Episode #2 : The Rise of Campfire Communities

Full Episode Transcript

This is the full recorded conversation from The Human Protocol Podcast, published by The Human Protocol Group. © 2026 The Human Protocol Group. Please link to and attribute the original episode when referencing this conversation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (00:03.202)
Welcome to another episode of The Human Protocol. Today's episode title is The Rise of Camp Fire's Communities. And you may ask, why now? It's because I believe we are really at a turning point where companies are writing algorithms, governments are writing laws, and someone has to write the human story. And this is what this space is and will be about. We have traded

reach for belonging and it is time to rebuild the fire. Welcome to The Human Protocol, the podcast about staying human while building the future. I am your host, Michael Salomon. Technology is rewriting our world. This is the conversation about what we keep and what we change. We talk about AI, leadership, and humanity.

not on theory, but on how they shape our everyday lives. Every week, we will be discussing and exploring the intersection of technology, leadership, and purpose, and how values, meaning, and impact really endure on a world be rewritten by code. Today, I'm very excited. We have with us on the show someone that I admire very much.

I think we will have, and you will find this conversation very interesting. I am joined by Nate Brown, who loves two things very much, customer experience and community. He co-founded CX Accelerator back on 2018, and he now has more than 5,000 CX leaders helping each other do remarkable things. He also leads education and enablement at Metric Sherpa.

Nate Brown (01:59.542)
Thank

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (02:01.73)
guiding organizations to transform customer interactions. Off the clock, he is a competitive disc golfer, a certified pickleball instructor, a husband, and proud two times girl dad. And I'm sure they keep you busy, my friend, right?

Nate Brown (02:21.799)
It's been a busy season indeed. Hello and so glad to be here.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (02:26.004)
Awesome, awesome. do appreciate the opportunity to have you on the show. And I think this topic, I know, is something that you're very passionate about, as I am myself. And on times of AI and acceleration of AI going through humanity, going through different stages and we evolving as we go, I think this topic of community is more current than ever. Right. And I would like to

Nate Brown (02:52.757)
Agreed.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (02:55.118)
kick off the show today with the question that I ask every guest, which is when we remove the titles, right, Nate, when we remove everything that people knows about Nate, your LinkedIn biography and everything, who is Nate at his core?

Nate Brown (03:11.227)
wow. Okay. I'm a student. Like I'm just learning every day. Yeah. I still have such a curiosity about people and about customer experience work, which is my main focus for the work that I do, And I'm definitely a flamboyant dresser. If you didn't strip that away as well, I hope you did it. But I'm just somebody who really enjoys my hobbies, loves my family.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (03:31.324)
Hahaha!

Nate Brown (03:39.665)
loves middle Tennessee, definitely enjoying life and learning everything that I can to really elevate the customer experience world.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (03:50.04)
Got it, got it. I love that part of being eternal student. I think we all are on some sort of shape, right? We're always learning and with everything going on on the world today, we will continue to to meet people like you and I that are learning every day because that's the rest of our lives basically. Great, great. Thanks for sharing that, Nate. Let's talk a little bit about CX Accelerator. When you look back,

Nate Brown (04:08.145)
Indeed. Yeah.

Nate Brown (04:16.405)
Okay.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (04:18.636)
What do you think that it made catch fire with people? How do you think people connected to the message that you were building back then?

Nate Brown (04:22.197)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (04:28.405)
Yeah, you know, I was a young CX professional that was looking for a path and was having trouble finding it. And there was another, another professional association that was out there. And, know, on my opinion, at that time, it was just these people who thought they were very smart, pontificating on their own wisdoms. And I was like, I don't have a place here. Like where, where would I contribute? You know, like there's certainly some things I can digest and learn, but I did not get the sense at that time.

that I could really put myself out there on a learner type of format. I'm curious, I'm vulnerable, I'm exploring. It was more of, if you don't have the answer, if you haven't figured it all out, then you have no voice here. And so CX Accelerator started with that very humble origin of we are not sure. And that has served us well because I mean, frankly,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (05:20.078)
That's amazing.

Nate Brown (05:23.761)
If we look at it today and how absolutely completely different the customer experience world is and the people that are on it and the way that customers think and feel the psychology around it is so different, Mikell. So the fact that these organizations who took a very rock hard approach to this is the formula and this is exactly how to do it. And didn't have that flexibility and that humility.

They're finding that they're not able to be relevant today and they're not able to appeal to people on the same way. So I like to think that that's one of the superpowers of the group that we have with CX Accelerator.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (06:03.756)
Yeah, that's awesome. That's really is because when you look back then and where we are today, it's really what people are looking for, right? That type of a place that they belong, a place that they feel that they are home. Right. And communities like yours that started back then kind of opened the door for others, right? To take a look at trying to build something new where people could identify more with those large events, something that

Nate Brown (06:16.955)
Exactly.

Nate Brown (06:22.997)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (06:33.67)
A lot of them, don't add a lot of value nowadays, and these communities, do.

Nate Brown (06:42.537)
Yeah, I mean, me and you met at a support driven event on Austin, which was an unbelievable event. And Scott Tran and support driven. mean, that's a great use case, a great example of an unbelievable community that has helped thousands of people to connect and find a sense of identity. And I love how intelligently support driven has morphed to also extending into live events and has kept true to their ethos and has made those really great experiences for those.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (06:48.076)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (07:11.199)
who attend on person. one of the few communities on my mind that have made that leap on a really effective way.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (07:18.542)
Yeah, absolutely. And I have to agree with you 200 % there. felt the support-driven community. It also feels like a community that embraces everybody and welcome everyone to have a voice and feel empowered for the knowledge and the experiences that are shared there. And I think more community like that one, it's really needed. And when I look at kind of a little bit of history, I was thinking the other day,

Nate Brown (07:37.788)
Exactly.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (07:48.014)
We were all about online forums back on the day, right? With all this social media, online forum, then we went through kind of virtual feeds. Look at your feed, take a look at what's coming along. And then, right? And then to campfire communities like this. Why do you think we went from that type of forum?

