Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hello everyone. Welcome to our show where humanity meets technology. My name is Maurice Hamilton and I'm your co host and I have my other co host with me. Her name is Kelly. And we're going to have a really, really great conversation today. So welcome to the show. So today we're going to have a conversation about organizations. We're going to talk a little bit about productivity, we're going to talk about efficiencies, we're going to talk about some of the elements and some of the constraints that can actually slow down productivity and actually help an organization get to where they need to go. So I want to welcome in our guest today, Gerald Leonard. Gerald Leonard is a musician, he's an author, he's a speaker, but most of all he is a certified portfolio project manager and he's going to help us address some of those questions and that we may have or you may have. So Gerald, welcome to the show.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Thanks so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Awesome, awesome. Good to see you again. So Gerald, I have a question for you. Today we see a lot of elements with our government. We see a lot of situations and issues come up with some of the organizations out there. And I want to address one of the biggest problems I've noticed lately. And that's when we have organizations where you have a culture that's been around for decades and you have a organization where the profit margins aren't where they need to be, is very competitive out there and the organization's not doing some of the strategies that they should be doing. How do you actually go out to organizations and pull those resources together to actually say, hey, look, we have an issue here. Well, first you gotta probably identify what the issue is. Can you talk a little bit about those principles? I really want to focus on the principles as you and I and I read some of your materials and we talked about a little bit about the principles of productivity, efficiencies and constraints and even neuroscience. And we'll talk a little bit about music. How do you address that, Gerald?
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Sure. So one of the things that you have to do is you have to kind of get a baseline and that baseline can be captured either a couple of ways. You can do an assessment depending on what the issue is. If it's, let's say, an execution issue where the organization's not executing our culture issue and the organization struggling with their culture, you can do an assessment there or you can, I think this is probably even a better way, is that you can get some of the Key players and some of the folks who are on the floor, right, Some of the staff and just get a mix audience in a room without their computers and give them sticky notes and just ask them, hey, can you take two or three minutes and write down what's working in the organization?
Right, what's working? And then you give them another color sticky note and say, now tell me what's not working in the organization.
And you basically afterwards have them set up an affinity diagram of what's working and also an affinity diagram of what's not working and look at what are the solutions that can keep the great things that are working in in place, but address the key things that are not working. And you want to hear from everyone in the room. And if you just kind of have an open ended meeting, mostly the person who's the loudest person or the CEO or the boss is going to start talking, everybody's going to shut down. But if you have them quietly write down what they're thinking on a post it note and then put it up as an infinity diagram, you're going to get more honest feedback and you're going to hear from everyone in the room and that starts the conversation of where do we go? And then you have them take a look at the things that they've talked about and let's say they can put dots around them or kind of vote on them to figure out what is the greatest issue that we're experiencing at an organization. And then you look at a grid of saying what's the greatest impact and what's difficult to implement and everything in that upper left hand corner, which is high impact but easy to implement. I call those quick wins, right? It's low hanging fruit. Those are things that you can put into place and make changes and really start seeing a change. And here's the other thing about this. The CEO or the leaders of the organization can create the vision. They may be able to create the values, but it takes the team to buy in and people buy into what they help create. So if you, if they lay out a vision and everybody agree on the vision and they say this is the values of our organization and everybody agrees to that, well then they need to have the folks in the room to be a part of it, to get them to buy in, to help by helping create the solution to it, then they walk out saying, it's not my plan, it's our plan and everybody has bought into it because people will buy into what they create.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: That's really great. When you first said sticky Notes. Kelly kind of cringed a little bit because she saw a room with a whole bunch of sticky notes all over the place.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: When.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: But you're saying that this is a really great icebreaker. Well, because some people automatically come up there and their arms are crossed and they're standoffish and they don't buy into it. They're not feeling it. So this is a great way to actually break the ice. Everybody sees the vision, they contribute to the vision, and they can take it to the next step.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Exactly. And I'll tell you where I get this from. I did a certification in neuroscience with a lady named Judith Glaser who wrote the book Conversational Intelligence. Unfortunately, a couple of years after I got to meet her, got certified, she eventually passed away and her husband passed away. They had an organization called Creative we and. And basically they taught the neuroscience of conversations. And she had an exercise that we learned. And I've used it with clients in very large organizations where there was this function and it was to get everyone in a room a again, leave their computers at home, leave their. Put down their phones and get some post it notes. And the first thing they do is to write down what are the couple of things that they loved about a team that they used to be on. You see, one of the biggest challenges with a dysfunctional organization is that everyone in the room's brain is producing cortisol and adrenaline because it's dysfunctional. Everything is a fight or flight, everything is suspect. And so when you're in that environment, your brain naturally begins to produce all of the negative neurochemicals. But when you are in a place of thinking about what you love to do, what's working, what's right, you're in a place of positivity. And your brain begins to produce positive neurochemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin. And when you're in that space, you start seeing possibilities.
And so you have to literally not only help them to change their perspective, but you have to get them to change their neurochemistry. And you do that by this exercise of just kind of getting everybody engaged in that process.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Excellent. And Kelly, you said, did you like that?
[00:07:34] Speaker D: I do like that. I think it is so important to do that, especially now after we went through Covid, because we're not in corporate offices, we're not interacting as much with each other as we did. We're on our phones. And there's something you mentioned, Gerald. There's something about that person to person connection that makes that person on the other side of that opinion real. And we're losing that in our society. So I think it's more vital now to do it. You did bring up the post notes, which is true all over the place. But you could color code, you could segment them into different categories and things like that. And the last thing I want to say is I believe that if we're able to come together as a team, it does pull those people in that are a little bit hesitant to speak up because you said they suspended something. And the buzzword now with our Gen Zs are sus. You're so sus, you're suspicious, you're suspecting something. And I think we probably. It doesn't take very long, general, and you can speak more to this. It probably doesn't take very long for those people that are standoffish to step in and begin contributing in something like that. Is that true?
[00:08:55] Speaker C: Exactly.
And here's why. One of the first things I would have them do is, is to write down what works. Because when people sit down within themselves and they're writing out physically, you know, with kinesiology, their kinetics, and they're writing down what is working for them, they, their brains begin to produce all of these positive neurochemicals because they begin to think about all the positive things that was working in the organizations that where things were good or when they think about what's working in the organization, that changes the brain chemistry. So now when they create an affinity diagram around those areas and they realize that, hey, we actually have more in common than we have outliers of what we don't have in common, they start seeing each other differently. Now their brains are producing these positive chemicals, they're seeing each other that they have more in common than not, they then become open to really looking at how can we work together and build this unity. And that begins to help change the culture more than just a slide presentation or a lecture or a mandate that we got a culture change project going on, which is never going to work. And that's why they fail. They fail because they don't address the core issue of positive and negative neurochemicals.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: You want to say something?
[00:10:18] Speaker D: It makes sense.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: It makes a lot of sense. And I will actually go back and look at this. I don't think it really makes a difference on the size of the organization. It really does probably make a difference on the people that you actually have that's included with that group and trying to accomplish your particular goals and vision. And because those people, if they're really buying into it. It can actually impact because it starts with the top and then it goes down. But it sounds like it can have a great impact on the environment as a whole.
[00:10:48] Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. Some of the best organizations out there, they focus on culture. They focus. They have a vision about where they're trying to go and what they're trying to do. They're selling that vision. They also are very focused on core values, but more importantly, they're focused on getting people to buy in to that vision and those core values. And they do that by, again, embracing and engaging them at that neurochemistry level and getting them on board.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: Excellent. So, Gerald, when we come back, I want to talk a little bit about the principles of music and I want to talk a little bit about you being.
I remember reading where you actually went when you're a younger age, saw the Brothers Johnsons and Earth, Wind and Fire. I want to talk a little bit about that, how you actually adapted to be a musician at such a young early age and how the principles of practice makes a big difference. But hold that thought. We're going to talk about that after these messages. Okay.
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show where humanity meets technology. I'm Maurice Hamilton again, and this is my co host Kelly, and we're introducing our spectacular guest here, Gerald Leonard. And Gerald, we're talking about the principles of music. So I want to frame this question in a couple different ways here. And I saw you do a TED talk, or it was actually in one of the books that you've written. Like I said, everyone, he's an author and you spoke about the principles of music and how we can see performers out there and you'll see them on stage 5% of the time, but they're spending 95% of their time. Gerald, how would you actually correlate that over to business world and how practice and how business music can actually correlate with that?
