Adam Torres and Cameron Clark discuss advisory boards.
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Show Notes:
Advisory boards are an important part of business. In this episode, Adam Torres and Cameron Clark, Board Advisor and Aerospace Engineer, explore Cameron’s board advisory work and journey as an aerospace engineer.
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About Cameron Clark
Cameron Clark is passionate about pushing the boundaries of space technologies and leveraging business strategies to create a positive impact on our world. With a keen eye on innovation and a heart dedicated to the greater good, he thrive at the intersection of technology, leadership, and social responsibility.
With a solid foundation in aerospace engineering, he had the privilege of contributing to cutting-edge projects that have pushed the limits of telecommunication and scientific discovery. From designing next-gen solar arrays to engaging executive stakeholders, he is driven by the pursuit of excellence and the thrill of overcoming challenges that pave the way for the future of space exploration.
He firmly believe that innovation is fueled by diverse perspectives and collaborative efforts. He is committed to fostering an environment where ideas converge, leading to breakthrough solutions that address global challenges. Through thought-provoking articles, speaking engagements, and engaging conversations, I am dedicated to sparking discussions that drive positive change and inspire the next generation of thinkers and doers.
His journey has taught me that businesses have the unique ability to drive meaningful change in society. He is captivated by the notion that profitability and societal well-being are not mutually exclusive, but rather can be powerful allies. By embracing sustainable practices, championing ethical leadership, and fostering a culture of innovation, he is dedicated to aligning business goals with the betterment of our communities and our planet.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today is a very special episode. We’re bringing Cameron Clark onto the line.
He’s a board advisor and also an aerospace engineer. Cameron. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Adam. Thank you very much. And you got my name, correct? Kudos. Come on, man. I gotta get it right. That’s what I do. It’s my job. Uh, so I I’m excited to, uh, to talk about a whole lot today. We’re going to get into some of your work, um, as a board advisor.
And one of the reasons I was excited to have you on this show today was, uh, you know, we’ve, we’ve had quite a few conversations in the past. And I, I understand some of the things you’re doing on boards, of course, but also I thought about it, like, what a great idea to bring you on the show to, to hopefully educate our viewers and myself a little bit more about what it entails to be a, a great board member.
Like why even have a board? Like, what are some of the reasons why businesses do this and really just give us some of that education piece. So we got, we got a lot to cover today, but we’ll start this interview the way that we start them all. With what we like to call our mission matters minute. So Cameron at mission matters, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts.
That’s what we do. Cameron, what mission matters to you? Well, before I get into that, Adam, first, thank you very much for having me on the show. As far as my, what mission matters to me, my mission is to help companies who are mission driven to grow and strive. And I do that by, uh, providing strategic advice and connections and, uh, you know, bringing together good people who, uh, also want to see that mission, uh, strive and grow.
Yeah, it’s great. So, so great to have Jan. And I think maybe just to get this kicked off before we start talking about boards, board work, what that looks like. Um, let’s go further back into your background aerospace engineer. I mean, tell me more about that and how you entered that field. Well, it’s simple.
Um, you know, most people will tell you, I think maybe the people of the boomer generation, I’m Gen X, by the way, uh, they will tell you that they were inspired by Star Wars or Star Trek. And, you know, I had exposure to those shows and movies in my household as well, but we were not, you know, Trekkies or anything like that.
I won’t hold it against you. It’s okay. It’s okay. No, nobody’s perfect. Go ahead. I know I’m getting a lot of rocks thrown at me right now, but hey, that is, it is what it is. And so for me, the inspiration came from, you know, my family, you know, they, they took a vacation typically once a year. We go on the plane once a year.
Normally it wasn’t anything extravagant. Occasionally it was, but the fact that the point is we were on a plane and every time we were on a plane, um, we, you know, end up in coach, you know, and I’d be over the wing and I would just stare out the window for the whole ride if I wasn’t asleep and I will watch the ailerons flap up and down.
And I would just be fascinated by that. How could something so large with so many people on it? Lift off like a bird was wanted to know how that works. Um, and so that inspired me to, to get into engineering. And then once I learned about the different types of engineering, I settled on aerospace engineering because obviously aerospace engineers design planes.
