Intentional Performers

Brian Levenson

I created this podcast because I believe that much can be learned from digging deep with intentional performers. You can learn more about me and my company at www.strongskills.co.

1 Listener

All episodes

Best episodes

Seasons

Top 10 Intentional Performers Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Intentional Performers episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Intentional Performers for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Intentional Performers episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Tim Urban on Procrastination

Intentional Performers

12/07/22 • 53 min

Tim Urban is a writer and the creative force behind the extremely popular Wait But Why blog and newsletter, which has over 600,000 subscribers. He has a book coming out in February of 2023 and has authored dozens of viral articles on subjects such as why we procrastinate, which is what we talk a lot about in today’s conversation. He writes about things in psychology and politics, and he even writes about why we haven’t encountered alien life forms. To say Tim has range is an understatement. He doesn’t consider himself to be an expert or a guru at one thing, but he lets his curiosity wander and it takes him to all kinds of different places where he researches and writes, really in long form, articles. His email list has people like Elon Musk as subscribers, and TED Curator Chris Anderson and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Tim also is a speaker; he’s got an incredible TED Talk that I highly recommend you check out. And, he’s also known for drawing quirky graphics and stick figures, and we talk about what it’s like for him to be an artist as well. So, this conversation focuses mainly on procrastination, and if you’re someone who struggles with that, I know many of us do, then you’re going to enjoy it.

Tim had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I like to frame things we all experience in a way that can help clarify what’s going on” (6:20).

“Without being able to see the big picture, you don’t realize that the best way to achieve maximum happiness this week is to do this stuff now and be miserable temporarily and then much better later” (8:40).

“We get older, our bodies get older, but it’s an uneven distribution of growth” (12:00).

“The inner child in us is one of the best parts of grown-ups. It’s what a lot of times allows us to be creative and to have fun and to be open-minded” (13:00).

“The goal is to grow up in all the right ways and stay young in all the wrong ways” (13:10).

“Carving out high-quality, guilt-free leisure time is very important. It recharges your willpower. It creates this healthy balance in your head” (16:15).

“What I’ve done when I’ve succeeded more is often, I will do something in that moment to force future Tim’s hand” (21:45).

“Procrastinators get in the biggest trouble when they don’t take their problem seriously” (24:00).

“I had macro motivation with micro help” (27:10).

“I thought I hated writing because I was doing mostly papers, and then I started blogging in 2005 as a complete procrastination side activity, just me having fun. And that’s when I realized that me having fun in the form of writing was catching on” (31:40).

“You need to overpower your emotions with rationality when you’re looking at comments” (34:30).

“If you let all of the negative comments get to you, you’re going to be too scared to write anything. If you ignore all of the negative comments and say that all negative comments are just haters, now you’re not going to grow or learn anything” (37:35).

“I don’t think the things that I produce require beautiful writing; they require good communication and authenticity” (42:15).

“Keep messing around with different mediums and different things until you find areas that you’re strong in, because everyone is strong in some areas” (48:15).

“The best things I’ve written have been when I was in a mood where I felt like I was playing as I wrote it” (50:30).

“If I’m having fun, it’s going to produce something good” (50:45).

Additionally, you can access the Wait But Why website here, where you can find all of Tim’s writing. You can also subscribe to Tim’s email list on the site and follow him on Twitter.

Thank you so much to Tim for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

1 Listener

Tim Chi on Lessons from Entrepreneurship

Intentional Performers

09/27/23 • 68 min

Tim Chi is the Chief Executive Officer of The Knot Worldwide. After getting married in 2005, Tim set out to make wedding planning less stressful and frustrating. Together with his co-founders Jeff, Lee and Sonny, they threw four desks into his empty living room in Chevy Chase, Maryland and created WeddingWire, which became a leading global vendor marketplace serving the wedding industry, helping millions of engaged couples plan, execute and celebrate the most important day of their lives. WeddingWire grew to 1,000 employees worldwide and owned leading wedding brands in North America, Europe, South America and India. In 2019, Tim became CEO of The Knot Worldwide following the merger of XO Group Inc. (parent company of The Knot) and WeddingWire Inc. Previously, Tim co-founded Blackboard Inc. in 1998. While at Blackboard, Tim pioneered many of Blackboard’s flagship products and strategic initiatives, bringing technology into the classrooms of colleges, universities and school districts across the world. During his tenure, the company raised over $100 million in capital and was taken public on the Nasdaq in 2004.

