I created this podcast because I believe that much can be learned from digging deep with intentional performers. You can learn more about me and my company at www.strongskills.co.
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
Olajuwon Ajanaku, the Founder of Eastside Golf grew up in East Atlanta. He gained a golf scholarship to Morehouse College and won a National Championship alongside his co-founder, Earl Cooper. After graduating with a degree in accounting, he worked in Commercial Finance for many years. Olajuwon left the corporate world to fully embark on entrepreneurship that would support his own dream of turning pro in golf. As a result, Eastside Golf was formed.
Earl Cooper is a PGA Professional and is currently ranked as one of the best young teachers in America by Golf Digest. He has worked as the first African American golf professional at Detroit Golf Club and Wilmington Country Club. He graduated from Morehouse College where him and Olajuwon played on the golf team and won a National Championship.
Olajuwon and Earl had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I’m the type of person where I don’t step into something until I really know what’s going on” – Earl (17:10).
“Tunnel vision hasn’t worked for us very well” – Earl (17:50)
“If you’re going to make a logo of a black man, you have to explain, market, design, everything that comes with that” – Olajuwon (20:30).
“It starts the conversation at country clubs” – Olajuwon (22:40).
“With us, with our logo, I talk about everything that comes with it” – Olajuwon (23:20)
“Open the door for some more people, open the door for the youth, open the door for the people that look just like the [Eastside Golf] logo” – Olajuwon (24:10)
“We get to tell those stories that no other golf company can tell” – Olajuwon (24:20).
“[Authenticity is] truly being yourself in all spaces” – Earl (24:50).
“For me there’s always been this love of the game and wanting to share it with people, that’s why I love to teach” – Earl (26:00).
“In the world of golf, in my experience particularly, they have all these rules and boxes that you have to check where it stifles creativity, and everyone looks the same” – Earl (27:00).
“At the end of the day, it’s still just grass” – Earl (28:15)
“A lot of the morals and values you get from the golf course help you in life” – Olajuwon (29:05).
“There’s a solution for everything. It’s all about how you go about planning, how you go about getting prepared for that actual problem” – Olajuwon (30:00).
“Golf raised me” – Olajuwon (30:35).
“You can be yourself when you come here” – Olajuwon (31:30).
“Just because you don’t look like everybody, walk like everybody, talk like everybody, doesn’t mean you can’t be a great golfer” – Olajuwon (32:30).
“I’m hungry. I have a point to prove” – Olajuwon (38:15).
“We’re literally explaining to the world that there’s always a solution for anything that you want to achieve, whether it’s personal goals or changing anything in the world that needs improvement” – Olajuwon (39:40).
“It’s still going to be about how you’re treating people… it’s never going to be about ‘us’ anymore. It’s about how can we bring people in to buy in and work their asses off” - Earl (41:40).
“You have to communicate because things are going to change every day” – Earl (42:30).
“It’s never just going to be one person or one role. It’s truly a unit” – Earl (44:25).
“We have an opportunity to change the game. We want to be measured on the impact that we have” – Earl (45:55).
“How do we continue to remove barriers so people feel like this game is for them” – Earl (46:45).
“The issue isn’t golf… it is the way the game is being taught” – Earl (47:10).
“Eastside Golf will make huge impact across the globe if we just continue to believe in ourselves, stay authentic, and play this game the way we know how “ – Olajuwon (55:10)
“We’re not an anomaly. There are so many other kids that think similar to us that go to HBCU’s that don’t get the opportunity. They’re just overlooked” – Olajuwon (55:40).
“Where a lot of other companies are more worried about the politics and the bottom line, our focus is elsewhere” – Olajuwon (56:20).
“Work hard and go for everything you know you deserve” – Olajuwon (1:02:30).
“There’s always an analogy or there’s always a certain way you can think about something, but you just have to take it and make it yours” – Olajuwon (1:03:05).
Additionally, you can follow Olajuwon and Earl on Instagram, and also check out the Eastside Golf website here and the Eastside Golf Twitter page here!
Thank you so much to Olajuwon and Earl 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.
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Marc Riccio is the CEO of USA Lacrosse, a nearly 400,000-member organization that serves as the governing body of the sport in the United States. A former collegiate lacrosse player at Hofstra, Riccio’s professional experience has led to specialties in media, fan engagement, sport and entertainment business operations, building new companies, revenue generation, executive leadership, and employee development.
Prior to joining USA Lacrosse, Marc was the Chief Commercial Officer for KlarisIP, a boutique intellectual property and media consultancy. He was charged with advising major sport and esports properties on strategy, growth, revenue generation, and organizational transformation.
Marc’s experiences include leading his own consultant business, MR21 Advisory where he advised global esports and gaming companies. Prior, Marc was the EVP of Commercial for Lagardère Sports (now Sportfive), a full-service global sports agency. Marc spent 17 seasons leading business operation and development for the New York Jets (NFL) and he worked for Hofstra University, leading marketing and development for intercollegiate athletics.
Marc has also taught as an Associate Adjunct Professor at Hofstra University and continues to advise and mentor in the technology and esports Venture capital accelerator community.
Marc has a Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law, and an MBA and BA from Hofstra University.
Marc had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“The thing that really resonated with me was how Bill Parcells could lead and how he could connect with people” (6:20).
“Distraction is the number one enemy of high performance” (7:15).
“The first thing we’ve focused on [at USA Lacrosse] is simplifying our mission” (8:30).
“Each of our business heads has to submit three things they’re not going to do this year” (10:35).
“How do we look at our fans and our players like customer acquisition planning in the private sector model? What does it cost to acquire a player? What does it cost to retain a player? And not just players from a community with resources, also players from a community without resources” (15:30).
“Lacrosse was an access point that changed my life” (20:30).
“Lacrosse changes people’s lives… you hear that more from lacrosse players than I’ve heard it from any other sport” (21:20).
“I’m very comfortable being uncomfortable” (21:45).
“You need coaches of color to work with the kids of color” (23:00).
“The more we talk about this lax-bro culture, the more we perpetuate it” (24:30).
“One of the things we want to do is teach cultural competency to our players and coaches” (25:10).
“The MBA was a competitive necessity, not a competitive advantage” (29:05).
“I’m very competitive. I’m driven more by my hatred of losing than my joy of winning” (37:20).
“What I’ve learned is to take the foot off the gas sometimes” (37:30).
“It was about how do I put myself in a position to be competitively different than everybody else” (41:00).
“Don’t let the job change you” (46:30).
“There are no throwaway comments as a leader” (47:30).
“What you do sometimes matters more than what you say” (47:35).
“Disagreement leads to better decision making” (48:30).
“Think in years, not in months” (49:20).
“If I don’t know something, I’m not going to fake it” (49:55).
“People remember stories more than they remember numbers and stats” (53:45).
“We need to tell stories and we need to tell them often” (57:10).
“For all of us, our greatest strength is our greatest weakness” (58:40).
“Most people have a lot of value sitting on a shelf that they don’t use” (1:11:00).
Additionally, you can follow Marc on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I’d also encourage you to check out the USA Lacrosse and World Lacrosse websites.
Thank you so much to Marc 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.
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Derek Thompson is an author, writer, speaker, and podcaster. He wears a lot of hats and his interests vary from economics, to the media, to politics, to sports, to business. He is someone who definitely has range when it comes to his ability to write, cover, research, and think about today’s most pressing and interesting topics. “Interesting” is the word I would use to described Derek. He’s interested in a multitude of things, he has a background in theatre, has a passion for wine, and so much more. Derek does not call himself an expert; he’s a jack-of-all-trades. But, in my opinion, Derek is an expert. He dives deep into whatever he’s focused on and whatever topic he’s writing about. He’s a regular contributor for NPR’s Here and Now, he has his own podcast with The Ringer called Plain English, and he has an amazing book called Hit Maker, which I highly recommend you check out if you’re interested at all in how to succeed in an age of distraction.
Derek had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I range widely not just because I think it’s good for my writing, but because I can’t help it” (5:50).
“I’m an every section of the newspaper kind of guy” (6:30).
“Specialize at the intersection of specialties” (7:40).
“If you explore a bunch of domains, and then hybridize two of those domains and realize that you’re really good inside of that fit, and then dig deep into that, then you can really exploit that and be one of one” (12:15).
“Boredom is an interesting signal from your mind that what you’re doing right now, what you’re surrounded by, what you’re thinking about, isn’t fully grabbing you. And when that happens, that’s a really good excuse to explore” (15:55).
“I love to explore new ideas” (16:15).
“There’s a myth that we live with in capitalist culture that people want new things” (19:15).
“Subtle familiarity drives popularity” (19:35).
“Hits lie at the intersection of familiarity and novelty” (20:40).
“In order to understand what the book’s about, you have to write it” (23:15).
“I try to be a surrogate between this world of expertise and the world of lay people understanding” (30:30).
“I don’t want to be driven by popularity because I don’t want to be driven by extrinsic factors that I don’t control” (31:10).
“The negative stuff, dose for dose, weighs much more heavily than the positive stuff” (34:00).
“The judgment of crowds can really pull us down” (34:30).
“How do I maintain an openness to negative feedback so that I can learn from it?” (38:40).
“I feel most alive giving talks” (47:05).
“I feel calmer speaking in front of crowds than I do interviewing one individual” (47:50).
“I love the novelty of writing” (52:20).
“I try to stay within a narrow temperature band” (48:35).
“You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how long you’ll be around. You have a greater appreciation for the here and now and the specialness of every moment and every year and day” (1:01:00).
“No moment will be as alive as the one you’re in right now, so savor it” (1:01:15).
“I try to be across so many different ideas that it’s important for me to make some parts of my life really easy so that I have a lot of energy to approach the hard stuff” (1:07:45).
Additionally, I’d encourage you to purchase Derek’s book, Hit Maker, which you can buy anywhere books are sold. You can also follow Derek on Twitter and check out his podcast, Plain English with Derek Thompson on the Ringer Podcast Network.
Thank you so much to Derek 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.
Wednesday Sep 28, 2022
Wednesday Sep 28, 2022
Owen Eastwood helps teams and organizations thrive. He really focuses on the systems and the process and how you can build an elite culture. He is someone who mixes ancient philosophies and wisdoms and is spiritual in a lot of different ways. Ultimately, he tries to help coaches and leaders and sports organizations get clear on their vision and help them create processes to make their vision a reality. Over the past decade, Owen has worked with some of the most elite teams and groups in the world, including The England National Soccer Team, The British Olympic Team, NATO, and The South African Cricket Team. All along the way, he’s coached their leaders on how to build world class culture and take performance to the highest level. Owen takes a systems approach, looking at the whole, and tries to help organizations figure out how they can function better.
Owen had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“You are one person in a line of people that goes back to our origin story. All of the people that came before you have their arms interlocked with each other” (8:40).
“You’ve always been part of this community, and you always will be part of this community” (9:00).
“There’s an immortality that goes with belonging” (9:15).
“The best leaders are ones who build out from having relationships with the people they’re responsible for” (16:35).
“I didn’t find it particularly fulfilling just helping one individual become the best version of themselves” (24:20).
“What has always motivated me is what a team or a community are trying to achieve” (24:30).
“We have a need to belong” (29:30).
“Our universal need to belong is under threat” (31:30).
“If we have everybody dispersed and not together, we actually diminish our energy” (35:55).
“Autonomy is really powerful, but it has to be in balance with connection to the team” (41:40).
“If you don’t have those visions and those pictures of exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve, then you can easily get a bit lost and disconnected from each other” (46:30).
“The sun shined on people before us and it will shine on people after us, but right now it’s shining on us” (47:35).
“In order for you to anchor yourself and to have a meaningful life, you need to understand what it is you belong to, what the story is so far… and what impact you want to have and ultimately the legacy that we will leave” (48:00).
“The past, the present, and the future are only one thing. What are you doing when the sun is shining on you?” (48:25).
“You should be a guardian for the things that you are part of” (48:40).
“What you do when the sun is shining on you is your legacy” (49:40).
“We can choose what kind of legacy we want to leave” (50:30).
“Psychological safety is an absolutely essential element of a high performing environment” (54:45).
“Belonging is not directly correlated to how many hours you spend around other people” (1:05:30).
“My sense of belonging comes from the way I’m treated in that environment and my sense when I’m outside of it” (1:06:20).
“I’ve always been a coach, even as a kid” (1:11:25).
“It’s a sacred responsibility to manage and lead other people” (1:13:20).
“High performers have an overwhelming focus on what they can control” (1:15:45).
Additionally, you can follow Owen on LinkedIn.
Thank you so much to Owen 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.
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Amanda Ripley is a New York Times Bestselling Author, an investigative journalist, the host of The Slate Podcast “How To!,” and the co-founder of Good Conflict, a company that creates workshops and original content to help people get smarter about how they fight and deal with conflict. Amanda has spent her career trying to make sense of complicated human mysteries, helping people get out of dysfunctional conflicts, and helping countries to educate virtually all of their kids to think for themselves. Her most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. Her previous books include The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why and The Smartest Kids in the World. Throughout her work she follows people who have been through some type of transformation, including the survivors of hurricanes and plane crashes, American teenagers who have experienced high school in other countries, and politicians and gang members who were bewitched by toxic conflicts and managed to break free. Amanda also has written about how journalists can do a better job of covering controversy in an age of outrage.
Amanda had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“4 out of 10 Americans are sometimes or often actively avoiding contact with the news” (8:50).
“We’re stuck in and old way of deciding what is the news and how to deliver it” (9:30).
“I do not ever watch TV news… it doesn’t tend to leave you more informed” (10:50).
“Part of my identity is wanting to be informed” (13:40).
“I do want to be informed, but the news is not giving me what I want” (14:15).
“There are three things we know humans need, almost biologically, that are missing from most reporting: hope, agency, and dignity” (15:00).
“Hope is like water. We need to have something to believe in” (15:40).
“Any story I’ve ever done, whether it’s in India, Colombia, or Washington DC, no matter how grim, there are glimmers of hope, agency, and dignity. And they just didn’t make it into the story” (19:05).
“There’s a healthy level of needing to matter that we all have. I think a lot of the struggles that people are having in the modern age have to do with not feeling like they matter, not feeling like they belong” (28:30).
“The best journalism is low-ego, high-curiosity journalism that treats people like they matter” (29:40).
“My main job at this point, if I’m doing journalism, is to try to revive curiosity” (48:40).
“Conflict is not the problem. We need conflict… to be heard, to get stronger, to push” (48:50).
“Corruption is a condition for high conflict” (51:10).
“Anyone who has taken a negotiation class in American business schools knows that what partisans are doing on social media and in congress is totally opposite of everything we know you should do if you want to get, over the long term, a sustainable deal” (55:40).
