Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais - podcast cover

Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

Dr. Michael Gervaiswww.findingmastery.com

Dive into the minds of the world’s greatest athletes, leaders, thinkers, and doers with Dr. Michael Gervais—a high performance psychologist and world-renowned expert on the relationship between high performance and the mind. Dr. Gervais’s client roster includes Super Bowl winning NFL teams, Fortune 50 CEOs, Olympic medalists, internationally acclaimed artists, and more.

On Finding Mastery, Dr. Gervais sits down with the best at what they do, like David Goggins, Brene Brown, Toto Wolff, soccer legend Abby Wambach, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — translating their life stories, mental skills, and personal practices into applicable tools you can use to unlock your potential.

Walk with us to the edge of human possibility and learn what you are capable of. New episodes every Wednesday.

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Episodes

Rugby Union Coach Stuart Lancaster on Pressure, Resiliency, Culture

This conversation is with rugby coach Stuart Lancaster. Stuart is currently coaching in Dublin, Ireland with Leinster Rugby. He was the former Head Coach of the England Rugby team from 2011-2015. Failure is something no one wants to experience but almost everyone has to go through at some point. Those on the razor’s edge, those that push their own boundaries, curious to see how much they’re really capable of, definitely experience those setbacks. For those performing on the world stage, those se...

Dec 20, 20171 hr 16 min

Meditation Expert Sharon Salzberg on Being Present, Letting Go, and Having Faith

This conversation is with Sharon Salzberg on Being Present, Letting Go, and Having Faith If you know her name, you know where this conversation will go: Mindfulness. Sharon has played a crucial role in bringing mindfulness practices to the West and into mainstream culture. She first began teaching mindfulness in 1974. (Note: be careful who teaches you about mindfulness — it’s a very, very “in” thing to talk about, and just like most skills in any field, the nuances that come with a deep commitme...

Dec 13, 20171 hr 3 min

Big Wave Surfer Tom Carroll on Being a Maverick, Honesty, Risk

This week’s conversation is with Tom Carroll on being a maverick, honesty, and risk. Tom is best known as one of Australia’s great surfers and sportsmen. I have known of Tom since I was a grom (stoked little kid who flat out loved surfing). With two world professional surfing championships and three wins at Pipeline (one of the heavier waves in the world) under his belt, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s just a champion athlete. Rather Tom is a maverick -- in many ways. Reaching the profession...

Dec 06, 20171 hr 24 min

USA Women's Water Polo Coach Adam Krikorian on Competition, Relationships, Sustaining Success

This week’s conversation is with Women’s Senior National Team Water Polo head coach Adam Krikorian. Since taking over the Women's Senior National Team, Adam Krikorian has been just about perfect. From his arrival in 2009 Team USA has competed in 18 major FINA Championships and come away with Gold in 15. This includes the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, 2009, 2015, and 2017 FINA World Championships, the 2010 and 2014 FINA World Cups, seven FINA World League Super Final crowns and the 2016 Olympic Qu...

Nov 29, 20171 hr 14 min

Boeing Vice Chairman Ray Conner on Courage, Servant Leadership, Imagery

**if you have any issues with a dead spot while listening, redownload the episode and you should be good to go. There was a technical glitch that occurred for a few people on the initial download. This conversation is with Ray Conner, who was responsible for running America's largest manufacturing export, Boeing. If you're not familiar with the company, you've likely put your life in their hands (if you've been in an airplane). Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufact...

Nov 22, 20171 hr 23 min

Coach Anne Parmenter on Resiliency, Mindset, Ethics

Imagine being within striking distance of your lifelong dream, only to come to a fork in the road. Continue onward but in doing so, put others lives in danger, or turn back and potentially never have another shot at fulfilling your dream. What would you do? How would you respond? Ethical decision making under duress is a fascinating process. I don’t know anyone that says, “I’m a bad human being. I’m a terrible human being and I do bad things. But some people put up an armor, a shield of denial, ...

Nov 15, 20171 hr 18 min

USC Dean of Religious Life Dr. Varun Soni on Mindfulness, Leadership, Spirituality

Varun Soni is the Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California (USC) and the first Hindu to serve as the chief religious or spiritual leader of an American university. In a time where it feels like we have never been more divided, this conversation is about unity. It’s about empathy. It’s about diversity. It’s about curiosity and regard. There is so much to learn in this conversation. Varun has been personally impacted by some of the most influential thought leaders in history...

Nov 08, 20171 hr 23 min

Author David Epstein on Sports Gene, Curiosity, Self-Discovery

This week’s conversation is with David Epstein. David is author of the New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene. He is a science writer and investigative reporter at ProPublica, and before that was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, where he authored or co-authored a number of the magazine’s most highprofile pieces. Despite his success as a writer, David didn’t always know that was what he was meant to do. Prior to becoming a science writer, David was an 800-meter runner and University reco...

Nov 01, 20171 hr 31 min

Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington on Well-Being, High Performance, Habit Development

This conversation is with Arianna Huffington. Arianna is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, the founder of The Huffington Post, and the author of 15 books, including, most recently, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. Arianna has been named to Time Magazine's list of the world’s 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. In May 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, in 2012 won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In August 2016, she launched Thrive Global, a corpo...

Oct 25, 201735 min

Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Luke Walton on Coaching, Leadership, Relationships

On this podcast, we get to hear from many different vantage points: artists, scientist, elite military, politicians, those who run highly successful businesses, and those who have been on the razor’s edge in the sports arena. When it comes to elite sport, there’s a rare breed that have succeeded as both player and coach — and winning championships in both roles is almost unheard of. That is why I wanted to sit down with Luke Walton, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Luke played in the NBA fo...

Oct 11, 20171 hr 9 min

Author Robert Rabbin on Fighting Cancer, Curiosity, Authenticity

In January 2012, Robert Rabbin was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and told he had a few months to live. However, in keeping with his contrarian nature, he took a non-conventional path. Robert began his professional journey in 1985, after spending 10 years living and working with meditation master Swami Muktananda in India. Long before then he was on a pursuit – a pursuit to understand the “why”. The questioning and the wondering, has been the signature characteristic of his life. Who am I? W...

Oct 04, 201758 min

Army Major Mike Erwin on Optimism, Relationships, Transitions

Mike Erwin served in the US Army for 13 years, including 3 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the Founder and President of The Positivity Project, a non-profit strengthening leadership and relationships through a deeper understanding of character. Mike is also the board chair of Team Red, White, and Blue, providing a network that helps veterans to combat their tendency to isolate themselves as they go through a difficult transition from soldier to civilian. When Mike was nearing the end ...

Sep 27, 201750 min

Victoria's Secret CEO Jan Singer on Authenticity, Confidence, Control

In this conversation we sit down with Jan Singer. Jan is the Chief Executive Officer for Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, the world’s most recognized and beloved intimate apparel company. There are thousands of apparel companies across the globe. How do the successful one’s stand out? Part of the success is tapping into the psychology and philosophy of their potential customers. The clothes we choose are in many ways a reflection of our personal philosophy. Jan has a clear understanding of how import...

Sep 20, 201756 min

Microsoft EVP Judson Althoff on Striving for Excellence and Finding Balance

Judson Althoff is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business organization. He leads the company’s commercial business strategy and over 40k people across the globe in a whole range of functions that need to work closely together in one coherent team for a company in the midst of digitally transforming itself with it’s customers. Leading that many people who have to work that closely is in itself intriguing. Doing that while being part of a leadership team engaged in on...

Sep 13, 20171 hr 14 min

Executive John Nordstrom on Building Corporate Culture, Relationships, Authenticity

This conversation is with John Nordstrom -- of the Nordstrom high-quality fashion retailer in the US -- whose history has gone from a small shoe store, to having over 350 large luxury department stores -- to being publicly traded on the NYSE -- to being in the middle of a potential family buy back. This conversation is about a man who cares for his family and cares for his customers. It's authentic and it's one of the reasons the Nordstrom company has been successful. In this conversation, we ta...

Sep 06, 201743 min

Dr. Albert Bandura on The Theory on Creating Human Results

This conversation is with Dr. Albert Bandura. This conversation was an honor. He's literally a living legend in the field of Psychology -- He's an extraordinarily innovative scholar whose work in social cognitive theory has become an incredible resource in academics and for practitioners dedicated to human excellence His theories are part the core pillars with my work with elite teams, athletes, and performers. It was a complete joy to learn from him in this conversation, after I've spent so man...

Aug 30, 20171 hr 14 min

English Cricketer Alec Stewart on Authenticity, Work Ethic, and Vision

In these conversations, it's my intent to really dig, relentlessly dig, to work to understand the truth. The truth of the nature of the conversation, but also the truth of the person. And opening up is challenging - it's a really hard thing to do, as many of us can recognize, to be authentic and to be vulnerable. But in this conversation with Alec Stewart, it just worked and it was a pleasure. Alec is a former English cricketer , a right-handed batsman - wicketkeeper and former captain of the En...

Aug 23, 201751 min

Texas Basketball Head Coach Shaka Smart on Bringing Out The Best in Others

Shaka Smart is the Men’s Basketball Head Coach at the University of Texas and he's got a phenomenal way about himself. It just jumps out of this conversation how much he cares about other people, how invested he is in relationships, how he's working to be the most authentic person he can be — and at the same time pull that out of other people. He's definitely a relationship-based coach, which is obvious in this conversation, and he's got a real crisp point of view about how to help others become...

Aug 16, 20171 hr 37 min

Major MJ Hegar on Escaping Death, Remaining Calm, and Trusting Self

First - real quick if you haven’t heard yet, we are pivoting from an ad-supported model to a crowdfunding model and we really need your support! You can learn more at findingmastery.net/support - it would be greatly appreciated. We’d love to see this podcast exist for a long time but that only happens if we have your support. And for those who aren’t familiar with Tribe Talk - it’s where I answer questions related to the podcast and high performance. I just recorded a new episode last week on ho...

Aug 09, 20171 hr 29 min

Golden State Warriors President Rick Welts on Culture, Leadership, Alignment

This conversation is with Rick Welts. He has 40 years of experience in the NBA and is currently the President & Chief Operating Officer of the Golden State Warriors who have just won their second championship in 3 years. He owns the rare distinction of being part of championship teams in the NBA (2), WNBA (2) and NBA Development League. We talk about risk -- both private and public risk….and how important alignment in life is (who you are and how you live your life. Rick is known to be a wor...

Jul 24, 20171 hr 39 min

Dr. Harry Edwards on Human Rights, Sport and Society

This conversation is loaded. The center of the conversation is Dr. Harry Edwards journey to impact human rights through the experiences of the African American athlete. Often times when people are asked, what they want most in life, the response,, without hesitation, is "to be happy -- or to have peace." I know for sure that I don't want, just happiness. I don't want just one of the core emotions. I want to be connected to them all, not muted from the ones that are uncomfortable. In this convers...

Jul 17, 20171 hr 36 min

Siri Co-Founder Adam Cheyer on Having a Vision, Approaching Insurmountable Challenges, and Authenticity

If you have an iPhone, you know Adam Cheyer's work. He was the Co-Founder of Siri, Inc. He's now the Co-Founder and VP of Engineering at Viv Labs . Their mission is to: Radically simplify the world by providing an intelligent interface for everything. He's also one of the founders of Sentient Technologies , which was founded in 2007 and has generated over $143 million in funding since its inception. In this conversation, we talked about having a vision for what you prioritize most (he has goals ...

Jul 10, 20171 hr 19 min

Author Jon Gordon on Team Building, Relationships, Connection

Jon Gordon is a best-selling author: including The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, Training Camp, The Seed, You Win in the Locker Room First and The No Complaining Rule…..and his newest book: the power of positive leadership Jon has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, The Golf Channel, Fox and Friends….and….seems like every other week I hear about him speaking to teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB….or keynoting conferences. Jon has spirit. And I think people are so attracted to him, because of that s...

Jun 26, 20171 hr 10 min

Author Wendy Behary on Narcissism and High Performance

Wendy Behary is a founding fellow and consulting supervisor for The Academy of Cognitive Therapy (Aaron T. Beck Institute). Wendy has a specialty in treating narcissists and the people who live with and deal with them. She is the author of "Disarming the Narcissist -- surviving and thriving with the self-absorbed” translated in 10 languages. Narcissism and world-class achievement have an interesting relationship. When we think of those who excel on the world stage, it'd be easy to conjure up a s...

Jun 19, 20171 hr 11 min

Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman on Authenticity, Creativity, and Confidence

Scott Barry Kaufman is primarily interested in using solid psychological science to live a creative, fulfilling, and meaningful life. He's earned his research chops -- He received a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Yale University, and an M. Phil in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge. He's the scientific director of the Imagination Institute, and conducts research in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Scott is also an author -- In 2013, he p...

Jun 08, 20171 hr 23 min

SportsCenter Anchor Lisa Kerney on Growth Mindset, Vision, Being Present

Lisa Kerney is an anchor of the evening and night editions of SportsCenter. In this conversation we learn what it's like to have a childhood dream -- and -- more importantly how to make decisions that map-onto making that childhood dream come to life. When we see people who are doing what they always wanted to do -- they have much to teach us about what it takes to set a long term vision -- how to persevere through the ups and downs -- and how to fuel the passion that is required to "play the lo...

May 31, 201754 min

Warrior Tu Lam on Warfare, Service, Survival

This conversation is with Tu Lam. Tu is a modern day warrior, respected by his peers to have a very special understanding of elite war fighting. Tu shares how he was raised as a warrior. This conversation will challenge you -- as his world view, his spiritual framework and his warrior craft are beautifully complicated and nuanced. I have an incredibly high regard for those who dedicate their life to noble purposes. There are many ways to live with conviction -- ranging from pacifism to warfighti...

May 24, 20171 hr 31 min

Tribe Talk Pilot: What It Means To Set The Mind

Normally we sit down with people who are world class - masters of craft - and we work to deconstruct and decode how they became who they are. I want to do something a little bit different here. The podcast landscape - it's really fun obviously - but there's no rules, there's no path, there's literally no map about how this is supposed to work. One of the things that I've wanted to do is answer some of the questions that come our way through social media. And there's great questions on the Findin...

May 18, 20178 min

In Remembrance: Tottenham U23 Coach Ugo Ehiogu

This conversation is with Ugo Ehiogu, whom I just met in Great Britain. He was a former English professional footballer. If you're in the states you would call him a soccer player. He had a long career- from 1989 to 2009 and at the time I met him he was the coach of the Tottenham Hotspur under-23 team. Ugo had this inner brilliance, this humility and thoughtfulness that was apparent right from the first interaction. It was the handshake and the eye contact that gave it away. It was the combinati...

May 15, 201732 min

Stanford Professor Tina Seelig on Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Tina Seelig is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, and a Faculty Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University School of Engineering. At Stanford, she teaches courses and leads three fellowship programs focused on creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Dr. Seelig earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford Medical School, and has authored 17 books, including Insight Out (2016), inGenius (2012), and What I Wish I...

May 11, 20171 hr 31 min
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