Stephen Shapiro View RSS

The Power of Originality, Authenticity, and Physicality in a Digital World 2 Apr 1:25 PM (23 hours ago)

I’ve been thinking about this: the more our world is shaped by AI and digital content, the more we may yearn for what’s real—original, authentic, and physical.

I’ve observed this trend across different fields, from music to architecture and games, as people seek genuine connections to creators and their crafts.

As a little kid, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass was the soundtrack of my life. There are videos of me in a onesie, dancing joyfully to his music. It was playful, upbeat, and felt alive.

Fast forward many decades, and Herb is now 90 years old and touring the country, playing to sold-out crowds nearly every night. It’s astonishing. I recently had the chance to see him live for the very first time, front row in Orlando, and the energy in the room was electric. The band received multiple standing ovations. Smiles were everywhere. It was more than a concert; it was a celebration of something real.

Sure, I can stream his music anytime. And yes, there are cover bands that perform his songs—some arguably more technically precise. But they’re not Herb Alpert. They don’t carry the same emotional weight or origin story. There’s something powerful about being in the presence of the original creator. We’re not just seeking sound; we’re seeking soul.

I had a similar, albeit amusing, experience in Las Vegas. I was at a show when I saw someone who looked exactly like Larry the Cable Guy. I was stunned that fans weren’t mobbing him. I approached him to say hi, and that’s when I realized he wasn’t Larry. He was an impersonator. A really good one. I’m sure his act is strong and that he can get a laugh. But he’s not the original. That connection—the one that comes from knowing this is the real person, the mind behind the creation—was missing. Authenticity isn’t just about performance. It’s about origin and intent.

And this craving for the genuine isn’t limited to the arts.

I recently gave a speech to a group of architects, and I was surprised by something they told me. Some clients now request hand-drawn designs instead of computer- or AI-generated renderings. Even though the digital options are faster and arguably more precise, they lack the imperfections, quirks, and human fingerprints that make a hand sketch feel alive and trustworthy. Those little flaws? They’re part of what makes it beautiful.

I’ve seen a similar trend in my own work. During the pandemic, digital speeches—aka webinars—were the only option. But when it became safe to travel again, people craved in-person experiences. Digital just isn’t enough.

Live concerts are also surging in popularity. In fact, back in 2023, Live Nation reported its biggest year ever for attendance and ticket sales—and the numbers have continued to grow.

But it’s not just about being in person. In a digital world, we also crave the physical.

For example, my Personality Poker is a game that uses physical playing cards to explore personality styles and team dynamics. It’s something people can hold, shuffle, and pass around. Yes, there are countless online personality tests, but there’s something different about a game that unfolds across a table—with laughter, stories, and real-time reactions. People remember it. They keep their cards. Years later, I’ve had people pull them out of their wallets and say, “This still describes me perfectly.”

This pull toward physical interaction reflects a broader cultural shift. Board games, for instance, are having a resurgence. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global board games market was valued at approximately $14.37 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $32 billion by 2032, growing at an annual rate of over 10 percent. That’s not a fluke. It’s a signal.

People are rediscovering the joy of gathering around a table, face to face, with tangible pieces and shared stories. In a world flooded with screens, there’s comfort in cardboard, dice, and conversation.

It’s not just about the games. It’s about nostalgia and escape. As reported by Amanda Krause in Business Insider (November 20, 2023), adults are increasingly buying toys and games for themselves, seeking a sense of wonder, play, and reconnection. In 2023, grown-ups made up 17.3 percent of the U.S. toy market—about $6.7 billion in sales—an 8 percent increase over the previous year.

It’s clear: as we lean further into digital convenience, we’re also searching for emotional resonance. We want to feel something. We want to touch something. We want to know that what we’re experiencing is real.

All of these examples point to a simple, powerful truth. While technology can enhance our lives, it can’t replace our desire for originality, authenticity, and physical presence. Whether it’s live music, hand-drawn sketches, playing cards, or classic board games, the human touch still matters.

And maybe, in a world that’s increasingly artificial, what’s real will become our most valuable currency.

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Why Writing My Latest Book Was a Huge Mistake 24 Mar 2:00 AM (10 days ago)

(And why I’d probably do it again…)

In June 2024, I released what might be my most important book to date: PIVOTAL: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World.

It tackles some of today’s most pressing challenges—chaos, unpredictability, and the rise of AI—with frameworks that help individuals and organizations find clarity, focus, and strength.

And yet, shortly after it launched, I came to a startling conclusion:

I probably never should have written it.

Don’t get me wrong—the ideas are solid. The frameworks are powerful. The feedback has been fantastic. This isn’t false modesty.

The problem wasn’t the content. The problem was me.

You see, the core premise of PIVOTAL is that instead of obsessing over what’s next, we should double down on what we do best—what no one else can do in quite the same way—and what creates the greatest value: our differentiator. In other words, stop chasing the next big thing and start investing in the thing only you can deliver.

And as I reflected on this concept, I had to laugh.

Why?

Because writing PIVOTAL was me chasing what’s next. A new book. A new idea. A new way to frame innovation.

But the truly pivotal thing—the thing I uniquely bring to the world—is something I created two decades ago: Personality Poker.

It’s fun. It’s physical. It’s unforgettable. Hundreds of thousands of people have played it, and I still get stories from people who carry their cards in their wallets ten years later.

Although others can deliver great speeches with great content, no one else has an experience like Personality Poker, and no one else can do it the way I do.

And yet, for years, I treated it like a side dish while constantly cooking up new entrees.

So, I’m taking my own medicine. I’m doubling down on my differentiator. I’m putting more time, energy, and resources into Personality Poker than ever before—not because it’s new, but because it’s uniquely valuable.

The lesson here isn’t about books. It’s about focus.

Take a look at your business. What is the one thing you do that no one else does in quite the same way—and that your customers deeply value?

Now ask: Are you putting your best time, money, and energy there? Or are you (like I was) spreading yourself thin on things that are “important” but not differentiating?

As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

So maybe innovation isn’t always about what’s new. Maybe it’s about rediscovering and amplifying what already makes you great.

Sometimes, the most powerful way forward is to go back to what’s truly yours.

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The Power of Rediscovering a Lost Passion 13 Mar 8:49 AM (21 days ago)

Is there something you loved doing as a kid that you stopped doing as an adult? A passion that once lit you up but faded away over time?

For me, that passion was the saxophone. From the ages of ten to twenty-five, playing was an integral part of my life. Performing with my school’s jazz band was one of my greatest joys.

Then life happened. Work and business travel took over, and my sax sat untouched in its case for twenty years.

Until a couple of months ago.

For 2025, I decided it was time to pick it up again.

The moment I started playing, I felt an incredible rush—like reconnecting with a part of myself that had been dormant for decades. It wasn’t just about the music; it was about tapping into a creative, non-business side of me that I hadn’t accessed in years. And the breathwork required to play the horn? It completely shifted my physical energy.

I feel different. On the days I play, I experience a flow that’s missing when I don’t. And that energy has spilled over into my work as well. I feel more engaged, more alive.

When I first committed to playing again in December, I had to get my sax tuned up, which delayed my start until February. I worried I’d have to relearn everything from scratch. But surprisingly, much of it came back quickly.

That said, I also realized I had developed plenty of bad habits when I was younger. So instead of just picking up where I left off, I’m approaching this with a beginner’s mindset. I don’t want to play the way I used to—I want to become a newer, better version of myself as a sax player. It’s been a fascinating process of both relearning and unlearning.

So, what about you?

Is there something from your past that you could reintroduce into your daily life to bring new excitement? Could it be an opportunity to unlearn old habits and approach things in a fresh way? And how might that energy spill over into your work and other areas of life?

If you’re curious to hear what I sound like after a month of unlearning and relearning, check out this video:

 

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PIVOTAL Finalist in Two Book Awards 10 Mar 8:31 AM (24 days ago)

PIVOTAL was selected as one of the top business books of 2024 by American Book Fest, and is a finalist for the Foreword Indie Awards. The winners for the latter will be named in June.

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Doubling Down on What Works: Innovate Where You Differentiate 21 Feb 7:36 PM (last month)

In a world obsessed with chasing the next big thing, I’m doing the opposite. Instead of scrambling to reinvent myself or my work, I’m doubling down—or maybe even going all in—on Personality Poker®.

Why? Because in my book PIVOTAL, I emphasize a crucial principle: innovate where you differentiate. Success isn’t about chasing every new trend. It’s about amplifying what makes the biggest impact. The businesses and individuals who thrive aren’t the ones constantly pivoting without purpose. They’re the ones who build on what works, refining and strengthening what makes them uniquely valuable.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve constantly searched for the next book to write, the next hot topic to explore, and the next speech to deliver. But I’ve come to realize that my true differentiator is my Personality Poker speech. It is unlike any other speech in the world.

The Power of Personality Poker

For years, Personality Poker has transformed teams, sparked innovation, and created unforgettable experiences. It’s fun. It’s powerful. And, most importantly, it sticks. People don’t just play it once and forget it. They remember their insights, their cards, and their takeaways for years to come.

But instead of just resting on its success, I’m taking it to the next level—refining, amplifying, and ensuring it reaches more people in even more impactful ways.

That’s the core lesson from PIVOTAL: Don’t abandon your differentiators—enhance them. Too often, businesses get distracted by “what’s next” instead of doubling down on what truly works.

So rather than looking for a new “shiny object,” I’m focusing on what differentiates me and delivers results.

Reinvention vs. Leverage

The business world often glorifies reinvention. We hear stories of companies that pivoted dramatically, completely transformed, or found success by shifting into entirely new markets. But for every success story, there are countless failures—businesses that abandoned their strengths in pursuit of something new, only to end up with less impact, less clarity, and less success.

That’s why PIVOTAL advocates a different approach. Instead of reinvention for the sake of change, the book helps leaders and organizations identify where they provide the most value and then build on that foundation.

This is what I’m doing with Personality Poker.

How This Applies to You

No matter your industry or role, the key is to identify, leverage, and focus on your differentiator.

1. Identify Your Differentiator:

In PIVOTAL, I outline the five Ds of Differentiation: Distinctive, Desirable, Durable, Dynamic, and Disseminated. The first three—Distinctive, Desirable, and Durable—help you gain clarity on what makes you special now and ensures it stands the test of time. How can you apply these to your business?

• Distinctive: What makes you stand out in a crowded market? What sets you apart from the competition?
• Desirable (Externally): What do you do that delivers real, lasting value? What keeps customers coming back? What makes your work uniquely impactful?
• Desirable (Internally): What do you love to do? What work energizes you? What has the potential to create the greatest internal value (financial and other)?
• Durable: What strengths or capabilities are difficult for others to replicate? What gives you a lasting competitive edge?

This framework helps ensure that you’re not just different for the sake of it—you’re building on what truly matters and has staying power.

2. Double Down on It

Once you’ve identified your differentiator, the next step is to double down and maximize its impact.

• Are you amplifying your strengths or getting distracted?
• Instead of reinventing, how can you refine?
• What existing success can you scale?

