A few years ago I started writing the stories of people I met during my travels around the country. I might run into someone in an airport, or sit by them on a plane, or just meet them in a restaurant, and soon had lessons from them that I wanted to share with others. Usually I was drawn in by their Veteran hat, or a jacket, or just something inside me that told me this person had an amazing story. That feeling was almost always right.
By 2019, I realized that I should start capturing video or audio of some of these amazing people. I would write about a story of a WWII veteran, a holocaust survivor, an entrepreneur, and folks would express that they wished they could have heard them also. My first few attempts did not go well – I would get caught up in the story and forget to record, or have the mic too far away, or something else silly. I found out that being my own production crew took a lot of concentration, and it took a while to start to get it right!
When 2020 came, and we all were shut down from travel by Covid, I was really missing out on the opportunities to meet people and hear their stories, and realized I had to find something to replace all those breakfast and lunch meetings and airport encounters. Luckily along came Zoom, and soon the whole world was learning how to meet on screen. From that was born Lessons in Leadership, where I would invite folks who launched businesses, changed communities, battled adversity or fought wars just to hear their stories of leadership, of perseverance, of innovation and determination and faith and courage. It has been awesome!
These stories inspire me to try new things, take on new adventures, read more, study more, and try each day to find a way to be just a little better than the day before. Hopefully they will inspire you too. If you only have time for the five minute highlight video, you’ll capture a few of the nuggets of wisdom that might positively impact your day. There are also full length versions of the conversations, and I also have a tab of interviews of WWII veterans. I hope you enjoy them, and are as inspired by these stories as I am.
