Sam Horn is on a mission to help people create quality communications that add value for all involved. Are you ready to join her and embrace positive change?

In the second part of a dynamic two-part interview on Logistics with Purpose, hosts Enrique Alvarez and Kristi Porter are joined by the captivating Sam Horn- a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and leadership coach.

Listen in as Sam shares her personal journey that underscores the importance of genuine experiences and connections, both personally and professionally, the power of storytelling, and how it can enhance communication, pitch ideas effectively, and even serve as a valuable tool in marketing products and services, and also a cautionary note on the use of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the need for balance to avoid losing the essence of human identity and creativity in the face of technological advancement.

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Learn more about Logistics with Purpose: https://supplychainnow.com/program/logistics-with-purpose

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Subscribe to Logistics with Purpose: https://logistics-with-purpose.captivate.fm/listen

This episode was hosted by Enrique Alvarez and Kristi Porter. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/revolutionizing-communication-unleashing-power-purpose-lwp99

Welcome to Logistics with Purpose presented by Vector Global Logistics in partnership with Supply Chain.

Now we spotlight and celebrate organizations who are dedicated to creating a positive impact.

Join us for this behind the scenes glimpse of the origin stories, change, making progress and future plans of organizations who are actively making a difference.

Our goal isn't just to entertain you, but to inspire you to go out and change the world.

And now, here's today's episode of Logistics with Purpose.

Well, you, you know what's coming.

A story.

Right.

We love, we love stories and you have been the easiest interview we've ever had, by the way, so thank you so much.

You bet.

Well, and they're real.

See their stories and they're, they're specifically, they're anecdotes.

You know, an anecdote is a real life example.

So it's not, it was a dark and stormy night story that's kind of made up or I got from the Internet.

No, these are all true real life examples that have dialogue, you know, that we can put people in the scene.

I can relive it and reenact it, not just tell it.

So I'll put you in the scene.

It was eight years ago.

I just finished a very intensive consult in Southern California and my son calls right in the middle of it.

And he sensed something in my voice and he said, what's up, Mom?

I said, andrew, I'm so exhausted.

I don't even know how I'm going to get on that plane tonight.

I've got to turn in my rental car, fly back to D.C. two days from now, I've got to fly back to San Francisco.

I don't know how I'm going to do it.

And he thought about it for a moment and he said, you know, mom, there's something about you I don't understand.

You're an entrepreneur, you have your own business, you can do anything you want to and you're not taking advantage of it.

Out of the mouths of 20 somethings.

And Brene Brown says exhaustion is not a status symbol.

And it really helped me look at my life.

And the day after that call, I saw a quote from Paulo Coelho and he said, one day we're going to wake up and there won't be any time left to do the things we've always wanted to do.

And I realized I love my life.

I love speaking and consulting and writing.

You know, I love working with smart, talented people.

The fact is, is that I'd been saying Y to everyone for a long time.

You know, when you're an Entrepreneur and someone wants to pay you to jump on a plane and go to some five star resort and speak, you know, you say yes, right?

And as a result, I was exhausted and I was on an aircraft carrier.

And I knew a Navy captain one time and he said, you know how you turn an aircraft carrier?

You don't.

You can turn off the engines and that thing will keep plowing ahead for 10 miles just based, just based on the momentum.

And see, I think many of us are on aircraft carrier careers that we keep doing what we've been doing.

It's what we are educated for, it's what we're good at, it's what we're getting paid for.

And see, even if we love it, even if we're making a difference, it's still an aircraft carrier.

And I realized I wanted to fly off the carrier for a while.

So I gave away 95% of what I owned and I headed out on a year by the water and I swam with Zach the dolphin and I sailed the Chesapeake Bay and I went to Monet's Garden and I interviewed people and I asked him, are you happy?

And if so, why?

And if not, why not?

And the vast majority of people said, I want to do what you're doing.

And I would say, well, why aren't you?

And they would give me.

I've got kids, you know, to raise, I've got a business to run, I've got, I'm, you know, mortgage to pay, etc.

And I started realizing that, that we assume an automatic tomorrow.

We think that we'll be able to take that vacation, we'll be able to do that when we have more time.

And the Buddha said, the thing is, we think we have more time.

And the reality is, Rene Ricard said, tomorrow is another day, but so was yesterday.

And so that book Someday is not a day in the Week, hopefully helps us crystallize who and what is really important in our life and to make time for them now, not someday.

I love that.

Fascinating.

So you took a year to do this.

What were, what was one of your.

It sounds like you had a bunch of amazing experiences.

What was one that really stood out to you?

Well, you were right.

It's that one of the things I could not predict it is that people say, so what's your favorite place?

And it really wasn't about the places.

They were great.

It was about the epiphanies.

For example, everyone I met had one of these three questions.

The most frequently asked question is, don't you ever get lonely?

And the answer was no, because.

And if you would like, I'll tell a little story about that in a moment.

See, I think all the stories you want to give us.

Okay.

Okay, so let's remember the three questions, and then I have a story for each of them.

Sound good?

Okay.

So the first question is, don't you ever get lonely?

The second most frequently asked question is, how did you get to be so brave?

And I never once thought of this as brave.

And number three is, when are you going to settle down?

And I thought, well, let's see.

Settle is compromised, down is depressed.

Why would I do that?

So I actually did do it for one year.

I. the end of it, I thought, I'm re upping.

And I did it for five years instead of one.

So shall we go back to the first question?

Yes.

Okay.

Don't you ever get lonely?

I crisscrossed the country three times, and I was going to drive.

I was visiting one of my sons in Houston, and I was going to go back to California, And I promised myself I was never going to take Route 10 or go through El Paso again.

So I would just drive.

And when I got to an intersection, I would just go west, whatever that was.

As a result, I'm in Texas hill country.

And, you know, most people think of Texas as flat and dry and barren.

However, this was spring, and this was hill country.

And, you know, everything I was seeing was new.

I never.

These were the back roads, the blue highways, right?

So everything I was seeing was just a delight to the senses because I didn't know what was around the next corner.

And I came over this rise, and it was golden hour.

And spread out in front of me, and all sides of me were golden fields as far as I could see.

And I pulled over and I turned off my van, and I was under this solitary tree, and the only thing I could hear was just this gentle breeze through the leaves of the tree.

And in that moment, it was one of the most memorable, complete moments I've ever experienced in my life.

I was so deeply immersed in it and appreciative of it and centered in it and grateful for it.

And later that day, I stopped at a steakhouse.

Texas steakhouse, right?

And so the waiter, hotel staff and waiters often will say, where you from?

Right.

Well, I would always say while I'm on the road, it would almost always lead to an interesting conversation.

And so he said, well, tell me about your experiences.

And I told him about what had happened earlier that day.

And he got this concerned look on his face.

And I could tell he was kind of troubled.

And he said, he said, you, you did that by yourself?

I said, yeah.

He said, wasn't it kind of empty?

See, he said, I could never do that.

You know, I mean, if you can't share an experience with someone, it's kind of empty, right?

And I, I just feel the opposite.

It's like, I think if we marry Oliver, our world, she said, pay attention, be astonished, tell about it.

You know, that moment wasn't empty, it was complete.

Because I think we can connect with a moment.

We can connect with a golden field.

We can connect with the breeze and the trees.

We can connect with podcast and ideas.

And if we reframe, that connection is with all kinds of things, not just people.

In a way, we're never really lonely.

That is very powerful and.

Yeah, very powerful.

And especially in nature, at least for me, that's kind of where I see God in nature.

That's my connection besides human beings, I guess.

And see, go.

Go deeper there for a moment.

See, I know if I write and read and if I pay attention and if I'm in nature, to describe that as empty, oh my gosh, you know, it's energizing.

It's like, it's the stuff of life, right?

It's engaged.

Engaged with your surroundings, engaged with this stream trail, engaged with the, the open road, you know, engaged with the freedom and the autonomy.

Engaged with.

So, so tell me, where do you go in nature to get that connection?

I was going to ask you that question.

I'll respond your question first, but for me, it's the ocean.

Right?

I had that question for you because I know that you were raised in a ranch and then you also mentioned Maui and your children and surfing is for you, surf is, Is the ocean, mountains, both.

What's for you?

Better.

They're all different forms of better.

Right, right, right.

No, but that's.

You can't.

You can do that.

You can.

You got a big one.

I, I am a water person.

You know, I, When I lived in Maui, I used to do the waik, rough water swim.

I was a competitive swimmer and a coach, etc, so to me, the, the many forms, the, the dynamics of water, that it can be calm and tranquil, it can be powerful, you know, when we're in the water, our complete freedom of movement in water, you know, is.

Is just central to who I am.

And at the same time, trees and meadows and blue bells and all of this, if we're paying attention, it is all, you know, a friend I have a friend named DeWitt Jones, who at one time was the one of the top five speakers in the world.

He's a former National Geographic photographer, and he uses his images as metaphors for life's lessons.

And he has a saying that the banquet is set, yet no one comes.

And if we're in nature, well, we.

Don't want too many people coming to nature anymore.

So I'm fine with that.

Don't come.

It's not that.

That good.

Don't worry about it.

No, it's.

It's beautiful.

And that's kind of where I get my connection.

What about you, Christy?

I don't think I've ever asked you this question, and you and I have shared a lot.

I agree with Sam.

Sort of different places, different themes.

I would say, though, if I had to pick, like, my ultimate is extremely starry sky in the mountains.

Well, thank you, Bode, for sharing.

And then back to the second question.

If I'm not mistaken, Brave.

Brave was the second question.

Yeah, you're right, it is.

I was sailing the Chesapeake Bay.

And so the story is this was on Mother's Day.

So I came downstairs and I asked the hotel concierge, I said, what do you suggest?

And he said, well, do you like to shop?

That's not my priority, you know, do you like seafood?

Yeah, it's okay, but.

But he finally said, you know, well, what do you like?

I said, I like being outdoors.

And he said, well, then you've got to sail with Captain Jen.

And Captain Jen has her own charter, a sailboat that operate out of Annapolis in Maryland.

And so an hour later, I was down there and, you know, I just come alive on a sailboat, you know, and she noticed how engaged I was.

So she asked if I want to take the helm, do I want to take the helm or, you know, so point, because, you know, talk about alive and the constant calculations.

Right there's the buoy, but you've got to, like, you know, trim the sails.

You've got to make sure you're on point, not too far over, not slack, etc.

And so we had this wonderful conversation, and she was very curious about my year by the water.

And I was very curious about how she had started this charter sailboat business.

And she said when she was growing up, her parents were music teachers, and every summer they had the summer off, their teachers, they would charter a boat and they would take it down or up the East Coast.

