Founder and Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment, the visionary multimedia venture spanning movies, TV, sports, and new media, Peter Guber is perhaps the most successful executive in the entertainment industry. Films he personally produced or executed produced - including Rain Man, The Color Purple, The Witches of Eastwick, Flashdance and Batman - have resonated with audiences all over the world, earning over three billion dollars worldwide and garnering more than fifty Academy Award nominations.

Peter is also an empowering motivational keynote speaker, helping business professionals understand how to utilize the power of storytelling to achieve greater success in leadership, sales, marketing, and other endeavors. Peter obviously knows something about the power of a story, so we were thrilled to hear his insights on the subject during our “In the Spotlight” interview session with him.

TSG: You’ve achieved - and continue to achieve - the kind of success that many of us aspire to. What do you count as the biggest key to your success?

Peter Guber: Oral storytelling. While struggling to identify what separated my successes from my failures - and believe me, I’ve had plenty of failures - I realized in every endeavor I needed to convince someone or a group of someones to do something. Why was I able to do this sometimes but not most of the time? What I discovered was when I connected emotionally through an oral story, embedding the information I wanted to share with my listener inside the story experience, I was able to convince, motivate, incite, excite, galvanize and persuade far more effectively and consistently than when I presented with soulless bullets, facts and figures. Without a doubt, this is the biggest key to my success. The best news of all is that this can be the key to everyone’s success. We are hard wired to be storytellers. What I aspire to do is shine the light on this talent, providing the key to unlock each individual’s storytelling ability to its maximum potential.

TSG: As you look back on your career, what do you count as your greatest success/accomplishment?

Peter Guber: Being a full professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for almost four decades. I have always believed that knowledge is power and that those who have achieved power should give back by empowering others.

TSG: And what has been the greatest challenge you’ve encountered - either personally, or as a leader - to getting to where you are now?

Peter Guber: My greatest challenge has been attempting to identify what separates success from failure. What I discovered was that inside each success were the seeds of failure and vice versa. So, what’s the difference maker? Without wanting to sound repetitive, the difference in my experience, has been telling and selling through the oral story.

TSG: What are the defining characteristics of a successful business in the entertainment industry, and how are they similar or different from those of a successful business in retail, professional services, technology, or other industries?

Peter Guber: Make no mistake, the entertainment industry is as results-focused and brutally competitive as Wall Street. The defining characteristic of a successful business in the entertainment industry, as in all industries, is providing a product or service that resonates with or solves a problem for a specific market for which people will pay. You are always striving for competitive advantage. There is always someone breathing down your neck. You can never rest on your laurels. Technology can be disruptive in a positive way or catastrophic, depending on how you’ve “read” the future. You must compete in a global, flattened world. If you are a public company, you must answer to shareholders. And finally and most importantly, you must confront head on your fear of failure and take risks - or, risk a certain failure since holding on to the status quo is a ticket to distress - regardless of your industry!

TSG: It’s obvious that storytelling is at the core of the movie business, but how do we incorporate storytelling into other businesses?

Peter Guber: Every business has a story as does every person employed in that business. Businesses that fail to perpetuate their stories miss an opportunity to create a culture that reinforces the values, behaviors and norms that can fortify their goals. For the individual, it is the oral story that will enable them to propel sales, manage better, lead more effectively, inspire creativity, forge deeper relationships, communicate change, problem solve and a host of other day to day challenges every working professional faces.

TSG: You developed a course at UCLA’s film school called “Navigating a Narrative World,” and your guest lecturers ranged from Chris Anderson to Deepak Chopra to Mark Burnett to Pat Riley to Tony Robbins. What is that course about, that such a wide variety of individuals could contribute?

Peter Guber: Great question! The course is about the universality of the oral narrative and its centrality to the success of individuals across every industry and profession. So, Chopra spoke to the narrative of wellness. Riley spoke to the narrative of sport. We had 22 extraordinary leaders, generously give their time to share how they use the oral narrative in their different industries. The class itself was inter-disciplinary as graduate students came from the schools of Law, Public Policy, Business and Theater, Film and Television. It was truly an amazing experience.

TSG: As if you weren’t busy enough, you’re also on the speaking circuit delivering a motivational keynote presentation. First, how do you find time to get out and speak? And second, what is the message you’re sharing?

