Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:00):
All right, welcome
everybody.
I'm excited to bring you guysanother episode of the
Unfinished Business Podcast, andit's where we explore and sit
down with CEOs, visionaries,leaders, creatives, people who
are out changing the worldthrough their business, through
their organization, throughleadership or creativity.
Because it doesn't matter whoyou are or what you've
(00:21):
accomplished, even people whoyou thought have accomplished it
all, like Nelson Mandela, thereare still things when they were
at the top of their career thatthey wanted to accomplish.
And so we explore those heretoday on Unfinished Business
with Eric Mulvin.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Human intelligence
plus AI.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
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All right, today's guest is thefounder and CEO of Global
Chamber.
He's a global entrepreneur, aconnector, a trade advocate, and
(01:47):
speaker dedicated to growingglobal chamber and helping
members gain new clients acrossmetros and borders more
successfully.
He's had over 40 years ofglobal trade experience in
nearly every market segment,including automotive, aerospace,
industrial, healthcare, lifesciences, and technology.
And Doug has held technologyand business roles within the
(02:10):
DuPont Company, where he gainedfive patents and had experience
assignments in Tokyo andSingapore.
His education includes a BS inchemical engineering from the
University of Utah and a EMBAfrom Michigan State University.
He was born in Mount Crisco,New York, and has an amazing
Greek American wife of 43 yearsand an amazing daughter who is a
(02:32):
nurse practitioner andsuperstar grandson.
So please help me welcome DougBruhnke.
Hey Doug.
Speaker (02:38):
Hey there.
How are you, Eric?
Great to have this opportunityto speak with you.
It's an awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I'm so excited
to do this and uh get to know
you a bit better on the show andhelp uh help the audience out
here get to know you a bitbetter as well.
So I know we got the introthere.
I I love, you know, I've knownyou a bit over the years being
part of Global Chamber, but youknow, it's one thing to see up
there organizing things.
It's another thing to actuallyget to know your background a
(03:04):
little bit and and where you'refrom.
So fascinating, and I can'twait to dig into that.
Speaker (03:08):
Fantastic.
It's that actually I was bornin Mount Kisko, New York, which
is in Westchester County.
It's just a few miles north ofNew York City.
So I'm a a New York guy, nowmostly living in Phoenix and in
Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
All right.
So I guess the big thing youare involved with here is the
global chamber.
So let's start there and uhtell people, I think most people
probably listening might not befamiliar with that.
So tell what is the globalchamber and what do you guys do?
Speaker (03:36):
As you mentioned, I I
had a corporate career.
I was with the DuPont Company,a chemical engineer.
I ironically wanted to clean upthe world as a chemical
engineer.
And it turned out once Istarted getting into global
business, that was my mission inlife.
I started almost uh 40 yearsago with my international
travel, now 65 countries.
(03:58):
I've been to 49 states as well.
I'm a connector.
I've always been a connector.
I've always seen processorientation.
And so in my DuPont days, I wassuccessful in business because
I connected people.
And when I retired, took anearly retirement, I started to
see that if there was just someorganization that would be
(04:19):
everywhere that could connectpeople globally, that would be
an amazing thing.
So I started Global Chamber,that's what I've been involved
with, and I'm having the time ofmy life.
I've restarted my life.
Hopefully, the next 10, 20years, I'll continue to be able
to grow global chamberinternationally all over the
world.
It's 105 chapters already, andwe're everywhere.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, it is amazing
when I do join in and I'm like,
oh, there's someone joining infrom Japan, there's someone
joining in from Germany, someonefrom UK, Canada, like you guys
are or Africa, or you know, likeeverywhere, those people
represented.
It's really amazing.
So that kind of growth, that'sthat's huge.
When did you get this started?
Speaker (05:00):
This started with a bad
meeting that I had in San Diego
with the global organizationthat I said, these guys are not
part of my vision.
They were not collaborators,they didn't have a global
perspective.
And that's when I realized thatsomeone needed to step in.
And I was the fool to be ableto say, somebody's got to do
(05:21):
this, pull this globallytogether.
Fortunately, I had a globalbackground and had certainly
global interest and globalconnecting capabilities, and
that moved things forward to thepoint now where we really are
in every country.
We're now just building out,and it's very exciting to see
the ability to help people whodon't know what they don't know,
(05:44):
and also those that are verydedicated, and most of us have
very great connections in theareas that we have great
connections, but that doesn'tmean you might not have
connections in other places, andso that's really why we exist
to be able to expand thoseopportunities.
And the other thing is, as youknow, the world is changing at
(06:04):
breakneck speed.
It's really hard to keep upwith what AI is driving in the
semiconductor industry and avariety of different industries.
It's just changing too fast,and the world is is a dynamic
place.
We're bringing it to peopleevery day.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
It is, and it is it
is an interesting time to be a
business owner, and maybe italways is, but it does seem like
uh yeah, there's a lot goingon.
So you guys are you've reallybeen able, I'm guessing, to
benefit being here.
I know you're global, but youhave a headquarters here in in
Scottsdale, Arizona, whereyou're based anyway.
(06:40):
And there's been some reallyinteresting stuff happening in
Arizona.
You mentioned semiconductors.
I've been watching very closelyas I drive to Flagstaff, you
know, every couple weeks ormonths or whatever, passing by
the humongous, probably one ofthe biggest construction
projects on the planet, the uhTSMC semiconductor plant that's
been continued to build outthere in the desert.
(07:02):
But how have you been involved,or how is how's global chamber
been involved with that?
Because I'd imagine that's likeperfect within your wheelhouse
here for your organization.
Speaker (07:12):
Yeah, we have chapters
in Taiwan.
We have chapters in Japan andin other countries where
semiconductors are important,like South Korea and really
every country.
There's about 20 countries thatare quite significant, and even
this year we included Kenya inthat list of countries that are
involved with the semiconductorindustry.
(07:34):
So it's it's become a globalphenomenon.
So we've been involved from theTaiwan side.
You know, Mayor Gallego and thestate of Arizona were
instrumental in connectingArizona to this project.
It is the largest foreigndirect investment in history for
the United States.
And so what you see theregrowing on the desert is it's
(07:56):
historic.
It's driving all sorts ofinvestment, not just in Phoenix,
but because uh we've gotindustry folks coming in from
all over the world.
It's driving investment in mostof these key countries like
Japan, like Taiwan, and all overthe world.
So it's exciting.
One of the things that we didstart was the Global Chamber
(08:18):
Semiconductor Summit five yearsago, and that was largely driven
by the Japanese government, whotold us five plus years ago
that, hey, we want to encourageJapanese companies to be
involved in this investment inArizona.
So let's set up a semiconductorsummit at Global Chamber so
that Japanese companies couldcome to see Arizona and begin to
(08:40):
invest here and become part ofthe supply chain.
So that's what we've done.
And we just actually did thelast fifth one in February.
We've got another event inOctober in San Francisco, and
then we'll, of course, do thesixth annual semiconductor
summit next February in Phoenixas well.
So those are some of the waysthat we participate.
It's a very dynamic.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, you know, I've
been trying to as much as I can,
even though it's a littleoutside of my industry, follow
the news here just because ofbeing a Phoenix resident.
But yeah, I've seen the benefitof that.
Like I think Fujifilm, one ofthe Japanese companies, you
know, had to they've movedmanufacturing here as one of the
suppliers for the for uh theTSMC.
And so yeah, it's I don't knowif you know any numbers off the
(09:23):
top of your head, but theancillary businesses that have
come, you know, just outside ofthat initial investment has been
really fascinating to seeacross all of the Arizona,
really.
Speaker (09:35):
There were a handful of
Japanese companies five years
ago in Arizona, and now there'sover a hundred.
So the change has beendramatic.
Similarly, there were almost nocompanies from Taiwan, and
there are now dozens andapproaching a hundred companies
from Taiwan in Arizona.
So that's a really dramaticchange in the last five years.
(09:56):
One of the reasons why Istarted Global Chamber 10, 11
years ago was I saw nothingglobal in Arizona.
There was relative to New York,relative to LA, relative to
Tokyo, places where I've lived,there was no visible globalness.
And I thought, gee, you know,Phoenix should have a global
perspective.
When we went through thedownturn, the recession really
(10:19):
turned into a depression forArizona because we were so strip
mall-oriented.
So there should be some globalaspect to be able to soften the
blows when things turn up anddown in this business cycles.
Now with semiconductor and howit's taken off, it's hard to
imagine us going through adownturn like what Arizona went
(10:40):
through because being global,being connected to the
semiconductor industry,Arizona's going to withstand
those uh ups and downs muchbetter.
And that was a lot of thereason why I thought global
chamber was a good idea.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Well, very good
reasons.
And I mean, not like you guyswere directly the reason why
it's here, but I mean it'screating that environment that
allowed for the semiconductorplant to be here in the first
place.
Because I personally benefitedfrom all of these investments,
even on a small scale.
Like I travel to thePhilippines to visit my office
twice a year, and that's not athat's a long journey to get to,
(11:15):
and I'm sure you know, yourtime in DuPont, you know, you've
had assignments in Singaporeand Asia.
If you had to fly out ofPhoenix, there's a lot of extra
steps that you had to take.
