Podcasts about special olympians

What if the toughest moments in your life were preparing you to lead better, serve deeper, and live with more purpose? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with Greg Hess, known to many as Coach Hess, for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, resilience, trust, and what it really means to help others grow. Greg shares lessons shaped by a lifetime of coaching athletes, leading business teams, surviving pancreatic cancer, and building companies rooted in service and inclusion. We talk about why humor matters, how trust is built in real life, and why great leaders stop focusing on control and start focusing on growth. Along the way, Greg reflects on teamwork, diversity, vision, and the mindset shifts that turn adversity into opportunity. I believe you will find this conversation practical, honest, and deeply encouraging. Highlights: 00:10 – Hear how Greg Hess's early life and love of sports shaped his leadership values. 04:04 – Learn why humor and laughter are essential tools for reducing stress and building connection. 11:59 – Discover how chasing the right learning curve redirected Greg's career path. 18:27 – Understand how a pancreatic cancer diagnosis reshaped Greg's purpose and priorities. 31:32 – Hear how reframing adversity builds lasting resilience. 56:22 – Learn the mindset shift leaders need to grow people and strengthen teams. About the Guest: Amazon Best-Selling Author | Award-Winning Business Coach | Voted Best Coach in Katy, TX Greg Hess—widely known as Coach Hess—is a celebrated mentor, author, and leader whose journey from athletic excellence to business mastery spans decades and continents. A graduate of the University of Calgary (1978), he captained the basketball team, earned All-Conference honors, and later competed against legends like John Stockton and Dennis Rodman. His coaching career began in the high school ranks and evolved to the collegiate level, where he led programs with distinction and managed high-profile events like Magic Johnson's basketball camps. During this time, he also earned his MBA from California Lutheran University in just 18 months. Transitioning from sports to business in the early '90s, Coach Hess embarked on a solo bicycle tour from Jasper, Alberta to Thousand Oaks, California—symbolizing a personal and professional reinvention. He went on to lead teams and divisions across multiple industries, ultimately becoming Chief Advisor for Cloud Services at Halliburton. Despite his corporate success, he was always “Coach” at heart—known for inspiring teams, shaping strategy, and unlocking human potential. In 2015, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer became a pivotal moment. Surviving and recovering from the disease renewed his commitment to purpose. He left the corporate world to build the Coach Hess brand—dedicated to transforming lives through coaching. Today, Coach Hess is recognized as a Best Coach in Katy, TX and an Amazon Best-Selling Author, known for helping entrepreneurs, professionals, and teams achieve breakthrough results. Coach Hess is the author of: Peak Experiences Breaking the Business Code Achieving Peak Performance: The Entrepreneur's Journey He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife Karen and continues to empower clients across the globe through one-on-one coaching, strategic planning workshops, and his Empower Your Team program. Ways to connect with Greg**:** Email:  coach@coachhess.comWebsite: www.CoachHess.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachhess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachHessSuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachhess_official/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! 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Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:21 Well, hi everyone. I am Michael Hinkson. Your host for unstoppable mindset. And today we get to enter, well, I won't say interview, because it's really more of a conversation. We get to have a conversation with Greg. Hess better known as coach Hess and we'll have to learn more about that, but he has accomplished a lot in the world over the past 70 or so years. He's a best selling author. He's a business coach. He's done a number of things. He's managed magic Johnson's basketball camps, and, my gosh, I don't know what all, but he does, and he's going to tell us. So Coach, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad that we have a chance to be with you today. Greg Hess  02:07 I'm honored to be here. Michael, thank you very much, and it's just a pleasure to be a part of your program and the unstoppable mindset. Thank you for having me. Michael Hingson  02:17 Well, we're glad you're here and looking forward to having a lot of fun. Why don't we start? I love to start with tell us about kind of the early Greg growing up and all that stuff. Greg Hess  02:30 Oh boy, yeah, I was awfully fortunate, I think, to have a couple of parents that were paying attention to me, I guess. You know, as I grew up, at the same time they were growing up my my father was a Marine returned from the Korean War, and I was born shortly after that, and he worked for Westinghouse Electric as a nuclear engineer. We lived in Southern California for a while, but I was pretty much raised in Idaho, small town called Pocatello, Idaho, and Idaho State Universities there and I, I found a love for sports. I was, you know, again, I was very fortunate to be able to be kind of coordinated and do well with baseball, football, basketball, of course, with the sports that we tend to do. But yeah, I had a lot of fun doing that and growing up, you know, under a, you know, the son of a Marine is kind of like being the son of a Marine. I guess, in a way, there was certain ways you had to function and, you know, and morals and values that you carried forward and pride and doing good work that I learned through, through my youth. And so, you know, right, being raised in Idaho was a real great experience. How so well, a very open space. I mean, in those days, you know, we see kids today and kids being brought up. I think one of the things that often is missing, that was not missing for me as a youth, is that we would get together as a group in the neighborhood, and we'd figure out the rules of the game. We'd figure out whatever we were playing, whether it was basketball or, you know, kick the can or you name it, but we would organize ourselves and have a great time doing that as a community in our neighborhood, and as kids, we learn to be leaders and kind of organize ourselves. Today, that is not the case. And so I think so many kids are built into, you know, the parents are helicopter, and all the kids to all the events and non stop going, going, going. And I think we're losing that leadership potential of just organizing and planning a little bit which I was fortunate to have that experience, and I think it had a big influence on how I grew up and built built into the leader that I believe I am today. Michael Hingson  04:52 I had a conversation with someone earlier today on another podcast episode, and one of the observations. Sense that he made is that we don't laugh at ourselves today. We don't have humor today. Everything is taken so seriously we don't laugh, and the result of that is that we become very stressed out. Greg Hess  05:15 Yeah, well, if you can't laugh at yourself, you know, but as far as I know, you've got a large background in your sales world and so on. But I found that in working with people, to to get them to be clients or to be a part of my world, is that if they can laugh with me, or I can laugh with them, or we can get them laughing, there's a high tendency of conversion and them wanting to work with you. There's just something about relationships and be able to laugh with people. I think that draw us closer in a different way, and I agree it's missing. How do we make that happen more often? Tell more jokes or what? Michael Hingson  05:51 Well, one of the things that he suggests, and he's a coach, a business coach, also he he tells people, turn off the TV, unplug your phone, go read a book. And he said, especially, go buy a joke book. Just find some ways to make yourself laugh. And he spends a lot of time talking to people about humor and laughter. And the whole idea is to deal with getting rid of stress, and if you can laugh, you're going to be a whole lot less stressful. Greg Hess  06:23 There's something that you just feel so good after a good laugh, you know, I mean, guy, I feel that way sometimes after a good cry. You know, when I'm I tend to, you know, like Bambi comes on, and I know what happens to that little fawn, or whatever, the mother and I can't, you know, but cry during the credits. What's up with that? Michael Hingson  06:45 Well, and my wife was a teacher. My late wife was a teacher for 10 years, and she read Old Yeller. And eventually it got to the point where she had to have somebody else read the part of the book where, where yeller gets killed. Oh, yeah. Remember that book? Well, I do too. I like it was a great it's a great book and a great movie. Well, you know, talk about humor, and I think it's really important that we laugh at ourselves, too. And you mentioned Westinghouse, I have a Westinghouse story, so I'll tell it. I sold a lot of products to Westinghouse, and one day I was getting ready to travel back there, the first time I went back to meet the folks in Pittsburgh, and I had also received an order, and they said this order has to be here. It's got to get it's urgent, so we did all the right things. And I even went out to the loading dock the day before I left for Westinghouse, because that was the day it was supposed to ship. And I even touched the boxes, and the shipping guy said, these are them. They're labeled. They're ready to go. So I left the next morning, went to Westinghouse, and the following day, I met the people who I had worked with over the years, and I had even told them I saw the I saw the pack, the packages on the dock, and when they didn't come in, and I was on an airplane, so I didn't Know this. They called and they spoke to somebody else at at the company, and they said the boxes aren't here, and they're supposed to be here, and and she's in, the lady said, I'll check on it. And they said, Well, Mike said he saw him on the dock, and she burst out laughing because she knew. And they said, What are you laughing at? And he said, he saw him on the dock. You know, he's blind, don't you? And so when I got there, when I got there, they had and it wasn't fun, but, well, not totally, because what happened was that the President decided to intercept the boxes and send it to somebody else who he thought was more important, more important than Westinghouse. I have a problem with that. But anyway, so they shipped out, and they got there the day I arrived, so they had arrived a day late. Well, that was okay, but of course, they lectured me, you didn't see him on the dock. I said, No, no, no, you don't understand, and this is what you have to think about. Yeah, I didn't tell you I was blind. Why should I the definition of to see in the dictionary is to perceive you don't have to use your eyes to see things. You know, that's the problem with you. Light dependent people. You got to see everything with your eyes. Well, I don't have to, and they were on the dock, and anyway, we had a lot of fun with it, but I have, but you got to have humor, and we've got to not take things so seriously. I agree with what we talked about earlier, with with this other guest. It's it really is important to to not take life so seriously that you can't have some fun. And I agree that. There are serious times, but still, you got to have fun. Greg Hess  10:02 Yeah, no kidding. Well, I've got a short story for you. Maybe it fits in with that. That one of the things I did when I I'll give a little background on this. I, I was a basketball coach and school teacher for 14 years, and had an opportunity to take over an assistant coach job at California Lutheran University. And I was able to choose whatever I wanted to in terms of doing graduate work. And so I said, you know, and I'd always been a bike rider. So I decided to ride my bike from up from Jasper, Alberta, all the way down to 1000 Oaks California on a solo bike ride, which was going to be a big event, but I wanted to think about what I really wanted to do. And, you know, I loved riding, and I thought was a good time to do that tour, so I did it. And so I'm riding down the coast, and once I got into California, there's a bunch of big redwoods there and so on, yeah, and I had, I set up my camp. You know, every night I camped out. I was totally solo. I didn't have any support, and so I put up my tent and everything. And here a guy came in, big, tall guy, a German guy, and he had ski poles sticking out of the back of his backpack, you know, he set up camp, and we're talking that evening. And I had, you know, sitting around the fire. I said, Look, his name was Axel. I said, Hey, Axel, what's up with the ski poles? And he says, Well, I was up in Alaska and, you know, and I was climbing around in glaciers or whatever, and when I started to ride here, they're pretty light. I just take them with me. And I'm thinking, that's crazy. I mean, you're thinking every ounce, every ounce matters when you're riding those long distances. Anyway, the story goes on. Next morning, I get on my bike, and I head down the road, and, you know, I go for a day, I don't see sea axle or anything, but the next morning, I'm can't stop at a place around Modesto California, something, whether a cafe, and I'm sitting in the cafe, and there's, probably, it's a place where a lot of cyclists hang out. So there was, like, 20 or 30 cycles leaning against the building, and I showed up with, you know, kind of a bit of an anomaly. I'd ridden a long time, probably 1500 miles or so at that point in 15 days, and these people were all kind of talking to me and so on. Well, then all sudden, I look up why I'm eating breakfast, and here goes the ski poles down the road. And I went, Oh my gosh, that's got to be him. So I jump up out of my chair, and I run out, and I yell, hey Axel. Hey Axel, loud as I could. And he stops and starts coming back. And then I look back at the cafe, and all these people have their faces up on the windows, kind of looking like, oh, what's going to happen? And they thought that I was saying, mistakenly, Hey, asshole, oh gosh, Michael Hingson  12:46 well, hopefully you straighten that out somehow. Immediately. Greg Hess  12:50 We had a great time and a nice breakfast and moved on. But what an experience. Yeah, sometimes we cross up on our communications. People don't quite get what's going on, they're taking things too seriously, maybe, huh? Michael Hingson  13:03 Oh, yeah, we always, sometimes hear what we want to hear. Well, so what did you get your college degree in? Greg Hess  13:10 Originally? My first Yeah, well, I'd love the question my first degree. I had a bachelor of education for years, but then I went on, and then I had my choice here of graduate work, right? And, you know, I looked at education, I thought, gosh, you know, if I answered committee on every test, I'll probably pass. I said, I need something more than this. So I in the bike ride, what I what I came to a conclusion was that the command line being DOS command line was the way we were computing. Yeah, that time in the 90s, we were moving into something we call graphical user interface, of