The Power Transformation Podcast

90. From Curiosity to Billion Dollar Invention: The Secrets of Emotional Safety & Authentic Connections with Kevin Strauss

• Alethea Felton • Season 2 • Episode 90

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What if you could transform a hanging potted plant design into a billion-dollar medical innovation? Well, Kevin Strauss did just that. In this episode, Kevin Strauss, Emotional Health & Innovation Consultant, CEO of Uchi LLC, and author of "Innovate The 1%," shares his journey as a pioneering biomedical engineer with over 75 patents, emphasizing the role of emotional safety and strong relationships in fostering creativity. Discover how emotional health drives curiosity and learn about Uchi, an app designed to enhance conversations with those who matter most to you.

Connect with Kevin:


Episode 90's Affirmation:
I am an original thinker, always brainstorming new pathways for my creativity.

Click here to connect with Alethea Felton

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Alethea Felton:

My guest today. Kevin Strauss wears many hats he is a speaker, author, emotional health and innovation consultant, ceo of Uchi LLC, an Ironman triathlete and coach yes, you heard correct. And on top of that, he is a 22-year injury-free Ironman, triathlete and coach. But I could go on and on about it. But one thing that makes Kevin stand out is his ability to solve problems. Yes, he sees the root problem of something and knows how to make them into solutions, tangible solutions and solutions that can help us all. This definitely is an interview that you don't want to miss, for Kevin's innovative mind has taken him places and is unifying people like none other. So stay tuned for this episode of the Power Transformation podcast, as I interview Kevin Strauss so we can learn about how to be more socially connected and beyond.

Alethea Felton:

Hey y'all, welcome back to yet another episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. You all, we are doing some incredible things over here on the Power Transformation Podcast, and that is all because of you, your support. I am so grateful for it. We are growing more and more because I want this to be more than just a podcast. This is a movement. This is a movement. This is a movement to change and shift and shake up the world in a more productive way, so that we can all become the next best version of ourselves, and my guest today is no stranger to that. So, before we dive deeply into this interview, go ahead and follow and subscribe. Give it a five-star rating on whatever app you're listening to this on, and very soon you're going to be seeing some transitions, with even the Power Transformation podcast in a good way. So stay tuned for some upcoming announcements for that.

Alethea Felton:

Let's go ahead and start with our affirmation. I'm going to say the affirmation once and you repeat it like you truly mean it. I am an original thinker, always brainstorming new pathways for my creativity. Oh, my goodness, you all. Today I'm so excited to have Kevin Strauss. You heard a little bit about him in the very opening intro of this podcast, but I want to jump right into this interview today. Kevin, welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast.

Kevin Strauss:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to have a conversation.

Alethea Felton:

Yes, indeed, I am too, and you are such an innovator and we're going to be focusing a lot on that, as well as some other aspects of just your life in general and what's brought you to this part of your journey and the various transformations you've made in your own life. But before we jump into that, kevin, I always like to ask just a fun, lighthearted, random question for all of my guests icebreakers so that we can get to know you better. So, kevin, this is my question for you. It's kind of broad, but I want to give you options. All right, kevin, either now or when you were growing up, what was your favorite board game, card game or video game?

Kevin Strauss:

Oh, I love these kinds of questions. These are very Uchi-related questions, yes. So really I loved playing Monopoly growing up. For sure that was one of our favorites around the house. There was also this one game that I got called King Oil, and I just I'm really curious if anyone in your audience has ever even heard of it and I wanted it so bad for like one of my birthdays and my mom actually got it for me. I think it was like about building like oil, you know, digging for oil and and you know, like in a game thing. Anyway, I wanted it so, so much and then and I got it and I played with it for like a week and then I was bored with it.

Alethea Felton:

Oh my goodness, what? What bored you about it? Do you remember I?

Kevin Strauss:

can barely even remember what the game was about. I remember the name, king Oil, and I wanted it so bad, I don't know. It just didn't hold the attention like the game of life or payday. I mean, I could go on and on about you know.

Alethea Felton:

Exactly. That's interesting. I'm going to definitely have to Google that one day because I've never heard of it. But all of the other ones?

Kevin Strauss:

Payday Monopoly, life, I loved Life, oh my God, yeah, yeah, isn't that great and it's so funny. I haven't you know with just a simple question. Yeah, I haven't even thought about King Oil for probably 40 years.

Alethea Felton:

Wow, that is something, and I learned something new, because I hadn't heard of that Interesting. Okay, kevin, so that was fun. It was a way for us to get to know you even better. But, kevin, if you could describe yourself, how would you describe you? Who is Kevin Strauss?

Kevin Strauss:

Wow, I feel like that's a loaded question. I could go in so many directions, I think, to describe me. I mean I'm very curious, I'm adventurous, I feel like I'm pretty simple, like I try to keep life pretty simple or as simple as possible. Yeah, I'm just always trying to figure out what makes things work. Why do, why do people do what they do? Why do I do what I do? How does how does everything work in the world or the universe? So just really curious. And then you know, I love to challenge myself. So, whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever it is, I've always seemed to gravitate toward what's beyond. What else can I do? What are my limits? Where can I go with this? Just to try to understand myself and others and the world I live in. So I think I'm just really curious about the world and everybody in it.

