Inside the Mind of the Mentalist

Transcript - Inside the Mind of the Mentalist

Rich, Host: On this episode of Team Building Saves the World,

Jon Stetson, Guest: ..Man, were you, were you dropped in by aliens? I mean, this is, my two boots probably are the mass day and I’ll cut you. But that’s the fact if someone does not believe in a natural sixth sense, I pray they believe in the other five. And when they, when they work, yeah, the only, the only excuse is I’m the mentalist, I’m supposed to know these things.

Rich, Host: Hello team

Hello team. It’s me, your old friend,  Rich Rininsland  host of Team Building Saves the World, the show where I speak to thought leaders from around the world, discussing variable strategies and tools to help you and your team build a better work environment..

And today, do you know what I’m thinking?

Because my guest sure does. We’re talking to Mentalist and Entertainer Jon Stetson. But first, I have to share some love with all of my supporters, at TeamBonding. If your team is ready to experience teamwork through the power of play then visit TeamBonding.com to learn more. Now team, join me in welcoming my guest, a speaker and entertainer who for the past 25 years has performed for royalty, for over 1,000 organizations and appeared on television countless times, the man who inspired the hit CBS television series, The Mentalist, Jon Stetson, Jon. Wow.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, wow, wow. Man, that’s such enthusiasm. I love it

Rich, Host: What can I tell you? I’m excited. You were like my first actual, like, celebrity that I’ve had on the podcast, man.

I’m just excited. You’re here. How are you today?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, man, truly blessed and highly favored and just happy, I am just happy. I love what I do, and I don’t just mean my work. I mean, everything that I do, because that’s a choice that we have. And I suggest we all go for it.

Rich, Host: My, I remember my parents when I was young, um, asking me very specifically what I wanted to do when I grew up.

And all I said was, I want to be happy. And they went, are you sure you wouldn’t rather be financially stable? To which I went, I don’t think those things equate. But I’m glad in your case that they have.

Jon Stetson, Guest: They do not, man. were you, were you, were you dropped in by aliens? I mean, this is, to be able to determine that at such a young age.

Rich, Host: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Wow. Wow. Wow.

Rich, Host: But enough about me, everybody on here, everybody who listens knows about me. Let’s talk about you, Jon Stetson, my God. Um, first off, I normally ask people to start off telling everybody who they are and how they got into this, but if they know you already, they’ve got to know some of that story.

Let’s start with telling my team out there. What is a mentalist in your own words? And how did you decide that this was the direction you needed to take your life?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Well, this is, this is a very, very good question because there are so many definitions that come across these days. As a matter of fact, our television show, The Mentalist, actually began with a definition of the mentalist.

Rich, Host: Huge fan of the show, by the way,

Jon Stetson, Guest: We, we had a ball, everybody was so great. And, yeah, I mean, I, I’m sure you realize, my uncanny resemblance to Simon. 

Rich, Host: I was going to say, 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that part was a little, anyway. Um, yeah, I, I use the power and precision of my mind to entertain, to communicate, to educate, and to inspire people. That is my definition.

The way of of doing these things are with the demonstrations of ESP, telepathy, clairvoyance. My job is to allow people to experience something out of the ordinary, to give people the opportunity, because there’s so many of us who just love the unusual, the mysterious, the unexplained. It is a great, so it is a great way for me to communicate.

Now I, had, These folks in my family who did this, this kind of work. And, so I was always somewhat of what I would call a closet mentalist. I was, I’ve been entertaining from a very young age, between, with magic and comedy and, and various and sundry things. But I always wanted to be a mentalist.

And in order to do this, it truly requires a great deal of life experience.

Rich, Host: Okay.

Jon Stetson, Guest: I personally don’t think we become good students until we’re 40 years old in, in life in general. And, so needing, needing to have the experience. And as we all know, there is no substitute for flight time.

Learning to do what I did under so many different circumstances and conditions, the multidisciplinary background of the circus, the carnival, children’s shows, many, many years, on cruise ships in that capacity, of course, working the, the corporate end of things, which led to my keynote speaking and the workshops that I do and even experience with trade shows, auto shows. I spent a great deal of time in comedy clubs, you know, the, the darkest places in the world back in the, late seventies and eighties when I was around. And I actually still have a home club today that I visit, it, in Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun Comix (Roadhouse). Ah, I love, I love appearing over there.

