I’ve already said on social media that my dad was my first hero. I’ve been blessed with being able to learn professionally from several prominent mentors who were my subsequent heroes–Barry Diller, Ted Turner, Haim Saban, Rupert Murdoch, Peter Liguori, Steve Mosko. You may have heard of a few of them.
My current hero is someone you’ve likely never heard of, unless you’re an astonishingly detailed fan of judo or mixed martial arts. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
Dr. Rhadi Ferguson is a four-time national judo champion, and competed in Athens on the 2004 Olympic team and was an alternate for the same team in Sydney in 2000. He is a proud and distinguished alumnus of Howard University, where he played football and also competed in wrestling and track, all while achieving a 4.0. He is an even prouder father to two wonderful children, his son Rufus and his daughter Rhadi Isabelle. But that’s his biography. I’ve been privelaged enough to know the man behind the biography, and my life has been forever changed for the better.
Dr. Ferguson was the mentor to an incredibly influential and impossibly beautiful person who entered my life last year. One of the greatest gifts she gave me was the chance to read a personally autographed copy of his book, “Coffee with Rhadi”. In fairness, there’s not a lot that Rhadi says or writes that is particularly unique, but the way he conveys it is compellingly unique, a combination of tough love, world class determination and perpetual hope. His is brilliant, patient, loving and can most definitely kick anyone’s ass if one happens to disagree.
I began receiving coaching from Dr. Ferguson and his partner, Arlo Henderson (himself an ex-NFL quarterback and a very successful agent), several months ago. My initial attraction was curiosity–who was it that was able to help mold the essence of a person I had such deep feelings for? Once I began to experience their one-on-one mentoring, encouragement and championship demeanors the essence of me began to change for the better.
As I write this I am at my lowest weight in my adult life, I attack each day with the ferocity of a champion and I have begun to understand that for as successful as speaking Leblanguage has been in my life the embellishment of his language–available through Team SwitchOn–has dramatically improved the impact of its communication. He has mentored hundreds of other champions besides the amazing person I respectfully and delicately reference, and I am proud to say I am on his client roster right now.
Maybe calling someone a hero puts them on a pedestal, and many heroes are reluctant. I’ve never asked him how he feels about that. This essay does just that. Doc, you are my hero now. Deal with it.
Until next time…
