Giacomo Gianniotti spends some time on Behind Greatness to discuss and explore his thoughts on driving change and making impact. We learn how a young Giacomo felt the need to fit in and blend in as an “outsider” for years after he moved from his native Italy. But when his parents saw that he had to free himself from this debilitation, they took action. And this is when his real growth began to take hold. As he freed himself to explore and celebrate his differences and similarities with the world around him he realized how important storytelling was to him in developing his path. We learn how growing up in the summers in Rome helped him hone his wits and appreciate the importance of humour in communicating truth. Using his love of scuba-diving as a metaphor, he explains how he is driven to push his own boundaries and test himself to expand his own artistic imprint. We also discuss about who he holds in high esteem, and why it has become so important for him to help those less fortunate. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Instagram: giacomo_gianniotti Twitter: @GiacomoKG

Eric San (aka “Kid Koala”) sits down with us to talk about his take on success. He grew up both in the US and in Canada with hard-skilled, no-nonsense immigrant parents who also had an appreciation for music. They started little Eric training as a classical piano player until his piano teacher became annoyed by his experimentation with notes to spin his own musical experience. And spinning he did. Starting by using hamburger wrappers as slip sheets on his sister’s turntable as a 12 year old, Eric went on to spend his adult years touring 6 continents with big bands as a trail-blazing Scratch DJ. Eric considers himself the “ultimate dabbler”, mixing and weaving other facets of art into his universe of experiences – taking his fun when “right side and left side are wrestling”. Today, he’s also a music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. Exploring, learning and living without judgement: lessons he takes from his kids … thanks to his parents. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. https://kidkoala.com https://patreon.com/kidkoala twitter: @kidkoala fb: facebook.com/kidkoala IG: @realkidkoala

We are joined by Mary Dalimonte, a 40-year veteran of food retailing and distribution and a venerated industry trail-blazer in Canada. Recently stepping down from her SVP role at Sobeys – the country’s 2nd largest retailer – Mary shares with us the pivotal lessons she learned throughout her career. The daughter of immigrant parents, she learned very early the wisdom of working hard and showing up prepared day in and day out for the job at hand. Always committed to self-improvement, growing the business and punching through the glass ceiling, Mary cultivated a highly successful career in the industry. But, she never forgot about the most important ingredient to her success: her team. We hear about her belief in the sacredness of a mentor’s role and we also get to hear about her 3 biggest fears. And yes, one of them is her mother. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marydalimonte/

We sit down with Brian, currently a Founder and Managing Director of Play4Tomorrow – a leading design academy and tech accelerator for positive youth development. Brian brings us through his own challenges as a youth growing up fascinated by games and fantastical fictional worlds. He was soon encouraged to take a different, more athletically-centered career as he grew in physical stature and showed athletic promise. Not one for wasting time, Brian leveraged his scholarship status at Stanford in California and graduated with engineering and management science degrees after playing division 1 football. After a brief professional football career, Brian already had his sights set on exploring the worlds he so dearly loved as a young boy. Always wondering if perhaps children are actually born perfect, he has built a laser-focused accelerator in Silicon Valley meant to help under-privileged kids develop skills in design thinking for social impact – and more. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Website: https://www.play4tomorrow.com/ Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bulcke-47bb9017/

As a young boy, Merv and his siblings moved from a comfortable life in sunny, tropical Jamaica to Toronto. We learn about the strongest influences in his life: his polymath father and his fiercely dedicated mother. For them, high educational achievement for their kids was a basic expectation. But we also learn about Merv’s persistent pursuit of a career in elite track & field – and his love of languages and literature. As we peel back the “onion” that is Merv we see a man who has achieved great success in his current work on Bay St, but also a man who still heeds a call to make a deeper mark on human history - through art. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. …. We exaggerate. Or do we? Listen in.

Growing up in a loving, hardworking immigrant family in Youngstown, Ohio, Michael was a natural athlete gravitating to competitive team sports at an early age. When an injury put the brakes on a potential career in football he found that one passion never left him: story-telling. Armed with both the love of reading and creating stories and the support of strong mentors, Michael decided to strike out on his own as a writer. Taking lessons from the collaborative nature of the sports he loved to play, Michael now marries those experiences with his need to dip into the “unconscious well of cerebration” for the stories he creates with his team. We learn how important it is for him to write about the things that terrify him in order to strive to be in a position to invent – and make art.   To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.  Twitter: @michaelnarducci

Mark joins us from Silicon Valley where he served as Partner at his firm until early 2020. A Princeton grad, he worked his way through a career of gruelling and stressful working environments in order to achieve his material goals. Until he didn’t. He brings us through his former life as a high-achieving and high-performing athlete, investment banker and IP strategist. In 2016, Mark decided to research answers to existential questions he had increasingly begun to ask himself, only to find that this brought more questions - and more research. His curiosity and inquisitive nature compelled him to dive deep - really deep - into what may matter most: consciousness and the “oneness” of humanity. Now an author and a respected key note speaker, Mark pairs a scientific and research-based approach with a dogged determination to find answers to what our current science cannot yet explain. Why? Listen in and absorb. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Website: https://markgober.com/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-is-my-mind/id1470129415 "An End to Upside Down Thinking": https://www.amazon.com/End-Upside-Down-Thinking-Consciousness/dp/1947637851 "An End to Upside Down Living": https://www.amazon.com/End-Upside-Down-Living-Consciousness/dp/1949001040 Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/markgoberauthor/ https://www.instagram.com/markgober_author https://twitter.com/MarkGoberAuthor https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gober-bb957220/

Today, we spend some time with Chris Duffin, in Portland, Oregon. During our discussion, we learn about a boy who endured extreme hardships growing up in the remote mountains of California. Barely out of his adolescence, he took custody of his younger siblings while working full-time, running a business on the weekends and completing his engineering degree. He is a father and a husband, an entrepreneur, a brand builder, an author, a speaker, a coach, a custom-vehicle builder AND a record-holding power lifter to boot. We learn about Chris’ refusal to define himself by his circumstances and his belief that he can create and form the world around him to dictate his own future and change his reality. Sounds crazy? He’s doing it. Pay attention to the 3 simple things that were important to him growing up in those harsh conditions and how they were critical in laying down the foundation of the man he is today. “My real job is to be me”. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Websites: www.KabukiStrength.com www.BuildFastFormula.com www.BearFootAthletics.com www.ChristopherDuffin.com Podcast, Kabuki Strength Chat  Best Selling Book -The Eagle & The Dragon Linkedin Instagram: mad_scientist_duffin Instagram: kabukistrength

We join in conversation this week with one of the most influential women in the world of AI & AI Ethics. Dr. Sateli brings us through her journey as a young girl in Tehran to a high-octane phd student, developer and entrepreneur in Montreal to a renowned globe trotting AI Analytics and Ethics specialist. We discuss her professional quest to view automation as a help to her fellow humans for exploring their creativity and not for suppressing it. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bahar-sateli/ Twitter: @BaharSateli

We sit down with our friend Alex Rechichi, another long time Advisor to Inspire and an accomplished, seasoned entrepreneur - and podcaster too. Listen to his thoughts on the importance of “visible leadership” and working shoulder to shoulder with your team. He has run his own businesses (with his two partners) since graduating from university and has never looked back. Having always been consumed by building and creating, he’s understood that being a leader in business is an acceptance of always “being on the stage”. And, we learn that his intensity finds its strength in his dedication to mindfulness rather than from the sirens of ego. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north. Twitter: @CraveitCEO Website: www.craveitrestaurants.com Podcast: https://www.eovercoffee.com/podcasts/