The Mindset Of A Self-Made Black Millionaire: Steve Hightower Talks About His Drive To Create A Billion Dollar Petroleum Business On SiriusXM’s 'Auto Trends'

To kick off our third anniversary on SiriusXM’s Auto Trends with JeffCars.com, we’re honored to have Steve Hightower, the CEO and president of Hightowers Petroleum, a privately-owned, Ohio-based company. 

While we’ve had an opportunity to talk to a host of entrepreneurs and barrier breakers over the years, Hightower, whom we consider to be a ‘master teacher,’ has his eyes set on becoming a part of a super elite club, where individuals like Reginald F. Lewis paved the way in the eighties. Lewis, who died from brain cancer at the age of 50, was the first Black person to create a Billion dollar organization.

In a two-part insightful conversation, the entrepreneur shares how his background as a janitor, in his parents business, as a teen, prepared him to create Hightowers Petroleum.

Hightowers Petroleum, which is one of the top 15 black businesses in the U.S., according to Black Enterprise 2018 census, provides fuel to a number of Fortune 500 companies. 

Hightower’s portfolio include investments with a number of American-based and foreign-based automakers, where his company holds the exclusive gasoline account to fuel each clients' vehicles, upon final build, at various assembly plants throughout the world. Hightower credits Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the founder of Rainbow/PUSH, for helping several minority suppliers get a face-to-face meeting with the foreign automakers, as a result of an international trade trip the social activist arranged several years ago. The trade mission won Hightowers Petroleum business with two of the Asian automakers.   

The international businessman, who is also invested in a professional soccer team, shares his blueprint for goal-setting and being strategically focused, as opposed to being a jack of all trades. Like a skilled chess player, the gifted talker reveals how he has literally invited himself to the table, without receiving an invitation, in an extremely lucrative area of the petroleum industry that has not been open to those who look like him. By placing himself at the table, the savvy Ohio native is assured this will drive his revenue, as he is on a quest to create a Billion dollar business.

Moreover, during our in-depth conversation, the pioneering entrepreneur discusses his thoughts about college degrees and the role they have played with his children, while revealing the real reason he is a college dropout. Furthermore, Hightower explores with us what he believes will become the future alternative fuel source for vehicles, as many automakers are pushing us toward the world of electrification.

Jeff Fortson, the host of Auto Trends with JeffCars.com says, “there is nothing like being at the foot of someone, who is playing in a field, that is foreign to most of us, where there is no script and one is being forced to carve out their own path.”

To Tune In

Part One

To hear part-one of Hightower’s conversation, tune in to “Auto Trends with JeffCars.com,” on Friday, February, 1 at 12:00 p.m. ET on SiriusXM Channel 141. Encore broadcasts can be heard on Sunday, February 3 and Monday, February 4 at 12:00 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET, respectively.

Part Two

To hear part-two of our conversation with Hightower, tune in to “Auto Trends with JeffCars.com,” on Friday, February, 8 at 12:00 p.m. ET on SiriusXM Channel 141. Encore broadcasts can be heard on Sunday, February 10 and Monday, February11 at 12:00 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET, respectively.

Cruise over to SiriusXM to find out more about free trials and how to listen in your car or on your smartphone.