In order to succeed as a ‘TechFluencer’ in today’s digital society, you have to be plugged into a lot of different trends and markets. From supply chains to consumer electronics, to community building to virtual connections, the landscape is constantly shifting and evolving.

Evan Kirstel is a B2B thought leader and technology influencer focused on B2B networking, engagement, and social selling. Rather than just establishing his own expertise and using it to guide others, he is still on a learning journey of his own – exploring new disciplines and platforms as he becomes aware of them.

In this interview, Evan and Scott discuss some of the trends affecting digital media, modern business, and consumer tech:

• The groundbreaking changes in content creation and writing made possible by a new Generative AI technology called ChatGPT

• The rise of electrification in mobility showcased at CES 2023, including multiple modes of transportation, personal and commercial vehicles

• How to build communities and network reach by expanding into new forms of content, moving from written to spoken to visuals to engage different audience members

• Places where tech and automation have met their limit, failing to overcome the human preference for authentic, trust-based relationships

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those Making Global Business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Scott Luton here with you on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s show. What an excellent show. We have teed up today. So we’re gonna be speaking with a fellow entrepreneur, a B2B thought leader, extraordinary content creator, widely recognized industry expert, analyst, a digital guru and top technology influencer. And we’re just scratching the surface. Our guest today reaches millions of people each and every day, and is followed by a lot of big names, Michael Dale, Jim Kramer, and a lot more. So I wanna welcome in my dear friend Evan Kirstel. Evan, how you doing?

Evan Kirstel (01:07):

I’m doing great. That was a fabulous introduction. I think I’m gonna hire you just to be my, uh, <laugh> spokesman here. Thank you so much,

Scott Luton (01:15):

<laugh>. Well, Evan, we were just chatting pre-show. Uh, it is, uh, it’s great to finally kind of meet you, uh, here in the digital area, digital era. I guess this is the form of meeting after having fja and really been a big fan of, of how you create content and, and share really meaningful, purposeful content for a couple years now.

Evan Kirstel (01:35):

I’m a big fan of yours. I I like what you put out. I like the focus on good news, and you get it. You get community and positivity when there’s so much negativity and depressing news out there. There, you can still put that aside and talk about the positive, uplifting, and, uh, insightful, uh, uh, sort of educational stuff as well. So it’s not on noom and gloom out there on social media these days.

Scott Luton (02:00):

Evan, I knew we were kindred spirits already, but that, that response just further, uh, further nails that down for me. So let’s, let’s do this. I’m gonna, we’ve got the great, uh, good fortune of picking Evan Christ’s brain on a couple different areas across industry over the next, uh, uh, few minutes here. But I wanna start maybe with a question you don’t get asked as often cause I wanna get to know you a little better. Uh, what part of the world did you grow up in?

Evan Kirstel (02:26):

Well, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, right in the city, which is, uh, a little unusual given y you know, Baltimore and its current, uh, y y you know, uh, state of affairs. But I grew up in Baltimore. I grew up loving the, uh, COLS, the Baltimore Cols. And, um, yeah, I still have connections with family in Baltimore City and, uh, love the waterfront, the inner harbor. I was a rower, so I was growing around the Patsco River and then went off to college. But, uh, yeah, Baltimore is still kind of a southern city. You know, many, many people don’t realize that <laugh>, but, um, it, it can be a fun place as well as having some struggles.

Scott Luton (03:10):

Well, um, undoubtedly and, uh, like so many cities out there in bigger cities, uh, struggling with different, different aspects of what, uh, civilization brings this, uh, where we are here in the digital era. I wanna ask you, we, uh, we heard this nickname for Baltimore, Baltimore not too long ago, because kind of even the urban city that it is, everyone knows each other in Baltimore, is that right?

Evan Kirstel (03:32):

Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a very friendly city. There are lots of neighborhoods and each neighborhood is like its own town or village. So I, you know, I, I spent a lot of time around Federal Hill and South Baltimore and Fells Point, and that’s kind of where, where we lived. And yeah, people from Baltimore are very friendly, very outgoing, kind of like you, Scott, you’re, you’re a southerner. You, you get it, you know, there’s always a smile and a chit chat, and, uh, I kind of miss that aspect. Boston, we’re not, you know, like New Yorkers. We’re not the most friendly people. We don’t really give a f kind of what you, who, what you are saying or doing, or, but yeah, it’s, it’s kind of that, uh, charm city, I think is what Baltimore is officially called. Okay.

