Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow

A few years ago, the following movie description caught the Internet’s attention and went viral:

Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

Sounds like a budget-level horror fantasy released direct-to-video, right? In fact, this was Rick Polito’s clever 1998 newspaper TV-guide description of timeless classic, The Wizard of Oz.

While very funny, Polito’s description also paints an intimately familiar story in a completely new light, giving us pause to reexamine the movie we thought we knew so well.

And that’s precisely what this week’s guest on the One New Person podcast has done in his beautiful and captivating new book, Emeralds of Oz.

Meet Peter Guzzardi

I was sitting in Zoe Chance’s office at Yale (the #ilikeyourhat lady) earlier this year, having just finished recording her episode for the podcast.

As I packed up my microphones and various gear, she blurted out of seemingly nowhere:

“You should meet my friend Peter!”

Sure, I thought. Your friend Peter. I’ve learned by now to accept any invitation from Zoe. If she thinks I should meet Peter, I should meet Peter. Who’s Peter?

Peter Guzzardi is a legendary book editor, with over 40 years in the field and having worked with some of the most successful authors on the planet, on many of the most successful books in their respective fields.

He worked with Stephen Hawking on A Brief History of Time, Susan Cain on Quiet, Deepak Chopra on many books including Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Douglas Adams on the final book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series…

The list just goes on and on.

But the reason Zoe wanted to me to connect with Peter?

He was about to release his first ever book as an author, an inspirational book based on The Wizard of Oz called, Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow. Zoe remembered my deep love of the original movie, and that years earlier I had even given a special one-off public lecture combining magic with philosophical lessons from the movie, entitled, “Deception, Lies, and Belief in the Land of Oz.”

This seemed a match made in heaven. Or at least the Internet.

The Magic of Oz

“Wisdom is wisdom. It just gets poured into different receptacles.” -Peter Guzzardi

Zoe provided us a mutual introduction via email, and from there Peter and I scheduled a call to chat about all things Oz.

I expected to be on the phone for 20 minutes or so, but we spoke for nearly an hour.  Peter was warm, kind, and very funny. There was a purity about him, the kind found in children that we inevitably lose as we grow older.

We spoke about his childhood, his incredible career in publishing, his chance encounters with legends (often before they were legends). He asked about my magic career, how I transitioned to speaking, my interest in Oz. He was curious and imaginative, and I adored our conversation.

After an hour, we decided to arbitrarily call it off. I had no idea if or when we would ever speak again, but cherished our time. I was just about to hang up, but Peter had an Ace up his sleeve:

“Brian, it was a pleasure meeting you. How are we going to change the world together?”

An Invitation

I wasn’t prepared for the question and didn’t know how to answer it. A relationship with someone like Peter, let alone Peter himself, would of course be beneficial to me, an author at the beginning of his writing career.  But I was reminded of one of Zoe’s lessons from our conversation on the podcast:

“When faced with an opportunity, ask yourself these value-creation questions: How could it be even better for me? How could it be even better for them? And who else could benefit?” (S1.12)

Zoe’s approach is not about being completely selfish OR completely selfless, but optimizing each opportunity for maximum impact in every possible way. So I thought, the best outcome for me would be a deeper relationship with Peter. The best outcome for Peter would be promotion for his first book. And who else could benefit?

“Peter, I’m so glad you asked,” I said. “Would you be interested in coming on my podcast next season, to chat about your life, your career, and of course, to talk about Emeralds of Oz?”

"Brian, that would be wonderful!” he exclaimed. “How do we set it up?”

Emeralds of Oz with guest Peter Guzzardi

This month, August 2019, is the 80th anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz, and we thought it would therefore be fitting to hold off his episode until now. I can’t tell you how joyous it is to finally share this conversation with you.

In this episode we discuss what exactly an editor's role is in the publishing process, the timeless wisdom contained in The Wizard of Oz, and of course, Peter shares his story of a chance encounter with lasting impact.

Pick up the book on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. The book is physically beautiful, inside and out, and so they make incredible gifts, particularly for recent grads and incoming freshman.

Grab the 9 Emeralds of Wisdom downloadable postcard for free from Peter’s website.

And please share this episode with your friends, colleagues, and loved ones. We should all benefit from Peter’s warmth, kindness, and wisdom. Here are some highlights from our conversation:

"Choose compassion, and then direct that compassion to yourself."

“I hate to burst your bubble, but change is gonna come, baby. It’s headed your way. It’s a cyclone blowing across a Kansas prairie. If we could get away with just holding on to what we got and not having any change come into our lives, I’m sure we would all do it, and more power to us. But that just isn’t an option. So you might as well be ready when change comes.”

“I had no idea what an author goes through until I had to do it myself. I never felt so lost in all my life. Somebody had dropped me in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in a rowboat, at night, without oars, and said now find your way.”

“It’s very hard to ask people for help. And yet, it’s really the only way through. Even the Lone Ranger has Tonto!

I hope you enjoy this episode. Peter and I wish you well in your journey down the yellow brick road.