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Balancing the Future Ep. 32 - Creating Purpose-Driven Prosperity with Brian Williams
358 Plays12 days ago
Brian Williams, CEO and founder of Perspectivity, joins host Chris Mitchell to share how childhood labels and the Silicon Valley grind shaped his mission to create authentic change. He recounts battling “head trash,” walking away from tech’s 24/7 culture for family, and the white-knuckle leap into entrepreneurship. Williams breaks down the power of perspective, the four F’s—faith, family, finance, fun—and why executive coaching and community service fuel sustainable success. Join us for an honest look at fear, resilience, and building people-first businesses in an AI-accelerated world.
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Transcript
Introduction to Brian Williams
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Balancing the Future. I'm excited today to have Brian Williams, CEO and founder of Perspectivity. Brian is a good dear friend of mine.
00:00:20
Speaker
I'm happy that he could make the time for us. He is a busy man. And when I mean busy, he is all over the map. So I do appreciate you, Brian. I won't steal any of your thunder other than the fact that I know you do incredible work. ah You get back in the community in a different way.
00:00:35
Speaker
and I know you care about your family. That's first and foremost. And I know where your heart is. So I'll leave it alone and I'll turn it over you. Please share with the audience just some stuff about yourself. and really what's what's important to you right now.
00:00:49
Speaker
So. OK, Chris, always a pleasure. If if if the people could have heard the last 15 minutes of prep, they might tune out because we ah but it's cool to to to work with professionals, but have a lot of fun at the same time. And I think when you have genuine friendships like that, it comes very natural.
Brian's Challenging Upbringing
00:01:09
Speaker
So I'm from San Antonio.
00:01:11
Speaker
Oh, the brother, younger sister. grew up with a single mom. Dad left when I came home from the hospital. So my I always thought my presence produced his absence, which created a lot of self-doubt and fear, insecurities, abandonment issues growing up, because why would he leave? Number one, and why would he never come back? Number two.
00:01:39
Speaker
So I thought my translation of all that was I am flawed. I am broken. There's something wrong with Brian. And so. ah That was ah magnified by them labeling me mentally retarded and ah in in elementary school as as well. And so those stigmas, you know, created in a lot of I call it head trash.
00:02:04
Speaker
growing up. And in fact, the building that they would place me in, it had LLD on the it was like a mobile home converted into a classroom and it was called low learning, disabled or low learning deficiency. But all the kids said LLD stood for little lost dummies.
00:02:23
Speaker
So that's what they called us. Every day you get in line, the normal kids go to the right to the main building. We line up, turn left, little lost dummies. See y'all next time. y'all have a good day.
00:02:35
Speaker
And so there was a lot of, you know, head trash, as I said, created as a result of that. And I know this is ah probably a success podcast with people are wondering how did this guy get interviewed?
00:02:49
Speaker
um Because it's real. That is my story. Right. That is what happened. That's how it happened. And it would create a it would shape my future in a pretty significant way.
00:03:01
Speaker
um And I'll share about that in a little bit. So when I think about career choices and I bent think about my journey as an accountant and now doing more of ah audit executive work, why did you start out and then how did you start out your career?
Pursuing Computer Science
00:03:20
Speaker
ah You know, so I'm in Miss Arguello's typing class, eighth grade, Martin Luther King Middle School, and we were typed. So, you know, you have to type out these stories and things that she come up with just to practice, you know, just to get practice. And this particular day, we were talking about computers will shape the future and they will be part of globalization, world domination, all these type of terms. And so I remember sitting in her class saying, hmm,
00:03:51
Speaker
World domination, globalization. I had no clue what any of that meant, but I wanted to be a part of it. And so that day I said, you know what? I want to be into computers and work on computers. And so I decided that they always love math.
00:04:05
Speaker
I don't know the close connection between computer science and math at the time, but ah That day I decided to go into computer science and I would eventually go to Texas A&M, get my degree from there, and then later would go to Silicon Valley, spent most of my career there, software design, system engineering, satellite communication, a lot of telecom companies.