Nate Brown (08:05.023)
Sure.

Nate Brown (08:09.908)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (08:17.826)
right, where people, that a lot of people were there, but really the connection was not possible to this more of a smaller settings and communities where people are connecting more to each other.

Nate Brown (08:30.26)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (08:35.501)
What a fascinating thing to think about. can't, I can't say I've ever answered this question before. And I love the question. You know, I I think about Reddit as an example. So that's a forum that has not lost relevance. is exploding on popularity. So it almost feels like there's two components here. People want a place where they can go and see the spectacle that is Reddit and ingest and kind of just.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (08:44.81)
Hmm. Yes. True.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (09:01.678)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (09:02.865)
understand the general sentiment of the human creature on certain topics. It's such a fascinating and raw forum. then there, no, but it's hard for most people's to really get a sense of identity inside of Reddit. You've got some that are way up there on terms of their popularity inside of that particular vehicle, but generally,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (09:07.308)
Hmm. Yes.

Yeah, it is. No filter, no filter at all, right?

Nate Brown (09:31.816)
When people learn and they see, and they have that opportunity to ingest there, comes a moment where they want to contribute and they want to be known inside of a space. And so that's where a campfire community, like a support driven, like a CX accelerator, like, like, so many on different fields, different fields of practice, you know, I feel like just about for, for anything, there there's, it's to use the words of Mark Schaefer.

In any one industry or any big brand promise that's made, there's an anchor community that's done a great job mobilizing and uniting people who care about one thing really specifically. And so you, you, you always want to be that community, right? Who, you know, really represents the, the, most passionate, the, most intelligent, but also the most humble.

And the most caring people on a particular topic, something that really matters to folks. no, that doesn't mean there's not space for multiple communities, especially on these macro areas. But, you know, I think Mark has, has something to something really wise there. And as you get into these smaller campfire communities, you have the opportunity to have a sense of identity, to be known on that space, to have a voice.

And to have the opportunity to really get to know some other people that are on a similar path to you. And I think that's one of the most compelling things is just that shared journey element. That's one thing we really try to focus on on CX Accelerator is bringing people together that are trying to achieve similar career milestones. How can they gain encouragement from one another? How can they make certain connections happen? How can they just continue to keep the pedal on the metal?

On those days where, know, you just kind of lose hope and you're just get discouraged and you're not seeing the advancements and you're not getting the return on the investment of energy that you're putting out into the universe. It really helps to have people that are on your corner saying, no, that's so good. I think about Jenny Dempsey. What, what a wonderful use case she is. somebody who her content is so good and so compelling and she's really found her voice with the career flipper podcast.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (11:38.114)
Yes.

Nate Brown (11:52.062)
And, know, there's multiple iterations that led up to that. And she was exploring these different things, but like just her comfort level and the quality of that content and the ways that she's helping people. Like you could tell when she found kind of that sweet spot. And it was so powerful to watch that happen. So big, big shout out to Jenny, but people like that inspire us and help us to find, wow. You know, this is an area that I need to keep.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (12:08.077)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (12:20.373)
probing into and find how I can be the most helpful for me right now, it's organizational psychology. Like that's an area I want to go deep into and like really understand what the circle of psychological safety means and what it means to be a fearless leader and somebody that's ultra purpose driven on a corporate environment. Like I want to know what that looks like and how to help others and encourage others to become activated on those spaces.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (12:27.117)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (12:49.447)
and these corporate communities that people work inside of.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (12:52.48)
I think that's a fascinating topic to continue to discuss and dive on Nate, because on a future where AI will try to keep us apart more and more, Communities like this connection, like this, energy that you feel when human beings connect to each other, it's something that is really beautiful to witness, right? And what gives me hope about the future is like communities like these ones that we're talking about today.

Nate Brown (13:02.889)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (13:10.356)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (13:14.324)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (13:21.578)
It's really what's going to rebuild humanity post-AI, right? Because people will still be connected to each other on a way. And I think that we all should continue to fight for that type of connection. So for things that keep us closer, not for things that kind of keep us apart, right? And it's very interesting everything that we are discussing today. Now...

Nate Brown (13:43.091)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (13:50.422)
Let's talk about the elephant on the room, of course, which is AI. I'm curious to get your thoughts. And how do you see where AI is today and where this may be heading? Not from a merely technology point of view, of course. We all talk about technology every day. But how do you see AI transforming humanity moving forward?

Nate Brown (14:18.929)
Holy cow. So my, my standard answer as I do attempt to talk about this, this evolving subject is very relevant to customer service. And it is more technology focused at this time, you know, that idea of having a digital concierge and these brands, know, the entry point that they're putting out there, look at ThreadUp as an example, you know, that ability to come on and have this wonderful digital concierge.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (14:20.494)
you

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (14:32.14)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (14:47.891)
You know, AI agent that can help you with all kinds of stuff and just talk to you and be proactive on terms of guiding you to success. But then the collaboration that's happening as well with, with human talent that also represents their service capabilities. So, you know, I got that's, that's where my mind is the most is how are people reacting and responding to these tools as they interface with different brands and what does that look like? What does that mean? So it feels to me like.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (14:50.222)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (15:09.175)
Right.

