The Teamwork Advantage a Gregg Gregory Podcast

Bill Cates (not Gates) is a Hall of Fame Speaker.  He began his entrepreneurship as a child going door to door selling – wait for it – furnace filters for his Cub Scout troop.  Through his life, Bill has built businesses and led them to great success.  For the past 20+ years, he has been helping sales organizations generate more referrals and increasing revenue without increasing their marketing budget. He has climbed mountains, lived on a houseboat, and spoken around the world to tens of thousands of highly successful entrepreneurs.  In this episode Bill shares how much of his success came through the help of others.  Listen as he tells us how many people went with him up Mount Kilimanjaro – now that is an impressive team!

In this episode, Lieutenant Colonel Waldo Waldman talks about overcoming a fear of heights and claustrophobia to become a decorated combat veteran. Waldo shares his two acronyms of the word FEAR, how one helped him soar and how we can all apply his lesson in our everyday lives.  We all have things that can hold us back.  For the fighter pilot that drag might be excessive artillery.  For the aircraft to take-off, there needs to be enough speed under the wings to lift the aircraft.
 
We all have drag that slows us down. We must find ways to get more lift and allow ourselves to soar.  Waldo talks about how to overcome our daily drag and get more lift in our lives.

NOTE: In my intro I mis-spoke and said that Lt. Col. Waldo Waldman graduated from the United States Naval Academy when, in fact, it was the United States Air Force Academy. My apologies for that mistake.

Sadly, just 9 months after this interview, Mark lost his life in a tragic bicycling accident in Utah.
 
Here is a quote from Mark’s book The Four Commitments that resonated with me. 

“Though they had radically different personalities, the common denominator between these two life changing coaches was that they cared. They cared about me and about teaching me to do things the right way. They could see beyond the now to the future of what I could become.”

He was referring to two of his coaches in his collegiate and NBA careers. 

Mark blocked an astonishing 456 shots in a single season, an NBA single season record that still stands today. 

We miss you Mark
*****
Never thinking he would play in the NBA, Mark Eaton was drafted in the 4th round by the Utah Jazz where he played from 1982 – 1994. He was named NBA defensive player of the year in 1985 and 1989, and an NBA All-Star in 1989.

After retiring from basketball, Mark applied the principles he learned in basketball to business.  Listen to Mark share his inspirational story about teamwork and culture and the correlation between sports and business that has made him the successful business leader he is today.

Dr. Shirley Davis is a master of reinvention. In this power-packed episode, we discuss what organizations should be doing to reinvent their businesses and how to be flexible.  This is not just for the C-Suite! The ideas Dr. Davis shares with us are practical, functional, and implementable at every level within your organization.

Songwriting collaboration is nothing new, even writing remotely across continents is not new.  Today, in the midst of COVID-19, what’s new is how artists are performing together remotely. In this episode, Keaton Simons shares stories about teamwork and collaboration with the many teams he has worked with. From road crews, to movie and television directors, to other performing artists such as Snoop Dogg and Chris Cornell, to his current gig as lead guitarist for country music superstar Brett Young. At the end of our episode, Keaton performs his own song “123 Go,” about how life doesn't often give us a heads-up and how we have to simply say 123, GO and start moving in one direction. Spoiler Alert - along with writing and production partner Noah Needleman and filmmaker Dennis Dugan, Keaton recently completed both the soundtrack and score for the upcoming motion picture “Love, Weddings, & Other Disasters” starring Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons.

Coming from small town USA, and after graduating from the US Naval Academy, Charlie Plumb went to aviator school in Pensacola FL and became a fighter pilot.  He flew over 70 combat missions before he was taken POW on May 19, 1967. Listen to his incredible journey from childhood, through the Naval Academy, to his incredible life after being a POW. Discover who he met, years later, that played an integral part of his survival, as well as his incredible ability to forgive. This is one of the most amazing stories you will ever hear. 

A graduate of Wharton Business School, Heinan Landa is the founder and CEO of Optimal Networks, Inc., a globally ranked IT services firm. Heinan has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, CIO Chief Executive and Legal Times and makes regular appearances on local Washington DC television talking about the power of Information Technology.

Optimal Networks is a values driven company built upon Heinan's top three values.  This simple practice has allowed him to adapt his leadership style to one of trust and delegation.

In this entertaining and energetic interview, Heinan talks about how he went from being depressed and over $100,000 in debt to building the dynamic and successful company Optimal Networks is today. Heinan shares the core values of the company, along with stories about how team members, or as he calls them “keepers of the values” have helped the company grow exponentially.

Eric and Shannon discuss the "tried and true" as well as how leadership has changed over the past 15 – 30 years.  We talk about how critical it is to lead by example, more today than ever before.  We cover a lot in this powerful interview with two senior leaders from the National Cancer Institute, including some talk around human capital workforce planning and training. You don’t want to miss this one!

Many leaders surrender to the feelings, emotions, and self doubt that can hold them back from being dynamic and powerful leaders. In this episode, Dr. Mary Kelly, a graduate of the Unites States Naval Academy and retired Navy Commander, discusses insightful and powerful leadership traits that every team and team leader can take advantage of to be more successful. She starts by explaining, the six stages of crisis response that every leader goes through. They are Rejection, Recognition, Realization, Resolution, Reality, and Realignment.  And that's just in the first 10 minutes of this incredible episode! You won't want to miss the rest. This incredibly high energy episode will pump you up and get you ready to take on your next mission.

For Mary's Free Multiple 5-Minute plans CLICK HERE 

When we are in our normal workspace, we typically spend a significant amount of time up and moving throughout the day.  Now that we are working remotely more and more, that sometimes means our dining room table (not the most optimal) is our desk.  With colleague interactions gone virtual, many of us are not getting up and moving around as much as we should throughout the day.

Physical Therapist and a Certified Athletic Trainer, Kelsey McSherry shares innovative tips, tricks and uncomplicated exercises we can do all while sitting at our desks – even when on a zoom call.  Gregg even did many of these exercises during the interview.