course, now it's the way we live in so many ways. And I thought, you know, that's the curve. I'm going to chase that. And so I did an MBA in business process re engineering at Cal Lu, and knocked that off in 18 months, where I had a lot of great experiences learning, you know, being an assistant coach, and got to do some of magic Johnson's camps for him while I was there, California. Lutheran University's campus is where the Cowboys used to do their training camp, right? So they had very nice facilities, and so putting on camps like that and stuff were a good thing. And fairly close to the LA scene, of course, 1000 Oaks, right? You know that area? Michael Hingson  14:25 Oh, I do, yeah, I do. I do pretty well, yeah. So, so you, you, you're always involved in doing coaching. That was just one of the things. When you started to get involved in sports, in addition to playing them, you found that coaching was a useful thing for you to do. Absolutely. Greg Hess  14:45 I loved it. I loved the game. I love to see people grow. And yeah, it was just a thrill to be a part of it. I got published a few times, and some of the things that I did within it, but it was mostly. Right, being able to change a community. Let me share this with you. When I went to West Lake Village High School, this was a very, very wealthy area, I had, like Frankie avalon's kid in my class and stuff. And, you know, I'm riding bike every day, so these kids are driving up in Mercedes and BMW parking lot. And as I looked around the school and saw and we build a basketball and I needed to build more pride, I think in the in the community, I felt was important part of me as the head coach, they kind of think that the head coach of their basketball program, I think, is more important than the mayor. I never could figure that one out, but that was where I was Michael Hingson  15:37 spend some time in North Carolina, around Raleigh, Durham, you'll understand, Greg Hess  15:41 yeah, yeah, I get that. So Kentucky, yeah, yeah, yeah, big basketball places, yeah. So what I concluded, and I'd worked before in building, working with Special Olympics, and I thought, You know what we can do with this school, is we can have a special olympics tournament, because I got to know the people in LA County that were running, especially in Ventura County, and we brought them together, and we ran a tournament, and we had a tournament of, I don't know, maybe 24 teams in total. It was a big deal, and it was really great to get the community together, because part of my program was that I kind of expected everybody, you know, pretty strong expectation, so to say, of 20 hours of community service. If you're in our basketball program, you got to have some way, whether it's with your church or whatever, I want to recognize that you're you're out there doing something for the community. And of course, I set this Special Olympics event up so that everybody had the opportunity to do that. And what a change it made on the community. What a change it made on the school. Yeah, it was great for the Special Olympians, and then they had a blast. But it was the kids that now were part of our program, the athletes that had special skills, so to say, in their world, all of a sudden realized that the world was a different place, and it made a big difference in the community. People supported us in a different way. I was just really proud to have that as kind of a feather in my calf for being there and recognizing that and doing it was great. Michael Hingson  17:08 So cool. And now, where are you now? I'm in West Houston. That's right, you're in Houston now. So yeah, Katie, Texas area. Yeah, you've moved around well, so you, you started coaching. And how long did you? Did you do that? Greg Hess  17:30 Well, I coached for 14 years in basketball, right? And then I went into business after I graduated my MBA, and I chased the learning curve. Michael, of that learning curve I talked about a few minutes ago. You know, it was the graphical user interface and the compute and how all that was going to affect us going forward. And I continued to chase that learning curve, and had all kinds of roles and positions in the process, and they paid me a little more money as I went along. It was great. Ended up being the chief advisor for cloud services at Halliburton. Yeah, so I was an upstream guy, if you know that, I mean seismic data, and where we're storing seismic data now, the transition was going, I'm not putting that in the cloud. You kidding me? That proprietary data? Of course, today we know how we exist, but in those days, we had to, you know, build little separate silos to carry the data and deliver it accordingly for the geophysicists and people to make the decision on the drill bit. So we did really well at that in that role. Or I did really well and the team that I had just what did fantastic. You know, I was real proud I just got when I was having my 70th birthday party, I invited one of the individuals on that team, guy named Will Rivera. And will ended up going to Google after he'd worked us in there. I talked him into, or kind of convinced him so to say, or pushed him, however you do that in coaching. Coached him into getting an MBA, and then he's gone on and he tells me, You better be sitting down, coach. When he talked to him a couple days ago, I just got my PhD from George Washington University in AI technology, and I just turned inside out with happiness. It was so thrilling to hear that you know somebody you'd worked with. But while I was at Halliburton, I got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Michael, and so that's what changed me into where I am today, as a transition and transformation. Michael Hingson  19:21 Well, how did that happen? Because I know usually people say pancreatic cancer is pretty undetectable. How did it happen that you were fortunate enough to get it diagnosed? It obviously, what might have been a somewhat early age or early early Greg Hess  19:35 time, kind of a miracle, I guess. You know. I mean, I was traveling to my niece's high school graduation in Helena, Montana. And when we were returning back to Houston, we flew through Denver, and I was suffering from some very serious a fib. Was going up 200 beats a minute, and, you know, down to 100 and it was, it was all. Over the place. And I got the plane. I wasn't feeling well, of course, and they put me on a gurney. And next thing you know, I'm on the way the hospital. And, you know, they were getting ready for an embolotic, nimbalism potential, those type of things. And, and I went to the hospital, they're testing everything out, getting, you know, saying, Well, before we put your put the shock paddles on your on your heart to get back, we better do a CAT scan. And so they CAT scan me, and came back from the CAT scan and said, Well, you know what, there's no blood clot issues, but this mass in your pancreas is a concern. And so that was the discovery of that. And 14 days from that point, I had had surgery. And you know, there was no guarantees even at that point, even though we, you know, we knew we were early that, you know, I had to get things in order. And I was told to put things in order, a little bit going into it. But miracles upon miracles, they got it all. I came away with a drainage situation where they drained my pancreas for almost six months. It was a terrible pancreatic fluids, not good stuff. It really eats up your skin, and it was bad news. But here I am, you know, and when I came away from that, a lot of people thought I was going to die because I heard pancreatic cancer, and I got messages from people that were absolutely powerful in the difference I'd made in their life by being a coach and a mentor and helping them along in their life, and I realized that the big guy upstairs saved me for a reason, and I made my put my stake in the ground, and said, You know what? I'm going to do this the best I can, and that's what I've been doing for the last eight years. Michael Hingson  21:32 So what caused the afib? Greg Hess  21:35 Yeah, not sure. Okay, so when they came, I became the clipboard kid a little bit, you know. Because what the assumption was is that as soon as I came out of surgery, and they took this tumor out of me, because I was in a fib, throughout all of surgery, AFib went away. And they're thinking now, the stress of a tumor could be based on the, you know, it's a stress disease, or so on the a fib, there could be high correlation. And so they started looking into that, and I think they still are. But you know, if you got a fib, maybe we should look for tumors somewhere else is the potential they were thinking. And, yeah, that, Michael Hingson  22:14 but removing the tumor, when you tumor was removed, the AFib went away. Yeah, wow, Greg Hess  22:22 yeah, disappeared. Wow, yeah. Michael Hingson  22:26 I had someone who came on the podcast some time ago, and he had a an interesting story. He was at a bar one night. Everything was fine, and suddenly he had this incredible pain down in his his testicles. Actually went to the hospital to discover that he had very serious prostate cancer, and had no clue that that was even in the system until the pain and and so. But even so, they got it early enough that, or was in such a place where they got it and he's fine. Greg Hess  23:07 Wow, whoa. Well, stuff they do with medicine these days, the heart and everything else. I mean, it's just fantastic. I I recently got a new hip put in, and it's been like a new lease on life for me. Michael, I am, I'm golfing like I did 10 years ago, and I'm, you know, able to ride my bike and not limp around, you know, and with just pain every time I stepped and it's just so fantastic. I'm so grateful for that technology and what they can do with that. Michael Hingson  23:36 Well, I went through heart valve replacement earlier this year, and I had had a physical 20 years ago or or more, and they, they said, as part of it, we did an EKG or an echo cardiogram. And he said, You got a slightly leaky heart valve. It may never amount to anything, but it might well. It finally did, apparently. And so we went in and they, they orthoscopically went in and they replaced the valve. So it was really cool. It took an hour, and we were all done, no open heart surgery or anything, which was great. And, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I feel a whole lot better Greg Hess  24:13 that you do does a lot. Yeah, it's fantastic. Well, making that commitment to coaching was a big deal for me, but, you know, it, it's brought me more joy and happiness. And, you know, I just, I'll share with you in terms of the why situation for me. When I came away from that, I started thinking about, why am I, kind of, you know, a lot of what's behind what you're what you're doing, and what brings you joy? And I went back to when I was eight years old. I remember dribbling the ball down the basketball court, making a fake, threw a pass over to one of my buddies. They scored the layup, and we won the game. That moment, at that time, passing and being a part of sharing with someone else, and growing as a group, and kind of feeling a joy, is what I continued to probably for. To all my life. You know, you think about success, and it's how much money you make and how much this and whatever else we were in certain points of our life. I look back on all this and go, you know, when I had real happiness, and what mattered to me is when I was bringing joy to others by giving assist in whatever. And so I'm at home now, and it's a shame I didn't understand that at 60 until I was 62 years old, but I'm very focused, and I know that's what brings me joy, so that's what I like to do, and that's what I do. Michael Hingson  25:30 I know for me, I have the honor and the joy of being a speaker and traveling to so many places and speaking and so on. And one of the things that I tell people, and I'm sure they don't believe it until they experience it for themselves, is this isn't about me. I'm not in it for me. I am in it to help you to do what I can to make your event better. When I travel somewhere to speak, I'm a guest, and my job is to make your life as easy as possible and not complicated. And I'm I know that there are a lot of people who don't necessarily buy that, until it actually happens. And I go there and and it all goes very successfully, but people, you know today, were so cynical about so many things, it's just hard to convince people. Greg Hess  26:18 Yeah, yeah. Well, I know you're speaking over 100 times a year these days. I think that's that's a lot of work, a lot of getting around Michael Hingson  26:27 it's fun to speak, so I enjoy it. Well, how did you get involved in doing things like managing the Magic Johnson camps? Greg Hess  26:37 Well, because I was doing my MBA and I was part of the basketball program at Cal Lu, you know, working under Mike Dunlap. It just he needed a little bit of organization on how to do the business management side of it. And I got involved with that. I had a lunch with magic, and then it was, well, gee, why don't you help us coordinate all our camps or all our station work? And so I was fortunate enough to be able to do that for him. I'll just share a couple things from that that I remember really well. One of the things that magic just kind of, I don't know, patted me on the back, like I'm a superstar in a way. And you remember that from a guy like magic, I put everybody's name on the side of their shoe when they register. Have 100 kids in the camp, but everybody's name is on the right side of their shoe. And magic saw that, and he realized being a leader, that he is, that he could use his name and working, you know, their name by looking there, how powerful that was for him to be more connected in which he wants to be. That's the kind of guy he was. So that was one thing, just the idea of name. Now, obviously, as a teacher, I've always kind of done the name thing, and I know that's important, but, you know, I second thing that's really cool with the magic camp is that the idea of camaraderie and kind of tradition and bringing things together every morning we'd be sitting in the gym, magic could do a little story, you know, kind of tell everybody something that would inspire him, you know, from his past and so on. But each group had their own sound off. Michael, so if he pointed at your group, it would be like, or whatever it was. Each group had a different type of sound, and every once in a while we'd use it and point it kind of be a motivator. And I never really put two and two together until the last day of the camp on Friday. Magic says, When I point to your group, make your sound. And so he starts pointing to all the different groups. And it turns out to be Michigan State Spartans fight song to the tee. Figured that out. It was just fantastic. It gives me chills just telling you about it now, remembering how powerful was when everybody kind of came together. Now, you being a speaker, I'm sure you felt those things when you bring everybody together, and it all hits hard, but that was, that was one I remember. Michael Hingson  28:50 Well, wow, that's pretty funny, cute, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, he has always been a leader, and it's very clear that he was, and I remember the days it was Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird. Greg Hess  29:10 Yeah, yeah. Well, when he came to LA you know, they had Kareem and Byron Scott, a whole bunch of senior players, and he came in as a 19 year old rookie, and by the end of that year, he was