Mbc Great Minds - Connecting Talent, technology, entrepreneurs and art.

[Music] [Music] hi everybody welcome to great minds by nbc i am marcia i am lina and our goal is to chat with inspired leaders separative thinkers creative minds and so that way we can get fire learn together and grow okay today we are so happy for the person that is gonna be in our great minds his name is dan he's an entrepreneur advisor investor keynote speaker field producer musician leader technologist chain agent and alchemist in the area of people experience and the future of work with a vision of commitment to the change the way business thinks act and operates dan works with leaders and organizations around the world helping them to meet the moment and mobilize the future welcome down we are so happy to have you here wow that's a lot of that's a nice intro thank you very very happy to be here thanks thanks for having me you're right happy mother's day thank you and we would like to start to get to know your story uh who is that and how have you become the person you are today well um yeah i well that would fall first say that i'm i think i'm still becoming that person you know i think i've never really quite achieved oh always learning every day but um yeah a little bit about my history i'm from uh from from new york to grew up in and woodstock so actually the land of of the where the festival was in 1969 and i wasn't born yet but i uh my mom was pregnant with me and she was gonna go to the concert but decided not to go so i would have been would have been there in spirit but never quite made it to the concert but uh you know woodsock was an incredible place to grow up through lots of arts and music and just incredible people it was kind of a mini new york and then uh i always i fell in love with music at a very young age and went to school in wisconsin and madison and after um school i i moved to minneapolis which is where i've been for the last 20 plus years and started playing music and started a company and just always been in a in a creative space always been trying to create things always trying to make it make an impact change things if i possibly can so that's a little bit about my my upbringing well that's amazing that actually well we know a little bit about you so we would like to ask you more like how do you combine all these classrooms that you have like the music the films and technology like how they combine or them in a certain way yeah i mean i think um so you know i think there's a creativity to you and i started a tech company in in 1999 it was called modern survey and we grew this company and i sold it about three or four years ago and you know we i think what i found was most of the people we hired ended up being artists and musicians and there's just an incredible um thoughtful way the mind works i think those who love music and who love art um there there's a creative element to problem solving there's a a team spirit that exists um you know most artists and especially musicians understand that that uh that it takes everyone in a band to make beautiful music so just like on a team in leadership i think there's just a different personality type so i think that so for me that's always been blending um whether it's film production or writing songs it's just getting incredible people around you who believe in what you believe right and kind of believe and what you're passionate about and then once you have that type of team and that type of that type of connection um you know it's incredible what you can accomplish and achieve so um yeah a huge fan of of artists artists in the technology space yeah wow that's impressive and and let's talk about radical right it's like your your current project and what is the impact or what do you bring to the world with with radical yeah so uh radical is is um you know we we started my my brother and i founded radical late last year um in november and my brother and i actually we also started modern survey the company i was talking about and it really came out of a of a passion and a net for necessary change that you know we have we have been living through over the past year incredible seismic shifts and work right i mean work has changed forever right this this is our fundamental belief and um we're we're in minneapolis so we lived through obviously the incident with george floyd which you're probably aware of um which was a you know a big movement with social rights and social justice and white privilege and and you know that was important to us to organ we really believe organizations need to take that that seriously and we'll talk about i know we're going to talk about diversity and inclusion and equity a little bit later um obviously the the pandemic has changed the way we show up to work the way we work remote now so radical was really about a commitment to inspire change to inspire change within organizations right now is the time to change there has never been a greater time um in in corporate america for organizations to sit back and reevaluate reimagine their purpose what do they stand for what do they believe in their values um you know if we're not going through this this change mindset this change process now it's a huge mistake and as i always say we're kind of letting a good pandemic go to waste it's an almost an insult right to the pandemic that we've all been living through like it is it is and that is what radical is about we work with organizations we've worked with senior leaders and really thinking about large change transformation um and thinking about people from the whole person and not just a day in the life at work but really how people bring their whole person to work and what makes them tick in their larger dna and celebrating that and celebrating local community and celebrating global community there's a you know there's a huge opportunity for change and that's what radical stands for at the at the macro level wow that's amazing and i think it's very necessary right because sometimes the companies just think about uh i don't know like profit or how to make money but it's important also to have in mind that change is is important right and and change is only made by ourselves right like what are we doing today to make that change that we want to see right yeah i mean the most important thing is you know we we talk about it a lot but it's really living and breathing it it's putting people first right organizations are made up of people the greatest asset we have is is our people and i talk about this often with with with um ceos and leaders and i i will always bring up i mean what's the first thing in a board meeting or a senior leadership meeting that you talk about and typically it's it's you know revenue for the past quarter profits margins and i'm like no stop right there no no no no what you first thing we need to ask is how are our people doing how are they doing what you know what do they need because if you treat profitability margins success that's an outcome right that's an outcome of taking care of your