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Welcome to the 'Lead Smarter. Not Harder' Podcast by David Kent, your window into the minds of visionary leaders, trailblazing innovators, and savvy business owners.
Get ready to immerse yourself in the captivating stories and invaluable lessons from the best and brightest minds in the business.
00:00:04:06 - 00:00:25:13
David
Welcome to Lead Smarter, the podcast, where you'll hear powerful, no nonsense conversations about leadership with today's top experts and real world leaders like yourself. Get the inside strategies, insights, and secrets they've learned on the journey to lead smarter. Let's dive in.
00:00:25:15 - 00:00:26:16
David
Most leaders who.
00:00:26:16 - 00:00:55:14
David
Build something from the ground up reach a point where the instincts that got them there start to get in the way. The technology they bet on shifts underneath them and the path can require they take a leap of faith before others are ready to follow. I guess today has lived that arc more than once. Brian Anderson is the CEO and co-founder of a Augusto Digital, where he helps organizations harness AI, custom software and rapid innovation to drive real, measurable business outcomes.
00:00:55:18 - 00:01:33:04
David
With over two decades of experience in software product development and entrepreneurship. Brian leads Augusta's AI solutions and works directly with leadership teams to identify low friction, high ROI use cases through Augusta's digital pace framework. I've had the privilege of working with Brian as a client, and what stands out is how openly he talks about the parts of the journey most leaders skip over, like the fear of changing direction, the discomfort of being first in your company to go all in on something new, or having to face the challenge of being honest with yourself about when it's time to lead by example and when it's time to step back.
00:01:33:06 - 00:01:56:03
David
In this conversation, Brian opens up about his entry into entrepreneurship while getting fired actually taught him why he bet on AI before his team was ready, and why he made Augusto the first client of its own services. If you're a leader who feels the pull to evolve faster than the people around you, you'll appreciate this journey. Welcome to Lead Smarter.
00:01:56:04 - 00:01:57:19
David
Here's my chat with Brian.
00:01:57:22 - 00:02:16:14
David
Hey, Brian, thank you for joining me again here on another conversation with you to On the Leaves Fire podcast. I've really enjoyed the first few conversations we've had getting to know you. I've enjoyed having you as a client and learning a little bit about your entrepreneurship journey, even from the beginning, which I don't really get from a lot of guests.
00:02:16:15 - 00:02:33:02
David
And I know that while I might talk about what you do now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd actually really love if you could just give a little bit of insights about what your entry into entrepreneurship was like. Before we start to dive into some of the questions on how you manage leadership. Now that you've made that transition, you're here managing your company.
00:02:33:04 - 00:02:54:05
Brian
Yeah, thanks. It's great to be with you. Entrepreneurship has been in my blood for a long time. I just didn't realize it. My parents, my mom was a school teacher. My dad worked for the county and they were not entrepreneur. So I was kind of a duck a little bit because I had this entrepreneurial bug. But they kind of taught me to go to school, get a good job and be an employee, be a good employee.
00:02:54:05 - 00:03:17:16
Brian
And so I did those things, and I kind of realized I wasn't happy over time. And I had this, this ambition and this drive to to do more. And so I just kept inventing things and creating things and starting businesses on the side. And then eventually I got to the point where I had enough experience and confidence, and I just decided to go all in and start my own business and grow it and run it.
00:03:17:16 - 00:03:23:02
Brian
And I've been doing that for the last ten years now without being an employee.
00:03:23:07 - 00:03:39:05
David
That's. Yeah. And if I understand correctly, remember when we were talking about getting, I believe you mentioned even getting fired was a it was both a painful but a necessary experience for you. And it kind of maybe gave you that push. Could you talk a little bit about what that transition was like? I know you were mentioning you really kind of dove in deep.
00:03:39:06 - 00:03:48:16
David
You were really doing some study and learning about yourself, maybe through this transition. What was that like, and how did that step that maybe wasn't even your choice at the time kind of really push you and make you take that leap?
00:03:48:17 - 00:04:10:13
Brian
Well, I could tell you, like, getting fired definitely is kind of a bad tasting pill, but I wish I had got fired a lot earlier. You know, I was just a good employee. I created a lot of value and money for the people I was working for. And so even though I was disruptive and a pain like they kept me around for a long time, I think that journey to like truly becoming entrepreneur was gradual for me.
00:04:10:13 - 00:04:30:23
Brian
I had it in my blood, but I was kind of wired conservatively and wired like with the employee mindset, because I was brought up that way and I got to a point where I was doing these side businesses on the side, and I was enjoying them, and I actually grew one of them that we just relaunched. That's pay it to com and you'll have to check that out.
00:04:30:23 - 00:04:48:13
Brian
But it's a payment platform similar to GoFundMe. It's kind of like Eventbrite and GoFundMe blended together. And they I ended up selling that company to one of the companies I worked for. And then like they invested in it and we worked on it. So I just kept like doing all these entrepreneur kind of things that were crossing over.
00:04:48:13 - 00:05:06:07
Brian
And I eventually got to the point where it's like, I couldn't make any of them really work because I wasn't focused enough. And but I enjoyed the whole creative process. I enjoyed the entrepreneurial process, and I realized that's what I wanted to do. But I was getting paid a lot of money and I was like, making enough where I had some golden handcuffs on.
