Intentional Performers with Brian Levenson

Michael Bungay Stanier on Teaching, Coaching, and Becoming a Writer

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people know they’re awesome and they’re doing great. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, does what it says on the label. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and dabbles in the ukulele. He’s Australian, and lives in Toronto, Canada.

 

Michael had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“There is one part of me that suffers from S.O.S: Shiny Object Syndrome” (9:45).

“I’m good at generating ideas” (10:05).

“I don’t want to be fenced in” (10:20).

“Inspiration is when your past suddenly makes sense” (10:40).

“We unlock our greatness by working on the hard stuff” (11:10).

“I am good creating, and specifically making complicated stuff feel more accessible and practical for people” (18:25).

“I’m good at turning complicated concepts into something people can grasp” (19:05).

“I think it is a choice and a deliberate act to try and stay creative” (23:50).

“I know I have a lot of bad ideas” (28:40).

“You should work under the assumption that most of your ideas aren’t great” (30:10).

“Just putting ideas out into the world is part of the process of getting closer to a good idea” (30:20).

“If you have bad ideas, it means you’re good at ideas because good ideas emerge from conversations of bad ideas” (32:10).

“If you’re getting 60% of the hard decisions right, you are rocking it” (34:00).

“Keep noticing the stuff you should be grateful for” (38:55).

“Part of being a writer is being a great reader” (41:45).

“Writing is the most distinctive expression of me as a teacher” (44:20).

“I have come to know a fair number of people, but I don’t really know many people at all” (56:35).

“For me, the best possible relationship is when it is safe, when it is vital, and also repairable” (1:04:55).

“Talk about how you’ll work together before you talk about what you’ll work on” (1:05:20).

 

Additionally, you can find Michael’s website here, and also connect with him on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also purchase Michael’s books, The Coaching Habit; The Advice Trap; How to Begin; and How to Work with (Almost) Anyone anywhere books are sold. Lastly, if you’d like to personally reach out to Michael, you can send him an email (teammbs@mbs.works).

Thank you so much to Michael for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Laura Gassner Otting on Beyond Wonderhell

Laura Gassner Otting - Speaker. Author. Entrepreneur. Motivator. Instigator.

Laura’s secret superpower is seeing your greatness and reflecting it back on you, so that you can get “unstuck” — and achieve extraordinary results

A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily, Laura’s 30-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected national search firm to expand a tech start-up; and founded, ran, and sold her own global search firm, partnering with the full gamut of mission driven corporate and nonprofit executives.

Laura is turned on by the audacity of The Big Idea and that larger-than-life goal you just can’t seem to shake. She’s an instigator, motivator, and provocateur, and she’s never met a revolution she didn’t like. Just ask her enduringly patient husband, two almost-grown sons, and two troublesome pups with whom she lives outside of Boston, MA.

 

Laura had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“It is amazing and exciting and humbling and wonderful when we achieve something we didn’t know we could achieve” (6:30).

“There are seasons of our lives” (10:40).

“We define success as bigger, better, faster, more, but if we’re doing that we’re always getting trapped in the ‘it’s not enough’” (11:30).

“There is an endpoint to each of our periods of hustle” (12:10).

“We need to give ourselves a little bit of expansiveness on the definition of our potential (17:35).

“I won’t take a meeting with my assistant unless she has an agenda for the meeting” (27:05).

“If the meeting doesn’t end with a “what do we do now” then everybody forgets about it and it’s a waste of time” (27:35).

“I have decided that in parenting you basically get to make one decision… you either get on their bus, or you get run over by their bus” (30:25).

“I’m a punch in the face wrapped in a warm hug” (39:50).

“I am that person, I’m just not always that person” (41:30).

“It’s really important to figure out who we are when we’re at our best” (41:35).

“I think we have to figure out who our alter egos are and all the different forms of our lives” (43:20).

“I might be center stage, but the audience is the star” (45:00).

“If all of these people are intimidated by me, I can shock them when I show some vulnerability” (49:15).

“As a leader, I think there is a real intentionality with how we set the culture, how we show up, what we look like, how we put ourselves together, the respect we show our colleagues” (52:10).

“We should just be us” (55:55).

“I’m 100% public with 40% of my life” (56:30).

“I am at my core a mother, a daughter, and a sister. But I’m also an athlete and a writer” (1:02:10).

 

Additionally, you can check out Laura’s website here and find out more about her book, Wonderhell, here. You can also follow Laura on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Lastly, you can find a link to the Limitless Life Assessment here.

Thank you so much to Laura for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Cate Luzio on Building Luminary

Cate Luzio spent two decades in financial services leading global multibillion-dollar businesses. During this time, she also led many of the institutions’ women’s networks and saw the disproportionate number of men to women and women of color in the senior ranks. She recognized the problem was a lack of investment and development of talent in the female pipeline, rather than a lack of talent itself.

This observation sparked a new direction for Luzio’s own trajectory. In a sharp career pivot, she launched Luminary, a gender inclusive, global professional education and networking platform created to address the systemic challenges impacting women across all industries and sectors. Luminary's mission - and Cate's - is to help women and our allies see a path forward by arming them with the tools, resources, and community to navigate their paths -- regardless of their professional journey.

 

Cate had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I wanted men to be part of the conversation, learn from the conversation, be educated” (7:20).

“If I can help empower all [not just women], then that’s the best-case scenario” (7:40).

“Our mission is to advance women in the workforce regardless of professional journey” (8:05).

“We are a join now community. There’s no application… I don’t want to be exclusionary; I want to be inclusionary” (10:00).

“For a male, there’s a lot of opportunities to get involved [with Luminary]” (11:30).

“I wanted all voices around the table” (13:25).

“We’ve got to make sure more and more men are attending our workshops and conversations” (15:50).

“If you feel like this is a community for you, be a part of it” (16:50).

“I didn’t learn in my career by being part of one group. I learned by being parts of lots of groups and big organizations” (22:30).

“There’s a program out there for everyone. You’ve got to individualize it” (22:40).

“As a businessperson, you have to be open to all ideas” (25:45).

“I have always taken risks in my career” (27:00).

“You can’t control everything” (29:10).

“You have to be okay with [the fact that] you don’t know everything” (29:25).

“When I’m backed against the wall, I’m going to continue to come out swinging” (31:00).

“If somebody tells me no, I look at that as a maybe. I’m a relentless person that will never give up if I believe in something (31:10).

“Our careers are not static” (33:55).

“I look at everything through a return-on-investment lens” (41:45).

“You’ve got to have boundaries” (43:10).

“I want my experiences, the experience I’ve taken from others, what I’ve learned, to impact someone else” (48:40).

“Whether 500 people walk away with impact or 1, it doesn’t matter to me. Because someone is walking away with impact and actionable advice they can apply to their life” (48:45).

“There’s never a full replacement for being in real life” (52:05).

“People just want to connect” (52:45).

“It’s the customer’s choice, and as long as we’re adding value and impact they will stay” (54:50).

“Everything we do is taking feedback and listening, and then making those decisions, because if it’s our way or the highway it will not work” (58:10).

“I look at everybody as a potential mentor and coach” (1:05:30).

 

Additionally, you can find the Luminary website here. You can also follow Cate on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Lastly, you can check out articles written by and about Cate in Fortune, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider, as well as a podcast with her via Bloomberg and a video featuring her in Cheddar.

