Beyond the Crucible

In the opening episode of our nine-apart series Second-Act Significance, Kari Schwear recounts how at age 7 she vividly remembers thinking, “Is this all there to life?” – before embarking on a journey of soul-crushing crucibles even as she found success in each of her multiple career stops.   But when she grew concerned enough about her “gray-area drinking,” her research into the subject and passion for helping others overcome it launched a second act she is pursuing with absolute gusto – as a life coach who helps her clients overcome the gray areas in all aspects of their lives, from relationships to careers to how they think and talk about themselves.   To learn more about Kara Schwear, visit www.graytonic.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources to help you craft a vision for moving beyond your crucible into a life of significance, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Join us as we launch our newest series, Second-Act Significance, on April 5. It's a nine-part collection of conversations with guests who have gone from dead ends to new beginnings in their lives and careers. If you've ever felt like you were made to pursue and achieve more, to tackle something different that brings your heart alive and benefits others, to use your crucible as a launching pad to a life of fresh significance, you won't want to miss a single episode. 

It's easy to feel discouraged these days. War has broken out in Ukraine, the COVID pandemic is weakened but not gone and our economy continues to struggle. That’s the challenging news. The hopeful news is that the time has never been better to do our part to help each other weather the storms we’re experiencing. And the best place to begin doing that is by encouraging each other. This week, host Warwick Fairfax and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss the impact and practice of encouragement. You’ll learn the seven key steps to becoming a master encourager, from paying attention to being specific, from giving positive feedback often to always making sure it’s sincere. To read Warwick's blog on the power of encouragement, and to order his Wall Street Journal bestseller CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visitwww.crucibleleadership.com

Kelly Sayre thought she was traveling the perfect career path, not making much money but making great impact helping a coaching entrepreneur run a business that focused on empowering women. The boss had brought her on with the promise of her taking over one day -- but then it all went wrong in a way Sayre never saw coming. Suddenly unemployed and thousands of dollars in debt, she allowed herself to mourn only briefly before carving out a new calling all her own. As the founder and president of The Diamond Arrow Group and author of the bestseller SHARP WOMEN: EMBRACE YOUR INTUITION, BUILD YOUR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND LIVE LIFE UNAFRAID, she equips women to avoid physical threats as well as relational and professional harm like she experienced.  To learn more about Kelly Sayre and to order her book, visit www.thediamondarrowgroup.com To order Warwick Fairfax's Wall Street Journal bestseller CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Ben Bennett's crucibles were a debilitating mix of negative self-image, mental health issues, addiction and trauma. He found freedom and healing by embracing psychological, neuroscientific and biblical principles to fulfill the deep longings of his heart that had long gone unmet. A speaker, counselor and author, he discusses the eye-opening, lifegiving insights in his latest book, FREE TO THRIVE, which journeys step by step through the seven key longings of every human soul.  To learn more about Ben Bennett, visit www.resolutionmovement.org To order Warwick Fairfax's Wall Street Journal bestseller CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

