Sean McCall: No Victory Without Failure

Sean McCall


“It’s much better to call it like you see it, as long as it’s built on a foundation of mutual respect and trust.” – Sean McCall

Sean McCall is the Managing Vice President at Pariveda Solutions. With 25+ years of experience across various roles within consulting, Sean has deep experience in human performance, small teams, and purpose-driven leadership. An elite athlete as well, Sean draws on his experience as a player, captain, coach, and architect to help organizations create clarity in purpose, the connection amongst team members, forward-looking vision, member autonomy, active retention, and brave spaces to accelerate the development potential of the team. Sean is a well-respected speaker and visionary who can inspire teams to greatness.

Sean played various youth sports before committing to swimming full time in high school and college, representing his teams at the highest levels possible (state, NCAA, respectively). Following a decorated swimming career, Sean went on to play a nearly 30-year Ultimate Frisbee career as a former semipro athlete being selected to three USA National Teams, captaining twice, earning three World Championships and achieving over 30 “caps” for international game appearances.

Some of the things we discuss in this episode:

  • How Sean stays young, both from a physical and mental standpoint
  • How the challenges that Sean faced as a kid shaped his future
  • How to not let metrics and data drive wrong behaviours in your organization
  • Why failure makes winning that much sweeter
  • How Sean deals with failure both as a parent and as a leader
  • Why the best advice for leaders is to be authentic and to not be afraid of being vulnerable
  • Why the experience in sports is regarded highly by employers
  • How Pariveda is redefining the consulting and implementation space

LISTEN HERE