Tony Robbins

After a childhood he once described as "chaotiz" and "abusive," and a pituitary tumor that made him grow 10 inches in high school. Tony Robbins moved out on his own at age 17. He didn't go to college, and it may have looked like he was destined for a life of disappointment and despair.

But an epiphany when he was in his early 20s turned his life around, and Robbins eventually became one of the country's best-known and most in-demand motivational speakers.

I first met him in 1986, as his career was taking off, and then again five years later when he wrote his book Awaken the Giant Within.