Takes More Than Heart by Dennis Mellen
A growth mindset seeks the relentless pursuit of long and short term goals no matter the obstacles and opportunities. Takes More Than Heart is a book about perseverance, grit, and a driven heart. As a self-help/memoir book, I seek to reach a variety of audiences from those who experienced similar life and career changing events to athletic teams and business people
My book deals with my experiences during and since my heart attack on October 14, 2008. As a retired United States Air Force pilot and Lieutenant Colonel and a 28 year major airline Captain, the career ending event led to redefining my life at the age of 56 years with at least nine more years left until mandatory commercial pilot retirement at age 65, a career do-over if you will.
On a fateful October day, a healthy every six month FAA Class I certified medically qualified airline captain went out on mountain bike to climb a trail aptly named “It’s A Bitch”. My 3-4 workouts per week never portended a massive heart attack might occur during a planned 1-2 hour ride.
About 2/3’s of the way up the climb, out of breath and in need of a short rest, I sat down on a moss covered log and then lay supine losing consciousness. But for a couple of passing hikers, I may never have survived. Immediately dialing 9-1-1, the first responders arrived as quickly as possible considering the terrain and remote location. The 500 foot climb from the emergency vehicle with some 100 lbs. of equipment each is a testament to the EMT’s supernatural powers and endurance. From the EMT’s arrival and through the first few minutes in the hospital ER, I received some 45+ CPR shocks to revive my heart. The recovery and rehab took several months, but unhappily, I would never fly again.
There is a saying, “if you love your job, you will never work a day in your life”. I loved my job of 38 years and people would understand if I never recovered mentally from being wrenched from a career most would envy. My story revolves on all the attempts to remake my life and my career into something more meaningful than a slow drive to “Geezerville” to sit in a Barcalounger with a TV remote in one hand and a cool drink in the other.
Ranging from volunteer work at an “at-risk” student aviation based school, the head of Flight Standards at now defunct non-schedule worldwide cargo carrier, the head of Flight Training at a larger regional carrier to a worldwide consulting and aviation safety auditor traveling to Kenya, Philippines and Cape Verde, again and again I searched for the elusive “if you love your job” position searching for my new “why”, new “purpose”.
The search led me to motivational/keynote speaking, high school substitute teacher and high school baseball coach. My goal is making a difference and providing a short-cut for those with similar experiences.
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Author Bio:
Dennis is an author, leader, motivator, mental performance master, and passionate athletic coach. Enthusiastic leadership and followership are his trademarks. He brings a high level of energy and passion to every group he engages. Weaving personal anecdotes and experiences with specific calls to action are key elements in his goal to bring education, inspiration, and entertainment to a variety of audiences.
Dennis brings years of leadership experience as a twenty-eight year retired major airline captain, and Fleet Captain, twenty-year-retired Air Force LtCol, and command pilot. His other leadership experiences include consulting, IOSA flight safety auditor, teaching/coaching high school baseball players, and developing future leaders with the Civil Air Patrol. He attended Squadron Officer School and Air Command and Staff School learning the latest Air Force leadership skills.
As a fleet captain at a major airline, he led the training for 550 pilots and forty instructors. He consulted world-wide for international air-carriers in places like Nairobi, Kenya, Manila, Philippines, and Praia, Cape Verde. He taught crew resource management and leadership to diverse international flight instructors and conducted airline safety audits.
Dennis is a Jon Gordon Power of Positive Leadership trainer. His experiences provide insightful stories to connect his audience to the foundations for leading organizations, building relationships, connecting people, and engaging teams in their vision and purpose. Dennis brings his leadership expertise to his speaking engagements leaving attendees with actionable content readily useable. With worldwide presentations in such places as Kenya, Philippines, and Cape Verde, Dennis emphasizes how diverse views can lead to innovation and new ideas.
His book entitled Takes More Than Heart, provides motivation, education and humor to inspire those who face serious challenges in their lives. His speaking business is called Be A Bean and the tagline is “transformer your team culture from ordinary water into gourmet coffee.”
He lives with his wife Heidi in the Chicago suburbs. He has four sons and a five month old grand-daughter.
“Connecting the culture with the vision.”