We have a wonderful guest, a man who is the embodiment of play, having fun, and who has a major effort called Your Winning Season. So it's appropriate that the quote I begin with from Walter Cronkite is aligned with that idea that life is about having fun.

Walter Cronkite said: "I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got." That is what we're about here on these Passions interviews, to help you give this game of life everything you've got.

We have the great pleasure of interviewing Dave Buck, who is the CEO of CoachVille, probably the largest association of coaches in the world. Dave took over from a man named Thomas Leonard, who was a legend in the coaching world. He passed away in 2003 and had hand picked Dave to take over as his successor.

Thomas had previously founded virtually every major coaching organization and made coaching, over and above athletic coaching, generally something that is accessible to every one of us, and can help every person to be a success in their own lives.

Dave Buck is an MBA, a professional consultant a coach, and has been a "solopreneur" for more than 10 years. His professional coaching practice began in 1997, and he's the founder of the Personal Grand Mastery Program for Solopreneurs. He is a man who, as you'll see tonight, is enthusiastic, insightful, practical and a successful consultant and software trainer.

He is someone whose life is on fire all the time. I have the pleasure of knowing Dave as another member of the Transformational Leadership Council, which was created and founded by Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup fame, and Dave brings that joyfulness to everything he does.

In fact, he was a former adjunct MBA professor, teaching the joy of business, as well as being a soccer player, a former soccer coach at Seton Hall University, and he's a true lover of life.

Also, I am so pleased and honored to have Ridgely Goldsborough co-hosting and conducting this interview with Dave. All of you will want to check out Ridgely's website at www.ModestToMillions.com.

Ridgely has sometimes been called "the new Napoleon Hill" and he is embarking on a five-year program of study where he is interviewing billionaires, multi-millionaires-incredibly successful people-and bringing their knowledge to people like you and me so we can learn those skills to create any level of abundance in our lives that we choose.

Ridgely Goldsborough: What an incredible, storied history you have had, "his" story, Dave's story-from soccer player to soccer coach to MBA to consultant. Let's just start at the beginning. Obviously, passion leading the way, the charge of Dave Buck's life. How was that to go from soccer player to soccer coach to MBA? How did that happen?

Dave Buck: I was 12 years old, riding my bike around the neighborhood, and all of a sudden, I heard these people screaming. I thought, "Wow, what is that?" It was in the direction of my school, so I rode over to the school and there were some kids on a field playing a game I had never seen before.

It was soccer, and they had started a soccer league in my town. When I was young, the soccer leagues were mostly created by folks who had immigrated into the States from Europe. So all the European moms and dads had gotten together and created a soccer league.

Now, I'm pureblood American. On my mom's side, we've been in America since the second crossing of the Mayflower, so we're about as American as you can get.

Ridgely Goldsborough: The buck stops here, right?

Dave Buck: Exactly. So we never played soccer-it was baseball, basketball and football-but for some reason, I saw soccer and I don't know what happened, but it got into me. It was the weirdest thing. I don't know why or how, but this game got into me somehow.

The moment I saw it, I said, "Wow, I want to learn how to play this game." I asked my mom for a soccer ball for Christmas and I just started playing. Somehow, my love of that game has carried me through so many experiences. I love the game.

I've played it since I was 12. Most kids have played since they were younger, but I was kind of a late starter, but I played all through high school and I picked a college where I knew I could play. The computer science degree was an afterthought, "Whatever I can do-as long as I can play soccer, I'm going."

My love of playing the game carried me through. Then when I was in my teens, I started coaching younger players-eight to 12-year-olds-so it was right then that my passion for the game and love of playing, the art and creativity of the game really got me going in terms of my self-expression and athleticism.

Also, I really loved coaching young guys playing the game. That was a precursor for what was to come. The other thing is that I was a quirky kid. I loved sports, but for some reason, I also loved business. I don't know why. When I was a little kid, I would read the business pages of the paper! I was a weird kid for sure, I know.

So I loved sports and I loved business. I went to college so I could play soccer, then I started doing work in the computer field. I realized that computers were a good way to earn a living, but they really weren't my love-I didn't love computers; I loved business.

I decided to go back to night school for six years to get my MBA. All the while, I was working so I could play soccer. I would go to games anywhere and join leagues all over the place. Those passions have carried through my life. Eventually, I'd moved out of the computer field and was an MBA doing consulting work.

