Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais

This conversation with Pat Byrne is really about the building of an entrepreneurial venture based on sleep technology. The importance of getting quality sleep is a well accepted principle, research based, and on average we need to get somewhere between seven to eight hours of sleep a night to be the best version of ourselves, to be vibrant, and to have the capacity to think clearly and quickly. Pat has been one of the pioneers in the field that have been able to bridge well-accepted principles in research with emerging technology. There's so many gems and nuggets in this conversation about sleep and where he comes from and how he’s dedicated his life efforts and why he's become a game changer. He’s definitely shifted the way that professional sport franchises, at least many of the ones that I've been involved with or have friends that have been involved in others, have been able to think about sleep. Before he came along with this technology, there was the talk of how important sleep is but now there’s actual

Lawrence Levy is the author of To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History. It was named Amazon’s Best Business and Leadership Book of 2016 Formerly a Silicon Valley lawyer and executive, Lawrence was hired by Steve Jobs in 1994 as CFO and member of the Office of the President of Pixar. He was responsible for guiding Pixar's transformation from a money-losing graphics company into a multibillion-dollar entertainment studio. He later joined Pixar's board of directors. He then left corporate life to study Eastern philosophy and meditation and their relevance to modern life. He now writes and teaches on this topic and cofounded Juniper Foundation to pursue this work. I wanted to learn from Lawrence - how he thinks about taking on challenges -- how he organizes his thoughts around risk taking -- and how he was able to have extreme success on multiple counts (school, business, family, and the journey within, as well). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privac

Krisztina "Z" Holly is an MIT-trained engineer, tech entrepreneur, and pioneer. She was curator and host of the first ever TEDx (TEDxUSC) and founder of two university innovation centers at MIT and USC. Z hosts The Art of Manufacturing podcast and is Chief Instigator of MAKE IT IN LA, LA Mayor Garcetti's non-profit initiative to celebrate and support the nation's largest community of makers and manufacturers. In part 2 of the conversation, we discuss what is often overlooked about the manufacturing industry, how to truly make an impact on the world, and why curiosity, courage, and commitment are three words that embody mastery. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Krisztina Holly is an MIT-trained engineer, tech entrepreneur, and pioneer. She was curator and host of the first ever TEDx (TEDxUSC) and founder of two university innovation centers at MIT and USC. She hosts The Art of Manufacturing podcast and is Chief Instigator of MAKE IT IN LA, LA Mayor Garcetti's non-profit initiative to celebrate and support the nation's largest community of makers and manufacturers. Previously, Krisztina was vice provost for innovation at USC and founding executive director of two innovation centers--MIT Deshpande Center and USC Stevens–which helped launch 39 funded startups and expand innovation ecosystems in Boston and LA. She has been adjunct Professor of Innovation Practice at USC and an advisor and board member to nearly two dozen non-profit and private sector organizations globally, including the Obama Administration and World Economic Forum. I wanted to have this conversation with her to learn how how she develops and innovates at a global scale. She has a track record for bu

This conversation is with Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler. Many of you will remember Steven from our conversation about flow state -- if you missed that, check out episode 16 on Ultimate Human Performance. Jamie and Steven are the co-founders of the Flow Genome Project, which is a collection of world-class academics, athletes and artists dedicated to taking flow from the extreme to the mainstream. I've loved being their friend and being part of their community. Jamie and Steven are completely switched-on : smart, quick and divergent thinkers, lovers of life, and are so curious, that they embody what they're trying to learn. This conversation has very nuanced adult themes -- so -- if you're listening with kids, maybe you'll want to consider listening to this one without them depending on however you roll. Steven and Jamie just wrote a book together called: Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. What I hope you'll take aw

Dr. Brewer is the Director of Research at the Center for Mindfulness and associate professor in Medicine and Psychiatry at UMass Medical School. He is also adjunct faculty at Yale University, and a research affiliate at MIT. He's at ground-zero when it comes to using science to explain how mindfulness is working -- For me, this was a fantastic conversation about his journey toward mastery -- and his very applied insights on applying good science to upgrade or enhance the habits that get you closer to the man or woman that you're working on becoming. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In part one, Cal took us deep and he took us into many different parts of his life that were wonderful and surprising. We also had a banter back and forth about questions and responses to questions and the art of storytelling. In part two, he just takes us for a ride. There are so many wonderful stories that he shares with us and what I want to challenge us to do when we're listening is to listen to the art of storytelling. The nuances and the nuts and bolts of the story are important because they're fun, but see if you can go down just a level deeper or two levels deeper to listen how he's constructing and what he's really articulating through the storytelling craft that he's mastered. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This conversation, just like Cal Fussman, gets better as it goes. I really enjoy the conversations, that at the end, I walk away saying, man I'd love to spend more time him/her….This was one of those conversations. He's known for his skill of asking great questions -- yet his talent of storytelling is world class. Questions are to illicit responses and engagement -- and -- there is so much more beneath the surface of an answer -- body gestures, emotions, hints of motivation, and ultimately, snips of the framework that the person is working to share how they understand the world (and people). It's all in there -- does the responder orientate to protect, to embrace…..to explore, to have fun? And -- Cal takes that understanding to the next level by doing it artistically through storytelling. We all have a story -- thousands of stories. Cal pulls back the curtain to share his -- and the challenge is set for us all to become better at asking questions to learn other's stories -- and -- to become thoughtful o

This conversation is with David Goggins. It's real. This podcast is not for kids -- it's for adults -- who want to understand toughness and authenticity. David is clear. Very clear. He lives in true alignment. He's figured out who he is -- and he lives accordingly. Period. The odds were stacked against David ever making anything of himself. He grew up in an abusive household, barely graduated high school, and struggled with serious health issues, to name just a few of the challenges David had to overcome. In spite of all of these obstacles, David never had a “woe is me” mentality. David is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force tactical air controller training. David has completed multiple ultra-marathons, triathlons, ultra-triathlons, bike races and arduous mountain ascents, setting new course records and regularly placing in the top five. His achievements made

This conversation is with Soren Gordhamer and singer-songwriter, Jewel. This week’s podcast is a bit unique. It’s with singer-songwriter Jewel and also features a guest appearance from Wisdom 2.0 founder Soren Gordhamer. Soren’s brought tech leaders and wisdom leaders together to have a deep exchange of ideas and practices with one purpose: how to better impact the living and working environments for us and maybe the next generation. If you're not familiar with Wisdom 2.0, I encourage you to go check it out. Their next conference is in San Francisco from February 17-19. This conversation is primarily about Jewel - her path, her insights and where her music comes from. Jewel’s path is completely her own, yet at the same time, just like yours, just like mine, just like so many of us. She touches on universal concepts and principles that cut across humanity, that cut across all people. It's the deeper calling to belong to love, to touch our own potential and humanity, to adjust to the difficult and st

Amy Hood is currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft Corporation — whose corporate mission is: “Empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.” This conversation is so good. It’s about so much more than her professional accolades and she’s got them: Harvard MBA, undergraduate degree from Duke in economics, being listed at the #44 spot on the Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list. This conversation is about her commitment to a full life experience, in all of her roles as a woman — as a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a global citizen — and of course as the CFO of one the most influential technology companies in the world, Microsoft. If you’ve ever thought, I’m not sure I can do “that” — whatever “that” is in your life — because you’re too far down the tracks, or you’re not sure how to manage something new — or how to make difficult decisions about work/life engagement — or how to not become consumed with chasing outcomes (while at the same time having wor

Robert Greene is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, and his fifth book, Mastery, which takes a deep dive into the lives of historical figures such as Charles Darwin, Mozart, Paul Graham and Henry Ford. This conversation was on the recommendation from Ryan Holiday (if you haven't had the chance to listen to my conversation with him, it is episode 043). The reason I wanted to sit down with Robert is obvious -- but equally as important as his insights, I wanted to understand what led him to be interested in mastery and power. He has a wonderful way of being committed to principles, and at the same time, being cognitively nimble and agile – a fantastic combination to explore ideas, and at the same time being grounded. We talked about everything from Machiavelli to how people have misused his principles on power – to the importance of having a life task. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California

Anne Devereux-Mills is an incredibly accomplished human. She was the chairman and CEO of a number of ad agencies in New York City – which is a massive undertaking. She then transitioned from the corporate world to non-profit programs such as helping start a school in Uganda. She’s had a phenomenal life journey and faced many obstacles -- including being a single mom of two while battling cancer. Anne is now the Chief Strategy Officer for Lantern, a San Francisco based start up that brings mental wellness programs to underserved populations due to the stigma of mental health, access and cost. She is also the founder of Parlay House, a salon-style gathering of over 800 Bay-area women who meet to pull each other forward through a combination of shared experiences, meaningful content and peer-to-peer connections I wanted to connect with Anne to better understand how she's been able to do so much in her life – not just in one arena, but so many arenas. As a single mom parenting, running a business in a male

This conversation is with Mark Divine. Mark and I first met a number of years ago at a high performance camp (Elite11). Mark served 20 years in the Navy SEALs, retiring in 2011 -- and has taken his insights and best practices from the SEAL's candidate mentoring program to create a warrior-leader training model that involves physical, mental, and emotional, and intuition training -- the idea was to create a training process for corporate teams, sport teams, first responders and warriors from all walks of life -- that were based on what he came to understand from training thousands of special operators candidates across the globe. The company names are SEALFIT (Physical and mental training), and Unbeatable Mind. The reason I wanted to connect with him -- is because he has sincere interest in helping people grow, by pushing their limits, as well as, he has a fantastic command of the basic mental skills that can either accelerate or inhibit progressive learning (pushing boundaries as a way to improve at an acc

This conversation is with Peter McLoughlin - the president of the Seattle Seahawks. When most people think of professional franchises, they think of the athletes, coaches, or general managers. I wanted to better understand what goes into running the business of an elite sport franchise and to better understand how someone switches careers after 21 years of success in one industry to another. Currently, Peter is responsible for all financial and business operations, sales and marketing, sponsorship, and administration of the Seahawks and the business operations for the Portland Trail Blazers. He also directs the management of CenturyLink Field, CenturyLink Field Event Center and WaMu Theater. Before moving to Seattle, he served as CEO of the St. Louis Blues Enterprises from 2006-10. For 21 years prior to joining the Blues, McLoughlin served in a variety of executive roles at Anheuser-Busch. From 1998 to 2006, McLoughlin was vice president of corporate media and served as an officer of the company. He ne

Nic Lamb surfs very large waves. He’s a professional surfer on the Big Wave Tour, and was ranked number 4 in the world last year. A native to the Santa Cruz area in California, Nic is no stranger to a wave called Mavericks. It’s legendary for how heavy the conditions are. At 14 years old, Nic Lamb became one of the youngest surfers to ever charge Mavericks and was one of the youngest competitors in the event in 2014. He won the Mavericks contest in 2016 — you need to take a look at this wave (see below). I wanted to interview Nic to better understand the concept of thinking clearly in rugged environments. We all have real or perceived threats — we can learn from those who excel, on the world stage, in conditions that are very dangerous. More importantly I hope people take away a new way of thinking about risk — maybe a new– way to re-design risk-taking; it’s not about physical risk (which could be a mistake for those who didn’t tune in because they’re not sure how to learn from surfing) — the real risk

George Raveling, referred to by many as “Coach”, is Nike’s Director of International Basketball and has been inducted into numerous hall of fames, including the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. In This Episode -Parents both passing away at a young age and heading to Catholic boarding school -Surrounding yourself with the right people -Importance of challenging yourself -How to get others to believe in themselves -The meaning of environmental control -The tension between accepting someone and challenging them to do more -How the power of storytelling can help people embrace change -Value of increasing self-awareness -Having a purpose in which you live your life -Fueling his “positive reservoir” -Reinventing yourself every 10 years -Investing more time in the “why” instead of the “how” -Taking time to audit your life on a regular basis See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do

Lieutenant Colonel Jannell MacAulay is currently the Commander of the 305th Operations Support Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. She leads a joint team responsible for supporting rapid global mobility to missions ranging from in-flight refueling to combat operations to humanitarian relief. In This Episode: -Why she chose to go to the Air Force academy -Parents instilling from an early age that there were no limits -Rules based vs. value based thinking -The moment she reached a burnout point -Learning to be ok with the imperfect -Her constant battle with finding balance in her life -Why teamwork and self-love are imperative for her -What defines strong leadership -Being motivated by seeing others do well -How she defines success See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Karan Bajaj is a #1 bestselling Indian novelist with more than 200,000 copies of his novels in print, both optioned into major films. Karan has also worked in senior executive roles at companies like Procter & Gamble and the Boston Consulting Group and was named among Ad Age's "Top 40 Under 40 executives" in the US. In This Episode: -Growing up in foothills of the Himalayas -Value of an individual vs. community in different cultures -The meaning of “Dharma” -The 4-1-4 model -Purpose behind taking a year long sabbatical -The misconception of space in the Western World -Why his employers have been ok with him taking a year long sabbatical -How to determine when the right time is for taking this journey -The tangible return of a sabbatical -Why he doesn’t feel a burden to be perfect -The difference between becoming better and revealing yourself See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dacher Keltner is a social psychologist who focuses on the prosocial emotions, such as love, sympathy and gratitude, and processes such as teasing and flirtation that enhance bonds. He is Co-Director of The Greater Good Science Center and the author of Born to Be Good. In This Episode: -Parents enabling to him search for what he loved -The cost of a passionate life -Utilizing your imagination to tackle anxiety by constructing alternatives -Being overwhelmed with panic attacks that exhausted him -Strategies for controlling emotions through breathing -The difference between feelings, emotions, and sensations -The 15 basic themes in life that matter to us -Showing compassion in the right context -How people acquire power -The problems that arise once people obtain heightened power -Key signs that power has corrupted someone -Helping on the movie “Inside-Out” -The pathways to happiness + joy: compassion, awe, and gratitude -The tensions between compassion and power -Understanding when exerting tough compass