David Brier: Building Human-Centric Brands That Rise Above the Noise | Ep26

Christian
What’s up, beautiful people. This is Christian from the Successful Spiritualpreneur Podcast. And today I’m super excited because we have a very special guest on the show. His name is David Brier, and he’s a globally celebrated branding expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author known for helping businesses rise above the noise with over 45 years of experience.

I’m going to stop here. 45 years of experience and more than 330 international awards. David has transformed startups, global enterprises, and even entire cities with his, with his disruptive approach to branding and design. He is the author of the number one Amazon bestseller, Brand Intervention, featuring a former by Shark Tank’s Damon John and Forbes Fast Company.

and the New York Times. Recognized as one of the top branding minds in the world, David is known for turning brand confusion into clarity and complacency into competitive advantage. On this episode, we dive into bold strategies and creative insights, and as well as untold stories behind some of David’s most game changing brand transformation And his new book.

Welcome to the show, David. Thank you so much, Christian. Appreciate it. Awesome. Well, I think what I’m most curious about, I don’t know if I need to hear much of your story because you just have, I don’t, I don’t even know. We’re never going to get out of your story with, with all this experience. So yeah, Maybe just tell us about your new book.

What is it about? What, what are you fired up about? And why this book? 

David Brier
Totally. So, um, well, the basic thing is, is that in 2017, when I wrote Brand Intervention, that was after hearing really the same questions and the same, seeing the same mistakes, the same blind spots that business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs were making.

And, and the crazy thing about it was it didn’t matter whether they were new startups, young in business, or had been in business for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, they seem to have just because they were so close to their baby, right? It’s like they, it’s like to them, it was, everything was, it was beautiful.

It was great. It was this, that, and they just were sort of in a little bit of, They didn’t have the object objectivity. So I apply something I call a passionate objectivity, you know, plaster or passionate impartiality actually. So I really passionate about it, but I’m also impartial. So if something’s like really just, if it’s really pretty kind of like that doesn’t work, that’s not going to fly.

Here’s what’s here’s where you’re missing. I brought that clarity. So that was brand invention. Since then I’ve seen there’s something else that almost sits underneath that, which is. Do you have the right culture in your business? Whether you have a small business like a two or five person company, or you have a 50 or a thousand person company, it doesn’t matter.

Do you have the right culture and mindset to really maintain and sustain your brand? And that’s really what it’s about. And to the extent of what that, and there’s, and it came down to 20 traits. And it’s all based on a confidential internal memo from Nike from 1997, which just really set the stage because Nike is a force of nature.

You know, it’s like, it’s, it’s a brand it’s so much, but it’s so much more than selling sneakers or selling sports gear. And how does a company get to that point of being more than the stuff it makes or the stuff it provides? 

Christian
Beautiful. And how would you say, how, like what are, I mean, obviously there’s 20 key points right about around that culture and what, what makes those brands different, but how would you say, since this is a spiritual printer podcast, like how does spirituality play into those culture?

And how can we actually, how does hu, humanness basically automatically contribute to this 

David Brier
I love the question and it 100 percent ties in. They’re inseparable, to be honest with you. Um, and, and just to give context for those that, So, the, the, this is the book, And Claude Silver, for those that don’t know Claude Silver, Claude Silver is one of the, has one of the biggest hearts, And is spiritual and sees people for people, Uh, and she’s the first person in the world ever to be called the Chief Heart Officer.

And that was because she really is there. And I remember when she and I first met, she had something written on her light board, which is what lights you up. That was literally her question to the people coming in because she would have meetings in her office. What lights you up? Just look at, look at the framework of what that sets up as the kind of conversations you would have in her office.

It’s not like, all right, I’m here to see how you’re doing on your performance. Performance, is a reflection of something much deeper as far as I’m concerned. And so I’ll give you a perfect example. I’ll give you a perfect example. Like there’s a, there’s a chapter in here and, and, and, and, and here’s the, there’s so much I can say.

And I’m, I’m very excited about this, as you can probably tell. He’s like, he’s, he’s, he has, he has more words coming out of his mouth in one thing. So here are the chapter titles, just some of them, the power of love. It’s one of the chapters, right? Fanatical intention. That’s another chapter. You know, there’s reciprocation, the super glue that bonds.

These are not the normal kinds of things that you find in a book about branding and culture building. But this is, this is one of the chapters and uh, and everyone, every one of the chapter openers, I created artwork to reflect someone that set the stage. So this one is Billy Joel. This one says, in a way, we are magicians.

