Meet Matt Kraus

We recently connected with Matt Kraus and have shared our conversation below.

Matt, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

I was blessed with being raised by parents who were incredibly virtuous and dedicated to giving their time, energy, intellect and financial support to people and communities in need. I was able to participate in many of these activities beginning early in my childhood and from that point on have learned to be grateful for the things I have and that the greatest thing we can contribute to society is helping others. Giving back, whether it’s to employees, community or organizations, is one of my main motivations in life. My career pursuits have been driven by this and I feel fortunate that these pursuits have allowed me to satisfy some of these goals. But, there’s always more that can be done…

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I help run an experiential production company, Evolve Concepts. Our stated mission is to be the most trusted, forward thinking & innovative solutions provider in the experiential marketing industry. But to put it bluntly, we like to do cool shit and help turn crazy ideas into reality. The best part of my job is saying yes to audacious, challenging requests, executing against those ideas and then seeing the desired impact with those experiencing the work — both the target audience and our clients. I have an incredible business partner and team of skilled practitioners who can take most of the credit for making all the magic happen.

A good recent example of a project that encapsulates our ‘evolve or die’ ethos is work we executed for one of our experiential agency clients. They came to us on July 3 with a seemingly impossible request for an event happening in under 3 weeks. They asked us to convert a motel into an interactive environment that was modeled after scenes from the upcoming Borderlands movie release for an event hosting hundreds of guests.. The volume of work completed at the speed and level of detail required blew away die hard Borderlands fans, the movie studio, the partner theatre chain and the brand sponsor. We custom fabricated large dimensional props, raided junkyards, converted an old truck into a food truck turned DJ booth, built a forest for under the motel car port and also installed and dismantled the site. We looked back immediately and said, holy crapy, we just pulled that off. It was a rewarding collaborative effort and a ton of fun. What’s next?!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the most important thing I’ve learned along my career journey is to always do the right thing. This lesson is reinforced repeatedly – from both mentors and peers who live by this ethos and by others who have not that have helped reinforce the importance of it even more. Sometimes doing the right thing comes with a perceived price — like having to part ways with client, having to eat into margin to improve upon work that may not meet our own or a client’s expectations or parting ways with an employee who may be popular with staff or clients. But if you know that your decisions are in line with your values and are in the best interest of your clients, your employees and your business, then not following through will have a much higher cost in the long run.

I would also advise people just starting out their careers to say yes a lot to opportunities that will expand their experience. Very few know exactly what they want to do and they certainly don’t enter the workforce as subject matter experts. If you say yes to things, you increase your chance of finding what you love and your where your true skills lie. You’ll also create opportunities for yourself – managers will support and companies will invest in people that they know are eager to take on new challenges. I love the quote, “whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” I don’t know who said it, but it’s been on our fridge in the kitchen for at least a decade.

The skill I would say is the most important is the ability to communicate your ideas confidently and articulately. Take classes like presentation skill techniques, improv comedy and the like. There are so many great videos on Youtube and other free platforms – it’s never been easier to build yourself up in this area.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

I feel like I’m most often leaning into to lessons I learned from reading The Power of Nice, by Ron Shapiro, which is all about honing effective negotiating skills. I find that I’m negotiating several times a day — with clients, employees, suppliers, family members and even my pets. There are always two sides in a negotiation and going into them with the understanding that you’re both wanting a specific outcome, your best chance of getting what you want is taking an understanding and kind approach. If you’re a flat out jerk, the other side’s defenses will flare up and you’ll empower them to take the same hard-lined approach, which will ultimate cause delays, unwanted stress and a strained future relationship. If your counterpart is abrasive to start, killing them with kindness and respect will always position you as the one who took the high road and it will typically disarm and temper the other side.

In a creative industry, I find it’s easy to find common ground and a willingness to come to mutually beneficial terms in a productive, pleasant matter. But there certainly are the exceptions. Be prepared and know what a win looks like for you, kindly probe early to understand what a win would look like for the other side. Allowing them to do the bulk of the talking early will quickly arm you with the information you’ll need to maneuver towards a win-win.

I read this book early in my career and it paid off brilliantly when I was negotiating sponsorship deals with hard-nosed, old school music promoters who used stereotypical fist-banging intimidation techniques. I quickly saw them lower their guard when it was clear I was going to remain level headed and respectfully demonstrate I was hearing their side. The approach opened up the space for the calmness to settle in, allowing our side to be presented and heard. It helped that we were the ones holding the money, so I can’t take all the credit for our successes in these deals.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made