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Bet on People
We talk to leaders and business owners about their journey learning the value of human-centered leadership and how betting on people isn't just good feels, it's smart business. We explore the career arc behind their evolution as a leader: where human-centered values showed up early and where they had to learn the hard way.
Bet on People
Bet on People with Quency Phillips
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In this episode of the Bet on People Podcast, Keegan Evans, executive coach and AI Consultant at Euda and Limited Partner at Beyond Earth Ventures, speaks with Quency Phillips, Founder and CEO of Lighthouse Innovation Center, renowned author, visionary, and speaker, about authentic leadership, economic opportunity, and what it means to bring lived experience into professional spaces. The conversation explores full-self leadership, access to opportunity, bridge-building communication, and the responsibility leaders have to create room for people who are often overlooked or unseen.
Quency connects these leadership lessons to his journey from the south side of Chicago and Northwestern University to entrepreneurship and community work in Silicon Valley. His experience across engineering, corporate environments, media, and ecosystem-building gives him a practical perspective on how leaders can communicate across differences, build trust, and use visibility to open doors for others.
Expect to Learn:
- How to bring lived experience into leadership: Authentic leaders can share their story with judgment about when to bring their full self into a room and when to lead from an authentic core.
- Why access to opportunity changes ambition: Exposure to spaces where doors feel open can help people see possibilities they did not previously know were available.
- How vulnerability builds resilience: Asking for help, naming a struggle, and staying in the work can become a stronger leadership signal than pretending to have everything handled.
- The role of bridge-building communication: Leaders can use story, language, and shared experience to connect across communities instead of creating more distance.
- How leaders make space for others: Passing opportunities to team members and keeping seats warm for the next person can build confidence and expand representation.
- Why economic opportunity requires relationship-building: Lighthouse Silicon Valley focuses on connecting corporate, community, academic, and partner ecosystems so opportunity is not limited to one-off moments.
Episode Breakdown with Timestamps:
00:00 - Teaser
01:16 - Keegan introduces Quency Phillips and Lighthouse Innovation Center
01:54 - Quency defines his one-line approach to human leadership
03:39 - Quency reflects on Northwestern and discovering access to opportunity
07:42 - The early influences that shaped Quency's belief in pushing through closed doors
10:42 - Moving from engineering school into corporate opportunities and entrepreneurship
18:35 - The idea of “type in cursive” as a model for authentic communication
20:48 - Quency describes becoming a trusted voice in Silicon Valley
25:21 - Lighthouse Innovation Center’s work across corporate and partner ecosystems
28:41 - leadership lessons, career advice, mentors, AI, and personal recommendations.
34:25 - Closing remarks, where to connect with Quency Phillips, and episode wrap-up.
🔗Connect with Guest Quency Phillips:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quencylphillips/
👉 Email: quency@lighthousesv.org
🔗Connect with Lighthouse Innovation Center:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighthouse-innovation-center/
👉 Website: https://www.lighthousesv.org/
🔗 Follow the Vinyl to Viral Podcast on:
👉 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/xk/podcast/vinyl-to-viral/id1836035435
🔗Connect with Host Keegan Evans:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keeganevans/
🔗 More from Euda:
👉 Website: https://www.euda.io/
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/euda-io/
🔗 Follow the Podcast on:
👉 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bet-on-people/id1882863281
👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HgXTMbgkDsmuqzUiDGcXc
👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Euda-io
What's kind of the one-line approach to human leadership?
SPEAKER_03Authenticity, bringing your lived experience to everything that you do, not leaving it at the door, but bringing that forward.
SPEAKER_01Our guest today is Quincy Phillips, founder and CEO of Lighthouse Silicon Valley. His mission is to create equitable access to economic opportunities and success for those who are often overlooked or unseen. What have you been focused on in the last five, 10 years? What's really been the breakout for you that can't click?
