Ben Biles is the founder of American Veterans Group, an investment banking firm that donates 25% of its profits to career readiness programs for military veterans across the U.S.

In the show, Ben reveals how this started as a profound personal mission that was tied to his best friend from the military who took his own life as he struggled with mental health issues after returning from the service.

We get to hear from Ben about what the Navy was actually like, some of his personal experiences, and why he’s decided to change the way things are done in Wall Street.

LISTEN to this pod right here by clicking play or choose your favorite listening platform below. You can also WATCH the video podcast below that! Check out the show notes at the bottom to get more details about the contents of this episode. Enjoy!

Show notes in order of appearance:

  • Ben’s last oh shit moment
  • Ben shares why he decided to join the navy
  • Ben talks about being from a small town
  • What was the first week at the Navy like?
  • Ben’s gnarliest physical/mental stressor that he’s ever experienced And how he endured it.
  • Keith Lisante, Ben’s roommate. The reason and inspiration Ben formed a purpose-driven finance company.
  • Bootcamp life
  • What was life like after coming back into normal life?
  • After coming back and seeing that Keith was struggling did you ever perceive that he would end his life?
  • In his honor Ben started a profit & purpose model … the first of its kind on Wall Street.
  • Why do you think Wall Street is so cutthroat? Why aren’t there more companies like yours?
  • Ben’s 2 cents on Bitcoin and the digital currency world.
  • Ben’s shares his top two traits for a conscious leader to embody
  • Readers and learners
  • Ben shares how to get involved with American Veterans Group

Visit americanvetsgroup.com and find Ben Biles on LinkedIn

Connect with Sebastian on Instagram

SebastianNaum.com


Below is a transcript of the video podcast created by Seb’s Robot buddy, Zekton. He tends to make mistakes so please forgive him if you find errors or some funky sounding sentences. For the real deal, watch the video or click on your favorite audio Podcast platform above! Enjoy!

Sebastian Naum (00:08):
What’s up fam today. I had someone on from an industry that we’ve never tapped into on the show before. His name is Ben Biles and he is the founder of the American veterans group and investment banking firm that donates 25% of its profits to career readiness program for military veterans across the us in the show. Ben reveals how this started as a profound personal mission that was tied to his best friend from the military who took his own life. As he struggled with mental health issues. After returning from the service we get to hear from Ben about what the a was actually like some of his personal experiences and stories and why he’s decided to change the way things are done in wall street. To be honest, I’ve always seen wall street and investment banking firms as a pure cutthroat industry. And it was awesome to get to speak firsthand with a highly successful entrepreneur. Who’s striving change this rhetoric and make an impact through profits. Enjoy the show guys. What’s up Ben? Welcome to the show.

Ben Biles (01:10):
Hey Sebastian. Yeah, it’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me

Sebastian Naum (01:13):
Love having you on Ben. I love it. Um, you know, first of all, I have to say that being a veteran, uh, thank you for your service. And I will get right into the first question that I like to ask my guests, which is Ben, when was your last, oh moment. First thing that comes to mind, it could be like a good thing or a bad thing. Last time you were like, oh.

Ben Biles (01:33):
Yeah. I would say, oh moments. Sebastian’s probably just it today. We had a all hands call and I looked on our zoom call and we had 21 face is on the, on the call. And it’s, it’s just impressive to me. Like, you know, as, as all entrepreneurs know, you, you start out somewhere for me, it was like doing a lot of spreadsheets and calls in a Starbucks. And then you, you look in one day, you’ve got 20 plus folks on your team, all doing great work. And it’s just, it’s, that’s, what’s really fun. And yeah, kind of that O moment like, wow, you know, our, uh, our fixed costs are going up. The number of, you know, folks on the team are going up just we’re we’re growing and that’s it’s, uh, with that comes a lot of responsibility.

Sebastian Naum (02:17):
That’s amazing. That’s a beautiful O moment. It’s, it’s a moment that makes you proud of what you’ve built and, and just seeing that in it’s really cool. That’s really cool. And hopefully that’ll be in person sometimes soon too, and not just zoom.

Ben Biles (02:30):
Yeah, for sure. During the pandemic, it’s, uh, created a lot of interesting new challenges, like hiring people that you haven’t met in person, uh,

Sebastian Naum (02:38):
Since. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So we’re gonna talk a little bit about finance, uh, later in the show and try more specifically about how and why you created a purpose driven company, um, around investment banking, which is something we’ve never talked about in this show. I was like, oh man, I wonder Ben’s gonna rock a suit. I better at least have a colored.

