Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh
Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!
Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh
"The Authenticity Advantage: How Alex Price is Redefining Corporate Impact and Purpose-Driven Leadership
Alex Price's journey from Pensacola to the bustling streets of Madison Avenue is nothing short of inspiring. Known for his electrifying presence as an emcee at the Tech Hub Gala in West Palm Beach, Alex sets a prime example of merging personal passion with professional purpose. As the leader of Mission Impact Strategies, he's making significant strides in addressing critical issues, such as the opioid crisis in Florida. Join us as we explore how his authentic leadership is transforming both companies and communities, proving that every brand has the potential to create real-world change.
The fentanyl crisis isn't just a headline; it's a wake-up call to communities nationwide. We trace its evolution from the overprescription of drugs like Oxycontin to the emergence of fentanyl, which has devastated lives, especially among young adults. This episode emphasizes the importance of education, advocacy, and collaboration between diverse sectors—including healthcare, law enforcement, and nonprofits—to tackle this crisis head-on. Alex's commitment to community impact provides a compelling narrative on how personal branding can be a powerful tool for social change.
There's also a profound exploration of personal branding and corporate philanthropy, where grief and purpose intersect to create impactful action. Reflecting on his personal journey, Alex demonstrates how channeling personal experiences into helping others can turn tragedy into a legacy. This conversation unveils the importance of emotional connections in philanthropy and social impact initiatives, which not only enhance brand identity but also enrich the employee experience. Listen in to discover innovative solutions for pressing issues like school safety and mental health, and how strategic storytelling empowers organizations to amplify their positive impact.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
Welcome to another episode of Follow the Brand. I am your host, grant McGaughan, ceo of 5 Star BDM, a 5 Star personal branding and business development company. I want to take you on a journey that takes another deep dive into the world of personal branding and business development using compelling personal story, business conversations and tips development using compelling personal story, business conversations and tips to improve your personal brand. By listening to the Follow the Brand podcast series, you will be able to differentiate yourself from the competition and allow you to build trust with prospective clients and employers. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make it one that will set you apart, build trust and reflect who you are. Developing your five-star personal brand is a great way to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. If you have any questions from me or my guests, please email me. At grantmcgaw, spelled M-C-G-A-U-G-H at 5starbdm B for brand, d for development, m for masterscom. Now let's begin with our next five-star episode on Follow the Brand. Welcome to the Follow Brand Podcast. I'm yours, grant McGaugh, ceo of Five Star BDM, where we help you to build a five-star brand that people will follow. And today we are diving into a story that began on a summer evening at a tech hub, gala in West Palm Beach, and I was there when this energetic force of nature took the stage as MC, mr Alex Price, and the moment he started speaking it was like watching one of those old Orange Crust commercials, like pure instant energy just exploding across the room and we'll talk about that in today's episode. And I knew right then that I had met the right guy. And when we connected backstage I discovered someone with real purpose and real passion, and he shared stories about his work. He introduced me to his daughter, who was there that night, and I could tell this wasn't just another networking conversation. This was someone who lived and breathed community impact and what started with the lunch meeting that turned into Alex becoming the emcee for our HEMS Integrated Conference some months later. This story goes much deeper than that. So, from his early days in Pensacola, florida, to making waves on Madison Avenue in New York City, to losing his father and turning that grief into a moment, a moment that helped young professionals in New York City to now leading mission impact strategies here in Florida, alex embodies what it means to use business as a force for good. Today we are going to explore that journey for good. Today we are going to explore that journey, talk about the critical work he is doing to address the opioid crisis in Florida and dig into how authentic leadership can transform both companies and communities. This kind of conversation reminds us why we do what we do, because every brand has the potential to make real change in the world and because you're about to hear from someone who has mastered the art of merging personal passion with professional purpose. This is the follow brand podcast, where we are building a five-star brand that you can follow. Welcome, alex Price, welcome everybody to the Follow Brand Podcast. This is your host, grant McGaugh, and I'm keeping it right here in Florida.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you a little bit of a backstory, a little bit of backstory of my next guest. I was at a Tech Hub Gala event in West Palm Beach in the summer and they brought out this new moderator. You know who's going to be the emcee of the program. It's Alex Price. I'm not familiar with Alex Price. He comes out and you know you ever had that experience where it's just instant energy. It's like this guy just came out like bam. It was like an Orange Crust commercial. Remember that. It just came out. This instant flavor just came out. This guy is just lighting up the stage. He does it throughout the program.