Rich, Host: It’s a great little spot. Yeah. Been there. Yeah. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Great spot. Yeah, it’s fun. You know, I’m just in a situation where I just absolutely love. All of it still. As a matter of fact, right now, I’m in Folsom, California, and I’m appearing in a place called Mystique, where we are doing a very, very mysterious program in a beautiful environment.

It’s somewhat of a dinner theater, intimate one. And we’re also, and we are incorporating, the work of Edgar Allen Poe in this one. 

Rich, Host: Nice. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  Yeah. So I’ve, I’ve been fortunate to be able to do some of these theatrical, more theatrical type of things. The theatrical seance. I did one, for a Club 27 with Janice Joplin, Robert Jonson, Jim Morrison, these kinds of things.

And they’re all, those are just, um, fun mystery shows. I love history. I love magic.

Jon Stetson, Guest: And I’ve also seen, real magic.

Rich, Host: Okay. Yeah. What’s that story? Tell me that.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, well, there is, you know, it’s amazing to me how many magicians don’t believe in magic. Right. I, truly. Believe in the wonderful things in this world.

Um, Einstein said every day, there are two ways to look at life. One that everything is a miracle and one that nothing is a miracle. I personally live in the miracle camp. Initially, I thought it was because I was more selfish and it’s a heck of a lot more fun, but everything, everything is a miracle. And don’t worry.

I don’t go all, Birkenstocks and bongos on you. Okay, My two boots probably are namaste and I’ll cut you but that’s the fact. , just like everyone else, so it’s having a good understanding of what people are like being we’re all empathic, right? I believe and my message to the empaths, please observe, don’t absorb.

That’s when the trouble starts. And, and I also have daily things that I send out messages, to people. I have a Facebook group, I’d love to talk about it for a sec. 

Rich, Host: Please, go ahead, feel free. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: It’s called, it’s called The Stetson Circle. And it shares so much of my, my philosophy, my concerns about things.

It’s a nice place for nice people. There’s no place for politics. My dog, all of his is a featured, over there quite often. And she has a bigger internet following than I do. So, it’s just how I go about living my life. The way I go about living my life just is such a huge part of all of my performance and my speaking and, and, and the wonder that is, that is this world.

You know, this is still a magnificent place. And it’s my job to allow people to see it.

Rich, Host: Can I ask, if you don’t mind, can I ask, did it start out that you had this frame of mind and it led you in the direction that you went into mentalism, or did you find that being a mentalist led you to this frame of mind?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Um, the answer is yes. There was no, there was, I was, I, there was always, something there. Okay. And I love the idea of the, of, of the connection, between people. I, was. trained as a young age to, by my grandfather saying things like, gee, what do you think that person’s thinking? Where do you think they’re going?

What do you, and it, it caused me to realize the wonder of, of, of life of being present.

Rich, Host: Nice.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Because when you are present, if someone does not believe in a natural sixth sense, I pray they believe in the other five. And when they, when they work together in concert, you become a remarkable person. You become a remarkable person quite often just by listening to two people.

There’s a great story about a young man who was having dinner with, with Andrew Carnegie, upon his graduation from, from university. And it was one of these huge old gold, you know, gilded age type dinners. The young man’s, was actually fortunate to be seated, next to him, and his uncle had arranged this.

And afterwards Carnegie said, Oh, what a fascinating young man. Have him come to my office tomorrow morning. We will find a position for him in our organization. And so he, he asked his nephew, he goes, what, What did you tell him? And he said, nothing. I just listened to him all night.

Rich, Host: That’s amazing.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Which is one of the reasons I have little cards that say, stop talking. I will, I will give to people actually on my computer. I have W-A-I-T also, which stands for why am I talking?

Rich, Host: Well, because you’re my guest. We’re talking about you now. So you might as well be the expert.

Jon Stetson, Guest: But yeah, as, as, as these things were happening and in life experience in general, as these things were happening, you began to see how things could tie in beautifully, how valuable someone’s thoughts and memories are to them, the way that they think, how I can entertain, but yet at the same time, well, it’s the respect that everybody should have for their audience, for their participants, for their, the members of their circles on, on, online. And as a young person, let’s face it. There’s so many, so many people in show business or the now of speaking industry or whatever, it’s all look at me, look at me, look at me.

