Bernard Banks, Ph.D.
Brigadier General (Ret.) who played Sprint Football at the United States Military Academy

Retired Brigadier General Bernard Banks knew as a child that he wanted to go to West Point because of his desire to develop himself as a leader. He was so successful in that journey that years later, West Point asked him to chair its leadership department. Several of his core principles stem from his upbringing as an athlete, “You will play how you practice,” Bernie said, “Do you practice well?”

Today, he is an Associate Dean at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a faculty member at Thayer Leadership.

Maryanne Miller
Retired Four-Star General who played softball at Ohio State University

In the history of the United States Air Force, 225 people have achieved the rank of four-star general, only five of them women. Recently retired General Maryanne Miller may have the most fascinating story of them all. In the fall of 2001, Miller had submitted her retirement paperwork when she watched in horror as terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Without hesitation, then Lieutenant Colonel Miller made a life-altering choice to pull her retirement paperwork. She served 19 more years and rose to become, at the time, the highest-ranking woman in the United States military.

In this candid conversation, you will learn how to leverage your weaknesses properly, and we will reveal the biggest mistake people make as they seek to climb the ranks.

Kyle Carpenter
Medal of Honor Recipient who played football at King Academy

On November 21, 2010, Carpenter, a U.S. Marine Lance Corporal, was posted on a rooftop in Afghanistan when a Taliban grenade landed between him and a fellow Marine. Without hesitation, Carpenter jumped on the grenade, saving his best friend but sacrificing himself. After flatlining three times, undergoing 41 surgeries, and spending three years at Walter Reed Medical Center, Carpenter ran the Marine Corps Marathon. “The more I fought for my future instead of against my past, the more I realized that there wasn’t just life for me on the other side of this – there was life for me in the middle of it,” he said, “The smallest of steps eventually completes the grandest of journeys.”

In 2014, he became the youngest living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military decoration.

Keith Hoskins
Blue Angel Pilot who played football at Missouri Western State University

Eleven million spectators experience the U.S. Navy Blue Angels Air Show each year. In 1971, one of those spectators was five-year-old Keith Hoskins. As the F-4 Phantom jets flew overhead, he told his dad, “I want to be a Blue Angel.”

Nearly three decades later, that dream came true! His Navy career included serving as Commanding Officer for Naval Air Station Pensacola, where he provided leadership oversight for more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel. Today, Captain Hoskins serves as Executive Vice President of Branch Operations for the largest credit union in the world - Navy Federal!

You will learn incredible lessons in collaboration, character, and why compartmentalization isn’t always a bad thing.