About Bruce Kasanoff
Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter, author, coach, entrepreneur and longtime student of what helps people become more fully themselves.
His career began in business. After earning his MBA from Wharton, Bruce worked in marketing, strategy and entrepreneurship. He was an original partner of the Peppers and Rogers Group, helping grow the pioneering one-to-one marketing firm from 10 to 150 people in three years. He was part of the Ogilvy & Mather team that helped reposition IBM, served for five years as the “marketing guru” to 250 entrepreneurs in the Birthing of Giants program, and has raised or helped raise more than $20 million for entrepreneurial ventures.
Along the way, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named him one of the 50 most influential thinkers in marketing and business.
Bruce eventually shifted his attention from helping companies understand people to helping people better understand themselves.
Over the past decade-plus, he has had thousands of conversations with entrepreneurs, executives and other thoughtful people, initially as a social media ghostwriter and increasingly as a coach. His work tends to begin with a deceptively simple question: What matters most to you right now? He listens for what is being said, what is not being said and where a person seems most alive.
Bruce is the author of six books, including How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk, Making It Personal and, with Amy Blaschka, I Am. His writing has reached a large global audience, and his newsletters include:
Bruce Kasanoff on Substack—His most personal and provocative writings go here.
Mountain Minute —Open your heart. Enrich your career... and life. (181,435 subscribers)
Distill the Real You —For builders and leaders: get closer to what you're meant to create next. (86,134 subscribers)
Meditate for Peace—Professionals & seekers spreading peace through stillness. (85,210 subscribers)
Stop the Pain—Find and remove the things causing you the most pain. (65,430 subscribers)
Selflss—Lead without ego. Scale without limits. (82,180 subscribers)
He is a proud member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches community.
In recent years, his own questions have changed.
After spending much of his life relying on an unusually active and practical mind, Bruce has become increasingly interested in the forms of intelligence that emerge when we stop trying so hard to think our way through everything. His explorations have taken him into meditation, intuition, spirituality, consciousness, deep listening and the relationship between the head and heart.
This is not a rejection of the pragmatic world in which he spent much of his career. It is an attempt to bring the two sides together.
Bruce is especially interested in what happens when accomplished people become quieter, more curious and more willing to trust what they sense as well as what they can explain. Increasingly, his work centers on helping people recognize what is already trying to emerge in their lives, then giving it enough clarity and practical form to become real.
Underlying all of this is a philosophy that has followed Bruce throughout his career: do well by doing good, help rather than impress, and leave people better off than you found them.
These days, he is trying to add one more principle:
Play like it is your job.
Testimonials
“Bruce Kasanoff is the master at dislodging you from your inbox and providing rocket fuel for more expansive thinking.”
—Dottie DeHart, Principal at DeHart and Company Public Relations
“Bruce asks powerful questions that sometimes stop me in my tracks, making it easier for me to recognize what matters most."
—Brandon Rodman, CEO and co-founder, Previ
“Bruce has an uncanny understanding of human nature, business success and persuasive communication—he asks insightful questions and is a brilliant interpretive listener—and he weaves together insights, almost magically, to help me become an even better (and more fulfilled) person at work, at home and in my community.”
—Dr. Paul L. Corona, Clinical Professor of Leadership, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
“Bruce facilitates a community of extraordinary humans who inspire my curiosity and challenge my thinking with every encounter. His Bend Reality sessions have expanded the capacity of my heart and strengthened my belief in what is possible.”
—Paula Di Rita Wishart, Executive Coach
“Bruce helps me find the perfect ways to get my messages across. With seeming ease, he consistently articulates exactly what I want to say. I'm thrilled with our partnership, which has been productive, fun and full of mutual growth. He's the best!”
—Molly Tschang, co-author of “Say It Skillfully”
“Bruce is the purest listener I have ever met. He taught me a tremendous amount and will do the same for you.”
—Mark Goulston, author of “Just Listen," the top book on listening in the world, also selected as the #2 best communication skills book of all time