Because of his experience in Japan, and his continued education in learning Japanese in college, McIntyre was offered a sales position with an international trade publisher at their Japan operation. And the more he traveled and experienced different cultures; the more McIntyre wanted to learn.

Although McIntyre built himself a strong resume in international business, some project work with FranklinCovey led to his next chapter. In 2001, FranklinCovey asked McIntyre to run their operation—guess where? Japan. While there, McIntyre found a company looking to take and teach FranklinCovey’s seven habits to a group of Japanese students. Before long, over 10,000 Japanese children were learning the seven habits in various after-school study centers.

Now, having caught his second passion bug, education, McIntyre returned to the states in 2011 for a new assignment: international education. And a dream job was born.

The challenges in international education are many. There are cultural challenges and resources challenges. “Every country has a unique educational system,” McIntyre said. “Every country we go to, the ministry of education, they control things or do things differently. The other factor we have to deal with is politics.” Different countries’ politics can create barriers to education.

And while McIntyre can’t control the politics, he said there is a silver lining. “These principles that we teach are universal. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you believe, what color you are, or what country you’re in; these principles apply, and they work.”