Podcast appearances and mentions of Simon Sinek

After thinking over and over about the concept of strategy, Pete turns to Jen to help him unravel what strategy actually is and how it can be best utilized by individuals and companies. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: What even is strategy? How might we move from our goals to a clear strategy? What are some tactics to stay focused on the things we actually have control over? More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

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What if the reason you can't articulate what makes you different isn't a communication problem, but a nervous system trained by decades of fitting in? Today's guest is the man Simon Sinek credits with helping him find his why.  Mark Levy has spent 25 years uncovering the ideas hidden within people that make them not just different but unmistakable. He went from a bookstore clerk in Queens to a publishing executive who moved over a billion dollars in books, to a New York Times contributor, to the author of Accidental Genius (translated into eleven languages), to a co-creator of Chamber Magic, New York City's highest-rated live show.  In this conversation, Mark and Dov unpack why the most capable people in the room so often have the hardest time saying what makes them unmistakably themselves, and what it costs them in fees, impact, and meaning to keep it all buried. Topics include:  The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the economics of anomaly Why passion blinds you to what you are looking at.  The four-into-four technique that unlocked a New York Times bestseller. Why marketing works better without hyperbole.  The actual origin of the elevator speech. How one client went from lighting himself on fire in theme parks to building courage in Fortune 500 organizations. How a magician became the Millionaire's Magician.  The single concrete action Mark gives listeners to start pulling their real ideas to the surface. CONNECT WITH MARK LEVY  Website: https://levyinnovation.com  Email: mark@levyinnovation.com  LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/marklevy WORK WITH DOV  Website: https://DovBaron.com  Email: dov@dovbaron.com  If you found this conversation useful, please rate, review, and subscribe. It genuinely helps the show reach the leaders it was built for.   Connect with Dov Baron:https://DovBaron.comdov@dovbaron.comRate, review, and send this episode to the most thoughtful builder you know. That is how the algorithm finds the people who still ask why. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Jordan was at flood stage when the priests waded in — before the water moved. Obedience came first. Click here to read the sermon “Walk This Way” Joshua 3:1–4; 3:14–16; 4:18–24 It's such a treat to be back with you. My name is Rob Stone. If we haven't met yet, it's so good to be with you. This is my second of what will be three weeks preaching for you here at Yates Baptist Church. And we are in a series we started last week called Onward: Moving Toward the Uncharted. Onward, moving toward the uncharted. And of course we're walking through the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is one of my favorite books of the Bible, because Joshua finds a people in the middle of a dramatic change, a dramatic shift. The people of Israel, if you follow from the book of Exodus, have been set free from their captivity, from their slavery in Egypt, but they have spent the better part of the last forty years wandering in the wilderness. They essentially lose a generation in the wilderness. But God is raising up a generation that's going to lead them into the promised land. So after the death of Moses, Joshua finds himself tasked with leading the people of Israel into the promised land. They're going to cross the Jordan River and make their way into Israel. I'm very excited about where we are today, because last week we discovered the what. Last week, we discovered the what: that God has called Joshua to lead the people into the promised land, and He made a lot of promises. We saw that Joshua will only inherit what he inhabits — Joshua will only inherit what he inhabits, which is another way of saying God's promise to Joshua is that every place the sole of his foot treads, God has given to him (cf. Josh 1:3, HCSB) [see "A New Dawn, A New Day," July 12, 2026]. And we talked about last week how that can be a promise, but it's not just a promise — it's a principle. And a principle is a promise that is user dependent. It's a promise that depends on whether or not you live it out, because God's promise to Joshua is a promise that depends on Joshua's action. Joshua has to take steps of obedience in order to receive the blessing that comes with God's promise. But if Joshua keeps his feet planted exactly as they are, if Joshua is not willing to be obedient, then the promise becomes a curse for him. Joshua has to take action. Joshua has to take steps of obedience. And I believe that is what God has called us to as well, because as we talked about last week, I believe God has not brought us this far just to bring us this far. There is more to go. There is further to go. And I believe, by God's power, that the best is yet to come. So before we jump into the second week of the series — looking not just at the what, but the how — because the what is great, but a what without a how leaves us all feeling a little confused. It leaves us lacking clarity, especially if we don't know how to get where we're going. Now, we live in 2026, and I have my phone right here — it has some points of the sermon that I'm going to cover. How many of you have your phones with you? Raise your hand if you have your phone, lift it up high. There we go. We are a smartphone people. Okay, let's try it this way — just for my own interest: if you're an iPhone user, raise your hand. Okay. If you use anything else, raise your hand. [Laughter.] Look at you. Come on now — a bunch of green dots showing up in the group texts. "So-and-so reacted to a photo." We can see it now, all you green-dot people, you non-iPhone users in the room. But here's why I mention it: a smartphone is beautiful, especially if you are lost. And really, with a smartphone, how could you ever truly be lost? But I want you to journey with me back to 2001 — December of 2001. I'm a college student at the University of Central Florida. I'm from Florida, by the way — I don't know if there are any other Floridians in the room. Come on, Sunshine State, look how far we've made it. I was a junior at the University of Central Florida, working with a campus ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ that now goes by Cru. Cru has Christmas Conference every year — our big regional conference. Because I was a student in the Southeast, Christmas Conference was held in Atlanta, Georgia. And there are lots of things to love about Atlanta, Georgia — Waffle House, Chick-fil-A, it's all wonderful, I appreciate it. But here's the thing I can't stand about Atlanta: driving in Atlanta is awful. Amen? Around the city of Atlanta is a circle, the perimeter, if you will, and it is a ten-lane highway that just forms a circle all around the city. And depending on where you get on this circle, the directions you're following make no sense, because there's an inner circle and an outer circle. Here I am in Atlanta before the invention of the iPhone. I want you to remember back in the days of a road atlas — you're pulling it out, maybe you've got it hidden in a map somewhere, and you pull that map out and try to figure out, as you're driving, where you're going. None of it is safe. We're going to our service project — how many of our youth went to Passport, by the way? Raise your hand if you were at Passport last week. Come on, vámonos, I love it, great job. So here's the thing: we're doing our service project as part of this conference, and we're headed into a place in Atlanta, and my friend who lives in Atlanta is like, "I know exactly how to get there." And then he proceeded to tell me — and if you don't live in a city, someone telling you the roads and the various points along the way isn't really helpful. So I do what dumb young men do: I go, "Got it. Gotcha. Totally see you there." And I take off, and I'm getting on I-285, this giant thing that goes around the city. I hop on I-285, and I know I need to go two exits west of where we are on the northern part of this highway. So I follow the sign that says west. But the west sign takes me in the opposite direction, because it's telling me where I'm ultimately trying to end up — not where I'm immediately going. Again, a highway that makes no sense. The fine folks of Atlanta, Georgia need to get their stuff figured out. But I turn the wrong way, and now I spend the next hour just looping around the city, seeing all the sights all the way around Atlanta. Finally, someone in my car has a cell phone — I don't own a cell phone yet, this is 2001, this is pre–cell phone days for me. Someone in the car has a cell phone: "Where are you all at?" "We're still on 285, looking for the exit." We eventually make our way there. This time, as we're going back to the hotel from the service project, I didn't just listen to what my friend told me when he told me how to get back. I said, "You go first, and I will follow you." We got back to the hotel in about five minutes. Now, there are wives in the room being very sweet about not elbowing your husbands right now — I appreciate that, I'm grateful for that — because if I had been married at that point, my wife would have said, "Hey, you don't know where you're going. How about you follow someone who does?" You don't know how to get there — why don't you follow someone who knows how to get there? I knew the what. I knew what we were going to do. I just didn't know how to get there, and I thought I could just figure it out. And of course I didn't, because you can't just figure out everything. Sometimes the only way to learn is to watch someone who knows what they're doing, who knows how to do it. And so here we are in week two of the sermon series Onward, with a message I have titled "Walk This Way." Because just like Joshua and the people of Israel, and just like us today, we need to know not just where we're going — we need to know how to get there. And so this is what we find as we open up Joshua chapter three and Joshua chapter four. We're not going to read the entirety of the two chapters — we're going to read some selections of Scripture from these two chapters. But beginning in Joshua chapter three, verse one — this is Joshua 3:1–4: Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing. After three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you must break camp and follow it. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between yourselves and the ark. Don't go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven't traveled this way before." (Josh 3:1–4, HCSB) I love how practical this section of Scripture is. It's this beautiful thing — it's Joshua saying, "Hey, we're going to follow the ark. We're going to follow God. We're going to follow God where He is leading us, but we're going to let God lead the way. We're not going to jump ahead of God," because sometimes in our lives we try to jump ahead of God's will, and we find ourselves not in the place we wanted to be. Amen? Sometimes we go, "I know what God wants for me," and we find ourselves in a place we never thought we would be — in a circumstance we never imagined we would be in. And here's Joshua, and he's saying, "Come on, we're all going to be ready. You're going to get ready to follow." And the reason you're going to follow is because you don't know where we're going — you've never been there before. There's a French philosopher who said these beautiful words: "If we want to reach new lands, we must be willing to lose sight of the shore.”1 I don't know how many of you have maybe been out on a cruise ship — have you been out on the water? There's something terrifying that happens when you get out in the ocean, and suddenly you look around, three hundred sixty degrees, everywhere you look all you see is horizon. That's a scary spot to be, because if all you have is horizon, you don't really know where you are, you don't really know where you're going. For Joshua, he's saying, look, so much of our wandering, so much of the place we've been stuck in for the last forty years, is because we didn't know how to get out of it. We didn't know how to take the next step. We didn't know how to move forward. And here's Joshua saying: we're going to follow God, and God is going to lead us into a new place. But in order for God to lead us to a new place, we're going to have to walk in a brand-new way. We're going to have to go to a place we have never been before. To put it another way: if we want to reach new lands, we must follow a new path. Church, I want you to hear me when I say this. If we want to reach new lands, if we want to be in a new place, if we want to go where we have not been before, then we're going to have to take a brand-new path to get there. Because all the paths that are familiar to us, all the ways that are known to us, all the directions we are comfortable with, just lead us to the places we've already been. If we want to reach new lands, we've got to follow a brand-new path. We've got to be willing to do some new things and move in a new direction. And if we're honest — new is scary. New is scary, and let's be real: I'm in my forties now, I have three kids, I have teenagers at home. New isn't just scary — new feels sometimes a little irresponsible, because I've got people who are counting on me, I've got kids I'm trying to pay for college for. The older I get, new feels like more and more of a risk. So the older we get, new seems to be a bridge just too far. But God didn't bring us this far just to take us this far — which means it's time for us to get used to new. It's time to get comfortable with new. It's time to get comfortable with the risks that come with new, because we want to reach new lands, and you only reach new lands by following a new path. We're going to skip ahead to verse fourteen — this is Joshua 3:14–16: When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people. Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarethan. (Josh 3:14–16, HCSB) I want you to track what's happening here. There has been a command from Joshua to the officers for what all the people are going to do: hey, we're going to follow a new path, we're going to go a new direction. And the people are being obedient — the people are saying, "I'm ready, we are ready." They have broken camp. The people are leading. The priests carrying the ark step their feet in the water, and the water stops. Now, here's something to know: the Jordan River is not a large river. If you look at pictures of the Jordan, through most of the year it's about the width of this stage — so crossing it through most of the year is not really a huge deal, especially this far south, because once you get this far south, this is the lowest-lying region on planet Earth. The Dead Sea is just south of here. But it's flood season, so we're not talking about just crossing the stage — we're talking about a flood. In October 2024 (sic) [Hurricane Helene's catastrophic inland flooding in Western North Carolina occurred primarily September 26–28], Hurricane Helene came through Western Carolina and dumped an amount of rain the region had not seen in nearly a hundred years. What happened to all the rivers there? They immediately flooded. The problem is, in any mountainous terrain, you build roads next to rivers, because rivers do what water often does — they follow the path of least resistance. If you're engineering roads, you also want to follow the path of least resistance; otherwise, you're going to spend tons of time, energy, and resources cutting roads into a mountain. So when these rivers flooded, it didn't just flood the rivers — it flooded the roads, it flooded the homes, it flooded the businesses. Suddenly you have this whole area of Western North Carolina destroyed essentially by rain, by floodwaters overflowing these rivers, and you become acutely aware of how powerful floodwaters can be. So we get this detail — this is what the Jordan River was like as they're getting ready to cross. Now again, we've got to be comfortable with new, we've got to get comfortable with the risk associated with new, because let's be honest — if any of us was part of the team with Joshua that day, wouldn't we go, "You know, Joshua, if we could just chill here for another three months, this crossing would be much easier. Joshua, you've picked the worst time to do this — these are flooding rivers. We've waited forty years to do this; another two weeks ain't gonna kill us." That's what, let's be honest, that's what we would say if we were with Joshua that day. But we get this detail, and the reason we get this detail is to understand the power of what comes next: "But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge, and the water flowing downstream stood still." Now, what does this immediately remind you of? [A member of the congregation responds.] Q: And what's your name? A: Gail. Y'all give it up for Gail — Gail had the right answer, come on, that's right. This is the same group of people who, forty years earlier, was fleeing Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, and they get to the Red Sea, and what happens when they get to the water (cf. Exod 14:21–22)? Here they are — an entire race of people, an entire ethnicity of people, fleeing their enslavers, and they get to a body of water they cannot cross. It looks like it's over. It looks like this is the end of the story. Surely the people in that moment are terrified for their lives. But God tells Moses to stand up, and what happens to the waters? They part. Now here we are, forty years later, Joshua leading the people to cross the river — a much smaller body of water, but still a significant body of water in flood season — and the priests are carrying the ark, and their feet hit the water, and when their feet hit the water, a wall of water stands. I don't know about you, but when I am afraid, nothing comforts me faster than remembering how God has rescued me before. The older we get, the harder new becomes. But the older we get, the more testimony we have in our rearview mirror. The older we get, the more we have seen, time and time again: "I didn't think there was a way out. I didn't think there was any hope in this situation, and God came through." How many of us — the greatest testimony of our life is something we would have never asked for, something we would have dreaded if someone said it was coming, and yet we can look back on that season and go, "God, thank You. Thank You for bringing me to it, and thank You for bringing me through it. God, thank You, because now I know what You're capable of." There's this beautiful thing that happens before the people step into a new land, before they take this new path to their new destination, to their new future: before any of that happens, God reminds them of His past faithfulness. Church, we need our memories of God's past faithfulness. We need our memories of God's past faithfulness. We need that. [Addressing the media team.] This is the time for that slide to move on — thank you. We need our memories of God's past faithfulness. We need it. Every one of those stories you have — those stories we call your testimony — every one of those stories of God's past faithfulness, we need them. We need every one. We need the stories from the previous generations of God's faithfulness. If you were lucky enough to grow up with a mother and a father who worship the Lord, then you have generations of past faithfulness to talk about. Some of you in this room know what it's like to have generations and generations go before you, and you can tell the story of God's past faithfulness to those generations. And when you hear the stories of God's past faithfulness, it should not lead you to be afraid. It should not leave you suddenly more conservative in your decision-making. The more you are aware of God's past faithfulness, the more boldness you should have to take steps down a new path to a brand-new destination — because God has proven it time and time again, in your own story, in the story of your family before you, in the story of the generations that have gone before. God has been faithful time and time again, and He's not about to quit right now. He's not about to stop! This should be so encouraging for us, church, because seeing this story is the reminder that God is always true to His promise — He is faithful yesterday, today, and forever. So church, when we find ourselves at a crossroads where we've got to pick — hey, are we going to do the same thing we've always done and end up in the same place we've always been, or are we going to do something brand new? Are we going to have enough faith to take a new path to a new destination? If you're struggling with that today, if you're like me, if you're someone who — the older you get, the more you struggle with that kind of decision — I want to encourage you to take a moment today and just remember God's past faithfulness. I want you to remember the ways God showed up time and time again when people were willing to trust Him enough to follow a new path to a new destination. Joshua and the people of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel, make their way across the river. Historians disagree on the predicted size of the nation of Israel at this time, but somewhere between eighty thousand and two hundred fifty thousand people is what we're talking about, and they have made the journey across the river. Now, moving across a river, especially when it's dry because the water has stopped, doesn't take forever — but when you've got that many people, it takes a while. It takes a while, and I wonder how many people got to the river, saw the water standing still, and still rushed, still ran — "Hey, it's been hours now, it was good for that tribe and that tribe, but I'd better get working fast, I'd better run my way across this river." The people of Israel make their way to the other side. And before they get out of the river entirely, Joshua orders each tribe to choose one person and send that person back to the riverbed to pull a rock out of the dry place they have crossed on. Joshua orders the people to go back, take twelve rocks, and bring those rocks to the west side of the river. They've crossed from the east side to the west side, and here they are on the west side, and they stack up these twelve stones as a monument. And the monument was not to an event. The monument was not to a thing that happened. The monument was about God's faithfulness. When we turn to Joshua 4:18–24, this is what we read: When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan and their feet stepped out onto solid ground, the waters of the Jordan resumed their course, flowing over all the banks as before. The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern limits of Jericho. Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, and he said this to the Israelites: "In the future, when your children ask their fathers, 'What is the meaning of these stones?' you should tell your children, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. This is so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord's hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God." (Josh 4:18–24, HCSB) I want to stop here for a second. Look at the Scripture — "This is so." Now, last week we opened up and talked about the what: it's God coming to Joshua — "Joshua, you're going to lead the people into the promised land, into the land I am giving them as an inheritance. You're going to do it, Joshua." There's the what. We started this week looking at the how: here's how we're going to do it. We don't know the way, so we're following God, and God is going to lead us on a new path to a brand-new land. So we've got the what and the how. But as Simon Sinek would say, the most important thing in your life is not the what or the how — the most important thing in your life is the why. Why are you being faithful? Why are you here in church this morning? Why do you give? Why do you sacrifice? Why do you do the right thing when no one is watching, when no one will ever know if you didn't? What's your why? I love that Joshua hears from the Lord — this is the why: "so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord's hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God." There's a lie we can get sucked into if we're not careful — the lie that everything God has done in the Old Testament is about giving one ethnicity a place to call home. I want you to know that what God is doing in the Old Testament is so much bigger and so much greater than that, because what Joshua is doing is not about a people receiving this plot of land — it's about the whole earth knowing that the Lord's hand is mighty, and so that we may always have fear of the Lord our God, which is what Solomon will say is wisdom (cf. Prov 9:10, HCSB). God's why in getting a group of less than a quarter million people from one side of the river to the next, God's why in what He's going to do next week as we look at the Battle of Jericho, God's why in everything that happens in the rest of the Old Testament is the same: that all the earth may know the Lord and have wisdom, because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. God's why is that the whole earth would know Him and have wisdom. I wonder today for us — we've got a called business meeting right after the church service. There's a lot going on at Yates Baptist Church, and let's be honest, I think there's still some confusion. But what I want to let you know is this: if we focus too much on this, we'll miss the whole story, we'll miss the bigger picture, we'll miss what God has come to do. And what I want to let you know is this: everything God has done in your life, everything God has done in this church, everything God has done in every church that has ever been, has been the same as God's why in Joshua chapter four — that the whole world would know Him and walk in wisdom. God's why is that the whole earth would know Him and walk in wisdom. And I wonder today, if that became your why — if that became your why, that everything you did was so that people could know God and walk in wisdom — how would it change things? How would it change your life? How would it change your choices? How would it change your community? How would God bring dead things to life all around you if we adopted that as our why? I love that Joshua gives the why to the people this way — he says, "In the future, when your children ask you." Do you see what's happening? It's Joshua saying, right now, I want you to prepare yourselves to remember, prepare yourselves to remember what God has done, because the day is coming where the next generation is going to ask you what this means, and you go, "I'm so glad you've asked" — because my why, my motivating factor in my whole life, has been to tell you this story. Let me tell you about my God, and let me give you all you need to begin walking in wisdom. So church, we've celebrated two weeks in a row of children and teenagers spending time in camp, spending formative time in community, hearing more about the God we worship. You've got to be a part of it — you've gotten to be a part of it already, in the last two weeks. In the future, when your children ask, you've been able to send your children to places where all they've done is learn about who God is and how to walk in wisdom. So church, today — are you prepared? Are you prepared to remember what God is about to do? Because the testimony of God's might and His work is not just a story for yesterday — that's a story for today. Tomorrow, you have no idea what God might do. You have no idea what God might do. So the question for each and every one of us: are we prepared to remember what God is about to do — what has not yet come to fruition, but which we see by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor 5:7, HCSB)? I believe that's our why, and I believe if it becomes your why, it just might change the whole world. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we love You, we praise You, God. We are people who have testimony, who have story after story of how You have been good, how You have been faithful, how You have delivered us when there seemed to be no other way. And so God, we are asking the same right now, and we are believing by faith, not by sight, that You are about to do a new thing. Would You give us the obedience? Would You give us the courage? Would You give us the boldness to follow You on a new path to a brand-new future? And would You prepare our hearts now to remember what You're about to do, so that as generations come, we can declare Your faithfulness to each and every generation. God, would You help us to live with a why like Yours, like Joshua's? Would You help us to live with a why that says everything I do is so that the whole world will know Jesus and walk in the wisdom His Holy Spirit provides? Jesus, we pray this in Your name. Amen. Endnote 1 This is a summary of the French novelist and essayist André Gide's words as they appear in dialogue near the end of his novel Les Faux-monnayeurs (The Counterfeiters), spoken between the characters Édouard and Bernard. The standard English rendering, from Dorothy Bussy's translation, reads: "One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore." The French original reads: "On ne découvre pas de terre nouvelle sans consentir à perdre de vue, d'abord et longtemps, tout rivage." Works Cited Gide, André. Les Faux-monnayeurs. Paris: Gallimard, 1925. Gide, André. The Counterfeiters. Translated by Dorothy Bussy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. The Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible. 2004, rev. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers. Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio, 2009. © 2026 Rob Stone. All rights reserved.