people and doing all the small things right so we have to shift that paradigm and we have to start thinking about um you know what do our people need from us making sure they feel safe making sure that there's an open authentic culture they can be themselves they can bring themselves to work everyone has a voice um so we have to to to re you know that's the change that that's required we have to kind of reimagine what's important and if we do that um organizations will see that success that they strive for right of course or organizations need to be making money and be and need to be profitable and but that's an outcome of doing all these small things right taking care of your people um first and so that's my dream is that in board meetings leadership so we start with that simple question how are our people doing so anybody listening try it out i think it's a really good question to us at the beginning because i think we will should think about that at the beginning actually do you think this change or like um this culture that is like coming up with the covet it's just like was because of the covet or was something that the people had in mind before it yeah that's a great great question um so i think um i think kobe sort of kicked it into into gear more and what i mean by this is so kind of pre-covered we always talked about putting people first and and i kind of always joke we we would ask the question of each other you know how are you doing today this is in a pre-covered world and it was typically a canned response i'm doing fine i'm doing fine uh it never never really was it was always just sort of the appropriate greeting but now in the when when covid started and everything started to change that question became meaningful right me asking you i actually wanted to ask you that because i cared about your response and you actually want to give me your response because you care to tell me how you're feeling so all of a sudden that simple question became relevant and became important and so all of a sudden sort of empathy came to life like we've never seen humility came to life like we've never seen just getting to know each other came to life and so that people connected that connection that we start to build with our team um was just catapulted into a whole nother level so i do think kobe had a lot to do with it i think great leaders rose i think some people who weren't even leaders rose right it wasn't the title of a leader it was people who could rally each other people who could be who can inspire each other who could be optimistic about the future um and and so the hope now is how do we harness that and keep doing that as we start to get back to some sort of normal when there is no such thing as normal right right it will constantly be evolving we're going to be changing but it's that mindset it's that change mindset and making sure we continue to take care of of our people have those important conversations get to know each other um that that's so important and just statistically real fast i mean we saw engagement levels spike right in the beginning employee engagement became very high because company meetings moved from universe every quarter they were happening every month they were more intimate one-on-one started happening twice a week right so managers and their employees were chatting team meetings were happening on a regular basis and even though we were remote and virtual we were having honest conversations we were sharing how we were feeling we were really getting to know each other so people started to become and feel more connected to the organization and connected to the purpose of the organic organization and so that really started to change and engagement levels started to spike um but now we need to try to keep up that momentum and that's where the work is and that's where the change is required yeah well that's true actually that brings me to think like that how do you think the future of future work should be like right now like this is happening how do you think in the future that should be yeah i mean i i think um so i i think the the future the way i always talk about the future is i talk about it a little more around the now right so we i think we have to really change our mindset to think about what can we do today what can we do right now because the future every every day there's so much happening right so much noise um kind of the six month plans or the six month transformations or hr transformations or business plans you almost have to throw that out the window that doesn't mean you don't have a north star and a focus and a core belief and goals and things like that but the way we operate the way we function the way we take care of each other we really have to change our mindset to think about the now today um and i think that you know that's the way when i talk about the future i think we if we're constantly more focused on the now i think the future will will constantly write itself to be a more more more productive uh a better happier place but i do think and i hope that and as far as the future of work um it's going to be very very different right for example just we'll give you one or two examples um the workplace and how we show up and how we collaborate is going to be very different right just showing up to work and going to our cubes or going into our offices and closing the door or the virtual door makes no sense just stay home right workplace needs to become a place of collaboration where we come together where we connect but we have conversations so i think organizations and some are doing it really well they're reimagining the office reimagining the workspace so i think that's going to change and that's going to be a big part of the future if we're going to be together let's make the best of it um and so that hybrid approach is really important and the hybrid workforce is really important absolutely and that is a very great point of view actually like working now like trying to make the change right right now and then that way we build the future and before you were talking about very important topics such as inclusion and equity so what are your thoughts on that and what do you think is like the gap or the missing piece that that is in those aspects nowadays yeah i mean so the most it's kind of an obvious one but i'll give somebody some examples um you know diversity inclusion representation belonging you know all these things this isn't just um isn't just a mission statement or or a couple values that that um that say the right thing and sound nice it's really how we practice it every day and and how we live it every day so you know for example um representation isn't enough right representation means that we we've kind of we have the checkbox we've done what we need to do to call ourselves a diverse culture but inclusion gives everyone a voice right regardless of who you are where you came from what you believe so all are welcome and that is the opportunity to really create an inclusive workforce and this um spans across race gender