Men’s Journal’s Everyday Warrior With Mike Sarraille is a podcast that inspires individuals to live more fulfilling lives by having conversations with disrupters and high performers from all walks of life. In episode 37, we spoke to Jurica Barac, former Red Bull professional BMX rider and chief executive officer of HIGHLANDER, which provides once-in-a-lifetime hiking expeditions around the globe.
Listen to the full episode above (scroll down for the transcript) and see more from this series below.
This interview has not been edited for length or clarity.
Mike Sarraille:
Welcome to the Men’s Journal Everyday Warrior podcast. I’m your host, Mike Sarraille. I’m joined by Jurica Barac of Highlander who has a very interesting story and has created an adventure race concept that really reconnects people, not only with themselves in nature, through mentally and physically challenging events, which I love. When you remove the competition it makes it mental, it makes it spiritual and that’s what we’re all about here at the Everyday Warrior. But you’re got one hell of a story man. Born in Croatia, correct?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, that’s correct.
Mike Sarraille:
Okay. And then you grew up doing BMX?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so I was born just in the middle of war in Croatia. It was beginning of nineties and we had very hard time over there because Serbia and Croatia were in the war and sleeping in the basement waking up with shelling and sirens and it was very, very tough. And a friend of mine, they start to organize some kind of gathering for people who ride BMX inline skateboard and they used to gather before the war, so they just started to doing it again. And I fall in love with that because it was kind of positive energy, no competing. It was very cool. And this is how I finished in BMX and after a few years I found that I really love extreme sports and I started doing it for real. When I say for real, I was doing it, Let’s do it. Maybe I can compete maybe I can do some prize money. Maybe I can fight for life through BMX and this is how I finish in the BMX.
Jurica Barac:
And then I was already a pro athlete a few years after and I got a Red Bull sponsorship, became Red Bull athlete, started traveling around the world because for me, coming from OTE cro, this is very small town and in the middle of wartime, it was like a miracle just to go out of the country and not even going to us or I don’t know, UK or Asia. And I saw this BMX as perfect opportunity to meet new people, to enjoy sports, to travel around. And I didn’t see it like a sport and competition, I just saw it as an opportunity in life and I really enjoyed that time. It was a great time
Mike Sarraille:
From war to a Red Bull athlete that is one hell of a story. Let me step back cuz I, I’ve gotta ask this. I was not born into war like did I go to war? Yes. But what did that experience, how did that mold you into the person you are today? I mean do you look at obstacles today and just say that that’s nothing compared to what we faced back during the Serbian Conflict.
Jurica Barac:
Conflict? Yeah. I was a kid at that time and I still remember those sounds of explosions and that’s really something super scary. And when we enter in covid and when everybody was too upset, I just remember that and people start comparing this with war, but this is not even comparable to be a hundred percent honest, this is how is not even 5% of 10% of what war is. And my father was in war for five years and we escape with mother and sister, we escape and grandpa, we escaped to the sea coast after two years of the war. It was very scary. But we lived that and it was kind of normal situation, which is crazy. And when I see now these things in Ukraine, it just reminds me of these crazy things. And war is definitely the worst thing that can happen. And after this you just become stronger and there’s no such crazy situation in your life like a war really. There is no such situation. But I was kid so I don’t remember it as something for me it was normal. It is really crazy. People played football. Yeah,
Mike Sarraille:
Normal.
Jurica Barac:
Yeah. I remember people playing football in the middle of war going to work and you play around and you just see, hear the super loud seren warming you to go in basement. Then we just went to the basement, we’ve been there for a few hours, we are going out. It was crazy. It took five years situation like that and it became kind of normal, which is completely crazy.
Mike Sarraille:
Well first a few things. One hard times make hard men and I do remember there, there’s an author named Sebastian Younger who went back and interviewed people from the Serbian Bosnian conflict. And what he found is those people that had to endure hardship one, only one part of the town would have some electricity and then they would black out and other people and they were sharing resources. A lot of the people he interviewed 10 years after the war said at our very worst we were at our very best and we were more unified as a people helping one another. So that, that’s interesting in whoever made the drew the analogy of C to war, that was probably Americans who lack a lot of perspective. So on behalf of America, I do apologize for that analogy.
