“Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide,” is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds, emotional twists, humorous turns, and a spiritually uplifting climax. And… it’s a lesson in the life-changing POWER of never giving up and never looking back.
“This story has everything it possibly needs to become a smash success. It will make every possible reader happy.” –Frederick Marx, Warrior Films.org– Producer, Director, Writer, “Hoop Dreams,” Named Best Film of the Decade by Roger Ebert.
Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide
Book Preview
What a fine story and screenplay! What heart! Acceptance Bridge will make a memorable film.” – Mark Miller, legendary leading man, producer, and writer of “A Walk in the Clouds,” “Savannah Smiles,” “Christmas Mountain,” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”
Acceptance Bridge is so entertaining and exciting I couldn’t put it down. It’s ‘Glory Road,’ ‘Hoosiers’ and ‘Rudy’ combined as teams and individuals overcome handicaps and roadblocks on all levels. Inspiring is not a strong enough word for Acceptance Bridge… but it certainly works.” – Donn Burrows, Director, “The Big O: The Oscar Robertson Story.”
Media copies are available for review, email [email protected]. For information on bulk sales or speaking events email [email protected].
GROW is an acronym and a strategy for business and life.
“G” stands for “gaining knowledge.””
“R” for “reaching out to others.”
“O” for opening your world.”
“W” for “walk towards wisdom.
OPENING YOUR WORLD
Steve Kayser: The “O” in GROW, stands for “Opening your world.” Three simple words, but big implications. What does it mean?
Ken Blanchard: It’s looking for new opportunities to learn. Both on and off of work. For example, at work, have you ever thought about;
Shadowing somebody from another department?
Volunteering to run a social activity for the company?
Creating opportunities for you to constantly learn, to look for mentors, to find people that can just expand your world?
CALL SECURITY!
Steve Kayser: I tried shadowing somebody at work once. Someone I hoped would be my mentor, the Treasurer of our company. He called security on me.
Ken Blanchard: Ha-ha, He thought you were after the money! Opening your world means you’re always looking for ways to grow in your own position by opening your world where you work.
Outside the office, you ought to travel quite a bit so you can learn from that. New perspectives, new people. Maybe even learn a new language. In our company, we have everybody have one goal per year. If they accomplish it, they will have something new on their resume that they didn’t have the year before.
STRETCH YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF
You want to constantly stretch yourself and open your world to new learning opportunities.
Steve Kayser: I’ll throw a curveball at you … why? (After a pregnant pause, I suspect Dr. Blanchard has never been grilled by a sleuth like me.)
Ken Blanchard: Because, you can get so busy and focused on what you are doing that all of a sudden you wake up one day and find you’re behind. You grow stale. Your usefulness at work declines. Not a good place to head.
WALK TOWARD WISDOM
Steve Kayser: The “W” in GROW stands for “Walk Towards Wisdom.” My favorite part of the book actually. But, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is fruit. Wisdom is knowing it shouldn’t be in my fruit salad.
When you say, “Walk Toward Wisdom,” what do you mean? Wisdom is often only attributed to gurus, saints and sages.
Ken Blanchard: Wisdom as we define it is;
WISDOM: The application of kind of accumulated knowledge and experience.
It’s one thing to know something but if it can’t impact what you do, it’s not really wisdom.
Contrary to what you might think, wisdom has little to do with age, because we’ve all known younger people who might be described as wise beyond their years. Many of us can probably also say we know a few old fools.
The truth is, wisdom is attained bit-by-bit throughout our lifetime. It’s always within reach, but it must be pursued. It’s, keeping your eyes open, learning new things and then see how they can be applied and used in your life and the life of others.
It’s a Walk Towards Wisdom.
Steve Kayser: It’s a “constant becoming?”
SELF-EVALUATION
Ken Blanchard: Yes. You could say that. In the book we talk about different elements of wisdom.
AND I SAID TO MYSELF, “SELF … WHAT’S WORKING?”
One is that old concept about self-evaluation, looking into the mirror and being truthful about yourself.
What’s working and what’s not working in your life and career?
Are you considering your strengths and how you can leverage them?
Are you reflecting on your weaknesses to try to fix them?
Self-evaluation is such an important thing.
FEEDBACK
Another one I have always loved is, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
Do you have people around you who give you feedback and are honest with you?
Do you have truth tellers in your life?
A lot of times people live with truth tellers if you only listen to them.
Do your friends level with you?