Thank you so much to Cate for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Chris Voss on Knowing Negotiation Skills

Chris Voss has an extremely impressive resume and bio. He’s used many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the business world through his company, which is called The Black Swan Group. Prior to 2008, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s hostage working group. During his career, he’s also represented the US Government as an expert in kidnapping at two international conferences sponsored by the G8. Before becoming the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator, Chris served as the lead crisis negotiator for the New York City division of the FBI, and he really was in some precarious negotiations and he talks a lot about those experiences in his wonderful book, which is called Never Split the Difference, which has sold over two million copies. Chris was a member of the New York City joint terrorist task force for fourteen years; Chris has been in the weeds, in the trenches, fighting against some of the toughest, most difficult stuff that our country has faced. During his 24-year tenure, Chris has really experienced so many different situations. He’s trained not just on the field and in the trenches, but he’s also gone to Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School so he could learn more about negotiation. He’s also been a teacher; he’s taught business negotiation in MBA programs as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, and at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. In addition to that, he’s gone all over the world to teach as a guest lecturer from places like Harvard University to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and even to places like Germany to teach what he’s learned along his journey and his experience.

In today’s conversation, Chris will talk about experiences as a negotiator, whether it’s kidnapping or whether it’s something in your business, and I even get into negotiation with my children. I think you’ll find that he’s definitely someone who’s had applied experience, there’s no question about that, but he also loves to read, he loves to listen to podcasts, he loves to learn from science and research; Chris is this amazing blend of authentic, real, street smart, coupled by a humility and a strong, strong desire to learn that I think you will connect with. I know you’re going to learn from Chris, I certainly did.

 

Chris had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Nobody is going to be great at negotiation first thing in the morning” (8:30).

“Mirroring works great with kids of all ages when you’re trying to get them to talk” (8:50).

“’No’ makes people feel safe and secure” (9:20).

“People are smarter when they’re laughing and they’re having a good time” (9:45).

“Trying to get people to say ‘yes’ is a bad idea” (11:10).

“’Yes’ is nothing without ‘how’” (14:15).

“Open-ended questions are designed to create thinking, not to get an answer” (16:00).

“Helping people get better. Helping people solve their problems. Helping people accelerate their lives. [That’s what excites me].” (18:40).

“What people don’t say is as important as what they do say” (19:10).

“Sniff out the people that are trying to cut your throat, trying to exploit your interests, and walk away” (21:10).

“Best chance of success means you’re not always going to be successful” (22:30).

“When things go bad, you have two choices: you can grow, or you can quit” (22:35).

“I don’t think you really learn anything when you win” (24:20).

“You can’t read enough. You can’t learn enough. You can’t listen enough” (27:15).

“High IQ people have trouble being good negotiators” (28:40).

“Curiosity is a superpower” (29:45).

“You’re 31% smarter in a positive frame-of-mind” (29:55).

“It’s impossible to be curious and in a negative frame-of-mind at the same time” (30:05).

“Empathy is really about demonstrating understanding” (35:45).

“Empathy is not about liking or agreeing with the other side” (36:35).

“Data improves design. We execute and learn constantly” (43:10).

“Someone once asked me ‘Describe yourself in three words.” And my respond was “deeply flawed human” (45:05).

“[Listening skills] are perishable” (45:45).

“Compromise is lazy. Compromise is not collaborative” (46:55).

“Don’t let your ego get in the way of a better idea” (47:30).

“Never be mean to somebody who can hurt you by doing nothing” (58:25).

 

Additionally, you can purchase Chris’s book, Never Split the Difference, anywhere books are sold. You can also find the website for the Black Swan Group here, where you can find a ton of information and also sign up for a free newsletter. Lastly, you can follow Chris on Instagram as well.

Thank you so much to Chris for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Jackie Insinger on Valuing Values

Jackie Insinger is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and a sought-after leadership and team dynamics consultant. Jackie combines the science of positive psychology, which we talk a lot about in today’s conversation, with revolutionary tools and programs to help leaders increase authentic connection, performance, and fulfillment. Jackie works with teams to build a culture of trust, while guiding them to become more aligned, communicate more effectively, collaborate with ease, and support each other more efficiently. Her trainings lead to measurable increases in productivity, performance, and engagement within an overall enhanced culture. In turn, she hopes they see a positive ROI for the company’s bottom line. Jackie cares about the individual, but she also cares about teams and cultures, and at the end of the day how can we improve performance of our organizations. She has a psychology degree from Duke University and a master’s from Harvard. She has worked with individuals and teams that have positively impacted thousands of people and businesses throughout the world. She’s been featured in Forbes, Inked Magazine, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, California Business Journals, CEO Worlds Magazine, HR.com, and many other outlets. Her book Spark Brilliance, which we talk a lot about in today’s conversation, has hit best-seller in five different business categories.

I think you’re going to find this conversation to be refreshing. Jackie is authentic; she shares some of her own personal story, some of her own personal challenges, and how that adversity has shaped how she’s helped see the world. You’re going to find Jackie to be upbeat and positive, but she also combines that with depth and an authenticity that makes her extremely relatable.

 

Jackie had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Emotional contagion is the spontaneous spread of emotions from person to person or through a group, which could be good or bad depending on what we’re spreading” (5:15).

“As a leader, you can inspire an outlook on the layer below you and the layer below them with just how you chose to show up in a meeting, in a moment” (5:50).

“How we show up to our lives in any relationship will spread to the people around us” (6:00).

“When you’re in a remote working environment, how the leader shows up in the meeting will determine that emotional state and that outlook that people take on the rest of the day until that next meeting” (7:50).

“You can avoid something. It doesn’t mean it’s not there” (11:20).

“Emotions are there for a reason. They’re there to indicate something to you” (11:45).

“No emotion is a bad emotion” (12:05).

“The more I honor and pay attention to [negative emotions], the less scary they are” (13:50).

“When you look at the emotion before it becomes a big deal, sometimes you can have the thing not become a problem” (14:45).

“Avoiding conflict as a coping mechanism became ingrained in me” (20:35).

“That fear state, even though it wasn’t the ideal state, gave me the drive and the fuel to move my life forward in really positive directions in a very accelerated way” (22:55).

“I was driven from a fear state. And I’m so grateful for that because that’s not often what happens from a fear state” (25:45).

“How do you give [your kids] a scaffold, but not start them too far ahead where they don’t have to learn?” (32:30).

“Gratitude is the quickest way to change your brain. And it’s proven [through MRI studies] to change your brain” (39:00).

“Every night before bed, [everyone in our family] says three things we’re grateful for” (40:00).

“If you’re not curious, you can’t create those authentic connections, you can’t have the same level of effective communication” (46:20).

“As a leader, the number one skill we need to tap into is curiosity” (46:40).

“There’s a huge value in sitting down and having a conversation” (52:20).

“The goal isn’t to get back to normal, because the absence of sadness is not happiness. The absence of sickness is not health. The absence of burnout is not thriving. Normal is a baseline where all of the good stuff starts” (59:45).

“I think of the science of happiness as a limited term that diminishes the power of positive psychology” (1:01:35).

 

Additionally, you can follow Jackie on LinkedIn and Instagram and check out her website here. You can also connect with Jackie via email (Jackie@SparkBrilliance.com).

Thank you so much to Jackie for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Annie Murphy Paul on Exploring Creativity

Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Scientific Americans, Slate, Time Magazine, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. She’s the author of three books, including Origins, which was reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review and selected by The New York Times as a notable book. She’s also the author of The Cult of Personality, which was hailed by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker as a fascinating new book. Her latest book is The Extended Mind, which we get into quite a bit in today’s conversation. Annie has spoken to audiences all over the world about learning and cognition. Her TED Talk has been viewed by about three million people.

Today we do a deep dive certainly into all of Annie’s work up until now, but we really do a deep dive into the science of creativity, which is what Annie is most curious about at the time of this recording. We get into a variety of topics in today’s conversation. Annie is someone who deeply cares about research and science, and she is an amazing writer.

 

Annie had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“You always want to move on to the exciting next thing” (5:40).

“Learning and creativity are related” (5:50).

“We’re all creators” (6:15).

“Creativity, for kids and for adults, is how we learn. We’re experimenting, we’re trying out new things and seeing what happens” (6:30).

“Creativity is an expression of aliveness” (6:45).

“Researchers are repeatedly demonstrating that creativity is a skill that can be taught” (9:20).

“Creativity and curiosity are messy” (12:10).

“There’s an organic order in the material I’ve collected. I just need to find it” (17:00).

“We’re exploiting ourselves to death” (20:20).

“I just want to feel. I want to have new experiences. I want to put myself in new situations where I can see myself in a new light” (21:40).

“Happiness comes and goes, it’s not under our control. But seeking out new experiences that make us feel alive, that feels so important to me following this enforced confinement put upon us by the pandemic” (19:55).

“The mind is almost like what the brain is able to do with itself. The extended mind is saying there’s a lot more we can do with our brain than just cogitate inside our skulls. We can actually, with our minds, reach outside the brain” (29:00).

“’How should we live?’ is the most interesting question these days” (30:55).

“Creativity is one of the highest expressions of being human” (31:30).

“So often, what we assume and what we expect and what we think we know is wrong” (32:20).

“The way we interpret or understand reality is often mistaken. We need science to show us that” (32:35).

“We humans have elaborated on those basic instincts we share with animals” (35:00).

“The movement of our hands is thinking. It’s part of the thinking process” (37:05).

“Tuning into the body can be a primary source of information without tuning into words alone” (42:40).

“I came to understand the extended mind as a way we transcend the limits of our biological brain” (44:45).

“Bringing the world into your thinking is such an essential aspect of creativity” (46:00).

“The world is affecting us even before we’ve been born” (48:35).

“Once you’re a parent, you see the world in a different way” (51:40).

“The point of writing a book is to stimulate change” (59:15).

“We think in terms of metaphors” (1:00:25).

 

Additionally, you can purchase any of Annie’s books anywhere books are sold. You can also find her TED Talk here, her website here, and follow her on Twitter here.

Thank you so much to Annie for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Kelly McGonigal on Stress, Willpower, and the Joy of Movement

I’ve been a fan of Kelly McGonigal for quite some time now. Her work has been shared with my clients over the years. Her TED Talk, which came out in 2014, titled How to Make Stress Your Friend, has over 30 million views, making it one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time. Not only is she a great speaker, she’s also an incredible writer. Her books, The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress are fantastic. Her latest book, which is called The Joy of Movement explores why physical exercise is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Kelly works as a health psychologist, and she talks a lot about today the power of impacting people, not just with her books and her TED Talk, but also on a one-on-one level as a mentor. She’s also an exercise instructor, and as a health psychologist she specializes in understanding the mind-body connection.

Kelly is somebody who loves to work with people, she cares about connecting with humans, she also is a lover of animals; she carries multiple identities, and we talk about those identities in today’s conversation. Additionally, she has been successful in her career, and yet the conversation starts with her talking about her definition of success and of achievement; it may be different than what you might guess or how you might define success and achievement.

 

Kelly had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Because I said something that someone needed to hear or I created an experience that gave someone hope, that’s number one [in terms of how I define success]” (5:45).

“I also define success by being able to do things and spend my time on things I love” (6:05).

“I’m highly motivated to live a life where I get to engage with activities and ideas that make me happy or make me passionate” (6:15).

“I just love teaching movement, and especially dance. And I wanted to make that a core part of my identity broadly” (7:55).

“That’s my orientation to life: to try to show people that if you are in a place that feels hopeless and difficult and you are struggling, there are things you can do that will help you also experience meaning and purpose and growth and love and contribution” (9:10).

“Being an identical twin, it’s like there is a you in a different body. But it’s still you in this really deeply connected way” (11:55).

“Part of my identity is this abstract sense of connection to the people around me” (12:10).

“I love the idea that there’s something in us that we’re born with and we get to spend our lives exploring what that is and expressing that” (16:05).

“I love the idea that we aren’t totally blank slates and impacted by our experiences in life, because a lot of the experiences that impact us are negative” (16:15).

“The point of view that I carry that has helped me through difficult experiences is feeling like who I am at my core, whether it’s temperament, biology, whatever that is, just me as a human being, that I actually am equipped to deal with stuff in life that happens that may be random” (16:30).

“I love finding out what other people love and being somebody who can mirror that and affirm that and encourage that” (17:45).

“I’m interested in talking to a human being about their life experience. That’s my sweet spot” (18:55).

“My favorite form of stress is the stress that I feel right before I get to do something really exciting” (20:20).

“If I’m doing something that matters, I want to feel some of that anxiety, some of that normal self-doubt, that is a reflection of the fact that I care” (23:20).

“Stress is in you. It’s a coping resource. It’s a coping response” (24:10).

“I define willpower as the ability to make choices that are consistent with your highest goals, your values, your priorities, even when some part of you wants to make a different choice” (31:15).

“We have competing selves” (31:40).

“If you exercise, you’re probably going to be happier, more connected to others, have more meaning and purpose in life, and better protected against depression and anxiety” (33:30).

“Pay attention to the direct experience” (34:40).

“It’s very easy to be influenced by our environment, by other people, and by process and structure” (36:55).

“Human beings survive through connection and interdependence” (43:30).

“Everything that is interesting and good about humans has to do with our relationships with other people” (43:45).

“We get a lot of our value and meaning through our relationships and through our communities and our contributions” (52:10).

“You either are going to spend [your time] being of service or spend [your time] being in fear” (57:00).

“Your life is over when it’s over” (57:10).

 

Additionally, you can find Kelly’s TED Talk, How to Make Stress Your Friend, here, and you can follow her on Instagram here.

Thank you so much to Kelly for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Dolly Chugh on Striving to Be Goodish

Dolly Chugh (she/her, hear my name) is an award-winning professor at the New York University Stern School of Business where she teaches MBA courses in leadership and management. Her research focuses on “bounded ethicality,” which she describes as the “psychology of good people.” She is the author of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias (HarperCollins, 2018), A More Just Future (Simon & Schuster, 2022), and the popular Dear Good People newsletter. Dolly’s TED Talk was named one of the 25 Most Popular TED Talks of 2018 and currently has almost 5 million views.

 

Dolly had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I love writing. It’s a space that’s really rejuvenating and clarifying for me” (6:35).

“I think through writing” (6:45).

“I’m a big fan of dumping thoughts out as unformed as possible” (7:40).

“I teach on the page” (8:55).

“I am learning alongside my students” (9:10).

“Thinking is dynamic” (10:40).

