Mark Hiddleson — holistic business strategist, podcast host of The Tao of Pizza, and creator of the Whole Person Paradigm — shares how Taoist wisdom, systems thinking, and real-world leadership can come together to create growth, balance, and fulfillment. He opens up about his journey from baseball fields and boardrooms to spiritual retreats and family life, showing how energy management, emotional intelligence, and conscious leadership can transform not just businesses, but entire lives. With a playful yet profound approach, Mark invites us to see leadership as more than strategy—it’s about living with wholeness, purpose, and connection.

Welcome to the Power

of Authority Spotlight.

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I'm your host, Michelle Prince,

founder and CEO of Performance

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Publishing Group, making a Difference.

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One story at a time, we'll be

shining the light on successful

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founders, entrepreneurs, business

owners, and leaders that are getting

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results and making a difference.

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We'll talk about how they built

their businesses are creating

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movements and leveraging the

power of authority in their.

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Own lives.

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Be sure to stick around to the

end of the show and we'll reveal

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how you can be our next guest.

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Let's get started.

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Hey everybody, and welcome to the Power

of Authority Spotlight, where we shine

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the light on business owners, leaders,

founders, people that are telling their

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story, they're building businesses, and

they're making a difference along the way.

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And our guest today is Mark Delson, who

is a holistic business strategist podcast

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host of Thet of Pizza, community builder

and spiritual explorer with a master's

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degree in holistic health education.

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He's known for bridging the

worlds of personal growth.

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And practical performance.

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Mark has spent decades integrating

tau philosophy, systems

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thinking and human development

principles in both his business.

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And personal life.

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And as the founder of a successful

material handling company, he brings a

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grounded real world approach to concepts

like energy management, emotional

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intelligence, and conscious leadership.

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In the Tower of Pizza book,

mark draws from a lifetime a.

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Of lessons on baseball fields and

boardrooms, spiritual retreats in his

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own backyard to invite readers into a

more connected, purposeful way of being.

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His signature model.

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The whole person Paradigm has helped

individuals and teams unlock their

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highest potential by realigning with core

values and embracing their whole self.

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Mark lives in Napa, California with

his wife and children surrounded by

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trees, community, and rosemary bushes.

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Sounds amazing.

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He greets on his morning walks.

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He's passionate about coaching,

storytelling, and building ecosystems

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where people and ideas thrive.

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Mark, welcome to the show.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.,

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It's a pleasure to be here.

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Thank you for having me.

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I, I wish I had some rosemary here.

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I can actually kinda smell it.

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I love rosemary bushes.

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That reminds me of my childhood actually.

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My mom always planted and grew

rosemary, and I just, I love it.

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It makes me happy.

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That smell makes me happy.

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It's, , it's a funny, , of a lot

of the people who've read the book.

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There's a story in there about.

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That was when I first

started my master's degree.

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I was taking a class in holistic nutrition

and the instructor was talking about

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making friends with plants on her daily

walk and, , picking up these Rosemary

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Riggs, and I was kind of coming, I,

I was getting my master's degree in

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holistic health instead of an MBA.

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Mm-hmm.

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So I went in there with kind of

this regimented and I'm like.

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Man, I'm paying a lot of money to have

somebody tell me about walking around the

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neighborhood, making friends with plants.

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But as she, she passed around a

little sprig of rosemary and let us

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smell it and get our senses involved.

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And, , it's like, it still gives me

chills right now to think of, like, wow.

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I'm like, this is worth

the money I'm paying.

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Because at first I'm thinking, why am I

paying all this money to talk about this?

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, But she went into all the uses.

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Rosemary's like a thousand year old.

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. Herb and it just grows everywhere.

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And in California, I

mean, they're everywhere.

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And , and it's just the

simplicity of it, right?

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It's, it's like you said, you went in

thinking it's gonna be more complicated

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or, or more structured, but that's

just life and, and, and so much of

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what your message and your passion and

everything that you're doing, you know,

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with your book and, and everything else.

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It's the simplicity of it all, , which,

which is what I love so much.

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So Mark, you and I met, gosh,

now, it's been about, how long ago

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was it when you and I first were

connected by our dear friend, Dr.

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Jeremy Weiss.

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Yeah.

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Dr.

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Jeremy.