Peter Guber: You make time for things that are important to you. So, yes, I run five highly successful, time intensive businesses. Yet, I make the time because giving back by helping others become more successful is what I am most passionate about. My message is simple. Oral storytelling is the secret to success. It can bring you closer to your target, more quickly and make your journey far more joyous and fulfilling. What’s more, you don’t need any special talent. You’ve been telling stories all your life. It’s no risk, high reward.

TSG: You say there is MAGIC to success… what is that “MAGIC”?

Peter Guber: Figuratively there is a MAGIC to how oral storytelling melts resistance, galvanizes others and can incite viral advocacy for your product, service or cause. Literally, I use it as an acronym to help business professionals learn the process I developed to sharpen their oral storytelling skills. It stands for Motivate your Audience to your Goal Interactively while surrendering Control.

TSG: You have stated that “what if” is more powerful than “how to” in a story. Would you talk a bit about that?

Peter Guber: “What if” opens the door to possibility. In oral storytelling you need to open the mind of your listener for them to open their hearts and then their wallets. “How to” describes a process. It lacks the emotional connection and subsequent resonation as “what if.”

TSG: What types of audiences do you like to speak to?

Peter Guber: Any audience who needs to convince someone or someones to do something. This pretty much covers the entire spectrum of businesses and industries. When I shine the light on a business professional’s oral storytelling ability and see his “ah-ha!,” I know this person has been empowered to try something that can propel his success. There is no entertainment award that can be as fulfilling as this experience is for me.

TSG: Is there anything you’ve noticed in the entertainment industry that you think is missing from mainstream corporate America?

Peter Guber: Very broadly speaking, as an inherently creative industry, the entertainment industry embraces risk and nonconformist personalities far more than mainstream corporate America does. While many companies in corporate America seek to improve their problem solving and innovation skills, they fail to create a culture that supports out of the box thinking, true inclusion and risk taking. In fact, the culture of many mainstream companies is one of very fitting in and not making waves. While this philosophy may not rock the boat, it won’t rock the vote either.

TSG: We’ve talked about how your work as an entertainment executive is not so different from that of executives in other industries, but not everyone gets to work with the Who’s Who of Hollywood as you have for the past 30 years. Before we go, are there any fun/interesting celebrity stories you can share?

Peter Guber: Yes. Since I discussed risk taking as part of my answer to your earlier question, a story about a dear friend of mine and one of America’s finest directors who recently past, Sydney Pollack, comes to mind. We were producing Rain Man. The biggest directors had worked on this project tirelessly, each for over one year, only to ultimately pass. They included Marty Brest and Steven Spielberg. Next, Sydney Pollack committed to direct the movie and we worked diligently on moving it forward. Sydney called me to ask if we could meet to discuss one remaining issue. Sydney, at the meeting, stated. “At this point in my life, I want first position producer credit myself.” Well, I thought, “I’m in that position, too.” I knew if I left the office without resolving this problem, Sydney might walk. But, surrender wasn’t part of my goal. I asked Sydney if he was willing to let fate decide. He said, “Sure.” So, I pulled out a dime. “Heads, you get first producer’s credit, tails, I get first producer’s credit,” “Ok,” he said. I won. One week later, Sydney withdrew from the project. I guess I lost. But, I didn’t give up.

What changed on a dime was not the producer credit, but my mission to get the movie made. It turned on one flip of the coin! The epilogue is I got Barry Levinson to direct the movie who brought in his own line producer. There was no time for flipping coins. I agreed to his request for a credit change. The epilogue to the epilogue is that Rain Man won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay. At the Academy Awards, Sydney was seated a few rows behind me. When we won the Oscar for Best Picture, I reached in my pocket and held up to him the same dime which I was determined to make into my lucky charm. Perhaps if I hadn’t been willing to turn on a dime that day, Rain Man would never have won Best Picture honors. To Sydney’s credit, he gave me a thumbs up as we received the award.

—

For more information about Peter Guber and his motivational keynote presentations, please view his speaker profile page at http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Peter_Guber or contact The Speakers Group at (615) 866-1062.

