
During the 2015 Sage Summit in New Orleans, the trio took to the stage to discuss creating new industries and leveraging the fan bases who support their careers ? relating it to the skills needed by business leaders to do just the same.
Weiner created, produced and directed cult TV show Mad Men, a show depicting what the advertising industry was like in 1960s New York. He was also heavily involved with mob drama The Sopranos. Pro skateboarder Tony Hawk rose to fame during the 1990s when he came to dominate vert skating, and has since gone on to have a series of successful video games and establish a foundation to build skate parks in deprived areas. Noah is a South African comedian who is set to take over the hosting job of The Daily Show from Jon Stewart in September. He described traditional stand-up comedy as the most organic form of being a salesman ? peddling wares as you travel. ?The internet came along and changed that as you have a new way to share, whereas historically with stand-up you had to to the people ? to towns where nobody knew who you were,? he explained. ?Tools like Twitter came in as tools for marketing. I started doing a little bit on TV shows, hosted awards, and got fans from there. A fan base is people who associate you from different areas, and then you hope to bring them together in one room.? On the subject of Twitter, and using it to cultivate fans, Hawk revealed he was one of the first skateboarders, and professional athletes, to do so. ?The value of this focus group is incredible, they?re immediate and honest,? he said. ?You should listen to it, but ignore those who are ridiculous. It has changed the way I do a lot of things.? Noah also feels Twitter has changed everything, as it gives a direct link. Even though a comment may seem malicious like ?I hated your show?, Twitter allows him to find out that that was simply because they couldn?t hear him in the room. ?Social media makes you realise that people do have an insatiable need to be heard. Unfortunately a lot of people think the only way they can be heard is being negative.? Read more from Sage Summit:- Girls should want to own a football club, not marry a player, declares Karren Brady
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