Friday, May 11, 2012

How To Raise Kids Who Don't Follow The Herd

Grandma Sara and Brooklyn
What better gift to give your mom on Mother's Day than to tell her something you've learned from her, I ask?

"Brian, how about an iPad or something.  Wouldn't that be a better gift?"  Well, maybe, but this is cheaper, so here goes.

One of best lessons I've learned from my mom is best illustrated from something that happened in 8th grade. 

Friday, April 27, 2012

Going to the marathon expo with kids? You HAVE to do this.

Extra Snickers bars? Check
If you're going to run marathons and race triathlons, you have to get your family on board.

One of the best ways to get your kids to love it is to have them go 'trick -or-treating' at the race expo. My girls, 5 and 6, absolutely love this. They each get one of the many bags vendors hang out, and then they go around to all the vendors and say "trick or treat!" And since they're cute little girls and not greedy adult runners, venders just love giving them tons of free stuff. At the last expo we attended, I got a few gels and a bottled water from vendors. My girls each got tech tees (adult medium, but who cares) race finisher medals, a bunch of gels, bars, waters, gatorades, shaving cream- probably $100+ in free stuff. The girls didn't want any of it, they just had fun 'trick-or-treating". And I had enough gels to last for months.
Scary Disney Marathon Poster!

As my friend Shawn says, "Kids are expensive! You might as well get some money back from them."

 Have fun at the expo!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Janet Evans- How To Turn A Dream Into A Goal

Janet Evans is making an incredible comeback- attempting to reach the Olympic Games in London at age 40, after taking several years off to get married and beginning raising her family.

How does Janet balancing being a wife and mom while competing professionally at the highest levels on earth?

How you turn a dream into reality, at any age?

Watch to learn answers to these questions and more!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

What Is So Repulsive About Scott Hamilton? (Interview)

Here's my interview the man who might be the most positive person on earth, Scott Hamilton-

-What do his friends find so repulsive about him?

-What would a "Scott Hamilton Personal Ad" look like?

-How can you overcome even the worst situations?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

How To Break Through The Training Wall In Your First Marathon

A lot of runners hit a wall training for their first marathon, especially when they do their first 14- or 15-mile long run. Sure, they’ve likely done 13.1 miles in a half marathon, but somehow going past that distance is a post-half marathon barrier that makes newer runners want to quit. I have two in-laws training for their first marathon, so I asked my local triathlon club and the LinkedIn Marathon Finishers Group this question- "How in the world did you break through that training barrier for your first marathon?" And you know what? The world answered back.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Remembering Steve Bridges, My Friend and Famous George W. Impersonator

It's very sad to hear the news of the passing of Steve Bridges. It's pretty shocking, as he was only 48, and I'd just booked him for a very successful event three weeks ago. If you don't know Steve, he's an incredibly talented comedian and impersonator, most notably of President George W. Bush. Bush was a huge fan of Steve's and even did a Press Club event with Steve acting as his internal monologue.



I actually knew Steve long before all that. He'd started out

Friday, February 24, 2012

Darrell Waltrip: The Tragedy of Dale Earnhardt's Last Race

Darrell Waltrip was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about one the happiest days of his life- his first day in the broadcast booth, calling his younger brother's first ever win- which became one of his saddest.



So did Darrell Waltrip really put me in a headlock during the interview?

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Why Your Business Needs to Embrace Social Media

As you'll see in the interview, I'll have to give my wife credit for letting me know about how great a speaker Scott is.



Scott is a cool guy, and so the fun part was trying to figure out what I needed to wear.  I'm sure my boss wanted me to wear a nice shirt with a collar, but I knew Scott was going to be wearing some cool alternative type shirt, so what you see is what I thought might bridge the gap between the two.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Does Love Work In Business?

Here's my interview with Tim Sanders.  Make sure to watch the interview, and below I'll give you the 'behind the scenes' take.



If you couldn't tell, Tim has all kinds of energy.  You'll notice I'm fumbling over my words (even more than usual) at the beginning because seconds before, Tim had totally thrown me off by doing a big clap with his hands, right in front of my face, like they do in movies with "ACTION!" to start a scene.  I thought it was really funny and we should leave it in, but unfortunately there was something wrong with the shot, and we had to restart.  (ARGH!) Hopefully we can do an interview bloopers reel at some point, 'cuz that funny.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

How Do You Turn Problems Into Solutions?

How do you turn problems into solutions?
What are the key elements of innovative communication?
How do you get a perfectionist to do a highly creative white board video in just one take?

I recently got to sit down with innovation guru Michael McMillan and learn just that:

Friday, February 3, 2012

What Is Your Crazy Day Reset Button?

When your day is going crazy, and there's so much going on, everyone is demanding something of you, and you're frustrated to no end, do you have a reset button?

I do.  Three or four of them, more accurately.  On my computer at work, I've got

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Mysterious Piano Door/When Haiti Became Real

My friend Scott The Playwright says there is a moment in every play when it must become real, or the entire message is lost.  I used to help with fund-raising for his theater company, Oracle Productions, and Scott was adamant we needed the extra money to get real metal swords.  He would say that when the hero and the villain fight, if the swords were to make some plastic "whack" sound, the play would continue to be fake to the audience and it would never have the impact intended.  But when those swords hit with an iron clash, something inside the audience says, "Those are real swords! Someone really could get hurt!"  They become drawn in, they buy in, they believe, and