Michael Brooke - life lessons from Skateboarding

Slight change of gears here - I thought to expand the blog pool to people who I find interesting, inspirational and just in general to get to know people who take a different slant on life. Feedback welcome! (Simon)

Michael Brooke is married with 3 kids and lives in Toronto, Canada (he is also Simon's 1st cousin). He has spent over 40 years loving and making a living from skateboarding. His magazine was read by millions throughout the world.
Michael used the skateboarding as a springboard to spread peace and has had great success with gangs in California, in Israel and in other parts of the world through his Longboarding for Peace movement.
After finishing with the magazine and a short break, Michael has recently completed his new book and started a new venture "Time for My Story".

1. Is there one butterfly effect story that you experienced - a small, but significant conversation or event that led to something huge happening?

 

In 1996, I was working at Xerox trying to sell large-scale printers to publishers. At that time, most publishers didn’t print their own books - they sent them out to professional printers - so I wasn’t succeeding too well. People wouldn’t even meet with me.

Finally, I managed to get a meeting with a publishing guy who agreed to meet when I told him the printers could upload data to the internet - which was a big deal in those days. As I was rolling through the sales talk, I incidentally mentioned my skateboard website as an example. He jumped on this and said his firm were looking to publish a book about skateboarding and would I like to send him an outline.

I wrote an outline of the 40-year history of skateboarding, the personalities of skateboarding and the culture. They accepted the outline and gave me $3000 to start the book. I had done what JK Rowling sweated blood and tears to achieve. Jumped the queues, jumped the multiple rejections, got accepted by virtue of my $5-a-month website and wrote “The Concrete Wave”.

Here’s where it really gets moving. In September 98, I was at a sports convention in LA dropping off fliers trying to promote my book. 6 months later, my publisher got a call from Spin magazine who had been at the convention. They asked me to write an article about one of the topics from the book – “The Lords of Dogtown” - a group of skateboarders in the 70s who had greatly influenced skateboard culture.
I didn’t write the article but it was written and my book got a mention as it was one of the few on the topic. This unsolicited advertising was the main catalyst for the 42,000-copy sale of my book (a US best seller is 10,000 copies!). Following the book’s success, the article inspired a documentary and the documentary led to a full-length Hollywood feature film. This in turn helped to change the face of skateboarding culture.

 

After writing the book and realizing I had some flair in the area of publishing, I decided to start a skateboarding magazine. I spent $50 calling advertisers and was soon publishing a profitable monthly magazine, a career I loved, that lasted 23 years. All this from a random mention of my website while selling Xerox machines!

 

2. What was your childhood dream - did you realize it or did you build on the idea? Are you still trying to accomplish your childhood dreams?

 

When I was 5, I wanted to be a fireman. That didn’t happen. But it’s still on my bucket list to ride in a firetruck with the bells ringing. But your dreams change over time.
Since then I have had 2 big dreams. I wanted to change the face of skateboarding. This one I did accomplish. I dreamed it, visualized it, and it happened. Skateboarding in those days was very “narrow”. I fought for inclusion - older people riding, women, different board styles, different riding styles. Eventually many of these ideas caught on.

 

My 2^nd dream is to give back over the next 20 or 30 years – to help people capture their memories before they pass on. This has been officially going 4 days since the launch of my website - www.timeformystory.com. Many people have incredible stories or valuable experience to pass to their children or to the world. People are living longer but with Alzheimer’s and when they pass, obviously their stories are lost. I want to tell their stories, present them in visually appealing, beautiful books so when the young, Instagram generation open a memoir they don’t instantly reject a 20,000-word archaic object. It will be an 18 or 36-page photo story with words, attractive and accessible. Another added value we have is a fast turn-around – for an hour interview, we will be producing a 2500-word photo memoir beautifully produced, within a week. Nobody I have met has quite the skill-set – journalism, interviewing, publishing and death care experience to be able to do this.

 

3. What is one way that you delight people?

One element I would say is surprise – to do something unexpected that shows I am giving them attention. For instance, I left early for work one day and stuck a whole bunch of post-it notes with messages on the mirror for one of my kids.
Another important idea is giving people time. I am able to talk to just about anyone. Some people find it hard to connect but just asking questions, taking an interest makes friendships, improves relationships and creates a better world.

 

4. After you’ve tried everything else, how do you get back on track if you’ve had an unproductive or distracted period?

 

People think they need to take a vacation, spend less time on the phone, or take a walk but that’s not going to do it. People need to get involved in giving. This will pay back ten-fold – this is how you will get your spark back. This is also the answer to the social media age. Social media divides people and creates silos. Talking to people, giving of yourself and your time builds bridges, builds character and rebuilds the harmony of the world.

 

After the decline of the magazine in 2018, that was it. I couldn’t write another word – the spark had gone. That’s why I started working in the funeral home – to give back. When you are dealing with death and grieving families, you cannot think about yourself.  All the experience of giving, of service allowed me to reset and recreate myself. I eventually merged the ideas from my skateboarding experience with the completely different life of the funeral home and started writing about death, spirituality and skateboarding in my new book “the Endless Wave” https://ooksvision.wixsite.com/endlesswave.

 

One idea I want to share is the idea of balance. This is essential for skateboarding. Too far to the right or left and you crash – literally. Life is about continually finding a new balance through your experiences.

The Hebrew word for balance is izun. I love the fact that izun and oznayim, ears, are connected. If you really listen to your inner voice or gut feeling, they are usually correct. On the other hand, by continually listening to other people’s experiences, you learn to recalibrate, reprioritize and constantly improve your balance.

 

5. What do you consider as your biggest achievement in the last 5-10 years?

On the public side, I have been involved in a movement called

Longboarding for Peace. A few examples of what we did. We engaged with

Southern California police departments and citizens in exchanging guns for skateboards. We

promoted connection and understanding between conflicting groups,

through the lessons of balance on skateboards, for instance in Israel

between Jews and Arabs at the Peres Centre for Peace and in other

countries.

 

On the personal side - since selling the magazine, I have repaired

relationships within my family and made my marriage stronger. In my

magazine years, I ran 24/7 sometimes putting a huge amount of time into the business. In truth, I didn’t give enough time to my family. I gave them what was left of the time I had after the magazine. This time I’m reserving the time for family first!

 

6. How do you connect or re-connect to your children?

 

Even though we are not observant, I have found Friday night dinners work well. We have been enjoying Friday night dinners for 33 years together with the extended family. It’s important to check in with your family. Spending time, getting together, being present. It’s hard to be present in this age. That’s where we need to be putting in effort.

 

7. Do you feel a spiritual connection to this world? How does it manifest itself?

 

I am not observant but I feel spiritual. I believe there is more out there than can be seen. But I believe different paths lead to the same source or energy whatever the religion or spiritual path. My path now is being with my family, giving back, trying to make human connections. Some of the stuff we discussed may sound like it comes from a religious perspective but for me, it’s about being a good human.

I am close to spirituality. When dealing with death so much in the funeral parlour, it is something I think about a lot. A person is born, they didn’t exist and suddenly they do. I experience people who have lived a life and passed but they have left a mark on the world. It feels like there is more.

 

8. What really bugs you? How do you try and fix something that is obviously not working well?

We have so much polarization. The media defines your world-view. Even before the modern era, the world was severely damaged - propaganda, advertising, convincing people one way or another. It has split the world. The only way to get out of the silos is to talk, communicate, give time to others. That’s why I think sharing stories can help. If I can inspire one person to break the current trends, connect more, and understand each other better, I will be content.