Nick sits down with Jim Les, head coach of UC Davis men’s basketball. With seven seasons in the NBA and 25 years as a collegiate head coach, Coach Les brings deep insights into high-stakes management. Nick and Jim explore effective leadership, relentless work ethic, and the value of mentorship in sports and corporate settings. Listeners will learn to cultivate sustainable success by prioritizing trust, clear communication, and professional excellence.

The conversation covers elite team building, detailing how to recruit and retain top talent competitively. Jim explains how adapting your coaching style and building deep relationships serves as the ultimate anchor against turnover. They also highlight essential leadership behaviors like extreme accountability, vulnerability, and admitting mistakes. Finally, they discuss balancing a demanding career with family life, including Jim's experience coaching his son to a Division I championship. This is a truly fascinating discussion for business leaders and sports enthusiasts alike - one which clearly demonstrates that true success requires personal growth and mutual respect.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Introduction

03:31 - Why Urgency Creates Great Leaders

08:15 - Turn Adversity Into Long-Term Success

09:44 - Build Trust Before You Lead

19:06 - Coach the Person, Not Just the Performance

24:27 - Never Stop Growing as a Leader

27:03 - Develop Leaders Beyond the Game

30:11 - How Great Cultures Retain Top Talent

38:26 - Lead With Honesty and Accountability

47:48 - Balance Leadership, Family, and Success

59:53 - Win With Gratitude and an Underdog Mindset

Key Takeaways:

"If you're not where you want to be in your life, personally or professionally, you’ve got to edit your life. What are the things that are preventing you from getting to those areas?"

“In order to grow, you’ve got to go through adversity... and your limits have to be constrained in order to take steps forward."

"I can deliver a good message, but if I don't live that message on a daily basis, the kids are going to pick up on that."

"If a young man's not playing well or playing up to his potential, rather than point the finger at him, I tell our staff, we’ve got to point it at us."

"If you run your organization or you run your team or run your program to try and retain, you're going to lose people. You have to be who you are."

"I saw people that didn't respect the game, didn't work at it... and, man, the game humbled them."

"There have been a lot of times I've walked in after the game and I said, 'You know what? That was a horrible play I drew up.'... I think it's important for us to own that in front of them."

Links:

Nick Warner Consulting: https://www.nickwarnerconsulting.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nick-warner-consulting/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nickwarnerconsulting

X: https://x.com/NickWarnerCoach

Together at the Top @ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-at-the-top/id1606943728

Jim Les @ UC Davis: https://ucdavisaggies.com/staff-directory/jim-les/29

Captain Kyle Koukol, co-host of the From the Flight Deck podcast, joins Nick to dive into the topic of bridging the gap between aviation leadership and entrepreneurship. Discussing high-altitude discipline and his mission at his company, Dial a Pilot, Kyle demonstrates how humanizing the cockpit helps flyers overcome anxiety.

This episode also provides an insider’s look at the grit needed to lead in both the sky and in business. Together, Kyle and Nick explore "shared mental models" and the necessity of "upstream feedback" as Kyle explains why leaders must invite correction to ensure safety and accountability. They discuss delegating to experts to avoid becoming a managerial bottleneck. Finally, Kyle shares his strategy for decompressing to balance a high-stakes career with a restorative home life and offers a roadmap for high-performance teams.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Introduction

02:23 - Building a Career as an Airline Captain

05:25 - Balancing Leadership, Marriage, and Life at Home

11:22 - What Airline Pilots Love About the Job

14:42 - Managing Stress and High-Stakes Decisions

21:36 - Leading Older, More Experienced Team Members

24:22 - The Power of Debriefs and Continuous Improvement

29:37 - Solving the Fear of Flying Crisis

36:53 - Turning a Passion Project Into a Startup

42:25 - Building High-Performance Teams

46:38 - Leadership Lessons From Aviation

51:48 - Scaling Dial A Pilot and Impacting Millions

Key Takeaways:

"I really, really appreciate when people can give that upstream feedback, because I need to have that accountability."

"The most important time for me to really receive good quality feedback is when I am the one making the call."

"My first six months as captain, I really had to change the way that I would make those announcements... under-promising and over-delivering."

"I am an airline pilot, we do calls with nervous flyers... and we will talk to you for as long as you want about flying."

"A news agency... has to hit on negative emotions. Fear, anxiety, anger, all of those are just absolutely ripe in aviation."

"I very much try to take the perspective that I know the least in the room."

"I naturally surround myself with the people that are bought-in. If somebody is not passionately bought-in, I just won't work with them."

"Surrounding yourself with the right people is just so incredibly important."

Links:

Nick Warner Consulting: https://www.nickwarnerconsulting.com/

Kyle Koukol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylekoukol/

Dial a Pilot: https://www.dialapilot.com/

From the Flight Deck: https://www.dialapilot.com/podcast-episodes/podcast

California lobbyist, former state and local government leader, and Aspen Rodel fellow Kristin Olsen-Cate joins Nick on the podcast to share what it looks like to lead with civility in an era of toxic politics. From moderating the recent Central Valley gubernatorial debate to building a bipartisan dialogue program through California Rodel, Kristin offers a window into a career spent at the center of the biggest issues, and the convictions that have kept her grounded along the way.

Together, Nick and Kristin explore what she calls the "exhausted majority" and her belief that real change happens not at the Capitol, but at dinner tables and in neighborhoods. They discuss her path from the Modesto Planning Commission to the State Assembly to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, the realities women still face in leadership, and the "don't tread on me" moment that taught her how to reshape perception. The conversation also covers stress, family, and her 2026 word, rest, alongside her enduring belief that "clear is kind" and that hard work paired with grace can still move mountains.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Introduction

02:32 - Moderating a Bipartisan Gubernatorial Debate in the Central Valley

06:35 - The Exhausted Majority and Choosing Rest as Her 2026 Word

10:37 - From Capital Fellows to a Career in California Public Policy

14:03 - Returning to Modesto, Planning Commission, and the City Council Run

17:00 - Outworking the Field to Win a State Assembly Seat

22:40 - Women in Leadership and the Power of Being Asked

25:23 - Never Let Them See You Sweat and Reshaping First Impressions

30:03 - Clear is Kind: Civility, Smiles, and Choosing Joy

32:20 - Trust, Relationships, and What Makes a Great Lobbyist

36:39 - California Rodel and Transformational Change One Conversation at a Time

49:14 - Team Building, Stress Management, and Failing Forward

Key Takeaways:

"We don't need to be people's greatest critics. We need to be their greatest encouragers."

"Clear is kind. We can treat each other with kindness and with respect while at the same time being adamant about our policy positions."

"Walk through the doors that open and don't get too disappointed over the doors that close, and you might be surprised what's right in front of you."

"Relationships are primary. Everything else is derivative."

"True transformational change in a society and in people's lives happens one conversation at a time, one dinner table at a time, one neighborhood at a time."

"Goals are just a wish without a plan."

"Never apologize for your kids."

"Failures are fingertips on the way to achievements."

"We need to lead through politics and have friendships that are more important than political disagreements."

"Choose joy. You can always find a reason to smile and make somebody else's day better."

Links:

Nick Warner Consulting: https://www.nickwarnerconsulting.com/

Kristin Olsen-Cate: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-olsen-cate-41b2446

California Strategies: https://calstrat.com/