Going through LA, going to SanFrancisco or some other Western
hub, that's not the caseanymore.
And I don't know, I I don'tthink people people realize like
the impact that has on businessand the new opportunities that
(11:39):
that can create, having a directroute right into Asia from
Phoenix.
Speaker (11:42):
10, 11 years ago,
Phoenix was so behind on direct
flights.
You know, you had to go throughLA or San Francisco or Denver,
even Salt Lake had more directflights than Phoenix.
The city of Phoenix reallystruggled to get those because
the business did not validatethe need for that.
They tried a couple things, itjust didn't work.
(12:02):
The last five years,fundamentally, things have
changed, and now there aredirect flights, as you know, to
Asia.
And so Phoenix has become muchgreater hub to be able to do
that, and the world has become alot closer.
Absolutely.
Our focus really is not justsupporting initiatives like the
Direct Flights, what drives thatis the business.
(12:24):
What our focus is, isconnecting anybody, including
companies like yours, to theseopportunities.
One of the things that came upin the Semiconductor Summit this
last uh few weeks ago, it wasFebruary 18th, Senator Kelly
spoke at Global Chamber, and heencouraged all companies to
become more involved with thissupply chain overall, either
(12:47):
directly or indirectly benefitfrom it.
So we do have some initiativeswe'll be announcing in that
area.
And Senator Kelly, MayorGallego both spoke at our
conference, and both of themhave been tremendous leaders,
not only to encourage theinvestment to happen, but now to
get Arizona companies andcompanies overall to benefit
(13:08):
from this great business uhchange.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, I mean it it
has been great to see Senator
Kelly and their mayor herereally advocate for that.
I've been seeing that as wellwith like so like just take uh
someone listening here today andthey're a business owner and
they're like, what business do Ihave?
I'll be honest, I I had thesame feeling.
You know, I'm a call center.
What am I gonna do with asemiconductor plant?
No one's gonna call the TSMCfor support on their chips.
(13:33):
But you're talking about awhole, like, as we've been
discussing here, I'm likehundreds of suppliers, foreign
companies all over.
It's not just doing businesswith the semiconductor plant.
It's a whole bunch of it's awhole ecosystem.
Talk to me a little bit moreabout that because I think
people need to understand likeuh why they need to be there
because we need more peoplethere, more business leaders
(13:54):
connecting into this.
Speaker (13:55):
The rising tide raises
all boats.
And so to actually be a directsupplier of a product into the
semiconductor industry, that's athat's a heavy pull.
And those are specificcompanies that have expertise
that most of the communitydoesn't have.
Nonetheless, there are allsorts of peripheral
opportunities.
(14:16):
And just one quick one thatjust came up actually today.
I'm trying to think of whichmeeting it was in, but we were
talking about Taiwan inparticular.
One of our members actually dida $59 million deal, a real
estate deal, a commercial realestate deal with four Taiwanese
companies on a piece of land inNorth Phoenix.
And one of the things thatreally impressed him about
(14:39):
Taiwan is the night marketthat's available there.
And there is no night market inPhoenix.
And so he's an American, butone of the things he was really
quite uh energized about iswe've got to find a way to have
a night market in Phoenix.
And so one of the things thatinternational brings to any city
is immigrants, and it bringspeople with ideas of their home
(15:01):
market.
And so one of the things thathe was suggesting that we work
on is let's get a let's get anight market, even if it's a
temporary one or periodic one orwhatever it is, let's get that
done.
So it's there's always benefitby having a global profile.
One of our tag, or actually,our tagline is be global and
unstoppable when you have aglobal mindset, not only
(15:26):
exposure to different ideas, butexpansive thinking about wow,
this is happening.
How do I get involved?
And the creativity of yourselfwith others to be able to find
the business opportunities is soimportant.
So you ask, how can I benefit?
How can I be involved?
Just connect.
Be part of not just thesemiconductor summits, but the
(15:47):
events that we do two or threetimes a month in Phoenix.
We do over 800 events a yearwith Global Chamber.
Get involved with the globaltribe, and your mind starts to
expand into how this can benefityou and your business.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah.
And I mean, I could saypersonally, I've definitely
benefited as well from gettingto be able to connect with other
business owners here inPhoenix.
Like I was uh speaking at a Idid a talk recently and I was
connecting with some other someof the other panel speakers that
were marketing agency owners intown.
And that's, you know, you talkabout like there's always that
phrase that's so cliche, it'snot what you know, it's who you
(16:23):
know.
And for people like I think ofpeople like me, I grew up in
Phoenix.
I did my parents blue-collarworkers, I did not have the
connections that some peoplehave coming into this.
And so if people are wanting,well, how I don't know anybody,
how do I run my business?
