George Foreman – a lean, mean, entrepreneur-ing machine!

MagsMac gets some one on one time with George Foreman, photo by Ed Schipul

Last week, a group of Schipulites had the pleasure of attending Rice Alliance‘s kick off celebration featuring speaker George Foreman. That’s right, George Foreman – Houston native, two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the guy with the famous grill (I have two – I am obsessed). We each got a copy of his latest book – “Knockout Entrepreneur,” and got to hear George in his element – telling stories.

He told the story of his life – from his first fight (explaining “They laughed me out of the ring and I said, ‘I’m never doing this again!'”), to his first retirement, to his motivation to get back in the ring again to support the George Foreman youth center in Houston.

George Foreman’s appeal is his personality – he is one of those rare people who can convey both complete confidence in all he has accomplished and somehow still remain humble about the whole situation. I imagine that if it was just the two of us hanging out having a beer, he would tell the exact same stories in exactly the same way. And I love that.

My favorite moment was when George summed up his philosophy on taking advantage of his personal brand to start his various businesses. While most of us don’t have his inspirational story of starting in poverty, rising to be the best in the world at what we do, winning international honors, and having millions of fans… we have our own personality and our own story to tell.

“If you make them love you they will buy it. But you gotta make them love you. The way you make them love you is love them back.” – George Foreman

Thanks George and Rice Alliance for the fantastic program!

Schipulites with our George Foreman books. Photo by Ed Schipul.

George Foreman in Rice-adorned apron and chef’s hat. Photo by Ed Schipul.