 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou School Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about leadership, overcoming adversities, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is the highly respected author of his book From Invisible to IKON, and he's the global chairman of Horwath HTL. He is John Fareed, and today we are going Beyond Branding. Hey, John, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Thanks, Rusty. I'm so proud to be here. Thank you for inviting me. John, you have been coming to Hawaii for the past 30 years. Can you share with our viewers why? Absolutely. So as an advisor within Horwath HTL, we focus exclusively on hotel tourism and leisure, and anybody in the field knows that means at some point you're going to spend some time in Hawaii, being that it's really the biggest industry in Hawaii these days. So I've worked on a lot of hotels, names that people in Hawaii would be familiar with over the years, as well as restaurants and, of course, food halls. Now, John, I need to share with everyone that you're the co-owner of Caheo Avenue Food Hall, and Mike Palmer, your partner, your co-owner there, who's the general manager. I mean, you guys make such a great team together. And Caheo Avenue Food Hall at the International Marketplace in Waikiki is absolutely thriving right now. Can you share what makes Mike Palmer such a great leader? I think it's really, really very simple. Mike finds great people and stills in them great loyalty through transparency and trust and equipping them with everything they need to succeed. And I think that's part of it. I think the other part of it is that Mike is a master networker. He's all about relationships, and particularly in the community in Hawaii, the Ohana is what we call it. And we have that culture within the food hall in a big way. We consider everybody who works there, including our vendors and suppliers. We consider them part of our Ohana, and we treat them that way. Now, I have to say, I mean, you have such a unique dynamic in the Caheo Avenue Food Hall because it's not just one restaurant. There's around 10 restaurants. How do you guys do it where, I mean, every restaurant is successful within the food hall? Well, it's trial and error, to be honest. I mean, we have the beer bar, which does very, very well. We have the tiki bar, which does very, very well. But, you know, we have the things that people really want in Hawaii from, let's call it Hashin Spoon, our noodle bowl place, a Banzai burger with our Hawaiian burger. And of course, we've got tacos, pizza, everything that tourists and locals want. And we tweak. We tweak the menu, and we tweak the offerings. And we changed outlets in and out to see what will work better or successful. As you know, we just introduced some sushi options on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night that are very, very special and being very well received. And that's an experiment that Mike stepped into and has brought some great success with. Well, I completely agree. I mean, I love all of the restaurants that you have within there. And I want to share the people of Hawaii, they know that Ryan Tanaka is the founder of Brotherhood Grines, Sisterhood Grines. And your Cahuillo Avenue Food Hall is one of the original four restaurants that supports Brotherhood Grines and University of Hawaii Athletics, Hawaii Football as well. I mean, how special is this to really be a part of this program? Well, I have to say, in particular if you ask Mike, who lives day in and day out on property, it is one of the things that we're most proud of as operators. We love the athletes. We love the schools. We love to support them. We love to feed them. We love to go to the games. It's just very, very important. It's something that we go back to being, again, part of Alhana from a community standpoint. And we feel like this is a way for us to lift up and push forward the athletes and the athletic programs. And we feel it's very important. John, tell me about your time as a Marine. So I went in the Marines, yes. I was in the Marines from 81 to 86. It wasn't something that I necessarily wanted to do. And I'll just give you a brief background, but essentially I'm first-generation American on my mother's side of the family. My grandfather was in Egyptian. He was an Aria pilot, worked his way up to Brigadier General, and it was like a ambassador from the Arab League to Japan and then the U.N. He actually opened the Nile Hilton with Conrad Hilton when he got in the hospitality industry, funny enough. But he was a very, very strong man. And essentially, he sent my mom to go to school in the U.S. Most people back then either sent their kids to go, but they were semi-well-to-do to Europe or the U.S. And he secured my mom a rotary scholarship, Big Rotarian. She went to college and it was the first time without chaperones. And she met the six-foot-four blue-eyed blonde basketball star on scholarship and fell in love. And he was as naïve as she was, and before you know it, John came about. And he wanted to continue with school and wasn't... Let's say all that enthusiastic about having a child who wanted to make sure that he finished school. So my grandfather heard the news from my mom that she was pregnant, and he basically disowned her. He said, don't call here. Don't write here. We're not sending money home to you anymore. So you're kind of on your own. So this is what I grew up with, but it turns out he'd had two daughters. And I was the first born to read mail in the lineage, and he started sending us tickets to come to Egypt for the summer so that he could be close and I would say influence me as through my life. So I spent my summers growing up in Egypt. My mom would stay in the back bedroom the entire time. None of the men could necessarily go visit with her. It's mainly the women that could go see her. And then we would go home and mom and I would have the normal life. We had some challenges. Thank God for government programs and whatnot, especially at the time she was single mom during the different times that she was single mom. And I would say that my 18th birthday, I went to see my grandfather and he was very much a mentor and a father figure to me. And he said, so John, what