Teamcast

Ceci Craft has worked inside two of the most demanding performance cultures in the world — Army Special Operations and Major League Baseball. She's currently the Philadelphia Phillies' Director of Mental Performance, Life Skills, and Education, leading a staff of seven coaches across their MLB affiliates and the organization's academy in the Dominican Republic.When she made the move from working with Operators to working in baseball, she thought she had her bearings -- "No one's being shot at, and no one's died, so I'm fine." -- It took her a while to recalibrate her perspective from the special ops world and to recognize that losses in the athletic world are different kinds of losses, but still real ones.Preston and Ceci dig into the gap between how mental performance practitioners are trained and what the job actually requires — the ethical conundrums no ethics course prepares you for, the difference between a clinical model built on client readiness and a performance context that operates on its own timeline, and why "coach, don't profess" is harder to practice than it sounds.They use imagery as a case study — exploring habituation, audience fit, and how to teach live skills more effectively. They examine what Ceci calls "healthy versus junk food confidence": the difference between confidence that holds up versus confidence that collapses under real pressure. And they close with one of the more honest conversations about identity and transition: what it actually costs to walk out of a high-performance tribe, and what helps.If this conversation is useful, the best way to support our work is to subscribe and leave a rating or review. It helps us reach the people who need these discussions.

To celebrate NASA’s Artemis II test flight, scheduled for launch on Wednesday, April 1st, we're re-casting Preston's conversation with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman from May 2023. The Artemis II test flight will be crewed by Commander Reid, Pilot Victor Glover, Astronaut Christina Koch, and Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen for the 10-day lunar flyby mission, which will test the Orion spacecraft's life-support systems for the first time with humans aboard.In this Teamcast episode, originally aired on May 24, 2023, Preston and Reid discuss the transition from extensive training to real operations and why it is inevitably chaotic in mission critical work. Wiseman describes arriving on the ISS after four years of training and initially feeling “useless,” emphasizing mastery and learning rapidly rather than expecting perfection. They explore selection for “rate of learning,” humility, mentorship, shared situational awareness across small crews, and mission control. They also address human-machine automation, the need for human override, the integration of new team members, and curriculum elements such as small-team work in unpredictable natural environments, repeated rehearsals with failures, and getting comfortable being uncomfortable.Commander Reid Wiseman is an American astronaut, engineer, and naval aviator. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office until November 14, 2022. He was a member of the Expedition 40/41 crew, which launched to the International Space Station on May 28, 2014, and returned on November 10, 2014.If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

This week’s Recast is from Oct 2021. The episode explores how high-pressure performers can train, maintain, and recover their mental skills, with emphasis on using the right tools in the right way and avoiding unqualified “backyard” approaches. Host Harry Moffitt speaks with performance psychologist and cognitive coach Paddy Steinfort, who has worked with elite sports teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Blue Jays, and 76ers. Paddy draws on his personal athletic experience and his education in psychology to discuss how people can prepare for demanding environments, remain effective when pressure rises, and build sustainable habits over time.Paddy and Harry examine how to place attention on the right cues, how to execute the right actions despite discomfort, and how routines can become superstition-driven avoidance. They also discuss how coaches and organizations can better support psychological performance. The two provide practical ways to manage ongoing stress, strengthen individual and group processes, and keep progressing toward long-term goals.If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

In this episode of the Teamcast, Dr. Preston Cline and Dr. Art Finch discuss MCTI's most recent paper, “The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection and Assessment". Thanks to our collaborative inquiry community, we've received feedback and observations from special operations team members across the Five Eyes. Preston and Art reflect on that feedback and contrast the historical “psychological model” with rites-of-passage approaches. They cover the effort to sustain force numbers while still selecting the cognitively diverse candidates teams need. They discuss the balance between tacit knowledge and psychological science, and the need to avoid pendulum swings where either side dominates. You'll also hear what causes programs to erode unless leaders manage change intentionally.Read and download the mentioned paper here: https://missioncti.com/resources/If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

