John O'Hurley on Imagination, Contemplation, and Appreciation

This 30-minute Meaningful Meetings show features John O’Hurley, the actor, game show host, ballroom dancer, father and more, focusing on what he has learned from his long journey in entertainment and business and what he believes can add value to organizational meetings and how. He agrees that much of what made J. Peterman and other absurd business situations in Seinfeld funny is how closely they often approximate the truth.

Background
Insights

What would the “world’s 7^th most interesting man”—how John O’Hurley has jokingly called himself--share with someone coming to him for mentorship? That description of himself might provide a hint of what you’ll learn from him in this Enterprise Engagement Alliance Meaningful Meetings, Lessons Learned streaming show, a new series designed to share the wisdom and insights of people from all walks of life willing to share what they’ve learned to help others on their journeys.

Click here to watch or listen to the show. It encapsulates the program he often presents at events: "The Peterman Guide to Extraordinary Life."

Background

Perhaps best known for his portrayal of J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, O’Hurley has a broad and varied career as an actor, comedian, singer, author, game show host, and television personality. Growing up in Kittery, ME, after a five-year stint in public relations and marketing, he went on to a career that has included being the voice of the original King Neptune on SpongeBob SquarePants; hosting the game show Family Feud from 2006 to 2010 and To Tell the Truth from 2000 to 2002 in syndication. He is also host of the National Dog Show.

On top of that, he is an investor and partner in Gold Seal Industries, Las Vegas, which provides a proprietary technology offering a “commercially viable alternative to waste incineration.”

Along with co-host Jaki Baskow, Founder of Baskow Talent and the Las Vegas Speakers Bureau and Bruce Bolger, Founder of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, O’Hurley shares the most important lessons from his life that he believes apply equally to business.

Interestingly, the moment he believes was most critical to articulating his own vision of life did not come from his extraordinary run on television, stage, national dog shows, writing books, but rather from nmore ordinary life experiences. He describes finding himself one evening in 1991 on a cruise on the top deck watching an extraordinary arctic sunset with a very successful man who made his money in the arcane tire replacement business.

In the midst of their chat over a glass of wine, the man reached over, grabbed his arm and said, “You’ve got two choices in life. You can have an ordinary life or you can have an extraordinary life. Those are your choices, and it has nothing to do with power or money.” O’Hurley says he knew at that moment that he would never forget the man, and still hasn’t despite his untimely death. “What he left me was my GPS, a sense of guidance.”

Insights

By extraordinary, O’Hurley does not mean rich, powerful, or famous. It means living a life of imagination, contemplation, and appreciation. So many people, he notes, just go through life in a haze, failing to value the fruits of their own imaginations, failing to focus each day on the miracles of life, or appreciating people for who they are. Whether in life or business, everyone can benefit by embracing the three factors he considers most essential to having an extraordinary life, no matter what one does for a living.

Imagination: O’Hurley believes in the importance of valuing your imagination even more than your rational mind, which he says can lead you astray. He says his decision to be the first to headline “Dancing With the Stars” when it was no more than a concept was solely the result of his imagination. The rational side of his mind cringed at the thought of his competing with no dance expertise in the launch of what became a highly successful series. Even more important, it sent him in a new direction helping to ensure that he would not become typecast as J. Peterman from Seinfeld.
Contemplation: Try to live the moment every day, he urges, no matter what. He recounts a day with his young son in Central Park in which he asked his son to just tell him about what he was seeing and what it meant to him, unleashing a curiosity in the different types of bicycles and the names of the horses of the park carriages passing by. “I’ve learned a lot from my son,” he smiles.
Appreciation: He believes that gratitude and appreciation for what you have and the people around you are essential. It provides connections to people and the world. Appreciation, he says, is accepting people for whom we are: we are all broken in some way, he observes.

These principles apply equally to having an extraordinary life and business, he believes. In his corporate presentation, he talks about how imagination is crucial for innovation and problem-solving, enabling individuals to visualize new possibilities, create cutting-edge solutions, stay ahead of the competition, and is at the heart of creativity. O’Hurley believes that contemplation helps business leaders understand their values, goals, and the broader impact of their actions and to reflect and think deeply in order to make informed decisions. Gratitude and appreciation for one’s team, customers, and the journey itself are vital for building a positive and motivating work environment, he advises. O’Hurley highlights that appreciation strengthens relationships, boosts morale, and creates a culture of respect and recognition. This, in turn, enhances productivity and loyalty, contributing to sustained success.

Why do so many Seinfeld episodes focus on silly business situations? Because sadly so many of the episodes ring true, O’Hurley agrees. In fact, the J. Peterman character is largely based on his boss in his first job after college, when he had temporarily given up his acting aspirations to go into business for fear he would be broke otherwise. What’s often missing in business, he says, is a lack not only of imagination, contemplation, and appreciation, but common sense.

The amount of waste in government doesn’t stop there, he says. There’s plenty of it in business.

Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services

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1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:

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