The Power of Networks and Resilient Leadership - w. David Gow

Discover how you can transform your leadership approach by building strong networks with insights from David Gow, the visionary founder and chairman of Gow Media. David shares his inspiring journey, detailing how overcoming personal challenges like introversion and actively seeking help has led to the creation of genuine relationships and successful collaborations. Learn how community connections and partnerships have been a cornerstone in the resilience and shared success of his ventures.

Explore the rapidly evolving landscape of media entrepreneurship through David's experience. From the traditional roots of sports radio to the dynamic realms of digital platforms like Twitter and Instagram, David provides a front-row seat to the shifts in media and advertising. Hear the compelling story of Gow Media's strategic acquisition of CultureMap and the roller coaster ride of leading a media company through the trials of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the tough choices and sacrifices that kept the team united.

Finally, gain invaluable advice on leading with compassion and building networks that support professional growth. David reveals the excitement of storytelling, the pride in watching colleagues advance, and the essential practice of reaching out for help when needed. We also touch on the delicate process of terminating employees with respect and care, ensuring they continue to feel valued even after their departure. Tune in for a thoughtful conversation on leadership, community, and the profound impact of networks on personal and professional development.

Connect with David:

David Gow | LinkedIn
David Gow | Email
Gow Media | LinkedIn
CultureMap | Website

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Send your Leadership and Business questions to Jon at podcast@leadwell.com.

For more information visit https://leadwell.com

The Leadwell Podcast gives mission-driven leaders principled and practical advice to do just that, lead well.

In each episode, your host Jon Kidwell, interviews leaders with great stories, to share strategies that help leaders navigate complex, confusing, and often down-right challenging leadership, personal growth, business, and workplace culture situations.

Jon is a nonprofit executive turned coach, speaker, author, and CEO of a leadership development company. In working with nonprofits and businesses, big and small, he realized the unique challenges leaders face when they are committed to keeping the mission and people the top priority. Those leaders’ commitment to their principles and the people they lead, plus seeing the need for more leaders who strive to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons, is what inspired Jon to start a leadership development company dedicated to the success of mission-driven leaders and their organiza...

Transcript

Building Strong Leadership Networks

Jon Kidwell 0:00

If you run into a problem, if you need to partner with another business, if you have something that you need, who are you going to call? Have you ever heard the old African proverb if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Today's guest, david Gow, has gone far. He's also gone pretty fast too. He's the founder of Gow Media. He's also gone pretty fast too. He's the founder of Gao Media. He currently serves as their chairman. He has brought businesses from IPO to partnership and still leads there. He is a member of Goose Capital and he is very involved in ecosystem development here in Houston through the Canon Amazing places that bring entrepreneurs and businesses together in a co-location form. And he's going to talk to us today all about the power of building a strong leadership network externally and internal to the business. You don't want to miss it. Let's dive in right now. David, thank you so much for joining me on the Leadwell podcast and talking about why it is so important for us to build networks as leaders.

David Gow 1:14

Thank you. It's great to be here, excited to be here.

Jon Kidwell 1:18

Yeah, so as I was researching and as you shared got to look at, you've built Galmedia, you have built a sports network, you have an ecosystem that you are working on here in Houston. Kind of the thread through all of this is you build businesses where you absolutely must work with other people and other organizations, and can you talk about? Was this an intentional thing? Was this something that you found yourself in after you started doing this? How did you get into where building networks was so crucial to your businesses and to how you lead Well, thanks, ed.

David Gow 1:55

It's great to be here. You know it is interesting. You asked that question because, when I go back to why did we start Gal Media? It was a window of time when I'd sold out of a business and had not figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was wrestling with that question in my probably my early forties at the time and I really landed on three criteria for what I wanted to do next.

David Gow 2:20

But the first one was to be a part of something where the mission of the work exceeded the day-to-day tasks, where we were tied to something exciting and bigger than what we were doing every day. And, of course, when most people look at their day-to-day tasks what they do they're not particularly exciting. I mean, if you're an accountant, you're booking entries. If you're a salesperson, you're making calls. But to be tied to something bigger than the tasks was a really exciting opportunity for me. It's something I really wanted to pursue, and media seemed like a platform, a way to do that, because one of the great things about media is that we can use our platforms to support lots of great causes across the city, and so we do promote, as regularly as we can, wonderful causes that are making a mark and changing lives in Houston, and we love to do so.

