Just like bamboo, David Rae, has strong roots. Rae, a co-founder of 503 Creative and mastermind behind TEDx Portland, shares with us the importance of having the appropriate mental state for success in leadership and business, how he developed a long-term view to everything he does in business and in life, and the challenges of strengthening relationships during the health crisis.
You won’t want to miss this refreshingly honest and vulnerable conversation with one of Portland, Oregon’s top leaders, Dave Rae.
Episode Contents:
02:20 - How David and his team built TEDx Portland form the ground up
04:28 - How David developed his long-term view perspective
06:57 - Why success is messy, and the “overnight success” is a myth
08:16 - Why feedback from the people you trust is so important to success
09:48 - Asking for help
11:01 - Overcoming self-doubt
13:37 - How David brings diversity to the TEDx Portland event every year
18:29 - Typical day for David, and his approach to tackling the most challenging tasks
21:19 - How David stays in shape
22:25 - David’s proudest accomplishment
25:39 - David’s approach to building relationships
28:13 - Advice David would give his 15-year-old self
30:29 - What’s going well for David
33:20 - The area of David’s life he’s most frustrated with
36:11 - Communicating in the COVID-19 environment
38:01 - How David’s business is handling events in the COVID-19 environment
Guest at a Glance
David Rae, President and Co-Founder of 503 Creative. He and his team are the masterminds behind TEDx Portland, one of the largest events in the world. He also is a former Nike executive.
Notable Quotes
David Rae on TEDx Portland: “...it became evident after year-one, year-two, that we’re in a rocketship here, and this is going to really go.”
David Rae on long-term planning: “The tension for me is growth. The push and pull with having a long-term view versus what’s happening right now and what baby steps, what things can I do today for things to manifest down the road.”
David Rae on patience: “When I have my worst days, it’s because I probably wasn’t patient enough. I didn’t let things go.”
David Rae on success: “If you have entrepreneurial DNA, you're going to get dirty. You're going to get messy because you're figuring things out as you go.”
David Rae on teamwork: “Things are always better when there are more people around the table, building something together.”
David Rae on making decisions: “It's my job to make the call at the end of the day, but it's totally informed by consensus and independent, critical thinking with the team that I have around me.”
David Rae on vision and creativity: “I think that creativity is all around us at all times. You just have to have your eyes open.”
Greg Bell: “Relationships will get you all the results you want.”
Transcript
Greg Bell: [00:00:00] Hi, this is Greg Bell and welcome to The Water the Bamboo Podcast. Before we get on with our next conversation. I want to remind you to make sure you subscribe to this podcast. If you're on Apple podcast or YouTube, just hit subscribe. And if you're following this podcast on Spotify, go ahead and hit the follow button. That'll help us grow.
[00:00:33] We're in for a big treat this week because we have one of the most respected business leaders, speakers, and entrepreneurs around. David Rae is the president and co-founder of 503 Media. David Rae, and I connected through TEDx Portland. And he is on the team that is the mastermind behind TEDx Portland, one of the largest TEDx events in the world. He is a former Nike executive and now is a very successful entrepreneur. Welcome David.
[00:01:00] David Rae: [00:01:00] Hello everybody. Super thrilled to be here. Thanks for having me, Greg.
[00:01:03] Greg Bell: [00:01:03] That's an amazing thing. When I think back to our track record. And I just want you to sort of talk a little bit about, well, how you and I connected if you would like, how did you discover Water the Bamboo?
[00:01:14] David Rae: [00:01:14] Two words: cause I want to pay credit where credit is due. Seth Walker introduced us. And immediately became a fan of yours because I read Water the Bamboo, when we were thinking about who could we put on our stage for our first TED conference here in Portland in 2011. You came to the top of the list to be one of the speakers and so jumped into your literature, huge fan of it.
[00:01:38] The light bulb clicked right away. And when we think back to our very first speaker in our very first year, it was Greg Bell and it was all about watering the bamboo.
[00:01:47] Greg Bell: [00:01:47] Well, I appreciate that too. I remember you calling me Ricky Henderson. Like you gotta be our lead off hitter.
[00:01:51] David Rae: [00:01:51] We need a big lead off hitter here, baby
[00:01:52] We need to stand up double. You gotta steal third.
[00:01:56] Greg Bell: [00:01:56] Yeah, I was so excited, just you know, hall of famer sort of be in that category, but it was really interesting when I think about connecting with you and, you know, we had, what 600 folks there. And, last year you had 3000 at the event and coming up here at the Moda next year, you're going to have 10,000.
[00:02:14] I mean, it's just TEDx Portland itself seems like a Water the Bamboo story. Tell us a little bit about sort of the seeds there and how you got going just in the event space in general.
[00:02:26] David Rae: [00:02:26] The seeds, I think, started with the people originally around the table to help cultivate the event. We were so lucky and fortunate to have a dozen people that committed their time, talent, treasure to grow this thing.
