Your Decisions Become Your Possessions

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If I make a decision it is a possession, I take pride in it, I tend to defend it and not listen to those who question it. A decision is something you polish.
– Paul Gleason, wildland firefighter

In 1994, 14 heroic firefighters perished in the South Canyon fire in Colorado. Although they had been instructed to drop their gear when fleeing the advancing fire, none did. One body was found only 250 feet from the safety of top of the ridge still wearing his heavy pack and carrying a chainsaw. After the event, experts calculated that less than .5 mile per hour of faster speed would have saved them. Average humans, unencumbered, can run about 12-14mph for short distances. Carrying their gear the firefighters might have been half as fast. Perhaps they were disoriented in the smoke and fire. Perhaps the act of dropping gear would be to admit failure. Perhaps in the moment, and in spite of their training, they didn’t hear the order and simply never thought of it.

We also overvalue our possessions. In the 1949 wildfire disaster at Mann-Gulch, crew foreman Wag Dodge clearly ordered everyone to drop their gear and run from the advancing fire. Walter Rumsey testified that even though he was running for his life, he saw his partner Eldon Diettert was carrying a shovel. Rumsey grabbed it from him to lessen his load, but then searched around for a tree so that he could carefully lean the shovel against it.

Foolish consistencies aren’t only the domain of individual judgment. The final report of the Columbia shuttle disaster investigation stated that NASA “management was not able to recognize that in unprecedented conditions, when lives are on the line, flexibility and democratic process should take priority over bureaucratic response.” They simply couldn’t see beyond standard operating procedure in the face of changing circumstances and evidence.

Conviction can be a good thing. Conviction bolsters confidence and spurs action. But failing to abandon past practices and habits can also be catastrophic. We can become so enamored with our possessions that we self-identify with carrying them. To carry a Pulaski fireman’s axe is a badge of honor, just as carrying our habits and opinions with us everywhere we go affirms who we are.

So how can we identify those fixations that are holding us back and weighing us down, versus reaffirming those closely held convictions which empower and propel us? Taking a tip from Harvard medical researcher Jenny Rudolph, the best advice is to say what you are thinking out loud, in the presence of those whom you trust and who will hold you accountable.

In her research she found that once medical students made incorrect diagnoses, they would often persist in ineffective treatments long after it had become obvious that the treatments were not helping. They were simply unable, or unwilling, to revisit their original diagnosis. They became stuck – fixated – on their original decision.

Dr. Rudolph found that by doing three simple things, the medical students were often able to change their opinion quickly and effectively treat an accurate diagnosis.

  • Say out loud an expanded list of the symptoms identified
  • Say out loud an expanded list of the possible diagnoses that would fit the symptoms identified
  • Say out loud a plan to eliminate each diagnosis one by one

By simply saying out loud what we are thinking in the face of changing circumstances and evidence, we force ourselves to consider our opinions and biases. We not only hold ourselves more accountable, but implicitly ask those around us to also check our judgment.

After all, remember what Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Make the Comfortable Uncomfortable

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I coach lacrosse with my friend Pete. Coach Pete, who played Division I lacrosse back in the day, certainly looks the part. Big, fast, strong, and possessing a booming voice, one would think the new kids on the team would be intimidated by him, and only the seasoned players would be the ones who would dare to push his buttons, or have the audacity to slack off during drills.

It’s just the opposite. The new kids find him approachable, inviting and encouraging as a coach. Yet the kids who have been playing with Coach Pete for a few years find him sometimes demanding and expecting excellence. He pushes those experienced players the hardest.

Pete has a coaching philosophy worth borrowing. “Make the comfortable uncomfortable, and the uncomfortable comfortable.” What he means is that the new kids are already moderately intimidated by trying a new sport, developing new skills, immersing themselves in a fast, and often chaotic game. They are already on edge, and perhaps even a bit past the positive learning state that creates excellence. When the challenge and chaos of the game exceeds their skill and ability to deal with it, they feel overwhelmed, and move from a state of thriving and learning to a state of retreat. They close down. They drop a pass, take a hit going to a ground ball, and can’t figure out the strange offside rule. The game suddenly isn’t fun.

Inversely, the kids who have played the game for a few years have their posse, their attitude, and their predictable set of moves. These are the ones who need to try new things, who need to cradle and shoot with their non-dominant hand, play a new position, and work on the face-offs that start the game. They need to get out of their comfort zone. They will learn to see more of the game and become better players.