And she said that when they would come into a town, they would give her $5 and put her in A little dinghy to go into town to get some ice cream.

And she said, when I grew up, I realized that was more about them getting privacy than it was about me.

That is funny, you know, but once again, when she went, they didn't think, oh, my goodness, she's only 12 years old.

You know, stranger danger.

What if someone, you know, what if something happens in the boat?

No, they just had confidence in her that she, she was 12, she would figure it out.

And then I told her my growing up on horses story.

And, you know, you're an entre.

You're both entrepreneurs.

I think this is the heart of being an entrepreneur is our assumption that no matter what else happens, we can figure it out.

And that's why I never saw this as brave.

I thought, it's an open road, you know, it's freedom.

I have autonomy.

I get to go exactly where I want, stay as.

As I want, meet who I want.

And, you know, I'm never lonely because a good friend is a smile and a question away.

And we get to connect.

So I never once saw it as courageous or brave.

I saw it as fun.

I love the good Princess Mile in A question away.

That's.

I'm writing it down.

That's why it took me a second there, but go ahead, Christy.

I think you, you have plenty of follow ups and we still have one question.

Yeah, I want to.

Amazing.

I want to hear the third story in question.

Yeah, it.

Well, the third story, once again, is when are you going to settle down?

Oh, yeah.

And oh boy, it is.

It's a default, isn't it?

Is that many people think, oh, you're a nomad, right?

Oh, you're homeless, you know, oh, you're a vagabond.

All of the terminology associated with people do is that in a way this is an aberration, right.

You do it for a while, but then the rubber band returns.

Right.

And I think that home is wherever I am and wherever I am that I'm connected.

So.

See, I didn't see it as being a nomad, as not having a home.

I was at home in that golden field, right?

I was at home with Jen on her boat, you know, the, the wind.

Wind would.

Yeah.

What is, what is like a clarinet called in an orchestra?

Is that a woodwind?

Woodwind, yeah.

Okay.

That was the name of her boat, you know, so music teacher, boat, Woodwood, you know, wooden sailboat.

Etc.

So people, when people would ask that I would give the old settlers compromise down is depressed.

Why would I do that?

However, five years into this.

Within one week, both my sons called and said that they.

Their wives were pregnant.

And I realized, you know what?

It's that Bilbo Baggins said, I am quite ready for a new adventure.

And I realized I didn't want to settle down.

I wanted a new adventure.

And the new adventure was being with my sons and their wives and their new babies and being a grandmother.

So, you know, isn't that a lovely switch in terminology?

We don't quit something.

We don't settle down when we don't end it.

No, we keep our antenna up for what also would light us up, what also would give us this ikigai, some reason to wake up in the morning, some purpose that would energize us.

And then we shift to that.

And that's what I did.

I love it.

You're my spirit animal.

I told you, I told you were going to like her.

And congratulations for your grandkids.

How old are they now?

How long ago was this?

Let's see, they're four and six.

And six.

Oh, wow.

That's a fun h. You know what?

We just got back from.

We'd mentioned how did we spend our Thanksgiving weekend?

And so we're exploring the sequoia trees together and, and the beaches together and.

And I. I haven't shared this with anyone.

I'll share it with you and our audience.

It was so clear to me, and this is one of the reasons I'm a writer, is because if we just experience something, ideas and experiences in our head help no one, right?

Writing is a way to riff off our world.

Just like a jazz musician will riff off chords and make new music.

If I experience something that is incredibly rewarding or insightful or enjoyable, I just can't wait to write about it.

Because then other people get to vicariously experience and come up with their own epiphanies.

So we.

The last night of our trip, we were going around and playing the best game, best meal, best memory, best laugh, etc, best new place, etc.

And.

And what we talked about is I taught them something that my sister and I came up with years ago.

Growing up, you know, sometimes you're tempted when you're a kid to fib, right?

And you would not tell the truth.

And as a sister, we knew we needed a code word to help hold us accountable for telling the truth, so we didn't have to worry if they were like, exaggerating or dodging something.

So we came up with a code word and it's nj.

And NJ is no joke.

And.

And my sister And I have been using that for decades now, because if we want each other to know this is.

You can take this to the bank.

Trust it.

You don't have to second guess it.

I taught it to my sons, and a week ago, I taught it to Mateo and Natalia.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

Really appreciate it.

Yeah.

You have 10 bestselling books, and now I'm wondering if one of them is on memorization, because I'm amazed at your ability to recall quotes and things.

You have an incredible ability to do that.

So I'm curious if one of the books, if it was a bigger challenge for you.

Sounds like every one of them has been a learning experience and come from real life situations.

But was one a bigger challenge to write, either because of the process involved or because of the topic that you were like, I got to put my money where my mouth is with this one, or something like that?

I'm.

I'm so glad you're asking this question, because I really thought about it and I have a really clear answer.

And it was my latest book, which is talking on eggshells.

And the reason is I wrote it during COVID And, you know, it's like, I am going to write about why not to.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

You know, I'm going to write about why not to write in isolation, is that I think our life is our lab and tong fu and take the bully by the horns and concentrate and pop and got your attention.

And what's holding you back?

I was speaking on all of those, which meant not only was I conversant in the ideas, I'd had a chance to crowdsource them.

So people would push back.

Well, yeah, that.

You with their.

Yeah, buts.

Yeah, well, that works with all, but it won't work in this.

Yeah, I tried that, but you know, it.

And so I was able to not only hone the content with real life feedback, I had all these real life examples.

Well, what do you say when your boss does this?

What do you do when a customer says this?

And so the content is original and alive because it's real world.

Right.

Well, I'm writing, talking on eggshells, and I'm not giving seminars at that point.

I'm not, you know, connecting with people.

And it did not have the real life examples.

And.

And as a result, I would look at my work and it would not ring or sing because it did not feel alive because it was neck up.

Right.

It was ideas and to do's listicle of etc.

So thank heaven for zoom because I started calling people and saying okay, put me in the scene of a challenging situation.

Well our folks aren't getting together for Thanksgiving anymore because so and so has a different political opinion, you know and well I'm on the front and people complain all the time and it's not my fault what can so your your question was what was the most challenging book and at first that was the most challenging book and I what I learned from it is is that don't isolate when you write crowdsource it ask people what's working, what's not working, what they would love to see a situation they don't know how to handle a relationship that that went south and what they wish they could do differently so that it's.

It leads with these real life examples and anecdotes and then we unpack it instead of just neck up techniques and to dos.

Makes a lot of sense.

Well and every.

Every chapter because I'm reading it as everyone can tell has a really good anecdote or a good example or a good life story before starting the chapter which is amazing and talking a little bit about this particular books chapter 20 feel unseen, unheard of or unappreciated.

You talk a lot about like the importance and think you even mentioned responsibility 1/2 for people to remember their names.

Could you tell us a little bit more about that and why is that so important not only to you but to all of us.

We should all care a little bit about this and I was somewhat interested after reading the book, you know.

Thank you.

And so two examples.

I get to tell a story, I've told an Andrew story get to tell Tom's story and then I get to tell a corporate story or an association story.

So Tom, two weeks before Tom graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in aerospace engineering, physics, math and astronomy.

He saw.

I know.

Yeah, I didn't help him with some.

For the rest of us.

Yeah.

So he saw an announcement from NASA on the Virginia Tech job board.

So he filled out the application and he sent it to me and I said tom, it's brilliant.

You just left off one thing.

And he said what?

I said tom, you forgot to mention that you and your team won the international competition to put a manned mission on Mars.

Guess what?

Tom said but mom, that would be bragging.

And so I said tom, put yourself in the shoes of your decision makers.

They're going to see a lot of 4.0 GPAs.

They're going to see a lot of four major people.

You're going to get lost in the crowd unless you can introduce something they have not seen before that gives you a leg up on the competition where you're one of a kind or first of your kind instead of one of many.

It's not bragging if you've done it and if it's relevant to them and gives them a reason to interview you because this will contribute to what they care about.

So guess what, you know, not only did he get the interview, he got the job.

He married the astronaut scheduler.

He has two little astronauts.

But, and it goes back to your question is that, see, they would not have known his name if he had just done a listicle thing.

And I had a chance to see Elon Musk at the National Press Club.

And I had asked Tom, I said, tom, if I have a chance to ask Elon Musk a question, what do you recommend?

He said, mom, my job's safe because I'm with the iss.

But all the people with the space shuttle were laid off.

They're all applying to SpaceX.

Ask him what they can do to get an interview and to land a job.

And he gave one of the most brilliant answers I've ever heard.

One sentence.

You ready?

Don't tell me about the positions you've held, tell me about the problems you've solved.

Right.

So in a way Tom was thinking, all right, what do, what's a problem that NASA has?

Well, they're looking for self starters or looking for visionaries who actually have experience, you know, on manned missions to Mars, etc.

So see him volunteering that.

Help them know his name, help them know a characteristic, a credential he had that they hadn't seen before that got his foot in their door.

And now do we have time for a corporate example of that as well?

Of course I was one of my, the great joys of my life is speaking at conventions for corporations.

And so intel brought me in to their Silicon Valley headquarters.

So I had done my homework, I had interviewed some of their executives and I said, okay, tell me the truth.

What do you think people are doing that is causing them to hit their head on their career ceiling?

And he didn't even have to think about it.

He said, you know, we were opening up an office in Paris and he said, I have a member on my team who is a French foreign exchange student.

She speaks fluent French and she's still in touch with her host family.

Said I thought she would be perfect.

We're sitting in the meeting, and we're talking about who we're going to have as our.

Our inaugural team over there.

And I threw Carol's hat in the ring, and everyone kind of looked at me and said, who?

And he said, you know Carol, she's the who.

And finally someone said, oh, yeah, I think she's in some of my meetings.

But she never says anything.

And he said, she didn't get the job.

And it wasn't because she wouldn't have been great at it.

It was because no one had seen her inaction.

No one had witnessed her leadership.

They couldn't trust her with the position because they didn't have evidence of her leadership.

I said, did you talk to her about it?

And he said, yeah, I called her in the office and I said, why aren't you speaking up in meetings?

And she said, I tried.

She said, it's just everyone talks over each other.

They're all jockeying for position.

I have an idea.

No one says anything.

Five minutes later, Bob says the same thing.

Great idea, Bob.

She said, I just gave up.

And he said, don't you understand that if you're not contributing anything at meetings, people conclude you don't have anything to contribute?

So part of, like, I am one of LinkedIn's top voices on personal branding, and that is in your organization or in your industry, if they say, oh, Christy, you know what, Christy can be trusted to blank, what do they say?

Because if they say, who's Christy?

You know, or, you know, Christy, she can always be counted on for her really gracious and efficient customer service.

You know, Christy, she always asks great questions that advance the conversation.

You know, Christy is like, she's always proactive.

It's like, you know, she doesn't complain about something, she just immediately focuses on what we can do about it.

That's our brand.

And that's when people not only know our name, they know our name and what we're bringing to the table and where we're adding value.

And that's when we're up for promotion or position or project that people choose us because they have evidence of us in action in a way that they can trust that we're going to deliver the results they want.

Very, very practical stuff, right?

It's one of the things that I really like after reading your book, you have, like, very practical advice, advice about how to change your life to improve it.

And I think that's something that somewhat with the very little that I know, you just is part of you.

I mean, you're trying to help People.

And I believe that it's genuine and it's honest and you're caring for others.

And you actually started a class to teach people how to write a book.

And I feel, I believe that 81% of Americans want to write a book at some point in their lives.

So my question is, why do you think so many people want to write a book?

And what have you personally learned, not only from teaching people to write a book, but by writing 10 books?

Well, thank you.

Because I'm a writer at heart.

I absolutely love speaking, and I love coaching and consulting.

And the core of it is writing, and it is Mary Oliver ing my world.

And so why do I think a lot of people want to write a book?

I think it's about legacy.

I think that along the way, we accumulate EEE experience, expertise, and epiphanies.

And once again, it doesn't do any good sitting up here.

You know, in your profession, you know, I know you have seasoned people been doing this for five years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years.

That's a lot of wisdom, right?

Yeah.

Why do we want to write?

It's our give back.

It's like, I'm not going to keep this to myself.

I'm going to tell you how to deal with that problem.

I'm going to tell you how to create a team that's loyal and.

And energized.

I'm going to tell you what to do when things go wrong and how to.

So it is our commitment, I think, to adding value.

You know, Pablo Picasso said, the purpose of life is to find your gifts.

The meaning is to give them away.

And I think writing is a way to give away our gifts.

And you had all.

The second part of this question is, if 87% of people want to write a book, why aren't they writing a book?

And now I get to tell the Janna Wolf story.

You know, as you had mentioned, I helped start and run the Maui writers conference for 17 years.

Now.

I was the emcee as well as the executive director.

So in the morning, I would get up early and I would go out on the beach and I would get all my intros for the straight for the day in my head so that I could be handling emergencies and doing the logistics and then get up on stage in front of a thousand people and hopefully give an original intro that was a gift to the presenter and that people hadn't heard before and it wasn't in the brochure.

So that first day, here's a woman crying on the beach and I went over, I said, are you okay?

And she looked at me, and you know what?

She said, I don't belong here.

I said, you don't belong here?

She said, who am I to write a book?

She said, it's like you're putting yourself up on a pedestal.

I'm perfect.

I know you don't.

It almost seems arrogant.

And she said, I'm not arrogant.

She said, says, I don't know if I can do this.

I said, well, what do you want to write about?

Well, she and her husband had adopted a child, and it was really challenging.

And she said, I went to the bookstore, I went to the library to try and find some books to help.

They were all these Pollyanna books about what a.

What a joy, what a blessing it was to be an adoptive parent.

They made me feel worse.

She said, I want to write the book I need.

I can't find.

She said, what's an example of what you want to write about?

And she said, I want to write about the time Ari was three and I fixed spaghetti for dinner, and he reaches across the table and he grabs a handful of spaghetti and he throws it in my face.

And my first thought was, my son would never have done that.

And the shame that I felt that that thought had even occurred to me.

And I said, what else?

She said, I want to write that.

When it's time to send pictures of Ari to his birth mother, I edit out the cute ones, because as challenging as he is, I live in daily fear that she's going to change her mind and want him back.

And I said, jana, the question is not, has it been done before?

Do I have an MFA or PhD?

Am I perfect?

I said, you know what the question is with someone reading my book?

Benefit.

Because, see, if someone reading your book will benefit, not only do you have the right to write, you have a responsibility to write.

Have you ever thought about it that way?

You know, if you have experience and expertise or epiphanies that could add value, that could inspire people, that could remind them that they're not so alone, then.

Then it's time to ride on.

By the way, I. I went back to Hawaii for the Hawaii Book and Music Festival a couple years ago, and I ran into Jana.

If you go on to Amazon right now, there is Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive mother.

Her book has been out in the world for more than 20 years now.

And she said, not a week goes by where I don't get an email from some reader thanking me for my book.

And you know what they say?

I thought I was the only one.

It's one of the reasons to write is that if we have this eee and in sharing it, not from arrogance.

I know.

And you don't as an offering.

Here's something I've learned along the way.

I hope it might be of interest or value to you.

And not only we have a right, we have a responsibility to get it out in the world.

Wow.

Wow.

I know.

I'm like, I'm gonna send people this book.

Yeah, I. I wrote that too.

And I know I was like several.

Friends who are adoptive parents that are gonna be really excited about that book.

So thank you, Jana.

And that's how you become the 10 best selling books from the New York publishers.

Right?

It's incredible.

Well, speaking of.

That's amazing.

I know.

Formulas.

And the writers conference, as you judge, you also evaluate four Cs of implementation.

So to deliver and develop pitches that increase the likelihood of success.

So maybe not everybody listening is one of those people that wants to write a book or it's not the right time or the right life stage or whatever.

