12 Geniuses Podcast

Don MacPherson
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12 Geniuses Podcast

The difference between average and greatness might be one or two well executed things. 12 Geniuses explores the highly successful people in business, athletics, and music so we can all learn how to perform at our highest level.

  1. 5D AGO

    Doug Lennick | Values Unite Humanity

    The United States is deeply divided politically and it’s not the only country experiencing this challenge. Too many people are focused on what makes us different rather than taking the time to understand what we have in common. In this interview, Doug Lennick, CEO of Think2Perform, discusses what he has learned from Think2Perform’s global study on personal values. Hundreds of thousands of people from over 140 countries have participated in the study. Not surprisingly, people everywhere - regardless of their religion, political affiliation, country, or age - value their families, health, and happiness. In short, what unites us far outweighs what divides us. Doug believes that values-based decision making has the ability to change the world and the future of humanity. Doug goes on to talk about how living in alignment with personal values can be used to overcome emotional responses that often derail people. He talks about how our judgment is often clouded by beliefs that are confused with what people “know.” Doug finishes by defining leadership, talking about the importance of the leader as a “resource broker,” and how leaders can navigate through times of fear. Doug Lennick is CEO and co-founder of think2perform. He is legendary for his innovative approaches to developing high performance in individuals and organizations and is an expert at developing practical applications of the art and science of human behavior, financial and otherwise. Doug is an author or co-author of seven titles including most recently “Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Fix It.”

    37 min

  2. MAR 5

    Dr. Bertalan Meskó | Creating the Future You Want

    The future can be a terrifying, anxiety-inducing destination for many people. Thoughts of robots running amok, out-of-control AI, and a speed of life that is beyond comprehension are often ways in which the future is described. That doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, the future doesn’t have to be something that happens to people. The future can be created. That’s the position of Dr. Bertalan Meskó. He is a futurist who has focused his career studying healthcare and advances in the field of medicine. He is also the author of the book “Your Map to the Future.” In this interview, Dr. Meskó discusses why becoming a future-thinking leader can be beneficial to all of us and help our teams perform better. He goes on to discuss methods like “vision writing” and forecasting, how our “future selves” will be grateful for our current healthy investments, and how people can create their own “anticipatory consciousness.” Dr. Meskó is known as the “Medical Futurist.” He concludes the interview by talking about the medical breakthroughs that fill him with optimism, his vision for the future of aging, and the mistakes humans are making today that the people of 2075 will shake their heads at in disbelief. Dr. Bertalan Meskó, PhD, known as The Medical Futurist, is the Director of The Medical Futurist Institute. He specializes in analyzing the impact of science fiction technologies on global medicine and healthcare. He is also an Amazon Top 100 author and serves as a Private Professor at Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Meskó’s research focuses on the role of artificial intelligence and digital health technologies in shaping the future of care. He is a member of the "Committee on Future Research" of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dedicated to pioneering medical futures studies as a scientific discipline, Dr. Meskó aims to make futures methods widely accessible in healthcare. He is a Certified Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc.

    45 min

  3. FEB 17

    Chap. Karen Meeker | Purpose, Leadership, Resilience & Faith

    Magical technologies surround humans in the developed world. It’s taken for granted that on-demand electricity, stocked grocery stores with food from around the world, communication that enables anyone with a smart phone to broadcast their lives globally, and various modes of safe, cheap transportation are the norm. Someone living just a century earlier would find today’s world unrecognizable. Yet, these changes are minor compared to the possible changes to come. Artificial intelligence is in its infancy and already its transformative powers are easy to feel. Space exploration, space mining, and space tourism will go from novel to ordinary in the coming decades. Fusion energy and quantum computing will likely go from theoretical to practical in a couple generations. Medical research will extend life like never before and potentially suspend the aging process while robots and other technologies will do the work that has often filled people with meaning. In short, the changes that humanity has experienced are nothing compared to the changes that are to come. As these changes arrive, people are bound to gravitate toward the things they know in order to cope. Relationships and faith will become more important than they are now. Real leadership that offers solutions and helps people navigate rapid change will grow in importance and so will individual and organizational resilience. In an AI world where unprecedented longevity is possible, finding one’s purpose becomes of paramount importance. In this interview, Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker joins the show to discuss all these topics. She talks about the importance of finding one’s purpose and how to go about finding it. She describes her work helping military leadership navigate the challenges in the aftermath of battle and she gives her perspective on the differences between resilience and perseverance. Chaplain Meeker goes on to share her insight on what the future of faith might look like, suggesting that the next pope could come from the continent of Africa and saying missionaries might one day originate from Africa and be sent to developed countries. She ends the conversation by discussing the mistakes humans are making today that the people of 2075 will look back at in disbelief.  Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker is a US Army Colonel and the Command Chaplain of US Africa Command. Raised in rural Pennsylvania, she received calls to serve God and the US military when she was growing up. Chaplain Meeker holds a Master Parachutist badge and was named Pathfinder School and Officer Honor Graduate at Basic Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA. She is also the first woman chaplain to serve in Special Operations and the first woman chaplain jumpmaster. Chaplain Meeker enjoys serving Soldiers and their Families through worship, preaching, discipleship, outreach, and also enjoys competing in an occasional endurance event. In 2020, Chaplain Meeker was inducted into the US Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame.

    42 min

  4. JAN 31

    Dr. Jim Loehr | Empathy & Compassion: Saviors of Humanity

    Humanity has a dangerous flaw. Despite the amazing progress we've made eradicating diseases, extending life, creating safe and often fulfilling workplaces, and developing a wide variety of magical machines, humans still fight wars, hate irrationally, and create groups of others who are intentionally marginalized. Our big brains have helped us create incredible tools and marvelous works of art. Still, they have a seemingly ingrained tendency toward violence and the marginalization of outside groups. As humans continue to create more devastating weaponry, performance psychologist Jim Loehr believes empathy and compassion are what can save us from us. In this interview, Dr. Loehr discusses “our species' penchant for aggression and violence.” To overcome our natural biological scarcity mindset, Dr. Loehr goes on to talk about a 20-week program he has developed for parents, teachers, and coaches that aims to create shared learning environments where people can strengthen their compassion and empathy muscles, practice acts of collaboration, and train themselves to manage their emotions to avoid aggressive overreactions. Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist, whose ground-breaking, science-based energy management training system has achieved global recognition. From his more than 30 years of experience and applied research, Dr. Loehr believes the single most important factor in successful achievement, personal fulfillment, and life satisfaction is the strength of one’s character. He strongly contends that character strength can be built in the same way that muscle strength is built through energy investment, and has brought this topic to life in his book, Leading with Character: 10 Minutes a Day to a Brilliant Legacy. His latest book is Sapiens Reinvented.

    46 min

  5. 12/18/2024

    Marshall Goldsmith | The A.I. Leadership Coach

    Marshall Goldsmith has been one of the world’s leading executive coaches for years. He has helped CEOs all over the world become better leaders and his books on leadership have sold millions of copies. The problem is that Marshall’s time is limited and he is very expensive. To solve this problem, Marshall has been trying to give away everything he has learned about leadership and coaching for free. He sees it as his legacy and the way he can most benefit humanity. Enter MarshallGoldsmith.ai - a bot that brings the compendium of Marshall’s knowledge and much, much more to leaders at no cost. In this interview, Marshall discusses his efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into his coaching philosophy and the competencies necessary to be an effective leader in an AI world. Marshall shares his thoughts on how AI will transform humanity and he talks about the mistakes we are making today, with an emphasis on the propensity of people to judge other people, that the people living 50 years from now will look back at in disbelief. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized as one of the Top Ten Business Thinkers and the top-rated executive coach in the world. Published in 2015, his book Triggers is a Wall Street Journal and New York Times #1 Bestseller. He’s also the author of New York Times best seller and #1 Wall Street Journal Business Book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, winner of the Harold Longman Award as Best Business Book of the Year. With nearly 40 years of hands-on experience, Marshall Goldsmith is the leading expert on leadership and coaching for behavioral change. His latest book, The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment, was co-written with Mark Reiter and was released in 2022.

    40 min

  6. 12/03/2024

    Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman | Leading Through High Pressure

    Major General Kenneth Ekman is a command pilot with thousands of flying hours. Many of those hours have been in high-pressure, combat situations. In his role as the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Maj. Gen. Ekman has had to deal with a variety of other high-pressure situations, including the drawdown of U.S. forces in Niger. In this interview, Maj. Gen. Ekman discusses three topics in detail - leadership, managing pressure, and the future of Africa. He describes the leadership model he believes yields the best results for teams, how to prepare a team to execute a mission, the concept of “disagree and commit,” and managing change as a leader. Referencing his experience as a command pilot, Maj. Gen. Ekman talks about the methods he has used for managing stress and high-pressure situations, building trust when the stakes are life and death, and how he has developed resilience over the course of his career. The conversation ends with Maj. Gen. Ekman detailing why Africa is important to the United States and how their shifting demographics, along with their abundance of natural resources, will make Africa a more important global influence throughout the rest of the 21st century. Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman is the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart Möhringen, Germany. In this capacity, he coordinates with African militaries, the U.S. interagency, and allies to build unity of effort, maximize the effectiveness of operations, activities and investments, and ensure alignment with U.S. whole of government efforts to advance posture initiatives and campaign objectives in West Africa.

    45 min

  7. 11/26/2024

    Don MacPherson | Becoming Resilient

    In 2018, 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson was told that he was a candidate to have both his hips replaced. With two young children in diapers and believing he was too young for the procedures, he put off the surgeries for two years. The pandemic extended the wait until 2023. By that time, Don’s mobility had become limited, he was irritable, sleep was difficult, energy was low, and he wondered if he would ever be able to restore a life that was without constant discomfort. In this interview, Don turns over the host microphone to his friend Jason Lauritsen to discuss what Don learned about himself and becoming resilient. Don and Jason discuss how being open to feedback was crucial in helping Don realize that he needed to improve his health, how an audit of Don’s values helped him understand that his family would suffer if he didn’t take care of what ailed him, why this story might be relatable to others who are experiencing chronic pain and those who are living with someone in chronic pain, and how Don has gained a renewed sense of optimism about the future from this experience. They go on to talk about why building resilience is vital for anyone who wants to have a long, successful, fulfilling life and Don shares what he would like to do with the next 25 years of his life. Don MacPherson is CEO of 12 Geniuses and host of the 12 Geniuses podcast. He is also a founder of Home at Home, an organization that offers a comprehensive range of services, from home assessments to renovations, to make aging in place not only possible but truly fulfilling. A dynamic keynote speaker, Jason Lauritsen is a true thought leader in the world of work and employee engagement who is dedicated to revolutionizing the way we Lead With Relationship™. He fearlessly challenges traditional norms to reshape the employee experience by consistently placing authentic human connection at the heart of leadership. Jason is the author of two books, Unlocking High Performance and Social Gravity. Jason’s thought leadership has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Talent Management magazine, HR Executive magazine, and SHRM publications.

    43 min

  8. 11/18/2024

    Erika Ayers Badan | Careers, Culture, & Becoming CEO

    What does it take to get to the C-suite? In the case of Erika Ayers Badan, the road to the CEO’s chair was filled with risk and had plenty of bumps along the way. Earlier in 2024, Erika was appointed CEO of Food52. She’s the former CEO of Barstool Sports, where she saw Barstool’s rocket ship ascent in the competitive sports media environment. She is also the author of the book “Nobody Cares About Your Career.” In this interview with Erika, she discusses her willingness to take risks, how she thinks about career development, the roles of mentors in assisting her success, her approach to getting over the need to be perfect, and she discusses the CEO’s role in cultivating the company culture that will help an organization succeed. Erika Ayers Badan is the CEO of Food52 and the former CEO of Barstool Sports. During her tenure at Barstool from 2016 to 2024, Erika transformed the organization from a regional blog to a national powerhouse operation leading to a 5,000% increase in overall revenue, making it one of the most innovative and successful internet media brands. Before joining Barstool, Erika held several leadership positions in media and technology at Microsoft, AOL, Demand Media, and Yahoo. She has been extensively recognized for her innovation in the industry, including being named one of Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in Sports amongst other achievements. Erika currently serves on the boards of the Premier Lacrosse League, Axon Enterprise (AXON), and Malaria No More. She is the author of the book “Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure is Good, The Great Ones Play Hurt and Other Hard Truths.”

    36 min
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About

The difference between average and greatness might be one or two well executed things. 12 Geniuses explores the highly successful people in business, athletics, and music so we can all learn how to perform at our highest level.

Information

  • Creator
    Don MacPherson
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    192
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 12 Genisues
  • Show Website
    12 Geniuses Podcast

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