Why a Former CIA Operative Believes Kindness is the Next Frontier in Business Strategy
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Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters Milken Conference Series episode, Adam Torres interviews Darrell Blocker, Founder of DMB Consulting Services. Drawing on 28 years with the CIA, Darrell shares how his strategic advisory firm helps businesses navigate risk at the intersection of technology, security, and global expansion. He also reflects on his mission to spread empathy and integrity in leadership—one conversation at a time.
About Darrell Blocker
Darrell M. Blocker had a 32-year career in national security and international affairs, serving six presidential administrations. He began his career as an intelligence analyst in the United States Air Force (1987-1990) before joining the CIA’s Clandestine Service (1990-2018). His career included multiple overseas assignments in Africa, Southwest Asia, and Europe, and he retired as the most senior black officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations after holding prominent positions such as deputy director of the Counterterrorism Center, Chief of Africa Division, and Dean of the CIA’s iconic spy training school.
About DMB Consulting Services
At DMB, the team leverages HUMINT-based insights by drilling down to the root causes, identifying key symptoms, and gathering perspectives that enable the identification and resolution of structural drivers behind operational, financial, and reputational vulnerabilities.
DMB believes the best way to earn trust is by practicing it—operating with discretion, transparency, and a sense of fair dealing. Decades of specialized experience have helped the firm build a powerful network of industry professionals, cutting-edge technologies, and strategic partnerships.
This foundation enables DMB to tailor solutions to each organization’s unique cultural and commercial environment. By emphasizing mutual respect, straightforward communication, and sensitivity to local nuances, the firm ensures its work aligns with what truly matters to leadership and stakeholders alike.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today I have Darrell Blocker on the line, and he is the founder of DMV Consulting Services.
And, particular interview is also part of our Milken Global conference series where we bring on top guests that were either participated in the Milken Global conference as on panels, they were speakers, they were attendees, all of the above. And Darrell, correct me if I’m off here. First off, welcome to the show and, and as I welcome you, you have, you’ve been on a panel multiple times.
Am I off on that? I have been on multiple Milken panels. I was first on in 2023 in Los Angeles. Then again, just last month, early May of 2025. So Milken conference, one of my favorite conferences of the year. It’s on my calendar every year. I’ve been going for now, I think going on four years. And just really a lot of fun.
I have my reasons. I want to hear yours. What keeps you coming back? Why is it such a special event for you? For me, the, the literally the brain trust that is there, everybody you bump into is the, penultimate, the amazing, the, I mean, everything about it, it is so overwhelming. Like a baby gets over wrought with too much energy.
That’s what that’s what it feels like there, but in a good way. It’s just so powerful and so interesting and, and yeah, there’s, it’s never boring that’s for certain. That’s awesome. What was the panel about that you participated in this year? I didn’t for standing pictures.
Mm-hmm. The, panel this year was on basically espionage in the in the AI space. Mm. and targeting, because most c-suites don’t really see themselves as being of interest to anyone being mm-hmm. Either it’s a state actor or a non-state actor, and I. I am here to tell them that as a guy who did nothing but target people mm-hmm.
For, for 28 years that you are absolutely of interest. Yeah. If you have a C in front of your name, C-E-O-C-F-O-C-T-O, you know, whatever it happens to be guaranteed, you are of interest to your enemies. And your enemies. Could be China or Russia. It could be your competitors. Yeah. And I’m just curious about this.
So I, and this is, I think this is a good transition as well. I want to get further into what you’re doing over at DMB consulting services. So may maybe tell us about your, about your background and and, your consultancy. So, DMB for the last eight years, I retired from the CIA in the fall of, 20.
- So coming up on, coming up on seven years this October. And what I’ve done is I’ve turned my, love of being a Cub scout and a boy scout in ROTC, being in the military, my love of puzzles, my love of, helping people, my love of educating people on, you know, how to avoid, pitfalls, has all kind of coalesced into what I call DMB.
I do consulting on folks who are interested in going into business on the African continent, where I spent the lion’s share of my career as a CIA officer running around that continent. But at the end of the day, I’m a strategic advisor. I help people at the cross section of technology, of defense, and basically any industry that you can describe.
I’m probably got a. A finger in it somewhere. Hmm so what kind of clients do you work on? I’m trying to figure out like who’s the right type of individual people. A lot of people listen to this, a lot of people listen to this show and you know, they’re gonna be like, well, what, how do I, is this the right person I should be calling?
And, you know, getting some advice from What kind of clients do you, do you tend to get the most value out of working with you and your team? So if I look at the current clients I have AI companies mm-hmm. That I’m mm-hmm. Consulting with security investigative companies. I am, on the board of a the largest land developer on the African continent, a company called Endeavor.
Mm-hmm. I’m on the board of black professionals in international affairs. Anybody who’s interested in national security or going into diplomacy I’m an on-air personality or contributor for a, b, c news, but the clients go from everywhere. From individuals who are high net worth individuals who are trying to make decisions about mm-hmm what’s going on, or they have a personal issue.
I do do the physical security. It’s not my, druthers. Mostly helping people navigate. Difficult and challenging, mm-hmm. Scenarios surrounding their business, you know, leveraging human networks dealing with data, strategic decisions, anything that’s nuanced on the risk management side in complex international competitive environments.
It’s very much what I did at CIA, it’s just that I now do it in, in business development. Hmm. And I understand that you’re also the recipient of the Ellis Island medal of Honor. Man, that’s a big deal. That’s amazing. I I am still shaking my head about that one. Yeah, I was called in early. I was called in early April to tell to by, a member of the board to say that they were nominating me for 2026.