Scott Luton (04:16):

All right. So, Baltimore Charm City, probably a lot more. Um, all right, so you mentioned, uh, talking sports a little bit. Um, you’re a big Colts fan, so you’re probably, that doesn’t make you a, um, who was the owner that moved the Colts to Indianapolis? Would, that wasn’t, yeah,

Evan Kirstel (04:33):

I was just a kid. But yeah, it was, uh, the sad day for Baltimore. The middle of the night they packed up the truck and moved to Indianapolis for, and I’ll never forgive them, but, you know, being in Boston for 25 years, we, we know a thing or two about sports, so, you know, we consider ourselves a bit of the hub, N f nfl, of course, baseball, n b a hockey, you name it, we got it here. So we love our sports in, uh, in Boston.

Scott Luton (04:59):

Agreed. Okay. One last thing. You mentioned you were a rower that was new. I’ve never picked up on that throughout any, any of, uh, your content for the last couple years. When I think of rowing, don’t laugh, but I think of the Sopranos, and there’s several scenes where, uh, poly walnuts kind of, of forces a rower to pay up. Are you, were you a fan of the Sopranos

Evan Kirstel (05:21):

<laugh>? I love the Sopranos. I, it was one of my favorite series. I I’ll occasionally rewatch an episode, but, you know, no, there was no funny business, uh, involvement in rowing. It’s one of those things that you can do in high school and college and kind of hard to get back in a boat as an a as an adult. But my son’s rowing now, so Okay. It’s kind of one of those, those, uh, traditions. And, you know, you got in Boston, you got lots of rowing, and Harvard and m i t and all the colleges here on the Charles, it’s a, it’s a fun sport

Scott Luton (05:53):

And rigorous and, uh, and demanding is, is my hunch.

Evan Kirstel (05:57):

Um, and so I, I definitely couldn’t do it now, <laugh>, you know, the old, uh, maybe we put a bunch of old guys in the boat and get a team together again. That might be fun.

Scott Luton (06:07):

I’ll be the guy holding the, um, uh, the, the mic on the front end. Yeah. Giving the cadence. Okay. I’ll, uh,

Evan Kirstel (06:14):

No person is usually about four 10 and weighs about 80 pounds, so I don’t think that’s gonna be your future profession.

Scott Luton (06:21):

I don’t qualify, I guess, for any aspect of rowing, but, hey, I digress. Um, alright, well, I appreciate you giving us a chance, getting you a little better before we get into some other, uh, industry related topics. I wanna start, I think, for helpful, uh, context and, and background, uh, perspective. Let’s talk about what you did prior to, um, you know, being an entrepreneur. So what, what’d you do in industry kind of coming up through the ranks?

Evan Kirstel (06:44):

Yeah, very much in the telecom and enterprise and networking space with companies like, uh, Intel and Phillips and consulting companies and startups. So, you know, 25 years in enterprise tech and telecom and sales and biz dev and alliances and that kind of thing before, gosh, eight, nine years ago, struck out as an independent, um, and so never looked back. So, although I enjoyed my, learned a lot in the corporate world, it is kind of a rat race after a while. And it, it’s nice getting away from that. Although, of course many of my clients are companies that I worked for and with in the same industry. So, go figure <laugh>, once you what’s like the mob, like you were just saying, once you’re in, you can never get out.

Scott Luton (07:30):

You really can’t a lot <laugh>. So let let me ask you this before, get into, um, uh, getting your take on a few things. What, what role was it, if you remember, and it may not have been one, you know, eureka moment, but do you remember when the, the value of meaningful and intriguing and purposeful content really struck you? Uh, you know, in that 25 years in industry?

Evan Kirstel (07:54):

What’s interesting, I, I started using LinkedIn very early, and this is when LinkedIn was about finding a job and a, and a sort of digital Rolodex. And I started sharing news on it, just sharing stories. And everyone I was connected to was like, wow, that’s pretty cool. You’re, you’re like a, a media company. You, you share all the coolest news. And I built a, an audience sort of a following when LinkedIn was, you know, really just about your, you know, finding a job. And if you fast forward, you know, 12, 15 years forward, it’s funny, most people still use LinkedIn as a Rolodex when what LinkedIn really is now is the content company. It’s a media company. It’s a way to publish, uh, to blog, to do video, live video and audio conferences and to get noticed and find customers and on and on and on and on. And yet still, people view it as the way to find a job. And they’re not utilizing, even brands not utilizing all of the capabilities that are there, after all with Microsoft, LinkedIn is now has a graph of the entire enterprise world. So it’s a tremendous, uh, platform.

Scott Luton (09:04):

Agreed. Uh, and there are, to your point, there’s a lot of folks that really take a narrow definition of what, what it can be used for. It’s a great point. Um, okay, so you mentioned eight or nine years ago you kind of struck out on your own after, after, uh, having some big roles out in the industry. A lot of tech in your background, of course. Um, tell us in a nutshell, and folks, to all of our listeners out there, we’re not gonna be able to do this justice. Uh, Evan is part of some of the initiatives and, uh, events and, and, uh, uh, um, cool projects out there. But in a nutshell, Evan, uh, how do folks work with you?

