Driving Force Podcast

Today’s guest is Ric Prado. Ric is a paramilitary, counter-terrorism, and clandestine operations specialist, with a focus on international training operations and programs. He is a twenty-four year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where he served as an Operations Officer in six overseas posts. He was Deputy Chief of Station and "Plank Owner" of the original Bin Ladin Task Force/Issues Station as well as Chief of Sta...

This year, I want to include more guests on the show who lean toward the more spiritual side of things. To kick that off, the guest on this week’s episode is Natalie Walstein. Natalie is a career astrologer at Soulshine Astrology, where she focuses on the intersection of career coaching and astrological counseling to help others find their true calling in life. Originally born in Minneapolis, MN, Natalie went on to study at Emily C...

Today’s guest is Quin Sandler. Quin is a designer, product builder, investor, entrepreneur and musician. He’s founded four start-ups in the last 12 years: Keystone Learning, a mobile tutoring company; Principle Design Group, a branding and identity company; FestThis, a media and live events production company; and is currently leading the charge at Plantiga, a human analytics company with one simple goal: to build the most comprehe...

Today’s guests are brothers Shane and Josh Rogers, co-founders of RPM Training. Founded in 2012, RPM was born out of the idea that legit, purposeful functional training is the foundation for a truly full and adventurous life. It all started with jump ropes. Shane and Josh began noticing the frustration their fellow gym members were having over completing the dreaded double-under jump rope workout. They scoured the market for the be...

Today’s guest is Tony Blauer. In his return to the podcast, we dive deeper into the self-defense system and fear management program he’s created. We discuss the scenario-based approach to his self-defense system and why it’s called the Spear System. He emphasizes the importance of what it means to know fear, discusses the fear loop and how to get out of it, and provides tools people can use to better manage their fear. If you’re ne...

Today’s guest is Tony Blauer. Tony has been in the martial art, self-defense, defensive tactics, and combatives industry for over four decades. He founded Blauer Tactical Systems (BTS) in 1985 and it has grown into one of the world's leading consulting companies specializing in the research and development of performance psychology, personal safety, and close quarter tactics & scenario-based training for law enforceme...

Today’s guest is Nikola Mrvaljevic. Nikola is the co-founder and CEO of Strive, a human performance company. Strive enables clothing with technology to capture performance insights to empower real-time decision-making. By outfitting an athlete’s clothing with their technology, it allows coaches & trainers to compare body input to body output, and provides insights on muscle activity including load, symmetry, and fatigue. So, as...

Today’s guest is Ricky Williams. Ricky is the co-founder and CEO of LILA, an Astrology powered dating and relationship app, and the co-founder of RW Real Wellness, a unique line of herbal-based wellness products that can be incorporated into daily routines. Upon the completion of a successful football career (which saw him win the Heisman trophy in college and lead the NFL in rushing in 2002), Ricky turned his attention to spiritua...

Today’s guest is Jon Dengler. Jon is the Executive Director of The Well, a Tampa, Florida based non-profit comprised of a community of people committed to living in direct relationship with the materially poor. They work to help people meet material needs such as food and clothing and do it in a way that provides opportunities to meet each other’s spiritual needs as well. The Well builds real, strong relationships with the people i...

Today’s guest is Doug Lewis. Doug is the founder and CEO of ELITEAM, a company that provides sports and fitness camps and programs focusing on building complete athletes. They do this by teaching the concepts of sports physiology, sports psychology and sports nutrition all while ensuring the programs are fun and challenging for the participants. Doug created ELITEAM in 1991 with a desire to pass on his winning knowledge of world cl...

Today’s guest is Isaiah Kacyvenski. Isaiah’s diverse background includes earning two degrees from Harvard, playing in the National Football League for 8 years in between, and achieving success as an experienced entrepreneur and investor. Perhaps what’s most impressive about Isaiah’s background though has to do with where he started from. Isaiah grew up in Endicott, NY where at times he grew up homeless and without food with his par...

Today’s guest is Sebastien Sasseville. Sebastien was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2002, the most severe form of diabetes. Sebastien vowed that the obstacle would never keep him from living life to the fullest, and today his story is a testament to how challenges can be turned into opportunities. In 2008, Sebastien reached the summit of Mount Everest. He then completed six Ironmans and the mythical Sahara race, a 250 kilometer,...

Today’s guest is Mark Ormrod. Mark is a former Royal Marines Commando, an Invictus Games Medalist, author, and motivational speaker. After triggering an IED on a routine foot patrol in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, Mark suffered serious injuries resulting in a triple amputation: both legs above the knee and his right arm above the elbow. He was the UK’s first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict. Not one to resign him...

Today’s guest is Nic McKinley. Nic fuses counterintelligence methods with technology to solve big problems. One of those problems is human trafficking. By starting DeliverFund in 2014, Nic started the first nonprofit organization to apply counterterrorism methodologies to fight human trafficking. They disrupt the human trafficking market by providing intelligence and specialized analytics about human trafficking activities to law e...

Today’s guest is Tony van Marken. Tony has had a successful career as an award winning high-tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, management consultant and independent investor having worked in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada and France. Currently, he is Managing Partner and co-founder of First Ascent Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Toronto, Canada focused on investing in emerging technology companies. Tony is a...

Today’s guest is Ari Tulla. Ari is the co-founder and CEO of Elo. Ari and his team created Elo to turn food into medicine so you can live life to the fullest. To accomplish this, they’ve built cutting-edge AI (from a proprietary analysis of 3,000 peer-reviewed studies) to apply to your personal health biomarkers and deliver precision to nutrition. Then, they relentlessly optimize and improve your nutrition over time. They’re starti...

Today’s guest is Ali Schultz. Ali is a co-founder, coach, and facilitator at Reboot, a coaching company that provides comprehensive offerings to serve leadership development for individuals, teams, and entire organizations. If you’re a tech entrepreneur or venture capitalist, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Reboot. They’ve worked with companies like Etsy, Lyft, and Twilio and venture capitalists from firms such as Union Squar...

Today’s guest is Jason Hardrath. Jason is an adventure athlete, speaker, and physical education specialist who’s made a lifestyle out of pursuing his passion for human performance. After running track & field in college, Jason eventually found himself competing in longer distance events like marathons and Ironmans. His work ethic soon paid off and he qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championships in 2015. Training was going...

Today’s guest is Jeff Harry. My conversation with Jeff will feel a bit different than most of the podcasts I’ve done. Instead of my traditional focus of unraveling the stories, takeaways, and lessons from my guest’s life (which we do get into a little), most of my discussion with Jeff centers around one topic – incorporating more play into one’s life and workplace. I know what you might be thinking, who has time for play? I’ve got ...