[00:02:42] And so I think we knew we had to get the right people on the bus, at the very beginning to get this thing going in the right direction. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd be here a decade later with the size and scale and production value that it provides the city. We thought way back when at the armory with you, it was a one and done, but we knocked it out of the park and the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive from the attendees,
[00:03:03] they were begging us to a second one. And so we then realized like, oh wow, this is, could be a multi-year annual event for Portland. And so I think that's where water the bamboo really started to the fertile ground became very present. We really realized that, oh, gosh, this is a multi-year plan and we need to put some strategy behind it.
[00:03:23] And so how can we be better farmers and water and bring the right people into the mix. So we not only have great content and speaker delivery with idea share, but from an organizer perspective, all volunteers, right? We're all volunteering our time. So it's truly a passion project. Thinking the long-term play, became evident after year one, year two and realizing like, oh goodness, we're in a rocket ship here.
[00:03:46] And this is going to really go.
[00:03:47] Greg Bell: [00:03:47] There's two things that you said that, that I think the audience sort of really needs to hear. And that idea is like, you know, like who's around the table. A lot of times I think about this idea of the singular genius. Like I got to do it by myself and, you know, I know you really well, personally and professionally how you're humble about sharing the stage with people, but one of the things that's
[00:04:07] fascinating to me is always people think, well, I got to grow 90 feet in 60 days. Well, yeah, if you did, and you didn't have like, behind me, the grove, the sort of those connections you'd fall over. I mean, so having those deep relationships are critical to growth. And the second thing that you mentioned, I think is really important, this idea of having a long-term view is so, so important to folks.
[00:04:28] Where did you come up with this idea of having long-term view? I remember you from your, even your Nike days, And then now transferring to 503 and doing all these incredible events from polo events to, I mean, just, it's amazing what you're doing, but take us back a little bit back to your Nike days, or even before that, where do you get that sort of long-term view a perspective from?
[00:04:51] David Rae: [00:04:51] I've always worked really hard to be a visionary thinker, to think 18 months, 24 months, three years, and particularly five years down the road.
[00:05:01] I'm a big five-year plan guy. But also tethering that to planning and execution, right? So plan the work, work the plan, but know your North star and where you want to go. You may not get there, but it's really great to dream and put some things on the board to, to charge against. So I love surrounding myself with people that keep me grounded and people that can really lean into and have really awesome debate with, to figure out the plan.
[00:05:27] Greg Bell: [00:05:27] Yeah, that was one of the things that struck me in 503, looking at your values, you know, talking about truth. That actually is an interesting sort of way to sort of think about life and truth with kindness, obviously. And also combining this idea of sort of thinking about a visionary five-year plan.
[00:05:44] I mean, I sometimes feel like when I wrote Water the Bamboo, that's what I was thinking. You know, long-term, it's going to take four or five years for it to grow, but just like anyone I want it done now, I want it to grow. I want it to, how do you have a longterm view and execute today?
[00:05:59] David Rae: [00:05:59] I love the tension.
[00:06:01] The tension for me is growth. The push and pull, with having a long-term view versus what's happening right now and what baby steps, what things can I do today for things to manifest down the road. It comes back to patience, in one word. It is patience, which I don't have, so that I think is correlated to tension.
[00:06:21] And so how I navigate all that is just working hard enough to enjoy small wins along the road to know that progress is happening so that something down bigger is going to happen ultimately, when all of it adds up. But it's, you know, when I have my worst days, it's because I probably wasn't patient enough.
[00:06:44] I didn't let things go. I'm not worrying about things I can't control. And I just got to step back and be like, Take a breath, you know, it's just work small wins. It's all going to add up and break through in the end.
[00:06:57] Greg Bell: [00:06:57] It takes this idea of patience is sort of a really key component here. But a lot of times people, I think, mistake patience for a lack of persistence.
[00:07:07] So I hear you saying both are there, like this idea of, well, I'm going to wait, but I'm going to work. I'm going to wait, but I'm going to work that that kind of a rhythm is, is super important.
[00:07:17] One of the, things though, the sort of concepts in Water the Bamboo, I want you to address a little bit because you've done a career change, start a new business.
[00:07:24] You've done all this. There's this idea that, Oh, you know, Dave Rae has it great. It's going great for him. And it's left, right. You know, and I get people with me that way too. Oh, you've always had the success. The concept is messy in the garden. Like it's kinda messy when you start, it's not smooth and easy.
[00:07:40] Talk a little bit about some of the messages you may have experienced as you launched into 503 and TEDx Portland and all their cool events that you do
[00:07:48] David Rae: [00:07:48] Messy. Well, I mean, that is hitting the nail on the head. You gotta be comfortable with getting rolling sleeves up, being a builder, right. If you have entrepreneurial DNA, you're going to get dirty.
[00:07:59] You're going to get messy because you're figuring things out as you go. And I think what has allowed me to succeed is being open to feedback. I love feedback. And if you are open to brutally honest conversations with people that you trust that are going to help grow you, grow your plan, grow your business.
[00:08:16] It helps clean up the mess, right? It's when ego gets in the way and you don't ask people for their honest opinion on, Hey, did I do this right? Or how can this be better? What do you think? If you can open up that purview, you're going to be in a cluttered mess forever. And so I think the truth serum for me is just having like an amazing tribe of cultural, like people that I trust around me at all times from my wife to my kids, to my business partners, to my closest friends that I grew up with from the age of five years old but I still keep in touch with and just say, Hey, what do you think about this? And I'd love your sounding board kind of knee jerk feedback.
[00:08:54] And I take all that. I synthesize it. I move. I go, I kind of just take it all, compartmentalize it, make up my decision and go, and I'm okay with failure along the road. But I, I anchor that with people's feedback and guidance.
[00:09:09] Greg Bell: [00:09:09] Well, that's really cool. Cause I, you know, I could attest to that. I've been sort of part of some of those conversations, it's really, it's really interesting to sort of think about that. One of the things I always tell people is what's the breakfast of champions and you know, they'll say Wheaties, I go, no, it's feedback. To be able to sort of take honest feedback and executing on that is super helpful. Especially if you give it a run before you take off with stuff. I mean, just kinda give it a, like a batter circle just to kind of like, Oh, I wonder how this would work. And so where did you get that sort of idea to, well, one, first of all, it's just interesting, I'm very curious about this idea of having enough humbleness to ask for help.
[00:09:48] Did that start early for you? Or is that something you've developed over your career or...?
[00:09:52] I
[00:09:53] David Rae: [00:09:53] have lovely parents. Wonderful parents. Coming up on 50 years of marriage. So I was raised, I think, with a sense of modesty and a reach out when you don't have the answer, it's okay to not have the answer and beyond my parents,
[00:10:05] if, if there isn't a guardian in your life, I was really blessed with coaches. I played sports all the way through, from baseball to rugby, to basketball, you name it. I played it and I had incredible coaches along the way that believed in me and, and really rode me, really worked me and I loved it. I could feel and see the growth.
[00:10:25] And I just wanted more. So feedback for me, I think has always been just a, a crucial way to evolve. I have a saying that feedback is a gift and, and people like presence. So give me more presence. And that's how I try and work with our staff and my team and all the volunteers that we work with is just giving direct, but fair, but firm feedback, that's going to help people evolve, you know, it's coming from a good place and all you want is what's best.
[00:10:55] And so not necessarily like who's right, but what's right. And navigating and building and growing
[00:11:01] Greg Bell: [00:11:01] That's sort of piggybacks on the next question, I was sorta thinking is how do you personally overcome any sort of self doubt you might have? I think when you start off something like this, that's just, just actually just an amazing... you think about your journey, you probably don't even see it, but it's a pretty phenomenal journey you've been on, watering your bamboo, having this really cool organization that, you know, I sort of shortchange you by saying you guys do events. You actually create experiences, a moments for people that are life-changing.
[00:11:31] But along the way, there's gotta be some times where you're like, ah, I don't know. Am I doing the right thing? How do you overcome self doubt?
[00:11:39] David Rae: [00:11:39] That's a great question. I'm trying to not take things personal. Right. If you get personally wrapped up in it and then it becomes internalized as, Oh, it's me. What did I do wrong?
[00:11:52] Just trying to think of just objectively through problem solving, helps you be rational and stoic through making hard decisions because I can't, I mean, I fallen on my face more times than I cared account and I'm okay with being wrong. And it's just, how do you react when you fall and fail? Getting up quick, not taking it personal. What did you learn? Try not to repeat the same offense and, and grow. And so I think it's okay to be totally passionate and excited about a project. But just make sure that it's not coming from a personal place that you're bought into a team vision, a group project, because things are just always better when there are more people around the table, building something together. It's okay to have an alpha and have the vision and push and charge.
[00:12:50] But growth in my experience only really happens when you have like lovely collaborators around with you. And then you can kind of share in that success.
[00:12:58] Greg Bell: [00:12:58] Yeah, I just witnessed what you described though, really thinking about just being around the table at some of the TED events and just really thinking about people, really collaborating and sort of putting on just this incredible show and event.
[00:13:12] One of the things I'm struck by, I've been to every TEDx Portland event, as you said, including being the first speaker. One thing I was struck by and still am is the diversity you bring on the stage. I mean, it is unbelievable. Never experienced that. I look forward to that every year, the diversity of the audience, just the diversity of thought.
[00:13:32] Talk a little bit more about how you're able to curate such a incredible event.
[00:13:37] David Rae: [00:13:37] I have to lead with intention. I mean, you know, you're on the team. There's probably 35 or 40 of us between our board, our advisory team, our core team. We all get together and we brainstorm at a high level the idea, what is an idea in a particular space against technology entertainment, design that TED acronym, who's the person suited to speak to that idea and provide a solution or some sort of presentation against it? I called it my constellation strategy because we ask people for their feedback. They're allowed to nominate three people.
