I recently went one on one with Kelly Palace. Kelly is a former Top 20 NCAA D-1 Head Swim Coach, serving as the Head Women's Swim Coach for the University of South Carolina. Kelly also holds U.S. and world swimming records and is the co-founder of the non-profit organization ITSAN.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your story and your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. What would you like readers to know about you?

Kelly: I'm passionate about leadership and peak performance. I’ve lived it and learned it, first as an NCAA D1 champion athlete and coach, then as a writer for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals’ magazine and the host of their audio show to motivate its 12,000-member salesforce. As the current host of the weekly, award-winning podcast, Champion’s Mojo, I get access to the secrets of leaders through interviews with Olympians, Olympic coaches, journalists, celebrities and medical experts. 

I broke glass ceilings in Division One coaching, as the first woman head coach in the SEC (Southeastern conference) and currently as the only woman podcast host in the competitive swimming space. I received seven promotions in ten years at Pfizer, and built and own a multimillion-dollar real estate business. I also co-founded and was the first President of ITSAN.org, an international charity that is changing the way the medical condition of eczema is being treated, helping millions of people around the world.

Adam: What is something about you that would surprise people?  

Kelly: I was the first elite-level athlete to pose for Playboy magazine because I believed I was leading a cause I was passionate about. How’s that for a surprise?! It really is a cautionary tale for another day, but a lesson I do keep in my leadership toolbox. On a more serious level, My life has been a chaotic and challenging beautiful mess, with a series of mountains, valleys and sunny paths to cross. Between surviving 9/11, breast cancer, divorce, and a debilitating seven-year illness, I had some unlikely and remarkable successes. I believe one’s mess is their opportunity for an authentic message. So most recently, I’ve authored the book Take Your Mark, LEAD! Ten Ways to Lead Yourself and Others Like a Champion. The foreword for my book is written by Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’ coach, and includes the best wisdom from my encounters with champions, leaders, and peak performers through my life.

Adam: How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Kelly: By ‘here’, I’m going to assume that you mean where I am today. And today, what I’m most excited about is that my new book Take Your Mark, LEAD! Ten Ways to Lead Yourself and Others Like a Champion is #1 on Amazon Book in Hot New Releases in Swimming and trending #10 in Business Leadership! 

It has taken me over ten years to write my leadership book. It was born out of the desire to help others benefit from the techniques and skills that I acquired as an athlete and coach, which transferred to success in the corporate and business world—beyond what I could have imagined. After leaving college coaching, I rocketed up the corporate ladder of a Fortune 100 company with seven promotions in ten years. A bit shocked by my rise, I wondered, how did that happen? In my first year in my corporate job, I doubled my annual income from being a coach, then the next year I doubled that annual income as well. That included getting what was purported to be one of the largest sales bonuses in the company’s 100 year-plus history. Now, how did that happen?! It was not all about the money—although sometimes money can be a barometer of what you are giving to the world. I simply loved the challenge of taking the next rung. After a decade of leading in corporate America, I left to become an entrepreneur and, over the next several years, built a multi-million dollar business. Hmmm, how the heck did that happen?! In 2012, I co-founded a charity that helps millions of people around the globe and has challenged the fundamentals of the way a common medical condition is treated. Whoa, how did that happen?! 

What I discovered was that, even though I have no special gifts or talents for the things I attained, I earned these results by applying the strategies I learned from my days as a competitive swimmer and coach. And I believe anyone can do the same. The coach in me wants to coach others to reach their full potential, and I thought a book would be the best way to share this message.

Continually, as I noted others around me hitting higher and higher levels, I kept asking, how exactly did that happen? I began to observe all the leaders and champions who ended up in this book and gleaned, or asked them directly, how they had made their success happen. 

With journalism as my undergraduate major and a lifelong passion, over the next decade I chronicled these lessons. My book’s original working title was Take Your Mark, Make Your Mark, Using Athletic Techniques to Achieve Your Dreams. Then upon closer examination of the actions and principles that were driving achievements, both mine and others’, I observed that peak performance really comes down to leadership. I started scrutinizing everything from the lens of exemplary leadership and how that happens. That’s when this book became Take Your Mark, LEAD! 

