Rick Lewis Bio & RAQs
(Rarely Asked Questions)
Hi, I’m Rick, HERE to answer those weird questions you thought you’d never get to ask
How did you become a speaker, author & professional consultant to the corporate world?
I used this very simple and straight-forward approach.
First I used humor and over-achievement to cope with being a socially anxious kid, segueing into success as a child actor for TV, becoming obsessed with competitive sports, making the high school honor role and then dropping out of university to become a birthday party clown.
Next I dedicated myself to the practice of meditation, toured nationally with a Broadway musical, became certified as a personal growth trainer and earned my living in cash donations as a juggler and street performer.
Finally I got discovered on the street by a corporate executive who invited me to entertain at a big corporate event, which led to hundreds more corporate events. I then wrote a business book based on my life experience and became sought after as a speaker and professional development coach, writing more books and eventually building a professional development platform called Games for Confidence to bring unique self development tools directly to individuals.
Yup, that’s how I did it. And I’m so glad I didn’t find a shorter way to get there.
What is your favorite coined phrase as a thought leader?
Intelligent Misbehavior is a phrase I coined when I wrote my first business book, 7 Rules You Were Born to Break. The phrase represents the heart of all my coaching and speaking work. I coined the term to convey the joy of breaking your own rules and the unnecessarily limiting social rules of our culture.
What advice do you have for people who overthink things?
As someone who has literally spent time overthinking his overthinking (which is crazy if you think about it) I recommend writing books.
That way you get paid for overthinking, avoid those pesky personal interactions with unpredictable human beings, and have total control of your environment as you get to boss a bunch of words around.
Here are some of the books I wrote while overthinking personal and professional development.
Confident Under Pressure: Discover the Hidden Advantages of Stress
You Have the Right to Remain Silent: Bringing Meditation to Life
The Perfection of Nothing: Reflections on Spiritual Practice
Sounding the Alarm on Business as Usual: Transforming Work with Intelligent Misbehavior
How many organizations have you consulted with as an entertainer and confidence coach?
I’ve delivered more than 500 presentations to private, corporate and association audiences all over the world. I’ve personally addressed or worked with more than 1 million people in the last 3 decades as an author and speaker. Way less than half of the attendees have stood up in the middle of my presentations to shout out, “Hey, wait a minute, you’re just a juggler!”
See the CLIENT List
What are your biggest secrets?
I am a socially anxious, shy introvert who has spent four decades making a living by being on stage in front of people.
I danced with a ballet company in my youth.
I haven’t stayed in one city for more than a month in 40 years. (Talk to me first before you decide to become a professional speaker.)
Riding a 12 foot high unicycle is actually easier than riding a short one. (It’s a physics thing.)
Are you as confident inside as you appear?
This is me getting on top of my giant 12-foot unicycle at a corporate event that looked super impressive to everybody during my show. I would run and hide in my room afterwards.
Good question! The answer is both yes and no. I used my stage persona for many years to cover up my awkwardness, fear of one-to-one conversations, and bonafide generalized anxiety disorder. Eventually I learned to leave the house and converse with grocery-store cashiers while buying milk. Now I talk to my children on a regular basis at mealtimes and can purchase new underwear at the store without turning purple. (Is that progress?)
What are your favorite simple pleasures?
Staying home with my family, eating cereal in the middle of the day looking at trees from ground level instead of from an airplane.
What are the things that took more practice than you imagined but turned out to be worth the effort?
Learning to steal watches from onstage volunteers (relax, I give ’em back)
Marriage
Parenting
Being able to write well.
Learning to juggle 5 balls.
Photoshop
Proper Typing
What’s your favorite airport to layover in?
Charlotte. Their white rocking chairs are the most brilliant addition to an airport ever conceived.
FUN FACT - The guy on the ground helping me is Donny Osmond. He had a concert in town and when I recognized him in the audience I got him to “volunteer” onstage.
If you had to be stuck somewhere in your past forever, where would you go?
1992 — performing street shows at Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver Canada.
There was something called cash that people still carried and the feeling of setting up in a public space with my juggling props, gathering a crowd of pedestrians from scratch, entertaining them spontaneously and directly on the street, and getting paid by donation into a hat was one of the happiest times of my life.
What’s the single biggest thing that thousands of hotels you’ve stayed in could have done to make your years on the road more livable?
Put windows that actually open in the rooms.
If you had to be an animal, what would you be?
A ferret.
Super flexible, highly intelligent, relaxed and relational, endlessly curious.
(Full disclosure, we feed two of them.)
I hear you provide refreshingly unique, inspiring and hilarious presentations for events. Where can I see more about your presentations?
It’s true, presenting to live audiences is one my favorite things. You can see more about my presentations here www.ricklewis.co.