Right. Okay, it serves for a period of time in your life, but I love the expression. And it was first told to me by Ray Croc, the McDonald’s guy. Remember him? And he said, when you’re green, you grow. And when you’re ripe, you rot. 

Rich, Host:Wow. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:And I subscribe to that every day. I want to learn something new.

Whether, and, and people say, what about your craft or about anything? I said, Whatever I learn pertains to my craft. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so it’s a good place to be.

Rich, Host: That’s nice. That’s really, really nice. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:And it’s a good place to be. 

Rich, Host: So you have all of these programs you’ve done throughout the storied career that you have had, but how is it you can actually take, because mostly when you, when you think about the magic and comedy and mentalism, you’re, you’re picturing somebody standing on a stage, maybe three or four people are coming up during the course of the whole program.

To take part in it. How do you take that and make it viable enough to keep the attention of an entire corporate group and also teach them a lesson?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, okay. Well, let’s face it. Some days the mission is go out there, entertain, have a great show. Right now, of course, in this day and age that comes with, let’s just say even more responsibility based on, yhe sensitivity concerns, and I’m just going to say fears that people have about what once again can be said or, or not be said, not be said, what have you. So it is extremely important a for anyone in this kind of thing is to check your ego at all times. the door.

Rich, Host: Nice. Good start. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: And learning what is the key to everything in my work.

And I believe everyone’s work is self awareness, total self awareness, sports and all knowing who we are. If we know who we are and are honest to that truth, first and foremost, I believe. In this forever, people have wanted authenticity,

Rich, Host: Right

Jon Stetson, Guest: They want real. I want real. I want to be real. I want to convey these things in a very real way.

Learned to do things comedically. And of course, I’ve done that. I’ve written comedy for several people through the years. I used to write for Rodney Dangerfield and, several others, other stories for other days, I guess, um, in the course of still performing. And, and, and, you know, I’d worked his nightclub, an awful lot back in the, back in the day.

But some people will say, where’s your stuff, you know, as far as let’s say props or, or, or what have you. And those, it’ll sound a little unusual. So, well, my biggest, prop. I really can’t fit in a truck or anything because it’s the audience, right? It’s the audience, their minds and their thoughts.

Essentially, I need to be seen and heard. That is, and I prefer close proximity to people in some places. Of course, that’s just not, not doable. Um, so we gear the program accordingly. And, it’s a question of making things interesting. I believe, we are storytellers agreed and let’s, go back to, the time of the, the cave man, the, the one who developed into the storyteller, was a key and important part of that village. It truly it. We look at this as things went on. And I’m a great student of history of all types. And, but in looking back, you, you, you see these things and how, how we developed as a species, but then just as a society and health and how things are. We all need to be, speaking about something interesting, right?

Something that pertains to what, what have you oftentimes a company will come to me and say, we want to communicate this. 

Rich, Host: Okay. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: We want to, express this. We have a kickoff this year. Our theme is right. And fortunately, as a mentalist, a mind reader, association with magic, I can more or less adapt what I do, to a theme in two moves or less.

Um, if you get right down to it, customization is extremely important, but there must be a good core. Years ago, I had one of, I’ve, I’ve had so many great teachers and mentors through the years where I’m saying, yeah, my core is a skeleton on which I hang on, which I hang things. And, um, yeah. But if it comes to something brand new, full blown stuff, yeah, let’s take that challenge on.

Oh, wow. You know, artificial intelligence. Wow. Okay. Let’s, let’s go into that playground and see and learn. So many of us want to just resist things. I was one of those people. I did not like the word change. Right. And, In a lot of my, some things I’ll do that’ll be more of a, of a classroom-y kind of thing is, um, let’s just say my favorite book, The Four Agreements, which I work with and I have created new material based on the Toltec way of thinking, but these things also lend themselves beautifully to, to entertainment.

They really do. It’s so, it’s so easy just to, to weave it all in, especially when it’s natural, right? When it’s who you are, you can, you can do these things. For example, the first of our four agreements is being impeccable with your word. Okay. Sounds interesting. I will bring this concept to almost a different place where I say I love magic words.

My favorite magic word, want to take a guess… 

Rich, Host: Uh..please?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Ohh

Rich, Host: Sorry, then my mother drug it into me. That’s that. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: I know that is the sweetest. That is the sweetest thing. My favorite magic word is Abracadabra.

Rich, Host: Ah, the classicist. Yes.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, but the majority of folks may not know what that means. It’s, it comes from, It’s, it’s Hebrew back in the day of the time of Jesus would have been spoken and abracadabra means I create as I speak.

Rich, Host: Nice.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Or as I speak, I create because that’s what we do. Every time you are opening your mouth, you are casting a spell. We all know about words that cannot be taken back and how harmful words can be. How words, words can just hold people back for years and years, break their spirit. Words have wings, words have weights.

So being impeccable with your words is essentially choosing the correct words. Now, there are things that we can do based on what would be called Let’s say hypnotic language or, neuro linguistic programming, NLP. And now, and a simple thing like that would be, let’s say if you have a teenager at home and you, say, Hey, don’t forget to take out the trash.

What might program and register a little bit better, not that we’re attempting to brainwash. We’re attempting to communicate. 

Rich, Host: Right. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  Would be to say, please remember to take out the trash. Otherwise, what are you saying? 

Rich, Host: Don’t. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  Don’t. 

Rich, Host: Okay. Don’t. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: All right. Don’t. Remember. Okay. I won’t remember. I won’t remember this.Trash? No. 

Rich, Host: Forget? Forget? Oh, yeah, I’ll forget. You know, don’t forget to take out the trash. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: There you go. And it sounds so simple, but you know what? 

Rich, Host: Everything is 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  And as a mentalist, another thing that I stress is for people to not overthink about things. And, it’s interesting in entertainment quite often, or even for corporate situations

Well, I don’t want him to know what I’m thinking. Well, first of all, I cannot really share a thought unless you want me to. First of all, those are my ethics and my, my, my truth and the respect that I have for everyone with whom I work the same way. I am not in the embarrassment business. Believe you me from working nightclubs and places I’ve worked through the years.

I have that ability to fillet. It’s awful. It’s awful. It’s awful. It’s awful. I have that club in my bag if I need to play the whole, but I never do. Because I do not want to be embarrassed myself. I don’t want to do it to other people. There’s no skill in it. There’s no art in it. And there’s no point in it.

Rich, Host: Plus, I’ve always found embarrassment is one of those, those hot buttons that if somebody in the group gets embarrassed, that is the fastest way to gain empathy with everybody else. But they’re going to get embarrassed for them and then then you’re losing everybody.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Yes, yes, yes, yes. And you need to know ways to, Fix these things, right?

If they, if they do accidentally occur in the course of a program, in any interactive program.

Rich, Host: Speaking of which, Jon, I want to dig in, especially with the end of the programs, but I hope you don’t mind. I need to step away just for a real brief second, because I need to tell everybody out there about a company I am very proud to be a part of.

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They’ve created a catalog of innovative events using the power of play as a learning tool and tapping into the correlation of work and play. So whether it’s scavenger hunts to Jeopardy and so many more, the team bonding of activities, whether it’s live, virtual or hybrid, maximizes the impact of team building with an accent on fun.

So visit teambonding. com to schedule your event. Now team bonding. When you want seriously fun results. And speaking of seriously fun, I’m here talking to Jon Stetson, the mentalist himself, Jon with team bonding. You have just been brought on board with us to do a little event. We like to call Halloween Hijinks.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, this is a fun thing. You know, I have, Halloween’s always been a very favorite, holiday. Yeah. 

Rich, Host:  Of mine. Me too. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  And it’s, just in working with TeamBonding, I’ve, I’ve had so much fun experiencing all of the different types of events that you would, that you would just mention and shared with us.

And I certainly, you know, the core belief of we need to be more playful. Yeah. In our lives and, the programs that I have been fortunate enough to put together, especially the, the virtual programs, I had a little headstart on that back when I was doing trade shows in the nineties, Southern Bell had a conferencing type of setup and on the trade show floor, they let everyone into like a circus tent and there was a console, you know, the size of, of, you know, one of Dave Goldstein’s boats. And there was a screen and we were teleconferencing, with someone and showing how we could entertain with the monitoring, showing how we could educate by, by explaining how to do some really fun things they could do with their friends and family.

So this all goes back to then and little did I know that would become such a huge, I know I’m the mentalist, I’m supposed to know, but then it would become such a huge part of us. 

Rich, Host: Right. 