Ben Biles (03:00):
It’s an industry that’s not known for, uh, social impact. So we’re, we’re trying to be the good guys on wall

Sebastian Naum (03:05):
Street. That’s what I’m stoked about. That’s why I love that, that we’re gonna be talking about that. But first let’s talk about your early on experiences. So you were in the Navy, uh, what made you decide to go to the Navy? That’s such a foreign con for me, I just, it was never even introduced into my consciousness of like, I would consider that and, and it’s such an honorable thing to do. Um, and it takes a lot to do that. So what made you decide to go to the Navy?

Ben Biles (03:31):
Yeah, I appreciate that. Um, so I grew up in classic small town USA. I grew up in K Cramerton, North Carolina to town about 2000 people, two stop lights in a burger king. Uh, it was very small town USA right outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. And, um, my stepmother was the mayor and I grew up really fascinated in a lot of our dinner table conversations around how do we get the school funded? How do we build this park? And so I was really drawn to public service early on as a kid. And it, I took that with me and my college choice to the Naval academy while, you know, my parents didn’t serve in the military. I had grandparents that served in world war II. Um, but I always enjoyed serving a per a cause bigger than myself and the military is that in spades. And it was incredible experience to, to go outside of, you know, small town, North Carolina to then go to an institution where I had folks from all 50 states represented in my class. I think we paid 20 different countries, represented all different, you know, folks from all different ethnicities, um, all different walks of life. You didn’t know who came from money or who didn’t. And it really taught me about embracing adversity, um, and diversity and how we can all, you know, the true power of teamwork. I think

Sebastian Naum (04:50):
Love that. Yeah. What was the first week like

Ben Biles (04:55):
At the Naval academy?

Sebastian Naum (04:56):
Yeah.

Ben Biles (04:58):
Great question. So I, I wasn’t sure you know, was, it was probably better that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into as far as hill and waking up early. Um, when my high school professors found out I got into the Naval academy, I think they almost fainted because I was not the, uh, go-to military type. You could say I was kind of a, a rouser, uh, very independent in, but I went to the Naval academy on the first day thinking that my hair was gonna be, you know, short enough. I, I had heard stories where they, you know, shaved your head, but I, I had my hair cut extra short for this, uh, first day thinking that they wouldn’t, the barber wouldn’t need to take a second look at me. And as soon as I, as soon as I arrived, um, you know, they gave me the zero and it wasn’t, uh, my hair wasn’t short enough.

Ben Biles (05:48):
Another funny story was when I went onto the, the gates, the Naval academy, there was a big booth with three of the, the seniors in the student body, whose job is to train the freshmen. And they said the first and last words that come outta your mouth, Mr. Biles will be, sir, man, do you understand? And I said, yes. I said, no, you don’t understand the first and last words they’ll come outta your mouth will be, sir, man, do you understand? I said, yes, sir. So anyway, long story short, it was a rude awakening, but, but, uh, but it definitely was, was some best decision I ever made and I would encourage any young person to, to go for sure.

Sebastian Naum (06:25):
Yeah. Is I, it just kind of struck me. I, I was wondering about, is the hair thing have to do something with like your, uh, individuality. You’re basically you’re being part of something bigger. Is that why they shave your hair? Do you know?

Ben Biles (06:42):
Good, good question. I’m not entirely sure. I, I think it, it’s one of those traditions that for me lost kind of the, the why behind it, but, uh, I, I, I think it, there has to do something with what you said. Yeah.

Sebastian Naum (06:58):
I was just curious, just kinda was wondering about that. So, but what Ben what’s like the gnarliest thing you can think of from a physical or emotional standpoint and like, and how did you endure that from your entire service? Like the, what moment? Like what comes to mind?

Ben Biles (07:13):
Um, I think being on the aircraft carrier, um, that was my first job. I was on the us Nimitz. I was the youngest officer. We had about 300 officers on the ship and then 5,000 crew members. Wow. And I would just say like, you know, we had a lunch one day and this is pretty common for most of our lunches where all the officers eat together in the wardrobe room and it’s in, it’s an incredible diverse group of people, but also the responsibilities are very diverse. I mean, in, in our wardrobe, we’re say maybe there’s a hundred people at one time, you’re gonna have pilots. You’re gonna have folks work in the nuclear reactor, PE folks responsible for the food service. Like my, like my team was, um, responsible for all the, the other engineering aspects of the ship, like the steam turbines to the, you know, so just an incredible, like the, the analogy I like to say is when, you know, we’re on the ship and the, your TV’s broke, you’re not calling a, uh, you know, the, the geek squad to come in to, uh, you know, fix your TV, your doorstep.

