Sam Makhoul holds a Master of Laws degree and is Founder of MSA National, a law company with a team of over 260 empowered people, specializing in banking and finance law. His clients include numerous Australian and international financial institutions including Westpac, Macquarie Bank and National Australia Bank. As an entrepreneur he has started and sold over 7 successful businesses over his career and is credited with some of the most effective business strategies during volatile economic conditions.

Sam is also the founder of the Higher Branch Success Academy, a company dedicated to wellness in the workplace and personal peak performance.

With a curiosity that makes him see the potential in people, Sam is a highly effective Success Coach with practical entrepreneurial experience across all aspects of business operations including strategy, product development, sales and marketing, customer experience, recruitment, training, staff engagement, technology and financial accounting. His ultimate strength is in the area of people operations. He credits his success to his ability to bring the best out of people and mentoring them to their personal greatness.

Sam utilises his own proprietary programs that leverage his philosophy, principles and prescriptions pioneered in his books, “A Higher Branch”, “24”, “Invincible” and “Quest for the Highest Branch”. As a speaker, Sam brings intensity to his message. He sparks thinking and stirs emotions. His talks are dynamic, challenging and entertaining. He has the natural ability to explain complex life issues through magical and memorable stories.

Why I wrote the book

A Higher Branch is a book that I was born to write. I poured my heart and soul into it because I wrote it as a life-guide for my three children. I wanted them to grow up to be happy, healthy, prosperous, successful, smart, fun, charitable, loving and loved. But as I wrote it and shared the message with others, I was amazed at how it resonated and stuck in their memory, even after just one conversation. I had friends, colleagues and clients recount the principles to me with ease and telling me how they initiated changes in their life, all from a simple discussion. (I started imagining the results they could achieve if they’d actually read the book). I was receiving text messages with comments like, “I have not climbed the tree of family enough this week.” or “I am following the pattern of thinking you told me about. It’s amazing!”

The more I heard such feedback, the more I believed that the book had the potential to be a blueprint for living a complete and happy life in the 21st Century. I humbly share this book and its story with you in the hope that it will change your life, like it did mine.

Interview with the Author

Where did the inspiration for A Higher Branch come from?
My ultimate inspiration for writing A Higher Branch came from my childhood experiences growing up on my grandmother’s farm in Lebanon. I loved to climb trees as a boy and was often found wandering the meadow climbing fig and olive trees. I also loved to explore the branches of one particular mulberry tree that grew at the front of her cottage.

I had a strong urge to climb as a boy. It gave me a sense of purpose, achievement, strength and freedom. From these feelings I developed a confidence and a belief in my abilities to do just about anything I wanted to in life. When I was not climbing trees I would spend my time following my grandmother around the farm watching her tend to her vegetable garden or baking mountain bread. I was a very curious child with many questions about life, love, people, the world we lived in and what I wanted to be when I grew up.

My grandmother, Rose, satisfied this curiosity by telling me stories of what my life will be like when I grew into a man. She would relate to me the challenges that I would face along the way and she identified the lessons that I must learn to live a complete and happy life. She would do this by telling me stories about my grandfather, who died before I was born. (The word grandfather translates as “Jido” in the Arabic). Her tales always started with the words, “Your Jido would say…” I guess she loved him immensely and kept him alive in her heart through the stories; I too loved him through the stories. (In my adulthood I learned that he loved to read the writings of Kahlil Gibran).

My day-to-day inspiration for writing the book came from going for long walks at sunrise and looking up at the beauty in trees. Looking at them often brought back memories of my grandmother’s wonderful stories.

Where did the inspiration for the characters Tom and the old man in A Higher Branch come from?
During the writing of the book I visualised myself as a young boy with my grandfather. In some chapters I also pictured what my grandmother Rose would teach my daughter Amelia if she were alive today. This is how I was able to write with a universal perspective that could be fittingly applied to both men and women.

What do you want readers to take away from A Higher Branch?
I hope they will:
1. Let the wisdom in the eight trees guide them and become their blueprint for living a complete life.
2. Pursue completeness with courage and without compromise. Not to neglect any Tree of Life, especially their health, love and family. Live from the heart and grow from the mind. A partnership between the two will never fail.

What did you learn while writing A Higher Branch?
I learned that most of the wisdom that I have acquired on my journey has come from children and grandparents. The young and the old have a lot to teach us about life. Children have imagination and grandparents have perspective.

Do you have anything specific you’d like to say to the readers of A Higher Branch?
Take action in life. Act with deliberate purpose. Don’t die wondering. You will amaze yourself at what you will achieve. Don’t be afraid to venture into uncharted territory where you might lose yourself. It is during these times that you will discover your uniqueness and strength.