Mental Toughness for Mavericks

As an international brand strategist Andrea Shillington built brands for Fortune 500 companies, seven star hotels and governments including the United Arab Emirates. She then pivoted, launching Brands for the Heart to help visionary entrepreneurs develop authentic brands. We talked about her journey to living a more authentic life after she achieved all the markers of success early in her career and found they weren’t satisfying, how it takes courage to show up authentically and, how being authentic — whether with clients, investors or your team — actually helps you be more productive and build your business more quickly.

Starting at the age of 13, Coss Marte built a $2M cocaine-and-marijuana empire in New York City before getting busted. While serving time, he developed a bodyweight exercise program that he could do in a 9'x6′ prison cell — he lost 70 pounds and went on to help his fellow inmates lose a total of 1,000 pounds. Once released, he was determined to build a legitimate business and, with the help of organizations like Defy Ventures, he’s gotten funding through Shark Tank and a successful Kickstarter to open his own gym, ConBody, where he hires formerly incarcerated as trainers. We spoke about his approach to “hustling,” how he stays resilient and the key inflection points in his journey to becoming fit and legit (including the incredible "stamp in the bible” story).

An entrepreneur who has cofounded and built billion dollar businesses like Hotjobs and TheLadders, Dave Carvajal now advises the leadership of some of the most transformative, disruptive companies in the tech space. We talk about how doing an Ironman race is like building a startup, what it takes to build a team of A players and what many CEOs get wrong about building for culture.

Dr. JP Pawliw-Fry, performance coach and co-author of Performing under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most, explains We some of the common misconceptions about performing under pressure, why you need to understand the difference between pressure and stress, and how women and men handle pressure differently.

Art Turock, author of Competent is Not an Option: Build an Elite Leadership Team Following the Talent Development Game Plan of Sports Champions and world class masters pentathlete explains what teams can do to gain a competitive advantage, how to "Practice While Real Work Gets Done," and how he maintained mental toughness to go on and win a silver medal in the pentathlon after his performance unraveled days earlier.

eff Spencer, an Olympian and advisor to Lance Armstrong, Bono and Tiger Woods, says that much of the conventional advice around success doesn't work. He shares insights into the champion's blueprint and why we can't let human nature run the show.

Fast-talking (quite literally!) computer hacker turned neuroscientist Moran Cerf takes us on a tour of his research and what he's learned looking into open brains and pushing Red Bull athletes beyond their perceived limits.

Psychology professor and coauthor of the book Peak: Secrets from the Science of Expertise, Anders Ericsson explains the real difference between experts and everyone else. Highlights: Why talent is much less of a factor than we think and what experts do to practice better.

Veteran jazz pianist Kenny Werner explains the mindset of mastery, why we need to get over our addition to "getting better" and how we can be more improvisational in our daily lives.

Career coach, recruiter and extreme career changer Caroline Ceniza-Levine shares why evidence of resilience is increasingly important to employers, how to handle both the short and long term pressure of negotiation, interviews and prolonged job search.