For nearly half a century, Ken Burns has been the keeper of America's story and the filmmaker who has done more than perhaps any other single person to help a country understand where it came from and who it has been.

Throughout his career, he has returned to the same question: Who are we?

He has asked it through the Civil War and jazz, through baseball and the American Revolution, through the lives of Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and George Washington. He has never answered it, and that is by design. The work is not an answer. It is a lifelong act of deepening, of opening doors, excavating corners, and releasing what has long been waiting to be found.

In this episode of Grey Matter, Ken sits down with Consello Founder, Chairman, and CEO Declan Kelly to discuss the intent behind the work, the philosophy that has sustained it, and what it means to spend a life in pursuit of a question you know you will never fully answer.

In this conversation, Ken discusses:

· Why the goal of every film is subtraction, not addition, and what it means to distill 500 hours of material into the truest version of a story

· How an internal compass built over decades allows him to hold a standard of craft entirely independent of outside judgment

· The difference between loneliness and solitude, and why deliberate isolation is inseparable from the work

· What the narcissism of the present gets wrong, and why a study of history is the most clarifying thing a person can do in uncertain times

· How he thinks about ideas large enough to be afraid of, and why biting off more than you can chew is the only way to grow

· Why he has made the same film over and over again for 45 years, and why that is a philosophy, not a limitation

About Consello

Consello is an Advisory and Investing Platform with offices in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Dublin, Belfast, London, Barcelona, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Consello’s distinct advisory practices provide the complete strategic counsel today’s leaders need to grow and transform their organizations. Consello’s advisory expertise spans Corporate Advisory; M&A; Management Consulting; Talent; and Sports and Entertainment. Dedicated teams operate in each practice, led by a leadership group with deep operational experience across industries, business growth stages and market cycles and with an expansive set of global corporate relationships.

Consello’s investment business, Consello Capital, identifies high-potential mid-market companies and invests capital and expertise to transform their growth.

About Grey Matter Host Declan Kelly

Declan Kelly is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Consello, one of the world's most influential boutique advisory firms. A trusted advisor to dozens of CEOs leading the world's top companies, Mr. Kelly has built or run four global consulting companies over the last three decades prior to founding Consello. Mr. Kelly also served in government as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland during the Obama administration.

Ken Burns: Finding America’s Source of Truth | Grey Matter with Declan Kelly

Grey Matter with Declan Kelly: Inside the Minds of the People Who Move the World

Ken Burns: Finding America’s Source of Truth | Grey Matter with Declan Kelly