“Remove the audience [when you’re having an argument]” (1:02:35).
“Half of what people want in conflict is to be heard” (1:03:40).
“As difficult as it is, we always learn something we didn’t know [through conflict]” (1:13:20).
“Once you experience people having honest, hard conversations across a big divide, but with some dignity and decency, you actually want more of it” (1:16:15).
“100 million Americans are actively avoiding contact with the news” (1:19:30).
Additionally, you can check out Amanda’s website here, and I strongly encourage you to purchase Amanda’s new book, High Conflict, which you can buy anywhere books are sold. Also, Amanda has a great podcast through Slate called “How To!” which I also recommend you give a listen to. Lastly, you can follow Amanda on Twitter as well!
Thank you so much to Amanda 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.
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
Michele Borba, Ed.D. is an educational psychologist, former classroom teacher and Mom who has spoken to over one million parents and educators in 19 countries. She is recognized for her solution-based strategies on raising resilient kids, and recipient of the Sanford N. McDonnell Lifetime Achievement Award in Character Education. Dr. Borba has appeared over 150 times on the TODAY show and featured in outlets including New York Times, Dr. Phil, Washington Post, Time, and Dateline. She has written 24 books, translated in 20 languages, with her latest being Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine.
Michele had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“It’s a different world that we’re raising our children in than in what we grew up in” (8:00).
“Our kids will be faced with adversity. We can’t sugarcoat it. We can’t rescue them. We have to prepare them for life” (9:00).
“The highest correlation with [adverse mental health outcomes] is how we deal with negative experiences” (11:05).
“The first thing we need to do is help our kids learn to handle adversity, because everybody is going to have a negative experience” (11:15).
“Let’s start being preventative” (12:00).
“It’s not one challenge that bothers us, it’s the build-up” (13:20).
“Thrivers are made, not born” (13:40).
“Resilience is teachable” (16:15).
“The thing that’s going to keep [kids’] passion alive, their grit alive, is knowing who they are” (19:25).
“Figure out who your kid is, not who you want them to become” (19:40).
“That’s when your grit is the strongest, when you’re doing something you love” (20:55).
“You have to feel compassionate for yourself. If you feel okay about who you are and take care of you and your own needs, you’re actually going to be more likely to reach out and feel for another person” (25:45).
“Are you managing your stress and taking care of yourself? Because if you don’t, your stress feeds over to your kids” (31:10).
“Breathe so your kids can breathe” (31:40).
“You need to recognize your own stress level” (33:00).
“Find what works for you and stick to it as a routine and a ritual” (34:00).
“A sense of hope is core to resilience” (36:00).
“Ordinary things can be extraordinary and make extraordinary magic in overcoming adversity” (46:15).
“We’ve got to give our kids a repertoire of coaching strategies and buffers. They’re all teachable” (46:40).
“Empathy and curiosity are powerful together” (55:30).
“When stress builds, curiosity goes down” (59:30).
“We’re more curious when we’re with other people” (1:01:15).
“You’ve got to make failure an option. You’re never going to get better if you can’t make a mistake” (1:02:15).
Additionally, if you’d like to do so you can connect with Michele here! You can follow Michele on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. I’d also encourage you to read all of Michele’s books, including her most recent ones: Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine, UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, and Building Moral Intelligence. You can find all of Michele’s information on her website.
Thank you so much to Michele 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.
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Michael Lombardi is a former NFL General Manager, a 3X Super Bowl Champion, and somebody who thinks deeply about leadership. He has a daily newsletter with George Raveling called The Daily Coach which aims to be inspiration for people around leadership. Michael is also the author of Gridiron Genius. Michael has been in the trenches with some of the best coaches of all time, specifically Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. He also spent a lot of his career with Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. This conversation really gets into culture and leadership, which is really what his book is about as well. More than anything, Michael cares about making people better.
Michael had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“When you have to tell people to call you something and you don’t earn it, then there’s something wrong with the way you’re working” (7:00).
“Actions speak louder than titles” (7:10).
“The respect you get is the respect you earn based on your level of commitment” (7:20).
“In every great organization, alignment starts and ends with everybody knowing their jobs, everybody knowing their roles” (7:45).
“I love the idea of building a team” (9:35).
“At 13, I knew I wanted to be a general manager” (10:25).
“The problem with most organizations is they don’t know who they are” (12:45).
“We are never able to accelerate what we want until we eliminate what we don’t want” (18:10).
“When you have structures in place and protocols, now you can diagnostically test what you need” (18:55).
“I only wanted to be with people who saw the game the way I saw it” (23:15).
“The number one trait that truly great leaders have is they understand what their job is and what it isn’t” (27:20).
“Great CEOs truly understand what the job is… every decision comes back to ‘Does this benefit the job?’” (29:05).
“If I give you something good to do and you do it well, I’ll give you something else” (33:15).
“Whatever job someone gives you, do it the best you can” (33:40).
“Falling in love with the process not falling in love with the results, that’s competitive stamina” (43:40).
“Most of the time the player is just interested in making themselves better. The leader is interested in making everybody better” (45:45).
“This is what all great leaders do: they figure out what they need to do to win the game” (56:00).
“Learn from everything that you touch and apply it back to what you love” (59:00).
“If you don’t look outside your area of expertise to other areas, you become stagnant and you lack curiosity” (59:30).
“The one thing I’ve learned in my 63 years of life is curiosity is the greatest tool to have. If you have curiosity in your tool belt, you’ll be successful” (1:00:00).
“I love being a writer… I love being able to mentor people” (1:06:15).
“The jungle’s not dangerous if you know the trails” (1:09:10).
“I think we can learn a lot more when people destroy something than when they build it” (1:13:00).
“If Steve Jobs needs a coach, everybody needs a coach” (1:15:00).
Additionally, please check out The Daily Coach and follow Michael @MLombardiNFL on Instagram and Twitter.
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.
Wednesday Aug 31, 2022
Wednesday Aug 31, 2022
Will Gadd is a professional mountain sports athlete, speaker, guide, writer and TV guy. He shares the lessons he’s learned leading teams into high-risk environments through presentations on risk, resiliency, chaos and leadership.
Will had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I’ve made an effort throughout my career to do dangerous things, rewarding things, and important things as best I can, while recognizing the goal is always to come back [alive]” (7:15).
“How do you move forward and how do you thrive with that damage?” (8:30).
“I’ve always set out to do cool things… what could I do today that would be cool?” (8:45)
“That is the coolest thing in life: becoming the best version of yourself, whatever it is” (12:10).
“That’s who I admire in life: people who are trying to be who they are” (14:45).
“One of the most important things I’ve learned in my life is that everybody has something that blows their hair back… that fires them up” (16:50).
“The people that make the world go around are the ‘normal people’” (18:00).
“It’s almost like we’re programmed not to be happy or satisfied as human beings” (22:50).
“I don’t really want to be happy; I want to do things that make me feel alive” (23:15).
“If I can do the things that have massive amounts of meaning to me, then I function better in normal life” (29:05).
“I’ve never walked into a competition with the idea that I’m going to beat anybody, but I do walk in there with the idea that I’m going to do my best and I’m going to throw down and I’m going to get everything as well integrated as I can to perform well” (37:30).
“How do the best do it? If I really want to get better at this, how can I pull from that?” (41:30).
“Can you be better today? Can you be better next week? Can you improve? Can you go to your training even though you don’t really feel like it? Can you make life decisions that get you to where you want to go?” (43:00).
“Being better leads to happiness” (43:20).
“We all need optimism to do things… [but] you need some pessimism, some realism in your life to keep things working” (52:20)
“To tell stories you’ve got to have your heart, mind, and action involved” (58:40).
“The future is way more interesting than the past” (1:09:15).
Additionally, make sure to follow Will on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, and also to check out his website!
Thank you so much to Lesley 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.
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
Lesley Poole serves as the chief executive officer for The SEED Foundation (www.seedfoundation.com). She is responsible for the overall health and vitality of SEED’s network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools and SEED’s mission-critical college success programming.
Lesley has been serving the students and families of the SEED community since 1998. She was one of the founding faculty at The SEED School of Washington, D.C., and held several positions during her tenure. At The SEED Foundation, Lesley’s expertise in government relations and philanthropy has been instrumental in securing the public-private partnerships necessary in Annapolis, MD; Tallahassee, FL; and Los Angeles, CA, to make The SEED School of Maryland, The SEED School of Miami, and The SEED School of Los Angeles possible.
Lesley began her career in education as a mathematics instructor and later served as the service area director for the school division of San Francisco Educational Services (SFED). She holds a bachelor's degree from Patten College in organizational management.
Lesley is a member of the spring 2017 cohort of Pahara-Aspen Fellows, which seeks to strengthen and sustain diverse, high-potential leaders who are reimagining public education. She is also a fellow with Seeding Disruption, a fellowship that brings together a diverse group of Washington, D.C.’s, senior leaders to generate, seed, and catalyze disruptive practices for the purpose of dismantling systems of racial inequity. Lesley serves on the board of Educare, an early childhood education school and community center in Washington, D.C.’s, Ward 7, as well as Excellence Christian School, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Lesley had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“My optimism fuels my leadership and how I see the world” (6:50).
“What started in 1998 is I grew a family which has also created a network for young people” (8:35).
“Don’t get on every bandwagon, but the ones you get on ride them to the end” (10:50).
“[Optimism] can be modeled… [and] if someone is motivated, it can be learned” (11:30).
“If I had to list my core values, optimism, over the course of 25 years, has increasingly become in the top 5” (12:20).
“I am fiercely loyal. If you are my friend, you are my friend” (13:05).
“I don’t know if my loyalty gets in the way, but it certainly comes with a cost” (14:30).
“I’ve built in myself a sense of comfort with not knowing how to accomplish something” (15:30).
“We need to double down on opportunity to learn” (18:30).
“If we create a space for being comfortable with not knowing, then we also create this intentional opportunity to innovate” (18:45).
“Part of how we foster a spark [at SEED] is we find opportunities” (21:55).
“We believe in community” (26:25).
“The boarding experience is an opportunity of discovering” (30:15).
“We all have to live in various worlds” (31:00).
“We all have an innate need to be proud and to belong” (42:30).
“A community not being resource rich doesn’t say anything about the people [who belong to it]” (43:10).
“We all experience some burnout” (52:50).
“Every day, at some point in the day, I sit with at least 15-30 minutes of quiet” (53:00).
“I spend a lot of time asking myself how I’m doing” (54:00).
“What I’m trying to do is create an environment of transformational leaders who really own the vision of SEED and we are all intentionally moving in the same direction” (57:00).
Additionally, please visit SEED at www.seedfoundation.com!
Thank you so much to Lesley 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.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2022
Wednesday Aug 17, 2022
Fran Fraschilla has been an ESPN college basketball analyst, the director of USA Basketball’s 3-on-3 National Team, and the head coach at St. John’s, along with other schools. Fran had lots of success in his coaching career, which he started from a very young age. Even though he’s often heard from listeners on TV, at his core he is a coach. Fran is somebody who’s become an expert when it comes to basketball, but he’s really someone who loves to learn. He thinks deeply about leadership, culture, and mindset.
Fran had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I made a lifestyle decision to be a father full-time” (6:15).
“I’m around basketball every single day of the year” (6:30).
“There hasn’t been a day in my life since I was 13 that basketball hasn’t consumed some part of the day” (6:40).
“If you play 5-on-5 basketball, you’re going to be a better player by playing 3-on-3 in the summer” (10:55).
“Self-awareness if one of the keys to life; knowing who you are, knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are, knowing what your values are” (12:10).
“As I look back at my life and career, I don’t think I would’ve changed very much” (13:50).
“I was a really good coach” (14:45).
“One of the things I’ve learned even as I’ve transitioned to broadcasting was to have that growth mindset of continually learning the game” (15:00).
“I’m in the playground of life” (15:20).
“I’ve used basketball as a way to build relationships and to mentor” (15:40).
“Coaching at a high level is like being a CEO of a company” (15:50).
“5 of the 10 best coaches I’ve been around in my life are people no one’s ever heard of” (29:15).
“I made the decision that my family and my kids were more important than my career” (29:35).
“We have learned a lot from the international game” (41:10).
“A teacher learns best when they teach” (41:35).
“Anything you do has to continue to evolve, and you can never have the mindset that you know it all” (45:30).
“I don’t care what team you coach, what company you run, if your employees don’t feel they have ownership, they’re not going to be great employees” (46:40).
“This is what life is all about: reaching your potential” (52:40).
“You’ve got to be able to manage up as well as manage down” (1:00:05).
“I’m learning things today about basketball that I wish I knew 20, 30 years ago” (1:06:45).
“I have a joy for life, I have a joy for basketball” (1:12:50).
“Have a joy for what you do” (1:13:00).
“Basketball has been my way of connecting with people” (1:13:15).
Additionally, make sure to follow Fran on Twitter @franfraschilla!
Thank you so much to Fran 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.
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Val Ackerman was named the fifth Commissioner of the BIG EAST Conference on June 26, 2013. She previously served as an attorney and executive at the National Basketball Association, was the founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association, and is a past President of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball program. She also served for two terms as the U.S. representative to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). She has been inducted as a contributor into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2021) and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2011) and has received the Billie Jean King Leadership Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation (2016).
Val is a 1981 graduate of the University of Virginia, where she graduated with high honors with a B.A. in political and social thought and was a three-time captain and Academic All-American on the women’s basketball team. She received her law degree from UCLA in 1985.
Val had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“Sports aren’t like a monolithic block” (6:40).
“When we started the WNBA there was always a sense of cause. It was like rolling a rock up a hill” (13:15).
“What made my transition to the NBA such a great match for me was because I was a ‘basketball person’” (18:35).
“I worked very hard with my personal relationships in the league” (18:10).
“In any line of work, [the quality of your personal relationships] makes or breaks you” (18:15).
“Preparation and attention to details were hallmarks [for working with David Stern]” (21:10).
“David Stern had this adage that ‘micromanagement is underrated’” (21:15).
“I took the best of both of them” (23:30).
“I try to be practical but visionary” (23:40).
“I’m a much more mature, developed leader than I was when I took the job at the NBA” (24:40).
“I did all these other things that, in their way, fortified my leadership skills” (26:20).
“My pregnancy and maternity in the early years was one of the most challenging periods of my life” (27:40).
“When I got pregnant, I was a unicorn in the office… I was working for people whose wives didn’t work… They didn’t expect me to come back” (28:00).
“When I came back from maternity leave, I really had something to prove at the league” (28:30).
“It takes a village if you want to be a working parent” (29:10).
“It was part-time, but I made it part-time-plus. I threw myself into USA Basketball” (33:35).
“I could have an interlude in my life where I could be more present with my daughters” (34:45).