Ben Biles (08:22):
Like you have to be really resourceful and you only have the personnel on the human capital that are on the ship. So I would say like the lunch, just some of the stories were incredible. Like one of my friends, um, who’s a pilot came down to lunch and, you know, just four years ago we were the Naval academy together. And I said, how was your day? And he was like, oh, I, um, you know, unfortunately I, I dropped a bomb and had to, you know, kill two bad guys. So wow. Just, you know, in incredible stories like that, that really put what your different responsibilities are in terms of, and the mission and, and how our ship and battle group were just a component of us foreign policy. And, um, you know, we were supporting operation during freedom in Afghanistan. And, um, it was, it, it was really cool to, to be a part of something bigger than myself.

Ben Biles (09:15):
Yeah. And I think that one of the, the values that I definitely embrace as well is, um, you know, if I did, if I made a poor choice when we were on Liberty somewhere, let’s say it’s Singapore. When we pulled in, you know, it wasn’t been BIS, did something stupid. It wasn’t, uh, you know, Naval academy graduate does something stupid. It was, you know, us service member. And so I always thought about how the dis in an early age, like how the decisions that I made were taken into context of the whole. And, um, I was also a college basketball player. And so I, a lot of that came from that environment too. Like, you’re, you know, you, you have a institution that’s on your that’s represented on your Jersey. And so if, you know, if I made a bad decision, the whole team was affected. So that was really cool to be a part of as a younger person. I think, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve just appreciated it more and more. Um,

Sebastian Naum (10:10):
Absolutely. And that’s the ultimate Jersey you can be wearing, so.

Ben Biles (10:14):
Sure.

Sebastian Naum (10:14):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. So, so Ben, we’re gonna talk about, um, your roommate and best friend Keith Lasante and being that, being the inspiration, why you formed a, a purpose driven company that you did. But before we talk about that, you know, talk about the relationship that you had with him and how you guys were became best friends and what a best friend means when you’re in, in that environment versus like a normal best friend in the quote unquote, real world or something like that. Right?

Ben Biles (10:43):
Yeah. So you talked about like the bootcamp, which at the Naval academy is the first month of school and we get up at five in the morning, our heads are shaved day one. Um, we’re, we’re doing silly things, getting, getting haz, all those, all those good fun things. Yeah. Military teaches with discipline. And on my first day, that’s when I met Keith and, and Keith was in my little squad. So I had about 1200 folks in my class and they break us down into probably I 50 squads. And, um, and then Keith was in that small group and he was from Jacksonville. He was a recruited football player. I was a recruited basketball player. Um, we both were kind of scratching our heads the first day thinking, what the heck did we get ourselves into? Um, but I, I think a lot of those, the shared experiences, um, of having, having a just tough time transition in, into the military was, was something that bonded us.

Ben Biles (11:43):
And later we became roommates at the Naval academy. We grew up together. Um, and yeah, you know, we had different struggles for me. It was more on the military discipline side for Keith, that was more on the academic side. And we just used each other to, to make the experience as best we could. And he was a guy that, you know, you could have a, you could have a beer with and, and, and laugh. Right. He brought a, a, a great amount of humor to, um, times when there were there wasn’t a ton of laughing, but, um, he made things that much more fun. And then when we graduated, we both lived in the San Diego area together. He, I was on the Nimitz, he was on the, um, the USS Cleveland, uh, which is an amphibious ship. And anyway, he, he was just a great friend.

Ben Biles (12:28):
I, you know, he’s no longer with us, but I really, you know, another O moment is just, I love how in, in building our business, that we can honor his legacy every single day. And, um, but you know, I think about him a lot and he is, he’s just, he was an incredible guy. I, I miss not being able to, you know, share his humor and how good of a friend he was to, to everybody on this, on this podcast. But, um, he’s, I, I try to turn that negative into a positive and he’s

Sebastian Naum (13:06):
For sharing that. Yeah. I can imagine. I think something you said there is important that somebody who was bringing, um, a laugh or some humor into situations when you’re not laughing and that’s so important because laughter is really good, you know, for the soul. And especially in, in situations when you can’t laugh and you’re having trouble, you know, and that’s, that’s, uh, a great person to have, you know, and a great friend to have. So, um, what was life like when you came back a, after you served, what was that trans like?