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You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 15, 2026. We open with the biggest election integrity news in years — the House passed the SAVE Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, 217 to 209, with Speaker Mike Johnson delivering exactly what he promised us two weeks ago when he sat down with American Ground Radio. We explain what the SAVE Act actually does — and what it doesn't. It doesn't change who is eligible to vote. It doesn't alter the Constitution. It simply requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. We point out that we verify identity to board a plane, open a bank account, and buy a beer — and that the only people who benefit from not verifying citizenship at voter registration are people who aren't citizens. We also note that Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin's claim that no Democrat will ever win again if the SAVE Act passes raises an obvious question about how many non-citizens have been voting for her party. The bill now goes to the Senate, where John Thune needs to do his job — or be voted out at the first opportunity. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch testified before the Senate in his confirmation hearing — telling senators that his client is not the president but the American people, while more than 1,200 former DOJ employees signed a letter opposing his confirmation, which may be the best endorsement he could have received. Then the House passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent year-round — meaning darker mornings in winter and lighter evenings, with states currently on permanent standard time allowed to stay there. And Senate Democrats boycotted a hearing on government fraud, with only one Democrat showing up before leaving after his opening statement — even as investigative journalists Nick Shirley, James O'Keefe, and Dylan Heder-Gaudette presented documented findings on billions in fraudulent benefits claims. As Nick Shirley said, no dollar says Republican or Democrat on it. We also tackle the question of whether a New Hampshire state representative can drive 102 miles per hour on her way to the legislature and claim constitutional immunity from arrest under a provision dating back to the era of kings arresting parliamentarians on their way to inconvenient votes. We acknowledge the historical purpose of the law. We reject the application of it to someone who simply didn't plan her schedule well enough. Rules for thee but not for me is not a constitutional principle — and if you don't care about the safety of the people on the road, why would you care about the safety of the people you represent? Our American Mama Teri Netterville weighs in on the Emmy nominations — and the conversation becomes a broader indictment of an awards system that has completely lost touch with what Americans are actually watching. Greg Gutfeld hosts the number one late night show in the country. Not nominated. Taylor Sheridan has produced Yellowstone, Landman, 1923, and The Madison — all massive hits with critics and audiences alike. Not nominated. Meghan Markle's show As Ever received a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, was called the sweet spot between irrelevant and intolerable by the Times of London, and was canceled. Emmy nominated. The awards don't reflect excellence anymore. They reflect ideology. In our Digging Deep segment, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced that the Army has already met its 2026 recruiting goals — with 61,500 new recruits — eight and a half months before the year ends. Compare that to 2022, when the military missed its goals by 25%, and 2023, when it missed by 10%. Nothing changed except the administration and with it the clarity of purpose. We play Simon Sinek's story about a Marine recruiter who told a high school auditorium full of teenagers that not a single one of them was good enough to be a Marine — and walked out with the longest line of any recruiter in the room. People don't want to be told service is easy. They want to be challenged to be worthy of it. Trump and Hegseth figured that out. The numbers prove it. We also cover France's assisted suicide legislation — which has passed the lower house and would allow physicians and nurses to end the lives of patients who cannot do so themselves. The Catholic Church in France has threatened excommunication for any legislator who votes for it, and Pope Francis personally asked Macron not to sign it. We make the pro-life case plainly — compassion means walking with those who suffer, not eliminating the one who is suffering. A society's worth is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable, not by how conveniently it removes them. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has now threatened to shut down all Middle Eastern oil exports if Iran cannot export its own — using energy as a weapon exactly as both Iran and Iraq did during the 1980s war. We note that this is exactly why the Iraq oil pipeline deal through Turkey matters, why the Strait of Hormuz matters, and why at some point the president may have to say what needs to be said about ground troops. For our Bright Spot, a Spanish conservation group called El Burrito Feliz — the Happy Little Donkey — has deployed 18 donkeys around Doñana National Park on Spain's Atlantic coast, an area with the same fire-prone Mediterranean climate as Southern California. Since the donkeys were introduced, there has not been a single wildfire in the park in nine years. The donkeys eat the dry scrub and tall grasses that fuel fires, reach terrain that vehicles cannot, and cost a fraction of what California spends on fire suppression after the fact. We suggest California try it. What have they got to lose? And we close with Jenny Stepien, who walked down the aisle on her wedding day wishing her father could be there. Her father Michael had passed away ten years earlier — but he was an organ donor, and his heart had saved the life of a man named Tom Thomas, who became Jenny's pen pal out of gratitude. On her wedding day, Tom was there in person for the first time — to walk her down the aisle in her father's place. At the end of the aisle, Jenny placed her hand on Tom's chest and felt her father's heart beating one more time, just before she said I do. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Jen prepares for her summer travel, she and Pete noodle on the activity of packing, and the sometimes difficult decisions of what to bring and what to leave behind. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: Why is making decisions so hard? How might the usage of constraints and rules be beneficial when making choices? What are some tactics to deliberately carry less around with us? More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

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¿Por qué algunas marcas nos enamoran y otras solo compiten por precio? Este episodio de Grandes Aprendizajes destila “Empieza con el porqué” de Simon Sinek y te cambia el enfoque: la gente no compra lo que haces, compra por qué lo haces. Con el Círculo Dorado —porqué, cómo, qué— Sinek conecta la comunicación efectiva con la biología de la decisión: el propósito mueve, los datos solo acompañan. Ejemplos potentes como Apple, los hermanos Wright, Martin Luther King o Southwest muestran cómo liderar desde la causa inspira lealtad real, incluso ante los tropiezos.Más que teoría, es una invitación a actuar: define tu porqué en una frase, demuestra tu creencia con cómos claros, y deja que los qués sean la consecuencia. Pasa de la manipulación a la inspiración, alinea decisiones con coherencia radical y empieza por los early adopters que ya comparten tu causa. Cuando afinas tu porqué, la claridad atrae, la confianza crece y el equipo decide mejor. ¿Te atreves a reordenar tu mensaje de dentro hacia fuera y ver qué cambia?Conviértete en un supporter de este podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/grandes-aprendizajes--5720587/support.Newsletter Marketing Radical: https://marketingradical.substack.com/welcomeNewsletter Negocios con IA: https://negociosconia.substack.com/welcomeLibro "Libertad Financiera" Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/libertadMis Libros: https://borjagiron.com/librosSysteme Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/systemeSysteme 30% dto: https://borjagiron.com/systeme30Manychat Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/manychatMetricool 30 días Gratis Plan Premium (Usa cupón BORJA30): https://borjagiron.com/metricoolNoticias Redes Sociales: https://redessocialeshoy.comNoticias IA: https://inteligenciaartificialhoy.comClub: https://triunfers.comThis content is under Fair Use: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. I do not own the original content. All rights and credit go to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Kevin Miller is a former pro athlete, lifetime entrepreneur, father of 9, and podcast host. He hosts the top-ranked "What Drives You with Kevin Miller" podcast, a professional and personal development podcast that has been ranked #3 in the "All-Time Careers" category on iTunes and downloaded more than 70 million times. Kevin has conducted an in-depth interview series with more than 200 thought leaders in the professional and personal development sphere, including Susan Cain, Michael Hyatt, Rich Roll, and Simon Sinek. On this classic episode, Kevin joined host Robert Glazer on the Elevate Podcast to talk about his career, finding purpose in life, and much more. Thank you to the sponsors of The Elevate Podcast Shopify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shopify.com/elevate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Masterclass: ⁠⁠masterclass.com/elevate⁠⁠ Framer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠framer.com/elevate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Indeed: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠indeed.com/elevate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Northwest Registered Agent: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠northwestregisteredagent.com/elevate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Whatnot: Search "Whatnot" in the app store to download Fanvue: ⁠⁠⁠⁠fanvue.com⁠⁠⁠ Wealthfront: ⁠wealthfront.com/elevate⁠ More about Wealthfront This experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. Elevate with Robert Glazer podcast (collectively "Media Partner") are not clients of Wealthfront. The Media Partner receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for this paid endorsement placed in their podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms. The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The base APY is 3.30% on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, subject to change, and requires no minimum. Funds in the Cash Account are swept to program banks, where it earns the variable APY. Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Investment advisory services are provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Pete shares with Jen a perfectionism trap within an AI model, and together they noodle on how to get their work unstuck and shipped. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: What tools might we use to gauge when our work is good enough? What are the signs and symptoms of looking for perfection? How might we use AI to ship our work more frequently? More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Who is Sharon?Sharon Kennedy is a business leader and consultant who specializes in helping high-achieving leadership teams reach their goals. With a systemic approach, Sharon works with successful and ambitious individuals who find themselves at a crossroads—where progress seems more difficult than it should be despite their capability and intelligence. By focusing on aligning organizational goals with effective strategies, Sharon guides her clients to greater clarity and collective achievement, emphasizing business-level solutions over individual fixes. Her work is driven by a commitment to turning challenges into opportunities for alignment and business growth.Key TakeawaysIn this insightful episode, Sharon Kennedy shares her expertise on how leaders and businesses can gain better alignment in their work, especially when navigating complexity and uncertainty. She explains why many high-achieving individuals and leadership teams feel like something is “missing,” even when they're doing so much right—and how stepping back, gaining clarity, and focusing on systemic coherence transforms both people and organizations.Key topics include:* Identifying the Type of Client Helped: Sharon discusses the kinds of ambitious leaders and teams she works with, who often find their progress harder than it should be and benefit from a systemic, not just individual, approach.* What Clients Have Tried Before: Many have read books, taken courses, or followed common advice, but struggle to see the results because true change requires personal insight and a shift in perspective.* The Power of Lightbulb Moments: Sharon explains that breakthroughs aren't about doing things “wrong,” but about discovering new ways of seeing challenges and embracing novel solutions.* Sharon's Process at Engage and Prosper: From open, candid diagnostics to supporting genuine business-wide alignment, Sharon covers her approach to lasting organizational change.* Valuable Takeaways: The importance of identifying areas of repeated friction, why strategy often fails to translate into reality, and why real coherence beats great intentions every time.* Inspiration & Influence: Sharon shares her influences, including Rory Sutherland and Simon Sinek, and reflects on what human behavior teaches us about creativity, bravery, and leadership.* The Killer Question: How do you know when your organization lacks coherence—and what can you do about it?Timestamps Overview* [00:00:31–00:01:15] Introduction of Sharon Kennedy and her background in talent and neuro-inclusion* [00:01:27–00:03:22] The characteristics of Sharon's ideal clients and her focus on business systems, not just individuals* [00:03:23–00:05:07] What clients have tried previously and why change requires personal insight and self-determination* [00:07:10–00:09:18] Sharon's process at Engage and Prosper: diagnostics, clarity benchmarking, and identifying points of friction in the business* [00:11:10–00:11:46] Why company values and real behaviors don't always align—and what to do about it* [00:12:45–00:16:27] Sharon's personal journey, influences, and what really prompted her approach to leadership coaching and coherence* [00:17:12–00:19:22] The “killer question”: Signs your organization or team lacks coherence, and what key indicators (like repeated unresolved issues) to look forDon't forget: If you want to connect, ask questions, or get notified about upcoming guests like Maria subscribe to the newsletter here. You only need your first name and email—easy as (coffee) pie!And don't forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation!P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most_________________________________________________________________________________________________Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribeFind out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguestSubscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcastHelp us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt!Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale?We help established business owners with small but growing teams:go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises,to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family -with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn't work, we refund what you paid.This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business.————————————————————————————————————————————-TranscriptNote, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast.SUMMARY KEYWORDSneuroinclusion, talent development, innovation, education, high-growth sectors, leadership alignment, coaching, confidence building, skill development, business coherence, systemic approach, candidate-to-company pathway, fragmentation, fresh perspectives, clarity, diagnostic tools, Clarity benchmark, employee engagement, operational systems, team behavior, AI integration, onboarding challenges, early career hires, job fit, organizational congruence, company culture, values alignment, productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, workplace coherenceSPEAKERSharon Kennedy, Stuart WebbStuart Webb [00:00:00]:Don't mess me about now. Now is not the time to mess me about. Hi and welcome back to It's Not Rocket Science, 5 questions over coffee. I'm here with— this is my coffee, by the way. I'm here with, uh, Sharon, and she has got coffee as well in front of her. Sharon Kennedy is a, um, a coach, uh, helping to develop future talent. Uh, she's, uh, works with people who are looking to develop high potential individuals in innovation, talent development, education. She's helping people build skills, confidence, and insight necessary to move in the fast-moving, high-growth sectors, particularly interested in people with neuro-inclusion in their development.Stuart Webb [00:01:16]:So Sharon, welcome to It's Not Rocket Science, 5 Questions Over Coffee, and thanks for being a guest.Sharon Kennedy [00:01:21]:Thanks for having me.Stuart Webb [00:01:24]:So tell me a little—Sharon Kennedy [00:01:25]:Perfect.Stuart Webb [00:01:27]:Let's, let's just explore a little bit. So if we're looking at the sort of the, the person you're trying to help, what is the, uh, what are the characteristics? What are the— what is it you, you are— you would say are the sort of, um, ideal client, ideal person you're trying to help with this neuroinclusivity, building their confidence, uh, in this fast-paced environment of education and employment today?Sharon Kennedy [00:01:50]:Well, I suppose it's— I suppose the first thing to say, and I understand why you've positioned it the way you have. But I— as much as I work on an individual level, I really come at it from a business level. That's what we're trying to achieve. And so, so the individual leader or individuals in this leadership team are, generally speaking, going to be quite successful and achieving lots of great things, lots of ambition, lots of intelligence, capability, and things like that. It's more that they're at a point where it seems harder than it should be. And they're still pushing forward. And I think really, for me, what I try to do, and, and we as a business, is about helping them find alignment in what they're trying to achieve and how they're trying to achieve it. So it's more of a systemic approach that we take to it.Sharon Kennedy [00:02:38]:So whilst all the things you described are exactly what we also do, you know, clarity, confidence, talent, uh, you know, development, and the sort of candidate-to-company pathway and making that the optimum that it can be. Ultimately, we're about trying to make sure that we're helping leaderships and companies be more coherent in their approach so that the consistency is there and the inner alignment is there as well. So if you ask me about the type of people, they're going to be very intelligent, capable people, but they're just kind of— they know something's missing, but they can't really work out what that is. Um, and so for us, it's normally sort of fragmentation in their thinking, really, and trying to help them sort of stand back sometimes and then look at things with fresh eyes.Stuart Webb [00:03:23]:So, so that's interesting. So, so tell me, um, what they've tried before. What is it they've been attempting to do before they come across somebody like you can help them with that alignment? Have they, have they done books, courses, all of the above?Sharon Kennedy [00:03:36]:All of that. I, I've— well, and just lived on the planet, you know, and, and gained experience and done lots of things brilliantly right. And done lots of other things that they, they don't quite know why it's not worked. And I think, I suppose it's sometimes it's like, you know, we grow up hearing the adages of, like, can't see the wood for the trees, or, you know, you're in the trenches rather than— and working in the business than on the business, all those great phrases. But I suppose actually sometimes it's, it's about helping people sometimes to think differently when they don't know how to think differently. Because it, you know, they'll— yeah, we've— again, I know I'm using the clichés, but the Definition of insanity: keep doing the same thing, expect a different result. And I suppose all these phrases and words don't always mean very much until you actually get to the point of where the penny drops. Somebody says something in a certain way, or enough things happen, and you just kind of go, I, I get it now.Sharon Kennedy [00:04:27]:It— that now makes sense to me in my way. And the problem is we all think differently. None of us think the same. None of us have got the same life experiences or talents or skills. We're all individual mashes of lots of, you know, life and experience and personality and DNA. And, you know, we're just unique individuals. And so what might be the penny dropping for one person is, you know, is it happens in a different way for somebody else at a different time. So it really— I know that might sound a bit ambiguous, but I think it's a bit like— that's what I've learned through doing coaching a lot of the time, is the individual has to self-determine their own insight All anybody else ever does is facilitate that being able to happen.Stuart Webb [00:05:09]:It's interesting. So, so it is— it, it— there's a moment, there's a, there's a point at which something happens, whether that be a difficult situation or a sudden realization that, that you've been doing it wrong all this time, which produces that clarity of thought suddenly that I need help.Sharon Kennedy [00:05:29]:Yeah, I don't even think wrong is not— and I'm not picking— you're not being critical, but wrong isn't the right word because I suppose it's just we all— everything is isn't it? All through our life we're trying and we're experimenting, we're exploring, and we're doing things differently. I think it's just sometimes somebody can have those, you know, whether you call them like light bulb moments or insights, whatever, you know, fat bombs, whatever you want to call them. A number of things happen, you know, whether it's a— you read a piece of content, you have a conversation with someone, you watch something. Sometimes it's just enough things that happen relatively that, that your brain— I mean, our brains are amazing. I've done a lot of stuff around neuroscience, and, you know, when we always think we have those light bulb moments, those light bulb moments are not just suddenly epiphanies. They're, they're our subconscious kind of going, maybe got the answer here if you want to maybe sit down for a bit, do things a bit differently, and listen to me, actually. And that's really what I help to sort of do as well, you know. That's what coaching is, and that's what sort of like systems designers and systems thinking and trying to get people to sort of sometimes stand back and, and just re-look at things with new perspectives, different perspectives, because it's really hard to do that, you know, because we take comfort and confidence in familiarity and, and knowing what we've always done.Sharon Kennedy [00:06:45]:And it might have always worked before, but we're in different times, and every so often you have to stand back and reappraise and reflect on what you have now, because it's, it's a new world all the time, regularly, you know. We're in another industrial revolution or whatever you want to call it. So So I think it is just having the confidence and being brave enough, really, sometimes to kind of go, is there maybe a different way to look at this?Stuart Webb [00:07:10]:So tell me, we've reached the sort of, uh, my third question then, and it's, it's about the valuable, uh, advice that you'd give. So talk to me a little bit about two things, one of which is, so what do you do? How do you bring the outcome that those people are looking for? And secondly, is there a piece of valuable advice that you'd give to our, our listeners at the moment? And yeah, I'd welcome any comments from anybody either listening in the future in the recording or as we're listening to us live now. If you've got questions, let Sharon know what those questions are so that we can, we can pose them to her. But Sharon, start with that first thing. What is it you would actually do within, within your business, Engage and Prosper, to help them overcome that challenge?Sharon Kennedy [00:07:56]:So I suppose the first thing we do is have a proper conversation, uh, and explore really what is happening in their business, what, what frictions and areas they're finding either repeatedly failing or frustrating or just costly, or, you know, they'll, they'll know. Every business will have its own version of that, and it might be a number of them, it might just be one area. So we have really open, candid chats around— structural, structured chat, but it still is a chat, it is a conversation to understand and explore that. And it does require a bit of trust and openness and it's obviously confidential. So that's the first thing we would do. If the next step is the right next step, we would run a Clarity benchmark, which is a diagnostic tool we use, which we've created around understanding the whole element of clarity in systems, people, and behavior, because it is structural, as we say. But, but the, the sort of free advice, if you like, that I would say to anybody on that call or otherwise is to to start thinking about where you're seeing repeated friction in the business, where things are— you're having to revisit them on a regular basis because you thought you dealt with them at that meeting, but something isn't— it's just not changed, or it's not landing, or it— people don't really know what they should be doing about what's been agreed, um, because that's really, again, where the coherence is not really there. It's not— it's not landed, or it's not clear, or it's not being driven in a clear way.Sharon Kennedy [00:09:19]:Um, and again, it's, it's quite difficult to give examples because that might be very diff— different in every business, but it might be, you know, a high turnover of staff for a particular type of role or a particular type of hire. Um, so early years, early career hires are regularly quite hard at the moment to sort of, um, engage and onboard and successfully, you know. Some of that might be because it's the wrong person and job fit. Some of it might be the job needs to evolve and move. Um, and I think you've gone now, so I feel a bit worried that you may have, um, just disappeared. And if this is still live— no, you're there.Stuart Webb [00:09:59]:I was merely focusing on you, Sharon, as you were talking about such an intense subject. I wanted people to, to focus on you rather than seeing me making gudie.Sharon Kennedy [00:10:08]:Tell me you were going to do it anyway. So, so that, so that's really— so it could be different stages of either people coming in, or it could be different systems that you're using. And again, with AI, oh my goodness, you know, people are overwhelmed with it. I think they don't quite know in some organizations and businesses how much they should be using, what they should be using it for, how they should be using it and integrating it. So there, there is— there are a whole, uh, plethora of areas and issues that could be the problem or the challenge for why the organization just isn't achieving what it knows it could and should. Um, so I think that's really the sort of free advice that I would suggest, really. Um, And it could be operational systems, team behavior, attitudes. I mean, you know, coming from an employee engagement, um, business and, you know, background, which I did for a long, long time, a lot of— a tiny example would be about, you know, having behaviors on the wall and these great values as a company culture and saying what it's like to work for us and we're brilliant and we're this and we're that and all the great honest sincere things, but not necessarily living by those values.Sharon Kennedy [00:11:10]:And it becomes a bit rhetoric rather than reality. So I think it— that's just one example of what I'm trying to convey, is that great intent and a great strategy written down isn't necessarily what the reality is or what the lived experience is. And, and I think ultimately that's, that's really what we're trying to do— some, you know, audits, housekeeping, whatever you want to call it— and then really move forward with a really coherent plan and also that individual congruence. So that internal alignment between the— what you want to be as a leader and as a business owner, and also what you are actually then delivering as a, as a leadership team.Stuart Webb [00:11:47]:Brilliant. I will now come back into screen so that you can see me, but I wanted people to focus on you when you were talking about that because I think it's important. Um, Sharon, thank you. And, and just to remind people, um, you'll see at the bottom of the screen I've put where we put our guests' contact details, their offers, uh, things like landing pages where you can go and get free things from them, uh, in systemize.me/free-stuff. And we'll have links to Sharon's website, Engage and Prosper. Yeah, got some downloads, got some downloads that we will be putting into our vault so that you can get hold of those and get— and hear some of the great wisdom that Sharon has on this. So, Sharon, that kind of, uh, you mentioned it once, and I presume, uh, it is from this background of, of, uh, of employing engagement, um, that you, you came to this realization. But it can't just have been employee engagement.Stuart Webb [00:12:45]:There must have been a light bulb moment, a book, a course, a personal experience. What was it that sort of suddenly made you realize that some of this stuff is related to Well, uh, these, these moments that sort of, you know, you now can help to step in and, and to help people to understand better.Sharon Kennedy [00:13:04]:Yeah, I mean, I, I did do a research around this question of like, you know, should I come up with a really clever author and things like that?Stuart Webb [00:13:13]:Please don't do clever, we don't do clever.Sharon Kennedy [00:13:16]:Well, what I suppose I came down to really was the fact that, you know, I'm the, the right side of 50, if that's the right phrase, but you know, I'm 52 now and I think, you know, I've had lots of chapters in my career, lots of working with lots of different, you know, great bosses, great leaders, um, and either, you know, been to events and been inspired to get inspired by people every day. And, um, I suppose what I've recognized through my own observations, pattern recognition, whatever you want to call it, is that when leaders are sort of inconsistent, um, and it's hard to actually see consistency in someone if you're not seeing enough communication, interacting enough, it takes a long time to layer knowledge and understand who somebody is or what business is and all those sort of things. So for me, it's about when things are fragmented, you know, if leadership is fragmented, if how the business works is fragmented, how it communicates, how it does things. And it, you know, and some people might use the word chaos, and I don't really mean chaos because I'm not suggesting any business is chaotic, but I do think we think often it's more organized than it actually is because a lot of things are tacit knowledge, um, things just get done. We don't always know who does what until person leaves that did it. Um, so it's things like that really. It's sometimes just having some order with some scope for creativity, innovation, all those sort of things. But for me, it's not one person, it's not one thing.Sharon Kennedy [00:14:42]:You know, there's some brilliant names I could drop. I mean, Rory Sutherland, I think, is just fabulous. Whenever you— you know, the opposite of a great idea is another great idea. You know, I think that, like, you just go around an eternal loop on that phrase alone. You know, it just proves that there's never one right or wrong way of doing anything. There's many, many ways of doing it. Um, you know, Simon Sinek, you know, he had big influence on me many years ago. Um, Dan Pink, you know, um, I think— trying to think of one of the other big readers, and I can't think of his name now, one of the authors on marketing.Sharon Kennedy [00:15:11]:Um, his name's gone for me, but, um, it might come back in a minute. But loads of people have really inspired me with what they've known, what they've seen, what they've realized. And, and I think really what really inspires me is human behavior. So everybody inspires me because I get to see how they think, how they work, how they manage things, how they overcome things, and how they do things differently. Because it's doing the different things that allow you then to do things differently, which I know might sound really obvious, but, you know, other people being brave enough to do things differently allows you to recognize that there isn't a right or wrong. And so therefore, people can't really judge you for your approach because it's just how you think and what you're prepared to try. Um, and sometimes happy accidents come out of that, and other times— I think Rory Southern gives an example of a, of a, of a about a bench, you know, that when people sadly pass and people put a memorial bench there. And I'm not going to do his talk justice, but I recommend everyone watches it.Sharon Kennedy [00:16:05]:And he talks about, you know, where you do need a bench, there's never any— a bench, you know, nobody ever sat there for a bench to then be put there, you know, or, or things like that. But anyway, you know, I'm not— so I'm not doing him justice, but, you know, he does, uh, he thinks of some things in a very, um, creative way. And I think it's that creativity that allows us to, to do things in a better way. Sometimes like brilliance, and sometimes it's a learning that we grow from, like in an invention, you know.Stuart Webb [00:16:34]:That's brilliant. Um, Sharon, I, I guess, I guess I'm left with only one question, uh, and it's the question that, that, that I often, I often ask in this, which is what is the question that I should have asked that I haven't yet, that, that sort of killer question that brings it all together, which gives us a neat way of sort of, you know, trying to encapsulate all this. And, and I can't think of what that question is, so I guess I have to rely upon you to think about that question. So what's that, what's that killer question? What's that question I should have asked you which I haven't yet? Um, and obviously once you've asked, uh, once you've asked the question, you better answer it for us because I don't know the answer.Sharon Kennedy [00:17:12]:Well, I think we've, we've covered a lot of it already, really, but I suppose the question was, was You know, how do you know when an organization lacks coherence? And I suppose as a, a leader or a manager in it yourself, it's going to be when, you know, some of what I've said before, you know, when that issue just keeps coming back up, it's still not resolved, or the accountability for making it resolved and solved, it just— it doesn't, doesn't land. That person doesn't own it, or that team or department or whoever it is, supplier, whatever it might be, because obviously there's multi-parts of a business running well and growing. Um, it just could be a repetitive issue that you think has got fixed and then it's back again. Um, and, and if people are compensating, I think that's the real deep pit, isn't it? Some things actually work, but not through or without a lot of effort or a lot of being pulled out of shape and, and stress. Um, a burnout, you know, or— I mean, yeah, one of the big dashboard KPIs that most businesses always look at is absenteeism. You know, sickness, uh, you know, turnover. All those— the stats are always normal ones to look at. But I suppose really it's about tenure and productivity for me, you know.Sharon Kennedy [00:18:22]:Are people staying because you're a good employer and it's all working relatively well, i.e., that it's in congruence for them as an individual working for your business? And as a, as a company, are you in coherence with how you should be and could be operating?, so that those KPIs, you know, are actually in a good balance. It's never going to be a perfect world, but, but if you keep having to revisit the same stuff, something's not working. And I suppose it, you know, and I'm making that sound really simple because of course all those individuals are trying to resolve it, but there's, there's obviously got to be a different way to attack it because maybe like with a lot of business development, when a client comes to you and says, this is our problem, it's normally something else that's actually the problem, not what they think it is. And that's because often they just don't get the time or the luxury to be able to sit back and actually look at things with fresh perspectives and, and ask different questions.Stuart Webb [00:19:22]:Yeah, uh, Sharon, uh, yeah, great perspective. Uh, thank you so much for causing us to just stop for a moment and think about some of those things. And, uh, I encourage you, uh, listening, uh, listening to the recording, uh, drop into the comments below this your questions to Sharon. She will, she will be able to get back to you and answer them because I think that's important that you get questions like this answered. Um, and for me, I just have one tiny little ask, and that is, um, if you've enjoyed this, even if you haven't, um, excuse me, uh, please go to www.systemize.me.Sharon Kennedy [00:20:04]:That's s-y-s-t-e-m-i-s-e.me/subscribe.Stuart Webb [00:20:09]:There's a simple form there that just gives you, uh, asks you for your name, uh, your email address, and that means you can get onto the mailing list where I send out information about who's coming up in this week's podcast recording. And you can get it then, and, uh, you also get the copy of the recording when it comes out. So Sharon, excuse me again. Thank you so much. Thank you for just spending a few minutes with us. Now, uh, we've had— we would appear the people are now leaving the live, uh, live recording, so they have had their questions answered, which is important. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us. I look forward to, uh, to, to seeing you answer those questions that come in on the chat below the, the podcast.Stuart Webb [00:20:53]:So thank you for spending some time with us.Sharon Kennedy [00:20:55]:Thanks for having me, Stuart. I really enjoyed it. Get full access to It's Not Rocket Science! at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe

Shortly after BW Chairman Bob Chapman passing in March 2026, it was announced that Pat Berges had been named CEO and Managing Partner of Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute. Chapman & Co. was founded by Bob to bring Truly Human Leadership to organizations around the world, improving their leadership, culture and performance.  Pat was a longtime friend and colleague of Bob's, bringing more than 25 years of global leadership experience to Chapman & Co. He shares the convictions that drove Bob's legacy. Pat is the founder of H3 Leadership, now part of Chapman & Co., and has held senior leadership roles at Covidien and Medtronic. He previously served as executive director of The Curve Initiative, a nonprofit founded by bestselling author Simon Sinek, and has led large-scale leadership development and culture transformation efforts across more than 100 countries. On this episode of the Truly Human Leadership Podcast, Pat talks about his friendship with Bob and how his mentorship was inspiring and challenging. Pat talks about his leadership journey, the future of Chapman & Co. and why their work is more important now than ever.  

Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Check out the full episode: https://greatness.lnk.to/1478DM Simon Sinek focuses on redefining self-worth metrics and measuring a fulfilling day. Sinek advocates assessing one's value based on positive impacts on others rather than tangible metrics like bank account numbers. He shares a personal anecdote about the immeasurable impact of his book, highlighting the challenge of quantifying influence. The conversation extends to questioning traditional judgments around ambition and laziness, emphasizing that caring about work and life quality is paramount. Sinek also underscores the importance of setting collaborative boundaries through discussions, ensuring alignment in both professional and personal relationships. Sign up for the Greatness newsletter! TOPICS Simon Sinek, self-worth, finding fulfillment, measuring success, impact over money, redefining ambition, setting boundaries, work-life balance, leadership and purpose, personal values Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, Jen and Pete noodle on the creative process, and how we might build and iterate on our ideas. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: How does Jen think about the creative process? And Pete?  What is the Ship of Theseus? What are some tactics and questions we can use to build and expand on existing ideas and frameworks?   More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

This week Alli and Melisa explore the "3+1" theory from Simon Sinek which says that relationships require three core pillars of compatibility combined with one external factor -- Intellectual Compatibility, Emotional Compatibility, Creative/Sexual Compatibility and the key factor, Circumstances.Learn more about Simon Sinek here. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lesbian-chronicles-coming-out-later-in-life--5601514/support.

Get AudioBooks for Free Best Self-improvement Motivation Simon Sinek's Advice Will Leave You Speechless | Success Discover Simon Sinek's powerful insights on leadership, purpose, and personal growth. Learn the mindset needed to achieve lasting success. ⁠We Need Your Love & Support ❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get 3 Audiobooks Free -

Get AudioBooks for Free Best Self-improvement Motivation Simon Sinek's 5 Rules to Succeed | Life-Changing Advice Discover Simon Sinek's powerful success principles for millennials. Learn how purpose, patience, leadership, and growth lead to lasting success. ⁠We Need Your Love & Support ❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get 3 Audiobooks Free -

This week, Pete revisits what it's like to be a student, and he and Jen noodle on the mental frameworks this inspires in them. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: What is it like to be new in a learning environment? How might we learn from our peers, and their questions and learnings? How might we more often put ourselves into communities that are growth minded?   More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Mike and Trey Farley interview Kurt Kraisinger, landscape architect, owner of Lorax Design Group in Overland Park, Kansas, and co-founder of Tributary Revelation. Kurt recounts his path from aspiring architect to landscape architecture at Kansas State University, building his practice across 25 states, and explains his client-first design philosophy focused on context, lifestyle, and architectural fit rather than a single signature style. He describes how clients often fixate on Pinterest features, why trust is built by showing what clients ask for alongside better alternatives, and why circulation plus grading/drainage are foundational, especially in Kansas City's freeze-thaw and rainfall conditions. Kurt outlines his “prescribed process” from concept to master plan, early contractor estimates to prevent budget surprises, phasing strategies, and stepwise 3D visualization. He explains the Lorax name origin, Tributary's tours-based networking model, discusses trendy pool features and value engineering, and shares influences (Simon Sinek, Blue Ocean Strategy), plus personal favorites and travel inspiration.   Discover more: https://loraxdesigngroup.com/ https://www.farleypooldesigns.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@MikeFarleyDesigns https://www.instagram.com/farleydesigns/ https://www.instagram.com/luxuryoutdoorlivingpodcast/   00:00 Podcast Welcome 01:23 Meet Kurt Kraisinger 02:54 Path to Landscape Architecture 04:39 K State Training and Early Work 07:51 Design Philosophy and Style Range 11:01 Guiding Clients Past Pinterest 15:48 Why Lorax Design Group 19:55 Outdoor Living After COVID 21:44 Site Walkthrough and Flow Basics 25:43 Master Plans and Phasing 27:24 Budget Reality and Cost Process 31:57 Luxury Features and Tradeoffs 35:21 Learning Negative Edge Details 37:51 How Tributary Started 39:48 Building Tributary Tours 42:17 Vendors Behind Scenes 43:47 Membership Rules Evolve 44:59 Midwest Build Challenges 49:56 When to Hire Designers 52:51 Hand Drawing Value 56:04 3D Workflow Funnel 01:01:22 Timeless Pool Design 01:05:36 Saying No to Clients 01:11:26 Books Food Movies 01:17:41 Wrap Up Contact Info 01:18:22 Show Mission Closing

The people who are quietly checking out at work usually hide it well. They still show up. Something has just gone quiet. Martin Lesperance is a keynote speaker who delivers around 100 talks a year in more than 20 countries; his audiences started calling him the Simon Sinek of Quebec.In this conversation we get into:Why so many people have "quietly quit" & burning outThe four simple habits that pull a person, and a team, back to lifeWhy your real purpose was never the numbersAnd much more.This is less a talk about engagement than a story about choosing your attitude when you have every reason not to. If you have built something that works but does not feel like freedom, or you manage people who have gone quiet, you will leave with four things you can use today.

Explore the hidden culture of high-performing veterinary practices, focusing on intentionality, team dynamics, and leadership. Learn practical strategies to build and sustain a positive, productive practice environment.key topicsThe feel and atmosphere of high-performing practicesThe importance of intentionality in culture buildingStrategies for hiring personality fit over technical skillsThe role of leadership and vulnerability in cultureFinancial indicators of a strong practice cultureSound Bites"A high performing practice feels relaxed and energized""Hire for personality, teach technical skills""Accountability is rooted in shared values and trust"Chapters00:00Introduction and Celebrating Culture01:59The Essence of High Performing Practices06:00Intentionality in Building Culture09:57Financial Insights and Culture Connection13:02The Importance of Team Dynamics18:37Defining and Measuring Culture23:04The Impact of Intentional Culture on Performance28:39The Role of a Practice Manager30:49Leadership Training and Team Dynamics33:29The Difference Between Management and Leadership35:59Transforming Practice Culture37:42Challenges in Changing Culture45:43Resources for Building a Better Culture50:40www.LGA.CPA ResourcesDare to Lead by Brené Brown - https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Courage/dp/0399592520The E-Myth Veterinarian by Dr. Peter Weinstein - https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Veterinarian-Dr-Peter-Weinstein/dp/1119546794The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon - https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Bus-Guide-Attitude-Change/dp/1118901742Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek - https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Civility-Leadership/dp/1591848016Traction by Gino Wickman - https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Entrepreneurs-Operations/dp/1936661837

A few weeks ago, Alexander Zverev won the French Open — one of the four Grand Slams in tennis. And the lesson he left me with didn't come from anything he said. For most of his career he played in someone else's shadow. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Alcaraz. Every time he looked up, someone else was holding the trophy. He won his first Grand Slam at 29. Not because the competition disappeared. Because he never did. Simon Sinek calls it the infinite game — where the goal isn't to win, but to keep playing. Are we teaching our kids to play for the win, or to stay in the game? For the first time in decades, tennis has no dominant force. The game is open. The world our kids are growing into looks the same. But openness only becomes opportunity for those willing to still be in the room. Two things to carry into this week: Stay in the game. Not every season brings the trophy — some seasons just keep you ready for the one that does. Teach them to see the opening. The world rewards those who show up when others have already walked away. That's ParentShift. If today's conversation resonated, subscribe at hernanchousa.com for one idea every Friday for sports parents.

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Tim Foot, CEO of Slingshot Group. With nearly three decades of ministry and leadership experience having worked with thousands of churches, Tim brings deep insight into one of the most critical drivers of church health: your team. In this conversation, we explore what separates stagnant teams from those that create real momentum and how leaders can shift from survival to remarkable impact. Why teams stall out. // After working with thousands of churches, Tim consistently sees the same patterns: unclear expectations, misaligned priorities, lack of structure, and unspoken tension. Many teams are overly task-driven but underdeveloped relationally. Others don't fully understand how their strengths and weaknesses fit together. The danger of “hero-driven leadership.” // When a church relies too heavily on one standout leader to carry the mission it results in what Tim calls “hero-driven leadership.” While it can produce short-term results, it ultimately leads to burnout, unrealistic expectations, and fragile systems. Leaders often fall into this trap because it feels productive, and even rewarding, to be the one with all the answers. But over time, it limits team development and creates dependency instead of shared ownership. From hero to team. // The future of healthy ministry is team-based leadership. Instead of building ministries around individuals, churches must build systems and cultures where teams thrive together. This requires leaders humbly admitting they don't have all the answers and a willingness to slow down in order to build alignment. When leaders shift from being the “hero” to developing others, they unlock far greater long-term impact. The seven “key signatures” of remarkable teams. // Tim introduces a framework of seven core areas that every healthy team must develop: conviction, message, culture, roles, systems, friction, and risk. These “key signatures” work together like elements in music, providing structure that leads to a strong, unified outcome. Conviction anchors the mission (“why we exist”), while message communicates that mission clearly. Culture shapes how people experience the team, and roles define how individuals contribute. Systems enable growth, friction drives improvement, and risk fuels breakthrough. Why friction is actually healthy. // One of the most counterintuitive ideas Tim shares is that healthy teams need friction. Many leaders try to eliminate tension, assuming harmony equals health. But in reality, the absence of friction often means important issues are being avoided. Healthy friction leads to better ideas, stronger alignment, and greater innovation. The key is ensuring it doesn't become personal. When friction turns relationally destructive, it's unhealthy. But when it stays focused on ideas and outcomes, it becomes a powerful driver of growth. A practical tool for leaders. // To help teams take action, Tim points leaders to a free “team awareness assessment.” This tool helps churches evaluate how they're doing across the seven key signatures, identifying areas of strength and opportunities for growth. It's designed to spark meaningful conversations that lead to real change. A final challenge for leaders. // Tim leaves leaders with a simple but powerful reminder: if your mission matters, your team matters more. Churches often focus heavily on the people they're trying to reach, but neglect the health of the people they're leading alongside. Sustainable, mission-moving ministry requires both. To learn more about Tim's book Reaching for Remarkable: The 7 Key Signatures Behind Every Remarkable Team and take the free team assessment, visit reachingforremarkable.com or explore additional resources at slingshotgroup.org. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in. Listen, listen, listen, pull in close because today’s conversation, I don’t even know your church, but I know that a large portion of your budget is being spent on the thing we talk about. In fact, lots of churches, it’s like half of their budget. And it’s an even larger portion of the outcome of your ministry. It’s incredibly important what we’re talking about today. And so you do not want to miss this. Rich Birch — And we’ve got an expert that has worked with not tens of, not hundreds of, but literally thousands of of churches like yours and wants to help you take steps forward. Excited to have Tim Foot with us. He has nearly 30 years of experience, which I’m not sure how that’s possible, such a young man, as a leader, pastor, coach, speaker, musician in both Australia and North America, bringing a diverse background to his role as the CEO and president of Slingshot Group. If you’re not aware of who Slingshot Group is, they take the guesswork out of nonprofit and church staffing. He’s recently written a book that I’m excited for you to learn more about. But Tim, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Tim Foot — Rich, it is so glad, it’s so great to be on with you today. I’m excited about this conversation.Rich Birch — So good. I'm I’m excited for it too. Why don’t you kind of give us a bit of the Tim Foot background? Tell us a little bit about about you and kind of give us the how do we end up here in this conversation today?Tim Foot — Yeah, it’s interesting. I often say to people, I had no idea that I’d be on the other side of the world to where I started doing what I’m doing. But this is what happens, Rich, when you say, keep saying yes to God.Tim Foot — Born and raised Tasmanian, worked as a musician and in ministry in Sydney for 10 years after moving from Tasmania, then relocated to Boulder County, Colorado in 2002, been here for 25 years now in ministry at a great church called Lifebridge Christian Church. Built ministry there for 10 years and went bivocationally started working with the Slingshot Group when there was a handful of us doing a handful of staffing and coaching work and then things exploded.Tim Foot — And I really, really hit my sweet spot and saw how God had been preparing me for so many years to work with teams, love teams, love the strategy of teams, love working with people, love the fact that placing the right leader on the right team exponentially moves the mission forward and affects culture in all kinds of ways.Rich Birch — So true.Tim Foot — And so I’ve had all kinds of roles in Slingshot over the years, now get to lead our team of amazing consultants around the US serving so many, and beyond, serving so many ministries and teams move mission forward.Rich Birch — Love it. I’m so glad that, yeah, this is going to a good conversation. You know, one of the things I want to take advantage of is the fact you’re really an expert. You know, you’ve worked with, you and Slingshot have worked with thousands of churches and organizations, and you you really get a chance to see churches at an interesting inflection point.Rich Birch — You know, often when we’re hiring a team member, bringing someone in or trying to develop our teams, you know, we’re thinking about the future and we’re, we’re taking a step back. And like you say, I do think it’s a transformative inflection point that you’re involved in. Rich Birch — So you’re sitting across the table from a lot leaders, and maybe even some leaders who their mission is stalling. Like things aren’t maybe going as well as we would hope. Are yeah there any patterns in that you’re seeing, are there things that you see time and time again in churches that might be holding us back?Tim Foot — Yeah, I immediately thought of a common question we’ll ask teams when we’re brought in when it comes to needing a new person on the team or helping coach leaders. We’re often brought in in crisis moments, moments of transition, but they’re also moments of incredible opportunity.Tim Foot — And we’ll often ask the question, hey, do you want a painkiller or do you want a vitamin? And so often the the team is thinking they want the painkiller, they want the pain to go away. They want to solve the problem, they want to fill the seat, or they want to break through whatever it is they’re struggling with. But honestly, deep down, they need to start a regimen of vitamins to help them get to a healthy place to move the mission forward.Tim Foot — We often will see an unawareness that the wrong people are around the table. Or an unawareness that they need other leaders around the table to help them move forward, whether it be vocational paid leaders or volunteers.Tim Foot — We’ll often see misalignment and a lack of focus on the right things. Communication misfires around why the mission actually matters. We’ll often teams see teams that are task-driven at the expense of relationships.Tim Foot — And then an unawareness of strengths and weaknesses and how they complement each other, how they help move you forward or how they hold you back. Other patterns are a lack of structure to support the work. Elephants in the room, taboo topics, fear around failure that leads to lack of innovation. So many different patterns we’ll see and be able to diagnose and say, hey, we need to have conversation around that because I think uncorking that will help you accelerate the mission.Rich Birch — That’s cool. One of the things I love by reputation that I love about Slingshot is I love that you’re asking those bigger questions that it’s not just like, okay, how do we get to let’s just, let’s get the next hire done and move on.Rich Birch — It’s like, you know, you’re, you’re trying to ask those bigger questions and which I, that which I think, you know compliment to you and your organization that you’re trying to. Because we know when we need the painkillers, but really we need to take some good vitamins over an extended period of time to make our things more healthy for sure. Hmm.Tim Foot — You know, Rich, when we jumped into staffing work almost 20 years ago now, we had to educate the church on the need to have outside advice around staffing. But it was a lot of art and not as much science.Tim Foot — And now we’ve developed so much science around the art with with things like our candidate match tool. When you’re looking for a leader, you have to align around what you actually want in that new leader. So many teams will say, hey, we need this, this, this, this, this, this. And in the end, they’re looking for a purple unicorn. And that’s not going to help.Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — And we’ll talk about that as we get deeper in the conversation.Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Tim Foot — But Rich, last time I looked, unicorns are still mythical creatures. Rich Birch — True. Tim Foot — And so working working out what you actually need… Rich Birch — Right. Tim Foot — …and getting an awareness around alignment with who’s around the table may actually change your idea of what you’re looking for. Alignment is so important in getting an awareness of what our strengths and weaknesses are. Are we focused on the right thing? And are we actually moving the mission forward right now or is it stalled out?Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, that’s good. One of your consultants, that remember once I was in a conversation about that very issue and and you know we had really lofty goals for what we were trying to hire. And and they they walked us through that conversation where it was like, okay, well, let’s let’s think about how many of these people are actually out there.Rich Birch — So and you list off hat half a dozen things that we were looking for and you cut back and you think, well, how many people actually work in the church? How many people have worked as long as we want to work and have had experience that we did and have done the stuff that we want to do?Rich Birch — And you literally get down to like, Well, there might be three people, you know, like, you know, and so anyways, that’s, that’s, that’s so true.Tim Foot — And actually… Rich Birch — You… Yeah, go ahead.Tim Foot — …that’s what we’ll often say. There are maybe three to five people when you have all of these filters in place, they can actually fill this role.Rich Birch — That’s true.Tim Foot — And that’s why you need to focus on ministry and you need to let us focus on finding those people.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Yeah, that’s good. That’s great. And yeah, and if there’s three to five and one of them is Jesus, the other is the Holy Spirit. So it’s like, you know, you’re down to just a very few. You… Tim Foot — And Rich, let’s not talk about why many, many teams wouldn’t hire Jesus these days.Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. That’s a whole other topic. that’s That’s great. Now, you’ve said something once that caught my attention, and it’s in my head has been branded to you. And it’s that most of us were trained on a model, a leadership model that nobody named out loud, that everyone, that we’ve all absorbed.Rich Birch — What is that model? You know, what it look like? And I know when you named this, I started seeing this everywhere I looked. I was like, oh, wow, I can see this in multiple different places in myself and in our organization. What what is this model?Tim Foot — Yeah, I mean, the the model we see is hero-driven leadership. It’s when we rely too much on individuals to actually carry the mission. And I think the cracks have happened.Tim Foot — I mean, we’ve seen it, Rich, you and I are similar ages. I think the cracks are happening generationally. The builders and boomers were wired differently for a different time and culture. And us Gen Xers, we can code switch. I mean, we we see we see that happening all the time. And as we stepped into leadership, the cracks started to appear.Tim Foot — I mean, we see it every week. Another leader burning out, doing stupid things because of too much pressure. Then millennials and Gen Z are now leading in a new way that we need to embrace.Tim Foot — And so I think we’re seeing those cracks around that hero dependence, and we’re starting to see the need more than ever to have a team awareness, a holistic approach, or we’re just going to have leaders continue to burn out.Tim Foot — And we sit we see it around unrealistic hiring expectations, a lack of support for great leaders when they’re hired, a lack of development.Tim Foot — Hero dependence is a terrible staffing and growth strategy and becomes a massive trap when it comes to a number of the key focus areas or patterns we’ve seen that healthy teams focus on and move mission forward.Rich Birch — Yeah. See, this is the thing when you, I heard you say that once and it, it literally, I sat up and I was like, oh man, I’ve seen that in my own, you know, my own hiring. I’ve seen that in the way I’ve talked with, you know, I see the leaders around me. You see these people who they’ve kind of built the entire ministry around themselves and they’ve built, it’s like, it doesn’t work if they don’t, it’s like, they’re such a unique individual. They have to lift it all. Rich Birch — But what makes that model so sticky? Like, why do we keep coming back to that? Why? Even if we know like intellectually in our heads, yeah, that’s not a good idea. It feels like we just keep coming back to this same thing time. In fact, we actually reward it. We’ll be like, wow, isn’t that great? This person’s amazing. And we just kind of keep moving on. Why is that?Tim Foot — It’s the shiny object trap. I mean, that that the the shiny object, aka the the talented leader that we think is going to catapult the ministry. Often we see it in in hiring conversations when a particular organization wants to go after somebody that’s been in at a much bigger organization than them. And often that person, if if they can attract them, will come in with a playbook that isn’t uniquely suited to the organization they’re stepping into. Or there aren’t systems to support that new leader and the growth that’s going to happen. And burnout happens at every level. But but we both know, Rich, busy work makes us feel productive. But is it the right work?Rich Birch — That’s so true.Tim Foot — And and we know that we can be ourselves the shiny object. We we want to it feels good to be the hero. It feels good to be the one that’s solving problems. Rich Birch — Sure.Tim Foot — It feels good to be the one that has all the answers. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — And I think that’s one of the biggest threats in healthy leadership today is feeling like you have to have all the answers. Because I think one of the most powerful statements from healthy leaders and healthy teams is, hey, we don’t know what to do next. Because it actually opens up the room for new thought. It opens up the room for collaboration. And it opens up the room for teamwork. Tim Foot — But it’s easier to move quick. It’s easier to move quick and be surrounded by people who agree and play it safe.Rich Birch — So true.Tim Foot — And then down the road, we realized that we weren’t growing in every sense of that word. And the mission was stalled out. We know we often have to slow down, re-strategize, look at who’s around the table, work out how we work together to move faster in the long term. We have to be vulnerable to make a team work. And sometimes it requires us to actually help others win than focus on heroes. Tim Foot — I mean, you think about a winning sports team. It’s not about just one person out there doing all the work. We’ve got to work together as a team. You know, it’s it’s it’s how do we work together and have had have less dependence on that shiny object, those standout leaders or those heroes?Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. I love that. I remember years ago, we had a coach come in and as a lead team, and this basically spent a week with us and then, you know, try to help us get better in our leading of our people. And I remember at the end of the week, the leader who we brought in said you answer way too many questions. And I was like what do you mean by that? They’re like, you need to ask more questions and you answer. You’re you’re putting yourself way too much in the middle of all of this and you’re not letting…And I was like, oh that’s a good insight. You know, we’re not raising up other people we’re trying to uh you know make it all about us rather than about our teams. Well, I’d love to talk about your book.Rich Birch — So the title is Reaching for Remarkable: The Seven key signatures behind every Remarkable Team. Let’s start with the word Remarkable. You literally have it twice in your title and subtitle. Why Remarkable? And how does that relate to hero? Because I was like, isn’t that the same thing? Like, isn’t it couldn’t this be reaching for the heroic? So unpack that.Tim Foot — I love that word remarkable. And it’s always been our mission at Slingshot. We build remarkable teams through staffing and coaching because your mission needs a remarkable team to move it forward. Tim Foot — Jesus left us with the most remarkable mission. And but it wasn’t enough. He needed a team to move it forward. And if Jesus needed a team to move it forward, we need to move it forward as a team.Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — And so we’ve all got these unique expressions of that remarkable mission. But if that mission matters, your team matters more. Rich Birch — That’s good.Tim Foot — And so when it comes to Remarkable, it’s about the mission. It all comes back to the mission. And we never fully arrive, Rich. We’re always reaching.Rich Birch — That’s good.Tim Foot — We’ve always got to be focusing on the right things, doing the deep work of of of reimagining, reinventing, and re-moving forward to reach for remarkable momentum when it comes to our mission. But we’ve got to focus on the team and the right the right areas to move that mission forward.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. So you actually talk about these, there’s these seven key signatures. Can you take a little bit of time and just unpack those? We won’t be able to get into all of them, but kind of talk us through how does it hang together as kind of a big idea?Tim Foot — Well, give you a little bit of context behind why they’re key signatures. You mentioned it in the intro, in a former life, I was a working musician and I would do solo gigs. It was my tentmaking job to do ministry back in Australia. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — I would work three to five nights a week as a musician. And I always had way more fun working with other musicians in a team setting, because ah a band is essentially a team. And my best experiences, Rich, was when I was on stage with other musicians who were often better than me, but I was leading the band. We all lifted each other. And to achieve remarkable results, there was structure to it.Tim Foot — I mean, you know, there’s structure to music. There’s harmony and there’s rhythm and there’s key signatures. There’s tracks to run on that allow us to have a remarkable output. Rich Birch — That’s good.Tim Foot — And so as I move from that world into team strategy world, team specialist world, building teams world, I realized, hey, there are also tracks to run on as a team to reach for health and reach for remarkable, a remarkable output and remarkable momentum. And so that’s where we came up with these seven key focus areas that we call the seven key signatures behind every remarkable team.Tim Foot — And they’re a pathway, they work together. And I’ll run through them quickly. And then we can unpack what you what you want to unpack with the time that we have left, Rich.Tim Foot — But though, and they’re simple. I mean, these are patterns that I’ve observed over the last 16 years staffing teams, but the last 30 years growing in teams, learning from teams, leading teams. I mean, you and I both grew up in in church, Rich, and I learned a lot of of leadership lessons from being a volunteer on teams in in in my late teens and and early 20s, so much.Rich Birch — Yes, 100%.Tim Foot — But these patterns, this pattern or these key signatures start with number one, conviction. Conviction, which is a shared sense of why you exist and what you’re called to do. It’s the why behind the what. It’s the Simon Sinek. People buy why you do, not what you do. So that’s number one is conviction. Tim Foot — Number two is a message, a compelling and consistent way of communicating what matters most because, Rich, everything communicates. What’s the story our leadership is communicating? What we say, what we don’t say, our actions, our systems and processes. What story is it communicating? That’s number two. Tim Foot — Number three is culture, the values and behaviors that shape the soul of our team. How are people experiencing your ministry organization or your team?Tim Foot — Number four is roles, unique contributions for remarkable impact. Roles that clarify how we work together. Tim Foot — Number five is systems, which is scalable design for remarkable growth. Systems scale our mission. Tim Foot — Number six is friction because healthy friction moves the mission forward. How do we embrace healthy friction for growth? Tim Foot — And then the last one, number seven, and these all build on each other, is risk, which is bold moves that drive remarkable outcomes, initiatives that lead to breakthrough, strategic risk, not blind gamble. So those are the seven.Rich Birch — Love it. And you know friends, i I do think I would highly recommend that you pick up copies of this book. To me, when I when I saw this, to me, this feels like the kind of book that we should read together as a leadership team. Like, hey, let’s pull this together. You know maybe you’re looking for a fall thing to do with your leadership team. This would be a great book for you to pick up and go together. Rich Birch — There’s a couple I would love to tease out a little bit. I’d love you to pull out for us. Help us understand. You differentiate between conviction and message, two different things. I think lots of times we might collapse those into one. Why are they two separate? Help us understand the difference between those two.Tim Foot — Absolutely. Conviction, again, is why we do what we do. Without shared conviction, you won’t move the mission forward. There won’t be a reason behind initiatives. They’ll fall flat. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — There won’t be a reason behind the message you’re communicating. That’s why they’re different. So conviction is what keeps us in on the days we want to quit.Tim Foot — I mean, think about the early church in Acts 4. It’s a great, best example of conviction. Peter declaring in Acts 4:20, we cannot help but speak about what we’ve seen and heard. They didn’t just believe. They acted. It drove every decision.Tim Foot — If the disciples were just compliant, when Jesus ascended, they would have scattered. But because they were convicted, they ah nearly all of them gave their very lives for the mission. Conviction is our North Star. It’s It’s like calling. it’s It’s what keeps you the days, keeps you in it, the days you want to quit. And Rich, we know there’s going to be plenty of days you to quit. Tim Foot — Message, however, is is the story we’re communicating. It’s how we hire, fire, onboard, develop. It’s how we communicate our conviction and our overall mission. And in the book, we list a bunch of traps for each of these seven key signatures. And we can chat about some of the most common traps. But a common trap for for message is assumption. Rich Birch — It’s good.Tim Foot — We assume people understand and care like we understand and care. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — And we don’t ask enough questions. I mean, it’s why Jesus’ ministry was full of questions, Rich. Rich Birch — Right. Right.Tim Foot — Because he was he was cementing conviction. I mean, Jesus asked the best questions and rarely gave the answers. He lived the answers and he teased the answers out because that’s what led to conviction. That’s why they build upon each other. Tim Foot — You can’t have a story without conviction. You can’t have a message without conviction. And you can’t have a healthy message unless you are asking the right questions to make sure people are hearing and understanding it. Tim Foot — Did you like like did you understand what I just communicated? What did you just hear that I that I said?Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — Why why are why are you so convicted to by our mission?Rich Birch — Yeah.Tim Foot — Why are you committed to it? So many great questions.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good.Tim Foot — The book is full of questions too. I’m a I’m a serial question asker. They used to call me “Quiz” when I was a teenager because I asked so many questions.Rich Birch — Yeah.Tim Foot — And it wasn’t until later that a mentor and co-founder of Slingshot, Stan Endicott—I think you know him, Rich—that he he convinced me that my proclivity for asking so many questions was actually a spiritual gift and not a special need.Rich Birch — Yeah. Tim Foot — Because questions, questions move conversations forward.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yep. Yeah, it’s true. It’s so good. And yeah, as I’ve shifted into full-time coaching, I have found, yeah, like that the the skill of asking a good question, it’s like, you know, I think the best moments I have with the people I’m working with are when we’re, I’m asking questions and they’re discovering, they’re tripping on to their own answers that maybe are a little different even than I would have. But just asking good questions, super important.Rich Birch — Okay. Another one that stood out to me of the, and again, friends, you’re going read all this. Obviously we can’t cover this in just, you know, half an hour conversation. But talk to me about friction, healthy friction. Tim Foot — Yeah. Rich Birch — So I literally have said as an executive pastor, my job was to remove friction from the organization. And so when you say, oh, you lots of us are trying to remove it. I was like, ouch, that’s me.Rich Birch — Because I think that’s, ah you know, I would I want to find places where we’re stuck and say, how do we get those unstuck and push this thing forward? So talk to me about why I’m wrong about friction.Tim Foot — I was there too, Rich. I was absolutely there. But when I get to number six, when we’re speaking on this or teaching on this, I will often say, hey number six is a wait, what? Tim Foot — I thought this was the sign of an unhealthy team. I used to think that. I used to think that the harmonious teams were the healthy ones, that when I walked into a context where there was all harmony with the team, that it was there was healthy, the absence of friction was healthy. But it’s not. It’s a sign of unhealth. Tim Foot — And I’m talking, there’s two kinds of friction, healthy and unhealthy. I’m talking about healthy friction. I mean, you think about a car and how the rubber meets the road, causes friction, moves the car forward. If you don’t have friction in your team, your mission isn’t going on anywhere.Tim Foot — It’s interesting, Zippia workplace survey found out that 76% of employees in the workplace avoid conflict, which is a real problem because healthy friction sharpens and aims teams, while avoiding conflict leads to complacency and stagnation.Tim Foot — Teams where members are passionately embracing friction will not only push through and forward to great results, they’ll attract and retain, which is really important, they’re going attract and retain top leaders. It’s where the mission truly comes alive and evolves to all it can be. Good leaders, rich, know to allow it. They know not to control it, but closely monitor it.Tim Foot — We get to decide if the tension or friction we allow is healthy or unhealthy. We call this the loaded gun of the seven key signatures, because when this gun goes off, it either breaks through a door or a wall that you needed to break through, or somebody gets hurt. And good leaders know how to monitor that and help it break through and not damage other leaders.Rich Birch — Yeah, let’s double click on that. Help me understand. So yeah, I’m going with you. I can see what you’re saying. You know, healthy friction, you know, unhealthy friction, good friction, bad friction. So give me an example. Rich Birch — You walk into it, you’re working with a ah church and there’s some telltale signs of, friction that’s that’s negative, that’s actually pulling the organization back, that’s that could be potentially hurting, or maybe has gone too far, or what’s, I’m not sure the best way to say that. Versus, hey, no, here’s some here’s some good friction that’s actually some good heat here that’s pushing the tires forward. Help us, what does that look like?Tim Foot — When when it becomes personal, Rich, that’s always the way you know it’s trending towards unhealthy. We’ll get to it in a minute, but we’ve got a team assessment on our website now around these seven key signatures, and we talk about unhealthy, inconsistent, functional, remarkable.Tim Foot — Most most teams live in that functional space. If you’re below unhealthy, it’s trending toxic, and that’s when you need ah that’s when you need the 4Sight group and Jenni Catron to come I mean, do some some deep, deep culture work. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — I’m all about our ecosystem. I know you are too, Rich. It’s like when you need the deeper work, then you need the specialist. Rich Birch — Sure, sure.Tim Foot — But right now you’ve got the general practitioner. Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, yeah.Tim Foot — But but when it gets when it gets personal, you know that that’s unhealthy friction. Rich Birch — That’s good. Right.Tim Foot — And let’s go back to um the the harmony piece. Because that’s one of the traps when it comes to friction. it’s It’s the harmony trap. And it’s like it’s you wanting there to be you know violins and and and and birds singing and for everybody to be loving each other. That’s also a sign that there is unhealthy friction. Rich Birch — Right. Tim Foot — Because there’s things lurking that have been pushed down below the surface that are going to come out sideways that if you had just dealt with it straight away, it actually could have become momentum for your mission. It’s the unspoken influences trap. it’s the It’s the elephants in the room.Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — It’s what everybody’s thinking about, but nobody’s talking about. That’s going to that that’s gonna be insidious and it’s going to chip away at the health of your team. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Tim Foot — And it’s gonna become unhealthy friction. And so that’s a great question to ask. And that’s in the book too. What’s every thinking about, nobody’s talking about? Because that’s what we need to engage.Tim Foot — Now, if we think that’s going to lead to unhealthy friction, let’s have the the conversations outside of the meeting. So that when we get to the conversations inside of the meeting, we can engage this as healthy friction that will actually address the topic and will move us forward rather than becoming personal and eroding relationships.Rich Birch — That’s good. Yeah, that question, what’s everybody thinking about that nobody’s talking about? That’s powerful. And I can see, yeah, that even even the organizations I’ve led, you can see where there’s seasons where we try to push away that friction. nd that can be just super negative. And it’s like this, we’re all just in la-la land. We’re all just, you know, can see that for sure. Tim Foot —Yeah.Rich Birch — So you wrote this book, you put this resource together. help me understand how you’re hoping it will help our, our churches. You know, I’m picture, I’m a church of a thousand people. Maybe I’m the executive pastor. I’ve got a team of 12 to 15 people on my team. And how how could, how could this be a helpful resource for us?Tim Foot — Well, this I believe this is the most important work we need to be doing, Rich, because if your mission matters, your team matters more. So often we get so focused on the people we’re serving that we forget the people we’re serving with.Tim Foot — And if we’re stalling out mission, mission-wise, then we’re not moving forward. And that’s not and we’re not being obedient to God’s call. And so what I’m hoping is, I mean, personally, our kingdom first principle at Slingshot is to leave teams better than than the way we found them. And the last thing we want to do is place great leaders on unhealthy teams.Tim Foot — So what we’re hoping is that teams are going to focus around these seven alignment areas and start to move mission forward, attract great leaders, retain great leaders. When we place, I mean, I you and I have both had healthy long-term ministries at churches, and it is a massive blessing when you, if God wills it, and you stay somewhere long term. I want other people to experience that. And that happens when the right leaders are placed on the right team.Tim Foot — So what I’m hoping churches do is they take our team awareness assessment on on our website, reachingforremarkable.com, which is attached to slingshotgroup.org. And they get a sense of, okay, where what where might we need attention in these seven key areas? Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good.Tim Foot — Because it heat maps, it gives you percentages, you can take it as a team. And then to start the real important conversations.Tim Foot — I mean, I’ve been in rooms with this work, Rich, where you start to see teams have conversation around alignment and and teams that were that were stale or leaders that were burnt out start to get a glimmer of hope. Rich Birch — Yeah. That’s good.Tim Foot — That, oh, if we start to have these conversations around these areas, if we walk this pathway, if we focus in these areas where we’re struggling right now, we’re going to start to see results.Tim Foot — I mean, I even think about the key signature of systems. You know, it’s systems that scale remarkable growth. If we’re not building systems to to accommodate the growth that we keep praying for, God’s not going to bring the increase. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s true. Tim Foot — Because God isn’t going to bring growth if it’s going to hurt us. We have to be building the right kind of systems to support our teams and leaders so that the growth can come. It’s a stewardship issue. Rich Birch — Yes, yep.Tim Foot — So what I’m hoping happens in churches all over the place is that they start to focus on these key signatures and see mission momentum results that moves them forward as an organization.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. Why don’t you tell us, you’ve mentioned it, but tell us a little bit more about the team awareness assessment. Give us like a bit of a, you know, you’ve kind of given us an overview there. Give us a little bit more why we should take that test and give us that URL again that we can send people to.Tim Foot — It’s reachingforremarkable.com and it’s it’s literally 10 minutes or less. Rich Birch — Right.Tim Foot — And it’s free as a leader. You can jump in and take it or you can sign up and and take it as a team. And it gives you obviously the team percentage on each of these key signatures. but also your own results. And when we’ve worked with real high-performing teams, it’s fascinating to watch these great leaders compare their individual percentage on each of these key signatures with their entire team and just to see alignment start to happen and the right conversations to happen.Tim Foot — Because we want to be able to focus in on where alignment is needed most. It may be real simple, Rich. Most teams live in that functional space. Rich Birch — Sure. Tim Foot — Functional’s fine.Rich Birch — Yeah.Tim Foot — But it’s not going to get remarkable results. Rich Birch — Yeah.Tim Foot — And our mission is too important. We have to focus on team alignment to move it forward.Rich Birch — Yeah. It’s so good. Yeah. I was talking to a a leader recently of a very large church and they were saying, you know, I just feel like, I feel like we got a go Pro. And what he was saying is exactly what you’re saying is like, Hey, we we’re we’re fine. We’re functioning.Tim Foot — Right. Right.Rich Birch — But man, we want to go remarkable. We want to go from just just because we can do this thing week in, week out in their case, have thousands of people show up, tens of thousands of people show up. But it’s like, that’s not enough. We got it. But the mission’s too important. We’re trying to reach people. How do we go remarkable? Which to me, I think picking up a copies of these books as a team would be a great first step. Rich Birch — Where do people, where can people pick this up? Where can they get your book if they’re looking for that? I’m assuming Amazon, but is there anywhere else we want to send them?Tim Foot — No, Amazon’s a place to go. Rich Birch — Yeah, that is the bookseller apparently.Tim Foot — I mean, it’s we know these days where wherever where everybody’s going, Amazon’s the way. And I would just add to Rich that as a leader, you want to know. This is information you want to have.Rich Birch — Yes.Tim Foot — We’ve talked so much about self-awareness. And if we’re in leadership, we need to show up to our team self-awareness. So many profiles. Rich Birch — Yep.Tim Foot — We don’t talk enough about team awareness. You need to know as a leader if you’re moving your mission forward or where you might be stalling out because it’s too important. And these seven things, as I said earlier, Rich, they’re not they’re not rocket science. Tim Foot — I mean, I like to I like to couch it this way: Conviction shapes the heart. Message shapes the voice. Culture shapes the atmosphere. Role shape contribution. Systems shape sustainability. Friction shapes growth. Risk shapes the future. And that’s why I hope you’ll dig into this with us. Rich Birch — Love it. Tim Foot — Because we want to see the kingdom move forward and we want to see churches full of healthy teams that not only great leaders want to come and be part of, great volunteers want to be a part of and help move this forward.Rich Birch — That’s so good. Well, I think that’s a great place to end it. I was like, man, that’s, I’m like, I want to preach. Amen, brother. That’s fantastic. If people were, so we’ll send them to Amazon. We’ll put a link in the show notes for that. If people want to track with you or with Slingshot, where do we want to send them online to connect as well?Tim Foot — Slingshotgroup.org is our company website. And there’s a bunch of great stories there. There’s places that you can engage. We would love you to be in our ecosystem. And yeah, you can jump over there to reachingforremarkable.com. And we would love to come alongside you and help you continue to move forward in the unique ways that God has called you to.Rich Birch — Well, Tim, it’s great to see you. Tim Foot — You too.Rich Birch — We were just remarking before, we had dinner together there a couple months ago. That was fun, but it was fun to put the recording on today and connect a little bit. Appreciate you, brother. Thanks so much for being here today.Tim Foot — Thanks for having me, Rich.

Energized from her coaching retreat, Jen shares with Pete five learnings from the three-day discourse between herself, the coaches, and their clients. Specifically, in this episode, the learnings that Jen and Pete talk about are: Know what hat you, as the coach, are wearing. Know what hat they, as the client, are wearing. Say less. Sort your thoughts into objective and subjective, before you say them out loud. Doing is much more powerful than talking about doing. More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Stick to the plan - the discipline, patience, and unshakeable commitment to stay locked in when progress is slow, doubt is loud, and everything around you says to quit.Everyone has a plan until life gets hard. The ones who win are not the most talented or the most motivated - they are the ones who showed up anyway and refused to abandon what they started.Featuring words of wisdom from David Goggins, Jocko Willink, Alex Hormozi, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Chris Williamson, Steve Harvey, Steven Bartlett, Jim Rohn, Matthew McConaughey, Conor McGregor, Michael Phelps, Bruce Lee, Kevin Hart, Kyrie Irving, Lewis Hamilton, Simon Sinek, Denzel Washington, Jay Shetty, Ed Mylett, Gary Vee, Mel Robbins, Inky Johnson, Bedros Keuilian and many more.Instagram - @daily_motivationsorgFacebook- @daily_motivationsorg

Episode 399 reviews Phase 2 of Season 15 and introduces the Motivation Loop — the sequence of meaning, belief, attention, action, reward, and recovery that drives sustained effort. The episode explains common loop breakers (loss of meaning, negative thoughts, distracted attention, too much challenge, poor recovery, and no visible progress) and how to diagnose which link is failing. Practical takeaway: identify your gap, reconnect purpose, protect attention, celebrate small wins, and balance challenge with recovery to keep motivation alive. In This Episode 399, We Will Cover: ✅ The Motivation Loop — what it is, why it matters, and how it influences behavior, focus, effort, and achievement. ✅ What Keeps the Loop Alive — the role of meaning, belief, attention, action, reward, recovery, and growth. ✅ What Breaks the Loop — how loss of meaning, negative thoughts, distraction, lack of progress, poor recovery, and burnout weaken motivation. ✅ The Neuroscience of Motivation — why the brain repeats what it rewards and how dopamine reinforces behavior. ✅ The Difference Between Challenge and Burnout — finding the sweet spot where effort creates growth instead of exhaustion. ✅ My Personal Motivation Loop Story — how I watched my own loop begin to break in real time while pushing too hard with hiking and what I learned from it. ✅ How to Repair a Broken Loop — practical strategies to restore motivation before burnout takes hold. ✅ The Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex (AMCC) — the brain region associated with persistence, self-regulation, resilience, and doing hard things. ✅ Why Doing Hard Things Grows the Brain — how meaningful challenges strengthen the neural circuits responsible for sustained effort. ✅ Finding Your Gap — using our Brain's Operating System framework to identify where your system may be out of alignment. ✅ The Biggest Lessons from Phase 2: Neurochemistry & Motivation — insights from Bob Proctor, Dr. Caroline Leaf, Dr. John Medina, Dr. Anna Lembke, Dr. Chuck Hillman, and Friederike Fabritius. ✅ What's Next — a preview of Episodes 400 and 401 on Leadership and Trust, and our transition into Phase 3: Movement, Learning & Cognition. Key Question of the Episode "When motivation begins to disappear, have we lost our drive—or is there simply a broken link in the loop?" Aha Moment The goal isn't to push harder. The goal is to identify the broken link, repair it, and keep the loop alive. EP 399: The Motivation Loop: What Keeps It Going—and What Breaks It? Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. This week, we're wrapping up Phase 2: Neurochemistry and Motivation. Over the past several months, we've explored some of the most important drivers of human behavior, attention, effort, learning, and performance. Through the work of Bob Proctor, Dr. Caroline Leaf, John Medina, Dr. Anna Lembke, Chuck Hillman, and Friederike Fabritius, we've been focused on one fundamental question: What drives sustained effort and forward movement? Today, I want to zoom out and connect everything we've learned into one simple framework: The Motivation Loop. More importantly, we'll look at: What keeps the loop going What causes it to break How we can strengthen it over time And why doing hard things may actually help grow parts of our brain responsible for persistence and self-regulation. The Brain's Operating System of Human Performance Before we dive into the Motivation Loop, let's remember what we've covered so far. One of the biggest insights from neuroscience is that high performance doesn't happen in one part of the brain. It happens through a sequence. Just like a computer has an operating system, our brains have an operating system for learning, achievement, and human performance. Over the past several months, we've been building that system one phase at a time. Phase 1: Regulation & Safety REGULATE The first question we asked was: "Is the nervous system safe enough to learn?" Before motivation... Before focus... Before performance... The brain must first feel regulated. Through guests like Bruce Perry, Kristen Holmes, Antonio Zadra, and Sui Wong, we learned that: Sleep matters Recovery matters Rhythm matters Our Stress levels matter A dysregulated brain struggles to learn. No regulation. No learning. Phase 2: Neurochemistry & Motivation ENGAGE Once the brain is regulated, we move to the next question: "What drives behavior, focus, and sustained effort?" This is the phase we've just completed. We explored: Dopamine Belief Thought patterns Attention Reward Burnout Energy And perhaps the biggest lesson from this phase was: The brain repeats what it rewards. This became the foundation of what I've called: The Motivation Loop: What Keeps the Loop Going? Looking at this graphic, notice the green side first. The healthy loop begins with: Meaning and Purpose When we know why something matters, effort becomes easier to sustain. This was Bob Proctor's message and the message that launched author Simon Sinek's entire career (Knowing Your Why). People can tolerate enormous challenges when the goal is meaningful. Example: Learning a New Skill Imagine someone deciding to learn a new language. At first: Progress is slow. Mistakes are frequent. The work feels uncomfortable. But they have a purpose. Maybe they want to connect on a deeper level with family. Maybe they want to travel. Maybe they want a new career opportunity. Purpose keeps them engaged long enough to continue with the hard work.   Belief Shapes Thought If I believe I can improve, my thoughts become more constructive. This was Dr. Caroline Leaf's work. Our thoughts influence our neurochemistry. Positive thoughts don't guarantee success. But they keep us moving toward it. Attention Drives Growth This was John Medina's contribution. Attention determines what the brain decides matters. The brain learns what we repeatedly focus on. What we attend to, we strengthen. Action Creates Progress Once attention is focused, behavior follows. We study. We practice. We train. We learn. Reward Reinforces Behavior This was Dr. Anna Lembke's work. The reward doesn't have to be huge. Sometimes it's simply noticing progress. The brain says: "That effort produced a result." And the loop continues. Example: Exercise A person begins walking 20 minutes every day. Week 1: No major changes. Week 2: Energy improves. Week 3: Sleep improves. Week 4: Resting heart rate begins dropping. The brain notices progress. The effort feels worthwhile. The loop strengthens. The behavior repeats. We have spent a lot of time on understanding how to keep the loop from breaking. How the Loop Breaks Now let's look at the red side. How the loop breaks. The loop rarely breaks all at once. Usually one link weakens first. Then the others follow. Loop Breaker #1: Loss of Meaning What Happened? A student studies only to pass a test. The test ends. The reason disappears. Motivation disappears. The loop breaks because there is no longer a compelling "why." What Could Have Prevented It? Reconnect to purpose. Instead of: "I have to study for this test." Shift to: "I'm building skills for the future version of myself." Bob Proctor taught us that goals are not just about achievement. They're about growth. Loop Repair Ask: "Why does this matter beyond today?" When meaning returns, motivation returns.   Loop Breaker #2: Negative Thought Patterns What Happened? Someone starts a health journey. After a difficult week they think: "I'm failing." "Nothing is changing." "I'll never get there." Their attention shifts toward evidence of failure. The loop weakens. What Could Have Prevented It? Focus on progress instead of perfection. Dr. Caroline Leaf would remind us that thoughts influence neurochemistry. A better question might be: "What is improving that I haven't noticed yet?" Loop Repair Look for small wins. Better sleep More energy More consistency Better habits Progress fuels dopamine. Dopamine fuels effort.   Loop Breaker #3: Distracted Attention What Happened? You sit down to work. A text arrives. Then email. Then social media. Then another interruption at your office door. Attention becomes fragmented. Learning slows. Progress slows. Reward disappears. What Could Have Prevented It? Protect your attention. John Medina taught us: Attention determines what the brain decides matters. Loop Repair Create: 30-minute focus blocks Phone-free work periods (with notifications turned off) One-task-at-a-time sessions The brain rewards completion. Not multitasking.   Loop Breaker #4: Too Much Challenge What Happened? This one surprises many people. Doing hard things strengthens the brain. But doing impossible things breaks the loop. A person starts: A new diet A new exercise plan A new business A new habit And tries to change everything at once. The challenge becomes overwhelming. What Could Have Prevented It? Start smaller. The AMCC grows when challenges are difficult but achievable. Loop Repair Ask: "What's the smallest difficult thing I can consistently repeat?" Not: "What's the hardest thing I can do today?"   Loop Breaker #5: Poor Recovery/Low Energy   What Happened? This is actually my hiking example that I've mentioned previously. Everything was working. My recovery improved. My WHOOP age improved 6.4 years younger than my actual age. My fitness improved- v02 max increased. Then I increased the challenge. Longer hikes. More strain. More effort. But not enough recovery time in between. I could actually see the reward disappearing in real time. The effort at the end of these longer hikes felt exhausting instead of energizing. I know that doing difficult things makes my brain stronger, but I was close to giving up on something I really enjoyed. What Could Have Prevented It? Recovery needed to increase alongside challenge. The mistake wasn't hiking, or making the hike more challenging. The mistake was believing: More is always better. Loop Repair Alternate: Hard days Easy days Increase recovery as strain increases. As Friederike Fabritius taught us: Performance isn't built through effort alone. It's built through effort and recovery. Once I put more attention on recovery before pushing again, the broken motivation loop repaired, and the end of those difficult hikes became energizing again (with the right amount of rest).   Loop Breaker #6: No Visible Progress What Happened? A salesperson makes: 50 calls 100 calls 150 calls No results. The brain begins asking: "Why bother?" The reward disappears. What Could Have Prevented It? Measure leading indicators instead of outcomes. Instead of focusing only on sales: Track: Calls completed Meetings booked Relationships built Skills improved Loop Repair Celebrate effort metrics. Not just outcome metrics. The brain needs evidence that effort matters. Also, if the strategy you are using is not yielding results, try a different one. Ask others who are having success, what they are doing, and how they are getting results. Once you can identify where your loop is breaking, fixing it requires doing something that you were not doing before.   The Big Lesson Every loop break in this phase points back to one question: What link failed? Was it: Meaning? Thoughts? Attention? Progress? Recovery? Challenge? Because the loop rarely breaks all at once. Usually one link weakens first. And the good news is: If you can identify the broken link, you can repair the loop. What About Doing Hard Things? One of the most fascinating concepts we explored this phase was the work surrounding the: Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex (AMCC) This area of the brain appears to play an important role in: Persistence Self-regulation Attention control Doing things we don't feel like doing Research suggests this area strengthens when we repeatedly choose meaningful challenges. Not impossible challenges. Not burnout. Not exhaustion. Meaningful challenges. Example Choosing: The workout you don't feel like doing. The difficult conversation you've been avoiding. The presentation that makes you nervous. The study session when you'd rather scroll your phone. Every time we choose effort over comfort, we may be strengthening the neural systems responsible for persistence and researchers also would say, the will to live. The Secret to Keeping the Loop Going After everything we've learned this phase, the answer is surprisingly simple: The loop stays alive when effort feels worthwhile. That means: ✅ Meaning ✅ Purpose ✅ Focus ✅ Progress ✅ Recovery ✅ Challenge But not too much challenge. Because challenge without recovery becomes burnout. And recovery without challenge becomes stagnation. The sweet spot lies in the middle. Instead of blaming ourselves, we can start diagnosing the system to build a stronger, more resilient version of ourselves. How to Use the "Find Your Gap" Framework Whenever you feel: Stuck Unmotivated Burned out Distracted Overwhelmed Plateaued Ask yourself: Which phase is broken? Because the problem is rarely "everything." Usually it's one phase creating a bottleneck for the others.   Phase 1 Gap: Regulation & Safety Ask: Am I sleeping well? Am I recovered? Is stress overwhelming me? Is my nervous system regulated? Signs This Is Your Gap Anxiety Exhaustion Brain fog Poor sleep Irritability Example A teacher can't focus. They assume they need more motivation. But they're sleeping 5 hours a night. The real gap isn't motivation. It's regulation. Solution Fix: Sleep Recovery Stress management First.   Phase 2 Gap: Neurochemistry & Motivation Ask: Do I still know why this matters? Am I seeing progress? Has the reward disappeared? Have I lost momentum? Signs This Is Your Gap Procrastination Lack of drive Loss of enthusiasm Feeling stuck Example This was your hiking example. You still had the ability. You still had the discipline. You simply stopped feeling rewarded by the effort. Solution Repair the Motivation Loop: Reconnect to purpose Reduce challenge temporarily Improve recovery Look for progress   Phase 3 Gap: Movement, Learning & Cognition Ask: Am I moving enough? Am I physically engaged? Am I learning new things? Is my brain being challenged? Signs This Is Your Gap Low energy Mental sluggishness Poor concentration Feeling mentally flat Example Someone spends 10 hours at a desk. Their motivation is fine. Their sleep is fine. But they're sedentary. Movement is the missing ingredient. Solution Move first. The research from Chuck Hillman and John Ratey suggests movement often improves: Attention Mood Learning Memory   Phase 4 Gap: Perception, Emotion & Social Intelligence Ask: Am I seeing this situation clearly? Am I understanding others? Do I feel connected? Signs This Is Your Gap Conflict Miscommunication Isolation Emotional reactivity Example A leader thinks: "Nobody supports my vision." But the real issue is communication. The gap isn't motivation. It's perception. Solution Improve: Listening Emotional awareness Perspective-taking Relationships   Phase 5 Gap: Integration, Insight & Meaning Ask: Does this align with who I want to become? Am I moving toward something meaningful? Do I have clarity? Signs This Is Your Gap Success without fulfillment Feeling lost Lack of direction Constantly chasing goals Example Someone has achieved everything they wanted professionally. But they still feel empty. The gap isn't performance. It's meaning. Solution Reconnect with: Values Purpose Identity Contribution to the World. The Most Powerful Question At the end of every week, ask: "Where is my gap?" Is it:

Discretionary effort is the gap between what people have to give and what they choose to give. Research consistently shows that most leaders are leaving 20–30% of their team's capacity on the table — not because of skill shortages, but because of environment.In this episode, we draw on six of the world's most influential thinkers on leadership and performance to give you a practical, layered framework for unlocking the effort your team already has inside them.The question isn't how to push people harder. It's how to create the conditions where they choose to give more.I've practised all of these myself, in low-functioning teams, and can personally attest to the spectacular rise that's possible when you are deliberate about applying them.The Six-Layer Discretionary Effort StackLayer/Thinker: The Question to Ask YourselfPositivity/Shawn Achor:Am I creating an environment where people feel good?Clear Direction/Greg McKeown: Do people know exactly what matters most?Strengths/Dan Sullivan: Is everyone working in their Unique Ability?Safety/Timothy R. Clark: Can people speak up without fear?Purpose/Simon Sinek: Do people know why their work matters?Right People/Jim Collins: Are the right people in the right seats?Ask Dex AI Coach for leadership strategy e.g. "My team are underperforming - how can I find out why?" https://app.coachvox.ai/share/DexRandallSubscribe for more leadership and burnout recovery insights →  https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7393784577229709312-----------------------------------  Resources:Leadership Performance without Burnout https://go.dexrandall.com/leadershipDex AI Coach https://app.coachvox.ai/share/dexrandallConfidential. Expert. Free. Your Leadership Performance Partner.For even more TIPS see FACEBOOK: @coachdexrandallINSTAGRAM: @coachdexrandallLINKEDIN: @coachdexrandallYOUTUBE: @dexburnoutcoachSee https://linktr.ee/coachdexrandall for all links

This week, Jen and Pete noodle on the idea that sometimes the simplest answer might really be the answer. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: What is Occam's Razor? How might we simplify our problem solving? What tactics can we utilize when we are stuck on something?   More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Summer is where routines go to die. Later nights. More travel. More “we'll get back on track Monday.” And then it's Labor Day… and you feel worse than you did in June. In this episode, I'm giving you a Summer Fundamentals Reset—a simple, no-drama way to stop drifting and get back to basics without turning your life into a giant self-improvement project. Because the truth is: when life gets loud (and summer gets loose), even high performers start handing themselves permission slips: Skip the workout. Stay up late. Drink more. Eat like a teenager. “I'll lock in later.” And later becomes never. So here's what we're doing instead: fundamentals. You'll learn: Why successful people quietly abandon the basics (and how it happens without you noticing) The one trap that's costing you momentum: comfort disguised as “skipping” Why your brain starts “shopping for novelty” when momentum stalls A simple framework you can steal today: The Summer Fundamentals Reset — Call It. Pick It. Protect It. A Summer Reset challenge to start in the next 24 hours (choose it → prove it → lock it in) This isn't about being perfect. It's about feeling clear, energized, and present again—so you can actually enjoy your summer. Don't use summer as an excuse. Use summer as your reset. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Grab your FREE, custom-designed PDFs (inspired by Start With Why by Simon Sinek) at idareyoupod.com: 5 “Why discovery” questions Daring Purpose Tool (Belief → Action → Results → One sentence) Start With Why Visual Synopsis (WHY / HOW / WHAT + trust + consistency) Connect with Darrin Johnson: www.idareyoupod.com Instagram: @idareyoupod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IDareYouPod TikTok: @idareyoupod

Special thanks to our partner, Lewis Howes.youtube.com/lewishowesSpeakers: Dr. George C FraserWalter BondYouTube: http://bit.ly/WalterBondMotivationWebsite: https://walterbond.com/Marcus TaylorYouTube: http://bit.ly/38FUFoSInstagram: http://bit.ly/3aLfu3PFacebook: http://bit.ly/2TB9uoiTwitter: https://twitter.com/unlockelevationWebsite: https://unlockelevation.com/Eric ThomasYouTube: http://bit.ly/2ua2os4Twitter: http://bit.ly/2XxzLnvInstagram: http://bit.ly/2Tpp5ICFacebook: http://bit.ly/2UiUp91http://etinspires.com/Coach PainYouTube: http://bit.ly/2LmRyeaInstagram: http://bit.ly/2XLcLW5Facebook: http://bit.ly/32tZdNiWebsite: http://bit.ly/2YTgWvqBook Coach Pain: http://bit.ly/2JMefFuJoin the Coach Pain Academy: http://bit.ly/2XNmUfTJoe Roganhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMkMatthew McCaugheyhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UChH3PVceKAMkFXHza0PlX_QDr. Jessica Houstonhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UClySMCzaIHuptsnzKSpq_KQNathan HarmonYouTube: http://bit.ly/2WGRbS7Jordan PetersonLes Brownhttps://lesbrown.com/ Simon Sinekhhttps://www.youtube.com/@SimonSinek https://simonsinek.com/Jasmine Starhttps://www.youtube.com/Jasminestar YouTube: ‪@officialjasminestar‬ Lewis Howeshttps://www.youtube.com/@lewishowesMusic: Secession Studios - Double RainbowsSecession Studios - Unbreakablehttps://www.secessionstudios.com/Really Slow Motion Buy their music:Amazon : http://amzn.to/1lTltY5iTunes: http://bit.ly/1ee3l8KSpotify: http://bit.ly/1r3lPvNBandcamp: http://bit.ly/1DqtZSo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Pete and Jen noodle on the activity of a subtraction audit...one more thing to add to their plate, that will hopefully free up more space. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: What is a subtraction audit? How might we help ourselves filter the things we say yes to? What are some tactics protect the free time in our calendar?   More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Send us Fan MailWhat does it actually take to lead in an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping every industry, every role, and every assumption about how work gets done? On this episode of Navigating the Customer Experience, Yanique Grant sits down with Jack Jendo, founder of BrainDigits, AI strategist, and author of Lead Forward, to explore what the future workplace really looks like and why leadership is the most important skill you can develop right now.Jack brings a perspective shaped by years of working across the Middle East, Europe, and Australia, building AI-powered programs for governments, corporations, and startups. His message is clear: AI is not just a tool. It is a mindset shift, and leaders who understand this will be the ones who define what comes next.WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODEJack shares the journey that took him from juggling three jobs during university to running agencies across multiple continents and founding BrainDigits. He talks about why he wrote Lead Forward, a book designed for three types of people he encounters every day: entrepreneurs who are just getting started, senior professionals who feel like their career is winding down when it does not have to be, and leaders in the middle who feel pressure but lack clarity.Jack also introduces a concept that reframes how leaders can use AI: the Digital Twin. Rather than using AI as a general assistant, Jack trains specialized AI versions of himself, one for brainstorming, one for financial strategy, one for business development. He has been building and refining these tools for years, and the result is a thinking partner that reflects his values, his frameworks, and his way of approaching problems.THE FUTURE WORKPLACE: AI FIRST OR AI ENABLED?Jack places AI in the same category as transformative inventions like the printing press and the internet. Each of those disrupted every industry it touched. AI is doing the same. But the change is not primarily about tools. It is about mindset and clarity.He describes two futures emerging for organizations. The first is a company that adopts AI aggressively without understanding what it is doing, relying on automation without the human judgment to direct it. That organization will struggle. The second is a company led by people who know exactly what they need, who operate with ownership and freedom, and who use AI to remove friction and accelerate execution. That is the organization every leader should be building toward.AI IS THE NEW LEADERSHIP SKILLJack and Yanique explore what it means to treat AI as a leadership skill rather than a software category. His view is that every task with a clear process can now be handled by AI. What cannot be automated is knowing what needs to be done, deciding the direction, and leading people through change.The leaders who will thrive are those who invest in training their AI tools the same way they would develop a trusted assistant. Not with generic prompts, but with context, values, goals, and frameworks. That investment is what turns a general tool into something genuinely useful.Jack shares that his two primary tools are ChatGPT, where he has trained a custom model called TwinJack over four years for brainstorming and strategic thinking, and Claude, which he has used for automation over the past year. He describes them as complementary, each with a distinct role, and both trained with the same foundation.KEY INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODEExperience compounds. Working across multiple roles and industries, especially early in a career, creates a foundation that multiplies future opportunity.Retirement is not an endpoint. Jack pushes back on the idea that experienced professionals should wind down. Their knowledge, relationships, and judgment are among the most valuable assets available to any organization.Scaling happens during crisis. When others pull back, Jack leans in. His approach is to build capacity, strengthen teams, and expand during periods of pressure because that is when the real growth happens.The guiding question Jack returns to during adversity is simple: remember why you started. It is not about nostalgia. It is about using original purpose as an anchor when clarity is hard to find.BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODELead Forward by Jack Jendo https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lead+forward+jack+jendoStart with Why by Simon Sinek https://www.amazon.com/s?k=start+with+why+simon+sinekRich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rich+dad+poor+dadThe Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason https://www.amazon.com/s?k=richest+man+in+babylonTOOLS MENTIONEDChatGPT (Custom GPT / TwinJack): https://chatgpt.com Claude (AI): https://claude.ai BrainDigits: https://braindigits.comCONNECT WITH JACK JENDOLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=jack+jendo Instagram: Search Jack JendoJack responds personally to every message.FOLLOW NAVIGATING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEX (Twitter): https://x.com/navigatingCX Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NavigatingtheCustomerExperience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaniquewagrantcx/ Website: https://yaniquegrant.com/podcasts/