“My career has been totally unplanned… I don’t know what my next chapter is” (44:00).
“I’m serious, I’m competitive, I want to do well… but at the same time I’m a compassionate person, I care deeply about the relationships that I have with the many people in my life” (49:30).
“If you’re going to be successful in your field and fulfill the demands that are made on you as a leader, you have to have that expectation that you’re going to make sacrifices” (51:20).
“I think it’s important to clear your head regularly. There’s so much going on and you can’t be on all the time” (52:50).
“Sports is one of the great ways of bringing people together in our world… The power of sports is very real” (56:30).
Additionally, make sure to follow the Big East Conference on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Thank you so much to Val 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.
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Jess Lahey is the author of the NYT bestselling The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation. Her writing can be found at The Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. She co-hosts the award-winning #AmWriting podcast and works as a prevention coach at Sana at Stowe, a medical detox and recovery in Stowe, VT.
Jess had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“One of the best things my parents ever did for me was [let me read whatever book I wanted]” (6:00).
“My idea of heaven is a story well told that teaches me some things” (6:25).
“I went for jobs I wasn’t qualified for and then learned how to do them on the go” (7:25).
“The best part about being a writer is I can write about anything I want and I have to become an expert in that thing before I have any standing, any sort of authority, to write about it” (7:35).
“I was a teacher for 20 years, and from my perspective my job was to not only teach the material to other people, but to anticipate their possible questions” (8:20).
“The way we encourage curiosity without making our kids so curious to try things that may be dangerous for them is to also provide lots of information about it” (11:30).
“Many of the ways we gather information changed during the pandemic” (20:20).
“You can opt to just not have [drinking alcohol] be a part of your life, not because you have a problem with it, but because it doesn’t make you feel great. I love that” (22:15).
“Getting to the place where you know you need help is like a 100-piece puzzle; you can’t have that 100th piece drop into place unless pieces 1-99 were there” (25:15).
“I’m happy to be a resource for whoever wants to use me as a resource” (30:00).
“Being there when someone is ready to talk is the best thing that I can do for anyone” (30:45).
“I love learning on the fly, I love learning under pressure, I like a deadline, I like putting myself in the position of impressing people by how fast I can pick things up” (35:05).
“[Through my book] now I get to give other people the benefit of what I learned from [my experiences with alcohol and addiction] and what I learned with years of research” (36:45).
“I was born to teach and I was born to write, but they’re the same thing to me” (37:35).
“Here’s this complicated thing that’s really interesting, let me do all the research for you and translate it for you. That’s my dream job, that’s heaven to me” (39:35).
“We tend to teach the way we were taught” (42:35).
“Teaching for me is partially about being on a stage and crafting thoughts and information in a way that helps people to arrive at conclusions themselves” (42:50).
“I am a difficult person to have on your staff because… I have no problem saying ‘No, that doesn’t work, why are we doing it that way’” (45:45).
“For me, the more public I am, the easier it is for me to stay sober” (50:00).
“You have to name it to tame it when it comes to emotions” (51:10).
“Gaining competence through doing things that are new/sometimes a little risky, that’s one of the biggest adrenaline hits and dopamine hits that kids can access. That’s one of the best ways to get that dopamine hit when a lot of kids turn to drugs and alcohol” (58:55).
“[I] love to live in the gray area” (1:00:30).
“One of the things I’m most proud of in my life is a big failure” (1:04:40).
“It was this moment of facing that fear of not being good at something, to allow myself the freedom to learn how to do it and learn how to do it right so well that the next time I attempted to do something similar I was able to learn from my mistakes” (1:07:55).
“Go for the moment [your kids] will let you have with them” (1:13:50).
Additionally, make sure to follow Jess on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! You can also use this link to find and purchase Jessica’s books!
Thank you so much to Jess 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.
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Dr. Michelle Segar is an award-winning lifestyle coach and sustainable behavioral change researcher at the University of Michigan. For nearly three decades, she has pioneered methods to create sustainable healthy behavior change that are being used to boost patient health, employee well-being, and gym membership retention. She’s an advisor to leading global organizations and frequently interviewed in major media outlets like The New York Times, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal.
Michelle had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“When you’re in a culture where food is valued and you’re allowed to eat it, there isn’t a need to rebel and overeat because it’s part of the culture and how you take care of yourself and how you enjoy life” (9:00).
“When you tell people they can’t eat something, all they want to do is eat it” (9:20).
“The art of living is knowing how to appreciate living in the moment, but also having a respect that your choices are going to have long term implications too (10:30).
“The more we help people notice how they feel from their food choices and when they can escape those rebellion-like ‘should’s’ that are embedded in their belief system, more people will find a more natural way to eat things that are better for them” (16:45).
“If you’re [eating unhealthily] every once in a while, it’s not a big deal. But we’ve been trained, we’ve been brainwashed, to think that it’s a big deal” (19:05).
“When you help people feel their cravings, they actually are more successful quitting long term” (22:00).
“Our unconscious belief system impedes us from really embracing a mindfulness approach” (25:00).
“Our motivations and decisions are greatly impacted by the people around us, the choices around us” (25:45).
“Weight loss poisons people’s motivation” (28:50).
“We want to be thinking in terms of what are the tradeoffs we need to make with regards to eating, exercise, and sleep” (37:30).
“We need to give ourselves grace” (41:00).
“We have to figure out what we want to do and what we like. Following an eating or exercise plan is no different” (42:10).
“We can’t follow someone else’s formula. We have to know what our own formula is” (44:25).
“I don’t keep potato chips in the house because I know I would never stop eating them” (49:15).
“We’ve been indoctrinated with dogmas and ‘should’s’ that human nature and research shows that we want to rebel against” (1:01:15).
“When you rebel, you’re still being controlled” (1:01:45).
“The joy choice, the perfect imperfect option that lets us do something instead of nothing” (1:05:10).
“We feel joy when the moment in time reflects who we are at our core” (1:06:00).
“When we take better care of ourselves… we have the energy and the wherewithal to be kind” (1:11:15).
Additionally, make sure to find everything you need to know about Michelle at michellesegar.com and to follow her on Twitter @MichelleSegar and on LinkedIn!
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.
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
Mike Neighbors is the Head Women's Basketball Coach at the University of Arkansas. He is a father of four (Abby 26, Alec 20, Bowen 2, Barrett 9 months), a husband to Jayci, and a coach to 277 former players. For the last 29 years he has been paid as a Coach, but if you ask his lifelong friends and family, they will tell you he has been doing it since he was 9. So, he has really been a Coach for the last 43 years.
Whether it was a neighborhood backyard game of tennis ball or the Final Four in 2016, he has approached every game as an opportunity to compete, learn, and grow. He has remained a learn-it-all/share-it-all ever since a life changing heart attack at 29. Before then, he was a know-it-all/hoard-it-all.
He hopes those in our orbit learn for the experiences we share.
Mike had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“Had [I not had that heart attack at 29], I was probably heading down the wrong path… I think I was lucky” (6:45).
“Those processes that I learned to survive [when I was younger] have helped me to survive in this very competitive world of college athletics” (16:15).
“Get out of their way when they don’t need you” (18:00).
“That’s one of my favorite parts about coaching. They don’t need you for the celebration, they need you when we lose” (18:40).
“Only when they need me are you going to notice me” (23:50).
“Without the heart attack, without those experiences, I probably would’ve been using ‘I’ a lot more than ‘we’” (24:05).
“You don’t have to be relatable with somebody to be inspired by them” (41:10).
