe personally that every human is here and has a reason. And yes, when we live our best life, not like for ourselves for money, but when we live the life that God intended for us, we have peace and joy and the most fulfillment and right.

It doesn't matter if you're India, Australia, America, Canada, a human's, a human. There's one race, the human race, right? So God loves us all. And I agree with you that if you were safe from that moment, God had a bigger plan for you. So, right. What did you, what happened at that point, Abraham? Like what was your epiphany or were you just wondering, or where did your life go from there?

Abraham George: Well, you know, lying in the hospital bed and [00:26:00] thinking of, uh, you know, reflecting on each second of that incident, uh, I knew I was meant to live and do something with my life. And by then I had read two important books sitting upon that, uh, mountain. Um, one was, uh, written about, uh, a famous person who won a Nobel Prize, Albert Schweitzer.

He was German. He, he went in a canoe, a boat, small one, uh, all the way through the rivers in Africa, Africa, central Africa, and reached a, a country called Gabon. Today, it's called Gaon, I think, part of the Equatorial Africa. And you lived among, uh, the tribals, uh, and with animals. And ancy established a small clinic, [00:27:00] and you looked after the people there.

They were totally uneducated, tribals, you know, and today it's a big hospital there. Um, and it, uh, was amazing his life and the effort he used to make, going back to Germany and bringing medicine and so on through the river, uh, I felt it was very romantic. It was very fascinating, uh, to, to read about something like this.

And he wrote something called A Reverence for Life. It's a famous, uh, uh, a book, uh, actually there's a book called Reverence for Life. And there are many other books on reverence for life. And he talks about the importance of life as such. And we all want to live. That is a inner need. We don't want to die for no reason, you know, and, uh, excuse me.

That was one of the items. And he talks about serving [00:28:00] people and helping others live. Uh, and the second book was a, a person, um, veteran Russell. He's a philosopher, veteran Russell. He is an American philosopher, and he wrote, uh, the history of, uh, western civilization or culture or something like that. And there is a famous line in his book, which, uh, which I was, uh, taken by.

And that is, uh, there is nothing right about war. It is about who is left. I found this, who right and left, uh, used in this fashion. Very, very fascinating. Um, and I felt, well, you know, I am here [00:29:00] to fight a war and there's nothing right about it. That's what he says. And of course, it's a politician's job to come to a compromise and award war.

But, you know, we as soldiers don't have that, uh, essay in it. Uh, but I didn't want to be, uh, pursuing the rest of my life. In that, uh, profession. So that's how I decided to get out. And it took me three years to get out of the military. At the age of 21, I got outta the military. Uh, by then my mother was working in the United States.

Um, and that's another story. Um, and I joined her in Alabama for all places. Oh. Oh, that's 

David Pasqualone: a deep, so that's deep. So 19, 

Abraham George: imagine 1960s, uh, during a George Wallace, he was the governor. You know, he blocked the entrance to university, [00:30:00] Alabama for black students from entering. And I was in the midst of all those things.

Yep. And then soon after that, the hippie movement and the Vietnam War, I was in the middle of all those things when I came to America in the 1960s, uh, late sixties and seventies. And, uh, but anyway, just for our, no, for our listeners. 

David Pasqualone: Uh, I wanna make sure we put this in perspective, Abraham, because right now I live in Pensacola, Florida.

Yes. And I live 20 minutes away from the Alabama line. And there's one race, the human race. But I don't care what country you're in. There will always be bigotry, there will always be bias That doesn't make it right, but it makes it part of our sinful human nature. It's a sad reality. 

Abraham George: Got I 

David Pasqualone: just recently, I have a friend and then there's [00:31:00] another acquaintance in the group, like they're friends, but I'm more of an acquaintance and it's in 2025 and this man is a pastor in the area of Alabama and somebody put a cross on his front lawn and burned it and told him he doesn't belong.

Wow. So there's areas of the country, there's areas of the world that there's just more bigotry and hate, and Alabama is a great state and has great people, but where Abraham was, if you do any kind of reality reading, not the bias garbage from CNN, but it really did have a ton of bigotry from the governor down.

And even to this day, there's some sex that are just ignorant and hateful. So if you were living in it as an Indian during the sixties, what kind of daily life did you have? Did you like when you were out in public, was there pressure or did you blend in? Like how did that work? 

Abraham George: [00:32:00] Right, right. Um, remember it was 1969.

Um, Alabama was a different state, not like today. Today though, I think it's a lot better. Um, and, uh, I joined University of Alabama and, you know, Tuscaloosa, your family with Tuscaloosa, right? Yes, 

David Pasqualone: yes. 

Abraham George: Yep. That's where the University of Alabama is. So, uh, and you won't believe this, I did a joint program. I part of my, uh, master's, uh, I was doing at a southern Baptist school called Sanford University in Birmingham.

Only Southern Baptist can get admission, literally. And I don't know why they took me. I was also one of the only colored guy there. Um, and, uh, uh. But people didn't treat me badly. They, they wouldn't socialize with me except for, uh, prayer meetings [00:33:00] on, uh, in the evening, they would insist that I come and they want to know when I was reborn.

I told them I am, I was born a Christian in a Christian family, so I was, you know, baptized and everything else. And so, no, no, no, you have to be reborn. They insisted that I had to come up with a story when I was rebo. So anyway, after a while, I cooked up a story for them. They were quite happy with it. But, um, and I had experiences like going to church with one of the girls and who took me to a country club.

Uh, everywhere I went, I was the only colored person, but I was treated reasonably well. I was treated well, not reasonably well, but they would socialize with me. You know, it's not like, um, I could go out on a date with a girl, you know, uh, that those things, uh, they would, the girl would be very scared to go, uh, even if she liked me, she's scared to go.

[00:34:00] So, um, but that is okay. And after a year, I went out to New York and I, uh, work for Standard and PS for six months, and then I joined NYU. So that's how my career, uh, path went in America. Um, I was, uh, determined to, um. To get a good education so I could land a, a job. You know, I I, my understanding of America was at that time in the 1970s that, uh, yeah, there may be discrimination, but if you do well, you work hard and you're successful and you do well, you go to good college and so on, you have an opportunity to succeed in life, but you don't have that opportunity to do well to, to, to go to a good school.

Of course, you are going to suffer. So I was determined to get into a, a university like NYU and do extremely well there. So that's where I began. [00:35:00] Uh, but my mother, uh, who came to Alabama, she came to Alabama because she was working for nasa, space age, nasa. I 

David Pasqualone: knew you were gonna say nasa 'cause I'm like, there's no other reason she'd go to Alabama.

Abraham George: Right. Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama. Yeah. Yeah. That's why she, she was there and she was also teaching. Um, and so one year, you know, good experience, uh, living with her and going to college in south. So I, I, I. In fact, I'm grateful that I ended up there. You know, so I, you know, it's not like, um, I'm a stranger to, uh, you know, what goes on in, in other part of the country.

If you live in New York all your life, you don't realize how life is in a place like that. So, so that was, that was my beginning in America. 

David Pasqualone: All right. And then, so now you're already, you're in your mid twenties, I take it. [00:36:00] And you have already had military experience. You've already had, uh, you know, a close call with your life.

And I'm sure like anybody, sometimes we get into ourselves and it's all about us and our career, and other times it's, man, what's the purpose of life? Why am I even here? So you're probably going back and forth, but at this point in your life now you're at NYU and you're finishing up there, where does your life go, Abraham?

And when do you start finding, you know, like you said, you're an entrepreneur, during those years, was it fully sold out to business or did you always have that tugging to do more? 

Abraham George: I wanted to make lots of money because if I didn't have the money, I wouldn't be able to do social work. I mean, a lot of people without money go and do social work, but they don't have the ability without money to make, uh, persuade others do your own thing.

So I, I knew all along that I have to make a lot of money and, um, my first job [00:37:00] was, I. With, uh, JP Morgan and, uh, there, um, I served for almost two and a half years and I did a few things, uh, in the field of international finance. That was my field. Um, and I foreign exchange, that was the time President Nixon decided to let currency, the dollar float against other currencies.

Previously, it was a fixed exchange rate system and he decided to let it float. And I wrote a paper on how companies, corporations, uh, uh, have to deal with this new environment in the international arena. And the bank was fascinated by that. That's why they took me and I asked them whether they would let me design a computer system, uh, to, um, to, to help companies [00:38:00] manage their risk using the system.

And the bank, uh, really allowed me to hire few people and I worked on it for almost a year and produce a product which was very successful. And so that was the beginning of my corporate career. But before that, I wasn't ready to join a corporation because I was so idealistic. I didn't want to work for a for-profit company.

I, I wanted to be, uh, in the academic world or consulting world. And I got a job as a associate professor at, uh, associate or assistant professor at Syracuse University. I was just about to take the job when, uh, the bank offered me, uh, a salary, which was hard to assist, you know? So I joined the bank. Uh, I gave up my ideals, you know, and at the end of three [00:39:00] years, um, or so, maybe not three exactly, uh, I decided to quit the bank.

