Mission Driven You

What if the biggest lever for healing our fractured world is our own health? Not just physical fitness, but the full spectrum of mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will Samson sits down with Brian von Ancken —early Tough Mudder employee, former Barry’s leader, community-builder, and founder of the Wellness Growth Mastermind—to explore how the wellne...

Episode Description: What happens when the identity you've built your life around… no longer fits? In this episode of Mission Driven You, Will sits down with Chris Eversley—former professional basketball player, tech consultant, coach, and founder of Next Play, a platform dedicated to helping others navigate transformation. Chris’s journey is anything but linear, and his story offers a powerful fr...

Navigating the Future of Work: Insights with Katrice Miller

Episode Description What if you could actually talk to someone you love who’s passed away—not just in memory, but in voice, presence, and evolving thought? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down with Miles Spencer , cofounder of Reflekta , a company building what he calls Soul Tech —AI avatars of elders created from family archives, stories, voice recordings, photos, and memories. What...

Episode Description What does it take to shift from pandemic remote to future-forward remote — not just surviving, but thriving? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I talk with Marissa Goldberg , founder of Remote Work Prep and long-time remote work pioneer, about how we reimagine how we work now that distance is normal. Marissa has been doing remote work since 2015 — long before it became the...

Episode Description In a world drowning in distraction, attention has become the most precious—and underutilized—currency. In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down with Neen James —speaker, leadership strategist, and author of Attention Pays and Folding Time —to explore how we can reclaim focus, design experiences that last, and lead with presence in work and life. Neen helps leaders ret...

Episode Description What if the wealth you thought you had wasn’t real wealth at all? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down with Paul Musson, author of Capital Offense: Why Some Benefit at Your Expense , to unpack the hidden forces shaping our economy. Paul explains why rising home prices don’t reflect true value, how central bank policies quietly redistribute wealth, and why many of...

Episode Description Most leadership or mission-driven podcasts don’t dive into politics. But when promises meant to save lives hang in the balance, it becomes a moral question — and leadership matters more than ever. In this episode of Mission Driven You , I talk with Shawn VanDiver , founder and President of #AfghanEvac , a coalition of over 250 organizations that works with the U.S. government t...

Episode Description We’re living in a moment of turbulence not seen in higher education—or perhaps in leadership in general—for decades. Political pressure, financial stress, cultural division, campus protests, and debates about belonging and identity are all colliding in ways that make leadership feel impossibly hard. In this episode of Mission Driven You , I speak with Beverly Daniel Tatum , dis...

Episode Description What separates the people who keep showing up from those who quit when it gets hard? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I talk with Dre Baldwin —also known as Dre All Day —a former professional basketball player who’s built a global personal development brand around his Work on Your Game philosophy. With over 40 books published and more than 30,000 pieces of content create...

Episode Description What if solving climate change wasn’t about sacrifice, but about building a more abundant, prosperous future? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I talk with entrepreneur and storyteller Josh Dorfman —founder of Supercool and co-founder of Planted —about why we’ve entered a new era he calls climate adoption . The debate is no longer if we’ll make the transition, but how fas...

What does it mean to bear witness in a world where silence often feels safer? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down with Ross Halperin, author of Bear Witness , to explore the extraordinary story of Kurt Ver Beek and Carlos Hernández—two men who risked everything to confront gang violence and systemic corruption in Honduras. Together, they built a model of justice rooted in presence,...

Episode Description What if the biggest challenge of our lifetime isn’t external at all — but whether we’ll bring out what’s already inside of us? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down with Steven Puri — technologist, entrepreneur, and creative visionary — to explore how we can live and lead from a place of authentic creativity in a culture designed to steal our attention. Steven shar...

Episode Description Too often, conversations about leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship get reduced to surface-level soundbites — quick wins, growth hacks, and feel-good inspiration. But what happens when we step back and ask harder questions about the systems we’re building, the stories we’re living, and the future we’re shaping together? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I sit down...

Episode Description:   What if I told you that the chaos in your life isn’t just happening to you—it’s happening through you ? In this episode of Mission Driven You , I dive into the uncomfortable truth that you are the chaos —and the only way to regain control is through radical self-ownership .  We explore:  Why control is an illusion—and how trying to “fix” chaos often makes it w...

Episode Description In January, I rebooted Mission Driven You — not to chase downloads or please algorithms, but to create from my capital “S” self. In this special episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on what’s guided me since then: eight themes that have shaped over 60 episodes this year. We’ll explore how to lead and live with depth in a culture obsessed with quick fixes, why inner work is the...

Episode Description: In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will sits down with Dr. Peggy Kendall , a seasoned communication scholar, Fulbright recipient, and professor at Bethel University. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Kendall delves into the evolving dynamics of trust and leadership in our increasingly remote and hybrid work environments. Drawing insights from her forthcoming book, Tru...

In this episode, Will Samson sits down with Alicia Parr, author of "People Energy Principles," to explore the transformative power of reframing leadership and organizational culture. Discover how Alicia's unique approach to harnessing people energy can propel growth and foster a more engaged, innovative workplace. From the art of reframing to the importance of aligning work with personal energy, t...

Most leaders are taught to solve problems. But what if your greatest breakthroughs come from creating them? In this mind-stretching episode of Mission Driven You , Will sits down with Ted Santos , the leadership disruptor behind the Disruptive Leadership Model. Ted works with CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs to rewire how they think about chaos, trust, and transformation — challenging them to s...

In this solo episode of Mission Driven You , Will Samson shares surprising insights from a new survey of 200 C-level executives—and issues a bold challenge to modern leadership culture: it’s time to call BS on leadership hacks. If you've ever felt tempted by quick fixes and productivity “cheat codes,” this episode will push you to rethink what real leadership looks like. Will unpacks why shortcuts...

What happens when your life completely unravels—and you decide to rebuild it from the inside out? In this powerful and deeply human episode of Mission Driven You , Will sits down with Ken Miller , a speaker, social impact entrepreneur, and author of Becoming Ken . Ken’s story defies easy narratives. From growing up in a fractured identity to experiencing homelessness and addiction, to a jail cell...

Empathy isn’t weakness. It’s strategy. In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will Samson sits down with Maria Ross , brand strategist, speaker, and author of The Empathy Edge and The Empathy Dilemma , to reframe the role of empathy in leadership. As workplaces struggle with burnout, disconnection, and turnover, Maria makes the case that empathy is more than a “nice to have”—it’s a core competenc...

What do you get when you cross a nightclub owner, a somatic breathwork facilitator, and a student of integral theory? You get today’s guest— Leo Marrs —a mission-driven creator who walks the line between consciousness and commerce. In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will sits down with Leo to explore his evolution from restaurant entrepreneur to breathwork practitioner and systems thinker. Th...

Episode Description: What if your next meeting didn’t drain your energy—but actually moved your mission forward? In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will talks with Shane Parreco , systems thinker, product studio founder, and co-creator of AgendaKeeper , a tool designed to fix the fundamental dysfunction of modern meetings. But this isn’t a conversation about productivity hacks—it’s about reth...

Episode Description:   Success on paper doesn’t mean clarity in practice. In this episode of Mission Driven You , Will Samson continues the journey through the Resilience Stack by introducing Layer Two: Radical Self-Ownership —a mindset and practice that shifts you from reactivity to authorship, from control to clarity.  If you’ve ever felt like you were “in charge” but still living in c...