Life 2.0

The first person that comes to mind every November 1st is the late, great Walter Payton, who passed away on this date in 1999. I had the good fortune of working with "Sweetness" for a few years, and as it turns out, today is also Day of the Dead for millions of people who take this day to remember those they have lost over the years. With tomorrow being All Souls Day, it seemed appropriate to shar...

For most of the year, my dad was a mild-mannered banker, avid bowler, and frustrated architect. But, in October, he transformed himself into "The Count" and used his design skills to build out one of the most popular haunted houses in Chicago for over twenty years. A steady cast of werewolves, Frankenstein's monster, creepy cavemen, and assorted ghouls and goblins waited in the darkness to scare t...

Throwback Thursday. Had occasion yesterday to drive east on Washington St. into the city and found myself in somewhat familiar place as I hit the stop sign on Aberdeen, one block west of Carpenter Street. To my left, what was once Harpo Studios (now McDonald's Corporate Headquarters), and on the south side of the street, is where the studios of Oprah Radio were located, which now appear to be cond...

We live in a time when we are virtually closer than ever before, but also further apart from one another. Too much information (TMI) leads to Turbulent Mind Syndrome (TMS) as we cannot possibly assimilate all the headlines begging our attention, that serve one purpose-to kick off our fight or flight response, and drench our central nervous system with stuff we can't do anything about-except rachet...

My journey as a book coach/ghostwriter/publisher has brought me down some interesting paths. Each project brings with it a certain sense of fate, as if the person I'm working with and I have a date with destiny. Of the dozen or more books I've helped bring into the world, that sense of the unseen hand guiding me to someone was never more apparent than when I met Trudy Gronning in 2015. She'd grown...

It's one thing to take a lunch break, quite another to drop everything I'm doing to watch "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" for the 438th time. But that's exactly what happened today. But what I didn't know was that apparently, the Gill-Man (as well as all the other favorite movie monsters) is really a metaphor for something else in life. The same goes for the Wizard of Oz, which I will never l...

I haven't played high school football since Gerald Ford was president, but that really doesn't matter-because today is game day! For the past eleven seasons, a huge huddle of Schurz Bulldogs has gathered once a year to not only have a major all-school reunion called "The Bulldog Bash", but also raise some serious coin for kids who have no idea who we are, or why we support them as we do. We're pay...

28 years ago today, October 12th, 1997, John Denver's experimental aircraft plunged into the waters of Monterey Bay, and he died at the age of 53. Ever since that day, I've continued to honor the man and his music, and his support of my work, long before I could see it myself. I wasn't planning on doing this podcast, but then early this morning, I remembered that I wouldn't even be behind a microp...

Albert Einstein is the gold standard when it comes to being a genius. Is it possible that each of us has an "inner Albert" that remains dormant until something comes along and shakes us up and wakes us up to the possibilities life has to offer? Kenn Hundley (younger brother of the legendary Chicago Cubs catcher Randy Hundley) has had an interesting path to say the least, and he shares the concept...

Last Monday, I was able to virtually attend a service for my friend, the late Hal Thau, in Aspen, a man who made a difference in my life on many levels. Just two days later, the iconic Dr. Jane Goodall passed away, and I went on a search to find all of the audio I had from our conversations over the years. Hearing Dr. Jane's voice now reminded me that the lessons learned from both of these two lif...

Cynthia Jamison had an executive career as a crisis CFO before ascending to become a member of, and eventually Chair, of several public company Boards of Directors. She is a frequent keynote speaker on CFO and boardroom topics. She has been quoted as a financial/economic expert in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CFO.com, Agenda, Corporate Board Member, and the Economist. She was also a...

There's a lotta turmoil in the land of the free these days. Talk show hosts getting suspended, millions of Disney subscribers dumping Dumbo, protesters battling ICE, the Tylenol debate, The Rapture (it was either yesterday or later today), and now comes the Windy City shattering news that the CEO of Portillo's has made an abrupt exit, amid "sluggish sales." Wait, what? Sluggish sales? Portillos? ...

Early this morning, I was checking out the last vestiges of veggies, and came across the last tomato of the season. It's that time of the year again, as the garden has gone through its life cycle. Bittersweet, for sure, as I'll have to wait until next season to watch the miracle of growth, with the elements of sun, dirt, and water doing their thing. Impossible for me not to draw parallels to my ow...

Millions of viewers know Bill Kurtis from his work on A&E, CBS News, and his many documentaries. In his recently released memoir, Kurtis brings us into some of the most iconic moments of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was in the streets during the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he uncovered the truth about the deadly effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War...

Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis, along with the late Mike "Hawk" Hegstrand, were known as "The Road Warriors," the greatest tag team in the history of pro wrestling. Joe passed away in 2020, and on September 12th, he would have celebrated his 65th birthday. I reached out to his daughter, Jessica, to celebrate his life, not just as one half of the best tag-team in the history of the sport, but more import...

Yeah, I know, it seems like a year (or a week) ago CCC (Cracker Barrel Chaos) was all over the headlines. The news cycle has gone on to chew on other fodder, like the looming threat of Chagas Disease caused by kissing bugs, but a recent road trip put me smack dab in CBC (Cracker Barrel Country), and I had to stop, not once but twice (within an hour) to feast on chicken covered with sawmill gravy a...

Since 1979, John Berry has recorded more than 20 studio albums, including one platinum album and two gold albums. In his career, Berry has also charted 19 songs on Billboard Hot Country Songs, including the Number One single "Your Love Amazes Me" in 1994. A Country Weekly article said of Berry, "John's greatest strength is his pure, soulful tenor," and The Entertainment Nexus described him as "one...

31 years ago this very weekend, I stood on the stage of the Aspen Music Tent for my first "public" speaking event at the Windstar Ninth Annual "Choices for the Future" Symposium by John Denver's invitation. From that point on, my life took a serious turn in ways I could never have predicted, and while discussing the "ripple effect" concept last night at dinner with two of my guys, I was transporte...

The only hero I've ever known, my cousin Richard C. Hoffman, passed away last week. My life is filled with countless memories of Rich and his pivotal role in our family on so many levels. A highly decorated Marine Corps Sergeant, he served two tours in Vietnam, and eventually Agent Orange would wreak havoc on his body. While he wasn't KIA like so many of his friends in 'Nam, he is very much a casu...

As I prepare to send out a few autographed copies of "Living an Uncommon Life," I realized that I haven't gone through the list of the 21 extraordinary people who are featured in quite some time. So, rolling back the years a bit, with a crib note review of the lessons I learned, and the people who made it all possible to become a perpetual best-seller. 

Against a background of construction noise, it's another attempt to find the obvious buried in the absurd and dispense common sense during uncommon times. It's a trip back to 1937 and the classic "Lost Horizon" via an article by Alan Cohen, who points out the fact that the tone and tenor of life 88 years ago was of doom, gloom, greed, despair, and "end of the world" kinda stuff. You know, like tod...

Capt. James Lovell (USN-Ret.) passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 97. He was one of the early space heroes for millions of people, as we boldly went where no one had gone before-to the moon. He was the commander of Apollo 13, who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering and was made famous by the film of the same name, with Tom Hanks as Jim Lovel...

I've been ignoring the onslaught of AI B.S. for the past few weeks but can longer sit silent as images of Tom Brady attending Ryne Sandberg's funeral (he didn't) Jerry Kramer being honored with a statue outside of Lambeau Field (he wasn't) or Vince Gill sobbing on stage with Joe Walsh (neither of them did) came into my line of sight over and over again. The tipping point is when the AI-generated i...

Renita D. Young is a force of nature and a formidable voice in the media. In this episode, she teams up with her sister, Rhonda Williams, with practical wisdom on how to navigate the turbulent waters during a job loss and the importance of not confusing who you are as a person with what you do for a living in their new book, "Now What? The Ultimate Job Loss Toolkit." When Longfellow said, "The hum...

The anticipation of reconnecting with guys I played college football with back when Gerald Ford was POTUS was off the charts. However, in mere moments, one-half century melted away, and all of us were back in the huddle again, ready to strap it up one more time. But, for me, the lessons of football didn't end when the final whistle blew; in some way, they were just beginning. There are great paral...