Grief doesn’t follow stages. I lost my mother to suicide at 20 months old. Forty-eight years later, the grief still shows up unannounced. Here is what I have learned about carrying it.
I got engaged at 48 after a divorce and a career reset. The timing was not what I planned. It was better, because I finally knew who I was.
How losing my mother to gun violence at age two led to a lifetime of advocacy. The journey from carrying pain silently to using it for purpose.
Nobody is self-made. I built a $15 million company and called myself self-made for years until I started counting the people who made it possible.
I lost my mother at 20 months old. I have spent decades thinking about the lessons she never got to teach me and learning them on my own.
Resilience after tragedy is not about “getting over it.” It is about building a life that carries the weight without collapsing under it. Practical lessons from someone who has rebuilt more than once.
In one year I lost the business, the marriage, and my sense of who I was. Rebuilding was not inspirational. It was one small decision per day until momentum returned.
Gun suicides account for more than half of all gun deaths in America. I have been waiting seven months for an ADHD diagnosis in Wisconsin. In that same state, you can buy a gun the same day. Something is backwards.
I helped grow a roofing company to $35M in revenue with 180 employees, then resigned due to a breakdown in the partnership. Here is what the experience taught me about partnerships, identity, and knowing when to go.
Imposter syndrome ran my decisions for years, from boardrooms to political campaigns. The shift came when I stopped managing the fear and started ignoring its advice.
A phone call from my daughter changed how I show up as a father. Co-parenting three kids taught me that balance is a myth. Honest presence is what matters.
The question I get asked most: why share your mother’s death on stage? Because silence helped nobody. Every talk, someone shares their own story for the first time.