High Performance Medicine with Former Navy SEAL Brian Ferguson

Brian Ferguson has spent his career working in high-performance organizations, as well as learning from leaders and decision-makers in US national security, the military, and technology. He has used those experiences to build  Arena Labs , healthcares first performance platform.

Brian is also a Partner + Co-Founder of the Liminal Collective, a unique company human performance focused company “enabling humanity’s boldest endeavors.” Liminal is currently working in civilian space travel, deep sea exploration, and the digital future of cyberspace. 

Before founding Arena Labs & Liminal Collective, Brian served in the military as a Navy SEAL Officer. Prior to joining the military, he was a Presidential Appointee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and worked in the White House managing Intergovernmental Relations Brian serves on the Boards of GenNext, Seatrec, and The Honor Foundation. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is most proud of being a great father to his daughter.

We hope you enjoy this episode where we discuss leadership as a Navy Seal, wearable devices, and high performance medicine. 

Welcome to leading the rounds! 

Questions We Asked: 

• Tell us about your time as a Navy Seal and how that has affected you and your outlook on life? 
• How have you been able to build mental fortitude? 
• How did you become involved in medicine and surgery? 
• Tell us about the name of Arena Labs and how the idea started? 
• What is high performance medicine? 
• What does Arena Labs track and how does it use the data? 
• How do you use wearables to improve performance? 
• What are the programs Arena offers? 
• What can performers do in the macro or micro scale to improve performance? 
• What makes a good surgical time out? 
• Book Suggestions? 

Quotes and Ideas: 

• “[Military training] forces you to push up to your limit and then go a little further… and when you do that daily, you become a different person.” 
• “Mindset is trainable” 
• “From what I’ve seen, surgical residency and other residency are way more demanding [than the navy seals]”
• Tools to improve your performance : 
  • Be aware of your stressors and learn how to react 
  • Improve your energy management 
• People in medicine are service archetypes: they do hard things, help people, and make an impact on the world 
• "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly." -Teddy Roosevelt 
• There is a difference between endurance and performance. Endurance is repeated stress without recovery. Performance is repeated stressors with adequate recovery which leads to growth through hormesis. 
• Non-Sleep Deep Rest Protocols 
• “Don’t let your first time be your first time.” 
• In an acute stress situation, use two inhales through the nose and then one exhale out of the mouth to try to slow your heart rate down 
• “Is the surgical timeout an obligation, or an opportunity to improve team chemistry and performance.” 
  • Does it tap into the aspirational? 
  • Does it improve collegiality? 

Book Suggestions: 

• Tribe by Sebastian Junger 
• Atomic Habits by James Clear 
• Nassim Taleb books