Jon Stetson, Guest:  And I, I, I grew to love the virtual experience. I still love going out and doing the live programs everywhere. The hybrids are fun, but boy, oh boy, the, the things that we’re able to do virtually were great,were absolutely great. 

And once all of us get over our learning curve, it became, you know, it was interesting. A lot of people said, well, we’re not together. I think we’re more intimate in this environment. What we have learned through COVID. Right. And, and to act and to react. And, and I also believe that there’s a worldwide situation where people have become a little more empathetic in the sense of, I understand if someone is ill.I understand if a plane is a flight is canceled. 

Rich, Host: Right. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: To better accept situation. So there was, there was I call it divine design and synchronicity, how it all comes together. So doing these playful programs and educational type of things with missions, working, working virtually, it was a little bit of a curve, which is great.

I believe, honestly, I was a tad too, clinical to begin with, cause I pulled myself to crazy standards. And then the customization stuff for the holidays were presented to me. I love the, the holiday aspect of things on several levels. One thing that was rather low key were families being able to experience a Thanksgiving or Christmas event together.

And so it would be a, you know, I don’t know how long a program. I would do. a short part of it to bring people together and do the whole thing. And oftentimes it would be, you know, the, the, the matriarch of the family wanting people to be together and someone, you know, explained how, how it works. So on a small level, that was beautiful.

Then the company level. And I love with the TeamBonding things, when we do great stuff, where they’re being sent, you know, a, a drink mix or they’re being sent something, or in our case, we will sometimes send, decks of cards for interactive things that people can not only do with us online, but they can do it with their friends and family.

They walk away with the skill. So that’s an aspect of  what we’ve been doing too. I will share a faux pas I made. You know, so many of the companies were having the ugly sweater contests as part of their thing has become part of our culture, right? And so in doing, so many virtual shows that one particular December when virtually no one went, well, excuse the expression, but nothing was happening live, right?

You’re seeing so many of them. And I made a comment. I go, Oh my God, this is the craziest, ugliest sweater contest I’ve ever seen. And then I learned it wasn’t an ugly sweater contest

Rich, Host: contest!

 I, I had the exact same thing. I had the exact same thing happen to me during one of my early ones. Yeah. Yeah. When we switched so much to virtual and I just.

I went, Oh, are we having an ugly sweater contest? But he just went no

Jon Stetson, Guest: The only, the only excuse is I’m the mentalist. I’m supposed to know these things.

Rich, Host: Yeah. I mean, I’m just an idiot. They hired aomwonw come on and talk to them for an hour. You are actually supposed to be knowledgeable.

Jon Stetson, Guest: It doesn’t very much.

We park our cars in the same garage, but the Halloween. Yeah, it’s , it is so much fun. You know, the holiday aspect of things. It’s almost a no-brainer having a holiday party, doing it like this. Basically,  it’s about logistics or distance and things. And even if they are having a local get together of some type to deal with their, their, their folks all around the world.

Great, great stuff for, for Thanksgiving. Gratitude is a very big part of my life and Thanksgiving is my true favorite holiday.

Rich, Host: Nice.

Jon Stetson, Guest: One of the reasons I say is it is the one day of the year where we give true and humble thanks that we no longer live with the people with whom we’re eating.

But seriously, I’m all about, I’m all about gratitude and it shows in all of, all of the programs. So some, It’s interesting because this year we were asked to do some things specifically, attached to Thanksgiving. So that’s an interesting one. And that’s just within the last few days. And so I’m writing some special stuff, but Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Oh my gosh. 

I’ve been doing customized things for Halloween and let’s face it. Somehow, Halloween has become an adult holiday. Yeah. Um, as much as it is  for the kids and it’s, it’s everywhere. And I consult on Halloween projects, spooky projects all the time. It’s something I love. For example, this program I’m doing here is an Edgar Allen Poe.

So it’s, it’s, we’re, we’re, we’re calling it, Nevermore. And, it’s a fun, it’s a great, great fun thing. Um, and if someone looks, wanted something a little more, you know, spooky, spooky, you know, we can go there. Um, a lot of things, let’s face it. Trick or treat, there’s a natural tie in we sometimes will give them.

Once again things that they can pass on and do for others.

 Rich, Host: Excellent 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Mentalism.  Well, we talked about the mysterious, the unknown,  these types of things.  So we’ll create some little games of mind to mind contact that would be a little more Halloween-ish based on, on characters based on icons and, and, and whatnot.

