Glenn Bachman | The Green Business Guide

October 29, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: Welcome to Sound Authors. We have four fantastic guests on the show today. Three authors, and one musician. We’re doing a show of course in the traditional format of Sound Authors. We’ve scheduled this show quite a while ago, and that’s why we’re back to the four-segment method. Again, tune in next week and the week after. We’re doing brand new varieties of shows with all sorts of different kinds of guests. Always authors and musicians: Sound Authors both. At the end of the show we’re going to talk to a musician. His name is Jacob Moon. He’s based in Hamilton. A wonderful singer/songwriter. Before that, we’re going to talk to the author of ‘Skinny Bitch,’ Rory Freedman, a New York Times bestselling coauthor. They’ve sold millions of books literally. Before that, at 3:15 or so, we’re going to talk to Dr. D.A. Henderson, the author of ‘Smallpox: Death of a Disease.’ In this world right now where we’re always talking about the H1N1, let’s talk about smallpox and the havoc it wreaked. Without further ado, at the beginning of the show, I’ll be talking to Glenn Bachman. Glenn has more than 30 years of experience in improving the economic and environmental performance of organizations and products. His book is called ‘The Green Business Guide.’ Welcome to the show, Glenn Bachman.

Glenn Bachman: Thank you so much.

Dr. Kent: Tell me about this book: ‘The Green Business Guide.’ Green stuff has been really hot for the last couple of years, and with the Obama presidency, it’s gotten even more so.

Glenn Bachman: That it has. The guide is intended to be a blueprint or a roadmap for small and medium sized businesses. What I have found in looking around as to what could be used as a roadmap if a business or an organization wanted to go green was not very detailed in the nuts and bolts of the how-to. I found that a lot of businesses understood why they would want to go green, but they didn’t really understand what it was that it would mean in detail. So what I had decided to do was to write a book that would consolidate different resources from all over the place, whether it’s from environmental organizations, EPA, business best-practices, my own experience, and pull that together in a single unified document that could be used in making or allowing an organization to go green.

Dr. Kent: What does it mean to ‘go green,’ exactly?

Glenn Bachman: There’s differing concepts on that. I use ‘green’ as ecological friendliness. A lot people use the term ‘green’ and use it as though it was also the same as ‘sustainable.’ However, sustainable businesses take not only the ecological friendliness, but they expand that into economic performance as well as social equity issues. Fair-trade, for example, or comparable pay for women and men, things of that nature.

Dr. Kent: And for you, ‘green’ means?

Glenn Bachman: For me, ‘green’ means ecological performance. By ecological performance, I’m talking about ensuring that the business or the organization is using a minimal amount of energy, that the energy that is being consumed is clean energy, that the water use is reduced, that they’re pulling water in minimal amounts from either public or private sources. When they are getting rid of the water, the water is being returned to a natural system with a minimal amount of contaminants or temperature change, or things like that. That packaging is reduced, material use is reduced, and things like that.

Dr. Kent: In business right now, it seems to be quite trendy to say that you’re green, and I know that there’s some things where you can trade some of your electricity against something that’s sustainable, or you could do many things as a business. You can install solar panels on the roof. What does it mean for a business to call themselves ‘green’?

Glenn Bachman: I think that fundamentally what they’re saying is that the way that they’re approaching the delivery of their services or the manufacture or sale of the products that they have is that they are doing it in a manner that is least injurious to the natural environment. You’re right to point out that they’re getting a lot airplay right now, because there’s certainly businesses that aren’t being truthful about being green. They recognize that to call themselves green is a way of taking advantage of what some perceive to be a fad, but that in fact they are not being green, because they’re, for example, reducing their packaging size, but perhaps they still have contaminants that are embedded into the product that they’re selling. That type of green, or non-green, has been dubbed ‘green-washing.’ Sort of like white-washing, only green-washing, where an organization is making claims that it’s green when in fact it is not. I think that what those businesses are doing that are legitimately trying to become green is they are aligning themselves with a greater population of consumers, whether those consumers are individuals or corporations like Wal-Mart, or what have you, that are recognizing that it makes business sense and family sense to go green. That by reducing the impact now it’ll be more likely that we’ll have a more palatable and inhabitable earth decades from now and generations from now.

Dr. Kent: Where’d you get your start in all of this?

Glenn Bachman: I think probably my path for this was from architecture. I was doing construction in high school during the summer, and that turned into architectural design interests in college, which turned into urban planning interests as I was trying to integrate shelter energy production and food production into neighborhoods, and I then became an energy planner working in the northwest where I was doing projects. I did about 50 different energy-related projects in the Pacific northwest as part of this environmental company that I was a partner in. Ecology has probably always been a part of my background. Probably the very first appreciation for that came from my grandfather.

Dr. Kent: When creating a green business guide, we’ve talked about sometimes it’s not necessarily green, but what are the best practices a business could fairly easily implement?

Glenn Bachman: I think part of the best practice is to demonstrate the leadership in the company to say, ‘We want to change the way that we are doing things and become more green.’ The leadership is critical. That’s best practice number one. Best practice number two is probably to engage everybody in the organization to look for opportunities for saving energy, for conserving water, for reducing resource use, things like that. Then, I think that on the nuts and bolts side, probably what you want to be able to do is focus on lighting, that’s probably common to most businesses, and then depending on the nature of the business, a mom-and-pop grocery would be most interested in lighting and refrigeration, whereas warehousing might be more interested in – if it’s non temperature controlled – it might be more interested in transportation issues and how to reduce the impact of moving goods from the warehouse to their point of use.

Dr. Kent: One of the things in this new administration has been green technology can really start to drive the economy. What does that mean, and is that possible?

Glenn Bachman: It is possible. In fact, President Obama just gave a speech today at Massachusetts Institute of Technology which was pretty much a statement of his green philosophy and also I would say in some ways a motivational speech saying ‘Go get ‘em.’ Energy technology and green technologies are moving very rapidly. It’s much like what the computer world was looking like 25 years ago and actually continues to be today. There are really some amazing things that are coming out in terms of developing fuels for transportation out of algae, out of different types of agricultural products. There’s different technologies that are being created on rooftops where shingles can understand what the temperature is and change color to reflect during overheated times so that the solar radiation doesn’t penetrate the building, or the solar radiation doesn’t get absorbed as heat into the building. Or in the wintertime turn into a darker color when it is desirable to have that penetration and to acquire more heat. We’re getting micro wind turbans that can be attached to rooftops that look very small. You would hardly even notice that they are on the rooftop.

