Over a Decade of Success: Grady Marin on Leadership, AI, and The Future of The Records Company | S2 Ep. 156

0:05Hey everyone, welcome back to Founder Story. Today we have Grady Marin, who is the founder and president of the records company. And Grady, the amazing thing about your organization, on top of being a leader in the industry, you've been around since 2013. Most people are happy if they make it out two or three years in a company, because we know the failure of most businesses is very, very high. So the ability to be over 10 years in business, I can't wait to even dive into that. But first, what was the spark for you that said, I'm going to create this company, the records company? I think for me, I've always been an entrepreneur.

0:44I've always had a very unique, independent spirit. And for me, I grew up in a very small community. And so I've learned a lot about what it means to be in a community, to take care of the community and to have that social ecosystem. So for me, I always wanted to do my own thing. I'm like the anomaly. I didn't ever want to follow into a particular stride or follow others. I always wanted to be a leader. So, you know, I started out in law. I thought that's where I wanted to be. I thought I wanted to change the world. I wanted to do that in the legal mindset. But as I went along, I really enjoyed business.

1:26And I really enjoyed educating people. And I enjoyed learning. And for me, that meant I had to create something for myself. So I wanted to create a more efficient, functional, but also fundamentally different system that would help aid the legal community, but also in the medical community as well. Because as we jump forward with artificial intelligence, there's just so many things that you can do with data. And I've always been a nerd for data. So for me, that's how I leaped forward. And you say, well, businesses don't or they're not inclined to survive past one to three years. And that's true.

2:12And I think when I went to Harvard and you learn from the best of the best, Francis Fry is one of the most esteemed, monumentally groundbreaking professors for me because she teaches a lot of things to do with empathy. And so you have an authentic, you have an authenticity, you have a logic, and then you have an empathy wobble. So she creates this trust triangle. And for me, that's what it was about. is you have to create trust with your clients. And if you have established trust and they trust you, then you can survive forever. But you have to also stay ahead of the curve and you have to keep moving progressively and start learning from technology.

2:59I can just keep talking forever about business. No, that was great. And by the way, we had Frances on the show before and she said something that really has stuck with me for the last few years, that everyone needs to feel celebrated, cherished and embraced when it comes to leadership. I'd love to understand your perspective on leaders. I mean, over 10 years in business means you've obviously had to employ or hire or lead all different types of people. How has that played out in your career? For my career, I've had to lead all different types and I never stop learning. Every day, it's a new milestone every day it's a new personality and I can't say that I've seen the same thing twice all the time because with people you get things different all the time people you know you get people that are square that don't like to step outside the box and then you get people that like to stay outside the box then you get people that like to play inside the box and outside the box so for me I actually love people I actually love the aspect of blending people with business.

4:05And I think that's what's grounded me. What's kept the records company moving forward and has been successful is the fact that we always look at it in a concierge way. We're always trying to do better, be more, give more. We're actually in it to help people, to try to make their lives better. Whether that is B2B or B2C, we are primarily B2B, But for us, the inspiration for me and the inspiration for a corporation is so that we can bring business to the forefront, but also so that it can help the masses. And so for me, authenticity of being an authentic leader and leading with empathy and also keeping myself anchored with logic is how I've moved and how I've stayed successful.

4:57And it's because I always keep the client in mind, because what I hope that we're getting forward, we're leaning forward to in the future is honing in on artificial intelligence and utilizing its capabilities to actually help humanity, aid humanity, whether that's a fusion between business or between people. We're actually looking forward to the future of using the data, the data that the records company collects and being able to utilize that in a meaningful way to maybe create groundbreaking, you know, to be able to cure cancer, to be able to create things that you wouldn't see fathomable if it weren't for the data that we harness.

5:45So, you know, we're not going out and giving data away. We're not, we can't, we're not permitted, but I hope that one day, and that's kind of where we're pivoting to, is utilizing the data with permission and with parameter to create meaningful change and to be that change manager and that change agent toward the future so that we can create something that's going to be monumentally groundbreaking for humanity in the future. I'm glad you bring up AI. Obviously, it's the major topic, right? The last few years and going into the future and the ability, like you said, to the ability that AI, what it can do to take data and find things that we as humans probably can't see patterns, you know, like you're saying, it could maybe solve things like cancer.

6:35It's incredible. Is there anything about AI just in general that scares you in the future? Of course. I always have reservations because without limitations or without parameters, artificial intelligence, who knows where it can go? Because it can think faster than we can. It can process information faster than we can. What I found, though, is that it can't make empathetic decisions. And I think that's what's missing in artificial intelligence. And I think that's what leads people to be very reserved and afraid of the future with artificial intelligence. I can tell you from the financial sector, when you're talking about lending and algorithms, I can tell you personally from the last eight months that AI doesn't always make the best decision because it's utilizing data.

7:31It's analyzing data from credit scores, from it wants to connect to bank accounts so that it can read how much money you have in your account and it can decide whether or not you're a risk for the future. And it's taken out the human side of things. One of the examples of that is American Express. They were at the forefront. They were the best in card member services. They were the best in terms of giving you higher credit limits. Flexibility, that has been taken out of the picture for the most part at American Express because they have allowed artificial intelligence to make decisions regarding lending because it's risk assessment.

8:14And of course they're going to do it. We're utilizing artificial intelligence in our day-to-day lives to make things easier for ourselves and for our businesses. but it can get scary and I don't think that artificial intelligence can make the best decisions if you eliminate the human touch so I think that's where we have to be a little cognizant and cautious the future that is so true it does it's like it makes very structured you know it creates something just based on the data we're a human like you're saying we're having a conversation we can understand more I'll be interested to see in the future though how they do AI that analyzes body movement, voice tone.

8:56I know they're already doing something there. Curious to see how this will make decisions, if it'll change the decisions that, you know, like credit card companies that, you know, if that'll change how they do things, or it's just, you know, strictly, like you said, just based on, you know, your account balances in and out, transactions, your risk assessment. So I'm curious about when it comes to the ups and downs of business in general? You know, over 11 years, almost 12 years in business in this industry, I'm sure you've had some amazing highs. I'm sure there's also been some lows. Has there been a challenge that has taught you something?

9:32Yeah, I will say we're on the topic of AI. It's hard to get away from it. I didn't anticipate talking about AI at all. But with that being said, yeah, it's AI. Because what's happened is, is AI has crept in and it's made it even more competitive. So a lot of the programs that our clients, customers use have integrated AI. And so a lot of what we did in the past, which were manual, which by the way, a lot of things are antiquated in the healthcare field. They're still processing paper records. They're still doing a lot of things manually. They're still using the fax machine. They're not emailing.

10:14They want to use snail mail. It's mind blowing, I'll tell you. But over the course of the last two years, with the inception of AI, it has taken a lot of the things that we used to do by hand, which, by the way, that's what sets our company apart. we actually do like to have our hands in things. We like to still do a lot of things that they call old school because we want to give back personally. We don't want it to feel like you're just talking to a computer because you're not. There are humans on the other side of that. But we're actually honing in on the intelligence, honing in on the new technological advances to make the process easier for everyone.

10:57But with that being said, yes, we had one hell of a year this past year with how AI has came in and taken away a lot of what we used to do manually. And it's now in the programs that our customers are using. And they're saying, hey, why do I need you? Why, you know, are you any better than what I'm using now? You know, unfortunately, AI hasn't advanced as much as it needs to. And I think a lot of it's because we've set barriers to where it can't advance, rightfully so. That's a discussion for another day. But I think that that's what's caused a lot of the challenges, is we've had to prove to our customers and reemphasize and reestablish ourselves.

11:47And we've had to pivot a little bit and say, hey, artificial intelligence is here. It's helpful, but it can't take away the human touch. It can't take away everything that you think that it can. Because, you know, if you put something in Chatshippee Tea and you say, I want you to say this, it will. But sometimes it says it too professionally. It just doesn't have that empathetic tone that you need it to have. Will it get there? Maybe. I mean, you've got Elon Musk that's creating robots. That looks pretty cool. But I think that what we're doing as a business, though, is we're actually taking artificial intelligence.

12:27We've invested a lot of money into artificial intelligence to bring it in, to do things that were manual tasks, to make things process and move a lot quicker. Because in our industry, it's all about how fast you can move the data and who's doing it the right way and who's safeguarding the data. Because data security is everything now, especially when you're talking about AI. I hope one day I have a humanoid best friend. I feel like I can be friends with a humanoid, right? That could do a lot of work for me. So I'm hoping that, you know, my humanoid can make much better food than I can. And thank you for sharing all that, by the way.

13:07I might say I want to take the dogs out. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Like that would be epic. That's a trillion dollar company right there. Dog walking humanoid robot. I am curious, too, on on the first when you when you really started seeing yourself becoming, you know, an industry leader and you really started seeing success from your from your organization. What was that feeling like? You know, what was going through your mind? to feel. When people become successful, they don't actually realize they've became successful. You just feel like you've always felt. And you start to have aha moments when you're being asked to speak or you're being asked to teach or you're being asked to hold workshops.

13:51Or when you walk into a room and everyone starts to look at you and you start wondering, am I wearing something that's not matching or do I have something on my shirt? There's always something and it just becomes surreal. And you actually don't know when it happens. I don't even consider myself successful. I just consider myself learned, educated, cultured. And, you know, I make mistakes on a daily basis, like everyone else. You know, you have to learn from your mistakes. You have to work through processes. It's just how it is, especially in business, especially just as a person. I'm just a person.

14:30So I don't know, for me, it was surreal when I had discovered for myself that maybe I've moved past the mom and pop shop. Maybe I've moved past, you know, working out of my partner's garage. And that's kind of how it is. I mean, I'm one of the co-founders of our our corporation. And we had met, her name is Agata Zachary. We had met in Panera Bread. And her and I worked in a very boring law firm. And her and I just, we were at our end of rope. So I was like, I'm so bored. I have to do something. I'm such a nerd. I love learning. And I never stopped learning. Like you mentioned earlier, I went to Harvard Business School, And then I went to Syed Business School at Oxford.

15:21And, you know, I still participated in programs at Harvard University. And as a matter of fact, I'm going to Kennedy School of Government to possibly explore civic duties in the future. But, you know, that's just how it all began. And I don't know when I ever became successful or even if I would consider myself that successful. I'm just running a business that I love. Hey, that talk, you know, that humility right there. It, you know, I think it's like kindness and being humble at the same time. We all know that there's no matter what success we get, there's always someone that's even more successful than we are.

16:00Right. But I really enjoyed this conversation and I took away a lot of things, but something that I can tell that's really big with you is you are a lifelong learner and you admit that you don't know everything. And the fact that you're leveraging different forms of technology in an industry that might not always be so adaptable, you know, says volumes to why you've been around for over 11 years. But if somebody wants to get in touch with you, they want to find out more information about your company. Maybe they want to hear you speak somewhere. How can they do so? They can go to TheRecordsCo.com or they can reach me on.

16:35I think I've got Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn. in. I am not all savvy with, believe it or not, I don't get into social media that much. I love reading. I can't put down books and I can't put down discovering and researching and creating. Like I said, and like you mentioned, I'm an entrepreneur and I don't think I'm ever going to stop. I'm always creating something and you might find me somewhere else creating something else new. But you'll definitely find me always hovering around an educational institution because I love learning. I love teaching. I love helping. I love giving back. Well, that's amazing.

17:13Thank you for sharing all that. I can't wait to read your book one day whenever that comes out. There you go. Wait, 2025. I feel it. Maybe end. End of 2025. You got to come back once the book launches. Thank you so much for joining us today on Founder Story. And thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.