SPEAKER_03The last 10 years, the breakout for me coming to Silicon Valley and being that trusted voice.
SPEAKER_04It was a place where all of my learnings up until this point, it all came together in this melting pot that is the Bay Area in Silicon Valley. I could speak the corporate language, I could speak tech with my engineering degrees. I could be with the cool kids, with athletes and entertainers. I felt this last 10 years, I really walked into my purpose.
SPEAKER_01What's your relationship to the concept of bring your full self to work versus authentic self?
SPEAKER_04Bringing your full self. Bringing your authentic self is something that's just going to be natural, not necessarily hiding things. You will know what feels right in terms of if you can bring all of you versus being authentic, just really being proud of who you are and lighting that show.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the show, Quincy. It's great to have you here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01And we first uh met actually a couple of months ago. You honored us as the uh the featured speaker for the San Jose State University's Sparta Accelerator Intensive Program, Summer Intensive. We kicked that off with an event, and you gave just this wonderful, powerful story of your life and your journey that that wove in relevant lessons for the for the entire audience, which consisted of student founders and mentors and faculty and uh me. Um so I'm really excited to sit here and kind of take the space to expand on on that journey. But before we dive in, what's kind of the one-line approach to human leadership that you look at?
SPEAKER_03Authenticity. Bringing your lived experience to everything that you do, not leaving it, you know, at the door, but but bringing that forward. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What's your relationship, and I think I asked this in another recent episode to someone who in a similar conversation, what's your relationship to the concept of bringing your full self to work versus authentic self? What is there a difference in there and and how does that show up, especially from a a leadership role?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I think that they're similar. The way that I would differentiate is depending on who you are. Um bringing your full self, bringing your authentic self is again something that's just going to be natural, not necessarily hiding things. Um as you go through your work, as you go through your interactions, it it just is you bringing yourself. Um your full self, I as a black bear, um, I think that's that's something that you know you have to navigate, you know, depending on what your background is, depending on your your story, but depending on the setting that you're walking into, yeah, be mindful of of those situations. And I think those are like your the spider senses, right? The the tingly things. You you will know what feels right in terms of if you can bring all of you, um, which I would say is full versus being authentic. I I think it's just like that natural, not necessarily hiding things, but just really being proud of who you are and lighting that show.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for for jumping right in. I had no doubt that you would you would dive in on that with the authenticity. Let's take it back. What what was your journey to get to this realization that uh you know where did where did you start to think about and experience interacting with people, authenticity, leadership, and and your professional course?
SPEAKER_04I will say uh my freshman year at uh Northwestern University, you know, coming from the south side of Chicago, half my life, streets of New York, that was one environment that it's just like we grew up as kids. You you you don't know. You're just learning yourself, you're figuring things out. College and going to at that point in time a top 10 university, it was the first time that I was exposed to what I now call access to opportunity. Right. Like it seemed like there was no doors that were closed, you know, for me at Northwestern. And it was one of those situations where I had to learn that um bringing all of myself would allow others to understand me more, understand my journey, and help me navigate the next four years of of my life, of getting the most out of what Northwestern and being an engineering student was about. And I I say that from the sense of immediately after, you know, we were on a quarter system at Northwestern, I had a 1.7 GPA at the end of my first um quarter. Never had grades like that. I was a straight A student, all of all of those things. And being in a situation where I was like, everything felt new, everything felt difficult. Every sense that I had was being stimulated, and I didn't really know how to do it. And one thing that I the reason I got to that 1.7 is that I just took it all in. I was trying to fight this fight myself. I was trying to like prove to myself that I was smart enough to be here, that I was smart enough to be an engineering student, and I wouldn't transfer out of the engineering school to maybe an easier major. Um and it was really talking to one of the professors, first professor was a chemistry