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Retired Fighter Pilot and Best-Selling Author Dan Hampton on VALOR

We’re All in Need of a Hero
Dan Hampton Has One for Us

Lt. Bill Harris was a WWII hero you probably haven’t heard of. Award-winning author and retired fighter pilot Dan Hampton plans to change that. His new book VALOR introduces us to the Saga of One Man’s Defiance and Indomitable Spirit in a style that reads like an adventure novel.

We chat with Dan about Lt. Harris, the power of resilience, why he thinks Ukrainian President Zelensky is so successful, and why the US Air Force is the best in the world. Join us for this fascinating and inspiring chat.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Dan Hampton

About Dan Hampton
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton flew 151 combat missions during his twenty years (1986– 2006) in the United States Air Force. For his service in the Iraq War, Kosovo conflict, and first Gulf War, Col. Hampton received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor, a Purple Heart, eight Air Medals with Valor, five Meritorious Service medals, and numerous other citations. He is a graduate of the USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS), and USAF Special Operations School. A frequent guest analyst on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC discussing foreign affairs, military, aviation, and intelligence issues, he has published in Aviation History, the Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine, Vietnam magazine, and Airpower magazine, and written several classified tactical works for the USAF Weapons Review. He is the author of the national bestsellers Viper Pilot and Lords of the Sky, as well as a novel, The Mercenary.

For his book, Valor: Click here
Click here to follow him on Facebook

 

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Author and Speaker Cy Wakeman on dealing with a messy life

Cy Wakeman’s new book
Life’s Messy, Live Happy

Do you feel like your life is messy? That things are often in chaos and sometimes life just seems so unfair?

Cy Wakeman wrote a book to give us hope. Titled Life’s Messy, Live Happy, she tells us that we are often the source of our own suffering, and how we can flip the switch from suffering to self-reflection. The subtitle is even more inspiring: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content.

We’ll talk about how we’re NOT a self-help project, she’ll give us tips on avoiding the roller coaster of emotions, and we’ll hear the story of Good, Bad, Who Knows? It’s a fun chat with lots of good info tucked in to help you Life Happy, even if life IS messy!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Cy Wakeman

About Cy Wakeman

Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, international leadership speaker, and consultant. In 2001 she founded Reality-Based Leadership. She is the author of three books: Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses Into Results (2010), NY Times Bestseller, The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace: Know What Boosts Your Value, Kills Your Chances, and Will Make You Happier (2013), and her new release No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results (2017). In 2017 and 2018, she was named as one of the Top Global Leadership Gurus by Global Gurus, a Top 100 Leadership Expert to Follow on Twitter, and was deemed “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace.”

For more about Cy Wakeman: Click Here​
For her book, Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Click here
Follow her on Twitter: @cywakeman
And on Instagram: @cywakeman
Click here to watch her videos on YouTube
Click here to follow her on Facebook

 

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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Michael H. Cottman: Segregated Skies

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Michael H. Cottman on
David Harris – the First Black Commercial Airlines Pilot

When you get on a plane to fly somewhere, do you think much about the pilots in the cockpit?  I mean, sure, you hope this isn’t their first flight, and that their eyesight is good. But do you wonder if the pilot is white or black?

Back in the 60s, you wouldn’t have to wonder because the pilots were all White. That is, until David Harris came along.

Pulitzer prize-winning author Michael H. Cottman takes us through the story of Harris, the first Black commercial pilot, in his new book “Segregated Skies: David Harris’ Trailblazing Journey to Rise above Racial Barriers.”

Written for young adults, the book is a good read for all ages. In our chat, we learn some of the things that David experienced as a black man in the military and at American Airlines in the 60s. We learn about David’s tenacity, persistence, and doggedness and how he eventually became a role model for all pilots at American Airlines. Plus, how his swagger helped him change the status quo!

In our chat, we also talk about how Michael himself was racially profiled, run off the road and called names. Listen in as we talk about an aviation pioneer, and find some life lessons we can ALL take from this book.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and  Michael Cottman

About Michael Cottman

Michael H. Cottman is an award-winning journalist and author. He is currently program editor for the NBCUniversal News Group’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team – NBC News/MSNBC/CNBC. He was formerly editorial manager for NBCBLK and worked as a political reporter for the Washington Post and a reporter for the Miami Herald. His past books include Shackles From the Deep, The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie, and Million Man March. He has appeared on National Public Radio’s Tell Me More, CNN, The History Channel, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Cottman was also part of Newsday’s reporting team that won journalism’s highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize, in 1992 for coverage of a deadly subway crash in New York. He lives in Maryland, where he spends most of his time reading, researching, writing — and looking for the next big adventure to share with readers.