Well, like I'm proof that ittakes stuff like this, you know,
go into events like this wherethere's a bunch of people that
you can connect with, and thenit starts the ball rolling.
Speaker (16:46):
We have a as human
beings, we have proximity bias.
And that's actually good whenyou're crossing the street
because you want to know what'sall around you so you don't get
run over.
So proximity bias by historicalmeans is something that we all
definitely need.
But unfortunately, in business,and I've seen this in my entire
(17:07):
career, it does not encouragepeople to do global business.
And in fact, even atmultinationals, generally and
historically, those who didglobal business were out of the
loop.
Because to get advanced incompanies, you need to be close
to people, you need to be at thewater cooler, you need to get
to know people at an intimatelevel.
(17:28):
And if you're doing globalbusiness, you're traveling,
you're away from people.
And so it's quite the oppositeof generally people that are
global are not advancing likethey should historically.
They're out of the loop,they're different, they're not
us.
And so it's very important ifyou're a global leader to
certainly be aware of that.
(17:49):
And also, ideally, your companyor your comp more and more
companies now are more awarethat look, for us to survive, we
need to be global.
That's where almost all theopportunity is.
In any city where you are, over99% of the opportunities are
outside your own city.
And so you've got to beculturally aware, you've got to
(18:12):
be have presence in otherplaces.
It's not easy.
And that's why Global Chamberis here to be able to help
people through that transition.
And we're the global tribe.
Global tribes know that,understand that, and are
sensitive to that and are verysupportive.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, and you've
lived this life living on the
road.
I mean, I I when you tell thosestories about not being
connected and not being near thewater cooler, I'm guessing
that's from personal experiencewhile you're spending a long
time in Japan or or Singaporehaving to do work there, and
then you're coming back to theoffice trying to catch up.
Because this is before all theZoom days and all the, you know,
(18:48):
we're way a lot more connectedthan we were in the past.
So that's interesting that youhad to go through that.
Speaker (18:53):
Well, even with those
kind of video calls, as it turns
out, like especially if you'rein Asia, you're typically
relegated to the midnight shift.
Geneva is at lunch and the USis for breakfast.
And you know, I spend manytimes midnight or after going
home from a video conference.
So but nonetheless, evencultural changes, like in Asia,
(19:15):
generally Asians historicallylisten more than Americans and
Europeans, and that can bedetrimental in many ways.
Culturally, Asians need to bemore verbal and be able to
interrupt because Americans tendto interrupt very aggressively.
And you've probably seen thateven between the Philippines and
(19:37):
the US.
Filipinos tend to be that wayas well, more polite, more
listening, waiting for things tohappen so that they can be more
uh kind of culturally, that'sthe way it works.
Japanese and Koreans tend to bethat way as well.
And so those are some of thethings that make cross-cultural
capabilities important as you'reexpanding your business.
(19:58):
That's certainly part of theeducation process, and it's part
of the culture of globalchange.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah.
And, you know, you talk abouteducation, and I think it's such
a big thing because a lot ofbusiness like that's in a way
that's part of what you'reoffering through the whole
program is like, hey, we'regonna, you're gonna learn how to
do global business.
I know you guys put onworkshops, you have people
coming out to speak all thetime, but you've also set up
really amazing partnerships.
Like I know the Thunderbird uhGlobal School of Management is I
(20:26):
don't know if you have anyothers, but it's you guys have
really gone, you know, it's onething to just organize people,
it's another thing to createthese partnerships where you're
really looking beyond just thoseconnections and how can we get
these business owners equippedwith the skills they need to be
successful?
Speaker (20:44):
We we are built on
connections and making the
connections.
And I'd say also, and I thinkthat's a great example.
Thunderbird is an example ofour partners.
We are a welcoming community.
It is one where peoplerecognize that being global is
more challenging than beinglocal, that there are additional
skill sets that are requiredand more sensitivity and
(21:08):
mindfulness to be able tounderstand the cultures and to
navigate that.
So we are a welcomingcommunity.
And if there's any messagesthat I would like to leave with
everyone, is that number one ismost of the opportunities that
are available today are outsideyour community, outside your
country.
That means to be able to beaware of those things and to be
(21:32):
able to navigate the businesscultures to be able to be
successful.
There's no other organizationother than Global Chamber that
does that.
Every other organization iswhen there is an international
conversation, it basically is alocal organization talking about
global.
We're the only one thatconnects in to Tokyo and to
(21:52):
other places around the world tobe able to make the connections
to be successful.
And so we're very proud ofthat, and we've got a variety
of.
Of other things coming up, likea global portal, like Globe,
which is an AI tool that allowsmembers to connect in faster and
better ways to connections andbusiness deals around the world.