You know Walt Disney, the guy who invented Mickey Mouse and created the modern theme park. You've heard of Reed Hastings, who grew Netflix from a DVD subscription service to an Oscar-winning film studio. And, of course, there's Steve Jobs, inventor of the Mac and iPhone. But do you know they all started out with visions much smaller than the heights they would someday reach? Host Warwick Fairfax and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss in this episode why you shouldn’t be intimidated by the inventiveness of these and other great visionaries. You should follow their example and achieve your own dreams rooted in your vision and talents. How? Start with an idea, fuel it with your passion and then just try something. Those are the first three steps of eight unpacked here and in Warwick’s latest blog. To read Warwick's blog and to order his Wall Street Journal bestseller CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Retired naval officer Emily Harman accomplished many things in her career, but realized after she retired that the one thing she hadn’t done was understanding what she truly loved to do. She was so focused on achievement that she had no idea what brought her satisfaction and could bring her significance.  But she’s turned that around by taking a deep inner journey that has unlocked emotions she neglected most of her life, and opened up a new career as a podcast host and life coach. Her focus? Helping women create a life they’ll love living today.   To learn more about Emily Harman and her business and podcast, Onward Movement, visit www.emilyharman.com   To order Warwick Fairfax's Wall Street Journal bestseller CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Giving his pain a purpose was the lesson this week’s guest, Dennis Gillan, learned when he took his tentative first steps as a suicide prevention speaker – as a man whose two brothers took their own lives 11 years apart. Gillan shares the devastation he experienced in the aftermath of his brothers’ suicides – but also the strength and hope he’s found by embracing what he’s discovered is the call on his life: to inspire others to how to use the trauma of their crucibles to live lives of significance. The one practical tip you want to make extra sure you listen for? The Purple File.   To learn more about Dennis Gillan and his nonprofit the Half a Sorrow Foundation, visit www.halfasorrow.org   To order Warwick Fairfax's book CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Zachary Green’s life story is the stuff of movies – a stint in the Marines that taught him survival skills he used beyond the battlefield, creating a successful business where the crucibles came early and often, then being laid so low by COVID-19 that he thought his life would end. But it did not. And neither did his dreams. He compiled the truths and tactics he learned from his military and business experiences – successes and failures alike – into WARRIOR ENTREPRENEUR, his best-selling book that offers readers insight and inspiration to defeat the devastation of crucible experiences and turn them into the fuel for a life of significance.   To learn more about Zachary Green and his book, WARRIOR ENTREPRENEUR, visit www.warriorentrepreneurbook.com   To order Warwick Fairfax's book CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Have you ever felt like that a failure or misstep or somebody else’s judgment is still following you around? That your identity, in a very real way, has been frozen in time?  BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss Warwick's new blog that spotlights how to turn a heat lamp – sometimes even a flamethrower – on those frozen negative perceptions from the past that can stick to us in the present and threaten our future.  They discuss several steps you can take to restore your true identity, from recognizing your life matters, to dealing with the lies spoken over you; from forgiving yourself and others to embracing the beauty in your brokenness and using it as fuel for your unique life of significance.   To read Warwick's blog on overcoming "frozen identity," visit www.crucibleleadership.com. You can also purchase his Wall Street Journal best-selling book, Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance, from the website.

Jeff Caliguire thought he was a victim when the vocational path he chose as a pastor left him lonely, depressed and lacking authentic friendships. It wasn't until he hit emotional bottom that he found his way forward, through finding the blessings in even challenging circumstances and allowing them to transform his thinking. Today, he's a life and leadership coach offering clients a safe space to express their doubts and frustrations about life's inevitable challenges and work on the care of their souls through finding gratitude even in difficulty.  That's the pathway, he has discovered, to a life of significance for all of us – a life in which, as he puts it, we find our deep gladness and apply it to the world’s deep need.   To learn more about Jeff Caliguire, visit www.jeffcaliguire.com   To order Warwick Fairfax's book CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Have you ever found yourself laid so low by a personal struggle that satisfaction starts to seep out of your life? Have you pondered ending the pain permanently? That's the story of Gary Schneeberger -- the show's cohost who steps into the guest chair this week for BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE's 100th episode. He and Warwick talk in detail about how alcoholism upended his journalism career and could have ended his life. But he found hope in AA, which led him to seek forgiveness from those he had hurt -- forgiveness that, little by little, he was able to extend to himself as he embraced faith in God. He also discusses the Hollywood dream job he lost just after he turned 50 – and how that crucible has actually been a springboard to a dream life with a new family and a new business ... and renewed significance.   To learn more about Gary Schneeberger, visit www.weroar.la To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

