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Most parents think they're doing right by their kid in youth sports. They show up. They invest. They mean well. But Jonathan Carone says two hidden emotions are quietly driving most of the bad sideline calls. Self love and self glory. Once you can name them, the whole thing changes. Jonathan runs Healthy Sports Parents and helps moms, dads, and coaches build the kind of relationship with their kid that makes the sport actually mean something.

In this episode, Jonathan and BJ get into the youth sports arms race, why kids are quitting before high school, the fun map study that puts winning at 40th on the list of things kids actually find fun, and the 5 to 10 ratio every parent and coach should know. The line that stuck: methods are many, principles are few.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Welcome and why this topic matters
01:17 - What kids actually need from the adults around them
03:33 - The two hidden emotions driving every sports parent
06:15 - BJ's real time dilemma with his nine year old
11:20 - If you're meant to get there, you're going to get there
22:20 - The fun map study and where winning actually ranks
23:01 - The 5 to 10 ratio every parent and coach should know
26:34 - Why you need love deposits before criticism
28:52 - The Kobe Bryant moment that reframes coaching kids
31:09 - I'm dad. Then I'm coach.

Connect with Jonathan Carone:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-carone-52145778/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthySportsParents/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparents\
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparents
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HealthySportsParents
Website: https://healthysportsparents.com/

Connect with BJ Kraemer:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bj-kraemer-9a0855b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bj_kraemer/
Website: https://mcfaglobal.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bcvcAw0rigwymZCwZgfgN?si=45fc1e07c82742ee
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-blueprints/id1561090224

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique: https://www.podcastboutique.com

Most business owners can rattle off their revenue, their pipeline, and their biggest headaches. Almost none can answer this one. What is the business actually doing to serve you in your life? Krystn Macomber asks her clients that before anything else. She's a fractional Chief Growth Officer who helps small government contractors stop chasing every shiny opportunity and actually build a strategy.

In this episode, Krystn and BJ get into the BD curse of always saying "maybe we can win this," why the first year of her own business was the easy one, where AI actually helps in marketing and where it falls flat, and the rule she made about saying yes to the scary stuff. If you run a business or you're sitting in corporate thinking about leaving, this one has something you can use this week.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - What fractional growth support actually is
01:46 - Who Krystn says no to as a client
05:15 - The business development curse
08:01 - How chasing everything burns out your best people
10:12 - Where AI helps in BD and where it falls flat
14:16 - Why the first year of business was the easy one
15:27 - The LinkedIn highlight reel needs to go
20:10 - Promoted to manage 25 people overnight
24:01 - The rule she made about saying yes to scary things
31:08 - The question every business owner should ask themselves

Connect with Krystn Macomber:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krystnmacomber/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summitstrategywins/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summitstrategywins/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6BGAiN7JAN_RvI6K9mzAzA
Website: https://www.summitstrategywins.com/

Connect with BJ Kraemer:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bj-kraemer-9a0855b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bj_kraemer/
Website: https://mcfaglobal.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bcvcAw0rigwymZCwZgfgN?si=45fc1e07c82742ee
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-blueprints/id1561090224

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique: https://www.podcastboutique.com

Get Weekly Leadership Blueprints in your inbox: https://mailchi.mp/mcfaglobal/leadership-blueprints-newsletter

Most leaders shut down ideas without realizing it. A "yeah but" in a meeting. A quick correction before someone finishes. The team quietly learns to stop bringing anything new. Will Dennis runs Unscripted Productions, an applied improv studio that trains Fortune 500s, hospitals, and schools on the fix. It comes back to two words. Yes, and.

In this episode, Will and BJ unpack why "yes, and" is the most underrated leadership tool out there. What Nick Sirianni was secretly doing all Super Bowl run. Why one company tests emerging leaders on whether they hold the spotlight or stand in it. And the hardest line to sit with: a leader's real job is to work themselves out of one.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Why we're talking about improv, not AI

02:00 - Improv as the safest place to fail

05:00 - How "yes, and" turns down the heat in any room

14:18 - What Nick Sirianni was secretly doing all season

19:03 - The hidden test for who actually gets into the leadership program

24:23 - The most powerful sentence you can hear in a locker room

24:47 - A leader's real job is to work themselves out of one

29:24 - A boardroom hack any leader can steal tomorrow

34:27 - Rapid fire: books, the word sonder, and dinner with Adam Grant

38:55 - Why improv is not the thing you think it is

Connect with Will Dennis:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamjdennis/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unscriptedproductions
Website: https://www.unscriptedproductions.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unscriptedprod

Connect with BJ Kraemer:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bj-kraemer-9a0855b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bj_kraemer/
Website: https://mcfaglobal.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bcvcAw0rigwymZCwZgfgN?si=45fc1e07c82742ee
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-blueprints/id1561090224

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique: https://www.podcastboutique.com

Get Weekly Leadership Blueprints in your inbox: https://mailchi.mp/mcfaglobal/leadership-blueprints-newsletter

Every leader has that one person on the team. The one showing up halfway. The one quietly setting the ceiling for everyone else. And most leaders tolerate it longer than they should.

Matt Crispino refused to. After taking over the Princeton men's swim team, he inherited what his assistant called an opt-in culture, where the committed thrived and the disengaged got to coast. Matt blew it up. He made the team write their own core values, told the roster it was all in or out, and just won his second straight Ivy League championship doing it.

In this conversation, Matt and BJ get into what it actually takes to raise the standard without losing your people. Why he had to coach against his own instincts to let the team have fun. How relationship building, not X's and O's, is the real work. And why the best coaches are the last line of defense for what sports are supposed to teach. If you lead anything, a team, a company, a family, this one is going to hit.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Why your least committed person sets the ceiling

01:00 - Launching the Friendly Strife Foundation segment

07:00 - Coaching at West Point in the shadow of war

10:00 - Realizing the job is bigger than coaching swimming

13:00 - Why sports is the most powerful leadership classroom

17:00 - Recruiting for culture not just talent

18:00 - Shifting Princeton from opt-in to all-in

20:00 - The five core values the team built together

24:00 - Why fun became their unlock for winning

26:00 - Coaching against your own instincts

27:00 - Trust and inspire over command and control

30:00 - How NIL and the transfer portal are reshaping coaching

32:00 - Why failure has to be a safe place to land

37:00 - Why they will not come to you if you have not built the relationship

43:00 - The legacy of a coach who cared

Connect with Matt Crispino:

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mattcrispino/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-crispino-a26b5239/

Get Weekly Leadership Blueprints in your inbox: https://mailchi.mp/mcfaglobal/leadership-blueprints-newsletter

Every Memorial Day, BJ replays this episode to reset how he thinks about what it means to lead. Dennis Zilinski was his West Point classmate, swim teammate, and one of his best friends. Dennis was killed in action on November 19, 2005, at 23 years old.

In this conversation, BJ sits down with Dennis's mother, Marion Zilinski (Mama Z), to talk about who Dennis was, how he led, and how his leadership continues to make an impact 20 years after his death. From his early instinct to serve and protect, to his decision to stay at West Point after 9/11, to the legacy his family built in his name, this episode is a reminder that real leadership shows up long before the title does. And its impact outlives the leader.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - What leadership costs when stakes are life and death

01:00 - Reading the foreword from The Strong Gray Line

03:00 - Why this conversation matters for Memorial Day

07:00 - Dennis the protector and the young volunteer

09:00 - Handling failure with maturity beyond his years

12:00 - The decision to go to West Point

14:00 - Why Dennis refused to leave after 9/11

17:00 - Leading among 4,000 future leaders at West Point

20:00 - Choosing church over the party on post night

23:00 - The generosity Dennis built into his will

28:00 - The night of the knock at the door

39:00 - Building the Dennis Zilinski Fun

40:00 - Dennis's promise to go meet the parents

48:00 - How service dogs are saving veteran lives

55:00 - What Memorial Day is really about

Connect with Marion Zilinski:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marion-zilinski

Get Weekly Leadership Blueprints in your inbox: https://mailchi.mp/mcfaglobal/leadership-blueprints-newsletter

95% of women executives and 95% of Fortune 500 CEOs were athletes. Yet, most kids leave sports before they even get to high school.

This episode breaks down why more kids are walking away and how parents and coaches can work together to change it.

Katie Lee, founder of All American AIM, has placed girls at college programs including West Point by coaching the whole kid, not just the athlete. She shares what good coaching actually looks like, why she's concerned about where youth sports is headed, and her advice for parents and coaches navigating it.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Introduction
03:34 - What coaches look for in tryouts
05:51 - Communicating with families
08:53 - Recruiting coaches that care
12:48 - The fine line between pushing hard and burnout
16:50 - Why athletes should play other sports
22:40 - Mental health on and off the field
25:09 - Youth sports infiltrated by big business
27:13 - The weight of being a coach
30:09 - All American Aim’s origin story
33:57 - The moments that make it all worth it
37:44 - Advice for new or aspiring coaches
40:56 - Mind Gym and mental skills training
44:29 - Katie’s mantra

Connect with Katie Lee:
https://allamericanaim.com/

During this episode, we are digging into the leadership challenges of transitioning from the military into the private sector and the lessons that had to be learned along the way.

Chris Banks is a 20-year Navy veteran and the President of Banks Industrial Group, a company providing maintenance services in the industrial space. He joins us to share more about his search for impact after working in a process-driven environment, lessons he learned from good and bad leaders in the sector, and how his experiences have shaped the true mission and values of Banks Industrial Group.

Tune in as we unpack the difference between leadership across sectors and how military retirees can be America’s secret weapon in business and entrepreneurship. Thanks for tuning in!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Transitioning out of active duty to join the private sector.
• How addressing risk in the Navy translates to leadership outside of it.
• Balancing leadership of project, teams, and people with a healthy, profitable business.
• The one thing that differentiates business leadership from military leadership.
• Finding a way to make an impact strategically after exiting the Navy.

Quotes:

“In business, the challenge is you want to pound as much risk out of it as you can, but if you spend all your time trying to get to zero risk, you’ll never make any money.” — Chris Banks [0:09:25]

“What I really wanted was impact. I felt like I’d come from an organization where there was a process for everything, but you could make an impact on nothing.” — Chris Banks [0:20:02]

“You should spend some time thinking about it before you go and apply for a job or take a location or move your family — find a place that aligns with your mission and your need for impact.” — Chris Banks [0:23:29]

“Military retirees can be America’s secret weapon in terms of entrepreneurship.” — Chris Banks [0:28:04]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Christopher Banks on LinkedIn

Banks Industrial Group
Allentown by Billy Joel
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Leadership Blueprints Podcast

Leadership Blueprints Podcast on YouTube

MCFA

MCFA Careers

BJ Kraemer on LinkedIn

A good leader is aware of cybersecurity risks and tackles them intentionally!

Today on Leadership Blueprints, we are joined by our very own information security practice leader, Bill Jones, to discuss all things cybersecurity. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about the very real cybersecurity threats that are out there, Bill’s career from the military to the FBI to MCFA, and more!

We delve into what most leaders are blind to with regard to cybersecurity risks before touching on the importance of awareness and proactivity in information security practice. We even discuss some of the most valuable leadership lessons Bill has learned throughout his career. As always, we close with some rapid-fire questions for our guest and hear who he wants to network with in the near future.

Thanks for listening!

Key Points From This Episode:

• What Bill is seeing in the cybersecurity space at the moment.
• Bill tells us about his career in the military and after active service.
• What leaders aren’t aware they’re at risk of when it comes to cybersecurity.
• How MCFA can help early on in the design of information security.
• What attracted Bill to step into his position at MCFA.

Quotes:

“IT systems have inherent risk as they support the business. The business leaders are accepting that risk whether they know it or not.” — Bill Jones

“If your team doesn’t trust you, if they don’t know what you’re going to do ahead of time – then nothing happens.” — Bill Jones

“[AI is] a great research tool!” — Bill Jones

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bill Jones on LinkedIn

Team of Teams
Thinking in Bets

Start with Why

Flex

The 80/20 Principle

Risk

Leadership Blueprints Podcast

Leadership Blueprints Podcast on YouTube

MCFA

MCFA Careers

BJ Kraemer on LinkedIn