1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:02,400
Speaker 1: We are in the final weeks of the year, and

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,840
Speaker 1: if you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, a

3
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,400
Speaker 1: startup founder, I highly suggest you listen to my recent

4
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,640
Speaker 1: episode Evaluating your Tech Stack because at the end of

5
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,560
Speaker 1: the year, you want to start thinking about what systems

6
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,520
Speaker 1: have you been using that no longer serve you? Because

7
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 1: on January one, for many people and for many processes,

8
00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: you need to clean break, and a fresh calendar allows

9
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:26,920
Speaker 1: you that clean break so that you can go in

10
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,720
Speaker 1: the year and do things more efficiently, more effectively with

11
00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,360
Speaker 1: better tools that suit your needs. That's episode one forty

12
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 1: three Evaluating your Tech Stack. I highly recommend it for you. You, yes, you,

13
00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,480
Speaker 1: I highly recommend it for you as you close out

14
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,559
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Did you know you can get your

15
00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,360
Speaker 1: daily dose of black tech news at afrotech dot com. Well,

16
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,160
Speaker 1: you can like this new story up about Terrence Howard,

17
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: who is suing caa creative artists agency, claiming he received

18
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,240
Speaker 1: thirty to fifty percent less than what he should have

19
00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:57,840
Speaker 1: per episode of Empires.

20
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,760
Speaker 2: As everything always about business with check class out of

21
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 2: your voice when you're talking to me.

22
00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,000
Speaker 1: That story's up and it's brand new right now on

23
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,320
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com or this story former NBA player.

24
00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,559
Speaker 3: Paul Pierce settles with the SEC.

25
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,120
Speaker 1: For one point four million dollars over unlawful promotion of

26
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,360
Speaker 1: crypto securities. You gotta be careful out here with these things,

27
00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,680
Speaker 1: dope technology, risky proposition. Find these stories in more at

28
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:25,160
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com, bookmarket in your web browser. I'm well,

29
00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,320
Speaker 1: lucas Black Tech Green Money were here with another episode.

30
00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:30,880
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for this one because this one actually

31
00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,760
Speaker 1: recorded live in person in my studio back at toe House,

32
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,760
Speaker 1: and so you're actually gonna see the video of this recording.

33
00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: I believe it drops next week on YouTube. So makes

34
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 1: you subscribe to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube. But

35
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: John Villard is programmed.

36
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,880
Speaker 3: Lead of this SAYRE task Force at.

37
00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual, which stands for Sustained Action for Racial Equity

38
00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: Sarah Sarah encompasses an accelerator in Northmester Mutuals ongoing commitment

39
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:07,000
Speaker 1: to fight racism, prejudice, and social injustice in all forms

40
00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 1: and focuses on making BOWLD long term positive impact within

41
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,960
Speaker 1: Black communities. Through SAYRE, they're focusing and supporting black entrepreneurship,

42
00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 1: black small business supplier diversity accessibilities for clients and other

43
00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,600
Speaker 1: important enterprises initiatives. So prior to Sayer, John was senior

44
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:30,880
Speaker 1: director of Centralized Supervision at Northwestern Mutual. And Northwestern Mutual

45
00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 1: actually recently committed one hundred and seventy five million dollars

46
00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,920
Speaker 1: to reduce the wealth gap and support businesses and entrepreneurs

47
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 1: as they continue to grow and create positive economic momentum

48
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:46,640
Speaker 1: within local communities. And as we reported in October, they've

49
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:51,600
Speaker 1: made a total of sixteen investments nationally and local to Milwaukee,

50
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,600
Speaker 1: which has led to further investments of nearly fifty five

51
00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 1: diverse businesses, the majority of which are black owned. Enjoyed

52
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,120
Speaker 1: this conversation with John Vard. John's good to have you here.

53
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,120
Speaker 3: Willis an honor pleasure to be with you.

54
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,480
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So you are program lead for Sustained Action for

55
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,720
Speaker 1: Racial Equity task Force at Northwestern Mutual, and I want

56
00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 1: you to talk a little bit about how you came

57
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,400
Speaker 1: into that role, a little bit about your personal story.

58
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,639
Speaker 4: Sure for sure. So I am a first generation American.

59
00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,600
Speaker 4: My parents both immigrated from Haiti in the late seventies

60
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,400
Speaker 4: and met in Chicago, and so I grew up in

61
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,600
Speaker 4: a small household of five but with a deep, deep

62
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 4: connection to a Haitian community that was based in Emison.

63
00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,160
Speaker 4: So titaned Haitian family all about kind of uplifting each

64
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,280
Speaker 4: other and making a way for ourselves in the country.

65
00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 4: So fast forward, I started working at Northwestern Mutual and

66
00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,560
Speaker 4: have had an amazing journey throughout my thirteen years with

67
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,560
Speaker 4: the company. But in the summer of twenty twenty, was

68
00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,320
Speaker 4: finding myself really sort of having an identity crisis around

69
00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,720
Speaker 4: you know, what am I doing in this kind of

70
00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,880
Speaker 4: corporate space, not really being as much part of the solution,

71
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,520
Speaker 4: you know, certainly post George Floyd and everything that happened

72
00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,120
Speaker 4: that summer, and I was thinking about my wife was

73
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,440
Speaker 4: that was nine months pregnant at the time, and I

74
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,040
Speaker 4: was thinking about what would I tell my son about

75
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 4: our roles to play, you know, during this really trying

76
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,640
Speaker 4: time for the country, and like what do we do

77
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:18,320
Speaker 4: about anything?

