Ralph Zuranski: What is your definition of
heroism?
Carl Galletti:
That is a good thing to take a look at. I think a hero
is someone who inspires you to be better than you think
you can be, and inspires greatness in you and makes you
realize that there is something you can achieve in your
life.
Ralph Zuranski: Did you ever create a secret hero
in your mind that helped you deal with life’s
difficulties?
Carl Galletti:
I didn’t have an especially difficult life when I was
younger although if you would have asked me when I was
younger I probably would have had a different opinion.
When I look back on it compared to the difficulties
other people had I really didn’t have it all that bad.
Carl Galletti:
My family didn’t have much money but we didn’t starve at
any point and I had clothes on my back. I wasn’t able
to do some luxurious things but I got by, but in my own
mind there were a number of heroes through my lifetime
and in my early days I usually adopted sports figures as
heroes. For example, my heroes growing up as a kid were
Rodger Maris and Mickey Mantel.
Carl Galletti:
My dad took me to the New York Yankee baseball games and
one time we even went back and waited for the players to
come out and got their autographs and everything. I’ll
tell you, one of my heroes is my dad although I don’t
think I ever realized he was a hero before.
Carl Galletti:
When we were out getting autographs and this is a cute
story but Yogi Bear came out and I got an autograph from
him, and then he walked to his car which was just right
on the street there and he got in and he was trying to
pull out into the traffic and the traffic was heavy and
no one would let him in, so my dad went in the street
and stopped the traffic and waved Yogi in.
Carl Galletti:
There have always been a lot of heroes in my life.
Thomas Edison was a hero in my life and the reason is,
you know a lot of people you can take a look at and they
are famous because of things they have done and they’ll
evolve things that are not terribly helpful to people
but they are political figures or whatever, but Thomas
Edison invented things that really helped people and I
thought he improved the world quite a bit.
Carl Galletti:
He invented the phonograph the movie camera, things like
that. I‘ve had other kind of mentor heroes in my life
like Ben Franklin, Napoleon Hill. Then there are lesser
known ones in the area of, my area of copy writing and
marketing Robert Collier for one and Clyde Hopkins and a
number of those people who are famous within my little
world of copy writing and marketing and advertising.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on
goodness, ethics and moral behavior?
Carl Galletti:
I think it is an imperative and the thing is that many
people in business especially don’t realize is that your
integrity can be a selling tool because it is rare now
to have people that you deal with to have integrity that
it’s a real unique advantage to whatever you are doing.
Carl Galletti:
So, having integrity, it’s not just a selling tool, it
also makes you feel so much better about yourself, and
that is probably the most important part of it. How it
makes you feel about yourself, for example, and
everybody has had this situation; you go in to a store,
you buy something, you get change and you get more money
than you are suppose to, the clerk made a mistake.
Carl Galletti:
It happens less often now, where the cash register tells
you how much to give the customer but even then
sometimes they make a mistake, and the question is “What
do you do at that point?” Nobodies going to know that
you’ve got a few extra cents or dollars or whatever you
got out of it.
Carl Galletti:
I found that whenever that happens I bring to the clerks
attention and get it corrected and I feel so much
better, it makes you feel so good that you’re doing
that, and I am not so sure exactly why even, but it’s
like one of those make you feel good type instances in
your life, you know you can’t buy that feeling.
Ralph Zuranski: What principles are you willing
to sacrifice your life for?
Carl Galletti:
I think sacrificing your life off of a battlefield and
out of an emergency situation to where you have to do it
day in and day out requires a heck of a lot more courage
and fortitude than doing it on a battlefield, not that
doing it on a battlefield isn’t exemplarily or even in
an emergency.
Carl Galletti:
But in most cases your not even thinking your just doing
and you’ll find people who are courageous because when
it cuts right down to it, the split second they can’t
think they can only act, and they act according to their
principles, and their principles tell them “Go for it,
do it, save this persons life and risk your life to do
it, it is worth while.”
Carl Galletti:
And all that contemplating happens in a fraction of a
second. When you are doing something where you actually
have to make a calculated decision and sacrifices that
you have time to think about, I think it requires, I
think it requires a lot more courage on an ongoing
basis.
Ralph Zuranski: When was the lowest point in your
life and how did you change your life path to one of
victory over all obstacles?
Carl Galletti:
Well, I am not sure I can connect well with a particular
low point, there probably were several, but I think I
can definitely say that what kind of kept me going were
my heroes in my life, and their words, and the books
that I read that basically laid out a philosophy of
life.
Carl Galletti:
People like Napoleon Hill and Ben Franklin and
motivational speakers and things that I have read in
books and things that I have listened to on tapes for
motivation wise, it’s all about knowing that you have a
purpose, and you have to also figure that you’ll have
times in your life when your in a not so good situation
and the thing is if you look at them as kind of tests
and “I’m going to work my way out of this” and have hope
for it and believe in yourself that you can do better.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have a dream or vision that sets
the course of your life?
Carl Galletti:
Well, I think in my own particular case, I want to be an
academy award winning director. You know, I am probably
in a practical sense, I am too old and I am not pursuing
the career, although I have gone to film school, but it
is just something that I set up, and what does internet
marketing have to do with that, nothing seemingly on the
surface, but there are actually a number of things that
do have to do with it, on a creative level, having to do
with similar kinds of things.
Carl Galletti:
I am not sure I will ever get to that point but the way
I look at it is whatever I am doing I try to do to a
quality point of view to be capable of performing at
that level.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you take a positive view of
setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes?
Carl Galletti:
I think you always have to have a positive view as much
as you can and sometimes when you’re in the mist of it,
it is much more difficult than when you are making some
progress out of it, but one of the techniques that is
very useful is, don’t think you have to solve it all at
once. Just do a little piece of it at a time; just do
something that is positive.
Carl Galletti:
A lot of people do this when they are upset or depressed
or something hasn’t gone their way, they go out and do
something that they enjoy doing, like shopping or taking
a hike.
Carl Galletti:
For me it would probably listening to some music that I
like. You know, listening to music is a very powerful
force. You can listen to music and it kind of tunes you
in to a wave length, a mental wavelength and you want to
get obviously you want to try to get things that are
positive but sometimes when you are not feeling so up on
things some of the positive things are not so pleasing
and comforting to you and sometimes it might just be a
blues thing where somebody’s singing the blues about how
tough things are for them and it kind of gives you
comfort in the fact that you are not the only one, and
you work your way up from that. Or else enjoy going to
a movie and one of the best things you can do if you are
down is watch comedy.
Ralph Zuranski: Are you an optimist?
Carl Galletti:
Yes. I think there is no upside to having a negative
view of life. In fact it is self defeating because a
very negative view of life will tend to give you an even
more negative situation than you are in. The important
thing is when you are in a negative situation, or even
in a positive situation, you always need to picture
positive stuff and move toward positive stuff.
Carl Galletti:
If you do that, and that is part of the imaging process
and I know when I first came into contact with this
whole imaging thing, I said, “Well geese does anybody
really do this”, the thing I found is no, not everybody,
only the successful people, and of course if that is the
direction you want to go, that is basically what to do.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have the courage to pursue
new ideas?
Carl Galletti:
A have to have a tremendous amount of courage. There
should be academy awards for people who have courage to
do what they would like to do regardless of the
opposition they get from the people around them.
Carl Galletti:
Unfortunately very often it is the people that are
closest to them, and even the community sometimes that
holds them back, but you know, the thing you have got to
realize is that when it comes down to it, there is no
one that is accountable for your life other than you.
Carl Galletti:
You need to be responsible for what it is you do and
where you go, and if it means that you have got to maybe
separate yourself from the people that you have been
with for a long while who are holding you back and make
some new friends than you need to take those steps to do
that.
Carl Galletti:
That is your responsibility, and when you are in better
shape to be able to look upon those people as not having
so much influence on you anymore then you can go back
and meet them and still enjoy friendships with them and
whatever, but it is very true that your income is
determined by the average income of the six closest
friends that you have. So, you need to get a better
class of friends if your friends are holding you back.
Ralph Zuranski: Were you willing to experience
discomfort in the pursuit of your dream?
Carl Galletti:
I think it is how you frame it. I kind of look at it as
an adventure and if you look at it as an adventure than
what you are doing is you are going off looking for new
things to happen. You are looking for new and good
things to happen and if you do that than more of those
are going to happen.