00:04:24
Speaker
um I think it's one of the most amazing places to work if you're in tech, because some of the literally the brightest brains on the planet all go there to work. Right. and So you learn so much as a really unique culture. In fact, other countries have come over to study, met with city leaders and executives at these companies to try to copy and mimic what's been created in Silicon Valley. There's a reason why it performs the way that it does. And so I spent a lot of time there, learned an awful lot there.
Leaving Silicon Valley
00:04:56
Speaker
And also learned there is almost no work life balance there, which is what drove me out of there because I just didn't want to live that life. And I didn't want my kids to go through what I went through, meaning an abandonment issues. And so that's what moved us from California, Silicon Valley back to Texas.
00:05:16
Speaker
You know, when I think about tech and I think about that whole journey and I think and you hear about Silicon Valley and the challenges. Can you describe in a different way how exhausting that is to do that kind of work? Because I know we've we've had some chats about it, but I think the audience would want to know that.
00:05:36
Speaker
So... Typically, you you're going have a massive amount of traffic, obviously. So I mean, it's so it's there was a graphic, a map that, you know, was floating around and it had all these tech companies. Right. You see Apple, Google, Facebook, like all the Twitter. They're all in a very close proximity.
00:05:59
Speaker
So and they employ thousands and thousands of people. So all this high concentration of people are all moving in the same area at the same time every single day. So traffic was unbelievable and it's very competitive.
00:06:12
Speaker
There is no loyalty. Why? Because you can literally go to lunch and talk to four people from four different companies, all are hiring, all looking for talent. And so people hop around quite a bit. And the companies know that. So there's very little loyalty to the employees. Employees have very little loyalty to the companies.
00:06:29
Speaker
And that varies from place to place. And the work ethic was unbelievable. Just the amount of hours you spend. And so a lot of those companies, right, you hear about free lunches and dinners and car washes and laundry, dry cleaning. They have buses that pick you up from home. They do whatever they can to keep you in that building. So don't get it twisted thinking, hey, we've got all these services. No, they want you in that building and not thinking about all those other things. Grocery deliveries all in this and this quality is not like they're just
00:07:05
Speaker
passing off some service to you. This is all high quality service, high quality food you don't have to pay for. And I remember one of the big tech companies, they had basically they had these break rooms where everything you can get at 7-Eleven, you can get in these break rooms. All the things, everything is is way too much. So they decided that they're going to save costs and they're going to eliminate these junk food rooms. Right. And these people lost their minds. They went ballistic over these break rooms and junk food and candy. So the company actually bent and brought it all back.
00:07:38
Speaker
That's all spoiled, I guess, or how how strong that culture has become in Silicon Valley. But it is a high demand, high pressure culture. And it's kind of expected and is very, very money focused, stock option focused. In fact, one of the tech companies, ah you know, there was this joke going around about, you know,
00:08:02
Speaker
I get to work 9 a.m. Check, stop, go to a meeting, get back from meeting, check, stop, go to lunch, come back. mean, literally, I mean, the whole day, right? ah Watch CNBC Money Watch while you're you know at your desk, like all these things. And that just that just didn't sit well with me. I love people and life and experiences and just money, money, money, work, work, work. I lasted seven years, so a long time.
00:08:27
Speaker
um But I had to get out of there eventually. Just not a fit for me. it works for a lot of people.
Journey to Entrepreneurship
00:08:33
Speaker
I'm just not one of those people. So just to touch on that a bit, because I know you were in Silicon Valley, but you left eventually and you became an entrepreneur and you started Perspectivity at some point in that process.
00:08:47
Speaker
How did you graduate into that? mean, what did that what made you make your mind up that it's time for me to do my own thing and and find success? Well, I said i will do my own thing. i had no idea where the success would be. part In fact, those first two years, there was no sign of success.
00:09:07
Speaker
I probably quit this company four or five times along the way. um But, you know, we were paying for a lot of training and coaching. And I would notice a month later, we're not even using it. We're not even referring to it. We folded up all the materials and threw it in a cabinet somewhere.
