89: Finding Purpose Through Reinvention with Bruce Turkel

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking to Bruce Turkel once again! Bruce has just published his sixth book called Is That All There Is?. Bruce shares many heart-warming stories in the book about people who have made changes in their lives that are sure to move, motivate, and inspire you!

In this episode, Bruce discusses his journey and his latest book. He also talks about change and figuring out what you truly want in life.

We hope that you find our conversation with Bruce Turkel as enjoyable and inspiring as we did!

Bruce Turkel's bio

Useful. Valuable. Enjoyable.

These three words sum up Bruce Turkel's communication philosophy and style. Whether he's helping his ad agency clients develop robust, memorable brands, keeping audiences riveted and entertained during one of his many speaking engagements, writing another compelling post for his popular blog, or giving useful branding and advertising advice on a national news program, he lives and breathes this philosophy. Bruce conveys the importance of building strong brands to his clients, audiences, and readers, and shows them how to build their own brand value. Driven to see clients enjoy greater revenue by changing consumers' perceptions, Bruce employs a uniquely powerful combination of creativity and marketing acumen to help them make their brands more valuable. Bruce follows the fearless business approach of embracing what's new and adopting what works in his quest to provide outstanding value for clients and audiences. How does Bruce create successful campaigns? His first step is to understand what's always in the back of customers' minds – their own needs and wants and what you can do for them.

The personal journey that inspired Bruce to write his latest book

Bruce has always been interested in the graphic arts. He studied art and design in college. Then he went to New York to work as an Assistant Art Director for an agency. He returned to Miami, worked for several art agencies, and after a few years, he started a design firm.

The business grew and eventually became a successful brand management firm with clients like Bacardi, Hasbro, Miami Tourism, Nike, and American Express. They even opened offices in Latin America.

After many years, Bruce began to find his business less and less appealing, so he decided to change.

Keeping a journal

Bruce's successful friends kept picking his brains and telling him how unhappy they were with what they were doing. He wondered why they were all coming to him until he realized they were doing it because they thought what he was doing was creative and fulfilling. His standard answer was to tell them to get a journal, keep notes, and write down their experiences because others might want to know about them.

Bruce reinvents himself

Bruce got tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Then, it dawned on him that he was advising everyone else to do what he wanted to do, so he decided to reinvent himself and started focusing on what he truly wanted. One of the things he did was write his latest book to help people who have achieved some level of success in their lives solve the problem of "is that all there is?".

Change

The internet, the democratization of information, globalization, and technological advances changed how things work. Almost overnight, anyone could buy anything from anywhere at any time, and competition grew exponentially. Also, with everyone having a smartphone, having specific knowledge about something was no longer a competitive advantage.

Waiting

Because the change did not happen overnight, and there have been no cataclysmic results, most people want to wait until something better comes along before they decide to change.

Rethinking

Then, the pandemic happened. Supply chains shut down instantly across the world, we could no longer travel, and almost everyone started working from home. That forced people to take a step back and rethink how they were living their lives.

Bruce Turkel's book

The point of Bruce's book is to give people some proven and actionable recommendations for implementing change in their lives. He advises people not to rush and to make thoughtful changes.

We all want the same things

Almost all of us want the same things. We want to be happy, satisfied, good providers, and live up to our values.

Learning from history

We can learn from history. Viktor Frankl wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning. In it, he spoke about what he experienced in concentration camps and explained that when you're powerless, everything you have can be taken away from you. What cannot be taken away, however, is how you respond. The Greek Stoics said the same thing.

Know what you want

Get to know yourself and what you want, even though that might not be easy to do. Figuring out what you want is usually harder than figuring out how to get it. Bruce has put many exercises he used to help his clients figure out what they wanted in his book.

What matters to you?

If you keep what matters to you and what your values are in mind, it will help you stay on the right path. That will also help you move forward positively.

Changing beliefs

Before writing his latest book, Bruce believed he had to focus all his time and effort on running his business, and he had to be the best at what he did. Now, he believes that he has to be the best at who he is. He bases his future opportunities and potential clients on the quote: "People don't choose you because of what you do. They choose you because of who you are."

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Books mentioned:

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith