[audio:https://runrunlive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi121.mp3|titles=Episode 121 – Dave Alberga]

Show intro by:

Mary McManus – http://newworldgreetings.blogspot.com/

Intro:

Hello and welcome to “Fly Fishing in the Adirondacks” your guide to teasing those wiley brown trout out of their clear mountain streams…no…wait that’s my Monday morning podcast, this is the RunRunLive Podcast for those of us who have an irrational passion for our own endurance lifestyles.

Got a great show for you today. We interview Dave Alberga the CEO of the Active Network that includes, some things you’ll recognize like Active.com and CoolRunning.com but that’s only a small part of the business as you will find out. He’s the real deal, West Point, Stanford, and an accomplished amatuer endurance athlete. He and I get a little tech startup geeky in the beginning but he has some great stuff to say about our endurance world and balancing the lifestyle.

Thanks to Mary MacManus for the intro. We interviewed Mary in the spring of 2009 before the Boston Marathon. Go check out her inspirational poetry collections.

I have to apologize about the dog bath – I know not very compelling listening, but I figured we’ve heard a lot of ice-baths why not give my co-host Buddy the Wonder Dog his 15 minutes of bathing fame.

What’s new with me? I survived my 30^th prep school reunion last weekend and, yeh I won the 5k fun run on the old cross country course in the pouring rain. It’s such beautiful campus this time of year.

I’ve had the Kona (that’s my old MTB) out a few times as I transition to MTB training. And I’m actually sore in strange places. The MTB is such a good core work out. It’s awesome fun once you get over the fear of death.

Did anyone notice I repeated the music on the last two podcasts? I’d like to say I was testing to see if you noticed – but truth is I grabbed the worn files in my constant haste. And since no one noticed I guess I can stop recording new shows and just use this one over and over and over…that would save a lot of time.

Just kidding – On with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Another parody song from Reluctant Runner.

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

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Story time:

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Equipment Check:

Mountain bikes

Featured Interview:

Dave Alberga – CEO of the Active Network – Active.com and Coolrunning.com

http://www.activenetwork.com/about/management-team.htmQuick Tip:

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Outro:

Well that’s it you’ve slogged through another exceptionally mediocre episode of the RunRunLive Podcast and I thank you for your patronage. I’ve got two interviews in the can right now. The first is with ‘Barefoot’ Erskien Laneir. Now, I have to tell you that I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t like Erskein based on his internet presence, but he gives a very thoughtful, compelling and tactically useful discussion on the merits and how-to’s of barefoot running. You don’t want to miss that.

I also interviewed the CEO of Resole America. If you have some dress shoes that you love, but have worn out – you can send them to resole America and they’ll fix them up. He is doing some cool stuff with recycling shoe bits and trying to sell a new bamboo-electric commuter bicycle.

Mark my words this obesity crisis thing is starting to bring our generation into action and we are on the forefront of a healthier future.

I finally got the MTB for my kid and we put it together. We haven’t ridden yet but I can’t wait!

I had an interesting email from the folks at Audible dot com offering to let me in on their sponsorship program. Interesting. I do love books and I don’t have to do anything except ask people to sign up for a trial. We’ll see. Frankly my gating resource is time, not money, but I have been feeling that the show is getting a little stale so we’ll have to work together to figure something out to keep my and your interest.

I read a really good interview in Newsweek from the April 9^th edition where they interview the CEO of Heinz – you know the folks who make the ketchup. They asked him if he was a better leader now than when he started the job 10 years ago and he had a great answer. He basically said that when he came into the job he wasn’t a leader, he was a manager. And those management skills that got him the job were not the skills he needed to lead the company. He said he had to learn to step back from operations and really focus on leadership, on having the right people in the right place, and on making sure people were motivated, incentivized and directed.

I know I struggle with that. It’s so easy to fall back on your strengths and try to do the work yourself instead of setting a vision, a clear vision and energizing people to follow that vision. You hear Dave talking a little about that in our chat.

So – what can you take out of this? If you are a manager or a parent or in any other leadership capacity think about the vision you are setting. Is it compelling? Have you taken the time to lead. And if you aren’t a manager go seek out a CEO, or a company owner or an executive and ask them what their vision for the future is. I bet you’ll be surprised how they open up, and how much they appreciate being asked to lead.

In this interview William Johnson, the CEO of Heinz also talked about risk. He said his boss told him after he had failed spectacularly at a project, “You have to take risk, and if you’re not prepared to take risks, to bet your career occasionally, you’re not going to move forward, or move the business forward.”

So – my good friends – my fellow risk takers – my fellow leaders in training –what are you going to do today to push the envelope? To take a risk? To be a leader?

And, don’t worry, I’ll still be out there and I’ll see you do it.

Music tonight is, different than last week, a nice quiry number from the podsafe music network called “back_in_business.mp3” by jj_and_the_real_jerks

Ciao