We were lucky to catch up with John Suzuki recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As the author of American Grit – From a Japanese American Concentration Camp Rises an American Hero, and host of the Finding Better Podcast, I believe we all share a common mission which is to make the world better by helping folks “find better” in their lives. This is the reason for my “Finding Better Podcast,” where we share real-life experiences so listeners can learn from those experiences and apply them to their own lives. As I often tell folks, “Sometimes the best way to succeed is to copy it.” It is in the spirit of giving back and sharing that makes our Finding Better Podcast so special.

For my book, American Grit, my mission is to educate and inspire the world on the terrible chapter of the Japanese American concentration camps of World War II, and the true story of people who refused victimhood and volunteered from those camps to fight for the U.S. Army, the same Army that so unjustly incarcerated them and their families to begin with. They fought racism, they fought America’s enemies, they fought for a better world, and they won.

John, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My first job was on a bait receiver in Redondo Beach, CA in 1973. I was twelve years old and it was in this job that I learned that “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” There’s a real reason behind it: The harder you work the more you learn. The more you learn the smarter you get. The smarter you get the more valuable you become, and the more valuable you become the more opportunities happen. It just works that way. In 1978 I took my first computer class. In those days we used punch cards to program each line of code, and it was that year when I discovered the “k” key when my college had just received a new computer which included things called monitors and keyboards. The amazing thing was that when you hit the “k” key, a k showed up on the screen. It was at that moment that I knew my future was in computers.

Fast forwarding to 1984, I graduated with my MBA and joined IBM in the business unit that sold IBM computers to Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda, and my job was to establish relationships with the top Japanese executives. During the years I was there, we grew annual revenue from $30 million in 1985 to over $100 million in 1989. Since then I have worked as an entrepeneur and served other tech companies like Sun Microsystems, Vrbo, and Expedia Group in sales and technology evangelism, and retired in June of 2022 to start my third career. The first was to “Learn” by going to school and gaining work experience, the second was to “Earn” a living for my family, and now, my third career is to “Return” and give back in making the world better by lifting others. My core belief is that when you life others, you lift the world. So my job is to help folks “find better” through my books, podcast, and occasional speaking engagements.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Never give up. It took me 15 years to research and write American Grit, and being a first-time author, my greatest nemesis and detractor in writing the book was none other than… myself. The self-doubt and fear of failure was devastating, especially since my book was to honor men who were among the greatest American heroes of all time. I have learned that the greatest enemy to self-progress and self-confidence is the negative self-talk conversations we have with ourselves. Every one of us is capable of great things if we give ourselves permission to be great, and we don’t give up. After all, you can be a champion of your life or a victim of it. The only difference is in who controls your narrative; you or someone else. Amazingly, American Grit is an Amazon best-seller.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Bob Matthews was the Vice President of IT at a large telecommunications company in Washington state. I was a salesperson for Sun Microsystems and he managed a full HP shop (Sun and HP were strong competitors in those days), and I wanted to meet him. I was told that Bob once used Sun equipment but would never accept a sales call from anyone from Sun. Nobody knew why, so I decided to find out.

After months of trying to make an appointment, I was elated the day Bob finally accepted a meeting. I had no idea what he had in store for me. As I was escorted into his conference room at the appointed time, there were eight people already seated and none of them said a word. The room was stone-cold silent.

For what seemed like an eternity but was just a few minutes, we sat there in silence waiting for Bob. When the door opened, in came a man who looked like one of the meanest, orneriest men I ever saw. Not a word was spoken as he circled the conference room table, eyeballing me with every step and never once taking his eyes off of me as he finally got to his seat and sat down. I was his prey. After about 30 seconds of glaring at me, Bill finally spoke. His first words to me were “What the F*CK are you doing here and what the F*CK do you want?!”

I introduced myself and said that I just wanted to meet to see if I could be of service. After immediately responding with “F*CK NO,” I politely asked him why. After all, he did accept the meeting and he had no idea who I was. He then went on to tell me how my predecessor had escalated to Bob’s boss when Bob decided to purchase some non-Sun equipment. Because of what he called “that St*p*d Sh*t,” Bob retaliated by replacing all of his Sun equipment with HP gear and never again entertained a sales call from Sun…. and there I stood, feeling somewhat intimidated, but totally unwilling to turn tail and run.

Finishing his diatribe, Bob finally asked me “So what the F*CK do you think of that?!” Pausing for a moment before answering, I realized that not one of the other eight executives in the room had said a word. Instead, they sat there quiet and clearly uncomfortable, and I saw that three of them actually looked mortified with Bob’s behavior, which gave me a strange sense of optimism, if only for a moment. After a few seconds I answered. “Bob, I can’t tell you how badly I feel that my predecessor did that and I had no idea that happened. But I can tell you one thing that I am absolutely certain of…” And Bob responded “And what the f*ck is that?” And I said, “I’m not that guy.”

Bob clearly didn’t expect that answer. He literally sat back in his chair crossing his arms. After what seemed like an eternity, Bob finally asked “Okay, so what the hell do you want?” It was at that moment when he downgraded from the “F” word to the “H” word that I knew he would give me a chance. All I said was “I want what you want, so I’d like to get to know you and your company better.”

As I walked out of the building, one of his directors apologized profusely to me and said that he had no idea that Bob was going to ambush me like that. I told him that our meeting was one of the best meetings I’d ever had. Twelve months later, they replaced HP with Sun, and Bob and I became great friends. He was one of the nicest and funniest men I’ve ever known. Moral of the story: Sometimes folks don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. It’s all about love.

John Suzuki.com

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-suzuki/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn03CucCaO2FfNFbrNOnhng

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