So that’s what got me into it. Um, I landed my, so hold on. So what I’m hearing though, is you’re lucky. You got the window seat too. If you didn’t have the window seat, no offense, but good job on the parents. Come on, go ahead. Yeah. Yep. I think I pretty much demanded the window seat, or maybe they just didn’t want the window seat.
You know, as an adult, you don’t want to sit by the window. You want the aisle, right? But yeah, kudos to my parents for doing that. Man, that’s, that’s a great story. I didn’t know that one. Um, that, that’s great. Um, so looking at your, your career and as an, as an aerospace engineer, um, so obviously you, you have your career, you’re working as aerospace engineer.
And at some point in your career, you think about, or when does, I should ask, when does it come under your radar? Um, the, the concept and the thought process of like board advisory work, and maybe that’s something you want to start dabbling in or even exploring, like what, how does that connection happen?
Yeah. So kind of what I mentioned in my mission that matters to me, right? Um, I advise board, uh, companies or organizations at a strategic level. I’ve always been interested in how things get done and the why. All right. And you have to have a big picture mindset to do that. Um, and that’s kind of why I got into aerospace engineering.
Right? Um, yeah. You know, obviously you need to know the finer details of how things work, but you learn more and peel those layers back. You know, you want to know. All right. Why are we building these things? Why are organizations or governments procuring these large systems? Right? So you start to understand or start to think about the why, you know, why, why am I doing this job first?
And then. Thank you. How does this job impact the overall system? And then why is this overall system being purchased? And what is the role of this overall system within the ecosystem or environment of other systems, etcetera? Um, so I kind of extrapolated that Um, line of thinking to, um, my board work, um, and to help the CEOs or entrepreneurs who are very head down, focused, trying to do the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, sometimes five things at once, um, stay focused on the bigger picture, um, and make sure that they tie all the activities that they’re doing to the vision or the mission that they’ve laid out.
Um, so that. That’s what does it for me. Yeah, I think it’s interesting and I kind of want to step back a bit here and I don’t want to make some assumptions. So one of the assumptions is like that everybody listening maybe understands how, what, what, what’s the purpose of even having a board that advises a company.
Maybe let’s start kind of basic and, and from your viewpoint, like why is it important for companies to even have boards? Yeah, that’s a good question. And it goes back to what I was. Kind of just saying, so, um, obviously every company has, uh, a leadership team and that leadership team is focused on operations, um, to keep it simple.
Right. Obviously you have other functions, um, but, um, they need to ensure that not only are they delivering on the promises they’ve made to their stakeholders. Um, sometimes those stakeholders are investors or. or governments or whomever have your customers. Um, but they are playing along with the rules of the game, if you will, and everyone operates to rules or laws or policies that are set by governments.
Um, and the other. So you got to make sure that those things are being taken care of. I mentioned some of the other functions. You know, one of the bigger functions is finance. Um, there’s a lot of regulations as I’m sure, you know, being a former accountant that you have to adhere to. Um, and that those things really matter to, um, investors whom are like.
You know, your major stakeholders, if you’re in a public company, or you aspire to go public, um, you have to make sure all of that is in alignment. And so, um, that, that plays in the lines of governance. And then there’s other things like environmental and social, and those things matter to investors as well, because, um, they matter to the bottom line of the company.
Aside from that, right, um, all companies, Need to grow. They don’t just want to grow. They need to grow. Yeah. Because if you’re not growing, you’re likely on the decline, right? Mm-Hmm. . And so that obviously matters to investors because investors put their money in the company to grow and, and the company grows.
Investors profits grow as well. Um, so you need someone who is able to keep in mind investors once needs and wishes and be able to parlay what’s happening in the company, um, to investor speak, if you will. Um, so those are some of the things that, uh, people need boards, but if you’re just starting out, right, some of those things are a little, um, far away and you really just want to focus on.
meeting expectations and delivering on your promises so that you can, you know, get down the runway, if you will. Yeah. What are some, uh, some care and obviously understanding every company is going to be different and, you know, different sizes of companies and a bunch of different variables, but just characteristics of boards or board members or the mix.
Like, um, again, understanding no two companies are going to be the same. Like what are some good characteristics you, you feel you’ve either seen or find in, uh, in good boards and what, what, what they, what they’re made up of. Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s a great question. And the one that I think is, is hotly debated.
