Bradley Orford-Hall: From Investment Banking to Culture & Capital — xRave Ventures Founder on Finding Your Why, Money, Fame & Authentic Living | Be Yourself Podcast

Bradley Orford-Hall

Founder of xRave Ventures — on bridging capital markets and global culture, the curse of competence, why money is just a tool, the trap of fame, and the courage to live authentically

Watch on YouTube xRave Ventures
47 minutes
Culture & Capital · Finding Your Why · Purpose · Authentic Living

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About the Guest

Bradley Orford-Hall — Founder of xRave Ventures, Investor, Advisor

An investor and startup founder whose career spans investment banking, M&A, private equity, consulting and fintech across many countries — and a diverse UK heritage that never fit neatly into a box

That pull toward culture became his mission: xRave Ventures bridges the gap between capital markets and culturally innovative businesses, helping founders access the right capital and build models that last

What He Built
xRave Ventures — bridging capital markets and culturally innovative businesses in media, music and culture, connecting founders with the right capital
The Cupboard Story
in investment banking he once slept in a cupboard at the office to finish a deal — his own choice, and a symbol of the success he was chasing back then
On Money
money is not real... it has no value at all until it's exchanged for something else. And it's only when you exchange the money for real things that it has value.
On Authenticity
it takes courage to do that... if there's something that you're passionate about, you may as well do it because otherwise you're going to keep thinking about it and that's a waste of your energy.

Key Quotes

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people, they want the money, but money has no value at all until it's exchanged for something else.

Bradley Orford-Hall
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if you keep on asking yourself the why, it might actually lead you to the very real things that are really important to you.

Bradley Orford-Hall
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it takes courage to do that... if there's something that you've been wanting to do or something that you're passionate about, you may as well do it because otherwise you're going to keep thinking about it and that's a waste of your energy.

Bradley Orford-Hall

Episode Chapters

0:00 Episode Teaser & Intro 1:23 What Does xRave Venture Do? 6:18 Why a Culture-Oriented Business? 8:54 Business Stories that Shaped You 11:01 Evolving Definition of Success 13:34 The WHY Behind our Actions 16:34 The Trap of Money 18:35 Desiring Fame 21:16 Importance of Healthy Relationships 24:38 Why Does Brad Travel 28:50 Bringing People Together 31:40 Creativity and Ideas 35:05 What is Real Art and Why We Make It 37:37 Social Media vs Making Meaning 41:40 When Should We Think About Purpose

