I had the pleasure of interviewing Neal Engstrom, who runs a real estate investment fund based in Los Angeles. In addition, he recently published a new book, YOUR LIFEPATH, designed to help Generation Z, and everyone else — pursue continuous self-fulfillment through the five life stages.
Hello Neal, Welcome to BrandEducation! Where are you from and where do you live?
I am a La Jolla native (and California beach kid!), but – after living in Cambridge (MA) and Tokyo (Japan) and Palo Alto (CA) – I have now lived in La Canada (CA) for the past 24 years, where my wife (Giselle) and I have raised 3 kids.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to coach my kids’ baseball and softball teams, help them practice their batting/pitching, and attend their games.
Can you tell us about your journey?
I graduated from Harvard in 1988, worked and traveled in Asia for 4 years and saved money to earn my commercial pilot’s license. I spent a few years in northern California working as a pilot – (flight instructor and skydive jump pilot) – and earning an MBA at Stanford. I’ve been a commercial real estate professional in Los Angeles since 1995 and founded Engstrom Realty Fund in 2006, which is a real estate private equity fund, (and my mission!). We invest in and manage office and hotel properties. I wrote the manuscript for a book – YOUR LIFEPATH – during the pandemic and published it a few months ago.
If you had to describe yourself in three words what would they be?
Unconventional (since birth). Adventurous (since my teenage years). Soulful (since raising my kids).
What inspires you?
I love stories about people who had Adventures in their early adulthood, which enabled them to identify and formulate their Mission and spent the rest of their lives carrying it out and leaving a Legacy for future generations. Historical heroes of mine like: Jacques Cousteau, Coco Chanel, Chuck Yeager, Jane Goodall, Conrad Hilton, Mother Teresa, and many others.
Share something the audience wouldn’t know about you.
- My “love language” is grilling! I enjoy picking a gorgeous steak, marinating it with care for a few days, and grilling it to perfection as an expression of my love for family and friends.
- My friends and colleagues think of me as a Harvard and Stanford grad, but I’m an equally if not more proud alum of the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia where I studied for a semester during college, did a ton of surfing and spearfishing, and made some of my best friends to this day.
- In the process of marketing YOUR LIFEPATH on Instagram, I learned there is another Neal Engstrom who lives in Pennsylvania and is about 20 years younger than me! Neal reached out to me, and I’m honored to share a great name with him, and that we are now friends.
How did you get into writing or doing this work?
I’ve never not written! I’ve always kept journals – thousands of pages. Because I became a dad relatively late in life at 38, I began saving notes for my kids in an old humidor, which I filled to the brim. During the pandemic we had a lot of free time. So, for 100 days in a row I took a long walk in the foothills and then afterwards sat and wrote a 2-page essay. Those 100 essays became the manuscript for YOUR LIFEPATH, which is 200 pages long. I initially thought I was writing the book for my kids, but I found that during my walk each day some force beyond me was “filling the X-mas stocking” with great material, that couldn’t be solely for them. The book, I realized, is for all of Generation Z (and their parents!) and anyone stuck within the life stages we all go through after finishing our schooling.
YOUR LIFEPATH is a life guide that describes five stages we pass through after finishing our schooling and through which we can achieve self-fulfillment and also make contributions to others – Adventures, Mission, Family, Tribe, Legacy. The book is divided into 5 sections, each 40 pages long and consisting of 20 essays:
- Have Adventures (pp.1-40
- Choose Mission (pp.41-80)
- Start Family (pp.81-120)
- Lead Tribe (pp.121-160)
- Leave Legacy (pp. 161-200)
Can you tell us what inspired your book and what is the story behind it?
During my college years I read a lot of biographies and was mesmerized by the adventures of Errol Flynn prospecting for gold in New Guinea, and of Howard Hughes who amassed an aviation and motion picture and casino empire. I had difficulty at first reconciling how I could admire two people doing such different things. Years later I realized that the two men were in different stages of their lives – Flynn was in the Adventure stage of life, and Hughes was in the Mission stage. I started to realize that the most fulfilled people seemed to be those who had a series of Adventures in early adulthood that led to self-knowledge. This self-knowledge helped them identify their calling and formulate a life Mission. And by spending their lives carrying out their mission they were able to leave a lasting Legacy to the generations that came after them. Additionally, during the Mission stage most people will also form a Family that provides emotional and other forms of support. And during the Mission stage most people will also form a Tribe comprised of like-minded people that help them carry out the mission on a larger scale than they could on their own. (See attached diagram of the 5 life stages.)
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share?
- Giving as many talks as possible about the LIFEPATH material to get the word out.
- Writing essays about people with Epic Adventures, Amazing Missions, Nurturing Families, Powerful Tribes, and Lasting Legacies for the free weekly LIFEPATH Newsletter.
- And am always in process with making various hotel and office investments.
Neal, what are your goals and aspirations?
A) Spread the LIFEPATH philosophy around the world.
B) Help explain to younger generations how important it is to have Adventures after completing our schooling and lay down the groundwork of a life Mission before choosing a profession, selecting a spouse or life partner, and buying a home.
C) Help explain to younger generations how to develop and carry out a life mission in order to achieve deep personal fulfillment and make a large contribution to the world.
Find out more about Neal at: www.NealEngstrom.com