These are emotionally fluent leaders – those who can read people at their current comfort level and present just the right amount of challenge to let their skills and capabilities evolve. Sometimes to accelerate excellence, circumstances need to be chaotic by design – intentionally unstable.

Working in a world of constant change is half the fun of it. Deadlines shift, goalposts move, budgets shrink, markets evolve, new competition emerges, perceptions alter, stakeholders clash, and just when you are ready to deliver, your product is antiquated. After all, it takes a storm to make a rainbow.

Thinking in New Dimensions

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Every year the musician Peter Mulvey looks forward to spending time sharing his music at the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia. And he looks forward to this annual gig because he gets to spend time with another instructor at the camp, Vlad the astrophysicist. You see, Peter loves science and Vlad loves music, and they both like beer.

And one warm summer night as they sat together on the back porch by the drifting Greenbrier river, drinking beer and gazing up at the night stars, Peter said to Vlad “My friend you are the only person I know in my life who might be able to provide a good answer for one question that has puzzled me for years. Can you tell me, is there intelligent life out there in the universe and why have we not found each other?”

Vlad put down his glass and looked at Peter and said, “That, my friend, is two questions.”

Vlad went on to explain that the answer to the first question is yes, probably yes. We know from the availability of carbon chains in the universe to build amino acids and the genesis of life, plus the immense number of stars and potentially habitable planets in the universe, the answer is yes. There is probably intelligent life out there in the universe.

But, as Vlad continued, the answer to the second question is more tricky. And to answer this question we need us to perform a thought experiment. Imagine that the entirety – the vastness – of the universe is now contained in a space right before us only the size of a beach ball. And now imagine the entire scope of time as we understand it – 13.5 billion years – is condensed into just 5 minutes. So we have the entirety of time and space contained right here before us.

Now Vlad asks Peter a question, “How much longer do we, with our iPhones, our internet, our NCAA tournaments and waffle makers, our yoga classes and science camps, our business trips and our dreams go on? Is it another 5000 years? 500,000 years? Even 5 million years? It doesn’t matter. In the scope of time in this little universe before us, it is this long ‘Pssst’”

And so yes over the course of 13.5 billion years there may have been one great civilization that lasted for tens of thousands of years over here ‘pssst’ and another one over here ‘pssst’ and another here ‘pssst’. And maybe, just maybe, at one time next to each other in the universe ‘pssst, pssst’ TWO civilizations emerged simultaneously. And perhaps they had inter-stellar book trades and film festivals, and language classes, and exchange students, but they are long gone now.

With Vlad’s insight we see the puzzle is multi-dimensional. It is not simply a problem of where to look in space, but also of when. And the interesting thing about this story is that solution, or the novel understanding, came from find someone who was capable of thinking about the puzzle differently. In this situation Vlad had a unique insight into the question. And with his reframing, he didn’t just think outside the box, he built another dimension to it. Reminds me a bit of the classic book Flatland.

Learn something interesting every day by asking the right questions of people who are outside your usual orbit.

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Our company Mindscaling, is busy building powerful human and digital learning experiences for companies of all sizes. My new book Small Acts of Leadership, is a Washington Post bestseller! You can grab a copy now. Have a meeting coming up? I love to work with groups large and small. Let’s talk.

Last summer, my son and I bicycled across America with two other dads and their teenagers. We published a new book about it called Chasing Dawn. I co-authored the book with my cycling companion, the artist, photographer, and wonderful human jon holloway. Buy a copy. I’ll sign it and send it to your doorstep.

Hacking the Super You

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superhumanOver the years, my friend Erich and I have probably logged thousands of miles cycling together. In all conditions – cold, wet, early, or in the fading warm July sunlight – we have ridden these Maine roads together. And when you train with someone for long enough you recognize their strengths (he climbs like a scalded cat), odd proclivities (he prefers riding on the right side of someone else), and their hesitations (he often descends cautiously).

We trained for a triathlon together a couple years ago. We would meet and ride the 40km course a couple of times a week, sometimes twice in a day. We got to the point where we knew the entire course in great detail – every crack in the road, every undulation of pavement, when to push and when to recover. And more or less, it seemed we were evenly matched.

