Louise Brady 0:00 

Because I think it's all about relationships. I think in life, if you give more than you take, it'll come back to you in spades. That pays dividends, because, of course, when people treat you that way, you're more apt to work hard for them. If

David Novak 0:21 

one of your goals this year is to strengthen your team or shift your culture, you're in the right place. Welcome to how leaders lead. I'm David Novak, and every week I have conversations with the very best leaders in the world to help you become the very best leader that you can be. My guest today is Louise Brady, the co founder and managing partner at Piedmont Capital Partners. They're a venture capital firm out of North Carolina, and let me tell you, you're going to love getting a sneak peek into the incredible technologies they're investing in. You're also going to love hearing how Louise leads, I mean, she is an absolute master at building strong teams and strong relationships. In her words, it's all about people. When you put them first, when you cheer for them, when you go above and beyond for them, it all comes back to you, and not in just fluffy feel good ways, as you're about to see, that kind of generosity can drive serious results for your culture, your bottom line, and your own personal growth. So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Louise Brady,

you know, I'm looking at your office there, and it looks like it's spic and span. I mean, it looks like everything is so together there Is it always like that.

Louise Brady 1:40 

Sadly, it probably is always like this, or usually is like this, because I'm on the road a lot and working from all over the place, sometimes from home, sometimes from the office, but lot of times from a plane or anywhere. With zoom, you can pretty much be anywhere.

David Novak 1:55 

That's true. And speaking of traveling a lot, one place we both travel to is Philadelphia, because we're both on the Comcast board. And so we go down and work out. And I see you in the mornings working out, and I'm doing my thing, which is pretty simple, and then I look over at you, and you're killing yourself, okay, you know? I mean, you really, really go after it. What's that say about the way, how you lead, and how much does just working out really impact you. It

Louise Brady 2:21 

helps me. I mean, daily. I think it's my antidepressant, or whatever you want to call it. Get up every morning and get my my workout in, and I feel so much more effective. And literally, if I wait and do it in the afternoon, it's always a good little pick me up. But my day goes better if I if I start off with it. But you know, as far as how I lead, you know, I think it's with enthusiasm, for sure. I've got a little extra dose of some might call it Pollyanna, but belief and hope and mankind and doing better things. So I just go after it hard. And, you know, if you fail, you get up, try again. So my exercise, I just try to make myself miserable and sweat really bad for 20 minutes, then I feel like I've done something good.

David Novak 3:07 

Now you start now you started Piedmont with one of our mutual friends, Bobby long. What's something you've learned about leadership getting to work with him as a partner for all these years?

Louise Brady 3:17 

Oh, god, that's a softball question. There's nobody better in the world than Bobby long and to be able to work side by side with him from the last 1314, years, has been amazing. We had worked together in the community, so I'd seen him lead in a community setting, but through a business, it's even more fun. He's one of the he's a leader that is quiet and you don't even know you're being led, because he's so nice and so kind, but yet he's wicked smart and and gets what he needs to get done. So he's, he's been a great a great mentor. And I think probably if body Bobby epitomizes anything, it is give people the benefit of the doubt and and work with them and be overly nice, and it usually, it usually pays back where we try to be givers and not takers, if you know what I mean. Yeah,

David Novak 4:07 

I do. And give us a snapshot of Piedmont and the business you two started in 2013

Louise Brady 4:13 

Bobby. And as I said, Bobby and I had worked together in the community on community projects, and we both were at a point where we wanted to do something a little different. I'd come up through banking and then the investment business, and was excited when Bobby said, Hey, let's try to, let's start this fund to invest in smart people and help grow jobs in our region. So that was really the nexus of it is, it was kind of a three legged stool. I get to continue in the investment business. I get to, you know, try to help people and help the community while, you know, doing good. So we, we got started, we didn't know what we were doing, but we, we knew that we both had a heart for it. So we went up to New York and met with Henry Kravis, who I did not know at the time, but I grew up in banking. And back in the 80s, so barbarians at the gate. That book I'm sure everybody remembers, was one that one of the case studies that we had when I was going through the training program at the bank. And so I was expecting Henry to be this big, gruff, you know, grumpy man, and he was nothing, but he was the exact opposite, and was such a sweetheart. Gave me a hug. You know, we're real Southern, so I love that. And we talked about what we'd done in the community, and by the end of the meeting, he said, Look, you guys are in North Carolina. You've got some of the best universities of any state. Go to universities. Most of the technology is being spun out of universities. It's not being created in corporate America anymore. They're just buying it. So go find the smart people. So we did. And, you know, here we are. I think we're about 13 years in and and, you know, have launched another fund, and have had a great time with a lot of smart people and a lot of great companies. There