Um, I, the rules governing international monetary system was going through another change. So I said, well, maybe this time I won't design another system for the bank. I'll start my own company. And so I left the bank. Uh, I wrote a book at that time, which became so-called a Bible of my, uh, subject area. And, uh.

Um, it took me a couple of years from the basement of my apartment working with, uh, my brother and a bunch of people from Bell Labs. Bell Labs was the research arm of at and t the, the very famous, uh, research lab, you know, where many Nobel Prize winners came from. Be Labs, you know, uh, we would work all through the night and they worked during the day at the company.

Uh, and we worked for a couple of years and [00:40:00] produced another product. Uh, and this was the beginning of my career, but, uh, it was very hard those days. Uh, you know, there was no PC or anything, you know, everything was, uh, dialing up to a mainframe. General Electric had a mainframe and couple of others, and you are dialing through a dumb computer with a telephone coupler at the back of it and communicating with the mainframe where your program resides.

And, uh, and a company with a lot of subsidiaries, they'll all be dialing into this. Um, and it was expensive. And, uh, secondly, the, apart from the expense, uh, companies were not ready to use computers those days to solve financial problems. This might surprise you in today's context. Nobody would think that they would tell me, oh, we can do it in the back of our envelope.

And [00:41:00] so I had to convince them there's a better way to do this. Um, and the PCs, there was no pc. I mean, there was a PC with Big Box and you had to literally carry them around if you want to demonstrate it. So that was an era 1970s, you know, late seventies when, um, I was trying to break into the corporate arena and compete with major banks.

Um, and it took me almost 15, 18 years, uh, 15 years to, uh, break through and become successful from a, a team of four or five people. We grew to 150 people. Uh, we had offices in New York at the World Trade Center. Uh, we had, uh, office in New Jersey, California, London, and the representative in Brussels. So we grew quite a bit and we were the market [00:42:00] leaders by the time I decided to sell my company in 1995.

David Pasqualone: So you are going through and you're making a product and you're making money, you decide to sell in 1995, was it just the right opportunity? Did you get burned out or were you starting to get that itch again for There's more to life than money. 

Abraham George: Right. No, I remember, I, you know, I said something about, uh, 50 50 plan, what I had decided.

The, in the mountains, you know, I divide my life into two halves. First half of my life, 50 is not a in age or something. I would, uh, devote my life to professional career and successful professional career and the second half of my life to service. And I call it a 50 50 plan. Uh, you know, I thought I would live 60 years or 70 years, so I wanted to get out of it before I was 40, [00:43:00] but I couldn't, I hadn't made enough money, so I kept doing it.

And until I was 49 and I said this, this is it, or whatever money I've made, that's all I'm going to make. I'm selling off my company and, uh, I am, uh, going to serve people. So that was, uh, so it was that 49. I didn't want to become 50. Uh, so I left, I sold my business to actually a Fortune 500 company called SunGard and Sun Guard.

Um, the, you know, uh. Kept me with the company as a vice chairman of that division and all that. But I, after two years, I said, I'm not doing any work. I'm taking their money and, uh, really not doing anything. So, um, I resigned from that also, and I had many, many clients [00:44:00] from Eastman Court Act in General Electric, and actually one client was the Mormon church, the healthiest church.

They hired me to, uh, help them manage their finances, international finances. That was another experience of my life. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, they're a huge institution. I mean, I'm not pro Mormon church in any way, but as a business, they're a force to be reckoned with. So 

Abraham George: yes, they had, what amazed me was they had a storage depot, okay.

Size of two or three soccer fields, and you can drive your truck into it, and you can go through the aisle and, you know, the, that buildings got so high to reach the top of the shelves, you need some kind of a, you know, lift and, um, and they supply, uh, practically everything you need in a [00:45:00] disaster. Food items, clothing, blankets, everything.

And they put it into containers, 40 foot containers to ship it all over the world. So I found this amazing the way they were serving, uh, and I understood that the moments were contributing from their personal wealth for these type of activities. So though I never became a mom or anything, I was, uh, I was accepted by them, uh, for.

Plus, because of my, you know, they knew that I, I'd done a lot of good work in the field, so they took me, but then they, I developed their trust. So I was aware, uh, at one point I was aware of the moron churches, uh, finances throughout the world. Uh, of course I signed a non-disclosure, and to this day, I have not even spoken about it to my wife.

Uh, but, um, but I, I was given privy to all that [00:46:00] information to help them manage it, you know, so that was another great experience. Uh, 

yeah, 

Abraham George: others like that. 

It's interesting. So, when you're in the military in 18 to 20, you're with Buddhist, and then you're in college with Baptist, and you get on your career and you're with Mormons, where does your life go from there?

Abraham George: Oh, well, you know, it's a god's, uh, you know, set by destiny, you know, uh, uh, I, everywhere I went, I, I had only one goal. Goal, and that is, uh, do my best, do my best. Uh, you know, when I worked for the Mor, so the Eastman Cardiac or General Electric, I wanted to my very best for them. Uh, it wasn't about money. I made money, uh, but it was about doing a very good job.

So I followed that principle. And, uh, apart from my software [00:47:00] application and so on, I was also doing consulting. And then I was, uh, one day I got a call from Credit Suisse. First Boston. First Boston was an investment bank, Boston based, uh, they were bought a by Credit Suisse. I got a call and said, they said, we want you to work for us.

I said, I can't work for you. I got my own company. Okay. Then be a consultant and help us, um, uh, you know, sell, uh, the idea of management of international risk to our clients, and it's an additional service we want to do. So I worked with them for almost six, seven years for Credit Suisse. And, uh, uh, you know, I, if you don't mind, I'll tell you my first experience, uh, with, uh, credit after one month, one month of working for them, um, you know, I had said a, um, I was not very interested in working, uh, [00:48:00] for the bank.

You know, I, I said, I have, um, four conditions under which I'll work for you. He said, the managing director there, he said, tell me what they are. I said, okay. Uh, you have to have the name of my company along with Credit Suisse in the name of the division you are creating or the department you're creating.

So Credit Suisse first Boston slash my company M cm. You know, they were stunned by that demand because Credit Suisse is never, uh, given, uh, another company, certainly a tiny little fellow like me, uh, in their name along with my name. You know, that was totally, um, uh, arrogant to demand, you know? Yeah. But at this point 

David Pasqualone: in your life, you got nothing to lose.

You don't really wanna work. Anyway, so, 

Abraham George: so I laid out that second, um, I said, okay, you have to gimme an office, uh, with a [00:49:00] nice window. They had a Park Avenue office, uh, with a good view. They said that we can do. So that was not a problem. And then the third one was, uh, I said, I have to have a six, uh, figure salary.

He said that also we can do, they are very rich organizations. So those were not really issues for them. The fourth one was a little tricky. I said, you had to gimme shares in the new company. Uh, and I should be able to sell those, you know, put those, uh, their shares options. I can put it to you and walk away with whatever money I get with the value based on some formula.

Uh, that is a little tricky. But they were even that, they agreed, but the first one, their name thing, they had to send it to, uh, Switzerland for approval. And you won't believe after two weeks it came back with. Go ahead. So, uh, I, I won all four. [00:50:00] 

David Pasqualone: Nice. Yeah, you, you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.

So might as well ask for all four. And it worked. 

Abraham George: Right. And then I was called by, uh, the president of, uh, the bank to come, come to his office. That time the president of the bank was Archibald Cox, Jr. I, I don't know whether you remember the name Archibald Cox. He was the, uh, attorney general, uh, or not Attorney General.

He was the, the lawyer or the government prosecutor. Prosecutor, uh, who, uh, investigated the Watergate. President Nixon. Yeah. Yep. Uh, the Investigated. And he's the one who submitted to the court, um, the, his findings. And that's what led to the fall of President Nixon. Um, this guy is Archibald's Cox, [00:51:00] senior's son Junior.

And he is six foot six, uh, mammoth figure, uh, uh, brass, I call him the Boston Braman. Uh, he, uh, very sophisticated guy with the, uh, office, um, very large, uh, all board panel. So I was called in. I. And he asked me to sit on, uh, a sofa, leather sofa, a very posh place. And along with the managing director of the bank who came with me, the first question he asked me, that was a turning point, the first question he asked me, oh, so this is a get rich quick scheme, right?

Abraham get rich quick scheme. He's asking me that. I come up with a get rich quick scheme. So I, uh, thought for a second and I responded, [00:52:00] yes it is, but for you too. Two, that changed the whole chemistry. He laughed. He bus start laughing me telling him that he is going to get rich by me. Uh, but anyway, that was, uh, that was a turning point.

After that he had no real questions for me. He was winking at me when he was asking the other guy a question. So, you know, in life sometimes you get, uh, opportunities and a little bit of sense of humor sometimes works for you. And, uh, self-confidence, all those things are lessons that I learned. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, that's awesome.

And then for people to take your life and your story to translate it into their world and their life and how they can grow, how would you recommend. You know, people are looking at their life. We're like, well, this guy already had a successful company and he went into this negotiation, but that could have went so fast.

So what are some tips that you found throughout your life that work well when [00:53:00] dealing with people? 

