Steve Shlansky, founder of GO! Productions, tells a group of Grady High School students the story of how he created his firm and how he overcame obsticles in his career by always keeping a hand in the craft that he loves.
by Natalie Johns
Theater was the answer to Steve Shlansky’s success. Over the course of his career he realized that in order for him to be successful, he had to be doing something that he loved.
He told the students at Grady High School that his life was anything but a linear one. Like everyone he had his highs and his lows but in the end he always came back with one answer: theater
Pulling the student’s into his presentation he flashed huge rallies that his marketing company GO! put together. The students watched in somewhat wonder as to how anyone could make such an everyday product (such as Lowe’s, which GO! represents) look so grand.
In Steve’s charismatic personable recounting he told the students of his day’s realizing something was missing as an engineering student at Cornell, his years working the New York theater scene, his life selling vending machines, and eventually how he came to be the CEO of one of the most successful corporate events and marketing agencies.
Steve drove the message home that in order to be successful you have to tap into something that makes you happy and gives you motivation and satisfaction. While for him that was theater, he made it clear that for everyone it is something different.
Career: Founder and CEO of GO!
Education: BS from Cornell University, School of Engineering
His drive: Theater
Steve is founder and CEO of GO!, a creative corporate events and marketing agency headquartered in Atlanta. He has more than 30 years experience in the entertainment/production industry, and still gets fired up every time the curtain rises on a GO! project. Over the course of his career, he has produced hundreds of high-profile events around the world for numerous Fortune 250 companies such as Mercedes-Benz, the Coca-Cola Company, Avon Products and Lowe’s Companies. As CEO today, Steve’s number one job is maintain and cultivating GO!’s entrepreneurial culture. He believes that the key to GO!’s success in the production and marketing business is it firm commitment to consistently deliver clients with the best possible return on their communication investment. This, in turn, depends on keeping a creative culture that is uniquely innovative, collaborative, and fun. As he puts it, “GO! specializes in attracting and retaining the industry’s top talents. And then gives them the opportunity to deliver their best works to clients.” Steve has built his career on his strong background in production, which includes an early seven-year sting in the New York theater scene, and extends all the way back to the school plays and summer stock of his youth.
- Your story taught me that life has a few bumps but with hard work and by “Staying in the Game” you can be successful.
- Your speech really resonated with me more than any other speaker. Faced with making decisions about college and my future, I’ve found that I don’t know what I want to do. Your story will have a positive influence on my decisions.
- As a thespian, it was quite interesting to hear about your experience in the theater and how it guided you through your life.
- Your presentation was great and you gave me another idea choice for my future.
- You actually inspired me because I want to do something in the same career field.
- Your job field sounds very interesting to me and something I may want to do.
- Your presentation really helped me to get another point of view on what I want to do in life.
- You really enlightened my friend Thomas.
- You have definitely given me a new interest in marketing.
- You have definitely given me a new interest in marketing.
- Today was a great day when you came out and shared some great messages with us.
- Your presentation really inspired me to pursue what I love to do.
- When you talked about actors and relationships, I totally agree with you.
- You told us to never give up and find something we love and stick with it.
by Alex Viguerie
SYNOPSIS:
Steve Shlansky, founder and CEO of GO!, details his nonlinear path to success, and how he achieved this success by a strong commitment to personal integrity and following his passions,
KEY POINTS:
-4:43-5:27: Steve explains the most important part of creating an advertisement.
-10:00-14:15: Steve shows an example of what his company does best: Tyler Perry’s party to open his Atlanta movie studio.
-25:05-28:26: Steve uses his experience in theater to demonstrate finding motivation from one’s passions.
-35:30-39:04: Here, Steve re-emphasizes the circuitous nature of his journey; after leaving theater again, he found himself again unhappy until he pursued his passions once again.
-40:47-44:55: In this segment, Steve talks about the importance of integrity, hard work, luck, and applying the lessons from one’s past in order to take advantage of new circumstances.
-48:37-49:30: Steve reiterates his main point: find and follow your passions, work hard and with integrity, and success will follow.
-51:46-55:00: Here, Steve reflects on the variety of different experiences along his journey and how all of them have helped shape him into who he is today.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
– Steve found his path to success by following his passion. How is this approach, pursuing one’s passions, similar to the definitions of “success” that some of the other speakers have emphasized?
– Why is integrity so integral to success? Why will a lack of integrity prevent one from being truly successful, even if one can achieve financial success?
– Steve emphasizes that he pursued his passion, but the work he does today is not “theater” in the strictest sense. What does this say about passion? Are there ways to apply aspects of one’s passions to other fields?
– Why do you think Steve emphasized the non-linearity of his path? What does this say about life’s predictability in general