In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse is joined by Lt. General Robert Caslen Jr. (Ret.) and Michael Matthews, Ph.D. to discuss The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity, a unique book in the way it combines lessons from extensive leadership research—strengthened by experience and real-life examples of leadership in action, and shares practical tools that can both assess and develop character to maximize leadership effectiveness. Robert Caslen served in the U.S. Army for 43 years. His distinguished military career culminated in 2018 as the 59th superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Under his direction as Superintendent, the Academy was recognized as the Number One public college in the nation by Forbes Magazine and the Number One public college by U.S. News and World Report.  Caslen refined West Point’s leadership program with a focus on professional ethics as an essential part of leadership and character development. General Caslen also served in numerous combat and overseas deployments including operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Central America and Haiti.  After retiring from the Army, he served as the 29th president of the University of South Carolina.   Dr. Michael Matthews is Professor Emeritus of Engineering Psychology at the U.S. Military Academy.  He served as President of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Military Psychology and is a Templeton Foundation Senior Positive Psychology Fellow. He has authored more than 250 scientific papers and edited, authored or co-authored several books.   Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here! We are always grateful for your 5-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which helps us reach even more people!!

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Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

         —Frank Outlaw

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Tom Loarie talks with Forbes Magazine publisher and author Rich Karlgaard on the power of “late bloomers.” We live in a world obsessed with early achievement, but you may be surprised and inspired by what older individuals launch and achieve. Not only is Karlgaard and expert on the intersection of business and innovation, he is also a best-selling author and an economic and market forecaster. Plus, Karlgaard considers himself to be a late bloomer! This episode is packed with Karlgaard’s wisdom and examples that completely destroy the current trends of pressuring children to overachieve and assuming there is failure if someone is not “a success” by age 30. Absolutely false! And you’ll learn why these notions are false in this very special interview…  Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here! We are always grateful for your 5-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which helps us reach even more people!!

RICH KARLGAARD:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with Michael MacCambridge, the award-winning journalist and author featured on the acclaimed ESPN documentary series about the Kansas City Chiefs entitled “The Kingdom.” Today’s discussion will focus on MacCambridge’s biography, Lamar Hunt – A Life in Sports, about the man who started it all. Lamar Hunt did more than launch the Kansas City Chiefs, he founded the American Football League and brought professional soccer and tennis to America. Lamar Hunt has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, the International Tennis Federation Hall of Fame, and the National Soccer Hall of Fame. MacCambridge and Hesse discuss how Lamar not only participated in—but was the catalyst for—multiple revolutions in sports. Many of Lamar’s innovations we take for granted today. Digging deeper, perhaps most importantly, you’ll learn what made Lamar Hunt an effective leader and someone beloved and respected by all who knew him. Dan’s guest, Michael, is likewise remarkable in his field of journalism, which makes for an exceptionally rich and engaging discussion.  MacCambridge has written several books, including the critically-acclaimed and award-winning America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation. His most recent book is The Big Time, How the 1970’s Transformed Sports in America. MacCambridge is also the creator and editor of The ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, hailed by Sports Illustrated as “the Bible” of the sport. He now lives in Austin, and serves as an adjunct instructor at the Center for Sports Communication & Media at the University of Texas, and serves as co-chair on the jury of the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting.   Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here! We are always grateful for your 5-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which helps us reach even more people!!

MICHAEL MacCAMBRIDGE:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Tom Loarie talks with Gerald Nosich, PhD, who is among the most distinguished experts in critical thinking alive today. He authored such foundational works as Reasons and Arguments (Wadsworth, 1982) and Learning to Think Things Through, a book that has been translated into multiple languages and is used in classrooms globally. His latest book, Critical Writing, teaches powerful thinking tools through writing. Over the years, Dr. Nosich has led more than 250 workshops in countries from the U.S. to Singapore, consulted on national assessments of higher-order thinking, contributed to educational programming with PBS and Starlink, and served as a consultant for ACT testing. He holds emeritus positions at SUNY Buffalo State and the University of New Orleans and is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Critical Thinking. In the next 43 minutes, join us to explore how unexamined thinking imprisons us—and what it means to truly think critically in our lives. Listen to this episode below, or on ANY PODCAST PLATFORM here. BE SURE TO LEAVE US A GREAT REVIEW on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share with friends and colleagues!

GERALD NOSICH, PhD:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with Ursula Burns, Chairwoman of Teneo and founding partner of private equity company Integrum Holdings. But Ursula is best known for serving as Chairwoman and CEO of Xerox during a 36-year-career there, where she became the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. In addition, Ursula serves on several private company boards, while also providing leadership counsel to several community, educational and non-profit organizations including the Ford Foundation, the MIT Corporation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Mayo Clinic, among others. President Obama appointed her to lead the White House national program on STEM and she served as Chair of the President’s Export Council. Since February 2022, Ursula Burns has served as Vice Chair of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Ursula holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from NYU.  She’s a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Listen to this episode below, or on ANY PODCAST PLATFORM here. BE SURE TO LEAVE US A GREAT REVIEW on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share with friends and colleagues!

URSULA BURNS:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Tom Loarie talks with Mai Nguyen, PhD, the remarkable 36-year-old neuroscientist who is the co-founder and CEO of OptoCeutics and the inventor of EVY LIGHT®, a breakthrough light-based therapy aimed at slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders. Her journey is anything but ordinary. Born in Vietnam, raised in California as the youngest of nine children in a struggling family, she spent her childhood at a local Flea Market and then went on to earn a PhD in neuroscience. But it was a “chance” conversation with a Danish professor that changed her life, and quite likely the lives of millions who will benefit from her decision. In this episode, you’ll explore the science behind Dr. Mai Nguyen’s light therapy innovation, her deeply personal and unlikely entrepreneurial journey and the powerful values that have guided her. This is a conversation about courage, healing and what it means to be a leader with heart and grit.  Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here! Of course, we are always grateful for your 5-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which helps us reach even more people!!

MAI NGUYEN, Ph.D.:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with Kate Darling, PhD, an expert on robots and their impact on humans. Just as animals have become helpers and companions over the centuries, so will robots, according to Dr. Kate Darling, a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where she leads the robotics, ethics & society research team at the Robotics and AI Institute (RAI). She is the author of The New Breed: What Our History With Animals Reveals About Our Future With Robots. Kate’s work explores the intersections of robotic technology and society, with a particular emphasis on legal, economic, social, and ethical issues. She runs experiments, holds workshops, writes, and speaks about some of the most interesting developments in the world of human-robot interaction, and where we might find ourselves in the future.  Kate joins Dan Hesse to discuss the implications of robots on job design and their future role as our close companions. Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here! And just fyi, We are always grateful for your 5-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which helps us reach even more people!!

KATE DARLING:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Tom Loarie talks with Norman Hall, an actor and the last of the Fuller Brush salesmen in America. If you’re under 50, you might not know just how iconic the Fuller Brush Company once was. At its peak, Fuller Brush salesmen were household names, trusted faces at the door, and symbols of professionalism and perseverance.

 For more than 50 years, Norman walked the streets of San Francisco—not just to sell products, but to build relationships. His extraordinary life and legacy were captured by bestselling author Daniel Pink in the book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, as the embodiment of what ethical, effective shoe-leather selling looks like.

 But Norman’s story doesn’t end there. He’s also a trained stage actor, a storyteller with grit and grace, and a man who reminds us of what resilience really means in an “ocean of rejection.”

 Whether you think of yourself as a salesperson or not, today’s conversation will challenge how you think about influence, listening, and the power of presence. Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here!

NORMAN HALL:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with Patrick McGee, author of the best-selling book Apple in China, who tells a riveting story about how Apple almost single-handedly built the advanced electronics industry in China only to find itself trapped in a relationship with an authoritarian state making ever-increasing demands, and giving Beijing power that could be weaponized. Even though China’s immense domestic market is hard to resist, this is a cautionary tale for listeners thinking about doing business in China and helps explain how China made progress competing against American tech companies so quickly.   Patrick was the Financial Times’ principal Apple reporter from 2019 to 2023, where he won a San Francisco Press Club Award for his coverage. He joined the newspaper in 2013, in Hong Kong, before reporting from Germany and California. Previously, he was a bond reporter at The Wall Street Journal. He has a master’s degree in global diplomacy from SOAS at the University of London, and a degree in religious studies from the University of Toronto.  Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here!

PATRICK McGEE:

In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young, who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and versatile musicians in history. Young could be the most difficult artist to categorize as he plays rock, folk, country, rockabilly, blues, new wave and electronic music, plus he’s been recognized as the Godfather of Grunge. Neil Young has released more than 60 albums, received multiple Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame TWICE, and he’s influenced and inspired countless artists. Rolling Stone magazine includes Neil on their lists of the greatest guitarists of all time and the greatest artists of all time. He continues to be very active in supporting important causes, and he continues to provide us with both new and previously unreleased music such as the Neil Young Archives, Volume III. Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO podcast anywhere, any time, on any platform, including Spotify and Apple, just click here!

BIO: https://www.biography.com/musicians/neil-young

BOOKS:

WEBSITE: Neil Young Archives

VIDEO CLIPS:

PHOTOS: