The Art of Excellence Glenn Zweig

Kristin Harila is a Norwegian mountain climber who recently set a world speed record for climbing the 14 highest peaks in just 92 days. 
 

Some interesting insights from this episode:
·         She quit her job and sold her home and put everything on the line to achieve this goal. 
·         “If you are happy with less than your goal, then you’ll never reach your goal.”
·         You have to truly believe in what you’re doing if you want to achieve a goal.
·         Working together as a team with her Sherpa was a key component of allowing her to pull off this world record.
·         Many people think that the summit is the goal but the goal is actually to come safely back down the mountain.
·         “On almost all the peaks, there are dead people.  If it happens to me, I will have died happy.”

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 in the world, Edmondson’s TED Talk “How to Turn a Group of Strangers into a Team” has been viewed over three million times. She received her PhD, AM, and AB from Harvard University. Her latest book is titled: The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well. 
 

Some interesting insights from this episode:
·         A good failure is an undesired outcome that brings you new knowledge that could have not been gained any other way. It should be just big enough to get new information without wasting unnecessary time. 
·         Most of us have shifted from curiosity and learning in our childhood to defensiveness and self-protection in our adulthood because of the belief that we had to be right or successful to be worthy.
·         Psychological safety Is a belief that one can take interpersonal risks without the fear of punishment or rejection.
·         You need psychological safety in order to cultivate a culture of intelligent failure. 
·         Reframing is one of the techniques we can use to learn from failure. It’s the ability to challenge the automatic thinking and come up with a healthier, more productive way to think about the same situation. 
·         A culture of accountability and high-performance standards can coexist with a culture of psychological safety and embracing failure. 
·         “The easiest way to not fail at all is to not take risks at all.” 
·         “Excellence is doing as well as you can in your chosen field and making a positive difference.”
 
Notes:
Books:
Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth  
Websites:
Amy Edmondson personal page
Harvard Business School bio

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 companies through complex negotiations.  He has taught business negotiation in MBA programs at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. He also taught business negotiation at Harvard and guest lectured at other leading universities including the MIT Sloan School of Management and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.  His book is titled: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It.
 

Some interesting insights from this episode:
·         Working the crisis hotline was where Chris first learned the power of empathy. Showing someone that they feel heard is often enough to get them to change their behavior. 
·         Empathy is about the transmission of information whereas compassion is about the reaction to that transmission.
·         Any time you relax into stress, you’ll handle it far better. The act of relaxation increases your body’s ability to handle its stress demands.
·         Labeling is a verbal observation of an emotion or a dynamic. It’s a way of demonstrating that you’re listening and understanding the other side.
·         Meeting someone halfway (i.e. splitting the difference) rarely works since it never feels like it’s really halfway.  You feel the transaction was unfair.  Reason being, based on the economist Daniel Kahneman, people tend to fear a loss twice as much as they are likely to welcome an equivalent gain.
·         “Excellence is a delight with learning and growing. It is not the pursuit of perfection which is a fool’s errand.”
 
Notes:
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if your Life Depended on It
Black Swan Group
Fireside Black Swan Group Coaching Program

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:
·         When he was just 10 he told his mother he planned to one day bowl 100 perfect games which he actually accomplished a couple years ago. 
·         He chose to pursue bowling over the more popular sports like rugby and cricket given his love for the game despite the fact that it would never be as lucrative.
·         He was often teased and mocked for his two handed style of bowling but he let his impressive scores shut the naysayers down.
·         His unique two handed technique allowed him to spin the ball twice as fast as most other bowlers which allowed him to strike with much greater frequency. 
·         He has never had a coach and has always been self-taught, learning from his own mistakes and continually improving his game.
·         A turning point that allowed him to begin dominating the sport is when he shifted his mindset from being worried about failure when everything was on the line to just being in the moment and enjoying himself. 
·         “Excellence is working and striving toward a better version of yourself every single day.”
 
Show Notes:
Jason Belmonte website
YouTube videos:
Jason Belmonte YouTube Channel
Nascar bowling: fastest strike ever recorded
Bowling trick shots with Dude Perfect  

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 2nd 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 practice over and over until he understood how to position himself and swing to achieve a certain shot.
·         In college his drive to be better at golf was due to immaturity – he was mad at people.  These days his drive to be better is so he can help people.  Paying it forward is much more important than trying to be the best in the world.
·         He built a distinguishable brand as Bubba - the new age redneck country boy, despite not hunting or dipping or smoking or country music. 
·         He was kind and considerate off the golf course but had a hot temper on the course.  Pride and ego was eating him alive.  He got caught up in the rankings and allowed that to dictate how he felt about himself. 
·         His first Masters victory was on the heels of adopting their first baby so allowing his mind to focus on something outside of golf removed him from the excessive pressure which allowed him to play the match of his life. 
·         Joining LIV Golf wasn’t about the money but an opportunity to play golf in a team format which he misses and the entrepreneurial opportunity to own a franchise in an emerging league. 
·         “Excellence is touching others in a way that makes their lives better. It’s giving people an opportunity to be successful.”
 
Notes:
Book: Up and Down: Victories and Struggles in the Course of Life
Personal Website: Bubba Watson
LIV site: Bubba Watson and the RangeGoats

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 Lennart Nilsson Award, The Netherlands’ highest conservation honor – the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in nature photography. His latest book is titled: Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales.
 
Some interesting insights from this episode:
·         Not knowing the rules will make you experiment with anything and everything.  Be aware of the rules but then put them to the side and do things your own way. 
·         His empathy toward animals allows him to capture their personalities which are as distinct as our own personalities. 
·         Unlike the prevailing methods of photographing the animals from a distance, Frans likes to get up close and personal and take his pictures at eye level to create a more intimate interaction. 
·         Too many people are overly fixated with technology but what’s most important is knowing what’s interesting to you and your connection with the subject in front of you.
·         Unlike painting where you start with a blank canvas, with photography you go in the opposite direction and have to delete as much as possible until there is clarity. 
·         His photography evolved from capturing a single species to capturing the essence of nature as a network of relationships amongst many species.
 
Notes:
Books:
Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales
Into Africa
Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape
Other books by Frans
Exhibitions:
LIFE: A Journey Through Time
Bay of Life
Website:
Frans Lanting