3. Eliminate the Unnecessary

Finally, knowing what to stop doing is as important as knowing what to do.

• What are you doing just because you feel like you “should”?
• Are you chasing trends that don’t align with your core strengths?
• Is your focus clear, or are you spreading yourself too thin?

The key is not to resist change—it’s to be intentional about it. The best businesses and individuals evolve by strengthening their foundation, not by constantly tearing it down.

What’s Next for Personality Poker?

This renewed focus on Personality Poker isn’t just a mindset shift—it’s a strategic move. That’s why I’m rolling out:

• A New Landing Page – A page designed to better tell the story of how Personality Poker creates lasting impact.
• A New Speaking Reel – A 3-minute video highlighting the energy, interactivity, and results of a Personality Poker session.
• More Fun Assets – Tools to help teams and leaders integrate these insights into their work.
• A Certification Program – I used to sell Personality Poker cards to anyone interested, but now they’re exclusively available to individuals and companies certified in the process or clients who hire me for a speech or program.
• New Deep-Dive Programs – Learning and impact shouldn’t stop when the speech ends; it’s when it really begins. Given this, we developed programs that help you create a culture of collaboration and innovation, leveraging the concepts of Personality Poker and my other innovation work.

Your Challenge

Take a moment to reflect:

• What’s working for you or your business right now?
• How can you refine and amplify it?
• Where might you be distracted by unnecessary reinvention?

The future doesn’t belong to those who chase every new trend—it belongs to those who boldly build on what makes them truly great.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing with Personality Poker.

Are you ready to double down on what works for you?

P.S. The infographic was created by Nate Dailey from Collective Next Graphic Facilitation Support. He drew it during a recent Personality Poker session. While I don’t use the labels “Analyzers,” “Creators,” “Managers,” and “Engagers,” the concepts behind them are quite similar.

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Creating Music with AI 11 Feb 12:38 PM (last month)

What you hear and see below is 100% AI-generated lyrics, music, images, and captions.

I’m focusing more on Personality Poker these days, so I thought a song about it that sounded like an old-time Vegas-style song would be fun.

ChatGPT created the lyrics. Because it already knew about Personality Poker, I only needed to ask it to write a song about the game. I then pasted the output into Riffusion and asked it to generate a song in a swing style. Next, I asked Dall-e to create an image that was musicians playing poker. Finally, I used Capcut to generate the subtitles.

Other than copying and pasting, no human intervention was required.

I hope you enjoy this!

 

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Pivotal Shifts: Innovating To Differentiate 24 Jan 6:33 AM (2 months ago)

I had the great pleasure of joining Tony Martignetti on “The Virtual Campfire” podcast. Here’s the description of our episode.

Stephen Shapiro joins Tony Martignetti to share his incredible journey of overcoming adversity and the importance of pivotal shifts in finding deeper meaning in his life and work. From his early passion for music, his dream of becoming a game show host, to his pivotal realization that he wanted to guide companies towards growth, Stephen looks back on his journey of self-discovery and purpose. He shares about his time at Accenture, the epiphany that led him to leave, and the creation of his own innovation practice. Stephen also delves into his book, “Pivotal,” which challenges the concept of constant pivoting and emphasizes the importance of identifying and leveraging your unique strengths to create lasting value.

Listen to the podcast here

And here’s the entire transcript:

Pivotal Shifts: Innovating To Differentiate With Stephen Shapiro

It is my honor to introduce to my guests, Stephen Shapiro. Steve started his work in innovation 25 years ago when he created and led a 20,000-person innovation practice with a consulting firm, Accenture. He’s the author of seven books, including his latest book, Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World, a wonderful book. His clients include Marriott, 3M, P&G, Microsoft, Nike, and NASA. In 2015, he was inducted into the Speaker’s Hall of Fame and is a senior research fellow with a conference board. When he’s not on stage speaking about innovation, he enjoys dabbling in magic and making the impossible possible. It is truly a pleasure to welcome you to the virtual campfire, Steve.

Great to be by the campfire. It’s cold here in Florida, so my hands are warming up as we speak.

That’s awesome. I feel like when I said magic, I should say magic. I want to hear more about that for sure, but so many cool things that I want to dive into, and I’m just thrilled and honored to have you on the show. I love the work you’re doing and am just looking forward to understanding the journey that got you to where you’re making such a big impact in the world.

I’m looking forward to exploring wherever we go, and I have no idea where we’re going, which to me is always fun.

Using Personal Strengths To Shape A Fulfilling Career

As we do on the show, we uncover people’s journeys through what’s called flashpoints. These points in our journeys have ignited our gifts into the world. In a moment, I’ll turn it over to you to share what you’re called to share, and along the way, we’ll pause and see what kind of themes are showing up. If you’re ready, Steve, I’ll turn it over to you, and you can take us where you’d like to take us.

I think the first thing that popped in my head when you said flashpoints, and I’m just thinking about times when you figure out what you’re supposed to do with your life. I went to Cornell as an engineer, and I’m embarrassed to say that my only A in college was not an engineering class, but rather it was public speaking. I got an A in public speaking. I was great at it. In fact, before that, I always knew I wanted to be a game show host, or at least that’s what I thought I wanted. I wanted to be a game show host. It seemed to fit being on a stage. I was a sax player. I think that was a little bit of foreshadowing for where I would end up.

When I went through life, that just kept on coming back. The stage kept on calling me. Earlier in my life, it was more about music. Later in life, it was about speaking and delivering content, but that’s really where I’ve spent a lot of my time, around stages and in corporations helping them out. I think that’s probably the first flashpoint, if you want to call it that, that I can remember, or at least it was an insight and an awareness that I had.