David Novak 5:52 

are lots of reasons why people invest. Sometimes it's the idea, sometimes it's the people, sometimes it's the vision. What's most important for you that really makes you want to get involved? It's

Louise Brady 6:05 

all about the people. I mean, it starts with people, ends with people, and all the along the way, it's people. You know, if you get it right on the people, if you work with good people, you're going to enjoy what you're doing. And I think if you enjoy what you're doing and you're doing it with good people. Anything can be accomplished. So we start with great technology, of course, but there's plenty of good technology that's still sitting on the shelf and never gets commercialized. There's also, you know, plenty of people that you wouldn't want to work with that have been really successful too. We've chosen, you know, work with good people and together just continue to row the boat, and probably, if we do anything, we're overly enthusiastic and continue to to push our founders. We start companies. And so it's been really fun to just, you know, pull them through the the quicksand and, you know, or part cheerleader, part HR director, you know, part finance director. But I think really, just not giving up and up and continuing is is important, and you've got to have the people you want to be around, to be in the slog like that, to continue. Tell

David Novak 7:07 

me about one of these companies that you started up that you're most proud of because of the success it's had and the difference it's making in people's lives.

Louise Brady 7:14 

I'd probably go to our Alzheimer's drug and this is one that you know, and it's near and dear to most everybody's heart, because we're all affected by it. My mother has vascular dementia, and so it's something we need to solve for America. And we met an amazing man, Frank Longo, who is a physician, and he also was the chair of Neurology at Stanford for 16 or 17 years, and just step down to focus more on the company that we started with now, or that he started, that we helped fund, and it's been an amazing journey. This will be a daily pill that people take, which will stop Alzheimer's, stop the synaptic connection degradation, and we're even hopeful that it will reverse it. He'll probably kill me for saying that. But in mouse model, in mouse models, it has done that, and their brains are very similar to our brains. Sometimes the body translation is isn't as exact, but so we're very hopeful for that one. And it's, it's been interesting, because it's been a virtual company. So we really, kind of, you know, I'm on the board, so, you know, in there daily, working with them, trying to build the business around it, and try to figure out how to to move it forward. Frank is an amazing scientist and leader, and he's managed a ton of people, but he hasn't run a, you know, a business. So we pulled together great consultants, and, you know, with his help, we've been able to get to the point where now, which is getting ready to head into our pivotal trials for Alzheimer's, and looks like we've got the only answer out there. So we're excited when you

David Novak 8:51 

start a business up like that. It's, it's not a straight line. I mean, you know, he has a great idea. You know, he's the horse that can maybe, you know, come up with the cure. But how do you yourself? Just stay the course and keep you know, keep forging ahead when I'm sure there are a lot of times you have setbacks.

Louise Brady 9:13 

Oh, there are setbacks, for sure, I think you have to believe in it, and then you often also have to believe in the goodness of people, I'm gonna give you a great example of that. We also have a battery startup. So everything that we do is something that we're passionate about, something that can change the world, improve the world, make things better for for humankind. And so that's what drives me every day, is like, Okay, I've got to get this cancer drug to market, or I've got to get this Alzheimer's drug to market. Or we've got to solve this energy problem. So the energy problem, let's think about it. China's pretty much, you know, lapped us in in all of the energy transformation. And really, the US needs something, and we feel like we have got the next generation battery. It's a solid. State battery no liquid, so it won't blow up. But we think we have that in our in this company that I'm talking about, but it was not a straight road at all. We started it. It was technology spun out of UNC with Joe DeSimone, who was a prolific inventor and professor, and we actually launched three companies with him right off the bat, one of which was this battery company, blue cart. Well, five years into it, this safe battery we were going after blew up beautifully, and a safety test, I mean, completely blew up. And we're like, Oh no, what do we do now? And the co founder is a gentleman by the name of Natasha balsara, and this goes to working with good people. So he is a professor at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, and is a foremost battery specialist and so well respected. He is such a sweetheart. He's a dear, dear friend. So when it blew up, we thought, we're gonna have to close the company down. And Natasha goes, no, no, actually, we've had this finding in my lab for the solid state, this new battery, and I think that we should put that inside blue current. We said, well, Natasha, you don't have to, because that really wasn't we were what we were funding. Yes, we're after a safe battery, but you don't have to do that. And he said, This is what I want to do. He said, y'all are my partners. Why would I pick other partners when I know how well it is, you know, how well this is running and how y'all are to work with. Those are the kind of people we want to bet on and continue to push and so. And he said, You're crazy to do this anyway, because nobody bets on batteries. It's, you know, it's a graveyard of investments and and nobody's going to want to want to invest with you. And fast forward, you know, 13 years later, and now we've got some fabulous partners, and are on our way to really having the next generation battery,

