St. Paul Area Chamber 2021 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist with B Kyle

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Episode 139 — St. Paul Area Chamber 2021 Chamber of the Year Finalist with B Kyle
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: B Kyle
Editorial review: Chapters verified against source segment markers; audio not independently checked.

00:00.83 Brandon Burton
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:14.506 Intro Voice
And now your host he would like to know if your chamber has a podcast. He's my dad Brandon Burton.
00:24.024 Brandon Burton
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast, where it's my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. Our title sponsor for Chamber Chat is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It's a common problem, and one that our new title sponsor, Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions, knows a lot about. Doug and Bill Holman aren't just sales consultants, they're real life chamber guys with twenty plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else, and they're ready to put that knowledge to work for you in your chamber. Call the Holman Brothers today at six one nine eight five two one three nine one or check them out at HolmanBros.com. That's H O L M A N B R O S dot com. You're joining us today for another one of our 2021 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series episodes. And for this episode, we have B. Kyle with us. And B is the president and CEO of the St. Paul Area Chamber. And as the president and CEO of the St. Paul area chamber, B represents more than 1,700 twin cities companies and champions a diverse business community. To create an economically vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive region. Now in her fourth year leading the chamber, B is leading the chamber into a new chapter of growth and transition. The St. Paul Area Chamber offers members of all sizes and industries, as well as nonprofits and government organizations, a voice, opportunities to engage, and exceptional programming to grow leaders, drive progress, and build capacity. All while cultivating relationships to create connections that count. Of prime importance is the idea that a vibrant economy depends on an inclusive business framework, one that works in partnership with the community. B graduated from the College of St. Benedict and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. Prior to her work at the chamber, she spent 11 years at the St. Paul Port Authority, ultimately co-leading its development work in St. Paul on projects such as the Treasure Island Center.
02:48.354 Brandon Burton
CHS Field and the St. Paul Police Department's Public Safety Training Facility and Major League Soccer. In 2020, she was recognized by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal as one of the top 10 most admired CEOs. B, I am excited to have you with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast. I'd love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
03:18.104 B Kyle
Well, good morning, Brandon. It's a delight to be here with you. So thank you. something interesting about me. I am a Minnesotan. Most so many of us here install the homing chip in our children. So when we leave Minnesota, we come back as adults, which is what I did. My military service was overseas and I came back home. But something interesting I guess is that I was born in Saint Paul, but I didn't actually come back to Saint Paul until two thousand six when I joined the Port Authority. and a secret passion of mine is Latin dancing and West Coast swing.
03:56.298 Brandon Burton
All right. So I will say that installing that homing chip on everybody that's great for for your workforce development and everything in the future. So as you bring them all back.
04:09.004 B Kyle
That's right. Raise babies here and raise the next generation of leaders here. We love that. We do that well in Minnesota.
04:14.378 Brandon Burton
That's right. Well, take a moment to tell us a little bit about your chamber, kind of the size, staff, budget, you know, those sort of things, just to help us gain a better perspective as we get into our discussion today.
04:29.176 B Kyle
Sure. So the Saint Paul St. Paul Area Chamber of course represents the capital city. We are a hundred and fifty-three years old and the state is only a hundred and fifty-eight years old. So we have a great history in the region. we today are a three point five million dollar seventeen hundred member and affiliates, which is an interesting conversation in and of itself organization. And we you know we count among our members some of the world's largest companies like 3M. headquartered here and some of the smallest and newest in the entrepreneurial and startup space. we had nineteen staff and we focus we you know we focus what chambers do, policy, development, you know, engagement with the community and and government and bringing ultimately our goal really is to unite business for good in the region.
05:22.946 Brandon Burton
Very good. So you kind of drew a little bit of attention and moved over it with the the seventeen hundred members and affiliates. Can you take just a moment and tell us about the affiliates?
