Lunch with a Leader

John Register is a two-time Paralympian, Paralympic Games Silver Medalist, Persian Gulf War veteran, and TEDx Motivational Speaker. He embraced a “new normal” in becoming an amputee following a misstep over a hurdle while training for the 1996 Olympic Games, after participation in two consecutive Olympic trials.

An Oak Park, Ill. native, Register discovered how to “amputate his fear of disability” and founded the U.S. Olympic Committee Military Sport Program in the early 2000s. He has launched a book titled: 10 Stories to Impact Any Leader: Journal Your Way to Leadership Success, as business leaders return to work with their staff amid stressful circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic and the recent unrest in our urban cities.

Register teaches others through his “Hurdling Adversity” speeches and podcasts to “amputate their fear and embrace their new normal,” as they discover “stories within themselves.” He finds that “it is the personal stories that inspire teams more profoundly with greater impact.” Register is a four-time All-American graduate of University of Arkansas. He served six years in the U.S. Army—including in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and in active-duty with the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program—winning nine gold medals in the Armed Services Competition and two World Military Championships.

Register had his left leg amputated after a misstep over a hurdle changed his life. Register hyperextended his knee and severed the popliteal artery. He started swimming to aid in his recovery, made the U.S. Paralympic Team in 1996, and later won a silver medal in the long jump—as he set an American record—and sprinted to fifth in the 100 meters and 200 meters at the U.S. Paralympic Games in Sydney.

Register resides in Colorado Springs.