I love that you share that because I always ask this question to people, what were your favorite classes in college? Because there’s something in that. It’s not always what we think it is. It’s not always the major that we have. Mine were anthropology, music therapy, and organizational development. Those three classes were my favorites. Hearing you say that that was your favorite class, that is one of the things that I can see. It’s never too late to become a game show host.

That’s the nice thing about the internet, though, is you can do your own game show host on YouTube and things like that. You have a lot more options than I did back in the day when you had to be on a major network, so absolutely.

Before we go into your next flashpoint, I want to ask, where did you grow up? Where was the early start of your life?

I’m from Brockton, Massachusetts, which most people may not know, but if you’re a fan of boxing, we are the home of Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. In fact, when I was in high school, my band, the high school band, would actually be the pep band for Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He’d come back from a win, and we’d be there to cheer him on. It was fun growing up that way, but music was actually where I started earlier in my life in terms of my passion.

That’s so cool. I’m glad you mentioned that. The city of champions, as they call it, right?

Exactly.

Ethical Implications Of Business Practices

Brockton’s getting their big up yet. That’s wonderful. Take us to the next point in your journey and your next flashpoint, if you’d like to share it.

There are a few interesting ones. It depends on how granular we want to get, but I’ll say the one which probably was the biggest flashpoint and the one which was the biggest epiphany for me was, and a lot of times if I tell the story, it’s a short version. I’ll tell a slightly longer version since I think it gives a little more texture to it. Back in the early nineties, when I was at Accenture, I was one of the co-leaders of a practice called business process re-engineering. Basically, what that meant is we would optimize a company’s processes.

In my role, I would do training classes. I would go into companies and do consulting. Basically, our goal was to optimize a company’s processes. I remember this one time, one of the things that we realized, though, what I realized, is that when you optimize a company’s processes, companies inevitably would downsize the workforce. They would use it as an excuse to get rid of people. There was this one project I was going on to. Before we got started, the CEO announced that because of this project, 10,000 people would lose their job. Now it was a huge number, but something in my brain was able to rationalize it. Just like, if I don’t do it, someone else will do it, or maybe they’ll get better jobs, whatever it was.

One night, I’m in a hotel because the project wasn’t in my hometown. I’m in a hotel, and I turn on the TV, and there’s a news story about three executives from that company, the client that I was working with, about three executives that lost their jobs a year ago. These were top executives. The first one was the happiest. He had an inheritance. He was living off of that. He still didn’t have a job, but things were fine. He was optimistic there’d be another job for him. The second person cried the entire interview. Again, an executive couldn’t feed his family, so he actually had to mow lawns in order to just put food on the table. The third person committed suicide. I go back to the client the next day, and I said, “I saw this news story, was it true?” They said, “Yes, what you saw is what actually happened.”

I walked off the project. I quit Accenture. I actually told my boss, I was like, “I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.” My boss talked me off the ledge and said, “You can leave the project. That’s not a problem, but we don’t want you to leave. Take a leave of absence, take some time.” I took six months leave of absence. What I realized is I love my work. I just didn’t want to help companies shrink. I wanted to help them grow. I wanted to create jobs. That was really a big flashpoint for me, when I realized growth was my thing, helping companies become prosperous. Back in the mid-nineties, nobody was talking about innovation, but I thought innovation, that’s the key. We created this 20,000-person innovation practice from scratch just because I had that flashpoint, that epiphany. Watching that TV show was really the reason it all happened.

Wonderful. I’m glad you shared that because there’s a lot of people out there who have that emotional element to the work that they’re doing. How can you not? When you’re doing something that you feel like is impactful work, but then you see the people side of it and you realize, what am I doing to make an impact on people’s lives? We have to see it all the way through in order to understand, what do we really want to do in terms of our impact and the fall-on effect of that?

I worked in biotech for a number of years, and one of the things that was always at the center of this is how are we helping patients? Sometimes there’s another element of this, what is the cost of helping patients or extending lives and things like that? Sometimes that weighs into the equation, and we have to worry about the effect of that. I love what you shared. I think there’s something about that, which we have to always be thinking about, at the expense of what.

There are always unintended consequences, good or bad, for the work that we do. When I help companies become more efficient, there’s a positive unintended consequence, or maybe that is the intention, to help shareholders become more successful so they can invest in other businesses, which may actually help a lot of people in the long run. That’s great for somebody who wants to do that. I don’t typically quote Stalin, but what he said was spot on, which is, he said, “One death is a tragedy. Ten thousand deaths is a statistic.”

I may have the numbers wrong, maybe it’s a million deaths in history, but whatever it was, for me, it was like, one lost job, that was a tragedy but 10,000 lost jobs? It was a statistic, it was a number. Sometimes we see what’s going on, but we don’t have that emotional connection to it at that level of depth. That level of depth is actually where I think action comes from. It’s not from abstract numbers and statistics but from emotions. That’s how we’re wired as human beings is we make decisions based on emotions. If we’re looking to sell something, we sell an emotion, not facts. I try to get in touch with those as much as possible in the work I’m doing.

Impact Of AI On The Job Market

That’s wonderful. I’m looking forward to getting into really what has got you to where you are now. There’s an element that is top of mind, AI. AI is on everyone’s minds, and how is that impacting people’s livelihoods? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I think it’s, on the grand scale, a good thing, but there are a lot of people who are feeling like, what is this going to cost me in terms of my job? What do I need to do to pivot into the next thing? I think that’s something that we can get into either now, or I’d like to also hear more of your pivot in your flashpoints. Do you want to just opine on a little bit of the AI story?

