Theresa Payton is a nationally recognized expert on cybersecurity and she made history as the first female to serve as the White House Chief Information Officer, serving under President George W. Bush's administration. Theresa was named one of the “Top 25 Most Influential People in Security” by Security Magazine and is the author of Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth.  She is a frequent guest on major media outlets to provide her perspective on cybersecurity and privacy issues. In this episode we talk about her career path to holding her position at the White House, what a normal day there was like (hint: they were long!), examples of disinformation campaigns, and her work at her cybersecurity consulting firm using human-centric design solutions.

In April of 2007, while being deployed to Sadr City during Operation Iraqi Freedom, retired Army Major Josh Mantz and another member of his team were critically wounded by an enemy sniper attack. The high-caliber bullet severed Staff Sergeant Marlon Harper’s aorta, killing him, and then ricocheted into Josh’s upper right thigh, severing his femoral artery. Josh went on to “flatline” for 15 minutes before being revived by an expert medical team. After recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and redeployed to Baghdad less than 5 months later to finish the deployment with his team. Following his return Josh would go on to become a nationally recognized expert in psychological trauma and moral injury. 

This episode takes you minute-by-minute through Josh's experience while he explains what the body experiences during the various stages of trauma. Not only is it an incredible story but Josh provides a mini-lesson on what we can all learn about the psychology of trauma.

Alden is a former 3-time U.S. Navy SEAL Platoon Commander. After leaving the Navy, he became the co-founder and CEO of Perfect Fitness which he led to $90 million in sales in just three years, becoming ranked by INC Magazine in 2009 as being the fastest growing consumer products company with 12,000% growth over those 3 years. Alden is now a national speaker and an author helping people to understand how they can lead using the C.A.R.E. framework that he has developed. The two of us share a similar platform around becoming unstoppable and the lessons that you will learn during this episode are invaluable.

Brant Menswar, besides being one of the top motivational speakers in the country, an award-winning musician, and a podcast host, Brant is the author of the new book, Black Sheep: Unleash the Extraordinary, Awe-Inspiring, Undiscovered You. During this episode Brant talks about spending 263 straight days in the hospital with his oldest son, Theo, as he was battling a rare blood cancer. The story is in the book and is the reason he wrote Black Sheep. Theo recovered and the YouTube video that helped save his life made national news. Today, Theo studies graphic design and actually designed the Black Sheep logo. In the book, Brant helps you to explain why identifying your Black Sheep values are vital for your success and how to implement them in your life for maximum success.

You can find Brant online at: https://www.brantmenswar.com and https://www.findyourblacksheep.com

Laura Gassner Otting discusses the importance of finding consonance in your life and what the 4 C's on consonance are. She is the author of the Washington Post bestselling book, “Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life.” During this episode we discuss why purpose is such a hot topic right now, if people can still have an impact even if they work in the for-profit sector, and what advice do she has for listeners looking to achieve the goals that they have set out for themselves. You can follow Laura at @heylgo.

AJ Leon (@ajleon), Founder of Misfit, Inc, talks about how he went from going through the motions of life based on what society dictates to leaving a high-paying job and beginning to live life on his terms. AJ went from being on Wall St. to walking out the day he received a promotion letter. It was on that day, as AJ explains, that he began living life with purpose and intention. AJ walks through his story, where he is today, why he focuses on making memories, and the questions you should ask yourself about pursuing your life on YOUR terms.

During this episode I talk with David Baeza, founder and CEO of Buttered Toast, which is a marketing agency built for venture backed tech companies, by tech veterans. We talk about how he's building an agency based out of a small town in wine country that works with VC firms. David talks about shifting your mindset to do the work that others don't want to do such as driving 10 hours roundtrip in a single day for one meeting. We spend time talking about the importance of family and how he's teaching his daughters to be independent from a young age. There is so much more  that you don't want to miss during this week's episode!

Previous to attending the most selective MBA program in the country where Clay Hebert was one of only 9 people to learn directly from marketing expert Seth Godin for six months, he had led teams at Accenture, the world’s largest consulting firm, solving complex problems for global Fortune 500 companies. After the program with Seth Godin he went on to help over 2000 projects raise over $100 million total on crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo. 

Clay's work has been profiled in the books Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, Entrepreneurial You by Dorie Clark and Deep Work by Cal Newport. Forbes called him “one of the next generations of business and media influencers” and he was recently named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's "50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs"...along with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

In our discussion we talk about the key threads that he sees from the companies that he works with, ranging from startups to large Fortune 500 companies. We also talk about why you need to develop your perfect intro and how developing your perfect calendar will help you zoom out to see what really makes you happy and then take the steps necessary to achieve them.

Scott Monty, who prior to becoming an executive consultant, was the former Head of Digital Communications at Ford Motor Company and has a knack for helping individuals understand current topics by looking back at history, provides his perspectives on what makes an exceptional leader. He manages to weave in creating journals for his kids, a story about a captain of a ship, a poem, and much more in this episode.

Note: The episode contains a few sections where the two of us step on each other. This wasn't the case when we sat down for the interview so hopefully you can move past it to the great insights that Scott provides!

Jackie Summers is an author, public speaker, the creator of Sorel Liqueur, and was the first black person in America to have a license to make liquor. We talked about what it takes to obtain a license to make liquor (hint: it's nearly impossible), diversity & inclusion, fitness, and what it's like to overcome a tumor that he was given only a 5% chance to make it through following his surgery.