00:05:06:07 - 00:05:22:10
Brian
I was living in a cottage that we had bought up on a lake, northern Michigan, and I was enjoying that lifestyle and stuff. And so I had a lot of fear, you know, I didn't want to change and but I didn't like where I was going and what I was doing at the time. And they I was good at doing business development work.
00:05:22:10 - 00:05:39:04
Brian
So I did a deal with them to go start the Detroit office for building custom software applications, like a consulting practice over there. And so I was driving over there every single week, and I did that for like a year and a half, and I met a lot of great people, and I hired some people over there and stuff.
00:05:39:04 - 00:06:04:20
Brian
And but every time that we that I was driving over there, like the first time I remember driving, I was listening to like, sports radio and I was and I and I said to myself, after the first trip, I said, I'm never going to listen to sports radio again because it has no value to my brain. And if I want to change, my wife was like giving me gave me a book about entrepreneurship, and I read that and and that, like, set my brain on fire.
00:06:04:20 - 00:06:22:07
Brian
I should have done it many years prior. And during those car rides back and forth to Detroit, I listened to like an audio book every single time I was driving across the state because I lived in West Michigan and Detroit's all the way to their side of the state. So I had 2.5 hours of in honor of the time, for the most part, to listen to audiobooks.
00:06:22:07 - 00:06:44:04
Brian
So I consume like a hundred books. And I feel like I started out with like self-improvement, entrepreneurship, investing, real estate, investing. And man, those books were like really great for me. I was annoying a lot of my friends because I was just like, spewing all this like new knowledge I was gaining and and it got me very disruptive at work.
00:06:44:04 - 00:07:01:18
Brian
So like, that was probably like the catalyst that ultimately got me fired as I got to the point where I was just like educated and I was frustrated and I was disruptive. They had to do what they had to do. It was a good choice on their part, I think, but it also freed me. And at that stage of my life, I was I had said to my wife, I'm like, I'm not going back.
00:07:01:18 - 00:07:20:24
Brian
I'm not going to go get a job and go work for somebody else. I'm going to go do this entrepreneurial journey. And I had worked out a severance plan with these folks, and I had some money in the bank that I had some confidence. And then I went on that journey and I could tell you there was like this, there's these moments, there's this diagram, always see, it's like everyone's so excited at the top of the valley.
00:07:20:24 - 00:07:40:06
Brian
And then there's like, you go, you go down the valley and there's this bridge, and then there's the pit of despair. I landed square in the pit of despair a few times, and pulled myself out of that swamp and crossed the bridge. But it's it's it's not a journey for the faint of heart, but when you do it and you actually persevere through it, like there's a lot of rewards.
00:07:40:07 - 00:07:40:11
Brian
Well.
00:07:40:11 - 00:08:03:08
David
And there's there's a lot of lessons in that. And I'm curious, like, you obviously went through that journey yourself. You watched yourself transition from good employee to I'm, I'm struggling to fit in this space because I feel like I'm educated on what my values are ever after going through that and building a company, how do you create room for people that might be experiencing the same things in your company?
00:08:03:08 - 00:08:29:23
Brian
I encourage people to be entrepreneurial, you know, and I think we've set up a gusto in a way where I think people can be very entrepreneurial, you know, and they get tons of opportunities to get tons of autonomy. And we're open to ideas. We're open to like, you know, change. And I definitely feel like it's a different kind of place than where I had come from, you know?
00:08:30:02 - 00:08:46:18
Brian
Right. We work with a lot of contractors. We're very strategic about how we engage people and how we incentivize people so that our interests are aligned. But we encourage people to be creative and to be entrepreneurial. And if they want to be an entrepreneur and they want to they want to be as a contractor, that's totally fine with us.
00:08:46:18 - 00:08:53:00
Brian
If they want to be an employee and they're bought into our mission and they want to help us achieve that, then that's totally cool too.
00:08:53:00 - 00:09:08:13
David
Do you feel like the mission that you've set up for your company is is designed with the your own experiences in mind from having gone through that process and now you're like, this is the environment I want to create for the younger version of me or the people that I want to be working alongside and giving that flexibility.
00:09:08:15 - 00:09:28:11
Brian
The mission is kind of an interesting thing, right? It's evolved over time. And now one of the things that I realized on this whole journey is like struggling with being able to speak in the voice of the customer. A classic problem is always tell you what we're doing or how we can. What are we doing instead of like how we can help you or or what's in it for you?
00:09:28:12 - 00:09:54:00
Brian
Our mission has changed significantly, and we changed it a couple of years ago, and I think it's a much better fit. Our mission is to deliver $100 million in ROI for our clients, right? And I can say that that mission is the best one that we've set out of maybe 2 or 3 in our ten year journey. And it aligns everybody to focus on, like, the outcome that we're looking for and what our clients are aligned for in royalty, for their investment in applying AI to their business.
00:09:54:00 - 00:10:17:03
Brian
And it also it also makes us do a lot of things that are really cool internally, like build the systems to actually track that we're delivering the ROI and be able to like, be accountable to it and our guarantee and all these other things that are aligned on, like people feeling a passion to actually make this come alive and hit that goal and all the things we need to do to make that come to life.
00:10:17:05 - 00:10:42:13
David
One of the things that we've talked about is you also mentioned, I think, even through what you're describing, being a leader in a space like that and trying to be a visionary leader, trying to be the who and not the how. So you're having a team and even maybe a mission that's structured on how to deliver. I wanted to know, like you described herself as a creator personality, how do you protect that role while you're resisting, like the pull to manage the day to day operations?
