By: Ashley Duncan
Everybody is a winner according to Ray Cole in his book Hangin’ with Winners: A Lifetime of Connections, Anecdotes, and Lessons Learned. Ray Cole was invited to Morningside as a guest speaker to talk about his new book, which is all about connections.
Cole said he started the book because he decided there were some things he learned from winners that he ought to share. He then started his presentation by breaking down the different chapters in his book.
He made sure to inform the crowd not to skip chapter five. “Don’t skip chapter five. It’s not famous Iowans, it’s extraordinary Iowans,” said Cole. He then continued to tell a story about the Children’s Blank hospital in Des Moines and how that started and then got connected to Walt Disney and Jimmy Kimmel.
Cole is really good friends with the late-night host, Kimmel. As Cole continued to discuss stories from his book, they all branched from one person to another. It seemed that almost every person was connected in one way or another from helping each other.
In the book Cole said that there were 32 profiles of people. 27 of the profiles were individual people and five of the profiles were groups or organizations. “32 profiles, but we interviewed far more than that. Anybody we interviewed is a winner,” said Cole.
Cole was invited to talk at Morningside because of his connections. Dave Madsen, the head of the Mass Communication department, introduced Cole because they knew each other from working on television together. Cole is friends with President Reynders and a Board of Directors member, Rich Waller. All these connections are what make up his book.
Erin Edlund, the head of this event, said, “He is very well connected not only here in Sioux City but across the country and around the world.” She set up this event because she wanted students to be immersed into what opportunities there are in the world.
“The wealth of experiences and connections he brings makes him a great storyteller. An important part of the Morningside experience is to help connect students to different opportunities and people that they might not have known were out there,” said Edlund.
Cole ended his presentation by passing out his new book to everybody that attended, which were all personally signed by him. They either contained a ‘#Msideproud’ or a favorite quote from one of his favorite people.
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