Finding Your Summit

Host Mark Pattison sits down with Susie Hall, bestselling author of Blessed Disruption: Transforming Trauma into Triumph, successful interior designer, entrepreneur, and international speaker who grew up as the daughter of legendary University of Washington assistant coach and later Boise State head coach Skip Hall, revealing why writing a vulnerable book that exposed her deepest struggles required unlearning decades of performing and looking good in a world where coaches' daughters and high achievers are trained to never show weakness, how a rejection letter from her church threatening to publicly announce her sin forced her to choose between staying trapped in others' expectations or walking away from everything familiar to reclaim her own identity, and why the hardest moment of publishing her story wasn't facing strangers but sitting in her parents' living room reading every flagged page about her mother to her father in his recliner and her stroke surviving mother in a wheelchair who gave a thumbs up to every single passage. In this deeply authentic and transformative conversation between two elite athletes who understand that success without wholeness is just another form of suffering, Susie shares her extraordinary journey from being raised in the strict world of elite college football and Baptist church culture where everything was black and white and performance mattered more than connection, to becoming Most Likely to Succeed and Dean's Scholar while secretly disconnecting from herself and everyone close to her after trauma at age 14 taught her that armor was safer than vulnerability, to standing on the pitcher's mound during the Kingco Championship her senior year suddenly unable to throw a ball anywhere near the strike zone in what she now recognizes as an anxiety attack she never processed, to marrying twice and divorcing twice while raising seven children through fertility struggles that produced 14 embryos and taught her that time passes whether you keep trying or not, to experiencing what she calls her halftime explosion when her second husband's betrayal left her devastated and 20 pounds lighter in three weeks but also gave her the choice to either stay broken or transform every area of her life. This episode offers a masterclass in understanding that wholeness only comes from facing what's really true deep down inside rather than maintaining the script and messaging that high achievers use to stay at surface level, demonstrating why disconnection from yourself inevitably creates disconnection from those closest to you including family and children even while you're leading meetings running businesses and captaining teams, how the pressure to be the perfect coach's daughter in a world of discipline and achievement created an undercurrent of tension between her rule following side and her creative expressive side that wanted freedom, and why her 10 year transformation journey documented through journals and therapy and meditation built what she now calls the Staircase of Personal Transformation with steps including awareness, desire and commitment, introspection, intentional disruption, trauma taming, becoming the head coach of your life, and ongoing implementation. Susie opens up about growing up at the University of Washington during the Don James era from 1975 to 1987 when her father Skip Hall was the right hand man to a Hall of Fame coach and discipline and looking sharp and being on time defined everything, the pivotal moment when her EO Talks co-chair nudged her in 2022 asking if she had anything to say which finally gave her permission to connect the dots of her life after years of playing small and talking herself out of being a newscaster despite majoring in English writing, standing in front of 800 entrepreneurs in Orange County giving her first vulnerable talk and having 50 people come up in tears thanking her for pulling back the curtain on what's really real, the painful process of working with 10 book reviewers and her longtime therapist to figure out what to share and how to share it before bringing the manuscript to her family because her story involved the fathers of her children and her dad as a public figure, the moment her brother sent her manuscript to her daughters without permission two weeks before she was chairing the Festival of Trees which caused her dad the coach to demand she flag every single place she wrote about her mother and come read it to them three different times, driving to her parents' house on December 23rd nervous and shaking while her stroke surviving mother in a wheelchair gave thumbs up to every passage and her dad only asked for one small change, receiving a letter from her church in 2000 threatening to publicly announce her sin on April 30th if she didn't turn away from dating her second husband after leaving her first marriage, finding her mother's notes years later showing how she defended Susie against the elders in a battle Susie...

