Onward Nation With Stephen Woessner | Interviews With Todays Top Business Owners | Careers

Bernie Swain is the founder of the Washington Speakers Bureau, a lecture agency which represents many prestigious authors, politicians, journalists, athletes, and business leaders. At the firm’s start back in 1980, he began signing every speaker with a handshake -- this proved to be the hallmark of trust that helped accelerate the company’s growth. Years later, Bernie’s roster of speakers would be the greatest in history and the firm still continues its practice of signing speakers on the strength of a handshake. Today, the best of Bernie's fortunes turned out to be the speakers themselves because these remarkable leaders had become his friends and he captured many of their most personal, powerful influences and defining moments in his book, “What Made Me Who I Am.” What you’ll learn about in this episode: How an error became a defining moment in Bernie’s career Why passion is so much more important than talent when you’re starting a company on your own Why there are no shortcuts to long term success How a h