The puzzle and the tools are the same…
it’s all about how you take a complex, important story, weave it together so people truly understand it and develop
an emotional connection to it.

About the Interview

David Dwyer is a longtime friend and former client of Brainstorm. From his role as a Publisher at New Riders Press (Pearson) to his days as Microsoft Windows’ Chief Storyteller, David’s career was what most would deem a pinnacle of success.

Then David decided to leave corporate marketing and move to Santiago, Chile to serve with IberoAmerican Ministries. We checked in with him recently and asked him to compare his former positions to his current one and whether his definition of success has changed.

Questions

.think | 1. Are there similarities between your former role as Windows’ Chief Storyteller and your current role with IberoAmerican Ministries?

David Dwyer: With one part of my job it’s almost identical. My role with IberoAmerican Ministries (IAM) is twofold with the major part of it being to tell the IAM story through the web and multimedia pieces. The puzzle and the tools are the same…it’s all about how you take a complex, important story, weave it together so people truly understand it and develop an emotional connection to it.

Your brand is what people identify with,
if it is done correctly.

The other part of my job is helping teams, professors, and others visiting our works to plan their trips and then manage their time while here in Chile. Our entire family participates in that part of the job (shopping for food, translating, getting people to their Chilean homes, etc.).

.think | 2. Any particularly difficult language or cultural barriers you’ve struggled to overcome?

David Dwyer: Learning a new language at 45 years old is THE most difficult thing I have EVER done. It’s a work in progress. It doesn’t help that Chilean Spanish is very slang driven, i.e., the words aren’t in any dictionary we have. And, Chilean driving leaves a lot to be desired!

.think | 3. Describe a typical lunch at the company cafeteria in Redmond versus lunch in Santiago.

David Dwyer: I liked to get off campus most days at Microsoft. But usually those lunches on campus were mostly about the work. In Chile, lunch is at 2:00 and is the biggest meal of the day. It’s where the family often gathers together and catches up. So, I would say the big difference is work versus family. I like the Chilean lunches much better.

The first information
we communicated back to the states
was through Facebook.

.think | 4. Can you contrast the role technology played while at Microsoft versus technology’s role in what you are doing now?

David Dwyer: We have many friends who served in the mission field many years ago—before the Internet. I cannot imagine what that was like. We are a simple Skype call away from anyone in the world. We use technology to spread the word just as Microsoft does.

.think | 5. In what ways do your experiences in branding and marketing at Microsoft translate into working with the IberoAmerican brand?

David Dwyer: Great question. IAM didn’t really know what a brand was, or how even in the subtle things you make brand work for you. Your brand is what people identify with, if it is done correctly.

For example, our name doesn’t roll off the tongue, so we usually use IAM. On the website, every first mention of our name is followed by (IAM) and then in the rest of the page we simply use IAM. It gets people into the groove of our brand the same way we are. It parlays across the site and other things, too, in the way we use images, etc. The next big task for us is our logo, which needs some help, but it’s a major hurdle for any organization.

.think | 6. Have social mediums like Facebook or other online networks impacted your efforts in Santiago, and, if so, in what way?

David Dwyer: I started a Facebook page for the organization. It gives us a chance to get notes, prayer requests, and news out to the masses quickly. This was very helpful during the earthquake in February. The first information we communicated back to the states was through Facebook.

Some of our teams are using Twitter to do daily updates from South America and many blog the experience, too.

Chilean Sea Bass, no contest!

.think | 7. Can you compare and contrast the audience you seek to reach now with the audience you targeted while at Microsoft?

David Dwyer: You know, contrary to what the media would like you to believe, Microsoft does really care about their customers. We had many VERY good conversations about how to build an emotional connection with our customer and I personally used to exercise that in many different ways.

I’ve directly translated those things I’ve learned to our “customersâ€? with IAM. I want them to live this service with all of us because, in reality, we’re only playing a small part in the bigger picture of which they are a part also. It’s the same way with the Microsoft customer, we each played a part in their technology experience.

.think | 8. Is the pay about the same, or different?

David Dwyer: (grinning) It depends on how you measure it. I am MUCH richer than I would have ever been at Microsoft.

.think | 9. Career pinnacle to-date: New Riders (Pearson), Microsoft, or Missions?

