Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais

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

Michealene Risley is an award-winning writer, director and human rights activist. In This Episode: -Being a “master” of empathy -Why she’s hesitant to include dominance in the definition of mastery -Growing up with dark secrets that she wasn’t initially prepared to face -How slamming her hand in a car door proved to be a life altering moment -Why her childhood experiences have given her a keen eye for picking up on other people’s emotions and past experiences -Making a documentary in Zimbabwe and being thrown in jail -Why the hardest moment in her life was her not being true to her family mission -Comparing and contrasting external success vs. the internal experience See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Max Baumann is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of The Chill Group, Inc., makers of JUST CHILL® beverages as well as the Founder & President of BASEMAKERS, LLC, an outsourced sales management company in the food and beverage industry. In This Episode: - Philosophy behind his company Just Chill - Why he dropped out of college - The moment when he realized he needed to give up a dream - Growing up in the shadow of his father’s success - What heart means to him - Seeing everyone stressed out at the airport and realizing there was a problem - How he got into the Wharton Fellows Program - A relentless pursue to understand from other people and books - Creating mutually beneficial relationships See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Drew Bledsoe was a star quarterback at Washington State University before he skipped his senior year to go professional. In 1993, he was the No. 1 NFL draft pick and joined the New England Patriots. After nearly eight years he was traded to the Buffalo Bills, then moved to the Dallas Cowboys, before retiring in 2007. Post NFL, Bledsoe pursued a longtime aspiration of owning a winery, which would allow him to combine his passion for fine wine and love of the Walla Walla Valley. In This Episode: -How his parents fueled his curiosity growing up -Why public speaking was the most important class he ever took -The moment where his mentality on going for it changed forever -Why a strong family structure allowed him to not be afraid of failure -Why football was never on the list of his top 3 goals -Putting an emphasis on the minutia on and off field -The most important interview question he asks -How he dealt with losing his job to Tom Brady -Leadership in understanding when people needed a hug vs. the whip -Visualiz

Vern Gambetta is recognized internationally as an expert in training and conditioning for sport having worked with world-class athletes and teams in a wide variety of sports. In This Episode: -Learning to control his temper growing up -Being impacted by his dad’s strong worth ethic and mom’s appetite for learning -Not wanting to be labeled anything but “a coach” -Being fascinated by what it takes to be the best in the world -The importance of knowing what it takes to prepare -How he helps people focus on the present moment -The common qualities he sees in great coaches -Finding the right work/life balance -Learning to enjoy the moment rather than focus on what’s next See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lee Clow has been making this thing called “advertising” for more than 40 years. He started at Chiat Day in Los Angeles when there were 10 people and 2 accounts and has been there ever since. In This Episode: -Growing up adopted post WWII -Identifying his passion for art early on -The meaning of “applied art” -How the advertising agency shifted to mavericks leading the way -Looking for the things he could become obsessive about -Why he was drawn to advertising -How the idea originated for the Apple Genius Bar -Finding the romance in advertising, looking for the emotional center of a brand -From form to formless – having a disruptive nature -Working closely with Steve Jobs and why “impute” mattered -Why he’s most proud of the relationships along the journey -Behind the scenes of Apple’s “Think Different” campaign -Needing resiliency to overcome the downside of the advertising business -Finding ideas in listening See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com

Paul Assaiante, current coach of the Men's Squash team at Trinity College, is known for his unique achievement as the “winningest coach in college sports history”, winner of 15 NCAA Championships titles, and 22-year dedication as squash coach. In This Episode: -Obsessing over the outcome at an early age -Identifying his calling.. to be a college coach -Why he’s more fascinated by losing than winning -Utilizing practice as a time for failure -Why practice is everything -Teaching kids to value the process over outcome -What proper preparation looks like -The awesome power of now -Why people fail to perform under the lights -Pride vs. ego -How he gets in his own way -His philosophy… the ship must move forward -Observation as his mindfulness practice See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Caroline Leaf is a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology specializing in Neuropsychology. Since the early 1980‘s she has studied and researched the Mind-Brain connection. In This Episode: -The difference between the mind and the brain -Why it mattered that people believed in her growing up -How to increase awareness of thoughts -The mind as an iceberg: explaining the conscious vs. unconscious parts of your mind -The process in which one atomizes their thoughts -Why we are naturally wired for love -Non-judgmental framework as a component of optimal mindset -The toxic thoughts that get in people’s way -The time it takes to form a habit See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.