Vanderbilt University Professor Joe Rando joins Patrick to discuss the importance of solving problems, building sustainable businesses, and operating with excellence. Joe encourages all of us to learn continuously and invest in ourselves. Joe’s career spans over 30 years and includes work at all levels of management with Fortune 1000 companies, as well as the founding of and leadership of several early-stage start-ups.  He has managed companies through the early years of development, during fast-paced years of explosive growth, through the challenges of acquisitions, and through the later stages of maturity, optimization, and stabilization. Joe has held the title of GM, SVP, COO, CEO, and Founder in numerous companies in industries such as computer software, high-tech consulting, market research consulting, management consulting, insurance, manufacturing, wireless, real estate, restaurants, and retail.  As an investor in several seed capital and growth capital funds, he has advised dozens of start-ups and high-growth companies through the early years of formation and high growth. Learn more about Joe and his work at https://www.vanderbilt.edu/undergraduatebusinessminor/person/joseph-rando/

Patrick reflects on conversations he has had with two leaders about getting the big ideas right. He then shares two of his recent articles. The first article deals with the importance of meaning. The second addresses the need to get rid of tools that have served their purpose. As a leader, the three ideas addressed in this episode can go a long way to helping you to become the leader you were meant to be. Find the articles and past podcast interviews that Patrick mentions in this episode at www.LeddinGroup.com. For more than three decades, Patrick has led teams and studied leadership. His hands-on leadership experience has ranged from working with soldiers, as a U.S. Army airborne infantry ranger-qualified officer to senior corporate leaders for KPMG Consulting and FranklinCovey to the owner of two start-ups. He is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author of The Five-Week Leadership Challenge. He is an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches Corporate Strategy, Negotiation, and Crisis Leadership. He is also the Director of Vanderbilt’s Practice of Business Studies.

Peter Frampton, the CEO of Wealthvox, joins Patrick this week to explore why every employee needs to learn the language of business (aka the financial conversation). Peter and Patrick discuss how driving financial inclusivity increases employee confidence, improves performance, unveils opportunities, and drives efficiency and effectiveness in all parts of your business. Learn more about Peter and his team’s work at www.wealthvox.com.

Mindy Henderson joins Patrick to talk about her life, work, career, and most recent book “The Truth About Things That Suck.” They explore everything from life throwing you curve balls to proactively thinking before things do get hards. You won’t want to miss this fun, engaging, and informative conversation. Mindy Henderson gave her first speech at the age of four as the Texas State Poster Child for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Mindy later earned a master's degree and worked corporate jobs in high-tech for 20 years, advancing steadily up the corporate ladder. Since then, Mindy has pivoted from her full-time work in the high-tech corporate world to build a platform as a motivational speaker, where she shares her message and the tools she has acquired to help her overcome not only her disability but recovery from two devastating automobile accidents and job losses and more. Mindy currently resides in Austin, Texas, and her podcast "The Truth About Things That Suck" and book of the same name inspire audiences everywhere to overcome their limitations. Learn more at MindyHendersonCo.com

Soren Kaplan joins Patrick to talk about his new book Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs. The conversation reveals how our past experiences impact our present success and future opportunities in ways we often don't recognize. Soren explains that you can't change what's happened to you, but you can realize that your unique stories are hidden strengths waiting to be discovered. Learn more about Soren and his work at https://www.sorenkaplan.com

