The Art Of Coaching

E165 | Kenny Kane: The Message is The Medium

Living in a moment when competition for our attention is at an all time high makes the medium through which we convey our message absolutely critical. From social media to marketing, the platform we wield (or don’t wield...) can communicate as much about our values as the words themselves. And while this debate is nothing new, today’s guest Kenny Kane has a unique perspective on this issue and many more. 

 

Kenny is the owner of Oak Park Los Angeles (Home of CrossFit Los Angeles - CFLA) where he and his team have created a paradigm through which gym members are able to transfer the adaptive capacity developed through physical fitness training to life itself.  Kenny also teaches “The Craftsmen’s Workshop,” an intensive coach development program and is the Founder/Host of The Body of Knowledge Podcast (as well as two others). If that wasn’t enough, Kenny was also a dual sport collegiate athlete and comedian before dabbling in martial arts and hip hop dance.

 

At Art of Coaching, we STRONGLY believe the medium matters. That’s why we created a space for leaders to learn and practice communication away from social media. No ads, no distractions, no fluff - just video based personal interactions with people who want to get better. Join us at artofcoaching.com/channels and become a part of our new favorite learning space - The AoC All-Access Community. 

 

In this episode, we cover:

• Why and how to match your medium with your message

• Identifying and navigating extractive technology

• Marketing vs. coaching - does all behavior change need to be ethical?

• The Diamond Goldfish & how to lead under pressure 

• Earning your voice - should there be a meritocracy in social media?

 

Connect with Kenny: 

 

For more on The Craftsman’s Workshop, email info@oakparkla.com

Via his website: www.oakparkla.com

E164 | Jenny Noiles: From Coach to Manager - How to Navigate Role Changes & New Cultures

Unless you keep the same job from the time you leave school until the time you retire, you’re bound to experience change. Like a personal relationship, moving up within or leaving one workplace culture to join another requires understanding, adaptation and most importantly communication. 

 

So how do you go from being just a tactician to manager/director who needs to understand both the minutia AND the bigger picture? 

 

Our guest today, Jenny Noiles, the Performance Director at Mayo Clinic Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (Rochester, MN), paints us a picture of this transition while discussing how to establish credibility without being a robot. Afterall, lacking warmth, our competence holds little weight. 

 

We cover:

• Demonstrating credibility without being a robot
• How to use anxiety in a productive manner 
• Leaving a dream job for a relationship & “following your heart”
• The importance of shared experiences and being relatable
• Why leaders need to be both heroes and villains 

 

Connect with Jenny:

Via instagram: @jennynoiles

 

Like Jenny said, you can’t fake reps. So if you think communication is important, you need to come to an Apprenticeship, ASAP! We create a place where failure is expected and celebrated using role play to practice navigating the obstacles you face in both your career and your personal life. 

 

This is the ONLY way to truly build your communication skills. Visit artofcoaching.com/apprenticeships for a list of cities we will be visiting this summer!!

E163 | Courtney Kelly: Leadership Language - Why Words Matter More Now Than Ever

Regardless of occupation or title, we all write. Whether it’s in short form on social media or long form as in email, proposals, blogs, articles, books, or academic journals- it’s something that unites all fields. 

 

That being said- what’s your perception of writing? Do you enjoy the craft or is it the bane of your existence? Were you raised to think of writing as a formal process reserved for academics and novelists or as an artistic endeavor? Whatever your history with the written word, our guest today will change your perspective of the practice. Not only do we discuss the neurological and biological underpinnings of language, we dive into how to develop your skill as an amatuer writer and why good writing doesn’t mean writing like Hemingway. 

 

Courtney Kelly is a writer and editor who partners with individuals and organizations to create brands, products, books, and other media that aim to effect real, prosocial change. Before starting her freelance business, Ethos Alchemy during the summer of 2020, she served as marketing director for Strength Ratio, a strength and conditioning and sport performance company, and as curriculum director for Strivven Media, an Asheville-based education technology company. She began her career as an English teacher, and writing education remains central to her work today.

 

We also cover: 

• Theory of mind and why we think we’re better than we are
• Using ethical manipulation and adaptation in communication - where do you draw the line?
• How to become a more efficient writer when it’s not your full time job 
• Why saying what you’re NOT can be more powerful than what you ARE
• Why you should read more fiction and watch tv

 

Connect with Courtney:

Via her website: https://www.courtneykellywrites.com/

 

OUR LIVE APPRENTICESHIPS ARE BACK!

Find your city then click to join the movement...

• Phoenix, AZ - May 1-2: SOLD OUT
• Miami, FL - May 15-16: SOLD OUT
• Dallas, TX - June 26-27: Available! 
• Chicago, IL - August 7-8: Available!
• Seattle, WA - August 28-29: Available!
• Nashville, TN - September 25-26: Available

Finally, we’ve partnered again with Momentous. If you want a discount on the only protein and supplement brand I’ll endorse - use code Brett25 for 25% off your first order and 15% off any future orders! https://www.livemomentous.com/pages/partner-brett

E162 | Shaylah Simpson: How An Identity Crisis Can Create Clarity

Our early communication style can be heavily influenced by parents, teachers and coaches but when we transition to different stages of life and form new relationships, sometimes those initial behaviors no longer serve us.

 

As humans, shedding those previous practices and forming new ones (albeit necessary) can feel completely foreign- as if we’ve forgotten who we are and where we came from.  But when we examine how our past has influenced our present, we can use it to inform and improve our future. 

 

In today’s episode Shaylah Simpson teaches us how to identify weaknesses in our current communication style and shares her tips for having more productive conversations. 

 

Shaylah is a former semi-professional track and field athlete. She competed in the pole vault for Arizona State University and continued her post-collegiate career with Altis and Arizona Pole Vault Academy until she hung up the spikes in 2018. Shaylah currently works in Client Services for Conscious Family Law & Mediation in Boulder, Colorado while finishing up credits to get her certificate in Conflict Resolution and Mediation. In the future, she plans to get her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and work to help diverse groups of people cultivate stronger relationships with themselves and others.

 

We discuss:

 

• Navigating (multiple) identity crises 
• Authoritative vs. authoritarian leadership
• Balancing resilience and vulnerability in relationships
• Checking assumptions and labeling emotions in conversation

 

Connect with Shaylah:

 

Via Instagram: @shay_simps 

 

If you’re dealing with any of these issues-  identity crisis, starting a new job, working on a relationship or going through a transition of any kind, we’d love to help. We’re currently accepting applications for our flagship mentorship group, The Coalition. If you’re interested in working through your challenges with a group that will have no problem holding your feet to the fire or walking you through the next step, check out artofcoaching.com/coalition!

Also, be sure to give some love to our new sponsor, SAGA fitness! They offer affordable and state of the art BFR (blood flow restriction) cuffs to keep you healthy and strong no matter your lifestyle. Brett20 gets you 20% off your order!

E161 | Chad Wesley Smith: I'm The Juggernaut!

It’s not common for strength coaches to crossover into other fields or add the title of “entrepreneur” to their resume- much less in the world of artificial intelligence. Today’s guest Chad Wesley Smith has done both at the highest level. 

For both my training nerds AND my non-coaching audience, this episode is a great representation of how leaders can ethically brand themselves, develop auxiliary skill sets and find success outside of their immediate domain. 

Chad is the owner and founder of Juggernaut Training Systems, as well as being one of the most highly regarded strength coaches and athletes of the modern era. As an athlete, Chad has posted Top 10 All-Time Total in wraps (1055kg/2325#) and sleeves (1010kg/2226#), won 2 National Championships in the Shot Put and earned his Pro Card in Strongman. 

 

We discuss: 

• Using artificial intelligence to make coaching decisions
• The secret to branding yourself ethically
• How to embrace entrepreneurship as a coach 
• Jiu Jitsu and maintaining a beginner's mindset  

 

Connect with Chad: 

 

Via Instagram: @chadwesleysmith & @juggernauttraining

 

Via Website: https://www.jtsstrength.com/

 

Via Twitter: @juggernauttraining

If you’re like Chad, you probably enjoy picking up loads equivalent to small houses… But sometimes we can’t pick up heavy weight because we’re traveling or injured. If that's the case, I highly recommend checking out the new BFR cuffs from our partner SAGA fitness. These cuffs saved me when I was recovering from my shoulder injury. 