Tim holds a B.S. in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University and an M.S. in engineering management from Tufts University. He resides in Maryland with his family and is based out of The Knot Worldwide’s Chevy Chase headquarters.

Tim had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I actually do try to separate the idea of video game time from screen time” (7:20).

“Video gaming time [for my kids] is generally done with me” (7:30).

“We’re trying to create an intentional balance around exposing [our kids] to different things” (10:35).

“A lot of dedicated athletes do really well in any occupation I think because of that discipline and because of the team winning mentality” (12:10).

“I just know I’m not good at a lot of things” (13:25).

“In order to really excel, you need to have complementary skillsets at the table” (13:35).

“My chance of success is much improved if I’m working with partners” (14:05).

“Everything starts with relationships because that’s where trust gets built” (14:35).

“I tend not to take up as much headspace thinking about things that I’m not an expert in or I can’t connect with” (21:20).

“Disruption is natural” (22:15).

“Everybody has really good ideas, the difference is entrepreneurs do something about it; they’re willing to take a risk” (22:25).

“I like to think of myself as a realist with slightly rose-colored glasses on everything” (35:20).

“Video gaming is one of my escapes” (36:05)

“Everybody is entitled to make mistakes. It really is what did you learn from it?” (37:30).

“We know people are going to move on [from our company] and that life circumstances change. But what would be great is if people that left here said ‘I learned something, I took something away that helped me move to that next thing...’ That to me is success” (42:30).

“The how and when you implement it, those tend to have to get pessimized a lot” (47:30).

“I’m sort of just generally bullish on the idea that access to information and knowledge is a good thing for the world” (52:30).

“Start with a problem statement. What are we trying to solve here?” (56:00).

“Culture sits there as a broad-based thing, norms are how it shows up daily” (59:10).

“I do try to be very self-reflective about things and just in my own mental model always learning” (1:01:05).

“My personal development has really come from other people who I trust who I’ve built relationships with pushing me forward” (1:02:30).

Additionally, you can connect with Tim himself on LinkedIn here, and also follow The Knot Worldwide on LinkedIn here.

Thank you so much to Tim for coming on the podcast!

Michael Lombardi on Gridiron Genius

Intentional Performers

09/07/22 • 78 min

Michael Lombardi is a former NFL General Manager, a 3X Super Bowl Champion, and somebody who thinks deeply about leadership. He has a daily newsletter with George Raveling called The Daily Coach which aims to be inspiration for people around leadership. Michael is also the author of Gridiron Genius. Michael has been in the trenches with some of the best coaches of all time, specifically Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. He also spent a lot of his career with Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. This conversation really gets into culture and leadership, which is really what his book is about as well. More than anything, Michael cares about making people better.

Michael had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“When you have to tell people to call you something and you don’t earn it, then there’s something wrong with the way you’re working” (7:00).

“Actions speak louder than titles” (7:10).

“The respect you get is the respect you earn based on your level of commitment” (7:20).

“In every great organization, alignment starts and ends with everybody knowing their jobs, everybody knowing their roles” (7:45).

“I love the idea of building a team” (9:35).

“At 13, I knew I wanted to be a general manager” (10:25).

“The problem with most organizations is they don’t know who they are” (12:45).

“We are never able to accelerate what we want until we eliminate what we don’t want” (18:10).

