October 15, 2025 • 49 mins
During WWII in war-torn Holland, a five-year-old watches Canadian soldiers hand out bread, butter, and cheese in a schoolyard. He decides that someday he will live in the land of his heroes. Decades later that child, John Brink, arrives in Canada with a suitcase, $25.47 in his pocket, and a desire to build his own company. What unfolds is a story of grit, passion, and the billion-dollar skill that changed everything: Communication.
We sit down with John to explore his childhood in Nazi-Occupied Holland, PTSD, and years of academic struggles that evolved into a blueprint for confident speaking and leadership. He shares the identity shift that came with discovering ADHD and Dyslexia, and how naming his neurodiversity turned shame into a superpower. From a humiliating first experience speaking in public to becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster, John walks us through the habits that transformed panic into presence: study the room, master the tech, move with purpose, choose outlines over scripts, and focus on your audience. He also reveals why a little anxiety is useful, how empathy makes moments unforgettable, and what it looks like to go off-script to elevate someone else’s story.
Along the way, we talk building lumber mills, writing books, and stepping on a bodybuilding stage in his 70s and 80s as a declaration that discipline scales across domains. If you care about public speaking, leadership, or simply finding your voice, you’ll leave with practical tactics and a deeper sense of what’s possible when you align attitude, passion, and work ethic with a clear message.
Where to Connect With John Brink:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnABrink
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-brink-podcast/id1523109056
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Resources from This Episode: Billion Dollar Communication Skills: https://amzn.to/4gELwS2 Against All Odds (autobiography): https://amzn.to/4gHZMJY Living Young, Dying Old: https://amzn.to/4mDklIR
As an Amazon Partner, our podcast earns from qualified purchases at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Todd (00:00):
This is the Cluttered Path, a compass for midlife.
Have you ever wondered why somepeople have the ability to
simply captivate an audience,while others struggle to get
their message across?
Today, we're talking to JohnBrink, an entrepreneur and
(00:22):
author whose success is rootedin mastering the art of
communication.
In his most recent book,Billion Dollar Communication
Skills, John reveals thecommunication techniques that
transformed his life and hisbusiness.
But here's the twist.
John was born in Nazi-occupiedHolland in 1940, and his early
life was shaped by the horrificviolence of war.
(00:42):
Now, English is also not hisnative tongue, yet John
immigrated to Canada as a youngman, ended up building a
successful company, and alongthe way, mastered the art of
public speaking, all whiledealing with learning
disabilities and PTSD.
Now in his mid-80s, John isstill thriving as president and
CEO of the Brink Group ofCompanies.
(01:03):
He's authored a number ofbooks, and he's also a ranked
bodybuilder, among many otheraccomplishments.
John, welcome to the show.
Yeah, nice to be here, Todd.
I look forward to our uhdiscussion.
Excellent.
Now, I gave this very briefintroduction.
So, with your permission, John,I'd like to just talk about
your life story and then diginto that most recent book you
(01:23):
wrote, Billion DollarCommunication Skills.
Does that work?
Sure.
Okay, let's start.
Can you tell us about thoseearly years in Nazi-occupied
Holland?
John (01:33):
Yeah, so as you already said, uh Todd, I was born
November the 1st, 1940.
So in a month from now, I willbe 85 years young.
And so uh the first thing thatI remember of the war was uh
when I was about three, threeand a half years old.
My parents were married in1938.
(01:55):
They were in love, they had uhrented a beautiful house, a
little duplex actually, and sothey were in love, and uh very
quickly had a boy and a girl,and then my mother was pregnant
with me, and then everythingchanged because Hitler, the
dictator in Germany, decided touh that uh part of Poland or all
(02:18):
of Poland should be part ofGermany, and the next step would
be to invade and take onWestern Europe and in our case
Holland.
So my dad, in April of 1940,was drafted into the Dutch army,
and the last time they saw himwas in Rotterdam, and the
(02:39):
Germans then didn't feel thatHolland capitulated quicken off
and they bombed the city, thismajor, major, beautiful city,
Rotterdam, the center of it.
And that's the last place thatsomebody saw my dad, and it
would be five years before theyknew if he lived or died.
(02:59):
So my mom then was alone withthe two kids, and then obviously
pregnant with me.
Uh, it was a difficult,difficult time for her and them,
and everybody around them.
And it was not just one helpsthe other, everybody was into
survival.
First that I remember when Iwas three and a half years old,
uh, you know, was the Alliedforces that started bombing the
(03:23):
war infrastructure from theGermans.
And right, and I was born innortheastern Holland, in the
extreme northeast, about 10, 15minutes from the German border.
So a lot of the air trafficbombed over our houses and our
cities, and I remember hundreds,hundreds of planes in the air,
(03:45):
daytime, nighttime, a sound thatis still with me, will never
hear again.
Hundreds, hundreds, twohundred, three hundred planes.
And in the distance, uh, my momwould take us outside on the
flat roof behind our house tolook in the distance because not
it was so pretty, but rathershe felt safer outside than
(04:06):
inside.
And in the distance we couldsee the cities burning across
the border.
You know, Willemshafen, Kiel,Hamburg, and on and on and on,
all those cities close to theNorth Sea and the northwestern
part of Germany.
And so the next thing that Iremember is that the hunger in
(04:27):
1944, when the Germans cut offall the food supply to our
region.
And I remember even now, 80years or more than 80 years
later, I can still feel thefeeling of hunger.
And every morning, my brother,my sister, and myself, we would
go with gunny sacks into therailroad yard, pick up anything
(04:48):
edible and burnable.
The reason that we did as kids,they wouldn't shoot us, they
booed us one, but we'd be backthe following morning.
And then the winter of 1944,445, and hold on, but the
coldest one on record, and Istill remember a little part of
our house that we heated, a verysmall part, and we sit around
(05:09):
this heating system that we had,and uh you burned in the front
and you you you froze in theback, and I can still feel it,
the feeling of cold and hunger,and then anxiety, because there
was always that sense ofanxiety.
And then as the war uh as theAllied forces landed in Normandy
(05:32):
and made the way, theAmericans, the Canadians in the
UK, as they landed in Normandyand made their way to free to
free Europe, is that theCanadians won north through
France, Belgium, the west sideof Holland, and then they landed
in in June of 1944, and as theymade the way at great cost of
(05:56):
lives, obviously along the way,when they came to closer to
northern Holland, againvisualized Holland, close to the
German border.
They the Germans had nothingleft, and they would blow up all
the bridges behind them to tryto get back to Germany and slow
down the Allied forces.
And so I remember April the12th, 1945.
(06:18):
We were liberated by theCanadian Army, and it made such
an impression on me.
They were probably with 100,150 feet behind us was a little
schoolyard.
There were about 25 Canadiansfrom the Canadian Red Cross were
there, and every morning wewould go down there and they
would feed us with bread andbread, with butter and cheese,
(06:42):
and the butter and cheese wasbigger.
It was paradise, and we calledeverybody Johnny.
Obviously we didn't speak thelanguage, but we did, really.
And it made such an impressionthat I knew when I grew up I
would go to the land of myheroes, Canada.
And during that point of theliberation, we saw far too much
that we should not have seen.
Dead bodies, uh, I still cansee visually, uh, you know,
(07:06):
carts with legs and arms hangingout this side, several people
being shot right around ourhouse area where there was a
bridge that was blown up, andthings got very, very rough.
And so PTSD is still very muchpart of my life.
The inner child, I gotcounseling for that actually in
my 50s.
I had no idea what it was, butthe little boy that lived then
(07:30):
in 1945 and saw too much wasstill very much part of me, and
the counseling helped me veryemotional, actually.
Anyway, so that was all stillpart of it.
And uh so it was tough andrough, and uh and for some
people, with all due respect,may think that once the war is
over, everything goes back tonormal.
It simply doesn't.
(07:51):
It can take generations as itdid for us.
My dad did come back uh, youknow, after the liberation of
Holland, but life is never thesame again, and he was never the
same again.
Being affected by PTSD, alcoholbecame uh part of it, and he,
you know, we cared about eachother a lot, obviously, but uh
(08:14):
it's very very difficult.
Todd (08:16):
Yeah, yeah, I'm tearing up here, man.
Oh yeah, you're making ooh.
John (08:22):
So let me take you a little bit further then.
So the then gradually obviouslyuh takes a long time to get
things back to a sense ofnormal.
But uh, you know, the Canadiansto me as a little five-year-old
made an immense impression, andI knew once I grew up, I would
go to the land of my heroes,Canada.
(08:43):
And it's always stayed uh withme.
And so academically, uh, youknow, let moving a little bit
further, I was not a successstory.
Uh I failed grade three and Ifailed grade seven three times.
And so they said to my parents,Well, what are you gonna do
with this guy?
And and they loved meregardless.
(09:04):
Uh, some people suggest I sendhim to the mentally challenged
school.
He said, No, we're not gonna dothat.
And so so my dad had a friendthat had a furniture factory,
and uh, so at 12 and a halfyears old, uh, he got me a job
in the furniture factory, and uhso and I loved it.
I was in there for uh uh youknow quite a number of years and
(09:25):
worked in it, and then when Iwas 18, I was drafted into the
Dutch Air Force, uh specialforces actually.
I don't know why, but I uh wasthere for a little bit more than
two years, good experience, andthen again after that worked in
the forest industry in Holland.
Uh, climbed very, very quickly,but still my dream was there to
(09:48):
go to the land of my heroes,Canada.
So, and then the other part, uhacademically I was not a
success story.
All the people around me, thefriends that I used to have that
went to college and university,uh kind of looked down on me
because I was a laborer.
I'm proud of that today, butthen it was kind of looked down
on.
But I always knew, uh, Todd,that I was just as smart, not
(10:10):
smarter than all the others, andI had to prove it to me, not to
anybody else.
So when uh in 1965, I'd beenthinking about this already for
a while.
I had a very, very good job,very, very good position, but I
decided I have to start overagain and go to the land of my
dreams, but not only go there,but build a lumber mill.
(10:32):
And I want to start withnothing.
And so I left Holland in Julyof 1965 as a suitcase, three
books, two sets of clothes, verylittle money, flew into
Montreal and landed in Montreal,took the train.
I'm gonna go to BritishColumbia, that's where all the
trees are, and so I took thetrain across Canada, four days,
five nights.
(10:53):
My God, that is a long way.
And so I couldn't speakEnglish, didn't have a didn't
know a soil and uh didn't have ajob, landed in Vancouver, went
to the immigration departmentthere, and couldn't speak
English, but fortunately therewas a German fellow and I could
speak some German.
I told him I wanted to build alumber mill.
He said, Go to Prince George,500 miles north.
That's where they're buildingmills, and all I did.
(11:15):
And the Greyhound bus, I uhwent uh to Prince George and uh
uh so it was 12 hours on the andthe bus, came off the bus in
Prince George, which was aboomtown, and and so at my
suitcase, three books, two setsof clothes, and I counted my
money at least three times.
I had $25.47.
And and so uh needed to get ajob because my dream was to
(11:40):
build a mill.
And and started then from thebottom up and uh, you know, as a
cleanup man and walked all theway to the mill and uh uh you
know and gradually climbed upfairly rapidly, uh, you know,
cleanup man in a lumber mill,then a lumber pilot, then green
chain foreman, then a foreman,then a superintendent, all
(12:02):
within a year and a half.
Wow.
But even that didn't go fastenough for me.
So then I because I'm underbuilding mill, and and and then
I had an opportunity to manage alittle small mill and had an
option to get one-third of theownership if I stayed for five
years.
And where was the mill, John?
Well, it was a little mill inthe Yukon Territory, and for all
(12:24):
those people watching us, uh uhBritish Columbia is a big
province, about a thousand milesfrom Vancouver all the way to
the Yukon border, which is nextto Alaska, and so that's where
their little mill was.
And so uh and for a little uhfellow like me coming from
Holland, uh, if you ask me, whatis the climate in Holland?
(12:46):
I say the rain is colder in thewinter.
That's the difference.
Otherwise, it always rains.
The Yukon territory, it cansnow in July, and you don't know
if it is late or early, andI've seen that 62 below.
So running a sawmill was noteasy there, but I did for five
years, then came back to CentralBritish Columbia, started again
(13:07):
from the ground up, and thenstarted building my mill and
incorporated Brink ForestPricks, the first company,
October the 1st, 1975.
So next week, Wednesday, itwill be my 50th year of starting
this company with threeemployees and myself working 16
(13:28):
hours a day, seven days a weekfor the first 10 years, and and
then building up to where it'snow.
I'm not bragging about how bigthe companies are.
We have about 10 companies andand a lot of employees and all
the other kind of things.
But uh, you know, so what isthe foundation?
If if you look again at my2547, what it says underneath is
(13:48):
this attitude, I'm alwayspositive.
I want to stay away from me ifyou're going to be negative.
Passion, whatever I do, I giveit 125%.
Work ethic, I work harder thananybody.
Even now at 85, I get up at5:30 in the morning, I always
make my bed and I always thinkI'm late.
(14:09):
And then so I step out and I'moutside.
I said, I'm in paradise.
How much better can I get inthe world than ever you are?
And so that's kind of what mydays are like.
Todd (14:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, you make me think of mymom.
She I was born in the mountainsof western North Carolina here
in the States, and my mom, well,both my parents actually grew
up with abusive alcoholicfathers.
I never met either of mygrandfathers, right?
But with my mom, it was just ahorrible existence growing up.
And her dad, very abusive, inand out of jail.
(14:42):
And there were 10 children inthe family, and my mom cared for
her little sister.
And her little sister, she wasalmost three years old, two
years, nine months.
She contracted diphtheria.
And my mom was essentially hermother.
And they took her, she got sosick, they eventually took her
(15:02):
to see a doctor, and the doctorsaid, Hey, we need to get her
into the hospital.
But my grandfather just saidabsolutely no, would not allow
them to treat her.
And he said, Well, she's goingto die.
And the guy didn't care.
They just took her home, andwithin a few hours after getting
back home, she died.
And then this is how cruel mygrandfather was.
He made fun of my mom.
(15:24):
His daughter had died, and mymom was hurting for it.
Just anyways, but all that tosay this my mom was a very
positive person, or she is avery positive person, very happy
person.
So despite circumstances, huh?
Today, or yeah, she's 84 andshe lives in assisted living at
(15:44):
this point.
But she worked in textile millsher whole life, and uh after
retirement, she uh she's she's avery positive person.
So I appreciate you sayingthat.
That's good.
And how did you do that?
I mean, what what do you thinkinstilled that in you to have
that positive attitude?
John (16:03):
Yeah, that is a good question.
In spite of it all, as yourmom, I always have felt this
way.
And I lived in my own littleworld more than anything, and
and obviously academically,first the war years were hard,
saw far too much that we shouldnot have seen, had an impact on
(16:24):
that.
Uh people didn't talk aboutthat, what we saw and what we
did on a daily basis.
And then academically, uh, youknow, that uh I was not
successful and usually laughedat even by the teachers, and
say, as usually when they readthe results of tests that we
did, and the rating system wasfrom one to ten, ten being the
(16:48):
best.
And then as they would gothrough, they say Pete had a
nine, very good Pete, andMargaret had an eight, and then
John as usual had a zero, andyeah, everybody laughed about
it.
It's a but John will not amountto much other than he has no
future, and so uh, you know, soand but I lived in my own little
(17:10):
world.
I was very industrious already.
I was always active, deliveredpapers, anything to make a few
uh uh dollars, and and so andand then even in in the lumber
industry there and in themilitaries, I was very
successful because I wasdetermined, did all the things
that I had to do, and then some,and then, but I knew I knew I
(17:35):
had to start anew for myself.
It took me, even when I was inCanada already and already
successful, already had severalcompanies, and everybody said,
Oh, you're so successful andblah, blah, blah.
And and I didn't feel that way.
I thought I still had failed.
And then I was not a goodcommunicator.
I could interact with maybethree or four people around my
(17:57):
company, but not outside ofthat, because I didn't have the
confidence.
And and so then a couple ofthings happened that changed my
life.
The war years obviously did,going to Canada did, and then in
1997, and if I I'm sitting inone of my boardrooms here of one
of my companies, and I have astudio, and I have the actual
(18:20):
book there.
I want to a bookstore in PrinceGeorge that I picked up in
January of 1997.
I have the actual book stillthere, and I would then show it
to you.
It's saying, Driven toDistraction is the title of the
book written by Dr.
Halliwell.
And and as I went through thatbook, and I was standing there,
(18:44):
I said to myself, I cannotbelieve what I'm reading here.
It's about ADHD and it's aboutdyslexia.
And I said, Oh my god, that'sme.
And I wrote in the book, theactual book is still there, and
and so I opened the page, andthere I wrote in Dutch because I
(19:06):
was ashamed of it, because itwas suggested that it is a
mental dysfunction of some sortor disorder.
And and so, and and there I'mbuilding all kinds of companies
and blah, blah, blah.
Go to the banks and negotiatewith them, and I want X amount
of millions of dollars to dothis, that, and the other thing.
And oh, by the way, I have amental disorder as well.
(19:27):
Have a nice day, right?
So uh so obviously that doesn'tthe stigma, the stigma has
become less, but not as much asit should be.
That's why I'm so proactivestill, even now, about it.
So the more I saw about it, themore I read about it, then went
home, looked at Google, and onand on until I understood it.
(19:49):
And then, so that was I wasalready 67 years old then, and
57 years old in 1997.
So then five years later, afterI picked up the book, I went to
my doctor, delivered our twodaughters, and was a personal
friend in 1962, and and so Iwent into his office and he
(20:10):
said, Hey John, why are youhere?
I said, I think I got ADHD.
And so we looked at it, and Ido.
And so, but I already knew, Isay it's a superpower, and I
believe that very much and stilldo today.
So it changed my life.
All of a sudden I started thequestion of who am I has always
(20:33):
been with me up to that point.
Then the other part,communication skills.
This was in 1997 when I found abook, Driven to Distraction,
written by Dr.
Halliwell, who's a medicaldoctor, is a professor, has
written 18 books, is recognizedglobally as an uh, you know,
understanding uh ADHD anddyslexia.
(20:55):
He is ADHD and has dyslexia.
And so uh that became a very,very important part.
The other thing that I did, andby coincidence, in 1990, a
friend of mine said to me aboutcommunication skills.
I want you to go with me to anorganization.
I said, Well, where?
(21:16):
She said, Toastmasters.
I said, What's that all about?
She said, about communicationskills.
I said, Okay.
Are you gonna ask me anything?
She said, No, you just sitthere and watch it.
I said, as long as because ifyou're gonna ask me something,
I'm not going.
No, no, you're not asking.
In the middle of the meeting,there's somebody stood up and
said, Hey John, tell us allabout it.
I said, Oh, I'll never go backhere.
(21:38):
But I did.
I stayed there for 10 years,became a distinguished
Toastmaster, the highest rankingin Toastmasters.
And so, and for those peoplewatching us from around the
world is that Toastmasters, ifyou Google it, in North America
in particular, there arethousands and thousands and
(21:58):
thousands of clubs ofToastmaster clubs, 10, 20, 30,
40 million people have had ataste of Toastmasters to bring
them to a certain level ofcommunication skills.
I was a disaster.
And the thousands and thousandsof people that I've seen
entering Toastmasters, I I don'tthink I've ever seen anybody
(22:19):
like me.
I could have crawled out ofthere on hands and knees.
Let me out, let me out, but Istayed.
Todd (22:27):
And and and that changed my life.
Yeah.
So you had a lot of you, therewas a lot of stuff working
against you, even fromchildhood.
And it sounds like it you kindof used that as fuel, as
motivation.
And there was another, I mean,there were other things.