00:09:25
Speaker
And we were paying a massive amount of money. And I remember sitting there thinking like, wow, I would have done that this way because I would have made more sense. And why did they do that first? he said you know And I remember there was a pastor that says, if there's something that bothers you and grinds at you,
00:09:41
Speaker
but it doesn't seem to bother anyone else, that's probably your calling, right? Because you see things very differently. And it definitely bothered me. So I just said one day, you know, one day I'm going to leave here, create a training, coaching, consulting company and make a yeah U-turn, come right back into these big companies and genuinely create change within them. Like genuine, authentic change, which And adults is really difficult.
00:10:08
Speaker
Have a dog here in the backyard. Tell that dog to chase that ball, chase it, bring it back, chase it, bring it back. Adults, not so much, not so easy. um So it it is a challenge. Right. And so I found myself reading books like How the Brain Learns by Dr. David Souza and Why Don't Students Like School by Willingham, who study why students don't learn and don't come to class and aren't engaged. It turns out it was the instructor, the teachers were the problem, not the kids. Right.
00:10:40
Speaker
Because there's a science behind how adults learn, like there are scientific principles behind how we learn, how the brain absorbs, retains, recalls information.
00:10:53
Speaker
And if you present the information that satisfies how the brain learns, people engage, they learn, they grow better, faster, stronger. And so those there were three books that I read before i ever started. it Because I was also bothered by the fact that we were paying for all this training and coaching, but it wouldn't stick and we wouldn't use it. But yet we go pay for it again and again. but so when I started the company, I said, no, I genuinely want to create authentic change in people.
00:11:23
Speaker
And so we launched. What is it? April 2012.
00:11:29
Speaker
So, and this is probably two in your face when I say, how difficult is it to be an entrepreneur? Because i I've talked with a lot of young professionals coming out of school and they're like, well, I just want to go, I want to be an entrepreneur. And I'm like, do you really know what that entails?
00:11:46
Speaker
Because in my opinion, it's a tremendous amount of work and requires a special kind of energy to make it happen. So what's your story as relates to how difficult is it to be an entrepreneur?
00:12:00
Speaker
Um, two things. One, it has tested my faith. It has tested my fear. It has tested my marriage. It has tested my patience. It has tested my confidence.
00:12:12
Speaker
It has tested every part of me. Right. And i heard one motivational speaker say that it's like jumping off a cliff and you're sliding down a mountain and you're banging and falling and flipping and rolling as you fall down this mountain is that brutal and you are falling, right?
00:12:33
Speaker
okay And eventually at some point, a parachute pops and you start to fly, right? And the question becomes, how long can you endure the pain of that fall before the parachute pops? Because you don't know when it's gonna pop.
00:12:49
Speaker
And so when I talk about it tested every part of me, that is very true. And now that's the bad news. The good news is when you have survived that kind of testing, you wake up one day and you say, bring it on.
00:13:04
Speaker
I got what it takes. i can I've been through hell and back. I got what it takes with with my work ethic, my faith in God. I can do this. And that is the greatest reward of becoming an entrepreneur. Yes, we've had some success, worked with some large brands, had some great results. But when you get to that level of confidence and that kind of swag, it's it's a game changer.
00:13:28
Speaker
So when I think about climbing a corporate ladder and then that kind of bleeds into your being an entrepreneurship, I mean, entrepreneur, how did that evolve? Did climbing the corporate ladder and moving up in Silicon Valley prepare you the right way for entrepreneurship? Or, i mean, what what what what was your experience again that really got you there? I know you i know you built a little different because I've been around you and I've watched you engage and interact and that's a positive thing. And I mean this in a very positive way.
00:13:56
Speaker
But I mean, where did that come from? Because I think it's a learning exercise in corporate. And then I spin off and I go do my own thing. Is that the way you felt about it? Or was there something else to it?
00:14:07
Speaker
I had a high degree of naivete, right? I thought, hey, I've done all these things in corporate challenges, all this. Listen, you there is no transfer.
