The High Performance Life

I'm joined today by Joe Hirsch, an internationally recognized expert on leadership, communication, and feedback culture.

Joe is a bestselling author and keynote speaker who combines behavioral science with powerful storytelling to help individuals and organizations lead with greater clarity, connection, and impact.

His book The Feedback Fix has been featured in Harvard Business Review, praised by Forbes, and implemented by top companies, schools, and government agencies around the world.

He's spoken on stages across five continents and hosts the podcast I Wish They Knew, where he explores the hidden habits of exceptional leaders.

Joe's mission is to help people lead with less fear and more purpose, creating thriving cultures where people and performance grow together.

In our conversation, Joe and I dive into the transformative power of feedback and how it can move from a dreaded transaction to a powerful tool for growth, trust, and authentic communication.

We explore why humility, curiosity, and empathy are essential in feedback conversations, along with practical strategies to improve communication in both personal and professional relationships.

Joe also explains how self-confidence impacts our ability to receive feedback and why timing and delivery are crucial for building trust.

This episode will challenge the way you think about feedback and show you how small shifts in approach can strengthen relationships, enhance leadership, and unlock high performance.

Key Takeaways:

-Feedback is most effective when it looks forward, not backward.

- Humility, curiosity, and empathy create stronger feedback cultures.

- Self-confidence shapes how we receive and grow from feedback.

- Timing and delivery can make or break difficult conversations.

- Shifting feedback from a power dynamic to a partnership builds trust.

Rachel DeAlto is a keynote speaker, author, and expert in communication, leadership, and relatability. She is the author of Relatable: How to Connect with Anyone Anywhere (Even if It Scares You) and The Relatable Leader: Create a Culture of Connection.

Rachel holds a law degree, a Master's in psychology, and maintains an influential social media presence where she shares psychological research updates and practical takeaways to help people connect and communicate more effectively.

She has appeared as an expert on Lifetime's Married at First Sight, TLC's Kate+Date, and more than 200 national media outlets. Rachel speaks on relationship-building, the power of connection, emotional intelligence, and authenticity, with her most recent TEDx talk, Being Authentic in a Filtered World, featured on TED.com.

Key Points

• Relatable leadership is fundamental

• Importance of respect in teams

• Trust is key to leadership success

• Discussing the power of kindness

• Parenthood insights and anecdotes

Best Quotes

01:30 - 01:36

• "But I think in terms of being a relatable parent is you wanna be able to see and hear your children."

03:10 - 03:21

• "It's high performance is something where you're just trying to do the best job you possibly can, which is all you can do to make that impact, which I know is an important word, both in leadership and in parenting."

05:25 - 05:36

• "Gary Vaynerchuk said probably like a decade ago that if we weren't paying attention, we'd be missing the fact that the radio was replaced by the television and the television is being replaced by our phones."

08:24 - 08:31

• "One of the things I've found to be most successful in leadership is the ability to put life first."

39:36 - 39:41

• "Imagine if every person in this universe treated every other person as if they had value."

Brian Galke is the founder and CEO of Subtle Skills, a company that teaches people how to decode facial features and body language to build instant rapport and communicate more effectively.

His F.A.C.E. Reading System helps individuals understand how others receive information, allowing them to connect more deeply, stay present, and lead with empathy.

Brian's journey—from introverted help-desk worker to Regional VP of Sales managing a $40 million book of business—demonstrates the real-world power of mastering subtle communication.

Today, he shares these tools through keynotes, workshops, and online content, helping leaders and teams across industries strengthen their relationships and influence.

He's been called a "secret weapon" for his ability to decode people and unlock confident, authentic communication.

Key Points

• Face reading has ancient origins

• Facial cues influence communication

• Emotional intelligence trumps AI

• Faces can signal introversion/extroversion

• Mastering microexpressions is key

Best Quotes

06:19 - 06:23

• "It's not just the messenger. Sometimes it's the timing of when you hear it."

07:16 - 07:22

• "There's a whole theory that you need to reread books that you've already read because you're gonna learn new things."