Nate Brown (15:17.423)
you know, as we consider where all this goes, you know, I think about, had a, past boss who talked about Jarvis and the relationship of Jarvis to Ironman. And it was, it was just that idea of you, you had, you had Jarvis around you all the time and Jarvis was just taking care of stuff that you couldn't necessarily see or didn't want to have to bother with. So Jarvis is just there to protect you, to help you to navigate it. It knows your.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (15:28.686)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (15:46.228)
your sense of what you're trying to achieve and it's, it's doing all kinds of amazing stuff on your behalf. So I, I envision people having a Jarvis like capability kind of built into them somehow, or, an extension of them through cellular device or whatever that looks like. but then, you know, if we think about the Jarvis example, and then we think about, who really matters the most on the life of Ironman.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:00.3)
Right.

Nate Brown (16:14.439)
And who ultimately Iron Man makes the sacrificial decision for, know, his conscience is Pepper Potts. So the ultimate guide to Iron Man is not Jarvis. As much as Jarvis is amazing and helpful, who gives Iron Man the fuel for him to do all the amazing things he does and gives him the very purpose of why he does those things, it's ultimately Pepper Potts. So, you know, I envision that combination.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:21.056)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:27.416)
Right.

Nate Brown (16:44.265)
We will have this remarkable Jarvis like technology at our fingertips, but it will, it will need to stay grounded on a Pepper Potts community where we get our identity. get our sense of why, why should I have all this power? What am I doing with all these remarkable capabilities? How am I impacting the world? And what is the sense of purpose on which I'm operating out of to where we're making things better and easier for one another.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:49.484)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:59.18)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:02.679)
Yes.

Nate Brown (17:13.141)
If you have just Jarvis and no pepper pots, you're going to lose focus. You're going to lose balance. If all you've got is pepper pots, you're not going to be able to make the things that you envision happen. So you've got to have both.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:24.334)
Mmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:28.366)
Yeah, and it's back to what will keep us grounded as human beings, right? And how you tie that beautifully to the topic that we're discussing today, which one of the ways of keeping us grounded is the campfire communities. And that's also why we're seeing a lot arise on these communities where people are looking to connect to each other more and more. So.

Nate Brown (17:44.67)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:53.87)
So I think, yeah, I think it's extremely important to keep us grounded as we look into the future. Because the technology will be there. Very easy to connect to it, you know, to use it. It will be there just on our fingerprints, you name it. But what will keep us human beings, being human beings, is that type of interaction and being connected and engaged with other humans.

Nate Brown (18:08.638)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (18:23.48)
for sure.

Nate Brown (18:23.637)
The technology will continue to change the how and the what and the where, but it's not going to answer the why. And we need each other for that. And we've got to keep searching and challenging ourselves on that question of why.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (18:29.996)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (18:41.602)
Why? What is the purpose, right? What is it that we are doing? What is it that we're looking? What is it that it's going to fulfill us as human beings moving forward? Because on the professional side, we're going to get efficiency gains all over the place from this technology. We know that. But what is it that is still going to make us feel humans, right, at the end of the day?

Nate Brown (18:52.252)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (19:04.947)
Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that's, you know, that's, I think about it, I think that's why so many of these scientists and cyber minded people are predicting that AI is either going to ruin humanity or bring it into a new state of evolution. You know, that, seems inevitable. So what's going to swing the pendulum and it's ultimately going to be our heart and our mindset in terms of how we're applying these new great powers.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (19:20.558)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (19:35.912)
and us on our ability to navigate the question of why. If we are collaborating and working together to make life better for one another, using these enhanced capabilities all around us, that's going to be awesome. But if the why devolves and it gets lost and people are lost and we're not connected to each other, we're not trying to help one another, then yeah, people who are lost are going to have tremendous powers.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (20:04.138)
It's the minute that we remove the human being from the equation of the why, then we're gonna be on trouble, right? People and businesses and founders and tech leaders will continue to develop and create and found new ways to get more AIs out there. But as far as we are being kept into the why we're doing this, right? It's still for human beings, for human beings.

Nate Brown (20:12.554)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (20:33.74)
while we are kept on that conversation, then there will be room for all of us to navigate and trying to find our path as human beings. Yeah, totally agree.

Nate Brown (20:41.171)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And as I think about it on my lens of customer experience, what I care about is are brands able to keep their promises? Are they delivering? Are they helping their customers, navigating them to their definition of success, to use that story brand quote? And gosh, these remarkable technologies can make that so much better. I mean, it can make a brand do remarkable things that it never could have considered before.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:08.557)
Yes.

Nate Brown (21:10.823)
on pursuit of the defense of the promise, and on pursuit of helping to understand and guide that customer to a new evolutionary place. But you know, it's, but but yet, so many of these brands are just sucked into that mode of how can I save a dime here and there? How can I how can I just do if the efficiency play versus really thinking about how do we amplify

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:14.335)
Absolutely.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:34.786)
the efficiency play.

Nate Brown (21:38.151)
and extend the promise and defend the promise on these new exciting ways.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:42.51)
And there's nothing wrong with looking at efficiency. We all are looking for that. We all like that. We need that, right? We need to do better. We need to do faster. We need to deliver better value to our customers. And these tools are providing just that. It's just that you should know we should not only be looking at one way direction of what efficiency means, right?

Nate Brown (21:46.501)
No. Yes. Yeah.