On the day of the triathlon I had a fine race and the ride was my strongest leg of the event. I was pleased to finish in the top 10% of riders. Meanwhile, Erich blazed the ride. While averaging nearly 25mph on the hilly course, for some sections he led the entire field chasing only the pace car in front of him. On that day over 800 people raced the event. Only four individuals – all pros – were faster than Erich, and only by mere seconds. I was astonished. He was dumbfounded. He beat me by over 7 minutes on the ride. And he did it in celebration of his 50th birthday.

I had many questions about where this super-Erich performance came from. As I listened to him talk about his ride, he never once made any comparisons to other riders. He never spoke of how he was performing in relation to anyone else. He didn’t talk of the event as a competition. All of his language around preparation and performance was in terms of him versus the course. Actually “versus” isn’t quite the right word. It was more that he spoke of being in tune with how he felt in each moment – riding with the road with a sense of totally embodying the experience.

Another interesting comment Erich made was that during the ride itself he was aware that he was crushing it. He knew, on an innate level of consciousness, that he was absolutely killing the course, but there was no emotion associated with it. He felt not frustration, pain, angst, or struggle – only focus. The celebration and elation would come later. During the ride itself, he was all focused execution, hyper attention to nuance, flowing with the road.

As Steven Kotler describes in his mind-bending book The Rise of Superman, this sense of “deep embodiment” is one of the external Flow triggers of immersion in the moment. In short, Flow is an induced state of energized focus, heightened awareness, complete absorption, and elevated performance. And often, exceedingly high performance accompanies Flow states.

While these states are often spoken of by top adventurers, Flow states are also common among artists, musicians, professional athletes, and yes, even business professionals. According to this McKinsey study, business executives stated that when they were at their most effective – in a state of Flow – they were more than five times more effective than their more mundane, and common, moments of activity while attending meetings, interacting with colleagues, and executing tasks.

Much has been studied and written about the importance of developing a strong creative capability for today’s busy professional in this always-on, bottle rocket economy. IBM’s global CEO study asserts that creativity, mental flexibility, and collaboration have displaced one-dimensional intelligence and isolated determination as core ingredients of competitive advantage in today’s turbulent market. Creativity is treasured among the most-valued traits of sought-after talent. Yet, creativity is hard to teach.

Here’s the thing: Flow states induce creative states. As Teresa Amabile’s 2005 study shows, Flow states often precede creative states. Early findings at Kotler’s Flow Genome Project suggest Flow states later induce up to seven times the creativity in test subjects.

While developing creative triggers can be elusive, finding Flow triggers can be more predictable. We recognize that feeling when we felt hyper-present and alive skiing through the trees, immersed in a book, hypnotized in a provocative conversation, even mesmerized by an addicting video game. These induced Flow states lead to creatively productive states, often in the following hours and days after a Flow event.

Don’t seek on-demand creativity of yourself or those around you. Instead seek those circumstances, environments, and personal and social triggers which induce your own Flow states. To inspire creativity in those around you, start by finding it yourself. Model finding those Flow states you want to encourage in others. Creative productivity will surely follow.

Escaping the ignorance spiral

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Honesty about performance, complete transparency about whether or not you’re doing it well. I think it’s a human right.”
– Jeff Immelt

Our son is in a phase in which he believes he is right about everything. He will correct or contradict just about anything I say, including the color of the sky. It’s cute until it’s not. His confidence on subjects he knows almost nothing about can be staggering.

The Germans have a word, fremdschämen, which is that feeling when you are in the presence of someone who should feel embarrassed for themselves, yet simply is not. And so you feel simultaneously horrified and embarrassed in their place. It’s that feeling you get when watching terrible auditions on American Idol. I can get a hint of fremdschämen listening to my son prattle on about subjects he is woefully ignorant of.

This ignorance can become a vicious cycle. As researchers Kruger and Dunning discovered, those students who scored in the bottom quartile estimated their mastery of the course material to fall in the 60th percentile. Just as 82% of drivers say they are in the top third of safe drivers, which is mathematically impossible. Or similarly a Bain study which revealed that while 80% of CEOs say their company delivers a “superior” product, only 8% of their own customers would agree.

