Steven Spielberg

Congrats to Steven Spielberg http://tinyurl.com/yk3a4vb. It was an honor working with his Shoah Foundation interviewing Holocaust Survivors.

Sometimes when we see celebrities receive honors and awards, we wonder if they really deserve them. I feel great whenever I see that Steven Spielberg has received another award. To me, he is the consummate producer. The work that he produces often changes the way we think, which changes the way we act, which, in turn, can change the world. Whether it is Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, or Amistad, he shares stories with us that tend to move us in powerful directions.

I believe each of us can move people in similar ways through actions we take in our everyday lives. Thank you once again, Steven Spielberg, for being a great example of what caring storytelling can do … and congrats! You deserve it.

The 4th “R” – Uncovering the Forgotten Business Tool

This afternoon I met with Jacqueline Rixen to fine tune the workshop we are conducting together next Saturday, August 22, entitled “The 4th “R” – Uncovering the Forgotten Business Tool”. Jackie and I make a good team as she complements my strengths and weaknesses. Finding someone with her characteristics is essential to accomplishing a successful workshop.

If you are interested in improving your listening skills, here is more information on the workshop:

You’ve studied reading, writing, and speaking, but what about listening?

Join us for Listening – The 4^th “R” – Uncovering the Forgotten Business Tool

In this thought provoking workshop, you will learn:

· Why listening?

· The basics of good listening.

· How to listen with your whole body.

· How being a better listener will attract better results in business.

· How to be more comfortable in those dreaded “networking events” and family gatherings.

· How to ask better questions for business and casual conversations.

· How to connect more closely with family members, customers, and clients.

Facilitators:

Mike O’Krent, founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC, makes personal history videos for families that value their heritage. Mike interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. During that incredible experience, he learned valuable listening skills and discovered the importance of recording the life stories of our loved ones. http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/about.html

Jacqueline Rixen is an Austin attorney who uses listening every day to help her clients accomplish their legal goals.  She has over 20 years experience as a lawyer and many more years as a listener. http://www.rixenlaw.com

When/Where:

Saturday, August 22 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

Treaty Oak Bank, 101 Westlake Dr, Austin, 78746

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Austin&state=TX&address=101+Westlake+Dr

Registration:

Cost: $80, includes special gift.

Limited seating available.  Reserve your seat by contacting Mike O’Krent at either 512-431-8166 or mokrent@lifestoriesalive.com .

Please feel free to forward this to your friends, family, colleagues, and associates.

Listening Skills Workshop – for business and casual conversations

Join us for a Listening Skills Workshop – for business and casual conversations.
In this exciting workshop, you will learn:
• The basics of good listening.
• How to listen with your whole body.
• How being a better listener will attract better results in business.
• How to be more comfortable in those dreaded “networking events” and family gatherings.
• To improve your questioning techniques for business and casual conversations.
• How to connect more closely with members of your family.
Facilitator: Mike O’Krent http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/about.html
Saturday, August 8 or Saturday, August 22 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
Treaty Oak Bank, 101 Westlake Dr, Austin, 78746
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Austin&state=TX&address=101+Westlake+Dr
Cost: $80, includes special gift.
Limited seating available. Reserve your seat by contacting Mike O’Krent 512-431-8166 or mokrent@lifestoriesalive.com

Your Favorite Grandparent

One of the questions I ask of our LifeStories Alive interviewees is, “Were you particularly close to one of your grandparents?” I know it’s not politically correct to have a “favorite” grandparent, but we naturally are attracted to, and are closer with, one of our grandparents. This special relationship can be life-changing.

I met with an acquaintance today named Dave who loving told me stories about his grandfather (who died about ten years ago). Dave and his grandpa would go out on his ranch near Fredericksburg, TX, just the two of them, and talk for hours on end. He felt that his grandpa was telling him personal stories about his life, including his experiences in World War II, that he had not shared with anyone else. As Dave this afternoon was telling me this, his face lit up with the greatest smile. I could feel the special bond he had with his grandpa.

I have heard of many such relationships with many of the people I talk with. I’ve always wondered, What sets up those special conversations and relationships? I feel one of the reasons is the “safe place” a grandparent feels with that one grandchild. While those people of Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation http://tinyurl.com/llhf7x are typically very humble, their stories will flow like a river when they feel that they are in a safe place to share them. Creating such a safe place is one of the skills I have learned and teach in my work at LifeStories Alive.

So if you had a favorite grandparent, remember them today and honor their memory (or present-day life) by sharing their stories with someone else, or better yet, by recording them for future generations to know. Remember, one day you, too, might be a favorite grandparent for someone special in your life.

Hand-Written Letters and Notes

Hand-written letters and notes are something that we might find only in museums in a few years. While the massive acceptance and use of email makes us more efficient in our communication, it robs both the author and recipient of a priceless artifact … your signature. By signature I don’t only mean your name signed at the bottom of the letter, I mean your handwriting, penmanship and feelings put into what you write as well.

As I do the pre-interview work for each of my interviewees at LifeStories Alive http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/ , I ask them for a favorite letter from a parent, grandparent or spouse written to them many decades ago. As you can imagine, those letters, like the memories we have of those people, become priceless heirlooms after the authors have died.

Try the following experiment  yourself and see what happens: Go into that buried drawer or box in the closet or garage and pull out a letter that someone wrote to you or you wrote to them decades ago. As you read the letter (and be honest with yourself) what feelings and memories go through your heart?

By not writing a hand-written letter to someone you care about, you are robbing them of pulling out your letter many years from now and having those same feelings. And another point (perhaps more important than the previous one), isn’t it great to receive and read a hand-written letter someone has written to you? There’s benefits on both ends!