[00:13:06] Speaker C: Sure. So, you know, as you can see from behind me, I am a musician from my core. I've been playing since I was 10. I won't tell you my age, but I've been playing for over 50 years.
And so, you know, it's a big part of who I am as a person.
But one of the things I learned right away when I first started playing, I actually started playing guitar. And a friend of mine was amazing guitar player. And so I knew I had to play bass, keep up with him. And so in switching and doing that, I started having to learn the whole concept of the song and everything else. And there were three things that stood out to me that I learned as a kid, that I later took into into my life as I switched careers and became a CEO and an author and all these other things. And that was one. You have to practice, right? You got to work on your craft. You got to play, you got to play your skills, you got to play the music. You have to study the instrument and really focus on mastery, mastery of the instrument.
You need a mentor, you need a coach. You need someone who's a tour guide, not a travel agent.
A tour guide is someone who has experience and they've been to the mountaintop many times and they can take you there and they can tell you all the things you need to look out for. A tour guide is just to give you a sheet of paper and say, hope you have a good time, right? And then you need a band, you need to have a group, an organization where you can talk shop. So when I got into project portfolio management, I practice project manager. I would practice on the tools, I would practice on the concepts. I listened to webinars, I listened to all different types of things and read books to practice the concepts. Then when I reached out to those who wrote books on this topic and who did the webinars, because I needed them as my coaches. And so I built relationships. And then I joined organizations like PMI or the Microsoft Project User Group, and that became my band where I could talk shop. I've done the same thing as a CEO, right? I found coaches who are excellent CEOs or thought leaders and work with them. I've studied, I've taken courses, I've, I've done executive Ivy League programs to keep practicing the craft. And then I join organizations where I can be around other high performing CEOs that I can learn from. And so those three principles are things that really changed my life, which is you have to have deliberate practice, not just practicing and just playing, but literally pushing yourself to grow. Having a mentor and a coach and having a band. And by the way, I just released this year an EP of four Beatles songs that I recorded with my music producer. And I'm working on my next album. And I still take lessons. I meet with a really advanced younger person who's a really amazing bassist, and I take lessons even to the day in working on my craft because to me it's all about the journey and about mastery.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: You were mentioning, we were talking about music once before and you knew some friends of yours and they actually have a son who actually does music and how they Practice all the time, consistently.
[00:16:34] Speaker D: It is a constant achievement that you never hit that peak where you're so good you don't have to do it. I agree with you, no matter what it is. I think also with the challenges of our society today, I think music is therapy in some ways. What are your thoughts on that, Gerald?
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Music being therapy? You mentioned earlier that you saw my TedX. What you didn't know was that six weeks before that TedX, I had a major bout with vertigo and I lost the ability to walk.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: And I literally had been pushed, rushed to the hospital by ambulance. I was in the hospital for a day and a half. I spent a week in bed. I could not walk. I couldn't watch television. And I'm sitting here rehearsing my talk. And if you watch the TEDx talk, I talk about the neuroscience of music. And so I knew that once I got up, I needed to grab one of my basses and just start playing. And every day I started playing and slowly began to start walking, holding onto the walker, holding onto the walls. And within three weeks, I walked into my doctor's office unassisted. And three weeks after that, I walked on stage and delivered that TEDx talk that you saw. Now, after that TEDx, it left. That vertigo situation left me with a vestibular imbalance constraint. I don't call it a disability. I call it a constraint, because words create your world. So if you use, you know, if you use words like disabled, your body obeys that and starts becoming disabled. So I don't use those words. But what happened to me was I started learning about neuroscience, kinesiology, epigenetics, and leveraging music. And it rewired my brain and allowed me to develop these concepts that I've created called productivity smarts, based on my podcast that I teach, which is basically, how do you actually get a lot done without burning out and really balancing and focusing on that 20% that produces the 80%. And so, you know, it's something that I've had to live with. And music has been not only a blessing in my life, but it has restored and saved my life, if you will.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Well, thank God that you're okay. You recover from that because you write, some people with the wrong mindset would have taken that the wrong way, and they still may be in a bad situation, you know, so you've taken that and turned it around. And you mentioned about the coaching and teaching, and we talked a little bit about constraints. So when people actually have the right mental attitude, it does make a Difference where you can overcome those constraints and it'll propel you to the next level. So you know what? I'm not going to. No matter what happens, I'm not going to let this bother me. In personal life, business life, relationships, it makes a big difference. It just ain't. It's not going to stop me. I don't have any constraints.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: Right. Well, here's the thing is that I actually studied with D. Jacob, who worked with Elliot Goldred, who wrote the book the Goal. Elliot was a physicist and he developed the concept of theory of constraints. So when you study the theory of constraints from a very technical perspective, what you realize is that a constraint is not a bad thing. That's why I use the word constraint, because my mind, a constraint is a good thing. Think about when you water your garden outside. What do you do? You go to Home Depot, you get a nozzle, you put on the end of your hose and you turn the water on. It only sprays out a little bit of water. But because of the nozzle or the constraint, you have more spray, but you're using fewer resources.
