Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Matthew Dicks is a Bestselling author, a professional storyteller, and a teacher. He is a 52-time Moth StorySLAM winner & a 7-time GrandSLAM champion. He’s recognized as one of the greatest storytellers in the world. Notes: Every great story is about a five-second moment of our life. The purpose of every great story is to bring a singular moment of transformation and realization to the greatest clarity possible. "Let me tell you about my vacation to Europe" is not the beginning of a story, despite what many seem to believe. This is merely an attempt to review the itinerary of your previous vacation But if someone said, "While I was in Europe, I met a taxi driver who changed the way I think about my parents forever," that is potentially a great story. “People are not attracted to people who do easy things. They are attracted to people who do hard things. It’s hard to be vulnerable. That takes courage. And that’s why we are drawn to it.” Being vulnerable opens people up. The beginning and end of a story: Beginning - Promise that what I'm going to say is worth your time End - The fulfillment of that process How to put a great story together? Start at the end... The five-second moment. "What are you aiming at?" You have to know that to craft the beginning. Use a thesis statement -- "I used to be... and I realized..." Jurassic Park is not a movie about dinosaurs. It's about love. How to open a story: Try to start your story with forward movement whenever possible. DON'T start by setting expectations (“This is hilarious, “you need to hear this,” “you’re not going to believe this.”) Requirements of a personal story: Change - your story must reflect change over time. It can’t simply be a series of remarkable events. Stories that fail to reflect change over time are known as anecdotes. Your story only -  not that of others The dinner table test - Be human Homework for life — 5 minutes at the end of each day. “If I had to tell a story from today — a 5-minute story onstage about something that took place over the course of this day. What would it be? Homework for life slows time down... Humor -- It keeps your audience’s attention. “The goal is not to tell a funny story. The goal is to tell a story that moves an audience emotionally.” “A written story is like a lake. Readers can step in and out of the water at their leisure, and the water always remains the same. An oral story is like a river. It is a constantly flowing torrent of words.” -- “To keep your listener from stepping out of your river of words to make meaning, simplification is essential. Starting as close to the end as possible helps to make this happen.” During a talk at a school in Brazil, Matt was asked why he shares so much of himself? (Writing novels, stories, teaching, blog posts, podcasts). And he thought for a while and then said, “I think I’m trying to get the attention of a mother who never paid me any attention and is now dead and a father who left me as a boy and never came home.” Your first job as a speaker (at home, on stage, or at work) is to be entertaining... Advice: When you graduate college, it's the end of your assessed learning. What do you want to study next? It will be on you to track. It won't be assessed by others... What do you want to learn next?

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Tim Grover is the CEO of ATTACK Athletics, Inc., founded in 1989. World-renowned for his legendary work with elite champions including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of other NFL, MLB, NBA, and Olympic athletes. He is the preeminent authority on the science and art of mental and physical dominance and achieving excellence. He's also the bestselling author of W1NNING & RELENTLESS. Notes:  Cleaners have the ability to achieve the end result over and over. Cleaners know who they are, they know the difference between criticism and feedback, they take control of their story. They know that there is always more to do. The Language of Winning & Motivation - ‘In the language of winning, there is no talk of motivation. “Motivation is entry-level, the temporary rush you get from eating too much frosting. Motivation is for those who haven’t decided whether to commit to their goals, or how much time, effort, and life they’re willing to invest to achieve them.” The Dark Side turns your anger into controlled rage. High performers know how to control and use their dark side to be in control. It's not evit. It's what's unique to you. The vocabulary test  Tim gives his -- “Describe winning in one word.” Some of the answers he receives: Glorious, Euphoric, Success, Domination, Achievement. Not bad. The answers he receives from champions:  Uncivilized. Hard. Nasty. Unpolished. Dirty. Rough. From Kobe? Everything. "WINNING isn’t heartless, but you’ll use your heart less." Your mind must be stronger than your feelings. "Your feelings keep you in bed." “You can’t buy a map to the top. If you could, everyone would be up there. They’re not. The steps to Winning are infinite, and constantly shifting.” “Winning requires you to learn, question what you learned, and then learn more.” How to push through when you feel bad? "You have to capture little wins. The joy of the wins cannot be attained if you only work when you feel like it." "You have to crave the end result so bad that the work is irrelevant." Do Hard Things - Doing hard things creates trust in oneself. Doing the hard work others aren't willing to do builds confidence. The phrase "fake it til you make it" - "I hate that phrase. It's so easy to do this on social media and you end up not even knowing who you are. Those people are too worried about how others perceive them." His favorite Kobe story - "He's so coachable." He was always asking questions and listening to learn more. "And he always held himself accountable." "Confidence is the ultimate drug. And winning is the dealer." "The greats always bet on themselves." High performers always seem to be the ones reaching out for a coach... Always trying to get better. The average performers don't think they need a coach. Winning makes you different. And different scares people. Michael Jordan started lifting weights on game days and people thought he was nuts. Knowing what to think versus knowing how to think -- You need to be able to have confidence, challenge other people's thoughts and preconceptions. Don't copy others. Learn and create your own point of view. Your own ideas based on what you've learned. "You can have sight (copy others), but no vision. You need to have a vision." Winning is a test with no correct answers. "Winning is not a marathon. It's a sprint with no finish line." You don't have the luxury of time. Most people manage time. Don't manage time, manage focus. Career/Life advice: Do everything to figure out what you want to do. No job is beneath you. There is no shortcut.

