J. Michael Willard

Background

About J. Michael Willard

Willard Global Strategies: Risk-Takers. Rule Breakers. Opportunity Makers. Michael Willard can place and name drop with the best of them. The difference with Willard is his stories are true—most likely. He says eventually you reach an age where you have done all the things you said you have done. He doesn’t believe in bucket lists. That’s merely process. Just do it, damn it. The Moscow Times called him sort of a Forrest Gump. Several publications have referred to him as a public relations and an advertising guru. He hates that. He says he’s never met a guru and doesn’t want to because it sounds like something ugly. Early in his career, Willard worked as a reporter in the same news room as Al Gore, the former vice president. He hung out backstage with Johnny Cash, and downed beers with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Once, he turned down a chance to do a story on singer David Bowie. He’ll never amount to anything. Willard now admits he was wrong. As a reporter, Willard covered early moon shots and civil rights unrest in America's south. However, he says his most interesting interview was with John Thomas Scopes, the defendant in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. No, it wasn’t during the 1925 trial. Later, he went into politics. He once sat across the table from USSR strongman Andrey Gromyko. He was given a Kremlin tour by Mikhail Suslov, the last Soviet Ideologue. As a top advisor to the U.S. Senate leader, he sat down with kings and queens, presidents and dictators. He's served as a consultant to a Rockefeller and as a pollster. He had tea with the Shah of Iran in Tehran and crumpets with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing St. He has met with guerilla leaders in Central America for lunch, and then dined that evening with the generals that chased them. He has worked with three prime ministers, presidential candidates, senators, governors and numerous CEOs. For 23 years Willard advised businesses and politicians throughout Eastern and Central Europe, returning to the states after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which he supported. Willard has served as a consultant to many international companies, including Unilver, Nestle, Dannon, McDonalds, Citibank, Visa and Royal Dutch Shell. But he came of age in a 39-foot trailer. His first marketing job was selling donuts door-to-door at age 12 for $3 a week. At the heart of it, Willard says he is a writer with 17 books to his credit, a painter of more than 400 canvasses, and a mediocre guitar picker and songwriter. medium.com/@michaelwillard