Adam Grant is Wharton’s top-rated professor and a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, and live more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized as one of the world's 25 most influential management thinkers and Fortune's 40 under 40, and is a New York Times best-selling author.  

He’s worked with the Military for years, and we spend some time discussing his experiences and some of the following:

• Fostering original thinking in the military
• Innovating thinking
• Translating military leadership into civilian success

Joe Quinn is Team RWB’s Director of Leadership Development and in many ways, the organization’s emotional heartbeat.  His story, and his willingness to tell it, has inspired thousands of people to engage with their community and take up the mantle of leadership.

Joe and I have had countless conversations, ranging in topics from sports to defense policy to changing diapers.  In this episode, we dive into our philosophies on leadership and why we think Team RWB is playing a game-changing role in how Americans work together to build a better future.

We cover some great nuggets, including:

• The concept of whole-braining integration
• Why the military doesn’t necessarily prepare you to be a great leader
• The critical importance of genuine relationships
• And so much more

This is a good look into how we view and value leadership, and we hope that you’ll take the time to listen, digest, and explore your own views on this critical topic.

The need for leadership in our country has never been greater.  That is why we created the Eagle Leader Fellow Program.

This week is a very special episode as we talk with three of Team RWB’s Eagle Leader Fellows.  These leaders have spent the past several months on a mission to make their communities stronger.  

You’ll hear from Dennis Volpe (Jacksonville, FL), Marissa May (Omaha, NE), and Kris Lord (San Francisco, CA).  They share their experiences of taking up the mantle of leadership and how they’ve grown as individuals through the process.

The Eagle Leader Fellowship is a 12-month leadership development experience with a focus on leadership education, mentorship, and experiential learning.  Our first full class of fellows have done and absolutely amazing job (we’ve hired 5 of them to the full-time staff).  Applications are opening soon for the next class of fellows.  If you have a heart for service, a desire to lead, and think you have what it takes to make your community stronger…please follow this link to learn more.

https://www.teamrwb.org/our-approach/eagle-leader-fellows

In preparation for our first ever Team RWB national Yoga event, Eagle Namasday on December 3, we’ve got a great show this week with 2 unique individuals - Barry Peterson, and Ed Stancombe.  

Yoga, plays a huge part in both of their lives, and we’re excited to share it with you.  We cover some great topics, to include:

• What is Yoga?
• Why Yoga has been embraced by the military, after being shunned for years.
• The physical and mental benefits of Yoga.
• Eagle Namasday, and what you can expect.  

No matter if you’ve ever been in a Yoga studio or not, there’s a ton to gleam from this podcast.  We hope you enjoy it!

Babe Kwasniak is not only a Army veteran, but he’s a nationally recognized basketball coach who has moved back to his hometown to coach and lead in his community.  He’s been incredibly successful, both on the court and in developing his players into productive members of society.  In this episode, we have an engaging conversation about a wide range to topics to include:

• Military lessons in leadership that he uses on the basketball court
• Parenting young athletes
• The challenges and opportunities of leading teenagers
• Using social media as a leadership tool

Jenifer Smith's military career has been a winding path and has taken many shapes. From an injury at Marine Corps bootcamp, to college at Norwich University, to the National Guard, Active Duty, Reserves, and Contractor - she has experienced the military from almost every angle. 

In this week's podcast, we have a great conversation around the challenges and opportunities in taking a non-traditional route. During the second half of the podcast, we get into some really good stuff like:

• Finding a community you relate to
• The perils of over-committing
• How to identify and manage your true priorities
• The importance of investing in relationships

Dr. Jason Dempsey is a lot of things:

• A Senior Fellow at CNAS
• An author and prolific writer
• An entrepreneur
• A former White House Fellow
• Former special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• A retired Infantry Officer in the Army

But, luckily, he’s an expert in military demographics and politics, as well.  In this episode, we have a thrilling, and somewhat controversial conversation about politics, and the upcoming election.  We cover topics like:

• His book, Our Army, and how he was the first person to comprehensively study political views in the Army.  
• Why it’s dangerous for military leaders to get involved in politics
• How he believes the best way for civilians to support members of the military is by holding military senior leaders accountable.
• His role in the podcast Serial
• His military startup, Millie.

Jason is brilliant, an original thinker, and brave enough to say things that most people won’t - don’t miss this episode.

Todd Connor is a Navy veteran and the CEO of Bunker Labs, an incredible nonprofit organization that helps veterans to achieve their dreams through entrepreneurship.  Over the past couple of years, Bunker Labs has grown from their original location in Chicago, to having chapters in over 10 cities across the country.  They provide support through mentorship, training, education, peer support, and even funding.

Through an innovative online platform at www.BunkerInABox.org, veteran entrepreneurs can embark on a 14 mission journey that takes them through the necessarily steps to start their business.

Recently, Team RWB has partnered with Bunker Labs in the development of our very own e-learning platform, EagleLeader.org (coming soon).

Todd and I have a great conversation about transitioning from the military and how starting a business may be a great option.  We cover topics like:

• When is it the right time to leave your day job, if at all?
• How to create minimally viable product to test your business idea
• Why starting a business-to-business company is a smart move
• Thinking beyond “tech”
• …and a whole lot more

Todd is an extremely engaging and inspiring guy, and we hope you enjoy our conversation.

The first six months of the Eagle Nation Podcast have flown by.  We are 30 episodes into this journey and it has been a blast so far.  We have had some amazing guests and have covered a lot of really interesting topics.  This week, we thought it would be cool to pause and take a look back at what we've learned so far.

In this episode, JJ and I talk about:

• The best advice we've been given on the podcast
• Questions we wish we'd asked
• How we've grown through this process
• Not letting perfect be the enemy of good
• The vision for Team RWB's future

A bunch of listeners have asked us for a consolidated list of some of our favorite books and podcasts that we've mentioned on the show.  Here to go!

Our favorite podcasts:

• TED Radio Hour
• Freakonomics Radio
• Tim Ferriss Show
• Barbell Business

Our favorite books:

• Contagious
• Tribe
• Zero to One
• Start With Why
• Daring Greatly
• Fooled by Randomness
• Originals
• Good to Great

Doug McCormick is a lot of things - an Army Veteran (Infantry), a small business owner, a skilled investment banker, a Veteran advocate, and financial author, just to name a few.  In this podcast, we talk about economic empowerment for the military community, and why the traditional model of investing and asset allocation is imperfect.

We cover a ton of great content, including:

• His book, Family, Inc.
• Economic empowerment for Veterans and Military Spouses
• The striking lack of financial literacy in America, and why it's a problem