Beyond the Crucible

He was, in his own words, an "intense goal-setter" from the third grade. And Hank McLarty achieved most of what he set his mind to a football scholarship to Auburn, a financial services career at prestigious firms, recognition and wealth as one of the youngest and best in his industry. But when he started to "drink the Hank Kool-Aid" and believe he was as fabulous as the press coverage he earned said he was, his world collapsed. Living in a hotel with his two boys for two years, needing its free breakfasts to make ends meet, he slowly began to recast his vision -- away from success and toward significance. Today, he says he's blessed to have found both through Gratus Capital, the firm he founded on the principles of gratitude and humility.   To learn more about Hank McLarty and Gratus Capital, visit https://gratuscapital.com/   To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Seton Hall University students who attend the Buccino Leadership Institute discover early the value of learning and leveraging the lessons of their crucible experiences. That's because the institute's executive director, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bryan Price, teaches a freshman course in which students share their most painful setbacks and failures with their classmates as a means of building confidence in themselves and camaraderie among their peers. It's leadership authenticity Price learned as captain of the baseball team at West Point -- spotlighting how vulnerability for a purpose pays big dividends in our lives and careers. And the sooner we learn our identity is not tied to what we do but rather to who we are, the better we become at the essential skills of reframing failure and not falling victim to imposter syndrome.

From the outside looking in, Tracy J. Edmonds' life couldn't have been sweeter: a high-profile executive job with a Fortune 30 company at which she excelled. But on the inside, where she discovered it really counts, her career had come at a high cost because of a self-imposed crucible: not being her authentic self. So she decided to embrace both her figurative and literal wild hair -- trading her corner office for a cubicle and tackling a vision that not only meshed with her gifts and passions but also allowed her to live who she truly was rather than conforming a corporate mold. She's found her life of significance in coaching other women of color that to be the best versions of themselves, they have to be the real versions of themselves.   To learn more about Tracy J. Edmonds and her book Wild Hair: A Courageous Woman’s Guide to a Bold and Authentic Career, visit https://tracyjedmonds.com/   To explore more Crucible Leadership resources, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Visionaries who are also mavericks, who prefer to conquer what needs to be conquered as a solo expedition, often find themselves foiled by crucibles that could have been overcome had they taken a team approach. Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax unpacks why some leaders reject the aid of a team as they pursue their vision while others embrace tackling a mission together -- and why the latter are usually more successful than the former. Yes, pursuing your vision with a team requires more patience on your part and a willingness to share the credit and let others have a substantive say in the goals you're going after.  But the benefits of camaraderie, the right mix of skills needed to get the job done and valuable input that can actually make your vision better while helping make it a reality are more than worth it.    To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

He was born with Poland's Syndrome, a rare disease that left his right hand malformed and his muscle development non-existent. But Johannes Atlas was also born to parents who, as he puts it, "refused to baby him." Their support led him to overcome his physical challenges on a variety of sporting fields and his emotional challenges by believing -- as his mom and dad told him often -- he was "enough." Coming under the tutelage of business mentors as a young adult and inspired by his faith, Atlas has launched a growing speaking career and is encouraging others to overcome their own crucibles en route to a life of significance through his Pressing Toward the Mark events.   To learn more about Johannes Atlas, visit www.instagram.com/jo_speaks     To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com 

What do you do as a thought leader when crucible experiences force you to face that you're a "practice struggler"? That's the situation Kaley Klemp faced when she and her husband, Nate, hit a patch in their marriage so rocky they wondered if it might be the end. But they fought their way back by changing their mindsets from seeking fairness from each other to showing radical generosity to each other. In the process, they applied some of the very team-building skills each had learned in their careers to bolstering their relationship -- a journey they capture in their new book, THE 80-80 MARRIAGE: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Relationship. Kaley explains in this interview with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax that strong marriages, like strong leaders, need ample doses of vulnerability and authenticity.   To learn more about Kaley Klemp and The 80-80 Marriage, visit www.kaleyklemp.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

From the tragic beginnings of being orphaned then abused by his guardian uncle, to his adulthood as a crack addict who fathered seven children by five woman, Marvin Charles was an unhappy story just waiting on a sad ending. But then he got sober and embraced God as his anchor -- and dramatically rewrote his destiny. Divine Alternatives for Dads -- D.A.D.S. -- the nonprofit he founded 20 years ago after navigating the legal system to put his family back together, has helped 5,000 men reclaim their roles as fathers and learn the practical and emotional skills to knit their own families back together.    For more information about Marvin Charles and D.A.D.S, visit www.aboutdads.org   For more information about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

It's no secret we live in a divided world, especially in the U.S. But disagreeing over issues and how best to solve the crucibles we face in our world and communities does not mean those who think differently than us are the enemy or evil. BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax explains the danger in demonizing "the other side” from the comfort of our own echo chambers, and the breakthroughs that can occur if we refuse to judge and commit to listen to and understand the views of those with whom we disagree. Seeking unity, he explains, creates opportunities and growth in our pursuit of lives of significance.   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Ruza Markovic had dreamt of and studied for a career in journalism -- when war intervened to change the trajectory of her life.  While her family had emigrated to the U.S. from their native Yugoslavia when she was just 4, Markovic didn't think twice when she was asked to return to her homeland in the early '90s as a communications liaison to the teetering government while political unrest and then war-ravaged the Balkans. What she saw and experienced, she says, laid barren her faith in country, politics, the media, and herself.  Those trials and traumas, though, did not sap her spirit. They steeled her resolve to live her life in service to others -- in part as an advocate for the liberating power of education.   To learn more about Ruza Markovic, visit www.proonemedia.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

Leadership is not, in Daniel Harkavy's eyes, a complex equation. Its essential elements are the decisions you make and the influence you cultivate. But putting that into practice, especially after a crucible, can certainly be challenging. In his new book, THE 7 PERSPECTIVES OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS, the president of Building Champions unpacks the mindset shifts that remove the either/or restrictions many leaders feel while simultaneously pursuing success and significance. From understanding current reality to crafting a vision rooted in your passions and putting together a team to bring that vision to reality, Harkavy offers a blueprint for pursuing your personal and professional goals with purpose and excellence.    For more information on Daniel Haravy and Building Champions, visit www.buildingchampions.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

In this special 50th episode of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE, host Warwick Fairfax and co-host Gary Schneeberger take a look back at some of the most powerful guests who have shared the trials and triumphs of not just surviving their crucible experiences but moving beyond them to lead lives of significance. You'll meet inspiring men and women from all walks of life who have overcome physical, emotional, and professional setbacks, failures, and tragedies to live lives on purpose, rooted in their passions and talents. From the Hollywood actor/writer/director whose first film flopped so badly it was almost his last to the young woman selling her gourmet cookies out of her driveway, from the motivational speaker who grabbed the brass ring only to realize it was lead to the former NFL quarterback who couldn't live up to the MVP career of his father but has carved out a post-football calling that helps marriages and families, you'll find hope and healing in these conversations filled with wisdom and vulnerability.   To hear any of the full episodes referenced on the show, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? Except it doesn't always feel that way. The holidays can bring on some serious emotional crucibles -- from tensions among family members, sadness over those who are no longer with us, even struggling to overcome our disappointment in decisions made by loved ones. That's what BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax  faced after a long-ago picture of his late father gave rise to emotions he wasn't expecting.  How did he move beyond those feelings? As he discusses in this episode, he focused on the blessings of the present and the opportunities of the future. 

She set out on a quest to become the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica. But 72 days in, when a horrific storm with waves as high as a two-story building caused her mast to topple and nearly sank her boat, Lisa Blair's journey changed from setting a record to staying alive. In the hours that followed, she called on her months of preparation, all the courage she could muster, and her indefatigable spirit to steady her craft -- then broke off pursuit of the record to head to port in Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs. But she refused to let the myriad and monumental crucibles she'd endured derail her dream. She launched a second run at the record books that secured her a place in nautical history.          To learn more about Lisa Blair and her book, Facing Fear, visit www.lisablairsailstheworld.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

She's known internationally as the first woman to sail solo around Antartica, a celebrated explorer who fought through unimaginable trials en route to setting her world record. But before she ever stepped foot off dry land, Lisa Blair was a shy, reserved Australian girl bullied at school. She headed off to university determined to shed the mask she wore in high school, and later learned the importance of viewing failure not as falling short, but not trying at all. She found her life's calling when a sailing journey with a friend led her to fall in love with the sea ... and the beauty and adventure it offers.   To learn more about Lisa Blair and her book, Facing Fear, visit www.lisablairsailstheworld.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

In more than 20 years of playing football, as an amateur and in the NFL, Jeff Kemp was only once earmarked as his team's starting quarterback before the season began. His career never did match that of his legendary dad, AFL standout Jack Kemp -- whose shadow loomed even larger thanks to a distinguished career in politics and public service after he retired from the game. But while Jeff got knocked down a few times, he always got back up. He learned his life had a greater purpose than just achieving, and he's crafted a post-gridiron career helping others huddle up to build stronger marriages, more faith-filled lives, and deeper relationships at home and at the office.     For more information about Jeff Kemp and his book, Facing the Blitz: Three Strategies for Turning Trials into Triumphs, visit www.jeffkempteam.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com   NOTE: The photographs mentioned in the episode are available to view on the Crucible Leadership Facebook blog page: www.crucibleleadership.com/blog/

Life, Dom Brightmon freely admits, can be crappy sometimes. But each of us has the power to flip the switch to "happy" -- the key is to view our crucible experiences as crystal experiences. Through books (like CRAPPY TO HAPPY), public speaking, and working with men and women going through setbacks and failures, Brightmon (a member of the John Maxwell-certified leadership team) is both a teacher and practitioner of the truth that when you advance others, you advance yourself.   To learn more about Dom Brightmon, visit www.DomBrightmon.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com 

Moving beyond your crucible is hard work, even harder when the circumstances that knocked you off your feet seem to linger forever. How do you get going again when it feels like your crucible is a bottomless pit, a black hole? Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax lays down a roadmap for getting back on track toward a life of significance. "It's not an easy cycle to break when you're at the bottom of your crucible," he says. But it can be done ... if you embrace the power of one small step. To learn more about Crucible Leadership, and to take the Life of Significance Assessment to help you take your first small step, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Her resume is wildly impressive: best-selling author, award-winning screenwriter, successful entrepreneur, celebrated fitness trainer and health activist -- she even won Miss Congeniality at the Miss California USA pageant. But Kimberly Spencer's accomplishments hid her demons -- bulimia, trying to be who others wanted and expected her to be, a victim of emotional self-sabotage. When she realized she had the power to crown herself whole, she stopped breaking off pieces of her personal and professional selves to fit into others' boxes. That revelation has led to a career as an internationally acclaimed speaker and high-performance coach who helps audiences and clients reassemble the diamonds within and build lives of joy and significance.   For more information about Kimberly Spencer, visit www.crownyourself.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up to receive regular updates, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

She baked her first batch of cookies in the California sun at age 3 -- with mud as the secret ingredient. Ever since that day, Whitney Singletary-White has dreamed of being a baker, and she's made that dream come true with her gourmet Nuttin' Butter Cookies. She sells the exotic nut-butter confections from her driveway these days, rising above the crucible of the COVID-19 pandemic with the same kind of grit that saw her fightback from a brutal assault that almost cost her much more than her business. Her motivation through it all? Building a life of significance with her two boys.    To learn more about Whitney Singletary-White, visit www.nuttinbuttercookies.com    To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up for regular email updates, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

We know them when we're in them. Or avoiding them. Uncomfortable conversations when it feels like one wrong word -- or even one right word expressed wrongly -- can explode like a hand grenade. But we can avoid the detonation and destruction, Harvard Negotiation Project and Harvard Law School lecturer Sheila Heen explain in unpacking the insights and action items in her books Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback. The key, she says, is recognizing that in tough conversations we're speaking words but exchanging emotions.

Want to be a leader known as strong, confident, honest, transparent, and secure? The vulnerability can pave your way to all those adjectives -- if you employ it wisely. Host Warwick Fairfax discusses with co-host Gary Schneeberger the helpful and the not-so-helpful ways you can be open about yourself. When vulnerability works, they explain, it can help your team members weather crucibles they're going through today -- and inoculate them against those yet to come. To learn more about Crucible Leadership, and to sign up to receive regular email updates, visit CrucibleLeadership.com

At 19, Ryan Campbell became the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world. Two years later, a horrific plane crash threatened more than the dream he birthed at 6 to make a life and a living streaking through the skies. Left a paraplegic after the accident, he fought back physically and emotionally to walk -- and hope -- again. Today, he's an in-demand motivational speaker who inspires audiences to build a mindset toolbox to conquer their crucibles. To learn more about Ryan Campbell, visit www.RyanCampbell.co To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up to receive regular e-mail updates, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com  

In 8th grade, after dreaming for years of competing in the finals of the National Spelling Bee, Adom Appiah got knocked out of the competition early. Instead of wallowing in the disappointment of that crucible, though, he turned his attention to consoling the other kids who had also fallen short. That's just one example of how this 16-year-old -- author of two books and founder of the fundraising nonprofit Ball4Good -- is living a life of significance and already focused on building a legacy of service to others. To learn more about Adom Appiah and Ball4Good, visit www.Ball4Good.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up for regular email updates, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

It's hard enough to get through failures and setbacks -- we only make them worse by beating ourselves up or trying to move past them too quickly. Author and wellness coach Cami Smalley stresses the importance of looking at crucibles through the lens of our strengths and being intentional about taking mindful pauses to fuel our recovery and build resilience.

It can make a professional paper cut feel like a full-fledged crucible. It leaves you wondering why you and your work are never good enough. But perfectionism, for all its insidiousness, can be overcome. Show yourself some grace, find the humor in your missteps, and realize that good enough usually is, in fact, good enough. To learn more about Crucible Leadership, and to sign up to receive regular email updates and insights, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com  

There never seems to be enough time to finish all your work -- let alone think about it, especially when crucibles hit. Harvard Business School professor Joseph Badarocco says that's because we view reflection all wrong. It doesn't need to be a mountaintop experience, he writes in his new book, Step Back: How to Bring the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life. It can be a mosaic pursuit, one you find time for in the margins of your life -- while driving, exercising, doing household chores. He also discusses an earlier book, Leading Quietly, spotlighting the benefits of not always aiming to be the hero in your leadership.

She had a great corporate job, doing what she felt called and equipped to do. Then Toni Munoz Kaufman contracted SARS, which nearly killed her and did cost her a lung. As she recovered, she was laid off. But her joyous spirit and wisdom passed down from her father pushed her to persevere and help other Baby Boomers overcome their crucibles as entrepreneurs. To learn more about Toni Kaufman, visit www.tonikaufman.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up for regular e-mail updates, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Understanding what science has to say about learning the lessons of a crucible experience -- from reframing what happened to embrace forgiveness -- can be an overlooked key to moving past the pain and toward healing and significance   To learn more about Dr. Suzy Green, visit www.thepositivityinstitute.com.au/   To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up to receive regular updates, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Heroic leaders like Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln get movies made about them -- just like superheroes such as Batman and Captain America. But the rousing triumphs that echo through history, or comic books, aren't the whole story -- or even sometimes the best story. Quietness, patience and humility are key qualities of success and significance even for great leaders. To learn more about CrucibleLeadership and sign up to receive regular email updates, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com.

His big-deal career and its big-money perks left him unsatisfied. So he stopped viewing success as outperforming others and started serving others. Today he's the best-selling author of The Millennial Whisperer and making a lasting impact on the leaders of tomorrow.  To learn more about Chris Tuff, visit www.22squared.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership/com

After losing her husband to a military training accident, she fought for joy for herself and her four children by moving beyond surviving. To learn more about Sarah Nannen, visit www.sarahnannen.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership and to sign up for regular email updates from Warwick Fairfax, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Mike Valentine was a blue-collar kid who grew into a blue-collar young man, a longshoreman's son who began working as a steelworker as a teenager, walking his first skyscraper beam at 14. His was a hardscrabble existence: He spent the next decade and a half addicted to alcohol and beset with its devastations -- bar fights, car accidents and times behind bars. All that changed when his daughter was born -- and he turned his attention to living life in pursuit of a worthy purpose. Today, as founder of On Purpose Now, he helps clients address the psychological, emotional, practical and spiritual aspects of life and business to awaken dormant energy and harness real power. What have his 30,000 hours of coaching others through crucibles and crossroads taught him? That every one of us has a gift to give, a purpose to live and a vision to build ... and that the purpose most people want to aim for is characterized by love, grace and peace. In this episode, he tells BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax that pain offers us a great awakening. "What we find at ground zero," he says, "is the bottom of our hearts."    To learn more about Mike Valentine, visit www.onpurposenow.com    To learn more about Crucible Leadership and sign up to receive updates from Warwick Fairfax, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

Listening is one of the most necessary, and least practiced, leadership skills in business and life today. And lest you think lack of listening is a new phenomenon, brought on by the last few decades of tech advances that have created tech distractions, think again. Harvard Business Review found in 1957 that people remember only about half of what they hear, even when they're trying really hard to dial in. In this episode, BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax explains why great leaders listen -- and how they can do it better to get past crucible moments and avoid additional ones. One of the critical keys, he tells co-host Gary Schneeberger, is asking good questions of your team to gather information from them that can help enhance your vision and, just as important, signal to them clearly that you're not just paying "ear service" to the insights they're sharing with you. "The price of engagement from your team," Fairfax notes, "is listening."  To sign up for regular Crucible Leadership emails from Warwick Fairfax, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

Fewer than 10 percent of those living with Parkinson's Disease are under 60. Tim Hague is one of them. As a nurse for two decades, he sensed immediately what was wrong when, at age 46, he noticed a tremor in his left toe. His self-diagnosis was soon confirmed, and in the months that followed he pressed deeply into his Christian faith to grasp "Why has God done this to me?" But he refused to wallow in regret or self-doubt, and just three years later he was competing on and winning, The Amazing Race in his home country of Canada. The platform the show provided led him to see Parkinson's as winning the lottery, as he began a successful speaking career and launched a nonprofit to put his medical training to use helping others with the disease. In this episode of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE, he tells host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax that he's learning every day to live the lessons of his book, Perseverance: The Seven Skills You Need to Survive, Thrive, and Accomplish More Than You Ever Imagined. "I have to believe that there is something good in this for me," he says. "It doesn't make sense otherwise."

Ernest Shackleton and the men he was leading on an expedition to cross Antarctica had piled up a breathtaking number of life-threatening crucibles by late 1915. Stuck motionless in polar block ice for months, hundreds of miles off course with no way to communicate their location to anyone who could help, Shackleton and his men were running low on the supplies they had already been forced to ration in miserly fashion when their greatest disaster struck: The ice that had trapped their ship now closed in to crush it, leaving the men fully exposed to the bitter cold with no choice but to traverse the ice floes that surrounded them in desperate search of safety. Shackleton's mission had changed for good from one of discovery to one of survival for himself and his men. On this episode of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE, Harvard Business School Professor Nancy Koehn, who profiles Shackleton in her Wall Street Journal best-seller Forged in Crisis, explains in detail how the British polar explorer's only hope was to forget the disasters he and his crew had endured and "face forward" with grit, ingenuity, and improvisation. "Crisis leaders get better and better and better," she tells host Warwick Fairfax. "You can see it iteratively if you study them as I do." To learn more about Nancy Koehn, visit www.nancykoehn.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Nancy Koehn was on track for an administrative leadership role at Harvard Business School, where she taught the history of leadership to the world's best and brightest. But a series of personal crucibles -- the death of her father, a divorce that came without warning and decimated her finances, a cancer diagnosis -- caused the floorboards of her personal and professional lives to crumble beneath her. Her career aspirations drydocked, her sleep interrupted nightly at 1 or 2 a.m., she sought solace in the love of her intellectual life: history. When she picked up a book on Abraham Lincoln to help pass the agitated hours, she discovered in the trials of the 16th president that there was not only a way through her setbacks but a way beyond them. In this interview with BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax, Koehn explains how her search for lighthouses of hope in the lives of great leaders who were dented by crucible experiences helped her find healing through FORGED IN CRISIS, her best-selling book about their trials and triumphs. Host and guest take a deep-dive look at the incredible story and important leadership lessons of British polar explorer Ernest Shackleton -- a conversation they conclude in next week's episode.

Life has not always been easy for Warwick Fairfax. That's a statement many in his native Australia never would have associated with the fifth-generation heir to arguably the country's most influential media empire. But then he launched a multi-billion-dollar takeover of the company that failed spectacularly -- leaving him with regrets, self-doubt, and uncertainty about his future. More than 30 years after the takeover fell apart, the founder of Crucible Leadership and host of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE will speak in detail for the first time about what motivated his bid to assume control of the company and why he thinks it wasn't successful in a book from Morgan James Publishing due to be released early next year. In this episode of the podcast, Fairfax discusses with co-host Gary Schneeberger why he initially didn't want to write a book at all, why he changed his mind and what readers can expect when it hits stores. "It's a collection of stories and parables about life and leadership -- about me and my family, history's greatest leaders and biblical and inspirational figures," he explains. "If writing about my story can help people and give them hope, it's worth going through the pain."

Growing up in Communist East Germany, Cathleen Merkel was taught her value came from doing what others expected of her, working hard, and not upsetting the established order of things. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and she grew from a girl into a woman with dreams and passions of living a free and successful life. There was just one problem: the goals she pursued professionally and personally dead-ended a couple of times and didn't really fulfill her even when they were going well. So she took a deep look at herself, asked close friends to help her see where she'd veered off course, and finally discovered who she really was and what vision she wanted to cast for her life. The result, she tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax is that she has found meaning and significance as a coach and mentor who helps high-achieving female leaders reinvent their lives and careers. She walks alongside them as they realize true joy is rooted not just in the job description, but in total life satisfaction.   To learn more about Cathleen Merkel, visit  www.cathleenmerkel.com   To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.CrucibleLeadership.com

Tommy Breedlove isn't one to make excuses. Yes, the physical and emotional violence he endured as a boy led him to become violent himself as a teen, landing him in jail for his 19th birthday. But when he was mentored by a fellow inmate and inspired to avoid another trip behind bars, he took responsibility for his recovery. He toiled at low-wage jobs by day and studied hard at night, landing a position at a prestigious financial services firm just three years later. And yet, while his career skyrocketed -- promotions, pay raises, the respect of his bosses and envy of his colleagues -- the bottom fell out of his life again at 36. Lying in a ditch, unsure how he got there literally and figuratively, he once again had to summon the strength and courage to bounce back. In the aftermath of this second setback, he tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax, Breedlove decided to strip himself of all the identify-hiding masks he'd worn on his way up the corporate ladder -- and discovered how to love himself and let others love who he really was. Those breakthroughs have led him to a rewarding career as a best-selling author and in-demand leadership coach and speaker, sharing with clients and audiences his hard-earned insights on discovering their life's purpose and living legendary lives For more information about Tommy Breedlove, visit www.tommybreedlove.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Conflict and leadership frequently go hand-in-hand. Add to the mix a global pandemic that comes with stay-at-home orders, shuttered schools and remote working, and millions find themselves living day-to-day in a powder keg of anxiety and stress. How best to navigate this unprecedented confluence of circumstances to minimize its affect on your family relationships and your business's bottom line? Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax and podcast co-host Gary Schneeberger discuss the indispensable role grace and tolerance play in not just avoiding flare-ups, but encouraging each other at a time when encouragement is more essential than ever. It all starts, they explain, with doing the same kind of self-audit that's critical to learning the lessons of a crucible experience. Then, once you understand how your unique stressors and anxiety triggers affect you, you can take practical steps to defuse tensions with others and keep lines of communication and productivity operating smoothly. "The core of grace," Fairfax says, "is treating other people like you'd like to be treated."To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

For 11 harrowing years, Ed Kressy descended deeper and deeper into the madness of methamphetamine addiction. From believing the FBI was trying to pin the 9/11 attacks on him, to not bathing or brushing his teeth for months, to considering himself married to the voices in his head that tormented his thoughts, his grip on reality slipped away a little more each day. It was a far cry from the life he had known, he tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax: a college education, a good job, home ownership in San Francisco. But then the alcohol he turned to in his teens to feel like "there was something I was good at" finally caught up to him, fueling his hellish cycle of helplessness and hopelessness. It was only after actually getting arrested by the FBI that he found his way back through the combined power of spirituality, self-improvement and service. Today, he gives back to his community by volunteering with the police and California jails and prisons -- truly significant work that has, ironically, earned him a community service award from the FBI he once so feared. "Being a value to others," he says, "was ultimately serving my own dreams."

She 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 Michelle Kuei with physical and emotional scars that plagued her for 30 years. When her body stopped growing after the crash, her mind started racing with how she would never be "normal." It wasn't just that friendships and romance were hard -- grocery shopping was near-impossible: she couldn't grab anything to put in her cart without first discarding her crutches, and items on even the middle shelves were beyond her reach. But everything changed when she set her mind to fighting through the pain and fear and took up hiking, a pursuit that resulted in her ascending the peak of Machu Picchu and learning that she wasn't just normal, she had extraordinary in her. Finding the diamond inside her rough circumstances, she tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax, led her into a rewarding coaching career in which she helps negative self-talkers discover inner strength and beauty by overcoming their fear of judgments. "Each and every one of us," she explains, "is a gift to this world."

Millions worldwide are dealing with fears of the "what if?" right now as the world struggles through the health and economic uncertainties of the coronavirus outbreak. These worries can be upsetting, depressing and even emotionally paralyzing; in fact, one scientific study has determined fear of the unknown can be more distressing than fear of serious injury or death. In this new episode of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE, host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax offers several encouraging insights into rising above those fears and the hopelessness they can cause, noting that what the world is facing today is a hypercharged crucible experience not unlike what we all face in our lives when more intimate failures and setbacks strike. They key, he and cohost Gary Schneeberger discuss, is finding outlets that create personal calm amid the chaos and continuing to move forward in active combat against the fears that plague you -- uncovering the opportunities that exist behind the challenges. "When fear starts coming on," Fairfax says, "don't wait for it to grow from an ember into a forest fire."

His father died when he was 9. Not long after, his mother's drug addiction forced him out of his home to live with his grandparents. Money was tight, school was not his strong suit, and by his late teens Trent Griffin-Braaf was running with the wrong crowd. By 19, he was serving 4-12 years in prison for selling drugs. But he tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax that when he had to attend his grandmother's funeral in shackles, unable to hug grieving loved ones because of the chains, he decided he would not allow being locked up to be his legacy. He seized the academic opportunities prison offered, and when he was paroled after three years he dedicated himself to learning all he could to build a life he could be proud of. He landed a job at a hotel cleaning toilets, spent hours soaking up from co-workers the ins-and-outs of their jobs -- and in a few years had become the hotel's general manager. But he had a grander vision -- and risked all he had achieved to launch an airport shuttle serving Schenectady, N.Y.'s hotels. The business took off, and continues to grow: It now serves former inmates in the area not only with assistance in getting to and from work, but helps them find work that will allow them to build their own lives of significance. What has his journey taught him? "I believe in my heart that from doing good you get good," he says. For more information on Trent Griffin-Braaf, visit https://www.techvalleyshuttle.com/ To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

As general manager of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds, Brad Kullman was living his childhood dream of making a living, and life, in the game he loved. But after being passed over for permanent promotions and finally being let go, he moved past the devastation to realize he was free to pursue a passion that had become even more important to him: using the analytical tools he had pioneered as a pro sports scout and executive to help everyday men and women unlock the insights of their hardwired makeup. In this interview with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax, Kullman explains how standard personality tests offer insufficient help in charting a course to a life of significance for those who experience crucibles and offers insights and resources to help listeners understand and apply the realities of how they're wired.    To learn more about Brad Kullman and Hardwired Makeup, visit www.maxqperformance.com.    To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com 