Steve Kayser: Sometimes that’s hard to do, especially if they’re friends from work.
Ken Blanchard: But what’s the value of true friends? Well, they are honest with you. They will tell you the truth.
I grew up with a lot of guys that went to school at Cornell and nobody lets anybody act like a big deal. We were at a restaurant one time, eight couples, we’d known each other for fifty years and a waiter comes up,
“We understand the author of “The One Minute Manager” is in your group, could we get his autograph?”
And it was almost on cue, they all shouted,
“Why do you want his autograph? Hell, he never even went to class, you know. What was his average? About 70…”
And they just put everything in perspective.
Steve Kayser: A walk toward wisdom also means a dogged determination to ask questions that matter. Especially if you want to be a great leader in business … or life.
Ken Blanchard: Yes. A friend of ours, Shawn Harris, who built Cold Stone Creameries, once said there are three kinds of leaders.
THREE KINDS OF LEADERS – PERIOD
There is the “period,” which is,
“Here is my opinion. (period)”
Not good.
EXCLAMATION!
“Here is what I think! (exclamation point)”
The worst! But the great leaders are “question marks.”
QUESTION?
They ask great questions like,
“Here is my opinion about what I think we ought to do, but what do you think about it?”
If they say,
“Well, I don’t really know if I could add anything to that.”
“Well, if you did, what would you add?”
And they keep on asking questions, because then you’re going to learn because I think, as I said before, none of us is as smart as all of us.
Steve Kayser: I heard a couple of people in the hallway where I use to work talk about a person that wasn’t keeping up with his job or learning new skills . One of the younger ones said,
“He should be put out to pasture,”
Because he was too old to learn. And I said,
“That’s not true, anybody can learn anything at anytime.”
Somehow the conversation got back to him and he was deeply hurt. I followed up with him and sent him a quote by one of my favorite writers, Richard Bach. A writer much like you, full of wit and wonderful wisdom.
“Here’s a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished.
If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
Ken Blanchard: Yes, some people repeat the same year, year-after-year, and don’t grow. That’s why I think it’s so valuable for you to personally, all of us, to say,
What can l learn this year that I can put on my resume that wasn’t there last year?
How do I constantly grow and push my mental envelope?
I got a chance to write a book with Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking. I met him in 1986 when he was 88 years old. He was so excited about life. And I said, “Why are you so excited?” He said,
“Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new, I just never know what I’m going to learn.”
That’s just such a powerful example for anyone. And it’s been such an inspiration to me.
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. In ancient Rome, this inner voice was called “genius.” A tutelary inner-mentor to guide your aspirations forward − to be the best writer, politician, businessman, inventor, doctor, lawyer, painter, dancer, father, mother or whatever calling you were placed on this earth to fulfill.
Right or Wrong?
Each of you reading this right now has someplace you’d rather be; some job you’d rather have; something else you’d rather be doing. Your dreams and aspirations of bygone years are mingled with fond, longing memories of an unrealized life.
Right or wrong?
Remember?
Hear it?
That small, still inner voice?
Sadly, for most people, this voice is muted, or completely silenced − sometimes for a lifetime. Silenced by an unyielding, implacable, despicable and evil, yes evil, force. Instead of listening to this inner voice and striving to achieve something great, you end up doing something totally different than you hoped or dreamed, or were put on this earth to do. How did it happen?
Boring
You drifted into boring and safe. That’s right. You drifted into doing something boring and safe that ensnares you. It sucks you in and imprints upon your consciousness the message that you’re too boring, lazy, incompetent, or incapable of reaching out for and capturing your dream. Boring becomes your life − not a dream but a dreary, monotonous, unending circle of boring. You take a boring job, make some boring money, pay some boring bills, and boringly exist.
Boring is a Force.
But it’s not “THE FORCE.” Yes, “THE FORCE” is what’s really holding you back. And what we’re talking about is the …
Inner Deadbeat Force
We all have it. It infects everyone.
Every time you start, or try to start, to listen and change your life for the better, this evil scourge kicks in. Your Inner Deadbeat. It manifests itself in many nefarious ways: Rationalization, procrastination, drugs, alcohol, depression, and despair. Any weaselly way out works just fine for the Inner Deadbeat, as long as you remain mired and mucked-up in a life unfulfilled and unlived. The Inner Deadbeat fights, no holds barred, down and dirty, to win.
How to Win?
Are there ways to overcome this diabolically evil force? Are there ways to break on through to the other side − the better side?
