The Eric Koester Creator Institute

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Ryan McKee -- Emmy-Winning Producer at the Late Late Show with James Corden and the founder/editor of the Modest Proposal Magazine -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Can you "fail forward"?  Is it possible to fail at something and yet come out ahead?  For Ryan McKee, the failure of the comedy magazine he'd founded stung hard -- it never gained much traction outside of a few places and what momentum it created in his early comedy career was wiped away with a cross country move to New York City in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession.  And yet, just a few years later with the experiences and failures in his back pocket, he's now a two time Emmy-Winning Producer at the Late Late Show with James Corden creating content that makes us laugh, smile and sometimes wonder "what is going on inside that crazy brain."  On the second part of our conversation, we'll discuss how to leverage failure -- much like Ryan did with the failure of Modest Proposal Magazine -- to build our own path and direction.  

Can you "fail forward"?  Is it possible to fail at something and yet come out ahead?  For Ryan McKee, the failure of the comedy magazine he'd founded stung hard -- it never gained much traction outside of a few places and what momentum it created in his early comedy career was wiped away with a cross country move to New York City in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession.  And yet, just a few years later with the experiences and failures in his back pocket, he's now a two time Emmy-Winning Producer at the Late Late Show with James Corden creating content that makes us laugh, smile and sometimes wonder "what is going on inside that crazy brain."  On the first part of our conversation, we'll explore his decision to take a risk, pour his life savings into a magazine just as the digital age was rising and why despite the naysayers he 'went for it'.  

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Justin Lafazan -- founder and CEO of Next Gen Summit and the author of What Wakes You Up?: Designing Kick-Ass Lives Through Entrepreneurship -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

How do you build the largest network in the world of ambitious and successful 20-somethings?  According to Next Gen Summit founder and CEO Justin Lafazan, you just ask questions.  Justin had a 'mid-life' crisis at 18 years old before beginning college, deferred his start and decided to go on a gap year.  As he began mapping out what he'd do, he was advised he should try to create something... he was ambitious enough to start to create a book and a conference aimed at younger, ambitious, entrepreneurial people much like himself.  And since then his life has been a whirlwind creating Next Gen Summit which counts thousands of the most successful teen- and 20-somethings in its ranks, hosts events and conferences across the country and inspires others.  But at the very start of all of this was that decision to use a book to ask questions of people he admired -- a lesson Justin believes everyone should apply.  As you'll hear from Justin, it's not necessarily about the finished product, but the process you go through to learn and meet amazing people.   What started as a gap year -- funny enough Justin *still* hasn't even graduated yet -- has led him on an epic adventure that in some ways is still just getting started. And hear how he continues to find excuses to have conversations with people he admires.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Alec Ross -- NY Times Bestselling Author of Industries of the Future, Senior Advisor for Innovation in the State Department and former candidate for Governor of Maryland -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Observe. Take Notes. Review Your Notes. Hunt for Patterns. Share the Patterns. This is the secret of learning out loud like Alec Ross, a NY Times Bestselling Author and former candidate for governor of Maryland.  Yes, Ross had a super cool and unique job: he was the former Senior Advisor for Innovation for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the duration of her term as Secretary of State and through it traveled to every corner of the globe to learn and observe technology's impact in the Arab Spring, farming in India and natural disaster recovery in the Philippines.  But he also was noting what he was seeing and looking for those patterns.  Those patterns served as the basis for his book Industries of the Future, named 2016's book of the year by TriBeCa Film Festival's Disruptive Innovation Foundation.   While you may not be traveling the world and meeting with global dignitaries, we all can observe what's going on in our world, take notes as to what we're seeing, review those notes and find patterns that help us understand. Then -- and this is the secret -- share what you learn for feedback and further growth. It's the power of Learning Out Loud, and all of us can unlock it by observing and hunting for patterns to share.   