David Gow 3:18

So that was one premise. And then the second thing is you talk about building networks, but you can't build a media company without being deeply connected to your community and meeting lots of people and touching lots of bases. And that was certainly true when we got started. We were started purely as a sports radio company. Now, because we're multi-platform and our content sites cover all kinds of topics culture map, sports map, innovationmapcom and what those platforms do, of course, is they connect us to certain communities the innovation ecosystems in Houston, the cultural communities and the charity events of the city, and then, of course, the sports community and the sports fans. So, yes, a part of being in media is being deeply connected to the community and building those networks.

Jon Kidwell 4:11

So what I find so interesting is, as I look at this and I look at you and others, that that build these is the resilience, the collaboration and a lot of the shared success and struggles that come with doing work this way. But what are some of the things that you have found that have been extremely positive, that maybe you weren't expecting going in to being so reliant on and building such a strong kind of network all around gal media and ecosystem development, like you and others are doing at the canon?

David Gow 4:49

the thing is, of course, to build a network. I guess I might say two things. One is you've got to show up and be out and about and be willing to meet with people. Uh, you know I'm a I'm a little bit of an introvert, and so it takes some energy to get out into the workplace and to meet folks, but the energy is always repaid back many, many times over. Every relationship has some real nuggets out of it that have always been enriching and certainly worth the energy that I put forth. And so being outbound and going out and connecting with people is certainly an endemic part of building a network.

David Gow 5:29

But the second thing is that surprised me a little bit, and this one has taken me longer to do. Well is, I hate to admit when I don't have an answer or I need help? I hate to admit that I need help, but what I find is if I go to people and I tell them that I need help, that I'm in a tough spot or that I don't know the answer, that's actually a way to get connected to people, probably in a faster way than if I come in with all the answers. People love to connect with you when they realize that you have some of the same challenges, dilemmas, highs and lows, and ups and downs that they do, and so getting to a place where I was willing to admit my need was another key lever in building a network of relationships, friendships and business acquaintances.

Jon Kidwell 6:22

That is so powerful. I mean, we forget that. I forget that that if I'm the one that likes to give and give and give, that one I need to receive, and two that other people love to reciprocate, just as I do. What are some of the greatest things that have come out of that? When you have said, hey, here is a need. Is it space, is it people? Is it collaboration on events? What are some of the outcomes of you stepping out and saying, hey, I need help in this way or in this area?

David Gow 6:53

I think what's been great for me is this notion that I don't have to feel total responsibility, the full weight of the outcome of the entity, on my own shoulders.

David Gow 7:07

It's been wonderful to have people outside the organization and people inside the organization to feel ownership for outcomes at the company, and I've been uplifted by that, by people's willingness to help and be supportive. You know it's interesting with leadership and thinking about internally in the organization. For a good long time I used to try to walk the halls like I had every answer, like I was the one with all the plan, and that maybe made some people feel like, oh, their leader knows where we're going and that gave them some comfort. But I think equally so, maybe even more so, our team, our employees, wanted to be part of the problem solving effort. So to engage in that way, to say, hey, this is something we're wrestling with as an entity, come and engage with us on how we handle this particular situation or how we chase a particular opportunity it's not always challenges, but it might be a new opportunity and formulate the opportunity alongside us, boy, that inclusivity is really really great for the whole organization.

Jon Kidwell 8:19

And what a powerful awareness at least I'm getting it right now. The reminder of building networks isn't just about building connections to help you, but what you really what I just heard you say is include people in what we are in fact working on, and that creates in and of itself a more well-connected, resilient, stronger kind of network, internal to the organization or external.

David Gow 8:52

Yeah, I don't know, I mean it's an overused expression, but I do believe, uh, people felt like we had an open door policy, that somebody could come in. I mean, I had to temper that a little bit sometimes because you could have a line coming out the door, but especially as an introvert, you probably had like I am open door and in this way, Only these times.