Sure. I have no idea what’s going to evolve as time goes on with AI. If you watch some of the sci-fi movies, it might not be all good, but I’m more optimistic. The way I look at it is that there’s always been technology. This is on a much-accelerated scale and a much larger scale, but there’s always been technology that automated jobs, took away jobs, whether it’s manufacturing automation or technological automation. We’ve always relied on technology to help us. Whether it’s the calculator, it’s pretty basic technology, but I’m not going to sit around and try to do complex calculations anymore, AI is that on steroids, obviously. I think the way I look at it is, AI helps us tap into our higher cognitive function.

If we can get rid of the work that machines can do, at least I believe, and I’m hopeful, that as human beings, there are things that we can do that technology will never be able to do. Therefore, I love to leverage AI to be a sounding board, as a starting point to get me kickstarted with something, but it’s not going to be the final answer. It basically, just like the calculator will do the calculations for me, I still then have to interpret it and figure out what it means. What I’m excited about is it can help a lot of people, but again, some people will be impacted, just as manufacturing technology took away manufacturing jobs. We do have to be ready to make a change because of those types of shifts.

I love the way you said it because I often look back to the Industrial Revolution and say, this has happened before, and it’s going to happen again. It’s just happening on a different scale. If you think of it, this is a catalyst for growth, for human growth, not just business growth. It’s a growth of how do we evolve to the next thing? The idea is we need to just see it as, this is our little nudge in a direction of who do I need to be next? Who do I need to evolve into so that I can use the tools, the technology, but also think, what is my higher purpose now?

There are unintended consequences of everything. You talked about even the work you were doing, I think it was in biotech, and it’s like, there’s an impact for people living longer. It seems like everybody living to 100 and 120 and 200, that would be a great thing. In terms of resources and society and jobs, and the list goes on, there’s a lot of things that we’re not prepared for if people double their lifespan. Something which seems good may not be good. Something which seems like it might be risky has an upside. Everything has upsides and downsides. I think that the key for us as human beings is to not be a victim to a technology, but rather recognize, there are things we can control. There are things we can’t control. There are things we can influence.

Human beings must strive to become victims of technology but rather recognize that there are things they can and cannot control.

Beyond that, you can’t really focus too much on it because, like some of the things that go on in the world, some people, they’re passionate about it, they’re going to do everything they can to influence. I realize it’s not my strength. It’s not my passion. I try to influence the world in the way that I can influence the world and try to eliminate some of the noise from everything else. I think if we all just figured out what is our sphere of influence and control, and focus our energies there, we’d all be a lot happier.

Power Of Perseverance In Realizing One’s Dreams

That’s wonderful. This is great. I really enjoy your insights and your perspective. It’s really refreshing, but also very much where we need to be thinking. I want to get back into your story and see where, here you are at Accenture, tell me, what’s the next flashpoint that really brought you to the work you’re doing now?

That flashpoint led to the next flashpoint. That was 1995 when I basically left the re-engineering world and created this innovation practice, grew the innovation practice. It was successful. In the process, because we were so successful, I got lots of money and budgets to bring in people. There was one person in particular who I decided I wanted to work with. He was, at the time, one of the greatest thought leaders. He had one of the most influential books in the history of business books. His name is Dr. Michael Hammer. He was the father of business process re-engineering. His book, Reengineering the Corporation: Manifesto for Business Revolution, back in the early nineties, was the second best-selling business book in the history of business books. Time Magazine in 1996 selected him as one of the most powerful and influential people on the planet.

What I loved is he writes these books, he gives speeches, he travels the world, and he makes a huge impact in people’s lives. I thought, that’s what I want to do. I got together with a career counselor, and the career counselor said, that’s great. If that’s where you want to be in five years, basically, what I wrote down is where I wanted to be. This was November of 1996. I met with a career counselor, and I wrote down, “I want to be the Michael Hammer of the next wave,” which meant that whatever’s after re-engineering, in my case, it was innovation, which meant I wanted books, speeches, traveling the world, making an impact.

The career counselor said, if that’s where you want to be in five years, write down where you need to be in four years. Where do you need to be in three years, two years, one year, six months, one month? I ended up with a seven-page document with the most tedious, boring things I had to do. My life for five years would have been complete misery. I said, this is terrible. I’m not going to do it. I literally took those seven pages of plans, ripped them up, got home, threw them in the fire, burned them up, and said, I’m not going to do that. But I still had that one sentence. November, 1996, I said, in five years, I want to be the Michael Hammer of the next wave.

November of 2001, literally almost five years to the day after I wrote that statement, my first book came out. I left Accenture, I became a professional speaker, I traveled the world, and I’m doing what I’m doing right now. It was pretty amazing that I didn’t follow my plan. In fact, there’s nothing on those seven pages that I did. I took a completely different path, yet I ended up exactly where I wanted to end up. That, to me, was a pretty big flashpoint, was the book coming out, leaving Accenture, and doing my next big thing. I’ve been doing that for 23 years.

Wow, it’s so amazing to hear that. One of the things is you’ve got to name it to claim it. That’s one of those classic coaching things that we talk about. This element of, like, if you don’t know where you’re headed, then you just keep on going through the motions, and then maybe you are filled with regret that you didn’t do anything in that path. The fact that you had the clarity of what you wanted to be in the world and then figured it out through whatever methodologies that you could, but it was always having that North Star of saying, this is who I want to be, and I’m going to take whatever steps I can.

Maybe it had to do with building the right networks of people and finding whatever is, often I say there’s, like, portals and ways that you can leapfrog into the right places by just having the right conversations and taking the right risks that get you there. That’s wonderful to hear that that happened in that way, because you’re right, you can’t just logic your way out of it. You have to take the steps by just getting out and doing things.

I think sometimes you just plant the seed in the subconscious, and every decision you make, even if it’s not a conscious thing, every decision you make is saying, is it moving me towards where I want to go? When I had opportunities to write books and articles, it’s like, absolutely, that moves me in the right direction. When I started doing a lot of speaking, that moves me in the right direction. I would make some requests. I found somebody who knew a publisher, like, could you get me a deal with a publisher? We got a deal with a major publisher. All those things that weren’t necessarily conscious, but I was certainly thinking about them at some level when I was making decisions.

Creation And Success Of ‘Pivotal’

Everything aligns towards that same goal. In every decision you make, it’s almost like you say what you say yes and no to is aligned with that one goal. That’s so cool. I really love that perspective. Tell me about, you’ve had a lot of books, seven books, all of them pretty amazing, but tell me what led to Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World. This particular book, I feel like it’s got a lot of success, and I think it’s a brilliant book, but what led to this particular book?

Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World is actually based on content that I initially developed when I was at Accenture. It’s, in some respects, time-tested. It has really proven that it works over decades of time, but I never decided to write it as a book, even though it was still one of the most valuable pieces of content I would use with my clients because it was just a fundamental shift for the way they operated. Just to get a little context for people who don’t know the book, the concept of Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World is we’re always so focused on what should change, we never really ask the question, what shouldn’t change?

If we can figure out what’s going to stand the test of time, that can create the greatest value, then we eliminate the spinning and pivoting that happens. We chose Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World because it’s a play on the word pivot, but they’re very different. Pivoting is about changing direction. Pivotal means to be irreplaceable or of crucial importance.

During the pandemic in particular, when I was working with my clients, there was just the level of confusion around what should we do? People are pivoting, changing direction, getting burned out. The stress, the overwhelm was just incredible. Nobody had clarity. You put on top of the pandemic, you had the supply chain issues, and then you had inflation, and then you had recession, and then you had AI, and you put all, and people are almost like a deer in headlights, not knowing what to do. I thought, I know the content is the antidote to that. The content in Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World is the antidote to the perpetual pivoting and the lack of clarity. I just decided it was time to write that book to help people create some level of sanity in the workplace.

For the people that read it, I think it has a pretty big impact because it’s not just about the organization, but it’s also, how do you as an individual create stability? How do you create something which is powerful for you that becomes a platform on which you can build the rest of your life, as opposed to it just being about a business book, which is, I like business books, but I like it when it also has an application to the individual.

I just love that you shared this because we just finished talking about your journey to getting to your work of being a speaker. It almost is a perfect example of figuring out what’s pivotal in your life. I love that this is not just about business. It’s about figuring out what stays constant. You don’t throw out something just because it’s not working yet. You figure out what it is that you want to keep as your constant along the way and allow yourself to say, if I stay true to this path, this is going to serve me. Even all the other fads and things that are happening along the way, all the noise, it’s there to test me to see if I’m really resolved and committed to this path. I think it’s great to hear that. Also, in the context of your story, that this ended up having that effect on how you were pivotal.

I love that concept of what’s constant because we all can improve. This is not saying we shouldn’t change, not saying we shouldn’t improve ourselves, but, at the same time, we’re so quick to either dismiss what makes us great or we’ve not taken the time to actually see and understand what makes us great. Again, this is individuals or organizations. If we can truly understand what makes us great and what made us great, then we can figure out what will make us great in the future. The key then is to recognize that, like an organizational context, we always look at products and services and offerings and things like that, but those never stand the test of time. Those always have to change.

Our capabilities, we have capabilities, things that make us special as an organization, that, if we can leverage those, we can use them to meet new requirements, create new products, create new services, create new offerings, but the capability stays constant. I think we need to get clear that it doesn’t mean we don’t change, but we leverage that power that we have as an individual or an organization to create what’s needed next. But it’s, again, we have to focus on ourselves about what has made us great and leverage that as much as we can.

There’s something that I want to run by you to see if that passes the pivotal test, in a sense. It is that, like, it sounds like the how can change, but the who doesn’t.

Who we are doesn’t change. If, in an organizational context, it might be culture, it might be what makes us great, our history, our relationships, our capabilities, those are hard to replicate. When we talk about differentiation, the whole premise of Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World is to innovate where you differentiate, figure out what you do better than anyone else that creates value that’ll stand the test of time, and put your energies there. When people hear differentiation, they hear the different part, but they don’t realize it’s much more than that. It really is about something that’s going to stand the test of time. It can’t be replicated.

When companies have a capability that is difficult for someone else to copy, but it still creates value in new ways, that’s really what’s so powerful. There’s that constancy. I always say it’s stability, then agility. It’s not changing direction, but it’s like having a solid platform on which you can ultimately change direction.

I’m changing my thought process. You can have a constant why, a constant who, and a constant how. It depends on how that is your differentiating piece of the puzzle. I think that, to me, is what sounds like you’re driving towards, figuring out what is the element that is uniquely you as a company, as a person, whatever it is that makes you unique.

It’s unique is only one of the dimensions. We call it distinctive as the first dimension, but it has to be desirable, which means others desire it, but it also has to be desirable internally. It also has to be durable, and it’s unique, but nobody else could copy it. It’s really a combination. Plus, there’s two more Ds, but we don’t need to get into the details of it. The point is it’s actually much more nuanced than when people hear differentiation. They might think, what makes you different?

Being different, if I love purple, it’s my color, but the fact that I have purple doesn’t create value for others. Maybe it makes me different, but it doesn’t create value. If I’m saying, hire me because everything I have is purple, people are like, but we don’t care. What does that do for us? It’s like, I do it because I like it. I do it because it helps me stand out, but nobody cares in terms of value creation about the color of my books. It’s really about getting all those facets together.