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) joins Patrick this week to discuss a framework that leaders at every level can use to develop, refine, and improve. In addition, they discuss how to effectively develop leaders by combining academic and hands-on experiences with role models and inspiration. Patrick reflects on a time some twenty years when then Colonel Petraeus had a direct impact on a young Captain Leddin. Learn more about the leadership framework discussed in this episode at  Harvard’s Belfer Center https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/david-petraeus-strategic-leadership General Petraeus Bio General Petraeus is a Partner at KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and OneStream, a Strategic Advisor for Sempra, a venture investor in more than 25 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Following retirement from the military and after Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror, the establishment of important Agency digital initiatives, and substantial investments in the Agency’s most important asset, its human capital. General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy and is the only person in Army history to be the top graduate of both the demanding U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College. He also earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. General Petraeus taught international relations and economics at the U.S. Military Academy in the mid-1980s, he was a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Honors College of the City University of New York from 2013 through 2016, and he was for 6 years a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California and a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. He is currently a Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, Co-Chairman of the Global Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute, and a Member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and the Aspen Strategy Group, as well as a member of the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Institute for the Study of War, and over a dozen veterans service organizations. He is also (to his amazement) a LinkedIn Top Voice. Over the past 20 years, General Petraeus was named one of America’s 25 Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report, a runner-up for Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the Daily Telegraph man of the year, a Time 100 selectee, Princeton University’s Madison Medalist, and one of Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 public intellectuals in three different years. General Petraeus has earned numerous honors, awards, and decorations, including four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, two NATO Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, the Ranger Tab, and Master Parachutist and Air Assault Badges. He has also been decorated by 14 foreign countries and he is believed to be the only person who, while in uniform, threw out the first pitch of a World Series game and did the coin toss for a Super Bowl.

Jenn Drummond joins Patrick in the Leadership Lab to discuss building resilience, setting goals, having confidence in yourself, and achieving greatness. After surviving what should have been a fatal car crash in 2018, Jenn decided it was time to stop living on autopilot and, instead, live her life with purpose and intention. As Jenn says, tomorrow isn’t promised. Facing her mortality emboldened her to make the absolute most of every moment – starting with the highest point on Earth. It all began in a moment of homework-induced frustration. One of her sons challenged Jenn’s can-do motto of “we do hard things” by asking: “then why haven’t you climbed Mt. Everest yet.” (Out of the mouths of babes). Now, just a few short years later, she’s conquered Everest and 6 other peaks, on her way to becoming the first female ever to complete the Seven Second Summits (that’s the second highest point on every continent). She embarks in May 2023 to tackle the seventh and set the world record. Learn more about Jenn, discover the Seven Second Summits, and follow Jenn’s journey at JennDrummond.com

Dr. J.J. Peterson is the head of Storybrand and the co-author of Marketing Made Simple, which he wrote with his colleague Donald Miller. J.J. joins Patrick in the Leadership Lab to discuss how you can clarify your message to excite and engage customers. Whether your customer is down the hall or halfway around the world, your ability to cut through the noise and create a compelling story is key to guiding them to success. Learn more about J.J.’s work at myStorybrand.com.

As 2022 comes to a close, we want to hit pause and share a couple of our favorite episodes from throughout the year. We hope you enjoy listening (or re-listening) to these as much as we do. The world’s bestselling author, James Patterson, talks to Patrick about the importance of trusting your gut, peeking through doors, and taking action when you hear that Whoosh, Whoosh, Whoosh sound. Gain insights into how a boy from small-town New York becomes the world’s most successful writer. Listen to this podcast and then pick up a copy of his memoir James Patterson by James Patterson. James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. His enduring fictional characters and series include Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and Ali Cross, along with such acclaimed works of narrative nonfiction as Walk in My Combat Boots, E.R. Nurses, and his autobiography, James Patterson by James Patterson. Bill Clinton (The President Is Missing) and Dolly Parton (Run, Rose, Run) are among his notable literary collaborators. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.

As 2022 comes to a close, we want to hit pause and share a couple of our favorite episodes from throughout the year. We hope you enjoy listening (or re-listening) to these as much as we do. Chris Voss is the author of “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It” and the CEO and Founder of the Black Swan Group Ltd. Chris has used his years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program and team that applies these globally proven techniques to the business world. He was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group. During his government career, he also represented the U.S. Government at two (2) international conferences sponsored by the G-8 as an expert in kidnapping. Prior to becoming the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator, Christopher served as the lead Crisis Negotiator for the New York City Division of the FBI. Christopher was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years.  He was the case agent on such cases as TERRSTOP (the Blind Sheikh Case – Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman), the TWA Flight 800 catastrophe, and negotiated the surrender of the first hostage taker to give up in the Chase Manhattan bank robbery hostage-taking. During Chris’s 24-year tenure in the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He also received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service. Chris has taught business negotiation in the MBA program as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.  He has taught business negotiation at Harvard University, guest lectured at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, and The Goethe School of Business in Frankfurt, Germany. Learn more about Chris and his work at www.blackswanltd.com