About David Greer

David Greer is the cultural architect and CEO of Tillman Allen Greer/Story Road Studios. He is an innovative thinker with 30 years of experience in marketing, communication and business development. He is the publisher of Gwinnett Magazine and Gwinnett Business Journal, and stays on the cutting edge of technology and creativity with successful ventures in social media, video production and songwriting. David is also the founder of The Heroes Project, an organization to raise awareness and funds for the fight on cancer.
David Greer

Do you do too much?

I’m kind of a do it yourselfer. I’ve come up in the ranks as a small business owner and never really experienced the good ole days of having a secretary or a maintenance staff at my beckon call. In a small business, if you see something that needs to be done, you just get up and do it.

A couple years ago a new employee came to my office and asked where the “Maintenance Requisition Forms” were. He had a light bulb out in his office and needed it replaced. I took him down the hall and pointed him to the closet and said “they’re in there.” In the closet was the ladder and the light bulbs. I told him to be careful on the ladder and be sure to close out the ticket when he was done.

 
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David Greer

Thinking stuff up is easy

Thomas Edison quipped that genius was 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Given that he was a pretty smart fella, I think I’ll agree with him. Most people I talk to concur implementation is a far bigger challenge than coming up with ideas themselves, even though ideas seem to get all the glory.

And what about this? Seems there are plenty of folks who can spew an idea a second, particularly when they are telling you what “you” should do. They’ll throw an idea out and then sit back like they’ve done the heavy lifting, when in reality, discussing an idea is the easy part. Implementation is where superstars are born! The people and companies that see their ideas through to reality are the ones I watch.

 
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David Greer

The devil made me do it

How many times have you been in a meeting and someone says those words: “Can I play the devil’s advocate for a minute?”

What certainly follows is a litany of reasons why something won’t work, or why it’s a bad idea or why that grain of innovative thinking needs to be squashed flat before it has a chance of working.

And you can’t be mad at people like this, right? After all, it wasn’t them. They aren’t pessimistic, idea-killin’ pontificators of doom. No, no – it was just the devil. By using the ol’ devil’s advocate approach, people have granted themselves criticism-whiner immunity. They claim to be among your staunch supporters; they hear what you’re saying; they believe in you; they thrive on innovation; but, they “owe it to the cause” to play the devil’s advocate.

 
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David Greer

Sometimes, you gotta go old school

The car is packed the night before. Snacks. Luggage. Winnie the Pooh and Home Alone DVDs that I will soon be able to recite line-by-line from hearing them nonstop for eight hours.

Our destination? Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando. Nope, not Disney, Sea World nor Universal Studios. No, my little girl’s dream was simply to get slimed at The Nickelodeon Hotel. The Nick Hotel gleamed in her mind as worthy as any of the theme parks and well, it’s all the same to me.

We leave in the “middle of the night,” as Gracie would say. In adult time, that’s really five in the morning. We head southward, enjoying the dark quiet time while it lasts. We know that all too soon “are we there yet?” and “how much longer?” will interrupt the soothing melodies of “Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh…Willy nilly silly old bear.” Makes me wonder why anybody thought DVDs in the car were a good idea.

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David Greer

The Kid Will Eat the Middle of the Oreo First

Innovation, ingenuity and vision are often the cornerstone of entrepreneurial businesses. Countless hours spent in pursuit of the better mousetrap. If only we could think of one of those million dollar ideas. If only we could come out with some product or service that took off like wildfire and made us rich. If only we too could come up with that one great idea we’d be set for life. Right?

I’d argue that the world is full of great ideas. Opportunities lie on every corner. More ideas than you can comprehend. I also think for every great idea you see on the market there are thousands and thousands that never made it out of the minds of creators. They just never got traction. Never made it to fruition.

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David Greer

What’s the Mantra for 2011?

From the Publisher

Is it gonna be more of the same? Are things gonna get better this year? Will the economy have a miraculous rebound? Who can know, but all indications are that it’s time to re-up your focus on perseverance and determination for what could be another challenging year.

My sense of the world right now is that folks are tired. It’s been a long run of pressure for employers and employees alike. Folks doubled up their efforts to work through tough times and hung onto the hope that easier times were just around the corner. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t talked to many who’ve seen – much less rounded – the proverbial corner of hard times to Easy Street. But alas, the new year is upon us.

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David Greer

What a crazy year

A few weeks ago, nobody was more surprised than I to see construction start on two vacant lots in my neighborhood. I can remember a couple years back when sightings of construction crews working were an everyday thing. But that all came to a screeching halt and now it seems like ages since the familiar groan of a bulldozer has been heard in these parts.

For a moment, I thought that these new constructions were a good sign of economic movement and maybe a hint that things are turning the corner. But all too soon my thoughts changed. Driving on past those two new homes I rounded the curve and saw a U-Haul backed up in the drive of a neighbor’s house. Didn’t think much about it. Maybe garage clean out time? The next weekend the U-Haul truck was back again and my hopeful thoughts collided with reality.

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