Life of Business Archives

How to Stay Relevant in Business and Life?

January 3, 2013 Steve Kayser

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler

I heard a couple of acquaintances talk about a person they work with that was “older” and no longer contributing to their business. This person apparently couldn’t, or wouldn’t, learn new skills. Or, for that matter, even keep up with the skill-set needed for the job. Age was mentioned, and not favorably. They thought this person should be “put out to pasture.”

Storytelling Story-Selling Secret Sources

April 25, 2013 Steve Kayser

Whatever business you’re in you have a story. If it’s a good story it informs, educates, entertains and helps people down a path to find a solution to the problem they have.

The trip down the path is your story.

Content: The Explosive New Reality Show

August 28, 2012 Steve Kayser

The question is … how do you connect through the chaotic cacophony and conflagration of content?

How to Defeat Your Inner Deadbeat

September 4, 2012 Steve Kayser

In every person’s life, there is a still, small voice that tries to guide you to a wonderful calling − a destiny. Your destiny. A calling that you, and only you, were put on this earth to fulfill. Near silent, this voice is powerful enough to lift thoughts, dreams and visions to a higher ground. Do you still hear it?

The Complex Sale: How to Outsmart Yourself – With Your Own Brilliance

March 10, 2013 Steve Kayser

To win at the complex sale, one must be a storyteller, master strategist, philosopher, psychologist and have an innate understanding of the B2B Goldilocks Universe …

A Jerk In Search of Some Enchantment
… Interview with Guy Kawasaki

October 26, 2012 Steve Kayser

It sneaks up on you. Subtly. Like the floor after your 4th shot of tequila. Next thing you know? Prevaricating, blasphemous, smellfungus ninnyhammer all-foam no-beer mooncalfs are calling you a jerk. Quickly followed by a public JERK INTERVENTION. I know. It happened to me. Don’t let it happen to you.

The New Employee … Partner of Purpose?

August 20, 2012 Steve Kayser

What type of employee would YOU want to help you in a startup? Or in growing a business? In a struggling business? Certainly someone with drive and…

How Fake Are Your Twitter Followers?

August 27, 2012 Steve Kayser

Ever wonder about celebrities, politicians and others who have huge numbers following them on Twitter? How do they amass those big numbers – millions of followers? I used to think about it occasionally. Not that I was jealous. I mean I rocketed up to 10 followers and held steady there for three straight years.

Open Your World, Walk Towards Wisdom
An Interview with Dr. Ken Blanchard

August 9, 2012 Steve Kayser

Do you have truth tellers in your life? Do you have people around you who give you feedback and are honest with you?

Left, Right and No-Brainers…
The Management vs. Marketing War

October 23, 2012 Steve Kayser

There’s a war going on in American business. It’s a war that causes great ideas and products to vanish. To get lost in the clear fog of logical logic. A devastatingly destructive war that helps bad ideas take root and flourish (albeit briefly) justified by common sense and … logical logic. It’s Left-Brain Management vs. Right-Brain Marketing.

What does that mean? How does it work? What to do about it? Find out in this interview with bestselling authors Al and Laura Ries.

The Most Important Thing I Have Learned
Interview with “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Author Robert Kiyosaki

July 24, 2012 Steve Kayser

I was going to start off with, “What’s it like to sell 28-million copies of Rich Dad Poor Dad?”‘ but I won’t. because it’d probably bore you to tears. You served as a marine helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam, winning an air award medal, how did that …

Riding the Complex Sale Alligator Without Becoming Lunch – Interview with Pen Densham, Film and TV Writer, Producer, Director

October 12, 2012 Steve Kayser

To win at the complex sale, one must be a storyteller, strategist, master tactician, cajoler, evaluator, philosopher, psychologist, bean counter and often, magician. But what about a really complex sale? Like selling your story to Hollywood and getting it made into a film? Find out with Pen Densham whose films include; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Backdraft, Moll Flanders, Rocky II and Houdini. The films and television series Pen Densham and his partner have produced have grossed over $1 billion.

Can You Make a Living “Thinking” for a Living?

September 25, 2012 Steve Kayser

Is there a magic formula that can enable you to put your feet up in a chair, daydream and think of ideas that can change everything for you? In business and life? Yes, it’s “4 I’s > C2.” Features interview with Joey Reiman, author of “Thinking for a Living.”

The Seven “New Rules” of Business Presentations I Wish I’d Been Taught in Kindergarten

February 23, 2012 Steve Kayser

Having seen hundreds of business presentations and given a stinky few myself, there are a few things I wish someone would have taught me in kindergarten. Seven things or “New Rules” of business presentations to be precise. I pass these on to anyone new to the dreaded gauntlet of the business presentation or any grizzled veterans who want to walk on the wild side and shake things up. Avoid lying-flying “Stink-o-potamus” presentation status. Use the principle of “Creative Limitation.”

An Inconvenient Genius

September 12, 2012 Steve Kayser

How often has one person affected humanity to such a degree that were the fruits of his labor withdrawn immediately from our day-to-day existence, the world as we know it … would essentially stop?

Overcoming Adversity: Lessons and Blessings

December 10, 2012 Steve Kayser

To win at business or life, adversity has to be encountered, faced, fought and defeated. There is no other way. No options. You either beat it, or it beats you. Win, or you lose. Simple. Right?

No. Never. It’s never black and white. Never win or lose. Something always bleeds over. Always. Sometimes good – sometimes bad. Sometimes funny – sometimes sad. Most times a little of both. This is one such story.

The Second Most Clicked Page on Your Website Is … Can You Guess?

