Bob Foster's Blog » mark johnson

For The Holiday Season

Bob Foster — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:49:18 +0000

This is a message I received from Mark Johnson of Playing for Change, and I wanted to share it with everyone:

“Behind the storms of daily conflict, crisis and struggle, it is the artist, and the poet and the musician that continues the quiet work of the centuries, building bridges of experience between peoples, and reminding us the universality of our feelings, desires, and despairs, and reminding us that the forces that unite are deeper than those that divide.”

(email subscribers, view on my blog)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!

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Person of the Week

Bob Foster — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:40:57 +0000

Earlier tonight ABC Evening News with Charlie Gibson presented their “Person of the Week.” Here they featured one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Mark Johnson, with some of the Playing for Change folks. If you have read some of my earlier posts, you know that I have held Mark up as an example of the qualities that entrepreneurs should strive for. To see what I mean, take a look at an interview with Mark on the Bill Moyers Journal.

(email subscribers—view on my blog)

Obsession, passion, perseverance, capabilities—these are the necessary traits of a successful entrepreneur. We can all take a lesson from Mark Johnson.

The Spirit of America

Bob Foster — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:48:45 +0000

Mark Johnson is one of my favorite young entrepreneurs, because he exhibits the perseverance to follow his dream—and be successful. It’s the end of the week, so I thought I would post one of his latest videos, featuring two of the Playing For Change performers; Grandpa Elliott, and Louis Mhlanga, performing at Dodger Stadium. Even though he is blind, Grandpa Elliott obviously loves his country. This should give us all something to think about.

Mark Johnson’s dream is to bring peace to the world through music, and he is following his dream and persevering in spite of the challenges. He has carried this dream for 10 years, and worked steadily on it for the past 4 years—and he shows no signs of slowing down.

How strong is your dream?

The New Normal

Bob Foster — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:03:53 +0000

“The New Normal—GET USED TO IT. The legacy of the financial crisis will be overregulation and slow growth.” These are the words of Mohamed A. El-Erian, CEO and award winning author of When Markets Collide, in a recent article in BusinessWeek. El-Erian went on to say; “…some may want to deny the new reality. That’s a mistake. But being caught in a regime shift with backward-looking beliefs and operating models, is much worse.”

Without a doubt, things are going to change dramatically over the coming years and we will be doing business within major new concepts. It can be exciting, or devastating, depending on how well we adapt to change.

So, because it is the weekend, I thought I would include something from one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Mark Johnson. This is one of the first performances Mark and his crew put together after he brought some of the “Playing for Change” musicians to the U.S. for a tour.

(email subscribers can view on my blog)

Change is a stimulus, and it can create tremendous opportunities for creative thinking and new innovations. The time has never been better for entrepreneurs than it is right now.

Hope in the Midst of Chaos

Bob Foster — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:51:41 +0000

This is a song from an upcoming documentary, produced by Mark Johnson, the founder of “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music.” Mark is the kind of person I envision when I speak of a “small-business person”—as are the musicians playing for change. Many of you have viewed this before, but I would like to share it here again:

A small business does not have to make mountains of money—it may not make much at all, but it does have to be founded upon vision, obsession, purpose, and commitment. Mark and his team have all these things, and I believe that small-business people everywhere should take a look at what he is doing and learn a lesson from this remarkable entrepreneur.

If you want to really know what vision, obsession, purpose, and commitment looks like, take a look at the following interview by Bill Moyers. It is 11 minutes long, and worth spending every second.