Moderator Liane Jackson, Senior Law Editor, Forbes is joined by Thomas Walker, VP Global Consumer Insights, eBay and Tyrome Baisden, Cofounder & Head of Ventures & Innovations, Colture Holdings LLC for this panel at the ForbesBLK Summit 2024.
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Please welcome moderator Leanne Jackson senior law editor Forbes and
00:05panelists Tyrone Basin co-founder and head of ventures and innovations culture holdings LLC and
00:12Thomas Walker VP global consumer insights eBay
00:24Hello everyone, thank you for joining us
00:26We have a really good panel for you today because we have two very unique
00:32Panelists that I think you'll learn a lot from and I want to just get right into it introduce
00:37Ty Basin right here to my left
00:38He is co-founder co-founder and head of ventures and innovation for culture holdings
00:44And then we also have Thomas Walker vice president for global consumer insights at eBay
00:50And I'm gonna start out by having them talk a little bit about the paths that brought them to
00:55Their different points in life and let's let's start with you Ty
01:01Is your mic working
01:04There you are, okay, we got you. I'm Ty Basin. I'm from Atlanta. I am head of
01:11ventures and innovations at culture holdings
01:14Culture is spelt with the O instead of a U
01:16It's a it's an acronym that means can our leverage teach us real equity
01:22We are a investment company that invests into creators and their businesses across media
01:30sports and entertainment
01:32One of our biggest investments on the music side is a young man by the name of Brent Fias
01:37Who's currently one of the biggest independent artists pretty much in the world and we built their business from the ground up
01:45One of the other second investments that we invested into is a actor by the name of Malcolm Mays
01:51Who co-stars with raising Canaan on the Stars Network?
01:56And then one of our other investor investments was a young man by the name of Trey Palmer
02:01Who is one of the starting receivers for Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So you have a multi-faceted
02:08Diversified business or an entrepreneur and let's move on to you Thomas to give us a little about your background. Sure
02:14Thank you. Hi Thomas Walker here. So I started out more traditional
02:18I guess you would say I went to business school and coming out of business school. I got recruited into IBM and
02:24the big start was
02:26the VP of global
02:28Market intelligence there looked me in the eye through the interviewing process and said we want you at IBM and I was like, okay
02:35That's all I need to know. That's what everyone wants. So I want to be wanted, right?
02:39we I think we all tend to want to go where we're wanted and so that started the journey of
02:45moving from corporations and being
02:47Honored to actually work on a lot of global of the world's best brands
02:51you know from coca-cola to IBM to Microsoft and now at eBay, so
02:57my passion has really been about people and
03:01it's really always been about the intersection of brands and
03:05Consumers and how to make sure that that's a mutually beneficial exchange
03:10So that's more in the marketplace, but then inside organizations and then in communities
03:14I'm really passionate about developing people and if you're not getting what you want
03:21What are we gonna do about it?
03:23Thank you. Well, this panel is called generation CEO empowering entrepreneurs in the digital age
03:29Whether you're an entrepreneur within your own career or you are in your own space trying to build from the ground up
03:33That's what we're talking about today
03:35and one thing that I think was really a term that you brought sort of to my attention some of you may be familiar with
03:40this but
03:41the fractional CEO Thomas you had told me about how we are living in the age of the fractional CEO and
03:47How the next generation is about creating wealth on their own terms whether again you're in business or you are starting a business
03:54Can you explain a little bit about why that's important what that means to be living in this age as you call it?
03:59yeah, absolutely, you know if we look at organizations that are struggling to remain agile and
04:06Also keep their overhead costs at a reasonable rate and also tap into talent on demand when they need it
04:13it creates a great opportunity for
04:16people in the workplace or creatives who actually don't want to be tethered to a desk and
04:22They are looking to create a diverse portfolio of skills and experiences
04:27And they also want to maximize their earning potential and build the network
04:30So the idea of fractional CEO is I don't have to be full-time anymore
04:34I can actually contract myself here there
04:37I'm the CEO of myself and I can generate opportunities that are way beyond and more expansive than just being at one
04:45Company, and this is a growing trend and when we think about Gen Z
04:5150% of Gen Z want to own their own business if you look at Gen Z in the workforce today
04:5862% actually want to own their own business
05:00So it's just a huge trend and it's it's just gonna continue to grow
05:04Well, you look like you're probably Gen Z or maybe what's the one right under that get that youthful look?