Evan Kirstel (09:40):

Well, um, you, you know, as an influencer is kind of a bad description of what I do, but I’m essentially sort of a mini media, uh, uh, one man empire that delivers educational, interesting content to a defined audience. And that audience being CXOs, CIOs, CTOs, media journalists, analysts in the B2B tech space. And I do it through, you know, content of written words, spoken word, podcasting and, and video live streaming to that audience. And I, um, obviously promote my clients, but I do it through education and analysis and providing insights and building community and covering events and on and on and on different kinds of digital and social activations. So, and there are a lot of people like me, both, you know, firms, but, uh, agencies, but even individual solo practitioners who have built a personal brand. I built an audience and can leverage that with clients. And gosh, every vertical out there, whether it’s, uh, supply chain like you’re focused on or Right, internet of things or AI or 5g, and tho those areas in which, uh, cloud why I focus

Scott Luton (10:51):

Perfect segue, uh, cause I’m gonna talk to you about AI and some other technologies, but first, very few, you’re awful gracious there, but very few are touching literally millions of people each and every day. And I love how you, as we mentioned on the front end, create that content, that sense of community, but that content is, there’s no infomercials. We all love Ron Pope, right? Uh, rest and peace Ron Pope said it and forget it, man. I’ll never forget some of those. But, you know, con you, you can reach people and move the needle without, you know, straight up selling them in a, in a tweet or a LinkedIn post or what, what have you livestream, which I really enjoyed live streams. Um, so back to some of the technology you mentioned. Um, so you can’t have a conversation in supply chain or elsewhere these days without saying the words ai, artificial intelligence, it’s all AI all the time right now. But Evan, given the technology guru that you are, what is one technology you feel that we should be talking more about, needs more visibility and, and maybe what’s one of your favorite, favorite applications of that, um, under, under, uh, respected technology?

Evan Kirstel (11:59):

Well, I’m, I’m gonna talk about something I’ve been ASEs obsessed with for, uh, 30 days, uh, 60 days. It’s, it’s, it’s within ai, but it’s, it’s something you’ve may have played with many of the listeners or viewers have probably experimented with. Let’s chat G P T, which is called Generative ai. And basically it’s a tool for creating written content, whether it’s a story, a blog, a song, a code, actually can create music, you know, musical, uh, scripts, uh, questions that you can create any kind of written questions through giving it, uh, direction and prompts and guidance and the output of chat. G p t is, is so stunned and, and just amazed a lot of us professionals and even consumers, it’s become one of the most popular sites on the internet with over a million registered users in a few weeks. Which, if you look at the history of Facebook and, and you know, Instagram, they didn’t even get that kind of reach within just a few mere weeks. And it is an amazing tool. Uh, have you played with it yet?

Scott Luton (13:03):

I haven’t. I’ve seen some of, uh, the poems, the holiday poems, I think that you used that to create. Yeah,

Evan Kirstel (13:10):

I wrote Christmas cards and, uh, it was, it was so fun and, and, and, you know, entertaining at the same time. Um, you know, an author created a children’s book in about 30 minutes using images from a, a related app called Dolly. The, the text and narrative, the story from chat, g p t put it together, published it on Amazon, and every child children’s writer out there was, was furious with that person for using this, this approach to creating content. But, you know, this is gonna work into every aspect of marketing, uh, content creation, writing writers, whether it’s copy or for advertising or for research. And you got all the kids out there, of course, who are going to use it to create their writing assignments, which is gonna just, that’s gonna be a massive issue, <laugh> on the educational side. But, um, that, that’s what I’m, I’m just obsessed with it.

Evan Kirstel (14:03):

It, you know, it may or may not have co-authored 10 of my last blogs over the past 60 days. Um, uh, I’m not even Have kidding. Um, so get out there and try it. It, it’s sort of like your personal writing, collaborative writing assistant. And for those of us who don’t really enjoy the, the, uh, process of writing you, you know, it can be, you know, uh, pretty mundane the idea of having you someone help, not just with the text, but just copy and different formulations of ideas and having some, some thing I was gonna say, someone, some thing to bounce different ideas off of in, in a, in a collaborative way, learning way is really exciting. So that’s what I’m, uh, I’ve been obsessed with, uh, recently.

Scott Luton (14:49):

Y you know, it’s interesting, um, when I was in school, uh, all the teachers were wanting to look out for Cliff notes, right. And, and

Evan Kirstel (14:57):

I love it. The yellow, the yellow books. Yes.

