Leadership Under Fire

Leading with Character and Curiosity: From Combat to Moneyball with Sandy Alderson

Mr. Sandy Alderson has served as an executive in Major League Baseball for four decades. His teams have won six division titles, three American League pennants, one National League pennant and a World Series Championship. He served as a General Manager, Chief Executive Officer and/or President with the Oakland Athletic, San Diego Padres and New York Mets. He was the architect of the Oakland Athletics teams that played in three consecutive World Series from 1988 to 1990 and won the 1989 World Series. Sandy guided the 2015 NY Mets to a National League pennant and the World Series. He has also served as an executive for Major League Baseball on two separate occasions. Sandy presently serves as a Senior Advisor to Baseball Operations for the Oakland Athletics. Prior to his MLB career, Sandy served four years as a US Marine Infantry Officer with a tour of duty in Vietnam. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

Jim McNamara's Senior Man Feature Episode with Jerry Smith Jr., BCFD--Part II

Welcome to the second part of Jim McNamara's Senior Man Feature Episode with Jerry Smith Jr., BCFD. This episode picks up with guest host James McNamara, who is a senior Firefighter at the FDNY and serves as a Human Performance Advisor for Leadership Under Fire. He's also the principal author of the Leadership Under Fire Senior Man’s Performance Journal. Our guest, Jerry Smith Jr., is a Firefighter with the Baltimore City Fire Department currently assigned to Rescue Company 1 and is a member of the BCFD Dive Team. In the previous episode, they discussed Jerry's early career, the role of the senior Firefighter and lessons learned during Baltimore's periods of civil unrest. Now, they'll discuss Jerry's diving career, optimizing human performance and the value of being lifelong learners.

Jim McNamara's Senior Man Feature Episode with Jerry Smith Jr., BCFD--Part I

Jim McNamara hosts this episode of the Leadership Under Fire Optimizing Human Performance Podcast. Jim is a senior Firefighter at the FDNY and serves as a Human Performance Advisor for LUF. He's also the principal author of the Leadership Under Fire Senior Man’s Performance Journal. Our guest in this episode, Jerry Smith Jr., is a Firefighter with the Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) currently assigned to Rescue Company 1. He was previously assigned to Truck Company 15 and entered the fire department in 2004. Jerry grew up in suburban Philadelphia, which is where his fire service career began as a volunteer. He is a member of the BCFD Dive Team and serves as the public safety scuba instructor. Jerry was also a member of the Central Maryland Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 2. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Loyola University of Maryland. Currently, Jerry is involved with the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute in their three year study of Fire Service Residential Home Size-up and Search and Rescue Operations serving as a member of the technical panel. Jerry has been actively involved with Leadership Under Fire since its inception in 2012.

A Competitor's Mindset with Chicago Cubs Slugger Kyle Schwarber

When faced with a career-halting injury, our guest in this episode, used the challenge as an opportunity to hone his skills in a way that ultimately helped the Chicago Cubs break the Curse of the Billy Goat and capture the World Series in 2016. Kyle Schwarber played baseball for Indiana University where he was an All-American for the Hoosiers. During the summer, he played for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Kyle was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He signed on June 11th and made his professional debut with the Boise Hawks just three days later, going 3-4 with a home run and three RBIs. In his first year of professional baseball Kyle played several levels of Class A ball as well as Double-A. The Cubs promoted Kyle to the Major Leagues in June of 2015 after having played just one year in the Cubs Minor League system. Kyle finished his rookie season having played 69 games, with a .246 batting average, 16 home runs, 52 runs scored, and 43 RBIs in just 273 plate appearances. At just 22 years old, Kyle hit several epic home runs for the Cubs in the 2015 National League playoffs. The Cubs and Kyle entered the 2016 with high hopes though Kyle’s season certainly did not go as planned. Last season, Kyle hit 38 home runs and 92 RBIs while batting .250. In addition to being a World Series Champion slugger for the Cubs, Kyle is a leader in the community where he is incredibly passionate about supporting first responders with his charity Schwarber's Neighborhood Heroes. The campaign is designed to recognize first responders by honoring their heroism, courage and devotion to duty. 

Risk, Restraint and Resilience in Lethal Environments with James Roussell, USMC (Ret) & Chicago PD (Ret)

The conversation you will hear in this episode was recorded in early 2019 at a Leadership Under Fire Optimizing Human Performance Summit, which took place in Annapolis, Maryland. The event was devoted to the concept of resilience, the ability to navigate adversity and absorb failure and loss in high-risk settings. We explored the concept from the individual, team and organizational level as well as from a physical, mental, emotional and moral perspective. Guest presenters included FDNY Black Sunday survivor Firefighter Brendan Cawley, Dr. Preston Cline and Coleman Ruiz of the Mission Critical Team Institute and Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic—the NY Times bestselling authors of Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in US Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man. That’s just to name a few. You can hear audio from the entire Summit by visiting leadershipunderfire.com. To help listeners gain context for each Summit discussion, LUF Founder Jason Brezler and podcast host Patti Murphy discussed their reflections shortly after the event. So, you’re about to hear that conversation and then an introduction to Jim Roussell, followed his contribution at the Summit.