[00:14:13] And so if you've got 30, 40 people in a room they're allowed to nominate three people, you can blink and you've got 120 nominations on a board. And then what I love to figure out as against the idea and what we want to put in the run of show, if somebody has been nominated multiple times by independent people then you can see like a big dipper in the sky. And it's like, I mean, Seth Walker nominated you, but three other people did too back in 2009. So I was like this Greg Bell guy has gotta be special. And so I honestly have a sounding board and I it's my job to make the call at the end of the day. But it's totally informed by consensus and independent, critical thinking with the team that I have around me. So I feel supremely confident when it's time to invite somebody, to put them on our stage. And we 100% believe in diversity. I grew up in Canada, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it is a very, it's a cosmopolitan town. I moved to Portland in 2005-2006, and I realized that there was some work to do here.
[00:15:13] And so not only from the ideas we decided to put on the stage, but who's delivering them is critically important. Because we want to create a world that we want to live in, and representation is a huge part of that. So making sure that black, Brown, yellow, purple green people are on the stage, that's always going to be our mandate of how we move forward when we curate and craft the show.
[00:15:38] Greg Bell: [00:15:38] Yeah, it's really, it's really, really, just an amazing event. So I just applaud you for sort of doing that. I kind of make sense in terms of what you said, like curating based on the feedback. One of the things that I was sort of curious about is this idea of, you sort of said this a couple of ways you talk about vision, really, you're talking about creating the world you want.
[00:15:59] Talk a little bit more about how can a person who is sort of driving their car or listening to this podcast right now, how can a person sort of create a vision? I mean, I have that in chapter two of the book talking about creating a vision, but how, how would you describe that? Do you do vision boards?
[00:16:15] What, how do you come with your own sort of personal vision or even organizational vision?
[00:16:20] David Rae: [00:16:20] I think that creativity is all around us at all times. You just have to have your eyes open. So I'm I watch, and I'm very mindful of my surroundings at all times, from murals on the street to the way a menu is designed in a restaurant, I'm just always taking mental notes.
[00:16:36] And so I couple that with where do I want to be and what do I want to create and what are steps that I could put in place to maybe tippy toe in that direction. So I do believe in writing things down. And being very planful with daring to dream, right. Dreaming and scheming, but also putting like tangible, stepping stone pieces underneath those big thoughts so that you can create a roadmap for yourself.
[00:17:07] And then it gets addictive because if you can create something and get it to market, and then you re you, you have a confidence. You're like, Oh my God, I can't believe that happened. This was something I put on a napkin or I brang up with a buddy over a beer and 18 months later, it's a tangible product or a thing or an experience.
[00:17:25] And you're like, Oh my gosh, like I want more. So that, that for me is a drug.
[00:17:30] Greg Bell: [00:17:30] That is your, so you nailed that. I, it's kind of interesting. I, I helped start the coaches versus cancer project to raise like hundreds of million jobs for cancer research. And I remember I had a yellow pad with a few notes on it.
[00:17:42] I went back to Kansas and I said, Hey, we're going to do this. And they looked at me like, who are you? I go, Oh, who cares, look at this idea. You know, it's like, it just took off, but it did create like incredible confidence, like, well, if I could do that, you know, it wasn't I though, I mean kind of, like you said, it was a lot, a lot of help and a lot of coaches got involved in it and a lot of, people.
[00:18:03] So it wasn't like, it was my thing. It was more like I had this idea and I think that sort of entrepreneurial sort of spirit is once you get it, it's like you say, it's pretty, pretty tough to be in that though. I sort of like, want to sort of twist a little bit, because I think there's certain things I'm noticing with when I talk to entrepreneurs like yourself or there there's certain things how they do their day will open up the door a little bit.
[00:18:29] I know your days, aren't typical, but what is a typical day like in your life?
[00:18:34] David Rae: [00:18:34] It starts in the evening, the night before for me to have a good sleep, I need to diary or write down the things that I need to work on tomorrow. So I will do a top five. And write it down in my phone, just in my little notepad, turn the phone off and walk away from it, so you can not be mesmerized by that screen when you're asleep, but, but I can wake up and I know I have direction immediately after a cup of coffee. And I will charge at usually the top five or seven things that I know are the hardest right away. I work on my, Oh, I don't want to do that pile of work between nine and 11:00 AM.
[00:19:13] I send the harder email I call and have a difficult conversation early going. And that way, my afternoon is more for thinking dreaming, believing, visioning. And so there's, it's more of a tactical morning with room to think in my afternoon. And then I process that in the evening and I rinse and repeat almost every day.
[00:19:36] And you know, you're going to sprinkle in two, three, six meetings a day. And with zoom now it's like 14 meetings because people think they can get everything done in 15 minutes on the zoom. But it's, it's being very diligent with that approach.
[00:19:49] Greg Bell: [00:19:49] I love that. I do say I do my heavy lifting and watering in the morning. Because I don't want to be thinking too hard in the afternoon. In fact, I try to do a use that for creative time or kid time. it's interesting that you sort of choose that rhythm. Is that an old sports thing or is that...?