professor, where he let me know that by showing up and being able to communicate to him my struggles was the path, even more than getting a good grade on a test or, you know, um focus it too much on the exam. It was more about the work, the process, you know, um, and that in engineering there were a lot of weed out classes, right? They things were intentionally difficult um on purpose to to build those muscles, right? Especially if I come from an athletic background. So I would say that 1.7 in in talking to the professors and then being able to get beyond that was that first moment of clarity for me to um bring all of my authentic self and not to be ashamed, not to be ashamed of a grade, uh, not to be ashamed of being one of the only black, you know, engineering students um in those classes, but just to raise my hand and let it be known that I needed help and that I wasn't gonna go anywhere. I was gonna be there the next class, I was gonna be there for the next exam, I was not gonna leave uh what we call tech McCormick and was not gonna leave as an engineering steward. I was gonna graduate as an engineering student. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Uh you did a lot better that than I did when I got a 1.2 GPA my second semester uh in college at in an engineering uh school. And and it's like, oh no, maybe engineering is not for me. Political science was the uh was the better fit. Although I you know what, I'm not gonna lie, I did not as you're saying telling a story. I there's no point that I went and had that vulnerability with uh professors or anything like that. And so maybe my arrogance, maybe my my resistance to that pain in facing that. Or the the vulnerability and the hurt that would come with facing that was was part of it. I do want to circle on something. You said that in college you're the re recognition that there were there were no doors closed to you. I mean, this engineering by very virtue of, as you said, the weed out classes and things like that. Uh and you ended up graduating with two engineering degrees, as I as as I understand. The doors might not have been closed, but there were definitely some doors that were kind of so some grease on the hinges that you needed to push through. Where where did that where did that spirit come from for you?
SPEAKER_03I I growing up on the south side of Chicago, uh being a preacher's kid, I've shared this story.
SPEAKER_04I grew up in the same church as Jesse Jackson. My mother was his secretary. Operation Push's foundation was was birthed out of our church. And so I grew up knowing that we could be more, right? Um, even when the doors weren't for us, right? The stories that I've learned, you know, from Uncle Jesse, Rest in Peace, about so many doors being closed, right? You know, him running for president and all the things that came with that, being able to see people push through. Having Harold Washington in our church, who was the first black mayor of Chicago, right? And when he passed away, Eugene Sawyer, who became the mayor, was actually a board member at our church. So, like, I got to see individuals stepping into places and spaces that really weren't for us, but they didn't allow anybody's thoughts and opinions to stop them from walking through those doors. And so I would say it started there. Um, and being able to to watch people change, right? And I and I think for Uncle Jesse, his ability to communicate, right, uh in a way that built more bridges than burned bridges was was something that I was able to use, you know, especially once I got to Northwestern and being able to take on that mentality of like, oh my gosh, this is everywhere, even some of those doors that to your point in engineering and mechanical engineering, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, no black students in involved in that organization. It was I felt that it was my responsibility to be the first and to be comfortable with being the first, no matter how painful, you know, that might have been, uh, no matter the things that I had to learn, you know, on the fly. You know, you start to see yourself in in positions or at dinners that, you know, that was the first time I saw something more than just one fork, one knife, and one spoon. I was like, oh, oh, I don't why do you have that? You know, what is that for poor? What's the different sizes? Like, oh man. I I would say again, the being able to grow up and and be able to watch uh my elders, my OGs, my ancestors, the folks that prayed over me allowed me to get through those doors.
SPEAKER_01That's fantastic. The the combination of not just the intellectual knowledge of we can be more, but the the the deep belief of there is more for us. And also not just the I'm gonna I'm gonna throw elbows in demand, but the bridge building mentality of how do how do I incorporate tying in with the authenticity? One of the things that has just resonated every time I've heard you speak or and and and talk about this is as a real powerful path to success that I'm putting into words some things that I've I've believed that I haven't been able to articulate as well. Where did you uh where'd you take it from there? What was the the next opportunity or challenge or how did it look?
