Dan Williams is the Founder Chairman President and CEO of Solomon Abraham and Associates Global Executive Search Firm. A boutique search and staffing agency nestled inside of the city (Cleveland, Ohio) built on rock n roll. Take a look at their website and the very first thing you will see is the company mantra “Us? Together, There Is NO Competition.” When I asked him what does this mean to him he simply stated “world peace.”
Dan wants to save the planet and he needs your help. His childhood was far from peaceful. He grew up in a neighborhood filled with poverty and crime. At the beginning of this interview Dan said to me.
“I heard Jay Z rap once that in order to make it out of the hood you either have to sell crack rock or have a wicked jump shot.”
In 2009 Dan’s sister who was 17 at the time was murdered by another teenage girl in a neighborhood known for distributing crack and gang banging. This fatal incident happened right after the 17 year old victim was walking home from basketball practice.
“My father stood at her casket the entire funeral. He made them leave her casket open. He just stared at her with the most ominous face I have ever seen.”
Dan’s father was absent the majority of his childhood. His father had been in and out of prison. He was suffering from drug and alcohol addiction and afraid to let his son see him. His father was a savage living only to get high, and get high by any means necessary is exactly what he did.
“Every time I got into trouble as a kid my mother would yell at me and say that I was going to grow up and be just like my dad.”
His mother was right at least for a decade. or so because, Dan would soon find himself on the wrong side of the law just like his father. He was following in the footsteps of a man he barely knew. Until one day detained by police and in cuffs Dan walked right into a jail cell occupied by his father.
“This was Gods plan. This was his will.” Dan explained that after having hours of in depth conversation with his father that he then understood what he must do to not only save himself but to also lead by example and set the trend to save any other person who might have the same problems that had plagued Dan since youth. The drugs and alcohol had to go ASAP. It was the only way he would survive and he knew that death was peaking its ugly head around the corner.
“My father told me he simply gave up on life that day at my sisters funeral. He said that there was no way of saving him. He was done. He was a lost cause, but I refused to lose.”
Dan’s mom gave birth when she was 17 in 1984 to her first and only child. She was adopted at birth and raised in a strict Christian household. Like any other teenager forced to go to church and not have a social life she became a rebel and thanks to her impulsive rebellious ways Dan was created.
“Ha, I’m actually happy to be here because things could have went in so many other directions like that movie The Butterfly Effect. So I thank God for every single person involved in my conception. Being alive is truly a blessing.”
Now taking a better look at Dan he somehow reminds me of a darker more handsome Ashton Kutcher. Dan was raised along side his mom by his grandparents and of course he went to church every Sunday participated in the choir, the usher board and Bible school. He also attended catholic school where he excelled in every subject. He got the nickname “show-show” from his peers because he would put on a performance for whoever and wherever.
“I loved attention so I had to be the class clown, the star athlete, and the smartest kid in the room.”
Little did Dan know but this addictive ego centric personality would gain him the wrong attention in the future. His college years were the same as any other teenager. Day drinking, smoking pot, taking ecstasy. “You know the normal stuff” is how Dan explains it. Dan’s neurology is far from normal. His grandmother drank two 40 ounce king cobra beers daily until she passed away from stomach cancer in her 70’s.
“I’m an addict once I start I lack the discernment to stop. I have to drink until I’m no longer able to drink anymore.”
Obviously he was kicked out of college sent home to Cleveland and started selling drugs and hanging back out in the neighborhood.
“There was nothing to do but drink smoke weed and go to parties everyday. I didn’t want to grow up.”
Dan says that he was forced to work a job after being busted for selling drugs by the police when he was 20 and that’s when the drinking got even worse due to the fact that he was on probation and had to be tested for illegal substances monthly.
Dan started working as a mortgage loan officer in 2006 and drank from the time he got off that night until the next morning.
“I was making really good money and everyone drank and smoke cigarettes back then. Of course I wanted to fit in so I smoke more cigarettes, drank more liquor, and made more money than any of my colleagues. Before the movie Wolf of Wall Street there was this movie with Vin Deisel called Boiler Room and that’s how I wanted to be with a million dollars, a beautiful woman, cocaine and a mansion #Periodt.”
I could feel myself become aroused as I listened to Dan speak with so much passion and conviction. I understand how he is able to socialize, build relationships and friendships so easily. It’s his persona his eye for detail and his overall transparency. That accompanied by a knack for story telling. His audience can easily find themselves moistened and enveloped in a world of money, sex, drugs, love, lies and deceit.