sexual orientation and i have to throw this in now it is very real kind of a political affiliation and um you know i identity and how you represent yourself this is especially in the united states this has become a really challenging thing and from a cultural standpoint is you we sort of start by what side of the line are you on and immediately we make opinions and judgments about each other and this is a really really dangerous place to to be verse finding common ground and so i i really the larger opportunity to have an inclusive workforce has to represent all um and and across all generations too from from we have five plus generations in the workforce now too and so really it's how do we bring people together how do we um connect people how do we learn from each other how do we creating a safe environment a safe place is so so important um you know and what i mean by by that is is not just safe from accident accidental injury on the job like if you're in manufacturing but safe and being able to speak your mind safe and being able to say what you believe safety and being able to disagree with somebody safety and being able to say i don't feel heard um safety and and being accountable to call things out and it doesn't seem right or doesn't feel right right that's important too and you have to be able to feel empowered to do that and so that takes incredible leadership it takes incredible leadership from the top and incredible leadership in the middle and and everyone needs to be a part of that larger change so it kind of all goes back to this concept of change that's amazing yeah that's true i think the first step is to put down this barrier of difference and and to start to work and everyone can have their opinion i think it's a great great point of view well and i think it's just being it's in it and it's listening too right that's such an important piece this is listening to to each other and and and having and being empathetic right being in empathy is such an important trait to understand someone else's perspective and understand where they're coming from even if you don't believe in it or understand it you know try to at least listen and and and be empathetic about where someone else might be coming from and be willing to change and if everyone's willing to change a little bit massive change can happen and that that is fundamentally a part of change you you don't really know what's behind every person so you just have to listen yeah that's a that's the starting point yes absolutely i will ask something like we want to know something that happened to you that the craziest thing that happened to you during your business career wow um you know um i mean there's i you know i i would say um i mean it depends how we define the word word um crazy i i think um i i think i you know for for me i will call it not so much crazy but maybe unexpected and very fortunate i'll turn it into something that that's crazy and i would have never imagined let's say you know 10 years ago that i would be able to to i would say well that's crazy that'll never happen um and that is you know for the last four or five years pre-coded you know i found myself um traveling and speaking probably in 40 to 50 countries so i was constantly you know meeting just incredible beautiful people around the world and and it was such an honor to talk about work and talk about culture and and talk about what i believe in and passion and and creativity um and meet so many people um who i just didn't have that that much experience with i always traveled in the us when i was growing up and obviously in my music career i would tour the country but to literally be speaking in you know berlin one night in london the next night and and budapest hungry the next night after that right to me that's crazy and i'm very lucky and fortunate and and just made some incredible friends around the globe and um just haven't continued to learn as you asked me you know how did i get to where i am today it's it's like that that's why that's how i get to where i am is meeting people and learning from people um and i just i'm so i feel very lucky and i can't wait until i can continue to do that again in a post postcode world yeah yeah that's nice and actually human connections are very important is the most important thing in the the most enriching right like you and like us friends for instance like have the opportunity you are in the u.s we are here out of colombia and we are talking and discussing and learning and i think it's amazing anyway we wouldn't we wouldn't have imagined actually that you know that that's i love that point because you're absolutely right i think i think many of us we started to open up our network and connect to people who we just didn't know because that that's this is again this is a result of starting to build community beyond just your local community community became the world right and you know the fact that we connected with was through just you know the kind of the world of linkedin and getting to know each other and i think that that's really a beautiful thing um because there's so many people we can learn from and friendships that we can build and um and i think that's magical and but you have to have an open mind and you have to just really uh embrace it and and love meeting people and and even even the biggest introverts and i'm a little bit introverted surprisingly i'm an extra i'm an extrovert musician and a speaker i i play an extrovert but you know i also but the root but the real me is actually relatively this is the real me of course but but i do need to unwind and be quiet and i like my my quiet time you know so it's been really nice to kind of kind of expand the network and and be able to do that from a virtual standpoint um but of course traveling is even better it'd be much better yeah i'll be in columbia's heads at some point soon we're gonna be so happy to have you here yeah yeah yeah columbia is very beautiful you will love it and i know i've never been ever been ah now you have a reason to come out to people that you can see yes yeah like um before you were mentioning about like mindset and first also it's very important and we would like to to know like what is your mindset or your habits or those secrets right like i have helped you along your path uh during the the way they have helped you to um like achieve your goals and also like change like to to to yeah like achieve that change that you have mentioned yeah wow it was a so that's a good question lots of i'll try to keep the answer tight to tour you know two or three things um i i think um so i mean as far as kind of seek secrets and and little things that i do i mean for for me one thing that's really important is is staying staying healthy and staying you know in shape and just like every day just trying to do something for the body for the mind i i it's even as much as i was traveling um i would always go out of my way it's like a half an hour every day just to do something and then that's just taking that personal time whatever