Randall Blaugh has a nose for opportunity. And since he loves learning new stuff, taking a lot of interest in other people and offering up a bunch of ideas and solutions, he usually puts himself right in the middle of some pretty interesting action. In these moments, his instinct for honing in on the nub of the gist and his passion for tackling intractable problems has afforded him chance after chance to break new ground and build businesses from scratch. Along the way, he’s played the part of an entrepreneur, innovator, hedge fund manager, visionary leader, culture builder and advertising exec. And he’s collected lots of stories to tell.