>> I'm Dr.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., and this is "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> People want to poke you, and they want to make you -- get a certain reaction out of you.

And 9 times out of 10, you're gonna give them that reaction, but what happens then is you cut yourself off from being able to do more.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, we continue to look for ways to empower our customers.

We seek broad impact in our communities, and we're proud of the role we play for our customers and the US economy.

As a company, we are focused on supporting our customers and communities through housing access, small-business growth, financial health, and other community needs.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Wells Fargo -- the bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute -- our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental, and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry.

Learn more -- api.org/apienergyexcellence.

Reynolds American -- dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed to ensuring your money, health, and happiness live as long as you do.

>> We are most honored to have one of our nation's leading corporate executives in the petroleum industry.

Stephen Hightower, welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Glad to be here, sir.

Thank you very much.

>> Your success in the petroleum industry is not only noteworthy.

Where were you born?

What's your social location?

>> Well, I was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, which is between Dayton and Cincinnati.

And my father was on his way to Detroit.

My grandfather had gotten him a job with Chrysler.

And he was bringing my aunt up from Mississippi and dropped her off in Middletown.

And that was on a Sunday.

Her husband took her -- took him to Armco, and the next day he got a job.

So we never made it to Detroit.

>> Okay.

>> [ Laughs ] So... >> You're the CEO and founder of Hightower Petroleum.

>> That's correct.

>> What is the mission of Hightower Petroleum?

>> Well, Hightowers Petroleum Company has been founded as a downstream wholesale distributor for gasoline and diesel fuel to commercial fleets.

And we've made our name by delivering to commercial fleet companies like AT&T, Amazon, UPS, all of the GM plants.

We do a lot with the utilities.

So, we're in every state in the United States doing business, 99.9% in the private sector.

>> Well, first of all, that's a lot of fuel.

>> It's a lot of fuel, but in the midst of things, it's just a small teacup.

>> How did you first get industry, particularly in the distribution?

>> Well, actually, there was an opportunity that legislators in the state of Ohio, gentlemen like C.J.

McLin and Senator Bowen -- and the state worked to actually have a program that would help get minority companies involved with different types of industries that we were at zero level of participation.

And that was House Bill 584.

And through House Bill 584, they were able to begin to make opportunities available for -- >> This House bill, was it an Ohio bill or -- >> Ohio House bill.

Yeah, yeah, it's a state bill.

And they set aside fuel one day.

And that contract had been held by BP for about 32 years.

And BP was not in the benevolent sense of helping other minority companies -- or any company -- get started.

And so therefore, there's always a number two.

And I found the number-two guy that was willing to sell me fuel.

I was very transactional, having been in the janitorial business prior to that, then starting an industrial supply business.

I was selling things to Ford Motor Company, all types of different gadget parts and different things of that nature.

But when they actually set aside the petroleum, there was a guy by the name of Don Lykins who had Lykins Oil.

He quoted me, and I quoted the state.

My first contract was the entire state of Ohio.

Now, I was very transactional because, again, my parents -- we had grown up in the janitorial business.

So I kind of knew verbally how to do business.

That was just a different language.

The business part was the same.

And I knew what we had to do in terms of quoting, getting the invoices in right, and paying your bills.

And if you could do that, you can add on top of that multiple languages and different types of industries.

But the business got to be sound up underneath.

>> So you start out in a small town in Ohio.

>> Correct.

>> Then you're across the whole state.

Now you're across the whole nation.

>> Well, actually, I'm global, beyond the United States, but I am in every -- >> Now you're global.

>> I am in every state in the US today.

>> That's a tremendous ascension.

That's a tremendous evolution.

Most people don't perceive that there are opportunities in the gas and oil industry in America, particularly if you come from communities of color.

You defy history ''cause you're not only there, but you're doing well there.

Talk to us about the opportunities today in the oil industry and petroleum industry.

>> Well, the oil and gas type of industry 'cause it's multi-layered.

And it goes from the upstream to the downstream.

And when we talk about upstream, we're talking about crude oil coming out of the ground and all those things, the drilling and the shipping and everything it takes for it to get that crude oil to a refinery.