Alethea Felton:

And part of that curiosity led you down this road of being an emotional health and innovation consultant. But you have so much depth to your life and to your experiences, kevin, and one of those things is that you have a background in biomedical engineering, something that my brain can't even grasp, but I think it's really, really cool. So, kevin, share with us how that background in biomedical engineering influenced your career path and then led you to become an emotional health and innovation consultant. Yeah, well, thanks.

Kevin Strauss:

I mean, how long is your podcast? Yeah, go on for hours and hours. The brief version.

Kevin Strauss:

Well, you know, really so much is influenced by my parents and my father. You know, growing up I was always my father's little helper and I grew up in the 70s and my dad was always fixing things around the house and always, you know, creating new things, like he was always like, oh, I want this for the house, I want that for the house, and he would just make it, you know, and I was always his little helper and then I had, like this proclivity for math and science. I really wasn't into the English and history and that kind of thing, although, knowing what I know now, I wish I was really into it back when I was young. But it was really just all that influence from my parents and trying new things and trying to figure things out, from my parents and trying new things and trying to figure things out, the math and science, and then I was always really fascinated by the human body and just all that we're able to do.

Kevin Strauss:

And so, with my father's influence, he recommended engineering as a, you know, as a major for college and that sounded good and I was interested and I majored in mechanical engineering and oh my God, you know, I thought, oh, cars and planes, like design cars and planes and robotic arms and things. But little did I know mechanical engineering was about fluid dynamics and thermodynamics and heat transfer and I had no idea that that's what mechanical engineering was all about. Thankfully, I loved it all, so that was really cool. And then I went on to really specialize with biomedical and really focus in more on the human body and all and with the idea of, like you know, designing artificial arms and legs, which is actually prosthetics, not as much as medical device.

Alethea Felton:

Okay.

Kevin Strauss:

And then that's you know. And then I found a great job. I worked hard to get this job but my first job out of school was designing total joint replacements. So hip implants, you know, total hip replacement, total knee replacement, those kinds of things. Implants, you know, total hip replacement, total knee replacement, those kinds of things. And then eventually that morphed into designing implants for spine surgery and that's where most of my patents come from for implants and instruments to put those implants in the body. So that's kind of how that, you know, got from early childhood to all these inventions for medical devices around mostly spinal implants.

Alethea Felton:

Now quick question for you before we transition into the emotional health innovation consultant. Thinking back to your childhood, Kevin, of how you were dad's helper and you helped him fix things. How did those experience shape your approach to say, problem solving as well as innovation?

Kevin Strauss:

That's such a great question, you know, I think, basically my dad and I there's always a solution. Just, you just got to keep trying and you might fail a lot. And we made lots and lots of mistakes over the years and I remember my dad would get really frustrated and he would, you know, slam down the hammer or he would you know yell or profanity or something.

Kevin Strauss:

He'd be really upset because something wasn't working, and I was usually one there to calm him down, I guess. But we always believed that we'll find a solution. We just got to keep trying. And eventually we'll come up with something, and we always did.

Alethea Felton:

That creates a lot of patience, I would think.

Kevin Strauss:

Yeah, and, like I said, I'd have to calm my dad down sometimes because he would get really frustrated and upset, you know, with failure or with something not working. But we would just keep plucking away at it and if we didn't fix it one day, we figured out the next day. And if we made a mistake, well okay, what do you learn from that?

Kevin Strauss:

And I know that sounds very sort of textbook school like learn from your mistakes, you know. But I think I have learned so much more from my failures throughout my life than from my successes. And I do try to learn from my successes so that I can repeat those successes. But I have failed. I just can't even tell you how much has gone wrong that I've had to adjust, try again, pivot, and I can tell you story after story of things that have gone wrong. And just a quick example is you know, with over 75 patents, you know there aren't too many of those that worked on the first try.

Alethea Felton:

Yes. So, really quickly, I wanted to actually talk about that and you are kind of reading my mind and I love this because that's the direction that I'm headed in. You do have now audience listeners. You heard him. Kevin has over 75 patents and when I first met him several months ago I thought it was a huge deal. Kevin is so humble that to him it's like okay, but to me I'm like 75 patents, that's a lot, kevin. And so what are, excuse me, excuse me, what are, kevin, maybe a couple of your key discoveries or innovations that you're most proud of, and tell us about those out of those 75 patents?

Alethea Felton:

about those out of those 75 patents.

