Podcasts about mobile area chamber

In this episode, we explore the accomplished military career of Lieutenant Colonel Oakland "Oak" McCulloch, highlighting his 23 years of service in the U.S. Army. Oak's tenure included notable leadership roles in the Infantry and Armor branches, where he was actively involved in disaster relief for Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, and participated in key operations such as Desert Shield/Desert Storm, peacekeeping in Bosnia, and operations in Kosovo. He also made significant contributions as an instructor at various prestigious military and academic institutions, shaping the future leaders of the military. Post-retirement, Oak's journey continued with impactful roles outside the military. He served as the Associate Director at the Bay Area Food Bank and took on leadership roles in community organizations like the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and Rotary International Club. His transition to academia saw him excel as a Senior Military Science Instructor at Stetson University, dramatically increasing cadet enrollment. His skills as a recruiter were nationally recognized in 2019, further testament to his enduring dedication to leadership and mentorship. The episode also touches upon Oak's personal life, including his family, illustrating the balance he maintains between his professional accomplishments and his home life. Find out more at https://www.ltcoakmcculloch.com/

Explore the extraordinary journey of LTC Oak McCulloch, a seasoned Army veteran and accomplished leader, in this captivating video. Born in Loudon, Tennessee, and raised in Kirkland, Illinois, Oak's path led him through the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point, where he began his military journey.Over a 23-year career, LTC McCulloch served in various leadership roles in the Infantry and Armor branches, contributing to disaster relief efforts during Hurricane HUGO and Hurricane ANDREW. His operational deployments took him to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo, shaping his expertise in military strategy.Following his retirement from the Army in 2009, Oak transitioned to civilian life, making a significant impact as the Associate Director at the Bay Area Food Bank during the BP oil spill. His commitment to service extended to roles as Vice Chair for Military Affairs at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Mobile Rotary International Club.In 2010, LTC McCulloch took on the role of Recruiting Officer for the Eagle Battalion Army ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Over 15 years, he transformed the program, earning recognition as the top recruiting officer in 2019 out of 274 recruiters.Beyond his achievements, Oak McCulloch is the author of "Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be," published in February 2021. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in History from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Military Arts and Science from the United States Army Command and General Staff College.Throughout his military career, LTC McCulloch earned thirty-one military service awards, including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals, and the Humanitarian Service Medal. Join us in celebrating the remarkable life and accomplishments of LTC Oak McCulloch, a true leader and inspiration to many.

This episode of the Amazing Cities and Towns Podcast sponsored by Bearing Advisors, Jim Hunt interviews Greg Cochran, the Executive Director of the Alabama League of Municipalities  A candid conversation about the future of cities and cities in Alabama Career opportunities in the state of Alabama The value of the Al League of Municipalities for their member cities and towns The downtown redevelopment successes in Alabama The relationship with the Alabama League of Municipalities and the National League of Cities How broadband access is changing in the state of Alabama And, much more   7 Steps to an Amazing City:   Attitude Motivation Attention to Detail Zing Inclusiveness Neighborhood Empowerment Green Awareness   Thanks for listening and look forward to having you join us for the next episode.   Links Mentions During Show: www.almonline.org AmazingCities.org AmazingCities.org/podcast to be a guest on the podcast   About  Greg Cochran Greg was named Executive Director in July 2020 after serving the League's membership since 1996 as Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs and then Deputy Director and Interim Executive Director. With more than 30 years of experience in governmental affairs, he has developed crucial relationships at every level of government and has served as the League's lead lobbyist for more than two decades. During the mid-1980s, he began working on political campaigns as a volunteer, including Montgomery Mayor Emory Folmar's re-elections in 1984 and 1988. In 1990 Greg joined the staff of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama representing Alabama physicians for three years as the Director of Legislative Affairs. From 1993 until 1994 he served as Vice President of Governmental Relations for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Greg returned to Montgomery in 1994, serving as the Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the Business Council of Alabama until 1996 when he was hired as the League's first full-time staff lobbyist solely dedicated to state and federal legislative endeavors and governmental affairs. In 2006, Greg was named Executive Vice President of the Alabama Municipal Funding Corporation (AMFund), which was developed by the League to assist municipal members with refinancing existing debt and funding local projects and purchases through low-interest, cost-effective loans. He was elected AMFund President in 2008. Greg is a longtime member of the Alabama Council of Association Executives where he was elected to serve as Treasurer (2007-08), Vice President (2008-09) and President (2009-10). He has also served on the Character Council of Alabama Board of Directors and was elected Vice Chairman for 2010-11. He has served as the Vice Chair of the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee for Energy Policy and the National League of Cities' Public Finance Consortium where he has served as Chairman since 2011. Greg also served on the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Chapter, International Association of Expo Managers from 2003-2005. Greg earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives and graduated from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Chamber Institute. He is a 2018 graduate of the prestigious Delta Regional Executive Leadership Institute, a year-long executive leadership academy formed by the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) to train leaders from diverse backgrounds, sectors and industries across eight states to improve the economic competitiveness and social viability of the Mississippi River Delta and Alabama Black Belt. Greg attended the University of North Alabama and Troy State University majoring in Political Science. Greg was raised in a military family, growing up in Norfolk, VA, and Jacksonville, FL, where his father served in the U.S. Navy. He is married to Kelly Barclay Cochran and has two grown sons, William and Sanders. About Your Host, Jim Hunt: Welcome to the “Building Amazing Cities and Towns Podcast” … The podcast for Mayors, Council Members, Managers, Staff and anyone who is interested in building an Amazing City.   Your host is Jim Hunt, the author of “Bottom Line Green, How American Cities are Saving the Planet and Money Too” and his latest book, “The Amazing City - 7 Steps to Creating an Amazing City”   Jim is also the former President of the National League of Cities, 27 year Mayor, Council Member and 2006 Municipal Leader of the Year by American City and County Magazine.   Today, Jim speaks to 1000's of local government officials each year in the US and abroad.   Jim also consults with businesses that are bringing technology and innovation to local government.   Amazing City Resources:   Buy Jim's Popular Books: The Amazing City: 7 Steps to Creating an Amazing City: https://www.amazingcities.org/product-page/the-amazing-city-7-steps-to-creating-an-amazing-city   Bottom Line Green: How America's Cities and Saving the Planet (And Money Too) https://www.amazingcities.org/product-page/bottom-line-green-how-america-s-cities-are-saving-the-planet-and-money-too   FREE White Paper: “10 Steps to Revitalize Your Downtown” AmazingCities.org/10-Steps   Hire Jim to Speak at Your Next Event: Tell us about your event and see if dates are available at AmazingCities.org/Speaking   Hire Jim to Consult with Your City or Town: Discover more details at https://www.amazingcities.org/consulting   Discuss Your Business Opportunity/Product to Help Amazing Cities: Complete the form at https://www.amazingcities.org/business-development   A Special Thanks to Bearing Advisors for the support of this podcast:  www.BearingAdvisors.Net

I'm so honored to have Oakland McCulloch on the podcast as he shares his decades of wisdom navigating leadership in the military and beyond! Oakland McCulloch was born in Loudon, Tennessee, and raised in Kirkland, Illinois.  After graduating from high school, he attend the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years.  He then graduated from Northern Illinois University and received his commission as an Infantry Officer through the Reserve Officer Training Course in 1986.       In his 23 year career in the Army Oak McCulloch held numerous leadership positions in the Infantry and Armor branches.  He assisted in disaster relief operations for Hurricane HUGO in Charleston, South Carolina and Hurricane ANDREW in south Florida.  His operational deployments include Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a Generals Aide-de-Camp, the Congressional Liaison Officer in support of operations in Bosnia and the Operations Officer during a Peace Keeping deployment to Kosovo.  He held instructor positions at the US Army Ordnance School, the US Army Command and General Staff College, the Australian Command and Staff College, University of South Alabama, and Stetson University.  His last position in the Army was a three-year tour as the Professor of Military Science at the University of South Alabama where he led the training and commissioning of Lieutenants and tripled the size of the program in his three-year tour. LTC McCulloch retired from the Army in September 2009 with over 23 years of active service and joined the staff at the Bay Area Food Bank as the Associate Director.  He was also the Vice Chair for Military Affairs on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Mobile Rotary International Club.  LTC McCulloch left the food bank in December 2010 to become the Senior Military Science Instructor and recruiter for the Army ROTC program at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. In his 9 years at Stetson, the program grew from 15 Cadets to over 100 Cadets.  In October 2013, he became the Recruiting Operations Officer for the Eagle Battalion Army ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he has more than doubled the size of the program in 6 years.  Cadet Command selected LTC McCulloch as the top recruiting officer, out of 274 recruiters, for 2019.  LTC Oak McCulloch published his first book in February 2021 – “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”.       LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University in 1987 and a Master of Military Arts and Science in History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002.  He received thirty-one military service awards including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.You can find his book here - https://www.amazon.com/Your-Leadership-Legacy-Becoming-Leader/dp/1952037107