leading that team. Yeah, he was the guy driving the ship all the time, and he loved to give those assists. He was a great guy for that. Michael Hingson  29:30 And that's really the issue, is that as a as a real leader, it wasn't all about him at all. It was about how he could enhance the team. And I've always felt that way. And I you know, when I hire people, I always told them, I figure you convince me that you can do the job that I hired you to do. I'm not going to be your boss and boss you around. What I want to do is to work with you and figure out how the talents that I have can complement the talents that you have so that we can. Enhance and make you more successful than you otherwise would be. Some people got it, and unfortunately, all too many people didn't, and they ended up not being nearly as successful. But the people who got it and who I had the joy to work with and really enhance what they did, and obviously they helped me as well, but we they were more successful, and that was what was really important. Greg Hess  30:24 Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. It's not about controlling, about growing. I mean, people grow, grow, grow, and, you know, helping them certainly. There's a reason. There's no I in team, right? And we've heard that in many times before. It's all about the group, group, pulling together. And what a lot of fun to have working in all throughout my life, in pulling teams together and seeing that happen. You know, one plus one equals three. I guess we call it synergy, that type of thinking, Michael Hingson  30:56 Yeah, well, you've faced a lot of adversity. Is, is the pancreatic cancer, maybe the answer to this, but what? What's a situation where you've really faced a lot of adversity and how it changed your life? You know you had to overcome major adversity, and you know what you learned from it? Greg Hess  31:16 Sure, I think being 100% honest and transparent. I'd say I went through a divorce in my life, and I think that was the most difficult thing I've gone through, you know, times where I'm talking to myself and being crazy and thinking stupid things and whatever. And I think the adversity that you learn and the resilience that you learn as you go, hey, I can move forward. I can go forward. And when you you see the light on the other side, and you start to create what's what's new and different for you, and be able to kind of leave the pain, but keep the happiness that connects from behind and go forward. I think that was a big part of that. But having resilience and transforming from whatever the event might be, obviously, pancreatic cancer, I talked about a transformation there. Anytime we kind of change things that I think the unstoppable mindset is really, you know what's within this program is about understanding that opportunities come from challenges. When we've got problems, we can turn them into opportunities. And so the adversity and the resilience that I think I'd like to try to learn and build and be a part of and helping people is taking what you see as a problem and changing your mindset into making it an opportunity. Michael Hingson  32:40 Yeah, yeah. Well, you've obviously had things that guided you. You had a good sense of vision and so on. And I talked a lot about, don't let your sight get in the way of your vision. But how's a good sense of vision guided you when necessarily the path wasn't totally obvious to you, have you had situations like that? Absolutely. Greg Hess  33:03 And I think the whole whole I write about it in my book in peak experiences, about having vision in terms of your future self, your future, think where you're going, visualize how that's going to happen. Certainly, as a basketball player, I would play the whole game before the game ever happened by visualizing it and getting it in my mind as to how it was going to happen. I do that with golf today. I'll look at every hole and I'll visualize what that vision is that I want to have in terms of getting it done. Now, when I have a vision where things kind of don't match up and I have to change that on the fly. Well, that's okay, you know that that's just part of life. And I think having resilience, because things don't always go your way, that's for sure. But the mindset you have around what happens when they don't go your way, you know, is big. My as a coach, as a business coach today, every one of my clients write a three, three month or 90 day plan every quarter that gets down to what their personal goal is, their must have goal. And then another kind of which is all about getting vision in place to start putting in actual tactical strategies to make all of that happen for the 90 day period. And that's a big part, I think, of kind of establishing the vision in you got to look in front of us what's going to happen, and we can control it if we have a good feel of it, you know, for ourselves, and get the lives and fulfillment we want out of life. I think, yeah, Michael Hingson  34:39 you've clearly been pretty resilient in a lot of ways, and you continue to exhibit it. What kinds of practices and processes have you developed that help you keep resilience personally and professionally? Greg Hess  34:54 I think one of them for sure is that I've I've lived a life where I've spent you. I'm going to say five out of seven days where I will do a serious type of workout. And right now bike riding. I'll ride several days a week, and, you know, get in 10 to 15 miles, not a lot, but, I mean, I've done but keeping the physical, physical being in the time, just to come down the time to think about what you're doing, and at the same time, for me, it's having a physical activity while I'm doing that, but it's a wind down time. I also do meditation. Every morning. I spend 15 minutes more or less doing affirmations associated to meditation, and that's really helped me get focused in my day. Basically, I look at my calendar and I have a little talk with every one of the things that are on my calendar about how I'm setting my day, you know? And that's my affirmation time. But yeah, those time things, I think report having habits that keep you resilient, and I think physical health has been important for me, and it's really helped me in a lot of ways at the same time, bringing my mind to, I think, accepting, in a transition of learning a little bit accepting the platinum rule, rather than the golden rule, I got to do unto others as they'd like to be treated by me. I don't need to treat people like they'd like to like I'd like to be treated. I need to treat them how they'd like to be treated by me, because they're not me, and I've had to learn that over time, better and better as I've got older. And how important that is? Michael Hingson  36:33 Well, yeah, undoubtedly, undoubtedly so. And I think that we, we don't put enough effort into thinking about, how does the other person really want to be treated? We again, it gets back, maybe in to a degree, in to our discussion about humor earlier we are we're so much into what is it all about for me, and we don't look at the other person, and the excuse is, well, they're not looking out for me. Why should I look out for them? Greg Hess  37:07 You know, one of the biggest breakthroughs I've had is working with a couple that own a business and Insurance Agency, and the they were doing okay when I started, when they've done much better. And you know, it's besides the story. The big part of the story is how they adjusted and adapted, and that she I think you're probably familiar with disc and I think most people that will be listening on the podcast are but D is a high D, dominant kind of person that likes to win and probably doesn't have a lot of time for the other people's feelings. Let's just put it that way to somebody that's a very high seed is very interested in the technology and everything else. And the two of them were having some challenges, you know, and and once we got the understanding of each other through looking at their disc profiles, all of a sudden things cleared up, a whole, whole bunch. And since then, they've just been a pinnacle of growth between the two of them. And it was just as simple as getting an understanding of going, you know, I got to look at it through your eyes, rather than my eyes. When it comes to being a leader in this company and how sure I'm still going to be demanding, still I'm going to be the I'm not going to apologize about it, but what I got him to do is carry a Q tip in his pocket, and so every time she got on him, kind of in the Bossy way. He just took out, pulled out the Q tip, and I said, that stands for quit taking it personal. Don't you love it? Michael Hingson  38:29 Yeah, well, and it's so important that we learn to communicate better. And I'm sure that had a lot to do with what happened with them. They started communicating better, yeah, yeah. Do you ever watch Do you ever watch a TV show on the Food Network channel? I haven't watched it for a while. Restaurant impossible. Greg Hess  38:51 Oh, restaurant impossible. Yeah, I think is that guy? Michael Hingson  38:55 No, that's not guy. It's my Michael. I'm blanking out Greg Hess  39:00 whatever. He goes in and fixes up a restaurant. Michael Hingson  39:03 He fixes up restaurants, yeah, and there was one show where that exact sort of thing was going on that people were not communicating, and some of the people relatives were about to leave, and so on. And he got them to really talk and be honest with each other, and it just cleared the whole thing up. Greg Hess  39:25 Yeah, yeah. It's amazing how that works. Michael Hingson  39:28 He's He's just so good at at analyzing situations like that. And I think that's one of the things that mostly we don't learn to do individually, much less collectively, is we don't work at being very introspective. So we don't analyze what we do and why what we do works or doesn't work, or how we could improve it. We don't take the time every day to do that, which is so unfortunate. Greg Hess  39:54 Oh boy, yeah, that continuous improvement Kaizen, all of that type of world. Critical to getting better, you know. And again, that comes back, I think, a little bit to mindset and saying, Hey, I'm gonna but also systems. I mean, I've always got systems in place that go, let's go back and look at that, and how, what can we do better? And if you keep doing it every time, you know, in a certain period, things get a lot better, and you have very fine tuning, and that's how you get distinguished businesses. I think, yeah, Michael Hingson  40:27 yeah, it's all about it's all about working together. So go ahead, I Greg Hess  40:31 was working with a guy at Disney, or guy had been at Disney, and he was talking about how they do touch point analysis for every every place that a customer could possibly touch anything in whatever happens in their environment, and how they analyze that on a, I think it was a monthly, or even at least a quarterly basis, where they go through the whole park and do an analysis on that. How can we make it better? Michael Hingson  40:55 Yeah, and I'm sure a lot of that goes back to Walt having a great influence. I wonder if they're doing as much of that as they used to. Greg Hess  41:04 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, yeah, because it's getting pretty big and times change. Hopefully, culture Go ahead. I was gonna say a cultural perspective. I just thought of something I'd share with you that when I went into West Lake Village High School as a basketball coach, I walked into the gym and there was a lot of very tall I mean, it's a very competitive team and a competitive school, 611, six, nine kids, you know, that are only 16 years old. And I looked around and I realized that I'm kid from Canada here, you know, I gotta figure out how to make this all work in a quick, fast, in a hurry way. And I thought these kids were a little more interested in looking good than rather being good. And I think I'd been around enough basketball to see that and know that. And so I just developed a whole philosophy called psycho D right on the spot almost, which meant that we were going to build a culture around trying to hold teams under a common goal of 50 points, common goal, goal for successful teams. And so we had this. I started to lay that out as this is the way this program is going to work, guys and son of a gun, if we didn't send five of those guys onto division one full rides. And I don't think they would have got that if they you know, every college coach loves a kid who can play defense. Yeah, that's what we prided ourselves in. And, of course, the band got into it, the cheerleaders got into it, the whole thing. Of course, they bring in that special olympics thing, and that's part of that whole culture. Guess what? I mean, we exploded for the really powerful culture of of a good thing going on. I think you got to find that rallying point for all companies and groups that you work with. Don't you to kind of have that strong culture? Obviously, you have a very huge culture around your your world. Michael Hingson  42:54 Well, try and it's all about again, enhancing other people, and I want to do what I can do, but it's all about enhancing and helping others as well. Yeah. How about trust? I mean, that's very important in leadership. I'm sure you would, you would agree with that, whereas trust been a major part of things that you do, and what's an example of a place where trust really made all the difference in leadership and in endeavor that you were involved with? Greg Hess  43:29 Yeah, so often, clients that I've had probably don't have the they don't have the same knowledge and background in certain areas of you know, we all have to help each other and growing and having them to trust in terms of knowing their numbers and sharing with me what their previous six month P and L, or year to date, P and L, that kind of thing, so that I can take that profit and loss and build out a pro forma and build where we're going with the business. There's an element of trust that you have to have to give somebody all your numbers like that, and I'm asking for it on my first coaching session. And so how do I get that trust that quickly? I'm not sure exactly. It seems to work well for me. One of the things that I focus on in understanding people when I first meet and start to work with them is that by asking a simple question, I'll ask them something like, how was your weekend? And by their response, I can get a good bit of an idea whether I need to get to get them to trust me before they like me, or whether they get to get them to like me before they trust me. And if the response is, had a great weekend without any social response at all connected to it, then I know that I've got to get those people to trust me, and so I've got to present myself in a way that's very much under trust, where another the response might be. Had a great weekend, went out golfing with my buddies. Soon as I hear with the now I know I need to get that person to like. Me before they trust me. And so that's a skill set that I've developed, I think, and just recognizing who I'm trying and building trust. But it's critical. And once, once you trust somebody, and you'd show and they, you don't give them reason to not trust you, you know, you show up on time, you do all the right things. It gets pretty strong. Yeah, it doesn't take but, you know, five or six positive, that's what the guy said he's going to do. He's done it, and he's on top of it to start trusting people. I think, Well, Michael Hingson  45:31 I think that that trust is all around us. And, you know, we we keep hearing about people don't trust each other, and there's no trust anymore in the world. I think there's a lot of trust in the world. The issue isn't really a lack of trust totally. It's more we're not open to trust because we think everyone is out to get us. And unfortunately, there are all too many ways and times that that's been proven that people haven't earned our trust, and maybe we trusted someone, and we got burned for it, and so we we shut down, which we shouldn't do, but, but the reality is that trust is all around us. I mean, we trust that the internet is going to keep this conversation going for a while. I shouldn't say that, because now we're going to disappear, right? But, but, trust is really all around us, and one of the things that I tell people regularly is, look, I want to trust and I want people to trust me. If I find that I am giving my trust to someone and they don't reciprocate or they take advantage of it. That tells me something, and I won't deal with that person anymore, but I'm not going to give up on the idea of trust, because trust is so important, and I think most people really want to trust and I think that they do want to have trusting relationships. Greg Hess  47:02 Yeah, totally agree with you on that, you know. And when it's one of those things, when you know you have it, you don't have to talk about it, you just have it, you know, it's there, right? Michael Hingson  47:16 Yeah, and then, well, it's, it's like, I talk about, well, in the book that I wrote last year, live, it was published last year, live like a guide dog. Guide Dogs do love unconditionally, I'm absolutely certain about that, but they don't trust unconditionally. But the difference between them and us, unless there's something that is just completely traumatized them, which isn't usually the case, they're open to trust, and they want to trust and they want to develop trusting relationships. They want us to be the pack leaders. They know we're supposed to be able to do that. They want to know what we expect of them. But they're open to trust, and even so, when I'm working with like a new guide dog. I think it takes close to a year to really develop a full, complete, two way trusting relationship, so that we really essentially know what each other's thinking. But when you get that relationship, it's second to none. Greg Hess  48:15 Yeah, isn't that interesting? How long were you with Rosella? Before the event, Michael Hingson  48:21 Rosella and I were together. Let's see we Oh, what was it? It was February or May. No, it was the November of 1999 so it was good two year. Good two years. Yeah, wow, yeah. So, you know, we we knew each other. And you know, even so, I know that in that in any kind of a stressful situation, and even not in a stressful situation, my job is to make sure that I'm transmitting competence and trust to Roselle, or now to Alamo. And the idea is that on September 11, I all the way down the stairs just continue to praise her, what a good job. You're doing a great job. And it was important, because I needed her to know first of all that I was okay, because she had to sense all of the concern that people had. None of us knew what was going on on the stairwell, but we knew that something was going on, and we figured out an airplane hit the building because we smelled jet fuel, but we didn't know the details, but clearly something was going on, so I needed to send her the message, I'm okay, and I'm with you and trust you and all that. And the result of that was that she continued to be okay, and if suddenly she were to suddenly behave in a manner that I didn't expect, then that would tell me that there's something different and something unusual that's going on that I have to look for. But we didn't have to have that, fortunately, which was great. It's. About trust, and it's all about developing a two way trust, yeah, Greg Hess  50:05 yeah, amazing. Well, and it's funny how, when you say trust, when in a situation where trust is lost, it's not so easily repaired, no, Michael Hingson  50:16 you know, yeah. And if it's really lost, it's because somebody's done something to betray the trust, unless somebody misinterprets, in which case you've got to communicate and get that, that that confidence level back, which can be done too. Greg Hess  50:33 Yeah, yeah. Important to be tuned and tuned into that, Michael Hingson  50:40 but it is important to really work to develop trust. And as I said, I think most people want to, but they're more often than not, they're just gun shy, so you have to really work at developing the trust. But if you can do it, what a relationship you get with people. Greg Hess  50:57 Circumstances, you know, and situational analysis change the level of trust, of course, in so many ways. And some people are trusting people where they shouldn't, you know, and in the right in the wrong environment. Sometimes you know, you have to be aware. I think people are fearful of that. I mean, just even in our electronic world, the scammers and those people you gotta, we get, we get one or two of those, you know, messages every day, probably people trying to get you to open a bank account or something on them. Better be aware. Don't want to be losing all your money. Yeah, but it's not to have trust, right? Michael Hingson  51:41 Yeah, it's one we got to work on well, so you you support the whole concept of diversity, and how has embracing diversity of people, perspectives or ideas unlocked new opportunities for you and the people you work with. Greg Hess  52:00 I got a great story for you on that. Michael A when I got into this coaching business, one of the one of the clients I was lucky enough to secure was a group called shredding on the go. And so the mother was kind of running the show, but her son was the president, and kind of the one that was in charge of the company. Now he's wheelchair, 100% wheelchair bound, nonverbal, very, very, I don't remember the exact name, but I mean very, very restrictive. And so what she figured out in time was his young is that he could actually take paper and like putting paper into a shredder. So she grew the idea of saying, Gosh, something James can do, we can build a business. This, this kid's, you know, gonna, I'm gonna get behind this and start to develop it. And so she did, and we created, she had created a company. She only had two employees when she hired me, but we went out and recruited and ended up growing it up to about 20 employees, and we had all the shredders set up so that the paper and all of our delivery and so on. And we promoted that company and supporting these people and making real money for real jobs that you know they were doing. So it was all, you know, basically all disabled autism to, you name it. And it was just a great experience. And so we took that show to the road. And so when we had Earth Day, I'd go out and we'd have a big event, and then everybody would come in and contribute to that and be a part of growing that company. Eventually, we got to the company to the point where the mother was worried about the the owner, the son's health was getting, you know, his life expectancy is beyond it, and she didn't want to have this company and still be running and when he wasn't there. And so we worked out a way to sell the company to a shredding company, of course, and they loved the the client. We had over 50 clients going, and they ended up making quite a bit of money that they put back into helping people with disabilities. So it was just a great cycle and a great opportunity to do that and give people an opportunity. I got to be their business coach, and what a lot of fun I included myself in the shredding I was involved with all parts of the company, and at one point, what a lot of fun I had with everybody. Michael Hingson  54:22 Yeah, yeah. There's something to be said for really learning what other people do in a company and learning the jobs. I think that's important. It's not that you're going to do it every day, but you need to develop that level of understanding. Greg Hess  54:37 Michael, you'll love this. Our best Shredder was blind. She did more than anybody, and she was blind. People go, you can't be doing that when you're What do you mean? She had it figured out. Yeah. Michael Hingson  54:48 What's the deal? Yeah, no, Shredder doesn't overheat, you know? But that's another step, yeah. So what's an example you've worked with a lot of teams. And so on. What's an example where a collaborative effort really created something and caused something to be able to be done that otherwise wouldn't have happened? Right? Greg Hess  55:10 Well, I referred back real quickly to the psycho D thing, where he had a common goal, common pride in taking it, and we just were on it. And I think that was a really, really transformational kind of thing to make everybody better as one whole area in a team. Now that's probably the first thing that comes to mind. I think the the idea of bringing the team together, you know, and really getting them to all work as one is that everybody has to understand everybody else's action plan. What's their plan? What is their vision? Where are they going in terms of, you know, playing basketball, to whether you're on the sales team, whether you're on the marketing team, or whatever part of the business you're in, do you have an action plan? And you can openly show that, and you feel like you're 100% participating in the group's common goal. I can't over emphasize an element of a common goal. I think, in team building, whatever that may be, you know, typically, the companies I'm working with now, we try to change it up every quarter, and we shoot quarter by quarter to a common goal that we all and then we build our plans to reach and achieve that for each individual within a company. And it works really well in building teams. And it's a lot of fun when everything comes together. You know, example of how a team, once you built that, and the team's there, and then you run into adversity, we have a team of five people that are selling insurance, basically, and one of them lost her father unexpectedly and very hard, Hispanic, Hispanic background, and just devastating to her and to her mother and everything. Well, we've got a machine going in terms of work. And so what happened is everybody else picked up her piece, and all did the parts and got behind her and supported her. And it took her about five months to go through her morning phase, and she's come back, and now she's going to be our top employee. Now going forward, it's just amazing how everybody rallied around her. We were worried about her. She comes back, and she's stronger than ever, and she'd had her time, and it was just nice to see the team of a group of company kind of treat somebody like family. That's a good thing. Michael Hingson  57:30 That's cool. What a great story. What mindset shift Do you think entrepreneurs and leaders really need to undergo in order to be successful. Greg Hess  57:45 Boy, you know, we talked a little bit earlier about the idea of looking through it, through other people's eyes, right? And then as a leader, you know, the same thing you were mentioning earlier, Michael, was that you draw the strength out of the people, rather than demand kind of what you want them to do in order to get things done, it's build them up as people. And I think that that's a critical piece in in growing people and getting that whole element of leadership in place. Yeah, what was the other part of that question? Again, let me give you another piece of that, because I think of some Go ahead. Yeah. I was just remember, what did you ask me again, I want to make sure I'm right Michael Hingson  58:28 from your books and coaching work. The question was, what kind of mindset shift Do you think that entrepreneurs and leaders have to adopt? Greg Hess  58:39 Yeah, yeah. So that's one part of the mindset, but the big one is recognizing that it's a growth world that we need to look at how we can grow our company, how we can grow individuals, how we can all get better and continuous improvement. And I think that is an example of taking a problem and recognizing as an opportunity. And that's part of the mindset right there that you got to have. I got a big problem here. How are we going to make that so that we're we're way better from that problem each time it happens and keep improving? Michael Hingson  59:10 Yeah, that makes sense. Well, if you could leave everyone who's listening and watching this today with one key principle that would help them live and lead with an unstoppable mindset. What would that be? What, what? What advice do you have? Greg Hess  59:30 Yeah, my advice is make sure you understand your passion and what, what your purpose is, and have a strong, strong desire to make that happen. Otherwise, it's not really a purpose, is it? And then be true to yourself. Be true to yourself in terms of what you spend your time on, what you do, in terms of reaching that purpose. It's to be the best grandparent there you can be in the world. Go get it done, but make sure you're spending time to grandkids. Don't just talk it so talks cheap and action matters. You know, and I think, figure out where you're spending your time and make sure that fits in with what you really want to gather happen in your life and fulfilling it. Michael Hingson  1:00:09 Well, I like that talks cheap and action matters. That's it. Yeah, I tell that. I tell that to my cat all the time when she doesn't care. But cats are like that? Well, we all know that dogs have Masters, but cats have staff, so she's a great kitty. That's good. It's a wonderful kitty. And I'm glad that she's in my life, and we get to visit with her every day too. So it works out well, and she and the Dog get along. So, you know, you can't do better than that. That's a good thing. Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely super. I we've I think we've talked a lot, and I've learned a lot, and I hope other people have too, and I think you've had a lot of good insights. If people would like to reach out to you and maybe use your services as a coach or whatever, how do they do that? Greg Hess  1:01:00 Well, my website is coach, hess.com Michael Hingson  1:01:06 H, E, S, S, Greg Hess  1:01:07 yeah, C, O, A, C, H, H, E, S, s.com, that's my website. You can get a hold of me at coach. At coach, hess.com that's my email. Love to hear from you, and certainly I'm all over LinkedIn. My YouTube channel is desk of coach s. Got a bunch of YouTubes up there and on and on. You know, all through the social media, you can look me up and find me under Coach. Coach S, is my brand Cool? Michael Hingson  1:01:38 Well, that it's a well worth it brand for people to go interact with, and I hope people will so Oh, I appreciate that. Well, I want to thank you all for listening and watching us today. Reach out to coach Hess, I'd love to hear from you. Love to hear what you think of today's episode. So please give us an email at Michael H i, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, wherever you're monitoring our podcast, please give us a five star rating. We value it. And if you know anyone who might be a good guest to come on and tell their story, please introduce us. We're always looking for more people to come on and and chat with us. Coach you as well. If you know anyone, I'm sure you must love to to get more people. Now, if you could get Magic Johnson, that'd be super but that's probably a little tougher, but it'd be, it'd be fun. Any, anyone t