Scott Luton (14:59):

Right. And now it’s, it’s all about, uh, these things. They’re gonna help students complete their assignments a different way. Um, okay. So, so on a related note, technology, um, so love talking technology with a, a guru like yourself, ces, uh, big Consumer Electronics, one of the biggest shows, I think each and every year. Uh, I think it’s always in Vegas, but it just took place. Um, what, uh, last week? Is that right, Evan?

Evan Kirstel (15:24):

Yeah, it was, it was all week for the media as well, and over the, just finished yesterday, uh, or or Sunday for the general public. And, um, you know, tremendous show, tremendous event. It’s really back in person in a major way. And so many exciting things to chat about, uh, c e s. But one thing that I thought is interesting that I, I took away was the rise of mobility and, uh, you know, last mile, uh, delivery and electrification of, of kind of everything. I mean, everyone’s familiar with the electric car phenomenon and lots of Tesla fans out there, but many people don’t realize is that all kinds of communication, uh, vehicles, uh, uh, are are being electrified. So whether it’s short hop, uh, you, you know, airplanes for commuters, whether it’s, uh, boats now, there was a Tesla of the Sea kind of thing, uh, that looked like a Tesla on the sea, that that was electric powered.

Evan Kirstel (16:27):

Uh, there were, you know, uh, uh, full, uh, trucks that are electrified. There were, um, ferries now, you know, that, that were being electrified and tovi there, obviously reducing carbon footprints, but leveraging an electrification network, uh, to reduce, you know, emissions, but also fuel costs. Uh, it just, almost every modality was, was on display. So that, that’s super exciting. And of course, more EVs, uh, you know, coming to the forefront. You know, Sony and Honda launched a new ev obviously Tesla, Tesla is the 800 pound gorilla, right? But, um, you know, BMW had a new EV on display to actually change color. You know, it’s kinda a separate little cool, uh, capability using e ink, uh, technology. Um, but yeah, the electrification of everything and fast charging in particular, uh, where, you know, you can recharge your, your vehicle, your device, your scooter or your e-bike in, you know, minutes versus hours. That was really interesting to see.

Scott Luton (17:38):

So the, depending on the back on the Beamer, uh, depending on the mood you wake up in, I guess you can go green or you go blue or some days, yes, it’s very

Evan Kirstel (17:47):

Excellent for bank robberies. You know, the description of the getaway vehicle was a white bmw, and of course you change it to black and you, you get off SCO free. But, um, I don’t think they thought through that use case <laugh>. But, um, but yeah, if it’s not electrified, it’s going to be. And, um, you know, e-bikes is a big one as well here in the Boston area. We have lots of bike lanes and students can, other kinds of short commuting, commuter commuting happening. And, uh, really interesting to watch

Scott Luton (18:18):

It. It agreed. It’s, it’s, it’s, it is fascinating as a industry movement, right? And, and the course, the demand that’s there, uh, two quick comments. And

Evan Kirstel (18:26):

Also that, that short, that that sort of last mile delivery for supply chain, increasingly that will be through an electrified, you know, little robot or maybe a drone, or of course, uh, battery powered, um, y y you know, so we’re seeing lots of ways to get that, that maybe food order or that Amazon package delivered last mile in a, in a, not only a more cost effective way, but in a less, um, uh, uh, challenging way for the environment.

Scott Luton (18:56):

Agreed. You know, we gotta give a little love on the Walmart teams. Cause one of the areas that they’re actually a little bit ahead of Amazon is with drone deliveries. We were just talking recent weeks about, um, they hit 6,000 drone deliveries in the US uh, in 2022. Uh, and Amazon still after a couple, um, mishaps, they relaunch program in 2, 2, 2, uh, uh, municipal areas, uh, in December, 2022. So, but to your point, your greater points, it’s gonna be fascinating to watch how that cha, how that does shape not just a final model of mile of supply chain, but just all our, our life in journey, uh, uh, in general. Um, the other thing about that, Evan, cause you, you mentioned the supply chain behind EV is the battery industry. I saw something earlier, uh, this week that, that showed, at least in the states where the EV battery industry is really b you know, it’s, it’s, it’s blowing up right here in Georgia. We’ve landed several, uh, EV plants, uh, because of some of the automotive, uh, work that’s, that’s here. You know, we’ve got a big Kia plant in West Point, Georgia, and, and, uh, I, I think we have announced two 5,000 plus jobs tied to the ev uh, battery industry just for Georgia, like greenfield sites in the last, uh, six months or so. Um, so

Evan Kirstel (20:15):

