Behind Greatness by Inspire North

We spent some time with PJ Byrne: a veteran film, TV and voice actor, living in California. In college, he was preparing for a career in high finance. Having already secured a job on Wall St before he graduated, he started to discover (by chance) his thespian talents. With family roots in business and politics, young PJ never imagined acting as a life-long pursuit. But with good mentors early on, he was persuaded to explore this hidden talent. As he pursued this path, PJ explains how “hearing funny” - a key life skill he learned at home - came in handy. And, like his friend John Quinn from Episode 18, we learn that his dedication to preparation is sacred. A critical lesson he imparts on his host: don’t be afraid of an awkward moment if you’re not getting your questions answered. 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. IG: pj_byrne IMDb: P.J. Byrne Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: inspire_north Behind Greatness TW: inspire_north

In this episode, we spend some time with John S. Couch, who lives and works – and plays – in California. He is also currently VP, Product Design at Hulu. We dive immediately into discussing themes of life, work and the creative process. He brings us briefly through his experience in building teams and what philosophy he employs in building positive culture. He also warns about certain pitfalls in investing too much in “labels”. But, this is not before we discuss the lessons of the samurai and the importance of developing skills and a mindset through the mastery of one thing in order to approach other things. We discuss creating and the state of flow. We hear his views on the connection between experiencing different artforms and the “communion of understanding” with others. And, we also learn his thoughts on how any great art is a (necessary) confrontation. He rounds off the discussion with the two things he deems most important for his success and the ultimate lesson he’s learned in his life. 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.john-couch.com/the-art-of-creative-rebellion Twitter: @titaniumsky IG: theartofcreativerebellion Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncouch/ Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: inspire_north Behind Greatness TW: inspire_north

Today we sit down and have a camp fire chat with Tyson Yunkaporta. With origins from the Apalech tribe in Northern Australia, Tyson is a Best Selling Author, an Artist and a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University, living in Melbourne Australia. We have an insightful conversation on First People’s philosophy of thinking, perceiving and exploring the world. We discuss how the world might benefit from the understanding of what our languages teach us and what they may lack, the importance of the communication/sharing of failures in scientific research, the role that psychotropic drugs have had in our modern technology, the difference between “increasing” and “growth”,  the unfortunate split between society and nature, the law of the land and our custodial role in all of this. Throw in some Italian bees, sleeping in a hedge and a discussion on the sky camp and we have a great series of yarns … and another series of yarns to be continued. 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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyson-yunkaporta-04a9b969/ Book – Sand Talk How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/sand-talk-tyson-yunkaporta?variant=32122363445282

We sit down with Matt Larochelle, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Matt & Steve’s in Toronto. Matt charms us with his down-to-earth approach to life and how his small town roots have been important to him in his path of self-discovery. He brings us through some of his adventures in starting his business with his partner Steve: from jars exploding in his apartment to trying to make ends meet while servicing a growing demand for their products. We learn about how the passing of his father taught him what it truly meant to jump into his dream with two feet. More importantly, we learn how this has led to the growth of a man who continues to discover the significance in being courageous in his decisions. Even more importantly, we discuss what impact he wants to make on the world and what “fun” means to him. 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: mattandsteves Twitter: mattandsteves Website: https://us.mattandsteve.com/

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