And a refinery -- Basically, crude oil only has one place to go, and that's to a refinery.

And all that activity is upstream.

Midstream assets would be the refinery, the pipeline, the tanks, and everything to, you know, actually make it into a refined product.

That then goes up a pipeline to several distribution centers throughout the country.

We then pick it up from those distribution centers and then send it to our customers via truck.

Now, that is all over the country in different parts.

So, we buy what we consider all racks, which are all terminals throughout the whole United States.

That's taken 44 years to be able to say that we can go into every rack, regardless whether it's Washington State and California, Wyoming, Ohio, Illinois.

We pull from all of those terminals.

>> 44 years.

>> It took 44 years.

And actually, while we're 44 years today, I would say it was about 37, 38 years before we actually started getting the level of respect, even in that sector of the business that was due.

And, you know, at some point in time, when you start making people money, then you start getting recognition.

And, you know, again, for us to be able to supply to all of those organizations meant that we had to buy.

And then what we had to buy was making them money 'cause we had to buy from the suppliers or the manufacturers, refineries.

So it became a symbiotic relationship that everybody had to win-win.

And at some point in time, you start getting credit for what you do.

>> What has given you your sense of perseverance, your sense of not allowing whatever obstacles were put in your place to hold you back?

>> Well, I'm a competitor.

I played football.

I played baseball in high school, and I wrestled.

I like to win.

And it doesn't matter whether I'm playing sports or if I'm playing business.

I play to win.

And one thing about the business part of it is that you can't invent an industry.

The industry is already made.

You've got to learn the industry, learn it to play it better than your competitor.

And then once you understand it and you can outplay your competitors, then you begin to grow your business.

And what many African-Americans just in -- not just my field -- they don't see themselves going beyond their geographic -- you know, their cities or maybe their counties or maybe their states.

But I look at the whole world as being part of my playground to work in.

And any time that you can do business and do business right, somebody in this world will do business with you.

So you got to go beyond your comfort zone.

And I've always gone beyond Middletown, Ohio, to Dayton and then Cincinnati, Dayton, Cincinnati, then Columbus.

And then I go to the next state.

And then I've always kept a world map in front of me.

And from the time that I started, on the wall in my office, the entire wall is the world.

And so my first picture, I want to have the entire country.

And today I have the entire United States.

in my own mind, and I kept it in front of me.

I wanted the world.

And today I got an office in Rome, Italy.

I've got an office in Nigeria.

I've got an office in South Africa and beginning to expand beyond that in the Caribbean, as well.

And that's just -- it's just a matter of you saying to yourself that, I want to be there."

I want to have that."

And that's where we fail too many times, to not think that we can.

>> Right.

>> And not just think that we can -- then go out there and try.

And that's all I've ever done is continue to try.

>> You know, there's this Bible verse that says a people without a vision perish.

>> Absolutely.

>> Obviously, you had a vision.

You still have a vision.

>> Absolutely.

>> It's expanding.

>> It's expanding.

>> You know, Hightower Petroleum all over the world.

>> That's right.

>> Part of the syndrome that we are facing now in America is this settling for mediocrity, settling for just, "I'm going to do something just to get by.

I'm going to do something just to make sure I'm covered for this month or this year," rather than having the zeal to get more in a legal way.

>> I would like to say a lot of that has to do with your environment and your parents and that ecosystem that you have visibility of as you're growing up.

And my father worked around the clock at Armco Steel, basically almost 20 hours a day, 24 hours a day.

>> Around the clock?

>> Around the clock.

>> That was one shift?

>> No, there was three shifts, okay?

But when he got off his one shift, then he had to go to work for himself.

So then he continued to work and then get maybe a couple hours' worth of sleep, and then he'd go back in again.

But I saw that kind of work ethic all my life.

And even when we had emergencies with the janitorial business, maybe a restaurant flooded, we had to get out of bed in the middle of the night, get the water sucked up, put the fans out such that they can open at 6:00.

I was accustomed to that as a child, okay, understanding how to work and having that work ethic.