00:10:42:17 - 00:11:08:01
Brian
It's it's can be hard. It's a balancing act. Right? I don't I don't really execute any of the operations. And so I try to put people in positions where they have ownership over these areas of the business. And I try to give people guidance and direction and insight. Sometimes they don't like it, sometimes they appreciate it, sometimes they don't.
00:11:08:01 - 00:11:27:09
Brian
Because my goal is to put people in place where they can wholly own the things that they're doing, and then we're going to collaborate together in a leadership capacity like we're going to be we run L10 meetings, we have a leadership meeting like we're working through issues together. We're giving, you know, I'm giving people direction and insights and, and, and creative ideas.
00:11:27:09 - 00:11:36:21
Brian
But I'm not I'm not forcing them to do them. I'm trying to work with them so that they see the benefits of doing it and on their own and owning the things that they are responsible for.
00:11:36:23 - 00:11:55:08
David
So I've known some leaders that describe similar to what you just described, and there's points at which they they feel that it's necessary or beneficial for them to dive a little bit deeper into the project. And they try to identify that by putting in like, let's just call them triggers. So this is the key metric that you guys keep doing.
00:11:55:09 - 00:12:13:22
David
We're all following the plan. When I see an indicator in this space I'm going to dive a little bit deeper. What is the process that you take as the leader while you're trying to keep yourself kind of away from diving into the details? Sometimes you can't fully be removed from it. If you see, like this ship starting to sink, I actually have to dive in.
00:12:13:22 - 00:12:17:19
David
How do you manage that in yourself and with your team?
00:12:17:21 - 00:12:35:20
Brian
I mean, we use a scorecard in our weekly leadership meeting. We've got a monthly financial meeting where we've got a scorecard, and then we've got our annual and quarterly meeting pulse. So there's a lot of touch bases there. I would say there's a blend between looking at metrics and seeing where things are at. And also just a feel.
00:12:35:20 - 00:12:50:19
Brian
I can get insight, I can get signals from working with a customer, or I can get a signal from like seeing an interaction between somebody and a customer or some inefficient process that it just seems like we keep banging our head on the wall over and over and over again. It's like, we got to fix this, you know?
00:12:50:21 - 00:13:15:03
Brian
It's so like sometimes people, times people that are working in operations, they don't always see those things because they are like doing the the process and the systems in operation. Then like it's hard sometimes when you're working in that space. So I'm not in that space as often. I'm more in a creative space, in a visionary space and working with clients and stuff and talking to customers, going to events and stuff.
00:13:15:03 - 00:13:39:24
Brian
So I, I see things differently. And I also do a lot of research and stuff. So I'm, I'm constantly getting tuned into all of these external forces, which lets me go and like, see these things in a more obvious way. And so I can bring these in as issues and I try to do them constructively through, like the processes we've already set up with iOS and RL ten meetings, we have an issue list, so I'll just add stuff to the issue list, I'll get the conversation going.
00:13:40:00 - 00:13:51:16
Brian
And then ideally the person that owns the the follow up or the to do that comes out of that is the person that has the most influence over fixing it. And then we'll we'll check in on it from time to time.
00:13:51:18 - 00:14:13:08
David
Given also the business that you're in, you're obviously in technology. You're developing solutions for your own clients. You know, we got AI that's emerging. Lots of things are changing in that space, I'd say substantially more rapidly than ever before in history. How how do you in your space, especially given the fact that you do have you're in a more creative space also in a very dynamic space.
00:14:13:08 - 00:14:22:01
David
How do you separate the signal from the noise and identify? These are the things we're actually going to do versus everything that's possible and being pulled in any direction.
00:14:22:02 - 00:14:49:13
Brian
Yeah. Well, I have been a shiny object person in my life, and I've got a lot of mentorship and advisory work over the years and put into me, and focus is definitely something I work on. And I have to be very intentional about because it's very exciting. There's so many things going on, and I'm constantly studying like I'm watching YouTube or I'm doing it myself, or I'm doing it with a client and I'm learning constantly so it can create these shiny objects.
00:14:49:13 - 00:15:07:24
Brian
But I just I've tried to, like, narrow my focus on on the things that are going to produce an ROI for our business and then narrow that to the best opportunities that are creating ROI for our business. And when I do that, like it seems to line up, and then we get into this quarterly pulse where we're setting rocks for, for our leadership team.
00:15:07:24 - 00:15:21:02
Brian
And so I try to take rocks that are meaningful rocks that I actually am going to focus on over the next 90 days and try and get them done. And, and I asked the same of my leadership team and the other people that are taking rocks in our business.
00:15:21:04 - 00:15:38:11
David
How do you include the rest of your team to bring you ideas in this space, when you're also trying to protect? I'm only going to focus on the ones that we can all actually execute that will bring the best ROI from our clients, but also for our business. But I also still want to be open to ideas beyond just the scope of what I'm seeing myself and letting my team.
00:15:38:11 - 00:15:44:19
David
How do you and create that environment so that you can get the best ideas from everybody, even the ones on the ground in your business?
00:15:44:20 - 00:16:05:07
Brian
Man, I wish I would say that we're awesome at that, but I feel like we have so much more to go. We're so engaged in in work with clients or different initiatives, but we're getting much better at like defining things as projects and like allocating budget and time to those projects. And we want an owner for those projects, like, I don't want to be the owner of any of the projects.
00:16:05:07 - 00:16:26:22
Brian
I want to have somebody else that is working with me, that is the owner that we accountable to it. So I'm very intentional about trying to put people into these internal and client facing projects that are that are going to be owners of them, and there's a lot of collaboration that goes on in the team. There's a lot of ideas that come out and there's issues that come up through, like our processes.
00:16:26:24 - 00:16:45:08
Brian
But I would say like, I would love for more ideas to like, surface from the team. And we use like, for example, slack. We've got some like an AI lab channel, for example, and we're constantly collaborating in that channel around things that are an AI or our general channel or random channel, or we have other channels set up for like different initiatives.
00:16:45:08 - 00:16:56:22
Brian
So there is there is ways for people to collaborate. But I'm, I'm so focused all the time on like steering that I probably could do a better job of surfacing more from our team in reality.
00:16:57:02 - 00:17:13:06
David
Well, one of the things I know I've talked, obviously, I know a little bit about your team. I'm familiar with some of the stuff you guys do, and I, I know that you guys are also starting to apply some of your skill sets. You know, your mission being I want to deliver $100 million in ROI, I guess, for our clients.
00:17:13:06 - 00:17:38:14
David
And because of that, you're developing some things that are obviously super beneficial to your clients, but potentially beneficial to yourselves. And now you're starting to maybe even I don't want to say drink your own Kool-Aid, but you're using some of your own products in your own services, if I understand correctly, and trying to like, gain from that, it's such a common conversation for me to have with anybody delivering any service that they almost never take the time to apply it to themselves.
00:17:38:16 - 00:17:57:08
David
So I'd be very interested. I have some of those same problems, like what was one of the things that was a pivotal moment where you're like, we need to apply all of this, like at least some of what we're doing for our clients to ourselves and get some of that efficiency throughout to test it, to make sure that it's going well, but also to benefit from it.
00:17:57:08 - 00:18:00:07
David
And, you know, I guess walk the walk.
00:18:00:13 - 00:18:24:07
Brian
I think it's really important. And like, I feel like our friend Mark Cleveland really set me straight on that because I was really focused on trying to just do the services for clients at the time. And he's like, you need to eat your own dog food. And the first thing we're going to do is we're going to work on LinkedIn and we're going to we're going to come up with a process and a system where your, your leadership team and your sales team are going to get really engaged on LinkedIn.
00:18:24:07 - 00:18:40:00
Brian
And, you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of resistance to that by me and others like, well, I don't know, you know, a lot of like it's like the it's all the doubts, the fear, uncertainty and doubts and you're like, oh, you know, but eventually you get to the point where you're like, well, let's just try it and you start doing it and you start realizing the benefits of it.
00:18:40:00 - 00:19:06:00
Brian
And then and then we continue to refine the systems. And we worked with you and brought on some, you know, executive assistants and, and got support into that process so that we could execute it on a regular basis. And then that's led us to the point where we actually have a service that we sell to clients to help them amplify their LinkedIn brands, because we've developed the systems and the eyes and the human layer and the processes to make it really consistent.
00:19:06:02 - 00:19:25:22
Brian
And so we're kind of like, you know, we take this and then we learn, and then we see that there's value there for our clients because we're they're telling us that they need this kind of stuff because they want to grow. And we said, well, this is what we did. You know, it's a lot easier to sell something that you did, and you can show them examples and show them what the benchmark is and show them your results.
00:19:25:22 - 00:19:45:18
Brian
It's a lot easier to sell it. And then there's a lot of other examples. And I think AI has dramatically changed our ability to actually develop our own custom software, because before I'd have to bring an entire team of people together designers, developers, you know, DevOps people. And we'd have to go through this process of like designing an application and building it.
00:19:45:18 - 00:20:08:08
Brian
And now, like, it's amazing what I can do with AI in a couple of days, I can build a very sophisticated application that would have taken me six months to do before in a couple of days. And, and so like if that's possible, then like the cost of building custom software that actually like, meets your specific needs is within reach of almost everybody.
00:20:08:08 - 00:20:27:15
Brian
And the skills are there too, because you you don't have to be a developer to be able to build a functional application using AI. Now, if you are a developer or are a designer, there's massive advantages and you can build something even greater. But but there's so much that we're doing right now with custom software and data. That's our own data.
00:20:27:15 - 00:20:44:20
Brian
And we started making those decisions a few years ago, like we started building a data warehouse because we had all these disparate systems and we needed to bring data together. We needed to report on it. And then we started building applications on top of it. And then and then we started building other databases. Now we started building like second brain AI systems on top of it.
00:20:44:20 - 00:21:13:02
Brian
And it's just like, now we can start automating things that we used to have to have employees to do and things that employees didn't like to do, like detailed research on things, or putting together briefs or putting together count plans and all these other things, like, we can drive all of that now through AI automation and just using all the data that we've already got in transcripts and all the so and the case studies and all the project artifacts and the git hubs and all that stuff, it's it's just unbelievable.
00:21:13:02 - 00:21:30:09
Brian
And so like, we're doing it all ourselves to spending our money, putting our mouth for our money where our mouth is. And then we're selling it to clients and we're showing them what we did. And then we go, like, help their businesses significantly grow and take advantage of all of the learnings and the products that we're able to develop out of that.