“A lot of us are looking for a way to engage that feels ongoing with the conversation” (14:30).

“We would never have seen any change for the better if we were waiting for [everyone to get engaged]” (18:00).

“The mantra I heard growing up was to not worry about the outcome or reward” (26:15).

“Strategically, I’m interested in how to deal with people who degrade the humanity of others” (35:25).

“I’m very deadline driven” (37:15).

“I put forcing mechanisms on myself” (38:00).

“People who had very rigid goals and people who had no goals went to the gym less than people who had a flex goal where there was a range in performance” (41:10).

“Any identity I individually care about I’m going to try to defend. That’s human nature” (42:10).

“One of the identities that many of us care about is being a good person” (42:25).

“We don’t all have the same definition of what a good person is” (42:30).

“We care about validating our identity” (43:35).

“That’s what I call being goodish. Essentially having a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset” (44:45).

“From a learning standpoint, the challenge mindset is a good place to be (45:05).

“Sports offer such a good metaphor for life” (48:40).

“Our brains are not perfect machines. They’ve evolved to do a lot on autopilot and take shortcuts” (53:30).

“There’s a lot more things that benefit all of us than we realize” (57:10).

“Shame refers to a bad feeling that encompasses all of who I am… Guilt refers to a bad feeling about something that I did or didn’t do. It’s not about all of me, it’s about that thing” (1:03:15).

“Shame tends to lead to us being less active, less proactive, less owning of the issue, less likely to apologize, whereas guilt tends to lead to us to try to remedy the thing, be more active, be more likely to apologize” (1:03:45).

“Guilt is not a bad thing. It feels bad. It feels awful. But guilt helps us in a lot of ways” (1:04:15).

“Lean into the guilt and try to lean away from the shame” (1:05:00).

“You can only sprint for so long” (1:05:35).

“Embrace the joy. That’s going to be your superpower” (1:07:15).

“I’m excited about the power of the arts to help us all move in directions that are uncomfortable” (1:09:00).

 

Additionally, you can check out Dolly’s website here, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I’d also encourage you to purchase Dolly’s books, The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, and A More Just Future anywhere books are sold. You can also watch Dolly’s TED Talk here.

Thank you so much to Dolly for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Charles Duhigg on Habits, Productivity and Connection

Charles Duhigg is a best-selling author. I first found out about him from his first book The Power of Habit which is all about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies, and societies. It is a must-read if you’re interested in productivity or effectiveness or maximizing your potential. His next book, Smarter, Faster, Better is all about productivity; I highly recommend you check both of those out.

In today’s conversation, we weave a lot of what Charles has learned with those books into our conversation, and we talk about his future book, his next book, which is all about connection. We talk about how Charles has come to see the world from a habit lens, from a productivity lens, and from a connection lens as well.

He currently writes for the New Yorker Magazine; previously, he wrote for The New York Times. He is someone who thinks things deeply about how humans can thrive and how we can flourish and how we can be our best. He really dives deep into the science and the research whenever he is writing and sharing what he’s learned. He is someone that should be on your radar if he’s not already.

 

Charles had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Your relationship with this person [who has passed away] continues for the rest of your life” (7:05).

“When we think about death, we think about it as the worst thing that could possibly happen to us. And I think that that’s wrong. Everyone we know and love at some point is going to die. We might die before them. But this is, literally, just part of life. Embracing that, and saying there’s good and there’s bad, I don’t think it demeans it, I think it actually elevates it” (9:15).

“In some respects, the more successful you are… the less enjoyment you get from life” (11:55).

“You have to genuinely decide how you define success, and then commit to that. Embrace it and celebrate it” (12:20).

“Throughout time, the people who are happiest and most successful and who live the longest are the people who have the strongest relationships” (13:45).

“I’ve very deliberately started defining success as connections” (15:40).

“There’s a form of contentedness that comes from intensity” (22:40).

“I like to have a certain amount of intensity in my life” (23:00).

“We make a choice. And then when we stop making that choice, that’s when we get in trouble. We continue acting on this decision we made a month ago, a year ago, ten years ago, without reconsidering the question” (26:30).

“I spend a lot of time second guessing the choices I’m making. I commit to them when I make them [though]” (26:45).

“I need to keep in touch with that part of my brain that allows me to know that it’s time to change” (28:55).

“There was a time when busy and successful were synonymous” (30:35).

“There are periods when you love something, and you become too busy at that thing” (32:30).

“If you feel busy and you don’t know why, it’s a warning sign that you’re not thinking deeply enough” (32:45).

“Saying no is very important” (39:10).

“I can’t buy into the stakes around sports” (44:35).

“Democracy is made up. Justice is made up. All of these things that I think are really important, they’re made-up ideas that we make true simply by believing in them” (48:00).

“When it comes to conversation, one of the things that’s really important is to be less goal-oriented” (51:40).

“The other people around us have huge influences on our habits and on our productivity” (52:15).

“We become more productive, we become better shaped in our habits when we do it in a community, when we enlist other people” (52:25).

“Most of our lives are just a series of unrelated moments. But we tell ourselves a story about our lives and we endow that story into the things we care about” (53:00).

“A story only exists when there’s other people to hear it” (53:35).

“Surprise is what makes reading things interesting” (57:50).

“Everything about life is just about how do we take more control?” (1:06:00)

 

Additionally, you can find Charles’s website here. You can also reach out to Charles via email at Charles@CharlesDuhigg.com.

Thank you so much to Charles for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Brian Levenson Reflecting on Grandma Irene and Identity

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than the ones we’ve done in the past. I just had an inspiring experience that I thought would hopefully make all of us think a little bit more about our own identity, our own values, our ancestors, and how those experiences and the experiences of our family members impact us and how we see the world today. I wrote a little bit and I’m going to share what I wrote, and this is the best medium I know to share important, interesting, unique information. I really hope that today is something that will make you think and inspire you to look inward and reflect on yourself. At its core, this podcast episode is about identity and how we use that identity to make a difference and make an impact in this world.

 

Here are some insights I’d like to share form today’s episode:

“What would you do if you were able to spend time with Adolf Hitler (without any consequences) if he was around today?” (7:15).

“It’s one of the best gifts I think my parents gave me and my brothers: the capacity and the ability to think critically and to have convictions in some of our thoughts, and to stay curious about those convictions” (8:15).

“When [my grandmother] did talk about her experience [surviving the Holocaust], it was mainly about how grateful she was to be in America and to have the family she had” (9:10).

“My grandma and her parents were the lucky ones in Hungary” (11:20).

“One of the stories that always stuck with me about grandma was, upon arriving to New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty, a soldier turned to her and said, ‘You have no idea how happy I am to see that lady again.’ To which my grandma replied, ‘No, sir. You have no idea how happy I am to see her’” (12:35).

“All of us have the opportunity to stand up against hate. We’re complicit when we don’t” (13:10).

“What I wasn’t expecting was for my trip to Hungary to be accompanied by so much emotion” (16:25).

“I’ve cried my way through Hungary. Some tears were tears of pride, and some tears were tears of sorrow. Some tears were tears of joy, and some tears were tears of anger” (16:45).

“They say that trauma lives in the body. While I have lived a ridiculously privileged life with very little trauma, perhaps my grandma’s trauma was pouring out of me as I walked the streets of Hungary” (17:00).

