Wisdom Conversation with Rick Barron
The Teachers We Never Chose
Sometimes our greatest teachers don’t stand at the front of a classroom. They arrive disguised as hardship, disappointment, illness, financial pressure, failure or seasons we never would have chosen. And they often lead us to wisdom
When fellow podcaster Rick Barron accepted my invitation to join me on The Main Thing, I expected to hear great stories from his remarkable 42-year career in Silicon Valley. What I didn’t expect was to come away thinking about failure, gratitude, resilience and the unexpected teachers that shape a life.
Rick’s journey takes us from a military hospital during the Vietnam War to Apple’s original Macintosh launch, through a frightening battle with melanoma that nearly cost him his left arm, and into a retirement filled with curiosity, mentoring and meaningful conversations. It’s an episode that reminds us wisdom is rarely learned in comfort.
Wisdom Episode Summary
Rick Barron has lived several remarkable chapters. He served our country during the Vietnam era. Then, Rick helped manufacture the original Apple Macintosh. He spent 42 years working for technology leaders including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Symantec and Intel. Today, he is a fellow podcaster whose curiosity and love of storytelling continue to give his retirement fresh purpose.
Yet this conversation isn’t ultimately about technology or career success. It’s about what life teaches us. Rick shares unforgettable stories of watching Steve Jobs unveil Apple’s legendary “1984” commercial, receiving a melanoma diagnosis that threatened his arm, facing financial uncertainty with only $53 left in his checking account and encouraging a young intern named Amy Wong toward the career she dreamed of pursuing.
Wisdom Resources to Explore
Rick Barron’s Podcast: “That’s Life I Swear”
Continue the conversation as you listen to Rick’s thoughtful stories about life, culture, history, technology and the lessons hidden beneath the surface.
Amy Wong
View the TEDx Talk from the younger professional Rick encouraged early in her career, who went on to become an author, speaker and teacher.
Rick Barron’s Closing Essay / Reflection
See Transcript (below) to read the short reflection Rick shares near the end of the episode about regret, presence and living fully today. (Credit: Jonathan Larson from the musical “Rent”)
Related Listening: Anita Stubenrauch
Hear our earlier wisdom conversation with Apple alumna Anita Stubenrauch, who wrote the Apple Credo and offers another fascinating perspective on the company’s formative culture.
Skip’s Appearance on Rick’s Podcast
Check out Ep. 30 from “That’s Life I Swear” from March 2026 (audio, 61 minutes)
About Our Wise Guest: Rick Barron
Rick Barron is a podcaster, storyteller, mentor and retired Silicon Valley technology professional. During his 42-year career, he worked for Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Symantec and Intel in roles spanning manufacturing, project management, documentation control and more.
His life has also included military service during the Vietnam era, helping launch the original Macintosh, surviving melanoma and nearly losing his left arm, and mentoring younger professionals.
Rick began podcasting in retirement and discovered a new outlet for his love of writing, research and storytelling. Today, he continues exploring the intricate threads of life’s most compelling stories and passing along what he has learned.
He joined us from his home in San Jose, California, right in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Why This Wisdom Episode Matters
Every one of us will eventually meet teachers we never would have chosen: failure, illness, loss, disappointment, financial strain or unexpected change. Rick doesn’t minimize those experiences. Instead, he shows us what hardship can produce when we meet it with humility, perseverance and curiosity. For anyone navigating a difficult season—or reconsidering the meaning of one they have already survived—this conversation offers hope, perspective and practical wisdom.
A Memorable Wisdom Quote
“Failing is probably gonna be the best lesson you’re gonna learn.”
~ Rick Barron
What You’ll Discover
- What it was like to help manufacture the original Macintosh
- Military service during the Vietnam War taught Rick about the preciousness of life
- The Christmas promise that may have saved Rick’s life
- The lessons hidden inside financial pressure and failure
- Why curiosity and learning still matter in life’s later chapters
Episode Chapters – Wisdom Awaits
[00:03:15] — How two podcasters connected
[00:04:42] — Inside Apple and the original Macintosh launch
[00:10:29] — Steve Jobs unveils the “1984” commercial
[00:14:05] — Vietnam and the preciousness of life
[00:17:47] — How retirement led Rick into podcasting
[00:20:27] — Melanoma and the fear of losing his arm
[00:24:41] — Rick reveals his “Main Thing”
[00:25:48] — The lesson inside a $53 checking balance
[00:29:51] — Why failure can become a powerful teacher
[00:33:56] — Mentoring Amy Wong and opening a path
[00:38:57] — Living fully in the present
[00:40:30] — Skip shares final reflections
Keywords and Phrases from Our Wisdom Conversation
Wisdom, Rick Barron, The Main Thing Podcast, podcasting, Apple, lifelong learning, resilience, failure, melanoma survivor, cancer, Vietnam, veteran, Macintosh, Steve Jobs, Silicon Valley, mentoring, Amy Wong, personal growth, financial hardship, gratitude, life lessons, overcoming adversity
Wisdom Episode Transcript
Skip (00:58)
Welcome back to the main thing podcast.
