In our first episode of Be Undaunted, we lay the foundation for what this podcast is all about: helping each other lead stronger, elevate impact, and live with more energy — even in the chaos of modern life. We kick off by introducing ourselves. I’m Tara Collingwood, a performance dietitian to Olympians, executives, and high achievers under pressure. My co-host George Dom brings decades of leadership experience as a former Navy fighter pilot and Blue Angels flight leader. Together, we explore what it truly means to be undaunted.
Being undaunted doesn’t mean being fearless or reckless. Instead, it’s about acting with intention despite fear, leaning into our values, managing our energy, and showing up even when it’s easier not to. We emphasize that undaunted people — and leaders — are not perfect, but they are intentional and resilient.
George shares a framework of three core traits he’s seen in undaunted leaders across high-performing military and corporate teams: clarity, trust, and energy. Clarity means knowing the mission — or, in civilian terms, your purpose. Trust is the foundation of high-functioning teams, and without it, teams become fragile and ineffective. Energy is the third pillar, and it’s not just about managing time — it’s about managing personal energy across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
I expand on energy from a performance nutrition perspective, focusing on four key areas: nutrition (what and when we eat), movement (how inactivity affects our brain and body), recovery (both sleep and true rest), and how our physical state affects our leadership and relationships. Without energy, we simply can’t show up as our best selves.
We also discuss the importance of mindset. Without a compelling why, real change doesn’t happen. Values, we agree, must be more than words — they must be lived and reinforced through culture. George shares how his company created alignment between core values and daily behavior by recognizing team members who exemplified those values each month, turning ideas into action.
We wrap by setting expectations for what’s to come in the podcast: honest conversations between the two of us, practical tools, powerful guest stories, and strategies to help all of us lead more intentionally, recover more deeply, and build trust at every level — in work and in life.
(00:00) – Intro
(00:34) – What Does “Be Undaunted” Mean?
(03:12) – Clarity, Trust, and Energy in Leadership
(06:03) – Defining Mission and Purpose
(08:09) – Why Trust Is the Foundation of Great Teams
(10:21) – Physical Energy and Performance Nutrition
(14:00) – Training Energy Across All Dimensions
(15:26) – The Role of Mindset and Values in Leadership
(17:33) – Bringing Company Values to Life
(18:44) – Creating a Positive Work Culture
(20:34) – Why We Launched This Podcast
(21:13) – Final Thoughts: Be Undaunted
[Music Playing]
Tara Collingwood (00:00):
Welcome to Be Undaunted. This is the podcast that helps you lead stronger, elevate your impact, and live with more energy.
George Dom (00:09):
I'm George Dom, former Navy Fighter pilot, Blue Angels flight leader and corporate executive.
Tara Collingwood (00:15):
And I'm Tara Collingwood, performance dietitian to Olympians, CEOs, and everyday people that are just under pressure. If you're ready to grow, to strengthen your leadership and to reclaim your energy …
George Dom (00:27):
If you want to feel more intentional, more capable, and yes, more undaunted, you are in the right place.
Tara Collingwood (00:34):
Welcome. This is episode one-
George Dom (00:37):
Woo-hoo.
Tara Collingwood (00:37):
Of Be Undaunted. Woohoo, George, I am so excited. We've been talking about doing this podcast for a while, and here we are. I can't believe it.
George Dom (00:44):
I know. Boy, maybe there'll be one or two people listening, but here we go.
Tara Collingwood (00:49):
Just so you all know, we are coming from two different coasts of the USA. I am residing here in Sunny Florida.
George Dom (00:57):
And I'm out in the central coast of California.
Tara Collingwood (01:00):
Alright, so I'm sure the question on everyone's mind as they're joining us for this podcast, is what in the heck does “Be Undaunted” really mean? So, George, fill us in.
George Dom (01:13):
We picked on that because frankly, observing life today, man, it's chaotic, it's disruptive, it's complex, and I don't know about you Tara, but I'm exhausted.
[Laughter]
Tara Collingwood (01:26):
I can't admit that I'm exhausted because we're supposed to be teaching people how not to be exhausted, but I think that's a good point. We're human too, and we're not perfect. So, the things we're telling you, we've learned through a lot of experience and working with a lot of clients, right?
George Dom (01:40):
That's right. And so, in this environment, we want to help share some things that we've learned, and frankly, we need folks if we're going to thrive; we're going to have to be able to step up and lead even in this environment.
