PODCAST · business
Facing the Wind
by The Grit Institute
Facing the Wind: Season 2 of The Grit Factor, hosted by Shannon Huffman Polson, Army veteran, pilot, and corporate and non-profit leader dedicated to building courageous leaders for a better world. We’ll look at facing fear and failure, connecting to purpose, when to grit and when to quit, and much, much more, from the fields of the military to government, law to business, academia and more. Tune in Tuesdays for new conversations, and make sure to leave your questions for Shannon at https://www.speakpipe.com/TheGritFactor
Episodes
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How High Performers Think: Dr. Ruth Gotian on Success, Leadership & Motivation
Host Shannon Huffman Polson is the founder of The Grit Institute and host of The Grit Factor Podcast, where she helps purpose-driven leaders build grit, resilience, and purpose in their lives and organizations. A former U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot and one of the first women to fly the…
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Living Your Ikigai: Sam Ushio on Purpose, Presence, and the Power of Daily Alignment
Host Shannon Huffman Polson is the founder of The Grit Institute and host of The Grit Factor Podcast, where she helps purpose-driven leaders build grit, resilience, and purpose in their lives and organizations. A former U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot and one of the first women to fly the…
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The Power of Purpose: Phyllis Wilson's Impact on Military History
Host: Shannon Huffman Polson Shannon Huffman Polson is a former Apache helicopter pilot, speaker, and author of "The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World." She is the founder of The Grit Institute, where she helps purpose-driven...
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The Purpose Equation: John Coleman's Blueprint for a Meaningful Life
Host: Shannon Huffman Polson Shannon Huffman Polson is a renowned author and speaker, known for her work on grit and resilience. As the founder of The Grit Institute, she empowers individuals to lead with purpose and determination. Guest: John Coleman John Coleman is the co-CEO of Sovereign's...
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Sarah McArthur on Frances Hesselbein: Leadership, Mentorship, and Service
Guest Bio Sarah McArthur is an accomplished editor, writer, and leadership thinker. She worked for over two decades alongside renowned executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, serving as managing editor on dozens of leadership books and co-authoring several works. Sarah was also mentored by the late...
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Radical Humility: Urs Koenig on Leading with Grit, Heart, and High Standards
Guest Bio / Introduction Urs Koenig is a leadership coach, keynote speaker, former NATO peacekeeping commander, and ultra-endurance athlete. With an eclectic background spanning UN peacekeeping missions, military command, competitive cycling, academia, and business coaching, Urs brings a rare…
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Uncolonized Power: Healing Mindsets, Embracing Purpose, and Rising Together with Valeria Aloe
Professional Summary Valeria Aloe is an award-winning author, speaker, and high-performance business coach who founded the Rising Together movement to help professionals unlearn limiting mindsets and build the clarity, confidence, and behaviors needed to reach their next level. Her signature work...
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Conviction, Capital & Courage: Alexander Friedman on Purposeful Leadership in a High-Stakes World
Host: Shannon Huffman Polson Guest: Alexander Friedman, CEO & Co‑founder of Novata; former CFO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; former CIO of UBS; ex‑White House Fellow; board member at Franklin Templeton Episode Summary Join Shannon as she interviews Alexander Friedman, a leader who has...
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The Blueprint for Thriving People and Teams: Belonging, Autonomy, and Purpose
What does it look like to lead with grit, purpose, and a fierce sense of responsibility—across the battlefield, boardroom, and home? On this week's episode of The Grit Factor, I speak with Kiwi phenom Ellen Joan Ford—a former New Zealand Army officer, tech leader, mother, and fierce advocate for...
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Jim Weber's Long-Term Vision: Building a Brand That Lasts
What does it look like to lead with purpose and performance — to stay true to your values while building something that lasts? I so enjoyed talking with fellow @tuckschool alum @Jim_Weber, longtime CEO of @BrooksRunning, for a conversation about leadership, grit, and building a brand rooted in...
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Building Resilient Communities: Killian Noe's Vision of Love, Leadership, and Recovery
In this conversation, Killian Noe discusses her journey through leadership, resilience, and community work, emphasizing the importance of personal growth, accountability, and the power of forgiveness. She reflects on her upbringing, experiences in diverse communities, and the founding of Recovery...
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The Core Principles of Building Evergreen Companies: The Seven P's Framework
In this conversation, Shannon Huffman Polson and Dave discuss the importance of purpose and values in leadership and entrepreneurship. Dave shares his early career experiences at Hewlett Packard, the challenges he faced while founding Good Technology, and the profound impact of Joseph Campbell's...
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Soaring Beyond Limits: The Fight for Women in Military Flight
In this conversation, Dr. Eileen Bjorkman shares her remarkable journey in aviation, highlighting the evolution of women's roles in the military and her personal experiences as a flight test engineer. She discusses her family's aviation legacy, the challenges she faced as a woman in a...
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Unlocking the Cockpit: Powerful Lessons in Leadership and Legacy
In this conversation, Shannon Huffman Polson and Tom discuss the importance of service, personal journeys, and the impact of role models. Tom shares his experiences in aviation, his humanitarian efforts, and the ongoing project to honor his fallen classmate, John Connors. The dialogue emphasizes...
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Mastering Human Performance for Lasting Success
This conversation explores the remarkable journey of a woman who transitioned from baton twirling to becoming a combat pilot and military leader. She shares her experiences in the military, the challenges she faced, and the importance of mental resilience and self-trust in high-stakes situations....
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Building Next-Generation Leaders: The Power of Experiential and Purposeful Education
Ross Wehner shares his journey of discovering and uncovering his purpose through experiences in Chile and teaching. He emphasizes the importance of following intuition and stepping into one's own story. Ross discusses the impact of traumatic events and the role of darkness in shaping purpose. He...
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From Peaks to Purpose: A Narrative of Growth and Authenticity
In this conversation, Melissa Arnot Reid shares her experiences as a mountaineer and the lessons learned from her climbs, particularly on Everest. She discusses the internal struggles faced during high-stakes situations, the importance of team dynamics, and the journey to finding a sense of...
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Living Fearlessly: Overcoming Obstacles and Finding Joy in the Journey with Siri Lindley
Today's episode with Siri Lindley is an inspiring conversation about overcoming fear, achieving success, and living fearlessly. Siri Lindley is a two-time world champion triathlete, winner of twelve ITU World Cup races, an inspirational, energetic life coach and one of Tony Robbins' 10 favorite...
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People and Processes: Overcoming 85% of all Problems with Lisa Gable
A keynote speaker and writer on partnership, mentorship, diversity, and relationship building, Lisa Gable's mission is to support the next generation of leaders and organizations that are solving the world's biggest problems. She is a five-time award-winning Wall Street Journal and USA Today...
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Get Smart with your Emotions: Understanding your Feelings with Breda McCague
Breda McCague works as a Transformation Professional within the Finance industry working with people from all over the globe. McCague joined the Irish Reserve Defence Forces at the age of 17 and went on to become her unit's first Female Lieutenant. She has continued in positions of leadership...
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Take a Bigger Look: Learning from Perspective with Astronaut Sunita Williams
Sunita Lyn Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer who formerly held the records for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and...
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Overcoming Obstacles with Katie Cook: The First Woman Blue Angel Pilot
Katie Cook is from Severna Park, Maryland, and graduated from W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, VA in 2004. She attended the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science in 2008. Katie continued her education at Georgetown...
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Mentoring Matters: Expert Lisa Fain Weighs in on Making it Work
Mentorship comes up again and again any time we run into challenges, but it's really a critical ingredient for success at all times. Whether it's veterans transitioning to corporate, someone taking a new position, or planning for future contribution, mentorship plays a key role. The senior…
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Leading from the Front: the Mind of a Marine with Courtney Lynch
Courtney has found success by living her life as a leader. Notable achievements include her nine years of service as a Marine Corps officer, managing a top-notch sales team for Rational Software, earning her law degree at William & Mary, practicing at one of the nation's leading law firms, and...
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Leading The Caretakers: Bishop Gretchen Rehberg
I'm so grateful for this conversation today with Bishop Gretchen Rehberg, a truly extraordinary person, who happens to be our bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, a diocese with a massive and politically polarized territory including 38 different congregations. She may also be the bishop...
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Inclusion on Purpose— a different understanding of DEI with Ruchika Tulshyan
A number of years ago, Ruchika and I met at the rehearsal for a Seattle Ignite event, and it's been just fantastic to stay connected and watch her trajectory ever since! I'm so grateful to welcome her on to Facing the Wind, shere we talk about diversity and leadership. Ruchika is a passionate...
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When to GRIT and when to Quit: A Story of Big Law and Changing the Understanding of Grit with Amy Conway-Hatcher
Amy Conway-Hatcher is a fierce advocate, lawyer, Board director, warrior career mom, and former federal prosecutor. After decades of managing 24/7 crises, climbing to the upper echelons of Big Law, and sacrificing family for career, Amy did the unthinkable. She left her high-paying equity partner...
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A Corporate Leader with Veteran Values: Tina Morris
This Veteran's Day, we're happy to release this special episode with Tina Morris, a graduate of West Point, veteran of the United States Army's military police corps, and now senior corporate leader. Tina talks about the values and ideas she brought to her twenty year tenure at S&P from her time…
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Honor Bound: Marine Amy McGrath takes on a new challenge
Amy Melinda McGrath is a retired US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel raised in Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, as well as the first to pilot the F/A-18 on a combat mission. She is also a political candidate from Kentucky, and author. Her book is...
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Season 2 Coming Soon
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Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid: Merryl Tengesdal, the only African American woman U2 pilot
Merryl Tengesdal is an American retired career military officer and the first and only Black woman to fly the United States Air Force's U-2 spy plane used for specialized high-altitude reconnaissance missions. She is one of five women and three Black people to be in the U-2 program. She shares…
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From burnout to thriving: Leigh Burgess
Leigh Burgess went from a successful healthcare career to complete burnout during the pandemic, and had to make a change. She talks about how she made the changes she needed to make to thrive in her life and work, and the deep sources of her motivation that have pulled her through the biggest...
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Just Like You: What makes RAF Tornado pilot Mandy Hickson fly
Just Like You: Mandy Hickson was one of the first women to fly the Tornado in the Royal Air Force, and flew combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. I talk to her about what motivated her as an ambassador today, what she worked through in her time in the RAF, the power and challenge of teams…
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United States Marine Corps LtGen Lori Reynolds: Hard earned lessons from one of the first women to earn 3 Stars
LtGen Reynolds talks candidly about leading Marines from an unexpected challenge, to combat deployments and finally commanding the newly formed Marine Corps Cyber. Sharing what inspired her from an early age, to what leaders need to do to ensure the best results in today's world, this…
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Shaye Haver and Kristen Greist: Historical leadership from the Front
CPT Shaye Haver and CPT Kristen Greist are the two first women to graduate as U.S. Army Rangers and become Infantry Officers. In this conversation, they offer inspiration and practical takeaways for all of us. Though both West Pointers, Haver and Greist came from different backgrounds and...
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Deidre Paknad: Innovating with Grit and Heart
Deidre Paknad is the Co-founder and CEO of Workboard, Inc. She has founded and led three tech startups, acquired companies and been acquired, and led a high-growth business as an executive at IBM for several years. Deidre has over a dozen patents and has twice been inducted into the Smithsonian...
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Team Unbroken: The forging of purpose
Gretchen Evans' 27 year Army career as a Sergeant Major ended with major injuries after a mortar attack in Afghanistan, but despite the deep difficulty in her change of mission, she hasn't slowed down. Join us as she shares her journey through severe injury and losing her purpose, to finding a…
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Building For Success: Leadership through the lens of the Navy's most senior women engineer
Jenn Donahue is a Ph.D., a civil engineer, a STEM advocate, and served for decades in uniform in the US Navy until she was the most senior woman civil engineer. She has built bridges and roads from Ketchikan to Kabul. Led small teams and large organizations and taught at the university level.…
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The World Champion Mindset with Olympian Adeline Gray
Adeline Gray is a two time Olympic freestyle wrestler, and a six time world champion, as well as a ferocious advocate for sports equality for women. She shares the mindset of a champion, how she focuses each day for success, and the perspective that gets her through resistance.
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Thunder Run: The power of preparation with A-10 pilot and Colonel Kim "KC" Campbell (ret)
Air Force Colonel Kim Campbell has led from her single seat A-10 over Baghdad to a wing command of over a hundred, sharing lessons of the power of preparation, authenticity and making the hard calls.
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Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass with Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz (ret)
Admiral Stosz shares stories and lessons from a 40-year career of firsts, from commanding an ice breaker to leading the Coast Guard Academy, and talks about the importance of battle rhythm, diversity, and the necessity of optimism.
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The Grit Factor
The Grit Factor: Re-imagining grit as part of the whole person in a life that matters.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Facing the Wind: Season 2 of The Grit Factor, hosted by Shannon Huffman Polson, Army veteran, pilot, and corporate and non-profit leader dedicated to building courageous leaders for a better world. We’ll look at facing fear and failure, connecting to purpose, when to grit and when to quit, and much, much more, from the fields of the military to government, law to business, academia and more. Tune in Tuesdays for new conversations, and make sure to leave your questions for Shannon at https://www.speakpipe.com/TheGritFactor
HOSTED BY
The Grit Institute
CATEGORIES
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How many episodes does Facing the Wind have?
Facing the Wind currently has 42 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Facing the Wind about?
Facing the Wind: Season 2 of The Grit Factor, hosted by Shannon Huffman Polson, Army veteran, pilot, and corporate and non-profit leader dedicated to building courageous leaders for a better world. We’ll look at facing fear and failure, connecting to purpose, when to grit and when to quit, and...
How often does Facing the Wind release new episodes?
Facing the Wind has 42 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Who hosts Facing the Wind?
Facing the Wind is created and hosted by The Grit Institute.
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