that might be and everyone has that thing that they love to do whether it's you know you you want to go out for a run or maybe it's meditation or whatever maybe it's yoga maybe it's pilates or maybe it's weightlifting or or whatever it might be just taking that time out for yourself and prioritizing that so that that's really really important um and everyone needs to i think think about what that is and some for some people maybe it's just it's just reading quietly or or whatever it is there's just like like hold that time dear it was the old state as we all know time is something that we can't buy okay time is something we don't have control over and every day every day we have to make let's make sure we carve out a little time for ourselves um and and that's that's super important um you know as far as um i think the most important thing i've learned over over the years and kind of a mindset is really surrounding yourself around people around just passionate creative people and it's kind of ties back to the beginning of our conversation and an understanding that there are so many people who understanding where your weaknesses are and and surrounding yourself around an incredible team and give them incredible accountability and opportunity right because if the worst thing a leader or an entrepreneur can do is say oh i'm great at everything i'm the decider i'm going to do everything that you know verse just understanding where your strengths and weaknesses are and then surrounding yourself with an incredible team um and and empowering those people to bring their spirit in into whatever you're doing and their passion into whatever whatever you're doing and that's how great teams are are formed so there's humility in that too being willing to say wow you you run with this you have a better idea here um and and uh definitely accountability and recognition is so key to um you know and uh and feedback i mean feedback is is a gift right both ways it's always giving honest constructive feedback to people and friends and and loved ones so those are a few things that come to mind well the only kind of fun the the fun thing i'll add actually so i do a lot of speaking i i i actually um have found that i i do like to speak with with limited sleep so if i have a big presentation it's a very odd little little little secret i don't suggest anyone else try this but for me speak uh sleeping about four or five hours before i do a big keynote is is actually how i like to to be i like to you have to be caught up on sleep you can't do that every night but like before a big presentation um so you just it's like the perfect amount of sleep you have some coffee have a healthy breakfast maybe work work out and then i have really great energy and then i do need to sleep that the next night but i don't want to i don't like to oversleep and then be elected you're actually a little more tired so it's like the four to five hours is that magic spot so that's one of the fun little things that i always time my sometimes i'll stay up late like just make sure i get to get just just just get the proper showers okay let's start to to put up to make it work for us as well okay and then well actually you were saying something to do but maybe do you have like any recommendations of books or podcasts or music that you think will help during this part of something who would like to achieve this success in life yeah um yeah i mean i think um there is uh yeah well i think as far as first i'll talk about just some some podcasts you know um i mean there's tons of pot honestly there's so many podcasts out there i think searching um for you know what you um what you're passionate about the type of business you're in i think it's important just to to listen to a lot of different different people um i i started to to watch a podcast it was actually a really fun one or listen to a podcast there was some video too it was one with with our ex president barack obama and bruce springsteen you know the big singer they actually did it it's called called renegades and they just talked about they talked about life they just talked about uh you know you have a president and and a rock star right just talking about just the importance of you know being true to yourself the importance of family the importance of friendships you know the importance of hard work um so that's a really great great podcast i think it was six or eight episodes so it's called renegades i think it's free on spotify i'm not i'm not sure um you know that that's a really really health healthy one uh to listen to um you know i'm i'm a simon sinek fan i don't know if you know who who he is yeah he has yeah he's great he's a great he has a great podcast um as well you know it's refined in your why and i think that that's a really good one and it's a real global i mean he really speaks about the the focus for those who don't know him i mean he's really a big believer in you know your why your purpose that that's the most important thing right sort of the how in the water actually the easy part but sort of the why you exist is what energizes your customers and energizes people who work for you and energizes yourself right um if you can wake up every day passionate about what you do you know like that's your why so i think you know listen to simon sinek he's great he's another another good good person to listen to um you know as as far as i there's a great movie i i just watched and it hasn't doesn't have a lot to do with um with work but i i highly recommend it it's it's called pig p-i-p-i-g just came out it it's um nicholas cage it's his his latest movie and it's a beautiful movie it's it's a lower independent film lower budget independent film but it's really about love and loss um grieving and passion and it's just it's a beautiful beautiful movie it's a sad story so i do warn you of that but it is really an incredible story about loss and the importance of of caring and the importance of of people and and holding and holding true to what you believe in in your and your point of view and your perspective so that's a really great movie and i just bring it up because it was top of mind i just watched it yes yeah let me know let me know yeah thank you so much it is time to let you go we really appreciate your time and to you to have the the kindness to share with us your thoughts your mindset and all these advices and for sure we have learned and get required so much from you thank you very much and we hope to to like everyone enjoys these conversations as much as much as we do well thank you and i love the work you two are both doing and thanks for having me on and great conversation and everyone stay healthy stay optimistic stay stay positive keep loving each other caring caring a lot these are important things and i really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you both great great conversation thank you very much see you next time thank you see ya bye [Music] [Music] [Music] you

2021-11-11 01:14

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