Latest / What Comes Next with Arun / The Human Edge: Why AI Makes Team Building Matter More | David Lengyel

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The Human Edge: Why AI Makes Team Building Matter More | David Lengyel · What Comes Next with Arun

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Most organizations are not behind on AI.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: They are behind on the thinking required to use it.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I am Arnand Sapatnaik, ex-Microsoft Data and AI executive, CEO of Tipsora, and your host.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is What Comes Next, the podcast where we talk about building the kind of organization that actually wins in an intelligence-driven economy.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: The guest today is David Langel.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: David is managing director of Ventura.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: He and Mason Langell started the first team building companies in the US after 40 plus years.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: They have worked with more than 8,000 companies, big and small, and 500,000 people in a dozen plus countries.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: David also has a new book being released on December 12th of this year, titled Leadership Truths, published by Venture of Media.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, David, welcome to the show.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to be here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks, David.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think I uh briefly mentioned um I also wrote a book.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's called Future Proof Your Uh Business, uh, where I talk about this framework I created called a Durable Advantage Cycle.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it has these five stages that I think if you apply the strategy at each stage, I believe any company or any individual for that matter could grow from uh you know starting from scratch to being one of the biggest companies in the world.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it has these five stages find your nest, diversify, build a platform, and then uh you know build a team with ownership mindset and then invest into uh research and development.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the podcast kind of has uh the same uh five stages that I take the guests through.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh you know the find your NIS is kind of the introduction, right?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you you have been doing this for a while, so you clearly know your NIS.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I looked into um your company and and and uh the the description you provided.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it's very interesting.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you are one of the like very first like companies that does team building.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been part of many corporate companies.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: We do team building um uh all the time.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know, you have been doing it for over 40 years.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that's uh clearly your miss.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we I also saw like you know, you have you have been on Dancing Star and Dr.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Phil, and also we'll talk more about uh that later.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: So walk me through like, you know, how did it start?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like what were you doing?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, uh and when did you realize that team building is something that you are passionate about?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's something where you have an advantage, right?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, uh how did you get your first client and how did you get started?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you bet.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's been an interesting journey for sure.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've and it certainly hasn't been not been a straight line like most companies, you know.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I started with when I was in my early 20s.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually in grad school, and um, but I I had always been involved in mountaineering and and rock climbing, ice climbing as a teenager.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so anybody who's passionate about any kind of a sport would always like to figure out if they can make a living at it, right?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: They'd love it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if it's horses, boats, cars, whatever, right?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so anyway, we started a mountaineering company, and the whole thing was specialized around taking uh clients on big mountains, guiding them up big icy mountains around the world.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we were lucky because our clients were primarily a lot of CEOs, CFOs, you know, people who owned companies who had the money and the time.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And in a way, they started asking us well, can we put together team building programs for their staff?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they had hired us to guide them, and we didn't really know what that all was, but we were quickly realized that since we had been teenagers, we had gotten involved in this very high-risk sport.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, if we don't do things right, people get hurt or killed.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's all about communications, consistency, accountability, all those types of things.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: But uh but it was kind of a fringe sport back then.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's a very wide, well-expected sport.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of people get involved and so forth, a lot of social media.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But back then it was kind of this counterculture group of kids doing it, but we were still incredibly responsible in retrospect, right?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyways, my whole point is that these people started asking us if we could put together team-based activities for their staff, but they didn't have five or six or ten people.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: They had hundreds of people, and they didn't have a month, they had like a few hours.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we looked into it, we realized we could.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: We uh got into ropes courses where people are jumping off of telephone poles and jumping out of trees and had those all over the country.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then we moved more into conference room settings and uh team development, trust development.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyways, my point is that we transitioned in there, but we kind of had the advantage with the early clients who were actually our clients, but then they asked us to do other things.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and it's just it's been uh it's been an interesting journey, a lot of fun.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we work now, as you mentioned, but we've worked in just about every major company out there with basically hundreds of thousands of people.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: We just had a group come back from Japan.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yesterday we had a program in Richmond, Virginia.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, we run programs all over the country.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, you know, uh creating these events and you know, uh making it theme around whether it's an adventure um type of activity or a corporate, you know, conference room type of activity, you know, creating activities is is one thing like there are like meetup groups, there are all kinds of event organizers uh that out there who are organizing events, uh but your thing is team building.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So uh is there some kind of secret source or some kind of structure around an activity that really facilitates team building that that you found that that you incorporate into your uh you know events that you organize?