Braden Brown is a former BYU football player who went on to earn his PhD and now serves as the Director of Mental Health for BYU Athletics.

In this episode, Braden shares the incredible story of surviving a house fire at four years old after his dad ran back into the burning home to save him—and how that experience impacted him for years afterward.

We talk about his journey from BYU football to mental health, what he learned playing for Bronco Mendenhall, and what he sees today working with college athletes facing pressure, anxiety, expectations, relationships, and the changing world of NIL.

Braden also shares practical lessons that go far beyond sports: how to perform when the pressure is on, why doing hard things builds resilience, how faith and mental health can work together, and why you don't always have to believe in yourself to keep moving forward.

Key Takeaways:

• The only way to learn you can do hard things is to go through hard things.
• Pressure can shift us from playing to win to simply trying not to screw up.
• Braden's framework for pressure: Notice. Accept. Commit.
• Faith doesn't make us immune to mental and emotional struggles.
• Parents should make sure their kids know their value isn't tied to athletic performance.
• Sometimes you have to rely on someone else's belief in you until you can see it yourself.
• Purpose and intentionality help us get off autopilot and focus on what matters most.

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Brian Green Show, I sit down with Ryan Erickson, an entrepreneur, CEO coach, and founder of Fulcrum, to talk about what it really takes to build a successful business without sacrificing the things that matter most in life.

Ryan has spent more than 20 years working with CEOs and businesses of all sizes, helping leaders navigate growth, leadership, and difficult business challenges. We talk about his journey from working at EMC to starting his own consulting company—and how taking action before he had everything figured out ultimately led to his first major client.

But this conversation goes far beyond business. Ryan shares his perspective on faith, family, leadership, personal growth, and finding success in all areas of life. He explains why he believes confidence should come from your intentions rather than your results, why great leaders need to become masterful listeners, and why surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you can accelerate your growth.

We also talk about Ryan's faith and how his belief in God influences the way he leads, works with CEOs, raises his family, and thinks about success. His philosophy is simple: success isn't just about building a great business—it's about becoming a better person while you're doing it.

Key Takeaways

• Take action before you have all the answers. Ryan's first company started before he had a perfect business plan or even a first customer. Taking the leap created the opportunity to figure things out along the way.
• Confidence shouldn't depend on your results. Ryan believes confidence based on success and failure will constantly fluctuate. Instead, build confidence around your intentions—who you are and why you're doing what you're doing.
• Learn to become a masterful listener. Great leaders aren't simply waiting for their turn to speak. They listen without judgment, ask better follow-up questions, and genuinely try to understand another person's perspective.
• Challenge your own perspective. Ryan explains that leaders become better when they're willing to listen to different viewpoints. Sometimes you change your mind; other times, your original perspective becomes stronger. Either way, you learn.
• Success requires more than business. Ryan believes people need to invest in four areas of life: physical health, relationships and family, finances/business, and spirituality.
• Get comfortable being uncomfortable. One of Ryan's core leadership principles is learning to operate effectively when things aren't easy or certain.
• Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Ryan believes great leaders continually work on themselves and intentionally put themselves around people who have knowledge and experience they don't have.
• Your team is your leadership “game film.” One of the best ways for a leader to evaluate themselves is to look at the people around them. Are the people who report to you thriving, growing, and becoming better?
• Faith can create a powerful foundation for leadership. Ryan shares how his belief in God shapes his confidence, his vision for the future, and the way he approaches both business and life.
• Don't just listen to yourself—talk to yourself. Ryan's closing lesson is about replacing fear and doubt with intentional encouragement and positive self-talk.

In this episode of The Brian Green Show, Jordan Harbertson, co-founder of MTN OPS and serial entrepreneur, joins the podcast for a deeply personal conversation about faith, family, and business that goes far beyond the typical "how I built my company" story. Jordan opens up about growing up in an entrepreneurial family in Farmington, Utah, the lessons his father (former Farmington mayor Scott Harbertson) taught him through childhood businesses like lemonade stands and basketball card machines, and the lifelong struggle with depression and self-worth that shaped his drive to succeed. He breaks down the philosophy behind MTN OPS's explosive growth, why he ignored spreadsheets and CAC metrics in favor of building genuine human connection, and how that approach turned customers into "crusaders" loyal enough to tattoo the brand on their skin. The conversation closes with hard-won advice on work-life balance, prioritizing family as a father and entrepreneur, and the one question every founder needs to answer before building a brand.

5 Key Takeaways:

1. People over metrics: the real secret to brand loyalty. Jordan reveals that in MTN OPS's first six years, he never looked at a spreadsheet or tracked CAC, AOV, or CPA. Instead, he obsessed over human connection, a strategy that turned everyday customers into brand "crusaders" loyal enough to get MTN OPS tattoos.
2. Find your "why" before you build a business or brand. Jordan argues that any brand built without a strong, human-rooted "why" is meaningless. A business survives adversity only when its founder's purpose is bigger than profit or looking cool to peers.
3. Entrepreneurial roots run in families, and so do the lessons. Jordan traces his business instincts back through four generations of Harbertsons, sharing how his father turned a childhood lemonade-stand idea into a real-world lesson on profit, competition, and innovation.
4. Mental health and entrepreneurship: the hidden struggle behind the success. Despite his high-energy public persona, Jordan opens up about a lifelong battle with depression and self-worth, and how his father's mantra, "your attitude will always determine your altitude," became a foundational tool for resilience.
5. Redefining work-life balance as a founder and father. Jordan shares how he shifted his time allocation to 60% family and 40% business after recognizing that early sacrifices for career growth can pay off later, when kids need a present father most.