But at the same time, knowing that it comes from, from the good creative heart. So I do not like to go for the hokey of the hokiness of things. And, unfortunately we see, so many, I put it, less than good, tie-ins, people just for the sake o, Attempting to make some

Rich, Host: sure, sure,

Jon Stetson, Guest: sure, you know, yes, just to just to link it

Rich, Host: just to link it to a theme.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Yeah, yeah, though. So when it comes to linking to themes and particular holidays, it’s a question of once again, Being real, being genuine about it. I’ll tell my own, my own stories based on, on Halloween and everything that, that takes place around it. So speaking of which though,

Rich, Host: Actually, if you don’t mind, let me just ask you if I can get a story from you, especially from the corporate world itself.

I mean, like I, like I said, the people out there, they’re still getting the image of, of you in front of a room, but is there, can you give me an example,  that’s actually occurred where you saw a real transformation, in the crowd as you were working them and what came about from that?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Yes. Um, without trying to sound like I may sound, I see it every day.

Rich, Host: Okay, great. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: I will see the body language change in an audience. I’ll see the level of their engagement. Okay. And a lot of it has to do with how we, read and how everything is real time. It’s organic and I’m willing to change. Like that, as I do, so you’ll have many people coming to you afterwards. It’s interesting, um, in the last, I’m going to say 20, 25 years, right?

That’s, um, more people at the end when we do meet and greets want to speak about almost like paranormal activities, or ask about, about memorization or hypnosis or some, there’s a, there’s a, there’s a built in curiosity.

Rich, Host: Okay.

Jon Stetson, Guest: I’ve had several, there are a few things that I would rather, would, would choose to remain a little vague about, and it’s people talking about real life changing experience or, things that happened that were very, very personal for these people.

Rich, Host: And I’m not at all going to ask you to broach that contrast. And even

Jon Stetson, Guest: And on our Facebook group, I get emails every day, which is why I do it. I get emails every day from people who said this was for me. This was fine. Mm, mm, mm.

There was an awful lot. But you see it in audiences. And, interestingly enough, they’re like odd situations, you know, where, and it’s just through the years where you’re dealing with someone in the audience and they may be a little, difficult.

Rich, Host: Mm hmm.

Jon Stetson, Guest: , or, or whatever. And, one of the key key rules of life is another one of the four agreements.

And that’s not take things personally, any thing people can show business is, you know, have this tendency to go, okay, I’ve got a standing ovation except for that guy. Yeah. What’s the problem? 

Rich, Host: What does he know? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: We have to know if I am presenting in front of a hundred people, there are 101 different programs taking place.

Each one is seeing it through their perspective, through their lens, through their experience, through their belief system, through their habits. Through all of these things, the, the extra one is me, how I see it and how it’s going for me. Oftentimes when I speak to people who do present, I go, yeah, this looks great from your point of view.

Rich, Host: Yeah, yeah. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: It, you know, I direct some things and I’ll go. Maybe it doesn’t look so great from their point of view. So once again, needing to put it all, all aside. And it’s, it’s interesting. The concept of say, circling the wagons, because oftentimes interesting things are taking place before you are on in corporate settings, you’ll, you’ll, you’ll see people go, Oh my gosh, they did that.

And then, yeah, they did, you know, having the big memorial for their CEO who just passed away. 

Rich, Host: Yeah. 

Jon Stetson, Guest And now it’s show time. Um, but I have been asked by long term clients, um, to be involved in situations where there was not the most pleasant of news to be, to be delivered. I do a great deal of repeat work because I, I can do, several different things. And, I love hosting conferences.

Rich, Host: Nice.

Jon Stetson, Guest: I love doing it because it takes the predictability out for the viewers. They don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next. And, of course, the key thing for someone like myself is, to know when not to do something, how to adjust straight.

Rich, Host: Right. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Once again, no more. Look at me, look at me, look at me. And like, this is the door, you know, my, my, my, I’m satisfied when I’m able to communicate properly. I had a cruise director, a friend who was a legendary guy in the business. And actually I had a few of these guys, because back then the cruise director set the tone for the entire cruise.

Now, they don’t even let them have a last name. It’s cruise director Jimmy. You know, and, and, but they’re, they’re some very talented guys doing this now.

