Worthy Wins: Finding Clarity & Success in What Matters Most with John Olinger

The Jon Gordon Podcast

Jon Gordon

Education, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of The Jon Gordon Podcast, I sit down with John Olinger—author, consultant, and former Nike marketing leader—for an honest and insightful conversation about his new book, Worthy Wins.

John's journey is shaped by both professional achievement and personal loss: from a decade with Nike working alongside elite athletes and the world's most advanced technology, to navigating the unexpected death of his father and the perspective-shifting realization that time is both scarce and uncertain. In our conversation, John shares the story behind Worthy Wins, the powerful concept of getting radically clear on what matters most, and why so many of us risk "winning" at the wrong things without ever realizing it.

Together, we explore John's lessons from the corporate world—where clarity and alignment can mean the difference between organization-wide momentum and wasted effort—as well as his personal life, where the true measure of success lies in relationships and intentional living. John opens up about the tensions between accomplishment and connection, the influence of mentors like Kobe Bryant, and practical strategies for identifying your own worthy wins, whether leading a team or navigating your family.

About John,

John Olinger spent a decade as a Brand and Digital Marketing leader for Nike and Jordan Brand, including three years captaining Global Marketing for Kobe Bryant. He reached a career inflection point after the unexpected passing of his father and left Nike in 2022 to become a consultant, author, and speaker. His first book, Worthy Wins, came out in 2025 to help individuals and organizations win in the places that matter most. John was recently tapped to become the President of Unitus, a Christian footwear and apparel brand, started by NBA player Jonathan Isaac. John is married to his AMAZING wife, Erin, and they are raising three energetic boys in Florida.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the John Gordon podcast, where we share John's interviews with guests, as well as key strategies and lessons from his keynotes, coaching, and more.
0:09.0	We want to encourage you to check out John Gordoncertified.com if you're interested in growing as a leader, coach, speaker, or trainer.
0:15.6	When you get certified, you'll be able to teach, coach, and train others on John's most impactful mindset, leadership, and teamwork principles.
0:22.4	For more information, visit John Gordoncertified.com.
0:25.5	That's J-O-N-Gordoncertified.com.
0:28.5	Now, let's jump into today's episode.
0:31.5	Hey, this is John Gordon with the John Gordon podcast.
0:34.4	And today, my guest is John Onger. John, how you doing? Doing great, brother. Olinger or Olinger? Olinger, you nailed it, man. I said it right. Yes, nailed it. I should know that because we're friends, but now I feel even better that I got it right. I appreciate it. And I appreciate you asking. Sometimes people don't ask and then I have to correct them and it gets awkward. So you were on top of it, man.
0:58.4	You worked at one of the coolest companies on the planet. What is that company you worked for and with?
1:04.3	I spent a decade working at Nike in marketing, working with some of the best athletes on the planet and some of the most advanced
1:11.8	technologies that the footwear industry has ever seen. I'm pretty grateful for it. What did you learn
1:17.3	working with Nike? I learned a lot of things, but the most important thing is, and where you and I
1:24.8	have connected really well, is that winning winning is subjective and I sat in rooms with
1:30.9	a lot of very smart people a lot of very driven people a lot of very accomplished people and what would
1:37.8	happen when we would sit around a table is that those ideas and those really smart people wouldn't end up seeing eye to eye.
1:47.5	And so what we had to figure out as a team and as an organization and on a specific project,
1:53.0	whatever we're working on, how do we get extremely clear about what success looks like?
1:58.1	Because all of us view it differently.
2:00.4	And a lot of times, you know, that would mean somebody had to fall on the sword of their
2:04.7	idea, even though they really loved it for the sake of ultimately achieving what was most important.
2:11.7	Achieving what is most important.
2:13.9	Sounds like worthy wins.
	...

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