Dr. Kent: When you mean micro, do you mean the kind that’s on like a little kids hat, or do you mean really small?

Glenn Bachman: I mean probably a little bit bigger than a little kid’s hat. We’re not going to get a lot of useful energy out of something that small. But think maybe 10-times larger than that.

Dr. Kent: So maybe like two feet tall or something?

Glenn Bachman: Yes, but instead of thinking in the vertical access, think in the horizontal axis, a hamster cage or something like that, running along the full length of a ridge. It can capture the wind energy, transform that into a generated electricity.

Dr. Kent: I’m curious about the roof that changes color. I remember as a kid just walking out along a simple asphalt road how hot it would get. Just color is pretty significant.

Glenn Bachman: It is. That’s one of the reasons why in ‘The Green Business Guide,’ the book, there are a series of recommendations on how to deal with paving: those huge parking lots that we see when we go to malls and outside parking lots when we are in the heat of the summer, when we’re walking across the entrance to the store, we’re boiling out there. So we try to shield those with vegetation: trees that will shade the asphalt and prevent the solar radiation from being absorbed.

Dr. Kent: It’s going to be profitable, but it’s a massive change for a lot of businesses. What is the resistance?

Glenn Bachman: The first set of resistance is that over the years, I think that we’ve seen that green technologies have been expensive. I think that because of that, the perception is that the green technologies are not having a very favorable return on investment. A lot of the greening of a business can be categorized in terms of changes, transformations that are no cost, like reminding people to turn off the lights in the storage room when they’ve gotten their ream of paper out of storage. Or they could be very low cost, such as installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, and removing incandescent bulbs. Those in a full use area have a payback often of six to eight months depending on what the cost of electricity is. And then there’s other costs that are greater. What I encourage the businesses to do is to look for the low-hanging fruit: those things that can be implemented easily with very little goading on the part of management or workers, and then to look at those other programs that can be implemented that would be a relatively short return on the investment. I think that the second thing that we’re seeing is that in the past, a lot of these technologies were not as confidant, as skilled, as efficient, as effective as the ones that they were being designed to replace. An example of those were some of the early fluorescent bulbs that flickered, that hummed, that were a distraction in the workplace, and so folks weren’t installing those. Those problems have been remedied, and as a result of that, there have been greater penetration of those types of programs in action in the workplace. I think that overall, there is just a certain malaise, that this is the way we’ve done business. It’s really not been a focus of attention until the problems associated with the climate change, with the resources, such as petroleum, silver, others that are used in industry, because they’re finite resources, they’re not as available because of the growing clientele of consumers, and as a consequence, the price of a lot of these resources are going up, and if the prices are going up, the operating expenses for the businesses obviously go up. So, they’re looking at ways of just reducing their input in order to stay competitive, and that’s the advantage that they’re seeking.

Dr. Kent: Well it’s so fascinating talking about green business, and I hope to talk to you again sometime. The book is called ‘The Green Business Guide,’ by Glenn Bachman, subtitled, ‘A One-Stop-Resource for Businesses of All Shapes and Sizes to Implement Eco-Friendly Policies, Programs and Practices,’ and of course it’s out on Career Press, and it’s been such an honor chatting with you.

Glenn Bachman: My pleasure.

Dr. Kent: You can find out more online, just again look up, ‘Glenn Bachman’ and ‘The Green Business Guide.’

Posted by jamie | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Business, Design, PODCAST, TRANSCRIPTS

Glenn Bachman | The Green Business Guide

October 29, 2009 | Comments Off

Interview with Glenn Bachman [17:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From Amazon.com:

Glenn Bachman, CMC, AICP, is president of Raven Business Group, LLC, a management consulting firm located in Massachusetts. Combining his expertise in strategic thinking, environmental management, and systems analysis, Glenn’s practice has evolved into sustainability consulting: assisting organizations that desire to become more ecologically and socially responsible, while maintaining their profitability. He has more than 30 years of experience in improving the economic and environmental performance of organizations and projects through consulting and training engagements. Bachman’s portfolio includes Environmental Impact Statements, energy facility cost-benefit analyses, strategic plans, business plans, and environmental audits and reports prepared for business, non-profit organizations, educational and governmental clients. He has a BA from Bowdoin and a masters in planning from the University of Oregon. Glenn is also vice president of the board of the Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living, a non-profit organization working to promote sustainable practices in Rhode Island area households, businesses, schools, and government, and the author of ‘The Green Business Guide.’

Posted by jamie | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Business, Design, PODCAST

Lilou Mace | I Lost My Job and I Liked It

September 12, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: Welcome to Sound Authors. I’m Dr. Kent, and it’s a beautiful Friday here in New York. And it’s my honor to have four guests on the show today. Three are authors, and one is a musician. At the end of the show we’re going to talk to Wes Charlton. He’s a well-known folk singer and has a great sound. Then I’ve got three authors on the show. Life coach Shann Vander Leek. She’s got a book called Wake Up Women – Be Happy, Healthy &Wealthy. And before that I’ve got Elizabeth Fournier, the author of All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates. And it’s my honor here at the beginning of the show to have author Lilou Mace on, and she’s got a book called I Lost My Job and I Liked It. Welcome to the show, Lilou.

Lilou Mace: Thank you.

Dr. Kent: Now am I saying your name correctly?

Lilou Mace: Yes, it’s Lilou, Lilou Mace.

Dr. Kent: So you actually are French.

Lilou Mace: Yes, originally, yeah.

Dr. Kent: Very nice. Well, tell me about this book. I Lost My Job and I Liked It.

Lilou Mace: Yeah, well, that’s the story of, I got this job from the U.S., I lived for 8 years in the U.S. and then got a job in London as Internet Marketing Director. And I worked for the company for about 7 months and then lost my job in February. And I decide to record, well I thought that this is not a coincidence, you know. First of all, if this was happening, maybe that was the time to finally live my dream. So I saw it as an opportunity, and then I decided to apply all the principles on the Law of Attraction, and all those wonderful universal laws that I heard about, and I said this is the time right now to apply it and make my dream job happen and actually empower millions of people, which is something I’ve always wanted. And so, I really walked the talk and recorded this journey, and it took me 30 days to discover my dream job, find it, and now I feel totally blessed by the fact that I have lost my job.

Dr. Kent: And you’ve done a number of things. Talk about that for a minute, including some really popular YouTube videos, and you ended up meeting Oprah Winfrey. Tell us about those adventures.

