Safi Bahcall on Loonshots

Dr. Emma Seppala is a bestselling author, she’s a Yale lecturer, and international keynote speaker. She teaches executives at the Yale School of Management and is Faculty Director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She’s a psychologist, she’s a researcher, she is somebody who is constantly thinking and wondering about the science of happiness, emotional intelligence, and social connection. She is also an author, as I mentioned earlier, and her books are what we focus on in today’s conversation. The two we focus on are The Happiness Track, which has been translated into dozens of languages and was published in 2016, and her new book which we really dive into in today’s conversation which is called Sovereign. Dr. Seppala is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Emma has been featured in just about every publication you can imagine, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR, and she also has done TED Talks all over the country. Her contributions and writings have been featured in places like The Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Psychology Today, and Time. She’s been fortunate to also consult and speak to organizations like Google and Facebook/Meta. Her research on breathing is also something that we talk about today. She has done amazing work with our military and their experience with trauma, so we bring that into today’s conversation. Emma had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It really doesn’t make any sense to sweat the small stuff” (7:10). “There is an inner wealth that is more precious than any external wealth you can have and any material good you can have” (8:00). “This idea of the ability that we have to have sovereignty over our mind; it is there, it is something we can have, but we forget about it” (10:20). “Through the breath you can actually shift which emotions you’re experiencing” (11:25). “Suppression [of our emotions] actually makes them stronger” (12:25). “Emotion is energy in motion. You need to learn how to move it” (14:35). “Vulnerability and authority can coexist. Vulnerability and strength can coexist” (21:50). “When you suppress the negative, you’re also suppressing the positive” (26:15). “We’ve bought into this idea of high stress all the time, and all it’s doing is burning us out” (31:00). “It’s good to question how we always do things, even if everyone’s doing it, because it may not always be the best thing we can be doing with ourselves” (33:25). “Self-criticism is different from self-awareness” (37:00). “It doesn’t make sense to have an antagonistic relationship with yourself” (38:10). “Our mind is like a mirror; it’s going to reflect whatever we put in it” (40:15). “For sovereignty, the key is discernment” (42:35). “Having the attitude of kindness is one of the greatest secrets to happiness and fulfillment over the length of your life” (46:20). “The happiest people, who also live the longest most fulfilled lives, are the ones who live lives characterized by compassion, balanced with compassion for themselves” (47:40). “The most successful leaders out there are leaders that are compassionate” (50:35). “Happiness is a very individual experience” (52:20). “Everybody, to some extent, has an addiction” (56:50). “We can get stronger and better at everything if we just force ourselves to do it over and over” (1:07:25). Additionally, you can purchase Emma’s new book Sovereign anywhere you buy books. You can also check out her website and connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.   Thank you so much to Emma for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Simon Mundie is on a mission to have discussions that reveal something important about life and how best to live it. He’s the host of the Life Lessons Podcast, and that’s where he uses that vehicle to learn from some of the best performers in the world about how they are not just successful at their craft, but what they’ve learned along the way, and even some of the dark sides that come with high achievement. And he really is someone who has used sport as a metaphor for life. His podcast doesn’t just interview some of the best athletes in the world, but it also is a platform where he gets to sit with some of the best thinkers, philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists to try to unpack and discover what living a truly meaningful, successful life is all about. He has spent time in the sports world as a journalist. He worked for BBC Radio, where he covered sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics. So, he’s been around some of the highest achievers in the world, and he often found that our obsession and focus on results was actually quite shallow. His interest in sport as he became older was actually around the metaphors that exist within the games. So, this conversation gets into a lot of wisdom, a lot of ideas around enlightenment, a lot of ideas around meaning and purpose and what will cause us to truly feel like we’re living our best lives. So, it’s a deep conversation, it’s a rich conversation. Simon had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I am actually not a big fan of the word [champion]” (4:55). “I think it becomes problematic when we look at people who are described as champions and consider them to be special or different, and therefore consider ourselves or others to be less than” (6:10). “We are all unique with our own skills and value” (6:45). “We are not better or no worse than anyone else” (7:00). “So often people are incredibly identified with their thoughts, the voice in their head, they think that’s who they are” (9:30). “Thoughts and thinking are coming and going, but this ‘aware’ mind is always there and is aware of any thoughts that come and go” (10:10). “A thought… has a beginning and an end” (10:35). “I’ve always been interested in the deeper questions” (18:10). “There’s nothing that anyone needs to fix. It’s just the belief that there is” (19:15). “Sport is a metaphor for life” (21:00). “Sport is just a way to illustrate these deeper truths and deeper implications” (21:40). “We are not separate. We are connected” (22:45). “On the human level we are individual, unique, and discrete, but on the being level we are one and the same” (24:50). “We are different expressions of one life” (25:40). “Spirituality is the recognition that at the deepest level we are not actually separate” (25:45). “Anytime [“problematic”] feelings come up, it’s an opportunity to allow them to be there and then they lose their strength” (31:30). “A lot of trauma can stay in the body” (41:20). “That capacity to be able to cry is a really important way of actually releasing stress and tension from the body” (42:55). “Attention is like the stretching of awareness towards an object” (45:55). “What we all really want is peace of mind, is contentment, is fulfillment” (49:25). “Peace and fulfillment and contentment are not things that come from outside ourselves; they are already at our source and then they can be revealed by, for example, being in flow when your sense of self disappears” (49:40). “Culturally, we tend to think of success as achievement” (50:15). “Don’t be too quick to judge other people” (1:02:45). “We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions” (1:07:40). “I’m going to take risks. I’m going to put myself in situations that are uncomfortable. I’m going to ask people for stuff until they say no” (1:12:20). “I’m going to put myself out there and really try and create opportunities, and then see what life throws my way” (1:13:30). Additionally, I’d encourage you to check out Simon’s podcast, The Life Lessons Podcast, on any platform. I’d also highly encourage you to purchase Simon’s book, Champion Thinking. Lastly, you can find Simon’s website here and connect with him on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Simon for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Dr. Gloria Mark is Chancellor’s Professor Emerita at the University of California, Irvine, and has spent ten years as a visiting senior researcher at Microsoft Research. She received her PhD from Columbia University in psychology. For over two decades, she has researched the impact of digital media on people's lives, studying how using our devices affects our multitasking, distractions, mood, and behavior. She has published over 200 papers in the top journals and conferences in the field of human-computer interaction, has received numerous paper awards, and was inducted into the ACM SIGCHI Academy in 2017 in recognition of her contribution to the field. She has also been a Fulbright scholar and has received the prestigious NSF Career Grant. Her work has been widely recognized outside of academia: she has appeared on The Ezra Klein show, NPR’s Hidden Brain, Sanjay Gupta’s CNN Chasing Life, CBS Sunday Morning, Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, among many others. Her work has been featured in the popular media, e.g. New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Atlantic, BBC, and others. She has been invited to present her work at SXSW and the Aspen Ideas Festival. Her recent book Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, was named by The Globe and Mail as the #1 Best Business and Management book of 2023, and chosen as the Season 20 selection of the Next Big Idea Book Club. Gloria had several amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “You have to be agile to put your attention to where it’s important” (6:50). “Multitasking is not possible for us humans unless one of those tasks is automatic” (7:50). “It’s not humanly possible to do 2 challenging, difficult things in parallel” (8:25). “It takes longer to do 2 or more tasks when we multitask compared to if we do the tasks sequentially one after the other” (11:20). “[Multitasking] creates stress” (12:35). “There’s a myth that when people multitask, they’ll be more productive” (14:15). “There’s a blurriness between our work and personal lives” (18:20). “Our motivation changes when we work from home” (19:30). “So often we might be with other people, but we have this lure of the internet still there” (25:30). “When something becomes a habit, it really prevents us from using our conscious attention” (28:30). “It’s really about becoming more intentional and conscious about what we’re doing when we’re on our devices” (32:15). “Distractions are natural. It’s part of our human experience” (33:30). “People mind-wander about 47% of the time” (33:40). “Attention spans have declined [over the last 20 years]” (39:05). “[New technology] has created a lot of pressure to think about performance at the expense of our wellbeing” (43:00). “60% of global respondents reported some symptoms of burnout” (44:15). “When people have positive wellbeing, they actually perform better” (44:55). “Being an artist taught me that I could think out of the box” (46:30). “The way I talk with scientists is very different from the way I talk with artists” (48:05). “Boredom is associated with negative affect. When people are bored, they tend to be in a bad mood” (56:45). “20 minutes in nature can help people destress” (58:40). “We can practice forethought” (1:04:00). “Goals are very powerful but they’re very slippery” (1:05:00). Additionally, you can connect with Gloria on Twitter and LinkedIn, check out her website (where you can purchase her book, Attention Span, and find much more), and also subscribe to her Substack. Thank you so much to Gloria for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Steve Clagett is the Director of Learning and Development with the Baltimore Ravens. Prior to arriving with the Ravens, he’s had quite a journey and quite an experience and a pretty incredible resume, which includes serving as a White House Fellow, where he got to interact with the President of the United States and a lot of other dignitaries and people that are making decisions that influence our daily lives. He also worked within the US Navy, rising to becoming a Lieutenant Commander where he also worked with the Navy SEAL Teams. We talk about mission, we talk about values in today’s conversation, and we talk about what is applicable and what may not be when it comes from the military to the sports world. We also talk about politics in today’s conversation. He also was a Pat Tillman Scholar. He is someone who cares about the work that he’s doing and is looking to make an impact certainly within the NFL, but beyond the NFL and in the community that he helps serve in Baltimore as well. So, this is a rich conversation where we really zoom in and think about character and how you assess for character and how you think about putting together the best possible team to compete, to contend, and ultimately to win. Steve had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “The power of the year [2020] means more now than it did then” (8:00). “We don’t say he’s a [Navy} SEAL. We say he’s a team guy” (11:50). “Part of the competition is who you are as a teammate” (12:20). “I believe in having a hypercompetitive organization” (12:30). “You have to make sure that competition reinforces selflessness” (12:40). “For me, accountability comes in phases” (14:15). “Both [the military and the NFL] exist in some ways to inspire others” (16:40). “When I look back at my career, I think of times I could have been more of a glue guy” (19:15). “As a leader, there’s that constant balance between the mission and the man” (19:25). “You need people [on the team] who get people out of their comfort zones and push the team in different directions” (21:05). “I really enjoyed leading teams and solving complex problems” (22:10). “I would define effective leadership as working with the team on establishing a vision, giving them clear roles and responsibilities, the resources they need to get the job done, and then getting out of the way” (27:50). “Ideally you want a culture of disagree and commit” (30:50). “What I’ve learned over the years is the value of diverse perspectives” (36:20). “When you can improve the morale, when you can improve the culture of an organization, it just makes coming to work every day better” (39:05). “The toughest decision I ever made was leaving the SEAL teams” (41:35). “Sometimes loyalty is just [to] your teammates” (44:35). “I think intrinsic motivation isn’t as important as external motivation” (52:50). “I wonder sometimes if we’re too hard on people for their honesty” (53:20). “One of our biggest reasons for success is we know who we are” (58:50). Additionally, I’d encourage you to check out Farming 4 Hunger and The Taylor Anne Foundation. You can also connect with Steve on LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Steve for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Dr. Ruth Gotian has studied extensively what it takes to be successful. That is, at the end of the day, what she’s obsessed with, interested in, and curious about. She also has spent a lot of time thinking about mentorship and mentoring. She is currently the Chief Learning Officer, Associate Professor of Education in Anesthesiology, and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of The Mentoring Academy at Cornell Medicine. And so, today we focus more on her focus on success and less on mentoring. She has a book coming up in the future about mentoring, but today this conversation is really about her research and dedication and, to be honest, an obsession with success. In 2021, she was one of 30 people worldwide to be named to the Thinkers50 Radar List, which is dubbed the Oscars of Management Thinking, and is a semi-finalist for the Forbes 50 over 50 list. During her extensive career, she’s personally coached and mentored thousands of people, ranging from faculty members to undergraduates, and as an Assistant Dean for mentoring, she oversaw the success of nearly 1800 faculty members at Cornell. Currently, she researches the most successful people of our generation, including Nobel Laureates, astronauts, CEOs, Olympic champions, and more. We get into that in today’s conversation. Dr. Gotian received her BS and an MS in Business Management from The University at Stony Brook in New York, and certificates in Executive Leadership and Managing for Execution from Cornell. She earned her doctorate at teacher’s college at Columbia University. So, she’s well educated, she plays in the lab, but she also plays in the field. She works with athletes, she works as an executive coach, and she regularly publishes in journals such as Nature, Scientific American, Academic Medicines, Psychology Today, Forbes, and The Harvard Business Review. So, this conversation really focuses on her book, The Success Factor, which is all about developing the mindset and skillset for peak performance, and if you know anything about me you know that is a topic I am quite interested in. Ruth had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “If I want to be better, I need to know what the best of the best are doing and then I reverse engineer their path” (7:50). “I knew if I leverage my peak performance hours I will write better and I will be more effective” (12:40). “I need to be able to rest” (15:25). “I work really hard to be around people who jazz me up and don’t drain me” (15:30). “Very often people get overlooked, misunderstood, because they’re different” (20:00). “Sometimes it’s the people who carve out a different path that have the greatest learning journey” (20:15). “[Success] is very personal” (21:55). “I have interviewed hundreds of people who are at the top of their game. Not one has gotten there alone” (25:15). “Any person who has achieved anything has done it with the support of other people” (25:50). “The extrinsic motivation is fleeting” (28:55). “If you really want to maximize everything that’s going forward, take a break” (34:00). “Having a positive impact and leaving this world better than I found it, to me, that’s my way of doing something important and not just interesting” (39:15). “Do something important and not just interesting” (42:05). “When our situations change, our passions can change” (43:25). “Mindsets trump habits because we can take the idea of the habit but customize it to our life” (46:10). “Just because you’re moving up doesn’t mean you know more. You actually know less” (53:25). “A leader is someone who can inspire other people to be the best versions of themselves” (55:00). Additionally, you can find all of Ruth’s information and connect with her via her website. Thank you so much to Ruth for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Stephen Panus is somebody that my path may have crossed with, and at some point led him to coming on this podcast professionally. He’s worked in the sports world, he’s worked as a marketer, as a lawyer, and as an agent. So, it would make sense that at some point he would be someone that I would interview. But the real reason and the impetus for today’s conversation is based, in part, off of adversity, tragedy, and trauma. Stephen’s son, Jake, was killed in a drunk driving accident when Jake was 16 years old. Jake’s girlfriend at the time was actually the one driving the car. We don’t get into the specifics as far as how Stephen feels about Jake’s girlfriend, and we really don’t get into all of the details around the accident per se. But this conversation gives us a window into the grief, the trauma, and also some of the inspiring work that Stephen has done since then. Make no mistake, this is an experience that Stephen went through that was a watershed moment for him in the worst of ways. He doesn’t mince words about how much he misses his son and how much he dreads the day that he was taken from their family. And this is also a story about what Stephen has done since, his perspective on life since the accident, his thoughts on his son and around what it means to be a father, what it means to be a husband, what it means to be a professional, and Stephen also wrote a wonderful book called Walk On which we feature in today’s conversation. I think you’re going to find Stephen to be a philosopher, a spiritual animal, somebody who thinks deeply about psychology and how we can show up as our best. So, this is a difficult conversation, this is a tough conversation, but it’s also an inspiring one. Stephen had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It sometimes is hard to remember what I was like before August 9th. My life was split into a two-act play” (6:25). “[I define success as] happiness” (9:00). “Happiness comes from within. If you can be happy with who you are and what you’re doing, then I think you’ll be a success at whatever that is that you’re doing” (9:10). “When you become a parent, it’s so similar to being on a [sports] team; you take on a responsibility much greater than yourself and your own interests” (11:40). “Being spiritual is just being open. Being open to things you feel, things you see… and I think in being open you experience a lot more” (14:00). “Everyone’s quest is their own” (17:10). “I think it’s super important to have faith in something” (17:15). “We’re all carrying invisible backpacks with some form of suffering or hardship or grief” (21:20). “Our vulnerability is our strength” (21:50). “All of the answers reside right within ourselves, we just have to source them. They’re all there” (22:10). “Practice vigilant mercy... Be easy on yourself, be easy on others, set healthy boundaries, know what you’re capable of and what you’re not capable of” (22:45). “There’s something about nature that brings some peace” (23:40). “You need to lean into the sharp point if you want to be able to get through it” (25:10). “Grief is your shadow now. It is always there. You have to deal with it” (25:35). “The closer you stand to death the more it makes you want to feel alive” (33:00). “Grief is love with nowhere to go” (37:10). “There’s so few things we control on this planet, but what we do control… is what we feel and what we do about what happens to us” (44:50). “We discipline our children to teach them” (47:10). “I don’t make a big deal about so many little things now” (50:00). “I connect with people’s pain. That’s a good thing because it connects us as human beings” (52:10). “Grace is really just the inner light within all of us” (57:30). “The most important relationship you’ll have on this planet is with yourself. And if you can learn to love yourself, accept yourself, agree to work on yourself, then the world opens up to you” (58:00). “Grief isn’t linear” (1:05:40). Additionally, you can check out Stephen’s website here, where you can pre-order his book, read about his scholarships, make a donation, book him as a speaker, and more. Thank you so much to Stephen for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Mosheh Oinounou is an Emmy, Murrow, and Webby Award-winning Executive Producer. He worked in traditional news for quite some time. He was actually the youngest ever executive producer of the CBS Evening News in 2018 and 2019, where he led more than 150 people and covered everything from the war on Isis to natural disasters to mass shootings to presidential interviews. It seemed as though Mosheh was heading in the traditional media place where he was becoming a rock star and working on his craft and earning a title, something he had dreamt about when he was a little kid. And then some things changed. He went in a completely different direction. And so, this conversation is going to be about identity, it’s going to be about entrepreneurship, and it’s going to be about the future of our media and the way we consume information. He currently is the President of both Mo Digital and Mo News, where they provide a variety of outlets for us to digest content. One of the places where he plays a lot is on Instagram, where they share stories in the stories side of Instagram. They constantly are sharing interesting information and trying to give a true experience, a trustworthy experience, in a landscape where many of us have lost our faith in the news. Mo also has a wonderful newsletter, he’s a great follow on social media, and I think anywhere that our media is going and trending towards in the future generations, Mo is going to be there delivering us the news. One thing to bring up before we get into today’s conversation: we do talk about politics in today’s conversation, I share some of my questions and hesitancies, and I do want to make it clear that I will be voting in the election and I think it’s something that all of us should take seriously and we talk about that in today’s conversation. And whoever you decide to vote for, hopefully you take advantage of that democratic right. Mosheh had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It’s an incredible challenge to try to fit the world into 20 minutes each night at 6:00 pm” (6:45). “I wanted some semblance of control over what I did” (8:05). “It was my identity [at the time]. Who am I if I’m not the CBS Executive Producer?” (8:55). “Running the evening news was the most stressful, least happy, I’d ever been” (9:15). “My career was my relationship for most of my 20s and my 30s” (14:45). “I had imposter syndrome very quickly as I tried to do my own thing” (18:20). “It took me a while post-CBS to navigate the wilderness and figure out what value I bring, what I learned, and why I, as Mosheh, even independent of an organization, brought value to various companies and clients” (19:05). “I’m in a unique situation because I’m the owner, the General Manager, the coach, and the player” (20:00). “I like being the player because I’m the owner” (20:30). “One of my frustrations was our lack of transparency with the consumer” (28:10). “Projecting that you’re human is so incredibly important” (30:40). “The only profession mentioned in the Bill of Rights here in this country is the press” (32:30). “Some people in the media have sort of gotten high on their own power” (33:15). “We try to be transparent about our biases” (37:50). “I want to present the news to you like a friend talking to you at lunch” (40:45). “[I’m] using the data to inform what I’m doing, not necessarily as a bible so to speak, but more of like a modern bible; let’s interpret it as opposed to using it in a declarative way” (46:50). “As humans, we struggle dealing with crises that aren’t acute” (50:40). “If we take for granted what we have, when we lose it it’s hard to get back” (54:50). “You want to feel more engaged in the process? Get more engaged in the process” (56:40). “You’re only able to digest a certain amount of information” (1:01:20). Additionally, you can find the Mo News website here where you can also find access to them on all platforms (YouTube, Newsletter, Podcast, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). Thank you so much to Mosheh for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

I was first introduced to Craig Wiley a number of years ago when I was starting my journey in executive coaching. The people that told me about Craig spoke about his integrity, his ability to think strategically, and help them as their executive coach. When we connected years ago, he was awesome, he was authentic, he was genuine, he had a clear vision for where he wanted to take his company, and it’s really cool to reconnect with him today and check in with him on where he’s at and where the company has gone. So, a bit about Craig: He is the CEO and Founder of Transcend, a company that helps to transform C-Suite leaders and their businesses. He’s been doing this for over 2 decades as an executive coaching expert and business strategy thought leader, two spaces in which he really does live. He lives in almost this consultant, strategy, thought leader space, which we get into in today’s conversation along with this executive coaching space. Ultimately, he’s really passionate about driving continual innovation through what they have determined to be the best practice and the best solutions necessary to advance leadership within organizations. One of the key themes of today, and one of the things that we talk about quite a bit and Craig really brings to today’s conversation, is this ability for an organization to focus on their enterprise first rather than last (and a lot of organizations focus on their enterprise last). When he works with organizations, he helps them align their values, their purpose, their mission, to whatever it is they’re doing at the enterprise level. Then, they go from there to the team and then it filters down to the individual. Craig had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Every single day when we’re working with executives, they are being pushed and pulled in unbelievably dynamic ways” (6:05). “If you’re a CEO, you really don’t have a community in your business” (6:25). “The notion of resilience looks different to different people” (6:55). “We think about individual performance, we think about team performance, but then we also think about how [an enterprise performs]” (8:50). “We think about resilience through the lens of a community that is resilient in unison” (9:05). “People love in engaging in things that are difficult when it’s meeting a bigger purpose” (11:15). “The highest functioning organizations are enterprise first, team second, individual third” (11:50). “We know that people are driven by impact and connection” (14:05). “We invest a ton of time and energy in being an enterprise-first company” (18:10). “As a coach or a leader, we have to be talking about the bigger meaning and the bigger purpose than this week’s game or this quarter’s deliverables” (23:05). “It’s the CEO’s sole job to ensure that they have a dynamic, innovative enterprise” (29:05). “Progressive business engages robust dialogue across all levels of the organization to build the future of the organization” (32:30). “People want to have a meaningful existence and they want to have impact and they want to feel good about what they do every single day” (35:10). “If [a private equity firm has] operating partners that understand how to take a company and make it enterprise first, team second, individual third, and understand how to create the highest performing ecosystems for people to flourish, the private equity firm wins” (46:45). “Business dynamics are the most dynamic they’ve ever been” (51:05). “You have to agility and resilience and innovation in organization” (51:20). “When people are operating from one playbook, they perform better” (59:10). “People came to America because they saw opportunity through equality” (1:08:50). “Success is not purpose” (1:09:00). Additionally, you can find the Transcend website here and connect with Transcend on LinkedIn. You can also connect directly with Craig on LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Craig for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Topaz Adizes is an Emmy Award winning writer, director, and experience design architect. Topaz is currently the founder and executive director of an experience design studio called “The Skin Deep,” which produces incredible, heartwarming, thoughtful, emotional videos that you can find on YouTube. They have over 1200 videos online, some of which are referenced in today’s conversation. I mention that experience design architect piece because at the beginning of this conversation, we talk about this concept that he created called “The And.” “The And” is a series of cards that you can purchase, and there are 199 questions in these boxes. These cards contain powerful questions that are meant to help build connections amongst human beings. In the beginning of this conversation, we reference the cards and how I might use them people with people in my life. He has also played in this writer/director space. His works have been selected to Cannes, Sundance, IDFA, South by Southwest, and featured in New Yorker Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times. So, he is certainly an artist at heart. He is someone who loves to document life, and he has gone towards this space of bringing people together for connection. So, at his core, Topaz is a deep thinker, a thoughtful guy, who wants to make this world a little bit better than he found it. Topaz had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Giving people the freedom to walk away, to not answer, to not respond, is really imperative so that you create this space for people to explore” (7:55). “There’s a lot said in the space between. We don’t have to articulate everything to feel everything” (8:15). “Two things are required to have a cathartic conversation: creating the space and well-constructed questions” (10:45). “Don’t ask a binary question” (17:20). “Ask a question as a gift” (17:50). “It’s much easier to shake a hand than a finger that’s pointing at you” (17:55). “Be aware of the questions you’re asking” (22:05). “The answer is shaped by the question you ask” (24:10). “Good relationships lead to a more vital life” (29:25). “Try to connect two things that are not usually connected” (29:35). “I traverse this journey (of life), I learn from it, and then hopefully I can convert these sources of pain that have created hunger in me to then offer a gift” (38:10). “The energy I put out did not come back to me in excess” (43:30). “Why not just change one person’s life profoundly?” (29:50). “What could I do today that would make my grandkid’s life better?” (51:50). “I don’t think about my legacy, I just think about the future” (53:55). “Big changes come from micro changes consistently” (54:30). “What we do now does echo into the future to people that you will never meet” (56:30). “I’m going to do my best to put the effort out. And then whatever happens, happens” (1:06:40). Additionally, you can find “The Skin Deep” website here and follow them on all social media platforms at @TheSkinDeep. Lastly, you can find Topaz’s personal website here. Thank you so much to Topaz for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.

Jared Freid is a comedian, he’s a podcaster, he’s a writer, he’s a TV host, and perhaps he may be best known at this point for his Netflix comedy special “Jared Freid: 37 and Single.” I watched it over the holidays and loved it, I watched it with my family. I’ve been watching Jared really since he got started in comedy; we have a mutual friend who we reference quite a bit in today’s show, and he brought me to see Jared and he just has the humor that I love. We talk about Jared’s journey and how he developed his style and really learned the mechanics of stand-up comedy. So, he’s going to give you the behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a comedian and his approach and what he’s done to build his brand. We do talk about branding, marketing, media, and the future of media and what he’s done to try to build his platform; I think there’s a lot to learn there. He’s also performed on TV; he’s been on The Today Show and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, so certainly he’s been on some big stages and arenas around the country. Jared is authentic and he’s genuine (so there are going to be a lot of f-bombs in today’s conversation; if you have kids, this is your warning: maybe this isn’t the episode for them to listen to). Whatever you are as you listen to today’s conversation, I think you’re going to love Jared’s approach, I think his mindset is really interesting when he talks about how he sets his mind for preparation and for performance, so hopefully there is something to learn for all of us. Jared had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I spent most of my days [back then] writing funny emails to friends” (10:30). “I made my own performing arts school” (13:25). “Really, what matters is the work” (14:40). “Becoming a stand-up comedian, which is what I want, which is what really makes everything I do funnier than most, takes a lot of footwork” (15:25). “My goal was to be funny for money” (17:35). “You can literally do any show you want with podcasting” (18:25). “Success [in stand-up comedy] is always did you kill or not kill?” (23:50). “I like that I like what I’m talking about [in my set]” (27:05). “You have to make fun of yourself… you have to be present” (36:45). “I’ve had shows for 50 people that are the best of my life” (40:25). “A comedy club is like a small boat that’s easier to steer, a big theater is like a cruise ship” (41:20). “If I did a new minute a week, and 22 of the 52 are really good… I would’ve never gotten to 22 if I didn’t try for 52” (42:50). “In comedy, you [now] have to do these extreme things to get people to pay attention to you” (56:15). “My power is in how normal and relatable I am” (56:35). “I need to be better at being more discerning on what I’m doing” (1:01:10). “It’s easier for me to look at sports from a macro level living in Manhattan” (1:08:15). “Stand-up is the most athletic art form” (1:15:05). “[Stand-up comedy] is tennis. It’s you vs. the audience” (1:15:25). “It’s hard to be able to move forward without credibility” (1:19:10). Additionally, you can check out Jared’s website, where you can find all his tour dates, and podcast. You can also find all of Jared’s information on his Instagram, as well as following him on Twitter. Thank you so much to Jared for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.