Bridgette Bello – The Executive Collective

For more information on The Executive Collective, visit BridgetteBello.com

Joe Hamilton:   Joining me today on SPX is one of the most influential people in the business and media independently landscape. Bridgette Bello, welcome.

Bridgette Bello: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Joe Hamilton: Good to see you again. It’s been a little while.

Bridgette Bello: It has been a little while, but it’s good to see you again as well.

Joe Hamilton: So a little bit of history for those not familiar.

10 years at the helm of Tampa Bay Business Journal, first woman to hold that position, then moved on to Tampa Bay, founded the local, uh, Tampa Bay Business and Wealth Magazine, and helmed that for a while, and now have moved on to another iteration around business collectives and relationship capital.

That seems to be a thing that has always defined your career, kind of going from news and relationship capital to even deeper relationship capital at Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, and now almost fully relationship capital and understanding that, uh, in your new collective. Is that fair?

Bridgette Bello: Yeah. That’s always been, to me, my most expensive currency.

Yeah. It absolutely is the thing that  drives me and that I spend the most time on is making sure that I’m protecting and developing those relationships and using them for good for everyone involved.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah, and you do a ton of work in philanthropy. It should be noted in everything you’ve done, it’s been a- Thank you

a common, a common theme. So let’s start at the beginning, business news, and obviously, you know, as the Business Journal has operated, there is, there’s the news piece of it, but there’s also the recognition. There’s a lot of events. There are a lot of awards and all of that. So kind of give us a 101 on the lay of the land with business influence as it relates to news and media and publications.

Bridgette Bello: Wow. Okay. That was a roundabout way to get there. The lay of the land as it relates to business news, media- Yeah, just sort of- … and

Joe Hamilton: influence … you know, what people, obviously, from the… are in the paper per se, the quote unquote paper, it means something, right? Sure. It means that other people have deemed them being newsworthy, and you were the person who chose what was newsworthy.

Yeah. And so you got to kind of see it from that side of the table and wanted to, you know, get your impressions on

Bridgette Bello: the- Yeah. Well, I will say I was the person that did that for 12 years, and I have not been the person that did that for the last eight. Right. So the, the answer to that question would be different now than it was back then.

I think in a lot of cases, and it’s funny, we were just talking about this during lunch, I think the media has lost their way nationally, and that also has happened locally. It’s become more about what’s gonna drive clicks, and you know, should we write that story because people are gonna click on it and pay to read it, as opposed to should we write that story because it’s a story that should be written.

So when I was there, and this is true actually of both publications, it had absolutely nothing to do with- What I could get out of it. It had to do with being able to highlight people that I felt like were worth highlighting, right? That, that they earned that right. All I have is hearsay at this point, but I understand that that’s not necessarily the case anymore, and we’ve certainly seen that in the industry across many, many different publications and TV shows and podcasts and, you know, all the media these days.

But yeah, it did really used to mean something, and I think what I’ve landed on now is that only I can control what I think means something, and so The Executive Collective is very much focused on controlling something that means something- Yeah … and making sure that the people that are involved are people who deserve to be there and not people who paid to be there.

Makes sense.

Joe Hamilton: And obviously, the power base of news changed with social media, with individuals gaining power, and is that necessarily a bad thing in that has it democratized people who are listened to by the quality of what they say versus just the platform they happen to have been attached to? Or has it, and maybe it’s some combination of both, spread things s- so much that, that people are in, in rabbit holes that the collective value of a platform has lost its steam?

Bridgette Bello: I think it’s the latter to a certain degree. I think social media has been really good in some respects. I think it’s also been really bad in some respects, right? I mean, I think no one knows what to believe when they see, and I think that blurs. I think it goes between traditional media, social media. I think no one knows what to believe in general these days.

And, and I also think that we have such tremendous access to information that didn’t exist before, that there’s all of these, I’ll call them conspiracy theories, that might not be the best thing to call them, right? But that, like, “Oh, well, but we can find this, and we can find that, and we couldn’t find that before,” and right?

Well, it was all there all along. Mm-hmm. It was just the access to the information that was different. And so yeah, it’s, social media has changed journalism because everyone’s a journalist now, right? Or at least they think they are. But it has definitely democratized and made it easier to disseminate information, and I guess all we can hope is that the people that are doing that are doing it for the right reasons.

Joe Hamilton: And when you talk about the amount of information that’s available, I also think that that creates a proliferation of expertise, and that people, you know, if you’re into left-handed butterflies, you can do 100 hours of research and become an expert pretty quickly. I want a baby otter. A baby otter? That’s my new obsession, is a baby otter.

Right.

Bridgette Bello: My husband’s like, “We’re not getting a baby otter, Bridgette.” Okay.

Joe Hamilton: Uh, come on, Jose. Uh, I will, I will, I will visit the, the, play with the baby otter. But it’s because I

Bridgette Bello: can watch baby otters on Instagram, right? Yeah. And they’re really cute, and they can swim in your pool and like- Yeah … be a pet, so.

Joe Hamilton: And you can legitimately learn how to properly raise a baby otter just based on the information that’s available to you.

Bridgette Bello: Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: So now when you see a news article on a baby otter, it’s always gonna be signif- you know, you’re gonna feel nice that it’s out there and some information’s out there, but it’s always gonna feel significantly less fulfilling than what you’re getting through your own, own, you know, research and, and what you’re doing online.

Yeah,

Bridgette Bello: absolutely.

Joe Hamilton: And then when you throw that into, into stories that often have a couple sides to them, right, the people on each side of those, is baby ot- is it good to have them in captivity? Right. Does it help this? Does it not? You know, it’s, it’s How many

Bridgette Bello: takes did that cute little five seconds actually take them to get, right?

Yeah. And how much of the other 60 seconds was, is it a monster and- Yeah. … you don’t want it in your house, right? Can he live with nine fingers

Joe Hamilton: instead of 10? Yeah. I’m gonna take some off. Yeah. Yeah.

Bridgette Bello: Absolutely.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah. So, you know, you get these folks who are so deeply down the rabbit hole in one perspective, and there’s actually a lot of truth and value and real stuff happening in their perspective, but other people who just, you know, also have that, but just different perspectives, you know?

You look at a front of the house or a back of a house, it’s the same house, but you’re gonna describe it differently.

Bridgette Bello: Sure.

Joe Hamilton: And I think therein lies the problem With the platforms is that they do not give a path for the front of the house person and the back of the house person to get together and realize the good of the house.

They can’t argue over what they’re seeing because they’re just seeing two sides of the house.

Bridgette Bello: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and people, you know, keyboard warriors is a thing now, right? So I posted something the other day that genuinely was informational, but also that I was disappointed, right? And I’ll talk about it.

I have no problem talking about it. It was my daughter and I, who has a one-year-old that I haven’t spent three hours alone with in over a year because she has a one-year-old, right? Right. And we made this big deal over going to the Devil Wears Prada to premiere, and we were going to get the Birkin bags, and like we were going to do the whole thing.

And we got there, and the first thing we saw walking in the door was a QR code thing saying, “We don’t have the Birkin bags.” Yeah. And the next thing we saw was the bar is closed. And we had checked on both of those things- It’s gone down fast … before we went there, right? Yeah. And I, I was like, “This is terrible.

This is a terrible customer service experience.” And she gave up a night with her husband and her baby for us to go- Right … because we were all excited about it. So I posted something about it, and someone got on my Facebook and said, “That’s the most Karen thing I’ve read all day.” And I was like, “Okay, well, it’s not.

It’s a customer service experience. It’s where I’ve chosen to spend my hard-earned money. It’s where my daughter’s chosen to give up time with her daughter and my granddaughter.” It was all of these things that had absolutely nothing to do with me being a Karen. Right. But she felt compelled that she needed to say that and label me, right?

Yeah. And it was one of those experiences of perspective. Yeah. And, and that’s why I bring it up is just she had no right to say that to me, and I did explain what I was actually trying to accomplish through the post. But her perspective was just completely different than mine, and we were never gonna agree on it.

We don’t know each other, and quite frankly, I don’t care. So-

Joe Hamilton: Sure. Well, and therein lies one of the most unrecognized and nefarious elements of so-called journalists or people who try to put information, is a professional journalist provides context. Right. And there’s no context. It’s just raw opinion, and it’s up to you to absorb that raw opinion and, and juxtapose it against your own feeling at the moment, your own context.

And that’s why, you know, that person superimposed their context, which is completely different than from your context.

Bridgette Bello: Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: And the mechanism doesn’t allow for that to happen. It puts a lot of onus on the people to, you know, to really try to consider other people’s, uh, their context before they say things like that.

Bridgette Bello: And- And most people don’t take the time to do that … yeah. They don’t care. And half the

Joe Hamilton: time they’re just expressing… They’re just serving their own emotional needs anyway. I need to, to say something, right? It makes me feel good. Yep. There’s just some random number on the other side of that too, which, you know, that’s, you know, in Cityverse,  which we’re building, there’s no anonymity.

I think, you know, I think that that’s such a… The fact that you can go on and hide behind an avatar and multiple accounts, and it’s just such an easy system- Make up fake email

Bridgette Bello: addresses- Yeah … and use Proton accounts, and- Yeah … yeah, it’s wild. It is absolutely wild. It’s a different world.

Joe Hamilton: So with this, we’re talking about the changing face of media and moving from the platform.

We have the term influencer now, and certainly power was brokered through the big news channels and, and was a big piece of it. Now, now we know that that’s changed. So how would you juxtapose in the modern world power and influence? How do they serve especially executives differently? You know, there’s people who are powerful because of how they run their company.

There are people who are- run companies who are powerful because they market themselves. And what are your thoughts on sort of the, the divide between power and in- and influence?

Bridgette Bello: Yeah. I’ve actually been talking about this a lot lately, and I think power to me has a negative connotation.  Mm-hmm. I think that power is typically self-serving.

Mm-hmm. And I think influence isn’t. Hmm. Right? And so I look at influence as being that’s what I would like to have and for people to say about me, not that I’m powerful, right? Mm-hmm. Everyone’s perspective, we just said that, right? Yeah. Everyone’s perspective is different. But I just see the two as kind of being opposites of each other.