SPEAKER_04I graduated in the year 2000 and that was like tech, right? You know, forget the Y2K and if the world was gonna, you know, end. Um it's coming out of Northwestern, like you said, with two engineering degrees or four years, I was I was elevated, right? Like I I was able to cut through, you know, the noise of the competition of of jobs and those things, and I stood out. And that allowed me, you know, to get to to where I went next. And I would say it was an interview with Price Waterhouse Coopers at that time, consultant agency that he flew me out to to DC, that Virginia area. And I remember walking in into a few things. I remember getting on that flight and being like, oh my gosh, somebody paid for me to fly in first class, you know, uh, from Chicago, you know, to to DC, then put me into this nice old hotel suite. I was like experiencing, like, oh my gosh, what is what is this? Right. And then it all came together for me. As high as I felt, I immediately came down when we had our first dinner. Like we walked into this dinner, and there were, you know, over 300 students there from across the country in some of the top places. So I went from fiddling like, oh, yeah, they want me and all of these things, to being like, oh, oh, this is competition and we need to, you know, I need to get it together. So like um, I would say that moment of clarity uh from having a high and feeling like yes, I'm on top of the world, to then getting hit with, no, no, there's other people right there. And we were all, you know, going for this this next opportunity and position. And it really was then that following day when we had a full day scheduled of interviews and all of those things. And in my first interview, I ended up asking a question to the interviewee, and I said, uh, if there was only one thing that you can tell me to to to have success in this position, what would that be? And that individual ended up saying, Man, I've never had a question asked, you know, like that. And and I I love this. Hold on, right? And next thing you know, not even a minute later, somebody knocked on the door as one of the partners, and at that point in time I realized that there were cameras everywhere. So there was partners in other rooms that was watching this interview that took me out, took me to the top floor, and allowed me to then know that I was going to get this job off, or I did enough in just that little bit to stand down. And I would say, like, that piece for me, even though I didn't take the job, that let me know like I have what it takes. Northwestern prepared me. My parents and every, you know, one else that was in my community, they prepared me and I was ready. And so from that moment, I knew that I was gonna do this dual thing the same way I did a dual engineering degree. I was like, okay, I'm gonna take this a job, which was gonna be high paying, which I ended up doing, and I was also gonna start my entrepreneurship journey at the same time. And so that's how it all kicked off for me to say, like, man, I felt like a number one draft pick, and I knew I needed to deliver. And I wanted to come in as rookie of the year across any industry. I wanted to fight for the MVP, even if I was younger, and I just I went at it that way.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04So you did take the Price Waterhouse job and I took uh a McMaster Car Supply Company, which was uh a competitor with Granger, and and they had a different program, I did project management, and they but they paid me a lot and gave me a nice signing bonus, and I was like, yep, so I was going where the money was going as well as the opportunity, and they gave me both.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then so and and simultaneously, it it was the clarity, the confidence, the yep, I've done the first round draft. I thought that was that metaphor in here. Um what drew you around entrepreneurship? When I've I've worked with entrepreneurs and and a lot of them ask, well, what what what field should I get into? What problem? What's the right one to solve? And and I say, uh none of that matters. What's a problem you care about? Worst case scenario, what's a problem someone you love cares about that that you can fix it on? What what took you down that path in the dual track?