[00:20:06] David Rae: [00:20:06] I, gosh, I think I'm just better in the morning. I move faster. I'm ready to charge. And when you get into three, four or 5:00 PM and who wants to be the guy sending the email at 4:58 and that's when somebody's going to pick up their kids, like, wow, D. Rae is emailing at 5 o'clock before dinner?
[00:20:24] Like no, send that email at 9:30 am.
[00:20:26] Greg Bell: [00:20:26] That makes sense. It makes a lot of sense because one of the things that I happens to me and I know just a lot of people, I mean, everyone has a different time, right? A different rhythm. For me. I'm a morning person. I know I have more energy, but my executive function in the afternoon, isn't very good.
[00:20:41] Like I try never to make hard decisions after three. It's very, very difficult. I always say, you know, call me tomorrow. we'll talk about it.
[00:20:50] David Rae: [00:20:50] One is very specific tactic. I know if I have a tough email or something I need to get through, I may write the email in the afternoon. I won't send it. I will sleep on it and I will come back to it with clarity.
[00:21:03] It's amazing when you write something down and maybe take a pause and come back to the same note, you change it, you realize the tone is wrong or change that word and less is more. And so, I think granting yourself the space to approach things that way is important too.
[00:21:19] Greg Bell: [00:21:19] That's really good. The other thing on the sort of the routine bit though, I mean, you're always strike me as somebody who's like in good shape and taking care of yourself. I mean, I imagine that's in there for you and with kids and why and everything you're doing. What do you, what do you do on the exercise front?
[00:21:34] David Rae: [00:21:34] I stand in stretch probably three times an hour. So I, circulation blood flow, all of it. I'll just take three, five minutes and I'll just walk around. I'll move. Movement is key.
[00:21:46] I need to jog more and get on the Peloton, but just anybody can stand up and stretch. And I think that's super important. If you're just locked in anchored to a chair, you get really lethargic. You know, sometimes it's pretty aggressive, but I'll just drop into 25 pushups. I mean, I literally have pushup bars right beside my desk.
[00:22:05] And I, you know, I'm not a big guy, but it just gets the blood going and it's super helpful. It's, it's an instant rush, with endorphin. And so lots of water, right. And I manage one, maybe one and a half cups of coffee a day. I don't do energy drinks. Like, that's just not good for my stomach. And, so I it's really about circulation and movement.
[00:22:25] Greg Bell: [00:22:25] Yeah, that's really good. Thank you for that throughout your entire career, you know, Nike and 503 and all the things you've done. What is your proudest accomplishment? And why?
[00:22:37] David Rae: [00:22:37] It was the eighth year of TEDx Portland. Keller auditorium. Work myself to the bone and I am, and I usually do. I don't sleep. When I sleep. I sleep well, but I don't sleep a lot. And I work myself into a, and this has a road back to you, brother. You know, I worked myself into pneumonia, like mild pneumonia, laryngitis, jaundice, like I was a wreck and I host the event too, so I helped plan it, but I also get on stage and host it, but I realized, and I had some really great friends: Karen Brooks and Susan Hoffman, say, you are, you need to step aside. And so the accomplishment was, I was able to completely remove myself from the event that I'd planned for nine months,
[00:23:25] Greg Bell: [00:23:25] My word!
[00:23:26] David Rae: [00:23:26] And not be involved the night before. And I sent an email out at two in the morning to you. To Louis Vargas to Lindsay Murphy and, said, I am unable to move forward with this. And it's a disservice to the event for me to even think I can do this. And other hosts stepped up and they led the event in my absence. And I was backstage, I was there, but I literally couldn't speak. And I looked like a train wreck. So I just got out of the way. My heart was so full because, I just realized in that moment how deep our bench was and how impressive all the people around us were. And the train left the station and I was happily watching it. And the whole thing just came together beautifully. I think arguably bridges is one of our best years ever. And I was a guest. I was watching it. It was very humbling to see how that all happened.
[00:24:17] Greg Bell: [00:24:17] Well, part of that, you know, just, you know, having sort of, you know, getting that email and send it. I think I sent one at like two o'clock in the morning, like sure I'll do it.
[00:24:25] David Rae: [00:24:25] But you were up, you responded.
[00:24:27] Greg Bell: [00:24:27] Well, one of the things that struck me about that was, you know, you talked about stepping apart or something back, but what's interesting is you'd been watering all those years. I think that's one of the things I noticed, especially some of the younger entrepreneurs or folks that call and want some mentorship and help, and they haven't done any watering and relationships at all, but wanting results.
[00:24:49] It's like, it's very difficult if you haven't invested in relationships that people will step up for you, but you've been doing this for years. And so it's like no surprise that people would step up and help and volunteer or do whatever. And so I always think about this idea of relationships will get you all the results you want.
[00:25:09] And I noticed that that's how you operate, you know, just on a personal level. I know that because we can look at the results like, Oh, wow, look how successful Dave Ray is. But I also see you really intentionally watering your relationships. It's just really a cool thing to see. Is that from your parents, is that from mentorship? Where do you get that kind of drive to be that relational where people will, I mean, literally, email you back at two in the morning to help you out. Where does that come from?
