Strangest place I've closed a deal

Every year, Lia Grimanis challenges herself to do something daring -- go on a shark-feeding expedition, learn to pilot a helicopter, climb inside a glacier. "It was how I readied myself for whatever challenge lay ahead," she said.

Risk-taking is a quality that helped Grimanis through some of the toughest periods of her life -- like growing up below the poverty line and living in a homeless shelter as a teen.

In June 2011, she was working as an independent consultant when a tech company approached with a job prospect.

"They flew me to England to finish the final negotiations. So I took the opportunity to also fulfill a lifelong dream of wing walking on a plane."

In fact, Grimanis was strapped to the top of a biplane and about to take off when her phone rang. "I wouldn't have heard it if I was already in the air," she said.

She took the call, talked through the fine points and accepted a contract position at the firm -- and then the plane took off.