Speaker 1:I'm like I got to go meet this guy. This guy is awesome. I go backstage, we get to chopping up, we get to talking. He's talking about different endeavors that we're involved in. He's got his daughter there with him at this event. I said, man, this guy is about something, he has a story, he has a passion, he has a mission. I need to really get to know him. So then we go meet for lunch. We really hit it off. I said you know what? I want you to be the emcee for our HIMSS Integrate Conference, because I can't do this without you. I just can't do it without you. And he just jumped right on in. We had a fantastic, fantastic Integrate conference. I think it was October 24th, but I want you to. First we're going to do a little bit of recap of that and then we're going to really dive deep into the Alex Price story.
Speaker 2:So, alex, would you like to introduce yourself? Great, I mean, I've got to match your energy, so I'm going gonna up my game. Right now. I'm gonna have a little sip of my iced coffee. All right, let's do this.
Speaker 2:Um, it's an honor to be here. I mean, I'm a big fan of of what you do, of your podcast, you know, tuned in a bunch um, it's one of the really good ones out there. I mean, it really really is insightful and the energy that you bring and you bring out people's stories, which, which you know I love. I'm a connoisseur of a great story and I'm in the middle of my own. In a lot of ways, I mean, I'm kind of on the what I would say the third kind of act of my career, which is nice because you kind of keep reinventing yourself. So we'll talk a little bit about my background yourself. So we'll talk a little bit about my background, but right now I have recently launched, as of this year, mission Impact Strategies, a consulting firm. I've got some wonderful partners across the state who are helping nonprofits and companies really scale the impact that they're making in the community. And then how do they tell a really inspiring story around that that will engage customers, excite their associates and get communities bonded with these organizations. Along with that, the CEO, in an interim basis, of Project Opioid Florida, which is a passion project of mine I'll tell you more about that now.
Speaker 2:So last week when I was at ChemSouth Florida Integrate, I was blown away. I'm sitting there on stage and I'm like we've got every single South Florida hospital CEO, every single South Florida hospital CIO, really talking about. I mean this has been an exciting, dynamic industry for decades, but now I mean I feel like there is something going on that is just so transformative. I'm sitting there and I'm like I got a job to do. I got to stay composed and I'm sitting there. My wheels are turning, especially in this world of AI. I mean we don't know what this is going to look like in five or 10 years, but what I do get excited about is how many lives that can be impacted for the good in healthcare IT in this age. I was excited and congratulations. I'm putting on really a world-class event that I think people were inspired, but I think they also walked out of there with some real equipped in a really, really, really powerful way.
Speaker 1:Well, the feedback we got from the audience was stellar and we talked about this a little earlier. You know we plan these things when you have a signature branded program, and the signature branded program for the South Florida HEMS chapter is our integrated conference. It routinely draws about 200 to 300 people every year and this was our 13th year and I wanted to do something special, as the third year of being the program chair is to bring a little bit of what we call big hymns. You know there's 30, 40,000 participants and attendees that go to the major hymns conference and I wanted to bring a little piece of that to South Florida. Now how did I do that? Dr Gita Nair Dr Gita, she's affectionately known, you know is on that.
Speaker 1:She's a global thought leader in health care and technology and she's a physician as well. Now she was the moderator for Big M, but she lives here in South Florida, so of course I use my Alex Price you know personality and I go and I approach her and I say, hey, would you like to do something here locally? She said, why not, let's do this, and as long as it jives with the schedule, she did it and then we were able to fly in Ed Marks. Ed Marks is like ex-CIO of Cleveland Clinic. He said, grant, whatever I can do for you, I will do it. Then we had VITAS with Patrick Hale. He said, of course, I'm going to do this. I can't remember. So when you start seeing that kind of lineup, then we get the CIOs and CEOs of all these organizations and then when you attract, you attract policy, meaning the senators.
Speaker 2:Senator Harrell Senator.
Speaker 1:Rodriguez. You got Tom Leary from Big Helms coming to our conference, moderated by Lisa Rollins. I'm blown away. Think about your blow. I'm blown away. And then I get Alex Price. Come on. I said you know what we need somebody who's got the moxie, who has the gravitas to be able to grab the mic, move this thing forward just a little bit. What did you learn from your experience?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. Well, I learned that I need to be, I need to dial in because the train has left the station. In terms of the AI-ization of healthcare IT, you know it's funny I, because I got introduced to HIMSS about 15 years ago when it was all about, you know this was right. When the Affordable Care Act was passed, it was all about digital. You know digital medical records and you know the prioritization of all that. Telehealth was still at its infancy and remember that was a very special time.
Speaker 2:And now I feel like the rate of change in healthcare technology is mind-blowing and I think what I took away from was that no one exactly knows what every year is going to be like, and people, I think, were humble about that. In a way. They're very excited. They realize that there's a tension, I think, between the possibilities and how we need to go after them and the responsibility to handle these technologies in a very, very thoughtful and cautious way too. I feel like there's such a balance there and I feel like there was a lot of honesty around that, because that's how you know. I mean, I must say I consider myself almost a late adopter of AI. You know, only a couple of years in. For a lot of us, it wasn't until chat GBT became mainstream, just two, two and a half years ago, that we're like, oh, I better get on this train and so. But I'm realizing that, especially in healthcare I mean, every industry is being transformed, but healthcare I mean the opportunity to treat and cure diseases and just thinking about, like aging parents and just like the longevity that we might be able to see from a life perspective and what that can mean for us and our families and friends.
Speaker 2:I did, you know, while it's, it's really cool. I'm just like a on a nerdy digital, you know, basis. I think I'm on the human level to me, I just was like, wow, you know, what a time to be living. And I'm not in that industry per se, I'm really almost just a beneficiary of what's all happening and I feel really grateful, I think, of anything. I feel grateful to be in the presence of what you had orchestrated.
Speaker 2:Wow, this is I don't want to let him down because this is a real privilege to be amongst global thought leaders, and I think that's one of the great things about being in Florida, you know, I mean the fastest growing stateida, which is, which is really international in nature, right so, we have the benefit of. It's a beautiful place, but you know, we've got, you say, global leaders that happen to live here, right so? And it exploding from a population perspective which is putting stress on, you know, home affordability, transportation, and how are we going to care for all of these Floridians, especially as our population is aging. So it's a really it. The setting is perfect to have that conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it was great because we had a lot of facets of the healthcare industry seated in the room, the policymakers that go to Tallahassee and they advocate on our behalf. They told you how to do it, how to advocate the process, how laws get in place. Sometimes we think our systems, our political systems, don't really work for us. We've got to be engaged. Once you're engaged and you understand the process, you can get things done. Engaged and you understand the process, you can get things done. Now I'm curious about what you're doing because there's you know it's one of the elephants in the room that we were. You got a lot of light before, but it seemed like they're not talking about it as much, but it's still.
Speaker 1:There is the opioid crisis and I know they got hit hard in the, in the panhandle. I mean it was. It was bad. It's probably still. Now we're getting a couple of hurricanes. People are going through some experience. I would not wish opioid addiction on any body. It's a terrible thing to be inflicted with and kind of work through. Talk to us about why you got involved in such a thing and what you're looking to accomplish.
Speaker 2:Sure? Well, first of all, one of my dear friends and someone that I partner with is the founder of Project Opioid, founded in 2018. So I've been following the issue very closely since then. I've lost some dear friends to the crisis and I know of many other people's pain. So it's the personal side, but also personally interesting because what I think, especially in Florida, because the first phase of this was the overprescribing of things like Oxycontin that came up through the 90s.
Speaker 2:People remember that a lot of professional athletes were getting hooked on this because they want to play through pain and so that happened. And then there was that kind of evolved into a lot of you know some kind of bad outfits in terms of recovery centers who were overprescribing, and Florida really attacked that in a really powerful way. You know, about 10 or so years ago and largely now that's still. It's still out there, but it was going to effectively addressed in a big way. So there's some things, there's some wins there, but what happened as that problem was getting addressed in the late 2000s, early 2000s, the rise, the invention of one of the worst kind of things ever created on Earth fentanyl was actually invented, which is a synthetic. So opioids people think of, you know, poppy, so you know this is organic. You know this is a very dangerous drug that has grown. Fentanyl takes the similar compound, the similar scientific compound. It's just created in a lab, you know, for next to nothing. It is 50 times more powerful than heroin, it costs nothing to make, and so the distribution of this is like something we've never seen. And so this was, you know, created in the, you know, I think 2012, 13, 14 timeframe starts entering, you know, the United States around that time and so, and think what? 2012, 13, 14 timeframe starts entering, you know, the United States around that time and so, and people are not just getting hooked, but they're dying at a rate that we hadn't, that we had never seen.
Speaker 2:And then, a few years into the fentanyl crisis, covid happens. We all remember gosh. We're coming up on five years from that. The world shut down. There's a mental health crisis. People are leaning into bad behaviors because of just the mental health stress and the conditions that many of us were in. And then you see something that we've never seen before.
Speaker 2:We see the opioid deaths fentanyl related, for almost all of them hit well over 100,000 in the US, wow, and well over 10,000 annually in Florida. I mean, this is almost a 500% increase in drug-related overdose deaths since the 90s 500% increase and it's affecting everybody, from every walk of life, every socioeconomic standpoint, every ethnic background. But it's really affecting our young people, so it's a leading cause of death in the United States in the 18 to 40 age range. And I think the interesting thing is, while there's been a bit of a thankful dip from the pandemic highs of 2020 and 2021, 2022, it's still infinitely worse than pre-pandemic, and so I'm worried that there could be kind of almost a false sense of oh, we're doing a little bit better, we're still at catastrophic rates. I don't want to see anyone unintentionally get comfortable with the data that they're seeing. It's catastrophic. That they're seeing it's catastrophic Again. Lesser drugs are being laced with this. People are unknowingly ingesting this poison.