I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, coming to you today as always from Parkwood Studios in almost heaven, West Virginia.
Every once in a while, you meet someone who has simply lived. Not just accumulated birthdays, but accumulated perspective. The kind of perspective that can only be earned by walking through hardship, making difficult decisions, recovering from disappointment, staying curious, and paying attention to what life is trying to teach us along the way.
Today’s guest is one of those people.
Rick Barron spent forty two years in the heart of Silicon Valley contributing to some of the most influential and transformative technology companies of our time, including Apple, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Symantec, and Intel.
Early in his career, Rick even helped manufacture the original Apple Macintosh, which gave him a front row seat into one of the most iconic product launches in modern history. But as fascinating as those stories are, this conversation really isn’t about computers. It’s about what life teaches us.
Rick Barron served our nation during the Vietnam War at the tender age of 19 years old. He’ll share lessons from military service, stories from his early days in Silicon Valley, what a battle with melanoma taught him about life, why he’s so passionate about mentoring younger professionals, and how podcasting has become an unexpectedly joyful and meaningful chapter in his retirement.
More than anything, though, I think you’re going to enjoy spending a little time with Rick Barron. He has that rare ability to tell stories that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. By the end of our conversation, I suspect you’ll feel like you’ve just shared a cup of coffee with someone who’s simply been a little further down the road and who genuinely wants to help the rest of us navigate it a little more wisely.
Here’s my wisdom conversation with Rick Barron. Enjoy!
Skip (3:15)
Rick Barron, welcome to the Main Thing podcast. Thanks for making some time for us this morning.
Rick Barron
(3:22)
Skip, thank you so much. I’ve been looking forward to this very much. And I think in our past conversations, led me to think that here’s someone that I would really love to speak with again.
Skip
(3:35)
Who are these two guys? How are they connected? And so do you wanna start that, and I’ll just jump in with some color commentary?
Rick Barron
(3:40)
Sure. We came across one another; we’re both part of a, the Riverside Facebook podcast community group. And, over time since I’ve been, using their software, Riverside, we’ve been given the opportunity to seek people who may have an interest to be interviewed. So, you know, I put up my pitch like others did, and, you were kind enough to accept my offer.
And we had a discussion, and we said, okay. Let’s do it. And I think it was back in March 2026, we sat down. And, let me tell you, I’ve been getting a lot of hits on our conversation.
Skip
(4:21)
Thank you for having me on your show, and it’s, it’s a pleasure to reciprocate here today.
I’m not big in online communities, but my experience with you and the Riverside group is really good, really rich, really useful. I look at that when I see it come through my feed. I always look and and click into the comments because there’s there’s knowledge sharing there that’s, invaluable.
Rick Barron
(4:42)
All over. Yeah. It’s a great community.
Where I live, in Silicon Valley in California—and I’m now retired—but over the forty years I was in that industry, I was able to work for numerous great companies in Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems.
But throughout all those years, if I had to pick one that was really something that I could really relate to with fond memory was when I worked at Apple Computer. And, that was back in gosh, I think it was 1983. I’m dating myself here. That, I looked in the Want Ads, and there was this ad for a production, manager. And that’s all it said, at Apple Computer. It was very simple.
So I answered the ad. Submitted my resume. About a few weeks from by, I got a call and said, hey. Why don’t you come in and we’ll have a chat?
And the process went very smoothly. Gosh, I think about maybe a month later, they said, we’d like to bring you on board.
Now I wasn’t quite sure what it was I was gonna be doing per se.
They were still fairly young, but—they were getting such publicity with, you know, the likes of Steve Jobs and all of the great things that they were wanting to create because they really were, so religious about making the computer so simple to use and not have it be something that one would be afraid of to to even attempt to use at home, let alone work. So they their simplification was something they took as a religion.
So, anyway, when I when I got to Apple, I was told to go to this building down the street in Cupertino.
And he said it’s gonna be behind a gas station.
And I thought, okay.
Skip
So this sounds a little sketchy at this point.
Rick Barron
(6:56)
It does.
