I met Erika through two of my prior guests, Liz Deering and Ben Gibson, when I was a guest mentor at an Un.Inc cohort. I was struck by Erika’s authenticity and fierce humility and was inspired by her vision behind her non-profit, We Are Those People.

Another interesting connection … Erika’s awesome husband, Frank Ball, did tattoos for Virginia and me! In line with Erika’s personal story and her mission, we talked through destigmatizing addiction recovery and both answered these three questions:

* What are the root causes of addiction? 

* Why does the US culture have such a different view of addiction than other cultures?

* What is one current law/policy related to addiction. you would change and why?

Links:

We Are Those People

Instagram

Like many of my friendships over the past decade, meeting and connecting with Rachel Fell was serendipitous. She randomly met my great friend, Mike Green, in Alaska, who then introduced us. Rachel and I hit it off immediately as we are both coaches and are both curious and prone to subversiveness!

The topic for this episode is redefining intelligence. Rachel and I both answered the following:

* What is the influence of social conditioning on intelligence?

* What is the relationship between philosophy and intelligence?

* What do you think is most misunderstood or misperceived about intelligence?

Rachel’s Links

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Mike O’Krent is a fellow Austinite and a former client who has become a dear friend. Mike is a multidimensional and fascinating person. He is a sought-after documentarian who specializes in creating life stories of family patriarchs and matriarchs. Our topic for our conversation was: living a compelling story

Together, we answered the following questions:

* What are the components of a compelling life story?

* What is your definition of a legacy?

* Who’s story do you wish more people knew?

Mike’s Links

Website

LinkedIn

“Essays from a Pandemic” is now available on Amazon!

$14.95 for print and $1.99 for Kindle

Reminder: all paid subscribers will receive a free signed copy. I will be in touch to get your address. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can rectify that here:

This reading is from an essay from the book written in May 2020, called “How to be a Heretic”. With the launch of Massive, this essay is more timely than ever!

This week, I visited with the very impressive, Gay Gaddis. Like all of my guests, Gay is a multidimensional person - an entrepreneur, author, artist, speaker, and mentor. She is a legendary leader in the Austin community and brims with joy and wisdom. When I saw the title and concept behind her new book, I had to have her on!

We both answered these questions:

* In the context of personal power, what is your definition of power?

* What are common ways that we consciously or unconsciously disempower ourselves?

* How do you integrate intuition and being strategic with kicking ass? 

Links:

Gay Gaddis

“Cowgirl Power” book

Although a history buff, I also love imagining the future - especially through a more hopeful lens. So I was extra excited to visit with Byron Reese on the topic of “mastering the future”. I connected with Byron via LinkedIn a while back and saw that he has a fascinating new book out (link below). Byron is an Austin-based entrepreneur with a quarter-century of experience building and running technology companies. He is a recognized authority on AI and holds a number of technology patents. In addition, he is a futurist with a strong conviction that technology will help bring about a new golden age of humanity.

We both answered the following questions:

* What makes you hopeful about the future of humanity?

* What current thinking/mindset is the greatest threat to the future?

* What is your most surprising prediction for the future? 

Links

Byron’s book: “Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future--and Shape It”Byron’s website

Special Note:Hello, Third Way community! Please join my partner, Virginia, and me for a LinkedIn Live on 11/11 where we will be hosting a forum on business leaders and social change, as well as announcing the launch of a new kind of coaching practice, called Massive. Register here.

Every time I have a guest on the podcast, I think, “Damn. I know a lot of smart people!” Such is the case with my great friend Tracy Winter, Ph.D. After working in a variety of fields and industries, Tracy became a self-proclaimed, brilliantly named “Nerd Coach”. She works with neurodiverse leaders - most often in large organizations like Tesla.

The topic of our visit was “Neurodiversity and Leadership” - with an emphasis on ADHD. Tracy and I both answered these questions:

* How do ADHDers lead differently than neurotypical leaders?

* What are some of the challenges that ADHDers face as leaders? (Extrinsically, intrinsically and systemically)

* What can we do to better prepare younger ADHDers to become leaders? 

Tracy’s Links

LinkedIn

Website

Orville Morales is a friend and client - and one unique and interesting dude! Orville’s experience with double immigration and living in different cultures helped spark his curiosity about how policies and politics shape our lives. This exploration led him to found The People’s Lobbyist, where he works with organizations and groups on what he calls Pragmatic Activism. Which is also the topic we discussed!

Orville and I talked through our answers to these questions:

* What is your definition of an activist?

* What is the role of activism in modern society?

* What are your views on the perspective that we live in a “polarized” society?

Gareth Higgins is an author, speaker and facilitator who splits time between Belfast in northern Ireland and Ashville, NC. I came across his stellar book “How Not to Be Afraid” earlier this year. It quickly became one of the top must-read books I’m recommending lately. Please buy the book for yourself (and others!) but if you’d like to see what caught my eye, here are the highlights.

Our topic was the same as his book title: How Not to Be Afraid. Here are three proposed questions that we both answered:

* How do you discern trauma-based fear from hard-wired fear? And how do you approach each?

* Does the soul feel fear? 

* What are some newer practices or rituals you have related to managing fear?

Links

BookWebsite

Stacy Ennis is a best-selling author and noted author coach. Stacy and I have been friends since 2011. From an initial conversation interviewing me for a magazine article to editing my first book, I’ve witnessed Stacy’s trajectory in life, business and thought-leadership. Along the way, she’s had the same daring, kind and generous spirit.

The topic of our conversation was "Writing it All Down". Here are the three questions we both answered:

* What is your response to someone who says "I'm not a writer"? 

* Why is having a writing practice so important during these modern times?

* What are some new writing practices or rituals you've recently implemented?

Stacy just launched her first self-study program for her Non-fiction Book School. Check it out here!

Additional Links

Website

LinkedIn