Peak Experience

About Peak Experience

Peak Experience explores the topics of what experiential learning is to teambuilding and organizational development, what its role is, where it is headed and why it is more important now, than ever. Business owners, teachers, camp counselors, adventure therapists, and anyone who is interested in the outdoors, place-based, or experiential learning cohort will find content useful to their teaching. Listeners can expect ideas for direct implementation, thought provoking dialogue, interviews, as well as an opportunity to communicate with the hosts and share their experiences in the field of outdoor leadership and strategic management.

Publisher

Peak Experience | First Paw Media

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Oct 2021

Latest episode

2 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

69 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Oct 2026

   Why We Are Headed to the AEE Conference

   Michele Forto opens with the line she keeps in the margin of Experiential Facilitation 101: you can pay for a round on a challenge course, but you cannot buy good judgment. That is why Peak Experience is pointed at Estes Park this November. Robert drives from Las Vegas to the Association for Experiential Education’s 54th International Conference at the YMCA of the Rockies. Sphere on Saturday. Bryce Sunday night. Moab Monday night. Glenwood Springs Tuesday night. Estes Park Wednesday afternoon. The conference runs Thursday to Saturday, November 12–14. Theme: ASCEND: Growing Community, Elevating Practice. This episode is not a travelogue. Michele talks about what “elevating practice” has to mean if you actually run groups: frame the day, sequence so the activity earns the conversation, protect emotional and physical safety, debrief as if transfer depends on it, manage the person who takes all the air without making them the villain, give directions a tired group can follow the first time. Kolb is not a secret. Sticking with the craft when the weather is ugly, the CEO is watching, or the metaphor collapses, is scarce. AEE returns to the 2024 YMCA site: 800+ acres of ponderosa, challenge course on campus, teachers, guides, counselors, professors, therapists, and researchers in the same dining hall. If an “experiential” conference could have been a Hilton ballroom, ask what you think experience is. Includes a Moment in Leadership History: Theodore Roosevelt and the 1902 anthracite coal strike, step in when doing nothing would cost more. Facilitation 101 cohorts: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Portland, Seattle. Web: peakexp.org Conference: aee.org Other Episodes You Will Love · Leadership Under Pressure: What Happens When the Plan Falls Apart · Why Most Teams Struggle With Trust · Adventure as a Leadership Classroom Support the Show This episode was recorded on the Shure SM7B (https://amzn.to/4ebS0sD) and Rodecaster Pro II (https://amzn.to/4tB77AD). Like this episode? Share it with a leader, founder, or teammate who would benefit from it. Love this episode? Say thanks by leaving a review and helping more listeners discover the show. Ready for real growth, not just motivation? Explore coaching, workshops, and experiential leadership programs through Dreamchaser Leadership (https://dreamchaserleadership.org). Download our free leadership resources and practical tools designed for business owners and teams. Book Dr. Robert Forto (https://adventurestrategist.org)for speaking, leadership development, or strategic coaching for your organization. Join our mailing list (https://keap.page/lpj379/reach-your-peak-download.html)for new episodes, leadership insights, and upcoming program announcements. Follow Peak Experience for more leadership strategies and real-world lessons: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dreamchaserleadership) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dreamchaserleadership/) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertforto/) ©2022-2026 Peak Experience Podcast by Dreamchaser Leadership. All Rights Reserved.

2. 