78
00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:18,680
Speaker 3: Right?

79
00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,840
Speaker 4: And this Sareah role came up in terms of like

80
00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,640
Speaker 4: how do you align the mission and objectives of a

81
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,640
Speaker 4: corporate entity with actionable impact.

82
00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:29,600
Speaker 3: Outside our walls.

83
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:31,440
Speaker 4: And so I went from very much being on the

84
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,239
Speaker 4: brink of like I don't think this is this corporate

85
00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,000
Speaker 4: thing is for me anymore. I think I need to

86
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,560
Speaker 4: like really step out to now. Not only can I

87
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,080
Speaker 4: have a meaningful career here, but I.

88
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 3: Can drive like real impact.

89
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:43,920
Speaker 4: And I would argue, maybe even more so than some

90
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,920
Speaker 4: local politicians or what have you can when you can

91
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,440
Speaker 4: channel millions of dollars of corporate resources to moving the needle.

92
00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,760
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, so I'm interested. Twenty twenty was a

93
00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,359
Speaker 1: year that a lot of corporations were making promises, you know,

94
00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,760
Speaker 1: around what I want to talk about impact funds and

95
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,800
Speaker 1: why it's important to Northwestern Mutual because you know, you

96
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,080
Speaker 1: guys committed a hundred and seventy five million last I

97
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:11,840
Speaker 1: looked to your impact fund designed to you know, help neighborhoods,

98
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,479
Speaker 1: to small business owners and et cetera. There's ultimately no

99
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,880
Speaker 1: entity outside holding people accountable. So how do you guys

100
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,080
Speaker 1: hold yourself accountable to the promises that you guys have

101
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:24,880
Speaker 1: made to you know, these communities.

102
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. It's a really important one.

103
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,400
Speaker 4: And so what I love about the way our CEO,

104
00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:31,520
Speaker 4: John Schlisky has kind of set this all up is

105
00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,120
Speaker 4: we treat this as though it's any other business imperative. Right,

106
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 4: This is not like a nice side project. We have

107
00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,880
Speaker 4: a budget with oversight, executive oversight. We have you know,

108
00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,800
Speaker 4: regular cadence of meetings with our CEO at the table

109
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,080
Speaker 4: saying where is this and why isn't this moving fast enough?

110
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,680
Speaker 4: What are the impediments unless clear them? And we've had

111
00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,880
Speaker 4: that really since its inception. And the other thing that

112
00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:57,960
Speaker 4: I think is really cool is we have very specific

113
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,520
Speaker 4: measurements again like you would any other say, sales strategy

114
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,719
Speaker 4: or growth measure right, and we're held accountable littles on

115
00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,160
Speaker 4: a monthly basis. So stuff is not looking right or

116
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,480
Speaker 4: moving at the pace that folks think it should, believe

117
00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,640
Speaker 4: you'll have to answer to that at the literally senior

118
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,680
Speaker 4: most level of the company. And that's what makes it

119
00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,839
Speaker 4: a game changer is that you have CEO investment in

120
00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 4: presence basically day in and day out for the last

121
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:22,599
Speaker 4: three plus years on this.

122
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,240
Speaker 1: One of the things I love about what you guys

123
00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,520
Speaker 1: are working on not only funding you know, things externally,

124
00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,800
Speaker 1: but also incorporating small businesses, minority owned businesses, black owned businesses,

125
00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,480
Speaker 1: and your vendor profile and so often you know, because

126
00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,000
Speaker 1: I've have small businesses and you hear this term about

127
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,440
Speaker 1: capacity a lot. You know, we don't work with them

128
00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,919
Speaker 1: because they don't have the capacity, And so how do

129
00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,640
Speaker 1: you clear that hurdle and what kind of responsibility might

130
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,640
Speaker 1: you feel to help people build the capacity so that

131
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:53,719
Speaker 1: they can do more stuff?

132
00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:54,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that question.

133
00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:56,640
Speaker 4: So one of the things that I love about what

134
00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 4: we did with the supplier diversity or business diversity spaces. Okay, uh,

135
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,560
Speaker 4: the large, tried and true suppliers that we that just

136
00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,280
Speaker 4: maybe do have the capacity that we've relied on for years.

137
00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 4: It's holding them accountable to as the experts in that

138
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 4: particular field, how are you building up other small like

139
00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,480
Speaker 4: smaller businesses or more nascent businesses. And so we changed

140
00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,520
Speaker 4: our contract language and our expectations of the those bigger

141
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 4: vendors that we are in a position to kind of

142
00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 4: jump away from right away to how are they building

143
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,440
Speaker 4: up others and certain targets within our spend with them

144
00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,960
Speaker 4: that need to go to those smaller, newer businesses. In addition,

145
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,880
Speaker 4: we're doing things like a mentor protege relationship where Okay,

146
00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 4: your business may not be ready for a fortune one

147
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,840
Speaker 4: hundred supply chain today, but how can we dig in

148
00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:44,240
Speaker 4: your books, dig in your pitches, dig into how you

149
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,440
Speaker 4: present you know your business, proposition your value, and help

150
00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,720
Speaker 4: coach you up so that you're ready and we'll go

151
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,160
Speaker 4: first and bring you into our portfolio. But then not

152
00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,520
Speaker 4: only that, you're ready to go compete for others, and

153
00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,320
Speaker 4: so recognizing that there's there's a heavy front investment to

154
00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:00,800
Speaker 4: get people to that point of maturation. Everybody's not ready

155
00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,160
Speaker 4: for this for fortunate one hundred and what comes with that?

156
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:03,400
Speaker 3: Right?

157
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,040
Speaker 1: Do you feel like it's your responsibility to help people

158
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,120
Speaker 1: not only get them in and vet them to see

159
00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,600
Speaker 1: if they can do their work, but also to help

160
00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,000
Speaker 1: them Do you feel like that's your responsibility one percent?

161
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:14,760
Speaker 3: Hundred percent?

162
00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:16,760
Speaker 4: I think specifically as it relates to like a place

163
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,800
Speaker 4: like Milwaukee, which has been our home for oh, I

164
00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,920
Speaker 4: don't know, one hundred and fifty plus years, there's definitely

165
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,160
Speaker 4: this this this ownership of what are we doing as

166
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 4: a huge corporate citizen, as one of the biggest corporate

167
00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,320
Speaker 4: citizens to uplift others and invest in others in our

168
00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 4: own backyard first and foremost. So you'll see, even as

169
00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,560
Speaker 4: you talk about like the Impact Investing Fund, we have

170
00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,640
Speaker 4: a whole sleeve that is just dedicated to what's going

171
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:40,640
Speaker 4: on in our backyard at Milwaukee. Right, So we can

172
00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,160
Speaker 4: be doing all these things on the national sleep, but

173
00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,160
Speaker 4: if we're not making those investments in our community to

174
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,040
Speaker 4: build those businesses up down the street, yeah, that's not

175
00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,160
Speaker 4: really worthwhile.

176
00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,920
Speaker 1: You know, I was doing some research on the Grow

177
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:54,560
Speaker 1: Gather Against the Gap conference and I found this quote

178
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,680
Speaker 1: from you, and you had said, you know, we have

179
00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:01,480
Speaker 1: a small army dedicated unapologetically to accelerating progress and not

180
00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,200
Speaker 1: just with today in mind. Everything we do at NM

181
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:06,840
Speaker 1: is with the next one hundred years in mind, not

182
00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,480
Speaker 1: just the next quarter. So like, talk up because you

183
00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,440
Speaker 1: mentioned some of the those that you guys hold yourself

184
00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,400
Speaker 1: accountable to talk about some of those goals that you're

185
00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:17,880
Speaker 1: measuring against to see if you're actually making progress.

186
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:18,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely so.

187
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,200
Speaker 4: I think if you can think about our work in

188
00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,000
Speaker 4: say as sort of being like within our house, get

189
00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,800
Speaker 4: our own house in order first and foremost. So it's

190
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,480
Speaker 4: what's the representation look like across all levels of the organization,

191
00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,120
Speaker 4: So not just frontline you know kind of folks answering

192
00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:34,400
Speaker 4: the phones, but what do we look like in the

193
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,679
Speaker 4: executive ranks. And I think our best sort of barometer

194
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,560
Speaker 4: for our measurement for successes, Does.

195
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,440
Speaker 3: It look like the nation that we operate in? Right?

196
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,160
Speaker 4: If we're a national company and let's just say black folks,

197
00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,800
Speaker 4: for example, are thirteen and a half percent roughly, well,

198
00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,679
Speaker 4: we should at least be reflective of that thirteen and

199
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:53,880
Speaker 4: a half percent, Not that it's a quota per se,

200
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,200
Speaker 4: but that's a good starting point to say, do we

201
00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,000
Speaker 4: even look like the nation we're trying to serve?

202
00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:00,559
Speaker 3: Right? So we have that, So that's kind of getting

203
00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:01,560
Speaker 3: our own house in order.

204
00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:03,760
Speaker 4: And then one of the things that we're doing externally,

205
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 4: it's all about the goals of you know, one, helping

206
00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:09,120
Speaker 4: to close the wealth gap. So how are we putting

207
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,839
Speaker 4: the hundreds of billions of dollars that we, as an

208
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,240
Speaker 4: enormous institutional investor have putting it to work in building

209
00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 4: small business, building black businesses of varying sizes, right, narrowing

210
00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,679
Speaker 4: that wealth gap through investment, access to capital, et cetera.

211
00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,920
Speaker 4: And then the last piece is what our company does

212
00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,960
Speaker 4: is leave people off better off than we found them

213
00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,200
Speaker 4: with financial plans, you know, risk mitigation strategies, right, things

214
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,800
Speaker 4: like life insurance that black folks folks may not know,

215
00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,680
Speaker 4: have a higher propensity, they have a higher desire for

216
00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,680
Speaker 4: life insurance than any other segment in the country. There's

217
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,000
Speaker 4: this like this, this notion of legacy and paying it

218
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,840
Speaker 4: for it. How are we reaching more black households to

219
00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,440
Speaker 4: help give them access to that, to those critical products

220
00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,480
Speaker 4: and strategies to help protect their family for generations. So

221
00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,160
Speaker 4: we talk about more black households, We talk about putting

222
00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,440
Speaker 4: more billions of dollars to work. We talk about, you know,

223
00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,280
Speaker 4: diversifying our supplier pipelines and things of that nature, and

224
00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:05,760
Speaker 4: then of course getting our own house in order. Uh.

225
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,679
Speaker 1: You previously mentioned Milwaukee, which I love. So a lot

226
00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,160
Speaker 1: of the work I'm passionate about is about the middle

227
00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,280
Speaker 1: is because I recognize that most of us who are

228
00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,600
Speaker 1: interested in tech and et cetera don't live in New

229
00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,600
Speaker 1: York at LA. We live in these other cities. And

230
00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:25,280
Speaker 1: so what is unique or important or an advantage of

231
00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,320
Speaker 1: being based in Milwaukee? Then a lot of other places

232
00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,559
Speaker 1: that you guys could be Yeah, yeah, are their advantages?

233
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:33,680
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think so.

234
00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,480
Speaker 4: I think as somebody that is raising us his son

235
00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,520
Speaker 4: in Milwaukee, I definitely think so. I think when I

236
00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,599
Speaker 4: think about Milwaukee, I first and foremost think about like

237
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,320
Speaker 4: the value proposition to like live and just have a

238
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,520
Speaker 4: wonderful life. And actually I was talking about this with

239
00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:51,520
Speaker 4: a colleague of mind even today. The accessibility, the the

240
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,480
Speaker 4: the access to to culture, to to just good hard

241
00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 4: working people, like there's just all the things that you

242
00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,520
Speaker 4: would want in a place to sort of raise a family.

243
00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:00,640
Speaker 3: So that check there.

244
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 4: I think that there is tremendous opportunity as you think

245
00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,920
Speaker 4: about Milwaukee being a destination for talent, that we might

246
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,040
Speaker 4: have some work to do in terms of the external image,

247
00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,920
Speaker 4: but once you actually come and experience it, it is

248
00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 4: a really special place with I would argue world class

249
00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 4: amenities that are kind of a best kept secret, if

250
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:20,400
Speaker 4: you will, so that when people get there it's.

251
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,360
Speaker 3: Like, oh, wow, this is dope. Milwaukee's dope.

252
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,280
Speaker 4: Come people walking into summer, come in the winter, coming

253
00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,520
Speaker 4: this summer, and you'll say, wow, I never would have

254
00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,280
Speaker 4: envisioned this about you know, Wisconsin or specifically Milwaukee.

255
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,360
Speaker 3: And so I think as a place to live, it's huge.

256
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 4: When you're talking about building tech talent and things of

257
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,840
Speaker 4: that nature, I think what you have are several really

258
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:46,160
Speaker 4: really strong corporate entities, strong partnerships across you know, government,

259
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:47,960
Speaker 4: and things of that nature that are really trying to

260
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,720
Speaker 4: create an ecosystem that fosters that kind of creative growth,

261
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:54,880
Speaker 4: if you will. So you have a bunch of leaders

262
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:56,960
Speaker 4: in the area that are really invested in making it

263
00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,240
Speaker 4: a destination a choice for talent, for tech talent in

264
00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:00,360
Speaker 4: particular of them.

265
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:02,760
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Impact Fund again, and

266
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,599
Speaker 1: so I imagine I don't know this, but I imagine a

267
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,160
Speaker 1: lot of the bet you're making or funds that you're

268
00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,360
Speaker 1: exporting from your bank counts to other folks, is put

269
00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,080
Speaker 1: into organizations who are doing the work in those communities.

270
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,080
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm gonna let you speak to that, but

271
00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,720
Speaker 1: I want to talk about how organizations who are doing

272
00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,520
Speaker 1: the work reach out to you guys to say, we're

273
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,520
Speaker 1: doing this great work in whatever city. Can we be

274
00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:28,360
Speaker 1: part of this thing? How does the fund work?

275
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:28,800
Speaker 3: Yeah?

276
00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,559
Speaker 4: Absolutely, So I would start by saying, impact investing in

277
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,760
Speaker 4: Northwestern Mutual is the way to kind of, you know,

278
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,440
Speaker 4: reach out and download sort of what it is that

279
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 4: we do, what it is that we offer in that

280
00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,880
Speaker 4: particular space. And so our fund is really divided into

281
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:44,880
Speaker 4: two sleeves that I think I mentioned earlier. One is

282
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,800
Speaker 4: a local sleeve that is very much focused on local

283
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,320
Speaker 4: impact investing in Milwaukee business owners and Milwaukee businesses. And

284
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,800
Speaker 4: in that space, we've made some investments that we're really

285
00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,480
Speaker 4: proud of in CDFI, so Community Development Financial Institute and

286
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:01,079
Speaker 4: what those are.

287
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:02,800
Speaker 3: Think them as like local.

