Kevin Flike: Combat Wounded Green Beret, Author, and Union, Harvard and MIT Alum

Kevin is a former Special Forces Engineer (Green Beret) and holds dual master's degrees from MIT Sloan School of Management as well as Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  On his second deployment in Afghanistan, Kevin was shot in the abdomen and lost 20% of his colon as a result. He also fractured his hip & his left leg was paralyzed due to nerve damage.   Having overcome his life’s adversities with the relentless help of his wife, Kim,  Kevin’s life purpose is to encourage other wounded veterans and anyone else who needs physical, mental, or emotional help by showing them what hope and perseverance look like. In this episode you will hear:   There’s nothing in life that you can’t have if you’re willing to work hard for it. A lot of these things I went through I didn’t really understand at the time, but they were training me for the rest of my life. There is nothing in life that I need to be doing other than this right now. We’ve got to put differences aside. We gotta charge forward. We’ve got a mission to accomplish. I didn’t want to have regret in my life. I didn’t want to look back and say I didn’t try. I realized if I didn’t start to put my health as a priority again, I was gonna be nothing to nobody. Reach out to people for help. Start taking people’s advice. There is a point in your life where you have enough courage to put everything on the line and accomplish something. A lot of people don’t believe it when I tell them that getting shot was the best thing that ever happened in my life. It forced me to pass through a valley of humility. Depression, anxiety, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress – if I hadn’t gone through that I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Because I went through those experiences, I have the ability to empathize with people. I understand a lot more about the trouble people have in their lives. This made me a better husband, father, citizen, and employee of this country. It gave me an incredible perspective on life, and a ton of lessons learned to be able to go out and share with people; to make them into the best version of themselves. I would really encourage people to never quit. When you’re going thru these hard times, you have to understand that hard times are not a bad thing. They’re a gift - to scrape off the rough edges, to learn a lot of lessons, to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, to refine your character. Lift your head up, see what’s happening, then you can push through that hard time. And when you get to the other side, you’re gonna be thankful you went through that.