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The Homeboy Way: A Radical Approach to Business and Life
2023 Illumination Book Awards Gold Medalist, Inspirational
2023 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite, Business - Motivational
2023 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Honorable Mention, Catholc Social Teaching
Leading with heart, authenticity and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect anecdote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities.
By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. In his world of billion-dollar revenues and million-dollar profits, he knew exactly what shareholders wanted and how to get it for them.
Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle. “I arrived at Homeboy at a time when I needed to learn more about myself and my life’s journey,” Vozzo writes. “And after 8 years of working with the poor, forgotten, and demonized people of our society, I’ve come to learn that I didn’t really know as much about life as I thought.”
Vozzo’s enlightening journey leads to his recognition that a radical approach is needed in business and in “What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently . . . . We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.”
Blending personal stories of his day-to-day with Fr. Greg and the Homies along with counterintuitive business ideas that are changing lives for the better, Vozzo shows you how you can live, lead, and shake things up with toughness, determination, compassion, and grit.
That’s the Homeboy Way.
100% of author royalties go to support the mission of Homeboy Industries.
2023 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite, Business - Motivational
2023 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Honorable Mention, Catholc Social Teaching
Leading with heart, authenticity and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect anecdote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities.
By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. In his world of billion-dollar revenues and million-dollar profits, he knew exactly what shareholders wanted and how to get it for them.
Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle. “I arrived at Homeboy at a time when I needed to learn more about myself and my life’s journey,” Vozzo writes. “And after 8 years of working with the poor, forgotten, and demonized people of our society, I’ve come to learn that I didn’t really know as much about life as I thought.”
Vozzo’s enlightening journey leads to his recognition that a radical approach is needed in business and in “What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently . . . . We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.”
Blending personal stories of his day-to-day with Fr. Greg and the Homies along with counterintuitive business ideas that are changing lives for the better, Vozzo shows you how you can live, lead, and shake things up with toughness, determination, compassion, and grit.
That’s the Homeboy Way.
100% of author royalties go to support the mission of Homeboy Industries.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
Published February 22, 2022
27 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 12, 2022
If you read this book for only one reason ~ Let That Reason Be Love ~ Love of Souls / People ~ A City Needs People ~ Cities Need Jobs ~ Jobs Support Cities ~ Resource of People ~ Love The People The City Has ~
Los Angeles is a City of Angels ~ Find Them in This Book
My experience is based on Homegirl Cafe starting in 2011 having ordered many items for holidays, purchased from the Cafe shop, returned many times for meals & just the overall joy in Homegirl Cafe as well as the location brought me in to a city I greatly love & her denizens, her younger some older people whom fell into her embrace & found home, love & most importantly self worth of work. Homegirl cafe is nested in apex core of Angel's heartbeat, Los Angeles Heartbeat : Trains fly overhead, crowed boulevard rushes by, airplanes always dotting the skies, Chinatown bursting at the seams with all her history, Survival of a City hugging a Flower, "Homegirl Cafe." A beautiful Flower, her own flower, Los Angeles' Flower, a pounding heart, a sweet heart, a caring giving heart. Someone with enough heart to hug so many hearts, Father Greg Boyle, opened a Hearth, to bake bread, to grow food, to serve food, to give purpose to lives. Whatever else is there upon this earth than to have purpose for Life? The sense of belonging is the greatest acceptance of this thing called Life. I felt that immediately as I walked in to Homegirl Cafe in Downtown Los Angeles. Belonging. Yes, those whom came to Father Boyle, however the journey might have been, they arrived. Yes young some older people whom have had the rough side of life, not welcoming, full of pain, full of punishing systems, to self medicating, to the light, to Father Boyle. To being loved, accepted, to creating food, to sharing family, to a job.
Just loved sitting in Homegirl Cafe having some of their fresh homemade foods, juices. Drawing, am an artist. Thinking Los Angeles has quite a history. She has been through a lot. She started long ago with a port. People already here from the original people here. She has an enticing weather which draws all even during some of her most upset times, the weather is her beautiful diamond necklace. A lot of roughness now. But down here down at Homegirl Cafe, she is, was & will be the Best of this Lovely Lady, Our Lady of The Angels.
"You Are Whom Exactly What God Intended You To Be." ~ Father Greg Boyle
Sustainability of the Human Soul ~ as how I interpret that.
The human soul is so great but needs care, love, purpose. Just to plow the fields of human souls is what Father Greg Boyle did, is, will. Continually teaching souls to receive enrichment of love, kindness, giving love, giving kindness.
Los Angeles in now going through an inprecedented hurtful time from externals completely outside her control. But Homegirl, Homeboy will keep on living, strong, accepting, giving.
Only have love for Homegirl Cafe. Food, good food, polite, offering, hearts souls preparing, sharing.
The Spiritual Side of Homegirl, Homeboy.
Yes, A Business Side Must Exist & Quell the Spine of This Industry and so ...
Thomas Vizzo :
CEO Homeboy Industries ~ • Unpaid •
Homeboy Industries is a Seething Goliath of Serving and Industry.
Grew from initially garment production to beyond all horizons
fathomly still discovering. But, not from greed. From
Love.
As I credential my viewpoint of any business related reading, reinstate my exhaustion over the whimsy use of "illionth" illionths" of all. 90's started the beating of "illionth" of everything. "Illionth" fatigue. Be it wealth, deaths, just exhausting, unfathomable & media created.
Love & Business. How does that Work.
Loving of Healing Through Teaching A Work Skill.
Read of one young person whom had as a child did not go home due to violence but learned to sleep in top of a Taco Bell, secured his food there & at night slept on top of the building. Later arrested for stealing, but then arrived at Homeboy. Survived. Survived to be employed & loved & get care & give back.
Business & Trust
Thomas Vozzo meets his maker : Homeboy
Vozzo exited meritocratic based CEO job to find value of life & comes to Homeboy.
Change of Neurons a New Culture.
Becoming what you aren't was my takeaway from a CEO disrobing himself to absorb Homeboy culture, saving souls.
How would Vozzo be accepted or not be accepted. I dislike the word 'homie.'. Calculating the worth of a human soul seems honorable yet vile yet necessary at Homeboy.
Vozzo reflects on his lengthy submerssion into Homeboy, coming from world of haves, good home, college, corporate success. Emptiness accrued. A 'Live' learns through successess of recruits many of which attrition back to crime is loss, spiritual, financial, heartbreaking. How to calculate the loss of a soul on the balance book? Cannot be done. Cost is absorbed. Gangs, gang members are more expensive out of Homeboy than in Homeboy.
Vozzo positions himself as a recruit in to vast frontier of a life less valued, a gang member, show that human their value. An account of human cells that comprise a person. Just teach them their value. Their reward is Life. Acceptance into Life.
Try calculating that on Spreadsheets. Has to be done. A cause must have funding.
Navigate Vozzo. You must navigate.
Read "The Homeboy Way" with purpose to understand one man's way to navigate the 'Value' of a Life, needed funding, spirituality needed. You might feel joy at the rennovation of the human soul. Not an "illionth" perspective for we already have that in wealths & wars. One life saving is worth much more than a million, or 'illionth.'
Los Angeles is a City of Angels ~ Find Them in This Book
My experience is based on Homegirl Cafe starting in 2011 having ordered many items for holidays, purchased from the Cafe shop, returned many times for meals & just the overall joy in Homegirl Cafe as well as the location brought me in to a city I greatly love & her denizens, her younger some older people whom fell into her embrace & found home, love & most importantly self worth of work. Homegirl cafe is nested in apex core of Angel's heartbeat, Los Angeles Heartbeat : Trains fly overhead, crowed boulevard rushes by, airplanes always dotting the skies, Chinatown bursting at the seams with all her history, Survival of a City hugging a Flower, "Homegirl Cafe." A beautiful Flower, her own flower, Los Angeles' Flower, a pounding heart, a sweet heart, a caring giving heart. Someone with enough heart to hug so many hearts, Father Greg Boyle, opened a Hearth, to bake bread, to grow food, to serve food, to give purpose to lives. Whatever else is there upon this earth than to have purpose for Life? The sense of belonging is the greatest acceptance of this thing called Life. I felt that immediately as I walked in to Homegirl Cafe in Downtown Los Angeles. Belonging. Yes, those whom came to Father Boyle, however the journey might have been, they arrived. Yes young some older people whom have had the rough side of life, not welcoming, full of pain, full of punishing systems, to self medicating, to the light, to Father Boyle. To being loved, accepted, to creating food, to sharing family, to a job.
Just loved sitting in Homegirl Cafe having some of their fresh homemade foods, juices. Drawing, am an artist. Thinking Los Angeles has quite a history. She has been through a lot. She started long ago with a port. People already here from the original people here. She has an enticing weather which draws all even during some of her most upset times, the weather is her beautiful diamond necklace. A lot of roughness now. But down here down at Homegirl Cafe, she is, was & will be the Best of this Lovely Lady, Our Lady of The Angels.
"You Are Whom Exactly What God Intended You To Be." ~ Father Greg Boyle
Sustainability of the Human Soul ~ as how I interpret that.
The human soul is so great but needs care, love, purpose. Just to plow the fields of human souls is what Father Greg Boyle did, is, will. Continually teaching souls to receive enrichment of love, kindness, giving love, giving kindness.
Los Angeles in now going through an inprecedented hurtful time from externals completely outside her control. But Homegirl, Homeboy will keep on living, strong, accepting, giving.
Only have love for Homegirl Cafe. Food, good food, polite, offering, hearts souls preparing, sharing.
The Spiritual Side of Homegirl, Homeboy.
Yes, A Business Side Must Exist & Quell the Spine of This Industry and so ...
Thomas Vizzo :
CEO Homeboy Industries ~ • Unpaid •
Homeboy Industries is a Seething Goliath of Serving and Industry.
Grew from initially garment production to beyond all horizons
fathomly still discovering. But, not from greed. From
Love.
As I credential my viewpoint of any business related reading, reinstate my exhaustion over the whimsy use of "illionth" illionths" of all. 90's started the beating of "illionth" of everything. "Illionth" fatigue. Be it wealth, deaths, just exhausting, unfathomable & media created.
Love & Business. How does that Work.
Loving of Healing Through Teaching A Work Skill.
Read of one young person whom had as a child did not go home due to violence but learned to sleep in top of a Taco Bell, secured his food there & at night slept on top of the building. Later arrested for stealing, but then arrived at Homeboy. Survived. Survived to be employed & loved & get care & give back.
Business & Trust
Thomas Vozzo meets his maker : Homeboy
Vozzo exited meritocratic based CEO job to find value of life & comes to Homeboy.
Change of Neurons a New Culture.
Becoming what you aren't was my takeaway from a CEO disrobing himself to absorb Homeboy culture, saving souls.
How would Vozzo be accepted or not be accepted. I dislike the word 'homie.'. Calculating the worth of a human soul seems honorable yet vile yet necessary at Homeboy.
Vozzo reflects on his lengthy submerssion into Homeboy, coming from world of haves, good home, college, corporate success. Emptiness accrued. A 'Live' learns through successess of recruits many of which attrition back to crime is loss, spiritual, financial, heartbreaking. How to calculate the loss of a soul on the balance book? Cannot be done. Cost is absorbed. Gangs, gang members are more expensive out of Homeboy than in Homeboy.
Vozzo positions himself as a recruit in to vast frontier of a life less valued, a gang member, show that human their value. An account of human cells that comprise a person. Just teach them their value. Their reward is Life. Acceptance into Life.
Try calculating that on Spreadsheets. Has to be done. A cause must have funding.
Navigate Vozzo. You must navigate.
Read "The Homeboy Way" with purpose to understand one man's way to navigate the 'Value' of a Life, needed funding, spirituality needed. You might feel joy at the rennovation of the human soul. Not an "illionth" perspective for we already have that in wealths & wars. One life saving is worth much more than a million, or 'illionth.'
May 3, 2023
A short and exceptional book that gives an inside look to what makes Homeboy such a great organization. I found it affirming to hear someone who spent years at the highest level of corporate America ackowledge their privilege, sympathize with people who have experienced trauma and poverty, and raise concerns about shareholder value maximization and systemic racism. Vozzo also shares countercultural leadership advice, such as planning for long term success instead of short term gain, "bake more bread to hire more homies", lead with joy, and take care of your employees. While it's much easier said than done, its inspiring to hear how he is making it happen out West.
September 8, 2024
Like anything Homeboy related I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would probably say it’s closer to a 4.5 star than it is a 5 star, however I still really enjoyed the book. Though there were a few pieces that were either rambled or brought up multiple times, I did enjoy reading Tom Vozzo’s perspective on what the Homeboy Way is, as well as hearing what it took to shape and mold and live into this new perspective on how to do business. Plus any book that talks about challenging the current status quo of “professionalism” is usually a book I really enjoy.
March 11, 2024
I appreciated the vulnerability and openness about Homeboy Industries business practices from the author and CEO Thomas Vozzo. The approach outlined in this book is a different way of doing business that puts people first to alleviate poverty. It is possible as this book shows.
