Driven By with Sam Coates

My guest this week is John Carroll. Lately, I’ve wondered how do you confidently promote a city with significant issues. John is behind the highly successful grassroots nonprofit Choose 901 and City Leadership out of Memphis, TN. What started as a bootstrapped nonprofit over a decade ago has now evolved into one of the top promotional brands in Memphis, TN. National Center on Charitable Statistics, 30% of nonprofits fail to exist after ten years. Given that this nonprofit was bootstrapped and now operates on a 2 million dollar annual budget, this would be a meaningful conversation. This is a great episode that covers the following:

• The power of social media and attracting talent to a city you love and need to fill jobs in
• Redefining progress- do we understand the problems clearly, and Are we making progress on those problems?
• Building a grassroots organization and becoming an expert to others around the United States
• The fragility of a first-generation college student
• Plus a lot more

Please enjoy this week’s episode with John Carroll! Links:John Carroll- https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncarroll77/ The fragility of a first generation college student- https://eab.com/insights/daily-briefing/student-affairs/33-of-first-gen-students-drop-out-within-3-years/ Choose901- https://choose901.com/ City Leadership: https://www.cityleadership.org/ Top promotional brands: https://www.instagram.com/choose901/ According to this source: https://nanoe.org/nonprofits-fail/#:~:text=The%20real%20data%20from%20National,of%20a%20strategic%20plan%2C%20among

My guest today is Will Chase. This is the second time Will is on this podcast. I’ve heard great feedback about his episode #62, so check it out.

This episode will be different and much shorter, and I am looking forward to it.

Full disclosure, I was hired to produce work for this venture and this interview. But I was not hired to release it here on my podcast. That was my choice because Will knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship and the changing landscape of banking across the United States of America. 

Will is underway raising funds to recapitalize a successful local community bank and take it to new heights.

I’m releasing this episode because it speaks to the changing landscape of banking. In 1990, there were just under 14,000 community banks in the USA, and as of June 2020, just over 4,200

This is a great episode that covers the following:

• Why does the movement of capital change when community banks are gobbled up
• How do you build a bank of service first while leveraging modern and innovative technology
• What’s the pride as an investor of a community bank when you’re connected to that community, and why this matters
• Plus, much more!

 

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Will Chase!

 

Links:

Will- https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-j-chase-jr-671a318/

Just under 14k- https://www.ft.com/content/4face0c6-c1fb-47af-972b-8749e92b4baf

Today- https://www.kansascityfed.org/ten/2021-fall-ten-magazine/in-evolving-landscape-community-banks-remain-vital-to-customers-and-the-economy/

My guest today is Bob Fockler, former investment banker turned Community builder and asset allocator. Americans gave away just over 484 billion dollars last year, so I wanted to know what this looks like when it's done right. Bob is currently the President of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, which, as he says, is a billion-dollar financial institution. This is a great episode that covers:

• Running a non-profit like a business and why that matters to steward capital well.
• Paving your own path and leaving investment banking to take on this city's community foundation and why he never looked back
• Generational giving- who does well and what happens when it blows up
• Plus, much more!

Please enjoy this week's episode with Bob Fockler, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis! Links: https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/charitable-giving-statistics/#:~:text=Americans%20gave%20%24484.85%20billion%20in,a%204%25%20increase%20from%202020.&text=Corporate%20giving%20in%202021%20increased,a%2023.8%25%20increase%20from%202020.&text=Foundation%20giving%20in%202021%20increased,a%203.4%25%20increase%20from%202020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-fockler-a5b418a/ https://www.cfgm.org/

My guest, today for the 2nd time, is Youth Villages CEO Pat Lawler. When someone has led an organization from less than 100 kids a year, a handful of staff, and evolved into an impact of more than 32,000 kids a year and over 3,600 staff and counting, they are going to have something to say that’s important to listen and learn from. It’s energizing how a dream can start small, with focus, resiliency, passion, and leadership, it can evolve to be a national thought leader decades later and just getting started. Children’s behavioral health and crime are crucial to our communities and the cities we live. It’s a privilege to release this interview on my podcast, where you will learn:

• What it takes to make a culture permeate all the way down to the front line
• Why being a front-line leader matters and the value it gives you to your organization
• How their recent national intercept recognition opens up even more tremendous opportunities across the United States
• Plus, much more!

