Intentional Performers

Patty McCord is the author of the best-selling book "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility," which was published in 2018 and translated into 12 languages. She served as chief talent officer of Netflix for fourteen years and helped create the Netflix Culture Deck. Since it was first posted on the web, the Culture Deck has been viewed more than 15 million times, and Sheryl Sandberg has said that it "may be the most important document ever to come out of Silicon Valley.” Currently, Patty coaches and advises a small group of companies and entrepreneurs on culture and leadership. She also speaks to groups and teams around the world.   Patty had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I’ve got something important to say and you have to hear me” (7:50). “I had to be able to start to learn which audiences could hear me and which audiences I was entertainment for” (8:20). “You just have to stop doing stupid stuff that doesn’t matter anymore” (9:30). “I’m a shameless copier” (10:35). “One of these days the right people are going to be in the room, and this is going to happen. Why not me?” (12:50). “Your job as a manager is to create an amazing team that does fabulous work on behalf of the customer on time and with quality” (14:30). “We get so left-brained that we forget about creativity” (18:40). “I’m curious about creating space for people to think differently” (16:50). “We especially get stuck when we get scared” (17:00). “I hate the phrase ‘best practices.’ It just means what everybody else does” (20:55). “You can draw ideas and inspiration from everybody, and everybody should” (24:55). “Leaders are people who other people want to follow. A manager is somebody who builds the work and organizes the team to build great stuff” (26:20). “If you want them to follow, then god dammit lead” (28:55). “You want to know why I make so much money? Because my decisions are consistently right” (33:00). “Beginning with the end in mind [is key to making good decisions]” (34:00). “I think that the word loyalty is old fashioned, and I think that it’s not critical, but I think it’s important when times are tough” (41:50). “The mark I want to make in my life is about creating environments where people can do their best work” (48:30). “The relationship between work and family is a never-ending one” (53:10). “My life work is a really different thing than it used to be, and that’s perfectly fine with me” (58:50).   Additionally, you can find Patty’s website here, and can also follow her on social media @pattymccord1. I’d also encourage you to purchase Patty’s book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, anywhere books are sold. Lastly, you can find the Black Sheep website that Patty mentioned here. Thank you so much to Patty 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.

Today’s episode of the podcast is a little bit different. Today, I’m going to be interviewed by Joe Ferraro. If you’re unfamiliar with Joe, he has an incredible podcast called One Percent Better, he is someone who practices what he preaches, and he has had over 200 episodes where he’s interviewed best-selling authors, CEO’s, and all kinds of different people and leaders, to try and figure out how they’re getting one percent better every single day. Joe is way more than simply a host, though. He’s a high school teacher, he has a history coaching baseball, and he coaches people today on how they can communicate better. He is someone who thinks deeply about how to have, what he calls, damn good conversations. Currently, he’s working one-on-one with a variety of people to help them with different projects that they’re doing, whether it’s their podcast, or a TED Talk, or helping them become a better public speaker, Joe is my go-to person for whenever I’m looking for advice, expertise, and coaching when it comes to my ability to communicate. He thinks about conversations all the time, he thinks about how we can improve them, and how there’s great value in the power of conversations. In Joe’s interview of me today, we talk about things like boundaries, business, how I see and think about things, and we even talk about art and creativity.   Here are some insights of mine from Joe’s interview of me: “We sometimes forget how appreciative people are for receiving gifts” (8:55). “Gratitude, appreciation, and acknowledging when someone did a good job is just so underrated” (9:45). “The more grateful I am for something, the more ambitious I tend to be” (10:45). “Satisfaction and complacency are opposites” (11:00) “Satisfaction fuels success” (11:20). “Just because a conversation doesn’t land with me doesn’t mean it won’t land with someone else” (13:10). “I have personal values and professional values” (14:40). “I don’t believe in true altruism” (15:15). “Humans need to fill our cup if we’re going to pour into other’s” (15:30). “You should never give out of notoriety” (16:05). “There’s a