And as Dunning and Kruger demonstrated, ignorance rewards confidence. But also, silence rewards ignorance. Yet, there may be a way out. In their study, once students had completed the test, the researchers gave half of the students a small tutorial on how to correctly solve the problems they were just presented. After the tutorial, the students were permitted to look over their own tests and self-evaluate their performance. Those students who received the tutorial on how to effectively solve the problems were much more accurately critical of their own performance.

Understanding this effect can often lead us to critically evaluate how astute or accurate others are, and take on the responsibility of correcting someone else. Wrong approach. Start with yourself. Critically self-evaluate your own performance, and seek ways to learn how to improve. Be the example you wish to see in the world.

Or as David Dunning himself put it so well, “The presence of the Dunning-Kruger effect, as it’s been come to be called, is that one should pause to worry about one’s own certainty, not the certainty of others.”

[For more on this subject, I recommend Chris Lee’s article here.]

The Power of the Humility Effect

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“The X-factor of great leadership is not personality, it’s humility.”
– Jim Collins

I’ll be honest. He wasn’t my first pick. Near the top yes, but he didn’t have my vote. Our small selection committee was trying to choose a keynote speaker for a big event and General Stanley McCrystal was on the short list. I think my gut instinct was that while he was indeed a highly decorated and remarkable leader in his own right, he might not connect in a human and honest way with our audience. I was concerned he would be aloof, imperious, unapproachable.

I got it all wrong. From the moment he arrived, General “call me Stan” McCrystal was gracious, funny, insightful, and willing to share his expertise with humility. Backstage before his presentation, he was generous with his ideas and time, and onstage at the beginning of his presentation he made several amusing self-deprecating jokes about his own professional blunders. Immediately, everyone liked and appreciated his presentation. He was polished, but not distant. Provocative, yet not condescending.

Every time I open up Adam Grant’s book Give and Take, I find some new intriguing piece of research and insight. Most recently, I was captivated by Grant’s description of a study called The Joy of Talking. In this case, now I understand the background behind one of the reasons why General McCrystal is so effective. It’s called the pratfall effect. It was a study conducted by Elliot Aronson at the University of California back in 1966. Basically what he discovered is that highly competent, often superior performing people become more likable when they have a social mishap befall them. It makes them more human, more likable.

Which led me to another study about how people make a positive impression in a more common workplace experience such as a professional interview or sales proposal. As Joanne Silvester and her colleagues confirmed, interview candidates who accept personal responsibility for past mistakes are regarded as stronger candidates than those who instead point to external circumstances beyond their control.

Saying, “I didn’t get the deal because I didn’t prepare well enough” will receive a much more favorable impression on others than saying, “I didn’t get the deal because the competitor’s proposal was stronger” or, “I didn’t get the deal because the requirements changed.”

When we accept personal accountability, with a recognition that we have the ability to make a positive influence on events, relationships and circumstances, we are more likely to leave a positive impression on others. We also develop and reinforce the belief and habit that our actions matter. And when we believe our actions matter, we are more likely to make positive, constructive decisions.

Jumping the Shark and the beginning of the end

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fonzsharkjump-300x300Colgate once introduced a line of dinner entrees. Harley-Davidson rolled out their own perfume. The Fonz jumped his Shark.

And you may remember the tragic 77 days of mourning when New Coke was on the market. But Coca-Cola marketing executive Sergio Zyman couldn’t bear just one product disaster, so he then championed the release of OK Soda under the slogan “Things are going to be OK.” It never made it past test markets. Actually, we shouldn’t beat up on Mr. Zyman. He did, after all, have outstanding success with the incredibly popular Diet Coke, and even the decade-long run of Fruitopia (which appears to still enjoy a Canadian following on Facebook).

We have to test products and throw new ideas at wall to see what sticks. Innovation needs volume. But the right kind of volume and experimentation – the kind of innovation which is challenge-driven instead of idea-driven. Zyman started with the idea that “OK” was one of the most popular words in the English language and deducted that the word would therefore make for one of the most popular drinks in the world. Wrong.

Better product design starts with a deeper look at understanding the challenge and opportunity. Intuit uses “follow me home” studies, which allow product developers to get as close as possible to native user environments. By watching how people actually conduct their days, spend their time, and follow their preferences, Intuit designers get closer to understanding the ticks and quirks of their customers. This is different than starting with ideas and testing them in controlled environments, where things are structured, rigorous, and researchers are managing the perimeters.