Challenges In Building A Solopreneur Career

That’s wonderful. I love that. It’s like that might be something that makes you feel different, but it doesn’t necessarily impact the customer in that decline. I want to get back to some of the challenges of building into this world of being on your own, solopreneur, that kind of thing. What were some of the pitfalls and obstacles that you faced in getting into this work? I know it wasn’t all easy going. Tell me some of the challenges you faced.

It wasn’t easy going, and it still isn’t easy going. I think the life of an entrepreneur is always unpredictable. I think the first mistake I made was I knew I was a great speaker. I got an A-plus in public speaking in college. I was a great speaker. At Accenture, I was on stages in front of thousands of people, and people loved it. I was a great speaker. I left Accenture, and I was a great speaker, but I didn’t have a business. I realized very quickly that being great at something doesn’t mean you have a great business. There are so many other facets to the business, selling, marketing, branding, and all these other things.

Being great at something doesn’t mean you have a great business.

All of a sudden, you realize it was great when I was at Accenture because we had people selling and marketing and doing IT and HR and all those other wonderful things, and now I have to do everything. I’m basically the entire business. That’s the first hard lesson I learned, you’ve got to get out there, you’ve got to do the work. It’s not always the things that you love. Over time, I figured, partner with other people. With Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World, one of the things I talk about is, for you to be pivotal, to innovate where you differentiate, you need to figure out what makes you special. If everything else is not a differentiator, if not places where you should be putting your energies, what else can you do? Who can you partner with?

If I can partner with people for things that are important but aren’t my differentiator, for example, my website, I can easily spend the rest of my life tinkering around, tinkering around with my website, playing around with the copy, making it better. I like that stuff. To me, it’s a great, fun, creative endeavor, but it’s not my differentiator. People don’t hire me because I have a great website. I partner with other people to do those things. That’s the other thing which I learned, at some point, you have to focus on your differentiator and find people who can focus on their differentiator to help you with your other activities.

It’s a great lesson there. I think there’s something about that which we often hear is that the most successful people ask for help when they need to. Part of that is what you’re just modeling there, a sense of, I need to put my differentiator on a booster shot, on rails, and just move in that direction and make sure that I’m not distracted by all the things that I could be doing. Honestly, it’s not the best use of my time. That’s what you just described, a sense of being able to be okay with putting that on other people’s radars and allowing them to take that, because if I can do what’s my true point of differentiation, then I can be really effective and really make a difference.

It doesn’t mean that you even have to spend money. I think a lot of times we say, I can’t afford it. There’s a great expression someone told me when I was working in Malaysia many years back, and they said, before you can multiply, you must first learn to divide. It’s like, what does that mean? Basically, the whole point is that if you want to grow your business, if you want to be better at something, you need to also have other people who have a vested interest in it, to divide your business up.

If you want to grow your business and be better at doing something, you need to also have other people have a vested interest in it.

One of the things which I’m always looking at is how do I create partnerships and relationships with people where they benefit from my success? Maybe I don’t pay them as much, or maybe I don’t pay them anything upfront, but they take a slice of whatever we create together. It’s how, in the speaking business, for example, when we work with the speakers bureau, they book a speaker, they book me for an event. I benefit because I get a speech that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and they take a percentage of it. Fantastic. I love those arrangements.

The other thing which is interesting is that a lot of times, if you are a person who’s doing good things and people see that it’s exciting, they want to be part of it, not because of money, but just because of the excitement. The number of people I’ve had over the years who just said, let me work with you because it’s something I believe in, or it’s something I want to do, or it’s just exciting. I want to learn from you and what you’re doing. I find it’s a really great way to operate, just to be a person who’s generous and giving, and then people want to work with you.

That’s going to stick with me, before you can multiply, you have to divide. I think that is such a great thing to think about. I think often we just don’t see it that way. It’s also a sense of seeing it as an abundant place to be in, that mindset of, how do we create a more abundant world? Not just by money grabbing and being like, we need to take as much, but we can create together, create opportunities together. I think that’s wonderful.

Journey Of Self-Reflection

As we’re coming close to the end, I want to ask one question about, what are some lessons you’ve learned about yourself in this journey that you haven’t shared already? This has been quite a remarkable journey so far. Obviously, your next chapter of being a game show host will be quite rewarding, but I think it’ll be great to learn, what have you learned about yourself to this point?

There’s so much I’ve learned. For example, I always thought I was outgoing and social. What I’ve realized is I’m actually an extreme introvert, and I’m incredibly shy. I didn’t realize that, but the more I do my work. In fact, I remember asking somebody once, I think it was Myers-Briggs or something, I tested as an introvert. I was like, how can I be an introvert? I love being on a stage. The person who administered the test said, because people who want to be on stage are introverts. Actors are introverts. They’re removed from people. I thought that was an interesting insight. I’ve then had to manage my energy accordingly. I spent a lot of time thinking about, like, how do I make sure I don’t burn out?

Being on stages might be easy, but then the social events afterwards and the talking with people, I do it because I enjoy it, but at the same time, I have to have routines afterwards to take care of myself. I don’t get too overwhelmed by it. There are a thousand things I’ve learned about myself, but I think the main thing I’ve learned about myself is there’s a heck of a lot more for me to learn about myself. It’s a constant journey of exploration and understanding. I think what I know about myself and the world is probably like one-thousandth of one percent of what there is to know. Fortunately, hopefully, I have a few more years to figure out at least a little bit more.