August 10, 2012 Steve Kayser

It’s the second most clicked on page on most websites. That’s valuable real estate. You need your best foot forward. Can you guess what it is? Don’t cheat. Think. Don’t look right below this sentence where the answer is. Think really hard. Give up? It’s the …

Robert McKee’s “Principle of Creative Limitation,” Stays Inside the Box

May 27, 2012 Steve Kayser

Out of the box thinking. How many times have you heard that? What does it mean? It’s supposed to connote creative thinking. But what happens if you stay in the box… and make it smaller?

How to Create and Finish Anything … Work the Do

May 22, 2012 Steve Kayser

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Do the Work is a shut up and do-it guide. It treads some of the same turf as the “War of Art.” It fights the intractable, implacable, insidious foe of mankind –Resistance. But it’s also an indispensable guide to winning at business or life.

Why Good Companies Go Bad
How Great Leaders Remake Them

November 8, 2012 Steve Kayser

You know the company. It’s yours, or may have been. An industry leader. Once. Competitors emulate it. Analysts preach the company gospel. The CEO’s mug is on every magazine cover. Stock prices soar above the Milky Way. Then

CRASH.

Why? Donald N. Sull, Harvard Business School Press author of “Revival of The Fittest: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Managers Remake Them” answers that question in an easy-to-read “Shoot the Donkey” – style interview format, combining theory, real-life examples and practical advice.

Real-World Marketing Muck-ups…
Is That Manure Stick You Have On?

September 13, 2012 Steve Kayser

Is there any more expensive way to throw away money with such arrogant disregard for common sense? Or, to do it with such condescending, confounding, disparate, and creative personalities?

How to Use a Corporate Gobbledygook Sales Brochure

September 12, 2012 Steve Kayser

From personal experience and conversations with many experts in the business-to-business field, there is reasonable agreement that most corporate sales, marketing and PR lingo suffers from …

It’s Complex to Write Simple These Days … But Hemingway’s Rules of Writing Can Still Work

February 3, 2012 Steve Kayser

Why can’t new Marketing and PR people write? Because it’s It’s a skill and art that is complex, under-appreciated and, as far as I can tell, under-emphasized by schools. Or—if you have the teeth-pulling, Novocain-less pleasure of reading many press releases—companies, for that matter. Why is that? One of the main reasons is …

So This is Christmas … What Have You Done?

December 14, 2012 Steve Kayser

So fast. Another year past. 2012 gone. 2013 soon upon. How did you do? What did you do? What did you do that really mattered? Have you even thought about it that way? Or …

Best of STORY and Storyteller Interviews

August 1, 2012 Steve Kayser

Robin Hood, Batman, Hoop Dreams, Zanskar, Bagger Vance – they’re all here. Learn from best-selling authors, screenwriters, storytellers and movie-makers Steven Pressfield, Pen Densham, Michael Uslan, Frederick Marx and Robert McKee.

The Query Letter All Writers Want to Write … But Don’t Have the Squareballs

February 15, 2012 Steve Kayser

One particular day, after receiving a rejection letter (the first among many that I’ve never acknowledged) I got a little ticked. I mean, c’mon, I just spent three months banging out 120 pages of the best screenplay America has never seen. A classic. A real beaut. Think…

How to Successfully Screw Up Your Social Sharing Numbers

July 19, 2012 Steve Kayser

It takes a big person to public admit a social media publishing mistake.

Ten Tips for Being “Good in a Room” in the Complex Sale

July 9, 2012 Steve Kayser

What is the one trait that’s an absolute “must have” to win the complex sale in today’s competitive sales environment? The skill is critical to your success – in business or life. You must be … “Good in a Room.” What does that mean? Stephanie Palmer, author of the book of the same name, “Good in a Room,” puts it in perspective.

The White Knight of the Dark Knight
Interview with Hollywood Producer Michael Uslan

June 16, 2012 Steve Kayser

It started when he was a young boy. An obsession to right a terrible wrong. The Batman that played on television in his youth was a far cry from the original Batman comic books. It was joke. In his mind the real Batman was being dissed – comically. The young man made up his mind that someday he would avenge the Batman. And he did.

Stand Aside for an Officer, You Can’t All be Saved!
Interview with Bestselling Author Dr. Ken Blanchard

May 30, 2012 Steve Kayser

Why is it so critical for great leaders also to be great teachers and storytellers?

Who Influenced You?

Interview with Bestselling Author Dr. Ken Blanchard

May 21, 2012 Steve Kayser

You’ve sold 20 million copies of your books and “The One Minute Manager” is revered in business circles and still being used as a guide almost 30 years after publication. I think it’s because of your storytelling style. The parable with deep knowledge embedded in it. Who influenced you?

Great Leaders GROW – Interview with Bestselling Author Dr. Ken Blanchard

May 10, 2012 Steve Kayser

Successful leaders don’t rest on their laurels. Leadership has to be a living process, not a title, not a business card. “The path to increased influence, impact, and leadership effectiveness is paved with personal growth. Our capacity to grow determines our capacity to lead. It’s really that simple.

How NOT to Stand Out in Any Crowd

January 20, 2012 Steve Kayser

You, your product, your service, your company, is good … maybe great. It’s different, unique, totally rad, awesomeroo and bloggerific. It even (occasionally) delivers real business value; makes an authentic difference in business or life. But … no one has heard of you. You haven’t even heard of you! Here’s how to get your message out – or not. Featuring an interview with Sam Horn, author of “POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd.”

The Power of Resistance: Lessons Learned from Bestselling Author Steven Pressfield

February 25, 2012 Steve Kayser

I’ve had the good fortune to interview and work with many great storytellers over the last few years. J.D. Meier, program manager for Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices team, and author of the “Sources of Insight”blog, asked me what the most important lessons I’d learned from the high-profile “working” writers and storytellers … the ones who actually make a living doing it.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out.

What am I doing right?

- Charles Schulz, (great philosopher and this writer’s personal inspiration)

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