Sebastian Naum (13:37):
Hey guys, I just wanna remind you, if you wanna find more content like this, you can visit Sebastian nom.com. That’s Sebastian na.com. You can also get a ton of other marketing resources for myself and my agencies ranging from SEO to social media, influencer, marketing, branding, web development, and more again, that’s Sebastian nom.com. Thank you. And enjoy the rest of the show.
Ben Biles (13:58):
Yeah, so I was on the Nimitz aircraft carrier, uh, from about 2010 to 2012, and we did deploy it to the Gulf for nine months. Um, as I mentioned, and it was pretty fun. So like we, I lived in San Diego, but I was probably gone 75% of the time I was right

Sebastian Naum (14:18):
Overseas.

Ben Biles (14:19):
And I got back to my apartment in downtown San Diego first day after, like for, after a deployment. And I was jingling my keys in the, you know, to open up my door and this, uh, gentleman who was living in an apartment across the hallway had recognized me before. But, you know, he, he came at his apartment, scratched his head and he said, um, you, Hey, I hadn’t seen you in a while. I said, yeah, you know, I I’ve been gone. He goes, what did they get you for? He thought he thought I had been arrested and was put in jail. He didn’t realize that, that I could have been on a, you know, deployment, uh, in the military and, and gone for that long time. So there were things like that. I, I was very fortunate to, in my second job in the military to be stationed at the, uh, us Naval academy where I went to college.

Ben Biles (15:02):
So then I got to come back and be a staff member for the, the three star Admiral of the base there. And I lived in DC and made the community to Annapolis. Um, and that was a great, you know, it was shore based. So I wasn’t, I wasn’t gone all the time. And so it was nice to, to start building roots in a community, um, building a network of folks that were not just in the military, but also in the private sector, um, being involved in DC, learning how our federal government functions and, and, and making friends in that industry, which was, which was really great. And so that was, that was a nice kind of segue into my private sector career that I don’t know if a lot of veterans, uh, have, or, or service members. So it was, it was great to, to build that, you know, beginnings of a, of a sense of community.

Ben Biles (15:49):
One thing that I think lot of veterans and, and, um, spouses and family members of service members will, will say, is that when you’re, when you’re moving from, you know, job assignment to job assignment, every two or three years, you know, that’s, that’s not a ton of time to, to build that sense of community. You’re almost kinda like nomadic. And while you do build deep bonds with the folks that you serve with, and folks that are also going through those, those hardships, um, you, you, you miss that, that sense of building a network in that community for a long period time.

Sebastian Naum (16:26):
Yeah. I can imagine. I can imagine that’s gotta be tough. And, um, so your best friend, Keith he’s, he was struggling. He struggled when he was getting back into normal life right after he served. Um, and then as you already mentioned, uh, you know, he, he did end up taking his own life, uh, at one point. Right. And, um, we can say that that was related to PTSD and things that he experienced. Right. And, and during the service, uh, what did you, were there points where you, when you saw him struggling, did you, were you seeing this, this journey that he was going through were, did, did you have an idea that like, oh, like, what if it goes this way? What were you doing? Yeah, so

Ben Biles (17:11):
When I was living in San Diego, he was there on the carrier and we saw in, we saw each other quite a bit when I moved to DC, he stayed in San Diego. And so we were, you know, thousands of miles apart from each other. So there was that physical separation. Um, and so there were some things happening that I didn’t, I didn’t quite see. Um, but then he would, he would, he would text me, reaching out for help and, and I would call him immediately and he wouldn’t take my call and he just became isolated. And I think he was maybe a little ashamed of sharing some of his, his hardships with me, um, and those struggles, um, and it was, it was sad. I, he had done back to back deployments in the middle east when he was, so he was based in San Diego, but was living in, uh, Bahrain mm.

Ben Biles (18:05):
Uh, in that country for, for a number of years. And so you miss that, miss that sense of community, I think, um, yeah, and a lot of other things, but anyway, so when we were in college together, our dream was to, to go into business together at some point after our military service was over. Um, and, you know, that’s kind of just something we would always talk about like, Hey, one day, we’ll, you know, it’ll be fun when we’re out of this, you know, these tough times and in, in business together. And yeah, couldn’t think of being in business with any other, you know, other person. And he would say the same thing. And then when he passed away, um, you know, I had to, I wanted to carry that on. I wanted to, you know, to keep him here with me and I was able, so I, I went to the university of Virginia to get my MBA in 2014 when I got outta the military and I wanted to do something entrepreneurial.

