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How Robert became
a Results Speaker It's been a lifetime observing human behavior. Who survives, who succeeds. And how the undeniable power of humor transforms our lives. Robert Kutchera had an unconventional career path that took him from psychiatric patients to cruise passengers to broadcast advertising. Along the way he learned behavioral change, cognitive humor and inter-personal communication skills. Discovering how individuals create winning conditions and attitudes that benefit everyone. Through a dramatic change, Robert had to deal with some of life's most difficult conditions at a young age. He had the experience of living as an American teenager under communism in Cuba, then having to flee. Ironically ending up back in the U.S. as a refuge-immigrant in his own country. It was a fast track course in using change as opportunity. And humor for safety. Robert & nephew Eli These remarkable solutions and lessons, both in life and on the job, became the basis for a breakthrough program Kutchera called Inspired Success. Demonstrating his concept at an annual business meeting proved to be powerful stuff. Since then, in keynote speeches, workshops, on radio and TV, Robert has shared how to win this upbeat success. Early Years Born a couple of blocks from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and raised in Tennessee, Florida and New York, Robert found himself at age 10 in Cuba just before Castro came to power. His family had moved to Havana when his mother remarried. Within months, the joy that had met the
downfall of the old dictator was gone. Public, televised executions were held in
Havana stadium. Christmas was
cancelled. The Revolution nationalized schools, teaching students to spy on their
parent's conversations. In the form of a game, it was called, "What did your parents
talk about at dinner last Soon many parents, including Robert's, faced the terrifying sadness of sending their children alone into exile. It became an exodus of 14,000 children sent to the United States under a program called 'Operation Pedro Pan' (Peter Pan). The experience profoundly changed him: "When your freedom to speak is taken away, it's like you're robbed of air. You never forget that." Returning to the U.S., he didn't see his family for over a year. No wonder the dislocation of all his family-everyone went to live in a different city-plus some grim family problems confronting him as a kid, caused bouts of depression. Yet he overcame and triumphed in a novel way. Behavioral Training The last place you'd expect Robert to work would be in a Psychiatric Hospital helping patients. Yet through his work as an Adjunctive Therapist, he was guided by the Director of Adjunctive Therapy and staff psychiatrists. His approach with reality-based humor, slowly improved some of the patients. Something that surprised Robert: "I discovered how in remarkable ways it won back a persons effectiveness. Then there was this breakthrough humor patients taught me. It wasn't clowning around stuff. It transformed the person. They gave me a gift I could pass on to others." By the end of the first year, Robert's program was funded with a Federal grant from H.E.W. Learning About Audiences
How
Robert ended up lecturing and entertaining on cruise ships Later, on cruise ships...having gone from supporting psychiatric patients to being with passengers from all over the world taught him "buckets about the range of human nature. And how we all laugh in the same language." "It was like vaudeville at sea..." says an enthused Robert, "always learning, always improvising, working to improve. I studied with entertainers and they coached me. Johnny Morgan, from The Jackie Gleason Show, taught me never to do off-color material. He said it was harder to be clever, but so much more rewarding with laughter. I never forgot that." Robert learned what an audience liked. Public Speaking & Humor
Being the only child in the family until he was six, Robert was often surrounded by adults who told fascinating stories about life and travel. It probably explains why he's had such a varied career path. It created an interest and curiosity for everything. Good training for a business speaker and humorist. Robert's dad, (pictured above, far left) had a spontaneous sense of fun. And impeccable timing for jokes. He learned from his dad, seeing humor as a safe place in life. Business Career For Robert, it's been a life career studying human nature and successful interaction. He was in sales and advertising. And co-founded a recording studio producing commercials for American and Hispanic markets. (He's fluent in Spanish). He has a bilingual newspaper column called "Ask Professor Latino" He also produced award programs and multi-image shows for business meetings. In the process using "Humor Good Enough To Tell Mom". Over a decade, Robert put together what he'd practiced in psychology, and about humor and communication. Today his presentations offer individuals a new, better perspective. Education Because of what he witnessed as a kid living under a dictatorship, Robert has been an advocate in defense of political prisoners of conscience. "Had I stayed in Cuba...who knows. There's absolutely no neutral ground when a person looses their basic human rights." This led to a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology. Then political work in local and congressional campaigns. And writing and performing political humor for political candidates. He's taken advanced courses in Transactional Analysis (TA). Robert is a Stephen's Minister, an interdenominational volunteer group of caregivers. They assist individuals in personal crisis. He served stateside in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. After a few years in politics, Robert felt he could have a stronger impact pursuing humor in some way. We're lucky he did. When asked what it was like growing up, Robert says this: "Variety. We all spoke English, Mom and Dad also spoke Spanish and he knew some German. There was all kinds of music, Latin too. I could rumba by age three."
Then adds,"From the movie 'The Sound of Music', Maria in real life
was Maria Kutschera. My family dropped the s after they came from Austria.
Maria married of course, becoming Baroness von Trapp. I, however kept my
maiden name." What defines Robert Kutchera? Like all of us, we learn more in adversity when we have a sense of humor. It's our balance in the winds of change. And out of his lifetime learning experience, Robert developed an innovative humor that creates winning conditions and attitudes leading us to Inspired Success!.
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He
was already enrolled at Havana Military Academy, when Castro's son, Fidelito became a
classmate. There, and throughout much of the country, militiamen with
submachine guns were ever-present. Not the
best place
for an American kid.
night." The communist youth league,
'Los Pioneros', started indoctrinating kids aged 12 and up. That
summer, teenagers were rounded up by the government and sent into the countryside as
forced labor to
cut sugar cane or teach literacy. Parents were no longer allowed to raise their children, the State did.
isn't
surprising. As a
kid, he
and his cousins did
comedy shows in the back yard. Two picnic tables
were the stage. The spotlight a slide projector. "It
would innocently start as a family cookout." recalls Robert. "There'd be a
stereo going. Some singing, story-telling and lots of jokes and laughter. Then
my cousins and I would run
upstairs and improvise costumes...a magician, doctor, anything. We'd dress
up the dog as a nurse. He'd
walk around smiling." 
