David Mays is Senior Public Relations Manager at Amazon where he oversees multiple high impact initiatives. I actually worked with David in my former life at Amazon but we never had a chance for an extended conversation. But as they say, better late than never and today's conversation makes me wish I'd done this earlier. Turns out we have much in common, besides the common employer and the pathological need to run long distances. Prior to Amazon, David has had an expansive career across multiple industries, including public news, the department of defense, and healthcare.

David's father was a Methodist minister and David remembers moving frequently from small town to small town as a kid. He came across a group of runners in one of these towns and insisted on joining them which led to him running his first marathon at the age of 13. This initial catalyst has sparked a lifetime of running, coaching, and the ability to deal with adversity. David has an amazing ability of coaching civilians into champion runners in just about all the places he's worked - this includes coaching his now wife and clinical psychologist Janice Alley who won her age group during her first half marathon race and continues to race competitively today.

In today's episode, we talk about David's childhood and how it sowed seeds for his current narrative, we talk about success as it relates to running and mentorship, and we talk (corporate) talk and explore how David has helped some of the world's biggest corporations shape their own narrative.

Quote

"Running as a discipline has always been something that has prepared me for adversity, for always having two or three option plans when things go wrong , [for] failure and the ability to overcome failure, [and for] the desire and ability to mentor and coach and help others"

Notes

childhood stories and frequently moving

overcoming obesity and running first marathon at age of 13

thoughts on running, mentorship and facing adversity

inviting and coaching non-runners into competitive athletes

taking leaps of faith and working across different industries (public news, defense department, oil, healthcare, consumer, etc)

supporting the CEO of Kaiser Permanente and defining corporate communication strategy

making decisions in short and long time frames

"davy gravy" and work under Bush administration

vision for the future

Closing

inspiration

long distance mentee, captatain in US army, and competitive runner and triathlete suffered medical condition with unsuccessful surgery

seeing her handle situation with calmness and resiliency

surprising fact

used to play the violin

principle

treat other people the way you want to be treated

closing notes

kind words about the podcast and interviews within (thank you David)

Links

K5 News

Kaiser Permanente

Seattle Marathon