Tiff and Nikki continue the topic of your practice's vision by discussing how to turn it into something your entire team believes in. They discuss believing in your own vision first, communicating it to your team, establishing consistency and repetition so everyone remembers it, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I'm so excited to be here with you guys today. You know I say that every single time because I truly love what we do. I love what Dental A Team stands for and I love the podcast. and set out a long time ago to really, really, really just provide so much amazing, incredible information for the dental world and beyond. We have listeners on here who are not a part of the dental world. We serve all kinds of business owners and ⁓ healthcare providers and all kinds of people. So it's just really cool. And I want you guys to know how special you are.   And today I have with me a super special guest, someone you guys have not heard from before. I get the amazing privilege of bringing Ms. Nikki Mack onto the stage with us here today in our little podcast universe. Nikki, welcome. How are you today?   Nikki Mack (00:31) Okay.   I'm so good, I'm so excited to finally get to be a part of it. I'm on the other side now, long time listener, first time participator. ⁓   The Dental A Team (00:53) Yeah.   I love that you have been a long time listener. So thank you for that. And for those of you who have not yet met Nikki, you probably were not at our in-person event in February, which means you should get your tail over there next time so that you can meet all of us in person. And very specifically, Miss Nikki Mack here. She has joined our team. She is new to Dental A Team is what we like to say, but she has been in consulting in the DSO world in the   you know, general practitioner role, the family practice role, like all over the place. She's been, she has so much experience. She's been all over the block. We'll call her Nikki from the block from now on. I've got your nickname, Nikki. Yeah, there you go. Carol come up with a new one. But Nikki's, Nikki has been with our team for a few months now. We are just so, so happy to have you, Nikki, a wealth of knowledge. Your clients are already seeing massive results. They are.   Nikki Mack (01:36) love it.   The Dental A Team (01:49) loving you and you connect so easily. So everyone just give Nikki a huge shout out and come meet her at our next in-person event in September here in Phoenix. So Nikki, welcome and gosh tell me I'll do an icebreaker for you for the world here. I know, I didn't prep you for this. Yep, unscripted, that happens. That's how my brain works. So let's talk   Nikki Mack (02:03) Yeah.   Ooh, okay, unscripted. Love it.   The Dental A Team (02:16) Let's talk dental, we won't get too crazy. Tell us your favorite position within the dental world. It doesn't have to be within the practice, it can be outside. What's your favorite position you've ever held?   Nikki Mack (02:28) that I've ever held. ⁓ This is probably gonna come as a surprise or not. ⁓ Marketing, like doing the like B2B marketing and stuff. ⁓ I just, I love being able to get out and connect with lots of practices and being able to represent my team. You know, when I go out like on behalf of a doctor, it's super exciting. Cause like I love the office I'm in. I love the team I work with and the doctor I work for and getting to be the person that   The Dental A Team (02:35) I'll ask them.   Nikki Mack (02:56) like shares our office with the world. ⁓ It's just, it's so fun. So, and you get to meet new people, yeah.   The Dental A Team (03:01) That's really cool.   Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like you thrive meeting new people so I could see that for sure. That's awesome. What kind of practice did you do B2B marketing for?   Nikki Mack (03:06) Hahaha.   So that was my time with ⁓ pediatrics and orthodontics. Yep, the most. So yeah, fun events and things like that.   The Dental A Team (03:16) Awesome. I figured. Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah,   yeah, we have a lot of pediatric practices and a few ortho actually. So I know the team will be picking your brain because marketing for pediatrics is a massive space to ⁓ unfold, we shall say. Awesome. Very cool.   Nikki Mack (03:33) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (03:36) Well, today, you guys, we really wanted to chat with you some about your vision and communicating your vision. So we walked you through quite a few times. And if you haven't heard them go back through and listen. If you haven't worked with your consultant yet to get your vision out, go call your consultant. We've worked through kind of how to get your vision, how to get there. And I think you guys might remember, I think it was Dana and I, or Christie and I, really chatting about how like your vision, your mission, your reason for being here isn't necessarily.   what is scripted on your wall that says bringing great smiles to our community. Like, yeah, we're bringing great smiles to our community, but what does that great smile mean? How are we actually impacting the people? And today we wanted to chat. I wanted to pick Nikki's brain here on how to communicate that across to your team. So your team actually believes it. And I think more than anything, Nikki, it's really how do dentists and how do you coach your doctors on   expressing their vision in a way that the team not only believes it, because I think there's a difference in like believing it, I can believe that that's your vision, like cool, yep, that's your vision. And me as a team member living it and breathing it, it's a massive difference. So believing it and standing behind it. And with your experience, the things that you've done and the coaching you do now,   How do you help doctors to really, practice owners to really take that vision and create it to be something that a team can move forward with?   Nikki Mack (05:07) Well, and I think a big part of it really stems from that leadership piece and having a team that values you and believes in you as a leader. And then the vision just supports that. But you kind of hit on it. You have to believe it too. If I'm the doctor or the practice owner and I'm unclear on my vision, how can I expect my team to understand it or follow it? Now you'll always have those employees that just value you and will lead wherever you go. Right. doc, we're going to be, I want it. But   The Dental A Team (05:35) Yeah.   Nikki Mack (05:36) Some need to know why we're going there. They'll do what you need, but why are we doing it? So my first step with a team or a doctor is usually what really is your vision? Not what you think your vision is. Let's talk about what is your vision and how do we use that to get ourselves where we want to be? How do we use that to support our goals?   The Dental A Team (05:56) I love that I actually are making me think of something that I heard the other day on is on a Mel Robbins was actually her book, the left them theory. So some of you guys may have heard this or read it. And she talks about, I'm going to botch the first name, but one of the Toyota brothers has the theory of five wise and ask it was forced like she is in context. I'm sure he is in context of when you're bothered by something or you have like a miscommunication or an upset in life, asking yourself like, why does this bother me but   As you're speaking, Nikki, I'm actually thinking it's so hard to dig to your root. why I think is for me, my quote unquote, why are my vision is it feels like it's my purpose. And I think we spend our entire lives seeking our purpose. And we're like, why am I, we've read the purpose driven, you know, books and all these things. And we're constantly looking for it, but realistically it's getting under the surface layers of your thoughts.   because there's so much wrapped around what you think it should be, how you think it should be perceived, how you think it should be ⁓ communicated to anyone. And so I wonder even like that five why theory is, you know, why do I want to change smiles in my community? Well, because, okay, why is that important to me? Well, because and really taking it so deep. I feel like when you feel that emotional tug, and then you speak from that emotion,   that's your why. And the people around you, I mean, I guess if they're the right people, right, if they're the wrong people on the right bus, they're probably not going to feel the emotional tug to it as well, you know, right alongside with you. But when you do finally get to that emotional tug why, I feel like people can't help but be like, yeah, let's do that. Like that sounds freaking amazing. And it might not be specifically my why, but I want to support you in it because I'm so excited.   by your excitement for what you're about to step into the world to do.   Nikki Mack (07:57) Yep, I think excitement is the key word there. You have to be excited about your why and your team has to as well. It's some of the doctors I still think about, you all these years later that I worked for, it's their why and how excited they were to fulfill that purpose, right? And we get to, you know, change the face of dentistry, right? All these people that hate going to the dentist and then they get to come to our office and now they have a different outlook. Like those whys that drive you.   they inspire your team. And that's that kind of key to leadership. You have to understand that piece and be super clear because that's what drives your team, I think, at their core too. Especially to your point, when it's the right people, you're aligned and you guys are just rowing that boat forward, right?   The Dental A Team (08:39) Yeah.   Yeah, and then allows   them the space your team to search for their own. So I know when Kiera got really clear on her why and the vision for this company, it was like, I can live that. And then I saw, this is how mine actually like follow suit or attaches to Kiera's and the company's why how I serve a purpose in this company based on what I want to do in the world.   how I want to show up and how I want to impact the world, I can see how my purpose is served within the company, why as well.   Nikki Mack (09:22) Exactly. Yep. And that I think too, when you're working at a team, because if you're a doctor or a practice owner and you're growing or you're just leveling up, it's challenging sometimes. And it's that drive and that why that helps keep both you and your team motivated to push towards that end result. That's why we see a patient through lunch. That's why we start a same day for someone who really needs it. It's why we do those things. And that makes it to where   the goal makes sense. It's not just spinning our wheels. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (09:52) Yeah.   Yeah,   and ⁓ working through lunch makes me think of, ⁓ you know, one, we've all done that, right, the freaking root canal that has to go through lunch every single time. But when you're attached to how we're here to serve and show up for our patients, working through lunch is a lot less daunting. I know there are some days that I'm like, heck yeah, let's do it. Let's go. Let's go. Let's help this person. And there are other days that I was like, ⁓ another lunch hour. Like, what the heck, but like, I still got lunch. I just took lunch after.   Nikki Mack (09:58) Hahaha   Ha   The Dental A Team (10:22) lunch or before lunch, like we still worked it out, but there were some days that it was like inspiring to help this person. And then there were other days that it was like, I kind of forgot our reason and our purpose. And it was more like it was being forced on me. And those were different seasons of practice and different seasons of, of life there within. But I agree. That's my point there. And I think once you have that, then you're literally, you're speaking it. And, and I think   Nikki Mack (10:45) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (10:51) Something that we often miss is the repetition that's needed in life for everything. needs to be repeated. We have to build systems. People, I think, think life can be so mundane and it's like routines suck. Like you shouldn't have like all of your life shouldn't be a routine. Like no, actually consistency is human nature. We want to be consistent. We want the routines. And when we're not repeating things, they get lost and they get forgotten.   Nikki Mack (10:57) Yes.   The Dental A Team (11:20) And I think Nikki, something I've noticed in coaching is that we'll key in on it. Doctors are like, heck yeah, let's do it. And then six months later, they're just in the mundane and they're like, I'm working through lunch again, this sucks. So how do you help your doctors and your teams to stay in their why in that vision?   Nikki Mack (11:41) Well, and it's funny you mentioned how you do get to that point where you're like, why are we doing this? You have to revisit it. So I think the same way that we talk about doctors and practice owners being clear with themselves before they hit the team, you also have to revisit it as a team. So one of the things I've suggested in my coaching before is like about quarterly or at least twice a year in our team meetings, we're readdressing that why and our mission, our values.   so that the team is clear. Because the day-to-day in a dental office is a whirlwind, right? And talk about routine and repetition. Sometimes it can be a grind, and that's a good thing, but you have to be able to circle back. And ⁓ what is that expression, slow down to speed up? We have to take a step back, and what is that vision? Why are we doing this? And is what we're doing aligning with our values, right? Working through lunch to help a patient, amazing. Love it, always wanna do it.   The Dental A Team (12:16) Yeah.   Yeah.   Nikki Mack (12:40) working through lunch just as a routine, because we're not scheduling well, that probably doesn't align with our vision and we need to kind of revisit it. So it's okay to evaluate our systems and our processes and how does this align with our vision and does it get us where we want to go? So I usually recommend absolutely quarterly is like my dream as your consultant, but at least a couple of times a year, how does this fit? Where are we at? Because you're going to have team change too, right? People are going to change positions. We might grow and get new team members.   And so we have to make sure that everybody's kind of on that same page and approaching it from the same place, I think is what keeps us ⁓ consistent and in that, you know, good mindset, that good position.   The Dental A Team (13:22) Yeah, and something you said sparked a thought. said, is this an alignment? like working through lunch to help somebody is an alignment. Working through lunch just because it's a routine, it may not be an alignment. And I think you keyed in on something really special there of really looking at what are we doing that is serving ROI and what are we doing that is pulling us away from ROI or just.   opposing our why because it's so easy in dentistry to get so like keyed in on just what's not working. So like let's just complain bucket and we're always working through lunch. Well, why does it suck? It sucks because it's not in alignment with what we said we wanted to do. That's why it sucks. If we said we are an office that works through lunch every single time, great.   we can be upset about it, but that we are in alignment with, this is what I'm choosing to do. But when that's not an alignment, that's where we get those upsets and that like rubbing raw situation. so Nikki, even like going through as often as you can, love the quarterly, love, I mean, do you guys want to talk about it every week? Please talk about it all the time. And Nikki is, yeah, it's like, bring those examples. What did we do this week? What did we do this quarter?   Nikki Mack (14:31) We're in.   The Dental A Team (14:41) that served our why, how did we help people? And when you start from there, you're inspired again. So we wanna talk about communicating your vision to your team so they believe it. Like what is your vision and how are we serving it? And how is that serving us as humans and serving our community I think is huge.   Nikki Mack (15:02) Yeah, 100%. It's how I think it establishes for you that baseline. You know, like we said, because we can always bring it back to our vision is what we're doing in alignment, is what we're doing supporting it, is what we're doing helping move it forward. And it's a way to not only grow, but hold ourselves accountable to, you know, the choices and decisions we're making, the systems we use, how do we reevaluate those and make sure that they make sense for the practice, the patients, you know, the team.   It's that mission, it's that values that we talk about that are gonna steer that ship, I think, yeah.   The Dental A Team (15:37) I think so too. And you keyed in again on like something massive is really how we choose to consult, how our company consults. Because what you just said is really looking at the systems, the protocols, the procedures, the things that we are doing every day, are they serving us and our mission and our vision and where we are going? And the reason Dental A Team doesn't pop into your team and into your practice with this massive cookbook that says A to Z, this is how you should do things.   is because you are an individual practice with an individual mission that's serving a different purpose than the guy down the street. And if we gave you and the guy down the street the same recipe book, it's not guaranteed to work. Are some things going to stick and some things going to work? Absolutely, 100 % hands down. Do we do the same systems and similar systems with each practice? 100 % hands down. But the autonomy in it is how does this system   serve you and what you said there Nikki is how are they how how are the systems and things that we're doing every day how are they pushing us forward it's exactly how we consult and you keying in on that is huge because your teams your practices Nikki are getting something really special from you because I know you lead with their why I've watched you do it I get to watch it on recap so I've watched your recap from your in-office visit you just had in Vegas it's   It just looked freaking incredible. And I know you know him as a human. You know his why. And everything that you did with that team served that and taught them to go back and see, OK, is this working to progress towards what our goals are for our vision and our practice goals, or is it detracting us?   Nikki Mack (17:27) Yeah, it's honestly, it's one of the things I love the best about being a part of Dental A Team is that we truly understand that every practice is different. And a lot of people say that because we know it, right? But I've worked in the dental sphere in a few different like worlds and specialties and, you know, like ownership profiles and everyone is so different. And that's not even counting demographics, right? You know, where we are, are we urban or we rural? Is it saturated? Is it not?   The Dental A Team (17:51) Yeah.   Nikki Mack (17:56) And I think that's why there's just no blanket answer that fixes things. And Dental A Team does such a good job of getting to that why. And why do you want to get to a place? And here's how I can help you get there that stays true to you and your practice and your identity. For me, that's kind of the most fun part is if we know where we're going, then perfect. I've got some tools to put in your toolbox and help get us there, but it's got to feel like you. I can't do it for you or tell you how to be perfect.   I'm here to help you get there and make it work. And I think that's why teams get on board. We're not asking them to just do a cookie cutter situation. The doctor's involved, the team's involved, and it feels like you. It feels authentic. It's something that you can present. Circling back to my marketing thing, right? It's something your team can be proud of and sharing that with the world, whether it's the patients in their chair or the oral surgeon down the street or whatever that looks like.   The Dental A Team (18:43) Yeah.   Nikki Mack (18:54) That's why it's so important. It truly shapes every decision that you make in your practice. And I love getting to kind of help that discovery and then finding out those next steps. That's so important and empowering. I love it.   The Dental A Team (19:09) Yeah, I completely agree. You circle back to the marketing and I, I love that kind of marketing too. I really do. I love the beat. I love marketing. You can listen to a couple podcasts ago. ⁓ I love the marketing, but this is why because to me, the marketing is that relationship build and that like speaking of the vision because when you believe in a practice, you believe in what we're doing. You want people   to know, you want to talk about it, you want to invite them to the practice, you want to invite them to invite their friends and family members to the practice and leave great reviews and you want to do all of these things and when you think about it, if you're bought into it, you're like, yes, I want to serve this mission too in this vision, you're showing up different every day because now I'm showing up as the person, okay, wait, back up, like I said when we first started, right?   I said, know, I told you, before we got on here, told you, Kiera, prior to knowing me in person, personally, she stalked me on Facebook and she saw, wow, she's super fun. She's always on Facebook Live. She's doing Beachbody coaching. And I did, and I loved it. I loved it because I loved the energy and I loved the people. And obviously it like forced me to work out. Kiera thought she was hiring this like,   heck yeah, let's go cheerleader who is just 100 % on all the time. But what she didn't realize is I'm secretly like, not even secretly, I'm a very, I'm a Taurus through and through, like I'm the bull sleeping in the pasture as often as I can. So I'm super efficient so that I can have a ton of time to just do nothing if I want to do nothing. So what happens is here, right, I become Tiffanie that's podcasting.   I become Tiffanie who's showing up as your consultant. I become Tiffanie who's on stage. Just like we all show up a little bit differently in the space of life that we're living in. And it's putting on a show, but not with that negative connotation that that sounds like. Like, no, I'm here because I want to change lives. But when it's just, know, Tiff on the couch, like I am a much calmer, chiller person, not as much energy as being exerted. And it makes me   It makes me think of this because even at the dental practice when I was in office, when I showed up as a check-in, I was the check-in person and I was the first person you saw. I was like, hey, how's it going? Let's chat about your kids. Let's do this. Let's do that. And it invigorated me. It gave me energy in life to be able to do those things because I believed in what we were doing. And the moments that that vision got lost, that we weren't talking about it, or that life got stressful, the practice was stressful, the bills were stressful, the   ⁓ refinancings were they were stressful. Those are the times that I didn't know how to show up like that life was hard. I was getting depressed and I was like, what the heck and it all ties back to that significance piece of having a purpose and when I know the why of the of the person that I'm dedicating my life work to, it gives me a sense of purpose, if that makes sense.   Nikki Mack (22:19) Nope, total sense, because it helps you show up. We talk a lot in dental about being on stage, right? You know, kind of turning that game face on, but it's so true because we are dealing with all kinds of things behind the scenes, right? Like you said, it could be crazy schedules, a clearing house, you know, gets hacked and nobody can get paid for months. And there's always some chaos, but the patients don't know that. And each patient that comes in, this is their first interaction with you.   The Dental A Team (22:25) Yes.   Mm.   Nikki Mack (22:46) And sometimes it can be so hard as a team member to just keep turning it on and showing up at 100. And it sounds crazy. I know someone is listening to this, like, I know she's not about to say what she's about to say, but I am because in those tough moments, knowing why you're doing it, it's like a power reserve. And it's how you're able to kind of like take that deep breath. Okay.   And we turn our game face on and we go back to it, know, my God, Mrs. Smith, we haven't seen you in so long. We're so excited you're here. How was your vacation? It's whatever that looks like as showing up as a team member. That's where that well comes from. That's that reserve. And it sounds crazy, but we've seen it. And successful practices, their doctors are clear about their vision and their team has bought in and they support it. It's their vision too, right?   It means a lot. It's a lot of people overlook it. I do think it's one of those like, I'll get to it. But first I have to get, you know, this implant scheduling down, but it's just as important as those pieces. Cause it's going to help your practice run successfully, even through the rough times, the tougher times. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (23:47) Yeah. Yeah.   I totally agree. I love it. Thank you. So I think this is titled how to communicate your why or your vision to your team. And I think Nikki, the how is one figure out what your vision is, what is what is the reason that you're here, and then just do it and do it frequently. Don't be afraid, especially when you dig into that like more personal emotional why. Even if even if this popped in my head.   I have so many doctors that they're like, well, my why is like to provide generational wealth for my family. Cool. Why? Dig one more past that because the the providing for people who you're not sure can provide for themselves. That is inspiring. Right. So a team might not get on board with like, I want to create a life where my kids never have to work. Like, okay, no, that's weird. But why?   So really attached to that personal. I wanted to say that because I do have a lot of doctors that are like, I'm trying to create generational wealth as you should. I think that's phenomenal. Let's go a little bit deeper and figure out why is that important to you? Maybe you didn't grow up with parents who seem to care. Maybe you had to work really hard and you your team's going to get behind those pieces. So dig one further. Do that five why. What's one deeper and then communicate with your team. It's incredibly vulnerable.   Nikki Mack (25:05) Great.   The Dental A Team (25:24) And it can be very scary, especially when you're like, I wanna create healthy smiles in the neighborhood, in the community. Like going from that to like, I wanna help save people from poverty, drastic, very vulnerable. But Nikki, I think just do it, right? Just Nike, just do it.   Nikki Mack (25:36) Right.   Yeah, just do it.   And honestly, I would challenge doctors and practice owners to find out your team's why. Why are they showing up for you every day, right? It may not be exactly the same as yours, but I guarantee you it aligns, right? And it feeds into it. And that might help even shape your why as well. Like everyone's is gonna contribute to that greater cause basically. Yeah, just do it.   The Dental A Team (25:53) Yeah.   Yeah.   I agree. Simon Sinek   says just do it. Simon Sinek says to ask the ask your best friend or best friends. So like the three people closest to you. Why do they? Why do they have you in their life? And when they say something like, well, I don't know, like, you're fine. Like, no, but like, why me dig deeper? Do that five why thing again? Like, okay, but like, why me? And eventually, it's going to turn from   what you do for them. You always answer the phone when I need you. Like it's gonna turn to you make me feel like I'm important. You make me feel. So it's gonna turn from the things that you do for people, you continue digging, to that friend is gonna say, you know what, I don't know. It's just when I'm around you, I'm really happy and inspired and I want to do more in life. And he says that helps key you in on what you bring to the world.   so that you can see what your purpose is. So I think if you do that similar thing, Nikki, with the team, like why do you choose to work here, right? And get them to dig to that deeper space, it does start to bubble up and you start to see the impact that you're already making on the world and does that align? Does that feel good? Does that feel like inspiring to you? Because that's probably your why and your vision.   Nikki Mack (27:26) Yeah, I love that. That's so great. Even in a personal life, I agree. I'm gonna take that home.   The Dental A Team (27:32) Simon Sinek, I tell you that guy, he's got some good stuff, always. Awesome. Well, Nikki, this was super fun. Thank you so much for being here. First podcast down the hatch, you did it. We're here. Good, good, you did awesome. Thank you. And listeners, you know this is her first, go leave her a five star review.   Nikki Mack (27:35) Always a gem, always a gem. Yeah.   It was so fun. Check. Yeah. Loved it. It was a good time.   The Dental A Team (27:55) But really, let us know what you think. Let us know how this went for you. ⁓ Action items, go dig for your vision, go dig for your why. Ask your team, I love that. Ask your team why they choose to work with you. Ask your friends why they're your friend. And then communicate often. You guys, if you're just communicating this, do it every week for the first quarter and then move on to the next quarter. And if you feel like, gosh, we lost it in between, do it more frequently. This is something that you just need to talk about all the time.   Go do the things. Nikki, thank you so much. ⁓ And podcast listeners, you know, go leave us a five-star review. Let us know how you are going to apply these things to your life. And then reach out to us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, for any and everything. We're here to help. Thank you, and we'll catch you next time. Bye.

This week, Pete and Jen are celebrating four hundred weeks of podcasting (with no breaks!). To honor the occasion, they answer questions that were sent in by you, the listeners. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: How have Pete and Jen sustained their momentum of recording, over four hundred episodes? What episodes are in The Long and The Short Of It's cutting room floor? What episode might Pete and Jen want to revisit, with new information or context? What three leaders from their industry might Pete and Jen want to invite for dinner? Should we spend less time training leaders, so there is more time to train followers? What is a favorite lesson or transformation that Pete and Jen have had, over these years of podcasting? More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Executive Summary In this first half of a two-part conversation, Gary Pinkerton sits down with Todd Langford, founder of TruthConcepts Financial Calculators, for a long-overdue and wide-ranging discussion about what it really means to tell the truth in financial planning. Todd has spent decades building the calculator tools that advisors like Gary and Kim Butler use to verify the math behind the concepts they teach. This episode is not about running numbers with clients. It is about making sure that the numbers you believe to be true actually are. Gary and Todd explore why financial professionals so often repeat ideas that sound right but do not hold up under scrutiny, and why checking your premise is one of the most important habits an advisor can develop. They discuss the dangers of industry shorthand, the discomfort of discovering you have been wrong, and the confidence that comes from knowing your math has been tested from every angle. The conversation weaves through mindset, language, and the deeper philosophy of what it means to pursue truth for the sake of the clients who depend on you. The episode also takes a broader look at conventional retirement thinking, the psychology of goals, and the power of precise language, from reframing 'I don't have time' to 'I choose not to prioritize' to understanding that the word 'retire' literally means 'to take out of service.' Part two will continue exploring the truth-based principles that Todd covers in his forthcoming book, Conscious Calculations.   Links & Resources Mentioned Financial Software And Training For Financial Advisors https://www.linkedin.com/in/truthconceptssoftware/     Keywords Todd Langford, TruthConcepts, financial calculators, truth-based financial planning, check your premise, Conscious Calculations, whole life insurance math, financial advisor tools, retirement myths, take yourself out of service, Gap and Gain, Dan Sullivan, Infinite Game, Simon Sinek, financial education, wealth building, financial freedom, cash flow, certainty in finance, Gary's Gulch podcast Episode Highlights [00:00:00 - 00:03:05] Gary opens the episode and introduces two-part series with Todd Langford. [00:03:06 - 00:05:30] Gary describes Todd's work with TruthConcepts and how calculators build advisor confidence. [00:05:31 - 00:07:56] Todd's upcoming book Conscious Calculations and the mission to challenge conventional financial thinking. [00:08:20 - 00:10:25] How whole life insurance and liquid savings fit into truth-based financial planning. [00:10:25 - 00:13:23] Todd on industry slang, running over clients, and the habit of checking your premises. [00:13:24 - 00:16:22] The discomfort of stretching and why learning comes from mistakes, not easy wins. [00:16:23 - 00:18:52] Dan Sullivan's Gap and Gain: why it's not whether you get in the gap, but how you find your way out. [00:18:53 - 00:20:19] Goals as a limiting force and the danger of playing a finite game. [00:19:55 - 00:22:16] Why 'retirement' may be one of the most damaging words in personal finance. [00:22:17 - 00:25:08] Leave of absence vs. retirement: maintaining relevance, income, and mental engagement. [00:25:09 - 00:27:13] How language shapes decisions: 'I choose not to prioritize' vs. 'I don't have time.' [00:27:14 - 00:30:10] Todd on the limits of math as a lab construct and Gary wraps part one.  