288
00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,920
Speaker 4: Community banks that have the sort of ground game to

289
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,079
Speaker 4: do the kind of like smaller scale lending and investing

290
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:13,040
Speaker 4: that our community needs. Right as a huge corpord entity,

291
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,040
Speaker 4: we're looking at money in pretty big terms, like in

292
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,959
Speaker 4: the millions, right, but everyone doesn't need a million dollars

293
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,440
Speaker 4: plus to get invested to get their business off the

294
00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,440
Speaker 4: ground are accelerated. So these cdfives have the ground game

295
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,000
Speaker 4: to say, let me get really intimately familiar with Will's business,

296
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,000
Speaker 4: his books, et cetera, make the right sort of lending

297
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,800
Speaker 4: and investment decisions to help him be successful, and then

298
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,800
Speaker 4: also do other wrap around services to help consult on

299
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:38,720
Speaker 4: things like taxes and all these other things that you

300
00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,200
Speaker 4: may not necessarily be familiar with starting a small business.

301
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,520
Speaker 4: So that's kind of the local sleep. On a national level,

302
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,080
Speaker 4: we really partner with a number of strong financial national

303
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,000
Speaker 4: and global even financial institutions that have a really good

304
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,720
Speaker 4: pulse on a number of different sectors that advance sustainable housing,

305
00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,880
Speaker 4: that advance educational priorities in all the sort of pillars

306
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,200
Speaker 4: that we have, and so they're really looking at how

307
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:03,880
Speaker 4: can they put larger swats.

308
00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:05,360
Speaker 3: Of money to work on a national sleeve.

309
00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,480
Speaker 4: So we're parted with folks like Black Rock and others

310
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,080
Speaker 4: that that had that sort of ground game too.

311
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,720
Speaker 1: You mentioned a little bit about your CEO and his involvement,

312
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:17,600
Speaker 1: and so often these efforts aren't led by somebody in

313
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:21,120
Speaker 1: senior leadership, and yours is, and I wonder can you

314
00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,760
Speaker 1: speak more to how serious you guys take this, because

315
00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,120
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, sustainability is what matters.

316
00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,520
Speaker 4: One hundred percent. I will say so from day one

317
00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,600
Speaker 4: and to this day, our CEO has been at the table.

318
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,440
Speaker 4: He chairs our Sustained Action for Racial Equity, the task

319
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,840
Speaker 4: force that we talked about. We have six of our

320
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:41,560
Speaker 4: senior leaders So think of these are folks that are

321
00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,920
Speaker 4: responsible for huge portions of our business, that are directly

322
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,240
Speaker 4: accountable for the results that that that we set out

323
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,400
Speaker 4: to accomplish, and so we have executive oversight, we have

324
00:15:54,640 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 4: we have rigorous reporting metrics and and real accountability in

325
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,440
Speaker 4: the sense that like if we don't hit some of

326
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:02,920
Speaker 4: these things.

327
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:04,320
Speaker 3: Some of this is out of our control, but the

328
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:05,520
Speaker 3: parts that are it.

329
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,200
Speaker 4: Will have direct impacts on people's performance and myself included

330
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,360
Speaker 4: performance in a very very real way. This is no different.

331
00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,040
Speaker 4: I cannot emphasize enough. It's no different than any other

332
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,600
Speaker 4: growth priority that we would have as a fortune one hundred.

333
00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,680
Speaker 4: It's it's it's treated with that same level of intensity.

334
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 4: I would argue in some spaces even more leadership investment

335
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,280
Speaker 4: an investment in terms of like their physical presence, their

336
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:33,080
Speaker 4: physical they're like engagement in a meaningful way. And then again,

337
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,000
Speaker 4: what gets measured gets done, and you know, success is

338
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,800
Speaker 4: required for folks to accomplish their their personal goals and

339
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:40,960
Speaker 4: their performance goals.

340
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,400
Speaker 1: I want you to share some information about your Black

341
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,720
Speaker 1: Founders Accelerator program. You know, I think about some of

342
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,720
Speaker 1: the issues I've experienced and heard about through black entrepreneurs

343
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,680
Speaker 1: where they might get invited to expos and conferences where

344
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:58,800
Speaker 1: people want to hear about their business. And what I've

345
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,480
Speaker 1: heard and often many different spaces, is we come and

346
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,960
Speaker 1: do we do these expos that we present and it's

347
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 1: a big it's a dog and pony show, but nobody

348
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,400
Speaker 1: ever walks away with a deal or they never walk

349
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,680
Speaker 1: away with a meeting to actually get a serious look

350
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,440
Speaker 1: at what they do, talk about how yours is, how

351
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,000
Speaker 1: yours works, and how it might be different.

352
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:22,240
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely so super proud of this.

353
00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,000
Speaker 4: So our Blackfounder Accelerator, we choose ten businesses per year.

354
00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:28,800
Speaker 4: We typically do two cohorts of five each year. And

355
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,960
Speaker 4: that might not sound like a lot, but it's intentionally

356
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,480
Speaker 4: very very selective. So I think we have upwards of

357
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,160
Speaker 4: seven hundred and fifty applicants that we like, thoroughly vet

358
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,120
Speaker 4: and go through that process with. And essentially what we're

359
00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,639
Speaker 4: doing is we partner with a company called Generator that

360
00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:45,720
Speaker 4: has a really strong sort of development game for early

361
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,480
Speaker 4: stage entrepreneurs and mid stage entrepreneurs as well, and we

362
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,200
Speaker 4: go through a twelve week program with them where we're

363
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,520
Speaker 4: helping them or find their pitch, their business, their you know,

364
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 4: every aspect of their business. Really we invest one hundred

365
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,199
Speaker 4: thousand dollars, so this is not like a get. We

366
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:02,840
Speaker 4: are very much investors, and we also open them up

367
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,960
Speaker 4: to further investment in other parts of our business. And

368
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,879
Speaker 4: then we appoint an executive mentor to sit in with

369
00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:14,120
Speaker 4: those founders and really provide particular guidances unique to their business.

