2025 Review and a Look Ahead to 2026 (Click HERE to read it online)

Leading up to 2025, my teammate, Geron Stokes, convinced our Learning Leader Circle members to choose a word of the year. I’d heard of the idea but thought it was just a thing online influencers did to sell a course. So, I didn’t do it. But Geron pushed a bit and described how helpful the exercise had been for him, so I changed my mind. Why not? What could it hurt to try? I made 2025 the Year of Connection. It ended up having a big impact on my year. I highly recommend it.

For this year-in-review reflection, I’m going to focus mostly on how I worked to make this the Year of Connection and share some ideas about what I plan to do in the future. Here we go…

• January 1: Went on a family ski trip to Utah. Rented a small house. Riding up lifts together (a very cool way to hang out with your kids). Teenagers learning to ski. Lots of falls on day 1. Some tears. Got steadily better. Luckily, our flights were cancelled for two days, which gave us an extra day skiing. Incredible. Everyone was crushing it by the end. Doing it again in 2026.
• Leaders’ retreat. Rented a house in Scottsdale. Hosted 12 high-character leaders who are doing well at home and at work. Hikes, workouts, great food. Single-threaded conversations (one topic, one speaker at a time) at dinner. Lots of free time for people to break off and talk about whatever they wanted. Great stuff.
• ​TEAM. Love that I get to work with Sherri Coale, Brook Cupps, Geron Stokes, and Eli Leiker. We work with leadership teams. It’s cool to see where teams are when we start versus where they are a year later. I’ve noticed: the people who hire us to work with them and their leadership teams are already crushing it. They are 8s and 9s who want to be 10s. We never get asked to do work for people who are 4s and 5s. It’s the ones who are excellent and want to be better. There’s a lesson in that.
  • I was fortunate to do a leadership retreat/vacation with the team in The Bahamas. Incredible morning workouts in the rain. Jumped through a hole in the Thunderball Grotto. Great meals. Fun games. Good chill time. Spouses came too. So much fun.
• Recorded six in-person podcasts (of the 53 total published). Kirk Herbstreit, Bert Bean/Sam Kaufman, Tom Ryan, Ed Latimore, Larry Connor, and James Clear. LOVE recording in person with my guest, and want to do even more in 2026.
  • The Learning Leader Show ranked as high as #1 in Business and #17 in All Podcasts on Apple.
  • Gartner just wrote, “The Learning Leader Show is one of the 5 podcasts CIOs must listen to in 2026.” No idea how those lists are created, but it’s pretty cool to be alongside one of my favorite podcasters, Dwarkesh Patel.
• Learning Leader Growth Summit. We hosted it in Scottsdale, AZ, for my Learning Leader Circle members and some guests. Did a live podcast with Ed Latimore. Hiked Camelback with my teammates and a sunrise hike with the group on our last day. In between, we did a lot of work focused on how we can “be at our best.” Loved it.
• Went on the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer with my brother. A really fun trip for us to hang out and raise money for a great cause.
• Went to Lake Tahoe with my brother for the American Century Celebrity golf tournament. We’ve gone the past 15 years. One of our favorite weeks of the year. We stay in a house on the lake with friends. Sunrise swims, golf all day, amazing dinners with awesome people at night. Super grateful we get to do this every year.
• Coached our youngest daughter’s volleyball and flag football team. I got way into this. I see how coaches get addicted to it. Working with kids, seeing them improve, watching them compete like crazy, losing, winning, crying, celebrating, getting an interception when the game is on the line. All of it. I love it. Super grateful I get to do it.
• Hosted a dinner in Columbus. After doing the live show at Ohio University together, James Clear and I decided to host a dinner for high-character, accomplished leaders. He invited a few guys... I invited some. Nobody at the table knew everyone. We spent 3.5 hours sharing a meal and talking about being a great husband/dad, excellence, putting a positive dent in the world, and more. One of those nights where everyone says, “Man, we should do this more often.”
• Did 28 keynotes all over the country. This continues to be one of my favorite things I get to do. I love the anticipatory feeling I get right before I’m introduced to go on stage. I love seeing the positive body language from attendees who are having aha moments, interacting with them throughout, and then the follow-up conversations off to the side of the stage afterwards. Love it. I blocked off a few months of travel in the fall since it was my daughter’s senior season of volleyball. I learned that most people are really cool about that kind of thing if you just tell them the truth. “Hey, it’s my daughter’s senior year, and I don’t want to miss any of her games.” Everyone understands that.
  • Speaking of that, I was the public address announcer for her volleyball team. I took it way too seriously (“Hell yeah” or no) and went all out to sound like the dude who announced the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan years. I loved it, and it brought me closer to the team.
• Made a new “This I Believe” video. This is the capstone project for first-year members of my Learning Leader Circle. Probably my favorite exercise. I encourage everyone to do it. It’s a way for someone to really get to know what you’re all about in three minutes. Pretty cool. Here’s mine.