David Novak 11:52 

fantastic. And you know, speaking of good people, you understand you have this policy, which you call the NOAA policy, or the Noah policy. Tell us about that policy and how you came up with it. Okay,

Louise Brady 12:05 

so that it's no assholes allowed. So excuse my French, but that's what the NOAA policy is. And actually Joe DeSimone, the founder that we spend three companies with out of UNC, he's the one who taught us that, and it is so true. You just need to pick people that you can be in the trenches with, because you're going to see in a in a early stage venture investing, you're going to see every part of somebody's personality, the good, bad and the ugly. And you got to make sure that when they're in the ugly you can still handle it, and that they're good people. And so everybody we pick is is in that in that area. And so it makes it fun to work with them, and together, you just keep digging out of the quicksand and and I think that's led to a lot of our success and bringing things to market that wouldn't otherwise make it

David Novak 12:49 

that's a great comment. That leads to my next question, and I'd like you to share the story of the honey badger.

Louise Brady 12:57 

Okay, so we this is carbon, which is a 3d printing company, and it's the next generation 3d printing. So it's, it's, we say it's like the Terminator is growing out of liquid. So it's, truly, was novel, and Joe DeSimone, that was one of his companies, and we, he showed us in his office, he printed a little square, little ice cube. And we were wowed, like, can you really do that? And we said, Okay, we'll invest. Tell us how much, tell us what you need, tell us what percentage of the company we get. I mean, we were, you know, pretty stupid, naive, but we were so excited about it. So fast forward. We were having board meetings on the weekends with, you know, their spouses were involved. I mean, it was really like a family business. His son got involved and is now the CEO of the company. But we said, well, we need to take it out to California, because we need investment, and we need to go talk to Sequoia Capital, because they would be a great investor. So we carry our 3d printer on a plane, in a in a in a box, and we called it like the honey badger, and took it into Sequoia and had a meeting at 10 in the morning. We took out our, you know, 3d printing. 3d printer printed in front of them. They said, Oh, wow. Can you come back at noon? Came back at noon, printed again. They said, Would you mind coming back at five? And by five o'clock, every partner in Sequoia was in that room, stuffed in there to watch it, because it's, there's nothing like showing somebody live what your product can do. But we called it the honey badger. Everybody's like, what are you doing? You're carrying that box into the into the meeting. And the funny thing was, when we flew it, we never thought about the, you know, like I said, it's resin. It's, you know, that's growing out of liquids. We never thought about the resins and how they would do back in the hold of the baggage. You know, at freezing temperatures, we're like, oh God, we could have blown this whole thing, but it ended up working fine. And and we got investment from Sequoia, and the rest is history. That's a great firm. It was our first unicorn.

David Novak 14:58 

There you go. You know, you. Know, you're such a positive person. You're enthusiastic, you just mentioned that, and you're dealing with these leaders who you really good invested in, and you care about them, and but I have to ask you, you know, you know, what's your decision making process like when you in terms of whether, deciding whether you should push through, or when to really cut your losses. I mean, you know, can you give an example of when you decided, you know, it was time to pull the plug? Or is that hard for you to do? That

Louise Brady 15:31 

is the hardest thing to do. I will say you just, you just picked on the one thing that we need to get better at is letting your babies go. But it's hard when they are your babies and you're so passionate about it. I think when we have decided that way, it's been a group effort, you know, the leader of the company, in addition to all the investors, we don't make it in a vacuum. We're supportive till the very end, but, but there are times when you've either just missed the market and there's a better technology that comes along, or it's just not good enough. And you think it's, you think it's the end all be all. And we have, I have one example of that, which is a company. It's, it's, was it? We took it public. It was called next immune. And the science is great. The people are great. The trials, we went into really, really hard areas, AML and MML, you know, myelomas, and it's the last line therapy. So it was just, it was a very tough trial, and we didn't have enough money, and we should have raised right when we went public, and we didn't. And so we literally were limping along with not much money, and the technology is still great, and we just ran out of time, and so we've closed the company. But it was, that was a tough one, because, you know, that's one of those technologies that will be sitting on the shelf. And I hope someday somebody will pick up the IP and go run with it. Maybe a big farmer will after hearing this.

David Novak 16:55 

I hope they do hear it, you know. And you know, I can't wait to talk more about, you know what you're doing at Piedmont, but first, Louise, I want to take you back to the beginning. You know what's a story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today?

