Speaker 1: Afro Tech San Francisco, California. Rodney Williams, co founder and
Speaker 1: chief commercial officer at Listener, is giving a lightning talk
Speaker 1: on the main stage. Listeners and audio technology company that
Speaker 1: transmits data like payment information authentication information over sound waves.
Speaker 1: He talks here about the value the black perspective and
Speaker 1: now he continues to challenge himself to remain authentic to
Speaker 1: who he is in this industry which is infested by
Speaker 1: all birds and Patagonia authenticity a virtue. He challenges us
Speaker 1: to also embrace the other message that's really important is
Speaker 1: that even at pn G, I don't think I was myself.
Speaker 1: I started to try to play their game. I wore
Speaker 1: slacks and sperris and um sweaters and cardigans. There's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong if that's what you do. But I don't do
Speaker 1: that right. I'm you know, I got to too, STAPs,
Speaker 1: so he get it. I did. And you know when
Speaker 1: I and I, when I first started the company, I
Speaker 1: would also show up a Silicon Valley, not myself. And
Speaker 1: something happened. After a long list of people telling me
Speaker 1: they weren't gonna give me money out of the city,
Speaker 1: I started to embrace who I was. I started to
Speaker 1: remember everything that I always that I've been through. There's
Speaker 1: something that I learned with one of my investors and
Speaker 1: is while we were talking about Batman. And if you
Speaker 1: all watch Batman, remember bang Banis has this mask on.
Speaker 1: He's beating up Batman and bang uh. Batman goes, we're
Speaker 1: from the same place, and bang says, No, I was
Speaker 1: born in it. You adopted it. That's us. Like, it's
Speaker 1: not a shield of disgrace. It's not something that we
Speaker 1: should be nervous about, Like we should walk in the
Speaker 1: room and eat your face like and that's how we
Speaker 1: should all act. So anyway, bracing yourself and bracing who
Speaker 1: you are and being confident in that is extremely important.
Speaker 1: I'm with Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna introduce you to some of the biggest names,
Speaker 1: some of the brightest minds in brilliant ideas. If you're
Speaker 1: black in building or simply using tech to secure your bag,
Speaker 1: this podcast is for you. Lifestyle specialist Kenny Burns is
Speaker 1: a twenty plus year music and entertainment industry influencers and executive.
Speaker 1: He was Senior vice president of brand Development at Combs Enterprises.
Speaker 1: The entrepreneurial arm for Sean P. Diddy Combs and launched
Speaker 1: Revolt TV while managing This I Rock and Delhi, a
Speaker 1: tequila brands for Combs as well. I ask Kenny about
Speaker 1: authenticity and the statement he made that he's come to
Speaker 1: be known for get paid to be yourself. When I
Speaker 1: first made the statement, um, you know, I think in
Speaker 1: traditional business, across the board, you're expected to be a
Speaker 1: certain way, um, whether you go to wall screen or
Speaker 1: you go to the entertainment business. And for me, you know,
Speaker 1: there's just certain things, integral things that I'm just not
Speaker 1: willing to do to to gain in life. Right Like
Speaker 1: I'm uh, you know, I'm I'm I'm firm and who
Speaker 1: I am, I'm firm in the and who I want
Speaker 1: to grow to be. I mean, we all have layers
Speaker 1: to pill off as we assin. But I think, you know,
Speaker 1: when I made that statement, it rained true for so
Speaker 1: many people, man, because you get putting these these boxes,
Speaker 1: and you get putting these circumstantial moments when you apply
Speaker 1: for jobs or attaining jobs, and or you think you
Speaker 1: have to be a certain way going into this particular profession.
Speaker 1: And I just think that you can be you and
Speaker 1: if you are yourself long enough authentically yourself, um, and
Speaker 1: show people you know, obviously you have to show people
Speaker 1: doing that that uh, that time that you know you
Speaker 1: have a specific skill set and you can do the
Speaker 1: things you say you can do. It's not like you
Speaker 1: can just be an asshole and expect to win in life. Um.
Speaker 1: But if you are authentically yourself, you have a unique
Speaker 1: skill set. You know, you can create your own blueprint.
Speaker 1: You don't have to follow others in tech. Um, we've
Speaker 1: idolized fairly or unfairly, uh, stereotypical Ivy League school drop out,
Speaker 1: the hoodie you know where. Um. And it wasn't until
Speaker 1: I met Paul Judge about seven years ago that I
Speaker 1: realized you didn't have to wear a hoodie in tech
Speaker 1: to be successful, right Um. Paul was that representation for me.
Speaker 1: And likewise, you on the branding side of the marketing side,
Speaker 1: talk to me about what you see our perspective as
Speaker 1: black people that value that that has in an industry
Speaker 1: like technology. I just think presentation is everything. I think
Speaker 1: you know, you show up how you want to be received. Um.
Speaker 1: You know before I always tell that now that people
Speaker 1: used to judge me so much by my pictures, right,
Speaker 1: Like you see this guy, he's you know, couch surfing,
Speaker 1: he's with you know, celebrities, he's flying private he's just
Speaker 1: then the third. But you don't know the human right
Speaker 1: Like you don't know that my same friends have been
Speaker 1: my friends since the sand box. You don't know that
Speaker 1: I've been married twenty one year since October coming. Um,
Speaker 1: you don't know that I have thousands of men tees.
Speaker 1: You don't know. And I think you know that can
Speaker 1: be tricky. You can be judged basically on the way
Speaker 1: you look, you know, the way you But I I
Speaker 1: believe if you, you know, show up in business ready
Speaker 1: to handle your business, looking smelling, feeling like money, nine
Speaker 1: times I'll attend you're gonna get what you came for.