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 James Clear is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. His writing is focused on how we can create better habits, make better decisions, and live better lives. Notes: “My primary hope is that people find what I write to be useful. As long as someone is able to implement the ideas I share to get the results they want, then I feel like I’ve done my part to make the world a slightly better place.” "Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.  It’s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it—even if progress is imperfect and slow." Action relieves anxiety. We often avoid taking action because we think "I need to learn more," but the best way to learn is often by taking action. Lack of confidence kills more dreams than lack of ability. Talent matters—especially at elite levels—but people talk themselves out of giving their best effort long before talent becomes the limiting factor. You're capable of more than you know. Don't be your own bottleneck. What looks like talent is often careful preparation. What looks like skill is often persistent revision. You need volume before intensity. The bad days are more important than the good days. You need to maintain consistency. Preparation for a lawyer: Most cases are won long before you enter a courtroom. You must be willing to prepare. Question James asks to those who are pitching him a TV show or movie for Atomic Habits: What causes a similar show to succeed? ("I don't think people are serious enough about succeeding.") "Having a plan almost always serves you even if it doesn't go according to plan." A+ work - Good enough is ok for most things. For creators, doing A+ work is crucial. Be “selectively ignorant.” Ignore topics that drain your attention. Unfollow people that drain your energy. Abandon projects that drain your time. Do not keep up with it all. The more selectively ignorant you become, the more broadly knowledgeable you can be. At multiple points this year, the top 3 read books on Amazon were: 1) A Promised Land by President Barack Obama 2) Atomic Habits by James Clear, and 3) Becoming by Former first lady, Michelle Obama... I asked James, what is it like to see your work amongst the world's most powerful people? "It's been a wild few years!" The best marketing strategy? Excellent work Read Scott Young's article, Do The Real Thing There are 3 primary drivers of results in life: Your luck (randomness). Your strategy (choices). Your actions (habits). Only 2 of the 3 are under your control. But if you master those 2, you can improve the odds that luck will work for you rather than against you. A Chilean saying: "Criticizing a musician is easy, but it is more difficult when you have a guitar in your hand." -- Don't criticize someone else unless you're willing to do the work. Be known as a champion for great ideas versus someone who is against something. "The more comfortable I am with myself, the less I feel a need to win arguments with other people." Peer pressure applies when you don't know who you are. Fame - "I have no interest in being famous. I want to be known by brand, not by face." What he learned from a cab driver in Singapore about fame: "They have the name and not the life. We have the life and not the name." The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What gets rewarded, gets repeated. What gets punished, gets avoided. Don’t reward behavior you don’t want to see repeated. The easy way is often the hard way. Shortcuts, one-sided deals, and selfish behavior create debts. You only look like a winner until the bill comes due. Short-term actions become long-term frustrations. In hindsight, the hard way only seems slow in the moment. "The target audience is always the same: myself. I like Morgan Housel's line, "Writing for yourself is fun, and it shows. Writing for others is work, and it shows." Life/Career Advice: Questions are better than advice... Ask these questions: What am I optimizing for? Can my current habits carry me to my desired future? What am I really trying to achieve? What do I really want? Go fast - "Don't rush, but don't wait."

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jay Clouse leads Community Experience for Smart Passive Income. He joined Smart Passive Income in December 2020 after SPI acquired his private community and virtual accelerator, Unreal Collective. You will notice it sounds different from all of my other episodes. Notes: Commitment: “You don’t need to be uniquely talented or creative to make a living as a creator. But you need to be committed." "A creator makes an asset for the purpose of being consumed and creating value for both the consumer and the creator.” -- Leaders need to be creators -- They create/build culture. They need to be effective communicators, writers, they need to create a vision and inspire people… The WHY: “I created Creative Elements to bridge the gap between art and business by talking to high-profile creators about the nitty-gritty of building their creative career.” Community - “A group of people with commonality – shared interests, values, or beliefs.” -- Community traces back to the late 14th century, with both French and Latin roots. “Community” was used to describe “a number of people associated together by the fact of residence in the same locality” as well as “the common people." Sales -- "Sales is a scorecard for storytelling." Culture - “Culture is the sum of behaviors you tolerate and reward over time.” Patience & Commitment - “The effort of earning an independent income, regardless of path, takes a lot of patience and commitment. Those words aren’t sexy and they aren’t fast. But they are reliable.” In 2019, Jay produced a feature-length documentary called Test City, USA about the growing startup ecosystem in Columbus, Ohio. A+ work - A Power law. The #2 result gets half as much as the #1 result. When creating something, shoot for A+ quality work. The test: When someone sees it, they can't help but comment on it, share it, and tell their friends. You want to start a podcast? Why are you doing this? What's the format? How can you market it? Audio needs to sound great The Juice = feedback from listeners that your show has helped them. Authenticity - You need to feel aligned and comfortable with your voice on air. Wabi-sabi is the view or thought of finding beauty in every aspect of imperfection in nature. It is about the aesthetic of things in existence, that are “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” Life/Career advice: It takes time to forge your own path Get in touch with what you want Trial and error - view it as a series of experiments Get your WHO right

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 McKeel Hagerty is the CEO of Hagerty. Hagerty is an American automotive lifestyle and membership company and the world’s largest provider of specialty insurance for classic vehicles. He is the former Chair of Young President's Organization (YPO). YPO is a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives — more than 30,000 members from 142 countries. McKeel is also a Co-Founder and General Partner at Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital firm Grand Ventures. Notes: Arete is a concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to "excellence" of any kind. This meaning was related to the idea of the fulfillment of purpose or function, the act of living up to one’s full potential.  In his early twenties, Mckeel planned to be a Russian Orthodox priest. He earned his master’s degree in theology from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers, New York. Why McKeel tracks everything: "I noticed that people who accomplished a lot kept track of their life." He tracks: sleep, exercise, diet, goals, and more Think, "What am I trying to do?" "We are in the golden age of habit formation." "The best leaders are constantly looking for better ways to do things." "Intrinsic motivation is imperative for happiness." "I'm inspired by what I see in others." -- The spirit of the craftsman In 1999, Hagerty had 35 employees... They now have 1,600. The lightning bolt moment - McKeel went to a YPO branding conference at Nike. And learned about how Nike viewed branding. "Nike is the spirit of the sport." -- Think more like a club than a company. McKeel created a membership organization and media brand as part of his business. Leadership "Must-Haves" Growth mindset - you are not a finished product "I don't believe in work-life balance. You get life." Curiosity in the interview process They need to understand what they will need to learn along the way The power of YPO: 30,000 members It's operational leaders doing work with people It's a wholistic view of life The Learning Leader Show is tightly in line with YPO In 2016, McKeel was elected Chairman Keys to a great YPO group: Holistic leaders (business, personal, family) Egos checked at the door Vulnerability and generosity are the keys to breakthrough leaders McKeel has interviewed some of the world's most notable leaders (Hillary Clinton, Sheikh Mohamed of Dubai, Paul Kagame, Prime Minister Lee of Singapore) His writing practice: General Eisenhower would sit alone and write out his thoughts... Ask yourself, "What's the narrative here?" Write summaries of what you learn from books, podcasts, videos, articles...

