Seeking the Extraordinary

Promise and Deliver: Alex Sheen

Alex Sheen, inspired by a personal tragedy, founded Because I Said I Would, a movement and organization dedicated to the betterment of humanity through promises made and kept. He and his organization are changing lives through an innovative concept called promise cards, as bolstered by chapters of volunteers, character education programs in schools and global awareness campaigns. One of the world's foremost experts on accountability and commitment, Alex is a five-time TEDx Talk speaker, an author, a podcast host, and an internationally recognized humanitarian. His work has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, The Steve Harvey Show, CNN, Fox News, and many other programs. He donates 100% of his speaker fees and by the way, he's made over 700 worldwide speeches and donated some $5 million already. More on Alex at https://becauseisaidiwould.org/alexsheen/Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

Kaley Klemp: Leader of Leaders

Kaley Klemp has changed the lives of countless people through her teachings around self-awareness. As a management consultant for Deloitte, she's now a highly sought after coach, facilitator, and speaker. She's a TEDx speaker. She has facilitated retreats for hundreds of forums throughout the world. Is renowned expert in small group dynamics and leadership development, and is a black belt master of using the Enneagram and conscious leadership models to help individuals understand themselves and others as well as to help teams foster a common vision, build trust, develop authentic relationships, and use creative collaboration to achieve better results.She recently co-authored the "80-80 Marriage: A new model for a happier, stronger relationship." Offering an entirely new paradigm based on radical generosity and shared success and one that calls for each partner to contribute 80% to build the strongest possible relationship. More on Kaley at https://kaleyklemp.com/Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

Dennis Ross: A Global Phenomenon

Dennis Ross worked in key positions for presidents Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama. His bipartisan experiences dealing with the Middle East, Russia, the Persian Gulf, South Asia, and other areas are, in a word, vast. Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

Etan Thomas: The Activist Athlete

Etan Thomas attended Syracuse University where he played basketball and graduated with a degree in Business Management. In 2000, the year in which he was selected to the first team, All Big East, he was drafted number 12 in the NBA draft and went on to play as a center and power forward for the Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks. But this man is far more than a member of the elite group of men that were good enough to play in the NBA. He's a study in resilience and inspiration. During the Wizard's training camp for the 2007 to 2008 season, a routine physical examination revealed that he had a leaking aortic valve requiring open-heart surgery.The surgery was a success. And a year later, he returned to play again for the Wizards. And in this first game back, he had 10 points and eight rebounds. Yet our guest has passions and genius well beyond athletics. He's a prolific writer, thinker, advocate, and activist. He wrote a book of poetry called More Than an Athlete, in which he addresses big issues, such as the death penalty, racism and abortion.He coauthored his autobiography Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge, in which he discusses his own childhood without a father. In another book of poetry and essays, Voices of The Future, he collaborates with today's youth to tackle topics such as police brutality, wars, HIV, and even religion. And his most recent anthology, We Matter, relies in part on interviews of other athletes, activists, and scholars to educate, question, and inspire.He's also written for the Huffington Post, Washington Post, CNN and ESPN, and he still likes basketball too. As he is a writer and podcaster for basketballnews.com. He's the recipient of the 2010 National Basketball Players Association Community Contribution Award as well as the 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Foundation, Inc. Legacy Award. Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

Adam Hayden: Living While Dying

Adam Hayden is a philosopher, writer, advocate and community organizer. He's married and has three young children. He's witty, charming, brilliant, and full of life.And in 2016, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, one of the deadliest and most common forms of brain cancer. Glioblastoma or GBM has a median survival time of approximately 10 to 16 months and a five-year survival rate of only about 5%, making our guest's survival for five years, quite rare. GBM is the form of brain cancer that took Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Beau Biden, Tug McGraw, Ethel Mermen, and Neil Peart from us. But Adam says he is living while dying. He is published on medical education, cancer survivorship, and the philosophy of illness in both the popular and academic press. He completed the requirements for his graduate degree in philosophy while in active cancer treatment and was recently awarded the distinguished alumni award by his university.He's an investigator with the patient centered Outcomes Research Institute, grant funded brain cancer, quality of life collaborative. He's an American Association for Cancer Research scientist survivor program participant. A Stanford university medicine, ex E patient scholar and speaker, and was a speaker at the 2019 End Well symposium and event focused on de- medicalizing the end of life. As a champion for early intervention of the palliative care service, he offers a unique perspective on the end of life as a young dad and husband. He served three years as a reviewer for the peer reviewed cancer research program, a grant funding organization that resides within the Department of Defense.And he now serves this program on the programmatic review committee. He also served as an advisor on two projects with the broad Institute at MIT and Harvard. He is a regular lecturer in hospital settings, and he's delivered, invited talks at the Fairbank Center for Medical Ethics, the Indiana University School of Medicine Center for Bioethics, the St. Louis University Center for Bioethics and the Indiana University School of Medicine, palliative care fellowship program.

Master of Resilience: Joshua Nathanson

You've probably never heard of Joshua Nathanson, but his story may just change your life. In a special episode, Michael interviews his 23-year-old son about his amazing resilience in standing up to life-threatening challenges.Joshua was born in 1998 in Boston. He grew up in the suburbs of Boston and from the earliest age was naturally precocious, wise beyond his years and perhaps a bit more serious than his peers, and his ambitions were as large as his personality. He was born with a congenital heart and vascular disease. At the young age of 13, he had to have major open heart surgery to save his life. Unthinkably, that surgery didn't work. So he had to do it yet again, just as he was turning 14. This time he got better. But because of his health challenges, our guest wasn't able to play football, wrestle, or do some of the other physical activities that he desperately wanted to do as a young man. So what did he do? He just became a third degree black belt and senior instructor in Kung Fu. He became a competitive, natural bodybuilder competing for the first time only months after his second surgery. And he focused on his academics. His academic career was in some ways unparalleled and he eventually graduated with over a 4.0 GPA from Cornell University, a member of Phi beta Kappa.He got into his first choice for law school, the University of Chicago, where he studies right now, but that's not the whole story. Last December after experiencing several warning signs, our guest got the tough news that he had to have his third open-heart surgery at the age of 22, and that he needed it to happen as soon as possible.He did. And things seem to get better for him almost immediately after the surgery. In March of this year, however, he started experiencing sharp pains in his chest and back. Those sharp pains, it turns out were symptoms of a potentially deadly aortic aneurysm, which required emergency open-heart surgery yet again, for the fourth time. Our guest is now on the mend again, but he has a message for us. It's one of resilience, one of hope, one of strength and one of gratitude.Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

A True Renaissance Person: Peter Knight

Driven by his personal mission to be the best version of himself and help solve the climate crisis, Peter Knight embodies the true meaning of a renaissance person. He started as a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, later expanding his legal career into advising both the International and U.S. Olympic Committees, as well as numerous Fortune 500 companies. His knack for politics has propelled him to serve as Chief of Staff to Al Gore. He also served on four presidential campaigns, including as national campaign manager for President Bill Clinton in 1996. A visionary in the field of ESG investing, Peter partnered with Al Gore to found Generation Investment Management, which ultimately became a leader of global sustainable investing. Learn what fuels his passions in pursuing these incredible careers paths and don’t miss out on hearing some stories from his rides in Marine One.Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com

Higher Learning with Joyce Payne

Through her life's work and advocacy, Joyce Payne has made an important life-changing difference, not for a few people, but for thousands. She is the founder of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which has raised over $300 million for support and scholarships for its 47 historically black college and university member schools, and numerous students attending those schools.She served as executive director of the National Alliance for Public Trust and as Vice President of the office for the Advancement of Public Black Colleges and Council of Student Affairs of the Association of Public and Land Grant universities.She was the president of Global Systems Inc. and was a senior staff member under the Carter administration. And as an authority on women's issues in relation to higher education and labor force participation, she has published and presented a number of papers on the pursuit of equality for women and African-Americans in higher education.

Olympic Mettle: Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen

She competed for the United States in four Olympics, winning five gold medals in one bronze medal. He was chosen by his fellow Olympians to bear the U S flag at the closing ceremony of the 1994 winter Olympics. And will forever be an example of the power of human resilience. Mike chats with the real dynamic duo, Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen.

Blitz of Inspiration: Player-Turned-Agent John Thornton

John Thornton is a top agent for the Jay-Z powered Roc Nation. One of the world's best known agencies for entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities, from Alicia Keyes, Rihanna and Shakira to Kyrie Irving and Saquon Barkley, Roc Nation's client list reads like a veritable who's who list, garnering it over a half billion followers on Instagram.John himself represents a first-round pick from last year's NFL draft, as well as several other high profile clients. But today's guest didn't start as his career as an agent. He attended West Virginia University where he played football and was a two-time all Big East selection. He was defensive co-captain and earned first team All-American honors from the Sports Network. A defensive tackle, he was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 1999 NFL draft and went on to play in Super Bowl 34 for the Titans against the St. Louis Rams. In 2003, our guest signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he eventually finished an outstanding ten-year career of terrorizing NFL offenses that included 303 tackles, 27 1/2 sacks and four forced fumbles, along with a single year in which he had an amazing 74 tackles. Along the way he served as a defensive captain for his Bengals teammates. Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Mike Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com