Brian Levenson's Reflections from the Aspen Ideas Festivals

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than a lot of our past episodes because it’s just going to be me on here. I’m going to share a lot of my observations, a lot of my notes, from a festival I recently attended called The Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s really a conference, but it’s much more than a conference. It’s where some of the best thought leaders gather to share what’s on their mind, to discuss, they have all kinds of experiences, they have debates, they have panels, they have interactive experiences. I figured I would capture the four days that I spent at the conference with all of you and share it in today’s episode.

Ryan Poles on Building and Sustaining Championship Culture

Ryan Poles is currently the General Manager of the Chicago Bears. Prior to that, he spent 13 years working with the Kansas City Chiefs and helping to build the Super Bowl Champion that they are today. He was heavily involved in the scouting and bringing on the players that you see dominating the NFL today. Ryan also played football at a very high level; he played offensive line for Boston College, and his quarterback at the time was Matt Ryan.

Brian Murphy on Incorporating Mental Skills into a Company

Brian Murphy is a founder, CEO, entrepreneur and investor -- constantly learning and chasing possible. He founded and leads ReliaQuest, the force multiplier of security operations and one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the global cybersecurity market. Murphy has grown ReliaQuest from a boot-strapped startup to high-growth unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion, over 1,000 team members and over $350 million in growth equity with firms such as FTV Capital and KKR Growth.

Paige Thomas on Serving Customers

Paige Thomas has more than 25 years experience in the retail industry with an extensive off-price background and her passion for ecommerce. Paige most recently served as President & CEO of Saks OFF 5TH, leading the business from February 2020 through February 2023. Prior to Saks OFF 5TH, Paige spent eight years at Nordstrom where she launched NordstromRack.com and led the integration of HauteLook. Earlier in her career, Ms. Thomas held merchandising leadership positions at Kohl’s and Fred Meyer.

Sam Puryear on Diamonds in the Rough

Coach Sam Puryear is the Head Coach and the Director of Golf at Howard University. Coach has a ton of accolades: he’s produced one National Championship, he’s won the Big Ten Championship when he was at Michigan State, he coached at Stanford where he was an assistant coach, he’s gotten two coach of the year honors, he’s won a ton of awards, and coach is also an author of the book Diamonds in the Rough.

Wendy Smith on The Power of Paradox

Wendy K. Smith is the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management, faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware and fellow at The Academy of Management. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, where she began her intensive research on strategic paradoxes—how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands.

Michael Bungay Stanier on Teaching, Coaching, and Becoming a Writer

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people know they’re awesome and they’re doing great. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, does what it says on the label. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and dabbles in the ukulele. He’s Australian, and lives in Toronto, Canada.

Laura Gassner Otting on Beyond Wonderhell

A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily, Laura Gassner Otting’s 30-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected national search firm to expand a tech start-up; and founded, ran, and sold her own global search firm, partnering with the full gamut of mission driven corporate and nonprofit executives.

Cate Luzio on Building Luminary

Cate Luzio spent two decades in financial services leading global multibillion-dollar businesses. In a sharp career pivot, she launched Luminary, a gender inclusive, global professional education and networking platform created to address the systemic challenges impacting women across all industries and sectors. Luminary's mission - and Cate's - is to help women and our allies see a path forward by arming them with the tools, resources, and community to navigate their paths -- regardless of their professional journey.

Jackie Insinger on Valuing Values

Jackie Insinger is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and a sought-after leadership and team dynamics consultant. Jackie combines the science of positive psychology, which we talk a lot about in today’s conversation, with revolutionary tools and programs to help leaders increase authentic connection, performance, and fulfillment. Jackie works with teams to build a culture of trust, while guiding them to become more aligned, communicate more effectively, collaborate with ease, and support each other more efficiently.

Annie Murphy Paul on Exploring Creativity

Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Scientific Americans, Slate, Time Magazine, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. She’s the author of three books. Her latest book is The Extended Mind, which we get into quite a bit in today’s conversation. Her TED Talk has been viewed by about three million people.

Dolly Chugh on Striving to be Goodish

Dolly Chugh (she/her, hear my name) is an award-winning professor at the New York University Stern School of Business where she teaches MBA courses in leadership and management. Her research focuses on “bounded ethicality,” which she describes as the “psychology of good people.” She is the author of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, A More Just Future, and the popular Dear Good People newsletter. Dolly’s TED Talk was named one of the 25 Most Popular TED Talks of 2018 and currently has almost 5 million views.

Brian Levenson Reflecting on Grandma Irene and Identity

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than the ones we’ve done in the past. I just had an inspiring experience that I thought would hopefully make all of us think a little bit more about our own identity, our own values, our ancestors, and how those experiences and the experiences of our family members impact us and how we see the world today.

View All, InspirationBrian LevensonMarch 29, 2023Intentional Performers, Podcast, Sport Psychology, Brian LevensonComment

Stevo Luddy on Growth from Pain

Stephen Ludwig has amassed over 4 million followers across all platforms. As a young inspirational speaker, he delivered his life story to various audiences through high school. After noticing the extreme growth of social media, he aimed to build a brand that would spread the message of positivity in ways that public speaking simply could not.

View All, InspirationBrian LevensonMarch 22, 2023Intentional Performers, Podcast, Sport Psychology, Brian Levenson, Stevo LuddyComment

Vanessa Bohns on Using Your Influence

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, and author of the book You Have More Influence Than You Think. She is an expert on help-seeking, social influence, compliance, consent, and why it’s so hard to say no.

Ryan Lavarnway on Finding Belonging

Ryan Lavarnway was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round in 2008 out of Yale University. Since making his Major League debut in 2011, Ryan has played in parts of 10 Major League Baseball seasons for eight different teams. He has also represented Israel in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. More recently Ryan has been building a brand off the field, starting with his podcast and website with more to come!

Lauren Fleshman on Good For a Girl

Lauren Fleshman is one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time. She also is a brand strategy advisory for Oiselle, which is a fitness apparel company for women. She was sponsored by Nike for many years, which she talks about at length in her book, Good for a Girl. She’s also the co-founder of Picky Bars, which is a natural food company. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Runner’s World, and many other places.

Michelle "Mace" Curran on Inspiring Others

Michelle Curran has led an impressive career as a Fighter Pilot during her 13 years in the United States Air Force. From 2019-2021, she flew as the only female pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds and performed for millions across the country and internationally. Before joining the Thunderbirds, Michelle was a combat proven fighter pilot completing missions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Clint Hurdle on Leading with Love

Clint Hurdle has been involved with professional baseball for a long time. He played in the league for 10 years, where he played for the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Clint was the manager of the Colorado Rockies form 2002-2009, where he helped them go to the World Series, and then he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he helped them go to 3 straight playoff appearances from 2013-2015. He was with the Pirates from 2011-2019.

Safi Bahcall on Loonshots

Safi Bahcall went to Harvard for undergrad and then went on to get a PhD in Physics from Stanford. After he finished up his education, he went on to work for 3 years as a consultant for McKinsey. He then co-founded a bio-technology company where they develop new drugs for cancer treatment. He led their IPO and served as their CEO for many years. In 2011, he worked with President Obama’s Council of Science Advisors on the Future of National Research. His book, Loonshots, which is his first book, has been translated into 21 languages and was selected as a Best Business Book of the Year by Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, and more.

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