James Rosenberger shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
James, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Mike, this question reminds me of the old three I used to hear: “what’s more important–quality, price or service?” My preferred response then was–“I’ll pick one, you pick two!” Warren Buffet famously suggested: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Integrity is what makes it hard to question a person’s decisions. His or her actions are open for everyone to see and you can rest assured that he or she will use good judgment. In tight, collaborative spaces, like in the practice of SCRUM, colleagues of such hires will quickly see them as dependable and accountable for their actions, which is a laser path to developing team trust. Hiring people with integrity also addresses the leadership void. A person who walks-the-walk of integrity eventually becomes a role model who commands respect and exercises great influence. These are the type of leaders people desire and whom you want to promote to management roles. Without it, even the most intelligent and energetic individuals can become liabilities.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Happy to oblige Mike! In my early work, I was encouraged to learn how to do something no one else was doing and then learn how to “make myself necessary to somebody.” I now blend storytelling, music making and digital media creation into all of my works created by my company maxxmedia+events. This polymathic approach reinforces my value proposition of offering the “power of one” vs. work by committee. This approach was first pioneered in corporate storytelling for companies like Procter & Gamble, Cintas, Senco and The David Joseph Company. Then it became the “secret sauce” behind my therapeutic music and storytelling efforts for Seniors, which I offer under the name Audible Therapies. For my latest graphic novel, “The Marvel of Maneo and The Moon” I wound up doing all the ideation, writing the story AND creating the illustrations. In my opinion, the end benefit for readers is a more unified vision than if I had worked with collaborators. Turns out it was also part of the reason Amazon named it one of “The Best Books of 2025!”
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I started playing music professionally when I was 13 and an interest in theatre soon followed. By the time I was seventeen, I was playing clubs in Kent, Ohio 5 nights a weeek, along with groups fronted by people like Joe Walsh, Michael Stanley and Joe Vitale. Later my group, McCracken & James became featured on the Coffee House Circuit booked out of The Bitter End in NYC. When I entered college, it was on a full theatre scholarship at Bowling Green State University then with another scholarship to earn an MFA degree in Theatre and Video Production at York University, Toronto, Canada graduating as a classically trained actor/writer/director. After appearances in North America and Europe, I founded SPACES in Cleveland, Ohio then went to Cincinnati to work with people like Robert Wilson and Graham Nash at the Contemporary Arts Center and even Mr. Whipple on an outside ad project!?! By 1983, after a feature article on my interactive media project for the arts appeared in “Cultivating The Wasteland”, (the seminal book on the future of cable television,) I founded maxxmedia+events inc. to capitalize on the growing market for corporate media and live events. I started my “third act” in 2006 by creating therapeutic music and storytelling offered through Audible Therapies, developed specifically for Seniors and then became a Clinically Certified Therapeutic Musician. This last effort permits me to play one-on-one for people in hospice and other settings who are in the final stages of life. Upon reflection, what I do today is a culmination of using elements from everything I’ve learned and experienced up to now.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Mike, I think you’ll agree people who want to succeed and be unique, learn more through failures and life crises than they do from success. It goes back to the question about integrity. If you learn anything from those painful moments, it’s what’s important in life– how virtues, ethics and morals contribue to who you are and who you want to be. To be able to make the correct choice in all things requires a firm foundation and a true sense of direction, finding and following your own “North Star”, as it were. How you define success is not always about money or prestige. The old question “what is the purpose of life?” has a simple answer–to live life with a purpose.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I’ve been blessed with great relationships who have been with me on this journey for decades. The reason they’ve remained friends is we all are honest and practice a joint effort to maintain communication through good and bad times–these are essential to sustaining solid relationships. They’re the two things permitting a genuine dialogue, having a continued shared reality and are truly “the ties that bind.”
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
Having been the benficiary of three very different and successful careers, i.e. in the arts, the corporate world and now the personal service sector, it’s been my personal spin plus the ability to do multiple things at the same time tha have created a singular voice and vision–these are the keys to my success. Most people are a one-trick pony which I used to think was the only way to go. It wasn’t until I left various jobs and my former employers had to hire multiple people to fill all the functions I performed, did I realize its OK NOT to be like everyone else!?! Truthfully, if you find something you enjoy doing, why even consider retiring? It’s the difference between having a job and “work.” When you’ve been self-employed for as long as I have, you realize people hire you for what you know and how it compliments their needs and people. I own a “practice” not a company–the down side being there will be no monitizing a product or a service some day to someone else. It also allows me to do whatever I want to do for as long as I enjoy it and people keep bringing me back for more. Hopefully they will also miss my honesty and compassion as I strive to be a good person who loves life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jamesrosenberger.com
- Instagram: Rosenberger1588
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrosenberger/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.rosenberger.storyteller/; https://www.facebook.com/audibletherapies/; https://www.facebook.com/maxxmediaplusevents/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JDR982; https://www.youtube.com/@maxxmediaplusevents
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-683826731
- Other: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-marvel-of-maneo-and-the-moon1
Image Credits
All photos courtesy of maxxmedia+events LLC © 2025 all rights reserved