[00:25:39] David Rae: [00:25:39] I deeply believe in being a great friend and, a challenging friend at times, right? There's... people know I'm overbearing. People know I'm probably too direct. But I'm also a giver. I will take the shirt off my back for you. I believe in our friendship and real friendship takes a lot of work because life's full of curve balls. And so who's going to be in your corner when times are tough. I very intentionally work really hard to keep in touch with all the people that I love and care about.
[00:26:08] And, you know, not just emailing people when I need something from them. So that's also exhausting. I mean, 70, 80% of my inbox is people emailing me for something, business related or whatever, and it's navigating want versus need. And what do I want to give, but on a friendship side and it bleeds into professional, is what, every day, like what can I give away? And I believe that karma comes back to you like a boomerang and you have deep, meaningful rooted relationships as a farmer. And when you, when you're in a spot, like I was in 2018, like, I guess I shouldn't say I was surprised, but I mean, I was. That how amazing you guys were when you had my back, when I really needed it, but that was definitely the work of years and years of lovely relationship building.
[00:26:58] Greg Bell: [00:26:58] That's really, I like the way you sort of put that because it's a friend in need is a friend indeed. But you know, you know, thinking about giving prior to needing anything is so, so important. And it's an interesting thing. I sort of started my speaking career on that premise. Actually, it was very interesting. I would, I'm a reformed lawyer, and one of the things I noticed with people in law, they, when they come to my office, boy, they needed you. It was like this thing I thought, wow, perhaps if you did relationships better, you wouldn't need a lawyer. Right. And I thought somebody ought to teach somebody how to have better relationships.
[00:27:29] And I thought, Oh, I only get 45 seconds a day to complain. And I thought, well, maybe I should help people build relationships better. Because if you build relationships really well, Like, as I said, you can get the results you want. And I love this idea of this sort of heart having hard conversations, because a lot of people really think it's the information age.
[00:27:48] I don't, I think it's the, it's the relationship age. Individuals that can have great relationships. They can get. All the information, anything they want, but that skillset is actually really, really rare. And I just sort of, you know, it just applaud you and notice it in you quite a bit. But one of the things that's interesting to me, so I, I am like a crazy Dave Rae fan. Like I, you know, I'm, I am
[00:28:11] David Rae: [00:28:11] You're making blush, GB.
[00:28:13] Greg Bell: [00:28:13] But I'm serious. I'm like going, what does Dave need? I help him, you know, that kinda thing. And I know I'm not the only one. But I just wonder, like, what advice would you give your like 15 year old self? Like you were all the things, you know, and all the success you've had, all the lessons you've learned. If you look back at yourself at 15, what like lessons would you wish you had imparted to yourself?
[00:28:39] David Rae: [00:28:39] Lifelong commitment to learning. I think when you're in your teens and you're slugging through high school and maybe college is in the plan or grad school, whatever it may be. And you're kind of in the machine of education, you think it's mandatory because you got, just got to get through it.
[00:28:56] Be self-aware enough to know that everything you're absorbing is only gonna help you, be a more evolved person. and so I just signed up for an e-Cornell diversity and inclusion six month program. And I start on September 2nd, because BLM and everything is just totally inspired me. We're living in a revolution right now, living history, and I know I can be better in that space.
[00:29:25] And so I'm so excited to get into implicit bias and engagement and community building and organizing, like even more so. And that's already what I do, but I know I can sharpen the saw. So that's, that's what I would try and impart on my 15 year old self, if I could go back because. Don't have blinders on that with tunnel vision.
[00:29:47] Greg Bell: [00:29:47] Yeah, I think that, those are really good points. I mean, all of them in terms of what you could advise your 15 year old self. And for me, I was thinking, well, I could use those today. Anything I can use at 15, I can use today.
[00:29:58] One of the ones I love is I sort of, I think about that question a lot for myself. And I just say, no matter what you do in your life, There'll be someone that'll try to get in the way where you're trying to do is do your best to make sure it's not you.
[00:30:13] David Rae: [00:30:13] Yeah, I definitely I've had a lot of people say, Dave, you're on your own way.
[00:30:17] Greg Bell: [00:30:17] Yeah. Well, that's good advice.
[00:30:19] David Rae: [00:30:19] Step aside, step back, you know, just put a mirror up, look at yourself really hard and know that you got some work to do and just being okay with that, getting the ego out of the way.
[00:30:29] Greg Bell: [00:30:29] Kind of a humbleness tone here, because to learn, you have to be humble, right. To kind of get the ego out of the way. One of the questions I wanted to ask though is my latest book is What's Going Well, and what I was trying to do is have people think about the things that are going well in their lives. It's just small things, nothing big. The idea here is if I can get people to shift just a little bit to what's going well in the positive things in their life, not that the bad things are going to go away, but it helps them sort of take that next step to water that next thing. When I backed up with Water the Bamboo, when you think about that concept, yeah, it takes years, you got to grind, you got to grind, the people we know they're all watering their bamboo, most of them. Right. Whether they know it or not. Yeah. But what I noticed for myself was, well, I wasn't grateful enough. I wasn't asking what's going well while I'm watering. So just on a, you know, any way you want to put it, tell a bamboo nation what's going well for you right now, like on a personal level. And a professional level.