On today's episode I interview Retired Lt. Col. Oakland McCulloch. Here is his bio: He was born in Loudon, Tennessee and raised in Kirkland, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he attend the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years. He then graduated from Northern Illinois University and received his commission as an Infantry Officer through the Reserve Officer Training Course in 1986. In his 23 year career in the Army Oak McCulloch held numerous leadership positions in the Infantry and Armor branches. He assisted in disaster relief operations for Hurricane HUGO in Charleston, South Carolina and Hurricane ANDREW in south Florida. His operational deployments include Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a Generals Aide-de-Camp, the Congressional Liaison Officer in support of operations in Bosnia and the Operations Officer during a Peace Keeping deployment to Kosovo. He held instructor positions at the US Army Ordnance School, the US Army Command and General Staff College, the Australian Command and Staff College, University of South Alabama and Stetson University. His last position in the Army was a three-year tour as the Professor of Military Science at the University of South Alabama where he led the training and commissioning of Lieutenants and tripled the size of the program in his three-year tour. LTC McCulloch retired from the Army in September 2009 with over 23 years of active service and joined the staff at the Bay Area Food Bank as the Associate Director. He was also the Vice Chair for Military Affairs on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Mobile Rotary International Club. LTC McCulloch left the food bank in December 2010 to become the Senior Military Science Instructor and recruiter for the Army ROTC program at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. In his 9 years at Stetson, the program grew from 15 Cadets to over 100 Cadets. In October 2013, he became the Recruiting Operations Officer for the Eagle Battalion Army ROTC program at Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University where he has more than doubled the size of the program in 6 years. Cadet Command selected LTC McCulloch as the top recruiting officer, out of 274 recruiters, for 2019. LTC Oak McCulloch published his first book in February 2021 – “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”. LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University in 1987 and a Master of Military Arts and Science in History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002. He received thirty-one military service awards including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals and the Humanitarian Service Medal. LTC Oak McCulloch is married to the former Kelly Smyth of Wauconda, Illinois. They were married at Fort Sheridan, Illinois in 1987 and they have two children, Oakland Vincent McCulloch and Caileigh Nicholson. They also have a granddaughter, Ryleigh Jade Nicholson and two grandsons Christopher Bryce Nicholson and Oakland Maverick McCulloch. If you are a leader in any capacity whether it be the military, business, parent, grandparent, non profit founder, or other, you definitely want to listen to this!  PS: Stay all the way to the end to hear where we're at in regards to the fun "Listening Room"

Oakland McCulloch was born in Loudon, Tennessee and raised in Kirkland, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he attend the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years. He then graduated from Northern Illinois University and received his commission as an Infantry Officer through the Reserve Officer Training Course in 1986. In his 23 year career in the Army Oak McCulloch held numerous leadership positions in the Infantry and Armor branches. He assisted in disaster relief operations for Hurricane HUGO in Charleston, South Carolina and Hurricane ANDREW in south Florida. His operational deployments include Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a Generals Aide-de-Camp, the Congressional Liaison Officer in support of operations in Bosnia and the Operations Officer during a Peace Keeping deployment to Kosovo. He held instructor positions at the US Army Ordnance School, the US Army Command and General Staff College, the Australian Command and Staff College, University of South Alabama and Stetson University. His last position in the Army was a three-year tour as the Professor of Military Science at the University of South Alabama where he led the training and commissioning of Lieutenants and tripled the size of the program in his three-year tour. LTC McCulloch retired from the Army in September 2009 with over 23 years of active service and joined the staff at the Bay Area Food Bank as the Associate Director. He was also the Vice Chair for Military Affairs on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Mobile Rotary International Club. LTC McCulloch left the food bank in December 2010 to become the Senior Military Science Instructor and recruiter for the Army ROTC program at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. In his 9 years at Stetson, the program grew from 15 Cadets to over 100 Cadets. In October 2013, he became the Recruiting Operations Officer for the Eagle Battalion Army ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he has more than doubled the size of the program in 6 years. Cadet Command selected LTC McCulloch as the top recruiting officer, out of 274 recruiters, for 2019. LTC Oak McCulloch published his first book in February 2021 – “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”. LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University in 1987 and a Master of Military Arts and Science in History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002. He received thirty-one military service awards including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals and the Humanitarian Service Medal. LTC Oak McCulloch is married to the former Kelly Smyth of Wauconda, Illinois. They were married at Fort Sheridan, Illinois in 1987 and they have two children, Oakland Vincent McCulloch and Caileigh Nicholson. They also have a granddaughter, Ryleigh Jade Nicholson and two grandsons Christopher Bryce Nicholson and Oakland Maverick McCulloch.

Bob Chapelle from the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce is our guest with unique insights on how the Corona Crisis has affected our economy and how to get your business back online.  

Bob Chapelle from the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce is our guest with unique insights on how the Corona Crisis has affected our economy and how to get your business back online.  

On this week's episode, we're sitting down with Darrell Randle, Vice President of Small Business Development over at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Listen to this week's episode to hear his story and how getting involved with the Chamber will help your business thrive.

Cheers to the Mobile business community, and the continued advancement of this economy. The prosperity that we're seeing, I think we've only scratched the surface. - Bill Sisson In this episode, Karen and guest host Michelle Crowe talk with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bill Sisson. Bill gives us his insights and the lay of the land for the Mobile, Alabama business environment. He also shares all the leadership resources available, networking opportunities, and all the ways for a local business to get the most out of their local chamber. Plus, Michelle Crowes explains how "Mobile is really a small town that acts like a big city" and why that a good thing.   This episode is sponsored by Payroll Vault - Mobile, Alabama Click here to schedule your FREE Payroll Audit with Cadie. Key Takeaways Your local Chamber of Commerce has a ton of FREE educational and leadership resources to help grow your business. When considering a Chamber membership, always think about what do you want to get out of your membership. The most significant change in Mobile has been more and more focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. Competition is good, don't see other people as competition. Consider feeding your market. Don't stay in your bubble. Think about how large your business market can be.   Resources Bill Sisson -  Twitter  |  LinkedIn Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce  -  Website  |   Facebook Michelle Crowe  -  e-worc website |  LinkedIn   Learn more about Karen Simmons & Cadie Gaut 

Karen Simmons Payroll Vault - Mobile & Baldwin Counties   Cheers To: It's hard to define business chambers because each one takes on the character of whatever community in which they're located. A chamber is only as good as its membership, and we would not be a chamber without that membership. Over 95% of businesses are classified as small in the Mobile, Alabama, metropolitan region. When considering a Chamber membership, always think about what do you want to get out of that membership. Then let us see if we can help you connect in the ways that will be a value add for you and your business. We are a large Chamber and have a big portfolio of opportunities for people to get involved. We have this tremendous talent here in the Mobile community. Really smart people are working very hard in various sectors. I think that's something to be proud of. The most significant change in Mobile has been more and more focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. The entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Mobile has exceeded my expectations in ways that I would have never imagined. There are some 28,000 micro-businesses in this area, and this shows me that we have a lot of pent up demand for entrepreneurial activity. What's unique about Mobile is that people are willing to work together and ready to come to the table together. And even though we're a fairly large metropolitan area, we culturally work like a small town. You don't talk about people in Mobile because it's a big small town. Somebody knows somebody. I've been here going on 17 years, and I still have every week have what I call a Mobile Moment where I realized that somebody is related to somebody, or is an ex-wife, or a best friend. What I like about the Mobile Business community is that people feel like they can be a part of something here. I think everybody truly wants to help each other out. I have found tenfold that if you help somebody else succeed, you're succeeding. Our phrase at the office is that we are a small town acting like a big city. The Mobile Mayor is everywhere, and I'm starting to wonder if there's more than one of them. I often hear that from newcomers to Mobile is just how connected everybody is here. I think we do that through entrepreneurship, and making sure that minority businesses that are starting up are getting the support network that they need to be successful so that we can grow that part of our population. Let's not be in a bubble. We need to be thinking about how large our market can be. What a lot of people are surprised about mobile is just how international it is. Eight of our top 10 manufacturers are internationally based. We have a lot of people from other countries that live here. So our market is global. And our small businesses need to realize that as well. Anybody who says there's nothing to do in Mobile, they're not trying to find something to do.    

This month's special guest is Shelby Zaricor, Director of Business Development at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Shelby shares information about their very exciting role in the aerospace industry and also discusses their Foreign Direct Investment Strategy. She also shares how she uses Google Alerts to save economic development projects.

