#113 Tim Bantle: Authenticity is Your Competitive Advantage
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Release Date: 06/24/2025
#125 Dan Stein: Career Truths Nobody Tells You
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Dan Stein is a former recruiter at Google, SnapChat, and the VC firm A16Z. His wellness journey was featured in Men's Health and he launched an athletic apparel brand focused on mental health called Pax. Dan has also visited over 30 countries. In this episode we discuss: -The best career advice from a recruiter's perspective -Why money is a renewable resource, advice from his dad that has helped him take more calculated risks -How a cross-country move and a chance encounter with a waitress helped him land a job at Google -Why "being seen" matters more than the perfect resume -Why your manager...
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#124 Josh Pankow: Becoming Indispensable
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
My guest today is Josh Panko, President of Leaf Trading Cards. Josh's journey in the sports card industry started at age seven when he opened a card shop in his basement. That childhood passion turned into a remarkable career that's taken him from working at card shops as a teenager, to Upper Deck's product development team, to now leading one of the most creative trading card companies in the industry. What I love about Josh's story is how he built his career by working every angle of the business—retail, distribution, manufacturing, customer service. He learned the entire supply chain,...
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#123 Kendall Berg: Secrets of the Career Game
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Kendall Berg is a career strategist and author of Secrets of the Career Game who helps ambitious professionals navigate corporate politics with integrity and transform strong performance into visible, undeniable value. After being told early in her career that "everybody loves having you on their team, but nobody likes working with you," she dedicated herself to learning the unspoken rules of advancement—and was promoted five times in six years. Now, through her coaching practice and her tactical, no-nonsense approach, Kendall teaches thousands of clients across 27 countries how to earn...
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#122 Jamie Siminoff: Lessons From Building Ring
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Jamie Siminoff is the CEO and founder of Ring, the camera company that transformed home security. While his viral Shark Tank episode didn't yield a deal from the sharks, it launched the video doorbell company. In 2018, Ring sold to Amazon for $1 billion. Jame published a book titled Ding Dong: How Ring Went from Shark Tank Reject to Everyone's Front Door. In this episode we discuss: -the greatest lessons from his failures -the 1 question he'd ask James Dyson in an elevator -why often the most important decisions are the ones we say "no" to -how the best thing that never happened...
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#121 Patrick Mouratoglou: Building Unshakeable Confidence
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Patrick Mouratoglou is one of tennis's most successful and unconventional coaches, known for his work with Serena Williams during her dominant return to form—helping her win 10 Grand Slams and reclaim the world number one ranking. But his journey to the top began in the darkest of places: a childhood marked by crippling shyness, zero self-esteem, and such severe social anxiety that he couldn't make eye contact without fear of vomiting. When his dream of becoming a professional tennis player was crushed at 15, that rock bottom moment became the catalyst for an extraordinary transformation....
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#120 Steve Lucas: Embracing Your Superpowers
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Steve Lucas is the CEO of Boomi, a leading integration and automation platform. Before joining Boomi, Steve served as CEO of Marketo, where he led the company's transformation from a $1.6 billion valuation to its acquisition by Adobe for $4.75 billion in just 24 months—one of the largest software acquisitions in history. Prior to that, he held executive leadership roles at SAP and Salesforce, and cut his teeth in technology at Microsoft in the early 1990s. Steve is the author of "Digital Impact," exploring how AI and intelligent automation are reshaping business and society. A passionate...
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#119 Jeff Pearlman: The Art of Storytelling
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Jeff Pearlman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of America's most compelling sports writers, known for his meticulous reporting and ability to bring readers inside the locker rooms and lives of sports' most fascinating figures. He spent years as a writer for Sports Illustrated, where he famously broke the John Rocker story and honed his craft of finding extraordinary stories in unexpected places. Pearlman has authored numerous bestsellers including "The Bad Guys Won" about the 1986 Mets, "Showtime" about the Lakers dynasty which became an HBO series, "Boys Will Be Boys"...
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#118 Max Richter: Moving Fast and Breaking Things - Buidling Insta360
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Max Richter grew up in Stuttgart, Germany, surrounded by cameras—his father was a photographer with a Leica who ran an advertising business. After studying engineering and business, Max found himself restless in corporate life, eventually making his way to Shenzhen, China, where he met a campus legend named JK who had borrowed $2,000 from his father to start a camera company. What happened next was a decade-long journey of near-bankruptcy, pivotal pivots, and ultimately building Insta360 into a company that challenged GoPro and partnered with the very camera brand that filled Max's childhood...
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#117 Jay Shetty: On Finding Your Purpose
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Jay Shetty has inspired millions of people through his inspirational YouTube videos, best-selling books and his podcast, On Purpose. He shares much of his wisdom as a former monk through his teachings. In this interview we discuss: -The #1 trait of high performers -The hardest part of finding your purpose -Why we should study people instead of envying them -The best career advice he ever received -What we get wrong about trauma -How to cultivate meaningful relationships and more.. -- email questions to omaid@omaid.me
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#116 Keith Hawk: Relentless Focus on the Process
To The Top: Inspirational Career Advice
Keith "Pistol" Hawk was VP of Sales at LexisNexis where he led a salesforce of over 1,000 people. He co-authored "Get-Real Selling: Your Personal Coach for REAL Sales Excellence" and he's given many keynote speeches at corporate events about leadership. In this episode we discuss: -How his upbringing helped him become self-reliant at an early age -The power of presence when raising children -The keys to a long, happy marriage -Pitfalls of leadership -Having hard conversations at work, and more -- email questions to omaid@omaid.me
info_outlineIn this episode, I sit down with Tim Bantle, President of heritage brand Filson and the former Patagonia executive who helped transform a $200 million company into a billion-dollar global powerhouse. From his philosophy degree to building some of the outdoor industry's most iconic products like the Nano Puff, Tim shares the unconventional path that led him to the top of two legendary American brands. You'll discover why he doesn't have a resume, how a family crisis became his greatest career opportunity, and the simple advice from his optician father that shaped his entire approach to business. Tim reveals the leadership strategies that actually work—from asking questions for six months before making changes to why authenticity is your ultimate competitive advantage. Whether you're climbing the corporate ladder or building your own business, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom from someone who's actually done it.
What We Discussed:
- From Philosophy Student to Outdoor Industry Leader - How Tim's unconventional academic background in philosophy and literature led to a career building billion-dollar outdoor brands, and why his father jokingly told other parents to have their kids "just study philosophy"
- The Product Innovations That Changed Everything - The inside story of creating Patagonia's breakthrough products like the Down Sweater and Nano Puff, including how a failed fleece project accidentally revolutionized down insulation and became a billion-dollar product line
- How Family Crisis Became Career Catalyst - Why having a special needs child and his wife leaving her career actually freed Tim to pursue global opportunities, leading to roles across California, Utah, Europe, and Canada
- Leadership Without a Playbook - Tim's approach to taking over heritage brand Filson, why he spends six months asking questions before making changes, and how he avoids the trap of bringing solutions from previous companies
- The Network Effect and Authentic Success - Why Tim doesn't have a resume, how every job opportunity came through relationships, and his philosophy that being the best version of yourself is the key to finding the right opportunities