67. Lee Zohlman: Chief Commercial Officer Juncos Hollinger Racing︱Speeding Towards Success

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lee (00:00):
He just loved racing, loves getting in the car and racing,

(00:03):
and they're all very processoriented, I would say versus
outcome oriented.
They care about the outcome,but they're very technical and
very passionate about theprocess and the technical
aspects on how do I take a 10thoff here, how do I take a 10th
off there and what is this goingto do for my reflexes.

(00:24):
So I think like there's a verysimilar mentality to both,
because when I was full on,focused on triathlon, I know I
took to the nth degree and thatalso was negative, but by and
large they're very detail andprocess oriented.
You know, here's today'straining session.
Today's training session leadsto this week's training block.

(00:46):
This week's training blockleads to this month's training
block and then that's going tolead to the race.
And so I'm here and I know Ineed to be here.
And now everything is soquantifiable.
There's so many metrics foreverything across tri, cycling,
racing, running we can say, hey,if you're consistent on this
training program on the bike,you're going to improve 1 to

(01:08):
1.2% in power per week.
So you can forecast out okay,if my Ironman is 20 weeks out, I
get 20% improvement in power IfI don't get injured and I stay
on the training program, somentality is really similar for
both and I think both of themcater to that I hate to use word

(01:30):
, but almost that extremepersonality that they want to do
something that really fewothers are doing and try to get
as good as they can.

Klara (01:41):
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the
Grand Slam Journey podcast,where we discuss various topics
related to Grand Slam Journey ofour lives, from areas of sports
, business and technology, andhow we transitioned from the
pursuit of our athletic goalsand dreams to the next chapter

(02:01):
of our lives and careers.
My today's conversation is withLee Zohlman.
Lee is currently the chiefcommercial officer for Juncos
Hollinger Racing.
Lee helps create strategicpartnerships which drive revenue
growth between companies,agencies and sports properties,

(02:22):
with an emphasis on IndyCar andFormula One.
He has successfully negotiatedand activated contracts with
some of the biggest brands inthe world, including Coke, pepsi
, gatorade, audi, samsung, sap,the NFL, morgan Stanley and more
.

(02:43):
Lee is a former enduranceathlete with a love for
triathlon, mountain climbing,ice climbing, marathons,
jiu-jitsu and cycling.
He has coached and mentoredsome of the world's top
Olympians and Ironman champions.
Through his background inendurance sports, he's developed

(03:07):
the core principles ofdiscipline, strategic planning
and follow-through.
He recognizes the value of hardwork and intense dedication and
believes that paying attentionto the marginal details will
lead to incredible success.
In today's conversation, wetalk about setting clear goals

(03:31):
and taking calculated risks toachieve success, the mindset of
athletes and achievers andimportance of focusing on
continuous improvement andpushing boundaries.
We discuss the role oftechnology in motor sports, from
enhancing performance toimproving marketing initiatives.

(03:51):
Arvr and its potential torevolutionize the fan experience
and provide immersiveinteractions.
And racing maintaining physicalfitness.
That requires well-organized,routine and efficient use of
time, finding joy and passion ina new activity, and some of the

(04:13):
key lessons learned that canshape future actions and
decision-making.
Last but not least, we talkabout the importance of teamwork
and collaboration, which isessential not only in the
IndyCar racing industry, butalso beyond.
I also have a quick announcementto share.
This episode is also availableon my Grinslam Journey YouTube

(04:37):
channel.
I've recently decided toexplore adding video production
to my podcast.
This is the first video podcastI have produced.
If you enjoy following video,please feel free to check out my
YouTube channel You'll find itin the episode notes and
subscribe.

(04:57):
This conversation has beenproduced in a slightly different
way than some of my previousepisodes, and so I appreciate
any insights or feedback you'rewilling and wanting to share
with me in order to provide apleasant listening experience.
As always, if you enjoyed thisconversation, please share it

(05:20):
with someone who you believe mayenjoy it as well.
Consider leaving a review onApple Podcasts and Spotify, and
don't forget to subscribe so youdon't miss the next episode.

Lee (05:42):
Thanks for having me, clara , excited to be here.
I always love talking toathletes, especially about
business, so this is perfect.

Klara (05:49):
Yes, I love our serendipitous connection and
during our first conversationthere was totally nothing
podcast related.
It's fun how we uncovered ourpassion for athletics and I'm
very curious about yourtransition to actually carrying
your passion in sports, butbeing on the marketing and

(06:09):
sponsorship side and helpingathletes and teams bring revenue
through strategic sponsorships,which I think has a lot in
common even with partnerships,Obviously, that's a big piece of
it.
So I am excited to dive intomany of these topics.
Let's see where the journeytakes us.
But before we go any further, Iwant to give you first an

(06:32):
opportunity to introduceyourself to our listeners.
Sure.

Lee (06:36):
I'm happy to do that and thanks again.
I mean talking aboutsponsorship and athletics.
I guess I'm just a glutton forpunishment and I like torturous
things when it comes down tolife.
So I ended up going into one ofthe world's most grueling
endurance sports, trathalon, foralmost 20 years and then

(06:56):
translating into the world ofsponsorship and sports marketing
.
But sponsorship is almost astorturous as doing an Ironman,
so we could talk all about thatkind of stuff.
Right now, as it stands, I'mChief Commercial Officer for the
Hunkos Hollinger IndyCar team.
That's fairly new.

(07:17):
Just in the last couple ofmonths they were a client of
mine for my own firm that I hadand then a role opened up with
them.
So I decided to jump on theteam side, which I love because
I love my motorsports.
So working with them full stopand still advising a couple of
companies and on the board ofsome non-profit.
So try to stay busy.

Klara (07:39):
Yes, you certainly are busy, as I've been browsing your
website and all you haveaccomplished and trying to
figure out your transitionsthrough life, so I know which
questions to ask.
But maybe let's go back to thebeginning.
I'm always curious how myguests found their first passion
in sports and how theirupbringing shaped them on this

(08:03):
path of athletics, because Ihave international guests.
It's very interesting.
Many find it just veryserendipitously.
So I'm curious about how yourupbringing was and what led you
to recognize your first sportwas swimming, but since you
ventured out to many differentother sports, so tell us a bit

(08:23):
about it.

Lee (08:25):
As I look back, as I'm maturing I should say not aging,
but as I'm maturing and gonethrough life's ups and downs and
taking a look back at thingsI've accomplished and positions
I've been put in and the valleys, the bottoms of the bottom,
where I've also been personallyand professionally, because life

(08:49):
is rarely linear.
I went to university forbroadcast journalism.
All I wanted to do was be a TVbroadcaster.
I started working in the field.
I had an agent in Californiaand LA.
I had an agent in Miami.
I was doing different sportsbroadcasting and entertainment
magazine shows and doingcommercials and stuff on the

(09:10):
side, anything in front of thecamera, probably being
hyperactive and always seekingattention.
As a kid that's just where Iwent.
But really my passion lied inTV broadcasting.
That was my whole focus inuniversity and then after.
But then I did my firsttriathlon.
I don't know what it was aboutthat day or what it was about

(09:33):
that sport in 1996.
When I did my first triathlonI'm like I have to find a way to
create a business around this.
I just went headfirst into it.
Then, within two years, I wasone of the first ever 30
certified triathlon coaches inthe US.
I was also the youngestcertified triathlon coach and
started getting my personaltraining certifications and

(09:56):
started my first business.
My parents were like, whatabout all the money for
university, for broadcastjournalism?
What about your agents?
The night I told them I wasstarting a triathlon coaching
company was the same night myagent in LA called me and told
me they were dropping me.
Wow, I was like, okay, I thinkthis is telling me something.

(10:19):
They were supportive.
They gave me $200 for businesscards.
Then I started my triathloncoaching company, started
building that.
I had no business background.
For a year and a half I wasdirector of marketing for a
small soccer clothing company.
It was nice size, it was amulti-multi-million dollar

(10:40):
revenue, but he needed someoneto head up marketing.
I was talking to him at thetime.
He gave me this position, whichwas actually quite cool and
creative.
That was the only businesssense that I had.
That was my first company.
I started building that as Iwas also racing myself and

(11:01):
trying to pursue as much of anachievement as I could
personally in triathlon andstarted building this coaching
company.
It started growingexponentially every year.
Within a few years we were oneof the largest endurance sports
coaching companies in the UShands down.

Klara (11:17):
It seems like your transition to coaching was in
some ways out of necessity,because you had to make a living
.
In some ways it connecteddeeply to your passion.
But how do you go from prettymuch I don't want to say nothing
, but that's the word that comesinto my mind to trying to build

(11:38):
up this business and coaching.
What did it entail?
I'm even curious how yourstarting point evolved to grow
towards scaling that I did seeyou still have a website around
it, so I'm curious even ifyou're still active in that
venture.

Lee (11:56):
It was really just going by intuition.
On the marketing side of thebusiness I got very lucky in
that triathlon was exploding.
I started in 1998 coaching.
The first year triathlon was inthe Olympics was in 2000.
There was a lot of mediaattention to that.
Usa Triathlon our nationalgoverning body was going through

(12:19):
tremendous growth at the time.
The races were seeingtremendous growth.
Now coaches were seeingtremendous growth.
I was very lucky just to be atthe right time.
But then I was out marketingall the time.
There weren't a lot of coachesat the time.
Whatever coaches there were, Iwasn't afraid to go walk around
a parking lot every singleweekend and put flyers on

(12:41):
windows.
This was before social media.
That's what I did.
I went to every bike shop andevery Sporty Goods store in
South Florida and put my flyersout and talking to people.
I worked 24, 7, 3, 6, 5.
People say that all the time.
But I was always thinking, Iwas always working.
I was always networking.
That was my business.

(13:01):
I loved it.
It didn't even feel like work.
I say it didn't feel like workuntil 13, 14 years in.
That's when I felt like,because it had grown and there
were so many different movingparts.
That's when I felt like, wow,this feels like work.
For a long time it was justwake up, go coach a bunch of
people, train myself, go to theoffice, write training plans, do

(13:25):
some business part, go coach inthe evening, do another session
myself, eat a lot, wake up,rinse and repeat and go race on
the weekends and take on newclients, create processes.
So it's efficient.
I don't know that's what Istarted doing.
The sports marketing sidestarted taking off almost
immediately.

(13:45):
This is how the steps totransition led to what I'm doing
now.

Klara (13:52):
What really stands out to me is the time management.
Specifically, I was talking toAlbert Mathini.
He's now the COO and founder ofPromix.
He's also a former triathlete.
He actually is from Florida.
Obviously, triathlons are backin Florida.
I'm guessing that's a littlebit what also helped you

(14:13):
gravitate towards the sport.
He was also in the US nationaltriathlon team.
The training for this isgrueling because you're training
for these long distances andyou have three disciplines
running, biking and swimming.
Just the training alone.

(14:33):
You're so exhausted and sotired all the time.
That's pretty much what Albertwas reflecting on.
I puzzled how you actuallycombined both.
You were training yourselftrying to become triathlete and
at the time, trying to run yourown business, which itself is a

(14:55):
big endeavor, let alone peopledoing those two together.
What was the mindset?
Were you realizing it or howdid you get the energy to
balance both?

Lee (15:05):
I was just wired, growing up to be hyperactive and to be
managing.
I also was passionate aboutboth parts.
I was passionate about myselfand racing and I was passionate
about the business.
And you make concessions inlife and I didn't have much of a
social life.
Right, you're going to sleep at9, 30, 10 o'clock.
I tried to get a nap every day.
I got a nap every day forprobably like 15, 18 years, I

(15:29):
don't even know.
You know you try to nap andtake care of your body and and I
just, I just did, I justbalanced it all.
If you take people to the partslike, ok, swimming, I was on
deck coaching.
I never swam with my squad thatI was coaching and I always
actually looked down on coachesthat swam with their squad and
was trying to get in their ownworkout with their squad.
Like no, you have to be on deck.
You know you have to givefeedback on technique, feedback

(15:52):
on times like do that the bike?
You can actually bike with yoursquad and get in a good session
and then you just run on yourown.
You just balance it out and youknow, somehow I managed to do
that.

Klara (16:04):
Yeah.
So if you look back ontriathlon and even you mentioned
, I did it once and it reallypulled me in what was it that
attracted you to the sport?
Was there something that reallystood out of what sparked this
passion in you?

Lee (16:20):
Yeah, and it's.
It's interesting you say thatbecause I've thought a lot about
that as I've been, like I said,evolving and maturing and you
know an executive now in thebusiness world.
I think what it is just aboutme and probably a lot of other
athletes, because they're superoverachievers.
If I'm going to do anything, Iknow it's going.

(16:42):
I'm always going to try toachieve the highest level.
You know, like mediocrity isjust not in my blood and that
goes across personal business.
And if I look at it like, ok, Iwas a broadcaster, it wasn't
enough to have an agent in Miami, I need to have the top
broadcast agency in California.
If I was going into a hobby,triathlon is great, right,

(17:07):
there's tons of different lengthtriathlons.
I need to do Ironman's, I needto do them all and I need to
figure out how I can be the bestthat there is.
And I wasn't the best, but Ialways tried to achieve to be
the best.
At least I put it out there.
But yeah, I did two Ironman's.
I mean, there's one point.
One percent of one percent ofthe world can say they've done
multiple Ironman's in their life, right, and and then you know,

(17:32):
if you look at when I did acareer flip to to motorsports
and the business of motorsports.
It was like, ok, what's the bestof the best in motorsports?
It's Formula One, it's an indiecar.
And how do I get there?
How do I become a top executivefor for a top race car team?
And you take the steps, makethe plan and set goals.

(17:56):
And I say all that, I write allthat and I'm very passionate
about about those steps.
And you asked me about toreflect to that.
And I looked back and when Iwanted to switch careers and go
into motorsports, you know whatwas the?
The only name I kind of knew atthe time was the best name was
Andretti.
Right, and within three monthsof making a decision to switch

(18:19):
careers and into motorsportssponsorship, within three months
I had a job on the Andrettiteam.
There are dozens and dozens ofdifferent race car teams in the
world and I could have beenworking at a small IMSA team or,
you know, I could have beenworking on a small indie car
team, but I made the steps andnetworked, made the right people

(18:43):
and found myself.
My first job in motorsports wasworking for the biggest name in
racing in the US, hands down.

Klara (18:50):
So I'm seeing a little bit of this trend of you setting
goals but then combining itwith this execution, because
even actually on the lastpodcast I just launched with
Andrew, we talk about people whoget these ideas.
You know there's a lot ofpeople who can come up with
great ideas and say, oh, I hadthis idea.

(19:11):
But there's these people thatactually get ideas and then put
in the effort to create thatpath.
So I'm wondering if you couldbreak it down even a little bit
more of what that mindset is andseem like you've had that
mindset early on, sincechildhood, or if you know some
of your sports shape you in thatand how do you eventually

(19:31):
manifest?
I'm also curious if you believein this you know what you set
your mind into visualization,kind of really believing that
you get there and if that anyhowhelps you in this process 100%.
So the goal setting is a bigpart of it.

Lee (19:46):
I journal almost every day.
I put in every what are myaffirmations and goals for that
day, and they're not always allgoing to come true.
Just because you set a plan andyou set a goal, it doesn't mean
you're always going to achieveit.
But I always think about whatdo you learn and what do you
gain from the process of tryingto achieve it Right?
And so there's always you knowa lot of people who are, and so

(20:11):
there's always things thatyou're going to get from just
going through the process.
I mean, right now I have one.
I have a top job that I'vewanted for a long time, and I
have one or two other roles forthe rest of my career that I
want just one or two others, youknow, and they're they're
taking the steps to make thathappen.

(20:31):
But right now I'm reallyexcited about this.
I mean the role that I am nowwith Munko's Hollinger IndyCar
team.
It's interesting because thatwe're talking about this,
because I was in a low a whileago.
I was in a really bad place andI hired an executive coach and
this is kind of a cool story andthe executive coach is a very

(20:52):
formal process and I won't taketoo long.
But there's a formal process.
There's a part of their wholeportals in their website that
you go in and you fill outquestionnaires and you meet with
your coaches and you build onwhat feedback you're giving them
and their whole executivecoaching program.
It was wonderful and one of thefirst questions kind of a basic

(21:14):
question.
They were all pretty.
A lot of it was very deepcritical thinking, but kind of
one of the basic first questionswhat's your, what would be your
dream job?
And I put my dream job as ahead of partnerships for a
Formula One or motor or othermotorsports team and within six
months, eight months, I had thatjob and it was through that

(21:39):
program, through learning fromthem and also taking steps
myself, making the properconnections, taking big leaps,
taking risks that that occurred.
And so you talk about planning.
Yeah, of course, 100% is theplan of manifesting and I think

(22:01):
that a lot of executives,especially who were triathletes
or are triathletes, are kind ofsimilar in that I agree.

Klara (22:09):
And I think I sensed it from my guests who are athletes.
I think because of the work thatwe put in, we realize how much
effort anything really takes tobe great.
So we're typically able to rollup our sleeves and dive deep
and get the work done, becausethe work ethic is related really
to any other sport.
I left the example you broughtup, lee, so if you could break

(22:32):
this down just a little bit more, on this journey, even you
setting goal I want to be partof IndyCar race team you set it
as a clear goal and within sixmonths it seems like you've been
able to achieve it.
Where there are perhaps one,two or three instances that
really move the needle for you,maybe other people listening may

(22:54):
have their own goals and thatcould kind of help them guide on
this journey of okay, if I setthe goals, what are the three
key differentiators that lead it?
Really great that I could applyto my own personal goal and
then try to see if I achieve itmaybe not in six months, maybe
nine or 12.
But I'm curious what yourreflection is on that.

Lee (23:16):
I think number one having confidence and I'm going to I'll
talk about that in a second.
Number two, taking risks.
And I'll say number three mightbe networking, if I had to
break it down.
So if I take a step back, theteam was a client of mine
already I mentioned that and oneof the drivers on the team was

(23:37):
also a client of mine and mywork with the team, I think, is
a very important part of theteam.
I work with the team because I'min Miami.
There in Indianapolis, my workwith the team was all remote and
I never met the team owners inthe months.
We were just we were doingprojects.
But my driver's in Miami and heflies his own plane and I said,

(24:00):
hey, if you're ever going up toIndy, let me know if I can grab
a ride with you because I wantto meet the team.
So he's like oh, I'm going up,whatever this month, next month.
And so I said okay.
So he's like all right, come inthe plane and you know we'll
fly up.
So we fly up and this.
You know this was a riskbecause not because, not because
of the type of pilot he is, butit was like I'm going to leave

(24:22):
my work for a few days to go up.
You know I'm going to spendmoney on hotels and food.
You know I got to always lookat, look at my budget.
But one of the most importantthings in business is
relationships across the board,building relationships,
maintaining relationships,relationships and I said I need

(24:43):
to build relationships here andI went up there to build
relationships.
I went up there to meet the pitcrew.
I'm on the commercial side tosell sponsorship.
I'm going to want to meet thepit crew, I want to meet the
account managers, I want to meeteveryone in the team.
And I went up there and it turnsout that I'm talking to the
team owner and they needed achief commercial officer and

(25:06):
through a couple of days ofworking there, I also identified
all of their weaknesses, thesystematic weaknesses, processes
, things that have challengesthat a lot of companies have.
And I said to myself listen,I'd love to come in and do all
of this.
I'll have a scope of work toyou in the next day.
And I went back to the hotel.
I started crafting the scope ofwork, perfected the next day,

(25:28):
presented it to him, took a fewextra days, put together a
six-month go-to plan, presentedthat to him and I took a risk.
I took a risk in putting myselfout there.
You have to also have theconfidence to say I can do this,
let me do this for you, and sotalk about taking risks, having
confidence, and then thenetworking is also really

(25:51):
important as well, notnecessarily in this situation,
but networking overall.
So whether it's in your city.
Business events, social eventsalways have a business card on
you thinking strategically whereyou can connect the dots with
your own business.
I think that those would be thethree areas.
Does that answer the question?

Klara (26:09):
Yeah, I think that's a beautiful example and really
also what stood out to me is yougoing there with almost this
problem-solving mindset, thatopen mind, and trying to kind of
observe everything that's goingon, and then really putting in
the work and reflecting on whathave I observed, where could
they improve?

(26:31):
And then crafting pretty muchyour end scope, which takes guts
and, as you mentioned, evenconfidence and obviously belief.
But at the same time there wasnothing you would lose, because
if you didn't do it you would beat the same or maybe worse spot
, because this way you at leastgave it a try and were bringing

(26:52):
to them some sort ofobservations that perhaps aren't
always natural or easy to seewhen you were on the inside.
So I really love this freshperspective and I love it even
in business and big companies,whether I work at Ericsson or
Apple.
I actually really believe thatthere is something really
valuable for a person fromoutside and perspective that you

(27:14):
get this fresh observation toasking these questions like well
, is this really how thingsshould be done?
Versus, if you live in anenvironment for a long time,
sometimes you take these things,whether you want to or not and
whether you're doing consciouslyor not as kind of oh, this is
how things are done and youdon't always realize that it

(27:37):
could be different.