Kevin Strauss:

Yeah, so there are a lot of different ideas in there. You know one of my favorites. So, just to be clear, I am a named inventor on over 75 patents but I do not own those patents. The companies that I worked for they own the patents, those patents. Companies that I worked for they own the patents, they own all the rights, they own that intellectual property. So I don't get revenue or royalties for any of that and that's all fine, because I had a wonderful job with a great salary and I worked with amazing people and we got to help a lot of people with what we brought to the market. So I'm a named inventor. So, yes, I'm officially, you know, on these patents, but I do not own them.

Kevin Strauss:

Okay, so favorite ones I mean, you know, one of my very favorites is the Mesa screw and this is a pedicle screw, Um, and this is a pedicle screw. So this is a screw that is put into the spine, um, to help stabilize, you know, for a spinal fusion. Uh, there's a lot of pedicle screws in the market. And this particular idea, this invention, actually we purchased this from another company, actually from people, Um, we purchased the patent and there was an engineering team working on it and they were stuck. And this even though they had this invention, it wasn't working clinically, Like they couldn't get it to where it would work and be used as a medical device for people. So the idea was there but it didn't actually work, Does that?

Alethea Felton:

make sense.

Kevin Strauss:

Yes, so the team came to me and this is when I was working at the company called K2M which is now. It was bought by Striker and you can look up like strikercom probably and you'll find the Mesa screw. It's still being sold today. I mean, this is back in like 2005 that I was working on. So they came to me and they're like hey, kevin, you know we're kind of stuck with this project. We're just curious if you have any ideas and I'm like sure I'll help out, I'll give it a shot.

Kevin Strauss:

And and I thought about it, you know, I looked at what they had and what their challenges were and I won't go into all those details because I could. I'd love going into the details, but they were stuck and I had this idea and the idea actually came to me from a hanging potted plant in my mother's kitchen. So I adapted or adopted this way that this hanging potted plant was hanging from the ceiling and I adopted that to this pedicle screw for the spine and I worked out some calculations and I handed it over to the team and then by the next day one of the designers who was working on it took my idea, ran with it and totally turned it into what it is today.

Alethea Felton:

That's fascinating.

Kevin Strauss:

Right Just from a hanging potted plant you pull from anywhere in your life and, as of October of 2020, that pedicle screw, which is this one I'm showing on screen I know the audience can't see it, but it's. This screw has been implanted more than 1 million times globally in people and just for an idea of what kind of revenue that generates, is the retail price for just one screw back in 2000. Well, it came to market in like 2007, but was $1,400 per screw.

Alethea Felton:

Oh, my goodness.

Kevin Strauss:

Wow. And with over a million implanted as of 2020 and still being sold today, in 2024, that's a $1.4 billion invention.

Alethea Felton:

Oh my gosh Kevin.

Alethea Felton:

And that's just one of the that's just one, exactly, and so just the fact that this small screw that may seem obsolete to some people, it's definitely not, because of what it does and how it's transforming and changing lives, and so you know, one of the things that you also have is you have a book Innovate the 1% and in that you discuss how to innovate, but also it gives people different ideas on hey, maybe I too can be innovative. So what are? So let me kind of take this backwards and move forward. You spoke earlier about failures. Okay, so this is a two-part question. It's okay if you elaborate on it, but, kevin, share an example of a significant failure that you had and what you learned from it that contributed to your later success, even into the development of your book.

Kevin Strauss:

Awesome, oh, sorry about that. Okay, so I remember this one day so I had a pretty long commute to work, so it was like 75 minute drive each way every day. So I had a pretty long commute to work, so it was like 75 minute drive each way every day, and and I used to work through a lot of ideas when I'm driving and and we were working on this problem and and I'd worked through and I was like, oh my God, I figured it out. I figured it out Like I totally got this problem figured out and I had this whole idea. And I got to the office and you know, I threw my lunch and coat in my office. I didn't even put my lunch in the refrigerator, I just put it on my desk. And I went over to our whiteboard and I started drawing up this whole diagram of how this whole idea was going to work. And it took me like 10 minutes to really draw it out. And my designer, Larry, was looking at it.

Kevin Strauss:

He's like okay okay, and I was explaining it and I was like yeah, and this is how it solves this and how it solves that and this is what we do here. And then he's like, okay, so what about this right here? How does that? I don't understand how that works and I'm like, oh my God, it totally doesn't work. This whole thing doesn't work. This is just a colossal failure, like I thought I solved the whole problem. And it completely doesn't work. So I erase the whole thing and then we just go about our day.

Kevin Strauss:

You know and this is my designer you know, I have a master's degree in biomedical engineering. He has an associate's degree. He's my subordinate, like he reports to me. I'm younger than him, but he pointed out my complete and utter blunder without any hesitation and I just accepted it and was like you're right, moving on, and I think so often in school, in the workplace, we just don't feel comfortable or safe to share ideas and to point out mistakes of other people, especially people who are quote superior to us, like a teacher or a boss or even a colleague. But he freely did and he could do that because of the emotional safety and the love and connection that we felt for each other, the support that we have for each other, the belief that we have in each other.