So a constraint is not something that's bad. Many times we need constraints in our lives because it will force us to really make best use of our resources, but get the most out of those resources. And so that's how I use that term, is that the vestibular constraint forced me to really rethink what productivity was and how to become more productive. And since then, I've had an investment on my business. I've written the three books. I've, you know, just. There's so many things that I've had a chance to do, travel international and so on. And yet it's learning how to overcome and it's how.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: I have one more question for you, one more big question. I am not going to go back and talk about politics because I listen on the radio, I see these guys want to fighting, they want to kill each other on tv. So we're not going to even talk about the politics. So I'll reframe it to a really, really great part of that. Let's talk about something wonderful that just happened, the super bowl, you know.
So my question is more directed to can these principles be applied to a sports organization as well or to people who really want to be competitive, where they can actually go back and say, you know what? I'm going to apply the same guidelines and principles to being number one.
[00:21:29] Speaker C: Exactly. Well, I think, you know, one of the telltale signs or the amazing stories that came out of the super bowl was, you know, Jalen hurts the quarterback for the Eagles. And, you know, the Ravens are my team. So I'm, you know, a couple of my buddies that's, you know, the Eagles are their team, the Ravens, my team. But I really respect what Jalen did in his approach, is that even with criticisms and impact and whatever people were saying to him, he knew where he was going, he stayed focused. And in fact, when he lost the super bowl the last time to the Chiefs, what did he do? He took a picture of him walking away where he had the red confetti coming down and he said, this will never happen again. He put it on his phone and he looked at it every day. One of the things that we don't do in our society is sometimes realize that we need positive encouragement and we need, we know we need to carry it and we need to stick, right?
And it says he did also remember, think about it this way. He did it every day. It was all the time that he saw it. And many times that's what we have to do is become a little radical in our focus and keep things in front of us, whether it's our goal of where we're going or what we don't want, and understand what that means so that we stay motivated. And that's what he did. And this is a great example of being productivity smart.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: That's awesome. Well, there you have it, folks. Gerald Leonard just told us the principles of how to solve a problem, Business, personal. He gave us some guidelines. He told us how to bring a team together. He told us how to actually get that culture building the same singing off the same sheet of music because we heard a musician. So I want to make sure I say it right. Same sheet of music, you know, so this is, this is good. This is a great conversation. Kelly, I want to thank you for actually joining us. And Gerald, we really want, we appreciate your time and everything for it. So thank you everyone for watching where humanity meets technology. And we'll catch you guys on the next one.
Hello everyone and welcome to our show where humanity meets technology. My name is Maurice Hamilton and I am your host and this is my co host and my wife Kelly. And we're going to actually talk a little bit today about something that I really, really love and that's actually with data. So we actually have our guest on and her name is Kathleen Davis and she is the CEO of smri. Kathleen, welcome to the show. How are you today?
[00:24:59] Speaker A: I'm well. Thank you for having me on the show.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Great And I. And I have to put that little, small, little disclaimer. How was the Super Bowl? Was it great?