Click the link below to learn more: 

 

https://saga.fitness/products/the-bfr-cuffs

 

And while you’re here, check out our other amazing partners: Momentous and VersaClimber

That’s all! See you next week.

E160 | Megan Young: How A Dumbbell Pyramid Sparked Social Change

In light of recent events I wanted to release an extra, time sensitive episode. 

Last week at the NCAA basketball tournament a social media post showing the disparities between the men’s and women’s “weight rooms” went viral. One photo resulted in a litany of content that uncovered not only differences in the equipment and facilities, but of the testing protocols, food, “swag bags” and more. 

With institutions and individuals calling on the NCAA to rectify the inequities displayed at their premier championship event, we wanted to give a platform to those voices, address the larger issues and talk to someone who can help us understand the context and what we can do to prevent this in the future. 

Megan Young’s entire life purpose is about facilitating meaningful connection, and she’s used the arena of strength and conditioning as a vessel to carry out that mission having worked in collegiate and professional settings over the course of 14 years. 

She’s also a survivor.

Diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2015- Meg is no stranger to overcoming various forms of struggle. Her relentlessness for education, performance and equality is bookmarked by dual masters degrees (one in exercise physiology, another in information systems and data science) as well as a PHDC in adult education.

Put simply, Meg has an astute understanding of both the complex and the complicated- both of which serve as home and hearth of the matter we discuss today.

 

If you want to get in touch with Meg:

Via email: Youngstrength.megan@gmail.com

Via Instagram: @coach_megastrong

Via Twitter: @coachmega

 

We also want to give a massive thank you to our sponsors for this episode: 

• SAGA Fitness

• VersaClimber
• Momentous 

For more information and discount codes from all of our sponsors, check out www.artofocoaching.com/sponsors

E159 | My Most Vulnerable Episode So Far

Sometimes this podcast is a place to learn tactics and strategies and other times it's a place to share hard, honest truths.

Recently, a conversation with a friend about the fleeting nature of fatherhood sparked an examination of my priorities and time. As a result I wrote a deeply personal piece about a few things I’ve reflected upon and perhaps even (re)learned over the past year. Some of this I’ve spoken about before- yet it still resonates, now more than ever.

On today’s episode I’ll expand on those initial thoughts and what led to writing my recent newsletter. If you haven’t read the original piece and want to, make sure you’re subscribed by clicking here. I’m not a big email guy so I promise I won’t blow up your inbox- I only send a couple a month and they are typically raw and honest like this.

Speaking of honest- can I ask for a favor? We rely on your feedback and suggestions to make this show better and we would LOVE if you would share that with us in the form of a review on iTunes. Let’s do this: if you leave a rating we’ll enter you in a random drawing to win either a free course or 1-on-1 communication training call with me. Just make sure you use your real name or social media handle so we can contact you!

If you’re just looking for the cliffnotes version of this episode, here are the lessons I share:

1. The Stories You Tell Yourself Will Absolutely Steer Your Life 

2. It’s Your Responsibility to Make It Stick 

3. Winners Suffer Longer.

4. The Answer Is Always "No" If You Don’t Ask 

5. Clear Goals Are NOT The Only Way to Get What You Want

But if you like context and want to hear more honest reflections like this, listen to the full episode  AND check out our new All-Access Channel. We’ve partnered with Marco Polo to bring you an exclusive, video first platform that’s NOTHING like social media. No ads, no distractions, no messed up chronological timeline just real people sharing real thoughts and learning from each other.

E158 | Johnjay Van Es: Unscripted & Uncommon Roads to Success

HEADS UP! There are only a few days left to register for The Communication and Leadership Strategy Summit! On March 20-21th, 2021 we’re hosting an interactive online event about navigating the messy realities of leadership and communication. Learn tactics and strategies from top professionals in the fields of finance, performance, medical, business and the military. Click here to sign up before it's too late! 

*Cue late night FM DJ Voice* 

On today’s show we are joined by radio host and broadcasting legend Johnjay Van Es for a conversation where nothing is off-limits. We discuss the magic of radio or what he calls “theater of the mind”, driving Wayne Gretzky around as an intern, navigating cancel culture as a public figure and father, his 3:45 AM wake up call and other “strange rituals.” 

We also cover:

• The danger of Hollywood “cure alls” and one-size fits all leadership models
• Exploring creativity and affordances as a parent and coach 
• Why he doesn’t like interviewing celebrities
• Choosing what to share on air- where do you draw the line?

It’s refreshing to talk to people who candidly share their successes and failures but even more so when they are highly skilled in the art of conversation. Johnjay is the host of the nationally syndicated Johnjay and Rich Radio Show and 2018 inductee into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. When he’s not covering pop culture, news, music, celebrities and everything in between, he’s the founder of #LovePup Dog Rescue and #LoveUp Foundation. 

Connect with Johnjay: 

Via Instagram: @johnjayvanes or @lovepupfoundation

Via Twitter: @johnjayvanes

Via his website: https://loveupfoundation.org/lovepup/

On today’s episode we discuss the importance of critical analysis when determining the effectiveness of new performance technologies. Unlike many I’ve tried over the years, SAGA.fitness’s BFR (blood flow restriction) cuffs have made a huge difference in my training and rehab. If you’re interested in a research-backed modality that can take your rehab and/or workouts to the next level- use code BRETT20 for 20% off!

E157 | Ask Me Anything - Personal & Professional Questions I've Never Addressed Before

Today we flip the script and my good friend Ali Kershner interviews me, asking personal and professional questions I’ve never addressed on air before.  I’m a relatively private person but for this special Q&A I air out some dirty laundry and answer a few of the tougher questions I’ve gotten over the years. 

 

Sit back, relax, enjoy Ali’s dulcet tones and get a glimpse behind the curtain. Just wait, she even manages to stump me with one... 

 

We cover the following and more:

• My current thoughts about the S&C industry (and why I left…)
• A sneak peak into my second book 
• How I relax and where I find creativity (+ my go-to karaoke song)
• Dealing with critics and bad reviews
• Managing an increasingly public brand (especially as a dad)

 

If you want to ask me a question and get a response longer than 15 seconds, go to artofcoaching.com/channels and join our all-access community. This is a place to learn about business, branding, communication and leadership then directly interact and network with myself and a wide range of professionals.

 

*New Sponsor Alert* 

We just teamed up with SAGA Fitness. SAGA offers premier and affordable BFR (blood flow restriction) cuffs for those who want to rehab an injury (like I did with my shoulder), build muscle and/or get a great workout while traveling. Use code: BRETT20 for 20% off!

Head to SAGA.fitness to purchase your very own set of cuffs and while you're there be sure to check out their blog.

 

Oh, and one more thing.... We’re hosting an online communication and leadership strategy summit. Yeah, we’re tired of virtual events too but this one is different because we’re inviting speakers from a variety of fields to discuss tactics and strategies for navigating today’s toughest communication and leadership issues. Click here to learn more!  

 

Follow me on social media:

Via Instagram: @coach_BrettB

Via Twitter: @coach_BrettB

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here

Learn More About My Courses, Clinics, and Live Events At: www.ArtofCoaching.com

E156 | What You Need To Know About Writing A Book & Getting It Published

If you’ve ever had even the smallest inkling of an idea or desire for putting a figurative pen to paper and writing a book - this one’s for you. 

Today’s episode is dedicated to everything I’ve learned, mistakes I’ve made and what you ABSOLUTELY need to know about the process of writing and publishing. 

I will warn you- if you’re looking for someone to pump you up and encourage you to drop everything and become an author- this isn’t the show for you. But if you’re curious and truly want to know what it takes to create work that lasts, I’m here to help. 

Whether you’re tangled up in the webs of (writing) despair, finished with a manuscript but don’t know what to do next or just not sure where to start… relax, you’re in the right place. 

 In today’s deep dive, I cover the following and much more:

• Essential questions to answer before you begin 
• Tips for the writing/editing process
• Cover design (yes, people do judge a book by the cover)
• Publishing routes and how to write a winning book proposal 
• Marketing without “selling out”

Maybe writing isn’t your thing but you very much enjoy face to face interaction, connecting with people and finding ways to have deeper conversations about important subjects - if that’s you - you need to get over to artofcoaching.com/channels.

We’ve created something that is social media free, highly interactive and deeply personal where coaches and leaders of every age, profession and experience level can connect- and it’s also where I’m dropping exclusive content weekly that you will not get on the podcast or on my social media.