Louise Brady 17:13 

That's an interesting question. Well, there might be a few things growing up, I had an older brother and a younger brother. So always felt like I was, you know, a boy, until my parents we were playing shirts and skins, and my older brother said, You can't play with us anymore. You can't do skins. I'm like, why? I didn't get it. And my dad always said I was his middle boy, and he really did treat me like a boy, a man. So I would read the Wall Street Journal with them, you know, in the mornings. You know, before school, we'd talk about business at night. And so it really was my dad, and I think him not treating me differently. I mean, I was always his princess, he would say, but he treated me just like one of the boys. So from a business perspective, I always kind of had that business mind of of really being intrigued about about business and the way things ran. So I have to give credit to my dad. Hey, everyone, it's cool. We'll get back to the interview in just a second before we do though, I have a question for you. Have you downloaded the how leaders lead app on your iPhone? If you haven't take 20 seconds right now, go to the App Store search for how leaders lead and download the how leaders lead app. In the app every day, you'll get a two minute video that'll give you a leadership insight from one of our amazing guests from our podcast to inspire you and to really get your mind in the right place before you start your work day. So go to the App Store, search how leaders lead. Download the how leaders lead app and start your day, every day with two minutes of leadership wisdom. It'll take 20 seconds go to the App Store, download the app, and you'll be able to watch every day, just like me, the leadership insight from how leaders lead. One of

David Novak 18:56 

the things that I've observed with women in business, and I'd like to get your perspective on this, is that I don't think it should be this way, but what I find a lot of times with women in business is they're really good at making men feel comfortable around them. You know, they don't necessarily wear being a female on their sleeve. You know, what do you think about that? Am I way off base on that? Or what's your what's your perspective?

Louise Brady 19:26 

Obviously, I think to be successful as a woman, it was a lot different back in the 80s when I first started working than it is today. I feel like women have a, you know, a fair chance at being just as successful as men. There was a little bit of the glass ceiling going on when I first started working. Started working. And so yes, you would try to be as kind as you could, and and maybe almost to the point of being sweet and, you know, maybe subservient. But you then had to, once you got in the room, and your kindness would get you in the door. Yeah, then you had to show that you had something upstairs, that you could talk, you know, business and, or had the the fortitude for for the business. So I do think that as women, we're, we're, I mean, we're raised, especially in the South. I'm from North Carolina, we're raised to be kind to people and and gracious and hospitable. So I think that's part of just what comes with the territory and my world. But I can't speak for other women, but I think we've kind of gotten past the hardest parts. Oh,

David Novak 20:30 

that's great. I hope so. You know, for my daughter's sakes and all the women out there in the world are really trying to make it. I think it should be an even playing field, you know. But, you know, you talk about being kind, and here you are in this investment business, and it's a sharp knives, you know, sharp elbow business. I mean, you know, how did you have to grow in that aspect of your ability to get tough?

Louise Brady 20:54 

I'm pretty stubborn. I was born in May, so I'm a tourist. I'm pretty, pretty bullheaded, and so if I believe in something, I'm going to continue to push for it. And that, I think I was like that since I was two years old, so that hadn't changed. But I think you have to know your subject matter, and you have to know what it is that you're talking about to be able to command that type of respect. And so, you know, I just, I really think that it's part of just using not only your, you know, your your niceness, but also moving forward and trying to make sure you keep up intellectually and are learning as much as you can and staying curious so that you can be persuasive,

David Novak 21:42 

yeah? And having that dogged determination doesn't hurt either, right? Yeah,

Louise Brady 21:47 

I mean that if you give up too soon, then, you know, shame on you. You know, were you really that passionate about it? So again, it all starts from the passion level. And once you're passionate about something, you're not gonna, not gonna easily give up. You know,

David Novak 22:01 

you spent almost a decade at Bank of America early on in your career. What was the biggest lessons you learned from, from from that tenure? Yeah,

Louise Brady 22:09 

I was in banking at the most fun time. I feel like it was such a fun time. I was with NC and being nations Bank, Bank of America, and that's back and I was living in Charlotte back when Hugh McCall was running ncmb And Ed Crutchfield was running First Union, and there was this buzz in the banking industry, McCall was literally changing the face of banking, where they were making acquisitions. It was very aggressive, operated very much like a startup, and Hugh was a great person to kind of follow and and learn from I mean, he, he was so passionate about everything he wanted to do. So I feel like I got that entrepreneurial spirit, believe it or not, in corporate banking, because we, you know, we were doing deals, and we were small at the time, so we would take deals up to to McCall's office. And, you know, talk to him about him, and he loved it. He loved being in the game. So it was, it was just an exciting time. And I think that the banking today probably looks a little bit different from the entrepreneurial standpoint, with rules and regulations. So it's, it was a great time to be in banking, and I learned a tremendous amount. Now,

