Beyond the Crucible Warwick Fairfax

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time, its title song a fabulous exhortation to face crucibles with a happy refrain and a smile on our face.
This week, in part three of our summer series CLASSIC FILMS, CLASSIC CRUCIBLE LESSONS, we talk in entertaining depth about the lessons the movie – number 5 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 U.S. films – can teach us about the importance of living life with authenticity and navigating our journey from trials to triumphs with a team of fellow travelers who pick us up when we're down and help us define and embrace our unique life of significance.
What the hero of the story, Don Lockwood, sings in the film in the midst of a downpour is a perspective we all would be wise to adopt when life's storms come: What a glorious feeling. I'm happy again.
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
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In this week's episode, the second in our summer series CLASSIC FILMS, CLASSIC CRUCIBLE LESSONS, we discuss THE GODFATHER, number 2 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 list. It's a cautionary tale that spotlights how critical it is we live a life guided by beliefs and values rooted in something nobler than our own self-Interests.
We zero in on Michael Corleone, the youngest son of the mafia family depicted in the film. His father, Vito, the godfather of the title, had plans for him to live a life in the legitimate world as a senator or governor, but they were upended by the violent realities of the mob life and Michael's own ambivalence about the family's business.
The tragedy of THE GODFATHER is that Michael had the temperament and skills to have led a great life of significance, but he never seizes the opportunity to live that life.
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and be sure to tell your friends and family about us.
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at info@beyondthecrucible.com

This week we kick off our special nine-week summer series, CLASSIC FILMS, CLASSIC CRUCIBLE LESSONS.
We begin our examination of the lessons we can learn from movies on the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 U.S. films of all time by discussing CITZEN KANE – No. 1 on AFI’s list.
Unlike most of the conversations we have on the podcast (and unlike most we’ll have on this series), our look at Charles Foster Kane, the title character of this classic, is not an examination of the trials he faced and how he triumphed over them – but how his inability and refusal to grow from the setbacks and failures of his life doomed him to allowing his worst days to define him.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty we can learn from CITIZEN KANE. The movie is a masterclass in why character and serving others rather than selfishly thinking only of ourselves is the only way to lead a life of joy and fulfilment – what we call a life of significance.
In exploring how Charles Foster Kane failed to leave behind a legacy to be proud of – we can discover how to do just that.
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com. Enjoy the show?
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A life of significance is not a numbers game. That’s just one of the kernels of wisdom and inspiration you'll hear in this week’s episode, in which he unpacks his new blog at beyondthecrucible.com – titled Why Your Life of Significance matters. It offers you the hope and insight you need to turn your worst day into your greatest opportunity.
 
Warwick runs through some things you should think about when journeying from setback to significance, things like, Why do you want to help the people you want to help, what would happen to them if they aren’t helped and whether you have the skills and passion to bring your vision for helping them to reality.
 
If you listen closely, you'll also hear Warwick say your vision doesn’t have to be about saving the galaxy. What does he mean by that? Pay attention and you’ll discover the answer – rooted in his inspiration for the blog, a beloved character from a classic movie who can inspire you to go … to infinity and beyond.
 
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
 
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and be sure to tell your friends and family about us.
 
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at info@beyondthecrucible.com

Our guest this week, Kim Cantin, discusses a tragedy of the deepest sorrow: the 2018 flash floods in Montecito, California, that obliterated her home and took her husband and son from her. Yet the rain and the mud and the devastation could not take her hope.
 
Cantin was herself injured seriously and her daughter, Lauren, trapped for six hours under the debris. While the body of her husband, Dave, was found quickly in the mudslide’s aftermath, the remains of her son, Jack, would not be discovered until three years later, after an exhaustive search.
 
In her conversation with Warwick, she explains how she had to muster the tenacity and perseverance to rediscover hope. She’s also documented that journey in her book, WHERE THE YELLOW FLOWERS BLOOM. Its title refers to the yellow flowers that grew in a place that they shouldn’t near her son’s remains … and how their presence helped her see the beauty where there should be none.
 
Indeed, as she says here, love found a way.
 
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
 
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and be sure to tell your friends and family about us.
 
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at info@beyondthecrucible.com

Winston Churchill was known for many things – always looking for ways to move onward after a trial or challenge chief among them. That’s the perspective we all should hope to have when life’s crucibles knock us for a loop. When setback and failure are all-too-common companions. When we’re wrestling with our own darkest hour.
 
This week, as part of what we’ve dubbed our series within the show – Stories from the Book Crucible Leadership – we have a deep-dive conversation about what a great role model of perseverance Churchill is for all of us hoping to turn our trials into triumphs.
 
Though he faced personal and professional crucibles all his life, Churchill rose above and moved through them by doing some critical things right: leaning into pursuits like writing to calm his soul; a happy marriage he worked hard at protecting; and  -- maybe most importantly – adopting a magnanimous and forgiving nature when family, friends and political opponents disrespected or outright attacked him.
 
“Success,” he once said (and then modeled throughout his life), “is to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”  
 
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
 
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and be sure to tell your friends and family about us.
 
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at info@beyondthecrucible.com