Announcer: 0:02

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:45

Good morning America. And I say America with emphasis, because it's just after the 4th of July, which is our Independence Day, and we always have a thought for the day. And we're going to start our thought for day with a little bit of music, which you know I love, and so let's get the song on I love, and so let's get the song on.

Marc Bernstein: 1:15

That was Paul McCartney. That was the song Freedom, which was not one of his best or biggest songs. I don't know if everyone knows it, but it was written after 9-11 as a tribute to all the service people, the firemen and the police and everybody that is protecting our freedoms here in the US, which, as a Brit, he really appreciates and a part-time US resident, I guess. So we have here with us again today Regina Black Lennox, who is EVP of the Satell Institute, and we have Ed Satell, who's the founder of the Satell Institute, and I won't bother going through all the introductions again, but you can hear that on part one.

Marc Bernstein: 1:56

But I wanted to get your thoughts, Regina, on freedom. I mean, I would just say that I think of when I think of freedom. I think of things like freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom of you know, the ability to live the way you want to live your life without hurting anyone else, which is where we need the rule of law, which I know something is that Ed might mention. So you need all those things together in order to have freedom. What do you think about when you think of freedom?

Regina Black Lennox: 2:23

I think probably I would align with a lot of what you said, Marc. When I think of freedom, I think of it as one of the greatest gifts from our forefathers, one of the greatest gifts of being born in this country. The amazing Irv Borowski, who founded the National Liberty Museum, used to say that really we were the beneficiaries. We benefited from lucky sperm donors because you could be born anywhere, but being born in the United States was such a gift to have those freedoms just as an innate part of your life and to be able to grow and live with them. And of course, it's going to be your own hard work, it's going to be your own choices that you make all those things, but we have the freedom to do all of that. So that's really unique in the world. With the semi-quincentennial coming towards Philadelphia right now, that's really exciting because we'll be the longest running, the longest successful democracy in the history of the world. That is remarkable.

Marc Bernstein: 3:22

It is. I'm glad you mentioned democracy, because you know that could be a dirty word today. You know it could be politically charged on which either side of the fence you might be on, and I think that's a shame because it's the greatest experiment in the world when it comes to democracy, Greatest social experiment in the world, and one that's proven.

Regina Black Lennox: 3:41

When you talk about proof of concept, you know look at this country that leads the world in so so, so much. You talk about innovation. The centennial was a celebration of American innovation and today, semi-quincentennial, we're still there. Are a lot of people argue we're falling behind in things, certain things, all these things. At the end of the day, we're one country where we believe every child should be educated.

Marc Bernstein: 4:06

Well, and if you look at reality too, the fact is we still have the best economy in the world. We still have the best, you know, the best use of democracy, as you know, as the experiment that it is. But you know we're maybe falling behind in education, in some other areas which we need to be talking about, you know.

Regina Black Lennox: 4:26

But at the same time, we're always trying, we're founded on principles, we still have a real value system and, again, we educate every child. We don't educate the top 20 percent. We believe that everyone should have a chance. It's not equal Quality is a myth, but we're always struggling for that version of democracy.

Regina Black Lennox: 4:44

We're always working at it and we always have the opportunity and you're going to hear from Ed. You know his views on this because he's really passionate about all this. It's part of what led to the foundation and to the founding and the setup and working with so many great thought leaders when we started the Satell Institute.

Marc Bernstein: 5:00

Yeah, let's absolutely hear from Ed, and I just want to say that I know that you don't have free enterprise without freedom, and free enterprise, of course, is one of the founding principles, so why don't you talk more about that, ed?

Ed Satell: 5:12

Well, I'm glad to. The freedom that we have is different from the way most countries were governed. Most countries had a king, an emperor, a czar, somebody who was in charge, and a family tradition that carried forth on. That the United States was a new concept. It was a concept of think we not just me. It was a concept of law.

Marc Bernstein: 5:40

I think I've heard that before.

Ed Satell: 5:42

by the way, it was a concept of law I think I've heard that before, by the way. It was a concept of law that you had to have the rule of law and the rule of law applied to everyone. It was a concept of freedom freedom to grow tomatoes, freedom to start your own business, freedom to choose where you went to work and freedom to leave if you wanted to leave that work. So the whole concept of freedom is a wonderful concept but we have to continue to earn it.

Ed Satell: 6:17

Our founding fathers earned it. They went through an awful big war of independence and I remember somebody saying give me liberty or give me death. I think that was Patrick.

Marc Bernstein: 6:28

Henry.

Ed Satell: 6:30

And that was an amazing thing With all of our founding fathers if they had lost the war, they knew they would be hung, so they were really fighting for a new concept, fighting for liberty, and we're the beneficiaries of that.

Marc Bernstein: 6:46

And the Constitution. We, the people just to emphasize the we part, it's all about that. So tell us that's a great lead-in to the Satell Institute. Do you want to tell us how you came up with the concept for the Institute?

Ed Satell: 7:00

Well, I was involved with philanthropy. We had a successful business and I always believed in giving back, but people would ask me for help with their philanthropy, to be able to do what we were doing, and they thought I could do it in five minutes and they could just take the idea and run with it. But we were busy, they were busy and it seldom was effective. So when I thought I was going to retire, which by the busy, and it seldom was effective. So when I thought I was going to retire, which?

Marc Bernstein: 7:30

by the way, I flunked retirement.

Ed Satell: 7:31

You're continuing to do so. I decided we would set up an institute that went ahead and was for CEOs four CEOs and they were going to go and to make business better, to make the reputation of business better even though the reputation oftentimes was good, but oftentimes wasn't that. They had to be more vocal in giving back to the community. They were the biggest recipients of the benefits of the community and they ought to give back since that was the case. Yes, Now, in business you can start and you can fail. Not all businessmen succeed or not all businesswomen succeed, but one of the things that can help with success is every company needs two things Every company needs people who work for them, who are good, and every company needs products that customers want. They need to have customers who are interested in that, and to go ahead and to not think about that is not helpful to your business.

Ed Satell: 8:47

We ought to think about giving back, and I thought the easiest way to give back was to support a nonprofit. Nonprofits were already organized around a mission that had a problem, but they were always short on money and I always thought the most important nonprofit of them all was the one your family needed If you had a child who was depressed and what have you, then that was the biggest problem. If you had a family member who had cancer, that would be the biggest problem. If somebody was having a learning problem, that would be the biggest problem. And somebody was having a learning problem, that would be the biggest problem.

Ed Satell: 9:25

And there were nonprofits for all of these things dedicated with a mission, but they needed financial support and I started the Satell Institute on two bases One, it would be a CEO organization, because only the CEOs have the power to go ahead and give money to something like that, and so I knew that if it was done at a lower level, it couldn't succeed. And I brought these CEOs together and we talked about giving back and we established some high standards. One they had to be a member. There were no dues, no charges, but they had a gift to a nonprofit a minimum of $100,000 over four years.

Ed Satell: 10:13

a minimum of $25,000 a year for four years and they greeted it and they liked the concept. They liked the concept there was no dues and they liked the concept that they could pick the nonprofit themselves, and they liked the concept that, although they signed the agreement with us both the nonprofit and the for-profit the money would go directly from the business to the nonprofit, go directly from the business to the nonprofit Right, and so this was all based on honesty, that we had to earn their honesty.

Regina Black Lennox: 10:51

Trust.

Ed Satell: 10:51

Trust is a big word.

Marc Bernstein: 10:53

By the way, full disclosure I'm a member of the Satell Institute because I was attracted to that model as well and I think it's very powerful. And I just want to mention you mentioned it's for CEOs. Part of the feature today I don't want to jump ahead, but I know is CEOs learning from other CEOs, and I think that's what you were getting at in terms of the original concept.

Regina Black Lennox: 11:12

I'll jump in for a second and say Ed created an atmosphere of trust so that CEOs knew that they were in a place. They trusted us, they trust one another and it's not a competitive atmosphere. We're really careful that there's no competition. It's all focused on the greater good, on improving the community.

Marc Bernstein: 11:30

Well, I've gone to several conferences. At the point, it's a cooperative, collaborative atmosphere.

Ed Satell: 11:35

So we believed that CEOs could do this, and when they did it and got together with other CEOs and learned from other CEOs, it would make everybody better, and CEOs tend to like to learn from other CEOs, hear their experiences, hear what they're doing. And it was nothing about the competition, it was nothing about pricing, it was all about giving back to support the community.

Marc Bernstein: 12:02

And, by the way, I know you were a long-term member of YPO and I think that's part of where you learned that right, Because that was also another kind of learning from others type of environment.

Ed Satell: 12:12

Well, ypo represented something very good and that is one of the ways to be successful was who you meet and who you hang out with, and if you want to be successful, you've got to be around other smart people and hear their ideas. You can't be cut off. If you are cut off, you lose out, and so we embraced that concept. We embraced it for a narrow area, for corporate social responsibility, for companies going ahead and giving back to the community to make the community better. Nonprofits are the unsung heroes of a city. You can't be a great city without great nonprofits, because when you have humanitarian problems, whether it's with your family, with those around you or with your employees' families, they depend on nonprofits to help them through these crisis, through these problems. Some of the crisis are small, some of them are large, but there's a nonprofit for everything.

Ed Satell: 13:15

And we wanted to go ahead and have the for-profits Take this as a mission that they would support at least one nonprofit to tune $100,000 over four years. We wanted it to be four years because no company can run on a one-year financial cycle. They needed to have at least a four-year financial cycle, and so that's how it grew and the members loved being with each other and hearing about what they were doing. That benefited the community, that benefited their employees, that benefited their reputation, and some of them started to give. Instead of one nonprofit, they did two. They couldn't split it. They had to do another 100,000. And some did three, four, five, six and we have companies that do over a million dollars through us giving to these nonprofits. All the money goes to nonprofits.

Marc Bernstein: 14:14

Do you know the number? Maybe Regina. But since the Institute started, do you know how much money has been given as a result?

Ed Satell: 14:22

Well, in the Philadelphia area we've given over $74 million without any charge for overhead, without any dues, and 100% of the money goes to nonprofits. That's amazing.

Marc Bernstein: 14:38

And you've started in other cities. I don't want to jump ahead.

Ed Satell: 14:41

Yes, it has been so successful here in Philadelphia it has exceeded our expectations. We have not only a lot of nonprofits, very diverse nonprofits. We have over 300 nonprofits in Philadelphia.

Regina Black Lennox: 14:56

Almost 400 now.

Ed Satell: 14:58

And we are now expanding to other cities so those cities can get the same benefit that Philadelphia got. So when it's being done in Pittsburgh, it's for the benefit of Pittsburgh. When it's being done for North Jersey, it's for the benefit of North Jersey, and each area can have its own model and by doing this and expanding to its fullest. It'll take us years to get there, but we think we can get up to giving $2 trillion away every four years to communities, enriching the communities and enriching everybody in it.

Ed Satell: 15:39

I want to emphasize again you cannot have a great city without great nonprofits. Emphasize again you cannot have a great city without great nonprofits and you can't have a great city without great free enterprise organizations, because people want to work for those kinds of companies. So working together, thinking we not just me is a concept that has taken hold and the people rejoice and the way we get our members is members telling other friends about it Right, and then they come to one of our meetings and see how it works and I'm thrilled about what has happened and I'm thrilled that some of them have chosen not just to do one but we have companies that give the 10 nonprofits that much.

Regina Black Lennox: 16:26

And as they renew, they're actually even adding nonprofits. We have members who have added a nonprofit every year at $100,000 or more. It's hard to believe, but it's exciting from that perspective too.

Ed Satell: 16:40

And when they do that, they're still doing the old ones.

Marc Bernstein: 16:43

Right, they're adding, they're not substituting. They're still doing the old ones, right? No, I get it Right, they're adding. They're not substituting. They're adding.

Ed Satell: 16:48

But what our interest is is to have a greater city. A greater city means more jobs. A greater city means more opportunities, it means more health care, it means more education, it means whatever it is, and each company can choose what it wants to support and what it wants to make better.

Marc Bernstein: 17:07

So I love that it's customized. I love that you're taking it national but you're keeping it local, so it's benefiting those individual communities and each one's going to look different than the other city chapter and it's brilliant. It really is a brilliant concept.