Yeah, it’s super exciting. And the whole supply chain and tooling and manufacturing is being reinvented for ev although there is, you know, no free lunch in the world. So the downside is we don’t have enough of the rare earth. We don’t have enough of the lith, lithium, and the cobal, and that’s being mined in really, uh, tough conditions in Africa and other places, um, using in terrible labor conditions, right? So we kind of don’t have enough of these metals to create the batteries we’re gonna need. And short of a breakthrough with new battery technology, it’s gonna be tough. But, you know, again, no free lunch in life. So we have to do what we can with what we

Scott Luton (20:54):

Have. That’s right. And, and, you know, every advancement comes with challenges. I think it’s, uh, you beat me to it, shining a big light on that aspect. Uh, really, uh, that front end of, uh, global supply chain in the electric battery market, um, will be really important. Um, and, you know, rare earth mineral mining is a terribly messy and environmental damaging, uh, industry. And they’re, they’re looking to reinvent that a bit, especially to do more of it here in the states. But, you know, nothing happens overnight. So we’re gonna keep our finger on the pulse as that, uh, meat struggles to meet the demand, uh, of, of all the EV products out there. Um, all right, so our electric products out there, electric vehicles and, uh, electric products. Um, so let’s, let’s shift gears. That was a great little departure. Uh, Evan, I feel like we could talk for four or five hours, man, we’d just be scratching this stuff.

Evan Kirstel (21:45):

Let’s do it. Let’s just, let’s just completely put our audience to sleep. <laugh>. We’ll have one listener, one last listener, but no, I’m kidding. Yes.

Scott Luton (21:53):

People, one last listener that hangs on to the fifth hour. Okay. <laugh>. Um, let’s talk. So we’re we just kind of, uh, we’re talking supply chain. I wanna get your take on something. I think one of the cool things, despite all the challenges, you know, warts and all, as as old saying goes, you know, supply chains really, um, come to the forefront in many consumers’ minds. You know, things, you know, how folks can get something next day or how they can return it as easy as easily as so many products can be returned these days, you know, Ford and reverse supply chain. I think consumers are really, these savvy consumers are figuring that out, uh, more than ever before. What’s, what’s been your take? How, how have you seen folks kind of piece that puzzle together and, uh, maybe start to figure out how global supply chains work and, and why they work a certain way?

Evan Kirstel (22:40):

Well, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s really, uh, been an eye-opener for the average consumer, or the average, you know, person like myself who really didn’t think about supply chains, probably thought it was something you buy at Home Depot. I need a supply chain <laugh> for my garage or something. You know, so it’s only when you begin to see the ships backing it up in ports and you can’t order, you know, a car, or you can’t get your favorite, uh, you know, uh, tool from, from Walmart that you begin to understand the interconnectedness of, of these supply chains and how difficult and sensitive they are to disruption and, and wars, uh, and, and other things. So that’s actually one, you know, when I started following you and your team, that supply chain now, you know, I started to like, wow, I should kind of be aware of, educate myself, uh, to some degree on what’s happening.

Evan Kirstel (23:36):

Because, you know, most of us, even, you know, in the technical world, really don’t understand the supply chain. We think, oh, yeah, that, that’s supply chain means made in China, right? That’s why, you know, right. And, uh, of course there’s a, there’s a very intricate and complex world that isn’t easily, you know, attributed to one. You know, what was that great story about how to make a pencil right? You know, that, uh, great video I think you posted, and there’s something like a million people and 80 countries required to come together to, to make a pencil, to design, manufacture, deliver a pencil, given the, the, uh, the supply chain interconnectedness. So, yeah. No, I, you’ve been educating me on this <laugh>.

Scott Luton (24:20):

Well, it is. So, you know, as humans, we all make assumptions, right? And I think, um, all of us can get lost in, uh, the modern conveniences of the, um, of the e-commerce age, right? And, and just come to really appreciate and not really think about when you click a button and you, you, you purchase that cart, you’re gonna expect it in a day or two. And, and I think one of the silver linings in the last few years, and there’s, and there’s really many civil linings if you go looking, as we both know, is, is that, um, that understanding and that education that took place, and really, as much as it, this, this is gonna sound pessimistic, but it’s not meant to be pessimistic. You kind of alluded to it earlier, really. We all found out how fragile global supply chains are. And, and that realization is gonna help us already has make changes to, to, I hate using the word resilient these days cause everybody uses it, but really make, make ’em stronger and more prepared for what’s around the corner. As long as these lessons learned that we learned painfully, truly stick, and we don’t forget ’em, you know?

