1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,570 Dan Moore: Hello, everybody, welcome to the Action Catalyst. This is Dan Moore. I'm so excited to be 2 00:00:03,570 --> 00:00:07,950 with Chad Foster today. Chad is wonderful to have you on the Action Catalyst. Welcome to the show. 3 00:00:08,130 --> 00:00:09,930 Chad E Foster: Thank you, Dan, it's my pleasure to be here. 4 00:00:10,350 --> 00:00:14,130 Dan Moore: You know, we always enjoy hearing about people's backstory, because we can look at what 5 00:00:14,130 --> 00:00:18,750 you're doing now you're an author of a book, you're the first graduate who has sightless from 6 00:00:18,750 --> 00:00:22,890 the Leadership Management Program at Harvard University. You're a great software developer, 7 00:00:22,890 --> 00:00:27,300 you're a leader of many, many companies, you help the countless people, but the backstory? 8 00:00:27,630 --> 00:00:33,240 Chad E Foster: Yeah, I think we all talk about how life throws us curveballs and you know, it's going 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:39,060 to throw us all curveballs. And we have all experienced our share of disruption. I started 10 00:00:39,090 --> 00:00:45,780 experiencing my disruption at roughly three years old. And it was there, my parents that Tom they 11 00:00:45,780 --> 00:00:50,520 had noticed that I was having difficulty seeing and really dark rooms. And so they took me to Duke 12 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:56,610 University Medical Center, where it was there that they learned that that I had with the doctors 13 00:00:56,610 --> 00:01:02,730 thought was retinitis pigmentosa, which is an inherited genetic eye condition that gradually 14 00:01:02,730 --> 00:01:08,250 causes blindness, it's really hard to imagine what they were feeling as they were going through that 15 00:01:08,250 --> 00:01:13,590 and hearing that, of course, was oblivious to it at three years old. But this particular eye 16 00:01:13,590 --> 00:01:18,630 disease is evidently something that's in my family. But it's because it's an autosomal 17 00:01:18,630 --> 00:01:23,730 recessive trait, nobody had it. So it was sort of the hidden family eye disease, and only because 18 00:01:23,730 --> 00:01:30,030 both my parents are carriers, could I have the potential to be symptomatic, and eventually go 19 00:01:30,030 --> 00:01:35,370 blind. And so when I was growing up, I was pretty active. You know, I played sports, I played 20 00:01:35,370 --> 00:01:40,410 football and basketball and baseball, but I was constantly learning the limitations of my 21 00:01:40,410 --> 00:01:46,470 eyesight. And I would learn those limitations by bouncing off of something bouncing off of a wall 22 00:01:46,470 --> 00:01:52,710 or a pole or something that my eyes just didn't pick up. And as I was losing that that eyesight 23 00:01:52,710 --> 00:01:58,110 and it became worse and worse over time, you know, all of the objects around me essentially became my 24 00:01:58,110 --> 00:02:03,390 walking cane. And I spent so much time in the hospital there for a period, they questioned both 25 00:02:03,390 --> 00:02:08,970 my parents and me in separate rooms, wondering if I had been abused. And the truth of it is I hadn't 26 00:02:08,970 --> 00:02:15,300 been abused. I was just I was an active kid. And I didn't really let my lack of eyesight keep me from 27 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:20,760 doing what I wanted to do. But the whole process obviously was a psychological journey and 28 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,700 emotional journey, learning the limitations of what you can and can't see. And then finally, when 29 00:02:26,700 --> 00:02:33,240 I was roughly 21 years old, at the University of Tennessee, doing my undergraduate work is where 30 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:38,400 all of my eyesight left, that's when I realized that I was I was losing everything that I had 31 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:45,240 known and seen for my entire life. And we asked kids all the time, what do you want to be when you 32 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,040 grow up? And none of them said they want to be a blind first? Well, there you go. That's exactly 33 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,630 what was happening to me. And so I had to sort of rethink what I wanted to be when I grew up and 34 00:02:54,630 --> 00:02:59,910 reimagined my hopes and dreams for myself and my future. And so that that