IAM122- Internationally Recognized Thought Leader, Venture Capitalist and Author Passionate About Building Sustainable Cities

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Amyx of Amyx Ventures. Scott, it's awesome to have you on the show. Mr. Scott Amyx is an internationally recognized thought leader, venture capitalist, speaker, and author on smart cities, exponential technologies, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He has appeared or spoken on TV, New York Times, TIME, Forbes, TechCrunch, TEDx, CIO, Washington Post, WIRED, Forrester, G20, European Commission, United Nations, ITU, Pew Research Center, Environmental Defense Fund, and other major media events.

Mr. Amyx was voted the Most Influential Leader in Smart Cities and awarded the 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by Inc. Magazine, Internet of Things Institute, HP Enterprise, World CSR Congress, and numerous institutions. He received the Cloud & DevOps World Award for Most Innovative. He is an IBM IoT Futurist, Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow, Singularity University/ Smart City Accelerator Mentor, and National Sloan Fellow/ Woodrow Wilson Fellow. In addition, Mr. Amyx has been nominated to the World Economic Forum as a committee member for the Future of the Internet. Scott, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Scott Amyx 1:47

Absolutely, I think you just basically wrap up the podcast. So thanks for having me. And I'll talk to you later.

Gresham Harkless 1:53

It was hard for me to say all that. So I can't imagine, how hard it is for you to be putting in all the hours in order to be able to accomplish all of that. So I want to kick everything off just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and how you were able to accomplish all these things and get to where you are now.

Scott Amyx 2:07

Thank you so much for the introduction. As I actually mentioned some of this in my TEDx talk, I grew up in South Korea during the 1970s. During a volatile time in its young democracy. We were actually one of the poorest countries in the entire world, believe it or not, and our GDP was lower per capita than most of the sub-Saharan African countries. So the question is, how did half of a peninsula half a country with absolutely nothing in the next 34 years become a G-20 OECD nation? That has been a question and a personal goal that I have actually personally undertaken. Our focus at Amyx centers is on smart sustainable cities, particularly addressing the essential sustainable economic development and the sustainable development goals, as defined by the United Nations. Part of the reason I had to leave South Korea and come to the US is because it was a lack of choice, lack of opportunities.

So coming back to the question around my CEO story the way I see my personal mission for the rest of my life is to travel and to help people around the world in a particular city focus on how they can create economic engines to support themselves and to be resilient so that we can actually withstand the impact of the climate change.

Gresham Harkless 3:19

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And obviously, you're doing phenomenal work. And I think, you know, just I have an opportunity to talk with you a little bit and read your bio here, all the things you're doing you, obviously, you're well on your way to fulfilling that mission. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper in here exactly like how are the ways that you are helping these countries in these places be able to be sustainable.

Scott Amyx 3:39

Every region and again, I'll take a city focus perspective is that every city has a relative comparative advantage. In other words, just because every country is focusing on AI, Blockchain, robotics, and so forth, doesn't mean that you can also focus on it. But if you understand from your local region, what you do best relative to another region in different parts of the world, as long as there is a difference, that's sufficient for comparative advantage. And that's the fundamental of global trade. So let me give you an example in the Czech Republic, and I spent several weeks there, cumulatively, there is a region in the northern part of the Czech Republic above Prague and blow dressed in Germany, and it's called the Goose the region.

And this is a remnant of the first industrial revolution, where you have significant heavy pollution from coal and chemicals that pollute the water, the air, and what you have is a legacy of brownfield abandoned buildings since the first industrial revolution, and that is an area that even their own people completely astute. Now, when we looked at that region and said, Okay, how do we actually revive this region and the city we looked at what is that Verizon doing better relative to anyone else in that sphere, a sphere of the world? Well, one of the things that's very strategic for that reason is their proximity to Germany and particularly the auto ecosystem. So already they export some one million Skoda. Skoda is a car brand that's been acquired by Volkswagen that was originally from the Czech Republic.

So they're very much integrated into the auto ecosystem and more so there is a mountainous region that just barely borders the German line called Slovak that is sitting on one of the largest mountains of lithium and 10 mineral deposits. And lithium is one of the core ingredients that's needed for electric vehicle batteries. So what I'm proposing to the ministers of environment, ministers of trade and education, and the Prime Minister is that we can actually develop that area to become an electric vehicle battery storage and a hydrogen fuel cell industrial quarter. Now, why is that important? Because right now, the German auto ecosystem relies on Japanese, China, and Korean manufacturers for those electric vehicle batteries. But as the electric EV batteries grow to sum greater than 600%, they want to be able to insource be able to control it and not have the economic rent leave that region.

So here's an opportunity where we can basically ensure that the Czech Republic for the next foreseeable several decades will have a strong economic engine by focusing on EV batteries and storage, and then the next generation, which is the hydrogen fuel cell. So that's an example. So what we focus on from a fund is looking at the technologies that support smart, sustainable cities. And more importantly, from our comparative advantage that we think we do all better than anyone else is that we take a demand-driven focus, which means that startups fail not because they have bad technologies or bad team composition, but they fail because they can't cross the chasm, they can't get enough pilots, they can't get enough cash flow and to generate and to scale it. So we start with the city side first.

And we have access to hundreds of cities and the kinds of projects and what they're needing in terms of technologies. And then we bring the best startups to them. Only when the cities and the industry say yes, we want to procure pilots only then do we then invest in those startups. So what you have is a portfolio of winners, that's going to drive significant returns for LPs and investors, but also the growth and the sustainability and the resiliency that these cities will make.

Gresham Harkless 7:12

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, I love that kind of, I don't know if I want to call it a high-level kind of perspective. But just being able to kind of see, as you mentioned, the startup ventures and the ventures that you all are investing in, but also be able to see the strength of the countries or cities or locations, and be able to kind of bring those two together so that you can create solutions for the startups and also for the people of these different countries and these different cities in these localities. So I think that's pretty awesome. And I wanted to ask you for a secret sauce. And you might have already touched on that is that what you feel kind of is your secret sauce or differentiator?

Scott Amyx 7:43

It is, I think one of our core secret sauces has to do with the fact that we take a very much demand-driven supply network, which means that we actually start with the buy side. And we think it's not always best to create or support technologies or solutions to nonproblems. But rather, if you really spend time on the buy side, then it becomes very clear in terms of what they actually need and what they're actually willing to procure and spend money on.

And let me give you a quick example of just from a metaphor when you look at GE and GE is going through a lot of issues as an organization and they lost significant market cap. Compared to Xerox, GE has focused on mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures for the last several decades. Xerox on the other hand, which most of us know as a printing company spent the last several decades really conquering down and talking to its clients or its customers about what they need for their business.

And then developing new products and services based on the specific feedback and insights that their customers are telling them and letting that drive their organization and their organic growth and their product development management. So, as a result, Xerox is much more robust, much more resilient, and much more forward and strategic because they focus on the buy side first.

Gresham Harkless 8:59

And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or resource or habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Scott Amyx 9:10

Well, part of my life experience that was alluded to in your first question resulted in one of my first mainstream books called Strive. It's about how doing the things most uncomfortable leads to success. And it's been endorsed by Tony Robbins, Forbes, Singularity University, Tribeca Film Festival, and many global influencers. And it's about regardless of who is where you are and what you do, or what you've done for a living, how young or old you are that the secret to outstanding achievement and success is not just simply talent, for doing the things uncomfortable that I call Strive to what really drives success is not just simply intellect or opportunities or the network because in my book, I talk about all different examples of people who had those for yet they didn't have sustainable success, but it's about pursuing personal change that's most uncomfortable for you at that given moment. So that's my CEO hack.

Gresham Harkless 10:04

I love that. And it's a great reminder, because sometimes, like you're the most talented quote-unquote, or you work the hardest, but if it's not directed towards those things that sometimes are uncomfortable, but actually move the needle. It's a great reminder, I know through your TEDx that you also spoke a lot about that as well, too. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or because you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Scott Amyx 10:26

Well, I thought that what this audience will really derive value from is not just a single sentence nugget, but a brief summary of my S.T.R.I.V.E methodology. And it's really the formula by which you can activate and strive for yourself in your life. So number one is to set a goal. And one of the worst things you can do is just simply just plow ahead not knowing exactly where you're going. But in Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about level five leaders, and it's about leaders who have a greater purpose in themselves. And when you set a goal that is looking at the big picture, then all of a sudden, you have a guiding Northstar for the rest of your life. And it's not just simply by money, fame, or glory. Number two is strive, which is T that's for thinking about how to get there and planning for success. One of the most important things to executing your dreams is about making sure you have step by step plan to execute.

And it literally comes down to being able to go from lifetime, decade, annual monthly to daily, and in everything you do, you have to know where you're going. Number three is R in strive, which stands for risk, embrace it. And this is probably the hardest for most of us because it's the thing that we have to do, but it scares us, maybe we have to speak in front of a stage or maybe you have to take our savings and then invest that into a new business or changing career or going back to school or marrying or maybe seizing a certain relationship.

So whatever that hard thing is, the key is you have to take the first step. And it's only when you stretch yourself that you begin to make huge gains. Number four and strive is I for insights, meaning, what did you learn from your uncomfortable change, one of the biggest dangers of being a CEO or boss of your own business is the fact that we lose touch with our sense of awareness or feedback. So the only way you can ensure that you're progressing in the right direction is to intentionally sub-examine every iteration, meaning it's okay if you failed to take a particular step. But what did you learn from that and how do you use that insight to better yourself and increase your likely chance of success in the next month, and to continue to tweak and to iterate?

And lastly V and strive with stand for verify progress, you have to be able to quantify your success and ensure that you're going in the right direction. Just like we check ways or GPS when we're driving, you have to verify your direction. And I'm sorry, then the last one is six is E in strive, which is enhance yourself mentally and physically, you know, over the years, I've been such a workaholic, that I've at some point, neglected my body. I have a herniated disk and all sorts of physical issues. But I realized that if you really want to succeed and go back to setting that goal, you have to focus on your holistic needs, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational.

So I start my day by reading the Bible. I exercise and meditate. And in my mid-40s, I'm actually going back to Tech on those work on my secondary black belt. So it's when you are mentally physically and spiritually, and relationally inter optimum, that's when you become most productive. So those represent the striking methodology. And I hope that that is a CEO nugget for everyone listening today.

Gresham Harkless 13:30

Yeah, definitely. Well, I appreciate you sharing that it's kind of like a mountain more than, than more than nuggets. So there's so much value in there. But I love that idea that it's an acronym he could break down and it's so holistically driven, where, you know, start out from like you mentioned, you know, checking the GPS to make sure that you're taking care of yourself doing all those aspects in order to be successful.

So I think any entrepreneur or business owner could definitely benefit from that. Now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO, and we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So I wanted to ask you Scott, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Scott Amyx 14:01

Well, I'm actually going to be not original, I'm going to actually refer to Good to Great by Jim Collins, again, in terms of level five, and level five leaders. If you really look at them, they tend to be very humble, modest, and willful in the sense of intentionality, and they focus on a larger goal. And one of the things that they are very mindful of is they let their personal ego aside, meaning they let it aside, they don't carry them with them. And they're very disciplined in terms of their ambition, they're very disciplined in terms of their will. They're very disciplined in terms of the way they make decisions, but yet they're humble and able to channel their personal ego to something greater than themselves.

And the three things that a CEO regardless of your organization's size needs to focus on are discipline culture, discipline thought, and disciplinary action. And when we surround ourselves with the right people in the right position, that are also level five leaders, what you have is an organization that becomes incredibly powerful because you don't have individuals that are doing things for selfish reasons, but you have a cohesive collaborative that is working to push the mission statement and the goals of that organization to serve the people and the customers that they want to affect. And that, to me, is what makes a great CEO.

Gresham Harkless 15:17

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, I love that, again, holistic perspective and keeping in mind all the different aspects of what it takes to kind of like running a business or be a CEO, so to speak. And I truly appreciate you for sharing that definition. And Scott, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, but wanted to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know how they can get a copy of your book or get in touch with you, and then how best people can get a hold of you.

Scott Amyx 15:40

Well, I want to make sure that this particular podcast is useful and practical. And the way I can do that is let me ask a quick question to all of you that's listening. Regardless of how you choose to define success. Most of you that are listening today, have one more success in our life, right? I want to challenge you to do the things that are most uncomfortable for you, you have the opportunity to realize great success. And to help you get started on your journey. I want to give you my Strive VIP sneak preview of the book with chapters one and two. All you have to do is simply email press@scottamyx.com. And we'll make sure to get your free copy and get you started on striving for success.

Gresham Harkless 16:17

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Scott, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Scott Amyx 16:21

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Outro 16:23

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

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