So, of course, went online, took a look, and they, of course, they were taking applications. And what I didn’t know is that the, board had already approved me unanim unanimously for 2025. And so on the, 10th of May, 2025 I received the Ellis, Ellis Island Medal of Honor for exemplary commitment to national security, global security, mentorship, humanitarian work, and advocacy for diversity in national security.
Wow. And what date was that? That I said, what was the day? That day was a it was the 10th of May 25th. Wow. You know what else happened that day? That was my birthday. That’s why I said it. What? Okay. Well happy, happy belated birthday. Nah, I’m not saying it because of that. It’s interesting. I was like, what did you say?
My birthday. I didn’t expect you to say that day. And that’s also just a little fun fact for you. Mother’s Day in Mexico every year it, it doesn’t change and I’m not. It doesn’t change in Mexico. So that’s a Okay. A little fun fact in the US Mother’s Day changes, you know, year by year. It changes a couple days either way, I think, or a couple, whatever, right?
But there you go. Just a little fun facts about the 10th of May, you know, we’re learning here. No nonsense. I, I wanna get into, I know you got some stories too, man, Lou Holt, like, I’m a fan. Like, talk to me. You got to meet him. I did get to meet him, so I was, I was seated at a gate at Dulles Airport reading a book and charging my iPad, waiting for my six hour flight home from Washington back to Los Angeles when an older gentleman came and sat down to me to share the plug that was in between, our seats.
And so I’m, sitting there and I could tell he is looking at the book that I’m reading, and then finally I hear this voice that is so distinctive that. I knew it was Lou and, and basically said, what are you reading? And without even turning to look at him, I said, coach. I’m reading Gang of Khan and the Making of the modern World.
And you know, he is got this very lispy voice. And so we started talking about leadership. I told him that I was getting, I was preparing for a TEDx like leadership presentation. He told me that he had literally just come from speaking at a, leadership conference keynote speak, that speech that he did in, dc.
So he turns to me, he says. What’s the most important word in the English language? I said, coach, I have no idea, but I’m looking forward to hearing the answer. And he said choice. Choice is the most important word in terms of imparting leadership onto others. I. Then he went on to say, you know, people think that I was coaching you know, I was teaching blocking and tackling, but what I was teaching was accountability.
Mm-hmm. And standing up. And that struck me because what I was working on in that particular speech is that character matters. Integrity matters, accountability matters. So yeah, it was, fantastic to meet him. It couldn’t have lasted more than five minutes, but coach Ho was. it was something that had an impact on me.
And you’ve also been on the 10th stage, right? Talk to me a bit about that. I did. So I’m a graduate of the University of Georgia and in 2020 I got an email and asking me to self nominate for their TEDx. So. Every year Georgia picks three alumni, three students and three staff to be the, the cohorts for that particular year.
So 20, 22, 2 years later is when I actually delivered my keynote speech or my, TEDx on April Fool’s Day, as a matter of fact, 2022. And the, in short, it was, listen more, speak less. Lessons in kindness from a CIA operative. Mm. There was something about that speech that resonated with so many people within a month.
Well, within two months of giving that speech, I was delivering a similar message about kindness to a bunch of bankers in London. And a month after that I was delivering messages about kindness and the efficacy of kindness in business. To a bunch of venture capitalists in Lisbon. And what all three of those have in common is.
CIA. People are not necessarily known for kindness and neither are bankers or private equity people, but everybody who recognizes that kindness is something that, like Mark Twain described it as kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see, and it’s just one of those. Universal truths that everybody can kind of kind of glom onto or appreciate.
Mm-hmm. So that’s kind of been my mission in life over the last five years is to spread as much kindness as I can. Wow. That’s quite a mission. I mean, when I think about the ways that sometimes, let’s just say CIA or like military or like, you know, police, like how, how individuals are sometimes portrayed in the media.
It’s good to hear the other side. I feel like we don’t hear it enough, right? Like, in my opinion, you don’t hear it enough. I, agree. I mean there, there are some things I, I look at Robert Fulham who wrote a book called, all I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten, and that’s kind of my playbook.
It’s that everyone learned in kindergarten to to share, to play fair, to not hit people, to put things back where you put them. It’s just a whole list of stuff that maybe as adults we moved away from and are no longer embracing. And the one that really, really resonates across the all cultures and languages is everybody has heard the adage, if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, then don’t say anything.
I love that one. Don’t say anything at all. And, and honestly, Adam, if every individual could think about that, I think we could change the entire world. Maybe not overnight, but certainly. More quickly than where we’ve, you know, where we’ve evolved to or devolved to is one might, one might say over the last, I don’t know, decade or, you know, 20 years.
But that’s how, that’s where I start from. If I can’t contribute positively to a discussion, then why tear each other down? Democrats are not the enemy of Republicans, and Republicans are not the enemy of Democrats. We’re all Americans and we’re all. You know, I guess maybe fighting for the same thing, maybe not going about the same way.
Mm-hmm. But at the end of the day, just kindness just seems have become a thing of the past, and I’m, I’m not having it, not on, not on my watch. Yeah. Well said. Darrell, if somebody’s uh, listening to this or watching this and they want to follow up and they wanna connect and continue to follow your journey, how do they do that?
I’m most easily reachable on LinkedIn. You have my name you can hit me up through my website, which is listed on, on LinkedIn. I answer every outreach by myself. I don’t have a team of people who are answering. I personally answer every call every email, every text, and I enjoy doing it.
And it’s just. I want to hear from anybody that’s hearing my voice on how they are going about spreading kindness or Yeah. Instilling empathy or doing things in the most positive positive way. Mm-hmm. As they can possibly, possibly have. Great. Well for everybody listening in, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes, so you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is the Daily Show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Darryl, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you for having me, Adam.