Carl Galletti:
Now, if you really tune into the negative stuff you may
go out looking for the good things and you may find that
not everything you run in to is good. You need to
recognize, “Ok, that is not so good; let me go on to
something else.”
Carl Galletti:
And that is kind of easier for me to say, in the
position that I am in, that when you are down and out it
is very often not that clear that there is a clearer
road ahead of you. You just need to have a strong
feeling and belief that there is something there for you
because there is something there for everybody. There
is a way out for everyone and the way out is never not
there.
Ralph Zuranski: Did you believe your dreams would
eventually become reality?
Carl Galletti:
Absolutely. In fact I don’t believe there is anything
else you should believe in other than your dreams.
Follow your passion is basically what your guiding light
in you life should be. If your passion is model
railroading and you just can’t figure out how to make a
living out of it, don’t worry about it, be a model
railroader and get in to it real deep.
Carl Galletti:
You will figure out a way to make a living out of it.
But follow your passion, whatever it is. I just pulled
model railroading out of the sky here, I am not even a
model railroader, although I did have trains when I was
a kid, but it doesn’t matter what it is but just find
your passion. I think a lot of people have given up on
their passion and so you need to really ignite your
dreams and one way to really do that is get a hold of
some songs that are tuned into that dream.
Carl Galletti:
Mariah Carey has a song called Hero, Debbie Boone, You
light up my life, there are some things that Bette
Midler and Judy Collins did that are real inspirational,
but just things that inspire you that have a hopeful
tune to them. Listen to that stuff; get inspired, what
ever it is. Everybody has something different that
inspires them and you need to find that and if you don’t
have anything than you need to search for something to
inspire you.
Ralph Zuranski: How were you able to overcome
your doubts and fears?
Carl Galletti:
I realized you don’t need to be afraid of it. There was
this famous spiritual person and I forget who but I
think I heard this from Wayne Dyer, but he said “Why
worry, if you can do something about a situation why
worry because you can do something about it.” Right?
So just do something about it, and if you can’t do
something about it, then why worry about it? You can’t
do anything about it anyway.”
Carl Galletti:
So, if you have that attitude… but know that you are
going to fail, and failure is not something you need to
fear. Failure is something that you need to do, get up,
get over and get on with it, because it is going to
happen. The most successful people probably in fact
fail more than most other people because they know that
failure is not the end of the road, failure is the
beginning of the road.
Carl Galletti:
This in one of my favorite things about Edison, and
people quote this all the time, he was looking for the
electric light and he had done 10,000 experiments that
had failed and he was asked how it felt to fail 10,000
times and he says, “I haven’t failed 10,000 times, I
found 10,000 ways that don’t work. That means I am
closer to the solution, I know 10,000 ways that don’t
work and I am running out of way to try.” And he
eventually invented the electric light.
Ralph Zuranski: Who helped give you the willpower
to change things in you life for the better?
Carl Galletti:
I think a lot of people have. I don’t think there is
any just one person personally; it’s more like people I
have met through books because one of the wonderful
things I have learned through books that, first of all
you can meet a higher class of people. You can really
commune with the great people of the world.
Carl Galletti:
A library to me is like a sacred place, it is a place
where you can go and truly rest on the shoulders of the
giants. I think it was either Earl Nightingale or Joe
Cosman or it may have been both who related that to me.
Libraries used to be a little better about this but they
kind of have just thrown away the new books and have
just kept the new ones.
Carl Galletti:
There are still libraries around that do have the old
books, and also one of my favorite things is going to
used book stores. The kind of used book stores that
carry the older books because those…. There are some
really great people that came before us, and studying
them is like having a private mentor. They have the
foresight to sit down and convey they’re knowledge
through a book.
Carl Galletti:
It probably took them thirty, forty or fifty years to
acquire the knowledge, but they sit down and they
summarize it all in to a book. Then you read that book
and you can capitalize that, you can profit from it,
learn from it, you can be inspired by it.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you readily forgive those who
upset, offend and oppose you?
Carl Galletti:
Yes it is, but it is real difficult to do for most
people. It is easier to say you forgive someone than to
actually do it. I think it more has to do with you
forgiving yourself for what harsh feelings you have for
the person. The best way to treat someone who has done
something in the past you didn’t like is just to forget
about them, you know.