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, there's a lot there.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, number one, and again, we transition as facilitators and as as as a company, but you know, you got to keep it really basic.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: You have to understand number one, every single company is first in the business of people.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: It has nothing to do with their product, nothing to do with their service.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about them investing in their own employees and taking the time.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we come in, we're working with those employees.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, all of those people are usually good at their job.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's why they have the job.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And 99% of them want to do a good job.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Most people do, right?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so now you're just trying to create an atmosphere where, okay, let's face it, the easiest team to work in is a team of one, but you got to do all the work.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's two people or 10 people, it gets a little bit more complicated.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Communications are more difficult.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have 100 people or 500 people, it's even more difficult.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so the reality is that we're trying to create an atmosphere where everybody who's good at their job and committed can also get to know other people.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all about us versus ourselves, right?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea is that you're creating an opportunity for them to number one, have fun.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, put something in their pocket.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Think about how can they apply this, not only have fun, because that's easy, but how can they also grow personally and professionally?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're coming up with activities that have got this oh ha moment so that they can think about the way they communicate or how they're locked into different types of ideas based on their experience.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so the whole point is you're trying to create these interactive challenges so they can apply them directly, again, with the idea that they're already good.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as an example, let's just say if we're working with Oracle, well, we're not going to tell Larry Ellison how to do a better job, right?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is that everybody there is doing a good job.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But we all get so busy doing our job that we forget that you know, every that we're all connected, not only to each other within the company, and the bigger the company is, but we're also connected to the communities around us.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so team building means a lot of things, not just, you know, a straight line of ideas.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: So uh walk me through a typical scenario.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, like a lot, I have been in a lot of companies, and every company has some kind of uh event, uh, you know, that that they structure it as a team building event.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And typically uh most of those events are like, okay, either we go to a restaurant and you know, everybody, whatever, you know, so food, drink, uh, and you know, that there might be some kind of game, so the restaurant has some kind of uh video game setup or uh maybe pool table, so we play games, so so you know, there is there is games and and and uh there is food, there might be like some kind of car racing or you know, uh something that they have, right, as an activity.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that that's what I think you know most companies I have been in, that's what a typical team building, you know, um outside of office event uh looks like.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh, you know, for for for let's say you were to organize an event like that, walk me through a simple setup of like what would you do in that event that would really kind of you know benefit the company uh for team building this instead of just making it a regular hangout.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and you kind of hit hit it on the point.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the first thing we have to always start with, well, what are we trying to do?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: What uh what are they defining?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is that team building can be anything.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: We can go to the bar and have some drinks, right?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We can all go play golf.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: We can we can get in a car, get in a bus and take a drive.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just an experience.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so the first thing we need to do is define what it is the company is trying to accomplish during the activity.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are they just want to have fun?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just a happy hour type of a program?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then they want some type of and then they want an organization to come in and just be kind of like an MC to do something that's interactive.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're trying to underscore some business vision or or values, or they're trying to reinforce something that is talked about during the during the meeting before or is going to be talked about in the next few days.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or um maybe there's been a merger, or maybe there's they're growing a lot, or there's a downside, or they're trying to get some type of relationships between departments.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I the point is that it's up to us to first ask a lot of questions to understand what it is they're trying to accomplish.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, real team building programs, though, when they are let's just say growth-oriented, and that doesn't mean they're not fun.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: They should always be fun, but they should be around something that nobody really has any experience with.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that way it's a new experience for everybody so that they can all appreciate how everybody brings something to the table.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: As an example, let's just say you go to top golf, and it's it's just kind of like this open, free, fun time to have play some golf.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, some people already golf, so they're already good at it, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Other people aren't.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: So how team building oriented is that past just having some fun, I would say is pretty low.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean it's not valuable, but the the point is you're not really gonna gain anything out of it in terms of more than just getting a relationship with somebody and getting to know somebody in a fun way.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's a matter of defining what the company wants.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: If they want something where people can appreciate that people are bringing different things, then we're gonna incorporate activities.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: It could be a game show where, like a more of a fun barroom restaurant scene, we have a big game show set up, but it's all about getting teams up there.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And really what you're after is trying to show that, wow, I didn't even know John knew that stuff.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the relationships start having a little bit different impact versus just having fun in addition, if that makes sense.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you know, uh, we have had like you know, virtual events where it it is like like a game so type of setup where you know uh the that there is a question that uh comes up, and there are the two teams who are trying to uh kind of uh answer and you know, outdo each other, and you know, that that is score report.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: So there are like virtual games and there is like software setup available uh to kind of you know uh gamify the event and uh kind of answer that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: I try to incorporate some of that into my uh speaking.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you know that that's always a uh good activity, but but you're right.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So ultimately it's all about like you know what is the end goal, what is it that they're trying to achieve?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know you are structuring the activity around that to kind of you know maximize the impact.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: So uh okay, I mean, and and you work with some of the biggest companies.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: I saw, like, you know, uh uh I wanted to put that in the internet, but then I said, wow, there are way too many companies.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So can you can you name uh some of the big uh companies that you work with and what those events were like?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I mean we we work with just about every major company out there, from Procter and Gamble to McKinsey to Caterpillar to Microsoft, uh Hewlett-Packard.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I mean, we've been around for a long time.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: But but the point is that um, you know, we work with, yeah, obviously we work with two different types of companies, not only industries.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: We work with a lot of older companies who have been around a long time that had this like secret sauce this drive to grow, but then they kind of got fatter, more top-heavy, more entrenched in doing things a certain way.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're trying to kind of keep that spark and create innovation and and keep people kind of growing and being progressive, right?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because the whole idea is that I don't care what your business is, you can't be doing things today the way that you were doing it 10 years ago, and you can't be doing it 10 years from now based on the way you're doing it today, right?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so companies get that, but it's easy to kind of get secure today, but that doesn't mean success tomorrow.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there, of course, there's all kinds of examples around that where we get too um comfortable with what's going on.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And companies can make spite of, you know, they can make money in spite of themselves, and that doesn't help long-term success, and they know that.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then we work with a lot of young startups because the progressiveness is totally different.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: The attitude is different.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're trying to create this culture of growth and progressiveness, and so they're looking to do things that are a little bit different from just the stagnant way of creating uh an opportunity and everybody does the job.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're trying to get those relationships built.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so our goal is always a little different, but ultimately we're just trying to have some fun with people, but then give them value.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the biggest problem that new team building companies try to understand is that you're really not trying to change the way people work, or a lot of leadership and trainers go in there with the idea that they're going to change everything.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're not, because a lot of team and leadership development is pretty natural.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: We know how to do things good and well.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and now when you start working with people who are already successful, obviously they knew how to do things well.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is just trying to get them to identify it and define it so that when they run into a problem, they can make a change, as an example, really quickly.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Communications, we hear it all the time, right?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's so important.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we all may say, hey, well, we just have to communicate better.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have to communicate more clearly.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that really doesn't mean anything.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes in one ear and right out the other.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's an idea of playing games or activities so people see what they do that may not be the best type of communications.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean they're doing it wrong.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: That just means that if they run into a problem, they can need to think to themselves, well, what can I do better?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if I can't define it, then I can't act on it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: As an example with the communications, a lot of us, we when we listen to people, we're not really listening to them.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're thinking to ourselves, well, what am I just going to say so I can respond to what you're saying?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then I can talk into my way of thinking.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or I may be saying, hey, bring me all your new ideas.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: But as I'm listening to your new ideas, I'm indirectly qualifying you as the messenger.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about, hey, what's your background, what's your title, what's your education, how much money do you make, what's your level of experience, what do you look like?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not really listening to you at all.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm qualifying it, right?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the traps we all run into.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or how do we clarify with people?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: So my point is that the better you can define things in a fun way, then the better people can see it when they get when they start experiencing it, and then maybe they can make a change if they need to.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, everybody makes the decision on how they want to interact with people, whether it's accept new ideas, whether it's communicate well, whether it's, you know, uh reflect a certain personality and emotion within a team.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't understand what it is you're doing, then you can't make a change if you want to make a change.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like you you're working with these, like some of the biggest companies in the world, and these companies are very strategic, right?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: They put in a lot of thought, and there's a lot goes into planning events like this, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So walk me through the process that you use from the time a company sends you inquiry that you know we are looking for organizers for this event, uh, to you getting all the detail and then finally creating the plan and getting it approved and then implementing it.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Walk me through that step.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how long does it take?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And like are are there a set number of stages, like what happens at each stage depending on what the event is, you know, you have to secure a venue, you might need to hire some additional people to do specific things at the event, uh, depending on you know what you are recommending and what the client wants.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, walk me through how that process, that onboarding process happens.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, the uh it's it's never the same thing after all these different, you know, some so we work with clients directly, and we work with meeting planners or incentive houses who are kind of the meeting specialists that the large companies use sometimes.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and and there there's a disconnect because we're not really talking to the client, we're talking to uh an overall meeting planner, let's just say.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so the approach has to be different.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some companies will call us and say, hey, I've got, you know, this is the day I have three hours, and I have uh 200 people, and we want something competitive.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then we give them an idea and they're just like, that's great, let's just do it.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then other companies will be like, whether it's a meeting planner or the company, there may be an HR person or internal event planner, where they want to be involved in every single part of the program, and they want to know all the different types of activities and what's the basis behind them.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so then we're, of course, having to explain all that and get a runner show.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's always different.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we we personally don't ever create the venue.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Everything we do is temporarily set up now.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we used to have our own properties where people would come to us for rope scorses, again, jumping off of telephone poles out of trees.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: That type of business went out a long time ago because now it's very kind of general, and people have kind of done that, do that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: So 99% of our stuff is either done in a conference room or in a park or some type of a venue.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It could be on a ship, it could be in a farm, it could be anywhere, but we're gonna come and temporarily set up because it's easier to get our staff to them than it is to move all of their people to us.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we just figured that out a long time ago.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, we have programs, we offer uh about a dozen different types of core programs, and then we can customize those around the size of the group, around the amount of time that the group has, around the space available for the group, and then around the specific goals of the group.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But we basically work with this uh menu of key elements, whether they're collaborative or competitive or charity-based.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's kind of easy for our clients to see.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we don't offer hundreds of different types of programs.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of keep it within a certain realm that are easy to um uh to identify.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and most of our clients, well, we have some clients who have done lots and lots of team programs, right?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we have other clients who have never done one at all.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: But even if they've done it, a lot of times it'll be a new team or there'll be new members.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Members of the team.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're always trying to kind of adjust things accordingly.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that answers your question.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that that's good.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think I got a very good idea of what you do and how you do.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: So let's move to the next thing.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like one of the founding uh uh you know uh principle or idea that uh my uh you know my entire program is based on is that no matter what you do, it's not going to last forever.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to diversify.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and you you have kind of seen that, you know, like like some of the things you mentioned, you know, that type of business went away a long time ago.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have seen that you know, some things that used to work in the past, it didn't stop working, you evolved and you changed your strategy.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, outside of this event planning, um you you have also participated in a lot of uh uh you know big media presence like Dancing with the Star and you know Dr.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Phil.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, so walk me through uh some of those.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, outside of you know, you doing event planning, uh what else have you been doing?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, we've we've had the uh opportunity to work with a variety of networks out there because they would call us to work with their teams.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we weren't like stars in those types of shows.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: We were kind of more behind, or we were being asked to work, you know, with groups that they were then going to highlight within their reels and so forth.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we were still doing team building, but it might have been more, you know, like with Dr.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Phil, it might have been more for because some people were having challenges, and then they were going to be talking about that in terms of trying to, I guess, correct those challenges.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I I mean, we're not counselors, and I and so I don't want to make it sound like that.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're always still trying to do professional or personal development, but we're keeping within a very strict area.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever we've gotten involved in those types of programs or consulted on those things like the Amazing Race or Survivor or whatever it is, it was more on the side of what we can do or how we would approach different types of team issues, small or large, but still having fun with them or being constructive with them.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um that that and that's a definitely a very big side part of it.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: We don't really do that much of it.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's more that we do corporate training and development, but we'll just get these calls occasionally.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, we've had them from a lot of different types of networks and shows.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them we've accepted, some of them are just a little bit too far.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they're also very time consuming in all reality.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have to make sure we understand what our business is and what we do.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can't just do everything out there because our time is is valuable also.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um if we're committing to do your program, then that means there's another program we can't do.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're a fairly good-sized company and we do multiple programs at the same time, but still we have to be cognitive of that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, so like one of the things uh that I talk about is like as you're diversifying, it cannot just be that you're doing random uh collection of things.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: You you got to have a core business.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like for you, event management is your core business.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's your core, but then the core can have multiple branches which are multiple different ways that you apply your core strength, right?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned like the corporate training, like like you know, giving training on a specific topic, trying to achieve a specific goal, then that is there is the fun activity part of it to kind of get people outside of the work and uh connect at a uh social and personal level.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and then you have this uh other type of activity where you are behind the scene on some of the biggest shows and you know helping them uh you know uh kind kind of you know get things done in an organized and still uh fun way where they are not the ones on the camera, but they're still having fun, uh, you know, uh being on the show and uh doing the work, right?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh walk me through like you know what are some of the different kinds of ways that that your service um gets used, uh, you know, outside of like what I just mentioned.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: What what are some of the uh other ways that you get involved, uh still using your company and your core strength?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: What other type of services can you deliver?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, I guess I'm I'm not real clear.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the main thing is that we we learned a long time ago that companies, you've got to you've got to really identify what it is you do and you do well.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do it all, right?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, when we were a small company and we were growing, we were trying to do everything for everybody.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody who walked in the door, yeah, we can do it, and we would try to customize things.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it and we ran that way for years and years, and it was almost overwhelming in a variety of ways.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was successful, but it stressed our business out in terms of what we were trying to satisfy and supply and the equipment that we needed and so forth.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had a client once that was quite successful, and he was running a business that I couldn't really even imagine how many people they manage and the different things that they did and the turnover that they had.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked him how they do this, and he said, well, the main thing we don't do is we don't customize that much.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: They have a core group of things they sell, and and it it really stuck with me because we were just the opposite.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and so my point is that it doesn't matter if we're working with with uh uh DuPont or if we're working with the TV show, we still do specific things, and we're very clear about that.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: I had a client the other day um out of England who we were having a conversation, a conference call, and they wanted to know if we um were gonna have EMTs out on the proper on the program, right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was kind of an active program in a big park, that type of thing.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, some of our staff are actually EMTs, emergency medical techs.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's a problem, of course, we're gonna react, we're gonna help out.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I said, Well, we're not there to be an EMT.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're not bringing in our own stuff for it.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want one, then we need to hire somebody in.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just an example.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout the conversation, she kept going back to this like, okay, well, you're gonna bring a basic medical kit.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to be like, no, let me be really clear.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're not going to supply anything.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you want a medical person there, then we need to hire somebody who is totally committed to that service.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And but my point is that many, many, many years ago, we would have been like, oh, yeah, we'll do that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have our EMT and we'll make sure we'll bring a medical kit and all this type of stuff.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: But we learned the hard way that we've got to make sure that we're just really clear and we're really good at what we offer.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a real challenge for a lot of small growing companies because they're trying to find their niche.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so then the hats everybody's wearing are so spread out.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: But they really need to, of course, be flexible in terms of what they can, what they can do.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: But then they also have to really identify what it is they're doing and kind of stay within those guide rails.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because then the clients get leadership-based programs that are going to be based in communications, accountability, fun, problem solving, critical thinking, all different types to get people to appreciate that we all bring something to the table, and and that's what we specialize in.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then we and then we use different tools.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it can be rock climbing, it could be taking risks, it can be building trust, but it's all centered in those ideas.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: That that's really the right way to do it.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you have your core strength, but you know, all these tools, uh the the these different ways that you do, these are just different ways to apply your core strength.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the branches that the branches really strengthen the core.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: More different ways you can apply yourself.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that is more diversity, so it feels different, but it's still built on the same core.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's always strengthening the core.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Also, like you know, um you have a book coming up, and your company, Venturop, is also now kind of a media company because you you are publishing the book through your own company, and your book is called Leadership Truth.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me more about the book and how your company kind of became the media company now.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, if you if you think about there's all kinds of leadership and training books out there and seminars and so forth.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it's interesting because most of those books are are written by one of two people.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're written by celebrities, people who have a lot of name, or maybe people who have been sports figures or famous coaches, or they, you know, incredible military people, or they've built amazing companies.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's great.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's all motivational, but people can't relate to it because it's at that upper level of accomplishment, right?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then a lot of other books and training seminars are written by academics where, you know, there's a lot of definitions and a lot of uh statistics and data.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of goes in one or out there one area and out right out of the other.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we come to a realization, again, that that leadership and management is really a very simple process.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of well-defining it so people can understand it, and then they can choose how they want to act on it.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've come up with this book or these ideas that we call leadership truths.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we've just breaking in, we're just breaking all those different ideas down into 50, 60 different types of statements and ideas within questions, so you can identify what it is that you do based on that concept.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as an example, um, you know, as an example, go back to communications.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, most communication, most challenges are based on communication problems, right?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: We all know how to communicate well, but the reality is we just don't do it because we're kind of lazy or we're busy.