The Empowering Humility Podcast

Dolores: Welcome to Empowering Humility,
where we're on a mission to promote human

flourishing by restoring humility as
a common denominator in society today.

Let's dive in.

Brandon Giella: Hello, Giancarlo,
and welcome back to episode two of

the Empowering Humility podcast.

Today, we're going to be talking a
little bit about the presidential

election that is upcoming.

So today we are recording this.

It's October 16th, and we're about three
weeks away from the elections in the U.

S.

And because of that, we are
deep in election season.

And we also, uh, because of that
are having a little bit of a divided

Moment in our history, you know,
not just this election season,

but last election season, the last
decade or so has been pretty fraught

politically, if I can put it mildly.

You see a lot of families, friends,
you know, divided over major

issues, some cultural issues.

Some I think could be taken
less seriously than others, but

you know, just lots of issues.

Lots of people have feelings about
them, and it's really tearing people

apart, and it's putting people in camps
or identities or tribes, you know,

tribal politics, identity politics.

This is a very big issue.

This is a big problem.

Your argument is that humility
could really help bring people

together, foster more dialogue,
more openness, more collaboration.

So my first question is, what do
you see from your perspective,

you know, living in the U.

S., also living abroad, about this, this
political divisiveness that we have and

how humility or hubris is related to that?

Giancarlo Newsome: Well, the,
um, I think we all, if we're

humble, um, like to be right.

We, we, we don't like insecurity.

It's in our, you know, um, not
that I'm a proponent or believer

in evolutionary psychology, but
I'll go with that for a moment.

You know, back in the Serengeti,
security is, is a, is a, you know,

I know Simon Sinek talks about
it, it's a very important thing.

So, um, but, we, we don't want
to be falsely secure, and, and

so, you know, take that natural
human desire to feel secure, and

what, what do politicians sell us?

Is their, their, their, they
are our security blanket.

So, they're going to do fear,
uncertainty, doubt, and hey,

they are the security blanket.

And that's fine, we want them
to help, you know, um, create a

military for the common defense.

That'll protect us, absolutely.

And we want to protect us even from
ourselves, and that's where our

constitutional republic is a beautiful
mixture, but combine like human

nature, which we all have that with
human nature, with a massive industry.

That we didn't have before and that's
grown massively if you watch social

limit of like social media Um, that's
that makes money off of reinforcing

Our gods of security You know That
both and so both politicians are

trying to play off that and it's funny.

I don't know about you But it is
absolutely amazing how many emails I

get from both sides of this equation
absolutely, and um It's like, use

car sales people on steroids, and,

Brandon Giella: Not that there's
anything wrong with used car salesmen.

Giancarlo Newsome: exactly, I, I'm very,

Brandon Giella: get what you're

Giancarlo Newsome: exactly, exactly.

Um, so, uh, anyhow, I don't know
if I, I think I, I, I ventured

off the question, but, um,

Brandon Giella: Yeah.

Yeah.

Just that idea that, um, humility is, is
really key to bringing people together

because we've got this such division.

And you mentioned like fear,
uncertainty and doubt as a marketer.

I've heard that so many times I
had a, I had a boss once say like,

you, we need to dial up the FUD
in this copy that I was writing.

And I just, Struggle with that because
I don't, I don't want to divide people.

I don't want to make people feel
more fearful or more shame or more

uncertainty than they already have.

I'm loaded with that.

Who wants some more of that in their life?

But at the same time, We do have this
strong need for safety and security.

And so the more you can dial that
up as a politician or a marketer

or a company, a social media
algorithm, it is very powerful.

It's very effective.

It just happens to be very effective
in the worst way and makes us, you

know, the worst versions of ourselves,
but humility, you argue can help that.

Giancarlo Newsome: That's what we believe.

We believe that and again, it's
bipartisan, I haven't met anyone

on either side of the aisle, any
type or independent, that has

said, you know what, humility is
the downfall of society, not one,

Brandon Giella: Yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: the, one of my,

hopes is that if we could supercharge
humility, restore it, I would

love to see one of the candidates
decide, to play off the MAGA.

we have MAGA, Make America Great Again,
and then Bobby Kennedy came along

and said Make America Healthy Again.

I'd like to propose, whoever wants my
vote, and I would say the community of

people who believe in humility, they need
to be promoting Make America Humble Again.

Brandon Giella: Mm.

Maha.

Maha.

Giancarlo Newsome: that's right.

