The salient point of today's discourse revolves around the extraordinary journey of John Brink, a paragon of resilience who transformed his humble beginnings into a remarkable legacy in Canada. Born amidst the harrowing backdrop of Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War, Brink's early experiences of survival and liberation by Canadian soldiers instilled in him an unwavering aspiration to seek a better life in the land of his heroes—Canada. Arriving in Prince George with merely $25.47 to his name and devoid of English proficiency or connections, he embarked on a formidable entrepreneurial journey, culminating in the establishment of John Brink Forest Products Limited, which became a leading force in North America’s lumber industry. Beyond his business acumen, Brink's profound impact extends to philanthropy, mentorship, and advocacy for education and workforce development, significantly enriching the community. In this episode, we delve into his inspiring narrative, exploring themes of grit, gratitude, and the transformative power of purpose.

The narrative unfolds the compelling life journey of John Brink, whose remarkable resilience and unwavering determination illustrate the essence of the human spirit. Born amidst the harrowing backdrop of Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War, Brink's formative years were marred by the struggles of survival, characterized by foraging for food and grappling with the trauma of war. At the tender age of five, he made a profound decision to one day reside in Canada, a country that represented hope and heroism in his young mind. The episode poignantly captures the transformative moment when Canadian soldiers liberated his village, an experience that indelibly shaped his aspirations and dreams. Fast-forwarding to 1965, Brink arrived in Canada with merely $25.47, devoid of English proficiency and connections, embarking on a journey that would see him evolve into a Canadian business icon. He founded John Brink Forest Products Limited, pioneering innovative practices in lumber manufacturing and ultimately becoming the largest producer of finger-jointed studs in North America. Yet, Brink's contributions extend far beyond the realm of business; he is a philanthropist, mentor, and staunch advocate for workforce development and education. His impactful legacy includes significant donations to trade training programs and support for aspiring athletes, underscoring his commitment to fostering growth in others. Through his story, Brink exemplifies the power of perseverance, gratitude, and purpose, resonating deeply with listeners and inspiring them to overcome their own challenges.

Takeaways:

• John Brink's journey from war-torn Holland to becoming a Canadian business icon exemplifies resilience and determination.
• At the age of five, John Brink made a pivotal decision to pursue his dream of living in Canada, inspired by the Canadian soldiers who liberated his village.
• Despite arriving in Canada with limited resources, John Brink built a successful lumber company and became a leader in the industry.
• John Brink's commitment to philanthropy and mentorship has significantly impacted workforce development and education in his community.
• His experiences during World War II have profoundly shaped his perspectives on life, business, and the importance of community.
• John emphasizes the value of attitude, passion, and work ethic as foundational elements for achieving success in entrepreneurship.

Today's guest is a true embodiment of resilience, vision and unwavering determination.

Born in Nazi occupied Holland during the Second World War, John Brink's earliest memories include foraging for food and surviving the trauma of war.

At just five years old, he made a life changing decision to one day live in the land of heroes.

Canada.

Fast forward to today and John Brink is a Canadian business icon with only $25.47 in his pocket, no English and no connections.

What followed is nothing short of remarkable.

John Brink Forest Products Limited.

He built it from the ground up, pioneering innovations at lumber manufacturing and becoming the largest producer of finger jointed studs in North America.

But John's impact goes far beyond just business.

He's a philanthropist, a mentor, and a fierce advocate for workforce development and education.

He's donated millions to trade training, supported hundreds of athletes and challenged industry norms to create lasting change.

He's been honored with the Order of the British Columbia, an honorary Doctorate of laws, and has left an indelible mark on Canada's forestry and forestry sector and beyond.

Get ready for an inspiring conversation about grit, gratitude and the power of purpose.

Please welcome the remarkable John Brink to the podcast.

Welcome to the podcast.

Join John.

Thanks, Keith.

Pleasure to be here.

Pleasure to be here too.

Let me ask you my favorite question, John, and that's the what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Probably the best piece of advice was two actually.

The one was, you know, when I was five years old and I met the Canadians and I started to, although I couldn't speak English, interacted with them, that gave us food and liberated us during the Second World War in northeastern Holland.

It made such an impression on me that I knew once I grew up, I would go to the land of my heroes.

The other part was that just the best advice is that I couldn't speak English.

I was not a very good communicator.

And when I was 50 years old, so still having, being successful in business but still having issues with communication skills.

Somebody suggest that I go to Toastmasters.

And I did.

I stayed there for 10 years and became a distinguished Toastmaster, which is the highest level in ToastMasters.

And those two events changed my life.

Wow, that's amazing.

Love that story.

So, John, let's talk about your journey beginning in war torn Holland.

So that means in a month and a half, I will be 85 years young.

And so I'm now living in Canada for the last 60 years.

I had $25.47 when I arrived here.

But I had the dream of going here.

The other dream was to build a lumber mill.

I did that as well.

And then his focus next was on the rest of Western Europe.

They were in love.

My dad had a job.

They rented a beautiful house very quickly.

They had a boy and a girl.

And then my dad was called into the Dutch army.

And the last time that they saw him was just before the bombing of Rotterdam.

And for five years thereafter, they wouldn't know if he lived or died.

And so for my mom, very difficult, very, very challenging.

And so the first thing that I remember, at about three, three and a half years old, the Allied forces were bombing the infrastructure of the German machinery that they manufactured for the war in the north, close to the North Sea.

Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, all those areas.

And we were in northeastern Holland.

And so, you know, doing the.

My mom would take us outside in the evenings on a flat roof behind our house because he felt safer outside than inside.

And overhead we had day and night bombers, hundreds of them, 200, 300 bombers, a sound that I will never forget, were bombing the German infrastructure.

And it's so, you know, the reason that she put us on the deck watching this.

In the distance, we saw the cities, the sky was red of the cities burning that the Allied forces bombed.

And so the reason that she took us outside, it was safer outside than inside and see.

The Germans had cut off all the food supply to us.

And a lot of venerable people, young and old ones, died during that period.

And I remember, well, being then about four years old, four and a half, that, you know, we would go, my brother, my sister, myself, every morning we would go with gunny sacks into the railroad yard, pick up anything edible and burnable.

And the reason we did, the three of us, is because the Germans wouldn't shoot us.

The Buddhas Won, and then, you know, we be back the following day.

So the next one, obviously, that I remember is the liberation.

And so they pushed their way through France.

The Canadians went north, pushed away to France, Belgium, and then the western part of Holland to the north where we lived.

And things got pretty rough at that point.

We saw Fatima that we should not have seen, dead bodies that, you know, was commonplace, more or less.

People being dragged out of their houses and the Germans blowing up all the bridges behind them to slow down the Canadian forces, in this case, to catch up with them while they made their way to Germany.

And so that part always stayed with me.

And still today, I'm affected by ptsd, still very much part of my life, the inner child issues.

I got counseling for that in my 50th.

And all of that still is part of my life even today.

So I still remember the Canadian army coming in and liberating us.

And within a stone throw from the back of our house was a schoolyard.

There were about 25 soldiers of the Canadian Army Red Cross.

And we would go there every morning, and they would give us bread, the bread with cheese and butter.

And the cheese and bread was bigger than the bread.

And they were all our friends.

We were there at daybreak, and we communicated, but we really didn't.

We couldn't speak the language, but we did.

And so it made such an impression on me that I knew from that point forward, once I grew up, I would go to the land of my heroes, Canada.

And I did.

And so, you know, and that part still is very much part of my life, even still now.

Keith.

But I do every year and have done for the last 10 years, at least 10, 12 years, I make presentations at schools and here in British Columbia, at least two or three of them, the week of the liberation, week of the November 11th, to make a presentation to the students about why two minutes of silence, why is it important?

And why do you students need to know as to why it is important and what was it like when I got through this and recognize that the importance of family, community, and to be at peace, because once there is war for all those, respectfully, that may think that once the war is over, everything goes back to normal?

It simply doesn't.

And it may not for generations, as it did with us.

My dad, he did come back after the spring, after the liberation by the Canadians.

And I always remember I didn't know the guy.

I had no idea who this guy was.

