Mike Wittenstein Show Notes
Mike Wittenstein had not acted since his junior high school play. But he decided to take an acting class and it helped him to grow his business. Listen to Mike tell his story of how he discovered a way to improve the customer experience by using the fine art of acting in a whole new way.
Mike grew up in Orlando, FL, on the same land his great grandparents grew oranges and raised dairy cows. He was born with an entrepreneurial streak, having started a woodworking venture at age 13 which paid for his senior year abroad in Brazil.
College included another three semesters overseas (Brazil and the former USSR). The start of Mike’s professional life included stints in travel, banking and real estate.
When Mike was young, his ability to see patterns and opportunities sooner than some others put him on the outside a bit as others found him out of touch with their current reality. Once he learned to slow down and change his language from future state to current state, things got much easier.
And then Mike found his love of story and tech when he co-founded one of the world’s first digital agencies.
Mike’s entrepreneurial skills served him well as IBM’s eVisionary for Global Services where he started three consulting practices, the last one in customer experience design. Next, Mike founded Storyminers in 2002 to continue mastering the art and science of customer experience and to build the business.
Mike currently lives in Marietta, GA, living a life that can serve as an example to others, with his wife Lois and his daughter Hannah. Some weekends, he gets to build furniture in his basement woodworking shop. Mike also has a son Isaac in college at Georgia Tech.
Tweetable Quotes and Mentions
Listen to @mikewittenstein and get over the hump on the @FastLeaderShow Click to Tweet
“Do what you love and love what you do and you have a good life.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Open your mind and relax your thinking and you’ll pick up on patterns.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“When you’re in a service business you’re designing for other people.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Using empathy you don’t need to have lots of market research.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Get the noise in your head down to a level where you pay attention to somebody else.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Measurement has a really strong bias in it.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“A lot of things that matter to customers aren’t things we have measures for yet.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Your brand can’t be any better than what your customers’ experience.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“You’ve got to design for adoption.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Experiences are about transforming people or leading them to points of discovery.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“What would you like to learn – it will help you get closer to completing life’s puzzle.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Shutting down the doors of things you don’t want to do opens opportunities.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“The way the world works has changed dramatically in the last few years.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“In order to be a good speaker you have to first be a good listener.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“Everybody’s got confidence inside them.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
“People follow confidence.” -Mike Wittenstein Click to Tweet
Hump to Get Over
Mike Wittenstein had not acted since his junior high school play. But he decided to take an acting class and it helped him to grow his business. Listen to Mike tell his story of how he discovered a way to improve the customer experience by using the fine art of acting in a whole new way.
Advice for others
If you’re looking to make a big change in your life or if you’re just getting started right out of school – pick what you want to learn the most and it will give you a hint of things you’ll like to do.
Holding him back from being an even better leader
Being even more mindful and paying even more attention to those I serve.
Best Leadership Advice Received
- You can’t teach a pig to sing – it doesn’t work and it pisses off the pig; you can’t push change on people.
- Find out what it takes to makes someone else’s job easier and do it for them.
Secret to Success
The ability to see patterns.
Best tools that helps in business or Life
Listening. If you’re not paying attention to them there is no way your message will get through to them.
Recommended Reading