SPEAKER_04One thing, my father, my papa, who drove cars for a living. So he he had limousine service. Um he he started off on um being an an engineer on a train. So right he was a train conductor, had an accident, um, fought of the CTA in Chicago and hit his head, and so he couldn't do that any longer. But he ended up taking the money that he received and started a a limousine service because the one thing he knew was how to get around the city. Right. And so he was able to take what he knew. Also, at the same time in Chicago, there was the Sam Cooks, there was a lot of up-and-coming folks, the Jesse Jacksons that were around, that he fit, like he had this charismatic way of doing it. So he saw a need, he understood his skill set and the opportunity, and he did that. So I would say from my pop-up, he showed me early on entrepreneurship, and then he put me in the front seat of his car. And as I grew up, the real reason that I even took the interview with Price Waterhouse Cooper is one of the first people that noticed me, one of his clients, was a Price Waterhouse Cooper partner that was out of uh Idaho, that would always come in and he would just shower me with stuff, information, give me magazines and stuff. He just took a liking to me as um a client of my father's. And so um I started to really see what entrepreneurship also does. It it creates these communities, these families, these relationships that are a bit different than if you're going right into corporate America. So there was a piece of that, but there was also this understanding. Our first, you know, thing that I did was uh created a magazine, an online magazine called Hidden Agenda. And what I realized going to Northwestern, you know, we had the number one journalism school, Medil, right? And I could go turn on ESPN, Mike Wilbon, all of the greeny, everybody's from Northwestern, right? And so, but one thing that I realized, and I saw my talented friends not getting the jobs that they wanted because there was this proving ground that you go through in journalism where you have to earn your stripes. Yeah. Go to Kansas and to these other places to get these beat jobs and those things because you need your your bylines, right? And so I realized that I had talented friends uh that graduated before me and were coming, you know, after me, that I knew if I gave them a voice, then they would have the resume to compete immediately versus having to take 10, 12, 15 years to, you know, climb that. And so that was the thing that I saw missing. I love to write, even though as an engineer, I, you know, was doing a unicorn thing of marketing and communications again. Jesse going back to being a preacher's kid, all those things wove, you know, together that I I brought it together and was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. And because I took the money, I also had the opportunity to to pay folks and and do different things and show different sides of all that we were. And so that was the first way that I got into it. And then yeah, after that bug, I was I was on. I wanted to do more and more and more. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Uh Reed Hoffman has uh talked about uh great entrepreneurs, they they solve in a whole bunch of different content areas, but there's a through line uh of their life and a through line and theme. Uh what what you started off in in the online magazine space and and and helping people find those those opportunities and be ready for those opportunities and and in the door for those opportunities. Is that the through line or was there more to it as you look back now over the last 20 years?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think it was. I used to say, and I'm I'm still working on this, so hopefully maybe you know, now that I put this out on your podcast, um that I have to follow up now before someone takes it. But uh early on, I I wanted to write a book called Typing Cursive. And it was really this communication, this this way of being your authentic self, because I was always grew up and like cursive was your signature, right? Like um but the business world and everything that we knew is written, right? The books that you read and all of this, uh all of the things, the knowledge that we gain were through textbooks and all of that stuff. And so I was like, okay, these books and everything that I'm reading, even as an engineer, I'm like, yeah, sometimes it's hitters, but sometimes I understand it, sometimes it's over my head, and you gotta work even harder. It's like, man, how do I do the things that I've learned even as a preacher's kid to type in cursive? So it was like, okay, your authentic self, your cursive, the way that you do it, but then being able to communicate that in a manner in a way that everyone uses it and understands. And so I would say, yeah, that through line of the community and communication, and that being a way to build bridges and allow folks to see that we're not that far off of one another, right? I don't care if you're what side of the aisle that you're on, we're not that far away, especially when we start to tell more of our stories. When we start to connect even more, someone will see, like, oh yeah, that I I had some of that, you know, in my background too. So I would say like that through line of communication and community, um, but really getting yourself out and and being able to type in cursive um was something that just stayed with me all the way to this day.
SPEAKER_01That's really cool. The the phrase typing cursive that like that hit me as soon as he said it.
SPEAKER_04See, I love it. So now I gotta go and do it. Now I got it. Yeah, now you gotta do it.
SPEAKER_01The the uh the the broad audience of uh of Bet on People Season 2 is is gonna hold you to account for that. Uh we um obviously I could I can go deep. I'd love to spend hours and hours talking to you, but we we we were only just scratching the surface of where your where your journey is. What have you been focused on in the last five, ten years? What's what's really been the breakout for you that that things things click? What are you what are you hoping to do?
