Short lessons for stronger teams.
Success is a Choice mixes quick motivational drills with longer guest conversations about leadership, teams, and the habits behind performance. Its examples move from March Madness and school athletics to music, parenting, character, and professional development.
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Success is a Choice is a leadership-development show with a coach’s sense of timing. It favors stories with a lesson close at hand. In the short 2-Minute Drill episodes, a basketball tournament, a bus ride, a beach full of starfish, a Star Wars memory, or a snowstorm in Kansas City can become the starting point for a reflection on character. The show’s core question is usually practical: what can a person do today that makes a team, family, school, or workplace better? That makes the tone direct and accessible. It does not linger in theory for long. March Madness becomes a way to talk about favorites needing reminders, underdogs needing encouragement, and disappointed teams needing hope. A story about a younger brother misbehaving on a bus turns into a clear argument for shared standards and mutual accountability. A youth-focused episode pushes parents, educators, business people, and leaders toward modeling behavior and developing young people with intention. Another episode uses Yoda’s advice to argue that leadership growth requires commitment, not vague effort. The show’s longer interviews widen the range. Alistair McCaw brings talk of marathons, mindset, and athletic performance. Pete Parata brings the world of live music, family moments, drumming, and the discipline of playing with energy on stage. A high school athletic directors edition turns toward conferences, mentoring female coaches, legal learning, professional development, and stronger school culture. Sports are the show’s most reliable vocabulary, but the actual subject is responsibility. It suits listeners who want clean, encouraging, values-forward leadership audio. The pacing is brisk. The advice is plainspoken. Its best episodes work like locker-room notes for everyday life: short reminders that standards, kindness, preparation, and character show up in ordinary moments before they show up in big ones.
Made for: The show is for coaches, educators, athletic administrators, business leaders, parents, and team members who want practical leadership prompts. It especially fits listeners who respond to sports examples and clear character-centered takeaways.
What sets it apart: Success is a Choice stands out by pairing very short motivational drills with broader guest conversations from sports, schools, business, and entertainment. Its leadership lessons usually begin with ordinary stories, then land on a concrete behavior.
Host Jamy Bechler is a speaker, leadership consultant, and author of 9 books. The former college basketball coach and high school athletic director helps high-level individuals, organizations, and teams maximize their potential in the areas of leadership, culture, and teamwork. The "Success is a Choice" podcasting network provides inspiring insights to help you grow your team, strengthen your culture, improve yourself, or add value to those around you. It features a variety of episodes (The Coachable Coach, Leaders Growing Leaders, 2-Minute Drill, Weekend Wisdom, Motivational Minute, Leadership Now) as well as conversations with guests ranging from professional sports coaches to actors to bu…
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
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This episode tells the inspiring story of a homeless man named Dave Cochran who selflessly helped NFL player Jeff Allen during a snowstorm, illustrating the power of kindness and character.
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Pete Parata argues that a drummer is “running the whole show,” managing tempo, transitions, crowd energy, other musicians, and the clock from the back of the stage.
Shawn Heilbron explains why developing leaders means accepting that successful coaches may leave Stony Brook.
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ESPN reporter Marty Smith traces his path from print writer at the Roanoke Times to NASCAR insider in 2006, after a call from ESPN's Jack Obringer.
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Paul Biancardi, ESPN's National Recruiting Director for Boys High School Basketball, describes going from a cut Division III walk-on at Salem State to team captain under Tom Thibodeau.