“Life can be sad, hard, and emotional. Perhaps we all need to lean into those emotions to ensure we are doing everything we can to leave this world better than how we found it” (19:20).

“[My grandma] would be blown away by the young people who are teaching and helping the older generation re-connect with their Judaism without fear” (20:00).

“We must never forget what happened and we must never forget that we are a team. We must support each other; have perspective on what can happen if we don’t” (20:30).

“I believe life should be enjoyed and lived with gratitude in the present…. But I know I can hold more space than just joy” (21:35).

“I need to carry some of my grandma’s trauma with me. It will help me step up and step out against inhumanity. I don’t want to leave my tears in Hungary” (21:50).

“If you are thriving, you have a responsibility to go pour into somebody else” (22:40).

“If you’re just thriving for yourself, I would argue that’s not a meaningful life” (22:50).

“We all have to understand the darkness of humans. We cannot be blind to it” (24:15).

“We all have to co-own our stories of the past” (25:00).

“We’re all an amalgamation of our DNA and our experiences, but our stories and our ancestors are inside of us. We carry them with us” (26:05).

“I’d like to challenge you to reflect on who you are, your history, your identity, and how that impacts your decisions today” (26:30).

“Do you have your story, or does your story have you?” (26:50).

“We must create new memories, new stories, new generations, new values, new ways of seeing the world, so that we can make this place better” (27:15).

 

If you’d like to connect with me further directly about this episode or anything else, you can reach out to me via email (brian@strongskills.co).

Thanks for listening.

Stevo Luddy on Growth from Pain

Stephen Ludwig has amassed over 4 million followers across all platforms. As a young inspirational speaker, he delivered his life story to various audiences through high school. After noticing the extreme growth of social media, he aimed to build a brand that would spread the message of positivity in ways that public speaking simply could not.

 

Stevo had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Growing up, I needed some sort of person to idolize” (7:10).

“When you go through the motions of going in and out of the hospital, you lose a sense of who you are, and you need to find that person to look after. And Kobe was that guy” (7:35).

“It was all about competition for me, and Kobe was competition” (9:45).

“I’m starting to realize that maybe I went too hard on occasion growing up” (12:55).

“Getting through college and seeing the world as a bigger place, I started to slow down and really start showing love and compassion instead of just competitiveness” (13:35).

“Every single day I would try to find strength” (14:45).

“My superpower is my self-confidence, my ability to just completely and 100% wholeheartedly understand myself and believe in myself” (16:50).

“If you spend enough time lying in a hospital bed and starting at the clock, you start to learn who you are inside and out” (17:05).

“People can feel a confidence aura from you” (18:15).

“We all experience life in a different vision” (20:40).

“I always wanted to be the person that could make everyone else laugh in the room” (28:20).

“I love my relationships with pain” (29:00).

“I always wanted to be a creative; and artist, of sorts” (34:00).

“I wanted to embody my own brand” (34:30).

“My goal is to be an inspiration to as many people as I can” (35:45).

“It’s absolutely incredible that I have the opportunity to reach 4 million people” (37:10).

“Every conversation I have, I feel Iike I can learn something” (42:15).

“I’ve had to learn how to accept [anxiety days]” (43:05).

“Your day-to-day life is completely in your control” (43:40).

“I enjoy moments more than planning for the future” (53:30).

“I’m basking in comfortability” (57:45).

“I enjoy being uncomfortable. That’s why I’m confident in myself (57:55).

“Being famous is not cool” (1:02:55).

 

Additionally, you can check follow Stevo across all social media platforms @stevoluddy. If you’d like to personally connect with Stevo, you can email him (stevoluddy@gmail.com).

Thank you so much to Stevo for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Vanessa Bohns on Using Your Influence

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, and author of the book You Have More Influence Than You Think. She is an expert on help-seeking, social influence, compliance, consent, and why it’s so hard to say no.

 

Vanessa had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Influence is any kind of change in another person’s way of thinking, their emotions, their way of seeing things” (6:40).

“You don’t have to be a leader in a leadership position to have influence” (7:00).

“Even as a follower, you have a lot of influence” (7:10).

“My idea of influence is broader than just leadership” (7:30).

“Influence is also these more intimate moments between just you and one other person” (9:20).

“Influence comes with responsibility” (11:40).

“We’re not very good at telling when someone’s authentic or not, and if we’re hearing what we want to hear we’ll just kind of go with it” (16:30).

“When we think about how someone else is going to react to something we say… we really focus on how competently we can express ourselves… to the point where we hold back and wind up saying nothing because we can’t find the right words” (19:05).

“People respond much more to the emotion and the act of just saying something than they do to the precise words” (19:55).

“Our fears of these negative reactions are so often overblown (22:55).

“A lot of influence does happen emotionally and unconsciously” (25:50).

“If we a trust a source, it doesn’t really matter what they’re saying on many occasions, we just kind of trust [what they’re saying] because we trust that person” (25:55).

“Behavioral contagion is the idea that when we see somebody else doing something, we’re more likely to do it ourselves” (27:20).

“Whether it’s a ‘no’ or a ‘yes,’ be mindful about what you agree to” (38:05).

“Each time I say yes to one thing, I am saying no to something else” (38:45).

“We often think that interactions are going much worse in our head, that we’re having much less of an impact than we’d like, than we actually are” (42:30).

“A simple ask is the simplest form of influence. And it’s insanely powerful” (44:10).

“It’s so hard to say no” (44:20).

“We often hammer things that we are trying to get someone to do so much more than we need to” (47:30).

“You don’t need to be so assertive when you’re trying to influence people. You can say something and trust that that message is in there and it will percolate for a while” (48:20).

“We tend to underestimate the power of expressing gratitude, both for ourselves and for the other person” (56:00).

 

Additionally, you can check out Vanessa’s website here and follow her on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. I’d also encourage you to check out Vanessa’s book, You Have More Influence Than You Think: How we underestimate our power of persuasion, and why it matters.

Thank you so much to Vanessa for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Ryan Lavarnway on Finding Belonging

Ryan Lavarnway was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round in 2008 out of Yale University. Since making his Major League debut in 2011, Ryan has played in parts of 10 Major League Baseball seasons for eight different teams. He has also represented Israel in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. More recently Ryan has been building a brand off the field, starting with his podcast and website with more to come!

 

Ryan had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“It always felt like something there was a little something missing [from baseball] until I started to get onto these teams that really came together as a unit” (5:30).

“Religion is something that, unless you have a Star of David on your chest and are being persecuted for it, people can’t necessarily tell just by looking” (10:35).

“I want the meaning. I crave something deeper” (13:15).

“We’re all always finding ourselves” (14:40).

“The second that you think you know who you are, don’t close the book. We’re always growing” (14:55).

“More important than ‘Who am I?’ is “What do you value and what are you doing about it?’” (15:00).

“As I self-identify, I do it from a place of experience” (18:40).

“There’s a part of you that needs to be obsessed to be great at anything” (19:20).

“Different people need different things to be successful” (20:20).

“I thought leadership was about the leader. I thought it was about being the boss. That’s very much not it. Leadership is about the people you lead” (25:55).

“The platinum rule says treat other people the way they want to be treated” (27:00).

“I loved the service aspect of [being a catcher]” (29:40).

“You can’t measure leadership yet” (31:00).

“Baseball’s a game of failure” (36:00).

“You have to accept that you’re not going to be successful all of the time” (36:25).

“You have to make practice difficult” (36:35).

“I’m trying to find a way to be aggressively selective, not selectively aggressive” (37:25).

“Whatever the genius for you is and however it’s going to come out requires time and space for creativity” (45:00).

“It’s really tough to be a good self-evaluator in [the game of baseball]” (49:50).

“I think it’s important for people to have an example of someone else that didn’t understand right away and learned later” (56:05).

“There’s more than one way to make a decision” (56:30).

 

Additionally, you can check out Ryan’s website here and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. I’d also encourage you to check out Ryan’s podcast Finding the Way with Ryan Lavarnway, which is available on all major podcast platforms. Ryan also has a children’s book which will be coming out, titled Baseball and Belonging. Lastly, you can find the website for the Spark Brilliance Leadership Accelerator here, with whom Ryan is partnering with as a facilitator.

Thank you so much to Ryan for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Lauren Fleshman on Good For a Girl

Lauren Fleshman is best known for running fast. But she’s also an entrepreneur, coach, teacher, facilitator, and a heck of a writer. She has an amazing blog which has gained a lot of traction and popularity over the years, and she’s just finished her book, Good for a Girl. That book is really at the core and the center of today’s conversation. In the middle of our conversation today, I actually introduce her bio to her because I was curious to get her perspective on it.

If you’re in the running community, you’re probably familiar with Lauren’s work. She’s one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time. She also is a brand strategy advisory for Oiselle, which is a fitness apparel company for women. She was sponsored by Nike for many years, which she talks about at length in the book. She’s also the co-founder (with her husband) of Picky Bars, which is a natural food company. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Runner’s World, and many other places. She currently lives in Bend, Oregon and is a mother. She is someone who has multiple identities, like many of us. And yet, a lot of her life has been focused on her identity as a runner.

This is a wide-ranging conversation that gets into mental health, depression, suicidal thoughts, and more. It’s a heavy conversation, but you’ll find Lauren to be engaging, open, vulnerable, and someone that I am grateful that I got to learn with.

 

Lauren had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“The price that you have to pay to make it work for you can sometimes be a very high cost” (7:00).

“Even though I was winning in that system, it made me uncomfortable that so many people in that system were losing and experiencing harm” (7:15).

“I don’t assume that things are the way they are for any good reason” (7:30).

“Brilliant perspectives can come from outside the scientific community” (7:50).

“A lot of the contributions of women in society [are invisible]” (9:00).

“There are ways to be successful that minimize harm” (15:25).

“It’s okay to want to succeed. It’s not okay to put the blinders on and not look at the harm caused” (15:35).

“Being on the same team is how you survive” (19:10).

“I want to make something useful out of things I’ve learned that could be picked up by other people and create shifts inside them” (21:10).

“I never underestimate the power of a subtle shift in someone” (21:20).

“You write for the reader and you write for yourself” (22:20).

“Move your body no matter what, and lower the bar of what that means, when you’re having a bad time” (34:30).

“Make sure you have people who are available to you who you can be vulnerable with” (34:50).

“It’s a hard time to start being vulnerable with someone when you’re feeling super blue. Let people in” (35:10).

“Accept that {anxiety} is part of hard things” (37:10).

“Lower the stakes. It’s a game” (38:45).

“Our ignorance is so collectively great on the female athlete experience, the female body experience, that we are making young people make conclusions about their future in sport or what they’re capable of based on a very short window of their life when their body is changing, and we’re making them afraid of those changes” (43:30).

“I’m a very present-focused person” (54:15).

“I think [loyalty] is overrated” (55:55).

“Agitation is the opposite of calmness” (1:00:00).

“Mantras were a way to ground myself in running with predetermined sayings and sentences” (1:00:20).

“People call it a mid-life crisis. I call it a mid-life opportunity” (1:07:30).

“We’ve got to show our mistakes and our vulnerability in order to encourage other people to look at their own” (1:10:50).

 

Additionally, you can check out Lauren’s website here. You can also follow Lauren on Instagram.

Thank you so much to Lauren for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Michelle ”Mace” Curran on Inspiring Others

Michelle Curran has led an impressive career as a Fighter Pilot during her 13 years in the United States Air Force. From 2019-2021, she flew as the only female pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds and performed for millions across the country and internationally. Before joining the Thunderbirds, Michelle was a combat-proven fighter pilot completing missions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She has a passion for pushing her limits, inspiring others, and changing lives.

As the Lead Solo for the Thunderbirds, Michelle realized the flying was cool, but the best part was inspiring others to overcome their fears and pursue their dreams. Since transitioning out of the military, she has founded her company, Upside Down Dreams, and is committed to empowering men and women of all ages to overcome obstacles and the fear of failure. She has inspired thousands through her passion for breaking barriers and setting the example of what can be accomplished through handwork.

 

Michelle had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“A big part of what I got to do in that job was inspire people” (6:55).

“Most of my career I didn’t think I was a good enough pilot to fly in that position” (9:30).

“The pandemic acted as a catalyst for me to really reflect on what I wanted” (12:25).

“I miss the really unique perspective you get on the world from a cockpit” (15:15).

“It’s accepted that mistakes are going to happen. You learn from them. You grow from them. It creates the psychological safety where you build that trust” (25:00).

“What you though was a big mistake, to the visual naked eye… you couldn’t tell” (25:40).

“Chair flying is our version of visualization… It’s the only way to get to the level of proficiency that you need” (26:30).

“You want to put in all the preparation you can so you get as close to perfect as possible. You’re striving for perfect. That’s your target. But we would always say we never have a perfect flight” (30:35).

“The whole mission is to recruit, retain, and inspire” (38:20).

“I always enjoyed being creative, and there’s not always a ton of space in the military for creativity” (40:30).

“Having gender diversity on the team 100% was making the Thunderbirds better able to do their overall mission” (42:05).

“There’s some risk that comes to sticking out” (43:20).

“My identity as a young pilot was totally wrapped up in my achievements” (48:20).

“There’s a lot more to a person than just what they accomplish” (49:05).

“My biggest fear was failure for the longest time” (49:15).

“Society really condemns quitters” (58:00).

“Something you thought would be the ultimate outcome might not take shape like you imagined” (58:30).

“Quitting that opened up space for all of these other amazing things that ended up being much more fulfilling and much more of a better fit that would have never been options had I not quit” (59:50).

 

Additionally, you can check out Michelle’s website here. I’d also encourage you to connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn. Lastly, you can pre-order Michelle’s children’s book, Upside Down Dreams, here.

Thank you so much to Michelle for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Clint Hurdle on Leading with Love

Clint Hurdle has been involved with professional baseball for a long time. He played in the league for 10 years, where he played for the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, and the St. Louis Cardinals. And yet, in this conversation, we don’t even discuss his playing career. Instead, we focus more on what life was like for him as a manager. Clint was the manager of the Colorado Rockies from 2002-2009, where he helped them go to the World Series, and then he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he helped them go to 3 straight playoff appearances from 2013-2015. He was with the Pirates from 2011-2019.