SPEAKER_03Coming to uh the last 10 years of breakout for me, coming to Silicon Valley, coming to California, and being that trusted voice. Right?
SPEAKER_04Like it was a a place where all of my learnings up until this point, whether it's working with engineering professors, working with engineers, working with church folks, community leaders, it all came together in this melting pot, you know, that is the Bay Area in Silicon Valley. I could speak the corporate language, I could speak tech with my engineering degrees, I could be with the cool kids, with athletes and entertainers and those things. I was always with the with the youth, right? Or sitting on boards. And so like I felt this last 10 years, I really walked into my purpose, right? And the the passion just just met, you know, at the same time. And so I would say it's that here in Silicon Valley, that being a trusted voice and being able to communicate in a way and communicate and engage in a way that sticks. Um, I used to say, you know, like there was many times in the beginning, everybody knew me as the dude that just wore purple, just had purple. Yes, it was northwestern, and there were so many other things behind. But I did it on purpose, right? It was uh it was I did it because I didn't want to be called, oh yeah, you know, Q, the black dude. Right? Because I also did the one black dude in Silicon Valley. I played with that as well. But when people started to introduce me, they would introduce me as, hey, you know the guy that wears purple all the time. It's got purple pens and all of that stuff. And I started to see in see how that also allowed other youth to think about uh again bringing all of themselves, right? Being creative in in tough moments, being vulnerable, being in these spaces where you might not feel welcome, but you're able to to break through it. So yeah, the the I would say that the last 10 years has been really about breaking down those barriers, being the voice for those folks who didn't have the words, didn't think they had a place. I would tell folks that, hey, my job is to keep the seat warm. None of these seats are mine. It's for the next person as opposed to sit here, but I'll sit here for as long as it's needed. And I would say that that's been the last 10 years of my life and the things that I'm, you know, going to be doing in the next 10 as well. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01The uh a commitment to the the importance of renewal uh and and stepping aside and making space for others is is it's a topic of conversation in a few different areas, I think, in our in our world right now. Talk to me a little bit about what Lighthouse is doing now and how big are you? Who what's your team like? What and and what are you what are you looking at for the organization?
SPEAKER_02We like to say we're small and mighty.
SPEAKER_04It's just a team of five of us. Uh we've uh we've evolved, you know, to being at the intersection of corporate, community, academia, and the partners, right? So we're this intermediate that understands that ecosystem and then makes the connections for economic opportunities, right? So it's really focused in economic opportunities for the most vulnerable populations. So that's where it started. Um, and then we've evolved based on innovating, right? Like just really trying to think of how we do collective impact in a better way, how could we can be held accountable for it, and at the same time also lifting the people up so that they understand what's needed, you know, to to continue and to hold these relationships, and then the relationships don't aren't just one-off. I think, you know, in Silicon Valley we have the ability to do a lot of one-offs, is people talk about the money, and then it's just like, okay, the squirrel, right? It's like, okay, sometimes like, okay, then now just look across the street. And I think for some that works, but for many it doesn't. And I I think I like to be in this place where I've watched us go from puberty into adulthood. And that's where I I see Lighthouse as being a bit of a parent. Like we're in adulthood and and we're trying to usher, you know, more folks through puberty and into that adulthood that that is a sustainable living for all, right? So they're being very, very inclusive. And so Lighthouse, you know, it was intentional of naming it Lighthouse. Again, we can be that place if you need to find your direction, if we need to pull resources in, find those resources for folks, for problems for us. Lighthouse is there to do those things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You said it you said at an intersection of with a huge responsibility, huge visibility, and you're and you're calling and and inspiring a large, large community from a lot of different areas and leading this small but mighty team. You've said before the crew that you hang with can't be around if you're not bringing your A game every day. And it's important, you've got to show up and you and and dig in. You you've talked about how you dig in and do that. But how does that how does that advise also square for leaders taking care of yourself on days where you're just not at your best? But how does that show up for you?
