Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business

This week’s podcast guest is someone I’ve followed on Twitter for years but never had the privilege of talking with before. He’s professional boxer Ed Latimore. Ed has an incredible story. He grew up in the projects in Pittsburgh during the height of the crack epidemic, became a professional boxer, earned a degree in physics from a major research university, and overcame addiction.

Ed’s book about his journey - and the lessons we can take take from it to apply to our own lives - is in his new book from Penguin Random House’s Portfolio imprint, Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business: Boxing and the Art of Life.

We live in a culture that increasingly treats strength as toxic and self-improvement as outdated. Ed’s path—overcoming alcoholism not through therapy-speak or external validation, but by shouldering real purpose—is a direct counter-narrative. His story reminds us that meaning comes from taking ownership of your condition and building beyond it.

Ed didn’t let poverty, addiction, or fatherlessness define him. Instead, he chose discipline, education, and creative work as a way out. His perspective is uncompromising: what happens to you may not be your fault—but it’s your job to ensure it doesn’t destroy your life