Speaker 2:I hear about it on the news daily. People are just dying. It's unfortunate. Especially, I've got four kids at home, two that have now hit the teen phase. I know that they're going to be exposed to things that are dangerous here in the coming years. It's on my front doorstep. I know that they're going to be exposed to things that are dangerous here in the coming years, so it's on my front doorstep.
Speaker 2:I want to make sure that we're doing all we can to educate people, to save lives and get people who are hooked back on a road to recovery and restoration to live full, fulfilling lives and not dependent on a, a poisonous drug. And so the more I learned, the more passionate and really, really competitive I'm getting around like no, no, we need to. We need to march forward. As you know, getting getting an issue consistently top of mind is very tough in this day and age, right? I mean, we're just, we're being blasted with communication from every single standpoint. There's dramatic headlines flying at us from around the world. We know what's going on in the Middle East at a moment's notice that never in human history was that the case. So it can be very hard to even keep an issue like this front of mind for leaders and citizens. You have to be constantly championing it, talking about it in interesting ways that people know, and you can't rest, you can't rest.
Speaker 1:You cannot rest. This is a big, big problem. Drugs has always been a problem in American society, but we can't take our eyes off of the ball. Now you've framed the problem very, very well. I want to understand what you're doing, because you're big into philanthropy, you're big into social causes, you're big in community relations. What conversations are you having that you think are having impact that could bring some relief in this area?
Speaker 2:So one of my favorite things to do, and I think one of the most impactful things you can do, is to bring people together who are on, who would otherwise probably never hang out and otherwise probably never work together. I think that's, I think that's where the magic and making change can happen.
Speaker 2:And that means oh I want to say something crazy republicans and democrats actually working together in independence, yeah yeah, I, I love it and I think, if you can, if you can bring people together around, hey, why don't we save lives? Okay, yes, let's start with that premise Getting people from cross sectors. I mean, that's something that you do. So bring in health care, bring in law enforcement, bring in the politicians, the business leaders. If you want to move things forward, you've got to bring business to bear on these issues and, of course, our nonprofits, who are expert in these issues. But you've got to bring business to bear on these issues and, of course, our nonprofits, who are expert in these issues. But you got to bring business together. So I bring in coalitions. You know, I think it's a national and global issue, but change to me happens at a local or regional level. So you bring together these cross-functional groups of top leaders at a call it county or city or regional level and say, hey, let's agree, this is a problem. Let's listen to all solutions, and even from non-traditional sources. So let's have someone who's outside the space weigh in on it and come together to push legislation when needed, create big awareness communication campaigns that will be in people's face.
Speaker 2:Other solutions, for instance, like life-saving drugs, like naloxone, narcan people know about that let's make sure that. That's because we can't help people get a better life if we don't save that life on the spot. But you know, it may be a different issue that you're facing. Maybe we're talking about you know the housing crisis, so maybe we're talking about homelessness. Whatever it is, to me it's local level, it's cross-functional, it's um strange partnerships you would never see before and getting people to actually work together when they otherwise probably wouldn't. And what I love this is just a byproduct of all that. Not only do we get the best solutions, you actually get these strange, never before seen friendships yeah, where you know you know what I'm saying, you know like product of all that. Not only do we get the best solutions, you actually get these strange, never-before-seen friendships.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I never would have thought I'd even talk to that person. Now it's like, oh, I can trust them. I don't agree with everything, but we agree, we care about people, we care about people, so we work together. I love seeing that I can take on different boards, but that's kind of the basic formula.
Speaker 1:No, that's great. I'm starting to get the wind of what you call your business mission impact strategy. Let's make some impact. I want to go a little deeper into your Alex Price story. People don't know your background a little bit. Some people don't Not. A lot of people know You've told me some of that. You know the Florida, the New York, back to Florida, the corporate grind, doing your own business.
Speaker 2:Tell us about the Alex Price story. Oh gosh, well, you know, I know we have limited time, so I'll try to hit on some critical moments. You know, first of all, I had the benefit. So I grew up in Pensacola, florida, which is, I say it's, same state as South Florida, different country, more than more than Alabama, georgia, vibe. I love all this, I love the diversity of Florida. So I grew up in the panhandle with a wonderful family my father Billy, my mom Penny, my sister amy, who's now a sitting circuit court judge in the panel. So she's like, she's amazing, she's, she's always been, you know, the better one. So I just tried to, you know, I just tried to, you know, do my part. But uh, I had the benefit of a great family. You know we're a great middle-class family.