370
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:15,240
Speaker 3: Excuse me.

371
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,240
Speaker 4: So you might have a business with some strong regulatory concerns,

372
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:20,639
Speaker 4: So we're going to try to find somebody from the

373
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,480
Speaker 4: Northwestern mutual ranks that's an expert in regulatory you know,

374
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,280
Speaker 4: fintech regulatory considerations, and try to pair that founder with

375
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,240
Speaker 4: them so that they could really get C suite level

376
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,120
Speaker 4: insights on how to build their business in a way

377
00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,880
Speaker 4: that will ultimately be attractive to the big both further

378
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,760
Speaker 4: investors but companies that might want to use that service

379
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,720
Speaker 4: into the future. So we do that, We bring these

380
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,399
Speaker 4: cohorts in, we really try to build a sort of

381
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,600
Speaker 4: spirit of family across the cohorts and the alum and

382
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,800
Speaker 4: then what we do after that is try to really

383
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,720
Speaker 4: keep them as a part of this ecosystem and introduce

384
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,760
Speaker 4: them connect them to as many resources and further opportunities

385
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,080
Speaker 4: to raise more capital. In fact, going back to our

386
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,080
Speaker 4: dashboard and in our metrics for results, one of our results,

387
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,240
Speaker 4: one of our metrics is are we helping our founders

388
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,639
Speaker 4: raise a particular amount of capital? Right, So we have

389
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:16,719
Speaker 4: targets to help graduates of our program meet certain fundraising criteria,

390
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:20,520
Speaker 4: so that incentivizes us to really be diligent about how

391
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,280
Speaker 4: can I introduce Will to as many people in that

392
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,920
Speaker 4: lane that can help him further grow that business after

393
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,399
Speaker 4: he's left our program. So we're specifically very choose, like

394
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,760
Speaker 4: we're particularly picky and very very much kind of overweighted

395
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,320
Speaker 4: in the not overweighted, but very much leaned into how

396
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,560
Speaker 4: do we make this a very very thorough partnership and

397
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:42,160
Speaker 4: be close with them?

398
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,360
Speaker 1: And speaking about partnerships, you guys partner with Kellogg, which

399
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:50,520
Speaker 1: is like a leading business school in the world. You

400
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:52,679
Speaker 1: partner with them for Gather against the Gap a lot

401
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: of your initiatives. Why is that partnership important in what

402
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 1: do you hope that it lends to success?

403
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:01,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think thanks for the question.

404
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,520
Speaker 4: So our CEO is actually in the lum of Kellogg

405
00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 4: and so that's sort of where the initial idea came.

406
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,000
Speaker 4: But the thought being that Kellogg is a world class institution,

407
00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,280
Speaker 4: like you mentioned, I think, top two or three in

408
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,679
Speaker 4: all business school rankings year over year. And what's so

409
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,040
Speaker 4: special about Kellogg is they have you know, many many

410
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:23,240
Speaker 4: decades of shaping business practices successfully. And so we think

411
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,680
Speaker 4: about one Evanson is but an hour away from Milwaukee.

412
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,240
Speaker 4: So there's that proximity too. We had the connection with

413
00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,000
Speaker 4: our CEO being in lumber More importantly, they have sixty

414
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 4: five thousand executives across the globe that sit at the

415
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:42,280
Speaker 4: helm of real, real capital like organizations and dollar amounts

416
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,360
Speaker 4: that can change the makeup of this country and even

417
00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:44,640
Speaker 4: the world.

418
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,600
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not Oh, it doesn't sound too part this.

419
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,680
Speaker 4: Guy, but the world like they can do that. They

420
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,879
Speaker 4: have that in their alumni ranks. They have nineteen of

421
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,639
Speaker 4: the Fortune five hundred CEOs or Kellogg alumn Wow. So

422
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,639
Speaker 4: the thought was, Okay, this is a world class research institution,

423
00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,320
Speaker 4: world class alumni bas teaming up with them and using

424
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 4: ourselves as a case study to say, look, Northwestern Mutual

425
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 4: doesn't have all this figured out, like we're learning. We're

426
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,400
Speaker 4: still learning every day. People have been at supplier diversity

427
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,119
Speaker 4: and things of that nature impact investing for much longer

428
00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,400
Speaker 4: than we have. But we're here, we're fully invested. What

429
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,679
Speaker 4: can we learn from you as an academic institution, and

430
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:21,240
Speaker 4: then what can we learn in and how can we

431
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:26,640
Speaker 4: inspire others within your alumni base to steer their organizations

432
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 4: towards driving impact as well? And by the way, you're

433
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 4: also pumping out and cultivating future executives of tomorrow that

434
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,479
Speaker 4: need to have this this as a part of their game, right,

435
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 4: they need to know how their organizations are making an

436
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,879
Speaker 4: impact beyond just shareholder return.