So we've got more to come, andwe've been able to make some
(22:16):
decent progress so far as well.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Awesome.
I wanted to touch a bit on AI.
It's one of the things we liketo talk about on the show.
And being in the position thatyou're in, I'm really interested
to hear your perspective on AI.
One of the questions I like toask people is we're hearing so
much about AI everywhere.
And now you're talking aboutalso using it in your
organization.
We're all, I think, you know,everybody, every business leader
(22:40):
is having the same questionslike, where do I put this?
Where, where can we make theinvestment to get the biggest
return?
Because you could easily, justlike anything in business, spend
money and not see any resultsif you're not targeting it in
the right direction.
So I don't know.
What what have you seen ineither in your organization or
in the marketplace?
What are people doing with AIthat's really successful so that
(23:04):
they could maybe focus in onpart of their company that they
could see some results?
Speaker (23:08):
So the the article that
came out and blew up the
internet a few weeks ago,something big is here or
something big is happening.
It's here.
It's an amazing technology.
Everyone needs to beimplementing AI last year.
And if you haven't started, andif you've just kind of touched
(23:28):
the surface, definitely jump in.
It's so critically important.
It's funny, Eric, that you'reyou're so connected to the
Philippines.
Our AI tool was developed inthe Philippines as well.
And so it happened, startedhappening about a year ago
almost.
And over the last year, we'vebeen perfecting it and building
it.
And ironically, about six weeksago, the development team in
(23:52):
the Philippines started to sayon a weekly basis in our weekly
calls that something big ishappening, that suddenly
everything is changing at such arapid pace.
And then that article came out,something big is happening,
that blew up the internet abouttwo to three weeks after I'd
gotten the early signal from ourdevelopment team that
development was happening somuch faster because of the AI
(24:16):
technology changes.
And so we're using AI to beable to connect members in
faster and better ways toopportunities around the world.
And I think it's it's hard topredict exactly how all of this
is going to come together, but Ido know that it's changing at a
faster pace than most of us canreally grasp.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, that is for
sure.
Well, you've been through inyour career big shifts in
technology.
And right now, you know, again,leaders are trying to think
about where to invest, how muchto invest.
I really hope at this pointit's not if to invest or not.
I think that that position,that time has passed.
It's uh, you know, and like yousaid, it should have been last
year or maybe the year before.
Speaker (24:55):
Well, I will say that
because you touch on a point of
the speed of the changes.
You mentioned about my fivepatents that I have.
And those days I was at theexperimental station for DuPont
and I was working with brilliantpeople.
I was a test case.
They they were wondering, couldthey send an engineer in and
(25:15):
get all of these brilliantresearch people to actually work
on commercial products?
That was kind of the basicidea.
So I was just hanging out withreally smart people.
So I don't think I really didanything brilliant myself.
I just kind of hung around withreally smart people.
I had a computer that was alittle more advanced than
(25:35):
anybody else had in businessbecause of being in central
research.
And I remember thinking, wow,I'm special, but the pace of
what that computing capabilitywas compared to what we're going
through today was child's play.
It really was.
That was the beginning of theinternet, that was in the
mid-80s and the late 80s and theearly 90s.
(25:59):
It was just, it felt like itwas fast, but what we're going
through today is is monumentallyfaster.
So much, so much more.
One of the things that washappening in that article about
something big is happening, itwas comparing the COVID impact
on society versus what'shappening today.
And COVID also, to some degree,is really child's play in terms
(26:20):
of the change in society thatwas happening then, was really
evolving week to week.
We weren't really realizingwhat was fundamentally
happening.
It took months for us to reallysee it.
And maybe for many people, ittook years to really understand
what the change was.
It took a decade for people toreally grasp what the internet
(26:40):
was happening.
It's really a weekly thing,almost daily thing right now
with AI.
And so I don't know what'sgoing to happen.
I do know it's happening at abreakneck speed and that we need
to implement it immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, thank you for sharingthat.
Because uh, yeah, that's thekind of perspective I was
looking for.
Like, what have you seen withthe pace of change?
And yeah, like I think peopleare not realizing how quickly
this is changing.
And it is like, this isactually exactly what I told my
team in the Philippines about ayear ago when I saw the impact
it was having with the callcenters.
(27:14):
And I think for me, I've beenable to benefit a little bit in
being in the call center spacewhere we see we see it coming
faster than other people.
You know, maybe your industryisn't impacted as much by AI,
and so you're like, oh, put itoff a little bit.
I'll get to that.
Where for us, you know, it isit was taking jobs away already
a couple years ago.
And the things that you coulddo with it with uh a call center
(27:37):
are so powerful.
So we got into it early.
Speaker (27:41):
You know, here's a guy
who's in Silicon Valley saying,
Look, here I am.
I'm the guy that's telling youit's changing everything here.
It's gonna hit you uh verysoon.
And so I view it as twoaspects.
One certainly is the challengethat we need to change, and the
other is the opportunity.
You know, where are thingsevolving?
(28:01):
Where are things going?
And I know the answer isglobal, and that's why I think
right now with Global Chamber,we're well positioned to be able
to help people navigate throughwhat these opportunities are.
And so we've evolved intocertainly using Globe, which is
our AI agent, to help membersconnect up with opportunities.
And also we've got a variety ofdifferent market segment groups
(28:25):
that are forming to be able toconnect people to opportunities.
We also have a portal launchingon May 1st that allows people
to connect up in better waysthrough AI.
And so we're we're trying tostay ahead of it.
I'm not sure we can besuccessful to really stay ahead.
We're just trying to reallykeep up and help our members
keep up because it's gonna be anexciting ride.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
That is for sure.
Uh, that's you know why we'vebeen jumping into it too and
pivoting.
Uh, we've been developing ourown software, and I think that's
what companies need to do.
And all right, uh, talk to meabout this a little bit.
So, you know, we're a callcenter, and now we're developing
software that we're gonna sellto companies that it's gonna
listen to calls, it's gonnacoach the agent to do better on
(29:08):
the phones, but that's acomplete shift from our
business.
What have you seen?
What are some examples ofbusinesses you've seen being
maybe part of the global chamberthrough your career that have
made that shift?
Because I think that'ssomething that a lot of
companies need to look at doingto be successful in the future
because new opportunities aregonna pop up that never happened
before.
Speaker (29:29):
That's absolutely true.
I mean, it's a complexsituation to be able to come up
with a technology and then entera new market.
And so I would say it usuallycomes down to talent.
Do you have the ability tonavigate and understand what the
market is really calling for?
Because what's happening now isthe markets are changing so
(29:50):
fast.
And so it's used to be that youlike there's a market need, and
that market need window isgoing to be long enough for you
to be able to navigate anddevelop a product to be able to
fit into it, even if you're anew player.
Now the market is changing sofast.
And so to have the right peopleto be able to see these market
(30:12):
needs and to be able to have ateam that's fast enough to be
able to develop products in thetime frame that's necessary.
It's so critical.
I do think it's the marketstill is very much receptive to
the things that you believe in,and that is ultimately you need
talent that's probably somewhereelse that's less expensive to
(30:33):
be able to keep up.
You need you need those peopleto be using the technologies to
keep up, but you also needpeople to be able to think about
these market needs.
And so I think you're in agreat space to be able to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Well, thanks.
Yeah.
I I this is one of the thingslike for us, we have clients in
small towns some placessometimes, where they have a
person answering the phones.
And like, look, maybe you thinkyou're you might be some little
company in the middle ofAmerica, but if you're running a
business and you're havingtrouble answering the phones,
you could tap into the globalworkforce right there very
(31:08):
easily.
And now you've become global.
And that's just one small way.
But I think when I had my firststartup, it was a
transportation company, and I Iwanted to disrupt the
transportation industry, it wasbefore Uber and everything.
And I was working with astartup out of Germany that
developed the software fordispatching.
And I had suppliers in likedifferent places, and I was just
(31:32):
26 years old, fresh out of likestarting my first business.
But I think I think peoplereally need to challenge
themselves.
The business, like business isway more global than people
realize, I think.
Speaker (31:43):
More and more.
So just like Phoenix was verynot global 10 years ago, the
time frame has accelerated whereit's now becoming very global.
And we're talking about nightmarkets, you know, in in
Phoenix, which would have been acrazy idea 10 years ago.
So so it is exciting, it isscary.
(32:04):
And so I encourage everybusiness, every leader to have
some global aspect, even if ityou've just traveled somewhere.
Usually, most companies withtheir international work, it's
accidental that it happensinitially.
And so hopefully that may havealready happened for you.
And I encourage you to beproactive on the global side.
(32:27):
And we're happy to walk youthrough what necessary for the
next steps.
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah, I love all the
resources you guys bring and to
help business owners and thatyou're all over the place.
All those chapters means morethan likely, wherever you're
listening to this podcast,there's a chapter somewhere, at
least in your country.
And if not, possibly in yourcity.
And then there's events thatyou can get plugged into locally
there, which is amazing.
Speaker (32:52):
We're we're happy to
help and facilitate that.
Like I said, normally whathappens is there's some sort of
an accidental internationalsale.
And then if that's the casewith you, think about how to
turn it proactive.