Abraham George: See, everything I've said so far is the first half of my life, there is a second half had to, we had to speak about the first half was all about succeeding professionally, uh, making a lot of money. And the lessons I came to America with $8 in my pocket.

That's all I had. Uh, luckily my mother was there so she could put me up and she wasn't making all that money either. Um, and so, uh, I had, uh, to start from the scratch and, and as a, as someone of color, um, you know, I knew I had to prove myself. So the first lesson that I had was that, um, in order to be successful, um, you have to demonstrate that you, uh, um, really, [00:54:00] uh, really good at what you're doing.

Uh, so whether it was NYU program or everything, I was working so hard. Uh, I never even took a summer break. You know, I took classes during summertime and I was teaching at two or three colleges nearby to make a living, to, to pay for my rent. So everything was fine for me. I never thought any of those things were hardships.

Uh, I had a goal to achieve. So the first lesson is, well, if you set a goal for yourself, uh, you have to persevere and don't think about all the hurdles and difficulties that you face. Of course, you're young in early twenties, so you could do that may not be possible at a later age. The second thing I learned is that you have to, um, establish your credibility.[00:55:00] 

It's, it's something that you cannot compromise by, say, lying or, uh, coming up with this, you know, convoluted story or, uh, uh, not being forthright. Uh, if you do any of those things, you lose your credibility and then you lost your opportunity so you can be. Friendly. You can have sense of humor, but you still have to be very straight.

And I followed that golden rule from the very beginning, uh, with whether it was with the bank, whether it was with the investment bank, uh, with my clients, you know, always be a straight shooter, tell them honestly, but politely, politely. Uh, and by the way, politely, humility pays a long way. You know, I have found that you're genuine, genuinely humble, not pretending to be humble, genuinely humble.

You don't think of make much of yourself. You, you know, uh, you, [00:56:00] you're likely to be, um, uh, accepted. And, um, at many instances where, um, when I went to present, uh, the system to companies, they wouldn't even look at me. They would look at my, uh, partner was white. Uh, they would be talking to him. And I didn't mind that I would, uh, when I got the opportunity, I say what I had to say and somehow win him over by my knowledge of the subject and how I presented it.

So, uh, don't get discouraged by. Uh, the setbacks you have, you have to overcome each one of them. Actually, one, uh, one other person told me, Abraham, uh, you know, when you go into these places, uh, you know, they think, uh, you are not all that bright. Uh, you are starting from the bottom. You have an advantage over your partner.

Uh, you know, you are at the bottom. You can only go up. You [00:57:00] can only come down. So I, I thought that was a very good example, you know? Um, anyway, so these things happen in your life and you struggle through and, uh, and, uh, persevere to succeed. Yeah. And I think, and don't worry about, uh, your racial makeup and all that, you know, if you complain about it and get all bogg down.

And I'm not saying that, uh, prejudice, uh, doesn't hurt people of color. Uh, they have a lot of disadvantages and we need to address those things. I'm not, uh, against any of those things. I'm just simply saying that, uh, we need to, to, uh, do what we need to do each one, uh, to be successful. 

David Pasqualone: Yes. And I, I'm glad you said that because I was thinking the same thing.

There's something like your generation [00:58:00] and my generation, I'm 48. And there's something right around my generation to the younger that the mentality changed where, you know, bias is never right. Prejudice is never right. Right. But our generation knew it's there, it's a reality. So we just worked hard to overcome it, to prove 'em wrong.

Right. And then in turn, we had more value of ourselves. And you know, somebody can be of any nation, they can be of any skin color, shade of brown, they're all human. But there is bigotry, there is bias. And it's within every country. Right. You said you grew up in the caste system. So I mean, everywhere you go there's bias and bigotry, but it's how you handle it.

Like are you gonna have a bad attitude and have a chip on your shoulder and quit? Or you, you can be pissed rightfully, but then still work harder and earn your keep not demand. Well, I'm this, so I just demand like I'm entitled. [00:59:00] No, you're not. And you proved through your life that you had bias, you had bigotry, but you didn't let it bother you and you worked your way to success.

Right, right, right. So how do you explain 

Abraham George: that to the cry? I can't sit and cry about it, you know? 

David Pasqualone: So how would you like to our younger listeners who get offended at anything? I mean, you use a word these days and they're like, oh, I'm so offended. I'm so offended. It's like, okay, I'm offended all the day, all day too, but I don't bitch about it.

So what do you say to people who, they might be facings real bigotry, and I'm not saying that's right, but what do you tell them to motivate them to get up and go? 

Abraham George: Right. Um, you know, I will use another example. We, uh, I had made some money and so we moved to an affluent, affluent, uh, neighborhood called, uh, north Caldwell, uh, in New Jersey.

Uh, it's where quite few rich people, very mostly a [01:00:00] white population. And my, my son was in the school there and one day, you know, he came crying that he was being called all kinds of names, Blackie and this and that and so on. My wife was very upset and said, where to go and talk to the principal and to complain and, uh, bring these kids to discipline and call their parents.

And uh, and I thought for a moment that I told him, listen, I'm not going to do any of those things you put up with this. Uh, but work hard and show you're the best in the class. You don't drop out of any social, you know, clubs or anything like that. You stay with the soccer team. Do everything and prove that you are really good and well, he probably thought that I, I come from a different generation.

I don't understand the kind of things he goes through in his generation. Yeah, that is possible. But [01:01:00] I insisted that I'm not going to come and talk to the principal. And, uh, so the summary of the stories and he got over it, and then he, he was, he became quite popular. Uh, the summary of the story is that, um, uh, yeah, you can complain and, uh, of course, you right are violated.

You certainly have the right to, uh, find remedy, okay? That, that that's there. Uh, but, uh, you know, you're going to run into people with prejudice all the time. And if you can deal with them and win them over, do so. If you can't walk away and there are enough good people on this planet, you can, you can interact with.

And so don't get bogged down and get into fights. Um, so to the young people, I would say prove yourself with your hard work, um, and deal with these [01:02:00] incidents, uh, in a calm way. Um, and don't get all that upset and true that you are, uh, just as good, if not better than them. 

David Pasqualone: I think that's great advice. I really do.

Um, so let's do this. Were we just dealt with your life the first 50 or the 50 50 plan, and we're both going to your second half of life before we go into the second half of the 50 year plan or the 50 50 plan, is there anything, Abraham, that we missed between your birth and that cutoff point that you want to discuss?

Abraham George: Well, there are many things. You know, when you have a carrier, business carrier for 20 years, uh, and, uh, you're struggling from the basement to the 32nd floor of the World Trade Center, you have an office. Uh, there, there is a, there, there are [01:03:00] so many events that take place all along. But the, the most important lesson is that, uh, you bring your team together.

You, you make sure that you have the support of all the employees, you treat them well, um, and you innovate and you, uh, produce a superior product that nobody else has. Uh, all that you have to do, work hard. Uh, and in that process, there'll be many, many incidents that take place, uh, which, uh, you know, it's.

Part of your life. I, I wouldn't, uh, like to talk about any other, because they, they're so insignificant for me. You know, it is just that I had to, uh, get through each one of them. Okay? There have been place instances when somebody insulted me racially. Uh, there are some [01:04:00] instances where, uh, people, um, didn't keep their word.

Uh, well, you have to deal with these realities of life. That's part of, uh, uh, things you have to do in your, uh, profession. But in each case, uh, you do your best show that, uh, what you have to offer is something of value to the other guy. Uh, don't start thinking about yourself. You have to, to, to demonstrate to your customer that if you use your application or your advice, they are going to be better.

And I often tell others, uh, who work with me, see, when you are working for a company X, Y, Z company. Uh, you really are working for the manager or the person you, you are interacting with. You are not working with brick and mortar. Uh, you know, sure. Eastman Kodak is a big company, [01:05:00] but I am really working for the manager of finance or the treasurer, the assistant treasurer.

I have to make sure that his, his, uh, goal is achieved. He looks good. Uh, don't talk about Eastman Kak, talk about him. Uh, help him achieve his goal, make him look good, uh, and you don't have to take all the credit to yourself also. So, uh, with that type of mental attitude, uh, if you approach and, uh, you win over the other person, you know, um, you are likely to be successful.

Um, my, my entire career, business career, I would say, uh, was, uh, was what it was. Uh, you know, I grew from nothing to several tens of millions. Uh, because of the confidence I was with, I was able to, [01:06:00] uh, uh, to, uh, uh, to get, uh, from the other person where the companies, over 100 Fortune 500 companies were my clients at one point.

Um, and in each case. Uh, there are so many incidents there too. Uh, in each case they knew they talked to me and I give a commitment, it'll be done. Uh, and that is extremely important, your credibility. You don't have credibility, you have nothing. 

David Pasqualone: I agree with you, and I was just having this discussion recently.

I don't know how to say this tactfully, so I'm just gonna say it. There are so many teachers, speakers, people out there, influencers who don't have any real world results. They have no [01:07:00] credibility. All they do is sell themselves and this motivation, and they're just rehashing or regurgitating deal Carnegie or you know, Jack Welch or Donald Trump or Abraham George, or all of truth comes from God, right?

