Centerville’s Hawk creates podcast to learn from leaders


To listen or subscribe:

Go to “LearningLeader.com” or search for “the Learning Leader show” in iTunes.

For Ryan Hawk, business, football and podcasting came together in a single imperative: Listen to leaders, wherever they are.

Hawk, 33, a LexisNexis executive and older brother of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker A.J. Hawk, draws listeners from all over the world to his entrepreneurship-focused podcast, called “The Learning Leader.”

The idea is to sit down, virtually speaking, with achievers in business, sports and other endeavors to glean their hard-won wisdom.

”I’ve been able to speak with leaders in all different spaces all over the world,” Hawk said in an interview at his Washington Twp. home. “That’s been the really cool part. Through that, I’ve built a pretty cool network.”

Hawk himself grew up in what he calls “the leadership space.” He began playing sports as a young boy and found himself firmly at the quarterback position by second grade in Centerville.

But being an introvert, not a quarterback, led him to podcasting, he said.

“That kind of leads you to potentially not being comfortable in situations where you need to speak up or be the ‘rah-rah’ guy,” Hawk said. “So I’ve always been more of a lead-by-action guy.”

From Centerville High School, he went to Miami University — at the same time as another collegiate quarterback named Ben Roethlisberger, a 6-5 standout from Lima.

“We were in the same class,” Hawk recalled with a smile. “So I had to make a decision if I wanted to change positions or whatever. I didn’t.”

Then a 6-2, 212-pounder, Hawk followed what he saw as his best option, heading to Mid-American Conference school Ohio University in Athens.

Hawk landed a regional sales job at LexisNexis in Miami Twp. before his path detoured to af2, the Arena Football League’s development league. (An earlier, brief stint also had him playing for the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tigercats.) This was at a time when af2 players were making about $200 a game (or a bit more if they won).

He played for the Birmingham Steeldogs (now the Alabama Steeldogs) for seven months before returning to LexisNexis as a regional sales executive in the summer of 2006.

As a director of segment management for LexisNexis now, Hawk rubs elbows with business leaders all day. But it was a dinnertime conversation with Todd Wagner — a business partner with entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — that turned Hawk’s head around and opened his eyes to the possibilities of podcasting.

“Todd shared just great insights and great stories,” Hawk said. “It was incredible. I just wish I had caught it on tape. That kind of was the impetus for me.”

Those are the kinds of moments he wants to capture on his podcast.

In the Learning Leader, Hawk records conversations with people he calls “the smartest, most creative and inspiring leaders in the world.”

“I’ve been having conversations over the years with people one-on-one,” he said. “The only difference is I haven’t really been recording them.”

Hawk is inspired not only by conversations, but by other podcasts and books. He says preparation for interviews is key to the show.

Greg Meredith — a friend of Hawk’s and former colleague at LexisNexis — enjoys watching Hawk’s success.

Meredith wasn’t in Centerville when Hawk played football. But he has heard from long-timers who remember him overshadowing his younger brother.

“When I talk to people, they say he was actually the better high school player,” said Meredith, today a practice leader with Dayton business strategy firm Brixey & Meyer. “I mean, he was just the dominant, dominant force.”

Some nine months ago, Meredith and Hawk first talked about their shared interest in podcasting, Meredith remembered. Hawk had helped A.J. with podcasting, and that piqued his own interest.

“He said, ‘I think I’m going to start a podcast,’” Meredith said. “I said, ‘I think you’ll do a great job.’”

But the way Learning Leader took off after its mid-April launch surprised him.

“I was thinking a little hobby, you know?” Meredith said. “Something that would come out every once in a while. But he took it and made it into an unbelievable podcast.”

Hawk is “fearless” about getting the right guests, he said. Those include former Navy SEAL Chris Fussell; John LeFevre, creator of the the Goldman Sachs Elevator Twitter parody account (@GSElevator); and some 50 other guests.

Since April, Hawk’s show has been ranked No. 1 in three iTunes’ “new and noteworthy” categories (as a show in “business,” “education” and the “society & culture” sections) while being ranked No. 3 in the overall iTunes “new and noteworthy” category.

The show has received more than 200 reviews on iTunes and boasts a five-star rating. The podcast has seen downloads and “listens” in 102 countries and 50 states. Guests so far have ranged from the U.S, Canada, Ireland, Australia and England.

Meredith credited Hawk with taking his guests seriously.

“In his time in sales in Lexis Nexis, he really learned how to be persistent and how to get a hold of people,” Meredith said. “Once he got the idea he was going to go out and get a guest, he didn’t quit.”

“That persistence has paid off,” he added.

To find the show on your iOS device, go to the iTunes store or app and search for “the Learning Leader show.” Or go to Hawk’s web site, LearningLeader.com.

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