Keep on Pushing Through the Obstacles
Tammy Gooler Loeb, MBA, CPCC
Executive Leadership Coach | Career Transition Coach | Speaker | Author| Podcast Host | Team Facilitation | Leadership Development | Corporate/Organization Culture | Crossfunctional Communication |
I'm the host of?Work From The Inside Out, a?weekly podcast that features a mix of interviews and solo shows. Interviews are with real people who have made a transition to a more satisfying and meaningful career. We explore the strategies they implemented as they overcame barriers, while also attending to the practical matters of life.
Insights from me and my guests will inspire you to take action and to seek your own best livelihood.
Devon Harris is a founding member of the first Jamaican bobsled team, which competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Their exploits inspired the Disney movie Cool Runnings. Devon competed again in 1992 and 1998 as captain of the Olympic teams.
His very early years were spent in rural Jamaica with his grandmother, an amazing storyteller. Her stories had a great impact on him, especially those about soldiers and their extraordinary abilities. He then moved to Kingston, Jamaica to live with his Dad and attend school. He describes it as a challenging, rough, violent, ghetto environment.?Early on, Devon focused on school and sports as he knew that excelling in these areas was his ticket out of the ghetto.?At 15, he discovered the Olympics ABC Wide World of Sports series on TV.?
“When you think of Olympic athletes, I think of these superhuman beings. What I saw in those series were very average people but they had extraordinary dreams. And they had an equally extraordinary desire to make those dreams a reality. So that's when it dawned on me, wow, anybody could become an Olympian, within reason you need a talent. But outside of that, if you dare to dream that extraordinarily, then backed up that dream with work ethic, sacrifice, and commitment.?That's when I decided that I wanted to become an Olympian.”?
Of course, bobsledding was not on Devon’s radar as his dream Olympic sport. Listen to our conversation to learn how that came to be.?While?Cool Runnings?tells the story of how the original bobsledding team was formed, Devon shared that the movie is highly fictional.?
Today,?Devon is a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist.?He shares his lessons about persistence over obstacles to living one's best life. He wrote a children's book?Yes, I Can,?and a semi-autobiographical book,?Keep on Pushing Hot Lessons from Cool Runnings.?
In this week’s?Work From The Inside Out podcast,?learn more about Devon’s amazing journey:
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Learn more and connect with Devon here:
Listen, subscribe and read show notes at?www.tammygoolerloeb.com/podcasts/?-?episode 166
Interested in booking Tammy to speak??Learn more about?speaking and workshops?on how she guides audiences through the skills and techniques that yield success by taking an interactive approach. Her presentations equip participants with essential tools that can be utilized immediately and throughout their careers.
Photographer/Videographer/Creative Director @ Kimberly Butler Photography | Editorial, New Media
2 年Cool Runnings!