It takes quite a bit of pent-up, anxious energy to grind your teeth so violently that they shatter in your mouth. But that’s just what Nick Bradley did. More surprising yet, he says that moment of terrible physical pain brought on by equally terrible emotional pain was one of the best things that ever happened to him. Bradley says what he calls "the teeth incident" was the outward manifestation of his inner turmoil as a successful businessman who had discovered his high achievements came at the price of low fulfillment. So he changed the trajectory of his life. He started a business consultancy and launched the Scale Up Your Business Podcast to help clients and listeners be grateful, be brave, be faithful and show up for work and for life in ways that bring them satisfaction and significance beyond the bottom line.   To learn more about Nick Bradley and his podcast, now called SCALE UP WITH NICK BRADLEY, visit www.suybacademy.com To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

David Richman hasn’t just taken a day to walk in others’ shoes. He’s spent hours, and miles, and months, getting to know the stories, the fears, the hopes and the lessons learned from men and women whose lives have been touched by the ravages of cancer. In his book, CYCLE OF LIVES, he chronicles his interviews with 15 people whose crucible encounters with cancer vary from patient, to doctor, to loved ones. In each interaction he has a singular goal: truly providing them a safe space to talk about the roiling emotions they experience in the aftermath of diagnosis. What he’s learned is that deep meaning and emotional healing can be born in those moments of vulnerability – even if physical healing isn’t part of the equation.   To learn more about David Richman and to buy CYCLE OF LIVES (all proceeds go to cancer charities), visit www.cycleoflives.org   To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

In this episode from February 2020, which we’re running in its entirety as we approach the new year and the personal reflection that always accompanies it, BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick and cohost Gary Schneeberger explore practical ways we can live today in a manner that leaves a legacy that outlives us well into tomorrow. The key, you’ll discover, is pursuing your career and caring for your family with the kind of character you want to define you in life ... and beyond. "If it matters to you on your deathbed," Warwick notes, "why not get a head start and do something about your legacy now?"   To order Warwick's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Michelle Kuei never really had a chance to dream about what her life could be before a tragic car accident at 11 in her native Taiwan left her with physical and emotional scars that plagued her for 30 years. She just wanted to be normal, she said in this interview first aired in May 2020. But then she discovered she was more than normal, finding inside herself what she says we all have inside of us – a diamond just waiting to shine. And shining is exactly what Michelle Kuei is doing today through her thriving coaching and speaking practice, Elevate Life Coaching.   To learn more about Michelle Kuei, visit https://elevatelifecoaching.org/ To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

This has been a banner year for Crucible Leadership, so founder Warwick Fairfax discusses his gratitude for all that’s happened in 2021 – from the release of his book, to some life-changing insights from our podcast guests, to his excitement – mixed with a little surprise – over the appreciative reception he’s experienced on the first leg of his speaking tour.  Why are we taking the time to revisit the highlights of the past 12 months? Because Warwick believes gratitude is one of the most important keys to unlocking a life of significance – and rocket fuel for tackling new opportunities to propel ourselves forward for the next 12 months. To order Warwick's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Think of "hinge moments," the subject of Taylor University President Michael Lindsay's recent book, as cousins to crucible experiences. Lindsay has discovered in interviews with some of today’s greatest leaders that how we react to those moments in life when doors either open or close – hence the hinge metaphor – determines how successful we’ll be in charting our course to a life of significance. The key, he says, is keeping our metaphorical hinges in good working order.   To learn more about Michael Lindsay, visit www.taylor.edu To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Most of the time, we define crucible experiences as setbacks and failures. But can success be its own crucible? Dean Niewolny  didn't think so as he climbed the corporate ladder in his financial-services career. He was focused on not just keeping up with the Joneses, but surpassing them. He had the corner office, the multiple homes, the plane … but he also had a gnawing sense there was more. That he wasn’t living his calling. That changed when he got involved with the Halftime Institute, which helps men and women look beyond their life’s bottom line to its impact. He’s served the organization as an executive and captured the insights of his work helping others live with legacy in mind in his book TRADE UP: HOW TO MOVE FROM JUST MAKING MONEY TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE.   To learn more about Dean Niewolny, visit https://halftimeinstitute.org/team/speakers/dean-niewolny/ To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Jason Hardrath has spent his fair share of time in what he calls “the pain cave.” That’s where he developed the skills and perseverance to compete as an elite triathlete – and also where he found himself when a rollover accident that ejected him from the car left his body broken, ending his dream of winning an IRONMAN title. But the crash didn’t steal Jason’s goals – it only changed them. He poured his athletic prowess and passion into mountain climbing, a sport he could pursue at a championship level even with the toll his injuries had taken on his body. And he’s wound up making history in the sport by setting a record you won’t believe in a way that’s even more unbelievable. To order Warwick Fairfax's book -- CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE -- and explore other resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Being authentic is not easy; in fact it is hard. So how do you develop that kind of mature authenticity? And what are the benefits when you do? Host Warwick Fairfax and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss the key building blocks of an authentic life – from having an anchor for your soul to finding true friends, from putting yourself in the environment that fits who you are to doing what you’re good at and passionate about. And be sure to listen for an excerpt from the just-released audio version of Warwick’s book Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance about why authenticity is so hard, but also so essential, in moving beyond setbacks and failures in business and in life.   To order Warwick's book, and explore other Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