Totally.

Nate Brown (21:57.174)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nate Brown (22:09.972)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (22:10.102)
It has to be efficiency for the human beings as part of the equations as well.

Nate Brown (22:14.675)
Yeah, to quote Mark Schaeffer again, he says, the most human brand wins. And it feels like at the end of the day, there's so many companies that are going to give away their most distinctive and unique elements about their experience. And there's going to be nothing that separates them from their competition at all. It's going to be the same.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (22:19.277)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (22:33.216)
It's going to be the same exactly. What it's going to make you unique on this future, right? Whether it's creativity is going to go for, right? If you do the same thing as everybody's doing just for the sake of efficiency, you're going to compromise creativity. You're not going to care about that part and it's going to make you look the same as many other companies that are just following the same tools and the same processes, right?

Nate Brown (22:40.639)
Yeah.

Exactly.

Nate Brown (22:46.857)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (23:01.097)
You can't give it away. You should be using it and finding that balance. like to say make the quick parts quick and the slow parts meaningful. So yeah, let's, let's accelerate these like knowledge should just be there. Like our ability to document things and, curate information and like, visualize data and like, you know, we, we should have remarkable capabilities on these areas. But when we're sitting there with the ability to interface.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (23:04.022)
Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Yes.

Nate Brown (23:29.161)
directly with one of our human customers. Let's slow down folks. Let's find connection. Let's give them a sense of identity. Let's remind them why they selected us as their partners on this journey. Let's make this into a really special thing. Because right here on these moments, this is where we make a lifelong customer happen.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (23:34.296)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (23:40.406)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (23:50.454)
And there is a reason why customers pick a product, a company or a service. And sometimes it's not even the product or the service. What they're connected to is what are the values that you portray, right? What is it that you stand up for? And for a lot of people, consumers especially, that's important. What do you stand for, right? Tell me. What makes you different than the rest?

Nate Brown (24:03.963)
Exactly. Yeah.

Nate Brown (24:12.947)
Mm-hmm, yep.

Nate Brown (24:17.695)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:17.87)
Because if you all have the same product or the same services, I can go anywhere else and try to get them from there.

Nate Brown (24:23.933)
Yeah, I've got a whole thing that I've written on behalf of Metric Sherpa called Mission Driven CX. And I've got some great examples of exactly what you're talking about right there, Michael, is that idea of how, I give you my time and energy and money as a customer, how are you going to go then and make our community and our world into a better place? And I'm thinking about that as a consumer, not all consumers, but many enough to where it matters.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:29.454)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:39.938)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:45.634)
Better, correct. Yes. Yes.

Nate Brown (24:53.361)
And organizations who can demonstrate, yes, I am rewarding you as a customer back with this remarkable extension. Yeah, it matters. It matters.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (25:00.738)
Yeah, with my energy, my time and my money. Yeah, it does matter. And I think it will continue to matter. And for those that will continue to pay attention, those companies and those leaders and making decisions on behalf of their companies, as far as they continue to try to fight for what makes them unique, then those companies, they do have a chance of surviving on this era, right? Yeah.

Nate Brown (25:24.094)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Agreed. And I love seeing brands that are forming robust customer communities. And there's some great brands out there that do this really well. Disney, Lululemon as a great, Samsonite, Rustoleum, Spray Paint.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (25:35.906)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (25:46.667)
Mmm.

LuluLemon is doing great job. yes.

Nate Brown (25:51.414)
It's crazy. Jim shark, you know, mean, some of it, so retail, lot of retail brands, you know, have kind of cracked the code, but it's not just them. Think about how this has been happening on the gaming space for decades where you've got players supporting other players. Cause they care so much about the, the universe of the game that they're going to help other players to onboard successfully. Cause they know that that's how the game continues to earn life.

And they're, continues to earn development resources is when new players are onboarding into the game and having a great experience. So the players take it upon themselves to create that experience for other players. And they're supporting them on all these remarkable ways. And the gaming companies are like, we, they have some of the best community vehicles on any industry is on the gaming space. Technology. Look at, look at how passionate you've got Apple geniuses out here.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (26:37.006)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (26:49.565)
supporting other Apple customers and the actual company of Apple just has to sit there and be like, yeah, I'm going to ordain this person who's really smart and knows what they're talking about. I'm going to give them more identity and more credibility on our Apple community because we can trust them to have the right answer. These other folks that we don't know yet, we're not going to award them that same sense of credibility yet. So Apple's creating that environment on which

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (26:49.592)
Mm-hmm. Right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (27:14.008)
Right.

Nate Brown (27:17.427)
You have customers supporting other customers. You've got really passionate brand fans who are supporting other fans of the brand.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (27:22.498)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (27:26.862)
Yeah, I think it's definitely key. It's definitely key. And you mentioned many brands, are ready, they understood that that's the mission and that's what they really need to do, right? To continue to bring people together and to bring people on. And it's just the sense of connection. And I see this on many industries, Nate, where people are willing to spend their money.

Nate Brown (27:46.729)
Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (27:55.988)
on experiences that make them feel something, right? It used to be the big brands and the big events driving people on. Now people are willing to spend even more money than where they used to spend for the same activity if they feel that the experience will be something meaningful to them, right? And we are seeing this shift.

on us human beings that we are all seeking experiences and experiences that make us feel something, that make us feel part of something and it's something really interesting to see as well.

