Benjamin Mathes: Embracing the Artistry and Creativity of Business

Lights! Camera! Action!

Benjamin Mathes has a background that doesn’t read like a typical Vistage member, but as he reveals in this podcast, the lessons he’s learned while working in Hollywood are a lot more universal than one might think. Amongst his professional projects include executive coach, author, actor, film producer and founder of Urban Confessional.

With an MFA rather than an MBA, he doesn’t consider himself a businessperson even though he knows he technically is one. He admits he wasn’t sure what Vistage’s peer advisory could do for him at first, but he found out rather quickly. “It really is actually like having your own board of directors and people to call you out and keep you accountable.”

Purpose, passion, discovery, and discipline are just some of the things that Benjamin balances while running all of his different projects. Getting all his “wheels” pointing in the right direction was another thing he says Vistage was able to help him with.

As an artist, he finds value from his work outside of the quantifiable. Values like vision and cause are an important part of starting, running, and building a successful company. These are the things he identifies that keep most of us going day in and day out.

He explains that every new movie production is like starting up a new business. In order to be successful, you need to know where you’re going with it and what you’re making. Simply hiring great people isn’t going to make you automatically successful—you need individuals who can succeed at what you want to do and take you where you want to go.

“I believe every single person is an artist. For me, if you do anything with everything you’ve got, you’re an artist,” Benjamin says. Creativity is a mindset, he says, and it can be found in every job and in every facet of a company.

Having the proper creative foundation has been the key to Benjamin’s success. There are four concepts that he explains are vital to having the proper creative foundation, which he elaborates on in the podcast. Putting them together and seeing what happens when people are listening and serving others is what he wants everyone to strive for.

These beliefs have led him away from the fear of failure—something that he sees as a self-fulfilling prophecy—and have given him the mindset that failure is an opportunity from which to learn and grow. As he puts it, “…(F)rom that point of view, everything is a lesson, and it’s a lesson that adds value. And if it adds value, how can it be a failure?” {Click to Tweet this quote!}

Learn more about Benjamin’s initiatives at https://benjaminmathes.com.

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