Leadership Is No Accident: Recent Episodes
Andy Robbins, Oyster
We believe in a radically simple idea, that leadership is no accident. These stories take you inside how people lead in our increasingly fast paced and complex world to achieve outcomes others didn't believe were possible.
2:30 - The dream of becoming a professional athlete
5:30 - Leadership and leaders in soccer
9:00 - Leadership from a team perspective
11:00 - Understanding responsibility, accountability, and the meaning of resiliency
13:45 - What distinguishes great coaches from average coaches
16:00 - Different kinds of leaders and coaching styles
20:00 - Maintaining and understanding accountability from a coaching perspective, and how it translates into sports and business
25:00- Being a player under contract and what it entails
29:00- A Frugal Athlete - a financial-literacy company
30:15 - Explaining what the Frugal Athlete provides
33:30 - Inspiration and purpose to create A Frugal Athlete
37:30 - Advice on how to become a professional athlete
LINKS
Amobi Okugo on LinkedIn
Amobi's Wikipedia page
Learn more about A Frugal Athlete
CREDITS
Produced by Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
3:00 – The benefit of being naive and taking it slow
7:00 - Being a professional ballet dancer and connecting with Pilates
11:45 - From Pilates instructor to entrepreneur
14:00 - Starting the business
17:45 - Teaching a contemporary style of Pilates
20:30 - Standing out in the market by providing clear information, excellent education, and authentic teaching
25:00 - Having a clear purpose and vision
28:30 - Experiences and challenges in a growing business
31:30 - Learning how to prioritize, focus, gain self-awareness and listen to each other
34:45 - Adapting and thriving during the Covid-19 pandemic
38:00 - Rising to the occasion
39:45 - Reaching a wider audience and expanding the virtual platform
LINKS
Leslie Braverman on LinkedIn
Learn more about Pacific Northwest Pilates
CREDITS
Produced by Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:30 - The history of Mazamas
5:30 - How to lead through change while maintaining the soul of the organization
8:45 - The role as Acting Executive Director
11:15 - How to adapt and create new opportunities in the light of Covid-19
17:30 - Increasing diversity in the outdoors
21:30 - The complexity of permits and being actively engaged in the topic
25:00 - Being a member of Outdoor Alliance and having a voice in legislation matters related to the outdoors
28:00 - Being a female leader in a male-dominated space
31:30 - Feeling pride in the purpose of the organization
33:30 - An organization that also provides a community
37:00 - Advice on how to lead a volunteer organization
LINKS
Sarah Bradham on LinkedIn
Learn more about the Mazamas
CREDITS
Produced by Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:00 How Dave's career led him into coaching.
6:30 Changing the culture from playing football to cricket, a recipe for large scale organizational change.
8:00 The most common issue Dave sees in teams within the construction industry and how he addresses it.
10:00 How Dave coaches the team to create an environment of success, where people do their best work.
14:30 Great teams don't happen by luck
18:30 There are no high performance teams in the business world.
21:20 The 72% effectiveness gap.
23:00 The definition of a great team
25:30 Why leaders struggle with delegation
30:00 The five keys of deep and deliberate delegation
36:00 Dave's new book, 'Coach for Results'
37:00 How Dave finds the time to be top triathlete as well as a top coach
LINKS
Dave Stitt on LinkedIn
Work with Dave
Books:
- Coach for Results
- Deep and Deliberate Delegation
- 21st Century People Leadership
CREDITS
Produced by Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:00 - Entering the athletic industry
5:00 - A strong passion for sports, fitness, health, and wellness
6:30 - Change within the athletic industry and breaking glass ceilings
9:30 - Being authentic
11:30 - A female leader and mother in a male-dominated industry
17:30 - The importance of deep active listening
22:15 - Understanding critical feedback, self-reflection, and self-awareness
27:30 - Learning from the consumer
30:30 - Creating strategic directions and strategic visions in leadership
35:00 - From the athletic industry to venture capital lead companies
38:15 - Strategic planning in private equity
39:00 - Leaving the venture capital world and starting a new chapter
LINKS
Catherine Beldotti Donlan on LinkedIn
CREDITS
Produced by Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
3:00 – Leadership as dispositional learning
4:00 – Introducing Minecraft
6:30 – Explaining the use of disposition
8:00 – Using Minecraft as a simulation
13:30 – Learning from Minecraft
18:30 – Thoughts on working from home in the world of Covid
22:00 – Working from home, trouble-free or a struggle?
