The Poet Laureate of Corporate America

How does a poet get corporations like Nike, Google, and Toyota to pay $50,000+ per performance? Grammy-nominated spoken word artist Sekou Andrews created "Poetic Voice" — a groundbreaking fusion of spoken word poetry and keynote speaking that has made him what Forbes calls "the de facto poet laureate of corporate America."

In this episode of The Art of the Zag, Sekou tells us how a 5th grade teacher in South Central LA accidentally fell in love with poetry, won back-to-back National Slam Poetry championships, and built a seven-figure business on what he calls "a dead art form you hated in high school." He also breaks down why corporations chronically undervalue art and storytelling — and why that's about to change in the age of AI.

ABOUT SEKOU ANDREWS:

Website: https://sekouandrews.com

Stage Might Training: https://getstagemight.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sekou

KOUMAMI album: Available on all streaming platforms

WSB profile: https://www.wsb.com/speakers/sekou-andrews/

(00:00) Intro (02:50) Sekou Andrews joins the show (05:00) How hip-hop led to spoken word (07:00) The moment he knew he could do this (08:00) Becoming a "full-time mermaid" (09:50) Quitting teaching (11:00) Making rent in CD sales (12:00) The echoes of confirmation (12:52) How Shane discovered Sekou (14:42) The decade of survival (19:00) The Nike analyst meeting (22:30) The "Consumer 2.0" performance (26:00) Poetry has business value (29:00) Information over inspiration (33:08) The neuroscience of storytelling (35:50) Storytelling is collecting dust (37:00) "Get rid of the word poetry" (42:00) Art as the vehicle for content (43:00) The one thing AI can't touch (48:00) Singer vs. rapper vs. poet (51:00) AI wants to give us goosebumps (53:51) Upgrade your human operating system (57:30) The stage collapse story (58:53) Closing

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