{"id":12605,"date":"2020-02-02T18:44:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T22:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=12605"},"modified":"2020-02-03T09:33:18","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T13:33:18","slug":"former-southerner-mike-greenly-transforms-from-corporate-exec-to-life-as-a-lyricist-inspirational-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=12605","title":{"rendered":"Former Southerner Mike Greenly Transforms From Corporate Exec To Life As A Lyricist & Inspirational Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. & Mike Greenly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you were to meet septuagenarian Mike Greenly \u2014 whose demeanor matches the former corporate executive he is \u2014 you\u2019d be surprised to learn that he\u2019s a successful pop music lyricist who\u2019s had 10 of his songs charted as Billboard Dance Club hits, four of them becoming #1s. Two of those chart toppers came from songs he helped create for American R&B star Jason Walker. He\u2019s also shared successes with such recognized artists as Haitian-American vocalist Natalie Jean; choral composer Jim Papoulis and Americana artist Grant Maloy Smith.<\/p>\n

The lyricist\u2019s notched another significant musical accomplishment through his work with powerhouse vocalist Kimberly Davis, lead singer for CHIC, the band founded by music legend Nile Rodgers — a 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee — who is known for such hits as \u201cDance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)\u201d, \u201cLe Freak\u201d and \u201cGood Times.” \u201cMy Fire,\u201d Greenly\u2019s collaboration with Davis, scored them another #1 Billboard Dance Club hit and features Rodgers\u2019 distinctive guitar licks.<\/p>\n

\"\"Another big hit with Davis was \u201cLife is a Dancefloor,\u201d written by Greenly with Ryan Shaw, Audrey Martells and noted DJ\/remixer\/producer Tony Moran; it was crafted by English house producers The Shapeshifters. As Greenly explained, \u201cThe song began with a title idea from Tony, wanting us to write another hit for Kimberly. After some phenomenal demo work and writing from Audrey and Ryan \u2014 both talented vocalists and songwriters, themselves \u2014 I did my polishing thing with the words and everything came together. Our song became a sexy invitation to confidently come out onto the \u2018Dancefloor of Life\u2019 and proudly shake it.\u201d Next up for release with Davis on Feb. 21st, 2020, is \u201cSecond Chance\u201d, also produced by The Shapeshifters and written with Martells.<\/p>\n

Despite the music world\u2019s glamorous trappings, Greenly wears Nike sandals and a casual green shirt no matter the weather or scene, unless he\u2019s meeting with a client or attending a black tie event. Given his free-spirited ways, you wouldn\u2019t guess that this mustachioed fellow had been named the youngest VP in the history of Avon Products back in the \u201880s, when it was the world\u2019s #1 beauty company. Even before Avon, he was praised in previous work \u2014 in educational book publishing and then in consumer packaged goods \u2014 for his people skills and the ability to manage staff under his charge. As he acknowledged, \u201cI learned a lot from corporate life, including the fact that I\u2019d live longer outside of it. I now enjoy helping today\u2019s execs as they pursue their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenly had begun writing lyrics for Avon\u2019s national sales meetings which typically had \u201ctheme songs\u201d to drive home the messages to their sales force. When he was put in charge of those meetings, he learned that he was at least as adept at writing lyrics for a corporate song as the agency professionals the company had hired to run the events.<\/p>\n

After leaving Avon, Greenly launched his own business as a freelance speechwriter, presentation coach and motivational speaker. Now he was creating speeches, video scripts and PowerPoint presentations for some of the same agencies he had once hired as an Avon exec. One day, after driving back from a very effective sales pitch with composer Paul Guzzone, Greenly had an \u201caha\u201d moment. \u201cWe\u2019d been writing songs for all these companies and seemed pretty good at it. So I said, \u2018Why don\u2019t we try making songs for the public, too?\u2019\u201d Guzzone instantly agreed. That was in 2004 and the duo soon created their first non-corporate song, \u201cMake Me Think You Love Me.\u201d No one has recorded that one yet, but Greenly\u00a0 certainly discovered his passion for lyrics.<\/p>\n

Since then, he\u2019s authored Virginia\u2019s state anthem. \u201cOur Great Virginia\u201d was signed into law in 2015 as the Official Traditional Song of the Commonwealth. In addition to his Billboard Dance Club hits, his choral songs are performed by choirs around the world. Greenly had learned that words are his friends \u2013 written, spoken or sung.<\/p>\n

One choral piece he\u2019s especially proud of is \u201cWe Can Plant a Forest.\u201d Written with composer Papoulis, it received a special Eco-Arts award for its contribution to the planet\u2019s ecology. Partnering with the award-winning non-profit agency, Trees for the Future, the song has caused over 50,000 trees to be planted in under-developed nations where forests have been stripped away by industry but not replenished. Greenly is glad to have made even a small positive difference to the planet\u2019s oxygen and climate.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still more to his story. Greenly became known as a pioneering interactive journalist, earning awards for his online reporting. With Sherwin Levinson and Diane Worthington, he was the first to cover the Democratic and Republican conventions — often live via computer. He went on to be the first in history to cover Hollywood\u2019s Academy Awards interactively as well.<\/p>\n

Soon, energetic creator began finding new ways to use what he calls \u201cmy friends — The Words.\u201d At the request of his physician, he conducted a series of interviews about a strange and terrible new disease which didn\u2019t yet have a name. The result, initially available only online, was eventually published as \u201cChronicle: The Human Side of AIDS\u201d (Irvington Publishers). Roche purchased 5,000 copies of the hardcover which it donated to oncologists and infectious disease specialists to help educate them about treating suffering patients.<\/p>\n

While deeply insinuated into\u00a0corporate life, Greenly had also realized that he is gay \u2014 after struggling with his identity and being closeted for years. Eventually, once he had finally embraced his true self and came out, he felt liberated. Accepting his own reality was empowering. It freed his mind and creativity, helping him both in the mainstream world of his clients and the creative world of the artists for whom he now writes songs.<\/p>\n

In many ways, the genteel Southerner has reveled in the freedom to be one\u2019s self and encourages others to do the same. From lessons learned in NYC while considering a career as a full-time psychotherapist, Greenly became an outspoken advocate of authenticity, self-reflection and an active respect for others. Such sentiments are expressed in songs of his like \u201cEverything Happens for a Reason\u201d and \u201cCommon Ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Greenly so comfortable in his own skin now, it’s hard to realize that he was once a bullied Jewish kid, intimidated into being a wallflower and needing decades of psychotherapy to become the expressive speaker he is today. As he recalled, \u201cI got into therapy at Duke because my anxiety and suicidal fantasies were getting in the way of the Dean\u2019s List grades required to keep my scholarship. I was put on probation and urged to get into therapy as a final chance to stay in school. Thanks to that support, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa. The experience changed my life and future.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Greenly speaks, one hardly hears a trace of an accent even though he grew up in the quintessentially Southern small town of Beaufort, SC. After all, he was hardly typical \u2014 not just for belonging to the tiny Jewish community there, but also because he had skipped the second grade and spent the rest of his local schooling a year younger and \u201cdifferent\u201d than all his classmates, both religiously and chronologically. As he mulled over a painful past, Greenly elucidated.\u00a0\u201cI used to hide behind the bushes in elementary school because nobody wanted to play with \u2018The Dirty Jew Boy\u2019. There were swastikas carved into my locker and people sometimes asked me to show them the \u2018Devil\u2019s Tail\u2019 they were sure I\u2019d been born with. It gives me pain even as I remember it. That said, I\u2019m grateful to have the friendship to this day of some wonderful former classmates … great people, many still in Beaufort, who have bigger hearts and minds than the bigots who taunted me so terribly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having drawn value from those memories, he\u2019s now stepping out in new directions that reflect his maturity and experience. While he continues to work with corporate executives on their speeches and presentations \u2014 even writing their TED talks \u2014 he has come into his own as an in-demand speaker. Among the topics that inspire him and his varied audiences are notions such as \u201cLiving Your Purpose\u201d and \u201cThe Power of Diversity & Inclusion.\u201d Reflecting his awareness of what it\u2019s like to bear the brunt of bias, a number of his songs are directed toward helping others feel free to be themselves. His song about women\u2019s equality, \u201cLove Your Own Power\u201d \u2014 co-written with Jean \u2014 has received awards and recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Love your own Power<\/em> (excerpt)<\/p>\n

Love your own Power
\nThis is your time
\nBe who you are
\nEach day of your life<\/p>\n

Love your own Power
\nProve that you can
\nYou can do anything<\/p>\n

Just like a man!<\/p>\n

Another song of Greenly\u2019s \u2014 \u201cI See You\u201d \u2014 addresses an even more pressing and often overlooked concern \u2014 ageism. As witness the current meme, \u201cOk Boomer,\u201d seniors are being marginalized in society while millennials operate as though they have no need for history and experience.\u00a0Written with Grant Maloy Smith, Greenly described the song\u2019s creation. \u201cI was discussing a possible collaboration with Grant and he mentioned a comment he\u2019d heard from a woman \u2014 perhaps in her 80s \u2014 who said she felt completely discounted by younger people as if she were \u2018invisible.\u2019\u00a0 That gave him the idea for the title of what became our song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced ageism, myself. The head of production at a meetings and events agency \u2013 someone I\u2019d worked with for many years \u2013 once said behind my back that he considered me among the best in the business. But he wanted to hire someone in their 30\u2019s to make a better impression on the clients the agency was pitching to. That really hurt. Especially because clients often express appreciation that I\u2019ve lived life on their side of the desk in the way that no 30-year-old would have had a chance to do. It seems I\u2019m the only freelancer in the business who was once a Fortune 500 marketing and communications VP. I know what it\u2019s like to be responsible for achieving hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and profits. The execs I help today show that they respect and value my credibility in a way the agency didn\u2019t realize. I\u2019d love it if \u2018I See You\u2019 helps foster greater respect for our elders and the value of their experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

I See You<\/em> (excerpt)<\/p>\n

Time runs like rivers to the sea
\nTime pulls you in like gravity<\/p>\n

You feel fragile – but you’re strong
\nThink you’re invisible – but you’re wrong
\nI’ve been inspired by your courage all along
\nI see your whole life shining through
\nI see you<\/p>\n

Motivated by enthusiastic feedback to their song, Greenly and Maloy Smith formed a relationship with Masterpiece Living, a multi-specialty organization with leading experts in aging. It partners with communities across the country, offering guidance, structure, resources and aging expertise. They encourage older adults to age with continuing purpose, passion and growth. The group recently adopted \u201cI See You\u201d as the name of their new anti-ageism campaign and asked Greenly to join their speakers bureau. The song and its mission have also received support from Leading Edge, one of the largest organizations in the country for aging services.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one thing Greenly stressed in understanding the urgency of his personal and professional evolution, \u201cI have no mechanical skills; I can barely change a light bulb and can hurt myself just trying to hang a picture. So I\u2019m glad I discovered that my purpose in life is using my gift for words. Whether I\u2019m helping younger execs and audiences benefit from what I learned over the years, encouraging older adults to still to believe in themselves and their value, or writing songs that people love to hear, I\u2019m happy to have figured out what I\u2019m meant to do in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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