#82: Mike Erwin — On Building Healthy Relationships in our Digital World
It was very special to welcome Mike Erwin back on the podcast. He was previously a guest on Episode 45 of the podcast.
He is a man that wears many important hats. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Team Red, White, and Blue (Team RWB)—a non-profit with a mission to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. Team RWB is a growing organization with over 220,000 members.
In addition to leading Team RWB, Mike is the CEO of the Character & Leadership Center and the Co-Founder & President of The Positivity Project—a non-profit organization with the mission to empower America’s youth to build positive relationships. With 425 partner schools, the organization reaches 260,000 children daily.
He is the also the author of Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership through Solitude and his new book, Leadership is a Relationship: How to Put People First in a Digital World.
Mike is also a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in Leadership & Psychology. He also serves as the founding Chairman of the Board for Father Vincent Capodanno High School, outside Fort Bragg, NC.
Mike graduated from West Point in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer, serving in three combat tours with the First Cavalry Division and 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). His service includes deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004–2005 that involved the Battles of Fallujah and Najaf. Mike also deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006–2007 and 2009. On those tours, he worked with NATO forces, to include serving as a lead intelligence planner for one of the largest NATO-led combat operation in history. Mike earned two Bronze Star Medals from these tours.
Following his third deployment, Mike attended the University of Michigan from 2009–2011, where he studied positive psychology and leadership under the tutelage of the co-founder of Positive Psychology, Dr. Chris Peterson. He went on to serve as an Assistant Professor in Psychology & Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy from 2011–2014. While assigned to West Point as a Major, Mike served as a lead planner for the Bob McDonald Global Leadership Conference and was the aide-de-camp to the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership, held by Jim Collins and then Tom Tierney.
On this episode, we discuss:
Some of the themes for his life in 2021
His reasons for moving his family to a farm in NC
The consistent thread between his two books, Lead Yourself First and Leadership is a Relationship
His views on how technology is affecting our relationships
How he sees technology affecting the next generation of leaders
Where he sees technology going in the next few decades (putting on his Military Intelligence hat)
Some wonderful advice he received from Secretary Bob McDonald
Stories from his relationship with the great Jim Collins
Connect with Mike and follow his awesome work at MikeErwin.net or on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.
