Prosperity & Something Greater

David Marquet (MAR-KAY) was assigned to command the nuclear-powered submarine USS Santa Fe, then ranked last in retention and operational standing. He “turned the ship around” by treating the crew as leaders, not followers, and giving control, not taking control. This revolutionary approach not only took the Santa Fe from “worst to first” in the rankings, but also created more subsequent leaders than any other submarine. Stephen R. Covey called the Santa Fe “the most empowering organization [he’d] ever seen” and wrote about Captain Marquet’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit.

Student of leadership and organizational design, former nuclear submarine Commander, and named one of the Top 100 Leadership Speakers by Inc. Magazine. David is the author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller: Turn the Ship Around!, and The Turn the Ship Around Workbook. Fortune magazine named it the #1 must-read business book of the year, and USA Today listed it as one of the top 12 business books of all time. David’s latest book, Leadership is Language, is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.

David imagines a workplace where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have more control over their work–a place where everyone is a leader.

Find Out More:

DavidMarquet.com

Recommended Books:

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

The Turn The Ship Around! Workbook: Implement Intent-Based Leadership In Your Organization

Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say--and What You Don't

Mansfield Park

How do we open up our minds to allow all forms of information to come in? How can we open up our hearts in order to understand at a visceral level what life is about at any given moment? How do we open up our will to allow future possibilities to emerge?
Dr. Gould has more than 50 years of in-depth experience in the educational field, in which he has specialized on issues surrounding systemic change, leadership development, curriculum innovation, and the effective implementation of new technologies in learning environs. His studies and work in these areas are a natural outgrowth of his advanced degrees in education, including both an M.S. from Duquesne University and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Presently, Dr. Gould is a Clinical Professor at Drexel University’ School of Education and the Program Director for Educational Administration Program.

His work and research are informed by a first-hand familiarity with organizational issues, having worked as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, and in other leadership positions within Pennsylvania school districts. Some specifics of this work include: restructuring the organization of schools featuring elementary multi-age grouping and interdisciplinary grouping at the secondary level; creating strong business/school partnerships to help students develop the application of their learning to real-world experiences; experiences with overseeing and developing cyber-charter schools; and led the innovative planning processes in many school districts.

At Drexel he was a co-designer of the Educational Doctorate Program in Educational Leadership and Change which has been in existence for the past 10 years. The program recently received the 2019 Program of the Year from the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate.

Dr. Gould has penned many articles on school innovation and sustainability. Throughout his career, he presented workshops at the local, state, and national levels focused on rethinking the design of schools. He also has served as the project manager in charge of crafting a "shared vision and action plan" for former Governor Tom Ridge's Pennsylvania Education Network (PEN).

Dr. Gould is grounded in “systems thinking” and has a strong commitment to the concept of “learning organizations.” The essential question he asks all to consider is: given the rapid changes in social media, medicine, nanotechnology, the environment, and globalization, how do we cope with the need to innovate new learning environs for creating a sustainable future for our children?
Recommended Books:
The Regenerative Life

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Can we think of prosperity as a rope? Intertwining how we evaluate life and life’s satisfactions? How we experience life and our purpose - that is putting being able to put our gifts to work? Does happiness have a genetic component?
In this episode, I interview Dan Buettner. Da is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and founder of Blue Zones. He’s also the New York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way and The Blue Zones Solution.
He has discovered five places in the world ­– dubbed blue zones – where people live the longest and are healthiest: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California.
Dan’s adventure – and all that he learned – is chronicled in his book The Blue Zones, as well as the follow-up The Blue Zones Solution. The books became New York Times best-sellers and drew worldwide media attention. Dan has appeared as a longevity expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, ABC World News, CBS’s The Early Show, and CNN. The subsequent best-sellers Thrive and Blue Zones of Happiness takes a Blue Zones approach to solve another mystery: Why are the world’s happiest places the happiest?
Recommended Books:
The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest

The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World's Healthiest People

Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way
The Journey to the East

This third and final installment of the mini-series has had some twists and turns as it came to life. It started in mid-march when the COVID-19 epidemic was obviously going to impact the United States and San Francisco became the first Major US City to shut down. I was researching Pandemics and Quarantines. At the time – mid-March - there was no reference to COVID-19 at all. That has certainly changed now. Interestingly, what primarily came up were references to polio. Polio has plagued humans for thousands of years. The great Polio Epidemic in the US occurred from 1916-1955.

Polio is a viral disease that affects the nervous system, causing paralysis. It spreads through direct contact with people who have the infection. Outbreaks occurred regularly in the United States through the 1950s, with two major Polio outbreaks in 1916 and in 1952. Of the 57,628 reported cases in 1952, there were 3,145 deaths.

In 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine was approved. It was quickly adopted throughout the world. By 1962, the average number of cases dropped to 910. The CDCTrusted Source reports that the United States has been Polio-free since 1979. Europe since 2002. But it still persists in small numbers today.

In 1941 my dad contracted Polio. He was 7. His Younger brother, my uncle Dick was only 5. I spoke to my dad and my uncle Dick about their memories of that time and their insights. The conversation took some turns as you’ll see as these sons remembered their parents, and in particular, their father. My grandfather as you will soon discover was someone very special.

What if this Saturday you could drive up to your childhood home and pick up your six-year-old self so the two of you could spend the day together? What would that be like? What would that mean to you?
Maybe there is still time.