was a difficult time. But 35 00:02:59,910 --> 00:03:05,790 I think looking back, I think what makes it unique is the fact that I've lived a lot of my life 36 00:03:05,790 --> 00:03:10,410 outside of my comfort zone. You know, that whole process that I just talked about, was really 37 00:03:10,410 --> 00:03:15,450 uncomfortable when you're young and bouncing off of things physically, that's uncomfortable when 38 00:03:15,450 --> 00:03:20,400 you're in high school and not able to do things at night that you would like to do socially. That's 39 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:27,180 uncomfortable when you go completely blind in college, and have to give up your self identity. 40 00:03:27,450 --> 00:03:32,730 psychologically, emotionally, that's uncomfortable, but the thing that I'll say that 41 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:38,760 that has been more of a gift to me than I would have hazard to guess at that time. You know, it's 42 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,110 helped me to develop a thicker, more resilient mindset, which is why I think I'm with you today. 43 00:03:43,110 --> 00:03:48,360 It's because I've had so much discomfort in my life that I've gotten comfortable with discomfort. 44 00:03:48,660 --> 00:03:50,100 Dan Moore: Comfortable with the discomfort. 45 00:03:51,180 --> 00:03:54,780 Chad E Foster: If you're never getting uncomfortable, then you never have a chance to 46 00:03:54,780 --> 00:04:01,350 grow, right? Where we experience discomfort. That's when growth happens. If you're comfortable, 47 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,790 you're complacent. Right? And if you're complacent, you're not growing. And if you're 48 00:04:05,790 --> 00:04:12,240 growing, you may as well be dying. And so I think it's helped me to cultivate a mindset that seeks 49 00:04:12,270 --> 00:04:18,420 discomfort, which is why now you know, I go skiing on Black Diamond terrain, and even double black 50 00:04:18,420 --> 00:04:23,670 diamond terrain without being able to see Yeah, it was way outside of my comfort zone at first and I 51 00:04:23,670 --> 00:04:29,580 certainly didn't start on a black diamond. But the idea of strapping skis to myself and getting on 52 00:04:29,580 --> 00:04:34,290 the side of a steep mountain in Colorado that in and of itself was outside of my comfort zone. But 53 00:04:34,590 --> 00:04:40,980 you know, one thing I've noticed over my journey is that the more you push your comfort zone, the 54 00:04:40,980 --> 00:04:47,130 more things you do that are uncomfortable, you can just slowly watch your comfort zone expand, which 55 00:04:47,130 --> 00:04:53,370 is why now like I said, I do that also I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a martial arts. So I enjoy 56 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,850 you know, I enjoy pushing myself and I think that's one of the things that I really like about 57 00:04:56,850 --> 00:05:01,950 both of those hobbies or sports is that they they're as constant room for growth, which I think 58 00:05:01,950 --> 00:05:03,630 is a really important part of life. 59 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,860 Dan Moore: Wow, that is absolutely incredible. Most of us, even sighted, are scared of black 60 00:05:07,860 --> 00:05:08,400 diamonds. 61 00:05:09,210 --> 00:05:12,060 Chad E Foster: I think that's probably what gives me an advantage. If I could see it, it might be a 62 00:05:12,060 --> 00:05:17,610 little too intimidating, right? You got to take advantage of your disadvantages, but we went 63 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:23,460 skiing and six years into me learning how to ski. So I went blind at roughly 21 years old, I started 64 00:05:23,460 --> 00:05:29,730 learning how to ski at 38 years old. And about six years into it, we made such good progress that me 65 00:05:29,730 --> 00:05:34,950 and my buddy, who had been guiding me, so he's skis behind me and tells me which way to go. And 66 00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:39,330 we learned how to do this with the professionals out there. We've gotten so good at it that we 67 00:05:39,330 --> 00:05:44,370 decided, You know what, we're going to try an expert slope. So we go off, and here we are on 68 00:05:44,370 --> 00:05:48,510 this double black diamond, which, if your listeners aren't familiar with the double black 69 00:05:48,510 --> 00:05:54,540 diamond, it's literally the steepest and scariest slope, right? It's got all these jagged rocks and 70 00:05:54,540 --> 00:05:59,490 big cliffs and passageways that are about eight feet wide. Sounds like the perfect place for a 71 00:05:59,490 --> 00:06:04,320 blind guy like me, right? I mean, what did the possibly go wrong? So my buddy and I were standing 72 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,910 at the top of the mountain, and we take a picture in front of the warning sign at the top, and he 73 00:06:08,910 --> 00:06:12,690 turns to be right before we get ready to release, and he says, You know what, Chan, you should be 74 00:06:12,690 --> 00:06:18,060 thankful you can't see what's around us right now, because it is absolutely terrifying. But I think 75 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:23,130 while a lot of people are like my buddy, they're looking at the mountain. And they're looking at it 76 00:06:23,130 --> 00:06:27,450 from top to bottom. And they're seeing all you know, all these things that are really scary, 77 00:06:27,450 --> 00:06:34,140 right? There's this scary vision of of what could go wrong, or this bold vision of greatness, this 78 00:06:34,170 --> 00:06:39,540 huge mountain at 13,000 feet with all these incredible obstacles. But I think what gives me an 79 00:06:39,540 --> 00:06:45,360 advantage is that I don't see any of that. And I'm just focused on the next turn, right, I'm just 80 00:06:45,390 --> 00:06:51,000 literally focused on I have to make a left turn, and then a right turn, and then another left turn. 81 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,700 So I'm not distracted by all of the terrain and how dizzying it can be looking down hill and 82 00:06:56,700 --> 00:07:02,160 seeing maybe 5000 feet of elevation like other people are doing, I just zoom in on that next best 83 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:02,610 action. 84 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,780 Dan Moore: Seems like you've really leaned into not just the remaining four senses, but also the 85 00:07:06,780 --> 00:07:11,820 medicines, which is your brain, how you implemented and taught yourself code how you 86 00:07:11,820 --> 00:07:15,270 develop technologies for people that are spineless, that's incredible. 87 00:07:15,780 --> 00:07:20,070 Chad E Foster: When I first went blind, I was in college, and I had to relearn how to learn. That 88 00:07:20,070 --> 00:07:24,090 was a really, it was challenging, but it actually turned out that I was a better blind student and 89 00:07:24,090 --> 00:07:28,650 sighted students. So I ended up making straight A's, you know, my mom went in, and she literally 90 00:07:28,650 --> 00:07:33,000 at that time, we didn't have the the internet had just come out. But it wasn't like you could go to 91 00:07:33,060 --> 00:07:38,400 Amazon and get a Kindle book, or you could get an audio book really easily. So all of my books, all 92 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,830 of them, she literally read every single one of them to audio for me, and I listen to them on a 93 00:07:43,830 --> 00:07:48,870 tape recorder. And so I listened to all of my books twice, I listened to recorded lectures 94 00:07:48,870 --> 00:07:54,420 twice, ended up making straight A's and making the Dean's list and went on and got a job at one of 95 00:07:54,420 --> 00:08:00,150 the top consulting firms out there. So that all seems really encouraging until I get into the 96 00:08:00,150 --> 00:08:05,670 workforce. And I realized that the technology that I needed to use this piece of software that you 97 00:08:05,670 --> 00:08:11,430 put on a Windows computer, it's screen reading technology, it didn't work with everything out of 98 00:08:11,430 --> 00:08:17,460 the box. So you couldn't just log into a company system and expect it to work with everything. 99 00:08:17,490 --> 00:08:23,490 There were some obstacles, depending on how the software developers designed the application. And 100 00:08:23,490 --> 00:08:28,350 I learned this pretty quickly. I was working at this top consulting firm in the tech space, and my 101 00:08:28,350 --> 00:08:33,420 timesheets, something that's very important to a consultant here, all my job codes, Project codes, 102 00:08:33,420 --> 00:08:38,490 where I need to build myself across different clients that didn't work with my technology. So 103 00:08:38,490 --> 00:08:42,630 literally, you know, two weeks after graduating college and thinking, Alright, I've cleared a 104 00:08:42,630 --> 00:08:47,700 hurdle, I realized that, you know, the journey was just beginning. And so