Motivational Speaker Dave Sanderson on how The Miracle on the Hudson Changed His Life
Today’s guest asks, “Are you ready for a new focus and a powerful purpose?” He’s an inspirational survivor, speaker, and author. His thoughts on leadership have made him an internationally sought-out speaker.
Back on January 15, 2009, Dave Sanderson was one of the last passengers off the plane that crashed into the Hudson River, best known as The Miracle on the Hudson, considered to be the most successful ditching in aviation history. His book, Moments Matter, details the lessons learned from that miraculous landing and how to take a potentially tragic experience, what he calls ‘you own personal plane crash’ and turn it into an opportunity to survive and “create your own flight plan.”He has built a career as a motivational speaker, mentor and author. Dave averages over 100 speeches a year for major corporations across the world.
And it all started with “an elderly lady” at his first talk on his Miracle on the Hudson experience.
“She grabbed my left arm, looked at me and said ‘I was questioning if there was a God and I don’t believe in miracles. But you are physical evidence that there is a God and He does miracles.’ What happened to me impacted somebody, and now I have a different calling.” - Dave Sanderson on his speaking journey
More than surviving - how to thrive
Dave, through the the lessons he has learned in his life, has been able to grow despite going through a traumatic event, a phenomena known as post-traumatic growth syndrome or PTGS. Dave hopes to share his story on how others can also overcome their own traumatic experience or as he likes to call it “personal plane crash” by preparing for them before they happen.
Since the Miracle on the Hudson, Dave has built a career as a motivational speaker, mentor and author. In his presentations, he shares and teaches “The 12 Resources to create your own Personal Flight Plan,” precepts that enabled him to become a top producer in some of the largest sales organizations in the world and ultimately enabled him to survive the plane crash. In addition to being a top sales producer, he was Director of Security for Internationally renowned speaker, Tony Robbins.
Sanderson has appeared at countless fundraisers that have raised over $8.56 million for the American Red Cross. He continues to donate his speaker services to the organization as an expression of gratitude for the care he received from the first person he saw after he was rescued and transferred to land in New Jersey: a Red Cross volunteer with a blanket. For him, it’s more than surviving.. it’s all about thriving.
Mentors and storytellers
Dave worked for the legendary Tony Robbins, and says what he learned from Tony by simply working for him along with a bit of mentoring has helped Dave take his work to new levels. While you may not have access to a Tony Robbins, Dave says being open to receiving mentoring and coaching is a critical component of storytelling success.
“You have to have an open mind. One thing you learn going into this world… is that you don’t know everything. People come into your life at the time they’re supposed to come into your life. That’s happened to me many times in my life.” - Dave Sanderson on the power mentors
Connect with Dave Sanderson:
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