In the book, you talk about thesocial stigmas around your
family being farmers, and thatwas another thing you faced.
(22:48):
Uh, can you tell that storyabout the the girl that rejected
you?
John (22:53):
Yes.
I like it.
So I grew up, as I saidearlier, in northeastern
Holland, in the extreme 10-15minutes from the border, a
province called Groningen, andthey speak a dialect there in
that region.
So if I speak di and I love tospeak dialect, not as doesn't
(23:16):
sound like uh Span is in the andnot not not that kind of a
dialect, but it was uh not uh inmy opinion, but I love that
anyway.
So I grew up speaking dialect.
So then obviously I went intothe Air Force and I had to speak
high Dutch.
I had to acquire that ability,and I barely got that under
(23:38):
control.
Then I go to Canada and I haveto learn to speak English.
So and and coming back to yourquestion about the girl that
rejected me, is thatnortheastern Holland is mainly
farmers because uh uh probablysi uh 40, 50 percent, 60 percent
sometimes of Holland is below Zlevel, and and and particularly
(24:00):
in those regions where I grewup, and the ground is all sea
bottomed, but very fertile, makegrew very, very good for
farming.
And so there were a lot offarmers, big farmers, and then
there were farm laborers.
So you had you know the theworkers and the people that had
the money and had control, andthere was the status of that,
(24:21):
you know, being up there orbeing down here.
So that uh so I always remembergoing to a dance and uh, you
know, and then dancing uh with agirl that that was uh a
daughter of one of the richfarmers, and it wouldn't take
very long to uh to say, how muchland does your family have?
I said, let me see, one, two,three, four, five, six, six
(24:44):
flower pots full.
And and and there was no otherdance after that.
So I didn't go and make it.
But I laugh about it now, anduh, but it was very much so
then, as we still see in someregions as being up there, you
know, and and my grandmotheralways used to say they were
(25:06):
farm laborers, my grandmotherand my grandfather uh were farm
laborers, and she always used tosay be all the same, then being
naked, nobody can put a hand intheir pockets.
Todd (25:18):
What a great saying! That's awesome.
Yeah, I was I was born in thesoutheastern United States, and
uh there are some stigmas aroundour accents, and so I
appreciate from your book youtalk about dealing with an
accent as it may get in the wayof when you're communicating
with people.
So yeah, I I appreciated that.
It was just practicalinformation.
John (25:38):
Exactly.
So but it did then mytoastmastering, you know, in
combination, so it a couple ofthings happened taught that were
important.
Who am I became clearer withADHD and dyslexia?
The more I understood it, itwas not a not a deficiency, but
(26:01):
it was potentially a superpower.
And so looking at myself andlooking back, I can do that now
at 85.
I got nothing to prove toanybody.
Uh, you know, so I I love everyday, I love living here in
(26:21):
North America and in Canada inparticular.
I do business in North Americaand all kinds of places, and I'm
at peace, and I call itparadise.
Lucky, lucky us collectively.
And so uh, you know, and andthen communications became uh
the other part, but that did forme.
(26:43):
It gave me confidence that Iwas not better than, but just as
good as any of the otherfriends that I had that went to
colleges in university.
I learned the hard way, and Idid.
And so I became then graduallyat peace with who I am, and then
(27:04):
communication skills issomething that came natural to
me.
I've always been a storyteller,and and so and then I started
writing books, and people saidto me, Yeah, it's such an
interesting life you have towrite a book about it.
And and so I for 20 years Iwriting books is not easy, as
(27:24):
you well know.
So I went through all the upsand downs and and start
stopping, starting, stopping,starting, and then about six,
seven years ago, I said, if Idon't do it now, it will never
happen.
And so I wrote this one,Against All Odds.
It's all about not howsuccessful John is, but all
about the ups and downs alongthe way.
(27:45):
And and this one became very,very popular.
And then from there on in Iwent on about writing a book
about ADHD and all those other.
I feel I have an obligation toshare that with others, and it
became very much part of mylife.
Todd (28:02):
Yes.
That's how we came up with thename The Cluttered Path for our
podcast.
Ups and Downs of Life.
We make our plans and it looksrosy heading into it, but then
you're gonna encounter obstaclesalong the way.
So that's the way it works.
Exactly.
unknown (28:18):
Yeah.
John (28:19):
So looking back, uh, I'm very contented.
Todd (28:22):
Nice.
That's great.
Now, your your company was verysuccessful when you had your
terrifying first experience withpublic speaking, and someone
called on you to give your firstpublic speech.
And can you tell that story?
John (28:36):
Yes, I've been always an advocate of lumber
manufacturing.
I think we live in a country inCanada and northern eastern BC
in particular, and northern BCwith this beautiful, beautiful
timber.
We should do more, add morevalue to it, social and
economic.
And so I've always been anadvocate of that.
(28:56):
So then I was very good.
I am a very good writer, not agood reader.
Obviously, I didn't know thatthen dyslexia.
And and so uh, you know, so Iwrote a report uh about what we
should do politically in theprovince of British Columbia to
stimulate value-addedmanufacturing.
(29:18):
And so uh I was then invited tothe incumbent government of the
day in Victoria, BC, to make apresentation to a number of
senior bureaucrats and a numberof ministers of economic
development.
I think uh the premier of theprovince was there, the minister
of forests was there, and and anumber of uh a setting of about
(29:40):
10 or 12 people, and I hadpresented my written proposal,
and so I was uh uh supposed toarticulate my points, and so I
got a setting.
So as I walked into the roomand visualized this dot, so it's
it's one of the government.
Of British Columbia's majorbuildings, that's where the
(30:05):
government is, and then the mainboardroom, and there is a chair
for me, and what are sittingthere in front of me is 10 or 12
of the senior, seniorbureaucrats and the ministers of
the crown.
Wow.
And so I they had in front ofthe madam my presentation and
(30:27):
say, here is John Brink, CEO ofthe Brink Force Products, uh, in
regards to how do we developvalue added manufacturing.
And John, the floor is yours.
Wow.
That's scary.
I sat there, I couldn't say aword.
(30:47):
Absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
Zero.
So and so then I'm sittingthere, and then they said, okay,
you're okay.
You know, so uh, you know, wewe we saw your presentation and
we like it.
So the so the points trying tohelp me along the way, but it
(31:11):
didn't work.
Nothing.
Zero, nothing, nothing.
And and finally they said, thenso we will take your
presentation.
We have already looked at it, Ithink it's good points, and and
say thank you for making uh uhgiving us the presentation and
writing, and so uh thank youvery much for being here.
(31:34):
So I walked out of the room, uhshame, shame, absolute shame.
And and so I was devastated.
That was before I went to ToastFrancis, but yeah, and so as
you saw in my book.
So what it does is it shows thecombination of all the above.
(31:58):
So I went back and I wasdevastated because there I had
the opportunity to make thatpresentation in something that I
spend my life on trying tostimulate activity and further
manufacturing and and social andeconomic values and all of the
(32:19):
other things that I believed in,and I couldn't do it.
And so, but it also became thefoundation.
So if I look back then, it wasone step.
And then what happened afterthat?
Obviously, I joinedToastmasters in 1990 for 10
years, became a distinguishedToastmaster.
Tens of millions of people havebeen part of Toastmaster, less
(32:42):
than 1% of them go to thehighest level of becoming a
distinguished Toastmaster.
I did, and then uh obviouslythe next one is the book, uh,
ADHD and dyslexia, and now Iknow who I am and that changed
my life.
And so if I look back at theinventory, is I was always good
(33:04):
of me.
Uh say what happened in gradethree, what happened in grade
seven?
Obviously, ADHD dyslexia wasthe key point, but I've always
been good at numbers.
And I was always a good writer,but not a good reader.
And then the other parts wereI'm a storyteller, but but most
of the time there was noopportunity for that because I
(33:27):
did not have the confidence,because I thought, as the
teacher said, well, John willnot amount to much.
You know, so he becomes alaborer somewhere around the
line, and uh, so I hope he'shappy, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
So, but until I knew who am Iwas critically important.
So once I knew that late inlife, when the doc at 62
(33:52):
diagnosed me as saying I'm ADHD,changed my life.
And so I started writing booksand I'm now on my sixth one.
Obviously, I'm a very activepresenter, I believe, and being
very proactive about interactingabout ADHD, dyslexia, and other
(34:13):
neurodiversity issues that Ibelieve are very important.
And then the other one sayingthat you can.
You can.
You know, you are individuallyspecial.
And so, and giving peopleconfidence because that was one
(34:33):
of the ones that I I waschallenged with.
The other one that you uhreferred to in your opening is
that also late in life, uh Inearly died on on I had an issue
with diapaticulitis, uh, tookout 12 uh 20 centimeters of my
colon.
Uh, and then I knew I had to dosomething more about diet and
(34:55):
exercise.
And so I started going to thegym, hired a trainer, and after
about doing that for about sixyears, somebody said to me, Hey
John, have you ever thoughtabout competing?
I said, Me at 68, 70, and hesaid, Well, why not?
So I did.
I I uh uh competed bodybuildingand physique in northern BC,
(35:16):
then provincial, then national,and then the Arnolds, and then
and now again I'm training, andthis is the book, uh Living
Young, even in your mid 80s.
That's a picture of me.
And uh excellent.
So and I love it.
And then diet to me is very,very important.
And at the end of the day,quality of life is what it is.
Todd (35:39):
Yeah, well, burning question I have is when did they
come at you with the speedo andsay, put this on?
John (35:47):
You like that?
So for those people watchingus, so then I said, Okay, I'll
compete.
Yeah, so that's good, and I Iwas in good shape, yeah.
So they said, Okay, what youshould do is uh, you know, so we
do the tanning and all thatstuff, and you go down to that
and that location, you get yourtanning and say, okay, you know,
so whatever.
(36:07):
And and so I had no idea.
So anyway, so the uh so I goand uh and uh change, and I have
my little uh tied thing on, uh,you know, and my my uh
underwear, and and especiallyfor that location and for that
uh uh venue show.
And and uh so then there aretwo or three women and they say,
Okay, are you ready?
(36:28):
Uh did you bring your sock?
I said, sock?
No, I got two socks.
No, no, sock.
Okay, so no, I don't need asock.
So I took it all off and Ithought, oh my god.
Todd (36:43):
I had no idea.
You're giving us insight thatno one knows about, so they
recommend stuffing a sock downthere.
Okay.
John (36:51):
Stuffing a sock down there, meaning that once you
take it off, that you put it ina sock so that they don't have
to manhandle your danglio.
Yes, yes.
Say I'll put the sign of thisand then and so on, you know, so
obviously, you know, so but butand then once you go showing,
and then there are probably anduh the first one was in northern
(37:11):
British Columbia, and therewere probably five, six hundred
people, all my friends thatthink of me as uh I'm the CEO of
this this these big companies,and I start walking on the stage
in this little tiny littleoutfit showing.
So that was uh something uh youknow that that that that didn't
quite come natural, but I I Isaid I I said I would do it, I
(37:36):
did it, and I came in secondbodybuilding, third in physique.
Wow, and then congratulationseventually, and the same
happened nationally, and then Iqualified for the Arnolds, and
I'm doing the same again now.
And uh at 86, I will becompeting in the Arnolds.
Todd (37:52):
Excellent.
That is awesome.
Good stuff.
One of the things I like aboutyour book is I mean, you're
you've been hugely successful,lots of money, you're CEO,
you're managing your businesses,but your book doesn't, you're
not telling stories.
There's nothingself-aggrandizing,
self-aggrandizing about what youstill you just tell the
stories, and it's yeah, you camefrom humble beginnings, and you
(38:15):
just tell the stories about youtell funny stories about the
things that happened to youalong the way.
So I I appreciate that fromyour book.
So it's not you weren'tbragging, so I like that.
Now let's let's switch over tocommunications.
From your book, you mentionedsome things that get in the way
of effective communication.
Can you talk a bit about that?
John (38:33):
Yeah, so the uh and this is the book, Billion Dollar
Communication Skills, is thelast one that I wrote.
Actually, it's a bestseller onAmazon.
It came out July 31st.
And uh, you know, so and andcommunications is so critical uh
in in life, in all segments oflife, in relationships, in
(38:55):
friendship, in applying for ajob, in teaching, and all of
those things, and then if youwant to be successful in
business, communications iscritical.
All those elements.
And I felt I had to write abook about that as well.
And then particularly Ithought, as you know, uh the
(39:19):
cover of the book criticallyimportant.
So I thought what I do,billion-dollar communication
skills.
I talk about the six or sevensuccessful entrepreneurs that
became billionaires, and whatmade them successful in every
single case is they are goodcommunicators, either acquired
(39:43):
that skill, but not always thatway, and acquired it, but
everyone will recognize thatthat is what made them
successful.
And this book is not aboutsaying, uh, how do you become a
billionaire?
But yeah, we know for surealready, unless you're effective
communicator, you'll not getthere.
Todd (40:02):
Right.
Yeah, I like that you providethose examples along the way:
Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and yougive their picture and quotes in
the book.
It's that's awesome.
So now, how do you prepare fora speech?
John (40:14):
There is always a sense of anxiety.
So even I do, having donehundreds and hundreds and
thousands of speeches andpresentations, there has to be a
sense of anxiety.
So that brings me to where Iwant to be.
And I know that once I make apresentation, they will maybe
(40:36):
forget what I talked about, thedetails, but they never will
forget me on stage.
I am different, and and so Ilike to interact with the people
that are in the audience.
And it may be a thousandpeople, it may be 500, it may be
20, and maybe 30, whatever theyare.
(40:57):
And I give it all that I got,and I like to be part of their
lives and lay in front of them.
I need to understand who theyare, what are they expecting of
me?
I want to know what the settingis.
I'm not good, I'm not a goodreader, obviously, dyslexia and
all the other kind of stuff,even not stuff that I write, but
(41:18):
I have an amazing memory, andI'm a very, very good presenter.
And so uh so I get readyunderstanding as who is in the
audience.
The other part that isimportant to me is that what are
they expecting, and then whatis this setting?
And what I found, Todd, is thatthere's a lot of people that
(41:43):
are presenters that have notprepared well, something will go
wrong in the audio or somethingwill not work well.
And I always make sure that Ihave everything is prepared.
I want to go to the setting, Iwant to understand where they
are sitting, where is thelectern if there is one?
(42:04):
What kind of microphone, whatkind of a headset do I have?
I like to move around, I liketo be behind a lectern, but I
want to walk on either side.
So I have to understand it.
And that's what I do.
Todd (42:16):
Excellent.
That's good.
Now, there's a you told a storyin your book about a little boy
named PO.
He had ADHD in autism and hewrote his own book.
And before one of your bigspeeches, I think that you said
there were 400 people in theaudience.
You interacted with P.O.
before the the speech, and heshared his book with you, and
(42:37):
then you went off script at theend of your session there.
And uh, can you tell that storyabout P.O.?
Yeah.
John (42:43):
So that was a presentation that I did in Alberta and
Calgary.
And uh, so they had asked methe the uh Calgary or the
Alberta Association of ADHD uhhad an annual meeting of some
sort, about 400 people there.
And so, and and they asked meif I could do the presentation.
(43:05):
I said, sure, I will do that.
And so I went down there, uh,did all the normal things that I
do, and and so and then uh thenI was the key presenter, and so
uh just before I was asked togo up and and and uh give my
presentation, this lady came upwith this young fella, and he
(43:28):
was about, I don't know, how oldwould he have been?
Uh six uh five, six years old.
And and so uh and his uh hismom said it's uh uh P.O.
And P.O.
and say, Hi PO, did you write abook?
What have you got there?
And he said, Yeah, I wrote abook, and here's the book, and I
said, Oh my god, show it to meand tell me about it.
(43:49):
So he he did the book, uh wroteabout it, and draw pictures,
and he wants to be an author,and and he admired what I did,
and he wants to at some point bea speaker as well.
I said, No, it's fantastic.
So then I had to go up to thestage, and then all those people
there, and uh, you know, so andthen I did my presentation
(44:11):
probably about an hour or so,and then we had QA after that of
uh about 45 minutes.
And towards the end, uhsomebody was asking me a
question.
I said, okay, stop for asecond.
I have to share with you whathappened to me before I made the
presentation.
(44:31):
I met this young fella, P.O.,five years old, wants to become
an author, wrote a book, and andI said, Pio, where are you?
Where are you?
Stand up, where are you?
And and then I see him goinglike this.
I said, come here, come here.
And and he came to the stage,and the stage was about uh two
(44:54):
and a half, three feet higher,and he was standing there.
I said, No, I want you up tophere.
And so uh, and and then uh Isaid, make sure you take your
book.
Yeah, okay, got your book.
And I said, stand in front of,and and then he stood there.
I said, No, stand in front ofme.
And and I said, This is P.O.
This is what happened.
He will become an author.
(45:15):
And here he is, that's hisbook.
And uh, you know, I I had theprivilege of introducing him as
ADHD, the author that willbecome part of all our lives in
the future.
Todd (45:30):
Excellent.
So great story.
And that was the example yougave about one of your
recommendations is hey, prepare,have an outline, but don't be
rigidly tethered to thatoutline.
And so that was it's kind ofdifficult for me coming into
this because I had my outline,so I had to point out to you,
hey, I'm not rigidly tethered tothis.
John (45:50):
So what I do is that I'm not a good reader, uh, you know,
not even my own writing, but Ihave an amazing memory, and I
kind of think, you know, withADHD being a superpower, usually
but people like, and I'm not adog or a specialist in the
field, other than I live it, wehave certain specialties that we
are good at.
I was always good at numbers.
(46:11):
I was good at writing, and Ihave an amazing, amazing memory,
even now, still at 85, nearlyuh uh about 85 years old.
And and so I can do apresentation for an hour, hour
and a half, and uh, you know,and feel good about it even now.
And I do it all the time.
Uh you know, I obviously I'mvery, very active in podcasting.
(46:34):
Uh on the Blink uh podcast, uh,you know, we uh uh we have a
million subscribers on YouTube,uh, within uh a few thousand, I
think, uh, you know, so and thenuh you know I've done well over
500 where I'm the host, andthen uh I'm a guest on probably
another 200, 250 or so.
(46:55):
So I like it, I enjoy itinteracting.
Todd (46:58):
Excellent.
Yeah, I want to leave you withthis story about my
father-in-law, his name is HeikeEllermetz.
He was born in Estonia in 19, Ibelieve, 36.
So he was about eight, aroundeight years old during World War
II.
So Estonia, man, the Germanscame in and took over, then the
Russians, and they keptswitching hands.
They were refugees, their wholefamily.
(47:20):
So they spent time in adisplaced persons camp somewhere
in Europe.
They eventually made their wayinto the United States, and both
Hakey and his brother Arnie,they ended up joining the Air
Force.
They became colonels, they bothretired as colonels in the Air
Force, just very successfullives.
And it's just wonderful to hearimmigrant stories.
(47:40):
And I think coming from outsideof Canada and the U.S., when
you're coming in, it's like youappreciate what's here, and then
you just take advantage of theopportunity we have here in
North America.
So what a I mean, justinspirational story.
So I John, I totally I justappreciate your time.
It's it's been goodinteracting, man.
(48:02):
I got kind of choked up at thebeginning there, but uh uh, just
inspirational story.
So uh where where can peoplefind you?
Where's the best place toconnect with you online?
John A.
John (48:13):
as an arrendt or adambrinkbrink.com will show you
all the things that we do.
Uh obviously all my books, allmy presentations, all my uh
podcasting, and all thosethings.
Todd (48:27):
Yes.
And then look for On the BrinkPodcast on your favorite
platform and also on YouTube.
So On the Brink Podcast.
I've enjoyed watching some ofthose episodes.
So, John, thank you so much foryour time.
It was a pleasure, Todd.
I'm humbled by your story.
I like how in your books it'snot self-aggrandizing.
(48:49):
Yeah, it's very helpful.
So you give very practicalinformation in this forum.
We can't get too deep into yourrecommendations, but you give
very practical information onhow to become a better
communicator, not just speaker,but how do you learn to master
the language and be able tocommunicate with others in a way
to share your ideas?
And there's just so muchgoodness that comes out of that.
(49:13):
And your life, you're just acase study demonstrating that no
matter what our circumstances,there's always a way to improve
our situation.
So, John, thank you once againfor joining us.
We appreciate your timeimmensely.
Okay, now if you enjoyed thisepisode, please consider leaving
a review and share it with yourfriends.
Until next time, we'll see youon the path.
(49:34):
This is the cutter path.
This is the Cluttered Path, a compass for midlife.
Have you ever wondered why somepeople have the ability to
simply captivate an audience,while others struggle to get
their message across?
Today, we're talking to JohnBrink, an entrepreneur and
(00:22):
author whose success is rootedin mastering the art of
communication.
In his most recent book,Billion Dollar Communication
Skills, John reveals thecommunication techniques that
transformed his life and hisbusiness.
But here's the twist.
John was born in Nazi-occupiedHolland in 1940, and his early
life was shaped by the horrificviolence of war.
(00:42):
Now, English is also not hisnative tongue, yet John
immigrated to Canada as a youngman, ended up building a
successful company, and alongthe way, mastered the art of
public speaking, all whiledealing with learning
disabilities and PTSD.
Now in his mid-80s, John isstill thriving as president and
CEO of the Brink Group ofCompanies.
(01:03):
He's authored a number ofbooks, and he's also a ranked
bodybuilder, among many otheraccomplishments.
John, welcome to the show.
Yeah, nice to be here, Todd.
I look forward to our uhdiscussion.
Excellent.
Now, I gave this very briefintroduction.
So, with your permission, John,I'd like to just talk about
your life story and then diginto that most recent book you
(01:23):
wrote, Billion DollarCommunication Skills.
Does that work?
Sure.
Okay, let's start.
Can you tell us about thoseearly years in Nazi-occupied
Holland?
John (01:33):
Yeah, so as you already said, uh Todd, I was born
November the 1st, 1940.
So in a month from now, I willbe 85 years young.
And so uh the first thing thatI remember of the war was uh
when I was about three, threeand a half years old.
My parents were married in1938.
(01:55):
They were in love, they had uhrented a beautiful house, a
little duplex actually, and sothey were in love, and uh very
quickly had a boy and a girl,and then my mother was pregnant
with me, and then everythingchanged because Hitler, the
dictator in Germany, decided touh that uh part of Poland or all
(02:18):
of Poland should be part ofGermany, and the next step would
be to invade and take onWestern Europe and in our case
Holland.
So my dad, in April of 1940,was drafted into the Dutch army,
and the last time they saw himwas in Rotterdam, and the
(02:39):
Germans then didn't feel thatHolland capitulated quicken off
and they bombed the city, thismajor, major, beautiful city,
Rotterdam, the center of it.
And that's the last place thatsomebody saw my dad, and it
would be five years before theyknew if he lived or died.
(02:59):
So my mom then was alone withthe two kids, and then obviously
pregnant with me.
Uh, it was a difficult,difficult time for her and them,
and everybody around them.
And it was not just one helpsthe other, everybody was into
survival.
First that I remember when Iwas three and a half years old,
uh, you know, was the Alliedforces that started bombing the
(03:23):
war infrastructure from theGermans.
And right, and I was born innortheastern Holland, in the
extreme northeast, about 10, 15minutes from the German border.
So a lot of the air trafficbombed over our houses and our
cities, and I remember hundreds,hundreds of planes in the air,
(03:45):
daytime, nighttime, a sound thatis still with me, will never
hear again.
Hundreds, hundreds, twohundred, three hundred planes.
And in the distance, uh, my momwould take us outside on the
flat roof behind our house tolook in the distance because not
it was so pretty, but rathershe felt safer outside than
(04:06):
inside.
And in the distance we couldsee the cities burning across
the border.
You know, Willemshafen, Kiel,Hamburg, and on and on and on,
all those cities close to theNorth Sea and the northwestern
part of Germany.
And so the next thing that Iremember is that the hunger in
(04:27):
1944, when the Germans cut offall the food supply to our
region.
And I remember even now, 80years or more than 80 years
later, I can still feel thefeeling of hunger.
And every morning, my brother,my sister, and myself, we would
go with gunny sacks into therailroad yard, pick up anything
(04:48):
edible and burnable.
The reason that we did as kids,they wouldn't shoot us, they
booed us one, but we'd be backthe following morning.
And then the winter of 1944,445, and hold on, but the
coldest one on record, and Istill remember a little part of
our house that we heated, a verysmall part, and we sit around
(05:09):
this heating system that we had,and uh you burned in the front
and you you you froze in theback, and I can still feel it,
the feeling of cold and hunger,and then anxiety, because there
was always that sense ofanxiety.
And then as the war uh as theAllied forces landed in Normandy
(05:32):
and made the way, theAmericans, the Canadians in the
UK, as they landed in Normandyand made their way to free to
free Europe, is that theCanadians won north through
France, Belgium, the west sideof Holland, and then they landed
in in June of 1944, and as theymade the way at great cost of
(05:56):
lives, obviously along the way,when they came to closer to
northern Holland, againvisualized Holland, close to the
German border.
They the Germans had nothingleft, and they would blow up all
the bridges behind them to tryto get back to Germany and slow
down the Allied forces.
And so I remember April the12th, 1945.
(06:18):
We were liberated by theCanadian Army, and it made such
an impression on me.
They were probably with 100,150 feet behind us was a little
schoolyard.
There were about 25 Canadiansfrom the Canadian Red Cross were
there, and every morning wewould go down there and they
would feed us with bread andbread, with butter and cheese,
(06:42):
and the butter and cheese wasbigger.
It was paradise, and we calledeverybody Johnny.
Obviously we didn't speak thelanguage, but we did, really.
And it made such an impressionthat I knew when I grew up I
would go to the land of myheroes, Canada.
And during that point of theliberation, we saw far too much
that we should not have seen.
Dead bodies, uh, I still cansee visually, uh, you know,
(07:06):
carts with legs and arms hangingout this side, several people
being shot right around ourhouse area where there was a
bridge that was blown up, andthings got very, very rough.
And so PTSD is still very muchpart of my life.
The inner child, I gotcounseling for that actually in
my 50s.
I had no idea what it was, butthe little boy that lived then
(07:30):
in 1945 and saw too much wasstill very much part of me, and
the counseling helped me veryemotional, actually.
Anyway, so that was all stillpart of it.
And uh so it was tough andrough, and uh and for some
people, with all due respect,may think that once the war is
over, everything goes back tonormal.
It simply doesn't.
(07:51):
It can take generations as itdid for us.
My dad did come back uh, youknow, after the liberation of
Holland, but life is never thesame again, and he was never the
same again.
Being affected by PTSD, alcoholbecame uh part of it, and he,
you know, we cared about eachother a lot, obviously, but uh
(08:14):
it's very very difficult.
Todd (08:16):
Yeah, yeah, I'm tearing up here, man.
Oh yeah, you're making ooh.
John (08:22):
So let me take you a little bit further then.
So the then gradually obviouslyuh takes a long time to get
things back to a sense ofnormal.
But uh, you know, the Canadiansto me as a little five-year-old
made an immense impression, andI knew once I grew up, I would
go to the land of my heroes,Canada.
(08:43):
And it's always stayed uh withme.
And so academically, uh, youknow, let moving a little bit
further, I was not a successstory.
Uh I failed grade three and Ifailed grade seven three times.
And so they said to my parents,Well, what are you gonna do
with this guy?
And and they loved meregardless.
(09:04):
Uh, some people suggest I sendhim to the mentally challenged
school.
He said, No, we're not gonna dothat.
And so so my dad had a friendthat had a furniture factory,
and uh, so at 12 and a halfyears old, uh, he got me a job
in the furniture factory, and uhso and I loved it.
I was in there for uh uh youknow quite a number of years and
(09:25):
worked in it, and then when Iwas 18, I was drafted into the
Dutch Air Force, uh specialforces actually.
I don't know why, but I uh wasthere for a little bit more than
two years, good experience, andthen again after that worked in
the forest industry in Holland.
Uh, climbed very, very quickly,but still my dream was there to
(09:48):
go to the land of my heroes,Canada.
So, and then the other part, uhacademically I was not a
success story.
All the people around me, thefriends that I used to have that
went to college and university,uh kind of looked down on me
because I was a laborer.
I'm proud of that today, butthen it was kind of looked down
on.
But I always knew, uh, Todd,that I was just as smart, not
(10:10):
smarter than all the others, andI had to prove it to me, not to
anybody else.
So when uh in 1965, I'd beenthinking about this already for
a while.
I had a very, very good job,very, very good position, but I
decided I have to start overagain and go to the land of my
dreams, but not only go there,but build a lumber mill.
(10:32):
And I want to start withnothing.
And so I left Holland in Julyof 1965 as a suitcase, three
books, two sets of clothes, verylittle money, flew into
Montreal and landed in Montreal,took the train.
I'm gonna go to BritishColumbia, that's where all the
trees are, and so I took thetrain across Canada, four days,
five nights.
(10:53):
My God, that is a long way.
And so I couldn't speakEnglish, didn't have a didn't
know a soil and uh didn't have ajob, landed in Vancouver, went
to the immigration departmentthere, and couldn't speak
English, but fortunately therewas a German fellow and I could
speak some German.
I told him I wanted to build alumber mill.
He said, Go to Prince George,500 miles north.
That's where they're buildingmills, and all I did.
(11:15):
And the Greyhound bus, I uhwent uh to Prince George and uh
uh so it was 12 hours on the andthe bus, came off the bus in
Prince George, which was aboomtown, and and so at my
suitcase, three books, two setsof clothes, and I counted my
money at least three times.
I had $25.47.
And and so uh needed to get ajob because my dream was to
(11:40):
build a mill.
And and started then from thebottom up and uh, you know, as a
cleanup man and walked all theway to the mill and uh uh you
know and gradually climbed upfairly rapidly, uh, you know,
cleanup man in a lumber mill,then a lumber pilot, then green
chain foreman, then a foreman,then a superintendent, all
(12:02):
within a year and a half.
Wow.
But even that didn't go fastenough for me.
So then I because I'm underbuilding mill, and and and then
I had an opportunity to manage alittle small mill and had an
option to get one-third of theownership if I stayed for five
years.
And where was the mill, John?
Well, it was a little mill inthe Yukon Territory, and for all
(12:24):
those people watching us, uh uhBritish Columbia is a big
province, about a thousand milesfrom Vancouver all the way to
the Yukon border, which is nextto Alaska, and so that's where
their little mill was.
And so uh and for a little uhfellow like me coming from
Holland, uh, if you ask me, whatis the climate in Holland?
(12:46):
I say the rain is colder in thewinter.
That's the difference.
Otherwise, it always rains.
The Yukon territory, it cansnow in July, and you don't know
if it is late or early, andI've seen that 62 below.
So running a sawmill was noteasy there, but I did for five
years, then came back to CentralBritish Columbia, started again
(13:07):
from the ground up, and thenstarted building my mill and
incorporated Brink ForestPricks, the first company,
October the 1st, 1975.
So next week, Wednesday, itwill be my 50th year of starting
this company with threeemployees and myself working 16
(13:28):
hours a day, seven days a weekfor the first 10 years, and and
then building up to where it'snow.
I'm not bragging about how bigthe companies are.
We have about 10 companies andand a lot of employees and all
the other kind of things.
But uh, you know, so what isthe foundation?
If if you look again at my2547, what it says underneath is
(13:48):
this attitude, I'm alwayspositive.
I want to stay away from me ifyou're going to be negative.
Passion, whatever I do, I giveit 125%.
Work ethic, I work harder thananybody.
Even now at 85, I get up at5:30 in the morning, I always
make my bed and I always thinkI'm late.
(14:09):
And then so I step out and I'moutside.
I said, I'm in paradise.
How much better can I get inthe world than ever you are?
And so that's kind of what mydays are like.
Todd (14:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, you make me think of mymom.
She I was born in the mountainsof western North Carolina here
in the States, and my mom, well,both my parents actually grew
up with abusive alcoholicfathers.
I never met either of mygrandfathers, right?
But with my mom, it was just ahorrible existence growing up.
And her dad, very abusive, inand out of jail.
(14:42):
And there were 10 children inthe family, and my mom cared for
her little sister.
And her little sister, she wasalmost three years old, two
years, nine months.
She contracted diphtheria.
And my mom was essentially hermother.
And they took her, she got sosick, they eventually took her
(15:02):
to see a doctor, and the doctorsaid, Hey, we need to get her
into the hospital.
But my grandfather just saidabsolutely no, would not allow
them to treat her.
And he said, Well, she's goingto die.
And the guy didn't care.
They just took her home, andwithin a few hours after getting
back home, she died.
And then this is how cruel mygrandfather was.
He made fun of my mom.
(15:24):
His daughter had died, and mymom was hurting for it.
Just anyways, but all that tosay this my mom was a very
positive person, or she is avery positive person, very happy
person.
So despite circumstances, huh?
Today, or yeah, she's 84 andshe lives in assisted living at
(15:44):
this point.
But she worked in textile millsher whole life, and uh after
retirement, she uh she's she's avery positive person.
So I appreciate you sayingthat.
That's good.
And how did you do that?
I mean, what what do you thinkinstilled that in you to have
that positive attitude?
John (16:03):
Yeah, that is a good question.
In spite of it all, as yourmom, I always have felt this
way.
And I lived in my own littleworld more than anything, and
and obviously academically,first the war years were hard,
saw far too much that we shouldnot have seen, had an impact on
(16:24):
that.
Uh people didn't talk aboutthat, what we saw and what we
did on a daily basis.
And then academically, uh, youknow, that uh I was not
successful and usually laughedat even by the teachers, and
say, as usually when they readthe results of tests that we
did, and the rating system wasfrom one to ten, ten being the
(16:48):
best.
And then as they would gothrough, they say Pete had a
nine, very good Pete, andMargaret had an eight, and then
John as usual had a zero, andyeah, everybody laughed about
it.
It's a but John will not amountto much other than he has no
future, and so uh, you know, soand but I lived in my own little
(17:10):
world.
I was very industrious already.
I was always active, deliveredpapers, anything to make a few
uh uh dollars, and and so andand then even in in the lumber
industry there and in themilitaries, I was very
successful because I wasdetermined, did all the things
that I had to do, and then some,and then, but I knew I knew I
(17:35):
had to start anew for myself.
It took me, even when I was inCanada already and already
successful, already had severalcompanies, and everybody said,
Oh, you're so successful andblah, blah, blah.
And and I didn't feel that way.
I thought I still had failed.
And then I was not a goodcommunicator.
I could interact with maybethree or four people around my
(17:57):
company, but not outside ofthat, because I didn't have the
confidence.
And and so then a couple ofthings happened that changed my
life.
The war years obviously did,going to Canada did, and then in
1997, and if I I'm sitting inone of my boardrooms here of one
of my companies, and I have astudio, and I have the actual
(18:20):
book there.
I want to a bookstore in PrinceGeorge that I picked up in
January of 1997.
I have the actual book stillthere, and I would then show it
to you.
It's saying, Driven toDistraction is the title of the
book written by Dr.
Halliwell.
And and as I went through thatbook, and I was standing there,
(18:44):
I said to myself, I cannotbelieve what I'm reading here.
It's about ADHD and it's aboutdyslexia.
And I said, Oh my god, that'sme.
And I wrote in the book, theactual book is still there, and
and so I opened the page, andthere I wrote in Dutch because I
(19:06):
was ashamed of it, because itwas suggested that it is a
mental dysfunction of some sortor disorder.
And and so, and and there I'mbuilding all kinds of companies
and blah, blah, blah.
Go to the banks and negotiatewith them, and I want X amount
of millions of dollars to dothis, that, and the other thing.
And oh, by the way, I have amental disorder as well.
(19:27):
Have a nice day, right?
So uh so obviously that doesn'tthe stigma, the stigma has
become less, but not as much asit should be.
That's why I'm so proactivestill, even now, about it.
So the more I saw about it, themore I read about it, then went
home, looked at Google, and onand on until I understood it.
(19:49):
And then, so that was I wasalready 67 years old then, and
57 years old in 1997.
So then five years later, afterI picked up the book, I went to
my doctor, delivered our twodaughters, and was a personal
friend in 1962, and and so Iwent into his office and he
(20:10):
said, Hey John, why are youhere?
I said, I think I got ADHD.
And so we looked at it, and Ido.
And so, but I already knew, Isay it's a superpower, and I
believe that very much and stilldo today.
So it changed my life.
All of a sudden I started thequestion of who am I has always
(20:33):
been with me up to that point.
Then the other part,communication skills.
This was in 1997 when I found abook, Driven to Distraction,
written by Dr.
Halliwell, who's a medicaldoctor, is a professor, has
written 18 books, is recognizedglobally as an uh, you know,
understanding uh ADHD anddyslexia.
(20:55):
He is ADHD and has dyslexia.
And so uh that became a very,very important part.
The other thing that I did, andby coincidence, in 1990, a
friend of mine said to me aboutcommunication skills.
I want you to go with me to anorganization.
I said, Well, where?
(21:16):
She said, Toastmasters.
I said, What's that all about?
She said, about communicationskills.
I said, Okay.
Are you gonna ask me anything?
She said, No, you just sitthere and watch it.
I said, as long as because ifyou're gonna ask me something,
I'm not going.
No, no, you're not asking.
In the middle of the meeting,there's somebody stood up and
said, Hey John, tell us allabout it.
I said, Oh, I'll never go backhere.
(21:38):
But I did.
I stayed there for 10 years,became a distinguished
Toastmaster, the highest rankingin Toastmasters.
And so, and for those peoplewatching us from around the
world is that Toastmasters, ifyou Google it, in North America
in particular, there arethousands and thousands and
(21:58):
thousands of clubs ofToastmaster clubs, 10, 20, 30,
40 million people have had ataste of Toastmasters to bring
them to a certain level ofcommunication skills.
I was a disaster.
And the thousands and thousandsof people that I've seen
entering Toastmasters, I I don'tthink I've ever seen anybody
(22:19):
like me.
I could have crawled out ofthere on hands and knees.
Let me out, let me out, but Istayed.
Todd (22:27):
And and and that changed my life.
Yeah.
So you had a lot of you, therewas a lot of stuff working
against you, even fromchildhood.
And it sounds like it you kindof used that as fuel, as
motivation.
And there was another, I mean,there were other things.
In the book, you talk about thesocial stigmas around your
family being farmers, and thatwas another thing you faced.
(22:48):
Uh, can you tell that storyabout the the girl that rejected
you?
John (22:53):
Yes.
I like it.
So I grew up, as I saidearlier, in northeastern
Holland, in the extreme 10-15minutes from the border, a
province called Groningen, andthey speak a dialect there in
that region.
So if I speak di and I love tospeak dialect, not as doesn't
(23:16):
sound like uh Span is in the andnot not not that kind of a
dialect, but it was uh not uh inmy opinion, but I love that
anyway.
So I grew up speaking dialect.
So then obviously I went intothe Air Force and I had to speak
high Dutch.
I had to acquire that ability,and I barely got that under
(23:38):
control.
Then I go to Canada and I haveto learn to speak English.
So and and coming back to yourquestion about the girl that
rejected me, is thatnortheastern Holland is mainly
farmers because uh uh probablysi uh 40, 50 percent, 60 percent
sometimes of Holland is below Zlevel, and and and particularly
(24:00):
in those regions where I grewup, and the ground is all sea
bottomed, but very fertile, makegrew very, very good for
farming.
And so there were a lot offarmers, big farmers, and then
there were farm laborers.
So you had you know the theworkers and the people that had
the money and had control, andthere was the status of that,
(24:21):
you know, being up there orbeing down here.
So that uh so I always remembergoing to a dance and uh, you
know, and then dancing uh with agirl that that was uh a
daughter of one of the richfarmers, and it wouldn't take
very long to uh to say, how muchland does your family have?
I said, let me see, one, two,three, four, five, six, six
(24:44):
flower pots full.
And and and there was no otherdance after that.
So I didn't go and make it.
But I laugh about it now, anduh, but it was very much so
then, as we still see in someregions as being up there, you
know, and and my grandmotheralways used to say they were
(25:06):
farm laborers, my grandmotherand my grandfather uh were farm
laborers, and she always used tosay be all the same, then being
naked, nobody can put a hand intheir pockets.
Todd (25:18):
What a great saying! That's awesome.
Yeah, I was I was born in thesoutheastern United States, and
uh there are some stigmas aroundour accents, and so I
appreciate from your book youtalk about dealing with an
accent as it may get in the wayof when you're communicating
with people.
So yeah, I I appreciated that.
It was just practicalinformation.
John (25:38):
Exactly.
So but it did then mytoastmastering, you know, in
combination, so it a couple ofthings happened taught that were
important.
Who am I became clearer withADHD and dyslexia?
The more I understood it, itwas not a not a deficiency, but
(26:01):
it was potentially a superpower.
And so looking at myself andlooking back, I can do that now
at 85.
I got nothing to prove toanybody.
Uh, you know, so I I love everyday, I love living here in
(26:21):
North America and in Canada inparticular.
I do business in North Americaand all kinds of places, and I'm
at peace, and I call itparadise.
Lucky, lucky us collectively.
And so uh, you know, and andthen communications became uh
the other part, but that did forme.
(26:43):
It gave me confidence that Iwas not better than, but just as
good as any of the otherfriends that I had that went to
colleges in university.
I learned the hard way, and Idid.
And so I became then graduallyat peace with who I am, and then
(27:04):
communication skills issomething that came natural to
me.
I've always been a storyteller,and and so and then I started
writing books, and people saidto me, Yeah, it's such an
interesting life you have towrite a book about it.
And and so I for 20 years Iwriting books is not easy, as
(27:24):
you well know.
So I went through all the upsand downs and and start
stopping, starting, stopping,starting, and then about six,
seven years ago, I said, if Idon't do it now, it will never
happen.
And so I wrote this one,Against All Odds.
It's all about not howsuccessful John is, but all
about the ups and downs alongthe way.
(27:45):
And and this one became very,very popular.
And then from there on in Iwent on about writing a book
about ADHD and all those other.
I feel I have an obligation toshare that with others, and it
became very much part of mylife.
Todd (28:02):
Yes.
That's how we came up with thename The Cluttered Path for our
podcast.
Ups and Downs of Life.
We make our plans and it looksrosy heading into it, but then
you're gonna encounter obstaclesalong the way.
So that's the way it works.
Exactly.
unknown (28:18):
Yeah.
John (28:19):
So looking back, uh, I'm very contented.
Todd (28:22):
Nice.
That's great.
Now, your your company was verysuccessful when you had your
terrifying first experience withpublic speaking, and someone
called on you to give your firstpublic speech.
And can you tell that story?
John (28:36):
Yes, I've been always an advocate of lumber
manufacturing.
I think we live in a country inCanada and northern eastern BC
in particular, and northern BCwith this beautiful, beautiful
timber.
We should do more, add morevalue to it, social and
economic.
And so I've always been anadvocate of that.
(28:56):
So then I was very good.
I am a very good writer, not agood reader.
Obviously, I didn't know thatthen dyslexia.
And and so uh, you know, so Iwrote a report uh about what we
should do politically in theprovince of British Columbia to
stimulate value-addedmanufacturing.
(29:18):
And so uh I was then invited tothe incumbent government of the
day in Victoria, BC, to make apresentation to a number of
senior bureaucrats and a numberof ministers of economic
development.
I think uh the premier of theprovince was there, the minister
of forests was there, and and anumber of uh a setting of about
(29:40):
10 or 12 people, and I hadpresented my written proposal,
and so I was uh uh supposed toarticulate my points, and so I
got a setting.
So as I walked into the roomand visualized this dot, so it's
it's one of the government.
Of British Columbia's majorbuildings, that's where the
(30:05):
government is, and then the mainboardroom, and there is a chair
for me, and what are sittingthere in front of me is 10 or 12
of the senior, seniorbureaucrats and the ministers of
the crown.
Wow.
And so I they had in front ofthe madam my presentation and
(30:27):
say, here is John Brink, CEO ofthe Brink Force Products, uh, in
regards to how do we developvalue added manufacturing.
And John, the floor is yours.
Wow.
That's scary.
I sat there, I couldn't say aword.
(30:47):
Absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
Zero.
So and so then I'm sittingthere, and then they said, okay,
you're okay.
You know, so uh, you know, wewe we saw your presentation and
we like it.
So the so the points trying tohelp me along the way, but it
(31:11):
didn't work.
Nothing.
Zero, nothing, nothing.
And and finally they said, thenso we will take your
presentation.
We have already looked at it, Ithink it's good points, and and
say thank you for making uh uhgiving us the presentation and
writing, and so uh thank youvery much for being here.
(31:34):
So I walked out of the room, uhshame, shame, absolute shame.
And and so I was devastated.
That was before I went to ToastFrancis, but yeah, and so as
you saw in my book.
So what it does is it shows thecombination of all the above.
(31:58):
So I went back and I wasdevastated because there I had
the opportunity to make thatpresentation in something that I
spend my life on trying tostimulate activity and further
manufacturing and and social andeconomic values and all of the
(32:19):
other things that I believed in,and I couldn't do it.
And so, but it also became thefoundation.
So if I look back then, it wasone step.
And then what happened afterthat?
Obviously, I joinedToastmasters in 1990 for 10
years, became a distinguishedToastmaster.
Tens of millions of people havebeen part of Toastmaster, less
(32:42):
than 1% of them go to thehighest level of becoming a
distinguished Toastmaster.
I did, and then uh obviouslythe next one is the book, uh,
ADHD and dyslexia, and now Iknow who I am and that changed
my life.
And so if I look back at theinventory, is I was always good
(33:04):
of me.
Uh say what happened in gradethree, what happened in grade
seven?
Obviously, ADHD dyslexia wasthe key point, but I've always
been good at numbers.
And I was always a good writer,but not a good reader.
And then the other parts wereI'm a storyteller, but but most
of the time there was noopportunity for that because I
(33:27):
did not have the confidence,because I thought, as the
teacher said, well, John willnot amount to much.
You know, so he becomes alaborer somewhere around the
line, and uh, so I hope he'shappy, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
So, but until I knew who am Iwas critically important.
So once I knew that late inlife, when the doc at 62
(33:52):
diagnosed me as saying I'm ADHD,changed my life.
And so I started writing booksand I'm now on my sixth one.
Obviously, I'm a very activepresenter, I believe, and being
very proactive about interactingabout ADHD, dyslexia, and other
(34:13):
neurodiversity issues that Ibelieve are very important.
And then the other one sayingthat you can.
You can.
You know, you are individuallyspecial.
And so, and giving peopleconfidence because that was one
(34:33):
of the ones that I I waschallenged with.
The other one that you uhreferred to in your opening is
that also late in life, uh Inearly died on on I had an issue
with diapaticulitis, uh, tookout 12 uh 20 centimeters of my
colon.
Uh, and then I knew I had to dosomething more about diet and
(34:55):
exercise.
And so I started going to thegym, hired a trainer, and after
about doing that for about sixyears, somebody said to me, Hey
John, have you ever thoughtabout competing?
I said, Me at 68, 70, and hesaid, Well, why not?
So I did.
I I uh uh competed bodybuildingand physique in northern BC,
(35:16):
then provincial, then national,and then the Arnolds, and then
and now again I'm training, andthis is the book, uh Living
Young, even in your mid 80s.
That's a picture of me.
And uh excellent.
So and I love it.
And then diet to me is very,very important.
And at the end of the day,quality of life is what it is.
Todd (35:39):
Yeah, well, burning question I have is when did they
come at you with the speedo andsay, put this on?
John (35:47):
You like that?
So for those people watchingus, so then I said, Okay, I'll
compete.
Yeah, so that's good, and I Iwas in good shape, yeah.
So they said, Okay, what youshould do is uh, you know, so we
do the tanning and all thatstuff, and you go down to that
and that location, you get yourtanning and say, okay, you know,
so whatever.
(36:07):
And and so I had no idea.
So anyway, so the uh so I goand uh and uh change, and I have
my little uh tied thing on, uh,you know, and my my uh
underwear, and and especiallyfor that location and for that
uh uh venue show.
And and uh so then there aretwo or three women and they say,
Okay, are you ready?
(36:28):
Uh did you bring your sock?
I said, sock?
No, I got two socks.
No, no, sock.
Okay, so no, I don't need asock.
So I took it all off and Ithought, oh my god.
Todd (36:43):
I had no idea.
You're giving us insight thatno one knows about, so they
recommend stuffing a sock downthere.
Okay.
John (36:51):
Stuffing a sock down there, meaning that once you
take it off, that you put it ina sock so that they don't have
to manhandle your danglio.
Yes, yes.
Say I'll put the sign of thisand then and so on, you know, so
obviously, you know, so but butand then once you go showing,
and then there are probably anduh the first one was in northern
(37:11):
British Columbia, and therewere probably five, six hundred
people, all my friends thatthink of me as uh I'm the CEO of
this this these big companies,and I start walking on the stage
in this little tiny littleoutfit showing.
So that was uh something uh youknow that that that that didn't
quite come natural, but I I Isaid I I said I would do it, I
(37:36):
did it, and I came in secondbodybuilding, third in physique.
Wow, and then congratulationseventually, and the same
happened nationally, and then Iqualified for the Arnolds, and
I'm doing the same again now.
And uh at 86, I will becompeting in the Arnolds.
Todd (37:52):
Excellent.
That is awesome.
Good stuff.
One of the things I like aboutyour book is I mean, you're
you've been hugely successful,lots of money, you're CEO,
you're managing your businesses,but your book doesn't, you're
not telling stories.
There's nothingself-aggrandizing,
self-aggrandizing about what youstill you just tell the
stories, and it's yeah, you camefrom humble beginnings, and you
(38:15):
just tell the stories about youtell funny stories about the
things that happened to youalong the way.
So I I appreciate that fromyour book.
So it's not you weren'tbragging, so I like that.
Now let's let's switch over tocommunications.
From your book, you mentionedsome things that get in the way
of effective communication.
Can you talk a bit about that?
John (38:33):
Yeah, so the uh and this is the book, Billion Dollar
Communication Skills, is thelast one that I wrote.
Actually, it's a bestseller onAmazon.
It came out July 31st.
And uh, you know, so and andcommunications is so critical uh
in in life, in all segments oflife, in relationships, in
(38:55):
friendship, in applying for ajob, in teaching, and all of
those things, and then if youwant to be successful in
business, communications iscritical.
All those elements.
And I felt I had to write abook about that as well.
And then particularly Ithought, as you know, uh the
(39:19):
cover of the book criticallyimportant.
So I thought what I do,billion-dollar communication
skills.
I talk about the six or sevensuccessful entrepreneurs that
became billionaires, and whatmade them successful in every
single case is they are goodcommunicators, either acquired
(39:43):
that skill, but not always thatway, and acquired it, but
everyone will recognize thatthat is what made them
successful.
And this book is not aboutsaying, uh, how do you become a
billionaire?
But yeah, we know for surealready, unless you're effective
communicator, you'll not getthere.
Todd (40:02):
Right.
Yeah, I like that you providethose examples along the way:
Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and yougive their picture and quotes in
the book.
It's that's awesome.
So now, how do you prepare fora speech?
John (40:14):
There is always a sense of anxiety.
So even I do, having donehundreds and hundreds and
thousands of speeches andpresentations, there has to be a
sense of anxiety.
So that brings me to where Iwant to be.
And I know that once I make apresentation, they will maybe
(40:36):
forget what I talked about, thedetails, but they never will
forget me on stage.
I am different, and and so Ilike to interact with the people
that are in the audience.
And it may be a thousandpeople, it may be 500, it may be
20, and maybe 30, whatever theyare.
(40:57):
And I give it all that I got,and I like to be part of their
lives and lay in front of them.
I need to understand who theyare, what are they expecting of
me?
I want to know what the settingis.
I'm not good, I'm not a goodreader, obviously, dyslexia and
all the other kind of stuff,even not stuff that I write, but
(41:18):
I have an amazing memory, andI'm a very, very good presenter.
And so uh so I get readyunderstanding as who is in the
audience.
The other part that isimportant to me is that what are
they expecting, and then whatis this setting?
And what I found, Todd, is thatthere's a lot of people that
(41:43):
are presenters that have notprepared well, something will go
wrong in the audio or somethingwill not work well.
And I always make sure that Ihave everything is prepared.
I want to go to the setting, Iwant to understand where they
are sitting, where is thelectern if there is one?
(42:04):
What kind of microphone, whatkind of a headset do I have?
I like to move around, I liketo be behind a lectern, but I
want to walk on either side.
So I have to understand it.
And that's what I do.
Todd (42:16):
Excellent.
That's good.
Now, there's a you told a storyin your book about a little boy
named PO.
He had ADHD in autism and hewrote his own book.
And before one of your bigspeeches, I think that you said
there were 400 people in theaudience.
You interacted with P.O.
before the the speech, and heshared his book with you, and
(42:37):
then you went off script at theend of your session there.
And uh, can you tell that storyabout P.O.?
Yeah.
John (42:43):
So that was a presentation that I did in Alberta and
Calgary.
And uh, so they had asked methe the uh Calgary or the
Alberta Association of ADHD uhhad an annual meeting of some
sort, about 400 people there.
And so, and and they asked meif I could do the presentation.
(43:05):
I said, sure, I will do that.
And so I went down there, uh,did all the normal things that I
do, and and so and then uh thenI was the key presenter, and so
uh just before I was asked togo up and and and uh give my
presentation, this lady came upwith this young fella, and he
(43:28):
was about, I don't know, how oldwould he have been?
Uh six uh five, six years old.
And and so uh and his uh hismom said it's uh uh P.O.
And P.O.
and say, Hi PO, did you write abook?
What have you got there?
And he said, Yeah, I wrote abook, and here's the book, and I
said, Oh my god, show it to meand tell me about it.
(43:49):
So he he did the book, uh wroteabout it, and draw pictures,
and he wants to be an author,and and he admired what I did,
and he wants to at some point bea speaker as well.
I said, No, it's fantastic.
So then I had to go up to thestage, and then all those people
there, and uh, you know, so andthen I did my presentation
(44:11):
probably about an hour or so,and then we had QA after that of
uh about 45 minutes.
And towards the end, uhsomebody was asking me a
question.
I said, okay, stop for asecond.
I have to share with you whathappened to me before I made the
presentation.
(44:31):
I met this young fella, P.O.,five years old, wants to become
an author, wrote a book, and andI said, Pio, where are you?
Where are you?
Stand up, where are you?
And and then I see him goinglike this.
I said, come here, come here.
And and he came to the stage,and the stage was about uh two
(44:54):
and a half, three feet higher,and he was standing there.
I said, No, I want you up tophere.
And so uh, and and then uh Isaid, make sure you take your
book.
Yeah, okay, got your book.
And I said, stand in front of,and and then he stood there.
I said, No, stand in front ofme.
And and I said, This is P.O.
This is what happened.
He will become an author.
(45:15):
And here he is, that's hisbook.
And uh, you know, I I had theprivilege of introducing him as
ADHD, the author that willbecome part of all our lives in
the future.
Todd (45:30):
Excellent.
So great story.
And that was the example yougave about one of your
recommendations is hey, prepare,have an outline, but don't be
rigidly tethered to thatoutline.
And so that was it's kind ofdifficult for me coming into
this because I had my outline,so I had to point out to you,
hey, I'm not rigidly tethered tothis.
John (45:50):
So what I do is that I'm not a good reader, uh, you know,
not even my own writing, but Ihave an amazing memory, and I
kind of think, you know, withADHD being a superpower, usually
but people like, and I'm not adog or a specialist in the
field, other than I live it, wehave certain specialties that we
are good at.
I was always good at numbers.
(46:11):
I was good at writing, and Ihave an amazing, amazing memory,
even now, still at 85, nearlyuh uh about 85 years old.
And and so I can do apresentation for an hour, hour
and a half, and uh, you know,and feel good about it even now.
And I do it all the time.
Uh you know, I obviously I'mvery, very active in podcasting.
(46:34):
Uh on the Blink uh podcast, uh,you know, we uh uh we have a
million subscribers on YouTube,uh, within uh a few thousand, I
think, uh, you know, so and thenuh you know I've done well over
500 where I'm the host, andthen uh I'm a guest on probably
another 200, 250 or so.
(46:55):
So I like it, I enjoy itinteracting.
Todd (46:58):
Excellent.
Yeah, I want to leave you withthis story about my
father-in-law, his name is HeikeEllermetz.
He was born in Estonia in 19, Ibelieve, 36.
So he was about eight, aroundeight years old during World War
II.
So Estonia, man, the Germanscame in and took over, then the
Russians, and they keptswitching hands.
They were refugees, their wholefamily.
(47:20):
So they spent time in adisplaced persons camp somewhere
in Europe.
They eventually made their wayinto the United States, and both
Hakey and his brother Arnie,they ended up joining the Air
Force.
They became colonels, they bothretired as colonels in the Air
Force, just very successfullives.
And it's just wonderful to hearimmigrant stories.
(47:40):
And I think coming from outsideof Canada and the U.S., when
you're coming in, it's like youappreciate what's here, and then
you just take advantage of theopportunity we have here in
North America.
So what a I mean, justinspirational story.
So I John, I totally I justappreciate your time.
It's it's been goodinteracting, man.
(48:02):
I got kind of choked up at thebeginning there, but uh uh, just
inspirational story.
So uh where where can peoplefind you?
Where's the best place toconnect with you online?
John A.
John (48:13):
as an arrendt or adambrinkbrink.com will show you
all the things that we do.
Uh obviously all my books, allmy presentations, all my uh
podcasting, and all thosethings.
Todd (48:27):
Yes.
And then look for On the BrinkPodcast on your favorite
platform and also on YouTube.
So On the Brink Podcast.
I've enjoyed watching some ofthose episodes.
So, John, thank you so much foryour time.
It was a pleasure, Todd.
I'm humbled by your story.
I like how in your books it'snot self-aggrandizing.
(48:49):
Yeah, it's very helpful.
So you give very practicalinformation in this forum.
We can't get too deep into yourrecommendations, but you give
very practical information onhow to become a better
communicator, not just speaker,but how do you learn to master
the language and be able tocommunicate with others in a way
to share your ideas?
And there's just so muchgoodness that comes out of that.
(49:13):
And your life, you're just acase study demonstrating that no
matter what our circumstances,there's always a way to improve
our situation.
So, John, thank you once againfor joining us.
We appreciate your timeimmensely.
Okay, now if you enjoyed thisepisode, please consider leaving
a review and share it with yourfriends.
Until next time, we'll see youon the path.
(49:34):
This is the cutter path.
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