“When you have structures in place and protocols, now you can diagnostically test what you need” (18:55).

“I only wanted to be with people who saw the game the way I saw it” (23:15).

“The number one trait that truly great leaders have is they understand what their job is and what it isn’t” (27:20).

“Great CEOs truly understand what the job is... every decision comes back to ‘Does this benefit the job?’” (29:05).

“If I give you something good to do and you do it well, I’ll give you something else” (33:15).

“Whatever job someone gives you, do it the best you can” (33:40).

“Falling in love with the process not falling in love with the results, that’s competitive stamina” (43:40).

“Most of the time the player is just interested in making themselves better. The leader is interested in making everybody better” (45:45).

“This is what all great leaders do: they figure out what they need to do to win the game” (56:00).

“Learn from everything that you touch and apply it back to what you love” (59:00).

“If you don’t look outside your area of expertise to other areas, you become stagnant and you lack curiosity” (59:30).

“The one thing I’ve learned in my 63 years of life is curiosity is the greatest tool to have. If you have curiosity in your tool belt, you’ll be successful” (1:00:00).

“I love being a writer... I love being able to mentor people” (1:06:15).

“The jungle’s not dangerous if you know the trails” (1:09:10).

“I think we can learn a lot more when people destroy something than when they build it” (1:13:00).

“If Steve Jobs needs a coach, everybody needs a coach” (1:15:00).

Additionally, please check out The Daily Coach and follow Michael @MLombardiNFL on Instagram and Twitter.

Thank you so much to Michael for coming on the podcast!

Thanks for listening.

Brian Levenson’s Reflections from the Aspen Ideas Festival

Intentional Performers

07/26/23 • 80 min

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than a lot of our past episodes because it’s just going to be me on here. I’m going to share a lot of my observations, a lot of my notes, from a festival I recently attended called The Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s really a conference, but it’s much more than a conference. It’s where some of the best thought leaders gather to share what’s on their mind, to discuss, they have all kinds of experiences, they have debates, they have panels, they have interactive experiences. I figured I would capture the four days that I spent at the conference with all of you and share it in today’s episode.

Here are some insights I’d like to share form today’s episode:

“[The festival] was a reminder of the power of education” (2:40).

“We don’t need to be formally in school to continue to grow and become educated, but we do need to seek out opportunities to learn” (2:45).

“We either evolve, or we die” (4:15).

“’And’ is more powerful than ‘or’” (5:15).

“If we aren’t healthy, nothing else really matters” (6:40).

“If you want to be a great manager, you need to understand that part of your job as a manager is to connect with human beings, and we connect with human beings on an emotional level” (9:30).

“We need to manage our emotions; we don’t need to eradicate them” (9:55).

“The people who are happiest actually dig rather than climb” (12:35).

“Fulfillment is what’s most key to happiness” (13:50).

“Sometimes we have to take a step back if we want to take a step forward” (16:30).

“Wealth is essentially your capacity to control your time” (18:20).

“The thing that makes you weird as a kid can make you great as an adult” (19:05).

“Following your passion is very limiting” (20:30).

“Maybe the passion will come from the doing rather than the doing coming from the passion” (21:00).

“Change does involve pain” (21:50).

“Emotions are radar, they give us information, they give us data” (22:30).

“Are we working hard, or are we overworking?” (23:40).

“Let’s look inward for the solution” (25:25).

“Parenting doesn’t stop once our children become adults” (25:50).

“Not knowing is the most intimate” (28:30).

“Our happiness is about looking out the window rather than at the mirror” (29:20).

“Where you believe you’re going matters” (34:00).

“Vision can inspire” (35:25).

“If you have clarity on the vision, then you can actually pass that down to the people in your organization who are actually connected to the customer” (36:20).

“You want to get as close to that customer experience as possible if you want to build a strong organization” (37:50).

“People don’t need to be punished; they need to be helped” (39:20).

“We assume that other people are thinking exactly like us” (41:20).