Lilou Mace: Yeah, yeah. Well, I’ve done quite a lot of personal development seminars and things like that. And with some friends, we got together and thought how wonderful it would be to create a structure that would help people to really apply that for 100 days at a time. So we created something that is out there right now called the 100-Day Reality Challenge where for 100 days people apply the Law of Attraction, set some goals, and for you to declare on video on YouTube what you want your next 100 days to look like, what you want to attract in your life, and then you share with other people viewing those videos your successes and challenges. So I started doing those videos back in 2005 and I was very playful with them, and now I have about 550 videos, and two million views on YouTube, I mean it’s just been this amazing adventure where each season, each 100-day I see some crazy things that are out there that I have no idea how I’m going to attract. And one of them, I moved to Chicago back in 2006 and I declared I want to meet Oprah Winfrey, and I was having dinner with this new guy (inaudible), and I shared with him that I would love to meet Oprah. And he said, “Well, it’s funny because we’re right around the Harpo Studios,” so we go in for a carpool, I get my picture taken, and then that same night I declare on video, “I’m going to meet her before the end of the year.” And that was in November. And the next thing you know it’s two days later, this Brian ended up bumping into Oprah herself in the elevator of the Ritz Carlton, and he didn’t know what to tell her, but just, “Ah, I just met this Lilou, her dream would be to meet you.” And there we go. Oprah offered two tickets to be in the Oprah show the next day, which she usually doesn’t do. And it was just a phenomenal adventure, meeting this world leader that is totally, has always inspired me to meet her in person. And the show was on Dream Jobs. And that’s when I realized I want to do what she’s doing. So two days after meeting her I started my own (inaudible) store in Chicago called Live a (inaudible) Life. And (inaudible) meaning other offers and starring offers. And so before you know, this video is actually, probably has had a hundred thousand views, and I’ve run quite a lot of them. You see the before and the after, which is quite phenomenal. You see me declare, I have no idea but somehow it’s going to happen, and then boom, you have the manifestation. So when I lost my job I really thought this is the opportunity to empower quite a lot of people facing those challenges right now. And it is a tough time where you’re scared to, how am I going to pay the bills? How am I going to, you know. Dream job? What are you talking about? I just need to find a job to pay my rent, you know. And this is the fear, and all with the media and such injecting in us. But there is such a different path for us to choose, and I think this is the best time ever for us to go for our dream job and to realize our own potential. Because we have huge potential that we’re not even tapping into yet, I think.

Dr. Kent: Right, and it is a very negative time in the media and for a lot of people because they’re sort of taking stock of their debts, and it’s a time of a lot of fear. So tell me about what’s inside this book. What can we expect from this journey that you’ve taken, and how did you put it into the book?

Lilou Mace: Yeah, well what you can expect is really a frantic journey of someone that is going through this, and I share my fears. But at the same time I also share the different tools that I’ve been using for a while now that helped me to clarify what I really wanted to do, that helped me to shift my moods, and including creating vision boards, and visualization, and all kinds of things that really help you to get out of that negative mojo that is going on. And it is inspiring. You start reading the book, and you’re just taken by the whole story. It’s just very, very, it feels like a one on one connection here, and it’s just wonderful then to be holding the final manifestation ultimately of the journey. And so it’s form the feedback that I had so far since I got it out is that people are finding themselves and just are called in action. It does the mirror effect, you know, it’s a stream of consciousness diary. So it’s all the thoughts that you recognize yourself with those fears and those passions and some things that you would like to do, and then consequences. You need action and you attracting your dream job. And I have some already wonderful stories that are out there and it’s absolutely a blessing to receive the feedback every day, all the positive feedback.

Dr. Kent: Well, and where can folks find the book itself?

Lilou Mace: The book is on amazon.com. I also have a website I dedicated to the book called ilostmyjob-book.com. And then there’s quite a lot of videos also about the book. There’s also, on YouTube there’s a free visualization to attract your dream job. It’s a, I think 6 minute visualization where I guide you to start visualizing right now what your dream job is going to be. And then what you do is that you start anchoring that feeling inside of you right now and you start having new ideas on how you can go about it in those recap moments. You know, where you finally have this brilliant idea. You won’t be able to attract that idea if you’re coming from a face of fear and negativity. You have to really take control of that, and you are powerful. You’re a powerful co-creator. I always call people co-creators because we’re always co-creating. And I hope you’re going to tap into your power now. This is the moment.

Dr. Kent: So let’s say someone loses their job. What’s the first step that people take?

Lilou Mace: Well the first step I think is to really deal with what’s happening, and we have all have different reactions. For me it was a liberating moment. Anything is possible now. But that’s the kind of attitude I have. But some people, it’s about releasing that anger and dealing with it. I recommend journaling, getting out, taking some time for yourself, and really start re-connecting with what is important. I didn’t go personally to start talking to some friends because I didn’t want to go in the pity party and the victim mode, cause that was too easy. I’m a person that believes that we’re a hundred responsible in our life. And that’s one of the founding principles that you’ll discover in the book. You know, it’s really, this happens, I believe ultimately that we created because we’ve dreamt something bigger. When I got fired, that season 11 I had determined at the beginning of the 100 days that I wanted to choose the season. And by choosing I mean full of passion and purpose. So the next thing I know I got fired, and yes, that was a shock. I had everything from U.S. But what I know is that that wasn’t a coincidence and this, what was happening was the biggest blessing. So I dealt with it, you know, and that’s what I explain in the book, and you’ll see how I dealt with it and maybe get some new ideas. But it’s been an exciting adventure, and if you allow it, just really be with that, and it is, it can be the best thing ever.

Dr. Kent: And that is something that’s very interesting, you know, how do you take something that’s negative and turn it into something positive. I’ve heard that in times of economic downturn like this people actually spend a lot more time with their families, and they spend a lot more time, so people aren’t actually all that much worse off when they lose their jobs.

Lilou Mace: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You reconnect, I think those times right now, in this economy and this hard time is really, we have to tap into something else inside of us. This is the time where we’re going to access our biggest potential and start helping each other start connecting in different ways. This is the time to go back to being human again. You know, and to discover what we’re really good at. Because I believe that until you really do something that you’re 100% passionate about, then somebody else is going to be better than you and you’re going to work at a different realm, and it’s going to be competition. But when you choose something that you love, let me tell you, there’s nothing that stops you, and it’s absolutely brilliant. And then you bring everybody with you along the way. So it’s connecting you to everyone, and to your heart, and it’s just really, really beautiful. And it’s worth looking at or at least trying on. And yes, people are connecting it, and you start attracting your team players, you know, the real people that really want genuinely to help you and you help them. It’s just like win, win, win. Not just two ways, it’s three ways, it’s just absolutely beautiful.