Rich, Host: Right. 

Jon Stetson, Guest: But they’re not allowed to do that. And they, the cruise director carried Jimmy. The crew is based on his or her personality. And I had asked him, I said, what is the most important thing?

And he was a great entertainer. He goes simple, make sure the people are well informed. If the people are well informed, they’re easy to entertain. They’re easy to inform. They’re easy to feed, to educate all of these things. And we take so much for granted, with these different things, laying the facts out, communicate with what?

Magic words, be impeccable with your word, explain it. And, we’re incorporating other elements of, of, of mystery or, or, or magic or even puzzle, um, some things they can take home with them. Just some interesting facts, making it fun, making it engaging. You know, I love old, I love, I love movies,  the old show business, I love baseball and I incorporate different aspects of things, based on my interest. Cause that’s what their interests are. One of the things I love to do is something called mind reading confidential, which is based on a show I did at the Omni Parker house for several years in downtown Boston.

It was neighborhood centric show and it was based on someone having a something, a fact about themselves that I couldn’t possibly know. Okay. And they write it down and when they’re there and we’re looking one on one and I do my best to to do this. The fun thing is the audience does it as well. They are the calm and they learn a lot about their friends, their family, their, their co workers, stranger, It’s, it’s great. 

There’s another fun little piece that I’ve just reintroduced. I’ve not done this in years, but I’ve been having such great success with it. It’ll be fun, people, involved in this program and, on the stage with me, I’ll say, and as Hollywood is called, they’re making five major motion pictures, and these most pictures are based on your lives. You have complete creative control. Including the casting who is going to play you. So they have to tell the truth like boards hiding them ,and but the fun part is the added fun part is because we have by play and it’s great action and I’m asking people from the audience for lines from movies and we attempt to match up.

So the audience is mind reading as well. And the mind the audience is casting. As well, as soon as they see these five people up there, they go, oh, oh yeah, that’s yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. And once again, it breaks things down. Yeah. Yeah. One of the titles I give, I’ve given myself years ago was conversation architect.

Nice.

 Well, what it means is I design, I give you blueprints for conversations you’re going to have long after I’m gone, to plant those seeds and sometimes it might be just a question of well, do we put him on after the dessert or before if I go on before the dessert? I give them a whole new thing to talk about. A whole new thing to talk about.

There are other, there was someone I was really, really pleased with who said, who was doing one of their first live events after going virtual and, you know, the concept of knocking the silos down, you know, from New Sifford and camps and they, and they were highly analytical, company, lots of engineers, and they said, we got the best of both worlds.

We have people talking about all aspects of everything. Plus, we have them figuring, attempting to figure out what you do. And that, in itself, is a big part of the creative thought process. And allows them to kind of, you know, jam on something that they wouldn’t normally. You know, so it’s out of their, it’s out of their everyday.

But once again gives those the things to talk about and and and that’s the thing that I love the most when when I hear, Oh, they were talking about you and talking about you and and and opening up for other things and aspects, in all their own lives. So , that is what’s really, really rewarding for me as well.

Rich, Host: Love it. Love it. My team out there, please give a big round of applause. One more time for Jon Stetson. Thank you so much for coming on and joining us. I could continue talking to you all day. I honestly could. This is fascinating. You are such a wonderful character unto yourself.

Jon Stetson, Guest: Praise indeed. Well, thank you so much, anytime.

Rich, Host: Unfortunately, unfortunately we, we, we do have a limited amount of time on the podcast. There is one, there’s one more thing I would love to do with you though.

Um, I didn’t tell you about this. I don’t know if anybody did, but I have a little game that I like to play at the end of the show where I ask, it’s called my speed round. 

So I’m going to,  I’m going to play the sound effect for that now. Just so everybody knows that that’s where we are. Okay. The way this works, I’m going to play some music that will actually go for about 60 seconds.

Okay. And in that time, I’m going to give you some very fast questions. The objective is to see, it’s just a way for us to get to know you a little bit more, a little, a little more personally, but to see if you can answer the most. In 60 seconds, right now, this season, the number to beat is 15 questions asked and answered.

Okay. 

Rich, Host: Do you think you can do it? 

Time will tell. 

Rich, Host: Okay. Let’s give it a shot. 

Don’t worry, and remember, this is to have fun. Let’s just have a good time with this as we go. I already, I am, so there’s no way this isn’t gonna happen. 

Wonderful, thank you so much. 

Rich, Host: Okay, so let’s get some music going, and I’ll ask the first question, and away we go.

What’s your name? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Jon Stetson. 

Rich, Host: Do you have any children? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: I do not. 

Rich, Host: Do you have any pets? 

Oh, yes, Olive Gray Stetson. 

Rich, Host: Nice. If you could actually ask your pet a question and receive an answer, what question would you ask?

Jon Stetson, Guest: the meaning of life. 

Rich, Host: Okay. What’s a great book you’ve read recently? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Every book I read’s a great book. I’m just gonna say The Power of Now. 

Rich, Host: Nice. If you could be a cartoon character, who would you be? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Me. Me. Me. Me. 

Rich, Host: Ha ha ha ha. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, of, of watching, of watching shows with my grandfather.

Rich, Host: Excellent. If you could live in any television home, which one would you choose?

Jon Stetson, Guest: Oh, I don’t know, Fred Stanford.

Rich, Host: Nice. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Come on with you. 

Rich, Host: How would you describe this  podcast to your friends? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Fun, interesting, entertaining. Very good. 

Rich, Host: You got 11, my friend. 11. That’s great!

Jon Stetson, Guest: Excellent. You know the part, the thing is  I ask people questions like this in my, in my show quite often.

Rich, Host: Oh yeah? 

Jon Stetson, Guest: Favorite movie. Favorite this. Yep, yep. And, and, initially I would get a little, you know, back in the day, I said, gee, it takes a long time for someone to think of a favorite movie. But when anytime anyone asks me a favorite book, that’s my stumbling block. Because I, 

Rich, Host: Books are so important, aren’t they?

Jon Stetson, Guest: I love them.

Rich, Host: I’m the same way. You asked me my favorite book and I can go off for an hour and a half. Just explaining every book I’ve ever read in my life, Jon, thank you again so much for coming on. Is there a place out there? My friends can go. We have the Stetson Circle on Facebook. Anybody who’s anybody who’s looking to learn more or get themselves involved in your Halloween show with TeamBonding, you can go to Teambonding.com. Um, but what about, what about you? If they want to engage with you they want to get in touch.

Jon Stetson, Guest:  To get in touch with me, I am, Jon, J O N. I took the H out in 1976 to be more aerodynamic. Jon, J O N Stetson, S T E T S O N, Jon at JonStetson.com is how to reach me. My assistant Sara goes through lots of, of things, but we do, we do get back to everyone as, as soon as we possibly can because people have so many, questions about things that that happen in the program and that we speak about that, I love it.

I love having this village. The Stetson Circle on Facebook, LinkedIn, of course. I am Jon Stetson. And, yeah, all the, you know, Google me. Heh heh heh heh

Rich, Host: Heh heh heh heh heh.

Jon Stetson, Guest: We will, we’ll A simple answer to that question, really, now.

Rich, Host: Thanks very much, Jon. And thank you, my team out there. That’s it! We’ve wrapped up yet another episode of Team Building Saves the World.

You’ve enjoyed this show, whether new to the podcast or an old fan of the show, please be sure to share it with everyone. You know, whether they’re a coworker, a friend or family member, it just helps us to share.

All this vital information. You can find out all about us, including all past episodes at Teambonding.com/podcast. You can also find us wherever you find your favorite podcasts, Google podcast, Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you go, my friends, I will be there. And don’t forget to look for all of us on the social media as a TeamBonding podcast. Leave us a message. Tell me whether you liked the show, whether you had a follow up question you want to know about. If you didn’t like the show, if you have a topic for the future, you need to hear about, I want to hear from you. So, before we say farewell for this episode of Team Building Saves the World, please never forget, if you are within the sound of my voice, you’re on my team now, and I am forever going to be on yours.

So long, team. See you next time.

It’s been said that you learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. So why not put your coworkers to play with the help of the team at TeamBonding? TeamBonding was founded over 20 years ago with one simple question. How can employees have a great time while fostering strong, authentic bonds between people who work together?

Their catalog of innovative events include scavenger hunts, jeopardy, and much more. Each activity, whether live, virtual or hybrid, maximizes the impact of team building with an accent on fun. Visit TeamBonding.com to schedule your event. Now TeamBonding, when you want seriously fun results.