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, that’s not even comparable in the Covid. You still had so many choices and it was tough and even speak about that one, but it’s not even comparable with the war. This is completely different situation.
Mike Sarraille:
No, it’s not someone who’s gonna make that statement just lacks perspective and usually probably hasn’t been to war. Let me dude. So when you become a Red Bull bull athlete, does that just change everything for extreme professionals?
Jurica Barac:
Yes. So for me at this competition that my friends used to organize in creation, I saw first time I saw Red Bull doing back flip and I met a guy and he was one of the best writers at that time. And when I was speaking with him as a kid at that time, I realized one big thing, and this is something that changed my mind completely since then, that he’s also man of blood and skin. We have the same skin, we have the same way of thinking. We are humans made from the same material. And then I was asking myself if this guy can be a world best athlete, why I cannot be there because from the same material. Because before that I thought these are special human or something like that. And this completely changed my mind because we need to sleep, we need to eat, we have the same habits. And when you realize that in your head, then you just realize that everything, you can do everything basically. And since then I jump in Red Bull, I got this Red Bull helmet, which is great achievement and Red Bull is one of the probably best companies by treating athletes worldwide. And I started to travel and I was kind of leaving a dream. You go around the world, they pay all your trips, you just ride and enjoy. That was just a, I don’t know, a dream.
Mike Sarraille:
It’s amazing how a energy drink company is now more known for its video and extreme content than the actual drink. And what I love about your story is so you eventually went from being a Red Bull athlete to running a good portion of their sports marketing. And so you jumped into the business side of things. I’m sure that’s not a normal path for a lot of the Red Bull athletes. Were you asked to do that or was that your next of mission in life? You wanted to learn that skill?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, I was at that time in US training in woodwork camp, which is amazing camp. And I heard that my sports manager in Red Bull, he left and I was thinking, okay, what should we do now? We don’t have manager anymore. How we gonna handle all these agreements and everything? I was 20 at that time and then general manager from Red Bull called me, Would you like to jump on his position? I was like, okay, I’m 20 years old. I know I have no clue about some leadership stuff and that management stuff. I used to organize some events and helping my guys about events and I was thinking a little bit and then I realized, okay, on the left side I have this great dream and I’m already seven years in this dream and there are injuries, very serious injuries on the right side I have something new and I will still travel, I still meet new people, I will still do what I like to do, what I love to do.
Jurica Barac:
And then I said, Yeah, let’s do it. I mean I’m jumping in this seat And the funny thing was, I was speaking a few days ago with my friends about this, I got a job. They told me, Look, you need to be there from June 1st. We agreed on salary and everything. I quit my BMX career, I quit sponsorships, I quit everything. I started working in the first week or second week they told me, Look, this is trial period, three months and we will see if you got the job. Really? I was like, What? I just quit everything. I quit my career. I was, oh man, now I need to do it. And then I jumped 200% in this and I start doing everything to deliver the business plan and everything. And then finally after three months, guy from Austria told me, You got a job. That was crazy.
Mike Sarraille:
And so you’re learning the job really on the job so you, you’re having to play catch up and then if that’s not enough, you in traveling around the world and setting up large events, you say, Hey, I’m gonna go get my MBA as well.
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, because it’s very competitive and progressive company, many successful young people and finishing MBA is just normal thing and most of us were doing that and I was also learning two hours, studying two hours before the job, going job 12 hours and then maybe having a reading book after that job as well. So it was crazy five years of crazy times. But that’s Red Bull style and we all did like that and it was crazy. I always say one of the best schools I ever had, it was working for Red Bull and super competitive. Super competitive, you know, work probably every weekend. So I did one year, I did 40 weekends instead of being at home and chilling. It’s really, really dynamic.
Mike Sarraille:
The best education is often in the arena. Yeah, I got my MBA at the University of Texas, which I say you’re stuttering studying from the stands for two years. But Yuri again, I can only imagine the pace working at Red Bull is basically the analogy would be running around with your hair on fire. Which maybe why we’re both balled from our last professions <laugh> eventually just, and there’s a common term called executive burnout. At one point you hit a wall, you burn out. When did you know you were sort of at your max?
Jurica Barac:
Yes. After five years of doing that, I saw this is still crazy pace and you travel all the time. You work 12 plus hours per day, you drink three five red bulls per day, you drink vodka Red Bull at the weekends because you have after parties and you cannot miss that and it’s party, very hard motor in the company. And I was feeling bad, I had some symptoms on my body as well and I just realized that oh my god this is too fast, too crazy and I’m not sure if I can last long if I’m doing like this and then I will start thinking about how I can change that. But I still wanted to do what I love to do. Traveling, meeting new people, hearing some challenges. And then I decided, okay, it’s enough it’s enough. And we cannot continue like this. I need to change something. And I knew that going in entrepreneurship will be even crazier, but I knew that I will be two or three or five years in the fire but then it’ll, it’ll become easier. And that was a decision, let’s leave the company and let’s start something new. And this is when Highlander was born as well.
Mike Sarraille:
And so you stepped out of one thing, which seems a little crazy cuz you stepped out of a high pace and everyone knows a startup is, I mean like said earlier, you’re invested 200% into that and it’s, I mean startups, what most startups don’t last past three years. So you guys start in 2017, you and a friend and you start this sort of long distance hiking event series and you start to get some traction over the next two years and then Covid hits.
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so just to go a few steps be before friend of mine and the guys that I did that I started Highlander, they were also in event industry and we were already tired of this having huge events, TV broadcast, going live to three or five televisions, it’s really crazy thing and big sponsorships, 100,000 people at events, crisis, communication, all these things. And we just wanted to do something more relaxed. And this is how Highlander was born because we wanted to combine our passion still with business, what we are doing because we chosen that business and we started Highlander it for fun actually for our friends. We said, okay, let’s organize the outdoor festival where we will hike, where we will have ends like 50 kilometers, 100 kilometers, but super relaxed, no competing. We go there, we turn mobiles off we share experiences with other people, we make fire together, we enjoy the nature.
Jurica Barac:
This was very important and we started it for farm but it was not jumping straight from fire to fire because after Red Bull I went out and start doing consulting, which was much easier. Big companies which are doing events, they call us, Hey, can you set up a crisis plan for us? For me that was easy. You set up crisis plan and you earn, I don’t know, 50 K. So it was easy, easy, easy, easy part. But then, okay, we started Highlander. Every project which is coming from fun, somehow got get traction. And in 2019 we realized, oh my god, this can be possible in every country and let’s bring this a super positive energy. Let’s bring this to all people in the world. And then Covid hit in the middle of a growth plan.
Mike Sarraille:
Ted, tell me about the first one you guys held. Cause it was 2017 in Croatia you said something like 70 70% of the people couldn’t finish. It rained the whole time, 30% finished. But I remember reading the article that said for the 30% that finished, they were happy, they were crying, they were drinking together and they had this sense of comradery. That must have been an emotional rollercoaster, wondering if this thing was gonna succeed or not. What was that first competition?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so when you organize events you realize is this event good? You realize that finish line when you see people’s faces. And we were excited to see how these people will look like after five days of it was flood, one of the biggest flood increase in the last 70 years. Five days of raining, five nights of raining. And we couldn’t realize what will happen. And 30% of guys came to finish line and they were super exhausted really. We thought, oh my god, somebody will kill us because of this. They paid to be crazy exhausted, but they were happy not jumping around but smiling and telling experience. And we said, Oh that’s great. They feel what we feel so we have something very cool and then let’s do it again next year. And without any marketing without any special investment, we got double number of people next year.
Jurica Barac:
I remember we had it guys coming there, they never hiked one of the guys, they quit on 50 kilometer and that guy was really mentally destroyed for next two weeks <laugh>. But they came year after and they finished 100 and they’re coming nearly every year. So it, it’s kind of like crazy challenge, but it’s really about your mental toughness, about how you handle things in way cooking, sleeping toilet washing. It’s really adventure and this is something why people are coming back. This is why we see much more people and why we see that the event is growing because it’s really something special.
Mike Sarraille:
So I’ve heard you describe this before and I loved how you described it on one of the interviews I watched, you talked about how people are just competing every day between the incessant emails and text messages in news streams and technology, the way you guys designed this without competition and more a camaraderie and yes, well, while you can do it as pairs and it is a very much an individual challenge physically and mentally, it’s almost like you guys have designed a reset for people only if they do it once a year. It’s a way to physically, mentally and spiritually reset yourself. Because I mean you understand what a lot of people don’t understand. There’s nothing nature is as close to God in my opinion as you can get. Man, you guys have created a spiritual event. I mean, how has that resonated with people? I mean are tears at the end of this usually one of the most common things you see?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so we used to organize Ironman races, different running challenges, cycling races. We used to organize professional stuff. And when we created Highlander, first of all, we created for ourselves and our friends and not professional athletes. So we wanted let’s say normal people to join this challenge because we are also not, I’m not climbing. Yeah, I’m not everyday warriors, I’m not climbing Everest or some peaks, I’m not that kind of guy. I was just guy who got burn out in the corporation. So we wanted to organize these. Well
Mike Sarraille:
Let’s step back there. You were doing back flips on a bmx. So yeah, I put you in the same category as extreme athletes climate now Everest. But I think as your humility coming through, Sorry, I cut
Jurica Barac:
You off this. Yeah, so we wanted to organize it for normal people, from people in business, for people at home, for people doing different things like firefighters and for it people. Yeah. And this is the main idea. You don’t need to be professional, you don’t need to have a 15,000 euro bike, you don’t need to have some crazy equipment. What you need is real to go there and to experience that and to come back on the point of Highlander. So what we realized is that if you go in nature just for few days, but really 3, 5, 3 to five days, you start changing yourself. You feel that after two days, three days already, you feel that. And if you’re every day in the office, sitting in the car, sitting in the nice apartment, this is what Joe said, you became too soft and this is really true.
Jurica Barac:
This is what happening to people just going out, as you said, you are close to God, you get all these crazy emotions that you forgot. And this was one of the best things that happened to me at Highlander, that I wake up emotions when I was a kid, when you were running around your building, being there the whole day, being super exhausted by end of the day, full asleep in two seconds. You cannot get this in office. Even you have super big successful business done or you achieve millions of stuff like that. You cannot get that feeling when you were super happy when you were a kid. You cannot get it.
Mike Sarraille:
Every adult needs to feel like a kid at some point. What are some of the responses you’ve got from those everyday people that decide to sign up for this and at the very end, I mean they must come to you and just mean bless you, Thank you for what you’ve set up. What are some of those responses?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, what is crazy to see, I mean we did many events and we had many feedback from people, but I never seen that somebody’s doing one page copy on the Instagram post. I never seen that people are, one guy made a Highlander tattoo. I never seen that. People are sending us photos with their kids. They Highlander change their life. The feedback is so strong that it’s one of the best motivation for us to keep going forward because we came out from a crazy business and we never thought finishing again in crazy business. And one of the things, what motivates us to move forward and to do this globally is this great feedback from people. I mean, we have so much great feedbacks that we will start now doing the list of the best ones. But there are many, many, many things. And when somebody tell you it was great experience, we like even, okay, this is let’s say normal feedback. If you do your job good, if you do events, but if somebody yeah, says this changed my life, my kids change her perspective it helped my kid and she’s sick this is something what triggers different emotions in your mind and you want to do it, you want to do it more because you want to hear more feedback like that from the people. And we can really, really so much great feedback that this is the biggest fuel for us to move forward really.
Mike Sarraille:
Correct me. Are cell phones allowed on the course or are those people are not allowed to bring cell phones?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, cell phones are allowed and if you want you can have your GPX and map on your cell phone, but you know need to have Compass and I suggest you have Compass on your watch just that you can follow the route. But yeah, one of the best things is that your phone is, there’s no signal. This is the most important no signal if you wanna, And your hand is going, yeah, you want to check your Instagram, you want to check your LinkedIn, your emails, nothing is there because your signal, your phone is off.
Mike Sarraille:
I could see people going through withdrawals <laugh>.
Jurica Barac:
Yes,
Mike Sarraille:
Yes. As that’s happening. And God knows I I’ve been that guy at times. Well I remember we were at the base of Amalo in DePaul and we walked probably an hour and a half to get a signal and it was freezing and guys were sitting there for one hour on their phones catching up with emails and stuff like that. So no, I love this concept for those that are listening that may think, oh wow, 60 kilometers or a hundred kilometers. I’ve never done anything like that. Do you guys have suggested one month preparatory workouts or do you guys put out any guidance on how to best prepare for people that are very new to this type of sport?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so we have 60 miles is the longest one in five days, then 30 miles in three days and we have 15 miles. So you can choose whatever you want. And of course we suggest people preparation six to three months or six months before they went, what kind of diet or what kind of equipment they need, how to prepare. Actually you don’t need some crazy preparation for Ironman. It’s much, much easier. But still you need to prepare yourself because 60 miles is not a small portion of the mountain. So you need to prepare yourself, but you need to try a little bit sleep in the tent, maybe in your garden you need to cook your food, you need to go a little bit in rain to see how it is being in the rain the whole day. You can have great time, but you can also have very tough time. The guys first year in crash <laugh> even five days and five nights of strong rain that never happened again on Highlander.
Mike Sarraille:
Yeah, once you’re wet it’s a whole different experience. So you made a very strategic decision post Covid to link up with Joe Cena from Spartan Race and you guys have decided to combined efforts, which hell man, it’s amazing what we can do when we’re part of a team bringing some of his business model over to Highlander. What do you see the future of Highlander to be? Because I know you’re, you’ve had 100 events, you’re in 20 countries, where do you want to take this man?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, so first of all, when Covid hit, that was probably after war the second hardest time ever because we were like exploding. And I had at that time super successful company, 35 plus events my dreams were on the table and I started spending money like crazy. And finally after all these years hard work leaving high life and then Covid hit, man, it was super hard. I lost 85 90% of the business. Some people left. It was very dramatic situation, I would say very, very dramatic situation. And in that summer friend of us met Joe DeSena in New York because Joe was eating there with cattle bell chain on his neck. He was eating there and our friend went to him, Hey guy, why you are eating breakfast with this chain, Joe Deena, I’m spared spar and I like to do tough shit and stuff like that.
Jurica Barac:
What you are doing, I’m doing events, you’re I, oh, I hear friends in Europe who are doing events as well, What kind of events and friend describe him Highlander. And that was a click Joe said call the guys, I wanna have partnership with them. And at that time we were looking for investors for the growth and we immediately clicked when I heard his story about changing Li. For him, this is not only business, it’s really changing lives and helping people to run over the obstacles every day. I love that story because we have the same vision and we said, okay, let’s go in partnership. And he help us and partner company help us a lot for going to us. We have now first event in us and going to other countries they had. So they have so much knowledge, they spend so much money in the last 20 years and they learned a lot. So we don’t actually need to share the same mistakes. And yes, this is how the partnership was born basically in the middle of Covid. In of Covid.
Mike Sarraille:
Yeah man. With his experience doing that and then your experience running events for Red Bull, that that’s a lethal combination, that that’s a beautiful marriage so to speak, of two entities coming together. What do you have planned for 2023? How are you gonna expand Highlander?
Jurica Barac:
So we always wanted to come in US because we had many requests from people in US in the last few years. And what I like about us, you guys are, I would say super brave when you see how you do business, how you do sports, how you do, I met people who wake up at 4:00 AM and stuff like that. You don’t see that much in Europe to be honest. And I always believe like us is if you want to go like 200% or 300 miles per hour, that’s us. And we came here, we want to expand here. We want to have five, even seven Highlanders next year in us. I see the community is amazing, people are really into the details and they love adventures and I’m super excited to see us guys next week at the event and it’ll be super cool. So us is one thing and then we go on other locations.
Jurica Barac:
We have, as you said, 20 plus countries and we want to expand in some other locations in Europe, in Middle East, Asia Australia. But the goal is to also to have the biggest hiking club in the world called Highlander Club. And that we connect people from different parts of the world and so they can speak with each other, they can travel to each other, they can go for high because we have many solo hikers they meet, some of them are going single and finishing in the couple <laugh> in Highlander event. So we want to work a lot around the community. We want to share equipment because one of the biggest let’s say challenges is to get equipment because some people don’t wanna spend 3000 or 2000 for equipment. Some people have two backpacks, they can give it to you, they can share. So we want to make a platform for community that will really boost the whole thing and that we can have this Highlander feeling all around the globe. This is our goal and for next year we have big plans challenging plans, but we don’t wanna finish in this burnout area. <laugh>, you learned
Mike Sarraille:
Well, you look at business models and actually we wrote about Joe Dina in a book we have coming out for what he created with that community aspect of Spartan Pure genius. Once you have a community, once you built that community, the business model will speak for itself. So good on him and good on you man. We end this podcast with a few questions where we ask you to get vulnerable and maybe our listeners can take one or three nuggets away to implement into their lives. And then lastly, I wanna direct people of where they can find you and where they can get involved. But first question is, what’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make in your life
Jurica Barac:
To live a great company, safe job, amazing job, amazing bonus formula one, weekends and stuff like that. And to go from zero, this was probably the hardest decision ever, the hardest decision. But
Mike Sarraille:
You did it for your health.
Jurica Barac:
For my health and it was too, too fast pace and I wanted to go for some change. And I believe if you want to have some change in your life, you need to go. When you are on the top, you don’t make changes in your life and you feel bad because probably it’ll be bad decision. At that time I was really doing top but feeling burnout and then it was right time to make decision, but it was very hard for me. I came for very small town to get job in Red Bull that was going top of the world. And to leave that job and all these benefits you have everything. That was really hard. That was really hard. Probably the probably the toughest decision
Mike Sarraille:
I have no doubt you felt like you’re part of a family within that company, especially with what you guys do. Biggest regret of your life, maybe that opportunity you wish you had seized, maybe a relationship you wish you had mend. What’s your biggest regret?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, going in entrepreneurship. No, it’s a joke. <laugh>, No, my biggest regret is I lost some people in this process because I never let company before and I start the company from zero. And in this process and in this hard process of covid I lost some people. And this is my biggest regret because they were nice people. We had a amazing times and it’s a process. People go in and go out, but I wish if they stayed with us. This is very hard for me because you develop relationship. And for me, I would say this is the hardest part.
Mike Sarraille:
I know for a lot of business owners they say the same thing and it’s amazing startups, one who you start with is not who you end up with and that environment is hard for some people to operate in. And sometimes you gotta let people go even though you have the best of intent as a business owner, sometimes things just don’t work out according to plan and you’ve gotta cut head count and that sucks. So I’m with you there. What are yours, one to three tenants by which you’ve lived your life that have led to the overwhelming majority of your success? And when I say tenants, it could be discipline, hard work, What do you hold dear sort of as your code?
Jurica Barac:
Yeah, I work hard, I like to work hard and I think working hard beats every talent and it’s kind of purpose in your life to do something what you love to do and to do something for other people. Second is I would say I never bid, so I always go for some good model for you and me. If you’re doing business, I don’t like to bid and this is something that save me in the end in Covid because I still had some good deals because I was always fair with my partners and I’m always looking for value for you and me. And what I would say also is discipline is super important. If you have a plan, you need to have a good plan, but you need to have discipline to pull off this plan. And yeah, I think and focus on what you want. Many people focus on something what they don’t want thinking about stuff they want to avoid or stuff like that. No, just focus on what you want. This is for me, one of the main have to say inputs. You need to focus on stuff that you want to achieve.
Mike Sarraille:
Those are awesome man. Lastly, and I think this one is especially well suited for you because you made a major career shift because you were assessing what what’s truly important in life. I always ask this of all my yes, when your time comes and for you, hopefully that’s 40, 50 years down the line, when your moment comes, how are you gonna look back on your life and evaluate whether you’ve lived a good life, What’s most important to you at that final moment?
Jurica Barac:
So first will be that I don’t regret too much especially I don’t wanna say one day, oof, I could do that but I was lazy, I was too soft or something like that. I want really to take all these opportunities in my life because if you’re healthy, if you can make your decisions in the morning only the sky is limit. That’s really like that. A second thing, what is very important for me and family and friends is a benchmark that you’re setting up my parents for them, the most important was that the son finished the college. That was the benchmark. And now I wanna push the benchmark far more that my kids say, okay, father was doing a world series in hiking and the first mountain is 600 kilometers from my town. What should we do to set up the benchmark? I think this is very important for kids to learn more languages, to fly around, to do not one business, five businesses, 10 businesses to finish 10 highlanders per year.
Jurica Barac:
I think benchmark is very important thing in the life. Same as I said, people in us set up the benchmarking business really, and this is why there are the best companies in the world, same other countries. I think it’s very important to help benchmark and to push the benchmark much more. This is something, what I can call it also legacy. Benchmark is also kind of, yeah, legacy. This is very important for me. And when I see my team Highlander team, what we are doing now, I mean it’s a huge benchmark for our kids, for our friends for other companies in Croatia. This is something very important for me,
Mike Sarraille:
Man. We talk about something I call the legacy of leadership and it’s exactly that. And one of the things too is another sign of success is if people leave Highlander and then they go up, go off and set up these other companies in different spaces that are highly successful. I mean it’s a testament to your leadership and how you developed them. But I do wanna go back to your first point, and this is the, the worst thing is a life lift and there’s a home from Tocoma, it’s called to Cuba’s poem. And where he says, When your time comes to die, be not like those who fear, the fear death and basically weep for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way is living life to the fullest, whatever that may mean for you. Because when that time comes, you are gonna regret if you did not live life to the fullest. Yuri I can’t thank you enough. I’m gonna have to find a way to make it to one of these events and see it for myself and live it for myself and I’ll always take a reset. But for the listeners, what are the best ways, where can they find you? Where can they get signed up for one of these events? Especially most of our markets in the us if you’re holding more of these in the us, where can they find that information?
Jurica Barac:
Perfect. So highlanderadventure.com. This is our web and we are on Instagram as well. Highlander Adventure on our Facebook. Very approachable. We are happy to hear much more people at our events and we invite all. I’m super happy to meet you as well in person. And let’s go for Highlander event together next year in U.S. because this is the last one next here. And yes, everybody’s welcome and please join us and start some changes in your life, start some changes and you will feel, I guarantee you will feel much better. And thank you Mike.
Mike Sarraille:
Taking that leap for our audience is the hardest part, but this would be a major reset. Yuri, congrats on all the success. Your story is amazing man, and thank you for taking the time to speak with us and teach us a thing or two on how to live a life well lived for all. Thank you for joining us. Again, this is the Men’s Journal podcast for the Men’s Journal Every Day Warrior podcast. I’m your host, Mike Sarraille. We’ll see you next time.
Source
