Tell us about what you do?

I’m the co-founder of the Visual Storytelling Institute (VSI). VSI is dedicated to helping marketers & entrepreneurs battle content overload and decreasing attention spans. VSI provides visual storytelling workshops, featuring a #myVstory framework (make, visualize & distribute business stories, including custom employee advocacy programs), consulting, conferences and thought leadership to empower business leaders in their quest to resonate with their audiences and grow their companies. We’re currently working on our inaugural Visual Storytelling Summit in partnership with The Idea Center, at the Miami-Dade College – one of the hottest innovation hubs in Miami. Our first conference celebrates the art and craft of corporate storytelling to benefit all business leaders. We hope to evolve this event into a unique annual tradition that is associated with Miami.

How did you get started?

I am originally from Tel Aviv, Israel. Interestingly enough, my journey started at University of Florida doing my MA in Mass Communications during the early days of the Internet. So in a way, coming back to Florida is a nice closing of a cycle. I have over 20 years of well-rounded digital marketing experience. I’ve worked both on the agency and client sides for Fortune 100/500 brands such as American Express, Nokia and IBM, with unique specialty in social marketing and visual storytelling. Two years ago, I relocated from NY to Miami as my wife started teaching at UM. That’s when I started to explore how I could leverage everything I learned in the corporate world over the years, into a new way of looking at visual communications.

What has been the most challenging moment?

The reality is that we’re all both story makers – communicating our personal ideas out and storytellers – receiving, processing and sharing ideas from others. And what’s interesting, is that everything we do is really a story with a beginning, middle and end. With this in mind, like any other entrepreneurs, my journey is about helping business leaders solve their problem of rising above the noise. Along the way, I encounter my own “buts” or “dragons” in the form of competition and self-doubts about leaving the safe corporate world and doing it my way. What drives me is the understanding that these are all expected turbulences along my storyline, overshadowed by my passion for what I do, the great people that surround me here in Miami and all around the world I’ve come across since we launched. From this perspective, I’m a great believer in Joseph Campbell’s quote:  “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

What was the most braggable moment?

For VSI, I’d say striking a partnership with The Idea Center at Miami-Dade College to host our first Visual Storytelling Summit and offering a 12-week Visual Storytelling course in January 2017. I was also proud that VSI Blog – our thought leadership engine – receives great attention from industry leaders and we’ve recently cut 2 content partnerships with Adobe and SAP.

What would you say is your biggest weakness?

Having worked at blue chip corporations with deep pockets, I’d say that I have a sweet spot for integrating sophisticated online tools. For example, when we started with VSI, we used a marketing automation platform that was definitely an overkill for what we needed. I confess I’m now a fully recovered tinkerer who believes in the best-of-breed tool model – at least for the stage we are in.

And your greatest strength?

I’d say attention to details and weaving unrelated threads into solving a problem. That’s why I’m driven by a constant hunger for information and learning. This is true for work and outside work as I’m constantly shopping for new stories and fresh point of views. In regard to the latter, I co-founded cafepellicola.com, a 10-year blog dedicated to my passion for fine Italian cinema. Yep, those timeless gems from the 50’s-60’s period. I have been curating classic Italian film festivals in San Diego and New York and post-screening discussions, including online interviews with Italian filmmakers. And no I am not Italian, but as I’d like to say “sometimes it’s worth seeing the world through a different lens and discovering new stories with new sensibilities.”

What was the greatest lesson you’ve learned from a mistake?

Never give up, consider challenges as part of your journey. And keeping a steady hand on the wheel depends on how you let these turbulences conjure a pessimistic vs. optimistic scenarios. It’s your decision. Jonathan Gottschall nicely puts it: “The storytelling mind is allergic to uncertainty and is constantly craving for meaning. If it cannot find meaningful patterns, it will try to impose them. This way the storytelling mind operates like a factory that churns out true stories where it can but will manufactures lies when it can’t.”

What do you love most about what you do?

The team work and the creative process of helping business leaders find and own their business story. You can have the best product, but if your business story is weak – it’s as if your product never existed. Our process helps people not only sharpen their business message; they also learn something new about their personal brand story. I like to call it the “Double Mirror Effect” because the better the story you tell yourself about what you do (aka owning your story), the more confident it makes you feel and then it spills outside to your external relationships, and people perceive your message as more authentic and trustworthy.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Do fewer things as it’s better than spreading yourself too thin. And as much as our storytelling mind is always craving for full clarity – that safe harbor, sometimes you need to jump in and as you move along future chapters in your journey will be become clearer.

How do you define happiness?

The ability to combine your work and your passion. In my case, it’s a new partnership VSI cut with a visual storytelling agency in Rome, Italy.

What book are you currently reading?

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall.

What’s a personal habit that you believe contributes to your success?

Exposing myself to as many ideas, and people as possible. That means attending events, joining advisory boards, reading business and non-business books, learning a new language (Italian in my case), watching films and meeting with lots of people just for coffee. This habit allows me to give back to the community as well as fuel my tank with new ideas. 

Have you collaborated with another business/artist in the past? (if yes tell us how it benefited you, if no tell us how you would like to.

I serve as a Managing Director at the Buky Schwartz Estate, one of the early pioneers of video art. His work is shown in major museums and galleries worldwide and included in several private and public collections. I also established a joint-research program with NYU Moving Image Archiving & Preservation and University of Miami to preserve the work of Buky Schwartz.

If you’re interested in learning more about visual storytelling and Shlomi’s company, be sure to attend the Visual Storytelling Summit in Miami on October 26th! For details, click here and don’t forget to use code TNQB for 10% off your ticket!