The Story Forge
The Story Forge
Lyle Smith
The collected stories of people making things that matter and inspiring others to do the same.
Inside the Ocean - Jeff Milisen
Every night, while most of us are asleep, something incredible is happening beneath the ocean's surface. Countless marine creatures rise up from the cold, dark depths of the open ocean to its surface waters — and almost nobody knows it's happening. Almost nobody.My guest today is Jeff Milisen — marine biologist, underwater photographer, and the go-to written authority on blackwater diving. If you want to understand what's living in the open ocean at night, his Field Guide to Blackwater Diving in Hawaii is the book. Full stop. As the blackwater diving community has exploded around the world — from Hawaii and Florida to the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia — Jeff's work has become the reference everyone turns to. We're working together on the second edition right now, and I wanted to sit down with him and let you hear what makes this world so hard to walk away from. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Jun 2
1 hr 8 min
Run Wise. Run Healthy. - Bjorn Anderson
In this episode, we sit down with Bjorn Anderson, founder of RunWise, a new platform built to help runners train smarter and stay healthy. A lifelong student of endurance sport, Bjorn has become increasingly focused on one question: why do so many runners get hurt while trying to get better?Drawing from coaching insight, training data, and the lived experience of thousands of runners, Bjorn explains how small daily decisions—mileage, recovery, intensity, and life stress—combine to shape injury risk. His answer is RunWise: a system designed to evaluate a runner’s training day by day, offering a simple red, yellow, green risk assessment that helps athletes avoid the mistakes that derail seasons.We talk about marathon training, the unique challenges facing masters runners, and the philosophy behind sustainable performance. If you care about running longer, healthier, and wiser, this conversation will change the way you think about training. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Mar 10
1 hr 13 min
Friday at the Carnival - Dave Johnson
We talk to Dave Johnson, Meet Director of the Penn Relays. Cancelled for the first time in it's 126-year history.
Apr 24, 2025
41 min
ENCORE: Coogan's Finish Line - RIP Peter Walsh
April 18, 2025. NEW YORK - Peter Walsh passed away today at 1pm Eastern time. He was a saloon keeper, a musician, a poet, an entrepreneur, an employer, a father, a husband and a friend. But mostly, he was joy wrapped up in a human-shaped package. He was known to us as a track fan and one of the owners of Coogan's Bar just up the street from The Armory. Here, we post the interview we did with him in 2020 just after Coogan's closed for good, an unfortunate victim of the COVID pandemic. Today we bid Peter a fond and tearful farewell and say we'll look forward to meeting him again on the other side of the track. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Apr 19, 2025
1 hr 4 min
Turning it Upside Down - James Whittaker
Learn more about James and his business at The Ambitious Exec >>>ORDownload his free white paper from his LinkedIn profile. This, alone, is worth the price of admission. Link here >>> ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Aug 29, 2024
1 hr 15 min
Hot Type - Why The Sting Matters - to me
Visit Nymblesmith to learn more about The Sheet and how it developed.https://www.nymblesmith.com/the-sheet ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Aug 20, 2024
10 min
Voicing a Sport - Alex Cuesta & Dave Hyatt
Alex Cuesta and Dave Hyatt are first and foremost, fans. They’ve been athletes themselves. And coaches. They’re teachers and friends. But maybe more than anything, they’re fans. They love track & field and cross country. And that is what inspired them to start the Running in Ovals podcast dedicated to the sport, the practitioners of the sport, fans of the sport, and they’ve adopted a mission of building and growing the sports of track & field and cross country running from the grass roots. They talk to everyone from the high school level to the pro level. They talk to the reporters and promoters of the sport. Officials and parents and try to address everything in between as advocates for a sport that deserves more. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Jul 19, 2024
1 hr 30 min
Above and Beyond - Chris Miller
Today, we're talking about helping people. Specifically in their careers. What we've landed on is that sometimes, maybe more than sometimes, old school makes all the difference. I've known Chris Miller for - sheesh - more than the last two decades. I got to know him when he was placing me for some creative jobs. He's recently - that is over the past couple of years - gone out on his own to create a creative staffing agency called Topfolio. His approach has always been particularly human, which is why I liked him right off the bat. He wasn't just about numbers, because he understood the quality work we were all after in that field was never JUST about numbers. It was about the people and how they felt and what they believed about things.And I think that matters. I think that will always matter. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Jul 11, 2024
57 min
Learning from Leaders - Dave Armstrong
Dave Armstrong is an entrepreneur, a retired Lt. Col. in the US Marine Corps, board member of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and host and creator of the Moments in Leadership podcast where he talks every episode with highly accomplished career military people about their experiences in leadership, with other leaders, good and bad. Some of whom he knows, many of whom he doesn't. And what we non-military people can take away from all that experience into our own lives and businesses and families. He's an old friend, a great guy and a terrific storyteller in his own right. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Jun 27, 2024
1 hr 2 min
Dan Lievens - Transformational Evidence
Dan Lievens is a serial entrepreneur in the purest sense. Founder of 12 different businesses including ShareOne and supporter of many, many others working to birth their own brands and businesses into the world, Dan operates under a singular theme - that if each of us is somehow able to share one fundamental, transformative story of our lives, what a different world we might be able to live in! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
May 2, 2024
1 hr 1 min
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