David Gow 9:08

Right, there's obviously a moment where you've got to go off and do your own individual work. But at the same time, I do feel like people felt like we had an open door. There was an opportunity to come and talk through questions about the company and that, I think, enabled relationships and relationships with the foundation for soaring as an organization, and that, I think, enabled relationships and relationships with the foundation for soaring as an organization, and those relationships were something. When I look back on my time at Gal Media, it's the relationships that I find the most fulfilling. It's the people who grew, people who were transformed, people who came in as one person and left as another person. And when I look back, those things transcend the business success. Now you have to make payroll, you've got to be profitable, but to get beyond that and to have something where you can connect with people, build relationships and use that as a foundation for growth, I think that's a really great step for the company.

Jon Kidwell 10:06

I love hearing you talk about doing that with people. That bleeds over into the work that you do. You also have Goose Capital, where you do early stage investment, and this has also led into some of the ecosystem development that you are a part of, especially here in Houston. For those that don't know what that term ecosystem development means, like myself, can you explain to us exactly what that means and how you are thinking about ecosystem development in a community or through a variety of businesses?

David Gow 10:38

You bet. So I think the concept of an ecosystem is simply that if we bring different companies together and co-locate them and create programs that will unite them or enable connections, that by their being together they will accomplish more than if they're all operating independently. And so the illustration of that, as we were talking about, the Cannon is a big innovation hub on the west side of town. There are actually other locations now, some really attractive locations, but the Cannon on the west side of town is sort of the flagship facility on the west side, and one of the great things that happens there to show how ecosystems can develop is lots of young entrepreneurial businesses. Entrepreneurs will come and locate there.

David Gow 11:29

There are educational programs that are very, very useful for these entrepreneurs. There's community building activities, such as the champagne room down at the end of the hall. If somebody closes a big VC round, everybody runs down there at the end of the day. They ring a bell, they drink the champagne, they toast the company and then celebrate wins together and they endure challenges together. And so when you think about educational programs, community building and even things like a mentor network, an angel network, what happens is, by co-locating all these businesses, you create a set of resources that enable companies to scale faster, and that's the benefit of an ecosystem.

Jon Kidwell 12:11

Yeah, it becomes a thing that starts to feed itself, and what I heard you say is that you put all these things together, you guys start to facilitate, but you are really saying that, hey, part of this is we also have to be proximate, like we might have the best intentions, but if we're not actually around each other, doing work or life together, we're not ever actually going to do it.

David Gow 12:36

Well, I mean, I'll just highlight how hard entrepreneurialism is. The highs are really really high, the lows are really really low, and for an entrepreneur to be off in some remote office somewhere doing this on his or her own is really really challenging. But to put that entrepreneur in an ecosystem of other entrepreneurs, I think greatly enhances the probability of success.

Jon Kidwell 13:04

Yeah, absolutely. We start to seek other people, we start to run and be motivated and behave like those that are winning around us, where sometimes we're our own worst enemy, sitting all alone, not closing a deal and thinking that the world is about to end. So, as you are in there and you have these networks, you also have extremely I wouldn't say volatile, but they're just very responsive and connected to the economy and to kind of big wins and maybe fast failures, from media to capital to again building this ecosystem with property. What have some of those ups and downs look like?

David Gow 13:49

Well, the easy one to describe is media in this sense. When we founded Dow Media, we were solely a sports radio station, and that was before Twitter even existed, and so we were in the old media world. And then along came Twitter and Instagram and all these other platforms, and it's just amazing to see how media has sort of fragmented and evolved over the years. I mean, here we are, you're creating a media outlet and you are going direct to the public through your own work. It used to be it wasn't that long ago, 15, 20 years ago that if you really wanted to build audiences you had to be part of a big entity, a broadcast entity.

David Gow 14:34

But now there's been this fragmenting and all these changes and all these new platforms where audiences have gone, and so it's a radically different world, and I would say that it is felt like ever since we started Gal Media, we were always working to catch up to or get ahead of the next trend in media. So here's an illustration when we started, we were sports radio only, but what we perceived is that ad dollars and we were dependent upon advertising dollars for our business that ad dollars were migrating out of old media radio and into new media, digital, and so it was imperative for us to spread our wings and get beyond just radio. You know, interestingly, listenership didn't change that much, according to Nielsen ratings. Our listenership was still pretty rock solid and stable, but the ad dollars were migrating. They love the accountability of digital and they love the shiny new toy that was digital.

