When you devote your life to helping others, it’s understandable you might miss a few celebrations at home. That’s why this Father’s Day, Dr. Chris Stout will be in Kosovo as part of a project mission to Prishtina with colleagues from the American Psychological Association.
The team will be consulting on the Kosovo mental health-care system with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, UNICEF and WHO , groups that are addressing post-war mental health concerns; education, training, certification and regulations for providers; and the role of ministries and international NGOs in policy development.
Stout is dad to Grayson, 24, a 2017 University of Illinois graduate who received a degree in statistics, and Annika, 21, a senior at the University of Illinois in the business honors program. Having grown up with a man who makes Richard Branson and Oprah Winfrey look like underachievers, they accept that dad is often away doing good deeds and they’re following in his footsteps.
Stout, who lives with his children and wife Karen in Naperville, is a licensed clinical psychologist, a humanitarian who founded his own nonprofit and an adventure-athlete. He’s an author, podcast host and inspirational speaker. He holds five Guinness World Record titles, five doctoral degrees and has climbed three of the world’s tallest summits. His resume and list of personal achievements is so impressive it’s hard to believe they are real.
“I suppose they see it as pretty normal,” he said. “They joined me in local 5ks as kids, and have since eclipsed me in speed. We all did stair climb races at Aon, Sears/Willis, Oak Brook and Hancock towers when they were little. We've done Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash obstacle races together.
“They now join me on some ‘exploits.’ Annika and I climbed Pikes Peak when she was 15. She joined me at the Berkshire-Hathaway annual meeting this year and we got to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger up close. She and I also did a duathlon together when she was a teen. Last year, she went with me to the United Nations for an invited event and she got her own credentials. My son and I sailed in the Caribbean to various islands together.”
Stout says while he’d love to take credit for all the cool things Grayson and Annika do, he admits it’s a team effort with his wife Karen Beckstrand, who is also a clinical psychologist.
“She's the glue and secret-sauce to why our kids are so amazing, and that she's pretty patient with all my shenanigans,” he said.
Of all the thousands of people I have interviewed over my career, I don’t recall ever being so overwhelmed at how to tell a story. A column about any one of Stout’s accomplishments would make fascinating reading. If I was lazy, I could simply fill a few pages with his biography. I could start by saying he is currently vice president of the Department of Clinical Research and Data Analytics at ATI Physical Therapy. Then I could talk about how he started the Center for Global Initiatives, which has been a top-ranked health-care nonprofit by Great Non-Profits.org since 2011. If I wanted to name-drop, I could throw in that he is one of only 100 leaders worldwide appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow alongside Bill Gates, J.K. Rowling, Jody Foster and Tony Blair.
I could write about his podcast, “Living a Life in Full,” which has just celebrated its 30th broadcast. Each hour-long episode is a conversation with an inspirational subject.
“We’ve had everyone from Olympic medalists to astronauts,” Stout said. “They’re often people involved in many different areas or something unique. For me personally, you hit a point in a relationship where you want to know more about someone you’ve never asked them about before. We’ve had a diverse set of folks.”
But I’m not going to do all that. Instead I’m going to focus on how he planned out his life goals when he was just 14 and how he can he can help you if your goal happens to be helping others.
As a child, Stout, somewhat sadly, lived up to his name.
“When I was young, I was obese. I weighed more when I was 12 than I do now,” he told me. “Being named Stout, it was not fun. I was knock-kneed and had flat feet. I didn’t wear sneakers until I was 12 and had a penchant for sweets. But at 13, I was motivated to start running and biking. I lost 64 pounds over one summer. In eighth grade, I weighed 185 pounds; a year later, 121 pounds. People didn’t recognize me when I went back to school. I think it was that puberty kicked in and I was sick and tired of being fat.”
In 1975, Stout read about John Goddard’s “Life List.” At the age of 15, Goddard listed 127 goals he wanted to achieve in his lifetime.
“I was really struck by it,” Stout said. “It became a little bit of a blueprint for my life. With a bucket list, you cross things off when you achieve them, but I’ve constantly changed my list, so stuff which has come and gone has been replaced by new things.”
Stout’s list runs a staggering 42 pages. Categories include travel, sporting achievements and vintage vehicle ownership. Of course, that’s almost trivial compared to his humanitarian and writing goals – he’s a best-selling Amazon author and developed a kindergarten for AIDS orphans in Tanzania.
Stout has been a consultant to the White House, receiving recognition from presidents Bush and Clinton, but has yet to fulfill his dream to perform stand-up comedy. He’s visited all seven wonders of the modern world, but has not been to Antarctica. His 38 books have been translated into eight languages, but he’d still like to write a novel and song lyrics.
Surprisingly, his world records have nothing to do with maintaining the longest bucket list. Instead, he was one of the most people high-fiving in an unbroken line, most people putting on lipstick at the same time, most people blowing out a birthday candle at the same time, and the most people eating a cupcake at the same time.
Stout, who recently turned 60, said he enjoys everything he does. He describes himself as an accidental humanitarian. Although his list would suggest his life planning is almost the result of OCD, he says many things happened because of circumstance.
It was while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 1992 that he struck up a life-long friendship with one of the porters helping his party.
“He was attending a seminary and we became fast friends,” Stout said. “It was in the days before the internet so we became pen pals. He told me how he worked with AIDS orphans in Tanzania.”
Stout thought it would be ‘fun’ for people to donate toiletries and school supplies to the children. A month after devising the project, he spent $450 to send seven boxes of goods, but it was three months before his friend thanked him for the five boxes that had just arrived. Through networking, he found better ways to help.
“It was so frustrating,” Stout said. “I believe in the power of small projects. I’ve developed a niche.”
Today, the Center for Global Initiatives focuses on health care and education projects in Tanzania 40 per cent of the time. The rest of its work is to provide guidance for others wanting to do their own humanitarian projects.
“If people have a desire to have their own nonprofit, I will help them with free advice,” he said. “Some people just want to do one project only and we can help with that, too. I think we can offer a unique perspective because we have been there and done that. You don’t have to plant a whole forest if you have the saplings. I can coach you through that process. It shouldn’t be so hard to do good.”
For more information visit www.centerforglobalinitiatives.org.