Speaker 1: So I don't. I don't get into you know, and
Speaker 1: I know in tech, like you know, it's that whole
Speaker 1: where flip you know, thunk flip flops and you have
Speaker 1: these creative ideas and you can do whatever. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's cool, And that's some people's thing. I think is
Speaker 1: I want to show up, um, you know, dress ready
Speaker 1: to impress. And that's just the way I was, you know,
Speaker 1: I was brought up and not impressing like we need validation.
Speaker 1: But this is what I love. I love to dress
Speaker 1: and I love, you know, to show up smelling amazing
Speaker 1: and people be like, wait, what's that right? You know? So, yeah,
Speaker 1: we use this word culture fit a lot. Is this
Speaker 1: tech buzz word for people who for finding people who
Speaker 1: talk like we talk, you know, are interested in a
Speaker 1: lot a lot of the same things. And Um, as
Speaker 1: we make progress black people in tech and in business,
Speaker 1: you know, climbing the these ladders inside corporations, starting companies
Speaker 1: and looking for funding, largely for people who don't look
Speaker 1: like us. Um, how do we hold onto that truth
Speaker 1: in those instances? Because again, I see people like that.
Speaker 1: When I met Paul, it was at like a tech
Speaker 1: crunch event. Everybody's in there, it's got a T shirt
Speaker 1: or hoodie on it. He's getta you know, Hugo boss
Speaker 1: suit or whatever. Where he was a weird at the time. Um,
Speaker 1: But how do we hold on when that value may
Speaker 1: not always be appreciated when we're trying, when we need
Speaker 1: something from the other folks. Yeah, I mean I think
Speaker 1: it's kind of Um. I think that you have to
Speaker 1: have and offering, you know, I think if you're offering
Speaker 1: is um special enough, they have no choice. And I,
Speaker 1: you know, I came into a business that I honestly
Speaker 1: didn't like after getting into it, but I was so
Speaker 1: good at connecting pieces and putting pieces together. And then
Speaker 1: when I had, you know, became, I came to my
Speaker 1: wits and I was like, it's over. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be in the music business anymore. I pivoted, not
Speaker 1: far from what I loved about the creative process or
Speaker 1: putting things together. I just tap more into my marketing
Speaker 1: skills set. And then, you know, obviously fashion was a
Speaker 1: part of mine, my offering, so I became a second
Speaker 1: black designer ever in Sactionthato. These were all organic and
Speaker 1: authentic steps. It wasn't like I had to step outside
Speaker 1: of myself too, you know, to to continue the journey.
Speaker 1: And I think when you do that, that's when you
Speaker 1: lose people. If you are you know, I'm sure you've
Speaker 1: met people in the tech world that has had this
Speaker 1: one idea and they won't let go of this one
Speaker 1: idea until it pops. Now. I don't suggest people do
Speaker 1: that in life, but you know, when you see that person,
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear that pitch. It's gonna be a little
Speaker 1: adapted to justin that has happened since the last But
Speaker 1: you know, but but you can respect that. And I
Speaker 1: think that ultimately, you know, respect has earned and and
Speaker 1: a lot of times, you know, you get overlooked for
Speaker 1: being black, for being less talented, for whatever the case. Maybe, Um,
Speaker 1: those are two extremes and not equally yoked in that
Speaker 1: particular h offering. But you know, I just think that
Speaker 1: people if you're good, you're good, they're gonna see it.
Speaker 1: And they don't, that's their loss. But you know, to
Speaker 1: stop because someone else doesn't see you, Um, is a
Speaker 1: detriment to your your possibilities. Yeah, I got familiar with you. Um,
Speaker 1: I was back in the day on the radio, and um,
Speaker 1: Ryan Glover and I were getting close because he was
Speaker 1: supportive of some things I were. I was doing the
Speaker 1: radio back in the noontime days, right, yes, yes, And
Speaker 1: you know you had the Ryan Kenney fashion label what
Speaker 1: you just referenced with him, Um, coming up in this game, like,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of technology you could lean on
Speaker 1: to build that brand awareness. And if you think about
Speaker 1: who Kenny Burns is today and if you were to
Speaker 1: have to come up in this type of era, with
Speaker 1: the tools that are available, how would you have how
Speaker 1: would you evolve those strategies that you use back then
Speaker 1: to be relevant today? Well, I mean you were there.
Speaker 1: Imagine if Kenny Burns had the Internet or social media.
Speaker 1: I mean, could you imagine the level of promotion, marketing
Speaker 1: assault that would have happened to the world. I think,
Speaker 1: you know again, and it's it's you know, I think
Speaker 1: my gift of people would allow me to connect in
Speaker 1: a way where you know, and allows me to connect
Speaker 1: in the way where people have to be involved with
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. If you look at like the Kenny
Speaker 1: Burns show, like two days into the quarantine, I lost
Speaker 1: two twenty five dollars in events in the next three months,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, wait, I have to figure out how
Speaker 1: to get you know what I mean? So, and and
Speaker 1: all I did was something I always do, But I
Speaker 1: just sat down and did it on my phone, versus
Speaker 1: having direct one on ones or speaking to you know,
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people through you know, through my
Speaker 1: hostings or speaking engagements. And so you know, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't change my approach. I think my
Speaker 1: my ability to connect with human beings would be well
Speaker 1: received in the tech space, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like the just the blueprint of like I'm a person
Speaker 1: that I will never let the algorithm take over the feeling.
