Oxygen deprivation in utero resulted in Kenny being born deaf with partial blindness, partial paralysis on his left side, and an inability to speak clearly until the age of 10. Kenny also suffers cognitive impairment, similar to the fictional character Forrest Gump, which gives him the same child-like innocence and leads to the same sort of hilarious misunderstandings and malaprops that made Gump both lovable and entertaining.
Kenny’s life could easily have been nothing but a depressingly sullen tale of victimhood. Instead, it turned out to be one filled with a unique combination of joy, humor, friendship, heartbreak, accomplishment, faith, and peace.
From his time spent with Kenny, Paul Smith will talk about:
• Being A Storyteller
• His unique relationship with Kenny
• Meeting Kenny and what inspired him to write this book
Praise for FOUR DAYS WITH KENNY TEDFORD
“Kenny is definitely a hero that everyone needs. Please have a sequel! This book will change your life as it did mine!”
– Miles Barbee, acclaimed Broadway and screen Dea actor and star of The Silent Natural
“A touching and sensitively crafted account of a differently-abled and extraordinarily gifted storyteller. The collaborative oral autobiography is a fine piece of work, and it is a pleasure to spend days in its company.”
– Joseph Sobol, Ph.D., Director, George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling, University of South Wales
“Authentic, compelling, and poignant…profound life lessons from an unlikely and extraordinary person!”
– Sandy Cohen, Tennessee Director of the Library Services for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing
“You cannot help but see how a simple thing in life can be both magnifying and amusing…whenever you have a tough day, simply think about Kenny…he will nudge your conscience with a cornucopia of his personal and humorous stories.”
– Peter Cook, internationally renowned Deaf performing artist
“In a current society where labels seem to carry a lot of weight, it is enlightening to see how one man disregards the labels assigned to him by others (including his family and friends). On his journey to success, Kenny Tedford has triumphed by focusing on his strengths and abilities. A must-read for anyone wanting to learn how to see the person (and not the label).”
– Libby Tipton, certified sign language interpreter, and president, Jonesborough Storytellers Guild
About the Author, Paul Smith
Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on organizational storytelling. He’s one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers of 2018, a storytelling coach, and author of the Amazon #1 bestsellers, Lead with a Story (now in its 11th printing, and published in 7 languages around the world) and Sell with a Story, in addition to his latest works, The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell and Four Days with Kenny Tedford. He’s a former executive at The Procter & Gamble Company and a consultant with Accenture prior to that.
As part of his research on the effectiveness of storytelling, Paul has personally interviewed over 300 CEOs and executives in 25 countries and documented over 3,000 individual business stories. That’s allowed him to reverse engineer what works in storytelling and what doesn’t. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Time, Forbes, and Success Magazine, among others.
Paul has trained executives at international giants like Google, Hewlett Packard, Ford Motor Company, Bayer Medical, Novartis, Abbott, Progressive Insurance, Luxottica, Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, among dozens of others. A 20-year veteran of P&G, Paul was most recently director of consumer and communications research for the company’s $6 billion global paper business where he led a research team across four continents. He has also held leadership positions in corporate finance, manufacturing plants, and sales working closely with major retailers around the world like Walmart, Costco, Asda, and Sam’s Club.
Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife and two sons in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio. Find out more about Paul Smith by visiting his website LeadWithAStory.com You can also follow him on Facebook @LeadWithAStory and LinkedIn @smithpa9! Find out more about Kenny Tedford Jr. by visiting his website KennyTedford.com You can also follow him on Facebook @Kenny Tedford Jr.!
Four Days With Kenny Tedford: Life Through the Eyes of a Child Trapped
in a Partially Blind & Deaf Man’s Body
By Paul Smith and Kenny Tedford Jr.
Publisher: Behler Publications | November 26, 2019
ISBN-10: 1941887023
ISBN-13: 978-1941887028
A New Book By A Children’s TV Research Consultant Celebrates Over 50 Years Of The Longest-Running