Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Ep70: Why Healthy Habits Aren’t Enough (And What Works Better) | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Most women change the subject when the talk turns to how to take care of your body as you age. Avoiding it quietly becomes the plan, and the body gets whatever it gets by default.

Healthy habits were never enough, and the reason sits in the word itself. A habit runs on its own, so it gives way the first time life gets loud. A ritual is a decision you make ahead of time and perform daily, and it holds on the days you do not feel like it.

Host Shelly Rood walks you through what the roughly 330 billion cells your body replaces every day say about what you eat and how you move, how to name your stage of change for food and, separately, for movement, and how to build one nutrition ritual and one movement ritual small enough to do on your worst day. She also revisits her Episode 57 conversation with Jess Meuse on worth, kindness, and how far is too far.

Shelly brings 25-plus years in broadcast media, a NASM personal trainer certification, and a bodybuilding background to a subject she says she is tired of carrying silently. The close returns to Lived Authority: you navigate life, you do not win it, and you author every move. Shelly shares her own experience here, so talk with your doctor or a registered dietitian before you change how you eat.

CHAPTERS: (00:00) Daily Rituals Reality (01:26) Headshot Panic And Aging (07:20) Body Worth And Kindness (10:32) Habits Versus Rituals (16:51) Plant Metaphor And Science (22:04) Stages Of Change Nutrition (27:24) Movement Stages And Momentum (32:23) Two Rituals And Wrap Up

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER:

✓ Why healthy habits fall short and what makes a ritual hold on your worst day ✓ What your body's constant cell replacement says about what you eat and how you move ✓ How to name your stage of change for nutrition and, separately, for movement ✓ How to build two rituals that attach to something you already do every day

NEXT WEEK: A guest conversation joins Shelly on Tuesday.

RESOURCES:

• Scientific American, Our Bodies Replace Billions of Cells Every Day: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-bodies-replace-billions-of-cells-every-day/
• Hardcore and At Ease Episode 57 with Jess Meuse: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen
• Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.OthersOverSelf.com
• Personal Mission Statement Workshop or a Strategy Session: [email protected]

Listen: Apple Podcasts and Spotify: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbwdY5eMeQlCbUmUIAmiiedzPazjuPBxG | https://othersoverself.com Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/ | Instagram: @TheShellyRood https://www.instagram.com/othersoverself/ | Twitter/X: @OthersOverSelf | [email protected] Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. Work with Shelly: One-on-One Coaching | Personal Mission Statement Workshop | Team Training. Book a discovery call: [email protected]

Ep69: How to Quiet the Voice That Says "You Haven't Done Enough" | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

You hit the number, and the bar moves. The voice that says "you haven't done enough" usually started with someone else, and you quiet it by practicing how you answer it.

Host Shelly Rood talks with Carylyne Chan about where that voice comes from: a former boss, a relationship that ended, a drill sergeant who set your standard from a distance and never stopped. Carylyne shares the sentence she uses when anxiety speeds up and how she built the habit of saying the direct thing out loud until it stopped feeling like a risk.

Shelly closes with the rule underneath the voice, "if I can, I should," and how Lived Authority replaces the old habit of waiting for a sign-off that never comes.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Direct Truth Without Fear

01:02 The Voice That Moves The Goalposts

04:13 Meet Carylyne Chan Founder Story

18:55 Gather Inspiration To Calm Anxiety

21:55 Building Mur Healing Voice Companions

28:32 Healing Inner Voice

31:37 Agency Beyond Productivity

35:50 MST and Healthy Men

46:14 Murmur Features Explained

56:33 Lived Authority Takeaways

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER

✓ A sentence to use the moment anxiety speeds up

✓ How to practice saying the direct thing until the world stops feeling like it will fall apart

✓ Why even a kind voice needs boundaries

✓ How to decline one thing this week with "That doesn't work for me," and stop talking

FEATURED GUEST Carylyne Chan - Founder. Carylyne started interning at startups at 14 in Singapore, built and exited a machine learning company, and took a team through a $400M acquisition. She now builds Murmur - an AI voice companion for women.

