We had the good fortune of connecting with Don Hurzeler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Don, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I’ve made my entire professional career by understanding and managing risk. I was the Chief Underwriting Officer for one of the largest commercial insurance companies in North America and then became CEO/President of one of their businesses. There is tremendous opportunity in risk.

The hardest thing to teach and get people to understand about risk is that unlikely…once in every 500 year… things do happen and may happen on your watch. I take a steely-eyed view toward risk. I want to know the data, the odds, worst case scenario’s and all the ways that I can mitigate any risk I take on.

In my current book, Suddenly Retired, I have a chapter titled “Oh, That Could Never Happen.” In that chapter and in life, I explain that bad things can happen to good people and they happen all the time…plan for them. For those who are willing to take well calculated risks…who are backed up with actual plans for worst case scenario’s…there is money to be made as a risk taker. Warren Buffett comes to mind.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I was a corporate warrior for over 40 years…loved it. When I retired, I did so with the goal of finding out what I had in me from an artistic and creativity standpoint. I was unafraid to try and fail…unconcerned about asking for help…I just wanted to give it a good run and see what might happen.

Magic happened. I fell in love with landscape and action photography and so did my wife. We found partners to help reach our goals and we now share a first class gallery with our partner, CJ Kale. It is an absolute success and a source of great pride for both Linda and I.

And my writing just came pouring out of me. I have seven books out and many more underway. Funny thing about the book business…of my last three books, one became a number one best seller on Amazon…the next not even my mother bought…my current book became a number one best seller on Amazon. It is kind of like that box of chocolates in the Forrest Gump movie. But win, lose or draw…I am having fun doing what I want and I have my freedom…so life is very very good.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We live on an island…Hawaii island…the Big Island with the active volcano. People come to visit us all the time. I learned long ago, we do what they want to do…and never surprise them with something like “Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that there are sharks out deep.”. So, every guest visit is different.

Our 15 year old grand son visited us last week. During the week we snorkeled almost every day…often twice a day…in shallow and out deep where the big fish play. We jumped in the water to swim with manta rays at night. We went surfing. Nathan and I went deep sea fishing. We hiked into deserted beaches to do sunset photography and then spent most of the night out at our active volcanic eruption doing photography of the volcano and the Milky Way. We boated into hard to reach bays to snorkel and play. We also snuck in a little golf and gave him the grand tour of our gallery. And in between, we swam in our pool that we keep at about 95 degrees because we are old and like it hot (solar heated).

This island has two mountains that are both nearly 14,000 feet high, five volcanoes, great valleys that are hard to reach, lots of four wheel drive roads, remote beaches, whales in the winter and fun all year round.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am a product of my parents, teachers, coaches, mentors and team mates. At my age, the list of those upon whose shoulders I stand, is too long to get specific. My current business parters, C.J. Kale and my wife, Linda Hurzeler are the current heroes in my current photography career. C.J. continues to help both Linda and I refine our professional photography skills AND he does the heavy lifting of running our gallery. Nick Selway is another photographer that has helped me tremendously over the years…and still does. I am always thankful for those willing to help me to succeed.

In my writing career, I have worked with two editors who have helped shape my writing style…Robert Gorman and Tanya Lee. My writing muse is Steve Bennett of Authorbytes…he causes me to think differently than I would on my own. Charles Levin is an author and marketing consultant who helps me get my books to market…successfully. So many others…

Website: donhurzeler.com and. lavalightgalleries.com

Instagram: donhurzeler

Linkedin: Donald Hurzeler

Twitter: @donhurzeler

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