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of the Be Yourself Podcast is produced by Beverly Media. Also on the show:
Omar Khateeb — Reinventing Hiring with Video: JobPixel Founder & CEO on HR Tech, Startup Pivots & Building Social Capital →
0:00 Episode Teaser & Intro
Sergey Hey, I want to save $2,000, you know, by the end of the month. Why? So I can pay for my car repair. Why? Because it's important for me to be able to drive my mom to her healthcare appointment. Why? Because it's important to me to be there for my parents. If you keep on asking yourself the why, it might actually lead you to things that are really important to you. When do you think is the right time to reflect on your life and think what's really necessary and what's really important?
Bradley Yeah, it's such a great question and it's really difficult to answer because I've also been in that situation where I've just been going at 100 miles an hour. It was because I experienced things in succession and every experience redirected my beliefs you know helped me to update my belief system and think about the purpose.
Sergey Let's talk about creativity. Bradley when are you the most creative?
Bradley Oo
Sergey Welcome to the Be Yourself podcast. The podcast on expressing your true selves. Today my guest is Bradley Arford Hall who is the founder of X-Rave Ventures. Bradley, welcome to the show.
Bradley Thank you so much for having me on, Sergey.
1:23 What Does xRave Venture Do?
Sergey You're welcome. Uh I can see that you have such a diverse business experience and uh that this company that you started not long ago works at the intersection of uh media, music, tech. So can you tell me a little bit more about the X-ray ventures? what is it and why did you start it?
Bradley Yeah, for sure. X-ray Ventures um is really something that's developing in in real time to be honest and it comes from my own life experience. So I noticed uh over the years that there is a gap between capital markets and culture, right? M I'm somebody that grew up, you know, uh really attracted to platforms that uh provide space for a lot of different culture from around the world, you know. Um I I the name of the entity is X-Rave Ventures. You know, I've had my experience, you know, going out raving. Oh, yes. You know, going to different places, you know, that you know, music and culture is really being platformed. And I noticed that there is often times very limited understanding of this type of business, right? Businesses that are I'm calling culturally innovative businesses. And those can be digital or physical. They can be in the digital space. They can be new platforms that surface new types of media, new types of expression. They can also be physical businesses. Uh you know, companies that put on live events, right, or uh spaces for people to congregate. And often these businesses uh when they are starting out they require funding and they require uh you know investment and what I noticed is that often times there is really a a gap in understanding between these two communities and this is the reason why Xrave ventures exists and I'm currently uh building out my understanding of all the different ways in which um we can hopefully close that gap.
Sergey Who are your potential clients? What who is the audience who that you help?
Bradley So the way that I actually like to phrase it is what are the problems that we solve. Okay? Uh because you know if we were to talk about who would interact with an entity like this, it would actually be founders that are building culturally innovative businesses on one side and on the other side people or entities who want to invest in media culture uh you know innovative type of businesses right and so at the intersection of these two groups of people you know we have a job to do you know uh the first thing that I noticed is that on the investor side or in the markets there is a limited understanding of this space or this type of business. You know there's a lot less data uh you know on this sector on this industry you know uh culture media you know than other parts of society. So there's a data gap that has to be closed. The second thing that I noticed is that often times founders in this sector they actually struggle to find the right type of capital. They're struggling to find the right type of investor, you know, whether that is angels in other parts of the cultural ecosystem that can help them to grow their brand and their business or institutional capital that can provide them with the right partnerships and access. Um, but there is a job to do in connecting these businesses with the right type of financing or the right type of investment. The third uh problem uh that I want to solve is what I have learned in my journey is oftentimes founders in this space can be incredibly visionary and incredibly talented in terms of you know a new type of cultural experience or a new type of media experience that hasn't really been experienced before. But then on the actual business uh plan side of things on how to create a sustainable business model uh there is sometimes work to be done there. You know uh often times we see some really really cool really hot companies that are really doing things differently and they they burn away because the the business model was not sustainable. And so I think uh we can also work with founders to help them not only create businesses that are innovative and bringing people together in new ways but that business can also last.
Sergey So you said that you notice the gap and uh you also mentioned that you love okay let's say partying or listening to music or uh losing yourself in music.
