We found ourselves thinking about three unrelated subjects the other day; chess, a SWOT analysis, and Kenny Burns, when suddenly they morphed into a single topic and became the inspiration for this article which is about Kenny Burns and using the advantages gained from SWOT to become a master in the game of entertainment. Or something along those lines…
Anyway, we were thinking about chess because we play a lot of it, but not on the level we’d like to be proficient at. We were thinking about a SWOT Analysis because in business it’s essential to recognize your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and to constantly review them. And Kenny Burns came up because of his appearance in a YouTube clip we were watching about ODB. Looking at that footage of a younger Kenny Burns doing A&R on the ODB project for Roc-A-Fella Records in 2004 reminded us that his straight-outta-DC success story is a great example of having a strategy and staying loyal to it.
Kenny Burns is a DC native who has carved out a remarkable trail of success in the music, fashion and branding industries by seeing the entire board, and strategically positioning himself to win on one level and then experience greater success on the next. His recent assumption of the Vice President of Marketing title for Revolt TV marks his rise to yet another level in the entertainment biz. As chronicled in his 2013 book, “The Dream Is Real” his trajectory from budding entrepreneur as a college student in Atlanta to preeminent Lifestyle Specialist didn’t come without setbacks and self-doubt. But he clearly was executing against a strategy he’d laid out for himself as he moved from party planner to music promoter to Vice President at Roc-A-Fella Records and co-founder of couture fashion line Ryan Kenny to founder of boutique record label Studio 43 where he signed and helped propel Wale towards the success he is experiencing today.
If you’re waiting for the chess analogy this is it; chess is entirely a game of strategy. Winning at chess requires action, and anticipation. To be successful a player has to be able to know intuitively which moves place his pieces in a position of strength, and which expose weaknesses in his strategy. Playing at even the most basic level he has to be able to see two or three moves ahead. Playing at an expert level he should be able to see five or six potential endgames ahead. We don’t have a clue what kind of chess player Kenny Burns is, but there is a lot about his career thus far to suggest that he’s probably a pretty good one.
If you want the S.W.O.T. analogy as it relates to Burns, keep your focus mostly on the strengths and opportunities ingredients. As he has said or alluded to in a number of interviews, if there is any difference between him and everyman it’s only in being able to identify what his strengths are; genuineness, a knowledge of trends, and foresight, and staying focused on them. Those are the keys and they’re basic and simple – no magic elixir, no secret pact with the Illuminati. Just being in a position because of the work he’d already put in and the people he’d met along the way to identify the kinds of opportunities that allowed him to create the Heineken Red Star Soul Tour and be a brand ambassador for Grey Goose, AXE, Belvedere and a slew of other companies. As far as we can tell his only rivals in the space he plays in are Steve Stoute and Troy Carter.
Like the aforementioned, Burns has built a branding ecosystem that is remarkable for its audacity and non-complexity. His appeal, and this appears to be the formula he’s lived by, is not in opacity but in making a case that his is a lifestyle that’s accessible to everyone. Perhaps not on the level that he lives life on, but think about it; the brand that he represents first and foremost is Kenny Burns. Think about that and start there… Your most important brand is the one you build around yourself. Your entire strategy for success as a businessman, artist, or individual grows out of the image you present to the world. Is that image the result of understanding your strengths and weaknesses, of taking advantage of opportunities that come your way, of being aware of your challenges and threats? Just like in the game of chess, winning isn’t a result of intellect alone. It’s the child of defeat, study, and continuous trial and error.
Find Kenny Burns on Twitter or on the radio. Whenever he drops a nugget of wisdom or an insight be sure to pause long enough to give it some thought.