Here is a collection of podcast interviews with 3 of the top professionals in terms of leadership and mental conditioning.

1. Simon Sinek's Leadership Lessons

When I was the Director of Education at Elitefts, Dave Tate emailed the entire staff a link to a TED Talk. The speaker at this TED Talk turned out to be one of my favorite guests on the Sports Performance Podcast. Anyone who has worked at elitefts knows that Dave never wants to waste anyone's time with overly cliché, pseudo-motivational material that will not help the company or align with the core -values. After watching Simon Sinek talk about The Golden Circle, I realized his presentation summed up the core infrastructure of the values of the company to a T.

There aren't a lot of things I read or listen to that truly impact my life. It is difficult to find the message that sincerely alters the way I think and perceive my environment in a more positive light. Simon Sinek is one of the few whose core concepts and beliefs resonate with such a vast majority. Leadership is a skill necessary for any team or business. Sinek has preached and lived by the selfless habits of what true leadership is, and we all can benefit.

Topics Covered in this Podcast

The Golden Circle for Coaches
Urgent at the Expense of the Important
How to Undersell and Over-Deliver When Getting Hired as a Coach
Why Chip Kelly May Be onto Something
Why People Believed in Martin Luther King Jr.
Leadership is a Skill and a Practice
Why Leaders Eat Last
Coaches Set the Tone for Any Team
Pitfalls as a Business Owner
The Three Most Important Aspects of Presenting

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2. Peak Performance Podcast with Brian Cain

If you go to a conference and take away a few things from each presentation that you attend, consider it a success. Most often when coaches attend conferences or clinics one of two positive outcomes happen:

The presenter validates some of the same concepts or coaching philosophy the attending coach has developed over the years.
The presenter provides an alternative point of view or an new way of teaching or progressing an already present methodology in the attending coach's program.

Both of these scenarios are positive and fairly common. Most often, the presentations aren't life changing, as least for me. This had been the case at almost every conference I have attended..with the exception of when I saw Brian Cain present at the 2012 CSCCa Conference.

When I walked in a few minutes late (this isn't a surprise to those who know me) to the conference in Orlando, Florida, Cain was talking about Roger Bannister, showing highlights of George St. Pierre, and making the entire meathead coaching crowd perform "two claps" periodically. I honestly thought it was a little too "salesy" and light on substance. Then I really started to listen. It seemed Cain was speaking directly to me, mostly about attitude and perspective. He shared two ideas I drastically needed for a make-over in my professional life. Cain told story after story and all of it forced me to look inside myself and realize that the unhappiness I had experienced in my career was mostly self-imposed. In between convincing Zach Dechant of TCU to eat fire (seriously) and Amber Walls of Baylor break a board with her head (again, seriously), I realized that the diseases, deadly words, and negative perspectives were all things that I could control. Simple changes in dialogue shifted my perspective and I started to understand that my thoughts controlled my perspective. Because of this, I started living proactively. Brian Cain was the reason I got to the place I had been working to get to — I just didn't have the directions before then. The following is an interview where I ask Brain to expand on some of the key concepts that helped me as a coach and a man:

Topics Covered in this Podcast

How Brian Cain has helped me as a coach
How Brian got into the mental conditioning game
Why mental conditioning and not sport psychology
The Four Rs x 2
Process over outcome
Function over feelings
Run to Roar
Ten deadliest words
Change "have to" to "want to" to "get to"
Compared to what?
How people can get a hold of Brian

Read the original article here.

Transforming your Habits with James Clear

When James Clear walked into the Denison University varsity weight room in the Fall of 2006 as an unassuming, lanky, pitcher on the Big Red Baseball team. Little did I know at that point that he would become a huge influence on my professional career. Over the next several years, I did my best to have a similar influence on him.

It didn't take long for me to realize James' tenacious work ethic, maturity, and his tremendous leadership potential. James outworked and out-willed everyone he could on the diamond, in the weight room, and in the classroom. He was able to create his own major at one of the highest academic institutions in the country and became one of my most trusted resources in terms of training.

James Clear is the epitome of an entrepreneur who has become who he is by helping others. His words will resonate with anyone trying to better themselves and the people around them. Saying I am proud of James is a huge understatement.

Topics in this Interview