Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

Strategic Podcast Network
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Inside Strategic Coach is a practical resource for entrepreneurs, or anyone with a growth mindset. Hosts Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller share breakthrough insights, educational success stories, and insider know-how, gained from working with thousands of successful business owners, worldwide.

  1. JAN 27

    Feelings Are Fuel For Entrepreneurial Creativity

    Today’s media environment constantly tugs at your emotions and makes it harder to think clearly about your future. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller show how to treat feelings—especially being bothered—as raw material rather than reality, and how to quickly turn intense emotional energy into insight, better decisions, and creative projects that expand your future possibilities. ​​ Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: How information overload and constant media input affect the way people think.How Dan feeling bothered has led to the creation of powerful Strategic Coach® thinking tools.What taught Dan to flip negative feelings into a new project.How you can actually change the past.A thinking process that helps you separate emotion from any situation so you can respond creatively instead of reactively.  Show Notes:   Modern news and social media are engineered to grab your feelings, which can crowd out your ability to think about your own future.   Constantly reacting to events outside of you makes it harder to think clearly and see where you actually want to go. ​ Feelings are experienced physically and biologically, not intellectually, which is why they can be so overwhelming in the moment.   There’s a big difference between simply having feelings and using those feelings to trigger real thinking and new ideas.   Strong emotions, whether positive or negative, are early warning signals that something needs to be understood, decided, or created.   When you get deeply bothered by an experience, you can either stay stuck in the story or use that energy to design a better future.   Many of Strategic Coach’s most powerful thinking tools, including The Experience Transformer®, were created because Dan was determined not to repeat a negative experience. ​ Capturing the energy from a negative event and channeling it into a specific creative project gives you huge momentum—but only for a short window of time.   Reinterpreting past experiences through learning changes how they feel and upgrades your capabilities going forward. ​ Taking ownership of your emotional responses gives you power, control, and agency instead of leaving you at the mercy of circumstances or other people.    Resources:   Multiplication By Subtraction by Shannon Waller   Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers   Not Being Bothered by Dan Sullivan

    21 min

  2. JAN 13

    How Entrepreneurs Are Using AI Without Losing Their Edge

    Predictions have been made over the years, especially with the emergence of AI, that computers will be more intelligent than human beings. But humanity is always infinitely greater than anything that humans create. Business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss why computer intelligence can never compete with humanity’s intelligence.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: Why a person’s intelligence doesn’t include only their own.What “humanity” really means.How successful entrepreneurs are using—and not using—AI.How AI is lessening the importance of experts.  Show Notes:   Humans communicate in many undetectable and immeasurable ways.   A single telephone has no value whatsoever.   With the addition of every new technology that allows human beings to interact with one another, the combined intelligence of the planet multiplies.   A new technological capability could never be greater than the total amount of thinking that all humans do.   You can’t be inside of a system and understand that system.   Computers are just a subset of human intelligence.   Unlike humans, machines can be consistent and constant in their use of intelligence.   Humanity is everything that humans have done over hundreds of thousands of years.   Resources:   Unique Ability®   “Overcoming Delegation Issues: A Comprehensive 5-Step Guide”

    18 min

  3. 12/23/2025

    How To Build AI Around Your Most Valuable Strengths

    Your deepest passion is yours alone, and what lights others up may leave you completely cold. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explore why every entrepreneur is born unique, how your experiences continually shape that uniqueness, and how doubling down on it leads to greater freedom, happiness, and business success.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: How to strengthen and continually reinforce your passion.What actually grows and develops your uniqueness every day.What gets created when two people collaborate.How AI is multiplying individuality and adding even more variety to the world.    Show Notes:   Every person is born with a Unique Ability®, and that’s the central starting point for all Strategic Coach® thinking.   Your entire life is a process of navigating and giving meaning to the uniqueness of your own experience.   As an individual, you are constantly reinforcing a central set of interests and capabilities through every experience you choose.   When you go deep with anyone, you quickly discover they’re far more unique than you initially assumed.   Hundreds of times a day, you’re sorting experiences into “more of this, less of that,” steadily clarifying what matters most to you.   Entrepreneurs are the people who have bet the most on the thing they’re uniquely and intensely interested in.   To operate in the world, everyone has to learn a basic level of conformity—showing up, keeping promises, and finishing what they start.   Thanks to technology, individuals now have more freedom than ever to pursue and deepen their own interests.​   Whatever someone is passionate about becomes the center of their universe, and they keep reinforcing it by seeking aligned experiences.   You’re always looking for experiences that make your passion and Unique Ability even more central and valuable in your life.   Powerful collaboration happens when people find shared interests where each can bring their own Unique Ability to create a “third thing” together.   Resources:   Unique Ability®   Perplexity   Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

    20 min

  4. 12/09/2025

    The Community Where Ambitious Entrepreneurs Belong, with Chad Johnson

    In this special episode, Shannon Waller sits down with Program Coach Chad Johnson to explore his entrepreneurial journey, what he’s learned along the way, and how he helps Strategic Coach® members grow bigger, simpler, and more rewarding businesses.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: Why many of Chad’s early entrepreneurial ventures were short-lived.The turning point that made him get serious about building a real business.How Chad defines the entrepreneurial mindset and lives it daily.What sets Strategic Coach Program Coaches apart from traditional business coaches.  Show Notes:   There’s value around you all the time; often, it just takes a moment of attention to see it.   You can’t scale a business on ambition and positive attitude alone.   It’s natural for entrepreneurs to want to jump to the next project, but that impulse needs to be managed.   The right life partner can act as an accelerant for everything you want in life.   In great organizations, everyone makes everyone else better.   The work you do as an entrepreneur is closely tied to the growth you do at home.   For entrepreneurs, business is not just what you do—it’s part of who you are.   Strategic Coach coaches are also members, so they live the tools they teach.   Any new concept has to work for the coach first before it’s shared with members.   Freedom is often the deepest motivation for entrepreneurs.   It can take time for your real-world experience to catch up with your mindset and goals.   Long-term success comes from committing to a few important things, not chasing every new idea.   The right coach relationship helps you turn everyday experiences into breakthroughs.   Resources:   How to Win a Heart by Chad Johnson Unique Ability® The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Impact Filter® 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs How To Foster A Longevity Mindset & Reap The Benefits The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time Management The Bigger Future™ Countdown Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan The Positive Focus® The Team Success Podcast The Only Leaders Worth* Following by Tim Spiker G5 Summit The Big Ski Family

    46 min

  5. 11/25/2025

    The High Price You’ll Pay For Creative Isolation

    Isolation is more than just uncomfortable—it distorts your thinking and drains your creativity. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller open up about the risks of going it alone as an entrepreneur and why strong relationships make all the difference. Listen now to learn smart, actionable ways to reconnect, recharge, and keep yourself moving forward with clarity and confidence.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: Why isolation causes the mind to invent stories and distort reality.The reasons entrepreneurs are particularly vulnerable to feeling isolated.Why isolated entrepreneurs develop outrageous aspirations.What makes Strategic Coach® the perfect place for entrepreneurs to make long-lasting connections.  Show Notes:   Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely path, especially without external feedback.​   When there’s no outside input, your mind starts making things up.   Isolation causes your brain to respond just like it would to sensory deprivation.   Entrepreneurs thrive on constant change, while most people resist change.   An entrepreneur’s creative imagination needs to be rewarded with real opportunities.   Many entrepreneurs feel truly stimulated only when they’re working productively.   Isolated entrepreneurs use their imaginations to give themselves the sense that they're actually connected to the world.   Feeling misunderstood quickly morphs into paranoia and makes isolation worse.   Entrepreneurs are better than most at finding their own clarity, even in tough situations.   The entrepreneurial journey means creating brand-new ideas and selling them, time after time.   Seeing life from other people’s perspectives keeps you connected and tuned in to reality.   The more you understand and appreciate other people’s experiences, the richer and more meaningful your own life becomes.   Resources:   Unique Ability®   Always Be The Buyer by Dan Sullivan

    23 min

  6. 11/11/2025

    The Emotional Edge Top Entrepreneurs Can’t Ignore

    Do you ever wish difficult emotions would just disappear? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller reveal why every feeling, especially the bothersome kind, is actually a valuable resource for entrepreneurial growth. Discover how turning frustration into clarity and action can lead to your next breakthrough, and learn the thinking tools that transform emotional energy into future results.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: How technology has increased conversations about feelings in daily life.Why your feelings serve as a built-in warning system for your thinking.How to quickly gain clarity instead of staying stuck when something bothers you.Why others struggle to truly understand your personal feelings.How Dan’s own feelings inspired all of the Strategic Coach® thinking tools.  Show Notes:   Feelings are signals, not solutions—they alert you to something worth thinking about.   Feelings don’t transform themselves; vision and capability do.   The real power lies in transforming emotional energy into future-focused action.   Feeling “bothered” is raw material for entrepreneurial creativity and improvement.   Successful entrepreneurs treat bother as a resource, turning it into planning and innovation.   Asking, “If I weren’t bothered, what would I be doing?” can pivot your mindset and open new possibilities.   Responding thoughtfully, rather than reacting emotionally, leads to better results for you and your team.   You can’t control others’ reactions, but you can fully own your own process and responses.   Ignoring your feelings (or acting out impulsively) usually makes things worse.   Every feeling brings energy—use it to fuel thinking, problem solving, and the creation of new tools.   Mastery comes from skillfully transforming negative emotions into positive action, not from avoiding them.   The entrepreneur’s job is to turn low-productivity “bother” into high-productivity breakthroughs.   Don’t aim for perfect detachment; instead, get better at using what bothers you for future advantage.   Resources:   Not Being Bothered by Dan Sullivan   The Impact Filter™   The Entrepreneurial Attitude   Multiplication By Subtraction by Shannon Waller

    18 min

  7. 10/28/2025

    Why Ambition Is Often A Dirty Word For Entrepreneurs

    What if ambition isn’t something you’re born with, but a capability you can keep growing? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explore why ambition is the single master capability for entrepreneurs and how to nurture it. Learn why talking about ambition is difficult, how to grow it continually, and why community and capability are the true accelerators of progress.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: Why entrepreneurs rely on ambition more than most people.The most common misconception about ambition.How to navigate the social dynamics around ambition.Why envy threatens ambition and how to spot it.How Strategic Coach® creates a safe space for honest, open ambition.  Show Notes:   Entrepreneurs succeed because they decide to rely on their own ambition and capability, taking a road most people won’t choose.​   Ambition is not a fixed trait—it’s a capability, and it grows each time you acquire new skills or take on new challenges.​   Ambition is the single master capability that enables you to achieve all other capabilities.   Openly talking about ambition can be uncomfortable because people often feel there’s a pecking order with ambition, but this discomfort is natural, and moving past it leads to greater freedom and fulfillment.   Comparing yourself to others works against ambition; entrepreneurs thrive by measuring progress from their own efforts and growth, not against external ideals or other people.​   Envy is the true enemy of ambition—it’s driven by comparison and leads to stagnation rather than growth.​   The Strategic Coach community is designed for entrepreneurs to talk about ambition openly, celebrate wins, and receive genuine support and collaboration.​   Unique Ability® is central: focus on a few activities that truly make use of your strengths, and surround yourself with others who do the same.​   Collaboration among unique, ambitious people isn’t accidental; when you support someone else’s ambition, you reinforce your own.​   Every Strategic Coach tool you master is meant to help you grow ambition, navigate obstacles, and create new opportunities.​   If you want ambition to keep expanding, focus on what gives you energy and leverage your team so you can multiply your results.​   Growth as an entrepreneur isn’t about fitting in; it’s about continually becoming more useful and unique in the marketplace.   Resources:   Always More Ambitious by Dan Sullivan   The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Impact Filter™   Unique Ability®   Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

    24 min

  8. 10/14/2025

    Why Entrepreneurs Who Keep Playing Always Win, with Lee Brower

    Are you thriving or just arriving? In this episode, Shannon Waller and Program Coach Lee Brower explore the lifelong mindset that keeps entrepreneurs in motion long after the initial motivation fades. Discover practical ways to make growth and gratitude central to your business, family, and life—plus the powerful impact of asking the right questions and building strong traditions that last.   Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: The surprising first job Lee created for himself before he was old enough for a paper route.What sparked Lee’s deep appreciation for entrepreneurship and its ecosystem.How Lee defines the mindset that drives enduring entrepreneurial success.Why motivation and inspiration play different roles on the entrepreneurial journey.How to tell the difference between genuine confidence and mere arrogance.Why great entrepreneurs are more like rivers than you might think.Lee’s most powerful lesson from three decades at Strategic Coach®.  Show Notes:   Not everyone chooses entrepreneurship—sometimes it chooses you.   Money motivates at first, but it’s the freedom it brings that keeps you going.   The best lessons come from learning alongside other entrepreneurs, not just from teaching.   Successful entrepreneurs focus on making things better, easier to access, and more valuable.   Great entrepreneurs don't ask themselves what's wrong. They ask, “What's right?” and “How can I make it even better?”   Problems don’t hold entrepreneurs back; they turn problem solving into daily practice.   Motivation is temporary. Inspiration and purpose are what keep you going.   You can elevate yourself by surrounding yourself with people who have skills you don’t have.   Family traditions, shared language, and rituals build lasting culture at home and in business.   The most valuable assets aren’t financial; they’re values, learning, relationships, and contribution.   Never delegate away your Unique Ability® until you truly know and refine it.   Confidence grows from gratitude and from focusing on others, not just on yourself.   Great results come from being open to learning in every interaction. Instead of chasing answers, ask better questions.   The enemy of thriving is arriving.   Resources:   Unique Ability®   The Impact Filter™   Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World by David Epstein The Positive Focus®   strategiccoach.com   leebrower.com

    38 min
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Inside Strategic Coach is a practical resource for entrepreneurs, or anyone with a growth mindset. Hosts Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller share breakthrough insights, educational success stories, and insider know-how, gained from working with thousands of successful business owners, worldwide.

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