David Novak 23:18 

I understand you used to actually take Fridays off. Tell us more about that. Okay,

Louise Brady 23:22 

well, I'm a mother of three, three very successful children that I'm very proud of. And actually my eldest daughter, who's gonna be 31 next month, is in venture capital as well. When I had that our first child, I was working five days a week, that week at the bank, and I was actually scared. This is back when women weren't, you know, as lucky as they are today to be seen as equal. I was scared they were going to fire me if I if I took too much time off. So I was like, Okay, I want to work four days a week. I just want to take Fridays off. And my manager at the time, I've been so lucky to have strong men and compassionate men as managers and and mentors. He's like Louise, y'all were made to make children. This is this, you are the people that we want to have children, because you're going to raise them well. And he goes, of course, you should stay home on Fridays and and be with your children. And so I took Fridays off after the first child, after the third second child, I was scared to death that they were going to say, Oh, she's got two children. She's not going to come back, which I did. And so I kind of crafted my schedule from that point on. We had a nanny, and she was wonderful. She had raised three boys, and so she was excited at the two girls at the time. And I don't think I would have continued working had I not had Nancy our nanny for a decade, but she was like a grandmother and a friend, and I felt so comfortable, but she had never worked on Fridays either. So it was just this match made in heaven that, you know, she replied to the one ad we put in the Greensboro News and Record our newspaper. So. Um, yeah, but I think it was a it was a great work, work life balance. Yeah,

David Novak 25:04 

that's a great story. And and then you became the VP of investments at Wells Fargo. How did your leadership change in in that new environment? Or did it?

Louise Brady 25:16 

I mean, I think I've always mature, and I hope I'm still growing, even today, I have a lot to learn so but yeah, that was a transition. It was a good transition. My father had always been a broker. He was an institutional broker. And when we moved back to Greensboro with my husband, when he was coming to work for a family business and moved from Charlotte and I transferred with the bank, I started thinking more seriously about it. And so I went to work with dad, but I said, Look, I don't want to be an institutional salesman, because I don't want to sell research and have to wake up every single day to, you know, earn my keep, and I want to do fee based business, which was similar to what I did at the bank, you know, account management, relationship management. So I went to New York, went to the training program, and kind of went into a different side of the business than my dad. We were always partners, but I was independent enough that I said, I want to have my own book of business, and I want to do my own thing. And so we kind of paralleled, but, you know, I spent the next 20 years with most of my bank clients came over and were my investment clients. So, you know, going to quarterly investment committee meetings and managing pools of money and asset allocating all the the smart things that that you have advisors do for your portfolio. And then Bobby says, Let's go do startups where you've got to give up on, you know, this Asset Allocation and Risk Profile, you've got to go on the far edge of of what I'd been doing. And it took a while to learn how to take that risk. You

David Novak 26:43 

know, you're a tremendous relationship person. What advice can you give to people on how to make a relationship work? In business,

Louise Brady 26:51 

that's a good question. I don't know if I'm great at it, but I certainly try, because I think it's all about relationships. I think in life, if you give more than you take, it'll come back to you in spades. And so try to be helpful whenever, whenever we can try to really try to go above and beyond what they would expect. And I think that that pays dividends, because, of course, when people treat you that way, you're more apt to work hard for them. So it's, it's really jumping in and joining the team with them, and there's no hierarchy, and it's everybody working together. And just, you know, if you give 150% then you know everybody else is going to level up. So to speak to want to be that passionate about it. So you just got to keep the dream alive and stay positive and keep rowing. So I'm part cheerleader, I guess.

David Novak 27:42 

But you know, speaking of being positive and optimistic, you know, that's a trait that you yourself have, how do you spread that with your team and the people that you you work with? I mean, what's the key to that? In your mind, the key to

Louise Brady 28:01 

that, you know, exercise every morning, as I said earlier, right at the beginning. You know, when things get tough, if you take the positive path and take the higher road, people start watching. I mean, like I said, I've learned that from my business partner, from Bobby it, and it's really compelling. So the more you do it, the more other people do it. It's like paying it forward. So I think optimism and enthusiasm, it all goes into believing in people and believing in a mission. And if you continue like that, then it's contagious. And I think people want to replicate it. Can

David Novak 28:36 

you tell a story, Louise, when you were dealing with somebody on your team, or maybe someone you were trying to build a relationship with, where they were just negative as hell, and you really needed to help them get an attitude adjustment. You know, how'd you go about it?