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jon Gordon is the author of 23 books including 10 best sellers. His books include the timeless classic The Energy Bus which has sold over 2 million copies, The Carpenter which was a top 5 business book of the year, Training Camp, The Power of Positive Leadership, The Power of a Positive Team, The Coffee Bean, Stay Positive, and The Garden. How to be a great teammate: Put the team first "We not me" Superstars make the people around them better Get tactical (be a great teammate): Look for opportunities for the betterment of the team Work hard, build a foundation of trust, communicate well, connect with each team member, CARE about them Encourage means to "put courage into them." "Leadership is a transfer of belief." Use 'positive discontent." "Love tough instead of tough love." "Trust is the currency of leadership." Change Management (learned from Dabo Sweeney) Know what the culture stands for Know what you value Set standards (non-negotiables) Create your vision and purpose -- WHY are you doing it? Get buy-in Optimism and belief are vital Must develop relationships "People follow the leader first and the vision second." Ask: "Are they connected and committed?" A great leader wants their team members to get promoted Culture is not static. It's dynamic. It must be built every day. "It's not one thing. It's everything." Jon wrote The Energy Bus in three weeks. And it changed the trajectory of his life. Don't be carrots or eggs... Be coffee beans. Be able to "transform the environment." 10 Life Rules of Row The Boat: #2: Trained behavior creates boring habits, boring habits create elite instincts. #3 You win with people, not just players--- people who make their life about others. #5 The hardest part about being the standard is that you are the standard all the time.

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: Bert Bean is the CEO of Insight Global. Insight Global is a 3.3 Billion Dollar staffing company that focuses on living its shared values and empowering people. started with Insight Global in 2005 as a Recruiter and has since worked his way up within the company, exemplifying Insight Global’s “promote from within” culture. Bert was announced as Insight Global’s CEO on January 13, 2018. According to Comparably, Insight Global and its executive team (led by Bert and Sam) have been rated as an A+ by their employees. Sam Kaufman is the Chief Revenue Officer of Insight Global. Sam began his career at Insight Global as an Entry Level Recruiter in 2004, and he has earned many promotions throughout his career. Sam’s mission day in and day out is to improve and grow as a leader in sales so that he can help his people develop personally and professionally. Notes: Don't Bury The Lede -- The purpose of this episode is to announce that we (Insight Global + The Learning Leader) are formally working together. Insight Global will be the presenting sponsor of all episodes moving forward and I will work with the leaders at Insight Global. Changing the culture -- In 2017, employee turnover was 40%. Bert took over as CEO in January 2018. The current turnover is 14%. Fortune Magazine ranked Insight Global as one of the best workplaces for both millennials and women. 70% of leadership promotions in 2019 were for women The impact of episode #242 with Daniel Coyle "A leader at a Private Equity conference told me to listen to your episode with Dan Coyle. I did and it changed the trajectory of our company." Why Bert is a great CEO (according to Sam): "Bert gives everything to his people. He wakes up at 4:00 am every day to handwrite notes to people. He cares so much about developing people." Why Sam is a great leader (according to Bert): "Sam is super driven. Extremely hard worker... And cares about his people. He's also willing to take a risk and bet on himself." Insight Global has a "promote from within" culture. "We are the ultimate growth mindset business." "We must invest in training and developing our people." I will be helping with Insight Global University, Leadership Academy, and providing feedback for leaders within the business. Bert -- "I love aligning with grinders." The "Bert voicemail" -- "When I see something I want, I love being a bad negotiator and just telling them." "I believe in first WHO, then what. That's why I want to work with you." "We want you to remain independent and out in the market giving speeches and learning from leaders outside of Insight Global. We value you having fresh eyes to help us." The Utah Offsite retreat: Rented a big house with 28 leaders and rebuilt the value system and the culture "We all got in a big circle and shared our lowest moment and highest moment. There were a lot of tears... And we came together in the moment." Legendary leader -- "Kirby was dying from cancer. He couldn't walk. The cancer was eating his bones and he flew out there to be with us. He means everything to us. He is the ultimate example of grit." Kirby died a few months after that off-site meeting. Leadership "must-haves" Sam - Three things. You have to care - You won't follow someone who doesn't care about you. High character - Must earn the respect of your peers. Do the right thing all of the time. You're there to serve - "Don't think of leadership as power. Think of it as a burden. A massive responsibility." Bert - "You can't be a bullshit leader. Must be authentic. Not a phony. People see through that. You must take care of and develop people in your charge." The Insight Global shared values: Everyone matters We Take Care of Each Other Leadership is Here to Serve High Character and Hard Work Always Know Where You Stand Purpose - “Our purpose is to develop our people personally, professionally, and financially; so they can be the light to the world around them.” - Bert Bean

