Sports agent is a title that conjures up a winner-take-all attitude, and aggressiveness. But while Rancho Santa Fe resident and legendary sports agent David Meltzer, Esq., may have personified that in his early days, he shares an entirely different philosophy of success in his book, “Connected to Goodness: Manifest Everything You Desire in Business and Life,” a practical road map to defining, achieving, and maintaining success in life. Whether you are a student, parent, educator, athlete, or executive, you will find something of value in what Meltzer has to say.

David Meltzer will be speaking at 3 p.m. Feb. 28 at Barnes & Noble in Grossmont Center.

•You are a legendary sports agent. What got you interested in this field? How easy or difficult was it to break into?

I love sports and always dreamed of being a professional athlete, but being 5 feet 7 inches, Jewish, and born with more brains than brawn, I had a choice. With my amazing size and talent, if I wanted to be a sports professional, I either could be the commissioner of the NBA or a sports agent.

As for the difficulty in breaking into the field, I don’t see things in terms of easy or difficult. Sports is a multibillion-dollar industry with tens of thousands of jobs. So there is no scarcity of opportunity. What I find is that there is a lack of resolve. That is the biggest hurdle for most people to overcome.

•At Sports 1 Marketing, you employ a host of interns. Why? And what do you see as the benefits of internships?

My personal mission is to empower others to then further empower others, and the best way to do this is to take in young people and provide them with first-hand experience and knowledge in order for them to be successful. I am providing them with relationship capital in a very competitive industry and the situational knowledge on how to monetize those relationships. And when they do, I prove the most important reason to have so many interns is to be kind to your future self. They’ll branch out, be successful and empower others, and those that leave here will often approach me with business deals or vice versa.

•We tend to label many sports figures as “heroes.” How accurate or inaccurate is that and why?

Within the realm of sports, all of these individuals are “heroes” in the sense that it is so ultracompetitive and difficult to become a professional athlete. Labeling them as “heroes” based on our foundational values like character, integrity, and giving is the mistake people commonly make. Personally and professionally, I look for those Hall of Famers, those winners of Major League Baseball’s Clemente Award, and the like … those individuals who possess the athletic ability and character to truly be looked up to as “heroes.”

•Your book is titled “Connected to Goodness.” What do you mean by goodness, and what role should it play in our lives?

Goodness is a simple way of describing whatever it is that inspires us … be it God, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad or whatever it is that you believe in. I use the concept of a personal “12th Man,” just as a football team with its 11 men on the field is inspired by the crowd or “12th Man.” What I try to avoid is to separating us by our beliefs. Instead, I attempt to bring us together by what we believe is good or decent. It should be our common guidepost to be good, kind, and decent.

•In what ways do you manifest goodness in your life? And how has doing so enhanced your life?

Manifesting goodness takes a several-pronged approach. First we decide what it is we want; then we assess our goals in terms of contributions we can make to others and to society in general. After all, what good is achievement without greater purpose? In a practical sense, I follow the Principles and their supporting Key Elements from my book. I consciously think about what I want or want to achieve, and it becomes a possibility. Then I use my Imagination Principles — Foundation, Guideposts and Manifestation — to get inspired, and the possibility becomes a probability. Using the Action Principles of Discipline, Strategy and Understanding, I’ll now take action to make the probability reality.

•In today’s electronically-oriented society, what are your two best tips for communicating with our kids? And for making them aware of goodness?

We need to teach them accountability and effective communication … which does not mean text messaging. It means making sure that we all understand one another. We also need to teach them gratitude and empathy. Gratitude is teaching them to be thankful for what they have, and empathy is teaching them to be able to forgive themselves for the mistakes that they will make and, in doing so empowering them to forgive others.

•What three things can both parents and executives learn from the best coaches?

Strategy, discipline, and understanding. They need to understand all of the underlying Key Elements to these Principles as spelled out in “Connected To Goodness” in order to manifest or attract everything they desire in life to be happy.

•How do you define success?

Quite simply, success is happiness. I look at my journey as “successive events” … there are no successes or failures. Everything will come in the right way at the perfect time, but our main mission needs to be staying focused on connecting to goodness and being happy.

•Who is your personal hero? Why?

Despite being surrounded by Hall of Famers such as Warren Moon, Troy Aikman and Steve Young, my personal hero is my mother. She empowered me with gratitude and empathy, and no one else has believed in me or sacrificed more for me than my mom … and she loves the San Diego U-T, so I know she’s reading this. Hi, Mom. Thank you and I love you!

•What do you hope readers take away from “Connected to Goodness”?

I hope they come away with a pragmatic approach to look at faith and fact … a simple way to first prioritize and then manifest or attract everything they desire or want in life accurately and rapidly. I hope they’ll be able to turn possibilities into probabilities and then make this their perspective or realities.

Note: Antoinette Kuritz and Jared Kuritz are the team behind STRATEGIES Public Relations and the La Jolla Writer’s Conference (www.lajollawritersconference.com).