And we do have people who canhelp talk through that and how
that works.
And if you've got one or twocountries where you're selling,
usually you've now got most ofthe compliance and requirements
(33:15):
already set.
So why not now take it tocountry number two, three, four,
five, six?
Once you've got the basic ideaset, you can begin to expand
beyond that.
And that's where really theopportunity is.
You want to have in yourbusiness a portfolio of
different countries, differentregions, ideally different
(33:35):
market segments, so that they,as they cycle, you've got a more
steady stream of revenue comingin for your business.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah.
For us, like we definitelyinternational, we have like 50%
of our businesses overseas.
So I could tell you duringCOVID, man, what a game changer
for us.
Just like how Arizona struggledso much in the 2008 recession,
because we had everything wasconstruction, everything was
built around these industriesthat collapsed during the bad
(34:03):
economy.
But when things are bad in oneplace, doesn't mean things are
bad everywhere.
And it definitely helped, ithelps make your business so much
stronger.
So being able to tap into that.
And going back to that, whatyou the things you don't know,
you know, you don't know whatyou don't know.
It's amazing the opportunitiesare out there globally.
Like I was traveling last yearin Sweden and Norway, and I
didn't realize like they Icalled the I called for a taxi
(34:26):
and uh the people spoke English.
I'm like, wait a second, likewhy am I not trying to target
this market?
But you know, it's be but youget exposed to that kind of
stuff when you're here attendingthese kind of things, and you
start to see, you know, what'sgoing on in other places, and
how do you see that if you don'tever get out?
So this is one way to do that,even if you're not traveling in
person.
Speaker (34:46):
Definitely travel, you
know.
As recently with geopolitics,the pressure on immigration is
quite high, but ultimatelythere's nothing really gonna
change that.
One of the you mentioned NelsonMandela in the beginning of the
program.
He's been so inspirational forme.
If you ever get a chance, readhis autobiography.
(35:07):
It's I think it's about 30hours on audiobook, and that's
how long it took me to getthrough it.
But he was so inspired in hisearly life, how in the region
where he lived in South Africa,tribe by tribe, they would not
allow marriage between thedifferent tribes.
Even though, I mean, for us, welook at the people, they look
(35:28):
the same, but by tribes, theywere not allowed to integrate.
That's the way human society,human history has evolved until
people like Nelson Mandela said,look, you know, that's not
right.
There is a global tribe.
There are, we should be doingand thinking bigger than this.
We should be connecting biggerthan this.
And that's what really inspiredme about his early life.
(35:51):
And of course, there are manyaspects of Nelson Mandela to be
inspired by, but that'scertainly part of it that we
don't advance when we stick toour own tribe.
We advance when we connectacross.
That's where certainlychallenges exist, but
opportunities exist and we'llprogress faster when we do that.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And I have like 10
questions I want to ask you
after what you just said to gointo geopolitics and stuff, but
not enough time to go into allof that.
But it is really powerful whatyou just said about you by being
connected to that global tribe,there's that's where like
people need to understand that,you know, and I think it's one
of the fun things I get to helppeople experience when they
(36:33):
start working with me, realizingbecause that that's it's funny.
One of the biggest feedbacks Iget when people start working
with me because they're used toworking with what's in their
bubble.
And they're like, I had no ideathis work ethic still existed
in this world.
That they just thought, like,this is the only kind of person
I can get for this job, andthat's it.
And no, there's opportunitiesall over by connecting us, like
(36:54):
that creates new opportunities.
And I, you know, we I I wish Ihad more time to dig into some
of the ideas I had on thequestions here, but I appreciate
you sharing that thought aboutthis uh global tribe that we're
all in.
Speaker (37:05):
Yeah, people don't know
what they don't know.
Usually travel does unlock someaspect of it.
Like, wow, that's surprising.
They do that here.
I can't believe it.
That's why immigrants are soimportant.
It turns out there's about 5%of U.S.
businesses that are uhforeign-owned.
20% of U.S.
(37:25):
exports are in those companies.
So 5% of the companies, butthey do 20% of the exporting.
And exporting is so criticalbecause that brings money back
into the U.S.
that builds roads andeducation.
The reason why that's the caseis those 5% of companies,
they're from somewhere else.
They know the world, they knowthe opportunities.
(37:47):
And so they can then takeproducts that are made here and
bring them back to theirmarkets.
And so we want that.
We want companies to owncompanies here in the United
States or anywhere in the world.
And by the way, there's nothingthat can be done to stop it.
As Kofi Yann said, a stoppingglobalization is like arguing
against the laws of gravity.
(38:08):
You can argue against it.
It's gonna happen.
