We can work very closely with people and not realize the occasionally remarkable things they do in their off hours…unless they put it on their Facebook updates.  We all have casual friends and neighbors whose company we enjoy without digging too deeply into what makes them tick.

Mark Stephan falls into that category for me.  We met ten or fifteen years ago through mutual friends.  He was hysterically funny, an unrepentant smartass, and the owner of a cherry ’64 Lincoln convertible with suicide doors.  His wife and kids were also very cool–Mark was basically one of those guys you just liked being around, even if that only happened occasionally.

But back in August of 2007, this incredibly-accomplished athlete had an awful bike accident, one that would confine most any other person to a life in a wheelchair.  But it turns out, Mark is more than just hysterically funny and an unrepentant smartass–something much, much more.

Seriously, watch this piece from Mike Leonard that aired on the Today Show (VIDEO HERE).  It is well worth the four minutes and three seconds, including the :15 pre-roll ad.  I guarantee it.

It’s always inspiring to discover that the people you think you know are actually much, much more than you ever realized.  And at this time of the year, it’s particularly nice to be inspired.  Enjoy.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79