Dog Whisperer Makes an Extraordinary Comeback

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Why was he always smiling?

Review: IKE’S BLUFF, President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World, by Evan Thomas

Puts the lie to the misconception “nothing happened in the 1950s.” In reality the 50s were a turbulent time where humanity teetered on the brink of nuclear annihilation. This is an appealing and eminently readable portrait of Eisenhower, war hero, now turned peacekeeper. Churchill gets all the credit for saving the West, and we don’t dispute, but now, here, Eisenhower gets his due for saving humanity. Well-crafted blend of human and institutional insights, clear-eyed, neither fawning nor cutting.

Special insight, comeback angle:

“The famous smile, Ike told his grandson, David, came not from some sunny feel-good philosophy but from getting knocked down by a boxing coach at West Point. The coach refused to spar anymore after Ike got up off the mat looking rueful. “If you can’t smile when you get up from a knockdown,” the coach said, “you’re never going to lick an opponent.” P30 IKE’S BLUFF, President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World, by Evan Thomas

Never quit: even in double overtime, especially in double overtime!

Prison didn't stop Dave Dahl and his Killer Bread

IN AND OUT of jail and prison for 15 of his 49 years, Dave Dahl, a former armed robber and recovering drug addict, is a self-professed “slow learner.” The creator of Dave’s Killer Bread, he is also living proof that even a slow learner who seems destined for a life of crime can turn his life around.

After a solid start growing up in a family of bakers, Dahl slid into a life of alcohol, drugs, stealing and dealing. As it turned out, he wasn’t a very gifted criminal, beginning a series of in and- out incarcerations. It was during his last sentence that he began to see the light. “I was fortunate to suffer in prison, because I got clean, and for the first time in my life I was confident without drugs,” says Dahl, who discovered at that time that he suffered from clinical depression.

He also discovered that he was smarter than he realized and a lot more interested in what life had to offer than in his next fix. He began working out and studying health and nutrition with a renewed fervor. After his 2004 release, clean and sober, Dahl rejoined his family’s baking business. His brother, Glenn, owner of NatureBake (www.naturebake. com), the healthful-bread business started by their father in the 1950s, welcomed him back and encouraged his ideas.

Within six months, Dave had designed six varieties of whole-grain, organic bread, four of which were introduced in August 2005 at the Portland Farmers Market’s “Summer Loaf ” artisan bread festival to rave reviews. At the helm of Dave’s Killer Bread, Dahl now produces approximately 400,000 loaves of bread a week (16 varieties) with names such as “Good Seed” and “Rockin’ Rye.”

It’s sold at Costco (for specific locations, or to order by mail, visit www.daveskiller bread.com). Dahl—who now spends a good deal of his time sharing his story of redemption with at-risk youths, business leaders, law enforcement and politicians— says he’s in no hurry to grow. “We’re going slow; we don’t want to grow too fast,” he says. This time, being a slow learner has its benefits. —T. Foster Jones for Costco magazine

Will I ever be able to play tennis again?

That's what author Stephen King asked his doctors after his near-fatal 1999 car accident.

"No," they said, "but you'll be able to walk."

He had so many breaks in his leg, his doctor said it was like "marbles in a sack."

Now, he can walk, as they predicted.  And better still, he can play tennis, he told Terri Gross, of NPR's Fresh Air (Tuesday, May 28, 2013 broadcast). 

Doctors tend to lowball, King opined, so that you'll think you're beating the system later when you achieve a bit more.

The process to get there was grueling.  Along the way, King became addicted to the pain medication Oxycontin, but kicked it after a a three-week withdrawal.

He closed his interview by saying, "Terri, next time you're up here, we'll play doubles....."

Something he couldn't have imagined years ago when he was laid low with the horrible tragedy and nearly lost his life.

Once fired, now "indispensible man"

Superb story on JPM chief Jamie Dimon in Bloomberg Business Week.

As with most of the high and mighty, there is a comeback story buried here:

In 1998, Weill and Dimon’s deal frenzy climaxed in an historic merger with Citicorp: They had built the largest financial-services conglomerate on earth. And Dimon was universally understood to be the next in line to run it.



Then he was fired. Dimon had clashed with Weill’s daughter over her role at the company as well as with executives who had arrived with the larger mergers, but Dimon’s primary sin had been crowding the Citi throne. He spent more than a year out of action."

Fired, unemployed for one year.

Now "Wall Street's Indispensible Man" according a to a leading business publication.

In the middle of the storm, remember:  As long as you don't quit, better days ahead.....

Metamorphosis: How a 'Career-Ending' Diagnosis Did Not End My Career

Metamorphosis: How a 'Career-Ending' Diagnosis Did Not End My Career