  Our guest this week is C.J. Ezell! A business owner for over 21years, his entrepreneurial spirit continues to push him to start new ventures and inspire others to do the same. A frequent speaker at technology events throughout North America, he has a proven track record of industry success. In 2005, he was named one of the top 40 business leaders under 40 by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Resources: C.J. Ezell - Facebook | Twitter PointClear Networks - Facebook  | Twitter Red 5 Agency - Facebook |  Twitter   Dennis Sherrin Twitter LinkedIn Allen Cave Twitter LinkedIn Want to know more about Dennis and Allen?  Visit our website, www.hbkcpas.net Thanks for listening and please subscribe & rate Playing Above The Line on iTunes.

On this week's podcast, Marcus sits down with Bill Sisson. Bill is the President and CEO of The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Listen to this week's podcast to hear them talk about the State of Economy and the great vision and expansion Mobile is experiencing as we move into the new year! Bill: I'm Bill Sisson, president and CEO of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Marcus: Yay! I'm really excited to have you on the podcast again. Bill: It's good to be here. Marcus: Yeah. I think it's about probably  since you came on last and I was very excited about some of the things that I heard in your State of the City. No, it was State of the Economy. Bill: State of the Economy, yeah. Marcus: Sorry. Mayor does the State of City, right? Bill: That's right. We have the State of the City and the State of the County and we do that once a year. Marcus: Yeah. And so I was very excited about some of the things that you were talking about that and I also just wanted to give you kind of a platform to talk about some of the initiatives that I know the Chamber was going to be taking on in 2019. Bill: I appreciate that. Marcus: Yeah because I have ... and he didn't ask me to do this but we have benefited greatly from being members of the Chamber and I cannot tell you just how important an asset they are to our area with the economic development that they do and all the platforms they give to small business owners all the ... just the wonderful programs like Emerging Leaders and stuff like that that they do for the business owners here. So if you are not a member of the Chamber, then please consider. We're members. I'm member of the Board of Advisors. I'm now, I guess- Bill: Coming on the Board of Directors. Marcus: Yeah, I'm going to be on the Board of Directors- Bill: Yeah. We appreciate that. Marcus: Here soon. Bill: Yeah. Marcus: And I'm really excited about what I'm seeing you all do and so I wanted to get you back on and have that conversation. Bill: Well, I appreciate that plug. You didn't have to do that but you're an ideal member too because you're entrepreneurial. You've also put your membership to work which I always tell people it's like anything else. You get out of it what you put in it and you've always been very, very involved and we appreciate that and so we're excited about your business in it, the type of business that you have growing here in this community. Marcus: Yeah. Bill: It's really important to us. Marcus: I think you and I had a discussion and I want to say it was like four or five years ago and just about Bluefish and the type of business that it was and I ... it was ... it made me, honestly, the conversation that I had with you made me change the focus of my business because at the time, I think, it was a distributed company. We had employees in West Virginia and some in Missouri and a couple of other folks that we used either in Canada or out in California. Bill: Yeah, I do remember. Marcus: And I just ... I made the realization that if I wanted to be a part of this community that I needed to look at it also from a job generating standpoint and so we changed. We started ... I moved one guy down from West Virginia that's Tad and we started hiring here locally and it's benefit us. So I appreciate it. Bill: Yeah, I remember you doing that and I was proud that you did that. I think that we need more and more businesses thinking that way, particularly as we develop the talent base here, attracting people and growing it here, I think, and we have a lot to sell. I mean, the quality of life and the cost of doing business here, the cost of living here. I think all of that kind of sells itself if you can get people down. Marcus: And as things are improving, it's making it easier and easier to justify in making those changes. Bill: Right. Marcus: But why do you ... I mean, we usually have a list of questions and I'm not going to necessarily go by the script because I think there are more interesting things to talk about but why don't you give some of the highlights of what you discussed in the State of the Economy. Bill: State of the Economy. It's one of my favorite events. Started that when I came back to the Chamber over five years ago and I like it because it give the community a snapshot of what local business, what they're feeling, thinking, how their business has been the previous year, and what they're thinking is on the horizon and I thought this year in particular, the survey results were interesting because they showed that the local business community is much more bullish about the economy than they are about the national economy, which I thought was interesting. I think it was 73% of the respondents felt that the economy would be in 2019 than it was in 2018. Marcus: And folks, he doesn't have his notes in front of him so he's off by a percentage, give him some grace. Bill: Yeah. Yeah, give me ... yeah, cut me some slack and I think it was, I want to say it was 57% felt that nationally things would be better. Both of those are good statistics but I think that three out of four here locally feeling that this year is going to be even a better year I thought was pretty telling. Marcus: So I have always felt that what a city needs is a cheerleader and a group people that are providing and casting vision and leading, not necessarily doing. It's not an execution thing. Although, there are some things like ... so when you look the mayor and to yourself, it's not necessarily that you're responsible for doing all the things but what you do have to do is you have to provide a positive attitude and a vision for what the city could be and I think as I look to what has happened with the city, with the leadership, over the last say four years or so and with what you've brought, I just ... I see that. I see that there's a cohesive vision, that there's a plan for moving forward instead of just saying, “Oh, everything's going to be better!” And I think that's why business owners feel like it's going to get better. Bill: Well, we have many sectors that are growing. I think that's something that is very, very positive in this economy here locally. A lot of communities would be thrilled to have one or two. One that was growing and we have quite a number and I think that people also realize that we've only really begun to see some of the benefits of the larger scale projects like an AirBus. We haven't really seen the effects of that yet and so I think that's what's exciting is knowing that that's going to continue to grow and expand and what's going on with our port and the container terminal and the logistics sector. That's one we all need to watch carefully because we've ... Walmart and Amazon have happened. Well, we're working a number of projects in our portfolio related to distribution and you only have to look at cities like Savannah that had an expanded container terminal and now they have, I think, it's over 30 distribution centers that have followed that expansion. Marcus: Because they don't mind being in the same place. Bill: Right. Exactly. Marcus: Yeah. Bill: Exactly. Marcus: I mean, if somebody else like a Walmart or an Amazon says, “No, we think it's good enough.” Well, guess what? Bill: Yeah and it's- Marcus: It's going to answer a lot of questions for all the other guys. Bill: It's like the clustering effect. I mean, it's like car dealerships. They all sort of cluster together, right? And they see their synergies and I think distribution centers see that as well. Plus, the fact that we do have such excellent logistics. We're an easy sell. Talk about shouting it from the rooftops. That's what we ... that's really our job at the Chamber and Economic Development is to make sure that these companies understand what our logistical advantages are and our other business assets here. Marcus: So I thought it was very interesting about AirBus with the Bombardier deal and I don't know if you remember any of the numbers based off of that of like what they're planning on doing there and when. Bill: Well, they'll have 400 additional jobs associated with the 220 and essentially what we see with this is the facility that we have currently for the 320 essentially will get another one for the 220. So we've doubled it and I think that these jobs numbers are probably pretty conservative. Marcus: They're ... 'cause they're already talking about doubling for the 320. Bill: Right, right. Marcus: So, yeah. Bill: And I think that ... I mean, it makes sense to manage people's expectations and we have always tried to do that related to this project because I think a lot of people felt like it would be like the Mercedes project in Tuscaloosa and then suddenly all of these suppliers came but it's different with aircraft because these are large pieces of equipment and they're building up their rate, five currently, I believe, and they'll continue to expand to 12 eventually and then now, with the 220, you have 12 additional aircraft per month ultimately and so then you start really thinking about how that spawns additional suppliers and service providers even though we've gotten many. We have 20 ... I think it's 21's the last count, that have come. They're small at this point. They'll grow with the AirBus facility but when you get to those sort of numbers, that critical mass is really important and so I think that this just accelerates everything. Marcus: What else would you like ... I mean, what else can we bring out from the State of Economy that was a highlight for you? Bill: It's not a surprise but the number one business concern of the business community was basically talent development, workforce development, keeping ... well, attracting and retaining workers. I mean, this rose to the top this year. Last year, it was sales issues. I think the people were concerned about the economy, where it was headed, and they also mentioned the last year that they were concerned about overburdensome regulations. Well, all of that went away and this year at the top, you had these workforce development issues and we know that. We know that with the unemployment rate being as low as it is and communities really competing to attract talent, that has to be a big focus of ours. Marcus: Well, I mean, it will serve to drive up salaries. Bill: It certainly will. Marcus: But I don't know. Like we've- Bill: But I've never apologized for that. I really don't. I mean, it's one of those things that our existing