“We need to be aware of our biases” (42:20).

“Let’s not speculate; let’s explore” (44:05).

“Whether you’re a show or a business or a sports team, you’re trying to do something together” (47:00).

“Insecurities are what often drive us to feel threatened” (49:15).

“Each successive generation is staying at their jobs for less time” (55:10).

“When does capitalism go too far?” (57:40).

“As we become more and more segregated behind computer screens, we need to intentionally create space for us to be in person” (1:00:35).

“If you don’t change, you either aren’t paying attention or you don’t care” (1:04:15).

“We need to think about our education as a rising tide that can lift all boats” (1:07:15).

“Our world needs to come together to think about how they’re going to manage artificial intelligence” (1:10:50).

“America is America because we collaborate” (1:12:00).

“How can you be bold while still being responsible?” (1:13:55).

“AI really reveals our own biases and toxic behaviors and holds a mirror up to us” (1:16:50).

If you’d like to connect with me further directly about this episode or anything else, you can reach out to me via email ([email protected]).

Thanks for listening.

Ryan Poles on Building and Sustaining Championship Culture

Intentional Performers

07/19/23 • 81 min

Ryan Poles is currently the General Manager of the Chicago Bears. Prior to that, he spent 13 years working with the Kansas City Chiefs and helping to build the Super Bowl Champion that they are today. He was heavily involved in scouting and bringing on the players that you see dominating the NFL today. Ryan also played football at a very high level; he played offensive line for Boston College, and his quarterback at the time was Matt Ryan. He then went on to get cut from the Chicago Bears, the team he is the General Manager for today. That led him on his journey and his path to working in the front office. Today’s conversation is really about leadership, it’s about how do you build the culture which the Bears are currently doing, and Ryan gives you a behind the curtain look at what he’s doing to build this one time historic, legacy franchise that is the Chicago Bears.

Ryan had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“It’s part of my makeup. I never feel like I’m there yet” (6:00).

“Staying curious, listening to other people’s journeys, the lessons they’ve learned, that’s a ton of wisdom. It’s the same reason why I read books” (6:10).

“I want to peel back the curtain on different experiences so that I can apply them when those situations pop up for me” (6:20).

“Growth mindset is really contagious” (6:40).

“You’ve got to lean on people, and you’ve got to let people lean on you” (7:20).

“There’s times you’ve got to sleep on it” (14:40).

“I really value people” (15:20).

“Sometimes the worst thing you can do, and it’s so toxic, is just to keep [everything] inside of you” (19:05).

“It’s important to get things off your chest and express your thoughts and emotions” (21:00).

“We attack mind, body, and spirit” (23:25).

“[Spirit] is internal peace” (25:20).

“If you can have part of your foundation be being a resilient football team, to me that is progress” (29:15).

“That old school, tough, gritty football team; we want that back. That’s part of this city” (33:30).

“We’re not going to panic and do things that are going to harm us just because of pressure” (35:20).

“For me, to my core, sustaining success is the challenge” (39:50).

“You can feel the passion jump out of the [players] that really care and love [football]” (51:30).

“For building a football team, you want as many guys where when they go out to practice or a game, it’s like recess” (52:05).

“The hardest part of professional sports with collaboration is the team changes every single year” (59:40).

“It comes down to people” (1:03:45).

“You can call it a General Manager if you want, but at the end of the day you’re a problem solver for the organization” (1:04:10).

“The more balanced I am, the more clear I am about decision making” (1:05:50).

“I need to block off time for me” (1:07:05).

Thank you so much to Ryan for coming on the podcast!

Thanks for listening.

Michelle ”Mace” Curran on Inspiring Others

Intentional Performers

02/22/23 • 75 min

Michelle 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. She has a passion for pushing her limits, inspiring others, and changing lives.

