Innovating Life With Jon Sabes

This is a special podcast taped at a party we held on Super Bowl Saturday in Minneapolis from our offices overlooking US Bank Stadium, the site of Super Bowl LII held the next day between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. My guests were two retired NFL players, Jack Brewer and Sergio Brown, and current NFL player Mackensie Alexander. The three players talked about what it’s like to play in the NFL, including their experiences with two of the greatest coaches of all time, Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin, and their lives outside football. It is an amazing conversation unlike any you may have ever heard from professional athletes that will give you insight into what it takes to get to that level and how they apply those same skills to a life beyond football. There are lessons in the conversation for anyone and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did in hosting it.

This is a discussion with Chris Orestis, a nationally known senior care advocate, a legislative expert, featured speaker, columnist and contributor to a number of insurance and long-term care industry publications and author of the Amazon best-seller book “Help on the Way,” and “A Survival Guide to Aging.” Chris is a frequent guest about senior issues on national radio programs; and has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Fox Business News, and PBS. He is Executive Vice President at GWG Life.

This is a special podcast recorded live at InsureTech Connect 2017 in Las Vegas on October 4, 2017. I participated in a panel about the future of life insurance underwriting called “Underwriting 2.0: Opening Pandora’s Box.” I was alongside three industry professsionals and the panel was moderated by Samantha Chow of Aite Group. You’ll hear a spirited discussion that highlights the exciting new capability of our subsidiary Life Epigenetics, Inc. Life Epigenetics applies the predictive epigenetic science to life insurance underwriting. It was great to begin to tell this story to an audience of insurance professionals, most of whom were hearing about epigenetics for the first time.

This time, Jon Sabes talks with Chris Voss, the Founder and CEO of the Black Swan Group Ltd and author of Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. Chris has used his many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program and team that applies these globally proven techniques to the business world. In the conversation, we dig a little deeper into the techniques he developed from these high-stress situations and how he is helping companies apply them to their sales and customer service practices. This talk shows the ways in which Chris is a remarkable person who will give you insights and ideas that can help you become better at whatever you do.

On this podcast, Jon Sabes talks with CH Maguire, a man with many interests beyond his career as Director of Financial Institutions Services Group at Merrill Lynch. Among CH’s interests is a passion for leadership and the great outdoors. This passion led CH to a twenty-five year involvement with Outward Bound, a wonderful outdoor leadership program for youth and adults. This podcast is a must for anyone interested in the history of the Outward Bound organization and its leadership objectives.  CH talks about how the outdoors can lead to the development of great leadership qualities. CH’s philosophy and approach to life is derived from these experiences, making him a wonderful mentor in this field. Jon considers himself lucky to be a part of the group who learns from him.  CH Maguire serves as on the Board of Directors of GWG Holdings, Inc.

In this podcast Jon talks to financial planner David Zoellner of Zoellner Whole Financial located in Waterford, MI about the principles of Napoleon Hill and how he has applied Hill's principles to his business and his life.  Napoleon Hill's effort to articulate the first practical guides to the psychology of achievement serves as foundational documentation to anyone seeking to improve themselves professionally and personally.

On this podcast channel we interview NBA veteran Carl Landry about his life and philosophy as he looks back on nine years as a professional basketball player and forward to his future endeavors.

On this podcast we talk to Jack Brewer, a truly remarkable man. Jack is the founder and CEO of The Brewer Group, a former NFL Player (and Captain on all three teams he played for - listen and learn more), a United Nations Ambassador, Investment Advisor and philanthropist. It's a remarkable conversation about his life and how he is making the world a better place.

Jon has a discussion about sales with Gerry Falick, the Babe Ruth of life insurance. Gerry has been a member of the prestigious Million Dollar Roundtable for more than 50 years.

Jon Sabes, CEO of GWG Life in Minneapolis, interviews Jeffrey McGregor, an insurance expert who has held senior positions at Ameriprise Financial and AXA Financial. Jeffrey is the author of A Spirit Never Tires, a book that explores the issue of living life to the fullest, a topic Jon believes in strongly.  

Jon Sabes talks about innovation and the outdoors with Scott Olson, the inventor of Rollerblades, whose new creation, a pedal-powered rollercoast called SkyRide was installed on Carnival Cruise Ships and was named the Best New Cruise Ship Feature of 2016.

A fascinating discussion about genomics and wind-sailing on a frozen lake in Minnesota between Jon and Dr. Brian Chen. Brian is an epidemiologist who studied the biological underpinnings of aging and age-related diseases. Dr. Chen was first author of the study on DNA methylation and mortality prediction building on the work of UCLA professor Dr. Steven Horvath that was published in the journal Aging in September 2016. Brian was just named VP of Research and analytics at GWG Life and is working to apply epigentic technology to transform the life insurance industry.

On this podcast we talk about innovations in life. That is, we talk about innovating the life insurance industry through technology for sure – that’s Insurtech.  We also talk about business innovation in general, and innovations in living – that’s the business of you.  Whatever you are doing, wherever you are in life, innovation is the key – to moving forward, and staying ahead in life and business.  So we also explore the personal and professional bits that make you tick and continue innovating throughout life to become the best version you.