The Art of Excellence

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, renowned for her research on psychological safety over twenty years. Her award-winning work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Psychology Today, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and more. Named by Thinkers50 in 2021 as the #1 Management Thinker i...

Chris Voss is one of the preeminent practitioners and professors of negotiation skills in the world. He was formerly the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI as well as the FBI's hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council's Hostage Working Group.   He is the founder of The Black Swan Group, a consulting firm that provides training and advises Fortune 500 c...

Jason Belmonte is an Australian pro bowler. He has won 31 PBA titles including a record 15 major championships.   He is one of two bowlers in PBA history to have won the Super Slam, winning all five PBA major titles. He has been named PBA Player of the Year seven times.   He is widely considered one of the greatest bowlers of all time.     Some interesting insights from this episode: ·          Wh...

Bubba Watson is a professional golfer. He has won two major PGA championships, both victories at the Masters.   He has a total of 12 PGA tournament wins and reached a world ranking of 2 nd in 2015.   He has played in the LIV Golf league since 2022.   Some interesting insights from this episode: ·          Bubba never had formal lessons. He was entirely self-taught.   He would just go by feel and p...

Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great photographers of our time. For more than three decades he has documented wildlife from the Amazon to Antarctica to promote understanding about the Earth and its natural history through images that convey a passion for nature and a sense of wonder about our living planet.   He has received many honors including Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the...

Carol Tomé is the Chief Executive Officer of UPS.   Previously she served as Chief Financial Officer for The Home Depot.   Carol serves as board member for Verizon Communications, Inc., board of councilors for the Carter Center and is a board trustee for Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.   Carol has been named twice to the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Pow...

Bob Waldinger is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is also the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and director of the program in Psychodynamic Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital.   He is a practicing psychiatrist and a Zen master who teaches meditation around the world.   His latest book is titled: The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scienti...

John Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He is also the Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope. His research centers on infrared astronomy and cosmology. He was the chief scientist for the Cosmic Background Explorer and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his precise measurements of the c...

Cindy Timchal is the head coach for the women's lacrosse team at the United States Naval Academy.  She is the NCAA's all-time leader in career wins (535) for division I women's college lacrosse. She has won eight national championships, seven of which were won consecutively while at University of Maryland. And as coach at The Naval Academy women's lacrosse team, she became the first coach to lead...

Will Guidara is the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park and the NoMad, and is the cofounder of the Welcome Conference, an annual hospitality symposium. In 2017, Eleven Madison Park was voted the world's best restaurant by The World's 50 Best Restaurants annual ranking.  He has coauthored four cookbooks, was named one of Crain's New York Business's 40 Under 40, and is a recipient of WSJ Magazine...

David Copperfield is a magician and entertainer, best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, and described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history.  His illusions have included the disappearance of a Learjet, the vanishing and reappearance of the Statue of Liberty, levitating over the Grand Canyon, walking through the Great Wall of China, escaping from  A...

Jimmy Burrows has directed more than one thousand episodes of sitcom television and has earned eleven Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. In 1974 he began his television career directing episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show , The Bob Newhart Show , and Laverne and Shirley . He became the resident director on Taxi and co-created Cheers , directing 243 of the 273 episodes, as we...

Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized as the world's leading executive coach and has advised more than 200 major CEOs and their management teams. He is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including What Got You Here Won't Get You There , Mojo , and Triggers . His latest book is titled: The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment .    Some interesting insights from this episo...

Bertrand Piccard is a psychiatrist and explorer and made history by accomplishing two aeronautical firsts – flying around the world non-stop in a balloon, and more recently in a solar-powered airplane without fuel. As Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he has succeeded in his mission to select 1000 profitable solutions to protect the environment and support clean growth.    Some interesting...

Gary White is the cofounder and CEO of Water.org and WaterEquity. In 1991 he launched WaterPartners International, the nonprofit that would later become Water.org. Today the organizations he leads are creating market driven solutions to the global water crisis, driving innovations in the way the world funds water and sanitation projects.  His new book that he co-authored with Matt Damon is titled:...

Chef Andre Rush is a retired decorated combat Veteran known worldwide as the White House chef with the 24-inch biceps and for his advocacy for military service, as well as suicide prevention, which is why he does 2,222 push-ups a day: to bring awareness to the ongoing epidemic of mental health and suicidal ideation.  His new book is titled: Call me Chef, Dammit!: A Veteran's Journey from the Rural...

Joaquin "Jack" Garcia is the former undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Gambino crime family of Cosa Nostra in New York for nearly three years, resulting in the arrest and conviction of 32 mobsters.  He worked on over 100 major undercover investigations over his 26 year career.  He wrote a New York Times bestseller called Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family...

Rob O'Neill is a Navy SEAL combat veteran with decorations which include two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor.  He is a public speaker, TV personality, philanthropist, and cofounder of the Special Operators Transition Foundation, a charity supporting speci...

Barry Sonnenfeld is a director, producer and writer who broke into the film industry as the cinematographer on the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple , Raising Arizona , and Miller's Crossing .  He was the director of photography on Throw Momma from the Train , Big , When Harry Met Sally , and Misery .  Barry made his directorial debut with The Addams Family and has directed several other films including...

Monica Aldama is the cheerleading coach at Navarro College. She is one of the most successful athletic coaches in the country, having led Navarro to 14 national championships. She and her team are the subject of a hit Netflix show called Cheer which is now entering its second season. She has a new book out which is entitled: Full Out: Lessons in Life and Leadership from America's Favorite Coach  ...

Eileen Collins is a retired  NASA   astronaut  and  United States Air Force   colonel . She was the first female pilot and first female commander of a  Space Shuttle . Eileen has been recognized by  Encyclopædia Britannica  as one of the top  300 women in history  who have changed the world.  She has been inducted into the  National Women's Hall Of Fame and the  United States Astronaut Hall of Fam...

Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist and chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy.  She is also the Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law and Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University. She has been named a United Nations Champion of the Earth and one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.  She holds a PhD in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois. ...

Maya Gabeira is a Brazilian big wave surfer. She is most known for having surfed a 73.5 ft high wave in Nazaré, Portugal in February 2020, recorded by Guinness World Records as the biggest wave ever surfed by a female.  It was also the biggest wave surfed by anyone that year.  She has received numerous accolades including the ESPY award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete and is considered one o...

Howard Shore is a musical composer and has won three Academy Awards for his score to The Lord of the Rings as well as four Grammys and three Golden Globes. He has scored over 90 films and collaborated with many well known directors including Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, and Tim Burton.   Some interesting insights from this episode: He was in a jazz fusion band called Lighthous...

Erin Brockovich is the president of Brockovich Research and Consulting and the founder of the Erin Brockovich Foundation which educates and empowers communities in their fight for clean water. She was the driving force behind the largest medical settlement lawsuit in United States history.  She has a newsletter called The Brockovich Report and her latest book is titled: Superman's Not Coming: Our...