Speaker 1: I am the type of person I will never let
Speaker 1: the robot take over the human. And I mean that
Speaker 1: whole hardly because I think there's a certain connection with
Speaker 1: humans and I would just you know, figure out the
Speaker 1: way the best do with socially and technology technologically. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let me let me dig deep on that. Because I
Speaker 1: was listening to um an interview D Nice did with
Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club, and he was talking about how when
Speaker 1: he's turned on, you know, that first couple of nights
Speaker 1: of him spending on Instagram, you know, he would get
Speaker 1: a couple of thousand here, a few thousand there, and
Speaker 1: then it just one night. It was just magic. And
Speaker 1: he said, but he really, I'll tell you what that
Speaker 1: happened and why it was the human connection he had
Speaker 1: he got lit. I don't know, you know, he was
Speaker 1: he was, you know, doing what he does with his playlist,
Speaker 1: and you know he was talking like D Nice. You
Speaker 1: hadn't heard him publicly talking like that. He was telling you,
Speaker 1: thank you, He was filling the energy from you know whatever,
Speaker 1: And it was such a vulnerable human moment that you
Speaker 1: couldn't help but like lock in and and and because
Speaker 1: of that, it was like, yo, we're stuck the word travel,
Speaker 1: like where can we go? And just kind of because
Speaker 1: you know, this is like this is unheard of for
Speaker 1: our generation. We've never been stuck nowhere, like I mean,
Speaker 1: I've never been in the house for four months right
Speaker 1: in my life. Um. And so when you look at
Speaker 1: what he did, man, it was the vulnerability that connected
Speaker 1: the dots fan because he was already he was already
Speaker 1: the musical maestro, you know what I mean. Like, so
Speaker 1: it was it was about it was about let me
Speaker 1: get to know you. And that's even when my wife
Speaker 1: told me, she's like, Kenny, like people see your pictures,
Speaker 1: they don't really know you. Like people that come to
Speaker 1: your seminars, people that are loyal listen, want to get
Speaker 1: to know you, know you, he said. But this Internet,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, this social media gives you an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be that. I just was never the guy that wanted
Speaker 1: to be like, oh I don't feel good and I'm sad,
Speaker 1: and but you know this, this in the controlled way
Speaker 1: can do wonders for your business for sure. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna come back to that point. I think
Speaker 1: that's a very salient point. Um. And he mentioned that,
Speaker 1: you know, it was thirty years leading up to that moment, right,
Speaker 1: And so I think about when you talk about the
Speaker 1: evolved Kenny Burns in this era coming up. Um. I
Speaker 1: actually even had this conversation with Tombasa on a different episode.
Speaker 1: He was He's like, you gotta find a way do
Speaker 1: you commodified your presence on the internet? Right? And I would,
Speaker 1: I would ask you to go and go in, go
Speaker 1: in on your point of um, being the guy all
Speaker 1: over social media, et cetera, because there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people trying. When the quarantine first hit, everybody was alive
Speaker 1: on instan everybody. So how does how do you break
Speaker 1: through without having to go through that thirty year period
Speaker 1: like the United with that year period like Kenny Burns
Speaker 1: to be able to break through these days in your mind? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's all happens things. I don't
Speaker 1: think that there's any rhyme or reason to it. You know,
Speaker 1: you could have a rant one day. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't like the way of treating black women. This
Speaker 1: guy hit the girl in the face, skateboard through the
Speaker 1: girl and trying stand and you can take a stance
Speaker 1: that day. Um, that just carries you on a journey
Speaker 1: you never thought you were coming into. But that's the
Speaker 1: the mystery of social media. D Nice didn't plan that
Speaker 1: thirty years of working his I mean, you know, I've
Speaker 1: imagined this thirty years of your life. You go back
Speaker 1: and forth on the journey. You get money, you know,
Speaker 1: you have a nice life, you raise children right, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden it changes. It's not because
Speaker 1: it changes right then and there. And it was you know,
Speaker 1: the stars, moon and quasars aligned, and your work, what
Speaker 1: you've done all that time. The fact that you were
Speaker 1: able to get Michelle Oban, the fact that you were
Speaker 1: able to get these people, that is you know. But
Speaker 1: there's no formula for the internet. The internet is smoking mirrors.
Speaker 1: Like I could probably go ham Sandwich with all the
Speaker 1: you know what what the blogs a t that I
Speaker 1: have on people I know, but I'm not I had
Speaker 1: real great times with these people. They might have shortcomings,
Speaker 1: but that's not on me to dish. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, there are people that come to the social
Speaker 1: space to tell it all because they you know, that's
Speaker 1: all they have to really offer. When you look at
Speaker 1: like how I did it in the quarantine, All I
Speaker 1: did is all I've been doing. Just like with Derek,
Speaker 1: all he did is what he's been doing. I just
Speaker 1: became we just became more vulnerable in our offering. When
Speaker 1: you listen to me, talk to her. Her is two
Speaker 1: years old, and she's been here before. But if you
Speaker 1: don't know anything about life, if you haven't lived enough
Speaker 1: life too, you know, tell her about her superpower and
Speaker 1: have her tell you about her superpower and have that
Speaker 1: mix of gumbo and festive conversation and love fess. But
Speaker 1: the person I've never even met in my life. I
Speaker 1: knew her manager, but you would have thought I've known
Speaker 1: her twenty five years. But but but just like Ludicrous
Speaker 1: or just like Kevin Hard, or just like somebody I
Speaker 1: have known, and you have the same type of conversation.
Speaker 1: It's not about Kenny Burns. It's about culture. It's about
Speaker 1: framing cultures, about regurgitating something that you haven't felt, showing
Speaker 1: you something about someone like Damon John. I had him
Speaker 1: on the day and he was giving you information. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a guy who started in hip hop and fashion,
Speaker 1: went all the way to Shark Tank and got into
Speaker 1: tech and everything else. But he was you know, he
Speaker 1: grew up with the Supreme Team, a notorious gainst the
Speaker 1: drug card telling it. So, my thing is like you
Speaker 1: don't know things you know? With me, you get an
Speaker 1: opportunity to see people in a different realm. I'm probably
Speaker 1: the best in our culture of framing culture and repackaging
Speaker 1: it and repurposing it back to to the people. I
Speaker 1: love that. Um, I kind of want to dig in on.