Evan Kirstel (25:22):

Yeah. It’s amazing how adaptable and flexible and resilient I’ll use it, uh, humans are at the end of the day, and how we That’s right. Manages with difficulty and challenges to kind of overcome diverse, uh, you know, uh, you know, diverse set of, of roadblocks. And it’s been fascinating to watch, particularly on the semiconductor side where we’ve had such challenges, but we see some light at the end of the tunnel there.

Scott Luton (25:48):

Agreed. Agreed. And, and the human element is one of my favorite parts of not just global supply chain, but global business. Cause that is the, that’s, um, in this ever growing more technology age we’re in, it’s fascinating and intriguing the humans that make that power things forward. Uh, I love those stories. Um, all right, so let’s talk about content creation. We have the opportunity to talk here with Evan krs, who, uh, Kelle who, who, who, uh, again, touches millions of people every day with content across a variety of channels. Listeners, if you’re not following Evan on Twitter, you are missing out, let tell ya. Um, so Evan, for folks that may be trying to up their game when it comes to putting compelling content out there, or, or they wanna become the next Evan, uh, Kelle, what, what would, what one or two pieces of advice would you give him?

Evan Kirstel (26:40):

Well, I’d say don’t put your eggs in one basket. So what I mean by that is both the type of content as well as the platform, you know, don’t double down on one thing you may be more comfortable with. So if maybe you’re, you’re, you’re a good blogger and you’re comfortable writing, and you do a lot of writing on your Facebook or maybe your LinkedIn page, but you kind of, maybe you’re not into audio podcasting, you’re not into video, you’re really missing an opportunity to kind of creatively integrate the different modes of content together. So look at the spoken word podcasting. I mean, I consume podcasts like all day long, uh, and audio books, look at the video word. Some people will watch a two minute video. They would never read a 500, a thousand word blog. They’re just not a reader. And so, by looking at content across all those paradigms, you know, you’re really gonna reach a bigger audience.

Evan Kirstel (27:35):

And also don’t, you know, don’t double down on one platform. Look, I love Twitter. I have all these followers there, but I’m also equally on LinkedIn and Instagram and Reddit and Cora and other places. So these platforms inevitably change, they die, their new ones emerged. And you don’t wanna be tied, uh, professionally or even personally to one platform. And, and finally, you know, get people off of social media. This may seem weird, but you know, you know, if you’re a B2B or you’re in a working for a brand, you don’t want people, uh, just on your social platforms. You want them to visit your website. You want them to sign up to your emails, uh, newsletter. You, you want them to go to your events in person. You wanna, you know, try to capture, uh, their, their contact info, maybe their mobile phone for, for text updates. And if, if, if you’re just capturing followers and eyeballs, you’re at the whims and mercy of the platforms if what has and when changes come up. So again, get your, get them to visit your website and, and, and, and not just your Twitter page or your LinkedIn page,

Scott Luton (28:42):

Man, uh, billion dollar vice there. And I really appreciate that. And, and it, it’s not being single-threaded. Gosh, going back to lessons we learned in global supply chain, that it, as you’re mentioning, right, it applies to social media too. Um, cause being at the whims of the platforms isn’t fun a lot of times, right? Um,

Evan Kirstel (29:01):

Yeah. I mean, you, you can be, you can be hacked. You can have your contact, uh, info, you know, stolen. That way you can be dis de platformed maybe for something you said, oh, uh, or the platform can die and you miss the next big opportunity on the, the latest hot platform. So, yeah. Uh, diversity and, and mixing it up is a great idea.

Scott Luton (29:25):

Well said, well said. Um, all right. I want, I wanna shift gears here to some of the, uh, what we call it give forward, you know, uh, here at supply chain now you do a lot of it, um, mentoring, uh, from what I gather is, uh, and, and have seen is very important, something you hold near and dear to your heart, Evan. Um, you’ve been a volunteer mentor for years, I believe, right? So I want to ask you, we’re, we’re gonna pick some more, uh, get some more advice from you. What is one important piece of advice that you’d offer up to mentors that are just getting started?

Evan Kirstel (30:01):

Yeah, I, I think, um, you know, give, uh, your advice and feedback selflessly. Um, you, you know, don’t always expect something in return. Don’t look for just quid pro quo relationships. Don’t ask for anything ju just give, you know, a lot of what happens these days is so transactional. You know, you give some advice and then you hope or expect or want something in return. You want some outcome or result. And that what really isn’t what, um, mentoring is about. It’s, it’s about giving freely, uh, giving of yourself and your time without expecting you’re gonna get some payoff or payout or, you know, attention or, you know, even, uh, necessarily, you know, just tons of gratitude. Um, just give for the sake of getting is, it gets sort of a karmic kind of thing mm-hmm. <affirmative> and hope that it comes back to you in spades.