We are alchemists, sorcerers, and wizards. We are a very strange bunch, but there’s great fun in being a wizard. Billy Joel. Okay, so that sets the stage for this, but I’m gonna, but because, because the type is this big, okay, that’s how big the type is in the book. It’s enormous. So I’ll just read a couple, a couple sentences to give you context, because I think it will answer your question best.

So this is one that’s on ideas have direction. There’s one thing we all do. We each have ideas. Some ideas go inward. Some go in all directions. Others go outward. Ideas going outward, benefiting the most people, are the things worth feeding. Pay attention to the direction others offer you in the way of ideas.

Some ideas are built on growth. Some are built on destruction, relying on the failure of others to win. Others are built on conservation, which is built on the idea that creation is a scarce commodity. That is false and destruct, and destructive. Trust me. Anyway, you get the idea, like. That’s the flavor of the book.

Um, and you know, and here and at the end of every chapter there’s a rich brand and poor brands like the rich man does this, the poor brand does that. And, and I’ll conclude with the rich brand knows the true power that results from the quality of ideas and how much they’re shared outwardly, like handing out sunshine on a cloudy day.

The more we extend outward, the more everyone feels the warmth. 

Christian
Wow. Yeah, it’s beautiful. I think it really shows you how brands, like the market almost forces brands to wake up. You know, and become more conscious, more aware, more kind, more human, more. That’s why personal brands are so successful in comparison to traditional brands, because they’re authentic.

They, they have to embody these values because as a person, you can only be inauthentic and fake for so long, you know, 

David Brier
and also, and also it may not even be inauthentic and fake. It may be just the other part, which is strictly transactional. So there’s no actual bond. There’s no, there’s no connection with your audience.

And the greatest brands have a voice. They, they clearly stand for something. They clearly stand against something. And that the thing they’re standing for is a set of values. You and I, as individuals, we respond to values. We respond to something that. That’s worth standing for that enriches my life that that expands my purpose in living and that’s something that’s While incredibly powerful you’ll never find that there’s not a line item on a spreadsheet.

That’s the thing I love about this You won’t find this on a spreadsheet. It’s like where you gonna find? Really elevates the basic sense of being of individuals. Where’s that on a spreadsheet? You won’t find it. But yet it’s the thing that drives all the rest. 

Christian
Yeah I think that’s also part of the reason why, you know, here at Love Pixel, you know, like our agency, like that is the core value.

It’s love. Like if you don’t feel loved, um, like I recently Uh gave a client a refund not because the contract demanded it just because it was if that’s the right thing to do you know what I mean, so that’s the type of relationship that More and more people on the market will engage with because that is If that’s the right thing to do, you know, market the brands that are only transactional are bound to die at some point.

David Brier
Yes. Yes. You know, and there’s, there’s so, there’s so much I could say about much of this, but I’ll shut up and I’ll let you ask your next question. 

Christian
Yeah. So my next question would be like, how do you see, like, if brands don’t they accept this shift? In their own internal culture, they, I mean, it’s a race towards the bottom.

David Brier
100%. I mean, the bottom line is, is then it just becomes, then the only metric you’re dealing with is. just tech, either technical skill, which and technical skill is valuable. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s kind of like some years ago I went on a field trip with a client and we visited, visit a number of sort of competing stores in the space and that in their space was food and these markets and such like that.

We went to one in Vancouver. We were both blown away, not only by what they did visually and what they did in terms of brand messaging, every one of the people we encountered. looked at us, greeted us, genuinely said hi. And we were like, what the hell, what’s going on here, man? What are they? They drinking some special juice.

What the heck? I mean, everyone, it was just, and so we managed to run into the manager and we said, what is your training regimen that you have such a high caliber of human interaction between your people and customers? And, and he said something fascinating that I’ve never forgotten. We only hire people that love people.

We can teach them the rest. And that blew me away. 

Christian
Yeah, that makes all the difference, you know, the return to being human. 

David Brier
That’s right. 

Christian
That’s beautiful. So tell us like, what, like, what do you, how did you, you know, transform brands with making them more human? Like do you have a story that you help this brand in like more incorporate some of these intangible values?

Like when I went to business school, um, they obviously talk a lot about the, you know, human capital, et cetera, et cetera. And I was like, I was thinking to myself, sitting in the chair, I was like, What if all businesses wouldn’t measure productivity, but would measure humanity? How human are you on the phone?

How human are you in the email? Like, that stuff, it, that, that’s, yeah, that’s invaluable. 

David Brier
It’s completely invaluable. It really comes down to me to something that probably isn’t talked about enough. It really is the difference between consumption versus creativity. We live in an age where there’s a high, high inclination toward, to, or toward consuming, like we’re, we’ll very easily, much of the culture will very easily, they’ll watch, they’ll listen to a podcast, they’ll watch a YouTube video.

They’ll read something, they’ll go onto Instagram or whatever. And it’s consuming, consuming, consuming. I would challenge anyone listening to this and any CEO, any business owner, business leader, anyone who, or anyone who has a mission or purpose every day, replace one activity where you were, you’re like almost, there’s a habit.

You know what? I’m going to watch a And take that little 15 minute that 25 minute window and instead of consuming, replace it with creating instead of reading something that someone else wrote. How about you write something instead of watching a video? How about you actually record a video instead of sitting and admiring someone else’s creation or output or content?

How about you generate some content? And you could even take it farther. Instead of going to the best, the nicest place to eat, where you can be serviced well, how about you find some place that you can service another well? You know, we need to flip this, this consumption versus creation, uh, on its head.

And I can guarantee if someone did that for 30 days, literally just a swap out, go, Oh man, you know, I know I was, I was going to spend the next, I was going to take a little lunch break and I was going to watch a lot about, good. What? Now, what can you create during that time? And if you did that for 30 days, I guarantee your life would not even resemble what it was 30 days ago.

All of a sudden you go, you’d feel more alive. People would probably like being around you a heck of a lot more. You would be considered more valuable and your morale would be would be elevated. Those are just those, but that is the difference. We need to shift from consumption to creation. 

Christian
Yeah. And I think the best news for the entire audience here is that since you are being a person or a personal brand, you know, at some point when you step up into being a personal brand, um, but you are a personal brand already, whether you, you know, think you are that or not, but, uh, the best news for you is.

That you are already human. You are already. You don’t need to like come back from a being corporate to being human. You are already human. So just share what is within and give it to the world because that’s what the world asks for, you know. 

David Brier
I, I once had a funny conversation. Someone had said, you know, I don’t really think that I have a brand and they said it was straight face.

They really were like, I, I just don’t think I have a, I don’t have a brand. And I said, you know what, you have a brand, whether you like it or not. If you don’t think you do, you, that just means you’re unaware of it and you’re probably ignoring it and you’re not refining it. You’re not perfecting it. Uh, you’re not growing it, but unawareness doesn’t equal non existence.

Just because we’re unaware of something doesn’t mean, Oh, it’s not real. No, it means you’re unaware. So unawareness does not equate to non existence. 

Christian
Yeah, so let me ask you the same question that Claude Silva asks, um, the people that she deals with. What lights you up?

David Brier
Igniting that spark in, in others. That’s what lights me up. I mean, and it’s something that I’ve done and, and become more aware of over the course of living in my career and You get me in a room, I will ignite every freaking soul in that room. I mean, it’s just, it’s, it’s something that I have worked on.

It’s something I can do because I know for certain me standing up and talking and saying smart, insightful, useful ideas isn’t important. It’s what happens to the people sitting in those chairs. That’s what’s important. And even though I might be talking when I’m talking, The thing that I’m looking at is what is happening in this room as I am speaking.

Either it is transforming and elevating and freeing and liberating, or it’s not. So I’m not so drunk on my own Kool Aid that, Oh man, I’ll just show up and whatever I say is going to just, it’s like, I’m not, you know, that would be naive to, to think that. And I went through that. I mean, I think every one of us, At the start of our career to one, one extent or another, there’s the idea like, Hey, we’re like the thing that the world’s been missing and we’re just going to show up and it’s all going to be, you know, and just, you know, that there may be some truth in that, but there’s also a lack of experience to know, to have the judgment of maturity because I used to.

I used to think like, did, did you go to, you said you went to business school. Did you also go to art and design school as well? Or did, was it just business? 

Christian
That was all self taught the design part, because, you know, I later on became a designer and then started my agency, but all the design was yeah, self taught.

David Brier
Okay. So the, here’s the interesting thing with regard to, so I went to, um, you know, I went to community college and I went to school of visual arts in Manhattan and the thing that would, that we were taught. What are we taught? We’re taught, you know, learn about fonts and learn about colors and learn about imagery and learn about the Layout and learn about all these various different bits and pieces and certain brand elements and colors, etc Okay, and then what do they teach you?

It’s like put together your portfolio so that you can go out there and then show your portfolio None of that conversation has the most important thing ever been raised learning to ask questions, being more interested in the individual sitting across from you than you are in just showing your wares, you know?

So it’s like you’ve, you learn through trial and error through business. It’s like, wait a second. So I found over the course of years that I started showing my portfolio less and less and less and asking more and more and more and more questions of the person I was sitting with. We actually got more involved in a conversation.

That conversation resulted in a rapport and me understanding, can I authentically help this individual or can I not? Can I help this company or not? Rather than, Hey, have you realized how brilliant I am? I’m showing you some amazing stuff. Have you recognized my genius yet? You know, that’s what we’re taught, which is, uh, there’s nothing wrong with being recognized for one’s genius, but there’s something wrong if that’s the only lane we can play in.

Christian
Yeah. So, um,

I see that you have immeasurable experience now that you’re at this stage of your life and your career. Like, what are you looking to call more into your life? 

David Brier
What am I looking to 

Christian
call into more into your life? 

David Brier
Um, I would just say widening the sphere of impact and the sphere of influence to help more people faster.

Like that’s, it’s, and it’s not, In that sentence I just said, it wasn’t like, so I get more recognition. It’s not about getting more recognition. I don’t care about recognition. I care about establishing relationships and lines to more people so that I can help elevate more faster. That’s the game. That’s the game plan.

Um, it’s not a recognition game. It’s an empowerment game, an empowerment going outward because at a certain point I think one crosses a threshold where they, and they go, where can I add the most amount of value, you know, and where can I do that most officially, most effectively, most, uh, in the broadest with the broadest strokes possible.

That’s the, that to me is the game. 

Christian
Beautiful. Well, you know, it’s an honor to have you on and share that, spread that message, because I think these channels and outlets and also conscious channel and outlets, like not everybody gets to be on, right? So you’re being shared in a field that it just, you know, it’s being sewn on, on fertile soil.

Exactly. Which is great. So, 

David Brier
you know, I just, I want to just interject one other point, which is this. I mean, the stuff that I’m talking about is, um, you know, it’s, it’s deep, it’s not shallow, but it doesn’t get done and it doesn’t ever succeed if there’s not actual a sense of fun and having a really good time.

I am, I am known for, I mean, Anyone that knows me, they know I’m mischievous that I will, I will, I’ll, I’ll pull pranks. I’ll have a fun time. We’ll have a great laugh and we’ll have, and we’ll challenge things that are, that are considered like, you know, sort of the sacred cows of things that are like, Oh yeah, no, you know, it’s like, why, you know, why is something, why is something considered like off limits if we can actually inject more life and have more fun.

So I just want to make sure that those listening to this, Don’t get the idea. Well, this is serious business. It’s not serious. It’s, it’s joyous. It’s fun. It’s a blast. Uh, you know, and anyway, fun is a very, very, very key ingredient. It’s kind of like, you know, a salt brings out the flavor and the food in a dish.

You just a little bit of salt and just like all of a sudden that kind of amplifies fun is the same way. Fun is the salt of living sprinkle a little bit here and there, you know, and all of a sudden you go, Whoa, this is really awesome. Right? So. There you go. Yeah. 

Christian
I, I, I love that. And I think it’s just, if you infuse that fun into the creation, into the intention, like, of course, like the outcome can only be better than it’s not.

So yeah, I think that’s a, that’s a really good. You know, key ingredient to have. So we’re coming towards the end of our episode. We have about five, seven minutes left, and I would love to ask you a couple more questions about who or what inspires you the most on your entrepreneurial or even spiritual journey.

David Brier
Um, I mean, basically, basically, I mean, I, Oh, I always was very spiritual. Uh, I mean literally in my teens I was looking for spiritual enlightenment, you know, so I studied Eastern religion and I studied different things and, and you know, I have, I have found and my, and my wife is also very spiritual and equally unserious, you know, we’re, we’re both, we’re just, we amuse one another with our, with our just, the lens that we choose to look at life through.

But there’s that and, and I would say. I mean the spiritual part, there were two parts to your question. I immediately went to the spiritual, what was the other one? 

Christian
The spiritual and entrepreneurial journey. Like who or what inspires you the most currently? 

David Brier
The inspiration, well, the first designer who inspired me, who was very entrepreneurial, was Herb Luballon, uh, in New York.

And then as I started to go through my career, I found Gary Vaynerchuk actually to be very interesting because I always I think that he was one of the first in my experience One of the first he was just real he said what he had to say whether people, you know Some people didn’t like that. He cursed that much and all that kind of stuff But he said what was real and I think I felt like he said what many people were thinking but didn’t have the, the, the sheer cojones to actually say.

But the flip side of that is this, he chose Claude. That’s the, and that impressed me even more than anything else because he chose someone like I know Claude, Claude and I are really, I would consider us very, very good friends at this point. And if you speak to Claude, she has so much heart and she calls things as they are, but there’s so much heart she, when you talk, when you are talking with her, you feel.

Like practically showered with recognition, right? You know, we, we’ve all been in the presence of someone where we kind of shrank back, we got, we felt smaller, we felt less relevant as opposed to being in the presence of someone or, or a business or whatever, where we expanded. Why to me that that’s the invisible element.

And she brings that you feel bigger. And that to me, so I mean, so Claude, I love Claude. Um, I love what, what Gary has done. Um, and you know, Damon, John has, has been actually, I, he wrote the forward to my first book and Damon, we both grew up in Brooklyn, Queens. Uh, not at the same time. We kinda, he was older than he is.

And so, but we had a similar path and you know, Damon is the thing that I told Damon not too long ago, as I said. The one thing you always have demonstrated is you never forgot where you came from. He never like, like he’s more wealthy than many of us will ever be, but he’s never allowed that wealth or given that wealth the permission to make him numb to where he came from.

And I validated him on that. And he goes, And he chuckled and he goes, yeah, I hate that. He goes, I think people that do that are pigs, which I thought was great. You know, it was like, how awesome is that? But that’s the thing. It’s like, it’s like, we’ll text each other and it’ll take the time out and he’ll give you some, give me some feedback on this.

So that’s the other, he. Never has disassociated himself by altitude going, Oh, well, I’m no longer I’m up here now. I don’t, I no longer deal with the, you know, people that lower on the run 

Christian
with the, with the peasants. 

David Brier
Exactly. That’s right. That’s right. 

Christian
Well, that’s, yeah, it shows, shows character. So yeah. And, uh, last question before we go to the closes, what is your vision for the new earth, the new economy, right?

You see also here’s two kind of like sides to the question, new earth, new economy. Um, yeah. What’s your vision? How does the ideal New earth economy look like 

David Brier
are you are you talking about? Are you talking about crypto? Are you talking about human capital? Are you talking about just like where things are at today in culture with which what’s the just?

So I answered it properly 

Christian
Well, I would say from a branding, human interaction, culture, transactions standpoint of you 

David Brier
completely. The, the, the companies that are going to win and win big and win sustainably are the ones that actually recognize the role. And value the role of human humanity of those that

those that have their priorities in place, those that are not so prone to, oh, we can automate. I mean, right now we live in an age where there’s so much tendency to automate. Ooh, we have AI for this. We have bots for that. We have all these things that were, that are being put in place of actual people.

Like you or me, who can look, who can conclude, who can feel, who can feel empathetic, who can understand what’s the value of that. That’s immeasurable. Just imagine if you had, if, if I had a choice between two rooms, one room was filled with people that exhibited those qualities that I just described and another room, which was set up with the most advanced cutting edge AI and bots and all that kind of, which one do you think I want to be in?

I mean, seriously, and that’s literally the choices that I think we have to make today. So to me, the new economy is the companies that are That can think, that can demonstrate, that can, that are not prone to how do we so prone toward efficiency. Let’s make it more efficient. Let’s make it more efficient.

Let’s make it more efficient. Let’s add automation at every touch point. So that way it’s like, we’ve just removed ourselves entirely from the equation. Why should anyone choose to do business with us at that point? And that to me is where, where, where we’re headed. It is where we are at the fork in the road.

Shoes. Are we going to be based, have a foundation of humanity, or are we going to have a foundation of automatic? State of the art algorithms. 

Christian
Yeah, very true. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Where can people, where can people reach you? How can they find you? And when is your new book coming out?

David Brier
Perfect. So rising above the noise, R I S I N G rising above the noise. You’re, I would invite anybody to visit. There’s lots of content there. You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter that I put out. Uh, you could reach out to me on social media. I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn. And the book, the book, I’ve actually created a new holiday.

As a result, there’s so this year there’s. We have cyber, we have a black Friday on November 29th. We have cyber Monday on December 2nd, and we have a new holiday, rich Wednesday, December 4th. That’s when this sucker is actually coming out and live and available. And I would definitely say for those that are get the hard cover, the production values are beautiful.

The artwork, it is literally, it is like going through a gap. It’s like going through a gallery. I mean, it literally is like, I mean, if you look, I mean, the basic thing is that. You really get to see how this stuff is done. It shows that people have incorporated this into their brands. And it’s like, there’s just endless, endless bits of art and inspiration here from the greatest minds in the world.

Kevin Hart, Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra, Damon, John, uh, Warren Buffett, the list goes on, but definitely rising above the noise. com for sure. And. I will treat anybody who reaches out like a best friend. 

Christian
Beautiful. Amazing. What an honor to have you on. Thank you so much for your time, your genius, your insights and your heart and soul, David.

Uh, thank you. 

David Brier
My pleasure. Thank you, man. 

Christian
All right. Bye for now.