Ed Satell: 17:22

I'd like to add just one thing to complete this. I don't make a nickel on this. I know that it is giving back to the community and doing it in a way that helps people in need and that helps make a great city.

Marc Bernstein: 17:38

Well, may I say just before our break that you don't make a nickel and you've also funded it, which is a whole big deal. I know you don't like to talk about that or take credit for it, but it's amazing what you've done With that. We need to take a real quick break and hear about the Satell Institute and we'll be right back.

Announcer: 17:53

The Satell Institute is the leading CEO member organization dedicated to corporate social responsibility. Under the vision and leadership of its founder, entrepreneur and philanthropist, ed Satell, the Institute brings together CEOs in Philadelphia and other cities to support the nonprofit organizations that do heroic work in our communities. The Satell Institute believes that community is every leader's business. Si's members-only meetings and private CEO conferences give members the opportunity to hear from world-class thought leaders on crucial topics like AI, education, corporate philanthropy and more. In addition, ceo members get the opportunity to share ideas and experience with their peers like-minded CEOs who believe in the importance of giving back to the community and who understand the benefits companies get from embracing corporate social responsibility. The Satell Institute charges no dues or fees In order to join. Member companies simply make a long-term commitment to the nonprofit of their choice. To find out more about membership and why so many leading companies are now part of the Satell Institute, visit the organization's website at satellinstituteorg at satellinstituteorg, s-a-t-e-l-l instituteorg.

Marc Bernstein: 19:13

As Ed Satell says, think we, not just me. Think we, not just me. Ed Satell, I love that. We've heard that a number of times during the last couple of shows. Hey, we want to get right into talking about. You know, we started talking about freedom and free enterprise and free enterprise. Keep in mind that these nonprofits are part of our free enterprise system as well. They're created from nothing, you know. So when you think about this, you've got nonprofits that are created, you have businesses that are created and the communities which are there are benefiting, in essence, recreating themselves through the work that's provided with the funding. So it's kind of really. It's really an engine that runs our country in many ways. So let's talk about this. If a nonprofit is a member, let's talk about the benefits to the member organization nonprofit of being in the Satell Institute.

Ed Satell: 20:02

Well, a nonprofit usually was formed by somebody who got exposed to a problem and they wanted to go ahead and make it an organization that would support that problem. And that's always a problem getting people to support the things, but that's what they do and that's what they give their life to. So our institute asks for-profits to go ahead and choose a nonprofit that they want to support and they feel it's in alignment with their own values.

Ed Satell: 20:38

So we have people in all religions and all sports and all kinds of education and all kinds of medical areas who form the nonprofits. But they need support and we've given them a reason to go ahead and give support because it can make their community better. It can make their employees feel better about the company, that they're not just lining their own pockets, they're giving something back. And the nonprofits love it and learn to respect business because they're working together. And what happens? We have conferences just for the nonprofits, our Nonprofit.

Regina Black Lennox: 21:21

Leadership Summit, which is really exciting. We're the only place where all the nonprofit missionaries all the nonprofit missionaries, interesting enough, identified by the United Nations are represented at the Institute through our members. We're the only place where they all come together. They're generally siloed eds, meds, arts and culture, whatever but at the Satell Institute they come together, they share what they've learned, they learn from one another. We go out and poll them. In fact, this month our poll is beginning to find out what they need to hear this year, and then we'll craft our entire summit around it. Last year, our summit was chaired by the Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted us in Pittsburgh, which is our newest chapter, and everyone wanted to hear about partnerships.

Marc Bernstein: 22:10

I will say one of my experiences at these conferences in fact starting with the first one that I went to is I see someone I know from one nonprofit. The next thing I see they're talking to someone else I know from another nonprofit. Sometimes I've been able to introduce them. I know you guys do that all the time and it's interesting how they're all interacting and they're becoming community within the community. And I think you're right. I think there is no other vehicle for them to do that, so that's pretty amazing.

Ed Satell: 22:38

I'd like to add that we accept no government money and we don't do any publicity. The publicity that comes is from people being happy and from people learning from each other, and that way, together we can do so much more than we can do separately.

Marc Bernstein: 22:59

And you really have no axe to grind, no agenda other than corporate social responsibility and making communities better in the end, which is really amazing, there's nothing else behind it, there's nothing else around it, which is amazing.