not really being able to do 105 00:08:47,700 --> 00:08:53,010 my job. At that point, I knew that there were a couple of options. Option number one was to have 106 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:58,320 them hire somebody to come in and figure out how to write code to build a bridge between these two 107 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:03,660 software programs. Right. And that would kind of set me up as a liability, they would have to pay 108 00:09:03,660 --> 00:09:10,830 somebody 150 250 bucks an hour to come in and do that or option two was and I figured out how to do 109 00:09:10,830 --> 00:09:16,170 it myself. And because I was 25 years old, hopefully had a long career in front of me, I 110 00:09:16,170 --> 00:09:20,490 thought you know what, I'm better off if I just learn how to do this on my own. That way, instead 111 00:09:20,490 --> 00:09:25,980 of being a liability, I can be an asset. And I don't have to rely on anybody else. So I sat down 112 00:09:25,980 --> 00:09:32,370 and started figuring out how to write code so that I can engineer my software without even being able 113 00:09:32,370 --> 00:09:37,500 to see my computer screen. I put some some code together that was a hack for me to use it 114 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:41,880 timesheet program that I mentioned, but within a few years I was getting so good at it that I had 115 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,360 people seeking me out. I started doing it professionally moonlighting a little bit doing 116 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:51,210 that created a consulting company, and even had a friend of mine from this consulting firm called me 117 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:57,450 few years later, so that was Gosh, that was 2001 When I first started learning how to do that by 118 00:09:57,450 --> 00:10:03,300 2007 friend of mine for This consulting company called me and said they needed some work done for 119 00:10:03,300 --> 00:10:09,540 one of their customers. And so I figured out how to write some code and make this CRM system work 120 00:10:09,540 --> 00:10:14,460 for one of their clients will come to find out Oracle, only that CRS CRM system and didn't think 121 00:10:14,460 --> 00:10:19,350 it could be done. And I ended up having to get on a call with Oracle, and with the screen reading 122 00:10:19,350 --> 00:10:23,820 manufacturer and explained to them, actually, it can be done, I've done and here's my client, he's 123 00:10:23,820 --> 00:10:29,310 up and up and running and successful with it. And, and so yeah, I think a lot of times just hearing 124 00:10:29,310 --> 00:10:33,810 somebody say that something can't be done is enough to kind of prevent you from even trying. 125 00:10:33,810 --> 00:10:38,640 But you know, I found that if you just apply yourself relentlessly and dig enough, eventually 126 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:39,720 you can find this solution. 127 00:10:40,020 --> 00:10:44,280 Dan Moore: That is incredible story as well. Chad, somebody once said, people that say things cannot 128 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,310 be done, often find themselves interrupted by someone doing it. 129 00:10:48,630 --> 00:10:50,100 Chad E Foster: I love that. I'm gonna borrow that. 130 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,200 Dan Moore: Clearly you've done that so well. But talking about the Leadership Program at Harvard, 131 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,950 and what that was like you were the first sightless person to graduate from there. 132 00:10:59,189 --> 00:11:04,349 Chad E Foster: Yeah, so I was working at the time I was leading pricing strategy and solutions, I 133 00:11:04,349 --> 00:11:11,009 was a senior director for a technology services company that provided services to the United 134 00:11:11,009 --> 00:11:18,119 States federal government, mainly. So we provided services to military to intelligence to civilian 135 00:11:18,119 --> 00:11:24,149 and other state agencies as well. Yeah, I was our senior director of pricing strategy and solutions. 