David Dwyer: The answer is Missions. But, I don’t believe missions for us happens without the other parts. The key is to make sure, as a believer, that you are always working to glorify the Lord. I have tried hard to do that every step of my career. And at 45-years old, the Lord chose to lead me to Chile, not another tech-related company.

.think | 9-1/2. We know you enjoy playing soccer, snowboarding, and surfing; does your active lifestyle play a role in your work in Chile?

David Dwyer: It does! Futbol in particular, because we use the experience to connect with so many other people in the community. It is a language in itself. When a gringo (not a bad term in Chile) can play and hang with the locals, it opens many doors to create relationships! But, I’ve toned down my extreme sports participation due to the cost of insurance…for someone my age.

.think | Bonus. Chilean Sea Bass or Pacific Northwest Salmon?

David Dwyer: Chilean Sea Bass, no contest! The fisherman in Iloca—where the tsunami hit after the earthquake and where we have been building new houses—catch it, clean it, and prepare it in a way that you would not believe!

Click here for more about IberoAmerican Ministries.
And here for more about Microsoft Windows.

Opera Vocal Chords
Re-branded as Americana

About the Interview

Dan May spent over a decade as an opera singer. After vocal chord surgery permanently altered his voice, May left the opera stage and joined a dance troupe. Three years and a new hip later he parlayed his unique voice into a successful solo career. That was four years and four albums ago.

Dan took time out of his hectic schedule promoting his most recent album The Long Road Home to chat with .think about his life, times and the re-branding of himself.

.think | 1. How would you describe your current sound / musical style?

Dan May: I call it Americana. It’s kind of a rootsy sound with Rock, Folk, Country and R&B influences with a focus on the melody.

A lot of it I like to think has that “back porch” feel to it. Like a couple of guys were sitting on their back porch playing the guitar and singing. And then eight other guys and a few backup singers wandered up and joined them. Something like that. I think I’ve become more comfortable with that sound from album to album.

I like to think of my songs as little movies, where I get to live vicariously through the characters that I write about. I’m a storyteller, I don’t write from an autobiographical point of view. I’m sure a little “Dan” sneaks into every song, but for the most part my songs are just stories.

.think | 2. You’ve described your career path as having more twists and turns than a corkscrew in a hurricane. Other than your current occupation, what’s been your favorite job and why?

Dan May: After I retired from opera, I danced in a contemporary dance piece for 3 years and that was a lot of fun. I would go up to Montreal to rehearse for a few weeks at a time over the course of a couple years, and ultimately got the opportunity to perform in St. Petersburg, Russia, in a World Premier and that was an experience of a lifetime. But then I blew out my hip and had to have it replaced and it was bye-bye Baryshnikov.

Other than that, my favorite job was cameraman for a cable TV station when I was in high school. That was a blast. I was responsible for reading the paper and getting the weather report to make the map for the newscast. Sometimes I’d forget, and I’d just come in and make it up. I’d put a big High pressure system on the map over Omaha, and the weatherman would say, “That high will be affecting our weather next week.” I’d shake my head and think, “No it won’t.”

As it turns out, I think I was right more often than the National Weather Service. People got wind of me controlling the weather and they’d call and ask, “Hey Dan, the Indians are playing the Yankees tomorrow and Guidry is pitching. Could you make it rain?”

“It’s a faithful audience.
I’m always amazed how far people
will travel to see my shows.”

.think | 3. How is your new audience different and how have you adapted your personal brand for this new genre?

Dan May: If you mean how was my opera audience different than the audience that comes to my shows and buys my CDs now, then it’s night and day. I would guess that 95% of the people that come to my shows have never seen an opera and never will. The other 5% are my opera friends and people that like all kinds of music.

And it’s a faithful audience. I’m always amazed how far people will travel to see my shows. We played a show in Toledo last year and people drove from Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis and Philadelphia to see us. I was amazed. I honestly don’t know of anyone I would travel that far to see.

But I’m certainly not complaining. My music now seems to appeal to such a wide-ranging audience it’s surprising. Young, middle-aged, old—my fans run across a lot of demographics, and that’s great. I’ve been fortunate enough to have CD sales in 42 states and 18 countries, mostly as a result of the Internet.

.think | 4. With so many social mediums available what’s worked best for you to connect with your fans? WOM, email, FB, iTunes?

Dan May: I would say MySpace has reached the greatest number of people. I have people from all over the world who’ve bought the CD as a result of MySpace. Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Italy, France, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia, etc.

