The Action Catalyst

If you want your movie to win awards, consider casting Michael Stein in it!  In addition to starring in Oscar winning and nominated films such as La La Land and Boogie Nights, Michael is also a successful entrepreneur, comedian, writer/director, and podcast host of the Long Shot Leaders Podcast.  Michael and host Dan Moore dive into how you can “direct the movie of your own life”, create a physical trigger for jumping into your peak mental state, and develop “unconscious competence”, and touch on real lessons learned from movies such as Rocky, The Natural, The Matrix, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

With the 2022 Olympic Games underway, we dug into The Action Catalyst archive for three guests who have represented Team USA on an Olympic level; Vince Poscente, who is now an in-demand speaker and expert on resiliency, explains how he used determination and innovation to rise to the ranks of an Olympic skier in just four short years, Johnny Quinn, a professional speaker and former professional football player with the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers tells the story of his unbelievable journey from the NFL to the United States Olympic bobsled team, to competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and getting trapped in a bathroom in Olympic village, and Scott Hamilton shares the bittersweet experience of his gold medal win in 1984.

Coach Paul Assaiante shares how resilience is the most important trait of a successful teammate or individual, how you learn far more from losing than winning, and how the Dallas Cowboys found amazing player value by putting making “character” a measurable quality.Hear Coach Assaiante’s full interview in Episode 371 of The Action Catalyst.

Coach Paul Assaiante, a two-time Olympic Coach-of-the-Year, and the winningest coach in college sports history with 17 NCAA championship titles and the longest winning streak in college sports, talks with Action Catalyst host Dan Moore about empathy as a coach and a leader, measuring the character of a player and a person, how all sports are team sports, but they all start with the individual, and his friendship with world famous author Tom Wolfe and how it inspired his book, “Run to the Roar:  Coaching to Overcome Fear”, which is about to be made into a motion picture, as well as the interesting story behind its title.

Futurist Daniel Burrus explains what he looks at to make predictions about the future, and give listeners a simple exercise they can do to make actionable predictions about their own lives, so grab a pen and paper, and listen up! Your future depends on it!Hear Daniel's full interview in Episode 370 of The Action Catalyst.

Futurist, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and Founder, President, and CEO of Burrus Research, Daniel Burrus, takes a look forward, covering topics like what trends to look at to make predictions, the future of cryptocurrency, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, and robotics, smart weapons, military vehicles, and drones, fighting COVID, and gives listeners a simple exercise to make actionable and educated predictions about their own future.

Technology exec, entrepreneur, and former president of StubHub & eBay executive leadership team member Sukhinder Singh Cassidy explains the non-linear relationship between risk and reward, why Elon Musk is an expert choice maker before anything else, and how opportunity is NOT a “hero’s journey”.Check out the full interview in Episode 369 of The Action Catalyst.

Technology exec, entrepreneur, and former president of StubHub and eBay executive leadership team member Sukhinder Singh Cassidy talks about building a pipeline of opportunity and becoming a master decision maker, debunks myths around risk taking, including how risk and reward aren’t linear and taking risk means diversification, the importance of normalizing failure, why you aren’t necessarily the hero in your journey, and the wonders of “choosing possibility”.

Futurist and author Deborah Westphal discusses what exactly "humanism" means and how it meshes into business, the ways that the integration of technology changes the nature of what it means to be human, and why the "convergence" is something to be hopeful about, not fearful of.Check out the full interview in Episode 368 of The Action Catalyst.

Executive Advisor, futurist, and author Deborah Westphal discusses her work with advanced weapons systems and space exploration, the mechanics of predicting the future, advice for entrepreneurs and women aspiring to power positions, the distinct eras of business and technology, humanism and leadership, "obsolete knowledge", and more, in this wide-ranging, eye-opening conversation.