The whole résumé, in one place.

Terry L. Fossum was born in Mission, Texas, and raised in McAllen — part of a Texas border-region metropolitan area repeatedly ranked among the poorest in the United States. As a fourteen-year-old, he was confronted at gunpoint one night by individuals he believed to be running a theft ring, having walked into something they did not want a witness to. He talked his way out unharmed. During his high-school years, his father was killed. A neighbor told the family afterward that not one of the Fossum boys would grow up to be anything — a line Terry has spent the rest of his life answering.

He earned the rank of Eagle Scout while still a youth — the beginning of a service to the Boy Scouts of America that would span more than four and a half decades.

Terry attended Texas A&M University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He served in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, where he was appointed the first-ever Honor Guard Commander — a Cadet Major position created specifically for him.

Commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force, Terry served as Adjutant of the 325th Bombardment Squadron and later as Executive Officer of the 92d Operations Group — the unit responsible for nuclear-armed B-52 operations out of Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State.

As a Captain, his recognitions include Officer of the Year, Fairchild Air Force Base; Strategic Air Command Humanitarian of the Year; and Distinguished Graduate, Squadron Officers’ School. His call sign, given by his Squadron Commander, was Awesome.

Read his Memorial Day remembrance, I Was an American Soldier.

Terry has led at the summit of both ends of the leadership spectrum. In uniform, he led with the full authority of command. In business, he led with none of it — and reached the top fraction of 1% of a global, publicly traded company’s worldwide ranks anyway. He built and led an international team across multiple countries and continents and became a self-made millionaire, starting with none of the advantages, out of a hometown repeatedly ranked among the poorest in the United States.

It is, by design, the hardest kind of leadership there is. The people he led were an all-volunteer force — independent, unpaid by him, free to leave any day they chose. He could not command them, could not compensate them, could not replace them at will. Authority like that isn’t granted; it is earned, one person at a time, by giving people a reason to believe and the resolve to act past their own fear and self-doubt. A title can be handed to anyone. The ability to move people who owe you nothing cannot.

That is the discipline Terry now teaches from the stage — not how to sell, but how to lead people to do hard things by choice. The Oxcart Technique, his #1 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller, is the system he built while doing it.

In 2017, Terry won Fox’s prime-time network reality competition Kicking & Screaming — a survival show pairing contestants with elite military and survival operators in physically demanding remote-terrain challenges. He competed as the oldest contestant on the show and represented the Boy Scouts of America throughout the season.

He has also hosted television and streaming programs, including Made in America and work for the Montana Department of Transportation. In 2021, he received Best Supporting Actor and Fan Favorite honors at the Christian Film Festival for his role in Agape.

• Hunted caribou with Inuit guides above the Arctic Circle
• Survival in the Amazon Jungle
• Tracked silverback gorillas in the highlands of Rwanda
• Trekked Death Valley solo
• Conducted subzero solo snowshoe expeditions in the Cascade Range
• Built SweetWater Ranch — an off-grid log cabin retreat on a Montana mountaintop

He holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, earned under Grandmaster Jung Kim.

Terry’s service to the Boy Scouts of America spans more than 45 years. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a youth and was inducted into the Vigil Honor, the highest honor in the Order of the Arrow.

• Scoutmaster, Troop 400 (Spokane Valley, Washington)
• President, Inland Northwest Council
• President and Chairman of the Endowment, Inland Northwest Council (current)

Recognitions include the Distinguished Scouting Service Award, the District Award of Merit, and the Silver Beaver — the BSA’s highest local-council honor for distinguished service to youth.

• The Terry L. Fossum Educational Center — Rwanda
• An Agricultural School for Family Independence — Malawi
• The Terry L. Fossum Scholarships for Underprivileged Youth — McAllen, Texas

• Top fraction of 1% of a global organization · self-made millionaire · led an all-volunteer international team
• #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller (The Oxcart Technique)
• USA Today Bestseller (The Oxcart Technique)
• #2 New TEDx Talk in the World (TEDxSpokane)
• Winner, Fox’s Kicking & Screaming (2017)
• Best Supporting Actor & Fan Favorite, Christian Film Festival 2021 (Agape)
• Strategic Air Command Humanitarian of the Year · Officer of the Year, Fairchild AFB
• Rotary Community Servant of the Year · United Way Volunteer of the Year · JCPenney Community Service Award
• BSA — Distinguished Scouting Service Award · District Award of Merit · Silver Beaver

• Wikipedia — Terry Fossum
• The Spokesman-Review — “Spokane Valley’s Terry Fossum, winner of ‘Kicking and Screaming,’ writes best seller” (2022)
• IMDb — Terry Fossum
• Wall Street Journal — Bestsellers list, week ended August 27, 2022