If you've had a crucible experience, you are going to have to persevere through feelings of loss and fear, as well as additional setbacks, as you chart your course to a life of significance. Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax shares stories from his family history (his great-great grandfather John Fairfax) and world history (Winston Churchill), while also discussing his own efforts to claw his way back emotionally and practically after losing $2.25 billion -- and the company itself -- in a failed takeover of the family media dynasty he inherited. Perseverance is so critical to the stories of these men -- and every man or woman who seeks to bounce back from a crucible experience -- that it should be considered a gift that flows from our most challenging circumstances. "In our lowest moments," Warwick tells co-host Gary Schneeberger, we find strength and courage and perseverance we never knew we had." To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Craig Perra admits he's the last person you'd expect to be a life coach. He was a corporate lawyer on the C-Suite track when his sexual and drug addictions left him at rock bottom in his career and his marriage, bringing him so low he attempted suicide. Then a mentor who had walked a similar path helped him overcome his demons through structured behavioral change that allowed him to understand the underlying causes of his destructive ways, create new, healthy habits ... and save his relationship with his wife. Perra talks with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax about how life's most painful moments can actually be gifts if they are harnessed to help us craft an intentional vision for moving forward with a purpose rooted in serving others. He's helped clients in 27 countries reclaim hope and joy in their lives with his Mindful Habit system, which offers behavioral change insights anyone can apply to recover from crucibles of all stripes. For more information on Craig Perra and the Mindful Habit System, visit www.mindfulhabit.com For more information on Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

Jim Daly was abandoned by his alcoholic father at 5, lost his mother to cancer four years later and had no one to turn to but his four older siblings when their stepfather emptied the family home and left them to fend for themselves on the day they buried their Mom. Before he had turned 10, he was living with a dysfunctional foster family and thinking it was all just part of the "normal" life all kids lived. But buoyed by a hopeful spirit, he embraced the structure his teenage years brought at school and through sports -- and gradually charted a course for the kind of life he once never dreamed possible. Today, fifteen years into his role as president of the international nonprofit Focus on the Family, he surprises the press by meeting with ideological opponents and continues to oversee innovative programs that in just the last year have helped 780,000 couples build stronger marriages and 950,000 moms and dads raise happier, more resilient children. Daly talks with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax about why a life of significance has nothing to do with job titles and how all that childhood pain now fuels his ministry passions and accomplishments. For more information about Focus on the Family, www.focusonthefamily.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com

What do you hope your friends and loved ones remember about you after you're gone? What words would you like spoken in your eulogy? Written on your headstone? In this thoughtful and insightful new episode, Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax explores practical ways we can live today in a manner that leaves a legacy that outlives us well into tomorrow. The key, he and co-host Gary Schneeberger discuss, 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 learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com  

Robert Krantz appeared in some of the top films of the '80s -- Back to the Future, anyone? -- but when he turned his attention and talents to writing, directing and starring in his own movies a decade later, his career and life began to unspool like a dropped film reel. His first production -- which he and his wife put so much money into they had to live with his mother -- had the makings of a hit but never took off because of a disastrous Hollywood screening. That professional setback was followed by an even more devastating personal crucible: his wife's diagnosis that threatened the lives of her unborn triplet sons. The boys not only survived but thrived, and Krantz put his film career on hold to be truly present as they grew. Now that they're in college, he's back behind and in front of the camera with the critically acclaimed Faith, Hope & Love, in which he stars as a man whose up-and-down life looks a lot like his own. In this episode, Krantz talks with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax about where he's found the strength to keep pursuing a life of significance and what he wants his legacy to be as a man and a maker of movies. For more information about Robert Krantz and to buy Faith, Hope & Love on DVD, visit https://ellinasmultimedia.com To learn more about Crucible Leadership, visit www.crucibleleadership.com