are you going to do? You know, where are you going to college? And I said, well, I really don't want to go to college. I really want to be a magician and you can imagine the impact that had on him. He says, what do you mean a magician? And I'm like, well, you know, an entertainer. I want to do magic. And he's like, no, no, you're not going to college. You're going to go into military. And I said, well, I really don't have to in the US. It's not mandatory. He said, no, you will because it's important. And I went in, your grandfather went in, your great grandfather. Everybody has gone into the military and that's what I want you to do. So I looked at him and I said, you know, you're asking something big of me. You've taught me how to buy men's clothes and timepieces and the important manners and also some business, including negotiation. And I know that if I don't ask something big of you, you're not going to respect me as a man. So I need to ask something big in return. And he said, if he was here with us on this broadcast for us, he would tell you if he thought it was going to buy a car and he's ready to write that check. But essentially I said, I want you to take mom back completely fully and forgive her. And he put his hand on the table and he went outside and poured himself a whiskey and lit a cigarette, which I rarely saw him do. I was a little nervous to say the least. And he came back in and he sat down and he looked at me for 20 minutes. He'd always taught me when you make your ass, you stop, you know, first one to speak loses. So I kept my mouth shut. He said, okay, but it has to be the Marines and we shook on it. And I, I agreed that I would go into the Marines. But the very next day, I have to tell you, he took my mom back knocked on her door, invited her to breakfast. They took her to the country club after getting her hair done in a new dress and they welcomed her back to the family. And in fact, for the rest of their lives, they were very close. My grandfather moved, he and my grandmother Lulu to Georgia to be close to us. So I was pretty stuck doing six years in the Marines to pay for that, pay that debt. But that, that was my, that was my duty. So John, after the Marines, tell me about your time as a magician. Yeah. So Rusty, I went after that. As soon as I got out of the Marines, I still had that dream. And I picked up and moved to Los Angeles and I auditioned at the magic castle and began performing there. Got an agent who got me some, some lucrative gigs in Las Vegas and at the Moulin Rouge at the Crazy Horse in Paris and others. And I did that for about 15 years. It was, it was the dream come true for me for a long, long time. Man, that's, that's amazing. That's why I love your background. I mean, it's so interesting being a Marine, being a magician. And then John, I want to ask you your book from invisible to icon. This is your second edition. You wrote it 10 years ago. Why, why did you write a second edition for the book and how, what did you add on to include in this incredible book? So Rusty, after about 15 years of performing as a magician, as magic boy, I decided that I wanted to do something real. I wanted a house and a car and a wife and dogs, maybe a kid. So I made the decision, what I call a pivot, much like the natural pivot from from Marine Corps to magician. I made another pivot to hotel consultant. And I started as a solo practitioner in 1995, actually, full time. I got my first client that year and I kept growing the business until it was a multi-million dollar enterprise. And that went, that went very, very well for me. And then about seven years later, as we all can remember, six, seven years later, we had this thing called 9 11. And that really affected negatively the hotel tourism and leisure sectors. I don't know, hopefully everyone recalls, but grounded planes and no one was traveling. And it was very difficult. And unfortunately, I had been so aggressive in my entrepreneurial endeavors with this new company that I hadn't socked away a lot of rainy day cash. And it was my first venture and I ended up having to shutter, gave everybody two months pay essentially and sent them home. And we closed that business and I had to rethink. And the first edition from invisible to icon is the five year plan that I put together to bring myself through that journey as a solo practitioner and become more of a full blown expert in the hospitality space. The reason for that was I had seen several people that were my cohorts, colleagues, many of them mentors. They did very well after 9 11 through and and after 9 11 because everyone came to them wanting answers. They wanted they wanted to go to let's call it the no allies of the industry who had the answers have been there done that and the experts. And I wasn't on that list. I had not positioned myself to endure that. So I essentially went on this five year plan to move from invisible to an icon in the industry with the hopes that it would grow my business and grow my status in the market. And that would be more marketable. And that was really the 1st edition was how I went through that process. All the all the strategies tips, tactics that I utilize to get there, but my solo practice went very, very well. But I even came to after some years, I came to what I call a cul-de-sac sort of this is as far as I can go in this space as a solo practitioner. And what I learned was that I had grown my status in the industry and my reputation. But I was still not a big enough name to secure some of the big jobs, meaning. Yes, we've hired someone to fix our very large brand problem. And instead of Deloitte or KPMG or price fire has Cooper's we've gone with this guy named John three. This is not happening. It's very difficult to go to your board of directors and say that we're behind this guy named John three. So I decided it was time for another pivot. And to move in a new direction. And part of that was becoming part of a larger organization. And Horowitz, which is the global leader in hotel tourism and leisure. It's a 100 year old firm. They're around the world 250 senior partners and executives. I decided that I wanted to pursue them as a potential partner in my business. They are a professional member network organization, much like