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so the reality is identify well, what is good communications, and then you can identify whether or not you want to just follow that process.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that you can't do it.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: As an example, good communications is right, check for clarity, check for understanding.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is most of us are too busy to really do that.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: We just talk to people, say, I need you to do this, that, and the other thing, or I'll be saying, you know what I mean, you know what I mean.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, do it like normal.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not good communications.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem is, is that it's easier to avoid a problem by communicating more clearly than it's ever going to be to fix the problem.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because the minute you have to fix a problem, it takes more time, energy, money, and better communication.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we should just start with that.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so the point is, is that, and then it's like, okay, well, how do I learn how to communicate well?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, really give that some thought.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody has to be taught.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because the minute anybody has a lot on the line, like you have a lot of money on the line, or your job's on the line, or you're gonna physically get hurt, everybody gets good at it.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: That means you start clarifying, you start checking for understanding, you start making sure you understand what's really going on because it's real.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not monopoly money, right?
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so the point is trying to identify these things so everybody can realize that communications is about getting people to take a risk.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the risk of being wrong, getting in trouble, getting hurt, losing money, losing your job.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we communicate that well that way, then maybe we'll just realize we have to communicate better.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: But what does better mean?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that means just being more clear.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so my point is that we've created this book of concepts, which are just really visual, super easy to understand, and then easy to apply.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then there's questions because we're a big believer, just like when we set up a team activity, we're a big believer that your life and your success is a reflection of the questions you ask yourself.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't ask yourself the best the questions and you don't answer them, then you don't really know where you're going.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's as an example.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just say you're a kid coming out of college or out of school and you're trying to get a job.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, ask yourself some questions.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: What's important?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is it to make a lot of money?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Is it where you live?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is it you want to be by the mountains?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be by the beach?
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be in the city?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to work within an industry or a certain type of company.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: The better you can ask those questions, then the better you're going to be able to direct what it is you're going to do.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't ask those questions, then you just vacillate and you're just responsive.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then you start getting older and older, and you realize that, well, I'm kind of, I feel unfulfilled.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really do what I thought I needed to do, or I'm not really happy doing what I'm doing.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so my point is that teams and development are the same way.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Managers and leaders need to ask themselves these questions so they understand themselves, and then they can get that information across to their teams.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Teams are just looking for direction.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Managers and leaders also need that.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they don't necessarily have it because they got to that position.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: They got to the position because they were good at something, but it wasn't necessarily professional development.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's good.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the book is called Later Safe Truth.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Coming out on December 12th of 2026.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's this year.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, definitely looking forward to the book.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's move to the uh next part of it, uh which is called building the platform, right?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now I myself own a uh travel agency and uh sometimes I help people organize group events.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I only do like the group booking, whether it's a hotel or you know, a flight.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I I help them you know uh get discounted rate for the group that people can book, and then if they need help with event management, there is this platform or a service that I use called CVAT, right?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: So they they are kind of a platform where if you want to kind of ideate on an event management or for a group, so you tell them a proposal and then they uh have a way to plug in.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: So depending on what you need, they probably have connection with vendors like you that they would plug you in, saying, Okay, if you're trying to do adventure inventor, here here is a company that can do that, right?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so so since you have been in this industry for a long time, have you thought about building an event management platform or do you work with any platform?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like what's your idea?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like what what what does the a a good event management platform looks like that can kind of you know automate the majority of this onboarding and ideating process and can kind of connect to different vendors that can satisfy a client's requirement?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, we we we work with a couple of platforms out there.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: We don't um I mean the vast, vast majority of our business is gonna come one-on-one with the corporation.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let me put it this way.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: When we first started, um, meetings all came to destination management companies, DMCs, right?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or they came to incentive houses, which were the larger clearing houses, and then they would hire a local DMC, and then those local DMCs would hire um suppliers, whether it was a bus company or a team building company or a restaurant or whatever it might be, right?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, the web came on in the the late 90s, early 2000s, and and now companies instead of going to a DMC to find a supplier, could find the DM the supplier directly.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and so the everything started changing in 2000, 2002, 2000, incentive houses kind of went away, and DMC started taking that bigger role.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um my point is that there's a real big place for um, I think, platform because they're automated.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: But and it's just like with a DMC, right?