How could viewing your crucible not as something that happened to you, but something that happened for you, change the way you chart a course for moving beyond it? This week you’ll hear from James Kelley, author of THE CRUCIBLE’S GIFT, who discusses with Warwick how setbacks and failures can be a catalyst to increase self-awareness, live with greater integrity and develop deeper compassion – for others, yes, but also for ourselves.   To learn more about James Kelley, visit www.qchange.com/ To order Warwick Fairfax's book CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Chris Singleton's young life changed in a horrifying instant in 2015, when his mother was shot to death along with eight others in the Mother Emmanuel Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Singleton made headlines nationwide in the days after the tragedy when he announced he had forgiven the shooter – a white supremacist who targeted the predominantly African-American congregation in the hopes of starting a race war.   Singleton has dedicated himself since then to emphatically, dramatically denying the killer’s twisted hope – speaking coast to coast about the power of forgiveness, inclusion and getting to know, understand and love those who look and think differently than we do.   To learn more about Chris Singleton, visit www.chrissingleton.com   To order Warwick Fairfax's book CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and to explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

It's taken Warwick Fairfax more than 30 years to write his book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and have it published. Why such a long time? He  explains this week in conversation with cohost Gary Schneeberger that losing control of his family’s 150-year-old media dynasty in a takeover bid that ultimately failed at a cost of $2.25 billion was too painful for too long to relive on paper – or a computer’s hard drive. But his perspective began to shift after he gave a speech at church about the lessons his trial taught him – and those who heard it told him for months afterward how much hope his story of moving beyond his crucible gave them. He explores circumstances and emotions he's never discussed publicly before as he walks listeners through the process that led to the book now being available on brick-and-mortar and virtual bookshelves all across the globe.     To order CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, and explore other helpful resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com.  

In advance of the Oct. 19 release of host Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, he and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss the key building blocks inside its pages. You’ll hear helpful, hopeful details -- from Warwick's own journey and the stories of some of history's greatest leaders -- about the importance of embracing your crucible, discovering your purpose, crafting your vision and leading and living with impact. You'll also get your first extended glimpse into why CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP has been called "equal parts memoir and master class," "moving and vulnerable," "a gift" and "a must for all leaders" filled with "nuggets of leadership gold."   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Have you ever thought your life would be grand if … fill in the blank? Dov Baron helps people move beyond those if-onlys. A best-selling author and one of the nation’s leading authorities on meaning-driven leadership, he speaks no-nonsense truths to empower clients and audiences to live their purpose, share their inner genius and not –as he puts it – disenfranchise the parts of themselves that are critical to leading lives of significance.   “Most people’s pain,” he tells us, “is hidden by our success.” And that hiding place, he explains, is where crucibles often cause the most damage. He knows from experience, having survived a brutal fall while rock climbing that shattered the bones in his face and almost shattered his soul.   To learn more about Dov Baron, visit www.dovbaron.com To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