437
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 3: Right.

438
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 1: Gather against the Gap. I've been touching on this and

439
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: lot people don't know. Let's talk about first. What Gather

440
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,959
Speaker 1: against the Gap was? Yeah, speak to that.

441
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,439
Speaker 4: Yeah, So Gather against the Gap was this idea of Okay,

442
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 4: again in the spirit of us trying to get better

443
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 4: at doing this work. We don't have all the answers.

444
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,160
Speaker 4: We're proud of what we done, long way to go.

445
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,440
Speaker 4: How can we convene other leaders, other you know, large

446
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,919
Speaker 4: corporate entities leaders at the helm of these massive amounts

447
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:10,920
Speaker 4: of capital. I think we had in the room more

448
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,160
Speaker 4: than a trillion dollars in assets under management.

449
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:18,440
Speaker 2: And that was just you, That was just We had

450
00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 2: two hundred I think it was like two hundred and

451
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 2: twenty five, two hundred and fifty something like that in attendance,

452
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 2: physically c suite leaders.

453
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 4: Okay, and you know, kell Loogg brought this academic lens

454
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 4: of Okay, if we removed all barriers and thought about

455
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,720
Speaker 4: what are the levers that corporations can pull that the

456
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 4: business community can pull to legitimately begin to narrow and

457
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 4: eventually close the wealth gap.

458
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 3: Like it's possible.

459
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,680
Speaker 4: But what it takes was essentially investing in black businesses, right,

460
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:52,320
Speaker 4: So black business development. It's getting more corporations to open

461
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 4: up their supply chains and start to bring in black

462
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 4: business as a part of that. So grow business through

463
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 4: through leveraging the supply chain, and then that's access to capital.

464
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:02,520
Speaker 3: And then when you.

465
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 4: Combine all those things over time and you really can

466
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,120
Speaker 4: create a sort of like a multiplier effect, we.

467
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 3: Can start to move that needle.

468
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:11,639
Speaker 4: And so everybody in that room was aligned on that

469
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 4: vision and came to get actionable, like practical when you

470
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 4: go in on Monday, here are three to five things

471
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 4: that you can do from your seat, and I think

472
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:22,119
Speaker 4: we accomplish that in space.

473
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,360
Speaker 1: Your CEO had this to say about one of the themes

474
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,680
Speaker 1: that came out of the conference. He said, sustained action

475
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:34,400
Speaker 1: requires sustained leadership. When leaders show up consistently for their

476
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,720
Speaker 1: impact initiatives, they create a multiplier effect to your point,

477
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: within their organization. What do you hope other businesses in

478
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 1: your vertical takeaway from that conference and then you know,

479
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,320
Speaker 1: how do you continue because you said you guys kind

480
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: of want to be a representation like this work is

481
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 1: possible if we collectively do this together. Like what do

482
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: you hope they take away from that initiative and that's

483
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: the work that continues.

484
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think what's been most impact I think to

485
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,720
Speaker 4: folk so like obviously if you got like literally skin

486
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,959
Speaker 4: in the game and this is something that you know,

487
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:06,879
Speaker 4: this is just so you're so passionate about this topic,

488
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 4: Like that's one thing. There's sort of the there's the

489
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 4: moral imperative to to close the wealth gap because it's

490
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 4: gonna help benefit the country undeniably. But then there's also

491
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 4: a real business case for doing it too. So let's

492
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 4: just say that's not enough for you as a leader, Like, yeah,

493
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,159
Speaker 4: that sounds good, but I've got I've got shareholders to

494
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 4: worry about. I think what our CEO would argue, you know,

495
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:30,719
Speaker 4: not to be his ambassador necessarily, but there's real growth

496
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,679
Speaker 4: potential and business value. That's what we wanted to do

497
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,440
Speaker 4: together against the gap. And in many respects, what we're

498
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,680
Speaker 4: doing with say is how can we do both? Right?

499
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 4: It's not an either or when you put these things

500
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,360
Speaker 4: together you'll see tremendous growth like our company has enjoyed

501
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 4: since we've started this work, unprecedented growth and our advisor

502
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,719
Speaker 4: force and the productivity of our advisor force. And that

503
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 4: growth didn't come from you know, middle aged white man.

504
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 4: It came from the diverse segments that we've been more

505
00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,359
Speaker 4: intentional about bringing on.

506
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 3: It's powered unbelievable growth for our business over the last

507
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 3: couple of years.

508
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 4: So I guess what I would say to take away

509
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 4: is this isn't a charity case, right. This is a

510
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,360
Speaker 4: combination of obviously the right thing to do that will

511
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,479
Speaker 4: benefit us all, but then also it's good for your

512
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 4: bottom line too when it's done right.

513
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: For the people who when you think about doing this work,

514
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: the people who may never own a small business and

515
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,400
Speaker 1: may never come to you know, be in your pipeline

516
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,640
Speaker 1: of future employees, but they just work normal.

517
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 3: Everyday jobs.

518
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 1: How does this work benefit them potentially?

519
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 4: I love that question. That's a deeply personal one for me.

