IAM1460 – Award-Winning Author and Speaker Shows People How to Use Positive Thinking and Humor Through Difficult Stuff
Special Throwback Episode - Podcast Interview with Allen Klein
Comedian Jerry Lewis has said that Allen Klein is “a noble and vital force watching over the human condition.” Klein is an award-winning author and speaker who shows audiences worldwide how to use positive thinking and humor to deal with life’s not-so-funny stuff. He is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He is also a TEDx presenter and the author of 26 books including The Healing Power of Humor, You Can’t Ruin My Day, and, Secrets Kids Know.
- CEO Story: Started his entrepreneurial business 40 years ago, a silk screen business, and sold it to his partner. Took classes and volunteered in the dying and grieving, Allen found out that they use humor to get through that difficult time. And so, he took a Master's degree in human development and wrote his first book. Teaching people about humor, healing, and a positive attitude.
- Business Service: Humor programs, techniques for bringing out humor. Like for hospice. For CEOs, emphasize the power of intentions.
- Secret Sauce: Walk the Talk. Bringing humor to the practical day-to-day uncomfortable situations.
- CEO Hack: Mindfulness Bell
- CEO Nugget: Keep it light
- CEO Defined: Total freedom
Website: http://www.allenklein.com
Books: http://www.allenklein.com/books.htm
Facebook: allen.klein
Twitter: allenklein
LinkedIn: allenklein
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Transcription
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00:28 – Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:54 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Alan Klein of AlanKlein.com and that's A-L-L-E-N-K-L-E-I-N. Alan, it's awesome to have you on the show.
01:08 – Allen Klein:
It's double awesome to be here.
01:11 – Gresham Harkless
Perfect, perfect, perfect, even better. So what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Alan so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing and he's been able to accomplish. Comedian Jerry Lewis has said that Alan Klein is a noble and vital force watching over the human condition. Klein is an award-winning author and speaker who shows audiences worldwide how to use positive thinking and humor to deal with life's not-so-funny stuff. He's a recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He also is a TEDx presenter and the author of 26 books including The Healing Power of Humor, You Can't Ruin My Day, and Secret Kids Know. Alan, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
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01:54 – Allen Klein
I am ready.
01:55 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, let's do it. So the first question I had is I wanted to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your businesses.
02:02 – Allen Klein
Well, it started over 40 years ago. My wife had a rare liver disease and terminal illness and she passed away at the age of 34. Difficult time, I had a silk screen business with a partner, and I thought I was not supposed to do that in my life. I don't know what it was I was supposed to do, but I sold the business to my partner, hung out for a while, registered, or signed up for a school that was giving classes in death and dying or what that was. I became a hospice volunteer and through the course of all of that working with people who were dying and grieving I saw how they used humor, often sarcastic, cynical humor, but it was humor to help them get through that difficult time.
So I went back to school, got a master's degree in Human Development, and wrote my first book, which was The Healing Power of Humor. And so since then, I've been teaching people about humor, therapeutic humor, and its value both in healing and in the workplace. And now I've kind of broadened that out to include a more positive attitude, not only humor, which gives us different perspectives, and how that could help us get through the day.
03:37 – Gresham Harkless
Well, awesome. Well, obviously, I'm sorry to hear about your wife and I know that's definitely a very traumatic experience I appreciate you for, first of all, telling that story, but also for taking what you were going through during that time. And then also sounds like finding that outlet, but also hoping to help other people that are going through either serious, I guess, issues that they're going through or just anything and how they can kind of, I guess, get through it.
04:00 – Allen Klein
Exactly. Right. Yeah. 1 of my books is You Can't Ruin My Day. And it's I got a traffic ticket and I was still happy singing. I was at the gym and talking about my traffic ticket and people were saying, Alan, how, how come you just you're so happy you just got a ticket for speeding? And I said, out of my mouth came, I'm not going to let that ticket or that cop ruin my day. And I realized how often, and particularly people who are running companies or their own company, they let other people or other situations ruin their day. And I believe we do not have to do that. And so that book has a number of techniques of how to take control and rise on top of any situation.
04:48 – Gresham Harkless
Oh, that's definitely a talent within itself because I've gotten a few traffic tickets and I was not singing. So I definitely make sure that I pick them so that I can change my perspective. So it's great that you're able to do that. So I wanted to draw that. I know you touched on a little, a couple of the things that you have in place, you know, you're Tedx presenter, you're obviously author of numerous books. So could you tell us, I guess, how would you define how you serve and how you help out the clients or the business owners or whoever you work with?
05:14 – Allen Klein
Well, First of all, when I do the humor programs, and I have 1 coming up in Canada in a week, it's for hospice. So it's all these hospice workers. They're working with people who are very ill, dying, or grieving, and they get burnt out and stressed out. So I show them some humor techniques. They all get a clown nose to use when they leave the meeting. But that's 1 aspect. The other aspect, and it's what my TED Talk is about, and what I got really interested in lately is, particularly for CEOs, is the power of intention. Like, when you get up or when you get to the office, what do you intend to happen or what is your intention for your life? What are your goals? What are your dreams?
And so I totally believe in the power of attention because, and our thoughts, the words we use, our affirmations help us not only get through the day but help achieve all of those dreams that we have for ourselves or our company.
06:15 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And sometimes we often forget how much power we do have. So that's definitely a good reminder and how you're able to kind of shape your day, so to speak, where if you have that different perspective, like you mentioned, if you are using humor as a technique, then you obviously will have a different day as a result of it. Is that accurate?
06:31 – Allen Klein
Yeah. Can I get I'll give you 1 example? You talked about the Ted X talk that I did on the power of intention 2 years ago, in January. I always do or add or alter my bucket list. So 1 thing I wrote down, this was January 2 years ago, I wrote down, I would like to do a Ted talk. Almost a month to the date later, I got an unsolicited email from a group in Cupertino, California doing Ted X talks wanting to know if I would like to do 1.