time to be public and a time to be private” (16:20). “Thoughts come in; thinking is what we do with them” (18:10). “Most of us believe in polarity, we just stifle it with our own convictions” (19:00). “I want to love people and I want to love them deeply” (21:00). “Boundaries are so underrated” (21:55). “If I’m going to love the stuff that I do, I need boundaries” (22:05). “I love bringing people together. It’s one of my favorite things to do” (23:10). “I’m a connector” (24:40). “If you can find a place that has no cell service and WIFI, that in itself is magical” (29:10). “Things are way easier if you do it with a partner” (33:20). “It’s scary [to ask somebody for something]” (34:55). “Coaching is less about expertise and more about asking damn good questions and being highly curious” (36:00). “You have to have an offering. How do you have an ask without an offering?” (36:40). “Give me the person that is good and wants to be great” (38:50). “I don’t need to shortcut and I don’t need to hack. It’s not going to be as fulfilling for me” (43:30). “I’ve gotten better at listening to my thoughts and understanding they might not be true” (46:00). “When I’m curious, I can get anything out of someone” (46:40). “Podcasting is one of the few things that you can overprepare for” (50:30). “I’ve perfected my preparation and then I try to be highly adaptable” (50:45). “I think sometimes we underestimate what we’re actually doing” (58:00). “A lot of people are afraid to just turn on the mic” (58:10). “Things aren’t as scary as we make them out to be in our head” (58:40). “We limit what art is or what creativity is to what we can see with our eyes” (1:00:15). “We are all artists; it’s just how we choose to use the brush” (1:01:05). “When we label young people, we limit their possibilities” (1:02:00). “My clients have become my friends” (1:05:00).   If you’re interested in learning more about what Joe does, I highly recommend you reach out to him via email (joe@onepercentbetterproject.com). You can check out the website for the One Percent Better Podcast here. Also, I strongly encourage following Joe on Twitter. Thank you so much to Joe for interviewing me! 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.

Dr. Steve Gladis is an executive coach, author, speaker, and professor at George Mason University. He’s published 26 books on leadership and thinks a lot about culture and the elements of a great leader. He’s also a former faculty member at the University of Virginia, served as an FBI special agent, and was a decorated officer in the US Marine Corps. He has a company, Steve Gladis Leadership Partners, that donates a significant portion of corporate profits back to the community. Steve is a giver, somebody who really cares about society and humanity.     Steve had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “The best partner I’ve ever had, and I’ve had her for over 50 years, is my wife” (6:15). “We all need our yin to our yang” (6:50). “I never send anything out unless someone else has looked at it” (7:00). “You should be looking for people not like you because they bring the other piece of the puzzle together” (9:10). “The key is to have a mechanism in place before you get in trouble, not when you get in trouble” (12:15). “The best gift that anybody could give anybody else would be get yourself an executive coach in the beginning who can help you work together in this partnership” (13:15). “I write every day” (22:00). “In a way, {dyslexia] is the best thing that ever happened to me… It’s given me this creative workaround mentality… it’s taught me how to be resilient” (26:10). “If you’re always the smartest guy in the room, you’re in the wrong room” (27:50). “Anything can be an opportunity” (31:30). “[The biggest mistakes leaders make] is not telling or showing people how much they care” (33:40). “Trust is at the center of all relationships” (34:00). “Head, heart, and hands is compassion… it’s an active thing” (40:20). “You can tell when somebody really cares about you” (40:50). “If you like what you’re doing, you’re making a decent living at it, and you’re having fun at it, why wouldn’t you want to keep doing it?” (47:50). “Some of the most miserable people I know are some of the richest people I know” (48:00). “You can’t hit a target you can’t see” (51:15). “Until people know what they want, it’s really hard to get them to where they want to go” (52:10). “Teams head towards entropy all the time” (54:40). “Nothing stays level, especially in the relationship world” (55:00). “Stuff happens. You have to be ready for that” (1:02:45). “Experiments fail. That’s why they call them experiments” (1:03:45). “I’m a teacher at heart, so when people want to know I’m happy to talk” (1:05:15).   Additionally, you can find Steve’s website here, and I also encourage you to connect with him on LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Steve 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.