00:14:20
Speaker
You have so much support and systems and processes in corporate America is unbelievable. Like people who have made the leap, they know the story, right? We thought we were prepared. We thought we had been tested, but my faith my fear of confidence all those things were not even close to being tested in corporate america because there's so much structure support teams all the things this i would say entrepreneurship the difference between corporate and entrepreneurship and corporate it's like let's say at the circus you got the tight rope the top the high wire where they walk across the wire right corporate america is like having
00:15:00
Speaker
a trampoline at level one and a mattress at level two. It's not needed, but all these protections are in place, right? So if you fall, and you're you're totally protected. Entrepreneurship, same tightrope, but there's concrete and glass at the bottom, right?
00:15:18
Speaker
And if you slip and you fall, it's game over for you. And so you walk with a very different level of focus and intentionality, right? Because it's you. There's no one to come save you. Now, eventually you grow a team, get some support, right? But fundamentally,
00:15:34
Speaker
It's you and your belief because you don't have a lot of success starting out. So you have to be able to sell yourself and your belief in such a way that you get other people to buy in because there's no evidence that this thing is going to be successful because it has no previous success.
00:15:49
Speaker
So thankfully, I was able to I've been given the gift of gab and communication and influence, and I can kind of, you know, that helps with sales. It helps getting people to to come on board.
00:15:59
Speaker
But no. Corporate, I mean, obviously there were some learnings in corporate America, right? Quite a few, but I just don't think that is the best training ground for entrepreneurship only because they're just two very different animals. One is a a hunter that wakes up, goes out to the to the bush in the night, hunts, kills and eats. And the other just kind of gathers and prepares and enjoys a meal. And so i don't think those two, there's meant very much cross. them Now, there might be people that disagree. That's just been my experience.
00:16:32
Speaker
OK, so what's been your biggest challenge? And it could come from stem from anywhere, not just work. But what's been your biggest challenge?
00:16:43
Speaker
You know, oh man, I would say. fear. Right, because it it shows up in so many different places. And, you know, i had to go from i remember, oh, man, it was so bad. i remember. So I'm on the call with one of the big global banks.
00:17:05
Speaker
This is very early on. It was for each representing one region in the country. And it's a sales call. And I did not prepare. oh I'm ashamed to admit this. This is a long time ago. So that's cool. I'm driving around. I did not prepare.
00:17:21
Speaker
i did not plan my schedule accordingly. So I ended up having to dip into a McDonald's to take this really important sales call. So I'm on a call on a Zoom call. And um or whatever we were using at the time, because don't know if Zoom was around, but we were on a video call and they're calling out orders in the background.
00:17:41
Speaker
Kids are on the playground. I'm at McDonald's. Right. And I'm trying to go on mute and I'm trying to it was a night. It was it was a night. Now, to make it even worse, I had very poor sales skills at the time.
00:17:54
Speaker
And I remember getting to the end of the call and I was like, so what do you guys think? And they're like, you know what? ah We'll get back to you. I thought I'm going to i wanna to be so broke.
00:18:06
Speaker
And so I remember the next day i got up and there was a Mayflower moving truck going down the street. And I remember watching that moving truck and I said, oh that's God sending me a message. I'm going to lose all the money, lose the house. We're going to be homeless. That's how bad my head trash was. So you talk about my biggest challenge was me believing in me.
00:18:29
Speaker
Right. Do I have what it takes? Because if you don't have that is game over. You can have all the resources, support, et cetera. But belief, I'm a big believer in betting on me right now. I am.
00:18:42
Speaker
I struggle with it early on. So I ended up getting a sales coach. I'm a big believer in coaches and therapy and all the things dealing with all those fears and emotions. And um as a result, it's paid off quite well.
00:18:55
Speaker
I say I'm glad I made the investment. Awesome. Awesome. You know, when I think about all the change that's going on right now, and it seems like the world is moving at Mach 1, what do you feel right now as it relates to business, as it relates to everything that's going on around
The Enduring Value of People Skills
00:19:11
Speaker
you? The talk of AI, you look at the economic indicators that are out there. i mean, you know about business because I know you've been very successful.