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Julia Galef is co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality. She is the author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't. Notes: What is the scout mindset? “The motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish them to be.” The Scout Mindset allows you to recognize when you were wrong, to seek out your blind spots, to test your assumptions and change course. It’s what prompts you to honestly ask yourself questions like “Was I at fault in that argument?” or “Is this risk really worth it?” As the physicist Richard Feynman said: “The first rule is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” The three prongs: Realize that trust isn't in conflict with your other goals Learn tools that make it easier to see clearly Appreciate the emotional rewards of scout mindset She closes her TED talk with this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." "The biggest bottleneck is not knowledge. It's motivation. You need to cultivate the motivation to see things clearly." “Julia Galef is an intellectual leader of the rationalist community, and in The Scout Mindset you will find an engaging, clearly written distillation of her very important accumulated wisdom on these topics.” -- Tyler Cowen We should assume that we are wrong. We need to build the skill to change our mind. "Our goal should be to be less wrong over time." How do you work on this? The key principle is the way you think about being wrong. "Don't accept the premise that being wrong means you screwed up." Jeff Bezos left his job on Wall Street to start Amazon and acknowledged the uncertainty. He estimated that his idea had about a 30% chance to work. The Scout versus Soldier mindset: A lot of times, humans are in a soldier mindset - "Belief was strong, unshakeable, opposed argument. A soldier is having to defend." Scout mindset - survey and see what's true. Form an accurate map. Practical application: Be cognizant how you seek out and respond to criticism. Don't ask leading questions. Recognize the tendency to describe the conflict accurately. Also... Not all arguments are worth having. Show signals of good faith. Distinguish between two kinds of confidence: Social - Poised, charismatic, relaxed body language, be worth listening to Epistemic - How much certainty that you have in your views Persuade while still expressing uncertainty: "I think there's a 70% chance this won't work." Lyndon Johnson - Need to understand why someone wouldn't agree with you... We are all the sum of our experiences... Approach people, places, and things with curiosity Life/Career advice: You're creating a brand - Be conscious of the type of people you're attracting. Work to attract those that make you a better version of yourself. Make the choice to attract people who like intellectual honesty like Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum)

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Ron Friedman is an award-winning psychologist who has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester and has consulted for political leaders, nonprofits, and many of the world’s most recognized brands. His first book, The Best Place to Work, was selected as an Inc. Magazine Best Business Book of the Year. His most recent book is called, Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Succes. Notes:   When Michael Dell was 16 years old, his parents bought him an Apple Computer. And they were horrified by what he did next... He took it apart to learn how to build it. He was curious. Excellent performers don't passively observe. They take action. When you encounter an awesome memo or speech, try to identify why it was remarkable... And then see how you can implement what you've learned to do the same. Nature vs. Nurture? "It's both." The stories we've been told are wrong: That it takes talent + practice. That's only part of the story. It's thinking in formulas and becoming a collector. "Identify what works and turn it into a template for yourself." A presidential speechwriter like Jon Favreau (President Obama's speechwriter) would study the greatest presidential speeches in history as he wrote... Reverse outlining - Take a finished product and reduce it to small paragraphs. Read the transcript and identify the emotion. There are six main narratives for main characters... The analysis comes after collection. Identify what's extraordinary... And then create a template. Create metrics and rate your work. "Measurement begets improvement." This requires a mindset of curiosity (like Michael Dell) Think in "blueprints." How does this work? How do I recreate it? President Obama initially was not a good politician... He observed pastors at churches. He started using repetition and pausing for effect to improve his ability to give compelling speeches. How are Chipotle and Starbucks similar? "They think in blueprints." The creators of Chipotle knew that people love burritos, but there wasn't a fast way to get great ones. They created a blueprint. The leaders at Starbucks modeled their buildings after Italian coffee bars. It's "pattern-thinking." Tom Petty didn't watch Bruce Springsteen because he felt they were too similar. He didn't want to outright copy him. Ron reads fiction to help him become a better storyteller and use cliffhangers in his non-fiction writing. Visualization - Why does it not work? "It can give you temporary satisfaction and lead to you not working as hard for the goal. You feel as if you already achieved it." "Visualize the process instead of the outcome." The UCLA Study: Visualize the process Practice in the past - Be reflective, use a journal, look back at previous entries Deliberate practice - It needs to be hard and you need feedback from an expert. Practice in different locations. Novelty is important. This allows you to be more present in the moment... Sign up for improv classes Find a hobby that has an overlap with what you do (if you're a manager, join toastmasters to become a better public speaker) Tinder algorithms - They predict who you'll find attractive. It looks for commonalities... The takeaway? Start a collection intake engine. Curate what that contains and what you exclude. Ritz Carlton obsesses over metrics. They understand that what gets measured gets managed. They optimize for their net promoter score (NPS). The links that are drivers to outcomes... For Ron, he needs to do cardio to get into creative mode. To do great cardio, he needs great sleep. To get great sleep, he needs regular massages. It's a chain of events to get the optimal outcome. Figure out what that is for you. How to give a great Ted Talk? Ron reverse engineered the most watched talk... Here is what he found: Ken Robinson used one fact He had lots of anecdotes There were LOTS of jokes (and they were funny) The storytelling drives the whole talk Taking risks -- Ron learned this from his grandmother and dedicates his work to her. He was born in Israel and moved to New York when he was 7. His grandmother would go door to door selling the services of her husband (he was a dentist). "The more risks we take, the more likely we are to succeed." Life/Career advice: Take more risks Optimize for your relationships... And your spouse is the most important relationship Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Sebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of THE PERFECT STORM, FIRE, A DEATH IN BELMONT, WAR, TRIBE, and FREEDOM. As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around the world and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is also a documentary filmmaker whose debut film "Restrepo", a feature-length documentary (co-directed with Tim Hetherington), was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Notes: Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives, and they need to feel connected to others. Definition of Freedom: “We walked 400 miles, and most nights we were the only people who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom, but surely that’s one of them.” Running a company versus LEADING a company -- “You can run a company or lead a company. If you want to lead a company, you have to make sure that when things take a downturn, as the leader you’ll be the first to experience the downside. Before jobs get cut, you’ll take a pay cut, you will suffer with the people you lead.” One great example of this is Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya. All employees are part owners of the company. He comes from a family of Nomadic Sheep farmers from the Turkish mountains. He learned a collective approach to life and work where he grew up. “When people are actively engaged in a cause their lives have more purpose... with a resulting improvement in mental health." How becoming a dad (at age 55) changed his life: "they are the point of life." Sebastian's dad was a refugee from two wars... War has had a significant impact on his life. As Sebastian grew up, he decided he wanted to be a journalist and cover wars. He went to the Civil war in Bosnia. Guts - "Most scary things are more frightening before you go. I have a formidable capacity for denial." People want to feel like they have agency. They're more scared when they feel that they don't have it. Front line vs backline soldiers - The backline soldiers are scared because they feel like they don't have as much agency as the front line (even though the front line is more dangerous). Uncertainty is scary. To help with fear, go in front of your mirror and make the "fear grimace" face... When Sebastian was competing in track events for the 1500m race, he would yawn in the faces of his opponents to intimidate them Freedom - We aren't subject to the whims of the largest male in a group anymore... You remain free by being mobile He organized his new book, Freedom, in three parts: Run -- Fight -- Think Sebastian went on a walking trip and called it, "The Last Patrol." - They walked on a railroad from Washington DC to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh "Met America from inside-out" What did he think about at night when he went to sleep outside during "The Last Patrol?" "Always thought safety first." "The most meaningful experiences happen when I'm physically dirty and security wasn't guaranteed." How to help your children push their edges? "We traveled to Liberia with our daughter." "The core value children value is closeness. We sleep on a mattress on the floor with our daughters. They want to be close." Collaboration/Working together -- Football and the military. The football locker room is a beautiful place. It’s democratic. People join from diverse backgrounds. And create a common goal. A theme of collaboration. A “we can’t win games without each other.” And when it comes together it’s a magical feeling.  There must be a core commitment to the group. "Being ego-driven is an emotional burden." Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: Principle driven - In politics, democracy should be #1 Sacrifice own interest for the group Life/Career Advice -- FAIL. If you’re only doing things you know you can do then you’re never near your limits. In order to grow, you have to push those limits. And sometimes that means you’ll fail. That’s ok.