P WC and Deloitte and others. And there's subsidiary Crow, which is the eighth largest accounting firm. You know, five, six billion dollar billing. And I thought I wanted to join that firm and I did and it was a great thing that I went from running the Orlando office. To working my way up to the chairman of North America. To today, global chairman and the new blood. Talks about that pivot and the difference that it made for me and particularly now that I have. Let's call it proof of concept rusty in that. COVID was proof of concept for me. Not only did I survive, but I thrived through COVID and it was because all of a sudden I was one of those guys that people knew. People recognize and people respected. And I owe it all to the idea of personal branding. Oh, it all to making a pivot to for HCL. And I think it's just been a learning game. So now with this new revised expanded edition. What I did was took everything from the from the 1st book and updated it to today and everything that I learned in the last 10 years. There's extra chapters and updates, but that was my reason for writing a lot changed in 10 years. There's a long list of things that we endured as a nation and as global citizens over the last 10 years. And I think I've tried to pull that information in and really talk about how I tried to manage that and continue to build on my personal brand. John, I like what you said because so many times like people need to, like you said, pivot, make an adjustment, you know, just adapt to situations that. You know, you want to kind of improve yourself or you want to find a situation that you want to pursue and and that takes courage to do those things and there's always risk involved. But I like that you made those pivots, you know, back some years ago. And John, I want to I want to show everybody that you you're on the cover of global hospitality magazine. I mean, this is the January issue just it just happened. I mean, this is such a great honor. I mean, how did it feel to be finally on the cover of global hospitality? Well, it was exciting. It was exciting, but but I kind of take these things into perspective, so to speak, Rusty, because that was the January issue. It's already coming up two months old. So I just appreciate every time I received some recognition or an honor and I add it to the list of things that have helped me from a personal brand standpoint. I think it's I think it's just a testament to some of the tactics and strategies that I've used to raise my profile in the industry. John, you are widely known as a branding expert. I mean, when you help people or companies with their branding, what are some of the main keys that you focus on? Well, if I have to relate it to branding and I talk about personal branding, I think that the same principles apply to any brand. But if I if I had to talk to your audience or you, Rusty, and say, if we if we said what is personal branding, it is really about, I would say, crafting and managing your brand or your identity in such a way that it communicates meaningful messages. Perceptions, if you will, that differentiate you from everybody else and clearly communicates who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. I think that's the beginning of it. If I were to walk you through the whole process of personal branding, it would sound very similar. I mean, there's 3 kinds of branding. There's corporate branding. There's service and product branding and there's personal branding and they all kind of follow the same rules, if you will, from a brand perspective. But I would say right now, for instance, Rusty, we all have a brand. Everybody watching the show today has a brand, whether they realize it or not. They may not be managing it so well, but we all have a brand. If we went to our friends, our family, our neighbors, the people that we work with, our colleagues and said, hey, can you describe my brand to me? They would describe it for you very quickly. And I think most products and companies realize they have a brand as well, but essentially it starts with what are your brand attributes? What are the things that make you special? And Rusty, we know your story because you've got an incredible brand coach, you know, tennis champ, I mean, a broadcaster, keynote speaker, author, you have an incredible brand, but you're also a guy, you're a wine, and you're, you know, you've got all these other things that go with your attributes and we have to think about those things. And I think it also comes down to brand packaging. In this sense, I think gratuitous, but if we think about, like right now you look gorgeous in your suit and tie in blue with background and whatnot. I'm a little bit more relaxed probably than I should have been for your show. But brand packaging is particularly important because we live in a world where we judge individuals, each other, products, cars, whatever they may be, in a nanosecond. It's just human nature, we're all guilty of it. So think about how that brand packaging, what you're wearing, how you carry yourself, how your manners are. Do you have tats? Do you have piercings? Do you wear a lot of jewelry? Do you have flashy cars? Big home? All of those things project your brand packaging. And then finally, I think it comes down to, from a business perspective, we would say your mission statement and your brand description. I think individuals and personal, if they think about their personal branding, have to take that on as well. Why am I doing the things that I'm doing? What's my mission statement? How would I describe my personal brand to somebody else? What are the four words that I would use to describe myself? And are my audiences, the people that I care about most, my customers, clients, whoever they might be, would they use those same words? What words do they use and how can I get them to change and start thinking the way that I want them to think? And finally, I would say it's about, like any brand, I always wrap up with this. There's three things that regardless of what you do from a brand or marketing standpoint, I think are key. Commitment really have to commit to the brand fully. You can't do things halfway. You really need to commit to it long term. You don't want to start communicating or projecting