Dr. Kent: And talk about the concept of attraction. I know a little bit about that. When did you stumble across that, and what does it mean to you?

Lilou Mace: Well, the Law Of Attraction, I think the first book I read about it was Thinking (inaudible) from (inaudible) hill, an also Excuse Me, Your Life’s Waiting. And I remember sitting in my bathroom listening to that tape, cause I just, I hated my room, because at the time I was like, something better is out there and I can’t see it. And so I was looking for some new solutions and just tried it out. You know, I heard that you can attract the parking spot that you need, the money, so I’m like ok, I’ll try it. And then the print came out. And that’s such a great movie, I think to watch, or a book, to kind of get a sense of what the Law of Attraction can do. But the Law of Attraction is really like when you, what you focus on expands. So your thoughts are actually vibrations and if you put out there, if you can already be with what you want to attract, then you just attract that new type of people, you attract the resources that you need, and sometimes you make money as (inaudible), but really there’s so much more than that. Money comes when you, just money comes. And the Law of Attraction is always at work, no matter what. Like the Law of Gravity. And it’s a matter of focusing on what you want and visualizing, and the next thing you know you just follow the next inspired action, and it just unfolds, one step at a time, and then the whole staircase. The thing that’s (inaudible) that says that you don’t have to have it all figured out. You know, one thing leads to another and then to another and then to another. Just remain with that positive, strong mindset and do whatever it takes to keep on feeling good and focusing on what you really want and then the elements are going to come to you. So you’re already being that person, that if you want to be successful then you’re coming from that, you’re already visualizing your success and therefore you’re attracting the people that are going to help you along the way. Like right now I’m writing the second book on what it takes to actually become a bestseller. So it’s the whole Law of Attraction to actually become a bestseller. And just today I received an email and somebody wanting me to come connect with Ron Howard, and then next thing you know is that I need him and now he’s teaching me some principles and helping me to just roll in and out of 5,000 books. It’s just this unbelievable synchronicity that is beautiful and absolutely magnificent when it happens. And then gratitude just flows from there and even more then comes.

Dr. Kent: Well, it’s been an honor chatting with Lilou Mace, she’s well known on the internet, and by her first name Lilou. And you can check out her website ilostmyjob-book.com, and there’s some great links to all of her sites and videos. And the book of course is called I Lost My Job and I Liked It: 30-Day Law of Attraction Diary of a Dream Job Seeker. Thank you so much.

Lilou Mace: And you also have, by the way, the song.

Dr. Kent: And the song. Tell me about that.

Lilou Mace: Yeah, there’s a song because originally I was, I kept on having that song, “I lost my job and I liked it,” like the song from Katy Perry, I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It. So I kept on having that song and it would shift my mood and at the end I thought well, this is the title of the book, of course it is. And I changed all the lyrics, I took some singing lessons, I cannot sing, I don’t care. I just recorded it and posted that on YouTube, so if you want to have a good laugh, just type in I Lost My Job and I Liked It, or I Lost My Job song and then you’ll probably bump into it.

Dr. Kent: Wonderful. I’ll definitely check it out. Thank you so much for talking to us today about your book.

Lilou Mace: Thank you for having me.

Dr. Kent: And we’ve been talking to Lilou Mace, and my next guest on the show is another author, Elizabeth Fournier. She’s the author of All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates. Come on back for that, that’ll be in one minute.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Business, Health, Inspiration, Motivation, PODCAST, TRANSCRIPTS

Michael Port Interview | Think Big Manifesto

September 3, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to Sound Authors. Well, it’s my real honor on the show to have the author, award winning author Michael Port on the show. He’s the author of Book Yourself Solid: Beyond Booked Solid, and the Contrarian Effect, and very soon the author of the Think Big Manifesto. And just today I joined the Think Big Manifesto social media site, and it’s very exciting. Welcome to the show, Michael Port.

Michael Port: Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Kent: Well, tell me first about this new project, it’s so exciting, the Think Big Manifesto, and you’ve got this social networking site that I was able to get inside and mess around with.

Michael Port: Yeah, well the social networking site you’re talking about is thinkbigrevoluation.com, and we’ll get to that in a minute, what that is all about, but let’s just start with the Think Big Manifesto, and what it means to think big.

Dr. Kent: Absolutely.

Michael Port: Because I think that, you know everybody, we don’t want that defined for us by others. So I’m going to offer my own personal definition, and then if a listener wants to adopt it, that’s great, and if they want to create their own, even better. So to me, thinking big is knowing what we stand for so that we let it guide us in everything we do. So to maintain our integrity in a world filled often with slack thinking, lazy habits, flexible principles, so to imagine the possibility of the world and to go out and do them. To build a business, maybe cleaning the environment, rid the streets of crime, write a novel, run a marathon, protect animal rights, whatever you want to stand for. Raise a child, become a vegetarian, fight hunger, fight poverty, foster a peaceful and tolerant community. And the list never ends. So to think big is a personal thing, and it’s a global thing. Because it’s not about accumulating possessions or fame or friends or influence. It’s not about getting rich, though you may reap financial rewards in the process. But thinking big to me is creating a world of collaboration and cooperation instead of competition. To think big at the goal of life in which more is accomplished with others than you’ve dreamed of separately.

Dr. Kent: Wow. And it’s such a, just from reading a, I haven’t gotten through the book, but in reading the first couple chapters of it, it’s also not about you, and you go into depth about talking about gurus, and you say, “I’m not a guru.” I find that really refreshing, because there’s so many gurus out there that say, “My method is the method,” and this and that.

