Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Levin.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Levin walked away from an opportunity to run H&R Block, a business that was a household name in order to hitchhike around the world to find happiness and inner peace. The people he met along his journey remind him a lot of the characters in his new book, The Mosaic.
For most of his life, Levin felt different. He saw things differently than others and thought in ways that were unlike the ways of his peers. Though initially, he felt alone and isolated, this all changed when he started to use his vision to create new opportunities within the book industry. Time/Warner asked him to come to NY to start a Special Sales Division, but his choice was made for him when he found that his wife was dying of cancer. He spent the next 5 years taking care of her until she transitioned.
It was his work, as Director of Business Development for Hay House, that catapulted the once boutique publisher into international recognition and also gave him notoriety. He created a new genre of product for an industry steeped in tradition, The Boxed Card Decks. These not only drew to Hay House, NY Times Bestselling Authors but expanded the reach of the company to non-book store revenue as well. It became one of the fastest growing lines of product in the book industry.
While he was there, the company grew from $3million a year in sales to $100million dollars a year in revenue. It was again his ability to see differently that brought huge success to Hay House. Later, he was brought in to work with the Government of Jamaica and corporations, such as Elizabeth Arden, The National Asian American Coalition, The International Spa Association, St. Regis, Willow Stream, Hard Rock, and Maroma seeking innovation. Suddenly, it was his ability to see differently that made him a sought out commodity. Again the key to his success was what he once thought was his biggest flaw, his ability to see differently.
It makes sense then, that Levin, the author of The Mosaic, a fable about finding a connection would use the same magic that has taken him through life to write a story about seeing what we don’t see. He is the founder and creator of The Mosaic Process, a methodology of connection that he shares in keynote presentations and workshops with organizations. He is also the founder and creator of The BeKind2U 21 Consecutive Day Challenge. Levin is a rare blend of mystic and businessman whose keynote presentations and workshops help strengthen a company by creating real connections between people.
He is a connectivity activist who works with government organizations, corporations, and businesses to improve the flow of how a group works together and the interactions people have with themselves and others. Sharing a message of unification, he is a sought-after speaker for groups whose focus is on improving connection and creating a stronger team.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hahahahahahahahaha. Of course, life has had its ups and downs. I have experienced a lot of loss, I lost my parents when I was a boy, two years apart on the same day. I lost my wife to cancer and I have lost a lot of very close friends over the years
To this day, I still protect myself from getting too close to people, because I do not want to experience the pain of loss again. I have the incredible honor to be the father of a developmentally delayed daughter. But, I did not always see this as an honor. For many years, this too was a huge pain in my heart. She cannot communicate the way we do, so, when she would try to tell me something, and I couldn’t understand her, she would start to scream, when I still didn’t get it, she would tantrum and when that didn’t work she would try to rip my shirt and/or bite me.
It was such a hard time, until after a very long time, years and years of this, I finally asked her if she could tell me how she was trying to communicate with me and what she was trying to say. She placed her pointing finger on the side of her head, and immediately I understood, she was communicating with me telepathically, because her language was not good, she was puting thoughts into my head. It was then that everything changed.
I realized she is just like every other person I know, be it a government leader, a CEO, a business team or a family: when we try to say something and no one listens, we say it louder. If people still do not listen, we create a scene, if the scene doesn’t work, we try to destroy something. It could be a building, an initiative, a marriage, or a person’s reputation. What my daughter taught me that day, was that we all want and need to be heard and acknowledge, validated and understood. And that we as people need to find a way to hear what others are saying.
I had a clothing business that in just a couple of years grew quickly. High-End boutiques and resort spas were buying it and loving it. Neiman Marcus called me and asked me to show them the line in Dallas. But then my manufacturer told me three days before I was supposed to ship about a million dollars of orders, that he did not make the order. I lost $300,000. and rebuilding myself from that almost took me out.
I have had a life of incredible highs, and tumultuous lows and one thing I can share is this: where we are right now, is not who we are. It is just where we are right now. My book, The Mosaic has shown me, no matter where we find ourselves, we are only one piece away from an entirely new set of opportunities.
The Mosaic – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our focus is connection. Connection is a part of everything we do. It reaches into everything we are, and yet, most of us have never really thought much about it.
What I see in the work that I do, be that with government, corporations, small businesses or even families, what generally happens is people build walls around themselves to protect themselves from being hurt, just like I have, and when they reach out to connect, it is just one wall connecting to another wall. There is no real connection. We help companies build trust, take down those walls and connect to leadership, teams and to the product and/or services they offer, which connects them to the people they serve.
I have had the exquisite opportunity to be friends with the wealthiest of the wealthy and to sit on street corners with the poorest of the poor. What I have seen is that we all want the same thing: to be loved and accepted; listened to and heard; appreciated and acknowledged.
We help teams do that for each other and for the clients they serve. One of the methodologies we use in The Mosaic Process is The Four Practices (see more at www.TheMosaicOnline.com)
-Be Kind to Yourself
-Be Vulnerable
-Do What You Came To Do – Live Purposefully
-Build Your Mosaic
These 4 simple practices, done correctly will help reconnect a disconnected team.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Finding my own sense of peace. This came to me in perhaps my darkest moment, when everything I had was suddenly gone. It was only then that I realized, I am not the things I have, I am the one who is behind all those things, and whether I live in a mansion or under a bridge, I am still who I am.
- The Mosaic (signed hardcover copy) $25.00
- The BeKind2U 21 Consecutive Day Challenge Bracelet $7.95
- Mosaic Coaching (ask for pricing)
- Mosaic Speaking (ask for pricing)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheMosaicOnline.com
- Phone: 760.828. 2529
- Email: danny@TheMosaicOnline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themosaic_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danny.levin.735
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dannylevin
- Yelp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-levin-a06a663/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
