Gavin McClurg on Risk Taking

Gavin McClurg is no stranger to adventure and exploration. He is a 2015 National Geographic “Adventurer of the Year” for his unpowered paragliding expedition across the Canadian Rockies. He became the first person to traverse the full length of the Alaska Range by foot and paraglider (unsupported) in 2016. He is the owner, founder and Captain of “Offshore Odysseys”, a global kitesurfing/surfing/sailing expedition. He has twice circumnavigated the world by sail, living at sea for 13 straight years, including short-handed roundings of both notorious capes (Horn and Good Hope).

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Grace Aduroja Kolker on Achievement and Fulfillment

Grace Aduroja Kolker is a coach and someone who is extremely wise when it comes to things like communication, emotional intelligence, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and decision making. Grace is also a lawyer by trade, so she’s going to talk about her background in law and why she didn’t continue down that path of being a practicing lawyer. She also has a journalism background. She is somebody who has had to ask questions for legal purposes, had to ask questions as a journalist, and as somebody who is just ridiculously curious.

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Todd Kashdan on Curiosity and Insubordination

Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, a leading authority on well-being, psychological flexibility, curiosity, courage, and resilience. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and his work has been cited over 35,000 times. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, National Geographic, Fast Company, among other publications, and his research is featured regularly in media outlets such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, NPR, and Time Magazine.

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Nick Tasler on Decision Making

Nick Tasler is an internationally acclaimed thought leader on the science of decisions and their impact on the growth of leaders, teams and organizations. As an organizational psychologist and keynote speaker, Nick has helped tens of thousands of leaders apply a simple decision framework for transforming seasons of change into periods of unprecedented personal and professional growth at the world’s most respected organizations ranging from Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, and Target to 3M, Accenture, the Wharton School, Yale University and more.

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April Dunford on Positioning

April Dunford is the world’s leading expert on product positioning. She works with fast-growing tech companies helping them clearly articulate the value they alone can deliver to customers. She is the author of the bestselling positioning book Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get it, Buy it, Love it.

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Dan Grunfeld on Hope and Thriving

Dan Grunfeld is a former professional basketball player, an accomplished writer, and a proud graduate of Stanford University. An Academic All-American and All-Conference basketball selection at Stanford, Dan played professionally for eight seasons in top leagues around the world, including in Germany, Spain, and Israel. Dan’s writing has been published more than 40 times in media outlets such as Sports Illustrated, The Jerusalem Post, and NBC News.

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Kevin DeShazo on Social Media, Leadership, and Culture

Kevin DeShazo is an author, podcaster, and founder of “Fieldhouse Media,” which helps college athletes, coaches, and administrators be better on social media. Kevin also helps leaders and teams to create a championship culture with his company “Culture Wins.”

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Damon West on Lessons Learned from Prison

Today, Damon West is a college professor who is nationally known keynote speaker and best-selling author. But, it wasn’t always as bright for Damon as it is today. At 20 years old, he was a division one starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he then suffered a career ending injury, turning to hardcore drugs to cope with the disappointments of his life. He robbed a lot of people, he became a burglar, and he ran an organized crime ring, ultimately leading to his incarceration. Damon went to jail for 7+ years. Damon’s story, in the end, is one of redemption, grit, and determination.

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Ed Offterdinger and Catherine Allen on Developing Employees

Ed Offterdinger is Co-founder and Chairman of AO People Partners, a leadership development and people strategies firm. Ed is a strategic advisor and leadership coach with more than thirty years of leadership and client service experience as managing partner and CEO of large advisory companies. Prior to co-founding AO, Ed was Executive Managing Partner of the national advisory firm, Baker Tilly.

Catherine Allen is Co-founder and CEO of AO People Partners. Catherine is passionately dedicated to helping leaders and organizations lean into the power of developing people to drive business success and meaningful social contribution. Catherine brings over 25 years of experience working collaboratively with industry leaders helping them and their organizations to thrive in both the human behavioral and process aspects of performance and organizational effectiveness.

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David Livingston on Optimizing Teams

Managing Partner McChrystal Academy. David Livingston leads a team of subject matter experts, learning designers, and dynamic facilitators who develop and deliver custom learning courses and programs that leverage a variety of experiential learning methods to drive individual growth and higher performance for teams and organizations.

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Sean Magennis on the Power of Collectives

Sean Magennis is the CEO of Capital 54, where he contributes 30 years of experience to entrepreneurs and growing professional service businesses, domestically and all throughout the world. Prior to Capital 54, Sean led a global and diverse team, serving over 30,000 CEOs in 138 countries with combined annual revenues of 9 trillion US dollars. He was the president and COO of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Prior to that, Sean began his business career in management at Dow Chemicals. He ran a professional services firm for 14 years focused on organizational development, consulting, people assessment, and executive search which grew to encompass operations in Canada, the US, and Mexico, where he and his team served several thousand clients.

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Marques Colston on Living his Vision

Marques Colston is in the record books with the New Orleans Saints for being on their all-time best wise receivers. He was recently inducted into their hall of fame, finishing his ten-year career atop the Saints reception list, their receiving yards list, their scrimmage yards list, and their receiving touchdowns list. During those ten years, he also helped lead them to a Super Bowl Championship.

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Brad Stulberg on Groundedness

Brad Stulberg is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and Peak Performance. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, TIME Magazine, and many other outlets. In his coaching practice, he works with executives, entrepreneurs, and physicians on their mental skills and well-being.

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Tom Ripley, CEO of Lids, on Change and Management

Tom Ripley is a Partner and Co-Founder at Ames Watson, a private equity firm that acquired more than a dozen companies in the defense, retail, light manufacturing and service sectors. Over the past 22 years, Tom has developed extensive operating experience across more than two dozen different companies. Today, Tom serves as the Chairman & CEO of Lids Sports Group, South Moon Under, and several smaller holdings. Tom started his career as an infantry and special operations officer in the United States Marine Corps.

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Bernard Muir on Leading with Passion

Bernard Muir is entering his 10th season as the Director of Athletics at Stanford University. Stanford has one of the best programs and departments in the country. During Bernard’s tenure, he has seen 25 NCAA Championships and 34 national titles. He also has been involved with the Learfield IMG College Director’s Cup, which recognizes the best athletic department in the country. Stanford has won it 7 times.

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Scott Mordell on Leading with Principles

Scott Mordell most recently served as the CEO of YPO from 2011 through December 2020. His extensive background in varying industries, geographies, types of organizations and business disciplines has helped him develop important leadership lessons and collaboration skills for success. Prior to YPO, Scott’s experience includes Chamberlain Group, Arlington International Racecourse, HeathCo, Duchossois Industries, Deloitte and KPMG. Scott is currently leveraging his experience providing strategic counsel for leaders through Forrader Group LLC.

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Lars Tiffany on Coaching and Complexity

Lars Tiffany is the Head Coach of the University of Virginia Men’s Lacrosse Program. They have won back-to-back National Championships. Lars has also spent time coaching at his alma mater, Brown University, which is where he played and had a great career. He coached at Brown from 2007-2016 and then took the leap to the University of Virginia, which is a storied lacrosse program, in 2017. He led Brown to 3 Ivy League Championships.

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