Posted under In the Spotlight, Leadership Development, Motivational Speakers, Organizational Excellence, Sales Management

Inspired by the cover story in this month’s issue of Meetings and Conventions magazine, titled “The Frugal Planner: 10 Ways to Save Big,” we thought we would chime in with some money-saving tips specifically related to booking speakers. One of the M&C article’s 10 cost-cutting tips already relates to booking speakers, but a few of the others can also be applied to saving money on speakers:

1. Attract sponsors. When the budget doesn’t allow you to secure the speaker you’re looking for, don’t give up hope before considering the possibility of sponsorships. If you’re going to have your entire audience in the same place at the same time - for the keynote speaker(s) - you have a great value proposition for potential session sponsors. Who wouldn’t love to have a captive audience looking at their logo on display behind the speaker for an hour, or have the opportunity to make a 30- or 60-second pitch just before introducing the featured speaker? (Here’s an article that outlines how a company can maximize the benefits of sponsoring a speaker’s session - you might want to adapt it for your “pitch” to prospective sponsors.)
2. Choose local speakers. This has long been an effective tactic for reducing the investment required for professional speakers. The M&C article cites a study by the National Speakers Association which found that the average cost of a keynote address is 25 percent less if the speaker doesn’t have to travel to the event. Not only do you potentially qualify for a discounted fee by booking a local or regional speaker, but you’ll also avoid or at least minimize the speaker’s reimbursable travel expenses. (Check out The Speakers Group’s local speaker directory to find speakers based near your next event.)
3. Be flexible with dates. You probably know how helpful this can be in negotiating with hotels and other venues, but did you know it also can have an impact on speaker fees? The Spring and Fall seasons are usually very busy times for speakers, but July-August and December-January can sometimes be a bit slow. It’s not a guarantee, but if you’re able to effectively host your program during an “off” month for speakers, you might find them more receptive to discounting their fee a bit to fit into your budget. And that’s not the only kind of date flexibility that can help you. If you can book a speaker around a date when he or she is already scheduled to appear in a nearby town, you’ll likely save money by having the travel expenses pro-rated between your organization and the other client. (In this kind of scenario, most speakers are not willing to offer the “piggy-back” client a discount on their actual fee, out of fairness to the original event host. But pro-rating expenses helps both clients.)
4. Condense the agenda. If you need your speaker to deliver multiple sessions, try to minimize the down-time between the sessions. Most speakers have keynote fees, half-day fees and full-day fees. If you have the speaker for a keynote in the morning and a breakout in the afternoon, you’re almost certain to qualify for their half-day or full-day fee. But if you can schedule the two (or more) sessions close together, allowing the speaker to keep a travel itinerary similar to what they would have if they were only doing a keynote, then you might have some bargaining power. Every speaker is different, but I have known speakers to do two sessions for the price of one if both are held within a four-hour block of time.
5. Reconsider value brands. The M&C article makes this suggestion for hotel bookings, but it applies to speakers, too. To use the recent Olympics as an example, demand for Michael Phelps is peaking right now - and rightfully so, given his amazing accomplishments. As the demand peaks, though, so does the appearance fee. If your budget doesn’t allow you to secure Michael, consider his relay teammate, Jason Lezak. Jason is also in high demand right now, but you might find him to be a greater value than Michael. Or as another alternative, consider Mark Spitz, the swimmer who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, which had been the record until Michael’s achievements this year. Not only does Mark have a more reasonable fee, but he’s been on the speaking circuit for years and has a great, polished message to share. Beyond just the Olympics, this same concept applies to booking the co-author of business books rather than the lead author, booking a certified leader of a program rather than creator of the program, etc. (For example, check out Robert Thompson who is certified to deliver the popular Leadership Challenge material at a fraction of the cost of Jim Kouzes or Barry Posner.)

At The Speakers Group, we will always help our clients “save every penny possible without sacrificing quality” - to quote the M&C article - when booking speakers. We’ll take the time to understand your objectives and put together a gameplan that will allow you to meet and exceed expectations while staying within your budget. Give us a call or send us an email anytime. We’re standing by to help you make your next event the best ever.

Posted under Planner Tips

Perhaps you’re familiar with The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. Recently released in its 4th edition, the book has been called “the most trusted resource on becoming a leader” and continues to be a bestseller after twenty years in print.

Inspired by this leadership classic and new on bookshelves this year is The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable by Robert Thompson, a long-time master facilitator of The Leadership Challenge workshops. From the publisher:

Drawing on the leadership theories in the management classic The Leadership Challenge, Robert Thompson effortlessly incorporates these ideas into a fable of leadership and growth. Based on a company’s three-day offsite meeting, we follow this tale of transition through the eyes of two former rival pharmaceutical companies creating a joint sales strategy. The characters ultimately learn how to adopt The Five Practices that form the Leadership Challenge:

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

The book also explores and addresses the fears and concerns participants may have especially around 360 degree feedback, the key component of the Leadership Challenge model and workshops.

For anyone preparing to attend a leadership training off-site, leadership developers, program planners, or for professionals looking to hone their leadership skills, this book will be an invaluable resource and a succinct introduction or refresher to The Leadership Challenge.

Whether you’re involved in leadership, planning off-site meetings, or both, The Offsite is a fun read in the vain of many of today’s popular business fables written by authors such as Ken Blanchard and Patrick Lencioni.

And if you do organize off-site meetings for your organization, you may be interested in knowing that Robert has also crafted a new keynote presentation based on The Offsite which presents the famous Five Practices of the Leadership Challenge in the form of “Robert’s Rules” for leadership:

1. Show up (Model the way)
2. Speak up (Inspire a shared vision)
3. Step up (Challenge the process)
4. Serve up (Enable others to act and encourage the heart)

Bringing to life some of the key characters from his book, Robert’s keynote presentation is dynamic and engaging and sure to make an impact on your attendees. For more information, view Robert Thompson’s speaker profile on The Speakers Group web site at www.thespeakersgroup.com/Robert_Thompson or contact The Speakers Group at (615) 866-1062.

Posted under Book Review, Leadership Development, Speaker News, Uncategorized

Neil Rackham, author of bestsellers such as SPIN Selling, Major Account Sales Strategy and Rethinking the Sales Force, and one of the leading minds in professional, consultative selling over the past 20 years, offers sales executives his five maxims for building a world class sales force:

1. Sales supervisors are the key to success

   I have played a part in the reorganization and performance improvement of over 100 large sales forces. It’s my experience that whether change succeeds - and whether results significantly improve - depends much more on sales supervisors than on salespeople. When I’m working to improve the performance of a sales force, I give most attention to building competent sales supervision.

2. Fewer accounts means more sales

   Salespeople love to have lots of opportunities. A salesperson who has ten customers to chase feels much safer than if they had only five. As a result, many salespeople are half chasing twice as many opportunities. They don’t sell deeply enough, they don’t plan adequately and they lose business to competitors who put more resources into the best opportunities. I often find that I can get a dramatic improvement in results by taking away 20 - 30% of a salesperson’s prospects. Salespeople hate this and they argue against it - but it works.

3. Salespeople must become value creators

   Too many salespeople are “talking brochures”, trying to show customers how their products or services are better than competitors. This is traditional value communication selling and it no longer works. Salespeople today must move from value communication to value creation. The salesperson must add as much value as the product. This calls for creativity and problem solving. Selling is no longer about persuasion.

4. Coaching brings results

   Every world-class sales force I’ve worked with puts great emphasis on coaching. They don’t just give lip service to coaching; they create systems and processes to make coaching happen. Yet few sales managers understand important coaching concepts, such as how skills coaching is different from strategy coaching. The best way to improve sales results is to make effective coaching happen.

5. Integrate sales and marketing

   I’ve been working closely with Philip Kotler, the marketing guru, to find ways to help sales and marketing work better together. When we published some of our thinking recently in Harvard Business Review, we were flooded with emails from CEO’s, Sales VP’s and Marketing VP’s from all over the world. So we know it’s an important topic and exciting new ideas are being tried out.

A peak performing sales force is one of the surest ways companies can boost revenue - always an important objective, but especially in our current economic climate. If you would like to learn more about Neil Rackham and how he may be able to help you optimize your sales force, visit his web site at www.NeilRackhamSpeaks.com or contact Shawn Ellis at The Speakers Group at (615) 866-2665.

Posted under Leadership Development, Organizational Excellence, Sales Management, Speaker News

Following is part two of the transcript of the “In the Spotlight” interview with Pete Luongo, author of 10 Truths About Leadership. In his signature fashion, Pete speaks frankly about some key issues that managers and leaders must address to lead their people and their organizations to higher levels of success. Picking up where we left off in part one of the interview:

TSG: Talk about the difference between “rules” and “standards of excellence.”