Carl Galletti:
You can do the forgive thing and say you forgive them
but that doesn’t mean you want to be connected with them
anymore and just put them out of your life. Because if
you don’t do that and you get angry toward them or if
you have thoughts of revenge toward them then you bring
them closer to you.
Carl Galletti:
You are making them part of your experience. So the
only way to make them not part of your experience is to
say “Look, I forgive you, it is in the past, I can’t do
anything more about it, I don’t want to be involved with
you anymore so just go on about your way and I will go
on about my way and we can just part company.”
Ralph Zuranski: Do you experience service to
others as a source of joy?
Carl Galletti:
Absolutely, it is one of the greatest sources of joy to
help others and in fact one of the secrets of true
success. I think Zig Ziggler said it best, he said, and
I am paraphrasing but it was something like “If you want
to be successful at what you are doing help other people
be successful at what they are doing.
Ralph Zuranski: What place does the power of
prayer have in your life?
Carl Galletti:
I think everybody has their own version of what prayer
is. I know when I was growing up prayer was one thing
for me and now it is something less like what I consider
it was for me when I was a kid which was of course being
brought up as Catholic and sitting there reciting the
Lords prayer or other prayers which by the way is still
a very good thing to do, the Lords prayer is an
excellent thing.
Carl Galletti:
My favorite one though is the 23rd song. I
have taken to memorizing that thing and it is one of the
most beautiful pros of poetry even that you can
imagine. It is very inspirational to me but you know
prayer is something that goes beyond what is standardly
considered to be prayers; it goes in to things that were
written by other people that are inspiring.
Carl Galletti:
Meditation is very close to prayer as well, and for me
prayer is less like “Oh please God give me a million
dollars” and more like being at peace and at one with
the higher power.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you maintain your sense of
humor in the face of serious problems?
Carl Galletti:
Humor is absolutely essential if you can maintain it and
sometimes that is difficult, but humor is just so
important, like I said doing something like watching
comedy is so therapeutic for anything, like if you are
sick. Norman Cousins used to prescribe that in his
book, if you are having some health issues to just watch
some comedy. He said people that did that their health
improved.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are the HEROES in your life?
Carl Galletti:
You know I am inspired by most people I come in contact
with. I am inspired by the people I do business with
like my colleges and part of that is because I have kind
of acclimated to the kind of people I enjoy being around
who have a common interest that I have and they are just
the kind of people I enjoy being with.
Carl Galletti:
It’s amazing I run in to so many different people who
are inspiring in so many different ways that I guess you
can say there are a lot of those people and it is
interesting because I think one of the things that has
happened is my store of heroes has multiplies remarkably
from a few far away sports heroes to everyone around
me.
Carl Galletti:
My grandmother was an inspiration to me as well when I
was growing up; she was a real hero for me. I didn’t
realize it at the time but when ever I needed something
or wanted to go to the store and get ice cream or candy
or something I would go to her and ask her for money and
she would give me a quarter or whatever and I didn’t
realize how difficult that must have been for her at the
time but she was a widow on a pension.
Carl Galletti:
So, later on in life I realized just how significant it
was for her to give me that little bit of money,
although in those days it was worth a lot more than it
is today but never the less it was on a widows pension.
She didn’t get very much money. She to me was probably
the closest I ever came to meeting a saint. She always
did good things for other people and she wouldn’t talk
about doing things for other people she just did
things.
Carl Galletti:
She didn’t buy nice clothes for herself, she didn’t have
the money to and she didn’t really care to. I realized
this later on in life because when I was starting to be
successful and having some money I realized what she had
done for me when I was a kid and I thought I would give
her some money because here she is, she doesn’t ever
spend any money on herself, so I tried to give her some
money and she wouldn’t take it.
Carl Galletti:
So I ended up taking a twenty dollar bill or something
and I would hide it to where she would find it
eventually but she wouldn’t know how or when it got
there.
Ralph Zuranski: Who do you think are the HEROES
today that are not getting the recognition they deserve?
Carl Galletti:
Lots of them and most of them are everyday people. The
biggest people in the world are the people who do not
get recognized for what they do, because it takes a lot
more courage to do things for other people when you are
not recognized and rewarded for it in a public fashion.
Carl Galletti:
You know it is a lot easier to be a baseball player who
is looked up to as a hero from thousands or even
millions of kids then it is to be a father who grows up
and is a hero to just his own children.
Ralph Zuranski: Why are HEROES so important in
the lives of young people?
Carl Galletti:
Well because they inspire them. You know all young
people have a basic thing they need to get through, that
every young person had to get through and that is a lack
of confidence in themselves. When you are growing up
you’re a kid, you are managed by your parents, your
teachers, your clergy, all sorts of authority figures.
You’re the low person on the poll and it tends to
instill a lack of confidence.
Carl Galletti:
It is made up for by the fact that young people are kind
of resilient to that factor anyway but at that point
there needs to be this transition there is some point
where the child needs to become an adult.
Carl Galletti:
Going from that place where people tell you how to act
you need to become that person who knows how to act and
tells other people how to act and how are you going to
do that if you don’t have people in your life to show
you that example.
Ralph Zuranski: How does it feel to be recognized
as an Internet HERO?
Carl Galletti:
I am quite honored actually. I don’t think of myself as
a hero, I think I probably think more of myself as
someone who would like to be a hero and would certainly
like to live up to that.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think you were
selected for this unique honor?
Carl Galletti:
Well, you probably saw something in me that you liked
that you thought was probably hero quality and I
appreciate that.
Ralph Zuranski: How are you making the world a
better place?
Carl Galletti:
I am teaching people how to be successful in their own
businesses as entrepreneurs on the internet and my
secret aspirations in the movie business where I would
like to actually make movies that inspire people.
Carl Galletti:
My favorite movie of all time and this is very telling
is It’s a Wonderful Life and by the way if you are
really feeling down about something and are needed to be
uplifted comedies will certainly work but watch It’s a
Wonderful Life, and don’t just watch it once, make a
habit of it.
Carl Galletti:
To me and especially around Christmas time I watch it
several times and I will tell you, every time I watch
the movie I get something more out of it. It is
something that touches your heart. The point in the
movie at the end is that no man is a failure that has
friends. George Daley is probably my number one hero
and he isn’t even a real figure. He was made up by the
writers but that scene at the end where he finds out
just how important he was to the people around him that
is my hero.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have any good solutions to
the problems facing society, especially racism, child
and spousal abuse and violence among young people?
Carl Galletti:
I think you need to think globally and act locally, I
think is the phrase. In other words you need to
consider all the ways people can get along with each
other and respect each other and be an example of that
in your own life.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your
life and the world, that would instantly come true, what
would they be?
Carl Galletti:
Peace on Earth, the end of all suffering and if we had
all that it would Utopia. That would almost be
sufficient. Let’s see if I can pick a third one…. Oh,
peace on earth, the end of all suffering and an academy
award for being the best director.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think about the “In
Search Of Heroes” Program and its impact on youth,
parents and business people?
Carl Galletti:
I think this is a greatly needed program and it has been
a long time coming. It needs to be spread out there to
people who need it and want it. I think it is an
integral part in bringing people who are not normally
known as heroes and put them in contact with people who
need heroes and can be greatly inspired by them.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the things parents can
do that will help their children realize they too can be
HEROES and make a positive impact on the lives of
others?
Carl Galletti:
I think they need to have their own heroes too because
one of the things you are doing here is you are asking
the people who are involved in your In Search of Heroes
Program who their heroes are, so parents need to have
their heroes who inspire them to be good parents in a
good parenting way and not just in a good parenting way
but just good people, and to cure the wounds that they
had when they were growing up because we all have those
and that ok, we need to just not pass them along as much
as we can. You know I am speaking realistically here
because when it really comes down to it…
Carl Galletti:
If you are not perfect, if you haven’t been doing it
perfect that is ok too, just do better. That is the
point, no one expects you to be perfect they just expect
you to do better. So work on some of those things, be
better, be a better person, be a better example for your
children.
Carl Galletti:
Let them also be their own person. I raised three kids
and I am sure I did not do a perfect job but one of the
things I did do is I allowed them to be their own
person, to let them chose what it is they wanted to be
without me pushing them in any direction.
Carl Galletti:
I helped them as much as I could but I did not pick
anything for them to do. I wanted them not to be
hindered by me putting pressure and control on them to
do something that I wanted them to do because what I
wanted them to do is what ever they wanted to do that
inspires them.