As the Lead Solo for the Thunderbirds, Michelle realized the flying was cool, but the best part was inspiring others to overcome their fears and pursue their dreams. Since transitioning out of the military, she has founded her company, Upside Down Dreams, and is committed to empowering men and women of all ages to overcome obstacles and the fear of failure. She has inspired thousands through her passion for breaking barriers and setting the example of what can be accomplished through handwork.

Michelle had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“A big part of what I got to do in that job was inspire people” (6:55).

“Most of my career I didn’t think I was a good enough pilot to fly in that position” (9:30).

“The pandemic acted as a catalyst for me to really reflect on what I wanted” (12:25).

“I miss the really unique perspective you get on the world from a cockpit” (15:15).

“It’s accepted that mistakes are going to happen. You learn from them. You grow from them. It creates the psychological safety where you build that trust” (25:00).

“What you though was a big mistake, to the visual naked eye... you couldn’t tell” (25:40).

“Chair flying is our version of visualization... It’s the only way to get to the level of proficiency that you need” (26:30).

“You want to put in all the preparation you can so you get as close to perfect as possible. You’re striving for perfect. That’s your target. But we would always say we never have a perfect flight” (30:35).

“The whole mission is to recruit, retain, and inspire” (38:20).

“I always enjoyed being creative, and there’s not always a ton of space in the military for creativity” (40:30).

“Having gender diversity on the team 100% was making the Thunderbirds better able to do their overall mission” (42:05).

“There’s some risk that comes to sticking out” (43:20).

“My identity as a young pilot was totally wrapped up in my achievements” (48:20).

“There’s a lot more to a person than just what they accomplish” (49:05).

“My biggest fear was failure for the longest time” (49:15).

“Society really condemns quitters” (58:00).

“Something you thought would be the ultimate outcome might not take shape like you imagined” (58:30).

“Quitting that opened up space for all of these other amazing things that ended up being much more fulfilling and much more of a better fit that would have never been options had I not quit” (59:50).

Additionally, you can check out Michelle’s website here. I’d also encourage you to connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn. Lastly, you can pre-order Michelle’s children’s book, Upside Down Dreams, here.

Thank you so much to Michelle for coming on the podcast!

Thanks for listening.

Susan Chapman-Hughes on Empathetic Leadership

Intentional Performers

08/30/23 • 65 min

Susan Chapman-Hughes has quite an impressive resume. Currently, she consults with several Fortune 1000 C-Suite leaders as they embark upon transformation and try to change their organization. She’s the co-host of “Navigating the Work Compass” every Wednesday at Noon EST on LinkedIn Live, and is the author of the upcoming book Why Should I Follow You, which is a primer on connected leadership. And today’s conversation really dives into what Susan thinks are best practices when it comes to leadership, specifically around empathetic leadership and the power that comes with empathy. She’s an Independent Director of the JM Smucker Company, where she serves on the Compensation Committee. She’s also an Independent Director of Toast and chair of the Compensation Committee over there. Previously, she served as an Independent Director at Potbelly Corporation, where she led both the Compensation and Audit Committees. She most recently was the Executive VP and GM of Global Digital Capabilities, Transformation, and Operations in the Global Commercial Services Division at American Express, where she led the digital transformation of customer experience and drove the use of big data, predictive analytics, and machine learning to power business strategy.

Susan had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Writing a book is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life” (5:55).

“The power of growing great leaders was really the key to success for me in business” (6:45).

“I always had to lean on the talents skills of the people around me” (7:05).

“Being an empathetic leader gave me this leg up” (7:15).

“Everybody’s role is important, and I think sometimes we forget that” (9:05).

“The bigger your organizations get, the more you realize the key to leadership is really around how you connect with people, how can you galvanize them around the strategy and the ideas that you want to work towards, how can you empower them to go and execute, can you have shared goals and shared interests, and can you create a situation where conflict can be resolved constructively for the good of the organization? And that all starts with trust” (9:15).

“Well-meaning doesn’t always translate into empathetic” (10:00).

