Fearless Leadership: The 5 Mental Disciplines of Peak Performers

This week on Fearless Leadership, Brendan is joined by elite performance experts Dr. Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle, co-authors of the new book Learned Excellence: Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World’s Top Performers. Drawing on their decades of experience training top business executives, athletes, and Special Forces operators, Eric and Alan reveal the cognitive skills and mental frameworks that allow people to optimize performance despite chaos and uncertainty. They share research-backed techniques to control attention, emotion, and mental chatter while discussing how to create winning mindsets, build motivational metaskills, and unlock flow states through the deliberate practice of microskills. Listen in as Eric and Alan pull back the curtain on training Navy SEALs in mental toughness and designing peak performance regimes for MLB stars. You’ll discover how shifting one’s consciousness and controlling physiology can transform outcomes when it matters most. Tune in for actionable takeaways you can apply immediately to become a more poised, resilient, and fulfilled leader capable of navigating life’s turbulence with excellence.

About Eric Potterat: Eric is a clinical and performance psychologist and a leading expert in individual and organizational performance optimization. Eric retired as a commander from the US Navy after twenty years of service, during which he helped create the mental toughness curriculum used during Navy SEALs BUD/S training. Eric spent several years as the director of specialized performance for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has also worked with Red Bull athletes, the US Women’s national soccer team, the Miami Heat, and numerous Olympic athletes, first responders, business leaders, and NASA astronauts.

About Alan Eagle: Alan is an author and executive communications consultant, helping leaders and companies shape and tell their stories. He spent 16 years at Google, partnering with executives to communicate the company’s story to clients, partners, employees, and the public. He is the co-author of the books How Google Works and Trillion Dollar Coach, and the author, all by himself, of seven letters-to-the-editor published in Sports Illustrated. He has never won the New Yorker Caption Contest.