9. Don Tirsell: Head of Partnerships at Google Cloud talks about basketball, balancing competitiveness and mindfulness, celebrating mini-successes, bringing teams together, and appreciating differences

Grand Slam Journey

Don Tirsell and I reminisce on our athletic college years. Don talks about his basketball journey, what his sport taught him, and how his Basketball journey evolved from being a competitive collegiate basketball player to using his sport as something that allows him to create new friends and support groups at work. Don also talks about him being a father, his journey of supporting his kids to choose their sport, and letting them find their passion. Last but not least, Don was also a Basketball coach, and we discuss his coaching principles and the mindset he has learned playing and coaching basketball, and how he applies it in his everyday life and at the workplace.

Don is currently the Head of Alliance Partnerships and Business Development at Google Cloud. I had the pleasure to meet and work with Don in my previous job when I worked for Ericsson. From my experience, Don has a genuine partnership approach to business, which I find is very rare to find nowadays.

Some key topics we explore in this episode:

• Competitiveness and goal setting
• Simplification, structure, and accountability
• The transition from being a college athlete to the next chapter of our lives
• Mindfulness, valuing the present moment, facing adversity, and the importance of celebrating the mini-wins along the way.
• High-performing teams in sports and at the workplace
• The value of diversity and appreciating our differences

Some of my favorite quotes:
On the transition from basketball to real life: "The six months were tough for me too, in terms of a transition. Realizing that I was at the end of one journey and then had to figure out what's the foundation for the next path."

On parenting: "Finding those areas that you have in common that you can share and make sure you are not trying to push too much. You are supporting. You are not pushing."

What sport taught us: "Set audacious goals, with a timeframe for completing them, but that you actually believe you can complete, and create space to form the plan to get to that end destination."

"Holding each other accountable on that journey and celebrating milestones, the mini-successes."

On mindfulness: "I think it is a really good concept for peop

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