Then life happened, as it always does, and I was sidelined for years with a debilitating illness, followed by caring for my mother with Alzheimer’s, my own breast cancer, and then having to move out while renovating our oceanfront home, twice, after it was hit by two hurricanes—none of which are conducive to much writing. But I chipped away, working at it when I could, and building a file of the ideal characteristics that one needs to lead like a champion. The pandemic allowed me to write for the last year and finally cross the finish line.

Adam: Who are the greatest leaders you have been around and what did you learn from them? 

Kelly: During my decade of working for Pfizer, I spent two years in NYC at company headquarters as a Senior Manager of Communications. I wrote for the company’s magazine, The Force, and was solely in charge of hosting a recorded audio show called Drive Time—both of which were produced to inform and motivate the more than 12,000 members of Pfizer’s sales force. This role allowed me access and interviews with the executive management team of this Fortune 100 company, where I learned about leadership up close.  It really allowed me to be around some great leaders and learn about how important it is to embrace diversity in leadership, which Pfizer does well. 

I’ve learned that the more we can embrace diversity in our leaders, the better. It still blows my mind that the US has never had a woman President! Black men are even more rare than women when it comes to executive positions in Fortune 500 companies.  However, there are four black male leaders in my life who have had a great positive impact on my success. They are Harold White, an Associate Athletic Director at the University of South Carolina, Steve Smith, the HR Director for Pfizer who facilitated my hiring, Everett Cunningham, my first trainer in Pfizer, and my Director while in NYC on Pfizer’s communication team, Everton Cranston. Each one of these leaders was exemplary. And with all the superb leaders I’ve had in my life, the absolute finest was my first district manager in Pfizer, Basil Klosteridis. Basil did not look like your typical leader. According to researcher Nancy Blaker, her findings suggest that tall individuals have an advantage over short ones in terms of leadership. I’m not sure how tall Basil is, but I stand at 5’7” and his height is less than mine. He's a man of small physical stature but of confident bearing and enormous positive presence. Basil was a giant in leading our team to many awards, and was truly the greatest leader I have yet to work for. My point is, that if I had been turned off to these amazing humans' uniquenesses (diversity) and seen only that they were not typical, I would have missed out on more than I can imagine. My leadership lesson is embrace diversity in leadership—or you could seriously miss out.

Adam: What are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Kelly: There seem to be as many different leadership theories as there are letters in the alphabet, and it shouldn’t be that complicated. Curating information from top thought leaders and my own experiences, in my book I’ve identified and broken down the ten attributes that  help define what I call a champion leader, or an effective leader, if you will. Leading like a champion involves:

1) Acting caringly with accountability, confidence, and competence to recognize and fill a need. 

2) Planning and sharing goals that are exciting, specific, measurable, and time-sensitive.

3) Practicing in your mind’s eye before achieving big goals and sharing a captivating vision to inspire others. 

4) Using discipline to defeat procrastination, and taking small steps towards your goals to strengthen your discomfort muscle.

5) Persisting through pain and discomfort using passion, purpose, positive focus, presence, and preparedness to achieve your objectives.

6) Establishing and refining the habits, routines, and rituals that support your physical and mental health and peak performance, and removing those that do not.

7) Performing at your best by combating performance anxiety through preparation, routine, and a focus on your own individual mindset.

8) Carrying yourself with confidence by developing a strong inner voice to power a can-do mindset. 

9) Reflecting comprehensively on your experiences to see how you have grown, and how you can improve your life and the lives of others. 

10) Celebrating all successes, even the small ones, to release stress and increase motivation by imagining a well-earned reward. Celebration involves remembering your strengths, and appreciating and honoring yourself and others. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?  

