As Ritch noted in his blog, perhaps we all need a bit more of the “hopeful and humorous” in our lives. I’ve just spent the past two weeks going from hosting the Miss U.S.A. pageant to doing speeches at a company annual meeting in Salt Lake, a Woman’s Expo in Phoenix and a yearly event in Ft. Wayne. 

I’ve met thousands of people in the last 14 days and I can tell you one thing they all had in common: a willingness to connect on a real level.

When I met Miss U.S.A. 2007, Rachel Smith, at the 6 a.m. satellite tour, I told her that I was pretty certain they had asked me to host because she and I both had ...Read More

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Josh and I recently accompanied Marie to a performance of  “Spamalot” on Broadway. It was a weeknight, but smack in the middle of what seemed this year like an endless number of “spring break” weeks and so the theater was piled high with families and young people.  Now normally when I’ve gone to a play or concert where a celebrity was in attendance, I’ve observed that fans are pretty respectful and generally leave the stars alone to enjoy their evenings without being mobbed for autographs. Not so with Marie. Throughout intermission, following a slow buzz during the first act of murmurs that Marie was sitting over there -no, over there – a deep and steady line appeared in the aisle populated by young, excited fans seeking her autograph. Marie could not have been more graci...Read More

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I like being on a first name basis. My last name may be what is most recognized around the world, but my parents were living examples of how much a first name counts.

At each stop on every tour, my father would not only know the venue owner by name, he would spend time getting to know the parking lot attendant as well.

My mother would befriend the spotlight operator and know that the woman selling concessions recently got married. I know their warmth was the reason hundreds of thousands of people around the world also called them “Mother...Read More

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Marie Osmond had just finished her performance in the Dancing with the Stars Tour in Richmond, VA on Tuesday night when she rode for nearly two hours by car to the closest private airfield, boarding a private aircraft at around midnight.  Arriving in Las Vegas around 4:00 AM on Wednesday morning, with very little sleep after a long day and a bumpy ride, Marie was greeted plane-side by my business partner, Josh Raphaelson, John, her William Morris agent, and one of our hard working staff members who would serve as security and Marie’s personal aide for the next 24 hours. ...Read More

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