We were lucky to catch up with Keith Kohler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

I call my dad “Papa” and he’s my hero for good reason. On February 19, 1945, my dad (a World War Two Combat Marine) marched ashore on the island of Iwo Jima (one of the bloodiest battles of WWII) … as all hell rained down from enemy bombs and sprays of gunfire, my Papa was badly wounded within hours of the invasion and was left-for-dead on the battlefield. He was miraculously rescued by a fellow Marine and – following months of rehabilitation – he returned home after the war. Rattled with PTSD, he quelled those emotions post-war and went on to build a successful private business and fathered three boys (including me). Papa and my mother raised my brothers and me to never take anything for granted, to be present in every moment and to live our lives in gratitude. Given how close my Papa was to dying on the battlefield, I remind myself everyday about how close I was to my own non-existence. It’s a powerful thought to consider what it would be like to have never lived at all … that thought – along with my Papa’s lessons in courage – influenced my professional career as a creative storyteller and formed the foundation of my personal journey of compassion, respect and appreciation for humanity … an appreciation I carry on every day as I now care for my Papa who lives with me and is approaching 103 years old.

Keith, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My self-proclaimed title (Creative Video Psychotherapist) alludes to my love for getting into the hopes and fears of human interest stories and using video as a conveyor of emotions to influence the viewers’ behavior, increase happiness and overcome problems. That’s a lot to unpack, but – and its core – I love helping people tell their stories. While my career has pin-balled from being a video writer/producer to being a visionary for my family printing business to being a biz dev guy for a corporate event production company, the common thread remains storytelling. Everyone has a story (whether it’s personal, family or business) and there’s an art behind telling that story in the most compelling way. Now repping a video production agency, I often find there are stories within stories. So, when filming an interview, we have a motto: “always be rolling” … as some of the best anecdotes come after someone’s first response. Of course, it helps to be a proactive listener and be insatiably curious as that prompts sometimes surprising follow-up questions that coax out equally surprising answers. This helps ensure the stories we tell evoke emotions more so than most and helps our clients hit the bullseye of intent. On a personal note, I’m most proud of the mini-documentary film I co-produced about my dad (my hero) and his brother called “Brothers In Arms” … an Emmy-nominated film about their brotherhood and their fateful experiences as Combat Marines in WWII.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 1995, I joined my family printing business (a traditional commercial print company with 100 employees). This thing called the internet was in its embryonic stage; however, I sensed the world wide web was destined to disrupt the print industry. With that, I began a subsidiary (a multi-media company) to the family print business and brought in my bestie (a super creative) to help lead the company. We were on the bleeding edge of understanding the potential of the internet, and we began converting some materials (originally designed to be printed) into CD-ROMs and websites. The first problem was this material belonged to our current print clients, and our printing salespeople were making a lot more commission by producing that material as print versus as a CD-ROM or website … strike 1. By 1997 – 1998, we had developed a good base of business with more on the horizon, but another problem emerged … by then, many advertising agencies began sticking their mitts into the digital creation space and many of these agencies were good clients of the printing business (the mother ship). So, when my smaller subsidiary company would go head-to-head on an RFP with an ad agency, that ad agency viewed us (the digital subsidiary and the mother ship printing company) as rivals / competition and ended up blacklisting us and pulling their business from the printing company …. strike 2. When (much to my dismay) we spun off the multi-media company and entered the world of personalized digital printing, a third problem appeared. The digital print runs cannibalized some larger print runs which also leading to less commission for the salespeople who were reluctant to adopt the technology … strike 3. As – over time – printing volumes decreased due to shorter runs and the transition of content to the internet, print became more commoditized, and the mother ship crashed along with the overall market crash in 2009. While that was a devastating time, it propelled me back into the creative field of live event production and offered me the opportunity to continue storytelling on a completely different stage (literally and figuratively).

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Reputation is never fully built … it’s always and forever under construction. I’m certainly a case in point and a work in progress. I submit my reputation is rooted in the core values of empathy, compassion, creative strategy, positivity and adaptability … and reputation forms by consistently showing up with all of those traits threaded through every interaction. Another aspect of my reputation is dependability that’s founded in the policy of doing what you say you’re going to do. Be genuine, be flexible, be willing to challenge things with constructive beliefs and have a damn good disposition through it all … there are so many things out of our control, but our attitude is not one of them. Ultimately, my reputation continues to be built on earning respect and trust which are the cornerstones of every relationship.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.splycehouse.com
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/keithkohler
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMM5OSeEVI
• Other: www.hirekohler.com

Image Credits
Keith Kohler, SplyceHouse