Danny Ainge has a storied career in the NBA as a star player, coach, advisor, and executive, currently with the Utah Jazz. To say that sports are Danny Ainge’s life is an understatement. The work, the preparation, the visualization, and competition create a meditative focus for him. Sometimes this was all-consuming, and as a husband, father, and now grandfather, he came to a point where he had to take a step back. Danny and Whitney talk about how basketball – a seemingly simple game – has been disrupted multiple times, even during his career. He also explains how the S Curves of playing and coaching are different but deeply intertwined, and why hiring women was the best move he made as a leader.

276 Danny Ainge: Disrupting Basketball, Disrupting Life

Best-selling author Whitney Johnson (“Disrupt Yourself”) explores her passion for personal disruption through engaging conversations with disruptors. Each episode of this podcast reveals new insights about how we work, learn, and live.

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It’s not a pretty truth of life, but we all argue with family, eventually. In fact, those arguments can be some of the most explosive moments of our lives. But why? Is it just that the folks closest to us know how to push our buttons? If so, how can we overcome that to grow? And grow alongside our family? Our guest today has a couple ideas. Cathy Carroll is the president and founder of Legacy Onward, a leadership coaching business dedicated to helping – you guessed it – family businesses. All those images I just conjured up, of fighting with your family: now add money, a lot of money, to the mix, and that’s where Cathy operates. She even comes from a family business herself – rodeo equipment manufacturing. Today, Cathy’s out with a new book, Hug of War, a real guide to navigating that tension between the good of the business and the good of the family. So what do we do when we’re fighting with the people we love most? Is it possible, as Cathy claims, for both of us to be right? And if so… then what?  

376 Cathy Carroll: When You’re Facing Generational Loggerheads, Turn Your Tug Of War Into A “Hug Of War”

Think of a relationship in your life that you’d describe as a true partnership. Why did that person come to mind? There are words and phrases that come easily when you’re describing a partnership that works:  feeling supported, encouraged, the sense that when I have my back turned, you’ve still got my back. So where do those feelings come from, and how do we solidify them? How can we grow a new relationship into a partnership? How do you pick the people you can trust? Today we’ve got two guests that are partners on paper, at the private equity firm Brand Velocity Group, but as you’ll hear, it goes much further than their roles. Steve Lebowitz is the founder and managing partner of BVG, and Eli Manning – well, you might recall his S Curve with the New York Giants, but this episode is all about a new S curve.  So how did the first overall draft pick in 2004 partner up with a revolutionary in private equity – and what do they do to make it work?  

375 Steve Lebowitz and Eli Manning: The Plays, On And Off The Field, That Make Private Equity A Little Kinder

Back in July, we tried something a little new for this show – episode 329 was all about hearing from the listeners of Disrupt Yourself. What was important to you while you were listening, what insights you wanted to bring back from older episodes and refresh. It was a lovely experiment, so today we’re bringing you another roundtable. This time, we’ve got three coaches instead, all of whom are Smart Growth certified. We wanted to explore what that initial call to action was for all three of them, as well as what certification meant – practically – for their clients’ success. Today we’ll be joined by Sarah Glover, Jordan White and Rebecca Woodard, all independent coaches in the process of growing their practice.  

374 Coaching Roundtable: What Does The Call To Coaching Mean To You?

Self-fulfilling prophecies – and falling into their trap – are part and parcel of being human. From ancient Greek tragedies to television like Breaking Bad, they’ve popped up time and time again. We just can’t escape our flaw of telling ourselves stories about the future, and then making them reality. But what if it… wasn’t a flaw? What if there was a real power, a real gift in being about to tell yourself a story and see it through? You might know Steph Curry from his legacy at the Golden State Warriors, but would you believe he wasn’t even scouted coming out of high school?  Our guest today is a big believer in turning the self-fulfilling prophecy stigma on its head. Nathan Tanner thought he finally had it all with a cushy investment gig at Lehman Brothers. The problem was, he joined up in 2008, right before Lehman went through the biggest bank collapse in history. To hear him say it, it would have been the easiest thing to write a personal story… of failure.  But since then, Nathan’s worked through top positions at LinkedIn and DoorDash before settling into his own coaching practice. Today, he’s out with a new book, suitably titled The Unconquerable Leader – Mastering the Internal and External Game. It’s all about learning to show up for yourself so that you can properly show up for others.  

373 Nathan Tanner: Are You Neglecting Your Internal Game To Succeed At The External Game?

Today, we wanted to bring back a conversation I had with Michael Bungay Stanier back in 2018, where we explored what it really means to be a coach. His self-published book The Coaching Habit had only been out for two years, and it had already sold 300 thousand copies. Bringing the philosophy of coaching into our lives can be one of the most personally disruptive and rewarding projects we take on. It changes and strengthens how we support others in our lives, and the support we receive in return. Michael breaks this down in such an accessible way that we felt a re-air was more than worth it.  

276 Danny Ainge: Disrupting Basketball, Disrupting Life

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