Kevin Strauss:

And this is actually I think this is actually chapter two of my book, which is all about our relationships, and the stronger our relationships are, the more freely we can share ideas and not feel like we're being personally attacked for a bad idea, it's just a bad idea. Okay, bad ideas happen. I would say 99% of the time bad ideas happen, which is why my book is called Innovate the 1%. So he completely pointed out my blunder. It was okay and we moved on. And because we could do that to each other throughout our whole time working together, we were able to come up with so many other wonderful inventions and products, you know, for the global market.

Alethea Felton:

Exactly, and I think that is really a telling story because it did, in fact, strengthen the relationship and I think that if more people are transparent and comfortable with each other, it could really be a powerful, powerful influence in the right direction. It's huge and I think, yeah, it's really a huge thing, and I also think it taps into a person's emotional health, where that they can feel a certain level of comfort as well as validation, like you didn't get angry at him for pointing out that blunder.

Alethea Felton:

In fact, it helped you and it got you to kind of take a step back, think about things. And so, with you being an emotional health and innovation consultant, kevin, what does that look like? What do you do, who do you help, and how does that change people's lives?

Kevin Strauss:

Yeah, so it's really like two different things just mashed together, because it doesn't really.

Kevin Strauss:

you know, I have so much experience with emotional health and human behavior, but I also have so much experience with innovation and medical advice and solving problems that I just mashed them together. So that's how that title comes about. But, like we were talking about with this relationship with my, with my coworker, you know we were, we had such a strong relationship and we valued each other and, even though one of us might make a mistake at any given time, we never shamed, judged, degraded or emotionally neglected the other person. And this happens. I mean, I'll be quite frank with you and again, if we're not frank in the world, you know, if we're always like walking on eggshells around everything then we don't make progress.

Kevin Strauss:

You know, if we're just holding back all the time, we don't go forward. You know, and so often that's what happens, like in school or in the workplace, where we aren't comfortable making mistakes and I'm sorry, but the entire education system is really rooted in shame and judgment. You know, if you didn't get a good grade, you're judged as less than You're just trying to learn the material.

Kevin Strauss:

But you're judged. You're judged by your peers, you're judged by your teachers. You know you're made to feel less than you're made to feel stupid, small, less valuable. And in our brain, value translates to love. You know how valued I feel, translates to how loved I feel. And when you don't this is the emotional health side of everything when you don't feel love, connection and belonging. That's how I define emotional health our ability to give and receive love, connection and belonging. And this is a basic human need.

Alethea Felton:

And if we?

Kevin Strauss:

don't feel that love and connection, it hurts, it causes pain and a person will do anything to ease their pain. And in the absence of knowing how to love and connect without shame, without judgment, without degrading, without neglecting each other, when we can't connect, we turn to behaviors to try and ease our pain. And that's where all the drugs and alcohol and depression and social media and food you know how many people eat their feelings or don't eat their feelings. You know they restrict, so that's how it kind of combines to this emotional health of everything. But you know, in the workplace, when we feel that love and connection, when we're getting ideas from all different kinds of people and we're connecting on that and we're working together toward a common goal, that's when we really solve problems and that's when we all feel valued, which means we all feel loved, and then our energy all you know our frequency rises and now we're all vibrating at this higher frequency that can be measured, you know, and then everything just gets better.

Alethea Felton:

And Kevin, I should have asked this earlier, but as you were talking about that, this concept of innovate, what does that word or term mean to you? How do you define innovate?

Kevin Strauss:

Yeah, Innovation, you know, it's really just coming up with something new. It hasn't been done before. You know, to solve a problem or reach a goal in a way that hasn't come about before. I think it's as simple as that.

Alethea Felton:

And in keeping along the lines of a person's emotional health. This is quite powerful in terms of thinking about the fact that if a person doesn't feel value, that it does affect how they feel loved and that they don't have that feeling of being loved there. And so, when we think about innovation and that everybody has their own capability to innovate and we are going to talk about that in what ways, kevin, do you think improving a person's emotional health can actually enhance their capabilities to innovate?

Kevin Strauss:

Absolutely so. This actually gets into some of the neuroscience you know of how the brain works. When you're not feeling loved, valued, you know connected, like you belong somewhere, especially at home, in school, the workplace. Your amygdala, which is where your emotions are rooted, which is in your midbrain, is hijacked. You're in pain and all you want to do is ease your pain. If your amygdala has been hijacked and that's a psychological term, if your amygdala has been hijacked, your frontal lobe does not engage.

Kevin Strauss:

Your thinking, reasoning, deductive problem solving your frontal lobe really struggles to engage when your amygdala, midbrain, is hijacked. So in school or in the workplace if you're feeling emotionally threatened, like you're not valued, you're not loved, your relationships are really stressful, then your frontal lobe doesn't engage and it's really difficult to solve these bigger, harder problems. But when you are loved and when you do feel valued, your amygdala is all calmed down and at rest and then your frontal lobe, your higher brain, your cerebellum, can engage and then you can solve these bigger problems. I mean, this is just basic neuroscience.