And that is really -- At the core of it is what you've been able to see that's possible.

And we have the ability through a lot of hard sweat and tears and relationship building, even going out of the country to get the money to do it, alright?

That's what you have to do.

And that means that you just have to make up your mind that, "I'm gonna accomplish my goal.

I can't be stopped."

>> Well, you certainly picked the right industry.

Energy today determines the public policy of the nation.

Because you have been very successful economically.

You probably not only got rich yourself -- you made a lot of other people rich.

So, tell us -- how is Stephen Hightower embraced by the rest of corporate America?

>> Well, when I first started in the petroleum business, I, you know, again, started with that one contract with the state of Ohio.

Then the casino riverboats start coming up from Indiana, and I start filling up casino riverboats in Ohio and Indiana along the river.

Then I started doing highway contracts on people, with heavy highway, on the roads.

And along the way, they were just opportunities and being opportunistic.

But then I joined this one organization.

It's called SIGMA, the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers, okay?

That's what wholesalers -- >> Is that a national group?

>> That's the national association.

And what I tell everybody -- your association in whatever industry you're in.

If you're in the media, there's an association where they all meet and they meet three or four times a year.

That's what I did.

Once I got involved, I went -- I was told, "You need to be here four times a year when our doors open."

And I did that.

And what that began to do is begin to let them get to know me, alright?

And as they began to get to know me and that relationship began to build, I began to kind of go into the -- I guess, the chairs of being in leadership.

And so that allowed us to begin to travel.

So I went to Brazil.

We went to Cuba, We went to Soviet Georgia.

We've gone to -- all over the world with that group of people in the industry.

And after a while, maybe 10 or 15 years later, I was not just that guy over there.

I was Steve.

And then those were the individuals that also helped me by carrying product that I had in other regions to those customers that were in other cities.

So even though I was still called names, okay, was told that I would be a has-been... My CFO at the time -- I remember a guy calling, you know, me -- calling him a monkey over the phone.

But you know what I tell young brothers and sisters is that people want to poke you and they want to make you -- get a certain reaction out of you.

And 9 times out of 10, you're gonna give them that reaction, but what happens then is you cut yourself off from being able to do more.

So you've got to be able to balance and manage, you know, that conversation in a way that you still can play tomorrow.

And so it was just working those associations and then from one to another to where, as I've actually got, to be the only African-American in all of the associations, upstream, midstream, and downstream, that's ever actually been on these boards.

And there's one thing that we always have to learn about where we are and who we are.

They're looking for something bad.

They're looking for a way to eliminate you.

And the only way they can eliminate you is if your reputation goes sour.

And your reputation can be knocked off in 15 seconds.

You just don't pay somebody, okay, or cuss somebody out, alright, or just say, "I'm gonna it my way and not your way."

You know, just be -- just not play the game the way the games need to be played.

And that's what we have to -- If we learn how to do that, then we can outplay them, okay?

Tiger wasn't -- He didn't reinvent golf.

He just learned the game and then outplayed them, okay?

Serena didn't invent tennis.

They learned the game, and they outplayed them.

I didn't invent this game of petroleum.

I just outplayed my competitors to be where I'm at right now.

>> Relationship building.

>> Relationship.

>> It's good for business.

>> It's the only way.

>> We need you to be teaching a course at all the business schools in America.

>> Yeah.

>> I know you've written a book that's in circulation.

Tell us about your book.

>> Well, "FUELING: From Zero to $1 Billion" is the name of my book.

And what I do with that is to tell where I come from.

And being in a janitorial business, to some people, that blows their mind and they want to minimize who you are because you were in a "janitorial" business, which is a $32-billion industry.

Alright?

And that's where my skill sets -- that's where I learned business.

That's where I learned how to sell, is in that particular business.

That's where I learned customer service.

I just took it to another level and started bringing -- And what I learned from that janitorial industry, alright, I was able to take and put another industry on top of it and then allow it to grow.

What really changed our business was technology.

And I had an e-commerce solution that I adopted.

I was the third company to adopt this e-marketplace software.

And so I was prepared when they were putting that together to step into my vertical of fuel.