“The pandemic showed us the difference between leaders who connect with their folks and leaders who don’t” (10:55).

“[Going towards hard things] is a part of who I am” (12:35).

“Being a black CEO of a company was not a thing when I was young” (13:40).

“[I do hard things] because I have a passion for learning” (15:00).

“When you push yourself out of your comfort zone and you try to work on things that you’re not good at, in situations where the stakes are really low, it actually creates a tremendous opportunity for growth in a way that’s not hurtful to you” (17:45).

“What can I give to be impactful with the things I’ve been gifted with?” (20:45).

“I have to role model what integration looks like for [my daughter] so that as she gets older and wants to pursue her passions and her dreams, she feels like her choices don’t have to be binary” (30:20).

“My role as a parent is not to inform or impose my will on [my daughter], it is actually to help figure out what it is she wants and help her to guide that in a way that will impact the world” (31:40).

“Motherhood is the hardest job I’ve ever had, and it changes every day” (34:20).

“Being a parent forces you to have to be flexible” (36:25).

“The tenets of leadership aren’t hard, but the commitment to doing it takes effort and engagement” (42:30).

“Come as coachable” (46:50).

“I’d much rather have someone who’s pretty good who’s willing to learn and grow, who’s open and coachable, who’s always going to be thinking about the team, than somebody who’s just brilliant and can’t get along with anybody” (47:15).

“The leaders who I respect the most are the ones who saw me, who understood who I was, what I was trying to accomplish, were not intimidated by that, could appreciate who I was as a person, and really worked hard to help me” (48:00).

“The reason why I’m self-aware is because I seek [feedback], I’m always looking for [it]” (48:50).

“The more you can prepare an organization to be a change absorber and to integrate, the more likely you’re going to be to have people who connect and want to be there” (51:45).

“Staying humble but being decisive is very important [as a CEO]” (52:30).

“You can be [compassionate to people] and yet not know what they actually need” (1:00:50).

Additionally, you can find Susan’s website here and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and

Will Gadd on Risk and Reward

Intentional Performers

08/31/22 • 76 min

Will Gadd is a professional mountain sports athlete, speaker, guide, writer and TV guy. He shares the lessons he’s learned leading teams into high-risk environments through presentations on risk, resiliency, chaos and leadership.

Will had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I’ve made an effort throughout my career to do dangerous things, rewarding things, and important things as best I can, while recognizing the goal is always to come back [alive]” (7:15).

“How do you move forward and how do you thrive with that damage?” (8:30).

“I’ve always set out to do cool things... what could I do today that would be cool?” (8:45)

“That is the coolest thing in life: becoming the best version of yourself, whatever it is” (12:10).

“That’s who I admire in life: people who are trying to be who they are” (14:45).

“One of the most important things I’ve learned in my life is that everybody has something that blows their hair back... that fires them up” (16:50).

“The people that make the world go around are the ‘normal people’” (18:00).

“It’s almost like we’re programmed not to be happy or satisfied as human beings” (22:50).

“I don’t really want to be happy; I want to do things that make me feel alive” (23:15).

“If I can do the things that have massive amounts of meaning to me, then I function better in normal life” (29:05).

“I’ve never walked into a competition with the idea that I’m going to beat anybody, but I do walk in there with the idea that I’m going to do my best and I’m going to throw down and I’m going to get everything as well integrated as I can to perform well” (37:30).

“How do the best do it? If I really want to get better at this, how can I pull from that?” (41:30).

“Can you be better today? Can you be better next week? Can you improve? Can you go to your training even though you don’t really feel like it? Can you make life decisions that get you to where you want to go?” (43:00).

“Being better leads to happiness” (43:20).

“We all need optimism to do things... [but] you need some pessimism, some realism in your life to keep things working” (52:20)

“To tell stories you’ve got to have your heart, mind, and action involved” (58:40).

“The future is way more interesting than the past” (1:09:15).

