num_pages: 192
description: Samuel H. Howard's mother taught her son that a good name is better than riches. Howard took that teaching to heart as he rose to success, influence, and authority. During a time when African American businessmen were rare, Howard thrived in corporate America, served as a White House fellow, worked in leadership in colleges and health care organizations, and founded and led several corporations. During his more than forty-year career, Howard also served on business, non-profit, and government advisory boards; led Nashville's Chamber of Commerce; and helped shape that community's Metropolitan Convention Center. Never relying on the race card, but often being the first African American named to various positions, Howard achieved success through hard work and ability. Eventually, the entrepreneur used a one-million-dollar personal loan to found a management company, Xantus Corporation, to work with TennCare, the state of Tennessee's groundbreaking health care program for its poor and uninsured. Howard soon found himself pointing out flaws in TennCare that had the potential to sink the program and companies like Xantus. Then one morning, Howard opened the newspaper to read allegations he mismanaged and stole funds from Xantus. The good name he had worked so hard to establish was questioned. The Flight of the Phoenix traces Howard's journey from Oklahoma roots to influential business leader and depicts his battle to restore his good name and fortune. It also tells how, like the legendary phoenix a bird that dies only to rise again from the ashes Howard is persevering and rising again, ready to soar as a businessman and mentor to a new generation of business leaders.
language: English
title: The Flight of the Phoenix: Thoughts on Work and Life
titlecomplete: The Flight of the Phoenix: Thoughts on Work and Life
publisher: Providence House Publishers