Michael Port: Yeah, absolutely. And look, the teacher tells you that they know the way, and that there was is the only way is not a teacher. A teacher is a leader and a follower, and most importantly is a learner. So I think we have hooked ourselves into this guru trap, this idea that somebody else has all the answers, and when we do that, we create a separation between us and them, and that separation is one of distance and difference. And if you have a separation of difference and distance with somebody who is doing something similar to what you want to do, you’re not going to do it yourself. So, I am not a guru, I’ve never met a guru in the way that we sometimes think of it here in the US. All I am is the author of this manifesto. Somebody had to write it, but it is not mine, it is ours. It’s my personal manifesto, it’s your personal manifesto, and it’s our personal manifesto. So this is very important to me that nobody guru-izes me, nobody guru-izes anyone else, and that together we can do big things. Yes, we learn from others. Yes we can honorably revere others, but that is different that guru-izing, and that’s a very, very important distinction, because nothing great, nothing transformative, nothing that every shaped the common good and inspired others has ever happened except by thinking big and we don’t think big just as a follower. We need to stand up as a leader as well in order to think bigger. And by the way, you mentioned one quick thing, you said you haven’t gotten through the book. It’s probably because you literally just got it, because it’s just become available, but the book is small, short, fast, and high octane. So for those of you who are thinking about this book, this is not a get through it over time kind of book. This is fast, and very, very friendly.

Dr. Kent: And what’s fun about it is, like the Book Yourself Solid, which was my first introduction to you, you immediately invite people to join the project, and not only do you say, “This is for you as well as for me,” but you also invite people into the fold. And in Book Yourself Solid, you said, “Well, here’s my workbook online, go download it,” and in this one it’s, “Join the social network.”

Michael Port: Yeah, well, the Think Big Manifesto is the handbook for the Think Big Revolution. So we need a place, if we’re going to be revolutionaries, if we’re going to get together to move a big goal forward, we need a place to do that. So I created thinkbigrevolution.com, and it’s free, it always will be, nobody owns big ideas. And so since this manifesto is handbook to this revolution, you can go in there and start your own revolutions, join other revolutions in progress. You’ve got all the tools necessary to stand for something big and go out and do it. And look, revolution is more than just a political necessity, right? It’s a personal necessity. So this is about one person at a time experiencing his or her own personal empowerment against an existing and deficient small thinking system. And in order to do this, in order to revolt against the small thinking systems, we have placed, so do to a place that’s safe, a place that is secure, a place that is strong, and filled with other big thinkers. That’s why I wanted to create this environment thinkbigrevolution.com where you can go, join, you can meet others, and you can start your own revolution.

Dr. Kent: And so, did you think of, I guess in those terms when you sort of first floated to the top of the success ladder with your Book Yourself Solid Stuff?

Michael Port: Did I? What was the question?

Dr. Kent: Well you were certainly thinking big. Did you think of it as, this is my manifesto?

Michael Port: You mean this book? Did I think this is my manifesto?

Dr. Kent: Well, I mean, even early on, in your first success as an author, in business, in all of that. Did you always think big and then sort of move on from there?

Michael Port: Yes, absolutely. I have, I think it’s been a theme in my life to try to think big. But there have been many, many, many times, many times today even where I’ve had small thoughts. And I have even often let those small thoughts overtake the big desires that I have. I think it’s very difficult, if not impossible to never have a small thought, never to have a small thought win out over the big thoughts that want to bubble up to the surface, want to take hold. I think that is natural. So each time we do something bigger, we increase our capacity to do more. So I wrote book yourself solid, it was very, very successful, but there was more to do. I wrote another book called Beyond Booked Solid, there was more to do. I wrote another book called the Contrarian Effect, there was more to do. So every since thing that I look back on in my life, I see how I let some small thinking hold me back from doing even more for myself, for my family, and for the people around me, and then of course for the people that we share this world with. So you really, everybody has the ability to think big, right? We just need to stop making excuses for why we don’t. It’s risky, I’m not smart enough, I don’t have the energy, or my family, friends or colleagues will disapprove, I might fail, that’s the kind of small thinking it’s time to revolt against. And all of us think these small thoughts from time to time, but all of us have the potential to think big much, if not most of the time. And when we think bigger about who we are and what we offer the world, it results in others thinking bigger and benefits not just ourselves but as I said, our families, our communities. And then, of course, ultimately, how we’ll make the world a much better place.

Dr. Kent: So give us some examples of, and what I love about the book and just paging through it, and I did just receive it this afternoon, so you were right in that I got through a few chapters within about an hour or so, but talk about a couple of the major points out of the book. What does thinking big mean?

Michael Port: Well, look. To me, this is a revolution in the tradition of play dough. One of collaboration. The politics in the best and most effective sense, not the red and blue state noise that fills the airwaves. Neither is it about one person thinking big alone on a secluded island of his or her dreams. It’s about one person thinking big and showing family and friends and colleagues and others how to think big, and then on it goes. So inspiring others to think big is perhaps the single most important act of any one individual thinking big. So community activist and filmmaker Annie Leonard posted a 20-minute animated film on the impact of our consumer-driven society on the internet and became an environmental maverick. So Paul, who met with little success as an actor, he founded a program that uses performing arts to empower teens to become leaders and activists in their communities. So after a multiyear hiatus from a moderately successful acting career and secondary roles, Dan Kim landed a leading role on a prime time TV show called Lost. So it is never too late. (inaudible) above all else. Yes?

Dr. Kent: I actually really wanted to talk with you about that one, because I’m a huge fan of Lost, and in that first, in that paging through, I actually bookmarked that page to ask you about, because I’m a big fan of Daniel Day Kim, and you talk about him in the book. Do you want to reveal that story to us?

Michael Port: Sure. Daniel Day Kim and I went to graduate school together at NYU. I was an actor. I had a modicum of success as an actor, but I left the business for a whole host of reasons. Basically it boils down to I was thinking small about the industry, about myself in relation to it, and my future with it. And around the same time, and this was a number of years ago, at the same time Daniel left he industry and went and worked for a number of years at a dot com startup. Now, he had two kids and a beautiful wife, and conventional thinking, conventional wisdom tells you you can’t go back in your thirties to acting after taking a few years off, especially when you’ve got kids and a wife, and you’ve got bills to pay and responsibilities to adhere to. But he did, and he went back and said, “No more of these secondary roles,” he’s Asian American, the secondary roles that Asian American men usually get are of the forensic doctor, the scientist, lab technician, the medical doctor, you’ve seen it over and over and over. So he said, “This is it, something is going to change.” And just his flip of the mind, a flip of the switch, he went back, and within a few short months he was cast as one of the lead roles on Lost. And now he’s a major, major star. He’s part of one of the most successful franchises on television right now. He gets offers like you wouldn’t believe to do really cool things, and he has changed the way many Americans see Asian American men. Now he is seen as a sex symbol. Dan has no desire to be seen as a sex symbol, that is not interesting to him. But what is interesting to him is to change the perception of Asian American men. This is what he stood for, what he stands for, and what he keeps on working toward in his career. So that is important to him and that is revolutionary in and of itself.

Dr. Kent: And in a time like today, when people are, I guess, very nervous about how to get to the next day, and oh, I just lost my job, or I just…and on, and on, what does thinking big get them?

Michael Port: Thinking big gives them the opportunity to take the world by storm. This is no joke. Look, the society we live in, televised, advertised, media-saturated, politically compromised, and often corporate-controlled, does not have to be the way it is. It’s not the only possibility. And we can change things, starting with ourselves. So the biggest obstacle that stands in the way of our doing big things in the world, our own worst enemies is us. Me, I am my biggest enemy, my worst enemy to doing big things. Not you, not anybody else, but we inappropriately project onto other people this wall. They are standing in our way, and they are not standing in our way. So we all want to think bigger if we truly admit it, but it’s terrifying to let people in on our hopes and dreams. Sarcasm and irony feel just so much safer. They call it a comfort zone for a reason, you know, because it’s comfortable. But believe me, it is not worth it to pretend to have no inspirations, because we’re too fearful of being laughed at, or failing, or getting outside our comfort zone, so instead what we say we want, so we say we don’t want success, or that it’s not possible, or the economy won’t allow it, or there’s nothing out there. Call me crazy, but I believe in people, I believe in us. I believe in you and me, and all of those who want to make a stand and make a difference in this world. So I believe that we can think bigger about who we are and what we offer the world. So thinking big is easy. Well, and hard, too. The easy part is, just do it: think big. The hard part is dealing every day with our own small thoughts, and those of others that threaten to sabotage our own self-confidence. This is where the buck stops. This is our revolution, after all. So you think it’s trite? You think it’s silly to talk about being revolutionary, to be part of a movement, to do big things in the world? Well that’s sarcasm and that’s irony and that will not get you to where you want to go. That will keep you secluded on the island of small thoughts. I’d rather you be on the island of dreams by yourself than the island of small thoughts by yourself, because if you’re on the island of dreams by yourself, there is a boat, there is a ship that is waiting to take you into this revolution, to take you into this journey of doing big things, and that’s all of us, the people that have committed to this, that have made promises and are fulfilling those promises to think big today, tomorrow, and forever more.

Dr. Kent: Well, it’s been such an honor chatting with Michael Port, and I could talk to him all day, and the great thing about being a part of his Think Big Revolution social network is that I’m in touch with him now, and will be able to be in touch with all of the people that are wanting to think big, and that’s such a fantastic thing. And the book is coming out what, in about a month?

Michael Port: Well, actually the 27^th is the actual release date, but it just, it turns out that just yesterday the books showed up in stock at the online retailers, so they’re there early if you want to pick up a copy of the Think Big Manifesto, you can do it now. You can also join thinkbigrevolution.com. Just remember that you have to do it yourself, but you can’t do it alone, and we are here to do it with you.

Dr. Kent: I love it. And we’ve been talking to Michael Port. Check out thinkbigrevolution.com, and of course MichaelPort.com, and all of his books are there. I got into him with Book Yourself Solid, which is, I think, probably the best business book out there, and I really appreciate you talking to me today.

Michael Port: Yeah, you’re very welcome. It’s my pleasure.

Dr. Kent: And my next guest on the show is the author of another best selling book called How Starbucks Saved My Life, Michael Gates Gill. This is a New York Times bestselling book, and we’ll talk to him right after the break.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Business, Motivation, PODCAST, TRANSCRIPTS

Steve Knopper, Author of Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age

May 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to Sound Authors! The next guest on my show is perfect for the title of this show, of course. Usually I’m interviewing authors, three authors per show and one musician, and what’s fun about this book is that it hits both. Author Steve Knopper is the author of Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. Welcome to the show. Do I have Steve on the line? I think we’re having some technical difficulties. Do I have Steve on the line?

Steve Knopper: Yeah, I’m here, can you hear me? Hello?

Dr. Kent: Now I can hear you, how’re you doing?

Steve Knopper: Can you hear me now?

Dr. Kent: Yep, I can hear you.

Steve Knopper: Sorry, ok.

Dr. Kent: Tell me a little bit about this book. Most people go into a CD shop, and they don’t think much about this, but as someone who is in the publishing end, music world, I’ve seen a lot of things change, as you certainly have. Tell us about the changes that have happened.

Steve Knopper: Yeah, absolutely. My book is on, it’s a chronology, and it begins with, it’s basically tells the story of the record industry, sort of the rise and fall. It begins with the adoption of the CD in the early 80’s, and it goes through that period when everybody was replacing their record collections from cheap vinyl LPs to more expensive CDs. And there was a huge boom in the industry, and everybody got real rich until about 1999 or 2000, and then Napster came along, and everybody got their music for free after that, and it kind of destroyed the whole model of selling CDs. Then iTunes happened, and really the record industry has been shrinking and crashing and struggling ever since.

Dr. Kent: What are some of the industry’s big mistakes. There’s so many, and it’s one after the other that we hear about and sort of laugh about. The famous one, of course is the 8-track, which wasn’t a mistake, but now it’s kind of something that we laugh about. So tell us about some of the funny stories.

Steve Knopper: Sure. I have a series of small chapters in the book called Big Musics, Big Mistakes. And they’re separate (inaudible). The first one is the CD longbacks. Remember that cardboard thing that you had to buy in order to get the CD, you had to tear this thing open and get blisters all over your fingers and so forth. That was actually created because record retailers like The Towers of the World were initially resistant to the CD, and they came after the industry basically said you don’t have to rebuild your LP racks, which would have cost a lot of money. So they created these cardboard things, side by side they were about the same width as a vinyl LP. So that was a big one, another one that I mention is killing the single. By the late 90’s, part of the reason Napster was so effective was that people were just kind of sick of having to go out and buy $18.00 CD’s that had one or two good songs on them. Napster came along right at that time, and it allowed people to cherry pick the singles they wanted for free, and then iTunes later allowed you to do it for just 99 cents. That destroyed that whole business model of selling an $18.00 CD as the only format.

Dr. Kent: And how is it, it’s such an interesting thing, now that there’s interactions directly with musicians, and musicians will put their own record labels together, and put their own music out, and this and that. Is the record industry even breathing?

Steve Knopper: Yeah, the record industry still is. Basically when we have heard of the record industry we’re more or less thinking before major record labels. Sony, DMG, Warner, Universal and EMI. And those companies are huge companies that have a lot of overhead, they have a lot of payments to make, a lot of high executive salaries. So they’re carrying a lot of freight, and they’re not doing that well with their own problems, their own business model problems. Then the economy is really giving that a hit as well. So these companies are shrinking, shrinking, they’re laying off people left and right, they’re finding it harder and harder to discover new talent and market that new talent, although that’s still going on to an extent. The question is, how that’s going to affect artists. Sort of the glass empty way of looking at it is, it’s much more difficult for the artist to take that traditional path, sign to a major record label, use its connections to get on the radio, and become a huge star. But I think the glass half full thing, which is sort of what I believe, is that no longer do you even need a major label for a lot of this stuff. You can use MySpace and Face Book and YouTube, and all these different ways of do it yourself marketing that didn’t even exist 10 or 15 years ago. Maybe you won’t turn into Beyonce, but you can still eeke out a decent living as an act if you have talent and you’re willing to put a little work into the marketing.

Dr. Kent: It’s so much fun thinking about the rise of a company like Apple and the iTunes thing. It’s so iconic. Tell me about some other iconic moments in history.

Steve Knopper: Sure. Again, Napster was sort of the most iconic of all dirt in this kind of profit, in this progression. Napster came along, everybody knew Napster, used it, millions of people were on this thing, after Shawn Fanning invented it in 1999, and it’s become kind of a symbol, when you look back, of two things. More negatively, it’s a symbol of piracy. It’s a symbol of people being able to get all their music illegally for free, and copyright infringement and all that stuff. But I think, as I say in the book, it’s also a positive legacy, or symbol as well because it showed the opportunity of the new digital business model, the new online, very convenient way of getting music where you didn’t have to go to stores and spend all that money on a CD. So therefore I think that Napster was really a major crossroads at the time. I argue in my book that the record labels at the time had a chance to make a deal with Napster, and they should have done so, but chose not to.

Dr. Kent: Is it all about money? Is all of what drives the market, is it ever what a consumer wants necessarily? It seems that Napster was, but are any of the decisions made by consumers and not money makers?

Steve Knopper: Yeah, everything in major business is all about money. That’s true in the music business as well. And you’re absolutely right, during that time period beginning in the late 90’s, even before Napster internet music was seen as an opportunity by some people in the music business. But others, higher up in the business, who had been selling CD’s a certain way for a long, long time, and then before that final LP (inaudible) and gotten incredibly rich in the process. They really had no interest in changing the business model and looking at the fork in the road, and taking the fork and going in the completely new technological direction. And that’s true of many industries. We certainly saw it with newspapers, we’re seeing it now with the auto industry. If it works, people don’t want to change it, but that’s why you have to hire high tech people and listen to them. And that’s where the record industry went wrong, is that they actually did have a lot of very credible high tech experts on their staff, very experienced people in both marketing departments and the new media, and the strategic department. All the labels had lots of people like that. But in the end the business affairs people and the people at the head of these labels didn’t listen to them and they just sort of poo-poohed them, and they went on their way selling CD’s and they wound up paying a major price for that decision.

Dr. Kent: I was the kind of guy when I was in college that was a little CD obsessed. I remember so many people of my music-philic friends who had whole walls of their house devoted to CD’s. Then talking through the years with folks, there’s still people that have whole walls full of LP’s. You can’t really have a whole wall full of mp3’s.

Steve Knopper: Yes, that’s true. I’m the same as you, I’m 40 years old, so I grew up right during that time. I was in high school and college, right during that time when they were in that changeover from LP’s and CD’s, caught the tail end of getting obsessed with buying LP’s and having a big collection, and then obviously kind of grew up with CD’s and doing the same. Yeah, I’m actually looking right now at my wall of CD’s, and I really like it, and I like that physical way of collecting records, and it’s sad to me that that’s a relic, that it’s kind of going out of style. But on the other hand, you’re right to make the point that there’s something romantic that’s lost, because you can’t have wall of mp3’s. But the iPod is pretty cool. It’s pretty iconic, and I think if you’re a college student who’s grown up and come of age with music over the last 10 years, I think that you’re going to feel just as warmly and just as nostalgic as we do for CD’s about that moment when you got your first iPod, and you looked on it, and you realized you could carry 10, 20, 30, 40,000 of your favorite songs and play whatever one you want, and that’s a very, very powerful and cool idea. So I do a lot of these interviews, and a lot of people bring up the same point, which is isn’t there something lost. The physical collection going out, isn’t there something lost? I think that’s true, but I also think that you have to look at the flip side of it as well, which is something really that’s gained.

Dr. Kent: And one thing that I’ve started to do is one people jettison their old record collections, I like to record my vinyl into my iPod. I’m a big iPod freak too, and I’ve actually revived the classic feelings and the kids really can feel like they’re connected to that music, because it’s so diverse, and you can put anything in there, live shows, live shows have been revived again. So talk about how has the music itself changed? Because what’s interesting is you talk about the industry kind of scrambling and trying to figure out what to do, what have musicians done? And I know part of that is in how they can release live shows and things that they might not have done before because they had to print 10,000 copies, or something like that.

Steve Knopper: I think that’s a really excellent point. I think you’re talking more about what established musicians can do as far as getting out different types of outside material, and stuff like that. There are a lot of ways of doing that, if the musicians are willing, than there were even 10 years ago. There’s YouTube. When YouTube first started, as you remember, before the real copyright issues really kicked in, the stuff that you could see on YouTube was basically the entire history of music on video and DVD and VHS and TV, was right there, right in front of you for free, and that was a really cool moment. For fans, not necessarily for people who have the rights for that stuff. But still, you can go on YouTube and find all kinds of really interesting stuff. Live recordings, there’s another site that’s not totally supported by the original artists, there’s a little bit of controversy there, but there’s this site called Wolfgang’s Vault, I don’t know if you’re familiar with that, but they basically bought all the rights to the old King Biscuit radio shows, and also to Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium recordings from the 60’s all the way up, and there is some fascinating stuff in there. My two favorite artists to buy bootlegs of are Bruce Springsteen and Who, and there’s a lot of amazing material for both of those artists there. So this whole internet thing has kind of broken open a dam. I was actually just on a panel at South Heights Southwest last week, and one of my fellow panelists was Kim Quirk, who used to be in the band Too Much Joy, and is now with Rhapsody, and he made the point that when Napster came out, he thought there was no one who could be a bigger Clash fan that him. He had all, no on could go deeper into the Clashions catalog than he could. He thought he was as deep as he could possibly get with rare Clash and Joe Strummer recordings, and he said when Napster came out he realized ok, I’m going (inaudible). So I think that’s dated in and of itself. Obviously he has some more complex opinions about was Napster a good or a bad thing. But I think that sort of sums it up in a nutshell, that this sort of internet stuff is a real opportunity for precisely the type of chance that you’re talking about.