05:09But either way, you're your own you own your own business and you yours is unconventional multifaceted is diversification
05:15Diversification really important to succeed that what's been part of your success. Yes
05:20Um, I think diversification is important to succeed
05:23But one of the things that when I'm speaking about this topic, I'm very very clear that
05:30We spent seven years
05:33Focusing on our music business and
05:36Made sure that that was successful and then we started to diversify
05:41Right, so we you know
05:43colored outside of the lines of the traditional music business to grow a business that's valued at a hundred million dollars and
05:50Then we diversified
05:51one of the things that
05:53Thomas spoke about is by the fraction relations side of things is that a lot of the younger generation
05:59They're doing multiple things
06:01But if I'm gonna talk about diversification
06:03From our experience we we focused on the main thing until we we mastered it to a certain degree
06:09Then we went out and we started diversifying across
06:12tech
06:14real estate
06:15more businesses that served our music business and about 75% of that that profit was
06:22Reinvested and then we took another 25% and reinvested it back into music to keep that part of the business growing. So
06:30Diversification is important, but we had a very strong solid
06:35Team and strategy that we had planned out with like a 10-year decade plan before we got deep into our on diversification
06:43So it's it's not an overnight success story. Nothing ever really is also don't spread yourself too thin
06:49I think are some of the takeaways of what you're saying, but you both you can speak to this having a multi-layered business
06:54How do you learn to focus?
06:56How do you survive in this fractional world where you you may feel like do I need to do this?
07:00Where do I focus my efforts?
07:03Well, I think it comes. I mean just off the top of my head. I think it's
07:08How you hit it like you I think developing a deep expertise
07:13That you become master in something. I do believe mastery is key
07:18And there's a brand there's a reputation that also
07:21You know goes in front of us in terms of what we do
07:24And so the level of focus the level of commitment, I think become key and then also seeing things through
07:31I do see sometimes, you know, we might get interested, but then we quickly get disinterested
07:37And so it's really important that we take the time to really know
07:42What are we truly committed to and we were talking about this, you know in one of our conversations
07:47About how do you identify?
07:49What I'm really committed to and then as we think about investing in those opportunities investing in you know future leaders
07:57Getting to that process where you know that you've got a diamond in the rough
07:59And that if you invest that it's going to turn into a beautiful gem
08:03Is that what's important for employers to know about the Gen Z and Gen Alpha millennial workers?
08:08And you know from the employer's side from being an employee. What is most important to know? Is it invest make sure they focus?
08:15a lot of times yeah, so employers today
08:20Embrace the fact that it's most likely
08:24The new folks that come into your organization are not going to stay for 10 15 20 years that model has changed
08:31If you think about the fact that there's this new term called meat
08:36et for Gen Z
08:38not
08:40unemployment
08:41education or training
08:44Because they're creative and
08:46they have they're not seeing the the nine-to-five as much as they are what they're seeing in social media and the
08:53Influences coming with wow, I can own my own business. I can be an influencer
08:57I can do this thing and I can go out there and and then you get out there and you realize it's maybe not
09:01As easy as it as it thinks as you think
09:04But that is the model and that's the model that we need to embrace back to the fractional idea
09:09Which is I can have three jobs in a side hustle
09:13And be very happy because it's not just about money. It's about experiences. It's about fulfillment. It's so much more than just
09:21Dollars right and and that's I think what employers really need to understand which is evolve the workforce
09:27Pandemic taught us that we don't have to be in the office to continue to drive the business and grow
09:32So for a lot of the younger generations, it's about it's about lifestyle
09:35It's about quality of life. And of course, it's still about wealth, which is Forbes. We're sure all about well, it's wealth
09:39It's not money. Well, yeah, I would I would I would really think about those two things differently
09:44Well to your point about having multiple side hustles you have someone here
09:48I'd like to give a shout-out to Jaron Moore who started out with eBay
09:53He had a full-time job was doing
09:55Thrifting or thrift clothing on the side on eBay was able to turn that into a full-time opportunity with eBay
10:02He's here selling his goods
10:04So be sure to take a look out on the second floor for Jaron, but tell us a little bit about his path
10:09And how that resonates with what we're talking about. Yes
10:12So Jaron is representative of millions of sellers that are on eBay's platform
10:16I think you know back to our purpose which is to create economic opportunity for all
10:22Jaron was talking to his grandmother one day and she had a she was a thrifter and she had always meant to put her
10:29inventory on eBay and
10:31She was talking to him about that and he was wanting to be a business and be his own company be his own leader CEO
10:37And it clicked like wow, maybe I can create a storefront on eBay and that is my thing
10:44That's gonna be my calling and that's exactly what he's done. And it's it's grown and it continues to grow
10:49He's actually gonna open up a physical presence later this year
10:52Jaron is right up there in the back left. So check him out. Check out his pop-up right there
10:56But he basically took an opportunity went online
11:00And created a storefront and now he has the flexibility
11:03That he wanted in his life and he's also in Lubbock, Texas where he lives
11:07He's also giving back to his community and he's now investing in creating the next set of entrepreneurs
11:13That is amazing. We're happy. We're really happy for his success and others
11:17We talked you and I were talking a little bit about how communities is a communities of inclusion. Is that the term?