I was always playing and coaching soccer, so the love of business and the love of this game of soccer-these two passions-really have fueled me into what I do now, which is coach.

Ridgely Goldsborough: I think perhaps people in other parts of the world understand this better than we do here in the United States, or at least in North America, and that is: You today are the CEO of the largest coaching association in the world, and soccer is the biggest sport in the world by far.

Here in this country, the United States and in North America, we don't have a real understanding of what a "fan-atic" truly is as compared to other parts of the world. I wonder if you see any correlation between the immense passion this sport has all over the world, the immense passion you now feel, and translating that into not only coaching soccer, but coaching many people as to how to be successful.

Dave Buck: It's a really good point. There's something about the game of soccer; it's a very expressive game. It's not a formatted game like football, where there are specific plays. It's like a freestyle game, so it has great athleticism and creativity. It does spark incredible passion all over the world.

It's funny, I've traveled around the world coaching and consulting and I always find a game. I could be in Mexico, London, or anywhere in the world-I will find a game to go to. I often will find games to play in in the park.

Wherever there's a park, there's soccer happening. I'm out there playing, and then I'm going to watch games and also doing my work. It's always those things together. It is something that gets into your heart and soul.

I was thinking earlier about my passions, "What are my passions? I know I'm passionate about the game, about business." I know I'm passionate about life, exploring life fully and I think that's what led me into coaching. Probably like many people, I'm a self-help-I wouldn't say "junkie" because I don't like the word-but I'm really into the self-growth and personal development.

I've read all the books by Zig Ziglar, Jack Canfield, Earl Nightingale and all the greats. I've gone to their workshops. So I've been pursuing personal growth for many years. After a while, you get tired of just working on yourself and you want to work on some other folks.

I think that's where I got into coaching, because you can only go so far learning about your own life, but when you start coaching people and try to help them be successful, that really taps into your being in a whole different way.

You have to explore yourself even more fully when you start trying to help others because every person, you try to help play and win their game-which is what coaching is about, ultimately. Whether it's life coaching, soccer or business coaching-it doesn't matter what kind of coaching-coaching is about winning. It's about helping people or players play to win and win their game, whatever their game is.

When you start pursuing winning and playing to win, that's where you really tap into your passion because playing to win means giving yourself fully to whatever the game is, whether it's the game of having a great relationship with your spouse, the game of building a business, being a leader in your church, having an impact in your community.

Whatever your game is, giving yourself to it fully requires that you really explore yourself and work through all your thoughts, feelings and emotions-the inner game. That's where the juice is. That's where we get stuck, but that's also where the joy is.

When you start coaching and exploring the inner game of others, it reflects back to you, what's happening inside of you. What happens is you start coaching five, ten, 20, 30 people, then you start seeing yourself more and more fully. I often say that becoming a coach is the most intense and rigorous personal development program ever invented.

Ridgely Goldsborough: Who needs a coach? Can everyone benefit? Is it something all of us can use in our lives-whatever our field of endeavor?

Dave Buck: I don't think anyone needs a coach, but I think anyone playing a game that matters to them can truly benefit by having a coach. You don't need it. People are fine-they don't need to be fixed. My fundamental notion about humanity is that human beings are perfect; they're delightful, they're joyous.

There's nothing wrong, and you can pursue a vision of excellence and grace in something. Give your life to something that matters to you. You can do more than one. You can pursue business, community affairs, religion, anything. If you're going to pursue it, have a vision of excellence and grace and pursue it with everything you've got.

If you're willing to do that, if you're desirous of doing that, a coach is essential because as soon as you really pursue something that matters to you, what happens is your passion is equally balanced by inner conflict. It always works this way. Wherever your biggest passions lie, lie also your biggest challenges.

Energy is always in balance. If you've got big passions, you've got big challenges-it's just the way it works. When you've got big challenges, these challenges are not there to stop you; the challenges that come up when you pursue your passion are the challenges that are meant to be there for your growth as a human being.

Having a coach is essential to pursuing a vision because most people, when they get stuck, eventually they run out of gas and stop. But when you have a coach who's helping you to really master the craft or the game, to play the game full-out, to keep score-whatever the thing is, to have a way of knowing if you're winning or losing-if you're losing, it's okay.

Every time you lose a game, you can learn and grow from it if you have a coach to help you. I think the reason so many people don't pursue their vision is because in the past when they've tried, they've gotten stuck or have given their heart to something and lost, didn't make it and had disappointments and setbacks.

When you're alone and you have a setback, it's devastating, but when you have a coach and you have a setback, it becomes a launching pad for growth and future victory. I say, when everyone pursuing some vision of excellence and grace has a coach by their side, then every defeat becomes the launching pad of victory.

Every victory becomes an opportunity for true celebration. That's how life was meant to be lived. You're not supposed to win everything, but when you play to win, you get to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Most of us know that our most powerful growth experiences came from times in our lives when things didn't go well, when we lost, had a defeat or setback.

Those are some of the most cherished growth opportunities of our lives, but if you're alone, it just becomes a time of darkness. If you have a coach, it becomes a time of growth. That's what makes life so beautiful.

There's a caveat-as a coach, a lot of people I've coached really get hung up on this life purpose idea. "I don't know what my life purpose is." You don't have to know. You don't have to have a life purpose, you just need to have a "now" purpose. I think this is important because a lot of people get stuck because they don't "know what their life purpose is."

If you just know what your purpose is now and you live for it, that is enough. I talk with people and basically use the language of coaching. In my language of coaching, a coach is here to help you play to win the game you want to play. I ask people what their game is. "What is your game? What are you trying to do right now? What means something to you now?"

Maybe it's getting a better job, pursuing a business opportunity, becoming a leader in your church or community, running for office, or having a better relationship with your spouse. Whatever is meaningful for you now, that's where we start. Then we talk about, "That is your game. Why are you playing this game? What does winning look like?"

If you know why you're playing a game, why does this mean something to you now? It doesn't have to be from the past. It doesn't mean you're going to play this game for the rest of your life; just think about now-what matters now. Then, you understand it's a game, play it like a game which means to have fun.

Pursue it with an eye toward mastery, but have fun. What does winning look like? What are your strengths, characteristics talents? What assets do we bring to the table to help you win? What are the skills of the game? What are the practices. What do you need to get better at, each day, in order to play this game better?

Then you pursue the practice. That's one of the things that makes life so fulfilling is when you are pursuing mastery of something-anything. Pursue your vision of excellence and grace in something that matters, and then learn the skills. As a coach, I have a particular methodology that I use to help people pursue mastery of something.

It starts with desire-you have to have desire or passion. Then you have to know the theory behind this thing. If it's business, you have to read up on business. If it's relationships, you have to read up on relationships. If it's coaching, you have to learn a little bit about coaching. Then you have to learn the method-how do you do it? What is the method behind this thing you want to do?

I think a lot of times, people try to do something without studying about the theory and learning a method. They just jump in and when they don't do well, they wonder why. With anything you're going to pursue mastery of and pursue a vision of excellence, you've got to pay the price and put your time and energy into it.

You have to learn a method. Then you continue to seek information and experiences of learning. Ultimately, it's about practice and performance. So it's desire, theory, method, information or observation. It's good to observe others who are doing it.

Go watch other people, whether it's relationship, business or whatever-go observe. Humans learn best by observing others, so observe, practice and perform. As a coach, I help my players set up opportunities to go through all of those steps, to pursue whatever their game is.

Ridgely Goldsborough: How do you help the people you coach and the people who are coaching to allow the ones receiving the coaching understand and measure their personal victories?

Dave Buck: As a coach, there's a five-step process. With this inner game piece, I have a collaborator named Lise Janelle. She's a great friend of mine and she is a master of the inner game. She and I have been working together for a few years and she has helped with this part of our coaching process.

She has an incredible program called the "Extreme Freedom" program. Her techniques and skills around finding perfection have really perfected our coaching model, so I had to give her credit for that.

Once you work the inner game, then you have to work the outer game. We call this environmental design, and this is where, after you find what's happening inside of you, you need to work on the world around you, because the world around you needs to become a reflection of who you're becoming on the inside.

Most people don't do this part. They think if they just do the inside stuff and they change, then everything is just supposed to get better. But it takes a long time for the outside world to become a reflection of what's inside of you. It does happen, but it takes a long time. I teach my coaches to help their players create an environment that is a reflection of what they're learning on the inside.

Design the world around you so it "brings your game to life." Most people have had the experience where they go to some workshop and have this great inner experience and then you think that when you go home, it's going to be different. What happens? It's never different.

In fact, usually within a week or two it's like you never even went to the workshop. This happens 98% of the time, and the reason is because the world around you right now is a reflection of the old you. We always adapt very quickly to the environment. So you go to this new workshop environment, have a big experience all this inner stuff and you think, "Oh, I've changed!"

Really, you haven't changed that much; you've just adapted to a new environment of the workshop. Then when you go home, what happens? You adapt to the environment of your home and office, which was a reflection of the old you, and you're your old self again.

So in order to make sustainable change, you have to redesign the world around you quickly to reflect the changes you're making on the inside. Make changes in your relationships, hang out with different people, make changes in your home, your office, anything to reflect the new you. It's a very creative process and we teach coaches how to do this.

This is what makes coaching such a powerful, sustainable process, because you're changing not only the inside of the person, but also the world around them. Finally, the part you just mentioned is called "evaluate progress." This is where you look at the game you're playing and find out if you're winning or losing based on how you set the game up in the beginning.

In life, business or executive coaching, the game is not already defined. The players make up the game and decide what game they want to play and what winning looks like. But you still have to evaluate progress and say, "Okay, are we winning or losing?" If we're winning, let's celebrate! Let's have some fun, let's make sure we enjoy the victory and our progress.

That's what so few people do. We're so caught up in achievement and the pressures of our lives, we don't take the time to celebrate. We teach our coaches to evaluate progress. If you win, celebrate!

Ridgely Goldsborough: It's like the soccer players.

Dave Buck: Exactly. When you score a goal in a soccer game, you go nuts! It's part of the fun! If you score a goal in your business, go nuts!

Ridgely Goldsborough: It's interesting how we have a hard time, especially in North America-I'm sure you've heard a million times, overseas announcers, when the score a goal, they go crazy, "Goal! Goooooaaaaal G-g-g-g-Goal!"

Dave Buck: They go wild!

Ridgely Goldsborough: They sound like a bunch of lunatics jumping around inside the studio.

Dave Buck: Yes, and here, we go, "Oh, goal." At least in baseball, they go a little bit crazy for a homerun too.

Ridgely Goldsborough: That's right, they do.

Dave Buck: It's a question of where you put your energy. It's like, let's celebrate, folks! In order to celebrate, you have to define the game up front. I think this is why people don't celebrate. They have fuzzy objectives, overly ambitious expectations for themselves. I think this is one of the biggest problems in our culture today.

Because of the technology and also the self-help revolution, we've gotten this idea that we should be able to accomplish these amazing things, which we can, but our expectations have gotten so high, we never meet them. We have people who are doing incredible things with their lives, but inside, they feel like they're falling behind.

This is why coaches have to be skillful at doing what I call "design a winnable game." This is a game that's a challenge, but it's winnable. Most people are playing un-winnable games.

I think the most important thing is to know your game. What game are you playing right now? Then think of it as a game. So if it's a game, what is winning? How do you win this game? Have a definite understanding, a definition of what winning looks like for your game.

So first, what game are you playing? Second, what does winning look like? Third, really look and ask yourself, "Am I playing to win?" What would that mean? What would I be doing differently if I was really playing to win? Most people are just going through the motions or playing not to lose.

If you are playing to win, then you have a whole different outlook on life. You will find a coach. That's the truth. The way you know if you're playing to win is if you have a coach. That's the barometer and it may sound self-serving, but I mean it.

Ridgely Goldsborough: I echo the sentiment. I have a coach for everything-a physical coach, speaking coach, voice coach and the life coach for me is a mentor.

Dave Buck: Yes, if you are playing to win, you will have a coach because the coach is there to help you win. This is one of the problems we have in our culture. It's a beautiful thing, but it's also a challenge. The beautiful thing is we're self-motivated, can-do, we say, "Yes, I can do it and I can do it myself." But the way the world is today, you can't do it alone.

You have a big vision, you have a desire to do something with your life that is very meaningful and you can't do it alone. You need people on your team. There are two pieces of that. You need a coach, first of all. Then, if you're going to build a team around you where you're doing your best work and they're doing their best work and it's all serving some big vision together, then you also need to learn how to coach because coaching is bringing out the best in your players.

So this goes back to Thomas Leonard's original vision that everyone can be a coach, and my vision is that everyone has a coach. Put the two together-if everyone has a coach and everyone learns how to coach-not everyone needs to be a professional coach; that's only for a few.

It's like not everyone is a chiropractor or a doctor-not everyone is a professional coach-but the skills of coaching and the process and method, anyone can learn and use, if you're a manager, leader or anything like that. The idea is to know your game, find what winning looks like and then play to win.

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