They maybe get you to the same place, but I think one of them is, is a positive connotation and one of them is a negative connotation.

Joe Hamilton: Right. So s- maybe power is the ability to force people to get in the boat with you, and influence is the ability to people want to be in the boat with you. They

Bridgette Bello: wanna be in the boat with you.

Yeah. That’s great. 100%. That’s a great way to put

Joe Hamilton: it. That’s cool. That’s cool. So how do you infuse that understanding? Because, well, I guess before we get to that, let’s talk about networking too, because this is where, you know, what… I’ve always thought you’ve had fantastic events, right? When you, you know- Thank you

some of the Business of Wealth events were one of the most fun, and I don’t like networking events at all, but I liked going to your events because it just didn’t feel like that. And- ‘

Bridgette Bello: Cause that’s a dirty word to me, just so you know. Networking? I hate that word. Yeah. I absolutely hate that word. Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah, so w- you know, what should people understand about networking on the, the bad end of the spectrum and relationship building on the good end of the spectrum and, and what’s sort of the, the journey between the two?

Bridgette Bello: So there’s a person in town that everyone in this room is gonna know who I’m talking about when I say this- Yeah … but we’ll leave this person unnamed-

Joe Hamilton: Okay …

Bridgette Bello: who a lot of people would refer to as a master networker and a master connector, right? Mm-hmm. If you spend 30 seconds speaking to this person, this person is constantly looking behind you.

He’s looking to see who’s walking in behind. He’s not the least bit interested in the conversation that he’s having with you. Right. That’s networking. Right. That’s not connecting with people. That’s not getting access to people. That’s not people who are gonna take your phone call, or much less bail you out or do something to help you or anything else, right?

And I’ve always spoken about and believed that it’s about trust, and it’s about meaning what you say and saying what you mean, right? If you tell somebody you’re gonna do something You do it- Mm-hmm … or you explain why you can’t, right? You don’t just hope they don’t notice that you didn’t do it. Mm-hmm.

And I think there’s a lot to be said for that, and I think there’s a lot of that lacking in networking, traditional networking. So I try to offer experiences, and I have for years, where that’s not what it is. It’s about making meaningful connections. It’s not about networking. Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: And, and when you help people who work with you understand that, how much does short-term versus long-term view or strategy come into play?

You know, I need the sale right now, or I’m gonna be part of this business environment for decade to come, decades to come.

Bridgette Bello: Are you asking me personally or other people that I know?

Joe Hamilton: Well, how do you… I mean, I’m assuming you, you’re a long-term… You, you- Yeah. … you have a long t- a long-term strategy obviously, right?

Thank you. So how do you- Well, like, do we

Bridgette Bello: really have to talk

Joe Hamilton: about this? No. But how do you… But other people who come to you. ‘Cause, you know, at the end of the day, you can set up an environment for people who are already there to really get meaningful interaction, but not a r- it’s probably the exception to the rule that people are already there.

That, you know, uh, people have ways that they can  understand how better to do that, really get the nuances of relationship capital. So, you know, when you get people who are, I would say, 80% efficient at understanding the concept of relationship building, they’re still gonna be a good fit to, to work with you and be- Yeah

a part of the collective, but they’re not 100%. So what’s sort of the, the, getting from 80 to 100, how do you typically have to do that?

Bridgette Bello: I think it’s a curation of the room, right? I think it’s about if I know that Joe’s 80%, then I’m gonna put other 80 percenters in the room with him- Mm-hmm … right? So the expectations are aligned.

If Bridgette’s 100%, I’m gonna put other 100 percenters in the room with her. I don’t think we can all be 100 percenters all of the time. Right. Right? But that is the, kind of the reason for the comment about if you can’t, explain why you can’t, right? Yeah. So if I told you I was gonna be here today at 2:00, and, and I was here at 2:00, but at 2:10, you didn’t know I was here ’cause I didn’t see you walk in, right?

Right. I made a point to come back and say, “Joe, I’ve been here. I’m sorry. I wasn’t late. I’m waiting on the bill. I’ll be right back,” right? To me, that’s the difference, as opposed to, oh, he’ll wait. He’s here. He, you know, he knows I’ll show up eventually. Yeah. So I think it, it goes back to say what you mean and mean what you say, and if you can’t, then explain why you can’t.

And so I think that’s the difference between the 80 and the 100 percenters. Mm-hmm. It’s not that I worry about what people think of me. Mm-hmm. It’s that I worry about how people feel interacting with me. Mm-hmm. Right? And is that gonna be a positive thing or a negative thing? Right. And I often get described as, and this just happened in my house, my husband had drinks with somebody last night, and he must have said, “Bridgette’s tough,” like five times.

Huh. And I’m like, “What did you say?” Yeah. And he said, “I told him she’s not tough. She just has high expectations.” Yeah. “And when people don’t meet her expectations, she doesn’t let them get away with it.” Right. “She lets them know,” right? Not everybody appreciates that. Yeah. Not everybody appreciates the person who holds them accountable, and not everyone appreciates the person who You always know where you stand with me, right?