00:21:30:11 - 00:21:49:16
David
Yeah. And I mean, you mentioned getting through the fear, uncertainty and doubt of using your own products and starting to bring some of the stuff in-house. And I also know that you guys have been developing well before AI was out there, you were you were developing team. You had your own like specific kind of services you were trying to offer.
00:21:49:16 - 00:22:24:09
David
And then AI came into the picture, which within the last four years or so, and I was curious when AI came in and you guys had already had kind of a model of how you're providing services in a technology world before AI. How did you lead your team through some of the fear and uncertainty of that emergence and of what I know everybody is thinking like, oh, well, I mean, just like you said, there's people that don't have to have the same technical background to be able to produce, but you've also come out on the other side of that and it's like, well, if you do have this technology background, if you have already started
00:22:24:09 - 00:22:37:14
David
building all of these technologies and services and capabilities on top of each other, you're going to be able to deliver significantly more than somebody who could just put a prompt into AI. So how did you help your team through that emotional struggle? I would say that you probably guys went through.
00:22:37:17 - 00:22:55:14
Brian
There's kind of multiple forces that come into play. So yes, I've been building custom software systems for 27 years now. I was doing it when I was a kid, like, I, I went to school to learn how to do this. I went into a consulting company, worked for multiple consulting companies, built so many systems for clients. I built my own system.
00:22:55:14 - 00:23:20:04
Brian
So like, I've been living in this space for a long time. So, you know, Agusta was really a digital product development company and its beginnings. And so people would hire us to build custom software systems for them and help them get products in front of customers that were these digital experiences. And then it's evolved now where, like the ability to do automation has significantly increased, and the ability to develop these agents to take advantage of these AI systems is amazing.
00:23:20:04 - 00:23:43:15
Brian
So like I recognized the potential of it, I think I think everybody's like a moment was when ChatGPT was released, right? So they started realizing like, oh my gosh, this thing is nuts. And then it's just evolved so quickly. When I started realizing what was happening, our business in general was like slowing. It was slowing because like, there was this uncertainty and doubt around what was I going to do and how are people going to take advantage of AI.
00:23:43:16 - 00:24:02:00
Brian
So people weren't investing in the development of these custom applications the way they were before, right? They were more cautious. So I had like a choice. I'm like, I can continue to struggle against the wave of AI. Or I could figure out, like how to go all in on it. And and I was the first in our company to do it right.
00:24:02:01 - 00:24:20:05
Brian
Like, I got to the point where I got myself educated and I started to like, see the see the vision of what AI is really going to do to our world and what it is already doing to our world. And it's just undeniable. There's no other choice. Like if you want to live in this technology space, like we better be all in on AI because there's not a choice.
00:24:20:06 - 00:24:36:08
Brian
And it's it's a ton of fun, too, because it's like all the stuff that we didn't like to do in the past, like spend hours and hours writing lines of code, like we can just tell what we want the app to do, and the AI writes the code for us, you know? So it's like same thing for designers, you know, like they complain about living in Figma and having to do all this production work.
00:24:36:08 - 00:24:58:12
Brian
Well, now you don't have to. You can just tell the what you want it to look like. And and when you get to the point where you actually get more AI native, you realize like how much more productive you could be and what the changes are. So that that was like the genesis of like what got me to the point to make the decision to like to go all in and to pivot our business and focus on AI a few years ago, and that was a good choice.
00:24:58:12 - 00:25:18:21
Brian
But it's taken a long time, and there's people who have left our team who were like great people on the team that didn't want to go that direction. You know, there's other people that have struggled with it like they it's still like scary. And they they're not sure. But at this point, there's also some people on our team that are just like all in.
00:25:18:23 - 00:25:41:16
Brian
And it's so fun to watch what they can produce. And there's all we're tracking, all these other people that are super talented to work with us in this space. And really interesting clients like our client mix change too, like we were we were doing work with much bigger enterprise clients, and now we're doing more work with mid-market, which is a lot of fun because you get to work with like the CEOs and the executive teams of those companies instead of working with their or their directors.
00:25:41:17 - 00:25:59:08
Brian
Right. And a huge company. It's been like a lot of like learning. But the the thing I would recommend is like is, is you have to try it. You just have to do it. Like if you see this as your path, like you have to start now, you have to like work on the path of becoming more AI native.
00:25:59:08 - 00:26:22:07
Brian
And you're thinking and and you're doing and and you need to lead by example and, and you'll see the benefits. And not everyone's going to come along with you. And other people are going to come much slower than you. But in general, I feel like the team at Augusto has made significant strides and is growing very quickly right now in terms of their AI native capabilities.
00:26:22:09 - 00:26:30:16
Brian
But it was not an easy process. And and it was led by me saying, we need to do this and led by example by doing it.
00:26:30:18 - 00:26:49:09
David
So you so I guess I was going to ask like a little bit about what that change management looked like. And from what you're saying, it sounds like it started with you investing in yourself, being the first maybe adopter, really diving in while the teams kind of trying to manage business as usual, and you're trying to pull them along into what's going to happen anyway.
00:26:49:11 - 00:27:09:12
Brian
Well, the first thing I try to do is figure out what I could sell, right? So we started building engagement models and I was studying like Russell Brunson and Clickfunnels model and the idea of frameworks. And so one of the first things we we focused on was how do we build a repeatable service model for delivering our services.