SPEAKER_04Vulnerability. Right. To know that you can lose it just as quickly as you gain it, and and knowing that it's your you're off again as a former athlete. I do bring a lot of the the sports, you know, things in there where it does take a team. It's not a single person that wins any of these championships. Growing up under Michael Jordan, I was like, there was always Phil. There was always Scotty, right? There was always someone like you can have that. And so truly, yes, I will embrace being Mike, right? That's what we grew up wanting to do. Uh, but at the same time, it's like, nah, man, Mike took some hits. I remember those early years and he couldn't get up, right? He had to, uh, he broke his wrist, broke his ankle. So there was times where he had to sit out and then watch the team, or even when he stepped away, right? He went to play baseball to see Tony Kukoach and the team still like step up. Like Scotty, yes, he was there, but to watch Tony Kukoach, like I still remember to this day. Like, we would chant Tony Kukoch, Tony, Tony, Tony. And I'm like, this is the land of Jordan. And now we got this guy from Croatia who's in here. So I would say, like, being able to know and have that, like, I've seen this movie before, where either the best, we we gotta use our team, right? There's there's box and ones. There are different things that the opposition can do to limit you. Um and so for me, I think it's always imparting more into others, and then at the same time positioning my team for things. There's been many times where, yeah, someone has wanted me in this region to sit on this board or on this committee, and it's like, no, I have someone else's here. And so being willing to do that and bring them in builds their confidence. And I've seen people's confidence really push them through things that they've never thought that they would do, and I've seen that with my team, and I'm so proud of that.
SPEAKER_01That's phenomenal. So I think you there's a piece of what you said in there. You you responded first to my question about how does your A game coming every day resolve with human rough days. And you said vulnerability, and then talking about the sports metaphor, it helps reframe and redefine a game from some objective stand like extremely high standard that has to be either has to be met every day, and if you don't, you fail, to it's the best you can bring in any given day. And knowing about your team and and being honest with yourself and being honest with the people you trust to balance those those puts and takes as as the days go by. That was really I really appreciate that reframe you gave.
SPEAKER_02Man, you're really good. Thank you, man. Thank you. You just made that sound much better than I said it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01I got I was a I was a lackluster cross-country runner, so I don't have the really deep uh sports metaphors to come back with. Uh I couldn't do that. Quincy, are you uh this has been a powerful conversation, wonderful conversation. I would love to keep going, but we are we are committed to share of wallet and and people's eartime. You ready for some lightning round questions? I'll love it. Awesome. Uh what's a personal goal that you have for yourself this year?
SPEAKER_04Aaron Ross Powell To kick off a a documentary that brings awareness and access care to communities around HIV prevention. Uh there's something, a big project that I'm I'm working on right now that we're going across the country to some of the places who might not have this access, might not know what's available to them.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01That's fantastic. I almost feel bad segue into our next lightning round question. What's the worst professional advice you've ever received?
SPEAKER_04Yes, I was uh in pharmaceutical marketing before I started Fusion, and I uh I helped us win this this contract, this Berenger Engelheim had to drive up from New York to to Connecticut, and um I watched our president drop the ball. Like literally drop the ball, and then we keep was not reading the the room at all. And then I ended up jumping in and saving it, and the woke the person ended up saying, like, Q, because you're here, you got it, and we got the business. And I remember the drive back, the gentleman said, You know you're lucky. And I was like, What do you what do you mean? It's like to be in this position, to be in these meetings, to be making what you're you're making, you wouldn't be able to get that anywhere else. And I was like, Okay, I don't need it. It was that piece, like it wasn't a piece of advice in the the way that we're talking about this, but it was something that clicked for me to say, like, I needed to hear that, to not be comfortable in being boxed in or someone taking my my talent, you know, for granted, my intelligence and all of those things, and so that piece, two weeks later I started fusion and I never looked back.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. That's fantastic. Yeah, no, that's terrible advice. It's it's implicit uh underneath a a real crappy mask of uh of a statement. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_02I knew exactly what he was saying for the readers out there.