Pete Luongo: “Rules are for the weak and uncompromised standards of excellence are for the strong.” That’s Truth #5 and I can’t imagine it being anything more straightforward than that simple truth. As Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman tell us in First Break All the Rules, “creating a culture of compliance strangles an organization of its flexibility, responsiveness, and most importantly, its good will.” I believe it goes even deeper than that. Anything that gets in the way of our imagination, ingenuity, and creativity is non-productive. Standards of excellence are about expectations. What is it we want from our organization? It’s simple! At the Berry Company we were only interested in two things: selling lots of advertising and satisfying every customer. Anything that got in the way of those two objectives was not valued. As I so often said, “the solidarity of intent fills the team with the strength of knowing its purpose.” All 2800 employees knew that every day they woke up their focus and responsibility was around accomplishing those two objectives. It’s about embracing simplicity and making certain everyone understands their role in meeting and exceeding these expectations.

TSG: What qualities have you found to be effective indicators of greatness – or potential for greatness – in evaluating prospective employees?

Pete Luongo: It’s not about greatness. It’s about finding the right match. Truth #1 says, “Past Performance Predicts Future Behavior” and that is the answer. What are those qualities, those behaviors that are required to perform a certain task? Once they are determined, it’s simply about finding those people who bring those qualities to the relationship. To be very specific, when we were rebuilding our sales force we knew that our best salespeople were possessed those attributes of competiveness, commitment, character, capacity to learn, and passion. Our challenge was that through the selection process, we only brought those people into the business that possessed those same types of behaviors. Assuming they found their sweet spot we know they had a high probability of being successful. It really is that simple! Knowing that you can’t change people is a precursor to effective selection.

TSG: What do you think leaders are doing better today – as a whole – than they were doing 10 or 20 years ago?

Pete Luongo: I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but I’m not sure we are better today than we were 20 years ago! I’m convinced we’re smarter and certainly more technologically advanced, but there is so much greed, so much winning at all cost that it’s taken its toll on every aspect of society from youth sports to our Fortune top 50 companies. Organizations and individuals are struggling with the question of how do we not compromise our core values as we chase the endgame, both individually and collectively, and personally and professionally. We all know the right things to do but l question the courage of leadership today to do it the right way!

TSG: What do you believe is the greatest challenge that leaders today must overcome in order to achieve long-term success in their organizations?

Pete Luongo: The answer is incredibly complex but it has to start with a fundamental belief that our individual legacy as both leaders and human beings will be willingness to make a difference in other people’s lives. It’s about unconditional love! It’s about helping our employees find the courage within themselves to lead others and dismissing the belief that leadership is the unwanted burden of a privileged few – but rather it’s our most basic birthright. The deeper we drive leadership in an organization and the more we can distribute ownership throughout, the greater chance we have of being successful both individually and collectively.

TSG: You’ve got this book out there now. What else are you doing to spread the message?

Pete Luongo: It’s like any business – it’s about distribution! It’s about getting in front of more audiences. It’s about building a learning series. I’m convinced that while there are a lot of theories, models, etc. out there, not many thought leaders have been at the edge of the cliff and have implemented a model that not only has universal application, but also works! It’s a story that needs to be told and I’m convinced that we will get the exposure necessary to share The Leadership Pledge.

TSG: One last question: When you stand in front of a group of leaders as a keynote speaker, obviously you can’t work a miracle in 60 minutes. What is the take-home value you’re trying to deliver in that setting?

Pete Luongo: My message is this: As leaders and employees we’ve all got to accept accountability and responsibility for our actions. Only when we understand and accept our roles and responsibilities in each relationship can we be successful. The Leadership Pledge defines those responsibilities, but it must be up to each of us as individuals to recognize that only when we’ve learned to accept ourselves can we learn to accept others and in the context of differences and similarities, find better ways of coping as a behavior organization.

TSG: That’s a good message! Thanks, Pete, for taking the time to participate in this interview.

—

For more information about Pete Luongo:

Peter A. Luongo retired as President and CEO of The Berry Company in August 2003. His career at The Berry Company spanned more than 33 years. During his last nine years with the company, Peter was instrumental in guiding Berry through a period of record sales growth, numerous contract acquisitions and the perpetuation of the nearly 100-year-old company as an industry leader and “a great place to work.” Since retirement, Peter has dedicated himself to sharing this unique approach with audiences all over the world. His powerful message transcends business transformation, emerging technology, product innovation, corporate vision statements and strategic imperatives.

Posted under In the Spotlight, Leadership Development, Organizational Excellence