The High Performance Zone

Jill Ellis is a legend and a trailblazer in the world of women’s soccer. As a coach, she enjoyed unparalleled success and led the U.S Women’s National Team to victory in two World Cups. However, Jill’s never been one to rest on her laurels, and she’s recently stepped into an exciting new role as president of San Diego Wave FC. She’s also accepted a leadership position on FIFA’s Technical Advisory...

Jim Witherbee is a former naval aviator and test pilot turned astronaut and author. In the course of his extraordinary career, Jim flew on six space flight missions and commanded and landed the Space Shuttle five times. He was also involved in the recovery efforts for the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle explosions and the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In his book, Controlling Risk in a Dangero...

James Fitzgerald is one of the leading figures in the world of health and fitness. He excelled at sports from an early age, and, in 2007, he was awarded the title of The Fittest Man on Earth at the inaugural CrossFit Games. James is also the founder and lead educator of OPEX fitness, which teaches coaches the core principles of fitness and provides them with the skills they need to help others ach...

Chase Chewning is a certified health coach and the host of the hugely popular Ever Forward Radio podcast, which focuses on fitness, nutrition, and mindset. Chase is a natural communicator and a skilled networker. He’s also a US army vet and a Russian linguist who worked for several years in military intelligence.  In this episode, you’ll hear from Chase Chewning on: (00:01:46) His ‘Ever Forward’ M...

Jonny Moseley is a freestyle skiing pioneer, an Olympic gold medalist, and the originator of the iconic off-axis Dinner Roll trick. Rated by Ski Magazine as one of the ten most influential skiers of all time, Jonny continues to be a powerful ambassador for the sport. In addition to his roles as a skiing analyst for NBC and narrator for the Warren Miller Ski Entertainment movies, Jonny is also a mo...

Alex Weber is an international keynote speaker and a professional entertainer who has appeared as both a host and a participant on the American Ninja Warrior TV series. As a student, Alex played lacrosse for the University of Pennsylvania and finished as a top scorer in the Lacrosse World Championships. He went on to become one of the youngest recipients of the US Lacrosse Coach of the Year award,...

Steve Leder is a husband, father, and the Senior Rabbi of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. He’s also a respected scholar and religious commentator and the author of several bestselling books, including The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things and More Beautiful Than Before; How Suffering Transforms U s. His latest book, The Beauty of What Remains; How Our Greatest Fears Become Our...

Robyn Benincasa is a world-class adventure racer, top-50 motivational speaker, and author of the New York bestseller How Winning Works; Leadership Lessons from the Toughest Teams on Earth . She’s also the founder of the Athena Project, a nonprofit which enables survivors of serious illnesses and emotional trauma to take part in confidence-building multi-sport adventures and endurance treks. In 201...

Doug “Smash” Yurovich is a former fighter pilot and the first Marine Colonel to be appointed as Commander of a Navy Carrier Air Wing Group. Doug is a graduate of the US Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), and he served as a Test Pilot at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. After a long and distinguished military career, Doug continues to apply his leadership and aviation experience to civilian...

David Giersdorf is a business consultant and author with decades of experience as a leading figure in the cruise and travel industry. David grew up in Alaska and worked in his father’s pioneering cruise company, which offered adventurous travelers the opportunity to explore the remote and beautiful Pribilof islands. Later, David established Windstar Cruises and served as the Chairman of the Global...

A.J. Jacobs is an author and journalist who has earned the nickname ‘The Human Guinea Pig’ due to his willingness to partake in grueling lifestyle experiments designed to improve his physical and emotional wellbeing. In the pursuit of personal development, A.J. has read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, embarked on a quest to achieve bodily perfection, and trained himself to turn fear and negati...

Sara Auster is a sound therapist and meditation teacher who uses sound to help people relax and release tension. Sara first became aware of the restorative power of sound as a young child when she used music to communicate with her seriously ill sister. Later, she forged a successful career as an artist but, after an accident left her traumatized and in severe pain, she turned to music and meditat...

Tommy Baker is a writer and philosopher whose latest book, Seekers & Hustlers, How to Crush It and Find Fulfillment Without Losing Your Mind, aims to help people achieve a sustainable balance between professional success and personal happiness. As the creator of the Resist Average Academy, Tommy doesn’t believe in settling for second-best. Instead, he encourages people to excel, and through hi...

Robbie Bach is an author and public speaker who spent many years working in leadership roles for Microsoft. His first book Xbox Revisited: A Game Plan for Corporate and Civic Renewal, focuses on the lessons he learned from his role as Chief Xbox officer. His latest book, The Wilkes Insurrection , marks Robbie’s first foray into fiction writing and is a fast-paced thriller set in contemporary Ameri...

In the final of the best of series, we feature Errol Doebler. Errol is a former Navy SEAL, an entrepreneur and an expert in what it takes to become a next level leader. Errol is one of the few people in the world who has had the distinction of serving as a Surface Warfare Officer, a Navy SEAL and as an FBI Special Agent. Now, with the founding of his consulting firm, Leader 193, Errol is sharing h...

In today's best of series episode, we feature Joesph Gagnon. Joesph is an ultra-marathon and iron man athlete who has a discipline  and consistency that is elite level.  In 2017, Joe ran Six Marathons across Six Continents on Six Consecutive days.  He has competed in competitions such as the Tahoe 200 and was a Vice President at IBM. His combination of skillsets makes this conversation truly...

 In today's best of series episode, we feature Sean Callagy. Sean is an entrepreneur, national speaker, philanthropist and  one of America’s top trial attorneys, online personality, and creator of various peak performance technologies. Oh, and he’s a legally blind warrior and adventurer. He has also collected more than 1/3 of a billion dollars on behalf of his healthcare clients, built and so...

In today's best of series episode, we feature Tom Trotter. Tom has the career path that every naval aviator dreams about. He is the former commanding officer of TOPGUN and a Carrier Air Group Commander who oversaw nine squadrons and 2,200 personnel. Tom has almost 4,000 flight hours in the F/18 and is certified in an amazing array of aircraft. He has followed his passion for flying from the t...

Scott ‘Maker’ Tingle is a former navy test pilot, an astronaut, and the Head of Human Space Flight at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. As a young boy growing up in the sixties, Scott’s interest in space was piqued by the images of Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. Although he went on to have a successful career in the navy, he never gave up on his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, and finall...

Bill Berman is an executive coach and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. He holds a BA in psychology from Harvard and a Ph. D. in psychology from Yale. Prior to becoming a coach, Bill worked as a clinical psychologist, an academic, and a software entrepreneur. He also enjoyed a brief stint as a chef in Cape Cod. In addition...

Joe DiStefano is a wellness expert, public speaker, and podcaster who empowers people to develop a holistic and sustainable approach to their health. As the co-founder of RUNGA, a company that offers online coaching and organizes immersive wellness events, Joe focuses on helping people build healthy habits and encourages them to adopt a more natural and ancestral lifestyle that aims to put back wh...

Kevin McCarney is the head of a restaurant business serving fast, fresh Mexican food. Working in professional kitchens for over three decades has given Kevin valuable first-hand insight into what it means to operate effectively in a high-pressure environment. So, in his latest book, ‘Big Brain, Little Brain,’ he shares tools and frameworks that can be used to successfully navigate challenging situ...

Eben Britton is a former offensive tackle who played for six seasons in the NFL before making the transition from professional athlete to spiritual seeker and yogi. He’s a proven high-performer who knows what it’s like to deal with intense pressure and push his body to its limits. Today, we chat about Eben’s time at the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears, and he describes the victories and...

Jesse Iwuji is a man of many talents. He’s a NASCAR driver and a serving US Naval Officer. He’s also a successful entrepreneur and a motivational speaker whose warrior spirit and unstoppable mindset inspire others to follow their dreams. Today, we dive into Jesse’s story, starting from his upbringing as the child of Nigerian immigrants in Texas to his time as a Naval Academy football player and hi...

Welcome to this special episode of the podcast where I talk to a true high-performer and the former flight leader of the Blue Angels, Greg “Boss” Wooldridge. Greg is the only commanding officer to have led the Blue Angels on three separate tours. He’s an accomplished aviator and an exceptional leader who knows how to bring out the best in others and build a culture based on trust, camaraderie, and...