I believe every human has an opportunity to make a difference. My favorite question to ask people is what would they do if they won the lottery. Dreaming with them lets me learn who they are and who they want to be. With my own life, I have decided to travel the world, connect with people, and solve meaningful challenges. I hope you join me as we work together to make this world a better place.
My Background
I grew up in Tulsa, OK. My early years were full of four-wheelers, hot summers, and cool nights under the stars. I was a happy, outgoing toehead with an insatiable curiosity. My favorite book as a kid was The Big Book of Tell Me Why. That should tell you everything you need to know about how patient my parents must have been. I loved to dress up as Batman and dreamed of the day when I too could save the world.
My family moved to 25 acres when I was 11 years old and naturally it became my responsibility to manage the property. Forty hours a week on a tractor in triple digits inspired me to learn everything I could about technology. My first job out of school had me fixing computers and building websites. Since then, I went on to help start two tech companies and then to work for two energy giants ConocoPhillips and AES. Everything I accomplished in my career was about seeing a problem, learning a technology, and applying a solution. If there was anything distinguishing about me during this time, it was only my love for helping people and my commitment to never give up.
By the time I hit 30, I held patents in wireless technology, won four awards from the International CES, accepted a CIO 100 award, and was a regularly featured speaker at conferences and tradeshows. My work had generated over $100m in value for these companies and in exchange, they allowed me to average 2.5 months of vacation a year for the last five years of my career. It was a great life and I loved every minute of it.
As Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living. After spending ten years learning everything I could from start-ups and large corporations, I decided it was time for me to start acting like I won the lottery. Now I travel the world, connect with people, and solve meaningful challenges. You can learn more about my work here.
My Faith
If you haven’t read Love Does by Bob Goff yet, I highly recommend you put it at the top of your reading list. In it Bob describes a beautiful life full of love and whimsy. So far it is the best description I have found of my own personal faith.
I believe that the universe is infinitely larger than any of us can understand, but I love trying to anyways. I believe people deserve to be given at least 77 second chances, and I’m thankful that I’ve been given even more than that. I believe in the power of prayer, hope, and love. I’m still learning to get over myself. My faith calls me to push in when it makes more sense to run away. I believe the best way to heal is to hold. I’ve never found a person who has changed because I told them to, but I have seen first-hand how loving people, especially when you don’t want to, can change lives.
I believe in a God beyond us, yet with us still, that has given us an entire lifetime to choose to love him and our neighbor more than our self. I believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and in all his teachings on love, justice, peace and humility. As humans I believe it is our capacity to chose that makes us unique, and I believe that is what we are called to do with this life. I believe we have an amazing ability as a human race to heal and to create, to nurture and to develop, and I’m excited to see where God takes us next.
My Adventures
Over the last ten years I’ve had the great fortune to travel the world and meet a number of incredible people. Here are some of the places I’ve visited and on the right you can see where I am planning to travel to next.
Places I have visited
