Southeast Michigan Contractors Issue 2 2024 11 RECRUITING AND RETAINING TALENT JEHUU CAULCRICK Jehuu Caulcrick, a former Spartan and NFL running back served as keynote speaker at the ABC SEMI planning conference in January. His personal story is one that many business owners can relate to because his path to greatness came only after persevering through extreme hardship. Caulcrick grew up in the west African country of Liberia. At seven years old, civil war broke out and his family was forced to scatter. Jehuu walked for two years and nearly 700 miles with his sister and grandparents, hopping from one refugee camp to the next to escape the war. Jehuu passed through military checkpoints armed with child soldiers not much older than himself. The soldiers carried AK 47s and had teeth yellowed by jungle-juice and heroin. Death was everywhere. His dad, a top national security chief potentially in line for the Liberian presidency, was assassinated during the conflict. Jehuu was eventually reunited with his mom and found a new life in America, where he starred as a running back at Clymer High School in western New York. He later played football at Michigan State where he scored 39 touchdowns — second only to Spartan legend Lorenzo White. Caulcrick talked to ABC companies about the importance of having the right mindset. While it would have been easy to allow his childhood trauma to be reason for failure, he spoke about the importance of avoiding a victim mindset and persevering through life’s toughest challenges. He said success requires you to focus on learning and growth rather than complaining and it was important to celebrate small victories along the way. Surrounding himself with good people and understanding his “why” was critical to his own personal success surviving civil war to ultimately play in the NFL. If you would like Jehuu to speak to your team, reach out to him at [email protected]. Former MSU Running Back Huddled with ABC at ’24 Planning Conference Jehuu speaks at the ABC SEMI 2024 Planning Conference. Jehuu in uniform for the MSU Spartans.
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