AMD's Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster shares thoughts on Strength & Leadership

We sit down with Mark to connect strength training, aging well, and the mindset it takes to keep showing up when progress feels slow. We also trace the same “support plus accountability” approach through parenting a child with type 1 diabetes and leading teams in high-stress tech. 
• Moving from cardio-only fitness to structured strength training 
• Learning strength for fall prevention, balance, and resilience with age 
• Prioritising workouts by scheduling them like non-negotiable appointments 
• Stepping up as parents after a type 1 diabetes diagnosis 
• Supporting independence without drifting into overprotection 
• Leading like a coach through clear expectations and accountability 
• Building trust by remembering people and showing you care 
• Using straight talk and root-cause thinking to learn from mistakes 
• Rebuilding confidence after a shoulder injury through warm-ups and patience 
• Noticing the biggest payoff as feeling better in daily life 

Transcript

Meeting Without Push-Ups

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Mark, thank you so much for being here. Uh really enjoy being in person with you. A lot of times podcasts can be over the video. I'm a I'm an in-person guy, which is probably why I love personal training. And uh it's something that I really enjoy. It's just like really just sitting down, breaking bread, and having a conversation. Uh, you're you know, you're from an industry that I don't typically uh interview, uh, you know, being in tech and and business and working in a publicly traded company and all that kind of stuff, but I'm still gonna ask some of the same questions I always like to ask about leadership, mindset, and and you're just like and how that how you've kind of navigated this the world of like you know your professional life and uh you know as a father, as a husband, that kind of thing too. So thanks for being on the podcast for giving me your time.

SPEAKER_04 0:51

Pardon, I'm looking forward to this because this is my one of my very few sessions with you that you're not you know putting me through the paces and I'm walking out exhausted. So this will be fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yes, finally a meeting without push-ups involved and squats. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, I mean, that's and obviously the reason we know each other is from I'm your trainer, and so uh just getting that out there. You and I have been working together for about a year and a half. I think we figured that out a couple days ago. About a year and a half, and uh, you know, you've kind of you've

From Cardio To Real Strength

SPEAKER_01 1:20

obviously worked out in different ways throughout your life, but probably this is the this recent, you know, stint of time with me is probably the most you've done strength training.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

And and is that is that a true statement that it's the first time because actually, although I was in high school sports, I played soccer in high school, and in my generation, soccer was a like a club sport, not sponsored by the university. So we didn't get the trainers. Uh we had uh, you know, we would hire a coach and we were club sport. Uh and so I've never had formal training until now. And so it's been it's been like a new world for me to uh actually know how to use equipment and actually build up strength.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, but I think uh from what I know of you, you're you're not a stranger to health and fitness, just the strength training piece of it. Talk about, you know, as a you know, growing up playing obviously soccer, like what about just fitness in general, exercise, running, things like that that were a part of your your life up until you know when we started training together?

SPEAKER_04 2:20

Yeah, it's always absolutely uh I'd say I've always been active, and it's been as much for my mental health as it has been for my physical health because I, as you said, I'm in tech. It's you know, it's high stress. I love it, but it's high stress every day. And so you've gotta have, you know, really uh you have to be in training, so you need to be fit to be able to run that pace, uh, but it also is just a great uh stress outlet. So I've done always running, um, walking, you know, getting walks in. Uh we're a water sports family, so we love water skiing, weight boarding, all those things. So uh biking, just very active, but again, no strength training, no formal strength training.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Well, and what I've noticed, because I so I'm a you know, I would say a product of the 80s, where I like in in and you're you know, you're a little bit older than me, but uh, but I think in the 70s and 80s, it was really like you know, sports and cardiovascular fitness was really more of the like what was kind of the the masses were doing, you know, like running and group fitness classes and and things like that. Strength training, which was kind of more like football players and bodybuilders, was kind of that that niche. So it's been a it's it's you know, it's it's kind of this new moment in the time where the the fitness kind of greater fitness community is now engaging much more with with strength training. Um let's talk about it since we're we're we're right there. Like, what has been your experience kind of learning about strength training, what you feel that's different about you now that that maybe you wasn't with just doing the irregular type of training?

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Well, uh, I'll be honest, Burton, I I never even thought about strength training until I hit my 60s because it, like you said, it was really cardio. Like to me, being in shape was that I could get my jog in and I could run my whatever miles I wanted to run. I was never marathon, even half marathon, but we'd my wife and I would do 10K's and we'd just go out and do whatever, two and a half, three, maybe even four mile runs. And it's like, okay, if we can do that, we can do our long bike rides we want. We're in shape. And so it being in shape to me was always basically cardio and and having the uh endurance to get done whatever

Aging Well And Preventing Falls

SPEAKER_04 4:35

fun activities that we were up to at the time. And then I just started uh reading more uh about you know, just as you get older, you have to be much more mindful of this. And the turning point for my wife and I is actually when her her dad took a spill. And so we were in a trauma unit and we were uh having to really read up about falling. And they kind of uh and what we found out was that's a huge deal. Like as people get older, they a lot of people get injured falling. Yeah, and uh the more we read about it, the more we realized, hey, we're not doing anything to like build up our strength. That because that's what I read, and you're the expert here, so you could you could talk more about it. But what we read is that uh the more you build up your strength, it's like the best thing you can do uh to ensure you don't you have more, I'll say, resilience and agility as you get older, and it helps prevent that kind of injury.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, and a lot of times it's a personal setback or a family member who goes through something like my mom is in her 80s and and um is just dealing with, you know, she's never really done strength training, but she's stayed generally healthy. But you can kind of see where she's very, you know, uh she she tends to go on walks and sometimes stumble and this and that. And so yeah, I think it's really as you see your parents get older, it's like, oh, oh, wait a second. Like what can we do now? You know, whether you're and for listeners, whether you're 40, 50, 60, or whatever age you are, it's never too late. And I think one of the things I really have enjoyed training you over the last year and a half is how you've, you know, I mean, all these movements are pretty new bench press, squats, lunges, things, some things you're decent at, some things you really you know really challenge your your overall balance and things like that. But you, you know, you just take it as it comes and try to get better every day. But uh, you know, there's an at there's a mentality behind it where you're not you're not frustrated, you're not disappointed with your you're just doing what you need to be done, knowing that it's doing in the work. And I just like that's a great way to show up for for this because you know, most people show up and they're not as strong as they want to be, or they you know wish they had more whatever. Yeah, but you gotta you gotta keep going and you can't be beating yourself up for it.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Well, I'm a believer that attitudes is everything, and and in everything you do, you need the right attitude. Uh so I didn't ever think about it, but I uh I sure uh have brought that into the strength training because uh what I realized now that as you said we're a year and a half into it, and I tell you this all the time during the sessions, is I'm pretty sure it's a it's it's a combination of mental and physical to get, you know, as you build up your you know, your physical strength.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, I had a trainer, uh Gary Mann, rest in peace. Uh from when high school, all the athletes would go to him, and he lived in a different town, but we'd all drive over to Gary Mann's house, and his whole it was just like working out is a mental exercise done physically. And his whole thing for kids was like you develop the mental uh toughness to push yourself in the gym, it's gonna show up in everything else in your life.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

And I I I do think, I do see that, whatever, whatever age, the ability to kind of like know that it's hard, push through, believe that you can do it, and you know, come out the other side stronger for it. So yeah, that's awesome.

Scheduling Fitness Like A Doctor

SPEAKER_01 8:00

So what's your advice to you know, maybe the the hardworking, potentially like uh workaholic type uh you know, tech person or or entrepreneur or anybody out there who's like working really hard, maybe hasn't prioritized uh strength training or fitness?

