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strangers thank you for listening what’s
up guys Xavier katana here with the
human experience and wow what a
fascinating episode that we recorded
live at the bulletproof conference with
mr. Bo Eason it’s such an amazing
individual with a unique story he just
had such a great stage presence and we
were able to capture that energy in the
conversation cuz he had just gotten
finished doing his speech at the
conference and so we got him live for
you guys truly fun we talked about
leadership storytelling you love this
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or all at the human XP thank you guys so
much for listening that you will enjoy
this one Oh Ethan thank you so much for
being here sir yeah you’re welcome what
here what a pal we are at the
bulletproof conference live and I’m
sitting next to mr. Boies and Bo what
what incredible touching speech delivery
performance I mean I don’t know how to
really call it was just so profound and
reaching and please for for the people
listening I mean I was so touched
personally by your story and it really
really made me think about myself and
the things that I’ve experienced and you
know for for the people
that might not know who you are yeah if
you could just you just give us a short
little introduction yeah well thanks for
having me Xavier it’s great to be here
and and and I’m all warmed up because I
was just onstage so we’re doing this
right after I left the stage so you know
I was a former NFL player that was my
dream and and i ended up fulfilling on
that dream it got to play in the NFL for
five years and then from there I went I
wanted to be the best play right I
wanted to be the best stage performer
and and so I did and I started training
at that and it was no different than
playing football the train was pretty
much the same and has spent many many
years doing it got to go to Broadway got
to do a one man show and and then that
led to speaking yeah and that’s where we
are today I manage a lot of speaking and
a lot of training and help people do
what I did what I was what I was trying
to do which is to be able to tell my own
story right and that’s what I do now
yeah it’s I mean it’s really incredible
because you had such such drive and
ambition you had a pretty tough
upbringing the process in which you
became as excellent as you are now was I
mean kind of crafted through how hard it
was for you in the beginning would you
would you say that would you agree for
sure it’s it’s you know what when when I
was I was raised in a way and taught to
be the best at what I do no no matter
what the occupation is so with that
comes a lot of pain because if you’re
aiming to be the best like if you and I
were aiming to be the gold medalist this
year not just a medalist we want to be
the gold medalist we got to go through a
lot more pain than the silver medalists
or the bronze medalist because it’s just
harder yeah to win it all to be the best
and so you the minute you have a dream
like that you have just invited in a lot
of obstacles that are going to come to
you which is great because obstacles
give you a great story to tell and
that’s the only the people the people
that you follow the people that you love
I’ve had a lot of obstacles and they’ve
had a lot of big mountain to climb
and that’s you and I are no different
yeah yeah I mean that’s it’s beautiful
you know you really you really present
it in such a conceptual way that I you
know people can relate to you know in
the speech that you just gave there are
these three main core kind of tenants of
your your being your philosophy and I
would love for you to give our audience
a taste of that yeah well the you know
the first thing that the onions need to
know is that they have a story most
people me included we just don’t think
we have a good story we because we lived
this life so it seems mundane to us but
it’s not to other people so everyone on
who’s listening has to know they have to
surrender to the fact that they have a
great defining moment story that define
them for the rest of their days and it
usually happens in between the ages of 9
and 12 whether you get cut from Little
League or you get dumped at the prom
those are the years where your life is
defined based on what happened and it’s
usually painful yeah for the most part
so the first critical step is the more
personal your story is you know and I
want people sharing their story because
this is the only way people know how to
follow you and the only way that you can
lead is by telling your story so you
gotta surrender to the fact that your
story has got to be personal if it’s not
personal no one will care it’s got to be
personal to you second thing is it’s got
to be physical we live in a world that
it’s lost it’s physicality because we’ve
been in the technology age for two
generations but my theory is and I think
I’m right about this is the leaders who
are going to emerge are going to be the
ones who aren’t more in the closest
touch with their own nature with mother
nature and you know if you think of
human beings were predators you know
they know we don’t like to be think of
ourselves as predators but we are and
predators are actually great and
printers are actually noble and
trustworthy but also their lethal they
can do some damage so as long as your
predatory instincts are doing the right
thing
I want you to use that in your
storytelling so number one I wanted to
be personal number two it’s got to be
physical you’ve got to re remember what
it’s like to be physical in your life
moving like a predator hunting that kind
of movement if you think of the
occupations that you cannot look away
from whether that’s elite athletes or
watching the Olympics maybe it’s
watching Mikhail Baryshnikov to do the
ballet right maybe it’s a leet military
man charging a beachhead right those
kind of occupations you can’t look away
from because they don’t apologize for
their predatory instincts well I don’t
want anyone listening to us today I
don’t want anyone apologizing for their
predatory instincts either definitely
yeah the number of two would be you know
yeah physicality of your story number
three would be the generosity of your
story you and me are in control of how
much we’re willing to give of ourselves
usually we don’t we give our effort out
in teaspoons I don’t want that i want
the floodgates to open and i told the
story on stage about a guy named Jerry
Rice who is the greatest football player
ever to play yeah and he and I were
teammates and he taught me so much about
how much spirit he was willing to give
of himself on a football field but it
changed the way I’m married it changed
the way I parent it changed the way I
speak onstage it changed everything
about my life because of what I saw he
was willing to give of himself so those
are the three critical steps that I
would have everybody in part on their
storytelling number one it’s got to be
personal number two it’s got to be
physical and number three it’s got to be
generous you got to give all of yourself
Wow I i love i love the three tenets of
your philosophy and you know it was it
was so interesting to see you on stage
and come you were you had this command
of the stage like a military general
when you stop talking there wasn’t a
whisper I mean you could it was like a
pin drop do you know like you had full
control of this presence on stage but
you started your career with this dream
of being really the best
football yeah and then you suffered a
knee injury and you moved into play
writing and performing what was I mean
was the parallels like what what are
some of the parallels with that even
though they’re completely contrasting
opposite things I know I remember doing
an interview with the new york times
when the play was opening in New York
and the the guy wrote down in a sentence
in an ex-nfl player turned Broadway
playwright and any stop the interview
goes I’ve never written that sentence
before and I said yeah it’s true it’s
funny they seem like they’re 180 degrees
apart those two disciplines but the
principles to be in the best remain the
same which is you’ve got to have a dream
you got to have a plan you got to
execute that plan and you just got to be
unrelenting and in going for it so I
used the same work ethic that I had to
be the best safety in the NFL to be the
best play right in the world just I just
applied the same kind of work I trained
Al Pacino became a mentor of mine in
that world and he told me what to do he
used the best stage performer of his
time he told me exactly what to do so I
just did what he told me to do because
if the best tells you what to do then
guess what you get to be the best to all
you got to do is follow the map the
problem is no one follows map everyone
goes well I don’t want to do all that
work yeah well I know but why what why
not do all that work what are you going
to be doing instead of all that work
right right that’s always been my
philosophy so even though stage
performance football performance seem
like they’re polar opposites the
principles of being the best and those
two disciplines are exactly the same
yeah yeah it’s I mean it’s it’s so
coherent and it makes so much sense I
mean it really it fits into the larger
paradigm of just who who are we and I
mean what are what is what our role here
yeah and what are we supposed to be
doing or are we supposed to be taking
commander of our
and why haven’t we been taught this why
haven’t be we’ve been given this in
school why isn’t this taught and no it
makes what you do all that more
worthwhile is that you’re giving people
this message of self-empowerment how to
really take back their lives in in a
powerful way but was something that in
all this time between the the NFL and
your play work but was something that
challenged you the most hmm well there’s
you know when you’re attempting to be
you know the best safety in the NFL you
get a lot of challenges because there’s
a lot of other guys wanting to be that
too and there’s a lot of guys trying to
beat you so there’s huge challenges in
that and then you know along the way on
that journey I had seven knee surgeries
you know I mean so now you know I’ve got
to be able to use these legs if I’m to
be the best safety and now I can’t use
them because they’re injured so you face
those challenges all the time and that’s
tho those challenges are actually the
best thing that can happen to you they
can because that’s where your story
that’s where people they gravitate to
people who have to face those those
challenges they just do that’s why you
and I love people who attempted to scale
Mount Everest we just were attracted to
them we just are because we know that I
don’t think I can do that that seemed
impossible yet they attempted it or they
did it we love and more attracted to
people who have faced all the obstacles
our world like our educational system
our media in the United States
especially really teaches us to those
obstacles are bad this this life should
be easy no it shouldn’t I think that’s a
complete lie I think those obstacles
give you story give you power and that
gives the impetus for people to follow
you and then you’ve got to lead them hmm
please go on I mean how how does one
become an effective leader yeah well
here’s the thing you know I think
everybody would agree that leadership is
really a
start in our world it’s you don’t see
much of it or what we’re told is
leadership we think is somebody standing
at a podium pointing their finger at us
and you know ranting at us that’s not
leadership most leaders so-called
leaders want power but true leaders that
I mean the true pure leaders they don’t
want power already have power they’re
call that a necessity they see a problem
and they know how to fix it and so they
end up leading and they’re reluctant to
lead that’s why the best leaders are
always reluctant to do so people that
run for certain offices and stuff like
that they want power they have no idea
how to lead because no one’s attracted
to anyone who wants power they’re only
attracted to people who are taking the
call of necessity and taking it on now
they’ve done a study on leadership and
the study dated back to Julius Caesar it
starts with Julius Caesar and it goes
all the way up through 2012 the number
one ability that all of those leaders
had to have every leader from from
Julius Caesar to Lady Gaga to Osama bin
Laden to our last presidential election
so every leader in between this is who
they studied every one of those leaders
had to have one ability and that ability
was they had to have the ability to tell
their own story Wow because unless they
did someone else would tell their story
for them and their constituencies or
their audiences would not know how to
follow them unless they laid out that
connective tissue which is your personal
story so imagine that in your own life
people are waiting for you to lead
they’re waiting to follow you they just
don’t know how until you share who you
are so that they now have the connective
tissue to go ahead and follow you oh wow
that’s that’s so profound I love that
it’s it’s almost as if there’s a sort of
neural network that connects all of us
and it’s like this synapse of leadership
is
is you know relationship between
yourself as well as the people you’re
leading yep there’s a quote that I heard
something about real leaders create
other leaders yeah more leaders yeah
it’s good I want to you know we’ve we’ve
covered you know your philosophy that
you live by and your your life and what
do you what do you think about effective
storytelling I mean how how does a
person tell other than other than just
being you know the personal aspect of it
yeah how do you how do you structure a
story to impact and reach people yeah
start here’s a there’s a great learning
thing as far as telling your stories far
as great storytelling goes start at your
lowest moment most people want to start
at their highest moment they want to
introduce themselves with their story by
saying hey I’m the best safety in the
world well you can’t do that because no
one cares they care about where you
started so I if you notice when I spoke
on stage today I started with when I was
nine years old I had a dream yeah so now
everyone in the audience has gone like
this oh this nine year olds got a dream
trouble is on its way there’s gonna be
some fire breathing dragon gonna try to
scream and that’s just how it that’s
great storytelling because now they’re
with you if you and me think about
movies that you love if you and me were
about to make a movie today about
climbing Mount Everest think about what
the first frame of film would be that we
wanted the audience to see what would it
be would it be us standing on top of
Mount Everest with flags planet and us
waving it wouldn’t it would be a
standing at the bottom of Mount Everest
looking up at an impossible task and
looking at each other and going there’s
no way in hell we can do this that’s
great storytelling start at the bottom
so the audience can help you build all
the way to the top yeah wow that’s
that’s amazing runt went on to do pretty
well you were in you were in New York
you in Houston you got some rave reviews
by that I mean
what was the idea of run you were
performing as an NFL player on stage no
I was I mean I was an act I you know I
was no longer an NFL player so many
years had passed I trained for those 15
years and I got good so I wrote the play
and it’s a very personal story to me and
the more personally story is the more
effect you have so the story really
started affecting audiences until it
just kept going on I’ve performed that
thing like thirteen hundred times Wow
and it got bought as a movie and it’s
going to be made into a movie and it
goes on and on and on because the story
is personal that’s what people respond
to they don’t care about sports stories
that are general they just don’t care
about them if your movie is general that
you go to into you’ll walk out of it if
it’s specific to the storyteller you’ll
stay and you’ll love it so that’s what
run was all about and that’s what really
gave way to this whole speaking and
training career that I have now you know
something else that you mentioned was
how nature is undefeated yeah I love
that yeah i mean that’s such a beautiful
quote there was there’s an algae used
about how we are we are kind of number
one already because we are conceived
yeah and just this the sheer odds of
conception are still so massively large
yeah that nature has put us in line to
be number one already yeah can you can
you please expand on that well yeah I
just you know you have to remember you
know our media and our world pretty much
teaches us that mediocrity is as high as
we should hope to get and I don’t think
they’re talking to us because look if
you think of the day that you were
conceived there were 300 million sperm
delivered on that day 300 million and
you were one of them and the odds of you
being born was 300 million to one think
of those odds if I if I told you hey
Xavier how would you like to train for
the gold medal in the in swimming in the
Olympics you’re going to have to beat
Michael Phelps to win the gold your
let’s train for the next 20 years the
odds of you winning Xavier are 300
million to one you’re probably going to
say you know I bow those odds don’t
sound too good to me
but I would say to you you’re wrong cuz
you’ve already done it you done that
anybody won that race yeah why wouldn’t
you take those odds you’re already
number one so remember who you are not
who the media talks to you like you are
that’s not who you are you are you are a
one-time phenomenon remember it and
that’s why your story is so unique
that’s why you’re already number one you
just have to fulfill on your destiny of
being number one just to just to play
devil’s advocate just for a second how
can we all be number one how can
everyone on the planet be number one
right I know imagine that just imagine
for a second if that’s the case imagine
that’s all your quest and it’s not even
that we have to achieve number one but
it has to be our aspiration that has to
be our quest right imagine a world where
everyone’s quest was to be the best in
the world at what they do so say you and
me are in a restaurant right now Xavier
in world we just ordered our food and
the waitress what if the waitress that’s
waiting on us or the waiter what if
their only job was to be the best
waitress in the world what if that was
requested how cool would that meal be
four you and me it would be the best
meal we’ve ever had right and what if
the chef are the cook who’s ever
preparing that meal what if his quest
was it be the best chefs in the world
yeah how would that meal be different
that is that is all I’m interested in is
the effort is the aspiration to be the
best I want to live in a world where
people that’s how they treat their lives
because that’s what we truly are yeah I
love it man i just say and you know you
you talk about humans being predators
and how we we are naturally kind of
condition to be in the state yeah I knew
you made the analogy of motherhood and
talked about how there was a line in the
room that no one would take there are
eyes online and then you then you
related back to human beings yeah and
how people should be watching you yeah
and if you’re not creating this sort of
presents mean it my interpreting this
correctly yeah where where if you’re if
people aren’t watching you then you’re
not you’re doing it wrong yeah that’s
right you’re most people walking around
in this day and age are apologizing for
who they are now they’re not going
around going I’m sorry I’m sorry their
body is saying it so you and I could not
be here if we weren’t survivalist if we
didn’t know how to be a predator because
we our ancestors would have died long
time ago nobody got eaten they’ve got
killed by the the next the neighboring
tribe it would have been eaten by
predator Canis that means we’re
predators ourselves which means we’re
very dangerous which means we know how
to take care of business but we think
we’re safe we think like we’re walking
around like casual like it’s a walk in
the park actuality we move like
predators and we dude you got to think
of the times when you do move like this
when you play in the NFL you’ve got to
move like this because you’ll get killed
out there if you’re in the military and
you’re charging a beachhead you’ve got
to move like that or you’ll be dead if
you’re a firefighter and you’re charging
into a building that’s burning down
right you move like a predator because
you have to otherwise you’re going to
die yeah when you’re a mother and you’re
someone’s going to hurt your child you
turn into a bear a grizzly bear and you
rip the person’s heart out who’s trying
to hurt your child that’s a predator
that’s who we naturally are we just
gotta re remember who we are and start
to bring that to our everyday life and
if you do that if you start to access
that part of yourself people won’t have
the ability to look away from you
because no one can look away from a
predator it’s just how it works we’re
not it’s in our DNA we see a predator we
have to pay attention to it because it’s
life or death Wow yeah since we’re on
this track your last your last one which
is generosity yeah and it being generous
with yourself and all the time yeah it’s
such a such a beautiful message what
does it mean what does it mean to be
generous this is how what I mean by it
I’m talking about the ability to give
all of yourself all of the time now
that’s difficult but if you think about
it it’s how we’re wired we would just
like I talked about the predator piece
we know how to give of ourselves we just
don’t we turn down the dial so we don’t
get hurt we don’t get our heart broken I
want your heart broken so I want you
giving all of yourself and I talked
about on stage I talked about a teammate
of mine Jerry Rice who’s the greatest
football player ever to play the game
and the reason he is is because he gave
all of himself every single time he
touched the ball yeah every time not
half the time not every tenth time he
caught the ball every time he touched
the ball he trained his body to go full
speed and get it in the end zone well
there’s no accident that he’s got more
touchdowns than anyone else in the
history of the game because he trained
himself to give of himself I just want
everyone who’s listening to this to
start to train yourself and start to
watch yourself how much are you willing
to give in your job in your marriage in
your parenting in your business how much
you willing to give of yourself and
you’re going to put yourself at risk
because you know it’s very risky pop
proposition yeah because a lot of times
there’s a lot of rejection it’s a lot of
heartache you know but what are we here
to do protect our heart Oh think so hey
hey Bo you you strike me as a very
hardworking individual and your story
touched everyone in that room I mean
there wasn’t a single person that wasn’t
like wow this is amazing you know I just
to kind of wrap up here because I know
that your time is short but if there was
if there was one thing that you could
kind of go back and rewind in time 20
years to your younger self would there
be a message that you could kind of
delivered yeah I look my dad woke me up
and I four older sisters he woke them up
and I have an older brother so I’m the
youngest of six he woke us up every
single morning by rubbing our backs and
he would whisper in our ears that we
were the best
and he would say keep moving partner
you’re the best and then he drop a few
expletives right there this is how he
talked but that’s how he woke us up yeah
so for all those years all I heard was
you’re the best you’re the best get up
there keep moving partner you’re the
best keep going keep going keep going
yeah and if if people would just
remember that that that’s actually what
they’re here to do is to fulfill on that
and you have to also stay true you know
to your dream I do this you know just
like my dad I do that to my kids I have
three little kids and I do the same
thing to them every morning I wake him
up I tell them they’re the best and I
tell them it’s their job to find out
what their dream is and I’ll help them
achieve it and so with the rest of the
world and stay true to it and so I had
that growing up I was lucky and what I’d
love to give this world and what I tell
all my clients and all the people that I
work with and my kids is you’re the best
and I will constantly reminding them
that they’re the best and they’re
supposed to fulfill on this destiny and
that’s their job and if they’re not
going to do that then shame on them wow
man I i love it i truly love it i wish
we had more time Bo but we don’t where
can people find your work your website
bowie’s and yeah my it is it’s Bowie
Singh Kham so it’s Bo my last name is
east and EAS o n.com and all my
trainings are on there i do a three day
event every year twice a year and i
bring people in from all over the world
and train them on how to tell their
story how to physicalize their story and
it’s a really amazing event and people
are interested in that it’s something
that’s really really want to come to and
then you know if people have ever had
that inkling you know like that that
little whisper in your ear that man yeah
that I I was put on at 300 million to
one odds and I’m the one they want to
fulfill on that I would go to Bowie
Singh Kham and I always start to get
involved with what I do because all you
need when you have dreams of being the
best you got to reminded of who you are
because you forget yeah you know with
all the things coming at us and all the
distractions you forget who you are yeah
yeah so I’d love to have thank you so
much for making the time to do this this
is incredible this is a human experience
my name is Xavier katana my guest mr.
Bowie sin but was truly proud pleasure
sir thank you thank you so much for
taking the time to yeah you’re welcome
every rose is a blast thank you you guys
we will see you guys next week thank you
guys so much for listening
