Love it or hate it, the term “Holy Grail” is often used in life and business to describe something that has always been unobtainable. The pursuit of the “unobtainable” takes patience and indomitable faith.

The pursuit of a leadership development program that can crack the code of an organization’s people, lifting them to a new level of engagement with the organization’s vision, mission, and purpose, feels unobtainable, especially given the millions of dollars invested and the meager measurable return on investment it has produced.

This Great Conversation with Dr. Daniel Hallak of WiLD Leaders, gave me hope in this “impossible” dream. Perhaps it will for you too.

At our best we are learners. And those who rise in their journey, are best equipped to be masters of their craft by the learning DNA. But as we go down the road, it might be useful to know where the major turns might be. As well, learn the risks and opportunities we might experience.

This is a Great Conversation with a accomplished observer of The Three Turns of an Executive Leader.

We begin and live this life largely within the garden we are born into. Some of us are blessed and never know the slings and arrows of life. Others are not so lucky. But all of us must find our way to being a light to others. This great conversation is about a man who took such a journey. He found his way out of a traumatic childhood into the British SAS and into some of the most remarkable incidents of the century. And he found a way to measure what is right and true. His slogan “Who Dares Shares” is another way of saying: to win in life, we must seek and live truth. He is doing so today. Enjoy this great conversation with Robin Horsfall.

The measure of one’s life is between the birth and the death. It is a sacred journey filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt by many; filled with hope, courage, love, and kindness by a few. It is truly the hero’s journey, and this author, Ben Martin, provides us a book full of songs marking each day of the year. Enjoy a great conversation with a friend from the past, as we catch up with a song of life.

“Serve Honorably. Drink Honorably” Inspired by a previous Great Conversation with author Michael Trott (The Art of Protecting the Leader), we caught up with his latest venture: Four Branches Bourbon. Imagine the heart, mind, and fortitude in launching a new company, and a new bourbon. It would take a Hall of Fame effort and Hall of Fame help to do it. We have a great conversation with the men representing the four branches of the military, the four grains of their unique mash, and four hearts who continue to want to serve. “Serve Honorably. Drink Honorably™"

Well done Rick Franco, U.S. Marines, Michael Trout, U.S. Airforce, Robert Casey, U.S. Army, and Harold Underdown, U.S. Navy.

You can learn a lot about life by studying how you and others make decisions. If you think about it, our life is a series of transactions of value. In a transaction, there is the possibility of a yes, a no, and the ever so dangerous maybe. Why dangerous? Because a “maybe” can indicate a problem with your criteria for value. It can speak to a lack of readiness. It can indict you for your lack of courage or confidence. Whether you are a “buyer” or a “seller” in your life’s transactions, pay attention to the process by which you engage your world. In this second great conversation with the CEO of a Sales Training Company called M3, we get more insights into the psychology of a true profession called “sales”. Listen then tie it into your own life.

We are largely motivated by self-interest. If we are acting as a buyer, we want the best product at the lowest price. But we also know that lowest price may not be the answer to our needs. If we are acting as a seller, we may be motivated to “win”. But how do we define this term? Now let’s pull back and see if there is a connection between these two notions and the behaviors of the buyer and seller. There is a beautiful ending to this story… listen and see if you can find it!

This is a conversation that focuses on a wild journey of whole leadership; one that all of us can take. That in itself is an audacious idea: that anyone can have agency and pursue an intentional journey to wholeness. Leadership is not the secret of a few. It requires all of us.

All of us…

When you strike up an unscripted conversation you never know what will transpire. You have to be a little bit fearless and transparent to do this. When this characteristic is aligned with your leadership, efficacy, and heart for your profession called “security”, you add depth to the description of Mark Ledlow’s podcast called: Fearless Mindset.

I had a great conversation with him about the future of security and we both discovered the future of business.

Humans created constructs that represent time. Consider it the canvas in which they have painted their origin stories as well as their stories of the future. As this pendulum swings, we also are exploring the depths of our understanding of the who and why of our being. We believe “truth” is in the data. But then the data changes. We need someone to help us understand the reader (us), and the story they are living. Within this story lies the secret of navigating the risks and opportunities that represent the human experience. Enjoy this Great Conversation with the time-traveler Cyndi Coon. Be prepared. You may become a fellow time-traveler.

Many leaders in the risk, resilience, and security industry served in the military, law enforcement, or a intelligence agency. They have lived in a dark world. They are servant leaders. And these tough hearts and minds recognize better than most, the fragile nature of our children and families. That is why I am supporting a unique virtual online conference called BodyGuards for Kids on March 18-19, where protective intelligence, protection, and security leaders are donating their time and resources to sharing their learnings with the world. In exchange, they want all of us to buy a ticket or sponsor the event with the promise that all funds will be provided to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude is one of the foremost research and care hospitals in the world. They pay for all the child’s needs and the families care while at their hospital. It is an extraordinary organization. We have a Great Conversation with the founders and operators of NannyGuards who are organizing this galvanizing event. Looking forward to filling hearts and minds with and through a unifying cause.

I am always amused by how we anthropomorphize our pets and our machines. How many of you have named your car? We strive to integrate them into our ecosystem and our lives. They serve us, sometimes love us. And our language adapts to accommodate them. I recently found a leading coach who is beginning to explore and use AI. Let’s have some fun exploring this recent development.

Kirill Zubovsky is the founder of a new AI application called SmartyNames. He is a peripatetic gig worker. He is running around the country in a Sprinter Van with two children and his wife. Along the way, he took the generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, and used it to streamline his experience in searching for domain names. We, the entrepreneurs of the world, have had the frustrating experience of looking for a domain name for our business. We think of one, then input it into a search engine hoping we somehow can own it. After going back and forth forever, and then, once found, purchasing it, we then have to develop a logo, a website, content, newsletters, etc.

Kirill just wanted to get the job done and launch. He used the AI app and his coding to streamline the process, or as Drucker would say, the job to be done. Classic ideation to innovation to activation.

We have a great conversation that ended up covering everything from the emerging app stores for AI innovators to the innovation process itself. What I come away with is the idea that we can take the current state of the machine and augment it, making it our helper, extending the reach of our creativity and time. Like any tool, it is agnostic. Now it needs people who care deeply about improving our lives to harness it and release it into the world. Like any tool, it will displace old notions of what is true, what is fast, what is good, what is valuable.

Enjoy this great conversation.

It is featured on the back of the one-dollar bill. The all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid. What does it know? What does the rest of the pyramid infer?

Rather than google it, just for a moment let the top of the pyramid represent how you see your world. Let the base be the actions you take that conform to that worldview. Let the eye represent the constant pursuit of seeing clearly the truth of what has happened, what is happening, and what is to occur.

Welcome to a great conversation in 2023. Deploying a pyramidal pursuit of life led by truth with the hope it provides purpose and integrity to our life in business, in relationships, in the world.

The care and feeding of a company creates a highly leveraged vehicle to optimize its path to value: personally, professionally, and within the context of a team known as a business. Great leaders know how to leverage different points of view that originate from disparate cultural backgrounds. This strengthens the vision, mission, and execution. We explore the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion and the power of the perceived other in a great conversation with Dr. Jade Singleton of The Sarah Jane Academy.

Dylan Thomas's famous poem, Fern Hill, is based on his childhood experiences on a farm in Wales. The poem is a celebration of the wonder, magic, and joy of this world that many of us experienced and have a hard time remembering as we grow older.

This conversation is about that young child growing older and continuing to see life through his once-child's eyes. The Editor in Chief of Centennial Media, Michelle Stacey, shares her story of helping her Father die while he sings in his chains like the sea. 

“Why would a company hire you before entering a new market in Latin America?”, I asked. “Because if you don’t, you will fail.”

That was powerful. Failure could be death by a thousand cuts, including graft, theft, and kidnapping. How do you navigate the nuances of language, culture, and politics to give your company a fighting chance?

This is a great conversation with a person who is passionate about what he does and powerful in how he communicates data in the written and graphical form.

I give thanks for all of it. Every single breath. Every mistake. Every transgression. Every illness Every disappointment. It is what has defined me, shaped me, and created that wisdom I have today and the wisdom that I will gain in the future. Thanksgiving: the act of giving thanks is such a wonderful gift. I pray you wake up tomorrow with a fulness of heart for who you have been and who you are becoming regardless of circumstance. Amor fati.

When the company’s is relying on you to release the next generation product, when your attempts to help are only perceived as an obstruction, when all your best laid plans are falling apart, you must find a way to move forward. But that step alone could spiral into burnout; a crash that takes you out of the game. Perhaps you are playing the wrong game. We explore a business integration process that was successful and find many of the lessons learned apply to an agile way to stay away from burnout.

Are you willing to die for your convictions? Are your core values aligned with the original core values of your country? Are you fully educated on the meaning and the responsibilities of citizenship? Many have shed blood for you. What is your responsibility in turn? These are just some of the questions I asked myself after listening to Dr. Robert Gates at the International Security Foundation 11th Annual Dinner to celebrate and fund the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) in Washington DC. Enjoy my humble attempt to capture the key ideas in this great conversation.