Additionally, make sure to follow Will on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, and also to check out his website!

Thank you so much to Lesley for coming on the podcast!

Thanks for listening.

Lesley Poole on Seeds of Optimism

Intentional Performers

08/24/22 • 67 min

Lesley Poole serves as the chief executive officer for The SEED Foundation (www.seedfoundation.com). She is responsible for the overall health and vitality of SEED’s network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools and SEED’s mission-critical college success programming.

Lesley has been serving the students and families of the SEED community since 1998. She was one of the founding faculty at The SEED School of Washington, D.C., and held several positions during her tenure. At The SEED Foundation, Lesley’s expertise in government relations and philanthropy has been instrumental in securing the public-private partnerships necessary in Annapolis, MD; Tallahassee, FL; and Los Angeles, CA, to make The SEED School of Maryland, The SEED School of Miami, and The SEED School of Los Angeles possible.

Lesley began her career in education as a mathematics instructor and later served as the service area director for the school division of San Francisco Educational Services (SFED). She holds a bachelor's degree from Patten College in organizational management.

Lesley is a member of the spring 2017 cohort of Pahara-Aspen Fellows, which seeks to strengthen and sustain diverse, high-potential leaders who are reimagining public education. She is also a fellow with Seeding Disruption, a fellowship that brings together a diverse group of Washington, D.C.’s, senior leaders to generate, seed, and catalyze disruptive practices for the purpose of dismantling systems of racial inequity. Lesley serves on the board of Educare, an early childhood education school and community center in Washington, D.C.’s, Ward 7, as well as Excellence Christian School, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Lesley had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“My optimism fuels my leadership and how I see the world” (6:50).

“What started in 1998 is I grew a family which has also created a network for young people” (8:35).

“Don’t get on every bandwagon, but the ones you get on ride them to the end” (10:50).

“[Optimism] can be modeled... [and] if someone is motivated, it can be learned” (11:30).

“If I had to list my core values, optimism, over the course of 25 years, has increasingly become in the top 5” (12:20).

“I am fiercely loyal. If you are my friend, you are my friend” (13:05).

“I don’t know if my loyalty gets in the way, but it certainly comes with a cost” (14:30).

“I’ve built in myself a sense of comfort with not knowing how to accomplish something” (15:30).

“We need to double down on opportunity to learn” (18:30).

“If we create a space for being comfortable with not knowing, then we also create this intentional opportunity to innovate” (18:45).

“Part of how we foster a spark [at SEED] is we find opportunities” (21:55).

“We believe in community” (26:25).

“The boarding experience is an opportunity of discovering” (30:15).

“We all have to live in various worlds” (31:00).

“We all have an innate need to be proud and to belong” (42:30).

“A community not being resource rich doesn’t say anything about the people [who belong to it]” (43:10).

“We all experience some burnout” (52:50).

“Every day, at some point in the day, I sit with at least 15-30 minutes of quiet” (53:00).

“I spend a lot of time asking myself how I’m doing” (54:00).

“What I’m trying to do is create an environment of transformational leaders who really own the vision of SEED and we are all intentionally moving in the same direction” (57:00).

Additionally, please visit SEED at www.seedfoundation.com!

Thank you so much to Lesley for coming on the podcast!

Thanks for listening.

