Building Excellence

#80: Coach Rick Byrd is the former Belmont University men’s basketball head coach. During his time coaching he won over 805 games as a head coach, which ranks 12th all time in NCAA Division 1 basketball. 

In 2021 he was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and has been the recipient of the prestigious John R Wooden Legends of Coaching Award, as well as many other highly regarded awards. 

Under his leadership Coach Byrd led Belmont to 8 NCAA tournaments, 17 conference championships, and consistently had victories over teams like North Carolina, UCLA, Cincinnati, Stanford, and more in his final 14 seasons. Just as impressive is Belmont posted a team GPA of 3.0 or higher 20 consecutive seasons and every player that completed eligibility earned his degree.

On the show Coach Byrd shares about growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, playing college basketball, getting into coaching, treating people with respect, building a team, leadership, sustaining excellence, and much more.

Enjoy the show!

#79: Jeremie Kubicek is a powerful communicator, serial entrepreneur and content builder. He creates content used by some of the largest companies around the globe found in the books he has authored: The 100X Leader, 5 Voices, 5 Gears and the National Bestseller, Making Your Leadership Come Alive. His new book, The Peace Index, just released.

Jeremie is the Co-Founder of GiANT, a company that certifies coaches and consultants that serve companies and their employees. Jeremie has started over 20 companies while living in Oklahoma City, Moscow, Atlanta and London.

In the show Jeremie shares about his newest book The Peace Index where he dives into the 5 part framework of conquering chaos and finding fulfillment, along with so many other great principles.

Enjoy the show!

To buy the book as well as other great tools check out:

thepeaceindexbook.com

Jeremiekubicek.com
Giantworldwide.com

#78: Brian Wagers is a partner with Elevate Commercial Investment Group. Elevate has acquired over 6,000 units and has over $400,000,000 in assets under management. 

Before Elevate Brain started Wagers Capital. He grew his portfolio to 500 units before moving on to syndication where has now been involved in over $150,000,000 worth of apartment transactions & over 2,000 units through his experience as an owner and general partner. He now seeks to invest and help other high growth professionals and business owners put their money in a tax advantaged, risk adjusted growth space that is multi family.

On the show Brian dives into his story of growing up, getting started in business, finding mentors, building wealth through multi family real estate, being prepared, discipline, health, and much more.

Enjoy the show! 

#77: Alan Stein, Jr. is a keynote speaker, author, and coach. He teaches proven strategies to improve organizational performance in sports and business. Alan’s programs empower effective leadership, increase team cohesion, and develop winning mindsets and habits.

As an internationally renowned basketball performance coach, he spent 15+ years working with the highest-performing players on the planet, including NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Kobe Bryant. Alan reveals how to utilize the same approaches in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. He delivers practical lessons that can be implemented immediately.

His clients include American Express, Pepsi, Sabra, Starbucks, UGG, and Under Armour, as well as numerous college athletic programs like Penn State Football and UCONN’s Men’s Basketball. Once you listen in you will see why! 

Enjoy the show!

#76: Alex Demczak is a top keynote speaker and bestselling author. He frequently delivers keynotes and conducts training programs based on The Power of Positive Leadership and The Power of a Positive Team with the goal of helping leaders transform their teams and change the world.

Alex is the author, along with Jon Gordon, of his newest bestselling book “The Sale”, which is the number one strategy to build trust & create success. He is also the author of Thrive U. The inspirational book is a collection of stories from 100 collegiate and professional athletes from across the country.

Alex is a former SEC quarterback for the Missouri Tigers. He dives into his own story of growing up, facing adversity as a player, transitioning to the business world, taking a risk and pursuing his calling, burnout, integrity, building trust and so much more! 

Alex is passionate about helping high-performance leaders take the next step in their leadership journey. Once you listen to the show you will see why! 

For more info about Alex and for info on how to buy his book check out alexspeaking.com

If you are thinking about writing a book be sure and reach out to his company at writemybooks.com 

Enjoy the show!

#75: Jill Donovan is the founder of Rustic Cuff. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland; was raised in Pensacola, Florida; and graduated from Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she met her husband, Terry. 

She went on to get her law degree from the University of Tulsa and was a practicing attorney and adjunct law professor at TU law school when Rustic Cuff was born. She taught herself how to make cuffs and gifted them to friends and family. 

Today, Rustic Cuff jewelry is sold in more than 250 stores across the country. The brand has been featured on many national TV shows including Good Morning America, The Today Show, E! News and The View. When not working she enjoys spending time with her daughter’s, Ireland, and Peanut.

You can find out more about Jill on her website jilldonovan.com. Be sure to also check out Jill’s book the Kindness Effect and her podcast the Jill Donovan podcast. Check out rusticcuff.com for more information on Rustic Cuff. 

#74: Jordan Montgomery is the owner of Montgomery Companies. He is a highly regarded performance coach and keynote speaker whose clients include business executives, sales organizations, entrepreneurs, and teams.

From small town Iowa, to a dominant force in the performance coaching industry, Jordan travels the country speaking and coaching executives at Fortune 500 companies, professional athletes, and sales people.

In addition to his work speaking and coaching, Jordan is an accomplished business leader who has managed top-performing sales teams in the financial services industry.

On the show we dive into living life by design, growing in your boldness and courage, failure, leadership, building relationships, faith, family, and much more. 

Jordan has a lot of great advice, insight, and more importantly action steps to help you build excellence in your life, leadership, and legacy! 

#73: Ryan Hawk is the host of The Learning Leader Show. He has recorded more than 475 episodes over the past 7 years. Forbes called The Learning Leader Show, “the most dynamic leadership podcast around.” Inc Magazine said, “it’s one of the 5 podcasts to make you a smarter leader.” Apple named it an “all-time best seller” in 2020 and 2021. As you listen to the show you will see why. 

Ryan is the author of Welcome to Management: How To Grow From Top Performer To Excellent Leader. Book Authority named it to its 100 Best Management Audiobooks of all time (#25). Forbes called it, “the best leadership book of 2020.” Ryan’s second book is called The Pursuit of Excellence: The Uncommon Behaviors of The World’s Most Productive Achievers. It sold through its first printing in eight hours and shot to the top of the Amazon rankings. It is one of my favorite books. 

Previously, Ryan worked in corporate America for 12 years. He started as an entry-level telephonic sales rep and worked his way to manager, director, and ultimately VP of sales for a multi-billion-dollar company.

When he’s not recording podcasts or writing books,  he tries to help leaders be more effective. Some of the ways he does that are through Leadership Circles, 1:1 advising, and teaching in The Learning Leader Academy (the online school he created). Ryan has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches on leadership and performance excellence all over the world. 

Enjoy the show!

#72: Kirby Andersen is a Coach & Facilitator with Intentional Churches. 

With over 40 years in leadership Kirby loves to encourage leaders and equip them with tools and sustainable habits for personal growth. He’s passionate about building strong families and churches. He has conducted numerous time management and financial stewardship seminars and has coordinated national leadership conferences and numerous community and county-wide events.

Kirby and his wife Gail live in Tulsa, OK, where they love to babysit their grandkids! Kirby also serves as the Church Relations contact for Intentional Churches.

On the show he dives into overcoming tragedy at a young age, trying to take the next best step, making small consistent decisions to see big results, managing your time, being intentional, and building a strong family. 

To find out more about Kirby check out KirbyAndersen.com and you can follow him on all social platforms. 

#71: Clay Martin is currently an NFL referee. 

Growing up in Tulsa, OK Clay was a great athlete at Nathan Hale High School. After high school, Clay had the opportunity to play basketball and football at the University of Tulsa and then basketball at OBU.

During his time at OBU he helped his team reach the NAIA national championship and was able to play under legendary coach Bob Hoffman. 

After graduating Clay decided to get into college coaching. After a few years coaching college basketball he felt led to get into coaching high school basketball. This decision ultimately landed him a job at Jenks High School where he helped establish and build the program into one of the top high school programs in the state of Oklahoma. 

He discuses his experiences coaching at Jenks from leadership, buy-in, being coachable, going the extra mile, as well as his journey to become an NFL referee and much more. 

Enjoy the show!