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because it takes a role away from somebody um that maybe is internal and they're just they're too busy doing their job and and they just want somebody to take care and plan the meeting.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but with our type of industry, there's also the challenge of we need to get that direct contact because we have to understand really what the client's looking at, what they're gauging at.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um because if they're doing this team building, again, is it just to have some fun?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something about the culture?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why are they doing it?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's and there's all kinds of reasons.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so then in our world, the most important thing is to make sure that we're giving them what they're expecting.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because the worst case scenario is that, hey, we've just worked through a platform or a DMC, but we never talk to the clients.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: So then we show up and we do something, and they thought it was going to be something totally different because we never talked to them or spoke with them.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so my my point is that I think platforms are important, but it doesn't remove that individual contact.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that, of course, moves us today into what AI is doing, right?
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's this is a total segue because it's two things.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, we have AI, which can do so much more in terms of finding vendors or or hopefully giving you options for a meeting.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: But then you also have a generation which is more app, which is more interested in doing the technology side.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have a generation of people who are getting into those management positions who really aren't that comfortable getting on the phone and talking to somebody.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: They'd rather just text or email and just have it automated, uh, you know, Tate and just have it automotive medically set up.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so there's a little bit of a challenge there working with some of the younger people because that's kind of what they're more comfortable doing.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that when you show up to the program, you're not working with a bunch of robots, you're working with a bunch of people, and all those people have different definitions and interests and backgrounds and desires.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so my point is that I think in our industry of team development, professional development, meetings and so forth, this whole experiential training is gonna become more and more important because people are becoming more and more automated already with the web, and AI is only gonna amplify that even more.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you look at a you look at a family around the dinner table, and they're all like this, they're all on their computers and tablets.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're already disconnected.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now, you know, AI has raised the bar, and in another two or three years, it's even gonna be more.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's quicker, faster, better, options are greater.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is that still you're working with individuals on a team, and those people have different needs, different emotions, different desires, different dreams.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's our job and anybody who's involved in team development or meetings needs to be able to work directly with those individual needs.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I would suggest that platforms are great because it can amplify the amount of reach that you get geographically, but it doesn't replace the personal contact that you're gonna need to make sure you understand what the clients really want it.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, and I can't, and I'll tell you, I think the industry for experiential training is going to explode because people are becoming, of course, now they're virtual or they're hybrid.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the connections are that much more important because ultimately, even though we may automate things, we may have new ideas with AI and be more efficient with AI, it still takes people to run a lot of these processes and work with the people behind them.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're not gonna lose that human connection.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's what I say.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, use a platform or, you know, like AI to uh find the people, but then the personalization happens through 101 connection, right?
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, so beyond platform, like you know, you uh in your company work with a lot of people.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you you have employees plus, like, you know, uh like if you talk about my company, like you know, I I have almost zero employee, but I have a huge team, but they are all like uh my partner network, my vendor network, you know.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a network of people who help me do all the things I do, and they are all incentivized in that way to help me uh, you know, like my success becomes their success, right?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are the type of people that you work with in what model and how are they incentivized to kind of help you uh become more successful?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: What what does your team structure look like?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and again, we evolved.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as as most startups and so forth, we were made up of primarily family and just close friends, right?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: But then as we grew, we started bringing in other people who had skills that we didn't have and could help us uh you know be more successful.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then we kind of grew through those learning stages of, you know, most small companies, you're made up of that smaller core group.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the challenge is that then you start having some biases or different types of Preferential treatment.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have to kind of learn that look at you know what?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: If we're going to be successful as a team internally, we all have to be consistent and we have to be, you know, rewarding performance, not just friendships, if you know what I mean.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a hard thing to learn, right?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we're way past that, obviously.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: But the point is that we surround ourselves with people first.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we hire slowly because we want to make sure that that person really brings us strength.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then we really amplify that strength.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: We don't think to ourselves, oh, well, can you do this?
