Steve Cody, the co-founder of Peppercom has a hidden talent! He is a stand-up comedian. Recently he decided that there were a number of things that he wanted to achieve before he got much older (and he is pretty old!). One of those things was to write and perform stand-up routines. As soon as I got off the flight to New York on my latest trip I hotfooted it across Manhattan to watch him perform. He was actually really good. Some of the folks here at Peppercom Europe asked me if I felt strange watching him in a different and pretty scary environment but I didn’t. He was, as he is in business, the consummate professional. His routine was brilliantly constructed, practiced, polished and very funny.
One of the many things I did when I was in New York was meet with five bright young interns. They were ‘meeting the management’ so that we could tell them about our backgrounds, answer their questions and generally give some advice. One of my pearls of wisdom (apart from ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’) was that if you want to achieve something don’t be the one to put barriers in the way by thinking that you are not good enough or that you not experienced enough. I truly believe that you have the power to make anything happen if you want it enough and are prepared to apply yourself.
One of the great things about Peppercom is its entrepreneurial, go-getting spirit and a culture that encourages challenging existing practices and creating new offerings in line with the ever-evolving media landscape. Steve is the embodiment of that spirit and culture. I don’t know of many CEOs that would take stand-up and improvisation classes every week to follow a long held dream. Just like with Peppercom it doesn’t stop there: This Christmas Steve is following another dream - climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his son Chris (ex-Peppercom Europe intern).
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