Host Mark Pattison sits down with Duff McKagan, founding member of Guns N' Roses, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, author, entrepreneur, and father who grew up in the same Seattle neighborhood as Mark before becoming one of rock's most iconic bassists, revealing why watching Joe Strummer stop a Clash concert at the Paramount in 1979 to defend fans from security taught him that there's no difference between performers and audience because we're all in this thing together which became the foundation for everything he does on stage decades later, how leaving Seattle at 19 with a broken drum kit and a Slant 6 Maverick to escape the heroin epidemic that destroyed his entire scene led him to sleeping in his car outside a Black Angus restaurant in Northridge while waiting for his first paycheck before meeting Slash and Steven through a newspaper ad that would change music history, and why waking up one morning in the house he just bought in Seattle unable to move because his pancreas had burst from years of cocaine and alcohol abuse became the turning point when his mother arrived in a wheelchair with Parkinson's and he realized the order of things was completely wrong because he should be taking care of her not the other way around. In this deeply authentic and inspiring conversation between two elite athletes from the same Seattle neighborhood who both made it to the top of their respective fields, Duff shares his extraordinary journey from being the youngest of eight kids in a firefighter's family in the Bryant neighborhood playing football basketball and baseball with Mark's teammates to discovering punk rock at 13 when flyers for bands like the Mentors appeared around Seattle and realizing he needed something of his own in a family where nothing belonged to just one person, to forming his first band at 13 and getting welcomed into Seattle's punk scene where it didn't matter that he had teen acne or was younger because the community was completely open, to playing with Dead Kennedys and Black Flag on tour at 17 and 18 before heroin devastated everyone around him in 1983 forcing him to sell his drum kit and drive to Los Angeles hoping to escape drugs only to discover you can't pull a geographical because drugs exist everywhere, to living in his car for two weeks outside the Black Angus in Northridge where he worked as a cook while saving money for an apartment and asking an older cook for directions to Hollywood only to learn it was 25 miles away, to meeting Slash Steven Izzy and Axl within months and getting in a room together where lightning hit and all five guys realized nothing would stop them from becoming the band they were meant to be. This episode offers a masterclass in understanding that fame was never part of the equation because the dream was always about finding the perfect band and writing the right songs not getting rich or famous, demonstrating why panic attacks that started at 16 when the shower seemed to drop three feet led to self medicating with alcohol which led to cocaine so he could drink more which made the panic attacks worse creating a vicious cycle that nearly killed him, how the bigger Guns N' Roses became with people recognizing him everywhere and Sweet Child of Mine exploding on MTV the more trapped he felt on stage where panic attacks would hit and he couldn't escape just like being stuck in an elevator, and why meeting his wife Susan on a blind date only happened after he spent years figuring out who he was beyond being Duff from Guns N' Roses because you can't bring somebody into your life until you take responsibility for yourself and discover your identity is more than just the linebacker or the bass player. Duff opens up about growing up with seven older siblings including two brothers who went to Vietnam and learning to play drums and guitar because the older kids would make him keep time or play three chords on Beatles songs which taught him he could actually play, standing at the Paramount watching Joe Strummer stop the show when security punched a fan in the nose for pogoing and demanding they take down the barrier because there's no difference between us and you which changed everything and made him realize we're all in this thing together, playing football with Eddie Hewlett Brian McCarty and Todd Fleischman on teams coached by the Fleischmanns which taught him teamwork and playing your part as the offensive tackle and defensive linebacker before deciding at 14 to focus entirely on music, the reality that being on a baseball team or football team teaches you to appreciate all the other parts because you're the linebacker and that's your role but you respect everyone else's role which translated perfectly to being in a band where you play your part and make sure you have the best players in every other part, leaving Seattle in 1984 with a crappy drum kit a guitar a bass some clothes and his 71 Maverick because somebody told him you better get out before heroin takes you...

Host Mark Pattison sits down with Bart Barkley, founder of Most People Don't, former hospitality executive with 16 years at Ritz Carlton and 10 years at Hyde Hotel, and international speaker who travels the world encouraging audiences between 40 to 4000 people to do what most people don't do, revealing why a rejection email in New York City forced him to look up from his phone and see a homeless man holding a sign that said I might as well be invisible which taught him that getting out of your own head and seeing others is the antidote to self pity, how his Penn State volleyball coach Tom Tate gave him a $500 scholarship even after he left the team and connected him to a JV coaching position because he saw Bart as a human being first and a player second, and why every interaction from checking into a hotel to ordering coffee to shutting the door on your nine year old son is an opportunity to make someone feel either cared for or processed and choosing which side of that filter you're on determines the quality of your relationships and ultimately your happiness. In this deeply insightful and practical conversation between two high achievers who understand that service to others creates meaning far beyond personal accomplishment, Bart shares his extraordinary journey from growing up lower middle class in Pittsburgh and never walking into a Ritz Carlton until he interviewed for a position to discovering that luxury hospitality isn't about coming from luxury but about noticing anticipating and over delivering on people's needs, to learning that Ritz Carlton's culture wasn't a cult but rather a tribe of like minded heart minded people with a service mentality who celebrated wild stories like security dressing up a forgotten teddy bear in sunglasses and spa cucumber slices before mailing it first class back to a three year old, to standing in New York Penn Station after receiving a devastating rejection email and choosing to put his phone away and approach a homeless man named Q who didn't want money for a sandwich or whiskey but simply wanted to be seen which transformed both their days, to creating the Humanality System that teaches 11 pillars of making people feel cared for seen valued and heard in a world that has become too competitive highly transactional and over processed. This episode offers a masterclass in understanding that one act of kindness a day for seven days in a row will increase your personal happiness by 8% so giving good service and surprising others actually makes you feel better which is why you should do it, demonstrating why mid level managers promoted during COVID without any leadership training have created a vacuum where people process customers instead of caring for them as evidenced by baristas who say welcome in without looking up and hotel front desk staff who inform you that you're the last task before they go home, how his Penn State coach never gave him much advice on improving as a player but constantly helped him improve as a human being which included getting him a JV coaching job where Bart learned to see each kid and play the 10th best player because his grandparents were coming to town even though the team was losing, and why his upcoming children's book Most Gorillas Don't But You Are Not Most Gorillas tells the story of Plum the Purple Gorilla who represents Bart himself learning from Grandma Gray who represents his 91 year old mother that you don't need to run from your worries or chase happiness over the next mountain because everything you need is right where your feet are in the present moment. Bart opens up about being the 12th best player out of 13 on the Penn State men's volleyball team that finished third in the country and realizing his junior year that with 18 people on the roster and only 12 traveling he was sitting on the sidelines watching six on six practice which led him to tell Coach Tate he needed to leave only to have the coach give him a small $500 scholarship and say come to practice anytime you're invited, the pivotal moment carrying gratitude stones in his pocket and approaching the homeless gentleman Q in New York who held a sign saying I might as well be invisible and giving him a stone while saying I see you which made Q kiss it hold it to his heart and cry because all he wanted was to be seen not money, why hundreds of people passed by Q heading to Penn Station because it's easier not to stop and easier to stay consumed in your own thoughts than to pause and look up to see what you can do for someone else, learning at Ritz Carlton that finding your tribe of people with similar heart minded service mentality creates a contagious culture when every department at every hotel talks about the same motto on the same day like we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen, the coffee shop experience where the chime signals welcome in but employees never look at you then flip the screen asking for a gratuity before the drink comes out...

