Today we’d like to introduce you to John Costello.

John, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.

I believe this interview will be more focused on my work as an author rather than my executive position at Microchip Technology. I was born in Chicago’s north side. My father was a career criminal with mob ties. I grew up around violence, drugs, street gangs, outlaw bikers and mob figures. My book details the events in my life that led to the decisions I made along the way. Some were terrible, but most were good. My book explains the challenges of growing up and attempting to achieve higher education and career while dealing directly with the criminal elements in my family. There are certain specific events that shaped my thought process. The first was the severe beating my father gave my mother around my tenth birthday, leaving her comatose for days. She eventually survived but received a tainted blood transfusion and contracted hepatitis. She took to the bottle and ended up dying of cirrhosis, three years later and one month after the murder of my uncle. During this time, I (as my brother & sister) were bounced in and out of foster homes. Unbeknownst to us, my father has another family in the rich part of town while we lived on welfare. When my mother died, I was never informed, did not attend the funeral, just taken from foster care to learn of my father’s other family in somewhat of a shocking manner. I developed a great hatred for my entire family the more I learned and I used this hatred to drive my success in academics and sports, eventually earning a college degree (BBA) and going on to a successful career only to stumble as my father dragged me into his criminal world when I was 24. A bad decision on my part as his actions nearly got me killed. I rebounded and got my career back on track and began to climb the corporate latter when circumstances took a bad turn during my marriage. My wife’s infertility was a cause of great stress and eventually killed the relationship after ten years of struggling to have a family. At this time, I became bitter and angry, leading me to another bad decision. I re-entered the world of crime while continuing to work and even be promoted at my company. I let my anger and inherent violent nature get the best of me. Things again changed as I began to meet many celebrities and LA’s rich and famous, including the late Hugh Hefner, who invited mine to dozens of his parties at the Playboy Mansion. As I moved up the corporate latter, the CEO took me aside and told me I had a great future. I needed to keep arms distance from my other world. I took his advice and was soon promoted to VP. This moved me into that 1% bracket. I eventually remarried and now have four kids (two sets of twins).

The details of my story are in my book Executive Hoodlum – Negotiating on the Corner of Main and Mean. There are many side stories most will find intriguing as it reads like a fictional crime novel even though it is all true. I fact-checked the book thoroughly and most of the authentication can be found on my website. Certainly, it is the road less traveled and my experiences are sometimes difficult to believe. i.e., Although I am a high-level executive at a $20B public company I have been subpoenaed for and organized crime trial as well as from a grand jury for another well-known large scale criminal investigation (of which I was a suspect)- I did two TV reality pilots – have a strange group of friends – a very eclectic bunch from celebrities, organized crime figures, outlaw bikers, members of congress and the pentagon, all detailed in my book. I signed a life rights deal with Bleiberg Entertainment for a proposed TV series based on my book before it was written. I suppose that covers the basics.

Full article linked here.