Resources
“Supermensch” Shep Gordon on Creating the “Celebrity Chef”
Shep Gordon is the visionary Hollywood manager, agent and producer responsible for building some of the biggest careers in entertainment, and has been named one of the “100 most influential people” by Rolling Stone magazine. The subject of the acclaimed Mike Myers-produced documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Shep came to Los Angeles in 1968 and landed in the heart of rock and roll, instantly (and by sheer coincidence) falling in with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and, a short time later, Alice Cooper, whom he continues to manage today. …
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Observations from the set of “The Voice”
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several years (or just don’t watch network TV), you’ve probably heard about or watched the wildly popular TV show, “The Voice” on NBC; where aspiring singers compete for a recording contract with the help of four successful artists as coaches. Having been an A&R exec at EMI Music in my past, my role was to scout, sign and develop artists for the label — so I’m intimately familiar with the process that these aspiring artists are going through in an attempt to become a star in the music industry For awhile, we had “American Idol” and “The Voice” on air at the same time — but since Idol wound down, “The Voice” has reigned supreme in this category. The current celeb coaches are Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani and Adam Levine.
Recently I was invited to take a tour of the set and watch a taping of the show as a member of the studio audience. I’ll admit right upfront that I’m a bit jaded as I’m in the industry, and it wasn’t my first taping of a show; whereas nearly everyone else participating was a tourist where this was a first time event and a really big deal for them.
Having been a talent producer as well for decades, honestly I couldn’t stop myself from wearing my ‘behind the scenes’ glasses. …
Ken Kragen, Legendary Organizer of “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
Ken Kragen Shares His Best Tips on Career and Cause Marketing
A graduate of Harvard Business School Ken Kragen’s illustrious career transcends the music and entertainment industries where he has spent many successful years and managed some of the world’s most important entertainers, including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Trisha Yearwood, Olivia Newton John, The Bee Gees, Burt Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers and many others. …
Get Out of Your Own Way — Allow Things to Flow Easier
Have you ever noticed how we can make things more difficult than they need to be? Either by overthinking something, making it more complicated than it needs to be, getting worked up in a way that doesn’t serve us, or otherwise being fixed on things having to be a certain way in our lives? That’s how we sabotage the good things that want to come our way. We can actually stop our good from getting to us because we don’t allow it in when it shows up on our front doorstep! Conversely, when we take time to ‘pause’ and reflect on a situation (and what we most want to have happen), when we trust our hearts over our heads to make the choice that will serve us best, and trust that the Universe is doing its best to deliver us what we say we want — things can flow to us more readily and with much less struggle and strife. …
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Slow Down to Speed Up
Many of us move, work and live at breakneck speeds, often to our detriment. We create or participate in accidents, we make mistakes, we create stress in ourselves and others, we create tension and illness in our bodies, and we simply don’t do our best work in that state. It’s true that my favorite business magazine ironically is “Fast Company”, but I’m also a fan of the Slow Food movement which started over 30 years ago now.
The truth is we do have enough time and we can get everything done …
Why It’s Time to Buck the 24/7 Work Trend
April 11, 2017
Ellevate Network
Americans are still working too hard and too long. The average American puts in 258 more hours per year than the average European.
Read the entire article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-its-time-buck-247-work-trend-kelli-richards/
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn About Monetizing Their Brands From Musicians
April 10, 2017,
Inc.
Like musicians, entrepreneurs can embrace the power they have to connect with a wider world.
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The Power of Collaboration
One of my mentors, Alan Weiss, is about to come out with a terrific new book called “Lifestorming” co-authored with Marshall Goldsmith who is himself one of the most sought after executive coaches on the planet. This veteran author duo have collectively published nearly 100 books on human behavior. Neither needs the other, but they opted to come together to create something of value to their shared audience. This collaboration between two very successful juggernauts in the business world should produce a pretty powerful result given what each of them has achieved on his own. We’ll find out when the book comes out on May 1st!
I’ve always been a big believer in the power of collaboration — to harness and leverage the gifts of two (or more) talented individuals to create an outcome that’s even more valuable and impactful than if each was crafting something on their own.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney are another great example of this; there would have been no Beatles (or arguably they wouldn’t have been nearly as successful) if those two hadn’t come together — pun intended. …
Why AI and VR Startups Should Be Targeting the Music Industry
April 3, 2017,
Inc.
Despite meteoric growth, one industry has been curiously left out of most VR/AI discussions: music.
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Embracing Serendipity: Seizing Opportunities as they Arise
Have you ever stopped to notice how things are always working in our favor? It may be time to start doing so. A chance encounter turns into the creation of a new friend or collaborator, a flight delay turns into creating a client, and a flash of intuition can even save our life by avoiding an accident or some other mishap. Maybe you’ve experienced some of this for yourself, and almost certainly you’ve heard of others who have.
In my own case, a dramatic example is that I avoided getting on Flight 93 on 9-11 (the one that crashed over PA) simply because I had a very strong intuition that led me to abort my trip to NYC to participate in producing a big Michael Jackson event — and I’d been booked on that flight to return home afterwards. …
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