You’re about halfway through the first year of your term. How’s it going? White: At one of our board meetings, I believe it was Chris Anderson [HPG CEO and PPAI board member], who described me as a thoughtful contrarian. There was unanimous consent to that. And I was charmed and flattered by that description, particularly the thoughtful part. I will never be the establishment, status quo guy. I think one of the reasons I was selected to be on the board was to tactfully and diplomatically present alternative viewpoints and, more importantly, ask incisive, insightful questions. It is more important that I challenge people to be more expansive and nonlinear in their thinking than it is for me to argue any one point. There’s so much experience and insight and wisdom in that room that it would be arrogant for me to think that very often I have the most important or interesting thing to say. I look at it as the best thing I can do is ask good questions that frame our responsibility and our options in ways that people are not thinking of. Very rarely am I trying to be prescriptive in dictating what I think should happen. I just want to facilitate the conversation and allow the collective wisdom to take hold. From a membership point of view, this approach helps ensure a more diverse set of perspectives and viewpoints are represented in the room. Even though we have a diverse selection of board members, if you’re not asking a diverse array of questions, there are people out there whose perspectives are not being represented. PPAI Media: A few years from now, when your board term is behind you, what would you like your legacy as part of the Association’s leadership to be? White: First and most important is that the people that I have the pleasure of working with say, “He was a really good teammate.” It’s always been my desire at BAMKO and anywhere I’ve worked for people to look at the way that I have supported and worked with them and contributed, and say, “Man, Josh is one hell of a teammate.” It’s what a great teammate does: Support and elevate the people around you in a way that helps them get better. That would be great. I think the idea of being a thoughtful contrarian and being an advocate for a unique perspective in this industry would be part of it. And being someone that helped the board to be expansive in its thinking and its perspectives. PPAI Media: What do you see as the future of the promo industry? Where is it going? White: Where I’d love to see the industry go is twofold. One, I think there’s a huge opportunity We are in the advertising business, ultimately. People give away branded merchandise for a reason. As an industry, we have an incredible opportunity to talk about the value and power of the things that we sell and what they’re capable of doing. Must Read | Joshua White Profile 44 • JUNE 2023 • PPAI
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