Things to Do in 2026 (and Beyond)

• On January 1, 2026, I plan to be on a giant mountain out west skiing with my family. For us, that time together is as good as it gets.
• TEAM. I want to ensure my teammates continue to feel 100% fulfilled in the work we do. The work we are doing is transformative. Not just for people at work, but more importantly, how they show up at home and in their communities. It’s so cool to see that happen. I want to do everything in my power to continue to push that standard.
• Become a New York Times bestselling author. Most authors I know who have achieved this have said it has helped them. Now that I’m running a business that employs more than just me, I feel a massive responsibility to help our team continue to earn clients, increase our rates, and make a bigger impact as we grow. Publicly, it seems like an unspoken rule that authors have to say, “Oh, I don’t care about hitting lists.” And then you talk to them privately and see how crazy hard they worked for years to become a NYT bestseller. I’d rather just skip the public lie and state what I actually want to achieve. I know a lot of it is out of my control. I’m still going to work hard to make it happen. (I have a new book coming out this year)
• I was listening to an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin recently. The part that really caught my attention was when he talked about hosting his annual DealBook Summit. He’s been doing it since 2011. About 500 people attend; they’re mostly leaders from a wide variety of industries (similar to the people who listen to my show/read my books). Andrew conducts one-on-one interviews with six to 10 CEOs, senior leaders, policy makers, and top world influencers. The summit is not just an industry conference; it’s widely viewed as a conversation hub where influential voices shape thinking on business, policy, and innovation. I want to do our version of a Learning Leader Summit. An annual event where we get thoughtful, ambitious, get-after-it type people together in a room for great conversations that spill out into the lobby and at dinner and beyond. Last year, I said I wanted to have the “biggest leadership conference ever,” but I’m changing my mind. Instead of the biggest, how about one of the best? Andrew’s summit is sponsored by The New York Times. I’d like to work with a partner to help put this together. If you’re interested (or know someone who would be), let me know.
• I’d like to earn one Fortune 100 company for my team as an ongoing monthly client in 2026. We do work with teams of leaders. Usually, 12-15 people together in a group learning together. We’ve learned that it has compounding effects to do it that way. It brings leadership teams together, AND they are becoming more effective in both their professional and personal lives.
• Podcast guests I want to record with: Dave Matthews, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Dave Chapelle, Caitlin Clark, Brad Stevens, Shalane Flanagan, Rick Rubin, Claire Cormier Thielke, Michael Lewis, Marques Brownlee, Palmer Luckey, Marcus Mumford, Mike Rowe, Brian Chesky, Mary Barra, Chris Martin, Shane Gillis, and Timothée Chalamet.

Other Random Thoughts

• Live music: I love the old show “Storytellers.” It was a series of concerts with great artists in a small venue. The fans were just a few feet from the band. The lead singer told the story behind each song prior to playing them. I love live music. I can’t imagine how cool it would have been in the room for Tom Petty’s taping of Storytellers. Anyway… I hope someone brings that show back. (You can watch old episodes on Paramount+)
• It’s a dopamine factory: Sometimes I get asked why I love hosting The Learning Leader Show so much. I recorded an episode with Tim Ferriss a few months ago, and he told me about this story from Elan Lee, the maker of the game Exploding Kittens. “I once took a week-long skydiving course, and at the end of it, I asked the instructor, ‘Do you ever get bored of this?’ And he said, ‘Do you ever get bored of having sex?’ And I thought, that’s exactly it. That’s how I feel about games. That’s how I feel about this job. It’s not a thing with an expiration. It’s a little dopamine factory for me and the people who get to have these experiences. I don’t know how you get bored of that. That’s just eternal.” That’s how I feel about having deep, long-form conversations with people and then publishing those so you can listen and learn along with me.

My Favorite 2025 Episodes of The Learning Leader Show

• ​619: Mike Maples Jr. - Practicing reckless optimism, betting on founders, Bill Gates hiring Mike Sr. at Microsoft, being overprepared, and what it means to do your best
• ​626: Rob Kimbel - Living by your values, caring for your people, taking the back seat, and creating opportunities that improve lives
• ​628: Anthony Consigli - Digging graves, playing football at Harvard, learning from failure, taking big chances, and growing a business from $3 million to $4 billion
• ​631: Bert Bean and Sam Kaufman (in person) - Obsession, grit, growth-mindset, winning in a tough market, hiring for potential, running ultra-marathons, and caring for your people
• ​633: General Stanley McChrystal - In pursuit of greatness, high standards, the ranger effect, self-discipline, white-water rafting, obsession, and making choices that define your life (on character)
• ​637: Tom Ryan (in person) - Chosen suffering, emotional control, responding to tragedy, success pillars, and learning from Dan Gable
• ​640: Tony Reno, Yale University Head Football Coach - Writing a team creed, leaving it better than you found it, going to Gettysburg, leadership retreats, and winning championships
• ​644: Blaine Anderson - The #1 dating coach in the world teaches you how to genuinely connect with people
• ​645: Ryan Petersen, Flexport CEO - Frontline obsession, Gemba walks, relentless work ethic, CEO Mastermind groups, and valuing simplicity
• ​647: Tim Ferriss - Chasing your curiosity, internal vs external scoreboards, effectiveness over efficiency, winning even if you fail, fame's hidden costs, and the Mount Rushmore of podcasting
• ​650: Michelle “Mace” Curran - Building a world-class team, running an excellent debrief, rebuilding trust, feedback loops, and how to turn fear into your superpower.
• ​652: Arthur Brooks - The power of teaching, the arrival fallacy, the mad scientist profile, lifting heavy weights, and the two best practices to be happy
• ​654: Jake Tapper - The most important leadership skill, handling criticism, chasing your curiosity, understanding tradeoffs, responding to rejection, and being so good they can't ignore you
• ​655: Morgan Housel - The simple formula for happiness, betting on others, gaining independence and purpose, family vacation secrets, the art of spending money, and the deathbed lesson every leader needs to hear
• ​660: James Clear (Live at Ohio University!) - The four laws of behavior change, systems vs. goals, building better habits, mastering the two-minute rule, having a great marriage, and the plateau of latent potential
• ​665: Patrick Lencioni - Five dysfunctions of a team, fear-based success, working genius, anticipating objections, and the hidden cost of proving yourself

Some Quotes I Like

“If you always put limits on what you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there. You must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” – Lawrence Pearsall Jacks

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