Joe Alberici on True Toughness

Intentional Performers

10/04/23 • 82 min

Joe Alberici is currently the Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach at Army – West Point. We could just have a conversation on lacrosse and that would be fascinating and how he leads, but being at Army and experiencing West Point, he’s going to bring a lot of the leadership principles that exist on that campus, and it is a unique special place and he’s going to take us behind the curtain as far as what makes Army – West Point so special. He’s going to talk specifically around captainship and leadership in this conversation. If Joe sounds familiar to you, he gave a speech that went viral recently about this notion of being a tough guy at life and how important it is to be inclusive and rethink about how we often think about toughness. And when I think about our military and I think about cadets that might go through West Point, we certainly think of them as physically tough, but Joe’s going to talk about in this conversation how much he values mental toughness and emotional toughness. I think you’re going to find Joe to be pretty holistically sound. We talk about culture, we talk about leadership, and how proud and how fortunate he feels to have the opportunity to coach at Army. And look, Army Lacrosse has become a contender. They beat the University of Maryland lacrosse team last year in the NCAA tournament; Maryland had won the National Championship the year before. So, he is coaching high level lacrosse players who also have a pride and a determination and a desire to serve our country. So, if I think about the type of people I would want my children to be coached by, I think about Coach Joe and I think about how he leverages his own faith, how he leverages his own philosophy, his upbringing, and his experience to pour into the student athletes that he surrounds himself with. So, this is a masterclass in humility, in confidence, in belief, and in having values and principles and being led by those.

Joe had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I’ve got a couple of built-in things to keep me humble” (6:15).

“I need to serve [my student athletes]. They deserve the best” (7:25).

“I look at [greatness] as something to aspire towards” (9:25).

“The way we honor the tradition is by building upon it” (11:30).

“We embrace [tradition], but we are always looking for better ways to do it” (12:50).

“There’s so many important things you do at the United States Military Academy... but what I’m of firm belief of... is there’s nothing more impactful than their time in our lacrosse family” (18:00).

“So much is made of the challenges here at West Point. The untold story is... there’s no place that supports you more than West Point” (20:45).

“When they accept you at West Point, they’re not telling you you’re good enough to get in, they’re telling you you’re good enough to graduate” (22:15).

“There’s a vulnerability that myself and my staff, we’re the first to model, and it permeates through our organization” (23:30).

“We tend to gravitate towards what we love the most; often what we love the most is what we do the best” (30:35).

“Our mission is to become a West Point man” (31:10).

“One of our pillars is being unrelenting towards excellence [in all that we do]” (31:40).

“You get to show up in this locker room with some of the greatest people you’ll ever know” (40:25).

“We’re above moral victories in this program. That’s not what we’re showing up to do against anybody” (47:00).

“It doesn’t really matter if we’re the better team than them. It only matters that we’re better for those 60 minutes” (47:15).

“Any time I have young people to speak to, I deliver the exact same message, and it is about being a tough guy or a tough girl” (54:00).

“It’s really important to give 100% 100% of the time” (56:20).

“One of the ways you demonstrate toughness is by being inclusive” (58:10).

“That decision to [bring others in] will make you better” (59:00).

“Don’t wait for the thank you, the appreciation. Just do it because it’s right” (1:03:35).

“If the leadership model is to bring everyone in, you’ve got to be humble enough to not have your stamp on it” (1:16:10).

“Be the model” (1:17:15).

“We want a team full of leaders. But part of being a great leader is you have to be humble” (1:17:55).

Additionally, you can follow Joe on Twitter and you can follow the Army Lacrosse Team on Twitter and Instagram.

Thank you so much to Joe for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on

Show more best episodes

Intentional Performers

Brian Levenson

Top 10 Intentional Performers Episodes

Tim Urban on Procrastination

Tim Chi on Lessons from Entrepreneurship

Michael Lombardi on Gridiron Genius

Brian Levenson’s Reflections from the Aspen Ideas Festival

Ryan Poles on Building and Sustaining Championship Culture

Michelle ”Mace” Curran on Inspiring Others

Susan Chapman-Hughes on Empathetic Leadership

Will Gadd on Risk and Reward

Lesley Poole on Seeds of Optimism

Joe Alberici on True Toughness

FAQ

How many episodes does Intentional Performers have?

What topics does Intentional Performers cover?

What is the most popular episode on Intentional Performers?

What is the average episode length on Intentional Performers?

How often are episodes of Intentional Performers released?

When was the first episode of Intentional Performers?

Comments