The Eric Koester Creator Institute

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Harry Campbell -- CEO of Durrie Vision and Author for Get-Real Leadership/Culture -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Harry S. Campbell has raised nearly $750,000 for cancer research. When his wife was diagnosed with brain cancer, Harry felt helpless. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help. So he decided to raise money to support cancer research -- and took stock of how best to do it. He decided he could raise money for cancer research organizations by giving speeches -- and if he had a book people would pay him more. So he wrote a book -- not about the cancer -- but about what he knew: authentically leading high performing people across his time a multiple billion dollar companies. He's donated every penny from the book and speeches to cancer research raising nearly $750,000. Having this important reason for writing a book about leadership pushed him to write a better book, to share the message further and to continue to "support" both his wife and the cause near to them both. It's a powerful lesson about why we create -- for Harry it was to showcase his commitment to his spouse, to raise money for something he cared about and spread his message. You really can win with Generosity.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Sarah Peck -- founder and CEO of Startup Pregnant, a media company documenting the stories of women's leadership across family and work -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

As they say, it's not the destination... but the journey. For Sarah Peck, she thought her destination was publishing a book -- a project she undertook with her typical gusto -- but along the way she learned that the conversations she was having with other ambitious women were just too good *not* to share.  As she thought long and hard about what to do with it, she leapt and launched Startup Pregnant, a podcast designed to build a community of women sharing their stories of pregnancy, motherhood and balancing it all in startup, innovative and high ambition jobs. My conversation with Sarah came as she was evaluating her own path -- she decided to take her passion project of the podcast and work to turn it into a business venture.  And not to be outdone, she was doing this while pregnant (and as the journey continued with another small human in her home).  The thoughtfulness of Sarah's own thinking and evaluation is something each of us can learn from -- it's certainly not easy to change what we think we are doing especially when it's to an area we know very little about. But that constant sense of re-evaluation and alignment is what has made her succeed along the many twists and turns.  It's a fun conversation and really dives deeply into why sometimes we need to change the medium to best align to our message.

Does making a choice mean you close the door on the choice you *don't* make? That fear of making the wrong choice can hold many of us back researchers say -- described as the paradox of choice.  But Greg Gottesman offers a perspective that says quite the opposite: making a choice -- and always staying curious regardless of that choice -- can actually open MORE doors than you imagined. I've had the good fortune to know Greg for the better part of a decade, and yet in our conversation I realized that my personal experiences with him -- seeing him operate as a partner at one of the top venture capital investment firms, launch a pet company at a weekend hackathon that has gone on to become a unicorn, and to leave venture full time to start a startup studio creating multiple startups under one umbrella -- is just a microcosm of Greg's history.  He's always been one to jump into an experience and commit fully, but to be aware of the unique opportunities that it presents.  He's operated in top law firms, top investment banking, venture capital and now startups.  And we share how much of that interest may have been spurred early in his career while a college student who published a book about -- college. It's a fascinating conversation that offered the opportunity to look at the power of curiosity to open more doors than you ever thought possible. 

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Allen Gannett -- founder and CEO of Track Maven which was acquired in 2018 and the author of the critically acclaimed book the Creative Curve -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next. 

How did you market your book? According to Allen Gannett, he basically didn't.  Allen realized that today most people don't *really* respond to marketing. Sure, it's helped people recognize him, trust him and see him as credible.  But when it came to actually selling copies of his book... well, as he admits in our conversation, that was all about creating one-on-one relationships with the thousands of people who'd eventually go on to buy his book. Many of us wrongly believe that posting on social media or doing advertising will get people to act.  However, research has proven time and time again that while these sorts of actions can make us more likely to purchase or engage, there isn't anything quite like the human touch to drive action.  And as Allen shares throughout this unique and engaging episode recorded the week of his book launch, a marketing maven who runs one of the largest social media analytics companies, recognized that our ability to connect with humans is rarely one to many... but one on one. Allen is the founder and CEO of Track Maven which was acquired in 2018 and the author of the critically acclaimed book the Creative Curve. Plus he's a friend I'm proud to have had many rounds of breakfasts with in the startup ecosystem.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Jessica Carson -- founder of Wired This Way and the creator of the Colorful Cortex -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

