Business Leadership Series Business Leadership Series

Derek Champagne interviews former NFL play and entrepreneur, Marques Ogden. Marques, the best-selling author of "Sleepless Nights: The NFL: a Business and Family", talks with Derek about his childhood years, playing in the NFL, his entrepreneurial journey, and leadership lessons along the way.Growing up in a single-parent home with a father that inspired and demonstrated perseverance and fairness, Marques Ogden learned how to define his values and set goals. Marques attended Howard University from 1998-2002, where he played Division I football. He followed his dream and his brother Jonathan's footsteps and was drafted into the NFL in 2003. At the age of 27, he founded a construction company called Kayden Premier Enterprises, a business that grew rapidly in its first few years, but he lost the business after a bad business endeavor. At his lowest point, the NFL and lessons he learned from his father and coaches, helped him restructure his life.Learn more at https://www.marquesogden.com

Derek's guest this week is Whitney Johnson: Innovation and disruption theorist, keynote speaker, best-selling author, executive and performance coach.Whitney shares her unique journey and key concepts about how to motivate your employees from her book "Build an A Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve".Whitney Johnson was named one of the world's fifty most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50 in 2017.She is the author of the bestselling Build an A Team (Harvard Business Press, 2018), a Financial Times and CEO Read, Book of the Month, and the critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work (2015). Publisher's Weekly described it as "savvy...often counter-intuitive...superb" while the Boston Globe called it the "'What Color is Your Parachute?' career guide for the entrepreneurial age."Through writing, speaking, consulting and coaching, Whitney works with leaders to retain their top talent, to build an A team, and to help them earn the gold star–be a boss people love.She formerly was the co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard's Clayton Christensen, where they invested in and led the $8 million seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $5+ billion. She was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy. During her tenure, the CAGR of the Fund was 11.98% v. 1.22% for the S&P 500.She is also formerly an award-winning Wall Street analyst. She was an Institutional Investor-ranked equity research analyst for eight consecutive years, and was rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker. As an equity analyst, stocks under coverage included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted for roughly 40% of Mexico's market capitalization.Whitney is a frequent contributor for the Harvard Business Review, she has over 1.5 million followers on Linkedin, was named one of LinkedIn's Top Voices in the Influencer category for 2018, and her LinkedIn course The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has 1 million+ views.She is a member of the original cohort of Marshall Goldsmith's #100 coaches.Learn more at https://whitneyjohnson.com/

Listen to this powerful interview with Dr. David Fajgenbaum who has an incredible new memoir, "Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action". David’s story is truly unique; it’s a tale of learning to live, while dying: a universally relatable story about getting up and fighting back after life knocks you down.A former Georgetown quarterback nicknamed "The Beast," David Fajgenbaum was also a force in medical school, where he was known for his unmatched mental stamina. But things changed dramatically when he began suffering from inexplicable fatigue. In a matter of weeks, his organs were failing and he was read his last rites. Doctors were baffled over a condition they had yet to even diagnose; floating in and out of consciousness, Fajgenbaum prayed for the equivalent of a game day overtime: a second chance.Miraculously, Fajgenbaum survived, but only to endure repeated near-death relapses from what would eventually be identified as a form of Castleman disease—an extremely deadly and rare condition that acts like a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disorder. When he relapsed on the only drug in development and realized that the medical community was unlikely to make progress in time to save his life, Fajgenbaum turned his desperate hope for a cure into concrete action: between hospitalizations he studied his own charts and tested his own blood samples, looking for clues that could unlock a new treatment. With the help of family, friends and mentors, he also reached out to other Castleman disease patients and physicians, and eventually came up with an ambitious plan to crowdsource the most promising research questions and recruit world- class researchers to tackle them; instead of waiting for the scientific stars to align, he proposed to align them himself.More than five years later and now married to his college sweetheart, his hard work has paid off: a treatment that he identified has induced a tentative remission and his novel approach to collaborative scientific inquiry has become a blueprint for advancing rare disease research. His incredible story demonstrates the potency of hope, and what can happen when forces of determination, love, family, faith and serendipity collide.David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc is one of the youngest individuals to be appointed to the faculty at Penn Medicine. Co- founder and executive director of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and an NIH-funded physician- scientist, he has dedicated his life to discovering new treatments and cures for deadly disorders like Castleman disease, which he was diagnosed with during medical school. He is in the top 1 percent youngest grant awardees of an R01, one of the most competitive and sought-after grants in all of biomedical research. Dr. Fajgenbaum has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 healthcare list, as a top healthcare leader by Becker's Hospital Review, and one of the youngest people ever elected as a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the nation's oldest medical society. He was one of three recipients – including Vice President Joe Biden – of a 2016 Atlas Award from the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. Winner of the RARE Champion of Hope: Science award, Dr. Fajgenbaum has been profiled in a cover story by The New York Times as well as by Reader's Digest, Science, and the Today Show. Dr. Fajgenbaum earned a BS from Georgetown University magna cum laude with honors and distinction, MSc from the University of Oxford, MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and MBA from The Wharton School. He is a former Division I college quarterback, state-champion weight lifter, and co-founder of anational grief support network.Order "Chasing My Cure" at bookstores nationwide or at http://www.chasingmycure.com/

Kyle Maynard is a motivational speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and ESPY award-winning mixed martial arts athlete, known for becoming the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Aconcagua without the aid of prosthetics.Oprah Winfrey called Kyle “one of the most inspiring young men you will ever hear about.” Arnold Schwarzenegger described him as “the real deal,” “a champion human,” and “one of the most inspiring people” he’s ever met. Even the great Wayne Gretzky has spoken of Kyle’s “greatness.”Despite being born with a rare condition known as congenital amputation, that has left him with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near his knees, he learned early on with the support of his family, to live life independently and without prosthetics.Kyle thrives on physical challenges and following a few rough middle school football seasons; he went on to become a champion wrestler, CrossFit Certified Instructor and gym owner, competitive MMA/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, world record-setting weightlifter, and skilled mountaineer. In 2012, Kyle became the first quadruple amputee to climb – actually bear crawl – the 19,340 feet to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro without the aid of prosthetics. His 10-day ascent was widely covered by the press, followed on social media, and raised money and awareness for wounded veterans as well as Tanzanian schoolchildren. Upon his return, Kyle won his second ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) award for Best Male Athlete with a Disability.Four years later, he reached the summit of Argentina’s breathtakingly beautiful and sometimes deadly Mount Aconcagua – the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres, standing at 22,838 feet. Following that epic summit, Nike featured Kyle in the powerful commercial “Unlimited Will,” which debuted globally during the 2016 Olympics, was viewed by millions around the world – and was part of the series that AdWeek named the most memorable of all commercials during the 2016 Olympics.Kyle has not let his success be defined by anything or anyone but himself. He has lived his life striving to do more, learn more, push harder, go further—and to inspire others to do the same by sharing his story and living by example. Though he tailors his speeches to his audience, his messages are centered on building a life driven by purpose and meaning, the importance of the undying pursuit of dreams, and the belief that no obstacle is too great and nothing in their lives can keep them from accomplishing their goals.Learn more at https://www.kyle-maynard.com/

In this episode Derek talks with the world's #1 Bowler Jason Belmonte. Jason talks with Derek about his unique story of bowling since the age of two, how he stays motivated to continue being the best in the world, and more on his entrepreneurial journey. Jason is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for using the two handed approach style to deliver his shot. He has won 22 PBA titles, making him one of only 15 players in history with at least 20 PBA Tour wins. His PBA Tour victories include a record 11 major championships, four of these in the USBC Masters, which is also a record. He is also a four-time PBA Player of the Year.Learn more at https://www.jasonbelmonte.com/

Jack Ryan aka BlackJack was born in Brooklyn, NY and is a Basketball Entertainer/Motivational Speaker. He is a member of the world-famous Harlem Wizards for 24 years and has performed all over the world.Jack grew up in Brooklyn New York and was always known for being good at basketball. In high school he was the star player and everyone around him thought he was going somewhere. His coach started getting him scouted and he got an offer from Ohio University but it was to go to a community college first get his grades in order and then play for them. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out because Jack ended up getting in trouble and getting kicked off the team and out of school. He then went home and tried to go to a few different colleges, but nothing ever panned out for him. Then one day in his late 20’s Jack was playing a pick up game with some friends and Peter Vecsey a basketball columnist for the New York Post saw him play and got a try out for him with the Nets. They wanted him to go to the C.B.A. but he got hurt before he could. After he was done rehabbing and getting better it seemed his time to play in the NBA had come to an end. He now has played for the Harlem Wizards for 24 years and finally gotten his life on track. He also is a motivational speaker and entertainer.Jackie’s life story is being told in the new movie “BlackJack: The Jackie Ryan Story”, starring Greg Finley, Ashley Greene, David Arquette, Michael Rapaport, and Robert Davi.Instagram: blackjackryan21