ILLUMINATION Writers

Interview with John Cousins

Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION

In this story, I share an interview that I conducted with John Cousins. I have been following John’s leadership stories before starting ILLUMINATION.

John’s stories were not only articulated and informative but also inspiring for me therefore I got addicted to those stories focusing on leadership, entrepreneurship, and overall success in life.

When John accepted my invitation to join ILLUMINATION, I felt privileged because his expertise and wisdom are a perfect fit for our publication. John is an author of over 20 books, a blogger, podcaster, online course creator, investor, inventor, entrepreneur, and musician.

I am connected with John on various social media platforms and following his insights to reach a large audience.

Let’s explore the interesting background of John Cousins.

Tell us a bit about your background, John.

I have a technical and business background. I started my career working in large corporate environments. After that, I have enjoyed being an entrepreneur.

I have founded seven companies. I took two of them public and was a public company CEO and CFO for 15 years.

Now I have evolved into a solopreneur. I’m an author of over 20 books, a blogger, podcaster, online course creator, investor, inventor, entrepreneur, and musician.

My company MBA ASAP delivers digital content on business topics. I do it via blog posts, articles, eBooks, paperbacks, audiobooks, podcasts and online courses.

MBA ASAP also provides training to a bunch of global organizations. These companies rely on MBA ASAP to reskill and upskill their employees.

I consult as a business advisor. I help people explore opportunities, speed up success, transition to what they love doing, and have more fun.

I was a systems engineer and manager for the ABC Television network. That was my first big job, and I did that for almost a decade through my twenties.

I received my MBA from Wharton and undergrad degrees from Boston University and MIT.

I’m the founder of a quantitative hedge fund Tetraktys Global. It’s a vehicle for me to deploy resources towards the most promising ventures and make an impact in developing a better future.

I run a sister company called Alpha-Bets, which is an alpha factory generating predictive trading signals. Spinning up these enterprises is so much fun for me. It brings together math, computer coding, global finance, financial markets, technology, and futurism. What a great time to be alive!

I’m a jazz piano player. I live in the high desert of New Mexico.

Why do you write on Medium?

Writing is a personal and social exercise for me.

I write as a way to capture fleeting ideas, set them down, examine them, and help clarify my thinking. Writing is a cognitive net for me. Writing is deeply personal as a process.

Writing is also social. I enjoy sharing things I am learning through my work and other interests.

I have written a bunch of books on business topics under my education company MBA ASAP. I have also written biographies of Miles Davis and John Keats.

I love to research and write. Medium is an excellent platform for writing, being part of a community, and getting feedback. Writing used to be such a solitary activity. You couldn’t get real-time feedback. You couldn’t know who found your ideas exciting and what they thought about them.

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

The most satisfying part of writing on Medium is getting comments from readers. The dialogue with readers is what I most cherish.

What are your values as a writer?

Everything I write about I have vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I try to pass that understanding and belief on, as clearly and succinctly as I can.

Writing is hard. It’s challenging. It’s the best way I have found to clarify my thoughts and articulate my values. I like doing something hard, to commit and persevere. And I want to share that accomplishment.

My writing values come from my reading values. Reading is an act of civilization. It’s a mind-meld where we can explore possibilities and convey knowledge across time and space. Reading is thinking with someone else’s head.

What are the top three books affected your life?

Choosing three is a real challenge for me. I am an avid and voracious reader. I read in college, but when I moved to Manhattan, there were too many exciting distractions. And I was working a challenging job in broadcasting.

I started reading in a disciplined manner when I was 28. Until then, I knew lots of books I wanted to read but couldn’t bring myself to sit down and focus for long periods of quiet and reflection. Since then, I have read hundreds of books, which has altered the course of my life in immeasurable ways. They have given me a broad perspective, historical context, and a profound understanding of the world and people.

It is staggering to me that we have this tool for communing with the wisest sages in the most intimate way. I love books. I have a library, and I keep most of the books I read for reference. I love to look at them, and I feel comfortable around them. If you have a library and a garden, you have everything.

The three I am picking have been influential and represent inflection points in my life’s journey.

Candide by Voltaire

Voltaire is one of my heroes. He made a fortune early in his life by calculating the mathematical odds in a lottery and winning. His writings are the epitome of brilliance, wit, and courage. Candide is a gem of literature. I read it in high school, and it made an immediate and lasting impact.

The last line of the book is, “We must cultivate our garden.” It is what I put under my high school yearbook picture. I have strived to cultivate myself ever since.

Finding Ultra by Rich Roll

Rich Roll is an incredibly inspiring ultra-athlete. He now has a top-rated podcast that I highly recommend. The evolution of his life that Rich describes in this book straightened me out. It made me disciplined and organized. It made me exercise harder and convinced me to give up alcohol.

It made me commit. Unless there is a commitment, there are only promises and hopes but no plans.

A History of Knowledge by Charles Van Doren

This book was an intentional read for me. When I was in my late twenties, I realized that I had a spotty knowledge of history and civilization. I knew some events and individuals, but there were gaps. I wanted an intellectual perspective and historical context.

This book goes over the pivotal events, people, and achievements of world history.

I wanted to answer a question: How did we get to this point in our development of civilization and society? This book filled in the gaps and pointed me towards hundreds of others that I have been reading ever since.

What are your hobbies?

Music. Playing, listening, and exploring different genres.

I play the piano, guitar, and sing. As a singer, I’m a pretty good piano player and vice versa. : )

I play jazz piano. I play Americana on the guitar. I sang and wrote a book on The Great American Songbook — guys like Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, and Duke Ellington.

Miles Davis is a musical hero of mine. So is Keith Jarrett and his Standards Trio.

I am a complete geek about pop music since the ‘60s.

I’m a lifelong athlete and exercise hard every day. I just did the Crossfit Murph on Memorial Day, and I do it every Memorial Day. I do triathlons and long races and love to embrace the suck.

I’m a big fan of English poetry, especially John Keats and John Milton.

I’m curious about everything. My hobbies are chasing the next shiny thing that captures my fancy. It’s how I have lived and the way I intend to spend the rest of my days.

How do you connect with your readers?

I keep in contact through social media and my mailing list. My mailing list is on www.mba-asap.com.

I connect to share things that I have found interesting. I’m not interested in trying to convince anyone of anything in particular. I would rather be happy than right.

I’m trying to share things that make me happy and content. The road to freedom lies in deciding to be happy rather than right.

Why did you join ILLUMINATION and how do you find it so far?

Writing can be a lonely process. The ability to connect, get feedback, and create a dialogue in real-time has been lacking. Medium is an excellent platform for engendering this sense of connection.

Illumination is a logical extension of this desire for connection and community. It is a wonderful curated community of writers, editors, and readers. It’s great to feel part of such a vibrant community.

I am very grateful to you, Dr. Yildiz, for putting Illumination together and guiding such a fantastic group.

Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?

All the writers are great. Here are ten I find especially inspiring and thoughtful. Bill Abbate, Rasheed Hooda, Sinem Günel, Chris Hedges, Desiree Driesenaar, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Paul Myers MBA, Marianna Saver, Helen Cassidy.

What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience, and why?

Here are five stories that explore Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

The Way to Wealth

In Retrospect, Everything Profound Looks Obvious

The Road to Health and Wealth is Paved with Micro Choices

15 Quotes by Ben Franklin That Will Change Your Life Forever

Create Yourself by Defining What You Are Not

What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?

I measure success by my dedication to my path. I love and live for connection, but I have found that measuring success by an external metric or comparison is a formula for stress and disappointment.

For me, it’s not about relying on external metrics to measure success. I use the metrics to gauge how well I am connecting and to course-correct and calibrate my messaging to connect better and communicate.

Thomas Edison said he found ten thousand ways not to make an electric light bulb. Then he found one way to make one that worked. I don’t fail. I succeed at finding what doesn’t work.

As long as I can write and connect, I’m successful. I enjoy sharing things I am learning through my work and other interests. When people come along for the ride, I count that as a success.

What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?

My advice is to write, read, connect, participate in the broader dialogue, and enjoy. As Michelangelo said, “criticize by creating.”

What are your plans as a writer?

I plan to keep learning and digging deeper and trying to express myself. It’s remarkable that by writing, we reveal ourselves to ourselves. It’s a process and a big part of living an examined life.

Writing acts as a cognitive net where we can capture our fleeting thoughts before they evaporate. It’s like when you wake up and recall a dream you just had, but by noon you can’t recall it at all. It’s gone.

When I review things I have written in the past, sometimes I surprise myself by a point I made and then promptly forgot. Writing is a way to cultivate and share our better angels.

Writing and reading are acts of civilization, and I like to participate.

Thank you for your valuable time John Cousins. I enjoy reading your inspiring, informative, guiding, and engaging leadership stories on ILLUMINATION. Your writing style and entrepreneurial thought leadership in business topics are appealing to me. I appreciate your support to our publication, writers, and readers. Your content illuminates our publication.

You can contact John on his content platform MBA ASAP. You can also follow John’s author profile on Amazon. John is an active collaborator on Twitter with 15K+ followers.

These are the three books in my current reading list from John. I will provide my review once I finish reading them. I will also check his other several books to gain insights from John’s vast experience in leadership, business, and entrepreneurship.

If you are a writer on ILLUMINATION and would like to be interviewed, please send a request via this link with title of “Interview Request”.

Other Interviews

You may also check other interviews I conducted with inspiring writers of ILLUMINATION recently. These stories can provide a great opportunity to know more about our creative writers and connect with them.

Timothy Key

Desiree Driesenaar

Holly Jahangiri

Dr John Rose

Ming Qian

P.G. Barnett

Jill Ebstein

Bill Abbate

Terry Mansfield

Ann K Frailey

Woei T

Charles Roast

Julia E Hubbel

Aric D Mayer

Chris Hedges

Paroma Sen

Jeff Hanlon

Besom & Bletherskite

Sherry McGuinn

Sylvia Love Johnson

Maïa Belart

Henery X (long)

Chowa Sekai

conny manero

Sumera Rizwan

Karen Madej 💛

Anita Lesko

Marianna Saver

Suntonu Bhadra

Kevin Buddaeus

You might check more interviews in the attached collection.

You can find inspiring profiles of ILLUMINATION writers from this story.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

About the Author

Thank you for subscribing to my content. I share my health and well-being stories in my publication, Euphoria.

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Besides self-improvement, leadership, technology, and health, I also enjoy writing about essential molecules such as alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients for health and fitness.