How do you go from just creating content to creating content that drives impact?  Jessica Carson was wrestling with that very question -- she was a frequent blogger, had robust relationships in the community and was active in the speaking circuit. But she hadn't had that breakthrough... her inflection point. Many of us struggle to find out how to stand out in a world where more and more people are contributing to the dialogue. The secret may be right in front of us: showcasing our depth.  In researching some of the most successful 20-somethings, we found that over 80% of them created something taht enabled them to highlight their depth -- typically something that took them 6-12 months to complete. On this episode we'll talk to Jessica about her 'inflection' moment when she created and released her "Disruptors Series", an 8-part article series that pulled together some of the core research and insights she'd been thinking, speaking and blogging about for the past several years.  It was in that moment to step back, invest in something more substantive that would showcase her depth that things began to really explode. Jessica is the founder of Wired This Way, a community of innovators focused on finding balance, resilience, and alignment as an entrepreneurial spirit and has a forthcoming book detailing her insights on the psychology of creators.  

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Evan Baehr -- founder of Able Lending, author of Get Backed and professor of Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Should I find a co-author or a co-host for my project?  It's a common question and on the surface seems like it should obviously be a good idea.  Work with someone, divide the contribution, provide accountability and extend your reach.  But as Evan Baehr shares, co-authoring a book is probably a lot like cofounding a startup venture... or even a bit like a marriage. That's not to say you *shouldn't* work on a project with someone else, but a big part of the project is ensuring your at the same point, have the same goals and are both willing to make the shared contribution.  On this conversation we chat about Evan's path as a creator and dive into his experiences of co-authoring a book with Evan Loomis (the "other" Evan as Baehr told me). Evan Baehr is a serial founder of technology companies, venture investor and advisor, best-selling author, and university professor. Baehr is currently the Founder/CEO of Teneo, a national leadership organization, author of Get Backed from Harvard Business Press, professor of marketing at the University of Texas, and cohost of the podcast Our American Experiment.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Gini Dietrich -- one of the nationals preeminent voices in public relations and publicity, the creator of the Spin Suck site and community and the author of "Spin Sucks" -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

How do you balance transparency and marketing?  Or can you?   David Perell has begun championing the 'Naked Brands', brands that are transparent, are founded by social media influencers, and prize on-going communication with fans and customers. Gini Dietrich is a public relations guru and she says you can actually balance the two, and describes the power in being transparent AS a marketing tactic and strategy. She took aim at the very industry that was her livelihood -- public relations -- first by launching a blog called Spin Sucks followed by a book of the same name.  Attacking the industry as fixated on spin and marketing over transparency?  Feels like a recipe for getting shunned by that industry. But quite the opposite has happened as Dietrich has become one of the most powerful voices for a new type of publicity and public relations driven by a transparent and ongoing conversation.  And it's worked. On this episode we'll talk about how to re-think transparency as the marketing strategy in and of itself.  Why more of us should be sharing what we're proud of, what we struggle with, how we need help and where we need support.  That openness has led Spin Sucks to become the largest community of public relations professionals on the internet, and an example of why oftentimes it's the community that helps you create the book or the podcast, not the other way around.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Carl Schramm -- the author of "Burn the Business Plan" and a person the Economist named the "evangelist of entrepreneurship" -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Are you curious?  Researchers have found curiosity as a way to improve our self esteem, to increase our sense of purpose and even a way to learn faster. And yet, Carl Schramm worries we're doing it lip service as more student choose STEM fields forsaking the humanities.  Schramm should know as he spent a decade at the helm of Kauffman Foundation the world's largest entrepreneurship focused research institution.  In fact, he believes we should shut down business schools as they've done less to make us more creative and curious than the rest.  Our conversation comes on the heels of the release of Carl's book "Burn the Business Plan" where he examines how to train people to think more entrepreneurial, how to build better businesses and most importantly how to be more curious.