Speaker 2:My dad it's funny, my dad when he was my age right now, which is 46, that's the year he went out on his own. He worked for a big recruitment firm that he started his own. It's really kind of cool. So I had that benefit, went to Florida State and I was ready to kind of take my talent to New York City for grad school at Columbia and to also work. It was a night program and my dad drove me up. It was sort of like, hey, you know, we set you up, now you got to run boy, and so there was some good pressure there and I got started on my master's and started working in the ad industry on Madison Avenue and then, about six months into that, my dad passed and it just you know, he was, you know, early 50s to heart and it was he's my best friend and he was also my career coach. He was early 50s to heart and he's my best friend and he was also my career coach. He was a recruiter, so that's what he did.
Speaker 2:I had the best of the best and so I lost everything. I lost my father, my advisor, my best friend, all at once and at a moment when I was kind of leaving the nest per se. And it was a transformative time. Obviously, it was very tragic and I could have gone a lot of different ways. I think the new friends I had met in New York City were kind of like, hey, like he could go a lot of different ways.
Speaker 2:Now, um, and these new friends, who I'm still family with now, came alongside me and they said look, you need to channel all this emotion into something real positive, to kind of heal. You know, um, we'll help you do it. We brainstormed and it was like, hey, let's do this. Let we lost my dad to heart, so let's let's put on a huge like rock concert in uh you know, in in time square at the at the one year anniversary of his passing to raise funds and awareness for heart disease. And we'll, we'll have a rock concert. And it was actually right. It was actually in the Empire State Building complex, love it.
Speaker 2:And one year anniversary we, not knowing what the heck we were doing, somehow raised tens of thousands of dollars for heart disease and brought hundreds of young professionals together and had this euphoric moment which is extremely cathartic for me. And later that night we're like, what do we do now? Like I think we got to create a nonprofit. We get hundreds of young professional followers. We think we throw onto something here.
Speaker 2:And so later that month we founded an organization called NYC Ties. It was a nonprofit that kind of helped young transplants from around the globe that were coming to New York City to create strong ties with their new city by learning about its issues and getting involved in social change. Our hope there was to create kind of a movement where people would not everyone's going to stay in New York, they're going to after a few years, they're going to go wherever they go, but they would take that philanthropic kind of ethic wherever they go and drive change. And so that organization lasted gosh 15, 20 years and so it was. But that was, that was a life-changing sort of experience for me personally, saying hey, you're not, we're not guaranteed tomorrow. I know we're not guaranteed tomorrow, so let's make today count. But also my interests professionally and leadership wise were very shaped through all that and I moved into social purpose kind of track from that point forward.
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Speaker 1:Man, of course we share that type of experience. I need to think about this until you said that when my father passed, I was 46 years old that's how old I was at the time. He was 67, but he died tragically uh, from complications, from a broken leg, which I don't want to get too deep into that, but I understand. Sudden death from someone that's not just only your father, but someone very close to you, can be traumatic and it leaves you in a certain state of what you, what can you do and what you did, and what your, your, your, your network, your people that really had your back like, let's put our arms around this and not just you know, obviously you're grieving, but let's just channel that energy into something better. There's some legacy here. Let's help. So I don't want someone else to have that experience. What can we do to prevent that? Right, right right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think think you know you got to do that throughout life. The tragic and hard things we go through prepare us to help others in unique ways down the road that we can't even foresee at the time. It's like the person who loses someone to an overdose how tragic they may be able to befriend someone in an incredible way, uniquely. Who's going through that 10 years later, you know. But you don't want to let any kind of experience like that go to waste. You want to somehow use that to help others and it's interesting how it all works that way.
Speaker 1:And then you got into corporate America, came down here we're working with companies like Comcast and ADT. You're doing community relations. You're out front, you're the face of the brand. Talk to people about being there, because I think some people they hide behind their computers, they hide behind their marketing, they hide in certain ways. They say, well, someone else can tell the story, someone else can talk about our why, why you, and why do you feel that that is so important?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I will say, talk about, talk about why. And like most of us in the leadership world have read this book. I had the the really, really special experience of having the author of this book, Simon Sinek, as um, as a grad school professor before, before he hit fame. So I could we. Now I look back at those years I'm like he was really working out a lot of his seemingly a lot of his philosophies and content and kind of trialing it on us as students, and so you know that was very powerful. So met my wife in New York City. We wanted to start a family back in our home state of Florida.
