An overlooked growth opportunity: Uncertainty

Very few people will be imprisoned the way Sam Goodwin was — for nine weeks in a harrowing situation six years ago. Goodwin says we can all be “held hostage” by any number of things and that our response to life’s challenges is what sets us apart.

Goodwin, an author and tech startup founder, will deliver the keynote address June 16 at the AICPA & CIMA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference in National Harbor, Md.

Learn more about Goodwin’s message and story in the latest episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• Goodwin’s “Winning Through Uncertainty” theme for the June keynote address.
• The worldwide travel quest that landed him in a hostage situation in Syria.
• Goodwin’s explanation about feeling a sense of “survivor’s responsibility.”
• His work overseas in the technology and not-for-profit sectors.
• The reason Goodwin says “uncertainty is a horrible thing to waste.”

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Sam Goodwin is delivering the keynote address at the AICPA & CIMA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference in mid-June in National Harbor, Md., and he is my guest on this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast. I’m Neil Amato, a news editor with the JofA.

I’m interested, and I think you, the listeners, will also be interested to hear more about Sam Goodwin’s story. He’s a speaker, author, tech startup founder — oh, by the way, also a hockey coach and world traveler. Sam, first, welcome to the Journal of Accountancy podcast.

Sam Goodwin: Neil, thanks so much for having me. It’s great to be here.

Amato: We are honored to have you on. The theme of your keynote, again in June at the not-for-profit conference, is “Winning Through Uncertainty.” I want to break that down actually to the very first part. What, in that sense, does “winning” mean?

Goodwin: First, I’ll just say thanks for this opportunity. I got connected with the AICPA only recently. I was really honored to have the opportunity to speak at an event earlier in 2025 and just been a fantastic community of people, so really happy to have this opportunity, really honored for it.

My primary theme is uncertainty, and the title of my session in my keynote is “Winning Through Uncertainty.” I can go into a little bit of my story, but essentially, I was pushed to a point of overwhelming uncertainty, truly life or death, but through that, I learned some things that helped me and some things that I think can help all of us win through our own forms of uncertainty in our personal and professional lives.

Amato: We are going to get into that uncertainty part right now because, why not? You were in a spot where probably you thought you were in control of a situation. You were on this quest to travel to every country in the world, probably feeling like you have a pretty good life at that point, and then suddenly, you had no control. Can you tell listeners about that?

Goodwin: From 2010 to 2020, in that 10-year window, much of which I spent living and working overseas — I was in Singapore for six years and in Dubai for a year — I traveled to every country in the world, and some of that was for work. A good chunk of it was for pleasure, but like any worthwhile venture or endeavor in life, it wasn’t without its challenges. Perhaps, most notably, in the spring of 2019, I had traveled to 180 of 193 countries in the world, and it was at this point when I went to Syria.

When I was there, I was taken hostage and wrongfully imprisoned. I was accused of being an American spy, of collaborating with terrorists, and the situation became very uncomfortable. I was held for nine weeks in some pretty terrifying situations. I talk a lot about those details and the things that I learned through that in my presentation. Thank God, thanks to a long list of people who worked tirelessly, the situation ended peacefully.

In the wake of that, I’ve really been reflecting and putting things into context and trying to pull out lessons and messages that I think can be helpful to others today. I don’t feel so much survivor’s guilt as I feel what I would characterize as survivor’s responsibility. That’s where a lot of my time and effort is today.

Amato: I think it’s safe to say that that is a situation that most people will not experience, and there are so many lessons to it. But there’s so much uncertainty that we, as a society, are experiencing or have experienced in, say, the past five years. How has your ability to succeed amidst uncertainty morphed since then?

Goodwin: My presentations are narrative-driven and include all of the dramatic elements of my stories but also weave in and conclude with key principles that I think we can all implement into our own lives.

My primary themes, I talk about leaning into gratitude. I talk about focusing on controlling the things that we can control. I focus on recognizing uncertainty as an opportunity for growth. These were things that helped me at my lowest point, truly at rock bottom, and I think that they can be helpful to others as well.

Amato: Can you talk some about the work you’ve done in Singapore, I guess, tech startup, also an NGO. One, define what an NGO does and how it relates to this not-for-profit audience that you’re going to be speaking to?

Goodwin: I spent six years in Singapore, one year in Dubai. I was working for a tech startup business, which we were developing an online game for kids. It was an MMOG, a massively multiplayer online game. I am not a coder. I was doing business development and fundraising for the business.

In addition to that, underneath the corporate entity, underneath the corporate umbrella, we also had an NGO, a nonprofit — an NGO is a nongovernmental organization — that was based in Southeast Asia, primarily in the Philippines and Cambodia. We administered development programs in the areas of education, health and sanitation, sports and leadership, IT. From 2012 to 2018, we assisted more than 25,000 under-resourced families in the region.

Amato: You can speak the language of not-for-profit leaders, such as the CFOs or the CEOs of these organizations, but how specifically do you think they need to hear the lesson of embracing uncertainty as an opportunity?

Goodwin: We could be held hostage by anything. Alcohol, drugs, illness, relationships, finances, injuries, whatever it may be, but the way that we embrace and manage those challenges, the actions we take, I think that defines who we become, and from where we begin, again. It’s interesting. People ask me quite a bit, “Sam, if you could go back, would you still travel the way you did or do anything differently?”

On one hand, I would never want to relive captivity and wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but on the other hand, and I think, more importantly, I would also never want to give up everything that’s come from it, the opportunity to meet remarkable people, to grow in character and in faith, and understanding of really the stuff in life that actually matters.

Those two things go together, and I try to share this perspective that I think can be relevant. I think there’s a lesson in there for all of us.

Amato: For people who are listening, and I’ll admit for me also, when I hear the word “uncertainty,” and I think about some of the uncertain things in our lives right now, I tend to think of them as a threat. What do you say to people who say, “I don’t want that; that’s too uncertain for me”?

Goodwin: Uncertainty is a horrible thing to waste. As an athlete, entrepreneur, traveler, hostage, I will tell you that there’s value and opportunity in every experience. I think that when we lean into gratitude, when we take action, control what we can control, and when we recognize our challenges as opportunities, we win. And we grow through uncertain times.

Amato: I understand, in addition to speaking at the not-for-profit conference, you’re also scheduled to be at the December Future of Finance Summit in Denver. As you said, you’re just getting connected with this audience, but what is it like to speak to some of these groups — these finance leaders at big companies, but also the not-for-profits — what’s that like for you?

Goodwin: It’s a privilege and an honor. I never could have expected where my life was going to go, but I feel really fortunate for the opportunity to share some of these lessons, some of these experiences with others. And the AICPA has been so good to me, so looking forward to all of these opportunities and all the people and the relationships that come from being at these events.

Amato: It’s mid-June, National Harbor, Md., the Not-for-Profit Industry Conference, Sam Goodwin is his name. Sam, anything else you’d like to add in closing today?

Goodwin: I appreciate the opportunity to be here. If anybody wants to reach out, feel free to do that. I’m on all of the normal social media platforms. It’s Sam Goodwin. I also recently published a book. It’s called Saving Sam. It’s available everywhere books are sold. If you’re interested in checking that out, it aligns directly with my story and my keynote and my message.

I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to be there and meeting all the attendees. Please feel free to reach out or introduce yourself. I would love for the opportunity to meet you.

Amato: Sam Goodwin, thank you very much.

Goodwin: My pleasure. Thanks, Neil.