March 15, 2023
As an employer that works actively to hire folks with felony convictions and justice involved pasts, this book was interesting and informative. I think that there were some really great points, but there were also some pieces that got lost in the weeds or felt a bit too redundant or boastful. Parts felt much more about the author than the organization, which is certainly the author's decision to make, it just didn't feel in line. The references to how he was a "$6 Million Dollar Man" got a bit old as well.
While I understand that he likely included those things to get across the point that there is not one easy answer or clear path, and that even folks with highly educated backgrounds struggle here, it felt a bit like maybe he missed the point of the differences that he himself points out from the standard business world to one of business and rehabilitation.
I do believe that Homeboy is an interesting model, and I wish it were being included more places. It's what I've been working at in my city for years now, though in a slightly different method as I own a for profit business, but I don't take the profits, and instead pour them back into the business.
I could have also done without the religious stuff, but as Homeboy is founded by a priest, I expected it and just skipped over what didn't interest me. Folks can do good without religion, and I'd love to see more of the atheist viewpoint expressed from somewhere else.
While I understand that he likely included those things to get across the point that there is not one easy answer or clear path, and that even folks with highly educated backgrounds struggle here, it felt a bit like maybe he missed the point of the differences that he himself points out from the standard business world to one of business and rehabilitation.
I do believe that Homeboy is an interesting model, and I wish it were being included more places. It's what I've been working at in my city for years now, though in a slightly different method as I own a for profit business, but I don't take the profits, and instead pour them back into the business.
I could have also done without the religious stuff, but as Homeboy is founded by a priest, I expected it and just skipped over what didn't interest me. Folks can do good without religion, and I'd love to see more of the atheist viewpoint expressed from somewhere else.
November 27, 2024
Thomas has no background in jail time; he comes in as a business guy eating lunch with a friend at HomeGirl Cafe but strongly believes in changing the world's perspective on gang members and the incarcerated. His message really resonates with everyone and makes you believe in their company and each individual's ability to do good. He has great delivery, and I love how he talks about how Homeboy is 2x more helpful than the prison system, according to a UCLA study!
Read this book for inspiration and a new business perspective! So thankful he spoke with my Pepperdine master class! The easiest required reading ever-
"Transformed lives transforming other lives"
"Our business is to help people heal"
Read this book for inspiration and a new business perspective! So thankful he spoke with my Pepperdine master class! The easiest required reading ever-
"Transformed lives transforming other lives"
"Our business is to help people heal"
March 10, 2022
This is an outstanding book about the extraordinary work that Homeboy Industries does with former gang members and those recently emerging from incarceration. Thomas Vozzo was a very successful corporate executive for 26 years. Through a story of self discovery and enlightenment he tells about his becoming the unpaid CEO of Homeboy Industries. The book includes business, spiritual, societal insights and convincingly argues for a change needed in our merit-based American Dream, which bypasses countless people on the margins.
November 19, 2022
This book wasn't 100% what I was expecting, but I was still enlightened and encouraged by it. There were some parts that felt pretty redundant & I didn't love the $6MDM reference, esepcially throughout the whole book. But, I did enjoy the perspective of a corporate businessman in the non-profit business world. It was more about his own transformation than strategies for others, but I did appreciate that even still.
April 20, 2023
Meh. Good takeaways for the author and less so for the reader. He learned a lot about not being a corporate douche. That's great. Those lessons are ones that most non-corporate douches already know. I really enjoyed learning more about the organization Homeboy Industries but not so much about his personal journey and not at all about his religious views.
February 7, 2024
3.5 ⭐️loved the forward and the introduction, and mostly found the book to be very helpful personally.
Bake more bread to hire more homies.
The business was the vehicle for transformation
It wasn’t about job training it was about healing.
Some of my biggest takeaways.
Bake more bread to hire more homies.
The business was the vehicle for transformation
It wasn’t about job training it was about healing.
Some of my biggest takeaways.
March 26, 2022
A great personal story of conversion and challenge to all to consider an alternative way of seeing and doing business.
May 15, 2022
Marvelous book - gives me hope in corporate America and our future!!
June 1, 2022
Beautiful thinking and a heartfelt plea to change the way we do business, treat others, and look to a brighter future. Important to support the work and philosophy of Homeboy.
July 1, 2023
I appreciated reading and learning more about Homeboy. It started to feel repetitive though so I ended up skimming a lot of it.
October 12, 2023
A fantastic organization and a humble, talented leader. Speaks about those marginalized in our society. Excellent
July 16, 2025
Love it!!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews