Intentional Performers With Brian Levenson

Tanya Vogel has had quite a career in athletics and she’s kind of just getting started with her impact and influence in not just athletics, but beyond it as well. She’s been a distinguished leader in collegiate athletics for nearly 3 decades. Recently, she concluded her tenure as the Director of Athletics at George Washington University; she served in that position for 7 years. Her journey at GW began in 1992 as a student and All-American soccer player. She’s in GW’s hall of fame and she earned multiple degrees at GW including a BS, and MS, and an MBA. So, Tanya is a learner, which is going to be the core of today’s conversation; she loves to learn, she loves to grow. Additionally, she was recognized for her playing career becoming the first women’s soccer player to be inducted into the GW athletic hall of fame in 2002. She became their head coach at the age of 25. So, Tanya at GW is certainly an icon and somebody that the Athletic Department for a long time has looked to for leadership as a player, as a coac

Joe Quitoni is the Founder and CEO of Unify Align. Unify Align collaborates with clients to reimagine the people and customer experience, delivering real-world solutions that supercharge business growth. Joe knows a thing or two about collaborating with clients, specifically around people and customer experience. Throughout his career, he has used his skills in organizational transformation to create game-changing advantages for some of the world’s biggest brands. Before starting Unify Align, he put in over 20 years at the Ritz Carlton hotel company, where he served as the Director of Human Resources before jumping over to the brand’s consulting firm, The Ritz Carlton Leadership Center, where he led the team as Global Head of Delivery. For those unfamiliar with what they do at The Ritz Carlton when it comes to the leadership center, think of it similarly to what Disney does; both of these organizations are known for customer service, so they actually train other businesses and other organizations on how they

Harris Fanaroff is the Founder of Linked Revenue. Linked Revenue is a company that helps Executives and sales and marketing teams utilize LinkedIn to generate new business. They focus on 3 areas: Helping executives generate thought leadership content Growing and nurturing their network Creating a business development strategy and executing on it Harris has over 28,000 followers on LinkedIn and has spent the last 4 years understanding how to best use the platform. He lives right outside Washington DC with his 1-year-old son and wife. He was a former MLB draft pick and Division 1 college baseball player. Harris had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur” (7:35). “I didn’t know how to deal with those failures as an athlete” (15:45). “If one person will find value from what you’re going to share, it’s success” (18:50). “Getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to me” (21:40). “Find out what they care about, and then do i

Dr. Diane Hamilton is one of those people that came on my radar and just didn’t stay off of it. She is one of the leading experts when it comes to studying curiosity in the world. She’s written multiple books about curiosity, she’s the creator of the curiosity code index which tries to help us understand what actually gets in the way of our ability to stay curious, and for that I am extremely grateful. I took the curiosity code index, and actually the focus of a lot of our conversation today is us unpacking my scores and her explaining the different factors that cause us to perhaps retreat from curiosity. She’s a thought leader in other fields, including leadership, sales, marketing, management, engagement, personality, and, as I mentioned, curiosity. She has spent time with some of the best leaders in the world. So, today’s conversation certainly focuses on what she’s learned, what she’s studied, what she’s researched, and how we can apply it to our lives. She’s a keynote speaker that’s also been featured in

Jason LaRose has built quite a reputation for himself throughout his career in his desire to help companies scale and grow. He worked for companies like Under Armour, where he became their President of the North America Region. He then went onto Equinox Media, where he served as the CEO, helping them build out their technologies and their content. From there, he co-founded and became President of a company called The Post, which is actually how we got connected; The Post has created a community for former athletes, and some current athletes, to come together to learn together and support each other. It is an amazing networking group that continues to grow. Most recently, he became the President of Bombas. If you’re unfamiliar with Bombas, it is an incredible, mission-driven apparel company (and as I said to Jason, I am currently wearing their socks, their socks are really what put them on the map). They created a company that not just created comfortable and quality socks, but also with a mission behind it wh

Mitch Warner is a managing partner of the Arbinger Institute, which is a global leadership development firm. He directs the development of Arbinger’s leadership development programs and highly customized large-scale organizational culture change initiatives. Mitch has been instrumental in Arbinger’s rapid growth, including its expanding international presence in over 20 countries. He’s also a heck of a writer; he’s the co-author of Arbinger’s bestselling books Leadership and Self Deception (which we get into at length in today’s conversation), The Anatomy of Peace (which we actually don’t really dive into in today’s conversation), and The Outward Mindset (which is really the precursor for a lot of our conversation today). Mitch is obsessed with mindset and how mindset can impact how we show up not just for ourselves, but for the people around us. Mitch has delivered training and consulting internationally to leaders and organizations across a broad range of industries. He’s a sought-after teacher, speaker, an

Doug Stitt most recently served as the Chief People Officer for the United States Army where he was the lead HR officer for the Army's 1 million uniform and civilian personnel. He graduated from Norwich University and served around the globe in a variety of formations. He is married to Beth and has two daughters, Laura and Anna. Doug had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “[Soldiers] all have a story and it’s unique to them” (7:40). “Connect with the people that are making the connections” (8:30). “[When I hear the word soldier] I think of service, I think of selflessness, I think of being a servant, I think of physical and emotional courage” (10:35). “I wish more people knew a soldier” (16:55). “Just because it’s a tradition doesn’t mean it’s good” (19:00). “Innovation for tomorrow is better than the tradition of today” (19:25). “Friction isn’t always bad” (22:00). “People want to be wanted” (24:10). “Culture is a long-term ebb and flow in an organization” (26:50). “W

Ashley Zaslav is the founder of Integrative Complexity, which is a high-performance coaching firm that works with made career high achievers ready to bet on themselves and test their potential. She’s also on our coaching bench at Strong Skills, and I’ve been fortunate to refer some amazing people to Ashley and hear firsthand about the work that she does with them. Some of her clients include founders of investment firms, newly promoted partners, high potential investment professionals, search fund CEOs, first time CEOs, C-suite leaders, and executive directors. Ashley is an athlete, and she was a two-time captain of the Duke Women’s Soccer Team that was a national finalist in 2011. She was the number five recruit in the nation coming out of high school. So, Ashley is absolutely a competitor, but we talk about her mindset and how it’s shifted over the years from just competing and maximizing and being the best that she can be to blending that mindset with one of wisdom, one of slowing down, one of thinking and

Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. We discuss happiness at length in today’s conversation, but we also discuss frameworks, and I think you’re going to find right off the bat that Gretchen sees things in terms of frameworks, in terms of theory. But she’s also known for her ability to convey complex ideas from science, to literature, to stories from her own life, with levity and clarity. So, we bring her into this conversation and we actually bring myself in to today’s conversation, and I think that will make it really come to life. She’s a writer, and she’s going to articulate how much she loves writing and how big of an impact writing has made on her life and how she sees the world. She’s the author of many bestselling books, such as The Happiness Project, Better than Before, and The Four Tendencies, which has sold millions of copies in more than 30 languages. Her most recent book, which we reference in today’s conversation, is Life

Tiffany Thompson is a unique human being. She’s driven by curiosity, and that’s going to come shining through in our conversation today. Tiffany weaves the analytic rigor of her early career as a CIA analyst with the explorative creativity of her recording artist career. So, to say she wears multiples hats or weaves multiple identities is probably an understatement. She is the founder and CEO of Artistic Leadership, which is a creative consultancy that uses the power of art to unlock creativity and connection. Creativity and connection are really what today’s conversation is all about. How can you use a spark of curiosity to improve your ability to innovate, to create, to build something? That is really at the core of Tiffany’s positioning, of her communication, of everything that she stands for. Tiffany had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I would consider the CIA to be a very creative and artistic place” (6:50). “People choose to work [at the CIA] because they’re

James Lawrence is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for cultivating great workplaces and empowering people. You will be able to tell right off the jump that James is extremely passionate about developing people in the workforce and doing so with intentional leadership. With more than 25 years of being a CEO and founder, James loves to share his insights, not just on leadership, but also on organizational culture and the intersection of technology and the workplace. His mission is to help people love their work and get connected with their teams, because in his words, when people work better, we all win together. He’s the founder of a company called “Happy,” which is dedicated to empowering people and improving how every team works together. He is someone who is passionate about the power of technology to change how we operate, how we develop people, and ultimately, how we perform. So, this conversation dives into what currently he’s doing at “Happy,” but also backs up to some of his journey and what he’s i

Before I get to Micah Hendler’s bio, I want to acknowledge there are things in this conversation, there are themes in this conversation, there are ideas in this conversation, that I don’t agree with. And if you look back to our podcast guests in the past, we have tried to bring a variety of people to the podcast for dialogue and to learn other people’s perspectives. And just because you’re learning it doesn’t mean you have to agree with it. So, as you’re listening to today’s conversation, I would hope that there are elements that you disagree with me on or disagree with Micah on. And that’s okay. We need to continue to have dialogue with people that we may disagree with and we need to find where we do agree. Human beings are meant to find a sense of belonging and often we seek out people that are just like us and we create tribes that then may cause us to be ignorant toward another group. And so, if there are things that are said in this conversation that make you think, great. If there are things in this con

Melissa Urban is a badass. And we talk about that term badass and why she likes and why she appreciates the label and explains why we may attach that label to women who are doing big things, but we don’t necessarily attach it to men. So, who is Melissa beyond being a badass and what has that baddass-ery led to? It led to her co-founding and becoming the CEO of the Whole 30 brand. She’s also a recovered addict, a New York Times Bestselling Author, a mother, a podcast host, a nature churchgoer (those are her terms), and she also talks about boundaries quite a bit and wrote a book all about boundaries, which is called The Book of Boundaries. If you are in the health space, you’ve probably heard of Melissa and her Whole 30 brand and blog and books. She’s really created quite an empire around that concept. But today’s conversation is not just about all of Melissa’s successes; it’s also about some of the challenges and failures she’s had when it comes to partnership and relationship and her own journey and experien

Lauren Sisler is an Emmy Award winning sports broadcaster, a former collegiate gymnast, an ESPN sideline reporter, an author, and a keynote speaker. While those accolades are super impressive and certainly her resume is impressive, this conversation gets into some of the challenges Lauren has faced personally. She lost both of her parents with their hidden battle with prescription drug addiction within hours of each other. I’m going to let her share what that was like for her. This conversation is as much about that watershed moment and tragedy as it is about her talent and her success. She’s vulnerable in this conversation; she’s willing to share her full self with all of us, and that’s what really makes this a really unique conversation. I think you’re going to find Lauren to be joyful, she is upbeat, but she is also not going to sugarcoat some of the things that she has struggled with and some of the challenges she’s faced in her life. And so, this is a conversation about joy, about adversity, about emotio

Ruben Gonzalez is going to inspire you with our conversation today. He is 61 years old and he is still attempting to make it to the next Olympics in the sport of luge. If you know anything about luge, you’ll know that it is a difficult sport that’s hard on the body that comes with danger. And Ruben knows a lot about the sport of luge. He’s competed in 4 different Olympics in the 3 different decades. He’s currently attempting to become the oldest Olympian to ever compete. He has experienced a lot in the sport of luge, but he’s also run with the bulls in Spain, he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain in Africa), he was a torch bearer at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, he has written books, he’s a keynote speaker, he is really a unique soul who is passionate. He really reminded me a lot of the people that I studied and wrote about in my book, Shift your Mind. A lot of today’s conversation is going to focus on Ruben’s mindset; what he’s done to create a mindset to help him in preparation and in per

If you live in the Washington DC area, Lindsay Czarniak is a name that you’re probably familiar with. She’s an Emmy Award winning broadcaster who spent several years as the sports anchor and reporter for NBC Washington. Also, if you’re familiar with NBC Washington, you’ll know that they have become somewhat of a factory for talent in the sports broadcasting world. That really traces back to the days of legendary broadcaster and sportscaster George Michael, who started the George Michael Sports Machine, and it really was one of the first pioneer sports shows. George Michael called Lindsay the best hire he ever made, which is pretty high praise coming from a legend. After NBC, she decided to move to Connecticut, where she worked at ESPN from 2011-2017. She anchored SportsCenter, Sports Nation, and NASCAR Now. We’ll talk about NASCAR in today’s conversation and how it impacted her journey and how she really loves the sport and all that comes with travelling and also being a mom and having a career. So, this conv

Dr. James Doty, or as he wanted me to call him, Jim, is a Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University. He’s also the Founder and Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, which is an affiliate of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. So, you’re going to learn pretty quickly in today’s conversation that Dr. Doty has been on the neurosurgery side and on the neuroscience side of studying the brain. He is obsessed with research and science, and he also blends in this sort of artistic way of thinking about how we can show up in the world. He’s the author of a self-help book called Into the Magic Shop, which is a neurosurgeon’s quest to discover the mysteries of the brain and the secrets of the heart. I think that best describes how Jim shows up. He very much values the brain, but he also values the heart. His most recent book, which is a big part of our conversation today, is called Mind Magic, which is all about the neuroscience of manifestation and how it changes us

Allison Shapira, MPA, CSP, is a former opera singer turned entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and international expert in leadership communication. She is the Founder/CEO of Global Public Speaking LLC, a certified woman-owned small business that teaches speaking skills to leaders so that they can build better client relationships, inspire their teams, and confidently lead their organizations into the future. She teaches a graduate-level course at the Harvard Kennedy School and has spent 20 years developing leadership communication programs for Fortune 50 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. She has worked with prime ministers and their cabinets and CEOs and their leadership teams, teaching them authentic leadership as a way to inspire their constituents and teams. She also travels around the world with the nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership, teaching leadership communication to help women leaders grow their business, run for office, or launch a nonprofit. Allison is a Certified Spe

Bill Kraus is on a mission. And I use that word intentionally. He is the co-founder and owner of Mission Barbeque, which opened its doors for business on September 11th, 2011. And of course, that date is not a coincidence. Bill and his co-founder Steve “Newt” Newton, who came from Outback Steakhouse, were very intentional from the beginning to make sure that they built a business that was purpose-based. They cared deeply about serving their employees, their customers, their community, and they’re unapologetically patriotic. They believe in serving our first responders and our military, and that’s going to come across tried and true in today’s conversation. Before starting Mission Barbeque, Bill had spent a lot of his career working in the sports industry. He worked for the NFL, he worked for the brand Champion, and he also was one of the first employees for Under Armour. He helped Under Armour grow and expand at an amazingly rapid pace. He helped that company grow its revenues from $20 million to an excess of