Scott Luton (31:00):

Mm. And it, it makes the whole, it it, when you give without expectations and whether you’re mentoring or doing anything else, it really makes things easier, doesn’t it?

Evan Kirstel (31:10):

Yeah. And I, I would say, not just giving in, in a mentoring concept, but even in a sales and marketing concept, everyone is asking or pitching or want something of you, uh, including on social media. Why don’t, why don’t you just give of yourself, give some advice, give a comment, a like a share without necessarily asking for something. Um, you know, I often give, uh, a lot of attention to new clients, perspective clients, and I don’t just ask for a deal. I don’t ask for a meeting before I have some kind of, uh, relationship, or I’ve given some kind of value. So, you know, I think Gary Mayer talks about give, give, give, give, ask, you know, so, uh, all those people out there sending you LinkedIn messages and dms, and they’re always pitching and selling, why don’t you just listen and engage and give first, and maybe, uh, that’s a better way to sell and market.

Scott Luton (32:08):

Mm-hmm. I love that advice. Um, I, I, I hate when folks, uh, look, we all make mistakes, right? Whether you’re early on or

Evan Kirstel (32:16):

New journey, we’re all in, you know, you know, the kids these days, you know, they don’t know, you know, they’re, it’s, uh, the hustle culture and, you know, and a number, it’s a numbers game. But, um, there is a better way to go about these things.

Scott Luton (32:30):

Agreed. Uh, and, and don’t, and one of my pet peeves, uh, is, uh, the folks that will take a snapshot of that inbound LinkedIn message and then kind of shame ’em out there across social <laugh>, don’t do that. I know, I know that we all, Hey, we’ve all done stupid things like that. And, and, you know, it, it, it can always be frustrated, but man, uh, all these folks are humans too. So most of ’em are, right? I think Evan, most of ’em at least, um,

Evan Kirstel (32:56):

And, and some are bots. So we, we can shame the box, shame

Scott Luton (32:59):

The bots.

Evan Kirstel (32:59):

There’s no, there’s nothing worse than automated sales and marketing that has no persona or person or personality behind it. And I think back to our original chat, chat about chat, g p t, you’re gonna see very human-like bots, uh, over the next weeks, months, years, that are going to, uh, surprise you on the downside. Whether it’s for, you know, cybersecurity, whether, you know, Microsoft released a, uh, deep fake, I call it deep fake. It’s really a text to speech engine. So we can sample three seconds of your voice and create your, recreate your exact voice with, uh, the tonality by background noise. And, you know, just imagine the, uh, well, the way that might be used for good, but also for bad. It’s a brave new world.

Scott Luton (33:47):

I’m thinking of lots of new, a new era of pranks. Uh, Evan, a new era of pranks, <laugh>. Um, so

Evan Kirstel (33:54):

Prank phone calls, that was my thing back in the day. I used to love those. But now it’s gonna be a deep fake, uh, AI bot that’s gonna be doing the pranking. And some of the pranks aren’t gonna be so nice <laugh>, it’s gonna be, you know, the little old lady giving her her bank password to, to someone she thinks she’s talking to her grandkids and in their voice. So yeah, there’s

Scott Luton (34:17):

Gonna definitely

Evan Kirstel (34:17):

Be a dark side of tech.

Scott Luton (34:19):

Agreed. And, and, and we’re definitely not poking fun of that. I, I see a lot of that, uh, o o on YouTube. There’s lots of professional scam fighters, I’ll call ’em that record their, you know, all the calls. And they, they really seem to educate how, you know, cuz all these, a lot of the most successful scammers have a certain methodology that’s developed over time. And, and it’s entertaining, but also it’s, uh, it’s depressing on one side cuz they do take advantage of, of a certain contingent. Um, where was I, I said prank and change my whole mindset. I, uh, I can’t remember the platform <laugh>, but if my mom is listening, uh, I found a, uh, a website a year or two ago probably, where you could program, you just punch in a number that you want one of 50 templates to call. And I punched in my, my mom and dad’s number and, um,

Evan Kirstel (35:09):

Oh yeah, nice, nice Sunday raise there, <laugh>. Wow.

Scott Luton (35:12):

Well get

Evan Kirstel (35:12):

This very nice.

Scott Luton (35:13):

Scott on the other side. It was someone saying, Hey, I’m trying to bring your $1,227 worth of pizza to your house. And I took a wrong turn <laugh>, and you can listen to, to your parents respond to that. Oh, we had a blast with it. But anyway. Um, alright, so I wanna go back to mentoring. One last thing before we make sure folks know how to connect, uh, with Evan. Um, here. Talk about, I, I know that all the, all the mentees that you’ve been, um, uh, that you’ve been part of their journey with, have benefited from all of your expertise and, and your unique, um, and intriguing view and perspective on this journey we’re on. But what’s one way that you think you’ve benefited from all of your mentoring?