Bradley I love culture. I love culture. Yeah. You know, I love meeting new people. I love traveling to new places. I like experiencing new things. And I would describe one of these things as culture. Culture.
6:18 Why a Culture-Oriented Business?
Sergey Can I ask you what are the things that contributed the most into the person that you are today leading to the choice that you made with starting this business?
Bradley What contributed the most? Yeah, that's a difficult difficult question to answer because a lot of things have contributed to this. Uh but you know, I think I couldn't speak to why I've arrived in this this space of kind of culture and you know, uh why I want to kind of do what I can to preserve this aspect of society. And that is because you know growing up I was not somebody who fit in a box. you know a lot of the messaging sometimes that we get wherever you are in the world whichever country you live in you know there's always uh society has got to be very rigid and everybody has to kind of fit into that box and you know I come from a very diverse background and you know growing up I really found that where I felt validated or where I I was drawn to was you know culture music culture popular culture you know, uh, going online, looking at music videos, you know, uh, discovering all my favorite artists, you know, I had a huge music collection when I was young and because I think all of these uh, artists from around the world were expressing things and experiencing things that, you know, I felt spoke to the sort of expansiveness of the human experience and and I felt like I didn't necessarily see that in the environment that immediately around me. So, I was attracted to that, you know. Um, we had a conversation uh a while back where, you know, we spoke a little bit about our home life and our background. You know, I grew up around a lot of people from different countries around the world. So it was very it was very ingrained in me very early on, you know, the difference and the expansiveness of the human perspective and the the wealth of culture that exists around the world. And so I was I've always been naturally drawn to things that help me to connect with that. Right. Cuz I think through that you understand yourself.
Sergey Absolutely. And and this is this is I think one of the key things that kind of brings us to the present day of why as an adult why as somebody with you know a business career and these things why I'm drawn to this space and people who are building in this space.
8:54 Business Stories that Shaped You
Sergey I know that uh in your career you had experience with M&A private equity management consulting fintech lots of things and you lived in different in different countries. Yeah. Yes. Can you tell us things or stories from your business experience that stand out to you that made you made you feel something bigger than than other maybe routine stuff uh if you had in your life?
Bradley Yeah, I mean there are lots you know pick pick a few pick some maybe some defining moment that u yeah I mean for me you know I remember when I was in investment banking you know I I slept in a cupboard once you know that was an experience [laughter] why would you do that I won't because you know sometimes when you're working hard you know um you you kind of do what you need to do to to get work done on time. And I think it just it was such a you know, it was completely I didn't need to do that. Nobody nobody made me do that, you know. It was kind of I think when you're very eager to like to show people that you're dedicated and hardwork and you you want to finish the work and be back in the morning and d and I made that absolutely bizarre decision when I was a lot younger that it would be a logical thing to sleep in a cupboard. So I remember that because it just is a snapshot of, you know, where my with my limited experience at that age, you know, where my mindset and my work ethic was. So that's one moment. There are lots of different moments, you know, on the path that I've been, but I guess I'm just sharing that one with you because it's quite unusual.
Sergey And you, you know, I really love the post that you pinned on LinkedIn and you said that I spent 2025 evolving my idea of work and success. So what you just said seems like seems like then the guy that was sleeping in a cupboard had the different definition of success and so can you tell us about the about the transformation what was then what is now and why?
11:01 Evolving Definition of Success
Bradley Yeah, I think I think a really um a really condensed way to discover that change maybe between then and now is uh taking stock of what your life actually is, what is real and what is not real. I had a conversation with somebody who I who I respect recently and we were talking and he you know he's also successful and he's also uh you know in a fortunate position that he has more time to think about life and these things these days right and I remember in that conversation I said real is real what is not real is not real and that sounds that doesn't really have any meaning right just if I just say those words by themselves but what I mean is when you ask me about the change between then and now What I had to do on that journey or you know sleeping in a cupboard, right? Using that example is you may have a certain amount of money in the bank. You may have a fancy title. You may be in some publications, right? And you may your name may be up in the lights. But what is your life actually? What is your day like in real terms? You know, and for some people it can be it can be sleeping in a cupboard. It can be having chronic stress. It can be uh you know, not feeling deeply unhappy all day. It can be feeling deeply paranoid. I'm not saying I experience all these things, but I relate now to a lot of people who from a superficial level will look extremely successful. And you know on a human level these people are not fulfilled in their life. And I think the the balance that I've been trying to strike since that time that I slept in the cupboard is how you can actually feel fulfilled in your life, you know, and as somebody who wants to keep learning, wants to keep building myself, wants to keep developing, but also build a life that I can actually live in and enjoy and be nourished by. uh and not necessarily live my life for other people as well or for the optics of what other people might think.