USMC Top Shooter's Perspective on Optimal Performance with J. Carlson, USMC (Ret)

What is going on inside of the mind of one of the USMC's top marksman? Joining us in the latest episode of the Leadership Under Fire Optimizing Human Performance Podcast is Julia Carlson. Among many other accomplishments, she was the first female to graduate the Small Arms Weapons Instructor School. Her marksmanship and Marine Corps highlights include: over 15 Interservice awards, five International awards of which two were Combat Precision against all militaries in the world, over 40 National titles and awards to include four history making championships by being the first woman to ever win since the induction of the competition in 1902. She was named the Female Athlete of the Year for the Marine Corps in 1998 and has held three National Service Rifle records. She earned her Distinguished Rifleman Badge in 1997 and her Distinguished Pistol Shot 2014 and is one of four known female Marines to become double distinguished. During her time as a member of the Marine Corps Shooting Teams (both active and reserve), she has taught marksmanship skills to active and reserves around the country, youth, civilian groups, law enforcement, and other branches of the military as well. She retired from the US Marines as a Master Sergeant in 2016 with twenty-two years of service.

Revisiting Tribe (with a Pandemic Epilogue) with Sebastian Junger

In this episode, Leadership Under Fire welcomes back to the Optimizing Human Performance Podcast American journalist, author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger. Sebastian was featured on the show in March of 2019, but that conversation seems even more relevant as our entire society is navigating a deadly pandemic that has brought with it great uncertainty while disrupting many of our social norms and economy. And so, it seems fitting to follow up with Sebastian and pose a few questions to him that are specific to the crisis that is the COVID-19 pandemic. The original conversation will follow after the latest interview.

Embracing Extreme Adversity with LCDR Justin Legg, USN SEAL (Ret)

In this episode of the Leadership Under Fire Optimizing Human Performance Podcast, we'll unpack Justin Legg's unprecedented story of resilience. In 2006, Justin experienced a major medical setback, but as discussed, his mental fortitude has carried him through every challenge in life. Justin is a retired Navy SEAL Officer who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2000 with a B.S. in Systems Engineering. He was a member of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training (or BUD/S) Class 234 and became a plank owner of SEAL Team SEVEN. While with SEAL Team SEVEN he deployed to the Middle East twice and participated in combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After returning from Iraq, he transferred to Special Boat Team TWENTY-TWO in Mississippi, where he served as a Task Unit Commander and the Team Training Officer. Justin medically retired from the Navy in 2012. He completed his master’s degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C. He works in Energy Resilience as a consultant to the Department of Defense. 

Deep Survival with Author Laurence Gonzales

Laurence Gonzales is the author of three novels and five books of nonfiction. His bestselling book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why has been published in six languages and was followed by Surviving Survival: The Art and Science of Resilience. His other works include Flight 232, Lucy and House of Pain. Gonzales has received numerous awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2015 he received a Journalism Fellowship from the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) and in 2016 was given an appointment as a Miller Scholar there. His appointment as an SFI Miller Scholar was renewed for 2017, 2018, and 2019. He is our guest on this episode of the Leadership Under Fire Optimizing Performance Podcast. 

Jim McNamara's Senior Man Feature Episode with Bob Athanas, FDNY

This episode is hosted by Jim McNamara. For those tuning in for the first time, Jim is a senior Firefighter at the FDNY and serves as a Human Performance Advisor for Leadership Under Fire. He's also the principal author of the Leadership Under Fire Senior Man’s Performance Journal. Bob Athanas is our guest in this episode. Bob recently retired after 37 years of service with the FDNY. Bob grew up in Southbridge, MA, and served as a paid firefighter there from 1976-1983. He moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1983 and served four years as an FDNY fire alarm dispatcher in the Brooklyn Central Office and later the CADO Unit. Bob was appointed as a FDNY firefighter in 1987. He transferred to Rescue 3 in February of 1991 where he would spend the next 29 years of his career. Bob also served as an adjunct instructor at the FDNY Fire Academy and the lead instructor for thermal imager training for many FDNY training programs. He also taught at the FDNY Special Operations Command Technical Rescue School and helped develop the FDNY SOC Advanced Firefighter Rescue Training program. Bob was also a member of the Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1.