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And a year and a half

ago, probably a year.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, because I've been telling, well, the

joke, one of my running jokes is that I've

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been saying that my book took eight years,

and I've been saying that for two years.

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So the time is kind of, it's

a elastic, , scenario, but I

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think it has been eight months.

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So don't, don't trust me on the

timing because everything seems.

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I know for six months or three months.

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Well, and I'm, so, I know it's

been more than six months.

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Right.

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Well, all I know is I'm so glad that

we were connected because you do,

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you have such a powerful message, and

I do wanna talk about you and your

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book and the Tower of Pizza and all

of that that goes along with that.

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But if you wouldn't mind, for

everybody listening, just give us

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a little background of, of what you

do, how you got started, and, and

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how you even came to the idea of

wanting to talk about pizza in a book.

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That's a, that's a lot.

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So I'll start with, , you know, my goal

when I was a, I was a really young man,

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like probably 12, 13 years old, was to

be a professional baseball player and,

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. I got really serious, probably

too serious for a 13-year-old or

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12-year-old to be, but I was just

really determined to train and I looked

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at like, there's things you can do

to get better, your body, your mind,

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and , going to workshops and retreats.

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And I was injured in my senior year.

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Like I thought, you know, I

was six foot two, 200 pounds.

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Like it was exactly the model

of what somebody wanted.

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So I'm like, I'm just

gonna automatically be pro.

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It's, , it's not that easy I found, and

I was a little naive, but I got hurt.

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And when I got hurt, I thought, , I'm

just gonna use the same principles and

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everything that I applied to training

and baseball and, and everything and

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using my mind and body in business.

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And I thought I can have a similar level

of success by using the same principles.

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And, , that led me on a

path to, , go to Sac State.

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And in those days.

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The career center was a bunch

of three ring binders, Uhhuh.

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So I spent probably a month

in the, in the career center,

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just flipping through binders.

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And one of my top reasons for

finding a, a career was how

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much money I was gonna make.

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I kind laughed.

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Didn't we all do that at,

at, at that stage of life?

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And it just so happened that the material

handling industry, there was a, an

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ad and it was, . You know, they were

making about the same as, and I had a

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little bit of background in engineering.

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I ended up getting my degree in economics,

, and I've got a lot of experience in sales.

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So I was thinking, how do I use all of

these engineering, economic sales and

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material handling just popped up as this

industry that was kind of construction.

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There were sales involved, it's

engineering, and , I just started

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doing research about that industry.

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Actually found the company.

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, I noticed by doing my homework that a lot

of people wanted to use the equipment.

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Mm.

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And it was kind of a rare thing

that you could get used equipment.

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Most people were just selling

new because it was easier.

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So I went to the Yellow Pages, which

people listening now might even

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know what Yellow Pages are, fingers

through the wall and the yellow pages.

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I found a company that does use

racking and , I went to work for them.

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, But what got me interested in the, , what

was the last part of the question?

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How I got to the, , the pizza.

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Well, and well be before we

even get to the pizza part.

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So you, you went into business, you

did, you know, the material handling

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and you've had a successful career,

, in this for, and, and, and tell us a

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little bit about what you do today.

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What is your, your core business and.

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So our core business is selling,

, rack shelving, conveyor systems,

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mezzanines carts, really what everyone

needs for a warehouse or operation

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to, , optimize their efficiency.

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Mm-hmm.

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And my specialty is in the layout design.

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And a lot of times when clients call us.

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They're looking for a certain

product, but they're really,

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they're trying to solve a problem.

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Mm-hmm.

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So, you know, a lot of times

what somebody initially calls us

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for, we'll find something that

they didn't even know, , existed.

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Like, for example, I have a, , a

large retailer that called us about

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like, probably it was in January, and

they wanted, they had seen online,

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there was like a mobile aisle system.

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There's so many things you can do

in, in shelving that it's like.

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I'm too geeked out.

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It's your Yeah, but like the back

of shoe stores, anywhere there's

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retail and space is a premium.

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They have these things where

you can just have one aisle.

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So the shell are all kind of crammed

together and then they can spread out, you

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know, either automatically or manually,

and they wanted something like that.

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But I looked at their facility and it

was like 25 feet tall, and so I said,

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well, you guys could do like a two tier.

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Part storage catwalk system, or it's

called a rack supported platform, which

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is , it's kinda like a little tree house

built outta shelving, but it has stairs.

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So instead of having the aisle mobile,

which just made it two story where

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you could climb up there and walk

around, they're really cool looking.

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We should put.

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So put a picture of one of those because

it's one of the things, , it's just one

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example of where somebody's looking for

something and we find something else, and,

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, I think the, the mobile aisle system was

like $200,000 and it was only gonna use,

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you know, you're still gonna be short

because you can get to the tall stuff.

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, So our solution was like under a

hundred thousand and it's using their.

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Full height of their building,

you're solving the main problem,

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like you're going in and seeing it.

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So that, that is a true consultant

to true strategist, you know,

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looking for, , the full opportunity.

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Okay.

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So that, that makes a lot of sense.

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And I know, , your

business special racks.com

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correct?

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Is that Yes, that's correct.

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Okay, fantastic.

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So through this process of, of

having your own business, doing

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what you do, et cetera, you decided

that you wanted to write a book.

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So tell us about this book and

where did this concept come from?

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And then I wanna dive

into the book itself.

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Yeah.

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So the book was,

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. It's really it's interest.

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It was inspired by my.

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Master's degree because like I

was saying, I, I was gonna get an

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MBA, , right around 2000, 2001.

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I was really crushing it in my career.

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I was like four years outta college

or five years and things were

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going great and then this first.com

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boom happened and the

economy really sucked.

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And, , I've always been a big proponent

of education and everything and I thought,

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man, I wanna do something that no matter

what the economy does, I can build value.

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That I'm gonna have value if

whether the economy's up or down.

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I'll be able to, so I just wanted to,

, upskill or increase my skillset and I

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was thinking MBA, but something hit me.

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It was like a, a God shot or

a moment where I just had this

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really strong voice that said.

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Don't do an NBA do something

you're passionate about.

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And I've always been passionate

about the mind body problem.

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Yeah.

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Like how do kids, your thinking affects

your performance Because, you know, when

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you're an athlete, if you go out there

and you're scared you're gonna suck.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And it can be scary.

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Yeah.

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, And I was a pitcher, so a lot of what, you

know, I always had the spotlight on me.

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So I did a lot to train myself to be

calm under pressure and, and execute.

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I thought, man, I should study

the mind, body problem and, and go

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into that because it's a passion.

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I will, it'll drive, I'll do, I would

do that in my spare time no matter what.

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So, ended up going to JFK University,

which is here in Northern California,

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just outside of San Francisco.

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And it was all these great ideas

about holistic thinking and problem

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solving and just a different way

of being, different ways of being.

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Mm-hmm.

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And it's, . That's why I still

have some of those old athlete,

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like I think athletes are great.

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I love, I've coached youth athletics.

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That's been one of my passions.

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But there's some pathologies to

what, what I call it is, , I kind of

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develop, and this, it's a product of

my environment, but it was a win at

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all cost mindset of just like, we're

gonna train, we're gonna be harder,

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we're gonna do whatever it takes.

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And, . Almost feeling

like I had to be that way.

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You know?

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Especially if the chips were down.

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Like I've gotta be this strong

athlete, whatever, buff, right?

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Fully if I have to.

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And so this was a whole new way of being.

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I'm like, wow, this is available to me.

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This is an option.

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And then just practicing with the people.

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And then an interesting thing that

happened when I told my boss, I'm gonna

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get my master's degree in holistic health.

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He was like, oh man.

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He's like, your sales

are gonna go down 40%.

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You're all this stuff.

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But what ended up happening

when I got into school, my

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sales went through the roof.

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I mean, even though the economy

was down, , I think my sales

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went up 40% in the, in the first.

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Why do you think that is?

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You know, a lot of it is the, you know,

in business it's communication and

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relationships and, and having that.

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Not a win at all.

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Cost attitude, more like a

win-win or collaboration.

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I mean, everything in my

business has been relationships.

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I mean, that's one thing I've

learned is that I thought I was gonna

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accomplish all these things, , or

be a self-made man or anything.

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Well, the self-made man is a

total, , it's not true, right?

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I mean, I just had people lifting

me up and I guess I was open to it.

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Open to, to, , you know,

getting help, getting referrals.

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Like I was always asking people

for new ideas or, or help.

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. I wanna say be more vulnerable.

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I don't even wanna say vulnerable

'cause I don't wanna be vulnerable.

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Right.

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Well, how about we say authentic?