Today it felt good to practice what I preach. I wrote a hand-written thank you letter to all the attendees of my last StoryListeners Workshop. Please share the joy in writing. Besides, when it’s all written and done, it’s a fun thing to do!

Listen!

Listen with an exclamation mark after it seems odd. It infers listening loudly. This is one of the many important skills I will be teaching this afternoon at the StoryListeners Workshop. We’re also covering how to be a better questioner, as a formal interviewer, but also (and more importantly) in regular conversation. The emphasis, however, will be on listening.

As an experiment at the next business or social gathering you attend, stand back and watch people in conversation with each other. Is either person really listening? Are they so concerned with what they’ve got to say next that their minds are blocking out an important thing the other person is sharing with them? I see this all the time (and sometimes am guilty of it myself)! How much more will our lives be enriched if we simply listen with an exclamation mark after it?

This afternoon we’ll be sharing new ways to practice skills that will lead us to better listening. I’ve found a whole new world opening up to me when I truly listen. I’m excited about teaching others how to do the same. Our next workshop is July 11. If you’re interested in more info, respond to the contact page at LifeStories Alive’s website http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/contact.html .

Happy listening!

StoryListeners Workshop

I’m preparing the final details on a fun and informative workshop, a StoryListeners workshop. We are familiar with storytellers. In fact, some people are very good at story telling. Few people, however, are proficient at story listening. In my work at LifeStories Alive http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/ I have discovered new and fun ways to ask questions and listen to answers; ways I never dreamed of in the past. I am looking forward to sharing those ways and techniques with those who attend the workshop.

Here are the details:

Join us for a StoryListeners Workshop.

• Learn to gather the stories of your loved ones.
• Learn to listen, again.
• Improve your questioning techniques for a formal interview or a casual conversation.
• Connect the generations in your family.

Saturday, June 27 from 1 pm to 4 pm or Saturday, July 11 from 9 am to noon.

Treaty Oak Bank, 101 Westlake Dr, Austin, 78746 http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Austin&state=TX&address=101+Westlake+Dr

Cost: $175, includes special gift.

Limited seating available.  Reserve your seat with a $50 deposit and by contacting Mike O’Krent at either 512-431-8166 or mokrent@lifestoriesalive.com .

Please feel free to forward this to your friends and family.

If I Live To Be 100

I was given as a gift an incredible book, If I Live To Be 100, Lessons from the Centenarians by Neeah Ellis, by my friend, Stephanie at Mosak Advertising & Insights http://www.mosak.com/mosak/ . In the work that I do, I’ve had the joy of capturing the LifeStories of two centenarians; one was a lady in El Paso who was 103, the other a lady in Austin who was 100. This book does a great job of not only telling some of the stories of this incredible group of people, but also gives you an insight of what it’s like on the interviewer’s side of the microphone (and what a joy it is!).

I remember hearing on NPR (National Public Radio) a clip of one of the ladies Neeah interviewed. The 100+ year old giggled as she described one of the secrets to her healthy long life. She  said, a bit timid and embarrassed by the answer to come, “Early in the morning, if the weather is good enough, I walk outside my cabin to the lagoon go skinny dipping.” Neeah then asked, “Aren’t you worried that someone will see you?” She answered, still giggling, “At my age, I don’t think anyone would want to.” 

You will learn from this book the joys and struggles of living so long. After reading it, I look forward to living to be a healthy, happy, and a bit fiesty 100+ year old guy. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I have.

A Great Way to Start the Week

I woke this morning to read an email sent by an interviewee. Here it is (the names are left out to protect privacy):

“Tonight (my spouse) and I sat down and looked at the DVD’s of our story.

First, I wish to thank you for taking my very strong statement about my father out of the program. It is still hard for me to get a grip on my feelings regarding him while watching the story.
I want to close by saying we laughed and cried as we watched ourselves tell the stories as we saw our role in the family. We both learned things from watching each other, things, we really just passed over during our 52 years of married life. 
Thank you for doing a great job.”

I share this not to toot my own horn, but to remind you that one of the wonderful results of recording your LifeStories is what you might discover after it is done; things that you “really just passed over during our (xx) years of married life”, for instance.

I hope your week has started as great as mine has.

Being There For a Friend

This morning I received a call from Don, someone I consider to be my best friend (other than my wife). Don called to tell me that, following a bout with Alzheimer’s disease, his mother died at around 5:00 AM this morning. My heart went out to Don as he described his Mom’s last moments on her journey of life. As a friend, I wanted to be there for him. The challenge is that Don is living in Barrington, Illinois and I’m in Austin, Texas. As I talked and a tear rolled down my face, I so wanted to say, “I’ll be over in a few minutes.” Yet I knew I couldn’t be physically.

So Don kept talking and I kept listening. I have always admired Don for his intelligence, sense of humor, and unstoppable desire to give of himself to others. It’s good that he is that way. It makes him one of the best clergymen I have ever known. Although I am Jewish and Don is Lutheran, we have always felt a common bond in belief … a belief that there is one God for all people. I felt that God was there for him, but I wanted to be there for him too.

After the long conversation was over and I hung up the phone, I realized that as much as I wanted to be there for him physically, to give him a hug and help him with anything I could provide at this difficult time in his life, I was there for him in many other ways. The idea of “being there” for a friend does not necessarily mean you have to be there physically. If he or she is indeed a true friend you’re dealing with, then they will feel that you are there when you reach out in any way you can. When I think of the wonderful combination of the law of attraction and that there is a God for all people, I realize that we are put together with our friends to bridge a physical and geographical gap and distance.

Being there for a friend means establishing a presence that can take a number of forms. We should be thankful for the fact that we have friends to comfort and be with, rather than worry about what form “being there” takes at that particular moment.