736. Meet the Nonprofit Building a Brand + Movement Around Unity - Adam Mizel, Us United

Innovation

Aug 31

Written By Jon McCoy

Listen to this episode

About This Episode

"There's so many brands for division in this country. Where's the brand for unity?"

That question is why Us United exists. Adam Mizel spent more than 30 years in finance and entrepreneurship before his wife Tanya asked him the question that ended that chapter: What are you going to do? 🩵

What he did was build a brand — hats, T-shirts, media, storytelling, leadership — and wrap a movement around it. Us United now runs a unity pledge, monthly cross-bubble conversations, Unity Seats at live sporting events, and a sheriff network nearly 100 strong.

In this episode, you'll hear:

Why Adam believes a movement without a brand stays invisible, and what he built first
The three things that still unify Americans, and how Us United turned them into the entire strategy
Why funding a brand is harder than funding a program, and how he makes the case when there's no spreadsheet to hand a donor

Your loyalty data is already sitting in your database. Here's how to act on it. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

(3:10) Yelling at the TV: the question that started it
(4:30) Flint, Sheriff Swanson, and the six-hour march
(5:50) Where's the brand for unity?
(6:26) Sports, music, and food: the three cultural drivers
(7:43) Building the on-ramps: the pledge, the algorithm, 30 For Us
(9:45) Unity Seats and the 25th anniversary of 9/11
(12:01) Why a brand is harder to fund than a program
(15:42) If you're not telling your story, nobody is
(19:42) One good thing: dare to fail gloriously

Episode Transcript

Meet Adam: The Finance Veteran Building a Brand for Unity

Adam Mizel is the co-founder and CEO of Us United, the nonprofit building a brand and a movement around unity in America. He spent more than 30 years in finance and entrepreneurship before launching Us United in 2021 with Sheriff Chris Swanson of Flint, Michigan. He has since driven the country in a purple and white pickup truck, filming hundreds of hours for a documentary called It Starts With Us. A proud Princetonian, class of '91, Adam lives by a mantra a friend gave him decades ago: dare to fail gloriously.

Powerful Quotes

"There's so many brands for division in this country. Where's the brand for unity?" — Adam

"How are you going to have unity without a brand?" — Adam

"If you're not telling your story, nobody's telling it. You are the most impactful spokesperson for it." — Adam

"When's the last time that you compromised with a label? You don't." — Adam

"We just happen to be building a business that doesn't measure its success by profits on the bottom line." — Adam

"Unity is not political. You can't even get to politics if you don't start with unity." — Adam

"Don't yell at television. What are you going to do?" — Adam

Resources Mentioned

Us United: the nonprofit building a brand and movement around unity in America
The Unity Pledge: the first on-ramp for individuals who want to participate — us-united.org
Unity Seats: pairs of strangers seated together at live sporting events; expanding to high school football fields nationwide on September 11
30 For Us: a monthly Zoom that places participants in breakout rooms with people outside their usual circles
Sheriff Unity Network: a coalition of sheriffs nearly 100 strong
It Starts With Us: documentary filmed during Adam's cross-country road trip
Sheriff Chris Swanson: Genesee County, Michigan; co-founder of the Us United initiative
Ken Nwadike Jr., the Free Hugs Project: co-founder of the initiative
Saint Aloysius School, Harlem: the Catholic school board Adam served on early in his career
We Are For Good Community: free community and app for nonprofit leaders