Tim Urban is a writer and the creative force behind the extremely popular Wait But Why blog and newsletter, which has over 600,000 subscribers. He has a book coming out in February of 2023 and has authored dozens of viral articles on subjects such as why we procrastinate, which is what we talk a lot about in today’s conversation. He writes about things in psychology and politics, and he even writes about why we haven’t encountered alien life forms. To say Tim has range is an understatement. He doesn’t consider himself to be an expert or a guru at one thing, but he lets his curiosity wander and it takes him to all kinds of different places where he researches and writes, really in long form, articles. His email list has people like Elon Musk as subscribers, and TED Curator Chris Anderson and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Tim also is a speaker; he’s got an incredible TED Talk that I highly recommend you check out. And, he’s also known for drawing quirky graphics and stick figures, and we talk about what it’s like for him to be an artist as well. So, this conversation focuses mainly on procrastination, and if you’re someone who struggles with that, I know many of us do, then you’re going to enjoy it.   Tim had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I like to frame things we all experience in a way that can help clarify what’s going on” (6:20). “Without being able to see the big picture, you don’t realize that the best way to achieve maximum happiness this week is to do this stuff now and be miserable temporarily and then much better later” (8:40). “We get older, our bodies get older, but it’s an uneven distribution of growth” (12:00). “The inner child in us is one of the best parts of grown-ups. It’s what a lot of times allows us to be creative and to have fun and to be open-minded” (13:00). “The goal is to grow up in all the right ways and stay young in all the wrong ways” (13:10). “Carving out high-quality, guilt-free leisure time is very important. It recharges your willpower. It creates this healthy balance in your head” (16:15). “What I’ve done when I’ve succeeded more is often, I will do something in that moment to force future Tim’s hand” (21:45). “Procrastinators get in the biggest trouble when they don’t take their problem seriously” (24:00). “I had macro motivation with micro help” (27:10). “I thought I hated writing because I was doing mostly papers, and then I started blogging in 2005 as a complete procrastination side activity, just me having fun. And that’s when I realized that me having fun in the form of writing was catching on” (31:40). “You need to overpower your emotions with rationality when you’re looking at comments” (34:30). “If you let all of the negative comments get to you, you’re going to be too scared to write anything. If you ignore all of the negative comments and say that all negative comments are just haters, now you’re not going to grow or learn anything” (37:35). “I don’t think the things that I produce require beautiful writing; they require good communication and authenticity” (42:15). “Keep messing around with different mediums and different things until you find areas that you’re strong in, because everyone is strong in some areas” (48:15). “The best things I’ve written have been when I was in a mood where I felt like I was playing as I wrote it” (50:30). “If I’m having fun, it’s going to produce something good” (50:45).   Additionally, you can access the Wait But Why website here, where you can find all of Tim’s writing. You can also subscribe to Tim’s email list on the site and follow him on Twitter.   Thank you so much to Tim 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.

Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic and the former editor-in-chief of WIRED. Under his leadership, WIRED won numerous awards for design and reporting and launched a highly successful paywall. Thompson also wrote many features for the publication, including two cover stories on Facebook that have been cited multiple times in Congress. Thompson is a former contributor to CBS News, where he regularly appeared on CBS This Morning and CBS Sunday Morning. He is a cofounder of The Atavist, a National Magazine Award–winning digital publication and multimedia content management system that was sold to WordPress in 2018. Thompson previously served as editor of NewYorker.com. Before The New Yorker, Thompson was a senior editor at WIRED, where he assigned and edited the story that was the basis for the Oscar-winning film Argo. In 2009, his book “The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War” was published to critical acclaim. Thompson has long been a competitive runner; in 2021, he set the American record for men 45+ in the 50K race and is currently ranked as one of the top 10 masters marathoners in the world.   Nick had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I try to do my best within all the limitations of how darn hard it is to be a good parent” (10:30). “In some ways, [being a CEO and being a parent] are the opposite” (10:50). “My job as a CEO is to try to drive the organization in the best direction based on our most important values” (10:50). “I’m driving things more as a CEO, and as a father I’m supporting more and trying to help them find their way” (11:30). “My job is to make the business as successful as possible, as innovative as possible, as future-proofed as possible, so that we can sustain that mission of the magazine that’s existed since 1857” (13:35). “We are open to a much broader range of opinions than our peer publications” (15:40). “I’m trying to develop a new platform for conversations that will allow people… to increase empathy” (18:20). “You start with the assumption you’re going to do the absolute best content. You’re going to do the best content you’re capable of, and then you build the business model around that. You don’t do that the other way around” (31:35). “Journalism is not a profession for people who are economically motivated” (32:15). “I got into journalism kind of by accident… I fell into it” (33:40). “You can come to something thinking about the right things, and then propose a solution that doesn’t actually make things better” (37:55). “I look at every piece of data on every story” (43:15). “There’s a period in the process of the creation of a story that is sacred and should not be touched by the people who care about the analytics, and that is the process from when the story is assigned to when the words in the story are finished” (43:40). “Being a good editor requires being able to juggle a whole bunch of things at the same time” (45:30). “The adrenaline flow of being a CEO is very different than the adrenaline flow of being a writer or being an editor” (47:00). “I’ve always been hyper-curious, which is something that’s good for a writer. I meet someone new and I’m curious about who they are and what they do” (48:40). “[As a CEO], you have to be curious about how everything in your business works because you have to master it” (49:20). “I’m learning a lot, but am I getting smarter?” (50:15). “Running gives me a connection to the outside world, to the natural world” (54:20). “The discipline it takes to be a good runner rubs off on the discipline it takes to do well at work” (55:00). “You learn lessons while you’re running” (55:05). “[Running and playing the guitar] are the two things I do in my life that are the most meditative” (57:00). “Making sure you’re balancing the needs of the moment with the needs of the future is one of the great challenges of being a CEO” (1:01:10).   Additionally, you can find Nick’s website here, and you can also follow him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I’d also encourage you to check out Nick’s book, The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War, which you can purchase anywhere books are sold. Thank you so much to Nick 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.