This week’s Recast is from April 2020. Why This Episode Matters Now:In 2022, the war in Ukraine revealed something our partners had been experiencing but we hadn't fully articulated: the traditional model of intact, homogeneous teams wasn't sufficient for the emerging operational environment. Individuals with diverse expertise, geography, language, and allegiances needed to rapidly converge into what we call Tactical Swarms—heterogeneous cross-functional units that form, solve emergent problems, and disperse.Our recent white paper, The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection & Assessment, explores this evolution in depth. But six years ago, Preston laid the foundational concepts in this conversation with Coleman.What the Research Shows:Many operators who excelled at teamwork—performing with known, homogeneous teams—struggled with teaming: the ability to rapidly build cohesion within heterogeneous groups. This episode examines why routine versus critical communication and field observations across special operations, emergency medicine, and other high-stakes environments. In this episode, Preston and Coleman describe how tactical swarms and X teams differ from traditional team structures, and they distinguish between routine and critical communication and when teams must shift between them. Recent Research:Cline, P.B. (2026). The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection Assessment: A Community of Praxis [White paper]. Mission Critical Team Institute. DOI 10.13140/RG.2.2.28255.73121. https://missioncti.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/The-Fourth-Generation-of-Military-Special-Operations-Selection-Assessment_Final_2-Feb-26.pdf Falk, D., Cline, P., Donegan, D., & Mehta, S. (2023). A Novel Framework for Routine Versus Critical Communication in Surgical Education—Don’t Take It Personally. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 31(3), 115–121. https://doi.org/10.5435/JAAOS-D-22-00912 https://missioncti.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FINAL-A-Novel-Framework-for-Routine-Versus-Critical.pdf If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.This episode contains a term that may be offensive; it is used to describe gendered communication dynamics. We have included it to accurately represent the event, and it is intended for educational purposes only.

When a patient's heart or lungs fail, ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) technology can keep them alive—but only if the team operating it works flawlessly under pressure. In this episode, Thomas Preston draws on over 30 years of experience in cardiopulmonary care to reveal what it takes to manage these life-sustaining systems.This Teamcast episode covers the specialized roles within ECMO teams, the critical relationship between perfusionists and other medical staff, and strategies for navigating crisis moments when seconds matter. Thomas discusses how trust, constant vigilance, and ongoing training form the foundation of successful outcomes in some of medicine's most intense situations. If you value this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

What happens when life-and-death decisions must be made by a team rather than an individual? In this episode, Dr. Mark Ramzy — cardiothoracic intensivist, emergency physician, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of REBEL EM — joins Dan to explore how teams think, decide, and act under pressure inside the ICU.If you value this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

In this episode, Preston discusses mission critical teams with Dr. Dawn Kernagis, the Scientific Director at DEEP. DEEP is an extreme environment technology and exploration organization with a mission to "Make Humans Aquatic." They explore the complexities and dynamics of individuals and teams working in undersea habitats and submersible systems. Dawn shares insights from her extensive experience, including participation in NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEMO) project as a crew member for mission 21 and research on optimizing human performance under pressure.Preston and Dawn cover an array of topics, including the importance of team cohesion, situational awareness, and the psychological and physiological challenges these teams face. Dawn also emphasizes the critical role of effective communication and leadership in maintaining team safety and performance. The episode concludes with practical advice for building and managing resilient, high-functioning teams.If you value this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

This week’s episode is a Recast as we review a fundamental conversation between Preston and Coleman Ruiz (MCTI’s co-founder and former Director of Performance) on the concept of "Residue"—the psychological and emotional substance left behind after immersion in high-stakes environments.As we approach the end of the year, we are revisiting this episode to help our listeners navigate the transition from one year to the next and to continue or begin a ritual of reflection. Coleman and Preston explore how the "residue" of our experiences is neither good nor bad, but rather a byproduct that must be processed. Without intentional routines, this residue can "harden," inhibiting our ability to move into a new year with clarity.The conversation covers various aspects of professional and personal life, including the impact of extreme experiences, the importance of intentionality and self-compassion, and the value of a 'third thing' to help balance life. This thought-provoking discussion is essential for anyone involved in mission critical fields, as it emphasizes the need for better tools and self-awareness to manage the residue of intense experiences. Whether you are coming off a high-intensity deployment or simply looking to reset after a demanding year, this episode offers a framework to help you leverage your past to build a more resilient self.Find the featured paper on our website: https://missioncti.com/resources/If you value this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

In this episode, our Chief Medical Officer Dan Dworkis works with Alex Hodson, a seasoned critical care physician assistant, to explore the dynamics of high-functioning multi-professional healthcare teams, the training pipeline for APPs, and the importance of feedback and teamwork across disciplines. Gain insights into the challenges and rewards of working in high-stress environments and understand how multidisciplinary and multi-professional collaboration shapes effective patient care.

This week, we’re revisiting a conversation between Preston and Dr. Art Finch, a veteran psychologist from the US Special Operations Command. This episode (previously published in 2020) covers the unique psychological profiles of mission critical teams. Channel a beginner's mind and re-explore why some individuals choose the extraordinary path of high-risk, immersive environments while others opt for more conventional lives. Listen to Art share his experiences and insights from working with special operations units, highlighting the exceptional intelligence, low anxiety, and emotional compartmentalization abilities of operators. Consider the impact of these traits on personal relationships and daily functioning, offering valuable perspectives for both operators and their families, foundational knowledge for the recent Teamcast and accompanying workbook “On Coming Home”. The episode also touches on the challenges of transitioning back to civilian life and the importance of understanding and leveraging one's unique cognitive and emotional strengths.If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

In today’s Teamcast, Harry and Martin Jones discuss the role of psychologists as servants in high-performance environments, the rule of thirds in learning, psychological performance and speed cameras, and how high-quality sleep is still a work in progress and is not the last thing we do at night, but the first thing we do in our day.Martin is a sport and exercise psychologist. He is also a sleep specialist with over 20 years of experience supporting coaches, performance directors, elite athletes, military personnel, business leaders, and recording artists. He holds postgraduate degrees in sport psychology from Loughborough University and sleep medicine from the University of Oxford. Martin has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and taught at universities in the UK and Canada. He holds an honorary professorial position at Hartbury University and is the creator and co-host of the Optimising Human Performance podcast.Check out Martin’s own podcast – Optimising Human Performance – at https://www.ophp.co.uk/. If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

Dr. Dan Dworkis and Dr. Art Finch, MCTI's Director of Psychology, discuss the complexities of reintegrating into family life after high-stress, mission-critical work. They introduce 'On Coming Home,' a workbook designed to help both operators and their families navigate the reintegration process. The conversation highlights the importance of patience, gratitude, and understanding that coming home is a process, not an event.Access the On Coming Home workbook here.This episode was published in partnership with The Emergency Mind Podcast. If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

Today, we welcome Dave Robson, Chief Engineer at Atlassian Williams Racing. Dave shares his extensive career journey spanning 25 years in F1, starting with McLaren and now at Williams. He delves into topics such as leadership, team organization, and the balance between data and intuition in high-pressure environments. The conversation also explores the challenges of training new engineers without traditional test teams, the importance of building intuition, and maintaining high performance under stress. Dave and Harry discuss  the dynamics within racing teams and strategies behind building instinctual decision-making in pit teams, toggling between flat and hierarchical team structures. They talk about the need to build a “war chest” of social capital to spend in the hard time. Dave closes by sharing some of the books that have influenced his career.Dave holds a Master of Engineering from the University of Oxford and has deep experience and expertise in stress analysis, laboratory testing, F1 engineering and racing, as well as how to lead and manage teams in one of the most high-pressure environments in sports.This episode has insight into high performance, engineering, leadership, and the inner workings of teams in demanding environments.Dave’s book recommendations: The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results by Stephen Bungay; Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life by James Kerr If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

Eric Benoit, acute care surgeon at Lahey Hospital, and Andrew Petrosoniak, emergency physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, join Chief Medical Officer Dan Dworkis on the Teamcast to discuss operating with uncertainty in high-stakes medical environments. This episode, released in collaboration with The Emergency Mind podcast, addresses managing risk, performing under pressure, and the importance of decision-making and reflection. Discover how Eric, Andrew, and Dan balance technical skills and knowledge with handling ambiguity in critical situations. Learn valuable insights on improving clinical decision-making, teaching trainees to cope with uncertainty, and operating in highly uncertain environments.If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

“Find those people who are your allies, have confidence in yourself, have confidence in your competence.”This episode features an in-depth conversation with FDNY Deputy Chief Michele Fitzsimmons, who shares her career journey and discusses the evolution of the department. Michele shares her journey from working with HIV/AIDS patients to becoming a firefighter and eventually rising through the ranks to Deputy Chief. Preston and Michele discuss the critical role of trust, teamwork, and communication in mission-critical situations, as well as the fundamental changes that followed the events of 9/11. Michele offers valuable insights into the significance of training and communal meals, as well as the evolving safety protocols for modern firefighters. This episode is an inspiring look into the life and career of a dedicated leader who has helped shape the future of fire service. If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

After a brief summer break, The Teamcast is back! In this episode, Preston sits down with Harry for a deep dive into the philosophy of high performance, resilience, and the human psyche. They explore a range of topics, from the role of Stoicism in modern life and the journey from a military mindset to psychology, to the concept of adaptive learning and the importance of social connections for team performance. Harry also reminisces about his time in the military, his influential travel experiences, and his involvement with the special operations punk rock band, The Externals. The episode ties practical insights with deep philosophical reflections tailored for individuals in mission critical teams. Check out these moments for specifics. 00:47 Harry & Preston meeting at Fort Bragg + Human Performance07:36 Transitioning to Psychology09:23 The Importance of Philosophy and Ethics33:04 The Praxis of Wisdom39:54 The Importance of Social Connections40:48 The Role of Debriefing in Performance48:04 The Wild West of Human Performance57:47 Training Intelligence and Adaptive Learning01:16:45 The Power of Reflection and Mind WanderingIf you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up-to-date with future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

In this episode, Chief Medical Officer Dan Dworkis interviews Dr. Sean Griffiths, who shares his experiences and insights from his training and career in emergency medicine, both within the United States Air Force and civilian practice. The two talk through the stark differences between various emergency care environments, the importance of leadership, and the challenges of preparing for high-stakes medical emergencies in diverse settings. Dr. Griffiths emphasizes the significance of character in medical training and offers practical advice on creating a thriving medical team culture. This episode is ideal for anyone passionate about improving emergency care and leadership in healthcare.If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and ensure you don't miss future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

This week's episode features Preston's conversation with Dr. David Gens, who is best known as the trauma surgeon who treated Ronald Reagan after he was shot in 1981. Dr. Gens remains an attending surgeon at Shock Trauma and is also one of the most influential trauma resident educators worldwide.[10:25] Residue, Acute Stress, & Long-term Stress - Dr. Gens gives his experience with managing stress and residue. "I slept in the dialysis unit, and it finally dawned on me - this is an international event." [17:25] Working with the First Family in the aftermath of the shooting[31:40] Tacit Knowledge Transfer - Dr. Gens covers how he knows a learner is gaining or has gained tacit knowledge and what instructions he gives to support them in the moment. Dr. Gens is a respected leader who has made significant improvements in trauma and critical care medicine, ultimately enhancing the lives of many patients. He's known for his commitment to top-notch patient care, considerable research, and thorough training of future trauma experts. His teaching covers a wide range of crucial topics, from basic anatomy to the full scope of trauma patient evaluation and treatment.Want to learn more about Dr. Gens? Read the Washingtonian's minute-by-minute account of the actions after President Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981. Watch a video tribute from MedSchool Maryland Productions. The video, featuring narration by Dr. Thomas Scalea, includes praise from faculty, students, and colleagues.

On this episode, initially released in March 2025 as a collaboration with The Emergency Mind Podcast, Chief Medical Officer Dan Dworkis speaks with Dr. Jeremy Cannon. They delve deeply into military medical readiness and the intriguing concept of the "peacetime effect”. Whether you're in the military or a civilian, you'll gain insights into optimizing medical readiness and saving lives on and off the battlefield.Dr. Cannon is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where he champions the Penn Medicine-US Navy Trauma Training Partnership. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Cannon also holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He's a former President of the Excelsior Surgical Society and edited the 2024 Edition of Edward D. Churchill's Surgeon to Soldiers. Currently, he's a Veteran Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, focusing on military health policy.Listen and explore the steep learning curves experienced in past conflicts and why it's so crucial to maintain and improve readiness in military medical systems. This conversation covers the necessity of military-civilian partnerships, the evolution of trauma care, and the critical need for effective policy.