Louise Brady 28:53 

That's a really tough one. I think the only way to do that, I can't say that I'm good at that, the only way in my mind that I've ever somewhat been able to do that, is to try to tell a story and put it, put the their behavior or the thing that you would like to change or coach them on into a story of other people and what it felt like, or what, what the the thoughts and reactions were on the other side. And so they see it from a third party. And so sometimes that clicks, and then they can adjust their attitude without you having to go straight to them and saying, you know, you've got a bad attitude or whatever. That seems better than hitting people direct. There are certain people It depends on the personality that you can just go to them and say, God, you know, I love you so much, and I just want you to know that you would, you're a 10 out of a 10 leader. But gosh, if you just, if you added this into your repertoire, and you know that then, then you, you'd be amazing. So there, you know, you can do it in that way too. I just think it's, it's always with the lead of positive, you know, five compliments to one. You. Improvement as someone

David Novak 30:01 

Louise, who gets regularly, you know, pitched on ideas. I mean, you got people coming to you, and you're going to people to hear about their ideas as well. What is the fastest way to get a yes from you and and what are your best practices that that that you you really lean into when you're when you're kind of assessing whether it's a yes or a no. The fastest

Louise Brady 30:24 

way to a yes is to have a an area that we're passionate about, something that's going to change the world. I mean, if it's groundbreaking and change the world, type of technology, then we're hurt hooked from the beginning. If you layer on amazing people and you and you get and you do your diligence and background checks, and you you meet face to face with the with the leaders, enough times to understand them. And I'll go back to that in a minute about Enneagram and how helpful that's been to me, but, but knowing the personality and understanding the person, then that's, that's, you know, two great things, and then you do your diligence, and you've got to make sure that the that their IP and patent portfolio and positioning and all that makes sense in the market, but they hook me the quickest. If it's, you know, the mission that we're excited about, and the people are amazing, then the rest of it, because we can backfill some of the rest of it, as long as as long as they've got something, something unique to work with.

David Novak 31:24 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Louise Brady in just a moment, as we're getting into the rhythm of a new year, it's a great time to revisit my conversation with Larry bosti. He's the former CEO of Honeywell and the expert on execution and getting things done. And

Larry Bossidy 31:41 

I tried to reduce strategy to something that we could be sure to do every time I went to a business and a strategy session, I had a people session the same day. Do we have the people to execute the strategy without that the dead and arrival? And secondly, as I said, we had in what I call an invasive people process, where we evaluated a top 200 people in the company, and then we spent a lot of time in operations. We not only in the budget preparation, but on the execution of the budget. And the more more time I spend on those three things, on the people, the strategy and the operations, the better we got. It's one

David Novak 32:16 

thing to have a strategy if you don't put the structure around it so that you can execute it, you don't have a chance. You don't

Larry Bossidy 32:20 

so lots of people get proud of the big books that they produce on strategy, and they're basically dead on arrival because they have no concept of how they're going to execute it.

David Novak 32:30 

Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Larry, Episode 79 here on how leaders lead. I've heard you say, Dream huge into the stratosphere, then maybe you'll get to the moon. You know, as you look to the future, what's clear to you that's maybe not yet visible to others, that you want to pursue. I think

Louise Brady 32:50 

the energy transition, I think biotech and healthcare, I think we will eradicate cancer and horrible diseases. There will be something else that comes up behind it, like we've got one investment that we loved, and it was, it was such a simple idea. It's called surge. And what they do is, is this brilliant guy, more of a student scientist, and he just kept reading, reading, reading. He said, I think if we can get the T cells, which are the cells that fight cancer when we're doing a surgery resection to remove a tumor, which is the standard of care. Now you have a tumor, cancer, tumor growing, you try to remove it, and then you treat it with, you know, radiation or chemotherapy. But when they're removing it, then what happens? The T cells are going to try to heal the wound, right? Which makes sense. And so they're not fighting off the cancer, so for two or three weeks until that wound heals, they're not doing their job, which is, keep fighting that cancer, that there's still little pieces of it floating around. So his idea is, let's go into the surgery site, put in this gel that's that's treated with with cancer fighting agents, and it signals to the T cells you keep fighting the cancer. I'm sorry, with wound healing properties, so the T cells keep fighting the cancer. The gel fights the incision in the spot, in addition with some of you know, some secret properties in there to help the cancer kind of stay away, then you never have a chance for those cancer cells to grow. We're in four or five indications now, and the results are astonishing, and it could potentially change the standard of care for cancer, which would be amazing. And it's just this smart kid that read a lot and said, I think we can start this company, so following somebody like that and an idea like that. So I think I went off a little bit on a tangent, but that's such a fun story to tell. Anything to shoot the moon that's going to change things for the future.