23:30 – Learning practice and performance
27:00 – What leaders learn from the program
30:00 – Learning by doing, building confidence
33:30 – Philip’s passion for sharing, connecting and understanding the human being
40:00 – Closing advice on how to lead and utilize vertical development
LINKS
Phillip Crockford on LinkedIn
Working with v-Teamwork
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg & Emma Holmstrom
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:40 - Taking a year off at Nike
8:00 - Keeping Swift alive at the height of a recession
12:00 - Embracing uncertainty
17:00 - Allowing employees to be multi-dimensional
21:00 - Having employees truly live by a company’s values
24:00 - Valentine’s non-negotiables
30:00 - The transition to Wunderman Thompson
36:00 - The importance of embracing your life outside of work
39:00 - Leadership lessons from becoming CEO
LINKS
Liz Valentine onLinkedIn
Swift Agency
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
3:00 – “Not sure if he has a bright future as a student, but the way he writes is unbelievable”
7:30 – Zavaro’s focus on storytelling
10:30 – Zavaro’s definition of leadership
13:20 – “If I could put it on my website, I’d write ‘We Sell Sh*t’”
18:00 – The difficult nature of letting employees go
20:30 – Shifting from a mentality of abundance to a mentality of scarcity
25:30 – Running a bar, writing a book
28:00 – Fixing restaurants
30:00 – Commentating everything from Formula 1 to Bobsleigh
34:00 – Maximizing something as simple as white paper and black ink
38:00 – Zavaro’s title as “Chief of Happiness”
LINKS
Nir Zavaro onLinkedIn
How to work with Nir as your personal storytelling and marketing coach
Connecting with Streetwise in Tel Aviv (in Hebrew)
Streetwise on LinkedIn
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:00 - Growing up in communist-led Bulgaria
4:00 - Getting beer for construction workers (at age 6)
6:00 - Bulgaria’s communal feel
8:00 - “For me, Volleyball represented hope”
11:00 - “I would rather take humiliation than give up on my dream”
14:30 - Switching from Indoor to Beach Volleyball
18:00 - Learning to not focus on what you don’t have
21:00 - Going to the Olympics in disbelief
24:00 - Maintaining her motivation
28:00 - Transitioning to a corporate environment from a sports environment
31:00 - The idea of a “corporate athlete”
35:00 - Coaches who help you see your blind spots
LINKS
Lina Taylor on LinkedIn
Lina's website
'Go for Gold' Olympic Experience
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
1:30 - About Himalaya Rao and Black Founders Matter
4:00 - Working for 7 different funds in just a few years
9:30 - Growing up being told “Don’t fail”
12:00 - Finding the tenets of entrepreneurship in the South Bronx
15:00 - Why “change,” rather than “systemic change,” isn’t enough
20:30 - “No systemic problem has one answer”
23:00 - “If any founder should be allowed access to funding, why not a BIPOC founder?”
30:00 - Not guiding greatness, but facilitating it
33:30 - “Don’t wait on your idea”
39:30 - Rao’s closing pieces of advice
LINKS
Himalaya Rao on LinkedIn
Black Founders Matter Investment Fund
Contact Himalaya @ himalaya@blackfoundersmatter.org
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:00 - Nitin’s Purpose/Mission
5:00 - Living the “Silicon Valley” lifestyle
9:00 - Entering the startup space
15:00 - Becoming an angel investor
21:00 - Breaking the “very very rich” stereotype of Angel Investing
24:30 - Creating a relationship with the entrepreneur
27:00 - Democratized investments, rather than family investments
34:00 - Learning to not become the “bottleneck”
36:00 - Unconscious biases in corporate America
40:00 - Reckoning intentional bias in the workplace
43:00 - What Nitin is most proud of
LINKS
Nitin Rai onLinkedIn
Elevate Capital
TiE Oregon
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
1:00 - Harkins explains his role
7:30 - “Motivating others to want to struggle for shared aspirations”
10:00 - Why cybersecurity teams should be “first-movers”
13:30 - “If you lead with compliance, you might not get security/privacy”
19:00 - The security industry accepts too much failure
21:00 - Reducing risk, reducing cost, reducing friction
25:00 - Challenge what’s working and what’s not
27:30 - Fear-mongering in computing
33:00 - Advice to risk managers (and a shameless plug)
LINKS
Malcolm Harkins onLinkedIn
Malcom's Books:
Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable
The Ransomware Assault on the Healthcare Sector
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:00 - “What does privacy look like for Uber?”
6:00 - Creating Uber’s “Mask Verification Program”
8:00 - “Making privacy exciting”
14:00 - From Stanford Law to Privacy Law
19:00 - More Experience=More Responsibility
23:00 - Needing to have a purpose
25:30 - Ask people who know you about what you like/don’t
28:30 - Moving from Intel to Uber
30:00 - Uber’s progressive rebuilding process
32:00 - Zefo’s seamless transition
34:00 - “Get on the bus or get out of the way”
37:30 - Joy of contributing rather than receiving
LINKS
Ruby Zefo on LinkedIn
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
4:00 – Everything was great, until...
7:00 – Deciding to leave a great position at Intel
12:00 – Prioritizing family after leaving
14:00 – Getting a callback for a new job in 24 hours
17:30 – Same Stuff, Different Job
20:00 – Trying to maintain that desire to achieve
21:30 – Finding the work/life balance sweet spot
24:00 – Recalibrating priorities
29:00 – Figuring out “do I have the right balance?”
32:00 – Focusing on more than just “achievement”
LINKS
Joel Levinson onLinkedIn
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
3:00 – Becoming a marketer with no marketing background
9:00 – Accepting a job offer from Phil Knight himself
16:00 – What made Nike such a great fit
21:00 – How “Satellite Sisters” got started
26:00 – When the company CEO won’t let you quit
31:00 – “Make your own luck”
37:00 – Dolan’s experience with unconscious gender bias
47:00 – Creating a powerful voice for women
LINKS
Liz Dolan onLinkedIn
Listen to the Satellite Sisters
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
1:00 – Rae’s definition of leadership
5:00 –”Collecting memories, not things.”
8:00 – What makes Portland so special
11:30 – Feedback is a drug
12:30 – The creation of the “Ideas Booth”
17:00 – Rae’s list of quintessential TED talks
18:30 – How to polish an unpolished speaker
21:30 – ”Work ethic is not a talent. It’s a choice.”
24:00 – Helping TEDx adapt to COVID
28:30 – “How far out are you looking?”
32:00 – Being ok with letting go
34:00 – Advice for aspiring leaders impacted by COVID
LINKS
David Rae on LinkedIn
Support TEDxPortland
Learn more about 503 Creative
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
2:30 “A Team reflects characteristics of its leader”
4:00 Maintaining the motivation to improve
6:00 Corporate management vs. Sports Management
8:00 Evans’ first experiences working for the Giants
13:00 Giving performance feedback to players
17:00 Evans’ love for the game of Baseball
23:00 “If you’re doing a good job, your career will take care of itself”
24:00 Evans’ career aspirations after the Giants
26:30 Advice for athletes looking for their next career
30:30 “Don’t be too quick to take ‘no’ for an answer”
LINKS
Bobby Evans on LinkedIn
Support the San Francisco Giants
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’
1:30 Changes in the healthcare industry
6:00 The silver lining of COVID
9:00 Emerging work-from-home opportunities
11:00 Mary Beth’s background in leadership
13:00 How Mary Beth adopted her daughters
14:00 Challenges as a leader
19:30 Embracing the personal coach dynamic
23:00 “Be in the moment at work, be in the moment at home”
24:30 Mary Beth’s April Fools story
29:30 Take more risks, make less excuses
LINKS
Mary Beth Martin on LinkedIn
Support Doernbecher Children's Hospital
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
1:30 A Man on a Mission
4:15 “Success is what happens TO you. Significance is what happens THROUGH you”
9:00 Our purpose evolves
12:30 Focusing on only one or two things at once
16:00 “Our communities know we’re there to stay”
20:00 Working with investors
22:30 Puder’s takeaways from his sports career
26:00 Advice for retiring athletes
31:00 What Daniel is most proud of
LINKS
Daniel Puder's My Life My Power Academy
Puder's podcast "Significance Breeds Success"
Puder's Personal Website
CREDITS
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
1:30 - The changing legal industry
5:30 - Lane Powell Adapting to industry changes
8:00 - Shifting corporate culture at the firm
10:00 - Execution first, then big ideas
11:30 - Duffy’s team-building mentality
13:00 - “Our success in the world is defined by the value we create”
17:00 - Being Lane Powell’s first female president
20:00 - How COVID could shift future working environments
23:00 - Social justice bringing new perspectives to the office
25:00 - “Look to the places where everybody else is not”
Links
Lane Powell on the web
Learn more about Barbaravia LinkedIn
Credits
Produced by Kai Hellberg
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
2:00 What change is Ken leading at Grovemade?
3:30 The secret of why Grovemade's homepage is so engaging
6:30 Living the company culture and how it has evolved
8:30 The importance of transparency, a tough lesson learned
10:30 The pillars of Grovemade's culture
12:00 How they created a psychologically safe company culture
14:30 The journey from iPhone cases to furniture for your desktop and how a hit product almost cratered the business
18:30 Going against the market and everyone's advice to expand their product line
20:00 Building a great product wasn't enough
21:30 How they determine which products to create and sell
23:15 "a 2,000 mile road trip to visit customers turned into something I couldn't have imagined."
24:30 Connecting the rest of the team to their customers - thank you cards
28:15 Advice for anyone beginning a similar journey
Links
Grovemade on the web
Learn more about Ken via LinkedIn
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
1:30 - About PortlandLabs
3:30 - How Maruna entered the tech industry
5:30 - “Necessity is the mother of invention”
8:00 - How contrete5 became a leading CMS
11:00 - Using concrete5 to help other organizations
18:00 - How Maruna’s position has changed
20:00 - Transitioning from an “all hands on deck” startup to a well-oiled machine
21:00 - Being comfortable with failure before success
25:30 - Advice to budding tech industry entrepreneurs
26:30- Maruna’s “must-reads”
Links
Portland Labs and concrete5 on the web
Learn more about Franz via LinkedIn
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
2:00 The passion behind Garden Bar - fast, convenient healthy eating
4:00 Starting out without a background in running restaurants. What got Ana started?
6:30 Ana's key learnings from taking Garden Bar from inception to exit in the food and beverage industry.
9:00 How Ana developed an intentional company culture and got her team to buy in.
14:00 Growing up in Brazil helped shape Ana's leadership philosophy and build her resilience.
18:30 What kept Ana going when things were difficult and an important framing of 'failure'.
22:00 What we can do to level the playing field for female and minority entrepreneurs
27:00 Selling Garden Bar to Evergreens, a successful exit
31:00 How Ana was able to let go of Garden Bar
32:00 What lies ahead, helping other entrepreneurs
Links
360 Advisory on the web
Learn more about Ana via LinkedIn
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
Discussion Topics
1:45 Miracle Messages vision for the future - ending relational poverty on our streets.
3:30 What motivated Kevin to get started? An experiment that changed his life.
9:00 The first reunion that started a movement.
10:15 How he built the organization they have now, which is a world away from how they started.
12:30 The journey to achieving over 300 reunions. A breakthrough learning from a very big mistake.
22:00 Bet the farm moments. If these turned out badly there would be no financial runway available to recover. How can we learn without experiencing so much risk?
23:30 What keeps Kevin going through the necessary setbacks?
27:00. What advice would you give yourself, when you were starting out, knowing what you know now? It is not for the faint of heart.
Links
Miracle Messages on the web
Learn more about Kevin via LinkedIn
Oyster Leadership Programs on the web
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - 'Change'
Kate Delhagen, the founder of the Oregon Sports Angels was recently named one of the most influential women in Oregon. Kate talks about how the world of sports has shaped her leadership perspectives and she shares advice for anyone looking to follow in her leadership footsteps.
1:45 Kate humbly talks about being named as one of the most influential women in Oregon
2:45 Kate's perspective on how she approaches life and how she channels her energy to help others
3:45 What changes are the Oregon Sports Angels leading and what motivated Kate to found it.
8:00 What helped Kate overcome many of the challenges female leaders face including the role of her parents and mentors.
11:30 Some mistakes Kate made along the way providing some key learning.
18:00 The importance of listening.
19:00 How Kate's individual and team sports experience helped shape her leadership philosophy. The role of specialists and generalists.
26:45 Advice for people graduating and starting their working career in the midst of a pandemic.
31:30 Leaders will benefit from learning to master the pivot and the transition game. As this crisis ends we will transition from playing defense into playing offense.
34:30 What is Kate most proud of?
Links
Oregon Sports Angels on the web
Learn more about Kate via LinkedIn
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - Change
Jeremy Pelley is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of OMFGCO, the renowned Portland based creative agency. He talks about their secret sauce - the values on which the company is built, how they became the 'Official Manufacturing Company' and a whole lot more.
1:30 Jeremy describes OMGFCO's reason to exist, telling stories and how they drive positive change in the world
4:00 Their secret sauce and the importance of being responsible for how we feel to avoid being a victim to the world around us. We can choose how we respond instead of reacting.
8:00 The motivation behind starting OMFGCO in 2009 during a recession. It began with a random freelance job.
13:00 What surprised Jeremy most about their journey? In the early days it was meeting household celebrities and these days it is leading a talented diverse team of twenty people.
15:30. What were some of the hardest things they had to overcome? Jeremy talks about 'The Gunk', the inter-personal issues that fester unless addressed at the root.
18:00 What they are doing to successfully navigate the current challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis.
20:30 Jeremy talks about the importance of being a leader, acting as your own boss and how they've shifted to working remotely without missing a beat. It is a partnership.
23:30 What advice does Jeremy have for somebody starting out today? It involves leading with generosity.
25:15 OMFGCO's secret sauce, otherwise known as their four core values. These are the principles that guide how they work together.
28:30 Why the 'Official Manufacturing Company'?
Links
OMFG Co omfgco.com
More about Jeremy on LinkedIn
Credits
Music by Isaac Chambers - Change