Ben Biles (19:02):
Um, I just found out about Keith’s death and was trying to process and digest all that. And I just, I learned about opportunities to be a military veteran home company. And I saw this market of, uh, municipalities, large corporations that had diverse supplier programs that wanted to work with military veteran own companies, but also women owned companies, African American owned companies, Hispanic owned companies, et cetera. And I had through a social connection. I met this showman named bill FRA that they had the kind of the complete opposite, uh, you know, background as me. I was in the military young guy, no wall street experience. This gentleman was older, he’s 73, um, has nine grandchildren, but for business, he had been in the investment banking industry for 50 years and he essentially semi retired, um, spent most of his time doing things in philanthropy. And, but he had that.

Ben Biles (20:00):
He was always he’s that competitor. I think we both shared that competitive aspect, which is, you know, I I’m scrappy. I wanna, um, you know, improve, I wanna compete for opportunities. And he felt that that was kind of missing from his life, just in a, in a philanthropy role. And so we, you know, we had, we started having more formal conversations about all right, how could we bring his experience and his relationships and my kind of scrapiness and ambition and hard work to really making something special. And I think what really got him over the goal line was the aspect to, to have our social mission, be a partner in our business. And as our business grows are philanthropy givings, our, our charity of donations grow in tandem with that. Right. And I think it’s, it’s, it’s just been, you know, another unbelievable moment is the number of lives that we’ve been able to effect that by just doing the, the things necessary to grow a business, um, we’ve essentially found kind of a secret sauce in taking this, these structures that have existed in corporate America and in government, like these diverse supplier programs, and really trying to create a new paradigm by moving ’em towards overall, you know, ESG, environmental, social governance, and, and being, you know, a public benefit corporation in a space that I think was created to showcase benefit.

Ben Biles (21:37):
But it wasn’t, it’s not very transparent. So like, go ahead.

Sebastian Naum (21:42):
Yeah, no, I was gonna say, you know, it’s one of the first of its kind in, in wall street per se, right. If you think about it that way, um, in that type of companies, and it’s tends to be a bit of a cutthroat industry, you know, and so I, I was reading up on you guys and I was looking at you guys donate 25% of your profits into these, you know, mission based organizations. So that’s very unique. Um, and it’s powerful. And I always say the more why I think purpose and profit companies are more powerful than any nonprofit in my opinion is because the more you can scale profits, the more you can scale the good, the more you can give back to the missions, the more you can help the nonprofits or the, the philanthropies. Right. So, um, what is, how was that, that it tied to you honoring, you know, Keith, what was the first, what, what is one of those missions that you’re, uh, that you’re after?

Ben Biles (22:37):
Yeah, so I got the, the concept for this, you know, I was in a shopping mall and there was a vendor that, that had two, um, you know, there was selling socks and they said, well, you here’s two, two different pairs of socks. You can buy this one pair for $2, or you can buy this other pair. That’s identical for $2, but 25% of our profits go to charity, the charity that you care about. And I just thought, why can’t we take that concept to wall street, if you’re gonna buy, if, if, if the SOS can be the same kind of material, um, the same kind of design that you like, but 25% of the profits go to charity, how should that be any different? If I’m trying to sell you a hundred million worth of treasury bills, and this, you know, from Goldman Sachs are American veterans group, my company sells you a hundred million of treasuries for the same price, but 25% of our profits go to charity, which one would you pick?

Sebastian Naum (23:33):
It’s a no brainer.

Ben Biles (23:35):
So, yeah. Um, it’s difficult to get to that point, but essentially sure. We’ve, we’ve, we’ve been able to do it and it’s, um, it’s, it’s a lot of fun. And I think we’re, we’re really trying to disrupt the industry by, by showing, you know, I graduated college in 2008. Uh, the great financial crisis happened in 2008. Um,

Sebastian Naum (23:59):
Same here.

Ben Biles (24:00):
Yeah. And it was very tough for a lot of my friends in civilian colleges to get to find work. And I’ve since really, for me, you know, as a young person at that time, I would study and watch all these movies about the global financial crisis and think like, you know, where was the leadership? How did someone let this happen? How did, how, how did people not kind of put their foot down and say, is this sustainable, these mortgage backed securities or this federal debt obligations? And I think there, there is a, a negative stigma around wall street and negative stigma around capitalism in my generation. That is a little, you know, I can understand it. And I think that, you know, what we’re doing at least is, is trying to, to change that narrative, um, trying to, to, to make clients, you know, feel proud in working with us. And, you know, if we can match the, the same price or if a company has a responsibility to sell 30 million bonds, um, if I can do that, just like the next company, but I can also help if D post nine 11 veterans in, let’s say, LA county, um, it’s who issues bonds then, and why not choose me? And yeah,

Sebastian Naum (25:18):
No. Yeah. AB absolutely. And, uh, and I agree. I mean, there’s good reason why capitalism in general has a bad rap and that’s what we’re trying to do. And that’s what we’re trying to change it. And it, it is at the end of the day, it is conscious capitalism. And I think that is the way that our generation is starting to see more and more value in that. Um, and the younger generations are starting to see even more of a value in that. So I think they’re also catering to younger generations because they care more, they just they’re wired that way. They’re they have seen it more, they’re more exposed to it. We weren’t very exposed to it, uh, growing up. So, um, I think that’s, that’s amazing what you’re doing. I, I, I’m proud of what you’re doing. I’m very grateful that you’re doing that. Ben and I hope more, uh, you know, I hope more companies in your industry start to adopt those types of models, not to give you too much competition, but no, really the more people adopt those models was the more good, you know, uh, there will be out there. So, uh, Ben before, um, I let you go, I gotta get you 2 cents on Bitcoin. You’re a finance guy. Give me gimme something about, what are your, what are your thoughts on Bitcoin digital currencies or anything like that?

Ben Biles (26:24):
Yeah. So I can, I can see the frustration that a lot folks have around the, the, the stigma against the dollar, you know, it’s run by the federal reserve, which is the government. Um, we’re printing a lot of money right now, um, and have been, there’s just, just a, a mistrust, right? And, and so I think that there’s, there’s an interest in some kind of substitute to the dollar. I also think that there’s a reason that, you know, we, the, the dollar does a lot of good things as well. And I think we gotta be careful about having an unregulated currency or an asset like Bitcoin, where you, you can feed a lot of black market things as well. And, um, I also think about, let’s say a lot of these Bitcoin exchanges, how the folks that own the exchanges are making a lot of money at the, you know, at the expense of the, the Bitcoin holders that pay a big premium in these transaction costs to, to have access to the exchange. So I think there’s a place for blockchain technology, um, and finance I’m, I’m not ready to move all my dollars into, into Bitcoin anytime soon, but I, I can see the, the interest in the asset class. Um, yeah, I hope that helps.

Sebastian Naum (27:59):
No, I wanted, I wanted to get an honest opinion about that. You know, I, I, I, I hear all kinds of opinions about it. I have my own opinions about it. And, uh, I was just, I was just curious about it. So, um, thanks for sharing that. So, Ben, you’re clearly an example of a conscious leader. What do you think are the two most important traits that a conscious leader has to embody today?

Ben Biles (28:25):
I think one thing is I I’ve heard this from a mentor of mine who used to be the CEO of 24 hour fitness, um, Carl Lebert, and he said, leaders are readers. So I think it’s, it’s one thing to, to get one’s own experience, but it’s another thing to learn from the experiences of others. Um, so I, I think it’s really important is a, is a conscious leader to, to learn from the past and learn from others experiences. And I think I, I get that from reading. I think the second thing to that point is to it, it’s important to be idealistic, right? To have a goal, to have a mission. I think it’s important also to be pragmatic. And so, so I think it’s rare to find a leader that balances or, or can meet those two important, um, checkpoints you’re idealistic, but you’re also pragmatic. So you can have great, you know, a great vision, but you understand tactically how, how the game is, you know, how to play the game to accomplish your goals. And as I re he great leaders like Martin Luther king, he talks about the, that that was his challenge to younger people. You Barack Obama’s, uh, graduation, commencement speech to Howard university a couple years back was the very similar message. And I’ve learned a lot from those folks.
Sebastian Naum (29:47):
I love that wonderful trades, wonderful trades. So Ben, how can people, uh, get ahold of you or visit your website?

Ben Biles (29:55):
So I’m on LinkedIn. Uh, so you can find me there also our website, www.americanvetsgroup.com. You can find us or, um, yeah, email me be Biles and American vets group.com.

Sebastian Naum (30:09):
Awesome. Awesome. Great. Well, thank you so much for being on Ben. You’re clearly an example of a conscious leader, like I already said. So keep doing you and keep pushing your mission. Thank you so much for what you do.

Ben Biles (30:18):
Thanks for having me Sebastian, and thanks for all you do on for, uh, conscious capitals. And for

Sebastian Naum (30:23):
Sure, thank you.