As we wrap up six weeks of exploring what resilience is and how to build it, BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax and co-host Gary Schneeberger discuss the insights and inspiration offered by guests Stacey Copas, Katie Foulkes, Heather Kampf, Lucy Westlake and Dr. Craig Dowden. Among the wisdom and practical action steps they offered that are discussed in depth here: Resilience is a skill that can be learned just like building muscle in the gym. If you have access to the resources you need to meet the challenges you’re facing, you’ll be more resilient. You never know when your greatest obstacle will become your greatest opportunity. Failure is inevitable. How you react to it is what matters. Avoidance is a roadblock to resilience. To listen to each episode in the series, visit https://crucibleleadership.com/podcast/ To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Dr. Craig Dowden describes his coaching practice as bridging the gap between what science knows and what leaders do. What science has found, he says, is that harnessing resilience is two-part process: first, finding our way back to baseline – i.e., where we were before our crucible hit; and second, charting a course to move beyond that point. To not merely bounce back, but bounce forward. "We as human beings," he tells us research has shown time and again, "are far more resilient than we give ourselves credit for."   To learn more about Dr. Craig Dowden and his research on resilience and positive leadership, visit www.craigdowden.com To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Seventeen-year-old Lucy Westlake is an accomplished mountain climber (she started at age 7) who is the youngest female to have ascended the highest peaks in all 50 U.S. states. But you can’t have a peak without a valley – and Lucy also describes the low points she’s faced in learning this resonant truth: the ideal way to build resilience is overcoming small failures, so that when the big ones come – and they will -- we have a reservoir of grit to keep climbing.     To learn more about Lucy Westlake, visit www.lucywestlake.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

It was a moment seen by tens of millions of people across the globe thanks to a viral video: Heather Kampf falling during the final lap of an 800-meter race in college, then springing to her feet to not just catch her competition, but win. Yet Kampf cautions those amazed by her triumph to take a deeper message away from her 2008 feat than "Never give up." What fueled her miraculous comeback was having a vision for the race long before it started and sticking to that vision when the crucible came. What she discovered about herself during that final lap -- and in the setbacks and struggles before and since -- is that her faith gives her access to another gear critical to harnessing resilience on and off the track.   You can watch Heather Kampf's remarkable fall-and-finish during the 2008 Big 10 Track Championships by watching the video in this news story: www.bit.ly/harnessingresilience1. You can also follow the now-retired Kampf's post-running career on Instagram at @heatherraekampf   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com   And don't miss part 4 of "Harnessing Resilience" with guest Lucy Westlake, debuting Sept. 14.

Katie Foulkes had to harness resilience as a member of Australia's Olympic rowing team in 2004. After one of her teammates stopped rowing during the race, the outrage that erupted (the country's prime minister called the team "UnAustralian") rocked her to her core. Now a leadership coach who researches what builds resilience, she's found it's about more than just digging deep within yourself. It also requires casting wide outside yourself -- calling on the resources around you to help you survive your crucible and thrive beyond it.   To learn more about Katie Foulkes, her research and her leadership coaching practice, visit www.katiefoulkes.org   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com   And don't miss part 3 of "Harnessing Resilience" with guest Heather Kampf, debuting Sept. 7. 

What Stacey Copas knows about resilience was born of tragedy: A diving accident at 12 left her a quadriplegic whose spirit was in tatters. But she turned a corner emotionally when she realized "we connect with other people through our adversity, not our success." Today, in her writing, speaking and coaching, she shares how resilience is a skill that can be learned just like building muscle in the gym.   To learn more about Stacey Copas, visit www.staceycopas.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com   And don't miss part 2 of "Harnessing Resilience" with guest Katie Foulkes, debuting Aug. 31. 

