Spotlight – An Interview with Mark Henson

These guys at the GCRN would make great Green

Lantern Corps members. Seriously. Who are these

guys? You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek. Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm

your host, Steve Megatron Phillips. Today, I'd

like to welcome to the program Mark Henson, author

of Ordinary Superheroes Unleash the Full Potential

of Your Most Natural Talents. Welcome, Mark.

Thanks, Stephen. I'm absolutely thrilled to be

here, even though I don't have a really cool,

fun handle like you do. I need a Megatron kind

of handle. Yeah, it's an old handle, but it's

one that I've found is difficult to break at

this point in time. I did have a nickname. I

had a friend of mine in junior high school who

used to watch Johnny Sacco and his giant robot.

old Japanese film, and he nicknamed everyone

in our group different things, and mine was the

only one that stuck all through middle school

and partly through high school. But that fell

off a long time ago. Yeah, mine came along. I

used to run a Transformers website, and then

I actually started podcasting with Transformers,

so it was kind of a name that stuck. Gotcha.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, Mark, so

that the listeners get kind of a general idea

about you. Sure. I live in Columbus, Ohio. I

run a business called Spark Space, which is a

unique and creative and award -winning business

meeting and retreat space in downtown Columbus,

Ohio. So my day job is to run business meetings

and help corporate business teams have their

best meeting ever every single day. And we have

this very fun, cool, creative space that they

get to come and have meetings in and do workshops

and seminars and all of that kind of stuff. So

that's what I do during the day with a whole

team of people that I work with there. And then

I also write books and I speak and I conduct

workshops helping people discover their superpowers,

helping them discover what are those most powerful

strengths that they bring to the table every

day, whether they know what those are or not.

My sort of mission in life is to help people

discover what those are and then actively seek

out ways to use those more proactively. So that's

what I've been doing a lot for the last couple

of years, in addition to running my day job business

as well. Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I noticed that

you also were from Michigan originally. I am.

I said you're from the Flushing area, is that

right? Yep, which is kind of close to Flint.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm originally from Ann Arbor,

just outside of Ann Arbor, a little town called

Chelsea. Most famous for where the actor Jeff

Daniels lives now. He grew up there as well.

He's way more famous than I am, though. Yeah,

yeah. He's one of our bigger known names from

Michigan, that's for sure. Yeah. So I see also

that you've done a number of things from radio

to writing to speaking. And so what prompted

you to write your book and kind of what was your

thoughts behind it? Well, it was kind of a long

journey. People ask me all the time, how long

did it take you to write the book? And I always

tell them 50 years because it came about after

being in life for a while and starting a business

and creating something from the ground up like

that and working very hard in a business for

a long time. I actually used a lot of what would

be considered my superpowers as I built my business

over the... span of about 10 years. And I absolutely

loved it, had a great time. The first 10 years

of my business really flew by. And after that

point, you know, reached about 10 years in, I

thought the business had reached a level of kind

of sustainable success, I guess. And I knew that

it needed something different than what I was

providing because I was a builder creator type.

And so I hired a business coach. And at the time,

the business coach asked me, he said, hey, what's

your mission in life right now? And I told him,

I said, it's the same thing it's always been.

It's to build Sparkspace, my business. And we

were sitting in Sparkspace at the time. He looked

around. He said, looks to me like it's built.

What's your mission now? And I was. I was kind

of dumbfounded by that question because I never

thought there was anything else besides building

this business. And he was absolutely right to

ask me the question. And unfortunately, I think

I answered the question the wrong way. Because

I stepped back and I thought about it and I thought,

what does the business need right now? And at

that time, I thought it needed this administrator

-manager kind of person. So I decided that's

who I'd become. I'd become the administrator

-manager and I'd really make this thing hum along

and be profitable and all that stuff. And we

definitely needed that role, but I was the wrong

person to fill it. But I stayed in it for like

seven years too long. And we did. Yeah, we did

well. I went to work every day. Everything seemed

to be okay. But kind of inside, slowly, I was

dying a little bit every single day because I

was not in alignment with what I am wired to

do. But I kept kind of going in every day doing

this other role when what I really should have

done is hired somebody to do that and continue

to build and create things. So I reached this

point where I was ready to just quit. I was ready

to shut down my business. I was ready to walk

away. I was really depressed and I didn't know

what to do. And so for lack of a better thing

to do, I kind of followed the advice of another

business coaching program that I was in at the

time, which was to really just focus on what

you do best and try to let go of everything else.

And I did that and I focused on my... core skills,

which are exploring new things and simplifying

stuff and communicating through writing and speaking.

And I started focusing on those and life started

to get better. I started to kind of engage again.

I started to come out of that fog and that depression

just a little bit. And then I layered in some

counseling on top of that. So I sought out a

professional counselor who helped me kind of

get rid of a lot of that fog and the depression

part. But I kept working on focusing on what

I do best, focusing on using what I call my ordinary

superpowers. Those things that seem very mundane

and ordinary to me because I just do them all

the time, but it's where I contribute the best.

It's how I have the most impact. And so I saw

what that did in my life. And like a lot of people

who've written books about all kinds of topics.

I decided that that worked for me and maybe that

would work for some other people too who might

be struggling to figure out what they really

should be doing or they feel like they're on

the wrong path or they feel like they've gotten

into a career that doesn't really fit them but

they don't know how to get it out of it. So I

wrote this guide based on my journey basically

of how I kind of pulled myself off the wrong

path and back onto the right path. So that's

a long -winded answer but to tell you where the

book came from. No, that's definitely awesome,

just kind of seeing what the process was going

into it and kind of how it evolved into what

you have now. Yeah, which is awesome. And the

book has done well, and it continues to do well.

It kind of keeps getting momentum as time goes

by. It came out almost two years ago. It'll be

two years this spring. Um, and I continued, I

just continue to push it out there and I do workshops

based around it. Um, I continue to write, I continue

to spread the word and, and, uh, so far so good.

And I love to hear messages of people that have

kind of rediscovered or fan that flame for themselves

and they, and they've, you know, really kind

of reignited that spark for, for life again.

And that was the whole point. So what, what are

some things that you, you kind of feel that people

are missing with their own, discoveries that

they've been able to kind of unleash through

your book? I think the main reason people connect

to it and do the work is because they feel out

of alignment in some way. They feel like there's

something, you know, even something wrong, like,

but they just don't know what it is. And part

of the reason they do that is because we've been

programmed our whole lives to follow these pathways

that have been laid out in front of us. We go

through school, right? We follow that path. And

then we get out of school and we get into a job

and we look around and we say, what's the path

to success in this job or this career or this

field? And so it's already been predefined. So

we hop on that path and we kind of walk our way

through that path, whether we're really suited

to be on that path or not. We feel like we've

committed all this time and energy and money

and education and whatever so that we need to.

continue to pursue that because we've already

sort of sunk all that cost into it. We better

see it through. Well, that just leads to a ton

of unhappiness for people. That's why people

work for 15, 20 years sometimes and then wake

up one day and say, you know, all I ever really

wanted to do was run a hardware store. What am

I doing in a corporate bank? And then they have

this midlife crisis and they try to blow everything

up and start all over. I'm trying to help people

avoid. having too much of a midlife crisis. I

don't think having a midlife crisis or an early

life crisis or a quarter life crisis or anything

like that is actually a bad thing. But I think

you can navigate it without having to blow your

whole life up by just tweaking a few things and

identifying a few things like your superpowers

and then figuring out how to use those more to

get back on the right path for you. Yeah, definitely.

Like myself, I recently have had to kind of reevaluate

things and kind of decide what direction I want

to go in with things. It's definitely challenging,

especially getting out of a kind of self -induced

funk of just not knowing where you're going.

Yeah, it's the worst feeling in the world because

you don't know how to help yourself. No, and

that's the most difficult part. Like you mentioned,

we're all programmed to go in a certain direction.

And if we deviate from it, we're just kind of

lost. Right. And it feels like it's the right

thing to do because it's so clearly defined.

Like in my case, it was so clear that I should

put myself into that role of administrator manager

of my business because it needed it. I was the

wrong person to fill that role. And that happens

in a lot of different careers. One of my previous

careers was working in a design firm where...

The path there to success was do whatever it

was that you did, which was I was a copywriter,

but we had graphic designers, we had industrial

designers, we had researchers and all kinds of

people. But the only real path to success was

then become a project manager in your area and

then become a department head and then eventually

a vice president. Most people aren't wired to

do that. So how do you succeed in life and try

to feel like you're moving forward and accomplishing

anything new and different if that path is already

sort of clearly laid out for you like that? There's

no other way to do it in many cases unless you

just say, you know what, I just need to put my

head down and do what I do best and really enjoy

it, really kind of be present with it, be in

the moment with it. And I believe good things

happen when you do that. I think people tend

to succeed. They tend to find roles and jobs

that pay them better. I find that they find roles

and jobs that are far more fulfilling if they

line up with what you're sort of wired to do

instead of what you think you should do because

that's what success is supposed to look like.

Definitely. I also noticed that you do a lot

of speaking, whether it's at conferences or retreats.

How do you approach this and tie it into superheroing

their lives, as it were? Yeah, I kind of preach

on a larger message of living a superpowered

life, which has to do with, first of all, identifying

what your superpowers are and then being proactive

about putting those into use. But also looking

around the rest of your life of what does a superpowered

life mean to you? And it's a little bit different

for everybody. And I think that's where some

of the work that I do differs from maybe some

of the other more formulaic type ways of trying

to. go through self -help or increase your life

in some way. I believe that your values, the

things that you love, the things that light you

up are probably different than mine. So you have

to identify what those are for yourself and then

figure out ways to pursue those. For me, family,

faith, work, career, my business, those types

of things are really super important to me. Connection

with friends. maintaining my energy so that I

have enough energy to do all the things that

I want to do. All of those things, for me, are

what help define a superpowered life. When I

get to do those things at the level that I like

to do them, then that's what I consider to be

a superpowered life. Other people are very career

-minded or very family -minded. They have a variety

of other interests and passions that they want

to pursue, and that's great. I think you should.

I think you should figure out ways to do as much

of that as you can and let go of all the other

stuff as much as you possibly can without letting

your life crash and burn. Somebody still has

to mow the lawn and do the dishes, right? So

you can't let go of everything, but you can certainly

focus your life and make it the way that you

want to be. So that's a lot of the stuff that

I talk about and I encourage to my workshops

and my speaking as well. So with this, is this

like an all day thing or is it like a periodically

scheduled event that you run? I have a couple

of different things. Like you mentioned, I speak

at conferences and those types of things where

I'm invited to come and be a part of someone

else's day. But then I also host my own retreats

since I have a retreat space that I own. It makes

it very convenient to host my own retreats. And

I do those several times throughout the year

at my business as well. Actually, we get people

from all over that come to those. A lot of Columbus,

Ohio people, because that's where we were based.

But we get people from all over. And those are

generally full day. I consider a full day retreat

to be about six hours long. The one about superpowers

that we do is called the Superpower Summit. And

we do a deep dive and we make sure everybody

really clearly defines and articulates what their

superpowers are. And then we look for ways that

they can activate those powers and find new places

where they might be able to use those powers.

We talk about what their kryptonite may be. and

what keeps them from using their powers. We talk

about how to expand their powers, how to multiply

their powers by defining what your powers are,

but then defining what other powers you might

need to achieve bigger and better missions in

your life. And I jokingly call that like gathering

together your set of super friends, you know,

or your own private justice league, because that's

what happens there is all the... Different members

of the Justice League, they all have different

powers and different personalities and different

passions. But when they come together, then they

can, you know, they can achieve even bigger things.

So that's the way that we have to achieve bigger

things in life, too, is by partnering up and

finding other resources to complement our own.

Definitely. Yeah. Networking with other people

is definitely a great thing to have and having

that support base. Yeah, and that was a lesson

that took me a long time to learn because I'm

kind of a lone wolf. I was in radio for a reason

because I got to work by myself a lot because

I like to be by myself and I like to create by

myself. realize at some point like you can only

build so much on your own and if you want to

build anything bigger than kind of just a little

world or a little house around you you're gonna

have to you're gonna have to reach out you're

gonna have to connect with other people and and

enroll them in what you what your vision is enroll

them in what you want to do and also participate

in their visions and their dreams and help them

build their lives. I think that's one of the

most exciting things about connecting with other

people is how can I help them? It's not just

all about what can I do and how can you help

me, but what can I do for you? What are your

dreams? How can I help build your business? That's

fun for me. I love doing that. But I have to

force myself out to do it because, like I said,

I'm an introvert, I'm a lone wolf, and I have

to fight against that all the time. I'm kind

of in the same boat with being introverted and

kind of creating things on my own and not really

getting out of the box too much. So that's a

realization that I've come to recently, knowing

that I kind of need to step out of that comfort

box every now and again to kind of meet new people,

kind of network, and just not only help myself

grow, but help others grow as well in the same

journey. Yeah, and do you have any red flags

when you know you're – like I've been kind of

head down, lone wolf a little bit too long. Is

it just a feeling for you or are there like red

flags or signals or anything that you've noticed?

It's kind of like – I don't know, like a weird

feeling that I just am feeling kind of secluded

and alone and I'm like maybe I should kind of

branch out and talk to people for a while. You

know, because it kind of, it feels like, you

know, I'm stuck in the Batcave by myself and

that I'm not allowing anybody else to come to

the party, you know, kind of like how Batman

does with the Justice League. And so, you know,

I have to realize that, you know, it is okay

to invite the others to join me on my journey.

Like you mentioned, you and I sound kind of similar

that we're introverted. That doesn't mean we

don't like people. I love people. I'm very social.

I just get my energy from being alone and creating

alone more than I do being around other people.

When I force myself out and I partner up with

other people and I team up and I feel that collaboration

happen, that's really cool. That is a reminder

to me. Every time I do that, I'm like, oh, I

want to do this more. I have to proactively push

myself to do it, but when I do it, I love it.

I realized the same thing when I actually got

to host a... uh, trivia part of a, a local convention

at a science center on, on Star Trek earlier

this year. Um, and I'd never done like any kind

of public speaking or being in the front of anybody,

uh, aside from the microphone aspect. And, and

so that was really jarring for me considering

public speaking is, uh, in, in school was the

one thing I was 100 % against. So you started

a podcast. Yeah, so I started a podcast in the

comfort of my own, you know, extra room in my

house. And so it's so much easier to talk and

not have to have people in front of me. And then,

you know, to get thrust in that situation of

where I was asked to do it. And I gladly took

on the challenge. And then I actually grew to

enjoy it. And now I'm kind of looking forward

to, you know, what else can I get involved with?

do this with. So it's definitely telling. Well,

you know, one of the questions I get about superpowers

a lot is, are these things that we're just born

with, you know, or are they developed along the

way? And you mentioned, like, I don't know if

speaking is a superpower for you, but maybe it

is. And sometimes I think our superpowers are

sort of dormant. Or they've laid dormant since

we were kids or something. And something comes

along that says, hey, let's throw Steven up in

front of a crowd and have him speak and see what

he does. You get up there. You love it. You have

passion for it. You find you have a talent for

it. And all of a sudden you're like, wow. Maybe

I have a power in this area that I wasn't even

aware of. So I love to encourage people. When

you do something new that kind of lights you

up, there's things that light you up because

they're new and novel. And I think as human beings,

we always love new and novel things. But when

it gets beyond that, like once the novelty has

worn off and it's still lighting you up, it's

still kind of keeping that spark alive for you,

then I think that's a really good sign that,

hey. investigate that more. There's something

about that. Maybe there's a superpower within

that for you. Maybe it's not public speaking,

but it's about connecting or sharing ideas. Or

maybe it's about the sheer act of prepping and

organizing and doing the research that it takes

to do an effective presentation. That's the part

you really love. So it can be a lot of different

things, but pay attention. Anytime something

kind of lights you up like that. I always think

it's worth further investigation to see if there

might be a power in there somewhere. That's definitely

great advice to hear. So what other projects

do you have, if any, coming up in the next few

months? We just expanded our space, so we're

still working on that. We've launched a whole

new room, our largest room to date. So we have

actually six different conference rooms in our

space where people can gather and do their thing.

So that's still kind of part of our project list.

And we're launching a couple of new workshops

this year that will complement the work that

we do with the superpowers. creating a culture

of crazy good service in your organization, both

internally and externally. So that applies to

traditional customer service -related type people,

but also to anyone who serves anybody. It's like

how you serve your family, how you serve your

community, how you serve your friends. What kind

of philosophy and attitude is going to help you

really be that kind of person who is just of

service to other people in an extraordinary way?

So I'm excited about launching that. That's going

to be really fun, and we're getting that off

the ground right now. And then I have another

workshop that we're going to push out a little

bit more towards spring, and it's called The

Secrets of Greener Grass, which is about how

to create. greener grass right where you are

because one of the things that has been on my

radar for a long time is this statistic that

says Anywhere between 50 % and 80 % of the workforce

in the United States is dissatisfied with their

job, actively disengaged with their job, or even

actively seeking another job at any given time.

Up to 80 % of the workforce. And that just is

mind -boggling, and it just makes me want to

do something about it. So I created a workshop

about it. How do you take control of your life,

of your work, of your career without having to

change jobs to do it? Now, sometimes you have

to, right? Sometimes you got to jump the fence

and go somewhere else because the grass truly

is greener. But more often than not, it's just,

you know, same grass, different field, you know,

surrounded by a whole bunch of other cows that

are just like the cows you just left. So we use

this metaphor of creating greener grass. And

how do you do that in? in real life, like watering

and fertilizing and making sure you take care

of the weeds and all of that. We take that metaphor

and we apply it to the workplace. How do you

create a culture full of greener grass right

where you are? And every single person has power

to do that. It's not just leadership. It's not

just the bosses or the owners of a company or

the managers or the CEO. It's every single employee

has some ability. to water the grass right around

them and make it as green as possible. And I'm

a big believer in ripple effect. I think when

one person makes a difference and a change and

creates that kind of space around them, other

people want to do it too. It's contagious. So

that's the kind of stuff I love to share. Those

are the things I'm working on. And those two

workshops I think could eventually turn into

my next couple of books as well because I think

they have that much meat to them that we could

create some. share -worthy content out of it

in book form. That's definitely awesome to hear

and very great to have these positive influences

that are able to help people navigate their life.

Yeah, and it's fun when you see people actually

do it. I talk to so many people who They hear

the message, it goes in one ear, out the other,

and they might get a few good things out of it.

But once in a while, I find somebody that just

latches onto it, does the stuff that we talk

about, and it works for them like gangbusters,

and it changes their life. I have this friend,

Marianne, who came through one of my workshops,

and she went through, discovered her superpowers.

realized that she wasn't aligned in her job and

her career with what she really was good at doing

and what was passionate about doing. And she

decided that she was going to have to leave her

job. And the very next day, so our workshop was

on a Friday. She went on into work on Monday

and she got let go. And it was the best blessing

in disguise because It took about six months,

but she really was looking for a job that would

really line up with her superpowers. And she

finally found one. She's a connector. She's a

community builder. She loves to raise money for

things. And she ended up getting a job at this

beautiful theater in this small town just outside

of Columbus. That's been restored, and so they

have to do all this fundraising. It's actually

set up as a nonprofit, but they bring in all

these big acts to play there and kind of Broadway

-type shows and all kinds of stuff. And she's

just having the time of her life in a job that

is absolutely perfectly suited for her. And that

is the kind of stuff, I mean, I just love to

see when that happens to people. And so that's

why I keep doing what I do. Awesome. Yeah, that's

definitely inspiring to hear. So how can the

listeners get a hold of you and find out more

about you online? And, of course, I'll post these

in the episode as well on the show notes. Yeah,

best place is my website, and that's markhenson

.me. It's M -A -R -K -H -E -N -S -O -N dot M

-E. You can also reach it if you type in asuperpoweredlife

.com. That will get you to the same site. I wish

I could say I had a Facebook page and Twitter

and all of that, but I don't. I actually quit

all social media except for LinkedIn about three

months ago. I deleted all of my accounts and

just went off the grid. And there's a whole other

story behind that of how life has been different

because of that. So it's a little harder to connect

with me and find me that way. But I have a great

blog on my website and I love to stay connected

with people there. And I've been surprised at

how many people I've been able to stay connected

to without actually being on social media. Yeah,

and it's probably a... thing for the best, honestly,

with wanting to keep positivity going. That's

the main reason I did it, is I just found myself

really playing the comparison game a lot, and

just not being very happy, and always feeling

like I had to do more, and I wasn't doing enough,

or I wasn't being enough, or my life wasn't as

good as everybody else's. I just decided to quit

it all one day, and I've honestly been happier

ever since. And if people want to hear more about

that, I know that there's a blog post covering

part of that on your website. There is. And an

ongoing series, basically. I've committed to

sort of writing every month or two, like, how's

it going, life without social media? Because

that is, everybody's super curious about it now.

I think that'll be something that eventually

catches on, too. Yeah. Yeah, without a doubt.

I mean, it's already starting to happen. The

number of people that have come out of the woodwork

when I said I was quitting social media who told

me, oh, yeah, my husband and I quit six months

ago, and it's the best thing we've ever done.

Lots of people I just assumed were on social

media, but they're not, and they're happy. All

right. Well, I'd like to thank you, Mark, for

taking the time out of your busy schedule to

hang out with us here on Altered Geek. I appreciate

it, Steven. This has been fun. And thank you

for helping me share this story and share this

message. No problem. No problem. So until next

time, get altered, get geeky with the Altered

Geeks.