He’s infamously beautiful in full Gatsby attire. He’s been sober for 3 years now so we have no choice but to believe him. He’s a brilliant savant and like any other future billionaire wannabe he’s a sexy narcissist.
“I am selfishly unselfish these days.” He says that the only way he can continue his addiction is to “addictively help other people.” He just thinks differently and is abstract in the most delicate way.“Typically you hear about hurt people hurt people hurt people. I think to help people help people help people.”
Dan is a concrete rose.
Locked up for domestic violence in 2017 Dan met Tom Johnston the founder of Search Path. Tom was teaching a virtual class that Dan attended. It taught the residents of the jail how to obtain employment after rehabilitation and become a returning citizen effortlessly.
“I was more interested in the Search Path mission statement which was how can I help you. I had just about finished intensive outpatient rehab, practicing cognitive dissonance and going to AA daily. I was working a program and I still am. That’s the number one reason how I continue to be successful today.”
It was something about that mission statement that stuck with Dan. He wanted to help people and he knew that the best way to help someone was to get them a job or get them money. He was determined to use the real world skills he gained in sales, his street smart hustle and his overall knowledge for a new purpose, “selfishly unselfish” as he so often calls it.
He hates the word idol. For fun he says that if he had to choose one that his would be Def Jam founder and former CEO Russell Simmons because they have so much in common. He even has a Krush Groove poster on his wall.
Krush Groove is a biopic loosely related around the start of Russell, RUN DMC, Rick Ruben, LL Cool J, The Fat Boys, Curtis Blow, The Beastie Boys, and others in Queens New York around the early to mid 1980s
Tom Johnston is quoted on Dan’s LinkedIn profile saying “Dan entered the search industry with energy and a level of commitment that made him stand out among his peers. He is a great recruiter and will work until he fills the role. Great search consultant.”
Dan went straight to Tom’s office January 1, 2019 and told Tom that he would work for free and only make money off of the placements he worked on by himself. With an 80-20 split the revenue partnership was agreed upon, sealed with a firm handshake.
Dan says “so far that has been the most important handshake of my life and I came to work early everyday, on weekends and even on holidays to build my client list by building trust and developing relationships with executives and industry insiders. I am a leader and I lead by example. With God on your side you can accomplish anything so I was and never will be alone or afraid.”
That first year was long. Dan made just about $30k in commission and then the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world forever. Dan started working from home companies put on hiring freezes and many people lost their jobs. Dan started calling everyone of his contacts personally to offer any help he could during the pandemic and at the very least give them a kind word of reassurance and a cheerful voice to brighten their day.
Rudy Treminio Managing Partner of Sunrise Chevrolet in New York can be quoted saying, “Dan is (the kind of) guy who does whatever it takes to make it happen. Very motivating stuff he’s doing (and) I love doing business with him. We will continue doing business with him in the future. (I) love this guy and if you need to know about him personally or his company call me.”
Even though they aren’t related by blood Dan looks at Rudy like a big bro and Dan’s middle name is even Rudy so there is no coincidence in their share of love for eccentric cars, clothes and the rock star lifestyle.
During the height of the pandemic Dan’s Solomon Abraham and Associates Firm invested in a start up indie record label (Superxor Quxlity Records) with a college friend from yesteryear Mr. Jonathan Crisp. Jon is the grandson of the creator of long running tv shows Good times Sandford and Son and hit movie Cooley High. They originally met in 2003 at the prestigious Fisk University an HBCU known for its Grammy winning choir and located in Nashville, Tennessee and known in history as the very first school created for African Americans.
“Kids in that school were so rich my best friend pulled up in a limo. Hahahaha I had clothes in a garbage bag.” Dan is quite the character as he relives his college life. I wonder off creating an image in my mind of what he might have been like at 19 years old with an oversized white t-shirt on and pair of Air Jordan’s with a big Afro rolling a blunt between classes.
Their record company plans on launching a streaming platform similar to Netflix or HULU in 2021. The label (Superxor Quxlity Records) is also home to superstar DJ TR3AL. TR3AL is the #1 and only blue check certified African American EDM DJ in the world.
The future is bright for a man that was once a child that would get in trouble and be compared to his father for all the wrong reasons. Now he is a man who not only his children but the world can compare themselves to for all of the best reasons.
Right before the end of this interview Dan said to me.
“If I can save the world then I will save the world. I’m still that same kid at heart ready to show his talents but this time it’s to bring peace to the world and be a role model. Someone who is always dependable and can be trusted to do all the right things for the right reasons for the right people. This is my American Dream. It’s my American reality I want everyone to enjoy it with me and may God bless you all.”