Speaker 1: You talked about, you know, showing more of yourself in
Speaker 1: this world, and Steve Jobs had this quote says, you
Speaker 1: can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect
Speaker 1: them looking backwards. Um. So when you think about becoming
Speaker 1: a person to influence, what do too many of us
Speaker 1: get wrong about the strategy we may use to build
Speaker 1: that influence. Um? Well, first of all, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I agree with Steve Jobs. I mean, as brilliant
Speaker 1: as he is, and I know that's that's blasphemous to
Speaker 1: saying the test, but you know, looking back, and I
Speaker 1: don't know Steve, never met him in my life, but
Speaker 1: you know, watching the movie, um, you know, seeing reading
Speaker 1: about him obviously witnessing the creation of of what what
Speaker 1: what apple is? Um? You know, the past was detrimental
Speaker 1: for him. The past was painful for him, although it
Speaker 1: might have been a driving force and ultimately you know,
Speaker 1: um creating his own ecosystem. Um, it was very painful.
Speaker 1: And I I actually doing COVID, got a chance to
Speaker 1: peel back some of the layers on my childhood trauma
Speaker 1: from the things I saw at a very young age
Speaker 1: and had to go through. Um. You know, I was
Speaker 1: taught to compartmentalize, put it away, compart, you know, but
Speaker 1: you had to because you know, when you think seeing
Speaker 1: people do drugs is normal, or living this type of
Speaker 1: life is normal, you become a little off. UM. So
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say go back. What I would suggest, though,
Speaker 1: is that own who you are, own what you what
Speaker 1: you saw, and who your people are like. You know.
Speaker 1: The thing I never I never did, no matter no
Speaker 1: matter the dysfunction. I never like rope my people off.
Speaker 1: You know, even now in culture, I don't you could
Speaker 1: have done something to me bad and business. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna write you off. I'm gonna hold you accountable, but
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna write you off. Because what I feel
Speaker 1: is to ultimately grow and be whole as a human being,
Speaker 1: you have to accept all of your gifts as well
Speaker 1: as all of your faults. And it's not about, you know,
Speaker 1: the past. This is one thing. Like my wife and
Speaker 1: now you know, I made sure that the disappointments in
Speaker 1: her life from men, right, I would I would not
Speaker 1: repeat those things, and she could be she could count
Speaker 1: on me to not, like, you know, be a reflection
Speaker 1: of that, you know, I mean, so we wouldn't have
Speaker 1: to live in that space because you know, we all
Speaker 1: often here like sometimes you go forward in life and
Speaker 1: you meet somebody like somebody and then you stuff you know,
Speaker 1: or you or you go into business you work with
Speaker 1: people in this space and you're go in this space
Speaker 1: and you deal with the same type of people. You
Speaker 1: have to be willing to let that ship go because
Speaker 1: carrying it into each relationship ends up mirroring to me
Speaker 1: um the possibilities of it arise and they get all
Speaker 1: those people being the same. No, that's that's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 1: And I think what I took from that quote was
Speaker 1: you it's only looking backwards that you can see why
Speaker 1: things made sense instead of looking out in the future
Speaker 1: and trying to make it happen. But oftentimes a lot
Speaker 1: of people aren't that thoughtful or smart. Um and and
Speaker 1: and we don't this is this is not a we're
Speaker 1: not fingerpoint. We're just you know, it's just like somebody
Speaker 1: when when the primaries were here in Georgia, I gave
Speaker 1: a list of people to you know, vote for, because
Speaker 1: some people go and look for a black last name.
Speaker 1: Some people go and and guests or just do all
Speaker 1: Democrats when there's multiple options and you should know the
Speaker 1: best options. So but you know, again tomato tomato. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, very good, very good. Um. How do you
Speaker 1: think about monetizing your personal brand? So what is the
Speaker 1: strategy people should be thinking about if they've got a
Speaker 1: thousand followers on Instagram five thousand, twenty thousand followers. So
Speaker 1: it's not just y'all look at that twenty thou followers,
Speaker 1: but it actually means something. What are you doing with
Speaker 1: that twenty thousand followers? Like what would you as a marketer?
Speaker 1: How do you think about Okay, let's actually make this meaningful,
Speaker 1: no question. I mean if you have a thousand followers
Speaker 1: and those thousand followers move when you say move it's
Speaker 1: better than having a million followers that you get a
Speaker 1: thousand followers to move. Um. And I think a lot
Speaker 1: of times, you know, we look at numbers like you know, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, Kenny has two hundred and fifty thousand followers
Speaker 1: and he's it's easy. No, No, that's not that's not
Speaker 1: necessarily the truth. UM. I have a great you know,
Speaker 1: support system in my community, that the ecosystem that I've created.
Speaker 1: But you know, you should be able to move the
Speaker 1: way you move. I mean you can look at engagement
Speaker 1: with someone with a thousand followers that gets eight hundred
Speaker 1: likes and that's you know, engagement. So you know, I
Speaker 1: never I want people to always remember it's not about
Speaker 1: what everybody else is doing. It's about what you're doing
Speaker 1: and how well you're doing it. You know, we all
Speaker 1: have been guilty of UM. You know, when I was
Speaker 1: coming up, it's like, you know, puff did this by
Speaker 1: this age. I gotta do this by this age. And
Speaker 1: then it got to the point where I wasn't keeping up,
Speaker 1: and then I was like wait, But then it was
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that because that man's journeys his journey.
Speaker 1: My journey is my journey, and I have to appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And I tell my mentees all the time, if you
Speaker 1: don't appreciate the journey, you won't appreciate what's at the
Speaker 1: end of that. And a lot of times it's not
Speaker 1: your actual dream, you know what I mean, It's not
Speaker 1: the actual you know, your in game, what you thought
Speaker 1: it was gonna be. And even as you grow businesses,
Speaker 1: you're gonna you know, for me, what I have ever thought,
Speaker 1: Uncle Nearest, would be the biggest investment I ever made
Speaker 1: out of all the amazing things that I've done and
Speaker 1: been a part of. But today it's probably the best
Speaker 1: investment that I made. Now, is it over? No? But
Speaker 1: you know, you have to be open to receive, and
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we are so you know, it has
Speaker 1: to be this. We gotta do this, And if I
Speaker 1: don't have this many followers, then oh man, I'm bad. No,
Speaker 1: you have to appreciate what you have and make that
Speaker 1: work for you. Back in the day, Kenny launched his
Speaker 1: own company music and monopolized Atlanta's party scene in the
Speaker 1: mid nineties during the era of Freaknick. His clothing line
Speaker 1: Ryan Kenney, which launched a two thousand four gardenered him
Speaker 1: the recognition of being the second black designer in sax
Speaker 1: Cat Avenue. Kenny also served as an executive at Rockefeller Records.
Speaker 1: Today he's a master marketer, making deals throughout the entertainment industry,
Speaker 1: hosting The Kenney Burns Show with streams live on I
Speaker 1: G t V, mentoring up and comers, and investing in
Speaker 1: companies like Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. Very often entrepreneurs get
Speaker 1: stuck in analysis paralysis, the time when we're working so
Speaker 1: hard to get a strategy designed that we may overlook
Speaker 1: more fundamental issues. Kenny Burns speaks on it. I think
Speaker 1: strategy is a must, but without the product. I mean,
Speaker 1: you gotta think about like what you're selling, right, Like
Speaker 1: if I came to you and I was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: I got this whiskey and it's the best whiskey. Is
Speaker 1: that enough? You know what I'm saying, It's not enough.
Speaker 1: I have to have Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the slave
Speaker 1: that taught Jack Daniels how to distill. Once I give
Speaker 1: you that the story then because oh yeah, the house
Speaker 1: on the bottle is where the orphan, uh Jack Daniels came,
Speaker 1: which is actually the dan Call farm where Uncle Niars
Speaker 1: was a master distiller. Oh yeah, by the way, we
Speaker 1: own that three hundred and thirty acres. Oh yeah, by
Speaker 1: the way. Uh Jack Daniels and and Brown Foreman thought
Speaker 1: it was a distillery number six team. We have uncovered
Speaker 1: the farm. We was uncovered information that that says it
Speaker 1: was distillery number seven. Like you gotta, you gotta, you know.
Speaker 1: I think people get so caught up in strategy as
Speaker 1: far as like and that's the thing back to humans, right,
Speaker 1: like if you have a product, how am I gonna
Speaker 1: move the product? When I met far we even like, fine,
Speaker 1: I could do a hundred thousand cases. This is what
Speaker 1: I needed. It's like, Kenny, wait, there's a pertnage of
Speaker 1: whiskey drinkers that we have to get first before we
Speaker 1: can go Pam sound and I'm like, well, look, you came.
Speaker 1: You know you you you your partner with the lifestyles.
Speaker 1: I moved a needle. You know, I want you to
Speaker 1: move the needle. You know, the breakfast club thing you're doing,
Speaker 1: like all those things. We need all that to get
Speaker 1: depressed it down. But bro, when I tell you her
Speaker 1: strategy worked, you know, but that was when strategy was necessary. Kenny,
Speaker 1: Let's go after of the whiskey drinkers first, once we
Speaker 1: get them, and it becomes about the actual liquid in
Speaker 1: the bottle of the story is gonna do what it's
Speaker 1: gonna do when it comes about it, then we could
Speaker 1: go and double down on on what we are and
Speaker 1: who we are. So I think, man, you know, strategies necessary, man,
Speaker 1: but it's about what you're selling ultimate at least that
Speaker 1: will give you the energy to create a proper strategy.
Speaker 1: And you know, and and listen, any business you're going into,
Speaker 1: there's a blueprint. You're gonna follow the blueprint of many
Speaker 1: different people along the way. Right, So I'm not again,
Speaker 1: don't get don't get a mistaken like you don't have
Speaker 1: to have strategy, But I'm just giving you common sense.
Speaker 1: Any business you get into, there is a strategy that
Speaker 1: has been prepared for you. How are you gonna make
Speaker 1: it yours? How are you gonna effectively execute it and win?
Speaker 1: But it all goes back to the product. How important
Speaker 1: is this moment then? And you know, with all things
Speaker 1: that are going on, um, with kind of a blank
Speaker 1: slate of what the future is gonna look like for
Speaker 1: our economy, Um, how is how important is this moment?
Speaker 1: The resetting of where people spend their money, where people
Speaker 1: spend their time, UM, where people live, et cetera. UM
Speaker 1: for people who are trying to build an enterprise of
Speaker 1: their own. You know, I think you have to pay
Speaker 1: attention to what wasn't working pre COVID. Right. One of
Speaker 1: the things I tell my mentees all the time, customer
Speaker 1: service is a lost art. But I think customer service
Speaker 1: was also a lost art because people just didn't care
Speaker 1: about people. If you think about what COVID has done,
Speaker 1: it has brought people together. You've never seen this many
Speaker 1: white people speak out on behalf of black people. You've
Speaker 1: never seen this many these many corporations, you know, get
Speaker 1: rid of things I'm talking about, you know, and and
Speaker 1: you've never seen this type of movement in our lifetime,
Speaker 1: not even Civil Rights movement. I mean they did wonders,
Speaker 1: but this movement right here they are. You know, it's
Speaker 1: moving a different cause. White people are tired of those
Speaker 1: kind of white people. So long story short, I think
Speaker 1: that customer service UM being a lost art, will be
Speaker 1: a huge business coming out of this. And you could see,
Speaker 1: you know, the rise of uber lives. You can see
Speaker 1: that we were posted postmates. You I mean, all the
Speaker 1: service businesses that have to deal with people handing you something.
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna even get bigger. UM. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is power to the person that does UM,
Speaker 1: because you can make a killing. And I'm sure somebody
Speaker 1: in tech is listening right now and probably has several
Speaker 1: different ideas or concepts. But I think customer service, UM,
Speaker 1: I think you know if you're going to you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the organic industry. I don't know if you know who.
Speaker 1: Don c is a very good friend of mine. UM.
Speaker 1: He has a brand called just Don since, yes, since COVID,
Speaker 1: before COVID he started, but he's been growing vegetables and
Speaker 1: it's so interesting. It's like, all right, you know what
Speaker 1: are we what are we doing? You're you're juicing that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I think out of
Speaker 1: this time My point is to your question, um, out
Speaker 1: of this time, there's something that has identified with each
Speaker 1: creative that makes you feel whole and makes you feel
Speaker 1: excited about doing it. That's what you need to double
Speaker 1: down on. The customer service piece. That was a freebee
Speaker 1: for whoever, if you get really really paid, just remember
Speaker 1: you heard it from the lifestyle specially there you go. UM.
Speaker 1: I saw this meme earlier and I think it was
Speaker 1: Isaac Hayes that might have posted it, but somebody in
Speaker 1: that space posted it. Was it was talking about UM
Speaker 1: longevity versus popularity and some of the artists that were
Speaker 1: in the picture, people like Pushing T and people like
Speaker 1: t I who have not always been the most popular people,
Speaker 1: but they've been in the game for a long time.
Speaker 1: And I think about, how how do you think about
Speaker 1: UM because even again, pre social media, you were Kenny Burns,
Speaker 1: And how do you think about how you evolve, stay relevant,
Speaker 1: stay in the mix UM and not cloud Chase. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, people are my game, Like my god given
Speaker 1: gift was to connect with people. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: interested in our co like and not just interested, you
Speaker 1: know when it's interesting. I love black folks. I love
Speaker 1: people period, but my my people, and and the things
Speaker 1: I learned about our people in their contribution to the world.
Speaker 1: How we continuously take music and remix it and put
Speaker 1: it out And I'm not literally meaning remix, but we
Speaker 1: do things sonically and melodically. The music and the way
Speaker 1: that we continue to find stories that were hidden from us,
Speaker 1: and we take those stories and we amplify and we
Speaker 1: create immovable history. You know we we we you know,
Speaker 1: as a hip hop culture are quick to cancel. Uh,
Speaker 1: we're quick to erase. You know, you said, you know
Speaker 1: I've been I've been popping since you know, I'm so.
Speaker 1: I graduated high school. I graduated high school in ninety one,
Speaker 1: got we got lots of in ninety graduated high schoo
Speaker 1: n um lost basketball scholars is all opportunity and to
Speaker 1: do something I really loved. Had to pivot, but went
Speaker 1: to you know, historically black college cluster like no other,
Speaker 1: which is the a u C. Became this party promoter
Speaker 1: and been effectively contributing to culture since I was twenty
Speaker 1: years old. And I look at it, you know, I
Speaker 1: looked twenty eight years almost right, And so when you
Speaker 1: look at that, it's like, how did you stay? It
Speaker 1: was the people I care what happens in my community.
Speaker 1: When when it's time, you know, to speak up, I
Speaker 1: mean puff and posted something the other week about you know,
Speaker 1: I was, yeah, no, I mean, but but it's not
Speaker 1: a distant him. It's just like, na, that's not what
Speaker 1: we because I'm on the ground level. I had at
Speaker 1: that to that point, I had Angela Rye see the guys,
Speaker 1: Sean King all on my show. And I'm getting information
Speaker 1: from people who are actually on the front line. And
Speaker 1: although I don't believe, and everything they believe in or
Speaker 1: practice what they I was affect them because they're at
Speaker 1: it every day. They're at it every day. And so
Speaker 1: when somebody comes into the pulpit for selfish reasons, you know,
Speaker 1: I called that out. But I have tenure in culture.
Speaker 1: I have a place in culture that I can do
Speaker 1: that and nobody's gonna come check me. And because I'm
Speaker 1: not even you know, and it's not even like what
Speaker 1: you're gonna do. I mean, it's not any of that.
Speaker 1: It's more about it's more about you know who I am,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm about, and you know how real
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep it. I've been that way, and I
Speaker 1: you know, I challenge people in life, you know, not
Speaker 1: just to not walk to Brooklyn for cheesecake, but to
Speaker 1: not let anybody turn you into something you're not. Because
Speaker 1: when you gotta deal with that, that's a whole another thing.
