143: Jim Bourke’s passion for baseball cards leads to better business skills [podcast]

Jim Bourke started collecting baseball cards as a kid and now has every Topps baseball card except one – Mickey Mantle’s 1952 rookie card #311. He says he’ll be buying it the day after his last child graduates college. He grew up outside of New York City and was fortunate enough to attend many Yankees games growing up, which fueled his passion for baseball cards. Now, he also goes to the All-Star Game every year and coached his son’s Little League teams.

In this episode, Jim and I talk about how passion for something, no matter what it is, makes you stand out. He tells young accountants that he mentors, “Find something that’s yours and take it to the next level.” He learned early on in his career that in order to be successful, it was necessary to develop both his personal and professional lives. He’s also known for creating experiences for those around him, whether that’s taking staff someone unique while they’re out of town on a client visit or it’s sitting in the front row with clients at Yankees games and taking pictures with some of the players.