And I think that overarches, And
sadness would satisfy Trump with it.

To make America great again,
we've got to be humble again.

To make America healthy again,
we've got to become more humble.

All those, all those, let's say, um,
CEOs of industrial food production,

there's some humility there because,
and even, even Elon Musk said it.

I admired his humility.

I'm going to give kudos to Elon.

He mentioned that he was humble enough
to recognize when someone asked him

Why will you not take Twitter public?

He was humble enough to will say
admit That if I do that, I am forced

to prioritize shareholder wealth at
the expense of client health And I

thought wow another we need more humble
leaders and arguably Um Humble leaders

out produce arrogant ones in the long
term, maybe not in the short term.

But another statistic I absolutely
just as an anchor statistic

as a business leader that Dr.

Nathan Furr shared with me when he
was at Brigham Young in a webinar

was that 70 percent of the Fortune
500 will not be there in 50 years.

majority is in decline.

The majority are more incentivized,
again, to maximize shareholder

wealth at the expense of client
and employee health and well being.

Brandon Giella: Mm.

Giancarlo Newsome: So the
antidote for that is humility.

And that's not, I'm not arguing to
like not maximize shareholder wealth,

but can we rise the tide for all
shifts instead of rising the tide

for shareholders while lowering
the tide for employees and clients?

I think it's absolutely possible.

Like I, for me living in
Italy right now, um, not

a, a more humble culture
has been preserved.

Brandon Giella: Mm.

Giancarlo Newsome: And, and, um,
I'll share with you one, one of my

favorite humbling moments I had as an
American living part time in Italy.

Down the street from me, I
have a, uh, a wonderful, uh,

brother sister owned bakery.

They do a beautiful job.

It is, it's just, and again, even
the excellence of our work, I

would argue is tied to humility.

Right?

Um, I, I being a guy who, and Dr Nathan
for he wrote a book called nail it

then scale it and I'm a big fan of it.

I, I've told many people that
book is more valuable than my MBA.

And um, so I basically
presented this concept to her.

Why don't you, you've nailed it.

Let's scale it.

And without missing a meat,
Brandon, she goes, why?

And it hit me, like, she's, she's
making a living, she's taking care of

her customers, she's taking care of
her clients, she's perfectly happy.

Now, there's nothing wrong
with if she did want to scale.

But that humility, that commitment to
maybe a value beyond herself, um, she

could certainly make a ton more money.

Thank you.

But in other words, she valued,
she, she had the humility to value

things beyond like a financial return
or, or, or a name on a billboard.

So anyhow, I feel that humility, again,
even in the political environment, if, if

we can just supercharge humility, we can
decentralize and push back down prosperity

and individual human creativity.

And in value there's I just feel I see
so many people that are marginalized

Because they don't fit the the pop culture
You know definition of what is success?

Does that make sense?

Brandon Giella: Yeah, totally.

Totally.

Um, uh, again, as a marketer,
I feel that all the time.

If you know, I nail it and then scale it,
you know, you gotta scale, you gotta grow,

you gotta 10 extra business, you know?

And yeah, I've I've felt that so much
as a business owner that pressure to

do so A, but be the the difficulty of.

Not growing sometimes.

I mean, there's periods where you go
through great demand and yes, this is,

it's working, everything's going great,
but then it causes other problems.

You know, maybe I'm working
late, maybe I'm, I'm stressed.

Maybe, you know, it just, there's a, it's
really hard to get that balance right.

Very, very hard.

And I've traveled to Italy a couple of
times, traveled around Europe and, you

know, I do notice what you're talking
about, where they have such pride in,

in their work, and it's not always
work that, you know, we Americans would

be like, Oh, that person's, you know,
wildly successful, you know, like a,

they own a bakery or they're a baker,
you know, and, um, but they have such

pride in their work and they love
being, let's say, a neighborhood staple.

You know, they're not interested in
becoming this conglomerate, you know They

just love being in their neighborhood and
serving the people that they they love and

going home at a decent hour And I think
that's such a beautiful beautiful thing

Giancarlo Newsome: right so
Yeah, i'll call it humble pride.

They have humble

Brandon Giella: I like that.

Yeah, I like it.

I like it

Giancarlo Newsome: I'd even argue having
more fun this weekend at our local market.

Uh, the family who does curtains,
I thought it was so cool.

I watched like another family owned
vendor run over to him and get

bring him like a glass of wine.

I'm like in a corporate environment.

Has anyone ever brought you like a beer?

I mean like it was so cool.

It was so authentic.

You know, there wasn't.

There wasn't like, uh, a, um, you know,
uh, Hey, you know, what if that ends

up on the news because, you know, you
have a drinking, you know what I mean?

Like how you think bureaucracy and
all the regulations that, that have

just made life and business so stale.

And I'm not, I'm not promoting
like drinking at work at all.

But it was more just the casual,
uh, familial and and you know what's

interesting to kind of play into
the pull it back into the political

discussion even the Surgeon General
has called out how loneliness and lack

of connection is an epidemic that's
the Surgeon General okay and what's

interesting is you know he mentioned that
we need to strengthen social connection

but What type of social connection?

We don't need more hubris or bias
or, angry or divisive connection.

We don't, that's, it's, we
need a humble connection.

Brandon Giella: Yeah.

And in the business sense, I mean, you've,
you've been through business school.

I've been through business school.

You don't learn, uh, you don't
learn how to go outside the bounds.

The point of business school is to
learn how to cut costs and make things

efficient and streamlined and, and
then scale and all that sort of thing.

You don't learn like, Oh, and by
the way, when you're doing this

event, go run over and waste your
wine and give it away for free.

You know, even though
that would, Yeah, exactly.

Did you, is that an expense?

Exactly.

Uh, yeah, it's, um, yeah, it's
a different way of thinking, but

bringing it back to, to, so that's
in the business world, bringing it

back to the political world there.

I think this is something people
are hungry for that, for bringing

wine over to somebody in an
event, but people are hungry for a

humble leader, like you're saying.

And I, and I, a recent example has come
to mind when you're, while you're talking

is, There was a presidential debate, Trump
and Kamala, and both of those candidates

were attacking each other and name calling
and, you know, fomenting that kind of

division that we've talked about that
that pride and self centeredness will

create and therefore create in their
tribes, you know, this is on purpose.

But then there was the vice
presidential debate a few weeks later.

This was was two weeks
ago, three weeks ago.

And this is between Waltz and, um, and
Vance and I thought as a, as a consumer,

I'm politically independent and I, I'm
not, I'm not pro either party at this

point, but, um, I thought that it was
such a success for what a debate should

be and what our politicians should be.

Now, I'm not saying that, you know, their
policies were wonderful and all of that.

I'm not even getting into any of that
before any of that or any of their

past and things that they've said
or, you know, lied about or whatever,

not, I'm not talking about that.

But on stage with the two of them talking
and the way that they were talking about

and to each other I thought was such a
breath of fresh air for people to watch

in our political scene and I felt like
a lot of the the commentary that I saw

the next day agreed with that and People
that I talked to anecdotally also agreed

with that that they saw those two people
talking to each other Seemed to have

respect for each other at least in the
things that they were saying to each

other and They were listening and they
were like, Hey, we agree on this point.

We have some common ground on
this point, but I see it this way.

They see it this way.

It felt like such a breath of fresh air.

And I feel like if more politicians
would do that, I think they would gain so

much trust and respect from the American
people because we are desperate for it.

Giancarlo Newsome: as you were kind
of sharing that and I bet listeners

listening going Yeah, you know, it's
such a breath of fresh air When you

see someone be respectful and civil

You know, I thought I Think two people
come to mind two presidents on both

sides of the aisle that that kind of
came to mind and they did really Well

it with their constituency, even though
they've been I thought Reagan was very

diplomatic, but also Obama, you know,
the, so I hope, and that's kind of where

I'm at is, you know, um, the, the, the
Harris campaign or the Trump campaign.

Like it, I believe, and I hope that
the, the, Campaign or the administration

that demonstrates to be truly the
most authentic humble to truly respect

and value people they disagree with

Will will be selected as president and You
know someone else who comes to mind who

I think is a really interesting And i'm
not and i'm not in endorsing her position.

That's not my place for this podcast.

Um, um independent like you But I
do admire You Her alignment, Tulsi

Gabbard's alignment, because implicitly
her defense of free speech, in my

opinion, is a defense of humility.

And she's chosen, and she believes that.

The Trump/Vance

campaign defends that more strongly.

Brandon Giella: Interesting.

Giancarlo Newsome: And I think,

yeah, and I think, that Her and Bobby
Kennedy, the, I, and I guess, Waltz and

Vance are showing signs of humility,
which I would bet money represents

more in the middle of America than the
extremes that support the two, the, our

two, bipolar, political environment.

Brandon Giella: Yeah, I agree.

I agree.

All right, there is, uh, the next day,
uh, during the debate, or after the, um,

presidential debate, the first one with
Trump and Kamala, there was a lot of,

uh, video clips of comparing those two
with, uh, Romney and Obama's debate, what,

ten years before, or eight years before?

Um, Is that right?

No, that's what 2008, I don't know.

It was a while back anyway,
a couple of years ago.

Uh, but the Romney and Obama debate
was so respectful of each other.

Uh, they were talking about their,
you know, anniversaries of their

wives and, you know, just different,
just, there was so much decorum.

And I think that people are so desperate
and hungry for decorum and civility.

But to your point, we want to be right.

And so we have this, you know, defensive.

posture about all our views and
they're wrong and they're the

opponent and they're, you know,
idiots for believing such and such.

And I think that's so damaging.

And so to have politicians that
maybe are trying to work toward

that is, is really powerful.

Giancarlo Newsome: Well, and, and not, and
I will give a free pass to both campaigns.

They're, they're products of
the people they represent.

And the, the, the people
they represent is us.

And when you look at like the study
by John Haidt, The Anxious Generation,

or The Social Dilemma by Tristan
Peres, we The influences, and I'm not

knocking Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook
or Twitter, but I think we've built

technology that's gotten ahead of us.

And it influences to our,
our, our detriment without

our collective knowledge.

And this is where I'd love to see a
senior leader go, Hey, social media is

not a bad thing, but we're gonna, we're
gonna put cigarette labels on this.

We're gonna use, instead of using
AI that kind of, And there's nothing

wrong with making money, we, we, you
know, you and I being marketeers, we,

we, it's from, from the beginning of
time, we want to present our product

in the best light and we want to serve
precisely the needs of our users, but

we don't want to take advantage of that.

So I think a leader that can
kind of manage that balance and

encourage humility, encourage
responsibility, because I think

that's the other thing too, that.

that humility does in politics is it
restores responsibility with freedom.

And I think if I had to kind of
summarize where I think America's

gone off the rail or even just
western capitalistic society is we've

disconnected responsibility from freedom.

And I would argue that responsibility
when we do that to our detriment, to our

detriment, it's the lack of humility.

We've, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've
truly idolized, we've had to idolize

our own division, our own beliefs
to where I, I now don't see you as

another person that I disagree with.

Like you're, you're an enemy and
um, I think, and then, then it

muddles the true enemies, right?

Of that we're facing.

So.

Yeah,

Brandon Giella: Yeah.

Yeah.

It's unclear who the real enemy is.

If, if there is, you know, how, however
you would phrase that depending on your,

your belief system or whatever, but
it's, it makes it the other person who

actually should be an ally or a neighbor.

If you want to call it that, you
know, uh, John Carlo, thank you

so much for your thoughts on this.

I know this is a massively complex topic.

Uh, there's a thousand different ways
that we could go in a conversation

like this, but I'm, I'm grateful that
we try to find the, the via media,

you know, the middle way between
different extremes and in different

ways that you can take the conversation.

But humility really is to your point.

It's the way to find the balance.

between, you know, being passionate
and, and arguing your case for a

better world, but also not vilifying
somebody else and not getting defensive

or, or, um, divisive in that way.

And I think if politicians could
embrace more, uh, humility, especially

if I may say through the e humility
app, I think it would be such a much

better world that we could live in.

So I'm thankful for your
work and your team's work and

excited to see what comes of it.

Giancarlo Newsome: Well, I might just
throw in something, Brandon, that, um,

just as we've created, like, industries to
tackle smoking, right, you know, you have

nicotine patches, you have, um, nicotine
gum, you have warning labels, why not do

the same thing for restoring humility?

We're just one technology
platform that's trying to build

tools to help restore humility.

But, we do believe that to rise this tide,
we need a lot more ships working to do it.

So, um, and some good political
leadership, um, I hope will

come about to help lead that.

So I'm, I'm, vote for Make America Humble
Again, and that's my, that's my, uh,

political promotion for the listeners, is
whoever you think will be more authentic

and encouraging humility, vote for them.

Brandon Giella: That's right.

Make America humble again.

Maha.

I'm in the Maha tribe.

Giancarlo Newsome: Exactly.

Brandon Giella: I love that.

John Carlo.

Thanks so much.

We will see you in a future episode.

Giancarlo Newsome: Thanks, Brant.

Brandon Giella: See you.