Rule #1 of great companies: Better before cheaper. Quality and craftsmanship. Beauty and elegance. But better is hard. Cheaper is easy. Quality demands hard work and excellence. “But I have low-price overseas competitors!” you say. “But I could use inferior materials or fewer people and raise my profits!” you say.

So you start to look at costs. Cutting costs is a straight-forward, even tidy process. This is the beginning of the end of excellence. It’s tempting to go after the savings. The trouble is it compromises your product integrity. And when you compromise your product integrity, you compromise your brand. When you compromise your brand, your loyal customers head for the door.

Talent is cheaper than table salt

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“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
– Stephen King, Author

Carol Dweck led a fascinating study back in 1998 in which she and her colleagues worked with four hundred 5th graders and gave them a series of tests, mostly puzzles, and then praised them in two different ways with these six little words.

With half of the group they said, “You must be smart at this.”
With the other half of the group they said, “You must have tried really hard.”

The first word set awarded intelligence, and innate talent, similar to how many parents and coaches (myself included) get trapped into talking about, and to, our kids. We say how smart they are, or how naturally gifted they are. The second word set praised effort, determination, preparation, grit. What the researchers were interested in, was how the kids would view their abilities, as fixed and unchanging or as malleable and able to grow and change with work.

In the next round of puzzles, the kids were offered a choice. They could try harder problems or easier ones. You guessed right, the kids praised for effort choose to attempt the harder problems. The kids praised for talent selected the easier problems because when you praise for innate talent, you create a form of status. If someone believes they have special talent and they are expected to perform well, then the thought of failing expectations becomes a liability. So to protect yourself as a “gifted and talented” individual we will choose easier tasks to ensure we have high performance.

In the next part of the study both sets of kids were given harder problems to solve and both sets of kids performed more poorly. But here’s the interesting thing. When the researchers asked the kids how they did on the problems, the kids praised for talent lied 40% of the time, presumably to maintain their social status as “talented.” However, when the other kids praised for effort were asked to tell their peers how they did on this set of questions, only 10% of them exaggerated their performance. They felt no loss of self-esteem from doing poorly on difficult problems.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. In the next phase of the study, both sets of kids were given problems comparable to the original set of problems. In terms of difficulty, this next set was just as challenging as the first. The group praised for talent had just had an ego setback in the earlier round, and did 20% worse than they did the first time around. They were told they were smart, then they performed poorly, and now attacking the same level of difficulty with decreased confidence they do 20% worse.

But the second group did 30% better this time around. There’s the difference – 6 words. But keep in mind there are a lot of ways to say, “You must have tried really hard.”

Carol and her colleagues use these kinds of effort or “process” praise: which is praise for engagement, perseverance, strategies, improvement, etc.

– You really studied for your English test, and your improvement shows it. You read the material over several times, outlined it, and tested yourself on it. That really worked!
– I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it.
It was a long, hard assignment, but you stuck to it and got it done. You stayed at your desk, kept up your concentration, and kept working. That’s great!
– I like that you took on that challenging project for your science class. It will take a lot of work—doing the research, designing the machine, buying the parts, and building it. You’re going to learn a lot of great things

Next time you see excellent, praise the effort, the grit, the patience and hard work it must have taken to get there. You’ll not only be rewarding excellence, but also building growth and confidence.

A group of all-stars does not make a team

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teamworkThey were unbeatable, invincible. The supergroup, the dream team.

There must be thousands of ten year old boys in New England that play soccer. About forty of the best players from the very best teams were hand-picked to be evaluated by the best coaches. Of those top forty, twenty-eight were cut. They picked twelve players to form the all-stars. From thousands down to twelve. Twelve boys were plucked from the masses to form an elite team – an elite team that would make just one appearance at a tournament and then disband.

They had to work out a few kinks in their first match. They won 12-3, allowing three goals. Their second match was 10-0. Their third match, against us, was 14-0. I was surprised someone kept count. Towards the end of the game they were scoring every few seconds it seemed. We would gather the ball out of our net and trudge back to midfield to kick off, to be trampled again by the little Rooneys, Maradonas and Peles. They played in a stampeding rush down the middle of the field. With flashy footwork to be sure, and passing when necessary, but like marauders all eager for a goal. They played like what they were – mercenaries. Hired guns.

