On this episode of the Massimo Show

Rod sits down with Jon Gordon. Jon is a husband, father, and author. His best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. He’s the author of The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, Training Camp, The Power of Positive Leadership, The Power of a Positive Team, and his latest The Coffee Bean. Jon believes in keeping his bio short because his past accomplishments, well, they’re meaningless. What matters most is that he has something to say today that will inspire you to take action tomorrow. 

Usually, Rod starts out the show by asking guests about their teenage years. But this time around he felt like he already knew a bit about Jon because Jon attended Rod’s arch-rival high school!  Even though they don’t share the love of the same high school they do both appreciate Long Island NY and lacrosse. 

Jon grew up in Long Island, New York, and a Jewish Italian family, “a lot of food, a lot of guilt. A lot of wine, a lot of whining.” Jon tells Rod. Not only did he play lacrosse in Highschool but he went on to play at Cornell University. There he learned about the culture of teamwork and about being a leader in many ways. 

Jon struggled and didn’t know what I really wanted to do after college. He opened up a restaurant in Buckhead, went to work for a dot com, and even ran for city council! He was young – just 26 – but his opponents were seasoned and knew how to smear the other candidates. Jon didn’t like the negativity and lies that came with the campaigning and decided that wasn’t for him. 

After these various upheavals, Jon’s quest for purpose became a little more existential.  “What am I born to do? Why am I here?” Eventually, he decided on writing and speaking without much of a solid answer about what his topics would be. At the encouragement of his wife, Jon knew he needed to focus on positivity and he figured there were others out there who needed to as well. 

“And so I started to research ways that I could be more positive,” Jon tells Rod.  “Start to practice those ideas, start to write about them, start to share them. The next thing you know, people are reading my newsletter. I’m getting an offer to do a book.”  That first book didn’t do very well and Jon started feeling negative again. One day, while he was out for a walk the idea for The Energy Bus came to him. “I wrote that book in three and a half weeks. And that book would change my life because so many different NFL teams, NBA teams, corporations and nonprofits and hospitals and you name it started to read this book, and I started to get brought in to speak at these different events and that led to another 22 More books since.” 

Listen in as Rod and Jon discuss the premise of The Energy Bus, the science behind being the best version of yourself, the true origin of negative thoughts, and how to get rid of them.