‘We want more’ from career and community: At 60, this Black founder sells his firm and weighs his legacy

Steven Bradley has reached that point in life where he’s thinking about what legacy he will leave and the people who helped him build it.

In January, he sold the insurance agency he founded 22 years ago, Bradley & Bradley Associates Inc., to Atlanta-based OneDigital, where he’ll stay on as head of the Philadelphia office, adding property and casualty clients to the new owner’s life and health customers.

He chaired the region’s African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware from 2009 to 2022 and sits on the board of the Philadelphia Foundation, among others, helping decide whom to fund. He agreed to talk about how he built relationships that made his career possible. His answers have been edited lightly for length and clarity.

There’s a program called Inroads. It was started by Frank Carr, an executive in California, who felt minorities weren’t getting opportunities to get into financial institutions in corporate America. He called his friends and asked them to take interns — to mentor them in the business and also to go with them to baseball games, to the country club, teach them to golf. Not just the business school — the social side, too. Joe Neubauer, of Aramark, opened Inroads in Philadelphia.

Inroads sent me to the Continental Insurance Co. at Fourth and Market. Now, I grew up in Darby Township, and I’m still there: I own the house where my mother raised seven children. The best thing that happened to me, I got cut from the basketball team in ninth grade, so I put all that energy into my classes. I became class president.

Darby Township was where the Blacks lived. And it turned out that the man Inroads had me call on, Paul Forbes, was also from Delaware County, but from Sharon Hill; at the time, that was for whites. So when Paul looked at me and said, “You graduated Darby Township High School,” I said to myself, “I’m not going to get this job.”

But then Paul said, “I’m going to judge you by what you do now.” Since then, all my career decisions, I have taken them to Paul. In four summers there, I had some great mentors and role models. Continental offered me a full-time position.

One summer I had worked for Paul’s wife, Gloria, on the [sales] side. She told me, “Steven, you’re sales, all the way.” I started thinking I could have my own business.

Then I joined Watlington & Cooper — it was the Black property and casualty insurance agency in Philadelphia. They had me marketing, going to political events. Frank Carr at Inroads used to emphasize that: You have to excel in your career, and you have to be a leader in your community.

The way it worked, you would recruit the insurance companies, the underwriters, to donate money to one of the large nonprofit groups. That built my brand. They liked how we did; they became loyal clients.

Oh yes. I had my agency when I met Jerry Sweeney [of Brandywine Realty Trust, Philadelphia’s dominant office landlord]. We worked together on lowering the city wage tax to bring in more jobs. He gave us a shot — a couple of projects. We must have done a good job because they gave us more. They are a client today.

I was friends with Mayor Michael Nutter before he was elected to City Council. I’ve always been his staunch supporter. As chairman of the African American Chamber, I went on a couple of his trade missions — to London and to Israel. I worked on John Street’s campaign and on Ed Rendell’s.

And not just candidates. David Hyman [head of the government group at the Kleinbard law firm] heads Operation Understanding. He had us involved in helping send kids to Israel and to Africa. You learn so much and you put it to work.

[Laughs.] I know all the candidates. And I can’t say who’s my favorite. For example, Derek Green is, like me, an Inroads grad. Cherelle [Parker] and Maria [Quiñones-Sánchez] worked on the pandemic relief funding with [ShopRite CEO] Jeff Brown, who I met through the Fitler Club. I could say the same for any of the others, that all 11 are good public servants. Whoever wins, I can do business with.

I’ve always been about the way we overcome violence with youth is economics. Being a good role model. And entrepreneurship.

Young people do not always have direct contact with entrepreneurs as role models who can help them to discover the resources within themselves. I showed up at these school events, I went on the trips, I didn’t just write a check. That’s how you make an impact. Be there with them.

I had thought I would bring my child on as a partner, the other “Stevens” in the agency name.

I participated in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. One of the things we discussed was how many businesses fail because we force the kids into it, when they would rather be doing something else. They said it’s better to build the business, sell it, and from the proceeds you will be able to help your child, if they find something they want to be passionate about.

It was hard for me to give up my autonomy. I hadn’t had a boss in many years.

But OneDigital is very good at this. I went to Chicago with them. They had 3,000 agents at the Convention Center for a week. Their commitment to diversity and equity is fantastic. They made me feel like a celebrity.

OneDigital is owned by the agents, so we all succeed together.

I used to think I wanted to excel. Now I’m saying, at 60, how many houses can you have, how many cars? You want to be fulfilled. What did you do with your time on Earth?

It is not either/or — that you pursue a career for yourself, or you get involved in the community. We want both. We want more. That is true leadership. We don’t just want to be successful as executives. We want to be successful in all of life. To build a legacy, that others can do this as well.