Sergey I I'm wearing uh this is the t-shirt by the optimism company. It's Simon Synynic company. Do you have you heard of Simon Synynic?
Bradley Uh not yet, but I have now.
13:34 The WHY Behind our Actions
Sergey Yeah, he's he's he's the one who's the guy with the second most watched talk on TED. Uh it's about finding your why, right? Uh and um the concept of the golden circle that you do things starting with your why, not because you know someone buys it or because uh for variety of reasons, but because you go with your why first. So, and do you think that the why of our personal why changes over time? And do you think we should arrive at the ultimate why? And do you think that people who arrive at this understanding of their real why earlier than later are happier or do you think that this
Bradley I do I think I think people I think that framing of find your why is a great framing. 100% agree with that framing. Um I think a lot of people don't actually give themselves the time to find their why. A lot of people they don't actually take time to live intentionally. You know, uh I know a lot of people who are very, you know, successful on paper, but maybe they don't on paper, right? But they don't have the time to sometimes we don't have the time to even really think about why we're doing what we do. We just fall into things. And especially if you're a capable person, it's very good. It's very easy to uh just fall into something and be on autopilot. Especially if people validate you and they tell you this is going well, keep doing it. Especially if you're making money off the people.
Sergey This is the curse of competence because a talented person usually talented in everything. So whatever he does he might but it might not be something that they really want. Something that you're good at is not necessarily what you want.
Bradley Yes. And I think you know in finding the why it's important to to take the time to to figure out what that is for yourself. Otherwise you might be solving somebody else's why.
Sergey Yeah. I I think I think this is what happens a lot. I think that uh it's okay to follow the leader who you share the same vision with right whose values you can find in yourself. But if you follow the leader who is only transactional and uh all they can do is just for example pay you money. I don't know if if your value is to make money at the expense of everything else. I think this is this is a really finite game and this it's not gonna get really turn up well for you.
Bradley Yeah. I mean I think money money is such a is such a key thing in so many people's minds, right?
16:34 The Trap of Money
Bradley And most people are focused on their survival, right? Which is a very real thing, right? A lot of people they're like, I need enough money to pay my rent. I need enough money to get through the day. Um, but there's also an aspect of society where a lot of people they think to themselves, yeah, I just I just need a bit more money or it I really want to just have lots of money or once I make a lot of money and I'm rich, everything will be okay. And a lot of people, you know, I really had to to change my relationship with money in those early days when I had those experiences that really forced me to think about what it is that I was trying to achieve. Because a lot of people will tell you that they want a lot of money. Things get a lot more fuzzy once you ask them why exactly they need that money and what it is they intend to use that money for.
Sergey Yeah. This is where things I think get a very fuzzy for a lot of people because and you know people will disagree with me on this but I will say you know money is not real.
Bradley Money is not real. Right? If I if if you are starving and I give you loads of money and you can't exchange it for anything else. You can't actually go buy food. You can't do anything and we're just in a barren wasteland. If you're in the desert dying and I and I drop by you and I say, "Hey man, here's a million dollars." And I just give you a million dollars in cash and then drive off and leave you there. You see what that money is going to do for you. You know, people, they want the money, but money has no value at all until it's exchanged for something else. And it's only when you exchange the money for real things that it has value. And a lot of people don't really take time to think about what the real things is in their life that they want.
18:35 Desiring Fame
Sergey Yeah. Well, a lot of people think that they can buy fame, right? And fame is very tricky. I I myself partly want to get get more recognition for what I do. But I think it's a very slippery slope to go for fame. You know there are shortcuts like people like they hack for example some viral mechanisms to go viral and they become celebrities overnight like popular overnight but it it's it's really tricky and I think uh a person who whose psychology is not mature enough right this might be a very very dangerous for them we've see a lot of suicides among people who win lotteryies right I think There was stats about that. So we should be really really careful with getting popularity.
Bradley I mean [clears throat] I think fame is an interesting topic right because my question would be why does somebody want to be famous? Well, that's that's a very I think um that you know why why does anybody want to be famous you know and I I lived in LA for 2 years you know and obviously that that is where a lot of entertainment is located and a lot of people who are looking to become famous are there and you know I think there's a deeper question there of I personally it's not like my desire to become famous It's not it's not you never had one trying. No, I don't think I I'm trying to think whether at any point in my life I've desired to be famous. I think the things I desire are like the ability to experience more things, freedom, you know, the ability to to to feel comfortable, the ability to feel safe, uh probably, you know, the ability to to take care of myself and other people. these are things I want. Being known just for the sake of it is not something that I am seeking. And I and I do think that for example for me the reference point is entertainment. you know, people in music or film often times I think when people just want attention, there is maybe a deeper conversation that they have to have to understand where that comes from.
21:16 Importance of Healthy Relationships
Sergey Yeah. I think likes and views all that is like it's like numbing your internal pain. there is a pain and you numb it with with superficial metrics. Uh and sometimes sometimes all we need is just a deep feeling of uh belonging. So and I think this is where community I'm I'm you know it's interesting because um I've been single for my entire life, never had a girlfriend and right now I'm finally in my first relationships. I'm 36 years old and just a year ago I started my first relationships and you know it's interesting how things are taking care of it other things in my in my world take care of itself as I have someone who I can lean on and she can lean on me. It's very very interesting how sometimes just having a a really deep connection to someone changed the game and makes you not want to go after all these superficial uh hyped uh goals. Right? So right now I don't even want my business to become super super big. I'm building this media company, production company where we help uh podcasters and YouTubers, but you know, it's like it's almost if I don't want to grow too fast because I want to evolve. I we had I had our mutual friend friend Cornelius on the show who said he worked with lots of lots of founders who hit like millions of investments and he said that the human brain cannot evolve at the pace that the money is thrown at your company. So it's difficult to uh evolve like that uh and just become rich right away. So I think both things become famous and become rich. If you want to go after that, you better do this in a some kind of a slow and and um slow manner or what is the better word to use. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Bradley No, no, I I I totally I totally get what you're saying and I think it's it's it makes a lot of sense, you know. I think it has a lot to do with energy, right? or you know shifting your circumstances like in 2 seconds can sometimes have a negative effect because you haven't taken time to build your muscle and be intentional about how you want to build out your life. So the example that you're saying of somebody who goes from like zero to like you know a million a billion dollars overnight you know um that is a very difficult adjustment to go through and it's not always like a healthy adjustment to go through versus somebody that's kind of slowly slowly slowly gradually over time gradually because you have then a lot more ability to kind of it's a little bit like a firework or something or driving you know a peg. you have the ability to direct it more over time rather than just you know shoot off in one direction. Uh you know so I think it's uh it's a very valid point.
24:38 Why Does Brad Travel
Sergey Why do you uh travel a lot? I don't know if can you can you tell us um more if you did you say where or why? Why did you travel a lot? And maybe you can course correct me if you do this intentionally. Do you change locations? Tell me about how how how big of a role in your life traveling plays and why.
Bradley Huge huge role. I love to travel. I love traveling. Um, and I think I always will love traveling to be honest and I think I've just always had a curiosity. I think since I was a kid, you know, as I said, there was a period of my life where I was a very young kid and I was meeting people from different places in the world. Ukraine, right, where you are, Mexico, you know, Argentina, Taiwan, you know, Poland, uh, you know, uh, different locations, Japan. And it was always clear to me. It's just clear to me that, you know, there was all of this going on around the world. It wasn't just London or the UK. There was so much more to life and so many more people and interacting with those people taught me different things. And I grew up and I was always so curious. And I think another reason I was curious is because you know in my own family background you know I have a lot of family uh who are different type of heritage you know and so I think growing up people always want to put you in a box and I never really fit into a clear box you know obviously you know I'm black you know uh but you know I have family