00:19:20
Speaker
What's going on in your head right now? And it's not a fear thing. It's just an awareness thing. So what what are you thinking about when you look out and you compare it to 15 years ago when it seemed like it was moving a lot slower and it was a totally different environment?
00:19:36
Speaker
Two thoughts to that. It's a great question. I think the first thought is. I happen to believe that the best skills you can always have are people skills, bar none. I mean, yes, a lot of things are changing, is a game changer, et cetera, but I happen to have a computer science degree and i love technology.
00:19:58
Speaker
I absolutely do. I just don't think tech will ever outdo human to human communication, interaction, things like trust and belief and integrity and authenticity.
00:20:10
Speaker
I think that's what makes the world go. I was just I read Phil Knights, the founder of Nike Shoe Dog, his book, and he talks about how. um if it's just business that business will not be in business very long if it's all about business because he understood it was about people so i still think that that's valuable now with that said number two am a big believer in ai it's an absolute game changer and it's doing it at a very accelerated pace i think also paying a lot of attention to
00:20:43
Speaker
world global politics, because I think that has changed dramatically recently. And that has impact. Right. When you talk about things like price of gold, talk about tariffs, you talk about how AI in the midst of all of those things, those dynamics. But here's the thing. We all know this.
00:20:59
Speaker
It's always been about change. Right. It's always been about change. it's always been about ah being flexible, especially as an entrepreneur. Right. That was that's one valuable lesson I've learned as an entrepreneur. And one of our biggest clients, we asked them, we won this big global ah RFP with them. And I always want to know,
00:21:18
Speaker
We're not a really big company, right? We're going up against these big global consulting companies, right? Everyone wants that business from these large like Fortune 50 firms. And I asked them, why did you guys pick us? And they said, you guys provide white glove service. You have a really high quality of service and you're very flexible and adaptable, which is what we need in this current environment to go back to your question. We need and some of these larger firms come in with a fixed plan and they want to tell us how to do it.
00:21:46
Speaker
And we need someone who's willing to collaborate with us and cooperate with us. And as a result, that's why we picked you. And so we remember that and we ride with that. Right. Because we understand now that in this current dynamic,
00:21:59
Speaker
that companies, they they see the same things you just asked in your question, right? They're very much aware of that. And so yesterday's keys don't always fit in today's locks. So they're looking for some new creative thinking and flexibility that can get them the results that they're looking for.
00:22:16
Speaker
You know, when I think about the success of your business, Perspectivity, and i know the audience wants to know, what is that business about?
Mission of Perspectivity
00:22:23
Speaker
What is it? What does it entail? Go a little deeper and just share your thoughts on your business, your baby, what you created.
00:22:31
Speaker
Sure. ah so the word, the name Perspectivity comes from. um We hired some guy that does this. And at first I never liked the name. i I had the vision of some little girl skipping through the tulips with holding some some flowers. Right. Perspective. And then over time, I learned to appreciate it because it really means.
00:22:56
Speaker
Creating, i think, I think change is all about psychology. Change is the way people think. So the word perspectivity comes from changing their perspective so you can, so you can change their behavior so they could produce a new activity. They can do things differently than they did before. And changing perspective is really difficult, right?
00:23:18
Speaker
Changing your mind, changing your idea. When you talk about perspective, we're talking about changing the way you see something so you can change the way that you do something. So that's what the word means, and that's how intentional we are in creating change so we can get the result that the clients are looking for. So ultimately we do leadership development, training and coaching, executive one on one coaching. We create custom curriculum and content.
00:23:42
Speaker
to solve customers problems. And one thing we always tell our clients is we move more like consultants than we do trainers and coaches because we want to understand the business. We want to understand the people so we can have highly customized solutions that will once again get you real results. And that only comes through creating real change and the people on the team. And so we've been very blessed and fortunate to be able to do that and to have done it for quite a while now. Yes, we went through some bumps and bruises early on. I had a guy try to sue me over some nonsense.
00:24:16
Speaker
You hire bad people. you fire good people because you move too quickly. Made all kinds of mistakes. But, you know, it's all part of the process. It's all part of learning. And one thing that I've learned through all of those mistakes is you just count it as a lesson learned and just keep moving.
00:24:33
Speaker
You know, one thing you touched on really earlier, you said work-life balance. And I know that means a lot to you because you spent an incredible amount of time with your family. I know you're a man of faith. I've seen you move, man. I've seen you move ah amongst the mere mortals. How about that? Because I've just watched it and observed you. And I've been, a I'm a fan, you know, I'm a fan. Sometimes I give you a hard time, but I'm still a fan. You do, you you ah I mean, what is that? what why Why is it so important we get that right? Why is it so important that we get work-life balance right and no different things other than just work?
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah. So as I shared earlier, you know, my experience, I've experienced the pain of parental neglect. Right. And that is something I would never want to introduce into another child's life. And so when I saw myself becoming my dad by working crazy hours and travel, global travel for um for a while,
00:25:29
Speaker
I remember my one of ah either my mom or my mother in law came to Silicon Valley to hang out with us and they walked in the front door. And I remember my kids. They walked up, hey, hi, hi, grandma. They kind of just grabbed the leg and was kind of moving away. I was like, they don't know who she is and she doesn't have a relation. I said, no, that sign, just that image right there said, yeah, we got to this differently.
00:25:53
Speaker
And I knew i was gone a lot. Global travel. One of the kids would act up while I was gone. So I did the math on all of that and went, yeah, I think I'm becoming him. We become that which we despise.
00:26:05
Speaker
And so, yeah, i I didn't even. So I was so intentional about it, Chris, that I asked. We had ah I was in Silicon Valley, but we had a huge campus here in Dallas and i was trying to transfer internally.
00:26:21
Speaker
And there was no opportunity here. So I ended up saying, hey, can I work remotely? This is long before that became popular. And I paid my own dime, took my ah my own vacation and relocated my own family here alone.
00:26:35
Speaker
Wow. The only confirmation they gave me was, yes, you can work remotely, but all the expenses, the packing, the moving, taking the time off. I was like, yeah, i have to do this differently. And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
00:26:50
Speaker
So when I think about your experience and your life, it's been busy, but also look at your journey. And I think about those but folks coming up and through the profession, whether it's MIS, whether it's accounting, whatever it might be.
00:27:02
Speaker
What are those sound good words that you're sharing with those that are coming up through the ranks, meaning they're out of school and then take it a step further? What do you have for those that have been corporate?
00:27:14
Speaker
It could be five, could be 10 years. What are you sharing with them? Just given all your expertise and the decisions that you've made as it relates to your life and career? You know, i love the question and what I've learned over time. And I. I have a document that I created for me.
00:27:34
Speaker
Just so that I don't lose focus and it's basically. The four F's. One is is my faith, because that's what drives me. think some of the smartest men I've been in partnership with have been men of faith. they I think the but all the the most wisdom in any one place is in the Bible, and they understand it and live by it.
00:27:59
Speaker
And I try to model that. Second is family, as we've we've talked about. Third is finance and understanding money. I grew up in a church that had this unhealthy relationship with money.
00:28:11
Speaker
So I've had to deal with that over time. And you and I have talked about that as well. Understanding that what invest like strategic investments, tax saving strategies, all these kind of things. And I'm now a partner with a good partner.
00:28:26
Speaker
Now become a good friend of mine. He's a nearly a billionaire and I've learned a massive amount from him and I'm involved much more heavily in the business as well. um So, yeah, so it would be faith, family, finance. And one thing I've I had to probably work harder on would be fun.
00:28:45
Speaker
Just learning how to not be so driven, so competitive and just learn how to relax and do nothing without guilt. Just got back literally over the weekend from a one week trip cruise to Alaska, which was just awesome and amazing.
00:29:03
Speaker
And I didn't take my laptop first time. And i may have I don't think I sent one slack, one email, Wi-Fi went bad and I was like, good, I'm glad it ain't it's not working right now. Right. And so it I really disconnected and it was just a lot of good food and good friends and.
00:29:26
Speaker
uh some good pictures i'm an amateur nature photographer so i had an awesome time you know shooting a lot of these shots and a lot of the wildlife wildlife that we saw out there and so fun would be ah one that i had to work at and i'm still working on getting better at just about relaxing and having fun doing nothing so i would say regardless whether you just graduated or you still you know uh been in corporate a while i would say those four f's are have been my focus and have ah served me well over time i would say You know, when I hear about coaching and I hear about leadership and I start thinking about executive leaders, and this may sound like an awkward question, but why would an executive leader need coaching?
00:30:10
Speaker
And I know this is your area of expertise, but why would they need coaching? And it sounds, ah you know, with the to the untrained eye. I mean, I know why, because I know I've benefited tremendously from something like that. But I want to hear from you. I mean, well why do they need coaching?
00:30:28
Speaker
I would say. Let's say, for example.
00:30:36
Speaker
we We all have belief systems. And. Perspectives. some are well informed and some are not. And we sometimes don't know the difference between the two. So we're doing a certain thing, hoping for a certain outcome. But because our perspective is not quite right, we're never going to get there.
00:30:58
Speaker
And I think coaches and. Therapists, right, they help us see what we can't see. They help change our perspective so we can change our outcome.
00:31:09
Speaker
And I just think that
00:31:13
Speaker
Those who I'm a big believer in investing in me, I spend lot of money coaching, with training books, signing up for programs, going to conferences. Right. And I think those that are serious about growing are also serious about learning. I do think it takes a ah bit of humility.
00:31:32
Speaker
to to ask for help. Right. But i'm I'm at a place now where it's become very obvious that you win more games with a coach than you do without just like in football, basketball, whatever the sport. Right. I remember this game where ah Jordan is there playing the Jazz, the Bulls are playing the Jazz and it's like a few seconds left. They're down by one and they call a timeout, come sideline and Jordan and Phil Jackson are talking, having a conversation and Phil tells him, you know what? They're going to run
00:32:05
Speaker
They're going come down on the block. They're going to pick and roll. going drop it down to Carl Malone. And I want you to come down. I want you to strip him and you come down. Now, your shot has been flat.
00:32:15
Speaker
Right. So I need you to just keep that in mind. You haven't been following through with your jump shot. And i want you to take the last shot like this guy, this coach literally. And and when you watch the video,
00:32:27
Speaker
Jazz come down, they get down on the block, they set the pick, they drop it down to Carmelone. Jordan literally comes, strips the ball from him, goes down the court and shoots a jump shot. And for those of you in basketball know, not only did they shoot the jump shot, when you start shooting flat, that's because you're getting tired.
00:32:46
Speaker
So you use your legs to get more lift on the ball. And if you follow through, it creates more lift. He hit the shot all net. They win the game. It was just a beautiful example. Now, keep in mind,
00:32:56
Speaker
Bill is talking to the number one player in the history of the game. But that guy had the vulnerability and he was still coachable in the moment, even though he's Michael Jordan.
00:33:07
Speaker
Bill had enough insight to coach him in that moment. Jordan had enough humility to listen in that moment, and it paid off very well for both of them. And so I think having a coach by your side that you can trust and believe in can help you achieve things I think you never would otherwise.
00:33:26
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. You know, one thing that I haven't highlighted and I want to wrap with this, obviously, is I know you love to give back to the
Community Involvement
00:33:34
Speaker
community. In fact, that's how I met you because you were giving back. You stepped up. You were part of a panel.
00:33:40
Speaker
You were sharing your story. And I said, man, who is this guy? I mean, because I know how busy you are. How important is it that we give back? Because I look at Folks like us, you know, and I got we just I'm just putting myself in an in an age category more than anything and mature and and have experienced a lot. How important is the give back? Because, you know, i want to ignite that spark in somebody who may not be thinking that way.
