Tanya Vogel has been a distinguished leader in collegiate athletics for nearly 3 decades. Recently, she concluded her tenure as the Director of Athletics at George Washington University; she served in that position for 7 years. Her journey at GW began in 1992 as a student and All-American soccer player. She’s in GW’s hall of fame and she earned multiple degrees at GW including a BS, and MS, and an MBA. She’s also a recognized national figure; she’s served on key NCAA committees and chaired the Atlantic 10 Athletic Director’s Council.

Jay Wright has become a mainstay in the world of College Basketball. He was recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he’s won 2 National Championships (one in 2016 and one in 2018), and he took a team to the Final Four in 2009, becoming one of the all-time greats when it comes to college basketball. He’s led Villanova, the team he coaches, to 6 Big East Conference Championships and 14 NCAA Tournaments.

Candace Parker is one of the best basketball players to ever lace up their sneakers. In high school, Candace won the 2003 and 2004 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She won player of the year honors in college before becoming the first pick of the WNBA draft.

Ryan Holiday wrote the books, “The Obstacle is the Way,” “Ego is the Enemy,” “The Daily Stoic,” “Conspiracy” and “Stillness is the Key,” to name a few. He’s written ten books and he is continuing to write. At his core, he is a writer and a media strategist. He’s worked in marketing, and he’s worked with prominent best-selling authors such as Neil Strass, Tony Robbins, and Tim Ferris.

Muffet McGraw, previously the head coach of Notre Dame Women’s Basketball, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2017. As a coach, she’s a 2x National Champion. She is one of 5 coaches, men’s or women’s, in NCAA Division I history with over 930 wins, 9 final fours, and multiple NCAA Championships. Muffet is also the all-time wins leader among single sport coaches in the history of Notre Dame athletics.

Johanna Faries is currently the General Manager of Call of Duty. She is highly involved, especially with their Esport league, where she is head of the league. She was also the commissioner of Call of Duty Esports before transitioning to this role. Prior to that, she worked at the National Football League where she was Vice President, she was involved in business development and marketing strategy and fan development, and she was on a pathway to continue to rise up that corporate “ladder.” She’s also a musician.

Dan Pink joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Dan is a very well-known author that has six provocative books about business and human behavior.

Quin Snyder was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school, eventually going on to play basketball at Duke, where he went to 3 Final Fours as a player. At the age of 32, Quin became the head coach of the University of Missouri Men’s Basketball Team. Today, he’s the head coach of the Utah Jazz, a perennial playoff team in the NBA. Quin has been integral in creating an incredible culture and an incredible core of young players in Utah.

Sian Beilock studies how performance anxiety can be exasperated or alleviated in the simple strategies we use to ensure success under pressure. In addition to that, Sian is the president at Barnard College at Columbia University. Prior to her appointment as President, she served as the University of Chicago Executive Vice Provost.

Chris Cassidy is currently an astronaut that was previously a Navy Seal from the Naval Academy. Chris was an honor graduate of basic underwater demolition with the Seal Buds Class 192, and he received a bronze star for his work leading a 9-day operation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Elton Brand had an NBA career that spanned 16 1/2 years. During that time, he was a two-time all-star and one of the top power forwards in the league. He entered the league as the first overall pick in 1999 where he became the co-rookie of the year. Before that, he had an illustrious career at Duke University.

Nik Wallenda has 11 Guinness World Records and has completed a list of never-before-seen death defying feats. He has written his name in history as the king of the highwire. Additionally, Nik has performed live in every state in the US and all over the world. He has garnered the support from tens of millions of viewers on network television specials on ABC, The Discovery Channel, and others.

Annie Duke is the bestselling author of Thinking in Bets and How to Decide. Her new book, Quit, is going to be the subject of a lot of our conversation today. Annie is a corporate speaker and consultant in the decision-making space. She’s also a former professional poker player, where she won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring from the game in 2012.

Shaka Smart is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Marquette University. He was previously the Head Coach at the University of Texas. Prior to that, he was the Head Coach at VCU, where he helped get them to a Final Four.

Spike Mendelsohn is a world-renowned chef and he has worked with some of the top chefs in the world including Thomas Keller, Sirio Maccioni, and Drew Nieporent.

Kelly McGonigal works as a health psychologist, and she talks a lot about today the power of impacting people, not just with her books and her TED Talk (which has over 30 million views, making it one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time), but also on a one-on-one level as a mentor. She’s also an exercise instructor, and as a health psychologist she specializes in understanding the mind-body connection.