Benjamin Franklin once said it takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it. Jennifer Cunningham has learned and teaches others that you have to keep your eyes on the values that matter to you as you look to bounce back from a crucible that leaves you feeling defeated and humiliated. The key is to apply the lessons from that painful experience to help repair your good name.   For more information about Jennifer Cunningham, visit www.reputationrepaircoach.com. To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

You can't reverse great loss any more than you can undo failure and setback, but you can move beyond every crucible you face with your heart full and your head held high. Alison Pena has moved past losing her husband to cancer to lead a full and rewarding life rooted in identifying and embracing the blessings still available to her. It's a strategy she shares with clients as Bad Widow -- the name she gave herself because of her refusal to be boxed in by society's expectations.    To learn more about Alison Pena, visit www.badwidow.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visitwww.crucibleleadership.com

Do you have a good handle on the values that guide your life and work? The character traits you admire in others and try to manifest yourself? Or do you find such talk "airy-fairy” – nebulous nonsense with no practical application to your business and your relationships?  Listen in and discover how dialing into your values and treating others with kindness, dignity and respect as a result is far from airy-fairy – it’s critical to team morale (including your own) and the robustness of your bottom line. BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax discusses with cohost Gary Schneeberger seven key tactics to make sure you are not unkind in your interactions. What begins in the moorings of your values branches out into such wise pursuits as living your legacy today, serving others and a higher purpose and knowing when and how to apologize. Putting these insights into action will aid you in moving beyond your crucible … and living and leading with significance. To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, including Warwick's blog on which this week's episode is based, visit www.crucibleleadership.com.

Are you tolerating something in your life that is leading to chaos and crisis … and causing or at least giving oxygen to the crucibles you’re facing? It could be something you’re thinking that’s tripping you up … or something someone else is doing that’s holding you back. Discover how to master your mindset from Gina L. Osborn, an Army veteran and former FBI special agent who knows firsthand that crises can be managed and chaos can be controlled even though change is inevitable.  From establishing and living from your core values to creating boundaries, from calling for backup when you need it and avoiding those vision-killing tolerations…she offers practical action steps to help you chart your unique path to a life of significance.    To learn more about Gina L. Osborn, visit www.ginalosborn.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visitwww.crucibleleadership.com

How you think and what you feel as you move beyond your crucible is critical. It's just as important, in fact, as what actions you take to get past it. Michelle Dickinson shares this truth as a corporate well-being strategist. She and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder, Warwick Fairfax, discuss the lessons she's learned about resilience from growing up with a bipolar mother. She also shares what she teaches executives about addressing the mental-health challenges faced by their employees. Millions of us are working to create a new normal after the myriad setbacks and traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why, she says, we need to be extended the grace – and give it to ourselves – to realize we are stronger than any circumstance we face.   To learn more about Michelle Dickinson, visit www.careforyourpeople.com To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com 

Shawn Harper has learned from his crucibles – which include extreme poverty as a boy, suffering from learning disabilities and being kicked out of two schools – that the only way to move beyond those challenges is to move through them. What he discovered on the journey changed his life – leading first to an NFL football career and now professional fulfillment as a business owner and sought-after motivational speaker. But don’t call him a success. That’s a word and a pursuit, he says, that’s rooted in image, not reality. It’s something you chase but never achieve. So for Harper the goal is winning, which he defines as pouring yourself into your hopes and dreams and making a difference in the lives of others where and when you can. In Crucible Leadership terms, that means living a life of significance.   To learn more about Shawn Harper, visit www.shawnharper.org   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick Fairfax's book, CRUCIBLE LEADERSHIP: EMBRACE YOUR TRIALS TO LEAD A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Have you suffered setback and failure? Then you probably have struggled with anger and maybe bitterness as you think of those who contributed to your pain. In this episode, Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax discusses with cohost Gary Schneeberger the critical need to forgive those who have wronged us (or even ourselves) in order to move past our crucibles and toward a life of significance. Warwick lays out seven steps you can begin practicing today to cultivate what he calls the noble character to practice forgiveness. From understanding the difference between forgiving someone and condoning their actions, to channeling your pain in more productive ways than being consumed by bitterness, you will walk away from this discussion with practical action steps you can take beginning today to start walking in this truth expressed by Marianne Williamson: “The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.”    To explore Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com 