​For his book, Segregated Skies: Click here
Follow him on Twitter: @mhcottman
And on LinkedIn: Click here
Go to his website: Click here

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Racial Extremism & the US Military – Dr. Megan McBride of CNA

A surprising portion of the people charged for 1/6
have some sort of military experience.
Do we have a problem in the US Military?

Of the 600+ people charged in the 1/6 insurrection, 12% had some sort of military experience. Both leading up to and in the wake of 1/6, a series of reports called attention to the potential threat posed by extremists in the military. Dr. Megan McBride, a research analyst on both domestic and international terrorism, co-wrote a CNA report about racial extremism in the military, and what needs to be done. How big is the problem? How does the culture of the military fit in to solving this problem? What needs to be done?

Dr. McBride shares some surprising insights and reminds us that the sexual harassment/assault issue in the military hasn’t been solved yet – but we can learn from the approach the military is taking.

If you’re worried about racial extremism in the military, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Dr. Megan McBride & Pam

About Dr. Megan McBride

Megan McBride, PhD, a research analyst in CNA’s Center for Stability and Development, is an expert on international security issues including terrorism, radicalization, and ideological violence. Her work on domestic and international terrorist movements includes anti-abortion terrorism, environmental terrorism, and Islamist terrorism. Her current focus in on extremism in the information space and the evaluation of countering violent extremism and reintegration programming. She is also a fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

For her full report on Racial Extremism in the Military: Click Here

For more deep-dive information from CNA, check out their research page: Click here

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Professor and Egyptologist Kara Cooney

The Good Kings
Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World

Dr. Kara Cooney returns to discuss her new and provocative book The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World. The book covers five Egyptian pharaohs – or kings, if you will – and discusses the concepts surrounding power: how is it earned, who controls it, and why the many often give up power to the few.  Oh… and does any of that correlate to our modern life?

Dr. Cooney tells us how authoritarianism starts, how that power is maintained, and if she is seeing signs of it in the world today. Plus what people gain from aligning with corrupt people in power and why cognitive dissonance is important to allow  corrupt leadership to continue.

We also discuss how in the past women had equal power to men in some areas (would you believe Los Angeles, 300 years ago?!)  And why we are starting to ask what is power, what is value, and why is there so much sexual abuse.

So. Much. Fascinating. Conversation.  Dr. Cooney will give you lots to think about, I promise.

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Kara Cooney and Pam

About Kara Cooney

Dr. Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA. Specializing in craft production, coffin studies, and economies in the ancient world, Cooney received her PhD in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, she was co-curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Cooney produced a comparative archaeology television series, entitled Out of Egypt, which aired in 2009 on the Discovery Channel and is available online via Netflix and Amazon.

Her latest book, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World, Kara turns to five ancient Egyptian pharaohs–Khufu, Senwosret III, Akenhaten, Ramses II, and Taharqa–to understand why many so often give up power to the few, and what it can mean for our future. Published by National Geographic Press, this book will be released in late 2021.

Her book When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra, and shines a light on our own perceptions of women in power today. Published by National Geographic Press, the book was released in 2018.

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt was Cooney’s first trade book, and it benefits from her immense knowledge of Egypt’s ancient history to craft an illuminating biography of its least well-known female king. As an archaeologist who spent years at various excavations in Egypt, Cooney draws from the latest field research to fill in the gaps in the physical record of Hatshepsut. Published by Crown Publishing Group, the book was released in 2014.

Cooney’s current research in coffin reuse, primarily focusing on the 21st Dynasty, is ongoing. Her research investigates the socioeconomic and political turmoil that have plagued the period, ultimately affecting funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt. This project has taken her around the world over the span of five to six years to study and document more than 300 coffins in collections, including those in Cairo, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vatican City.

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband Remy Hiramoto.

​

For her book, The Good Kings: Click here
For more from Kara: Click Here
Follow her on Twitter: @KaraCooney
Instagram @KaraCooney

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Former Navy Seal Jocko Willink Talks About the Dichotomy of Leadership

 

Several years ago we took on the concept of Extreme Ownership with Navy Seal co-authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.  We learned that if you’re in charge – you better own it!

Now these two leadership experts and co-founders of Echelon Front  have a new book out called The Dichotomy of Leadership – and maybe because some people took their original advice to the EXTREME!!

We talk with Jocko Willink— former Commander of Seal Team 3 – Task Unit Bruiser (which, by the way, was the most highly decorated US Special Ops unit of the Iraq War), about this dichotomy.  What can we learn about balance – and why it’s important.

Plus – when it’s time to fire someone… how to know when to back off… and why humility is so important.

Thanks for listening!

Click on the player below to listen to the conversation with Jocko Willink and Pam Atherton