Lee (27:39):
Complacency kills, too, in business and sports and sports.
So I talk to four to sixcompanies every day in what I do
and one of the questions Ialways ask is what are your
challenges?
Every company has challenges,every division has some
challenges.
Hey, sometimes we're a solutionfor those challenges, sometimes

(28:02):
we're not.
But you'd be surprised how manyof these really confident CMOs
I talk to CEOs, presidents, svps, super confident about what
they're doing and on the phone,and then you ask them hey, where
are the challenges and what youdo?
And you ask them sincerely.
It's amazing how many of themwill go hmm, good question.

(28:22):
Like rarely does anyonesincerely ask them that question
and they pause because I needto find out about their business
.
I need to find out where can webe a solution for their
business.
So I think that's one of thebest questions for people to ask
.

Klara (28:42):
Mm-hmm, I love that.
I do want to dive a little bitmore into the mentality of the
athletes and I'm curious how youwould compare even the mindsets
of triathletes versus carracers, because to me there's
definitely a risk in triathlon,especially on the bike, which
I'm actually probably the mostafraid of.

(29:03):
I thought about once doing anIronman, but my feet are way too
worn out.
I actually had to stop runningaltogether about three, four
years ago.
I just got a lot of wear fromtoo much tennis running.
But perceived sports,especially the car motor sports,

(29:24):
motor cycle sports, I think youhave to have almost a different
level of perseverance.
If you have an accident, you'reliterally risking your life,
and so, because you're close tothese athletes and have been
part of both groups, do you seeany differences when it comes to
risk aversion or lack ofthereof?

(29:46):
When it comes to your own lifeand mortality, it's interesting.

Lee (29:50):
There's a lot of race car drivers that are avid cyclists
and avid triathletes.
There's definitely a lot ofcrossover there and there's
definitely a similar mentality.
And the race car drivers thatI've represented and dealt with
not that it's talked about often, but I would venture to say
they're not really thinkingabout the risk part of it the

(30:14):
triathletes and the racingdrivers are both passionate.
They are passionate aboutracing the cars.
I had one driver who reallydidn't even care about doing the
sponsorship thing.
He just loved racing, lovesgetting in the car and racing,
and they're all veryprocess-oriented, I would say,

(30:34):
versus outcome-oriented.
They care about the outcome butthey're very technical and very
passionate about the processand the technical aspects on how
do I take a tenth off here, howdo I take a tenth off there and
what is this going to do for myreflexes.
So I think there is a verysimilar mentality to both,

(30:57):
because when I was full-onfocused on triathlon, I took it
to the nth degree and that alsowas negative.
But by and large they're verydetail and process-oriented.
Here's today's training session.
Today's training session leadsto this week's training block,
this week's training block leadsto this month's training block

(31:19):
and then that's going to lead tothe race.
And so I'm here and I know Ineed to be here.
And now.
Everything is so quantifiable,there's so many metrics for
everything across tri, cycling,racing, running we can say, hey,
if you're consistent on thistraining program and try on the
bike, you're going to improve 1to 1.2% in power per week.

(31:40):
So you can forecast out okay,if my Ironman is 20 weeks out, I
can go 20% improvement in powerIf I don't get injured and I
stay on the training program.
So the mentality is reallysimilar for both and I think
both of them cater to that Ihate to use the word, but almost

(32:01):
that extreme personality thatthey want to do something that
really few others are doing andtry to get really as good as
they can.

Klara (32:11):
It makes sense because if you think about an accident or
the risks, you can never reallyput your full heart and effort
into something, so you alwayshave to focus on the process.
What still comes to mind?
I'm curious to ask have youseen the movie Ferrari, that you
watched it yet?
Yeah, and I know racing therewas way different than it was

(32:33):
back then.
You have very differentstructure of the cars and safety
features and everything.
But that's why this questionalso came up Back then.
It literally was people whojust didn't care and often you
could just die doing whateverstupid race, and so that's one
of the things.
What did you think about themovie?

Lee (32:54):
It was a good movie.
I'm an easy customer, though.
I'm easily entertained, so Ijust knowing what I do for a
living, I'm not going into itand analyzing it, but I thought
it was a really great story.
There were things in there Ididn't know, and so, from a
cinema point of view, I enjoyedit.

Klara (33:11):
So curious about your current role.
Anybody who's maybe listeningor watching and thinking about
how would I become Lee?
What does it entail to be?

Lee (33:25):
They don't want to do that.
They definitely don't want todo that.

Klara (33:28):
This is pretty right.
That's dangerous.
Well, some people like to workfrom the gold backward, right?
So we talked about the goldsetting and they said, oh my
gosh, how awesome it would be tobe the chief commercial officer
of some of these race cars ormotorbikes, whatever you name it
.
I think there's probably somesimilarities in that.
How do I put this as a goal andwork from that backward?

(33:50):
And it seems like you've had avast career, obviously through
even understanding sports andliving the passion, through
building your skills ofsponsorship, marketing, even
your own business, whichrequires entrepreneurial mindset
.
But what would you advise and Idon't know if there's even a
linear path to that, because Idon't believe there's any linear

(34:11):
path to- a goal, but any kindof key skills and kind of what
your job actually entails foranyone who may want to get
inspired.

Lee (34:20):
I think there's also a bit of the business progression and
achievements that's not able tobe planned and that just you
have to take advantage of.
Circumstances or opportunitiesare just going to come to you,
but can you take advantage ofthem?
Can you connect the dots?
My day to day is reallyinteresting.

(34:44):
Anything revenue generating forthe team comes from my area
that is sponsorship.
So race car teams we reallylive and die by our sponsorship.
So we need to identifycompanies that number one can
afford the sponsorship, coulduse the sponsorship, and how can
they use the sponsorship.

(35:04):
And then we need to find theright people there.
We need to get meetings withthem.
Getting the meeting is always adifficult part.
We need to do a lot ofexploratory questioning because
not every brand is going to be afit or need us Going back to
the solution, selling andfinding out the challenges of
their company.
I've got a great team.
We've got really great creativepeople, great CMO, great CEO

(35:27):
and we're really flexible.
We work well together and thenwe can put together a compelling
proposal, if necessary, forthat company.
I try to identify very quicklyif they're a fit for us, if
we're a fit for them, if we'regoing to solve a problem for
them and I try to qualify ordisqualify very quickly.

(35:47):
So that's kind of the day today.
It's a lot.
I'm fortunate my daughter isolder so I don't have little
kids running around, not married.
So besides doing some trainingin the day, I'm working from 5am
on the phones, on the WhatsApps, emails.

(36:08):
Obviously We've got people allover the world.
It's all encompassing, I shouldsay, but I love it.
I love every part, but that'swhat it takes.
You've got to kiss a lot offrogs to find the prince in
sponsorship.

Klara (36:24):
I like that analogy.
I want to touch base and youmentioned I tried to quickly
qualify or disqualify.
I think that's important in anybusiness because the faster you
say perhaps no to it createstime and opportunity to speak to
someone else.
Is there a specific process orthings that you look for, how
you judge this as a fit andisn't a fit, and maybe even add

(36:47):
how much you look at the companyculture or values and alignment
of that with your race team?

Lee (36:55):
So we do a lot of background research on the
companies before we even have ameeting with them.
So we've tried to find out howmany employees there are, how
much revenue they're doing ifthey're a product where they
distributed, what do theirchannels look like?
And then when I'm on the phonewith them, I ask them how much
revenue are you doing?

(37:15):
Or I ask them what are yourobjectives?
We're a race car team.
This is what we do.
This is where we are.
This is how many eyeballs areon us every year.
What would your objectives bein using us?
And then one of the keystatements I tell them is hey,
we have a threshold to enterwith us.
It's X dollars and that rangesto Y dollars.

(37:37):
Just want to let you know, likemotor racing, we're an
expensive sport.
We're on NBC.
We've got this many socialmedia followers.
We have more social mediafollowers on our team than any
other IndyCar team there is.
And we're a mid-sized team.
It just so happens we have somereally great drivers and we've
got a great following.
So that's always a big part ofit.

(37:58):
And I tell them this is thethreshold to enter.
Is that comfortable for you,yes or no?
Then I straight up ask them isthat comfortable for you?
Is that something you wouldentertain, yes or no?
That's not it.
Okay, great.
If anything should change,please reach out.
It's not that curt, but that'skind of the scenario I put forth

(38:20):
for the qualification.

Klara (38:23):
Personally curious also if you have a view into the race
car drivers and the teamoverall and thinking about
technology and maybe it'stwo-fold.
To the question One how has thedevelopment on technology
developed over time?
Because I think specificallytriathlon has been really big.

(38:44):
I always joke I wish I had myApple Watch 15 years ago.
I could have been a betterathlete of understanding how
much training and effort Iactually put in and perhaps be
smarter with recovering.
And so I'm curious, even fromyour own perspective, or
observing how the readinessbecause you need to be 100%

(39:05):
focused when you drive a car insuch a way that they do.
And then maybe the second partis even this AR VR and there's a
lot of things now popping upwith how technology may mod with
this real-time racing andgiving people an experience of
what it's actually like to be inthe car and driving, perhaps

(39:25):
from the rooms and living roomsof their home with this AR VR or
mixed reality.
What do you look at that?
The technology and sportsoverall.

Lee (39:35):
Technology has been massive in motorsports for many, many
years and there's a lot oftechnology companies that are
partners in a lot of race carteams.
And a lot of them are tradepartnerships, where they're just
coming in and putting in theirtech to help the cars go faster,
help the team become moreefficient.
And there's also a lot oftraditional sponsorship, where

(39:56):
tech companies are going to comein and do branding on the car,
also provide products they'rerarely ever like okay, it's
$100,000 and sticker goes on thecar.
There's so many more ways tomeasure it these days on the
brand side, so there's a lotmore detailed.

(40:16):
But technology for us is reallyimportant.
Like any race car team I waswith the team two days ago at
the track the driver is doinghis testing and then from
testing he goes into atransporter and he's sitting in
a large semi truck at a desk andthere's eight to 10 other
people at computers crunchingdata and he's giving feedback.

(40:37):
So and you know we have we'reabout to take on a big AI
partner right now to help usbecome more efficient.
I can't say anything more thanthat, but but it's really
important.
Technology companies fromcommunication to data, obviously
for anything to make the racecars go faster.
Is is, yeah, super important,and we have a lot of technology

(41:00):
companies now that we're in themidst of discussions with to
help us do all of that.

Klara (41:05):
Yeah, I can imagine now what you mentioned made me think
about.
Obviously, I come from telecom,but all the data and technology
there must be so much datacoming in then from these cars,
because you're literally racingsplit of seconds sometimes,
right that make a differencewhether you win or lose.
So I'm wondering even have thisgenerative AI large language

(41:27):
model that you could perhapscustomize for your team and cars
, could help you make sense ofpretty much 1000s and hundreds
of 1000s perhaps of data pointsto catch and improve by a small
percentage, right?
Because the better you we allknow from athletes, you and I,
it's easy to go from not workingout at all to like working out

(41:48):
and be an average human but thenthe better you get.
That chasing of this 0.1%sometimes even, is just so much
harder.
Once you become the top of thetop right, improving, you got to
focus on these little tinythings that make a difference
whether you win or lose.

Lee (42:08):
You get it.
You got it 100%.
You don't see those huge chunkscome off later on as you get
more experience.
And you know, when I was racingI was so ecstatic wow, I
improved 0.2 watts per kilogramon the bike in the last month.
I was always measuring that andI always like to say number one
we need to hire you, clara,because you know, obviously you

(42:30):
have the tech side and theathlete side, so maybe we need
to hire you, but I'm a businessguy, I'm not the tech guy, so I
don't know so much on thetechnical side.
That's why we have greatengineers.
But but it is true, it's, it'stense and hundreds, 1000s of a
second, and that that is oursport for sure.

(42:50):
So I talked to a technologycompany right before you and
they're like hey, you know, wecan improve this part of the car
, we think we can take this muchoff, and you know it's like,
okay, that's interesting to know, because the faster the cars go
the more benefit we can getfrom certain aspects

(43:12):
aerodynamically and when we'reon the super speedways.
We're on the big ovals like theIndy 500, and they're doing 220
to 240, those gains can bereally important.

Klara (43:23):
I can imagine it's impressive.
I mean, I sometimes get an ideathat I would like to be in the
car of you know the driver, andthen I would probably freak out
because I get a lot of motionsickness too, so maybe I'll just
stay on the observing side.
But curious kind of the secondpart of the question, your
perspective on this AR VR and,because it's been talked about

(43:45):
for a long time, even have 5gwill change this.
I've worked very closely withVerizon and I've been part of
actually Verizon setting up thenetworks even for some of these
IndyCar races.
I know they've been a bigsponsor as well and so thinking
about even just that userexperience and by user I mean

(44:06):
consumers, sure, and giving thema chance to kind of experience
with these spatial computingkind of devices that we can now
purchase, how do you see thattrend going on and perhaps
changing the industry or openingeven more doors for you and the
team to give a peekspecifically into the car, into

(44:30):
the driver, into the team, intoall the preparation, all that
goes into it from somebody'sliving room in kind of real 3D?

Lee (44:39):
I think the sky's the limit in what they want to and what
they want to create.
We're doing some campaigns Ican't even say, but some of what
you mentioned is some of themarketing initiatives we're
doing this year.
From a consumer side, it'sreally exciting what we can do
marketing-wise.
I did an augmented realitycampaign with a race car driver

(45:01):
in his car three seasons ago hiswhiskey sponsor and then they
could be taken through theirphone or tablet.
They could be taken inaugmented reality into the car.
We had a guy put the car on abalcony in France the race was
in the US and then he videoedhimself looking around and
getting in the car and augmentedreality and it was really cool.

(45:24):
So that is being used.
From a driver's side, they alluse SIM gears in their offices.
They'll train on the SIM, butnothing is like getting in the
race car.
It's just the G-forces.
You cannot mimic the G-forces.
You can't mimic the physicalload on the body.
So from the driver's side, Ithink that's not going to be too

(45:49):
applicable.
But from the consumer side,from the marketing side, arvr is
really cool.
It's just what you want tocreate.
That's going to be up towhatever company or team is
going to want to do?
Do they want to take themthrough the shop?
Can you fly through the shopand check out different parts of
the cars in different parts ofdevelopment?

(46:12):
So sky's the limit on that.

Klara (46:15):
Moving a little bit towards even your end routine.
I'm curious you mentioned thatyou still actively work out
being an athlete and kind ofbalancing this more than a
full-time job.
What is your routine now?
Any tips or tricks of how doyou stay in shape?

Lee (46:33):
I'm very passionate about my routine.
I'm always looking for waysthat I can improve my mental
process for work.
Physically, I wake up between4.35 every morning.
I have the same bulletproofcoffee.

(46:54):
I'm on that kick right BecauseI was a sugar addict for so long
.
I was so carb dependent for solong.
We could do a whole podcastjust on sports nutrition, which
I won't get into, but obviouslyI had to teach that.

Klara (47:08):
I'm curious Do you do keto now?
Bulletproof coffee.

Lee (47:11):
You mentioned it, just for my morning workout.
I'll run or cycle every morning.
I never swim anymore.
I swam for so long.
I barely like to shower and getwet, so I'm definitely not
going to swim.
I have that in a journal in themorning.
Then some mornings I meditateand then I do a workout whatever
workout.
That could be 30-minute run, itcould be a run in the lift, it

(47:35):
could be cycling I still love mycycling.
Then get back.
I typically have some recoverysmoothie, making sure I have
amino acids, making sure I haveproteins in there, a little
sugar.
I do that and then I startgetting to work.
I'm typically answering textmessages and stuff while I'm

(47:57):
working out in the morning,which I know is really bad
because it used to be my time,but now it's just the way it is.
Right now I can't stop thinking, so that happens.
Then getting to work and thenmaking sure that I have good
nutrition during the day.
I typically will have anafternoon coffee.
I love coffee.
It's a great ergogenic aid.

(48:18):
It's also great for awareness.
I have long days, so for me it'sreally helpful.
Everyone has their own feelingson that, which is fine, but my
days are long because I'm givingso much energy During Zoom
meetings and presentations.
You have to be on, you have tobe thinking strategically.
It's a lot of energy.

(48:39):
I'll get off this call rightnow and I'll just walk around my
apartment for four or fiveminutes.
I'll just decompress.
I'll drink water A lot of timesthat really helps just to reset
and then back to the desk.
Then the evenings it's beenreally interesting, claire.
I'll tell you, the last year anda half I got into something new

(48:59):
and that's been Jiu Jitsu.
A year and a half ago I starteddown the journey of Jiu Jitsu,
which I'm passionate about, butI also know myself enough.
I've been very moderate with myattention to it, whereas
Traflon, I went ahead first.

(49:20):
If I started Jiu Jitsu 20 yearsago, I would have had already
had two businesses surroundingit and everything.
But it's wonderful because it'ssuch a great discipline.
I love the part about going intosomething I know nothing.
I know nothing.
I am an infant.
I know my business.
Traflon was the thing I knewbest in this world.

(49:42):
I know something aboutmotorsports and business, but I
know nothing in Jiu Jitsu.
To go into an environment wherethere's other experts of all
different shapes, sizes and ages, women that turn me into
pretzels in 15 seconds guys wayyounger than me that are black
belts and just being in anenvironment to learn.

(50:04):
I also love my school and Ilove their philosophy and
methods.
Some nights I'll do one or twoclasses.
I do that about five days aweek.
The days are long.
That's why I also believe, youknow, obviously in good
nutrition during the day.
Then on the weekends I try toget in a nap and catch up on

(50:28):
some sleep.

Klara (50:30):
I like your structure.
It seems like you have themorning routine that's very well
organized and it's working foryou.
Are you doing two workouts aday?
Is Jiu Jitsu every day?
That's impressive if you dostill two workouts a day.

Lee (50:46):
There's a lot of days it's two, three or four, for instance
, monday through Friday, maybefour days a week, at least three
, if not four.
I'm doing two workouts, if notthree, a day, so like a runner
ride in the morning and then oneor two classes at night.
Saturdays I do four workouts ina row.
I do a run, a lift and then twoclasses and then I collapse.

(51:11):
But in my defense, coming fromthe world of Travlon, you are
doing three to four workouts aday.
I'm not coming so close to theamount of hours I was training
in Travlon.
So my defense, I feel like I'mnot doing as much, but my
friends laugh at me because Ireally am.

Klara (51:30):
No, I get it, just the amount of hours you have to put
into training Travlon.
But it seems like you're stilldriven towards the volume, and
volume is relative to what I'mhearing for you.
The volume you're doing now isstill.

Lee (51:43):
I will say this I stopped racing in 2013.
So from 2013 to 2022, I did nothave Jiu Jitsu and I only did
one or one workout a day.
It's only been a year and ahalf where I'm enjoying my
morning sessions because I lovemy running and cycling, but,
just so happens, I also love myevening Jiu Jitsu.

(52:04):
So now I've had a tweakrecovery.
I had to go back.
I got an aura ring to track,like sleep and other metrics.
So I'm feeling a little bitlike I'm back on the athlete
bandwagon.
But the Jiu Jitsu classes arenot.
They're not as physicallystrenuous as you would think all
the time especially me as abeginner Because there's a lot
of technique and you're goingvery slow and you're trying to

(52:26):
learn more moves.
So if you will look at the loadon the body for those sessions,
it's actually not too much, itseems like.

Klara (52:34):
Everything you do, though , is still driven by you
enjoying it and having passionaround it, including your sport,
so that seems like the throughline.
You have a schedule and routinethat seems to be working for
you, and even the texting duringworkouts in the morning I'm
sensing you actually do itbecause you love your job so
much, so you don't mind gettingyour cycling or running session

(52:57):
interrupted by a few textmessages, which I think that's
fine if we understand it.
I think there are some peoplewho do it because, oh, I just
have to do it, but if you'redriven and passionate and you
really enjoy the thing you'redriving progress towards, then I
think that's totally fine tohave a season where you are
fully turned on and dedicated towhat you do.