00:27:09:12 - 00:27:29:06
Brian
And so we came up with the digital Pace framework. And it's a three step framework. It's it's quick wins. Sorry I'm like ahead of myself. It's rumble quick wins accelerate rumble quick wins accelerate. And so we got to the point where like that's a everybody in our company knows what the digital page framework is. And they could say rumble quick wins accelerate.
00:27:29:07 - 00:27:53:23
Brian
Right. And when we go out and we sell we're selling our framework. This is how we work. We do rumble quick win accelerate. And a rumble is is basically a workshop, right. Like there's a pre and a post process. We can put a couple workshops together into a rumble. But it's a really a really organized, facilitated set of workshops that help your team get aligned and focused on quick wins.
00:27:53:23 - 00:28:12:13
Brian
Because then once you get focused on a quick win and you actually can see like, what's a quick one? Well, a quick win is a super high impact AI focused project with rapid time delivery, right? So like we grade those and we score those and we get to a point where we can identify like, here's the 2 or 3 quick wins we should focus on next.
00:28:12:13 - 00:28:35:02
Brian
And then we go work on that and we deliver that. And that creates like a trust that creates like, wow, we're building momentum. We're actually delivering something. We're getting value from it. Like, do we like these people? They seem to have our best interest in mind. And then that leads us into like these partnership engagements where we get into these long term engagements with clients, where we become a, I like to say, a beloved extension of their team.
00:28:35:02 - 00:28:51:00
Brian
And we we work hand in hand with them and we get multiple projects going at once, and we deliver a lot of value. And and then we start tracking all of it and measuring what our impacts are and our ROI. And it creates a virtuous cycle for everybody.
00:28:51:02 - 00:29:21:05
David
So I guess I wanted to ask you a little bit about like, obviously you're leading a team. You're leading yourself trying to kind of educate yourself through changes that are happening in the industry. You're also, if I understand correctly, leading clients through these processes. And I was going to ask you what what does change management for a client who maybe is trying to partner with you because they recognize their own needs are not being met internally, and they're they're trying to grow their company in a way that's outside of their capabilities.
00:29:21:07 - 00:29:30:10
David
If it's outside of their capabilities, it probably means it's a little bit outside their understanding. How do you help them through the process, or is what you're telling me, how you help them through that process?
00:29:30:12 - 00:29:55:08
Brian
Telling you what we're doing is how we're helping them through the process. Because our typical customer is is someone who is a change maker, someone who sees sees it. Right. They're like, I would say, like a typical phrase from a CEO would be, I see this AI thing and I see how powerful it is. And I was playing with it the last couple months and like, I'm just like blown away.
00:29:55:08 - 00:30:13:06
Brian
And if my competitors see the same thing, I see like and they're getting focused on it, we're going to be left in the dust. And and so that's like a common sentiment, right. So there's someone that knows that change needs to happen in the organization. And and they're they're frustrated that their team doesn't see it the same way they see it.
00:30:13:06 - 00:30:32:02
Brian
And they need they need help because they recognize that the talent on their team, they've got good talent. And in some cases they're missing talent, but they've got like a core that they trust and that they're working with. But they, they they're there, you know, like we were talking about earlier, they're focused on operations. They're focused on the day to day things that have to happen to run the business.
00:30:32:02 - 00:30:57:12
Brian
And the visionary person or the the transformative person is frustrated that they don't see how big this opportunity is. And so they need people like us to help, like bring the team along. Right. And to like to help, like educate the team and to help, like align the team with them and help get them running in the same direction and then and then be an extension of their team and help them get this stuff done over time.
00:30:57:12 - 00:31:30:01
Brian
And it compounds on itself over time. But it's hard for an organization to to do it alone. There's a there was an MIT survey that came out like last year that said, like, like 30% of the projects that that start that are AI projects that start for companies like fail internally, and 60% of them or more are succeeding if you use an external partner, because it's hard to change and you can have other people like us be the ones to help facilitate that change.
00:31:30:03 - 00:31:55:24
David
Have you experienced maybe the other side of, let's just say, the the wave of AI coming through, where there's all my experience, for example, is I've seen people both overestimate what it can do and underestimate what it can do. I think it's because we're still kind of learning as it's like capabilities are growing. But have you seen the kind of experience on the other side where people have had maybe higher expectations?
00:31:56:01 - 00:32:18:07
David
They got introduced to some capabilities, maybe from people they already knew people internally. And you were mentioning like some of these projects fail, right? So their experience is. Well, AI, like they say, can do all these things. But, you know, I just had a sloppy experience and it just it doesn't feel like it's worth the hype. And then you're coming along with a much greater understanding of what is capable of.
00:32:18:07 - 00:32:23:05
David
And you have to kind of get them past that initial bad taste they have in their mouth. Is that something you experience with your clients?
00:32:23:11 - 00:32:44:23
Brian
Yeah, there's a change management. There's an overcoming these objections and stuff. Like I would say, most people are vastly underestimating what's possible with AI at this stage. Vastly underestimating. And the reason is because they don't understand it and they don't. And they haven't done it, and they haven't been through some of the ups and downs you have to go through to actually see and understand how you can take most advantage of it.
00:32:45:00 - 00:32:59:21
Brian
And I think it's going to continue to accelerate. And I think that like it's an exponential curve. So like the people that are doing it and learning and going through this journey are going to be the ones that are going to compound and the others are going to be staying flat. And so that's just like that's just the reality.
