From The Green Notebook

Send us Fan Mail Michael Kloepper, former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and current Brigade Tactical Officer at the United States Military Academy, joins Joe to explore leadership, readiness, and the responsibility to pass hard-earned lessons to the next generation. This episode examines what it means for a generation of leaders shaped by more than two decades of war to “empty the rucksa...

Send us Fan Mail Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of Gates of Fire , t he War of Art , A Man at Arms , and The Arcadian , joins Joe to explore writing, resistance, and the soldier’s long search for peace. This episode examines the story behind The Arcadian , Pressfield’s latest novel featuring Telamon, a warrior cursed to live lifetime after lifetime as a soldier. Steve shares how the seed fo...

Send us Fan Mail Brooke Taylor, author of Healing the Success Wound , joins Joe to explore the hidden pain that comes from mistaking achievement, productivity, and success for self-worth. This episode examines the “success wound,” the belief that our worth is tied to what we produce, accomplish, or achieve rather than who we are. Brooke shares her own story of growing up in Silicon Valley, chasing...

Send us Fan Mail Geoffrey Cain, author of Steve Jobs in Exile , joins Joe to explore one of the most overlooked chapters in Steve Jobs’ life: the twelve years between his fall from Apple and his return to build one of the most influential companies in the world. This episode looks beyond the familiar story of the iPhone, iPod, and Apple’s second act to examine the wilderness years that shaped Jobs...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Tommy Shavers, founder of NESTRE Health & Performance, and Carlos Perez, a retired Special Forces officer, join Joe to explore a powerful idea: the brain is not fixed. It can be measured, trained, strengthened, and improved. This episode was recorded after Joe visited NESTRE’s performance center in Lake Nona, Florida, where he went through their cognitive assessment and br...

Send us Fan Mail Sam Yo, Peloton instructor, former West End theater performer, and author of The Monk’s Mindset , joins Joe to talk about discipline, mindfulness, and learning how to bring the right effort to every part of our lives. Joe and Sam explore Sam’s journey from early success on the stage to life in a Thai monastery, and eventually to Peloton. Along the way, they discuss what it means t...

Send us Fan Mail Rob Evans joins Joe for a conversation about military barracks conditions, leadership accountability, and why he created Hots&Cots to give junior service members a voice. Drawing from his own experience as a junior enlisted Soldier, Rob shares how years of seeing poor living conditions—and reading reports from organizations like the Government Accountability Office—pushed him...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel Z. Lieberman, psychiatrist and co-author of The Molecule of More , joins Joe to explore the powerful role dopamine plays in shaping our desires, decisions, and sense of fulfillment. Joe and Dan discuss how dopamine isn’t just about pleasure—it’s about possibility. It drives us to chase the future, often leading us to idealize what’s ahead while overlooking what’s right in f...

Send us Fan Mail Judd Kessler—a professor at the Wharton School and author of Lucky by Design —joins Joe to explore the hidden markets that shape our lives, careers, and opportunities. Joe and Judd discuss how many of the most important decisions we encounter—from job promotions to school admissions to performance evaluations—aren’t driven by price, but by rules we rarely see or fully understand....

Send us Fan Mail Jaron Wharton—a former brigade commander in the 82nd Airborne Division and co-editor of Bend but Do Not Break joins Joe to examine the future of the all-volunteer force and the role of professional discourse in strengthening the military.  Joe and Jaron discuss how education and self-study shape better leaders, why intellectual curiosity is essential in command, and how stepping o...

Send us Fan Mail Andy Yakulis—West Point graduate, former Army pilot, and Special Operations officer turned defense tech entrepreneur—joins Joe to talk about leadership, transition, and the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare. Recruited to West Point just days before September 11th, Andy entered the Army knowing he would serve during a generation defined by war. After flying Kiowa Warrior he...

Send us Fan Mail Randy Surles —retired Army Ranger and Green Beret turned editor, ghostwriter, and Story Grid-certified book coach—joins Joe to talk directly to veterans who feel called to tell their story but don’t know where to start. After 25 years in Special Operations, Randy transitioned from the military to the writing world, studying under Shawn Coyne and helping dozens of veterans turn the...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Guy Winch, bestselling author and psychologist, joins Joe to discuss his newest book, Mind Over Grind   to explore how job stress quietly spills beyond the office—and into our evenings, our sleep, and our relationships. What starts as a difficult meeting or looming deadline doesn’t end at 1700. It follows us home. From the “Sunday Scaries” to 2AM rumination loops, Guy explains...

Send us Fan Mail Griffin Brand and Dan Casey, co-authors of Bring Your Own Pencil: Bill Walsh’s Playbook for Winning at Anything , join Joe to explore preparation, leadership, and what separates sustained excellence from short-term success. It’s Super Bowl weekend, so football is part of the lens—but it doesn’t stay there. The discussion moves from Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers to Dyson v...

Send us Fan Mail Lieutenant General Tony Hale, the Army G-2, joins Joe for a conversation on military intelligence, judgment, and decision-making in modern war. Drawing on nearly four decades of service, Hale reflects on the evolution of the intelligence profession—from red pens and acetate maps to AI-enabled platforms—and why human judgment still matters most. Hale shares his path into military i...

Send us Fan Mail On the release of his latest thriller, The Viper: A Zig and Nola Novel , Brad Meltzer joins Joe for an in-depth conversation on writing, curiosity, service, and the often-hidden moments that shape a life. From bestselling thrillers to children’s books, Meltzer reflects on how stories—both real and imagined—help us make sense of who we are, what we’ve lived through, and the paths w...

Send us Fan Mail General Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa joins Joe for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, culture, and what it takes to drive real change at scale across massive, dispersed organizations. Having led at the division, corps, and now theater Army level, Donahue reflects on what doesn’t change as responsibility grows. Regardless of rank or...

Send us Fan Mail Alpha Coffee co-founder and retired Army lieutenant colonel Carl Churchill joins Joe for a candid conversation on leadership, resilience, and what it really takes to build something that lasts after the uniform comes off. After serving more than two decades in the Army, Carl found himself facing an unexpected second career shaped not by careful planning, but by crisis. In the wake...

Send us Fan Mail Retired Marine Corps fighter pilot, Top Gun instructor, and leadership consultant Dave Berke joins Joe for an honest conversation about ego, responsibility, and what it truly means to lead—both in the arena of combat and in everyday life. As the bestselling author of The Need to Lead , Dave pulls back the curtain on the high-pressure world of fighter aviation, the chaos of ground...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Joseph Loconte joins Joe for a powerful exploration of faith, imagination, and courage in times of crisis—how two Oxford professors used story to resist the darkness of their age and inspire generations to come. As a historian and author of The War for Middle-earth: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933–1945 , Dr. Loconte reveals how the trauma of...

Send us Fan Mail Phil Gilbert joins Joe for a masterclass on leading lasting change—how to move large organizations, overcome cultural antibodies, and build systems that make transformation stick. As the former head of design at IBM, Phil was tasked with one of the most ambitious corporate transformations of the last decade: to reignite creativity, collaboration, and speed inside a century-old com...

Send us Fan Mail Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer joins Joe Byerly for a candid and provocative discussion about power—what it is, how it works, and why more good people need to learn to use it. Drawing from his influential books Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t   and The 7 Rules of Power , Pfeffer challenges listeners to see the world as it really operates—not as we wish it to be...

Send us Fan Mail New York Times bestselling author Ryan Holiday returns to From the Green Notebook for his third conversation with Joe—this time diving into the themes of his latest and final book in the Stoic Virtues series, Wisdom Takes Work .  In this wide-ranging conversation, Ryan and Joe discuss the importance of curiosity, humility, and deep reflection in a world where shortcuts and surface...

Send us Fan Mail This is the longest episode ever of From the Green Notebook —and for good reason. Joe brings you a special LANDEURO Talks edition of the podcast, recorded at AUSA’s inaugural LANDEURO conference in Germany back in July. While at LANDEURO, Joe participated in both the Generation Next Forum and the Leadership Forum, hosted by the AUSA Center for Leadership. These gatherings were des...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Galena Rhoades, coauthor of Fighting For Your Marriage , returns to From the Green Notebook to talk with Joe about the strain that deployments, training, and time apart place on military marriages—and how couples can stay connected through it. Drawing on years of research and her work helping couples strengthen relationships, Galena explains why separation creates unique chall...