Brian Dyson

It went unnoticed by me, certainly, but I want to go back and do a moment of silence for this gentleman.

So on August 9th of 2026, We lost an icon in the beverage space and his name is Brian Dyson.

Brian Dyson.

So I'm just gonna ask us to take a moment of silence and then I'm gonna explain who he is.

Just a moment of silence for Brian Dyson.

Rest in peace.

Okay.

Brian Dyson, his last job at the Coca-Cola company was vice chairman and COO.

And executives at Coke believed that this is because Pepsi was sweeter and they wanted to have a sweeter and smoother taste for Coca-Cola.

By the way, and this was not planned, the executive at Coca-Cola at the time who was most responsible for this decision, a man named Brian Dyson, just died.

Just died last month.

I didn't know that when I decided to talk about this this week.

You know, you don't know what you got until it's gone.

It's an incredible story of how a corporation stumbled onto something that actually helped them.

And by the way, Brian Dyson, he ended up becoming a legend in the industry for good reasons.

People forget about, I guess they either didn't mention the New Coke idea.

They're busy.

I, I, yeah, I wanted to remember the architect of one of the biggest food marketing fiascos in history, who passed away, uh, this week, a guy named Brian Dyson.

He was the architect behind Coke, the New Coke movement.

So it's a fascinating story.

So I think it was I want to quote this appropriately.

I believe it was Brian Dyson in a 1991 commencement speech.

He was the CEO of Coca-Cola at the time and he was delivering a commencement speech and he talked about balance and what was important in terms of how you weigh your priorities.

And he used the analogy of you're a juggler with multiple balls and some of those balls are rubber and some of them are glass.

If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, and perhaps even shattered.

And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance I wish that I could credit that as my own, but that was actually a commencement speech given by the ex-CEO of Coca-Cola, Brian Dyson.

Today is one of my softer podcasts, but it's probably one of the most important.

It's not about money, though money does play into it.

Wise will serve starting September 4th through the remainder of Pridemore's term, which expires December 31st.

Family and friends are making preparations for a celebration of life for former Coca-Cola executive Brian Dyson.

Dyson died earlier this month following complications from pneumonia.

He worked for more than four decades at Coke and is widely remembered for his Five Balls commencement address delivered in 1991, in which he asked graduates to consider life as a game in which you're juggling five balls.

You can drop work and it will bounce back, but the others, family, health, friends, and spirit, will be damaged or broken if you drop them.

He said, quote, you must understand that and strive for balance in your life.

The celebration of life for Brian Dyson is scheduled for September 4th.

A new documentary airing tonight on GPB highlights the challenges facing rural health care in Georgia.