Unbeatable

For the 4th piece in this mini-series of stories I WISH would have made into the book or movie, Black Hawk Down , I was honored to sit down with Dan Jollota, a highly accomplished Army Aviator who served for 40 years, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 5 (something very few Americans have achieved). In his career, he was assigned to several Special Operations aviation units, and his skill, commit...

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the events known as Black Hawk Down, we’re in a series of stories I WISH would have made it into the book and movie. For this episode, I got to sit down with Kurt Smith, who has heavily impacted me not just as a warrior, but as a man. We served together for years in Special Operations, and in Somalia in 1993, he was part of the "main effort" during the fight. Hi...

This series is true stories of valor and courage that should have been in the book or movie, Black Hawk Down . In this episode, I interview Brad Paulsen, who is without doubt, the bravest man I’ve ever seen in a firefight. In 1993, he was a young Ranger who hadn’t been in the Army very long. He was a turret gunner in Somalia, and his ability to remain calm multiple times when he was certain he was...

This is the first in a 5-part series of stories I WISH would have made it into the book and movie Black Hawk Down . Matt Eversmann is a 20-year Army veteran. He and I served together in the streets of Somalia on October 3, 1993 with the Ranger Regiment, and his story is one of courageous leadership when he was suddenly and unexpectedly put in charge. Today, Matt is a New York Times bestselling co-...

Clint Callahan has been a social worker and therapist for 23 years, helping thousands of people go from stress, burnout, and feeling stuck… to loving life again. Multiple times in his own life, he needed a radical transformation while working through the scars of being bullied, extreme burnout working in a maximum security prison, a career crisis, and grief surrounding his mother’s suicide. Over t...

Medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of death in the US. Charles Gellman, CEO and Co-founder of HiDO Health is 100% focused on ensuring more people get top-notch, consistent, care through the use of Ai-assisted robotics. When a mis-diagnosis almost killed him, he was forced to think about variances in the quality of medical care and how technology can help minimize error. Today, he courageousl...

Ep. 101: Brad Nelson- How a regular dad saved his family from financial ruinBrad is a normal guy who has helped people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars as the host of the Debt Free Dad Podcast and founder of Roots of Personal Finance. Breaking free from the weight of his own crushing debt is how he learned those skills, and without financial freedom, he wouldn’t be able to get his spec...

Today, we hit a big Unbeatable milestone! We celebrate 100 episodes of great guests and amazing stories. I invited a man whom I highly respect to help me celebrate this milestone. Jake Hamilton is Unbeatable in his personal life and a documentary maker in the entertainment industry. Cinematographer and Director Jacob Hamilton has worked with and for some of the biggest names in television, sports,...

What do you do with the pain when you’ve been hurt or betrayed? Lois Wagner lives in South Africa. One day, while working late, she was attacked, stabbed multiple times, raped, and left for dead. Soon after, her business partner betrayed her, and she lost everything. For a long time, she held onto fear, trauma, and hatred, and it was destroying her from the inside out. –until she learned the secre...

Being a congressman is not for the faint of heart, and US Representative Barry Loudermilk, from Georgia, has faced more than his share of challenges there. After a career in the US Air Force, he ran for office with the belief that, “You can either accept the status quo…or you can do something about it.” Since 2015, he has survived a baseball game shooting in Washington, DC, a near-fatal car accide...

Jodi Izzo is one of the strongest, most incredible women I’ve ever met. She comes from a military family of some of the toughest warriors, but she had no idea she would also have to become a warrior. Her husband, Roman, had it all. He was a strong, talented, smart, good looking Army officer with a bright future ahead… until it was all taken away in an instant. He was given a 1% chance of survival,...

I've decided to take a risk with this episode of Unbeatable . As any great warrior knows, sometimes the enemy is so overwhelming that you must lock arms with another battle buddy to survive. I have a passion for seeing people thrive in the face of difficulties. That's one reason why I created this podcast in the first place. From across America, 1,200 emerging leaders recently gathered in Washingt...

Dexter Pitts is a proud Army veteran, police officer, and former US Border Patrol agent. He served with the 10th Mountain Division right after 9/11 and was awarded a Purple Heart after suffering injuries from an explosion in Iraq. Through a long, grueling recovery, he could have given up, but he was determined to fight back and serve the Louisville Metro Police Department, where he was right at th...

Matt had an idyllic childhood. But at age 20, his entire life unraveled when his mother tragically passed away from leukemia and his father quickly re-married. Not knowing how to handle the intense pain and fear he had never experienced before, he turned to alcohol, which slowly stole 20 years of his life. At his lowest point, he came across a Guinness Book of World Records and became fixated on b...

Sergeant Major (retired) Kyle Lamb’s 21-year military career can only be described as legendary. He and I served together in the Army, both in Somalia and Iraq. He started in the 82nd Airborne Division but spent most of his career in Special Operations. After retiring, he founded Viking Tactics, Inc. specializing in tactical training and equipment and is highly respected today in both military and...

I’ve been asked about 1,000 times how to write and publish a book. Today’s guest is a brilliant author who has written 52 books, won multiple awards, holds a literary doctorate, and teaches writing at the highest level. None of my fiction books could have been written without him, and there’s no one better to tell you how to go from an idea in your mind to a published book. You’ll hear: What it ta...

Every day in the construction industry in America, 5 times as many workers die by suicide than by job-related accidents. Vince Hafeli, President of AJAX Paving Industries in Florida, is doing something about it. To look at his stellar career, you would think he’s always had his life together. But in 2007, struggling under the weight of personal losses and failures and never talking about it for 20...

Chris VanSant has had more combat experience than almost anyone in American history and even took part in the capture of Saddam Hussein. He’s a retired Special Operations veteran with over 20 years of service in divisions like the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta. But seasoned warriors know that performing at that leve...

As a warrior in the 2nd Ranger Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment, Johnny served among the elite of the elite. Then for 5 years he was a contractor protecting the US Ambassador to Iraq. In a military environment, he was at home. But when it was time to move into civilian life, he describes it as an extremely arduous transition . Through a long struggle and a divorce, he eventually learned how to use h...

Less than five years after losing her husband, Chase Maddox, who was killed on duty as a police officer, Alex Maddox learned that lightning DOES sometimes strike twice, in the same place. In 2018, Alex was left with her 7-year-old son Bradin, and her son Bodie, who was born four days after her husband’s death. In 2022, due to complications stemming from a congenital brain abnormality, Bradin tragi...

Alex Chandler may be young, but the bravery he’s shown in the face of danger – both as an Army National Guardsman and as a member of Clayton County Police Department’s SWAT team – has already earned him multiple medals and awards. Despite losing 2 close friends on the job and fearing he might not be able to continue working as a police officer after an injury, Alex still serves boldly on Clayton C...

Robert “Bob” Baumgartner is a normal, regular guy who was a history teacher and track coach in New Jersey, first at the high school level, and now he teaches at the college level. However, he has persevered through health crises in a way that is far from “normal”. Diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 20 and getting back-to-back cancer diagnoses just a few years later, he has developed an outlook...

As the oldest of 3 boys in a competitive family in Australia, Jamin Heppell developed two passions very early in life: athletic excellence and leadership. After founding several businesses and hitting severe burnout, he completely changed course and co-founded an incredibly successful company called Mountains and Marathons, allowing people from all walks of life to experience transformative advent...

Award-winning Nashville country music singer Jay Allen wrote a song called “Blank Stares” in honor of his mom who passed away from early-onset Alzheimer’s that went viral with over 500 million views. The song has not only raised over $100 million for Alzheimer’s research and support of families dealing with this disease, but it also helped Jay discover the legacy he feels his mom left him as he he...

Byron Morrison is an in-demand author and speaker in England (not London) and founder of the "Evolved CEO" coaching and consulting program. He’s helped CEOs in 15 different countries upgrade their mindset AND performance so they can become the leaders they need to be to take their businesses to the next level. Byron learned the hard way that there’s a big difference between leading in business and...