11:22That's right communities of inclusion trying to bring more
11:26Vendors of color through the eBay platform and you work on that as well
11:29And that you know tie what you've done is really fascinating because it's so multifaceted. It's so innovative
11:35you're working in web 3 you do a lot of like you mentioned in investing money back into other other way means of
11:43generating income for your business
11:45but you also talked about the importance of not just being an idea person because clearly there's a lot of ideas that were involved in
11:51Getting to where you are now
11:53But it's about being able to operate and turn ideas into action
11:56And if you could talk a little bit about what that means and expound on that a bit I think that the
12:03internet gives so much information that it's overwhelming and
12:09When you have ideas as a business entrepreneur or if you are a supporter of a business
12:17Entrepreneur you find yourself trying to find these different ways and as I you have to become an operator
12:25Right when we talk about infrastructure we talk about project management tools
12:31That's not just about ideas. That's about execution
12:34So I think a lot of our younger generation of up-and-coming business owner or aspiring business owners
12:41They don't truly understand the amount of development that needs to be put into their business to operate it
12:47Versus the aspiration part of it. Like I have an idea. I want to sell this idea
12:53I want to I want to make a whole bunch of money, but not thinking about the staffing that's needed the level of expertise
13:00How to synthesize some of the information that you're getting from the internet because there's so much information to understand
13:07What works for my business what doesn't work for my business is my business a storefront or can I just solely run it on digital?
13:16Knowing all of this information is just not about ideas
13:19And I think that's where the lack of development
13:23Because you can just wake up tomorrow and you can have a t-shirt and it can go viral
13:28And now you have 10,000 people trying to get the t-shirt
13:32But you you haven't went through any of the the protocol or the check marks or the checklist
13:38To be able to really function those different things now, you got 10,000 customers
13:43How you gonna get it fulfilled who's gonna do the customer service?
13:46What if one of your your your your your customers put their address in wrong?
13:52Who's gonna get add like all of these different things?
13:54These are not ideas and I think that the younger generation
13:59knowing that and being
14:02mentored actively by their peers their parents their co-workers and
14:09It makes them understand that ideas are great. But the money is in being an operator
14:15So reach research and planning crucial critical to success
14:19What are some final takeaways that you would have for our audience any?
14:23Tips or advice that you would give based on both of your experiences your vast experience in each of your spaces
14:30Take 20 seconds
14:32that works
14:34The way I like to think about it is I think ties, right? I
14:38Think individuals whether they're in a corporation or they're their own business owner
14:43See yourself as a CEO
14:45I think that's really critical because how we see ourselves determines the opportunities and the ways that we conduct ourselves as well
14:52I think for corporations, it's really important to
14:56evolve and embrace alternative business models embrace alternative ways of accessing and tapping into talent and
15:03Creating a new workforce that actually allows the future workforce
15:07That's actually going to be here in six years in six years Gen Z will be the dominant workforce in
15:13In America like that that's right now. So don't wait get started right now
15:19My final takeaway is
15:22embrace technology
15:24the individuals that are utilizing AI
15:28They're gonna be the individual that really understand this transition
15:32If you understand AI you understand the web transformation that's happening embrace technology
15:38Do not get left behind
15:41Thank you, those are great takeaways Thomas and Ty we really appreciate you joining us today. Thank you so much. Thank you