Those are fairly modest words from a energy, his spirit and his sense of humor. He man who has a weekly stint with the queen of regained his authentic self.

guess where I stand,”

says McGraw in

his Texas drawl.

TV talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, and who will McGraw decided to write Self Matters to be hosting his own show in the fall; a man demystify the concept of self. His goal was to who recently published his third book, Self boil the concept down in a nuts-and-bolts Matters, and who is already a bestselling way so people could easily say, “Am I doing author through his previous books, Life what I’m intended to do? Am I being who I Strategies and Relationship Rescue; and a genuinely am?” man who co-owns a successful small busi- Countering the belief that Americans are ness with several Fortune 500 companies a selfish society, McGraw says we are a self- as clients. less society—too busy being caught up in the He’s known as Dr. “Tell It Like It Is” Phil flow of day-to-day activities to stop and think (or simply Dr. Phil); the nickname evolved about who we are. from his straightforward way of dealing with “That compelled me to write this book,” people and their problems. Match that oh-so- says McGraw. “We’ve got this society of peo-direct approach with his solid 6-foot-3-inch ple who don’t know themselves, who don’t frame and a gaze that could put Superman’s know who they are and are therefore out liv-X-ray vision to shame, and you can’t help but ing lives and doing things that may not be feel compelled to listen when he speaks. anywhere near what they want or what they “When I talk about an issue, people need to be doing.” don’t have to guess where I stand,” says

McGraw in his smooth Texas drawl. Business matters

“That’s pretty discernible.” As an entrepreneur, McGraw is a strong and do the things that everyone else who’s had believer that it takes two things to make it as

History matters that particular education has done in the past.” a small-business owner. The first is a defined

Before he even had much experience That was the path his father took; it was product. The second is an unbridled passion with forming complete sentences, McGraw what the profession expected of him. It was that comes only from doing something you made it clear he was not one to mince words. the path McGraw took. And he was truly love and believe in.

In an interview with People, one of his sisters absolutely miserable. He found out that he “I went from a small business where I recalled how, as a 3-year-old, McGraw was loved everything about his education, but he was going through the motions to a small trying to explain to his grandmother how to hated what he was doing. His work “was like business that was a passion for me,” he says operate their stove. When she had trouble pushing a boulder up a hill. It was so unnat- about co-founding CSI. “It was something I understanding what he was saying, McGraw ural that I had to do it by brute force.” truly believed in, and I couldn’t wait to get up responded, “What are you, an idiot?” He’s and get to work in the morning and just hated been telling it like it is ever since. Life matters to leave it at the end of the day.”

Born September 1, 1950, McGraw, who For more than a decade, he pushed those Having firsthand experience with what has one younger and two older sisters, boulders up a hill, and that’s where readers it takes to create a successful business, grew up mostly in Oklahoma. He traveled a find McGraw in the beginning of his latest McGraw cites the statistic that more than 90 lot with his father, who worked as a pilot fly- bestselling book, Self Matters —hating percent of small businesses fail within the ing drill bits and parts to oil workers in the what he was doing and where he was living. first year, with another 80 percent following Rockies. When McGraw was a teenager, his It took continued confrontation from his suit in the second year. He attributes the high father quit his job to go back to school to wife, Robin, to whom he’s been married failure rate to people not understanding the become a psychologist, leaving the family for 25 years, for McGraw to confess to his amount of commitment it takes to keep a poor and eating ketchup sandwiches. father and others that he was less than ful- business up and running.

Although never a straight-A student in filled. So he packed up his family, left If you don’t feel that inspiration, says high school, McGraw proved himself on the Oklahoma and moved to Dallas. In 1989 he McGraw, you need to redefine who or what football field. His talents earned him a col- tested his entrepreneurial skills by starting your small business is and get behind the part lege scholarship to the University of Tulsa, Courtroom Sciences Inc. (CSI), a litigation of it or the applications of your skills that but he dropped out during his sophomore consulting firm, with his best friend and busi- match your passion. Once that happens, he year after incurring several head injuries. ness partner, Gary Dobbs. CSI specializes in adds, it will be like rolling rocks down a hill.

A few years later he turned his attention looking at what it takes to settle a case out of For McGraw it was not only a matter of back to school and, like his father, became a court. To help prepare lawyers, CSI uses leaving a career he didn’t like, but forging psychologist, getting his doctorate from North focus groups and witness mini-trials; two one he loved. He identified his strengths— Texas State University in Denton, Texas. mock courtrooms at its headquarters in analytical and communication skills—and

“I got a traditional education,” McGraw Irving, Texas, allow the entire process of a combined them with his love of competition. tells The Connection from his home in trial to be videotaped and dissected. Now his work at Costco-member CSI lets Dallas. “And what you’re supposed to do The entrepreneurial experience, Mc- him analyze jury members, communicate his with that traditional education is hang out a Graw says, was like walking out of the position to them and—voila!—at the end of a shingle and begin to do traditional therapies front gate of a prison. He regained his trial, a clear winner and loser are named.