“Oil refiner turned Shinto apprentice turned wandering vagabond turned business acquisitions. Always asking: what can I do better?”
Nothing about my story is linear.
I've been told by several guests on my show that I was the best interviewer they ever had. I always aim to pry: how do we get deeper into the topic and really understand the nuance? So many people don't realize the meanings of the words they use that they really aren't able to connect with each other beyond a surface level.
I like to be bombastic and I like to push back. I welcome being challenged on my ideas. My goal is always leave the listener like they're able to walk away with something useful.
Each phase of my life has always been unrecognizable to the previous phase. How do I get myself out of my comfort zone? How do I survive when I don't have the tools that I'm used to? Where am I weak and how do I make that strong? What blind assumptions do I have that I need to reject in order to move on?
Chemistry major, studied several languages (I only ever got proficient at home), apprenticed at a Shinto shrine, spent three and a half years traveling (mostly through Europe), forced myself to learn about money, cut my teeth on a couple of real estate deals, now I have 40 employees from my first business acquisition and I'm chomping at the bit for more.
I come from a manipulative family. I know a lot of people do, and I know I don't have any real way to measure this when I write it, but I have the feeling that my family was an order of magnitude or so more manipulative than average. I came out of this with a practical theory on intellectual self-defense. Everyone I teach this theory to never sees the world or the relationships the same again.
I'll be fun. Trust me.
