#52: Chris Atwell (My Pastor) — On Cancer, Suffering, and Peacemaking

November 23, 2020 by Cal Walters in Leadership, Intentional Living

Today, I'm very excited to share a special conversation I had with my pastor, Chris Atwell.  Chris Atwell is the Lead Pastor of Vision and Instruction at Portico Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, which he planted in 2004. Chris is also an area leader in Acts 29's U.S. North Atlantic Network.

Serving in the Army, we move around a lot. Each time we move, it takes time to build community and find connection. One way we build community is getting plugged in to a local church. In 2019, we relocated from Texas to Charlottesville, VA, for me to complete the Graduate Course at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. This course is attended by all Army Judge Advocates after they are promoted to the rank of Major, and all students that successfully complete the course receive an L.L.M. in Military Law.

During our year in Charlottesville, we really enjoyed attending Portico Church. Today, I’m very excited to share a special conversation I had with the pastor of Portico, Chris Atwell. Chris Atwell is the Lead Pastor of Vision and Instruction at Portico Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, a church he planted in 2004. Chris is also an area leader in Acts 29’s U.S. North Atlantic Network. He serves as the Dean of Students at Grimké Seminary. Chris is married to Jenn, and they have three daughters.

This is my first time sitting down with a pastor or religious leader on this show, but it was really special for me. No matter what your faith background, I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation about a faith that has really had a big impact on my life and worldview.

Chris is also a huge UVA Basketball fan.

Chris gets quite vulnerable with us and shares his battle with cancer, how he dealt with suffering, his perspective on leadership in the non-profit space, and his views on peacemaking—something that is always relevant but certainly relevant right now in the US.

Chris brought up the following books during our conversation.

Gospel-Centered Discipleship

By Dodson, Jonathan K.

The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict

By Sande, Ken

The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future

By Booth, Jeff

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#51: President Bob Caslen & Dr. Mike Matthews — On Grit and the Character Edge

November 11, 2020 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership

Today, I am so privileged and honored to bring you insights from two great leadership minds, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Robert Caslen, who currently serves as the 29th President of the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Mike Matthews, Professor of Engineering Psychology at the United States Military Academy.

Today, I am so privileged and honored to bring you insights from two great leadership minds, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Robert Caslen, who currently serves as the 29th President of the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Mike Matthews, Professor of Engineering Psychology at the United States Military Academy. President Caslen and Dr. Matthews bring over 80 years of combined experience to their brand new book, The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity.

This was such a fun conversation for me. The amount of collective wisdom and knowledge between these two men is amazing. We talk about their book, how someone can develop character and recover from setbacks, the difference between resume and eulogy virtues, the first servant leader President Caslen encountered, positive psychology, my results from the Values-in-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), the work Dr. Matthews did with Angela Duckworth on grit, Coach Popovich, and the amazing example of 1LT Daniel Hyde.

The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity

By Caslen Jr., Robert L., Matthews, Michael D.

General Caslen served 43 years in the United States Army. His military career culminated in 2018 as the 59th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Under his direction as Superintendent, West Point was recognized as the number one public college in the Nation by Forbes Magazine and the number one public college by U.S. News and World Report. Through the establishment of Centers of Excellence at West Point, General Caslen connected the operational Army with West Point research and intellectual capital. He refined West Point’s leadership program by making professional ethics a priority and essential part of leadership and character development. He worked tirelessly to expand the diversity of cadets and faculty alike, and he dramatically expanded West Point’s minority and women populations to reflect the demographics of the Army that West Point’s graduates help lead.

Working with the Director of Athletics, he revamped the athletic program, made it self-sustaining, and fielded 25 competitive intercollegiate teams. He created partnerships with the NCAA and Department of Defense to conduct research into preventing and treating concussions and traumatic brain injury that have led to significant improvements in prevention and care. He stood up the Army Cyber Institute to build expertise and Army leaders prepared for the new cyber fight. And, fulfilling a pledge he made soon after becoming Superintendent, he led a sweeping reversal of Army’s football program and developed a culture of excellence through winning with character, culminating in Army defeating Navy in 2016 for the first time in 14 years, and beating both Air Force and Navy in 2017 to win the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy for the first time in 21 years.

Before becoming the West Point Superintendent, General Caslen served as the Chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, where he served as the senior military commander in Iraq after the drawdown of U.S. and allied forces in 2011. Caslen held several other notable positions including commanding general of Multi National Division-North during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Chief of Staff of both the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT) and the 10th Mountain Division, where he also served as the Division’s Chief of Staff during Operation Enduring Freedom. He also has served in combat and overseas deployments in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Joint Task Force Bravo in Honduras, and Operation Uphold Democracy and the United Nations Mission in Haiti.

He is a graduate of West Point and he holds an MBA from Long Island University and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University. He was also recognized with an honorary Doctorate from Long Island University. He is a member of the Kansas State Engineering College Hall of Fame, received a Life Time of Service Award from the American Red Cross, was recognized with the Honorary Rock of the Year Award for his efforts in diversity as the Superintendent of West Point.