Speaker 2:So moved back out of Florida 15 years ago and started this kind of corporate philanthropy journey and partnered with and worked at some of South Florida's largest base companies ADT, Comcast, Florida Office Depot and with that had the opportunity to not just run but create foundations and social impact programs and platforms. That would essentially be the emotional way we would tell the story of the company. Every company needs to sell top-notch products and services, obviously, but out there competing for hearts and minds, for customers and supporters, I've found that the vehicle of philanthropy is obviously important to help impact lives. It can also be a really wonderful way in which you can communicate with your audiences, to talk about your values and to tie philanthropy in a strategic way to what you do from a project, product and service perspective. And so, you know, that became I kind of took the things that I learned, you know, through simon and through you know, my nyc ties, experience to these companies and we would create essentially like the vehicle to express the ethos of a company. And by doing that you and I, maybe even sometimes on in dramatic ways, would look to kind of just embody that brand as a human and try to get as many people, colleagues, to kind of do the same. And that became in some ways, I would say almost probably went a little too far a few times.
Speaker 2:But you know, for instance, you know when I would work at I would call it, you know, at ADT, it's about public safety and security, and so you become that person and you're working with law enforcement and talking to the media about those issues and you're feeling and you're literally a walking walking like almost an expression of the logo itself Office Depot. Oh my gosh, it was about education and Title I schools and how do we support family, minority-led entrepreneurs who can help them level barriers to opportunity. And so what was neat there is you create these little movements within the company, whether it be frontline folks working at a store or the folks in accounting who could be doing accounting at any company. So how do you create a differentiated employee experience, Like I could be an accountant or I could be an HR administrator anywhere, but I want to do it here because this company all of a sudden feels like it has a heart and a soul and I'm really proud to talk about it on the weekends when I'm in the grocery store and I want to rock my shirt.
Speaker 2:What's nice about working in the nonprofit sector, or maybe in communities and education, is that there is a baked in social purpose. It's part of. For me in corporate America. It was like how do we bring that social purpose in a palatable way into the for-profit sector to help create employee experiences that were differentiated and very special? I had people come to me and say I would have left this company five years ago, but I really believe in what we're doing here.
Speaker 2:I had that conversation so many times and customers and communities say, hey, your company is now a pillar of the community, like you're a pride point of South Florida, and so that that I would really try to do that. You can't do that as a as a singular operator. You got to like build, you got to build coalitions within organizations, and so that was something I got good at over time Listening, which is useful, which is useful in any arena, but it's really useful.
Speaker 1:Now, as an entrepreneur, I tell you what you've done and I get this question a lot, especially from my audience and my clients how do I balance the personal brand and the business brand? You just gave us a textbook masterclass on that and I learned a lot from a mentor of mine who was actually on this show, david Ocker. David Ocker is known as the godfather of branding. He's really about that. Businesses need to be not just about their profits but about social impact. What is the social impact does your product have on the community at large and what do you stand for? What is your pulse about? Because that doesn't give rise to people. You know what.
Speaker 1:We made $14 billion of profits last month they're like and what did you do with that? What did you do with that? Having a bunch of money of itself. Is that success? Or is success about? We took this $14 billion, whatever it may be, and we changed the lives of other people. I am not against making profit. I'm just saying use your profit profitability purposefully. You embody that. I love how you've taken that and say this is my personal brand and the business brand and I see the social change.
Speaker 1:You say Office Depot, that's just off-square. People take that office equipment and make change. It's important, it's super important to have those kinds of tools. Are you thinking about Comcast or ADT? That's protecting the home front, it's security. Why is that important? It's a big thing because if you don't have security, something bad potentially could happen. All those things are important, but messaging that has become a struggle, I think, in the corporate brand world and where the leg up for people and I want people to understand the leg up is in the personal brand of that Of being able to tell the story. Most people they'll see a commercial from a corporation like oh yeah, they're supposed to say that, but if they see Alex Price saying something about that very same company, this is a fact it has a reach of 542% more reach Because people believe in people. They want to know from you. That's why testimonials are so powerful. But you can't just can testimony, you have to be authentic. We talked about this earlier, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, Right, right, we are in the age of authenticity and there was a time, you know, when there were three stations right and so a TV ad on the Superbowl was like kind of all you needed to to like get your brand out there and to get people fired up about it. Now, oh my gosh, I mean, there is such, I feel, like a litmus test for authenticity. And you're right, you can get bombarded with a million sort of slick marketing, sort of touch points and ads and commercials and marketing. You know the whole spectrum. But if you have someone who doesn't, who doesn't have to say, oh my gosh, I believe in that company, whether it's a customer or, you know, a community member or or an employee, or like a frontline employee who's not maybe making much, it was like, no, I, I believe in this so powerful, but it's gotta be authentic, you gotta do that.
Speaker 2:You know, I always say I'm a firm believer that leadership is not about rank, it's not about hierarchy.
Speaker 2:You can lead from the middle, you can lead from behind, lead where you're at, but it's really, it's still, at the same time, so important for our C-suites and our CEOs to believe, because they have just enormous leverage on the apparatuses of these entities. Now you've got to be excellent with what you do in the business. Your product, your service and your delivery of that has to be so I'm almost saying like let's assume that that's the case, so it's not any either way that that needs to be excellent. But then if you want to differentiate, it's got to be these other things and how you, how do you engage in a community to make that community better over time? And there's a story around that. I don't think it's bad to tell that story as long as it's authentic. Because I come from a communications background, I love storytelling. I don't think that it's being on our chest to do that. People won't know what your values are unless you take the time to artfully and appropriately tell that story.
Speaker 1:You can't tell that story from behind the logo. Yeah, I remember I talked about this from another guest that came on the show and we were talking about certain brands and their personalities, their personification. And I remember when Chrysler car manufacturer they had Lee Iacocca Like wow, I remember Lee Iacocca, like wow, I remember Lee Iacocca. If you ask me right now who the CEO of Chrysler is, I couldn't even tell you. I have no idea. They're not up in front of that brand and maybe don't have personality. They're not really intentionally doing that.
Speaker 1:That's why I love being in South Florida Hams bringing the CIOs out, the CEO, see who they are and what they are about. And then you say, wow, when I'm doing that, if I got to go to that hospital, if I got to go to Holy Cross, I got to go to Memorial, I got to go to Baptist, at least I know who's leading that organization and what they're about. And I feel a lot more confident about that. And it wasn't just some canned commercial that I saw. I said no, no, no, these guys are and they understand. Like you said, they're challenges. It's not a perfect world. It's not Be honest with me. Yes, and let's see how we can work this out together. I got one more thing I'm going to ask.
Speaker 2:I love that. You know what I say. Just to wrap it up yeah, leaders got to get out there. They can't stand, you know, in their offices. They need to get out. You know. Now that people are getting back in office, they need to go walk the floors again. They need to be with their people. They need to be out in communities on panels. They need to be doing that and doing it in a not reckless but in a less scripted way, because if you know what you're about, you know what your business is about, you can go off script and you'll still be. They need to get out there. You provided that form and they were excellent. We need to get back to that as leaders and we have to.
Speaker 1:It's almost a necessity now in a digital first society and a content rich world. How are you going to differentiate yourself? You cannot duplicate reality, which is myself and yourself. You can have simulations of reality, but the duplication that's a little bit more. And so people do drive into authenticity and they can tell when someone is, because there's a feeling that is transferred and that feeling has to be there.
Speaker 1:I have one more thing, because the only other thing I brought up brought us together and I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up and I felt strongly about it because you have children, you have kids and we're in an environment now in which I've never had this kind of. I was going to school, I never thought about going to school and potentially somebody could come into the school and start shooting everybody. I mean I find that very disturbing, but I have to live my kids will have to live with that kind of in the subconscious that this potentially can happen. So I developed with a kind of subconscious that this potentially can happen. So I developed with a partner of mine the Help For you app by Building Bridges Communications that was co-developed by one of my business partners at Agile InfoWays. I brought it to you because I know that you are in the community, that you understand these levers of government and these levers of social impact groups and where they're at, why this is important. I wanted to just relate to the audience what you felt about this opportunity.
Speaker 2:No, like immediately I was like hey, how can I help get the board out? How can I help you in that work? I mean I was at, hey, how can I help get the board out? How can I help you in that work? I mean, I was at Office Depot, you know, hosting an event the morning of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, and back in, what was it? I guess it was 2018. Oh my gosh. I mean, we've been seeing at that point ever since Columbine in 99, we've been seeing more frequency of these school shootings, but that was right there at our doorstep. Um, I had a colleague whose daughter was part of the, the 12 or 13 that died that day. Um, and lots of our office depot folks had been alumni and or had kids at that school.
Speaker 2:It was so it's just a visceral thing. And so when you said that, I said, hey, you know, I think it's a multi-pronged solution. We do need physical security, we need all those things, but what we really need, maybe more than anything, is to have a private way that students can, in a safe way, communicate their struggles, whether they be a physical struggle, a mental struggle or just uncertainties. It can have quick, responsive interventions that are appropriate to the moment, that can happen fast, that can happen discreetly where needed, and can be done at scale, especially in, I think, about four. We have these massive school districts right. We have, I think, six of the top 10 largest school districts in the country right here. And so you know and you were describing this technology that this app that would do that, that would triage these issues.
Speaker 2:But if someone's like you know, like, hey, I'm feeling like I might want to hurt myself, I would like to talk with someone right now, or I'm feeling as though I'm being bullied and I feel physically or emotionally being harmed right now, or I need help right now I'm physically scared. All those things need appropriate interventions and need to happen quickly, whether it's law enforcement or a counselor or even a peer-to-peer relationship that needs to be structured. So I just loved it. I see all the possibilities. We've never seen a mental health crisis like we are experiencing here, especially for Gen Z and millennials. They're hurting right now for all kinds of reasons and some of those things are tough to address. The digitalization of our world creates comparisons and things that are very tough for undeveloped minds to wrestle with. We may be able to impact some of that. But what we can definitely do is provide great sound interventions to help these young people navigate the very complex world that they're in and the unique situation that they're in. So again, I know that you know the power there is tremendous.
Speaker 1:Again, anything that me or any of my network can do to help propel that to scale, I mean, let me know we're going to do that, because doing nothing is not an option, and that's what I like, in front of people to talk about this. Well, doing nothing is not an option. You got to look at your kids in the eye and say, well, what did you do? And you've got to be able to do something. This is something that I'm doing.
Speaker 2:What we're doing we want to get this word out because it makes a difference to be preventative before crisis right, and parents are going to love this because, you know, a lot of times, once they hit the teen years, they're a little less expressive and talkative to the parents, and that worries us. But to know that, hey, when they're maybe a little bit clamped up expressing some of their issues with us, they've got a tool like this that can help when we don't maybe know what's going on all the time, and so I think that's one of the most important things 100%.
Speaker 1:Before I leave you, I want to give you the mic. I want people to understand mission and we were talking about mission impact strategy. You follow this entire podcast and you've listened to it. You've gotten impact out of it. You are the leader. You said this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm about. Tell the audience what you're doing and, again, how to contact you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So on the for-profit side, it's helping companies that maybe are emerging, growing and are like, hey, we want to give back and make an impact in a thoughtful, strategic, business-savvy way, helping a company right now a public company, but still in its infancy stages, launch a foundation and really figure out how they want to impact the communities in their world and tell their story through it.
Speaker 2:So in situations like that, we're helping maybe another great client that's kind of a regional power player in a certain social cause area and really has figured out how to address we'll call it homelessness in this case, but name the issue I want to take that and expand and scale, maybe statewide, region-wide or nationally, but don't have the networks, the funding streams outside of maybe what is home market for them. So it's helping organizations scale the wonderful thing that they're doing and so they can impact more geographies and more people. So and it really comes back to storytelling, whether it's a for-profit, nonprofit or any institution, it's helping that organization tell a powerful story that'll break through and that will attract great customers, great employees and constituents will attract great customers, great employees and constituents will be drawn to. And so it's at the early stages. But this is what I've been training for for the last 20 years and I'm just really excited to make an impact and to partner with incredible people like you along the way.
Speaker 1:Well, this is wonderful. I'm 100% behind you. I want you to give them the website, the email address. What is the day, alex, I hear you? I want to do this. I want to be a part of your story. What are they going to do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so easily. Just go to missionimpactstrategiescom. There's a contact button right there that'll get right to me and my partners and we can set up time to talk through what your business issue is, what your dreams are for your organization and get a strategy together to take it all the way.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you again for being on the Follow Brand Podcast. You have been a tremendous guest and I'm going to say my friend.
Speaker 2:Absolutely First and foremost.
Speaker 1:And I always ask I'm starting to ask this, I want to ask this even more because you're here, because it's come on authenticity real quick how did you like this episode of you being on the follow brand podcast?
Speaker 2:well, I, if you haven't, if you can't tell I'm having a blast, no, but I love it, because you know I love this type of thing, but I can't even imagine if you had someone that was maybe a little bit more reserved in nature. You're so good at bringing it out, bringing out the stories, bringing out the emotion, bringing out the why truly gifted there, and you know, it's just, it's a lot, it's fun, there's a lot of podcasts out there. You're, you're, you're in my top one two. I mean it's great. And so continue doing the work that you're doing, because I love how you, obviously you pour into leaders. You help them tell a story, then you give them this form to tell their story in this new, fresh way and to start showcasing it in a new, powerful way, and so thank you for that opportunity to do that myself, oh man, thank man, thank you again for being a guest on the show.
Speaker 1:Really appreciate the accolades. I want to encourage your entire audience to tune into all the episodes of Follow Brand. They can go to the number five. That's five star. S-t-a-r-b-d-m that's B for brand, d for development and for masterscom. This has been wonderful and I will see you soon, my friend, and I will see you soon, my friend. You take care, see you soon. Thanks for joining us on the Follow Brand Podcast. Big thanks to Full Effect Productions for their incredible support on each and every episode. Now the journey continues on our YouTube channel Follow Brand TV Series. Dive into exclusive interviews, extended content and bonus insights that will fuel your success. Subscribe now and be a part of our growing community sharing and learning together. Explore, engage and elevate at Follow Brand TV series on YouTube. Stay connected, stay inspired. Till next time, we will continue building a five-star brand that you can follow.