KEYNOTES: AI, Gold Medals, and Spiritual Billionaires

Jesse Itzler: Finding the Spiritual/Material Balance (sponsored by Matrix)

One of the most energizing and inspiring keynote speakers in recent memory at The HFA Show, entrepreneur Jesse Itzler took the audience through his career, beginning when he performed as a rapper in his native New York City. He earned a recording contract only to be dropped soon after. He went on to work at a number of odd jobs and suffer through entrepreneurial dead ends before hitting on a billion-dollar (literally) idea: Marquis Jet, a kind of Uber for private jet travel. Itzler and his partner sold Marquis Jet to financial titan Warren Buffet after the company earned $5 billion in sales over 10 years.

His March 17 keynote title, “The Spiritual Billionaire,” was the term he used to describe his working-class father, a plumber and devoted parent who taught his son that disappointment was part of life, and he better get used to it. This philosophy was deeply instilled into Itzler as his father, a master at checkers, never once allowed his son to win at a game. Ever.

Even without his usual accompanying DJ, who was grounded by a cancelled flight, Itzler still ignited the room with his energy. He reminded the audience that while they seek financial success (he lifted his left fist), they must not neglect the spiritual element (he lifted his right fist). Itzler would frequently return to the importance of balancing the pursuit of material and spiritual wealth, as he described his adventures as an entrepreneur and endurance athlete.

"If you have a billion dollars and your spirit is zero, a billion times zero is zero,” he stated. “The name of this game that we're all playing is to get enough of this" (he held up his left hand), "whatever enough is for you, without sacrificing or compromising this" (he held up his right hand).

He stressed the importance of learning on the fly and not looking back, using resilience to move past failures and to keep your goal in mind.

“I used to always say, ‘I’m a millionaire. They just haven’t paid me yet,’” he said.

What really matters, he said, is throwing everything you have into your entrepreneurial pursuits.

"Not everything I did worked. Not everything you do will work. But when you pour your soul into it and you empty the tank, you have no regrets,” he said, while adding later in his talk: “The universe rewards the bold.”

Reflecting on his experience as an endurance athlete, he told an entertaining anecdote about his friend, a Navy SEAL, who taught him to never recognize the concept of quitting. If it hurts, just keep pushing.

"We're never going to give our pain a voice,” he said, repeating the advice from the Special Forces veteran. “I know you're going to have these thoughts, but we're never going to speak those words, because once we speak those words, we give them power."

Itzler brought his memorable presentation to a poignant end when he said that he finally beat his father at checkers. His father had Alzheimer's at the time, signaling to Itzler that the disease was exacting a heavy toll. The moment served as an emotional coda in the bond he had with his father, the real spiritual billionaire, reinforcing in Itzler the truths he learned from his father’s example of a life well lived.

Apolo Ohno: "One world, one life, first chance, our choice" (sponsored by ROR)

Those eight words form the philosophy that the Olympic legend cultivated during his journey from speed-skating prodigy to holding the record for the most medals earned at the Winter Games by an American athlete.

In his keynote address on March 18, “From Podium to Pivot: How Champions Upgrade, Adapt, and Win Again,” Ohno revealed the setbacks of his career and how he learned that raw natural ability can only get you so far.

"Talent will get you to the midway point. If you want to be great, it's going to require a lot more," he said.

Pushing him all the way was his father, a Japanese immigrant raising his son alone. Ohno remembers his father waking him at 3:30 a.m. during his middle school years to skate in empty parking lots in his neighborhood outside Seattle, Washington.

After making strides in his athletic development, Ohno lost focus, once skipping a flight to a special training program in Lake Placid, New York, to stay with friends. Again, his father brought him back to a training lifestyle, where he could attain his potential. After winning his first speed skating title at the US Championships at age 14, Ohno repeated his rebellious habit of slacking on his training and ended up dead last in an important race.

His father interceded again and took his son to a remote cabin, where the teenager could block out all distractions and consider what kind of future he wanted. The experience was a turning point. Ohno vowed to himself that he would commit to speed skating and the Olympics. That experience helped him develop the tools to grapple with his setbacks and lack of dedication.

Ohno said that the goal is to find a state of harmony that he describes as “getting into the flow.” A practitioner of meditation and mindset discipline, Ohno learned that he needed to find a deeper meaning to his quest for greatness, where nothing is forced and gratitude is paired with determination.

“How do you maintain composure in your uncertainty? How do you have and create and cultivate confidence through adaptation?" Ohno asked, laying out the challenges he had to overcome.

Ohno would go on to win a combined eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in short-track speed skating at the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Winter Games. Now retired from the Games, Ohno still works with the US Olympic Committee and sometimes appears as a commentator for winter sports. He is also a successful entrepreneur and author.

But competition is in his blood. Ohno challenged himself after his athletic career in a new arena by competing on the popular reality TV show, Dancing With the Stars, winning the competition in the show’s fourth season. Again, he was able to reinvent himself and master “the rules of the game” even when the game was a reality show.

“Every seven to nine years, we shed an old version of ourselves and enter a new cycle. You need to recognize the moment and act,” he insisted.

One world, one life, first chance, our choice. Whatever your journey, you’ll remember the pivotal moments that formed you. And once you tap into the “flow,” you’ll reach for more.

"We always want more,” said Ohno, “and with it, the gratitude of being able to wake up and say, 'I cherish this moment that I have and I'll treat it as such.’”