But there's a lot of us, even as you spoke about before, going into meetings that need to pitch something that, you know, needs a result, needs funding, needs a sale, needs a buy in of some sort.

So what are those four Cs of developing and implementing pitches?

Okay, so now context is I just spoke at the Kawaii Writers conference, and I'm in charge of the pit shop.

And this is kind of like Shark Tank for authors, right?

And they only have 60 seconds because do you remember at the beginning we talked about we only have 60 seconds.

Only 60 seconds.

That's right.

So here are our judges.

Scott M. Kieran, who was general counsel for the Clinton Global Initiative.

Chris Vogler, who wrote the book the Writer's Journey, he's the one where Disney went, wait a minute.

All of our movies, Lion King, etcetera, Should have the hero's journey, right?

The first act is like the character and the quest.

The second ad is the conflict.

The third act is the, you know, the triumph or the resolution.

So they were our judges.

And I, you know, we had 25 people.

We had several hundred people in the room.

25 People had 60 seconds to get in front of these guys and to win some very nice prizes.

So I said, in your 60 seconds, here are the four Cs, and I'm really glad you brought up, you know, pitching is not just for baseball.

It's like if we have a request or a recommendation, that's A pitch.

We are essentially pitching something we care about, hoping that other people will care about it enough to say, tell me more or, you know, I'm on board, or, yes, I'll fund this.

Yes, I'll agree to this.

Yes, I will at least take it to my decision maker, whatever.

So we pitch every day, all day.

We pitch to our kids about whether or not they wear their coat on a long day, on a cold day.

Right?

So, okay, the first C is clear.

In particular, can people repeat something they heard word for word?

Because what I know in our elevator intro, in our TEDx talk, and our pitch that people often rush and blush is that it's like, I've got a lot to say, so I'm gonna.

And when we rush and blush at the end of it, people can't repeat anything they heard word for word.

That means it's out of sight, out of mind.

So our goal is to pause and punch.

Now, Enrique, you may remember this we talked about.

From now on, when we say our name, we never put our two words together.

We don't say Sam Horn.

Because you go, oh, look at those eyebrows.

Else didn't get it right.

They're not going to walk up to us.

They can't repeat it.

So we say, my name is Sam.

Pause, pause, pause, punch, horn.

Right.

So it's Sam.

Pause, pause, pause, horn.

Now, notice it is.

It is upward inflection, not downward inflection.

Because most people say their last name and they bury it.

And once again, we don't get it.

So, Enrique, how do you introduce yourself, please?

Is.

Well, my name is Enrique Alvarez.

After practicing.

No, I've done it before.

I've.

We should.

We should test it on Christy.

We should test it on Christy.

Okay.

I have practiced after the conference.

Oh, okay.

I know.

I was thinking, oh, I do influence with my last name.

I always inflect down.

I was just.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

My name is Christy Porter.

Okay, good.

Christy Porter.

Now, this is.

I usually don't do a gender thing.

Although with women, when I do leadership programs and so forth, we talk about a low voice and we talk about volume without a lilt, because if we have a lilt to our voice, it can sound unfortunately comes across as weak or meek.

So we're going to say we're going to lower our voice.

And then when we do this, it's like more forceful instead of musical.

You know, my name is see Down.

You know, it's like a lower voice.

Christy Porter.

And see, Porter is not Porter.

You know, it's not.

It's not upward inflection with a high voice.

Because women, when we're speaking, if we want to be taken seriously, we have downward inflection, which is finality is what they teach broadcasters, etc instead of an upper up sing which is like asking for approval.

So.

Or like, do you agree or do you like me or something like that.

So with women, it's a lower voice down here.

My name is Sam Horn.

Right.

So Christy, back to you.

Okay.

My name is Christy Porter.

Is that wrong?

Interesting.

Okay, now, Enrique, give feedback.

Do you feel or hear any difference?

I did sound.

It did sound different.

It definitely sounded a little bit more.

Stronger.

More.

Yeah.

The first one was definitely.

You can tell the high pitch at the end of your last name.

And this one was definitely different.

I've never really paid attention to any of this before, but it is something that did make a difference.

You know, if you're asking for money, if you're asking for a budget, if you're asking for trust on a big project, if every woman listening, I hope that a little girl voice which is up here in our throat and it's.

And it has this like, do you agree?

It's like, do you think this is a good idea?

Is actually perceived as a lack of confidence or leadership presence or executive clout.

Right.

So if, especially if we're asking for money to be in charge of a multi million dollar project to get a go ahead on this initiative, we deliberately lower our voice.

So we're down here.

And once again, instead of speaking up, we speak with clout and force and impact.

Because then whether it's fair or not, we're actually taken more seriously.

Interesting.

Fascinating.

Wow.

Well, I have another.

Okay, so right, a fellow writer here.

So a big writer question for you that's all over the news these days.

AI Chat, GPT, all the writing tools that are getting out there.

I'm sure this is a big topic of the writers conferences as well.

How do you envision the world moving forward with things like that?

I get asked all the time because I do a lot of writing.

You know, will this be.

Will you be paid for what you do in the future or what will.

What will happen to these kinds of jobs?

So I would love your perspective on that.

Oh, boy.

Okay, so let's vertical line down the center.

Over on the left is AI and over on the right is.

Hi.

Human intelligence as opposed to artificial intelligence.

Right.

So I.

In the last year in particular, every conference that I've spoken at, one of the keynoters is on AI and what a fabulous Tool it is.

And how you can get this done in seconds and invariably, and I'm not exaggerating, the next day if I'm on Facebook or something like that, people will be saying, I wrote my book yesterday.

You did not write your book yesterday.

AI wrote your book yesterday.

So over on the left.

I believe in AI as a tool and I think it's one thing to put into AI to help us come up with sales copy for our website.

It's one thing to ask for questions that we could ask on a podcast.

It's one thing to ask AI to give us information that is not presumed to be original or human.

And if we use it to give credit where credit is.

Thank you for AI.

I put into AI this question and it said this.

I think that's an integrity.

I think that's smart.

I think it's leveraging the tool.

Over on the right, I think often at the end of post, especially thought provoking in the moment riff off the world post, I will put hi at the bottom of it because I don't want I.

Well, let's say what I do want.

I want, want people to trust that I wrote that book.

You know, I did not delegate it to AI and I slapped my name on it.

I want them to trust that I wrote that post, that this is, to the degree possible, original human thinking.

So there's more.

However, that's probably enough.

What are your thoughts about it?

I agree with you to a great deal.

I have, I've seen people use it, I use it very honestly, very little myself, because anytime I've tried or when I see other people's, I, I know I can do better.

So I'm like, I think it's a very quick way overall.

I realize there's a lot of ways for refining it and adding your own voice and everything like that, but I think it's a very quick way to spit out a lot of mediocre content.

So because I think people rely too heavy on it, like you're saying, I think it, it is a tool.

It can be used in aspects very well.

But to completely rely on it, I have just never seen it do a terrific job with, or at least a better job than I think I can do with that.

And I do agree that a lot of times it misses that emotional element.

You can say, add more emotion to it.

You can type that in the instructions and things like that, but it just doesn't convey the same things in the same way that a human would, you.

Know, and, and I look forward to Hearing what you say, Enrique, one more thought about that, because especially at writers conferences these days, I'm often asked about my.

My stance on it or whether or not I'm going to use it, if so, to what degree, when, when, so when not.

And this is the analogy I gave, you know, and this is kind of embarrassing.

I've lived in Austin now for three years.

Do you know, I could not get myself home from the airport.

You know what?

Because guess what?

I just listen.

I just do what the little lady tells.

You know, the GPS is like now, at what cost?

In a way, I don't even know my own city.

I don't know the land, I don't know the landmarks.

In a way, I'm not even paying attention, you know, so see, that part of my brain is atrophying, right?

Because I'm not using it.

And as a creative who revels in riffing off the world and musing and reflecting and writing, etc.

I don't want that part of my brain to atrophy.

So right now I just, I don't use AI.

And now I know that that's a draconian extreme point of.

And that there are ways in integrity to use it as tool.

It's just that at this point, I make my living from my brain, you know, it's my speaking, writing, coaching is all my ability to connect dots forward.

Kierkegaard said, you can only understand life backwards, but you've got to live it forwards.

And Steve Jobs said, you can't connect the dots forward, you can only connect them backwards.

I completely disagree.

What I do is I help people connect dots forward, I listen, I take notes, and it's like, oh, new synapse, oops, new option 1 +1 equals 11, etc.

And that is so much of my secret sauce.

And what's different or special about me?

I'm not going to delegate that to someone else and have that atrophy and lose that ability.

But your thoughts?

No, I totally agree with you.

I think that at some point you're somewhat outsourcing yourself to someone else.

And that's when it becomes a little bit of a slippery slope and it becomes somewhat dangerous because you might lose the essence of who you really are if you've never.

If you don't use who you are.

So there's really good arguments on both sides of the spectrum.

One thing's for sure, and it's AI is here, it's not going to go anywhere, and we'll all have to live with it.

And Use, use it as much as we can, leverage it for all the good that it can bring and of course be cautious and somewhat mindful of what it can do to our self worth.

I'm particularly kind of worried a little bit about that what would do to the next generation and their perception of themselves when they're interacting with other human beings as opposed to their phones or social media.

And I think that's still out there, still pretty early, but so it's going to be exciting, that's for sure.

A lot of original challenges that we're going to be facing, for sure.

Well, we talked at length about your writing and we could talk for hours more about that.

But I also wanted to ask you a question about your speaking, which you said you love doing.

You've spoken at Inc. 500 and 5000 gatherings, TedX.

I think a lot of people get asked or you know, we're all used to sitting in the audience hearing someone speak week very.

There's a lot fewer people who have spoken up on stage and have that position.

I'm curious what you've learned by speaking on a stage that maybe is a different experience of sitting in the audience.

What have you learned either about delivering or about yourself or not just what you're teaching, but what are you learning as the, the person on stage?

Interesting.

Well, so, so two quick answers to that.

Number one is that as far as craft is concerned, if we put explain over on the example over on the right and Enrique, do you remember about the dog on the tanker story and why that's so important to use that when speaking?

I do and it's a good story though.

So yes, if you don't mind repeating it for our audience, that would be fantastic.

Okay, so we'll, we'll talk about that and then I'll talk about as you know, public speaking is the number one fear actually rated over the fear of death, which is Jerry Seinfeld says that means that people rather be in the casket instead of at the lectern.

You know, so I have a wonderful story about how if for some reason we're self conscious or nervous or reluctant to speak, especially you know, we're talking with seasoned people.

So you know, you know, we're talking about 5,000 people at their annual convention or we're talking about a TEDx talk that could be seen by millions or whatever, how you can overcome any kind of fear or anxiety around speaking.

So first it's like if we put explain over on the left and here's the story about what to do Instead of explaining our ideas, which is infobesity, is that I was reading the Washington Post and here's a story by Sean Carr Vedantam about an oil tanker that caught fire 800 miles off the coast of Hawaii.

Now a cruise ship happened to be going by and they were able to rescue the 11 people on board.

The captain gave a press conference and he talks about how grateful he and his crew were to be rescued.

All he can think about is his dog that got abandoned on the tanker.

Well, that press conference went viral and, and people started sending in donations.

$5, 500, $5,000.

The US Navy changed the exercise area of the Pacific Fleet to search search 50,000 square miles of open ocean to find this tanker.

They locate it, they, they fly a C130 low to see if there's any signs of life on the tanker.

Here's this brown and white blur racing up and down the deck of a tanker.

They mount a quarter of a million dollar rescue mission to bring that dog back and they are able to bring hawk get back to Hawaii.

But now what's the point?

Here's the point.

Why did people from around the world mobilize to save one dog when there are thousands of people in their own cities and states and countries going without food, water and shelter?

It's because of something called the empathy telescope.

And the empathy telescope says we can put, put ourselves in the shoes of one person, we cannot put ourselves in the shoes of thousands.

We can identify with an individual, we cannot identify with an idea or an organization.

So when I'm working with people on their speaking, it's like what's your dog on a tanker story?

Because don't explain what your company does.

Does.

Don't explain, you know, supply chain.

Don't explain, you know, the business.

Because that's rhetoric, that's infobesity.

In no, give an example of what your organization does.

Give you know, a dog on a tanker story of one person who had a problem and you were able to solve it for them.

They were able to use your product and now they're better off off.

So it's like in a way if you look back on our conversation, hopefully every question you asked, I had a dog on a tanker story, right?

It was a story about me, a story about a client and it's a true story.

Now people can relate to it because if we use big numbers, you know, like oh, you know, a million people, we get overwhelmed by big numbers and we usually look away because we feel I can't do anything about a million People, I can't do it.

Well, you know, why?

Is actually NASA brought me in to help their climate change specialist for.

For a number of reasons.

Two of the biggest reasons are they get accused a lot of fake news, and it's like, no, no, we're scientists.

We don't fake news, you know, and.

And so to get over the offense of being accused of lying.

And the second thing, though, is that climate change is so big that people think they can't do anything about it.

Right.

Or it's far away in the future.

It's happening over here.

It's not happening on my watch, and there's nothing I can do.

So the question when it comes to speaking is how can we once again think about one dog, one person, how they've been affected by this, how we've been able to turn it around because they acted on this or they implemented this.

That's what people can identify with and relate to and remember.

I love that.

Wow.

Yes.

It's been incredible.

It's been a master class.

I know that we're a little bit over the time that we had with you, and we want to be very, very mindful of your time.

It's been, Sam, an honor.

I had the pleasure of listening to you speak at the CEO Summit.

And honestly, I was not expecting that you were going to give us some time to talk here with us, but we, we really, really appreciate you being here and thank you for sharing all those amazing stories, all that insightful comments that you.

That you gave us.

And thanks again.

Thanks again for participating.

Christy, what are some of your final thoughts?

Well, I think Masterclass is a very fitting description, so it was great.

I already look forward to sharing this and going back into listening.

I'm going to have to find something to take notes with when I go back again in my Evernote because I don't use paper.

So, yeah, I'm.

I'm looking forward to implementing some of these things.

And they kind of, you know, I see.

I value communication as we talked about as well.

And so to see the power of it, I think, come through from both a writer and a marketer and just a person.

I feel like we've done a lot today to really equip people.

We're very used to, on this, on these calls or on this podcast, to be able to talk to people about their expertise and how they're getting more aid out or how they're, you know, making the world a better place through the products they ship, their climate initiatives, whatever, is all of good.

All that we need to hear.

I feel like today we also did a lot to prepare people personally, whether it's the next meeting they have for the boss or getting the job or getting their next pitch in.

And so I really, I'm grateful for that and for kind of a different conversation than we're used to having to be able to, to prepare our audience in a whole new way for their next challenge.

Well, thank you.

You know, Katherine Graham of the Washington Post said, to do what you love and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?

The only thing that's more fun is to do what we love and feel it matters and get to do it with people we enjoy and respect.

So that's what I had a chance to do today.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Well, how can people find you?

What's the best way to find you online?

And then of course, your books, your agency, you have so many different things for people to look up.

What's the best way to, to get in touch with you and to learn more about you?

Well, here are just a couple options.

Number one, they're welcome to go to my website, which is easy to remember.

SamHorn.so s a m h o r n.com My TEDx talks are there.

It's information about my books and my speaking schedule and I hope people follow me on LinkedIn because we have talked about riffing off the world and you know, often, you know, I'll, I'll have an experience and I'll go online and write it.

So that is kind of a, a hornucopia of ideas about speaking.

I love.

I gotta laugh.

Yeah, you did.

And I was like, oh, such good timing the week after Thanksgiving doing when we're recording this too.

So.

Yes, fantastic.

Well, thank you once again, Sam Christie, always a pleasure to co host this episodes with you.

And for everyone out there that's listening, I hope that you enjoyed this conversation with Sam as much as we did.

And if you did, then please don't forget, don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you on the next one.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.