SPEAKER_04He was saying, like, as this young black kid in New York doing these things, oh, I am an anomaly and I should just be thankful. No, they should have been you. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01All right. Question number three. And this one I'm gonna preface, we've asked this a couple times uh on episodes so far, but we were inspired to write this question because of phrase you used in that speech uh at San Jose State University. Who is someone in your mentor hall of fame, uh trademark Quincy?
SPEAKER_04I love it. Uh I will say someone in my former president of Northwest University, Henry Beanan, who actually came back even a year ago to step in as an interim. Uh, I I had a job, my my first work study job, again, I was a poor kid, so I got a work study was was to be his assistant, one of his assistants, uh, as a student assistant. And he just showed me what trust is. He showed me that who I was being that Northwestern man, we all were great. And we all were destined for something else. So former President Henry Bean and Mentor Hall of Fame for sure.
SPEAKER_01Love it. Uh what's your honest relationship with AI right now?
SPEAKER_04Man, I um I'm probably 70-30. Good, you know, that I I I enjoy it, uh, especially having a a smaller agency and a team. I've I've seen it it help, especially if you, you know, didn't I'm a nerd, so the engineer in me was in it. I've worked for Google, so I I would say I appreciate it. And at the same time, I would love for more of us to be more educated around it and in what it can do. Um even for the community, community partners. Uh so I look I I'm leaning more to the positive sides of what it can do while just leaning on the folks who really know it to uphold that energy versus something for for evil or bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh that's the kind of conversation you want to have. Uh I got good news for you, but we're not going to do it on mic here. Okay. I love now. We we do we do a lot of focus on uh human-centered AI uh adoption, how to make the feature human, but amplifying uh with it.
SPEAKER_03So can't wait for that conversation.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Final question. Uh, what's something you're watching, listening to, reading, a media recommendation, but it can't be about leadership or business.
SPEAKER_04Supercell. If you can go on Netflix, there's a a movie and there's going to be a part two coming out. I think they finally started to do it. But it's uh it's a story that's kind of based in London, and it's it's really around health equity and it's built around sicker cell disease, but in a very creative way where they they take sicker cell this disease and turn it into a superpower. So it's it's like X-Men meets this this health care uh thing, but it it is a very, very powerful, you know, uh movie and has someone who has the trait, uh Sika Cell trait. It it's the first time I've ever seen something communicated as a superpower versus like something less than. So Supercell Netflix, check it out.
SPEAKER_01You heard it here, absolutely. I'll check that one out for sure. I love it. Quincy Phillips is a renowned author, visionary, and speaker, and the founder and CEO of Lighthouse Silicon Valley. Quincy, we'll have this linked in our show notes, but where can people find you and what else do you want our listeners to check out?
SPEAKER_04Oh, check us out, lighthousesv.org. You can end it getting my email off of that. But also, uh, if you want to see some of the other sides of me, check out uh vinyl to viral. Uh, we have our own podcast where I bring on some some great friends. I need to have you all on this as well. Athletes, entertainers, all of the above, some Pulitzer Prize winners. So, yeah, check us out. There we go, high school cross-country runners.
SPEAKER_02All the above.
SPEAKER_04Yes, we all got a story to tell, and we're trying to make that, you know, seen, heard, and included.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Quincy, thank you so much for coming. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Follow, like, and subscribe to Bet on People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. And if you want to learn more about how we think about leadership at Utah, visit EUDA.io slash executive coaching. Bet on People is presented by Uta. Our producer and lead researcher is Molly Dan Ducer. Our host is Keegan Evans. Special thanks to our editors at GHA Marketing.