We all have them… those people we admire, look up to, envy or just swoon over. Mine may surprise you.

When it comes to fame – I can’t think of anyone that would raise my heart rate upon encountering just because of their fame. There are some folks that definitely would send it peaking, but not because they are famous.

I ran into Wolfgang Puck at a restaurant (of all places) and the friend I was with was beside himself, “Ooh, that’s Wolfgang Puck! Let’s get our picture taken with him.”  He was absolutely giddy over the encounter.  I snapped a pic of the two together and then Puck came over to me, put his arm around me and posed while my friend snapped my picture with him. I’m guessing that is standard procedure when multiple people encounter a celebrity.

I now have a picture with Wolfgang Puck.  Uh…okay? How does that improve my life?

I could relay a dozen other ‘celeb’ interactions, but they are all in the blog so no need. What I wanted to focus on here is not how cool I am in the company of famous people, but instead look at who I really get excited about.

The whole idea for this article is a result of a recent interaction with someone… Paul Sherwen. Who?

Paul Sherwen has been involved with the Tour de France for 37 years – including 7 as a rider and the last 30 as a commentator. I interviewed him for my show Lunch With Chris. As we talked via Skype (he was at home in Uganda,) I was more than a little excited to be talking with this man whose virtual company I had shared for more than 30 years while watching my favorite sporting event.

He is such a gracious person and good interviewee. I think the episode turned out great and I walked around with a big grin for most of the day because it went so well. We talked quite a bit about cycling outside of the interview and he invited me to stay in touch. It was pretty cool.

Okay, a lot of you are like, “Really? Some cycling guy I never heard of?” Rest assured there are some bigger names on my list. Here are the people that would spin me up to be able to sit down and talk with:

  • My hottie list – women I find crazy attractive
    • Charlize Theron, P!nk, Jennifer Aniston
  • My man crushes – guys I would like to hang with
    • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Greg LeMond, Clint Eastwood, Shaquille O’Neal
  • My business/leader crushes – folks I would love to have as a mentors
    • Anthony Robbins, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban

You’ll notice there are no politicians in the list. I’ve been in a room with, shaking hands or produced video coverage of: Bill Clinton, 2 George Bushes, Rick Perry, Donald Trump, a dozen state politicians and more. None of them made me feel like is was in the company of greatness. It felt more like being in the company of one of my friend’s creepy uncle.

Who would you like to spend an afternoon with or maybe share a dinner?

Chris Doelle