David Epstein is the author of 2 books: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, a #1 NY Times best seller, and The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athlete Performance, another NY Times best seller. He was previously a science and investigative reporter at ProPublica, and prior to that, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated.

Julie Lythcott-Haims believes in humans and is deeply interested in what gets in our way. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the anti-helicopter parenting manifesto How to Raise an Adult which gave rise to a TED Talk that has more than 5 million views. Her second book is the critically-acclaimed and award-winning prose poetry memoir Real American, which illustrates her experience as a Black and biracial person in white spaces. A third book, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult, is out now.

Tim Chi is the Chief Executive Officer of The Knot Worldwide. In 2019, Tim became CEO of The Knot Worldwide following the merger of XO Group Inc. (parent company of The Knot) and WeddingWire Inc. Previously, Tim co-founded Blackboard Inc. in 1998. While at Blackboard, Tim pioneered many of Blackboard’s flagship products and strategic initiatives, bringing technology into the classrooms of colleges, universities and school districts across the world.

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, which is a Chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society. Amy has been recognized by the Biannual Thinkers50 Global Ranking of Management Thinkers since 2011, and recently was ranked #1 in 2021. She’s received that organization’s Breakthrough Idea Award in 2019 and Talent Award in 2017. Among other things, she studies teaming and psychological safety, a key focus of our conversation in this episode.

Patty McCord is the author of the best-selling book "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility," which was published in 2018 and translated into 12 languages. She served as chief talent officer of Netflix for fourteen years and helped create the Netflix Culture Deck. Since it was first posted on the web, the Culture Deck has been viewed more than 15 million times, and Sheryl Sandberg has said that it "may be the most important document ever to come out of Silicon Valley.”

Dr. Michael Gervais is the co-founder of the company Compete to Create with Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and has worked with the Seahawks, NBA players, and Microsoft. He is a renowned public speaker with a deep understanding of how to find clarity and thrive under pressure.

Chris Voss used many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the business world through his company, which is called The Black Swan Group. Prior to 2008, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s hostage working group. During his career, he’s also represented the US Government as an expert in kidnapping at two international conferences sponsored by the G8.

Admiral John Richardson served 37 years in the US Navy, completing his service as the Chief of Naval Operations where he was the top officer in the Navy and responsible for 600,000 people under his watch. Before that, he served as the Director of Naval Reactors from 2012-2015. Since his retirement, he’s continued to serve. He’s on the board of directors of the Boeing Company, Constellation Energy Corporation, and BMX Technologies.

Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of Hint. You’re probably familiar with Hint, they’re best known for their award-winning water, which is really a leading unsweetened flavor water category. She’s been featured in magazines, won awards, she’s an active speaker, a podcaster, and she’s got a fantastic book which we cover in today’s conversation as well.

Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic and the former editor-in-chief of WIRED. Thompson is a former contributor to CBS News, where he regularly appeared on CBS This Morning and CBS Sunday Morning. He is a cofounder of The Atavist, a National Magazine Award–winning digital publication and multimedia content management system that was sold to WordPress in 2018. Thompson previously served as editor of NewYorker.com.

Gregg Berhalter is the Head Coach for the United States Men’s National Soccer Team. Before that, Gregg was the Head Coach for the Columbus Crew in the MLS. He also worked in Europe, where he was the first American to be a Head Coach of a European soccer team. Gregg also played for the US National Team from 1994-2006, also playing with the under-20 National Team in 1993.

Torrey Smith went to the University of Maryland and played football, and then went up the street to play professional football for the Baltimore Ravens after being selected in the 2nd round of the NFL draft. He ended up playing in the NFL for 8 years where he spent the majority of his career on the Ravens, winning a Super Bowl with them and also with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Charles Duhigg is a best-selling author. His first book, The Power of Habit, is all about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies, and societies. His next book, Smarter, Faster, Better is all about productivity. He currently writes for the New Yorker Magazine; previously, he wrote for The New York Times.

Tolu Olubunmi’s innovative thinking and desire for change have led to her becoming the founder and CEO of Lion’s Write which gives voices to the voiceless. Additionally, she was named one of 15 Women Changing the World in 2015 by the World Economic Forum and has given speeches at NYU, the World Bank, and the White House as she advocates for equality.