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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Matt Higgins was an executive for the New York Jets and then the Miami Dolphins. He Co-Founded RSE Ventures with Miami Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross. Matt was a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank (seasons 10-11), He is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, and he recently published a book called, Burn The Boats, Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential...

• Matt's Mom: “My mother, Linda, died with $100 in her bank account, but I inherited the most valuable gift a parent can give a child: limitless faith in my ability to figure anything out.”
• Matt gave the 2019 commencement speech at Queens College – According to Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Paul Goldberger, "This is a magnificent and truly inspiring speech that everyone should read. If you think commencement speeches are made of cliches, this one will change your mind."
• The most important ingredient to professional success: “Make yourself indispensable at whatever task you’re doing and you’ll always have a job.”
• Research proves that the mere contemplation of Plan B statistically reduces the probability Plan A will ever materialize.
• The advice Matt got from Daymond John on how to handle imposter syndrome on his first day of filming Shark Tank: "You belong here because you are here."
• How to raise your kids to not be spoiled when you can provide anything they'd ever want?
  • There is nobility in work. Ensure they do hard things and do real work.
• Matt's "must-have" qualities when hiring a leader:
  • Confidence + Humility
  • Empathy
  • They just "figure it out"
  • They are a servant leader -- They can "plug holes"
• Matt's four-step process:
  • What's the worst that could happen?
  • If it doesn't work out, what will I do?
  • What's the probability the bad stuff will happen?
  • What pain am I willing to endure to make it happen?
• "Burn the boats for goals, not tactics."

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Alex Hormozi is an entrepreneur, investor, and author of 3 bestselling books $100M Offers, Leads, and Money Models. He’s founded and exited 3 companies, the largest for $46.2M in 2021. He and his wife Leila are the managing partners of Acquisition.com - a portfolio of companies that generate in aggregate $200M per year. He also makes mistakes and candidly shares his painful lessons with other entrepreneurs. Today he publicly documents his lessons on his path from $100M net worth to $1B.

• Confidence: “You don't become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt.”
• Work: "The work works on you more than you work on it."
• For anyone debating whether to marry a partner. These 2 lenses were useful:
  • How have my stats changed since they entered my life? (wealth, health, time)
  • Would I go to war with them?
    • They flow from what Alex wants:
      • Growth
      • Hard goals
• Document your life more. Otherwise, you’ll forget the details. And the details are what make it worth remembering. (homework for life)
• Alex shared a vulnerable story about not wanting to live anymore when he was 21. He had graduated from Vanderbilt in 3 years (manga cum laude), had a great consulting job, and was on his way up the corporate ladder. And he hated it. He was living his dad's dream, not his own. So he quit. And didn't call his dad until he was well on his way to California to start over. 
• "A leading indicator that someone is not an independent thinker is that they agree (or disagree) with every single point of a political party. Also applies to seeing no fault (or 100% fault) in particular leaders."
• “Volume negates luck”
• What makes a great sales professional:
  • Clear communication
  • Conviction
  • Be honest... And have a desire to help your customer
• Life Lessons Alex wishes he had learned earlier:
  • Talk less, listen more… (He messed this up earlier in his career by talking too much)
  • The hardest respect to earn is one's own
  • If you want to control what people think, control what they say – “Equip people with simple language so that they can communicate what you do.”
  • “You get more out of reading 1 book that’s great 5 times, than out of reading 5 mediocre books.” – “If your behavior doesn’t change as a result of reading the book, then it means you’ve learned nothing.”
  • You are going to die – 2 weeks after you die, most people will have forgotten about you. 
  • Extraordinary accomplishments come from doing ordinary things for extraordinary periods of time.
  • If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well
  • Be willing to negotiate everything except for your values
  • Humility - Sacrifice for the group. Give more to the company. Give to the group.
• Hormozi Law:
  • The longer you delay the ask, the bigger the ask you can make. The longer the runway, the bigger the plane that can take off.
  • "At your funeral, friends and family will argue over who gets what. People will want food to eat. The topic will shift from your life to their lives. They'll drive away thinking about their looming to-do list. Some people won't be able to make it because "something came up." A reminder of the heavy weight we place on things that matter little."
  • "There’s no greater waste of time than justifying your actions to people who have a life you don’t want."
  • "The easiest way to change behavior is to change your environment."
• Alex's great-great-grandfather had 400 children.
• "Never skip dessert." 
• "My life has never gotten worse by removing mediocre people."