Um, so if you think back, um, to the financial crisis, you know, 2008, 2009, I try not to very often, but I’ll do it for you, Cameron. I’ll just throw in that out there. That’s when I started my career in finance back in 2007. So I remember well, go ahead, please. Sorry, I’m trying to keep that brief this part brief, but give it to us, man.
All right. Many of those investment banks, right? You can see banks, um, Wells Fargo, um, the ones that collapsed, you know, even if you want to go back a little further in Ron, they had large boards. All right, you’re talking about 11 plus people. And the problem, like, have you ever tried to plan a trip with a bunch of friends and you get the group text going and you got 10 people in there and it was like, all right, we’re all doing that right now.
Go ahead. Right. Most people like, yay. And then probably everybody’s like, yay. And then a week goes by and it’s like, eh, I don’t know if I’m going. And then someone else is like, well, I don’t want to go to Cabo. Right. And you know, you have a hard time hurting all of those cats, right? That’s the problem with large boards.
And that’s the problem with a lot of those firms back in those times. And some of that exists now. Um, so first, you know, you want to talk about structure. Um, you want to keep your boards, um, To a manageable size, you know, 7 to 10 people. 10 people is probably still too large. Um, you’re going to have committees.
Um, then, uh, you want to make sure that, you know, you have the right people, um, bringing the right expertise, you know, um, you want to make sure that you have a strong board chair who’s in tune with the CEO and how the company works. And you want people who also know how the company works, not just from a, you know, um, A sideline perspective, but you know, people have been in, in that industry or not necessarily that company or similar companies, but the industry, so they know how it works, they know, uh, causes the ups and downs and who the dependencies are, um, where the pitfalls are, the regulations, et cetera.
Um, and then you want somebody who can dive deep into some of the functional roles. Um, and then, uh, so that’s a bit on structure, um, but all things human, right. There’s. social and political aspects to it as well. So you need to have a board that has, um, good rapport and trust. Um, so the organization of that board, the structure of it plays into that because like, again, if you have too many people, it’s going to be hard to have rapport and trust.
Um, so, uh, if you have a strong board chair, who’s Um, you know, I don’t want to say charismatic because that can be dangerous, but it’s able to play well with others and get people to cooperate and build that trust, um, as well as building that trust with the management team of the company, you know, the CEO, um, and, you know, that I don’t want to leave the him or her, you know, CEO out of the, out of the equation because that person is also very important.
Um, Cause you need to have that person trusting the board as well. You don’t want them hoarding information from the board or, um, just disengaging because they find board activities like investor relations, um, to be boring. They just want to play in the sandbox, if you will. Um, so again, so you have the structure slash organization, trust and rapport, a strong board chair.
Those are some of the elements that make for a good board. Why, why do you choose to talk to a lot of it a little bit, but I want you to go further. So for example, mentality matters. I happen to know when I was doing my research in this, that you, um, like, that’s one of the boards you sit on. Um, and that’s one that I found.
Um, why do you choose to, to sit on boards and even work with companies like mentality matters? Like, like why? Well, mentality matters, um, going back to the mission, right? I look to help out companies and organizations that are mission driven. And if that mission aligns with my values and I, I can see myself going along with it, then I want to be a part of that.
And I want to make sure that I do what I can, you know, to help. That organization be successful. So mentality matters is mission is to, um, support the mental health and wellness of veterans. Right. Um, and this is a mission that’s, you know, kind of near and dear to my heart. I, I come from a military family.
Um, the. that I work in is, you know, obviously defense driven, um, support, you know, the men and women of the military, um, and everything that I do, um, either, you know, from the systems that I designed or from helping them acquire the systems that I designed in previous lives. Um, so I’ve become ingrained in that community and I’ve had friends, um, who were veterans that have suffered from mental illness.
Um, so it just seemed like a great fit for me to be on board with that. That really makes sense. I couldn’t see myself not being a part of it. How does a, um, and I like to, I like to kind of talk about the function of just, uh, you know, aerospace engineer, and now you combine that with an organization like mentality matters.
What are some, and I don’t know if this is exactly a fair question, but I’m, I’m, I’m interested in it, Cameron, like, what are some of the Things that like a unique perspective of an aerospace engineer or someone with your background can bring to a company. Like it doesn’t have to be mentality matters. It can be, if you want to use that as a case, but just in general, like, cause I think that diversity of like skillset is, I just find that highly interesting.
