Combining Fitness and Community with Mike Erwin

Mike Erwin is a long overdue guest for this podcast, and he brings a wealth of insight that spans everything from his experiences in combat to leading multiple nonprofit organizations to his efforts to reshape education in America.

A 2002 graduate of The U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, Mike was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer, serving in three combat tours with the First Cavalry Division and 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). His service includes deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004-2005 that involved the Battles of Fallujah and Najaf. Mike also deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006-2007 and 2009.

Following his third deployment, Mike attended the University of Michigan from 2009-2011, where he studied positive psychology and leadership under the tutelage of the co-founder of positive psychology, Dr. Chris Peterson. He went on to serve as an Assistant Professor in Psychology & Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy from 2011-2014. He continues to serve as an instructor there as a LTC in the Army Reserve.

While in graduate school in 2010, Mike founded a non-profit organization named Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) with the mission to to enrich the lives of America's veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity and a vision towards forging America's leading health and wellness community for veterans. Today Team RWB has nearly 200k members across over 200 chapters globally.

He is also co-founder & CEO of the Positivity Project—a non-profit organization with the mission to empower America’s youth to build positive relationships. With 542 partner schools, the organization reaches 332,000 children daily.

He is the CEO of The Character & Leadership Center and has done leadership development with over 100 major organizations.

He also serves as the founding Chairman of the Board for Father Vincent Capodanno High School, outside Fort Bragg, NC.

Finally he has authored two books: Lead Yourself First (co-authored with Ray Kethledge) and Leadership is a Relationship (co-authored with Willys Devoll).

Mike lives on a 32-acre farm in North Carolina with his wife Genevieve and their four children; Eli, Adelaide, Therese and Matthias.

If you want to read the Wall Street Journal article Mike mentions, it is "Socrates Never Wrote a Term Paper" by Jeremy Tate and it discusses how AI (specifically ChatGPT) is impacting education, and suggests that the Socratic method might offer a way forward.