“I wanted to believe as many true things as I possibly could” (48:30).
“’It depends’… I say that all the time” (50:20).
“You need to be compelled to be great at what you’re doing” (1:00:50).
“We create better basketball players when they find that there are other things that basketball is going to create for them” (1:02:10).
“I worry about being wrong” (1:06:40).
“Until you’ve done 40 hours of research on something, I don’t want to have a conversation with you about it” (1:09:00).
“[I envision myself coaching] forever” (1:16:45).
“I probably wouldn’t take a job where all it was was win at all costs” (1:21:35).
Additionally, make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @coachneighbors and to check out his website coachneighbors.com!
Thank you so much to Mike 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.
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Vernon Davis is a ridiculously accomplished player on the football field. He’s a 2-time pro-bowler who played 14 seasons in the National Football League. He was also a 2nd Team All-Pro in 2013, led the NFL in receiving touchdowns in 2009, he was an All-American in college, and he won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos. However, this conversation is about everything else that Vernon is involved with. He’s an entrepreneur, he’s an artist, he was on Dancing with the Stars, he’s a real estate investor, and he’s a dad. Whatever he does, he wants to be great at that thing. At his core, he believes he’s an artist. Interestingly enough, he blends artistry and creativity with discipline, helping him to be successful both on and off the football field.
Vernon had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“Without your health, you have nothing” (5:00).
“Life is all about how we react to certain things” (6:40).
“I started seeing a therapist from the moment I got drafted” (7:35).
“Whatever it is that’s on your heart, your mind, you need to be able to talk about it and get it off your chest. It’ll take you much further than you think” (8:20).
“We’re all human beings and we all have something we need to get better at each and every day” (9:00).
“There’s nothing like having a vision board. If you’re waking up and seeing this vision board every single day, you’re going to go after those things you want” (9:50).
“I’ll take at least 5 minutes every day to focus on the things I really want in my life” (10:10).
“I’m an artist” (12:50).
“I did the same thing every day for 14 years… I painted this picture in my mind because I’m an artist” (16:25).
“I know exactly what I’m going to do before I do it” (16:45).
“I was never a football player. I was an artist, a creative individual, who happened to be good at football” (17:40).
“The only person that believes in you is you” (21:10).
“If you’re putting in the work, it’s going to pay off, it’s going to show up” (25:05).
“When preparation meets opportunity, it’s going to show up” (25:35).
“I wanted to change the dynamic of the world I was born into” (27:15).
“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, but always hope and live for the moment” (27:35).
“The same thing that draws me to acting is what drew me to football” (27:50).
“I’m not going to stop working for anything. I know what it is that I’m after and I know exactly how it’s going to play out because I’ve dreamed about it and visualized it” (28:15).
“You control the narrative. It’s all on you” (29:05).
“Everyone has been through moments where they fail, and they’ve gotten back up and succeeded” (29:45).
“There’s a risk in everything that we do” (42:00).
“I’m never going to say to my son you can’t do that” (42:10).
“You can take the things that other people look at as a [challenge]… and instead feel grateful for them because it made me an extraordinary man” (44:15)
“Give your kids what they need, not what they want” (46:15).
“I knew for a fact I would get things done because I’ve always been the type of person who gets things done” (50:45).
“I knew I had to change the direction of my path” (53:10).
Additionally, make sure to check out JaxJox, a great, interactive workout platform, as well as to follow Vernon on social media @VernonDavis85!
Thank you so much to Vernon 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.
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
Jay Van Bavel is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at New York University. Prior to joining NYU, Jay completed his PhD at the University of Toronto and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ohio State University. From neurons to social networks, Jay’s research examines how collective concerns of identities, moral values, and political beliefs shape the mind, brain, and behavior. His work addresses issues of group identity, social motivation, cooperation, moral judgment, decision making, and social media. He’s a researcher at his core who’s highly curious, looking up the newest and best ways to gather great science and great data and great information. He’s published over 100 academic publications and co-authors a mentoring column. His work has appeared in academic papers in the US Supreme Court and the Senate. His research has been featured in a TedTalk, a TedEd, and a TedX. He’s consulted with the White House, United Nations, European Union, and the World Health Organization on issues related to his research.
Jay had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“We have an enormous amount of resilience, more than we would have expected” (11:20).
“90% of success is just showing up. You show up and you do your best even if it’s not your best day” (12:45).
“We’re highly attuned to the social norms of any group we’re in” (15:00).
“People want to feel like the identities they have are positive and distinct from other groups” (16:45).
“We want to signal to ourselves and others that we’re part of valued identities” (18:15).
“If people reduce their social media use by 1 hour a day, they’re much happier” (20:35).
“Most every human has a need for affiliation” (24:15).
“We can identify with groups of people we’ve never even met” (25:00).
“People misrepresent themselves on social media” (28:40).
“People are tuned to whatever type of value generates engagement on different [social media] platforms” (29:15).
“The more you identify with a group, the more you want to start to embody the norms of the group” (31:55).
“If you’re in a group, you should be carefully thinking about what the norms are” (33:30).
“You can nudge and influence other people by changing your own behavior” (33:35).
“The most powerful form of identity that makes people feel fulfilled but also inclusive is what’s called the dual-identity model: When you feel part of something bigger than yourself, but you are still able to sustain and feel that your other identities are valued” (36:50).
“We’re wired to be group-ish” (39:40).
“The groups we belong to don’t necessarily need to discriminate” (40:35).
“One of the key predictors of cooperation is that you both benefit if it’s good” (45:45).
“I frame my criticisms as questions” (47:30).
“Organizations who add talent but don’t think about how groups will gel often times aren’t any more successful” (50:45).
“Even though polarization has gotten really bad, people still vastly overestimate it” (56:30).
“40-50% of our political ideologies is biological” (1:04:30).
“We all contain multitudes of identities” (1:10:00).
“Whatever situation we’re in activates an identity, and with it comes a way of seeing the world” (1:10:25).
Additionally, make sure to check out powerofus.online for more information on Jay’s book, and you can also find more info on Jay at JayVanBevel.com! Also, you can follow Jay on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and if you’d like to reach out to Jay his email is jay.vanbevel@nyu.edu.
Thank you so much to Jay 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.
Jay had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“We have an enormous amount of resilience, more than we would have expected” (11:20).
“90% of success is just showing up. You show up and you do your best even if it’s not your best day” (12:45).
“We’re highly attuned to the social norms of any group we’re in” (15:00).
“People want to feel like the identities they have are positive and distinct from other groups” (16:45).
“We want to signal to ourselves and others that we’re part of valued identities” (18:15).
“If people reduce their social media use by 1 hour a day, they’re much happier” (20:35).
“Most every human has a need for affiliation” (24:15).
“We can identify with groups of people we’ve never even met” (25:00).
“People misrepresent themselves on social media” (28:40).
“People are tuned to whatever type of value generates engagement on different [social media] platforms” (29:15).
“The more you identify with a group, the more you want to start to embody the norms of the group” (31:55).
“If you’re in a group, you should be carefully thinking about what the norms are” (33:30).
“You can nudge and influence other people by changing your own behavior” (33:35).
“The most powerful form of identity that makes people feel fulfilled but also inclusive is what’s called the dual-identity model: When you feel part of something bigger than yourself, but you are still able to sustain and feel that your other identities are valued” (36:50).
“We’re wired to be group-ish” (39:40).
“The groups we belong to don’t necessarily need to discriminate” (40:35).
