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Chris Warner, Mountaineer, Second American to Summit every 8,000 meter peak Join Preston Cline as he and Chris Warner talk about his experiences in Mountaineering, in business, and in experiential education. Chris was one of Preston’s first instructors as a wilderness guide in 1989 and their lives have been intertwined ever since. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/everest/this-climber-just-became-the-second-american-to-summit-every-8000-meter-peak/

Chief Brian Fennessy of the Orange County Fire Authority joins us to talk about leading and innovating in the face of history, tradition and bureaucracy. Brian began his career in 1978 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and, ultimately, crew superintendent. In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and, ultimately, became chief of the department in 2015. While he was with the SDFD, he developed and established a fire/rescue/EMS helicopter program. He became fire chief of the Orange County, CA, Fire Authority in 2018. Under his visionary guidance, OCFA’s Quick Reaction Force (QRF) — a groundbreaking public-private partnership with Southern California Edison — has revolutionized wildfire response. The QRF fleet, including CH-47 helitankers and intelligence helicopters, made over 2,200 drops, preventing new wildfires from exceeding 10 acres, 95 percent of the time. As fire chief Fennessy oversees 78 stations serving nearly 2 million residents in 23 municipalities and unincorporated area. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) awarded Chief Fennessy the 2023 IAFC Fire Chief of the Year, noting that “Chief Fennessy’s remarkable contributions to the fire service have earned him the IAFC Chief of the Year recognition, a testament to his enduring commitment and dedication to making a lasting impact on the fire service community.”

Preston converses with Eric Hipke and Jim Cook on the power of staff rides in the South Canyon Fire. Documentary 1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain https://youtu.be/ZzGTjfTHihU Highly recommended report to anyone interested in the fire behavior and firefighter movement on the fire.  Fire Behavior Associated with the South Canyon Fire (1998)   https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp009.pdf   Staff Ride Library: https://www.nwcg.gov/wfldp/toolbox/staff-ride/library  

Commander Reid Wiseman is an American astronaut, engineer, and naval aviator. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office until November 14, 2022. He was a member of the crew of Expedition 40/41, which launched to the International Space Station on May 28, 2014, and returned on November 10, 2014. Before joining NASA, Wiseman was a naval aviator and test pilot. Wiseman was the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office from June 2017, working under Chief Astronaut Patrick Forrester. On December 18, 2020, he was promoted to Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA. Reid has been selected as commander of the crew for the Artemis 2 flight, which is planned to make a flyby of the Moon in 2024. He is the first commander of a lunar mission since Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 in 1972

Dr. Anna Simons: The Anthropology of Mission Critical Teams Dr. Anna Simons recently retired as a Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University and an A.B. from Harvard College. She is the author of Networks of Dissolution: Somalia Undone and The Company They Keep: Life Inside the U.S. Army Special Forces. Most recently she is the co-author of The Sovereignty Solution: A Commonsense Approach to Global Security. Simons' focus has been on conflict, intervention, and the military from an anthropological perspective. Her work examines ties that bind members of groups together as well as divides which drive groups apart. 

Eldership with Chief Chuck Downey Chief Chuck Downey joined the FDNY in 1990 and is entering his 33rd year with the department. He is currently serving as the Chief of the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island, otherwise known as “The Rock,” Where he oversees all selection and training for the over 17,000 members of the FDNY. His brother Joe Downey is a 37-year veteran and the battalion commander of the FDNY Rescue Battalion, and together, they are the sons of legendary FDNY Chief Ray Downey, who had a 39½-year career and was the Chief in Charge of Special Operations Command when he made the Supreme Sacrifice at the World Trade Center on September 11. We talk about the role that the community must play, especially the elders in the community, to develop people to do hard things. https://app.box.com/s/78t3ljmuzww0onmzjny5yso6y04yulhh

NASA Astronaut Selection with Duane Ross Mr. Duane Ross has been a key member of the Astronaut Selection Program at NASA since 1978. Duane Ross, has also been involved with or managed the Astronaut Candidate Program at NASA since 1978. He has worked at the Johnson Space Center, in Houston Texas, since 1967, and sat in Mission Control during the moon landing. He spent five decades as the Manager of the Astronaut Selection Program, which means that he has helped select almost every American astronaut in history. In partnership with Dr. Colonel, astronaut Drew Morgan we talk with Duane about some of the changes he has seen over the last 5 decades of Astronaut Selection and where he thinks we might be moving in the future.  

Dr. Sharon M. Ravitch is a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, Fulbright Fellow, 2022–2023. In an internationally recognized researcher and educator joins us to talk about Communities of Practice, Reflection, Use of Emotion as an Instructor, Creation of New Knowledge through collaboration, effective use of risk in training and education. One of the greatest living minds in on the practice of training and education. https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/faculty-directory/ravitch

In this episode, Dr. Preston Cline and Sebastian Junger talk about what it is to transition between the critical and routine world. They discuss ideas of Freedom and the obligation and benefits of being part of a tribe.   Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author, and filmmaker, he is the author of multiple books including The Perfect Storm, Tribe, and Freedom. He has also produced and directed the documentary, Restrepo

In this episode, Dr. Preston Cline and Dr. Micheal Platt talk about the role emotion plays in giving and receiving feedback. The implications of having a social brain and the way in which Synchrony is a precursor to the flow experience. Dr. Michael Platt. Who is the James S. Riepe University Professor, Professor of Neuroscience, Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Marketing. With appointments in the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the Wharton School, Platt works at the intersection of economics and psychology. He is the author of the “Leaders Brain”   

With the Melbourne MCTI Summit only weeks away, in this episode, Dr. Preston Cline and MCTI’s Director of down-under, Harry Moffitt, prime the audience for some of the subject matter that will be covered at the summit – themed this year around Navigating Change.    The MCT community is home to the oldest institutions on earth – military, medical, fire and emergency, police – and in the modern age, all are grappling with the issue of change. How to prepare for change, how to manage it, and how to make it an ongoing practice. During the summit, the audience will be discussing and sharing how change management has been done well in MCTs and share some of the challenges of attempting to enact change in our institutions who are often hampered by longstanding, and sometimes dated, traditions, standards, and stories.   In this relaxed, informal chat between Preston and Harry, they discuss Empowering agents of change and empowering zealots.The rise of the enabler.Standards, asking are they all still fit for purpose?New approaches to training and development.And some observations from their Guinness tasting adventure across the US and UK earlier this year.

In this episode, Dr. Preston Cline and Dr. Art Finch talk about the types of people who choose the hard path. Where do they excel, where do they struggle, and why don’t they quite fit in with “normal” People. We focus on different learning and motivation profiles as well as the transitions between the routine and critical worlds.   COL(R) Art Finch, Ph.D., spent over 23 years providing psychological insight to the leading Special Operations and Tactical Law Enforcement organizations in the world. He is a graduate of U.S. Army Airborne, SERE, and Ranger Schools with more than 20 combat deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq. He retired at the rank of colonel. created personality profiles for more than 10,000 candidates in support of assessment and selection events. Art continues to be licensed to practice psychology in North Carolina and in addition to serving as the Director of the newly formed Mission Critical Psychology Division at MCTI, he also serves as a Research Scientist with IHMC and The Gauge Group, a psychological consulting and executive coaching firm and is the founder and president of The Gauge Group has led leadership consultation and executive coaching for Fortune 100 tech companies; led assessment and selection support for Major League Baseball and National League Football; conducted high-stakes, high-performance psychological support for elite athletes; and assessment and selection psychological support for FBI, HRT and New York State Police SWAT team.