Uncommon Impact
Uncommon Impact is a leadership podcast hosted by Nathan Whitaker—speaker, author, and Super Bowl–winning former NFL executive.
The show features thoughtful conversations with leaders from sports, education, business, and media, exploring how teams are built, how values are tested, and how leaders create lasting impact.
Each episode focuses on leadership, culture, decision-making under pressure, and living with purpose.
Episodes
13 episodes
Jim McKenzie: Leading Change, Casting Vision & Inspiring Hope
How do you lead people through change without losing them along the way?Jim McKenzie spent 24 years in education, including more than two decades in leadership, before stepping away from a job he loved without knowing exactly wha...
Nathan Whitaker: Own Your Role
What’s the difference between accepting your role and owning it?Nathan shares the unusual story behind The Soul of a Team—a book that began with a rejected 60,000-word manuscript and had to be completely reinvented—and then expl...
Andy Janning: Great Stories Aren't Safe
What makes a story worth telling — and a life worth living?Andy Janning has spent decades helping organizations and leaders tell better stories. But his own story has increasingly pushed him toward work that is anything but safe.I...
Chris Archer: More Than the Player
Former MLB All-Star Chris Archer spent 17 years in professional baseball, including 10 seasons in the major leagues. Today, as a Special Assistant with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he's using those experiences to help develop the next generation of...
Nathan Whitaker: Success vs. Significance: What Are We Really Chasing?
What does it really mean to make an uncommon impact?Years ago, Tony Dungy’s college football coach Cal Stoll told him, “Success is uncommon.” That idea eventually helped inspire our book Uncommon—and, years later, the nam...
Larry Shyatt: Why Great Followers Matter
What makes a great follower? And why might developing great followers matter just as much as developing great leaders?Larry Shyatt has spent more than four decades in basketball as a head coach, assistant coach and mentor. Along t...
Tansley Stearns: Purpose, Courage, and the Story Behind Choose the Bear
Tansley Stearns, president and CEO of orsa credit union, joins Nathan Whitaker for a conversation about purpose, courage, financial agency, and the responsibility of leaders to expand what their organizations believe is possible.Tansley ...
Nathan Whitaker: What Uncommon Leadership Looks Like
What does culture actually look like in the everyday life of an organization?In this solo episode of Uncommon Impact, Nathan Whitaker reflects on lessons from the podcast’s first four guests and explores two themes that surfaced...
Samir Suleiman: Tough, Fair, and Built to Last
What does strong leadership look like when the pressure is high, the personalities are difficult, and every decision affects the entire organization?Samir Suleiman spent more than two decades in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, St....
Matt Rom: Leadership That Lasts - Authenticity, Purpose, and People
What does it mean to build something that lasts beyond your career?In this episode of Uncommon Impact, University of Oklahoma Associate Vice President Matt Rom shares lessons on authentic leadership, creating meaningful workp...
Kent Maxson: Leadership, Culture, and Education-Based Athletics
What is the real purpose of sports? In this episode of Uncommon Impact, Nathan Whitaker sits down with Kent Maxson, Athletics Coordinator at the American School Foundation in Mexico City, to discuss leadership, culture, and...
Donnie Jones: Leadership, Relationships, and Winning Teams
What makes a leader worth following?In this episode of Uncommon Impact, Nathan Whitaker sits down with longtime friend Donnie Jones, head basketball coach at Stetson University and former University of Florida assistant c...