Month: January 2025

Building Winning Teams with Craig Custance – Part 1 (Ep. 36)

Building Winning Teams with Craig Custance – Part 1 (Ep. 36)

What drives a successful team?

In this episode, John and Alex Soutsos discuss the fascinating world of sports leadership and team-building with Craig Custance, head of creative development at The Athletic. Tune in as they explore insights from Craig’s book on building winning teams, featuring behind-the-scenes stories from renowned hockey organizations and executives like Lou Lamoriello. Discover what makes great team leaders tick and how industries beyond sports can take a leaf out of their playbook.

Craig discusses:

  • (01:28) His journey from ESPN to building The Athletic 
  • (06:35) Critical decision-making and the importance of learning from leaders like Lou Lamoriello 
  • (15:46) Why some teams get stuck in a perpetual rebuild 
  • (23:08) Effective ownership structures in sports 
  • (25:33) The impact of general managers and what sets the best executives apart from their peers
  • And more

Resources:

Connect with Med-Wealth Financial Services: 

Connect with Craig Custance:

About Our Guest: 

Craig Custance is the Head of Creative Development at The Athletic, a New York Times company. Previously, he was an Editorial Director at The Athletic, where he oversaw the NHL, college football and baseball coverage. As a writer, he spent over a decade as an NHL insider at The Athletic, ESPN and Sporting News. His latest book, The Franchise: The Business of Building Winning Teams was released by Simon and Schuster in October 2024. He is also the author of the book Behind the Bench: Inside the Minds of Hockey’s Greatest Coaches.

Before joining The Athletic, Custance was a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com and ESPN Insider. He was hired by ESPN after three years as a national hockey writer for The Sporting News.

Custance got his start in journalism at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he was hired in 1999. At the AJC, Custance was part of the Innovations department where he helped launch the newspaper’s digital sports coverage. He also worked on the sports desk as a writer where he covered football, sports enterprise and ultimately became the Atlanta Thrashers beat writer. He left the AJC in 2008 after nearly a decade working for the newspaper.

He’s a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in journalism and lives in Clinton Township, Michigan with his wife Cassie and three children.

The Future of Electric Vehicles in Canada: A Deep Dive with Dan McTeague (Ep. 35)

The Future of Electric Vehicles in Canada: A Deep Dive with Dan McTeague (Ep. 35)

What happens when ambitious electric vehicle goals meet cold, hard realism?

In this episode, John and Alex Soutsos continue their in-depth discussion with Dan McTeague, President of Canadians for Affordable Energy. Tune in to explore the complexities and realities of Canada’s aggressive EV mandates and the broader implications for the auto industry and consumers alike. Dan shares eye-opening insights on why the push for electric vehicles might be jumping the gun without the necessary demand and infrastructure backing it up. 

John, Alex, and Dan discuss:

  • (01:40) The implications of Canada’s 2035 EV mandate and economic impacts
  • (03:35) Challenges of moving away from internal combustion engines, the full cost story of EVs, and why some consumers might hesitate to buy them
  • (25:00) The global perception of green energy alternatives like wind and solar energy, delving into the practicality of current infrastructure
  • (34:31) Real talk on the economic reliance on fossil fuels and what steps should perhaps be considered moving forward
  • And more

Join us for an engaging session that challenges current narratives and offers a plethora of perspectives for anyone curious about the intersection of green policy and ground realities.

Resources:

Connect with Med-Wealth Financial Services: 

Connect with Dan McTeague:

About Our Guest: 

An 18-year veteran of the House of Commons, Dan is widely known in both official languages for his tireless work on energy pricing and saving Canadians money through accurate price forecasts. His Parliamentary initiatives, aimed at helping Canadians cope with affordable energy costs, led to providing Canadians heating fuel rebates on at least two occasions.

Widely sought for his extensive work and knowledge in energy pricing, Dan continues to provide valuable insights to North American media and policy makers. He brings three decades of experience and proven efforts on behalf of consumers in both the private and public spheres. Dan is committed to improving energy affordability for Canadians and promoting the benefits we all share in having a strong and robust energy sector.