And I went there, and, I I found the gas station, but I didn’t see anything that had the Apple logo. Like, okay. This is the office.
So I was told go to this store and knock on the door, identify who you are because they’re expecting you.
I said, okay, so what!
I parked my car, and I thought, jeez, this feels so clandestine.
And I knocked on the door, and I identified who I was.
“Oh, yeah. Rick, we’ve been expecting you. Come on in.”
That’s where I met, five other people, and it was in this very large—well, not a large building—but it was where they were building prototypes of the first Macintosh.
And that’s when I had my first exposure to seeing this product that I I had heard about, but didn’t really get a grasp of what it was all about.
Skip
(7:49)
So still right in right in the prototyping phase?
Rick Barron
(7:53)
Absolutely. And I thought, okay.
This is so surreal because here we are.
People are walking up and down the street and have no idea what’s going on in this building.
For sure.
Just being exposed to the prototypes of the the chassis, the the motherboard, everything that was being pulled together.
And we were having extensive meetings late in the night to get this up and running because we had a very tight schedule to meet to then address the major launch, which was coming.
Skip
(8:25)
Rick, did it already have a name?
Was it already known as Macintosh?
Rick Barron
(8:28)
It was known as Macintosh.
Even the prototypes had the the labels on them.
And one real, neat tidbit is, inside the bezel was the signature of every engineer that was behind the—or the creation of—the Macintosh.
So, I mean, it was in the first launch of the Macintosh computers. So they were just kinda chiseled, chiseled in per se. So everyone had that.
Anyway, I think it was, like, two weeks later, that’s when I went up to the factory in a place called, Fremont.
And that’s where I was introduced to the other key supervisors who were had separate—who had responsibilities for various parts of the, Macintosh manufacturing.
That’s when I got exposed to automation of robots doing various, loading of chips into the boards.
It was a sight to see.
We got to meet the, manager of the what we call the Mac factory.
And that’s when we had a session with all the supervisors and the people who were part of the manufacturing process on what our objective was.
Rick Barron
(9:44)
And we were told that we had to be ready with x number of Macintoshes to then have it be ready so that they would launch it come, in January 1984.
We were, like, four months away. And I thought, woah, we’re gonna be working some long hours. We worked on weekends.
Skip
(10:07)
But, Rick, as a as a marketing guy—but, you know, that’s my my profession—my career has been in marketing.
January 1984 is a significant landmark date in the advertising world because the the commercial for that product debuted and was seen by the world at the Super Bowl halftime of that year.
Rick Barron
(10:29)
Well, there there’s a story there.
When we got to the point of where we had the volume that we needed to meet the launch, we were told we were gonna have a special guest come out to the factory.
And we all met somewhat central of the manufacturing floor.
And we were waiting and waiting.
All of a sudden, someone said, “Oh my god.”
“It’s him.”
And I turned around, and it was Steve Jobs.
And he came out, and he said, “I’d to have you guys, get in your cars and drive up to this breakfast place that’s up the road, and, we’re gonna treat you guys to breakfast.”
And the the crew was fairly small at the time.
So we got there.
We’re having our breakfast, and then Steve Jobs was doing his pitch about what the work we did we did and how we’re getting ready to launch it come January.
And he said—you know, typically, he always said—”But there is one more thing.”
And that’s that’s when he said, “We are gonna debut a commercial to launch the Macintosh.”
And I said, “I’d like to show it to you guys.”
And—when the the they closed the screens, and he said, “Just so you know, you were the first Apple employees other than us and management to see this commercial.”
So he launched it, and you could heard a pin drop.
It was just unbelievable.
When it was over, everyone stood up and just clapped.
Rick Barron
(12:00)
It wasn’t like, okay.
Let’s all stand up and clap.
It was like it just happened spontaneously.
Everyone was just like, oh my gosh.
This is gonna knock them off their socks.
And he said, well, let’s let’s run it one more time.
It was the same thrill. Same thrill.
But, after we had the launch to a lot of fanfare, Steve Jobs had management present all of the people on the manufacturing, facility be presented, with a free Macintosh along with the only two pieces of software at the time, MacWrite and MacPaint.
That was it. It was quite a joy to work there.
Skip
(12:46)
Amazing. Thanks for sharing that story.
Rick Barron
(12:49)
No.
You’re welcome.
Skip
(12:50)
I just wanna mention for folks that are listening because you’re Apple fans and you love technology, you love the Apple brand, you’re part of that community, we had a guest on about a year ago at this time, Anita Steubenrauch, who was, a longtime Apple employee who wrote the Apple credo, which is, their their shared values.
