Finding Your Summit Podcast By Mark Pattison cover art

Finding Your Summit

Finding Your Summit

By: Mark Pattison
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Mark Pattison is a former NFL player, Sports Illustrated Exec, Philanthropist & Mountaineer who completed the Seven Summits on May 23rd, 2021 with his ascent of Mt Everest. NFL360 created a film called Searching for the Summit which followed Mark's journey up Mt EVEREST and won a EMMY for best picture in 2022. Through his life’s journey in business, sports & charity work, Mark has been fortunate to meet some of the world’s most incredible people who share their stories of how they overcame adversity and found their way.Mark Pattison Economics Exercise & Fitness Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Football Hygiene & Healthy Living
Episodes
  • EP: Jeff Chandler - From Husky Football to CEO: Building Culture and Crushing Burgers at 50+ places

    EP: Jeff Chandler - From Husky Football to CEO: Building Culture and Crushing Burgers at 50+ places
    Jul 15 2026
    Host Mark Pattison sits down with Jeff Chandler, former CEO of HopDoddy Burger Bar who spent over two decades building restaurant empires and just completed his final day leading a 50+ location better burger concept across nine states, revealing why the leadership lessons learned under legendary University of Washington football coach Don James became the blueprint for creating culture-driven organizations that prioritize mission over metrics. In this deeply authentic and timely conversation recorded just 48 hours after Jeff officially stepped down from his CEO role, he shares his extraordinary journey from playing Husky football in the 1990s to spending 18 years building the Ram Restaurant & Brewery with family before making the courageous decision to walk away when personal values diverged from company direction, ultimately finding his way to HopDoddy where he transformed a chaotic five-location concept with five different operating systems into a unified brand powered by four core values: be open minded, have the hunger, own it, and just do it. This episode offers a masterclass in authentic leadership and sustainable growth, demonstrating why culture is a living breathing patchwork quilt that must be constantly tended like grapes or plants to stay healthy, how inspiring people with a mission larger than themselves creates elite results that transcend paychecks and job security, and why the ability to lead from the front, middle, and back without insecurity separates transformational leaders from those who simply learned spreadsheets and marketing in business school. Jeff opens up about the transformational impact of Don James' Thursday talks that focused on developing young men of character rather than X's and O's, the bittersweet moment of leaving a family business he'd invested his entire adult life building, why he's not a natural entrepreneur with blank paper ideas but rather someone who takes lightning in a bottle concepts and supercharges them through team building and systems refinement, and how COVID became one of the most invigorating and fun professional experiences of his career because it forced radical innovation and daily problem solving when everyone threw their playbooks out the window. Key Topics Discussed: The Don James Foundation: How Thursday Talks Built Leaders for Life Beyond Football Jeff reveals the transformational impact of playing under Don James at the University of Washington and why those formative years set the stage for everything he accomplished professionally and personally over the next three decades. Discover how DJ's coaching philosophy centered not on X's and O's or polishing game plans but on developing young men of character, and why his Thursday talks focused on being better human beings and better men rather than better football players. Learn why the lesson of how to follow may have been more important than learning how to lead, and how understanding that it's not about you as an individual but about making yourself the best contributor to something larger than your own glory became the mantra Jeff carried into every business he touched. Hear about the stark contrast between what business school teaches spreadsheets, economics, social media, marketing and the complete absence of leadership development, leaving 24 year olds to zigzag through corporate careers until they suddenly become CEOs expected to lead organizations full of diverse personalities without any training in what matters most. The Family Business Crossroads: When Personal Values Diverge from Company Direction Discover the difficult but necessary decision Jeff made after 18 years as the face of the Ram Restaurant & Brewery, a family business where he'd invested blood, sweat, and his entire adult professional life. Learn why despite the company being in a very good spot financially and the business being healthy, there emerged a divergence of company values and personal values that stifled his ability to be a genuine authentic leader. Jeff explains how this wasn't about anything nefarious or dishonest but simply about not being able to be the best version of himself and lead in an authentic way, and why he believes you cannot just read a book and lead like Howard Schultz or Ron Shaich but must do it genuinely from something innately born, honed, and refined within yourself. Hear about the bittersweet nature of taking a step backwards from something you've invested so much of yourself into, and why charting his own course became essential even though walking away from family and 18 years of building was one of the hardest decisions he ever made. Finding Lightning in a Bottle: The Search for HopDoddy and What Makes a Scalable Brand Jeff unveils what he learned about himself during the transition period between the Ram and his next opportunity, and why understanding your own strengths and weaknesses allows you to find the right fit rather than forcing yourself into the wrong role.
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    37 mins
  • EP: Fred Couples - From Jefferson Park to the Masters: A Seattle Golf Legend's Journey

    EP: Fred Couples - From Jefferson Park to the Masters: A Seattle Golf Legend's Journey
    Jul 7 2026
    Host Mark Pattison sits down with Fred Couples, a legendary PGA Tour champion, Masters winner, and one of golf's most beloved figures who has spent over four decades competing at the highest levels of professional golf while maintaining one of the smoothest swings the game has ever seen. In this deeply personal and entertaining conversation, Fred shares his extraordinary journey from a nine year old caddy at Seattle's Jefferson Park Golf Course to winning the Green Jacket at Augusta in 1992, revealing why growing up on tiny greens with severe slopes made him one of the best iron players on tour, how his college roommate Jim Nance became CBS's iconic Masters broadcaster, and why staying clean and sober in a sport filled with pressure allowed him to remember every shot while others forgot their greatest moments. This episode offers a masterclass in longevity and authenticity, demonstrating why visualization matters more than mechanics when the pressure is on, how working class roots and blue collar parents instilled the work ethic that sustained a career spanning multiple generations, and why the simplest advice be yourself creates the most genuine success both on the course and in life. Fred opens up about his father working two jobs at Dairy Gold and the Woodland Park Zoo so the family could survive, the devastating back injury in 1990 that has plagued him for 31 years but never required surgery, the heartbreaking years caring for his wife Thais as she battled breast cancer down to 68 pounds, and why his friendship with Tiger Woods is built on trust and leaving each other alone rather than constant contact. Key Topics Discussed: The Gutter Lane at Jefferson Park: How Seattle's Public Course Built a Champion Fred reveals the humble beginnings that shaped his entire approach to golf and created the foundation for his Hall of Fame career. Growing up as a kid who didn't fit in after his family moved to Beacon Hill, he found refuge caddying for his brother's friend Steve Dallas at age nine and falling in love with the game on Jefferson Park's nine hole par three course where he could play all day for three dollars and fifty cents. Discover why being the weakest player in his group meant getting thrown in the gutter lane to just keep grinding, and how Jefferson's tiny greens with severe slopes forced him to develop pinpoint iron accuracy that would become his greatest weapon on tour. Learn why Fred believes growing up on that humble public track was the greatest thing that ever happened to him because if you can hit the first green at Jefferson Park you can hit the first green at Pebble Beach or anywhere the PGA Tour plays. Hear about playing in constant rain and cold without a glove because his parents couldn't afford to keep replacing seven dollar gloves that got ruined in Seattle weather, and why that necessity created the signature no glove grip that defined his entire career. The University of Houston and the Roommate Who Became a Broadcasting Legend Discover the remarkable stroke of fate that placed Fred in a dorm room with Jim Nance, the future voice of CBS Sports and the Masters, when both were just 17 and 18 years old. Fred explains why their coach would repeatedly say Jim Nance is going to be president someday while never predicting Fred or teammate Blaine McAllister would become tour champions, and how Jim was already making 25 to 35 thousand dollars as a sophomore selling clips to API and UPI while his roommates scraped by. Learn about Jim coming home at night with clips of Nolan Ryan and Warren Moon and practicing his broadcast calls by announcing Fred and Blaine coming up the 18th hole at Augusta, interviewing them in their dorm room years before it would actually happen. Hear about the emotional moment in Butler Cabin in 1992 when Fred won the Masters and had to avoid looking at Jim's face during the interview because seeing his college roommate presenting him the Green Jacket was the hardest thing he ever did, and why both of them broke down crying the moment they went off air. The 1992 Masters: When Visualization Became Reality in Butler Cabin
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • EP: Tim O'Donnell - From Naval Academy Swimmer to Ironman Podium: Chasing the Kona Dream

