Podcast appearances and mentions of kevin duran

"What if your vacation rental came with VIP treatment?" Dive into the world of luxury short-term rentals with Kevin Duran, founder of JKW Vacation Club. In this episode, we explore a game-changing approach to vacation stays—one that goes beyond traditional Airbnb bookings. Kevin shares how his innovative membership model offers travelers a full concierge experience, including airport shuttles, grocery delivery, and exclusive local experiences. For property owners, JKW provides a powerful marketing and optimization strategy to fill calendars and create meaningful guest connections. With a background in sales and tech, Kevin is building a network of high-end properties across different locations, focusing on unforgettable, personalized travel experiences. Whether you're a property owner looking to maximize revenue or a traveler seeking VIP service, this episode is packed with insights into the future of short-term rentals and hospitality. Things we discussed in this episode: Ski-Pass Style Membership – Members buy days to use across JKW's luxury properties. VIP Concierge Services – Perks include shuttles, private chefs, massages, and curated experiences. Direct Booking Strategy – Virtual assistants prospect in Facebook groups to build a guest database. Premium Property Network – Partnering with owners to offer high-end, unique stays. Revenue Through Upsells – Bundling services with platforms like HostCo to boost earnings. Tech & PMS Challenges – Finding the right tools to streamline operations. AI & Sales Automation – Using Seamless.ai to target corporate clients. Luxury & Corporate Focus – Ideal for retreats, incentive programs, and tax-deductible stays. On-the-Ground Support – Hiring local managers to maintain brand standards. Revenue-Sharing for Owners – Fixed payouts when JKW members book their properties. Get in touch with Kevin: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JKWVacation Website - https://jkwvacationclub.com/ #SmartStayShow #realestate #realestateinvestor #realestateagent #RealEstateInvesting #ShortTermRentals #LuxuryTravel #VacationClub #TravelExperiences #PropertyInvestment #HospitalityInnovation #AIinTravel #ConciergeService #TravelTech #STRBusiness Follow Us! Join Jason Muth of Prideaway Stays and Straightforward Short-Term Rentals and Real Estate Attorney / Broker Rory Gill for the first episode of SmartStay Show! Following and subscribing to SmartStay Show not only ensures that you'll get instant updates whenever we release a new episode, but it also helps us reach more people who could benefit from the valuable content that we provide. SmartStay Show Website and on Instagram and YouTube Prideaway Stays Website and on Facebook and LinkedIn Straightforward Short-Term Rentals Website and on Instagram Attorney Rory Gill on LinkedIn Jason Muth on LinkedIn Hospitality.FM SmartStay Show is part of Hospitality.FM, a podcast network dedicated to bringing the best hospitality-focused podcasts to those in and around the industry, from Food + Beverage, Guest Experience, Diversity & Inclusion, Tech, Operations, Hotels, Vacation Rentals, Real Estate Law, and so much more!

Steve and Cullen hear from LSU head coach Brian Kelly on all the signings that the Bayou Bengals got inked today on National Signing Day, the larger issue of NIL and money being tossed at players left and right to get them to play at one school over another, and more about the Tigers before calling up Oleh Kosel, credentialed NBA writer covering the Pelicans, on the team looking to get out from under the injury umbrella as it seems that Herb Jones will make his season debut and Brandon Ingram will return to take on the Suns tomorrow evening, will it be enough to beat a good Phoenix team without Kevin Duran, one can only hope!

It's episode 311 and Kevin Duran tis now in Phoenix. The trade deadline came and KD isn't the only big name on the move. In College basketball, Purdue has lost as the #1 team for the 3rd team and now we've got a new #1. Finally we cover the super Bowl and the Chiefs 2nd title in 4 years.

In today's episode, Justin takes a (belated) look at the projected win total for every NBA team in the 2022-23 regular season, and places "bets" on whether they will go over or under. This is a fun way to (belatedly) preview the season and make some predictions for each team, and you know we love making predictions on this show. Later, Justin also predicts who will win each end-of-season award, notably MVP and NBA Champion!

Dan Devone & Shomari Block interview with Shawn Devaney who writes for Heavy.com covering the NBA. They talk NBA free agency, trade rumors, Kevin Duran and The Warriors

Al Can't Play Kanter d'avui: · Per què merdes hi han tants maltratadors masclistes a l'NBA i per què merdes ho accepta la lliga? Parlem del cas de Miles Bridges i de les coses que esperem que canviïn a la, suposadament, millor lliga del món. · Brian Windhorst, en ple subidón d'Ayahuasca, ens va donar un dels moments televisius de l'any i si voleu de la història. Què està passant a Utah? · Tornen Shams & Woj, en aquest cas amb un spin off centrat en el bo de l'Adrien i els seus tuits ficticis per protegir als Knicks en el fitxatge de Jalen Brunson. · Kevin Durant encara no ha marxat, parlem de felicitat, de transit emocional i de com reaccionaran tots els actors en aquesta mena de guió de Josep Maria Benat i Jornet en el que s'han convertit els Nets. Hi ha un #barretconspiranoic maco. · Dueñus i GMs nous? NEM A GASTAR! Baguette Biyombo arriba als TWolves a preu de Kevin Durant. Pot ser podrien haver preguntat als Nets? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cantplaykanter/message

This week we sit down with professional gravel racer, podcaster and adventurer, Payson McElveen. We learn about his path to the sport, his drive for adventure and his plans for the Life Time Grand Prix and the rest of the races on his calendar. Episode sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (promo code: THEGRAVELRIDE) Payson McElveen Web / Instagram Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Payson McElveen [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast. We welcome pacing. McKelvin pacing. As you may know, is a gravel racer, a mountain bike racer. A podcaster, a red bull athlete. And in all around adventurer. I've wanted to have pacing on the podcast for quite some time. I'm an avid listener of his podcast, but moreover, I'm a fan. And that probably comes through in this episode. I'm a fan of pace. And as he's every bit as approachable in real life, as he comes across in social media, He not only races at the front end of the gravel races on the calendar. But even more importantly, I feel like he's out there in the community and he's always after some great adventures. You can see him crisscrossing the country of Iceland. You can see him setting FK teas. You can see them getting brutalized on the Colorado trail and one of his first bike packing expeditions, he's just a hell of a lot of fun and a hell of a great guy. So I look forward to listening to this episode. Of the gravel ride podcast. Before we jump in, we need to thank this week. Sponsor the hammerhead crew to computer. The hammerhead crew to is actually the computer that pacing uses. So you may hear them talk about it, both on his podcast and in social media. His experiences are quite similar to mine. The Karoo two is a revolutionary GPS device that offers the rider. A whole bunch of customizability that really translates to giving you the information you need. When you need it in the format that you need it. I've mentioned before. A few of the things that I really love about the career too, are one, the climber feature. I've become addicted to the climber feature. It's quite amazing. Every time you approach a climb. The crew too, is going to display in graphical format in color coded format. The gradient. The length to the top and the amount of elevation you need to gain. I find that really useful in terms of pacing and it's fascinating. I've always been fascinated by grade. So seeing that great in front of me on the computer, I've started to really understand where my sweet spot is. I know that I'm quite good in the six to say 12% range, but north of 12%, I start to suffer. So it's quite interesting looking at that. The second thing I wanted to highlight is hammerheads bi-weekly software updates with new feature releases. That are unmatched by the competition. So unlike other head units, your crew to continues to evolve and improve. With each ride being better than the last you can seamlessly import routes from Strava commute and more. Route and reroute and create pin drop rooting on the fly. All available with turn by turn. Directions and upcoming elevation changes. The crew two's touchscreen displays, intuitive, responsive, and in full color. So your navigation experience is more like a smartphone than a GPS. You'll see your data more clearly than ever while also withstanding rugged conditions since it's water and scratch resistant. Tens of thousands of cyclists have chosen the crew to you as their trusted riding companion. Including this week's guest pace and mckelvin and another fan favorite amanda naaman. For a limited time, our listeners can get a free custom color kit and an exclusive premium water bottle with the purchase of a hammerhead crew to. Simply visit hammerhead dot. I owe right now and use the promo code, the gravel ride at checkout to get yours today. This is an exclusive limited time offer only for our podcast listeners. So don't forget that promo code, the gravel ride. After you put a custom color kit and premium water bottle in your cart. The code will be applied Would that business out of the way, let's dive right into my interview with pace and McKellen. Payson. Welcome to the show. [00:04:11] Payson McElveen: Thank you happy to be here. [00:04:13] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's good to finally get you on. I feel like I've been wanting to get you on since back in 2019 and the mid south gravel race. [00:04:21] Payson McElveen: Yeah. Yeah, that was that wasn't my first foray into gravel, but one of the first [00:04:28] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And I think it was one of those moments that it was, you know, there was very much a different style between you and Pete when racing in those adverse conditions, all the mud and whatnot, and how you [00:04:38] Payson McElveen: Oh, 2020. Yeah. [00:04:40] Craig Dalton: 20, 20. Yeah. So babying the bike and. [00:04:44] Payson McElveen: yeah. [00:04:45] Craig Dalton: being a little bit rougher on the bike and you know, both you guys smashed into pedals and I, it's funny, cause I'd heard you interviewed after the fact about that race and I'll refer to the listener back to some coverage there, but you were being, you were very conscious of what mud could have done to your bike. And that was clear in the way you were taking care of it. And I had that thought while I was watching the coverage, like that's smart, dipping it in the water, clearing it out, just being conscious of what is going to do the driver. [00:05:12] Payson McElveen: Yeah. Yeah, that was a boy. That was, I mean, gravel racing is always a dynamic thing and I feel like to varying degrees, just emission of damage control even on dry days. But Yeah. That was such a dynamic damn. Early on even. I mean, I thought my race was over 20 miles in when literally right as I think it was Pete might have been summer hill, actually Danny Summerhill was just absolutely on a mission early in that race too. But someone putting in a attack around mile 20 kind of first narrow section, and literally at the same moment, I got a big stick jammed in my rear wheel and had to stop. Pull it out. And yeah. because that selection was made and I ended up in like the third or fourth group that wasn't moving as quickly right off the bat. I think I had like a minute and a half deficit to to the lead group of P call and, you know, all the usual suspects. And it was pretty convinced that the day was over at that point. But also over the years, I've learned. Gravel racing or not kind of, regardless of the style bike racing when you don't give up good things tend to happen, no matter how dire it seems. And I was fortunate enough to ride back into the first chase group with my teammate at the time Dennis van Wenden, who spent many years on the world tour with Rabobank and Belkin and Israel startup nation, bunch of good teams. And. During that day, there wasn't a whole lot of drafting that was going on. Cause the surface was so slow and there was so much mud and you were just kind of weaving around picking your line, but it was really pivotal to have him to kind of join forces with him there. Because he really quieted me down mentally and he was like, Hey man, if you want to try to get back into this race, you need to do it gradually. Like don't panic, chase, you know, A minute gap. We could probably bring back and 25, 30 minutes, but if you do it over the course of an hour more you know, you can stay below threshold and that'll really pay dividends late. So long story short, I was really grateful to have his kind of Sage wisdom and sure enough, we got back into the group right before the aid station there at mile 50 ish. And I was surprised we got back. Pete and Collin and everybody else was even more surprised to see us come out of the mud from behind. But yeah, that was a member of that was a memorable day and in a weird way, I think getting having that setback so early on almost kind of calibrated my mind for the survival contest that it was going to be all day so that when the shit really hit the fan there and the last 30 miles, I was kind of already mentally prepared to roll with the punches. [00:07:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think there's some good points there. I'll, you know, it's always interesting to me talking to elite level athletes and, you know, with most of my listeners, presumably being like myself, mid-pack racers, the same rules apply, right. Should always breaks down for everybody. And you can have a really bad moment in one of these long gravel events and come back as long as you do the right things, right. If you're. If you haven't eaten enough, you haven't drinking drank enough. You just got to get back on top of it and the day will come around and more likely than not the field in front of you is going to experience the same problems. Just a generic initially to yourself. [00:08:28] Payson McElveen: For sure. And I know we're going to get into the grand Prix, but I think that's one of the things that makes the grand Prix so fascinating, especially when combined with the pretty unusual point structure, I think it's just going to be so topsy, turvy and tumultuous and. You know, obviously we saw two, two of the favorites, you know, most people's picks for the overall in Keegan and Mo already take the lead. But I would be shocked if they maintain that lead, you know, all the way through the next five rounds, just because of the nature of gravel racing. Weirdly, I think the mountain bike events will be the least least selective in a way. [00:09:06] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be interesting. Well, let's take a step back pace and I know, you know, I feel like I've gotten to know you through the course of your podcast, the adventure stash, but for our listeners, I want to just talk about how you got into the sport of cycling and we'll get to how you arrived at the gravel side of things. [00:09:24] Payson McElveen: Yeah, sounds good. [00:09:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So where'd you grow up? Where, when did you start riding? What was the first kind of race experience you had and how did you sort of develop the vision that you could be a professional athlete? [00:09:37] Payson McElveen: Yeah. So I grew up in a very small town, about 20 minutes outside of Austin, Texas. The rural Texas hill country. I'm fortunate enough to grow up on a little I don't know, hippie farm hippie ranch with my parents. You know, we had chickens and dogs and 18 acres couldn't see any houses from our house, which is something I, you know, in hindsight really appreciate pretty cool environment to grow up in. And I played pretty traditional sports growing up basketball ran track and field. Well, that sort of thing. But bike, riding and racing was always a little bit of the back of my mind because my dad did it some off and on while I was growing up. And then also Lance was winning all the tours during that time. And actually live just 15 minutes away from us. So he was a little bit of a hometown hero and all that was always front of mind. Freshman year of high school. I want to say I kind of had this recurring knee injury from playing basketball and that nudged me towards cycling a bit more. And I just started riding more and getting more interested in mountain biking in general. And there was this really cool mountain bike film, one of the early kind of. Shred it mountain bike. Documentary's called Rome that was playing in a bike shop and I just totally was transfixed one day. And that summer just kind of went all in. Building trails on the property and mountain biking and trying to learn more skills. And through a little bit of, a little bit of coaxing from my dad, I decided to, to line up for a mountain bike race, a local Texas mountain bike race when I was 14. And got absolutely. But for whatever reason, just it hooked me and that fall after getting absolutely destroyed by all the local, Texas kiddos. I just really dedicated myself to training and developing skills and came back that following spring as a 15 year old. And I don't think I lost a race in Texas that year and it sort of solidified. This idea of putting work in and getting a significant reward. And I'm not really sure why that never clicked with other sports. I was, you know, I guess had had a little bit of talent for basketball, maybe definitely talent for track And field, but I never dedicated myself to them from a work ethic standpoint, but for whatever reason, I was really motivated to do that for cycling and. Yeah, it just became a fan of the sport student of the sport, followed it like crazy. You got to know the pros, the U S pros and saw the Durango was really kind of the hotbed for domestic mountain bikers. And one thing led to the other. And now here I am still chasing the dream. [00:12:25] Craig Dalton: And did you end up going to college in Durango? Is that what I recall? [00:12:28] Payson McElveen: Huh. Yeah. So went to Fort Lewis college. That was also a big selling point. I ended up going to Europe with the national team as a 17 year old with USA cycling. And the one of the USA cycling coaches there for that trip was Matt Shriver, who happened to be one of the coaches at Fort Lewis college at the time also. And he sort of, you know, did a little bit of recruiting work with those of us there that. camp and a few of us actually ended up going to Fort Lewis, but yeah, boy, Durango's incredible. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to come here and then call it home for [00:13:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah there, the riding and mentorship in that communities. [00:13:10] Payson McElveen: It is. It is it's it's pretty incredible that the town is so small and so. Isolated in the scheme of things like it's pretty hard to get here. It's a long drive from anywhere and it's a kind of pain in the ass flight from everywhere. Also. We found that out on the way home from sea Otter when it took extra, but Yeah. I'm a small town hard to get to. And yet it's just this ridiculous hotbed of talent, you know, talent that's developed here, but then also talent that moves here. And one other thing I really appreciate is it isn't super like pro dominated. Like there's a very healthy grassroots contingent of cyclists here that. Frankly, do not care what's happening in pro bike racing whatsoever. And that's actually quite refreshing. When you spend a lot of your time at big race weekends, and you're getting asked 25 times a day, what tire pressure you're running, it's really nice to come back to Durango and, you know, just go shred some single track with someone that's wearing jorts and grab a beer afterward. [00:14:11] Craig Dalton: I bet. When you graduated from college and decided to go pro, was there a particular style of mountain bike racing that you were, you had in your head? This is what I want to pursue. [00:14:22] Payson McElveen: Man, this is where it gets pretty complicated. This is where it's very hard to make the story short, but I'll be as succinct as I can. So moving to Durango I had my. Sites, very firmly set on world cup XCO and the Olympics. I'd had some successes of junior and making the national team each year and doing some world cups and going to, you know, selection for Pan-Am games and all that sort of thing, podiums at junior nationals, all that sort of thing. But what I wasn't familiar with yet obviously is most. Teenagers or not is the economics of professional cycling, especially on the dirt side, on the roadside, it's pretty pretty cut and dried. There's almost a league obviously, and there's a fairly well-worn pipeline to the highest ranks of the sport. But in mountain biking, there's just really. Isn't that USA cycling tries, but it's there's such a high barrier of entry for a kid that doesn't live in Europe to go over to Europe, learn that style racing in a foreign land. And you know, it's very cost prohibitive. The writing style is completely different. It's not a mainstream sport. So their talent pools inevitably are just so much more vast than ours because of. that there are more kids that are just interested in being high-level cyclists, where most of our, you know, kiddos are interested in being NBA players or NFL players. So it's, I mean, it's a well-known story that it's very hard to break through at that level. And then there's the other component, which I don't think is talked about as much, which is just you start with the handicaps of inexperience. Obviously fitness, if you're a younger writer and then just start position. And I mean, it's, it is. So it's such a wild setup where you have to be so much stronger to break through and start earning results where your start position improves that just everything is stacked against you. So I had a few what I'd call kind of flash in the pan results enough to not give up on it, but not enough to really. Make it feel like it was a foregone conclusion. So I felt very fortunate to be in college and getting exposed to other styles of cycling as collegiate cycling frequently, you know, allows for. But going into senior year, I was kind of looking down the barrel of having to make some tough decisions. Cause I was making. Money racing professionally, but it was like serious poverty line sort of situation. And you know, finishing seventh or eighth at pro XC nets as a 23 year old is cool. But it's not going to give you an illustrious career. And so late late summer, early fall I just started kind of. Looking outside the bounds of this very narrow lane of focus that most folks my age were focused on, which was XCO mountain biking and the Olympics. And the other thing kind of to notice that one thing that strikes me frequently is that in mountain biking there are just fewer jobs of value in a way, if that makes sense, like on the roadside, if your [00:17:40] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:17:42] Payson McElveen: strongest on a world tour, You can still have a very fruitful position that is valued. I mean, if there's 400, some people in the world tour Peloton, I don't know what the number is exactly, but if you're 350 strongest, you're still a very valued member. If you line up at a world cup and there's 200 guys on the start line and you finish even 80th, like what's the value of that? There's [00:18:09] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:18:13] Payson McElveen: You're the backdrop for the folks that are at the top to anyway sort of digressing, but point being, I started looking around the sport and. I'd had some offers and opportunities to try racing on the road, but culturally, it just didn't quite jive for me. And then, you know, I started kind of looking at some of the folks that have, that had created their own paths, folks like Rebecca Rush Lil Wilcox hadn't really rose risen to prominence yet, but those sorts of people and I thought, you know what maybe I'll just go try. Something a little bit more adventure oriented. Just for fun. Like I don't know that I'm going to have the opportunity to dedicate as much time to cycling in the future as I am now. So maybe I'll go on an adventure. And sort of around the same time weirdly, I got a message from this race promoter, Italian guy that was putting on a race in Mongolia called the Mongolia bike challenge. And I still don't exactly know how that came about or why he reached out to me. But sure. You know, I'll come try, erase. And he said if I could get myself over there, he'd cover all of my expenses when I was there. And that said, you know, a flight to Mongolia, I think was like 25, 20 $600, something like that. And I had maybe $3,500 to my name as a senior in college. And I was like, well, you know, I just have this sneaking suspicion that this style of racing might be more my cup of tea. Obviously the Xes. I'm falling out of love with that. So I drained my bank accounts flew over there, had an amazing experience. That's a whole other story. [00:19:50] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's such an amazing country. I had the good fortune of going there and I had previously raised a couple of the trans racist and trans Rockies up in Canada and had friends who had done the. The ones that were over in Europe. And I caught wind of that Mongolia one after visiting Mongolia on a hiking trip. And I was like, that must have been at epic. [00:20:07] Payson McElveen: It was super epic. And you know, it was, I think it was eight days, seven, eight days, the stages where there's one TT day, that was like an hour and 15, but most of the day. Five to four to five and a half hours. And there was some good races there. You know, Corey Wallace was there. He'd won, I think, Canadian marathon nasty year before. And he'd won the Mongolia bike challenge the year before. There was also this Italian world cup guy there, who I'd never been able to be close to at world cup events. And then all of a sudden found myself going shoulder to shoulder with these guys and just feeling way more capable as an athlete and ended up winning that series outside magazine did a little interview and like photo epic on the wind. And that's I found out later kind of what put me on red bull's radar, but that was the thing that really set the hook for me, where I thought, you know what? This was way more fun. I got to see an amazing part of the world. The media cared way more about. Like way more media interest than I'd ever received. And I was just way better suited to it. I had no experience had barely been doing five-hour training. I'd never done a five hour training ride and yet was able to kind of rise to the occasion and do five-hour race days and back it up day after day. So after that point, I started kind of dedicating a little bit more time to to that style. And then consequently one Pro marathon NATS the following year. And that's, that was those two things were kind of the inflection point, I would say. So around 27. [00:21:34] Craig Dalton: and was that, had you joined the orange seal team? [00:21:38] Payson McElveen: So I had been on the rebranded show air team for anyone that remembers the Scott Tedros show our teams. It was called ride biker that year. And it was sort of like a collection of private tiers. It seems like there are some equivalents these days, like, I think the shoot what's it called? Eastern Overland. I want to say they run something similar to that. And then. As far as I can tell that new jukebox program seems to have a bit of a similar setup. So it was kind of set up that way. So I was able to start to pull together some of my own sponsors. And then once I started to get that media interest, the outside interview was kind of the biggest thing. I was able to parlay that into better support or SEL came on board as one of my bigger sponsors, but I hadn't that the team didn't exist yet. And then when. NATS. That's kind of when orange seal and track are like, Hey, what if we like made a team? Like rather than this being a private tier thing, what if we kind of took some ownership and let you just race? And we set up more of a team. So that's how that worked. [00:22:43] Craig Dalton: And you mentioned getting on red bull's radar. When did you end up becoming a red bull athlete? [00:22:47] Payson McElveen: Let's see, I guess 2018, early 2018. Does that, is that right? 2018? [00:22:56] Craig Dalton: The [00:22:57] Payson McElveen: I can't remember. I think [00:22:58] Craig Dalton: timeline sounds right. And did it change your perspective of yourself as an athlete, as you got exposed to the red bull family and other red bull athletes? [00:23:09] Payson McElveen: Oh Yeah. Enormously. I mean, it changed everything and it's funny because when I say. Started communicating with them. At first, it was just like this childhood euphoria of, or my God. This is the most sought after prized sponsorship in adventure, sports outdoor sports. Like this is, I can't believe they're interested, but this is incredible. And you start getting so fixated on the potential of it. for anyone that's familiar with their process they'll know that it's not fast. So basically they were doing background on me for a year. And then for two more years, we communicated. Dated almost you could say decided to figure out how much commitment, mutual commitment there wanted to be. Obviously I was very interested in commitment, but, and then came the phase where it looked like it was going to happen. And all of a sudden you start feeling the pressure and you start questioning. Am I worthy? What is this, what does this mean? What's going to be asked of me, how do I need to rise to the occasion? And I'd say even after I signed for a solid year, that was kind of my mindset. Like, oh man, need to not screw this up. I need to prove that I'm worthy. I need to do innovative things. But one thing that's interesting is that they red bull never. Puts any pressure on you and they really drive home the fact that they want to partner with you because of who you already are and who you can become the potential that they think they see. And they really like to bring people on board before they've reached. They're their prime, their best. They want to help you be a part of that growth process. So once I was able to gradually shift my mindset and realize that this was more of an opportunity and less of an obligation, that's where I think mentally and emotionally, I was kinda able to free up free myself up a little bit race with more race with a sense of opportunity and joy. And then also start to kind of tap into. Creative aspect that I've really started to lean into over the last few years that I've come to realize is like very necessary just for my happiness and sense of fulfillment. And I think that's really where there's most significant interest came from. And it was also just great timing. You know, they wanted someone in this endurance, mass participation sort of arena. That's also why they brought a in, around a similar time. And so, yeah, like, like any success timing was a massive part of the opportunity as well. [00:25:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I feel like in some way and correct me if I'm wrong, your relationship with red bull for a few years prior to the pandemic left you very well-suited to whether the pandemic and the lack of racing, meaning you had a wider view of yourself as an athlete and the things you could do. [00:26:13] Payson McElveen: Yeah. And you know, I over the years I've questioned kind of this all of these extracurriculars that, that I'm interested in. Whether it be the podcast or some of the films we do, or some of the, you know, crazy routes, I like to try to tackle Question, you know, how much does that detract from more traditional racing cars like riding across Iceland three weeks before the Australis off-road isn't, you know, stellar prep, but But by the same token, you know, I've really tried to zoom out over the last handful of years and think about how will I look back on this time when I'm 45, 50, 55, whatever. And really, it kind of goes back to Mongolia, you know, T deciding to take that red pill rather than blue pill spend most of the money. I had to go on a crazy adventure halfway around the world by myself as a 23 or. With no experience, you know, I'll never forget that experience the people I met over in Mongolia. And ultimately I think going through life experiencing as much as the world, both interpersonally and just travel wise as you can is a good way to do it. And I've had many mentors over the years who have raised at the highest level, kind of. Persistently remind me that the, what they remember or the things between the actual races and to make sure that, you know, if you go to all-star Germany for the world cup, do everything you can to make sure you don't only see the inside of your hotel room and the three kilometer race course. So that's kind of why. More and more ambitiously gravitated towards some of these more adventure oriented things. And ultimately from a professional standpoint, getting back to your point, it really does, you know, the way I look at it as sort of like a diversified portfolio, there are athletes that only hold one kind of stock, you know, maybe your stock is awesome. Maybe you have a bunch of shares of apple, but you know what happens if for whatever reason, apple tanks. Similarly to the stock market. You know, you want to have a diversified portfolio when we're operating in this space that doesn't have a league. It doesn't have a bunch of structure. And there is a lot of room for creativity. So, it's a personal need, but also it's worked out professionally as well. [00:28:28] Craig Dalton: yeah, I think as a fan of the sport, when you're out there doing those adventures, and obviously you do a lot of filming around these adventures. We just feel closer to you as an athlete. So when you line up at some gravel race, like we're rooting for you because we've seen you struggle. Like any one of us might struggle on it. Adventure. [00:28:46] Payson McElveen: Yeah. that's interesting. I mean, that's good to hear. It makes sense, you know, anytime, you know, I think about I'm, I mean, I'm a massive mainstream sports fan, so I'm always comparing. Our little cycling sport to these mainstream sports. And it's interesting to look at something like say basketball versus football, the NFL versus the NBA and in the NFL, there's massive athlete turnover because of injuries. And also everyone's wearing loads of protective equipment, you know, helmets, pads, all that sort of thing. So you very rarely do you actually see the athletes. They're just these incredible people. Rip it around on the field, hitting each other. With basketball, you see all the writers, interesting hairstyles, writers, basketball players, interesting hairstyles, you know, the way they react to like a bad call, the way they're talking to each other on the bench. Usually they're, they feel more comfortable, you know, giving more flamboyant post-game interviews. And so it feels like the. Collectively like the fan base for individual players in the NBA is so much more engaged than in the NFL. Like fans are with the exception of folks like maybe Tom Brady or like people that have been around forever. Folks of the NFL are fans of the game, fans of teams. And on the NBA side of things frequently, they're fans of the individuals because they feel like they know the individuals. And so I think the same can kind of be said for cycling. And interestingly, I think that. This is a whole other conversation, but I think it's one of the reasons we're seeing such amazing professional opportunities for folks outside the world tour. Now, obviously the most money bar, none is still in the world tour, but there's so much less freedom for personal expression for frankly, like having. Personality. I mean, look at guys like Laughlin that are like redefining the sport and all they had to do was get out of the world tour and do what they wanted to do. And I think that's really interesting and I feel fortunate to be in a part of the sport where that's more celebrated for sure. [00:30:48] Craig Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. So chronologically on the journey, we're back at 2018, you've won your second XC marathon title. Had you started to dabble in gravel in 2018. [00:31:04] Payson McElveen: yeah, I think that was 2018. I did Unbound. Yeah, I guess that would have been 2018 and that was a hundred percent due to sponsors requesting it. I was not interested. And I had a whole mess of mechanicals and actually didn't finish. And I think that might be the. That might be the most recent race I haven't finished maybe besides, well, that's not true. Mid south just happened, but yeah, I was, I didn't get it in 2018. I was like, man, this is carnage. People are flatting everywhere. Why are we out here for so long? This is so [00:31:41] Craig Dalton: It does seem like a Rite of passage to get abused by your first unmanned professional experience. [00:31:47] Payson McElveen: Do it for sure. And Amanda Naaman loves to make fun of me about this cause like I really not publicly, but I was fairly outspoken to some people about how I just didn't understand gravel after that experience. And then I ended up going to mid south in 20, 19 two weeks before the white rim, fastest known time. And I was planning to use it as like. Training effort for the white rim fastest load time. And I ended up winning that mid south race. And then I was like, oh, gravel is sweet. Everyone cares so much about this when Getting loads of interviews, like A massive bump in social media followership, like, wait, maybe there is something to the Scrabble. It Amanda's always like, Yeah. The only reason you fell in love with gravel is because you were fortunate enough to win a race early on, which, you know, might be kind of true, but long story short, it was not love at first sight with gravel, but that's obviously since changed. [00:32:40] Craig Dalton: And you were, are you still kind of in the sort of, I guess 20, 20 season where you still doing XC marathon style racing in conjunction with gravel 2020 is probably a bad example because that was the pandemic year. But in the, in that period, were you doing both still. [00:32:56] Payson McElveen: Yup. Yup. Yeah. And you know, the funny thing is I still. see myself primarily as a mountain biker and there are people who, you know, question, you know, how. I define myself as a racer at this point, but I don't even really feel the need to define what Sal racer you are, because I'm just interested in the biggest races in the country. The, and really, you know, at this point, it's kind of becoming the biggest mass participation, non UCI events in the world. And it's I look at it as a spectrum. You know, if you kind of go down the list of. How do you define these races on one end of the spectrum? You've got something like, you know, BWR San Diego, which in my mind is just kind of like a funky sketchy road race. I don't know that you're allowed to call it a gravel race. If everyone is on road bikes with 20 eights and thirties narrower tires, then the people use a rebate. But and then on the other end of the spectrum, you have something like. I don't know, an epic rides event or, you know, even like the Leadville 100 that really blurs the lines like is that you could for sure. Raise the Leadville 100 on a drop bar, gobbled bike, because as Corey Wallace did last year and you've got everything in between. So, you know, you've got grind. Durose where some people are on mountain bikes. Some people are on gravel bikes, you've got the grasshoppers same. So I look at it as much more of a spectrum, and I think we're just in this incredible golden age of. Grassroot grassroots is such a misnomer, but just like mass participation, non spectator, primary races. And I'm just, I'm here for all of it. It's all. [00:34:38] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, it's super exciting. And I think the event organizers have just a ton of freedom of how they want. Design the race courses. You know, if I think about the difference between the LA GRA Villa event at this past weekend, which was probably 75% single track, it was the, basically the 40 K MTB course, super single track, heavy required, a pretty hefty skillset. I know a lot of quote, unquote gravel riders were scratching their heads. After that one, thinking they were definitely under. And then the other end of the spectrum, you have something like BWR, as you mentioned, or even SBT gravel. It doesn't require a lot of technical skillset to be competitive in those races. So I find it fascinating. And I think that even goes down to where you ride and where you live. Like my gravel here in Marine county as the listener. Well, nose is quite a bit different than Midwest gravel. Not better, not worse, you know, just depends on what's