The dawn pole
Hugo Maynard
Speaker · Author · Co-Founder
Olympian. Middle-school principal. College basketball coach. Founder of multi-million-dollar companies. Then he gave the script back.
His story
Hugo Maynard has lived more lives than most rooms he walks into. An Olympian. A middle-school principal. A college basketball coach. An entrepreneur who built multi-million-dollar startups across pharmaceuticals, automotive, and commercial services.
He rose from poverty and collected every marker of conventional success, then discovered that life’s greatest wealth can’t be measured in material terms. That turn is the story he tells, and it lands because he isn’t theorizing. He climbed the whole ladder before he questioned the wall it leaned on.
Hugo is a father, an acclaimed traveler and storyteller, the author of The Voice Inside Journal, and co-host of the podcast Sh*t My Daddy Didn’t Teach Me. His work now is simple: helping people unlock the mind’s potential and bring their deepest aspirations to life.
The books
The Voice Inside Journal
The guided companion to the signature keynote. A place to put the questions Hugo asked himself when every external scoreboard said he had already won. He also writes the children's series The Adventures of Malin and Marley, named for his own two kids.
See the bookshelfThe podcast
Sh*t My Daddy Didn’t Teach Me
Hugo grew up without a father and learned the lessons the long way, by getting them wrong first. The show is the two of them working through what nobody sat them down and explained: identity, fatherhood, what a family is for, and what it costs a child when the structure is missing.
All episodes & platformsHear him on
Hugo's stages
The Voice Inside
Every person in your audience is running on a script somebody else wrote. This is the talk that hands the pen back.
The full talk →Success Through Obstacles
A concrete method for converting a setback into a strategy, told by two people whose setbacks were public and expensive.
The full talk →Put The Man Together First
A direct, unsentimental talk about fatherhood, mentorship, and what happens to a community when its men are whole, and when they are not.
The full talk →Morning Routine Mastery
The highest-leverage hour of the day, engineered. A hands-on workshop that ends with every participant holding their own written morning protocol.
The full talk →What they say afterwards
People who watched him work
Hugo is best described and embodied in one word, “Lion.” As a close observer of his progression and evolution as a human-being, Hugo is truly an indomitable force. He believes that he has the capacity to accomplish anything and he is so resourceful that he is capable of truly accomplishing anything that he seeks out to do.
It is in this self-actualization that Hugo is equipped to lead in virtually any arena. It is with his contagious mentality that Hugo leads everyone around him to be everything that they imagine to be and more.
Coach Gilbert A. N. AbrahamPortland Trail BlazersHugo Maynard is a man who leads with his heart, so when he asks his audiences to do the same, the effect is immediate. Hugo’s story of transcending poverty, attaining the traditional markers of success, and then realizing he had everything he needed already inside of him is profound, and delivered with the kind of authenticity that resonates in a lasting way. His frameworks designed to nurture what is already inside of us are simple, elegant, and effective, providing an approachable path to the genuineness that he models so adeptly.
Hugo has been amazing to work with, from the early stages of speaker selection, preparation, participating in event promotion, rehearsals and of course the Big Day. He is responsive, an excellent communicator, thoughtful when it comes to details, and a joyful presence in the room, be it in person or in a zoom box.
If you are an organizer looking to move the dial at your event, leave people feeling inspired and empowered, I highly recommend booking Hugo for your event.
Adam PetersCreator of Long LearnersA man who thrives off the circumstances that act as the foundation for his boundless motivation, Hugo has never found a situation too adverse. Blessed with a witty, infectious personality, Hugo has always made it his mission to place a smile on the face of his loved ones while constantly placing himself in the position to lead and influence.
Whether Hugo is the principal of a school, an orator, a head coach, a business executive, or a friend, it is imperative for him to establish an impression of excellence. Hugo, through all of this, finds ways to touch the lives of people from all spectrums of life in a way that is truly admired by those who look up to him.
Ricky EstradaOwner, Estrada CompanyBring them to your stage
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