Dr. Kent: And you know, an interesting thing that I’ve found is that a lot of musicians that are sort of the octogenarian crowd, a lot of them are resistant to some of this stuff, but a good number of them say you know what, if I’d have had this when I was a kid, man, it would havd made everything so much easier. As a musician, and I see, even my students, with their iPods, I’m amazed how much variety of music they get and how educated they are about music.

Steve Knopper: Yeah, I spoke to a high school class here in Colorado where I live a few weeks ago, and I walk in to talk about the record business, and as I walked in a couple kids were arguing at their desks, they must have been 16 or 17, about whether or not Robert Johnson actually sold his soul to the devil. I hear that often. I’m a huge Robert Johnson blues fan, and so I actually, we all go, all the music fans, rock music or pop music, go through this process of, “Oh, I heard the Rolling Stones hit, where did that come from?” So you go back and look through the Muddy Waters and Howard Wolf, and then you go back and listen to Robert Johnson. You just keep going back, and you learn all this stuff, and you and I when were kids buying CD’s and LP’s, the only way to do that was to raise some money and keep making these trips back and forth to the record store. Which on one hand is awesome, you know. It’s just a great rite of passage thing as a kid. But there’s a great power to be able to just do all that stuff at your computer. You know, iTunes certainly enabled you to do that, and streaming services like MySpace now, and Rhapsody. Not everything’s out there, but it probably will be, and very soon. If it were 1980-whatever, and I was 14 and I was sitting in front of my computer going, “Wow, I can do that whole process and go back as far as I want, just by sitting here for an hour,” I think that’s an incredibly powerful thing, and it just supports music enthusiasm across the board, and I think that’s good.

Dr. Kent: So was Napster kind of like the audio YouTube? I have several colleagues that always talk about, “Why is there no YouTube for audio?”

Steve Knopper: Yeah, well, that’s a complicated, that’s a really good question there, it’s got a complicated answer. The YouTube for audio, music, audio recordings from the time of Napster had issues, legal issues, involving who has the rights to that. Obviously all these things were fought in the courts, who has the rights to various songs, and various audio recordings. And that was really meticulously wrangled through in various court decisions involving Napster, and all these different other places. But then, when YouTube popped around, I guess it was 2004 and 2005, people realized that they really hadn’t gone through that same discussion for music video. Kind of the difference between music video and audio is that you can dowload audio really easily, and it’s leading to a mass huge collection of songs for free, and illegally, as you know. But it’s a little bit more difficult to do that for video, and so YouTube became kind of a middle ground option where you can rent all this stuff by streaming it on the YouTube website, but you can’t actually buy it and own it. So, that was a long winded way of saying it’s just two different things. The YouTube for audio right now is being worked out. Rhapsody is one answer to your question, you can go to that website pay twelve bucks a month, and you can stream whatever song you want, but you can’t really own it. Another example that’s kind of developing is MySpace music. I never thought MySpace music was that big a deal, but just in the last few weeks I realize that all kinds of records are out there for free streaming basically. There’s like 27 YouTube albums on there, there’s the new Kelly Clarkson on there, there’s all kind of stuff on MySpace you can get. (inaudible) So the answer to your question is it’s developing. So sorry I got a little complicated there.

Dr. Kent: So tell us, in closing here, I mean I could talk with you for hours about this, I love it. How’d you get into this, and obviously the book’s done very well by you, and how did you get into this and come up with this one?

Steve Knopper: Well, basically I’ve been covering the music business a long time. I started out just by being a music writer and a music critic. I became a freelancer in 1996 and I realized that everybody was writing about music. I wanted to write a record review for a major magazine, I had to compete with a billion people. But if I wanted to do a news story about the music business, and interview 20 people, it’s a little bit harder to do that, but then the competition among people who can do that exact thing is not as much. And it’s easier to find story ideas that no one else is pitching. So that’s sort of how I got into it, and I originally wrote for Billboard, and then I wrote for Spin, and now I write for Rolling Stone about the same topic. I had done a piece for Wired a couple years ago about trying to kill my computer with viruses. Basically just clicking on all the stuff you’re not supposed to click on, and downloading all the spam stuff. I wounded it pretty well, and the story ran and got some attention. And someone from New York called me and asked if I had any book ideas. And then the story gets kind of long and drawn out, but the short answer is I sent him ten ideas and he liked one of them, and eventually we had a book deal.

Dr. Kent: It’s wonderful, I love it. The fascinating thing about it is that you come to all of this from I think a really fresh perspective. We’re so used to hearing, “Oh, that damn MySpace,” or you’ll hear it from the other end, “Oh, iTunes has really changed the whole world, and it’s so perfect, and everyone has such a tact. And so I think what you’ve done brilliantly is sort of bring everyone together and tell the whole history.

Steve Knopper: Well thank you very much, that’s what I realize is that nobody had actually really told the story from the perspective of the people involved. I interviewed something like 280 people for this book, and they were the people who were right there in it, negotiating, and I realized no one had done kind of a journalism book, kind of like what you just said, kind of fleshing out exactly what you just said. People basically know what happened, but not too many people know the inside details of what happened, and that was my goal, and I’m just really gratified that people seem to like it.

Dr. Kent: Well, it’s so cool. So where can we find your writing online, do you have a site?

Steve Knopper: Yeah, I do, I have a website. It’s KNOPPS.com. My last name is Knopper, so that’s my long time nickname.

Dr. Kent: Well, Knopps.com, and we can check out all of his writing and I hope that also the piece from wired is up there somewhere? I gotta go check that out. The book is called Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. You gotta pick this book up. Thank you so much for chatting with me.

Steve Knopper: Thank you for having me, I enjoyed it.

Dr. Kent: All right, my next guest on the show has an extraordinary tale to tell, Terry Healey wrote a book called At Face Value, and it’s really unbelievable the story that he has to tell us throughout more than 30 surgeries on his face, and has an incredible life story to tell. Come on back for that in just a minute.

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