Alethea Felton:

Yeah.

Kevin Strauss:

But we don't address it, we're not nurturing it. We're all like get it done, get it done, fix it, fix it, get the problem. We're all like get it done, get it done, fix it, fix it, get the problem, answer the problem, get a grade on the test there's so much stress around that, and if you don't get the grade on the test or you don't solve the problem at work, then you feel less valuable. Well, now your amygdala is back engaged and your frontal lobe is not engaged.

Kevin Strauss:

You know, and and also you're in so much pain, you're in this sort of fight or flight um mode that you, you're going to really struggle to tap into your subconscious mind again, back into your emotional and amygdala, your subconscious mind, um, and if you're, if you cause you, you because you know your subconscious mind basically has a total record of everything in your life that's right but we're not able to tap into it because we're always trying to think through everything, we're always trying to control everything because we're always like under threat of attack.

Kevin Strauss:

So it's a constant trying to manage our lives, you know. But if you're, if you're feeling attacked, not love, not valued, then you can't, you don't feel safe to let your, your conscious mind go to tap into your subconscious mind and then bring those ideas, because your subconscious mind kind of figured everything out already. But we have to get it into our conscious mind. And this is actually this is actually chapter six of my book where there's times when I'm working with my engineers and designers and you know they're drawing on the whiteboard and I'm like falling asleep on them.

Kevin Strauss:

I'm literally like half asleep at work, right, and if the CEO came by he'd be like what are you doing? You're not getting work done. I was like I get more inventions done than anybody here at the office, though Quit coming down on me. But in that half asleep mode our brain goes into a theta wave pattern and that's where we can bridge between what's happening in our subconscious and bring it forward to our conscious. So I might be half asleep, but I am listening to what's going on and I'm thinking and processing and all of a sudden I wake up and I'm like, oh, what about this, what about that?

Kevin Strauss:

And then, boom, another idea comes about, because I'm calm and I'm safe and I feel loved and valued, I can let my mind go and I'm at ease, and then I can bring those ideas forward.

Alethea Felton:

And for you to say how you feel loved and safe. And, yes, it does promote those ideas being more active and vibrant, and you could actually do something with it. You also, kevin, in your work, talk about your belief of people needing six basic needs and how all of this connects with the ability to innovate, and so this kind of leads into the six needs. So what are those six basic needs? And then you've taken this innovation a step farther in terms of thinking about human connections, relationships, emotional health and innovation through something called Uchi, and it's an app. And so, with these six basic needs, tell us about how those connect with Uchi, but also give us an overview of what Uchi is and what makes it unique or different in the realm of emotional health and connection with others.

Kevin Strauss:

Absolutely Okay. So there was a lot in there, yeah, so let's start with the six basic needs, because we have, you know, we've been operating especially for the last 10, 20 years about how everybody's an individual, everybody's unique, everybody's special, and that's all true. You know, we all are a unique energy in the universe. Everything is energy, just vibrating at some frequency. This pen, this table, this computer, this person, we're all unique energy. And in work, you know, with medical science and stuff we're getting to, like you know, with medical science and stuff we're getting, like, you know, dna based drugs and genetically coded this and that, because everybody's special, everybody's unique. But, and while that's true, we all are also the same. Okay, and we all have the same basic needs.

Kevin Strauss:

And I think at the top of this conversation we were talking about how I like to really simplify as much as possible Because, again, by simplifying just take one problem at a time Every human on this planet, as unique and individualized as we are, we all have the same basic needs. And I'm talking extra basic, right, every human on the planet, even every mammal, but every human on the planet has to breathe air. Everybody, that's undeniable. Everybody is breathing air. I mean, we're breathing air every couple of seconds, right, you go a couple minutes without air. Nothing else in your universe matters.

Alethea Felton:

That's right.

Kevin Strauss:

Except getting air. You will do anything, you will scramble, you will thrash, you will do anything to get air. You don't care that your iPhone just broke, you need air and nothing else matters except alleviating that pain of not having air. The same is true for shelter. I'm going to go in order of importance, right? So the rules of thumb are you can go three minutes without air. You can go three hours without shelter, like in a storm, like a winter storm or a hurricane or something. You can go three days without water. You can go three weeks without food. Oh, and I forgot the actual, the third one. So, after three hours without shelter, 24 hours without sleep. Right, you go without sleep for 24 hours. You're hallucinating.

Alethea Felton:

You sure will yeah.

Kevin Strauss:

Right, you're a mess right. So it's air, shelter, sleep, water and food. This is all human beings on the planet. And those are the five physical needs. And then there is our need for love, and that's an emotional need. You don't think love, you feel love. And by love I mean love, connection and a sense of belonging. And if you, if any one of those six needs is not being met on a pretty daily basis?

Alethea Felton:

right Practical daily basis, exactly Pretty daily, right?

