#45: Mike Erwin (Founder of Team RWB) — On Solitude, Taking Action, and Failing Forward

<p class=""><a href= "https://www.facebook.com/mikeygunz29"><strong>Mike Erwin</strong></a> is the Founder & Executive Director of <a href="https://www.teamrwb.org/"><strong>Team Red, White & Blue</strong></a><strong> </strong>(Team RWB).  Team RWB’s mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their communities through physical and social activity. </p> <p class="">He is also the CEO of the <a href= "http://characterleadership.center/"><strong>Character & Leadership Center,</strong></a> and the Co-founder & President of <a href="https://posproject.org/"><strong>The Positivity Project</strong></a>—a non-profit organization with the mission to empower America’s youth to build positive relationships. With 425 partner schools, the organization reaches 260,000 children daily.</p> <p class="">He is the co-author of <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Yourself-First-Inspiring-Leadership/dp/1632866315"> <strong>LEAD YOURSELF FIRST</strong></a> by Bloomsbury Press (2017)<em>. </em>The book focuses on how solitude strengthens people’s character—and their ability to lead with clarity, balance, and conviction. Mike is also a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in Leadership & Psychology. He also serves as the founding Chairman of the Board for Father Vincent Capodanno High School, outside Fort Bragg, NC.</p> <p class="">Mike graduated from West Point in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer, serving in three combat tours with the First Cavalry Division and 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). His service includes deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004–2005 that involved the Battles of Fallujah and Najaf. Mike also deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006–2007 and 2009. On those tours, he worked with NATO forces, to include serving as a lead intelligence planner for one of the la