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Pat Lawler! This podcast was recorded for my work for Youth Villages on their own podcast Stronger Than You Think. So please check that out if you like this interview. This episode was such a great interview. I wanted to release it here on my podcast. Links: https://youthvillages.org/ Intercept recognition- https://youthvillages.org/youth-villages-intercept-program-model-receives-well-supported-designation-from-family-first-clearinghouse/

My guest today is Frank Cianciola. I’m fortunate to interview many people across the country for the corporate interviews I produce. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that if something works in one market, those principles will work in every market. It’s an absolute pleasure to release today’s episode with Banking entrepreneur and industry veteran Frank Cianciola. Frank is the Founder of Bank3, headquartered out of Memphis, TN, and this isn’t Frank’s first rodeo. This is the third bank he has run after two other successful exits. You’ll hear on his latest bank how he took a struggling bank with less than 20 million in assets and today is at 425 million and shooting for 1 billion. In this episode, you will hear:

• Living a life as an underdog and loving the fight
• Putting it all on the line in your 40s when you’re given an opportunity to run your first bank
• How to pick talent and empower them to provide a level of service that a big bank can’t
• Plus much more!

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Frank Cianciola! Links: Frank Cianciola- https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-j-cianciola-04113118/ Bank3- https://www.bank3.com/

My guest today is Duncan Williams. I wanted to have Duncan on this podcast because What started as a small regional municipal bond firm in 1969 grew to be one of the largest female-owned bond broker-dealers in the United States. In addition to this work, this family has a strong presence as a holding company in farmland, apartments, and senior living facilities in the southeastern part of the United States. This is great story that shows what one generation's risk and sacrifice can do for communities, people, and opportunities decades down the line. In this episode, you will hear:

• Choosing not to sell the family business when unexpected events hit your family
• Building a holding company- how to pick the right people, give them what they need, and get out of their way
• How to build a brand- watching some of the best companies in the world and how they build theirs and learning from them along the way
• A passion for jobs- the new world order, and making sure people get what they need to flourish in the communities you are apart of
• Plus much more!

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Duncan Williams! Links:

Duncan Williams INC- https://duncanwilliams.com/ Duncan Williams- https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-f-williams-33972aa6/ bond broker- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bond-broker.asp new world order- link- https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/

My guest today is Scott Felsenthal. I wanted to have Scott on this podcast because he and his family are obviously doing something right. Only 3% of companies make it to the 4th generation, and their company Whitmor is one of them. Scott is the CEO of Whitmor, and it's a privilege to have him on this podcast. Whitmor started in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946; over 75 years later, it is running strong. This is a great story that goes deep into this family's history of:

• Evolving from a manufacturer to an importer when Walmart changed the game, they, like many others, had to stay alive.
• Choosing not to take private equity to preserve their control for future generations of their family
• Building a company that connects the story of what they do to its own people to navigate the great resignation among the workforce 
• Strategic acquisitions that continue to position the company in a strong position
• Plus much more!

Please enjoy this episode with Scott Felsenthal!

 

Scott Felsenthal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottfelsenthal/ Make it to 4th generation- https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/smith-family-business-initiative-at-cornell/resources/family-business-facts/#:~:text=About%2040%25%20of%20U.S.%20family%2Downed%20businesses%20turn%20into%20second,Businessweek.com%2C%202010). Whitmor: https://whitmor.com/ Great resignation: https://fortune.com/2022/07/21/great-resignation-40-percent-want-to-quit-where-are-they-going/

My guest today is Eric Barnes. Eric is the CEO of the Daily Memphian, the largest single market digital-only local news site in the United States. Starting his career as a staff reporter and worked his way up as an editorial assistant, editor, publisher, and now CEO, Eric has seen the downward spiral of traditional print firsthand and the digital growth of how news is consumed. What's fascinating about Eric's past is that he started working as managing editor of the internet division in the late 1990s Fast Forward 20 years later, and the Daily Memphian is the largest single market digital-only local news site in the United States. I hope you enjoy this episode with Eric, where you will hear:

• Why growing up in a blue-collar town never leaves you. How this has shaped his career and his ability to lead as an operator
• How he saw the shift to desktop in the late 90s and how traditional print has declined from its heyday. What New York Times got right and most everyone else didn't 
• What can happen when you go for something big with ample capital- how the Daily Memphian was launched and what it did from the start to build traction
• Why a local newspaper matters and how it's success affects the future of a city
• Plus much more!

Please enjoy this episode with Daily Memphian CEO Eric Barnes! Links: Daily Memphian launched- https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2018/jul/16/the-daily-memphian-to-launch-in-fall-as-citys-definitive-news-source/ Traditional print declined- https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/04/12/gannett-newspaper-print-days/

My guest today is Tim Belk. Tim, his wife Sarah, and his children operate Wild Hope Farm out of Chester, South Carolina. This is a fantastic episode about leveraging your skill sets to make a true family affair. As Tim says, while being CEO of Belk, he and his wife Sarah were like two ships passing in the night. This organic farm allowed them to do something together and leverage her idea of becoming an organic farmer and his experience as a retail operator and CEO.After the Belk Family sold their department store with close to 300 locations and 25,000 employees that had been in their family since 1888, Wild Hope Farm was started.The organic food market is robust, and as you’ve heard in previous episodes of this podcast, farming isn’t easy.This is an excellent episode with Tim where you will hear: ‍

• How to assess a market, start a farm like this from scratch- from idea to planning to execution and all the lessons learned along the way
• The power of community- why the Belk Family has always committed to their community and how they are doing it today with organic farming and healthier lifestyles
• Building an incubator of farmers- making change by attracting people passionate about the cause and giving them what they need to send them out and succeed on their own
• Plus much more!

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Tim Belk!

Links: ‍ Wild Hope Farm- https://www.wildhopefarm.com/ ‍CEO of Belk- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belk ‍Organic farming: https://www.sare.org/publications/transitioning-to-organic-production/what-is-organic-farming/

My guest today is Mason George. Mason is an entrepreneur and business executive with IMC Companies. IMC Companies was started by his Father, Mark George, 40 years ago with just one driver. Today, it is one of the top Intermodal Carriers in the United States. At close to a billion dollars in revenue, it’s quite the story to take a company from one driver to where it is today.

Our supply chain is more critical today than ever before. The United States is the largest importer globally, and it’s no secret that there have been many challenges with how goods come to the USA and how they move throughout the rest of our country. This interview is much more than just about this company and what success looks like.

I had a great time with Mason, and this is a great interview where you will hear:

• The skillsets it takes to take a company from one driver to over a billion in revenue.
• Being all in with your capital and time while inspiring people to build something they are proud of
• Hard lessons learned and how these painful experiences teach you how to operate better
• The future in trucking. Are autonomous trucks worth it? How their techniques are being used to accelerate the movement of drayage across the USA
• Building technology from the bottom up versus others doing it from top-down and why they have an advantage
• And much more!

Please enjoy this week’s episode with Mason George!

‍

Links: https://www.imcc.com/

https://www.ttnews.com/top100/intermodal/2021

https://www.statista.com/statistics/268184/leading-import-countries-worldwide/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20U.S.%20were,about%202.41%20trillion%20US%20dollars.&text=Import%20and%20export%20are%20generally,a%20country's%20imports%20and%20exports.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-11-27/supply-chain-shortages-are-at-historic-levels-will-they-peak-before-christmas

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2021/05/11/the-autonomous-truck-revolution-is-right-around-the-corner/?sh=1f886d1e2c96

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-george-61004588/