Executive Reads: Nat Abraham

Nat Abraham is the President of Distribution at Breakthrough Entertainment, with more than 19 years of experience in the acquisition and distribution of television programming. In addition to his 11 years at Nielsen Media Research Canada, as Group Sales and Marketing Manager, Nat also served as Vice President with 20th Century Fox/Astral Distribution, and was Co-President at Audiotrack, a broadcast intellectual property watermarking company based in Toronto with clients including Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Sony. One of latest films to be put out by Breakthrough is award-winning zombie thriller Antisocial, which opened in Toronto on lucky Friday (Decemeber) the 13th!

How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban 
This book is simply a compilation of his blog posts and a good, fast read with Mark Cuban’s life experiences in business and great tips on how to succeed with your own endeavours – whatever they may be. I was inspired by how he always challenged the status quo in the worlds of media and technology. Cuban launched the high-definition television network “HDNet” in 2001, well before there were HD televisions in everyone’s homes, yet he believed in its future. To ensure a source of HD content, he formed film production companies HDNet Films and 2929 Productions, movie distributor Magnolia Pictures, home video distributor Magnolia Home Entertainment, the Landmark Theatres chain, and held a stake in Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2005, Cuban experimented with a “day-and-date” release model when he produced the film Bubble (2005), which was released simultaneously across theatrical, television and home video platforms. His goal was to change the traditional release windows to give consumers the choice in terms of exactly how they might be interested in viewing a film. For me, the biggest takeaway was to always aim to be the best at what you do, and to do so, you must love, believe and be passionate about what you do.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Early in my business career, these insights were instrumental in revealing a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity and human dignity – principles that give us the confidence in accepting change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. Being proactive is the foundation of the entire seven habits, and that each one of us can take direct control of a situation and steer our own destiny.

You’ll See It When You Believe It by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
For me this is a spiritually inspiring book that resulted in somewhat of a personal transformation through the visualization of thoughts; basically, the belief that what you think about is exactly what expands. Dyer describes the blessings he and others have gained from getting rid of anger, fears and the desire for revenge as the real impediments to the good life. Dyer’s description of spirituality versus organized religion also resonated with me. He didn’t think that Jesus was teaching Christianity, Jesus was teaching kindness, love, concern, and peace. What he tells people is don’t be Christian, be Christ-like. Don’t be Buddhist, be Buddha-like.

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