Coach Ron Ullery began his football coaching career at Centerville High School in 1977. He was the Offensive Coordinator (and play-caller) for my four years as the quarterback for Centerville (1996,1997,1998,1999). He was promoted to Head Coach in 2000. In his 14 years as head coach, he compiled a 107-45 record. Eight of his teams advanced to the Division 1 …
Charles Fishman is the acclaimed author of One Giant Leap, A Curious Mind (with Brian Grazer), The Wal-Mart Effect, and The Big Thirst. He is a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award, the most prestigious prize in business journalism. He started reporting on the U.S. space program as a Washington Post reporter covering the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and has written about space for The Atlantic, Smithsonian, and Fast …
Ian Leslie is a London-based journalist and author of critically acclaimed books about human behavior. He is currently writing a new book on “productive disagreement”, which will be published in 2020. Ian also created, wrote and performed in the BBC radio comedy Before They Were Famous. Ian appears as a commentator on current affairs and culture for the BBC, Sky, …
Julie Zhuo is the VP of Product Design for Facebook. She was the first-ever intern for the company. She leads the team responsible for the Facebook App. Julie is known as one of Silicon Valley’s top product design executives, she leads the teams behind some of the most popular web and mobile services used by billions of people around the …
Jay Acunzo is the founder of Marketing Showrunners, author of the book Break the Wheel, and the host and producer of more than a dozen docuseries about creativity at work. He’s a former digital media strategist at Google, head of content at HubSpot, and Vice President of Content and Community at the VC firm NextView. Jay’s work has been cited …
Rick Smith is the founder and CEO of Axon. Axon currently employs over 1,300 people. A pioneer of technology with the vision of making the bullet obsolete, Rick founded the original company, TASER, in 1993. As the TASER device became ubiquitous in law enforcement, Rick pushed the company beyond weapons technology and towards a broader purpose of matching technology to …
Jim Clifton has served as CEO of Gallup, a global leader in consulting and public opinion research and analytics, since 1988. Under his leadership, Gallup has expanded from a predominantly U.S.-based company to a worldwide organization with 30 offices in 20 countries and regions. Jim is the bestselling author of The Coming Jobs War and Born to Build, as well …
Episode #318: Clark Kellogg – How To Take Control Of Your Personal Development Clark Kellogg serves as one of the the premier voices in college basketball. He works for CBS Sports. In 1997, Kellogg joined CBS Sports full-time as a studio/game analyst for college basketball coverage and was one of three in-studio hosts for March Madness along with Greg Gumbel and Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis. …
Episode #317: Susan Cain – The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking Susan Cain is the author of the world-wide bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been translated into 40 languages, is in its seventh year on the New York Times best seller list, and was named the #1 best book …
Episode #316: Cal Newport – How To Choose A Focused Life In A Noisy World Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University who studies the theory of distributed systems. In addition to his academic work, he writes about the intersection of technology and culture. Cal is the author of six books, including, most recently, the New York …
Episode #315: Gabriel Weinberg – Using Mental Models To Make Better Decisions Gabriel Weinberg is the CEO & Founder of DuckDuckGo, the Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. Since 2008, Weinberg has grown DuckDuckGo from a self-funded operation out of his dusty basement into a business with over …
Episode #314: John Calipari & Michael Lombardi – Building & Sustaining A Culture Of Excellence John Calipari has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky basketball team since 2009, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (in 1996, 2008 and 2015), and was inducted into the Basketball …
Episode #313: Listener Q & A — Build Confidence Like Beyonce, How To Ask The Right Questions, & When To Make A Job Change This is a special “Listener Supported” Q & A edition of The Learning Leader Show. For those who have texted LEARNERS to 44222, I offered the opportunity to call in, ask a question, and record it …
Episode #312: Zvi Band – How To Leverage The Power Of Your Relationships Zvi Band is the co-founder & CEO of Contactually, the top CRM which empowers professionals in real estate, consulting, and other professional industries to build authentic relationships. Having founded Contactually in 2011, Zvi has led Contactually to $12M in venture backing, 75 employees, and tens of thousands …
Episode #311: Adam Savage – Life Lessons From A Master Maker Adam Savage was the co-host and Executive Producer of the hit show, MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. Fourteen years, 1,015 myths, 2,950 experiments, eight Emmy nominations and 83 miles of duct tape later, the series ended in March 2016. Today, Adam stars in and produces content for Tested.com, including behind-the-scenes dives …
