Building Excellence

#120: Omar Ahmadieh is a partner & financial advisor with JM Brown Financial Partners, as well as an entrepreneur with multiple businesses across different sectors.

Omar grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but his story is anything but normal. An entrepreneur at heart, he was always findings ways to sell things and start little ventures when he was in elementary school. Unfortunately, while in early high school, he lost a close friend and had to work through the grief of losing someone at a young age. While in college he found himself in a job quickly learning business in an unconventional way through gambling in Vegas and building a business for someone else. This experience taught him a lot, but ultimately he followed his gut and got out after hearing that what he had been told was not what he thought. A few years later Omar was diagnosed with cancer. He tells his story of the mindset and perspective he used to overcome and beat cancer. Omar shares the principles he has learned that have enabled him to overcome and succeed in the various setbacks and ventures he has pursued.

On the show Omar shares his story of growing up, overcoming setbacks, intentionality, battling cancer, mindset, finding the lessons in everything, winning the day, being the red ant, building wealth, faith, and following the promptings of God. 

Enjoy the show!

#119: Swen Nater is a former NBA & ABA player. He is a two time NCAA national champion and played under legendary Coach John Wooden at UCLA. As a man of many talents he has been a championship player and coach, author, speaker, poet, and businessman. 

Swen was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the US after living in an orphanage for 5 years. Through a series of events he was reunited with his family through on a nationally televised show. Swen went to junior college where he eventually landed a spot on the basketball team. After many hours of hard work and practice, he became an All American and highly recruited player. He chose to attend UCLA where he was never promised a starting spot. Instead he was promised to practice again Bill Walton every day. Swen was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft after never starting a college game. He is the only player to ever do that. Swen had a long and distinguished career in the NBA and ABA with and was Rookie of the Year. He played for teams like the Lakers, Bucks, Clippers, Spurs, and Nets. 

Swen is an author of multiple books and is speaker to businesses, teams, and organizations. On the show he shares his story of growing up, moving to the US, overcoming adversity with an abusive step father, playing basketball, repetition, UCLA, professional basketball, putting in the work, having dreams, testing, learning from others, and much more. 

For more on Swen, his books, and speaking checking out the link in the show notes.

Enjoy the show!

#118: Steve Whitaker is CEO & Senior Pastor of John 3:16 Mission. He has served and led at the mission since 1989 and is a 10th generation minister. 

Since 1952 John 3:16 Mission has been focused on reclaiming lives and restoring hope serving Tulsa’s homeless and at risk men, women, and children as it ministers to their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Just in the last month alone they have served over 14,245 meals, 5,162 people received shelter, 279 food baskets were given out, and over 5,940 people were helped. And just to note I am sure there are probably many many more people that were served through the Mission.

On the show Steve shares his story of growing up, the impact and discipline of sports and marshal arts, his call to ministry, seeking God, helping others, trauma, living out our faith, listening, how hope begins with a meal, John 3:16 Mission, and what it means to build excellence.

For more information on Steve & John 3:16 Mission check out john316mission.org

Enjoy the show!

#117: Matt Doherty is the former University of North Carolina head men’s basketball coach, player, and national champion. He was also head coach at Notre Dame, SMU, & Florida Atlantic.

Matt grew up in New York with a close family and parents who led by example. His hard work and discipline enabled him to earn a scholarship to play at UNC. Matt was a starter on the 1982 UNC National Championship team coached by Hall of Famer Dean Smith. At Carolina Matt played alongside Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, and many others. He was drafted in the 1984 NBA Draft. After playing he stepped into Wall Street before deciding to get back into coaching.

He is now an executive coach and gives keynote speeches. He is also author of the bestselling book Rebound: From Pain to Passion - Leadership Lessons Learned. On the show he tells his story, playing, coaching, being coaching, get bitter or get better, developing emotional intelligence, applying what you learn, building a personal board of directors, note taking, leadership, parenting, and much more.

For more info on Matt, his coaching, and book, check out dohertycoaching.com 

Enjoy the show! 

#116: Joshua Medcalf is a bestselling author of books like Chop Wood Carry Water, Pound the Stone, and many others, as well as a keynote speaker and founder of Train 2 Be Clutch. He works with some of the top high performing teams, brands, and organizations.

Joshua played soccer at Vanderbilt and then Duke University. While at Duke he learned about the mental aspect of training and performance. From there he decided not to pursue law school and choose to move across the country to California to serve at a homeless shelter. He then began to start working with athletes and relentlessly studied mindset, psychology, and mental toughness. Since then he has worked with leaders, athletes, and businesses all over the world. 

On the show Joshua shares his story of growing up, playing soccer, identity, practicing what you preach, focus, surrendering the outcome, and how to fall in love with the process of becoming great.

Enjoy the show!

#115: Charles O’Bannon is a former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Chuck grew up in Compton, California and went to school at the basketball powerhouse Artesia. While at Artesia he was a 3x state champion and All American. He then went to UCLA where he was able to play with his brother and win the 1995 NCAA National Championship. After getting drafted and spending a few seasons in the NBA with the Pistons, Chuck then went on to play professionally and win championships in Japan, Poland, and Italy.

Chuck has won championships everywhere he has been from high school to college and professionally. On the show he shares his story, the influence and support of his parents and family, the power of competition and hard work, playing professionally, building the discipline of a championship work ethic, mindset, culture, and much more! 

Enjoy the show! 

#114: Daniel Grothe is the associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. He is also the author of Chasing Wisdom & The Power of Place.

Daniel grew up in Tulsa, OK and attended ORU where he played basketball. After college he stepped into full time ministry. Unfortunately, he was hit quickly with two tragic and significant events involving the resignation of the lead pastor & a church shooting that took the lives of some of the members. Through all of the hardship and tragedy he picked up a book and sent the author, Eugene Peterson, a note. This led to a relationship with Eugene and a pursuit of chasing wisdom.

Daniel speaks of the power of mentors and chasing wisdom, asking, seeking, learning to engage, holy presumption, putting in the reps, taking notes, creating environments, parenting, faith, and much more!

Be sure to check out Daniel's books and website danielgrothe.com 

Enjoy the show!

#113: Steve Robinson is the former Executive Vice President & Chief marketing officer of Chick-Fil-A from 1981-2015. He currently serves as a consultant, speaker, and author on organizational culture, brand strategy, marketing and advertising, as well as leadership development.

Steve went to Faulkner State where he played baseball and then finished his college at Auburn University with a bachelor of science in marketing. He then attended Northwestern University where he earned a master’s in advertising from the Medill School of Journalism.

After Northwestern, Steve went to work for Texas Instruments and Six Flags. He quickly rose into leadership positions at a young age and caught the attention of the leadership of Chick-Fil-A. In 1981 Steve was hired to lead Chick-Fil-A’s marketing efforts. Steve was integrally involved in the company’s steady and then explosive growth from 184 stores and $100 million in 1981 to more than 2,100 stores and more than $6.8 billion in annul sales in 2015. He and his team helped establish and create many of the recognizable Chick-Fil-A branding and marketing efforts such as iconic Cow & Eat Mor Chikn campaign to the everyday Chick-Fil-A experience.

On the show he dives into his story, working hard, building culture, mentors, asking questions, loyalty, using metrics and facts to learn and growth, faith, family, and much more.

Be sure to check out his book Covert Cows where all books are sold, as well as his website srobinsonconsulting.com for more information.

Enjoy the show! 

#112: Matt Wells is currently a football coach at the University of Oklahoma. He was formerly the head football coach at Texas Tech & Utah State. 

Coach Wells spent 3 years at Texas Tech and 6 years at Utah State as a the head coach. After his time at USU he closed his tenure as the second winningest coach in program history, leading them to five different bowl games in those 6 seasons. Before becoming the head coach at USU he had coaching stops at New Mexico, Louisville, Tulsa, and Navy.

On the show Coach Wells does a deep dive on what it means to create, establish, and build a sustainable culture. Some of the keys that he elaborates on are building authentic relationships, developing trust, toughness, communicating vision, hard work, having best as the standard, and much more. 

He also shares his story of growing up, playing football at Utah State, making tough decisions, learning from failure, faith, family, being present, and finding joy in the process of it all. 

This is a great conversation with an even better man & coach. Enjoy the show!

#111: Suzy Sevier and Michael Barnhart are the Founders of Adventurous Real Estate Investors. They specialize in Return on Impact. Through real estate investing they create immeasurable impacts; in their family, with their friends, in their community, with the families (residents) they serve, in the spaces where they want to be generous.... everywhere and anywhere!

Suzy is Real Estate Professional and has a background in project management and finance. Suzy has a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Marketing from The University of Denver. Previously, she was a program manager and supply chain coordinator for a global multibillion-dollar biotechnology company in Cambridge, UK. Her main project was a $6.1M warehouse transfer in the Netherlands. She volunteers for the Junior League of Dayton and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Michael is Active Duty Air Force, as well as an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy. Michael graduated from the Air Force Academy and then completed his Masters at Colorado State University. Recently he finished his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. Michael has served as a counter-proliferation program manager overseeing the successful acquisition, implementation, and disposition of over $100MM of defense systems. He serves as an active board member of Fortune 51.

Suzy and Michael are triathletes, outdoor and adventure enthusiasts, and avid travelers. On the show they share their stories and how they have been able to achieve finial freedom & ROI through real estate investing, while having full time jobs. You can find out more about them through their website at adventurousrei.com or they also have a great podcast called The Adventures of a Real Estate Investor.

Enjoy the show!