Anthony Anderson and I grew up less than ten minutes apart in Compton. We went to the same junior high, and we both ended up at Hollywood Professional School. He rode the bus two hours each way to get there. I rode my bike, and one day somebody stole it on my way home.

This spring we sat down together in front of a crowd at Walmart’s newest store in Texas, with his grilling cookbook and my book, Capitalism for All, on the table between us. What came out was one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on this show.

Anthony was nine years old when he watched his mother rehearse a play at Compton Community College and decided what he would do with the rest of his life. He talks about the teacher who pointed him toward Howard University, why he went back years later to finish his degree and walked across the stage alongside his son, and the day an airline lost his luggage on the way to a Walmart meeting and he turned that setback into a holiday campaign.

He also explains why his first big check went into a house instead of a car, and why relationships, not transactions, have carried his career. If you want to know how two kids from Compton learned to build something that lasts, start here.

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Prefer to watch? The full episode is on YouTube.