Bryan Schielke 0:00

Kevin, your story's rooted in turning dyslexia into a leadership advantage. How has that shaped the way you solve problems and lead teams today?

Kevin Maude 0:07

You know, I think having dyslexia in my life has given me the opportunity to look at ways to do things in different manners, but also understand that, you know, not everyone goes down the same path. And being able to look at that allows me to see ways to interact with teams and especially the teams that I build in ways that might be unique to them. So it's not a stereotypical way of looking at things. So a good example is one person might build a budget in a certain way, but not fully understanding how that happens. But then being able to relate to them that, oh, you know, this is how we want to add margin into the budget to make sure that we're covering our costs and having them understand why we need to do that because they want to get a new camera for our video production or something like that. So being able to relate to them in different ways versus the standard typical, well, this is how we do it, this is how we have to do it. But then also being able to look at problems in businesses in unique ways that some people might not see. Most of my life, you know, I've had trouble with you know reading and uh writing, and I had to do a lot of memory work. So I tend to remember my lessons and tend to be able to listen to people quite often and try to do that uh through the problems that I see in businesses. So listening to what people are actually saying versus what they're actually doing. So using that to be able to build and solve problems for clients that way.

Bryan Schielke 1:36

That's awesome. Good deal. Well, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Next question. You talk a lot about building trust, not just attention. What do most brands still get wrong about creating real community in a social first world?

Kevin Maude 1:49

Yeah, I think in a social first world, many people recognize that, hey, I need to have the attention of people. And they get that attention by kind of or a good analogy would be a firecracker. You can light the firecracker and or firework and it explodes on the 4th of July and you see the big display. But you don't remember it that much afterwards. But if you're able to build trust with somebody, they remember that for a long time. And by building that trust with somebody, you're able to then build a community. And that community of trust is spread across those people and they can trust each other. But then that community can trust the brand that they're working with. So in a social environment, instead of kind of having this flash in the pan effect and having just a viral moment or something, if you can actually build trust with the loyal audience that you have, they'll be with you for a long time. And that helps brands grow where you can be dependent upon the growth that they bring to you versus the quick flash. Oftentimes you'll have a brand that is like, oh yeah, we had this quick hit of revenue, but then you know, two months later they're out of business because they're not able to continue that revenue for a long period of time.

Bryan Schielke 3:11

That makes sense. Fantastic. All right. You've worked across video production, content strategy, and now community-driven brand growth. What lessons have stayed constant for you as the media landscape keeps changing?

Kevin Maude 3:23

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I've seen is that so many people connect on an emotional level and finding that ability to connect emotionally through activating senses and building that trust across to everything is also super important. But going back to the emotional side, being able to activate that deep emotional level because it gets at a very deeper level in a human. So being able to connect with them emotionally and have them remember that connection across all those mediums that I've worked in has been super important.

Bryan Schielke 3:58

Fantastic. All right. Well, thank you for that. You've led businesses through major shifts, including moving from long-form polis production toward faster, more human content. What pushed you to evolve in that direction before others did?

Kevin Maude 4:10

You know, I think the biggest thing that I saw is the shift in the way people consume content and the desire to get information. So seeing people want more information and want to be able to consume that information had me kind of shift focus. Also, I think there's been a shift in the amount of content that gets in front of people. So that's guided some of the shift in my focus in where we go from. So going from the long form, it took a while to build up, it took a while to execute. But then seeing that, you know, more people are wanting short snippets of information in short snippets of entertainment, that's when I started to look at how can we shift and be more deliver the what the audience is looking for, I guess.

Bryan Schielke 5:03

That makes sense. Absolutely. All right. Okay, next question. As someone who believes relationships create real business value, what separates a network that looks impressive from one that actually drives growth?

Kevin Maude 5:14

You know, I think the biggest thing that separates that is the surface level. So many I have gone to so many networking events where, you know, you have kind of the surface level conversation of, you know, how's the weather? How's the business going? What's your day been like? And when you start talking to somebody and you start talking about problems, solving problems together or challenges, then it becomes a deeper conversation. And that's when I think you can really build a great network that you want to be part of versus kind of just a cursory level of, you know, hey, I don't, I'm just here to answer questions. And once you have that deeper level, that's when the network can activate and deliver for you or with you. And I think that's the difference between, you know, kind of a surface level and the cursory level, or the surface level and a deeper level. And getting to the deeper level is where you actually can activate your network to work with you to have growth.

Bryan Schielke 6:19

That makes sense. Appreciate that. Okay. Last question here. You've built your career around storytelling, strategy, and connection. For leaders trying to rise in a noisy market, what does it really take to earn trust and stay relevant over time?

Kevin Maude 6:34

You know, I think the biggest thing is showing that you're an authentic leader and you're a leader that is delivering a message and you're sticking to that message. So oftentimes we see our leaders in politics and business shift to what they think people want to hear. But if you stick to what you know is true or what you believe is true, you'll find the audience that you're wanting to be or that wants to listen to you and wants to continue to uh be part of that. And that means you need to be authentic in the message that you're delivering and be authentic in how it's being delivered. So there's many times that so many leaders will shift their messages based on what has happened or what is there. And I think that's when you oftentimes, like in our political environment, those leaders end up on the comedy shows at night. And that's because they've shifted and they're not authentic to who they truly are, but they're trying to come off as authentic.

Bryan Schielke 7:39

Yeah, lots of flip flopping.

Kevin Maude 7:41

Yeah, exactly. And you know, regardless of the political side that you are, each side has it and does it regardless of the outcome or regardless of their political affinity.

Bryan Schielke 7:53

Yeah, yeah. You see it all the time, absolutely. That's awesome.