To not only search for meaning in life, but experience a meaningful life? Are there ways to battle resistance and win, in your life of business and business of life?
Yes.
And an honorary citizen of Sparta and bestselling author of “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles,” Steven Pressfield, will guide us to some of these answers. “The War of Art” has been hailed as …
“A vital gem … a kick in the ass.” – Esquire
“Yes, The War of Art is hell. But Steven Pressfield is our Clausewitz who shows how you too can battle against The Four Horsemen of The Apologetic: sloth, inertia, rationalization and procrastination. Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Beethoven all are proof of what you can do with talent and General Pressfield.” – Frank Deford, Author and NPR Commentator
But First …
I’m a deadbeat.
A real doofy-doozy, ding-a-ling-dinger deadbeat.
You are too (probably, or have suspicions) if you’re reading an article titled “How to Defeat Your Inner Deadbeat.” But stick with me. We’re going to learn and have some fun.
Oh No … Not Him Too!
I have this great novel in me. I use the word “great” humbly, not pompously or arrogantly, but quite conservatively. It’s a bestseller for sure. Not the “Great American Novel” but the “Great Global Novel.” Harry Potter potential all over it. Nothing will get in its way. NOTHING! Except …
May the Force Be With You … NOT
Every time I try to start writing, a force holds me back; an all-powerful force that kicks me back like a horrified donkey getting sucked up in an F-5 tornado. I’ve battled this force unsuccessfully for over a year now (okay maybe two or three years) and I’m losing ground fast. So, as any person with worldly ambitions and initiative would, I sought expert counsel and guidance.
ENTER: Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield has been a New York City taxicab driver, truck driver, US Marine, oil-rig worker, bartender, fruit picker, and a $150-a-week copywriter for a New York City advertising agency, Benton & Bowles. One day while rewriting the “just-add-water” text for the back label of Gravy Train dog food, Mr. Pressfield asked himself, “Shouldn’t I be doing something a little more worthwhile?” What followed? International bestselling books and screenplays.
Mr. Pressfield has written or co-written 34 screenplays, and is the author of international bestsellers “The Legend of Bagger Vance” (also a movie), “Gates of Fire, An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae,” “Tide of War,” “The Afghan Campaign,” “Virtues of War” and “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles.”
”Gates of Fire,An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae,” has been included in the curriculum of the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy and is on the Commandant’s Reading List for the Marine Corps.
INTERVIEW
Steve K: I’m looking for some help. In your book, the “War of Art,” you name “Resistance” (with a capital “R”) as a force, an implacable foe. Evil. Toxic. It sounds like the same thing I’m struggling with right now, but I call it my Inner Deadbeat. I’m sure it’s the same thing. How do you define “Resistance?” Steven: Just the way you described it above. Instead of “The Force Be With You” it’s “The Force Be Against You” anytime you try to achieve something positive. The self-sabotaging force we all seem to have. Resistance stops us from living our dreamed-of life. Resistance is particularly strong in creative and business people. The person that dreams of writing a great novel, starting a great business, losing weight or breaking away from corporate boredom to serve a greater cause, all struggle mightily with resistance. Steve K: About the “novel writing” thing; I’ll want to follow up with you later (at the end of this interview). I have an idea on that. What are some examples of activities that bring out Resistance?
Steven: How about a list in no particular order?
1) The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.
2) The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.
3) Any diet or health regimen.
4) Any program of spiritual advancement.
5) Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals.
6) Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.
7) Education of every kind.
8) Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.
9) The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
10) Any act that entails commitment of the heart. The decision to get married, to have a child, or to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.
11) The taking of any principled stand in the face of potential reprisal.
“Any act which disdains short-term gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity. Any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any act of these types will elicit Resistance.” – – Steven Pressfield, War of Art
Steve K: How does Resistance operate?
Steven: Resistance is a liar. Resistance is relentless. Resistance is destructive. Resistance is creative. It finds ways − reasonable ways − for you to avoid doing the very thing you should be doing.
Steve K: How does it do that?
Steven: One way is rationalization. Coming up with all kind of reasons not to start. Waiting for your health to get better, the right moment, the right opportunity, the right partner, etc. This leads to procrastination. Procrastination serves its devious agenda. Rationalize and Procrastinate. They become bad habits.
Steve K: What are some of the ways Resistance manifests itself?
Steven: Remember I said it’s evil. Toxic. Protean − a shapeshifter. It can manifest itself in many ways. Depression. Despair. Alcohol and drug abuse. Overeating or overindulging in any short-term pleasure at the expense of long-term positive growth.