Now, I was still a baby, okay?

I was still very, very small.

But I got into that particular category, okay, and that particular vertical.

And I owned it because I had the technology to hook into it.

So, Cincinnati Gas and Electric -- that turned to Cinergy, which was Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky -- they were a part of that particular organization, Pantelis.

And the lady who was a part of Cinergy left and went with Pantelis, and I became that vertical for oil and gas.

So ExxonMobil did a deal with me 'cause I had to be national.

And they gave me their suppliers in all their regions, alright?

And then there was another company that gave me worldwide -- or nationwide fuel.

And it was through Pantelis that then I had got all of Cinergy, okay, which I was doing one tank per week -- no, one tank per month for about four years.

And that was Cinergy's way of saying they were doing business with a minority company.

Now I've got all of their business.

And what they said to me -- "Don't tell nobody.

Just perform."

Just in case I screwed up, okay?

They didn't want people to know, why did they leave BP and go with me?

So just do the work.

And we just did the work.

And to this day, we still -- When Cinergy and Duke -- they came together.

And Cinergy's CEO became the CEO of new Duke.

And they say, "Steve, you're coming with us."

And in one month, we had all of the Carolinas with Duke.

To this day, we do all of Duke's fuel, all of their generation fuel, as well as all their fleet fuels.

>> That's great.

>> Yeah, and so not making these guys look bad when they give you a chance is everything, alright?

And we've done that over and over again.

And in this industry about fuel is, if I get GM today, I took it from somebody else.

And that somebody else happened to be BP.

And I do Honda and I do Nissan, I took it from somebody else, okay?

Those somebody elses was also BP.

And it's because I learned the game.

I learned how to buy.

I learned how to scale and deliver all over the country without having to have all of those trucks under my own belt, alright?

And I learned how to finance large sums of money, large receivables, through an element called lockbox.

The bank wasn't gonna give me money, okay, to be in the petroleum industry.

I got up to $235 million before I got my first bank loan from a commercial bank.

And how did I fund myself through that, was through lockboxes.

And I had lockboxes with different suppliers, alright, which the bank did not have any liability, okay?

>> So having the lockboxes cut out the middleman.

>> Having a lockbox allowed me to basically cut the bank out.

But the bank had instructions to send my suppliers' money to them.

So when, let's say, AT&T paid us into a lockbox hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, well, what was belonged to my supplier, the bank had instructions to send that to that supplier, and I got mine.

And that way, the bank did not give me the credit.

All they were doing was passing the money through.

The supplier was okay because he knew he was gonna get his money from the bank.

So that was a way.

>> Who was the book written for?

Is it the general public, or is it written for entrepreneurs?

Who's the target audience?

>> The target audience is anybody who wants to be in business or thought about being in business.

It comes from an African-American, and so I talked to African-Americans, but the business is the same.

It's not a white way of doing business or a Black way of doing business.

It's only one way of doing the business.

And so that's what I teach is, what is the right way of doing business, period.

Petroleum is just a language.

It could be medical supplies.

It could be, you know, waste management.

But the business, the accounting, the marketing, the management, the people that's doing the customer service, all of that is basic.

And then you can put different things on top of that.

So that's why I've been in many different businesses over my life, but the business is the same.

The core business is the same.

And then you just have to learn the language in which what you're, you know, doing.

>> Well, best wishes to you, and your book -- "FUELING."

And, Stephen Hightower, the founder and CEO of Hightower Petroleum, thank you so much for being on "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you very much for the opportunity.

>> Thank you.

>> For more information about "The Chavis Chronicles" and our guests, visit our website at TheChavisChronicles.com.

Also, follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, we continue to look for ways to empower our customers.

We seek broad impact in our communities, and we're proud of the role we play for our customers and the U.S.

economy.

As a company, we are focused on supporting our customers and communities through housing access, small-business growth, financial health, and other community needs.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Wells Fargo -- the bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute -- our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental, and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry.

Learn more -- api.org/apienergyexcellence.

Reynolds American -- dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed health, and happiness live as long as you do.

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