07:04 – Gresham Harkless
That's awesome.
07:05 – Allen Klein
A couple of months later, in April, there I was on the red round rug of Ted doing the talk. Power of intention. I mean, sometimes it blows me away. I was in New York a couple of weeks ago, middle of summer, usually very hot. It's my hometown, but I had to be there. On a little poster note, I put, I want the weather when I'm there for that week to be anywhere from 75, no higher than 85, and low humidity. 6 of the days that I was there, the temperature was under 85 with low humidity. The day was hot and the next day I left.
07:46 – Gresham Harkless:
Wow. That's an awesome kind of tool in your belt. I guess you could say if you could definitely be intentional about what it is you're thinking you're putting out, you have to be careful what you're saying and not saying because it can manifest itself.
07:59 – Allen Klein
Exactly. And it's so important for CEOs to do that every single day.
08:06 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, exactly. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this might be something that you feel distinguishes you or sets you apart. So do you have an example you can share with us?
08:15 – Allen Klein:
Well, I tried to walk my talk. So I always carry a red clown nose. Not all, most of the time. And so just at the right moment, sometimes, you know, traffic jams that come in handy to help other people lighten up. On a delayed flight once, I asked the flight attendant if I could stand next to her as people entered the plane and gave her a clown nose, and people just kind of lightened up. Most of them, not all of them, but most of them lightened up. So just try to spread a little joy and happiness around.
08:50 – Gresham Harkless:
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, that's definitely, we all could use that, you know, that red clown nose in our, in our pocket, so to speak, because things, you know, bad things happen, good things happen. But you want to make sure that you, you know, you're looking at it from a positive standpoint and you're being intentional like we already spoke about.
09:05 – Allen Klein
Right, exactly.
09:06 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This could be an app, a book, or habit that you have, or something maybe even from your books, 1 of your books that makes you more effective and efficient as a business
09:19 – Allen Klein:
Owner. Well, one thing I've been using lately, is it's called, and let me look, it's an app, and let me get the right name, it's called Mindfulness Bell. And I have it set so every hour during the day on the hour this little chime rings and it just gives me this little moment to stop and kind of, you know, take awareness of what I'm doing, what I'm feeling. Maybe I need a couple of more deep breaths. Maybe I need a little relaxation so I might meditate or breathe deeply for a couple of minutes. Maybe I might stand up and walk around the room. It's just a reminder to not get so caught up in everyday stuff that we get caught up in.
So I like it. It's simple. You know, if I want to ignore it, it's easy to ignore. But most of the time, it's just a reminder to kind of be here now. And also reminds me of how grateful I am for all the wonderful stuff in my life and to be thankful for that. And Gresh, the more I'm grateful for stuff in my life, the more I find that more things to be grateful for come into my life. So that little bell on the hour is like a little knock on the head to say, just stop, enjoy the moment, take a breather, and be thankful just for being alive if nothing else.
10:50 – Gresham Harkless
There you go. Yeah. We should definitely be thankful for every breath that we're able to take. So I think that's a phenomenal CEO hack because a lot of times, you know, you get stuck in the minute of the day-to-day and you get maybe get stressed out and things like that. But if you have that subtle reminder to kind of let you know that, hey, be thankful, be appreciative, be present. And I think that's a phenomenal CEO hack.
11:09 – Allen Klein
Right. And then several apps you can get. Mine is Mindfulness Bell, but there are others that you can get also.
11:18 – Gresham Harkless:
Absolutely, absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop in a time machine and go back and talk to your younger business self, what would you say?
11:29 – Allen Klein
Keep it light. Maybe have a feather around to remind you to keep it light because, you know, as someone once said, you're not going to get out of this world alive. And if you're not enjoying yourself, you know, what are you doing? Why are you here? Why are you doing it? Maybe that's not what you're supposed to be doing. So I guess 3 words keep it light.
11:53 – Gresham Harkless
I love that great reminder and a lot of times If you ask yourself, will this matter to me an hour from now or a week from now, or a year from now, a lot of times that answer is no. So you can definitely keep it light as you said.
12:05 – Allen Klein
You got it. Exactly.
12:07 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. And now I wanted to ask you my favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean
12:17 – Allen Klein
To you? Well, mostly because I used to work for CBS Television. So I know what 9 to 5 is jobs alike. Mostly to me, it means total freedom. I don't have to ask anyone else how to run my business, what to do, what steps to take, what risks to take when I could take a week off. I don't have to ask a boss for any of that. I am in complete control of my success or my failure. And to me, that is such a great thing because there's no 1 else to blame. It's all up to me
And I find that so rewarding. And so even when things aren't going well, you know, I realize maybe I made the mistake. I didn't do the right thing. I needed to do something else. But it's all on my shoulders and all the success I've had is there too. And so I love patting myself on the back for that. And I think it's just, you know, being a CEO is a great way to not have to answer to other people and create the life you want. And that's what I've done.
13:27 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. It's all about, like you said, attention, and the buck stops with you so you can kind of direct and create your life. So, Alan, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, to see if there is anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and also how best people can get a hold of you, hear about your TEDx and also all the awesome books you have in place.
13:49 – Allen Klein
Right. So last words, you know, I think I've given you my advice, my best advice. People can read my books and get even more lighthearted stories, The Healing Power of Humor, You Can't Rue My Day, and a number of other books, and go online. Look me up. Triple W Alan Klein dot com. And that's spelled as LL ENKLEIN dot com.
14:17 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Thank you so much, Callan. And we'll have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up. But I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
14:24 – Allen Klein
Thank you. You too, Gresh.
14:26 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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