Steve K: You have a rule of thumb …
The Resistance Rule of Thumb
“The more important a call or an action is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
Steve K: How did you come up with that?
Steven: Life experience. Lots of it. For example, I was a screenwriter in LA when the idea for “The Legend of Bagger Vance” came to me. As a book, not a screenplay. Remember I was a screenwriter. But not just any book … a book about golf. My first novel. First novels usually take forever to get published and realize very little financial gain, if any. Not much chance of success there. Resistance fired up the fear engine. But … the Muse grabbed me. So I did it.
Steven K: And … it ended up being a bestseller, both commercially and critically acclaimed, and later made into a movie. Steven: Yes.
“Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. ” – Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)
Steve K: You state in your book that Resistance only strikes in one direction.
Steven: Yes. Down. Never up.
Steve K: Resistance wants you to take the low road? Example?
Steve: Yes. If you’re working to find a cure for a disease, or to eradicate poverty, and decide that you’d rather be driving a cab in Cincinnati, Resistance won’t stand in your way.
“Resistance only strikes in one direction … down.”
“Take the low road!” – Resistance
Steven K: How do you start to overcome resistance?
Steven: Facing death is one way.
Steven K: Uh … I’ll pass on that one. But, what do you mean?
Steven: How about this example: a woman finds out she is going to die of cancer in six months. She quits her job immediately. She goes to a hospice (or – insert any lifelong dream here), and volunteers to help other dying people. She’d always dreamed of helping others. Everyone thinks she’s crazy, friends and family alike. But she’s happier than she’s ever been. And P.S. …
Steve K: P.S. what?
Steven: Her cancer goes into remission.
“When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.” – Sogyal Rinpoch
Remember Tom Laughlin? He starred in the movie “Billie Jack.” He now works with cancer patients. I heard him speak once, and he said (paraphrasing), The minute a person finds out they have cancer, everything changes. What was important seconds ago to them now no longer is. Everything changes.
When it happens, people think back to unrealized dreams. Think back on their unfulfilled dreams of being a musician, painter, farmer, or dancer. Maybe cancer is caused by not following your path − your dreams − what you should have, or should be doing.
“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” – – M. Scott Peck
Steve K: How do you defeat resistance? Defeat this Inner Deadbeat? How do you start?
Steven: By starting. There’s no magic in the answer. But there’s magic in the start.
Wonderful things happen when you just do it. Mysterious things happen. Ideas pop up from nowhere. Happy accidents occur. People appear in your life at the very right time. It’s a beautiful thing.
It’s like tapping into this vast collection of creative possibilities just waiting to be discovered. Those possibilities are already out there. Right now. Waiting for you, or someone like you, to discover them.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” – Albert Einstein
Steve: Just start? That’s it? That’s all there is to it?
Steven: Yes. But you have to be a professional. Not a weekend warrior. Do it as a profession, not an avocation. Not a weekend warrior. Have a hard hat, hard-head, lunch-pail mentality. Think like a professional. It’s an attitude shift. Show up for work every day. Rain, sleet, snow, sunshine. Then work every day. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t collected a check yet. Just keep at it. The money will come. But be prepared for adversity, failures, and criticism along the way. It will come too.
Steven K: Example?
Steven: The first screenplay I had made into a movie was “King Kong Lives.” I thought it was going to be a box office smash.
Steven K: And?
Steve: Variety magazine reviewed it like this, “We hope writers Steven Pressfield and Ronald Shusett are not their real names … for their parents’ sake.” I learned from it. Don’t take it personal. Move on.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Sir Winston Churchill
Steven K: How do you do it? Write?
Steven: I put my boots on to write. I say a prayer and invoke the Muse, as the ancient Greeks did, humbly asking for aid to open up the creative channels. Then I just do it.
The hardest part is sitting down.
Let me say that again. The hardest part is sitting down.
I keep at it until I’m done for the day. It can be good … or bad. The main thing is to just do it
Steven K: Final thoughts? Steven: Each person is destined to do something specific that only they can do. Follow your inner voice; just do it.
“Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?” – Benjamin Franklin
Steven: If you don’t, you’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting others by not helping enrich our world. By not sharing your gift. Do it and don’t quit no matter what.
None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Steven K: “The War of Art” (also available in MP3) by Steven Pressfield, is a timeless classic. Eloquent, elegant, quick, slick, easy to read, transformatively easy to understand. I very rarely rave about a book, but this book is raveable.