[00:25:08] Speaker A: It depends on which. Which team you're rooting for, I suppose. You know, it's the uncertainty of outcomes. We always get pitted against with that.
Was it a good game? That's another one up for discussion. Right. And I don't know about the commercials where they struggled a little as well, but, you know, this is why you're able to elevate and recalibrate your performance. And. And that is what it's all about. You're never always on.
And I think that they like to always look at ways to get better regardless. So I'm thrilled to say I made it back in one piece. And my, you know, I think that is such an amazing high. When you're around all that energy with the tick teams and everyone is so excited to be there. No one sleeps, which is why my voice is gone.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: We know how that goes. We felt the experience through the TV in New Orleans.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: What a great host city. I had the pleasure of teaching, I won't tell you how far back at Tulane.
And so it was nice to get back. And the people in that city, city, no hospitality. They know how to make you feel welcome. And so that I understand why the NFL goes back there. And it's now, I think, going on nine times. Eleven times. Eleven times. And they just do it. They do it right. And then the Superdome has been through such an amazing transformation. They have put, I don't know if you realize this, but billions of dollars into that venue to host the Sugar bowl and then the NFL event. So it's. It's amazing. They've changed all of the walkways. And I don't. Have anyone been in the Super Bowl. The actual venue. Is it at venue?
[00:27:03] Speaker B: No, we've never been there.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: No, no, it's. It's amazing. It's. You know, I think they cut back on the number of seats, but. But we're talking 90,000 at one point. Right. So a lot of people.
[00:27:18] Speaker B: Good, good. Well, let me talk about something else that's amazing and it's what piqued my interest about your organization.
And that's going back and look at the legacy way that we actually capture data from clients or customers or anybody. And that's with the surveys. And I want to talk a little bit about surveyedge and how you all have figured out how to do it with live streaming, how to do it with auditorium, how to do it with gamification, how to do it with the traditional methods, and you've actually brought on a unique approach in order to do that. Can you actually talk a little bit about how you guys have actually taken the traditional way of the survey and how you take that data and so customers can actually retrieve it and get the information in real time and how they can make better business decisions? Can we, can you elaborate on that a little bit?
[00:28:08] Speaker A: You're asking me to talk about my passion. It's going to be tough.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.
I can't believe I've been working at this with Jason McClowski, who is an amazing colleague of mine. We both went to usc, so don't hate us. And he got his degree in bioengineering and mine was in business analytics, and we met at a function down here and he was running the alumni group at the time. And that was nine years ago. And at the time, I was just being introduced to the online world of surveys, and I was like, jason, can you believe that they want us to do these tests on line? There's no engagement. They're not fun. They look like a test and it's a turn off. And no wonder. They have 1% response response rates. And I can't do this. I can't do it with my colleagues. We have to, we have to develop something that will follow what I think is important when it comes to having a conversation with anybody. It's how you engage.
[00:29:22] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: And when you feel like you weren't engaged with people and they are having a conversation and it's not a test, all of a sudden they don't mind doing that survey. And so we went from 1% response rates to 1 in 4 or 24% response rates, which was what you want, you want to have that bandwidth when it comes to listening to people. And if you have 1% of the population responding to your survey, it's just not going to work. And so I kept thinking, and I had this gentleman, Jason, and he now works with Amazon Cloud computing, and we both collaborate together on other projects and our next one is augmented reality, and don't get me going on that one. But he and I, I said, jason, can you do this? And he would program it, and all of a sudden, oh, my God, you did much more than I asked you. And then I said, can you do something that has gamification, that engages people, that has audio and visual, that has a capability to drill down to the zip code mapping level so you can have live streaming conversations without having to recalibrate, readjust and Redo a survey with using the same platform, which is live streaming, and once you get feedback from the people in the zip code, then you can find out, well, then if that is true, would you like this as an option? And so you're actually having a conversation about what will drive them to make decisions in the marketplace. That's either buying services or goods, or we do a lot of service delivery assessment to find out how people are perceiving the quality of service.
So it's an amazing feat.
And I thought, well, you know, let's do something tricky if we can.
Can you put a game at the end? So the last thing you think about after the survey is not that you took, you had a conversation, you gave them your information, but how much fun you had playing the game.
[00:31:42] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: And it's like, wow, that was really fun. When's the last time you took a survey and you said, wow, that was really fun.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: So Kathleen, Kelly and I are driving in and she was checking her phone and she saw a message there to take a survey, and she saw that. I let her go back and expand a little bit about that, but she looked at that and said, there's no way I'm going to answer these questions because all they want to do is get information about me. I'm not doing it. And I said, oh, it's coincidental. We're going to talk to Kathleen about that shortly. Kelly, what was your response on that?
[00:32:17] Speaker D: So my girlfriends and I will sit and have conversations about these surveys that come in because data is huge. Everybody wants your data. They want to know about you. And so it doesn't matter if it's a fast food restaurant or if it's a coffee shop or if it's a grocery store or a company that you're working with. And what they'll do is they will come in and say, hey, we want to make our service better. What's your name? What's your age? How many kids do you have? What's your zip code? What's your salary? And it's like you're answering all these questions and that's not helping them improve their service.
And even if that's at the very end, if they ask my specific information, I will not process through with the survey.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Brilliant. Brilliant.
[00:33:03] Speaker D: And the other thing, she's a plant. The other thing a lot of people say is, oh, you have a chance to win, a chance in a million years, a chance in a thousand people. They don't say, hey, one in 10 winners, or this is what the top five win. Or something like that. And you never hear about the people that win. And so it feels like it's a scam. And I'd like you to go into a little more detail about how you're changing that perception. And I like that because I do want companies to make things better and easier for us or me or our family.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: You know, this is. It's about. That's a brilliant lead in. And, you know, I'll pay you later because, I mean, you totally set it up. I mean, that is the issue with. People don't trust the surveys. They don't trust the source. They don't trust what they're doing with their data. What we've done is adjust that trust factor and bring it back to, well, we made it fun and engaging. Now, if we could keep the survey short and keep the demographics in ranges so you don't really have. No one has a clue who you are and what I have. And I think people sense this about me. I hope to God they do, because that was my always, my intent. I have never sold the data. I have never taken the data. I've never benefited. The only thing that I have been able to do with the data is improve the greater good and the greater number, what is out there and how we can add value to the community by tapping data that is reliable and valid and doesn't infringe upon their personal freedoms.
[00:34:53] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: And their integrity. And, you know, all of that.
You've got to really have all of those values in your mindset. And I think that was just education and probably, you know, I have one of those really strange brains.
I might cross over, but I know that I love numbers, and I just. And I want to get them right. And I don't want to cut corners. I just want to know the truth. Right. Give me the truth about what's going on. Because the truth will either make me a lot of money or it's going to save me a lot of money. Right.
So that's always the case.
And you know that with the, you know, Maurice and I had this conversation. I knew this is to be the best podcast on. On the planet because this gentleman gets it. And he. And he so understands. And as I'm. And as I'm reiterating the issues with this, I. I can see he totally gets it. So those are things that I've been able to adjust.
And as long as you are believable. And I've been doing this.
I've been doing this for 29 years with this, with the NFL, that really dated me too. Now I think it's going on three decades now because it was started I started in 1995 with Wayne Heisinger. So, you know, I also have learned a lot over that timeline on what to do, what not to do. And we started when way back when it was paper and pencil surveys.
[00:36:27] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: And I can remember my first picture and it was this. It was, they called it the California Ball. It was at Miami. And I'm really going, I do this in my classes, so forgive me, I always go on divergence. But I think these are great stories. There was an older woman from San Francisco and it was San Francisco versus San Diego the last time that San Diego was in it. I have to say that loud because I don't know if that's going to ever happen. But I remember standing there with my clipboard with a paper and a pencil and, and actually asking her the questions. I'm like, there's got to be a better way.
And so this is all like led into this point where I said, jason, do this. Can you do this? Can you do this? And he has just put together something. And I've got the junior colleges down here in San Diego that are really willing to think about replacing the Qualtrics and the survey monkeys. And nothing against them. They've been there for 20 years and they haven't changed their platforms a lot. And they are more along the test lines and their response rates are pretty low, pretty low.
I want to feel like I'm talking to the entire.