from you know my heritage is you you know, African, you know, Indian, you know, German, Irish, you know, uh, uh, Danish, uh, Norwegian, you know, there's different things going on. And if you look at my family, my extended family, you're going to see a lot of people looking very different. And so to me it was just like it was just always clear that humanity is this this tapestry of difference. And I think I was instinctively drawn to I want to know what's going on in these different parts of the world. And every and every I think experience that I've had traveling has validated that because I've always met people uh you know I've traveled all over the world. I've traveled to China. I've traveled to Brazil. I've traveled to El Salvador. I've traveled I've lived in America. I've lived in Sweden. You know I've traveled to Malaya Malaysia. I've gone like I've gone to so many different places and I've met you know Indonesia. So many different people and you always learn things that you you wouldn't expect. people always educate you about what it means to live a a a good life, what is important in life, you know. Um, and I think it is so important, you know, for people to to have those experiences where they can. Um, I've actually lost track of the question, why is travel so important? It's important to me because because because of that I think because I think to know yourself and to know the human experience you have to travel.
Sergey So it helps when someone has never traveled you know helps you better understand yourself right.
Bradley Yes. It helps you better understand yourself. It helps you better understand the world. It helps you understand the world around you. Why things are the way they are. It helps you better connect with people. I connect with so many people and it's assisted by the fact that I've traveled to these places. So I can connect with people. Oh, you're from that place or you've been to that place also, you know, and it's introduced me to so many things, you know, history, selfcare, you know, other aspects of life, different perspectives. It's so important.
28:50 Bringing People Together
Sergey Well, you you mentioned that you in your early years, you watched music videos and they showed you the world or the environment that felt familiar or felt like something that you want to be a part of, right? So, yeah. So because I I also have this experience when I you know I I I don't know why but I I feel like I belong um in certain places. For example, I've never been to the US but I really love NBA basketball and I watch NBA and I speak the the majority of my language comes from NBA commentators. So I I I I learned the language listening to basketball commentators and I also love techno music and I uh played DJ sets at times and you know when you dance among other people it feel like it doesn't matter what race you are what ethics or language you speak what do you do what are your social uh standing or whatever you just unite. So I think I think this is this is why why I find the industry which you're in so fascinating because in a way it erases uh wipes off the borders between between people between cultures.
Bradley Yeah. It takes away friction, right? It's it's borderless and that's why I love it and that's why I think it's so important. And I think when we look at where we are now, right, where we have a lot of uh conflict, you know, Yes. Uh around the world, right? And this is a tragedy, you know, it's a tragedy for humanity because there is so much more that we have in common. And if you want people to hate each other, the first thing that you got to do is separate those people. It's the first thing you got to do. If you want two groups of people to hate each other, you got to separate them because you know if you had someone living in your house and they were in your family, would you really be violent to that person? No. Because you understand them at a deeper level and you helping each other and you have shared history. And I think bringing people together facilitates that mutual understanding. And I think media platforms have the ability to do that. Uh you know digital environments, physical environments, they have the ability to do that. It can also go the other way as we see with social media and these things but they have the ability also to bring people together.
31:40 Creativity and Ideas
Sergey Let's talk about creativity, Bradley. Um when are you the most creative?
Bradley Oo, [laughter] I feel like I was the most creative as a child. Honestly, I think I'm probably That's such a great question because I I am definitely a creative person in ways. I mean, I grew up playing instruments, like I make music, things like this, but so much of the time I'm um I'm having like more kind of business focused conversations. So, I'm trying to think about what environments make me feel creative. Uh, and I and I and I think certainly when I'm traveling, uh, my mind is more opened and I'm more kind of in a creative space mentally. Um, I take time sometimes to just sit at the piano and of course that's a creative outlet for me when I just take time to just make music for myself and to just play music myself and you know when I go to music events of course you know I I go to live music or I go to a rave or I go to something like this. This is a this is an environment where I'm going to be feeling more creative. But truly the time that I'm if if you would ask me when I'm actually creating and feeling creative in that artistic sense is probably when I sit down at the piano. That is like an artist with their with their kind of easel. Yeah. I'm sitting down and I'm just there's no agenda. I'm just making sound.
Sergey I as I'm asking you this because I'm reading um a creative act by Rick Rubin now and one of his chapters in the book is called the seeds of creativity and it's interesting that he he basically goes on to explain that we gather the seeds all over our life you know so what you're doing when you're in music festival communicating to inspiring people you're gathering the seeds right your mind just absorbs all these amazing stories or facts and then when when maybe when you're at the quiet place well it happens to me when I when I'm running for example sometimes when I'm in the shower right your brain starts your subconsciousness starts producing stuff that's that's there that you gathered
Bradley 100% I mean if we're talking about ideas like that's also a different thing you know I have most of my ideas in the shower probably. I just like, you know, I'm in the shower and immediately I'm like, "Shit, I got to go write this down." Like d good. And I think and I think and I think if you were to frame it that way and say, "When do when do I have a lot of my ideas, right, or when when do I have like breakthroughs mentally?" It's usually either when I'm, for example, in the shower or when I'm doing exercise. Sometimes in the middle of exercise because you're in a flow state, you'll just have that that mental breakthrough or in the shower. It's in these types of moments.
35:05 What is Real Art and Why We Make It
Sergey I think I think this like the creativity can be split in so many phases, right? But it's like I remember Simon Synynic, the guy I told you about, he his his definition of art was having these three imperative steps like an intention, right? Like you you you take a piece of paper and you want to you have the intention, then the uh act itself, right? Creating the poem, for example, or the drawing. And the last thing that is absolutely necessary for thing for the thing to uh be an art he says an exposition like you have to show it you can't write a poem and put it in your in your desk right so you got to show it and I think what media allow enables us to do is to and I mean there's a lot like there's a knock on social media obviously with how much it how much intention attention it pull it pulls in uh uh but at the same time everyone can can showcase their creations right and we all can become artists in our own way we just have to uh have the intention understand when int when I say intention it's not just let me do the video to gather some likes it's actually why am I doing this why am I doing this post right it's it's it goes back to uh your question why do I want to get rich or why do I want to get famous for to do what? Right. So when you do the post, what do you want people to feel? What do you want to them to learn?
Bradley I'm I mean this is this is definitely one of the the results of the kind of the tech evolution that we've gone through is people now have the ability to showcase their creations and their art in a way that was previously not possible. And that's extending to different forms of expression. You know, you can write if you're a journalist, you can write something on Substack and you can have an audience. If you we have Sunno now, if you want to make a little song, you can do that. Right. You know, you know, LinkedIn, Instagram, these all of these these platforms are giving people the ability to showcase their creations and their creativity, which is which is great, you know. Um that aspect of it is great.
Sergey But do you do you feel like we have less meaningful creations now? Do you feel
37:37 Social Media vs Making Meaning
Bradley Yeah, I think uh I think the way that I would think about it is what this environment does to people's incentives, right? Like what you're incentivized to do by these platforms and by the way that they reward different types of content. So on the one hand, it's really amazing that we have these open platforms where anybody can essentially create a gallery for the things they want to create. You're a great photographer, you can put it up. You're a great writer, you can put it up. You're a great videographer, you can put it up. You're a musician, you can put it up. So that's fantastic. I think what we then have to think about is like the economic models of like how these platforms work and what these platforms reward and their own economic model right they need to maximize your engagement and things means that for example that will over time shift the types of content that people put up and I think there's a couple of effects of that which is that if you think about artists if you think historically the most appre appreciated art is usually developed over a long period of time, you know, like some of the the painters that are celebrated like all these people, you know. Yeah. You know, these are pieces of art that took time to create, lots of time and and in the quiet, you know, to create this, you know, or your favorite music artist, you know, iconic albums, you know, in the the 80s, the '90s, you know, like takes time, you know, to produce these masterpieces. Now, people feel like they don't have that time. Hey, if I take a year to create something incredible, the social media cycle's already moved on. So, I can't do that. I've got to just put it out there. And I think in that way, it's it's uh it's tricky uh because it maybe encourages people to spend less time developing their craft than they might do in the past. And uh it also means that the space is a lot more crowded. So that will uh encourage people to do things that are a little bit more attention grabbing just for the sake of attention. So there can be a degradation in quality because of these two factors but at the same time you have more voices. So it is a new era you know and um we have to navigate that.
Sergey I love I love this idea that everyone's rushing to beat everyone's, you know, in terms of speed, but I think the antidote to this could be really coming up with something unique. Well, everyone thinks that they unique. They're unique, but obviously Kanye Vest who put up this best concert recently, right? Uh the most attended uh concert in history. He didn't do this. did do it overnight. Obviously, he's got the huge fence base, but I don't know right now I I personally uh I had this really really frequent publication schedule. Now I cut it in like in half and I go slower and more uh mindful about every single creation. Even podcasts, we had two podcasts a week. Now we we have only one per week. And uh yeah.
Bradley Yeah. And I think part of that is intentionality, you know. I think when when you move a little slower, you can be more intentional. Um you can think more about who it's for. You can lean into that. Uh and the quality can go up, but it's a judgment.
41:40 When Should We Think About Purpose
Sergey As we wrap up, uh Bradley, I think I have two questions. The second one is like coming out of the first one. What do you when do you think people can start thinking about their uh purpose, right? Because obviously you mentioned an interesting thing that uh you are and maybe people you met in your life are are lucky enough to have the time to think about the this eternal questions, right? Uh some people just need to pay bills and feed their family. So when do you think is the right time to just reflect on your life and think what's really necessary and needed and real for me for us?
Bradley Yeah, it's such a great question and it's really difficult to answer because I've also been in that situation where I've just been going at 100 miles an hour and I think for me it wasn't because I like was a child and took all day to think about my purpose. It was because I experienced things in succession and every experience redirected my beliefs, you know, helped me to update my belief system and think about the purpose. And I was forced to think about my purpose through my life experiences. And I think that is what happens with a lot of people. Whatever you're experiencing, people experience all kinds of different things. They experience a change in circumstances, their health, their relationships, their job. it for these these these uh life events force you to consider these things. I think then the deeper question is in between those kinds of shocks, how can you be more intentional, you know, how can you be more intentional and check in with yourself about why am I doing this? And I think I think where I would start is is probably taking moments here and there because I you could say to somebody, hey, you should read this book or you should listen to that podcast. That's great. Like not everybody always has the time to do all of these things. Um, but I think if you can start to really take moments to ask yourself why, just ask yourself that question and maybe write down, maybe do some exercises with yourself. You that really doesn't take a long time about why it is that you're doing what you're doing and and maybe ask yourself why several times. Hey, uh, I want to save $2,000, you know, by the end of the month. Why? so I can pay for my car repair. Why? Because uh it's important for me to be able to drive my uh mom to her healthcare appointment. Why? Because it's important to me to uh be there for my parents. Why? Because, you know, D. And I think if you keep on asking yourself the why, it might actually lead you to the very real things that are really important to you. And when you identify that, it might cause you to change some of your surface level beliefs about some of the things that you're doing today.
Sergey This is just an amazing amazing um point of view. I really feel like uh we've given so much uh in this conversation and I I really I'm really thankful and I think I want to do this one one more time somewhere in future maybe in person. That would be super cool. Any other any last word? Maybe you can tell people how um they can uh cooperate with you, partner up with you, what are you interested in or any last word?
Bradley Yeah, I mean last words, you can find me on LinkedIn. Um you know, listen to this podcast obviously follow uh you know, be yourself, you know, and I think if you're somebody building anything incredible in the cultural innovation space, you know, I'd love to to learn about it. if you're somebody who's looking to invest in that space, I'd love to meet. Um, and you know, I think that the I love the premise of this show, right, which is people really leaning into their authenticity and being yourself. And I think the one thing that I would say at the end of this is it takes courage to do that. And it's often really a scary thing, especially if you haven't done it a lot of times, to to do that thing. If there's something that is in your mind um you know that there's something that you've been wanting to do or something that you're passionate about, you may as well do it because otherwise you're going to keep thinking about it and that's a waste of your energy. You're going to be out work and you're going to be distracted, right? Or you're going to be somewhere and you're going to be distracted. It takes courage to do it, but it's always worth it. Um because if it's playing on your mind, there's a reason for that and you shouldn't ignore that.
Sergey Thank you, Bradley. That was a blast.
Bradley Thank you, S.