RESOURCES & LINKS Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.OthersOverSelf.com Personal Mission Statement Workshop: [email protected] Book a Strategy Session: [email protected] Mission Wildflower, twice a week for women with military experience: https://shellyrood.substack.com

Affiliate Disclaimer: I only recommend products I genuinely use. Full disclosure: https://othersoverself.com/affiliate-disclaimer/

ABOUT THE HOST Shelly Rood is a broadcast marketing executive, military intelligence veteran and the host of Hardcore and At Ease. Through Others Over Self® and Mission Ambition, she helps ambitious leaders keep their edge without going over the edge.

SUBSCRIBE & CONNECT Listen: Apple Podcasts / Spotify https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen | YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbwdY5eMeQlCbUmUIAmiiedzPazjuPBxG | https://othersoverself.com

Connect: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/ | Instagram @TheShellyRood https://www.instagram.com/othersoverself/ | Twitter/X @OthersOverSelf Email: [email protected]

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Work with Shelly: One-on-One Coaching | Personal Mission Statement Workshop | Team Training. Book a discovery call: [email protected]

Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Coaches and creators who are grinding away often wonder whether an easier path to the work exists. The right tools can help a coach or creator get time back without trading away quality of life. Business advisor Shelly Rood shares the five tools she uses every day to do exactly that.

Episode Description

Shelly Rood is flooded with emails from well-intentioned people asking for basic business advice, so she lays out the five tools she has relied on over the past year. She covers Claude for AI-assisted project work, Substack for publishing, Circle for private community, Riverside for recording, and Descript for editing. The goal is protecting quality of life, because nobody knows how many minutes they have. Shelly closes with one assignment: pick a single tool and put it into a system this week.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Mission

01:07 Why These Tools Matter

02:18 Tool One Claude AI

07:10 Tools Two and Three

11:01 Tool Four Riverside

13:07 Tool Five Descript

In This Episode You'll Discover

• How to organize AI projects for a company, each client, and each area of a business, using the military staff model as a guide
• What an AI skill is and why a tone-of-voice skill helps content sound like the creator instead of like AI
• Why Circle works as a private online community and an alternative to a Facebook group, including hosted courses and staff training
• What Descript's Studio Sound, stock library, and clip tools can do for a podcast

Resources & Links

Tools mentioned: Claude: https://claude.ai Substack: https://substack.com Circle: https://circle.so Riverside: https://riverside.fm Descript: https://www.descript.com

Shelly's Substack publication, Mission Wildflower: https://missionwildflower.com

Episode 17 with Carrie Mead shares the recording mishap that led Shelly to Riverside: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hardcore-and-at-ease-powered-by-others-over-self/id1826750560?i=1000731765629

Subscribe & Connect

Listeners can subscribe to Hardcore and At Ease™ on their favorite podcast app and keep the conversation going with the Others Over Self® community at join.othersoverself.com.

Ep67: How to Respond to "You're So Busy" (And What to Ask Instead) | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Someone tells you "you're so busy," and it lands like an attack, like you can't manage your own schedule. This episode shows how to respond to "you're so busy" without guilt, and what to ask instead when the phrase is on the tip of your tongue.

Episode Description

"You're so busy" usually comes from people who mean well. It still treats the full life you built like something happening to you instead of something you chose, and it stings whether you hear it or catch yourself saying it. Host Shelly Rood takes the phrase head on.

Her guest, Catherine DeDecker, started as a receptionist and is now senior vice president of Spalding DeDecker, an employee-owned engineering and surveying firm whose survey work supports the runway shift at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. In the summers, she patrols Lake St. Clair as a marine safety officer. She also serves as treasurer of her sportsman's club, runs its winter trap league, and chases Michigan waterfalls with her camera. Midway through the conversation, Shelly falls right into the phrase herself, and Catherine answers without a word of apology.

The episode closes with a two-part planner exercise and a better question to ask the people in your life, grounded in Lived Authority: you get to decide where your capabilities go.

Chapters

(00:00) Why "You're So Busy" Hurts

(01:49) Meet Catherine DeDecker

(07:05) Inside Spalding DeDecker

(17:46) Service at Selfridge and on the Lake

(23:58) Lake Rescue Story

(27:51) Photography Trips Up North

(31:35) Trap Shooting with Her Grandson

(39:10) Busy on Purpose Wrap-Up

In This Episode You'll Discover

✓ The two-word answer to "you're so busy" that lets you drop the guilt ✓ The question to ask instead, and why it invites joy instead of complaints ✓ Two things to look for in your planner this week ✓ Why the way you recharge doesn't have to match anyone else's, including your partner's

Featured Guest

Catherine DeDecker - Senior Vice President, Spalding DeDecker. Catherine worked her way through the firm's different roles, starting as the receptionist. She serves as a marine safety officer with the Macomb County Sheriff Reserve Marine Division and as treasurer of Huron Point Sportsman's Club.

Share This Episode

Who comes to mind when you hear "you're so busy"? Send them this episode so they hear Catherine's answer too.

Resources & Links

Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.OthersOverSelf.com | Join the community: https://join.othersoverself.com | Personal Mission Statement Workshop and Strategy Sessions: [email protected]

Affiliate Disclaimer: I only recommend products I genuinely use. Full disclosure: https://othersoverself.com/affiliate-disclaimer/

Subscribe & Connect

Listen: Apple Podcasts & Spotify: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbwdY5eMeQlCbUmUIAmiiedzPazjuPBxG | https://othersoverself.com Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/ | Instagram: @TheShellyRood https://www.instagram.com/othersoverself/ | Twitter/X: @OthersOverSelf Email: [email protected] Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Work with Shelly: One-on-One Coaching | Personal Mission Statement Workshop | Team Training. Book a discovery call: [email protected]

Ep66: Your Big Moment Runs on Private Work | Drag Racing Lessons | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Your big moment runs on private work: the months of effort nobody sees while you wonder why you keep showing up. At the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals, a record-breaking day of drag racing proved it.

A rainout washed away Shelly Rood's anniversary plans at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. She went back the next day with her 16-year-old son, and together they watched Shawn Langdon run 346.95 mph, the fastest pass in NHRA history, then top 346 again in the final to win the event.

Shelly takes listeners into the pits, the packed Monday grandstands, and the smell of nitro and burned rubber. Then she pulls back the curtain on the private work behind the record: track upgrades finished months before race day, a crew that stopped to find the one problem haunting their car, and a racer who was ready to quit days before he held the trophy.

As a veteran, Shelly also signed Daniel Wilkerson's Funny Car through SCAG Racing's Simply The Brave program, then watched from the stands as her name raced down the track.

The episode closes with a permission slip: go back to your foundation day after day, rain or not, so your next big moment has something solid to launch from.

00:00 Thunder in Your Chest 02:40 Rainout and Return 05:19 Pits Paddock and Atmosphere 08:14 Foundation Behind the Record 11:59 Comebacks and Simply the Brave 16:17 Build Your Own Foundation

• Why the fastest run in NHRA history started with work finished months before race day
• How one crew turned a last-place qualifier into a winner by fixing a single problem
• What a racer ready to quit and a 41-race winless streak reveal about showing up
• How SCAG Racing's Simply The Brave program invites veterans to sign race cars
• Why returning to your basics, like sleep, good food, and movement, is what lets you launch forward
• How to Generate Momentum by letting each win hand the next one a head start

• SCAG Simply The Brave program: https://www.scag.com/promotion/simply-the-brave/
• SCAG Racing recap from the Great Lakes Nationals: https://www.scag.com/career-best-run-highlights-monday-eliminations-for-scag-racing-at-inaugural-nhra-great-lakes-nationals
• US 131 Motorsports Park news and 2027 dates: https://us131msp.com/blogs/news
• NHRA official race recap: https://www.nhra.com/news/2026/langdon-vandergriff-coughlin-and-hall-claim-inaugural-michigan-titles

Join the Others Over Self community at https://join.othersoverself.com and build alongside people putting in their own private work.

Read Shelly's stories of Lived Authority free at https://othersoverself.com.

Follow Hardcore and At Ease in your podcast app so every Tuesday episode lands automatically.

Ep65: Show Up Anyway: What to Do When You Feel Like You Don't Belong

Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Mitze Alexander's first supervisor told her women didn't belong in the military. She had no barracks, no female support, and no one to tell, and she knows what it's like to feel like you don't belong somewhere you know you're supposed to be. She stayed anyway, and built a twenty-year career to prove him wrong.

Episode Description

Mitze Alexander knows what it feels like to walk into a room that's already decided you don't belong there. At her first duty station, an all-male aviation unit in Korea with no barracks and no female support, her supervisor told her outright that women didn't belong in the military. She stayed anyway. That decision sits underneath everything she's built since: twenty years in the U.S. Army and Michigan Army National Guard, seven years as a Muskegon patrol officer, and, for close to two decades now, a licensed trauma therapist specializing in PTSD, depression, and anxiety with military women. Host Shelly Rood and Mitze connected through Mission Ambition's second location in West Michigan, which provides tailored support to veterans across Muskegon County and the surrounding area.

In this episode, Mitze talks through what it actually takes to stay somewhere you've been told you shouldn't be, what that moment still demands of her to this day, and what she'd tell a woman living through the same thing right now.

Chapters

00:00 Carrying Others’ Weight

03:47 Meet Mitzi Alexander

05:45 Private Practice Realities

10:21 Military Woman’s Journey

25:26 National Guard Growth

27:12 From Policing to Social Work

34:11 Therapy Fit and Boundaries

45:12 Closing Reframe and Challenge

In This Episode You'll Discover

• Why absorbing third-party trauma for a living requires real, enforced boundaries, not just good intentions
• How the old operating system of "if I can hold it, I should" differs from Lived Authority's "I can hold it, and I still decide when I put it down"
• What it took for a first-time enlistee to walk into an all-male unit with no barracks, no female support, and a supervisor who told her she didn't belong
• Why Mitze left law enforcement to work in social work and clinical therapy instead
• A concrete, repeatable way to release the weight of a hard day without waiting for it to pile up

Featured Guest

Mitze Alexander is a licensed therapist based in Muskegon, Michigan, specializing in trauma, PTSD, depression, and anxiety, with a focus on military women. She spent four years on active duty in the U.S. Army and twenty years in the Michigan Army National Guard, retiring at the rank of E6, followed by seven years as a patrol officer with the Muskegon Police Department. She now runs a private practice out of Just Us Divine Health and Wellness in Muskegon Heights.

Host

Shelly Rood, Host / Hardcore and At Ease | Veterans Radio / Co-Founder Mission Ambition, LLC

Resources & Links

Mission Ambition, LLC — West Michigan location serving veterans across Muskegon County: missionambition.org Others Over Self®: othersoverself.com Mission Wildflower Substack: shellyrood.substack.com

Subscribe & Connect

Subscribe to Hardcore and At Ease on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Keep the conversation going at join.othersoverself.com.

Ep64: How to Become a Lived Authority Without Anyone's Permission | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Episode Description

How does someone become a lived authority without anyone else's permission? Right now, someone with real judgment, earned the hard way, is waiting for a stranger to say it's allowed before they act on it. In this solo teaching episode, Shelly Rood explains why the ten thousand hour rule and formal certification were never built to answer that question, and what it actually takes to claim self-directed decision-making over your own life. Drawing from her own path to military chaplaincy, her time in the fitness industry, and stories from Category Pirates co-founder Christopher Lochhead and retirement coach Markham Rollins, Shelly names the exact moment lived experience turns into lived authority.

Chapters

00:00 Question of the Day 14:21 Defining Lived Authority 14:21 Owning Your Experience 14:21 Self Direction 14:21 No External Certification 14:21 Trusting Your Inner Compass 14:21 Closing Takeaway

In This Episode You'll Discover

• Why the ten thousand hour rule was never built to measure authority over your own life
• The difference between being qualified and being fit, and why lived authority requires both
• How self-directed decision-making replaces waiting for someone else's permission
• What shifts once you stop outsourcing your judgment to people who haven't lived your life

Mentioned in This Episode

• Christopher Lochhead, co-founder of Category Pirates and host of Follow Your Different
• Markham Rollins, retirement and identity coach, Retirement Transformed

Resources & Links

• Lived Authority: Defining a New Construct for Self-Directed Decision-Making (the clinical companion article): https://othersoverself.com/learn/lived-authority-defining-a-new-construct-for-self-directed-decision-making/
• The original Lived Authority Substack piece, "Lived Authority: The Permission We Keep Waiting for Someone Else to Give Us": https://missionwildflower.com/p/lived-authority-the-permission-we
• Category Pirates mini book, "Podcast Category Design: 6 Principles and 6 Donkey Traps to Turn Trapped Wisdom Into Digital Treasure"
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Wildflower Assessment for Women Veterans: https://othersoverself.shop/products/wildflower-assessment-for-women-veterans

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to be a lived authority? It means recognizing your own accumulated experience as legitimate authority for directing your own life, without needing someone else to keep certifying it.

How is lived authority different from confidence? Confidence is believing you can do something. Lived authority is about who holds the pen on your own life, not how capable you feel holding it. The distinction is between lived experience, which is why people want to hear from you, and lived authority, which is choosing not to hand your judgment about your own life to someone who hasn't lived it.

What is the ten thousand hour rule, and why doesn't it answer this question? The ten thousand hour rule comes from Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, built off research on elite violinists. It measures mastery of a skill through hours of deep, focused practice. It was never built to measure something else: a person's own judgment over their own life.

What does it mean to be "qualified and fit" as a lived authority? Qualified means you lived it, not read about it or watched a video on it. Fit means you're the right person, in the right moment, for the room in front of you. Both have to be true at the same time for the claim to hold.

Does lived authority mean credentials don't matter? No. The episode doesn't argue that licenses, degrees, or certifications should disappear, they matter for a surgeon, for example. It argues that a lot of the most consequential work in life, parenting, entrepreneurship, guiding someone through grief, happens with no third party ever signing off on it at all. This is about human systems and credentialing bodies specifically. It has nothing to do with spiritual authority, which operates on its own terms and isn't something this episode claims to replace or diminish.

Subscribe & Connect Keep the conversation going at join.othersoverself.com. Follow Hardcore and At Ease wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone who's still waiting on a permission slip.

Ep63: Michigan's Defense Leadership, From Two Different Chairs | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self®

Michigan's defense leadership doesn't come from one seat. This week you'll hear host Shelly Rood interview two entirely different chairs, and uncover what holds both of them up when nobody's checking the work anymore.

This episode is dedicated to Julie Fathbruckner, a founding member of Women in Defense who spent years working alongside AUSA and NDIA on behalf of Michigan's defense community. She will be deeply missed.

Scott Davis, President of NDIA Michigan, the National Defense Industrial Association's Michigan chapter, spent 30 years in the U.S. military including time as a Army Reserve officer and a program executive officer at the Detroit Arsenal before leading BAE Systems' combat vehicle division. He talks candidly about the two-billion-dollar-a-year funding shift threatening Michigan's ground vehicle industrial base, and why the instincts he built in uniform are the same ones guiding NDIA's advocacy today.

Chuck Cogger, Chapter President of the Arsenal of Democracy Chapter of the Association of the United States Army, AUSA, spent 23 years of active duty as a field artillery officer. He shares how the planning discipline he built in the military now runs an all-volunteer chapter of over 1,600 members, and why leading through trust instead of rank has made Michigan's AUSA chapter a model the national organization points to.

Two different roles, two different organizations, and the same underlying thread: judgment built while earning a title doesn't expire the day the title does. Shelly calls this Lived Authority. It's still yours to use, whether or not anyone is still checking.

(00:00) Show Intro and Premise (01:11) When Orders Stop (01:53) Remembering Julie (03:03) Meet Scott Davis (04:13) Michigan Defense Legacy (07:41) Scott's Career and Deployments (11:19) NDIA Leadership Path (13:37) Arsenal Funding Risks (20:08) Getting Involved With NDIA (27:34) Sponsor Break and Return (29:04) Meet Chuck Cogger (51:17) Final Reflections and Homework

• Why Michigan's defense industrial base is facing a two-billion-dollar-a-year funding shift, and what it means for the state's workforce
• How Chuck Cogger leads an all-volunteer chapter of 1,600-plus members through trust instead of rank
• What Scott Davis learned bridging both sides of the industry-government divide
• Why the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 12-14 in Washington, D.C., matters for Michigan's defense community

Scott Davis - President, NDIA Michigan. 30-year Army Reserve officer, former Detroit Arsenal program executive officer, former VP of combat vehicle systems at BAE Systems. Connect: https://ndia-mich.org/

Chuck Cogger - Chapter President, Arsenal of Democracy Chapter of AUSA. 23-year field artillery officer. Connect: https://www.ausaarsenalofdemocracy.org/ | [email protected] | [email protected]

Portions of this conversation are featured in A&D Intel, the newsletter Macomb County's Chamber of Commerce publishes for the aerospace and defense community. Subscribe: https://macombcountychamber.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=794f0be43deedac8bc379a174&id=48431cb0b8

Explore membership: Arsenal of Democracy Chapter of AUSA (https://www.ausaarsenalofdemocracy.org/) | NDIA Michigan (https://ndia-mich.org/)

2026 AUSA Annual Meeting registration: https://www.ausa.org/news/registration-opens-2026-ausa-annual-meeting

Learn More: Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.othersoverself.com | Personal Mission Statement Workshop / Strategy Session: [email protected]

Affiliate Disclaimer: I only recommend products I genuinely use. Full disclosure: https://othersoverself.com/affiliate-disclaimer/

Get the Gear: Business Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/biz-report | StoryBrand.ai: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/storybrand-ai | Business Made Simple: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/bms | Flight School: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/flight-school | Marketing Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/marketing-report

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify (https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen) | YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbwdY5eMeQlCbUmUIAmiiedzPazjuPBxG) | https://othersoverself.com Connect: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/) | Instagram @TheShellyRood | Twitter/X @OthersOverSelf Email: [email protected] | Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts | Work with Shelly: [email protected]

Ep62. "The Leadership Job That Never Clocks Out" with Guest Brigadier General Daniel J. Kramer II, Assistant Adjutant General, Michigan Air National Guard

The meeting won't end. The phone buzzes through dinner. And somewhere along the way, you started believing that if you were doing this right, you'd have this balanced by now.

The more responsibility a leader carries, the more the job follows them home, and it never fully clocks out. This episode sits inside that trade with someone who's lived almost thirty years of it: Brigadier General Dan Kramer of the Michigan Air National Guard.

You'll hear why balance was never actually the finish line, what a one-star general still hasn't solved about leadership and time, and a concrete way to protect the hours you already have instead of chasing more of them.

Brigadier General Kramer leads Selfridge Air National Guard Base, a 3,000-acre installation that just secured a second flying mission after years on the chopping block. His candor about what rank actually costs a family, and what he protects instead, anchors this conversation.

CHAPTERS & TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Responsibility vs Balance (01:13) Meet General Dan Kramer (03:36) Michigan Roots and Homecoming (09:04) Career Growth at Selfridge (13:07) Purpose Built Leadership (21:38) Protecting Time and Connection (31:29) Mission Next and Final Takeaways

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER ✓ Why balance was never the real target for leaders carrying genuine responsibility ✓ What a Brigadier General still hasn't solved about leadership and time, and why that matters for you ✓ A simple weekly practice for protecting the hours you already have ✓ Why full presence in limited time beats chasing more hours every time

FEATURED GUEST Brigadier General Dan Kramer — Michigan Air National Guard, Selfridge Air National Guard Base Leads a 3,000-acre installation that just secured a second flying mission for Selfridge after years of uncertainty. Almost thirty years of service across active duty and the Michigan Air National Guard, including postings in Texas and Germany.

RESOURCES & LINKS Learn More: Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.OthersOverSelf.com | Join the community: https://join.othersoverself.com A&D Intel Newsletter (Macomb County Chamber of Commerce, for the aerospace and defense community): https://macombcountychamber.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=794f0be43deedac8bc379a174&id=48431cb0b8 Affiliate Disclaimer: I only recommend products I genuinely use. Full disclosure: https://othersoverself.com/affiliate-disclaimer/ Get the Gear: My Business Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/biz-report | StoryBrand.ai: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/storybrand-ai | Business Made Simple: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/bms | Flight School: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/flight-school | My Marketing Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/marketing-report

SUBSCRIBE & CONNECT Listen: Apple Podcasts: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen | Spotify: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/listen | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbwdY5eMeQlCbUmUIAmiiedzPazjuPBxG | https://othersoverself.com Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/ | Instagram: @TheShellyRood Email: [email protected] Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Work with Shelly: One-on-One Coaching | Personal Mission Statement Workshop | Team Training. Book a discovery call: [email protected]

Ep61: Selfridge's $2 Billion Build-Out: The Judgment Call No Committee Could Overrule | Hardcore and At Ease - powered by Others Over Self® with host Shelly Rood

Vicky Rowinski's team got told no twice on the F-35. Her read on the numbers never changed anyway, and neither did the outcome for Selfridge.

A few times a year, Shelly Rood checks in with Vicky Rowinski, head of economic development for Macomb County, to hear where things stand at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. This time, there's two billion dollars on the table for infrastructure tied to the F-15EX Eagle II mission, and years of setbacks that came before the momentum finally showed up.

You'll hear how Selfridge lost the F-35 beddown twice before landing the mission driving this build-out now. You'll get the real mechanics behind how a two-billion-dollar infrastructure project gets built, county by county: industry days, funding pipelines, and a small business success story with SAPA that grew from 13 employees to a 350-person expansion. And you'll hear what it looks like to hold your own judgment steady through years of no before the yes finally comes.

Vicky Rowinski leads economic development for Macomb County, Michigan and has spent over a decade building the relationships and track record behind Selfridge's current momentum. She first joined the show back on Episode 36 and returns here with a full update.

Chapters (00:00) Earned Judgment Intro (02:14) Selfridge Mission Next Overview (05:26) Runway Expansion and Local Impacts (10:55) Industry Days and Funding Pipeline (15:10) Resilience Through Setbacks (25:39) SAPA Small Business Win (36:05) Trust Your Own Authority Outro

In This Episode You'll Discover

• Why Selfridge losing the F-35 beddown twice didn't shake Vicky Rowinski's read on the numbers
• How a $2 billion infrastructure project gets built, from industry days to funding pipelines
• The small business story behind SAPA's growth from 13 employees to a 350-person expansion
• What it looks like to hold your judgment steady when the official answer keeps coming back no

Featured Guest Vicky Rowinski — Head of Economic Development, Macomb County, Michigan Vicky leads economic development for Macomb County and has spent over a decade building the county's role in Selfridge's infrastructure growth. Returning guest, first featured on Episode 36. Connect: SelfridgeMissionNext.com

Resources & Links Hardcore and At Ease Framework: https://www.OthersOverSelf.com Personal Mission Statement Workshop: [email protected] Book a Strategy Session: [email protected]

Affiliate Disclaimer: Shelly only recommends products she genuinely uses. Full disclosure: https://othersoverself.com/affiliate-disclaimer/

Get the Gear: Shelly's Business Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/biz-report | StoryBrand.ai: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/storybrand-ai | Business Made Simple: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/bms | Flight School: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/flight-school | Shelly's Marketing Report: https://hardcore-and-at-ease.captivate.fm/marketing-report

Subscribe & Connect Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | https://othersoverself.com Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/missionambition/ | Instagram: @TheShellyRood | Twitter/X: @OthersOverSelf Email: [email protected] Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Work with Shelly: One-on-One Coaching | Personal Mission Statement Workshop | Team Training — Book a discovery call: [email protected]