   26 Sept 2026

   Don’t Lose the Song | Peak Experience Podcast

   Robert is in New York for Podcast Movement. Michele stays with the signal Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable put on the table: the fourth annual Podcast Landscape, built on more than 5,400 U.S. adults 18+. The curve has flattened. About three-quarters of Americans have tried a podcast. 55% listen monthly. 39% listen weekly. Those numbers have been roughly the same for two or three years. Word of mouth got the medium here. Tom’s point: it will not take it further. The open lane is invitation, not explosion. About 60 million American adults are still willing: lapsed listeners, people who know a listener, people who were never asked in a way that felt personal. Growth is now craft. Smart TV is the platform still clearly growing. Shows found on Netflix and other TV apps skew younger, more likely to have kids at home, and twice as likely to be heard with other people. Co-consumption is partnership. That is Peak Experience language: teams do not change by consuming alone. They change by sitting together and deciding what it means. Discovery has moved. YouTube first, Spotify second, Netflix third. Apple is at 11%. Dedicated podcast apps fell from 19% to 15% as the most-used app. Webster’s image: we are losing our Tower Records, the hits up front, the middle tier, the back catalog, the odd record nobody knew yet. A Walmart CD rack only stocks the star of the week. Closed platforms that gatekeep (Netflix) are that rack. YouTube and Spotify still let you walk in. Netflix does not, and a show can be canceled when the algorithm moves on. Robert and Michele did not start a microphone in Alaska to wait for permission. Advertising a small dog-training company was expensive. The show built authority over time. Intimate. Repeatable. Ours. Four moves if you lead people: Don’t mistake a bigger screen for a better business. If you cannot own the relationship, set the price, or stay when the algorithm changes, it is a lease. Quality is the open lane. People are tired of brain rot. Experiential leadership that holds under pressure is the same bet. Protect the middle tier and the long trail. Stars without a bench is not a company. Invite people on purpose. The 60 million look like every market we serve. They have not rejected the work. They have not been given a reason that feels like a peak experience. Includes a Moment in Leadership History: Winston Churchill, May 1940: leadership is tested before you know how the story ends. When you’re ready for the work, not the feed: Dreamchaser Leadership. Web: peakexp.org Other Episodes You Will Love · Leadership Under Pressure: What Happens When the Plan Falls Apart · Why Most Teams Struggle With Trust · Adventure as a Leadership Classroom Support the Show This episode was recorded on the Shure SM7B (https://amzn.to/4ebS0sD) and Rodecaster Pro II (https://amzn.to/4tB77AD). Like this episode? Share it with a leader, founder, or teammate who would benefit from it. Love this episode? Say thanks by leaving a review and helping more listeners discover the show. Ready for real growth, not just motivation? Explore coaching, workshops, and experiential leadership programs through Dreamchaser Leadership (https://dreamchaserleadership.org). Download our free leadership resources and practical tools designed for business owners and teams. Book Dr. Robert Forto (https://adventurestrategist.org)for speaking, leadership development, or strategic coaching for your organization. Join our mailing list (https://keap.page/lpj379/reach-your-peak-download.html)for new episodes, leadership insights, and upcoming program announcements. Follow Peak Experience for more leadership strategies and real-world lessons: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dreamchaserleadership) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dreamchaserleadership/) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertforto/) ©2022-2026 Peak Experience Podcast by Dreamchaser Leadership. All Rights Reserved.

3. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Servant Leadership, Purpose, and Social Change with Dr. Robert J. Cruz

   Dr. Robert J. Cruz joins Robert Forto on the Peak Experience Podcast to discuss servant leadership, education, mentorship, and how to put leadership principles into practice. Cruz shares his path from an early start at the University of Connecticut to a 20-year career in the United States Air Force and, later, a return to higher education that ultimately led to a Doctor of Strategic Leadership degree. Today, he serves as an adjunct professor, consultant, author, and founder and CEO of BEC Global Consulting Group. The conversation explores the difference between studying leadership and practicing it, including Cruz’s experience teaching servant leadership to doctoral students and mentoring students who are balancing academics, careers, family responsibilities, and the realities of life. He also discusses artificial intelligence in higher education and the importance of integrity and critical thinking in academic work. Robert and Dr. Cruz then turn to Cruz’s book, Servant Leadership: A Remedy for Racism in America, and his belief that servant leadership provides a framework for addressing difficult social and organizational issues. Cruz discusses characteristics including listening, empathy, persuasion, foresight, stewardship, building community, and helping others grow. It is a conversation about leadership as a daily practice, the responsibility leaders have toward the people they serve, and how individuals can begin applying servant leadership within their own circles of influence. Other Episodes You Will Love · Leadership Under Pressure: What Happens When the Plan Falls Apart · Why Most Teams Struggle With Trust · Adventure as a Leadership Classroom Support the Show This episode was recorded on the Shure SM7B (https://amzn.to/4ebS0sD) and Rodecaster Pro II (https://amzn.to/4tB77AD). Like this episode? Share it with a leader, founder, or teammate who would benefit from it. Love this episode? Say thanks by leaving a review and helping more listeners discover the show. Ready for real growth, not just motivation? Explore coaching, workshops, and experiential leadership programs through Dreamchaser Leadership (https://dreamchaserleadership.org). Download our free leadership resources and practical tools designed for business owners and teams. Book Dr. Robert Forto (https://adventurestrategist.org)for speaking, leadership development, or strategic coaching for your organization. Join our mailing list (https://keap.page/lpj379/reach-your-peak-download.html)for new episodes, leadership insights, and upcoming program announcements. Follow Peak Experience for more leadership strategies and real-world lessons: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dreamchaserleadership) | Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dreamchaserleadership/) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertforto/) ©2022-2026 Peak Experience Podcast by Dreamchaser Leadership. All Rights Reserved.

Who has been a guest on Peak Experience

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dr Theodore Summers III
• Danny
• Gunner

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

68

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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