WEBVTT - Playing for the Championship 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.960 I'm off my game today. No, you're not. People are 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:05.800 going to have to start making better content. I think 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:07.280 we're gonna be talking about this for a long time. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.360 When you program for everyone, you program for no one. 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.440 I think it's a word purpose driven platform. Like we're 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.800 trying to get to substance. How was that? Are you 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.400 happy with that? This is marketing therapy right now? And 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.960 it really is? What's up on? Laura Currency and I'm 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.560 Alexa Kristen, Welcome back to Atlantia. We don't know what 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.600 episode we're on. I think it's three three three of 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.440 yeh three into I'm so proud of Alexa for coming 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:38.800 into the studio today. She's like from the star spangled 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.680 banner the Super Bowl pink she had the flu. At 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.000 least you're not spending lozenges out you know what during 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.600 the super Bowl, guess what I was doing sleeping? I 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.400 was asleep and he wants three for three. I'm sick 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.000 three times already. Well, hopefully this is the end. I 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.440 blame it on you. Many people say that I'm contagious, 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.920 so take that as you will. Um, But that said, 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.000 twenty eighteen, we are kicking it off. So much change 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.320 is happening in the industry that we will be opening 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.200 up the I a B Annual Leadership Meeting out in 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.960 Palm Desert, California next week. If you have an already 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.880 booked your ticket, book it, come join us. I think 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.560 that it's going to be a lot of really good conversations, 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.720 and I think the IB this year is doing something 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.360 different than they've ever done. They're having a lot of 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.160 kind of up and coming brands on stage talking about 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.959 what it means to be a twenty one century brand, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.160 and they're going to be the ones talking. Well a 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.119 lot of I think legacy brands are going to be 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.479 also talking, but in the audience participating right, So we're 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.760 excited to talk to brands like Glossier. We're going to 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.520 see a way out, They're excited to see our girl 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.680 Rachel typograph and action on the knowledge with T Mobile. 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.440 So a lot of exciting conversations and mashups of different 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.600 types of brands on stage, so it'll be definitely an 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.080 interesting dialogue. And now have people like Jet dot Com there, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.280 you know, Leaver is going to be there, Lo is 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.400 going to be there. So a lot of people representing 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.400 the content space, the entertainment space, the software space, the 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.760 text space. I think it's going to be a really 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.959 interesting conversation and we will bring it all back here 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.720 and talk to you guys about what we learned UM 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.360 and what we think are kind of some of the 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.880 most interesting trends. But one thing I'm really impressed with 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.600 is that Randal Rothenberg and the team over at i 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.600 B has done some killer research around not just what 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.440 it takes to be a century brand and the brand 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.440 side of it and the consumer side of it and 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.080 the branding in the marketing side of it, but really 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:38.239 like what's the infrastructure that's underpinning this growth in direct 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.200 to consumer brands. And it's a really really interesting piece 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.080 of research that they're going to be publishing at the 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.000 i B Leadership Forum. So one of the big takeaways 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.560 that we are learning is leadership, UM. What it takes 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:55.079 to obviously not just create Century brand but certainly run one, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.040 but be a leader of the right, be a leader 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.160 of the twenty yeah right, a visionary that I think 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.720 brings people up. We there's some really awesome quotes from 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.560 our next guest, Roth Martin, who's CEO and founder of Blackbird, 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.240 really a new consultancy out on the field, who is 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:19.639 combining UM kind of harvesting and maturing leadership like people right, 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.840 and companies and thinking about new ways that established companies 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.040 change the way they create and market and the way 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.960 they show up in market, right, and how they create 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.639 more meaningful ties to their consumers and maybe even open 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:38.040 up new verticals that they can play in. So interesting conversation, 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.040 and I think that leadership is really at the center 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.520 of it. Yeah, And I think in with the rise 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:45.720 of so many DTC brands, like some of those we 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.080 just rattled off, whether it's Glossier, Casper Away, all of 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:53.000 your fan favorites in the podcasting space, so to speak, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.840 it'll be interesting, um to see how those who have 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.840 had a tremendous trajectory challenging some of the legacy bra 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.440 ends in some of the biggest categories react and adapt 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.839 to sort of what the new leadership and business plan 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.720 or model looks like in and beyond. So with that, 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.400 we're going to talk to CEO and founder of Blackbird, 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:29.800 Ross Martin. We'll be right back and we're back in 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.040 the studio with Ross Martin, CEO and founder of Blackbird. 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.800 Hi Ross, thanks for coming. I'm so excited to be here. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.400 I've wanted to come here since you started this podcast. 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.360 I think we were talking about it at the beginning 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:43.680 and I said, would you come when you come? When 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.159 you I'm all about this, I'm like your biggest fan. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.240 So Ross, you have had kind of an amazing career 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.880 and I want to talk about Blackbird, but first I 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.200 want to talk about your background. Where did you start? Well, 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.279 I just I have the strangest background for someone who's 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.760 in media. I don't even know how I got here, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.080 you know, I I think we all feel that way, right, Yeah, Like, 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.280 what did you want to be when you were growing up? Um? 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.520 So I first wanted to be an elevator man in Manhattan. Yeah, 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.359 you know, I never really knew what I wanted to 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.640 be when I grew up, and I think that's why 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.600 I've never in my life besides my first job, never 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.200 in my life had a job that anybody had before me. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.680 Like I've never inherited a job description. Interesting. My first 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.360 job was selling women's shoes, That's it. I didn't even 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.800 know what the funk I was doing. God, yeah, I 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.320 was Albundi, but I was sixteen years old and I sucked, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:38.960 Like I don't even think I sold more than five 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.000 pairs in like an entire summer. But regardless, that was 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.200 my first job, and every other job I had since 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.680 then it was a made up job. And the thing 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.080 is I went to school for poetry. So it's like 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.640 that where blackbird came from? Well, it's interesting, you know, 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:55.760 Alex talked about that, and now he's going to tell 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.760 us the story because it's damn good. Look, there are 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:02.279 like five origin stories for the name blackbird. So the 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:06.160 obvious one that everyone who's you know, read any poetry 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.880 before will always say is thirteen Ways of Looking at 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:12.360 a Blackbird poem by Wallace Stevens. And there's an incredible 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.120 first stanza for that poem, which just so I don't 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.240 get it wrong, and are you going to free? I'm 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.400 not going to free, no, not So the first stanza 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.479 is three lines, rightam, drop a beat on this. Yeah, 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:31.520 among twenty snowy mountains, the only moving thing was the 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.320 eye of the blackbird. And so what I love about 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:39.800 that stanza is in three lines, Stevens goes from this huge, wide, 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:44.320 establishing shot of twenty snowy mountains where your camera, your 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.200 eye is so far back to be able to take 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.920 all of that in right, and then not even two 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.680 lines later, he's all the way in on the single 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.800 eye of a single blackbird on a single snowy mountain. 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.880 And the idea that you could move from one perspective 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.520 all the way down just that little I and be 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.479 so specific or atomic is really a pretty big driving 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.760 force behind Blackbird and what we're trying to do. Like, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.720 I got it immediately. I love it. You think a 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.600 lot like artist or filmmaker, and you have a little 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.600 bit of background in the entertainment world. I mean that's 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.200 where you really started. After the shoes. I want to tell, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.200 how do I get from elevator? Man? I went to Yeah, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.560 so I went to poetry school and I went to 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.600 wash you in St. Louis, and there were five Did 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.080 anyone even know that you could go to graduate school 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.960 for poetry? Yes, you can do that, you guys know. 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.360 So I was the only one that wasn't on scholarship, right, 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:42.000 and I just I had to work at a bar 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.000 like and I was getting everybody else drunk while I 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:50.400 was working behind the ball. But the idea of taking 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.000 five poetry classes at the graduate level every semester for 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.640 two years drove me nuts. So I was looking for 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.640 an easy way out, and I took a screenwriting class 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.920 and I wrote a screenplay that was really shitty, but 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:04.800 it was like the best one that year. So I 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.600 won like the hundred dollar prize from the school. And 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:11.000 my professor, who is a producer, said, you should do 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.040 this for a living, like you can be a screenwriter. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.320 I want to introduce you to Spike Lee. And so 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.920 he did, and um, and I met Spike and he 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:20.600 invited me to come work for the summer. I read 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.080 about five hundred scripts and then after grad school, I 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.440 returned and I was his story editor and my job 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.600 was to find projects for Spike to produce or direct 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.880 that the rest of the Hollywood system was not seeing, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.600 not betting on. This was like the Blacklist before the Blacklist. Yeah, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.600 it was. And Spikes, you know, he's an amazing champion 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.120 of talent and voices that just otherwise would never get hurt. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.240 He doesn't get credit for that because he's so loud, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.360 but he does a lot of work behind the scenes. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:49.720 And I got to do a lot of that work 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:53.120 at a really young age. And well I should tell you, 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.560 um that, just so nobody thinks I have good taste 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:01.640 at all. The first script I read for Spike completely rejected. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:03.760 In fact, I fell asleep in the middle. It was 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:05.920 a boxing movie. I fell asleep in the middle of 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.480 the fight scene as I was reading it, and I 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.160 was like, this is horrible, and I told him, don't 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.040 even read it. I'll pass. So I passed to the 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.600 agent and then the movie got made with Russell Crowe 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:24.440 Cinderella Man Academy Award, produced by my now friend Brian Grazer. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:26.480 But anyway, it was a great first real job in 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.120 the industry and reading, you know, having the kind of 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.959 access to Spike in his community was just outstanding. So 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.520 how do you take that and start applying it to 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.640 what you did Viacom and now starting your own thing 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.880 at Blackbird. Right, So, look, I don't think you work 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.280 for a company. I think you work for people. And 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.200 you know, I wanted to work for Spike because he's 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:53.200 a visionary and he's so human. He makes gigantic successful 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.440 films and also big mistakes and in every movie he 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.120 has triumphs and he has you know, just big errors 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.079 that just make part of the movie suck. And I 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.400 loved that. Um, well, you talk a lot about leadership. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.480 You put a lot of color behind leadership, like what 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.320 is a good leader? You've been doing that for a 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.719 long time, you know. I just believe cultures everything you had. 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:19.760 Linda Yakuarino recently on the podcast and UM, she talked 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.960 about it. She talked about, like, over the last five years, 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.840 what's made the difference for her organization, And she talks 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.840 about leadership and culture and she's right. And you you 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.120 walk into any company today, you know in thirty seconds 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:33.760 if they've got it or if they don't. You can 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.760 feel it, you can smell it, you can taste it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.320 So now you started Blackbird. Yeah, so when I left 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.920 five Com last summer, I started two different things at 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.440 the same time, probably out of fear of failure. But 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.240 one of them is Blackbird, which is a brand strategy 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.000 and business innovation firm, and the other is Lunch Partners, 0:10:55.240 --> 0:11:00.280 which is a venture capital fund. So two very different things. Um, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.600 And why anybody thinks that a poet should be running 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.920 a venture capital fund, I have no idea why anyone 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.560 agrees to that, but it has happened. We are underway, 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.400 and that is the super exciting element of my daily 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.080 life and it's connected to I mean, as it connected 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.360 to Blackbird. Is that totally separate from Blackbird. They're not connected, 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.040 but they end up being symbiotic. You know, I learned 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:25.280 so much about early stage startup companies in all different 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.240 industries from Launch Partners. I mean, in the first two 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.680 months we looked at seventy five deals and the kind 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.200 of people you meet are just sort of outside my 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.800 everyday sphere and a lot of people I know, jack 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.600 shit about that world. And the people we are meeting 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.000 and learning from our extraordinary and they're the next generation 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.600 of great business leaders. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. We've 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.680 had Pierced Fox on here from PSFK was a writer. 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.000 We've had you who's a poet. We talked with Sara Fisher. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.640 Last episode we took sales skills and translated to journalism. 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.760 I think we're really starting to see this sort of 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.040 tri anxient fluid thing happening in our industry where people 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.040 are taking their skill sets and feeling them into passions. 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.600 And it's it's really fascinating to see you take the 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.400 commercial side, but then also what I assume the business 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.360 of Blackbird being your passion. So that's exactly right, Laura. 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.080 And I feel like, once you get what you're great 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.800 at and you understand kind of what you suck at, 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.880 you can do anything with that now, right, Look at Peers. 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.880 I mean, he's a massive success story. You know, Sarah 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.960 at Axios is someone you would say, like, well, if 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.440 you look at her career, her trajectory, you would never 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:34.720 put her in the position she's in right now, right, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.800 And yet she's massively successful and influential. And when she 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.120 was on your podcast, she did feel like a force 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.800 in the industry totally. So I feel like once you 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.600 know you're true north, once you understand your purpose and 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.000 your identity and you get your values down, like, you 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.680 can do whatever you want with that. And that is 0:12:55.720 --> 0:13:00.200 exactly what Blackbird's doing for big businesses and little business is. 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.440 But most of them have never been forced to ask 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.480 those existential questions about themselves, and all of a sudden, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.160 because of the forces in every industry, they have no 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.640 choice but to ask those questions, right, why does my 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.240 brand even exist? And I mean, you guys are struggling 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:20.720 with those questions every single episode, and you can really 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.760 tell um who's thought about it and who has not. 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.960 And I listened to some of your guests. Let's listen 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.480 to every episode, and some have really thought about these issues, 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.720 and others just seem to have avoided them. It's interesting. 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:34.400 Do you think it's a sign of the times that 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.120 people and brands and companies are starting to think like 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.480 this or do you think there are other you know, 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.760 kind of forcing functions that are happening that we don't see. Look, 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:47.160 I think that um I make a distinction. Blackbird has 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.440 been very successful in its first eight months, making the 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.840 distinction between operating systems and belief systems, which do you 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.880 gravitate towards. You cannot have one without the other. To 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.600 run as successful business today, where you may have multiple 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.680 operating systems, as most of my clients do, to do 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:13.040 that effectively without a belief system is nearly impossible. And 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.920 I learned that from Seth Farbman, who's the CMO of Spotify, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.560 and he was a gap and he didn't look, that's 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.680 a brilliant, brilliant guy. And when I was at Viacom 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.360 that we had three my last three years there were 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.480 really chaotic and confusing, and what we needed was true 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.440 north and an understanding of who we were as a company. 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.680 Thousands and thousands of people who needed to understand, even 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.360 if it wasn't communicated externally yet, what Viacom was about 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.040 and what it stood for and what you were part 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.720 of and why these brands are all in the same portfolio. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.200 And Seth really gave me the language to understand how 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.640 to go about doing that. Um, what is the idea 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.480 of a belief system, which you know, to some people 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.200 just sounds fancy, like a fancy word for brand architecture. Well, 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.000 we all do positioning, sure, um. But the more I 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:05.280 thought about what Seth was challenging me to do at Viacom, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.320 the more we began the hard work of the methodology 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.960 itself and trying to understand how do you surface the 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.800 key insights and derive or distill from them the brand 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:21.680 idea that is irrefutable, and that is four things, big, simple, useful, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.240 and true. If it's not all for, it won't be successful. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.360 And we've gone to work doing that. We've done ten 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.480 belief systems in the last eight months at Blackbird, and 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.280 they're accompanied by the question that comes right after, which is, well, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:37.680 now that we know who we are, what do we 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.560 do with that? How do you land the plane? And 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.880 that's all about execution and about living your brand and 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.720 such an interesting skill set though, because it's most people 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.840 have to one or the other. And I think what 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.800 makes certain people special and Beth compact this law is 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.880 like being able to see the you know, the whole field. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:16:00.920 And then very Blackbird pointed yeah, and that and Linda 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.280 have been, you know, masterful at that and both have 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.800 taught me quite a bit about this. You know. I 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:12.000 think you asked about context, like why does this matter now? Um, 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.840 I had a gut feeling that this would matter in 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.320 the world, and I went on that and bet on 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.360 myself and my team to launch Blackbird. Two of my 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.040 favorite people sat down to collide worlds. Two of my 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.200 favorite worlds, politics and hip hop. So Van Jones, Alex 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.080 and I are obsessed with the episodes Fantastic She sat 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:32.760 down with jay Z and one of the things that 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:34.800 I pulled out of it that it gets the heart 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.480 of what you're talking about is a difference between a 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:42.000 job and purpose and they're not they're not mutually exclusive. Um, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.520 and I think what you're saying is what a lot 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.840 of the entrepreneurs in our business are finding. You know, 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:49.920 you talked about Sarah Fisher. It's like, what are you 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.200 really good at? Go chase that down. And the problem 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.400 is though that I think it gets really foofi really 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.960 quickly and kind of ephemeral, and people are like purpose 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.400 and values, like oh that sounds offt and often it 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.320 sounds like an HR exercise and you're like okay, you know, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.560 and for some people that's all it will ever be, 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.520 but not for Jay Z. And the thing about Jay 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:15.080 is Jay is the prototypical business leader of today and tomorrow. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.919 He doesn't have a job. He has a portfolio career. 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.840 I don't believe as I look at you two that 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.199 in the next three years, three years from now, I 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.080 don't think either one of you will have a job. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.399 I think you're five right. I think you're gonna have 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.800 a portfolio career. And I think that portfolio career is 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.840 going to express your purpose, your values, and your capability, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.160 and it's going to be how you, you know, live 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.880 your brand in the world. Hello, this actually is exactly 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:48.200 the architecture for brands as well. So click because that's 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.400 the thing. And I want to ask before we go there, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:52.879 I want to ask one question. Everyone talks about brands 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:56.240 finding their purpose now right. I actually am convinced that 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.399 there are going to be brands that can't they can't 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.320 find their purpose and then will effectively disappear. Well, if 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.600 you don't find it, it's very obvious what happens is 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:10.359 that top line growth doesn't happen. And you know, so 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.119 you look at the financial engineering that's going on in 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.879 the short termism that you guys talk about frequently on Atlantia, 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.000 and you know that's what happens when you don't know 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.480 who you are. Are you working with big public brands? Yes, 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.000 and are there receiving this message from Blackbird and they're 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.280 embracing it. We're not calling them, they're calling us. And 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:30.679 I don't mean to say that in any kind of 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.640 egotistical way. I mean that there is a sense of urgency. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.440 And we are called by boards, we are called by 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.239 c e O s, and we're called by cmos and 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.159 when that phone rings, it's you know, it may not 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:47.080 start out um with a question about purpose and identity. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.280 It may not start out with the I heard you 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.440 do belief systems and belief system playbooks that will transform 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.200 my business. But doesn't happen like that. It usually starts 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.600 with a like a problem with our product, there's something 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.120 wrong with our marketing. We need to be direct to consumer, right, 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.560 one of those kinds of things. Right, And you you 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.040 get about seven minutes in and it's very clear what's 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.320 going on. Are you working on executive kind of image 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:15.760 stuff as well? I mean, does that become part of this. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:24.240 We just started what's called Blackbird Leaders and that's because, um, 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.240 I just believe in betting on people like that's everything. 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.000 And it became very clear to us that during the 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.119 kind of work that we do with big companies and 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.399 medium and small companies, but doing the work we do 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.800 on brand strategy and belief systems, that's the same kind 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.439 of work that tomorrow's leaders are beginning to do on 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:52.680 themselves today. And that's a remarkable place to get invited into. 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.480 When someone trusts you enough to say, hey, listen, I 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.000 want to make a bet on myself and I think 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.520 you can help me be better. I think you can 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.920 help me realize what I'm meant to do. You brought 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.439 up jay Z before. May I be so bold. I 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.320 think we're kind of copying jay Z here, except as 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.840 jay Z is signing athletes to Rock Nation, we are 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:21.560 signing business athletes, superstars of tomorrow. We're signing them now. 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:23.840 I've always wanted to be already gold in my next life, 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.679 so we should talk about this. So we're developing. We've 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.760 already signed our first two. We are developing their talent, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.480 we are supporting them, we are positioning them. Hello, that 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.520 was an exclusive right, it was blackbird Leaders. I think 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:41.080 it's interesting when you start talking about where people are 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.680 betting on or recruiting from in the world of athletes 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:47.720 in sport. Right, it's very easy to wrap your head 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:49.960 around that in terms of placing bets to pull in 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.199 your quarterback, Right, you know what you need? Why is 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.639 business in the world we're playing in any different Just 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.439 like you're talking about with brands, there are leaders and 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.200 people who are out there in the sunshine, but aren't 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.439 really doing those things, doing the work, doing the work. Yea. 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.800 So those people have already approached us and we say no, 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.320 And how so how do you vet do you know 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.960 who they are? These are the people who are the 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:18.520 CMO of themselves? How do you do blackbird leaders in 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:21.760 a meaningful way so that you are truly making it 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.240 about someone who has the talent right to get on 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.640 the court and lead a freaking team and actually grow 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.159 the next generation. Well it's interesting, alexas so as you 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.800 As you were speaking and the audience can't see this, 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.720 but I'll paint the picture. You were making a triangle 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.600 with the tips of your fingers together. You were going 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:43.280 like this with your hands, and um, that is what 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:45.520 I would say. I used to be that. I used 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.359 to be someone who felt that there's only room for 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.480