Jon Kidwell 15:37

None of us ever liked shiny new toys? No, no, never, never.

David Gow 15:41

So we went out and bought our own shiny new toy, which was CultureMap. Culturemapcom had been around for about 10 years by the time we bought it. It had built a large and loyal following, but they were struggling to monetize what they had built. It was a standalone. It needed to be part of a greater whole, and so to buy CultureMap was a really good move for us, because then we were positioned in front of all those ad dollars coming to digital and it gave us a platform CultureMap did to launch these other digital content sites which we have SportsMap, innovationmap and now Energy Capital HTX. So it's been a good move for us, but it was one that was required by all of the ever-changing landscape in media.

Jon Kidwell 16:25

Yeah, how amazing because, as you said, that whole space has changed and, like us, we have the podcast, which is part of our media thing. We also self-publish a book, all of which was not possible, and you have steered and kind of gone through that entire exchange that I'm sure had a tremendous amount of ups and downs and having to sacrifice what once worked for what may or may not work.

David Gow 16:52

Yes.

Jon Kidwell 16:53

And just the exhilaration and the exhaustion that comes with that.

David Gow 16:58

Well, yes, it's been a bit of a roller coaster, and never more so than when COVID hit, I mean, when you step back and think about it. When COVID hit, a lot of businesses were required to shut down and so, of course, they weren't going to spend any money on marketing. Why would a sports bar say, hey, come in and see us on Thursday night football? Because they weren't even open. So everybody slashed their media spend quite significantly. I think our revenues were down around 45 to 50 percent year over year at the peak of the COVID crisis, and that was a real challenge because we had an inability to make money and we had a lot of employees who were on the payroll, people whom we wanted to have around once we got to a post COVID world. But the question was could we keep them to the post COVID world? Could we hold it all together during that stretch? And that was an extraordinary challenge that required a whole lot of effort and a lot of conversations in the company.

Jon Kidwell 18:02

Yeah, how did it play out for you all?

David Gow 18:07

So I guess I'd say two or three things. First is and I love this about the team we had, but rather the pitch was I went to them and said look, we're going to have to cut costs by about 15 to 20 percent and we could cast out 15 to 20 percent of our employees, or we could keep the employees. Let's not cast them out into an uncertain job market in the midst of COVID. Let's not cast them out into an uncertain job market in the midst of COVID. Let's keep those employees and everyone take a 15 to 20 percent pay cut with the idea of shared sacrifice, so that we would all take a hit in the short term to enable us to keep the team together and avoid casting people out into an uncertain job market. And so that was step one, and then step two. Of course we were fortunate market, and so that was step one. And then step two. Of course we were fortunate, we were able to get into the PPP business.

David Gow 18:58

The payroll protection plan that the government allotted and those two steps some payroll reductions and the government funding enabled us to navigate through that time. But it was still a challenge because, if you think about it, when we wanted to bring the advertisers back when they were ready to open their doors again. We had to sort of resell them. It wasn't sort of hey, let's just roll your plan over to the next year. We had to reconvince them that this thing that they had done previously was now going to be a good thing again, and it took some time. Thankfully, business is back. We're above where we were in 2019, pre-covid. But it took some time. It took well a couple of years to sort of build back the business, brick by brick by brick, and we finally got there.

Jon Kidwell 19:45

I'm curious about your sacrifice and the collective sacrifice and how that kind of really solidified that network at GOW and probably, like you see, in other places. When there is this shared sacrifice, organizations that we work with, who kept people and made sacrifices for that to happen, are reporting higher retention way, different kind of post-COVID employee engagement, everything and is it playing out similar for you all?

Building Networks and Leading With Compassion

David Gow 20:16

It is. We have great retention rates, we rarely lose people, and maybe part of that is the way we went through COVID the shared sacrifice of the collective effort to get through it. I think part of it is we're fortunate to be in media. I mean, everybody wants to be in media, right, in some way. It's fun, it's exciting to be telling the stories of what's going on across the city and so, yes, usually when we get people into the realm of media, they want to stick around unless they're advancing onto a bigger, better platform. We've had guys who were local, who've gone national, and that's always a fun thing to see some of our people graduate that way. But that's a good loss, right, a healthy loss. It's a loss where somebody has really achieved something and we can all take pride in their growth.

