123 - John David Mann - The Recipe - The Ingredients of Greatness

This episode was the first show I did after my mom passed away on October 1, 2017. Their are few guests I could imagine being able to function around besides John David Mann after my loss. I debated doing the show because my grief was so strong. I prayed on it and heard my mom's voice telling me go, I'll be there.

She loved hearing me on the radio. Most weeks she would be sitting in the conference room at the radio station listening to me interview my guests while crocheting her latest blanket. She was and is part of the radio experience for me.

Loss is a part of life. I get that. Yet it is overwhelming while going through it for me. Mom was an everyday part of my life. We lived together for almost 6 years. Not every child is lucky and has a mom like my mom or even a dad like mine was. I could imagine no other choice than to live with mom and take care of her. Well, we really took care of each other.

So how do I grieve her loss from my physical life? How does anyone move forward after such loss? The ache is physical and emotional and spiritual.

JOhn's latest book with Chef Charles Carroll is called The Recipe, a Story of Loss, Love and the Ingredients of Greatness.  When I read an early draft of the book I knew it was destined for greatness. I could relate to the young boy in the story as he grieved the loss of his dad. The anger, the betrayal feelings, the emptiness. And that was before mom had passed.

When I read the book again, in a more final form, it began to heal some old hurts from other losses, my brother, my dad and even my dog. Then I read it again and I saw the possibilities layered in my journey and thinking of the book now, it is a guidebook for moving, step-by-step, through grief into joy again. I am not there yet but the book provides hope.

During this interview John and I discuss the book, how it came to be, my mom and John shares his always brilliant wisdom about life, love, loss and most of all the Ingredients of Greatness inside all of us.

Hug someone you love today and grab your own copy of this book.

Hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

John David Mann is coauthor of the bestselling classic The Go-Giver, which has sold more than half a million copies in more than two dozen languages. Winner of the Axiom Business Book Award’s Gold Medal in 2008, The Go-Giver has been hailed as “the most important parable about business—and life—of our time” by bestselling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant; “a small book that packs a huge idea” by bestselling author Daniel Pink; “a good description of many of the most amazing people I’ve encountered” by Arianna Huffington; and “a must-read by anyone who wants to change the world” by talk show host Glenn Beck. Inc. magazine named it one of the 18 Most Motivational Books of All Time. His other titles include the New York Times bestsellers Flash Foresight (with Daniel Burrus) and The Red Circle (with Brandon Webb), and the national bestsellers Among Heroes (with Brandon Webb), The Slight Edge (with Jeff Olson), and Real Leadership (with John Addison). His 2011 Take the Lead (with Betsy Myers) was named by Tom Peters and the Washington Post as Best Leadership Book of 2011.