09:12 - 09:21

• "We are a lot of our environment and if you're, if you surround yourself with the right kind of energy, the right kind of people help amplify our message, help amplify our growth."

There is a trap that most new parents fall into, and they dont even realize that it could be killing their relationship... This episode outlines something you can do daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to hold your marriage together during this new chapter in your life! I hope it helps!

Jason Graystone is a self-made entrepreneur, investor, and bestselling author who achieved complete financial freedom by the age of 30. After launching his first business at just 22, Jason went on to build multiple multimillion-dollar companies across both the online and service sectors. Today, he's known as a professional investor, speculator, and angel investor with a deep passion for financial education and wealth creation.

A globally recognized voice in the world of personal finance, trading, and entrepreneurship, Jason has spoken on some of the most prestigious stages in the investing space, as well as at universities, schools, and for major organizations—including the Metropolitan Police. He is the founder of an industry-leading investment and trading education platform that helps people take control of their finances and achieve long-term financial independence.

In addition to his business success, Jason is a dedicated philanthropist, having raised over £100,000 for charitable causes. He is also deeply connected to many of the world's top entrepreneurs and thought leaders. In 2018, his groundbreaking work in trader development earned him a feature in Forbes Magazine alongside world-renowned trading psychologist Dr. Brett Steenbarger.

As the author of Always Free and Trading Free, Jason's mission is to empower people to live purpose-driven, financially independent lives. His belief is simple yet powerful: "When we are free and able to focus on meaningful work, we become better human beings."

Key Points

• Mental freedom is key to true wealth.

• Wealth equals service impact on lives.

• Process over outcome for success.

• Effective parenting shapes confidence.

• Financial discipline is freedom's ally.

Best Quotes

24:42 - 24:59

• "So what I would, I would just go on my Instagram and at this point his friends start following me, right? So they think I'm cool and, and I'd just go, I was talking to someone the other day and you know, they said this and, and then I would kind of explain my answer on the social media and they, his friends would all be like, your dad's, yeah, your dad's cool."

36:43 - 36:53

• "My approach to sharing all of this stuff, I, I, I watched a, I watched a seminar, but it, it was recorded back in the eighties. I watched it in my early twenties by, by a guy called Stuart Wild."

37:45 - 37:49

• "And when they find you, all you have to do is have an organized way to build these people."

39:41 - 40:06

• "No matter how much you teach them chat, GPT could teach them, but it's about building trust so when they can sit, when they can spend an hour with you online or two hours watching your videos or five hours reading a book, you've, you've built equity in that relationship where they trust you and they're not gonna go and search Google for another person to teach 'em the same thing that they, they just believe that you are the only person that can help them now."

45:24 - 45:32

• "I think common trap that a lot of entrepreneurs or business owners fall into these days is they feel like they've got to say something profound."

Learn more about Jason's new book: https://amzn.to/3TGGtGg

In this week's episode, I am joined by Adam McGraw! Adam spent over a decade at American Express, where he led high-performing teams in sales and commercial strategy, earning recognition as a top 2% leader across the company.

But it was his personal experience navigating stress, burnout, and the limitations of traditional leadership models that sparked a deeper shift. That shift ultimately led to the creation of CREW.

Today, Adam is a transformational leadership speaker, executive coach, and the co-founder and CEO of CREW, a private leadership community for senior executives committed to purpose, connection, and fulfillment.

Through CREW, he helps senior leaders build authentic, emotionally intelligent peer networks that prioritize connection, resilience, and meaning, alongside high performance.

He's a certified coach, an experienced facilitator, and someone deeply passionate about helping leaders thrive not just in business, but in life.

Along the way, Adam partnered closely with Stanford lecturer and New York Times bestselling author Shirzad Chamine, creator of the Positive Intelligence® framework.

Profoundly influenced by the model's integration of neuroscience and mindset mastery, Adam dedicated himself to sharing this work with leaders across the country.

Driven by a personal philosophy of alignment over achievement, Adam is passionate about helping leaders reconnect with their inner drive, navigate life transitions, and define success on their own terms. His journey is grounded in what he calls a "go for it" mindset, leaving behind the stability of a corporate career to pursue the mission-driven life he once didn't have the courage to follow.

Through CREW, he now helps other leaders do the same, providing a curated, members-only space where senior executives can find the safe, growth-focused community they often lack inside their organizations.

Key Points

• Success isn't just about promotions

• Parenting insights that steer careers

• Books can pivot your life direction

• Relationships: The X factor of growth

• Finding joy in life's little moments

Best Quotes

01:48 - 01:52

• "I ended up in this corporate path really never wanting to do it."

02:41 - 02:49

• "I went in that lane. There were goals and external validation metrics to chase and competitive. And I went for it, and I got sucked into it."

06:27 - 06:33

• "And then I would immediately dissent back down to baseline levels of happiness, fulfillment, significance, and self-worth."

11:34 - 11:40

• "That's not how the brain works. That's not where vision and creativity and innovation live."

49:33 - 49:40

• "And we spend a good chunk of our lives trying to get back to that innocence, that curiosity and that value that childhood presented."

In this week's episode, my guest is Tim Shurr!

Tim is the President of Shurr! Success Seminars & Coaching, a consulting and marketing firm, and a globally recognized mindset and performance expert.

With a background in clinical psychology and certifications in hypnotherapy and NLP, Tim has facilitated over 15,000 individual hypnosis coaching sessions and decades of corporate training.

Tim is the creator of the One Belief Away™ method, a transformative approach designed to reprogram limiting beliefs in just 30 minutes, and is often described as one of the most effective hypnotherapists and belief specialists in the world.

He's authored six books, including Get Out of Your Way, The Cure for Self-Sabotage, and One Belief Away!, and has helped clients like Verizon, US Steel, Caterpillar, Amway, and Wells Fargo Advisors dramatically improve performance through behavior change and leadership development.

An award‑winning speaker, TV and radio guest expert (including Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC), and TEDx presenter, Tim empowers presidents, CEOs, and executives to foster engaged, self‑motivated teams, drive innovation, and boost profitability through sustainable mindset shifts. Key Points

• Upgrade your unconscious beliefs

• Overcome the high achiever cycle

• Investment in self leads to success

• Methods to shift self-limiting stories

• Community and faith foster growth

Best Quotes

02:38 - 02:47

• "I coined the term achiever syndrome. 'cause I feel like we've got this achiever syndrome, this feeling that no matter where we're at, we should be somewhere else no matter what we've done."

02:52 - 02:59

• "It's like we've got the finish line, and as soon as we get close to it, it gets pushed and it's like, oh, well now I gotta do."

07:28 - 07:34

• "What I do is I just figure out what feeling is keeping you stuck. And then I have you connect with that feeling."

08:07 - 08:21

• "So we go and we find that event. So let's just say we're working with your friend and we go back to when he was seven years old and all of a sudden he's having this experience where he tries to do something new in the classroom and it falls apart."

10:14 - 10:20

• "In fact, going for it makes me feel happier than holding back. Now you're starting to play to win."

12:18 - 12:23

• "If you go from I'm not worthy of love to, I am loved, that is a fundamental shift."

14:26 - 14:31

• "You just better do what you're promising. And so I'm like, yeah, I bring it."

19:14 - 19:26

• "But people aren't thinking of it that way. And so when my wife asked me to do some kind of activity... I'm like, I could be making a thousand dollars right now, but I'm gonna do this $10 activity for her because I value my marriage."

In this week's episode, I am joined by my good friend Mike Langford!

Will Langford has 40 years' experience leading churches to engage communities with the life-changing message of Christ.

Recently he retired from the pastorate to become a Pastor Wellness Catalyst with the Georgia Baptist Convention. He is married to Melissa, and they have two grown daughters. Dr. Langford received his Doctor of Ministry and Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Will is both an accomplished author and speaker.

Will's greatest passion is helping people cultivate their gifts and talents to leave a legacy of faith in their family and community.

Key Points

• Passionate about life's next chapter

• Leaving a legacy, not just memories

• The value of community and service

• Driving force: Relationships over being right

• Cultivating faith as life's foundation

Best Quotes

04:25 - 04:34

• "You know, sometimes we, we focus on being right so much that we, we draw a really tight circle, and if we're not careful, we're gonna draw that circle so tight that we're the only ones standing in it."

05:13 - 05:24

• "I talk a lot on this show about Sunday night dinners, and my mom does a Sunday night dinner every week, my mom and dad, but mom's the one that listens to the show, so I mention her a little bit more."

07:48 - 07:58

• "I mean, look, look at, look at politics, right? I mean, it's every single month the media is pressing something that they want us to actually pay attention to."

14:18 - 14:26

• "And the light that shines the brightest, you know, it, it's, they're the furthest, I guess the light that shines the furthest shines the brightest right here." 44:50 - 44:59

• "It's the kind of thing that could help a group of people that are looking for a way to live within imbalance, but focus on the most important things."

In this week's episode, I am joined by Emily Kasriel! Emily is a journalist, researcher, and executive coach whose work explores one of the most underrated and powerful tools we have in relationships: deep listening.

Emily has worked all over the world with the BBC, led major global media and leadership projects, and developed her Deep Listening method as a Senior Fellow at King's College London.

She's trained thousands of people, from army officers to corporate leaders to students in over 100 countries, on how to listen in a way that creates real connection and trust.

In this episode, we talk about what deep listening really means, and how it's different from the kind of listening most of us do every day. Emily shares simple, research-backed tools that can transform how we connect with our partners, kids, and even with ourselves. Key Points

• Deep listening vs superficial talk

• 8 steps to mastering deep listening

• Silence is golden in conversation

• Transform relations with profound talks

• Ethics & boundaries in deep listening

Best Quotes

03:43 - 03:51

• "And it's such a beautiful gift to be able to give to people around us and to strangers and even people we disagree with."

03:55 - 04:03

• "So often when we listen to other people and they say, let's say they talk about, I've had a really difficult day, my boss was being impossible."

06:46 - 07:00

• "Research evidences that when we do take the time to listen, when we use more silence, when we are genuinely curious, people are able to, you know, not only at work, feel more incentivized, the bottom line increases."

07:49 - 07:57

• "And it's also because of time pressures. We've all got so much to juggle in our lives, and we're bombarded with an overplay of information."

08:19 - 08:31

• "I know from my work as an executive coach with leaders in the BBC and in many different corporations and organizations, that when you do give people the space, they will create new understandings."

25:33 - 25:47

• "The evidence from the academics into deep listening approach found that when people were practicing deep listening, they felt much safer, safer to express themselves and more understood."

Gretchen Rubin is one of today's most influential observers of happiness and human nature. She's the author of many books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Outer Order, Inner Calm; The Four Tendencies; Better Than Before; and The Happiness Project.

Her books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages.

She hosts the top-ranking, award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, where she explores practical solutions for living a happier life.

Raised in Kansas City, Rubin lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Key Points

• Decode your 'Four Tendencies' personality

• How to harness outer expectations

• Rebels' unique response to expectations

• The freedom within discipline for Upholders

• Gretchen's take on 'Secrets of Adulthood'

Best Quotes

02:26 - 02:37

• "Depending on whether your tendency is to meet or resist outer and inner expectations, that's what makes you an upholder, a questioner, an obliger, or a rebel."

06:48 - 06:57

• "I'm the kind of person that leads people to them. And I spend a lot of time with the other individuals helping them find themselves or what's most important."

13:35 - 13:39

• "I don't wanna be your babysitter; do your work in your own way, and I'll do my work in my own way."

20:38 - 20:41

• "Why are you not upholding your expectations for yourself?"

50:19 - 50:29

• "If you can't figure out what to do, choose the bigger life, you know, because people are like, oh. 'cause it's like the pros and the cons can feel very evenly weighed, but then it's like, choose the bigger life."