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Well, I'll tell you, I I found uh being in tech, it can consume every waking moment. Uh so you had to learn early on to make priority calls, basically. So we have three kids, and so a lot of priority calls I made. Yeah, I did work very hard. I missed you know uh some events, but I tried to prioritize and be there uh for the events that matter. And you have to you know really prioritize everything. If you literally, if you want a doctor's appointment, you gotta literally carve out the time because the work will fill every moment. Uh and so to me, you know, when training, when I actually fell in that category where I said, this is something I want to do, it's something I need to do, guess what? It got prioritized, and I schedule it in just like you would schedule in that doctor's appointment.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yeah. Yeah, there is something to like if you let work be all consuming, it will it will be all consuming. It absolutely will. And so you have to, and and I think that's I think some people feel like, well, you know, once I've gotten to a certain point, maybe I can do that. But I I think if you it I have find that people that can figure out those moments, even in 20 to 30 minutes, it doesn't have to be an hour. That's like the typical amount of time that trainers train people, but like 20 to 30 minutes on a Peloton or doing some strength training or going for a walk outside, all those things can be you know give you that mental health. And and then of course you talk about showing up at doctor's appointments and all that kind of stuff.

Parenting Through Type 1 Diabetes

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Now, um on a personal side, your one of your kids uh uh found out he it was type one diabetic at an early age, which probably uh you know impacted the way that you needed to make sure you know you could you you and Kathy you know were parents and and just talk about that and like how that kind of reprioritized your uh you know your life even with all the things going on uh with work.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Well, it was over 30 years ago. Uh he's a much successful adult, kids of his own, married and kids of his own, so it was years ago. But age six, our son uh was diagnosed with type one diabetes. So those of your listeners who don't know, type one is the kind of diabetes that means your pancreas just doesn't make insulin anymore. Genetically, you're genetically susceptible.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

And if you get a trigger event, our son had a really bad uh just you know, an infection. He had you know gotten a scrape or something, it turned into an infection, and that triggered the immune response in the body. And when you have that susceptibility to diabetes, the theory uh is that it can, you know, your your immune system goes a little haywire and ends up attacking the pancreas. And like I said, then you make no diabetes. You're completely dependent on injecting insulin every day, or you're or you know, you you you can't uh you you can't go on. Uh so that was a big shock uh to us as a family. Uh and you know, our head was spinning. We were uh here in uh Austin, Texas, and we met some other families whose kids had been diagnosed with type one. That was very helpful. But again, what do you do when challenges hit? Like the way my wife and I think about it is there is no choice. Yeah you step up to whatever the challenge it is. So we we stepped up, we learned all about it, uh, tried to create the best environment uh uh for our son because he had a uh age six, you know, that's daily injections. Yeah. But to accredit to our son, he has that same attitude. He stepped up. He said to Mom and Dad, I'm you're not giving me those injections, I'm doing it. Wow. So six-year-old giving himself his own injections, uh, but it was became the whole family pitched in and and you know, made sure that we had a supporting environment.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah. Well, and and I think it would be easy for uh uh parents to worry so much about their kid that they you know maybe avoid like sports or taking him hiking or boy scouts and a lot of the things that that that you were able to do with uh with your son. Talk about just wanting to give your son the most, you know, opportunities, even you know, because I think well-intentioned, we can often oftentimes you know protect our kids from life or from the from the things that we worry about as as parents.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

There is that temptation. Uh we chose to not do that. So uh credit to our son. He was the one that wanted to, I mean, really strong willed, still want to do things. He still wanted to go to summer camp.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:46

And you're like, how are you gonna go to a summer camp? I mean, we we've got this constant, you know, care. You need this uh support. Although he gave himself the shots. I mean, there's quite quite a bit to making sure that you stay on the regimen of keeping your blood sugar in control and testing your, you know, what is your blood sugar level and then adjusting the insulin. This is before the days of now where it's uh more automated, where there's a you know continuous blood glucose monitoring and a pump that can deliver that in insulin. That wasn't available back then. Yeah. So but to his credit, he said, I I still want to do those things. So again, uh, yeah, we did not fall into the you know, we uh to the overprotective camp. We wanted to be supportive. I will tell you, uh, we were very worried, but I think as a parent, you just gotta you've got to balance where how far do you you know put in uh controls that uh might be best from your standpoint of um being able to control the situation, but how much do you let your kids grow up and give them responsibility and and take some risk?

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

So we did take risk, but we started with uh a risk where they knew it was a camp uh that supported kids that had diabetes. So went away, he was overnight, went away from home.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Uh and counselors that kind of knew how to support.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Exactly. They knew how to how to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

But then uh after that he said the next summer, I don't want to go to diabetes camp. He went to just a regular camp. Yeah and it was stressful, and I wouldn't tell you there wasn't a number of times uh in actually in all of the camps, we ended up having to um take unplanned visits and things like that to take care of things. Yeah, but that's something that uh Kathy and I were always willing to do uh to help him develop that independence. And he's been uh he's been a uh very uh successful, landed on his feet. So I think that kind of balance pays off.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Uh I would absolutely agree. You know, I think uh um just you know, having my own kid who's who's almost 12 and and just you know, you're you're constantly figuring out that balance of like support, care, but also like giving him the opportunity to go explore and make mistakes and and discover life. Um using that same kind of umbrella concept of just like like support, but also giving people the opportunity to

Leadership Built On Care

SPEAKER_01 15:10

kind of like find their way? How have you approached leadership? Um, you don't you can talk about any of any of the step steps along the way where you were a leader in in some of these tech companies that or including AMD recently. Um what what has been your philosophy of leadership, your mindset around like how to how to rise raise people up, how to give them, empower them to be successful so that the company can flourish?

SPEAKER_04 15:36

Well, it you know, you started talking about family, and I think that's a a great way to to even talk about leadership in the workplace, because when we talked about uh we have three kids and we did the the same philosophy to all three kids, and I give my wife Kathy the credit. She she was always saying, Hey, our kids have the capabilities, we we need to make sure that they have uh every opportunity and that and and that we make sure that they know our expectations is that they that they can step up to the capabilities they have. Uh and so what that means is uh you set a you set expectations of what you think can be done, yeah, and you you you hold your kids accountable. You expect them to be good kids. It's not that they won't screw up when they do, you're gonna you're gonna counsel them, right? You're gonna scold them or you're gonna do what you know, you're gonna have to do things. Well, it's not the same at work. You know, no, you don't just you know scold your it's not like scolding kids, but the broader concept of setting act really clear expectations, holding people accountable, helping them, coaching them, being being uh you know a mentor, uh it's not uh again, it's not the same way as a family mentor, but it's a work mentor, and it and and conceptually it's the same of being a leader uh really means setting out goals, expectations, and and uh helping people achieve it. And when you align that for the people that you're leading with where the you know it could be a startup, it could be a big company you're in, it doesn't matter. Uh when you align that with what leads to business success, when you put those two together, you know, clear expectations, uh working really hard, but to a goal that leads to business success, good things happen.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah. I I have an old friend who I've trained off and on, and I just recently come back into uh training him, who is works at AMD. He's in sales, and he's been there a long time, but he's you know, he's not somebody who's in the executive you know meetings and things like that. And uh I mentioned that you and I train together, and he's like, Mark always remembers my name. That was the first thing he said. So when you talk about family, we talk about like you know, you're he's not a direct report to you, but you you know, that was the thing that really stuck with him. And and just so maybe so a compliment to you, you may not know uh specifically who I'm talking about, but like uh Bill said, Yeah, every time I see him, he he remembers my name, he kind of gives me a moment. And I think that's that's a special uh quality that I think in other some organizations doesn't exist, or that that that may be uh an opportunity for for leaders that is, you know, and then you've got you know thousands and thousands of people, so it that would be hard to do for everybody, but I think that was an that was fantastic to hear as I was preparing for this interview that that he that's what he remembers.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

Yeah, you know, it's I I thank you for sharing that, and and I appreciate hearing that. And I wish I could remember everyone's name.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

It's about what 40,000, 30,000.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

33,000, but yeah, um and so no, I don't know everyone's name, but uh I I do try. Uh and the reason I do is uh the way things get done is by people, and and and everyone's important. I mean, it's just a team sport trying to do big things. Like I'm you know, I mean in technology, the chip design business, we don't do anything without it being a team effort. And I learned early on, I was uh at University of Texas, I was a resident assistant, meaning uh uh I needed I put myself uh through school with loans and things, so I needed the pay.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And so what happens is you're you're paid actually it covers your your uh room and board, but you're you're watch out for everybody else who don't want you to watch out for them.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Yeah, you're you're you're basically a manager. So it I didn't realize it, but it was leadership training.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

And uh and I I found and it was the first time I was at a group, and I and I found literally just little simple things like looking someone at the eye, like remembering their name, and you and having just some simple eye contact and and or playing back what they tell you. Like you you play, you know, you when you meet someone, I always try and repeat the name back. Yeah, because that helps me remember it.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:58

And then you have an in uh uh conversation, also play back some of what you heard, and it creates an engagement. And uh I think it it uh it's important because that's how you build teamwork, because uh, particularly for someone like myself as a resident system or in the leadership roles I've had in industry, it leaves an impression, and the impression is true. That leader cares.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

And you have to care as a leader. That's how you're gonna be the most effective.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

But you have to show it.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Yeah, and I think I mean, just to take it back to fitness, like I one of the things I've learned in the 20 years of training is like people will work way harder if you care about them as people. You know, like it doesn't matter how how many like certifications or like I have by my name, like you know, I can go in there and bark orders and tell people love work harder. And like, but if there's no relationship, there's there's no there's nothing to squeeze. There's no like there's nothing, you know, I can pull so much more from you now than I could when we first met because now I know your your capacity for work and and you know your own motivations, why you're doing this, and um, and utilize that because I because you know a lot of times when somebody's doing exercise that they don't necessarily like, the best thing I can do is tell them, you're doing we're doing this because you wanted this. Right. This is helping, you know, and they oh, oh, oh, oh, I know why I'm doing this now, and then they work harder. Uh, but I think that's it always starts with relationship. It always starts with caring about the person you're working for.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

Yeah, yeah. Makes all the difference.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Absolutely. Well, take us back to your

Childhood Moves And Self-Confidence

SPEAKER_01 21:35

childhood. I mean motivation thing, maybe any like some challenging moments that maybe galvanize your work ethic or your desire to kind of be a leader, or or maybe that you can look back and kind of connect the dots on uh you know, having perspective now, what what kind of galvanized who you are. What do you think were a couple of things that happened in childhood that that have

SPEAKER_04 22:12

Yeah, Barton, that's a good question. And you don't look back. So it's always a good question to say, well, look back. You know, what uh what influenced you? Um I have to say for me, uh first off, we moved around a lot growing up. My dad, uh people think when they hear how many cities I lived growing up, they say your dad must have been in the in the services, right? Uh because you moved around that much. But actually what he was a scientist, but he was completing his education. He's, you know, uh completed his uh graduate studies, uh he was in uh immunology, cancer research, and then you know, different universities doing postdoc and starting and teaching. He was teaching out at Berkeley, uh moved to a research hospital in uh in New York and then down to Texas. So we moved around a lot growing up. Uh so that uh I found uh teach as a kid when you're at the young ages uh to be uh really you have to get your conf self-confidence up because you're getting thrown into new situations, new schools, you know nobody. And so I didn't uh realize I was older, but I learned self-confidence and the ability to just meet people, just put yourself out there, yeah, meet new people, you know, yeah, uh figure out how to get comfortable in new situations. So I think you know that was one. I think two, uh uh just you know, needing to take responsibility early. I had a paper route when I was 12 and uh you know, summer jobs from age 13 on and and uh interned uh when I was in uh university. I was alternating semester work in school. So always strong work ethic, uh, you know, just helping to um you know bring the bring the necessary income in to do what I want to do and to to you know get the degree I wanted and things like that. I think that was an influence. And then uh just meeting you meet people along the way that you admire. Yeah. Um and and so I was always a sponge uh to learn from people.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I think it's uh being that you you know raised a family and and you and Kathy were successful, but you know, at you know in in your jobs, like how did you help your kids find the you know, like not fall into like entitlement or you know, like oh well, you know, we kind of have a lot, or you know, like I just there's a there's you know, there's those maybe scenarios where like you know, you kind of got yourself up and and you know got through college, you know, working and this and that, but then your kids don't necessarily find that same work ethic and willpower and and and determination. What do you think you and Kathy were doing to kind of like instill that?

SPEAKER_04 25:02

No, you're right. It's very different. Kathy, by the way, uh worked and like me contributed quite a bit to get herself through uh school. So we both had that same background, but we were both uh electrical engineers, uh, landed good jobs, and so uh it was definitely a much better situation for our kids. But if you ask them what it was like growing up, uh they'll they'll probably tell you they were in a very financially constrained uh household because that was sort of the uh the the attitude was uh we were both, Kathy and I were both working hard, and the kids as they grew up, they had to help because we had uh uh our our oldest son and daughter, aged three years apart, then a seven-year gap in our youngest, and then Kathy and I were both working all the way through as they were growing up, uh less so for our uh youngest son, once Kathy retired, but uh for the for the entire school duration of our older two, uh we were that uh dual income working family, so the stress was always high. Right. Because we're just it just took everybody.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

So nobody was home just chilling on the couch.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

So to be honest, there was no possibility there could be a sense of entitlement. Like everyone had to pull their own.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

Our our oldest son is a great chef. Ask him why he's a great chef.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

He's like he's making meals for the woman, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Exactly. He's like, hey, I guess I need to cook.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. That's uh, you know, and that and also I think when kids feel connected to like they have responsibilities, they're part of the family being successful is what they do, versus like they come from school, they throw their bag down, they watch TV, the parents take care of everything. I think there's a the dyna we have to be careful in the dynamic of our of our you know, with kids is like making sure that they're doing chores, you know, make setting the table, cooking meals, or you know, whatever those things are that that sh give them a sense of value within the context of the family.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Yeah. Well, and our house is a tightly run ship. And and uh I will again that's where all the credit goes to Kathy. I mean, she she's uh a very smart lady, uh very talented and engineering, and of course, uh uh you know she uh enjoyed that until the point where she retired. She had other interests she wanted to pursue. But the home has always uh been well, you know, run very tightly by her, and and we all appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah. What you know talked about going back to childhood. What what are some lessons

Learning Fast After Mistakes

SPEAKER_01 27:40

maybe within the context of your professional career that you feel like have like taught you a lot that you know make you the leader you are today, kind of like maybe shape the way you know a mistake or just a uh disappointment, anything that might have like kind of galvanized who you are and why, you know, at at this point in your life things are going so well.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Well, I I think um I I I would say any good leader embraces mistake. Uh the the worst thing you can ever do is uh think that a mistake uh or or f uh you know even a uh a failure, it uh that you actually take it as a failure. They're frankly they're all tremendous learning experiences, and and successful leaders take each and every one of them as a learning experience and say, that's not gonna happen again, or I'm gonna be stronger because of that, or I could have done that differently, and here's what it is. I'm gonna modify how I think about and act in those situations again. Uh and look, I've you know, I've had uh many successes I'm proud of. You know, I probably have equal as many uh things that that I I realized I could have done that better, and I worked really hard to learn from. And I just think that's critical.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

If you ever let your ego get in the way and you just ever somehow think that you had a God-given right to be a successful leader, you're you're done. I mean, like, then you stop learning. Yeah. And then you you're gonna become arrogant, and you're gonna get a sense of entitlement, or you're gonna get whatever that keeps you from being that uh constant learner and a humble person that's just trying to make a difference.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

And I I I think uh I've I've seen leaders get get to where it got to their head a bit and it impacted their uh success as a leader.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah. And what is there anything that you've learned to do? Like, let's say something c doesn't go the way you want it to go. Um, and like do you go how do you go back and evaluate like what happened and learn from it? Is there a is there kind of like a methodology you have around that? Like a okay, hey, this didn't go well. I mean, you could do a SWOT analysis, or there's a lot, I'm sure, like terms that we could use that uh, but what what's your general practice with that?

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Well, it starts with what I call just straight talk, being totally candid. So I've always tried to be as candid as I as I could. Um I did that my years at IBM, I I got really good at that at Apple. Apple was all about being candid and tried to uh instill that really transparent and candid communication with my engineering teams at uh AMD. The reason I say it starts there is as soon as you're just uh trying to be too nice to one another and and you don't call out that what really went wrong that you need to learn from because oh, I don't want to hurt Bart's feelings. Let me not let me not put it out there. Uh well, how's that work, right? And so I try I I try and practice what I preach. I try and just uh right away, as things didn't go well, pull people together, put it on the table. Yeah. Like, hey, this isn't going well, or what we just did didn't go well, look, look what happened, and and uh try and it just generate that uh spirit and culture of completely candid communications, what and and then it draws people out. And then they're like, yeah, you're right, that didn't go well. And then they're they're part of it. And then you can go deeper and you can really get to the root of what went wrong. Because it's real easy to put a superficial band-aid, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, it's because of this, it's because of that. You put the band-aid over it, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yeah, you put some blame on some external thing that you can't control.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

That's actually typically what people it's a natural human response.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Oh, look at what that other team did to us. That's not our fault. Right. And and a lot of people do that and move on. And you can't do it. You've got to uh some people call it the uh five questions, like, well, this didn't work. Why? Well, because of that. Okay, why'd that happen? You've got to go down three, four, five levels deep. Then you get to what really was the uh the the cause.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Well, and in order to do that, you have to have the relationships.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

So the trust, yeah. You have and and people have to believe that you're not just going to blame everybody, you know, like they have to see that you're taking responsibility for what you did and and that kind of thing. And then and you can you could take that and say a family should probably do that too, right? Like any any any group of people who are trying to be successful together, you know, be good to have that type of approach.

SPEAKER_04 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

No, once you yeah, when you don't have trust, um conversations are superficial, right? Because no one's really putting it out there. And and you're right, that that's beyond the work environment. That uh certainly applies to family as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Yeah, good stuff. Well, I I've we're coming to the towards

Injury Recovery And New Confidence

SPEAKER_01 32:45

the end of there. I wanted to just uh give you opportunity uh going back to uh fitness, yes, strength training. What are a couple of things that you've just discovered about yourself and fitness or strength training that that are kind of like over the last year and a half, just like, oh wow, I'm like maybe it's something you like to do now or something you feel like confident that you've never done before? What what what's that for you?

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Well, for me, I mean the the first thing was uh just getting comfortable with physical conditioning. Like when I first started uh training with you, I didn't even know the uh uh the machines well. And I had injured myself a couple times just going up to the gym and just saying, oh, let me just go do this lat pull or whatever and put too much weight on, straining my back. Uh so I I had a lot of trepidation, frankly. Um and so one was just getting comfortable in the gym. And then two, uh, you know, for me was uh getting confident that I could make progress. Like the first few months really um was just um I didn't have I didn't have confidence where this was going because I I come out of a workout, I'm exhausted, and you don't see anything for it.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

I mean, it took months before we the weights started going up and I started feeling better and yeah, and uh so And you were time you were kind of doing once a week because of your travel schedule, and so it almost like every time you got in the gym, it was like starting like you you didn't feel like the last workout made you that much stronger for the next workout because there was just too much time in between versus twice a week, which is your more of a your rhythm now.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

But we got to twice a week, but remember I had a shoulder injury, yes, right, and that set us back. So uh but tell tell me tell the story of how what happened there. Oh god, that was uh uh we were traveling, my wife and I in Europe, and we went to uh this uh gym and um it was completely different equipment because it wasn't you know, as there they were out of the country, and I thought it was like one of the machines you and I worked on together, but it's totally different. So I set the weight like we always do, yeah, and the whole motion was different. Suddenly, you know, my arms were going out with with way more weight than should have been on uh my shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Maybe thinking it was like gonna be a press and it was more of a fly.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

It went out on a fly. That's exactly what it was. And I ended up tearing uh in and around my superspinatus in the shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:14

And that took a while to uh to recover from it.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Yeah. Yeah. And I I you know, one of the things that, you know, and if you've as a listener here, if you've ever injured your rotator cuff in any way, shape, or form, you know how long it takes. You know, and one of the things that uh that Mark has uh done is continue to do PT style of warm-up things so that we're in by the time we get to bench press or or movements that would be impacted by by a shoulder uh issue, you know, it's warmed up, it's ready to go, and and there's no pain and there's no discomfort. Uh and that but that's that the one of the most one of the most uh common reasons why people start training and stop is exactly that, whether it's a shoulder injury, uh a low back, throwing the low back out, doing something they they you know they either they shouldn't do or just they were just unlucky in that moment, and then there's a they're they're so worried about getting injured again that they just never go back or they just you know that and then they kind of fall further behind because now they have this injury that they're worried about and they're not they're not strength training. And you know, that's that's one of the things that I've I'm really proud of you for is you know having that injury, you know, kind of oops, that was you know, I shouldn't have done that, but then you know, putting in the work, and you know, we had to take it all the way back to like very lightweight, move, you know, working around movements that did that hurt, and and but you've worked your way back, and and you know, we're uh this week we're about to use 50-pound dumbbells on incline bench press. So um, so there you go.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

But I'll tell you, it it's all worth. I mean, so I didn't know what the outcome would be. I knew I I I knew I needed uh to get into a training regimen to to be more fit and and have more uh agility and and resiliency as is uh getting older here. Uh, but I tell you, uh Bart, the thing I'm most happy with is I just feel better. Like you just, you know, just doing whatever. Um I I just think I didn't realize um you and the other uh fit folks in the gym, you all knew that, but for me it was new. And I didn't realize uh uh how the part that strength could play in feeling better. Always cardio. I knew cardio, and it and and that was a whole part of my entire life, but I didn't really realize the uh the balance of just building your strength and how that can just make you more feel better and and more confident in every activity.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah. Well, and you've you've just had a couple of moments of going skiing and feeling very stable or getting up on the water ski last weekend and just popping up just like you were 18 years old again. Yeah, well, that's fantastic. I mean, that it so much of quality of life between you know 60 and and 80, you know, is gonna be your ability to, you know, this chapter of your life be able to keep that strength and creep keep that health so that you can, you know, be active with your family. You've got a couple of grandkids now and and all those things that um you know you don't realize how important they are until they go away, until you can't do them anymore, and you're like, oh, I wish. You know, and so you know, more power to you for for taking this, you know, adventure on with me, and I really appreciate it. But uh yeah, just uh can't wait to you know see what we can do in the next you know next few years with your with your strength and just giving you more confidence to keep doing all the things you want to do.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

Well, you've got a special skill. I I talked to the other folks you train as well, and somehow you you uh push us all the way to the edge, but never too far. Somehow you magically know exactly where that point is. I don't know how you do it.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

There's a there's one thing that I always feel like is true. You don't want to be the trainer that's easy, and everyone tells, oh, he you should train with him, he's so easy. You don't want to be that trainer. So you want to train what you want to be the trainer that people say, oh he kicked my butt, or

Final Takeaways And Thanks

SPEAKER_01 39:05

oh, I almost, but never that they get injured. So it's like you don't want you you can't be so harsh on them that they end up getting injured or don't want to train, but you don't want to, you want to you want to get results. So that's kind of the the the line you gotta walk as a as a trainer. It's like a little bit mean, but but for the right reason, you know.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

That's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Well, thank you so much, Mark, for your time. Uh it's been an honor, and uh just best of luck with everything you're doing, and just thanks for being on the Mindset Forge podcast.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Yeah, thank you for having me, Barton.