Speaker 1: That's a whole another thing. But that's how you stay
Speaker 1: in play. You stay in play by being you m
Speaker 1: That's it. That. Um. I know I remix that a
Speaker 1: little bit, but I was flowing. I was, man, I'm
Speaker 1: like water blow. Uh. When you're evaluating deals like whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, you're being asked to get involved as
Speaker 1: as the face of something or you're making an investment,
Speaker 1: is something you said, Uncle Newars wasn't your first, but
Speaker 1: it's obviously your biggest so far. Um, what are the
Speaker 1: most important terms you're looking at that that I'm meaningful
Speaker 1: for Kenny? Your father has been twenty one years. What's
Speaker 1: important for you one this October? You know, my whole
Speaker 1: model and credos to mean something to somebody. I've provided
Speaker 1: experiences where people have met, gotten married, had kids realized
Speaker 1: that they, you know, wanted to do something different with
Speaker 1: their careers. I was just on the eighty five South
Speaker 1: Show with DC Young fly Um and Chico being and
Speaker 1: Chico being said to me it graduating college. He was stuck.
Speaker 1: He ran into my documentary and it changed his life.
Speaker 1: And that young man is killing the game. He happens
Speaker 1: to be from D c Um. But the point I'm
Speaker 1: trying to make it is like, you gotta mean something
Speaker 1: to somebody. I think in life, you know, you know
Speaker 1: you you don't realize that it's really about what you give.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm saying, like receiving this cool. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I always tell my I'm mentors. I
Speaker 1: put myself in money's way. Money has never driven me,
Speaker 1: but to give people the game that changes their trajectory
Speaker 1: or changes their thought process, or putting someone in position
Speaker 1: that allows them two, you know, flourish in a way
Speaker 1: that they hadn't flourished before, so they could see the
Speaker 1: possibilities and what that feels like to go to those
Speaker 1: next levels. Um, And I'm getting off topic. What was
Speaker 1: the question because I'm bringing it home. It's like when
Speaker 1: you when you're evaluating opportunities, right, And so the way
Speaker 1: that I feel about the way that I mentor um,
Speaker 1: the you know, my mentees, the way that I feel
Speaker 1: about my community, and how I want to mean something
Speaker 1: I don't want. I don't want to just I want
Speaker 1: the business opportunity to mean something as well. I think
Speaker 1: we've all done things in our careers where we had
Speaker 1: to get the money, you know what I mean, because
Speaker 1: you gotta pay bills. But at the same time, as
Speaker 1: you get older and you become more successful, you can
Speaker 1: pick and choose instead of have to do UM and me. Now,
Speaker 1: at this point in my life, I want to you know,
Speaker 1: I gave the Spirits, you know, the Spirits world fifteen
Speaker 1: years of my life before I ever got equity. Right,
Speaker 1: So it's much like you know, so it's like, what
Speaker 1: I deserve this right now? What other things and my
Speaker 1: passionate about? You know, my sons are both creatives in
Speaker 1: their own right. You know, I'm doing this Kenny Burn
Speaker 1: show from my office, and you know I have you know,
Speaker 1: these deals on the table now. But do I really
Speaker 1: want to do sign something away? Or do I want
Speaker 1: to go buy a building instead of using as ostead
Speaker 1: that we were gonna do My wife and I were
Speaker 1: gonna do a rental property. Instead of doing that, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna buy a building. I'm gonna build a production many
Speaker 1: production facilities Atlanta. I have clients like McDonald's, Coca Cola,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like they'll come renting it out,
Speaker 1: they end up paying. So my thing is like when
Speaker 1: I look at things, I'm looking at them more purposefully.
Speaker 1: I want to have, you know, the legacy piece attached
Speaker 1: to everything I do. Obviously, everything I look at now
Speaker 1: has to involve some type of equity and then you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, I want all of that at the
Speaker 1: end of the day to meet something somebody, specifically my
Speaker 1: community and my family. When you look back at how
Speaker 1: you've vetted deals, you talked about this. You know, everybody's
Speaker 1: got to pay the bills, right, Um, And I would
Speaker 1: imagine you did some things. I'm making an assumption here
Speaker 1: what I shouldn't do, but I'm imagining you probably did
Speaker 1: some things earlier that we're less authentic because you were
Speaker 1: trying to the only thing I've ever done, the only
Speaker 1: thing I've ever done that I actually wasn't uncomfortable doing,
Speaker 1: because you know, I pride myself in doing business with
Speaker 1: companies that I actually participated in. Whether I created the
Speaker 1: Heneken res star sold to drink Heneken like a month ago, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, great goose More in Hennessey. Um. Anything I've
Speaker 1: ever been a part of, I've always you know, use
Speaker 1: the product and really supported the product or end or brand.
Speaker 1: The one thing that I took fifty thousand, it was
Speaker 1: like a h was from Cool Cigarettes. I will never
Speaker 1: ever support anything tobacco other than Cuban cigars. If I
Speaker 1: can manage to make myself. I love Cuban cigars, but
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that again. Um, So you
Speaker 1: don't have to do things you don't want to do.
Speaker 1: Um again, that was something that I know, people that
Speaker 1: smoked I kind of you know what I'm saying, like
Speaker 1: use that as kind of the reasoning and it helped,
Speaker 1: you know, like for my thirty fifth birthday part of
Speaker 1: the Rosacchi mansion, I needed some of that coin to
Speaker 1: all set some of the costs. Right. Um, but I
Speaker 1: wouldn't do that again because I just don't believe. I
Speaker 1: don't believe in cigarettes. Um but yeah, So how do
Speaker 1: how do you advise people who feel like they're they're
Speaker 1: they're they're the young Kenny Burns are today and they're
Speaker 1: trying to get to that next step and there's this
Speaker 1: opportunity that will give me a small bag or a
Speaker 1: small billboard with my face on it or etcetera. How
Speaker 1: does that You don't just don't just don't do cigarette
Speaker 1: brun you know what I'm saying, Like, this is my thing.
Speaker 1: If you drink, if you smoke, that's one thing. Like
Speaker 1: you know I drink, So you know, I wanted to
Speaker 1: be educated on the finest, you know, the finest drinks.
Speaker 1: I mean I probably will stop drinking, honestly, and when
Speaker 1: I do, I mean my shares and my investment will
Speaker 1: be there. But I wouldn't any longer be you know,
Speaker 1: saying I drink and then that what my point is,
Speaker 1: find something you're you're attached to authentically, whatever you you know,
Speaker 1: you like get involved with. You don't have to do
Speaker 1: things you don't want to do. And I always tell
Speaker 1: my son's that. You know, It's like my mom the
Speaker 1: other day say of my sons need to suffer. I'm like, suffer.
Speaker 1: That's such a deep statement. And it wasn't like suffer
Speaker 1: like they needed to go just you know whatever. It
Speaker 1: was more like you give them everything. I said, Well, no,
Speaker 1: I support their dreams. My oldest son, who's now going
Speaker 1: to kind Asta State University, played to play Division one basketball.
Speaker 1: That has been his dream since the seventh grade. I
Speaker 1: have given him the opportunity to work his ass off,
Speaker 1: now mind you. Yeah, he went to Sierra Kenyon and
Speaker 1: play with Marvin Bagley. Yeah, he went to Wheeler and
Speaker 1: play you know what I'm saying with e J. And
Speaker 1: But my point is he wanted to play I was
Speaker 1: blessed up to put him into positions to earn what
Speaker 1: he wanted to earn. That doesn't make him, you know,
Speaker 1: just because he's not scrubbing floors and walking forty miles
Speaker 1: or whatever. You know. My thing is like work ethic
Speaker 1: is what you want to instill, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: in in your children and your employees and then your partners,
Speaker 1: how hard they're willing to work. If you want something
Speaker 1: BA had enough, you're gonna work to get it. And
Speaker 1: working to get it doesn't mean sacrificing your soul or
Speaker 1: putting yourself in a compromising situation, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: There's been plenty times in the music business there was
Speaker 1: a door that I just didn't go into because you know,
Speaker 1: it's the music business. You never know what's going on
Speaker 1: behind door number eight and and so you know, my
Speaker 1: point is that you don't have to do things you
Speaker 1: don't want to do. You should never feel like there's
Speaker 1: you know, pressure to go do something that just makes
Speaker 1: you uncomfortable to to to gain you know, again, authentically
Speaker 1: being yourself. You'll get there. If you're yourself long enough,
Speaker 1: they will pay you to be Yeah, Um, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: leave this here because you have um your cause you
Speaker 1: know the dream is real, right, and UM, I'll define
Speaker 1: that for me and then I'm gonna ask you to
Speaker 1: spend how you think about it. So for me, it is,
Speaker 1: you know, those visions that you have for yourself. You
Speaker 1: talked about it. You know, get you view yourself long enough,
Speaker 1: they'll pay you to be you. So that that dream
Speaker 1: that you have, that personality that you have, that thing
Speaker 1: that makes you uniquely you, if you lean into that,
Speaker 1: the things that you dream for yourself are actually possible
Speaker 1: for you if you are true and authentic to yourself.
Speaker 1: So that's what it means to me when I hear
Speaker 1: you say that, UM, what is it that you intend?
Speaker 1: When you say that, UM, I mean really what you said.
Speaker 1: I love saying it too. The dream is um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I UM, I just I didn't want to live in despair.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to live in my circumstances. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to be the person that you know, my father
Speaker 1: is seventy something years old and been in Washington, in
Speaker 1: DC his whole life. I just didn't want to be that,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean it didn't really have a real
Speaker 1: relationship with and but I didn't want to be you know,
Speaker 1: when I got locked up arrested. Then my grandmother actually
Speaker 1: did a year since her passing UM on the fourth
Speaker 1: of July four You know, I'll never forget. She's like, baby,
Speaker 1: you know you can still go work for you ps
Speaker 1: so for that and and and get you a pension
Speaker 1: in thirty years. And I'm like, Grandma, you think I
Speaker 1: was selling though to wait thirty years to get what
Speaker 1: I was saying. And I just I just always had
Speaker 1: a drive man. And I know I get it from
Speaker 1: my mother because she lived life for a living, you know,
Speaker 1: on very little UM. I never felt poor. Um music
Speaker 1: was always playing, you know, non chomp for instance. Like
Speaker 1: I just I never felt out of whack. And I
Speaker 1: I believed and still believe that the dream is real
Speaker 1: and what you want from it. You know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to be married at sixteen. I feel like because I
Speaker 1: just didn't know what family was, so I I never
Speaker 1: I never treated women bad, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Everybody felt like you know that you know they got there,
Speaker 1: you know whatever. And I feel that's always been my
Speaker 1: thing be intent for I tell my sons, you were
Speaker 1: walk on that court. Have intent, go out there and
Speaker 1: get what you came for. And that's what I try
Speaker 1: to I try to live by and that's the dream
Speaker 1: is real to me. I think, you know, living with intent,
Speaker 1: knowing that it's possible and and and getting what you
Speaker 1: came for. Black Tach Green Money is the production of
Speaker 1: blackt The afro Tech is produced by Morgan Dubon and
Speaker 1: me Well Lucas, with additional production support by Love Beach,
Speaker 1: Stephane y'all, Bogu, Raven near Born. Special thank you to
Speaker 1: Michael Davis, Sakara savon Jan you know like the wine
Speaker 1: and yes that's his real name. Learn more about Kenny
Speaker 1: Burns and other tech disruptors and innovators at afro tech
Speaker 1: dot com. Go get your money, peace and love. At
Speaker 1: the Change the cout Boat could to the Podish