Here’s who we are and what we believe in.
And she she wrote that, and and she reads it, you know, in her own voice, of course, on on that episode.
And it is also goosebumps inducing type of message that, Apple is known for.
Rick Barron
(13:25)
Well, that was the one thing, about Apple.
It was there was just something magical about that place.
I mean, you walk into the factory—the factory floor—or you walk onto the campus buildings.
I mean, there was just a buzz, absolute buzz.
Skip
(13:43)
Rick, you’ve worked for—you mentioned some of them—many of the titans of technology in Silicon Valley and—
Mhmm.
—throughout the region.
Hewlett Packard, we mentioned the Skunk Works earlier.
I know you had some time at HP, Sun, Motorola, Symantec, so on the on the software side of of the industry.
But I wouldn’t wanna overlook, Rick, your military service, and I wanna thank you for—
Rick Barron
(14:04)
Thank you.
Skip
(14:05)
Serving our nation in the, the Vietnam War.
If you would speak to Americans today, how you would like us to remember and frame up, the importance of, of the Vietnam conflict.
Rick Barron
(14:17)
I joined in when I was 19. And I was drafted in different period of time because, you know, people were just protesting the war, quite extensively.
And I felt that it was it made no sense for us to be there. And I know when—well, I’ll tell you a little story here.
My both my brother and I were drafted together. And my mother said, “Well, can’t we fight it? Because they can’t take both of you.”
And we both said, “You know, it’s best that we go together and just get it behind us.”
Now my brother went to Vietnam, but I worked in a hospital. And in the hospital, we were getting choppers coming in every day bringing in the wounded.
And I was just turning 20 when I got exposed to that. And just seeing that, Skip, it just made me realize how precious life is. It just—in the blink of an eye—you could lose everything.
And seeing a lot of these individuals, who were just, their spirits were just broken.
But, again, it made me think that I know I don’t like this war, but I felt that my country—or I’m sorry.
Our country—has its faults. Like any country in the world, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And I think that people need to understand that—
Skip
(16:14)
Right on.
Rick Barron
(16:15)
We’re going to maybe someday do this again. War is not a pretty thing. It never has been. It never will be.
But, you know, I mean, I I came across a friend of mine at at the PX that we were in basic training together, and he was in, you know, medical gear. ou know, his army issued, you know, blue kimono. And I noticed that he had a a scar on his chin, and he had been hit by shrapnel.
But he said, “Well, I—but I’m the lucky one because the way I got this was the guy who was taking point that day. He hit the landline, and he was, you know, gone in an instant. But the shrapnel hit me.”
But I think to answer your question about what I would tell kids today—
Skip
(17:05)
Mhmm.
Rick Barron
(17:05)
Is if you don’t know what you wanna do in your life as of yet, join the military.
And I’ll I’ll tell you why because it will prepare you for life more than you realize—how to survive, how to have a good discipline, a spirit of mind that will guide you going forward.
Rick Barron
(17:29)
Eventually, I did go back to to college, and, I finished up and got my degree.
And that’s when I eventually got into the, the high-tech arena.
But I would tell any person today that there’s nothing wrong with serving your country.
Skip
(17:47)
We’re both podcasters. I mentioned earlier briefly that I have been on your show. And so speaking about your show, here’s what it says on the website.
“Every Wednesday, join Rick as he unravels the intricate threads of life’s most captivating stories.”
I love that. I love stories. I’ve already said that probably twice in—this short period of time.
How’d you get into podcasting, and how long you’ve been doing it?
Rick Barron
(18:11)
Sure.
I really got into it purely by accident, to be honest.
I was watching the news, and there are sometimes there were, news clips I would watch, and I would have my opinionist, and I’d be talking out loud about what I was watching.
And it was my wife who turned to me and said, “Why don’t you do a podcast on something like this?”
And I said, “What do you mean?”
She said, “Well, you know, have you ever heard of podcasting?”
“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t really know that much about it.”
Mhmm.
So I don’t know why.
I said, “You know, well, I’m retired.”
“I got time.”
So I did my research, and, I started—
Skip
(18:50)
Roll up the sleeves.
Let’s learn this.
Let’s learn about it.
Let’s give it—
Rick Barron
(18:54)
—things I learned cold turkey.
But the part that intrigued me the most was the writing aspect of it all.
Crafting a story.
And the other part was, I learned the the research that would be involved, which I just love to do. Peeling the skin of the onion. Like, “Oh, here’s another facet of this story.”
I just love doing that.