00:34:04
Speaker
um But how important is it within our own community, within our own whatever, however that give back looks for you? Well, isn't it I think it's true maybe for a lot of people, right, where at some point in your life or career, income becomes really important. And it's a high focus on income. And i think as you gain more income and gain more years and more knowledge, it starts to shift from income to impact.
00:34:30
Speaker
And I think that's where it shifted for me. In fact, we saw what was happening in our country and how young African-American men had just horrible college interest rates and college graduation rates.
00:34:46
Speaker
And um ah one of my fraternities, I'm an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and one of my fraternity brothers was talking to me about it. He had put a presentation together that no one was paying attention to. And he showed it to me and it just gripped me the First time i saw it, I said, look, man, I'm down. How do I get involved? How do we help? And it was ah I talk about absolute grassroots.
00:35:07
Speaker
a Fast forward about, I don't know, eight months later and Casey, a lot of Kevin Carothers Leadership Institute was formed. And that was named from by brother Kevin Carothers, who was instrumental in helping students of color at A&M. And we needed his help at the time.
00:35:24
Speaker
um In fact, um after all these years, Nike is a big client of ours. And um I was there a few weeks ago and I texted him and said, hey, man, I took a picture of a bunch of Nike's and they listen, you pick the shoe. You tell me your size. Give me your address. I'm shipping these to you. How much do Oh, you owe me nothing. I haven't paid you back for all the help you did for me back on campus. I'm 19, 20 years old. This is just a small way of saying thank you. And it was such a sweet moment for both of us.
00:35:52
Speaker
um But yeah, Kevin Corzett Leadership Institute is basically a nonprofit that we created. the campus of Texas A&M that provides scholarship, a mentorship and an internship to 12 African-American male students, incoming freshmen on the campus. And it has been probably the hardest work I've ever done, but by far the most rewarding work that I've ever done as well. And, you know, we the same coaching training curriculum that these big you know companies get, we provide the same quality of excellence and training with those. Man, those dudes are going to be running this joint by the time we're done. It's a lot of fun and they're all in. Right. they They figured out along the way, like this is this is a little bit better than what we were expecting. Right. Because they get an internship, a scholarship and a mentorship. So we assign one a graduate
00:36:45
Speaker
from the most of them are from the fraternity because we have doctors, lawyers, attorney, professional athletes, all the things. Right. And we'll assign one of them to each of the students that are in the same industry as them. And they get like the best coaching, training, mentorship possible at no charge. And we're already seeing the results. Been two years now and it's it's changing the game for these young men. And we're proud to be a part of You know, your story is fascinating and I know we're about out of time.
00:37:15
Speaker
And I do appreciate all that you've done, all that you're doing. um It's really a gift. I mean, you're gift to this audience. And I didn't know that much about you.
00:37:26
Speaker
And even though we've sat down and we've had a meal and we've done a lot of things, but um I appreciate you know your transparency and just sharing all that you have today. So thank you.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. it's It's easy to do with you, Chris. And i look forward to spending some more time together. In fact, the last time we tried to play golf, we got one swing in and the clouds opened up and raindrops about that big started falling. We never. So we have to finish. it We literally got one stroke each and we landed near each other and we both stopped smiling and talking as much as a competitive blood started to flow. And it all got interrupted by a thunderstorm. But we enjoyed the breaking bread together afterwards, but looking forward to doing it again.
00:38:12
Speaker
Hey, fantastic. you know I'm going to look into the camera as I always do. And I'm going to say this, Brian's story is truly unique. I mean, he is a person that figured out what he wanted to do. he went he was in Silicon Valley. He rose to the point where he's a CEO and founder of Perspectivity. mean, he helps out in the community. His give back, I know it even goes further than that because I've watched him in just willingness to just support me as well as other folks in the community. So,
00:38:40
Speaker
You if we learned anything today, um I think we're all leaders. And I believe that we all need coaching as well. So, you know, i thank him for his, um him sharing and just being with us today. But I appreciate you tuning in for another episode of Balancing the Future.
00:38:58
Speaker
And I'm looking forward to our next conversation.