with my special guests and never take their time and
wisdom for granted. Each of them has a unique story
and a journey that teaches us lessons from both
sides of the wheel of life: when it seems everything is
clicking or when it seems all hope of hitting the goal
or dream may be lost. Each interview guest comes
from a diverse, eclectic and often-times mundane
background. The commonality, however, that they ALL
share is massive amounts of persistence! What would
knock 99 out of 100 people out from even trying, they
simply refuse to accept; so they continue to press on.
Here’s the secret that shocks most people that ask
me about my interview guests: they are regular people
just like you and me that have achieved massive
success in their respective fields. They all had to start
somewhere and often it was during times of great
chaos and setback taking place within their own lives
that they made a big decision, to cut the cord and go
full throttle in pursuit of their dreams. Nothing was
given to them. They had to hustle, put in the time, deal
with tons of rejection and bust through the paradigms
of what a long line of others said couldn’t be done.
They also had to face down and conquer the twin
enemies known as fear and self-doubt often for many
years in relative obscurity. In the process, they grew,
changed millions of lives and blazed a trail.
“I still get a charge
out of interacting and
engaging with my
special guests and never
take their time and
wisdom for granted.”
THE last several years I’ve been extremely fortunate
to pick the brains of some of the brightest minds on
the planet ranging from the fields of sales, marketing
and psychology, to sports, music and spirituality. It
hasn’t come easy to ‘Capture’ these incredible minds
on the phone and within the pages of my books. I put
in the time, the discipline, the miles, the thousands of
pages read, to do my homework and establish a track
record with busy PR handlers and agents. The mission
is to make my interview guests look good while at the
same time helping them to feel that they didn’t waste
their time with another boring interview.
In my most recent book, Mind Capture: Leadership
Lessons from Ten Trailblazers Who Beat the Odds and
Influenced Millions, I was fortunate to capture such
minds ranging from NY Times bestselling author Wm
Paul Young, who wrote the 20-million+ selling book
and movie, The Shack; Dave Liniger, who co-founded
the globally known real estate company, RE/MAX; Dan
Bylsma, a rookie NHL hockey head coach who helped
the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup, to sales
and marketing legends such as Brian Tracy and Seth
Godin.
Each guest knows in the first five minutes that the
interview will be different than most others they give. I
know this, as I often get interviewed myself as a fellow
author. At the end of our time together on the phone I
want to pull out not only multiple nuggets of wisdom
for my audience and myself, but something so unique
that it leaves my special guests thinking as they hang
up the phone, Damn, I did not expect that. That was
unique and memorable.
I still get a charge out of interacting and engaging
HERE ARE THE SEVEN KEY
CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRAILBLAZER:
1. INTENSE CURIOSITY
2. PERSISTENCE
3. VISION
4. LIFE-LONG LEARNING
5. PROBLEM SOLVING
6. FOCUS ON THEIR STRENGTHS
7. THICK SKIN
I share these seven key characteristics with you as
you likely already possess many of them. The mission
is two-fold:
1. Identify the top characteristic you are the
strongest at and keep using it each day.
2. Pick one of the seven characteristics of a
Trailblazing Leader to work on and improve
within your own life.
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