Pursue The Passion
902 posts
Storytelling is the oldest form of communication. A good storyteller includes the audience in the experience. As a result of this intimate inclusion, people are much more likely to remember a story than a statistic. Lynn Hazan is passionate about communicating and combines her love for storytelling into her recruiting business. She has told stories…
Twenty years from now, 99% of the people you know will have a life that is more difficult than the one they are living today. They will work harder and longer, have more responsibilities to worry about and will be stuck in a “this” and then “that” mentality. (”This” meaning a job that brings no…
is an award-winning film composer, recording artist, songwriter, producer, pilot, cook, world traveler, and author of a new book. He has worked on projects such as Phantom of the Opera and The New Adventures of Pipi Longstockings, where he created, composed, and conducted the musical scores. He also is involved in raising awareness…
I love golf because no matter how frustrating it can be, there always comes a point where you admit to yourself that the way in which you smack a little, white ball around is not a reflection of the type of person that you are. Plus, I mean, you’re out enjoying nature with a group…
Gary Pressy was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. He has been with the Cubs for 20 years. He was playing the organ in Harry Carry’s restaurant when the Bartman ball was blown up, and played Take Me Out To The Ballgame at longtime Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse’s funeral. He got the…
To this point, we’ve heard 23 different stories of how people have broken into the sports industry, and no story is the same. We have come to the obvious realization that there is not one standard path to get in! These sports stories are among the most entertaining that I’ve heard on the trip. I…
Rachel wanted to do something entrepreneurial when she decided to get her MBA at the University of Chicago. That something she was looking for turned out to be Econfidant.com, an online service that provides personalized, confidential dating & relationship advice. She created the site with a friend after identifying the lack of relevant dating &…
We immediately had a similarity with Jen when we sat down at our business office, aka Starbucks. She took a 3 1/2 month road trip in an RV when she graduated college too! Unfortunately that road didn’t lead her to her true passion, but she learned a lot along the way. These lessons later gave…
Deb knew from the beginning that she wanted to develop and run her own successful business. She spent much of her career building skills with a variety of organizations that would enable her to achieve that end goal. She investigated many entrepreneurial opportunities, but nothing seemed right…until recently. She is now pursuing a project in…
Rule #1: do not call someone the wrong name; especially if they are helping you out while in town. Yep, this happened to me at the end of a great interview with “Monica” who I accidentally called “Melissa.” This small slip-up could have hurt our project a lot seeing as how Monica had been helping…
’s tale was told to us over the screaming and wailing of six excited young boys all wanting their ice cream. The only thought of mine that I was able to hear was the song, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!” (The kids obviously didn’t stop until they…
Nicolaas Bloembergen is one very smart man. In his little 86 year old, 5’ 5” frame, he articulately explained, in a Dutch accent, how he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981 for his work with non-linear optics and lasers. He talked about other technologies such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear spin…
It’s funny how we can become so blinded by responsibility that we don’t realize how out of wack our priorities have become. Katie had her epiphany when she realized that she was rushing her daughter back to bed so that she could return to her open e-mail account. She realized then and there that she…
Gary grew up in show business. His father was a press agent for big names like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Joan Crawford, Cary Grant, and many others. His father was one of the best in the business. He must had some clout to have his young son Gary be babysat by Marilyn Monroe…
Laura Allen started out wanting to be a journalist. She went to Eugene Lang College in New York City, where she received a partial scholarship majoring in writing and literature. It was there that she fulfilled her parents’ dream for her of getting a college degree. She was raised in your typical working class household;…
On a rainy day in the middle of summer in New York City, huddled under the umbrellas that we bought on a street corner for $2.99 each, we made our way to the CBS building at 51 W. 52nd Street, the home of Cushman and Wakefield. Cushman and Wakefield was founded in 1917 in New…
Growing up, Chris always knew that he wanted to work in the news business, despite both of his parents being doctors. At a young age he dreamed of being a reporter on camera and before he graduated college he got his first taste of the business through an internship at NBC for the Today Show.…
We met up with Lisa down on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We were running a little late after catching a bus. Unfortunately, once we got off the bus we had to walk three blocks in the pouring rain. And I mean it was pouring! Tamir and I tried to take cover as we…
I’m Pat Gallagher. I’m the President of San Francisco Giants Enterprises. The question is where I was at 21 years old. I’ve had kind of an odd career path. Actually I was, well, I hate to admit this, but I’m a college drop out. I was an art student in college…went to San Diego State…
We met with “Hoss” in his office on W. 44th street in New York City, where he told us his story of how he ended up at Atlas talent agency. He described the whole thing in his “Mid-Atlantic” accent, which resembles that of Bond…James Bond. So if you can picture Pierce Brosnan telling the story…
Matt Klentak played baseball at Dartmouth all four years. He was the captain his senior year. “At the end of my junior year I got an internship at the Commissioner’s Office in the Baseball Operations Department. I got a chance to see, live, and breathe baseball all day. I totally drank the Kool-Aid.” I graduated…
I first saw Ford speak in September of ‘04, at a speech/workshop that I attended while a student at the University of Arizona. The workshop consisted of an enthusiastic Ford teaching writing basics to a majority crowd of journalism students, as well as talking about the New York Times. Somewhere during the speech he mentioned…
Keith is another one those people who was more than willing to talk to us about what they’ve learned in the pursuit of their current positions. We came to the New York Times to talk to Ford Burkhart. Ford took us on a tour and noted that Keith was also a UofA graduate as we…
Like a lot of children growing up, Dan had to share a room with a sibling. The only difference is that their room was actually the trunk of a Buick. Using that as a starting point, Dan has been motivated and determined to succeed in everything that he does. From his humble beginnings in Idaho,…