Two plus two is always four. So they truly have no skills. And see, you're talking about the importance of this and you've done it. So to me, you have so much credibility. And these people, they literally have multimillion dollars and they spend it each month on their private island. So they had made a ton of money.

But when you really follow the trail, it's an empty bucket. It's all smoke and mirrors. So talking to people today, when you're coaching and you're consulting about credibility, it's difficult because you're trying to tell them probably to do the right things for the right reasons, build a solid foundation, and they're like, man, that's gonna take a long [01:08:00] time.

Or I can do it this guy's way. But at the end that that's empty in result and fruitless. So for the people listening, whether they're right outta college, or there's somebody in their forties that feel stuck in their career, talk about how do you build credibility with your customers? 'cause if you're doing it, it's probably so common sense.

Duh. Bring them results. Keep your word, make it happen. Right? But how did you really build credibility, whether it was a mom and pop or a Fortune 100, 

Abraham George: right? We were a very small company and we grew, right? Uh, you know, along the way, you, you know, you come across many, many, uh, techniques, how to sell better, how to convince, how to do a closing, how to negotiate, you know, how to be a good public speaker.

Sure, you need to get all those skills together. But all those things are fine unless, uh, and, but unless you have, uh, the credibility. [01:09:00] Uh, and you, we know the other person. He trusts you, he respects you, uh, yes, respect you for your knowledge. That is also important, uh, your ability to solve their problems because companies, they, they want to hire someone who can solve their problem.

Whether you are an employee or a consultant or, uh, an application you're giving. So that is given. If you can't do that, you are not going to do well. Uh, but at the end of it, the relationship that you build with the other person, uh, depends on the way you handle it. You, you know, there'll be so many instances they'll ask you, uh, can you do this by tomorrow?

Uh, or can this be solved? Don't give a false answer. Always tell them. And if you can't do it, if get on the phone, call them and say, I'm sorry, I [01:10:00] committed to doing by tomorrow morning, I'm running into some problem. Will you gimme another day or two extra? See that courage you should have rather than coming up on the last minute with a bunch of excuses.

Uh, so straight talk, uh, and always keeping your word will get you far ahead. Second, um, the, the, excuse me, let me connect my, uh, power card. Um. I may run out of, uh, power. Um, and the other is, um, you have to deal with the other person, um, in a way that they find comfortable dealing with you. Um, you know, people, uh, decide on the base of whether they like you or not.

If the someone doesn't like you, uh, for example, you cannot be a consultant, uh, to someone else [01:11:00] or another company when that guy doesn't like you. Uh, you could be any number of things, no matter, you're a genius, but he doesn't like you. He is not going to work with you. So how do you do that? And I would say that one of the most important thing is, uh, be humble.

Uh, and, uh, uh, it doesn't mean that you have to sound like you're subservient or anything. You just be, uh, don't elevate yourself. Don't talk too much about yourself if you can avoid, um, and, uh, and they will recognize that, uh, you are not a pompous fellow. So, uh, that makes interaction easier. Interpersonal skills are very, very important.

Uh, it comes in so many different ways. Uh. How you present yourself, [01:12:00] how you talk, uh, what you say, how you carry yourself, uh, and the commitments you make and your willingness to solve their problem, or, uh, you know, go the extra mile. All those things matter. Uh, they are bigger than these little techniques that you learn.

You know, I learned, I went to Dale Carnegie and all these type of things, um, to improve some skills, but I see them as, uh, little, little pieces that are needed for some leadership qualities. That's, that's not the sense of it. Can you win over somebody? Can you get somebody to really, uh, appreciate you or like you, can you get them to trust you?

Uh, can they, um, uh, do they know that you are a smart guy? They can't take you for a ride, and all that has to be [01:13:00] there. Um, and that you're a helpful fellow. See if you can get at that level. These are not, uh, some management techniques. These are your personality. And I suppose young people, they need to develop these things about themselves.

The, I call it under virtues. Virtues that you should have, uh, the virtues that you, uh, you, uh. Develop from a young age, and I, I would argue that, you know, you should really start at a much younger age. The parents have a duty to, to make sure their children, um, grow off with those virtues. Uh, whether it is telling a lie or cheating somebody or, you know, things like that.

If you don't correct them at a young age, you'll hurt. But even after you are crossed your twenties and so on, you can still try to be forthright. And I give, uh, young people, you know, the work I do now. [01:14:00] I give them one simple rule. One Simple rule. When you're confronted with a situation, ask yourself a simple question.

What is the right thing to do? What is the right thing to do? Do that. If your conscious tells you it's not the right thing to do, don't do it. Uh, that is part of the, the so-called virtue that, uh, I am talking about. Uh, and, uh, you know, you are misleading someone or you are promising something that doesn't, uh, exist.

You know, there's so many different things that's not right. Yeah. And don't intelligent in that. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, I, I couldn't agree with you more so. I hope people, you're listening to Dr. George and you're hearing what he's saying because true [01:15:00] success isn't just money. It's in your heart knowing you did the right thing for the right reason.

Like George, right? Like Abraham was just explaining. And when you do that, you will ultimately be successful. Now, there's a lot of other skills to acquire wealth and like you said, like Dale Carnegie, he teaches you how to communicate, but he's not teaching you how to make false promises. And like, you know, the saying, fake it till you make it.

That's bull crap. You don't promise a customer something till you can deliver, in my opinion. But I really appreciate you Abraham, and the time we spent together. Now ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna take a short break. Um, and thus far in the interview, we've had Abraham talking to us about his 50 50 life, his plan, and we just covered the first half of his life.

The second half of the interview may not be as long. It may be longer, it may be shorter. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a quick [01:16:00] break, give you a great affiliate offer, and then we're gonna come back with Dr. Abraham George right after this. 

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David Pasqualone: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the interview so far with Dr. Abraham George, and I hope you enjoyed that special offer from our affiliate.

Make sure you use promo code remarkable. You not only support your own family by saving money, you not only get great quality products, you not only help our affiliates and sponsors grow, but you help our podcasts stand in the air and bring you more great content like Abraham. So Abraham, second half of your 50 50 plan, let's talk about it.

Where did you go after you sold your company, after you did the consulting? Bring us through today, brother. 

Abraham George: Well, a lot of things happen in life, right? Uh, I got married. Oh, 

David Pasqualone: congratulations. 

Abraham George: Congratulations. I got two boys. One of them, um, is, [01:18:00] uh, full-time helping me in what I'm doing today with our, uh, social work.

The other boy is in Portugal doing something of his own, and one day he too wants to join. So, uh, my wife is here with me. But, um, when I decided to start my second half of my life, which is. Service to others. And in this case, I chose to serve the poor, those who are deprived and those who are deprived for reasons of social injustice.

Uh, in India, it's a caste system. I could have been in Africa, uh, but uh, I chose India because someone said, you'll help me get started. Uh, otherwise I would've probably gone direction of Albert Schweitzer working Gaon or something. It didn't matter to me where [01:19:00] I was working, you know, as long as I'm getting helping human beings.

Um, anyway, um, I had a career of over 20 years and during that time is when I got married and had my children and all of that, and we made money. Um, we are living quite well off in, so in New Jersey, west western part of New Jersey, near Morristown. People who are from that area would know Morristown. Um, and all along, all along, uh, throughout my business career, uh, I was trying to, uh, figure out, um, how I can serve poor people.

I was looking for stories of what someone else has done, uh, how the struggles they're gone through. In fact, [01:20:00] going back to my doctoral period, uh, you know, studies, uh, time too. Uh, I was looking at what makes a difference, uh, in, uh, the life of poor people, uh, during the NI 1970s and so on. I don't know whether you had read about it.

Uh, the whole poverty program was based on two basic, uh, uh, pillars. Uh, one is foreign aid. Uh, they want to get, uh, countries who are poor and there were lots of poor countries, very poor countries, including India, and they are looking for bilateral health from rich countries, or World Bank or IMF and things like that, or your un.

So assistance, foreign assistance. Assistance was one of the major ingredients of their recovery. Uh, the [01:21:00] second was that there was some assumption that you could, uh. Give some level of education and poor people will do. All right. Uh, and the yard stick the government used to use was literacy. Literacy, whether they're literate.

And in India, for example, whether you're literate is or is decided by asking you whether you can add one plus two, or, uh, you can read a signpost and then the government will write, he's literate, and the World Bank will publish those statistics. 30% or 40% of the population is literate, absolutely meaningless because they're not ready for any professional jobs.

You know, beyond, uh, um, the kind of, uh, media labor they do, uh, farming, of course they [01:22:00] could. And in India, 70% of the people live in the villages, seven zero. And during those days, most of the people, uh, were working for some landlords, few of them in every village. And, uh, they are laborers. Most of them are seasonal laborers.

In other words, at the time, you to plant the, uh, seeds, uh, they're hired, then they are fired, and then they come back with the time to harvest it. They're hired again. So, you know, it's a tough life for them. And, uh. And, uh, that's a struggle they went through. And almost 60 to 70% of the people were living less than $2 a day families.

