Extraordinary Us

The Extraordinary Us Podcast is taking a summer break 😎 Jeff closes season 2 with a special recap highlighting the great guests we’ve been able to hear from this past season and the lessons learned along the way. We’d love to hear from you over the summer about your ideas, what you’re interested in hearing from the Us podcast, different topics, and guests you’d like to hear from in season 3. Stay tuned for what’s coming next!

I first met John Curtis as the Mayor of Provo over a decade ago. It was fun to sit down and share memories, talk politics and about his hope for the future. John currently represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District in the United States congress. Prior to being elected, John was the 45th mayor of Provo City. Congressman Curtis works hard and strives to do his best as a representative of our state. In this insightful episode, we discuss running for office, the opioid epidemic, growth of blockchain, inflation, climate change, and much more.

I had a friend contact me months ago with a story to tell. My guy, Sean Cortese, wanted to talk about something hard: drug addiction. Sean is a good person with a great heart who felt inspired to share his story in hopes of helping others who may be struggling with something challenging. In this very intimate conversation, Sean shares his personal story of addiction to drugs, how he found a way to forgive himself and overcome this hardship in his life.

Brad Bonham is a great entrepreneur and an even better person who is constantly striving to serve others and make a difference in the world. Brad is the CEO of Walker Edison and an EY Entrepreneur of the year winner. In this episode we talk about success but also heartache and disappointment. Brad shares the heartbreaking story of losing his son Grant, how he turned his loss into something amazing, never giving up, pushing through the hard things in life, and turning challenges into something meaningful.

As March Madness begins we re-release Coach Mark Pope's episode to remind us all that “failure is fuel that leads to greater opportunities in life!” Coach Pope is the current BYU men’s head basketball coach, a former NCAA champion and NBA player. Coach Pope is a great example of being relentless, having a positive perspective on life, and encouraging others to use failures to find success.

Today I had the opportunity to sit down and have an uplifting conversation with Jason Clawson. Jason brings something special and unique to the podcast as we talk about death and grief and how to best overcome the hardships we face in life. In this episode, Jason shares the saddening loss of his wife, Valerie, to cancer, how his family overcame this tragedy and found happiness, and how he used his profession as a therapist to create a charity. Giving Sunshine is focused on those who are struggling by giving sunshine baskets full of tools to help others get through their hardest moments.

Today I was blessed to sit down and have a heartfelt conversation with my dear friend and long-time mentor Fraser Bullock. Fraser was an original partner at Bain Capital for many years, and then later founded Sorenson Capital. He is also the former COO of the 2002 Winter Olympics and currently serves as the CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. In this profound episode, we discuss his brush with death that changed his perspective and caused him to realize that every day is a gift. We also discuss the magic and future of the Olympics games in Salt Lake City.

Fun to reconnect with my good friend and former running mate Senator Dan McCay. Before serving in his current position as a State Senator of Utah, Dan served in the House of Representatives for seven years. In this somewhat insightful episode 😉 we discuss how technology is rapidly decentralizing decisions, what specific issues we’ll see in the upcoming legislative session, and how Dan's life has changed as he’s unplugged from digital connections and focuses instead on real relationships.

It was exciting to sit down & talk about the future, what’s happening & what is coming w/Kirk Ouimet the co-founder of Scan & our always entertaining & insightful friend Scott Paul. This is the 2nd episode we have done about potentially scary but also world changing technology & trends. Listen in to become more educated about the future and learn how we can have optimism instead of fear for what lies ahead.

Today is the first of a series of episodes that I am starting off with in 2022 - all about The Future! Paul Weimer is an economist who studied at the London school of economics and now runs a Crypto hedge fund. We had fun discussing the future of cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, NFTs, and how we all can learn and participate in shaping the best future for the most people possible.