How do you find purpose in your life and work that allows you to create a legacy that stretches beyond the bottom line of balance sheets and the showy flash of corporate perks? Kevin Edwards, host of the Real Leaders podcast, has discovered through hundreds of interviews with high-powered high achievers – interviews that date back to college – that one of the greatest crucibles most face is settling for success and not pursuing significance. The antidote? Finding a calling that allows you to do good for others even as you do well for yourself.   To learn more about Kevin Edwards' podcast and Real Leaders, visit www.real-leaders.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and preorder Warwick's book Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance, visit www.crucibleleaderrship.com 

John Sikkema had it all. Except peace. Having carved out successful careers in insurance sales and finance, he felt in his 40's that his life was careening out of control. Soon his car was, too. It was the combination of the accident he was surprised he survived, and the damage his obsession with making money was doing to his marriage and his faith, that led him to something better than the bottom line.  When he heard a message at church about pursuing a greater purpose, one that involved serving others, he began a journey to the kind of joy money absolutely cannot buy. Today, as chairman of Halftime Australia, an executive coaching and mentoring organization, he helps other business leaders build lives of significance in the next act of their careers.   To learn more about John Sikkema and Halftime Australia, visit www.halftime.org.au. The organization also has a U.S. branch: www.halftime.org   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and preorder Warwick's book Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance, visit www.crucibleleadership.com 

How do you maintain the delicate balance between pursuing a vision that you are passionate about and treating well the men and women who are sharing that journey with you? Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax unpacks practical tips to follow in this conversation with co-host Gary Schneeberger. From keeping your ego in check … to focusing on the process, not on chasing an outcome … from making sure team members know you value them as much as you value your vision … to walking the talk so they believe it, they lay out a roadmap to both bouncing back from past crucibles and avoiding future ones.   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, and to pre-order Warwick's book Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance, visit www.crucibleleadership.com.

Despite being born with small hands and shortened ligaments that left him unable to even hold a cup as a boy, Wael Farouk has diligently – some would say miraculously -- carved out a career as a celebrated concert pianist. This spring, in fact, he performed Rachmaninoff's piano concerti Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in one evening -- the first time the prodigious musical feat has been done. Farouk lives and works in Wisconsin, where he is an assistant professor of piano and director of the Keyboard Studies at Carthage College in Kenosha. In this conversation with Warwick, Farouk explains how he has embraced his physical limitations, and endured the crucible of religious persecution as a Coptic Christian in his native Egypt, because of his strong belief that it is through what he calls “rough waters” that he improves and progresses. To learn more about Wael Farouk, visit www.waelfarouk.com. To purchase tickets to a streaming recording of his Rachmaninoff performance, visit https://www.atthemac.org/events/np-rachmaninoff/   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

