Gottry, Steve 1946–

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Gottry, Steve 1946–

(Steven R. Gottry, Steven Roger Gottry)

PERSONAL: Born December 7, 1946, in Minneapolis, MN; son of Roger Eugene and Helen Viola (Johnson) Gottry; married Joanne Moritz (divorced, November, 1983); married Karla Mae Styer, November 7, 1984; children: (first marriage) Jonathan, Michelle; (second marriage) Kalla Paige. Education: University of Minnesota, B.A. 1970. Hobbies and other interests: Piloting airplanes, photography, Arizona Diamondbacks.

ADDRESSES: Home—Phoenix, AZ. Office—Priority Multimedia Group, Inc., P.O. Box 41540, Mesa, AZ 85274-1540. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, MN, member of promotion department, 1967–69; Visual Communications, Inc., Minneapolis, president, 1970–87; Gottry Communications Group (advertising agency), Bloomington, MN, founder and president, 1987–96; Priority Multimedia Group, Mesa, AZ, publisher. Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ, writer-in-residence.

MEMBER: Rotary Club International (member, board of directors), Dobson Ranch Toastmasters.

AWARDS, HONORS: Awards for direct mail and film, International Advertising Festival of New York, 1988; three Silver Microphone radio awards, 1990; named Rotarian of the Year, 1990; International Travel Competition award, 1991; Aegis Award of Excellence, 2003, for video; Bloomington, MN, Chamber of Commerce awards.

WRITINGS:

(As Steven R. Gottry) Commonsense Business in a Nonsense Economy: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls and Maximizing Assets—in Good Times and Bad, Pfeiffer & Co. (San Diego, CA), 1994.

(As Steven R. Gottry; with Richard A. Jacobsen) The Spirit of Tocayo: Ancient Insights for a New Age, Priority Publishing Group (Mesa, AZ), 1995.

(With Ken Blanchard) The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

Common-Sense Business: Starting, Operating, and Growing Your Small Business—in Any Economy!, foreword by Ken Blanchard, HarperBusiness (New York, NY), 2005.

Coauthor, with Linda Jensvold Bauer, of A Kick in the Career, Priority Multimedia Group, Inc. (Mesa, AZ). Also coauthor of Options, 1996; and The Screenwriter's Story Planning Guide, 1999. Screenwriter for children's videos and cable television movies.

SIDELIGHTS: Communications executive Steve Gottry is the author of a number of books, including, with time-management guru Ken Blanchard, The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination. A self-help book that is written as fiction, the work is about procrastinator Bob, who is otherwise happy in his management position. In order to amend his last-minute tendencies, Bob is counseled by a chief effectiveness officer. The authors show Bob with his family as well as in his work situation, and a reviewer for M2 Best Books noted that they use "gentle situations to encourage and not lecture … and this is the book's greatest strength."

Gottry's Common-Sense Business: Starting, Operating, and Growing Your Small Business—in Any Economy! was described as "concise and straightforward" by David Siegfried in Booklist. In the book, Gottry uses his own experiences as a small-business owner; advising others how to avoid entrepreneurial setbacks. The advice contained in the book's three sections—"The Small Business Life Cycle," "Building Your Assets," and "Conquering Your Natural Enemies"—covers all phases of beginning, managing, and being successful at small business. Each chapter ends with a worksheet titled "Thinking It Through."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2005, David Siegfried, review of Common-Sense Business: Starting, Operating, and Growing Your Small Business—in Any Economy!, p. 1883.

Library Journal, July 1, 2005, Susan C. Awe, review of Common-Sense Business, p. 95.

M2 Best Books, May 28, 2004, review of The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination.

T&D, April, 2004, review of The On-Time, On-Target Manager, p. 89.