Lee (53:19):
And so a couple things on that I told the team when I
started.
I said listen, I might haveeven said these exact words.
I said I'm not normal.
I'll probably text you andemail you at odd times and on
the weekends, no expectation toget back to me.
We all know what the vision isfor the team.
We all know what the goals are.
But just because I text you atfour o'clock on a Saturday,

(53:40):
don't feel like you have to getback to me.
It's just me getting mythoughts out, because my best
thoughts and strategies comewhen I'm working out.
So I'll send text messages.
So I told the team at the frontyou know like this is how I
operate, but don't feel anexpectation to get back to me.
And they've been really great.
That's number one and number twomy work has always been full on

(54:02):
, put a lot into it and it'slike I talked about.
There's a lot of energy that'sgiven out when you're in
business development and sales.
So at the end of the day, thatjujitsu class and even the drive
to jujitsu class, that's myrecovery.
Like that's a cool down, that'san escape when you're doing
jujitsu and you're trying not tobe choked to death.

(54:23):
I'm not thinking about thedeals that are pending, right?
I'm not thinking about thecontract negotiations, like you
have to stay focused here.
So it is a nice escape to havethat, and I can't do that on
biking and cycling or running,because I am thinking about work
the majority of the time, orwhat kind of pancakes I'm going

(54:45):
to make, one or the other.
So it's just the way, the wayI've found that I operate.

Klara (54:52):
And I like that and thanks for mentioning that,
because I do see these throughline that it's important for us
to balance our activity with howour brain works.
In fact, I have the exact samething that you mentioned and
that's why I don't generallylove just going for a run or
biking, because my head is stillalways working.

(55:14):
It might be good for thinkingthings through or problem
solving, but that's why I stilllove going to play tennis,
although I can't do it veryoften either because my body is
torn up from the sport.
But when you do there's thisaction reaction sports or for
the sports where you have to be100% focused, it allows me to
disconnect and get into adifferent state of relaxation.

(55:36):
Because of that, if I'm able toactually do that.
You know, some things I'm stillprocessing and then I'm
horrible when I'm not on thecourt 100%.
But I do like this kind ofmental space that you're
actually creating, space foryourself to focus fully on just
something else and seem likeyou're finding joy and passion

(55:57):
and jujitsu right now and that'sworking well for you.

Lee (56:00):
I am finding a lot of joy in it.
I know I'm on the journey towant to achieve the best I can.
I think it's going to be a longterm life journey.
In jujitsu, you know, peopletalk about the black belt and
it's not about getting the blackbelt, it's really about getting
the knowledge to be able toachieve the black belt.

(56:21):
And I know I have such limitedtools and knowledge right now.
And it's so fascinating becausefor anyone listening about
jujitsu it's so not physical,it's so mental, it is mental
chess.
And I didn't realize that, youknow, until I was a few months
in and I know I want my blackbelt for sure, obviously.
I mean I know the type ofperson I am, but I also know

(56:42):
that I need to spend timeenjoying the journey and not
worry so much about the outcomeand the finish line with that
one.
So you know, knowing what Iwent through in Trafflon, Madden
, the Ugly, and all the mistakesthat I made personally,
professionally, whatevermistakes we're in, also all the,

(57:04):
all the achievements, you knowI'm able to take that with
jujitsu and just be reallymoderate with it and just enjoy
the process and enjoy that beingpart of sort of an escape and
making new friends, making newcommunities.
There's been so many wonderfulpositive things that I've gotten
out of this practice so far.
So you know we'll see where itgoes.

Klara (57:26):
You mentioned the learnings that you have had from
the sport.
Now I'm actually curious if youhave to summarize it to perhaps
the top three that you've takenfrom your Trafflon journey and
now applying every day or kindof checking yourself against.
Let's not do this again, Lee,and it could be positive or

(57:47):
negative.
I want to continue doing thisbecause that's what drove
success.
How would you summarize that?

Lee (57:54):
You know, definitely too much of anything is not a good
thing, and you know you don'twant to be on the side of too
little and you don't want to beon the side of too much.
You know, and my whole Trafflonfrom the business standpoint
and my personal standpoint, Iwas so focused on it and it was
just my priority over family, itwas my priority over business,

(58:20):
and so I really learned a lotfrom that, which is why I said,
like I'm very moderate with JiuJitsu.
Now, if it were 20 years ago, Iwould have already had two
businesses surrounding it,probably.
So, and also, I'm not thereevery day.
I'm there, okay, fine, I'mthere four to five days a week,
but I'm not there every day, andthey are closed on Sundays.
So that's, you know, I could bethere six days a week, but I'm

(58:43):
not.
I could be there morning, endnight, but I'm not.
So this being more moderate was,you know, a mistake that I had
made and I've learned from andand I've taken that into all
different parts of my life rightnow.
One of the other things that'sreally interesting is I also

(59:06):
wasn't very detail oriented fora long time, personally and
professionally, and and I foundto be more detail oriented
lately.
And then it was wonderfulbecause my again my Jiu Jitsu
professor, not to go back tothat.
He has a great saying which isprecision and everything, and
that just rings in my ear.
So I really like that.

(59:28):
You know, I think about thatprobably every day.
I thought about that writing anemail this morning.
So precision and everything.
And then I would say, you know,coming from the athlete
mistakes I had made in the pastto to come to here is Building
relationships.
Again coming back torelationships, building

(59:51):
relationships.
So I didn't properly do that inmy business life when I did my
trough on coaching company, butyou know now relationships are
so key.

Klara (01:00:02):
I love that I did this separate episode, even just
support systems.
Yeah, hearing athletes, andreally the best athletes, I
think a little bit of what I wasmissing to you and wasn't
paying attention is you becomewho you associate yourself with,
especially there's like thefive people, right, and so how
do you strategically chooseespecially the five people that

(01:00:23):
are around you, and sometimes itcan be actually less, so we're
choosing the people that willhave your back.
It is so important but at leastin your profession you have to
have that close circle and evenbroader because, kind of the
nature of what you do.
But, touching on that, whatreally comes to mind when

(01:00:43):
somebody says IndyCar or teamsis the teamwork, and you did
touch on it Several times duringthis conversations.
How do you perceive theteamwork and the collaboration?
Because I think for IndyCarracing team it needs to be
really Thought through andprobably very strategic that
everybody is a piece of a puzzleand adds up to this collective

(01:01:06):
wisdom and excellence.
Any observations from that leadthat you want to share?

Lee (01:01:12):
talking about the team.
I cannot do my job without theteam around me and I cannot have
success, either personally orfor the team, without them
around me.
So you entrust them.
You asked them hey, how wouldyou do this?
Why don't you come up with theplan and then you work on that

(01:01:36):
and then you can providefeedback to them.
I had a colleague on the teamYesterday, the day before,
congratulate me on on anachievement or something, and I
said Thank you, but this is allour team.
I said without you it wouldn'thave happened, without Millie it
would have happened.
So you know, so much of it ison the team because I cannot be

(01:01:56):
successful, the team cannot besuccessful unless we all work
together, because we all bringin different parts to it.
So that's why it's reallyimportant, like I said when I
went up to, to meet them In theshop.
I'm more on the, I'm on thecommercial side, I'm on the
business side, but I made it apoint to go down to the, to go
down to the shop and talk to thepit crew, as they were training

(01:02:18):
and and, and ask them hey, howare things going on?
Lee, this is what I do.
What would make your livesbetter.
What would make your workbetter?
And they go wow, no one's everasked us that.
You know what we could reallyuse.
We could really use betternutrition at the track.
You know it's hot.
We're out there all day.
We really can use betterfootwear.