We’ve all heard that living with your purpose top of mind – what we at Crucible Leadership call a life of significance – leads to a more joyful and impactful life. But did you know it also can lead to a longer life? Author Marta Zaraska makes an eye-opening case for that truth in her best-seller, Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100 – a book steeped in science (she studied more than 600 research papers in her research) that points to the health benefits of living life in community and in service to others.  That means those steps you're taking to overcome your crucibles -- deepening authentic relationships, growing in character and kindness, leaning into the power of meditation and prayer -- can lower your mortality rate more effectively than a fad diet or obsessing over whether you're getting your 10,000 steps in every day.   To learn more about Marta Zaraska and Growing Young, visit www.zaraska.com   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Chris Leeuw had his entire life ahead of him -- and it looked very bright. A self-described "adrenaline junkie," he reveled in outdoor activities like water-skiing and kayaking and loved his job in local TV news. It all changed in a tragic instant. Chris, at 28, was paralyzed from the neck down in a freak recreational diving accident -- and thought he'd never walk or be able to care for himself again.  But despite the physical and financial crucibles he faced, he refused to give up. Chris let every physical sensation he began to feel again fuel his drive to pursue the most cutting-edge treatment and rehabilitation -- and work tirelessly to achieve the healing he once dared not imagine was possible. Now, just more than a decade later, he has regained much of his mobility and something just as life-changing: a passion for helping others with spinal-cord injuries via the nonprofit rehabilitation center he founded.   To learn more about Chris Leeuw, visit www.neurohopewellness.org   To explore Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Your soul is the you that you don't have to think about, where your essence, your truest self, lives. But how do you discover what your soul reveals about you? More importantly, how can drawing on the insights you find there help you bounce back from a crucible and lead a life of significance? Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax and cohost Gary Schneeberger take a deep dive into those questions, offering up 7 ways to live with your soul top of mind. The beliefs, values and passions you find there, Warwick says, will allow you to begin living your legacy today.   To learn more about The One Thing Core Values Deck discussed in this episode, visit www.the1thing.com/shop/corevaluesdeck/   To explore additional Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Some people may look at John Ramstead's life and say he’s lost a lot. Crucibles cost him his dream of being a Top Gun fighter pilot, almost ruined him professionally and financially and nearly killed him in an accident that led to dozens of surgeries over two years -- and still left him with physical challenges. Yet Ramstead, an in-demand leadership coach and successful podcast host, says those "losses" helped him find the most important things in his life: his faith and his purpose. He recounts it all in his new book On Purpose, With Purpose: Discovering How to Live Your Best Life -- which offers readers insights and action steps to find the true north essential to navigating the journey of their lives.    To learn more about John Ramstead and his book, visit www.beyondinfluence.com   To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Adversity, Taryn Marie Stejskal says, is a trip we take.  Resilience paves the road we walk to move beyond it. As one of the foremost international experts on building and exercising resilience in business and in life, Stejskal has crafted the Five Practices of Particularly Resilient People through exhaustive research into the subject ... and informed by her harrowing experience of being stalked in high school by a man who eventually assaulted another victim.  It's not the absence of crucibles that determines our future, she tells Warwick, but what we learn from them and how we apply that wisdom.   Learn more about Stejskal and her practical and empirical insights into resilience by visiting www.resilience-leadership.com or her Facebook page (@drtarynmarie) and her Instagram account (@drtarynmarie).   To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Gregory Robinson's crucibles piled up in his youth: raised without a father, kicked out of the house at 16, eking out a day-to-day existence swiping soap from restaurants to wash up and making ends meet hustling pool while flopping with other boys from hardscrabble backgrounds. But his life began to turn around after a stint in juvenile detention set him on a path to get a job, join the military and build the responsibility and resilience that has led him to help others employ the principles that have made him The Unbreakable Man. The key, he says, is to never let defeat you.   To learn more about Gregory Robinson, visit www.theunbreakableman.live   To explore additional Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

The Greatest of All Time. Shorthand, GOAT -- especially in sports contexts. But the single-minded pursuit of being the best (fill in the blank) in your sphere of influence can invade your professional and personal life, too. And when it does, it can be dangerous. Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax talks with cohost Gary Schneeberger about why we should avoid chasing GOATdom – and, more importantly, how to do it.  Warwick unpacks five insightful steps we can take to decouple our achievements from our identity to help us pursue a life of significance and a legacy we can be proud of. "Truly great leaders," he explains, "don’t focus on their own greatness."   To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com