members, they are obviously concerned about that but if they think about it, that's the only way to really raise your standard of living and everybody's going to be doing better off. Marcus: Well and it needs to go up honestly. Bill: And that's, again, the only way to really affect the economy is to get those higher salaries and that's been the Chamber's focus has been really directing our efforts to recruit higher salary positions. Now, in some cases, these are trades positions or advanced manufacturing positions, blue collar versus white collar. A lot of white collar follows blue collar but the blue collar that we have really seen the job growth in in this community and in very high paying positions and so that's helped to raise the average salary in this region. Marcus: Yeah, I use the example of ... was it Austal was looking for a welders at one point in time and they may not be offering those now but at one point, they were offering almost a six figure salary and we're talking to, well, we're working with Bishop State and they have a truck driving school where after eight weeks, they don't guarantee it but almost everybody that's graduating out of that program is making $40,000.00 and within a couple of years, you can do six figures making ... if you're got a clean driving record, stay drug free, and don't do anything stupid, you can make a six figure salary there too. And those are all going to feed off of this distribution center and taking all the parts up northern Alabama to the plants that are up there and all the other things that are going on with transportation in this area. So yeah. Bill: And the other thing that people need to remember is that a lot of these advanced manufacturing positions, they're very high tech in nature. These are not ... well, I think Hallie McNair at the State of the Economy event, he's the manager at AMNS facility but he said it great when he said, “You know, I don't need people now who can lift things. I need people that, for example, are retired pilot. I need people that have technical skills” and that's people sometimes forget is that with advanced manufacturing, there's a real high tech nature to that work. Marcus: Yeah. You have to have at least a certain understanding of that. So one of the other things that I thought was extremely interesting from that talk that you did was you highlighted the ... and you may have used a different term but the microbusinesses, was that the term that you used? Bill: Yes. Microbusinesses. That came out of the feasibility study for Innovation Portal. Marcus: Ridiculous number! Bill: Yeah! Yeah. 29,000. 29,000 micro businesses. Marcus: When I saw that slide, I just ... Bill: [crosstalk 00:13:10] And this was a very extensive feasibility study that we had done by a consultant who does this work across the country for people that are applying for federal economic development administration grants. You basically get to prove your feasibility of what you're asking for, for what you're saying you're going to do and we did that with Innovation Portal but even he was blown away by the number of micro businesses that we have here in this market. I think he told us that typically, you would see 13 or 14,000 in market [crosstalk 00:13:43] this size. Right. And we had 29,000. What that says to me is that we have a lot of pent up entrepreneurial spirit in this community and so I think a lot of the things that are going on now, certainly businesses like yours that are rising to the occasion. I think that this entrepreneurial ecosystem's changing and I think it's a good thing. Marcus: No, I mean, we're seeing it too. And so one of the main reasons we started this podcast which you may be aware of but listeners may not is we wanted to give a platform to those smaller businesses and help shed a light on the awesome things that business owners are doing in Mobile. We wanted to join the championing ... in championing ... I don't know if that's a real word but we wanted to be cheerleaders for Mobile and all the cool things that people are doing. And so what we found is that as we start to get to the end of our network, like we'll ask some people and then lo and behold, there's this whole other group of people that we didn't even know existed that are business owners and blah, blah, blah, and then we talk to them and it's like it just keeps going and going and going. We're not in any danger of running out of people to talk to or things to talk about. But we also notice it with any of the networking events that we have like there's a lot of people that come out and I think one of the things that I've and I think I've talked to Todd about this on his episode just recently was for over a decade, a buddy of mine who now works with start-ups in Huntsville. For over a decade, we had been talking about the freelancer or solopreneur economy and that people were slowly making decision to either leave their cubicle job and go and start their own or they were ... they liked to bake cakes and so they were going to start baking wedding cakes or they were going to do whatever like earlier today, we talked to some folks and they've made a whole business out of basically Mardi Gras. And so, I mean, there's just ... whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is. If there's an interest, then you can make a business surrounding it and it's never been easier now to have the assets that you need whether it's the software or the process workflow software or the financial software or whatever. It's never been cheaper or easier to get that stuff and so it's made it really easy for people to start these businesses- Bill: And that can certainly explain part of the kind of numbers that we've seen in this area related to those microbusinesses. That could very well be part of it is that it's easier now to be able to do those things out of our garage, out of your back bedroom. Marcus: Yeah, it's exciting to think about what that's going to look like in a couple of years with 29,000, not all of them make it, right? Bill: Of course not. Of course not but even if a fraction of them- Marcus: 10% of them- Bill: Right. I mean, that's exciting! Marcus: 2900 businesses. I mean, that's a huge number of businesses more mature than what we currently have. I mean, that's a huge- Bill: Well, I, like you, have been pleasantly surprised with the number of people that have sort of come out of the woodwork in this entrepreneurial space because like I said, just a mere three years ago, we had that feasibility study done. There are a lot of people working on this at the University at Bishop State, other entities, city county, everyone really wanting to foster entrepreneurship but I've been surprised and I know this market pretty well but I've been surprised at the people I meet that have these side businesses or have the desire or have an idea. Marcus: Or are moving back. Bill: Or are moving back and that is another key component to that talent development that needs to occur. Marcus: Now, I rudely interrupted your presentation at the smaller State of the Economy that you did for the executive round table and said one of the concerns that I have is that we have a lot of high school students that are going away to college and then they never come back because they don't see Mobile as a place where they can work on the exciting job that pays them well, that has all of the ... it's like, when you think about silly things like, “I'm a young 24 year old. I've got a good job. I want to get paid well and then I want to be able to use that money to have fun, go shopping, do all these things” and it's like some of that's starting to happen. I love the changes the company that bought Bel-Air Mall is making. I've been spending more time there in the last two months. Bill: Yeah, they've made it quite- Marcus: Then I did in the previous two years and it's much nicer. So I mean, it's going to be interesting to see how the landscape changes and whether we'll be able to do something to bring those people back 'cause I mean, I'd love to see some of that energy come back too 'cause those are the people that go into Innovation Portal with their ideas and start businesses that really kind of blow up in this area. Bill: Well, I think your point's well-taken. I mean, I think I mentioned this at the round table but my son who is a senior in college was mentioning to me, he was home for Christmas, and he said, “Gosh. I can't believe how much this has changed since I've been gone.” And I think those of us that are living here, it sort of has slowly happened and so we don't really quite notice how profound some of these changes downtown and as you mentioned, Bel-Air, and some of the new retail that's arrived, the restaurant scene. So much of that has changed in the last ... just a few years and so it was good for me to hear that from my son because, again, he only comes in periodically and so for him to notice that, I think, it tells us something. Marcus: Yeah. So what's the Chamber working on in 2019? I know you guys are never sitting on your hands so what other initiatives do you have for 2019 that you want to talk about? Bill: Well, two which I'm very excited about. We're having extensive research done in two areas: foreign direct invest to develop our trade strategy in a more focused approach, meaning that we've been doing trade missions at our Chamber for years and years and we typically help business build business abroad or business to business contact on those trade missions and we do this in partnership with the state of Alabama Department of Commerce but what we haven't done is done an overlay in those countries that we're visiting on those missions to make sure that there's not a targeted approach to economic development related to that particular country. As you know, a lot of our focus is typically on the air show side or the trade show side, developing relationships with site selection firms, getting to know suppliers and so forth for the sectors that are growing here but there's a real opportunity for entrepreneurial, smaller businesses that are in some of these foreign countries to introduce them to this market and so this foreign direct investment strategy, this research that we've had done and then will develop a strategy will be help us be much more razor focused on that international economic development. I don't know if you're aware but we're always in the top five for our size city metropolitan areas for foreign direct investment. We do a really good job of attracting foreign direct investment and that has been, I think, the key to seeing this economy do as well as has done but we want to continue doing that and want to take advantage the foreign direct investment that we've seen over the last few years. Marcus: For those that may not be aware and I know this may put you on the spot but for those that may not be aware, how does that manifest itself in this area? What's an example of that? Bill: Well, an example ... well, I guess the best way to put it is that's new money that's coming into your economy. If a business is doing business with somebody locally, money is basically shifting around. When you get foreign direct investment such as an AirBus investment in this community or an Austal out of Australia investment in this community, that is new capital- Marcus: AMNS is from- Bill: AMNS is [inaudible 00:22:18] and the [inaudible 00:22:19] to Japanese, European conglomerate. But yeah, that's new capital that's coming to the market and that's the way that you can grow your economy. There was an interesting New York Times article recently on how important foreign direct investment is and they were comparing cities in the US and they were highlighting Nashville as having done a really good job of foreign direct investment and that has led to a lot of their economic prosperity and then they were comparing Nashville to cities that size that had not done it and you could clearly see that that was the better economic path. Marcus: I was talking to Jared Boyd this past weekend and he has ... he's moved back to Memphis but he is a Memphis native and I said, “What the deal with Memphis and Nashville?” And one of the things that I found were very interesting 'cause I didn't know this was that Memphis and Nashville ... Memphis was actually a bigger city that Nashville was- Bill: I think not far. Marcus: Not too long ago. Bill: Yeah, not that long ago. Yeah. Marcus: And it was this foreign national investment that kind of changed things and also I think the city got its act together as far as how it marketed itself, not just to foreign nationals but also just to the geographic area around it but you've got now where I mean, they're talking about 70,000 people per year moving to Nashville from outside of that area and- Bill: Yeah, it's an insane amount. Marcus: Yeah. I mean, it's just become a massive metropolitan area and dwarfs Memphis by far. Bill: Extraordinarily so. Marcus: But so yeah, I can see that being a huge boom for Mobile. Bill: And I think that Nashville, they do have a cool factor which I think we have as well. We just haven't marketed it as well as they have and so that's something that we really need to all collectively work on. I mean, not just the Chamber but individuals speaking to people that are living in these other places and tell them what's going here and the history here and the location and the architecture and- Marcus: The food. Bill: The food. Marcus: Yeah, the cultural side of things between Mardi Gras and being close to the water and all the things you can do there, you know? Bill: And you know, it's ... of course I drank the kool-aid years ago but it's so true. Marcus: For those that don't know, he's not from here. Bill: Right, exactly. But my younger son who's a freshmen in college, one of the things he mentioned was, “You know, Dad I never realized how unique Mobile is” because he's now in school with people that are from the Midwest and no offense to the Midwest but more typical American cities and Mobile's not a typical American city, not by any means and so I think there's a real marketability to that. I mean, people are looking for those kind of cool, unique locations. Marcus: But I love that you say that's not just some ... it's not ... the city's responsibility. It's not your responsibility. It's not ... Visit Mobile's responsibility. It's all of our responsibility. I mean, like we've even taken up and we're not being paid for this. The website that this podcast resides on has things to do. It has a business directory of all the businesses that are going on. It has an events calendar of all the things that are happening and so we have seen- Bill: Yes, you have. Marcus: We've seen that we have to kind of take some ownership of helping the city become its best self and so we're investing in that. But you know- Bill: Well, you've done a good job of that and you, too, are not from here and you've adopted it, right? And you know what it's like once you've adopted something and I think- Marcus: I want to see it succeed. Bill: Absolutely! And I think even people that are natives, they need to start telling the story because one thing people do here is travel a lot. I have noticed that and so when they're out and about, they should be talking about what's going on here economically, culturally, and I think that that's going to help us to be able to attract the talent that we need. Marcus: You had and you may not ... I'm going to say something but I'm not going to require that you know this fact. So at one point in time in the Business View magazine, you had all of the current larger projects of renovation that were happening inside of downtown. I added it up. It was $185,000,000.00. And I can't believe that all that money is coming from here as well. I mean, is that ... are those ... do you know offhand? Is that some level of foreign investment too or is that still stateside and US investors? Bill: A lot of those investors are from out town, not necessarily foreign. Not necessarily foreign but that's a good thing too. Marcus: Yeah, no. Not at all. Not at all. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing. So I just found it very interesting that there's such a huge amount of money that's flowing into downtown for renovation and I know at some point in time, there will be, I mean, I have to wonder $185,000,000.00 that's a lot of renovation happening downtown, are people really going to live downtown? But I also have to say, like I'm living in Broadstreet Lofts and I was using the ... we have a little grill out in the community area that we can use and one of the other couples that lives in the apartment there came out and she was an older woman, very nice, and she said that she and her husband were from Nashville and that they had retired and that they had looked at all the cities along the coast and they decided that they still wanted to live in a city and that Mobile the place for them. And I just can't help but wonder 'cause we went to Nashville a couple of years ago and on the way back, traffic started at Franklin and didn't stop until Montgomery. Bill: Yeah, yeah. Marcus: Northbound so everybody was coming back from spring break and so I just can't help but think that all those people that are spending all their spring breaks and all their summer vacations and stuff like that coming down here. At some point in time, they're going to want to retire and that's going to start happening very quickly and they're going to be looking for a city life. Bill: I think you're exactly right. I think that what Mobile offers, really unique to this central Gulf Coast region, is a urban core which you really don't find that along the Mississippi coast. Certainly Pensacola has it as well but- Marcus: [crosstalk 00:28:53] To a certain extent but our downtown's bigger than Pensacola. Bill: To a certain but not as urban feeling as our urban core because we've been- Marcus: I mean, certainly New Orleans does but a lot of people don't want to put up with all the mess of New Orleans. You don't have to say a word 'cause I'm not going to get you in trouble but I'll say- Bill: No, I never downplay competitor cities because, I mean, that's just what they are. They're competitor cities. They're great cities and I'll add this very Chamber-esque comment, we need a strong New Orleans [crosstalk 00:29:25] on the Gulf Coast. Marcus: I love going over there and having a good meal or doing ... seeing some shows or something like that. Bill: But it's important to have that strong city there. No question about it. Marcus: So what else? What else have we not talked about that you kind of want to let people know is going on?  Bill: Well, in the area of this talent development, we do, at the Chamber, take this very seriously. I think that that is going to be the key to capitalizing on the economic development that we've seen over the last few years and so the ... I mentioned the foreign direct investment study and then the other big research that we're having done right now is on our talent. We want to know where we are currently, what that workforce looks like with that labor shed, they call it, looks like here, where the gaps are, and then we will be developing a strategy in the first quarter of this year to go out through universities and through other networks to capture back some of that talent, that as you mentioned earlier, has settled in other cities such as Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, cities where maybe they've had some very formative career years but they're ready to come back and I think that- Marcus: Maybe they're tired of the traffic or the expense or- Bill: The expense or maybe they're about to have children and they want to be close to family. Marcus: And they don't want to raise them in [crosstalk 00:30:57] ... yeah. Bill: And so I think that if we can really target those people and tell them that the story has changed as we were talking about it earlier, I think that we can be quite successful in getting them to come back. Marcus: Yeah. It's really good. All right, so I'm going to go back to the script. Any books, podcast people, or organizations that have been helpful in ... helpful to you in the last, say, six months? Bill: That's a good question. I think the most interesting thing that I'm reading right now is “The Start-up Nation” and I'm just impressed with what they've been able to do in Israel. I'm actually fortunate to be on the Committee of 100 for the US Chamber and they are taking a group of us to Tel Aviv this year to see that first hand and subsidized by the Israeli government but I think that we here, in Mobile, can learn a lot from what they have done. It's a country of what, six million people? And they have per capita the most start-ups of any country and so there's something cultural going on there and I think we can learn from that and I look forward to it, to learning more about that but the book, of course, has helped me prepare for that. Marcus: Yeah. Well, that's very good. And what do you like to do to unwind? Bill: Well, besides read? Marcus: Yeah. Bill: I actually am I pianist and I- Marcus: I did not know that. Bill: Yes I am and I've been really bad about not playing the piano just in these ... the last years of my boys being at the house, just one thing after ... their sports and so I've been trying to get back on it and trying to get my fingers moving again. So but I have to say, though, of most of the things that I do to unwind, that one probably helps me unwind the most. Whenever I go back to it, I realize, “Gosh, I was missing that.” Marcus: Right. Yeah, that's something that really kind of soothes your soul. Bill: Yeah, yeah. Marcus: So that's awesome. Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share? Bill: Well, just I would end with saying, I think 2019's going to be a great year. I think I'm like those three out of four surveyed people that said that they felt like 2019 was going to be a good a year. I think it is. I think that there a lot of reasons for that and I look forward to seeing it and look forward to working with business leaders like you. Marcus: Yeah. No, I appreciate it. So Bill, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share some of the things that are going on here in Mobile. It's been great talking with you. Bill: Thank you! I appreciate. Marcus: Yeah.

