Bart Jackson chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about his book “CEO of Yourself.” He is an author, speaker, radio host, CEO of Prometheus Publishing, Founder of The Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards, world traveler, environmentalist, literacy advocate, business humorist, winemaker, and Princeton TV Sponsor.
His latest book is groundbreaking and filled with the tools needed to help people live a more rewarding life.
Jackson is also the founder of the Accomplished Professionals Breakfast, an active member of the New Jersey State and Princeton Regional Chambers of Commerce, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, and serves on the Marketing Committee of the Association for Corporate Growth.
A prolific author, Bart’s most recent titles include CEO of Yourself; The Art of The CEO; Behind Every Successful Woman Is Herself; So That’s How They Do It – Tactics of Business Masters; Business Basics; 101 Best Business Quips – Take a Little Laughter to Work,102 Best Business Quips; and In The Words of My Wife’s Husband. His most prized writings are the poems he has written to his wife, published on the north wall of his home.
As part puts it: I am on a merry mission to enlighten others about strategies to use and blunders to avoid as espoused from today’s foremost business leaders. I have been fortunate to have had scores of opportunities to garner their wisdom and by doing so, help professionals discover their innate talents and offer solutions to their challenges. Laughingly labeled “a nonstop communicator,” I’ve founded Prometheus Publishing in 2010 which produces BartsBooks Ultimate Business Guides – collaborative guides featuring interviews with a wide range of business experts. Perhaps the most fun comes from writing unconventional business quips, and the worldwide array of informative guests I have been privileged to interview on The Art of the CEO radio show.
Bart has written profusely not only about business but outdoor sports, wine, and archeological subjects for domestic and international news and leadership media outlets. Previously, Bart founded the online business journal, Biz4NJ, and continues contributing to New Jersey’s U.S.1 Newspaper.
Bart’s charitable contributions for literacy include the CETNA School in Parramos Guatamala, Trenton Library Boxes, Founder of The Director’s Award of the South Brunswick Library.
Every book has a story about its creation, what inspired you to write ‘CEO of Yourself’?
“I told my wife that I needed a vehicle that reflected the prestige and forward drive of my career. So for Christmas she got me a treadmill.” With this hastily cobbled quip, I kicked off the book launch of my The
Art of the CEO, in the Interstate Motors exotic auto emporium. In creating that book I had interviewed literally thousands of leaders of every imaginable kind of organization. Swiftly on its heels followed the radio show of the same name in which I interviewed in-depth hundreds more over the next six years. I discovered a complete lack of similar habits among these successful people.
However, I also discovered that so many followed what I termed the business process – a thoughtful, organized, markedly energetic method for envisioning goals, striving to achieve them, failing, rising again, and eventually accomplishing what they so desired. So when writing the first script for the radio show, I tossed in the reminder that “…the good Lord has gifted you with the title and privileges of CEO of Yourself, and since that is the most important position you will ever hold in your career, allow me to ask, will this be the day that you,…” e.g. dust off your dreams, or identify those allies willing to aid you…etc.
Audiences loved this little segment and asked for more elaboration. So I began pondering, why not take this business process that has throughout history successfully engineered countless enterprises and custom tailor it to my – and your – individual life? Employ the same skills to launch the Enterprise of You? And thereby hung a tale which pushed this author onto a new book and an entire realm of personal discovery.
When you did the final read-through for this phenomenal and in many ways groundbreaking book what was your favorite part and why?
“I’m going to make my husband read that Your Marvelous Self chapter tonight – twice,” quote one of those valued friends I invited for a manuscript read & comment. That chapter that guides folks into unearthing all the personal treasures they already possess seems to be the readers’ favorite.
As to the favored sections I smiled over during my final read-through, they were, like most authors I suppose, those embracing my most original thoughts. Beggars At Your Door, which reveals the subtle soul solicitors and the many ways we tend to give away our personal powers to them, I saw as a vital contribution to the reader’s knowledge. Likewise, the myths (e.g. Altruism myth) – those commonly held beliefs we too often accept without question – that sneak into our minds unbidden and nudge us toward making unthinking decisions. But without doubt, my personally most passionate chapter is Emotions.
Emotions are humankind’s greatest and belittled – demonized – power. Throughout history and from our birth, we are taught to sit on them and show only those emotions which benefit those currently “in charge” of our life. In penning this chapter I felt my own spirit rise as if I were proffering a gospel: those who unleash their emotions will joyously gallivant through life. Those who carefully direct them will make obedient little patriots and employees. The choice is truly yours. Oops. There I go again.
What are you hoping that the fans take away from your book?
The one-word takeaway is Enthusiasm. My aim is to spark a spontaneous enthusiasm for life in each reader – like the one reader who dreamed of “waking up happily singing; billowing the shower curtain with bellow some tones that made his teenage daughter blush crimson with embarrassment. That’s the result. The most vital How To Takeaways would be:
· You are the sole best expert on what you desire in life and the person you want to be. That’s why the good Lord had gifted you with the title and privileges of CEO of Yourself.
· You cannot control the hand Fate deals you, but within those circumstances, you are the master of your attitudes, actions, and decisions.
· You already possess all the tools and skills for creating the fun, thriving Enterprise of You, and finding fulfillment. (Discovering and honing those abilities is one of life’s greatest joys.)
· Like any successful enterprise, hitting those desired goals takes your vision, organized planning, thoughtful decisions, and learning (with a friendly fire) to enlist the aid of others. Of course, you can do it – with a grin.
While writing ‘CEO of Yourself’ did you learn anything new about yourself that you can share with our readers?
The ability to describe precisely what needs to be done, for Bart Jackson, far outweighs his ability to perform it precisely. (What writer is master at following his own advice?) Probably the greatest personal revelation for me as I reviewed my own lifelong attempts at launching the enterprise of Bart, is the lack of continual planning and re-shaping.
By nature, Bart Jackson holds the patience of a rhinoceros with a harpoon in its liver. I want action – I want to get on with the building process. It wasn’t that I fell into default mode and let others decide, but I seized in my teeth the first decision that came my way and began racing off with it. In technical terms, this is what any life or business mentor calls stupid.
My personal challenge became pausing, finding all the options, sifting through each, and at last choosing to work smart, not hard. Pushing my pen across life’s page, it dawned on me that to change this traditional, not-always-effective piece in my venturing, I’d have to delve deep and discover why I was letting lust for action master my mind. So am I wiser now? I don’t know, you’ll have to ask my wife.
What writers do you look up to most, either for their writing or as human beings?
The Greek poet Homer excites my soul and admiration. Homer celebrates that best within the best individuals, detailing so insightfully and lyrically each one’s struggle toward heroism. And in all his tales, be it the myth of Prometheus, or two fearful warriors squaring off in the face of battle, Homer keeps challenging us with universal truths, sparking thought and action in us today.
Of course, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway keep raising my personal bar – both were such hard-laboring wordsmiths who knew that the difference between a good word and the exact right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. And naturally, I have always delighted in The Bard – William Shakespeare who so light-heartedly plays language like joyous dulcimer, tapping out rich images as he knits up the raveled sleeve of care.
More recently, Kurt Vonnegut remains one of my true favorites, penning stories that would slide in the sword of truth into my heart, lubricated with the nearly-soothing oil of satire. What fun. Explorer authors, from Thor Heyerdahl to John Goddard have excited me ever since childhood, and indeed ‘twas their tales spurred my literary wanderlust inspiring me to search out and celebrate the globe’s fascinations. And finally, if you want to learn about interviewing, sit at the feet of U.S. 1 Newspaper’s founder Richard Rein.
To learn more about Bart Jackson, check out his official website.
“CEO of Yourself” is available on Amazon by clicking here.