In this conversation, we talk about transitions, and what it was like for him to go from the Rockies to the Pirates. We talk about what it’s like to be fired. We talk about divorce and his personal life. We talk about trials and tribulations. All along the way, it will become apparent to you that Clint loves to love. He loves to lead, and he loves to lead with love in mind. He considers himself to be a transformational leader. He builds his managerial process and philosophy around leading with relationships in mind, and it’s really at the core of his essence and his being. Clint also is humble enough to talk about some of his imperfections and some of the mistakes that he’s made along the way. You’re going to find Clint to be authentic, and genuine, to be someone you want to sit down next to and just have a conversation with. At the end of this conversation, I hope you have a better sense of who you are and how you might be able to lead with love going forward.

 

Clint had a number of incredible insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“There’s a time to learn and there’s a time to manage” (5:55).

“When I got to the park, that’s when it was time to learn” (6:50).

“Once the game started, I would implore my players to go play. That’s why they call it a game” (7:50).

“You prioritize before, you prepare before, and once you get to the game, it’s time for me to play. It’s time for me to step back. Watch. Observe.” (8:15).

“I was always infatuated with learning” (10:35).

“To hold onto anything purely for the sake of tradition probably isn’t the smartest move you can make” (12:10).

“Tradition can be a vision killer” (12:20).

“Once we’ve made a tactical error, more often than not we overcorrect” (14:30).

“The definition of a coach is to get the player better” (16:00).

“When you can let people know that you love them unconditionally, you don’t want anything from it, it’s not transactional, it’s transformational, there’s no telling where that relationship can go” (21:05).

“How do you earn trust? You show people that you’re there for them” (21:30).

“There’s winning, and there’s learning. You only lose when you don’t learn” (28:45).

“Play with emotion, don’t play emotionally” (30:00).

“We can’t always dictate the circumstances. We always have the opportunity to have ownership of our reactions to the circumstances” (30:20).

“There’s times when you need to be a thermometer and just report the temperature, and there’s times when you need to be a thermostat and set the climate” (32:30).

“I establish priorities and I set boundaries” (40:45).

“Perception is important” (42:50).

“How boring would it be to have ten of me on a staff?” (44:00).

“When it all becomes about the ring, it doesn’t work well for me” (45:50).

“I’m a man of addictions. I have to set boundaries” (50:00).

“Other than a dugout, an AA meeting is the most comfortable place I go” (53:05).

“Be where your feet are” (55:10).

“When you’re home, be home” (55:25).

“You’re never as good as you think you are, you’re never as bad as you think you are” (1:00:40).

Additionally, you can check out Clint’s website and sign up for his devotionals here. You can also learn more about Bat Around here. Lastly, you can search Prader-Willi syndrome if that is something you’d be interested in learning more about.

Thank you so much to Clint for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Safi Bahcall on Loonshots

Safi Bahcall is going to come across pretty quickly as someone who is bright. Sharp. Smart. Intelligent. He went to Harvard for undergrad and then went on to get a PhD in Physics from Stanford. He’s an academic, a researcher; someone who loves studying science. After he finished up his education, he went on to work for 3 years as a consultant for McKinsey. He then co-founded a bio-technology company where they develop new drugs for cancer treatment. He led their IPO and served as their CEO for many years. In 2008 he was named Ernst & Young New England Bio-Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with President Obama’s Council of Science Advisors on the Future of National Research. In other words, it’s not just you or me that’s going to notice Safi’s intelligence. His book, Loonshots, which is his first book, has been translated into 21 languages and was selected as a Best Business Book of the Year by Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, and more. Today, Safi advises CEO’s and leadership teams on strategy and innovation, and has delivered keynote presentations at industry conferences, investor events, leadership retreats, medical meetings, and leading academic institutions around the world.

Today’s conversation we dive into his work, but we also get into his mindset and how he thinks about leadership and how he thinks about invention and innovation. And certainly, he admires people that have come before him, but Safi himself is often thinking about new ways of innovating, new ways of thinking. He loves to try to think about not just how he sees the world, but how people around him see the world and how we can make teams and organizations and groups better instead of just thinking about what’s convenient for ourselves. This is an idea that is at the core of his book Loonshots. The book is a lot about learning empathy, learning how to listen, learning how to read a room and read an organization, and then figure out how you can collaborate and work together to make really big things happen.

 

Safi had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“You need to be trying a lot of things and failing” (8:30).

“Artists are the people who we want to take risks and explore the unknown” (10:55).

“The confusion is when you assume artists and innovators are the same” (12:30).

“If you’re in the managing or leadership position, the number one thing you have to remember is that you’re always signaling. Everybody is watching your face constantly” (21:05).

“If you favor one side over the other, you’re going to sink the ship” (21:30).

“You’ve got to respect both your creative artist scientist-types, your innovators, and your soldiers. And you’ve got to manage them differently” (26:50).

“When you’re in artist mode, if you’re not failing, if you’re not trying and things don’t work, you’re not pushing yourself enough” (28:10).

“Art and science are connected by purpose. The purpose of art is the pursuit of beauty, the purpose of science is the pursuit of truth, and they’re very close. There’s beauty in truth and there’s truth in beauty” (30:15).

“[To cultivate curiosity in people], just keep asking why” (32:30).

“I don’t focus on what did you learn. I focus on what did you ask” (33:20).

“What you want to cultivate in yourself and in your kids, if you’re raising kids, is asking good questions” (33:30).

“The guy with the initial idea is the guy getting the ball from his own goal line to his own five-yard line” (43:00).

“What separates the real innovators is how they go about it. Do they keep asking why?” (45:30).

“They have courage, curiosity, and commitment. Those are the 3 C’s that I’ve seen across people who are really good at innovating” (46:15).

“I had very little idea what I was going to be writing about when I started writing Loonshots” (52:30).

“Commit to running an experiment a day” (54:30).

“Just using the word ‘experiment’ gives you permission to fail” (54:45).

“Write FBR early on. Fast, bad, and wrong” (55:45).

“That’s the key: if and when you’re stuck, it’s to develop a personal cookie jar… your cookie jar is where you reach into when you’re struggling” (1:03:05).

 

Additionally, you can find Safi’s website here and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Thank you so much to Safi for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Alex Auerbach on Elite Sport Psychology

Alex Auerbach is a Licensed Counseling and Sport Psychologist, he’s a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and Board-Certified Coach working in professional sports. He’s worked with elite teams and performers from a range of domains, including the NBA and the NFL, Olympians, Army Special Forces, Fortune 5 companies, and venture-backed start-ups. Currently, he is the Senior Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors.

In this conversation, we do a deep dive into the world of Sport Psychology, we talk a lot about leadership and culture, and how individuals in teams need to work from the inside out and develop the mindset they need to be at their best, and how environments can impact us from the outside in. Alex is my kind of thinker. He loves to think about and research and study science and best practices that exist in psychology. We both are extremely curious and passionate about what makes teams great and how do we create environments for individuals to unlock their potential.

 

Alex had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“We need to position the people around athletes and peak performers to facilitate the performance, to be enhancing of performance” (5:45).

“Athletes report the single biggest thing stopping them from peak performance is the organizational stuff” (6:30).

“The environment is responsible for developing talent” (6:55).

“I wish I could say there was one right way to do it, but this is just the way that it works for me” (11:00).

“My role is to make sure everyone has what they need from a mental health standpoint and a mental performance standpoint. That also means that I’m not all things to all people; I can’t be all things to all people” (13:15).

“To be an elite athlete requires a really really high degree of self-regulation” (17:30).

“Mental health is the foundation of peak performance” (20:30).

“Taking care of your mental health is about leaving more room for you to be a peak performer” (21:40).