(01:02:38):
You know our footwear falls off.
We're not provided for all ofthese things because I'm gonna
be spending a lot of time at thetrack with these guys, you know
.
So.
This develops cohesiveness andit also tells me what, what
challenges I can help Findsolutions for for our team.
So I think about when you talkabout building teamwork, it's
it's building relationships andit's it's empowering those

(01:03:02):
people to make decisions.
And you know working, workingwith them.
You know no ego in the game.

Klara (01:03:11):
Mm-hmm when you tennis.

Lee (01:03:12):
When you played tennis, you were on the court playing
tennis.
Would you have been able to seeany of the success you had if
you didn't have your team aroundyou?
I mean sure, yes, you need asports psychologist, your
nutritionist, you know all yourstrength and conditioning
specialist.
If you would not have seen thatright 100%, including the

(01:03:33):
competition right.

Klara (01:03:35):
It's actually also the people you compete against did
make you better.
So people always talk about thebetter players you play against
, the better you become.
So if you see excellence, itkind of inspires you to push
your own performance.
So I think it's kind ofholistic teams from, obviously,
coaches and people you rely onthat will give you Candid

(01:03:55):
feedback on how to improve andwhat you got to drill into to
achieve the next level.
To you, sometimes the losses iswhere you learn the most.
Actually, I would argue is welearned the most from failure,
because there's something aboutthis deep, I guess,
disappointment in some ways, orpain, that is associated with
failure, and I love Ray Daliosaying this pain Plus reflection

(01:04:17):
equal equals progress.
I really think that our humanbrain even reflect on my own
selves Like I rarely learn asmuch from wins.
It's more of like I should havewon anyways.
But when you really lose in abad way, that's when you take a
deep Kind of view into yourselfand try to figure out what do I
need to change here?

Lee (01:04:37):
Agree 100% and any of the listeners.
I think that's the biggesttakeaway from this.
You know, don't be afraid offailure.
And I've had some wonderfulachievements in my life and I've
also been Down with nothing,been fired I was fired the same
week that I was getting divorcedand how to serve my life.

(01:04:58):
It's like I've been at thebottom bottom, you know.
But you have to believe inyourself, take leaps and work on
all the things we talked about.
Like we said, life isn't linearand you learned so much from
failure.
Had I not gone through that, Iwould not have taken a lot of
the steps I took, and certainlyI'm not a billionaire by any
means.
But you know what I am so happydoing what I'm doing.

(01:05:20):
I'm so happy where I am now,and a while ago I was in a
really, really dark place.
So it's not like life is alwaysroses and you know, like I say,
in in in motorsports and in carrace, you know it's not always
yachts and parties.
You know, enjoying the cityride, e-mails people ask me what
I do.
I.
I tell them I write e-mails andmake phone calls and they send

(01:05:41):
me a check every other month.
You know that's what I do.
But.

Klara (01:05:46):
But so much of what you said is true, and and gosh
learned so much from themistakes one thing I want to ask
you is there actually anysponsor that you believe Would
be a great fit for your team,that you haven't had a chance to
reach out yet, but why?

Lee (01:06:02):
there isn't one.
No, I work a lot in in industrysectors.
So the one industry sector Iwould love to tackle Would be
entertainment, and I don't likecompetition too much kind of
ammunition.
But it's been done before, butI love the entertainment.

(01:06:23):
Like I said, we're on NBC, wehave the Indy 500.
It's a huge spectacle, like Ilove it when the entertainment
companies come in and they do asponsorship of a team to help
push a new Movie release or TVshow release and there's some
sort of tie-up on theentertainment side.
That's one I would really loveto have.
But any billion dollarcompanies I want to sponsor an

(01:06:44):
Indy car team, even half abillion dollar companies, call
me excellent.

Klara (01:06:48):
All right, last two questions, lee.
We've talked about a lot oftips and tricks, or perhaps more
of learnings that you hadthrough, had your journey of
sports, business, sponsorships,related even to technology.
What would you want to inspirepeople to be doing more?

(01:07:09):
Offer less often.
2024, as you reflect kind of inthe things you're tackling now
and again, your own pastexperiences.

Lee (01:07:18):
You know what I've really been telling a lot of people and
and what I found a lot ofsuccess in, and we talked about
it earlier.
But I think, in answering yourquestion, out of everything we
discussed, I would sayjournaling Angle setting.
The journaling is great becauseyou, you, you're able to get
out in a non-judgmental Platform, your thoughts, your feelings,

(01:07:42):
your goals.
It's not going to talk back toyou always.
Keep it positive and to delveinto it even more.
I write down my goals.
I write down at least threethings I'm grateful for for that
day and it sounds hokey, butit's so good.
But every day I write mydaughter's health.
It's like that's always numberone for some reason.
It's like I have to put that.
And then three affirmations,you know, keeping it positive,

(01:08:04):
keeping it direct.
Not I wish I was this, I amthis, I will do this.
And so I think the takeaway ofjournaling Angle setting is
really it really important andit helps build confidence.
It's been a game hate to usethat word, but it's been a game
changer for me.
Love it.

Klara (01:08:25):
Love.
It actually reminded me had ajournaling practice for quite a
while.
I still do now I'm changing itkind of based on my seasons of
life.
But I do agree kind of thegratitude writing three things
you grateful for in the morning.
It gets you grounded andchanges your perspective.
So thank you for reminding me.
I think I need to add it backto my list of my morning routine

(01:08:48):
.
It's been fantasticconversation.
Anyone who's intrigued Want toget in touch with you, talk
about all you've shared here orperhaps potential new
sponsorships.
What's the best way to reachyou?

Lee (01:09:04):
That's way would be just through my website, zollmancom.
It's just my last name, calm,and then LinkedIn.
Linkedin are the best ways toget a hold of me and and thank
you for having me when we talkedearlier just being able to talk
about, like sports, the athletemindset Translating into
business and technology, likeit's so exciting, like I'm

(01:09:25):
really excited to get my daygoing now.

Klara (01:09:30):
Well, thank you so much for all the wisdom and
experiences you have shared withus, lee, and look forward to
staying in touch.
If you're in Austin, please letme know.
Would be great to meet you inperson for beer coffee any world
, if you enjoyed this episode.
I want to ask you to please dotwo things that would help me
greatly.
One please consider leaving areview on Apple Podcasts,

(01:09:52):
Spotify or any other podcastingplatform that you used to listen
to this episode.
To please share this podcastwith a friend who you believe
might enjoy it as well.
It is a great way to remindsomeone you care about them by
sharing a conversation theymight be interested in.
Thank you for listening.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Klara Jagosova

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

The Breakfast Club

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}67. Lee Zohlman: Chief Commercial Officer Juncos Hollinger Racing︱Speeding Towards Success