Books That Influenced Stephen

I love it. It’s such a brilliant insight because I never really put two and two together on that because you think all introverts could never be a speaker, but the reality is it’s quite the opposite. I think that is an interesting thing to now look at the world through that lens. I’m going to be, like, attuned to that. It’s a wonderful thought. One last question, what are 1 or 2 books, or maybe 3 or 4, that have had an impact on you, and why?

I would almost always say these two books. Since I’ve always said in the past, I’ll say it again, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, which to me is just such a powerful book. He was a Viennese psychiatrist who was in the concentration camps during World War II. He created Logotherapy, which basically, instead of man lives because he wants to have pleasure, his whole thing was human beings live because we want to have meaning and purpose. Anytime I feel lost, that’s the book which I will go reread because I think it’s just so powerful.

The other one, which is on a fun side, is Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman. Richard Feynman, Nobel prize-winning physicist. This book is just one of the best books on creativity, I think, because he solved some of the most ridiculous problems. He had an ant problem in his house, and he figured out how to solve the ant problem by using chalk. He was a safe cracker in Los Alamos. Basically, he said, I want to figure this out. I’m going to go try to do cool, goofy things. If you want to learn creativity, not in the traditional sense, but really like how to learn through experimentation, I think it’s probably one of the best books. Those are probably my two favorites.

I love it. There’s a bit of magician in him too. That’s a sense of, like, solving and making things happen that didn’t seem possible. I think that both those books are just so amazing. They’ve been recommended here before, and there’s a reason why they are, because they’re so profound. Some books are timeless, and that definitely speaks to that. This has been nothing short of amazing. I’m so grateful that you took the time to join us. Thank you for joining us and sharing all your insights and stories. It’s been wonderful.

It was truly my pleasure. I enjoyed it. I love when we can explore places that maybe other podcasts don’t. I enjoy what you do because it’s just a little bit different than everyone else. I think that’s what makes it so great.

Thank you so much. I’ll take that for sure. I’ll take that compliment. Before I let you go, I want to make sure that people know where to find you. Obviously, they’re going to go find your book wherever books are sold, but definitely Amazon’s a good spot. Where can they find you and learn more about your work?

The easiest place is just to go to TheInnovationSpeaker.com. The reason why I do that is because people typically misspell my first name and my last name. It’s always easier to do it that way. One of the things also, if somebody’s interested, one of my favorite tools I’ve developed is something called Personality Poker Game. You go to PersonalityPokerGame.com, and it’s a card game that helps you very quickly and in the most ridiculously fun way learn about yourself, your relationships, the people you work with, and the people you have in your life. Those are the two places I would suggest people check out.

Awesome. I love it. That’s going to be a lot of fun. I love that you got The Innovation Speaker. How cool is that? What a URL. Wonderful. Thanks again. Thanks to the listeners for coming on the journey. I know they’re leaving really inspired and ready to take on their own challenges in their world and to innovate in their own world, finding out what’s pivotal in their life. Thanks again. Thanks for the time together.

Thank you.

The post Pivotal Shifts: Innovating To Differentiate appeared first on Stephen Shapiro.

Watch me on a Network Reality Television Show 13 Jan 11:02 AM (2 months ago)

The first time I was on a major television network was in 2008 when I was on CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. That was fun, as I shared the session with Mel Robbins and Darren Hardy. I’ll have to dig up that video from my archives. Then, in 2012, I was on ABC News for a six-minute one-on-one interview.

But what was even more fun was when, in 2014, I was featured on a reality TV show on the USA Network called Partners in Crime. It was a show about two criminal attorneys from Staten Island, New York.

I was in Episode 4: The Guru.

The description: Mario hires a workplace guru to run some team building exercises. When asked to trade places with the office assistants, he quickly learns it’s not as easy as it looks.

I am the guru, lol

I gave them some exercises to do and then we played Personality Poker. It was a blast!

You can watch my episode for free on Fandango, you just need to create an account and watch some ads.

I am introduced at the 5-minute mark and make frequent appearances throughout the episode.

Watch it here

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Meander with Purpose and PIVOTAL 11 Jan 9:21 AM (2 months ago)

The post Meander with Purpose and PIVOTAL appeared first on Stephen Shapiro.

Soundview Executive Book Summary of PIVOTAL 10 Jan 2:31 PM (2 months ago)

Soundview Executive Book® Summaries has condensed my over 200-page book into six power-packed pages. And I would like to give you this summary. Here’s the first page…

We all long for stability. This is so when change arises, we know how to react and know we have what is needed to make the best choice. This doesn’t just apply to our personal lives but also to our work lives. In the world of business today, the question of “Should we build upon our successes or look towards a new innovation?” is constantly being asked. There are many horizons to explore, and the decision to explore them or not can either cause major successes or have devastating consequences.

With that in mind, what is the best thing to do? When innovation is what is often demanded, it would seem that forging ahead and creating new products, offers, and more will get you where you want to be. But what happens when pivoting to the new doesn’t work and staying in what some might call a place of stagnation isn’t the best option? In Pivotal: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World, Stephen Shapiro argues that there is a third option: being pivotal. He shares that having a firm foundation is the key to being pivotal because this will allow you to make decisions that will create innovations while knowing that you are confidently rooted in who you are. That confidence will allow you to navigate the world of change without the distractions, fads, and upheaval that plague so many.

IN THIS EXECUTIVE BOOK SUMMARY:

• Understand the importance of having a foundation.

• Learn the importance of being pivotal.

• See the impact being pivotal or not can affect your business.

• Learn to utilize your strengths to help propel you forward.

If you are intrigued and want to read the entire summary, you can download the PDF here.

If you enjoyed it, consider buying the entire book!

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