Episode #310: David Epstein – Why Generalists Will Rule The World David Epstein is the author of the forthcoming Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World , and of the top 10 New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, which has been translated in 21 languages. (It was purchased by President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.) David has master’s …
Episode #309: Verne Harnish – Scaling Up: How To Grow Yourself & Your Business Verne Harnish is the founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 14,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program, the “Birthing of Giants” held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today. Founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global …
Episode #308: Alex Hutchinson – The Curiously Elastic Limits Of Human Performance Alex Hutchinson started out as a physicist, with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge then a few years as a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. National Security Agency, working on quantum computing and nano-mechanics. During that time, he competed as a middle- and long-distance runner for the …
Episode #307: Carly Fiorina – Why You Should Run Towards The Fire Carly Fiorina started out as a secretary for a 9-person real-estate business and eventually became the first woman ever to lead a Fortune 50 company. When Carly was recruited to lead HP in 1999, the industry was facing the worst technology recession in 25 years. Under Carly’s leadership, …
Episode #306: Brian Koppelman – Follow Your Curiosity And Obsessions With Rigor Brian Koppelman is a filmmaker, writer, podcaster, TV series creator, former music business executive and record producer. Brian is the co-writer of Ocean’s Thirteen and Rounders, the producer for films including The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones, the director for films including Solitary Man and the documentary This Is What They Want for ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 series, and …
Episode #305: Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall – A Leader’s Guide To The Real World (Break All The Rules) Marcus Buckingham holds a master’s degree in social and political science from Cambridge University and is a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management. He’s the author of the international best-seller, First, Break All The Rules. To kick-start …
Episode #304: Laura Gassner Otting – How To Carve Your Own Path Laura’s entrepreneurial edge has been well-honed over a 25-year career that started as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, where she helped shape AmeriCorps. She left a leadership role at the respected nonprofit search firm, Isaacson, Miller, to expand the startup ExecSearches.com. In 2015, she held an audacious dream of electing …
Episode #303: General Stanley McChrystal – The New Definition Of Leadership A retired four-star general, Stan is the former commander of US and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and the former commander of the nation’s premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). In June 2009, the President of the United States and the Secretary General of NATO appointed …
Episode #302: Nick Kokonas – How To See The Genius In People Nick Kokonas is co-founder and co-owner of groundbreaking Alinea, Next, and The Aviary (and it’s speakeasy The Office) in Chicago. Alinea, which opened in 2005, has been on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list since 2007, rising as high as seventh and twice being the “Best Restaurant in …
Episode #301: James Kerr – How To Create An Ethos Of Excellence (Legacy) James Kerr is a bestselling author, speaker, and consultant who helps create high performance cultures for elite teams and organizations. He is the author of the global best-seller ‘Legacy’ which provides a unique insight into the most successful sporting team, The All Blacks – and has worked …
Episode #300 – Keith & AJ Hawk – How To Instill Work Ethic & Curiosity In Your Children Keith Hawk is a 32-year veteran sales professional and sales leader. For over ten years he led one of America’s greatest sales organizations, at LexisNexis. He speaks regularly on topics such as consultative selling, selling to executives, and how to effectively lead …
Episode #299: Kyle Maynard – “The World Will Not Be Tailored To Your Every Need” (Scaling Kilimanjaro) Kyle Maynard is a motivational speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and ESPY award-winning mixed martial arts athlete, known for becoming the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Aconcagua without the aid of prosthetics. Oprah Winfrey called Kyle “one of …
Episode #298: Michael Useem – How To Become A Learning Machine Michael Useem is the William and Jacalyn Egan Professor of Management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His university teaching includes MBA and executive-MBA courses on management and leadership, and he offers programs on leadership and …
Recently, I was sent a very thoughtful email from an up and coming leader named Haley Gribler… She works at an Accounting firm in Brentwood, Tennessee and is striving to get better. Haley sent me a number of questions. Instead of just emailing her my answers, I thought I would share publicly (yes, I checked with her first!) Here we …
Episode #297: Tero Isokauppila – CEO Of Four Sigmatic: Principled Based Leadership Tero Isokauppila is the founder of Four Sigmatic, a nature-centric Finnish- American company specializing in functional mushrooms, superfoods, and adaptogens. Tero’s roots are in Finland, where he grew up foraging for mushrooms and other wild foods on his family’s farm. He later earned a degree in Chemistry, Business, …