In Episode 156, Scott Piehler's topics include: Sinking ships and sick pets-bad news from the water. The District Attorney drops charges in the Radius Recycling Fire. The Planning Board addresses affordable housing. A look ahead to the next City Council meeting. Congratulations to our local Special Olympians. Alameda is one of the top Entrepreneurial cities in America. Plus weekend events. Support the show• AlamedaPost.com • Podcast • Events • Contact •• Facebook • Instagram • Threads • BlueSky • Reddit • Mastodon • NextDoor • YouTube • Apple News •

More than 100 athletes, about 350 volunteers, and an unknown amount of spectators are expected fill Legion Field at Simpkins Stadium Tuesday as the annual Special Olympics moves to Jackson High School. The athletes will come from the Clarke County Schools. Thomasville City Schools, the Arc of Clarke County, as well as some from Marengo County since there is not a Special Olympics there. Michelle McAndrews, Clarke County's 2025 Special Olympics coordinator, is very excited for this year's event. There will be some high school kids partnering with some of the Special Olympians to help them through the day. Also,...Article Link

FEEL GOOD STORY - RETURNING SPECIAL OLYMPIANS by 101.9POR

On today's show: we turn our attention to the incoming trade war between Canada and the U.S.; what the provincial implications are for tariffs on Canadian products; our own Angela Knight gives Alberta's Special Olympians an airport sendoff.

In the second hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Jan. 16, 2025, we explore how sports photojournalism can better tell the stories of Special Olympics athletes.

Do you need to spend more time resting, but keep telling yourself now is not a good time? This episode will inspire you to listen more closely to what your body is telling you!   My good friend  Julie Blamphin is helping us reimagine self-care by sharing the importance of listening to the body. She discusses why rest and stillness are so important and offers ideas on how to give your body the attention she needs.   Julie Blamphin is a yoga pro, speaker, retreat leader, and founder of Stretch Your Spirit. Her career path began in 1980 in her mother's school of gymnastics, teaching stretches and strength poses to young Special Olympians. Currently, she's using her positive vibe and racy authenticity to speak to women all over the world on taboo topics, helping them feel more joyful, stable, and sexy.   Topics covered in this episode include: Why women put off taking care of themselves (and how to avoid doing this yourself!) Simple exercises to relax and ground your body and mind Practicing rest, retreating, strength, and more during real life   If the idea of spending time and money on yourself makes you feel guilty, but you know you need a break, this is for you.   Show notes available at www.leadinglady-coaching.com/podcast   Resources Mentioned:  Get Julie's Freebie: https://www.stretchyourspirit.com/top3tips?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2pLUeSZISSUrn5Y-ddWOR_wSClXdnMrmBwJdVGzUkRSEhcKHVPIjMyqhc_aem_ARV7gX59yxFLmR2lS0A7RCivAQDrCwHdJNcekj0nJUQHRo1ImhXgrZfoq3F14g-4bPxrZkcUyNsHslBlU-Beb6t7 Visit Julie's Website: https://www.stretchyourspirit.com/ Join Julie's Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stretchyourspirit/ Follow @stretchyourspirit on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stretchyourspirit/  Connect with Julie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-blamphin-b60397204/    Have you joined the Leading Ladies Facebook Group yet?! I would love to see you in there! Head to https://www.facebook.com/groups/LeadingLadiesAAL to join! Let's connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aalcoaching Let's connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leading.lady.coach/  

Send us a Text Message.In this episode of Main Street Moxie, Keith Moon shares stories about his longstanding involvement with Special Olympics, an organization with moxie built into its DNA.Keith's secret moxie sauce is recognizing a need and then finding a way to use his talents and skills to make a difference. He enjoys bringing people and organizations together to accomplish a larger goal.Keith's involvement in Special Olympics began when he read an appeal in the Hartford Courant to raise needed funds for the organization. His response: “I can do that.” Using his position as the boys' swim coach at the Hotchkiss School, he organized a swimathon that raised $4,000. That was 30 years ago, and he's organized one every year since; to date, the Swimathon has raised over $250,000 for Special Olympics. Working with colleagues, students, and the local community, he has expanded the reach of the Swimathon and branched out into athletic competitions in other sports.Keith has remained an enthusiastic supporter of the Special Olympics mission of creating athletic competitions that promote the development of individuals with intellectual disabilities and their inclusion in society. Keith's nine-year tenure on the board of Special Olympics Connecticut has also given him insight into the moxie of the athletes and their families. The athletes' determination, competitive joy, and focus on what they can do–not their limitations–fuel his dedication to the Special Olympians.In 2022, after Russia attacked Ukraine, he helped form a partnership between Special Olympics Connecticut and Special Olympics Slovakia, to create a Dream Day Center for Ukrainian refugee children born with intellectual disabilities and their families. At this year's 30th annual Hotchkiss Swimathon, four Slovakian coaches and four Special Olympics Slovakia athletes will make the swim across Lake Wononscopomuc and back on September 7, 2024.Keith has been an instructor of Russian history and literature at the Hotchkiss School since 1989 and a volunteer instructor in those subjects for Noble Horizons Retirement Community since 2012. In 2019, he was awarded the school's Lufkin Prize, which honors faculty for their excellence, commitment, moral leadership, and service to the community. If you'd like to learn more about Swimathon and how you can get involved and contribute, email kmoon@hotchkiss.org.This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Elyse Harney Real Estate.ResourcesSpecial Olympics ConnecticutSpecial OlympicsNobleHorizons Blog: Keith Moon: Raising People UpLufkin Prize SpeechSocial MediaSpecial Olympics Connecticut FacebookSpecial Olympics Connecticut InstagramSpecial Olympics Connecticut YouTubeSpecial Olympics Connecticut LinkedInHotchkiss School InstagramSupport the Show.

Special Olympians gather for a special day of hoops to kick off this weekend's summer games. WBZ's Chris Fama reports.For more, ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio.

Cape Breton is still digging out from last week's storm and there's another one on the way. Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Amanda McDougall shares how the recovery is going while carefully watching the next system. In Montague, PEI, Special Olympics curlers are training ahead of the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary at the end of the month. And on the phone-in: Barry Walker takes your heat pump questions.

It's less than two years until the 2025 Special Olympics National Summer Games to be held in Otautahi Christchurch. For local Special Olympics clubs, it means raising the funds to get them there.

Special Olympians from Labrador West won big at the provincial awards this year. We meet some of those athletes.

Darek starts Monday show by recapping a fun weekend of activities (Pep Rally, Block Party, NCAA March Madness crew visits Women's Basketball) before setting up the final week before Game week in football. Then it's Tyler Hudanick and OL RJ Perry (7:00 mark), a recap of a very special night at the IPF with Alex Golesh (17:30), then soccer (24:00) with the men's team's AAC preseason predicted finish and a bit of a letdown for women's soccer, losing at Louisiana in scorching conditions Sunday.

Around 1am this morning the first lot of athletes arrived home from Berlin.

The chief medical officer for Team Canada at the 2023 Special Olympics says working with these athletes is the most rewarding thing he's ever done. Guest-host Todd O'Brien reached Dr. Neil Cheeseman in Berlin at about the half-way point of the 2023 games.

Episode 356: Leading with Practical Intelligence, Part II Episode Notes“Practical intelligence,” says Robert Sternberg, who coined the term, “includes knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.” Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers: The Story of Success (2012) that practical intelligence is “knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it.” I discuss examples of both aspects of practical intelligence.Knowing What, When, and How to Say Something One of the many jobs I had before starting WeMentor, inc. was as a phone solicitor for the Minnesota Special Olympics. The first skill I learned was rehearsing a prepared script that described the importance of contributing to our Special Olympians and a variety of answers for when people would say no. “Do you mind telling me why you cannot donate right now?”My manager, Don, was terrific. He knew how to coach and knew how to motivate me. A pat on the shoulder. A quick pep talk when I needed it. Strategies for overcoming rejection and emotional roadblocks. Don did this for everyone. And he kept a close watch on the numbers. He would whisper in between calls how close we were to reach our hourly goals. The room was filled with about 7 to 11 other telesales people. My only request was to have my desk in front of a six-inch window slit to see outside. I needed a focal point.In the first week, I became the #1 telesales person in the New Hope office and Minnesota. I made 30 to 40 calls per hour from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., five days a week. New people were trained by sitting next to me and listening to how I talked with potential donors and closed the sales. I refined what I needed to say to whom and knew when to venture off script to engage the person on the other end of the phone. Week after week my numbers were impressive, and I was motivated to do well.All was going well week after week. I started listening to motivational tapes while riding my bike to work daily. Zig Ziglar was my favorite. “You can have everything in your life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.” This famous quote of his resonated with millions of people, including me.About eight weeks in, I get into a funk and lose my mojo. I made sales but couldn't maintain my #1 status. It was torturous every hour for five days straight; I couldn't hit my sales goals.Don put things into perspective, saying it happens and encouraging me to stick with it. Some of the others were glad I wasn't perfect. My funk allowed someone else to shine while I got a dose of humility.Outside of calling hours, I went on a few deliveries to meet the people making the donations and attended some Special Olympians in training. This helped me understand the bigger purpose of my efforts.After that downer of a week, I regained my groove and broke my #1 sales goals. A new inspiration emerged. I asked Don what becoming the national #1 telesales person would take. I remember the sales numbers being within reach. At the five-month mark, I became the #1 telesales person in the country. Outside of that one week, I was able to be #1 at something. It felt great.Years later, I was told my sales record took years to beat nationally and a few decades locally. Cool, I motivated others to generate more donations to support athletes with intellectual disabilities. They count on salespeople like us to help them change their lives and better their circumstances. Gotta love that.I learned from that experience that knowing what to say to whom, when to say it, and how to say it for the maximum effect paid off in generating thousands and thousands of dollars to support a great cause. Tailoring my message to fit an audience of Twin Cities residents started with a tailored message, a list, and the ability to pick up the phone and get to those who said yes; each hour of every day with an effective coach by my side worked.

The leader of one of the largest non-profit organizations in the world, Mary Davis is the CEO of the Special Olympics, serving more than 6 million athletes across 172 countries, with more than a million coaches and volunteers and more than 100,000 competitions a year. Mary joins Adam to share her journey and best lessons and advice. Mary and Adam discuss a wide range of topics: leading people and organizations; building winning relationships; what anyone can learn from Special Olympians; and much more.

Teammates, friends, and brothers in Christ, Rob and Alex talk with Dr. Michael Blackwell shortly before their appearance in the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando as members of the SONC Soccer Team. Listen as they share what life is like for them and the other residents at Alverta Bolick Home in Asheville, and how they are living life to their fullest potential.

Mel Welcomes Chris Lance to discuss his Special Olympian son Rio and how the mass madness of the covid mandates are endangering the welfare and destroying opportunity and hope for our cherished special needs children. Please help fight these devastating mandates and protect our most venerable   Christopher Lance Cell # 949 444  Email: usagamesinfo@specialolympics.org Website: 2022specialolympicsusagames.org  wwwspecialolympics.org Phone Number: 1-800-700-8585 Special Olympics Headquarters Address: 1133 19th Street NW Washington DC 20036 Social Media: specialolympicsUSAgames handles for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook  Rio Lance is a selected delegate to represent Southern California in the National USA Special Olympics games in Orlando Florida in June. It is horrifying how he's being treated and discriminated against.  It's plain and simple child abuse. The Special Olympics preaches  "inclusion" but is doing the opposite by "excluding" mandate driven special needs children from the opportunity and experience of a lifetime. They denied religious exemption asking for impossible vaccine data on top of the fact that Rio is a child that has already suffered permanent damage from a previous vaccination. Thank you amazing patriots. Please stand strong and keep up the fight to reclaim humanity & our inalienable rights. www.themelkshow.com  It's going to be a great year and definitely a year to get and be involved in taking back our world. We love what we do and are working hard to keep on top of everything to help this transition along peacefully and with love. Please help us amplify our message: Like, Comment & Share! If you value our work and have extra resources, please consider helping to support the show.  The Show's Partners Page: https://themelkshow.com/partners/   Consider Making A Donation: https://themelkshow.com/donate/ Another way to get involved and find ways to become active in the community is to come meet Mel and many amazing truth warriors at our upcoming live in person speaking events. Together we are unstoppable. We look forward to seeing you. GodWins! https://themelkshow.com/events/ Myrtle Beach, SC - May 13-14 (Reawaken America Tour) Virginia Beach, VA - July 8 - 9 (Reawaken America Tour) See our website events page and follow the link to the events. Remember to mention Mel K for great discounts on all these fun and informative events. See you there! RE:AWAKENING The Movie is Here! https://reawakeningseries.com Use code MELK Website (Main Coms Hub) www.TheMelKShow.com Video Platform - Subscription https://www.themelkshow.tv Rumble (Video) - The Mel K Show https://rumble.com/c/TheMelKShow Bitchute (Video) - Melk.News/Bitchute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/Iw2kiviwZpwx/ Podbean (Podcast) https://themelkshow.podbean.com/ TRUTH Social https://truthsocial.com/@themelkshow Gab (Social Media) https://gab.com/MelKShow GETTR (Social Media) https://www.gettr.com/user/themelkshow Telegram (Social App) The Mel K Show Group - https://t.me/themelkshowgroup The Mel K Show Channel - https://t.me/themelkshowchannel The Mel K Show Mailing Address 1040 First Avenue #367 New York, NY 10022 If you are interested to explore investing in precious metals please contact below and mention MelK for special offers: Beverly Hills Precious Metals Exchange Buy Gold & Silver https://themelkshow.com/gold/ Speak with Gold Expert Andrew Sorchini…Tell Him Mel K Sent You! Support Patriots With MyPillow Go to www.MyPillow.com Use offer code “MelK” to support both MyPillow and The Mel K Show Mel K Superfoods www.MelKSuperfoods.com HempWorx The #1 selling CBD brand. https://bit.ly/MDC-HempWorx https://themelkshow.com/my-daily-choice/ Dr. Zelenko Immunity Protocal - Z-Stack Life https://zstacklife.com/MelK Take care of your health with Dr. Mark Sherwood and his team at Functional Medical Institute www.Sherwood.tv/melk – download the free e-book to develop physical and emotional resiliency EMP Shield EMP Shield is designed to protect an entire home from lightning, solar flare (coronal mass ejection), power surges, and an electromagnetic pulse. Use promo code MelK  https://www.empshield.com/?coupon=melk Mantra Essential Oils Highest quality essential oils and essential oil blends. https://bit.ly/MDC-Mantra-Essential-Oils My Daily Sprays Portable easy to use sprays made with only the best clinically proven ingredients that support healthy daily activity, including superfruits and natural antioxidants. https://bit.ly/MDC-My-Daily-Sprays Great Offers on Satellite Phones www.melkphone.com

Dan Grieb: Training The Strongest Athletes Among Us - Special Olympians In Special Olympics, the power and joy of sport shifts focus to what our athletes CAN do, not what they can't. Attention to disabilities fades away. Instead, Dan see his athletes' talents and abilities - and applauds them for all that they can do. The transformative power of sports to instill confidence, improve health, and inspire a sense of competition is at the core of what the Special Olympics does. The focus is on real sports, real competition, real achievements. In this episode we hear about: - Dan's childhood and turning a path molded for disaster into fuel for his success - Dan's experience his first time training an athlete with down syndrome - The trade offs of being healthy, and do they really exist? Connect with Dan: Facebook and Instagram: @dgrieb  For more insights, tips, and training encouragement follow us on Instagram @whywetripodcast.   Subscribe to the Why We Tri Podcast Powered by mintinghouse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year we’ve heard a lot about the Olympics and the Paralympics, but while we’re talking about sport and disability we can't forget the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics is a global movement pushing for inclusion for people with intellectual disability. They operate at all levels from local sporting activities through to the World Games. One of Queensland's active Special Olympians is Ruby Lawler from Gladstone. Ruby's a competitive swimmer, on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Australia, and she’s also an Athlete Representative and Athlete Leader. In this episode we find out about the trip that inspired Ruby's passion for competitive swimming, what her role as a Board member and Athlete Representative entails, future plans for Masters swimming, and why she's nervous about big fish nibbling on her toes! Useful links Transcript for this episode:

With her heart set on competing at the Olympics, Cindi Hart's dreams were derailed when a head-on collision nearly killed her; leaving her broken and bleeding on the pavement. When all seems to be back on track, she is devastated to learn she has cancer. Others facing this reality may struggle with 'Why me?', however, Cindi decided to find her inner strength and fight for her life. She found purpose in the wreckage; Cindi brings her experiences together to pay it forward. Dreams and determination unite to make sense of unexpected turns: traveling with Special Olympians, overcoming feelings of loss from altered body image, raising a blossoming child and building an organization to spread messages of hope nationwide. Cindi is determined to leave a legacy, despite the obstacles in her path. This is a journey of a life determined. In addition to being a nationally ranked cyclist and speed skater, inspirational speaker and author, Cindi Hart has been recognized for the following awards: the 2005 Woman of Character, 2006 US Olympic Coach of the Year, recognized as a "Pink Power Mom", a Komen Honorary Survivor, recipient of the Reverend Charles Williams award and Coach of the Year for the National Council of Youth Sports. She works full time at Regenstrief Institute as a clinical informatics specialist and continues to coach speed skating and cycling. She sits on the Sports Resource Team as an advisor for Speed Skating and Cycling for Special Olympics International and also serves as Technical Delegate for the World games in both sports. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband Ken, daughter Madison, and their cat, Purzit. Cancer remains on her radar, and as president of Spokes of Hope, she continues to find ways to make a difference in lives affected by cancer. Her greatest joy, however, will be watching Madison make her own mark in the world.

A practitioner of sports medicine wants to raise money for Steve "Mongo" McMichael's battle with ALS by dressing up Special Olympians as football players, attaching buckets to their helmets, and having them collect donations from people. Sheesh!

Jerry Siegel has been instrumental in establishing the School Games for Special Olympics of Santa Barbara. He most recently paved the way for 250 young to compete in the School Games. Nannette Clark, Amy Peterson, Sam Jauregui, Steve Glick, Debra Day, and Chris Powers have played for the Special Olympics ranging from 10-25 years. They share their experiences from some of the following sports they have competed in: bocce ball, swimming, tennis, soccer, softball, basketball, floor hockey, bowling, golf, and skiing! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodlifeconversations/support

https://iwapodcast.wixsite.com/issueswithandyJOIN THE IWA PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/IssueswithandyMINDDOGTV PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/minddogtvSponsors:https://podmatch.com/signup/minddogtvhttps://mybookie.com Promo Code minddoghttps://record.webpartners.co/_6_DFqqtZcLQWqcfzuvZcQGNd7ZgqdRLk/1https://apply.fundwise.com/minddoghttps://myvitalc.com/minddog. promo code minddogtvhttps://skillbuilder.academy/dashboard?view_sequence=1601856764231x540742189759856640&promoCode=MINDDOG100OFFhttps://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=599839&u=1659788&m=52971&urllink=&afftrack=https://enticeme.com/#minddog

Advocacy groups work to help homeless people during the pandemic, Special Olympians keep each other's spirits up, search and rescue group urges snowmobilers to be extra careful during COVID-19, and a Facebook group celebrates the curb appeal of taking out the garbage - in your finest duds.

On the latest C100 Mornings podcast: If you ran out of TP in your house, other than the shower, what would you use? Toilet Paper has been the focus of so many Nova Scotian’s desire for the last few weeks, so let’s say we just plum “ran out” of TP supplies. What would you possibly use as a substitute for toilet paper? How Did your Husband Embarrass You In The Delivery Room? A selfie has gone viral taken by a mom who’s just given birth. On the floor, the father who has just fainted. Dressed in a hospital gown, surrounded by medical staff, nurse holding the baby. How did YOUR s/o embarrass you in the delivery room? In one of the WEIRDEST weeks in history…we need some good news stories! On Tell Us Something Good, Special Olympians, Mom at 94 years of age, and we meet a woman who just won the dating “jackpot”! Listen to the fun, play the games, and then tune in as we do it all on the radio with JC, Peter, and Erin (in for Melody Rose) weekdays, 530 to 10 am on C100.

Miami Dolphin WR Mack Hollins and Former Eagle Dhani Jones Supporting Special Olympians

The Harlem Globetrotters celebrated members of the USA Men's Basketball Team after they earned silver medals at the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi. WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal reports.

David Herrera has a formula:  Keto diet/intermittent fasting/gym.  Combine that with being consistent and his result is losing over 100lbs.  We talk about how he did this, what he has learned, his love for baseball and and the energy he brings coaching a team of Special Olympians. https://www.instagram.com/keto__d/ sponsor:  audibletrial.com/bigfatlife   INSTAGRAM: @BIGFATLIFEPODCAST FACEBOOK: BIG FAT LIFE PODCAST TWITTER:  @BIGFATLIFEPOD

On this episode, we're joined by Keith Hertling. Keith is the vice president of leadership, coaching, and culture for Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems. He has worked for the sandwich chain for fifteen years. He began coaching Special Olympians in college and has been teaching and coaching ever since. At age fifteen, he co-founded Popeye's Gym, a haven for athletes, police, firefighters, and lifeguards, and was a leader in the fitness industry for more than twenty years. He also spent time as a high school and college football coach, certified personal trainer, and life coach.  He's the author of Life Lessons on Leadership, Coaching and Culture. www.KeithHertling.com Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com

On this episode, we're joined by Keith Hertling. Keith is the vice president of leadership, coaching, and culture for Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems. He has worked for the sandwich chain for fifteen years. He began coaching Special Olympians in college and has been teaching and coaching ever since. At age fifteen, he co-founded Popeye's Gym, a haven for athletes, police, firefighters, and lifeguards, and was a leader in the fitness industry for more than twenty years. He also spent time as a high school and college football coach, certified personal trainer, and life coach.  He's the author of Life Lessons on Leadership, Coaching and Culture. www.KeithHertling.com Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com

On this episode, we’re joined by Keith Hertling. Keith is the vice president of leadership, coaching, and culture for Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems. He has worked for the sandwich chain for fifteen years. He began coaching Special Olympians in college and has been teaching and coaching ever since. At age fifteen, he co-founded Popeye's Gym, a haven for athletes, police, firefighters, and lifeguards, and was a leader in the fitness industry for more than twenty years. He also spent time as a high school and college football coach, certified personal trainer, and life coach.  He’s the author of Life Lessons on Leadership, Coaching and Culture. www.KeithHertling.com Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com

Our epic Ironman trilogy comes to an end as RSHL Kingpin Kevin Frost returns to finish out our coverage.  You want to know why that referee shafted you out of a big goal in the clutch?  Listen up.  Plus, Tyler Seguin is giving some Special Olympians all the competition they can handle.  And Gritty is stealing caps, sandwiches, and the spotlight.  All in a day's lurk. Watch all the RSHL's Ironman coverage on their YouTube channel. Stay current with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Individuals with intellectual disabilities are discussed with The President and CEO of Special Olympics Indiana, Jeff Mohler.  A highlight is a conversation about whether persons with intellectual disabilities may be "cured," concluding with the answer,"maybe not." However, with sensitivity and care, with new technologies, with modified infrastructures, new ways of viewing the personal health care of special Olympians, and their employment opportunities, significant progress is under way.  

https://www.youtube.com/user/WrightStateU Wright State student athletes hosted 16 athletes from Special Olympics of Greater Dayton during an indoor field day to help celebrate National Student Athlete Day on April 18. The day recognizes the accomplishments of student-athletes who excel in the classroom, on the playing fields and who give back to their community through service projects. Dozens of Wright State student-athletes along with Special Olympians played numerous games, including matt ball, relay races, tic-tack-toe races and basketball. “It’s a bunch of fun. They get to teach us some things and we teach them some things,” said Sam Meek, a senior golfer. The field day event took place in Wright State’s Setzer Pavilion. Following the field day, Olympians attended the Wright State softball game versus Morehead State. More at http://webapp2.wright.edu/web1/newsroom/2018/04/20/olympic-games/

http://wright.edu/news Two dozen athletes from Special Olympics of Greater Dayton took part in an indoor field day to help celebrate National Student Athlete Day on April 14. The day recognizes the accomplishments of student-athletes who excel in the classroom, on the playing fields and who give back to their community through service projects. Wright State student-athletes along with Special Olympians played numerous games, including matt ball, relay races, basketball and weight lifting. “They’re fellow athletes so I just think anytime you can get together with different athletes no matter what their background, I think it’s awesome,” said Haley Garr, a senior volleyball player. The field day event took place in the Setzer Pavilion. Following the field day, Olympians attended the Wright State baseball team game versus UT Martin. More at wright.edu/news

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation -- I’m Stephen Woessner. It is an honor to be with you here this morning, and my hope for you is that this week -- the final week of April 2016 -- has brought you happiness, that this week has also brought you success, that this week has brought you opportunity, that this week has brought you some challenges that have pushed you to expand your knowledge -- to learn new things -- and most of all -- I hope during this week -- and right now specifically -- you will give yourself the time to consciously consider whether or you have given you and your team the FREEDOM TO FAIL. Yes...you heard me right. I said the FREEDOM TO FAIL. It is fascinating to me how the word failure has become all the rage -- almost a buzzword or mantra -- and is being used by personal development gurus, digital marketing consultants, business leaders, to politicians. But these three simple words -- FREEDOM TO FAIL -- have a completely different meaning to me because of my experience this past weekend. I spent Saturday at West Point...the United States Military Academy in New York State. To say that spending the day at West Point was a life-changing experience would be a significant understatement. I was in awe. My pride as an American citizen soared. The honor I felt since serving our country in the Air Force was taken to a whole new level. And to top it off...I was able to share the experience with a group of friends who we affectionately refer to ourselves as the Circle of Greatness. At the center of our group -- our founder father so to speak -- the man who pulled us all together, first to meet one another, and then to develop some wonderful friendships, is Don Yaeger. I hear me mention Don in nearly every episode of Onward Nation because he has been one of my most influential mentors, my weekly accountability partner, and has become one of my closest friends. Three years ago, Don decided to organize a group of people who have had a significant impact on his life from both a professional and personal perspective. Don’s wife, Jeanette began referring to us as Don’s Circle of Greatness...an appropriate moniker since researching and studying the topic of “Greatness” has become Don’s passion and life’s work. In fact, one of the books Don author is entitled, "The 16 Characteristics of Greatness." There are about 30 of us in the Circle -- and this weekend -- 20 of us were able to make it to New York City for a weekend together. All of which was masterfully orchestrated by Jeanette Yaeger, Don’s wife. Jeanette -- if you are listening -- thank you so much, my friend. You are beyond amazing!!! One of the members of our Circle is Colonel Bernard Banks, professor and department head of behavioral sciences and leadership at West Point. Colonel Banks invited all of us to West Point to spend the day as his guest and to learn about the values and leadership development process they apply to create our nation’s next military leaders. When we all read that West Point was on the agenda for the weekend...we were all excited for the lessons that were about to come our way and extremely grateful that such an uncommon opportunity came our way. To be the guest of Colonel Banks -- at West Point -- for the day...are you kidding me? Incredible! Onward Nation, being at West Point was one of the most intimidating -- inspirational -- and humbling experiences of my professional career. So for today’s solocast...I am going to share with you the major highlights -- the core lessons -- that I learned from the cadets who guided us through the breathtaking campus -- and the leadership lessons Colonel Banks shared with us during a private leadership class with just our “Circle.” So buckle in, Onward Nation...I promise...this discussion will help you move your leadership development process within your business to the next level. Leadership Lesson 1: Honor your history and core values I want to start off this first leadership lesson by sharing something that is deeply personal among all of the cadets at West Point. And it goes like this... “Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” What I just read to you is know as the Cadet Prayer. Anyone can see it -- read it -- as they enter the academy. It is proudly displayed inside the Thayer Hotel at the entrance to West Point. The prayer also embodies the Cadet’s honor code, which reads, “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” When I thought deeply about both of these powerful statements -- these core values -- I was taken back to episode 18 of Onward Nation and my powerful conversation with Larry Broughton. During our conversation -- it was Larry -- who first taught me the Cadet Prayer -- in fact, he recited it during our interview. After all these years...the Cadet Prayer was still his mantra -- the creed by which Larry lives each day and how he leads his company. Larry had learned it during his 9 years of service in the US Army Green Berets. So to read it at West Point brought me full circle and reaffirmed how important it is that we honor our core values -- that we as leaders personally stand for something our employees and customers can believe in -- and that our business lives our core values every day -- just like the cadets and faculty at West Point do. Day in and day out. Leadership Lesson #1 also involves honoring our history because our past is critical to our future success. Our ability to study the failures, the challenges, the tribulations, and the triumphs of leaders who have gone before us -- and then applying what we have learned -- will almost assuredly accelerate our own accomplishments. At West Point, when you walk around campus, you will see statues, monuments, and buildings dedicated to our country’s greatest military and political leaders -- as well as the conflicts and wars where they lead. Why? So our cadets -- this country’s future leaders -- have an opportunity to be reminded of what has already been learned so that experience, wisdom, and perspective can become their guide throughout their own leadership development process. Leadership Lesson 2: Preparation ensures success Our Circle members were able to see first-hand how seriously the cadets at West Point take leadership. And I was reminded of this quote. “There are no bad crews -- only bad leaders.” -- United States Navy Seals Even though that mantra -- that purpose -- was created and used by the Navy Seals...it was evident the West Point cadets believed its message throughout their corps of cadets. When we arrived at West Point, we were greeted by three cadets and Colonel Banks waiting outside the Thayer Hotel. The cadets were in charge of escorting us from the hotel to the athletic complex so we could watch the opening ceremony and the Special Olympics competition taking place. Every year, West Point hosts the largest Special Olympics competition in New York State, and the cadets play a very active role in service to the Olympians. An amazing site to see. Our cadets briefed us on the logistics and schedule of the day with precision. We had a lot of places to be and not much time in each location. Plus, there were 20 of us to keep track of. Not an easy task. But, the cadets were prepared with every detail. It was evident they didn’t just show up to be our guides for the day because Colonel Banks had asked them to...or because Don Yaeger also serves as a senior fellow at West Point. The cadets had studied, they had planned, and they were ready to help us make this a day to remember. The cadets also served as our historians for the day. They taught us about the pivotal role West Point had played during the Revolutionary War including the story of Benedict Arnold and the plan he and the British had conspired to create with the goal of capturing General George Washington during his visit to West Point. Our cadets also took the time to explain -- and -- to take us inside the day and life of a cadet. They shared their passion -- their desire -- to ultimately receive the reward of active duty status in the Army upon graduation. Amazing. West Point is home to 4,400 cadets who all share the same passion, drive, and determination to become prepared to serve our country as military leaders and beyond. Our cadets -- all of the cadets -- are an extraordinary group of people and I look forward to my next opportunity to visit West Point and learn more leadership lessons from them. Leadership Lesson 3: Seek opportunities to serve and encourage others I mentioned a few minutes ago how West Point, its faculty, and its corps of cadets host New York State’s largest Special Olympics competition every year. Why? Because Leadership Lesson #3 that I learned at West Point is about seeking out opportunities to serve and encourage others. To illustrate how the cadets not only serve -- but encourage -- I included a short 30-second video of the cadets and several Special Olympians during the javelin competition. As I watched the Olympians and the genuine, authentic encouragement and love they received from their cadets -- I was moved. It was such an emotional experience to see a group of young men fully focused, devoted, and present for their mission for the day. And they did their duty -- not out of responsibility because they had been assigned -- but as you will see in the video -- they did their duty because they loved performing the service. They were overjoyed to celebrate the successes of the Special Olympians. Onward Nation, our cadets, actively seek out opportunities to serve and encourage each other -- and they are also committed to living these values outside of West Point as an example of excellence. West Point’s upperclassmen mentor, coach, and lead their underclassmen -- not by yelling, hazing, or by rank. Instead...and this may seem counterintuitive when thinking about the United States Army...but the cadets “hug” and then “push” each other. They hug and then push. Each cadet -- along with the faculty of this impressive campus -- is there to serve one another to help every one growth, develop, and become the leader they were meant to become. Plus, as we later learned from Colonel Banks, many of these 4,400 cadets will serve and work alongside one another for decades into the future. They will be forever bonded by service and encouragement to each other and to their core values. So it was a very special sight to see the cadets live their values -- in how they treat each other -- and how they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Special Olympians to serve and encourage. What an incredible display to have the privilege to witness. Leadership Lesson 4: Provide your future leaders with the FREEDOM TO FAIL During our day at West Point, Colonel Banks surprised us by inviting us into his classroom for a private leadership session. He asked if he could take some time to share and illustrate to us West Point’s three stage leadership development process as well as the curriculum cadets need to master before they can graduate and become officers in the United States Army. West Point created -- then applies -- an intentional process for leader development. The faculty at West Point believes that great leaders are developed -- it doesn’t happen by accident. Colonel Banks began by sharing that leaders first need to inspire the people around them every day. As you will see and hear Colonel Banks say, “The English word 'inspire' comes from the Latin word ‘inspirare,’ which means to breathe. Leaders have the opportunity to help others take the next breath in their journey. Many times, we, as leaders, are the ones who make people feel as if they cannot breathe. Research has indicated that 75 percent of all employees report that the most stressful part of their job is their immediate supervisor. The research is quite clear. People don’t quit the company. Your people quit you. And so that’s the opportunity you have every day -- to help your people take that next breath -- to inspire them -- to live their life in a better way.” Breakdown of West Point’s Leadership Development Process Stage 1: Developmental Experiences Challenge: Novelty Difficult goals Conflict Loss, failure Variety: Broad range of situations and demands Assessment: Feedback 360 degree and self-assessment Formal and informal Support: Confirming advice Encouragement Acceptance Resources + Stage 2: Individual Readiness Openness Reflection + Stage 3: Time = Leader of Character But this leader development process would not be possible without two critical foundational philosophies...and those are...cadets must be given the FREEDOM TO FAIL and cadets must be clear on WHO OWNS THE EXPERIENCE. If cadets are not given the freedom to fail -- to make their own decisions based on what they have learned from other cadets and faculty -- then they will never learn. Instead, West Point will have created cadet robots and not leaders who can think under extreme pressures and situations. However, if they are given the freedom to fail and then mentored on the path to improved performance -- mastery can be reached and excellence obtained. Colonel Banks told us that they are in the business of tearing muscle with purpose -- so that it can be rebuilt and it becomes stronger where the initial tear was. Awesomeness. And the cadets know they own the experience. They are not alone in their journey -- they have all of the resources of West Point available to them -- but ultimately, success or failure is their responsibility. No excuses. No pointing fingers. They own the experience. Impactful lessons taught at an institution I am so proud to have been able to visit and spend time at in such a deep and meaningful way. Colonel Banks...if you are listening...thank you so very much for generously sharing your expertise and wisdom with us -- we are all so grateful. Leadership Lesson 5: Protect your inner circle One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from Don is something he learned during the 12-years of one-on-one mentorship with the late Coach John Wooden. Coach taught Don that he would never outperform the people he spent the most time with. In fact, the people you spend the most time with -- in effect -- become your inner circle. So, you need to protect your inner circle by being very selective and deliberate about who gets access into your circle. Don practices this lesson with precision. How? Don investing the time and energy to create our Circle of Greatness is an excellent, tangible example of being deliberate with Coach Wooden’s strategy. And I encourage you to take the same lesson out of Coach Wooden’s playbook. So Onward Nation, my challenge to you is to think about who you spend the most time with. Are they moving at the same, or even better yet, a faster pace and tempo then you? Are they doing things in their life or business that challenge your own perspectives of what is possible? Are they growing personally and professionally in ways that push your comfort zone? If so -- good -- these are people you should spend more time with. Or, are they content with life and not learning anything new? Are they so full of potential but don’t seek out any new ways to apply their talents and gifts? One of our guests shared a metaphor with me that I thought was perfect...and it was this...let’s say you walked into your house and found Superman with his boots kick up on your ottoman and he was laying down on your couch, eating a bowl of ice cream and some cookies, while vegging and watching TV. And let’s say that he had been doing that for days to where it became a habit for him. Would you look at Superman and think to yourself, “Rock solid awesome...way to go Superman.” Or, would you think to yourself… “What in the world are you doing...you should be out saving the planet! Stop wasting your potential.” Onward Nation, my hope is that you will begin to think carefully about each person in your inner circle. Ask yourself...are they headed in the same direction as you? If not, you need to make changes so the people closest to you become your own version of a Circle of Greatness. We all need a Circle of Greatness in our lives to “hug and push us” to that next level -- just like the West Point cadets do for each other. So with that...I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here -- thank you for tuning in -- I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine -- I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation...good or bad...I always want your feedback. My direct email address is stephen@onwardnation.com -- and yes -- that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email. So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you. We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Dave Denniston, host of the Freedom Formula for Physicians podcast. You will not want to miss this discussion, Onward Nation! Until then, onward with gusto!

After winning her first major singing competition in 2008, Alberta Country artist CANDICE RYAN knew that performing live is what she was born to do and started on her career building journey. Music was around her from the time she was a young girl. Her father would play guitar and she would sing along to all the songs. Once she was old enough her dad gave her a guitar and taught her how to play a couple chords. In 2013, Candice released her debut EP Welcome To Our World and the first single released Cougar Blonde was picked up on over 30 radio stations across Canada. In that same year she sang on stage with Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers in Nashville at Tootsie's. She was selected as the 2013 Edmonton Oil Kings Anthem singer for their Playoff run. Within the first active year of performing live she opened up for 2 time CCMA Group of the Year Hey Romeo and was selected for 3 Showcases during the 2013 CCMAs where she won 2nd place during the Aboriginal Showcase. Candice has helped out with many charities and functions over the last few years, the one that has touched her heart the most is working with The Special Olympians. Candice released her single California Sunrise in February 2014. She is currently writing with a few of Canada’s most talented songwriters to complete her first full length album for release in the summer of 2014.

The 2014 Olympic games are soon upon us, this year being held in Sochi, Russia. While we are awed by the athletes who bring evidence of their talent and hard work to the world-wide stage, there are adults and children who cause a quiet awe daily. These are our Special Olympians and the parents and volunteers who work with them. Today we speak with Raf Adams, Cri Swift and Karen Johnson, who share their experiences with parenting and coaching the children who inspire us in unexpected ways. https://www.themainemag.com/radio/2014/01/special-olympians-124/

We start with Avril Lavine Skaker Boi then Kimball brings in 'What does the Fox Say', John Kerry looks like a Zombie, Hyrum's Buffalo Story, Kimball horrors of running the theater, Sad eyes Chinese Kick Boxing, Tard cards, Kimball wants to award the Special Olympians by feeding them Kibble's n' Bits, Hyrum likes the wrastles..., what makes the scary corn maze scarier - a dozen retards touching people's hair, Star Wars - Admiral Akbar cereal, Vasectomy Story, Anchorman 2 - over hyped, Bad Grandpa, USA Up All Night - Caged Fury, Hyrum's vasectomy - nurse walks in - Liam kicks and steps on vasectomy balls, Kimball plays bad 80's.

[CDATA[We start with Avril Lavine Skaker Boi then Kimball brings in 'What does the Fox Say', John Kerry looks like a Zombie, Hyrum's Buffalo Story, Kimball horrors of running the theater, Sad eyes Chinese Kick Boxing, Tard cards, Kimball wants to award the Special Olympians by feeding them Kibble's n' Bits, Hyrum likes the wrastles..., what makes the scary corn maze scarier - a dozen retards touching people's hair, Star Wars - Admiral Akbar cereal, Vasectomy Story, Anchorman 2 - over hyped, Bad Grandpa, USA Up All Night - Caged Fury, Hyrum's vasectomy - nurse walks in - Liam kicks and steps on vasectomy balls, Kimball plays bad 80's.]]