520
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 4: So I mentioned earlier this goal of trying to reach

521
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 4: more Black households, more American households, period, but in particular

522
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,479
Speaker 4: black households, and I think of my own family, right,

523
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 4: So I mentioned family came here from Haiti, built up

524
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 4: from the ground up, gave three kids a college education,

525
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 4: what have you? And I watched my parents work very,

526
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,920
Speaker 4: very diligently to rise in their own spirits. My mom

527
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 4: did own a small business. It was a home daycare owner,

528
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 4: had kids at our house every day. My mom my

529
00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 4: dad worked for a variety of banks, worked up from

530
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 4: the mailroom to manageagement.

531
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 3: Will have you? So really a career company man.

532
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 4: And at the end of that, I think about, well,

533
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 4: what did all that get them?

534
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 3: Apps in a financial plan?

535
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 4: And so right now we're at the stage of their

536
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 4: lives where they're looking at a retirement.

537
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:16,440
Speaker 3: That it's not looking so great because they didn't.

538
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 4: Have somebody that sat down with them and got them

539
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,600
Speaker 4: on a game plan early on. There were things that

540
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,199
Speaker 4: I wish they had the right advisor. I wish they

541
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 4: had an advisor to expose them to things really really

542
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 4: think things that would be seem like really small investments

543
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 4: at the time that could have been paid dividends for

544
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 4: them in their retirement years. So now we're trying to

545
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 4: figure out how do we supplement that and give them

546
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:37,679
Speaker 4: a respectful retirement.

547
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 3: But it's kind of late in the game for that.

548
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 4: So what I would say is, as much as our

549
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,639
Speaker 4: folks can get get a financial advisor to help you,

550
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 4: and you know, I happen to believe that we have

551
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,880
Speaker 4: the best in the industry at Northwestern Mutual, but get

552
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:50,360
Speaker 4: somebody to sit down with you and.

553
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 3: Talk through a plan.

554
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 4: Talk through things like disability insurance if you happen to

555
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 4: be disabled and not able to go back to work,

556
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 4: talk about how you're putting money away thoughtfully before it's

557
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 4: so late in the game that you know you're really

558
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 4: trying to play catchup, which is tough.

559
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: So you've guys said which I imagine Gather Against the

560
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: Gap falls under that, this relationship with Kellogg falls under

561
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: that Black Founder Accelerator falls under that, the Impact Fund,

562
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 1: I imagine falls under that. When you think about Kellogg,

563
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: like that's an important relationship. Just from externally, I can

564
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: know that that's an important relationship. What does the future

565
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: hold for? What the direction you guys want to take that,

566
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: How do you want to grow that relationship.

567
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 4: I think we learned so much with Gather Against the Gap,

568
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 4: and the key being we need to be able to

569
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 4: provide the business community with actionable, like tangible, practical takeaway

570
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 4: steps to make any of this stuff actually happen. And

571
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 4: so I think we've only begun to scrape the surface

572
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,479
Speaker 4: of how do we take the learnings from these in

573
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 4: person convenings of the different conversations or research that Kellogg

574
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 4: is doing, and then how do we partner together and

575
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 4: using them as a case study, Like we'll be that

576
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 4: case study, how do we partner to is still more

577
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 4: of that down and spread it across the business community.

578
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 4: So we'll look forward to looking at, you know, across

579
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,680
Speaker 4: the different dimensions of say procurement and supplier diversity. How

580
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 4: do we get the best of the best together to

581
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,199
Speaker 4: talk about those and distill those action steps down you

582
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 4: talk about access to capital, impact investing, things of that nature,

583
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:12,439
Speaker 4: how do we get the best.

584
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 3: Of the best there, pair it with the research and

585
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 3: distill that across the business community.

586
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 4: So we're really looking at not just hey, we did

587
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 4: this nice event, A bunch of people came, it was great,

588
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,920
Speaker 4: we took great pictures, check out the video and turn

589
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 4: it into tangible a campaign of academic and sort of

590
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 4: like business facing communications on how to go put.

591
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 3: That stuff to work.

592
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 4: Right. It's not just it's not trying to be a

593
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 4: commercial like, let's actually get this stuff done.

594
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: So people want to learn more about what Northwestern Mutual

595
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 1: is doing, what the founders, the Black Founders fund and

596
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,160
Speaker 1: so if they want to learn more about this stuff

597
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: dive in.

598
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:46,160
Speaker 3: Where should they go?

599
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would send them to Northwestern Mutual dot com.

600
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 4: And then if you have any any questions or your

601
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 4: business you think might.

602
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 3: Be a good fit, you want to learn more about

603
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 3: impact investing, impact investing in Northwestern Mutual. And then we'll

604
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: make sure we'll get your right folks to hear that

605
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 3: via due We'll have you man Pleasure, Pleasure. It's so

606
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 3: much that was fun.

607
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

608
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Network and I Hire

609
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: Media and it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas.

610
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: The additional production support by Said and Rose Lucas.

611
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 3: Special thank you.

612
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 1: To Michael Davis, Vanessa Serrano, Mayam Moltdrew. Learn more about

613
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: my guess and other tech this There's an Innovator's an

614
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com. The video version of this episode will

615
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,960
Speaker 1: drop the Black Tech Green Money on YouTube next week,

616
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 1: So tap in enjoying Black Tech Green Money Shore U

617
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: to somebody, we'll get your money.

618
00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 3: Peace and love five