Passion for an avocation sometimes can define a person far better than what they do for a living. More rare is the person who has two such passions and also loves what he does for a paycheck.
Paul Kiser has struck a balance between what he loves to do and how he makes a living.
Kiser is president and chief executive officer of 20/20 Enterprise Technologies, an IT consulting firm he created in Reno to allow small and medium-size businesses to focus on their core business instead of chasing IT and management solutions. He sees this kind of arrangement as the future of business, where the long-term employee is a thing of the past. Instead, companies will hire contractors with specific skills to come together to work on projects. One of Kiser's favorite books is on this very topic: "Re-Imagine" by Tom Peters.
Kiser has re-imagined his career a few times. He's worked in the IT field for years and also worked in compensation and benefits for hospitals in Colorado, his original home.
After a shakeup in the management led to elimination of his job, the company tested Kiser's aptitude to help him in his search for new employment. The test revealed an artistic side, and Kiser decided to embrace it.
Already involved with a theater company in Colorado, Kiser and his wife Saralinda, decided to move to Reno to open their own company. The Actory in Sparks produced about six adult and eight kid productions a year until the Kisers shut it down eight years ago.
"It was just hard making the lease every month. After we quit it, we went 'Hey, now we have some money,' " he says sardonically.
While he was getting his bachelor's degree in theater from the University of Nevada, Reno, Kiser was given an opportunity to act at a seminar in Carson City given by Larry Barton, an expert in the field of threat management and workplace violence. Barton travels the world teaching crisis prevention seminars to top-level managers at companies such as Disney, Target and Merck.
For the last 10 years, Kiser has been an actor in Barton's seminars, often playing the role of the "disturbed employee." He usually works a couple of seminars a month, traveling to wherever the company is located.
"Larry sets up the scenario, then I come in unannounced, and usually at some point it clicks that (my character) is an add-on to the role playing," Kiser says. "But I have to be cautious. At one seminar, I was advised to talk about bombs and body parts. One woman couldn't sleep for three nights after that."
"My wife watched one of the seminars. She said she'd never seen me like that. I was really scary."
Kiser plays whatever role Barton needs for that presentation. Sometimes he's plays the role "stalker" after a workplace love affair ends badly. Other times he's disgruntled and on the edge of a violent act. He interacts with the seminar participants, so he never knows what they're going to say, but despite his initial nervousness, he now feels he can handle anything they throw at him. His characters are, he says, "often ready to commit suicide. They have nothing to lose."
That scary violent persona couldn't be further from the real Kiser, who smiles often as he talks just as passionately about his Rotary club involvement as he does his acting. Kiser has been president of the Sparks Sunrise club, is now the district public relations chair for northeast California and northern Nevada, and is a member of the Reno Sunrise club. He defines Rotary as "a group of friends and business associates that get together on a weekly basis to learn more about their community and world, and to share their talents and resources to improve that community."
Kiser is using his talents to help the Rotary organization rebrand itself for a new generation. The notion of Rotary as just for older, affluent people is one he wants to dispel. Last year, a new club geared to young professionals was chartered, and it's taking a step away from the meal-focused meetings of other clubs. Kiser is also hoping all local clubs will get Web sites up and running; right now, only about half the clubs have a site.
With all his activities, Kiser is mindful not to let his volunteering get out of hand. To help him with that is his 4-year-old son, Alex. Kiser also has two daughters, both married and living in Colorado. He moved to Reno with Saralinda, whose family was from here. Saralinda is a teacher at UNR.
Kiser may not be an educator by trade, but acting in the crisis management seminars and promoting his Rotary club's goals both end up serving the greater good.
And that's no small task for a couple of hobbies.
The role player:
Who: Paul Kiser
What: President and chief executive officer, 20/20 Enterprise Technologies
Family: Wife, Saralinda. Two daughters, 26 and 22, and one son, 4.
He says: "There's no more risk to starting your own company than there is going to work for someone else these days."