He also received the 2018 Gerald R. Ford Legends Award for lifetime service, and was the 2019 recipient of the NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award, joining the ranks of Tony Dungy, John Wooden, and Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Ford, and George H.W. Bush. Caslen also serves as the Special Advisor on Executive Leadership and Character Development at Higher Echelon.

Dr. Mike Matthews is currently Professor of Engineering Psychology at the United States Military Academy. He served as President of the American Psychological Association's Society for Military Psychology from 2007 to 2008 and is a Templeton Foundation Senior Positive Psychology Fellow. From 2014 to 2015, he served as a Fellow for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Strategic Studies Group.

Collectively, his research interests center on Soldier performance in combat and other dangerous contexts. He has authored over 250 scientific papers, is the co-editor of Leadership in Dangerous Situations: A Handbook for Armed Forces, Emergency Services, and First Responders, the Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2012), and (in collaboration with co-editors David E. Rohall and Morten G. Ender) Inclusion in the American Military: A Force for Diversity, published by Lexington Books (2017). He is a co-author of The Millennial Generation and National Defense: Attitudes of Future Military and Civilian Leaders (Palgrave Pivot, 2013), and co-editor of Human Performance Optimization: The Science and Ethics of Enhancing Human Capabilities (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Dr. Matthews is the author of the highly acclaimed Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, April 2020), which explores the vital role of psychological science in 21st century war.

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#50: Cheryl Bachelder (Former CEO of Popeyes) — On Daring to Serve in Business

November 03, 2020 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership

Cheryl A. Bachelder is a passionate restaurant industry executive and former CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Cheryl is known for her crisp strategic thinking, franchisee-focused approach, superior financial performance and the development of outstanding leaders and teams. Cheryl joined Popeyes, Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., in November 2007, after serving as an active member of the Board for a year.

Cheryl A. Bachelder is a passionate restaurant industry executive and former CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Cheryl is known for her crisp strategic thinking, franchisee-focused approach, superior financial performance and the development of outstanding leaders and teams.

Cheryl joined Popeyes, Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., in November 2007, after serving as an active member of the Board for a year. She brought more than 35 years of experience in brand building, operations, and public-company management at companies like Yum Brands, Domino’s Pizza, RJR Nabisco, The Gillette Company, and The Procter & Gamble Company.

At Popeyes, Cheryl promptly established a Road Map for Results. This strategic framework led to market share gains of eight points, improved guest ratings, and increased restaurant margins (400 basis points in seven years). The improvement in restaurant performance led franchisees to remodel the system and accelerate new unit growth both in the U.S. and abroad. In eight years, the enterprise market cap grew from less than $300 million to over $1.3 billion. At fiscal year-end 2015, Popeyes’ system-wide revenues were $3.1 billion. These revenues were generated by over 2,539 restaurants operated by 360 franchisees and more than 60,000 restaurant employees in the United States, three territories, and 27 foreign countries.

Ms. Bachelder created a culture based on the Popeyes Purpose: to inspire servant leaders to achieve superior results. This purpose was expressed in the six principles of how they worked together. The Popeyes team focus was to serve the franchise owners well; together they pursued a bold ambition for the enterprise. This produced exceptional performance results. In March 2015, Ms. Bachelder published a book chronicling the tenets of the Popeyes turnaround, entitled Dare to Serve, Second Edition – How to drive superior results by serving others.

Ms. Bachelder has served on the board of directors for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., since 2006; board of directors for Pier 1 Imports, Inc., since 2012; the advisory board of Agile Pursuits Franchising, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, since 2009; and the International Franchise Association since February 2015. She also served on the board of directors for True Value Company from 2007 – 2012 and on the board of the National Restaurant Association May 2009 – 2012. In November 2014, Cheryl was certified as an NACD Board Leadership Fellow.

Prior to serving as Popeyes CEO, Ms. Bachelder revitalized brand performance in both retail and consumer goods companies. She was president and chief concept officer for KFC Corporate (2001-2003), creating growth plans for the U.S. business in collaboration with the franchise owners. From 1995 – 2000, Ms. Bachelder served as vice president of marketing and product development for Domino’s Pizza, Inc. She was the brand architect responsible for contemporizing the restaurant chain’s image and launching the innovative Heatwave bag which improved product quality and drove strong same-store sales growth for five consecutive years across 5,400 units. Prior to her restaurant experience, Ms. Bachelder served as general manager of the LifeSavers Division of RJR Nabisco. Her early career years included brand management roles at The Gillette Company and The Procter & Gamble Company.

In September 2015, Cheryl was awarded The Norman Brinker Award from Nation’s Restaurant News. She has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and was named by CNBC’s Jim Cramer as one of his “21 Bankable CEOs” for 2014. In 2012, she was recognized as “Leader of the Year” by the Women’s Foodservice Forum, and received the Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association.

Ms. Bachelder holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing, from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She has been married for over 35 years to Chris Bachelder and they have three grown daughters.

On this episode, we discuss her incredible father, Daddy Max, her family’s dinner conversations that contributed to her and all of her siblings being CEOs, the impact of her faith on her leadership, her journey being a female executive, how she integrated life as a business leader with family, how she turned Popeyes around by leading differently, and much more.

Books or resources mentioned during this interview:

Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others

By Bachelder, Cheryl

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

By Covey, Stephen R.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

By Jim Collins

The Soul of the Firm

By Pollard, C. William

Check out the great work of Robert Greenleaf here!

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#49: Patrick Lencioni — 6 Types of Working Genius

October 17, 2020 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership

Patrick Lencioni is founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to providing organizations with ideas, products and services that improve teamwork, clarity and employee engagement. Lencioni's passion for organizations and teams is reflected in his writing, speaking and executive consulting.

Patrick Lencioni is one of the founders and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to providing organizations with ideas, products and services that improve teamwork, clarity and employee engagement.

Patrick’s passion for organizations and teams is reflected in his writing, speaking and executive consulting. He is the author of 11 best-selling books, which have sold over 6 million copies and been translated more than 30 languages. His capstone book, The Advantage, is the pre-eminent source on organizational health. After sixteen years in print, his classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, remains a weekly fixture on national best-seller lists. Released in 2016, The Ideal Team Player is a much-anticipated follow-up to his team book and also a Wall Street Journal best-seller.

The wide-spread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of speaking and consulting clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, schools and churches.

Pat addresses thousands of leaders each year at world-class organizations and national conferences. Consistently the top rated keynote speaker at major events, Pat shares his insights and inspires his audiences through his accessibility, humor and story-telling. The Wall Street Journal said he is "one of the most in-demand business speakers." Named in Fortune magazine as one of the ‘ten new gurus you should know,’ Pat and his work have been featured in USA TODAY, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Harvard Business Review, to name a few.

Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. Pat lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and four sons.

Pat is really excited about a brand new concept he and his team are launching this week called the 6 Types of Working Genius. This is an incredible tool that helps you and I identify what we are really good at and those parts of work that make us most frustrated. Pat had me take the assessment and we discuss my results and his results. We also dive into the organizational health movement, how to create what he calls “vulnerability-based trust” on your team, why the right kind of conflict on a team is a sign of health, and much more.

To do The 6 Types of Working Genius Assessment, click here and use the discount code: CAL.

Also, please check out Pat’s books if you haven’t already! They are easy reads, filled with powerful truths, and packed with practical application to your team and organization.

The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues

By Lencioni, Patrick M.

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business

By Lencioni, Patrick

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

By Lencioni, Patrick

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

By Lencioni, Patrick M.

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#48: Justin Whitmel Earley — On Faith, Forming Habits, and Finding Contentment

October 05, 2020 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership

Justin Whitmel Earley is a father of four sons, a mergers & acquisitions lawyer, a husband to Lauren and citizen of Richmond, VA. All the while, he's trying to figure out how to live a life of love in an age of chaos.

Justin Whitmel Earley is a father of four sons, a mergers & acquisitions lawyer, a husband to Lauren and citizen of Richmond, VA. All the while, he’s trying to figure out how to live a life of love in an age of chaos. By that he just means that while his whole life he has wanted to live for an outward purpose, he has also struggled his whole life with his own tendency towards inward disorder, and the habits of a culture that seem to exacerbate those tendencies.

The Common Rule is born out of his own struggle with that. He is a former non-profit worker in China who suffered an anxiety collapse in the middle of becoming a father and a lawyer. At the time he was living with a lot of hopes and dreams about what he could do, but his day to day life was absolute chaos. It was in his crash that he realized that his hopes and dreams were not enough—he needed a reformation of everyday habits. He needed a set of guardrails that could save him from myself, and keep him pointed at his vision.

It was in the wake of that dark phase of life that friends and family helped him get on a healthy routine of daily and weekly rhythms which not only saved his life, but unexpectedly introduced him to a whole new way of life. The Common Rule is a version of those daily and weekly practices.

The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction

By Earley, Justin Whitmel

His effort now is to offer the hope and joy that he’s found to the epidemic of anxiety, depression and overwork of so many well-intentioned people. It is a communal way of forming your life in the love of God & neighbor, amidst a culture beset by individualism and consumerism.

Whether you're an office worker trying to figure out how to make it, a stay-at-home parent trying to figure out how to stay sane, a church trying to figure out how to be missional in America, or an organization wanting to reform its work culture, Justin has something to say to you. He would love to share with you the way the most ordinary habits of love can create extraordinary lives of light.

On this episode, we discuss Justin’s personal journey with faith, his story of panic attacks and anxiety and how that lead to him to focus on habits, we discuss the contents of his book The Common Rule and how he now lives according to these daily and weekly habits he established years ago, and there are a lot of very practical takeaways for everyone on how we can align our beliefs and our actions by focusing on our habits and creating effective systems.

Email Justin at justin.whitmel.earley@thecommonrule.org.

In addition to Justin’s amazing book, The Common Rule, I highly recommend these books to learn more about the power of habits and how to form good habits and break bad ones.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

By Duhigg, Charles

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

By Clear, James

If you’d like to learn more about the intentional management of social media and technology, check out Episode #21 on Digital Minimalism.

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