You're doing “pretty well”… so why do you still feel restless? In this solo episode, I go straight at the quiet ceiling that keeps high performers from becoming who they know they're capable of being—not more famous, not more followers… bigger in your leadership, health, relationships, impact, and purpose. I break down two traps that shrink your thinking without you noticing: The Doable Trap (I start using my past as the benchmark for what's possible) The “At least I'm not…” game (downward comparison that makes me feel better while I stay small) Then I give you a simple, practical framework to break through the ceiling: The Bigger Flywheel: Reference Point → Resolve → Risk This one will challenge you, encourage you, and push you to choose the stretch—because comfort is a liar, and “ready” isn't coming. In this episode, I cover: Why I can't outperform the size of my aspirations (and neither can you) How my “reference points” shape my identity—and my results What I do when I feel bored, stuck, or under-challenged The one “high-fail” move I believe you should keep in your life at all times A 24-hour I Dare You Challenge to take action today (not “someday”) If you thought of someone while listening, send them this episode with one line: “I thought of you when I heard this.” Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, as discussed in E218, grab your FREE, custom-designed PDFs (inspired by Start With Why by Simon Sinek) at idareyoupod.com: 5 “Why discovery” questions Daring Purpose Tool (Belief → Action → Results → One sentence) Start With Why Visual Synopsis (WHY / HOW / WHAT + trust + consistency) Connect with Darrin Johnson: www.idareyoupod.com Instagram: @idareyoupod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IDareYouPod TikTok: @idareyoupod

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Dave's been throwing parties. Three in four days. Confirmation sponsor for a friend's son, family and friends over the next night, and then — because the universe has a sense of humor — some local gentleman decided to remodel Dave's brick mailbox. With his truck. At speed. Bricks were found over a hundred feet away. The guy left his license plate behind, which Dave is now holding like a man who accidentally picked up evidence and doesn't know what to do with it. The driver's fine. Well — he's in jail. But he's alive. Dave wants him to know that God's mercy is always ready and present, even for the man who turned a brand-new brick mailbox into gravel.Meanwhile, Adam got a new plum tree. Planted a maple. He's getting oaks for the pig pen so they'll drop acorns someday. One of his chickens died in a water barrel trap that nobody designed on purpose — the lid flipped, the chicken couldn't get out. Farm life. And then the real news: baby Mary is doing better. Haylee got to hold her. Adam held her for over three hours — only his second time since she was born in February. Three months of NICU, and the man finally got to just sit with his daughter. Praise God. Keep those prayers coming.Also — Adam's turning 40 on June 2nd. And Lady Pamela is due with their next baby on June 4th. They floated the idea of recording an episode in the delivery room. Pamela has not been consulted.This week we're sipping 13th Colony Distilleries Southern Rye Whiskey, French Oak Finish, Small Batch — 47.5% ABV. Platinum award-winning. Silky texture with hints of rye, apricot, and brown sugar. The rye's there but it doesn't overpower — still has a lot of bourbon elements to it. About forty bucks. That's a great buy.Then the conversation turns to something Adam's son Jude sparked. Jude — Adam's second oldest — just finished reading the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, straight through. Now he's reading the Council of Trent Catechism. He's a kid. Nobody told him to do this. He just had good books lying around the house and picked them up. That's the whole point.The virtue of study — studiositas — isn't what school taught us it was. It's not cramming. It's not memorizing facts to dump after the test. Aquinas calls it a habit of the mind ordered towards truth. Classical education at its best doesn't fill your head — it forms the way you think. The more you read rightly, the more you can arrive at correct conclusions through a sound process, not just recall. Study leads to contemplation. Contemplation is rest in truth. And it's not about finishing the book. If you're reading to check the box, you've already lost the plot. Sit with it. Let yourself be carried. The intellectual life doesn't compete with the family — it serves the family.From there, Adam and Dave go back and forth on the books that actually formed them. Adam leads with Joseph Pieper's In Tune with the World — a short, devastating argument for why festivity dies when we strip the divine out of celebration. Dave counters with The Soul of the Apostolate — the book that reordered his understanding of what has to come first before any ministry means anything. Adam brings John Senior's The Restoration of Christian Culture — hard opinions, harder truths, and a quote worth sitting with: the virtue of study requires a canon, a body of great works proven across time. Without tradition to guide what's worth studying, you're just chasing novelty.Dave goes deep on Fr. Timothy Gallagher's The Discernment of Spirits — a practical walkthrough of St. Ignatius's rules that shed light on the stages of the spiritual life and how the enemy shifts tactics as you grow. Adam responds with Raymond Arroyo's biography of Mother Angelica — a story of suffering, faithfulness, and a woman who said yes without knowing where it would lead. Dave makes a case for the Psalms — Psalm 51, the De Profundis in Latin, and the realization that there's a psalm for every moment of a man's life, and he'd been skimming past them for years.Adam goes deep cut: Fr. Paul Murray's Aquinas at Prayer — a book that reoriented his understanding of St. Thomas from pure intellect to contemplative soul. Dave brings Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina — hundreds of pages of our Lord's words on mercy that are sometimes scandalously generous. Adam throws in Simon Sinek's Start with Why as the non-Catholic book that changed how he thought about business, marriage, and fatherhood. Both men land on fiction that haunts them — Adam with Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, Dave with Candice Millard's Hero of the Empire on young Churchill. They touch on Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Gone with the Wind, the bishop chapters of Les Misérables, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, and close with John Senior's Thousand Good Books — the canon itself, the list that connects it all.They end where they always end: with Plato. They're halfway through the Republic in their great books group. David sits on the dumb couch. He knows he sits on the dumb couch. He's fine with it.Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDDave's brick mailbox obliterated by a truck — bricks found 100 feet away, driver in jail, license plate left behindThree parties in four days at Porter Prairie: confirmation, family gathering, and involuntary demolitionDave building a grain cradle for his scythe for the upcoming grain harvestAdam's new plum tree, maple tree, and oak trees planned for the pig penThe chicken that died in a water barrel trap nobody designed on purposeBaby Mary update — doing better, Adam held her for three hours, Haylee held her tooAdam turning 40 on June 2nd and Lady Pamela due June 4thBourbon of the week: 13th Colony Distilleries Southern Rye Whiskey, French Oak Finish, 47.5% ABVJude Minihan reading the entire Bible and now the Council of Trent Catechism — and nobody told him toWhy having good books lying around the house matters more than assigned readingThe virtue of studiositas — Aquinas on study as a habit of the mind ordered towards truthStudy isn't cramming — it's forming the way we think, not filling our headsWhy finishing the book isn't the point — sit with it, let yourself be carriedThe intellectual life doesn't compete with family — it serves the familyJoseph Pieper's In Tune with the World — why festivity dies without the divineThe Soul of the Apostolate — what has to come first before any ministry mattersJohn Senior's The Restoration of Christian Culture — hard opinions and the necessity of a canonFr. Timothy Gallagher's The Discernment of Spirits — St. Ignatius's rules made practicalRaymond Arroyo's biography of Mother Angelica — suffering, faithfulness, and saying yesThe Psalms as treasure — Psalm 51, the De Profundis in Latin, and why Dave had been skimming past themFr. Paul Murray's Aquinas at Prayer — reorienting Aquinas from intellect to contemplativeSt. Faustina's Divine Mercy in My Soul — mercy so generous it's almost scandalousSimon Sinek's Start with Why — a non-Catholic book that changed everythingSigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter — fiction that haunts you because it doesn't read like fictionCandice Millard's Hero of the Empire — young Churchill before the cigar and the brandyPatrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team — why hard conversations are acts of charityGone with the Wind — Rhett Butler as a man whose virtues take a lifetime to findThe bishop chapters of Les Misérables — Hugo's best character, written by a man who wasn't even a fan of the ChurchNeil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death — prophetic in 1985, terrifying nowJohn Senior's Thousand Good Books — the canon that connects all the great worksThe Count of Monte Cristo as a commentary on Dante's InfernoPlato's dialogues — the Republic, Euthyphro, the Symposium, and why you need a great books groupAdam sits on the dumb couch at great books night and he's fine with itREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks & Writings:In Tune with the World: A Theory on Festivity by Joseph PieperLeisure, the Basis of Culture by Joseph Pieper (mentioned)The Intellectual Life by A.G. SertillangesThe Soul of the Apostolate (Dave's pick)The Restoration of Christian Culture by John SeniorThe Death of Christian Culture by John Senior (mentioned)The Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Timothy Gallagher (based on St. Ignatius's rules)Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network by Raymond ArroyoAquinas at Prayer by Fr. Paul Murray, O.P.Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Maria FaustinaStart with Why by Simon SinekKristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid UndsetAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick LencioniGone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellHero of the Empire: The Boer War, a...

Get AudioBooks for Free Best Self-improvement Motivation You're Playing the Wrong Game: Simon Sinek Discover Simon Sinek's powerful insights on purpose, leadership, and long-term thinking. Learn why changing your mindset can change your entire life! ⁠We Need Your Love & Support ❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get 3 Audiobooks Free -

In this episode of the Growth Now Movement, I sit down with differentiation expert, branding strategist, and bestselling author Mark Levy for a fascinating conversation about what truly makes ideas spread. Mark has worked with some of the biggest brands and thought leaders in the world, including Google, Adobe, Amazon, and American Express. But one of the most incredible stories he shares in this episode is how he helped an unknown Simon Sinek articulate the idea that would eventually become Start With Why and the now-famous Golden Circle framework. We dive deep into what makes an idea memorable, how to communicate your message more effectively, and why so many people struggle to articulate the brilliance that's already inside of them. Mark explains how his background pitching more than 25,000 books as a sales director taught him how attention works, how curiosity works, and why emotion always beats logic when it comes to influence and connection. He shares practical tools for entrepreneurs, speakers, coaches, creators, and business owners who feel like they have a "half-formed" idea but don't know how to clearly express it. One of my favorite parts of this conversation is when Mark breaks down his concept of the "vision deliverable" and how directing feedback properly can completely change the way people respond to your ideas. We also talk about the power of free writing from his book Accidental Genius, how to bypass your internal editor, and why creativity often shows up when you stop trying so hard to force it. We also explore why "illogical" branding can create unforgettable companies, including the fascinating story behind Red Bull and how they built a category-defining brand by doing the unexpected. This episode is packed with insights on branding, messaging, creativity, thought leadership, marketing psychology, communication, and personal growth. If you've ever struggled to explain what you do, communicate your vision, or stand out in a crowded marketplace, this conversation will absolutely shift the way you think. In This Episode, You Will Learn: How Mark Levy helped Simon Sinek develop "Start With Why" Why differentiation is the key to standing out in business How to articulate ideas that feel unfinished or unclear The power of free writing to unlock creativity and clarity Why emotion and experience matter more than information How Red Bull built one of the most memorable brands in the world Why useful feedback requires intentional direction How to overcome your internal editor and self-doubt What makes certain speakers, brands, and ideas unforgettable Mark's definition of success and the daily habits that fuel his creativity

Almost four hundred episodes later, Jen and Pete throw it back, in a way, to Episode 1, asking: How do I start? Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: Why can starting something become scary or overwhelming? What are many different tools and frameworks through which to experiment with starting? How are endings and beginnings related? More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Get AudioBooks for Free Best Self-improvement Motivation The Secret of Great Leaders: Simon Sinek Discover Simon Sinek's powerful leadership insights on trust, purpose, and influence. Learn what truly makes great leaders stand out from the rest! ⁠We Need Your Love & Support ❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get 3 Audiobooks Free -

Recording artist and Broadway sensation Kelsie Watts joins The I Dare You Podcast for a candid conversation about what it really takes to build a career that lasts—onstage and online. Kelsie is making waves again with new original music, including her latest release “Made for Your Love,” and has become a viral singing phenomenon with 250M+ views and 3.5M+ followers across TikTok and Instagram. In this episode, she takes us behind the curtain on her journey from Lubbock, Texas (singing in church and studying music) to Belmont University in Nashville, to grinding through the “unseen years” that most people never hear about. We talk about: Why “overnight success” is a myth The creative story behind “Made for Your Love” and Kelsie's Whitney Houston inspiration How understanding the business of music matters as much as talent The Broadway reality: Kelsie's run as Queen Jane Seymour in SIX! The Musical (including her iHeartRadio Music Award nomination for Favorite Broadway Debut) and what it's like to step into high-pressure roles live The message behind her acclaimed single “Fit In”—and why comparison is “the thief of joy” The power of authenticity, preparation, and staying coachable after hearing “no” Plus, Kelsie shares her simple “I Dare You” challenge—one small act that can change someone's day. Follow Kelsie: @kelsiewatts (TikTok) | @kelsiewattsmusic (Instagram) Listen to her music everywhere you stream. Remember, as discussed in E218, grab your FREE, custom-designed PDFs (inspired by Start With Why by Simon Sinek) at idareyoupod.com: 5 “Why discovery” questions Daring Purpose Tool (Belief → Action → Results → One sentence) Start With Why Visual Synopsis (WHY / HOW / WHAT + trust + consistency)

Phil and David welcome their first-ever twins to "Naked Lunch," The Sklar Brothers who they consider the First Twins of Comedy. Though Phil and the Brothers didn't know each other before this conversation, they immediately all felt like family. Double your fun with a fast-paced episode about this unique comedy act and how it all came together. All this plus great stories involving Jerry Seinfeld, Robert Townsend, past "Naked Lunch" guests Andy Kindler and Simon Sinek, PLUS the two man show they're doing about possibly being switched shortly after their birth and witnessing Katy Perry & Nicki Minaj fighting backstage at a "Divas" show for the troops. For more on Jason & Randy's tour dates, podcasts and more from The Sklar Brothers, go to https://www.supersklars.com. To learn more about building community through food and "Somebody Feed the People," visit the Philanthropy page at ⁠⁠philrosenthalworld.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In anticipation of Episode 400 of The Long and The Short Of It, Jen and Pete are asking for questions from you, our listeners, to answer in an Ask Us Anything episode. Do you have a question that you'd like Jen and Pete to ponder, to noodle on, to think out loud about on Episode 400? Head on over to thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/400, and submit your question. To hear all episodes and read full transcripts, visit The Long and The Short Of It website: https://thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/. You can subscribe to our Box O' Goodies here (https://thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/) and receive a weekly email full of book and podcast recommendations, quotes, videos, and other interesting things that Jen and Pete are noodling on.  To get in touch, send an email to: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.com. Learn more about Pete's work here (https://humanperiscope.com/) and Jen's work here (https://jenwaldman.com/). More from us in your inbox. Subscribe to Box O' Goodies. A weekly email with the books, podcasts, quotes, and other noodles Jen and Pete are mulling over.Listen to all episodes and read full transcripts at thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.Reach us: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.comPete's work: humanperiscope.com · Jen's work: jenwaldman.com

Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Check out the full episode: https://greatness.lnk.to/1478DM Simon Sinek, a thought leader in leadership and personal development, guides you on the path to cultivating humility and steering clear of entitlement. He delves into the importance of embracing a mindset that fosters growth, gratitude, and a strong sense of purpose. Through real-life examples and powerful insights, you'll learn the significance of humility in achieving success and happiness. Join us as we uncover the keys to a fulfilling and grounded life. Sign up for the Greatness newsletter: http://www.greatness.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're sharing something special that was previously only for the breaker community on our Substack page: a chat Jonathan and I did with our special Substack community about what happens when we stop defining ourselves by what we do and start looking at who we actually are.  We explore the profound connection between our unique souls, our internal states, and our physical health. Building on our recent conversation with Simon Sinek (world-renowned author of Start with Why and The Infinite Game), we discuss how to find your purpose by reconnecting to your “soul traits”—those inherent qualities you've carried since childhood. Mayim breaks down the neurophysiology of optimism, explaining how the state of our nervous system acts as the ultimate gatekeeper for our capacity to heal. In a world that often feels increasingly cynical and designed to polarize, maintaining a state of openness is a biological necessity. Jonathan explores how to find our unique purpose, highlighting how we often box ourselves into perceived limits that leave us feeling constrained and disconnected from our potential. To get more on rewriting these narratives, check out the recent Live with Mayim on Jonathan's Practical Spirituality page. Drawing on the wisdom of Michael Singer (The Untethered Soul), we also discuss the importance of “not fighting the universe”—dropping the internal resistance to what is happening so we can trigger biological responses that facilitate healing, even on a global scale. “Optimism is believing that even in a dark tunnel, there's light at the end.” It is about holding space for the belief that peace and reconciliation are possible, regardless of current suffering. This Live also covers: - The “Junk Room” Metaphor: How to identify the mental clutter and limiting stories that keep you feeling disconnected from your true potential. - Biology vs. Belief: How to clear the “energetic residue” of stress to allow your body to move from survival mode into recovery. - Finding Beauty in the Mundane: The power in finding the awe and wonder hidden in your daily routine. Follow us on Substack for Exclusive Bonus Content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bialikbreakdown.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BialikBreakdown.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/mayimbialik⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're sharing something special that was previously only for the breaker community on our Substack page: a chat Jonathan and I did with our special Substack community about what happens when we stop defining ourselves by what we do and start looking at who we actually are.  We explore the profound connection between our unique souls, our internal states, and our physical health. Building on our recent conversation with Simon Sinek (world-renowned author of Start with Why and The Infinite Game), we discuss how to find your purpose by reconnecting to your “soul traits”—those inherent qualities you've carried since childhood. Mayim breaks down the neurophysiology of optimism, explaining how the state of our nervous system acts as the ultimate gatekeeper for our capacity to heal. In a world that often feels increasingly cynical and designed to polarize, maintaining a state of openness is a biological necessity. Jonathan explores how to find our unique purpose, highlighting how we often box ourselves into perceived limits that leave us feeling constrained and disconnected from our potential. To get more on rewriting these narratives, check out the recent Live with Mayim on Jonathan's Practical Spirituality page. Drawing on the wisdom of Michael Singer (The Untethered Soul), we also discuss the importance of “not fighting the universe”—dropping the internal resistance to what is happening so we can trigger biological responses that facilitate healing, even on a global scale. “Optimism is believing that even in a dark tunnel, there's light at the end.” It is about holding space for the belief that peace and reconciliation are possible, regardless of current suffering. This Live also covers: - The “Junk Room” Metaphor: How to identify the mental clutter and limiting stories that keep you feeling disconnected from your true potential. - Biology vs. Belief: How to clear the “energetic residue” of stress to allow your body to move from survival mode into recovery. - Finding Beauty in the Mundane: The power in finding the awe and wonder hidden in your daily routine. Follow us on Substack for Exclusive Bonus Content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bialikbreakdown.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BialikBreakdown.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/mayimbialik⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices