---What is it that pushes us to perform at our best? Which people on our teams thrive in high-stress/high-stakes environments and which are always cool, and calm under pressure? Why does this matter and how can you use it to drive peak performance? After 3 years of interviewing more than 200 people including professional athletes, military officers, poker players, and psychologists, Rafi Kohan offer insights into the psychology of gamesmanship and how mental stress can be used to drive performance and behavior. This work, which culminated into the lively and hilarious read Trash Talk, The Only Book About Destroying Your Rivals That Isn’t Total Garbage, offers anecdotes from some of the world’s top competitors and the mind games that push them to outperform their opponents.

Michael Vickers is one of the most accomplished and legendary senior intelligence officials of the last four decades. The former under secretary of defense for intelligence – the “CEO” of our nation’s defense intelligence enterprise that includes agencies like the NSA, he understands the current geopolitical environment like no one else. This Green Beret-turned-CIA operative-turned top Pentagon intelligence official shares insights and eye-opening stories on challenges to the current world order (including what’s at stake for American business) and where we still have work to do.

Robert Richman is a culture strategist and was the co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture. Robert built Zappos Insights from a small website to a thriving multi-million dollar business teaching over 25,000 students per year. Through his work, Robert has been helpful for improving the employee culture at hundreds of companies. As one of the world’s authorities on employee culture and customer experience, Robert is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences around the world and has been hired to teach culture in person at companies like Google, Toyota, and Eli Lilly.

Haiyan Wang is an expert on global business strategy, the managing partner of China India Institute, and the author of Getting China and India Right and the Quest for Global Dominance. Noted the world over for her vast expertise, she was among the first Chinese to study international business after China opened its doors to the outside world. She shares insights on the biggest global trends affecting business and how organizations can leverage the market and the resource opportunities presented by the China and India phenomenon to achieve global dominance within their industries.

Anil Gupta is one of the world’s leading experts on globalization and business strategy in Asia. The author of Getting China and India Right, his strategies help managers excel through his deep, on-the-ground understanding of the growing global economies, with a focus on market development and long-term thinking. His presentations include case studies of companies that are on the right track, and he explores methods of changing mindsets, adapting organizations, and reinventing strategy. When CEO’s need to know how to prepare for an Asia-centric future, they turn to Gupta.

James Gilmore is an expert on innovative thinking and the experience economy. As co-author of The Experience Economy, James Gilmore advises companies on how to turn their goods and services into a remarkable experience for the consumer. He discusses the concept of mass customization and helps businesses envision new possibilities for engaging customers and finding new sources of revenue.

Michael Maslansky, renowned message strategist, advises industry associations, professional communicators, and Fortune 500 companies on language strategies that shift perceptions and move markets. Using research and a trademarked polling methodology, he provides clear and compelling advice for how to use the right language and the right approach to using it.

Vincent K. Brooks is a retired four-star general who was in command of all US Forces in Korea, where he concurrently commanded United Nations Command as well as the Republic of Korea. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he led the 4,000 cadets as the cadet brigade commander or “First Captain.” A history-maker, Brooks is the first African American to have been chosen for this paramount position. He is also the eighth African American in history to attain the military’s top rank—four-star general in the United States Army. Widely respected as a speaker and leader of cohesive, innovative organizations, within and beyond the military, his areas of expertise are: leadership in complex organizations, crisis leadership, and building cohesive trust-based teams, national security, policy, strategy, international relations, military operations, combating terrorism and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as diversity and inclusion.

For 35 years Dr. Harry G. Broadman has been prominently at the vanguard of the formulation and execution of many of the most critical global business and economic policy decisions of our time. Dr. Broadman delivers exceptionally stimulating insights drawing on the rich mosaic of his high-level practitioner experiences, coupled with his record as an ingenious thought-leader, widely-cited book author and globally sought-after speaker.

Stephanie is Owner & CEO of Asutra, where we're passionate about helping people take care of themselves on purpose so they can get the most out of life – what we call active self-care. Asutra offers magnesium-powered remedies for pain relief, sleep and mood, so you can care for yourself well. At Asutra, we’re proud to provide good jobs with career pathways at a living wage with benefits. Asutra is women-owned and women-led; 60% of our team are people of color; and 100% of our staff would recommend Asutra as a great place to work. Stephanie is an enthusiastic board member of Hope Chicago, which sends students and their parents to college debt-free; Very Asian Foundation, which amplifies AANHPI stories; and Naturally Chicago, which creates an ecosystem for natural products companies to thrive. Stephanie was honored to be named to Inc.’s Female Founders 200 list in 2023 and Beacon Award Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021. In her spare time, she’s an avid urban gardener who grows everything from tomatoes to lilacs.

Shaun Rein is the author of the best-selling book The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World and the managing director of the China Market Research Group. He is one of the preeminent thought leaders on strategy consulting in China. Millions read his regular column in Bloomberg Businessweek. In an engaging and informative presentation, he details the cultural and economic trends that affect doing business in China, the U.S.-China relationship, and the opportunities arising in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

Throughout his career, Mr. Oczkowski has worked at the intersection of where product development meets data science to forecast, predict, and analyze commercial markets and American elections. Prior to his work at Data Propria, Mr. Oczkowski also served as Head of Product for Cambridge Analytica where he most notably ran the team of embedded technical specialists inside the Trump Campaign that led to the scientific understanding of the eventual outcome of the election - a scenario that pundits missed. Using tactics from the worlds of: behavioral science, growth hacking, machine learning, sentiment analysis, and NLP, Mr. Oczkowski successfully connects behavioral dots together to make informed decisions about groups of people.