[00:31:32] David Rae: [00:31:32] Yesterday, my five-year-old daughter ate a plum. That is awesome. And, you know, she does not like fruit. So she's riding on her bike, pulls a plum off a tree from a tree farm and just crank, like just crushed it. And I, and just in sheer awe. That is a massive thing as, for as simple as it is as a parent, I was like, I could not be happier right now.
[00:32:01] So, you know, power of positive thinking and celebrating these little beautiful joys. Glass is always half full with me. I'm just wired that way. I, I think asking yourself what is going well and debriefing that with your partner or close friend is super important, especially in these times, right?
[00:32:19] With this pandemic world we're living in, is to positively reinforce, like, what are the amazing things that are going well around you? And that's contagious. I think if you're on the flip side of that, pessimism and darkness is as well. So if you can just program your thinking to approach it from a positive way first, and you repeat that and repeat that and repeat that. You then to get into this habitual way of organizing your life. And that's when I think, I think things start to line up for you.
[00:32:53] Greg Bell: [00:32:53] Yeah, I really appreciate that. I couldn't have said it better. I like this idea of sort of this finding something small like that and really celebrating it and noticing that it's contagious, from that perspective. That's helped me like tremendously and even writing them down and being able to read in my what's going well journals about like, particularly on a dip day on a day, that's not going well, I can look at that and go, Oh, how have all these things kind of going from it's like the wind at our back.
[00:33:20] One question, this is a weird question, so bear with me. If you were me, what question would you be asking you?
[00:33:28] David Rae: [00:33:28] Where and how are you must most frustrated in your life and why?
[00:33:32] Greg Bell: [00:33:32] Okay. I'm going to ask you that question. Where are you most frustrated in your life and why?
[00:33:38] David Rae: [00:33:38] Communication. How I am communicating in this COVID-19 world. Trying to find the humanity through screens in this really challenging time and trying to lead with love and, you know, working really hard to get stuff done and keep my company afloat and survive and obsessed with productivity and results, but at what cost? And how I'm communicating, I think is, I can work on, I can be better at and be more vulnerable and open to self-awareness with the people I trust around me to help grow me. I think communication right now, particularly for the next year, 18 months or however long, this is going to go on, is important for me to self-analyze. So I come out of this stronger and my mental health, my mental fitness is where it needs to be.
[00:34:35] Greg Bell: [00:34:35] I hear that from so many different perspectives and so many different CEOs and companies and folks I talked to, and one of the things that humans need as well, communication and contact, but they also need certainty, right?
[00:34:51] And without certainty, it becomes really, really challenging for people. And that's the one of the keys. And so one of the things that I think, you know, I advocate people to lead with is empathy and compassion. I mean, after all, this is all of our first pandemic, right? Never done this before.
[00:35:11] When our kids or the people around us go a little sideways. I think we have to have a lot of grace. A lot of forgiveness. One of the concepts in, actually it's kind of a, kind of a cheat sentence.,I put it in Water the Bamboo, and I said, I called it instant forgiveness. Like that was just a sentence, that, you know, so I imagine somebody, you know, you get in your car, someone's going to cut you off. And you can be upset and have road rage if you want. Or you can just kind of go, I'll just forgive them. Like I cut people off it's happened to me or somebody said something sideways, but if you had instant forgiveness then, and you do actually, it's interesting, because you've already talked about this a little bit, then if you've already forgiven them before it happened.
[00:35:54] It can kind of release us and be more empathetic. But back to your, sort of this communication thing, I'd like to dig in there a little bit more, because what I find you to be an incredible communicator, but what you're saying is in the COVID environment, it's a bit more challenging, right? Is that what you're saying?
[00:36:11] David Rae: [00:36:11] I am. I mean, just my daily flow is I got, I got three screens right here. I'm in Slack. We have a program called Monday. We call it fun day. We have tools on tools on tools. We're in Salesforce. We're in six, eight Zooms a day. Everything's cataloged. I feel. Like things are being documented. Emails are being sent. Text messages are being fired away, but the humanity that's underneath all of that and maybe lost or diminished, I think we're communicating at a higher, faster level than ever actually. And information comes at us at mock speed, but it's just back to your contact point, just feeling it right. I, I mean, I hadn't seen my, my co-founding, my business partner. It dawned on us, we're six months into this thing. He and I are in touch every day. Probably he's my work husband, right? We were in touch four or five hours a day and we realized three nights ago, he and I have not had one-on-one time in six months. So I just drove up to his house. We stoked up a fire, socially distanced around it.
[00:37:16] Had some drinks. We were there for six hours. We blinked and it was 2:30 in the morning. And I drove away from that just so whole. So I, it just, I just missed it and I just, I was like, Oh my, Oh my goodness. We used to have that every day in the office. And now it's just, you really got to work to create that.
[00:37:37] With, the situation we're in. This weird COVID-19 world.
[00:37:41] Greg Bell: [00:37:41] Yeah. I think that's a really, I appreciate that vulnerability there. Because I think that's a good lesson for all of us to think about how do we be creative and create the sort of the human contact and that. Because one of the things that I think is interesting when I, when I think about the word communication, it actually, it means to commune to come together.
[00:38:01] A lot of our communication isn't coming together. And quite frankly, I don't know about you, but I suffer from infobesity. I have way too much information. Like I have enough and that creates transactional life. And what I know about you and TED and all the events you do, what I experienced there isn't transaction. But I experienced transformation. That's really what I really think is really important. But one of the things I wanted you to talk a little bit about, I know that you're, you guys have an event space that you're hosting folks at. Can you talk a little bit about that in the COVID environment? Because I think there's this, this need for people to come to events and how do we do that socially distanced. And how is your company handling that? Talk a bit more about that if you would.
[00:38:47] David Rae: [00:38:47] Yeah, thank you for asking about it. We have access to a beautiful private piece of property on a West Linn, 15-minute drive from Portland.
[00:38:56] It's 87 acres and it has the space for people to feel comfortable with large gathering. And we've just turned it on. Hidden Creek horse park. And it's the future. I think it's the short-term future. It's where we hold Polo Noir, the big music-horse-wine festival that we do five years running. Now it's obviously on hold.
[00:39:16] But for smaller 50, when we get into phase-two, 100-250 person gatherings next spring summer, what that can look like for a 500 person gathering on blankets with music and food and wine and company. And that's where we're moving, at least from an experiential perspective. And we were getting 10, 15 emails a day about it.
[00:39:38] And it's great that people are just trying to figure out, you know, they miss each other. And so how can they do it safely? to get out of the zoom fatigue, the screen fatigue. And so, yeah, we're, we're marching against that. And we have a vintage boost trucks business as well, where not only the catering's in hand, but you can roll the trucks up on the property.
[00:39:55] And it's really turnkey. And so we're excited to figure that out over the winter and book it very heavily, in the calendar months for spring, summer 2021.
[00:40:05] Greg Bell: [00:40:05] Well, that's awesome. I'm excited to, come check it out. that's really cool. It's nice for me too. Cause I, you know, have a lot of clients that need event space and, or having things like that. So we'll, we'll definitely tap into that. And I'm sure folks that are listening to this will, will sort of, want to tap into that. Speaking of which, how do people get ahold of you and, and, and 503? What are ways they can reach out to you?
[00:40:29] David Rae: [00:40:29] Yeah, you can ping me directly through our website, send me a LinkedIn note. I love to connect. Brainstorming and networking and just genuinely offering help to people is what I get excited about. So if there was an opportunity to work together, don't be shy.
[00:40:45] Greg Bell: [00:40:45] Oh, that's great. Really, really appreciate you sort of joining us here. But I, I do have, one request, another request and that is you're going to have to do the water, the bamboo oath, Dave.
[00:40:57] I got my band on. So you got to repeat after me: No matter what challenges come my way,
[00:41:02] David Rae: [00:41:02] No matter what challenges come my way.
[00:41:04] Greg Bell: [00:41:04] I will.
[00:41:05] David Rae: [00:41:05] I will
[00:41:06] Greg Bell: [00:41:06] Continue.
[00:41:07] David Rae: [00:41:07] Continue.
[00:41:08] Greg Bell: [00:41:08] Continue to water the bamboo,
[00:41:09] David Rae: [00:41:09] Continue to water the bamboo.
[00:41:11] Greg Bell: [00:41:11] Awesome.
[00:41:11] David Rae: [00:41:11] Keep doing what you're doing. GB. You are a force for good. How you would post up in coffee shops, talk to strangers. You just have always created really compassionate, heartfelt humanity all around you. It's why I'm genuinely attracted to you. You're just such a positive person that cares about your family, the business community. And I think the culture that the cultural personality and pulse of Portland and beyond, because I know you're bigger than the city, but for our backyard, you're beloved. So thank you.
[00:41:42] Greg Bell: [00:41:42] Thank you very much for those words. I appreciate that. Yep. Thank you for joining us, Dave. I really, just honored folks are gonna love what you have to say. And, just keep watering.
[00:41:51]David Rae: [00:41:51] Will do. All right. Thank you, brother.
[00:41:53] Greg Bell: [00:41:53] Yeah, thank you.
[00:41:54] Take care. Bye-bye
[00:41:57] Really great advice from David Rae. And I really appreciate him saying all those nice things and nice words. So now that you have an idea of the kinds of guests that we have on the show, And if you want to keep growing your bamboo, make sure you follow and subscribe to this podcast.
[00:42:12] We can water and grow our bamboo together. If you want more Water the Bamboo tools or your bamboo journey, sign up for the newsletter at gregbellspeaks.com. Until next time I'm Greg bell. Keep watering.