“We’re all feeling something all the time” (24:15).

“[Emotion] is a part of the human experience. We’re not going to get rid of it, we’re not going to fight it” (24:25).

“Acceptance is if in fact there is nothing you can do to change the situation, then it is being willing to sit with the discomfort as long as you’re moving towards something that you care about” (27:10).

“Making the main thing the main thing is really important” (31:20).

“The people who are happiest are the people whose experience matches their expectations” (33:50).

“Norms are what you accept” (38:45).

“A leader is a person who’s willing to use themselves to help others get better” (52:05).

“The best teammates are the ones who are [leading] behind the scenes, under the radar, who know what buttons to push and levers to pull to get the most out of their teammates” (53:30).

“You can win a championship one year without leadership. I’m not sure you can build a dynasty without leadership” (53:45).

“My [unfair advantage] is being able to see a system and break it down in parts and see how things fit together and identify what levers to pull and things to move that can make a big change and do it in a behind the scenes way” (59:50).

“Adversity does tend to bring out people’s real strengths” (1:03:10).

“The people who have the best time at work are the people who get to use a strength every day and people who generally feel energized by what they’re getting to do, and the two go hand-in-hand” (1:05:30).

 

Additionally, you can follow Alex on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also find the Unfair Advantage website here

Thank you so much to Alex for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Admiral John Richardson on Deliberate Leadership

Admiral John Richardson served 37 years in the US Navy, completing his service as the Chief of Naval Operations where he was the top officer in the Navy and responsible for 600,000 people under his watch. Before that, he served as the Director of Naval Reactors from 2012-2015. He was at the forefront of our military and our naval fleet and our submarines, both from a nuclear standpoint and from a people standpoint. Since his retirement, he’s continued to serve. He’s on the board of directors of the Boeing Company, Constellation Energy Corporation, and BMX Technologies. He’s also served on the boards of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, The Center for New American Security, and the Navy League of the United States. While in the Navy, he served in the submarine force and he commanded the attack submarine USS Honolulu in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for which he was awarded the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award. While he was in the Navy, he commanded at every level.

 

Admiral Richardson had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“There are those times when the leader has to lead the people, sometimes very subtly, and draw them into the right answer, draw them into a shared answer across the organization” (9:15).

“If you’re authentic with your team and you trust them and you have high expectations for them, they’re going to feel that and they’re going to rise to them and almost every time exceed those expectations” (9:45).

“It’s very tempting to try and become that leader who everybody loves” (10:20).

“It’s very hard to develop trust overnight, but you can lose it in the blink of an eye” (10:55).

“A climate of a really healthy organization in my mind is one that is founded on trust, but is also eager and willing to have that trust verified” (12:25).

“Your gut is a finely calibrated instrument that has been formed and shaped by your experience” (14:10).

“Not [making a] decision is a decision” (17:00).

“There are a lot of right paths to get to the objective” (18:25).

“The leader that is ready to become invisible is a very humble leader, mindful of their limitations” (20:25).

“I didn’t want to be the leader who was feared by my own team” (27:00).

“You have to learn to lead from a little bit of a distance” (35:30).

“The Navy is a leadership factory” (38:00).

“Sometimes you don’t know a person’s true stripes until you put them in charge” (39:20).

“Your example, your behavior is the thing that communicates most powerfully to everybody around you” (49:15).

“Teamwork at that level is something really magical” (58:40).

“Make it a deliberate effort every day to connect personally with somebody” (1:12:45).

“The best ideas can come from anywhere in the team, you’ve just got to be open to it” (1:17:05).

 

Additionally, if you want to connect to Admiral Richardson, you can reach out to Brain via email (Brian@StrongSkills.co).

Thank you so much to Admiral John Richardson for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

Sherri Coale on Coaching and Writing

Sherri Coale is a native Oklahoman. She grew up about thirty miles to the right side of the Red River in a small rural town where she fell in love with reading, writing, and basketball, not necessarily in that order. In 1987 after a highly successful collegiate career at Oklahoma Christian, she hung up her high tops, moving from the court to the sideline as she began what would become a Hall of Fame career as a Women’s Basketball Coach.

For 25 years, Sherri Coale served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Oklahoma where she is the winningest women’s basketball coach in OU history. She built a powerhouse program in Norman that appeared in 19 straight NCAA tournaments and competed in three Final Fours.

Sherri Coale is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Christian Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma FCA Hall of Fame, the Norman High School Wall of Fame, and has “Home of” signs that flank both entrances to the small town of Healdton where she was born and raised and will be eternally indebted.

During her illustrious career at the University of Oklahoma, in addition to coaching the Sooners, Coale participated in USA Basketball as an assistant coach in 2001 where the squad won a bronze medal, and a head coach in the World University Games in 2013 where her USA squad defeated Russia on their home court to bring home the gold. In addition to competitive excellence inside the lines both nationally and internationally, Sherri Coale has received numerous accolades and recognitions for her players’ performance academically as well as their team community service through the years. Maximizing her players’ skills both on and off the court has always been her goal.

Sherri Coale is an author, a master motivator, an engaging speaker, a gifted writer, and a keen observer of everyday life. She and her husband, Dane, have been married for 35 years. They have two children, one daughter-in-law, and one adorable granddaughter around which their universe currently spins. You can find her weekly blog, “A Weigh of Life” at sherricoale.com. Rooted to Rise, an Amazon bestseller, is her first book.

 

Coach had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“’Coach’ is a term of an endearment. It’s one of the most kind and respectful things someone can say about you” (5:00).

“My job [as a coach and a parent] is to help you think and grow, and that means we’re not always going to be friends” (8:50).

“I would be most comfortable being a little bit different than the athletes that I coach” (12:00).

“Regardless of whether you have a faith or not, if you can stop for 15 minutes and sing some hymns and spend some time together, your day would be better” (15:10).

“We have to take care of each other” (21:20).

“Who are you really bound to, what are you really tied to, that gives you sturdiness, that anchors you, if everything you do is on a whim or is based on how you feel or what you want?” (21:55).

“I want to do things that matter. I want to do things that move me. I want to do things that impact other people” (24:35).

“There is more to life than the outcome of games” (29:15).

“Coaches are choosing to do other things before they find themselves in a place where they resent what they love” (29:55).

“It’s so easy for high level coaches to get caught up in this world that is make believe” (32:10).

“[Coaching] is just something that I did. What I [am is my kids’] mom and Sherri” (35:20).

“None of us have only one side. We have to have a lot of different sides to accomplish all the different things we want to accomplish” (37:25).

“[Coaching and writing] are very similar as professions. You can’t do either one of them by putting your heart on the shelf. You have to just go at it. Full throttle.” (40:20).

“You don’t want to put everything in the spice cabinet into your recipe” (49:20).

“We have so many opportunities every single day to set people up for something great” (55:25).

“I don’t know if a piece of writing ever really gets to completion” (57:40).

“When the coaching world was getting a little bit heavy and I needed to escape, I would get lost in a bookstore” (58:20).

“What you learn as you get older and more experienced in the business of coaching is that you have to detach enough to be able to see everything as information” (1:02:30).

“I wrote it because it was true to me and I thought it might help people” (1:04:15).

 

Additionally, you can follow coach on Twitter and purchase her book, Rooted to Rise: The Redwood Legacies of Life Anchoring People, at either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Thank you so much to Sherri for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.