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Jack Raines is a student at Columbia Business School and the writer of YoungMoney.co – Young Money is a finance blog that covers a wide variety of life topics like why we should travel more, timeless advice, the use of humor, the 6 types of wealth, and infinite games. Jack is one of my favorite writers on the internet…

• Infinite Games – “The focus on outcome over everything leads to us discounting 99% of our lives for the sake of a few, small, fleeting moments that might provide some sense of satisfaction before the cycle begins anew.”
  • It’s not about getting to the top of the mountain, it’s about the person you become along the way.
• Why We Should Travel More – Rolf Potts, Vagabonding. “The explorer has no goal other than exploration itself.”
• The Opportunity Cost of Everything – The Journey IS the Destination. Life isn't a Pixar film. It's not a television series. Our life isn't some chain of events and decisions that leads to a climax. A final moment of victory. Life is the chain of events itself.
  • “Someday isn’t a day.”
• The purpose of Jack's finance blog: “I write a finance blog that is really, like, idk? Maybe 40% finance? The rest is existential musings, satire, the occasional exclamation that Americans seriously need to travel more, and whatever random stuff comes through my brain.”
• Jack's LinkedIn satirical posts: “I take nothing seriously, but I do take the serious things pretty seriously. Linkedin isn't one of the serious things.”
• How Jack built a large following online: "I have published approximately 450,000 words of content in an 18-month period." Whatever it is that we want to do, in order to get good, we have to get going. We have to get the reps…
• The Case for Living Life Backwards – “You should write your obituary, and then try to figure out how to live up to it.”

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and is a nationally recognized executive performance coach for individual and corporate clients primarily in finance and technology. Trusted by top percentile talent and their teams to help them achieve world-class performance in fast-paced, high-pressure, extremely competitive environments. She's been compared to Wendy Rhoades of "Billions" in The Wall Street Journal (2019), and named a “Game Changer” by IBM.

Notes:

• High Standards: Holding a high bar is uncomfortable because it is "exclusionary," and most people want to make everyone around them happy & comfortable. If you hold a standard, it can't include everything... Figuring out your line & holding to it, will mean some tough conversations.
• “I think that there are two ways of looking at things that have happened to you. You can be a victim or you can be a survivor. Those are two very different cognitive positions."
• Balance: “People will tell you in books that you have to live a “balanced life,” but if we are completely honest, almost all great things are born from periods of imbalance.”
• Staying Small: A concept I believe, is that most people stay small, or don't go for what they truly want...because they believe that "imaginary rules" are true
• Be a Learner: The worst professionals, are the ones that stop learning the moment they graduate from school. And they are the majority. Being autodidactic - a self-learner - who also takes initiative, will have you in the top 10% of anything you take on.
• Goals: If your goals are "realistic," you are operating in a box. Check yourself. "If you want to be a game changer, you can’t blend in."
• Know Yourself: When people are unable to commit to anything, it’s because they don’t know who they are. Shiny objects professionally (or personally) reflect a lack of certainty.
• When you get a genuine shot in the arm from what you do...of course, it's going to be hard to stop doing it. You're on fire. So many people are living their lives with the volume turned down. They don't get it. You don't have to live that way. Crank that energy up.
• "The people who rise aren't always the most talented or capable, but they are fueled by self-belief. Once you understand that, much of the business world makes sense."
• The difference between persistence and tenacious… persistent people stick to the plan to get to the goal. Tenacious people may change their plans altogether.
• A trait in the people who go on to do great things? Paul Graham defines it as being “relentlessly resourceful.” I see it all the time. Here’s a practical zero-to-one process to be relentlessly resourceful, if you want to set yourself up for some big swings.
• Julie goes on a daily walk around her farm. She uses that walk to reflect, think, and be outside. It helps her synthesize information. 
• What makes a great executive coach?
  • A sweet spot between talking and listening... A great executive coach gives their clients space to talk. They listen. They ask great follow-up questions. They help unlock people. They help them become multipliers. 
• How to deal with imposter syndrome?
  • "You probably have the ability, but you're not understanding your own story." It's important to keep taking chances. To keep meeting the moment. Julie helps her clients tap in to and write their own stories. 