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More authentic, real Authentic.

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Authentic.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Just being authentic is like, Hey, I don't

know this stuff, but I'm a quick learner.

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And I think I was just able to engage

with people on a, on a deeper level.

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Mm-hmm.

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, And then it meant more to me.

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I mean, everything,

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. Everything about my

life was more important.

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I valued time more, you know,

how short life is, , and the

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people and really looking at how,

you know, I've helped clients.

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In their career where they've advanced,

you know, they've had a project.

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Like a lot of times one of the

things we do is if somebody's

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closing down a facility mm-hmm.

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Or if they're moving, we'll

buy the old equipment.

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And it's, it's a really

tough business to be in.

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Mm.

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Because people wanna sell everything.

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So there's forklift chairs.

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I mean, we've had office equipment

locker, like, what are we

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gonna do with all this stuff?

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Right.

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Not throw it away.

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But I've, , you know, I had one

client that we did a project

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for him in Salt Lake City.

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And, , they kinda had

somebody drop the ball.

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We stepped in for him, got

him outta there on time.

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So really it didn't really save his

job 'cause they were closing that down.

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But he looked at it, it was like, wow,

these guys came in and helped us get outta

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here on time when we were in trouble.

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So he did another facility

in he and Kentucky.

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They brought us with, they brought us

with, and it was just those relationships.

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So somebody knows, like,

I can call this guy.

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Yeah.

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And he's got connections.

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Mm-hmm.

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That he could solve our problems.

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You know, we can solve hard problems

just because, not that I'm great

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or anything, but I've got all these

people around me, , who are amazing.

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You know, everything you're talking

about right now just reminds me

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of, , Zig Ziglar's most famous quote,

which is, you can have everything in

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life you want if you just help enough

other people get what they want.

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And, and doesn't that,

and that's the truth.

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Like when you go from, I think you said

it like from the me, it's all about

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me to more we and that collaborative.

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People we know it, we can sense,

we can sense when somebody has

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their best interest at heart

or our best interest at heart.

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And so, , I think that's a

great message, mark, because it

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is a shift in thinking, right?

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And we do, a lot of us do

come from that high achiever,

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gotta make it number one hit.

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But, but at the end of the day, it

is, , it, it's a shift in the way we

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think about ourselves and other people.

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And so I, I really love that.

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. That's really, really awesome.

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Yeah.

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Thank you.

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I had to, , I'll tell one

on myself because, you know,

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there's always the theory.

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That's one of the hard things

about writing a book too.

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And writing this book.

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It's like, these are, this is the

ideal or this is the ideal way to be.

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But being human, I still find

myself in those wind at all costs.

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Right?

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I took this class called, , I

had to, to coach lacrosse.

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I don't know anything about lacrosse,

but my son was playing lacrosse

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and they needed an assistant coach.

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And I was like, you know, I'll chase

a ball around and do crowd control,

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but you had to get a positive

Coaching Alliance certification

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and there were all these things.

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And the win at all cost was what they

compared it to, you know, as a coach.

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And, , you know, I'm like a, I'm

a no participation trophies guy.

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It's like, but at the, I was taking

this class and I was just joking.

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I go, I go, there's a Positive

Coaching Alliance class.

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I go, I'm gonna start a

win at all cost class.

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But I did it and when I learned it,

but it is, , it's something for me.

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I think, you know, now I'm in my fifties,

. Owning that win at all cost and doing it

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the right way and being collaborative.

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, It, it's, it's, I'm not gonna say it's

always gonna be a challenge 'cause I'm

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always hoping one day I'll just wake up

and be this, bear, bear luck with that.

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We're all on the same journey, right?

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And we're always evolving.

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And I really wanna dive into the

book because, , thet Pizza, I mean.

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There's so much in it.

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I mean, there's so many different ideas

and stories and metaphors and, you

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know, just so many things about that

that can be applied to really life,

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leadership, business, you know, anything.

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Right?

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And a, a, a owner of a company to a

student could really benefit from it.

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So tell us a little bit about what exactly

is the book about, , and, but first,

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before you tell us what it's about.

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What on earth, where did

you come up with the title?

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The towel of pizza or towel of pizza?

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So that's a great, that is a great

question and , I probably came up

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with it way too earlier than I should

have, but I was working on outline,

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working on writing, and it's , so

one of the things, the great Doubt.

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I don't wanna go too much into Daoism,

but the, one of the definitions of the

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doubt is it can't be put into words.

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And I was thinking all this stuff, I'm

trying to explain like the difference

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between a win at all cost or a

collaborative mindset is, , it's tough

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to put in words like the rosemary thing.

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If you just tell until you really

smell rosemary, pass it around you,

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it's, it's difficult to explain.

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And, . So the, what I was trying to

come up with is how do we, because

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the whole thing is how do we look at

things from a different perspective?

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Mm-hmm.

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And so one perspective is this

wholeness, where everything

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is connected to everything.

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And then the great da, like we're all Dao,

everything is Dao, trees, the water, the

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earth, it's really all just one thing.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then, but we separate it out.

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And so.

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The one thing is the Dao and then

the separating out is the pizza

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because you have to look at life.

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There's a pizza and so there's a

lot of, one of the, , my favorite,

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the Zig Ziglar life wheel mm-hmm.

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Mm-hmm.

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Is, , something I've always used.

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And now there's way

different ways I've done it.

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Like you could score yourself on a

one to 10 and then draw a little line.

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So you've got this thing where

your family life, your business

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life, social, spiritual.

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So I've worked a lot of that and

it kind of looks like a pizza.

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And I was like, yeah, okay.

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To divide these things out.

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I'm a father, I'm a husband,

I'm a coach in the community.

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I'm a leader in business industry.

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I'm all these different things,

but I'm really just one thing.

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Mm-hmm.

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So that's , and so the other thing

is, before I even came up with

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the name, I came up with this idea

that I want it to be something

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spiritual and something with food.

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So like the brainstorming, like

Spirit Taco got thrown out.

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Like, but that was one

of the, the options.

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And, and so there's another,

this is is an important thing.

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I'm glad you asked me.

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I just, I just thought of this.

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, So I took the, the holistic health.

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When I left, there were a lot of practices

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, But I had this personal practice that

I kept going and, and a lot of the

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principles that I was doing, , my

morning rituals, the way I look at

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things, the way I manage my energy.

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I was, when I started doing

research for the book, I'm like,

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wait a minute, these are all Daoist

principles, you know, like to be like

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water or to the yin and the yang.

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I mean the, there's , and

it's really yin and yang.

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I hate to say yang.

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'cause then it makes you sign

because everyone says yin and yang.

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Yang.

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Yeah.

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But those concepts that, you know,

, one of the things I love is a lot

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of sayings that people are really.

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, Passionate about could mean two things.

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Like, one of the things I love to say

is I don't believe in coincidences.

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Well, that could mean I think that

everything happens for a reason, or I

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don't think everything happens because,

like, I don't believe in coincidences.

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Well, there's two ways to look at that.

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Yeah.

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And they, they kind of contain each

other and there's a lot of axioms or

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things will be what people will say.

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But, but the, the reason I chose Dow,

. Everyone's glad I didn't choose Spirit

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Taco, but I chose Dao because I'd been

practicing all these things, but I

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didn't even know that it was called that.

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Yeah.

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I, and, but it all just started lining up.

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, A lot of the things I learned, learned

were based in the practice of I keto.

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Mm-hmm.

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That's really supported by,

it's a Daoist philosophy.

442

And then the, the key thing

about Aikido, it's a martial art

443

of how to fight, but the main.

444

Tenant behind Aikido is that

you protect your attacker as

445

you're defending yourself.

446

Mm-hmm.

447

So giving me chills, because I've

never heard of anything like that.

448

Yeah.

449

So funny that you're trying to fight

in a way to where you end it, but

450

you're protecting your attacker

and that's part of the philosophy.

451

So, , I love it.

452

Just the, the people, the

people I had in my life, and

453

I'm like, oh, she was a Daoist.

454

She never called it, she never

said, Hey, we're practicing Daoism.

455

But we just had these things that we

did in communication in, , meditation,

456

and it was just, there was this kind

of Daoist through line that I'm looking

457

back 20 years later and going, oh,

that was, that was Dallas, because

458

I've been a Christian since I was 18.

459

And you know, really, I

don't talk a lot about.

460

Testimony of, of faith and everything.

461

But, but that's been my

main spiritual, , practice.

462

But I've been doing it in a Daoist way.

463

I love it.

464

I love it.

465

Yeah.

466

Okay, so I'm sitting here kind of

giggling, but also embarrassed of myself.

467

I've been saying it wrong

throughout this whole podcast.

468

I've been saying, no, not do,

and I even before we started

469

this podcast, I was thinking.

470

I think it's Dow, but it's spelled

with a T, so I'm gonna say Tao.

471

So anyway, I know that now that I

have been saying that wrong, and you

472

know what, I'm owning that, right?

473

Yeah.

474

It kind of goes along with what

you're talking about though, because

475

really like with everything, you

can see things two different ways.

476

So I'm, I'm just gonna, well, I'll

give you, if I knew what I was doing.

477

Yeah.

478

One of my, , one of my favorite

lines is I'm not a huge Tim Ferriss

479

fan, but I've read all of his books.

480

Like I read, I didn't read Four Hour

Work Week, but I read Four Hour Body,

481

and I've, I've seen a lot of talks.

482

I do really like Tim.

483

, But he says Tau.

484

I mean, he's got a few things that,

he's got a, there's a podcast old

485

that he did the, , tau of Seneca.

486

It's actually really good if

you want to put it in the show.

487

It's, , because he's taking, he took

something to compare kind of, , stoicism.

488

'cause I think Seneca was a stoicism.

489

I'm not a super.

490

He was like the Tao, but

he called it the Tao.

491

And so people make that mistake and one

of my, . Inspirations is, so I'm wanna

492

make, so his name is Sola and he is very

particular about how you pronounce it.

493

He's written a lot of, , books on

Daoism and he's super, , particular

494

about how you pronounce things.

495

And I'm not, I love like yin and yang.

496

I mean, it's really yang,

but is it really young?

497

Because most people say yang.

498

Exactly.

499

, And my mom, my mom who, , she was

one of the first people to read

500

my book in, . She wouldn't leave

me a review until she finished it.

501

I remember she calls it Tao, and so

I'm not gonna correct my mom on that.

502

, Right.

503

Tomato, tomato, potato, potato.

504

Right.

505

Like, what, whatever it is.

506

But I wouldn't, I wanna respect the

fact that it is Tao and . But the

507

concepts and, and the benefit of

it, it, it doesn't matter, right?

508

It really doesn't.

509

It's more the, , just this practice of,

I think you said it, it's just being

510

right and, and, and embracing things.

511

And I, I, I thought, and I don't

wanna use the word simple because

512

there's a lot to it, but it is

also just the simplicity of it all.

513

Right?

514

And, and how it's an accessible

piece that we can be living with.

515

, Anybody can.

516

Yeah.

517

So for those of you, or for those

who haven't read the book yet,

518

, which I highly recommend getting,

and just go to dao of pizza.com

519

and that is TAO of pizza.com.

520

But what are three or four things

like, what are some of the main

521

takeaways that someone's gonna

get when they read this book?

522

Or, or anything that you wanna share

to kind of give us a little bit

523

of a, a taste of this, this pizza.

524

So I, I provided a lot of opportunities,

especially in the, in the first

525

four chapters, to look at things

from a different perspective.

526

Because I think so many,

, opportunities, there's this idea

527

of, , what we, what we know.

528

We know what we know, we don't know,

but there's this huge part of the pie.

529

There's another pizza.

530

What we don't know, we don't know.

531

Right is the vaguest slice of the pie.

532

And so anytime we can look at

things from a different perspective,

533

like I think I have, , the

first four chapters are lenses.

534

'cause I think I love the

word lens of a good looks.

535

So I have a spiritual lens.

536

Emotional lens, a mental lens.

537

'cause these are all different ways that

are gifts that we can bring our gifts to

538

light or see things, , in a certain way.

539

And then the, the fourth chapter

is the action lens, which really.

540

, I didn't put this quote in my

book because I think it's overused

541

and underdelivered, but be, you

know, Gandhi, the be the change.

542

Mm-hmm.

543

You wanna see?

544

Mm-hmm.

545

Oh yeah.

546

And so I tried to create something

that could help people generate that

547

result in their life of just being,

what I like to say is being a resource.

548

I wanna be a resource to where I'm not

trying to do something or I just am.

549

I am.

550

The decision to, to be

compassionate and look for win-win.

551

Like I just, I am, it's kind a weird way

to use language, but if you are something

552

people could just tell, you know what?

553

I even need to say something.

554

They don't, they might not get it.

555

, But, you know, be a place, be a space

where I'm not always giving advice.

556

If somebody comes to me with a

problem, I wanna be someone who could

557

just listen and not say anything.

558

I mean, sometimes that's

the hardest action.

559

Of all is just to listen and be present.

560

And then there's some conversations

that are really difficult.

561

It's tough to stay present in

conversations where it gets, and

562

that's another reason that of

there's more success in business

563

is that a lot of times things have

to get uncomfortable to get going.

564

Sure.

565

And so if you can be comfortable

in those spaces and, , develop

566

yourself in a holistic way.

567

I mean, that was my other thing.

568

, Other than the lenses, I

think we all have gifts.

569

That we can develop, , self-awareness

is, is really the one that is

570

the, the key to all of 'em.

571

, I told you between whether sense of

humor should be first or second, but

572

probably the, , the sensation of your

six senses is what I call something.

573

Mm-hmm.

574

But just like what it feels like.

575

Yeah, which is hard to describe,

but that's a gift if, if you have a

576

gut feeling or something makes you

uncomfortable or something makes

577

you feel great, doing something

like, wow, why am I so into this?

578

But just to be in tune with that.

579

, The other is a sense of humor

because anytime you try to

580

go deeper is kind of funny.

581

And like the book, it is meant to be a lot

of fun because again, I'm not an expert.

582

One of the reasons I feel.

583

If I can write a book is I've messed

this stuff up more than anyone.

584

, And especially now, even now that it's

published, , that the things I'm up

585

against are it, it's kind of a new level.

586

Mm-hmm.

587

Right.

588

And, but it's like, I asked for this, I

asked for more business opportunities.

589

I asked for more territory.

590

So, well, this is what that looks like.

591

And so how do you have peace

with that and, and be with it?

592

. So you gotta have a sense of

humor and then imagination.

593

I mean, imagination is so huge.

594

If we can find ways, like the way you

creatively solve problems and get together

595

and collaborate is using your imagination.

596

So, so that's another gift.

597

, An inner voice, which is something I've

just talked a little bit about, but

598

I think I've read, especially being a

writer, the inner critic comes up Oh yeah.

599

Like at the state.

600

Imposter, I'm not good enough.

601

Or, I mean, well, that's a social script.

602

That's not you.

603

Mm-hmm.

604

And so your inner voice is something,

you know, that's a gift that you have.

605

And so that's in the book of, of

how do you develop that inner voice.

606

So, you know, like, okay, this is me.

607

This is coming from a place like the voice

that told me to, to study holistic health

608

instead of getting an MBA, , you know,

maybe my net worth is half of what it

609

should be or what it would be as an MBA.

610

But who knows?

611

Maybe it's more or less, but

definitely my peace level yes.

612

Is higher.

613

And then, , the last one

is choice and, and choice.

614

I put last, , just because

choice happens in all those other

615

containers, choice happens in

the container of self-awareness.

616

Yeah.

617

What you feel like physically and like

some choices are just knee jerk reactions.

618

Like, oh, I'm scared.

619

I guess I'm going back to win it all.

620

Cost mode.

621

Yeah.

622

But to have the inner voice and

all those other things, then you

623

actually are making a choice.

624

And so it makes your choice more powerful.

625

So, so those are the, the, the six gifts.

626

. And so four different lenses, six

gifts, and then just the stories of

627

how that's played it out in my life.

628

The amazing solutions I've seen that

wouldn't have happened on their own

629

if it wasn't for these amazing people

who surrounded me, uplifted me.

630

That that was the other big

thing about the book is like,

631

Hey, I didn't do this on my own.

632

So I wanted to highlight some of the

people and organizations that that

633

really lifted my life up in ways I had

no idea and I had no idea at the time.

634

And it's humbling.

635

. And so that's kinda what the

last part of the book is about,

636

is just who are these people?

637

What are these stories?

638

You know, what were these changes

in perspective that, , I'm

639

just really grateful mm-hmm.

640

That I'm not the, , 18-year-old

win at all cost.

641

Right.

642

We're working in progress.

643

Right.

644

Yeah.

645

Moments of that.

646

Well, I, I just, I really do.

647

I'm, first of all, I'm so excited

for you and I think this, this,

648

the, the book has so much For those

of you listening, highly, highly

649

recommend you get it right away.

650

It's an easy read, but it's this

recipe, you know, and I know we're

651

playing off of the whole pizza analogy.

652

Grab a slice.

653

But, but really it is, it's a

recipe for better living, more

654

peaceful living, , you know, really

tuning into your gifts and your.

655

, Getting, you said the word in

tune a few times, intuition in

656

tune, like, like really just

getting in tune to who you are.

657

And, , so anyway, there's so many great

stories in there, so I'm excited for you.

658

Is there one last thing before we wrap up.

659

Is there anything, one last piece

of advice for people living or

660

people living, people listening.

661

Hopefully you're living too,

, living with a great purpose.

662

, But no, give us something to one

last piece or a nugget, something

663

that we can go take this into our,

the rest of our day this week.

664

Something that we can apply to our

life as it relates to the Dao of pizza.

665

So the thing that's just coming

up for me is, . Is my dad.

666

And, and I did put this in the, but

one of the things my dad told me, , a

667

few years before he passed away is that

the, , the purpose of life is to find

668

your gifts and the meaning of life is to

use those gifts to serve other people.

669

And I think this book is, is an invitation

and, . For people to engage with that.

670

And, and it's, , it's something

that's resonated with a lot of people.

671

I've had a lot of people call me and say,

Hey, I've thought about simple, you know,

672

something similar to this, that like our

real purpose and meaning is just to find

673

ways to use what we're good at and help

some other community or business or crowd.

674

And I think, , I mean I think that

philosophy or that approach, , can

675

bring a lot of healing to, to.

676

Business, personal, family, community,

, then that's really the, the message.

677

Yeah, that is.

678

So, and I think you can have some fun

with it, with my book too, because

679

I could try to inject a, a certain

amount of humor to make it fun.

680

Oh, it's so good.

681

Well, mark, thank you so

much for being on the show.

682

I cannot wait to see all the great

things that are gonna continue

683

to happen with the book with you.

684

, So thank you.

685

Thank you so much for being on the show.

686

Thank you.

687

The pleasure is all mine.

688

, I've only done a few of these

and, , you asked some great questions.

689

I, I appreciate, , I appreciate

your interest, your support

690

and, , this, this has been a great.

691

Great time.

692

Thank you.

693

You are so welcome.

694

All right everyone.

695

That is it for the Power

of Authority Spotlight.

696

But before we go, just a couple things.

697

Something Mark said that just really

resonated with me, and I, I want you

698

to take this with you as you go too.

699

And, and that's the whole point

of being, and I, I was thinking as

700

he was talking, you know, we are.

701

Human beings.

702

We are not human doings.

703

We are not human.

704

You know, planners, we are human beings.

705

And so just that, that reminder that

just be, we are created exactly the

706

way we're supposed to be and to, you

know, fully embrace who you are, your

707

gifts, your talents, overcoming that.

708

Imposter syndrome, which we all have.

709

But , I just really, really love it.

710

I highly recommend, , getting in

touch with Mark reading his book.

711

, Definitely find him on

LinkedIn, mark Fidelson.

712

, And then the book of

course is tao of pizza.com,

713

t ao , of pizza.com.

714

So that's it for the show.

715

We'll see you next time on the

Power of Authority Spotlight.

716

Bye everyone.

717

Thanks so much for listening to

the Power of Authority Spotlight.

718

If you are a successful founder,

entrepreneur, business owner, or

719

leader that's getting results and

making a difference, and you'd like

720

to be on this program, please visit

performance publishing group.com/podcast

721

to apply.

722

That's performance

publishing group.com/podcast.

723

Also, if you got something out of this.

724

Interview, please share this episode.

725

Just do a quick screenshot with

your phone and text it to a

726

friend or post it on the socials.

727

If you know someone that would be a great

guest, tag them on social media to let

728

them know about the show and include the

hashtag, the Power of Authority Spotlight.

729

I love seeing your posts

and guest suggestions.

730

We are regularly putting out new

episodes and content, so make

731

sure you don't miss any episodes

by subscribing your thumbs up.

732

Ratings and reviews go a long

way to help promote the show.

733

And mean a lot to me and my team.

734

Wanna know more?

735

Go to our websites performance

publishing group.com

736

or michelle prince.com

737

and follow me on LinkedIn,

Facebook, and Instagram.

738

Thanks so much for listening,

and we'll see you next time.