Episode 920: Following your passion while setting attainable goals, with Joe Battista

Published: Jan. 29, 2020, 9 a.m.

Joe Battista is a professional speaker, instructor, author, and Owner of Pragmatic Passion LLC Consulting. His first book \u201cThe Power of Pragmatic Passion\u201d was released in September of 2018. He serves as Vice President and an Executive Coach for the National Athletic and Professional Success Academy. In 19 seasons as the head coach of the Penn State Icers his teams won 512 games and six American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) national championships. Joe helped secure the largest gift in Penn State history from Terry and Kim Pegula ($88 Million) in 2010 to establish NCAA hockey teams and construct the Pegula Ice Arena. He was named Associate Athletic Director to oversee the project. The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) named Joe the 2014 winner of the \u201cLou Lamoriello Award\u201d for his career contributions to college hockey. Joe was a Vice President of the Buffalo Sabres and a Director of Amateur Hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Joe is a 1983 graduate of Penn State\u2019s Smeal College of Business and he resides in State College, PA with his wife Heidi and they have 3 children, Brianna (26), Jon (24), and Ryan (18).

What you will learn from this episode:

  • How wise mentorship and coaching from others helped guide Joe to follow his passion into a career in the business and coaching sides of hockey
  • How Joe\u2019s time at Penn State was capped by helping raise the largest single financial gift in the university\u2019s history to establish Penn State\u2019s hockey program
  • How Joe\u2019s book \u201cThe Power of Pragmatic Passion\u201d has been a powerful networking and business development tool for his business
  • How Joe defines a \u201cpragmatic passion\u201d, and why he believes passion alone isn\u2019t enough to succeed
  • How turning his \u201cpragmatic passion\u201d into a career has given Joe a deeper feeling of fulfillment and purpose
  • What Joe\u2019s \u201cseven common sense principles\u201d are, and how business leaders can integrate these principles into their leadership
  • Why you should give yourself a quarterly or semi-annual \u201cyou review\u201d evaluation of where you are in life and in your career
  • Why purpose and passion can be incredible tools to help you get through the \u201cgrind\u201d parts of your career
  • Why convenience store brand Sheetz employs someone specifically to figure out how to put the company out of business five years from now

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