The Douglas Robbins Show

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Retired Battalion Chief David Hollenbach is the author of “Fireproof: Your Grand Strategy for Transforming Failure into Fuel for Your Future.” He is an international best-selling author, motivational speaker, coach, and mentor. He owns and operates David Hollenbach Consulting, LLC, and hosts the popular podcast “From Embers to Excellence.”

During his 23-year career in the fire service, he served as a
•Firefighter
•Apparatus Driver/Pump-Operator/Engineer
•Company Officer/Lieutenant
•Battalion Chief in Operations
•Chief of Special Operations
•Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) peer counselor
•Public Safety Rescue Diver
•Coordinator and developer of his department’s first leadership development program
 
He is a veteran of the United States Navy with a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Barry University. A major focus of research was how strong, positive leadership can influence the culture of a large organization.

While studying at Barry University he published "The Firefighter's Creed" and “Women in the Fire Service: A Diverse Culture Leads to a Successful Culture,” an article highlighting the importance of gender diversity within the fire service..
 
He has spent years as an instructor, coach and mentor helping others define and realize success.

Q. What inspired you to write “Fireproof: Your Grand Strategy for Transforming Failure into Fuel for Your Future?”
A. The death of my brother inspired me to write the book. My leadership failures, both personal and professional, inspired me to finish it.


Q. What do you hope is the biggest takeaway from the book?
A. That an individual’s core essence determines the kind of leader they will be. Once they discover the truth inside of themselves—flaws and all—readers can challenge their limitations and let go of self-defeating behaviors. Within FIREPROOF, the question, “How can I create a Grand Strategy for my life?” is answered and leads the reader to develop their own unique Grand Strategy, to create a life that helps others and leaves a stellar legacy.

Personal development topics like self-leadership, self-awareness, communication, healthy relationships and self-care run throughout FIREPROOF, as I emphasize the importance of uncovering one’s core values and finding their big WHY. I provide an analysis tool for challenging situations to help the reader discern which parts they can control, what they can influence, and which things they can neither control or influence. I also provide tools for releasing stress and working through feelings of overwhelm, as well as outline critical daily habits and mindset matters that are essential for success.

Q. What makes you an expert in this field/a unique voice to speak on this topic?
A. I based the book on my personal experience and research. I spent 23 years in the fire service. I moved up through the ranks, retiring as a battalion chief responsible for 6 fire stations.  I have effectively led people from all backgrounds in high stress environments. I developed a leadership training program for my fire department and taught leadership for 10 of the 23 years I served. I suffer from PTSD and as part of my healing process I research and study philosophy.

In FIREPROOF: Your Grand Strategy for Transforming Failure into Fuel for Your Future, Mr. Hollenbach takes the idea behind Yale University’s Grand Strategy Program designed for political leaders and heads of large corporations and applies those principles to the individual. His book answers the question: How can I create a Grand Strategy for my life? He then leads the reader through steps to develop their own unique Grand Strategy to create a stellar legacy.

Find out more about Dave at Hollenbachleadership.com

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It's time I got to soloing again. I feel there is no more poignant time to post this than during an election cycle. There is much fear mongering of late. The  misinformation campaigns are raging. And We The People get lost in the power struggle. We love the idea of freedom of speech, but should speech that deliberately misleads be so easily free? it is a manipulation of this freedom I take to task. Take a listen. 

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We are witnessing a blast of the technological and societal changes that are accelerating us into a future our imaginations cannot grasp. ​For 7,000 generations, since anatomically “modern” humans emerged 200,000 years ago, children could look to their parents and grandparents for life lessons in how to confront the chaos. No more. Their yesterday experiences will be of little, if any, help to today’s children in surviving tomorrow’s chaos. Our children have no maps, no talismans, to guide them. Which leaves them with only their instincts to confront the chaos. Those instincts were crafted to enable us to survive in a world that we left millennia ago. That long forgotten world hardwired us to overreact violently when we are frightened. Chaos is frightening. And chaos is about to engulf us. Do we have the innate capacity to survive what is about to happen to us? Hos book The Fourth Age explores that question.

Instinctively, we fear the unknown—chaos—and are hardwired to overreact violently when we are frightened.  And chaos is about to engulf us.  Welcome to our Fourth Age.

Terry Thiele has been a Cold Warrior intelligence officer and a corporate lawyer. He now consults and teaches strategic planning. His new book is the culmination of forty years helping government officials, corporate officers, and graduate students think about the future. Terry received his B.A. magna cum laude from Princeton, and his J.D. from NYU; he is a graduate of the National War College. Carol and he lives near Wilmington, N.C.

What is our "Fourth Age"?

For millennia, we hunted.  After the ice, we farmed.  For the last ten generations, we built.  Today we are teetering on the brink of societal and technological changes unlike anything ever before experienced. The degree and the rate of change are both accelerating us at light speed into a future our imaginations cannot grasp. 

Find more from Terry at TheFourthAge.com

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To fall or be brought down by temptation is not Christian, but human. We all fall at one time or another. Brian Kreeger was no different. But he felt he had failed God as well as his wife...

This is one not to miss as we dive deep into what happened and how he and his marriage recovered.

Brian Kreeger is an author, speaker, and nonprofit consultant. In 2012, he founded a faith-based free health clinic that served as a vehicle to share Christ's love through primary healthcare in an urban, poverty-stricken setting. After growing the organization significantly in four years, Brian experienced his own leadership fall due to the pressures of his work and his own human weakness.

Author of "The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders." He has served on numerous nonprofit boards and have been in numerous leadership positions. He spent 28 years managing grocery stores.

After about 20 years  he was called to open a Faith-Based Free Health Clinic in his city. After 4 years of successful operation, he started to struggle with leadership, loss of true identity and loneliness/isolation. He fell during that period out of his own human weakness.

Recognized through the questioning of a board member that besides human weakness, there are inherent parts of leadership that tempt us toward stumbling blocks that many succumb to. His book recognizes that those surrounding a leader, can see a fall coming.

His book and message empowers leaders, and those around them, to do something when they see it and encourages a proactive approach to prevent it.

He holds nonprofit leadership and board consulting certificates from Duke University and Boardsource and is working with the Christian Leadership Alliance.

Find him at www.briankreeger.com

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Today we get back to basics: writing. Today's guest and I speak about traditional and indie markets and how to best navigate each.

Dave is a novelist who has straddled the fence with both indie and traditional publishing.

He is the the author of Fool's Luck and the Jim Mitchell series of novels (Chasing Deception, Undue Pressure and Running), Dave Milbrandt fell in love with writing in junior high and has been a storyteller ever since. A former staff writer for a daily newspaper, the Southern California native spent five years in journalism and public relations before becoming a teacher. In addition to working at several area colleges, Dave has taught high school English and Social Studies classes since 2005. Dave and his wife, who is also a writer, have been married since 1997.

You can also find him at:

davemilbrandt.com

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Emily McGill is a spiritual seeker, tarot reader, storytelling strategist, and a deep believer in the power of community.  After nearly a decade and a half working in entertainment in New York City as a Broadway and entertainment publicist and communications consultant, her path of self-exploration led to healing and evolution - and reading tarot cards professionally. 

Invited to read tarot for virtual Burning Man 2021 and Brooklyn's dry speakeasy Club Curious, Emily has also been featured by The Tamron Hall Show, the NY Post, and Thrive Global.  She writes Playbill’s Broadway Horoscopes, and currently in development is her own deck, The Broadway Tarot, (which I think is brilliant).

Emily’s passions are unlocking the magic in others, amplifying marginalized voices, offering platforms for open dialogue, and creating meaningful experiences while cultivating community.  She is the co-founder of S.N.O.B. (Sunday Night on Broadway), a popup Broadway industry dance party, a founding member of PR collective Spiral5, and a co-author of S5’s signature course The Career Rebel’s Guide to Modern PR. 

With 20 Broadway credits, Emily has represented the Tony Award-winning productions of A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington, Memphis, Billy Elliot, and Disney's The Lion King, plus Disney's Aladdin, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock and CATS, George Takei’s Allegiance, This Is Our Youth, Rock of Ages, Ghost, Elf, and First Date. Since her theatrical start, she’s expanded out to other forms of entertainment, including music, film/TV/streaming, and worked with companies large and small (from Disney, HBO, and Amazon Studios, to boutique talent agencies, internet startups, non-profits, and string quartets. Plus male strippers. Yes, male strippers).

Find her at  Emily McGill on Instagram

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 Insight. Inspiration. Ideas. 

DR. RICK CHROMEY helps people interpret history, navigate culture and explore faith so they can create transformative change in their homes, at school or work. 

With over 30 years of training experience, Dr. Chromey is a sought after speaker both nationally and internationally. He has also penned over a dozen books on leadership, culture, history, classroom management and creative communication, including his most recent book "GenTech: An American Story of Technology, Change and Who We Really Are."

Who Am I? Why Boomer, Xer, Millennial and Gen Z Labels Need Reimagined

Leading With Style: Understanding Your Unique Leadership Personality

Check him out at www.rickchromey.com

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Is the economy rigged against you? Yes it is. 

Recreational mathematician and programmer Noah Healy is working on upgrading capitalism for the computer age.

He is a mathematician with expertise in computational math and algorithms. He spends his time working to upgrade the operating methods of the global economy.

• Entered the University of Virginia as a high school junior.
• Last person admitted to University of Virginia’s nuclear engineering program. Completed BS Engineering Science, Nuclear Engineering.
• 17 years of experience in systems development, 35 years in mathematics.
• Discovered method to price transaction costs.   
• You can find out more info at coordisc.com

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When Ann was 19, she woke one morning to find her mother dead face down in their bathroom. Twenty years later the tears from that trauma were still just under the surface. 
It took one 15 minute session with a strange technique to remove the charge from that event and be able to tell the story with no emotion. That one session set her on a journey to not only release the trauma from past memories, but to get beyond that, into the subconscious mind to release tension stored deep in her body, simply using the power of awareness.

She has found that seeking truth and accepting feelings, is the key to inner peace.

Once we change our inside, our outside changes. 

Ann developed the ability to see inside her body and release physical tension stored in her connective tissue, using solely the focus of her mind. She has x-rays to show physical changes resulting from this inner work - including changing the alignment of her eye sockets, the straightening of her neck, the centering of her lower jaw, and the growth of her tooth roots. She has also grown 1/2 an inch at the age of 55. 

Ann wants us all to know that we have this incredible power within us, it just takes going further with practices that you may already be doing.

Ann has a YouTube channel where she shares her journey, and explains the connection between the physical and the spiritual. Her book, A Pathway to Insight, details her journey and breaks down the steps she took to attain what she calls Insight, or the ability to see within the body. 

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 DP Knudten is the creator and host of the NONFICTION BRAND podcast.

Is there honesty in branding? Should there be? Yes, as per DP Knudten, authenticity makes all the difference.

 As a 30-year veteran of advertising and branding, he's pretty much seen it all.

His nonfiction philosophy is outlined in his latest book "NONFICTION BRAND—Discover, craft and communicate the 'completely true / completely you' brand you already are."

DP’s worked on some of the biggest brands in the business including Coca-Cola®, The Athlete’s Foot®, and ClosetMaid®

Find out more at nonfictionbrand.com and get a free gift.

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