Nate Brown (28:31.893)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (28:36.019)
Yeah. There's a lot to unpack on what you just said, but I agree with it.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (28:39.98)
Yeah, absolutely. So when looking at where we are and where we're heading, Nate, I keep thinking about what is it that we can do, how we can do our part. And I would like to, I usually call this the 4P framework, which is purpose, right? People, place, and practice. And when we move along, it's really the sense of purpose.

Nate Brown (29:02.877)
Hmm. That's good.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:08.514)
that will continue to keep us together, right? Against all odds, against whatever comes our way. It's really the purpose of being together and connecting to each other that will continue to be the kind of the guiding force of us as humans. I'm curious to see how do you see those four, right? People, purpose, practice and place, hongling together and...

Nate Brown (29:11.028)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (29:17.619)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (29:26.837)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:38.21)
by a common practice, right, which is tied to our topic today, which is the campfire communities.

Nate Brown (29:46.004)
Yeah. Well, it's a great model, Michael. I like that a lot. You know, as you think about starting a community as a brand, as an organization, you got to think about, do we have a strong internal community first? Are we united by purpose? And the best resource on the world for that is tribal leadership. And that, that tells you very clearly how mature and how aligned your internal community is.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:59.906)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (30:14.503)
as corporate citizens together. As you earn a level three and four and five level tribe, you get to start to invite your customers on and co-create with you alongside that purpose. So suddenly you have people that you're inviting on. These are the people that care about this as much as we do. I believe every organization based on its unique brand promise has a group of customers out there that belong to them.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (30:31.224)
Right.

Nate Brown (30:41.501)
And you can serve them better than anybody else on the world. If you're being unique and distinctive and true to that brand promise, you got to, and guess what? They're really good at finding each other. If you're creating that experience for them, they're going to help you to find one another. So you've got purpose. You've got your people now. Now you've earned the right to create that place where you, have your customers together and you're, you're united with, with a lot of key stakeholders from your organization.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (30:47.33)
You have to go and find those, right? Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (30:52.878)
Mm.

Nate Brown (31:11.071)
You're sharing things. You're getting excitement up around how you together are fulfilling this great purpose that you all both care about to a great degree. And that could be a Slack community. That could be an app that you have. That could be an on-person, a customer advisory board or a community of growers to a brand that I love is Baker Creek. know, and they've, they've yeah, Baker Creek heirloom seeds.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (31:30.882)
Hmm.

Baker Creek.

Nate Brown (31:37.246)
And they've found all these activated people out there that really care about protecting seeds that haven't been genetically modified. And these folks are helping one another to extend the life of these seeds and to bring back these unbelievable flowers and vegetables that we've probably never seen on our lives, Mikel. Because, you know, they've been eliminated from the general population of vegetables and flowers. So it's cool. It's really cool.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (32:02.53)
Wow, that's amazing.

Nate Brown (32:05.479)
It is, and you've got people that are like, wow, this matters to me. I need a place where I can conjugate with other people that also care about this. Now I need to be educated. I need some practice. How can I be a better grower? And Baker Creek is really good about equipping people to be successful germinators. And then the key part, sharing their seeds with others.

so that they perpetuate the life of these seeds on and on and on. Generations go on and these seeds are protected, but they can only do it through a community model. So your four P's line up really well on my opinion.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (32:43.522)
Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. You make me think and when you were telling me about this story, nothing matches the spirit and the energy of a passionate human being on a mission, right? When you are on a mission, nothing can stop you, right? And it's beautiful to see human beings when they are energized and because they're passionate about something. They can move mountains. It's so contagious. Absolutely. Yeah, great.

Nate Brown (32:55.945)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (32:59.549)
Yeah. Focus.

Nate Brown (33:06.225)
It's so contagious.

Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (33:13.218)
Great, great. So Nate, tell me.

What is it that it's gonna take for us to build more communities like this on the future? And what would be your message to those potentially looking at building something but also looking at the commercial side of things? It's, because it is important to also understand that sometimes these communities at the end of the day, they can also be a business, right? And they also make money.

Nate Brown (33:36.383)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (33:45.61)
Yes.

Nate Brown (33:49.833)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (33:49.934)
to survive. How can we attract more people and embrace this idea that even when you don't need to make a million dollars on building a community, what you get out of it is more rewarding than really the financial immersion that you have to make?

Nate Brown (34:03.039)
Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (34:13.887)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (34:17.265)
Not every business can do this. Not every business should do this. So the strategy of community, it's one where your organization has to have an overflow of appetite to really power this and make it into a great meaningful experience for the people you invite on. There's an unbelievable resource called the business of belonging. And that's absolutely where this starts.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (34:19.202)
Hmm. Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (34:31.374)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (34:44.775)
And that will tell you very clearly on the onset of that book, if you're ready or not. And on fact, I hadn't read that resource yet. And I actually wrote up a whole community proposal, a whole strategy for an organization I was working alongside. And they dismissed it immediately, which on the, to their credit, they knew that they couldn't pull it off. They did not have the culture. They did not have the supporting passion. They were not a community based organization.

So, I mean, it looked like a foreign language to them and thank goodness, because if they had tried to do these things, it would have been very un-inauthentic and it would have flamed out. So you've got to be on a place culturally. You've got to be on a place on terms of your internal community, a very aligned place as far as your senior leadership and that overflow of desiring to fulfill the mission of your organization on a very meaningful way.

Because only then will you start to see, and there is a tremendous ROI. Look at those, those use cases we mentioned before and those community driven brands, their, their primary acquisition engine is based on community. So, but they earned it. Like that didn't happen overnight. Like they earned it and they anchored on and they doubled down on this concept. So you've got to decide, are you ready to do it? Does it make sense for you?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (35:58.338)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (36:11.859)
And do you have the patience to execute?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (36:14.412)
Yeah, yeah, those are key. And I think also part of the ROI, as you were mentioning, is the activation that activities like this can do with your organization. Because once you start mobilizing people around a cause, around a culture, it activates people on a way that can make them even more efficient themselves because they feel also part of something bigger.

Nate Brown (36:30.843)
Mm. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (36:43.426)
than just the work that they do, right? Which is key. Which is key. Yes.

Nate Brown (36:46.793)
They want to be activated.

Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (36:51.054)
I think everybody at the end of the day, very inside of them, there are a lot of people, the majority of people, who would like to be activated one way or the other.

Nate Brown (37:00.157)
Yeah. And so many people come on to the organization pre-activated because, know, you see the organization from the outside and the promise that it's made. And then you come into the organization and promises are broken. Expectations do not align. You see the dirty reality of the misalignment between what you say you are and what you actually are as an organization. And people just turn off.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (37:06.882)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (37:18.83)
Mmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (37:29.646)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (37:30.473)
But the more integrity you can have on terms of the promise you make and who you are, those core values, your delivery of internal and external promises. that, that fuel is just going to continue to burn and flame. And we see these organizations, the few who have that really strong activation continue to happen. That's where everybody wants to work. They have the top talent and they keep them.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (37:56.31)
Yeah, yeah, because everybody's looking for that, right? A place where they feel part of a cause that is bigger than really themselves. And so on that same line of reasoning, what is really one community or brand that you admire today as far as the work that they're doing to make people belong to something bigger than themselves?

Nate Brown (38:18.901)
Yeah, I'm going to go with that Baker Creek heirloom seeds example. That's such a clear example because their mission is so distinctive and unique. So, I mean, you can really see the concept come to life of community on steroids on something that really matters. So they've got this wonderfully activated Facebook community as an example. They've got some great things that they do on person on Missouri.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (38:22.946)
Okay.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (38:28.192)
I loved it though, yes.

Nate Brown (38:45.791)
to continue to invest on and activate that community on different ways, on ways that represent that variety. But that's where a great community starts, is a really clear, compelling purpose. And then they're uniting people on specific, meaningful ways around that purpose. Yep, yep.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (39:03.83)
I am around that purpose, yeah, absolutely. That's awesome, that's awesome. What would be one piece of advice, Nate, that you would give to those getting started on building something for the first time? If you look back and you remember those old days of the CX Accelerator when Nate was there and Nate was, okay, I'm building something, what would be an advice you would be to people?

Nate Brown (39:26.429)
Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (39:32.64)
or that are just getting started or planning to build a community, like similar to the one that you created, for example.

Nate Brown (39:39.414)
We'll be on absolutely picking up that resource of the business of belonging. That's like required. That'll, that'll answer quickly how to do it. And if you should, but beyond that, get your core, get your core people together. Erica Marois, Jenny Dempsey, Jeremy Walken, Becky Roman, Kay Chapman, the six of us locked on and we did some cool stuff. And if it weren't for the other five.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (39:45.755)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nate Brown (40:09.481)
There's no way that I would have had the energy and the excitement and the inspiration. So, I mean, those five people made such a difference on my life at that time. And there came a sad moment where like, amazingly, all six of us kind of had to like shift focus. And we've actually never quite gotten back to that golden era, but I'm still looking for it. And I know that we can and Erica's back.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:14.381)
Wow.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:29.816)
Hmm

Nate Brown (40:39.165)
What's up Erica? and it's been so refreshing, like having her back locked on, like that's been unbelievable, but you know, I'm still looking for those three, four, five, six people because there's no way that I'm going to daily wake up with the energy to do it. And there's going to be seasons where like, have to kind of shift my focus away, whether it's my family or my day job, you know, whether, whatever it is, there are days where I cannot continue to beat the drum and I've

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:39.876)
Hahaha

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:51.512)
Right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:56.46)
Yeah, it's a lot, right? It takes a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:08.344)
Yep.

Nate Brown (41:08.627)
You got to have somebody else right behind me, ready to go. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:12.876)
Yeah, and that's what makes us humans, right? That's why we also need other human beings to be aligned on the same purpose as we all are. And when you meet those type of people that are aligned to the why and to the purpose and you share that same energy and drive that you have, it's also a beautiful thing to witness. And it's kind of a one on a lifetime experience you meet on friends and.

Nate Brown (41:34.644)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:38.712)
that are sharing that same energy as you have. So that's the beautiful things that you're probably gonna take with you your whole life, right? That experience back then.

Nate Brown (41:40.885)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (41:47.368)
Yeah. And one of the special things that was happening too, that a community should not be centered around one person. That's not a community. And if you can see that one person is really elevating themselves as part of a community effort, something's off. And that's actually, that's one of my biggest fears. Cause unfortunately that I am way stronger associated with CX Accelerator as an individual that I would like to be.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:54.732)
Right? That's not.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (42:04.266)
then that's also not a community.

Nate Brown (42:16.499)
because of that continuity and I happened to be the one that started it. But I am absolutely looking for the right ways to extend truly, to extend the concept and the identity to people like Bryant Richardson, to people like Meyer Wilson, which is on my mind, like the current generation of CX accelerators that like, want them to be getting significant, like good return on the investment of energy they're putting into that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (42:30.798)
you

Nate Brown (42:44.733)
I want them to have a strong sense of identity from their input and their association to that community. And I want to be lifting up a lot more individuals because they're helping. They're, they're adding value. So that's, that's one thing that I've got to find a way to do, to do better is to have it be less of a Nate Brown show. Cause that's just not it. That's not, we're, we're stuck. We're stuck there versus truly giving it away.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (42:55.138)
Right. Right, right.