That’s a good question. And I think I, you know, people often wonder, um, how to, to align like that. So I think it’s very, Very simple, right? So I’m a system engineer. Um, I’m also a chief engineer. Um, but as a system engineer, you are tasked with understanding the entire system and how all the parts need to come together.
Um, you’re not necessarily doing all the work that it takes to bring the system together, but you have to have a fair understanding of it so that you can talk to those who are focused on the different parts and understand what they need to do. And how they need to work with the other teams. Um, so it’s that very big picture understanding.
And as a chief engineer, you’re not just leading the team that is doing all the engineering work, right? You’re working with these other stakeholders, you know, you’re working with your management, you’re working with their management, you’re working with customers. Um, And to, to convey to them what’s happening, you know, are things going well or, or they not and why, and how are we going to resolve these issues?
So, um, that sort of thinking lends itself very well, um, to organizations like Mentality Matters or, or any company really, um, because you, you’re the type of person that wants to dig in and understand how things work. And in, in understanding how things work, you can see. Um, shortfalls or gaps and work to bring in the resources, whether that’s people or funds or technology to close those gaps.
Yeah, I think it’s, um, and I, and I can, I can just think about like the difference of when we move from, um, when I moved from finance to then mission matters. And when I think about my transition into media, when I think about the concept of how many people, we didn’t have a formalized board. But I think about how many people like in my sphere that helped me.
Um, and when I think about like, had we started going down that advisory routes route sooner, like possibly how much even further along we could have been by some of those expertise, because it’s not a, I mean, it’s not quite as casual of a relationship. So when a board, when you create a board and when you have.
You know, a board that’s, that’s really advising. Like it’s, it’s, it’s a different relationship. And I think there’s a different level of obviously accountability on both sides. Right. So it’s not, it’s not quite as casual, which I think can help. And when I think about like mentality manners and I know a little bit about the vision that Richie, the founder over there has kind of shared with me as well.
Um, I’m like, wow, like that’s a, it’s an interesting way to go about things and it just makes sense to me. Like, so when I think about aerospace engineer. Working with mentality manners or working with any other company that you happen to be serving the board. It’s like they get to benefit from all your education, man, your education, your experiences.
You’re the large company, which we don’t have to say the name, but just say you work for a big company, right? You’re in the defense and then that industry, you know, you’re in a big company and you, you just have insight. So I, I find it interesting. I think it’s amazing. Thank you. You know, going back to give another example of of what makes a good board or an example of a good board.
I think of UPS, right? Um, that’s an example. They don’t have a huge team. Um, but they’ve been together for a long time. Um, and they hold open debates, right? Um, I think the one of the famous debates they had was, you know, right? Should we change the color? Of UPS, which is the famous Brown. Everyone knows that, right?
Yes. It was very public and, uh, they, they, they did it without, yeah, I don’t, I don’t want to say they did it without name calling, but you know, no one got thrown under the UPS truck when he, when he did that. Right. Um, but it turned out, well, they kept, they kept it and you know, the company’s doing very well.
They’ve been able to expand their, their logistics organized. operations throughout the world. Um, and uh, I don’t think UPS would have been able to make the pivots they have made without that board. Great. Well, Cameron, um, this has been a lot of fun having you on the show, catching up, learning more about your work, the companies you’re working with and organizations.
Um, I just have to ask what’s next. I mean, what’s next for you? What’s next for for the future of your work? Well, um, you know, I’m very focused on mentality matters, making sure that we continue to raise funds to support our efforts to provide services to veterans who may be suffering from mental illness.
Um, we have, um, a gathering coming up later this year, um, that I’ll let Richie, um, share about, um, and also there’s also going to be a big announcement coming. So hopefully everyone stays tuned for that. Yeah, awesome. And if people want to follow up and to continue to follow your journey, whether it’s on social media or otherwise, how do they do that?
They can follow me on LinkedIn. Um, you can find me by my name. It’s Cameron Clark or on, uh, Instagram. It’s a lift off with cam. Uh, there’s underscores a lift on the score off. Awesome. And for everybody watching or listening to this, just so you know, we’ll put the links to the LinkedIn, um, profile and all that good stuff in the show notes.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you new content. New episodes and new entrepreneurs to hopefully, and executives to hopefully inspire you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and camp again. Thank you so much for coming out. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me, Adam. This was fun.