All About Skills!

Coaches Tom Anstett and Tom McCormack have a combined 92 years of coaching experience, having developed winning programs in major high schools in the Chicagoland area. Together they embody the qualities of coaches and teachers that constitute winning programs that not only provide victories but lay solid foundations for the lives of their players.

Late last year, Coach Anstett and Tom McCormack published a terrific book – endorsed by many of the top collegiate coaches in the United States – called “Victory is in the Details: Building a Basketball Program.” You can buy the book on Amazon.com by clicking HERE.

As Duke University coach Mike Krezyzewski said, “Coaches at every level of our sport can learn from this book. They have articulated clearly about the attributes of building a highly successful program and, more importantly, relay it to readers in a way that is practical and easy to understand.”

Tom Anstett has coached for 38 of his 41 years in secondary education. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater, (Chicago) Quigley North Seminary High School where he was mentored by IBCA Hall of Fame Coach Bill Schaefer. Tom was the head coach at (Elmhurst) Immaculate Conception High School, (Northbrook) Glenbrook North High School, and (Elmhurst) York High School. He earned IBCA District Coach of the Year twice with more than 275 wins. For 13 years Tom has been an assistant at (New Lenox) Lincoln-Way Central High School and finished at (Frankfort) Lincoln-Way East High School.

Tom McCormack has coached basketball at all levels for 50 years. He was a head high school basketball coach for 33 years, 32 of them at (Hoffman Estates) Conant High School after a year at the helm of (Elmhurst) Immaculate Conception High School. His teams won a total of 14 IHSA Regional titles, 5 IHSA Sectional crowns, and 1 IHSA Super-sectional victory. His 1993-94 team played in the IHSA Class AA Elite Eight. 17 times, Tom’s teams earned 18+ victories in a season. His career victory record stands at 593.

Natalie’s career has taken her from Silicon Valley to the Fortune 100 and into entrepreneurship, but being raised in Republic, OH (population 600) is where she learned her greatest leadership lessons. Natalie uses these lessons from small town living to help leaders and organizations create big success in the world.

In addition to being a 10-year 4-H member and repeat State Fair champion in public speaking, Natalie is a two-time graduate of The Ohio State University and Professional Coach accredited through the International Coach Federation. She has 20+ years of experience coaching, developing leaders, and strengthening teams in the non-profit, higher education, and corporate sectors. She works both 1:1 and in small groups, coaching clients to help them be more connected – to themselves, their work, families, and communities. She is a frequent speaker at leadership, university, and corporate events.

Natalie resides in Dublin, Ohio with her husband, Rob, and two young daughters. When she’s not writing, speaking or coaching, she enjoys mentoring students, training for endurance athletic events, and improving her golf game.

Let Her Out: Reclaim Who You Have Always Been is Natalie’s first book.

Learn more at: smalltownleadership.com or letherout.com

John Dalton was our 70th Secretary of the Navy, serving from July 1993 until November 1998.

John is my US Naval Academy classmate – the great class of 1964 and a fellow nuclear submariner.

John attended Louisiana State University before going to the Naval Academy, graduated with distinction and entered the US Naval nuclear power program.

He served in the nuclear submarine force until 1969, earn his MBA degree from the Wharton School, and embarked on a career that was mixed with corporate and government experience.

In 1993, President Clinton nominated him to become our 70th Secretary of the Navy.

Christine Davies is the Founder and CEO of Poligage – the world’s first online marketplace for public policy insights and government affairs and services. Poligage helps companies and organizations find the expertise they need, right when they need it.

Christine has built her 20-year career around the intersections of the public and private sectors, with leadership roles in the government, business, technology, and not-for-profit sectors both in the United States and internationally.

She initially served at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of State, where she worked on a variety of global economic and development issues, and later served as the International Trade Specialist at the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand.

She served as a Business Development Manager within the Public Sector Services Division at Microsoft – then gained more international experience as Vice President for Partnerships at the Asia Society in New York.

For the past year, she has been building the Poligage network and business. Click HERE to go to the Poligage website.

From humble beginnings, Jeffrey Shaw became one of the most preeminent portrait photographers in the United States. His on-location style and fine craftsmanship made him the go-to photographer for families of C-suite executives of Anheuser-Busch, Twitter, and many others, Supermodel Stephanie Seymour, news anchors Jim Nantz and David Bloom, sports icons Tom Seaver, Pat Riley, and Wall Street executives too many to mention. His portraits appeared on The Oprah Show, CBS News, in People and O Magazine and hang at Harvard University and The Norman Vincent Peale Center.

After 35 years of exceptional service to his exclusive clientele, Jeffrey decided to share his knowledge of business, branding, and marketing to support self-employed and small business owners as well as progressive-minded companies. He’s an in-demand keynote speaker at conferences such as HOW Design, Growth Marketing, corporations the likes of Verizon and BMW, and institutions such as Florida Atlantic University and the Adams Center for Entrepreneurship. Jeffrey is also the author of two books, LINGO and The Self-Employed Life, a LinkedIn Learning instructor, and a regular contributor to various publications.

In 2014, Jeffrey started a podcast, Creative Warriors, later rebranded as The Self-Employed Life which is amongst the top 15% of all podcasts. His TEDx Lincoln Square talk was later moved to TED.com which is so rare it’s been said you have a better chance of getting hurt at home by your toilet.

With abundant passion and a strong commitment to serving, we can expect there is much more to come.

Jim Ginsburg is the founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical label he launched in 1989 while an entering law student at the University of Chicago. Cedille is focused on recording classical music produced by artists and composers in Chicago.

He has produced 21 Grammy Award nominations and 7 Grammy Award winners and was nominated for “Producer of the Year, Classical” in 2019. In 2009, the Chicago Tribune named Jim a “Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts,” writing, “Let’s hear it for Jim Ginsburg – he is one of the last independent entrepreneurs in classical recording, a man who has stuck to his artistic vision and made a success of it at a time of market shrinkage and industry downsizing.”

It was quite a challenge for a young law student to leave law school and a promising career to pursue with great success an interest which was his real love – classical music.

Miguel Cervantes starred in the lead role of Alexander Hamilton in the four-year run of the musical “Hamilton” in Chicago. Now he returns to Broadway where he will again be the lead in that popular musical. Hamilton will reopen in early September at the Richard Rogers theater.

Miguel and Charlie talk about the importance of the critical skills in the performing arts and what it takes to become successful on the stage.

Debbi McCullough is from New Zealand and now lives in Wisconsin. She is an Internationally Certified coach under the name, Hanging Rock Coaching. She offers a hybrid of communications coaching, positive intelligence coaching, and customized training to help replace her clients’ fears  – – – with courage—and joy.

Debbi is a prime example of someone who knows the power of the number one critical skills – Communications.

Debbi has interviewed countless executives for global business media and has taught communications at colleges for a combined 30 years. She knows even the brightest, most respected leaders can sometimes struggle expressing their thoughts through speaking (and writing) to audiences they fear.

Debbi saw this first-hand  when she was reporting on business and social trends for global media (like the Economist, the Guardian, and the Financial Times) and when she taught executive communication to MBA students.

Debbi gained her coaching skills from

She is well-known for her compelling narrative, clear language, effective frameworks, and bottom-lined, accessible ideas.

And, as one the very first coaches certified in Positive Intelligence, she is someone who can shed light on this important concept.