Jon Kidwell 21:06

So some of the things that I'm taking away is just the power of building a network, both externally and internally, that in, you know, casting the vision with this greater mission than any of the day-to-day work and and really including and inspiring folks to go that way. If somebody is listening and they're sitting there thinking, oh my goodness, I feel all of the weight of that solo responsibility. There's nothing shared. If I'm thinking, well, you, you're saying to ask people for help or to try to build that bridge, and I don't even have a person, what's something that you would give them as advice or encouragement?

David Gow 21:42

to start, Well, I do believe that there's more help out there than one might naturally think, and going to business networking events, you can stumble into lots of people who are very useful, helpful and thoughtful. I'm amazed at some people who will reach out to me on LinkedIn. We don't really know each other, but they may be a friend of a friend or there's some mutual connection and they're just asking for a cup of coffee, and I think it's hard to say no to people who are just seeking help and who are earnest about it and trying to build a good business. And I think there's more help out there than people believe instinctively, and so I would just encourage everyone to reach out, connect and find ways to build a network and build trusted relationships and folks who can be great thought partners and maybe even accountability partners.

Jon Kidwell 22:41

Yeah, and the way that you and I got connected to do this podcast today was through a mutual friend who is a super connector. A great collaborator said you all got to get together and talk and, by the way, do this show, and so we were the benefit of that as well. And I'm about to ask you what you would say. It is to lead well, but before we do, where would you send anyone that's listening if they want to learn more about Galmedia, about the ecosystem development you're doing here in Houston through the Canon and any of your other work? Where should we send people?

David Gow 23:15

You bet. So our biggest website, gal Media, is culturemapcom and there's something on culturemap for everybody, which is one reason I love that site, because we are covering food, fun, lifestyle, travel, society, all kinds of arts. It's amazing. Culturemapcom is a wonderful resource for the city and where to go and what to do. Pitchmapcom is a wonderful resource for the city and where to go and what to do. In terms of leadership, the number one principle I keep thinking about and trying to implement well is speaking the truth in love. We have to have lots of hard conversations, but I think we have a model for it. It actually comes out of the Bible Truth in love. Lead with affirmation of the people, lead with your connection to them, have a relationship with them, and from that place, from that vantage point, there's an opportunity to speak the truth. Sometimes the hard truth about needs, performance, development, objectives, things that need to be accomplished it all starts with a relationship and that's the foundation that enables you to speak the truth.

Jon Kidwell 24:20

Yeah, Wow, thank you, david. Would you consider that? Your answer to what does it mean to you to lead well is speak. Truth in love, kind heart, truth with care and compassion.

David Gow 24:32

Yes, that is my answer to that question, and I'll give one illustration is that unfortunately, it is often the case we've had to let some people go for different windows of time. They just weren't a fit, and it's strange dynamic. But often maybe this is true in media, but I think it's true in a lot of places when you terminate somebody, when you cast them out, when they're ready to go on to another job, when you decided they're not a fit at the company, there's something in the company where everybody wants to say, well, he or she was never really this, or he or she never did that. Well, there's sort of a collective statement about that person that's somewhat negative, and I think it's in part it's the organization's collective sense that they need to justify why that person's gone, and so they come up with these negative reasons and what we try to do is separate the individual from the decision to terminate them.

David Gow 25:25

And the individual has great worth. We like that person. No one we fired is anybody we didn't like. They're actually wonderful people that are part of our community, but they just weren't a good fit, they weren't doing the right job, or maybe we even miscast them, maybe it was our fault. But the point is is that when we're letting somebody go, we really work hard internally to still honor them as a person and then, even after they're gone, we try to keep them in the fold. We'll have company happy hours, we'll still invite them. We want them to still feel like they're still cared for and important to us as individuals, even if they're not a part of our organization anymore.

Jon Kidwell 26:09

That is perhaps the most powerful example for all of us to end on, because it probably sits viscerally with so many of us in terms of how people are let go. So, for all that are listening, we can take David's example. We can just try to internalize that one thing outside of the other myriad of things that he gave us today that are wonderful us to go do Honor people after they're gone and remember the humanity in it. My friends, thank you so much for being here with David and I today. Be well, lead on and God bless.