I have a good following across the U.S., especially in certain areas. Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska have been good. A good following in Washington, Oregon and California. The Carolinas and Florida have been good too. And of course, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Ohio.

Playing live has been huge in expanding my audience. Whenever I open a show for a national act, I sell a ton of CDs to this audience that has never heard of me before, but somehow in a half an hour or 45 minutes, I’ve managed to win them over. It’s a real validation of the music, and I appreciate it. And then those people become my fans and they turn their friends onto it. And so on, and so on.

For example, I opened a show in Lancaster, Ohio two summers ago for Livingston Taylor, James Taylor’s brother, and ended up selling 165 CDs that night. These people didn’t know me from Boo, but they ate it up. That’s a wonderful feeling. When that happens, I say to myself, “Hey, I might actually have something here!”

.think | 5. Dan May: More widely know as an opera singer or pop singer / songwriter?

Dan May: Pop singer. Although I had a good career in opera that spanned a dozen years, opera is more of a team sport. The soprano and tenor tend to get the accolades, while the bass just shows up and does his job. In sports terms, basses are the offensive lineman of the music world.

I sang roles that gave me an opportunity to shine, and I enjoyed it very much, but this is far more rewarding. I never felt like I was creating when I sang opera. I was singing roles that had been done for a couple hundred years by countless other singers, and it was difficult to put my own mark on it.

“Thank God for the Internet.
It would have taken me 50 years of touring
to reach the audience I’ve reached.”

.think | 6. What’s been your greatest challenge in developing a following?

Dan May: Well, surprisingly, it has been pretty easy so far. The audience has just heard the music, liked it and come on board. Thank God for the Internet. It would have taken me 50 years of touring to reach the audience I’ve reached in the 4 short years I’ve been doing this. MySpace, iTunes, CD Baby, it’s all worked like a charm.

The most challenging part is the business end. Booking and marketing and PR. I spend way too much time on the business end, but I’ve got to keep the momentum going. I don’t enjoy that, but the creative part I love. Writing, recording, performing—I love it. Every single minute. Well almost every minute. Having a band can be tough. Personalities, egos, etc. And firing people sucks. But it’s all part of the business.

.think | 7. Have you met Mike Rowe, former opera singer turned Ford spokesperson and host of Discover Channel’s Dirty Jobs?

Dan May: Never met Mike, but I’ve seen his show and liked it. I think he sang in the Chorus for the Baltimore Opera. I think we probably have some of the same friends.

.think | 8. From the music industry, who’s been the most positive influence on your career? Performer, agent, mentor?

Dan May: I’ve had so many influences along the way, and I love the work of so many songwriters, it’s hard to say. But as an overall influence on my career, it was probably my first producer, Anthony Newett. He was the first one to take the ideas I had in my head and put them out there for an audience to hear.

When we finished my first CD, we sent it to WXPN, the big station here in Philly and they played it the next day. I was like, “Wow, that was easy.” Well, it turns out, it’s not easy, it was just good, and that was largely due to the work of Anthony Newett.

“I sure do miss the wigs.”

.think | 9. What advice do you have for anyone reinventing themselves career-wise?

Dan May: I would say go for it. But don’t go half-assed. You’ve got to put everything you have into it. You can’t be lazy, and no one is going to do it for you. Don’t be afraid to take chances or to blow your own horn.

It’s imperative that you wear a number of hats in today’s market regardless of what it is you’re doing. Also, don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole. Sometimes you just have to let things take the direction they take and not try to steer it. Sometimes you can only go in the right way if you take your hands off the wheel.

.think | 9-1/2. Do you miss wearing elaborate costumes and make-up on stage?

Dan May: I sure do miss the wigs. Anyone who has seen my head will know why. But I never have a bad hair day. I do miss the spectacle of opera, the grandeur, the big costumes and the elaborate sets. There’s nothing quite as exciting as standing backstage waiting for the curtain to go up before the opera, as the orchestra is playing the Overture. And then the curtain flies and you’re on. It’s a rush to say the least.

But this is where I was supposed to be all along, and I’m so lucky to be here.

For more on Dan May and his music visit his site, DanMaycd.com.
Or, sample and purchase his songs on iTunes or CD Baby.

Images: Lisa Schaffer

Kevin Cornell’s “Manda” | 2007©, Gouache on 300 lb. Cold Press

About the Interview

Yesterday we featured a fascinating website called, The Superest where A List Apart’s illustrator/designer Kevin Cornell wages an illustrious and ongoing battle of super heroic one-upmanship with animator/designer Matthew Sutter.

Kevin Cornell took time out of his busy schedule to talk to .think about The Superest site and his life as an illustrator.

.think | 1. What initially inspired you to create The Superest site?

Kevin Cornell: Well, Matt and I had come across Andy Haven’s post about the game “My Team, Your Team.” The game sounded really interesting, so we played it a couple of times. One particular game we posted to our websites; after which we realized it would probably be a fun site all its own, and a good proportion of other people agreed. So a couple months later we built The Superest site, and there ya go.

.think | 2. Although you and Matthew generally handle the majority of the illustration battles, if you could have anyone as a guest illustrator, who would it be?

Kevin Cornell: Hmmm… well, we both wanted to see the fellows from Wulffmorgenthaler do one. But their agent never wrote me back.

“The game itself is
just the perfect formula for
inspiring the next hero.”

.think | 3. How has the ubiquity of the web changed or challenged you as an illustrator?

Kevin Cornell: I think the web has made it much easier to get work in front of people than it is in print. But then, it also tends to pick up and spit out individual portfolio pieces quicker—one day you’ve got 5,000 people looking at your work, the next day 10. This aspect probably unconsciously led me—and other web illustrators—to change the way we promote and produce work.

Instead of disappearing down a hole and emerging a year later with a big portfolio piece, we take small projects that can quickly be put in a public forum or weblog, maintaining the frequency of exposure. Or, if one DID have a large, year-long project, they’d be more apt to give updates to an audience throughout the process.

.think | 4. What’s your favorite super hero creation and why?

Kevin Cornell: I think my favorite that I created was Figleif. I like the text, the hero is well-drafted and has good contrast, the reply itself was (from my perspective, at least) clever, and I was quite excited to have been able to add the runes that actually spell something.

It just all came together. What’s more, it came together without a huge amount of effort; some things you really have to sit and noodle with for hours before it gets right, and some things just miraculously happen right the first time.

Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of luck every now and then?

.think | 5. Describe your sense of humor; is it as well-developed as it seems or do you just muster one for the sake of The Superest site?

Kevin Cornell: Well, I couldn’t say whether it’s well-developed or not. I can’t stand political jokes or jokes about celebrities. I like jokes to be about universal things, things most everyone has experienced. Yet I can’t stand jokes about flatulence. I just don’t find it funny. I was actually pretty disappointed when I made Wind Breaker and everyone thought I was making a fart joke. And jokes about animals are pretty funny. But animals that are animated to sing, talk, and dance are NOT funny.

.think | 6. Has Pixar come calling, wanting to animate any of your super heroes, and what will you say when they do?

Kevin Cornell: Haha—no, no calls. And I expect if they DO call, it would be lawyers saying “Hey, stop ripping off our ideas.” Or to extend Matt’s restraining order another 30 feet.

.think | 7. You’ve created so many super heroes in such a short timeframe; where do you draw your inspiration from?

Kevin Cornell: Well, that’s what first excited Matt and I about creating the site; the game itself is just the perfect formula for inspiring the next hero. There have only been a handful of instances where I didn’t know how to beat the previous hero. Most of the time, the way to beat your opponent is just thinking about how that hero’s strength could also be a weakness.

.think | 8. Can you envision creating the ultimate super hero–one with such unparalleled powers–that it could end the series?

Kevin Cornell: Sure, it’s Chet The Commenter. That’s the guy who lists every possible hero reply in the comments before Sutter or I have a chance to draw it. When he strikes, we’re screwed.

.think | 9. Within arm’s length, what work-related item do you feel is most important to you and why?

Kevin Cornell: Probably this computer. I’d have a hell of a time getting the drawings online without it. Though the chair plays a big part in my day as well. Hmmm… this is a tough choice.

.think | 9-1/2. What’s your super power?

Kevin Cornell: I once went fishing with a bamboo pole and caught 5 fish, while the people next to me caught nothing. So I imagine it’s some sort of fishing power, which is a real shame because my weakness is handling bait.

Kevin’s wit and work can be viewed at his site, Bearskinrug.com. He is also the staff illustrator at A List Apart.

Check out The Superest’s ongoing battle here.