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can you learn how to do that?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, we hire people that have a certain skill set, and then we really build on that skill set.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we're a fairly small, still tight group of people, but um and we wear a lot of hats, but we all have different skills.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have guys who are incredibly versed in IT and Blender and three-dimensional modeling.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not me.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: We have people who are a little bit more gregarious and better, you know, organizational thought in terms of being able to solve different problems that come up at the last minute, if you know what I mean.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, we have people who are really highly technical on the on the kind of the high risk side of it.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we wouldn't necessarily want them to be working directly with the client, but they're gonna be everything in terms of the equipment and the materials that we need.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so my point is that in any company, you've got to make sure that you surround yourself with people that know a lot and that you really understand what it is their strengths are, and then you let them have the opportunity to shine.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: You give them that responsibility.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: You don't micromanage them.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's that big thing of if you're gonna be a successful leader, you can't tell people how to solve the problem.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: You need to tell them what it is the problem is we're trying to solve, because then of course they're gonna come up with a lot of new ideas within the guide rails that you have, and that's the way any company grows.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: Completely agree with that.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh uh for the next stage of uh you know uh research and development, uh if you had unlimited funding, right, and you have seen how this industry has evolved over the years, what's your opinion on where the industry is going?
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: What do you see as the next gen of event management?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if you had the funding to like kind of kind of invent that yourself, what would you uh create now to transfer?
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I think moving forward, um I I don't care if you're if you're an existing company in this industry or you're thinking about starting one up, you you just gotta invest and become a real professional using AI as a tool.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: You I mean you have a choice.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're either gonna do it today or you're gonna catch up tomorrow, right?
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because the other companies are doing it.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and you have to understand that the companies that are hiring you are doing the same thing.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so the pressures that you're feeling as an organization trying to implement these things are the same pressures that these your clients are feeling within their own industries.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so my whole point is, you know, if you're trying to grow a company like ours and experiential team building, that's awesome.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: But the world is changing.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to use AI as a tool to manage what it is you do so you can complement, you can concentrate on doing what it is AI can't do because it can't do everything, right?
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then again, identify what it is as a service.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're if you're if you're trying to find a vendor, you don't need to do that anymore.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: AI can do it, and it's going to be able to do that even quicker, faster, better.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you still need to be able to work with that vendor and identify that vendor and understand what their position is.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that takes people talking to that vendor because everybody's different out there.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in terms of experiential training activities and games, utilize AI to help you create activities that are going to then be able to address the needs that you really have in a more complicated way.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just a simple A to B in terms of a task.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean it doesn't have to be fun, but use AI to your advantage to be able to tweak the background of the activities.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then you use AI in your own world of marketing and efficiency and invoicing and follow-up.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the point is that we all within our own businesses have the chance to be able to use AI as a tool.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I see people, at least in our own country, you know, who are really embracing it and they're growing and they're struggling and they're learning.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have a lot of people who are just totally ignoring it and they're they're they're they don't want to be involved in it.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I just come back to the whole point that you know what, you're either going to get involved and compete with those people now that are growing with it, or you're gonna do it later.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care what your job is, I don't care what your industry.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's a really interesting thing because, like I said, we just had a a group come back from Japan.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: And as a culture, Japan is the people are 10 times more connected and 10 times more invested in technology.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean a puke everybody, right?
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: How they pay, how they interact, how they utilize it.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: But there's also this very much like stress level, I think, that you don't see so much in the US culture that you see there.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's an overwhelming feeling of just this connection.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're going to get to that point because we'll have no choice but to compete.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so people who are involved in training and development have got to think to themselves, well, how can I get back to that human side, that emotional intelligence side, because that's what's going to keep people grounded.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: The programming that we're running in Japan is incredibly popular because it's gone past that technical side and you're getting back to that emotional intelligence side of interaction.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's something that I think a lot of them have lost because they're working 10, 12 hours a day, and they're the the the the regimentation is huge.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: The production is great too, right?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: What they can accomplish is amazing.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: But still ultimately you don't want people to burn out.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that that lack of or that opportunity to get human connections is really huge.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I I so my point is is that in the US, we're kind of moving that direction.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to be more successful in this industry, think about how you can create those human connections.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that brings us uh uh to the end.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if this episode shifted how you think about AI in your organization, send it to one person who needs to hear.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate your time.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: Good luck.