Ed Satell: 23:13

Well, it's the opposite of selfishness.

Marc Bernstein: 23:16

Exactly right.

Ed Satell: 23:17

It's the thing to recognize that if you want to be in a prosperous country, you want to be in a prosperous city. You want to be in a prosperous city, you want to be in a prosperous family. It's working together to go ahead and sharing ideas, both for how you make your money and how you give some money to give support back to the city, to make the community better than it was.

Marc Bernstein: 23:42

I love it. Let's talk. You mentioned a couple things about how much money you want to raise in the future, but you're in the middle of an expansion. Talk about the future vision for the next several years of the Satell Institute.

Ed Satell: 23:54

Well, we're opening, as we speak, nine new branches and we have, as that goes and succeeds, in accordance with a plan. Like Philadelphia did, we'll open more. We expect at some point to have branches in the 50 biggest metropolitan areas in the country and by doing that, we think the outcome of that will be over $2 trillion a year given back. And the uniqueness of that. We think the outcome of that will be over $2 trillion a year given back. And the uniqueness of that. Others give a lot, but it's usually somebody in charge who has the money who decides where it goes. In our case, it's the members who decide where it goes. Each one makes their own decision on where they want it to go and we think collectively that makes everything stronger for everybody.

Ed Satell: 24:47

I judge a city in only one way are more people of talent moving in or are more people of talent moving out? If more people of talent are moving in, it'll be an aspirational city, and if more people of talent are moving out, then it will be a city in decline. So this is the kind of thing that adds to the health and the welfare of the city, the community, the for-profits and the non-profits.

Marc Bernstein: 25:16

It is amazing. Again, being in some of your board meetings, I know that it's all about how do we engage more people. It's not about what kind of charities where should the money go? It's not because you don't have anything to do with that, it's just engagement. It's getting people engaged and being aspirational, being generous, being giving back and building communities. It's amazing. We have about a minute and a half left Any other final thoughts from either of you about this to tell us anything you want to get across.

Regina Black Lennox: 25:45

I think it's interesting that we've only spread through our members we you don't see us on in the paper, you don't see us on TV, you don't see us advertising. You see and hear from someone else that you trust and believe in, invite you. And you have to be invited to become a member which is a rarity factor too and then you have to be willing to make that commitment, really invest in one nonprofit to make a difference. That's really unique because we are, at the end of the day, a nonpartisan nonprofit, independent and my favorite words fully endowed, thanks to Ed's generosity.

Marc Bernstein: 26:18

Glad we got that in there, because it is ultimately about Ed's generosity and his vision. Also, I want to say from going to the conferences, there's people I've seen there before that haven't joined yet but keep going and they're keeping engaged. So it's like you're building a farm team for the future to use the sports analogy again. You're going to have a lot of up and coming people that, several years from now, will start giving and start joining and start emerging leaders.

Ed Satell: 26:42

Yeah, so perhaps I can. I know we have a short time and on one quick story, yeah, absolutely. Every bank in this city gave one year gifts.

Announcer: 26:54

None of them gave-year gifts.

Ed Satell: 26:56

We told them to be a member that had to change that and give four-year gifts, and today every major bank in the area is doing that and they're finding it's beneficial for them, for their customers and for the community.

Marc Bernstein: 27:11

That's amazing. So, just like that, you quadrupled the gifts, in essence, by doing that and by the way all the sports teams have joined.

Ed Satell: 27:19

Yeah, and many others have joined, all with one thought in mind Think we, not just me?

Marc Bernstein: 27:27

And, on that closing note, what a great way to end the show. Thank you, Ed Satell, so much for your inspiration To me personally, to all the show. Thank you, Ed Satell, so much for your inspiration To me personally, to all the people you've impacted and affected. Thank you, regina, for being the woman behind the man, who does not to be gender-based about it, but you are the person that makes a lot of this go.

Regina Black Lennox: 27:47

I appreciate vision Marc. If I can empower vision, that's important.

Marc Bernstein: 27:52

Thanks, you're great at that. Thank you all for being here.

Announcer: 27:58

We'll see you next week on Founders Forum.