00:32:59:22 - 00:33:17:15
Brian
I mean, that's, you know, you can go watch moonshots on YouTube and you can hear that every single day. And so like it's real though. And so like a lot of times. Yeah. Like people I think people want to do all this stuff themselves when they start because they want to learn and they're like experimental and they're trying to see what's possible and stuff.
00:33:17:15 - 00:33:37:01
Brian
But you'll get to a point where, yeah, you might have some bad experiences or you hit, you hit the limits of like what your understanding of it is. And that's the time to call somebody like us because we can like, we can run right alongside you and just accelerate you. And because we get to see it across all kinds of different clients and different domains, and we're doing it ourselves.
00:33:37:01 - 00:33:41:15
Brian
And so it's like we're going through the learning curve faster than you're going through the learning curve, you know?
00:33:41:16 - 00:34:02:05
David
Right. I actually am curious. So obviously like you'll come to like clients will come to you. Maybe you said that they're going to have gone to the process of maybe experiencing a little bit over the past couple of months of what could be possible with AI. Maybe they'll have some ideas, and then they get to go through this digital framework with you without maybe sharing who the client is.
00:34:02:05 - 00:34:12:01
David
Exactly. Would you? Can you tell me, like, what was one of the bigger surprises you had when going through this digital framework with a company like what came out of it? That was a surprise to you even.
00:34:12:03 - 00:34:30:02
Brian
Right? Well, a lot of times, like, I mean, we charge a fee for a rumble, right? Like, our entry fee is like 7500 bucks because it takes time to get organized and facilitate a really good workshop. And, you know, so, like, it's not that much right in the reality of things, but it's enough where people have to stop and think like, do I want to spend?
00:34:30:02 - 00:34:44:11
Brian
I got to get this team aligned. I got to spend this money. I got to justify this budget. It's always like, there's this all these hurdles to get to, the get to the rumble and justification. Is it worth it? Are we going to get the benefit out of it? Everybody that comes out of it is like, oh my gosh.
00:34:44:13 - 00:35:02:07
Brian
Like we we have a much better understanding of this and we have a much better understanding of where our highest value focus should be on it. And we don't need to try to do everything at once and boil the ocean, like, let's just focus on 1 or 2 things and like we'll build on it. And that that approach is a focus approach, right?
00:35:02:08 - 00:35:18:00
Brian
It's like we want to help get you focused, because a lot of times when we're clients and they have 50 ideas or they're going off and they're scattered into all these different directions, trying all these different things. And like, I know, because I've lived this, that, that doesn't work. If we don't focus like you don't you don't like succeed.
00:35:18:00 - 00:35:38:21
Brian
And and so like our strategy is to like facilitate the process of getting people focused and, and rowing in the same direction. So that's the rumble. And then you've identified the quick wins. And then the quick wins give you a language and a focus around what are we actually trying to achieve. Because like a lot of people, like they want to make a quick win way bigger than it should be.
00:35:38:22 - 00:36:00:20
Brian
And and a quick win is about like quick in a win. It also it's like like let's get quick wins and then we can build into the more strategic bets. And so that that process leads people through this evolution and this education and this like seeing it and doing it that like makes your success much, much success rate much higher.
00:36:00:20 - 00:36:15:20
Brian
And you're going to build up to the things that are the big bets that you're going to, you're going to get from it. But it's going to compound over time before take a lot of people, like they get so scattered that they they have too many ideas or they, they want to do too much at once and then they don't get anything done, you know?
00:36:15:21 - 00:36:27:23
David
Right. So you're going for the not it's almost like the sustainable short wins to kind of build the momentum to get to that bigger win that they kind of probably are coming in with right away saying, this is the thing I want done now.
00:36:28:01 - 00:36:46:02
Brian
Well, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Sometimes they have so many ideas they don't know where to start. Sometimes people have something real specific, but I would say that's more rare than people like. Have too many ideas because you start working with the team and everyone's got different ideas, different opinions, different levels of AI, education and experience and perceptions.
00:36:46:02 - 00:37:02:11
Brian
So there ends up being a lot of noise. And so the job is to like cut through the noise, find the signal, get focused on it and then deliver it and then build the momentum and build the trust amongst your organization internally and and like and us and succeed.
00:37:02:12 - 00:37:18:17
David
Yeah. Well there's a couple of things that we're starting to as we're coming towards the end of this that I really wanted to cover with you. One of the things I, in the multiple conversations I've had with you, you have what I understand to be a pretty big a list of books that you that you're reading kind of all the time and that you've already read.
00:37:18:19 - 00:37:43:10
David
So while I normally ask what you're reading now and I'm still interested, I actually want to maybe take it in a slightly different direction with you and ask you, what is something that you're doing to try to like a source of news, a source of like good information that you believe is actually a credible source of information, where you try to kind of stay on top of AI for yourself and technology for yourself, because there's so much out there.
00:37:43:13 - 00:38:05:22
Brian
Yeah, I feel like I feel like my biggest source of education these days is YouTube. And then it's YouTube and then try it YouTube and then try it. Right? Because there's a few people, like if you want to go big vision. I love listening to moonshots, right. Peter Diamandis and his team. Like it's super cool to hear your vision like that and and connect it to like, oh my gosh there.