Kevin Strauss:

I mean you can fast for 24, 48, 72 hours, you know three weeks. You know you can do that. But you're nurturing and you're very conscious and aware of that. But if any one of these six needs is not being met, it causes pain and a human will do anything to ease their pain. And there's only two kinds of pain. In the 20 plus years I've been digging into this, I've only been able to identify two types of pain physical pain and emotional pain. There's no such thing as mental pain. I have not been able to identify mental pain like oh, I can't do this math problem, it hurts. I don't feel pain from not being able to do this math problem. I might feel I might be worried and anxious about how I'll be judged for not doing this math problem, but I don't feel pain from not doing the math problem. And we know from functional MRI studies that the human brain cannot distinguish between physical pain or emotional pain. All your brain knows is I'm in pain. Do something about it right now.

Kevin Strauss:

Exactly Right, so exactly those five physical, and then love, and again by love I mean love, connection and belonging, Mm hmm, If we don't feel love, we're in pain and a human will do anything to ease their pain. And that's when we turn to behaviors. All these behaviors drug addiction, alcohol abuse, gun violence, suicide, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, cutting, narcissism, bullying, right the list is like endless, right? Workaholism, alcoholism, all the isms right. These are all just ways, symptoms of how we try to compensate for our pain and not getting our need met for love and connection. So I don't think humanity has a mental health problem. I think, in fact, our mental health is stronger than our physical, emotional and even spiritual health, and I define spiritual health differently, but that's for another time. I think our real problem is emotional health and how we feel and the fact that we don't feel loved and valued by the people closest to us.

Kevin Strauss:

Exactly, I don't care if somebody in the Starbucks in Iowa thinks less of me. That doesn't whatever, I don't care, but if my father thinks less of me, it hurts.

Alethea Felton:

And so, how did all of these concepts lead to Uchi, and tell us about that aspect?

Kevin Strauss:

Perfect segue. So the whole premise of Uchi, which is a free social app, is to help people connect with those closest to them. Uchi is actually the Japanese word for in-group or inner circle, so there's tons and tons of ways to meet new people. You can meet all kinds of people on social media and meet up and through your community. There's plenty of ways to meet new people. The problem that I see that I'm solving with Uchi is that we are struggling to connect authentically with the people closest to us. How often do people feel alone in their own home with a house full of people, right and?

Alethea Felton:

we saw a lot of that during the pandemic. We heard a lot about that, about people being in the same households yet feeling so isolated.

Kevin Strauss:

How many romantic relationships where one or both people feel alone in a two-person relationship? I mean, this is why most divorce happens. It's not because people can't communicate right Like oh, can you pick up the dry cleaning? Oh, can you get milk, you know what time are you going to be home tonight. We know how to communicate, we just don't know how to connect. We don't know how to listen in order. So the other person feels heard and understood, and when we feel heard and understood, it lets us know that we matter. And when we know that we matter, we feel valued. And when we feel valued, we feel loved, and then that's meeting our basic needs.

Kevin Strauss:

So Uchi is this very simple app where we just help people get to know each other and feel heard, but only by the people closest to them. They're Uchi, they're in group right, so it's not about how many people you can connect with and how far you can spread your word. You can use Facebook and Instagram and TikTok for things like that, but if you wanna really connect with the people closest to you your family, your friends, maybe a couple of people at work or school that you have a real bond with but you really wanna to nurture that bond relationship like romantic relationships, then on Uchi, all you need to do is answer the questions from our database in any order. They're all different kinds of questions. This is not therapy, it's just like the question that you started this entire conversation with today. That's an Uchi question.

Alethea Felton:

What's your favorite?

Kevin Strauss:

this. What's your favorite that? How do you see the world on this topic? How do you see the world on that topic? You know, one of my favorite questions is from an experiment I did right after George Floyd was murdered and I was trying to bring people of very different backgrounds together. I called it Uchi meat and I brought, trying to bring people of very different backgrounds together. I called it Uchi Meat and I brought 10 people together with all different backgrounds, and we all just answered 10 questions and shared our answers with only each other and conversed on it. And one of my favorite questions was what's it like for you when you go on a job interview?

Kevin Strauss:

Well, me, being a white man is a very different experience than you being a black woman you know, but getting to hear your perspective, I thought I was pretty clued in on job interviews. I've interviewed people over the years. I've been on enough interviews.

Alethea Felton:

I thought you know I'm pretty clued in.

Kevin Strauss:

I'm pretty aware of what's going on in my surroundings. The answers from this cohort, especially the women, blew me away. I'm like oh, my God, I have no idea what it's like to be a woman going on an interview.

Alethea Felton:

Exactly, and so it gives greater insight into these people who you may already think that you know, but you learn so much more about them as well.

Kevin Strauss:

But you don't, and we know our own family, but we don't because I live with my own family.

Kevin Strauss:

I'm learning stuff all the time. Wow, learning new things. So Uchi is just a very simple app where you answer questions from the database, any order, whatever you want to do, and only your Uchi friends can read your answers, and they can only read your answer if they've already answered that question first. So you have to participate in order to consume, which is the opposite of social media, where you can scroll for days like doom scrolling. You can scroll for days and never and never contribute anything. But how can you have a real connection if both parties are not contributing?

Alethea Felton:

Wow.

Kevin Strauss:

Right.

Alethea Felton:

Yeah.

Kevin Strauss:

Then I can just say one more thing about the pandemic. And if I could just say one more thing about you, especially because you mentioned the pandemic, through the pandemic, this myth around connection got blown. Or through verbal dialogue, like talking on the phone, that's the only way you can connect. Oh, we got to be face to face. I got everyone's got to get on Zoom. Everyone's got to be video, video. And we and we saw I was watching within a month and a half, we were already seeing articles coming out in the media about Zoom fatigue.

Alethea Felton:

Fatigue Right.

Kevin Strauss:

And then people went into all like the neuroscience behind that. But it's because we still don't know how to connect, we don't know how to listen, and on Uchi, it's only the written word. There's no video, there's no pictures, there's no audio, there's no like button or heart, it's only fill in the blank and comment with your, with your Uchi right and and we know from 2,500 years of data, 2,500 years of data we know that two people can have a profoundly deep connection just from writing letters. And that's what Uchi does. It's just the written word. It slows everything down. You have time to think. You have time to read, reread, read a third time somebody's answer oh, I missed a word. Let me read it again. Oh, it has a whole different meaning. Okay, now I know what they're saying and that's how Uchi helps us connect with the people closest to us.

Alethea Felton:

Wow, and that concept when I first learned about it, I liked how you broke it down for me, because it's definitely innovative and it's something that I don't think people would understand until you really hear it in depth, because some people may say, well, how is it different from just texting?

Kevin Strauss:

It's a lot different than just texting, it's so different and you know, 75% of text messages are logistical in nature.

Alethea Felton:

Exactly that's what I was just about to say about. Okay, so where are we going to meet for dinner? Oh, here, or okay?

Kevin Strauss:

well, how, yeah, yeah, like oh, I'm going to be late, for I'm going to be working late tonight. Order a pizza, or. What time do I need to pick you up at soccer practice or play practice, or something? That's right, it's logistical, it's not. It's not. You know, what are you most concerned about in the world today? That's an Uchi question, you know. How would you define your role in your family? That's an Uchi question. What's your favorite color?

Alethea Felton:

That's an Uchi question.

Kevin Strauss:

It can be all over the place. And on Uchi we really avoid anything that's going to be controversial or something political, or you know we don't talk about abortion or ask questions about politics. It's just getting to know each other. And how do you see the world? I want to know how you see the world and I want you to know how I see the world.

Alethea Felton:

And that does get a person's mind to expand and they start to think about their own self, because a lot of people are walking around and don't know who they are and it's a constant lifelong process into our own creativity, innovation and ideas, and I know that our time together is coming to a close, but in keeping in mind this concept of uchi and connection and innovation, Kevin, how can individuals tap into their innate ability to innovate and what are a couple of steps that they can take to actually start seeing themselves as innovators?

Kevin Strauss:

Absolutely so. I truly believe everybody can innovate, everybody can solve problems, everybody has an imagination, but it takes practice right. You don't get good at something unless you practice it, and that's why I wrote the book you know, innovate the 1%, because it's seven areas that you can start practicing. You're not going to go to a lecture or a workshop for a day about how to innovate and instantly become, you know, an expert innovator yeah.

Kevin Strauss:

You know, I don't know any keynote or workshop that's going to make you an innovator overnight. I've been cultivating this idea to identify problems and root causes. You know, I had an apprenticeship for the first 18 years of my life with my father.

Alethea Felton:

Wow. Yes that's true, yeah.

Kevin Strauss:

Right. So innovate the 1%. It's on Amazon, just search my name or the title and those are ways that you can, that you can start to practice and nurture these areas. But you know, chapter two is all about relationships. It's not just about what you can do for you, it's about how you work collectively because, to be honest with you, our species did not get to where we are today because we were operating individually.

Kevin Strauss:

Right, our 200,000 year history as homo sapiens is because we work together. Hunting together was far more efficient for getting food than hunting alone. Building a, building a home together as a community, we all helped to build your home. We all helped to build my home. We all helped to build a community meeting place. We didn't all do it by ourselves, that's right. But since, like the 1700s or something, right, but we but you know, since like the 1700s or something, we started to value independence more than than working together. And now, independence and self-sufficiency, because our basic needs of getting food and water and shelter is so much easier now than it was hundreds of years ago or even 150 years ago or even 75 years ago um, we are valuing independence more, but it's really when we work together.

Kevin Strauss:

Honestly, I could not have had this conversation by myself I'm only having you know where we are right now because we're working together on this topic of conversation. Yeah, things are coming up for me today that, like we, I haven't thought about in 40 years. So that's really, you know, the, it's the it combines like emotional health, is all this togetherness and really listening and hearing and valuing each other, and then our mind opens up to solve the bigger problems, because we're not so preoccupied with trying to manage our pain with our behaviors.

Alethea Felton:

Yeah, and you just gave me an aha that just came from the cobwebs of my mind in this whole idea of people can really be transformed and changed by relationships and that we need that emotional health. And I thought about the movie from back in the day, castaway, with Tom Hanks. Although he was on an island by himself, he had that- Volleyball. Ball, yes, and made it his friend. And when he Wilson, wilson, exactly. And when he lost it, he almost literally lost his mind.

Kevin Strauss:

I just got chills.

Alethea Felton:

I mean, it's so amazing how he still needed that connection and that emotional aspect of it, and so that's what I do.

Kevin Strauss:

You know, I help schools and businesses and families, but schools and businesses understand how critical emotional health is and how we're not nurturing it and how it's not a mental health problem, it's an emotional health problem. And once you understand that, now you're going to understand why people behave the way they do. And we're talking about the destructive behaviors and the constructive behaviors, because what I've learned over the years is the more extreme the behavior, the deeper the emotional pain. And that goes for the sports. You know, athletes, the Olympic athletes, their behavior, that's extreme behavior.

Kevin Strauss:

But look at when they struggle, like the Michael Phelps, the Tiger Woods, the Simone Biles, the Naomi Osaka's, when they're struggling, they call it mental health, but it's not their mental health. It's they're not feeling valued or they're so worried and anxious that if they don't perform at that same level, that they're going to be valued less. And it's the same thing in business, with the Elon Musk's and the Steve Jobs and the and the Bill Gates, you know, or the Jeff Bezos if they don't keep performing, they're going to feel less valued, less loved as people. And look at those people some of the biggest names in industry, some of the wealthiest people in the world, who've done amazing things in the world. But look at their personal lives. They're a mess, and by personal I mean their emotional lives.

Alethea Felton:

And Kevin, if people want to learn more about these concepts, either through your book or even get Uchi, how can people connect with you or get to your resources? How can people connect with you or get to your resources?

Kevin Strauss:

Absolutely so. First, you can download Uchi for free and get started in minutes on Google Play and the App Store. It's Uchi which is spelled U-C-H-I, it's purple. Just look for that in the App Store. Google Play, download and start having fun. Invite some friends and family and start answering questions, totally private. And my name is Kevin R Strauss and that's my handle on pretty much every social platform and it's also my website, kevinrstrausscom, and just Google me. I'm very easy to find, especially with the patents and publications and so on. So, yeah, reach out, because I love to chat with you and help you and the people that you serve.

Alethea Felton:

And your book Innovate. The 1% is on Amazon, correct?

Kevin Strauss:

Yes, okay.

Alethea Felton:

And as we break this to an end, I could talk to you for so long and I really appreciate this idea of it, but as the future proceeds and different trends in emotional health as well as innovation occur, Kevin, how is Uchi positioned to lead or contribute to the future of emotional health and innovation?

Kevin Strauss:

Absolutely, I think. As far as I'm concerned, uchi is really it's really the only tool that I know of that tangibly, definitively, helps the masses nurture their emotional health on a daily basis and help them meet that basic need that is not being met globally. And when our basic needs are all being met on a daily or almost daily basis, then the whole world opens up to us.

Alethea Felton:

Wow, that was absolutely wonderful, and you all I could have Kevin on again because he has so much more insight and wisdom to him Everything from backpacking to ballroom dancing to being a triathlete and a coach. We didn't even touch on that, but all of those are their own innovations in and of themselves. Kevin, it's always a joy and an honor talking with you. Thank you for being our guest today on the Power Transformation Podcast, and I hope that our listeners can walk away knowing that they are innovators and can really contribute to the change and the transformation that is continually taking place, not only in our world but in their respective selves. So thank you so much, Kevin. It's an honor. Of course, we will keep in touch. Thank you so much. I am so much, Kevin. It's an honor.

Kevin Strauss:

Of course we will keep in touch. Thank you so much.

Alethea Felton:

I am so grateful for Kevin and I really want you to do your best to stay socially connected with the people that you know, and that can start with simply downloading Uchi, getting to really act on it. Ask those questions, get everybody that you know on in it, because I'm telling you, it is a game changer for your life. Kevin is so talented, so skilled and I'm so glad that he was able to come on today just to share a little bit about him and we didn't even get into so much more of what he does, so I could easily have him back for another episode to really talk more about that competitive, athletic side of him. That would be exciting. But I am just excited to have you here on this podcast with me for listening every week, and I encourage you to go back and listen to episodes that you may have missed and to share and spread what the Power Transformation Podcast is all about.

Alethea Felton:

Let's go ahead and close out with our affirmation. I'll say it once and you repeat it I am an original thinker, always brainstorming new pathways for my creativity. You usually listen and remember to rate and review. I also invite you to connect with me on social media at Alethea Felton, that's at A-L-E-T-H-E-A-F-E-L-T-O-N. Until next time, remember to be good to yourself and to others.