My two least favorite words in the English language.
Did you guess ’em?
I’ll give you a hint. My two least favorite words are not, “Didn’t Recoup.” (Which is technically three words anyway.)
And surprisingly, they are not Jeremy Piven. (Still bitter and proud of it, after all these years.)
My two least favorite words in the English language are . . . Unrealized Potential.
What is Unrealized Potential? Oh, it’s a lot of things.
It’s the stack of already-paid-for flyers for a show that are sitting on a shelf because nobody has handed them out yet. It’s a script sitting on a writer’s shelf fending off dust mites, instead of getting produced, somewhere, anywhere. It’s an empty theater that could be filled with a show if a landlord would just bend the rent a bit. It’s the actor who blew off the audition because it was easier (and less risky) to sleep late or go to the park.
It’s all over the place. And it’s super sad. Because with just a spark, that Unrealized Potential could ignite into something spectacular.
Great Producers, Artists and Entrepreneurs have fantastic UP radar. They recognize it in their own work, or in other people’s, and then strike a match, and light the fuse.
That’s your job. To find Unrealized Potential in other people or in yourself, and slap the “un” right out of it and turn it into Realized Potential.
Have I told you what my two favorite words are in the English language?
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Podcasting
Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.