Disrupt Yourself Podcast With Whitney Johnson

Jumping to a new S Curve is hardest when your identity hangs in the balance. This happens often with professional athletes and members of the military who have trained their entire life for one job ... until it's gone. Our guest this week is Angela Ruggiero, one of the greatest ice hockey players in the world. She has represented the U.S. at four Olympic games, brought home multiple medals (including the gold), and served on the International Olympic Committee. But one of the greatest challenges of her life was reinventing herself after all that came to an end. A lot of soul-searching and more hard work resulted in the Sports Innovation Lab, a market research firm devoted to understanding 21st century fandom. Angela shares the hard lessons about teamwork she learned on the ice, the time she gave herself permission to walk away from hockey (and eventually return), why CEOs must get used to hearing "no," and the advice her father gave her as a young player that informs every decision she makes to this day.