your brand and brand messaging and brand packaging to an audience for a period of time and then suddenly change it because it's going to lose its effect and it's going to confuse your market. The other thing is investment. From my perspective, I need to make major investments in my brand to move forward. I went back to college and got two post-grads. I started joining some associations and getting involved in their boards. I started going through certifications, which aren't so cheap. From time or money perspective, I had to think about the kinds of suits, clothes, whatever I was going to wear. It's really about that investment on the whole. What am I doing? And how can I continue to invest in that? Not just money, but time and energy as well. And finally, it's about, I would say, consistency. We're all familiar with people that we've known over time, celebrities or not, where they've fallen off the pedestal. We had them somewhere high and we could talk about some individuals like Lance Armstrong or Will Smith today. People think they've forgotten a lot of what he did that was amazing. And they just remember immediately that slap at the Oscars. The consistency of brand where we thought somebody was amazing, a good person and whatnot. And then one little miscue on their brand is very damaging. So it's got to be about consistency. So commitment, investment and consistency. John, I love those insights. That's why you're an expert. I love hearing this. John, I want to talk with you about some of the concepts in my books. You know, I talk about creating a superior culture of excellence and that's what you have done. I mean, you've done that. That's why you are super successful. But you've also worked with many elite companies. What are some things that you've learned and that you've helped these elite companies do that makes them successful? Well, I would say the things that I've learned from the best companies, including Harvard HDL, is that there needs to be a culture of trust and transparency and creativity, all kind of put together. You want to be in a place where you feel like you admire trust, respect the individuals that you work with at all levels within the organization. You want to feel, I think that is probably the biggest key. If people feel that you're insincere or disingenuine or that they don't know the full story or that there's something that's being held back, it can breed mistrust. I think the other thing is that you want to pursue the best and biggest opportunities, both in terms of hiring and recruiting, but also in terms of wins. You know as a coach, you want to go after the biggest trophy that you can get, keep your team fed and motivated and moving forward. You don't want to linger in the middle. You want to be at the top. And I think that's true in business, too. What are the things that we can do? You look at somebody like Elon Musk, a space, a satellite network, electric cars, whatever it may be. It seems like he has no limit to what is the next thing. And I think that's true in successful companies, too. What can we do? What can we win? And then finally, it's about providing the best possible environment and tools for people to win. To me, all of that is about excellence. John, you've worked with some of the greatest leaders in the world in these elite companies. What do you feel are the two biggest things that makes these great leaders great? I think it comes down to two things. One is vision. They have a vision for the future. And not just for their own personal gain, but for the company's future, for the organization's future, and everybody as they trickle down. They can talk to you as an individual and share their vision for you. At least they can portray that. And then I think the other thing is that they push forward other good leaders, meaning they lift them up and push them forward to excel. They don't hold everything to themselves. They're very good delegators, and they want to lift up and push forward other leaders. Those are probably the two things is show me your vision and then show me that that works for me from a vision standpoint. And then let me have that and lift me up, push me forward. I'm ready to go. I think those are the big things. I love hearing that. And John, you're a very highly sought after keynote speaker. You've spoken, you've done keynote speaking in tons of different countries. What are the topics that you talk about? So I talk about personal branding, obviously, because that's one of my key topics. I particularly like, let's call it C-suite and management teams and entrepreneurs, consultants, even people in real estate and insurance. I like speaking on that and talking about how they can lift themselves up. And then the other thing I like to talk about is strategic market planning. And then it's how to position very similarly a brand, whether it's a hotel brand or a property or a restaurant chain or whatever it may be. I've gotten to work with Intel and Motorola as well as companies like Hyatt and everything in between. And what I would say is that I think there's a place for that today more than ever because there seems to be a sea of sameness in our products and service offerings across the board. It's getting hard for consumers to tell the difference. So that's one of the things that I speak on with great, great passion. Well, John, I want to do keynote speaking with you with these companies. I'm ready. Let's go on tour. I'm ready, Rusty. I think that would be like an incredible keynote speaking tour, both of us going out there together. I think so too. I think we would enjoy it. I think we'd feel guilty getting paid. John, I want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. I mean, you have such an incredible story and that's just a little glimpse of it, what we're able to talk about and share today. But I really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. Rusty, it was a great pleasure and an honor. And I want to thank you for inviting me. Thanks, John. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on ThinkTek Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKomori.com and our books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that John and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Thank you.