People. We need people in our lives. In fact as a form of punishment in prison they take a prisoner away from people and put them in isolation. There are all sorts of types of people in the world and some we are more attracted to than others for whatever reason.
I have many people I would love to sit and chat with for a bit. People I believe I could learn from. People I believe I may be able to offer an idea or two to as well. While thinking about these people I decided to make a list and after a while the list grew quite long. I got to thinking about who I would like to hang out with in one form or another. Maybe it was over a coffee or playing miniature golf. The venue or the nature of the meeting would not matter. It was the exchanging of ideas that was important. I broke the list down to a more manageable size and so here I offer you:
12 People I Would Love to Have a Chat With
Gary Vaynerchuk is co-founder and CEO of a social media brand consulting agency called VaynerMedia, video blogger, co-owner and director of operations of a wine retail store, and an author and public speaker on the subjects of social media, brand building and e-commerce.
He just released his latest book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
Gary has that gene I wish I was born with. While most eight year olds were learning how to properly squeeze a lemon, Gary was managing seven lemonade stands across his neighborhood. If I had a chance to sit with Gary I would probably only have a chance to ask him one question. Gary is an excellent story teller and a wealth of knowledge especially when it comes to social media. If I had a chance to sit with Gary I would ask if it is possible to obtain that gene at my age. I would ask him how one can ignite the level of passion he has.
Follow Gary on Twitter.
Bono is an Irish singer, musician, venture capitalist, businessman and activist. He is best recognized as the frontman, primary vocalist and lyricist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono has become one of the world’s best-known philanthropic performers and was named the most politically effective celebrity of all time by the National Journal. His list of accomplishments and charity works is quite extensive.
If I had a chance to sit with Bono I would ask him what he was thinking when he came up with the characters of The Fly, Mephisto and the giant lemon for the PopMart tour. I would also ask him why he is not on Twitter. It would seem to me that he could reach so many more people and do even greater works if he was. I would ask him how he felt just before he went on stage to perform their “Under a Blood Red Sky’ Red Rocks Amphitheater show and if he had any idea at all how huge of an event that would become. I would also thank him for making perhaps my favorite album of all time, ‘Joshua Tree
Bob Geldof rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s. You probably know him as the singer of the song “I Don’t Like Mondays”. He co-wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Geldof is also widely known for his activism, especially his anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984 he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Later they organised the charity super-concert Live Aid in 1985 and the Live 8 concerts in 2005.
Live Aid which was a huge live music event staged simultaneously at the Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia and was also broadcast live in the UK on television and radio. In total, Live Aid raised over £150 million for famine relief. Geldof was subsequently knighted, at age 34, for his efforts.
Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, founded by fellow Irishman Bono.
If I had a chance to sit with Bob Geldof I would ask him about his involvement with Live Aid and what it took for him to pull that off. I would ask him if he thinks something like that would work today and if so why it is not done more often.
Follow Bob on Twitter. (This Twitter account is not Bob Geldof personally, but is a fan page run with sanction from bobgeldof.com and all content is authorised by that individual.)
Alton Brown is an American television personality, celebrity chef, author, actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats, the mini-series Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves, and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America. He is involved with several other shows as well. Brown is also the author of several books on cookery
If I had a chance to sit with Alton Brown I would ask him about his experiences on some of these shows he works on including his time with Sponge Bob Square Pants. I would ask him how he motivated himself to learn so much about food and what it takes to be a good cook. I would ask for for advise for a pastry chef about how to make his own cooking show.
Follow Alton on Twitter.
Wallace “Wally” Amos, Jr. is an American TV personality, entrepreneur and author from Tallahassee, Florida. He is the founder of the “Famous Amos” chocolate chip cookie brand and Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company. He showed his interest in cooking at a very young age, and it was from his aunt, who would bake cookies for him, that Amos would develop his chocolate chip cookie recipe. In 1975 he set up a store to sell his cookies in Los Angeles, California with the help of a $25,000 loan from Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy.
He has written several books
If I had a chance to sit with Wally Amos I would ask him what that rise to fame was like. I would also ask him how he is able to keep such a positive attitude.
Stephen King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books
In 2000 King said he saw e-books becoming 50% of the market “probably by 2013 and maybe by 2012.” But he also warned: “Here’s the thing—people tire of the new toys quickly.” As I write this reports state for every 100 books Amazon sells it sells 160 e-books. If I had a chance to sit with King I would ask him what his thoughts on the future of books is. I would ask him for advise on how I should go about writing my own novels that I have rolling around in the back of my head and on Evernote.
He got blocked on Twitter by Donald Trump. I would ask him how he felt about that as well as J. K. Rowling coming to his rescue by offering to direct message Stephen an tweets from Trump.
Follow Stephen on Twitter.
On Sean Ogle‘s website he writes: “In the time it took you to get to this about page, you’ve probably figured out this site is about two things:
1- Building a business you can run from anywhere on Earth
2- Living a life worth writing about
So if you plan on sticking around, I’d hope that one of those two things gets you excited.” It certainly does for me.
Sean talks about being a Location Rebel and living a life that you’re excited about. He teaches people how to build businesses they can run from anywhere and has developed one of the most in depth courses ever created on building a true lifestyle business.
If I had a chance to sit with Sean I would ask him for advise on how to become ‘location independent’. I read his work and follow him and occasionally interact with him on Twitter but I know he has information he is holding back. I would ask him to look at my websites and other projects and ask him to help me tweek my business model. He gave some advise on how to improve your life in one easy step and I took it.
Follow Sean on Twitter.
Wow. Richard Branson. Where do I start? Richard Branson is one of those people I could learn so much from. Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate and investor. He is best known as the founder of Virgin Group, which comprises more than 400 companies. His first business venture was a magazine called Student at the age of 16. He has that gene I wish I was born with. He started his record business from the crypt of a church where he ran The Student magazine. I mean who thinks like that? Obviously he does which is why he has become so successful.
If I had a chance to sit with Richard I would ask him how to get that gene he and so many other amazingly successful people have. And then I would listen. Just listen and soak up every single sylable that came out of his mouth. And then I would probably ask him something stupid like what he uses in his hair.
Follow Richard on Twitter.
Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger and television personality. His blog, Perezhilton.com is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities. During an interview in Cliché Magazine’s June/July 2010 issue, Hilton said that he only started blogging as a hobby. “What set my site apart is that prior to PerezHilton.com, most blogs were mainly online journals and diaries, but that never interested me. I wanted to talk about celebrities because they’re far more entertaining.” His blog is amazingly popular and If I had the chance to sit with Perez I would ask him about how it became so popular. It is obvious there is a lot of trash talking and controversy on the website and I would ask him about how the site evolved. I would talk with him about his anti-bullying efforts and what his daily personal life is like. I would ask him why he is so anti-bullying yet that is often what he does on his website and otherwise.
Follow Perez on Twitter.
Jeff Probst is an American game show host and an executive producer. He is best known as the Emmy Award winning host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor which he has hosted since 2000.
He just seems like a really cool guy and if I have a chance to sit with him I would ask him to share stories and behind the scene stuff from Survivor. I heard he went to a lot of effort to get a meeting with series creator Mark Burnett and so I would ask him to discuss tenacity. As well I would ask him how (and if) he stays excited about working on the show for over 20 seasons.
Follow Jeff on Twitter.
Hulk Hogan was born Terry Gene Bollea and is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, entrepreneur, and musician. I remember watching Hulk Hogan on tv as Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and 90s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation.
Hulk Hogan had a long career in wrestling and I would love to discuss that with him. We both used to represent ViSalus. I would like to talk to him about the details of how he got involved and what went on behind the scenes.
If I had the chance to sit with Hulk Hogan I would rather it be in the gym. I would love to work out with him a bit. Still I would ask him what his thoughts were as the Word Wrestling Federation acknowledged that wrestling is not as real as they were leading it on to be.
Follow The Hulkster on Twitter.
Howard Jones is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was one of the defining figures of mid-1980s synthpop. Howard is probably my all time favorite musician. I have been listening to him since 1983 and in fact his second studio album, Dream into Action, was the first CD I ever owned.
In July 1985, Jones performed at Wembley Stadium as part of the Live Aid concert, singing his 1984 hit “Hide and Seek” while playing a piano belonging to Freddie Mercury.
If you are not familiar with his music, definitely pick up his CD Best of Howard Jones
Howard and I are both Buddhists. In the late 1980s, Jones began practicing Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the worldwide Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International, and Jones has credited his daily practice of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo since 1991 as “having a profoundly positive effect on my life.” Of all the people on this list I think I could relate to Howard the most. If I had a chance to sit with him I would ask him about meditation and Buddhism and how to be more peaceful and at peace.
Follow Howard on Twitter.
So there you have it. 12 people I would love to have a chat with. There are actually a lot more people so stay tuned for a follow up sometime in the future.