Terry L. Fossum delivering a keynote
Press kit

Everything you need to do your job.

For journalists, podcasters, conference programmers, and producers. Bios in three lengths, downloadable headshots, topics, and direct contact below. Approved for editorial use.
Bios — three lengths

All third person. Copy what you need.

50 words bio
short
Terry L. Fossum is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, USA Today bestselling author, TEDx speaker, former USAF Captain, and winner of Fox’s Kicking & Screaming (2017). His two signature keynotes — Never Miss a Goal Again, for sales-driven organizations, and Throw Away the Box, for leaders facing reinvention pressure — have been delivered on more than 1,500 stages. He serves as President and Endowment Chair of the Boy Scouts of America’s Inland Northwest Council.
150 words bio
medium
Terry L. Fossum is a #1 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of The Oxcart Technique. His TEDx talk was ranked the #2 New TEDx Talk in the World. He has delivered more than 1,500 keynote engagements and helped raise millions of dollars from the platform. He delivers two signature keynotes. Never Miss a Goal Again, built on his Oxcart Technique® and grounded in Nobel Prize–winning behavioral economics, is the keynote sales-driven organizations bring in when traditional training stops producing — insurance agencies, real estate brokerages, financial advisors, dealership groups, and direct-sales companies. Throw Away the Box helps leadership teams and organizations reinvent themselves in the age of AI, built on original interviews with the leaders behind NASA, Tesla, The North Face, E!, and FANUC. In 2017, Terry won Fox's prime-time network reality competition Kicking & Screaming, representing the Boy Scouts of America. He is a former Captain in the United States Air Force, a graduate of Texas A&M University, and the President & Endowment Chair of the BSA's Inland Northwest Council. He lives in Spokane Valley, Washington.
300 words bio
long
Terry L. Fossum is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, a USA Today bestselling author, and a TEDx speaker whose talk was ranked the #2 New TEDx Talk in the World. He is a former Captain in the United States Air Force, a winner of Fox's network reality competition Kicking & Screaming (2017), and a longtime leader within the Boy Scouts of America, where he currently serves as President and Chairman of the Endowment of the Inland Northwest Council. Terry was born in Mission, Texas, and raised in McAllen — part of a Texas border-region metropolitan area repeatedly ranked among the poorest in the United States. He attended Texas A&M University, where he was appointed the first ever Honor Guard Commander — a Cadet Major position created specifically for him. He served as Executive Officer of the 92d Operations Group flying nuclear B-52s out of Fairchild Air Force Base, where he was named Officer of the Year. The Strategic Air Command later named him Humanitarian of the Year. His four books — all published by his own house, Raidho Publishing — are The Oxcart Technique (#1 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller), Never Miss a Goal Again, Throw Away the Box, and The S.I.M.P.L.E. Guide to Public Speaking. He has delivered more than 1,500 keynote engagements and helped raise millions of dollars from the platform. He has also worked as an actor, earning Best Supporting Actor and Fan Favorite honors at the Christian Film Festival in 2021 for his role in Agape, and has hosted television and streaming programs including Made in America and Montana Department of Transportation. Today Terry's primary work is from the stage. He delivers two signature keynotes: Never Miss a Goal Again, built on his Oxcart Technique® and grounded in Nobel Prize–winning behavioral economics, for sales-driven organizations whose people need to close the gap between knowing and doing; and Throw Away the Box, for leadership teams, associations, and corporations facing reinvention pressure in the age of AI. He lives in Spokane Valley, Washington, with his wife and three stepsons.
As featured on
The Wall Street JournalUSA TodayFoxABCNBCCBSHuluAmazon Prime Video
Interview topics

Two topics that serve your audience — and a few angles to support them.

Terry interviews for two purposes: deliver a takeaway your audience can use, and stay focused on the keynote topics he’s booked to speak on. Lead with one of the two below; pull from the supporting angles when the conversation needs depth.

  1. 01
    Why most people who set a goal never reach it — and the Nobel-backed mechanism that changes it.

    Terry’s primary keynote. Drawn from his book Never Miss a Goal Again and his Oxcart Technique®, grounded in Prospect Theory (Kahneman/Tversky, 2002 Nobel Prize). Built for sales-driven organizations, agency owners, brokerage leaders, and high-performance teams. Most relevant for: business podcasts, sales podcasts, financial-services and real-estate shows, network marketing and direct-sales audiences.

  2. 02
    Why "thinking outside the box" is no longer enough — and what your audience’s favorite companies did instead.

    Terry’s second signature keynote, Throw Away the Box. Built from his original interviews with the leaders behind NASA, Tesla, The North Face, E!, and FANUC. Most relevant for: leadership and management podcasts, innovation shows, association-leadership and CHRO audiences, AI-and-change programming.

Supporting angles
  • How Terry built his own organization to the top fraction of 1% in direct sales worldwide — and the framework he refined doing it.
  • What he learned about leadership under pressure as the Executive Officer of a nuclear B-52 unit.
  • The McAllen-to-USAF arc: a story most authors don’t have, told only when it serves the audience.
  • How Terry won Fox’s Kicking & Screaming as the oldest contestant on the show.
Press coverage

Selected features.

  • Wall Street Journal
    bestseller list — The Oxcart Technique (Aug 2022)
  • USA Today
    bestseller list — The Oxcart Technique
  • LA Magazine
    2024 Person of the Year
  • AP News
    feature on Kicking & Screaming win (2017)
  • The Spokesman-Review
    multiple features (2017, 2022)
  • Fox 13 Seattle
    feature on Kicking & Screaming (2017)
  • Texas A&M Today
    alumni feature
  • TEDxSpokane
    Why You Didn’t Reach That Goal… Again
Recent speaking engagements

Selected stages.

  • Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance
    Annual Expo Keynote
  • New York Life
    Leadership Keynote
  • Texas A&M University
    Full-Time MBA Keynote (Mays Business School)
  • One Team Global
    Success Summit Keynote — multi-year repeat
  • Washington Food Industry Association
    Annual Conference
  • Northwest Concrete Masonry Association
    Annual Event
  • Drum Rock Products
    Leadership Engagement
  • Spokane Executive Women’s International
    Featured Speaker
  • Boy Scouts of America
    Council Leadership

Plus repeat speaking engagements across manufacturing, food, finance, academia, and association events.

Media contact

Direct line for editorial requests.

media@terrylfossum.com

Response within 2 business days for editorial.