“One of the key predictors of cooperation is that you both benefit if it’s good” (45:45).
“I frame my criticisms as questions” (47:30).
“Organizations who add talent but don’t think about how groups will gel often times aren’t any more successful” (50:45).
“Even though polarization has gotten really bad, people still vastly overestimate it” (56:30).
“40-50% of our political ideologies is biological” (1:04:30).
“We all contain multitudes of identities” (1:10:00).
“Whatever situation we’re in activates an identity, and with it comes a way of seeing the world” (1:10:25).
Additionally, make sure to check out powerofus.online for more information on Jay’s book, and you can also find more info on Jay at JayVanBevel.com!
Thank you so much to Jay 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.
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Sam Walker is the author of The Captain Class, a profile of the captains of the 17 greatest dynasties in sports history. He is a columnist, keynote speaker and teambuilding consultant for corporations, military units, nonprofits and professional and Olympic sports teams. Over two decades at The Wall Street Journal, Walker served as sports columnist, sports editor, deputy page-one editor and leadership columnist. He attended the University of Michigan. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.
Sam had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I’ve been blessed and cursed at the same time by being easily bored” (4:55).
“When you walk in a door that you’ve never been through before, you see that people are dealing with a lot of the same things, the same issues, the same stresses” (8:35).
“The book is really about what are the real qualities of effective leadership” (15:30).
“The big threat to great leadership and sustained excellence is rarely a lack of ability, it’s burnout” (16:20).
“I need to be effective as a leader, but I also need to be efficient” (17:45).
“You need to understand your superpower and your kryptonite” (18:45).
“[Great leadership] is behavior. It’s what you do. It’s not anything you’re born with. It’s making the right choices in the right contexts” (20:40).
“These captains don’t over celebrate. They’re almost more relieved when they win because they feel like that’s how things are supposed to go” (24:05).
“Everyone talks about Michael Jordan being a leader except Michael Jordan” (25:30).
“I don’t think the instincts of being a great captain and the instincts of being a great coach are really the same” (28:20).
“No one has studied more dynasties than me. That’s what I do. I seek out these dynasties because I want to understand long term successes” (29:40).
“There are three things which I have always called the contagious behaviors of the boss or leader: relentless effort, toughness, and emotional control” (32:35).
“The things that I notice about these great leaders is that they’re not obvious leaders” (34:10).
“Leadership is about what you do not who you are” (34:25).
“These captains had very good relationships with people” (37:15).
“There’s no two dynasties that have had exactly the same culture” (43:45).
“Be the best version of who you are, not of who you want to be” (45:25).
“What is your unique culture?” (48:30).
“Leadership is about this intense one-on-one communication where you talk as much as you listen” (54:15).
“The act of being heard makes people feel safer” (55:25).
“All of these great dynasties had a superstar who was rarely the captain” (59:15).
“There’s three phases of a dynasty: the building phase, the committing phase, and the maintaining phase. These three phases are completely different” (1:09:00).
Additionally, make sure to check out Sam’s website and to follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn!
Thank you so much to Sam 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.
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
D’Qwell Jackson was a superstar at the University of Maryland. He had an amazing and illustrious career, winning all kinds of awards. He really out-kicked expectations that were placed on him when he arrived in College Park, Maryland. He did such a good job there that he ended up being a second-round pick in the NFL Draft. He went on to have a 10+ year career in the NFL starting at linebacker. This conversation is going to be about a lot more than just executing as a football player. D’Qwell is open and honest about some of the challenges he faced over his NFL career around his identity, his mindset, his belief in himself, and overcoming adversity and injuries.
D’Qwell had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“Trevor [Moawad] was a godsend for me” (5:45).
“I’m a planner. When I wake up in the morning, I need to know exactly what I’m doing every moment, every hour, of the day” (9:00).
“We mapped out everything. Monday through Sunday everything was planned” (10:40).
“If you want to be great, there are no choices. Period.” (12:45).
“Those two decisions I made in my life of meeting Trevor and going to Sierra Leone really changed the way I looked at and evaluated my life. I started making better choices after those moments” (15:00).
“I was very self-motivated. It didn’t take much. It was just a matter of mapping out a plan of how to do it” (17:30).
“If there was an opportunity to be my best self or to be the best at something, internally I couldn’t let that opportunity pass me by” (19:05).
“I didn’t want to miss an opportunity” (19:45).
“I knew I had the skills to get a full scholarship and to go to college. That was my only thought” (20:00).
“At one point in life, I needed football for my identity” (24:25).
“I’m more than just football. I can use my talents to really branch out” (24:40).
“As a professional athlete, the sooner you can realize you’re living in 2 different worlds, 2 different realities, the better off you’ll be” (28:45).
“People deal with trauma differently” (33:05).
“Every day needs to be better than the previous day” (36:25).
“It took some things not going exactly as planned in order for me to come out on the better end of things” (37:15).
“Never get too high, never get too low” (38:35).
“You go right to the solution. You don’t dwell on what’s happened” (40:00).
“Everyone deals with mental stress whether they realize it or not” (40:55).
“I wanted to be the best linebacker I could possibly be” (42:05).
“If you don’t have people you trust at every level, it’s not going to work” (44:15).
“If you make people believe like they’re a part of the system, then we’re going to get so much more in return” (51:40).
“I’m comfortable in my own skin” (54:45).
“Football helped me come out of my shell” (59:55).
Additionally, I would encourage you to check out the Athletes Unplugged podcast hosted by D’Qwell. Each episode unearths great behind-the-scene stories while showcasing each guest as their authentic selves, not just their profession. You can find @AthletesUnplugged on platforms such as YouTube, Google podcast, Podbay, Spotify & Apple. You can also find D’Qwell on Instagram @dqwelljackson and you can find Athletes Unplugged on Instagram @Athletesunplugged.
Thank you so much to D’Qwell 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.
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
All along the way Buzz has had tremendous success on the basketball coBuzz Williams is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Texas A&M University. Buzz has had quite an experience in his coaching journey. He was a head coach from a very young age. I first learned about him as the head coach at Marquette, then he went over to Virginia Tech, where I first met him in person, and now he’s at Texas A&M. What’s caught my attention and what really blew me away when I met him is his presence. He is somebody who really cares about culture, leadership, character building, life skills, you name it. And, he’s a competitor. Make no mistake, he’s an emotional guy that cares deeply about winning, but he also cares about learning and growing. He’s one of the most curious people I’ve been around, and we actually connected after he read my book and he reached out and gave me some amazing compliments, which really blew me away. Buzz is someone who is constantly learning, constantly looking to grow, and then trying to pour all of himself into his student athletes, his family, his community, and the people he has great relationships with. He’s a heart-centric guy who wears his emotions on his sleeves. He’s thoughtful, he’s intelligent, he’s creative, and he likes to do things a little bit differently. This conversation is unique, it’s different, and I think that’s a testament to Buzz and what he brings to not just the basketball community, but to our society as a whole.
Buzz had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I want to be famous in my home” (5:45).
“The lives in your home are the ones you have to be held accountable to in a higher regard” (6:20).
“I want our players to see what being a good husband and father is” (9:10).
“I want all of the children to learn all of the facets that come with being a spouse” (9:55).
“I want there to be a route and a rhythm to everything that we do” (15:30).
“I’ve tried to become more purposeful in controlling the offseason” (16:25).
“Leaders become stale and non-existent when they don’t know how to feed themselves” (18:15).
“What do I need to know? What do I not know? Who can help me figure it out?” (19:00).
“We all talk about time management. I don’t think you manage time, I think you manage energy, which is where you are giving your time to” (21:10).
“The best way to figure out where you’re going is to, as best as possible, think of yourself in that next version. What is it that you’re wanting to do and how is it you’re wanting to do it?” (25:10).
“I’m always cautious to never step on anyone’s dream” (26:30).
“You can’t be anything that you want to be. You can be what you earn the right to be” (28:55).
“They print money, but they don’t print time and they don’t print opportunity” (29:30).
“I spend a lot of time at work and I spend a lot of time at home” (31:25).
“You don’t get to your full potential when you’re worrying about the wrong things” (33:25).
“I don’t know if I was ever able to exhaust the best I could be because I was giving energy and emotion to things that, in truth, are just part of the job” (35:10).
“I don’t want what I do to solely be my identity” (36:00).
“I would rather begin to view myself as the steward, [not the coach]” (37:45).
“This is not my program; I’ve just been appointed as the steward of this program for now” (38:10).
“Wisdom is more precious than rubies” (40:00).
“We have become connoisseurs of information” (40:10).
“There is a never-ending supply of knowledge and I want to have a learner’s spirit in everything that I do” (40:30).
“There’s knowledge around us in every possible way. Our job as leaders is how can I take knowledge from a different world and translate it to the world I live in and make the world I live in better” (41:10).
“Wisdom is a completely different category than knowledge. I’m constantly trying to accrue knowledge, but I want to get to the lowest common denominator of that knowledge and see if there’s wisdom that can be applied” (41:30).
“Wisdom is a separator” (41:45).
“Wisdom can be accrued through experience, but wisdom can also be accrued through someone else’s experience” (42:45).
“The smartest people in the world ask the best questions” (48:35).
“What’s running through your mind will always come out in your walk” (49:05).
“I want to be curious about everything” (49:30).
“Always be aware of patterns. Patterns can be good, and patterns can be bad” (52:00).
“I never say no to an opportunity to learn as long as it doesn’t put me in a negative position to neglect my priorities” (53:00).
“The perception of who I am and the reality of who I am, they’re as far as the east is from the west” (53:20).
“I’m super sensitive to the patterns of those around me because I am curious” (54:40).
“You can control your thoughts, your actions, your attitude, your reactions. Most of the rest of it is out of your control” (55:10).
“The best way to acknowledge someone’s curiosity is their willingness to listen and their willingness to ask good questions” (58:15).
“I want to listen more than I want to talk” (58:40).
“True love has no agenda” (1:00:55).
“What our world needs is more truth telling” (1:03:35).
“I’m cautious to give advice until I have such a relationship with that person that the transparency in the conversation goes both ways” (1:04:00).
“I’m not very good at being. But I think some of your best, most creative ideas come when you are bored. I need to continue to find ways to allow myself to be bored without feeling guilty” (1:09:25).
“If I’m not stronger [in the weight room] than every player on my team, I’m going to retire” (1:11:40).
“Just because I don’t know what I’m going to do, that doesn’t mean I should continue doing what I’m doing” (1:13:45).
“Build trustful relationships for 10 years from now, but learn to connect the dots between now and then. Trustful means you never ask them for anything” (1:17:10).
“I never ask our players for anything other than their best” (1:18:50).
“Is the relationship transactional or is the relationship transformative?” (1:19:15).
“I would never even consider hiring you if I didn’t trust you” (1:22:30).
“The best way to learn is when you have ownership” (1:27:10).
“We want our staff to be an example to our team of what it means to be a team” (1:27:45).
“I write two handwritten thank you notes every day to make sure my heart stays in the right place relative to the spirit I want to carry in my life” (1:29:40).
“I write my kids every day that they go to school” (1:31:15).
“For every mile of road, there’s two miles of ditch. Stay out of the ditch” (1:35:15).
Additionally, make sure to check out Buzz’s website!
Thank you so much to Buzz 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.
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Johanna Faries is currently the General Manager of Call of Duty. She is highly involved, especially with their Esport league, where she is head of the league. She was also the commissioner of Call of Duty Esports before transitioning to this role. Prior to that, she worked at the National Football League where she was Vice President, she was involved in business development and marketing strategy and fan development, and she was on a pathway to continue to rise up that corporate “ladder.” She’s also a musician. When she graduated from Harvard, she moved to California and started writing songs and making music. I think what makes Johanna really unique is that she’s got multiple sides to her. She is a complex person. She’s highly driven, she’s highly ambitious, but she also has a lightness to her that is really likable and is really refreshing. She’s clearly very smart and very bright, but she’s also someone who seems to be trying to be grounded.
Johanna had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“I’ve always been thinking about spirituality, thinking about relationships with larger forces than ourselves… why are we here type questions” (7:15).
“I often have felt burdened by my obsession with theology and the spiritual path” (9:10).
“I balance those questions, that are often never-ending and open-ended questions, with very tactical work day-to-day as a business executive” (10:00).
“I’m fascinated by all of us because I think we’re all wrestling with the same question” (10:45).
“It is a very scary part of the process to actually stop and reflect and really think about how fulfilled your soul might be” (13:15).
“If I could spend 30 minutes a day interviewing people like you’re interviewing me and ask them ‘Where are you in the faith journey?’, no matter what the response is, I find it fascinating” (13:30).
“It’s where I’m at now, I don’t know where I’m going to be at 3 years from now” (15:10).
“It’s not just this time of great resignation or the great pandemic, it’s also this moment of great permission to pause collectively and reflect” (18:00).
“What does great leadership look like going forward? What level of empathy needs to come through each and every day to enable people to do their best work?” (19:05).
“I am so goal-oriented as a leader, I’m so big-picture, so vision-setter, I sometimes lose sight of the intricacies of the people doing the detailed work actually enabling you to summit in the first place” (22:00).
“I have really learned how important it is to stop and check in with all of those parts of somebody on my team. It matters. It matters to building trust, it matters to seeing them as more than just getting to the top of Mount Everest” (23:40).
“I’ve learned how to not under-express my tendencies around introversion because my version of being an introvert means that solitude is my happy space” (26:30).
“I exert high extroverted energy in my roles as a business leader, but I also need these moments of solitude to really recharge” (26:50).
“I have to really think about how I’m going to spend my time for maximum impact” (29:15).
“Every day cannot be so rote that the predictability undermines creativity” (30:00).
“Every great leader thinks about time, energy, focus, and the triangulation of those things” (31:05).
“I feel very blessed in this moment in time because these passions have all intersected and interwoven in ways that feel very balanced” (31:45).
“Creativity and art have this power that goes beyond language, nationality, our indoctrinations, and our individual choices” (35:45).
“I’m a both/and kind of a gal” (41:40).
“There’s nothing more powerful than great storytelling to move people” (50:40).
“Everything is timing. What isn’t timing?” (52:30).
“What an amazing time because of the convergence that’s happening” (57:30).
“We’re connecting dots all the time” (1:06:40).
“We’ve created a societal normality around perfectionism” (1:10:35).
“We are inundated with the self-talk and the external factors that are pouring into us to feel insecure, to feel imperfect, to feel not enough” (1:11:00).
“I’m not secure because life isn’t secure and it’s always changing” (1:12:45).
“It changed my life in so many ways for the better to get curious about industries that I knew very little about” (1:14:25).
Additionally, make sure to check out Johanna on LinkedIn!
Thank you so much to Johanna 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.