That's a level of poverty that was there, there was famine at that time in the seventies, uh, sixties and seventies. Uh, and social discrimination. That was another thing, which is [01:23:00] based on caste system, which, uh, got, um, established in some form, uh, almost 1,500 years ago. Um, and again, it's an oppress, oppressive, uh, nature of that, uh, discrimination.

In other words, rich people wanted somebody else to do certain jobs and, uh, they, they expected some people to clean their rines and, you know, bury their cattle who are dead and so on. And they were called untouchables. They were not allowed to enter your house. They could, uh, touch any utensils that you use.

You can't, uh, take water from the wells that you drink. Uh, so you can't travel in the same bus or you had to sit at the right of the back somewhere, uh, absolute indignity. And they have endured it for 1,500 years. And when you go through that type of situation, [01:24:00] and government establishes some schools in these villages, they are.

They're of sub quality. Um, you know, uh, they don't really learn anything. They can't get into any good colleges and so they don't have an opportunity to succeed. They keep on going back, their children go back to the same hut, uh, and it has never broken. So I wanted to change, uh, in a marginal way, small way, uh, and demonstrate to the world that is a better thing you can do to change the status quo.

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with that. So when you're looking at poverty, there's so many aspects to it, and within every country there's variables. Correct. But when you're focused on, you decide to go back to focus on India, correct? 

Abraham George: [01:25:00] Right. 

And you were like, we want to help. What was your process for identifying where to start?

Because you know, to me where there's no vision that people perish. Right. But he the keep it the law happy as he, you need to have that vision and then you reverse engineer the steps and then you work the plan and you make it happen. So now that you kind of had a vision forming, what were your steps to make this a reality?

Abraham George: A very good question. Um, each. Person or each NGO has to decide what is the area they are most interested in. I was interested in education as the tool to bring, bring about a transformative impact on the poor. I, I felt during my, uh, early years in America, you know, where I had a good education, that's what gave me a, a good [01:26:00] future.

Uh, so if, if poor people, even the untouchable so that people who might, I'm talking about that discriminated people, if they could get an excellent education and they could go to a good college, they will succeed and they will then carry their children, uh, along with them and into prosperity and then it multiplies.

They will help their, uh, you know, cousins and brothers and so on. And before, you know, each person that you planted the seed on, uh, would've helped in. 30, 40, 50 years, a hundred others. So it's a multiplicative effect, uh, that I felt would transform society because there are just too many people. You can't individually change them.

You can't feed them, but they will still be poor tomorrow. They'll still be hungry thereafter. So there's nothing but education. If you give them good education and they become [01:27:00] successful professionally and they get good jobs and they carry their families and so on, uh, it'll have a permanent and a wide impact.

So that was my starting point, my model. But somebody else may want to deal with a particular illness. There are a lot of people working in, uh, areas where hiv aids is there, or, uh, polio is there, uh, or somebody may be working in, um, uh, something to do with, uh, housing. Any number of things, water or clean water.

Uh, I am not, uh, against any of those efforts, but in my case, I was looking about looking at possibility of, uh, improving the lives of people permanently in one generation. I wanted to transform their lives, their families, uh, few but still, and they will then multiply. They might start the kind of [01:28:00] school that I started.

In their lifetime. And so the multiplication effect is what I'm looking at. And so I chose education as the cornerstone of my program and focusing on excellent education for the poorest of the poor. 

David Pasqualone: And take us through today, how's that been going? Where has this organization grown to? The 

Abraham George: school has been, uh, amazing success.

Uh, it's return all over, uh, in so many places. Uh, Netflix produced a documentary, a four part series on it seven years ago. Uh, it's, uh, spread All Over the World. It's called, what was that 

David Pasqualone: called? What was that documentary called? So we make sure our listeners 

Abraham George: came Check out The Daughters of Destiny.

Daughters of Destiny. It's, uh, it won, uh, an award, uh, an academy award for television with [01:29:00] a conscience. Uh, it was on television as well as on, um, otherwise, um, not on public theaters. Uh, anyone can, you know, watch it on your internet. Mm-hmm. Um, and that was also one of the successful programs and that put us on the map, uh, throughout the world.

Uh, and the model that we are pro, you know, founded on, uh, became, uh. Quite acceptable. Previously people were saying, oh, poor people, uh, or uneducated people from this kind of backgrounds can't succeed. You know, the, the argument of nature versus nurture, uh, and genetics play a role. And I said, no. Um, you know, I, from my experience in America, uh, I feel that, um, uh, if you have the opportunity and you work hard, and you, you do, you [01:30:00] know, uh, strive, uh, you'll also succeed.

And that is what I brought to India for these people. And I told them, don't worry, you are poor. That's an accident of birth. You shouldn't worry about it. Uh, I, I have started a school for you, your children, uh, from the age of four. Uh, by the way, it was called Shanti B and Shanti means peace. B means home, a, a house of Peace.

Shahi is the name of the school. And, uh, I take children at the age of three and half to four and a half and educate them through 14 years from preschool all the way to 12th grade, and then through the college. And some of them go to graduate school, and if they don't get scholarship, we will help them.

Uh, so it is until they have a job, this first job. We support them. So it is almost 23 years of [01:31:00] support. Um, and look at the results. I'll give you some results. Every one of our graduates is in top multinational companies, Microsoft, Google, JP Morgan, Ernst and Youngs. All the, you know, the, the town close by Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India.

And they, all these companies are there. They hire our kids because, uh, then I'll talk about that aspect. They find out kids very attractive to hire, but then those who want to do studies abroad, uh, they have been able to get admission to top universities in America. Just to give you some names, Stanford, Princeton, dark Month, Middlebury, university of Chicago.

These are the places our kids are studying today on free and full scholarship because they can't afford it. They come [01:32:00] from absolute poverty and, but they get 95 percentile in SAT, uh, and uh, over 90% in their high school rates. And they do very well in interviews and so on. So they get hired. And so these, uh, not hired, uh, admitted.

And so these kids. Um, add to those college's experiences because, uh, they are from a different culture, different, you know, background. They come from poverty. So people who are affluent get to know something about what it is to live as an underdog. So they, they're equally interested in getting a few of these types of kids from my school.

And so the net result is, um, the school has been extremely successful as second school is open now. So we have, [01:33:00] uh, I hope in my lifetime I would open two couple of more and others will. And if you do that, spread the, spread this in a wider scale. Uh, I think, uh, not only, uh, will this, uh, uh, impact, uh, poverty among those people, but it might break the discrimination, uh, based on caste itself.

David Pasqualone: Now, what are you doing that makes your school so successful? Because all over the world, people need quality education. So they can develop the people in their society. What are you doing that's so successful that's making these five star genius rockstar employees? 

Abraham George: Very intuitive question. Um, you know, [01:34:00] sometimes I jokingly say that, um, you had to bring them up from a young age and give them lots of love.

Uh, that's true too. That part is true too. Uh, I am their dad, you know, for these kids, a lot of them don't have dads, by the way. 75% of our kids don't have dads, dads have left their, uh, you know, wives and gone off. Um, but leave that aside. Um, the kid has to feel that you really care. You really love, there's no substitute.

If, if you, if they feel that you really care, you love them, and you bring them up like your own kids, my two boys, then they don't want to disappoint you. That is, that is a, again, you know, I was talking earlier about credibility and so on. These are abstract terms. In some ways these are, this is another abstract one for school.

Okay. But there are three pieces, the pillars of this, uh, our program. The [01:35:00] first one is academic excellence. So right from preschool, kindergarten, all the way, uh. We offer excellent education. We use all the educational tools, uh, for lower grades. We have two teachers per grade, uh, teaching at the same time.

One teaching the other is, you know, guiding the kid. Uh, so this tremendous amount put in. And then in the afternoon they watch, uh, you know, good shows on television. Like, um, what is that? Um, famous one we used to have. Uh, uh, he's no longer, but anyway, um, uh, no, Mr. Rogers. Oh, Mr. Rogers. Yes, Mr. Rogers. Uh, kids watch every day.

Those type of things, you know, and, um, and, uh, they're motivated all the time [01:36:00] to, to do well. Uh, a lot of reading, a lot of arithmetic from the early years, uh, so that when they get past the fifth grade, do the middle years. They're fairly good. If you don't read well, you don't, uh, you don't have the foundation for math.

None of the other subjects work out. So we do that. That is one aspect of it. And then middle school is one, and then high school is another. And then they compete for, uh, international admissions and so on. And they all have a burning desire to get into one of those great universities. Uh, only two or three make it, it's very difficult from a class three, four maximum make it, others don't.

Uh, but that's a fact of life, you know, everyone is not brilliant, you know? Uh, yeah. No, I was 

David Pasqualone: gonna say that. That's, I was gonna say, so [01:37:00] in America for years, we had this false notion that everybody needs to go to college or there are lesser. And when some of the most brilliant people I know weren't fit for a formal education or school, but you put them in the real world and they're achievers.

So that's what I was gonna ask you in your school, are there some students that they're brilliant but they're not academically brilliant, so around fifth grade or around eighth grade, do you phase them out? Do you put them on a different program? Because not everybody is meant to go to Harvard. Okay. And in fact, I know a lot of useless people who graduated from Harvard to be bought.

So it's like, I'm, I'm all about bottom line results like God and people, right? Love God, love others. Right? So when you're in the school, I mean, it's impossible for a hundred percent to be top of the class, you know, full ride scholarship people. So are you phasing individuals out as they get older and helping them plug into other aspects of society, or how [01:38:00] do you handle that?

Abraham George: Well, you know, we select a few for admission to top universities in America. That's, that's, uh, the ultimate, uh, you know, goal. You know, get into one of these great schools like Princeton or something, uh, that only three or four can make it, uh, from a badge. Uh, then you have, uh, a, the remainder, uh, most of them go to a good university in, in the, in the city, close by, uh, not a bad school, good school.

And there, uh, good 75, 80% of them do well that they can get into Microsoft and others, others don't. Uh, they will have to choose a lower type of, uh, job. Um, so everything is not equal. Um, and. The point I have noticed is that even those who have [01:39:00] not done well initially, uh, there are a couple of kids drop out because they got distracted into other things that they, they didn't study at the college fire that okay, after two, three years they come back and say, I want to get returned to college.

Uh, they have improved. They struggled and they came back. So it is not like they're permanently, uh, disbarred, you know, they have another opportunity. Uh, so we, we keep in touch with them. Uh, so anyway, um, yeah, and I wasn't 

David Pasqualone: implying that, by the way, just so you know, I mean, kids in America, they get on drugs, they get in the bad crowd, they get pregnant.

I mean, there's all sorts of things that can derail a teen. But what I was saying is, you know, you got, like you said, out of the lot, you got three to rise to the top and then you got a bunch of great rock, you know, great people, but they're not that intellectual 4.0 level, [01:40:00] so that doesn't mean they don't have value.

'cause their life skills may be killer. Exactly. Exactly. So I just didn't know how you were like. Positioning them. 

Abraham George: Yeah. We encourage them. We tell them, you know, Harvard is not the only other way, only way to go up the ladder. You know, you can get there many, many different ways in different careers and different things, and they work hard.

A good number of the 75% of them work hard and get there into great companies. Uh, the other 25, maybe later on, they may get there or they may follow another profession and, uh, uh, struggle and get past. One thing we don't encourage, and we are criticized for that, is, uh, the pro promoting for the, uh, for, uh, artistic things like music and so on.

Not that we don't want them to, uh, but their parents are waiting for them to make money because they are in utter [01:41:00] poverty. They're waited 18, 20 years for them to get a job and bring some money. So, you know, in India, if you are a musician, you'll be. In big trouble unless you're well trained, you know, from childhood.

Uh, so we don't encourage that part of it. Uh, we are criticized for it, but what can I say? Uh, we have to worry about the parents. What they, they're looking, they're dreaming every day for 21, 22 years. It's a lot of, uh, days of 

David Pasqualone: if somebody's criticizing you, let them open their own school and get results.

That's, yeah. You can play the guitar as a hobby. I'm not gonna teach that in college. I'm gonna teach you how to live and make money. 

Abraham George: Exactly. Exactly. But it's not America either. You know, America, maybe you can, you know, not in India. It is a very tough place. 

David Pasqualone: Well, listen, I'll tell you from firsthand experience in America.

Yeah. You can see the stats. Everybody in the world knows it. [01:42:00] Our math, our science, our English, our engineering, everything is going downhill because they're teaching all this crap. Roofy stuff that doesn't matter, like truly doesn't matter. Communication, personal finance, budgeting, you know, core life skills aren't taught in public schools at all.

Right? And then you have like science and math, things that don't change. Two plus two is four, right? Engineering, all that stuff is put on the back burner so somebody can be artistic. I'm like, this is crazy. And that's why America's fallen so far academically and in pretty much every other way. And I love America.

You love America, you love India. I'm just saying facts. I'm mean America, 

Abraham George: by the way. I'm an American citizen for the last 50 years. Yeah. So I love America. So Yeah, 

David Pasqualone: but you, I mean, it's facts are facts. We've fallen behind the wayside academically because we're, we're worried about, you know, how something feels [01:43:00] and it's like, dude, if you want something to feel good, go make it for yourself.

But when you're in school, I wanna teach my kid real history, math and science. I mean, that's what school's there for. 

Abraham George: And the starting point is, uh, your reading and matic, yes. You don't have that. It's very difficult to get past. You can't learn physics without mathematics. Uh, you, if you can't read properly and understand, you can't learn any subject literally.

So, uh, by, by fifth grade, they have to be pretty good in those two. And then we focus on, uh, science, chemistry, physics, and so on. Um, but initial years is, uh, good reading skills, language skills, grammar a whole bit, and all the foundations of, uh, of, uh, mathematics. Uh, that, that's our approach now. I [01:44:00] was talking about the three pillars.

So academic excellence is one, and we put a lot of effort through teachers, uh, learning tools, computer aided learning tools, and so on. The second one, uh, is leadership and communication skills. Uh, you know, unless they have the ability to interact, communicate with others interpersonal skills, um, you know, the ability to speak in public, uh, and be a leader of a project.

Uh, you know, if you don't have those skills, you are likely to be, um, uh, face, um, uh, setback in your, you know, career. Uh, people who have the self-confidence to get up and speak and lead, uh, are likely to succeed. But if you're going to keep quiet, uh, maybe you should go into research [01:45:00] or something. Uh, so, uh, that, and the way we do it is by, uh, asking the kids to take charge.

For example, every function that we have, whether it's a school day, whether it is one of those, uh, Christmas parties or graduation parties or anything, we have, uh, we don't run it. The children, uh, group is formed and they conduct the entire program, uh, organize everything they do. So we lead them, uh, to, uh, to these kinds of skills.

And it's a everyday affair. Uh, it's not like we are going to spoonfeed them. Uh, so by the time they graduate, they have a lot of self-confidence. See, self-confidence, self-esteem, good communication skills, good interpersonal [01:46:00] skills, these are all absolute necessities to succeed in life. And that's the second pillar that we emphasize.

Then comes the third one. Third one is a little tough because the second one includes, you know, things like credibility and, uh, all of that. And, you know, your word is your, uh, is gold, your stamp of gold. Um, all of that is there in the second leadership aspect. But the third one is, uh, hard to teach. You can only, uh, teach them by demonstrating, and that is humane values, by which I mean, uh, generosity, kindness, compassion, uh, caring for another, um, uh.

Uh, you know, things of that kind, and you can talk any amount, [01:47:00] uh, you know, but, um, unless, uh, they see it being practiced and they are also involved in, for example, our children, uh, you know, we, uh, we take care of old people in the villages. We cook food for them, and we take the food to the village. And those old people who don't have any family, nothing, they don't have money, uh, they wait under a bunion tree for us to come without truck and serve them food.

And our children go with that truck, uh, at times and, uh, serve the old people and talk to them in a very gentle way. They haven't talked to anyone all day. So the children would ask something about them. Why are you feeling okay? Do you have any pain? You know, this and that. You say anything you need, uh, that compassion has to be there, caring.[01:48:00] 

Um, for example, we e every two months we distribute food rations, uh, to put people who are very poor. It could be dry food, any number of things. Or it could be, um, plates and, uh, cooking pots or a blanket or any number of things. Um, and the children come, uh, to, uh. Hand over these to the poor people. So only by practicing you are going to, um, embrace these values.

Any amount of talk will not do, uh, otherwise. You know, our churches and temples and mosques would've transformed the whole of humanity. You know, nobody has ever listened to this and become a compassionate person by itself, by listening to somebody else. So, but I don't have a, a, a perfect formula for this.

Uh, and, [01:49:00] and only by requiring that all our staff, uh, are connecting themselves in that fashion, never talking down at somebody, uh, or, uh, if someone needs help, you go and help them. You know, they watch all this and that is how they, uh, they, uh, absorb, uh, these lessons. So that's a third element. So chances are, you know, our kids, um, when even when they grow up, they'll be carrying people.

And I want to say one thing about this compassion, you know, um, I often tell the children, you know, start with sympathy. When somebody's, uh, down or something, you feel sympathetic. Okay? That's a nice emotion to have. Uh, then you come to a level which is about sympathy. That is empathy. Uh, empathy is you start putting yourself in the [01:50:00] shoes of the other person, how the other person could feel.

Okay? Then comes compassion. Compassion is you really want to do something about it. You know, it's not just that you feel for the other person. You recognize that you want to do something, you know, for that person, you, you, you, you care about them. But I say none of those three things are enough. It has to be in your action, compassion, in action.

You must transform your compassion into something that will make a difference to the other person's life. Otherwise, everything else is only good for you. You feel good about yourself as a compassionate guy or a, uh, you know, empathetic guy. It makes you feel good, but you have an impacted the other person until you act on it.

So, if you are, for example, going in a car to the [01:51:00] city, you are likely at the, at the red light. Some beggar will come to your window of the car and ask for some money, or some mother, uh, would look so sick. So down carrying a little baby. Uh, and you can see that she has no milk in her breast. Uh, I don't know how the baby's surviving.

And you don't roll down your window and give us some little money. Now, a lot of people will say, uh, she could work. Why is she not working? Or is, uh, if you give money, you'll use misuse. It'll buy some bad things, drugs or something. No. If you start judging all these poor people, uh, you're not going to help anybody.

Uh, that's not your job. You see someone who's really suffering, you must be willing to help. But that is something more than that. And [01:52:00] that is you must be prepared to help. For example, when you get into the car, have 25 cents. In India, 25 cents is a lot of money, okay? Um, it's, uh, several rupees, okay? And you should have in your glove compartment so that when this woman comes to your window, you have the money.

You don't give an excuse. I don't have the money, so come prepared to help. So these are few things that we teach them. 

David Pasqualone: And I think that's fantastic. I've done that for years myself. Um, ladies and gentlemen, what Abraham's saying is just common practical sense. Like when you were talking to Abraham, the Bible defines love and action as charity.

Right? Right. And it also says the talk of the lips tend to only to penry. It means talks cheap. Right. You need to take action. Right, exactly. So you go to the grocery store and you want to help people. And I [01:53:00] personally will very rarely give someone money because I've seen it when I say on the street, like I won't hand somebody typically cash because I've seen it misused so many times.

Right. So what I do and what I've done for years is, you know, you go to the grocery store and you get these plastic bags. Right. I'll take like some food and water bottles and I will put a Bible in there and a gospel track, and hopefully they can read, right. But I'll put like a little kit together, tie it in a bag, and I'll have three.

Wow. 

Abraham George: Okay. 

David Pasqualone: I put three or four of those. So you have a little, 

Abraham George: little bag for them? 

David Pasqualone: Yes. Wow. Yes. And then I have three or four of them in my backseat, so when I come to a light, I can reach back and hand it to 'em and it's something 

Abraham George: Oh, that's, that's a good, good idea. You just gave me a good idea. 

Yes. And then there's another thing I've ne this is the first time I've ever publicly spoke about this, but my pillow has these little mini pillows.

And they're [01:54:00] fantastic and they roll up and then the pillowcase covers it. And it's almost like just a size of a big burrito. But I've been giving those to homeless people and they love them because now they have a comfortable pillow to sleep on. Wow. Whether they're in a shelter or whether they're outside.

And something's better than nothing. But what I'm saying is I'm still not at the point where I can give cash. Like to give cash to you for your school or that's different. But I'm saying to hand it to somebody on the street. But what you said you need to prepare. Yeah. You don't know what happened. 

Abraham George: Yeah.

David Pasqualone: Yeah. Have quarters if you're in India or whatever. Right, 

Abraham George: right. And I, 

David Pasqualone: and this isn't to bring praise to Abraham or myself, but all we're saying is you gotta be smart and be practical. Um, right. 'cause if you see somebody truly in need and don't help them, that's against the Bible. Right? Right. If somebody comes to your door talks when the Bible, and they're looking for bread and you ignore 'em or give 'em a stone, you're in deep crap when you see God.

Right? Right. So we need to do [01:55:00] something, but we also need to be responsible. So I'm really glad you brought that topic up and hopefully ladies and gentlemen, whatever country you're in, Abraham has fantastic ideas and he's put into action my couple little ideas. Maybe it helps you, but be prepared. You know, like have something ready 

Abraham George: to help.

Right. What you just said, you know, this woman who comes with a baby, maybe I should have a little bottle of milk for that baby with a nipple on it. 

David Pasqualone: I mean, you, I mean, you can do anything you, and like, for instance, as long as it won't go bad, you know, you can't give them some, like, I've seen people give people rant.

Nice stuff. You 

Abraham George: know, 

David Pasqualone: I almost knocked somebody out one time because they, they were gonna give a homeless person rancid food, and their attitude was, it's better than nothing. I'm like, okay, you eat it, you get sick. I'm like, now you can give them more problems. They're trusting you and you're, I, I almost destroyed that person physically.

But to be prepared to have maybe some, what is it? I don't even know what it's called. It's been so [01:56:00] long since had kids, but like the baby formula and, and the little bottles in the back. You could have like maybe a pink bag so you know which one's for the babies, but any, 

Abraham George: a slice of bread. Slice of bread, 

David Pasqualone: yeah.

Yep, yep. I try to put stuff that was like prepackaged, and I hate giving people food with preservatives, but I want, I didn't know if they were gonna eat it immediately or if it was gonna sit for a week, but yeah, there's all sorts. And I always gave water bottles instead of soda, because soda is freaking poison.

I don't care who you are. If you're the president of Coca-Cola, you know, it's poison. You just make a ton of money off it. So I, I try to give 'em water so it's healthy. 

Abraham George: Right, 

David Pasqualone: right. 

Abraham George: Yeah. But yeah, your idea is very good. Um, but you have to do more than a little preparation that I have. I just keep some, uh, currency in my back.

Now you're giving me something, uh, some other idea that, that, uh, that I can do, [01:57:00] but it needs a little more effort, you know? Yeah. It's not, it's 

David Pasqualone: really not that 

Abraham George: much though, just so you know. For example, you know. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. But if you go grocery shopping, right? Yes. Once a month, buy a case of water bottles once a month, buy a bag, a thing of chips, like, I don't know what country you're from, but like in America you can buy like little bags of chips, but you get like 36 on.

So like once a month you do that and you put 'em in bags, you throw 'em in your trunk and then just put three or four in your backseat and you can reach in hand, reach in hand. And some people, honestly, you live in such affluent areas, you don't ever see this. Some people you live in areas where you see it all day and you're like, I'll go broke.

Do what? You can do what you can. If you give out one, it's better than none. If you give out 50, that's even better than one. So just do, like I Abraham, he said at the beginning, do what you can. So, so that's, you're doing so much. What else is going on in your life today? Um, with, with where you're, so I have, 

Abraham George: I have, um, 400 kids with me [01:58:00] and I have graduated another three, 400 I have encountered lately.

So they are in the marketplace. And then, um, we are also doing number of things. I figured out that one of the needs of the poor people is housing. They live in broken down huts. The roof is leaking. Uh, one room type environment. No kitchen, no bathroom. Uh, I don't know how they survive. And so we build houses for them.

Small little houses, two room houses with a kitchen and a bathroom attached. Very neat. Uh, with mesh windows or mosquitoes don't get in and so on. Would you believe that house costs only $7,000 to build the whole house Foundation, do everything [01:59:00] $7,000. I mean, it's a lot of money for standard, but it is not like you are spending 20, 30, $40,000.

Uh, no. 

David Pasqualone: Seven, $7,000 is less than a recreational vehicle in America. 

Abraham George: Right, exactly. Like somebody might 

David Pasqualone: buy a jet ski and pay $30,000 for a jet ski, and that's foreign houses. 

Abraham George: So, um, that transforms the family that lets them, uh, bring up their kid. Well, the kid has a nice place to study at home. You know, the lot of effect of a proper house.

Uh, I told you about feeding old people, feeding, uh, poor people. During covid time, we were, uh, uh, we were giving food rations to some 5,000 people in the villages. Um, we, uh, at one time we used to have a farm where poor, uh, women could work and earn a living. Uh, so we [02:00:00] do number of things like that, that improve the quality of life.

Quality of life improvement is very broad. It's not food alone. Housing a blanket, uh, a pot or a, uh, plate to eat from, uh, a bucket to carry water so you can think of all the things they need whereby their life becomes, uh, much easier for them. So we think about those and we, we, we help them, but just giving food to the ordinary person there who can work.

They eat the next day, they're hungry again. It's not the same thing as giving food to an old woman who is 70 or 80. Can't work. And you need to help her. Okay? She can't cook. She has no money. Uh, that's a different thing. I wouldn't give food just easily to someone who, uh, who is otherwise, uh, you know, [02:01:00] in good health.

So, uh, these are the things, uh, I'm currently doing. But something I did number of years ago, in year 2000, actually 1997, soon after I arrived in India to 2000, when I arrived in India, I found that, um, uh, the pollution was very high and I discovered that they had removed lead from gasoline. So I came back to America, uh, met with CDC and World Bank and WHO and all that.

They trained me on, uh, testing equipment for testing blood to see how much lead is in their blood. And I came back and, uh, recruited some seven hospitals throughout India to test blood of children who come to the hospital with their permission, of course. Uh, and found out that 50%, five zero, [02:02:00] 50% of the children living in the cities had elevated levels of lead of different levels.

So we held the international conference of 28, 20, 25, or 28 countries turned up and. The oil companies, the three of the largest oil companies suddenly appeared at the conference to announce that within 18 months, they'll remove lead from gasoline. Amen. And India became unleaded after 18 months. Uh, lot of, uh, work by our people, you know, spreading the word and telling government to do something.

Uh, it finally produced a impact on hundreds of millions of people's lives. Uh, and by the way, then the World Bank sent the proceedings to other countries, and several countries implemented the recommendations. So I don't know the impact in other countries, but in India, India became unleaded in 18 months of [02:03:00] following this, uh, effort.

David Pasqualone: And see, that goes back to your 50 50 plan and how we all have to have the balance because if you didn't have the influence, the connections, and the wealth, you know, you can't just sit down with the, the CDC in a lot of places, right? But because you had success and you had influence, you had health at that first 50 of your life, you had the ability in your second 50 to make these literal life changing influence.

So it's awesome that you're using your resources well and your time to help people. So I really respect that and thank you. 

Abraham George: Yeah. The, the, the point is this, you know, if you have money. The question is, uh, how do you use it? Right? Uh, use it for something really, uh, helpful, uh, to others. Uh, you of course you need to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

I'm not against it. You can travel around the world and all that, but if you have the kind of money you can help others, how you use it [02:04:00] is just as important as making money. Um, so that is something each one has to decide how they want their wealth to be used. See if you, the hedge fund managers and the all these fellows in Wall Street and so on, they got tons of money, tons of money, but they haven't figured out how to use it.

They have, their purpose in life is to make more money. Uh, and before you know, you're too old to, you know, to really put that into use. And then maybe your children will inherit it and they continue the same process. So I urge people sit down for a moment and think how some of that money that you have made and you're going to be making more money, how you can best use it to change the world.

And if everyone was to do this, uh, we might be able to get rid of poverty. [02:05:00] But, you know, I wrote something in a book I just finished writing. It's going to be published by September. Um, and the book, I, I said, what is lacking today is we don't have moral leaders who can persuade people with immense wealth to do something good with it.

We don't have moral leaders, we have leaders. We are wealthy people, but we don't have leaders that others will follow. An example in India, Gandhi. Gandhi is a perfect example. Uh, uh, uh, you know, you, you was able to mobilize the whole country and want India's freedom against the British without violence.

See, those types of leaders is what we lack, and if we, we could persuade people with immense wealth to make use of this, some [02:06:00] of their money, not all of them, but some of their money for something good to humanity will have a different world. 

David Pasqualone: And there's always that balance because, you know, you don't know when you're gonna die.

Like you guesstimated 50 years, 40 years, 30 years. We don't know. It says appointed unto man wants to die. Then the judgment, right? And, and you know Right. You don't know what your life is. It's a vapor appears for a minute and then vanished at the way statistically the average person's on the planet for 70 years.

So that's what you were saying and it makes total sense. But also, you know, like most religions, I know, I believe the Bible and the Bible talks, old Testament knew about tithing. God doesn't need our money, it's his money, but we give 10% of our first fruits back Right to God. Right. And you do that through the church or through different ways, but you are doing it to help society.

You're taking a portion of what you've been given and giving it to others. [02:07:00] So I, I think if we have a healthy balance and we're giving back and we're doing our best and we're not leaving our, our, our neighbor, right, love thy neighbor in need, it's the best we can do. But like Abraham, once he has that level of success, it's really a blessing to see you use the rest of your life to help others.

Abraham George: So, oh, go ahead. No, I was gonna say, I grew up in a very orthodox Christian family. I went to Sunday school every Sunday, e every night we pray, you know, all that. I grew up. Uh, then when I got into, uh, uh, became more of an adult, you know, all those habits went away. But I still go occasionally to church and so on.

But, you know, when I look at, uh, I've read the Bible and when I, uh, what I understood, uh, Jesus' message is, uh, help the suffering, help the poor, [02:08:00] help the suffering, uh, that was, is, is one of his major, major teachings. And, uh, you know, we haven't, uh, those who are Christians, you know, that's a lesson they have to carry in my opinion.

I mean, there are many other teachings, but I'm saying the biggest one is to help those who are suffering, uh, in different forms. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. Absolutely. And there's the reality, like you'll never get rid of bias, you'll never get rid of poverty, you'll never get rid of a hundred percent of selling until we're an attorney where it's perfect, but we should strive to, you know what I mean?

It's, 

Abraham George: you can reduce, you can reduce the suffering. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, a hundred percent. And we can get dang close. But it's like fact, you'll never get rid of stupid people. Right? You can't get rid of bias. Somebody will always be biased. It's, and the thing is, even within our homes, like you have a family with two brothers, right?

Right. They're gonna [02:09:00] be competitive, but then they stay loyal to each other and they're competitive against the neighbor brothers. Right? Right. And then these two live on the same street or neighborhood, so they're competitive against the other kids in the other neighborhood. There's, and then you go to cities and the countries and man, if we could fight other planets, we'd be fighting other planets.

But people have a competitive nature and we also have a bias and a ignorance. So like you said, we're to do our best to get as close to getting our bias, get as close to getting of poverty. But we can't expect a perfect world to worth God an eternity. 

Abraham George: Oh no. There's no way poverty existed long before us.

It is going to last long after us. 

David Pasqualone: Yep. The poor will always be with you, I think is what Jesus said, but I will not always be with you, so, yeah. Right. Well, listen, so Dr. Abraham, where are you today? What's the best way of people to get ahold of you and reach out, learn more about the ministry, get involved, what, what's the best way for people to connect [02:10:00] with you?

Abraham George: Okay. You know, very easy to find me. Uh, you know, my name Abraham George Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, so you won't forget it. Abraham George, if you Google on that, you'll find, uh, number of websites and many other things, and certainly, uh, sites where my work is there. My contact information, uh, Netflix, Philip, daughters of Destiny, everything will, you'll find, just start with Abraham George.

I mean, of course you would type the name of the school, Shandon, you'll find more about that school. But you can go from my name to the, all of these things. So the, the easiest way I can think of is just type my name that is, uh, how to contact me. Um, we have an organization now, approximately 150 people work in the [02:11:00] organization to help the children and other work we do.

And, uh, and there is. An office in, in Seattle where my son, uh, does fundraising and things like that from there. And, uh, recruiting volunteers who want to work there. A lot of college kids come, uh, we don't take them before 18, but there are a lot of parents who want their children to experience what is, uh, what is life for the poor and so on.

You know, they, and a number of them go to medical schools. We write recommendation letters and it really helps 'em get admission because they have done some social service, you know, colleges who like that, uh, the children who have done social work. Uh, so they volunteer and my son and his team in, uh, Seattle and elsewhere, they're all on internet and so on.

Uh, [02:12:00] so, uh, they, they do the, you know, TED talk and many other things, uh, they do in the United States. There are chapters in Canada, uh, uk, Australia, Germany, uh, our chapter of our, uh, um, uh, foundation is in all these places with, uh, local, uh, people who want to serve. Uh, they try to raise money. They try to spread the word.

So we have now become a little bigger than a small operation in, in, in, in India, to an effort where, uh, we are reaching out to people who want to do something similar or something else. Uh, we are willing to share our experience, uh, as long as they can demonstrate to us that they mean what they're saying, not just [02:13:00] come and, uh, you know, spend time and they have to demonstrate, they have the, you know, they, they have the resources to do what they're talking about.

If they demonstrate that we will even, uh, house them here and train them to, you know, the leaders. Um, so in different ways we can help them, help others do a good job. So my mission in the rest of my life is, apart from doing couple of more schools, is to spread this message to as many people as possible, motivate others, including the children who graduated from the school to start something like this.

When they have the means to do it. Maybe 20, 30 years from now, I don't know. I won't be around, but they still can do it. And if that is done, I have achieved my purpose. That is my purpose in life. 

David Pasqualone: Amen. Amen. Now, I've had a great time with you. I've learned a lot. I've [02:14:00] been inspired. If there's anything else, Abraham, between your birth and today that we missed or even any final thoughts you wanna share with our listeners around the world, 

Abraham George: I want to tell the listeners something they may find useful.

I just finished a book called, uh, named titled Mountains to Cross, mountains to Cross. Uh, the subtitle is Finding Purpose in Life Through Service. That's a name and subtitle of the book. The book will be out in the United States in September. So, um, if you buy the book, you'll get a good understanding of how I got to where I got to right from childhood to today.

Uh, so in some ways that book might give you some ideas. Uh, the second of course, is the few dollars you spend on the book will help, uh, social costs. [02:15:00] So these are the two. This is a message I want to give them. Um, you know, um, of course they are free to, uh, uh, to correspond with our team. But you know, people have only limited time.

So unless they know that these, those who are trying to get in touch, have an agenda for doing something, they will not respond well, you know? 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. Well, it's been a true honor having you on the show today, and ladies and gentlemen, like Abraham said, and like our slogan says, listen, do repeat for life.

Don't just listen to the great ideas that Dr. George shared with you. Do them, repeat them each day so you can have a great life so others can have a great life and this world, but most importantly, an attorney to come. So, I'm David Pascal alone. This is our remarkable friend, Dr. Abraham George, Dr. Abraham George, thank you again for being here today.

Abraham George: Thank you, [02:16:00] David. Thank you. You summarized everything in those two sentences. Um, the essence of what I've been trying to say. Uh, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to your audience and, uh, listeners, and I greatly appreciate your kind gesture. Thank you. 

David Pasqualone: Oh, you're very welcome. Ladies and gentlemen.

We love you. Check out Abraham's website, check out the work that he's doing, pray about it. See if you want to get involved, and we'll see you in the next episode. Ciao. 

Epic Voice Guy: The Remarkable People Podcast, check it out,

the Remarkable People Podcast. Listen, do Repeat for Life,

the Remarkable People [02:17:00] Podcast.