Intentional Performers With Brian Levenson

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than a lot of our past episodes because it’s just going to be me on here. I’m going to share a lot of my observations, a lot of my notes, from a festival I recently attended called The Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s really a conference, but it’s much more than a conference. It’s where some of the best thought leaders gather to share what’s on their mind, to discuss, they have all kinds of experiences, they have debates, they have panels, they have interactive experiences. I figured I would capture the four days that I spent at the conference with all of you and share it in today’s episode.  Here are some insights I’d like to share form today’s episode: “[The festival] was a reminder of the power of education” (2:40). “We don’t need to be formally in school to continue to grow and become educated, but we do need to seek out opportunities to learn” (2:45). “We either evolve, or we die” (4:15). “’And’ is more powerful than ‘or’” (5:15). “If we aren’t healthy, not

Ryan Poles is currently the General Manager of the Chicago Bears. Prior to that, he spent 13 years working with the Kansas City Chiefs and helping to build the Super Bowl Champion that they are today. He was heavily involved in scouting and bringing on the players that you see dominating the NFL today. Ryan also played football at a very high level; he played offensive line for Boston College, and his quarterback at the time was Matt Ryan. He then went on to get cut from the Chicago Bears, the team he is the General Manager for today. That led him on his journey and his path to working in the front office. Today’s conversation is really about leadership, it’s about how do you build the culture which the Bears are currently doing, and Ryan gives you a behind the curtain look at what he’s doing to build this one time historic, legacy franchise that is the Chicago Bears.   Ryan had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It’s part of my makeup. I never feel like I’m there yet

Brian Murphy is a founder, CEO, entrepreneur and investor -- constantly learning and chasing possible. He founded and leads ReliaQuest, the force multiplier of security operations and one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the global cybersecurity market. Murphy has grown ReliaQuest from a boot-strapped startup to high-growth unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion, over 1,000 team members and over $350 million in growth equity with firms such as FTV Capital and KKR Growth. The company is headquartered in Tampa, FL, with operations centers in Tampa, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Dublin, London, Amsterdam and Pune, India.   Brian had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I was trying to drive clarity, which would allow for consistency, which ultimately opens the door for consistent performance” (8:20). “We talk about momentum in sport all the time, but momentum in business is critical” (8:30). “If [performance psychology] can help an athletic team, why can’t

Kara Goldin has quite an impressive and extensive resume and bio. But rather than give you all of her bio and information, I think she covers a lot of her journey in this conversation, I’m just going to introduce her to you. Kara is the founder and CEO of Hint. You’re probably familiar with Hint, they’re best known for their award-winning water, which is really a leading unsweetened flavor water category. She’s been featured in magazines, won awards, she’s an active speaker, a podcaster, and she’s got a fantastic book which we cover in today’s conversation as well.   Kara had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I learned to admire people who were better than I was at certain things, knowing that I was good at other things” (7:40). “I could change the visual and I could eventually do it if I just set my mind to it and focused” (9:30). “My parents were constantly saying to me ‘You need to figure it out.’” (11:05). “My parents gave me the nudge to go and figure things out

Paige Thomas has more than 25 years experience in the retail industry with an extensive off-price background and her passion for ecommerce. Paige most recently served as President & CEO of Saks OFF 5TH, leading the business from February 2020 through February 2023. Under Paige’s leadership, Saks OFF 5TH has evolved the business operating model and strategy to focus on the digital experience. In 2021, Saks OFF 5TH’s ecommerce business was established as a separate entity with a $200 million equity investment led by Insight Partners. Paige was named President and CEO of SaksOFF5TH.com to continue to build on its momentum and growth trajectory. Prior to Saks OFF 5TH, Paige spent eight years at Nordstrom where she launched NordstromRack.com and led the integration of HauteLook. Earlier in her career, Ms. Thomas held merchandising leadership positions at Kohl’s and Fred Meyer.   Paige had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “One of the things I’ve really been working on

Coach Sam Puryear is the Head Coach and the Director of Golf at Howard University. When coach took over, the program was actually a Division II golf program. But they got a donation, a six-year commitment from Stephen Curry, the NBA superstar, to help fund the golf program at Howard. Since that time, since Sam has taken over, they’ve really turned into quite a program. Coach came from Michigan State University, where he helped lead them to a Big Ten Championship. Coach was actually the first African American head coach in golf at a power-5 conference. Coach has a ton of accolades: he’s produced one National Championship, he’s won the Big Ten Championship when he was at Michigan State, he coached at Stanford where he was an assistant coach, he’s gotten two coach of the year honors, he’s won a ton of awards, and coach is also an author. He shared an inspiring story in his book, Diamonds in the Rough, which talks about his journey and his love affair with golf, not just from a golf standpoint but also a life sta

Wendy K. Smith is the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management, faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware and fellow at The Academy of Management. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, where she began her intensive research on strategic paradoxes—how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands. Working with executives and scholars globally, she received the Web of Science Highly Cited Research Award (4 years in a row) for being among the 1 percent most-cited researchers in her field and received the Decade Award from the Academy of Management Review for the most cited paper in the past 10 years as well as a fellow at the Academy of Management. Her work has been published in such journals as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, and Management Science. She has taught at the U

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people know they’re awesome and they’re doing great. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, does what it says on the label. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and dabbles in the ukulele. He’s Australian, and lives in Toronto, Canada.   Michael had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “There is one part of me that suffers from S.O.S: Shiny Object Syndrome” (9:45). “I’m good at generating ideas” (10:05). “I don’t want to be fenced in” (10:20). “Inspiration is when your past suddenly makes sense” (10:40). “We unlock our greatness by working on the hard stuff” (11:10). “I am good creating, and specifically making complicated stuff feel more accessible and practical for people” (18:25). “I’m good at turning complicated concepts into something people can grasp” (19:05). “I think it is a choice and a deliberate act to try and

Laura Gassner Otting - Speaker. Author. Entrepreneur. Motivator. Instigator. Laura’s secret superpower is seeing your greatness and reflecting it back on you, so that you can get “unstuck” — and achieve extraordinary results A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily, Laura’s 30-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected national search firm to expand a tech start-up; and founded, ran, and sold her own global search firm, partnering with the full gamut of mission driven corporate and nonprofit executives. Laura is turned on by the audacity of The Big Idea and that larger-than-life goal you just can’t seem to shake. She’s an instigator, motivator, and provocateur, and she’s never met a revolution she didn’t like. Just ask her enduringly patient husband, two almost-grown sons, and two troublesome pups with whom

Cate Luzio spent two decades in financial services leading global multibillion-dollar businesses. During this time, she also led many of the institutions’ women’s networks and saw the disproportionate number of men to women and women of color in the senior ranks. She recognized the problem was a lack of investment and development of talent in the female pipeline, rather than a lack of talent itself. This observation sparked a new direction for Luzio’s own trajectory. In a sharp career pivot, she launched Luminary, a gender inclusive, global professional education and networking platform created to address the systemic challenges impacting women across all industries and sectors. Luminary's mission - and Cate's - is to help women and our allies see a path forward by arming them with the tools, resources, and community to navigate their paths -- regardless of their professional journey.   Cate had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I wanted men to be part of the convers

Chris Voss has an extremely impressive resume and bio. He’s used many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the business world through his company, which is called The Black Swan Group. Prior to 2008, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s hostage working group. During his career, he’s also represented the US Government as an expert in kidnapping at two international conferences sponsored by the G8. Before becoming the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator, Chris served as the lead crisis negotiator for the New York City division of the FBI, and he really was in some precarious negotiations and he talks a lot about those experiences in his wonderful book, which is called Never Split the Difference, which has sold over two million copies. Chris was a member of the New York City

Jackie Insinger is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and a sought-after leadership and team dynamics consultant. Jackie combines the science of positive psychology, which we talk a lot about in today’s conversation, with revolutionary tools and programs to help leaders increase authentic connection, performance, and fulfillment. Jackie works with teams to build a culture of trust, while guiding them to become more aligned, communicate more effectively, collaborate with ease, and support each other more efficiently. Her trainings lead to measurable increases in productivity, performance, and engagement within an overall enhanced culture. In turn, she hopes they see a positive ROI for the company’s bottom line. Jackie cares about the individual, but she also cares about teams and cultures, and at the end of the day how can we improve performance of our organizations. She has a psychology degree from Duke University and a master’s from Harvard. She has worked with individuals and teams that have positively

Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Scientific Americans, Slate, Time Magazine, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. She’s the author of three books, including Origins, which was reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review and selected by The New York Times as a notable book. She’s also the author of The Cult of Personality, which was hailed by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker as a fascinating new book. Her latest book is The Extended Mind, which we get into quite a bit in today’s conversation. Annie has spoken to audiences all over the world about learning and cognition. Her TED Talk has been viewed by about three million people. Today we do a deep dive certainly into all of Annie’s work up until now, but we really do a deep dive into the science of creativity, which is what Annie is most curious about at the time of this recording. We get into a variety of topics in today’s conversati

I’ve been a fan of Kelly McGonigal for quite some time now. Her work has been shared with my clients over the years. Her TED Talk, which came out in 2014, titled How to Make Stress Your Friend, has over 30 million views, making it one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time. Not only is she a great speaker, she’s also an incredible writer. Her books, The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress are fantastic. Her latest book, which is called The Joy of Movement explores why physical exercise is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Kelly works as a health psychologist, and she talks a lot about today the power of impacting people, not just with her books and her TED Talk, but also on a one-on-one level as a mentor. She’s also an exercise instructor, and as a health psychologist she specializes in understanding the mind-body connection. Kelly is somebody who loves to work with people, she cares about connecting with humans, she also is a lover of animals; she c

Dolly Chugh (she/her, hear my name) is an award-winning professor at the New York University Stern School of Business where she teaches MBA courses in leadership and management. Her research focuses on “bounded ethicality,” which she describes as the “psychology of good people.” She is the author of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias (HarperCollins, 2018), A More Just Future (Simon & Schuster, 2022), and the popular Dear Good People newsletter. Dolly’s TED Talk was named one of the 25 Most Popular TED Talks of 2018 and currently has almost 5 million views.   Dolly had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “I love writing. It’s a space that’s really rejuvenating and clarifying for me” (6:35). “I think through writing” (6:45). “I’m a big fan of dumping thoughts out as unformed as possible” (7:40). “I teach on the page” (8:55). “I am learning alongside my students” (9:10). “Thinking is dynamic” (10:40). “A lot of us are looking for a way to engage that

Charles Duhigg is a best-selling author. I first found out about him from his first book The Power of Habit which is all about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies, and societies. It is a must-read if you’re interested in productivity or effectiveness or maximizing your potential. His next book, Smarter, Faster, Better is all about productivity; I highly recommend you check both of those out. In today’s conversation, we weave a lot of what Charles has learned with those books into our conversation, and we talk about his future book, his next book, which is all about connection. We talk about how Charles has come to see the world from a habit lens, from a productivity lens, and from a connection lens as well. He currently writes for the New Yorker Magazine; previously, he wrote for The New York Times. He is someone who thinks things deeply about how humans can thrive and how we can flourish and how we can be our best. He really dives deep into the science and the research whenever he is writi

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than the ones we’ve done in the past. I just had an inspiring experience that I thought would hopefully make all of us think a little bit more about our own identity, our own values, our ancestors, and how those experiences and the experiences of our family members impact us and how we see the world today. I wrote a little bit and I’m going to share what I wrote, and this is the best medium I know to share important, interesting, unique information. I really hope that today is something that will make you think and inspire you to look inward and reflect on yourself. At its core, this podcast episode is about identity and how we use that identity to make a difference and make an impact in this world.   Here are some insights I’d like to share form today’s episode: “What would you do if you were able to spend time with Adolf Hitler (without any consequences) if he was around today?” (7:15). “It’s one of the best gifts I think my parents gave me and my brothe

Stephen Ludwig has amassed over 4 million followers across all platforms. As a young inspirational speaker, he delivered his life story to various audiences through high school. After noticing the extreme growth of social media, he aimed to build a brand that would spread the message of positivity in ways that public speaking simply could not.   Stevo had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Growing up, I needed some sort of person to idolize” (7:10). “When you go through the motions of going in and out of the hospital, you lose a sense of who you are, and you need to find that person to look after. And Kobe was that guy” (7:35). “It was all about competition for me, and Kobe was competition” (9:45). “I’m starting to realize that maybe I went too hard on occasion growing up” (12:55). “Getting through college and seeing the world as a bigger place, I started to slow down and really start showing love and compassion instead of just competitiveness” (13:35). “Every single

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, and author of the book You Have More Influence Than You Think. She is an expert on help-seeking, social influence, compliance, consent, and why it’s so hard to say no.   Vanessa had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Influence is any kind of change in another person’s way of thinking, their emotions, their way of seeing things” (6:40). “You don’t have to be a leader in a leadership position to have influence” (7:00). “Even as a follower, you have a lot of influence” (7:10). “My idea of influence is broader than just leadership” (7:30). “Influence is also these more intimate moments between just you and one other person” (9:20). “Influence comes with responsibility” (11:40). “We’re not very good at telling when someone’s authentic or not, and if we’re hearing what we want to hear we’ll just kind of go with it” (16:30). “When we think about how someone else is going to re

Ryan Lavarnway was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round in 2008 out of Yale University. Since making his Major League debut in 2011, Ryan has played in parts of 10 Major League Baseball seasons for eight different teams. He has also represented Israel in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. More recently Ryan has been building a brand off the field, starting with his podcast and website with more to come!   Ryan had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “It always felt like something there was a little something missing [from baseball] until I started to get onto these teams that really came together as a unit” (5:30). “Religion is something that, unless you have a Star of David on your chest and are being persecuted for it, people can’t necessarily tell just by looking” (10:35). “I want the meaning. I crave something deeper” (13:15). “We’re all always finding ourselves” (14:40). “The second that you think you know who you are, don’t close t