I’ve had Marketing and PR employees work for me right out of college and found most were woefully unprepared for the real-world new PR environment. Not because of any inherent deficiency in the school they came from, but more from the frenetic pace of change in the Marketing and PR industry. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat, Vlogs, Podcasts, SEO, Tags, and on and on and on. The technology changes alone can be daunting or intimidating.
Complex and Under-appreciated
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 …
It’s Complex to Write Simple These Days
Ernest Hemingway had a clear understanding and vision of writing simply and effectively when he discussed the four rules of writing he learned as a journalist at the Kansas City Star.
Hemingway Four Rules
(well, not really, they were the Kansas City Star’s actually)
Use short sentences.
Use short first paragraphs.
Use vigorous English.
Be positive, not negative.
“Those were the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing,” Hemingway said in 1940. “I’ve never forgotten them. No man with any talent, who feels and writes truly about the thing he is trying to say, can fail to write well if he abides with them.”
These rules still work. Rarely used. But still, work.
However, in defense of most PR practitioners and writers today, Hemingway didn’t have to contend with the New PR. SEO PR. Google News. Yahoo News. He didn’t need to be Redditted, Liked, Google+’ed, Tweeted, Retweeted, Stumbled Upon. Or blogged about.
“Having your press release at the number one spot on Google or Yahoo News is the same as a front-page article in print.” – PR WEEK
From Their Eyes
For just a second, step into the shoes of a new PR practitioner, right out of school, or even an experienced practitioner, who has not kept up with the rapidly changing online PR processes and communication tools.
The first thing (and it would be super if this happened) they might hear about is the Hemingway rules above. That’s probably a stretch. But they might hear something like, “to effectively use all the new technologies and communication tools in ‘New PR,’ you have to be able to write simply.” Let’s start with the simple. A simple press release. Doesn’t get much simpler than that, does it?
Simple?
What’s simple? Well, that’s easy, simple is simple. Easy-to-read, easy-to-understand, with specificity and authenticity. Elegant simplicity will build trust and credibility for you and your organization. Wow—that is simple. Sounds simple anyway. However, I forgot to add …
Headline
Make your headline less than ten words with an imperative verb. Try to keep it to 65 characters if you can so it’s not truncated by search engines. Oh — include a key word or key phrase (average search term is 2.67 words long) in that title for the search engines—and not just for the web search engines. “News search engines” have different algorithms than the normal web-based engines.
Of course, that’s simple. Everyone knows that, even a freshly minted Grad student. Don’t they?
Subtitle
Amplify the title. Try to include a keyword or key phrase here too, if possible. Test it for effectiveness. How strong is your keyword – your key phrase? Do you know? (Or, do you even know how to test it, might be a better question?) But … also make it interesting, funny, mysterious, appealing, compelling … simple, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand.
Got it? Simple. Next …
Body
Include a keyword/phrase in the first 50 words of the release (because you’ll be lucky if most journalists will ever get that far, so give it your best shot). Embed hyperlinks in the body of your press release to help draw your audience (prospects/media/analysts) into your story – prompting them to visit your website or respond to a call to action.
Doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Frankenquotes
Yes, they’re boring. But you will use them. Hardly anyone will ever read them (except the Frankenquoted person). I’ve included some text below you can use — just insert your company or executive’s name.
We’re Great!
“We’re Great.” “Our company is great.” “Our customers love us.” “The industry analysts love us.” Here’s a video that describes Frankenquoting pretty well.
Remember the Rules!
Remember, though, you still have to make it interesting, funny, mysterious, appealing, compelling, simple, short, easy-to-read, easy-to-understand and use specific keywords and phrases.
Boilerplate
Does anyone ever read this? Hardly ever.
Under-Boiled and Under-Valued Piece of PR Real Estate
However, the boilerplate is one greatly undervalued piece of PR real estate. Do not, I repeat, do not repeat any of your Frankenquotes in your boilerplate. But do use the Four Hemmingway Rules of Writing to answer the four questions that any reader wants to know;
What do you do?
How do you do it?
Why are you different?
Why should I buy from you?
Reinforce those four questions with embedded hyperlinks back to your website with specific and credible information to back up your statements.
Money Makes You a Better Writer
We’re almost done with the simple press release. The important fact here – You also need to do all of the above in 400 or fewer words. Now, I know what you’re thinking: ‘What!?’ You inherited a corporate boilerplate that was 2,400 words long by itself! Why under 400 words? Typically the wire services charge you around a dollar per word after 400 words. Ouch.
