Tom Stern
When it comes to not taking work too seriously, Tom Stern is all business.
Raised by a super-successful C.E.O, Tom cut his teeth on the world of stand-up comedy and entertainment management, then veered back into the corporate world by becoming one of the top executive recruiters, or “headhunters,” in the nation. Now, he has channeled his experience straddling the corporate and show business worlds into a nationally-syndicated comic strip and a nationally-syndicated radio show.
In anyone else, this melding of disciplines may have created an identity crisis. In Tom Stern, it has created a man with a mission: to redefine corporate culture and attitudes, to bring fun back into the shaping of a career, and to make sure that everyone, no matter what their rank, has a few laughs along the road to success.
"The sad truth is that if you treat your family like stocks, you won't get bonds."
As a kid, Tom Stern had big shoes to fill - yet did little more than disappoint. His powerful father, Alfred R. Stern (mogul of cable TV and later head of PBS and Mt. Sinai Hospital) had no time for a needy, bed-wetting son with ADHD and dyslexia.
The bright spot? Tom garnered a gift for the gab - aimed mostly at himself - that won others over. After college, he pursued a career in stand-up - alongside pals Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, but tired of making beer drinking Joes laugh about the hardships of growing up rich on New York's Fifth Avenue, Stern eked out a slightly better paycheck developing comedy programming for HBO and, later, as President of Film & Television for a Talent Agency.
By the mid-1990s, Stern's career took a 180-degree turn. He launched an executive recruiting firm, making millions courtesy of a massive US labor shortage. Now a hyped-up businessman with a 24/7 drive, he turned into the "CEO Dad" he had once mocked.
In 2002, personal tragedy rocked Stern's world and devastated his family. He took a break from business and rerouted his energy to his wife and kids - and, once and for all, heeded life's wake-up call. Finally, he was a real husband and father.
These days, Tom, a self-described "recovering" success addict - is busy balancing work and family from his home in Los Angeles. He's out to create the next Dilbert with CEO Dad - a nationally syndicated comic strip about an executive who treats his family like a corporation - and has written a business humor book, CEO Dad: How to Avoid Getting Fired by Your Family. Likewise, he's developing CEO Dad as an animated prime-time TV series for CNBC, a first for a financial network. (Five one-minute shorts will begin airing June 2007 with the half hour series to follow.)
The women in Tom's life - his wife and their two daughters - remain priority one. His second priority? To help success-addicted leaders lighten up, laugh at themselves and be surprised by one very important lesson: happy people are more productive!
MOST REQUESTED TOPIC:
Stop My Life ... I Wanna Get On!
This program accomplishes many things. One of which is to paint a very clear picture of how the demands of modern society spin us like a top -- leaving us all with the feeling that we're not in control of our lives. This humorous and powerful program offers practical suggestions about how each of us can gain that sense of 'inner-balance' that allows us to spin as long as we want, as fast as we want, and more importantly, when we want. Watching Tom perform this show is like seeing the layers of an onion pulled back to reveal its core. Using his own very unusual and dramatic life as a case study, Tom makes us laugh with his hilarious stories and insights, but does something that so few funny people are able to do. As he splits our sides, he simultaneously takes of his comic mask to reveal his heart, how it was broken, how it healed, and how that experience transformed him.
Success Addiction That Leads to Failure in Life
Join Tom as he speaks about the demands of modern society and how they often leave us spinning and feeling that we’re not in control of our lives. This humorous and powerful program offers life lessons about how each of us can gain that sense of “inner-balance” that allows us to spin as long as we want, as fast as we want, and more importantly, when we want. Tom reveals how he became a success addict who tried to compensate for the sense that he disappointed and failed his CEO dad and how he was relieved of this compulsion when the lives of his family were threatened. Only then did he finally realize what was truly important. Tom spent ten years in comedy and entertainment management before becoming one of the top executive recruiters in the nation. He is the author of a national syndicated comic strip CEO Dad and his book CEO Dad, How to Avoid Getting Fired By Your Family.
When it comes to not taking work too seriously, Tom Stern is all business.
Raised by a super-successful C.E.O, Tom cut his teeth on the world of stand-up comedy and entertainment management, then veered back into the corporate world by becoming one of the top executive recruiters, or “headhunters,” in the nation. Now, he has channeled his experience straddling the corporate and show business worlds into a nationally-syndicated comic strip and a nationally-syndicated radio show.
In anyone else, this melding of disciplines may have created an identity crisis. In Tom Stern, it has created a man with a mission: to redefine corporate culture and attitudes, to bring fun back into the shaping of a career, and to make sure that everyone, no matter what their rank, has a few laughs along the road to success.
"The sad truth is that if you treat your family like stocks, you won't get bonds."
As a kid, Tom Stern had big shoes to fill - yet did little more than disappoint. His powerful father, Alfred R. Stern (mogul of cable TV and later head of PBS and Mt. Sinai Hospital) had no time for a needy, bed-wetting son with ADHD and dyslexia.
The bright spot? Tom garnered a gift for the gab - aimed mostly at himself - that won others over. After college, he pursued a career in stand-up - alongside pals Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, but tired of making beer drinking Joes laugh about the hardships of growing up rich on New York's Fifth Avenue, Stern eked out a slightly better paycheck developing comedy programming for HBO and, later, as President of Film & Television for a Talent Agency.
By the mid-1990s, Stern's career took a 180-degree turn. He launched an executive recruiting firm, making millions courtesy of a massive US labor shortage. Now a hyped-up businessman with a 24/7 drive, he turned into the "CEO Dad" he had once mocked.
In 2002, personal tragedy rocked Stern's world and devastated his family. He took a break from business and rerouted his energy to his wife and kids - and, once and for all, heeded life's wake-up call. Finally, he was a real husband and father.
These days, Tom, a self-described "recovering" success addict - is busy balancing work and family from his home in Los Angeles. He's out to create the next Dilbert with CEO Dad - a nationally syndicated comic strip about an executive who treats his family like a corporation - and has written a business humor book, CEO Dad: How to Avoid Getting Fired by Your Family. Likewise, he's developing CEO Dad as an animated prime-time TV series for CNBC, a first for a financial network. (Five one-minute shorts will begin airing June 2007 with the half hour series to follow.)
The women in Tom's life - his wife and their two daughters - remain priority one. His second priority? To help success-addicted leaders lighten up, laugh at themselves and be surprised by one very important lesson: happy people are more productive!
MOST REQUESTED TOPIC:
Stop My Life ... I Wanna Get On!
This program accomplishes many things. One of which is to paint a very clear picture of how the demands of modern society spin us like a top -- leaving us all with the feeling that we're not in control of our lives. This humorous and powerful program offers practical suggestions about how each of us can gain that sense of 'inner-balance' that allows us to spin as long as we want, as fast as we want, and more importantly, when we want. Watching Tom perform this show is like seeing the layers of an onion pulled back to reveal its core. Using his own very unusual and dramatic life as a case study, Tom makes us laugh with his hilarious stories and insights, but does something that so few funny people are able to do. As he splits our sides, he simultaneously takes of his comic mask to reveal his heart, how it was broken, how it healed, and how that experience transformed him.
Success Addiction That Leads to Failure in Life
Join Tom as he speaks about the demands of modern society and how they often leave us spinning and feeling that we’re not in control of our lives. This humorous and powerful program offers life lessons about how each of us can gain that sense of “inner-balance” that allows us to spin as long as we want, as fast as we want, and more importantly, when we want. Tom reveals how he became a success addict who tried to compensate for the sense that he disappointed and failed his CEO dad and how he was relieved of this compulsion when the lives of his family were threatened. Only then did he finally realize what was truly important. Tom spent ten years in comedy and entertainment management before becoming one of the top executive recruiters in the nation. He is the author of a national syndicated comic strip CEO Dad and his book CEO Dad, How to Avoid Getting Fired By Your Family.
