Pushing boundaries has been an active part of my life, mostly in corporate settings where the rewards were tangible and the risks calculated and relatively predictable.

However, after the unexpected demise of my company chairmanship and other personal failures, I encountered my “first wind” of limitless adventure. One solo motorcycle ride across America’s great plains to a remote valley in Colorado led me to living in a secluded village in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, building a certified organic coffee business with 2,350 tribal farmers … incredulously, leading to an assassination attempt on my life.

The “second wind” gives me renewed strength to continue this quest – an effort that requires letting go of both self-rejection and self-grandiosity and winnowing out myself to obtain wisdom. It is akin to mining ore … my own ore. But is this mother lode – the ceaseless mining of my interior – worth sharing, and if so, why, and how?

The writer Joseph Campbell reminds me: “Bringing the boon back can be even more difficult than going down into your own depths in the first place.”

When my first TEDx talk application was rejected along with the earlier 100 query letters to publishers for my book, despondency came a-knockin’ in my soul. Why care enough to persist and to share!

But between dejection and faith, I found that my vulnerability, humility,and integrity continued to develop. Now the book is published and has received great reviews from America and Europe.

And I find myself on another edge adventure – this TEDx stage, which provides a sacred space where, as mutual occupants of this shared planet, we connect through stories and ideas, where we’re pushed out of comfort zones and invited to be truly engaged with each other. I feel fearful, elated, unbounded, limitless and alive. Let’s talk.