The broadCAST™ is a monthly weigh in by members of The CAST™ of Epic Engage™. Independent experts in their own right, members of The CAST™ are asked to answer a question of simple but possibly profound nature. We wholeheartedly encourage you to connect with these experts. They each bring great value in service to their work. With that in mind, we welcome a new member of The CAST™.
MARK BLACK, CSP is all about wellness and resilience. He is a Heart 
and Double-Lung Transplant Recipient, 4-time marathoner, resilience expert, speaker, and coach. Mark helps people “Thrive in Challenging Times”. A Certified Speaking Professional, Mark has inspired more than 100,000 people in more than 350 presentations. At 23 Mark faced an unimaginable challenge. His doctor informed him that his heart was failing. Without a rare and dangerous heart and double-lung transplant he would not see his 25th birthday. Three years later, after receiving his second chance at life, Mark ran his first marathon. Mark spends his free time with his beautiful wife and two kids.
Please join us in welcoming Mark, and look forward to his insights for November. That being said, and for October 2016, we ask The CAST™:
Personally and/or professionally… what is one fear that you have faced that has made your work or life better and how did you face it?
RAY HOLLISTER SAYS…
After a horrific auto accident, I was facing an uncertain future and total paralysis. I had a deep seeded fear that I would not only never walk again, but I also feared I would never have a normal relationship – or any relationship – for the rest of my life. At first, I faced this fear quite poorly. I sank into a world of “what if’s” that were all worst case scenarios. I imagined the horrible things that other people were thinking about me or what they might say when confronted by my situation. After two particularly powerful visits by a psychiatrist and a priest, I then changed my view and outlook with one simple twist: I changed all my “what if’s” to be about the absolute best case scenario. I changed all my guesses about what people were thinking about me to be only the most outrageously positive outlooks. You see, the truth is that it is just as easy to fantasize about the positive outcomes of our fears as it is to imagine the worst case scenario. But that is how fear sucks you in – it allows you to believe that the worst case is more likely than the best case. This is simply not true. I offer as my proof a simple exercise. Try for one moment to face the ‘fear’ of winning a jackpot lottery of $500,000,000. Is that difficult to do? Why? Just remember that it IS just as easy (and just as ridiculous) to dwell on the most fantastic and outrageously good outcomes of the challenges you face. This one small change in how I face my fears and challenges in my daily life has been the root of my ability to consistently feel joy and happiness in even the most trying circumstances. I encourage you to join me and start ‘worrying’ about all the great things that are bound to happen to you this week, this month, and this year!
Ray Hollister is all about strength, excellence and potential. In fact, he has a very special connection with students – he’s helped thousands achieve average scores of over 90% for 20 years! His love of learning… and his ability to teach anybody the same easy strategies he used to study far less than everyone else while maintaining outrageously high test scores… quickly earned him a lot of ‘friends’ seeking his advice. Ray has personally conducted numerous studies to develop an intense, focused, and results oriented program for college students. With the success of that program, Ray set his sights on helping younger students in Junior High, High School, and those just entering University. The end result is a program that will help any student – especially YOU – learn more, study less, and earn consistently high grades. www.rayhollister.net
JAMIE McCABE SAYS…
I thought it was quite funny that my parents took so long to get a laptop and Wi-Fi, one year ago to be exact, but I soon came to understand their “why”. I too faced the fear of coming into my own scary world of technology. We implemented a POS and an online booking system recently for Clay Cafe. I can’t say, looking back now, what exactly I was fearful of, perhaps the unknown? How does it work and how long will it take to learn? Well, that’s always going to be scary. Maybe because the system wasn’t broke, then did we really need to fix it? What I learned is that it didn’t have to be broken at all to make it BETTER. I 
let the excitement of growth, far outweigh my fear and that my friend, was worth all the reward.
Jamie McCabe is all about creativity and connection. She is on a mission to bring people together through art and exploring their creative side at Clay Café Avalon. Jamie became an entrepreneur and opened the paint-your-own pottery studio in 2008 and has seen many memories painted there since then. She works with children and schools where she provides after school art programs. She believes we should color outside the lines more and embrace our inner artist. At Clay Café, it’s not about painting the perfect piece, it’s about painting the perfect memory. www.claycafeavalon.ca
JOEL SWEENEY SAYS….
Without question, conquering my fear of public speaking has made the greatest impact on my life. Several years ago I had a good job as a Sales Representative for a Fortune 500 computer company. I was successful at the job. I achieved my quota in my first year and was named Rookie of the Year. Despite my success I wasn’t happy at my job. I was required to do presentations to corporate boards and senior management teams almost weekly. Each time I got up to speak I would get a huge knot in my stomach and it would not go away until I sat down. The adage: “Do the thing you fear and the fear will disappear” was not working for me. My fear and anxiety were steadily increasing. My discomfort was so great that it was the prime reason for me to decide to leave the company. I took a job with a local Telephone Company. About a month into my new job my manager convinced me to attend a Toastmasters’ meeting. Over the next few years I worked my way through the entire Toastmasters program and achieved several designations, including their highest designation of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM). The Toastmaster program helped me understand that in my job as a Computer Sales Representative I was focused on the wrong thing, the fear and anxiety of public speaking, not the craft of speaking. By focusing on my anxiety, I was actually feeding it! I became 
an expert at being anxious about public speaking! By overcoming one of my biggest fears, my fear of speaking, I realized one of my biggest dreams, owning my own business. Ironically that business is as a professional speaker. All the Best … Joel
Joel Sweeney is all about effective communications. He has been speaking, training, coaching and writing about it for over 20 years. He is the author of The Wedding MC Handbook and Little Helpings of Food for Thought. His third book, The Speaker’s Tool Box – Perfecting the Craft of Speaking, was released in the 2015. He is the owner of Professionally Speaking (established in 1995). Joel helps entrepreneurs and business professional become effective, engaging and confident speakers. www.JoelSweeney.com
MAJEED MOGHARREBAN SAYS…
I continue to fear the idea that I will not live up to my potential, that I will not have the impact on the world that I believe is possible. That fear drives me to do my best every day. If I consider that I may die any day (a fear) it gives me the perspective to make each day count.
Majeed Mogharreban is all about entrepreneurship. He owned and sold five successful businesses and traveled to 24 countries before he was 21 years old. After early success in business, now his mission is to support the next generation of entrepreneurs to make a difference doing what they love. With clients ranging from the United Nations, to start-up businesses, to an Olympic gold medalist, Majeed helps you discover your strengths and your passions so that work is meaningful and fun. His book, Winning At Life, is a guide for young people to make a plan and win at life. www.majeedm.com
TRENT LANGDON SAYS…
For me, it was a significant life event that elicited fear in me. A health-related episode (I will call it) approximately 3 years ago that hit me like ‘a tonne of bricks’. Everything I thought was certain, was no longer such. Everything I had hoped for quickly became questionable, or least that was the overwhelming feeling at the time. It caused me to worry about my future and that of my family. It forced me to realize that life does indeed have many curve balls that come out of left field. It demonstrated to 
me the immense value of family and friends during a time of need. It necessitated a gradual acceptance of the situation leading to an eventual re-gaining of the reins and a life-shift; a shift toward self-awareness, the mind-body connection, and living in the ‘now’. The experience, though tough at times, has become a significant part of my journey, both personally and professionally.
Trent Langdon is all about building legacy through character education and development. He is a junior high school counselor for 650+ adolescents and is dedicated to serving his students, their families, and communities. Trent works on behalf of his colleagues to build identity, protect professional roles, and to give teachers ‘a voice’; currently completing his 2nd term as a member of the Provincial Executive Council of the Newfoundland & Labrador Teachers Association (NLTA) and now as a passionate candidate for NLTA Vice-President for the 2017-2019 term of office. Trent is also a Canadian Certified Counselor with the Canadian Counseling & Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) and serves as a member of the CCPA Ethics Committee (Complaints Division). And last but certainly not least, Trent is a proud contributor to the Epic Engage team. www.epicengage.com
SHEENA GROBB SAYS…
For the longest time, I had the biggest fear of speaking my truth, putting myself out there, and showing up strongly in the world. I was afraid I would come across as this or that… that someone might not agree… that my friends who knew me when I was younger would “see right through me”… that I would not be received. As I worked on discovering what was beneath that fear, I recognized two things: one, that my fear was an illusion, and the inadequacy I was feeling underneath (that I had never felt good enough) was the bigger culprit for me, and two: that I was not the only one. Many of us suffer with the 
same feelings, and as I set myself free from this emotional barrier, I was bound to help others do the same. So that’s what I did. I processed the underlying feelings of inadequacy that were paralyzing me. I acted with freedom once I was through them. I didn’t overcome my fear… I dissolved it. I transformed it. And then I got to work helping others do the same.
Sheena Grobb Singer/Songwriter and Speaker… is humbly amazing. “It is without a doubt a masterpiece of songwriting and soundscape. Really incredible, soulful music. She will definitely get a huge audience in time, trust me.” Alex Wharton, Abbey Road Studios. A songbird from the age of two, songwriter at ten, with 3 albums under her belt, a nomination for the Western Canadian Music Awards, and over 500 tour dates across Canada, the US, and the UK, Sheena Grobb (one of Canada’s best kept secrets) is spilling over. With the release of her newest album, The Breakless Heart, mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, and a life changing music video created by Lindsey Nelko (past choreographer with So You Think You Can Dance), Sheena is embarking on her most meaningful project yet – The Living Compassion Project™ – inviting others to “unlock their lives” through sharing their stories… as she begins to share hers. www.sheenagrobb.com
BARRY LEWIS GREEN SAYS…
Oooooh, the choices here. I could think of those moments in the CT Scans and MRIs this past year, not knowing what this “brain bleed” was and facing my possible mortality. I could choose my Dale Carnegie Instructor Training experience over 3 long and demanding and intense weekends in Bellevue Washington, USA in 1989. I could think of even moving to Vancouver in 1987, hardly knowing a soul. I could choose singing Because We Believe by Andre Bocelli at a CAPS Convention Inaugural Ceremony in 2014. All scared the hell out of me. All demanded deep courage. All were some of my greatest teachers. BUT, I remember being 13 in 1973 and enduring a year at junior high school that was filled with both the potential and reality of bullying by some students and one gym teacher. I remember the fear of going to school. I also remember, at that time, the depression that my mother was experiencing. It all felt like hell; pure hell. I was myself fearful, depressed and even had thoughts of suicide. But one morning in the Summer of ’73, changed my life forever. I came face to face with an attempt at suicide by my mother. I remember it so vividly. I also remember seeing “the dragon” in front of me… that specter of death. And I decided, “No freakin’ way”. What is now a blur… was that I dragged my mother out of bed and she 
lived another 42 years. And I am thankful that she did, and thankful I walked with her… but most thankful for the lesson that day. That day, I learned what fierce was. In every moment since then, facing fear, I know it has no chance in the face of fierce. There is no battle cry like it. 🙂
Barry Lewis Green is ultimately a vocalist, strength coach and educator. His work is about voicing, exploring, identifying, practicing and mastering our strengths and building upon them through practical and powerful unity and resourcefulness. That is why Barry is The Unity Guy™. EPIC Engage™ is an extension of The Unity Guy™. The Epic work is all about building strong, united and inspired cultures lead by character… at school, work and community; where everyone matters and contributes everyday.www.epicengage.com
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