I’m not gonna walk out of a room and go, “Oh, God, he’s such a jerk,” right? Right, right. I’m gonna tell you. You’re- tell you’re a jerk, right? Not everyone likes that. I was taught to treat people how I wanna be treated. I don’t want people that are gonna talk about me behind my back. Sure. I want people who are gonna challenge me to my face.

And so I think that really is the difference between meaningful connections and being able to have those conversations. And, and then taking that, it’s funny, I just posted this on my social media I think last night, and making sure that you’re making meaningful connections for people, right? So I’m not gonna introduce you to my mobile car guy, cleaning guy- Right

right, unless you say, “Hey, do you know anybody that’s, that cleans cars, that does that mobile?” Because that’s not gonna be a meaningful connection for you. And so I think being really intentional about who the people you put together are and how they can help each other, not what they can do for each other, but how they can help each other, makes a big, big difference in whether or not the next introduction or connection that you make will get a positive response.

Makes

Joe Hamilton: a lot of sense. Um, I feel confident that you could counteract the toughness, uh, perception by walking around with a baby otter. I, I, I think. I think. I- I’m

Bridgette Bello: walking around with- … a one-year-old granddaughter. That helps. Does that count? Yeah, that helps too. Yeah. I, I’m okay with people saying I’m tough.

Yeah. ‘Cause you know what? I, I know I’m not.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah. Well, that… So… And this is a nuanced question. This is, you know, I, I consider myself fairly introverted. I, you know, I, I look at a lot of s- like, what I call them, uh, social infrastructure, you know. When you go to a, any kind of a big event, I watch people, you know, have to hug and kiss and shake hands and say and then ask all the questions.

Like, to me, it’s just like the monkeys picking the bugs- Me too … out of each other’s- Yeah … you know, kinda- Yeah … out of their, their hair or whatever. You have

Bridgette Bello: big plans this weekend? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: There you go. And so, uh, but yet on the other hand, you bring up just being able to say it like it is, and, you know, even after all these years of you being you, there’s still, y- you still, you know, have this perception of being toughness, which is really just, to me, that’s so much stripping away those layers, right?

You just, you, you don’t go through all the r- the rigmarole. Yet, you know, you come in and you say, “Hey, sorry I was late because of this,” so you, you pointedly do s- those sorts of things that are cordial and proper there. But you might say, like, me, say what you feel in a way that’s a little more forward than, than people who are more…

They wouldn’t do that, right? So-

Bridgette Bello: Right …

Joe Hamilton: I guess, how do you see taking your own personal brand, infusing it in this sort of social interaction, and can people… I mean, do, do executives in the collectives tend to not need that as much, and they just get straight to the point? Or, you know, where does that play in at your events?

Bridgette Bello: So I think it depends on the conversation that we’re having, right? Authenticity is really important to me. Mm-hmm. And that’s probably the number one compliment I get from people is they say, “You’re so real,” right? “You’re so authentic.” I think we can all probably really quickly name three people that we know that are just not authentic people.

Right. Right? And I think that changes not only the amount of time someone wants to spend with you, but the quality of the time that they wanna spend with you. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so if we’re having These in the collectives as an example, right? We had dinner last week. The topic was when growth gets complicated, and had 14 CEOs and business owners around the table.

They knew that was gonna be the topic when they got there, and some of them got really, really raw and really, really real. And that was amazing, right? Because it was conversations that they couldn’t necessarily have anywhere else. And everybody that night was super engaged and super respectful, but there was one person that I got comments from the next day that was like, “That’s not how you lead, and that’s not how you treat people, and you don’t take them on the floor and yell at them,” and right.

If that’s how that person really felt in my world, she should have said it that night. Mm-hmm. At that table. That should have been a point of discussion. Right. And to me, that’s the difference between being authentic and not being authentic, is waiting until the next day to say something about something- Yeah

you could have very easily said that night.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. You know, I, I, you have, you know, potentially just very insecure or maybe they felt like they were in such a minority. And I think we’ve talked about the collectives a few times. I think we should define them, you know, so people know what’s a collective.

Sure. So talk- It’s my favorite

Bridgette Bello: topic … talk

Joe Hamilton: about the new, the new endeavor.

Bridgette Bello: Yeah. So it’s called the Executive Collective. Mm-hmm. That actual piece of it is a monthly gathering of 14 different CEOs and business owners every single month, so a very good wide range exploration of the people in this community that are in those seats.

We pick the topic ahead of time. Everyone comes knowing that that’s gonna be the topic. I record it, transcribe it, and anonymize it, so we take out any reference to industry, company, person. Right. And that’s the part I’m probably the most excited about, is that I’m gonna publish that, and it’s going to be a transfer of knowledge that in my travels I have not been able to find exists, right?

And so my kind of famous line at this point is that my hope is that- The Executive Collective will become the authority on what seated executives are thinking about particular things right now, right? So someday maybe the Wall Street Journal or the Harvard Business Review will say, “According to the Executive Collective-” Right

right? But it’s, it is really altruistic from my perspective because there is no transfer of knowledge. We are in the midst of the largest leadership shift that has ever happened in the history of this country, and it’s gonna peak in the next five to six  years, and there’s no one that’s addressing and teaching and helping people who are gonna now carry the weight of those decisions and, and understand what that weight feels like and, and what that impact is going to be.

So I feel very passionate about this transfer of knowledge piece of it. And then under that sits Sovereign, which is women CEOs and executives only. Next to that sits Stewards, which is CEOs and executives that are running $1 to $5 million companies. There’s no place for them currently. They, they don’t get a lot of respect, I guess, for lack of a better way to put it.

I think another thing that has to be taken into consideration is that as a world, and certainly as a country, employee headcounts are going down and they’re gonna keep going down, right? And so using that as a barometer of somebody’s success of their company to me is an old model and antiquated. And so I’m giving people that are doing $5 million with 10 employees a chance to grow to doing $10 million with 12 employees, right?

And to keep those headcounts where they need them to be, but to also have that support system that doesn’t currently exist. And then the third one is the one I have not stood up yet, and it’s coming, and that’s the Successors Collective, and that goes back into that conversation about the leadership shift that we’re in the process of.

And so ideally… And the company’s eight weeks old at this point, right? Yeah. So I’m really excited about what we have accomplished, and yet there’s still so much to accomplish. Ideally, those successors will be identified by people who are in the other collectives as their successors, and nominated, and so it’s a serious C, right?

Yeah. It’s not somebody’s kid that’s been a disaster their whole life and they’re like, “Maybe this will fix them,” right? That’s not who I want in the Successors Collective. I want it to be, you know, Joe as the CEO of this company says, “This person is going to be my successor. Help get them ready.” Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: That’s great. It’s nicely layered too, I think.

Bridgette Bello: Thank you.

Joe Hamilton: Spawns a, a couple questions. Num- one, you talked about putting the content out. So how big of a part of the company will that be, and sort of what are the different ways you’ll slice the content or, and express the content into what end?

Bridgette Bello: Yeah. So that is a fun part of the conversation.

Here’s what I can tell you. If it ever starts to look like a magazine or a business journal- … take me out back and shoot me. Okay. I’m never doing that again. Yeah. I’m never selling ads and sponsorships again. That will not be a part of- Yeah … what we’re doing. I want it to be an archive. Mm-hmm. I want it to be a piece that could sit in a library or a museum and that people could say, “Wow, look what was going on in 2026.

Look at what they were talking about, what they were thinking,” right? Yeah. Eventually, it, I hope, will be a printed piece. It might not start out that way because, as we all know, that’s not free, right? Mm-hmm. I’m working on it. But the, I definitely want the transfer of knowledge to take place, and I can do that for not a lot of money, right?

Joe Hamilton: And, and do you think the, how specific would it be to our region versus general business knowledge? So the

Bridgette Bello: plan is world domination.

Joe Hamilton: World domination.

Bridgette Bello: The plan is to take it to other markets. Nice. I’m looking at Tampa Bay as a demo market. Right. We’ve got some amazing organizations here that I am a member of and on the board of one of and have been involved in for 20 years, CEO Council, and they do a fantastic job of what they do.

And so what I am trying to do is fill the gaps of the places that they don’t currently serve. Right. Once we start to move to other markets, that won’t be the case ’cause I won’t be so worried about hurting people’s feelings. So yeah, the idea is for it to grow to other markets.

Joe Hamilton: That’s a great idea. And then there’s, I guess, your expectation and then potentially the people who joins expectations of your guidance.

So do you see yourself as more of a just a facilitator, or do you see yourself more imposing best practices on the communication infrastructure and such, that you’re actually leading it in a way that you, it gets to where you want it to go?

Bridgette Bello: I think it’s gonna be both. In the Successors Collective, I’ve already contracted with a company that’s gonna actually provide curriculum.

I’m not qualified to do that. Yeah. So that will be in a more teaching environment. It will also have the peer relational roundtable conversations, but that one will be much more intensive from a learning perspective. With the other two cohorts, I will be the facilitator. I’m, I’ve been facilitating roundtables for some time.

As the facilitator, I also get to have input, so there will be a little bit of that leadership knowledge transfer from my perspective. I’ve been a CEO for the last 30 years and led teams and done so really successfully, so I think I have something to offer in that space. But it really, the roundtables are really about, again, information sharing and, and having kind of your own board of advisors for companies that don’t have that.

And one per industry and a unique perspective from those different industries, and often you have an attorney in the room. Right. You have a banker in the room. You have an accountant in the room, right? And those are expensive resources if they’re not a part of your current mix. So yeah, I, I think it’s a little bit of both.

It’s facilitating, it’s knowledge transfer, and it’s helping to guide the conversation all at the same time. That’s

Joe Hamilton: great. And one area that I, I imagine a lot of, especially older leaders might look to you to understand better is personal branding. You went from leading organizations to now basically leaning on your personal brand to, to kick this, uh, business off.

How important is it, you know, in, in the worlds of Elons and Steve Jobs and stuff, how important is it for a local executive to have a personal brand that’s known and out there? Is it a distraction? Does it actually help the business? What is your advice on people trying to, the necessity if a CEO said, “Should I build a personal brand?”

Bridgette Bello: So I’ve been in this town for 20 years. My career is about 35 years old, right? I’m 55 years old. I had somebody say to me right after everything kind of shifted with TBBW, like, “You know, we’ve been through this with you before,” like almost patting me on the head. Mm-hmm. And I’m like, “I’m probably the only 55-year-old woman you know that’s had three jobs in her entire life.”

Yeah. Right? “You’ve been through this with me before- Yeah … once.” Yeah. “And it was eight years ago.” Yeah. “And it’s the only other  time in, in the history of ever,” right? Yeah. I think that because so much of our identity can be tied up in our job, that if we don’t have our own personal brand separate and apart from that, that can be a real problem.

Mm. If we aren’t the publisher of the Business Journal anymore- Right … we aren’t the founder of TBBW anymore, right? I have to be able to count on people to know what they can count on from me. Yesterday, and I posted about this, so if it’s repetitive, I’m sorry, but went to Union yesterday for lunch for a meeting with a friend that I stood to gain absolutely nothing from.

It was just to catch up and see how we could help each other. And on the way to the bathroom, I got eight hugs, and on the way back from the bathroom, I got two more, right? And I was like, “I have nothing to offer those people.” Yeah. I, I don’t buy ink by the ear- barrel anymore, right? Yeah. As we used to say in the publishing industry.

That’s what I’ve worked my whole career for. That’s what I’ve spent my whole life being a good person for, was because 10 people still wanted to give me a hug yesterday at Union. So I think your personal brand is right up there with that relationship currency from the- Mm … expense perspective. I think it’s, it’s the most valuable thing that we have, and I think it’s absolutely imperative that everyone in that role have their own personal brand that is not attached to their identity as a CEO.

Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: And how… I mean, Business of Wealth was at least in the same genre, ballpark as, uh, Business of Wealth was basically in s- you know, the same genre as Business Journal. So how much of an identity hit was it for you transitioning between the two? Was that… You know, 10 years is a long time. I guess we’ll start with that, and then I wanna talk about m- you know, same, same question for Business Wealth to, to the collectives.

But how much of an identity hit was it for you to get out of the Business Journal?

Bridgette Bello: So because it was the first time I really went through that, right, and because it was so high profile and so public, I was really afraid that it was gonna be… And I was 47, so I didn’t know what to expect. And so I’ll never forget my husband and I having the conversation of like, “We’re about to find out who our friends are.”

Mm-hmm. Right? Who was my friend because I was the publisher of the Business Journal, and who is really my friend? The good news was that, you know, I would say nine out of 10 people, it was a true friendship, but I think that’s as much of a testament to them as it is to me because I offered value over and above being the publisher of the Business Journal.

It was actually a pretty significant shift from the Business Journal to TBBW because hopefully what I did, because it’s what I was trying to do- Was almost the exact opposite of what the TBPJ was doing. And that was because I had shared with them what I thought the direction should be, and they had their own ideas of what the- they thought the, and right, wrong, or indifferent, right?

So I kinda took the things that I thought should be different, and that’s what I did with TBPW. So it was a pretty significant shift. Mm-hmm. This one doesn’t feel like a shift much at all. I’ve, I’ve spent my entire career around CEOs and, and business owners. My dearest friends, my closest relationships, my confidants, my mentors, have been all of those people, and I’ve sat in their homes, and I’ve pet their dogs, and I know their kids.

And so continuing to focus on those people and how I can make a difference in their lives- Yeah … it feels very much like what I’ve done my whole career.

Joe Hamilton: And what were those, just for to close the loop, what were the things that you wanted to be different in, in the Business Journal that you took into Seed and so

Bridgette Bello: on?

We talked about this on your podcast before. I know. That’s a while ago. It was a while ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Right. I had really strong feelings about paywalls. I still do, and that’s part of why I’m struggling with this transfer of knowledge that I’m talking about- Right … the, the archive piece.

I want it to be free. I want everyone to have access to it, but those things cost money. Yeah. Right? So I had very strong opinions about the paywall. I had very strong opinions about what the paywall would do to headlines and the types of stories that we chose to cover. I still don’t feel like I was wrong about that.

Yeah. I had very strong opinions about selling tickets to anyone and everyone for events, and what that would do from an audience erosion perspective with who our core was supposed to be, which was CEOs and business owners. I still do, right? Yeah. I mean, you see where I’m headed. Right. I’m going right back to I’m putting CEOs and business owners in a room and nobody else.

And the number of people who have said to me, “Please don’t blur those lines,” and I’m like, “I’m not.” Yeah. “I will not.” Right? And, and I have really good friends that are like, “Oh, I’m not fancy enough for your dinners,” right? Well, you’re not a business owner or CEO, period, the end. Yeah. That’s all it has to do with.

It has nothing to do with being fancy- Yeah … or being my friend. So it was, it’s not about being exclusive for the reason of being exclusive. Right. It’s about being exclusive because that’s where those people are gonna find value. Right. And that’s where they’re gonna look at their calendar and say, “I’m not gonna miss this because I know it’s gonna be worth my time.”

Yeah. And I just don’t see that that exists anywhere else, and so I’m excited to be the one to be able to give them that experience.

Joe Hamilton: And you’ve made a good effort to stripe it so that it does open, you know, it is available to, to different, you know, people at different levels and, and things as well. So it’s not just the one, you know, the one flavor, one collective.

You have involved- Thank you … and all stuff, so. So what, you know, what is the fix then for… Uh, this is, this is more my arena now, but you know, with Cityverse, we’re, I agree that attention. The biggest reason I don’t think you can paywall attention is A, ’cause you’re advertising, but B, the quality isn’t Good enough in the sense of what it’s competing against.

Like, the journalism is beautiful, but the meaningfulness of, of, of seeing someone that you really like, a, a person you follow and their content is meaningful to you, and then, you know, trying to just read some random story about a groundbreaking or whatever, you really have to have a pool to understand your local community.

Um, as we talked about, the expertise is never gonna be there. If it’s interest to you, it’s always gonna be almost a little bit disappointing to go read about baby otters in the paper- … because you’re an expert on them. You know, so it’s, it’s a tricky model and, you know, when I did my research, most people that were paying for the subscriptions were either the h- the habit, right, of, of holding the paper and opening it, sometimes the crosswords-

and really the bulk were philanthropy, right? They just like- Yeah … I feel like this should exist. From a straight value standpoint, I wouldn’t buy it, ’cause I can go get 10 million movies for the same price a month, but I feel like it should exist and I’ll support it. You know, so it’s, it’s philanthropy, so.

It’s

Bridgette Bello: public television, right? Yeah. It’s public radio. I mean, it should exist. Yeah. And I’m never gonna stop saying that I’m a First Amendment junkie. Mm-hmm. And I’m never gonna stop saying I’m a real journalist, and I’m never gonna stop saying that there should not be an outlet that truly is not biased one way or the other that just provides the information, and as you said earlier, is required and expected to have context, right?

Yeah. For there to be some… I mean, that it’s basically gone. Yeah. It really is basically gone, and it breaks my heart. I think back to why did I do this in the first place? And it was about being a, a truth-seeker. It was about holding people accountable. It was about being able to shine a light, good, bad, or indifferent- Mm-hmm

on what was happening, not too dissimilar from what we were talking about before we started, right? Everything’s got an angle now. Everyone’s got an, an opinion now, and, and there’s very little real journalism left in this world. So I hope the philanthropists keep paying for that and – Well, yeah. But,

Joe Hamilton: but I, why I’m optimistic, and again, this is, this is really the basic premise of City Verse, is it’s not gone.

It’s only gone because there’s no business model that allows it t- to exist. Mm-hmm. And so if we can build the business model that allows it to exist, there are plenty of people that, that see its importance and wanna do it. And, you know, the other part of it, and s- you know, this is somewhat separate, but also is that it’s important as a binding agent, right?

The platform is the binding agent for the community. Yep. You know, we used to gather around high school sports, and we used to gather around things, and now we’re… I’m looking at, you’re looking at Kardashians, and I’m, I’m –

Bridgette Bello: I am not … I’m looking at pickleball players and,

Joe Hamilton: you know, and stuff, and we’re, we’re just, you know, our, our attention is scattered.

And that’s partly because the content experience is better on social- Yeah … when you can interact in a multimedia way and get direct access and all of that.  So it isn’t about the value of local news or its willingness to exist. It’s simply about there isn’t a place that it can get enough oxygen and relevance to, to do that, and I think if we fix the business model and we can afford it, then I think we have a shot of bringing it back.

Bridgette Bello: We should keep talking about that. Mm-hmm. I think the other big thing that, again, I tried to solve with TBBW, and, uh, you asked about the biggest differences- Yeah … right? And then you talked about transactions, and you have to really care about the community, and you probably have to be in the commercial real estate business or something tied to that, right, to really care about the transaction part of it.

Mm-hmm. I think where a lot of people miss the mark is that people don’t wanna read about companies, and they don’t wanna read about deals, and they don’t wanna read about transactions. They wanna read about people, right? And if we could get back to let’s talk about the people behind this deal, the people behind what we were talking about earlier, right, and why they’re behind this and what that means from a community perspective, I think that that makes all the difference in the world.

Yeah.

Joe Hamilton: Wonderful. So let’s instill some collective good advice on our listener base. So if someone in here is 25 or feels like they’re at that place from a understanding relationship capital standpoint, what would you tell them about starting down the road of building real relationship capital in Tampa Bay?

Bridgette Bello: I think this is one of the most welcoming communities I’ve ever lived in.

I think people, for the most part, will give you a chance. I’m not sure they’ll give you a second chance. I’ll never forget, I moved here in 2007, and I was on the, the Business Hall of Fame Selection Committee. And back then, it was a big three-ring binder that they would give you, and you would sit in this room with…

I was in the room with people that I had no business being in the room with, right? And y- everyone would crack this three-ring binder, uh, open and start going through the candidates. And the conversations that happened back then were… I left that room going, “Do not mess up in this town, Bridgette.” Like, this is a very big small town.

