excellence, actually

In 2010, the writer Katie Arnold welcomed her second daughter into the world. Three weeks later she lost her father, also her best friend. Dealing with the grief was discombobulating. As she told us in this week's podcast, “I could not talk my way out of it. People could not reassure me the fears I was facing about my own mortality were not true…I tried lots of different healing and therapies, some worked a little, others did not, but really what worked for me was running. Moving on my own two feat through the wilderness.” Arnold followed her drive to run all the way to being the women's champion of the grueling and highly competitive Leadville ultramarathon in 2018. In this fascinating podcast, we discuss everything from running's role in processing grief and other challenging emotions; to the commonalities between Zen, running, and writing; to how instill in children a love of movement and nature. This was a fun conversation, and Katie is full of actionable wisdom. We hope that you enjoy it!Katie's memoir is titled Running Home.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show!You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post The Zen of Running and Writing appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week, the New York Times broke a story detailing how the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey and Company “proposed paying pharmacy companies rebates for Oxycontin [a popular opioid] overdoses.” Worse, partners at McKinsey allegedly tried to cover the evidence of their recommendation. In this episode of The Growth Equation podcast, Brad, a former McKinsey consultant himself, and Steve use this moral failure as a jumping off point to discuss ethical creep in high-performance organizations and cultures—from the corporate world, to start-ups, to sports—and what we can do to prevent it in ourselves and those we coach, parent, teach, and lead.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show!You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagness(NYT Story on Opiods: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/mckinsey-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html)The post McKinsey, Opiods, and The Dark Side of High Performance appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Growth Equation podcast, Brad and Steve dive into an underground classic from the 1980's: Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. The main premise of the book is that the medium via which we consume information is a metaphor for the culture; our brains, both as individuals and as a collective, become what we pay attention to and how we pay attention it. At the time Postman wrote the book, he was concerned about how television news was becoming more and more about entertainment and less and less about serious discourse. If only Postman, who died in 2003, could be alive to see the current information environment. Brad and Steve do their best to update Postman's argument for modern times and share tips and tricks on how you can protect your attention, be a better citizen, and create space for serious and meaningful discussion in a world of nonsense and noise.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Amusing Ourselves to Death appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rich Roll is a globally renown ultra-endurance athlete, wellness advocate, bestselling author, husband and father of four.  He also hosts the wildly popular Rich Roll Podcast, one of the top 100 podcasts in the world with over 100 million downloads.   On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve welcome Rich.  He shares how his experiences in competitive swimming, law school, and addiction and recovery help him when preparing for his podcast.  He discusses why he made the decision to evolve his podcast from evergreen topics to speaking to matters of the day and how to have meaningful conversations with those with whom we vehemently disagree.  Rich also offers a glimpse into how his family views his successes, failures, and public image.  Finally, the three discuss Rich’s latest book, Voicing Change, which features timeless wisdom and inspiration from the Rich Roll Podcast.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Rich Roll: The Art of Meaningful Conversation appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A wise professor once told Brad, “Trust is the most important thing there is and all inefficiencies at their core are created by a lack of trust.”  On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve discuss the importance of trust and what it means to trust yourself and to trust others.  They consider what it means to “trust your training” and review the research and science behind how to build trust with others.  The pair offer ways to identify trust gaps in personal or working relationships and reflect on their own relationship to identify their trust gaps and how to bridge them.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Trust: The Most Important Thing There Is appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this raw, uncut, and immediately uploaded episode, Brad and Steve explore the still-unfolding chaos around the 2020 US presidential election, how we got into this mess, and how we can get out. For the two articles we reference in the podcast:Driven Apart or Coming Together: It's Our ChoiceThe Simple Reason that the 2020 Polls were WrongYou can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Special Episode: Election Madness appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It infiltrates every aspect of our lives and deserves the time for a thoughtful discussion. On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve welcome back friend of the podcast Jojo McDuffie to discuss the topic of race. The three share their different experiences with race growing up in Michigan, Texas and Virginia. They discuss the convergence of racism and mental health and talk about the difference between sympathy (“I see your pain”) and empathy (“I feel your pain”). Steve shares what science says about our subconsciousness and systemic racism and Jojo offers why when it comes to race it’s better to be consciously biased than unbiased.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post A Discussion About Race with Jojo McDuffie appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month Lebron James won his fourth NBA Championship and once again spurred the question: who is better, Lebron James or Michael Jordan? On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve tackle the question, but go beyond the championships and MVP awards and consider performance and success more broadly. They discuss their differing paths to greatness and how they each managed to sustain their peak performance. Brad and Steve also evaluate the pair based on a variety of other factors, such as whether their motivation comes from, their differing skill sets, the talent pool surrounding them, and their focus and activism off the court.way.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Defining Success: Lebron vs. Jordan appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Social Dilemma, a documentary on the rise of social media and the damage it has caused to society, is one of the top shows on Netflix and it has us thinking.  On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve tackle the issue of social media and its impact on our health and wellbeing.  They discuss the pros and cons of the most popular platforms, how they hijack our attention, and whether they should be more strongly regulated.  Brad and Steve discuss their own challenging relationships with social media, what it would take for them to leave the platforms all together, and the strategies they employ so that they can use (some of) the platforms in a (mostly) healthy and sustainable way.Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: Social Media and AthleticsPlease write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post The Social Media Episode appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wonder what Brad and Steve do for the first and last 90 minutes of each day? What their in-home offices look like? What their favorite apps are? On this episode of The Growth Equation Podcast, Brad and Steve take more questions from their listeners. They share how they stay motivated and stay connected to friends and family during the pandemic, how they wind down each day, what they put in their smoothies, who they turn to for advice, and more.Please write a review on Apple Podcasts and help new listeners discover the show! You can find the podcast on:iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidStitcherFind Brad and Steve on Twitter: @Bstulberg and @stevemagnessThe post Listener Mailbag with Brad and Steve: Diet, Motivation, and Home Office Design appeared first on The Growth Equation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.