David Novak 34:58 

And, you know, you obviously. Actually have the passion. What? What have you learned about sustaining the passion? You know, because, I mean, a lot of times it's easy to, you know, you get so passionate at the beginning. How do you sustain it? Because I think that's key. I mean, you know, a lot of leaders, you fall in love with an idea or a thought, and then, you know, the next one comes along and you go to that one, but you don't really sustain something that needs to be sustained. I

Louise Brady 35:27 

think I'm just hard headed enough to want to stick to it until I see it to fruition, or to see it successful. So, you know, remember, if you start with something that you're passionate about, like your kids, you're not going to give up on your kids. You're going to continue to help them along and coach them and make them the best they can be. It's the same thing with portfolio companies and technologies. You've fallen in love with it or you wouldn't have invested in it, and you want to continue to push it until it's, you know, until there's a clear signal not to or until they hit success. And there's always learnings. I mean, I think, if anything, if I learned something, I am passionate about it. I mean, I'm curious. I love learning every day. That's why I love my job. And feel like it's not really a job. It's a pleasure to serve because I get to learn about amazing, amazing technologies and and I can see the future of a world that's even better than it is today. And, and that's what keeps me going. It's I don't I don't fatigue on any of of the companies, because you want to see it come to life. You know, your

David Novak 36:26 

your investment track record at Piedmont is, is pretty amazing. You know, how do you, how do you measure, what are the normal percentage of hits versus mediocre returns, versus investments that lose money compared to I mean, how do you how do you look at yourself within your own industry? Or is that something that you even do?

Louise Brady 36:50 

When we first started, I talked to one of my best friends growing up, her husband's in the investment business as well. So I called him up and said, Hey, can we have a conversation? You know, I'm heading into, you know, the venture business, and would love to just pick your brain for a little bit. And he's the one who told me, he said, Oh, out of 10 investments, you're gonna have one that hits and that's gonna save the day and cover you. You'll have two or three that'll, that'll, you know, be, you know, maybe three to 5x and then you'll have a bunch of losers and some that are just flat. But it's that one, out of 10. And I was like, I'm going to have nine out of 10. That's, I don't want one out of 10. But as it works out, I mean, looking back, it's, I think we're doing better than that, but you do the earlier you get in, and you've got to be able to take a stake in a big position. Those are the ones that really are going to juice your returns going forward. I mean, you have to continue to to have the fortitude to continue investing and continue, you know, supporting the company, and we're hoping that maybe we'll be five out of five, and that would be great, not not all at 100x but, I mean, you might have one huge hit like that. But I think if you can consistently pick the winners, you don't have as many of the losers or zeros in there.

David Novak 38:06 

So if you, if you are going to make 10 investments in today's world, what do you think, for you and Piedmont is, what's, what's the hit rate? What would you say? You would say is good

Louise Brady 38:20 

if I don't think it's 10 out of 10, we wouldn't make the investments, yeah,

David Novak 38:24 

but you don't always, that doesn't always happen, right? I mean, so if you look, if you step back and look at it, you're going for 10 out of 10, what do you end up with?

Louise Brady 38:32 

I mean, they're probably six out of 10. That are still great companies, yeah,

David Novak 38:37 

that's, that's very, very good. That's incredible. You know Louise this, this has been so much fun, and I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. So are you ready for this? Absolutely bring it the three words that others would use to describe you, positive, kind, supportive. If you could be one person beside yourself. Who would it be? That's a really

Louise Brady 38:58 

good one. It might be Elon Musk. I'd love know what goes on in his head.

David Novak 39:03 

What's your biggest pet peeve when people give up, who would play you at a movie?

Louise Brady 39:07 

Maybe Princess Diana. Everybody says, I look like Princess Diana. You do what's

David Novak 39:11 

a hidden gem of North Carolina? Oh,

Louise Brady 39:15 

I think our hidden gem, the people, everybody's nice.

David Novak 39:20 

What's the one thing you do just for you exercise? What's your most prized possession, my family, if I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?

Louise Brady 39:28 

You'd hear Bloomberg.

David Novak 39:30 

What's something about you? Few people would know I'm

Louise Brady 39:33 

pretty much an open book, maybe that I love classical music, the

David Novak 39:38 

one I think I know the answer to this. But one of your daily rituals, I'll change it, one of your daily rituals, besides exercise, something that you never miss,

Louise Brady 39:46 

that I never miss, eating while I hope that's

David Novak 39:49 

great. You did a great job. We're out of the lightning round. We're gonna wrap this up after a few more questions. Here you have three grown kids. What's a leadership lesson you pulled from the. Office that you would use to lead at home. Quotes

Louise Brady 40:03 

from other people, examples from business people often send them articles and examples of either kind people, good people or great leadership. You know,

David Novak 40:15 

I've heard people talk about success, either when you have it you either you grow or you swell. What do you do to stay? Louise Brady, because, you know, you definitely grow, and you're so humble, and you're so giving, you know, how do you, how do you do that, given all your the success you have, how can you, how can you avoid the, you know, stopping, you know, smelling your own perfume. Well,

Louise Brady 40:41 

the people that I'm around, I am not successful by any means compared to them. So I'm a small chip on that big battleship. So it's surround yourself by good people, and you never feel like you're you've ever stopped needing to learn and get better?

