In December 2007, a new program was created at Adversity University where interesting people are invited to be interviewed. The very first one with Albert Foong of Urban Monk was such a great success that I decided to run a contest to name the new series. (Photo Courtesy of Monkey River Town).

A handful of suggestions were thrown in including Hopson Talks, Adversity Press, Distinquished Lecture Series, Adversity on the Beat, University Communes, Scholarly Visits, Stephen Hopson Interviews and The Adversity University Guest Lecture Series.

A total of 26 votes were counted and the winner was Corinne Edwards with “Stephen Hopson Interviews.” You can see the results here and here.

Stephen Hopson Interviews distinguishes itself by focusing not on the technical aspects of someone’s blog (or whatever public platform being used) but more about who that person is.

Why?

Because everyone has a story to tell. All of us have this deep innate desire to share our personal experiences with others because, for one thing, there’s nothing like the feeling of truly being heard. It’s another way of reaching out and making a difference through our personal stories of triumph and defeat.

While I’d love to know how someone attracted 2,000 subscribers in 20 seconds or made six-figures in six minutes (pun intended), I find it much more gratifying to go deeper than that and connect through other people’s homespun stories.

There are infinite resources on the Internet, including interviews with people who are asked about how they became successful. But how many of them take the time to find out life altering experiences that forever changed their lives? Or what they think God would say to them upon arriving at the Pearly Gates?

Stephen Hopson Interviews is an equal opportunity program where all kinds of people will be considered. That means they might, but not necessarily, be famous - in fact, the majority of them will be who I consider rising stars in the blogging world.

While people from all walks of life will be interviewed, every single one of them have one thing in common. Each of them have consistently demonstrated a level of transparency - authenticity if you will - in their work. They aren’t timid about exhibiting some level of vulnerability through the power of telling their own stories.

People who are authentic are capable of accessing the universal store of human emotions, easily bridging the gap between their own experiences and those of their audiences. In other words, you will be able to identify with my guests even if you’ve never actually experienced what they’ve gone through. For instance, every single one of us have experienced the feeling of what it’s like to triumph in the face of adversity. All of us have been hit with adversity because it does not discriminate - no one is immune from it.

This page will be maintained until it gets too long, at which point, I’ll think of another way of managing such a list but for now, this will do.

If you have a someone in mind that you think would make an interesting subject to be interviewed, feel free to contact me using the “Contact Stephen” tab above.

One last thing I want to add is that due to the growing popularity of this interview series, I’m happy that some of the people I interviewed have been contacted for possible strategic partnerships with some movers and shakers out there. For instance, the people from Mark Joyner’s organization (Simpleology and Bestselling Blueprint fame) contacted one of the interviewees because they were interested in developing a strategic partnership. This is made all the more significant when you realize Mark Joyner is a multiple best-selling author, marketing expert and someone who has over 270,000 newsletter subscribers!

In other words, if you’re “thinking” about being interviewed here, you never know. Your name may very well end up in the spotlight and you’ll be seen by people who might not have otherwise known about you.

December 2007

• Albert Foong of Urban Monk - Part I and Part II

January 2008

• Christine O’Kelly of Self Made Chick - Part I and Part II
• Shaun Boyd of LifeReboot - Part I and Part II

February 2008

• John Wesley of Pick the Brain - Part I and Part II
• Phil Gerbyshak of Make it Great! - Part I and Part II

March 2008

• Howard Putnam, Frmr CEO Southwest Airlines - Part I and Part II
• Karen Putz, A Deaf Mom Shares Her World - Part I and Part II

April 2008

• Harry McLeod and James Chartrand of Men with Pens - Part I and Part II
• Wendy Piersall, eMoms at Home - Part I and Part II

May 2008

• Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer of Positive Sharing (Denmark) - Part I and Part II
• Peter, TheChangeBlog.com and Editor of PickTheBrain - Part I and Part II (May 21)

COMING TO YOU SOON!

• Lorelle VanFossen, Lorelle on Wordpress (famously known as “The Queen of Wordpress”)
• Todd Goldfarb, We The Change
• Tina Su, Think Simple Now
• Jay White, Dumb Little Man

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