your company. [00:35:36] Payson McElveen: For sure. And I mean, here in Durango, our best road rides our gravel road rides, and we've been riding road bikes on them for ages. When I first moved here, you know, every, so we have a Tuesday night world's group ride, which for what it's worth is still the hardest group I've ever done anywhere in the country by a lot. But Frequently, you know, every third week or so the route that we'll do is majority dirt and everyone's on road bikes. And up until a couple of years ago, everyone was on 26 or 20 eights. And you know, they're fairly smooth gravel roads, but pretty much if you ask anyone locally, our best road rides are half dirt roads. So when this whole gravel movements start. I know I was one of many that was, we were kind of scratching our heads a little bit about, well, isn't this just bike riding, but I understand the industry has needed to kind of define and brand things, but Yeah, it's it's interesting. [00:36:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's interesting as we were talking about your career in this sort of transition, a transition, but just as melding of your love of ECC and this new level of gravel low and behold in 2022 lifetime announces the grand Prix half mountain bike races, half gravel races. How excited were you around that announcement? [00:36:50] Payson McElveen: who very excited. Yeah I'd had some conversations with lifetime in the year or so prior kind of generally talking about structure and what events might make the most sense and all that sort of thing. But It was a little bit ambiguous about whether it was going to happen and to what degree and what it would all look like. So when the announcement? came out I was sort of primed for it, but I was also surprised by quite a few things. And that certainly. You know, increase the excitement too. As I read through the proposed rules and the points structure and the events they decided on and all that sort of thing. But yeah, I mean, it feels just like an enormous opportunity and I think it feels like an enormous opportunity. Personally because of the events, obviously, but I think it's an enormous opportunity for north American cycling as a whole, because there are so many aspects of the series that are completely different than any other series we've seen. I mean, in the United States with the exception of, you know, the heyday of mountain biking in the eighties and nineties, we haven't seen. Cycling massively successful really as a spectator sport or as a televised sport. Because there's always been this goal of making it a spectator sport, but I don't think in the United States, that's really ever going to be a spectator sport. The key in my mind is that it's a participation sport in this country, and that's what these huge grassroots mass participation events have really tapped into. And made them so successful. And so when you combine that with, you know, a year long points, chase, maybe all of a sudden that is the secret sauce for making it more spectator friendly, even if it's more of this kind of modern age of spectating, where it's very, online-based, there's lots of social media coverage. There's, you know, maybe a live stream there's, you know, Really cool. Like drive to survive, TVC series type things coming out of it. I mean that actually drive to survive as a great example. Like look what drive to survive has done for F1 in the United States virtually no one cared about F1 until that series came out. And now, you know, people are talking about peer gasoline and Daniel, Ricardo, like, you know, [00:39:04] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:39:05] Payson McElveen: You know, Kevin Duran or Tom Brady. So, it's a very interesting time and I just feel fortunate to kind of be reaching my peak career years right now as it's happening. [00:39:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah, to your point earlier, I think it just creates this great opportunity for storytelling throughout the season. And this idea of, you know, some courses are gonna be more favorable to mountain bike athletes. Others are going to be more favorable to traditional gravel athletes and just seeing how it all plays out and having the points across the season, as something as a fan that's in the back of your mind. I just think it's going to be a lot of fun and great for this. [00:39:41] Payson McElveen: Yeah. I think so too. I really hope so. And the thing that I really hope, I think what can truly set it apart and almost guarantee its success is if they're able to. Lean into those personal storylines, kind of like we were talking about earlier, the things that I think really makes a fan base fall in love with following a league or a sport, which is the individual stories. You know, like I hope there's all kinds of awesome coverage of Aaron Huck making this return to racing, following pregnancy, or you know, there's so many. Incredible individual storylines that can be told. And I hope that's really seen as an asset and taken advantage of. [00:40:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I have a. You can look at like Amber and Nevin and her experience, just like sort of getting a little bit crushed, still getting in the points at , but having a really rough day out there, that's the kind of narrative like you're looking for somebody who's coming way outside of their comfort zone to race this entire series. And unsurprisingly like a mountain bike style race was super challenging for. But it's going to be fascinating to see like how she bounces back for Unbound, which is this other radically different experience in my mind at 200 miles. [00:41:00] Payson McElveen: For sure. Yeah. I think we're going to learn a lot over this first year and I hope we get a couple of years at it because I think there will be lots of adjusting along the way. Lots of cool ideas and yeah, I think there's just massive potential and I hope everyone's able to hang in there for a few years to figure out what that potential actually. [00:41:22] Craig Dalton: Agreed. Unfortunately, you have to drop this race due to your injury at mid south, but I'm curious, like, as you looked at the arc and the style of racing that you were going to experience in the grand Prix, does that alter how you're training do you sort of do one thing for Otter? Morph dramatically into something else for a 200 mile Unbound, which is the next race on the calendar for the grand Prix series. [00:41:45] Payson McElveen: Yeah. I mean, training Is definitely different. Just physiologically. I kind of gravitate towards those long slow burn events more easily anyway. So preparing for something like sea Otter, where, you know, the, I mean the average speed, I think Keegan said his average speed was like 17.8 miles an hour. Schwamm against average speed. I did it two years and we averaged over 19 miles an hour, both times. Ironically these mountain bike events and Leadville, you know, despite all of its climbing and high elevation, that average speed is almost 17 miles an hour. So these mountain bike events are very much gravel style, mountain bike events. It would be pretty funny. To see this field, you know, line up for something like the grand junction. Off-road where you're lucky to crack nine and a half mile per hour, average speed. And everyone's running one 20 bikes and two, four tires. But yeah. In terms of training those faster kind of leg speed high-end events are ones that I have to train a little bit. I have to like tune up some speed a little bit more for, so for example, I'll attend the Tuesday night. Group right here in Durango almost every week in the month, leading up to that sort of event I'll get in some good motor pacing sessions still, you know, log some good five-hour rides just because that's what helps me be at my fittest, but not worry about a six and a half, seven hour ride with Unbound. I will notch, you know, some good six plus hour rides. And a lot of it is also just about. Practicing, like practicing your fueling practicing with the equipment you want to use doing some heat acclimation and then just doing massive amounts of sub threshold work. So, you know, I'll do rides, you know, like a six hour ride and do three tempo, three, one hour tempo blocks in there Just like an insane amount of. KJS I'm just trying to get your body used to being efficient really. I mean, that's kind of what it comes down to and being efficient under duress. So being efficient when it's 90 degrees out and your stomach, maybe isn't feeling amazing and you're pinging off rocks and. You know, trying to navigate a big budge. So there are some different things that I do overall training is pretty simple. You know, on the XC world cup, it training gets a lot more complicated, I think. But for these longer distance events training, actually, isn't terribly complicated at all. [00:44:16] Craig Dalton: Is there any one in particular that you're super excited about? [00:44:20] Payson McElveen: In the series [00:44:22] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:44:24] Payson McElveen: probably Leadville. I've been consistently good at Leadville. I've never had a 100% clean run at it. But I've been third twice, fourth last year. That's one that I would love to win before I retire. You know, if there's one race I could pick. Before I get too old to be competitive. I think Leadville is probably it. It's tricky though, because we've got these two guys that are just sensational, you know, generational talents and Keegan and Howard, both of them grew up at very high elevation. They're small guys. And they just go uphill like nobody's business and you know, they're hard to beat. They're definitely hard to be so. Every year, you know, I look towards Leadville. I would love to love for everything to come together for me there. But you know, all of these races are really competitive, but if I had to pick one, that's probably the one I'm most looking forward to. [00:45:19] Craig Dalton: Got it. And is there any room in your calendar for a pace and adventure this year? [00:45:25] Payson McElveen: Yeah. Good question, boy. That's kind of the trade-off of the grand Prix, you know, it's really consuming said, I know that I always perform better off of big training blocks. So I've pulled back on race days pretty significantly. So I have some really big breaks in my schedule. I'm probably going to go do this four day GB Duro style stage race in Iceland. That is the route that We bike tour last year around the west fjords it's 450 mile days. Give her. Which would be a fun adventure. But in terms of like, whoa here's a crazy idea. No, one's done yet type thing. I have a pretty significant list of those. We'll see where they fit in. I'm going to do another trail town for sure. I really enjoyed that project of Ben last year and the storytelling aspect of that and the big gear giveaway we got to do and kind of the. The community that we developed online there that was really successful. So I'll do another one of those. There's also going to be another matchstick productions film coming up, which is really good for the sport. You know, really high profile, high production value, feature, length film that typically, you know, features a lot of backflips in three sixties and in Virgin, Utah, and. endurance riding as much, but they've been really cool about working more of that in, so I'm looking forward to filming for that again this year, their next one. Probably in terms of like a big crossing or, you know, massive MKT of some kind. I have a big scouting mission that I'll be doing in the fall, but it it'll be by far and away. The biggest one I've tried, not in terms of huh. Kind of distance too, but mostly just like it's extremely audacious and not the sort of thing where I can just go in blind. So I'm going to go in and do a lot of scouting for that and probably knock that out. Summer of 23. [00:47:18] Craig Dalton: Well, I mean, for the listener, Payson's always an exciting person to follow and your creativity. It's just fun watching how your mind works and the things you want to tackle. And it's just a lot of fun to watch what you're doing. I know we got to get you out on a training ride, but one final question. I just wanted to talk about your change in sponsorship this year, in terms of the bike you're riding. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? [00:47:39] Payson McElveen: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of drip, a lot of directions we could go there, but that was What are the scarier professional periods I've had thus far? I obviously had to two really great options and went back and forth between the two for months. I was very fortunate to have the support of an agent that I've come to lean on very significantly over the last couple of years, not sure where I'd be without him, but Yeah. I mean, that was a, that was another sort of like red pill, blue pill moment where the logical thing would be to stay with the brand that you've been with for seven years and is the big juggernaut and the proven, you know, you can be a reliable cog in a big machine type sort of situation. But I've always had. Kind of entrepreneurial drive. That's really hard to ignore sometimes. And there was a whole lot of upside with joining allied and they're doing some really industry defining things that other brands don't have, the ability or confidence or ambition to do. You know, they're 100% made in the U S. Component is really incredible. And that affords all sorts of things from a quality standpoint, a product development standpoint, and just social issue, standpoint and environmental aspects standpoint things that? felt very good. Morally in a way. But ultimately I just want it to be on the bikes that I thought I could win on. And Allied's bikes are just unbelievable. I mean, the quality and the care. Their process for product development and their willingness to kind of ignore industry trends in favor of just making the fastest, most badass bike possible was very intriguing and enticing. And I did go back and forth many times for awhile. But once I finally made the decision, I just it felt like a massive relief, a huge amount of excitement. And Yeah. in hindsight, I'd make that decision. 10 out of 10 times again, [00:49:44] Craig Dalton: Right on presumably you've got both an allied echo and an allied. What's the other one with the enable in your quiver, are you using the echo as your road bike or using one of their pure road machines? [00:49:56] Payson McElveen: so we were, we've been waiting on parts for the echo. I've had an echo frame for a good bit. Parts just showed up last week. So I'll be getting that echo built up. Probably over the weekend. I've test written one but I haven't put huge miles on an echo yet. It's a really, I mean, just a classic example of a brilliant idea from the incredible mind that is Sam Pikmin there, their head of product, but I'll definitely be racing the echo at things like Steamboat where, you know, aerodynamics and weight and more of a road style bike really would pay dividends. The ABL is just awesome. I was absolutely mind boggled by how light it was. I mean, it's over a pound lighter than the gravel bike I was raised in the previous year, which frankly I didn't really expect. So that's been great. And then Yeah. I'm also on an alpha, which is. They're road bike, just super Zippy snappy road bike, and has a really cool, almost a little bit old school aesthetic with the level top tube that has this really cool classic look. [00:50:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah, for sure. I'll refer in the show notes. I'm the listener to my interview with Sam and I've had allied on a couple of different times, so great product, super I'm super jazzed when anybody's making anything in the USA. And as you said, it's just fun as an athlete. I'm sure to be able to go to the factory and see the layups and talk to them to the craftsmen that are working on the. [00:51:17] Payson McElveen: Yeah, And just to have a lot of input, you know, just to be able to say, Hey, I'm interested in running my bike this way. Is that possible? And then go to the factory five days later and they've literally like machined the part already and run all the kinematics in the way. Let's pop it in, like what [00:51:35] Craig Dalton: let's do it. [00:51:36] Payson McElveen: that would have taken two years at a big bike brand. That's insane. [00:51:41] Craig Dalton: So true. So true. All right, dude. Well, I'm going to let you go. I appreciate all the time. It's been great to finally get you on the mic and talk about your career. I'm going to be looking forward to your comeback for the, for Unbound and throughout the rest of the series. We'll be rooting for you. [00:51:55] Payson McElveen: awesome. Thanks Greg. It was great to finally get on and chat with you and Yeah, keep up the good work quality podcasts are hard work and few and far between. So, nice job. And yeah, keep up the good work. [00:52:07] Craig Dalton: Thanks. I appreciate that. [00:52:09] Payson McElveen: Cool man. [00:52:10] Craig Dalton: Big, thanks to pay some for joining the podcast this week. I hope you enjoyed the conversation and huge thanks to hammerhead and the crew to computer for sponsoring this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Remember head on over to hammerhead.io. Use the promo code, the gravel ride for that free custom color kit. And premium water bottle. If you're looking to provide a little feedback, I encourage you to join the ridership. It's our free global cycling community. Just visit www.theridership.com. You can always find me in that group. And I welcome your episode suggestions. If you're able to financially support the show, please visit www dot. Buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Any contribution to the show is hugely appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels

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I talk about Kevin Duran's legacy after getting swept by the Boston Celtics. How good is he? Will he win a title again? Did he pick the right teammate in Kyrie? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

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Jac Manuell is joined by Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) to discuss the ongoing James Harden-Ben Simmons trade saga! - Should the Nets have seen this coming? - A Woj bomb on Kevin Duran'ts thoughts on Harden's situation - Are Harden's frustrations reported by The Athletic valid? - Does a trade end up happening? - AND MORE! Let Nick (@Nick_Fay_) and Jac (@JacManuell) know what you think of the episode on Twitter! Brooklyn Buzz Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/25264074-brooklyn-buzz-classic?store_id=902592 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crystal Robinson is a retired professional Basketball player and coach who's played the highest level in the Women's NBA. Today, she's a thought leader in the space of conscious leadership, mental health, and diversity. In sharing her life and professional lessons Chrystal talks about: Growing up in poverty in rural Oklahoma and learning to deal with poverty and racism while dealing with her own sexual identity. How Basketball became her coping mechanism. How learning to deal with life's challenges helped build resilience in her career. After writing her book, “Finding Myself”, she admits she still hasn't found herself and continues to learn. Join our Tribe at https://leadership-hacker.com Music: " Upbeat Party " by Scott Holmes courtesy of the Free Music Archive FMA Transcript: Thanks to Jermaine Pinto at JRP Transcribing for being our Partner. Contact Jermaine via LinkedIn or via his site JRP Transcribing Services Find out more about Chrystal below: Finding Myself Book: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Myself-Crystal-Robinson/dp/1777573726     Full Transcript Below   Steve Rush: Some call me Steve, dad, husband or friend. Others might call me boss, coach or mentor. Today you can call me The Leadership Hacker.   Thanks for listening in. I really appreciate it. My job as the leadership hacker is to hack into the minds, experiences, habits and learning of great leaders, C-Suite executives, authors and development experts so that I can assist you developing your understanding and awareness of leadership. I am Steve Rush and I am your host today. I am the author of Leadership Cake. I am a transformation consultant and leadership coach. I cannot wait to start sharing all things leadership with you   And a special guest on today's show is Crystal Robinson. She's an American basketball coach and former Women's NBA, All-Star. And she was the first black woman to be inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Now, after chronicling her life's lessons in her book, Finding Myself, she's now an ambassador for the LGBTQ Community, but before we get a chance to meet with Crystal, it's The Leadership Hacker News. The Leadership Hacker News Steve Rush: In the news today, we explore how diversity and inclusion has evolved and diversity education started in the sixties, so it's nothing new to us. And over time we would have all become aware of how it's evolved to take into consideration inclusion. And while many think that diversity and inclusion are the same thing, they're not. Diversity is the act of creating community, comprised of people with varying backgrounds, creeds, ages, differences, and inclusion is finding a way of making sure that all of those people feel really valued in what they do and how they behave. Wait, where did equity come from? Well, it's always been there. In recent years, diversity and inclusion issues have been bolstered by the addition of the concept of equity and unlike equality, which focused on providing equal resources, regardless of context. Equity actually focuses on the process of just being fair. Equality is treating everyone the same. Whereas equity is about achieving the same benefits, even if it means that everyone receives different, there's still fair and justified treatment and experiences. Regular listeners will know that we love the difference that makes the difference. And that's because all humans are different. We all have components of our identities that are both seen like race, gender, identity. And then there are hidden things like our mental health or disability or sexual orientation, and whether you're willing to admit it or not, we all come from different backgrounds and we hold multiple interconnecting identities and biases that show up in our relationships and our workplace. Research also shows that higher levels of diversity may lead to increase conflict and misunderstanding. And often because we struggled with accepting and celebrating our differences. Inclusion doesn't mean that we can just pretend those differences don't exist. It means that we can acknowledge those differences and take advantages of differences to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities that we work and live in. And therefore, we now arrived at our current incarnation, this essential tool that features equal and equitable attention on diversity, equity and inclusion. And as I reflect on this, a single piece of the puzzle missing could create an incomplete picture. Diversity is the heart of different voices in any conversation. Inclusion is uplifting, validating and hearing each and every voice and equity as a manner in which we amplify those voices. So, the leadership hack is dead simple. When you're thinking diversity and inclusion, think everyone everywhere, and do you have equity? Not equality. Making sure the right treatment for the right people, the right places at the right times means that we all get to benefit from diverse and inclusive behaviors and diverse and inclusive communities. That's been The Leadership Hacker News, I would love for you to share anything that's on the top of your agenda, so get in touch. Start of Podcast Steve Rush: Crystal Robinson is a special guest on today's show. She's a retired professional athlete and coach who's played the highest level of basketball in the Women's NBA. Today, she's a thought leader in the space of conscious leadership, mental health, and diversity. Crystal, welcome to The Leadership Hacker Podcast. Crystal Robinson: Thank you for having me. Steve Rush: So, let's just start by calling out a few of your kind of credits to your name. So former WNBA player and coach, named an all American by the WBCA, you earn a rookie of the year award and an ABL All-Star, you've been indicted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, indicted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, drafted overall sixth by the Women's NBA. Now author, coach, and ambassador for the LGBTQ community. Wow, that's not a bad backstory. Crystal Robinson: Yeah, I've had a pretty fun and exciting life. Steve Rush: Now, it hasn't been always that smooth sailing to be fair, has it? So, I know from the last time that we met, you grew up in rural Oklahoma. Having had a really kind of tough upbringing, having to navigate some poverty, a lot of racism issues, and then having to deal with and come to terms with your own sexual identity along that, on the journey, I guess. So just tell us a little bit about how early life really was for you. Crystal Robinson: Overall, I guess, at some point in life, you know, I was just a poor kid growing up happy, you know, you don't know you're poor until you learn you're poor, but lots of struggles, but I think everybody in life has struggles. I think in my book, I write about them, but that's really, for me not wasn't the focus of my life. I think I wrote about those struggles basically for people to understand that that are commonalities with all of us. We all have struggles, but just kind of how we end up dealing with them, determines where we end up in life. Steve Rush: Yeah, wise words, is often the case, isn't it? Crystal Robinson: Yeah. Steve Rush: You know, often, most people are faced with adversity of some kind, but it's a reaction to that adversity that makes the difference. And clearly, you know, you face into those really well because you ended up as a professional athlete. So, tell us a bit about the journey of how you ended up in baskets ball? Crystal Robinson: Both my parents were college basketball players. I was just something, they were both all Americans that I was an innate. I was born with a great ability and five years old; they gave me a basketball goal and I started playing on it and fell in love with it. Then the rest was kind of history after that. So, I just excelled, I played basketball all the time. Basketball became a place for me to take out my anger and anything that I wasn't feeling good about. It was a place for me to, you know, just release all of the negative feelings that any negative feelings that I had. Steve Rush: And having the foundations of using basketball if you like as a bit of a coping mechanism, most people will use some form of coping mechanism to deal with some adversity, but there is a different level of coping when you turn into being so good at it. You become recognized in your country as being the elite in your sport. Tell us a little bit about when that kind of pivotal moment happened for you when you became a pro basketball player? Crystal Robinson: It's so funny, you know, there was no professional women's basketball whenever I started playing basketball, you know, we were young girls. We didn't have the ability to look and say, hey, I wanted to be in the WNBA one day. So, you know, I just played all the time. I play with my guy cousins and overall goal was to be as good as my best cousin and things just kind of snowballed from there. Then I ended up being recruited by every college in the country. The town I grew up in, it's a population of about 400 people. It's called Stringtown, Oklahoma. So, you start having people from all over the United States coming to watch you play basketball and offering you scholarships. I'd say at that point, I thought I was pretty good and believe, but I don't think it wasn't until, you know, hindsight after your career, you kind of evaluate and see where your skillset fit in to your professional career. Steve Rush: Yeah, and you've told the story through your book, which is just an amazing read, called Finding Myself and tell us a little bit about how you decided to put your stories down into pages for others to read about? Crystal Robinson: I wanted it to be interesting, one, because, even though I've been a basketball player, I'm not Kevin Duran or Stephan Curry or no one with a big name like that, putting your story down for other people. It was about, you know, helping people, helping people see that. One thing, there's few things that we all have in common. Like it doesn't matter what color you are, what race you are or how rich you are, nothing matters. We're all going to encounter obstacles. Some of them make us stronger. Why does it make some of us stronger, and some of us not? You know, some of us suffer. So, I think that lots of people that are suffering feel alone, but just putting those stories out there that we all suffer at times. It's just about, you know, figuring it out. The perspective on how to navigate it. Steve Rush: Was there an element for you as well, as you wrote the book and you put all the stories down and into kind of words and stories, was there a little bit around another bit of therapy going on there for you at the time as well? Crystal Robinson: Honestly, it was all therapy going on there. Steve Rush: Yeah. Crystal Robinson: Honestly, to tell you the truth, I went to therapy and I was told to journal and I didn't set out and write a book like, oh, I'm going to write a book. I started journaling and just writing things that bother me, things that made me feel good, things that just, I don't know, things. And after seven or eight journals later, I felt better. And I sent and all of it to one of my friends that writes for the Amsterdam News in New York. And she said, this would be a really good book. You should organize it. So that's kind of how the book journey started. It wasn't that I just sat down to write a book. It just kind of happened. I probably have stories together and then put it in book form. Steve Rush: I would love to get into some of the stories if you are okay with that, because there were some really inspirational things that happen to you that we can all get some life lessons from. I remember the time that you talk about it in your book, when you were playing little league baseball, your dad turned up at a game to watch you, he was blind drunk. And despite that, you kind of played a brilliant game. What happened for you in that process and how did you use that as a positive? Crystal Robinson: I think in those moments, you don't ever feel like it's a positive, I think, but for me, I think that it taught me perseverance, you know, and at an early age, I had to figure out how to, you know, really just walk with my head, held high, even though everybody in the town knew that my dad was a big drunk. But my dad was a very functioning drunk. He worked, he went to work at times, you know? I think that taught me, first off, you know, the people who are going to care are going to care. At that point, I think I started to learn to not care about what other people thought, you know, some circumstances we were put under, we don't ask for them. We just have to learn how to deal with them and cope with them. Steve Rush: I would imagine that taught you a huge amount of resilience. Crystal Robinson: Yes. Steve Rush: Not just that occasion, but many occasions like it, I guess. Crystal Robinson: Definitely resilience. And I think that just in life, anybody who wants to make it, or just to be successful in life, it takes resilience. I'm sure when you started this podcast, it wasn't easy. You have to get people to come on, you know, you have to get all this things together, and I'm sure there's many, a times that you go through things you might want to quit, but you're resilient enough to know the benefits of it down the road, or you have a foresight to keep going. That's the best way to say. Steve Rush: Absolutely, yeah. And some of that kind of resilience, I guess, was also born about, through your experiences in high school. And I also remember reading in the book that when you were playing high school basketball, you came acquire a bit of, you know, racial slurs and verbal abuse. In that environment, you know, how do you deal with that when you're trying to focus on playing a game? Crystal Robinson: Oh, man. My stance on this has changed so much over the years, just recently in my hometown, I was racially profiled and pulled over, basically taking the jail for no reason until they realized who I was. Then they tried to let me go after like six hours of wasting my time. And I said, no, so they trumped up a charge. And it was just a lot, like, it just kind of changed my stance on just how I am. I think that the racial environment in the world right now has everybody on edge. And I think that I find myself having to go back to a lot of that stuff and a lot of the teachings and a lot of the way that I used to feel, just because of the place that the world is in now and the experiences that I've had. Steve Rush: That's really interesting. You you're most talking as if at one stage in your life or your career, you thought you'd got through that, but it seems to almost have another resurgence. Crystal Robinson: Well, I would say that, I would probably say that I didn't experience a lot of racism as a young kid. I did once or twice in my life, but I live in rural Oklahoma where there's no, we still bury people in black cemeteries and white cemetery. So, racism is definitely alive and well. Steve Rush: Wow. Crystal Robinson: You're really good at sports and you really good at things. You know how it is, people overlook that. And then at the back end of my career, you know, people change, times change and some young cops pull me over and don't know who I am and they just proceed to search, the car, I'll all this stuff because I have my dreads down. And then when the speaker of the house representatives and the judges are called in, like, what are you doing? And at this point I'm a voice. I'm a voice that can bring some attention to it. And it was just a lot, so my stance on that, I find myself, I won't say in prayer, but really having to check myself and think about that a lot more now, just because I feel the world is racially charged right now. Steve Rush: Yeah, it is. I sense that as well, right. And here I sit as a white caucasian guy who has had no racial issues to deal with per se, right? Yet, I still feel there is that racially charged tendencies. In fact, there is this terminology, isn't there? For people who are of my ethnicity called white fragility, where, you know, we're not having the conversation because we're almost afraid to. What's your spin on that? Crystal Robinson: For me, the people who are on that side, people like you, you shouldn't have to carry that burden, it's just like the Taliban. There's a certain amount of people with money that are racist, but everybody has to pay the price for that. Do you understand what I'm saying? Steve Rush: Absolutely. Crystal Robinson: Just like certain amount of my population that might be thugs. That might be certain things, but all of us have to pay the price for that. But those people are louder than people like you. Steve Rush: Yeah. Crystal Robinson: Heard more, and I think that when people stop having that fear and stop feeling guilty, you have nothing to feel guilty about, you know, but I think a lot of Caucasian people have a feeling of guilt and stand on the sidelines because I've had to really reconcile some of my friendships because I feel like some really powerful people stood on the sidelines and are standing on the sidelines that could expose this. And it would stop, but they have no interest in that because they're not boat rockers. They keep going the way it is, it doesn't matter that they hurt my career for no reason. Steve Rush: The whole kind of racial tension that exists today seems to be far louder than it ever has been. And I remember, so I grew up in the outskirts of London, very diverse community, lots of different ethnicities in my community. I didn't even know there was a racial issue until I probably hit high school, right. So, at what point do you think we're going to actually have a face into this and deal with it or do you think we could ever deal with it? Crystal Robinson: I think that there's a group of people that doesn't want it to change. It'll take a lot of bravery on a lot of people's parts for it to change. For some reason in society, there always has to be someone getting stepped on. I don't know why that is. I saw something on the news the other day, not the other day. I saw it maybe today scrolling through on Instagram. And I saw where Mexicans were showing up down there, given the Haitian people water and food, lots of things that they were providing for those people. And I was just thinking it's always the downtrodden that show up first because, no one's more, you know, trying to cross the border or get into the United States or do, you know, more than Mexican people. So, for them to be down there helping the Haitians, it was amazing to me. Steve Rush: Yeah, awesome. I think the more we can celebrate that and promote that, then the better it will be, right? Crystal Robinson: You're saying it so good. What you just said, what you said was basically, media publicizes the bad things. There's not enough said about things like. Steve Rush: That's very true. Crystal Robinson: They keep us at odds because that's what you see. And I shared that story simply because, you know, I said, it's not enough good things being shown in the world today. There are good things happening, so. Steve Rush: Hallelujah to that, yeah. So, as you were growing your career in basketball, and as you becoming more successful, not only had to deal with the racial slurs, but internally there's stuff going on for you, as you were trying to work out your own sexuality and having feelings for the same sex. Tell us a little bit about how you dealt with that kind of confusion and managed to come to terms with that and move forward in your life? Crystal Robinson: Very sloppily, to able to figure those things out. I knew I was different; I knew it wasn't accepted. I knew I lived in the Bible bell. I did go to church, and how are you supposed to be when everyone tells you your whole identity is something that you're going to hell for? I mean, you know, it was a lot at that time. That's all I could say. I didn't really have anybody to talk to. I just went with it. But at a certain point, I just, you know, I think that you get to the point to where either I have one life to live, I'm going to live at the best way I possibly can. And the people who want to be friends with me will be friends with me and the people who won't want. And that's just life in general. Steve Rush: Yeah. Crystal Robinson: I think that once you break it down to, you know, that simplicity of that, no one likes anybody a hundred percent of the time and no matter how good you are, some people are still not going to like you. Steve Rush: It got so bad for you at one state though, you were seriously thinking about taking your own life, right? Crystal Robinson: Oh, yeah. Steve Rush: That doesn't get any deeper than that, does it? Crystal Robinson: On more than one occasion, I felt like that, you know, but I won't say it's because of the way people treated me, it's because I just wanted to fit in. I didn't want it to be different. I didn't want this; I didn't ask for it. It's just who I was. Steve Rush: Yeah. Crystal Robinson: I was born this way. Steve Rush: And you still live-in rural Oklahoma. How have things changed for you? Are you more accepted by those same people? Have they become less bigoted and more educated? Tell us what that fell like for you now? Crystal Robinson: I wouldn't say that. Oklahoma is still about 25 years behind the rest of the world, you know, I have a group of people that are very educated. They travel, they do a lot of things and they don't have no problems with it, but there's always going to be a group of people who will have a problem with it, but won't say it out loud. They might talk behind their back and stuff like that, but I don't spend any energy worried about those people. Steve Rush: Good, and also you can see it and spot it, can't you? Because there'll be little micro behaviors and micro language you'd spot, perhaps because you've had more experience of it than some. And therefore, you can make those choices, right? Crystal Robinson: I think that for me, you know, being a professional athlete people that don't even like you, still will come up to you and ask you for an autograph, you know, that's just a kind of a part of the thing. I just kind of take it for what it's worth, you know? And I think that's one of the strengths that people should work on building is not really caring what other people think, you know, and living your life to the best of your ability for you. Steve Rush: That's really that easy to say though, right. But you've been in the public eye, you've been featured on TV. You've been, you know, press would have followed you. And that's got to take some toll when that's adverse commentary, right? Crystal Robinson: Yes, it's different. I tell you; I really took a completely different stance and approach as a pro athlete. I kind of immersed myself with the fans. They all knew who I was. They spent time with me. If they saw me, be like, oh, hey Crystal, I was around so much that they left me alone. I didn't put a barricade between me and them to set myself apart to where they wanted to be around me. If you understand what I'm saying. Steve Rush: Yeah, definitely, so, yeah. Crystal Robinson: I gave them access, like after games, I might stay two hours and sign everybody's autograph. And that way, when they see me with my family, it's just, hey Crystal and they keep going. You know, I think that that's one of the things that was just different about me. I love basketball. I love what I did. I was blessed to be able to do it, but that's just what it was. It was a great talent. It doesn't really change or sets me apart from people, on the fact that I had some really great experiences. Steve Rush: I love the way you've approached that, by the way, because many people in the public eye aren't accessible and actually become less accessible because of their publicity and their public figure. Whereas actually, I wonder if some of our pro sports people and actors and other people in the public eye, if they gave more of themselves to their fans and their public, whether or not they'd actually have much more of a peaceful life anyway. Crystal Robinson: Well, you know, that is true. I agree with that. But at some point, some of these fans are not normal, right? I mean, I had a teammate named Debbie Black, this man had a whole sex change and change his name to Debbie White and sat outside and he stopped her. Steve Rush: Oh dear. Crystal Robinson: There is some danger to it. Steve Rush: Sure. Crystal Robinson: Oh, and you know, when you get a certain level, like I'm not a star to that point to where people are wanting anything like that, other than the autograph. But, you know, for some people, it is definitely dangerous. As little as I am, I just was, you know, it was inducted into the New York Liberty Ring of Honor. And a media person made up a bunch of lies and tried hard to tell me they wanted me to be in a documentary and all this stuff. My publicists kept telling me this stuff, but she didn't have no credentials. So, a lot of the big things that she should have, so it just didn't make sense to me. And she was not legit. So, stuff like that definitely happen. Steve Rush: So, when I read your book, one of the things that struck me was there were, you know, paragraph after paragraph, there was real crappy experiences, lots of abusive relationships, lots of adversity, but on every occasion, you managed to find it in yourself to kind of lift above that and keep positive. Just for those listening to this who maybe are struggling to find themselves like you did. How did you manage to just keep that positivity? Crystal Robinson: I think it's probably sheer, what's the word I'm looking for? Just the fact that I don't ever like to give other people control over me. I can't be anybody's victim. So, I had to figure out a way to persevere and persevere in a way that I was still whole. I wouldn't say that I found myself. I think I'm still finding myself every day; we grow and we change, but, you know, I didn't want those experiences to control my life. And I think that when you get stuck in places, those experiences control your life. Steve Rush: Yeah, I love that. Was there a particular time though for you, as you were coming to terms with who you are today and the great work that you do now, where you thought, yeah, I'm happy, I'm content. I've found myself for now. When was that moment? Crystal Robinson: I would say I haven't. Steve Rush: Oh, great. Crystal Robinson: I definitely different. There're people who have the same jobs for 50 years. And I applaud them to be able to do that, but I'm not that kind of person. I'm the kind of person who I was great at sports. I mastered something in the business world, thought leadership world now, and I'm trying to master that. I'm pretty comfortable being uncomfortable. And for me, the experiences in life is not, I don't want to be at the same job for 30 years. I want to experience as much as I can. So, lots of people look at that and they say, oh, you're not settled, or you don't do this, or you don't do that. But you know for me, that's how I choose to experience life. Steve Rush: That's fabulous, and the reality is of course, for those people who are comfortable and aren't in control, probably aren't actually growing as much as those that are restless and are comfortable being uncomfortable. Crystal Robinson: I would really agree with that statement. I think that, you know, young ages at sports, I went away from my parents and stayed for long periods of time to be able to play basketball. And then I went to Europe, I played in Europe for eight years. I have had so many different kinds of experiences in so many different countries. And to me, that's what life's about. Like, I don't have no opinion about Italy. If I can't go there, I spent four years there. I live like the people, you know? And to me that's where I found value in life. Steve Rush: Yeah, can you knock up a great Italian pasta dish though? Crystal Robinson: Oh, I can make, pasta, actually my own tomato sauce. Steve Rush: Awesome. Crystal Robinson: So, I lived in Italy. I actually had a translator my first year. And then the second year I was there, I stayed in that country for four years. One of my teammates was going to college to learn English. So, I helped her with English. I had a Spanish background, so it just kind of came together. And then by the end of that year, I was completely fluent. So, I loved Italy and most countries that I did play in, I just really tried to understand their culture and at least learn enough words to be able to live like them. Steve Rush: Empathy is everything. So, you had a super pro career, then you coached pro basketball. So how much of that experience in your sporting life is now shaping your approach when you coach others? Crystal Robinson: Well, I think that leadership is leadership. Like as a player, I was a leader on the team and I think that as a coach, I have the opportunity, you know, we kind of were trailblazers. There was no WNBA. We started something and these young players are figuring it out, you know. When I played, there was no free agency. Now there's free agency. True free agency, where girls can go out and get their own endorsement deals. The league owned all our likenesses. So, we couldn't shop our names around. So, there's so many things that I still have a hand in with the younger generation, helping usher this end for them and help them make decisions that I still am highly involved in, in basketball. Steve Rush: That's great. So, on the basis, you're still finding yourself, which I love by the way, what's next for you? Crystal Robinson: What's next for you? We will see, I took a year off of work to promote this for basketball. To promote my book and who knows next year, I could end up back in basketball. But I only want to be back in basketball in an head coaching basis, just because it's a lot of work at the pro level. You don't really have a life; coach has a life because the assistants do all the work. Steve Rush: But you've earned that even the ability to be able to pass on that knowledge and to help guide, and actually also helps other people lead in that space as well, doesn't it? Crystal Robinson: How much public speaking as I can possibly do. I like to influence, so those are probably the two things that I would end up in. I'm already public speaking. I do a lot of that. Next month, I'll start doing a lot more of it. But eventually I'm sure basketball would probably call me back into it. Steve Rush: Is it a bit of a drug for your, basketball? Crystal Robinson: It used to be. Now is a completely different challenge. Now it's a challenge of convincing people. As the head coaches about psychology, you have all these great players. Convincing them to give up seven shots and give up a $50,000 potential bonus to help your team win. Like it's all psychology of moving people. And to me, that's a great challenge. It's easier to do things than it is to get people to do them. So, I'm still very driven towards perfection and figuring that out. And I think that, you know, as an assistant coach, most of the time I've been hired, it's been because of my ability to problem solve and my ability to keep the locker room good. So, I'd like to try that from a head coaching angle. Steve Rush: Cool, look forward to seeing you on the WNBA circuit soon then. Crystal Robinson: Yes. Steve Rush: Yeah, awesome. So now I'm going to turn the lens a little bit. Crystal Robinson: Okay. Steve Rush: Now you talked about leadership as a player and as a coach and having been a thought leader in your space as well. I'm going to ask you to try and think of, to distill all of those great leadership learnings that you have. And to narrow those down into your top three leadership hacks, what would they be? Crystal Robinson: My top three leadership hacks. The first one, probably be, treat people how you want to be treated, you know, being relatable. I think that one of the things that I've learned as a leader now with this younger generation, if they don't relate to you, you can't convince them to do anything you want them to do. It's going to be a fight and struggle with everything, you know, being relatable. Second thing I would say is, I was recently told by someone that I went into business with, you know, I'm a partial owner of a business and he told me, you can't tell people what to do if you don't know what to do. So, I suggest you get down there on the bottom level and learn what to do. So, I think, know what your employees are, what the people you're leading have to do. So, you can go back to relate to them, to help them along to be able to do it a better way. And then I would say, make sure everyone, it's not input. Everyone has to feel valued, you know, as a head coach in sports, you have this always a balancing act, you know, of treating everybody the same, but then you have players that score 30 points and you have player the score, no points, being able to make them feel important, no matter what their role is, I think is something that a leader should be able to do. Steve Rush: Yeah, that's great advice. It's not all about scoring goals, isn't it? Crystal Robinson: Yes, not all about that. I'm telling you, the best teams I've ever played on. It was a bunch of mediocre players who completely knew their roles and work together to make it happen. And it takes good leadership, and for me, I was in college, I could average 65 points a game, but in games where I could score 10 points and we could still win, I'd give my teammates their opportunities to shine. So, when I take over games, they, got out the way and they were very conducive to what we were trying to do. Steve Rush: The next part of the show Crystal, we call it Hack to Attack. So, this is typically where something in your life hasn't worked out well. And we know already having learned some of the stories from you already in this short conversation and having read your book, you've had a bunch to choose from, but maybe if there was one experience in your life that was perhaps at adversity, but you now use that specific advent for something that's positive in your life or work, what would be your Hack to Attack? Crystal Robinson: I was drafted into the American Basketball League and I was almost the last pick taken because I ended up leaving the NCAA school and going to a really low-level school, but I was still beating everybody at a high level. The American Basketball League where I was rookie of the year, and I was first team, all everything, it folded after two years. And I had no idea what I was going to do with my life at that point. I had a teaching degree, but I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. And then I got drafted in the sixth overall pick in the WNBA. Through that time period before that happened, I had gained some weight. I've kind of given up and whenever the WNBA came into play and I was the sixth overall draft, it just changed my life and my outlook on everything. And in terms of, you know, I almost given up hope, like I had been given this gift of basketball, and it would just snatch from me. I just made up my mind that, no matter what happened to WNBA, if anything ever happened, I was going to land on my feet and have a plan and be ready to go. Steve Rush: Yeah, and sometimes it's just being available and open to coincidence as well, isn't it? Crystal Robinson: Yeah, it is. Steve Rush: Sometimes when you're driving so hard to achieve things, you don't often see what else is going on around you. Crystal Robinson: And not being prepared for it. Steve Rush: Yeah. Crystal Robinson: You know, I just thought it was going to last, you get caught up in that euphoria, just wasn't prepared for it. When I retired from basketball, I retired at a very early age. I retired at the age of 34. I probably could have still played for four more years. But I knew basketball wasn't what I was going to do forever. I'd done everything I could possibly do in it. And my body was sore, so I retired. Steve Rush: Yeah, get out of the top. That's what it's about, right. So, if you could go back and meet Crystal at 21 and give her some advice, what would be your words of wisdom to her then? Crystal Robinson: I think my words of wisdom would be, always be kind and never give up, even when you don't see a way, don't stop. That would be my advice to my young self. Steve Rush: very profound, and indeed your pussy cat like that. Crystal Robinson: She just got closed and now she's making noise to get out. Steve Rush: So, Crystal. Your book by the way, is a fantastic read. So, any of our listeners who want to get their hands on a copy of Finding Myself, where's the best place for us to send them to? Not only get a copy of your book, but to learn a little bit more about the work you do now? Crystal Robinson: Amazon.com or go to susanhum.com. It's a thought leadership platform where I speak for a foundation called Still Rose. I'm also on the board of a foundation called Code Red, it's a foundation. It's a lot to that foundation. One of them is sex trafficking. And one of them is school shootings. We designed an app that schools don't have surveillance systems in them, but this app goes on teacher's phones. And if in a situation like that, it turns into a surveillance system, it's route it to a private company. And then I'm on a foundation of a board of Go Friends. You can also go to gofriends.com and read things about me. And basically, we go into prison systems, female prison systems, and we teach goal setting to try to help them when they get out of prison, hopefully they can stay out of prisons. Steve Rush: You're doing some fantastic work, honestly, from the journey you've been on, the adversity you've been through to now still being in the service of others. I just wanted to drop my hat and say, thank you. And thank you for being part of our community here on The Leadership Hacker Podcast. Crystal Robinson: No, thank you so much for having me. These are the podcasts that I love. I would much rather prefer to talk about this stuff than basketball in general. So, thank you for having me. Steve Rush: It's our pleasure. Thanks Crystal.         Closing   Steve Rush: I genuinely want to say heartfelt thanks for taking time out of your day to listen in too. We do this in the service of helping others, and spreading the word of leadership. Without you listening in, there would be no show. So please subscribe now if you have not done so already. Share this podcast with your communities, network, and help us develop a community and a tribe of leadership hackers.   Finally, if you would like me to work with your senior team, your leadership community, keynote an event, or you would like to sponsor an episode. Please connect with us, by our social media. And you can do that by following and liking our pages on Twitter and Facebook our handler there: @leadershiphacker. Instagram you can find us there @the_leadership_hacker and at YouTube, we are just Leadership Hacker, so that is me signing off. I am Steve Rush and I have been the Leadership Hacker.    

Tom Brady officially get's his 7th Super Bowl Ring. A team USA fencer is not allowed into the Olympic Village. Kevin Duran and a fellow teammate have beef.

Check out your beloved hostsSteven Walker is the CEO of MannaFest Media, LLC, which he started due to of being laid off from a major broadcast media company because of COVID-19 downsizing. He realized that many companies and their employees are being adversely affected by the results of COVID-19. He is a seasoned marketing professional that has worked with fortune 100 companies and media agencies that specialize in innovation and ideation, which drives the company's brand and messaging forward to capture their target market. 919-208-5478, steven@MyPurposeMyPower.com, www.MyPurposeMyPower.comSaa'dia DouglasMrs. Douglas is the CEO of Prosperity Financial Services, LLC, whose vision is to help individuals and business owners obtain financial freedom. Prosperity Financial Services, LLC offers Consulting Services, Tax and IRS Resolution Services, Life Insurance and Investment Policies, and Business Services, including Business Formation, Financial Strategies, and Bookkeeping Services. Mrs. Douglas is a Certified Public Accountant with a BSBA and an MBA in Accounting. Saa'dia is a member of the AICPA, VSCPA, and the Richmond Association of Government Accountants, where she served as President of the Richmond Chapter. Prosperity Financial Services, LLC (804)349-8600 www.pfsurcpa.com Douglassjwcpa@gmail.comKevin Angelo VaughanI'm the owner/founder of the MLT Network, LLC – mltnetworks.net. The MLT Networks provides three areas of its business sector; online media services, business consulting and health and wellness business & products. I draw my business success from my experience/training from my electronic engineering degree and over 40 years of training.My goal is to always “find the need and fill-it” as it relates to helping other people succeed. I can be reach via email; menletstalk@gmail.com or phone: 404-401-0233. Alan Bartlett BioAE Bartlett's passion is articulating Truth, using multiple tools to express a thought, a concept or a belief. He has a different way of viewing things, he is gifted or cursed to see things differently. Yet blessed to have lived a life that honors God's. A decorated Marine, award winning technologist, Bible scholar and former Chaplin with a MA in religion and BA information systems, is well disciplined in the art of researching the drama of life, then connecting biblical truths to modern day issues. For more information feel free to contact me directly at 540-693-0008 www.HTEAS.comMarquis D. WashingtonMarquis D. Washington is an American podcaster and voice actor based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the creator and host of Firebackradio.com whose goal is to provide “kitchen table conversations” on anything from politics, religion, history, and conspiracy to reflect on what could have been done better and reach for a more positive alternative. And most recently,Maxine PhillipsMaxine is also a holistic health advocate and an experienced mentor, actively giving back through volunteering in several organizations outside of the professional arena. Connect with her at www.levellessco.com and received your complimentary e-book "Making Journaling Part of Your Every Day Life" or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/maxine.phillips.96 and Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxinephillips/ STanya Harper BioTanya Harper has received her Bachelor of Biblical Studies from the College of North Carolina of Theology in 2009. In 2019 she is completed her graduate degree in Biblical Studies as well. She hold certification in nursing, administrative and food service.In October 2011 Tanya Harper started her own business Agape Hands Care Services of providing home care services to seniors and ones in need "Love, Serve, Repeat" In August 2015 she wrote her first book “ Releasing and receiving” book of poetry. Feel free to contact me directly phone: 304-995-6239 email: ttharper0706@gmail.com website: www.lifeofacaregivers.comJerome ReddCall him an actor, author, comedian, husband, instructor, mentor, soldier, retiree, public speaker, friend and more. Jerome Redd is a man of many talents, abilities, and skills. If you ask him what characterizes him the best, he might say the follow. His sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Posey, told him that he could be anything he wanted to be. Jerome, coming from an impoverished background, refused to allow that setback determine his future and his fate. Something tells me that we are going to be hearing more from Mr. Jerome Redd in the very near future. Check back on him later.Mexit NewsMexit News Network is an American news-based broadcast that focuses solely on the Middle-Class Exit. Founded and Owned by Antonio T Smith Jr, a unit of the ATS TV. Check out Mexit News at https://mexitverse.comATS TVhttps://antoniotsmithjr.comHey!It's me! Antonio!I HAVE STARTED MY OWN TELEVISION NETWORK. Think Oprah Winfrey Network or my own Netflix or Tyler Perry Studios. I've self-funded videos and I've been the star of them for years. However, making videos gets really expensive and I also have a lot of full-time employees I have to pay every week!During this process, I'm also inviting other creators to my platform to share in the wealth. I've added shows like Sip With ThWitch, Fun Wide Open and more. I've brought on creators to add their content to reach the millions of viewers that stream with me every day.I made a pledge to bring you at least 5 pieces of original content every week in different categories like:-Comedy-News-Personal Development-Education-…and moreAnd I want to continue doing that!! However, with your help, these can be SO MUCH BETTER. You may notice that my production value goes up when I get donations. Wanna know why? Because I had money to spend on it! The more money I get, the more money I can invest in better videos, editing programs and more. It's that simple!So, if you can spare a few dollars (or even just $2) and you decide to give it to me - THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart THAAAANK YOU!!! I really hope to continue to grow as an educator / filmmaker / storyteller and continue to bring you content and other creators you learn from and enjoy for many years to come.As I grow I'll continue to expand to bring you bigger and better content on a more regular basis. We have some massive ideas... like ridiculously big. Kind of crazy big... BUT LETS DO IT!! ~Antonio T. Smith, Jr.

Game Time is back with another great episode talking the biggest sports news of the past week! To become a Patron of John Rocha and The Outlaw Nation, please go to https://www.patreon.com/johnrocha​​​​says/tip On today's episode of Game Time, host John Rocha welcomes Jay Washington, Winston A. Marshall and JTE to discuss Trevor Lawrence's comments about not needing football to define him and his subsequent clarification. They also discuss Kevin Duran't most recent injury, Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell's injury, Aaron Donald being cleared of charges, Brett Favre's ignorant comments about politics and sports, Brad Stevens' University of Indiana offer, and world soccer's "Super League" announcement. Remember to LIKE and SHARE this video on your social media and to SUBSCRIBE to the channel below! #NFL​​ #NBA​​​​​​​ #GameTime​​ Follow John Rocha: https://twitter.com/TheRochaSays​​​​​​​​​ Follow Jay Washington: https://twitter.com/MrJayWashington​​​ Follow Winston A. Marshall: https://twitter.com/TheSwaggyBlerd​​​ Follow JTE: https://twitter.com/JTEmoviethinks

Previously on #OnDeck on #CSR with Host of the #MenofSteel Podcast Charles, “The Prodigy,” Richey I begin the #OpeningPitch with the passing of #HOF #HankAaron who left this World at the age of 86. True Revolutionary and Ambassador on and off the #Diamond! Here our final thoughts and tributes. Sticking with in the first Segment we get into #NBAFastBreak on who's #StockisRisingorDeclining between the #Lakers and #Nets. Since acquiring James Harden to try and pair with Kevin Duran and Kyrie Irving will this newest #SuperstarTrio be able to maintain focus and deliver Brookly their first #NBACrown? All that and much more. For more of the #OnDeck on #CSR Shows be sure to check them out on #MixCloud and by searching on #Anchor Crunch Time Presents: Men of Steel Podcast and On Deck on CSR which shares my Podcast to: #BreakerAudio #GooglePodcasts #Overcast #PocketCasts #Radiopublicpbc and #Spotify. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/charlestheprodigyrichey/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/charlestheprodigyrichey/support

We live from Riot House Comedy Club with guests Artie 'Fat Zorro' Gallagher, Sam Kissajukian, the Greek Freak Bridget Epitropakis & tennis star James O'Connell! We laugh about Arties highschool basketball career for the H team, roast him for bringing notes & teach him how to be a baller. 

"No nos debe importar el qué dirán, sé feliz con lo que haces, ten seguridad, cree en ti, si no emprendes no aprendes " @soykevinduran

Tune in as Nick Swisher stars in the hit social media series Kickin’ it with @yourboyswish! In this podcast replay of the LIVE Facebook and YouTube broadcast, 4 players call in to chat with Nick on the episode. Nazier Mule, Jesse Bash, Tanner Carson, Justin Best, and Kevin Duran are featured on this episode.

- NBC Sports NBA writer Kurt Helin joined the show to preview game 6 of the NBA finals, Kevin Durant injury, Kyrie Irving parting ways with his agent and where he might end up 

- NBC Sports NBA writer Kurt Helin joined the show to preview game 6 of the NBA finals, Kevin Durant injury, Kyrie Irving parting ways with his agent and where he might end up

Adam Schein joins the podcast this week to talk about his many jobs, his career, his routine, the NBA, Kevin Duran’s future, his start, turning down offers from WFAN to replace Mike Francesa, what he wants next in his career (interesting answer), and much more!

Adam Schein joins the podcast this week to talk about his many jobs, his career, his routine, the NBA, Kevin Duran’s future, his start, turning down offers from WFAN to replace Mike Francesa, what he wants next in his career (interesting answer), and much more!

Kevin Duran is now a top 10 player of all time and will go down as the best small forward to ever play. Why Kevin should return to the Warriors and sign a long term contract. The championships are what we measure our all time great players in all sports. The rings will get you noticed as one of the goats. Stay tuned for another episode, here on Competitive24.

Today my guest & I are talking about Sergej Trifunović, Narodno pozorište, Wolverine: The Long Night podcast & Kevin Duran & Draymond Green beef.

En el show de hoy el equipo de Dosis comenta sobre: James Harden es el jugador del momento en la NBA, con sus múltiples juegos consecutivos de 40+ puntos. Pero, Arturo se queda con Giannis Antetokounmpo. Está la conferencia del Este ya al mismo nivel que la del Oeste? Al menos Juan empieza a llamarla liga! 1er boletín votaciones All Star Game NBA: Luka Doncic por encima de Kevin Duran! Angel Luis Delgado rompiendo la G-League: orgullo Dominicano!   Sugerencias/Preguntas/Patrocinio: info@dosisdenba.com  Twitter: dosisdenba

En este episodio el equipo de Dosis analiza lo grande que puede llegar a ser la dinastía de los Golden State Warriors. Además, discutimos si estos son o no mejores que la dinastía de los Bulls. Kevin Duran obtiene MVP, pero y que paso con Curry?. Y por último, nuestra sección Records-y-Mas-Records con Lebron James. Patrocinador: Caribbean Developers Conference - Reuniendo a todos los desarrolladores líderes por 3 días de aprendizaje con un toque de playa en el Caribe. Mas información aquí. Sugerencias/Preguntas/Patrocinio: info@dosisdenba.com  Twitter: dosisdenba

Mike Sykes (@MikeDSykes) joined me to talk about Kevin Duran, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, The Finals as a whole, favorite storylines from the season, should the Cavs trade Kevin Love, some things we are looking forward to next season, I make a crazy prediction about Ben Simmons, and many more tangents.

DON NICOLEONE WORLDWIDE OF SPORTS NETWORK PRESENTS: THE 2017 NBA FINALS, THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS VS. THE CLEVELAND CAVAILERS..FOR THE 3RD STRAIGHT YEAR THE WARRIORS HEADED BY THE 4 HEADED BEAST (STEPHAN CURRY, KEVIN DURAN, KLAY THOMPSON AND DRAYMOND GREEN) GO UP AGAINST THEIR RIVAL THAT STANDS BETWEEN A SECOND NBA CHAMPIONSHIP IN THREE YEARS, THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS LEAD BY "THE KING" LEBRON JAMES AND HIS CAST OF TEAMMATES. DOWN 0-3 CAN THEY WIN AT HOME AND CLAW THEIR WAY BACK INTO THIS SERIES OR WILL THE WARRIORS WIN AND GET ONE STEP CLOSER TO A DOMINATING SWEEP! SO TURN DOWN YOUR T.V.'S AND TURN UP WGAG RADIO! THE BADDEST BITCH IN EL KULUWM AND NEFERTITI SURVIVING THE GAME BRING YOU TONIGHT'S GAME RAW, LIVE AND DIRECT. WE GO LIVE AT 9 PM EST, 6 PM PST CALL IN AND LISTEN AND PARTICPATE IN THE LIVE CALL 1.515.605.9828

DON NICOLEONE WIDEWORLD OF SPORTS PRESENTS: THE 2017 NBA FINALS, THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS VS. THE CLEVELAND CAVAILERS..FOR THE 3RD STRAIGHT YEAR THE WARRIORS HEADED BY THE 4 HEADED BEAST (STEPHAN CURRY, KEVIN DURAN, KLAY THOMPSON AND DRAYMOND GREEN) GO UP AGAINST THEIR RIVAL THAT STANDS BETWEEN A SECOND NBA CHAMPIONSHIP IN THREE YEARS, THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS LEAD BY "THE KING" LEBRON JAMES AND HIS CAST OF TEAMMATES. DOWN 0-2 CAN THEY WIN AT HOME AND CLAW THEIR WAY BACK INTO THIS SERIES OR WILL THE WARRIORS WIN AND GET ONE STEP CLOSER TO A DOMINATING SWEEP! SO TURN DOWN YOUR T.V.'S AND TURN UP WGAG RADIO! THE BADDEST BITCH IN EL KULUWM AND NEFERTITI SURVIVING THE GAME BRING YOU TONIGHT'S GAME RAW, LIVE AND DIRECT. WE GO LIVE AT 9 PM EST, 6 PM PST CALL IN AND LISTEN AND PARTICPATE IN THE LIVE CALL 1.515.605.9828

Lebron James & The CAVS Will be Swept, Does This Take Lebron Out of The Michael Jordan Discussion? Stevie Wonder can see that Lebron james and the Cavs will be swept by the golden State Warriors very soon. That doesn't mean that Lebron James is not a great player, it just removes Lebron from the Michael Jordan conversation. Michael Jordan 6 finals 6 MVPS cannot be compared to Lebron James post season NBA history on the CAVS are swept. Although Michael Jordan never faced a team as vicious as these Golden State Warriors many people still blame Lebron James for Kevin Duran leaving OKC to begin with. Where do you rank Lebron James? Thoughts??? Follow me on social media! Like & Sub! Subscribe: http://bit.ly/GmiaYouTube Twitter ►http://bit.ly/GmiasWorldTwitter Instagram ►http://bit.ly/GmiasWorldInstagram Facebook ►http://bit.ly/GmiasWorldFacebook Website ►http://bit.ly/GmiasWorldWebsite