Troy Wayman joined One Acadiana as its President and CEO in February 2018. One Acadiana is a business-led, privately-funded economic development organization serving a nine-parish area in South Louisiana. Troy previously served as vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, a 2,000-member organization and economic development group. Under his leadership, the region experienced the creation of more than 8,000 jobs and nearly $3 billion in capital investments. This interview affords an opportunity to get to know Troy and learn more about his extensive experience in economic development.  He brings an open and inclusive attitude to his new position with One Acadiana. While focused on marketing Acadiana's assets to attract new business as well as working to retain existing South Louisiana companies, he believes that making our region's voice known in a harmonized manner at the state legislature will serve business and infrastructure development well. One Acadiana offers many workshops, social networking opportunities, and business resources. Member driven, businesses of all sizes invest in One Acadiana to enable its program of work. For more information on One Acadiana, please visit https://www.oneacadiana.org. Discover Lafayette would like to thank its generous sponsors:

In it's third year of publication, Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine set' records for quality and inspiration. Dr. Todd Greer, editor shares his vision for starting this great resource and his vision for the future. Todd Greer holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership with a major in human resource development from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia; a Master of Science in ministerial leadership from Amridge University in Montgomery, Alabama; completed graduate work in communications studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan; and a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio. He has numerous publications to his credit, including journal articles and book chapters, and has presented at national conferences. He has served as lead instructor and board member with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce's Innovation PortAL and instructor for the Chamber's Young Entrepreneurs Academy for high school students. He is a board member for United Way of Southwest Alabama and Springboard to Success Inc. which, with the Downtown Mobile Alliance, operates the Urban Emporium retail incubator. He is an advisory board member with Veterans Recovery Resources. He was an instructor with University of South Alabama's Minority Business Accelerator and an adjunct instructor at Spring Hill College. Previously, Greer was executive director of the SynerVision Leadership Foundation in Blacksburg, Virginia; minister of administration for Glen Allen Church of Christ in Glen Allen, Virginia; and head boys' volleyball coach at Highlight Springs High School and assistant women's volleyball coach at Virginia Union University, both in Richmond, Virginia.   Interview Transcript   Hugh: Greetings, and welcome to today's session of The Nonprofit Exchange. Today, we have a very special guest. Russell, it's the first time you've met Todd Greer. Dr. Greer was the one who started The Nonprofit Exchange. He is the founding and current editor of Nonprofit Performance Magazine. Todd, welcome. Todd: Thank you so much, Hugh. Great to be with you. Russell, I've heard such wonderful things about you, and it is great to at least virtually connect with you here. Russell: This is great. I've done my best to bring out your inner English teacher. Todd: It's important. Gaps. Hugh mentioned I was the editor as we started out. Hugh is definitely the publisher. He is not the editor. It is good to have other folks around like you, Russell, to help keep him in check. Russell: It takes a village. That is why there is more than one of us there. Todd: There you go. Absolutely. Hugh: The vision for The Nonprofit Exchange is to interview experts in different fields and to bring really good leadership principles into charities and churches and synagogues, often from business leaders. Todd, in addition to having your Ph. D in organizational leadership, you are ordained as a pastor, and now you are a dean at the University of Mobile. Am I correct? Todd: That is correct. It has been an interesting transition. Hugh and I met in 2014. Hugh had this wonderful vision. SynerVision Leadership Foundation had the vision for a magazine and a community of nonprofit thought leaders that could help to build capacity and to help build and move things forward. I think it's been a beautiful vision to see it come to light, to be something that I've been a part of and that has touched me deeply. Over the past two and a half years, I have been able to move down to Mobile from Virginia where he and I met, start a business down here, see that grow, and see a community of entrepreneurship really raise up. Now I have the opportunity to get in and engage with university students and to work to encourage them for the world that we're inventing each day. Hugh: We're glad to have the academic connection. Even though you have gone on to do some other great stuff, you're still shaping editorial policy. What we have done with the magazine is separate the commercial part from the editorial part. What I do is I'm the champion, and I bring people into the funnel that we set up so brilliantly and around the editorial policy that you shaped so that we keep it really clean and really valid journalism for leadership. Thank you for that contribution to humankind and to SynerVision. You launched The Nonprofit Exchange, which we are doing at 2 pm on Tuesdays EST, and the podcast. We are hitting about 15,000 listeners on this particular podcast, and I have 10,000 on Orchestrating Success. We share some interviews in common, but they are helping people think through their skillset and organizational development and personal skills for developing their teams. Talk about three years ago in September that we launched that first John Maxwell edition. As you were shaping out the vision for this magazine, talk about your thought process. What was important about how you laid down the tracks, and what does that look like? Todd: One of the things that we consistently saw as we were looking at the nonprofit space is that there is good research, and then there is speakers. Then there are some books that are written. But there is a gap in the middle. What we wanted to do was come in and give nonprofit leaders, whether they are board members, staff, or executives, the opportunity to be able to engage with deeper thoughts around a holistic idea. What we started from that day forward is to create these themes within our magazine so that you could look at what we could consider an evergreen concept, something that is not based upon a specific time. It's something that whether you are looking at it three years ago or today, the points are still valid, the theme is still important, it is something that drives home a needed opportunity in that space. We really worked to say, This is not an infomercial. This is not a chance to sell your book. This is not a chance to get yourself engaged in a speaking environment. This is really about bringing the best thought leadership from all over. We have worked with the athletic director of Virginia Tech. We have worked with bestselling authors. We have worked with professors from a number of top-notch schools across the country. We have worked with nonprofit facilitators. We have worked with people that do some speaking across the space. We have tried to engage and bring together for our listeners, for our audience, for our readers as many different engaging and unique perspectives that can help them move it forward. And the reality is we wanted a place that would challenge you. It's one of those things that oftentimes it is very easy for us to become stagnant or to reach a plateau. If we are engaged with new people all the time, it helps. The cornerstone of each issue, there are a couple things we wanted to lay out. One is we wanted to have that big name at that cover that you can look at. John Maxwell was quite a name to be able to start with. You see others that have gone on to head the cover of the magazine. They have done an amazing job. We have wanted to make sure that each magazine touched on board relations. Each magazine touched on that sense of funds attraction. Each magazine talked about a couple things. The second cornerstone of the magazine to me was the Nonprofits that Work Section. It's great to be able to think about these huge nonprofits that have great budgets and are extremely well-known. But how do we seed this idea, this theme exemplified in the life of a nonprofit that is probably going to be one you have never heard of before? We have been able to show these organizations all across the country who are doing exciting things around that theme. It's been one of those pieces where I have learned so many new amazing nonprofits to be able to point to them later on. In fact, there was one that we worked with not that long ago, The Mission Continues. Hugh, I don't know if you remember them from the work that we did with them, but it's exciting right now because Aaron Scheinberg, who we worked with from there, he is running for Congress in West Virginia. He was somebody that we worked with not that long ago on that article. The Mission Continues was a veteran organization to work to continue to engage vets as they come back stateside to continue in that mission, working in the nonprofit community that surrounded them to engage in different missions. You get to see those kinds of things. It's a beautiful thing to be able to engage and think about how all of the good ideas in nonprofit spaces don't come from just nonprofits. They come from all over. Hugh: Good principles are good principles. Part of your inspiration was to have a different theme for each edition. One of the real fun editions I remember was one with Frances Hesselbein on the cover, who is in her late nineties and is expert on millennials. We did this whole issue on millennials. You had an interest in it, as did I. I'm a boomer, you're a millennial. My article was about how we have similarities in core values and principles. You had this really good interview with Frances. Those are the top downloaded interviews on the Nonprofit Exchange podcast. Todd: Hugh, it's a beautiful thing. Frances has now just turned 100 or 101. She is still kicking. I have seen a couple pieces from her recently. I was telling my daughter this last evening. My daughter is a Girl Scout. Frances was for about a decade and a half the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. I was telling her, You have to understand the legacy of those that have gone. My daughter is a third grader. I was explaining to her that what Frances has done, and I use Frances a lot when I am speaking to students, to be able to understand what it looks like that she is engaging, to never stop learning, to always open doors for others in the sense of when you find trustworthy people who are passionate, give them an opportunity. Open the door for them. They may be young or different from you. Whatever it is, understand that everybody needs a door opened for them. Hugh: Absolutely. You have crafted our submissions page. When you go to Nonprofitperofrmance.org, it will forward the URL to SynerVision's magazine page. Then there is a submissions page so people who want to contribute can go there and submit articles. There is very clear guidelines for submissions. The boardroom issue is being designed now, and it will be printed and distributed before the end of this year. Since people are listening to podcasts maybe at any time, it's important that the material on this podcast and in the magazine is timeless. Solid principle. I am going to let Russ insert some questions. Russ, you have been a contributor for the magazine. As you look at the guidelines Todd has crafted, and specifically the identification of the theme- Russ is a very gifted writer. Russ is one of our WayFinders. I don't know if you know that. He has gone through the certification. He is the first certified WayFinder, but we have some more in the chute. He is the guy forging the trail out there. Russ, how do the guidelines for writing and the description of the theme help you as a writer shape your contribution for that article? Russell: It's important to have a clear message that is direct, to the point, that has a lot of punch, and that forces you to really put your best thoughts on paper without any extraneous information. Also, it forces you to up your game because when you are looking at some of the people like Dr. Jeff Magee for example that are sending material into this magazine, you don't want to send a piece in there that is less than your best. People turn to this because they want to know what sort of things they can do to really enhance their performance. What are some of the best practices out there? What are some things that you can take away from this article and actually make it actionable? When I send a piece in, I ask myself what I want people to know, feel, and do. There should be one piece of actionable. If there is more than one, that's better. Sometimes people can get confused. I am trying to either put a sequence of actions or sequence of things to look for or some sort of actionable piece that somebody can take and implement today. It's important to be able to access, understand, and use that information. I was just surfing the Web today, and I came across a list from an organization called Giving Confidence, which points you toward nonprofit resources. It's five podcasts nonprofit people should listen to. I opened that in anticipation of seeing The Nonprofit Exchange. We're not there yet. We're going to make that list. They talk about why people should listen to that. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. At some point, we're going to end up on that list. I think that's a worthy goal for us to shoot for. Hugh: I'm glad to know about that. Russell, you weren't on the journey as we have gone forward. We are on our third year of the magazine, and it is hard to believe that we haven't talked about it on the podcast. We have three years of podcasts. Lots of episodes out there. From an outside perspective catching up, what kind of questions do you want to pose to Todd about the history of the vision or the future? Russell: One of the things I am interested in seeing, because you are in that university space, I was curious as to how many younger people like yourself are moving in to the space because they want to do work that matters and how many are looking at programs that focus on nonprofits and philanthropy. Are you seeing an uptick in that? Todd: That is a great question. If you go back to the work that we did on millennials, that's a huge issue. I don't have the stats in front of me, but the vast majority of millennials say they want to be part of a company and work that makes an impact, and they will do business with a brand that makes an impact. We see a greater sense of social responsibility in this generation than any other generation in quite some time. There is still that struggle of a gap between what I want and what I'm willing to do. So we know that that's not always something where that gap is closed. But we know that there is a desire. We do see it among our students. We happen to be at a university that is a private Christian institution. We have that faith basis in our students where they do want to go make impact. Across the community here in the Mobile area and across the state and the country, we are hearing more and more about programs like social entrepreneurship coming up. We are seeing people including the Beet Corp and other groups where they are saying they think there is a blurring of the line coming before us between the typical business and the typical nonprofit or charity. They do want to engage. They want to do something. The key right now that we are dealing with is how we make sure we are building the right capacity. I think that's to your point. Historically, one of the things we have consistently seen is that the people who come in to the nonprofit space are people who are passionate about a cause. Passion is extremely important. Books upon books upon books have been written of the last decade or so just on passion and why you should pursue your passion. One of the things we are very mindful of—this has been part of the lynchpin for us for the beginning—passion without guidelines, passion without the right framework or strategy or understanding, can be very dangerous. We are asking questions here about how we cross the line between our school of business and our school of ministry, between our school of business and education, between our school of business and music. We are asking those questions. It's already happening a lot in a lot of places, but you are going to see an increase in those. Folks like Businesses Mission is a concept that has really come up over the last handful of years. You have schools that are developing these centers. They are getting out there and serving. We have a great opportunity. I think it means a lot to our communities. I think going back to that millennial piece, and even touching into our current issue that will be coming out here in December about the boardroom. One thing that is important for our nonprofits is to make sure that they are engaging millennials and thinking about what it looks like to have diversity from an age perspective on their board as well. I think the younger generations are incredibly excited about the potential to make impact in the world. Russell: This is important. I have been engaged with my own church here in doing envisioning. We have been basing that on good to great for the social sectors. One of our local guys, Jim Collins, he is just up the road in Boulder. We started envisioning on that. One of the things that was said verbally was we really want to get young people involved. I dove into this process with him. I created a system to work with the faith-based community and created a coding system. What they say and what scores, there is a bit of a disconnect. This is something that is worth exploring further. We want younger people involved, but where are our actions leading us? There is an underlying- This wasn't done to scale to any scientific scale or with the thought of statistical validity in it. There is a lot of open-ended stuff that is my own interpretation of it. It's really interesting. I would love to share some of those codes with you, some of the coding idea with it. The other thing I wanted to say is we have a very strong Businesses Mission chapter. As a matter of fact, I am going tomorrow morning to the monthly meeting. Todd: That's great. What you said is spot-on. There are two pieces that have really stuck out to me. I don't know who said one, but I do know who said the other. Somebody said to me, “You will get what you celebrate.” Step back and think about it. In an organization, whether it's a nonprofit or for-profit, you will get what you celebrate. You say you want something. If you don't celebrate it when it happens, you're not going to get it. That is the reinforcement. When you celebrate something, you are reinforcing that this is the culture we are working to establish. Then the other piece is Chris Argyris. Chris was a theory guy. I want to say he was at Harvard Business School. One piece he brought to light is there is espoused values or theories, and there are values in action. There is often a discrepancy. You think about how many organizations you have come through. You see those values on the wall. You looked at those values and thought, I don't see those organizations. Hugh, you're laughing because you have seen it countless times both in a religious environment and in other nonprofit organizations. It's a hard thing. We set these ideals up, but we often don't create a concrete way to establish those throughout the organization. Going back to the celebration, we often don't celebrate when those things happen. Hugh: We forget that, don't we? I see Russell taking some notes. Russell grabs some sound bites in these that are very astute. Russell, when you were talking about how you construct an article, that was really good information. What do you want people to do? Todd, back to you. As we were putting this together back in the old days, was that part of our thinking? What do we want people to take away? You have a better recollection of some of this than I do. Your focus was on this more. What were some of the takeaways, the impacts, the results that we wanted people to have because they had the magazine? Todd: There are a couple things that really stuck out in the early days we were doing it. Russell, I think you said it great: know, feel, and do. I want people to know, to feel, to do what I want. One of the pieces we said is leading in a nonprofit organization can be lonely. One of the things we wanted to establish is you're not alone. You're not alone in this journey. The things that you're feeling are being felt all across the country by organizations big and small, by religious and those that are community-oriented in the nonprofit space. That was a big key for us because a lot of times when you are doing this on your own, who do you have to talk to? Can you share with your board these challenges? Can you share with your staff these challenges? Who can you talk to? A lot of times you are even afraid to share with other executives because you don't want to feel like you're the idiot in the room and you're the one who is falling short when other people, at least what they present, seem so strong. We want to be very real. These are issues that we're facing. That's one of the things that comes up in each one of these themes. The acknowledgement that we are all facing them. We have challenges we are facing. We need a variety of voices to encourage us moving forward. That was a big piece. Next to that is the big piece of we wanted to say this is more than just from the seat of our pants kind of framework. This is about how we work to establish real strategy in our organizations. I think that's one of the pieces that often gets lost. We do without thinking of the strategy. You go back to Stephen Covey's four quadrants. In the nonprofit space, because we are dealing with not an abundance of resources and staff, we are just going so fast through the things that become urgent or the things that flare up in front of us. We take care of those things. We don't step back to create that holistic strategy. The magazine and podcast were intended to encourage us to really step back and think about our strategy around these types of subjects. When we talk about leadership, what's your leadership strategy? How do you build a leaderful organization? I am going to go back to Joe Raelin; he was one of our guests about two years ago from Northeastern University. How do you create leadership throughout your organization? We have talked about succession planning. How do you make sure that when you're gone, the organization not only continues, but also thrives after you're gone? That was a big piece to this. We want you to think about that sense of strategy. What's going on? What's working? What doesn't work? When we talked with Frances and Joan, we looked at Peter Drucker's five most important questions. A lot of what they do is they want you to make sure you are periodically having that review process. For some time in our country, the after-action review was a pretty typical thing in certain types of organizations. In nonprofits, we don't do enough of that now. What worked, what didn't, how would we change it for the next time, and how do we continue to grow that to make sure that it's better fitting our mission and our customer moving forward? I think that's a really key issue that's often missing. Hugh, when you step back and think of all the organizations you've worked with, how many times do you see- In the for-profit world, we are talking about continuous improvement. Did you see a lot of that? Hugh: No. Todd: It's something that I think we do. When the thing is done, we go, Whooo. That was long and that was tiring and I'm so glad that we can put that in a box for a year. The next year, we'll pull that box out and regurgitate the same thing. We don't think about, Hey, this is something. Heaven forbid we ask, Is this thing necessary anymore? Do I need to do this anymore? Are we just doing it because it's what we've always done? Hugh: Absolutely. I was thinking about Caesar when he lost his wreath. He got off his throne and there it was. He said, “I have been resting on my laurels.” We want to get there and rest. We want to think we've made a plateau and we can stop. That's a dangerous place to be. I find that continuous improvement is the jargon in corporate America. What we work on in SynerVision is continuing improvement and personal development. The journey is never over. Part of crafting the whole process and the whole design of the magazine is there is different categories. I forget what you call them, different categories. There is Member Engagement, Strategy, Point/Counterpoint, Executive Office, Grants Corner, Academic Desk, Design Corner, Nonprofits That Work, Board Relations, and Systems Thinking. Talk about why those categories. We have had something in those categories every single issue. Todd: Those are big ones. We wanted to be able to really narrow in. One of the things that I think is way too easy when you are starting a magazine or any kind of medium is to say, “I'll accept this” and have it in this vague space. We wanted to give people a way to look forward to new things that were coming. Some of the pieces we referenced before that featured personality in the Nonprofit Works and the Board Relations—one of the things that we wanted to engage in this is Design Corner. One of the things in the Design Corner was always that idea that all too often, we tend to forget that things can look good and they can come together. In the church, for a long time, we lost our artists. We lost our designers and their input and their value. I think we are starting to see them come back again. The same thing is true in nonprofits. Just because you are a nonprofit doesn't mean that your website has to be ugly or that your engagement with your members or your engagement with your community has to be lacking thought. We wanted to make sure that happens. What this does is it gives us a framework that when we are going out to seek contributors or contributors are coming to us, they know that this is the target I am seeking. We want to make sure that the people we have are experts. They really are bringing their game to the table, and it's somebody that you can trust as you are hearing from them. I think that's a really important piece for us. Hugh, I want to touch on as well: We talked a little bit about this issue that is getting ready to go to print. I know some people will listen to this at some time in the future. One thing we have coming up is social media. Obviously, we don't live in a world where social media is a might. I might do social media. Whatever your organization is, social media is really important. Going back to strategy, you have to have a strategy for it. My wife and I were talking last night while watching an old episode of Madam Secretary. There is good and bad obviously about where we are in social media. Sometimes social media has created this perception of reality that is so far from it. It also has allowed people to get a platform that some people should never have. There are things that are going on where you think you never should have a platform. But nonprofits have a great opportunity to engage with their community, with their members, with their public through a very intentional strategy in social media. We want to make sure people are really conscious in thinking about it. Another tendency is that we look at whomever is the youngest person on our staff and we say, “You're in charge of social media,” just like we say, “You're in charge of graphic design,” just like we used to say, “You're in charge of web design.” We can't just throw it on the youngest person. They may be good, but you have to have a real consistent strategy for you organization. What does this social media strategy look like throughout? What are organizations that are doing it really well? We always want to find those people who are exemplars in our field. How does that impact the board? What's the board's role in that? Do you expect your board members to tweet out everything that is happening from your Twitter account? Do you expect them to engage? What does that look like? What are the expectations that you have? That one is coming up here soon. Following that is what Russell and I were hinting at: this future of the public/private partnership. We are going to continue to see growth in that area. The moniker “charity” is something that really has a bad connotation in our society now. What a charity does is it comes without strategy and without fiscal strategy and they come and say, “Please give to me so that I can give to others.” We love to give. But we are asking the ROI question. Just like we asked return on investment, we are asking what the return is on my impact, on my giving in the nonprofit sector. We really want to make sure that we are thinking strategically not only about where we are at right now, but also about what is coming down the pipeline. How do we make sure that we build the right partnerships with the corporate entities in our environment? If we care about this issue and you care about this issue, how can we collaborate to be able to make real impact in our community? Hugh: That's a word that most of our charities don't understand. Russell, we are rounding out to the final nine minutes of our interview. I am going to give you some more air time. You have some good questions. Is there one brewing for Todd? Russell: When it comes to social media, it was interesting. I was at the Socratic café at the University of Denver. Me and a few other guys get together on Saturday nights to do that. We had an ongoing discussion for eight weeks about isolation. Social media came up, and one of them pointed out, “You seem to be very comfortable. I haven't seen anybody your age that is that comfortable with social media.” I don't know everything, but we talked about being isolated even though people are on social media. There were a lot of things, pro or con, that were raised with social media. There is a balance to be struck, and it's not totally evil or good. We want to be able to have these face-to-face interactions. There is nothing like face-to-face interaction. Social media is a tool. I think a lot of people view it as some sort of mysterious scale of people. After you turn 25, your brain oozes out of your ears, and you have no clue what to do. You have to find your children and your grandchildren. That is not the case. What sort of things have you heard people talk about when you're talking with them about using social media to engage? Is there some resistance? Is there some people who think it's the Holy Grail? What are you hearing people talk about? I think it's a great thing to devote a whole issue to. Todd: Let me touch real quickly on something you said, and then I will come back to the questions themselves. You talked about isolation. That is a very big reality because it wasn't until social media really crept up that we had this acronym FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. I think what it does is it drives us deeper into that sense of isolation because we don't feel like we're part of something, so we withdraw even more. Social media is amoral. It's not moral or immoral. It's amoral. It's a tool. It's a medium. It's a channel. Yes. The question is how do we use this? That's really important. Yours, what kind of feedback are we hearing? In smaller, more traditional nonprofits that typically are led by older executives, there is a fear. How do I do it? How do I engage? What kinds of media do I put out there? Do I do it for my personal social media channels? I might have Facebook. Do I post about the organization on my personal page? Do I do it in the groups? How do I build a following? All of those are big questions. It's not an easy thing. There is not really a one-size-fits-all response to that. One thing that is important—and I know Hugh has done a masterful job in building that social media following. Hugh created a platform where he said I am going to focus on leadership. I am going to focus on how we empower people around leadership. When you see his messages, they are consistent. He is consistently posting about leadership and organizations, and he has built a following around a theme. In your nonprofit, that is a key thing for you. You have to own the space that you are in. You have to be mindful. It's quick and easy to go chase the shiny object. We have talked about chasing money in nonprofits before. That is something that gets a lot of nonprofits off track. They go and chase money. The same thing is true with social media about chasing the shiny object. Not everybody has to have a perspective on every issue that comes up. When LeBron went to Miami, your nonprofit didn't have to talk about LeBron going to Miami unless LeBron was the spokesperson for you in Cleveland. Then you might have something to say. It's being mindful about putting your blinders on when you need to and knowing what you are good at and what you should be talking about. That is a big thing. Your following will come out when you are consistent in what you are talking about, when you have a definitive framing to your social media messaging. We live in a world where the social media algorithms are consistently changing. It used to be photos, and now it is video. Video is the hot piece. Having opportunities. Here we are live on Facebook right? That is a really important thing. Whether it's video chats or small snippets, you want to be able to create bite-size visual media because it is attractive. It will engage more people. It is more likely to be seen by folks than I ate nachos for dinner last night. Nobody really cares, unless you have a great picture of your artisan nachos with your tofu on it or whatever. Then people might care. But I think that is to make sure that when you do post something, you're harnessing all that is available to you. That is another piece. We will talk about it in the social media issue of the magazine. Something a lot of people don't realize is there are very tangible ways for you and your nonprofit to be able to have good visuals. I know Hugh is an Apple guy. Apple made it very available for people to cut and edit simple but good, clean video. You have those more recently in a design perspective. I am blanking on the name here. Canva.com is an organization that came out. One of the pieces they wanted to promote was the idea that not everybody is a graphic designer and can afford a graphic designer, but everybody needs good design. They created a very simple free platform or premium platform where anybody can go in and create good design to be able to make sure that is consistent with their organization in the top-notch perspective. Hugh: That's great. We are doing the wrap here. We have had a really good session, Todd. Thank you for watching this with your vision that is continuing. I hope we continue to execute it faithfully. As you are sitting in this academic seat, you are still editor at this magazine and shaping the editorial policy in a really helpful way. Are there some points you want to leave people with before we end this information session? I want to encourage people to go to nonprofitperformance.org and at least click on the virtual edition. 15,000 people read it every month. It's a Flip file. Go in there and sign in. You can read the archive editions, and you can subscribe and buy issues. It's very reasonable. If a nonprofit executive or pastor were to get issues for themselves and their whole board, then some people are on the same page, and it gives you something tangible to talk about, especially the board issue. Todd, as we are exiting and wrapping up on this interview, what are some things you want to leave people with? Todd: Hugh, when you go back to the initial vision, it's the idea. How do we make impact in our communities? We really wanted to do that. When you talk about some of the download numbers for the magazine and the podcast and the video series, we started at zero. We started without subscribers. We started without followers. We started without any of that. If we can do it, you can, too. It's really important to make sure you have a good message, that you have something people want to listen to, to follow, to read. But you can do it. You can make great impact in your community. You can do great things. You can build it if you want a platform. The key is that you just have to continue. What ends up happening is we see people in our community who start something and they're not resilient enough when the challenges happen. Hugh, you know. Our core team that we started with, we have all gone through significant challenges, life changes, but the key is to continue through it and continue to work together. Truthfully, if you don't like the people you're working with, you probably won't continue. We have had a great group of people, both our core team and folks who have come around us and great new faces like Russell who are able to invigorate and continue to move things forward. I think that's really important for any organization. Make sure that you continue to invite new people in as you continue to hone what your message is. Have fun. Life is too short not to enjoy what you're doing. Hugh: Good, wise words. Russell, you can do it. We have fun. Todd, thanks to you. Thank you so much. Todd: Thank you so much. 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