Nate Brown (43:12.213)
to where others can make it more and more of a universal community that's helping people.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (43:17.162)
I feel you and I share it with you because part of the reason why I decided coming up with the idea of this podcast was for all of us to have a voice, right? It's not only about one person, it's about all of us together, right? And when you mentioned that, it also makes me think that yes, it should be, especially on what we want to do for our communities. A community, it's a group of people coming together.

Nate Brown (43:28.405)
Mm.

Nate Brown (43:32.713)
Yeah, yeah.

Nate Brown (43:43.859)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (43:47.118)
around the same purpose. So it should never be about one person. It should be about all our voices, right? Shared on a way that is meaningful and that we try to kind of share the purpose of why we're doing what we're doing, right? Yep, great. All right, Nate. Usually this is one of the last questions of the show, all right? And it's kind of a four...

Nate Brown (43:54.324)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (44:01.512)
Yeah, exactly. Well said.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (44:17.422)
piece question. Yes, it's one main question on four different categories. It's really me asking our guest to give an advice to these four different group of people. Okay. And I'm going to start with the first one, which is what would be your advice, especially on times of AI where AI is heading

Nate Brown (44:19.273)
Whoa. Okay.

Okay?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (44:44.416)
all the disruption that may cause, because we cannot be blind, there will be disruption, for those people, those human beings, right, that's still on the sidelines around AI, that they don't even know how to use AI, that they haven't heard about AI, what would you tell those people?

Nate Brown (45:05.555)
I would say two things. You should absolutely explore and learn how AI can enhance your capabilities to accomplish the things that matter to you. So, you know, you, I feel like there's a lot of chat GPT hate that's going on. All the, all they know how to do is search and chat. Awesome. No, cool. Start, start there.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:23.426)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:26.734)
Let them be. They start there. Exactly.

Nate Brown (45:29.297)
No, no shame on that. and then, you know, and that's kind of where I've been. And now I'm starting to use it on some more specialized ways, like summarizing a book for me that I didn't have time to read. okay, that, that to me is a little, a little mini elevation, but like, what, what am I, I'm not giving away the farm here person. And my advice to you, keep searching for your why and what matters to you and dive deep into, terms of the things that you can do that connect.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:49.293)
Mm.

Nate Brown (45:58.711)
people and that generate real value and then use these tools as a way to make that happen even faster and better.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (46:08.94)
Yep, yep. That's a great starting point. And I share with you the same. We all need to get on board. and so you usually say this train already left the station. And it's kind of a bullet train because it's accelerating very fast. So I highly recommend everyone, if you haven't used it, start small and little by little start building the knowledge around that because it's going to be needed on the future. Okay.

Nate Brown (46:24.064)
Sure, yeah.

Nate Brown (46:37.278)
Yeah. But I feel like I've been, I've been using small forms of AI for forever. When I edit photos using a batch editing job on Lightroom. Did they, did they call that AI before? No. Did they call that AI now? Yeah, probably. But it always has been. So I don't feel like you need to be embarrassed of where you are and having that little bit of shame that kind of prevents you from, from really trying some new things. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (46:43.276)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (46:47.214)
Right.

No. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (47:02.808)
from getting started, right? I agree. What would be one piece of advice that Nade would give to those tech leaders developing, designing, implementing AI solutions today and on the future as far as ethical guidelines that you would like people to follow at that level?

Nate Brown (47:25.035)
Yeah.

Yes. I'm going to answer this from a customer experience lens because that's where I am. So a lot of times technology groups are hijacking what is becoming the customer experience. And they're doing it on a bit of a silo, a bit of a vacuum on some of these instances. And because some executive is on a war path to check the box of AI implementation, they're not honoring their customers. And I think of Nordstrom.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (47:40.43)
Hmm.

Nate Brown (47:54.997)
And their courage recently to do a significant rollback of technology because they found they were not honoring their customers on the way that they were implementing that technology. They were isolating them. They were not promoting community. They were not drawing them into the elevated experience, the human experience that they wanted. So they took a pause. They rolled it back and they said, we're going to do this on a more thoughtful way. The courage of those executives at Nordstrom. I think is amazing. some somewhere.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (48:21.208)
There you go.

Nate Brown (48:24.874)
There was probably a technology professional that realized I need some more input here and started talking to other stakeholders and other business leaders and started to see the impact and realize we've got to put the brakes on this thing until we know which direction to send the bullet train on. Yeah, that would be my advice. Talk.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (48:43.022)
Yeah, it takes, it always takes courage to do the right thing. And we should be pushing those on decision making and power roles to try to stick to doing the right thing for us human beings as much as possible,

Nate Brown (48:58.015)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (49:04.682)
And it's hard right now. Perception is tricky. There are customer segments out there that hate AI. Hate it. I'll give you this use case. I was at Nashville Innovation Summit last week and Susie Earhart introduced me to a use case where you had a digital AI agent who was interfacing directly with customers for a period of time and was achieving something like an 85 to 90 % CSAT score. It was doing a great job. And then they revealed that it was AI.

And the CSAT score immediately jumped down to like something like 30%. It's like, whoa, what is the same experience? It was just the perception that it was a human versus AI. And I'm a big advocate for we should make it clear to the customer if you're interfacing with a person or a digital agent.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (49:38.766)
Mmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (49:45.068)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (49:52.298)
I agree, I'm all about disclosure. Yes, upfront. Upfront.

Nate Brown (49:56.363)
But the fact that that group of customers punished the digital capability that harshly by 50 points. It's like, is good? So, I mean, these are things that we have to understand and navigate and be talking to each other about, our customers ready for this? Which customers are going to react this way? Which customers do we need to really continue to promote and guide them to human channel?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (50:04.674)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (50:13.742)
Mmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (50:19.404)
What's the risk? What's the risk associated for full disclosure, right? Yeah, it's a concern for businesses. Yes, I can see that happening. I can see that happening. What about governance? What would be your advice to those governments that needs to be right on laws for the sake of our survival on humans?

Nate Brown (50:25.866)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Nate Brown (50:31.552)
Yeah?

Nate Brown (50:38.93)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (50:48.276)
I mean, this is just where I have to be honest and say, I don't know that that is beyond my knowledge to even interject into that convert. I truly don't know. I apologize. Hopefully part four is not above that because forget it.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (50:59.374)
No, it's okay. It's hard to write. But I also see that at the end of the day, governments also share responsibility because for the most part, the loss that will be kind of dictating what will happen and how things will be developed and done on the future, it's part of the loss that will be on place. We will find out, right? The stakes are high.

Nate Brown (51:13.439)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (51:23.872)
Wow.

The stakes are high and the time is now. Wow.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (51:29.272)
the stakes are high. Last but not least, what would be your piece of advice to your younger self? If you look back at the younger Nates on today's era or to the future generation, what would you leave for them today?

Nate Brown (51:47.093)
Yeah.

Yeah. just, just be excited about what you're getting to do. I mean, that that's going to be the biggest differentiator on your career is, is you're that person that unites people that creates community around you. That's elevating people and not just putting yourself up on a pedestal. Cause that's how we're kind of trained to be at least on the United States is to crawl up the ladder and you know, all else be damned. Like it's about me and my elevation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:06.382)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:12.056)
Yep.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:16.259)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (52:19.28)
and my paycheck and, just, I just wish that I had learned even more and even faster what it looked like to be a servant leader and somebody that was able to unite and elevate and promote community on specific ways. That's what I would want to go back and tell myself is, Nate, you're on a good path, bud. Be, be at peace young man. It's, it's going to be, are you ever going to be rich? No, just be at peace with that. But like you're.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:19.39)
I know, yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:28.055)
Yes.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:41.24)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:46.786)
But you're going to be happy by helping others.

Nate Brown (52:49.532)
Exactly. I would have a lot less sleepless nights and a lot less, you know, feeling like I missed out on something or that I'm not what I could have, should have, would have been. No, no, no. I am on my sweet spot as a community builder and as a helpful, helpful person and as a servant leader. And the faster that I can make peace with that as a young Nate, the better.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (53:12.13)
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. think that's a that's a perfect advice for those that are going to be watching this show on the future. Right. And just be there for your peers. Be there for your people. Be there for your family. Right. Think about everybody surrounding you. It's part of your community. It's part of your development. It's part of who's going to be shaping you as a human being. Right.

And when I look at and I think about this question myself, I kind of share with you the same. It's just be there for others, always, right? Without any strings attached, help others to become the best version that they can be. And that will fulfill you as a human being on a way that there's nothing else that can make you prouder.

Nate Brown (53:51.446)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (54:08.942)
of who you are as a human being.

Nate Brown (54:11.742)
I've had so many people that have poured into me on that way. And I'm most grateful to them. Debbie Hummel is the one that immediately pops on my mind. Just an unbelievable mentor that I had at a really critical place on my career, but I've had so many, including absolutely my father. I mean, just continues to be such a guiding force, know, just such a help, a helper to me, a guide to me. Gosh, you know, I'm so lucky to have the father that I have.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (54:28.726)
Yes, that's great.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (54:40.728)
those guiding forces and those mentors that kind of shape you who you are today, right? And they spend time and energy on guiding you through your life, right, without expecting anything back. It's such a beautiful thing, at the end of the day, that you don't find that every day. And we always should be grateful, totally agree with you, when someone is there to lay their hand for you.

Nate Brown (54:52.757)
Yeah.

Nate Brown (54:57.2)
Yeah. Yep.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (55:08.142)
and show you the way or show you the path. Beautiful.

Nate Brown (55:11.23)
Yeah. And I'm so lucky to get to work with Justin Robbins, you know, is doing that for me right now, kind of on a new way. And it's just so exciting, you know, as he's the catalyst for the explosive force that is Metric Sherpa. And I'm just getting to learn so much and be a part of so much through that. It's been awesome. Awesome.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (55:18.584)
There you go.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (55:25.887)
Awesome.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (55:31.828)
Awesome. Awesome. I'm happy to hear that Nate really, really am. And thank you. All right. Really very grateful. We have been talking about being grateful. I'm being grateful today because of you, right? Because of you sharing your humanity with us today. It has been an extremely interesting and exciting conversation. And I do appreciate your time. Really, really do. Thank you.

Nate Brown (55:47.2)
Well, ditto.

Nate Brown (56:01.406)
Right back at you, my friend. I appreciate you making this space and inviting me on. It's an honor. Thank you.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (56:06.562)
Perfect, perfect. So if this sparks something on you, please share the episode, follow the Human Protocol, and join us weekly. And subscribe and follow us along as we keep humans at the center of the innovation. And remember, someone has to write the human story, and this is what this space is about. Thank you all for joining and watching. Thank you.