Driving Force Podcast

Today’s guest is Doug Lewis. Doug is the founder and CEO of ELITEAM, a company that provides sports and fitness camps and programs focusing on building complete athletes. They do this by teaching the concepts of sports physiology, sports psychology and sports nutrition all while ensuring the programs are fun and challenging for the participants. Doug created ELITEAM in 1991 with a desire to pass on his winning knowledge of world class sports to future generations. Prior to creating ELITEAM, Doug was a 2x Olympian and World Championship medalist in alpine skiing. After retiring from competitive ski racing, Doug found a new passion in endurance sport that provided a new avenue for him to push the limits of his mind and body. His accomplishments so far in this arena include completing multiple 100 mile ultramarathons and winning the first ever Spartan Death Race in 2007. In this interview, we discuss Doug’s time growing up in Vermont, his journey to becoming an Olympian, his ski racing career, ELITEAM, and his passion for endurance sport.

Timestamps

00:02:41 Growing up on the slopes of Vermont

00:05:14 Starting to compete in ski racing and why he focused on downhill

00:08:52 Overview of a downhill ski race

00:11:55 Were family and friends supportive of his Olympic dream?

00:14:00 How does someone train to become an Olympic downhill skier?

00:16:22 Breakthrough event in his ski racing career

00:17:43 His mindset on his journey to becoming an Olympian

00:20:21 His race routine

00:24:36 What it was like to compete in his first Olympics

00:26:28 Biggest takeaways from his first Olympics

00:27:48 His greatest accomplishment in ski racing

00:30:19 Low points in his ski racing career and how he overcame them

00:33:23 Biggest takeaways from his ski racing career

00:35:04 Retiring from ski racing

00:39:07 Why he started ELITEAM

00:41:12 Overview of ELITEAM

00:43:49 Example of an in-person camp

00:46:08 How he weaves the sports psychology aspect into his camps

00:48:30 What he enjoys most about running ELITEAM

00:50:13 What sparked his passion for endurance sport?

00:52:37 The first Spartan Death Race

00:59:13 His next big endurance challenge

01:00:36 Pivotal moments throughout his life that changed his perspective on human performance

01:03:15 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:04:19 His daily routine

01:05:32 His driving force

01:07:35 Parting words of wisdom for the athlete looking to get to the next level

Today’s guest is Isaiah Kacyvenski. Isaiah’s diverse background includes earning two degrees from Harvard, playing in the National Football League for 8 years in between, and achieving success as an experienced entrepreneur and investor. Perhaps what’s most impressive about Isaiah’s background though has to do with where he started from. Isaiah grew up in Endicott, NY where at times he grew up homeless and without food with his parents. His rise from poverty led him to becoming a subject of an NFL Films profile that received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Long Feature, and was also featured on an Oprah Winfrey show titled "Why They Beat the Odds". Following his NFL Career, Isaiah acted as Global Head of Business Development at MC10 and co-founded the premier sports tech research and advisory firm, Sports Innovation Lab. Immediately prior to founding Will Ventures, Isaiah was the Managing Partner at Blue Star Innovation Partners, where he led the firm’s sports technology investment practice. Today, Isaiah serves as Managing Partner of Will Ventures, a venture capital investment fund focused on sports technology and the massive, adjacent market opportunities that it opens up (human performance, health and wellness, media and entertainment, eSports, and more). In this interview, we dive deep into Isaiah’s time growing up in poverty, his journey to Harvard and playing in the NFL, perspectives on drive and managing setbacks, and all things Will Ventures. We could have talked for 3 hours, and due to time constraints we couldn’t touch on everything, but I promise part 2 is in the works.

Timestamps

00:03:06 Growing up in poverty in Endicott, NY

00:07:33 Both his parents grew up in orphanages

00:11:49 What homelessness looked like for him and his family

00:15:02 The impact of his mother's death on him

00:23:42 Why he feels there's always something big to accomplish

00:26:02 The impact his father has had on his life

00:30:29 When and why he started playing football

00:35:19 When he realized he could make a career out of football

00:41:08 How not making his high school varsity football team changed the course of his life

00:42:44 Journey to Harvard and playing in the NFL

00:52:53 Overview of Will Ventures

00:55:36 The democratization of sports tech and the importance of strong founding teams

00:58:24 A few of their portfolio companies

01:02:48 His driving force

01:04:12 Parting words of wisdom around getting through tough times

Today’s guest is Sebastien Sasseville. Sebastien was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2002, the most severe form of diabetes. Sebastien vowed that the obstacle would never keep him from living life to the fullest, and today his story is a testament to how challenges can be turned into opportunities. In 2008, Sebastien reached the summit of Mount Everest. He then completed six Ironmans and the mythical Sahara race, a 250 kilometer, self-supported ultra-marathon over five days through the Sahara Desert. In 2014, he faced the biggest challenge of his life: run across Canada from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Vancouver: 7,200 km, or 170 marathons in nine months. His next big adventure is coming up very soon, (hint: it involves lots of cycling), but you’ll have to listen to the interview to get the details. Sebastien also spent 10 years in the corporate world and blends that experience with his unique athletic achievements to deliver inspirational and motivational keynotes to large organizations. Per his LinkedIn profile, he works with performing organizations that have reached base camp, but are looking to transform, so as to dictate rhythm, stay at the forefront and get to the top. Some of his clients include Cisco, SAP, and Johnson & Johnson. In this interview, we get into what it’s like for Sebastien to live with Type 1 diabetes, his corporate career and transition to keynote speaking, what it means for him to make a real impact, and his many feats of endurance.

Timestamps

00:02:48 Growing up in Canada

00:05:05 What he wanted to do for a career

00:07:28 Is he an extrovert or an introvert?

00:09:59 When he got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes

00:12:10 Difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

00:15:17 Did his diagnosis change the trajectory of his life?

00:18:46 When he started to get into endurance sport

00:21:58 A "bad resiliency day" and how overcomes them

00:23:46 Corporate career and working in sales

00:27:20 Biggest takeaways from his corporate career

00:28:27 Why he left the corporate world

00:30:46 His role as a keynote speaker

00:34:23 Fear around raising his fees and how he overcame that fear

00:37:59 Types of companies he speaks to and why his keynotes resonate

00:43:04 How companies can overcome unintentional complacency

00:45:21 What he enjoys most about being a keynote speaker

00:50:11 Why endurance sport was appealing to him

00:52:40 What it's like to be an endurance athlete with Type 1 diabetes

00:56:38 His Run Across Canada in 2014

01:02:01 His next big endurance quest

01:04:47 How long it took him to run across Canada and the importance of pacing

01:08:46 Out of his 3 epic endurance quests, which was the hardest in terms of managing his diabetes?

01:10:51 How he's adjusted to the pandemic

01:16:29 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:18:34 His daily routine

01:20:02 His driving force

01:21:06 Parting words of wisdom around motivation

Today’s guest is Mark Ormrod. Mark is a former Royal Marines Commando, an Invictus Games Medalist, author, and motivational speaker. After triggering an IED on a routine foot patrol in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, Mark suffered serious injuries resulting in a triple amputation: both legs above the knee and his right arm above the elbow. He was the UK’s first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict. Not one to resign himself to live life on the sidelines, Mark, with the help of an amazing team and mentors around him, used his setback as a springboard for growth and reinvention. He’s since gone on to be an 11x medalist at the Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women, an author of an award-winning autobiography, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt, and a husband and father. And he’s got far more that he wants to do and accomplish in this life. In this interview, we get into Mark’s road to joining to the Royal Marines, the day he stepped on the IED, his recovery and mindset during that process, how to handle setbacks, and his work with the charity REORG.

Timestamps

00:02:43 Growing up in England and childhood passions

00:06:55 Interest in joining the Royal Marines

00:10:19 Road to joining the Royal Marines

00:12:12 His role in the Royal Marines

00:18:34 The day he stepped on the IED

00:30:41 His reaction to the triple amputation and being told he'd never be able to walk again

00:36:44 How he was able to use this setback as a springboard for growth

00:43:40 Key lessons he learned during his rehab process

00:45:28 How others can accelerate out of traumas

00:49:10 His transition to civilian life

00:51:17 Writing the book Man Down

00:54:13 REORG Charity

00:58:04 Training jiu-jitsu as a triple amputee

00:59:33 Meaning behind "give yourself permission to perform"

01:00:26 What he enjoys most about jiu-jitsu

01:01:40 Ultimate goal in jiu-jitsu

01:02:24 How he maintains a positive mindset day in, day out

01:03:31 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:04:57 His daily routine

01:06:47 His driving force

01:07:43 Parting words of wisdom around staying driven

Today’s guest is Nic McKinley. Nic fuses counterintelligence methods with technology to solve big problems. One of those problems is human trafficking. By starting DeliverFund in 2014, Nic started the first nonprofit organization to apply counterterrorism methodologies to fight human trafficking. They disrupt the human trafficking market by providing intelligence and specialized analytics about human trafficking activities to law enforcement authorities. Nic is also the CEO of Verafi, a private intelligence and due diligence firm specializing in collecting, analyzing, and presenting intelligence so organizations can make confident decisions about key hires and investments. So, what makes Nic uniquely qualified to start and run these two organizations? Well, as an experienced Special Agent at the CIA and an Air Force Pararescueman, Nic understands the ramifications of bad intelligence and the disastrous consequences of poorly researched decisions. In this interview, we get into Nic’s time in the Air Force and the CIA, fighting human trafficking with DeliverFund, Verafi, and much more.

Timestamps

00:02:31 Growing up in Billings, Montana and sense of service

00:04:41 Interest in becoming an Air Force Pararescueman (PJ)

00:06:26 His time as a PJ

00:10:08 Initial interest in intelligence

00:14:29 Spending a couple years rescuing investment bankers

00:17:31 Joining the CIA

00:19:01 Differences between the CIA and the FBI

00:21:06 His role in the CIA and covert action

00:25:53 Is he the real Jack Ryan?

00:28:53 Why he hasn't owned a TV in 20 years

00:30:07 Handling personal relationships while in the CIA

00:34:30 Optimizing performance as a CIA Agent

00:36:35 Biggest takeaways from working in the CIA

00:39:28 Why he started DeliverFund

00:43:05 State of the human trafficking industry

00:47:43 Identifying a human trafficking victim

00:49:21 The problem with only focusing on rescuing victims

00:50:39 How people can support DeliverFund

00:51:56 Ultimate vision for DeliverFund

00:53:08 Why he started Verafi

00:56:37 Hypothetical use case for Verafi and why companies should use it

01:04:49 Biggest challenges facing Verafi as they look to grow over the coming years

01:06:52 Ultimate vision for Verafi

01:07:20 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:08:04 His daily routine

01:08:51 His driving force

01:12:36 Parting words of wisdom around decision making

Today’s guest is Tony van Marken. Tony has had a successful career as an award winning high-tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, management consultant and independent investor having worked in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada and France. Currently, he is Managing Partner and co-founder of First Ascent Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Toronto, Canada focused on investing in emerging technology companies. Tony is also an accomplished endurance athlete (including marathons, ultra marathons and mountain bike stage races) and a veteran of over 35 high-altitude mountaineering expeditions with over 65 summits. He summitted Everest in 2005 to complete his quest to climb the world’s original seven summits (the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents), becoming the first South African to do so. Blending his success as a businessman, endurance athlete, and mountaineer, Tony has acted as a motivational speaker for corporations and international conferences around the world. In this interview, we get into how Tony has had to adjust First Ascent Ventures and his mountaineering passion due to the pandemic, what it was like living in South Africa during Apartheid, his entrepreneurial journey, climbing the seven summits, and much more.

Timestamps

00:02:43 Adjusting to the pandemic

00:06:58 Managing First Ascent Ventures during the pandemic

00:10:02 First Ascent Ventures investment criteria

00:11:27 Portfolio Company Dialogue

00:13:00 Next big adventure he has planned

00:15:43 Where he grew up

00:18:23 Was he a natural/born entrepreneur?

00:20:31 What traveling a lot growing up taught him

00:22:00 Living in South Africa during Apartheid

00:26:05 Studying computer science and what he wanted to do for a career

00:29:52 How foundational that job as a software engineer was for him

00:31:46 Pivoting to entrepreneurship and going to Architel

00:40:35 How the dot-com bubble affected his career path

00:42:17 Lessons learned on building a company from his time at Architel

00:45:03 His decision making philosophy

00:47:16 Why he decided to tackle the Seven Summits

00:52:09 Weekly training schedule for the Seven Summits

00:53:59 Which of the Seven Summits was the toughest?

00:57:58 His favorite mountain to climb

01:00:53 How mountaineering has prepared him for the ups and downs of life

01:06:57 Taking Vox Telecom employees on expeditions

01:08:27 How he's managed to balance everything over the years

01:11:14 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:12:58 His daily routine

01:14:45 Books that have made a significant impact on him

01:18:27 His driving force

Today’s guest is Ari Tulla. Ari is the co-founder and CEO of Elo. Ari and his team created Elo to turn food into medicine so you can live life to the fullest. To accomplish this, they’ve built cutting-edge AI (from a proprietary analysis of 3,000 peer-reviewed studies) to apply to your personal health biomarkers and deliver precision to nutrition. Then, they relentlessly optimize and improve your nutrition over time. They’re starting with supplement packets, but their ambitions extend far beyond that. They won’t stop until they’ve succeeded at transforming food from the cause of disease to medicine. Ari’s passion for helping others optimize and understand their own health started long before Elo. After months of him and his wife combing through specialist after specialist trying find the right doctor to address a specific issue, Ari, in 2011 co-founded BetterDoctor, a comprehensive doctor data engine that powers the healthcare market with accurate doctor data. Today, BetterDoctor is part of Quest Analytics, a company that builds networks of doctors and is accessed by 200 million Americans each year. When not working Ari spends his time on the steep cliffs, powdery slopes, and big cold waves that only Northern California can offer. And, depending on the month, you may find him on some epic endurance adventure living off of the bare bone necessities, and we’ll get into that. In this interview, we get into Ari’s time growing up in Finland and Finnish culture, what it was like working on the cutting edge of mobile gaming at Nokia, BetterDoctor, and all things Elo and health optimization.

Timestamps

00:03:11 Growing up in Finland and traveling a lot

00:07:45 Finnish culture and happiness

00:11:47 Economy of Finland

00:16:22 What he was interested in doing for a career growing up

00:19:49 Working at VisualWeb and entrepreneurial spark

00:22:17 Working at British American Tobacco and key takeaways

00:27:48 Moving to the US to work at Nokia

00:31:23 Working on the cutting edge of mobile gaming

00:34:45 His perspective on smartphone addiction

00:39:06 Why he left Nokia

00:40:23 Inspiration to start BetterDoctor

00:43:40 What is was like to start a new company

00:46:22 Selling BetterDoctor

00:50:38 Biggest leadership lessons he learned at BetterDoctor & Quest Analytics

00:52:47 Did he accomplish what he wanted to at BetterDoctor?

00:54:06 When he started working on Elo

00:55:54 His world view that he's bringing to Elo

00:59:43 Elo today

01:04:05 The biomarkers they test

01:06:50 What's powering the recommendations behind Elo?

01:09:03 Elo's integration with wearables

01:10:01 Core customers and target market

01:12:22 Cost to use Elo

01:14:33 Ari's spartan month/week

01:17:13 Must-dos when visiting Finland

01:18:40 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:19:34 His daily routine

01:23:08 His driving force

01:24:47 Parting words of wisdom for the aspiring entrepreneur

Today’s guest is Ali Schultz. Ali is a co-founder, coach, and facilitator at Reboot, a coaching company that provides comprehensive offerings to serve leadership development for individuals, teams, and entire organizations. If you’re a tech entrepreneur or venture capitalist, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Reboot. They’ve worked with companies like Etsy, Lyft, and Twilio and venture capitalists from firms such as Union Square Ventures, Accel, and the Foundry Group. Ali and her three co-founders started Reboot in 2014 to foster a revolution around work – that work doesn’t have to destroy us. Work can be the way that we achieve our fullest self. Prior to co-founding Reboot, Ali worked for more than a dozen years in business as an operator managing projects, teams, and human resources, and developing brands. With a Masters degree in religious studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Ali has studied Transformational NLP at NLP Marin, completed the facilitator program at the Center for Collaborative Awareness, and is a certified EQUUS Experience Facilitator in Equine Facilitated Coaching. Ali seamlessly and deftly weaves together her business acumen with the innate wisdom of the body, the philosophies of the world’s wisdom traditions, and the way of the horse to help clients find their voice so that they can find themselves. In this interview, we discuss her early exploration into wisdom and spirituality, her corporate world experience, what it means to be a coach, equine-facilitated coaching, and all things Reboot.

Timestamps

00:03:11 Growing up and upbringing in Wisconsin

00:06:36 What sparked her interest in horses

00:09:16 When did her exploration into wisdom, spirituality, soul etc. begin?

00:17:57 How was she able to pursue wisdom and spirituality in her formal education?

00:25:10 First couple of jobs after college in tech startups

00:29:19 Meeting her Reboot co-founder Jerry Colonna

00:32:16 What sparked her interest in coaching?

00:38:28 What is the role of a coach?

00:42:28 Reboot overview and her role

00:43:40 Different services that Reboot provides

00:46:26 Most common challenges leaders come to Reboot with

00:50:56 Work can be the way that we achieve our fullest self

00:55:11 The "hamster wheel"

00:56:36 Success stories through Reboot coaching

01:03:07 Equine facilitated coaching

01:07:24 What would an equine facilitated coaching session look like?

01:11:53 Adjusting to the pandemic

01:13:56 How the pandemic has amplified some of the challenges that companies face

01:17:03 Strategies that are effective in preventing burnout

01:22:03 What she wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:22:55 Her daily routine

01:24:49 Her driving force

01:26:24 Parting words of wisdom around maintaining well-being as a working professional

Today’s guest is Jason Hardrath. Jason is an adventure athlete, speaker, and physical education specialist who’s made a lifestyle out of pursuing his passion for human performance. After running track & field in college, Jason eventually found himself competing in longer distance events like marathons and Ironmans. His work ethic soon paid off and he qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championships in 2015. Training was going amazing for Jason leading up to the world championships until a car accident changed everything. He was ejected from his car which left him with, among other injuries, a collapsed lung, multiple broken ribs, a broken shoulder, and a torn ACL. Not allowing this set back to remove his passion for endurance and mountaineering, Jason (after recovering enough so that he regained an ability to run) ended up discovering FKTs, or Fastest Known Times. FKTs are essentially a speed record on any given route (Jason will go over them in more detail during the interview). There’s no formal race or event for these routes, which include everything from long-distance hiking trails to circumnavigations of lakes or mountains, or completing a linkup of multiple peaks. Jason’s currently on a quest to become the first athlete to 100 FKTs, and as of this episode’s release he’s at 97. We cover a lot in this interview. We discuss how he got into endurance sport, his 2015 car accident, perspectives on moving forward from traumatic experiences, his journey to 100 FKTs, minimalism, and much more.

Timestamps

00:04:32 Growing up in Northeastern Oregon

00:06:01 Discovering running in middle school

00:10:07 Constantly looking for the next goal

00:13:42 Why he decided to bike across America and do triathlons

00:18:11 What's driving his athletic pursuits?

00:23:56 The 2015 car accident that changed everything

00:30:05 Recovering from the accident

00:33:57 How the accident reinforced living his life to the fullest

00:38:57 Making sure to not wrap his identity up in his athletic endeavors

00:41:57 How others can accelerate out of traumatic experiences

00:47:35 Road to somewhat normal fitness after the car accident

00:53:30 What are FKTs and how do they work?

00:55:50 What inspired him to want to do FKTs?

01:03:50 The route he's saving for the 100th FKT

01:06:55 The logistics vs. the fitness on FKTs

01:08:44 How he would typically prepare for a long FKT

01:10:36 The hardest FKT he's done so far

01:14:22 What will he do after 100 FKTs?

01:15:52 Covid's impact on his FKT quest

01:17:05 His weekly training schedule during 2020

01:19:24 Being a PE teacher and his teaching philosophy

01:27:23 Living the van lifestyle

01:30:59 Experiment of minimalism

01:32:12 How he approaches sleep, nutrition, and recovery

01:35:50 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

01:37:27 His daily routine

01:39:52 His driving force

01:41:52 Parting words of wisdom around staying driven

Today’s guest is Jeff Harry. My conversation with Jeff will feel a bit different than most of the podcasts I’ve done. Instead of my traditional focus of unraveling the stories, takeaways, and lessons from my guest’s life (which we do get into a little), most of my discussion with Jeff centers around one topic – incorporating more play into one’s life and workplace. I know what you might be thinking, who has time for play? I’ve got this business, this job, relationship, kids, etc. Well, what if engaging in more play could help you tap into your truest self and feel happier and perform better every day? That’s what Jeff shows to companies and individuals. He’s worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day. He’s also presented at conferences such as INBOUND and SXSW, and was recently selected by BambooHR and Engagedly as one of the Top 100 HR Influencers of 2020 for his organizational development work around dealing with toxic people in the workplace. Jeff might be the highest energy person I’ve had on the podcast, and I think you’ll find my conversation with him to be an interesting change of pace.

Timestamps

00:02:38 Rise of Superman book passage reaction

00:04:52 When did we decide that play was a waste of time for adults?

00:07:03 When did Jeff's exploration into play begin?

00:09:55 Did his parents encourage him to play?

00:13:30 Affluent deadness

00:15:37 Reconnecting with your childhood

00:19:34 Incorporating play into mechanical engineering

00:20:58 Overview of Rediscover Your Play

00:23:15 Addressing the toxic person at work

00:27:04 Navigating uncertainty through play

00:28:55 Problem with fixating on the result

00:30:55 Will play ever become mainstream?

00:33:05 Why make time for play?

00:34:57 How his work impacts company recruiters

00:37:31 How receptive are companies to Jeff's workshops?

00:40:26 The 8-hour workday

00:42:25 How he's adjusted to the pandemic

00:44:13 Why "play" plays an even more important role during the pandemic

00:48:51 What it means to actually play

00:51:43 Ultimate vision for Rediscover Your Play

00:53:30 What he wants to accomplish 5 years from now

00:54:45 His daily routine

00:56:50 His driving force