But to answer your question, when I started, was in April 2022. I did my introduction. And then my first podcast—I mean, I’d written, like, five or six stories to to get going. I wanted the first one to have, some purpose and some meaning that spoke to my introduction about what I do every Wednesday.
I thought, “You know, I’m gonna dedicate my first one to my wife.”
And that first one involved about why men are afraid to go see the doctor.
It was a story about when we—I think it was our first year of marriage—and we’re coming up towards Christmas, and my wife said, “I’d like you to promise me a small Christmas, Christmas wish.”
I said, “Okay.”
“And so I want you to promise me that you’ll go see the doctor every year for an annual checkup.”
And I thought, okay.
You know? So I did. I mean, I was good about going to the dentist, but I wouldn’t go to a doctor.
Skip
(20:25)
I get it.
Rick Barron
(20:27)
You know?
And so I I said, okay.
And about maybe eight years into seeing the doctor, he noticed a mark on my wrist.
And he said, “How long have you had that?”
I said, “I don’t know. I guess maybe about a year or two.”
He said, “Let’s get that checked out.”
So he had me go across the street that day, to see another doctor, and he took a sample.
And said, “I’ll call you probably tonight and tell you what I found.”
Skip
(20:55)
Wow.
Rick Barron
(20:56)
And so so I told my wife as soon as I got home.
And the phone rang, and I had chills.
I thought, “That’s gotta be the doctor.”
And he came straight to the point.
He says, “You have melanoma.”
I said, “Oh.”
He said, “Need you to come back to see two doctors tomorrow.”
So I drove up, and my wife came with me.
And I spoke to the first doctor, and then she took copious notes about what, the next steps were.
Mhmm.
And she said, “So I’m gonna have you meet the next doctor who’s gonna do the surgery.”
And I said, “Woah. Wait a minute.”
“Means surgery?”
Skip
(21:36)
We’re moving—we’re moving pretty fast here.
Rick Barron
(21:39)
Very fast.
The doctor came in, introduced himself, and he explained the nature of stages of melanoma.
And he said, “We’re gonna have to, you know, obviously, you know, know, do some cuts here.”
“I don’t know how deep I’m gonna have to go.”
“And so I’m just prepping you.”
You know, you could lose the the feeling of your fingers, your entire hand.
And and then he dropped the bomb on me.
He said, “If this is is if this is goes beyond serious”—yeah—he said, “could lose your arm.”
Skip
(22:16)
Oh my gosh.
Rick Barron
(22:17)
And I fell to the floor, and I started to cry.
Skip
(22:21)
Yeah. Of course you did.
Rick Barron
(22:21)
And I said, “I’m not hearing this.”
So, they had the surgery. It went well, but the, the healing wasn’t as, positive as a doctor would have liked it, so we had to go in for a second surgery.
Skip
(22:42)
Rick, I wanna ask. I’m just sitting here wondering, was this your arm that you write with? Is it your dominant arm or your other?
Rick Barron
(22:48)
No.
It was my left hand or left arm.
I guess, like, it goes back to what I was saying about the military: you don’t know when life is gonna throw a curveball at you.
I thought, well, okay. Is this gonna be my moment?
And after the second surgery, I was waking up because I thought to myself, okay. So what happens if in this time my arm is gone?
I woke up, and my wife was at the at the foot of the bed. She was looking, and she was smiling.
And she says, “Go ahead. Take a look. I know you want to.”
I said, “I guess.”
I could still see my my arm.
I said, “Oh, good.”
But it was a a wake me up call.
And I think that podcast, the very first one—I did that, May 2022. To this day, I am still getting hits on it.
Skip
(23:48)
Well, that’s a that’s a powerful story. And I love how you framed it, the title, Why Men Are Afraid to Go to the Doctor. That’s so relatable. We all are. It’s true!
Rick Barron
(23:58)
Yeah. I had couple of ladies, who emailed me and thanked me because it’s because of your podcast, my husband is now going to see the doctor. Well, if I could do a small contribution, then thank you.
Skip
(24:12)
That makes it all worthwhile.
Rick, I wanna just compliment you, and this is sincere. And I’ve said it before on your show on the live mic, but your quality of production, your storytelling is “A ++.” It’s extraordinary. I feel like when I’m listening to one of your solo episodes that I’m listening to a news package on NPR on National Public Radio, and it’s that good.
Rick Barron
(24:34)
Thank you.
Skip
(24:39)
Rick Barron, what’s the main thing you’ve learned in your lifetime so far?
Rick Barron
(24:45)
The main thing is that the person who has overcome hardships often uses those past experiences to make better decisions later on.
Skip
(24:55)
So, Rick, your main thing is that overcoming hardships involves using past experiences to help us make better decisions later on.
Overcoming hardships is valuable. Don’t overlook that. Don’t devalue what you get from overcoming hardships.
Rick Barron
(25:09)
That’s a good analysis.
Skip
(25:11)
I’ve lived that.
I think for most of my life, I would be in a hardship or see one coming, and I would wanna dodge it, get over it, around it quickly as possible.
Only—and I would say, Rick, the last five years—have I began to believe to say, “Let’s look for the blessing in here.” Let’s look for the value.
But your main thing, overcoming hardships uses past experiences to help us make better decisions later on, is something that I know and I believe deeply. So thank you for adding that to our our wisdom library.
I wonder if you might share with us when did this crystallize for you?
Rick Barron
(25:48)
Wow. There’s been a number of them. You know, very quickly, I think what I learned when I was, in the service—seeing what I saw. And I as I said, I I grew up very fast, during that time period.
But when I came home, went to college, started working, there was a point in time where I just got tired of paying rent, and I wanted to buy a house.
And I really had a scrimp and save to get that home that I always wanted.
You know, the the real estate agent was wanting me to take a look at homes that, well, that’s kinda beyond my my pocket. They said, your going to get raises. I said, I know, but I wanna eat.
So, eventually, the house I’m in in today was my very first house. I’ve been here, it’ll be, forty two years this coming, July 13—that I’ve lived here.
But to kinda share an experience that I had when I first moved in, the house was a fixer upper. I mean, there were so many things I needed to address, but I thought, yeah … but I have a home.
I was writing my bills one evening, I had just got through feeding my dog and cat. And I had to pay the mortgage. And then when I paid the mortgage, I thought, okay, I still have a few more bills. And I thought, oh gosh. After I pay all this off, I only have $53 left in my checking account. And payday was two weeks away. Two weeks away!
Tight time. Well, tight and scary. I thought, oh my god. What am I gonna do?
And the first thing that hit me right away was, like, I’m not gonna go to my parents for help. Because I remember when I was working for my dad, how he taught me to live up to your responsibilities.
He said you’ll probably face a lot of hardships along the way, but he said that’s where you’re gonna learn who you are. And he said if you run away from that, he said you’ll never grow up. You’ll never make it. Maybe you’ll make it, but you will make it the way that you would like to.
And my my fear was a failure that, gosh. I wanted to get this home, and now I might lose it.
And then I realized, well, wait a minute. You know … I still have some stock that I can sell, and I did do that. I got through it. And I learned that’s another lesson. I learned how how to be prepared for the what if.
So I made sure I was financially in a good position the next time if that ever happened again. I kinda let my expenses overexceed my wisdom of how to maintain a a balanced account.
But that was scary. You know? But I learned so many facets of what happened that that day, how to be more responsible about your finances, how to stand up for yourself and say, I’m gonna figure this out. I may have to feel a little pain, but by god, I’m gonna get through it.
Skip
(29:22)
A listener out there, this has raised their ears up, and they’re going, what are these guys talking about?
Overcoming hardships is very valuable, and it’s gonna help me grow and and make better decisions later on.
They’re going: Really? I don’t I don’t see that yet.
What might be some characteristics of their life absent this wisdom that they would be bumping into that would be a signal that, hey, maybe I should be open to what Rick’s main thing is here.
Rick Barron
(29:51)
I guess I’ll try to simplify this, and that would be: don’t be afraid to fail.
Because to a certain degree, failing is probably gonna be the best lesson you’re gonna learn.
Because if you don’t fail and you think everything’s gonna be perfect, you’re you’re living in a dream world. Truly, you really are. You have to understand that there are hardships we will all face. And to think that I just can’t walk out there thinking that if I don’t do this right, I’m gonna fail.
No. Don’t don’t even think that way.
Look at it. Just embrace it. Take life and embrace what’s coming at you. And and learn along the way.
Skip
(30:42)
I just had a couple ideas talking about signals or pain points that someone might need to dig into your wisdom.
If they seek the easy way out all the time, I’m always looking for the easy way out.
If I’m constantly in debt and and I’m not able to make ends meet ever, I’m always in that overdraft, overdrawn, running up credit card balances.
Skip
(31:09)
I mean, this is not a financial podcast, but that could be a symptom of it.
I think about someone that’s always in a hurry, not willing to slow down and learn and and observe and and be thoughtful about things.
Rick Barron
(31:22)
Mhmm. No, that’s right.
Skip
(31:25)
And I think and this is a big part of American culture, and and I think we all see people around us. I’ve been there with the materialism. I need more and more more stuff, more things. Always, I’m not happy unless I’ve got an order on its way or the package coming inbound of something that I bought. You know?
I’m always always on the hunt for for stuff. That could be a signal of, that you’re not willing to endure hardship for growth.
Rick Barron
(31:57)
Well, I think that’s a good part of it. I think, you know, some people today see that and think – hey, I wanna enjoy life. Sure. Who doesn’t?
But there comes a point where this is today. What are you gonna do tomorrow if that enjoyment is not gonna work out? How do you how do you get out of this?
Well, because you didn’t wanna learn back here, now you gotta pay the consequences here. So you’re not learning.
So—Stop. Smell the coffee and, don’t be afraid to fail. That’s that’s all I can really tell someone is—learn from it. I’m not saying make a habit of failing, but learn from those experiences because it’s gonna make you a stronger person really well in the in the end.
Skip
(32:54)
Rick, I always like to kinda wrap up on the main thing as we’re exploring this and we’re digging into the nuance of your your main thing is is application. How can a listener take this and apply it to their life? You’ve already given us a great one: don’t be afraid to fail.
Rick Barron
(33:11)
But I think if there was one thing that would also add, to what we’re discussing is I would encourage people to travel. aGo to various countries. And, you know, if you can spend a few days here, a few days there, but really get to know the culture.
Because you’ll see that, you know, as you talk to some of these people, which I have, you understand their outlook on life from their side of the world versus what we’re seeing on our side of the world.
But in the end, brother, this is it. This is the only world we have. I don’t know if we have, earth two out there somewhere, but let me know when you find it, let me know.
Skip
(33:56)
We’re both big on mentoring. We’ve been blessed to be mentored by some great leaders. We’ve talked about some of them. I’ve talked about many of them on my podcast, but we also enjoy mentoring younger professionals.
And, I wondered if you would talk a little bit about that, what what mentoring means to you, why it’s so important to you, and and also, you know, maybe how that kinda fills your bucket.
Rick Barron
(34:20)
Well, for me, I love passing on my experiences to others who are are just, you know, kinda getting started in life. You know, as I expressed, yeah, I’ve been down the block, so I’ve I’ve learned a few things here and there.
But I I go back to a person that I got to meet who worked for my wife.
She was an intern.
And, one day, I was waiting for my wife.
She was in a meeting.
So she said, well, give me another half an hour.
So I went down to the intern’s office, and we started talking.
And, her name is Amy Wong.
And very young girl, just getting out of, Cal Berkeley.
And she we just got to talking.
And, I don’t know how we got on the topic.
I asked her, so what is it that you would really love to do down the road?
And she stopped for a moment, and she said, you know what?
I would really like to be a a motivating, speaker, help companies to get their employees up and running when they’re in a funk, if you will, to just share thoughts of life and how you pull all that together to move on.
And I told her about, well, you know, we have courses here at this company where you can learn to be, you know, speakers, and we even have speakers like what you wanna be who come to the campus.
So I didn’t know that.
So, oh, yeah.
So let me get you the curriculum.
I mean, you because you can participate even though you’re an intern.
You can go and and get some insight.
So she started doing that.
Wow.
And but long story short, she’s very successful now.
She’s, you know, written a book.
She’s done a TED talk.
Mhmm.
And I took a course at Stanford where she was teaching people who wanted to take a course in some of the sessions that she teaches.
And when everyone arrived and I didn’t know this was coming. I mean, this is honest to god, true story.
Rick Barron
(36:30)
Everyone sat down, and before we started, Amy got to the middle of the room, introduced herself, and, you know, she talked about the book.
But she said, you know, there’s one person I’ve always wanted to thank for where I am today.
And she told that story about what I just explained to you and how she started the progression.
And she said, and the person who helped me get to where I am today because it helped motivate me to do this—is right over here.
And everybody just started clapping.
I thought, woah.
I was not expecting that.
Because—but that was so, you know, very precious of her to to to do that for me.
And then when I saw her at the TEDx talk with my wife watching her speak, I thought, god.
Such a natural this she was meant to do this.
She was meant to do this.
Skip
(37:25)
I have this as you were telling the story, I have this image of, you know, when you met her early on that you just, there was a path that she wanted to be on, and you let her down the trail, and you’re like, okay.
Here’s that path. It’s here it is. Amy, you can you can, start right here. You gave her the path the on ramp into that that path that she pursued.
Rick Barron
(37:44)
Well, it’s just like to say, you know, I’ve been down the block.
I I told her, I’m going down this block.
You know?
Skip
(37:49)
There was an article shared on a Friday across our work team of about 20 marketing professionals, and someone had found this valuable article.
And it and it the the email of our team just kept pinging back.
People were saying, this is great.
Make sure you read this.
I didn’t know this part.
And it would just got a lot of it was valuable, and it got a lot of buzz going.
And I’m like, I wonder who the author is here.
And I looked, and I’m like, oh my gosh.
This is Amy Wong.
This is Rick’s friend.
It was either Forbes or Business Insider or Businessweek, one of those publications.
And she was she was writing on, on a topic that was very timely.
And and so I clicked on about the author, and I’d I’d I watched all or most of one of her TED talks.
And so—
Mhmm.
—I, appreciated her even more.
I just wanna wrap up here before we say goodbye to give you, open mic time to speak to anything that, that you wanna emphasize or any points that you wanna leave our audience with.
Our audience is about a thousand people who are wisdom seekers.
They’re very focused on personal growth and development.
What would you leave them with, Rick, in the way of a parting thought today?
Rick Barron
(38:57)
Sure.
You know, I I gave this a lot of thought.
I think what I’m gonna express is to the again, to the point.
And it’s something I I came across, quite a few years ago, and I’ll I’ll just read this out.
Forget … forget regret.
Our life is yours to miss.
No other road.
No other way.
No day but today.
Now let me give you a a translation for that. I think it expresses a philosophy of living fully in the present rather than being trapped by past mistakes.
You know, I said I said, you know, regret, afraid to to fail, or, future worries. And I think the only time we truly have is right now.
Right now.
So we should love, create, you know, connect and live realistically in in the present moment because that present moment is what’s gonna help you get to tomorrow.
That’s how I look at it.
Skip
(40:13)
I love that. Rick, will you send that to me?
Rick, I, I will say with gratitude, so long for now, and thank you so much.
Rick Barron
(40:22)
Oh, and thank you very much, and so long to you, Skip. It’s been enjoyable.
Skip
(40:29)
Hey.
It’s Skip here, and I wanted to just share a few final reflections about my wisdom conversation with Rick Barron.
You know, Rick reminded us today that hardships aren’t just obstacles to survive.
They’re opportunities to learn.
Whether he was talking about serving in Vietnam at 19, scraping together enough money to keep his first home, battling melanoma, or learning the craft of podcasting, the pattern was the same.
Every challenge became a classroom.
I also loved Rick’s reminder that failure isn’t something to fear.
In fact, some of our most valuable lessons come when things don’t go according to plan.
If we’re willing to pay attention, yesterday has a remarkable way of preparing us for tomorrow.
As you’ve been listening today, I wonder what hardship has been coming to mind for you.
What did it teach you?
Maybe that’s a conversation worth having with yourself or maybe with someone you trust.
One thing I noticed about so many of our recent highly accomplished guests is this.
It’s almost impossible to overlook their genuine humility.
Rick was no exception.
He has accomplished so much in his life, but he wears those accomplishments lightly.
Instead of talking about his success, he talked about learning.
Instead of trying to impress us, Rick simply shared what his life has taught him, and he encouraged us to keep learning too.
So here’s my encouragement for all of us this week.
The next time you find yourself facing a hardship, instead of asking, how do I get out of this?
Or how do I go around this?
How do I hurry through it?
Try asking instead, what is this trying to teach me?
That one question just might change the way you experience whatever comes next.
And if it helps all of us become just a little bit better at this thing called life, I’d say that’s wisdom worth carrying with us.
See you next time.
That goes by incredibly fast, doesn’t it?
Time flies when you’re hacking wisdom.
Thank you for listening to this wisdom conversation.
Let’s give a big hearty thank you to the crew of the main thing podcast.
These are the folks who truly keep the wisdom pipeline flowing.
Audio engineer, Bob Hotchkiss, strategy adviser, Andy Malinowski, public relations and partnerships guru, Rachel Bell, social media and digital marketing expert, Chloe Lineberg, graphic designer, Emma Malinowski, and, of course, our patrons.
Those generous folks who provide monthly funding support to help underwrite our cost of production.
I couldn’t do it without you nor would I want to.
Your feedback matters a lot.
If you have a question, a suggestion, maybe an idea, or even a nomination of a future show guest, I’d love to hear from you.
Email me at info@themainthingpodcast.com.
Well, that’s a wrap for this show.
I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, signing off for now and inviting you to join us again next time for another special delivery of wisdom.
