In this episode we chat with Will McCoy, CEO of No Bully, about how being bullied at a young age and a kind encounter with a stranger inspired him to serve in an organization that provides bullying prevention programs around the world.
Will was born with a genetic disorder which affected his bones. He was assigned nicknames and bullied by his peers. But a kind gesture from a friend changed his whole perspective. His whole life, Will struggled with being judged for this one aspect of his character but it taught him a very valuable lesson: you’re never given more than you can handle. He learned to be stronger than those that were teasing him and to help those that were struggling.
Will made this his life’s work. He went on to specialize in working with at-risk populations of students, and those that were marginalized and left out. He connected on a deeper level with those students because he experienced that himself.
Despite middle school being one of the worst experiences for him, Will went on to become a teacher. But not just any teacher, he went back to middle school. He saw how passionate and smart and eager middle school children were, and also how they struggled. Struggled to find their identity. So he said, ‘give me the kids that are struggling, the kids that are having the hardest time because they need us the most.’
How Can I Help More Kids?
His motto is always ‘how can I help more kids?’ so it’s fitting that he went on to become an assistant principal. In order for him to help more kids he had to look at the whole school, not just the classroom. But he didn’t stop there. He wanted to help on a much broader scale so he soon went on to become a district superintendent. At this level he was able to turn whole schools and whole districts around.
That’s when the opportunity to work for No Bully as a consultant came about. He was asked to write a job description for the VP of Education. He wrote that description and when he handed it to the founder, Nicholas Carlylesaid, he said, ‘I would apply for this job’. They obviously thought that was a great idea and offered him the position.
Will came on full time for No Bully in July of last year and was offered the CEO position in the fall. In part because of the amazing work Will has done for the company, No Bully is able to help a quarter of a million kids. They work with amazing sponsors and Will is going to the Philippines at the end of the month to talk about a whole country distribution model with the Philippine government. Will’s whole outlook on being bullied some 40 year ago is that he is going to multiply the positive impact, reverberate that back into the universe a little bit and help whole countries worth of kids that are struggling.
One in Three Kids is Bullied
One in three kids is bullied and if the World Health Organization were looking at this at a physical level, they would call it an epidemic. This is unacceptable and completely unnecessary, and it’s what drives Will and everyone at the No Bully office to go out and help these kids. Will says (14:00) ‘There is not a reason for kids to be bullied. We need to do better. We need to show compassion. We need to show empathy. We need to step up and say, just because people believe this is part of growing up doesn't mean it has to be.’
But with this digital world we live in, cyber bullying is the newest hurdle on Will’s plate. So he is focusing on trying to find a way to eradicate cyber bullying. Nich asks Will (16:03)
‘What are the commonalities between both adolescents and adults in bullying and what are some of the differences?’ Will goes on to explain how many children are being raised without people leaning in on morals and values and ethics, which is setting them up for failure.
Will then goes on to say (17:00) ‘We're seeing on a broad scale in our nation right now, gun violence, mass shootings. There's a lot of conversation that has been missing here. How, how can a young person get to the point where they believe within their character that harming others on a massive scale is, okay. There's absence of guidance (17:28) somewhere in that conversation.’
That really resonated with us and with Will. He realized that a lot of young parents are turning to YouTube instead of family members for guidance on raising children. This realization gave him the idea to look into starting their own No Bully YouTube channel. No Bully wants to get in front of these parents to help them find good messaging and good opportunities for discussion with their child.
Partnership with Burger King
One of the ways they are doing this now is through one of their partners, Burger King. On every tray liner in 83 countries there will be tips on how to start these discussions with your children. What better way to sit down as a family and talk about bullying than over a Big Mac and fries.
On of their biggest international campaigns right now is called Power of Zero and it’s about raising kids in the connected world. Our children are introduced to things like Facebook from the moment they are born and that interaction with the online world is something most of us never experienced until we were much older. So an intentional shift in the way we raise our children needs to happen, and that is what the campaign is all about.
Take a step back to when Will was a district superintendent. He wasn’t concerned as much with test scores and measuring kids success through numbers. He wanted to focus more on how the kids were doing emotionally, and asking questions like how are you feeling, what can we do to help, and then how can we measure that so that we can respond appropriately. It’s less about the test scores and more about assessing the whole school climate and culture.
Nicholas goes on to ask Will a very important question about how if you were to be that little voice inside an adolescents head, what would you say? Will responds with, ‘you’re going to be okay, kid.’ Middle school is tough and we need to be that voice of positivity for these kids and let them know there are people here who you can come to for help.
Will then goes on to tell us about a time in his life when someone said something so kind and encouraging to him, at a time when he was feeling vulnerable, and how he now carries that kindness with him throughout his life. (26:02) ‘I remember one person taking 3 minutes, 3 seconds of their time to be thoughtful with me when I needed it most. Every one of us has five seconds in their day to add that kindness to someone else's world. And again, you don't know how far it'll carry.’
The No Bully Team
The team at No Bully are amazing people and they work every day to change lives. Their comprehensive school programs are able to reduce bullying by 90%. That’s absolutely incredible. They have some incredible sponsors backing them as well. ESPN Major League Baseball and the X Games are a huge part of their Shred Hate Campaign, which is helping them bring awareness to their work on a global scale.
Will’s one fear is complacency. He always wants to stay hungry. He’s the guy who says I don’t want 200 schools, I want 2,000. Will is incredibly driven and passionate about his work and No Bully. And it shows.
We loved having Will on to chat, and learning all about his life and work. We thoroughly enjoyed talking with him and we hope you enjoyed listening too!