Tara Collingwood (01:58):
Absolutely. So, some people think that undaunted might mean you have to be completely fearless or maybe even reckless or gritty, or I can't break, I'm unbreakable, I'm this force to be reckoned with. But when we think about undaunted leaders or really just undaunted people being more undaunted, we all feel fear.
Just like we said, you and I, we're not perfect at this. I feel fear all the time. I feel pressure, I feel uncertainty, but what it is, is acting anyway; not letting that fear and uncertainty get to you and saying, “You know what, I'm going to rely on my intention, I'm going to rely on my values, I'm going to rely on my physical energy.”
And that's what I am going to talk about the most, is the physical body, nutrition, exercise, sleep, recovery, movement, making sure that that physical body is connecting to the rest of how you show up in your life. So, there is no such thing as sort of waiting for everything to be perfect, to be the best person or the best leader that I want to be. We have to just sort of go with intention and be undaunted.
George Dom (03:12):
Yeah, that's a great comment. Being undaunted doesn't mean that you're fearless or that you're foolish, just being reckless, it's about clarity and it's about control.
Tara Collingwood (03:26):
So, when you think about some of the people that have had maybe the biggest impact in your life George, and of course, our listeners, think about some of those people that you can think of immediately that you know in person; not just people we see on TV or Mother Teresa or any of that stuff, which great people.
But when I think of people that I know in person, how many of them necessarily had an impressive title? Maybe, maybe not. How many of them just really made you feel special? And those special people show up with trust, with clarity, with energy, with connection, and that's really what it's all about, right?
George Dom (04:09):
Yeah, it sure is. And all the high performance teams I've been on in the Navy at Top Gun, Blue Angels flying off aircraft carriers, some of the people that were the greatest leaders were some junior personnel that stepped up and that first led by example, and then also, you had to depend on everybody to make good things happen.
And so, I think about undaunted leaders, I really think of three key characteristics. One is they're clear about where they want to go, what the mission is, what the vision is. And as part of a team, they understand what the team's mission is and how their role is important and necessary and have a very clear idea of their responsibilities, and everybody's in alignment.
And then the second thing is, is that an undaunted leader by definition has to be trusted, has to have a high level of trustworthiness, and the team needs to have a culture that is a very high trust culture. That's where you get the speed and agility and innovation, and frankly, resilience. I mean, a high trust team can take a punch and come back stronger, a low trust team is brittle and it takes a punch, they often may never come back.
And then finally the third piece is you got to have a significant amount of personal energy. Time is important, and we all know that you have to schedule your time precisely in order to be able to get the most important things done. But when you show up at those important moments, if you're tired, worn out, pissed off, nothing good happens. So, it's not just about managing your time, it's also about managing your energy.
Tara Collingwood (06:03):
I love that. I love that idea of mission. Let me ask you a little bit about that before I go into kind of talking about energy a little bit more from my perspective. So, when we think about mission, obviously you are Blue Angel fighter, pilot, all this stuff. So, mission, from a military perspective has of course a huge impact. That's like a big word.
For us who are non-military, when you think of mission for us, like kind of normal people, I think of purpose, like what is the purpose of my life and all that kind of stuff. Can you expand on that a little bit just for us that are not military, that kind of, how can we apply that to our lives?
George Dom (06:46):
Well, I think equating mission and purpose are very close, and every company (well, most every company) sits down and thinks about, okay, what are our goals? Where are we trying to get to? What's our vision? And so, it's really very relatable, we just happen to use the word mission.
Tara Collingwood (07:07):
Well, and I think in future episodes, we plan on kind of hitting that idea of purpose a lot more because purpose really involves so many different things with our values and what's important to us, and that's really what guides us in life. So, this big idea of what's my purpose is a huge question, and I don't know that there's one answer to it.
It's really how do you want to show up and how do you want to be remembered? And it's not remembered necessarily when you're dead, but even remembered in how you interact with people. Just like the question I asked earlier: when you think about people who have had the most impact on your life, that's how you're remembered, right?
George Dom (07:51):
Right. Exactly.
Tara Collingwood (07:52):
And it could be a short interaction with someone or it could be someone you've known for 30 years. And it goes to that second pillar that you were talking about too, with trust, you know, a leader, especially, I know you have written a book, we can plug it right away on our first episode. Might as well.
George Dom (08:08):
Thank you. Thank you.
Tara Collingwood (08:09):
Hey, that's what we're here for, is High Trust Leadership. And so, tell me a little bit about why you chose that title. I mean, obviously to put it in the title, you must have a pretty big reason why trust is so important, especially for leadership.