    EP: Tim O'Donnell - From Naval Academy Swimmer to Ironman Podium: Chasing the Kona Dream
    Jun 30 2026
    Welcome back to Finding Your Summit! Host Mark Pattison sits down with Tim O'Donnell, a professional Ironman triathlete, over 50-time podium finisher, and endurance athlete who has competed at the highest levels of triathlon for nearly two decades, establishing himself as one of the most consistent performers at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. In this inspiring conversation, Tim shares his extraordinary journey from a struggling distance swimmer in a Northern California swimming family to becoming a top contender at the world's most prestigious endurance event, revealing why the ability to embrace discomfort became his superpower, how focusing on one day a year instead of over-racing throughout the season created sustainability with sponsors, and why pivoting away from Olympic dreams at the peak of his national team career to chase Ironman glory required the courage to bet on himself when no one else saw it coming. This episode offers a masterclass in resilience as a system rather than a trait, demonstrating why the lessons learned from swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a full marathon in under eight hours apply to every challenge in life, how building the right support team around an individual sport makes the magic happen, and why stepping back from racing now allows Tim to teach others that resilience isn't something you're born with but a process anyone can learn through his Built Forward framework of reset, reframe, and rebuild forward. Tim opens up about his older brother forcing him to try out for the Naval Academy triathlon team when he hated the sport, the electric energy on the pier in Kona where the fittest endurance athletes in the world gather at their peak with anxiety and anticipation crackling in the air, and why leaving altitude three to four weeks before race day to fine-tune at sea level became the secret weapon that elevated his performances when it mattered most. Key Topics Discussed: The Worst Swimmer in the Family: How the Gutter Lane Built a Champion Tim reveals the humble beginnings that shaped his entire approach to endurance sports and life. Growing up as the youngest of four brothers in a swimming family where everyone swam competitively, he was the worst swimmer and couldn't compete in the sprint events or technical strokes. Discover why coaches threw him in the distance lane, what he calls the gutter lane, and made him just keep training really hard doing endless laps staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool. Learn about the pivotal moment at age 12 or 13 during a brutal test set of eight 400 IM races from a dive, arguably the hardest swimming event, when the kid in the end lane that no one was paying attention to started beating people as the sets got longer. Tim explains how this clicked for him that his superpower wasn't speed but resilience, the ability to work hard and push through when everyone else was fading, and why this realization at such a young age became the foundation for everything that followed in triathlon and beyond. The Naval Academy and the Brother Who Changed Everything Discover the family connection that altered Tim's entire life trajectory. All three of his older brothers attended the United States Naval Academy, and when Tim arrived as a plebe freshman, his brother Thomas was still there and forced him to try out for the triathlon team even though Tim was on the varsity swim team. Learn why Tim initially hated triathlon and kept at it anyway, and how by his junior year after finishing his sophomore year he realized this might be what he wanted to do with his life. Hear about the courage it took to stop swimming at the peak of his college swimming career when he was having breakout performances that shocked his coaches, and why having the foresight to shift direction when you're at the top of one thing to chase something greater requires betting on yourself in a way most people never do. Tim explains how his swimming pedigree gave him a six foot five wingspan despite being just under six feet tall, and why understanding that elite marathoners are all legs while elite swimmers like Michael Phelps are all torso helped him recognize his physical advantages. Kona: The Electric Energy and Brutal Reality of the Ironman World Championship Tim unveils what it's actually like to compete at triathlon's Super Bowl where the fittest endurance athletes in the world converge on the Big Island of Hawaii at their absolute peak. Discover why there's an energy on the island that impacts the entire day, and how standing on the pier in the morning with hundreds of athletes experiencing anxiety, anticipation, and electric tension creates an atmosphere unlike any other race. Learn about the unique challenges of Kona including the different salinity of the ocean that causes cramping and vomiting, four to five hours on the bike through lava rock with the sun pounding down,
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    30 mins
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