[00:37:43] Speaker B: Which makes sense. Kathleen, can we come back and talk about that a little bit more after this commercial break I have a couple of questions about that and then I have questions about how we can actually make it flexible for organizations, how anybody can actually do this, use your platform. So let's talk about that when we come back after these messages. Okay.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: Love to.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Welcome back to Where Humanity Meets Technology with our special guest, Kathleen Davis. Kathleen, we were talking about how legacy we took the surveys with the clipboard, the pencil, mark it in and then take it and put it into a machine and, and I try to calculate that data. So can you talk a little bit more about that, what you referred to a few minutes ago? And then let's talk a little bit more about how organizations today can be a lot more flexible and they can be scalable and they can put together a survey now within a matter of minutes and how they can get that data back instantaneously.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: That's a great question. And when I first started doing analytics way back when in my undergrad, I have to tell the story.
We would go to this computer lab that would take up the entire building. You talk about scale.
The computer took up the entire building.
And when I get the output, there'd be reams of these green and white sheets lined with the data and I'd have to pick up the stack of paper and put a rubber band around. That was my output.
I don't know how many trees it went through, but that wasn't a real eco friendly area. But currently what we have is a platform that we've been able to put in the market and it's one fifth of our Competitors range at 5,000 for a year and you can try it for seven days free.
You know, it's more important to me to have real added value to the community and great research and high reliability on the research that we put out than anything else. And so it wasn't about making a profit. This is again what I said earlier.
When you put something together and adds value, the money always follows. So I would love to be able to do more creation in IT and augmented reality with the funds that we receive. But I think anyone can sign up. You can try my platform and Jason's platform, Survey Edge for seven days free. And then you can see how easy it is. It is so easy to set up a survey and everybody says how easy it is on this platform. I kept it very simple.
[00:41:14] Speaker D: That's huge.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: And kind of a simple sophistication.
It's hard to describe what you feel when you use it, but the fact that it's easy to put together and it and it has the technology and it's a drop and drag and you can see the trials and when you start to click on that little eye piece and you see the zip code mapping appear, you're like, oh my God, those are the responses. And I can click on that one in 92075 and actually have a conversation by doing the same with that person.
[00:41:55] Speaker D: Wow, you two are very similar. Kathleen, you and Maurice are. You're numbers people.
You love working, getting results, figuring things out. I'm more of color feel. And so just the fact that you let us know that our data is secure, that it really is anonymous, that's huge for someone like me. That's the turning point of me taking the survey or not. And I also liked how you talked about the simplicity of it, that it's easy. I have girlfriends that literally cringe when they think of going and buying a new iPhone and transferring their data. They're Like I've got to go into the Apple Store, I got to make an appointment, I got to sit around, I've got my kids with me, I've. And it's frustrating. So the simplicity, it is so important and it'll be interesting also to see where AI takes this for you down the road, you know, to make it even more user friendly.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: You know, I, I love it. This is such a charge for me. That's such a great important point. Simplicity. And you don't feel intimidated by numbers? I can't tell you, numbers just don't agree with most people. And that's why, you know, I've been able to be very. Because I don't mind the numbers. And like I said earlier, if I make them a lot of money or save them a lot of money, they're happy with what we have. But you know, I think if you type in Chat gtp and I happen to like that because, well, you know, I wasn't supposed to use it in my class. So now I like, I teach at UCSD and they're, they're like, well, we don't want them to cheat on. Well, they don't. You know, if they do, then it's their loss. But if you type in what is, what is survey edge into chat GDP and then it comes up and it actually gives you the comparison and I'm like, oh, this is really good. It's doing my educating for me. I should just say see Chat GTP on your questions about the platform because it really comes back with some pretty logical information about what's going on there. I don't know how that thing does it, but it does. That SAS platform is pretty remarkable.
So, yes, simple, easy, and keeping it light and friendly and fun. And when you find that you can put music in the background or you can record board your voice in the background. I have had Tina Turner, simply the best.
It's just people love it because it's Tina Turner, right?
Yeah, she's a classic forever.
And then having the game at the end and we actually have a nice option that, you know, and I, I'm not trying to be sexist and responsible gentlemen. Like the football game, they like that. And, and something I like for one game.
But then we also have a coupon feature so you can sell what you're offering or give a discount to something that you might be trying to get data on. As they finish, hit the finish button, you can see the coupon and they can click on, take a picture of that, scan it and then they can go and use the coupon feature as well.
[00:45:21] Speaker C: So.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: So women. And I'm not again, I'm just. This is just a market research observation that women seem to like the coupon. I am not saying that that would be me, but that is kind of the categories and that's a research.
That's just a research fact.
[00:45:42] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:45:43] Speaker D: Maurice, you always talk about the value add.
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:45:47] Speaker D: No matter what it is, bring in that value.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: It makes a difference.
Let me ask you one other one last question, Kathleen. I really appreciate your time and this is a phenomenal platform that you guys have created there. So congratulations on that.
And you mentioned about ar.
So can you give us a little bit of vision of how you can actually see three years, five years down the road where augmented reality would actually really help take this to another level?
[00:46:21] Speaker A: Totally. Jason and I are already talking about having an AR app designed specifically for events, stadiums.
And you have it on your phone and you have different sensors and triggers set up in the venue. And when you go to a game, go to an event, you know, let me just give you the first thing that will come to mind. If you have one or two drinks, not that we all do. You forget where you parked car and you've got it on your phone and you can turn your phone around and it will locate where your car is and you don't have to remember where your car was parked. And if it's late at night and it's dark, that could be intimidating.
You can scan the environment to find out where your snack stand was. And if you get really sophisticated, you have a camera and see how long the line is.
If you're in need of a restroom, locate that. And that's another one where you could find out how long the line is. All of a sudden you have been given a great hand up because of that ugly reality app.
[00:47:36] Speaker D: Real quick, Maurice and Kathleen, can you talk? What is AR for us non techies? What is it? Because we're hearing it. But what really is it?
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Augmented reality. Okay, it, it's reality, but it augments it with technology.
So then it gives you that feedback as you're scanning around. There's a, like I said, there's a sensor, there's a hook that they set up in the venue and it pops up on your screen where the answer is where the shortest line is.
Who's playing on the field, the bio on homes.
Because he needs help.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: So it really augments your data so you can actually feel like your vision. You're there. You're experiencing it adds value. Yeah, exactly. You're feeling it.
[00:48:28] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:29] Speaker B: That's pretty awesome. They have to get the AR goggles or something like that, too. Maybe Christmas.
[00:48:35] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll take it.
You heard it, Kathleen.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: We're ready to go. And I thank you for the time. You guys have been delightful, and your director of the program has been. You guys have all been incredibly engaging, and I wish you the best of luck. And any way that I can help you continue to be successful will be my pleasure.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: Well, thank you. We really appreciate you joining our show today. It was a very interesting and very enlightening conversation. And I think that we have somebody. People out there, they can solve a problem. Your application will be able to solve problems for people, capture the data, and they can actually take it to another level and make better decisions. So we want to thank you for your time.
[00:49:23] Speaker D: And real quick, Kathleen, can you give us the URL, your website, whatever address.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Okay. Www.survey S u r v e y hyphen. You always have to have the hyphen.
Edge. Edge.
So survey, hyphen, edge.
And edge is supposed to be an acronym. Engaging Dynamic gaming Experience. Go figure.
[00:49:54] Speaker D: Oh, great.
[00:49:55] Speaker B: I didn't know that.
[00:49:56] Speaker D: Yeah. Okay.
[00:49:58] Speaker A: How about that? And I did the same hyphen with the. With the mothership, with the smri, which I've. I've worked with, you know, developing that since a long time ago. And that's www.go-s as in SAM mri.com. and we just were able to get some pretty good press, some interviews on with the super bowl and the hotel rates, which were, oh, a little astronomical down in New Orleans. So there should be some good current data there. Excellent.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: Excellent.
[00:50:33] Speaker D: Well, all right.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: Thanks for joining. Thank you, Kathleen. Again, thank you, everyone, for joining our show. And we'll look forward to the next one. And there you have it. Thank you, Kelly.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: Y'all have a great day.
[00:50:45] Speaker B: Talk to you all next time. Bye.
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Bye. Bye.
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