Evan Kirstel (35:57):

Well, I think it’s, um, just been connecting with, with great people. I, I mean, you never know in, you know, who you’re gonna meet, whether it’s a hackathon or a digital event or an in-person event where you’re, you know, giving away some of your insights and value maybe for free. And, uh, or it’s an online, you know, Twitter chat or a podcast. You just never know who you’re gonna meet. And some of them might be best friends, they might be clients, uh, they might be collaborators. So by putting yourself out there and not just watching Netflix or hiding behind a screen, you’re, you’re sort of, um, creating opportunities that you can only imagine. I met the best people on social media in that way, including people like yourself, Scott, and so many others. Uh, but you do have to, you know, put yourself out there and to make yourself visible and, and vulnerable to some degree. Uh, but the payoff, uh, you know, can be huge.

Scott Luton (36:55):

Yeah. Well said. Love that. Um, okay. As much I knew this time would fly by and I, I, I wasn’t kidding about the five hour, we’re gonna tell

Evan Kirstel (37:03):

You back four hours. Really? We, we just, it was four hours long. It just, that’s amazing.

Scott Luton (37:08):

That last lister was saying uncle. So we better let them go. Uh,

Evan Kirstel (37:11):

<laugh>. Okay. We’ll let, we’ll let, we’ll, we’ll give up

Scott Luton (37:13):

<laugh>. So I know there’s a ton of different ways you’ve, you’ve mentioned all the, uh, some of the channels out there that folks can find Joan. But, um, well, for the debt, what’s up with tech? I love the newsletter. That was one of the things that, one of the first things that you put out there that really hit my radar. Whenever I think of your newsletter title, rightly or wrongly, I think of that skit on Saturday Night Live called,

Evan Kirstel (37:36):

Oh, that’s, that’s what it’s all about. What’s up with that? Yes. What, what’s up with that? Right? What’s, I love that guy. What’s his name? I can’t even remember his name. Oh, he’s hilarious. It really is. So yeah, I kinda co-opted that name <laugh>, and hopefully I won’t get sued.

Scott Luton (37:50):

My God.

Evan Kirstel (37:51):

Yeah, newsletters are great. You know, I mean, everyone’s talking about social media. Well, what’s old is new again. Newsletters are back, blogging is back. Having a website, all these things have, have not gone away. So marketers, I hope you’re paying attention.

Scott Luton (38:05):

Yeah, no kidding. Uh, and so what’s up with tech that comes out every week, right?

Evan Kirstel (38:11):

Every week when I get around to it. Otherwise, yeah, follow me on Twitter and, uh, we will Sure. To engage there.

Scott Luton (38:17):

Wonderful, wonderful. Um, well, Evan, a pleasure and, and I, and, and this is not, I’m not saying this for the sake of the podcast and sake of this interview, I really admire how you do things. Um, how per, you know, um, we’re talking those digital relationships, you know, on the, on the pre-show, you’re very genuine and, and it comes across digitally and it comes across in this kind of, uh, form, especially, and I appreciate that.

Evan Kirstel (38:44):

Actually. It’s all chat, e p t. It’s, it’s not me at all. It’s just complete fake <laugh>,

Scott Luton (38:49):

Man. I’m, I’m a

Evan Kirstel (38:50):

Sucker. I’m just kidding.

Scott Luton (38:51):

Well, I appreciate what you

Evan Kirstel (38:52):

Do. One day there’ll be a digital version of myself and, uh, we’ll see if I’m as likable as I am in person.

Scott Luton (38:59):

<laugh>. Well, hey, we’ll stay tuned to that. So, hey Evan, Chris Christelle. Hey, thanks so much for your time here today.

Evan Kirstel (39:08):

Thanks, Scott. Good to talk to you too. You

Scott Luton (39:11):

All right folks. Hopefully you enjoyed this conversation as much as I have. I’ll tell you, Evan, uh, I’ve been, uh, following him for a couple years now. I’ve had a great good fortune of collaborating with him for a little bit here and there. And he is someone not to miss across social media. You learn a ton no matter what industry you’re in. Um, so check him out, uh, all those places, LinkedIn, Twitter, uh, check out his LinkedIn newsletter, what’s up with Tech, you name it. And, uh, you won’t, uh, be, you’ll be very glad you did. Uh, but whatever you do, folks, uh, Scott Luton here challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change. And with that said, we’ll see you next time, right back here on Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Scott Luton (39:53):

Thanks

Intro/Outro (39:53):

For being a part of our supply chain now, community. Check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain now, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain. Now.