Nate Boyer is a bit of a renaissance man; he has worn many different hats. He’s a former active-duty Green Beret, he’s a world traveler, he’s involved with philanthropy and started his own non-profit, he’s a community leader, and he played in the NFL as a professional athlete with the Seattle Seahawks. Nate joined the US Army in 2005, where he earned the coveted Green Beret in December of 2006. What he did in the military is certainly enough for a podcast on its own, but what he did afterwards is also just as interesting. He finished up his tours in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, and then decided that he wanted to become a long snapper. He had a five-year career with the Texas Longhorns, learning and teaching himself how to become a long snapper by watching YouTube clips; he didn’t even play football in high school. At his core, Nate is a dreamer. He is someone who puts his eyes on a vision and gets after it. It’s this facet of him that led him to have an incredibly successful college career, winning numerous accolades and becoming an Academic All-American. He was also named the Big 12 Sportsman of the Year in 2012. This all led to him getting a shot to play in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. With all of this amazing stuff in mind, what Nate is doing today is probably just as inspiring as his past. He has a new movie out called MVP that I highly recommend you check out, he has a non-profit that brings together vets and athletes as well, and he really loves to play at the intersection of different identities and different people. He is an adventurer as well, being someone who has accomplished such feats as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and going fly-fishing in Russia. He’s also worked as a big brother mentor for children diagnosed with Autism.   Nate had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Time is the most valuable asset” (7:25). “Imposter syndrome is actually very common in people who are quite accomplished [and] very hard working” (9:50). “I was always going upstream against the grain” (19:05). “I still feel lost sometimes today. We all do” (20:35). “Life is that constant battle of feeling like we belong and feeling like we matter” (22:10). “Forget all this noise and people telling you this is not the way; this is not the normal path. It doesn’t matter. Carve your own path. Just go” (24:10). “If you just try and put yourself out there, that’s more than most people will ever do” (24:30). “People want to help those who are willing to help” (25:00). “Having some structure in my life was a thing I didn’t know I needed until it was happening, until it was instilled in me” (27:45). “I still resist conformity at all costs” (30:10). “The best leaders were [often] the ones that didn’t want to be leaders” “As a leader, something I struggle with, and struggled with on this film, is trusting people to do their job and letting go of not only the result, but letting go of this constant fear that you’re screwing it up, you’re not doing the story justice…” (34:15). “If you’re a creative person and you’re not being allowed to create anything on your own [because you’re being micromanaged], that’s frustrating” (37:20). “I love intersections. And what I love even more than intersections are juxtapositions” (45:20). “That’s the biggest takeaway I want for people walking away from the movie: at the end of the day, we are all human beings” (57:30). “We wear certain uniforms that often group us and label us in certain ways, and sometimes we adopt that label ourselves and we feel that that is our identity and who we are, but we’re human beings just like you. All we want to do is feel like we belong back here at home” (57:45). “My identity is I’m a human being” (1:01:45). “I’m full of fault and I’ve failed way more than I’ve succeeded, and I’m going to keep failing forward” (1:03:00). “I want to be remembered as someone who just tried” (1:03:30). “We all dream at night, but I dream during the day more than most” (1:05:35).   Additionally, you can find the MVP (Merging Vets and Players) Organization website here. You can also find Nate on social media @NateBoyer37. Lastly, you can check out Nate’s movie, MVP, on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Video on Demand. Thank you so much to Nate 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 Duke is the bestselling author of Thinking in Bets and How to Decide. Her new book, Quit, is going to be the subject of a lot of our conversation today. Annie is a corporate speaker and consultant in the decision-making space. She’s also a former professional poker player, where she won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring from the game in 2012. We’ll talk about all of the quitting that Annie has done in her life, and a lot of the origins of this book come from learning poker and learning how important it is to know “when to fold ‘em.” She’s also the co-founder of the Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit whose mission it is to improve lives by empowering students through decision skill education. At her core, Annie really loves research, education, and not just learning, but also teaching.   