Passing The Torch

As the Captain of a nuclear submarine, David Marquet created Intent-based Leadership. He is a nationally recognized speaker and authored the Amazon bestseller Turn the Ship Around.

Overcoming the obstacle that restricts leaders from admitting that they don’t know something can be very difficult. David attributes this to leaders often thinking that leadership is a theoretical skill and provides a comparison that simplifies the type of skill that it really is. 

People learn more from failure than they do from success. David shares some of the failures that have shaped him into who he is today and reflects on what he learned from them. We also hear about the two types of ego that are competing inside of us whenever we are put under pressure.

BIO: 

David Marquet (MAR-KAY) was assigned to command the nuclear powered submarine USS Santa Fe, then ranked last in retention and operational standing. He “turned his ship around” by treating the crew as leaders, not followers, and giving control, not taking control. This revolutionary approach not only took the Santa Fe from “worst to first” in the rankings, but also created more subsequent leaders than any other submarine. Stephen R. Covey called the Santa Fe “the most empowering organization [he’d] ever seen” and wrote about Captain Marquet’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit. 

Captain Marquet is the author of Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders. Fortune magazine named it the #1 must-read business book of the year, and USA Today listed it as one of the top 12 business books of all time. 

David Marquet is here today to deliver the powerful message that in highly effective organizations, leadership is not for the select few at the top; he will tell you how he and the crew of Santa Fe developed a way to create leaders at every level. 

More about guest can be found here:

Website: https://www.davidmarquet.com

YouTube: Leadership Nudges-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM6PvFiH_weNCMCnFynTNdg

Even More about the guest: 

Student of leadership and organizational design, former nuclear submarine commander, Author of Amazon #1 Best Seller: Turn the Ship Around! And The Turn the Ship Around! Workbook, and one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers for 2018. 

David Marquet imagines a work place where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have more control over their work–a place where everyone is a leader. 

A 1981 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Captain Marquet served in the U.S. submarine force for 28 years. After being assigned to command the nuclear powered submarine USS Santa Fe–then ranked last in retention and operational standing–he realized the traditional leadership approach of “take control, give orders,”

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Thomas Case is a TWO-time recipient of the Silver Star.  This award is the third-highest military combat decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces. It is awarded for gallantry in action.   

SOURCE: https://valor.defense.gov/Description-of-Awards/

More about guest can be found here:

https://www.stripes.com/news/air-controller-becomes-just-3rd-airman-to-earn-2nd-silver-star-1.314233

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/554378/tacp-receives-second-silver-star-medal/

https://www.airforcetimes.com/education-transition/jobs/2014/11/13/tacp-airman-joins-ranks-of-military-s-most-decorated/

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Bio: 

Warren Triche is a Senior Enlisted military leader who manages a large organization.  In this episode he shares lessons learned from past experiences throughout his career and how to move forward.

Show Notes:

• Opening 0:00
• Podcasting as form of mentorship 1:07
• Leadership mindset and techniques that have changed since 1995 2:45
• Struggle of being a leader and facing challenges today versus the past 5:40
• Leaders leveraging social media 8:48
• Effective leadership techniques that have stood the test of time 12:15
• Being open, approachable, perception, and body language 16:30
• Leaders being afraid, not self-aware, and talking about their failures 21:45
• Vulnerability as a tool to establish more meaningful relationships 24:25
• Personal story about past failure that set him up for later success 25:10
• Potential of Chief Triche podcast #TricheDish 37:00
• Message on a billboard 38:00

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In this impromptu episode, I speak with Mr. B.J. Lange, actor, comedian, acting teacher, and comedy coach for the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program.

Here’s some of the wisdom BJ Lange shared;

• His journey as a temporarily medically retired Air Force Reservist...after joining the Air Force Reserve at the age of 35
• What he’s learned after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer for the second city
• How he is using improv to take a different perspective on cancer
• The physical and mental struggles of cancer that he deals with…and how he deals with it
• How he’s coming to terms with this new chapter in his legacy

Moments You Don’t Want to Miss

[3:08] B.J. explains his unusual entry into the military

[5:21] Reflecting back on his journey through cancer

[8:00] How did comedy help him process cancer?

[10:50} Does it take something like a cancer diagnosis to make us wake up?