00:38:05:23 - 00:38:32:10
Brian
I think they're right. And so that gives you like a frame of like the future and and now too. But it's definitely strategy. And then there's a, there's a lot of really cool practitioners out there that are doing really cool applied AI work. And I built up a subscription list to those guys, and I'm watching them, and then I see my clients watching them, and then it's almost like we're talking about episodes of TV like, oh, did you see that episode of Nate Herc or is it whatever?
00:38:32:11 - 00:38:34:07
Brian
There's so many really good ones right now.
00:38:34:07 - 00:38:36:12
David
Survivor AI edition, where you guys, you.
00:38:36:12 - 00:38:57:22
Brian
Can have and it's like, it's just like. And you can stay right on the cutting edge of all the releases that are coming out of the Frontier Labs. And it's it's it can be a little overwhelming sometimes, but that's where I, that's where I live right now. And then I try to like filter that into like practical things that I can apply to our business and that we can bring to our clients.
00:38:57:24 - 00:39:19:18
Brian
So yeah, I would say YouTube is definitely probably my highest source of AI relevant AI education. And then doing it right, like I, you know, I've got open claw, I've got clawed. And then I've also told my team to focus. Like we said this quarter, our focus is going to be on clawed and open claw like because I think there's so many amazing tools out there.
00:39:19:18 - 00:39:35:13
Brian
And I could go focus on perplexity right now, or I could go back and focus on again. But like those two, I think are the highest value things that that are that I see the biggest potential on. So I'm just going to focus there right now until until it's time not to focus there.
00:39:35:14 - 00:39:47:20
David
Yeah. And okay, so that's obviously with the the buzz of technology and AI. But when it comes to for personal and professional development, anything that you're reading right now that kind of fits that, that you're really doing some diving into.
00:39:47:21 - 00:40:11:10
Brian
My wife and I are joined this Keller Williams wealth program. She's a realtor and doing pretty good. And so we decided to invest in ourselves by getting more educated. And they're having us read the cash flow quadrant again. I'd if you haven't read Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrants really good. And I think it's a really good way to frame where you're at right now in your journey.
00:40:11:10 - 00:40:28:24
Brian
I was an employee for a long time, 15, 17 years, and I skipped the S quadrant and I went to the B quadrant and I'm working on the I quadrant, and so it's really cool to hear it reframed again now that I'm like a few years past when I read that book and a lot more experiences, there's a there's a lot of good, good value in that book.
00:40:28:24 - 00:40:29:17
Brian
I think.
00:40:29:21 - 00:40:47:00
David
That's good to know. I always I've never really let myself dive back into a book I've already read. I always feel like there's so many out there, I'm just missing out. But I like to hear from people who love to book so much or felt like they could get more out of it. Go back and reread it. So that's that's good to know that that was one of those books for you.
00:40:47:02 - 00:41:02:20
David
And the last thing I like to ask guests before we wrap up is if you had an opportunity, maybe just 60s, then you could go back in time, say like your early 20s, and you could only give yourself one piece of advice because 60s is all you have. What would that piece of advice be and why?
00:41:02:22 - 00:41:10:11
Brian
I'd be. I'd say read more books and be an investor much earlier, like don't be afraid to fail. That's part of the process of learning.
00:41:10:14 - 00:41:16:04
David
That's great. And be an investor in yourself. Be an actual investor in the stock market. What do you mean by being an investor?
00:41:16:04 - 00:41:37:21
Brian
All of it. Try to buy, try to house. Heck by a duplex right when you get out of school or right when you're in school, start figuring out how to invest your money and compound it early and and definitely invest in yourself. Like, I mean, I remember I used to be afraid to like, pay for training because it would be like 100 bucks or something, you know, and it's like I'm spending 100 bucks on training, like every week right now.
00:41:37:21 - 00:41:52:14
Brian
The best, the most successful people that I know have spent a ton of money on themselves to get educated. And and they don't even think twice about it. So, like, don't be afraid to spend money on, like, educating yourself. Like it's worth the investment and it'll make your life a lot better.
00:41:52:15 - 00:42:07:15
David
That's that's really I think that's really good advice. Thank you so much, Brian. Before we go, people that are listening that might want to know to how they can learn more about what Augusto is doing. Where would you have them go? What would you want them to pay attention to? That's happening now.
00:42:07:17 - 00:42:34:06
Brian
Our blog on Augusto Digital is like getting new content all the time, so I think we continue to dial it in. It's a good source of content. I would say. Our blog is a great place. Our LinkedIn page. Follow us on LinkedIn, follow me on LinkedIn. And and there's contact forms on all of those things. If you ever want to get in touch or you want us to evaluate something in your business, that's a great place to to make a connection.
00:42:34:07 - 00:42:38:22
David
Awesome. Well, thanks again, Brian. It's been great chatting with you and looking forward to talking to you again.
00:42:38:22 - 00:42:44:15
Brian
Thanks, David. Appreciate you having me on.
00:42:44:17 - 00:43:03:06
Speaker 1
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Lead Smarter, and thank you to the partners and sponsors who believe in our mission to evolve ourselves, to elevate others. Speaking of elevating others, if you liked this episode, please be sure to like, follow, subscribe and share. It would mean a lot to me and the team that works so hard behind the scenes, so we can all learn together.
00:43:03:10 - 00:43:09:23
Speaker 1
And of course, thank you to the expert guests who kindly join us as generous guides on our journey to lead smarter.