Spend the money like it’s your money. It will make you a much better writer, better businessperson, and a more responsible and trusted employee.
Delete the 2,400-word boilerplate. Concentrate on a great eye-catching headline that’s less than ten words long with a keyword/keyphrase. Nail the story angle with elegant simplicity in the first 50 words.
Money can make you a better writer … But only if you write like it’s your money you’re spending.
Whirling Dervish of the New PR/Marketing World
Writing simply is hard. It is far easier to write long, complex pieces, believe it or not. But like it or not, writing simply is THE KEY to effectively communicating within this whirling dervish of a new PR world.
Good Can …
A good writer can adapt, learn and flex with the new PR technologies.
Bad Can …
An unskilled, lazy or bad writer, with a great knowledge of the new PR technologies, can trash your credibility to a worldwide audience quicker than a supraluminal tachyon (a hypothetical quantum particle that never travels below the speed of light … Hey, I worked for a tech company).
Part Skill – Part Science – Part …
Writing for the new PR world is part skill, part science, and part art.
The Art Part
The “art” part is putting the pieces above together, so they’re interesting, appealing, compelling (take a digital breath here, breathe in, breathe out) easy-to-read and easy-to-understand in ….
The world is in a depressingly precarious condition right now – one crisis away from a global meltdown.
ECONOMY HAVE YOU WORRIED?
The US is borrowing $435 million dollars – per hour. How long can that insanity go on? 94 million American workers don’t have jobs. How long can that be sustained?
WORK WORRIES?
Been to a work meeting where everyone seemed on edge – arguing and backstabbing each other over precious resources, strategy or just plain surviving? If you have a job, you probably have.
PROBLEMS TOO BIG – TOO HIGH?
Our times are piled high with difficulty and uncertainty. Stress and anxiety. Barbaric ISIS terrorists who revel in finding new, evil, disgustingly satanic ways of killing people. Sometimes problems seem too big to get your arms around and too high to climb. It’s easy to get down. Easier to get angry at the world for all the injustices done to you. And others.
TOO HARD TO GRASP?
But maybe, just maybe, if you watch the video below, you might come away with …
Last year I had the great fun of being able to create, develop and host theExpert Access Radio program. It’s a one-hour show that features live, in-depth interviews with business leaders and bestselling authors from around the world. They share their ideas, insights and inspirational stories to help people in their life of business or their business of life. The show is broadcast live on 55KRC.com.
BOOK ‘EM STEVO
I also happen to book the guests, which is no small feat considering my limited skills with the English language. We had some of the most amazing storytellers as guests—famous in print and on the Hollywood big screen. If you study the art of writing, the art of story, or just love to read books or watch movies, below are some fascinating interviews that share storytelling lessons built upon hundreds of years of experience … and have resulted in billions of dollars in sales.
THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY OF OUR TIMES
1. Steven Pressfield is the Ernest Hemingway of our times. He’s been a screenwriter and has sold 34 screenplays. He’s also the international bestselling author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Profession,The War of Art, Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae, Killing Rommel, The Afghan Campaign and The Virtues of War, among many others. Steven was the second ever guest on the Expert Access Radio program. We discussed his classic The War of Art, The Legend of Bagger Vance and much more.
2. Pen Densham has written, produced, consulted and directed movies and television shows. His eclectic string of projects include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Backdraft, MollFlanders, Rocky II, Blown Away, Footloose as well as the TNT movie Houdini and the successful reboots of the classic TV series The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. He’s worked with and learned from people like Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges, Robin Wright, Bill Murray, Kevin Costner and Jodie Foster.
4. Michael Uslan is the executive producer of the Batman franchise of motion pictures and the author of The Boy Who Loved Batman. We talked about his new book, which is his true story of how a comic-obsessed kid conquered Hollywood to bring the Dark Knight to the silver screen. It’s an inspirational story of passion, persistence and perseverance that has also generated over $2.6 billion in ticket receipts. And yes … we also talked about The Dark Knight Rises.
5. Robert McKee is the most widely known and respected screenwriting lecturer in the world today. His STORY Seminar has been taught to over 50,000 screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, industry executives, actors, producers, directors and playwrights. Teaching is easy. Results are hard. Robert McKee’s STORY and the stories delivered by his students have garnered;
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Lessons Learned from Hollywood STORY Guru Robert McKee