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Aron Ralston is a mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and best-selling author known for surviving a canyoneering accident by cutting off part of his own right arm. On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, he dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days, he had to break his forearm, amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free, make his way through the rest of the canyon, rappel down a 65-foot drop, and hike 7 miles to safety. The incident is documented in Aron’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place and is the subject of the 2010 film 127 Hours in which he is portrayed by James Franco. After the accident, Aron continued mountaineering and became the first person to ascend all of Colorado's fourteeners solo in winter.

• "Turn boulders into blessings."
• During this conversation, Aron takes us through the 127 hours from when his right arm was pinned under a boulder until he was resting safely in a hospital bed. Along the way, he shares key learnings that all of us can take from his experience.
• In April 2003, Aron was canyoneering alone through Bluejohn Canyon, in Utah, just south of the Horseshoe Canyon unit of Canyonlands National Park. While he was descending the lower stretches of the slot canyon, a suspended boulder dislodged while he was climbing down from it. The boulder first smashed his left hand and then crushed his right hand against the canyon wall. Aron had not informed anyone of his hiking plans, nor did he have any way to call for help.
  • Assuming that he would die without intervention, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water, approximately 350 ml (12 imp fl oz), and slowly eating his small amount of food, two burritos, while repeatedly trying to extricate his arm. His efforts were futile as he was unable to free his arm from the 800 lb (360 kg) chockstone. After three days of trying to lift and break the boulder, the dehydrated and delirious Ralston prepared to amputate his trapped arm at a point on the mid-forearm in order to escape. After having experimented with tourniquets and having made exploratory superficial cuts to his forearm, he realized, on the fourth day, that in order to free his arm he would have to cut through the bones in it, but the tools available were insufficient to do so.
  • After running out of food and water on the fifth day, Aron decided to drink his own urine. He carved his name, date of birth, and presumed date of death into the sandstone canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family. He did not expect to survive the night, but as he attempted to stay warm he began hallucinating and had a vision of himself playing with a future child while missing part of his right arm. Aron credited this as giving him the belief that he would live.
  • After waking at dawn the following day he discovered that his arm had begun to decompose due to the lack of circulation, and became desperate to tear it off.  Aron then had an epiphany that he could break his radius and ulna bones using torque against his trapped arm. He did so, then amputated his forearm with his multi-tool, using the dull 2-inch knife and pliers for the tougher tendons. The painful process took an hour, during which time he used tubing from a CamelBak as a tourniquet, taking care to leave major arteries until last. The manufacturer of the multi-tool was never named, but Aron said "It was not a Leatherman but what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool."
  • After freeing himself, Ralston climbed out of the slot canyon in which he had been trapped, rappelled down a 65-foot sheer wall, then hiked out of the canyon. He was 8 miles from his car and had no phone. However, after 6 miles of hiking, he encountered a family on vacation from the Netherlands; Eric and Monique Meijer and their son Andy, who gave him food and water and hurried to alert the authorities. Aron had feared he would bleed to death; he had lost 40 pounds, including 25% of his blood volume. Rescuers searching for Ralston, alerted by his family that he was missing, had narrowed the search down to Canyonlands and he was picked up by a helicopter in a wide area of the canyon. He was rescued approximately four hours after amputating his arm.
• The STOP acronym: Stop (pause), Think (brainstorm), Observation, Plan
  • Stop
  • Think
  • Observe
  • Plan
• "Commitment is the first step."
• At one point when Aron's arm was stuck under the giant rock, he filmed his "goodbyes" to each family member.
  • "Who would you say your goodbyes to and what would you say?" Aron realized that life is all about loving relationships.
• "You can't hold despair and gratitude at the same time."
• 127 Hours - There is no force so powerful as the will to live.
  • Aron's version: "There's no force so powerful as the will to love."
• "Welcome adversity. It helps you grow."
• "Find gratitude for the worst thing that's ever happened to you."
• “Passion. That which I suffer, allow, endure, is done to me.”

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

• Be on time. It's not okay to be late. As the leader, we have to set the right example.
• There is a narrow path to Top Gun, but Dave made it...
• Dave served as an ANGLICO Forward Air Controller supporting the Army’s 1st Armored Division during extensive urban combat operations on the ground in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006. He led his supporting arms liaison team on scores of combat missions into the most dangerous neighborhoods and accompanied SEAL Task Unit Bruiser on virtually every major operation in the Battle of Ramadi. He was the only Marine selected to fly the F-22 Raptor having served as an exchange officer at the Air Force’s 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron as the Division Commander. He became the first operational pilot ever to fly and be qualified in the F-35B, serving as the Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps’ first F-35 squadron from 2012-2014.
• Balancing courage and confidence with humility - It’s a must to surround yourself with others who continue to push you and keep your ego in check.
• The attributes of a Top Gun instructor: Willing to learn and Able to teach. Great leaders seem to have those same qualities.
• Dave’s choice to volunteer to fight on the ground is what led him to meet Jocko Willink and thus change his life. Stepping up and doing a job that others don’t want to do, and taking that responsibility can lead to amazing opportunities.
• A Top Gun pilot must balance courage and confidence with humility.
• You need a great support group around you to keep in check.
• Your ego, however, can be helpful at times. "It allows you to do things that others say can't be done."
• How to deal with negative self-talk?
  • "We all deal with it. Relax. Take a step back. Breathe. Detach from the situation."

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

• Own it, live it, create it, see it, say it, change it, honor it, punish it, repeat it, evaluate it all. – The core components to building a world-class culture.
• Who are your foxhole people? They are the ones who are there when it’s hard and they’re there to celebrate when it’s great. They are honest, caring, and they love you. The best way to build a great foxhole group? Be a loving, caring, and honest friend to others.
• How to build a great foundation which sets you up to build a great culture? Be trustworthy and trust-WILLING person. Be vulnerable, open, and honest, and create opportunities for shared suffering. It takes time and intentional effort, but it’s worth it.
• Geron was always leading the younger quarterbacks when he was in high school. “The quarterbacks stay. You need to know what’s going on, for now, and in the future”
• Coach Dave Carroll had a huge impact on how Geron coaches... Tough, demanding, high expectations. He wasn't for everyone.
• From Brook Cupps: "From my perspective, it’s been really cool to watch his progression from a self-serving arrogant kid to an ultra-impactful leader and father."
• Geron's purpose is to maximize people. Here is how he lives that out...
  • Own It – Come to grips with my #1 Job - Get the most out of people. More than they can ever imagine. It HAS to be a love thing! Can I get them to work, care, execute, serve, give, and love more than they ever have in their life? My job. Not their’s. Wake up every day knowing my responsibility. “I’ve gotta get the best out of these guys today.”
  • Live It – I set the example for everything. I AM THE STANDARD! Have to be. Am I trying to maximize myself? Every. Day! How do I show up? Do I represent the values I’m trying to pull out of the people? They aren’t going to do it by themselves. They can’t. Stop expecting them to! I need to show them to engage them. Am I pouring my heart and soul into everything that I can?!? “The best thing you can ever give someone is a strong example,” “Preach the gospel every day, and sometimes use words.”
  • Create It - Environment matters. Cultivate relationships every single day. Do they walk in knowing we’re getting better today? Energy. Enthusiasm. Struggle. Hard, Tough. Work. Demanding. Constant. Growth. Whatever level you’re at. Just. Get. Better. EVERY. DAY! My relationships, time, & effort with my people is the soil! Maniacal about who, what, and how. Everybody! All the time. Daily requirement: get the environment ready for growth!
  • See It - See it as it is. See it better than it is. If I can’t see it better, how do I make it better? Reality to vision. The best see it at a different level. Extremely high standards! Competence matters. What is an acceptable standard? Can it be done better?
  • Say It – Any and all feedback. Do I care enough to tell them? Usually with questions! Intent matters. Relationships matter. Make it personal! It doesn’t have to be said exactly the right way. IT NEEDS TO BE SAID. They have to HEAR it & internalize it. “Good job” doesn’t exist in our world.
  • Change It – It must improve. Whatever it takes. Fix/correct/punish/measure until it actually changes. Spend extra time. Refuse to accept excuses. I love you so we have to make this better. Continue saying it!
  • Honor/Punish It – Celebrate. Loudly. Be specific. Recognize it. Measure it. Reward it. Make it a big deal. Every important detail. Ingrain it into the culture of the group. “That’s not how we do things here.”
  • Repeat It – Do it over and over and over and over again. The hardest part isn’t doing it. The hardest part is doing it every single moment, every single day, over and over and over. 
  • Evaluate It All – What is working? What isn’t? How do we keep getting better? What needs to be changed? CONSTANT. 24/7365. ARE WE GETTING THEIR BEST? Fanatical about improvement.
• Daily Questions To Ask Yourself:
  • Am I at my best?
  • Are my intentions right?
  • How can I get the most out of everybody today?
• I need to be on fire. Energy/Attitude is right. Seeking ways to make an impact. Is it about me or about them? Act your way into feelings. What do they need? Pushed? Pulled? Energized? Inspired? Demanded?

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

• You can’t heal a body you hate. We only get one body. It’s all we have. If it stops working or is working poorly, that affects all other elements of our lives. It’s worth it to make this our top priority.
• We’re looking for optimal, not average. If you’re listening to this podcast, you probably do not want to be average. And when it comes to the most important thing in your life (your body), I would hope that you don’t want that to be average. To be an effective leader for others, our body needs to be in optimal shape.
• Cut these 5 foods:
  • Gluten-containing grains
  • Industrial seed oils
  • Added sugar,
  • Conventional dairy
  • Alcohol
• After over a decade as a functional medicine expert, Dr. Cole discerned that shame can cause gut inflammation and sabotage wellness through what he’s named “Shameflammation.” When you send signals to your brain that you are overwhelmed, overworked, or overtired, your body reacts. Shameflammation can be the cause of chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, depression, and more.
• Chronic stress is the ultimate junk food."
• Too much sugar has consequences beyond the waistline.
• Functional medicine is informed consent.
• 75% of your immune system is in your gut.
• Get back on track. Days are long, years are short.
• Testosterone Replacement Therapy? Work with a doctor, get labs, and choose to use based on what your doctor and your labs say.
• "Use meals as a medicine and a meditation."
  • "Ask yourself... Does this food love me back?"

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

• Consistency creates your future. Show up each day and do the work. Sounds simple, but it’s much harder in practice. Consistency is not sexy, but it builds trust and it creates your future.
• T.U.N.E. - 
  • T = Trust and truth 
  • U = Unite with love
  • N = Neutralize the negativity. “I do not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” - Gandhi
  • E = Elevate your thinking. With gratitude, optimism, and belief
• How to handle imposter syndrome - One sheet of paper. On one side write your negative thoughts. On the other side write words of encouragement. Again, this sounds basic, but it’s been proven to work.
• Navigate the Roller Coaster of our Mind: Take on our challenges in life with confidence and power instead of fear and insecurity.
• Recognize & Overcome the Five Ds of Negative Thought: Doubt, Distortion, Discouragement, Distraction, and Division.
• The root of the Greek word for anxious means “to separate and divide” When we are anxious, we feel divided. The key is to move towards “oneness”.
• Tune into More Positive Thoughts: Jon explains a revolutionary idea that the brain is an antenna, and we can elevate our minds with proven strategies. For example, we can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. When we appreciate, we elevate.
• Override Fear with Love: Let love (the ultimate driver of grit) be the driving force behind our work and vocation, unlocking new levels of determination, devotion and success.
• Improve Mental Health & Relationships: Move from disconnection, loneliness and isolation to connection, healing, and wholeness. Whether you’re a recent graduate, executive, artist, parent, engineer, teacher, spouse, athlete or coach, once you know The One Truth, you’ll see how it impacts leadership, teamwork, mindset, performance, relationships, addictions, social media, anxiety, mental health and your overall quality of life.
• Bad teams = nobody leads. Average teams = coaches lead. Elite teams = players lead
• Change management -- People follow the leader first and the vision second. People won’t care about your vision if you don’t care about them.
• “Thoughts are magnetic. What we think about we attract.”
• Goals: "It's not your goals that will lead to your success but your commitment to the process." "The best teams don’t focus on winning championships. They focus on being champions. This leads to championships."
• “When leaders become focused on the fruit instead of the root and worry about the outcome instead of the process of developing team members, they may survive in the short run, but they will not thrive in the long run.”
• “As a leader, it is so important that your words equal your actions. It is imperative that you make sure that you go through a self-evaluation process on an almost daily basis to make sure that your actions are in line with your words. You must do what you say and say what you do.”
• “There’s a difference between culture and having a theme for the year. A theme does not equal culture. Too many schools/org move from theme to theme instead of building a culture. Utilize a theme as a tool to help you build a great culture.”
• “They asked a bunch of ninety-five-year-olds if they could do it all over again and live their life again what would they do differently. The three things that almost all of them said were: (1) They would reflect more. Enjoy more moments. More sunrises and sunsets. More moments of joy. (2) They would take more risks and chances. Life is too short not to go for it. (3) They would have left a legacy. Something that would live on after they die.”

00:35 - Lessons from Athletics

05:29 - Struggling With Adversity As a Child

07:47 - Building a Life-Changing Team from The Energy Bus

15:08 - Fear That Comes With Imposter Syndrome

20:54 - Transition from Self-Talk to Action

31:05 - How to React to Skeptics

36:14 - View Life as a Movie

40:25 - Leadership Qualities That Are Repetitive

44:18 - Advice for the Younger Generation

47:48 - Early is On Time

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

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Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Notes: Michelle "Mace" Curran has led an impressive career as a Fighter Pilot during her 13 years in the United States Air Force. From 2019-2021, she flew as the only female pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds and performed for millions across the country and internationally. Before joining the Thunderbirds, Michelle was a combat-proven fighter pilot completing missions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

• What inspired Michelle to join the Air Force?
  • "I had a grandpa who was a lieutenant in the Navy. I went through his World War II trunk and tried on uniforms and looked at postcards. He got to travel all over the world. I grew up in a small town and I wanted to travel. I’ve always been drawn to flying. I hadn’t done a lot of flying aside from commercially, but I loved it, so the Air Force seemed like a natural fit. I was also honestly looking for a scholarship for college, so the three things kind of came together."
• “C3” Comm – That’s clear, concise, and correct communication. How that plays a role as a pilot and how we can use that as leaders outside of the airplane.
  • For the solo opposing passes, each pilot is traveling at 500mph, that's 1000mph of closure toward each other. The timing that makes sure the aircraft safely pass each other at the center point directly in front of the crowd is all done through radio calls. Every call must communicate clearly, concisely, and correctly.
• There are a lot of benefits to having a beginner's mindset.
• What does Michelle say to young girls?
  • "You have to exceed people’s expectations. People are going to set expectations for you based on where you grew up, the family you came from, your gender — there are all different factors that go into that. Constantly do your best, strive for perfection, exceed those expectations, and really don’t shortchange yourself. Don’t set boundaries that don’t really exist, that you just place there for yourself. You’ll be surprised at all of the things you can do if you just keep pushing."
• “We wield a lot of power with our words.” Let’s plant a seed of inspiration. As leaders, our words carry a lot of weight. Let’s use that to help other people strive for more and potentially accomplish more than they ever thought they were capable of. What an awesome use of our power.
• The Debrief - It’s the sacred environment of flying. Your rank doesn’t matter. It’s all about focusing on what happened and how we can get better. I think our companies would be better if we had consistent debriefs after a big moment to ensure we are learning from our mistakes and getting better…
• The person you are today is likely much different than the one you were ten years ago. The person you will be ten years from now will probably be just as different compared to who you are now.
• Michelle initially didn't feel capable as a fighter pilot. But she kept showing up. It’s important that we have the courage to keep going even when we don’t feel ready.
• Being a female fighter pilot, Mace was in a male-dominated career... She was often the only woman in my unit and roughly 3% of fighter pilots in the Air Force are female even thirty years after combat airframes were opened to women,
• Leaders and followers – A young flight lead could be in command of a general whose role is to be the wingman…
• Mace has written a children’s book that just came out called Upside Down Dreams. It is a story written for girls with big dreams looking for a real-world heroine.