136 00:11:24,149 --> 00:11:30,089 So my job was to go in on these very large programs, multibillion dollar programs and figure 137 00:11:30,089 --> 00:11:36,029 out what is the price point that we need to bid for this basket of services based on all the data 138 00:11:36,029 --> 00:11:41,489 that's there? And so you know, what's the market look like? What services are they asking for? 139 00:11:41,699 --> 00:11:45,899 What's the going rate for those services? How much are customers willing to pay? What is the 140 00:11:45,899 --> 00:11:52,319 competition going to do? And and how does that get influenced by the procurement process? Well, that 141 00:11:52,319 --> 00:11:56,159 was my thing. I've been doing that for a while it was very good at it. In fact, I'd gotten so good 142 00:11:56,159 --> 00:12:01,949 at it that I helped the company, which just with my decisions bring in over $45 billion in 143 00:12:01,949 --> 00:12:08,249 contracts. Wow. They were so blown away by it. My boss comes to me says, Chad, what can we do for 144 00:12:08,249 --> 00:12:13,619 you, you've done so much for the company? What can we do? And for some crazy reason, I said, Send me 145 00:12:13,619 --> 00:12:20,459 to Harvard. And for some crazy reason, they said, okay, so they agreed to write a check and send me 146 00:12:20,459 --> 00:12:25,499 to HBS. And so yeah, it was there that I became the first blind executive to graduate that 147 00:12:25,499 --> 00:12:32,489 leadership program there at HBS. But that was a really important part of my career for a lot of 148 00:12:32,489 --> 00:12:38,039 reasons. You know, first of which you're learning and growing with not only the professors, but so 149 00:12:38,039 --> 00:12:44,819 many fantastic minds who, who go there, you know, young minds, great leaders, great human beings, 150 00:12:44,819 --> 00:12:49,469 the people you're learning from, are not just the professors. Sure, you learn a lot from the Harvard 151 00:12:49,469 --> 00:12:56,429 professors, but you'd learn just as much from the students there. And learning how to navigate and 152 00:12:56,429 --> 00:13:02,879 manage through so many complex situations where it's not, you know, it's not a math problem. You 153 00:13:02,879 --> 00:13:07,409 know, it there's so many shades of grey when it comes to the real world of management, and really 154 00:13:07,409 --> 00:13:14,789 exploring that with those those fellow classmates was was fantastic. But the other real fantastic 155 00:13:14,789 --> 00:13:21,869 thing that I learned was how to find my true north. And I was learning there with Bill George. 156 00:13:21,869 --> 00:13:27,959 And for those of you not familiar with Bill George, he's the former president and chairman of 157 00:13:28,139 --> 00:13:33,419 Medtronic, which is one of the world's largest medical supply companies. He took them from a 158 00:13:33,419 --> 00:13:40,139 market capitalization of $1 billion to $60 billion. So he's fantastic transformational 159 00:13:40,139 --> 00:13:46,499 leader. He retired after 10 years at the CEO position at Medtronic decided to go and work for 160 00:13:46,499 --> 00:13:51,989 Harvard became a senior fellow there. And I'm sitting in his class, and he's teaching this class 161 00:13:51,989 --> 00:13:56,939 on authentic leadership, but it's all about how to discover your TrueNorth. And it really boils down 162 00:13:56,939 --> 00:14:02,429 to how can you find meaning in your life by examining things trials and tribulations in your 163 00:14:02,429 --> 00:14:09,839 life, and really threading that with things that you have a talent for? And so that you can combine 164 00:14:09,899 --> 00:14:16,229 purpose and passion and talent into a profession. And a lot of my classmates were grappling with 165 00:14:16,229 --> 00:14:20,789 this when mine just sort of reached up and smacked me in the face. And it occurred to me that I 166 00:14:20,789 --> 00:14:26,939 hadn't done anything with my story. I just always kind of taken it for granted, if you will, a lot 167 00:14:26,939 --> 00:14:31,259 of people would come up to me from time to time and say, hey, you know, you're inspiring. I 168 00:14:31,259 --> 00:14:35,459 appreciate what you do. And I didn't really know how to react to that, because I didn't really take 169 00:14:35,459 --> 00:14:41,069 myself. I didn't see myself that way. You know, I didn't see what I what I was doing as anything 170 00:14:41,099 --> 00:14:46,199 other than inspirational. I was just doing what I had to do, you know, my everyday reality was just 171 00:14:46,199 --> 00:14:51,479 that it was every day it was regular. For me. I was doing what I had to do to get by and, and sure 172 00:14:51,479 --> 00:14:56,009 I had some obstacles that were maybe a little bit different than what other people face but I just 173 00:14:56,009 --> 00:15:00,839 never really saw myself that way and, and so that moment I started to really reconsider that. And 174 00:15:00,839 --> 00:15:06,689 then there I was, I was elected to speak at our graduation. And that really was a crucial moment 175 00:15:06,689 --> 00:15:13,649 for me an Ignite moment actually, where I saw firsthand how much I could help people if I just 176 00:15:13,649 --> 00:15:19,019 tried to actually do that. So I gave a short little 12 minute talk. And people were really 177 00:15:19,019 --> 00:15:23,579 blown away by it. And I'll never forget one gentleman in particular, one of my classmates 178 00:15:23,579 --> 00:15:28,529 comes up to me afterwards. And I'm not a real soft and fuzzy person, but this particular gentleman 179 00:15:28,559 --> 00:15:34,469 come to find out he had lost his daughter the year before to cancer. Wow, something I had said. And, 180 00:15:34,679 --> 00:15:38,399 you know, I don't know exactly what it was that I said that resonated. But something I'd said 181 00:15:38,399 --> 00:15:44,699 resonated and it gave him hope. And it changed me and it moved me and it inspired me to kind of move 182 00:15:44,699 --> 00:15:50,699 beyond myself and, and to look more deeply at how I can have impact. And the really interesting 183 00:15:50,699 --> 00:15:57,479 thing that I learned from that is it showed me how experiences like that helping people like that can 184 00:15:57,479 --> 00:16:04,469 make going blind worth it, you know, because all of a sudden, now I'm taking this, this beautiful 185 00:16:04,469 --> 00:16:10,799 gift of blindness that was disguised in some really ugly wrapping paper. And I'm unwrapping it 186 00:16:10,799 --> 00:16:15,989 and I'm sharing those gifts and those lessons with the world. And I never really looked at it like 187 00:16:15,989 --> 00:16:17,009 that, before that. 188 00:16:17,490 --> 00:16:23,100 Dan Moore: I'm blown away, Chad, you know, plenty of people in your situation are facing different 189 00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:26,880 obstacles would have just let it control them, they would have felt sorry for themselves and 190 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,380 said, I just can't do stuff. What kind of advice could you give to somebody that may be He's, um, 191 00:16:31,380 --> 00:16:35,430 they've had a legitimate issue, but they're caught up and feeling sorry for themselves instead of 192 00:16:35,430 --> 00:16:36,780 moving forward moving off of it? 193 00:16:37,319 --> 00:16:41,489 Chad E Foster: Well, you know, I feel sorry for myself too, for a little while. But then I 194 00:16:41,489 --> 00:16:47,009 realized, you know, what, I'm 20 something years old, if I'm gonna feel sorry for myself, for the 195 00:16:47,009 --> 00:16:52,049 rest of my life. Well, that's a whole lot of sorry, I just can't do it. I couldn't stomach the 196 00:16:52,049 --> 00:16:58,199 thought of feeling sorry for myself that much. It was just it was too overwhelming. And so one of 197 00:16:58,199 --> 00:17:03,929 the things I thought about is I did what I like to call and I didn't think of it in these clear terms 198 00:17:03,929 --> 00:17:10,529 back then. But now I call it the future you exercise. years from now, when you look back on 199 00:17:10,529 --> 00:17:16,619 your life? How are you going to feel if you don't get what you want out of your life? Is it okay? To 200 00:17:16,619 --> 00:17:23,999 make an excuse? And to feel sorry for yourself? In the moment when years from now, if you look back? 201 00:17:24,269 --> 00:17:29,849 If you know you didn't get what you wanted out of your life? Or is it better to hold yourself 202 00:17:29,849 --> 00:17:36,419 accountable so that you can make the decisions and live your best life and really move towards your 203 00:17:36,419 --> 00:17:40,979 dreams and your goals? And so I decided at that moment, I looked forward in my life. You know, 204 00:17:40,979 --> 00:17:45,839 when I'm if I'm so fortunate to live to 70 something years old, and I look back on my life, 205 00:17:45,869 --> 00:17:52,229 which decision can future Chad live with? Is it sitting around and feeling sorry for myself and 206 00:17:52,229 --> 00:17:58,349 not even trying? Or is it failing in pursuit of my wildest dreams? You know, I don't think I'm going 207 00:17:58,349 --> 00:18:03,029 to accomplish everything I want. But I want to know whether or not I can, who knows, right? We 208 00:18:03,029 --> 00:18:09,449 could have lived our wildest dreams, we could have achieved our most daring goals. But if we don't 209 00:18:09,449 --> 00:18:15,929 even try, then the regret really is not even knowing what could have been possible. That to me, 210 00:18:16,319 --> 00:18:21,719 was the fear that I allowed to drive me. You know, anytime in life when there's a fear, there's a 211 00:18:21,719 --> 00:18:26,249 counter fear. I've accepted that first job out of college, I was initially really scared when I was 212 00:18:26,249 --> 00:18:32,399 moving to Atlanta. I thought, Here I am, I've got to figure out, how am I going to get to the 213 00:18:32,399 --> 00:18:37,529 office, I've got to learn the bus and the train system, I can't see. I don't have family or 214 00:18:37,529 --> 00:18:42,779 friends in the area. It's just me and my guide dog, I just went blind a year and a half earlier, 215 00:18:42,989 --> 00:18:47,069 I've got to learn how to get to the airport, I've got to learn how to travel across the country. 216 00:18:47,309 --> 00:18:53,369 I've got to learn to get to different hotels and client sites and learn how to write code and do 217 00:18:53,399 --> 00:18:58,559 billable work. And all of these challenges. Like they were even something as simple as just getting 218 00:18:58,559 --> 00:19:03,029 my groceries, you know, we didn't have a delivery service back then. And we didn't have smartphones. 219 00:19:03,149 --> 00:19:09,119 So all of these things were incredibly intimidating. And I was looking at it my family 220 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:13,559 and friends would ask me like, hey, Chad, are you excited? And I lied to them? I told them Yeah, I 221 00:19:13,559 --> 00:19:19,979 was excited. But the truth is, I was terrified. I was absolutely terrified. But the thing I was more 222 00:19:19,979 --> 00:19:24,029 scared of than anything else was living my life with regrets. 223 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,920 Dan Moore: We all have a future self in the future self still look back and say well done, or why did 224 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,240 you one of the sayings in our company is that the person we're going to someday be we're now 225 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:33,810 becoming 226 00:19:33,930 --> 00:19:38,872 Chad E Foster: You're absolutely right. And that the net of it all, every single person listening 227 00:19:38,932 --> 00:19:44,356 to this podcast, without exception will become the stories that they tell themselves about 228 00:19:44,417 --> 00:19:49,841 themselves. You will become your story I will become mine story. One of the most important 229 00:19:49,901 --> 00:19:55,627 lessons if any of us can learn is how to tell themselves the right stories. Now, look, the fact 230 00:19:55,687 --> 00:20:01,353 of the matter is I went blonde and when I was In college, okay, that's a fact. Now there are a 231 00:20:01,413 --> 00:20:06,898 couple of different stories that I could tell myself about that. One story is Chad look you 232 00:20:06,958 --> 00:20:12,925 wouldn't blonde because you've got terrible look poor you are an alternative story to that would be 233 00:20:12,985 --> 00:20:18,831 Chad, you actually went blind, because you're one of the very few people on planet Earth, who has 234 00:20:18,892 --> 00:20:24,859 the strength and the toughness to overcome that, and use it to help other people. Now, technically, 235 00:20:24,919 --> 00:20:30,283 both of these stories can be true. But one of these stories, the first one paints me as a 236 00:20:30,343 --> 00:20:36,129 victim. But the second story actually takes my disability, my misfortune and reframes it into my 237 00:20:36,190 --> 00:20:42,096 strength. It's a Jedi mind trick that we can use to it's called cognitive reframing. But it really 238 00:20:42,156 --> 00:20:47,641 is about taking a set of circumstances that we can't control and learning how to make those 239 00:20:47,701 --> 00:20:53,668 circumstances work for us. Instead of against us, all of a sudden, my blindness that happened to me 240 00:20:53,728 --> 00:20:58,972 because I'm mentally strong enough which that prepares me to deal with all of the other 241 00:20:59,032 --> 00:21:04,758 curveballs that life is going to throw at me. So if you can figure out how to tell yourself the 242 00:21:04,818 --> 00:21:10,906 right stories, then you can get better outcomes in your life. Because at the end of our lives, all of 243 00:21:10,966 --> 00:21:13,980 us will become the stories that we tell ourselves. 244 00:21:13,980 --> 00:21:19,310 Dan Moore: Woohoo. Now, just a question. Have you just given us a summary of your book Blind Ambition? 245 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,940 Chad E Foster: That's a core message of it. That is a core message of it. Certainly, there's, 246 00:21:23,970 --> 00:21:30,330 there's a lot more in there. You know, when I get on stage, I've got 55 minutes when I in the book, 247 00:21:30,330 --> 00:21:37,320 I've got 55,000 words, there's a lot more detail to it. But that is one of my most core messages 248 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:44,370 and themes from blind ambition, the book and blind ambition, my talk, it really does get down to, you 249 00:21:44,370 --> 00:21:48,540 know, how do you see yourself? What narrative Do you have playing in your mind? And it's, you know, 250 00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:52,830 it's, it's the meaning we attach to circumstances, what's the meaning we're attaching to those 251 00:21:52,830 --> 00:21:58,050 circumstances, the facts are way less significant than the stories that we choose to tell ourselves 252 00:21:58,050 --> 00:22:01,800 about those facts, because our stories are either going to keep us trapped, or they're going to help 253 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:03,360 us bounce back. It's one of the two. 254 00:22:03,810 --> 00:22:07,230 Dan Moore: But we're really grateful for you. The message that you've just shared with me in 255 00:22:07,230 --> 00:22:12,060 particular, and all of our listeners is that it's more than inspiring, gets a kick in the head. It's 256 00:22:12,060 --> 00:22:17,010 a wake up that says we've got gifts, we've got abilities, what we can look at what we don't have 257 00:22:17,070 --> 00:22:21,330 a look at what we do have, and we can move forward and look for chances to help the world. That's 258 00:22:21,330 --> 00:22:23,100 exactly what you've done and continue to do. 259 00:22:23,460 --> 00:22:28,350 Chad E Foster: You know, when you can assign meaning to the circumstances that that give you 260 00:22:28,350 --> 00:22:34,860 purpose and give you a brighter future that really is where you can move towards acceptance. You 261 00:22:34,860 --> 00:22:40,770 know, I talk about visualizing greatness and sometimes unpalatable circumstances, right. If you 262 00:22:40,770 --> 00:22:47,880 can visualize greatness, in circumstances that you didn't really want. Like for me, how can I make 263 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:53,550 blind look good. And I know that sounds a little paradoxical, making blind look good. But the 264 00:22:53,550 --> 00:23:00,660 reality of it is, if I could never visualize how I could make blind look good, the odds of me moving 265 00:23:00,660 --> 00:23:06,900 towards acceptance, and deep down in my heart, and bracing and even thriving in those circumstances, 266 00:23:07,170 --> 00:23:13,170 we're next to zero. But if I could at least paint a big bold vision of how I can make blind look 267 00:23:13,170 --> 00:23:18,510 good, no matter how hard it is to get there, at least that can give me something to work towards. 268 00:23:18,510 --> 00:23:23,370 And then all of a sudden, I can start looking at things inside my sphere of influence things I can 269 00:23:23,370 --> 00:23:29,370 control, whether it's writing a book, or learning how to give a talk, or creating a message or 270 00:23:29,370 --> 00:23:34,620 leading a company, all of those things are possible. But if you have that vision of 271 00:23:34,620 --> 00:23:39,090 greatness, that doesn't ignore things that you don't want in your life, you can't ignore things 272 00:23:39,090 --> 00:23:44,310 that you can't change it, you've got to, you've got to factor those into your vision. But having 273 00:23:44,310 --> 00:23:49,470 that bold vision can motivate you to do the hard work to get there to to learn how to write a book 274 00:23:49,470 --> 00:23:53,970 or learn how to you know, meet a publisher or give a talk to a big audience or any of those things. 275 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,330 None of that it's easy, but if you have the right motivation, it's possible. 276 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,870 Dan Moore: And with that, we're going to have to let you go Chad, this is fantastic. And speaking 277 00:24:00,870 --> 00:24:06,300 about makeup blonde look good. You really rockin the Morpheus lip today. I appreciate it. Thank you 278 00:24:06,330 --> 00:24:10,440 absolutely are. So thank you so much for sharing and for being who you are. 279 00:24:10,650 --> 00:24:12,060 Chad E Foster: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.