[11:50] Acting-B.J.’s one true career love

[15:09] Cracking jokes while puking in the toilet-B.J.’s unique approach to deal with cancer using humor

[20:54] Why healing from cancer is more than getting into remission

[22:04] I’m still learning my new normal

[22:10] You are not broken, you’re redesigned”

[25:00] The invisible wounds & resiliency

[29:14} If you could have a billboard, what would it say?

Key Quotes from guest BJ Lange

(About his acting career) “I’m just a broke actor following my heart”

(About testicular cancer) “Let me be clear to your listeners…Just because, I’m a 2x cancer survivor, that does not mean that I’m a flatbagger. I still one lefty. I’m holding out for the hero.

{About his legacy) “I’ve always enjoyed being a source of inspiration. That is what drives me in my life and everything that I do.”

About Our Guest

B.J. Lange is an actor, comedian, TV host, comedian, acting teacher, temporarily retired Air Force Medic, comedy coach for Air Force Wounded Warrior Program and for improv instructor for veterans at 2ndCity, and 2x cancer survivor. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is currently in remission.

Learn more about and get in touch

B.J. Lange on IMDB

BJ Lange on Twitter

BJ Lange on Instagram

B.J. Lange on LinkedIn

Additional Links

Air Force Invisible Wounds Initiative

Air Force Wounded Warrior Program

Testicular Cancer Society

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Heath Trepanier- Resilience is making mistakes and coming back from them

In January of 2017, US Air Force Technical Sergeant Heath Trepanier (“Trep”) was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer when a cantaloupe-sized tumor was found in his abdomen. He continues to exceed the doctors’ expectations and was recently able to travel to Hawaii for an Air Force Wounded Warrior event.

Trep has a very realistic, but optimistic outlook on his life.  His illness has provided him with a new perspective of life and taught him to be resilient. Rather than taking things for granted, he is now more intentional about leaning into his family, friends, and faith for the support he needs as he approaches each new challenge with the intention to learn from it and make the best of what is presented to him.

Recognizing that everyone has their own struggles, he encourages everyone listening to be the best they can be, lead by example, and follow through on the goals they set. Trep emphasizes the importance of being involved in a community and having friends to hold you accountable and encourage you to carry on.

Show Notes:

• Trep discusses overcoming challenges and what resilience means to him (3:33)
• Important skills that will help you face hardship (6:01)
• How the Air Force Wounded Warrior project has helped Trep (8:30)
• The benefits of lessons from his childhood in developing mental toughness (10:28)
• Trep’s words of encouragement to a teammate after their basketball game (13:00)
• What perseverance looks like when lived out (14:54)
• Other wounds that veterans deal with but society doesn’t understand (16:00)
• How Trep has turned trial into triumph (17:43)
• What Trep’s billboard would say (22:09)

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Connect with Air Force Wounded Warrior:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AirForceWoundedWarrior/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afw2/

Website: https://www.woundedwarrior.af.mil/

Quotes:

“Cancer is battling with me.”

“Resilience is making mistakes and coming back from them.”

“Go into it with an open mindset and be thankful for what you’ve got.”

“Leaders have a way of pushing others to be better.”

“The people I have met along the way make every minute of my suffering worth it.”

More about guest:

For more about Heath Trepanier’s story, please check out this article from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Link: https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1599688/theyre-battling-with-me-nco-fights-cancer/

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Celeste Headlee-How to have a good conversation

One of the many advantages of social media is that it connects the world.  However, in a world where everyone is accessible, why are people so isolated and afraid to talk?

Communication and Human Nature Expert, Award-winning journalist, and Author

Celeste Headlee is an award-winning journalist, professional speaker and author of Heard Mentality and We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter.  In her 20-year career in public radio, she has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Radio and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.  She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, from PRI and WNYC, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel.  Celeste’s TEDx Talk sharing 10 ways to have a better conversation has over 15 million total views to date.  

As an NPR host and journalist, Celeste has interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life.  Through her work, she has learned the true power of conversation and its ability to both bridge gaps or deepen wounds.  In a time when conversations are often minimized to a few words in a text message and lack of meaningful communication and dialogue abounds, Celeste sheds a much-needed light on the lost and essential art of conversation.  Celeste is an expert in human nature, reclaiming common humanity and finding well-being and frequently provides insight and commentary on what is good for all humans and what is bad for us, focusing the best research in neuro and social science to increase understanding of how we relate with one another and can work together in beneficial ways in our workplaces, neighborhoods, communities and homes.  As a mixed race journalist of black and Jewish descent, Celeste also speaks candidly about how to converse on race and other difficult subjects. 

Celeste serves as an advisory board member for Procon.org and is an official spokeswoman for Plenty of Fish.  Her work and insights have been featured on TODAY, Psychology Today, Inc., NPR, Time, Essence, Elle, BuzzFeed, Salon, Parade, and many more.  She lives in Washington, D.C. 

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Website: https://www.celesteheadlee.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celeste.headlee

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/osttalk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@celesteheadlee

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=celeste+headlee

Purchase book:

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Melissa Stockwell-Choose Your Own Story

Freedom comes at a price.  War is known to cause physical wounds.  Something that might be slightly overlooked are other wounds.  For example, emotional, mental and other forms of invisible wounds. 

In 2004, Melissa lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq, and her life was forever changed. After being medically retired from the Army in April 2005 with a Purple Heart and bronze star, all the hard work began. She found support with her Chicago-based paratriathlon club, Dare2Tri. Melissa is the first American woman to lose a limb in active combat and also competed in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Since 2008, her primary focus has been firmly placed on the sport of Paratriathlon. Melissa has competed all around the world and has stood on top of many podiums, and is a three times World Champion. In 2016, Paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympic Games and Melissa raced her way to bronze as part of a USA team and in 2017 Melissa went on to secure a silver medal at the Sarasota ITU Paratriathlon World Cup.

Melissa has not let anything stop her and continues to inspire others.  Since 2004, Melissa has become a War Veteran · 3x World Champion - 2x Paralympian · Bronze Medalist · Triathlon Coach · Dare2tri Co-Founder · Motivational Speaker - First female amputee of Iraq - Mother · Patriot.

Show Notes:

• Balancing family life (0:54)
• Speaking at CIA Headquarters (03:35)
• Life before the military (04:38)
• Why Melissa chose Army over any other service (05:40)
• Her reaction to 9/11 (06:00)
• Fateful day in her life- 13 April 2004 (06:55)
• Why she felt lucky when arriving to Walter Reed (10:40)
• Defining the word perspective (11:50)
• What society can do to help heal invisible wounds (13:48)
• Starting life after 2004 (16:54)
• Turing personal tragedy into triumph (17:20)
• Perception about Paralympians (21:39)
• Awkward questions Melissa receives about her leg and funny stories (23:23)
• Movie title about her life (27:05)

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Website: http://melissastockwell.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MStockwell01/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mstockwell01/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MStockwell01?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Connect with DARE2TRI:

Website: http://www.dare2tri.org

Quotes:

 " I learned that in life, sometimes the journey is more important than the destina

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Lior Arussy - Change, drive it or be driven by it

One of the world’s leading authorities on customer experience, Lior Arussy is an experienced change practitioner, success accelerator, corporate culture expert, and founder of design and transformation firm Strativity Group. Called “a triple threat of transformation” by co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company William Taylor, Arussy is a unique, critical, global voice helping people worldwide achieve ultimate success.

In his newest book, Next is Now: 5 Steps for Embracing Change - Building a Business that Thrives into the Future  Arussy provides expertise, insights and actionable tools to empower individuals and business leaders to embrace change and build careers/companies that thrive both now and in the future.

In this episode Lior shares tips for transformation and change. Learn more about Lior’s book as well as tools to accelerate change and promote change resilience.

Show Notes: 

• What Lior is about (4:10)
• Debunking Lior’s job title (7:18)
• Mobilizing people to get them where they want to be (9:55)
• Intrinsic motivated (12:50)
• Negative trends in large companies (13:40)
• Predictability and consistency (15:40)
• Losing relevancy in the market place (16:30)
• Lior’s book Next Is Now (17:23)
• Own change, don’t be owned by change (17:40)
• Root causes of failure (18:35)
• Developing change resilience (20:00)
• People aren’t the tools; the tools are there to help them and accelerate change (23:30)
• Filter the change that is relevant to you (26:15)
• Looking at change as available tools to accelerate your core cause (26:45)
• Tips and guidance for leaders to promote change resilience (36:00)
• People follow actions not just words (37:40)
• Own the conversation (38:00)
• What Lior Arussy would be on a billboard (42:20)

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Book:  Next is Now: 5 Steps for Embracing Change - Building a Business that Thrives into the Future

Website: https://strativity.com/who-we-are/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiorStrativity

Quotes:

“Every change is a personal choice.”

“You should not wait until you have a fully baked plan for your change program because it is going to be pivoting.”

More about guest:

In addition to his work with Strativity, Arussy is the author of seven books including the forthcoming Next is Now: 5 Steps for Embracing Change – Building a Business that Thrives into the Future (May 2018, Simon

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****DISCLAIMER**** The views and comments made by host and guest do not represent the views nor are they in association with the United States military.****

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force-Attitude Reflects Leadership

Chief Master Sergeant of the US Air Force (CMSAF), Kaleth Wright, is the 18th and current CMSAF. Though Chief Wright’s judgment in football teams may be unfortunate, the loyalty he shows to the Dallas Cowboys echoes his commitment to the Airmen under his command and his desire to see them thrive.

Chief Wright would be the first to tell you that behind his successful career, stand a series of failures that propelled him to persevere, develop the compassion, and sincerity that allow him to represent the highest enlisted level of leadership in the US Air Force today.

CMSAF Wright has not forgotten where he came from.  As a result, CMSAF Wright has applied the mentorship he received along the way by utilizing emotional intelligence and wisdom to lead. He aims to develop relationships with the Airmen under his authority by taking an interest in their lives.  This ACTION STYLE of leadership is only possible when a leader is willing to have a positive influence and talk with those under their guidance.

Chief Wright naturally sees the good in people and has repeatedly seen the mutual benefit in investing in them to help them achieve their goals. The leader sets the tone for his people, and as the classic movie “Remember the Titans” so wisely put it: Attitude reflects leadership.

Chief Wright is a lifelong learner and is committed to deliberate personal development in a number of ways.  Examples include reading a couple of books a week and listening to podcasts during his work commute. His current top three book recommendations are: (1) “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, (2) “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, and (3) “As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen.

Show Notes:

• Thoughts on “Enlisted Jesus” Moniker (03:30)
• Using social media as vehicle for transparency (04:30)
• Advice to leaders wanting to leverage social media to connect
• How to build an effective relationship with someone who wants to be isolated (05:40)
• What leaders can do to stay in touch with ground truth (07:15)
• Positive attitude and influence
• Best conversations leaders can have to unleash the potential in their people (10:50)
• Person that inspired Chief Wright and ignited his charge (15:20)
• Unusual successful habits Chief Wright has
• Book recommendations (17:40)
• Personal philosophy and Failing forward (20:30)
• How past failure helped him in the future (21:44)
• Why he believes in others (23:20)
• If Chief Wright had a billboard, the message he would want on it (24:24)

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Facebook:

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Benjamin Hardy is Medium.com’s number one writer, a PhD candidate at Clemson University and the author of Willpower Doesn’t Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success. In his book, Benjamin addresses the concept willpower is nothing more than a dangerous fad that is bound to lead to failure. He focuses on self-improvement, motivation and entrepreneurship. Benjamin has been featured on Forbes, Huffington Post and Business Insider, just to name a few.

In this podcast Benjamin discusses the importance of failure, how people are impacted by their surroundings and environment, determining factors of success and why willpower doesn’t work.

Show Notes:

• Benefits of failure (1:52)
• Failures that set you up for success (3:00)
• There’s a difference between having a large email list and having a loyal following (3:35)
• How people can surround themselves with people and things that help them reach their goals (4:33)
• The power of subconscious behavior (6:00)
• How people are reactively becoming the product of a destructive environment (7:05)
• Creating an environment that facilitates your goals and aligns with the person you want to become (7:20)
• Why willpower isn’t a good way to solve problems (8:00)
• Determining factors in who you are, who you become and the decisions you make (9:01)
• Changes people can make to invest in themselves and upgrade their environment (11:40)
• The difference between entrepreneurs and “wanna be” entrepreneurs (14:48)
• Trends of unsuccessful leaders (18:40)
• Becoming a mentor, motivator and source of inspiration (25:28)
• Thinking at scale (27:40)
• Being changed by your experiences (29:00)
• What Benjamin would put on a billboard (29:45)

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Connect with Ben Hardy:

Benjaminhardy.com

Quotes:

You get in life what you are willing to tolerate. If people treat you poorly, it’s because you tolerate that.

Once you start investing money in yourself, you start creating your subconscious beliefs about what you can have.

There’s no way you can will your way out of something.

Leadership in general is not something you can rush through.

One of the best ways to learn is to teach.

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