How Exercise Contributes to Brain Health

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The ability to think clearly and remember things begins to deteriorate as people get older. This is largely due to cerebral atrophy and the accumulation of extracellular plaques that inhibit neuron development.  There are ways to slow this down and exercise is likely the key. Research studies are increasingly proving that exercising regularly can have positive effects on the human brain, which can lead to improved cognitive function and memory.

Increasing Brain Size with Aerobics

Deep within the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is the hippocampus, the section of the brain that regulates memory, critical thinking, motivation and the ability to learn new things. Researchers believe that it reaches its optimum size at the age of about twenty, then it begins to shrink in size most likely due to glucose metabolism, insulin resistance and oxidative stress. Thankfully regular aerobic exercise can serve as an intervention to these processes. While the exact reason for this is not clear, it appears to be linked to the stimulation of neurons in the brain.

Best Forms of Aerobic Exercise

The type of exercise that is taken is important if the brain is to be stimulated. Aerobic exercises like walking and running are the best. In one specific study, people who were committed to low-intensity physical activities like walking, dancing, or gardening for at least a total of seven hours a week faired well. Those who took part in more intense physical activities, such as swimming, tennis or hiking for four hours or more a week faired even better. Finally, older adults who did high-intensity aerobics like jogging for two or more hours a week did best. 

Exercising regularly can be a way of staving off symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. These are conditions that have been linked to the deterioration and shrinking size of the hippocampus. Regular aerobic exercise can also help improve the quality and duration of sleep as well as reduce stress and anxiety levels. Lack of sleep and daily stress have been shown to contribute to cognitive deterioration.

This article was originally published on RobUrbach.net

Important Reasons to Be an Ethical Leader

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In today’s world for disinformation campaigns, it is no secret that unscrupulous leaders are sometimes celebrated for their unethical behavior.

After the mortgage crisis of 2008-2009, for example, many of the high-powered investment bankers who sold the country down the line to make billions off of bad real estate investments were touted as “job creators” who were beyond the scope of the law. Many of these individuals were buying vacation homes while a significant number of Americans were having their houses foreclosed on.

But if everybody else in the corporate sphere seems to be making a killing by breaking the rules, why should we do otherwise?

1. Money Cannot Buy Self-Respect

That is a question that everyone will have to answer for themselves at some point. But real leaders understand that the short-term gains of unethical leadership are never worth the long-term costs. As a wise man once said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?”

Indeed, sacrificing our self-respect at the altar of profitability is no way to build a genuine sense of self-esteem. People may envy our successes when we’re unethical, but our family and friends will not respect us in the least when they find out what we’re up to in the workplace. No amount of money is worth that loss.

2. A Good Reputation is Worth More Than Gold

Moreover, we may be in for a very rude awakening if we lose our reputation. As it turns out, you can’t simply buy back your character. During the 1980s, for example, investment guru Michael Milken made a fortune in New York as the city’s “junk bond king.” He had a spectacular run as a  before the FBI indicted him on various charges of fraud.

Milken has tried to turn around his image since being released from prison in 1993. Undoubtedly, he has done many commendable things since turning his life around. But he has also never fully restored the public’s esteem for his work. Whenever anyone reads a story about Milken in The New York Times or The New Yorker, they will always be informed about the mistakes that he made over 30 years ago.

Try as he might, Milken can never outrun his past. Ironically, had he used his impressive work ethic and intelligence for good, Milken might now be regarded as one of the nation’s great philanthropists. Instead, he is known for his past behavior.

3. Money Cannot Buy Happiness

As it was for Michael Milken, earning money can be a very addictive pastime. And like any addiction, there is no endpoint to an addictive spiral other than failing health, financial ruin, imprisonment, or death. Even when most of us have earned a fortune beyond our wildest dreams, we’ll always be left wondering what we would do with just a couple million more in the bank.

It’s a never-ending process that is often the downfall of an otherwise good and capable leader. To wit, if we measure our happiness by our checking account, we’ll always be disappointed.

4. If You Don’t Love What You Do, No Amount of Money Will Make Up For It

If you want to guarantee that you’ll hate you’re job, just compromise your values to do it. You’ll quickly find that all your passion for a given field dries up very fast. Most human beings simply aren’t built to withstand toxic environments for very long, and when we’re the architects of our own toxic environment, we’ll quickly find that our love of our work will become drained of all its color.

Think back to any leader you’ve ever truly looked up to, and chances are good that their behavior was worthy of your respect. Isn’t that the kind of legacy most of us would like to leave behind? Do any of us want to be known as the person who compromised their deepest values in order to earn a quick buck? Would we enjoy earning a reputation as someone who hates what they do and makes the world a worse place by doing it?

Indeed, finding the strength to become the type of person that we ourselves would admire takes an astonishing amount of personal integrity. But if we’re honest with ourselves, most of us would say that that is the kind of person that we want to be in our heart of hearts. Falling short of that lofty standard would be a tragedy. Let’s hope that most of us avoid that path like the plague.

Iditarod 2020

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I have been fortunate in my career in Sports to attend multiple Olympics, Super Bowls, NCAA final Fours, World Series, NBA finals, Wimbledon, World Cups and numerous endurance championships But I can think of no event that is comparable to the Iditarod. A life changing journey through the off the grid Alaska wilderness, 1,049 miles, self-reliance, storms, water, snow, ice, wind, strategy, and competition. Iditarod mushers are extraordinary homo sapiens; tenacious adventure athletes, part Magellan, part meteorologists, part magicians, sleep deprivation ninjas, soulful dog whisperers, and 100% bad Iditarod tough through and through.

In a world that is increasingly disconnected from nature, heritage, physicality, and even each other the Iditarod provides an antidote. It’s not technology, analytics or big data that gets one to Nome. – Its athletic grit, “dogged” determination and the support teams of family members, friends, and fans. Relatedly, it takes a lot more than a village to produce the Iditarod; an army   of more than 1,500 plus who ensure that a complicated supply chain, checkpoints and a canine continuum of care are properly deployed and fortified. The Iditarod Air Force, arguably the best assembly of 30 strong bush pilots, fly nearly 700 sorties braving the elements, landing on ice, snow and rugged terrain from dawn to dusk. 55 veterinarians who collectively have traveled thousands of miles to volunteer their time and talent to ensure exemplary care for our incredible 4-legged athletes.

Mushers, I don’t have to tell you that you face challenges that were not contemplated. Along the way, you might have cried, you might have laughed but I know you definitely found moments in your journey to simply smile. 

Wishing all good fortune and looking forward to seeing you in Nome beginning tonight.

How to Constantly Improve as a Leader

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Building a strong organization starts at the top with strong leadership. But how do we achieve sustainable leadership strength? Though high-achievers may seem superhuman in their ability to constantly meet their goals, they are neither more talented than the rest of us nor more advantaged: what sets them apart is their dedication to continuous improvement, not just in their management’s skills but holistically. They are absorbing, processing and constantly adapting in all areas: spiritual, intellectual, physical, and emotional.  As a result, they are perpetual capacity builders becoming more effective and more inspiring.

When you’re a leader, you have the responsibility of setting the standards for your organization, and whether you’re aware of it or not, everyone is watching how you lead. Rather than showing your team how smart you are, show them how much you have improved, humbly share your weaknesses and how they were overcome. Show them how you strived to learn and improve and how you consciously set goals to not only leverage your strength but importantly improve your weaknesses. Kind of like a basketball player that can’t go left is limited in her development, an executive that can’t go “left” will hit a leadership ceiling. We all have a “left,” work on it until you can unleash your inner left with confidence. By doing so you will be building unlimited leadership capacity and be able to further elevate those around you. 

One of the key aspects of this strategy is knowing that the ideal is highly individualized, in that improvement goals are different for each person and each organization. Don’t try to impress others with the goals you set to help yourself. Lead your team to align their goals and actions with what matters most.  Organizationally embrace a universal North Star, but tailor individual goals to leverage strengths and mitigate weaknesses.  


Capacity building really shines as a leadership strategy because it’s about more than just increasing productivity – it’s about holistic improvement. As a leader, you’re more than just simply a boss, so support your employees in their goals outside of work. In fact, based on the results of a Glassdoor survey, 87 percent of employees expect their employers to support them in balancing work and life commitments. By helping to build their lives both inside and outside of work, you’ll be rewarded with engaged, high-performing employees. 

The Difference Between Leadership and Management

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People typically use leadership and management interchangeably, even though these two labels can have important fundamental differences.  While highly nuanced, if you are searching for people to fill these specific roles, it is important to get this right to optimize the performance of your organization.

Managers do not necessarily need to have the chops to lead employees.   A manager needs to be able to execute on a budget and or a project. They do of course provide leadership to employees on the project team, but you do not have to find a leader to hire an effective manager.  Managers direct subordinates on assigned tasks, they “manage” the workflow. They are hyper-focused, they organize, they execute. They relish the details, they refine systems and processes, they mimic competencies and behaviors and yes, the good ones, just get the job done.

Leaders are a different animal. They innovate, they challenge, they disrupt, they inspire, they improve, they coach. Unlike managers they don’t mimic, – they bring their own unique style and defined culture. Also, they do not “direct” in the same way as a manager.  Instead, they grow their people with the proverbial teaching to fish instead of catching the fish for them – and thus fueling them for a lifetime with problem-solving skills. They are multipliers; they bring out the best in their people, they make everyone smarter. They build trust with people who can deliver on goals.

While managers and leaders are by no means mutually exclusive, it is important to account for these differences. Hiring an innate leader for a manager role may result in poor execution, stagnation, and employees leaving. Conversely, hiring someone indexed toward managing for a leadership role may result in indecisiveness, lack of people development and stale products and services.  Accordingly, the more you understand the differences and the dynamics of your organizational needs the more optimization. 

Being Candid as a Leader

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Being a leader in a company can be a daunting task. Your natural benevolent instincts may be over-indexed in efforts to make all happy. But if doing so compromises your leadership mission then you have failed.

Have you ever had a job performance realization such that when you looked back on your career with perspective, you now realize you did not have the right take? In sports, you want to know how nuances of technique can deliver gains: a tweak of a golf swing, tennis serve, or baseball pitch can be a big difference maker. Good coaches can make you good, if not great. You want these insights, and yet for several reasons, the criticisms in the workplace can hurt much more than on the field or court. As a result, you become defensive and don’t learn to improve.  If only you had a “coach” as a leader who could have more effectively “schooled” you. While being as direct as a sports coach is, a social normalization in the workplace, less so.

Accordingly, as a leader, you will be much more effective by not only coaching but doing so with emotional attunement. As a coach, engage with candor but also with validation and purpose. Also, demonstrate vulnerability by referencing an area in which you were coached, Here’s a “basic”  example, suppose you had an employee that when he spoke he repeatedly said the word “basically” in almost every sentence, – you tell this employee that a boss once pointed out to you your excessive “ums” and how your newfound awareness enabled you to eliminate this habit and become a much better speaker. – Now you will be able to weave in your example, and the coaching will feel less critical and be more impactful.

Not providing this type of feedback only does your employee a disservice. – Leave little room for interpretation. Be clear, and don’t put off having that crucial candid conversation.