All of the other teams at the tournament, were exactly that – teams. Teams that played and practiced, and ate and laughed and traveled together. And there was one team at the tournament called NEFC that had been playing together for years, probably since they were only five years old. They were amazing, and unlike any U11 soccer team I had ever seen. In their match against us they held possession of the ball at least 90% of the time. I do not exaggerate. And when we did somehow intercept a pass, they were upon us, deftly extracting the ball to resume their hypnotic passing.

They were mesmerizing as they glided around the field, passing sharply from one to another to another. After they scored 6 goals against us (in the first half), their coach instructed them to stop scoring. So instead, they would pass up the alleys, to the corners, into the middle to create a scoring opportunity. And then not score. Instead they would pass away from our goal to the outside and back down the far side of the field, all the way back to the goalie. The goalie would reset the ball, and they would commence to pass again up the field to build a scoring position. Again and again, while our players stabbed at the ball and ran in circles chasing their spellbinding passes.

Then their coach told them to play on their off foot – that is, pass and dribble using primarily their less agile, non-dominant foot. It didn’t matter. They didn’t lose the ball. We’re a good team, and we had a great experience at the tournament. But against NEFC it was all clearly a training exercise for them as they continued to hone their skills together.

And so it was destined that the all-star elite team would meet the NEFC team in the tournament finals. NEFC won 6-0, and although I didn’t see the game first hand, I bet their coach again asked them to stop scoring after 6 goals.

That’s excellence, class, precision, and true teamwork. Unlike the all-star team in which every player wanted a heroic goal, it was impossible to tell which player was dominant on the NEFC team. The quality of the team was such that everyone was elevated together. Instead of competing for an alpha team position, the NEFC players supported each other so well, everyone was great.

Think about that. Do you want to be on a team in which everyone is fighting for glory? Or a team in which the camaraderie and support is so tight everyone gets better?

Paul, a Hippo, and how we respond to what happens

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templerbookPaul Templer is from Zimbabwe. He grew up in Harare with my dear friend and college roommate Anton. So I had the privilege to meet Paul over twenty years ago while he was traveling, and visiting us, in the States. At the time I recall he was a free spirit, wild, fun, adventurous. The summer after that visit to our college in North Carolina we all lived together in a rental apartment in Chiswick, London. We worked as laborers for a tenting company with a few Aussies and Kiwis. It was a blast. And always Paul was a generous, caring and great guy to be around.

One time I commented how much I appreciated his velskoene shoes from Africa. Velskoenes are traditional leather bush boots, pronounced ‘fellsquin’ and more known commonly as ‘fellies.’ Anyway, at the end of his visit he said he would like me to have them. I insisted on paying him something. He said, “surprise me with whatever you want to pay for them, but they are yours.” I gave him everything in my pocket – which was about $23 and proudly wore and appreciated these African boots.

A few years later we had all graduated and set off on other adventures. Paul returned to Zimbabwe to become a licensed river and bush guide and establish a touring company. This story you might vaguely recall from over ten years ago, because his heroic efforts during a river trip hit the international news wire, and was later featured in a National Geographic story. Paul was guiding a group of tourists down the Zambezi river and had divided his clients between himself and the two other guides aiding him that day. Paul was keenly aware hippos are notoriously territorial and took precaution to keep his group close and periodically bang the side of the boat to encourage the hippos to surface and be seen.

Suddenly his friend’s guide boat was flipped by a 4,000lb hippo and both the guide and his clients were launched into the river. Paul immediately lept into the river to save his guide and direct his clients to the shore, but the hippo attacked Paul repeatedly, holding him down beneath the surface, until eventually when he was freed by the beast and swam to shore. His arm had been nearly severed and his lung had been punctured. The nearest surgeon was 270 miles away in Bulawayo over a dusty difficult jeep ride, and hours later upon arriving, the doctor was left with no choice but to amputate Paul’s arm.

The experience threw him into a funk. With no money, no job and no arm, after months Paul picked himself up and started again. Paul’s second act has been to marry, father three beautiful children and become a successful, dedicated and talented speaker, coach, adventurer, philanthropist and inspiration for many around the world. In the wake of this event, Paul has found strength. In his own words, “Stuff happens. Life is going to happen. The only thing we have any choice over is how we respond to what life throws at us.”

I encourage you to have a look at his new book, What’s Left of Me. Enjoy!