05:34.764 B Kyle
Well, sure. I speaking to other chamber folks, the challenge for all of us is preparing for the future. And in this region, you know, we have thirty chambers of commerce. We're the sixteenth largest metro, and yet we have thirty chambers of commerce and we have a regional economic development entity, Greater MSP, which is you know extraordinary. So we've got a lot of divided attention, divided resources. Alternately it's also great Main Street focus. when you've got a chamber that's local to a community, that chamber knows the community better than anybody else. We also have upwards of eleven cultural, culturally specific chambers in our region. So we have real opportunities and what we're focused on is excuse me for being esoteric for just a minute, but the idea of abundance versus scarcity. You know, I my observation as a relative newbie in this space is that we chambers tend to be afraid of one another. That you know, working together will re the bigger one's gonna somehow win and the smaller one's gonna somehow lose, you know, membership, market share, whatever it is. And right now, because things are so stressed, that that concern is even greater. And that's that whole scarcity mindset that if you do well, I do less well. And so I really wanna stay as far away from you as I can, so I'm not impacted by your your activities when instead what we need is this idea of abundance, which is we all do better when we all do better. And partnerships are where it's at. So we don't compete for members, we simply affiliate with organizations. So we together are bigger and better. So right now we've affiliated with cultural chambers, specifically the Minnesota Hmong Chamber, the Minnesota Black Chamber, and we're working on more. We've also affiliated with some geographic chambers in the area such that We can maintain our independence and our identity and our focus on our particular issues and then we collaborate regionally for business development, policy work, economic development, et cetera.
07:41.132 Brandon Burton
Very good. No, I I'd love seeing chambers that can work together and play nice. I mean
07:46.254 B Kyle
You you understand the drivers that want to keep us apart. it just requires courage really to do some things a little differently.
07:55.33 Brandon Burton
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to our discussion today. Again, as we're continuing our Chamber of the Year finalist series, we'll we'll dive into the the program synopsis you guys put on your application for Chamber of the Year. so we'll we'll get into that as soon as we get back from this quick break. Are you looking for a year round affordable and timely shop local campaign for your chamber or CVB? Look no further. Build a custom Eat Shop Play Mobile app with App My Community by visiting AppMyCommunity.com/chamberchat. App My Community mobile apps are not just simple membership directory listings, they provide many more capabilities to engage with your community. Provide your residents with a robust events calendar, partner with a local fair, festival, or farmers market to provide a schedule, map, and other resources to promote the event. Run a small business Saturday campaign any time of the year using built-in scavenger hunts. Allow your membership to communicate directly to their customers via push notifications. Your App My Community mobile app will be a unique member benefit, allow you to generate non-dues revenue with sponsorship opportunities, and best of all, provide a valuable resource to your community. Please visit AppMyCommunity.com/chamberchat now and To receive ten percent off your first year of an app my community mobile app. All right, B, we are back. I'd I'd love for you to touch on what the two program synopsis were that you guys submitted on your chamber of the year application. And and and we can circle back and and have some dialogue about each one and and some follow-up questions as well. But what what's the the first program that you would like to to touch on?
09:52.962 B Kyle
Sure. well so this year the application asked for two synopsis, one of which was to be COVID response related. So our COVID response related synopsis was our strategic communications plan. pandemic hit us so suddenly. March twelfth we were in person in business. On March thirteenth, we were a hundred percent virtual. It was that fast. members were overwhelmed with news from sources and all over the Not all of them credible, frankly. So we established daily sit reps, hearkening back to my military days, situation reports or daily updates. So we ran sit reps to communicate with the broadest community on what was happening that day. Ultimately they became weekly. What was kind of a summary of the work in the past week to help our members who were frantically trying to p adapt and pivot their businesses? We helped them keep track of the relevant news. And issues and grant opportunities and resources for them. So that was the COVID-related synopsis. It was a significant body of work. And then our the other synopsis goes to a significant body of work that we've been building for the last four years, which is our equity leadership continuum. Essentially, we we've had a kind of a standard in our leadership program. I know a lot of chambers have, we have a one called Leadership St. Paul. So we used LSP as our model for equity leadership continuum, a survey a cert series, a summit, and ultimately a CEO small group to provide training, resources, and development opportunities in the space of equity leadership. And then ultimately you create allies that you send out into the world and are connected by the work and the philosophy.
11:47.41 Brandon Burton
I love that. And I think more and more we're seeing the spotlight being turned on the diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I love that you guys are taking that to a leadership level and having that be kind of the top down with organizations. and and even the the the COVID response plan. I'd I'd like to learn more. maybe we can circle back to that, your strategic communication plan. as you were kind of giving that that brief overview, I I I I I'm trying to think of a better term than PTSD because I'm kind of feeling that, you know, that trauma that came back from those first few weeks of, you know, information changing every hour as far as you know, what what's coming out from the governor, from the, you know, county judges. CDC, I mean there was constant information flowing from various different sources that I mean talk about you know drinking out of a fire hose I felt like there was you know 20 fire hoses on all at once. so how did you guys as a chamber digest that information to get it out in a meaningful way to your members
13:07.512 B Kyle
You know, it's it's kind of funny you asked that question because when we were asked to identify a COVID related response and I knew immediately what we did, I almost felt apologetic because it was gosh golly, it wasn't special, you know, it was simply collaborating, coordinating, drilling down, you know, and yet it was huge in so many ways. Number one, if you think about Jim Collins, you know, good to great, the hedgehog concept. What do you do really well? I'm That's what I'm built to do, communicate, drill down, arrange, organize, and then communicate back in understandable pieces. That's my natural space. So I'm naturally inclined to collect in data and then share it. And then the noise from the members of confusion and panic and and we were feeling it. We thought, my gosh, if we're feeling inundated, that means everybody else must be too. So we I at first it felt a little apologetic, but then when we paused and thought back on the value that was provided through it, not only in that we organized, but we sifted and we were kind of a trusted analyst as it were, you know, kind of a consultant to help wend through the noise. And we tried to be as just as straightforward as possible outside of partisan agendas about what was happening with the CDC, what our state was doing, resources that were available. and cut away some of that so people could just clearly see the information. That was absolutely critical. And it it took up I mean, this isn't something that you can delegate. because I sit in the meetings, you know, with the governor's team and this the C D C and the city and the county folks and getting all the reports and all the information. So nice talk you deal with media and what they're the information they're clay collating and bringing in. Then we hear from the members about what their needs are. And so an organized place to put that. And then we had to figure out how to coordinate that and how to communicate it out. Took a lot of time and the hours of just sifting through it were really significant. But it was a w it was well suited our skill set and my natural inclinations. And it proved to be of such benefit that that though I'm inclined to dismiss it as, you know, gosh golly, kind of a simple thing, it was
15:28.066 B Kyle
significantly impactful and therefore it was a good thing to do, right? Yeah.
15:32.95 Brandon Burton
Yeah. so do you guys still have any kind of those ongoing maybe monthly briefings, or is it kind of slow down to where it's less frequent or just as needed, or kind of where are you guys at today as we record this mid-July?
15:49.902 B Kyle
I'm in July twenty twenty one. So we again, this is my natural bent. And so we've morphed them into my weekly blog, It's Our Business. We also do a podcast called Table Talk. We also do a where in the area is be getting out with the video, doing pop ins on companies and giving snapshots through our social media channels. So we still continue it. And of course my team has to edit me for brevity because there's so much out there I want to share that they're like, Cut it down, B, take a little bit less. They don't need to know everything, you know, settle it down. And so we continue to do that and try to be a little tight and and concise with what we're sharing.
16:29.11 Brandon Burton
That's great. and I think, you know, there's a little bit of fatigue, you know, that came after a while where it's like another, you know, another piece of news and more information. I'm glad things have have calmed down a bit as far as the information flow. so tell us more about the the equity leadership continuum and what does that program look like you know as you get these leaders involved. I know you talked about different segments that you have throughout the program. just share some more detail with us on that.
17:03.67 B Kyle
Well this actually started with in my mind the and to some degree I'm looking back on this in retrospect because when I started this job, I was not a career chamber leader. I came from the private sector and then doing economic development. So I participated and sat on board cham chamber boards, but I was new in leadership and so I spent a lot of time trying to understand the role of a chamber and that value proposition to members because we're a capital city. So we have members we have three million employees represented by our companies. I mean that's just madness. Now given I count three M's employees and they're not all in Minnesota. But the voice of the company and the employees represented is significant. And then I've got startups who sometimes think, gosh golly, I'm too small for you. and so which simply isn't the case. So Going back to what what does a chamber do and what's my role as a chamber leader? And it was exemplified in what we did when we started is in number one, you certainly need to listen to your members and represent their voice. So case in point, I joined. I know our market is all about transit investment. We've been doing, we've been investing billions in light rail, bus rapid transit, ABRT lines, really being strategic through our Metropolitan Council on regional transit plans. That's what our chamber wanted to talk about. We'd we had spent years investing in that. In fact, my predecessor had been the previous governor's chief of staff. So I'm walking into the footsteps of a tremendously talented guy, Matt Kramer, policy wonk, really thoughtful and trans. He loved talking about transit. I get it in I get hired and I have a different skill set, really. And the board was saying, We need to talk about transit. That's our top pro policy priority. And I said, Yes. And We also need to go to play I I also need to find a way to take our membership to the places that I see we need to go moving forward. There's that balance representing the current voice and taking us where we need to go. I harking back to Henry Ford, you know, when people he said of in committee, if I would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. Yeah. So to some degree, yes, you listen to what the people are saying now and you need to think about where we need to go and s and do so at a pace.
19:30.784 B Kyle
and in a way that brings people along rather than alienating them. And what I said at the time was transit's really important, will continue to be an important piece of our policy agenda. And we need to be investing in equity and inclusion. What does that look like? You know, if we look at our state twenty four percent population is is BIPOC community, that a higher percentage of them are unemployed than our folks in the white community. That means we had people sitting on the benches. not being at a not being fully engaged in a state whose organic demographics indicate flat growth, our growth is coming from immigration, our growth should be coming from the higher de levels of unemployment. A way to achieve that is through our diversity, equity, inclusion work. If we're just just if we're defined as the white chamber, that means we only speak to one sector of the marketplace. That's that's a that's a problem. And for us as a region, as a country to succeed moving forward, we have to be thinking about how are we including, how are we engaging, how are we understanding what that looks like? And so we I said we need to be investing in this equity inclusion work. So we so we began. What we already had was a Leadership St. Paul program. So we built a series, we created an annual summit, and then of course the CEO series that we just brought on this year. The whole idea is Change requires and and actually then we line committees to do this work so we get people plugged in. You know, our tagline is we create connections that count, which means if we're uniting people for business for good, they need to plug in and be engaged and be involved. People are looking for ways to lean in. Committees around DEI, we took two different committees. One is the equity committee, which is the head and the heart of the work. What do I think? What do I believe? What am I learning? How am I growing? And that's important work and a separate committee around the hands and the feet. What are we doing? How about supply chain diversity? How are we creating intentional networking opportunities? And those two committees have driven the work and then basically we need to market this equity leadership continuum to speak to our members and allow you to plug in at whatever place works for you and your company.
21:47.884 Brandon Burton
I love the the line that you said, creating connections that count. And as you're talking about the community growing from immigration and things like that, it reminds me of the quote you you mentioned the Henry Ford quote. And and I'm not sure who to attribute this one to, but the the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. And the second best time is today, right? So if you want that tree in the shade and the fruit and everything that it has to offer, you can't wait until the need is there. But you need to be forward thinking and and plant that tree now, grow those roots, strengthen them and show these other parts of the community that maybe not have not been addressed as as well in the past. Show them that they are part of that root system and that they can grow and flourish and be a part of the community.
22:37.366 B Kyle
there's no doubt about it. I mean and and by any measure, this is just the chambers catching up. I mean, the chambers aren't being we are not being terribly progressive and stepping into space. We're catching up to what is being asked of us candidly. And our app our option is adapt or die. We have two paths forward. The way of the no longer relevant organization and the way of one that involves us to adapt and change and learn and grow. We don't have to lose our identity, which is all about the voice of business, the voice of commerce. But there's an and there because we also understand as we grow in our own understanding about we grow in our understanding about how communities develop. In order to have a vibrant business community, you need a strong community. In order to have a strong community, we have a you need a vibrant business community. One of the one of the key markers of this region is a really strong philanthropic vent. You have business, we and we have really strong, you know, we've got 17, I think we have eighteen now, Fortune five hundred companies here. very invested in community. And when those two aren't here, and these company leaders tell me in other markets it's not here, in other countries particularly, and they have a harder time succeeding in business without a thriving community. So there's a lot of investment in both. And for us to learn how to particularly in the light of George Floyd's murder last year, right? I mean, we are the flagship for what goes wrong. And how do you adapt? And going back to your I analogy of the the tree, the best time to deal with social justice is I don't know, two hundred and fifty years ago, shall we say. The second best time is today. And we have a real opportunity to do things differently. The the BIPOC community has what we call the there's this hopeful skepticism. All right, this is kind of a hot topic now. DEI, everybody wants to talk about it. Is it gonna last? Is it for real? And that's the challenge for us. Yes, we have to adapt. Yes, we're paying attention. Yes, we're still frankly catching up in this space. And the question is, will we sustain it? And we're committed to that.
