High Octane Leadership

Larry Long Jr is a master of the sales process - he's energetic, he's prepared, he knows how he can help his clilents, and works hard at being the best. And now, he's giving back - in educating others on how to become better sales professionals, and to his community. Larry's weekly motivational minute The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, investor, and Diversity and Inclu...

Jenna Wilson has experienced the good and bad in corporate culture, and she's on a mission to improve employee relations, scale culture, and create a lasting impact on organizations through effective communication, with her new company Career Civility .  Jenna and Donald Thompson talk about how that can be done in such a tense time while mostly working from home. The Donald Thompson Podcast is hos...

Just about every day, Don gets asked for coffee or a virtual coffee from rising entrepreneurs so they can ask him advice on how to grow their companies or if their ideas have value. And even though he has no time for it, he quite often says yes. Well, we recorded one of those conversations, with Malik McCray, CEO of Simpliworks who graduated from NC State with a BS in Business and Management, Entr...

Adam Klein is the Director of Strategy at Capitol Broadcasting and the Chief Strategist at American Underground coworking collaborative in Durham NC. Today Adam and DT talk about how to build diversity and community in entrepreneurship, and how COVID-19 has impacted the startups at American Underground. Click here to sign up for the Holidays Headaches: Dealing with Relatives Who Just Don't Get It...

Walk West and JLL have collaborated on The 5 Pillars of Next Generation Leadership. Today, Donald Thompson and JLL's Kimarie Ankenbrand and Nakira Carter talk multigenerational, multicultural, and transparent leadership, and so much more. The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, investor, and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant Donald Thompson . Music for this episode provide...

Today we’re going to give you something a little bit different. As we listen to this podcast, themes tend to pop up. DT and his guests talk about leadership, entrepreneurship, investing and handling the stress and chaos of normal life. But 2020 has been anything but normal. In March, COVID-19 put us all on a two week pause, a pause that has now lasted 33 weeks with no end in sight. In May, the mur...

This episode is a replay of a special live edition of the Donald Thompson Podcast. Don had a chance to talk with Levitate ’s Jesse Lipson, and we shared it on Facebook Live , twitter , and Youtube . On the show, Jesse shares advice for entrepreneurs based on his experience in running Sharefile – which he bootstrapped and sold to Citrix for almost a hundred million dollars – and his experience runn...

Tim Humphrey is the VP of the Chief Data Office at IBM. As a high ranking executive at a Fortune 50 company, Tim has a unique perspective on what employers need to provide in a time of social and racial unrest. The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, investor, and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant Donald Thompson . Music for this episode provided by Jensen Reed from his so...

DJ Joe Bunn was recently featured in the New York Times with the headline, " Some Wedding Vendors Face Fallout After Speaking Up on Social Issues ." He never speaks up on politics, but in the case of Black Lives Matter, it wasn't about politics - he felt a pull to do what is right. And he wasn't concerned about the consequences to the empire he has spent 20+ years to build. The Donald Thompson Pod...

Kristen Mullins from Slice Pie Company has been all over the place - on MSN, USA Today, on Startup Stage , Cary Magazine 2020 Movers and Shakers , winning Blue Ribbons at the NC State Fair...just everywhere.  On today's show, find out how it all started, and what inspired Kristen to leave her comfortable life of being in Corporate America and take a risk on herself. Also, Kristen has recently been...

See if you can follow this career path. Jarrett Nobles has gone from legendary DeMatha High to FAMU to event planning to Edward Jones to the Houston Astros to Duke MBA to a startup to the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Chargers, and some other stops along the way. He's moved 10 times (10!) since graduating high school. Jarrett is all about the hustle, actively helping his network, and buil...

In April 2020, Courtney Canfield saw a layoff coming a mile away. Like many, she lost her job because of COVID-19. But instead of sitting around, Courtney made something out of nothing - and now she's running a successful business while becoming a pet influencer (yes, a pet influencer!).  On the show today, Courtney talks to Don about her journey, then starts asking Don questions about how to buil...

How can virtual reality (VR) be used to identify unconscious bias in the workplace?  How can it be used to enhance empathy for patients and have a better understanding of their symptoms?  Mike McArdle is the founder and Chief Product Officer of Lucid Dream VR , based in Durham NC, and today he talks about how virtual reality has gone way beyond just being an amazing experience. The Donald Thompson...

Kendrall Felder is a former Duke football player, has an MBA from Duke, and is now the Global Head of Centralized Services (IT) at Cisco.  Impressive right? But Kendrall faced long odds to get to this point. Teenage mother. Drug dealer father. Abuse in the home. At 15, Kendrall was out on his own trying to find a place to live. And despite his odds, Kendrall forged his own path to greatness. The D...

Sometimes the journey to success means getting knocked down and figuring out how to get back up again. And for today’s guest, it means navigating the hotel industry in the middle of a worldwide pandemic that has devastated the market. John Erhart is the founder and CEO of Inn Flow , a hotel management platform that consolidates all hotel operational needs into one comprehensive solution. Obviously...

The TLS Agency represents entertainers and athletes, and they'll do what it takes to provide their clients with the best direction for their careers. On the show, Cicero Leak, Tristian Turner, and Chuck Stinson talk about how it all got started, what it's like to work with celebrities, representing athletes in the new landscape where amateurs can profit off their likeness, being black in America,...

On episode 2 of Z-Notes, Ciera Thompson is joined by three genz-ers to discuss the importance of diversity in the workplace, new ideas on brand loyalty, and why their generation is more fiscally responsible than millennials. Cassidy Leovic (21) is an RBT for children with Autism and will be starting a graduate program in the fall for applied behavior analysis. Diana (18) was a nationally-ranked, s...

It's not as complicated as you think. The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, investor, and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant Donald Thompson . Music for this episode provided by Jensen Reed from his song, “You Can’t Stop Me”. The Donald Thompson Podcast is edited and produced by Earfluence . For more on how to engage your community or build your personal brand through pod...

We've seen the statements. Black Lives Matter. What has happened in the past is not ok. Diversity is important to our work culture. That's all great, but how do we move from statement to strategy? Jes Averhart and Rob Shields are leading that conversation forward through their work at Recity, the Reinvention Roadmap, and the JUST Podcast, which tackles race relations in our country and what we all...

As a leader, from the moment you wake up, you already feel like you're behind. So how can we be ruthlessly efficient to get the job done effectively while not taking away from family and life outside of work? The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, investor, and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant Donald Thompson . Music for this episode provided by Jensen Reed from his song...

Keith Langbo just celebrated the 8th anniversary of his talent acquisition firm Kelaca , and today Keith talks about recruiting and finding the right talent, especially in our work-from-home environment today.  But what's remarkable about Keith is that 8 years ago, Keith and his family decided to move down from Michigan to Raleigh, a place where they didn't know a single soul.  Keith set a goal of...

How do you sell through this COVID-19 storm?  How do you continue to build your business, or even just survive?  Donald Thompson has led through crises before, and in this solo episode, he talks about what it was like during the Recession in 2008 and what you should be doing to build relationships and make your company stronger. The Donald Thompson Podcast is hosted by Walk West CEO, mentor, inves...

Ann Marie Taepke has produced some of the most amazing, hilarious, and memorable videos for brands like Velcro , Chrysler, and  AstraZenaca.  She’s a social media savant who has taken her talents from Ignite Social Media to Walk West , and now she’s the CMO of Holderness Family Productions . Today she talks about what it’s like to have a viral hit, lessons she learned from watching the great Kobe...

Born and raised in Eastern North Carolina, Tonya Williams ' incredible career path took her all the way to the Obama White House, where she was the the Director of Legislative Affairs for Vice President Joe Biden.   On the show today, Tonya talks about that journey - which included UNC Law School, the North Carolina General Assembly, GSK, and the office of Congressman GK Butterfield where she serv...

Anson Dorrance is quite possibly the most successful coach of any sport all-time, having led the UNC Women's Soccer program to an astounding 22 national titles. On the show today, Anson talks about how he quantifies competitiveness, lessons learned from watching Dean Smith run practice, his perspective on the Black Lives Matter protests, and why he's much more focused on human development than ath...