Host Mark Pattison sits down with Andrew Brandt, a former NFL agent, Green Bay Packers Vice President, Villanova Law professor, and author of Smarter About Sports who spent nine years managing the salary cap and player negotiations for one of football's most storied franchises, revealing why his journey from representing tennis players at ProServe to becoming Boomer Esiason's agent happened because he saw football players no one was paying attention to and seized an opportunity that would define his entire career, how managing the delicate three year transition between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers taught him that sports is fundamentally about egos and insecurities rather than numbers, and why switching sides from agent to team executive meant trading the 24/7 chaos of representing the herd for the structured challenge of making Green Bay's small town NFL miracle work within the constraints of equal revenue sharing and salary cap rules that level the playing field between Wisconsin and Dallas. In this deeply insightful and entertaining conversation between two football veterans who understand the business side of the game from completely different angles, Andrew shares his extraordinary path from growing up as a tennis player who competed on Stanford's G team to working his way into ProServe during law school by essentially bugging them until they let him in, to watching David Falk represent Michael Jordan down the hall and realizing basketball was where the action was, to noticing football players getting ignored and deciding despite never playing the sport that he would become a football agent, to representing Ricky Williams after winning the Heisman only to lose him to Master P within days, to receiving a phone call at home from the Green Bay Packers asking if he wanted to switch sides after Mike Holmgren left for Seattle and took the entire business operations team with him. This episode offers a masterclass in finding opportunities where others see obstacles and understanding that the real work in sports happens far beyond contract negotiations, demonstrating why agents spend only a small fraction of their time negotiating deals while the rest involves managing mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, stepmothers, stepfathers, cousins, AAU coaches, and pastors who all come with the player, how the greatest story in sports remains that a town of 100,000 people not only has an NFL team but a thriving one thanks to equal revenue sharing and the salary cap, and why athletes at the highest level don't actually care whether they get $20 million or $25 million or $30 million but rather whether they're being treated the same way the Cowboys treated Troy Aikman or the Patriots treated Drew Bledsoe because sports is fundamentally about comparison and respect. Andrew opens up about learning from Boomer Esiason who treated him with respect despite being just an assistant helping David Falk and demanded excellence in a way that prepared him for everything that followed, the brutal education of negotiating with Mike Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals who had a reputation as the toughest team in the league to deal with, the sliding door moment of standing on the sideline at the Super Bowl watching Disney film crews ready to capture Boomer's I'm going to Disney World moment only to watch Joe Montana drive 92 yards in the final two minutes and win the game while those same Disney people ran to the other sideline leaving Boomer hanging, why he tells anyone who wants to be an agent to role play with him immediately and answer the question of why would I sign with you because the only way agents succeed is by making themselves different, the reality that representing a player means representing the herd and dealing with everything from pregnant girlfriends to lost rings to logistics they can't figure out which burns people out faster than anything, how Ron Wolf called his house asking if he'd like to switch sides and when Andrew asked if he had to actually move to Green Bay Wolf said no offense taken but yeah, managing Brett Favre's agent calling every week saying do you know what it's like to come into work every day and sit next to your replacement while Aaron Rodgers' camp called saying he's never going to retire what are you going to do with Aaron for three straight years, why Mike Tirico telling him four words you make us smarter at ESPN crystallized his entire post Packers career into teaching and media work that brings people behind the curtain, completing a 29029 Everesting challenge at Snowbird by going up the mountain 13 times and gondola down each time which taught him that training for time on feet rather than shorter faster workouts was the hardest physical preparation he'd ever done, and why his new book captures hundreds of stories from being an agent, team executive, media personality, and professor dealing with NIL contracts for millions of dollars being paid to college athletes. Key Topics Discussed: F...