Month: February 2006 | Chris Zavadowski's Massive Leverage Marketing

Here’s Johnny!

You might not think of a book about Johnny Carson as a business book. But consider this: lasting partnerships in any field – business, entrepreneurial activities, sports or entertainment – are really quite rare.

Far more common are the stories of two people who start together, create some success together but wind up split like a married couple in a bad divorce, with acrimony, finger-pointing, bitterness and a lasting grudge.

In business, the lasting partnerships behind great companies built from the ground up are actually so rare you can probably name most of them. (For example, Walt and Roy Disney; DeVos and Van Andel at Amway. Go ahead, see if you can name even ten!).

And the same is true in entertainment; the broken pairs are far more common (Martin & Lewis, Sonny & Cher). So the fact that EdMcMahon and Johnny Carson managed to stay together as on-stage partners and off-stage business associates and friends over a 46 year span is remarkable – and worth study. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon did 5,000 Tonight Shows together, but Ed may have been asked this question 500,000 times: what’s Johnny Carson really like?
Ed’s book Here’s Johnny! is a warm, engaging, humor-filled collection of memories from their 46 years of friendship on-camera and off-camera that answers that question.

A great many grew up with Johnny and Ed, went to bed nightly only after the nightly monologue and 5-minute give ’n take between the two, and still miss them joining us in our homes. But even if your Tonight Show is Jay Leno, you’ll find this book an enjoyable read, and an inside look not just at Hollywood legends and one of the most successful TV shows of all time, but also at one of the greatest treasures in life: true friendship.

Profile of Success: Paul Orfalea

The name may not instantly ring bells, but the business Paul co-founded and helped build to juggernaut status will: Kinkos.

Kinkos is, essentially, a chain of over 1,200 McDonalds-like copy/office services stores. His new book is a lot more than a collection of business strategies; it is one of the all-time great true-life stories of achievement against odds.

Paul flunked two grades in school, was expelled from four of eight schools, graduated near the bottom of his high school class, and was diagnosed with both dyslexia and hyperactivity, thus the book title: COPY THIS – Lessons From A Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned A Bright Idea Into One Of America’s Best Companies. Stories like Paul’s should give inspiration and motivation to all entrepreneurs.

From the book:
“My disorders contributed enormously to the building of Kinko’s and my life. They propelled me to think differently.”

Those fortunate to be free of personal handicaps have to think: I have no excuse! Those with a handicap, have to think: there’s proof handicaps are to be overcome.

— Chris

P.S. – If you fly United/USAir this month, check out their magazine for a more indepth feature on Paul’s story, too.