Annie had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I think sabbaticals are actually really helpful” (13:35). “It’s very hard to make decisions when you’re in it, when you’re actually facing down the decision” (13:45). “We equate quitting with giving up or failing” (14:45). “That’s the hardest thing to quit. ‘If I quit this, then who am I?’” (16:15). “When we’re actually engaged in something, when we’re pursuing a particular goal, it’s very hard for us to see very clearly what the other opportunities are that might be available to us” (16:55). “We tend not to do a lot of reevaluation of why we’re doing what we’re doing or whether we really enjoy it or whether it aligns with our values when we’re in it once we’ve already started it” (17:15). “The pandemic involuntarily created sabbaticals for people” (18:40). “Pivoting is quitting” (19:10). “The word ‘quit’ is so odious to us that we really like to bubble wrap it” (19:35). “The definition of quit is ‘stopping something that you have started’” (20:00). “It’s a good thing to quit things when you discover that they’re not working for you anymore” (20:40). “Just like any decision you make, [quitting] is not permanent” (21:20). “If you discover something that you do isn’t working, why are you afraid to say that you’re quitting?” (23:00). “The fear of regret… stops us from quitting” (26:00). “I’ve quit a lot of stuff, but I’m also very gritty” (31:45). “I stopped tying my identity so closely to what I did” (33:00). “I’ve spent my whole life thinking about decision making under uncertainty. It’s the thing I’m most curious about” (34:00). “Famous women are treated different than famous men” (41:45). “I’m very good at quitting things that I’ve written in a lot better way than I was when I wrote [my first book]” (1:00:25). “I’ve really embraced the power of narrative to bring to life academic concepts” (1:00:40). “Talks are just teaching. Consulting is teaching” (1:03:45). “I come to life when I’m teaching people” (1:04:00). “I often discover through teaching that I’m totally full of sh*t, which is the best thing ever” (1:04:30). “I wish that idea of don’t have a plan B would go away” (1:20:45).   Additionally, for all of the information you need on Annie, including links to her books and newsletter, you can check out her website 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.

Tom Rath is an author and researcher who has spent the past two decades studying how work can improve human health and well-being. Tom has 10 books, which have sold more than 10 million copies. He has made hundreds of appearances on global best-selling lists. What you’re going to find out form this conversation is that even though Tom’s resume is loaded and quite remarkable, he really thinks about contribution quite a bit. His first book, How Full is your Bucket, speaks to meaning and purpose mean to us. That book was an instant New York Times Bestseller and led to a series of books that are used in classrooms around the world. His book StrengthsFinder 2.0 is how I learned about Tom. It’s Amazon’s top-selling non-fiction book of all-time. Tom’s other bestsellers include Strengths-Based Leadership; Wellbeing; Eat Move Sleep, and Are You Fully Charged? He’s also co-authored two illustrated books for children, How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids, and The Rechargeables. His most recent books are Life’s Great Question: Discover how you Contribute to the World, and It’s Not About You: A Brief Guide to a Meaningful Life, published in partnership with Amazon Original Series. Tom also spent 13 years at Gallup, where he led the organization’s strengths, employee engagement, well-being and leadership consulting worldwide. He has served for the past 5 years as an external advisor in Gallup Senior Scientist. At his core, Tom really is a researcher. He’s somebody who loves to get in the weeds and find out what the science says about wellbeing and how we can be our best selves. He’s also served as the vice-chair of the VHL Cancer Research Organization and has been a regular lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, Tom co-founded a publishing company, and he’s also an advisor, investor, and partner in several startups. This conversation is wide-ranging. It’s not just about Tom’s accomplishments, it’s also about how he sees the world, what it’s like for him to be a father and a husband, and just a great overall citizen.   Tom had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I am most comfortable when I am alone, thinking to myself or reading about new research each morning, which I still do meticulously” (7:00). “It’s a huge waste that we wait to eulogize people until after they’re gone” (8:50). “When I either learn something new in a day or when something I’ve believed in especially strongly is proven wrong, nothing makes me happier than to be that wrong, because it means I’ve learned something new and I’m being open-minded” (12:50). “Learning is a great way to fill your own bucket” (13:15). “I don’t think anything is more important from a leadership standpoint than to really think about a good question you could ask to someone who looks to you for guidance and keep all your devices stowed away and genuinely close your mouth for a while and listen and process that” (14:20). “Ask a question and then don’t follow-up or push or prod for at least 30-60 seconds” (15:45). “It’s in the free time and the play time that we act like our true selves a little bit more” (16:20). “Sleep is the most underestimated need” (16:50). “I see everything through the eulogy values of what I’m doing that’s meaningful for people versus some of the accomplishment stuff that might have been more relevant to me ten or twenty years ago” (25:00). “Most of us are dealing with some real challenge and most people we interact with never know that, so I always have to remind myself to presume that someone else is dealing with the same stuff” (27:45). “The way that we’ve built the expectation of what work is and what it should be just needs to be blown up” (34:40). “We’ve got to question how we can make work a better experience” (35:50). “On average, work is harming people” (36:20). “We’ve got to find ways to infuse more movement into our work routine” (44:05). “Observing kids has been a gift during the pandemic” (45:25). “I have more fun working on other author’s projects than writing my own books” (46:30). “The biggest contribution for me is having a family that I’m really proud of” (51:40). “We need to start talking about our lives from more of a contribution standpoint than a resume and accomplishment standpoint” (58:05).   Additionally, you can find more about all of the books Tom has been involved with publishing here! I’d also encourage you to check out the Contribify website here. You can also connect with Tom on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Tom 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.

Bronco Mendenhall is one of the more interesting sports coaches I’ve interviewed on this podcast. What makes Bronco interesting is not that he was the Head Coach of Brigham Young University’s football program from 2005-2015, and not that he was the Head Coach of the University of Virginia’s football program form 2016-2021. It’s not that he went 135-81 and appeared in multiple bowl games with those programs. It’s not even that he turned those programs around from losing seasons to winning seasons and has helped multiple players play in the National Football League. What makes Bronco so interesting is that he intentionally walked away from the University of Virginia football program to take a year off. He essentially has gone on sabbatical this past year. And he did it in the prime of his career. He was 55 years-old when he stepped away and things were really going well at the University of Virginia from certainly the outside looking in. But Bronco’s going to share why he walked away in our conversation today and what he’s learned from taking a year off from football. A lot of people walk away from football and then they retire. But Bronco’s not done yet. He still has a masterpiece that he’s working on and hoping to craft as early as next football season. Bronco is someone who cares deeply about developing young people, and he’s leveraging football as the best vehicle that he’s found to be able to do that. At his core, Bronco is a learner. He’s someone that is constantly growing and is super curious to learn from others. And so, he’s taken this time off to really dive deep into what he wants to create when it comes to a college football culture and how he can impact young people.   Bronco had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “There was success from an outcome perspective, but there wasn’t impact of lasting value… that was resonating with me” (7:50). “I started thinking that the game can’t be played without the people. And then the people became everything” (8:20). “Having a fierce passion for performance and intentionally becoming is amazing, and it’s facilitated by outcome” (10:25). “If all of identity is measured only by outcome, that becomes a dangerous space to live” (10:35). “I love programs that value something in addition to football” (11:30). “It was my intent from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed every single day to try to provide a model that demonstrated ‘and’” (14:30). “I’m not only an optimist but I’m a realist at the same time” (20:20). “When I go back [to coaching], I wanted it to be with the perspective and the learning and the renewal and a relaunch that might even be more intentional” (26:15) “Driving the individual relationship one-on-one is really what these kids have remembered. It wasn’t the outcomes, it was the relations” (29:00). “You only get to do your job if you’re successful at it” (29:45). “After 17 years of being a head coach, the feedback from the guys that I’ve coached, the players, are all about the relational moments” (30:00). “I never feel as good as when I’m serving, when I’m actually helping others” (31:00). “You manage energy, not time” (32:20). “The singular, most powerful piece [of coaching college football for me] is the daily interaction, development, and inclusion in the lives of young people to help make a difference” (37:00). “I’m not sure there’s a more powerful platform to develop motivative learners and young people than the world of college athletics” (38:00). “I love, and will let them, fail” (41:00). “What I promise my team is I won’t save you, unless necessary” (46:15). “I worry that we might be prolonging adolescence” (47:30). “I worry that with the structure we’re providing, we could be limiting growth” (49:50). “I’m a research driven individual. I don’t like presenting anything to my team that I don’t have at least 3 sources of” (50:20). “Work expands the boundaries you set” (51:15). “Organizations are perfectly designed for the results they get” (52:50). “I love trust” (53:45). “The more homogeneous the staff was, the more average performing the group was” (56:35). “Those are the kind of people I want to be around, that are open-minded to listening and seeing value in a different way” (1:00:20). “I do believe there’s a shelf-life at each place” (1:12:15). “I don’t believe that I’m the only one who can make a difference” (1:15:55). “I’m craving to impact lives of young people” (1:16:30). “So many times we get defined by what we do” (1:17:20).   Additionally, you can check out the podcast Head Coach University, which Bronco is a co-host of. Thank you so much to Bronco 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.

Tara VanDerveer is an absolute legend in the world of basketball. She’s a hall-of-famer, she’s a 5X National Coach of the Year in College Basketball, she’s won 3 NCAA Division I titles, she’s been to 13 Final Fours, and she’s won a gold medal with USA Basketball. Her awards and accolades are up there with just about any college coach, and she’s the all-time leader in wins in women’s basketball. However, you’re going to find out pretty quickly that Tara does not really enjoy talking about herself and her accolades. She loves talking about her teams. She loves talking about the athletes that she’s had the privilege of coaching. She loves talking about Stanford University, where she is currently the Head Women’s Basketball Coach. But Tara is the real deal when it comes to humility. She’s authentic. She’s somebody who cares deeply about the world and basketball. She genuinely cares about the people she serves, and she really makes it about them.   Tara had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It really helps my energy during the year, that I can be all-in during the season, when I’ve had that great time on the lake in the summer” (7:55). “When you die, no one’s going to say, ‘Do you wish you worked more?’ I want to wish I’d played more” (10:05). “Work will always be there. You can always come back to it” (12:00). “Sometimes I think less is better” (13:00). “I have to pace myself. You only have so much tread on the tire” (13:30). “I want to really pick my spots of what I’m going to do, how I’m going to do it, and how well I want to do it” (14:30). “I just like being in the gym with our team” (16:30). “The things that keep me grounded are what’s really fun” (16:40). “If I were in junior high right now, with all the basketball on TV, I’d probably flunk out. I just love basketball” (17:40). “I work hard at taking care of myself” (17:55). “I try to do things that are nurturing to me so that I can be effective with our team” (18:15). “I don’t really think about [legacy] at all” (18:45). “The energy at Stanford and the people I meet there, that gives me a lot of juice” (20:25). “A college degree is a very valuable thing for women” (21:45). “I love coaching the quintessential Stanford student” (22:10). “I love the challenge of working at Stanford” (25:00). “The court is our classroom” (29:00). “I want to enjoy today” (31:10). “I’m not going to stare in the rearview mirror as I’m going forwards” (31:45). “Parenting and coaching are very similar, and they’re both very similar to gardening. You don’t just sit there and look at the garden. You water the garden, you weed the garden, you fertilize the garden” (38:00). “The world is bigger than just you” (39:20). “The thing that can really destroy us is greed” (42:00). “I like it when our team is happy for other people’s success” (42:05). “I want our players to love playing at Stanford and love playing for me” (55:00). “I can look in the mirror and be happy with being myself… I can’t try to be someone else” (56:35). “I’m a copier by nature, which I’m proud of” (56:55). “Being a person takes work” (1:00:10). “My job is to help them be the best they can be” (1:02:30).   Thank you so much to Tara 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 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.