George Dom (08:23):
Every high-performance team I've been on, that was the foundation to our success, was the fact that we got to a point where … and it takes effort and work and everything. But that was the key to our success was … and you hear people, it's almost a cliche when you talk to former military people and you ask them, “So what did you miss about the military?” And they always say, “The people.”
And what they really mean is the being around and working and depending on people that you can absolutely trust that they're going to show up and they're going to bring their A game and they're going to put the team first, that's what's really special.
Tara Collingwood (09:09):
Aside from family, I have never seen a bond in people I know in life that is stronger than people who have been through military, people who have been through those experiences like that. I mean, when you're a Blue Angel pilot, remind us, how far apart are those (laughs) planes from each other?
George Dom (09:35):
Well, if the wingman could roll down the window in their cockpit, they could literally reach up and either touch my jet or the jet that was in front of them. I'm talking a couple feet apart at 3, 4, 500 miles an hour.
But you also see it, right now, we're going into the playoffs and to the Super Bowl, and when you hear the championship teams in whatever sport it is, they may not say the word, but when they talk about the experience, they talk about the relationships. Because trust is the air that all relationships breathe, and that's what everybody feels whenever you've been in a situation where you depend on somebody and they come through.
Tara Collingwood (10:21):
Oh, I love that, I love that. And thank you for bringing it back to sport, which is sort of my area that I like to focus on. So, I've been a high-performance dietitian for many years working with many different athletes. And so, I love that trust; trust in your team of who's supporting you and who's giving you advice, and who's telling you what to do.
But let's also bring that back to kind of your third pillar, which is energy, and energy, really physically, but also emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. So, I'm kind of the physical energy girl who also kind of brings that into the rest of our life. So, I truly believe that we cannot be at our best, whether we're a leader — whether we're an everyday person, we cannot be at our best if we don't feel good.
You know when you're sick and you're like ugh, I can't lift my head off this pillow, I can't speak, it's a chore to just go shower — it's hard to be our best, especially physically when we don't have energy. But that also brings it to our emotional connections and our mental clarity and focus, and all that stuff.
So, when I think of energy from a physical dimension, I kind of have four different areas that I focus on with my clients, and of course, nutrition. I'm a registered dietician nutritionist, so nutrition is going to be a big part; but not just what you eat, but when you eat. How are you spreading those calories throughout the day? What's going into that? How is that affecting your energy, your focus, all of that.
Movement and exercise: when we are sitting all day long, we're sitting on the largest muscle of our body, which is our gluteus maximus (laughs). Our butt is the largest muscle in our body. And when you're sitting on it all day long, that is crushing the blood flow to the rest of your body.
So, you literally don't get the oxygen going to the places it needs to go, which is our brain when we're working and thinking and trying to be creative and all that good stuff. So, that movement and exercise is a really big key when I'm working with my clients.
And then we talk about recovery. So, recovery of course is sleep. It's not just quantity of sleep, but it's the quality of sleep. And I used to say that the supplement industry is a billion-dollar industry, but I swear the sleep industry is now a billion-dollar industry.
It's insane. You can buy like $8,000 mattress covers, like all this stuff. And I'm not saying don't- because your sleep is so important. If that's what you need to get a good night's sleep, it is worth every penny.
And so, working on some of the barriers to sleep, how can I get that good night of sleep? How can I get the quality of sleep that I need? But then also recovery, and I know you're big on recovery as well, that it's not just okay, getting my sleep, but when's the last time you did take a vacation? When's the last time you played hooky and just took a day off for you?
We now call them mental health days, and they're legit in companies that you could take a mental health day, and why not? We should be taking those mental health days. And so, I really think that our body is business relevant, our body is relevant, our physical body, our health, not just disease prevention, but the way we show up on a daily basis.
How we eat, when we eat, what we eat, how we move, what kind of exercise we're doing, how strong is our muscles, and then making sure we get that recovery really impacts so much of everything that we're talking about in terms of “Be Undaunted.”
George Dom (14:00):
And I think one of the themes that we'll be talking about in the weeks ahead is about how this is all training. You're not born with this, and it's just a matter like anything else, whether you're building your physical muscle or your mental muscle or your emotional muscles — we'll be talking about how you go about A, building your energy capacity, and then preserving it, not letting it leak or barriers and distractions and all that stuff in each of the four dimensions. That's going to be really fun to cover.
Tara Collingwood (14:36):
Yeah, absolutely. So, talk to us a little bit about mindset. So, when I'm working with clients, I know no one is going to change their behavior unless they have a strong why behind it. I was just talking to a client earlier today about well, why do you want to lose this weight, improve your blood sugar, like all these different things.
And so, if you don't have that strong, compelling reason, it's not going to happen. And then that brings us to the mindset of, okay, now I see the light at the end of the tunnel or the thing that I'm reaching for in terms of why I want to do this, but having the right mindset, I feel like is so key.
George Dom (15:26):
Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you think about it, strategy is great, but without any energy, it's not going to go anywhere, or you see values that aren't practiced and developed and show up in your behavior, they're just posters on the wall.
Tara Collingwood (15:47):
Oh, and I think that's so important. So many people say one thing, “Oh, this is really important to me,” and all that, but your actions are actually what are going to show whether that is true or not. So, I love that: values without energy become posters. And posters are just stuck on a wall, and unless they come to life, they aren't going to make a change, right?
George Dom (16:12):
Yeah. You know I just recently was a COO of an aviation company out here on the West Coast, ACI Jet, and we had our values, our four core values posted on the wall in the headquarters there.
But one thing that we did that I thought was really neat was every month, we would have an all hands meeting, 30 minutes- where everybody in the company, nearly 400 people could tune in, and they would get a rapid fire coverage from the executive team on what each of the executives saw as their challenges, what their priorities were, and so forth.
And then they would end their comments by giving a shout out to somebody that was in their department or their business unit and say why this person was exemplifying one of our core values. And what that did for us was it correlated the word with actual practical behavior, so that people would go, “Oh, so that's what you mean by integrity, or that's what you mean by service, or that's what you mean by safety, and so forth.” And so, that was how we bridged from being just posters on the wall to actually trying to affect behavior. Pretty cool.
Tara Collingwood (17:33):
And doing that, helped so many different things. So, yes, it showed values that your employees were also showing, but then by the fact that you guys were calling them, out also showed some of the values of your company that we value you.
And we value all of the contributions that you're giving, because I think that happens too little in the common workplace where it's so easy for all of us — even at home, for us, we complain. You ask someone, “How was your vacation?” They're like, “Oh, it was really good, but …” and then they tell you about the flight that was delayed and the this or the that.
And it's like it's so easy for us to complain (laughs), it's more easy for us to find fault than it is to find the positives sometimes. And so, calling out those positives instead of always focusing on complaining in the workplace, especially all of that breeds … whenever people are complaining all the time, it just grows legs and feeds on itself. And so, having more of that positive culture, I think is so important.
George Dom (18:44):
Absolutely. Well, it looks like our time is about up, man. It's gone way too fast. This has been really fun for our first one.
Tara Collingwood (18:52):
Ah, I can't believe it. I know, it's really fun. So, in future episodes, what you guys are going to see is some more of the brilliance of George and Tara (laughs), of course. But we also plan to have some amazing guests, maybe some people that you've heard of, maybe some people that you haven't.
But every single guest that we're going to have is going to be an incredible person who of course, has wonderful things to share about maybe some things that they've overcome in their life, leadership, or whatever it is that they are going to share with us.
So, I'm excited for our conversations (yours and mine, George), but I'm also excited for bringing in other people that I know in my life, that yoWu know in your life, and I love that the two of us, maybe we should talk about that. That people are like, “How did the two of you (laughs) happen to come together for this podcast?”
Because George really focuses on this high trust leadership, is an amazing leader obviously, with all of the things that you have in your experience, and I've been working with high performance athletes and executives for many, many years.
That's why we came together, is because we come from these two different worlds, but yet what we talk about helps people to become better in every area of your life. And we just really have high respect and love for each other. So (laughs), any chance we get to do something together, George and I are like, “Yes!”
George Dom (20:34):
Well, and as you said, being undaunted, it's all about human performance. It's not about rank, it's not about whatever, it's about how you show up, especially when it could be easier not to, and that's what we need.
Tara Collingwood (20:50):
Yeah, exactly. Because we all have things that happen in our lives that knock us down a little bit, but it's how we get back up, it's that resilience. We're going to talk a lot about that too. How do we get back up and then continue on in life even when life gives us some of the hardest knocks there are out there.
George Dom (21:08):
This isn't a rehearsal, so we got to bring our A game every day. We can't waste it.
Tara Collingwood (21:13):
What? I have to bring my A game? Are you serious? You didn't tell me that.
Alright, so until next time, my friends, be undaunted.
[Music Playing]
George Dom (21:22):
Thanks for joining us. See you next time.
Tara Collingwood (21:24):
Follow us for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listing right now, and you can join us to learn, grow, and lead together.
George Dom (21:33):
This is Be Undaunted.