Mm-hmm. And, you know, they would bring up things from 30 years earlier. Like, you know, “Well, remember back in 1976?” And I was like, “Oh my God,” right? Like, I think you get one chance. I don’t know that you get a second chance, and I think that being authentic really matters here, and I think that doing what I said earlier, mean what you say and say what you mean, right?

D- don’t say you’re going to do it if you’re not gonna do it. Um, and I think if, if that’s the premise, and if your heart is really always in the right place of how can I make a difference for this person, not how can I make a difference for myself- Right This is a great place to build relationships.

There’s some amazing people in this community, and I, and I believe with my whole heart that the large majority of them want to see other people succeed. They wanna see the right people succeed. They wanna see the authentic people succeed, right? And they’ve got a very long memory . So, and, and that,

Joe Hamilton: that begs for a follow-up.

How do you balance, you know, the… What’s the saying? You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. You, you know, there are, resources are limited. If you wanna build something somewhere or someone else wants to build something in that same place, only one of you can build there. So sorta even if you do everything right and build something great, the person who didn’t get to build there is going to think negatively of you.

So how do you walk the line between being so vanilla you just are fog in the world versus doing noteworthy things and knowing that you are gonna, you know, those noteworthy things will inevitably come at the expense of someone else, so you inevitably will have some enemies. Uh, so what, you know, what’s your advice on where to put that dial between living authentically you and catering to making as few people not wanna vote for you for the Hall of Fame as possible?

Bridgette Bello: You know, that’s the on- only award that I have wanted, like, the entire time I’ve lived in this town. Yeah. It’s, it’s a pretty big deal. Yeah. It’s a really big deal. You know, I don’t know that I can answer that really well other than to say kinda what I said before, is that if you’re coming from a place where people genuinely believe even if you make a mistake, that you made a mistake for the right reasons, that you have been that person that has always done things for the right reasons, I do think that they will forgive a mistake.

So I don’t mean to make it sound like it’s- Yeah … an unforgiving community, right? I just think that… So let’s go back to what you just said, right? This is the second time I’ve been in a potentially could be viewed as, if you don’t understand, competitive situation, right? People kept saying I was competing with Business Roland.

I kept saying, “No, I’m not.” Right. I really wasn’t. I was, I was doing all the things that I thought were very different. Sure. Yeah. This is very similar, right? So on the surface, the executive collective might look like it’s competing with other organizations. Right. It’s not. I’m trying to fill the holes, right?

Yeah. Fill the gaps. And so I hope, and I, again, I’m eight weeks old, right? Yeah. I hope that people are saying, “I know she’s doing it for the right reasons.” Right. “And so even if it appears like she’s not, I’m gonna have a conversation with her and, and at least give her the chance to explain it.” Yeah. I think that’s hard-earned capital.

Yeah. I think that I earned that over 20 years of always trying to do the right thing.

Joe Hamilton: Yeah, I mean, it’s easier, it, certainly if you make a mistake and ask for forgiveness, that’s a little bit, you know, it’s kinda binary. But regardless of h- you know, the, and, uh, you know, the better you make the executive collective, the more Eh, Vistage is going to be right.

Or, you know, it’s just you can’t help it. God, don’t say that. She’s

Bridgette Bello: a friend. I know. Please don’t say that.

Joe Hamilton: Not Vistage. Tiger 21, whatever. Just throw them all out there. But- Yeah, no … you know, it’s just, it’s just the nature of the beast, you know? They all serve- Different people. Yeah. Well,

Bridgette Bello: but I think a huge part of it too, Joe, is I think that most of us, and I’m not including myself in this- Yeah

a lot of us approach with a scarcity mentality- Yeah … instead of an abundance mentality, right? That’s a great point. I very much have an abundance mentality. I’m like CEO Council, Vistage, whatever. They’ve been around, all of them have been around for a really long time. There is not 100% participation from every CEO and business owner in this town in any of those organizations, right?

Sure. Maybe there’s something that I’m doing different that will make them wanna be a part of mine that was never gonna make them wanna be a part of any of the others. I am staying in my lane. I met with the entire CEO Council board before I did this. They were very aware. They, they had heard me, not too dissimilar from the Business Journal when I left.

These were all things that I had said I thought we should be doing, right? And they’re very focused on sticking to their model, and there’s nothing wrong with that. So I’m not competing with them. Uh, but I also very much have an abundance attitude and not a scarcity one.

Joe Hamilton: Appreciate your time, as always. Uh-

Bridgette Bello: I appreciate yours, as always.

Joe Hamilton: I think now we’ve officially announced your candidacy for the, uh- … the Florida Business Hall of Fame. Let’s get this moving, people.

Bridgette Bello: Thanks, Joe.

Joe Hamilton: Brigette Bello, good to see you again. And, uh, we’ll, we’ll, uh, keep an eye on the Executive Collective and, and post all the pertinent contact info in the, uh, show notes.

Bridgette Bello: Thank you.

Joe Hamilton: Thanks.