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Chris Luecke -- the creator and host of the Pubcast Worldwide podcast and the Manufacturing Happy Hour YouTube show -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

How do you feel about your job?  For most people the "its complicated" status would probably be a good answer -- it's mostly good with some elements of not good, and a splash of 'there's something missing to make it better.'  Chris Luecke was one of those people.  He was early in his career and steadily advancing up the ranks of a large Fortune 500 company, but "I was missing that creative element from my job."  He contemplated graduate school -- and that probably would have been seen as the normal, logical, safe play.  But he decided to do something that would end up enabling him to create his own MBA. In the span of a year, Chris launched a YouTube show featuring him drinking beer with his customers -AND- a podcast featuring him drinking beer at famous bars, breweries and festivals. (Notice a theme here?)   But the results have been remarkable, helping Chris combine his passions, increase his exposure inside the company (yes all the way up to the company's CEO) and move from 'it's complicated' to 'I love what they let me do.'  In this episode, we examine how Chris has designed his own 'MBA' that lets him explore his creative side, learn new hands on skills, and develop mastery for future opportunities (maybe a CMO one day).  It's illustrative for many people who are at that transition point in their 20s or 30s where they aren't dissatisfied with their job or their work, but feel like something lacking -- and why most managers crave employees who take risks, try new things and build their own path like Chris has.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Diane Mulcahy -- the author of the Gig Economy and award-winning Babson professor -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

36% of the U.S. workforce has freelanced this year -- and it may offer one of the best ways to grow and manage your own career path. According to author and Babson Professor Diane Mulcahy, the future is quickly becoming about developing a portfolio of work -- perhaps its a full-time job and something on the side to scratch our creative itch or perhaps its a freelance career made up of multiple clients and a variety of work. In our conversation we'll go deeper into how Diane is coaching MBAs and undergrads to re-think careers through the lens of building a portfolio of meaningful work, and how a new set of skills -- the creator skillset -- is critical as each of us makes that transition.  The New Yorker calls her book Gig Economy "part economic argument and part how-to guide."  And in this episode we'll explore how you can reframe work through a portfolio approach and you can have more control, attain more financial flexibility and discover more meaningful work. BUT you might have to do something a little different than those around you.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Chris Voss -- former FBI Hostage Negotiator, the founder of Black Swan and the author of Wall Street Journal Bestseller Never Split the Difference -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Every human interaction is a negotiation -- we just usually don't think of them that way. But what if you thought of these everyday human interactions as negotiations where your life literally depended on the outcome?  Would you act differently? Would you listen to the demands? Chris Voss is the author of Never Split the Difference and worked in the FBI (and the police force) for over 20 years as a top hostage negotiator, working over 150 kidnappings (probably more but he says he lost count). He shares the power of empathy in every interaction as a way to re-think our engagements and get better outcomes. And he shares one of my favorite insights about the power of generosity on getting what we want -- why psychologically nearly all of us want to 'repay' the favors done for us.  You'll learn how to think purposefully about each interaction to get what you want, when you want it without having to split the difference. Plus I learned what to do if I was ever taken hostage to dramatically improve my chances of making it out alive.  

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Joe Mechlinski -- the founder of SHIFT and the author of NY Times Bestseller Grow Regardless and new release Shift the Workplace -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Do you have a chip on your shoulder? Researchers say that can a good thing -- some of the world's best like Tom Brady or Steve Jobs use their resentment to prove people wrong again and again. But it can also stop us in our tracks if we fixate on these insecurities. For Joe Mechlinski, he grew up in a rough part of Baltimore until a football scholarship landed him a Johns Hopkins with limited reading and writing skills.  Just how does that guy wind up publishing a NY Times Bestseller that bumped 50 Shades of Grey from the top spot? That chip on his shoulder. Our discussion talks about how to use the insecurities and resentment we all have somewhere -- and continue to create things -- companies, books, podcasts, teams -- and grow.  That "prove it" mentality comes when we decide to invest in creating things that others can judge for themselves, and how each of us can use our own chips for good.