Kelly: The best leaders know that everything starts with people. You can’t be a leader without others. Influencing others begins by connecting, and in order to do that, you must take an interest in them. Be a people person. Remember people’s names, smile, and look them in the eyes. Greet them as if you are happy to see them. Be genuine. Listen when they speak and make an effort to truly understand them. Show people you care by helping them get what they want and they will want to follow you. 

Another effective practice for powering up your people skills is to treat everyone in an organization as you would the CEO. This includes everyone from the janitor to the C-suite, and all those in between. This was something we practiced in Pfizer, but I’ve also heard many exemplary leaders tout this as a valuable approach.  

Also, if you need to discuss business with someone, start with a focus on relationship and finish with relationship, placing the task in between. At Pfizer we called this R-T-R, relationship-task-relationship, or the task sandwich. This works great outside the business world as well. Try it on a friend, or your spouse. Hey honey, I’m so happy to see you. How’s your day going? Would you mind talking with the neighbor about the yard sale before dinner? I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time with you tonight. Think of how differently your spouse (or anyone) might feel if you charged at them with just a task. 

Having excellent people skills will take your life, and your leadership, to the next level. 

Adam: What are the most important attributes of a great coach? 

Kelly: Coaches need to be great listeners, flexible, and creative.  

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders? 

Kelly: To succeed in all or any of these three roles, one needs to: 1) deeply know and understand their why, 2) hold a clear vision for themselves and others, and 3) act with urgency.  One of my favorite definitions of leadership is Vision + Urgency = Leadership.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?  

Kelly; Creating a winning culture is key to your success as a leader, and therefore key to managing a winning team. The culture of a group, team, or organization is defined by its values, traditions, norms, goals, communication style, and leadership from above and within.

Leading others is best achieved by creating a culture that will help ensure the results that you want can be replicated; this is according to one of the most internationally respected and legendary swim coaches of our time, 2016 US Olympic Women’s Head Coach David Marsh. I learned this when I got to interview David for my book. David is a master of creating winning cultures. He took over a sub-par team at Auburn University and turned it into a national powerhouse. When I asked David how he’d accomplished that, he said, “Our staff was vigilant in making sure that team members were committed. We had to go into the college bars occasionally and send some people home. I put a freshman in charge as captain because he was the only one I felt represented where we wanted the team to go. I informed everyone that I was only going to accept attitudes that would move us forward and that could see a winning future.” And it paid off. While he was the head coach at Auburn, Marsh led the men's team to seven NCAA national championships titles and the women's team to five of the same.  

David feels that “culture is the centerpiece of a team.” Under his leadership, the 2016 US women’s Olympic swim team was the winningest in history. He went on to say, “It’s better to start with culture and build it slowly than to have a good immediate result the wrong way. Culture will cause the result to repeat.” 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Kelly: Although this piece of advice didn’t come directly to me from General S. Patton,  it’s one I’ve always tried to live by—and I think it serves leaders well. “It’s better to execute a good plan than to never execute the perfect plan.” 

Adam: What is one thing everyone should do to pay it forward?   

Kelly: You can improve the world with big acts—or you can improve at least someone’s individual world. If you can’t do it on a large scale, then reaching out to one person can be of significant value as well. One of my favorite quotes attributed to former President Ronald Reagan is, “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”  To pay it forward, think of a small act that you observed or experienced directly and try it on just one person. 

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Kelly: Your mess is your message. I’ve lived my life by this and the two hardest things I’ve gone through, breast cancer and Topical Steroid Withdrawal Syndrome (TSWS) were my greatest opportunities for leadership. Because of the suffering I endured with TSWS, I co-founded a charity that today helps millions of people around the globe and has challenged the fundamentals of the way a common medical condition is treated. I also have a breast cancer support website.

When you are going through something tough, or have gone through something difficult, share how you coped and got through it with others. If you are in a mess, know that others are suffering through a similar mess to. That could become a cause for you to champion, and to me, this is the greatest type of leadership on which to embark: taking the messes that life throws at us and turning them into resounding messages of hope. 


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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