David Novak 40:57 

You know, you've been a part of several boards. Tell me about a time when you made an undeniable impact, because you were in that seat and you were in that room,

Louise Brady 41:09 

I would say, potentially fighting for people and and compensation. I chair compensation committee and really fighting to pay people that deserve to be paid at the highest level, and upgrading an organization

David Novak 41:28 

you have so many access to leaders through your investments and the boards that you're on, people you work with. You know, what would you say are the top three traits, you see, and the very best leaders,

Louise Brady 41:43 

oh my gosh, humble would be one, quiet leadership that might kind of go under. Humble givers, not takers. It's all the things that I aspire to do and and very gracious. And, you know, kind, gracious people, people want to follow good people. So,

David Novak 42:05 

you know, I know you're on the the Windham board, and I know you've worked with a friend of ours, Steve Holmes. What do you think he does as a leader that helped him build such an empire in the in the hotel business? Oh

Louise Brady 42:17 

my gosh, Steve is the best of the best. I love that man, and I respect him so much, because he's been an incredible leader in so many ways. But I think what his superpower is he came up through the CFO office and then became the CEO, and he is an amazing, amazing strategist, and has his acquisition history is unparalleled. And not only is he smart enough to put together interesting deals and get things done, then he assimilates them into the organization so well, because he has such good culture set such great culture, and it's really even continued on the next generation, as we split Windham into Wyndham hotels and travel and leisure. So

David Novak 42:57 

Louise, now you're looking forward, and I know you're excited about the future. You know, what's your unfinished business?

Louise Brady 43:06 

Everything, everything. I've got so much more to do. People ask me all the time, when are you going to retire? I was like, retire. I don't even feel like I'm working. I don't have the time of my life. I'm learning every day you're not

David Novak 43:17 

even close to retirement age. Come on.

Louise Brady 43:19 

No, I have a lot of unfinished business, a lot to learn. You know, I don't think I'll ever stop until there's nothing I can learn. And when is that going to be? We all have something to learn, so as long as I'm learning, I'm working. Is

David Novak 43:31 

there one thing, though, is there one thing that you say, Geez, you know, this is what I really want to make happen in my life. I think

Louise Brady 43:39 

Alzheimer's would probably be it because of all of the familial connections, and knowing that it my, my dad's twin sister died of Alzheimer's. So I think, you know, maybe selfishly, because I'm staring down that barrel, potentially, I'd love to eradicate that horrible disease.

David Novak 43:57 

All right, last question, what's one piece of advice you'd give to anyone who wants to be a better leader. Listen

Louise Brady 44:02 

to David Novak's podcast. Except for this one,

David Novak 44:09 

you got to come up one with a little better one than that. But I liked it.

Louise Brady 44:13 

I think that's the best one following your footsteps. I remember you coming to Greensboro and speaking with us with your rubber chicken. I mean, it's follow smart people like yourselves and try to take a little bit of tips from them. I'd steal a tip from Alan Mulally all the time, which is, I just love to serve. And that's the way he led his companies. And he's a he's a great one to follow as well. So learn tips from others people and be aware and then adopt them. Louise,

David Novak 44:41 

you are such a role model for being someone that is kind, someone that is so accomplished and had done so much, because you're just so talented. And you know, the being positive. You know, I've always found that if, if you smile, other people will smile. And you know. When you walk into a room, that energy spreads because of your smile and the enthusiasm that you bring to the party. And I want to thank you for being on this podcast and sharing your insights. It was great. Thank

Louise Brady 45:13 

you, David, thanks for having me

David Novak 45:20 

listen. I know it's easy for me to sit here and talk about going above and beyond for people and being generous with your time and energy, and let's be honest, Louise, makes it look really easy, but you and I both know it's not in the pressure of any given workday. It can be really hard to go that extra mile and stay positive for your team. But let today's episode remind you, when you invest that level of effort into your team, it comes back to you. It's a boomerang. It's how you attract good people. It's how you get those people rowing in the same direction, and it's ultimately how you accomplish incredible things this week, find one way that you can go above and beyond for someone on your team, give that extra bit of effort to show them you care. As Louise says, when you set the example, everybody else is going to level up their effort too. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders go above and beyond for others. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead, where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business, so that you will become the best leader you can be. You.