Launching “The Ready Room Podcast”

Join us in the Ready Room, where “Readiness is a State of Mind” and we journey into what it takes to develop an Elite Mindset.

The "Ready Room" is a term used for the “locker room” in military operations. We invite our listeners to gain access and insights from our community of subject matter experts, innovative companies, community engagement, and compelling conversations with a diverse range of leaders, influencers.

Visit this video by the Premier Lacrosse League that features Erik describing the "ready room" from his time in an elite infantry unit in the Special Operations Forces.

Stay tuned for show links including interviews with:

DR. / MAJOR ALLISON BRAGER

Allison is currently in a NASA astronaut candidate and a neurobiologist with expertise in sleep and circadian rhythms for the United States Army (active duty).

Allison co-authored the first edition of the NCAA student-athlete mental health handbook and the popular science book entitled Meathead: Unraveling the Athletic Brain. Both a researcher and a member of the Army CrossFit Team ("Army Warrior Fitness"), Allison shares her perspective on a wide range of subjects, from managing energy to examples of great leadership under stress. We wish Allison success as she takes command of her next Army unit this summer!

John Walker

JOHN WALKER

Coach for the Chrome Lacrosse Club (PLL), Princeton University, University of Virginia (National Champions), and an All-American lacrosse player for the US Military Academy at West Point.

John shares with us what it is like to cultivate relationships on teams and the importance of demonstrating core values before a crisis hits a person, a team or an organization.

TYLER STEINHARDT

Tyler Steinhardt

Founder of Shootout For Soldiers and former Director of Marketing for the Premier Lacrosse League, Tyler shares stories of how the Shootout was formed, where it's going and what Tyler is interested in for his next phase of life.

This episode took place as Tyler and Veteran Non-Profit "Team RWB" announced the acquisition of Shootout For Soldiers and the return of a Summer 2021 season.

SEAN PERROTTA

Sean Perrotta

Principle at a New York City-area based hedge fund, Sean tells his story of how lacrosse influenced the kind of leader he is today, and what it was like to intern at Cantor Fitzgerald just months before 9/11 happened.

ABOUT: CECI

Ceci was the first woman to be hired into a full time mental performance position in Major League Baseball. She spent six seasons working with the Major League team for the Cleveland Indians.

Before that Ceci spent 6 years training Special Forces Soldiers on the mental component of performance. In 2019 Ceci came back to her work with Special Forces at Army SOCEP (Special Operations Center for Enhanced Performance) and home to North Carolina.

She maintains her relationship with the Cleveland Indians through support of their Amateur Draft process. Ceci's educational background is in applied sport science with a focus in sport psychology. She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant. Ceci talks about "The Brake System

ABOUT: ALEXIS

Alpha Echo Project’s Co-Founder and originally from the Philadelphia suburbs, Alexis is a graduate of the University of Richmond Robins School of Business, where she earned a BS in business administration with a concentration in marketing. A 2020 Hall of Fame inductee for her high school, Alexis was a 4-year full scholarship lacrosse player and served as Captain two consecutive years.

Alexis worked in commercial and residential real estate development and at US Lacrosse before she ventured into the world of advertising when she was accepted into the prestigious Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned a Master of Science in Business with a concentration in Strategic Planning. Between her first and second year, Alexis was offered a highly coveted internship working on the Burger King account with the ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, later named Agency of the Year so many years that it was named Agency of the Decade (2000s).

In her final semester, Alexis earned a position with The Martin Agency after a class project won the agency new client business with The Learning Channel (TLC). Along with her two partners, their TLC work as students received the Jay Chiat "Gold" Award for strategic planning in branding. During a branding project for a large global insurance company, Alexis came to a conclusion. After years of researching the internal and external communications of many different companies in many different industries, there was often a rift between the two, rendering a tension that would impact sales and retention, to begin with. She consistently found business after business looking for advertising to solve problems while their internal culture was not only fatigued by internal policies and “initiatives” pulling them this way and that, while lacking a sense of purpose and leadership within their very walls. In essence, the employees inside don’t always believe the very advertising and sales approaches representing them and that they often had to represent -- and did so at the expense of their very own credibility with their clients.

It was at this time that she became fiercely passionate about clients holding off on big advertising spends until internal champions were made. Alexis would quickly find herself in team building and, in short order, co-founding a leadership development company with the most entrepreneurial training team the institutional Army has ever produced. Alexis has worked across industries and with cultures of all types. From the World Bank Group to CSX railroads, professional sports and television, her desire to bring out the best in people and teams is insatiable.

Alexis kicking off an epic full-day immersion experience with clients.

Alexis still enjoys sports and building businesses while raising her daughter who already outplays her in all sports.