Humans interchange with eachother and suddenly globalization
happens.
And so it is happening.
Global chamber is here to helpfacilitate.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Awesome.
Well, I really appreciate thevision that you helped set up
today for the listeners.
You know, really, I think thatpeople really need to realize
that no matter what you are,there's an opportunity to tap
into the global marketplace foryour business, either through
new customers, suppliers,workforce.
And it's a complicated space,but people like Doug are out
(38:41):
there to help make it make iteasier because he's lived that
life for years.
And uh, I mean, it is it iscomplex.
The world's a big place, butsomething like Global Chamber
helps make it smaller and easierto get connected.
Because there's and I can'twait to see the AI tools that
you guys got are rolling outlater this year to help me
connect with more people.
I'll be definitely on that.
Well, there's one question wealways ask all of our guests
(39:02):
here to end the show and wrap upthe show.
And so I wanted to end withthis.
And so, Doug, for you, uh, withall that you've accomplished, I
haven't met, I've met a couplepeople with patents and never
met someone with five patents.
So that's a new record.
But with everything you've donewith this and global chamber
now and building it out to whereyou have what's some unfinished
business for you?
What's some things that you'rehoping to still accomplish in
(39:23):
your life?
Speaker (39:24):
I I mentioned when I
got my patents, it was really
just hanging out with reallysmart people.
One of the guys, Frank, uh, hehad 83 patents.
And I've I've actually was uhdoing my work in the Cruthers
building.
He was the one that inventedneoprene, and I'm very familiar
with the the whole background ofhow Teflon was invented as
(39:44):
well.
So it was an amazing experienceto be able to be exposed to
inventors.
Frank, by the way, he also hehad calculated how his dish of
water, when he washed hisdishes, how fast the temperature
changed so that he could reusethe water and just brilliant
beyond any practicality.
(40:05):
For me, I I hope that I'm apractical person.
And my my vision is to gothrough and break through this
proximity bias that I mentionedearlier.
We are naturally siloingpeople, you know, and a lot of
that is naturally good.
Our nuclear family, our family,and staying together as a
(40:27):
family.
That's a great, another greatexample of what proximity and
the importance of it is.
But because we do that, we getstuck in our alumni groups and
our functional groups and ourtown and our chamber, local town
chamber group.
Again, all good things, but wecarry it to the extent where we
(40:50):
don't break through.
How do we break through to thenext town, to the next state, to
the next country, to the nextfunction, to the next religion,
to the next skin color, to thenext anything?
Global Chamber is the onlyorganization in the world that
breaks through all of that andsays, look, it doesn't matter.
(41:10):
Just bring your talents andyour skills and your mindfulness
to the table.
Let's build something better,let's make progress together.
And so what for me is mydriving force and what my legacy
hopefully will be is that thisguy's created something that
breaks through all of that andallows people to excel on a
(41:31):
global scale, create newopportunities for their business
and for themselves.
And because it doesn't matterif you're a man or a woman or
what your religion is or yourskin color or where you're from,
you excel on the globalmarketplace because of what you
want to do.
And that's what I want to beable to build across 605
chapters, 95 countrieseverywhere.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Woo! I got goosebumps
from that.
Thank you for sharing that,Doug.
That's an incredible visionthat you have and hope for the
future of the world.
And you know, if we could alljust do a little part to get us
closer to that, I think thatwould be a great thing.
So, well, thank you again somuch.
And for those people who listenand are like, I need to figure
out more.
(42:13):
How do I get plugged in theglobal chamber or connecting
with you somehow?
Where should they get pluggedin?
Speaker (42:19):
Globalchamber.org.
Uh it's easy to come in, happyto help folks.
Every day we've got uh folkscoming into global chamber,
connecting them toopportunities.
It is a very welcomingorganization.
I I love the fact that when Isee we do all these events, we
do up to seven events a day, andI can't go to all of them, but
(42:40):
when I jump in to them and I seethe caring that happens and the
support that happens, it'sreally encouraging.
So I encourage, just jump intoglobalchamber.org and we're
happy to help.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Awesome.
Well, go check that out, guys.
We'll have links in the shownotes as well so you can find
that really easily.
And appreciate you guyslistening.
If you like what you heardtoday, you want to hear more
amazing guests like Doug, pleasesubscribe.
You could follow us on anypodcast channel, we're also on
any social media at BizWithEric,where you could follow us
(43:12):
there.
But thank you guys for watchingand listening today, and uh,
we'll see you on the nextepisode.
Bye, everybody.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
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shaping what's to come, building
more than profit, liftingeveryone, every path's unique,
but it takes a choice to grow.
Set your goals and shape theway your future goes.
And you'll learn why.
(43:54):
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