Folkes Unfettered| Speak Freely!

Folkes Unfettered is where leadership, entrepreneurship, and ownership converge. Hosted by Gene Folkes, MSOL —U.S. Air Force veteran, entrepreneur, author, and former contestant on NBC's The Apprentice with Donald J. Trump—this podcast explores business strategy, capital literacy, economics, culture, history, and leadership. Every episode challenges conventional thinking and equips you to thi...

This isn't about whether I love America. It's about whether America has ever loved all of us equally,  and what 250 years of evidence actually says. Not the sanitized kind of answer. Not the kind that fits neatly on a flag or a bumper sticker. The kind that comes from a Black man who swore an oath to defend this country, and then had to spend decades watching this country decide, over an...

People keep asking me about The Apprentice. And I get it. But a moment is not a mission. I am built from Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King, Jr., men who didn't show up for cameras. Men who showed up because silence was not an option. People paid in blood for the right to speak. To waste that right would be a disgrace. That is the lineage I car...

They told us. Orwell told us. Baldwin told us. Twain told us. Morrison told us. We read the books. We passed the tests. We called it fiction. In this episode of Folkes Unfettered, Gene Folkes draws on the most unflinching voices in American and world literature to examine what's unfolding in leadership right now, and why none of it is actually new. The patterns were already named. The charact...

What if your leadership were displayed in a museum?  Not your resume. Not your job title. Not your social media profile.  Your actual leadership. Every decision. Every sacrifice. Every act of courage. Every compromise. Every life you've impacted. What story would it tell? In this episode of Folkes Unfettered, We explore a powerful question inspired by a visit to the Museum Of Modern Art (MoMA...

As the week closes, and you reflect on the things you accomplished and the engagements you had, as promised, the latest episode of Folkes Unfettered has just been dropped! Here's what we are talking about today. Go check out our channel, and don't forget to like and subscribe.  What can Jazz Musicians teach us about Leadership?  More than people realize... In this episode, I explore the...

In this powerful Memorial Day episode of Folkes Unfettered, Gene Folkes explores the true meaning behind "The Cost of Freedom" -- beyond the barbecues, sales, and long weekends. This episode takes listeners through the history of Memorial Day, from its origins after the Civil War to the sacrifices that continue to shape America today. But this conversation goes deeper than history. It ch...

In this episode, I examine the recent ruling from the Supreme Court of The United States and what it may signal about the future of civil rights protections in America. Moving beyond political theater and media outrage, this conversation explores how power, legal interpretation, and institutional shifts can gradually redefine who has access to protection, justice, and opportunity. This is not just...