I remember he had a helmet and the helmet had a bullet hole through it that barely missed his head.

But he never talked about the war and affected him and had always stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Ptsd, alcohol became an issue to suppress the.

Those issues, you know, and.

And still very immense part of me, even still today, wow, you live through.

Some extraordinary adversity and the name of your book is Against All Odds.

Kind of tell us what that means to you personally.

This is the book Against All Odds.

What it means to me is that I was affected by all of this from an early age.

And so the other part is with me that academically I was not a success story.

I failed grade three and I failed grade seven three times.

And then they said to my parents, my parents are beautiful people.

They said, send them to the mentally challenged school.

They said, no, we're not going to do that.

And so at 12 and a half years old, they said, what we're going to do?

Because the teachers and other people, they can be very inconsiderate, you know, for people that have challenges.

And they would say, ah, John is not bright.

He will not amount to much as he grows up.

Maybe get him a labor job of some sort.

And.

And so my dad had a friend that had a furniture factory.

So at 12 and a half years old, I went to the furniture factory to become a furniture maker.

And I liked it.

And then.

But my dream still was to go to the land of my heroes, Canada.

And then to struggle with myself as to who am I?

Why am I so different from a lot of other people?

And so.

And then I still felt that I was just as smart, not smarter than others.

And so my dream was then to go to Canada, go to the west coast of Canada, because that's where all the timber is.

And I wanted to build a sawmill and start with nothing.

A suitcase, three books, two sets of clothes, very little money.

And I flew into Montreal, took the train across Canada, four days, five nights, my God, can you imagine how long?

And then I got off the train in Vancouver, went through the immigration department.

I didn't speak English, so.

But fortunately there was a German fellow, I could speak some German.

I told them what I wanted to do.

And he said, go to Prince George.

That's where I am today.

I can still virtually see from here the Graham station where I arrived.

And I had my suitcase, three books, two sets of clothes, and I counted my money at least three times.

I had exactly $25.47.

And but, but I did have lots of couldn't speak language, didn't know soul, didn't have a job attitude.

I've always been, even in adversity within my little world, I had a positive attitude.

The other one is passion.

I love whatever I do.

I give it 125% work ethic.

Even still today I'm the hardest working fellow around, even my organization.

I get up at 5:30 in the morning, I always make my bed and I always think I'm late.

And so.

And you know, but the foundation is attitude, passion, work ethic.

But will follow his success.

And so.

And that is my foundation.

And that's what I did.

And gradually built different companies.

Yeah, it's not about that, but about 10 different companies.

And then people said to me, you said, write a book about this.

All the interesting life that you have had.

And as you know, writing books is not easy.

So.

And so for about 20 years I started, stopped, started, stopped, started, stopped.

And then I knew already in my mid-70s or latest part 70, if I don't do it now, it will never happen.

So I started then writing against all odds.

It took me 80 years to live it, 20 years to think about it, two and a half years to write it.

And it's not about hurrah, hurrah, how successful John is.

It's not about that.

It's through all the ups and downs along the way.

And so that's what I did with this one.

And then the other part that had an impact on me is that When I was 57 years old, I was already here.

I came here when I was.

When I already was here for 34 years.

I went into a bookstore here and I picked up a book.

And the title of the book was Driven to Distraction.

I don't know why I picked it up.

Written by Dr. Halliwell, who's a medical doctor professor, coach, particular on the.

I don't know why I picked up the book, but I was sitting open the book, it's about ADHD and dyslexia.

And I said, oh my God, that's me.

And so if I had the book, which I have in my studio, I'm in one of the boardrooms of my company today.

But I would then show you the actual book, Driven to distraction.

And I would open the book like this and I say I wrote there in Dutch because I was ashamed of it and implied that it is a mental disorder of some sort.

And while I'm building companies and go to banks and for millions of dollars and all kinds of other things and said, by the way, I have a mental disorder.

They would say, have a nice day.

And so right here, now I finally know who I am.

And so, you know, and so I discovered that I was adhd.

And when I was 57, it took me five years before I would go to my personal document that was a friend, but also delivered our two daughters.

And he said to me, hey, John, why are you here?

I said, I think I got adhd.

And so we check it out.

And I do.

And so then the other part is, the more I read about it, the more I thought about it, the more I became to the conclusion ADHD is a superpower, or it can be if you understand it.

And so I wrote a book about that part as well, and that is this one, ADHD Unlocked.

Very popular actually.

And so that became a very, very important part of my life.

And then especially when I was diagnosed, when I was 62 years old.

And can you imagine Keith there?

You know, so I started working and became a laborer, if you wish.

And I'm proud of that today.

And Holland, when I was 12 and a half years old, old 50 years later, already being quite successful in all kinds of different businesses, but I was different.

And I never quite could understand why am I so different is that it took me 50 years until I discovered ADHD and dyslexia.

I was very good even in school on numbers, even in grade three and grade seven.

And I was a very good writer, but not a good reader.

And I'm still that way today.

And hence, you know, so.

But I felt I had to an obligation to be more vocal about those issues.

And that's what I do in presentations that I do around North America.

And, and, and I do raise the issue not solely on my podcasting.

I'm quite active as a podcaster.

As you know, I'm approaching 500 podcasts where I'm the host.

And then, you know, and I've been guesting on probably another 200 or so.

And so for me, the new media is podcasting.

And to me, it is important to have discussions about mental diversities that people have and other things that I understand about it.

And I believe I have an obligation to communicate about that and about other things.

But the most important one Likely is that to me, as they say, hey, John, how do you do all these things?

You know, you came with nothing, guns, speak language, and you write all these books and you be a speaker, and you one of the top 1% podcasters in the world.

How do you do all of this?

I say adhd.

That's how I do it.

Right.

And so what I'm saying is that I have an obligation to communicate about it.

But looking back to your initial question as to circumstances, changed my life.

And that is another part of life that I believe in.

The Canadian soldiers giving us bread and becoming our liberators.

And then the other part is that I had to prove to me is that I was just as smart, not smarter than all the others, and that I believed that there is something in our teaching.

With all due respect, the criteria that we have that do not recognize mental diversities of some description or another, where a lot of the population, maybe as high as 25 to 30%, are affected by it or benefiting by it, whatever it may be.

And.

And that I have an obligation to speak about it, write about it.

And so.

So it.

That part changed my life.

And, you know, and then the other part, obviously not being a good communicator and mean and speaking.

Going to Toastmasters was beautiful.

That somebody said, hey, John, why don't you go with me to Toastmasters?

I said, well, what is all about?

He said, it's about improving your communication skills.

I said, okay, are they going to ask me questions?

Because if they are, I'm not going.

No, no, no.

You just sit there and listen.

So I was halfway through the meeting, and then somebody said, hey, John, tell us all about it.

I said, I'll never go back here.

And I did.

I went back.

But in the first meetings, I have seen thousands and thousands of potential Toastmasters that went to meetings that had anxiety and fear for all the reasons that we know.

But I have never in all that period, seen somebody that has as much anxiety as I did for the first couple of meetings.

I could have crawled out of there on hands and knees to not go through this, but I stayed and I went through it.

And nobody will question I say it for illustration only, is that I'm a good communicator.

And so it's giving that confidence and.

And using probably adhd and dyslexia and other issues that gave me the tools and the suggestion that I make for those that are either benefiting from it, you know, that in particular that it may, as you understand it well be.

May well be a benefit rather than a liability.

And it was to me.

And so the last book that I wrote came out July 31st is this one billion dollar communication Skills.

And the key is communication skills.

The Billionaires is not about how to become a billionaire.

You know, attitude, passion, work ethic, work hard and all.

God only knows what will happen.

Right?

Including a billion dollars maybe.

But this is about communication skills.

And that any one of them that I feature six or seven of the billionaires but was the key to them still is today, communication skills.

And so that's what drove them to becoming successful.

And that is still so today.

I'm curious, John, as you think about your career, sharing your personal story and being so transparent, what's the most challenging part about that?

Because I know it's hard to kind of put yourself out there.

So what you find the most challenging about being as transparent about your life and your journey as you have been.

I love all of it because I believe I have an obligation to share that with others, to hopefully inspire them.

I love that it's not always easy for people like yourself who've been successful to tell the behind the scenes story of their journey.

Yes.

But for me it's.

I have an obligation that I'm.

That's more important than anything else.

It's not making a lot of money, not making a lot, writing a lot of books and making a lot of money.

It's not about that.

It is saying that the frequency of occurrence in terms of mental deficiencies that may be existing in different forms of fashion are only recently, relatively speaking, becoming more public.

And so I believe I have an obligation to do that.

And so.

And in the process, I use myself an example, not saying, hey, hey, John is so successful.

That's not what it is about.

It is simply saying that for 50 years I spend my time as wondering who am I?

And it took me all this time and at 62 and when I was diagnosed, ADHD was only the start of it.

From there on in, everything changed for me.

And then Toastmasters did.

But it gave me his confidence that I was not better than, but just as good as.

And then the other part about it is that in spite of it or because of it, dyslexia and ADHD has been a benefit to me in terms of I've always been very Very good at numbers.

I have an amazing memory, always had, and I'm a very, very good writer, but even now, still I'm not a good reader.

And so when I give presentations that I may use some points, but I do, most of my presentations is not because I studied it for two weeks or so, but I are very, very genuine.

And, you know, and they come relatively easy to me.

And again, for the same objective that when there is a thousand kids sitting there, and that happens many, many times, of a school all the way from the lower grades up to high school and a room and I can share with them my experience, although it's even still then, still emotional for me and, you know, with them, then in the beginning, people would say that you'll never keep them quiet.

And if I'm there, not because I'm so good, but it comes from the heart, and I share that with them, you could hear a pin drop.

I'm curious, as you think about your entrepreneurial journey, is there one major decision, one single moment that seemed to really shape your entrepreneurial journey?

Yes.

Good question, Keith.

You know, the benefit that I had likely is that right from the time that at 12 and a half years old, I worked into a furniture factory.

My dad managed a small lumber mill, not his.

And my grandfather was a master carpenter.

And I saw he died early.

And I never knew him, but I knew him through the work that he did.

A lot of the churches in northern Holland were designed by him and built by him.

The amazing work.

And so that to me, always was something that I wanted to start my own lumber mill.

That became my main dream.

And so.

And then started.

And then the other part was starting with nothing.

And so when I started, you know, I was a cleanup man, then a lumber pilot, then fairly quickly became a supervisor and then went up the ranks.

But initially you could speak the language, didn't know so didn't have a job.

And so I would walk to the mill because I had no wheels, 8km going, 8km coming back.

I always would be there 20 minutes before the start.

And I always made sure my work site, if I was a cleanup man or pile of lumber, I always made sure that whatever I left behind, I left organized and clean.

And then I knew that eventually I would be recognized.

And they did so within working at the mill, not being able to speak the language.

Within two years I was a superintendent.

And then within less than two and a half years, I was part owner of a little sawmill.

And, you know, and, and, and was managing the sawmill.

I had an Option to get the 1/3 ownership.

If I stayed for five years and of all places that was in the Yukon Territory, can you imagine that?

Yeah.

Territory is for those people watching us from around the world, is right next to Alaska.

And people said to me, what is the weather like in Holland?

I said, well, the weather in Holland, what comes to mind is the rain is colder in the winter.

And if they say, well, how about once a lake?

I said, snows in July, you don't know if it's late or early.

And I've seen 62 or 63 below zero and that's very cold.

Wow.

But I operated there for five years.

If I can operate there and be successful, which I was for five years, I can work anywhere.

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed by obstacles?

Because you've had a lot in your life still today.

Yes, you know, because, you know, and not going into the politics of things, but we all know that being an entrepreneur these days and the companies that I have four silos.

The one silo is lumber manufacturing, and that's a big challenge.

The other one is warehousing, distribution, logistics.

The other one is real estate, residential, commercial and industry.

And the fourth one is media.

And so media to me is being a presenter, doing my books, doing podcasting, and likely set up a platform as well.

So the advice that I would have is plan forward.

The other thing that I say to people, always realize that a lot of people think about entrepreneurial ship, is that what you do mainly is you plan holidays and bring money to the bank.

That's not so it takes effort and you must be committed.

And then you must be sensitive to relationships, your family, because it can be very challenging to that and it was in mine.

And so.

And so to find that balance.

But you must have the focus.

And then I come back to what I said here, but what is me attitude, passion, work ethic, and what will follow is success.

And then the other part that I was going to say, Keith, is saying that how do you find success?

Is saying that the interesting part about success, it will find you.

You just have to be able to recognize it.

And then you have to make sure that you're prepared.

But the more that you prepared in advance, get to know about it, watch podcasts like we do, read books about people that have been involved and wherever the opportunity presents itself to speak to others that are successful.

Because so many people now, you know, in the world.

And I saw a show on in North America, one of the stations is saying that 75% of the people that work in the north, in the United States, and I believe Canada would be the same, don't like the jobs.

And 70% of the 75 are looking for other jobs.

And so when I give presentations about business to high schools, colleges, universities, but I usually say to some of them, what you gonna do when you finish theater?

And a lot of them say, I don't know.

I say, it's important to think about that because you have to find your passion.

And so what I would do suggest, respectfully, is that if you want to be a truck driver, talk to truck drivers and say, should I own the truck?

Should it be long haul, short haul, blah, blah, blah.

How many trucks is there in the.

You know, blah, blah, bl.

Or you want to be a contractor, build houses, talk to contractors and say, what is involved?

How can I go about this?

How about this, how about that?

And.

Or you want to be an accountant, Talk to people that are in financial management of some sort of some fashion.

Or you want to be a doc, or you want to be, you know, an entrepreneur, for that matter.

Talk to entrepreneurs as well, people like myself.

I love to talk to people that say, I want to do this.

Can I buy you a coffee and take maybe half an hour of you and you see what I say?

If I can at all do it.

Yeah, absolutely.

I felt I had to write a book about that.

So he's saying, I wrote a book finding your passion, living the dream.

And that's what is about that.

And then saying, okay, John, you've been working now for 50 for.

You're nearly 85 years old.

You started working maybe 12 and a half.

So you've been working for 73 years.

Are you living your passion?

I am every day.

Not so things are challenging at times, but I am.

And so.

And the point is that to.

Your question is do some research, get.

Talk to people, they love to talk to you if you approach it in the right way.

And so the more informed a person, male, female or young person, whatever they are, the more informed they are, hopefully will help them getting over some of the challenges that will lay ahead of them.

I love it, John.

I love to ask my guests this question.

What do you want your legacy to be?

The legacy I want to be is that I gave back.

And.

And so growing up in Holland, you know, I was taught and I did the same here.

Always be part of the community.

Give back to the community where you can.

And then saying that he was a good person, first and foremost, he was successful.

And all of those kinds of things maybe, but first and foremost that I can look back and say he was a good person to have in our community.

I'm proud to be a Canadian and I'm proud to be in the businesses and helping others where they may have had challenges.

And that to me is the legacy more than anything.

So in season six, we have a surprise question that we pick out ahead of time for every guest.

And your surprise question to wrap up our podcast is who would you most like to sit next to on a 10 hour flight and why?

Yeah, probably Sukuman or Ian Long or Elon Elon Musk.

Is that the name of the.

Yeah, Elon Elon Musk.

Yeah, that would be interesting.

I was tempted to say Donald Trump, but he doesn't fly in commercial planes.

Right.

You'd have to fly at Air Force One.

And he's not going to invite me.

Although he could.

You could.

You never know.

Well, John, where can people connect with you and where can they find all the wonderful books you've done and learn more about what you're doing?

So our main website is John A S N Aaron Adam if you wish Brank B r I n k.com and all the information is there.

Our books are on all the major medias.

They are audible, they are ebooks, they are Amazon.

All of them, all five of them.

And I'm working on my sixth one that could come out next July.

Well, John, thanks so much for taking the time to be a guest on my podcast and sharing your remarkable story with the audience.

I really, really appreciate the time that you've given me.

It was a pleasure, Keith, and good luck to you and I enjoyed the podcast.

Blessings, my friend.

Take care.