Beyond the Crucible
224 episodes - English - Latest episode: 25 days ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsYou are more than your failures and setbacks. We share stories of leaders who have moved beyond life’s most difficult moments to lead lives of significance, and insights on how you can do the same. Hosted by Warwick Fairfax.
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Episodes
Cathleen Merkel -- She Chased Success But Longed for Significance, and Found It When She Met the "Real Cathy" -- #23
June 09, 2020 08:00 - 55 minutes - 32 MBGrowing up in Communist East Germany, Cathleen Merkel was taught her value came from doing what others expected of her, working hard, and not upsetting the established order of things. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and she grew from a girl into a woman with dreams and passions of living a free and successful life. There was just one problem: the goals she pursued professionally and personally dead-ended a couple of times and didn't really fulfill her even when they were going well. So she took ...
Tommy Breedlove: Surviving Abuse, Learning to Love Himself and Living a Legendary Life -- #22
June 02, 2020 08:00 - 56 minutes - 32.7 MBTommy Breedlove isn't one to make excuses. Yes, the physical and emotional violence he endured as a boy led him to become violent himself as a teen, landing him in jail for his 19th birthday. But when he was mentored by a fellow inmate and inspired to avoid another trip behind bars, he took responsibility for his recovery. He toiled at low-wage jobs by day and studied hard at night, landing a position at a prestigious financial services firm just three years later. And yet, while his career ...
Grace and Tolerance: The Antidote to Anxiety and Stress#21
May 19, 2020 08:00 - 50 minutes - 23.5 MBConflict and leadership frequently go hand-in-hand. Add to the mix a global pandemic that comes with stay-at-home orders, shuttered schools and remote working, and millions find themselves living day-to-day in a powder keg of anxiety and stress. How best to navigate this unprecedented confluence of circumstances to minimize its affect on your family relationships and your business's bottom line? Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax and podcast co-host Gary...
Ed Kressy: He Beat Meth Addiction and Psychosis Through Spirituality, Self-Improvement and Service - #20
May 12, 2020 08:00 - 53 minutes - 31.3 MBFor 11 harrowing years, Ed Kressy descended deeper and deeper into the madness of methamphetamine addiction. From believing the FBI was trying to pin the 9/11 attacks on him, to not bathing or brushing his teeth for months, to considering himself married to the voices in his head that tormented his thoughts, his grip on reality slipped away a little more each day. It was a far cry from the life he had known, he tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax: a...
Michelle Kuei: Disabled by a Car Accident, She Refused to Settle for "Being Normal" and Discovered Her Inner Diamond -- #19
May 05, 2020 08:00 - 53 minutes - 30.9 MBShe never really had a chance to dream about what her life could be before a tragic car accident at 11 in her native Taiwan left Michelle Kuei with physical and emotional scars that plagued her for 30 years. When her body stopped growing after the crash, her mind started racing with how she would never be "normal." It wasn't just that friendships and romance were hard -- grocery shopping was near-impossible: she couldn't grab anything to put in her cart without first discarding her crutches,...
Overcoming Pandemic Panic: Combatting Fear of the Unknown in Leadership and Life -- #18
April 21, 2020 08:00 - 41 minutes - 24.5 MBMillions worldwide are dealing with fears of the "what if?" right now as the world struggles through the health and economic uncertainties of the coronavirus outbreak. These worries can be upsetting, depressing and even emotionally paralyzing; in fact, one scientific study has determined fear of the unknown can be more distressing than fear of serious injury or death. In this new episode of BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE, host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax offers several encouraging i...
Trent Griffin-Braaf: Dealing Drugs Cost Him His Freedom, Prison Taught Him Humility and the Rewards of Serving Others - #17
April 14, 2020 08:00 - 54 minutes - 31.5 MBHis father died when he was 9. Not long after, his mother's drug addiction forced him out of his home to live with his grandparents. Money was tight, school was not his strong suit, and by his late teens Trent Griffin-Braaf was running with the wrong crowd. By 19, he was serving 4-12 years in prison for selling drugs. But he tells Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax that when he had to attend his grandmother's funeral in shackles, unable to hug grieving l...
Brad Kullman: Losing His MLB Dream Job Birthed His Vision to Help People Understand How They're Wired - #16
April 07, 2020 08:00 - 39 minutes - 90.6 MBAs general manager of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds, Brad Kullman was living his childhood dream of making a living, and life, in the game he loved. But after being passed over for permanent promotions and finally being let go, he moved past the devastation to realize he was free to pursue a passion that had become even more important to him: using the analytical tools he had pioneered as a pro sports scout and executive to help everyday men and women unlock the insights of their h...
Follow Hope, Not Fear: How Perseverance Fuels A Life of Significance -- #15
March 24, 2020 08:00 - 39 minutes - 23.2 MBIf you've had a crucible experience, you are going to have to persevere through feelings of loss and fear, as well as additional setbacks, as you chart your course to a life of significance. Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax shares stories from his family history (his great-great grandfather John Fairfax) and world history (Winston Churchill), while also discussing his own efforts to claw his way back emotionally and practically after losing $2.25 billi...
Craig Perra: How Finding His Purpose Helped Him Overcome Addiction, Getting Fired (Twice) and Nearly Losing his Family - #14
March 17, 2020 08:00 - 45 minutes - 26.3 MBCraig Perra admits he's the last person you'd expect to be a life coach. He was a corporate lawyer on the C-Suite track when his sexual and drug addictions left him at rock bottom in his career and his marriage, bringing him so low he attempted suicide. Then a mentor who had walked a similar path helped him overcome his demons through structured behavioral change that allowed him to understand the underlying causes of his destructive ways, create new, healthy habits ... and save his relation...
Jim Daly: Hope's Power to Grow an Abandoned Boy Into a Global Nonprofit Leader -- #13
March 10, 2020 08:00 - 49 minutes - 115 MBJim Daly was abandoned by his alcoholic father at 5, lost his mother to cancer four years later and had no one to turn to but his four older siblings when their stepfather emptied the family home and left them to fend for themselves on the day they buried their Mom. Before he had turned 10, he was living with a dysfunctional foster family and thinking it was all just part of the "normal" life all kids lived. But buoyed by a hopeful spirit, he embraced the structure his teenage years brought ...
Significance That Lasts: Leaving an Intentional Legacy -- #12
February 25, 2020 09:00 - 33 minutes - 19.7 MBWhat do you hope your friends and loved ones remember about you after you're gone? What words would you like spoken in your eulogy? Written on your headstone? In this thoughtful and insightful new episode, Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax explores practical ways we can live today in a manner that leaves a legacy that outlives us well into tomorrow. The key, he and co-host Gary Schneeberger discuss, is pursuing your career and caring for your family wit...
Robert Krantz: Bringing Faith, Hope & Significance to the Big Screen -- #11
February 18, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 41.1 MBRobert Krantz appeared in some of the top films of the '80s -- Back to the Future, anyone? -- but when he turned his attention and talents to writing, directing and starring in his own movies a decade later, his career and life began to unspool like a dropped film reel. His first production -- which he and his wife put so much money into they had to live with his mother -- had the makings of a hit but never took off because of a disastrous Hollywood screening. That professional setback was f...
Glenn Williams: Leveraging a Crushing Career Setback for a Second Chance at Significance #10
February 11, 2020 09:00 - 50 minutes - 29.1 MBGlenn Williams was living a life of success and significance in 2010 as a C-Suite executive with a global nonprofit doing life-changing work. But it all ended after his integrity was questioned by the CEO, leading Williams to resign and move his family back to his native Australia to figure out what was next for him at the halftime of his life. In this interview with BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax, Williams shares the lessons of his crucible experie...
The Power of Forgiveness to Free Yourself and Bless Others -- #9
January 28, 2020 12:00 - 27 minutes - 16.3 MBFew things are tougher when moving beyond a crucible experience than forgiving others, or even yourself, for the pain you've experienced from a failure or setback. Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax explains why it's essential to muster the character and courage to extend forgiveness -- or risk being emotionally and practically held back from pursuing a life of significance. How does forgiveness help you and those you forgive? Is it possible or even ne...
Margie Warrell: Silencing Your Inner Critic to Live a Life of Bravery and Boldness #8
January 21, 2020 09:00 - 46 minutes - 26.8 MBShe battled bulimia all through her teens and later survived an armed robbery and a miscarriage. But Margie Warrell refused to let these crucible experiences define her. She fought her way to a life of significance helping women in particular live authentic lives of unshakable bravery, not battling against external forces but against internal ones. In this interview with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host (and fellow Aussie) Warwick Fairfax, Warrell describes how she ha...
John Ramstead: How Crucibles Led Fighter Pilot and Millionaire Entrepreneur To Help Others Find Significance - #7
January 07, 2020 17:35 - 54 minutes - 38.1 MBDevastating crucible experiences robbed him of his lifelong dream to be a Top Gun Navy fighter pilot and bankrupted the multi-million-dollar business he created years later. Then, just when John Ramstead thought he had his life back on track, a freak horseback-riding accident left him with crushed ribs, broken bones in his neck, a punctured lung, and a torturous 23 surgeries during a a 20-month stay in a traumatic brain-injury hospital. In this interview with Crucible Leadership founder an...
Transform Your Life: Craft a Vision, not a Resolution - #6
December 31, 2019 09:00 - 30 minutes - 24.8 MBThe start of a new year leads many of us to create New Year's Resolutions, but we'd be wiser, and happier, and help more people if we instead moved into 2020 crafting a vision rooted in our deepest values and passions. Crucible Leadership founder and Beyond the Crucible host Warwick Fairfax explains that resolutions leave us feeling obligated, not motivated -- so they tend to last only a few weeks. A vision, though, can last a lifetime because it's a picture of our preferred reality: somethi...
Mike and David Charbonnet: Finding Purpose in Your Pain -- #5
December 17, 2019 09:00 - 57 minutes - 46.7 MBMike Charbonnet was proud when his son, David, followed in his footsteps to join the Navy SEALs. But when a parachuting accident left David paralyzed, Mike says his son summoned courage more remarkable than anything either of them ever had to muster in the military. In this interview with Crucible Leadership founder and BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host Warwick Fairfax, David recounts how his accident left him feeling like his dreams and goals had disappeared, sending him into a dark depression made ...
A Life That Matters: Significance Over Success #4
December 03, 2019 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MBTrue success in life, Crucible Leadership founder and Beyond the Crucible host Warwick Fairfax explains, is not about the number of zeroes on your bank statement. It's about ensuring your life is aligned with your beliefs, values, and passions. A life of significance, he stresses, doesn’t have to be grand in scope. A life helping others, be it many or few is a life well-lived. For more information go to https://crucibleleadership.com
Esther Fleece Allen: Reject Limiting Labels, Embrace Your New Name - #3
November 19, 2019 09:00 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBEsther Fleece Allen overcame a traumatic childhood of abuse and abandonment to forge a successful career as a speaker and writer. But when the father she feared resurfaced to stalk her in her early 30s, she realized the successful life she had built was fashioned as a defense mechanism to avoid processing her pain. Only by learning to lament the crucible experiences of her upbringing and rejecting a lifetime of labels that limited her healing has she been able to begin living a life of true ...
Living With and Learning From Your Crucible Moment - #2
November 01, 2019 08:00 - 26 minutes - 18.6 MBForty-nine percent of U.S. business professionals say they've suffered "an experience so traumatic it fundamentally changed their lives." Crucible Leadership founder and Beyond the Crucible host Warwick Fairfax explores the many forms these searing experiences can take and offers healing insights for not just surviving them, but thriving in the aftermath of them. Check him out at Harvard Business School Alumni Podcast as well at : https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.a...
Finding Hope after a $2.25B Failure - #1
October 30, 2019 08:00 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBMost leaders don't talk about their failures. But Crucible Leadership founder and Beyond the Crucible host Warwick Fairfax has discovered learning, and sharing, the lessons of how he lost the family media dynasty can help others move past life's most shattering setbacks. The toughest part of his crucible moment, he explains, was not the number of zeroes in the price tag of the loss. It was the emotional devastation of feeling he had let down his parents, his ancestors, and even God. Discover...
What is the 'Beyond The Crucible' Podcast?
October 15, 2019 16:59 - 13 minutes - 9.66 MB'Beyond the Crucible' host Warwick Fairfax shares the lessons he learned from losing a $2.25 billion bid to take over the 150-year-old family media dynasty he had be groomed to run since birth. From that "crucible moment," he discovered a new vision for his life, one rooted in helping others overcome painful setbacks in their lives. Sharing the stories of men and women who have bounced back from devastating hardship and failure to live a life of significance is a key focus of 'Beyond the Cr...