138: Jayson Wells (Experience Teller / Author / Enhancement Coach)

Jayson Wells on Innovation City

“Procedures change, principles don’t.” – Jayson Wells

Welcome to Season 3 of Innovation City, a podcast featuring innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency in cooperation with Venture Cafe St. Louis and Venture Cafe Miami, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community. Venture Cafe is the largest combined gathering of entrepreneurs and innovators anywhere in the world. Events are held every Thursday in St. Louis, Miami, and other leading innovation cities around the globe.

Today’s guest is Jayson Wells, Experience Teller, Author, and Enhancement Coach. Jayson is a former professional basketball player who now travels around the country developing extraordinary winners so they can go inspire and motivate the world. He is the author of “The Things We Know, But Do Not Do”, a book to help educate parents, athletes and coaches about what’s most important during your journey through sports. In this episode, Jayson sits down with the Innovation City team to discuss his “why,” how his years of playing basketball have shaped who he is, his key to being an effective storyteller, and much more!

They discuss:

• Why his “why” is so important
• How the spelling of his name has given validation to who he is and his purpose
• His journey to figure out his purpose
• The impact of Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, “Start With Why”
• P.U.R.P.O.S.E – Passion, Uncommon, Resilience, Preparation, Opportunity, Service, and Experience
  • These are the anchor to self-reflection
• Going down the path of self-discovery, self-reflection, self-awareness leads to purpose
• His “why” – develop extraordinary winners so they can go inspire and motivate the world
• When developing your “why” statement it should be an action and an impact
• His years playing basketball have taught him teamwork, responsibility, attitude, leadership (how to lead and how to be lead), respect, honesty, truth, accountability, action, and love
• We are so caught up in the procedures, how we do things, that we forgot our principles
• The gap between professional and collegiate basketball players
• Being authentic is key to being an effective experience teller
• Self-reflection and vulnerability are the two legs to authenticity
• Writing his book, “The Things We Know, But Do Not Do”
• Breaking down simple VS. easy and how they are not synonymous
• The best piece of advice he has received: “Change with the times, but cling to unchanging principles”
• Connect with Jayson via email, website, Instagram, and Facebook

Lightning round:

• Who is the person who has had the most impact on your life?
  • His father
• What’s the greatest city you have visited?
  • Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Stockholm, Sweden
  • Melbourne, Australia
• If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be?
  • Kobe Bryant
• If you could solve one world problem what would it be?
  • Cancer
• What is your superpower?
  • Connection. Being able to take people out of their comfort zone without making them uncomfortable.