24:50.068 Brandon Burton
And it's yeah, like you said, the hopeful skepticism. It's we've all heard the analogy of, you know, being in invited to the dance versus being asked to dance, right? So you can ask them to come, but until they're a part of it and actually, you know, have that buy in and and fully engaged, there's always going to be that skepticism until that happens. So
25:14.744 B Kyle
Well, in Minnesota, so this is so perfect that you brought that example up. The phrase the table. So our podcast is called The Table. We use the we use the visual the table specifically. here's what I know in my philosophy. Words in the beginning was the word. Words create reality. The words you use shape the words other people use. The words you use create the reality you want to lead into. So we're very intentional. When I started with my board, I said, Look, we're not a team. This isn't a huddle. We're not a club, we're not a group, because the image that comes with it is closed. We're inside in a circle. And the unintended consequence of that is that there are others. There are opponents, that there's an us versus them, a we versus you, an in versus out. And instead we talk about standing shoulder to shoulder as journeymen heading in a similar direction. And suddenly people who are outside of our circle will look around. Gosh, they're heading in the same direction. Isn't that interesting? Hmm. Makes you think differently. When we talk about I lost my train of thought. I'll get back to it. Forgive me, but the whole idea the the language that we use to create change has has to do with the table. We use a table because in Minnesota we we joke about ourselves where we are a very well connected community, which sometimes makes it hard for newcomers. In fact, newcomers tend to hang around with other newcomers. And they say Minnesotans will give you directions everywhere but to their own home. Okay. So when you think about Thanksgiving and you imagine everybody's at the table and your cousin shows up with a friend, what does everybody say? Hey, welcome. Come on in. Everybody scooch. And you just see it in your mind's eye. Your mom's got to scooch over and your cousins are fighting and they're and they make room at the table. And that new person sits down and says, Well, pass the potatoes. So we talk about scooching. Here we talk about making room at the table and we use the table as a theme to indicate what you said about being invited versus asked to dance. We make room at the table and we scooch. And that we've got to make it so personal that you feel invited to Thanksgiving dinner as opposed to standing on the outside. Because that's how change happens between us two people talking.
27:34.028 Brandon Burton
I love so obviously I'm a fan of podcasts. I love that you guys do a podcast. I love what you said about words create reality and the whole idea of scooching and the the intentionality of the name of your podcast. It's awesome. I mean, you guys are I love it. and I'll I'm gonna reference your podcast in the show notes. So if anybody wants to check out the podcast and see the format you guys are doing that, we'll we'll link to that. But I wanted to ask you, and it may not be anything that was on your Chamber of the Year application, but as long as I have you on the show right now, you guys have kind of risen to the top of the chamber game as a chamber of the year finalist. And from your perspective, what is it that makes the St. Paul area chamber stand out? What what are you guys doing that maybe most other chambers aren't doing?
28:28.462 B Kyle
Well, that's a really good question. It's fraught with pot with potholes. You what? You ask the question, I promptly say what I do well, I'm gonna fall into a pothole. and and that's where I spend a lot of time thinking. Because it's very easy to get distracted and diffuse and noisy with lots of things you're doing, but people don't have a clue what you're doing because there's so much it's noisy, right? And so I I think the what are you doing to make yourself unique is the question for each of us as an organization. And it isn't maybe it's a thing, you know, maybe it's your policy work, maybe it's your, you know, whatever it is that you're that you do better than anyone else. I'm going to go back to Jim Collins' book, The Hedgehog Concept in his good to great. And the question to ask yourself, which I've been asking myself and our team and our members, what do we do better than anybody else and monetize that? Right. So boy. So we've done a couple of things. One that's I'll talk about this ancillary thing before I get to the core questions. What we've done in terms of the question about revenues diversification, which we do quite well. In fact, had we not had this equity leadership continuum work be so ragingly successful, our synopsis would have been about a work stream concept. So what we do well is run chambers. I am a I'm an operations fiend. It's what I did well in military. It's what I do by nature. I'm a get it done kind of person. And so we operationalize, we mobilize, we organize, we teach. And so we have monetized our operational excellence. So we other chambers hire us to run their chambers for them, like an association management company. You know, we don't take on their identity, they don't become part of us, we simply serve them. Because we have this great machine. We do that better than anybody. So that's one thing. And it speaks to operationally what we do well that we can sell. As an organization, again, this feels a little humble, but it's it's true. And I you know, all you got is what you got. We have extraordinary authenticity. I would say that's what defines us. Which means sometimes that we're up in front of people in our slip. I'm I'm an introvert. I don't really like being in front of people.
30:50.17 B Kyle
I like this one on one thing. So maybe people will listen, but that's good. All I feel is you and me. So we'll get so if you think about what you do best and what we do best is approach our work with a great deal of authenticity. A lot of the times I feel like I'm up in front of people in my slip, which is very uncomfortable. you see the mistakes we make, you see the areas that we don't know, you see the areas where we're continuing to grow, and then we invite you in to help us do that. really candid about frankly when we need you and if we're uniting business for good, it requires that you unite with us and lean in and roll up your sleeves. And so that's what we do, that's our hedgehog concept is we no matter what we're doing with our policy, we're real candid. We bring issue forums together so people can talk about things. I'm not preaching to you. I mean, I want to hear what you have to think. Let's create dialogue around that. we're wrestling with our equity and inclusion work. Sure. The white chamber, the majority white chamber is gonna talk to me about equity. Really? Well, let's hire experts to teach us. We published an equity statement in December of last year. Why? Because it's a living document that holds us accountable. I don't know of any other chamber in the country that's done that. My board wanted to do a roll call vote to make sure their company names were edited entered into the minutes to say they committed to this equity statement. That's a page long. It's beautiful. And it says, this is what we have to do. We're entering this with humility. In listening mode, we are it's a living document we're living into about what we believe and what we're committed to. And that's I think what makes us special because the other piece of what makes us special are the companies themselves and the expertise they bring to the table around relationship building and economic development and business growth and policy work and transportation issues. So
32:37.932 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I think that's a good good perspective for sure. I wanted to see if there's maybe one tip or action item that you could share for listeners out here that they can maybe take and try to apply at their organization to to take their chamber up to the next level.
32:58.478 B Kyle
that's a good question also. you know, it's always difficult to speak into another organization. but I can say a couple of things. Number one, to take yourself to the next level again, find what you do better than anybody else and start small. Just do one thing so that is not too noisy. If there's just two things you can own a year and tell your members you're doing is real important. The I think the the future Because I'm sorry, I'm rambling a little bit because my mind is so full of ideas here. The only excuse for chambers leadership. You don't need to lead in everything. You can lead in one thing. And I think I specifically have a heart for the really local chambers who have one, maybe half a staff person. Sure, one more thing I've got to do. the idea is to find that one thing that you do well and then rinse and repeat. And then do it with authenticity because You know, as y you find yourself being real, other people are wanting gonna gonna want to step up next to you and do it with you. And then for us as an organization, what we continue to learn how to do is keep the focus down to two or three things to help your members better understand what you're doing and cut through all the noise. Yeah.
34:13.848 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I there seems to be a theme recently of of cutting out all the noise and being able to to focus. And I think that's so important to be able to because it it's true. I mean, as a a chamber, there's so many things you can get involved with that you are involved with, but to really tone tune it down to what are those those couple main things that really will move the needle and and show the relevance of your organization. So I think that's a good piece of advice. So
34:44.247 B Kyle
For one more suggestion, too. Yes, please. So this is what somebody else told me. They said, okay, I don't know about any of you, but I'm an I'm a listmaker. I have a list of all the things I've got to do. It's sitting on my desk. Carry it with me everywhere. I don't often get to cross things off that list. In fact, I usually add things to my list. Somebody said to me, have a second list next to it. That not to do list. Put things on that list. Right? Yeah. Give yourself permission not to do those things. Because you get opportunities every day. So that's hard. If you're if your strength finder is in responsibility, which is mine, I want to do everything that you want me to do. I have to put some of the things you want me to do on the not to do list and just own it. That's been so freeing for me. And then I gotta be disciplined and put more on that list because I tend not to.
35:25.005 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
35:33.828 Brandon Burton
It's just one more thing to do, right? To keep another list. I'm just kidding.
35:37.408 B Kyle
Right.
35:39.886 Brandon Burton
it's it's a good piece of advice though to figure out what you can cut out and and simplify where you can. So I like to ask everyone I have on the show the same question is people are always talking about the relevancy of chambers and the and the future. As we look to the future of chambers, how do you see their purpose going forward?
36:05.058 B Kyle
Well, that's an important question for folks who are, for example, just getting hired in the chamber world. We better hope that there's a future, right? so I believe that chambers are more necessary today, more necessary than ever. And we need to adapt to be so moving forward. I think about four things that govern our work, that govern our direction. And I had the good fortune really of getting introduced to the ACCE when I first started and that work has really helped me shape my thinking around four primary things that drive us forward. Number one is that belonging and gathering are changing. We need to figure that out. How to adapt. In person, virtual, large groups, small groups, mass customization, next generation. Our largest chambers want policy, our small our largest companies want policy, our smallest companies want engagement and they want to mix. how do we do that? So belonging and gathering are changing, we need to be thinking about our approach to that question. I mean how do you diversify? Are you going to compete just because a company happens to be minority owned? Let's go get that company. How about partner with organizations that represent minority owned businesses? And think number two, think about abundance. How do we partner rather than compete? How about finding a blue ocean area where there isn't competition? Go do that. Don't compete with your members for work. If they're doing it, hire them. What can you do that's special in a blue ocean and create a new market? so long and gathering, embrace this philosophy of abundance that we can partner rather than compete. It's not a I win versus you win. It's a we all do better when we all do better approach. We can't be afraid of one another. number three is this assuming the role of the catalytic leadership. again, we're all inundated with data and information. I think real change comes from the combination of cities, universities, powerful local leaders, and the chamber can be the catalytic leader that brings them all together and unites them in with a philosophy abundance. So we're not competing, but we're actually embracing you can do real things together and be that catalytic leader. So that's number three. And then number four, I think purely from an operations perspective, which is where I live,
38:28.064 B Kyle
Is diversify your membership and diversify your revenue streams. What is something you can do to monetize that isn't about dues? We have seen as an organization dues as a percentage of our revenue drop from 67% down to 36%. Because and we're growing as a chamber and our membership numbers are growing. So they're spending more money with us, but we're raising more money doing other revenue streams to continue growing. I think that's going to be crucial as well.
38:55.954 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. I and I hear a lot of chambers give an answer to that question around the idea of you know, we may not be able to sustain a a membership model forever, you know, where you're solely based your revenues based on membership dues. So being able to diversify that is is hugely important. But B, I wonder
39:16.46 B Kyle
Other chambers answer that question, Brandon. How do other chamber leaders talk about the future? What are some other things that they say?
39:23.476 Brandon Burton
So they they talk about how bright the future is, especially right now. They talk about how relevant chambers are because the that's been brought to the light with through the COVID pandemic that chambers are more relevant now than ever. And and there's even talk that you know the the discussion of whether or not chambers are relevant is kind of by the wayside now. Now it's really just you know, how how relevant are you? What where is your relevancy? What's those Like you were talking about, what what are those those those key things that you do in your community to to be relevant to your community specifically? So I think that that gets to the root of a lot of the the responses I get. I mean, I can go back through hundred and thirty some odd responses that I've had over the last couple of years, but those those are some of the main takeaways that I get to the answers of that question.
40:17.565 B Kyle
I'm gonna listen to your podcast so I can hear more.
40:19.98 Brandon Burton
That's right. Please do. well B, I wanted to give you an opportunity to put out your contact information. If there's anyone listening that wants to connect with you about any of the ideas that you shared or just learn more about these programs that you addressed, what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect?
40:21.912 B Kyle
Yeah, podcast.
40:41.614 B Kyle
Sure. Thank you for that opportunity. So my name's Brenda, but everybody calls me B. So yes, it is just a letter B. I know that's a bit odd. our web cheb page is, you know, stpaulchamber.com. We're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. We have a YouTube channel. my contact information is on the website. I very much enjoy talking to people. I learn a lot when I, you know, hear from folks across the country and I call. folks across the country. In fact, as I look at the other finalists for Chamber of the Year this year, I've spoken to these folks 'cause I've called them and said, Hey, what you doing about? And so it's it's quite a quite an amazing group of folks this year. So happy to chat with folks and learn learn from you as well.
41:24.812 Brandon Burton
Very good. I will I'll get the the website and social media links and everything updated in our show notes for this episode, as well as a link to your your podcast, a table talk podcast. but those show notes will be found at ChamberChatPodcast.com/episode139. But B, thank you so much for spending time with me today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. It's been a pleasure visiting with you, and I wish you in the St. Paul Area Chamber the best of luck with the Chamber of the Year.
41:55.214 B Kyle
Thank you for the invitation. It was delightful, Brandon. Have a great weekend.
41:59.702 Brandon Burton
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42:34.808 Brandon Burton
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