Dad. Hollywood. If he were alive, how would he feel about me saying this?
Jeromy Zajonc sat in the hot seat this episode, or as close to it as a chair across from an old friend can get. Jen asked him the question she asks every guest: name a moment you had to tell the truth. He came back with two. The first goes back to his dad. Big personality, bigger reputation, a helicopter stunt pilot for Hollywood’s biggest films and Kona Ironman finisher and he raised Jeromy along with his brother. Everyone who knew his dad saw the legend. Few saw the temper that turned physical. For many years, Jeromy grappled with which parts of his father's story were safe to tell out loud. This episode, for the first time, he told the rest of it. Some takeaways that will stay with you: loving someone and telling the truth about them are not opposites and waiting until someone is gone to say the real stuff may be the most honest timeline available. Jeromy’s second truth goes back to Hollywood where he spent decades building the kind of career most people spend a lifetime trying to break into. He walked away from it to build Running Water Coaching instead, and it took him years to hit send on the email that made it official. Nine minutes of terror later, the response he got was the opposite of what he feared.
Jeromy sat in the hot seat this episode, or as close to it as a chair across from an old friend can get. Jen asked him the question she asks every guest: name a moment you had to tell the truth. He came back with two.
The first goes back to his dad. Big personality, bigger reputation, a helicopter stunt pilot for Hollywood’s biggest films and Kona Ironman finisher and he raised Jeromy along with his brother. Everyone who knew his dad saw the legend. Few saw the temper that turned physical. For many years, Jeromy grappled with which parts of his father's story were safe to tell out loud. This episode, for the first time, he told the rest of it. Some takeaways that will stay with you: loving someone and telling the truth about them are not opposites and waiting until someone is gone to say the real stuff may be the most honest timeline available.
Jeromy’s second truth goes back to Hollywood where he spent decades building the kind of career most people spend a lifetime trying to break into. He walked away from it to build Running Water Coaching instead, and it took him years to hit send on the email that made it official. Nine minutes of terror later, the response he got was the opposite of what he feared.
Takeaways
- Truth-telling often requires us to count the cost.
- Loving someone and telling the truth about them are not opposites.
- Waiting until someone is gone to say the real thing may be the most honest timeline available.
- The risk you're most afraid to name out loud is often the most liberating.
- A hard childhood and a great life aren't opposing evidence.
Top Quotes
- Jen: "What is a pivotal moment where you had to say what was true?"
- Jeromy: "I don't want to wake up in the morning, close my journal of all the things I really am, and go do some other thing."
- Jeromy: "Most people spend ten years banging on the door trying to get in. I was looking for the key to get out."
- Jeromy: "I want to be in the self-help aisle at Target, not in Beverly Hills."
- Jeromy: "If I fall on my face, I'd probably have more love and respect from the people I love and respect the most anyway."
- Jeromy: "Within nine minutes of being terrified, I was like, really? That's it?"
- Jeromy: "He wasn't a perfect human. He was famous with famous people, not with the general public."
- Jen: "Truth is the great liberator."
Resources Mentioned
- Daring Greatly, Brené Brown
- Alex Hormozi
- G20 (film), written by Logan and Noah Miller
- Touching Home (film), starring Ed Harris, produced by Jeromy Zajonc
- Dipsea Race, Mount Tam, Marin County
- Going to California (TV series)
- Running Water Coaching, Jeromy Zajonc
- Co-Active Training Institute (CTI)
Website: https://runningwatercoaching.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_jeromyz/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jzajonc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzajonc/
About Jen Oliver:
Jen Oliver is a speaker, podcaster, and communications coach - equipping people to speak with greater impact and presence. Whether you are speaking on stage, promoting your brand, or voicing your needs in a relationship - communicating with your truest voice and cultivating human connection with your audience is the key to influence. Jen coaches individuals privately and within her Signature group programs - in addition to delivering workshops as a guest expert in a variety of settings.
Jen serves as a 4-season Executive Producer, Director of Curation, and Speaker Coach for TEDxFolsom. She is a committed force behind WomanSpeak™ - an internationally recognized body of work teaching the art and soul of public speaking. Jen is on a mission to support 1 million women as they speak with uncommon levels of freedom and confidence. Tap into more at
email: jen@REALjenoliver.com
podcast website: ListenForREAL.com
website: REALJenOliver.com
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