The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Leaders are learners. The best leaders never stop working to make themselves better. The Learning Leader Show Is series of conversations with the world's most thoughtful leaders. Entrepreneurs, CEO's, World-Class Athletes, Coaches, Best-Selling Authors, and much more.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes for episode #617 with Adam Galinsky Notes: 10 Words - “We are not going down. We are going to Philly.” The composure of pilot Tammy Jo Shults after the side of her airplane exploded. Leadership is needed most when things go bad. How do you respond when adversity strikes? Those are the moments when we must be prepared to share the vision and help our team stay the course. EMTs asked, "How did you get through security? You have nerves of steel. You don't even have an elevated heart rate." The 1992 cockpit study of pilots. Did more errors happen at the beginning or the end of a 19-hour flight? You’d assume the end because of exhaustion. However, more errors happen at the beginning of the flight because the crews don’t know each other yet. How does this translate to your team? It’s imperative to genuinely care and get to know the people on your team. Host barbeque parties, ask questions, and genuinely LEARN about the people you’re leading. Those aren’t soft skills, those are essential skills. What did Adam learn from his parents? The idea of Kaizen, is a Japanese business philosophy that promotes continuous improvement through small, incremental changes. Kaizen means "good change," "change for the better," or "improvement." Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring. Great leader exercise: "Tell me about a leader that inspired you..." What qualities do they possess? "Courage, Optimism, Generous." Inspire - the universal path for leading yourself and others Build habits - floss teeth before brushing. Write thank you notes. Moments of Greatness -- Elks basketball Team thank you notes - Rob Kimbel Columbia football coach -- "Who can I yell at?" Need to know who can handle it. Ron Ullery -- Share the vision early. 1:1 conversation, bring your leaders in. Adam did not get tenure when most thought he deserved it. They messed up by not sharing the vision until after, but then they made it better by sharing and showing him love. He then turned down Harvard to stay at Northwestern because of it. Vision - Big picture. Put context for behavior. Why is consistency important? The Great Gatsby and his dad. Greenlights. When you're thinking about trying to persuade others, you persuade yourself. Parenting -- When you flip out, they do too. We set the tone.
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Mindful Monday is the best way to start your week. Sign up for free here: https://ryanhawk.kit.com/profile Bob Stoops was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2016. He led the Sooners to a 191-48 record over his career. His 2000/2001 team won the national championship. He earned the National Coach of the Year award the same season. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach in the XFL, winning an XFL Championship in 2023 with the Arlington Renegades. He played college football at the University of Iowa, earning team MVP his senior year as a defensive back. Notes: Coaches Bob has worked for: Hayden Fry at Iowa, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, and Steve Spurrier at Florida. He's worked for some amazing coaches. Relationships are everything. You must connect with people. You must be authentic. Learn from other coaches, but you have to be yourself Sherri Coale: “One of my favorite things about him is he’s the busiest man on the planet but never appeared that way. That’s a skill and an art. That fascinates me.” What makes a great head coach? They relate to people. They care about them. They can motivate and influence by clearly sharing the vision of the program and inspiring others to get on board. They are decisive people. Most importantly, they know how to connect with people. All leadership is a people business. If you can’t connect with others, you’ll probably struggle. Creating a “coaches forest” (beyond a tree) - Mike Stoops, Mark Mangino, Mike Leach, Bo Pelini, Kevin Sumlin, Kevin Wilson, Lincoln Riley, and more. How has Bob prepared so many guys to be successful head coaches? Hiring – “I always tried to hire people smarter than me.” A lot of people say this, but not all do this. Coach Stoops looked for people who had a track record of performance… And then he used his gut instincts after he spent time with him. He paid attention to how they treated his secretary, how they treated the waiter at lunch… Some call those the little things, but they were very important to Coach Stoops The overarching theme of the entire conversation was the simplicity of how Coach Stoops built his program. He didn’t try to overcomplicate anything. He knew he wanted coaches who were accomplished, high-character people. And he wanted tough players who loved football. Their offenses may have looked exotic but they didn’t have a ton of plays installed. They focused on what they did and then practiced it relentlessly so that they would execute better than their opponents. I think there’s something beautiful in the simplicity with how he’s built his program and the results speak for themselves. Great players want to be coached - Jeremiah Smith, Adrian Peterson. What he looked for in players: They have to LOVE football. Need to be tough and physical. Someone like Dan Cody. From Oklahoma, was skinny, and nobody on the staff wanted to give him a scholarship, but Coach Stoops did, and he turned out to be a great player. Liked to keep local guys home. Off-season workouts create the culture of the team. "We won because we outworked everyone." The attitude of the national championship team - "They were tired of being kicked around." And "I shared with them the history of Oklahoma and let them know the way it should be. When we started, they were a losing team." Josh Heupel - The most valuable recruit ever for Coach Stoops. Mike Leach was a 1 of 1. An original. He seemed relaxed and casual, but he was also very demanding that they do it right. He was also focused on just a few plays instead of trying to do everything. FOCUS. Do what we do Wife Carol - Impressive leader at Mary Kay. Won a pink Cadillac 16 years in a row. National Sales Director. Life/Career Advice - Go hard, be tough, be true to yourself, enjoy the struggle, and look forward to the fight. Nothing great happens without going through struggles first.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and all episodes of The Learning Leader Show Notes: Brad Thor best selling author of 22 thrillers... Excellence as a leader… What has Brad seen from the military leaders he’s studied: Empathy - Understand what it’s like from their perspective. LISTEN - Care for your people. Actually LISTEN to them and be there. Creativity. Innovate, and think of new creative ways to solve problems. Effective storytelling - Don’t start with the weather. Leave out the parts people skip. Don’t be boring. This same advice is useful for leaders when communicating with your team. Put yourself in their shoes. How can you most effectively share your message without being boring. The more entertaining it is, the more likely they’ll remember it. Effective storytellers - Plotters (outlines, Dan Brown), Pantsers (write by the seat of your pants). Brad is a pantser. Take the first 4 ideas and throw them out. You need the element of surprise. Create surprise. Be comfortable breaking the rules. Loves Ray Donavon and Billions for the element of surprise "No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader." "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." Brad has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit. Excellence as a leader (McChrystal) - Empathy, Listen, Creativity. PBL - Problem-Based Learning. John Bettis (country singer). How do you recharge your battery? International travel. Immerse yourself in another culture. Loves politics. Ran for President. Advice for writers – “Gotta Keep Writing” Mary Higgins Clark did it for 2 hours each morning before her family woke up. Whatever it is we want to be great at, we have to get the reps. Consistency beats intensity.   00:53 The Art of Storytelling 04:13 Elements of Effective Storytelling 08:26 The Importance of Surprise in Storytelling 11:33 Writing Process and Challenges 20:43 Research and Realism in Writing 27:04 Leadership Lessons from Writing 30:59 The Importance of Open-Mindedness 32:01 Pre-Publishing Feedback Process 35:09 Homeland Security and the Red Cell Unit 39:05 Maintaining Creative Energy 42:38 Political Ambitions and Leadership 50:57 Advice for Aspiring Writers 54:36 The Benefits of Reading Fiction for Leaders 56:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. Notes: The Pete and Leona story - What will people say about you at your funeral? "They changed my life and the lives of my entire family." Tough love out of 100% care for you. Be tough AND supportive. Don't lower your standards. High standards. High support. 10 to 25 - Find the right trigger for motivation. Find out what they care about. They need meaning and significance. They want status and earned respect. Are children less afraid of their parents now than they used to be? Dan Gilbert calls this the "illusion of moral decline." It's been happening for 75 years. The Parental Nagging Study - A common tactic adults use to get teens to “pay attention.” Research shows that nagging triggers the emotional part of a teen’s brain, shutting down their ability to think logically. They’re not ignoring you on purpose—they’re simply wired to tune out. A better way? Speak calmly and neutrally to engage the part of their brain that handles planning and decision-making. This opens the door to real conversation. Satya Nadella’s Model, Coach, Care philosophy at Microsoft. This is the opposite of Jack Welch’s rank and yank style at GE. Remember, the stack ranking methodology limited innovation and stopped people from taking any type of risk. We want to model the right behavior, coach others, and ensure they know we care for them so they feel the support they need to take risks, sometimes fail, get back up, and work to innovate. Theory X = Rank and yank. It stifled innovation for fear of failure and getting fired. Theory Y = No stack rankings. Built on connecting leaders with their people. Still high standards and demanding. Followed the "Model, Coach, Care" methodology. This is what's happening today at Microsoft. Be a place where people want to work. The Mentor's Dilemma - Stef Okamoto - honest, direct, and supportive. The "mentor's dilemma" refers to the challenge of balancing honest, critical feedback to young people while still maintaining their motivation and self-esteem, as this age group can be particularly sensitive to perceived criticism and may easily feel discouraged or disrespected if not approached carefully; essentially, it's the struggle between pushing someone to improve and potentially damaging their confidence by being too harsh. The mentor mindset: A mentor mindset can be adopted by using practices such as validating young people's perspectives, asking them questions, and holding them to high standards. Questioning – Kate, a mom of two who lives in Chicago, whose oldest son was a sophomore came home one night from a party drunk and high. Kate responded with a combination of yelling and prosecuting… She instigated an interrogation and not a two-way conversation. Instead of interrogating, get curious. They had a reason for what they did. Figure out why. What's your plan? Ask questions to get them to own their thinking and share it with you. Advice - Don’t accept some perceived path. Be reliable, show up, do the work, and ask for more work. Add surplus value. Whatever you’re being paid, focus on delivering 10x more value. Find a way to do that and your employer will beg to give you a raise and promote you.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Notes: Mo Bunnell is the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of seller experts at over 400 clients all over the world. I wake up every morning looking to help my friends succeed, and some just happen to be clients.  — Proactively thinking of ways to add value to others is a great way to build a meaningful life. Our brains think literally. Relationships grow exponentially. Give consistently to grow relationships. Celebrate incremental progress. Mo writes in a journal the growth of himself, his business, and his customers. We all should be better at celebrating incremental progress. Teresa Amabile’s research shows that this leads to a more enjoyable life. August 4, 1984, was a meaningful day for his family. (Dad’s alcoholism. That was the day of his last drink) The difference between doing the work versus winning the work Example: You win the work by asking lots of questions. You do the work giving answers. Every successful career hinges on two things: Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Both delivering value on the current work and developing the relationships that create future opportunities are vital for long-term success. Whether you’re in a new role or want new outcomes, the most powerful results come from prioritizing both Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Ask questions – Mo shares 50+ questions to ask. Ask self-disclosure questions. Those are questions that only that person can answer. Fall in love with the problem. Pronoia – The world is out to help you succeed. People can live in 1 of 3 ways. Drift - Stay busy. Answer emails.  Driven - Hyper emphasis on one thing at the detriment of others (triathlon guy) By Design - Write down where you want to be and make a plan to do it. On purpose. Delayed gratification: Weekly planning process Offer 3 proactive change agent ideas Mo is in 5 masterminds Shawn Blanc in Breckenridge. Net givers. MASHUP - His house. Help others. Ask for help. Elite Adventure athletes GivetoGrow.Info MASHUP! Mastermind of Awesome Super Human Unreal People
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and to listen to all episodes of The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk Lawrence Yeo is a storytelling teacher and the founder and writer at MoreToThat.com. He writes stories about the nuances of the human condition. He’s become one of my favorite writers over the past few years and regularly makes me rethink what I believe. Notes Envy: Envy is inversely correlated with self-examination. The less you know yourself, the more you look to others to get an idea of your worth. But the more you delve into who you are, the less you seek from others, and the dissolution of envy begins. Curiosity is gratitude for the unknown – “The key to cultivating curiosity is to have a healthy relationship with uncertainty.” Lawrence is called the L.S.E. by his wife. The Life Story Extractor. Ask More Questions to Those You Love - It’s quite shocking how few questions you ask when you’re with people you’re comfortable with. If you’re no longer curious to know about the person in front of you (friend, wife, parent), then that relationship is devoid of life. Your Values: Your values are as unique as your genes because no one shares the exact set of experiences and insights that were required to form them. They are the fingerprints of your being, and they are the invisible forces that guide everything you touch. Integrity is the ability to navigate the outer world without discounting your inner values. There is an anchor of authenticity that you’re unwilling to budge, no matter how fervently people want you to.” Confidence is a commitment to trusting your inner compass, despite how strong the outer winds are. If you do the work to know yourself, then you’ll realize that no external voice can convey the inner complexities you embody. And through that awareness, you’ll reliably choose your intuition above all else. The Problem with Following Your Passion - Ultimately, you can’t live off your love for something. It doesn’t matter how powerful your inner engine of expression is; without the fuel of money, you will stall out and be left on the side of the road. And like it or not, the only way for this fuel to be provided to you is to create something valuable enough to warrant that exchange. Ambition - Ambition is critical to the development of a healthy mind. Not only does it allow you to know who you truly are, but it also acts as a gateway to humility. Since ambition is about putting the bar ahead of you, you’ll understand your shortcomings in a visceral way." Ambition breeds humility. Always setting the bar ahead of where you are. "I'm not quite there yet." “This email brought me to tears.” -"Hi Lawrence, I just came across your site and love what I am reading. Great insights and reflects a lot of my thoughts lately, like the last 20 years. I'm 72, stage four cancer, and the happiest I've ever been because I have the luxury of being able to examine my life. Best self-help ever. I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing." Writing: 2 types of writing: Writing to think. Writing to present. Journal vs. Diary. Journal is asking why you feel the way you do. A diary is a catalog of what happened. Have a job that acts as a patron for your creative work. Moretothat.com -- There's always something deeper. Advice - Learn storytelling. Consistency is the driving force of your curiosity.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk Codie Sanchez is an entrepreneur and investor known for founding Contrarian Thinking, a media and business education company. She has a diverse background, including entrepreneurship, finance, and journalism. Through her book "Main Street Millionaire," she advocates for wealth-building by acquiring small businesses and shares her insights on financial independence and business success. Codie emphasizes practical, contrarian approaches to wealth and leadership. Notes: Her dad always said to her: ‘You’re not going to be a princess, you’re going to be the president’  – It’s a great reminder of the power we have as leaders to believe in someone and raise their level of expectations because you see something special in them. Codie was glowing while talking about her dad.  How Codie earned a job at Vanguard. She went to conferences. She met people. She got IN THE ROOM and took action. And then when she got her opportunity, she led with her curiosity, asked questions from the woman she met with, learned, read the books she told her to read, and followed up. Showing up, doing extra, and following up are a great way to earn a job that you might not be qualified for. How you start and end your meetings. What type of energy do you bring to the space? Remember, you no longer get to be energy-neutral as a leader. You’re either lifting the room up or taking it away. We want to add energy additives to the rooms we enter. One of Codie's favorite books – Letters to a Young Contrarian by Cristopher Hitchins. “What I like about Christopher Hitchens, he pushed back against the common narrative in a time where to be an activist was really frowned upon” “He was what the people these days that say they're activists actually are. He really had no loyalty to any type of thought; he was simply trying to find the truth. He was the inspiration for contrarian thinking” Career Path – “I don’t believe that humans have linear paths ever. Anyone who has had an interesting career in my opinion has had a completely divergent set of experiences. High Performers: They hate small talk. Are not okay with wasting your time. Do what they say they’re going to do. Do it with urgency. Are obsessed, not just interested. Goal Setting: “If you want to be a person who hits your goals: Skip setting goals and set sacrifices. What are you willing to give up to get what you want? That is the missing piece to winning. Every one of your goals has a price." Codie's Anti-Goals: Being an employee/work for others, Selling other people's products, Speaking for free, Coffee meetings. The richest self-made woman in the US is… Diane Hendricks (co-founded the largest wholesale roofing, siding, and window distribution company). There are billions in the boring. Writing = Clarifying Your Thinking Writing helps Codie think clearly and organize her thoughts. The process of writing demands coherence and structure, unlike verbal communication. 4 Parts to buy a business -  Cover debt, Cash to have an operator, Money to make a salary, Operating cash. 3, 9, 12 method - Learn the 10 steps in the first 3 months. Get in on a deal. Stabilize. Boring Businesses - Laundromats, car washes, and port-a-potty services can be very profitable. They are less glamorous but have a higher success rate compared to sexier industries. Advice - Meet with a small business owner. Ask to shadow them. Get curious. 42% of the population works for or in a small business.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. Books: The Score That Matters, The Pursuit of Excellence, Welcome to Management Notes: The Commitment Continuum Resistant Reluctant Existent - Stealing scholarships (sandwich eaters) Compliant - Box checkers Committed - Heart is into it. They do extra. They are bought in. Compelled (Obsessed) - On a mission. Do an audit first of yourself. Where am I on that continuum? And then each member of your team. The goal is to get each member closer to becoming committed and compelled. Team audit - Where is everyone? People can drift down if their needs aren't met. For existent and compliant - Shift mindset to "I get to be here!" For committed and compelled - Keep them challenged. Put them in leadership roles. The art of leadership - Make it easier to move up on the commitment continuum. Walt Disney - The little things are the big things. Jeff experienced this firsthand when he went on a Disney cruise and saw the workers polishing the railings on the cruise ship early in the morning. The same is true for the janitor mopping the floor at NASA. There’s a story about President John F Kennedy in 1962. He was at NASA and he asked the janitor what he was doing. The janitor replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” The leader should be praising everyone involved in the mission and celebrate their role and its importance. Holding your teammates accountable - “We’re not calling you out, we’re calling you up.” The encourager and the enforcer help raise the standards and encourage others to aim higher. That’s the role of the leaders on great teams. “We’re not calling you out, we’re calling you up.” What's our vision? Am I embodying the standards myself? Have we clearly set the standards and got buy-in? "These are the expectations and standards of our program." Performance and behavior metrics Praise people when they meet the standard The best teams practice so much that they can't get it wrong. Team Captain's Leadership Manual. Mike Fox. Can you lead yourself first? Commitment. Composure. When it hits the fan, can you stay poised? Character: Can I trust you? How do we get people excited to be part of the leadership development program? Make it a privilege. They have to apply and get accepted into the program. They "get" to do it. Make it relevant to their lives. Give real-world strategies. The encourager - Calls out great work The enforcer - "We need more from you." The servant - It's not about you or your stats. It's about serving others. The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches Character-based people. They do the right thing. People trust them. Extremely committed to the mission and the team. Competent Care Confidence Builder Communicator (great listener) Consistent
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for the full show notes of The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk. Eric Jorgenson is the CEO of Scribe Media, the largest Professional Publisher. He’s also the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness and The Anthology of Balaji. His books have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages.  Notes: The obsessive genius. Eric likes to invest in founders who have been obsessively trying to solve a problem for years. They are myopically focused on that one thing. They have a depth of expertise in the area where they focus. Eric has developed the skill to get good at recognizing that genius in others and that’s helped him make good investing decisions. He is an investor in dozens of (borderline crazy) deep-tech startups through Rolling Fun. They fund obsessive geniuses building utopian technologies. Eric’s first 90+ days as the CEO of Scribe: He spent as much time as possible learning from the current members of the team. Leading with curiosity, asking questions, listening, and leading with trust. Being both trustworthy and willing. You don’t have to earn my trust, you have it. "Flawless on the Fundamentals" - The one phrase Scribe is focused on. Your content diet: It's more important than a healthy/wellness/food diet. "If you're taking in bad information, you're becoming a moron." You want high-signal sources of information. An audience of 1 - "I wrote that book for myself." Bezos - Great compression of ideas and communicating them to the team. Focused on one thing. Why write a book with Scribe instead of a traditional publisher... You want 100% ownership of your IP We talked in depth about Naval Ravikant and his viral Twitter thread titled, “How to get rich without getting lucky” – Here are some of the tweets from that thread: Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy. Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you. Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth-creation games. Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people. Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity. Don't partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling. Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now. Insane and Pragmatic – Great founders are insane and pragmatic. Yes, both. Leverage – How do you build a mountain of levers? (Levers are force multipliers. This is how some people can accomplish 10x, 100x, or 1,000,000x what others can. Leverage can multiply outcomes from your effort, your skill, and your judgment.) “You can make it big without accountability. You can make it big without specific knowledge. But if you don’t have leverage, you’re never going to make real wealth. Leverage is the most important component of the principles I’ve discussed.” - Naval Transformation Through Writing: Writing a book can be a transformative process that deeply embeds certain mental models and knowledge. Interview Process: Engaging with a skilled interviewer can help clarify ideas, which is particularly valuable for busy executives who wish to author books but lack the time to write them themselves. Impact of Books: Books can play unique roles in positioning leaders and sharing knowledge, which is an invaluable tool for personal branding and legacy. Learning from Experts: Eric believes that his talent lies in recognizing and synthesizing the genius of others, which he shares through his books and investments. Professional Growth: Through interacting with talented individuals and absorbing high-quality content, Eric has developed a nuanced understanding of what drives excellence.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3Yrxfj8 Notes Luck is not real – “Luck is something we conjure in our minds to grapple with the consequences of whatever life may throw our way. Luck is a physiological concept. It’s determined by how we view a situation. Academic studies show that you can become luckier simply by telling yourself that you are lucky.” Pessimists sound smart, but optimists change the world. Believe in yourself. Have agency. Strive to make something happen. "Luck is the flip side of risk. They are mirrored cousins, driven by the same thing: You are one person in a 7 billion player game, and the accidental impact of other people’s actions can be more consequential than your own." - Morgan Housel Surround yourself with compounders and fire your boring friends– Being around other ambitious people who are willing to push you will make you better. Strike the balance between being loyal to longtime friends, and doing anything for them, but spending the bulk of your time around people who will push your edges and make you think bigger. Fire your Boring Friends - “If you are optimizing for living an extraordinary” life, you have to fire all the boring friends and find people living extraordinary lives.” You don’t get what you don’t ask for. I love the story of Anthony meeting his future wife, Polina, for coffee and asking for the next date for that same night. The answer is NO if you don’t ask. It’s worth the potential rejection because the upside is so great. In this case, they got married and have two children. The people who sustain excellence are not afraid to make the ask. Get on the plane -- When in doubt, go see them in person. "Experience is a liability when it comes to setting expectations." Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Not knowing that something is supposed to be hard can be useful. Respect other people's time - “When I was playing football in college one of our coaches used to say, “5 minutes early is on time and on time is late.” By respecting other people's time they will realize you are a serious person. Childhood is not a crutch — Don't have a victim mindset to use childhood as a crutch for poor behavior. “It’s easy to use your childhood as a crutch instead of seeing it as a chisel.” - Cameron Hanes Simplicity signals mastery — Tim Urban is the master at this. As a writer and/or teacher, your writing should make the reader feel smarter, not dumber. Using big complicated words and sentences shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about. The world seems to separate itself into two groups - the people who never stop learning and everyone else. Document Good Ideas – Ideas run the world. “I created a system that works well for me. I broke everything down into four areas where I could find a good idea. Books, social media, conversations, and audio/video content. Advice: "Seek risk. What is the riskiest thing you can do? The greatest returns are on the other side of risk. Run towards the risk."
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/48nSff1 Dr. Meg Meeker has spent more than thirty years practicing pediatric and adolescent medicine and counseling teens and parents. Dr. Meeker is a popular speaker and bestselling author of several books, including the national bestseller, STRONG FATHERS, STRONG DAUGHTERS; THE 10 HABITS OF HAPPY MOTHERS; and BOYS SHOULD BE BOYS. Notes:   One of the best things fathers can do is raise their daughters’ expectations of life. That will directly affect how your daughter talks, how she dresses, how well she does in school, and even what sports or musical instruments she chooses to play. You can help her set goals, help her define a higher purpose for her life, and as a result, her self-esteem will skyrocket. And it will bring you closer, because she’ll recognize you as a leader and an ally, helping her to chart a better course. Don’t post anything about your kids on social media. It makes them think they are your trophy to show off. And be mindful of how you talk about them to others. Do you only focus on their accomplishments? They are listening to what you say about them… Be the man you want her to marry – See it, do it, teach it. What are the 5 strongest character qualities you want your children to have? How are you showing that to them every day? You are setting the standard. They are watching carefully. You will create what is quote, “normal,” in their life. Are you living with integrity, working hard, not speaking poorly behind others backs? You are showing them how they should behave. If you were watching yourself from outside your body, would you like what you see? We have to live it every day. Your daughter sees you (her dad) as her hero. The smartest, strongest, best person in the world.  Kids want their dad's approval. "I want attention just for being me, not for performing a sport." "You don't just love them. You love their company." Always do good work, but don't boast about it. "He believed in me." -- The power of the belief that Meg's dad had in her. Teach her Humility - Genuine humility is the starting point for every other virtue. But teaching it is tricky. Your daughter needs to feel unique and important in your eyes. Humility doesn’t make sense unless it’s modeled. To fulfill her potential, your daughter needs to understand who she is, where she comes from, and where she’s going. Humility is seeing ourselves honestly… Self-centeredness is a problem if we base our entire lives around our kids wants and desires. Clarify your morals (without apology) – If you want her to live by a code or set of values, you must first live by them. If you don’t want her to lie, then you should never lie. If you don’t want her to use cuss/swear words, then you should not use them. If you don’t want to her to drink, then don’t normalize it in your house. She wants to see conviction and leadership in her father. Teach your kids to serve in a soup kitchen. Be in service of others. Gain perspective by seeing how others who are less fortunate than you live. Embrace them when they fail. The dad plants the default in the minds of their children. What do you want that default behavior to be? How to approach your daughter's boyfriends? Shake their hands Be curious, ask questions Invite them over for dinner
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3NszPAg Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL who for 20 years led special operations teams as a Team Leader, Platoon Commander, Troop Commander, and Task Unit Commander. Jack is also the #1 New York Times Best Selling author of 8 books and his debut novel, The Terminal List, was adapted into the #1 Amazon Prime Video series starring Chris Pratt. Notes  When Jack was little, he hoped to grow up and do two things. Be a Navy SEAL and become an author. Jack's grandfather died at war. "It's in my blood." "You have to prove that you can add value to your tribe." "Great warriors run to the sound of the guns to be with their fellow service members." Commonality of the best SEAL Leaders: Trust, up and down the chain of command High character Good decision-maker: The decisions you’ve made in the past are your currency. Do things you don’t have to do. Run with the squad, put rounds down range. You don’t have to be the best at it, but you should be very good at all of the things the people you’re leading are doing. Reading novels: "When I was young, I was reading for the magic in those pages." PUT IN THE WORK… Jack has been putting in the work since he was little. He read books for the magic in those pages. All of that reading has helped inform him of what great storytelling looks like. And then he PUT IN THE WORK. If you want to be a published author, you need to WRITE. It’s that simple. Do the work, and get the manuscript done. And then take the next step. A lot of people want to be published authors. Not everyone wants to write. Like Ronnie Coleman said, “A lot of people want to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift these heavy weights every day.”  Mentor, Brad Thor: “Brad told me that the only difference between a published and unpublished author is that the published author doesn’t quit.” Writers Block – One thing I’ll share from Steven Pressfield is that he said “Hey, you never hear of a trucker getting trucker’s block”. Writer’s block does not exist - you just have to go do it. Books to recommend: ONCE AN EAGLE by Anton Myrer. It is advice that a wise Sam Damon shares: “You can’t help what you were born and you may not have much to say about where you die, but you can and you should try to pass the days in between as a good man.” In the end that really says it all. Advice: Never miss an opportunity to make someone’s day… Make that your default setting. Work to add value to others' lives. Make their day. Help them. Make introductions, LISTEN to them, offer ideas to help solve their issues
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com My books: Welcome to Management - https://amzn.to/3XWyZAH  The Pursuit of Excellence - https://amzn.to/4eX9vtP  The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/3zPub7Z  Seth Godin is the author of 21 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about work and art. They have been translated into 38 languages. His breakthrough books include Purple Cow, Tribes, The Dip, Linchpin, and his latest book is called This is Strategy. He writes one of the most popular daily blogs in the world and has given 5 TED talks. He is the founder of the altMBA, and the former VP of Direct Marketing at Yahoo! Notes: "If you want word of mouth, you have to create something remarkable, and that means it’s worthy of remark." The elegant path is the most useful way forward. “My neighbor is a barefoot runner. He glides without apparent effort.” Elegance is simplicity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Dorothy and Her Crew. How did Dorothy persuade the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow to join her on the trip to see the Wizard? Did she make a case about how much she missed home? No. She created the conditions where the others could get what they wanted by joining her. Seeing Strategy Clearly. Strategy is a flexible plan that guides us as we seek to create a change. It helps us make decisions over time while working within a system. Low-Hanging Fruit Isn’t. It’s all been picked. The easy, direct, obvious paths are unlikely to get you the results you’re working so hard to obtain. In fact, these paths are probably a trap. Seth, at one point, got 800 rejection letters. Have to keep going... "I wouldn't call Steve Ballmer a good leader." An example of Seth making a difference... He went to Kenya and talked with 60 people who started a book club based on his book Linchpin. "They decided to be leaders." Make decisions in the moment: Examine the issue Get feedback Look for patterns "Taste is knowing what the market wants before it knows it." Rick Rubin Reality distortion field Johnny Cash "What do you think?" "Objections are your friends." What are the commonalities among leaders with whom Seth has worked and who have sustained excellence? They are all different, but the one thing they have in common is they all have chosen to be leaders. And that means that they are here to make a change happen. Management doesn’t just exist. It was invented. When you race to the bottom, You see people as resources, not as people. Questions That Lead To Strategies. 84 questions. They’ll force you to think through your strategy. By answering them, you’ll be better prepared to make a difference… And make a ruckus. Some of them: Who is this project for? What is my timeline? What systems would need to change for my project to succeed? Where will I cause tension? What resistance should I anticipate? Where is the empathy? What asset would transform my project? What can I learn from comparable projects? Is the change I’m making contagious? Can I make it easier for others to decide? How can I design for network effects? What are common objections I expect to encounter?
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com My books: Welcome to Management - https://amzn.to/3XWyZAH  The Pursuit of Excellence - https://amzn.to/4eX9vtP  The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/3zPub7Z  My guest: After years of serving as a high school government and law teacher, Sharon McMahon took her passion for education to Instagram, where more than a million people rely on her for nonpartisan, fact-based information as “America's Government Teacher.” In a time where flashy headlines and false information often take the spotlight, Sharon is a reliable source for truth and logic. Sharon is the author of: The Small and The Mighty – Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement. Notes: What did Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR have in common? The ability to articulate a vision that others wanted to follow. They were great communicators. If you want to lead people, it helps to become a fantastic storyteller. It helps to be able to stand up in front of a group of people and share the vision in an entertaining and informative way. And then execute on that vision. Be a doer. “The best Americans are not the critics, they are the doers. They are the people who went for broke when everyone else yelled to turn back. They are those who know that one becomes great because of who they lift up, not who they put down.” I’ve never observed anyone, regardless of field, achieve lasting prominence while voicing rancor or focusing much on the failings of others. Create and share, support others, and enjoy. Givers and creators always prevail. - Andrew Huberman Door-to-door sales helps you deal with rejection. It's good for you. When you see a new person at the gym, celebrate them. Help them get acclimated. The Hello Girls -- AT&T -- Pioneer of telephones. They were doing their jobs wearing gasmasks with bombs exploding around them. Echo Chambers – As a leader, what you don’t know, can hurt you. Do not surround yourself with “yes men” or “yes women.” You need a diversity of viewpoints. You should feel uncomfortable on a regular basis. You should told you’re wrong from the people you surround yourself with. If you’re not, then you’re living in an echo chamber. Also, pay attention to a broad spectrum of media. If you only watch one news channel or read one newspaper, you will probably end up in an echo chamber. Then develop friendships with people who think differently than you. They’re not wrong because they think the way they do. Instead of judging them, why not be curious and learn more about their viewpoint. Gouverneur Morris – One of Alexander Hamilton’s best friends and one of our founding fathers. He contributed as much or more to the early republic than Ben Franklin or John Adams. He conceived America’s great statement of purpose, the one still recited by schoolchildren. He’s the author of the Preamble of the new United States Constitution. “The best Americans are not the critics, they are the doers. They are the people who went for broke when everyone else yelled to turn back. They are those who know that one becomes great because of who they lift up, not who they put down.” I have learned that no one reaches their final moments of mortal existence and whispers to their loved ones, “I wish I had gotten in some more sick burns in the comments section on Facebook.” Advice: "Be the "can-do" person. Have the best attitude in the room. Be amazing at whatever you choose to do. Be the person that others love to work with."
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Michael Easter’s investigations have taken him to meet with monks in ancient monasteries in Bhutan, lost tribes in the jungles of Bolivia, US Special Forces soldiers in undisclosed locations, gene scientists in Iceland, CEOs in Fortune-500 boardrooms, and more. He’s a professor at UNLV and he’s the best-selling author of The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain. “The modern world is designed for short-term survival and pleasure. It is not set up to help us thrive in the long term.” “Have fun, don’t die, read books, and do strange things.” Be a 2 percenter. 98% of people do the easy thing. We are programmed to do the easy thing. The world was uncomfortable a while ago... It makes sense to do the easy thing. You get the short-term reward for it. Handle adversity, adapt, do the slightly harder thing Some ideas: do walking meetings, work in silence, embrace hunger, don't cut corners, pick up the trash, call people on the phone. Ruck the airport. Don't sit down, walk. Read while exercising. Workout outside. Sprint. Lift weights. The ability to move a limb quickly is what helps old people not fall. Need to be powerful and springy to move quickly (and not fall). Diet - One ingredient foods. Tribe in Bolivia with the healthiest hearts in the world. Be outside, eat one ingredient foods. Scarcity brain - We all suck at moderation. We overconsume... Casinos, slot machines. Quick, repeatable, predictable. The speed makes it powerful. Silicon Valley learned this from casinos and it's how they build their apps. The smartphone withdrawal effect. Worse in short term. Better in the long term. Break bad habits - Slow down. Respond, don't react. Wait 72 hours to buy the thing in your online cart. Junk food is super easy to eat fast. It was designed that way. Your body doesn't know it's full because of the speed. What did Michael learn from a tribe in a Bolivian jungle? They seemed very happy. What did they do? They ate single-ingredient food. They spent a lot of time outside. And they spent a lot of time together. What can we learn from that? Eat healthy, go outside, and spend time with people you love. “A lot of problems are not our fault, but they are our problems to solve.” Remember, we are wired to choose the escalator, fast food or to cut the corner. We need to be intentional in taking the stairs, slowing down, and responding instead of reacting. How the scarcity loop works: It has three parts: opportunity, unpredictable rewards, and quick repeatability. Becoming aware of it can help you fall into it less often. Michael has been sober for 9 years. His drinking addiction stemmed from having a boring life (job he didn't like). Needed to explore the edges. Booze did that for him. Iraq - Sandstorm. We don't read books here. We don't have that luxury. We have too many problems to deal with. In America, we live in a country where we can read books.
Read more about our team at: https://learningleader.com/team/ Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com “Have I ever mentioned how much I f’n love these Phase 2 calls?!? Free cocaine. Straight outta the Dope Factory.” – Geron Stokes "Another thing that I found is an intense interest of the subject is indispensable if you are really going to excel. I could force myself to be fairly good in a lot of things, but I couldn’t be really good in anything where I didn’t have an intense interest." – Charlie Munger Our Team Values & Behaviors: Curious: practice invested listening  Honest: give direct feedback  Intentional: provide purposeful action What is our edge as a TEAM? Our purpose, our values, and our behaviors. We are ACTIVELY doing it. Raw and Simple: We cut through the noise and address the fundamental issues leaders face. Our straightforward approach helps teams confront what they’re not doing and empowers them to take actionable steps toward improvement. In The Arena: We don’t just talk about leadership principles—we live them. Every member of our team actively practices the strategies we coach, ensuring real-world insights and practical solutions. Take Risks: We’re unafraid to push boundaries and challenge conventional thinking. We help leaders take bold actions, even if it means stepping out of their comfort zones or facing tough consequences. Love being on a team that "makes the water rise." We all are better for being together on the same team. Gratitude – You can’t roll up your sleeves and clench your fists at the same time. Living with gratitude is about recognizing and appreciating what you have. This will change the lens in which you view the world. Geron (overheard from Coach Mike Gundy): “I can’t believe they pay us to do this.” It is so much fun working with this team and the reward is that we get to keep doing it. So grateful. The makeup of a great team… They are tough, they have fun together, they care about each other, and they have that gritty humility about them. “Humble enough to listen, gritty enough to apply." Our prep calls – The calls before the calls. We learn so much from our preparation together. It's an open forum to share ideas, disagree, talk through stories, and figure out how to make people better. Some of my favorite times. How to work with the employee who just won’t fully buy-in. Be curious, not judgemental. Ask questions. LISTEN. Care. As Sherri said, “Nobody wants to sleepwalk through life.” We need to figure out what makes them come alive and help them bring that to the team.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of The Learning Leader Community This is Episode #601 with the CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg Notes: What is your creed? I will never stop learning. I won’t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there’s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that’s insurmountable. "People need something to believe in." -- That's what draws talent to the company. What do you look for when hiring a leader? "The four qualities that you can't train..." Work ethic Taste Integrity Curiosity Coaching -- Expose your leaders to coaches. Mirror Ask questions Reflect Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: Optimism in dark times Player coaches -- They can do the work AND lead others Hire well -- They spot talent, hire, train, develop, and retain them Commencement speech -- Encourage others to think bigger. Raise their ambition. From Tyler Cowen -- The high-return activity of raising others’ aspirations - (PhD instead of Masters) At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind.  It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous. Matt's Twitter Bio -- I can think. I can wait. I can fast– This comes from Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. Siddartha said “if you can think, wait, and fast, you can do just about anything.” Don’t constrain your mentors by their availability, engage with their work! Jim Simons was a mentor for Matt. Be guided by beauty. Will Durant - Health lies in action, and so it graces youth. To be busy is the secret of grace and half the secret of content. Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them.” Matt's goals -- My goals in life are to democratize publishing, commerce, and messaging. I travel a lot. In 2023 I visited 63 cities, and 18 countries, and my average velocity was 41.9 miles per hour. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I write code, poetry, prose, and music, often in support of those three goals, but sometimes just to make the world a more beautiful place. I love taking photos and have posted over 30,000 to this site, hence my common username photomatt.
Read our book, The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/4ggpYdW Full shownotes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk We are celebrating episode #600 with Keith Hawk and AJ Hawk Tell a story about an awesome leader you worked with... Ron Ullery – I’m a firm believer that people either live up to or down to your expectations. And most people set their expectations for themselves too low. So it’s on you as a leader to raise those expectations for them. Demand more because you know they can do more. Tyler Cowen – The high return activity of raising others’ aspirations. Encouraged someone who was going for an MBA to get a Phd. At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, especially when they are relatively young, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind.  It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous. What helps you give a great speech? How do you prepare? Ask, "What do I want my audience to do after seeing my speech?" Interview members of their team. Learn their terminology, challenges, what's going well, what's not, what are their goals, etc... Practice, practice, practice. Say it out loud. Rehearse so that once you're on stage, you can let it rip. What did the best teams you’ve been on do differently than the average teams?  The best players on the best teams always practiced the hardest. They set the tone for the work ethic of the team. They chose extra work. They set high standards and they demanded others raise their level of performance. The best teams hung out together outside of work. AJ was a Captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team in 2010-2011... That team regularly hung out together outside of working hours, shared lots of meals, and knew each other extremely well. They trusted each other. Tell a story about how you’ve shown resilience… Failed and what did you do next? The Miami/Ben Roethlisberger story - The world doesn't care what you think you deserve. The primary goal is focused on adding value to others' lives. AJ shared a story from his sophomore year at Ohio State. His defensive coordinator, Coach Mark Dantonio sat with him 1 on 1 watching each play of the Michigan game. A day he’ll never forget for how hard it was, how upset he was, and how determined he was to respond. AJ never lost to Michigan again in his career after that. Pistol shared a story about the time when the new CEO wanted to bring in his own head of sales (which was Pistol's job). Instead of complaining and leaving the company, he got creative and offered a new idea and a great way to leverage all the skills and knowledge he developed from being at the company for so long. It is amazingly rare for the head of sales to stay at a company after he’s been replaced. But he thrived in the role and made the company better. Front line obsession – Pistol’s story of the legendary Mert McGill going to the Supreme Court to demo LexisNexis and earning the most important sale in the company's history. I love stories about leaders proactively taking action and not being afraid to do the work. Update since Episode #500: Built the Learning Leader Team -- Officially working full-time with Sherri Coale, Brook Cupps, Geron Stokes, and Eli Leiker. We are working with leaders from a wide variety of companies throughout the U.S. The magic of the Pat McAfee Show -- They are unafraid. They say what others are thinking but are too afraid to say. They are authentic and fully themselves. They have great role clarity. Everyone knows and embraces their roles and excels at them. The End of the Podcast Draft – You’re stranded on a deserted island. You have one iPad. On that iPad has 5 TV shows (and nothing else). Which shows do you choose? This is a competition with a clear winner and losers. The object is to win the draft.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Sustaining Excellence Good get at getting stuff done Make a change from an expert to a learning machine Apply to be in my Learning Leader Circle Leadership is: Teaching – sharing with others what they need to know, how to do something Mentoring - Help them see the world from our eyes Coaching - Help them see the world through their eyes. To do that, we must be good listeners, ask questions, and challenge them Follow what’s interesting to you… To figure out your passion, you have to do stuff. That’s the only way to fully learn what you’re good at and what you want to do. Have to be willing to try, fail, keep going, and figure out where you excel and what you’re curious about. That’s how you find your passion and do it for a living. They set up leadership dyads and triads at the Mayo Clinic. Group up a doctor, a nurse, and an administrator to help make decisions. This way you gain the perspective from different angles, people, and experiences. You have to context-shift radically, from an ER to a boardroom to a coaching session. Not everybody can wear all those hats, and yet Rick does it really well (with grace and humility). What’s the difference between a coach and a mentor? When you mentor: You share your experience & subject-matter expertise. You help a colleague see the world & its potential—through your eyes. When you coach: You help your colleague make sense of their world—from their perspective. Effective leaders: seek diverse perspectives recognize the bias of individual opinion make decisions methodically Ineffective leaders: make reflexive decisions amplify the thoughts of a few see alternate perspectives as obstacles Hiring -- What are the must-haves for a leadership role? Knowledge Fit with the team Collaborate Align with the values How to run 1:1s Consent to an agenda Ask useful questions LISTEN Career and Life Advice: Ask Who, How, What, Why Seek multiple perspectives Atul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto is useful.
Full Show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Read our book: The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/3AAPyds The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Ep # 598: Sam Parr Notes Sam’s mantra (which he has tattooed on his thigh): “Bold. Fast. Fun.” It’s really hard to beat someone who moves fast, takes risks, and has fun doing it. Think big, but you have to get started. We see Hustle Con and the 2,500 people and think that’s just how it always was. It started as a small book club, then a small event that made a little money... And YEARS later it’s HustleCon which helped launch The Hustle, which then eventually sold for 10’s of millions. We have to get started and keep going. The most important skill set (according to Sam) is the ability to convince people of something. Persuading others. You have to believe in it yourself, be a clear thinker, and know how to communicate that to others to make them believe in it too. This skill will help you accomplish a lot. Writing – Write like you talk. Writing clarifies your thinking… Think in headlines – Thinking in headlines will make you a clearer thinker. It will help you see how an idea should be framed, identify different ways to tell your story, and show you the soul of your topic. Back against the wall - “I firmly believe in putting my back against the wall.” Deadlines, pressure, and harsh goals will pull out the best from you. Copy by Hand – Sam copied the best sales letters of all time by hand. Let the writing you admire pass through your fingers. This method is called copywork. What Sam learned backstage at his events with rich people/CEOs - "They weren't smarter than me." We're all just figuring it out as we go.: " Cold emails -- Work that muscle. AirBnB cold email story: "I cold emailed this guy named Brian. And he had a company called Air Bed and Breakfast. I said, 'Hey, this sounds like a cool thing. I want to interview. I think I can help make it better by doing a few things.' And they said, 'Are you in the Bay Area?' 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm there.' And he said, 'Alright, great. Come to the office on Monday.' So I booked the flight and I flew out and got an interview there. That's how I got introduced to startups. And then I eventually moved to San Francisco."  Sports - Love them because they are objective. The time doesn't lie. Same with business. The numbers don't lie. You know you're going to feel pain (before running a 400m), but you do it anyway and push through it. That's what makes them great. How to raise tough kids? "I'm scared. I think about this all the time. Will need to remove the things that make my life easy like all the service providers have now." Hiring - Freaks, weirdos. The others. Want people passionate about something. Anything. Bottom 4th of the resume. Be skilled at something, not a generalist. Writing/communication - No typos. Clear writing = clear thinking. We want clear thinkers. Especially for leadership roles. Fame - "I don't want that anymore, but I still want to be taken seriously by the big boys. I'm still insecure about building something other than a media company." Advice: "Be a fucking animal." Don't let anything stop you. Excellence - "Like your shit. Enjoy it. Must have endurance. Be like a cockroach and stay alive. Survive. Don't quit. Don't be vanilla. Do dope shit."
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/4dNLqoH The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #597 -- Daniel Pink How to give a great townhall speech: Begin with the end in mind. What do you want the people in the audience to do? Prepare, don’t wing it. Be ready. Practice Sound like you. Don’t try to sound like Steve Jobs or someone else. When you’re on stage or presenting at work, sound like you. Be genuine. Ideas for persuading others: Make it easy for others to say yes Social proof - Show that others are doing it (this is why companies put the logos of their customers on their website) Know when to appeal to the head or the heart. Typically, it’s the heart and emotion when speaking to those who work for you. And it’s your head when speaking to your boss. This is nuanced though and not black and white. Remember, there are two types of people: Those who make their boss's life easier or harder. Be the former. Pitching... Miles Teller in the TV show The Offer. Instead of trying to convince the mob boss to allow him to make the movie, he offered to show him the script and collaborate with him. The best pitches invite others to be co-creators. The motivation framework: Autonomy: The desire to direct our own lives. Giving people more control over their work or tasks can enhance motivation and performance. Mastery: The urge to get better at something that matters. People are more motivated when they see progress and can develop their skills. Purpose: The feeling that what we do is important and has meaning. Connecting tasks or jobs to a larger cause can be a powerful motivator. "If you're not confident, don't be self-deprecating." To Sell is Human - "We're all in sales... Convincing, cajoling, persuading." Make it easy for people to say yes... That's what the best salespeople do. Social Cues -- From Robert Cialdini - People look around for cues. That's why companies put logos of their customers on their websites. So others look and say, "Oh, they are with them, I guess we can be too." Know when to appeal to the head or heart. "When managing up, it's usually their head. When managing down, it's usually their heart." Processing fluency - Make it sticky. Memorable. Rhyme. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes: Arthur grew up with one goal - To be the world’s greatest French horn player. He learned that striving for something was fungible across all fields of life. It was a great laboratory for learning. Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation - Intrinsic motivation comes from an internal desire to accomplish a goal, while extrinsic motivation comes from external rewards and praise.  "Misery comes from excessive auto-focus." Misery comes from thinking about yourself too much and not enough about helping others. The curse of the strive... All happiness comes from progress. The arrival is not the goal. How to be happy while striving: Be grateful - Write it down. Do it daily. Always look to help others. "All research is 'me-search.'" The Four Idols:  Money, Power, Pleasure, and Prestige/Fame. We talked through ours… What are yours? The Four Focus areas to help with happiness Faith Family Friendship Serving Others Define your purpose. Write it down. Understand why you're here. Mine = "To inspire others to value and pursue excellence." Too many people are ok with mediocrity. We should strive for more. Oprah Winfrey is the same person everywhere she goes. She is genuine and authentic to all. Arthur's column helped Oprah stay positive and happy through the pandemic. So much so that she called him and asked to meet. And eventually, write a book together. That book became a #1 best-seller. #1 Life Hack: "Don't lie ever." Arthur is jacked (in great shape). Taking care of your body helps with unhappiness. Wake up 1.5 hours before dawn. Work out hard. Lift weights. Do challenging cardio. Life/Career Advice: Don't worry too much about the first job out of college. Don't sacrifice relationships. Bring love to every relationship and be great at what you do. Be excellent. Emanate love and show excellence.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. “I looked at these guys (homeless) and demanded nothing but pure excellence from them. And it was almost as if they were waiting for someone to do that.” Set high expectations for people. Believe in them. Care for them. Support them. Love them. And watch what happens. This is leadership. Nobody runs by themselves. What a great life motto. We all need people. Anne believes in the importance of community and doing hard things together. Her mindset was fostered, in sometimes complicated ways, by her childhood home life, she says. At age 16, her parents divorced after her father gambled away their family savings. To cope, Mahlum started running and became hyper-focused on the idea of controlling her own life. When others are playing defense, go on offense. When others are scared, get aggressive (easier said than done). Anne did it. "Running is the vehicle we're using to create community and positive reinforcement." "If you want to make change, you have to help others see that they can do it. You can't force it on them." How to build a great non-profit: Identity - Each group had team names Need team leaders, people to map out logistics, and volunteer coordinators Need to make day 1 incredible. Launch BIG. Target the right people - In Anne's case, it was executives who were runners... Decision makers who appreciated running. Goals - Work backwards. Set a date and then do whatever it takes to hit that launch date. solidcore -- Anne thought big from the beginning. She was opening her second location almost the same time her first location went live. She always wanted to scale it and thought about it from Day 1. Important to hire great coaches. They needed a great personality and had to make every member feel welcome. Learn everyone's name. Say their name. Anne learned from How to Win Friends and Influence People Risk-Taker - Step into uncertainty. That's how you build confidence. "I always bet on myself." Action builds confidence. Push past the uncertainty. Create evidence for yourself. Make the things that were previously uncomfortable for you more comfortable now by taking action. When others are playing defense, go on offense. That creates your edge… Anne's plan was always to sell Solidcore... Her strength is in bringing concepts to life and building communities, rather than sustaining them over time. The same month she exited the company, she opened her next venture, a New York-based fitness studio chain called Ambition.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Ask deep questions – A deep question asks about someone’s values, beliefs, judgments, or experiences, rather than just facts. A deep question asks people to talk about how they feel. Asking a deep question should feel like sharing. NASA listened to how people laughed and if they possessed a genuine matching quality. Not performative or inauthentic, but people who connect with others by matching their energy. The 4 Rules of a learning conversation: Pay attention to what type of conversation is occurring Share your goals, ask what others are seeking Ask about others' feelings and share your own Explore if identities are important to this discussion The How Do We Feel conversation: What can we learn about listening from Nicholas Epley? (Psychology Professor). (Everyone knows how to listen deeply. If a podcast or something is interesting, nobody struggles to listen). Epley didn’t teach them how to listen. He urged them to have more interesting and meaningful conversations. To talk about feelings. When we talk about feelings, something magical happens. Other people can’t help but listen to us. Practical actions to take: Ask Deep Questions: Instead of sticking to surface-level topics, ask questions that invite people to share their values, beliefs, or significant experiences. For instance, if someone mentions they are a doctor, ask them what inspired them to pursue medicine. Prove You're Listening: Demonstrate that you are actively listening by asking follow-up questions or repeating back what the other person has said to ensure understanding. Match Emotional Tone: Pay attention to the other person's emotional state and match it appropriately. If someone is sharing something emotional, respond with empathy rather than attempting to offer solutions immediately. Understand the Social Identity: Be mindful of the social identities that might be important in a conversation. This awareness can enhance understanding and connection by showing respect for the experiences and viewpoints shaped by those identities. Charles shared that understanding whether a conversation is emotional, social, or practical is crucial, especially in leadership and educational settings. Teachers, for instance, are taught to ask students if they want to be helped, heard, or hugged—a reminder that recognizing the intent behind communications is key to providing appropriate support and connection. Time Stamps 01:06 Educational Choices and Parental Guidance 02:03 Reporting from Iraq: A Journalist's Perspective 03:41 The Bike Messenger Experience 05:47 The Harvard Study and Its Impact 09:23 Felix Sagala: The Art of Deep Communication 13:30 Mastering the Skills of Super Communication 20:25 Connecting with Strangers: Nicholas Epley's Experiment 21:20 Emotional Intelligence in Space: NASA's Challenge 24:51 The Matching Principle: Authentic vs. Fake 32:27 Insights from The Big Bang Theory Writers 35:36 The Art of Learning Conversations
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Episode #593: Kim Campbell - Contingency Planning, Responding to Adversity, Earning Trust & Respect, Flying in the Face of Fear, and How To Run a Debrief Aviate, Navigate, Communicate - "Aviate, navigate, communicate" is a fundamental principle in aviation that pilots learn early in flight training. It's a priority order that helps pilots stay focused and in control, even when they're under pressure or distracted:  Aviate: Keep the plane flying Navigate: Figure out where you are and where you're going Communicate: Talk to air traffic control (ATC) or someone else as needed On March 20, 2003, Kim wrote letters to her loved ones in case she died in battle. Prepare, practice, and plan for contingencies. My college football coach, the late great, Terry Hoeppner used to always say, have a plan, work the plan, plan for the unexpected. As leaders, it’s on us to prepare, practice, and plan for contingencies. You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. I love the way Kim’s dad helped support her dream to be a fighter pilot. If you want to do this, you have to put in the work. Run hills, and do pull-ups every time you go to the bathroom. He didn’t just tell her you can do whatever you want… He created opportunities for Kim to do the necessary work to achieve what she wanted. Kim’s telling of the story of how she was hit and how she responded. An amazing example of responding in the face of fear, dealing with adversity in a calm, poised manner, and making a tough decision. Kim’s training and her attitude is what set her apart and saved her life. Response to Rejection: Initially Kim was rejected by the Air Force Academy because of a low SAT score. In response, instead of quitting and moving on, she wrote a letter to them every week stating why they should accept her… Which they eventually did. Dealing with fear: What's most important is what we do in the face of fear. We can't freeze. We must take action. The Debrief: Check your rank and ego at the door. Write all the objectives down. Next to each one, grade it a plus or a minus. Find the root causes of each mistake. What lessons can we learn from our mistakes? What will we change for our next mission based on what we learned? Share lessons learned beyond that room. Johnny Bravo - Be humble, approachable, and credible. That's how you earn trust and respect and inspire others to follow.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Notes: Commonalities of excellent coaches: Not defensive Respond well to feedback Ability to learn "Leadership can't be taught but it can be learned." Coaching is not therapy, but it can be therapy-adjacent. It's not telling people what to do and it's not just asking questions. It's a combination of all of them. There is ample research on the benefits of writing. It clarifies your thinking. The questions to ask someone who might need an executive coach: Why do you want a coach? Why now? What do you hope to get out of it? What do great leaders do? First, do no harm. Walk the talk. Be an embodiment of the culture. Have high standards Take risks Coach people up Train people "Coaching is accomplishment through others." "Feedback is not a gift." Feedback is data. Signal and noise. Signal - Important and good. Noise - Byproduct of someone's distorted lens. "Praise, Criticism, Praise (PCP) is terrible." Don't give the compliment sandwich. It's disingenuous. How leaders best overcome adversity – The most critical skill is "adaptive capacity..." It’s composed of two primary qualities: the ability to grasp context, and hardiness. Coaching - Asking evocative questions, ensuring the other person feels heard, and actively conveying empathy remain the foundations of coaching. Connect: Establish and renew the interpersonal connection, followed by an open-ended question. Reflect: Having elicited a response, reflect back the essence of the other person's comments. Direct: Focus their attention on a particular aspect of their response that invites further exploration. Support and Challenge - A client once said, “It feels like you’re always in my corner, but you never hesitate to challenge me.” Master the Playbook, Throw it Away - Coaching involves a continuous and cyclical process of learning, unlearning, and relearning. Power Dynamics - The longer I coach, the more I appreciate and value the work of Jeff Pfeffer, a leading scholar on power. philosopher Ernest Becker: "If you are wrong about power, you don't get a chance to be right about anything else." "Meaningful coaching is always an emotionally intimate experience, no matter what’s being discussed. In part this is a function of the context: two people talking directly to each other with no distractions... Intimacy in a coaching relationship also results from a willingness to 'make the private public'--to share with another person the thoughts and feelings that we usually keep to ourselves... And yet an essential factor that makes such intimacy possible is a clear set of boundaries defining the relationship, which creates an inevitable and necessary sense of distance..."
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Ryan Holiday is one of the world's bestselling living philosophers. His books like The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Stillness Is the Key appear in more than 40 languages and have sold more than 5 million copies. His latest book (a #1 NY Times Best-Seller) is called Right Thing, Right Now. This conversation was recorded in person at Ryan's bookstore, The Painted Porch, which sits on historic Main St in Bastrop, Texas. Notes: June 16, 2024 – Birthday and Father’s Day. How does stoicism impact you as a dad? “What’s at stake today is how they remember you 20 years from now.” Choose a North Star -- Choosing a North Star can function as a compass professionally, personally, and morally. Most people don’t do the work to figure out what their North Star is… Most people default to what others do, and then they end up comparing themselves to others. Ryan Holiday's North Star? Writing... Pay the taxes of life gladly: Not just from the government. Annoying people are a tax on being outside your house. Delays are a tax on travel. Haters are a tax on having a YouTube channel. There’s a tax on everything in life. You can whine. Or you can pay them gladly. Oscar Wilde wrote in The Portrait of Dorian Grey “The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly. That is what each of us is here for.” —- What are you here for? Stoicism - "A stoic doesn't control what happens but they focus on how to respond to what happened. The virtues of stoicism are courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom." Build a coaching tree -- Popovich reference - and his coaching tree - how do we get better at making a goal to build a forest of leaders? What’s interesting about Pop’s coaching tree is there is a huge diversity of what he’s created. What’s interesting is the coaches who have learned from him are all different - they’re not replicas of Coach Popovich.  RC Buford (GM of the San Antonio Spurs) said, "We have a good coaching tree. That's what we do here. In all roles." A shocking number of players have decided to stay in San Antonio, so much so that they have an alumni locker room in their practice facility because they choose to stick around afterward. "I love the idea of “hey we’re an organization, and we want to win, but our ultimate job is to bring good people in, and bring them better, and learn from them along the way." "We don’t talk enough about the bad coaching trees… ultimately you measure greatness about how replicable their system is and others can take it and use it as well. Don’t just judge people on their wins, but on their coaching tree… or lack thereof. When you’re hiring someone, can you both be on the same page - and there’s clarity. When I get invited to something, who am I bringing? Or when it’s a specific project, who on my team will crush it with me or on their own? Understanding that this will be a tour of duty. Robert Greene - "Robert knew I wanted to be a writer and he knew what I wanted to do, and it allowed me to realize that he was letting me do this to understand how the whole writing process works. If somebody wants to work with someone else, what’s the best way to reach out to that person, to try and get your foot in the door." Mentors: (Advice to mentees) "Don’t say 'I’ll do whatever, or I’ll do anything,' I don’t need anything done, I have very specific things that need to be done. Don’t present them with the problem of you…. Present them with the problem they have and several ideas that you have to potentially help. Be specific and present a solution to a potential problem that maybe they haven’t thought about yet." Keep your hands clean - the difference between Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy. Be kind — JM Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan said in 1902, “Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight? Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.” Discipline is a “me” virtue. Justice is a “we” virtue. Make "Good" Trouble - "If you got into this to gain a lot of fans, you’ll never do anything to lose fans….. you don’t have the fans, the fans have you… it’s the other way around. There’s a balance, I don’t want to speak up on every divisive issue, but at the same time if you’re not speaking up on things that you think are important, and you keep silent, then you’re creating a form of death, and you’re hurting other people that could potentially learn from your words and thoughts… You have to think about how you want to use your platform and the authority you have. It’s easy to say politicians live this way, but when’s the last time you spoke up on something you didn’t agree on?" President Truman - "An incredible example of an ordinary person doing extraordinary things… the last president to not have a college degree. He educated himself and had core values and a sense that he was obligated by the constitution, human decency, and trying to do what was right. He had a strong moral code that guided him in difficult stances, and he had confidence and security. When we think of Presidents and Generals who have outward accomplishments, what I love about Truman is that he watched everyone else steal millions of dollars and he continued to pay off his bankruptcy debts. It doesn’t matter that everyone else is doing it… I’m not going to do it." Goal Setting - "I don’t set any goals…” I just do the work every day, our goals are usually outcome specific and they’re rooted in what are other people going to think about the outcome of this. If I have a goal, they’re not geared towards a win or an outcome… the goal is to wake up and do… and I do it daily." The desk where we recorded: Was owned by Joan Didion... "Objects of history get me excited. My vice is I collect historically significant things, at some point, I’m going to re-sell the table… now other people have sat at it, and so I’ll probably re-sell it and donate the money… ”significant objects”.. a guy buys a random piece of junk on eBay, and then he’d have a writer write a story about the item and then they’d resell it and people would pay more money for it." Why is his publisher having him re-do the entire audio for the 10th anniversary of The Obstacle is The Way (instead of Ryan just reading the updated parts): "My voice is ten years older. A lot has happened in those ten years."
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3XxHi7p Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Notes: Nat Eliason studied philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. Since he started publishing his writing in 2013, his work has been read by millions of people and spun out multiple businesses ranging from a marketing agency to a cafe. He’s the author of Crytpo Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance. How to make our days more memorable? Throw parties with 3-4 different phases. When taking your loved one out on a date, have 3 different parts. Implement homework for life. Write down the stories of each day. This helps you remember them more. Do Hard Things – Our self-image is composed of historical evidence of our abilities. The more hard things you push yourself to do, the more competent you will see yourself to be. "Build up your identity of being a capable person." "Money corrupts quickly." It’s never the right time. Any time you catch yourself saying “Oh it’ll be a better time later,” you’re probably just scared. Or unclear on what to do. There is never a right time for the big things in life. Moonwalking with Einstein -- Memory competitions. Die with Zero -- Create memory dividends (Bill Perkins). Be in the moment. Homework for Life (Matthew Dicks). Nat's birthday this year was the first time he ever felt sad (on a birthday)... Why? "It feels like it's going by quicker than it ever has." Create time with texture? "Mine workers have time with texture. I'm not sure that's memorable or desirable." Crypto Confidential is the roller coaster story of getting rich, going broke, scamming, and getting scammed. It’s a narrative of Nat’s personal journey through the world of crypto, but it’s also a revealing look at exactly how the crypto sausage gets made—and how we can all be more educated participants during the next inevitable bull run. Money can buy happiness. So long as you spend it on upgrading and expanding the things that make you happy, instead of using it to play status games or on fleeting experiences.
Read The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3zbDGhi Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes:  How to create a learning organization - Set the tone at the top. The senior leader needs to model this behavior. Create peer groups at your place of work. Team learning is important. Give people the responsibility to lead training sessions. Support your teammates. Pay for them to go to conferences, hire coaches, and learn. Commonalities among leaders who sustain excellence: They are curious. They have no confirmation bias. They have high standards. They respect all members of their team. They have a vision and goals and they share them with their team. GPS - Goals, Perspectives, Strategy. Process -- Full transparency, one meeting per week. Start with a story about a member at each meeting. "If you know what to do, what would you do?" Help high-integrity leaders make good decisions for their company, family, and community. Hiring "must-haves" They believe in the mission They don't think they're better than others They listen They collaborate well Advice: Give back what you can to help others. Be generous. Learn. Get away from bad bosses. Be balanced. The power of being part of a peer accountability group – I’ve learned firsthand the impact this has on leaders through my Learning Leader Circles. The differences between leading, managing, and coaching, and why you must do all three... Leader - Set direction, make sense of the outside world Manager - Know the details Coach - Help you activate what you already know
Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3VJoYFZ Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Rejection is a learned skill. Tara has gone through rejection therapy. Go out and ask for something crazy big. Get comfortable with being rejected. Hearing the word no. Go big. Confidence is about keeping promises to yourself. Create evidence for yourself. Create magical moments for the people you’re leading. Show them how much you care for them. The small touches are a big deal. The magic is in the small details. How to have fun at your company: Fun (and culture) cannot be outsourced. You cannot delegate “culture carriers." You (the leader) are the ultimate culture carrier. It has to come from you. "Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money." "If it's too easy, you get soft." It's important to set high expectations for the people you're leading. "The boss I respected the most was a hard ass and very demanding." The difference between nice and kind: Nice = Soft, easy. Kind = Set high expectations. Hold you accountable to them. You're better long-term being kind. Tara's "must-haves" when hiring a leader: Raw intelligence - How quickly can you learn? Must be a clear and critical thinker. Fantastic communicator Intensity, drive, hunger Sense of humor - Need to be able to laugh and have fun. Values: Business owner Kid at heart Design thinking - Craft for the end-user Peak performance Be human Keys to a great off-site retreat Craft for the people High energy Sense of connection - get to know each other Peak performance workbook - set goals Small touches - personalized gifts for the team (like picture frames with personalized pictures in them) Create magical moments to connect Focus on the arrival - make it special Eliminate loneliness - Assigned seats, name tags, conversation prompts (especially helps introverts) Tara worked at LuluLemon while in grad school at Stanford. It was a useful learning experience for her. She worked for a world-class manager. What Tara learned from her parents: Leadership is about modeling the right behaviors. Advice - "If you want to be extraordinary, you can't fit in." "Give way more than everybody else." "Follow great people and be around greatness." Tara created a 50-slide PowerPoint while going for a role as a part-time content writer. Going above and beyond for that leader left an impression and that woman who Tara impressed remains a mentor, investor, and friend to this day more than a decade later. You never know what will happen if you consistently over-deliver for people.
Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3VlZHCA Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Notes: Daniel Negreanu has earned over 52 million dollars at the poker table, which ranks him as the highest-earning player in live tournament poker history. He’s won 6 world series of poker bracelets, two world poker tour titles, and Daniel was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2014. He’s often referred to as “Kid Poker” and is known for his charismatic personality at the table. Commonalities among the greatest poker players in the world: Self-Awareness Humility In order to avoid criticism, “say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” Daniel is obsessed with the Rocky movies and the lessons learned from each one. Rocky 3 - Don’t get complacent. Rocky 4 - It’s heart versus machine. Rocky Balboa - But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! The luck factor... Dealing with things outside of our control. A victim versus an owner mentality. Victims will complain, give up, sulk, be passive-aggressive, or procrastinate. Owners will seek solutions, take action, or ask for help. Victims will focus on things they cannot control, while owners will focus on things they can control. "A big mistake is a beautiful opportunity." It's easier to be a victim and not take responsibility. "Failure builds muscle." "I don't care what others think anymore. I do not have that fear." Rounders (the movie) is the greatest poker movie of all time. Why Daniel is inspired by Sylvester Stallone... He's not complacent In Rocky IV it was heart versus machine. Rocky (Sly) was all heart. Outspoken and direct – “If you have a problem with me, text me. And if you don't have my number then you don't know me well enough to have a problem with me.” – Christian Bale Phil Ivey said about Daniel: “I can't think of too many people who have done more for the game of poker than Daniel.” When was Daniel happiest? “I would say in very high-stress situations. During the World Series of Poker main event [in 2015], when I actually was eliminated in 11th place and felt a gut punch.” Early life – Be Rich – At an early age, Daniel was ambitious: "From the age of four, I thought I'd be rich. I told my mom I'd build a house out of Popsicle sticks and move to California." Sharing both the wins and the losses with his fans: “This is what holding yourself accountable looks like. I could lie, right…or B. I could just not share this with you but then that wouldn’t be authentic and real, right? I’m not just going to share my winning years, I’m going to share my losing years." Daniel is willing to go outside of his comfort zone... Head's up matches with Doug Polk (a head's up specialist): On July 29, 2020, after a years-long feud, Daniel publicly accepted a challenge to a high-stakes grudge match with Doug Polk. They played 25,000 hands of No-Limit Texas Hold'em at $200/$400 stakes. The duel ended on February 4, 2021, with Polk winning approximately $1,200,000 over 25,000 hands. Then in 2023, Daniel got a rematch with Doug and beat him for $200K and a championship belt.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3VrogOC Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent. Notes: What Erika learned from her dad: “He loved his work and was so full from it. Three weeks before he died he was doing Zoom calls with students from the ER even though it was beyond unnecessary and impractical to do so. If you love what you do it can add so much dimension to your life and the lives of others. He liked people and to learn from them. There’s something to learn from everybody. And the best control was no control - let things happen and learn from them & adapt. Career advice: Know what your company is paying you to do. And the better you make your boss look, the better it will be for you. Find problems and clear the path for your boss. Make their life easier. Make them look good. That’s the role when you have a boss. Must-Haves When she’s making a hiring decision: Be able to share stories of how you’ve gone for something that failed, and learned Be curious, ask thoughtful questions Do research on the company. CARE.  Test the product. Be able to demonstrate that you know what it does. Bring a point of view. Articulate what you could bring to the role and how you could make the company better. Joanne— I wanted to be you until I realized I couldn’t, so I decided to be me. I studied you for twelve years. You are the architect of all my work dreams, and you are the scaffolding I built myself on. You put force into my nature, and for that I am so grateful. Getting the Barstool CEO role: She earned the job over 74 male candidates. “I wanted this job because they were considered too rogue, too untouchable, too badly behaved, too unproven. Dave Portnoy (the founder) was powerful, seemingly unmanageable, and volatile.” In 2012, when Chernin bought a majority stake in Barstool, the company was worth $12 million. You sold it to Penn Entertainment seven years later for $550 million. Make Your Own Luck – When Erika was nearly graduating college, she applied for an internship at Converse no less than 45 times. She never got an interview. Why? “I didn’t do anything unique enough, passionate enough, or memorable enough to deserve a chance at the job.” “It was a heart attack every day for nine years,” Erika said of being Barstool’s CEO. As the first-ever CEO of media magnate Barstool Sports, Ayers Badan led the company through explosive growth (+5000% in revenue and significantly more in audience), expanding the company from a regional blog to a national powerhouse brand and media company. During her 9 years steering the company, Barstool became a top ten podcasting publisher in the US, with the world's #1 sports, hockey, golf, and music podcasts, and a top 6 brand globally on TikTok.
Read our USA TODAY Best-Selling Book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/4bNbVcO Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes: John Quincy Adams once said, “Gratitude… when it takes possession of the bosom, fills the soul to overflowing and scarce leaves room for any other sentiment or thought.” Ask yourself the question, “What good shall I do today?” When you’re upset that your social media post didn’t get as many likes as you thought it would stop and think, ‘What good shall I do today?” It can reframe how you approach others and be more servant-based (which is a mark of a great leader) The fox mindset versus the hedgehog mindset. A hedgehog has a single lens. It’s more rigid thinking. A fox sees the world through many different lenses. It’s more flexible and adaptive. That is a theme of this conversation. Be open, be less judgemental, and be more curious about the way others view the world. “The older I get, the less certain I get of my opinions.” “It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting.” AJ shared that when he was dedicated to the thank you project even on a bad day when he was focused on saying thank you, his mind eventually caught up to his body. Change Your Mind – the founding fathers did this a lot. Daniel Kahneman said, “No one enjoys being wrong, but I do enjoy having been wrong because it means I am now less wrong than I was before.” Be Humble In Your Opinions – Ben Franklin told a short parable. He said, there was a “French lady, who, in a dispute with her sister said, I don’t know how it happens, sister, but I meet nobody but myself that is always in the right. The point is that we are all that French lady. We all believe we have a monopoly on the truth. (Remind yourself that you’re wrong sometimes) Flexibility of mind: Many of the Founding Fathers were open to the idea that they might be wrong, and more willing to change their minds than leaders are today. At the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin summed up this open-mindedness: “The older I grow the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment.” Think Slow – There are parts of modern life that would benefit from an enforced speed limit. We need fewer hot takes and more cold takes. We need more slow thinking. Writing in depth letters by hand forced ideas to be more nuanced. Thumb-texting acronyms have the opposite effect. Slow down consumption. Forced self to read the news just once a day. The value of slow thinking: For the year, AJ wrote a letter with a quill instead of using social media or texts. It was a revelation. It led to a less impulsive, slower style of thinking – a waiting period for his thoughts. Embrace Virtue – In the founding era, virtue was a cherished ideal (now it’s often used in the phrase virtue signaling which is not a compliment). “A virtuous person puts the interests of others before their one. They focus on those two key words in the Constitution’s Preamble, “General Welfare.” We Control the Sun – The sun carved on the back of George Washington’s wooden chair at the Constitutional Convention. The sun was cut in half by the horizon. Was it rising or setting? At the end of the convention, Ben Franklin said he was convinced it was rising. America had a bright future (the world is built by optimists) Whether the sun sets or rises on democracy, that’s up to us, we the people. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin tells a story about his father criticizing his writing."About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator," Franklin wrote, "I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it." AJ’s goal was to try to understand the Constitution by adopting the mindset and lifestyle of the Founders for a full year. He committed to living as the original originalist as a new way of searching for answers to one of the most pressing questions of our time: How should we interpret America’s foundational document today?
Our new book, The Score That Matters, is a USA Today Best-Seller! Buy it here: https://amzn.to/44HucGf Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Craig Robinson is the host of Ways to Win. He’s the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). From 2017-2020, he served as the VP of Player Development for the New York Knicks. Previously, he was a Division I head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State and Brown. He also is the brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama. Notes: What Craig learned from Coach Pete Carill about recruiting: There is a sales element to it. And one of the most important skills to develop is to become a great LISTENER. Ask questions, listen, and ask more questions. Curiosity is the ultimate form of respect. Coach Carill won over Craig’s dad because he was curious. That’s a good lesson for all of us. President Obama (Craig's brother-in-law) said Craig’s discipline and diligence enhanced his presidential campaign. “Craig doesn’t profess to know the specifics of politics the way he knows the X’s and O’s of basketball, but I think what he does understand is the need to wake up every morning doing your best and having a positive attitude. And him communicating that to me was always very helpful.” When (future President) Barack Obama was dating Craig's sister (Michelle), he told their family at Thanksgiving dinner that he had aspirations and a plan to be the President of the United States. It seemed crazy at the time, but he made it happen. What are the "must-have" qualities to be a coach on Craig's staff? Connect with people Lifelong learning Curiosity Fill in gaps (be strong where Craig is not) Must be a good listener What Craig looked for in a player when recruiting: Baseline talent (table stakes) 2-3 "bucket-getters" High IQ Flexible After graduating from Princeton, where he played for Pete Carril and was twice named the Ivy League player of the year, Criag wanted to coach. Instead, he went to graduate school and succeeded in the financial world, including spending seven years as a vice president at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Then, he pivoted away and took an assistant job on Bill Carmody’s staff at Northwestern. That job eventually led Robinson to Brown, where in two seasons he overhauled the program with his work ethic, tough love, and relentless demands on his players. He put a dictionary in the locker room for players to look up the words he used, a tradition that has continued at Oregon State. What made him not immediately go into coaching? Pete Craill telling him to get a real job. It’s amazing the influence the people we look up to can have on us. Craig's fondest memory? January 20, 2009. He went to President Obama's inauguration in Washington D.C. He then flew to a game on the west coast (as the head coach of Oregon State). And received a standing ovation from the visiting team's crowd as he walked out!
Our new book, The Score That Matters, is a USA Today National Best-Seller. Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3Qw9Mu0 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Making decisions – Decisions aren't hard — it's the moments after that are. Whenever I make decisions, I don't think about now, I think about eventually. How will this feel then, maybe a year from now. When it's real, not raw. When the complications around the concern have cleared, and distance has done its job. Goal setting - 37 Signals does not set long-term goals. Jason (as the CEO) helps set the direction and they work in six-week sprints. Think, "What am I optimizing for?" 37 Signals does not have a board of directors or advisors. Is it more helpful to have a chip on your shoulder to prove someone wrong or to be motivated to prove your supporters right? Both can be useful. Keys to a great partnership? Jason works with his co-founder, David Heinemeier Hansson (a previous guest on The Learning Leader Show). Mutual admiration Have complementary skills (Jason is design, DHH is engineering) A company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of decisions. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business. Maxims: Decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year. Whenever you can, swap “Let’s think about it” for “Let’s decide on it.” Momentum fuels motivation. Just ship it. You'll figure out what needs to be fixed as you go. Mark Zuckerberg is coming into his own... There are lots of reasons for it. One of them (maybe)? He's working out, in great shape, fighting MMA style, and surrounding himself around others who are doing the same. All leaders should have a writing practice. Hopefully, you don’t feel the need to send it to a lawyer or a comms team before publishing it or sharing it with the people you’re leading. Write like you talk. Write what’s in your head. Think about what you want to say, and say it. You never know who is watching: Jeff Bezos sat in the front row for one of Jason’s keynotes and was so impressed that he asked to invest in his company. When you have the guts to put your thoughts and beliefs out into the world, it can work as a magnetic effect to attract people to you. It's refreshing to hear Jason talk about one of the core qualities he loves most about Jeff: he is overwhelmingly optimistic. The world is built by optimists. You don’t create culture. It happens. A company's culture is a 50-day moving average. It's what you've been collectively doing as a company over the last 50 days. How do you treat people? Who have you hired (or fired) and why? Company off-site events: They do two per year (one in the United States, and one abroad). Members of Jason's team meticulously design them. One day of business followed by time for the team to hang out, do activities together, eat together, and bond. Does Jason have plans to sell 37 Signals? "No, that would be the demise of the company."
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/44qxsph The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes on this conversation with Cal Newport (Obsess over quality). Jewel obsessed over the quality of her work so much that she turned down a 1m dollar offer (even while living out of her car) because she needed time to make her work excellent. Obsess over the quality of what you produce, even if this means missing opportunities in the short term. Leverage the value of these results to gain more and more freedom in your efforts over the long term. Benjamin Franklin – He hired David Hall to create time freedom. He needed time to think, time to experiment. He gave up money in the short term to gain time freedom to create something for the future. There’s no guarantee that it would pay off, but we all should think about how we can make investments that our future self would thank us for. Have fewer concurrent active projects. Instead of focusing on 10 things, focus on 2 or 3. Make it public. Share with your team. Be known as a leader who focuses on a few important objectives instead of 10 of them.  Match your space to your work – Be in nature, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote Hamilton in the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the oldest surviving house in Manhattan (served as headquarters for George Washington during the Battle of Harlem Heights, and home of Aaron Burr when he was Vice President), Neil Gaiman built a spartan, 8 sided writing shed that sits on low stilts and offers views on all sides of endless trees. Do Fewer Things: Limit Daily Goals – Cal learned this from his doctoral adviser at MIT. She was incredulous about Cal’s attempts to switch back and forth between multiple academic papers. She preferred to get lost in a single project at a time. Cal was convinced that the slowness of working on just one important thing per day would hold him back. Work at a Natural Pace Don’t rush your most important work. Allow it instead to unfold along a sustainable timeline, with variations in intensity over different timescales, and, when possible, executed in settings conducive to brilliance. Slow productivity emphatically rejects the performative rewards of unwavering urgency. Grand achievement is built on the steady accumulation of modest results over time, and you should give your efforts the breathing room and respect required to make them part of a life well lived, not an obstacle to it. Obsess over Quality By focusing intensely on the small number of activities that matter most to our jobs, you can find both the motivation and justification for slowness. Improve your taste. It’s in the uneasy distance between our taste and our ability that improvement happens – aka in our drive to meet our own high standards. To combat the potential paralysis of perfectionism, think about giving yourself enough time to produce something great, but not unlimited time–focus on creating something good enough to catch the attention of people whose taste you care about but relieve yourself of the need to forge a masterpiece. Gather with people who share similar professional ambitions. When you combine the opinions of multiple practitioners, more possibilities and nuance emerge, and there’s a focusing effect that comes from performing for a crowd. It’s easy to mistake “do fewer things” for “accomplish fewer things” – but this understanding is backward. We work roughly the same number of hours each week regardless of the size of our task lists. Having more commitments simply increases the hours lost to overhead tax – the coordinating activities, such as meetings and email, needed to manage what’s on your plate. The pandemic “zoom apocalypse,” in which many knowledge workers found themselves in Zoom meeting all day long, was caused in part by reaching a state in which overhead tax crowded out almost any time to actually complete tasks. Doing fewer things, in other words, makes us better at our jobs–not only psychologically but also economically and creatively.  The Overhead Tax – A key property of overhead tax is that it tends to expand to fill as much time as it’s provided. So long as a project is something that you’ve committed to, and it’s not yet complete, it will tend to generate a continual tax in the form of check-in meetings, impromptu email conversations, and plain old mental space. Knowledge workers have no agreed-upon definition of what “productivity” actually means–incredibly unusual compared to other areas of our economy. Lacking a precise definition they defaulted to a crude approximation: pseudo-productivity – using visible activity as a proxy for useful professional accomplishment. Cal argues that the current burnout crisis is due, in part, to the combination of pseudo-productivity with more recent advances in mobile computing and digital communication that made unlimited work available at all times in all places. The result was an impossible internal tug of war, where there was always more to do, and never any hope of catching up. Busy exhaustion itself became your primary signal of usefulness. Slow productivity doesn’t ask that you extinguish ambition. Humans derive great satisfaction from being good at what they do and producing useful things. Cal revisits the popular narrative of Jane Austen’s writing career; a closer look at her life reveals a powerful case study for a slower approach. Busy Jane Austen was neither happy nor producing memorable work, while unburdened Jane Austen, writing contently at a quiet cottage, after her family decided to withdraw from a busy social calendar, transformed English literature. The goal of Slow Productivity is to propose an entirely new way for you, your small business, or your large employer to think about what it means to get things done; to rescue knowledge work from its increasingly untenable freneticism, and rebuild it to enable you to create things you’re proud of without grinding yourself down along the way; and to offer a more humane and sustainable way to integrate professional efforts into a life well lived.
Buy our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/44kKLHK Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Never Miss a Day – In the summer, going into Paul's freshman year of high school, he was at a lacrosse camp at Loyola University… At the end of the morning session, an all-time coaching legend, Tony Seaman spoke to the group. He told them he could guarantee that they could earn a college scholarship. All they had to do? "Take 100 shots per day. Here's the catch. You can never miss a day. No excuses." What are your 100 shots a day? Goal Setting – Most people don’t set goals because the act alone is both a major and personal step in the direction of commitment, and it invites hope, fear, and the possibility of regret.  Focus on what you can control – John Wooden was 5’10. Below average for a basketball player. He was really good at “understanding the things at which he had no control and things over which I had some control.” Let Go of Outcomes – Archery master Awa Kenzo told his students to pay no attention to the target. Success and failure come from the same place, so that’s where the archer should point all of their attention: not on the outcome, but the effort. Therapy– Dr. Lindsey Hoskins once said that when we hurt someone we love, it’s because we fear disconnection from that someone. We hope that by lashing out, they’ll show us love, and as a result, we’ll feel safer in the relationship.” The Difference Between Self-Promotion and Passion - "I’m not going to convince you to like what I do. I’m going to show you how much I love what I do.” You won't achieve ambitious goals if you don’t set ambitious goals. The legendary Michael Ovitz shotgun pitch to Coca-Cola. He and his team outworked the competition, flew in a day early, practiced in the actual room the pitch would take place, bought new suits, and over-delivered during the pitch meeting. Their competitors took the meeting for granted, flew in the morning of, and didn't perform. Michael and his team won the $300m contract and earned the business for years to come. A true champion is intensely focused on the things they can control. Being coachable is rare—it’s being curious, eager, self-aware, and ambitious. Discover and harness your unique learning style. What might appear as an inability or perceived disadvantage could be your greatest asset in mastering your chosen field. For example, Paul grew up with a learning difference called Auditory Processing Disorder. The only way to learn from failures is to feel it, study them, make adjustments, a new commitment, and put it behind you. The Voice No One Else Hears – Performance psychologist Jim Loehr has worked with some of the top athletes in the world. He has them wear a microphone during a competition, and he asks them to honestly articulate what the voice in their head says and thinks. Whatever the circumstances, Loehr said he asks, “Is this how I would speak to someone I deeply care about? Or, if I were speaking to someone I deeply cared about, what would I say?” "I've been here before." "I've taken 35,000 shots." Rebound... Bounce back. Paul loves the "up and down" statistic in golf. It refers to a golfer recovering from a bad shot and still making a par on the hole. In life, it's all about how you choose to respond. Paul’s Brother, Mike - “One of my favorite chapters in this book is about planting “little acorns.” (p.174) Had it not been for the biggest acorn in the family, who left his job to build the PLL with me... well, I’d just be a retired athlete, continuing the pursuit of my next professional life. Thank you for everything, Mike.”
Read our new book, The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/3w5K0FW Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The 5 Journal Prompts - What am I grateful for? Where am I winning? What will I let go of today? What does my ideal day look like? What needs to be said at the end? Avoid the old person flaw – Sometimes you meet an old person and they spend hours in conversation living in the past. Don’t ever believe that your best days are behind you. Have a “never peak” mindset with an upward trajectory… Always. Go see people in person - In Italy they say, “We are not friends until we’ve eaten together.” Release the energy vampires – “We feel guilt when we no longer want to associate with old friends and colleagues who haven’t changed. The price, and marker, of growth.” - Naval Ravikant Stop salting your food before you taste it. Happiness is an inside job. See Solitude as the new status symbol. A sweaty workout is never a silly idea. Ask Yourself the 10,000 Dinner Question: That’s how many dinners you can expect to share with your chosen mate. Does that thought thrill you, or give you the shivers? If the latter, you may not have found the one. Be a Perfect Moment Maker: Focus on making magical memories with those we care about so we feel rich when we’re old. Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future. You will never be the same. “Your "I CAN" is more important than your IQ.” “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.” “You can’t make someone feel good about themselves until you feel good about yourself.” “Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. it will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.” Start a mastermind alliance… For years, every Friday at 6am, Robin met with his mastermind partner at a coffee shop where they’d chat for 2 hours. “Success occurs in the privacy of the soul.” - Rick Rubin – Success is about YOUR definition, not whatever society says it should be. It’s about understanding your purpose, your values, and the critical behaviors to match those values. The cool part about it, is you get to define it. That isn’t easy work, but it’s worth it. Ski instructors aren’t rich, “but we have a rich life.”
Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3VFVYAm Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #579: David Perell - Setting The Standard, Cultivating Your Taste, Pursuing Excellence, Becoming a Sloganeer, Always Working/Never Working, & Lessons From a Mysterious Billionaire Notes: Set the standard – “It’s your job to have the highest quality standards of anybody you work with. Every day, you’ll face pressure to lower them. Don’t do it. If you can set a high standard and simply maintain it, you’ll do very well for yourself.” Have a high-quality bar. Do three things: Define it: Clearly state the standards. (read The 11 Laws of Showrunning) Maintain it: This is hard to do. Raise it: Keep pushing. You need to define what quality looks like. Set the true north. David worked with a coach to establish his core values. And he was going to narrow it down to five and the coach said, “Nope, it’s just one. It’s the one that everything in your life orbits around... It’s The Pursuit of Excellence. The biggest piece of low-hanging fruit for leaders is getting funnier: Nobody trains themselves to get funnier though. It’s strangely taboo. That’s why it’s such an opportunity. "Laughter is the sound of comprehension." Say something memorable. Humor is memorable. A good way to think... Deconstruct something funny. David spends a lot of time understanding why Theo Von is so funny. The key to excellent storytelling: a moment of change. Conflict and suspense carry stories. Robert Caro writing the LBJ books... "What would I see if I was there." He moved to where LBJ lived to see what it was like to be there. How to cultivate taste: Make a list of things you love/hate. Look for things you love (but aren't supposed to), and things you hate (but are supposed to love). Make things. Don't be a passive consumer. Be a connoisseur. Be discerning about what you consume. Amor Tolles - History is bad for knowing what's good now. Consume old things. Museums - Pay attention to what elicits a reaction. Why is it a 10? Why is it a 1? What do you love? What do you hate? Why? Archegos is David's favorite Greek word, and it gets to the heart of good leadership. Four meanings: Author, founder, pioneer, leader America’s founding fathers are the canonical example Lessons from a mysterious billionaire mentor: David asks very specific questions, listens, and takes lots of notes. When meeting with a mentor, show up with energy and specific questions. They are tired of hearing the boring generic questions. Be specific. The mentor talks 98% of the time and David just types what he says. He now has 18,000 words worth of notes. Some lessons: CEOs are Sloganeers: CEOs shouldn’t write strategy memos. They should drive slogans.  Three lines. Three words each. (Bezos: Focus on the Customer) CEOs should tell the same stories over and over again, refining their pitch like a comedian. Gauging reactions Asking questions Listening to push-back Seeing what makes people’s eyes light up Your message is only landing once people start making fun of you. Good goal in life: Always working, never working Story from Patrick O'Shaughnessy. He was asked how much time he spent preparing. Initially, he said, "not much." Then he thought for a while, and said, "I'm preparing all the time. My whole life is preparing to ask these questions."
Order our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3xbhAdD Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Create surplus value - What can we do to give more than we take? "The key is to figure out what you can do that others can’t or are unwilling to do. Hard work is a talent. Curiosity is a talent. Patience and empathy are talents." "Helping others makes me feel strong." Scott's recent experience with Ketamine Therapy - "It clarified my thinking. It's helped me stop keeping score. It also made me grateful for my wife. Did you ever get a gift when you were a kid that you weren’t expecting and you couldn’t afford it? Something you never imagined having.” I got a $45 Banh skateboard from my mom’s boyfriend Terry. It was a moment of sheer surprise and joy. My wife kept popping in my head and I kept thinking, god I get to hang out with this person, get to have kids with them, get to build a life with her. It was this overwhelming feeling of wonderful joy and surprise. It was very clarifying and rewarding for me.” "You Gotta Ask" - Scott met his wife at the Raleigh Hotel pool in Miami. He saw her from a distance and promised himself that he wouldn't leave the pool without introducing himself to her first.  In order to do anything of significance in your life, you must take an uncomfortable risk." Scott is married to Beata Galloway, a real estate developer born in Germany. Together, they have two sons. One of them has the middle name, Raleigh. Why Crying is Important - "It informs what's important to you." Why Scott uses crude humor - It's used to connect with people. And people are either afraid or not able to do it. When Scott was 13… One of his mom’s boyfriends handed him two crisp 100-dollar bills after he asked him about stocks. Terry (his mom's boyfriend) told him “Go buy some stock at one of those fancy brokers in the village." Once there, Scott met a mentor named Cy Gordner who helped him learn about the markets. Show up when it matters — Michael Bloomberg’s policy. "If a friend gets a promotion, there is no need to call. You’ll get dinner with them at some point. But if a friend gets fired, I have dinner with them that night in a public place where everybody can see me. Because I remember when I got fired from Solomon Brothers — I can tell you every person that called me. That meant something. When I was made partner? I have no recollection of that whatsoever." Last year Scott had 340 inbound speaking requests. He accepted 30 of them. His average rate is $112,000 per speech. “The stimulus that attracted my attention with the most urgency was money, not as a means of establishing economic security, but to feed my addiction: affirmation from others.” The role of Luck - Being born in America in the 1960s and two (most importantly) Scott's mom. Though she was raised in a household with little affection, she couldn’t control herself with her son. “For me, affection was the difference between hoping someone thought I was wonderful or worthy and knowing it.” (Emotional) Scott is a dynamic communicator: A turn of phrase is a way of expressing something, in writing or speech, that stands out in some particular way. One of the key indicators of long-term success is the “willingness to endure rejection.” Whether this is walking up to a stranger at the Raleigh hotel, a cold-calling sales job, or asking people to be on your podcast. How to build wealth? Focus (mastery, find your talent), Stoicism (this is about saving more than you spend), Time ( 21 years with your money in low-cost index funds, you will earn 8 times your money), Diversification (Your kevlar). Once you earn some money, assume you are not Steve Ballmer or Mark Zuckerberg. Use a variety of investment vehicles. Going all on one company or asset class is not the optimal choice for most of us.
Our book, The Score That Matters, is now available! https://amzn.to/3ToYckL Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk The ASK approach - Choose curiosity, make it a safe space to tell the truth, pose quality questions (that’s a question that helps you learn something), LISTEN (check if you heard them right, rephrase), then reflect and connect - FOLLOW UP. Make sure the other person feels that you’ve listened to and heard them. 1) Choose Curiosity to awaken your interest in new discoveries. What can I learn from this person? 2) Make it Safe for people to tell you hard things Find the right context. Be vulnerable. Radiate Resilience. 3) Pose Quality Questions so you can uncover what’s most important Questions that help you learn something. What do you really think? 4) Listen to Learn, to hear what someone is really trying to tell you. Request reactions... What holes are in my perspective? 5) Reflect and Reconnect, so you take the right action based on what you’ve heard. Update my thinking. Sifting through what we heard. What can I take away of value? What are the best questions to ask in an interview for a job: As the interviewee, ask them what concerns they have about you? They’re going to talk about these when you’re not in the room. You might as well talk about them together when you’re in there… As the interviewer: Fast forward 1 year. There are two scenarios. 1, you crushed it. 2, You didn’t. Tell the story of what happened in each of those scenarios… What did Jeff learn from his work as a magician? Magic trains you to hold your cards close to your chest, that’s what makes the illusion work…He dreamed (still does) of someone asking him, so what do you think Jeff? He’s held back so much because he wanted people to ask him what he thought… It's like he needed permission. When pollsters asked Americans, “If you could have any superpower you wanted, what would you pick?” Two answers tied for the number 1 spot. Reading other people’s minds and time travel. Asking helps you read people's minds. Key learning from Chris Argyris: How smart people fail to learn... They don't ask. A child asks 25-50 questions per hour. An adult. A tiny fraction of that. Curiosity goes away as we age if we're not intentional about it. "We're all stuck inside our own certainty loops." Leadership hiring must-haves... Alignment with the mission Core values Track record A learner Learning design – How to make your next leadership retreat as impactful as possible? ASK the participants to help you co-create the event. We often miss out on goals, opportunities, and relationships because we don’t know how to ask the right question, in the right way. Yet this critical strength can be learned, and transform your career, organization, and relationships. Career and Life advice: You don't have to have it all figured out. WHO matters more than WHAT.
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Buy our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3ToYckL My guest: Scott Belsky co-founded Behance in 2006 and served as its CEO for six years. Behance was acquired by Adobe in 2012. Since then he has had a variety of roles with the company and is currently Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer, and EVP of Design & Emerging Products. He’s also the author of two best-selling books, The Messy Middle and Making Ideas Happen. Scott holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Hiking > Beach - You're only able to recollect experiences with enough friction to add texture to time as it passes. time spent doing the unexpected and/or being challenged is time with texture. Ultimately, in our dying breath, the more experiences in our lives with texture, the more of our lives we will actually remember and the longer we will feel we have lived. What adds texture to time? A challenge. Feeling unrushed - Feeling unrushed (so simple, yet so hard) is indeed such a luxury; one I still fail to achieve. Persona-Led Growth - People are more likely to share what people say than what companies say. Modern “PR strategy” should amplify the voice of actual builders, embrace personality rather than dull it out, and aspire for more real-time updates vs. major moments. How to raise kids to become great adults? "model hard work" Say, "This is the hard work." Manufacture hardship. Regulate emotions. Big feelings, little bodies. Why Scott enjoys working at Adobe... He's a mission-driven entrepreneur. Progress begets progress. Prototype = Show, not tell. A prototype is worth a hundred meetings, and almost all meetings that aren’t grounded with a prototype are a waste of time (or worse). A prototype immediately surfaces gaps in logic or business concerns. It is the fastest way to drive alignment. "A prototype prompts decisiveness" "It's a hot knife through the butter of bureaucracy." Why Scott writes a Substack newsletter: "I want to be part of the creator platform." Writing clarifies thinking It's important to stay close to the action. Writing works as a forcing function to do that. Scott has benefited greatly from running every day. It's important to push yourself mentally and physically. "There's no option to stop." What's the most important element of leadership? "Empathy. It's a shortcut for overcoming challenges." “You’re either part of the living or part of the dying.”  Scott's aunt Arlis Aron. Fought stage 4 cancer for 15 years. She always focused on living, her garden, breakfast, and traveling. “Decide if you want to live less or live more.” "Every day is a standalone canvas."
Our new book, The Score That Matters, is out TODAY (March 26, 2024). Here's the link: https://amzn.to/4citmTL Thank you for your support! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Ryan Hawk is the creator and host of The Learning Leader Show, a top-rated business podcast that focuses on learning from the most effective leaders in the world. He speaks regularly to Fortune 500 companies; works with teams and players in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA; and facilitates Leadership Circles to offer structured guidance and collaborative feedback to new and experienced leaders. Ryan has also built an online leadership school called The Learning Leader Academy. He is the author of Welcome to Management and The Pursuit of Excellence, lauded by Forbes magazine as “the best leadership book of 2020” and “the most dynamic leadership book of 2022,” respectively. Brook Cupps has been a high school basketball coach for more than 20 years, earning several Coach of the Year awards. His teams have won numerous conference, district, and regional championships, as well as Centerville High School’s first-ever basketball state championship in 2021. In addition, he has spent the last eight years coaching grassroots basketball on the AAU circuits and helped guide the North Coast (Ohio) Blue Chips to national championships in 2014 and 2019. He publishes weekly essays on leadership and coaching on his site, Blue Collar Grit, and is the author of Surrender the Outcome. People love to keep score. Managers keep score of a range of business metrics: market share, revenue, profit margin, and growth rate. In our personal lives, social media has us keeping score by likes and followers. These external scores are outcome-driven and serve as proof of our success—money, fame, material possessions, wins—but this constant chase for more validation often leaves us feeling exhausted and empty. Offering both descriptive and prescriptive advice and anecdotes, The Score That Matters will help you unlock true fulfillment and happiness by discovering your purpose, identifying your values, creating critical behaviors, and living them faithfully every day in all aspects of your life. Warren Buffett once said, “The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.”  And that’s what The Score That Matters Is All About… The inner scoreboard is about eliminating comparison with others and living in alignment with what’s most important to you: your values and the behaviors to match those values.  If you want to stop comparing yourself to others, establish YOUR core values, and live in alignment with them (and I believe you should), then I think our book, The Score That Matters, will be useful for you. In addition to that, our book, The Score That Matters, will help you Build trust with the important people in your lives (your family and the team you’re leading at work) It will help you focus on your eulogy virtues instead of your resume virtues And we write about how you can build transformational relationships that will ultimately change your life for the better. When I interviewed economics professor and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, I asked him why he chose to write his most recent book with someone else (after he previously had written his books by himself). He said, “If you have an opportunity to work with someone who is awesome and brilliant and who will cooperate with you, you should always do that. Drop everything and do that.” Before this, I never thought I would write with someone else. It’s too personal. However, I took Tyler Cowen’s advice and I am so glad I did. Working on a book with one of your mentors is the ultimate tool for learning. I got to have long-form conversations (both in writing and in person) from someone who has figured out some of life’s most challenging issues. When you meet Brook Cupps, you’ll notice that he’s incredibly comfortable in his own skin. He has ZERO need to get approval from anyone outside of his closest friends. He has his values, lives his values, and that’s it. I think we would all be better off if we did that. In this book, you’ll get the unique perspective of a teacher and a student. Brook plays the role of the teacher, and me the student. We wrote almost all of the book together and mixed in some parts labeled BC and RH when it was from each of our unique perspectives. After a lifetime of figuring these things out and 3 years working together to get the ideas out of our heads onto the page, our book, The Score That Matters is now available for you to read. If you’ve gotten any value from The Learning Leader Show over the past 9 years, I hope you decide to buy this book. I think it could change your life. Go to Amazon now and buy it. If you’ve already bought yourself a copy, go back to Amazon and buy another one or two for the people in your life you care about most. Start a book club, tell your friends, read this with your colleagues at work. Not only do I think it could change your life, but all of your friends too. Thank you for your support!
Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3vjDSt6 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 574: Guy Kawasaki - Leadership Lessons From Steve Jobs, Learning How To Sell, Becoming a Chief Evangelist, and The 'Think Different' Philosophy “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward In 1977, Guy enrolled in the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he earned an MBA. While there, Guy also worked at a jewelry company, Nova Stylings. He said, "The jewelry business is a very, very tough business, tougher than the computer business... I learned a very valuable lesson: how to sell." It’s helpful to know that we are all in sales every day. Whether you think you’re in sales or not… You are. You’re selling yourself, your ideas, projects, products. It’s useful to learn how to sell. Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva (which is an amazing product and company)... "She’s Steve Jobs with heart and soul. They are on a relentless pursuit of perfection." Guy's counting dots story… It started in 6th grade. A teacher pushed him to go to a private school. That led to him getting into Stanford. This is where he met Mike Boich, who ended up hiring him at Apple. Then getting asked to go on the TEDx stage with Jane Goodall… Guy has made the most of the good fortune in his life… Steve Jobs/Change Your Mind: Guy launched his tech career at Apple as the company’s “chief evangelist,” marketing the original Macintosh computer.  When Jobs first introduced the iPhone in 2007, it was a closed system — no one outside of Apple could create an app for it. Software developers had to use a Safari plugin to make their app work on the phone, as they weren’t able to access the iPhone’s system directly in order to ensure the phone’s security. Just one year later, however, Jobs made a complete “180-degree reversal,” The founder opened the iPhone system to the public after realizing how much more the device could offer customers with apps written by anyone with a good idea. “I learned the very valuable lesson that when you’re doing something wrong when you’re doing something sub-optimally, it’s a sign of intelligence to change your mind.” Throughout our conversation, Guy talks about being an evangelist, and the definition of that is to “bring the good news.”  Default to yes. Make yourself indispensable. Learn to say, "I'm sorry," and "I don't know." Guy shares a story about a disagreement he had with Steve Jobs and how that cost him millions of dollars… But he learned an important lesson from Steve that has impacted him ever since.
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3uWB1pQ Full Show Notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes: “If it can’t be grown, it must be mined. It’s a truth of human progress.” The story of Burro Schmidt… He spent 38 years hand-digging a tunnel through a ½ mile of solid granite even though 19 years in, they built a road that made his tunnel obsolete. But he found his purpose and wanted to finish the job. Some may think that’s crazy, but I admire people like that. Be Your Own Light - "I don't look for hope. I look for evidence." Seek Awe - Understand your smallness in the world and how it's all interconnected. Read the "Thank You Project" by AJ Jacobs. "We love to see people who have found their purpose." There are long-term consequences of short-term thinking. Robert Greene's advice to Brent - Combine your unique and different skill sets to find your purpose. Brent dedicated his book to his parents, Liz and Bill, and sister Laura. I appreciate Brent’s outlook on life and permitting yourself to live a life of adventure and to think BIG. You can still wisely do this. Brent still works a day job with the Daily Stoic but is also taking a big swing at the same time. This is an option that is available for most of us. It’s on us to take action and do it. I’ve known Brent for about a decade. In his previous role with Brass Check (that’s Ryan Holiday’s marketing company), one of his jobs was to get authors on podcasts. And I love how precise Brent was in his outreach. He never sent me an author unless he had done the work ahead of time to ensure they were a good fit for my show. I appreciate the care he puts into his work and has for a long time. "When I think back 4 years, before Cerro Gordo, life was pretty stable. I had a good job, a solid apartment, and friends. It felt like a life that I could have floated through forever. I just kept feeling like I was missing out on...something. Something to grab my attention and not let go. To avoid, as Thoreau said, a life of “quiet desperation.” ⁣A lot has changed since then. Life certainly isn’t comfortable. There were 3 feet of snow to shovel before I could get to the outhouse this morning. There have been fires, floods, and earthquakes. I’ve lost too much weight, friends, partners, money. A lot more. I wouldn’t change a thing. I feel fulfilled in a way I never knew was possible. Building something real that I care about. Connected to my work, the world, the past. Meeting so many passionate people who care deeply about the same things. ⁣" Get To Work – JP Morgan said every man has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason… The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago. Brent Underwood bet his life savings—and his life—on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds—one that has captured millions of followers around the world. After graduating from Columbia University, Brent worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City. After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central and South America. Upon returning to New York, he founded a hostel in Brooklyn. In December 2014 Brent founded HK Austin, a hostel in Austin, Texas after staying in 150 hostels across 30 countries. For 2015, HK Austin was the highest-rated hostel in the United States. “I’m not going to call it a ghost town anymore. I’m going to call it home.”
Buy our NEW BOOK, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3TmmbkT Full show notes www.LearningLeader.com Think BIG... But choose what to be ambitious about. Get clear on that first. Simple Modern is a $225m bootstrapped business... Mike owns the majority of the company. Mission: "We exist to give generously." Simple Modern is an employee-owned Oklahoma based company whose mission statement is we exist to give generously. Our desire is to make 5-star products offering remarkable value so we can give to worthy organizations making the world a better place. Use the "75-year-old self principle:" - What would your 75-year-old self regret if you didn't do? (credit: Jeff Bezos) Leadership stages: Player Player/Coach Coach General Manager "I love the name of your podcast. You have to keep learning." What are the best and worst parts of being a CEO? Best: Building culture, being part of a community, having lunch every day with your team. It creates huge leverage to do great work. Worst: Stress, isolation. Understanding your identity? Is it too tied up in an unhealthy place?  Mike's purpose: Teaching Giving Leading and creating value Parenting Positively alter the lives of others (as many as possible) "Great leaders create more leaders. We measure it wrong. It should be about creating more leaders." The professor, Rufus Fears, started the lecture. The first thing out of his mouth was, "If you are here trying to get a pink slip, I can tell you that the class is full, and there will be no pink slips given." Mike did not let that stop him. He stayed after class, talked with Professor Fears, went to his office, and talked with him. And earned entry to his class (and a few others of his later). It’s a great lesson that we need to be proactive and take initiative. We need to go after what we want. Is your identity coming from a healthy place? Is it coming from accomplishments, titles, or materialistic things? Money? Or have you found your identity in something bigger than yourself? A well-defined purpose almost always stems from helping other people. Why you should write: There are multiple levels of understanding. They are: You know nothing, then you have an intuitive understanding of something but you can’t explain it to someone else, then you actually behave in a deliberate way and can explain it. That goes to a point where you can understand a situation in real-time. And finally, you get to the point where you can teach it to someone else. A writing practice can help clarify your thinking and help you better understand something so well that you can teach it to others. Let’s develop a writing practice. Writing scales. Hosting a podcast scales. They also increase your surface area for luck and serendipity. Why Mike has no desire to sell Simple Modern: The whole point of having money is that we can trade it for things that are better than money. "You can't convert money to friendships. You can't buy things that give you meaning & purpose. Life is in pursuit of priceless things." Mike's favorite marketing pitch ever (Jon Hamm in Mad Men): Kodak asks for a branding campaign around a new product. It is a circular device that allows you to flip through pictures. Kodak hopes to  highlight the technology and call the product "the wheel." Then, they get a master class on branding from Jon Hamm in Mad Men… Before we can lead others well, we have to be internally healthy. Leadership is an inside-out exercise. What do you value? It is easy to determine what someone truly cares about: What do they do with their free time? Where do they spend their extra money? "I frequently spend time comparing what I say I value to what my behavior shows because the worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves."
Do you want to live in alignment with your purpose and values? Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3Igx1Ue Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes on my conversation with former CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, Jim Keyes: From adversity to the stars. Per ardua ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning "through adversity to the stars.” Adversity is your advantage. The tough moments you’re going through will help you be stronger long term. This is a useful mindset shift. "Adversity is an advantage." How did Jim get hired the first time and continually get promoted? He told the truth.  He was unafraid to tell it like it really was. No fluffy language. He got right to it and let them know how he could help them. He focused on THEM, not him. They don’t care about why you think you deserve the job. They care about their company and if you’ll be able to help solve their problems. Focus on them, their issues, and how you can help them. That’s what Jim has done his entire career. The C-Suite Learnings What – Change, Confidence, Clarity How - Critical thinking (ask why), curiosity, and creativity (have fun) Why - Collaboration, Culture literacy (learn from others experiences), and character Jim became one of the youngest managers in this history of McDonald's. "The only one that likes change is a wet baby. Change is reality. Change equals opportunity." CEO = "Change Equals Opportunity." Confidence is all about preparation. The more you prepare, the more confident you'll be. Clarity and Simplicity. "The hardest thing in the world is to keep things simple." "True elegance is in simplicity." "I can't lead if you can't understand. So, it's up to me to keep things simple and clear." Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose…I win, or I learn.” "There are three prerequisites to a successful business transformation in the face of change: cash management, confidence, and collaboration. Managing cash flow is, by far, the most important but maintaining sufficient cash requires confidence and collaboration."
Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/49LJuuD Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes: Just two years into Amy's work as a therapist, her mother passed away unexpectedly. Exactly three years to the day later, her 26-year-old husband, Lincoln, died of a heart attack. So she set out on a personal journey to learn as much as she could about grief, mental health, and mental strength. Amy decided that she would live life to the fullest. She rode mules into the Grand Canyon, went skydiving, took flying trapeze lessons, spent the night in 49 states, got 6-pack abs in 28 days, and started driving a motorcycle Amy’s daily challenge: She pushes herself to run a mile as fast as she can. It forces her outside of her comfort zone and ensures mental and physical growth. Pleasant activity scheduling. Put them on the calendar. Block out time for pleasant experiences together with your partner, your family, and your friends. You then look forward to those moments, get to experience those moments, and then create memory dividends that you’ll have for life. Schedule pleasant activities.  Don’t take your partner for granted. I think this goes for any relationship, but especially for those of us who are in committed long-term relationships with a spouse. Think of the Tony Robbins story: For the past twenty years, each day when he gets home from work, he has a “Honey I’m home” routine where they share a big embrace and a kiss and they both bring positive energy to the interaction. This sets the tone so that their relationship doesn’t get boring. What Mentally Strong Couples Do: They don't ignore their problems. - Whether they face a sudden financial hiccup or experience issues related to intimacy, mentally strong couples address their problems head-on. They engage in difficult conversations and confront their issues, regardless of the discomfort it might bring. By working together to find solutions early on, they prevent their problems from escalating. They don’t keep secrets. - Mentally strong couples respect each other's privacy, like allowing one another to have private conversations with friends. However, they draw the line at keeping secrets. They’re honest about everything, whether it’s how much they really spent on an item or the fact that a co-worker has been flirting with them. They prioritize open discussion over potential discomfort because they understand that trust is the foundation of their relationship. They don’t hesitate to set boundaries - Mentally strong couples know the importance of setting boundaries with each other. For instance, one partner may need to refrain from responding to text messages during the workday as it interferes with their job. But they also set boundaries to shield their relationship from external influences, like an overbearing mother-in-law or a relative who asks to borrow money. Together, they establish financial, physical, emotional, social, and temporal boundaries that enable them to function at their best. They don’t become martyrs - Mentally strong couples understand that while sacrifices are part of a relationship, it doesn't mean giving up everything to the point of self-destruction. They steer clear of bitterness and resentment for the things they've done for the family. Instead, they set boundaries, voice their needs, and take care of their well-being. They don't use their emotions as weapons - It’s healthy to experience and express a wide variety of emotions. But mentally strong couples don’t weaponize their emotions. For instance, a strong individual won’t cry to avoid a tough conversation, and they won’t raise their voice to get their way. Their focus is on managing their emotions, not controlling their partner's actions. They don't try to "fix" each other - While they work toward bringing out the best in each other, mentally strong individuals don't try to "fix" their partners. They strive to be a positive influence but respect their partner's autonomy to make personal choices—even when they don’t agree with those choices. They support their partner’s attempts at self-improvement but understand that they can't do the work on their partner's behalf. They don’t communicate with disrespect - While most couples understand that name-calling or belittling each other can harm their relationship, mentally strong couples also pay attention to the subtle aspects of communication that can make a significant difference (like looking up from their devices to hold a conversation). They prioritize active listening, understanding each other's perspectives, and expressing their feelings in a healthy manner. They don't blame each other for their issues - A mentally strong individual doesn't pass the buck by saying things like, "I'd be happier if my partner changed." Instead, they take ownership of their happiness. They refrain from blaming their partner for their struggles, acknowledging that everyone has the power to bring about change. They never lose sight of why they fell in love - Mentally strong couples ensure their love endures even as circumstances evolve. Career advancements, parenthood, and shifting responsibilities may make their lives look different from when they first met, but they never forget why they chose each other. Remembering why they fell in love helps them stay committed to resolving issues and working things out. They don't expect their relationship to meet all their needs - These couples don't subscribe to the notion that their partner will "complete" them. They understand that they each have to fulfill some of their own needs. Whether it's spending time with friends for recreational companionship or pursuing personal hobbies, they realize they have the agency and flexibility to meet their needs in various ways. They don't neglect their partnership - Mentally resilient couples understand that while there will be multiple demands on their attention—children, extended family, work—they can’t neglect their relationship. They discuss their priorities and collaborate to maintain their connection, even during phases of life when they're being pulled in different directions. They don't take each other for granted - The strongest couples don’t overlook the kindness, love, and affection their partner provides. They express gratitude and appreciation for each other regularly. Frequent conversations about what they value, tokens of appreciation, and genuine gratitude are integral to their partnership. They don’t stop growing and changing - Mentally strong couples strive for personal growth but also ensure they don't grow apart. They aren't intimidated by their partner's individual progress. As they secure new jobs, take on fresh responsibilities, and change their viewpoints, they make sure their relationship evolves accordingly. It's inspirational when both partners are invested in strengthening their relationship. However, often one partner may be more focused on building mental strength and strengthening the relationship than the other. The good news is that one person can significantly impact the overall health of the relationship. You can start improving your relationship by giving up any unhealthy habits that could weaken your relationship. When you make the decision to change your habits, you can grow stronger as an individual while also strengthening your relationship, even if your partner isn’t invested in building their own mental strength right away.
Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3HSQzhf Rob Henderson has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Cambridge, where he studied as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He obtained a B.S. in psychology from Yale University and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He's the author of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class Self-discipline beats motivation. Often, people say they need to feel “motivated” to perform a task. Motivation, though, is just a feeling. Self-discipline is “I’m going to do this, regardless of how I feel.” Air Force Training – "My favorite part of training was the camaraderie. I especially enjoyed drill and marching. The synchronized movement with others, moving as a single element, instilled a feeling of belonging." – The military provided a structured environment. Rob said that whenever he felt like an outsider, he sought refuge in helping others. Because of that, he volunteered at New Haven Reads near Yale. While there, he met a kid named Guillermo. There, he learned how to relate with others by sharing his story. Writing: Rob was accepted into the War Horse Writing Seminar at Columbia University. The program was designed to help veterans write about their experiences. External Achievement: "Upon obtaining a few totems of achievement, I came to realize that they are flawed measures of success. External accomplishments are trivial compared with a warm and loving family. Going to school is far less important than having a parent who cares enough to make sure you get to class every day." Two of Rob's mom’s friends came to him for advice. They were talking about their 6-year-old son and they were concerned with how “smart” he was. They asked, “Should we be reading to him more?” And Rob responded, “Yeah, but not because it will expand his vocabulary. Read to him because it will remind him that you love him.” The best and worst things about Yale: Best Students work ethic Focused Unique pursuits Worst Self-censorship One of his instructors at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas asked the class one Friday afternoon if they had any questions. Rob asked, “If you could do it all over again, would you still have enlisted?” – “Understand that the Air Force is going to ask a lot from you. Just remember that you can get a lot in return from it, as well.” Luxury beliefs - Rob coined the term to describe beliefs that mark the believer as holding the approved opinion while harming those less privileged. Lessons Learned The Hard Way: You are what you do. Not what you say or what you believe. People use words to strategically justify their actions and blind you to who they really are. Don't be fooled by cheap talk. Pay close attention to how people actually spend their time and effort. Good conversations are made up of questions. Avoid speaking for longer than three minutes without asking one. When seeking advice, ask people in a different life station than you—ahead or behind, older or younger. People in the same position are often biased by envy, and this can color the advice they give. One of the most common life regrets people report is “I wish I had let myself be happier.” You'll never be happy if you continue thinking that you’ll be happy one day. “The study of happiness often sounds like a sermon for traditional values. The numbers show it is not the rich, privileged, robust, or good-looking who are happy; it is those who have spouses, friends, religion, and challenging, meaningful work” - Steven Pinker (How The Mind Works) 35% of people in America graduate with a bachelor's degree, 11% of people from poor families graduate from college. And just 3% of foster kids graduate from college. When you think about Rob’s story, it’s hard not to be inspired. He’s beaten almost impossible odds to not only graduate from college, but he served our country, then went to Yale, graduated, and got his PhD from Cambridge. It’s awesome to see what he’s done and he’s still so young and at the beginning of his career. I love it when good things happen to good people. Life/career advice - “Be a fish out of water. Do something hard. Be uncomfortable.” That was advice for a recent grad, but I think it’s useful for all of us.
Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/48jAoUM Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com For the past 40+ years, Tony Robbins has been known worldwide as one of the most impactful business and life coaches in the world. He’s hosted millions of people at his events, written 6 international best-selling books, he’s involved in more than 100 businesses that have done more than 7 billion dollars in revenue, and as part of his work with Feeding America, Tony has provided more than 850 million meals to those in need. He’s personally coached President Bill Clinton, Serena Williams, Connor McGregor, Marc Benioff, Usher, the Golden State Warriors, and many others. Notes: The advice Tony received from Jim Rohn. "Your job is to become more valuable. We are all equal as souls, but not equal in the marketplace." “If you want things to get better, you’ve got to get better.” Commonalities among leaders who sustain excellence: They find something they care about more than themselves, they have a hunger for it, and they work amazingly hard at it. “You’re rewarded in public for what you practice in private.” Steph Curry has taken far more practice shots than game ones. He’s rewarded in public for what he does in private. How to build confidence: Preparation creates certainty.  “Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.” The essence of building confidence is this: If you go into a situation knowing that you can handle it – whatever it is – then that's exactly what you'll do. “A belief is a poor substitute for an experience.” You might believe it’s something you’re going to love, but you don’t fully know until you do it. Get in the arena and do it. See what it’s like. That’s when you’ll learn.     Tony learned NLP from John Grinder (founder of NLP). Neuro-Linguistic Programming. is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy, that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's 1975 book The Structure of Magic I. NLP asserts that there is a connection between neurological processes, language, and acquired behavioral patterns, and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life. “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” “Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards.” “The power of positive thinking is the ability to generate a feeling of certainty in yourself when nothing in the environment supports you.” "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."― George Bernard Shaw Tony interviewed a dozen of the world’s most successful investors in private equity, private credit, private real estate, and venture capital. He wanted to learn everything he could about the private markets and investing.  Ray Dalio - Apply diversification across 8-12 uncorrelated investments.
Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/48ePbAa Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com William Ury is the co-author of Getting to Yes, the world’s all-time bestselling book on negotiation with more than 15 million copies sold, and co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation. Bill has devoted his life to helping people, organizations, and nations transform conflicts around the world, having served as a negotiator in many of the toughest disputes of our times, taught negotiation to tens of thousands, and consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon. Based in the mountains of Colorado where he loves to hike, Bill is an internationally sought-after speaker and has two popular TEDx talks with millions of viewers. Notes: Your life’s work: “If you had to boil your life’s work down to just one sentence you could leave behind, what would it say?” This is a great question for us to ask ourselves to gain clarity on our purpose and what we were put here to do. What is your life’s work? On one of Bill's hikes with Jim Collins in Boulder, Colorado, he asked, “When did you first discover your interest in and instinct for what became your life’s work?” Be trustworthy AND trust willing. Become known as a person who trusts others first without making people earn it. Yes, you’ll get burned every once in a while, but I’ve found it’s worth it. Leading with trust seems to attract the type of people you want to be around. On a freezing night in January 1977, the phone rang at 10:00 pm. Bill was living in a little rented room in the attic of an old wooden house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 23, writing term papers, and studying hard for graduate school exams in social anthropology. Bill picked up the phone… “I was particularly struck by Bill’s rare ability to bring calm and optimism to seemingly intractable conflicts and by his blend of intellectual clarity and practical wisdom.” - Jim Collins Go to hardest places: Instead of sharpening his intellect and insights by doing research sitting in a plush faculty office at some Ivy League institute, Bill decided to “go to the hardest places first,” throwing himself into political negotiations in the Middle East. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒚, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑩𝑩𝟑.” “The only book to write is the one you cannot not write.” What are the 3 victories on the path to possible? The story of the wise old woman and the camels... The story of Vasili Arkhipov and Sub B-59 (the pause, calm, reactive to proactive).   Bring your spirit of play. That’s one of the things about Bill that I couldn’t help but notice from the second we connected. He was smiling, laughing, and enjoying himself the entire time. He was having fun. What’s the point of doing all of this if we don’t have some fun along the way?
Order and Read our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/4btcb1o Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 What do leaders who sustain excellence do? They have the ability to be present for an extended period of time. They are here now. They live a life that creates a sustainable presence. They are fully present. Be here now. Fully here. This makes you available for this creative moment. Play the long game. Excellent leaders play the long game. "Live a life that creates sustainable presence." Space and Place: It's important to know your soul's home: For Jim: Northern Michigan. Quiet, still, simple, in nature... "It's recharging for me." Lead and live intentionally to get to your flow state. Ask: What is it that creates the most "alive-ness" in you? Do an energy audit. Look at your calendar for the last week. What events make your energy go up, stay neutral, or go down? Maximize for people and events that make your energy go up. "Populate your life with what you love." Are you willing to be fully alive? What are you willing to risk to make that happen? Get rid of energy downers. You can do that in 3 ways. Dump it, Delegate it Do it differently Responsibility – By me: I commit to taking full responsibility for the circumstances of my life, and my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. I commit to support others to take full responsibility for their lives. I have to = Victim mindset I choose to = Ownership mindset To me = At the effect of other things. Outside my locus of control. By me = Inside. I am the cause of the experience. Radical responsibility. How am I causing the experience? Josh Waitzkin - Make weather what it is. Play in the rain. Curiosity is everything as a leader. The opposite of curiosity is always needing/wanting to be right. Deconstruct all the places where you want to be right. Most of it stems from fear. There are three fears: Approval Control Security Curiosity - I commit to growing in self-awareness. I commit to regarding every interaction as an opportunity to learn. I commit to curiosity as a path to rapid learning. Candor - I commit to saying what is true for me. I commit to being a person to whom others can express themselves with candor. Accountability and Responsibility: Responsibility is not something that can be assigned, it is something that has to be taken. Responsibility lives in the world of integrity and impeccable agreements. Speak truth in love. “We often describe unconscious leaders as reactive. They react from a “story” about the past or an imagined future, and their personality, ego, or mind takes over.”
Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/47K2g4f Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com “Rejection is a test if you really want something. The upside of asking is unlimited.” "People are afraid of asking. The people who make it happen are willing to ask, be rejected, and keep going." One of the biggest lessons learned from working with Mark Zuckerberg? Pick one goal. Then focus relentlessly on reaching it. His was 1 billion users on Facebook. This is how Noah has grown App Sumo to $80m in revenue. Focus on one big goal and the system implemented to make it happen. Noah's parental influence: Fearlessness - Ask for everything. Set rejection goals. You learn that selling copiers door to door. His mom is very disciplined. Always working out in the gym. She follows through. She's persistent. She grinds. His mom also hated her job. "I don't want to live a 'what-if' life" "Are we getting what we get or are we getting what we want?" The law of 100 -- Do the thing 100 times before you quit. Get going, get started. It's about now, not how. Create an exciting vision: "What are we looking forward to?" Million Dollar Weekend: Start it Build it Grow it Noah's philosophy on interviewing: 1) Talk with people you're genuinely interested in 2) Tell them how they’ve positively impacted your life. People love genuine compliments. And they loved to hear that they’ve helped others. 3) Tell them what's in it for them. Create questions that make your guests excited to answer (set them up to tell interesting stories) Entrepreneurship is not risky. Risky is spending your life at a job you hate, with people you don’t like, working on problems you don’t care about. Freedom is about gaining control of your schedule. Money is the tool, not the goal. This trip was one of my highlights of the fall. Nothing like biking across America. So much good time to think and reflect. Reminds me that whenever you’re in a funk, just get moving. (Helps to be surrounded by beautiful landscapes) The future of big business is small teams. One person. No employees. Everything automated. Solopreneurs are the future. Acknowledgements: Adam Gilbert for our bike ride ten-plus years ago where I shared a dream to put my knowledge into a book for other people. And for always always being my guardian angel. Tahl Raz - I dreamed for years of the chance to work with you on a book. Thank you for taking a chance on me. Somehow you were magically able to take all my adventures/theories/ideas/antics and put them together in a helpful narrative better than I could have ever dreamed. Thank you! Also for being a mutual lover of schvitzing.
Order our new book, The Score That Matters. https://amzn.to/3OsEEdV Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com X/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ariel wants to be the "Howard Cosell of MMA". “I got the interview skills from my mom, who my friends would always call for advice, and the work ethic from my dad, who never gave an excuse or took a sick day." "So one of the things that early on, before I became a dad was I want to be omnipresent. I believe in this quote from Woody Allen "80% of success is just showing up." I want to be at every single event. I want to be the guy that people when they think of big fights, they think of me. Howard Cosell, of MMA, all that stuff and more." Ariel's Parents: "My mom still watches my show every week, and it's a long show about a topic she doesn't know a hell of a lot about. But she does it because she loves and supports me." "She's the mom that a lot of my brother's girlfriends and stuff would stay in touch with, even after they broke up. Because she just had that connection with people. She asks questions, she listens, she has a good mind and eye for things." "My dad is a workaholic, and he'd be the first to tell you that. He's the kind of guy who, every day, I'd see him Monday through Friday, wake up, go to work at around seven, come home at around seven. He would have this massive box of papers, he would sit at the dinner table, and he would work on all the papers. He would take his shower at like 9:30, go to bed, and start over again, and he couldn't have been happier." Syracuse: In 9th grade, he was reading Sports Illustrated and learned that the U.S.’s top sportscasting degree is earned at Syracuse. Bob Costas went there. Marv Albert went there. So he went to Syracuse. Being homesick and full of anxiety in college: "I wouldn't want to go to the dining hall to eat, so I just stocked up on Blue Diamond almonds. Which I have a hard time eating till this day because it reminds me of those days. Chef Boyardee, Alphagetti, that's what I was eating. I was watching sports in my room, by myself, I had a single room, and I was just crippled with this anxiety. And every time I would leave home to come back to school, like Thanksgiving break was over, and whatnot, Christmas break, I was sad. I was down." When he knew he wanted to cover MMA – back home in the fall of 2006 when he found himself in Champs Sports Bar, on Saint Laurent Boulevard, where the TVs were tuned to a UFC pay-per-view special. When the Quebec-born fighter Georges St-Pierre beat up Matt Hughes and scored a TKO to win the welterweight championship, “the place explodes like the Canadiens just won the Stanley Cup. And I’m like: ‘I want to be a part of this sport.’” Being the Heel – He learned from Howard Cosell, who was known as a heel, the pro wrestling term for the bad guy who people tune in to see fall.  “Heelwani” What does it take to be a great interviewer? Be prepared. Ask thoughtful questions. Don’t script the conversation. LISTEN. Ask better follow ups. Make it feel more like a conversation. Feuds with Dana White: "I'm the type of person who doesn't back down, in large part because of my parents and my family, and they never back down, so how could I? And why should I? Especially if I'm not doing anything wrong. So I would say I never sought it, I always try to diffuse it, privately. I don't try to get into Twitter wars and things like that, with other people. Where it seems like they spend their life over there trying to go back and forth. That being said, to your point, which is a great point, having an understanding of pro wrestling, and storylines, and feuds. And I come out of my ESPN chapter as Helwani, and punching back, and it's "High road Helwani, no more" and all that. Yes, sure, there's a little bit of pro wrestling in there, and I love pro wrestling. And I believe that there are a lot of elements in pro wrestling in a lot of different walks of life, including politics and whatnot. Good guy/bad guy, heel/face, all that stuff." How conduct a great interview? "You have to listen, you have to be ready to open your mind, open your heart, and not feel, again, like you're just coming out guns blazing, and hitting someone with haymakers. Listen to them, be soft, be gentle, be welcoming. But, again, Howard Stern, no one did it better, he breaks you down to the point where you think that you're just two guys sitting around, or a girl and a guy sitting around, and there are not even cameras or microphones. They forget that they're on a show, if you're empathetic, if you're warm, if you're welcoming, that's the best result." Make the ASK - Ariel knocked on the door of a senior executive at ESPN. The guy didn’t even know who he was. And he asked to be a sideline reporter at basketball games. The senior exec said nobody had ever done that in 20 years. If you want something, ASK for it. Steve Jobs said the difference between the people who dream about stuff and the people who make it happen is the willingness to ask. You gotta ask. "I walked into his office, and there's a lesson, I think, here, for a lot of people. And I was like, "Hey, I have no credibility in the world of basketball, very few people know who I am. I don't have many sources. But if you ever need someone, in the 11th hour someone gets sick, someone gets hurt, I'll be your guy. I'll be your sideline reporter. I know to do that. And he said, "I'll be honest; I've never heard of you. I've never seen MMA. I've never seen your work. But I've been here 20 plus years, and no one has ever done what you just did, so I'll keep you in mind." Which was an amazing thing to hear, and mind-blowing that no one does that. All the offices are right there, just knock on the door."
Pre-order our new book, "The Score That Matters." https://amzn.to/3HaJjgh Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. This is episode #563 of The Learning Leader Show. My guest is Dr. Mike Massimino. The 3 Trusts - Trust your gear, trust your training, trust your team… And the 4th: trust yourself. Mike persisted through 3 rejections over 7 years on his way to becoming an astronaut, including overcoming a medical disqualification by training his eyes and brain to see better. Mike participated in a mission that significantly increased Hubble’s discovery potential and led to the award of a Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of dark energy during a spacewalk. Why Mike was chosen to be an astronaut: Mike has a great combination of competence (he knows his stuff) and high character. He’s the type of guy that can get along and work with anyone. He’s honest, humble, and authentic. The power of having a deep passion for what you’re doing. Mike watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon when he was six years old and then did whatever he could over the rest of his life to become an astronaut. His desire to become an astronaut led him to go to prestigious universities, earn his Ph.D., become a pilot, become scuba certified, develop great communication skills, and so much more. All of that work led to him accomplishing what he set out to do when he was just 6 years old. “I knew right then that I wanted to be a part of something that meaningful. I wanted to have something I was so passionate about that I'd be willing to risk everything for it. I wanted to know that if I ever got killed, I got killed doing something worthwhile. The kid who looked up at the moon and wasn't afraid to dream - I decided that part of me deserved a chance. I sat there in that reception area, watching the crash footage play over and over again on the television, and that was when it hit home for me: you only have one life. You have to spend it doing something that matters.” What Mike learned from Alan Bean: The most important lesson is to care for and admire everyone on your team. “My favorite lecturer was Alan Bean, who flew on Apollo 12 and is one of the twelve guys who walked on the moon. After retiring from NASA, he became a painter. Alan's lecture was called "The Art of Space Exploration." He talked about the mistakes he'd made and how he learned to fix them. One lesson that took him a while to learn was that at a place like NASA you can only have an effect on certain things. You can't control who likes you. You can't control who gets assigned to flights or what NASA's budget is going to be next year. If you get caught up worrying about things you can't control, you'll drive yourself nuts. It's better to focus on the things right in front of you. Identify the places where you can have a positive impact. Concentrate there and let the rest take care of itself. The last thing Alan said to us was 'What most people want in life is to do something great. That doesn't happen often. Don't take it for granted. Don't be blasé about it. And don't blow it. A lot of times, believe it or not, people blow it. “Kennedy’s address announcing the Apollo program was one of the great presidential speeches of all time. He challenged us. He excited us. We reach for impossible things, he said, “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”  Competence + Character = Trust. The Right Stuff - The Original 7 Astronauts. If you have a bad boss, what should you do: Stay the course Lead by example “Life is funny. I'd applied to the wrong graduate program, but that eventually led me to the right grad program. I'd taken what I thought was the wrong undergraduate major, and that was the thing that set me apart and allowed me to find my niche. I don't know if there are any lessons to take from that except to realize that the things you think are mistakes may turn out not to be mistakes. I realized wherever you are, if you make the most of what you've got, you can find a way to keep moving forward.” “If you can learn to live with indignities in life, you can go far.” “That's how a team works. You help the people around you, and everybody's better off for it. The crazy thing is that most of those guys wanted to be astronauts, too, but they never saw it as a competition. We were on the same team, where you want everyone around you to be as successful as possible, because in some way or another their success will become your success. It's good karma - what goes around comes around.” “Right after we launched, I realized that all the training we'd on what to do if something went wrong during launch-how to bail out , how to operate the parachutes, how to make an emergency landing-I realized that all those years of training were completely pointless. It was just filler to make us feel okay about climbing into this thing. Because if it's going down, it's going down. It's either going to be a good day or it's going to be a bad day, and there is no in-between.” “The camaraderie that firefighters have, that brotherhood that forms among them - my father was a part of that, and it came from having a shared sense of purpose. He told me that whatever you do in life, it can't just be about making money. It's important that you work to make the world a better place, that you help improve the lives of the people around you.” Perspective: Mike shares how looking down on Earth from space changed his perspective and filled him with deep gratitude.
Order our new book, The Score That Matters. https://amzn.to/3RTU399 Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com X/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Nikki Glaser is one of the funniest female voices in comedy today. For nearly two decades at clubs across the country, stand-up comedian, actress, podcaster, and TV host. In July of 2022, she headlined her first HBO comedy special, GOOD CLEAN FILTH, which has been nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy Special. Nikki was a standout at the Comedy Central Roasts of Alec Baldwin, Bruce Willis, and Rob Lowe, which led to her guest-hosting JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! Nikki is currently on her nationwide and international comedy tour, THE GOOD GIRL TOUR, which kicked off in January 2023. Before coming on The Learning Leader Show, Nikki has done in-depth interviews with Howard Stern, Marc Maron, Conan O'Brien, and Joe Rogan. Notes: When Nikki is bombing on stage, she has a great method to reset. "Just say what's true." "Everyone is putting on a mask. Everyone is trying to present in a different way. If you just say what’s true, it’s the funniest.” Nikki is a professional “noticer of things.” This is why I think great stand-ups are modern-day philosophers. They notice things and then have a way to share them in a unique and funny way with all of us. We laugh because they’ve said what’s true, but have done it in a way that we haven’t thought of before. As leaders, we should be more aware and notice things more often. The writing process: "You need to pay attention constantly to everything to see what could potentially be a joke. Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation with a friend, I'll tell them to hold on because I need to take out my phone and type something funny that I just saw. If you don't write it down, you won't remember it." Just get started. What advice for someone who wants to do something? You have to do it. The way to get good is to get going. Nikki has become one of the premier comedians in the world because she’s pushed past her fear and signed up for the things that she’s not sure she can do. Last comic standing at age 20, celebrity roasts, hosting TV shows. She wasn’t necessarily ready for any of the work she agreed to do, but she did it anyway and then figured it out. We all can learn from that. Nikki is the voice of Dave Matthews Band radio on Sirius/XM Radio. She had terrible stage fright when she was younger. Nikki would have insomnia for weeks before a classroom presentation and shake the entire time. Her first TV appearance was on Last Comic Standing when she was 20. Nikki waited in line at open auditions in Chicago in the snow. “I always wanted to be a singer. But I think that I’m also someone who’s not very comfortable with sincerity and emotions." (She placed third on her season of The Masked Singer) Nikki is starting her own Taylor Swift cover band. Meeting Jerry Seinfeld – “We’re walking through the bowels of the casino, and I get over to his greenroom and he greets me,” Glaser said. “And he was like, ‘I’m such a fan, I’ve watched everything you do. I pull up your YouTube clips all the time whenever I want a laugh. And you’ve got it, girl, you have the voice...’ Jerry Seinfeld identifies “taste and discernment” as the ultimate skill of great artists. In every creative field, Seinfeld says, the dividing line between those who succeed and those who fail is the ability to discern good and bad: “It’s one thing to create,” Seinfeld says. “The other is you have to choose. What are we going to do, and what are we not going to do?’ This is a gigantic aspect of artistic survival. It’s kind of unseen, what’s picked and what is discarded, but mastering that is how you stay alive.”
Order our new book, The Score That Matters, now!  https://amzn.to/41zFYku Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: Curiosity (ask lots of questions) Willingness to try something new Compassion - Assume you don't know others' struggles  Bob worked with Ed Catmull (Pixar) He was one of the best at combining curiosity, willingness to try new things, and having compassion for people Good Boss vs. Bad Boss Good bosses ask lots of questions and then make the call (John Hennessey, Stanford President)  The Jumbo Grocery Stores in Holland created “slow lanes” for those who wanted to talk… They didn’t want efficiency or speed, they wanted a conversation. It’s a good reminder that sometimes we should slow down and enjoy our surroundings and the people we’re with… Curiosity and Compassion are skills we can build. Take the experiment where they counted the number of questions versus statements and your talking time. Surround yourself with people who will give you direct feedback about your level of curiosity and compassion… When conversing with someone else, how often are you asking questions versus talking about yourself? Think about that… It’s not always right to be efficient… Bob shared the Jerry Seinfeld story… The network was considering bringing in McKinsey to help Jerry become more efficient when making his show. He asked, “Are they funny?” They said, no that’s not what they do. And he said, “Then I don’t need them.” It’s not always supposed to be efficient. Sometimes, the hard way is the right way… To get the best result, it usually is. Some things Bob believes (we should all post an essay about what we believe): Indifference is as important as passion. The best leaders know what it feels like to work for them. They overcome the urge to focus attention on powerful superiors rather than their followers The best leaders think and act as trustees of their employees' and customers' time. They are "friction fixers" who hold themselves and others responsible for making the right things easier and the wrong things harder. That might mean, for example, reducing friction by eliminating and revamping meetings. "Am I a success or a failure?" is not useful. It is better to ask “What am I learning.” Noam Bardin (from Waze) Laszlo Bock - For hiring, "If you need to interview someone more than 4 times, then you must get written approval." This helped speed up the process. One of the roles of the leader is to be the editor-in-chief. Great leaders are great communicators. You must become a good writer and speaker if you want to lead.  Life/Career advice: Seek variation each day A chief of staff job could lead to big things (if you work for the right person) Be kind
Pre-order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/47bhRto Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Dr. Barry Posner, author of The Leadership Challenge and The Truth About Leadership   The 4 characteristics of leaders whom we would most choose to follow: Honest (trustworthy, they do what they say they’re going to do) Competent (Smart, and constantly learning) Inspiring - Energetic, enthusiastic. Inspire means to breathe life in to... Forward-looking - They have a sense of the future. They share a compelling vision People all have values, but not everyone knows what they are. To know what our values are, we must be thoughtful and intentional about them and do the reflective work to understand what we value most. What is Kouzes and Posner's leadership theory? Their research, which they conducted over almost 20 years, suggested that leadership is not a position, but a collection of practices and behaviors. These practices serve as guidance for leaders to accomplish their achievements or “to get extraordinary things done. The Leadership Challenge – Leaders drive results and achieve goals. To face the obstacles of today and tomorrow, we need leaders at a high level. The Leadership Challenge gives everyone the tools and practices to Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Hearts of those around them. "In the middle of responding to an audience question one of us was saying, “I don’t know what you call something that’s been the same for twenty-five years, but…,” and Ken Blanchard interrupted, exclaiming, 'I’d call it the truth.'" The Truth About Leadership The first truth is that You Make a Difference.  The second truth is that Credibility Is the Foundation of Leadership. If people don’t believe in you, they won’t willingly follow you.  The third truth is that Values Drive Commitment. People want to know what you stand for and believe in.  The fourth truth is that Focusing on the Future Sets Leaders Apart. The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is a defining competence of leaders. You have to take the long-term perspective.  You Can’t Do It Alone is the fifth truth. Leadership is a team sport…What strengthens and sustains the relationship between leader and constituent is that leaders are obsessed with what is best for others, not what is best for themselves.  Trust Rules is the sixth truth. Trust is the social glue that holds individuals and groups together. And the level of trust others have in you will determine the amount of influence you have. You have to earn your constituents’ trust before they’ll be willing to trust you. That means you have to give trust before you can get trust.  The seventh truth is that Challenge Is the Crucible for Greatness. Great achievements don’t happen when you keep things the same. Change invariably involves a challenge, and challenge tests you.  Truth number eight reminds you that You Either Lead by Example or You Don’t Lead at All. Leaders have to keep their promises and become role models for the values and actions they espouse.  Truth number nine is that The Best Leaders Are the Best Learners. Leaders are constant improvement fanatics, and learning is the master skill of leadership. The tenth truth is that Leadership Is an Affair of the Heart. It could also be the first truth. Leaders are in love with their constituents, their customers and clients, and the mission that they are serving. Leaders make others feel important and are gracious in showing their appreciation. Love is the motivation that energizes leaders to give so much for others. You just won’t work hard enough to become great if you aren’t doing what you love. Credo = Beliefs (credibility) Leadership is a team sport. You can't do it alone. We are all community-made. The best leaders are the best learners. Challenge is the crucible for greatness. Life/Career advice: Remain curious Ask questions Volunteer
Order The Score That Matters NOW. CLICK HERE. In The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values. Offering both descriptive and prescriptive advice and anecdotes, The Score That Matters will help you unlock true fulfillment and happiness by discovering your purpose, identifying your values, creating critical behaviors, and living them faithfully every day in all aspects of your life. Notes from my conversation with Marshall Goldsmith: Attributes of the best leaders he’s worked with: They are courageous, they have humility, and they are disciplined. Do we all need a coach? "I don’t know, but if we’re honest with ourselves, we all need help. And a coach can be someone to help…" Happiness and achievement are independent variables. I felt we kept going around in circles because I’m a prescriptive thinker and like actionable takeaways. And I feel like Marshall was helping me understand it’s more of a mindset.  With a PhD from UCLA, Marshall is a pioneer of 360-degree feedback as a leadership development tool. His early efforts in providing feedback and then following-up with executives to measure changes in behavior were precursors to what eventually evolved as the field of executive coaching. “Fate is the hand of cards we’ve been dealt. The choice is how we play the hand.” “Getting mad at people for being who they are makes as much sense as getting mad at a chair for being a chair.” “Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others.” “People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats.” “If we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us.” “A leader who cannot shoulder the blame is not someone we will follow blindly into battle. We instinctively question that individual’s character, dependability, and loyalty to us. And so we hold back on our loyalty to him or her.” “Peter Drucker, who said, “Our mission in life should be to make a positive difference, not to prove how smart or right we are.” “People will do something—including changing their behavior—only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”
Order The Score That Matters NOW. CLICK HERE. In The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values. Offering both descriptive and prescriptive advice and anecdotes, The Score That Matters will help you unlock true fulfillment and happiness by discovering your purpose, identifying your values, creating critical behaviors, and living them faithfully every day in all aspects of your life. “The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.” - Warren Buffet – The inner scorecard is about eliminating comparison with others and living in alignment with what’s most important to you. Your values and the behaviors to match those values. The inner scorecard eliminates the comparison of things. How to build trust? Laugh together, cry together, suffer together (do hard things). Resume virtues versus Eulogy virtues. We’ll get caught up in living for our resume (promotions, money, objects) if we're not intentional. We think it’s better to live for your eulogy virtues (the impact you had on people, fulfilling your purpose, living in alignment with your true values) Why a strong purpose beats a good plan: we explain how a strong purpose erases obstacles, is never about you, and is highlighted by considering death. Why being the greatest is a mirage: While greatness is a process that is attainable for all, we share why becoming the greatest is a destination that no one can reach. How to navigate the tricky art of building trust: Throughout 25 years of teaching and coaching Brook has refined the trust-building process to 3 simple actions every leader can use. How to fight the poison of comparison: Our focus on a consistent process over the societal pursuit of results seems contradictory to excellence but just may lay the foundation for its attainment. Why self-awareness is not a solo flight: The feedback we seek from special people in our life, our foxhole, reminds us that we are tougher together. Why team captains are overrated: Brook connects how the shared ownership of a team is best when all members assume the responsibility of upholding the standards. How plain and simple can bore you right to excellence: We like to complicate success, but we point back to a consistent return to the fundamentals. Brook originally learned about creating and living his core values from Coach Dick Bennett's "Pillars of Success." Brook's values are: Tough, Passionate, Unified, and Thankful. My values are: Thoughtful, Thankful, Curious, and Consistent. Foxhole friends are disagreeable givers. They are kind enough to give you honest feedback. And you do the same for them. Thankful Thursdays Send a text message, email, or handwritten note to three people you're thankful for every Thursday. Push the pace... Full-court pressing and always running a fast break on offense is living up to Brook's value of speaking and acting with urgency (unified). How Brook coaches his team to play: "Our anchor defensively is no comfort, no vision. We want you to never be comfortable. And we want the same thing offensively. We say simple and together, but we think of pressing you offensively too. We don't want you to be comfortable. We want you to be on your heels."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com X/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 The SAVERS acronym – Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing. If you implement that consistently, you'll probably do better. 72% of people said they were not a morning person before implementing SAVERS. The makeup of a great sales professional: They are coachable... They bring energy and enthusiasm to the job... They are consistent. They can handle rejection and keep going. They focus on the process... Affirmations: First, affirm what you’re committed to. Next, why is it a must for you, and finally, affirm the specific actions you will take and when. That’s how you bring affirmations to life… Hal died for 6 minutes, broke 11 bones, suffered permanent brain damage, and was told by doctors that he would never walk again. Then, at age 37, he nearly died again when his heart, lungs, and kidneys were on the verge of failing, and he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer. “Any time you find yourself “wishing” you were further along than you are, or comparing where you are with where someone else is, keep in mind that when you finally get to point you’ve been working towards for so long, you never wish it would have happened any sooner. Instead, you see that the journey and the timing are perfect. So be at peace with where you are while maintaining a healthy sense of urgency to make the consistent progress each day that will ensure you get to wherever it is that you want to go. " “Those who only do what they feel like, don’t do much. To be successful at anything you must take action even when you don’t feel like it, knowing it is the action itself that will produce the motivation you need to follow through.” “It’s temporary. Tolerate it, accept it, embrace it, or enjoy it. Whatever it is, just know that it is temporary.” “The moment you accept 100% responsibility for EVERY aspect of your life is the moment that you claim the power to change ANY aspect of your life. I think where people get caught up with this is when someone else is to blame for a situation. But understand that accepting responsibility is NOT the same as accepting blame. While blame determines who is at fault for something, responsibility determines who is committed to improving a situation. It really doesn’t matter who was at fault; all that matters is that YOU are committed to improving and creating the circumstances you want for your life, regardless of who is at fault. That’s what taking responsibility is all about.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 “Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.” “All behaviors make sense with enough information.”  The best story wins: Good stories have an extraordinary ability to inspire and evoke positive emotions, bringing insight and attention to topics that people tend to ignore when they've previously been presented with nothing but facts. Stories are more powerful than statistics. And most statistics are incomplete props to justify a story. Stories are easier to remember, easier to relate to, and emotionally persuasive. Progress requires optimism and pessimism to coexist: A rational optimist. - Save like a pessimist and invest like an optimist. - Plan like a pessimist and dream like an optimist.  “It’s supposed to be hard.” – Everything worth pursuing comes with a little pain. The trick is not minding it hurts. It's impossible to plan for what you can't imagine. - Invest in preparedness, not in prediction. - Realize that if you're only preparing for the risks you can envision, you'll be unprepared for the risks you can't see every single time. Fostering envy vs. admiration. Are you creating envy by what you post on social media? "People admire you when you are pursuing something, not when you have it." Reasonable Optimists: Once people believe in a better future – for themselves and others – they become willing to take risks, work hard, sacrifice near-term comfort, delay gratification, and cooperate with others, all of which are the raw ingredients of economic and social progress. A realistic optimist is someone who knows that what happens in any given day, month, or year will be surprising, disappointing, difficult, and mostly out of your control. But they know with equal confidence that what happens in any given decade or generation is likely to be pretty good, bending heavily toward progress. The reasonable optimist expects the world to break all the time. But they know – as a matter of faith – that if they can survive the day-to-day fractures they’ll capture the up-and-to-the-right arc over time. Writing: I think "know your audience" can be dangerous advice for writers. Write stuff you yourself find interesting and entertaining. Writing for yourself is fun, and it shows. Writing for others is work, and it shows. If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way (Jerry Seinfeld micro-managed everything about his show). Counterintuitive. Highlights the dangers of shortcuts. Be careful what you wish for: A carefree and stress-free life sounds wonderful only until you recognize the motivation and progress it prevents. Hardship is the most potent fuel of problem-solving. And what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. Read less news and more books. If you read good books, you’ll have an easier time figuring out what you should pay attention to. (News isn’t timeless. Good books are) Writing: People don’t remember books, blogs, or articles. They remember sentences. That should be your goal: a collection of memorable sentences. One good line is infinitely more powerful than a few clumsy paragraphs. Mr Beast tells aspiring YouTubers to make 100 videos and he'll give them feedback and advice. 2 things happen. 98% never get close and give up. The 2% who do, no longer need his help. People use success as an indication of what to keep doing. But most success plants the seeds of its own demise, so what people think works and try to copy is always changing. Keep running - There is never a time when an investor can discover an investing strategy and be confident it will continue working indefinitely. The world changes, and competitors create their own little twist that exploits and snuffs out your niche. Same with careers, job skills, relationships, and countries. It’s hard to accept that you have to put in a ton of work just to stay in one place, but that’s how it works. Keep running. Acceptable Flaws -- Short-term thinking is the root of most of our problems in business, investing, and politics. But I get why it happens. It has to happen. Short-term thinking can be the only way you’ll survive long enough to experience long-term results. It’s an acceptable flaw. Useful Biases -- Reasonable ignorance – intentionally limiting your diligence in order to avoid decision paralysis in a world where everything, if you dig deep enough, is more complicated than it seems. (the paradox of choice). Progress happens too slowly for people to notice; setbacks happen too fast for people to ignore. "Stop telling kids they can be whatever they want to be. You can be whatever you're good at, as long as they're hiring. And even then it helps to know someone." -- Chris Rock A good test when reading the news is to constantly ask, “Will I still care about this story in a year? Two years? Five years?” “Money buys happiness in the same way drugs bring pleasure: incredible if done right, dangerous if used to mask a weakness, and disastrous when no amount is enough.” “I’m not interested in anything that’s not sustainable. Friendships, investing, careers, podcasts, reading habits, exercise habits... If I can’t keep it going, I’m not interested in it.” "I know people who have a lot of money, and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 The power of believing in someone. Mr. Duncan, Shane’s high school English teacher was the first person to tell him that he believed in him. He changed the trajectory of Shane’s life. We, as leaders, can do that for others. Let’s proactively look for opportunities to tell the people we’re leading that we believe in them. The difference between Nice and Kind feedback. Too often, the people we ask for feedback are nice but not kind. Kind people will tell you things a nice person will not. A kind person will tell you that you have spinach on your teeth. A nice person won’t because it’s uncomfortable. A kind person will tell us what holds us back, even when it’s uncomfortable. A nice person avoids giving us critical feedback because they’re worried about hurting our feelings. Champions: “Champions don’t create the standards of excellence. The standards of excellence create champions.” “Expecting high performance is a prerequisite to its achievement among those who work with you.  Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite.” The USS Benfold — was one of the worst-performing warships in the US Navy in 1996. The destiny of the USS Benfold changed the day Michael Abrashoff was named commander. Shane was 13 years old. Shane was standing with a group of his friends after school and they were teasing one of his classmates and he was watching. Teachers intervened and it ended quickly. He didn’t realize that your dad was parked nearby and was watching. You have to stand up for people who don't have a voice. Warren Buffett: “The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.” Brent Beshore: “My favorite part of the book was the section on habits, rules, and safeguards (page 101). A principle that Shane and I discussed in January changed my life and was expounded on in the book. Shane said, “It’s impossible to work out very often if you have to decide every day whether or not you’ll do it. That’s why I just do something active every day, no matter what.” Solutions/Ego: “Solutions appear when you stop bargaining and start accepting the reality of the situation. That’s because focusing on the next move, rather than how you got here in the first place, opens you up to a lot of possibilities. When you put outcome over ego, you get better results.” “Small plans don’t inspire, but consistently small actions create incredible results.” Knowing Your Defaults: The emotion default - We tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts The ego default - We tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy The social default - We tend to conform to the norms of our larger social group. The Inertia default - We’re habit-forming and comfort-seeking. We tend to resist change, and to prefer ideas, processes, and environments that are familiar. Ancient Greek word — Phronesis— the wisdom of knowing how to order your life to achieve the best results. Life/Career advice: "I'd give the same advice to someone who's trying to find someone to marry. Go on lots of dates. Experiment. Do stuff. Get out in the world. You can only connect the dots looking backward." If you want to develop good judgment, start by asking two questions: What do I want in life? And is what I want actually worth wanting?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 How can I become a high-rung thinker? High-rung thinking is independent thinking, leaving you free to revise your ideas or even discard them altogether. On the low rungs, it means you’re working to dutifully serve your ideas, not the other way around. How can I be the boss of the ideas in my own head? When you’re the boss of the ideas in your head, you’re always willing to revise them. When there’s no amount of evidence that will change your mind about something, it means that idea is your boss. Humility is the awareness that no idea is worthy of being your boss. Best advice Tim has ever received: "I met Chris Anderson, the head of TED, in 2015. He had read a few WBW posts and offered me the opportunity to give a TED Talk at the 2016 conference (which was six months away). Immediately full of both gratitude/excitement and dread/anxiety, I asked him if it might be better to wait a couple years until I had some more speaking experience. He paused thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, “There’s no time like the present.” I took his advice. Since then, his voice saying those words has popped into my head again and again during hard decisions, and I’m yet to regret following them." Great advice is sometimes great because it’s totally original or framed in an original way. But, as in my story, a well-known platitude, at the perfect moment, can also make a huge impact. What makes Chris’s advice so valuable to me wasn’t that it was something new—it was that the lesson I learned from taking the advice in that particular moment turned a cliché into a mantra. No one “builds a house.” They lay one brick again and again and again and the end result is a house. A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away. “If I aired a highlight reel of your most selfish life moments and most shameful thoughts, you'd seem like an awful person. If I aired a reel of your best, kindest moments, you'd seem like a saint. But people aren't highlight reels, and the unedited cut is always a messy mix!” Kids Asking WHY? When kids repeatedly ask “why?” they’re trying to see the underlying reasoning behind what they’re told by authorities. “Because I said so” rejects that instinct and says “stop reasoning and obey.” We then become adults who only know how to trust authorities other than ourselves. High Rung Thinking: Rung 1 - Thinking like a Scientist. When you’re thinking like a scientist, you start at point A and follow evidence wherever it takes you. Rung 2 - Thinking like a sports fan. They want the game played fairly, but they really want the process to yield a certain outcome.  Rung 3 - Thinking like an attorney. When you think like an attorney, you start from point B. The client is not guilty. Now let’s figure out why. They cherry-pick evidence and piece it together to make an argument that leads where you want it to. Rung 4 - Thinking like a zealot. Their ideas aren’t rugged experiments to be kicked around, they’re fragile, precious babies to be adored and protected. The zealot doesn’t have to go from A to B to know their viewpoints are correct– they just know they are. With 100% conviction. Life/Career advice: "I'd give the same advice to someone who's trying to find someone to marry. Go on lots of dates. Experiment. Do stuff. Get out in the world. You can only connect the dots looking backward."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 “Amateurs focus on outcome. Professionals focus on process.” And if you want to change the process, focus on just one change at a time. He used the fly fishing analogy. You don’t change all three at once. Try one change and re-evaluate. I love the idea of creating a personal checklist for yourself much like pilots fill out every time before they fly a plane. We should all create our checklist and fill it out consistently. This is a great tool to become more self-aware. Top performers have a thirst for feedback in victory and defeat. The leaders who sustain excellence over time are intentional about surrounding themselves with a kitchen cabinet who is there to regularly provide feedback so that they can iterate and improve. That’s one of the biggest differences between those who sustain excellence over time and those who don’t. Goal Setting 34%-42% chance of hitting a goal if you ideate it 62% chance of hitting a goal if you write it down 75% chance of hitting a goal if you verbally share it with others Eric developed a psychological “resilience” test that when combined with data on the candidate's physical characteristics became a very good predictor of who would fail BUD/S (97%). While working with the Navy SEALs in San Diego, Eric frequently had guests come to observe the SEALs and how they worked. A lot of them were professional athletes like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, and many more… While there, Eric asked to interview them. Over time he was able to build an extensive knowledge base of the mental approaches of the world’s top performers. “If your brain is firing, it’s wiring.” Learned from downhill skiers... Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: They accelerate what they value. They move from reputation to identity. They worry less about what others think. One of the biggest regrets of people on their deathbed is that they regret what they didn't do. Capitlize now to have no regrets later. Create a credo (your identity) Mindset They have a growth mindset (instead of a fixed mindset) They are thirsty for feedback (they want feedback in victory and defeat) Eric is agnostic about motivations - Clean fuel vs Dirty fuel They have different mindsets for the roles they play Think of yourself as a dimmer switch -- Sometimes you're white hot, sometimes you need to dim down Efficient and Consistent They manage their time well They sleep 8 hours They don't let life dictate what's important to them. Time = Currency. Block time for what's most important. Color code your calendar. Adversity Tolerance They control their human stress response They have a pre and post-performance routine They set goals They use visualization tools They compartmentalize well They use positive self-talk (they believe) They are good contingency planners They have high levels of self-awareness Like a pilot, they have checklists for themselves Balance and Recovery The more balanced, the more productive Feed all of your pillars Work Health Relationships Hobbies Spirituality Legacy Leadership role "Must-Haves" Emotional Intelligence - "Feel for a room" Empathy - Put our own perspective aside to understand others Curiosity - A desire to learn, to know more
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Charisma: Presence, Power, and Warmth - Show up, be fully there. In that moment with the person in front of you. Flip the switch. Understand your power. And deeply care for others. Be warm, not cold. And it’s important that each of these is expressed with authenticity. That’s how to develop more charisma. How to develop our protocol - A simple exercise. Get a sheet of paper. On one side write “DO.” On the other side, write “DON’T.” Think of yourself at your best, what do you do? That’s your protocol. And remember that the worse you feel, the more committed you need to be to your protocol It’s always day one. Brian thinks of his time spent with the Navy SEALs. They work to earn their trident every single day. Today is the day. It’s always the right day to earn it. It’s always day 1. Arete – An ancient Greek word. We translate it into English as ‘virtue’ or ‘excellence,’ but it has a deeper meaning. Something closer to ‘expressing the best version of yourself moment to moment to moment.’ Inter-leaving - The basic idea is simple: If you want to learn something, you’re better off varying your practice rather than grooving one identical rep after another. Epictetus - One of his students took great lecture notes and captured his wisdom in a manual called the Enchiridion. The Greek word for Enchiridion is translated as “handbook,” and it’s important to note that the word literally means “within” + “hand.” Intrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation – Which motivation leads to greater levels of happiness and flourishing? Why? It’s why people who get to the peak of what David Brooks calls the “First Mountain” look around and wonder why they don’t feel fulfilled. They got all the stuff they were told would make them happy and… they’re not. Phil Stutz wrote the Foreword – Practice comprised of unusual people. “They refuse to be defined by any single accomplishment. Their Identity is based on a process of endless possibility. They don’t stop creating.” Two primary obstacles getting in our way are fear and laziness. This comes from Phil Stutz... AM and PM Bookends – “Get these right and you’re 80% there.” Targeted thinking - What do I want? What's needed to get that done? Consistency - "Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say." Unshakeable confidence -- Anti-fragile confidence. You have intense trust that you have what it takes to respond. Anti-Fragility - The more life kicks you around, the better you get. Emotional stamina - The worse you feel, the more committed you are to your protocol. Protocol - Think of yourself at your best... What are you doing? Hero - An ancient Greek word for protector Get clear on your identity Sleep, meditate, work out, work, love Pilots have checklists before they fly a plane... We should use one too each day. Create your "Do" and "Don't" list Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation -- Deepend relationships, help in your community, focus on your eulogy virtues today... Hire a coach... We all need a coach A great coach has believable hope, they see your potential
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Greg Harden is best known for working with 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. He also worked with Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard, and 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Brady, Howard, and other athletes credit Harden with inspiring them to overcome obstacles and achieve success in their professional and personal lives. He’s the author of Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive. The book debuted at #1 on all of Amazon and is a New York Times bestseller. WATCH this conversation on YouTube. And SUBSCRIBE! Read my book, The Pursuit Of Excellence -- See why Patrick Lencioni said "This book is an absolute must-read if you care to live an excellent life." FORBES called WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT, "the best leadership book of 2020." Be part of "Mindful Monday" -- Text Hawk to 66866 Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show “You need to become the world’s greatest expert on one subject. Yourself.” We need to do the work to better understand who we are, what we’re scared of, why we say the things to ourselves that we do, and how to improve. It’s hard, but very necessary work. And the fun part about it is it never ends… Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about facing your fears. It’s about turning that fear into fire and passion. For people to say that they are fearless… That isn’t realistic. We all have fears. It’s about how we handle them and the courage we show in the face of fear. Commonalities of people who sustain excellence: commitment to continuous improvement, humble, hungry, coachable, and they continue to push. They are driven and it never stops. “My real obsession is to convince an individual that they have to determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves.” Control the controllables... "Tom Brady turned his haters into a source of motivation." "Surrender the ego." Do a SWOT analysis on yourself: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Identify 2-3 people in your life that you trust to also do a SWOT analysis on you... Miles Miller had a boss who fired him and an ex-girlfriend do a SWOT analysis on him and it was one of the most useful that Greg had ever seen... Create an accountability partner for yourself Identify self-defeating attitudes, behaviors, and language you use. They can sabotage you. Self-Talk: We all talk to ourselves. We need to change the internal dialogue from negative to positive. "The greatest competition is between your ears." Mastery: Capture your negative self-talk on paper. You'll be surprised how much you do it and how it impacts you. Instead of beating yourself up about it, be amused by it. Be critically conscious of it though... Separate the behavior from the person... It's not, "You're a bad person." It's, "You made a poor choice." Public speaking: Understand your audience and what they need to hear Memorize your first 2 minutes cold There is a thin line between anxious and excitement... "Turn your feat into fire and passion." "Courage is not about not having fear. Courage is about facing your fears." "Practice, train, repeat. Practice, train, repeat." Hiring leaders: "See how they deal with uncertainty. Bring extra people into the room. Create an environment that isn't what they expected. See how they respond." Life/Career advice: "If you had to work and not get paid, what would you do? The pursuit of purpose is half of the fun." Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle Resources: Read: The Pursuit Of Excellence Read: WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT Be part of "Mindful Monday" -- Text HAWK to 66866 Read: Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 Time Stamps
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 What makes a great interview? They tell stories It feels like your eavesdropping on their conversation (he takes you inside) He disarms them with humor Ask shorter questions… Take care of your people… Dan has had the Dannettes with him for many years. He listens to his teammates, Makes them part of his show, and truly cares for him. In return, they are there for him every day. It seems obvious, but it’s not. Dan is evidence that this approach works… Dan has been influenced by Howard Stern's interviewing style of always being curious... And he makes his staff part of the show. "I love being a voice in your head. You're in your car, driving, and I love being that voice in your head." Interviewing... Manage the tension. "Shorter questions get better answers." Dan met Adam Sandler at Madison Square Garden and agreed that he would be cast in his next movie... He has since been cast in many more. Dan shares the story of meeting Dave Matthews, spilling his beer on him, and then later singing karaoke with him. Dan is the author of The Occasionally Accurate Annals of Football: The NFL's Greatest Players, Plays, Scandals, and Screw-Ups (Plus Stuff We Totally Made Up) Leaving ESPN – Dan admitted he was hurt when good friend, Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly (who would move to ESPN) wrote, "Patrick was making one of the top 5 biggest career mistakes in entertainment history," ranking right under Shelley Long's leaving Cheers and Katie Couric's leaving NBC's Today show for the CBS Evening News. Life/Career advice: Be humble, be hungry, have humility, and be ready to go when your opportunity presents itself. The old adage rings true, “You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.” Always be ready for your opportunity. Retirement Tour – Dan Patrick announces he plans to continue the Dan Patrick Show for the next four-and-a-half years with the intention of retiring at the end of 2027.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12   Change happens when we feel empowered. It’s on us to take responsibility for our lives and help others take responsibility for theirs. As leaders, change is more likely to happen for the people we are serving if we help them feel empowered. Listening is not a passive activity. Take it seriously. It starts with genuinely caring for the person you’re in conversation with. “Being disliked is a rite of passage.” Being disliked is normal. Being uncomfortable about being disliked is also normal. Reminding your Self that how you feel about your Self matters more than how others feel about you is key. Sense of self – “Sense of self is not something that is found… We create our sense of self…” "My interest in psychology stems from my personal experience living through wars, navigating complex relationships, and continually learning what it means to be human." This book is about facing ourselves –whatever version that might be, regardless of whether or not we like the person we see reflected back to us. It's about what's possible once we realize that we are responsible for who we become and how we live our lives (a daunting, but profoundly liberating idea). IT'S ON US to figure out the two most essential questions: "Who am I" and "Why am I here?" and then live accordingly. "I am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn't have stumbled across my strength." Repeat out loud: "I will stop giving second chances to people who don't want it, won't use it, or don't deserve it." "The deepest form of loneliness comes from being estranged from ourselves, not from others." "Comparison doesn’t just steal our joy, it also screws with our perspective." "Mistakes don’t have to define you. But what you choose to do after a mistake often does." "Just a gentle reminder: The worst-case scenario that you’re playing out in your head is probably not going to happen." "Don’t confuse the snippets you get to see of someone’s life (through media or a casual conversation) as their whole story. Give each other the courtesy of curiosity. Allow people to be undefined in your mind. Actively seek to see them, and allow them to show you who they are." "If you don’t have all the information, stop filling in the blanks with your imagination, fears or projections. It’s better to learn to sit with an unclear picture than to carry around an inaccurate one." "Instant gratification can be a form of self-harm." "If you’re doing the work, you deserve to be with someone who is also doing the work. It’s simple." "Relationship tip: When someone tells you what they want (or don’t want) through words or actions — listen. Stop assuming you know better than they do. It’s not your job to read their mind, anticipate their needs, or save them."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 What’s the Matthew Effect? The Matthew effect explains how two people can start in nearly the same place and end up worlds apart. In these kinds of systems, initial conditions matter. And as time goes on, they matter more and more. Instead of saving a fixed percentage of your income, save more when you earn more and less when you make less. The best way to save more is to earn more, not cut expenses to the point of being miserable. The real question money forces us to answer is what’s important to us in life. You should save what you can, when you can. Relying on a fixed, prescribed savings rate is nonsense. The Dolly Varden trout, an Alaskan fish species, puzzled biologists for decades. Despite only having a brief window of plentiful food each year — when salmon laid eggs in their waters — the fish continued to thrive year-round. How did they do it? Eventually, scientists discovered that the fish shrink and grow their digestive organs depending on food availability. When the salmon show up, they speed up their metabolism so they can take in more calories. Then, when the other fish leave, they slow down digestion. This way, they get by with much less food throughout the remainder of the year. Great Things Take Time – Focusing on the long term is more important than ever. The story of the “Dashrath Manjhi Breakthrough” – He carved a path through a mountain. He moved a little bit of rock each day for 20 years. Nick committed to writing one blog per week in 2017. And it changed his life. He learned that storytelling is what captures a reader’s attention. And the way to develop good stories is to read a lot, from a wide variety of sources. We all can do this. One decision can change everything. NASA decided that Voyager 2 would slingshot around planets has made it the farthest man-made object from Earth. And it’s still producing information for us. The Constant Reminder – How the Right Decisions and Compounding Can Lead to Huge Results. How have the decisions made by NASA 40 years ago had a profound effect on the Voyager missions and success to this day? Once a successful process is implemented, the results can be surprising. The point is to show you that making the right choices and letting things run their course can lead to incredible results. This is what makes consistent actions and the power of compounding so amazing. "When I think about creating a new habit in my life, I like to imagine all of the future benefits from that habit discounted back to the moment when the habit is formed."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 The pursuit of mastery is part of a process. It’s an orientation towards experience. It’s about being fully absorbed in the moment. Our fear of other people’s opinions (FOPO) has become irrational and unproductive, and its negative effects reach far beyond performance. If you start paying less and less attention to what makes you you—your talents, beliefs, and values—and start conforming to what others may or may not think, you’ll harm your potential. Acknowledgments: “To Lisa, the love of my life. “It’s because of you that I no longer pray for calm waters, but to rather test the strength of our sails.” Basing self-worth on performance –  when the core motivation of pursuing excellence is proving our self-worth, mistakes, failures, opinions, and criticism are experienced as threats rather than learning opportunities. A Learner’s Mindset  - A student came to a renowned monk and asked to learn about Zen Buddhism. Shortly after the monk launched into his discourse, the student interrupted him and said, “Oh, I already know that” in an attempt to impress the monk. The monk suggested they discuss the matter over tea. When the tea was ready, the monk poured the tea into a teacup, filled it to the brim—and then continued to pour—spilling tea over the sides of the cup and onto the table. The student watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself, “Stop! You can’t pour tea into a full cup.” The monk set the teapot down and replied, “Exactly. Return to me when your cup is empty.” “Anchoring our sense of self in discovery is not a cop-out to avoid committing to who we are; rather, it’s simply an acknowledgment that we change with time.” Harvard psychology professor Dan Gilbert points out, “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.” Purpose over Approval – From a young age, we are conditioned to seek approval. Over time, we develop a built-in mechanism to check outside ourselves to see if everything is okay. But… we have another choice. That is our purpose… “Purpose is the belief that you are alive to do something. It is an internally derived, generalized intention that’s both meaningful to you and consequential to the world beyond you.” Optimism isn't soft. in fact, it sits at the center of mental toughness. Have you conditioned your mind for optimism? Dr. Mike has worked with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and his leadership team to develop psychological principles and practices for high-performing teams and cultures. As a sport psychology consultant, he was a member of the Seattle Seahawks team for 9 seasons, including two back-to-back Super Bowl appearances (winning in 2014). His primary objective was to assist Head Coach, Pete Carroll, to build a mindset-based culture. For Red Bull Stratos, Dr. Mike helped Felix Baumgartner manage his mind and body under pressure for his record-setting skydive from 128,000 feet. We need to make a fundamental commitment to practice at the edge of our capacity. One of the prompts I use in my life is, “What did I do today to push my edges?” What did I do that was uncomfortable… And making the commitment to stack day after day of pushing my edges makes that comfort zone bigger and bigger. Ask yourself, “What did I do today to push my edges?” FOPO shows up almost everywhere in our lives—and the consequences are great. When we let FOPO take control, we play it safe and small because we're afraid of what will happen on the other side of critique. When challenged, we surrender our viewpoint. We trade in authenticity for approval. We please rather than provoke. We chase the dreams of others rather than our own.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Gratitude – For Tim’s last speech as a congressman, he said “It’s an honor to be a citizen of the United States. I think we get out of this mess we’re in, the polarization, the hate, the anger, the fear… The first step out of that is with gratitude.” Tim opens by sharing the impact his high school football coaches had on him and why playing quarterback at John F. Kennedy High School prepared him for life as a leader... In 2002, Tim ran for the United States House of Representatives for the 17th District.  Tim was initially seen as an underdog in a 6-way primary. He was elected at age 29. "There is an exhausted majority in the country, and they feel like they don't have any political home at all," Ryan said, describing his target audience as those who have been "checking out." "That's maddening because that gives a bigger voice to those forces of division and hate and anger, so we want to build an organization that welcomes these people to participate.” AOC endorsed Tim for his Senate run in 2022. And he said, “It’s not helpful here. Nor did I seek it.” David Axelrod said about Tim's 2022 Senate Run that “he's running the best campaign in the country. And the best campaign in the country may not be enough.” “Dave Matthews has inspired me to live a better life, to do what’s right, that it’s okay to care about each other." “There may be some things where we don’t agree, but I think we need to have decent people that care about us in government, and I think Tim is a decent man.” -- Dave Matthews “I’m honored to have Dave Matthews, one of my absolute favorite musicians, in the Buckeye State to fire up our team and bring this thing home.” Being in the moment – The campaign trail is grueling. Every day is a new town with new people. And you need to get up and give your stump speech, listen to people, and tell compelling stories. His mantra of “I am only in control of this stump speech,” and Tim’s ability to stay in the moment was critical and is a key reason why he’s done so well over the years. Tim's grandfather… And the impact he had on his life. “He was there." Regardless of the weather or whatever he had going on, Tim felt his grandfather’s presence as a servant leader. This is an excellent reminder for us as leaders that our first job is to show up consistently for those we are leading.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 “Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters.” “My dad says “The best way to learn is to teach.” He taught me to study for tests as if I were going in to deliver a presentation. At EMP, I made teaching part of our culture.” "Public speaking is a leadership skill." Excellence is about small details — A couple of examples of that were lighting and music. “Maybe people don’t notice every single individual detail, but in aggregate, they’re powerful. In any great business, most of the details you closely attend to are ones that only a tiny, tiny percentage of people will notice.” "Some of the best advice I ever got about starting in a new organization is; Don’t cannonball. Ease into the pool." Magic: “Too many people approach creative brainstorming by taking what’s practical into consideration way too early in the process. Start with what you want to achieve, instead of limiting yourself to what’s realistic or sustainable.” “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” – Penn and Teller "Often, the perfect moment to give someone more responsibility is before they’re ready." The daily 30-minute meeting: “A daily 30-minute meeting is where a collection of individuals becomes a team.” Find hidden treasures: Will's dad had his own platoon in Vietnam. It wasn’t a great platoon. On it was a guy nicknamed Kentucky, Kentucky was lazy and wasn’t in great shape. He wasn’t that smart, but he was skilled directionally and had a great feel for being in the woods.  “A leader’s responsibility is to identify the strengths of the people on their team, no matter how buried those strengths might be.” “Business like life is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple and that hard.” - Danny Meyer "In restaurants, our reason for being is to make people feel, seen, it's to make them feel welcome, it's to give them a sense of belonging. The food, the service, the design, they are simply ingredients in the recipe of human connection" “The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. I still give The One Minute Manager to every person I promote. It’s an amazing resource, in particular on how to give feedback. My biggest takeaways were: Criticize the behavior, not the person. Praise in public; criticize in private. Praise with emotion, criticize without emotion.” “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” “What criticism offers you, then, is an invitation to have your perspective challenged—or at least to grow by truly considering it. You might stick with a choice you’ve been criticized for or end up somewhere completely different. The endgame isn’t the point as much as the process: you grow when you engage with another perspective and decide to decide again.” “The aggregation of marginal gains,” or a small improvement in a lot of areas. In his words: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote the foreword. “I’ve known Adam for more than 10 years. In addition to being one of the smartest people in nutrition I’ve met, he’s the perfect person to blaze a better path that provides a more direct, realistic, and effective way to improve your health and mindset and achieve your goals.” Take the attitude of an intern. Adam shares how he impressed Arnold Schwarzenegger. Be kind. Show up. Be consistent. Do great work. Don’t be greedy. Be generous. And keep going. That great work led to the introduction to LeBron James. Adam has done a great job of making the most of the luck he’s received. Self-perception: how changing your thoughts and releasing mental baggage make adopting new behaviors, such as eating healthy, easier. This is a thorough examination of why most diet plans fail, including research and case studies that demonstrate the inefficacy of restriction. Book Dedication: “Dad, You were given a death sentence and turned it into a life sentence. That’s the power of a different mindset. Thanks for showing me the way. I love you.” Adam's dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and he's been very optimistic in the face of it.  "Most people fail physically because they are broken mentally." Inversion: Start at the end. Anticipate that you didn't achieve your goal, and ask why? And then ask, how do I prevent that from happening? The three tactical things you can do: Self-perception - Believe you can do it Find things you love and don't remove them Add 1 or 2 new behaviors that are easy to win How to manage your diet: Slow down your eating Create a meal boundary (have open and closed kitchen times) Low fat vs Low carbs - Protein and fiber are needed Have no 0% weeks. Make progress.
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Mindful Monday is a carefully curated email you'll receive each Monday morning. Eric Musselman is the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. Prior to his time at Arkansas, he was a head coach in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings. He’s also spent time as the national coach for the Dominican Republic National Team and The Venezuela National Team. Learn from others. Muss shared many examples of times he's gone to other practices to watch and learn. He prefers to watch how and NFL runs practice and he's modeled his practices after NFL teams. And sends his coaches to do the same. This is something we should do in corporate America. Connect with leaders at other companies and visit them. Watch their meetings, their 1 on 1s, and embed yourself in their culture for a few days.  When Muss got fired as the coach of the Golden State Warriors, he was offered office space (from Mike Lombardi) at the Oakland Raiders facility. While there, he learned the ins and outs of running a professional program and has modeled a lot of his system from that experience. Leadership "Must-Haves" to be on his staff: Loyalty Will to win Specialty area of expertise Meetings: PREPARE a lot. Grab their attention. Keep them on their toes with surprises. All of these things can be done in business meetings… BUT it takes time and effort to do it well. Muss's life philosophy is to be a constant learner AND a great communicator. He takes pages of notes with him to the gym every morning and reads, takes notes, and highlights the entire time. Then he synthesizes what he’s learned and shares it with his team. We all can do this. Again, it takes intentional effort, but it’s worth it. At the beginning of each practice, he does a “classroom” session with his team. He teaches a life lesson or a lesson on basketball. Family Coaching Legacy – Musselman’s father Bill was also an NBA head coach and they were the first father-son combination to become head coaches in the NBA. His sons work with him at Arkansas. “Muss is a magician with how he communicates with referees.” He works to build a genuine relationship with them. His coaching staff has metrics they produce that help him engineer how playing time and combinations of players on the floor can produce a win. His practices are legendary. Like a well-oiled machine. Everyone has a role. And they are open to the public. If a player isn’t in a drill, he better be on the sideline dribbling or practicing his game in some way. Always improving, always working. Muss has a reputation for being the college coach who can get you to the NBA. He is extremely well-connected in the NBA. If a kid wants to enter the draft, Muss will do his homework to see where he thinks he'll get drafted, and then sit down with the kid and his parents to give him feedback. He revolutionized the use of the transfer portal and is extremely organized when a new prospect pops up. On his blog, Musselman wrote about the importance of matching an offense to the "team's makeup." Depending on the roster, a half-court offense might make more sense. In other cases, a team may be better suited for an "open offense." According to Musselman, the idea is to allow players to "play to their strengths."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 How to respond instead of react… The 4 P’s: Pause Process Plan Proceed — Using the 4 Ps will increase your chances of responding better than reacting quickly Non-Dual thinking. It’s not this OR that. It’s this AND that. It’s not self-discipline or self-compassion. It can be both. As we learn more, we become more reasonable. The world is not black and white. We can live in the gray and embrace it. Brad's core values: Life is the doing of his life (activities, health, workouts, showing up) Love is the being of his life (family, being there for the most important people) A new model for navigating change and disorder – A neuroscientist and a biologist coined the phrase allostasis. Allostasis comes from the Greek allo, which means “variable,” and stasis, which means “standing.” Allostasis is defined as “Stability through change.” When Brad went to the University of Michigan, he couldn’t go to football games. “It felt pointless to be in the stands instead of on the field, too close to something the loss of which I was still grieving.” Science shows that when you fight change, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol. Hard Times are always hard – But with practice, they get easier… In a multi-year study of more than 2,000 adults aged 18 to 101 published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, University of Buffalo psychologist, Mark Seery and colleagues found that people who had experienced medium levels of adversity were both higher-functioning and more satisfied with their lives than those who had experienced extremely high levels of adversity as well as those who had experienced hardly any adversity at all… Five Questions for Embracing Change: Where in your life are you pursuing fixity where it might be beneficial to open yourself to the possibility, or in some cases, the inevitability of change? In what parts of your life are you holding on to unrealistic expectations? Are there elements of your identity to which you cling too tightly? How might you use your core values– the rugged and flexible boundaries of your identity– to help you navigate the challenges of your life? In what circumstances do you tend to react when you would benefit from responding, and what conditions predispose you to that? 10 Tools for Developing Rugged Flexibility: Embrace non-dual thinking Adopt a being orientation Frequently update your expectations to match reality Practice tragic optimism, commit to wise hop, and take wise action Actively differentiate and integrate your sense of self View the world with independent and interdependent lenses Respond to change with the 4 Ps Lean on routines (and rituals) to provide stabiliy during periods of disorder Use behavioral activation Don’t force meaning and growth; let them come on their own time True confidence comes from evidence, and it allows you to OWN YOUR SEAT. Owning your seat does not mean certainty, nor does it mean a complete lack of doubts. It means taking your doubts with you and stepping into the arena no less—because you've done the work. Easy: showing up when you are at your best and everything is clicking. Hard: showing up when you are in a hole and the current is going against you. Most everyone can do the former. But it's the latter that has a huge impact on lasting progress, fulfillment, and success. Progress is nonlinear. Keep pounding the stone. Some days nothing happens. Some days it cracks a little bit more. Occasionally, it splits wide open. The implication of this truth is both simple and significant: If you’re addicted to visible progress, then sooner or later, you’ll burn out of whatever you’re pursuing. This is a big reason so many people quit after the honeymoon phase of trying something new. Brad's 3 non-negotiable daily practices for physical and mental well-being: 1. Forty-five to ninety minutes of physical activity. 2. At least one deep-focus block of sixty to ninety minutes on good, meaningful work. 3. Do not fight evening sleepiness, which usually means bed by 10PM. Don't define yourself by what you have. Define yourself by who you are. On developing a BEING over HAVING orientation, and the strength and freedom that comes with it.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Matt Higgins was an executive for the New York Jets and then the Miami Dolphins. He Co-Founded RSE Ventures with Miami Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross. Matt was a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank (seasons 10-11), He is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, and he recently published a book called, Burn The Boats, Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential... Matt's Mom: “My mother, Linda, died with $100 in her bank account, but I inherited the most valuable gift a parent can give a child: limitless faith in my ability to figure anything out.” Matt gave the 2019 commencement speech at Queens College – According to Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Paul Goldberger, "This is a magnificent and truly inspiring speech that everyone should read. If you think commencement speeches are made of cliches, this one will change your mind." The most important ingredient to professional success: “Make yourself indispensable at whatever task you’re doing and you’ll always have a job.” Research proves that the mere contemplation of Plan B statistically reduces the probability Plan A will ever materialize. The advice Matt got from Daymond John on how to handle imposter syndrome on his first day of filming Shark Tank: "You belong here because you are here." How to raise your kids to not be spoiled when you can provide anything they'd ever want? There is nobility in work. Ensure they do hard things and do real work. Matt's "must-have" qualities when hiring a leader: Confidence + Humility Empathy They just "figure it out" They are a servant leader -- They can "plug holes" Matt's four-step process: What's the worst that could happen? If it doesn't work out, what will I do? What's the probability the bad stuff will happen? What pain am I willing to endure to make it happen? "Burn the boats for goals, not tactics."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Alex Hormozi is an entrepreneur, investor, and author of 3 bestselling books $100M Offers, Leads, and Money Models. He’s founded and exited 3 companies, the largest for $46.2M in 2021. He and his wife Leila are the managing partners of Acquisition.com - a portfolio of companies that generate in aggregate $200M per year. He also makes mistakes and candidly shares his painful lessons with other entrepreneurs. Today he publicly documents his lessons on his path from $100M net worth to $1B. Confidence: “You don't become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt.” Work: "The work works on you more than you work on it." For anyone debating whether to marry a partner. These 2 lenses were useful: How have my stats changed since they entered my life? (wealth, health, time) Would I go to war with them? They flow from what Alex wants: Growth Hard goals Document your life more. Otherwise, you’ll forget the details. And the details are what make it worth remembering. (homework for life) Alex shared a vulnerable story about not wanting to live anymore when he was 21. He had graduated from Vanderbilt in 3 years (manga cum laude), had a great consulting job, and was on his way up the corporate ladder. And he hated it. He was living his dad's dream, not his own. So he quit. And didn't call his dad until he was well on his way to California to start over.  "A leading indicator that someone is not an independent thinker is that they agree (or disagree) with every single point of a political party. Also applies to seeing no fault (or 100% fault) in particular leaders." “Volume negates luck” What makes a great sales professional: Clear communication Conviction Be honest... And have a desire to help your customer Life Lessons Alex wishes he had learned earlier: Talk less, listen more… (He messed this up earlier in his career by talking too much) The hardest respect to earn is one's own If you want to control what people think, control what they say – “Equip people with simple language so that they can communicate what you do.” “You get more out of reading 1 book that’s great 5 times, than out of reading 5 mediocre books.” – “If your behavior doesn’t change as a result of reading the book, then it means you’ve learned nothing.” You are going to die – 2 weeks after you die, most people will have forgotten about you.  Extraordinary accomplishments come from doing ordinary things for extraordinary periods of time. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well Be willing to negotiate everything except for your values Humility - Sacrifice for the group. Give more to the company. Give to the group. Hormozi Law: The longer you delay the ask, the bigger the ask you can make. The longer the runway, the bigger the plane that can take off. "At your funeral, friends and family will argue over who gets what. People will want food to eat. The topic will shift from your life to their lives. They'll drive away thinking about their looming to-do list. Some people won't be able to make it because "something came up." A reminder of the heavy weight we place on things that matter little." "There’s no greater waste of time than justifying your actions to people who have a life you don’t want." "The easiest way to change behavior is to change your environment." Alex's great-great-grandfather had 400 children. "Never skip dessert."  "My life has never gotten worse by removing mediocre people."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jack Raines is a student at Columbia Business School and the writer of YoungMoney.co – Young Money is a finance blog that covers a wide variety of life topics like why we should travel more, timeless advice, the use of humor, the 6 types of wealth, and infinite games. Jack is one of my favorite writers on the internet… Infinite Games – “The focus on outcome over everything leads to us discounting 99% of our lives for the sake of a few, small, fleeting moments that might provide some sense of satisfaction before the cycle begins anew.” It’s not about getting to the top of the mountain, it’s about the person you become along the way. Why We Should Travel More – Rolf Potts, Vagabonding. “The explorer has no goal other than exploration itself.” The Opportunity Cost of Everything – The Journey IS the Destination. Life isn't a Pixar film. It's not a television series. Our life isn't some chain of events and decisions that leads to a climax. A final moment of victory. Life is the chain of events itself. “Someday isn’t a day.” The purpose of Jack's finance blog: “I write a finance blog that is really, like, idk? Maybe 40% finance? The rest is existential musings, satire, the occasional exclamation that Americans seriously need to travel more, and whatever random stuff comes through my brain.” Jack's LinkedIn satirical posts: “I take nothing seriously, but I do take the serious things pretty seriously. Linkedin isn't one of the serious things.” How Jack built a large following online: "I have published approximately 450,000 words of content in an 18-month period." Whatever it is that we want to do, in order to get good, we have to get going. We have to get the reps… The Case for Living Life Backwards – “You should write your obituary, and then try to figure out how to live up to it.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and is a nationally recognized executive performance coach for individual and corporate clients primarily in finance and technology. Trusted by top percentile talent and their teams to help them achieve world-class performance in fast-paced, high-pressure, extremely competitive environments. She's been compared to Wendy Rhoades of "Billions" in The Wall Street Journal (2019), and named a “Game Changer” by IBM. Notes: High Standards: Holding a high bar is uncomfortable because it is "exclusionary," and most people want to make everyone around them happy & comfortable. If you hold a standard, it can't include everything... Figuring out your line & holding to it, will mean some tough conversations. “I think that there are two ways of looking at things that have happened to you. You can be a victim or you can be a survivor. Those are two very different cognitive positions." Balance: “People will tell you in books that you have to live a “balanced life,” but if we are completely honest, almost all great things are born from periods of imbalance.” Staying Small: A concept I believe, is that most people stay small, or don't go for what they truly want...because they believe that "imaginary rules" are true Be a Learner: The worst professionals, are the ones that stop learning the moment they graduate from school. And they are the majority. Being autodidactic - a self-learner - who also takes initiative, will have you in the top 10% of anything you take on. Goals: If your goals are "realistic," you are operating in a box. Check yourself. "If you want to be a game changer, you can’t blend in." Know Yourself: When people are unable to commit to anything, it’s because they don’t know who they are. Shiny objects professionally (or personally) reflect a lack of certainty. When you get a genuine shot in the arm from what you do...of course, it's going to be hard to stop doing it. You're on fire. So many people are living their lives with the volume turned down. They don't get it. You don't have to live that way. Crank that energy up. "The people who rise aren't always the most talented or capable, but they are fueled by self-belief. Once you understand that, much of the business world makes sense." The difference between persistence and tenacious… persistent people stick to the plan to get to the goal. Tenacious people may change their plans altogether. A trait in the people who go on to do great things? Paul Graham defines it as being “relentlessly resourceful.” I see it all the time. Here’s a practical zero-to-one process to be relentlessly resourceful, if you want to set yourself up for some big swings. Julie goes on a daily walk around her farm. She uses that walk to reflect, think, and be outside. It helps her synthesize information.  What makes a great executive coach? A sweet spot between talking and listening... A great executive coach gives their clients space to talk. They listen. They ask great follow-up questions. They help unlock people. They help them become multipliers.  How to deal with imposter syndrome? "You probably have the ability, but you're not understanding your own story." It's important to keep taking chances. To keep meeting the moment. Julie helps her clients tap in to and write their own stories.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Aron Ralston is a mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and best-selling author known for surviving a canyoneering accident by cutting off part of his own right arm. On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, he dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days, he had to break his forearm, amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free, make his way through the rest of the canyon, rappel down a 65-foot drop, and hike 7 miles to safety. The incident is documented in Aron’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place and is the subject of the 2010 film 127 Hours in which he is portrayed by James Franco. After the accident, Aron continued mountaineering and became the first person to ascend all of Colorado's fourteeners solo in winter. "Turn boulders into blessings." During this conversation, Aron takes us through the 127 hours from when his right arm was pinned under a boulder until he was resting safely in a hospital bed. Along the way, he shares key learnings that all of us can take from his experience. In April 2003, Aron was canyoneering alone through Bluejohn Canyon, in Utah, just south of the Horseshoe Canyon unit of Canyonlands National Park. While he was descending the lower stretches of the slot canyon, a suspended boulder dislodged while he was climbing down from it. The boulder first smashed his left hand and then crushed his right hand against the canyon wall. Aron had not informed anyone of his hiking plans, nor did he have any way to call for help. Assuming that he would die without intervention, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water, approximately 350 ml (12 imp fl oz), and slowly eating his small amount of food, two burritos, while repeatedly trying to extricate his arm. His efforts were futile as he was unable to free his arm from the 800 lb (360 kg) chockstone. After three days of trying to lift and break the boulder, the dehydrated and delirious Ralston prepared to amputate his trapped arm at a point on the mid-forearm in order to escape. After having experimented with tourniquets and having made exploratory superficial cuts to his forearm, he realized, on the fourth day, that in order to free his arm he would have to cut through the bones in it, but the tools available were insufficient to do so. After running out of food and water on the fifth day, Aron decided to drink his own urine. He carved his name, date of birth, and presumed date of death into the sandstone canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family. He did not expect to survive the night, but as he attempted to stay warm he began hallucinating and had a vision of himself playing with a future child while missing part of his right arm. Aron credited this as giving him the belief that he would live. After waking at dawn the following day he discovered that his arm had begun to decompose due to the lack of circulation, and became desperate to tear it off.  Aron then had an epiphany that he could break his radius and ulna bones using torque against his trapped arm. He did so, then amputated his forearm with his multi-tool, using the dull 2-inch knife and pliers for the tougher tendons. The painful process took an hour, during which time he used tubing from a CamelBak as a tourniquet, taking care to leave major arteries until last. The manufacturer of the multi-tool was never named, but Aron said "It was not a Leatherman but what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool." After freeing himself, Ralston climbed out of the slot canyon in which he had been trapped, rappelled down a 65-foot sheer wall, then hiked out of the canyon. He was 8 miles from his car and had no phone. However, after 6 miles of hiking, he encountered a family on vacation from the Netherlands; Eric and Monique Meijer and their son Andy, who gave him food and water and hurried to alert the authorities. Aron had feared he would bleed to death; he had lost 40 pounds, including 25% of his blood volume. Rescuers searching for Ralston, alerted by his family that he was missing, had narrowed the search down to Canyonlands and he was picked up by a helicopter in a wide area of the canyon. He was rescued approximately four hours after amputating his arm. The STOP acronym: Stop (pause), Think (brainstorm), Observation, Plan Stop Think Observe Plan "Commitment is the first step." At one point when Aron's arm was stuck under the giant rock, he filmed his "goodbyes" to each family member. "Who would you say your goodbyes to and what would you say?" Aron realized that life is all about loving relationships. "You can't hold despair and gratitude at the same time." 127 Hours - There is no force so powerful as the will to live. Aron's version: "There's no force so powerful as the will to love." "Welcome adversity. It helps you grow." "Find gratitude for the worst thing that's ever happened to you." “Passion. That which I suffer, allow, endure, is done to me.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Be on time. It's not okay to be late. As the leader, we have to set the right example. There is a narrow path to Top Gun, but Dave made it... Dave served as an ANGLICO Forward Air Controller supporting the Army’s 1st Armored Division during extensive urban combat operations on the ground in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006. He led his supporting arms liaison team on scores of combat missions into the most dangerous neighborhoods and accompanied SEAL Task Unit Bruiser on virtually every major operation in the Battle of Ramadi. He was the only Marine selected to fly the F-22 Raptor having served as an exchange officer at the Air Force’s 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron as the Division Commander. He became the first operational pilot ever to fly and be qualified in the F-35B, serving as the Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps’ first F-35 squadron from 2012-2014. Balancing courage and confidence with humility - It’s a must to surround yourself with others who continue to push you and keep your ego in check. The attributes of a Top Gun instructor: Willing to learn and Able to teach. Great leaders seem to have those same qualities. Dave’s choice to volunteer to fight on the ground is what led him to meet Jocko Willink and thus change his life. Stepping up and doing a job that others don’t want to do, and taking that responsibility can lead to amazing opportunities. A Top Gun pilot must balance courage and confidence with humility. You need a great support group around you to keep in check. Your ego, however, can be helpful at times. "It allows you to do things that others say can't be done." How to deal with negative self-talk? "We all deal with it. Relax. Take a step back. Breathe. Detach from the situation."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Own it, live it, create it, see it, say it, change it, honor it, punish it, repeat it, evaluate it all. – The core components to building a world-class culture. Who are your foxhole people? They are the ones who are there when it’s hard and they’re there to celebrate when it’s great. They are honest, caring, and they love you. The best way to build a great foxhole group? Be a loving, caring, and honest friend to others. How to build a great foundation which sets you up to build a great culture? Be trustworthy and trust-WILLING person. Be vulnerable, open, and honest, and create opportunities for shared suffering. It takes time and intentional effort, but it’s worth it. Geron was always leading the younger quarterbacks when he was in high school. “The quarterbacks stay. You need to know what’s going on, for now, and in the future” Coach Dave Carroll had a huge impact on how Geron coaches... Tough, demanding, high expectations. He wasn't for everyone. From Brook Cupps: "From my perspective, it’s been really cool to watch his progression from a self-serving arrogant kid to an ultra-impactful leader and father." Geron's purpose is to maximize people. Here is how he lives that out... Own It – Come to grips with my #1 Job - Get the most out of people. More than they can ever imagine. It HAS to be a love thing! Can I get them to work, care, execute, serve, give, and love more than they ever have in their life? My job. Not their’s. Wake up every day knowing my responsibility. “I’ve gotta get the best out of these guys today.” Live It – I set the example for everything. I AM THE STANDARD! Have to be. Am I trying to maximize myself? Every. Day! How do I show up? Do I represent the values I’m trying to pull out of the people? They aren’t going to do it by themselves. They can’t. Stop expecting them to! I need to show them to engage them. Am I pouring my heart and soul into everything that I can?!? “The best thing you can ever give someone is a strong example,” “Preach the gospel every day, and sometimes use words.” Create It - Environment matters. Cultivate relationships every single day. Do they walk in knowing we’re getting better today? Energy. Enthusiasm. Struggle. Hard, Tough. Work. Demanding. Constant. Growth. Whatever level you’re at. Just. Get. Better. EVERY. DAY! My relationships, time, & effort with my people is the soil! Maniacal about who, what, and how. Everybody! All the time. Daily requirement: get the environment ready for growth! See It - See it as it is. See it better than it is. If I can’t see it better, how do I make it better? Reality to vision. The best see it at a different level. Extremely high standards! Competence matters. What is an acceptable standard? Can it be done better? Say It – Any and all feedback. Do I care enough to tell them? Usually with questions! Intent matters. Relationships matter. Make it personal! It doesn’t have to be said exactly the right way. IT NEEDS TO BE SAID. They have to HEAR it & internalize it. “Good job” doesn’t exist in our world. Change It – It must improve. Whatever it takes. Fix/correct/punish/measure until it actually changes. Spend extra time. Refuse to accept excuses. I love you so we have to make this better. Continue saying it! Honor/Punish It – Celebrate. Loudly. Be specific. Recognize it. Measure it. Reward it. Make it a big deal. Every important detail. Ingrain it into the culture of the group. “That’s not how we do things here.” Repeat It – Do it over and over and over and over again. The hardest part isn’t doing it. The hardest part is doing it every single moment, every single day, over and over and over.  Evaluate It All – What is working? What isn’t? How do we keep getting better? What needs to be changed? CONSTANT. 24/7365. ARE WE GETTING THEIR BEST? Fanatical about improvement. Daily Questions To Ask Yourself: Am I at my best? Are my intentions right? How can I get the most out of everybody today? I need to be on fire. Energy/Attitude is right. Seeking ways to make an impact. Is it about me or about them? Act your way into feelings. What do they need? Pushed? Pulled? Energized? Inspired? Demanded?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 You can’t heal a body you hate. We only get one body. It’s all we have. If it stops working or is working poorly, that affects all other elements of our lives. It’s worth it to make this our top priority. We’re looking for optimal, not average. If you’re listening to this podcast, you probably do not want to be average. And when it comes to the most important thing in your life (your body), I would hope that you don’t want that to be average. To be an effective leader for others, our body needs to be in optimal shape. Cut these 5 foods: Gluten-containing grains Industrial seed oils Added sugar, Conventional dairy Alcohol After over a decade as a functional medicine expert, Dr. Cole discerned that shame can cause gut inflammation and sabotage wellness through what he’s named “Shameflammation.” When you send signals to your brain that you are overwhelmed, overworked, or overtired, your body reacts. Shameflammation can be the cause of chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, depression, and more. Chronic stress is the ultimate junk food." Too much sugar has consequences beyond the waistline. Functional medicine is informed consent. 75% of your immune system is in your gut. Get back on track. Days are long, years are short. Testosterone Replacement Therapy? Work with a doctor, get labs, and choose to use based on what your doctor and your labs say. "Use meals as a medicine and a meditation." "Ask yourself... Does this food love me back?"
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Consistency creates your future. Show up each day and do the work. Sounds simple, but it’s much harder in practice. Consistency is not sexy, but it builds trust and it creates your future. T.U.N.E. -  T = Trust and truth  U = Unite with love N = Neutralize the negativity. “I do not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” - Gandhi E = Elevate your thinking. With gratitude, optimism, and belief How to handle imposter syndrome - One sheet of paper. On one side write your negative thoughts. On the other side write words of encouragement. Again, this sounds basic, but it’s been proven to work. Navigate the Roller Coaster of our Mind: Take on our challenges in life with confidence and power instead of fear and insecurity. Recognize & Overcome the Five Ds of Negative Thought: Doubt, Distortion, Discouragement, Distraction, and Division. The root of the Greek word for anxious means “to separate and divide” When we are anxious, we feel divided. The key is to move towards “oneness”. Tune into More Positive Thoughts: Jon explains a revolutionary idea that the brain is an antenna, and we can elevate our minds with proven strategies. For example, we can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. When we appreciate, we elevate. Override Fear with Love: Let love (the ultimate driver of grit) be the driving force behind our work and vocation, unlocking new levels of determination, devotion and success. Improve Mental Health & Relationships: Move from disconnection, loneliness and isolation to connection, healing, and wholeness. Whether you’re a recent graduate, executive, artist, parent, engineer, teacher, spouse, athlete or coach, once you know The One Truth, you’ll see how it impacts leadership, teamwork, mindset, performance, relationships, addictions, social media, anxiety, mental health and your overall quality of life. Bad teams = nobody leads. Average teams = coaches lead. Elite teams = players lead Change management -- People follow the leader first and the vision second. People won’t care about your vision if you don’t care about them. “Thoughts are magnetic. What we think about we attract.” Goals: "It's not your goals that will lead to your success but your commitment to the process." "The best teams don’t focus on winning championships. They focus on being champions. This leads to championships." “When leaders become focused on the fruit instead of the root and worry about the outcome instead of the process of developing team members, they may survive in the short run, but they will not thrive in the long run.” “As a leader, it is so important that your words equal your actions. It is imperative that you make sure that you go through a self-evaluation process on an almost daily basis to make sure that your actions are in line with your words. You must do what you say and say what you do.” “There’s a difference between culture and having a theme for the year. A theme does not equal culture. Too many schools/org move from theme to theme instead of building a culture. Utilize a theme as a tool to help you build a great culture.” “They asked a bunch of ninety-five-year-olds if they could do it all over again and live their life again what would they do differently. The three things that almost all of them said were: (1) They would reflect more. Enjoy more moments. More sunrises and sunsets. More moments of joy. (2) They would take more risks and chances. Life is too short not to go for it. (3) They would have left a legacy. Something that would live on after they die.” 00:35 - Lessons from Athletics 05:29 - Struggling With Adversity As a Child 07:47 - Building a Life-Changing Team from The Energy Bus 15:08 - Fear That Comes With Imposter Syndrome 20:54 - Transition from Self-Talk to Action 31:05 - How to React to Skeptics 36:14 - View Life as a Movie 40:25 - Leadership Qualities That Are Repetitive 44:18 - Advice for the Younger Generation 47:48 - Early is On Time
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: Michelle "Mace" Curran has led an impressive career as a Fighter Pilot during her 13 years in the United States Air Force. From 2019-2021, she flew as the only female pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds and performed for millions across the country and internationally. Before joining the Thunderbirds, Michelle was a combat-proven fighter pilot completing missions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. What inspired Michelle to join the Air Force? "I had a grandpa who was a lieutenant in the Navy. I went through his World War II trunk and tried on uniforms and looked at postcards. He got to travel all over the world. I grew up in a small town and I wanted to travel. I’ve always been drawn to flying. I hadn’t done a lot of flying aside from commercially, but I loved it, so the Air Force seemed like a natural fit. I was also honestly looking for a scholarship for college, so the three things kind of came together." “C3” Comm – That’s clear, concise, and correct communication. How that plays a role as a pilot and how we can use that as leaders outside of the airplane. For the solo opposing passes, each pilot is traveling at 500mph, that's 1000mph of closure toward each other. The timing that makes sure the aircraft safely pass each other at the center point directly in front of the crowd is all done through radio calls. Every call must communicate clearly, concisely, and correctly. There are a lot of benefits to having a beginner's mindset. What does Michelle say to young girls? "You have to exceed people’s expectations. People are going to set expectations for you based on where you grew up, the family you came from, your gender — there are all different factors that go into that. Constantly do your best, strive for perfection, exceed those expectations, and really don’t shortchange yourself. Don’t set boundaries that don’t really exist, that you just place there for yourself. You’ll be surprised at all of the things you can do if you just keep pushing." “We wield a lot of power with our words.” Let’s plant a seed of inspiration. As leaders, our words carry a lot of weight. Let’s use that to help other people strive for more and potentially accomplish more than they ever thought they were capable of. What an awesome use of our power. The Debrief - It’s the sacred environment of flying. Your rank doesn’t matter. It’s all about focusing on what happened and how we can get better. I think our companies would be better if we had consistent debriefs after a big moment to ensure we are learning from our mistakes and getting better… The person you are today is likely much different than the one you were ten years ago. The person you will be ten years from now will probably be just as different compared to who you are now. Michelle initially didn't feel capable as a fighter pilot. But she kept showing up. It’s important that we have the courage to keep going even when we don’t feel ready. Being a female fighter pilot, Mace was in a male-dominated career... She was often the only woman in my unit and roughly 3% of fighter pilots in the Air Force are female even thirty years after combat airframes were opened to women, Leaders and followers – A young flight lead could be in command of a general whose role is to be the wingman… Mace has written a children’s book that just came out called Upside Down Dreams. It is a story written for girls with big dreams looking for a real-world heroine.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Angus Fletcher has dual degrees in neuroscience (BS, University of Michigan) and literature (Ph.D., Yale). His research employs a mix of laboratory experiment, literary history, and rhetorical theory to explore the psychological effects—cognitive, behavioral, therapeutic—of different narrative technologies. He’s the best-selling author of multiple books including Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature, and Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence. "The story you tell yourself needs to be the true story of yourself." How Angus tells his story: Build trust Listen Demonstrate courage - Angus told a group of special forces operators one of the most embarrassing stories of his life. After that, he said, "I'm not scared of anything." You must be genuinely humble to learn from your mistakes. "Real leaders activate the leader within you." Being a leader is all about contemplating fear. Stepping up when adversity strikes is why we exist as leaders. It’s easy to lead when everything is going well. We want to be known as the leader who is there when it’s hard. Dr. Fletcher's ultimate goal of using the power of story to bring us closer to self-actualization. Seems like that's a good first step to being a great leader. Confidence is earned by creating evidence for yourself that you can do hard things. Angus did this when he shared his story of not making it through Marine Corps boot camp. Angus's vulnerability earned trust with the military leaders. “For the longer we suspend our judgments, the more accurate our subsequent verdicts become. This valuable fact has been uncovered by researchers who’ve spent decades probing the mechanics of better decision-making, only to discover that the key is simply more time and more information. Which is to say: reserving our judgment until the last possible moment.” Unlike a computer, the brain wasn’t particularly data-driven. Or particularly logical. Instead, it was emotional. And creative. And powered by story. “There are a number of judgments that we can suspend permanently, including most of our judgments about other people. Our brain is constantly making such judgments. It looks at strangers on the street—and judges them. It looks at celebrities in magazines—and judges them. It looks at family members and colleagues and friends in homes and offices and restaurants—and judges them. These judgments feel instantly good to our neurons; they deliver pleasant microdoses of emotional superiority. But in the long run, they make us anxious, incurious, and less happy, so we can improve our long-term mental well-being if we suspend them.” Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle 02:12 - Highlights of Leadership Training04:24 - How to Prevent Failure09:14 - What is a Story Scientist? 12:57 - Is Story Science Therapy? 14:22 - Tell Your Story 18:56 - Vulnerability is the Most Powerful Thing You Can Do 22:00 - Can You Go Too Far With Being Vulnerable? 25:19 - How to Be Vulnerable 32:42 - Real Leaders Activate the Leader In You 36:10 - Where Does Your Sense of Confidence Come From? 40:50 - Punch Through Your Own Fear 43:00 - Be Open About What Could Go Wrong 44:47 - Questions to Ask During the Interview Process 48:33 - Responding to Adversity IS Leadership 51:45 - How to Be Excellent at Speaking 56:27 - Advice For Younger Leaders
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Katty Kay is a US correspondent for the BBC and a regular contributor on MSNBC. Katty grew up in the Middle East, where her father was a British diplomat. She studied French and Italian at Oxford University and worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa and Japan before moving to The US in 1996. Katty is the best-selling author of many books. Her latest is called “The Power Code.” Notes:  The definition of power – The ability to exercise one’s will, influence others, and effect change. The ability to exercise our will—More Joy. Influencing (not controlling) others—Less Ego. Effecting change—Maximum Impact. Redefining Power - In the past, it seems to be about dominance. About something you hold over something (people, or resources). Instead, we want it to be used to effect positive change. Let’s use power for good. Promoting on promise versus promoting on performance. The research states that more men are promoted on promise than women. And women are mostly promoted based on performance. As leaders, let’s think about promise versus performance. As Frank Slootman said in a previous conversation, let’s hire people “Ahead of their curve. Most women today don’t want power. The path to getting it, as it exists today, involves too many sacrifices, and power itself is unappealing, full of egos and competition. Women have all the skills, but we’d rather opt out. Women and men don’t define power in the same way. Men think of power as a finite commodity, part of a hierarchical, zero-sum game that involves having power over people. Women aren’t competitive about power, and we focus more on the end result, the change we can affect with power. It’s the difference between power over and power to. Does power corrupt? Not in the hands of women.  Researchers have found that women are the exception to the rule that powerful people are less empathetic–women tend to maintain their connection to others, to a ground-level reality, as we rise through the ranks–a huge leadership advantage. Power fuels action. Neuroscientists are discovering the remarkable things power does to our brains. It can liberate its possessors, across their lives, and even create an ability to act more authentically. That offers big rewards for women and needs to become a selling point. Women will never get power outside the home until our marriages look less like the 1950s. Our marriages aren’t keeping up with society or our careers. A woman with a job does more housework than a man who doesn’t work. In couples where the wife earns more than the husband, they lie about it on the US census form. Men are stuck in a box they don’t want to be in.  They are pushed to play the outdated role of primary breadwinner, which is why the number of stay-at-home dads has barely grown in a quarter of a century. But increasingly men realize the zero-sum power formula isn’t working for them either. A more collaborative, more humane approach to power would benefit everyone. 00:38 - How Do You Define Power? 03:18 - Challenges with Research on Gender 05:46 - Using Power for Good 08:41 - Power reveals your Character 10:22 - Why Wouldn’t Someone Want Power? 13:37 - Is Power Shifting for Good? 15:31 - How Does Power Need to Change? 19:21 - Suggestions for Relationships at Home 20:42 - The Options to be a “Stay At Home” 30:58 - Characteristics of Katty’s Career 33:46 - Can Fame Impact a Marriage? 35:13 - Society’s Expectations for Mom & Dads 39:05 - Confidence & Imposter Syndrome 42:45 - The Common Characteristic of Every Leader 44:46 - The Impact of Female College Graduates 46:59 - Can Having Children Impact Your Career as a Mother? 49:30 - Advice for a Male CEO 52:26 - Life Advice for All
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com James Clear is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. His newsletter, 3-2-1 is shipped to more than 2 million people every Thursday. Notes: “The key, if you want to build habits that last, is to join a group where the desired behavior is the normal behavior.” We should champion good ideas. You need to bet on something. Bet on a business. Bet on a relationship. Bet on something. You may have less risk being a pessimist or not going all in on something, but you also limit your upside. It’s worth being a champion of good ideas. A Chilean saying: "Criticizing a musician is easy, but it is more difficult when you have a guitar in your hand." -- Don't criticize someone else unless you're willing to do the work. Quantity and Quality – The parable of the pottery class – The University of Florida film photography professor, Jerry Uelsmann, divided his class into two groups. What happened with that experiment? We have to get going to get good. Quantity leads to quality. Be consistent. Show up, and do the work. Priorities – We all should ask ourselves this question: If someone could only see my actions and not hear my words, what would they say my priorities are? Steven Pressfield says the difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. 3 things that help luck: Deconstructing your craft, so you know what good opportunities look like. Remaining vigilant, so you notice when lucky breaks come your way. Acting quickly, so you are more likely to seize luck when it arrives. "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." "Habits are like the atoms of our lives, each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement." "Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe." "The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader." "Your identity emerges out of your habits." Why We Should Write – “Many people assume they are bad at writing because it is hard. This is like assuming you are bad at weightlifting because the weight is heavy." Writing is useful because it is hard. It's the effort that goes into writing a clear sentence that leads to better thinking. Get Going to Get Good – Many situations in life are similar to going on a hike: the view changes once you start walking. You don't need all the answers right now. New paths will reveal themselves if you have the courage to get started. "The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do."  "Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Seth Godin is the author of 20 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing, leadership, and work. His blog (which you can find by typing "seth" into Google) is the most viewed marketing blog in the world. Some of my favorite books of his are… Tribes, Linchpin, Purple Cow, and most recently The Song of Significance. Notes: Hiring Leaders — when deciding who to hire for a leadership role: look at the careers of the people who have worked for them. And look at the careers of the people they’ve led. Leaders aren’t managers with fancy titles. Leaders are planting the seeds for generations of impact to come. Let's get real or let's not play. Tension is what we seek. It's important to show up early. Frederick Taylor met Henry Ford and management was created. Study bees - They leave their home and have 72 hours to find their next one. Matt Mullenweg (Automatic CEO) - "Create the conditions for forward motion." To create the environment for the people they’re leading to flourish. How are you intentionally creating the environment for the people you’re leading to do their best work? Management doesn’t just exist. It was invented. When you race to the bottom, You see people as resources, not as people. (I don't like the term human capital management) When Paul Orfalea was building kinkos (which he later sold to fed ex for $2B), he said his best technique for growing the business was simple. He would walk into their stores and ask someone there to tell him about an innovation they’ve recently made. And then he’d tell all the other stores about it… “Real value is no longer created by traditional measures of productivity. It’s created by personal interactions, innovation, creative solutions, resilience, and the power of speed.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: Tony Dungy’s quiet strength - He never criticized without an adequate solution. As leaders, it’s on us to be thoughtful about how we help our people get better. Just yelling that someone messed up is not helpful. We need to provide an adequate solution. Dianna Nyad – She swam for 53 hours from Cuba to Florida. It looked like a solo mission. It was anything but. She needed a full team to make it happen. We need other people to help us accomplish big missions. A lot of people are afraid to win. They are afraid to put it all on the line and risk not being enough. Too many of us want to look cool and play it safe in case we lose. The people who sustain excellence over time commit 100% to what they’re doing even though they might lose. It’s worth it. It is “kind of a sin” to waste potential and the real champions never committed it. - Dan Jenkins Advice from her dad (legendary sports writer, Dan Jenkins): "Never let a thing go until it's as good as you can make it." "Interest yourself first before you'll interest anyone else." Key learning from Brian Daboll - Winning organizations are made up of people who've been doubted in the past. The "greats are a result of construction." We must be intentional. Go all in. Preparation. Practice. There must be a dept of preparation. "Never leave the field wishing you'd prepared more." "Pressure is what you feel when don't know what the hell to do." Michael Phelps was not born with an innate sense to swim fast. His body was well suited to swim but not much more than any other Olympian. "The work is what made him great." Day-to-day consistency leads to excellence. Derek Jeter built his schedule around being consistent every single day. Laird Hamilton built his resilience through doing hard things like cold plunges, saunas, and surfing tough waves. Activate your body to stress: Stress has two sides. We're meant to experience stress. Stress + Rest = Growth. We need stress to grow. Life is born without it. Pat Riley - What happens when people don't believe in their leader? They gear down their effort. Life/Career Advice: Shoe leather hard work. You can't substitute hard work. Find the thing you'd do for fun and see if you can build a career from it.   Sally Jenkins has been a columnist and feature writer for The Washington Post for more than twenty years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 and in 2021 was named the winner of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sports Journalism. She is the author of twelve books of nonfiction including The Real All Americans, the story of the Carlisle Indian School, and its use of football as a form of resistance following the close of the Indian Wars. Her work for The Washington Post has included coverage of ten Olympic Games. In 2005 she was the first woman to be inducted into the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. Her most recent book is called The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us about Leadership, Excellence, and Decision Making.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Mark Miller started his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. Mark's cell phone number is 678-612-8441. He asked that you text him your thoughts on this episode. In 1978, he joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and Leadership Development. During his tenure with Chick-fil-A, the company has grown from 75 restaurants to over 2,300 locations with annual sales approaching $10 billion. Mark began writing almost twenty years ago when he teamed up with Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, to write The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. He's now written 11 books that have sold over 1 million copies. His latest is called Culture Rules.  Notes:  “Your capacity to grow determines your capacity to lead.” You must make the choice to be a learner... Let’s start with a story told by the late philosopher, David Foster Wallace. He said, “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says, “Morning boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?” Mark Miller conducted research with more than 6,000 individuals from ten countries that revealed that 71% of U.S. leaders believe culture is their most powerful tool to drive performance. However, the study revealed that enhancing workplace culture ranked eleventh on the leader’s priority list. “If your heart is not right, no one cares about your skills.” Your character, integrity, and care for others must be there to earn any type of followership. If your heart is not right, no one cares about your skills. The 3 culture rules are aspire, amplify, and adapt: Aspire - Share your hopes and dreams for the culture (Andrew Cathy, new CEO, said “Rooted in purpose, known for our care.”) Amplify - Always be looking for ways to reinforce and amplify the aspiration for your culture. Adapt - Always look for ways to enhance your culture and be innovative. The Magic Circle: It dates back to 1938 when Dutch Historian Johan Huizinga wrote about the impact of play on culture… The "Must-Have" leadership qualities Character Competence Chemistry Mark has spent a lot of time with Navy SEALs to learn about culture... Key takeaways: Shoot Move Communicate Is focusing on culture a soft skill? The data suggests it is the #1 driver of performance. Storytelling - People remember the stories more than the stats. Don't just tell... Take people there.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Frank Slootman is the CEO at Snowflake. Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. Frank served as CEO of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from $100M in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4B. Prior to that, Frank served as President at EMC following an acquisition of Data Domain Corporation, where he served as the CEO, leading the company through an IPO to its acquisition by EMC for $2.4B. He's also the best-selling author of Amp It Up. Notes: Frank's work ethic was developed as a child in the Netherlands. In his teens, he had summer jobs harvesting tulip bulbs and walking behind a tractor ten hours a day. He also cleaned factory toilets one summer in the plant where his dad worked. “The Man In The Arena” Theodore Roosevelt – Frank put this at the beginning of Amp It Up.  After retiring from ServiceNow in 2017, Frank had no intention of taking another CEO role, but people like him “have a hard time leaving the arena.” It’s exciting to be back in a CEO role with Snowflake. Hiring -- “Hire people ahead of their own curve.” Hire more for aptitude than experience and give people the career opportunity of a lifetime. NO MBO -- “Another source of misalignment is management by objective (MBO). Which I have eliminated at every company I’ve joined in the last 20 years.” Push the pace -- Leaders set the pace. “Instead of getting back to me in a week, I asked, “Why not tomorrow?” Change the cadence. Push the pace. The leadership "must-have" qualities: A need to prove something Unbalanced They want to show the world something... They have passion High trust Need some ego, but it has to be in check Legacy? "I don't think about legacy much. When you're dead, you're dead." Frank's leadership team: We are not balanced, we are available to each other 24/7. Drivers vs. Passengers -- “Passengers are people who don’t mind simply being carried along by the company’s momentum …They are often pleasant, get along with everyone, attend meetings promptly, and generally do not stand out as troublemakers … While passengers can often diagnose and articulate a problem quite well, they have no investment in solving it.” Frank wants front-seat drivers who’ll take ownership, make trouble, and help navigate. Raise Your Standards -- Push for insanely great. A leader must always push the standard higher. Focus -- “Founders don’t have a mindset around operating companies. Focus is one of our number one things. You need to learn to have extreme, machine focus, and most people don’t even know the beginning of what that means. They think they do, and they don’t.” “I’m more of a Patton than an Eisenhower,” he says, known for constantly driving the troops forward. Sequoia’s Carl Eschenbach remembers, “When we brought Frank into Snowflake, at our first board meeting he said, ‘Let me tell you how I’m running the board meetings and how you’re going to participate. We’re going to keep this very simple. I’m not even gonna tell you anything about the good stuff that’s happening because you already know that—I’m going to dive into the shit that’s broken and how we’re going to fix it.'” Very Brief Retirement -- In 2017, Frank spent time regatta sailing, winning the iconic ocean race, Transpac. Race from Los Angeles to Oahu. (To win, “We focused on recruiting talent”). Put The Success of The Company Ahead of Your Own – If you want to build a Snowflake-sized company,  you can’t be about the celeb-CEO lifestyle. “That’s not real life. Real life is you’re terrorized and uncomfortable every day of the week. People always ask me, ‘Is this normal?’ I’m like, yep.” Snowflake - Hit the ground running on April 26, 2019.  Good news: They were on already on a tear. The bad news: “The company was quite impressed with itself.” Growth in all areas (revenue, retention rate, total customers, $1m Customers, Forbes Global 2000 Customers, Customer Satisfaction). The first 90 days as a new leader. It’s a combat zone. You must quickly assess what’s working, and what’s not. Who should stay on the bus, and who should get off?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Oscar Munoz served as CEO and chairman of United Airlines, previously holding several executive leadership positions at CSX, AT&T, US West, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola. Listen, Learn, AND THEN Lead… The purpose of the listening tour was to hear from people at the ground level, listen, learn, and then make decisions. I love the simplicity in the question to his team, “Hey, what are the 10 dumbest rules we’ve put in place?” And then changing them… This is something we all should think about periodically. The father-daughter bond Oscar has with his daughter, Jessica. The traits he sees in her that are also in him are “tenacity and refusal to give in no matter what.” Before Oscar became CEO, the culture was based on a “cost-cutting, rule-obsessed, disciplinary-heavy culture." Listening Tour - In 2015, After becoming CEO of United Airlines, Munoz embarked on a "listening tour" of the company, meeting with disgruntled employees around the United States and discussing their concerns. While this phase was intended to last for the first 90 days of the job, Oscar was hospitalized after having a heart attack in October 2015, 38 days into the job. In 2015, Oscar was one of two Hispanic CEOs in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 list. Munoz has been named among the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" by Hispanic Business magazine. In March 2017, Oscar was named "Communicator of the Year for 2017" by PRWeek. How to be both a great dad and a great CEO? "Model the right behavior for your kids." Advice: Swing easy. Be yourself.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the books Hit Makers and On Work: Money, Meaning, Identity, and the host of the podcast Plain English.   Notes: Before graduating from high school, Derek appeared in several theatrical productions at the Folger Shakespeare Theater and the Shakespeare Theater. Why do Americans care so much about work? workism is “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.” Jobs, Careers, or Callings: One theory of work holds that people tend to see themselves in jobs, careers, or callings… The Bow and Arrow metaphor… We need stress, but we need to let it go. You pull back on the bow and arrow… Then you let it go. Stress + Rest = Growth “Happiness means being balanced between busyness and leisure.” The mark of a good leader? Don’t be afraid to ask the ignorant question… Have the confidence to ask it. Derek had breakfast with the prominent CEO… The CEO was deeply curious about Derek. Asked him a lot of questions, listened intently, and asked great follow-ups. Great leaders make their conversations about the other person. Follow your curiosity with great rigor. That same leader also had the emotional intelligence to not bother Derek Jeter while he was having breakfast. He knew there would be a better time to meet. The book, an anthology of Thompson’s articles for The Atlantic, includes a new adaptation of his essay on workism, a term that he defines as “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.” “The decline of traditional faith in America has coincided with an explosion of new atheisms,” Thompson writes. “Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.” How Derek earned a job writing for The Atlantic out of college? After being rejected 30 times, he applied for a fellowship with The Atlantic and got it. He then earned a job writing about economics for them even though he had no background or interest in economics. "It's like the New York Yankees offered me to play second base even though I played catcher my whole life." How Derek earned a role as a podcast host working for Bill Simmons? "Bill had me on his podcast to talk about Covid after he read some things I'd written for The Atlantic. That was sort of an audition. After he had me on, he asked if I wanted to have my own podcast on his network. We eventually came up with the name Plain English." The name of the show is very important. You want people to be able to easily say, "Hey, I listen to Plain English." How to predict the next great quarterback? It's contingent upon their surroundings (their coaching staff, receivers, linemen, etc...) Life/Career Advice: Skin thickness -- It can't be so thin that you can't accept criticism, but it can't be so thick that you stop listening. You have be somewhere in the middle. Working hours — no large country globally averages more hours of work per year than the United States. Americans work longer hours, have shorter vacations, get less unemployment, and retire later.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He is also the editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets half a million unique visitors per month. He co-founded Wired in 1993 and served as its Executive Editor from its inception until 1999. During Kevin’s tenure, Wired won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence (the industry's equivalent of two Oscars). He is the best-selling author of many books including New Rules for the New Economy, The Inevitable, and his latest is called Excellent Advice For Living - Wisdom I wish I’d Known Earlier.  You lead by letting others know what you expect of them, which may exceed what they themselves expect. Provide them a reputation to live up to. Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout. "Every great and difficult thing has required a strong sense of optimism," Prototype your life. Try stuff instead of making grand plans. The best way to learn anything is to try to teach what you know. Don’t create things to make money; make money so you can create things. The reward for good work is more work. The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they’ll find you. To be interesting, be interested. Promptness is a sign of respect. The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 The Learning Leader Show was first published on April 9, 2015. TODAY marks the show's 8th birthday! To celebrate, I kick off the episode by sharing some key learnings I've gathered over the past 8 years... And then I answer YOUR questions and did a full AMA (Ask Me Anything). If you'd like me to do more AMAs, send me an email: Ryan (at) LearningLeader dot com Here are some key things I've learned after publishing The Learning Leader Show for 8 years... Consistency > Intensity. Showing up to do the work (prep) each day is key. Become part of your routine as a listener. Consistency builds trust. You know you’re going to have a new show for your Monday morning walk or commute. Following your genuine curiosity is attractive. This parasocial relationship is built because as the listener you know I’m following what I’m actually curious about. I own guest selection 100%. They are all my call and my call alone. I only choose guests that I’m deeply curious about. The curiosity-judgemental spectrum. Talking with more people with a wide range of life experiences has helped me view the world from their eyes and be less judgemental. All the way back to episode 3 with Maurice Clarett. Approach people with curiosity, not judgment. The prep works as a forcing function to learn. Same with mindful Monday. I have systems in place to ensure I’m getting a little bit wiser each day. And that learning compounds over time. Create forcing functions on your life to intentionally get better. Don’t just wander from meeting to meeting each week. What are you doing to ensure your learning is compounding? The Charlie Munger quote; go to bed a little wiser than when you woke up. I try to live by that. Relationships with your heroes: General McChrystal. Pat Lencioni. So many others. Being pleasant to work with. Showing up prepared. Being grateful. Following up. All of that has helped me build real relationships with people I admire. The McChrystal trip to Gettysburg. Forewords to books. McChrystal and Lencioni. Dan Pink. The Kat Cole ATL show. Adam Grant. Ryan Holiday. Relationships with listeners. Some amazing friendships have been formed and fostered because of this podcast. So many of my Learning Leader Circle members. Technically they are clients of mine, but lots of them have become genuine friends for life. Communication skill - LISTENING. Thinking. Speaking, Writing. All have improved. Earned the opportunity to speak on hundreds of stages all over the world. Publish books. Meet fascinating people. Listener AMA: Learn 2 Cope (Instagram) – What was the biggest struggle you had transitioning to life after sports? Kevin Janiec (Instagram) – How do you and Miranda balance and align your competing priorities? Samantha Phillips (LinkedIn), Sales Manager at Insight Global – 1. What is 1 of your champagne toasts? (Victory Shot toast) 2. Who is 1 person you have not yet had on your show that you’d like to? Aaron Arnston (LinkedIn) - Congratulations, Ryan!  Truly blazing a trail, we’ll done! You have interviewed hundreds of guests and I have liked every show, can't recall one, not one, show I didn't like...have you ever interviewed guests that didn't make the cut or do you have a filtering process prior to the show that helps with this? Noah Vasilj (Mindful Monday email response): My question is a “3 parter”: What is your favorite part of your job? Do you generally enjoy/love what you do? What keeps you interested and going on the days when you are not at 100%? Brian Causer (Twitter) — Congrats! Love the show, Ryan. One of my top podcasts and I listen weekly. Maybe have two questions... How do you choose your guests? Referral? Follow your curiosity? Also, what is one question you wish someone would ask you that nobody has asked you before? The Greek In The Kitchen (Instagram) — Who is the guest you think about most or has had the most influence on you? Denise Kollias (LinkedIn) Hi! Congratulation! I have been listening to your podcast since 2017 and it has been a Godsend. It has taught me so much and I appreciate all your hard work to continually bring insightful conversations on leadership. My question is what episodes were your favorite to record or the top 5 that you recommend with the greatest impact to help people grow or push through? JP Botero (Instagram) - After 8 years of experience, what would you recommend to the Ryan thinking of creating The Learning Leader Show? Aaron Campbell – After 8 years of exploration along a central theme, how would you finish this sentence: “A great leader is….”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dan Lyons is the New York Times bestselling author of "Disrupted," "Lab Rats," and "STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World." Dan was a writer for HBO's hit comedy, "Silicon Valley," and before that was a journalist at Newsweek, Forbes, and Fortune. The best sales reps spend 54 percent of the call listening and 46 percent talking. The worst reps talked 72 percent of the time. They made calls feel like conversations.  A company called Gong uses machine learning software that analyzes sales calls to find out what works and what doesn’t. Its software vacuums up millions of hours of audio data and then analyzes it to figure out how the best sales reps operate. Gong’s customers use this information to train new sales reps and help underperformers improve. In 2017 Gong analyzed more than five hundred thousand calls and found that sales calls with the best close rates were ones in which reps knew how to be quiet and ask questions instead of making a sales pitch. To be precise, the most successful reps asked eleven to fourteen questions. Fewer than that, and you’re not digging deep enough. More than that, the call starts to feel like an interrogation. Eavesdropping on happiness: The research showed that people who spent more time having substantive conversations were happier than those who spent more time having small talk, and weather conversations. Always Say Less Than Necessary – "When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.” -- Robert Greene Researcher, Mehl joined a team that made a third big discovery: that people who suffer from anxiety and depression use the first-person singular pronouns I, me, and my more than other people. Go OUTSIDE – Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who hypothesized that our affinity for the outdoors and love of living things have been hardwired into our DNA by evolution and exist as innate parts of our psychological and physiological makeup. Wilson calls this “biophilia,” a name derived from the ancient Greek words for “life” and “love.” It’s the reason people watch birds, melt at the sight of baby bunnies, travel to Yellowstone National Park to marvel at the bison, and rush to the window when a deer wanders into their yard. It’s why walking through Muir Woods among giant thousand-year-old redwood trees takes your breath away. The Talkaholic Scale Test – Prior to writing the book, Dan scored a 50 (the highest possible score)… Meaning he is a talkaholic. AFTER writing the book, he scored a 40, and Dan's wife scored him at 38. Life/Career Advice: Earn attention by doing great work, not by being loud and outlandish. It’s more lasting and will help you build better relationships and a great career.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Mat Duerden is a Professor of Experience Design and Management at Brigham Young University. His teaching focuses on experience design and design thinking. He is the best-selling author of Designing Experiences. His research focuses on experience design in both work and non-work contexts. Mat’s publications have appeared in a variety of journals including Leisure Sciences, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Journal of Adolescent Research, and Journal of Leisure Research. Mat Duerden received a Ph.D. in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences from Texas A&M University and an M.S. in Youth and Family Recreation from Brigham Young University.  Transformational Learning – "The future intrinsic use of the content." Going from theory to putting it into practice. It’s the implementation of the learning that codifies it. What to do at your next leadership retreat? Ask yourself the question, “What do you want them to say when they walk away from the experience?” And design the event based on your answer to that question. One of the must-have qualities needed to be hired as a team leader is humility and curiosity. Curiosity is the fuel for creativity and innovation. Having a broad range of interests is a good sign of curiosity. What do Apple, Costco, and Walt Disney have in common? A high NPS Score... What is NPS? Your Net Promoter Score is the percentage of customers who are promoters (those who scored 9 or 10) minus the percentage who are detractors (those who scored 0 to 6). They have a uniform type of experience Harmonizing Ques... There should be a narrative structure: Build rising action... -- Anticipation, Participation, Reflection, Climax. It's important to solve problems tied to the needs of your customer or your team. The Wonder Switch from Harris III The curiosity is becoming comfortable not knowing The Buc-eee's gas station restroom experience takes the ordinary and turns it into an extraordinary experience. For businesses: Need to develop a brand experience guide for the type of experience you want to provide. Write a brand theme statement that aligns with who we are. HEB Grocery Store: Here Everything's Better Hire the type of people who are curious and want to interact with customers. Curiosity is the fuel for creativity and innovation. A broad range of interests is important.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown are adjunct professors of entrepreneurship at USC’s Marshall School of Business where they teach the popular class they created, “Sales Mindset for Entrepreneurs. ” They are also authors, speakers, longtime sales professionals, and best friends who met while working at enterprise software startup Bitium, which they helped lead to an acquisition by Google. This odd couple first connected over their shared obsession with the importance of selling, and have made it their mission to uncover the unexpected and inspiring mindset of the highest-achieving sellers on the planet. The most impactful sales professionals are learners. They consume information and ask lots of questions that they are deeply curious to know the answers to. They don't go down the list of sales discovery questions. It's from a place of curiosity. "Noone has ever changed the world without moving people." That's sales. An abundance mindset — Collin was meeting with a new sales rep named Matt that worked for you at Bitium. Matt sat down on the couch and loved it. He asked who made it and Collin didn’t know. So he flipped over the cushion, saw who made it, realized they were a potential customer and made a note in his phone to connect with them on LinkedIn and call them. Matt has an abundance mindset. "Great sellers see opportunity where others don't." World-Class sales professionals love the process. When making promotional hires/decisions, "create a culture that's not pulled up. It's pushed up."  When promoting someone to be a manager, look at those who are known to help others. They are pushed to management by the members of the team because they are so helpful. Being a “pathological optimist” — Colin told a story about taking the first flight with his whole family (wife Margot and two young boys) and despite the chaos of crying and trying to take care of young children, Colin loved it and told Margot "it would be a great story one day." She called him a pathological optimist (not meant as a compliment, but he took it as one). Act like a teammate, not a coach: Will Smith’s manager, JL, told him to turn down a $10m offer for a movie called 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag because it didn't help them pursue Will's goal of being a big movie star. (Even though both of them didn't have any money at the time) The Partnership: “Colin, thank you for seeing something in a slightly insecure, overly analytical introvert and deciding to throw in with me.” The class they teach is called “Sales Mindset for Entrepreneurs” Colin & Garrett don’t teach a typical sales class focused how to “build rapport,” “handle objections,” or “ask for the close.” Instead, they help students understand why the most successful people on the planet aren’t successful because of what they do, they’re successful because of what they think. We all sell, every day. Sometimes it's ourselves, sometimes it's ideas, and sometimes it's products. We truly believe that the world would benefit if EVERYONE learned how to sell authentically, whether you're a "salesperson" or not. Great salespeople are not remembered for the statements they make, they're remembered for the questions they ask.  Ask better questions, get better results. As mindset guys, we get a little bit obsessed with one-on-ones when we lead teams, so we geek out when experts like Jeanne shed light on new questions to ask that can help bring out the best in other people. At some point a long time ago, someone studying great salespeople noticed they were mirroring the people they were talking to. So they started training salespeople to mirror the body language of their customers. One MAJOR problem... These great sellers weren't connecting with people because they were mirroring, they were UNCONSCIOUSLY mirroring people 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. If you're sitting there thinking about crossing your leg when your customer crosses theirs, you can't possibly be having a good conversation. Science shows that mirroring is a natural inclination when we’re AUTHENTICALLY engaged in a conversation with someone and are relating to them. So instead of ACTING like you’re in a deep conversation by copying someone’s body language, work on caring enough to get into that deep conversation in the first place.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 David Lieberman, Ph.D., is a renowned psychotherapist and the author of eleven books, including the New York Times bestsellers Get Anyone to Do Anything and Never Be Lied to Again. He has trained personnel in the U.S.  Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” A person looks at the world as a reflection of themselves. If they see the world as corrupt, they feel on some level that they are corrupt. If they see honest working people, that is frequently how they see themselves. “How someone treats you is a reflection of their own emotional health and says everything about them and nothing about you.” Speaking negatively behind someone’s back orients you to look for the negative in others. Wouldn’t we rather spend time with people who seek the greatness in others? “The less emotionally healthy a person is, the more they denigrate the world to accommodate their own insecurities.” Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is a tool. How it is wielded makes all of the difference. Real power is the responsible application of knowledge. Word usage: Let’s take the example of giving a compliment. A woman who believes what she’s saying is more likely to use a personal pronoun. For instance, “I really liked your presentation.” However, a person offering insincere flattery might say, “Nice presentation,” or “Looks like you did a lot of research.” In the second case, she has removed herself from the equation. The Art of reading the bluff - When a person is bluffing, they are managing others’ impressions to convey the “right” effect and serve a personal agenda. Conversely, the authentic person is not interested in how they come across because they are unconcerned with their image. “People who bluff habitually overcompensate, so you can uncover a bluff instantly by noticing how someone tries to appear.” Relationships: Whenever David speaks to couples, he's always on the lookout when the word we is conspicuously absent from the conversation. We are attracted to positivity. It reflects humility. "Humility connects you to the ownership of mistakes." Humility can recognize a weakness in self. The difference between a sociopath and a psychopath: A sociopath has no conscious. They are very dangerous. A psychopath's wiring is off. They were born that way. Life and career advice: Find a passion that contributes to the world. Don't get too caught up in image or ego. "You can be anything. you're good at. as long as they're hiring." -- Chris Rock
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Matt Mochary is an operator and an investor. Matt is known as the coach of Silicon Valley’s best CEOs. He works with leaders at many companies, including Coinbase, Opendoor, Bolt, and Clearbit. After selling his startup in 1999 for millions, he surfed, made movies, and then developed the Mochary Method to help leaders excel. Matt's life mantra: “Make Money, Have Fun, Do Good” Matt has coached the leaders of Angelist, Brex, Coinbase, Sequoia, Grammarly, Attentive Mobile, Flexport, Plaid, and Reddit. I was not expecting so much emotion from him when talking about coaching. It’s evident that Matt finds great joy in what he does. I find that inspiring. The components to a coaching conversation... Hold each other accountable. Declare the highest priority actions. Unpack the problems. Ask them how they are complicit in creating those problems? Help provide solutions & action items for each. Then share feedback. Instead of looking for a specific class, find the best teachers and go to them. That’s where the learning happens. In college and out in the real world. "Matt’s coaching has brought me clarity, focus, organization, less stress, and higher performance (me and the team). I have always been skeptical of coaches but I think he can 10x the output of a lot of people and I hope he does!" -- Sam Altman (CEO, OpenAI) “It's often easy to make a decision, but it can be much harder to get your team to invest emotionally in that decision.” “You create buy-in when you make people feel that they are part of the decision and that their input contributes to the final outcome.” “Most companies spend extraordinary resources of time, money, and equity to bring on a new team member, and then almost entirely drop the ball on quickly getting that team member onboarded and up to speed on how the company works so that they can begin making a full contribution. Don’t make this mistake.” “You create buy-in when you make people feel that they are part of the decision and that their input contributes to the final outcome.” “Making a Sale To make a sale effectively, you need to do the following three things: Build trust Identify the customer’s specific pain Sell results, not features” “Why did you leave that job?” Was the candidate promoted, recruited, or fired? Get very curious about why.” “And when receiving appreciation, there is only one correct response: “Thank you.” Do not feign humility by downplaying the act with statements like “It was nothing, anyone could have done it.” No. The person is trying to make you feel appreciated. Anything other than “thank you” will rob them of their goal.” Meetings – ALWAYS start on time. Don’t ever say, “Well let’s wait for everyone to join zoom.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kim “KC” Campbell (KC = “Killer Chick”) is a retired Air Force Colonel who served in the Air Force for over 24 years. She has flown 1,800 hours in the A-10 Warthog, including more than 100 combat missions protecting troops on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003, Kim was even awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism after successfully recovering her battle-damaged airplane after an intense close air support mission in Baghdad. Kim is the author of Flying in the Face of Fear: A Fighter Pilot’s Lessons on Leading with Courage. Notes: On January 28, 1986,  the challenger rocket exploded (killing all astronauts on board). On that day, Kim learned what it meant to serve something bigger than yourself. She decided she wanted to be an astronaut and serve something bigger than herself. A big influence in Kim's life was a high school teacher named Mrs. Kennett. She helped Kim on the speech and debate team. One of her arguments was about women being allowed to be combat pilots. Mrs. Kennett worked to create "power women." Response to Rejection: Initially Kim got rejected by the Air Force Academy because of a low SAT score. In response, instead of quitting and moving on, she wrote a letter to them every week stating why they should accept her... Which they eventually did. "The tough moments make you better." The initial rejection was a blessing in disguise. How to crush the interview process? Prepare... Walk through potential questions and rehearse your stories. Role play with a mentor. Be you. Be real. Be authentic Create a connection with all in the room. Look them in the eye. Be genuine. Like father, Like daughter — just before Kim's final year at the academy, she earned the position of Cadet Wing Commander. This is a position her dad held 25 years earlier. They were the first father-daughter wing commander duo in academy history. A woman in a man’s world: When Kim started pilot training in 1999, there were 33 female fighter pilots in the Air Force. About 1% of fighter pilots. Kim's choice of airplane was the A10 WartHog. The airplane was designed first with the 30 mm Gatling gun on it in mind: capable of shooting 3,900 rounds per minute. The leader sets the culture. They decide what to create and what to allow. Kim was on a combat support mission in Baghdad when her airplane was hit. She had to make a split-second decision about whether to exit the aircraft behind enemy lines or try to fly it back to a safer area... Commanders intent - Your why is the way forward. You allow your team to take action and make decisions. "Explain the why. Explain the context. Let the lower level leaders make decisions and run with it." Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" speech resonates with Kim. "We feel fear and freeze. We can't let fear paralyze us. We need to take action in the face of fear. Remain calm. Acknowledge the fear and move forward."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jason Feifer is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine. He is also the author of a great new book called, Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career. Notes: Define yourself… What is your one sentence? Jason’s is “I tell stories in my own voice.” That’s what he does as the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine. That’s what he does when he writes books. Records podcasts… Everything. What is your one sentence? What do you do? How to lead through change – Remember... You’ve had time to think about it prior to the meeting, they haven’t. Show some grace. Communicate why the change is happening and how it impacts them. And… “People hate new things, but they love better versions of old things.” People hate loss. Remind them of what’s staying the same, but getting better. In 1348, The Bubonic Plague happened... What occurred as a result? 60% of Europeans died. It led to an opportunity for employment. Prior to that, there were the rich and the poor. The rich had the poor work for them, but did not pay them money. "If a city isn't growing, it's dying. The same is true for people." In your career, "Don't ask for the opportunity... BE the opportunity." The Four Distinct Phases: Panic Adaptation New Normal Wouldn't Go Back The first thing a person should do when navigating change is to identify the thing about themself that is not going to change. This is tough because we naturally identify with the output of our work. If somebody at a party asks you what you do, you’re either going to tell them your job title, your role, the way in which you do your work, or the thing that you create. And that’s natural—it’s a good way to understand ourselves. "We are programmed for loss aversion." "Build a bridge of familiarity from them to you." "That’s something Ryan Reynolds told me. Ryan is an actor who also started an extremely successful advertising agency called Maximum Effort. He also owns Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile. Ryan told me that the thing that distinguishes people is not whether they’re good at something at the beginning (because nobody will be good at something at the beginning), but rather whether someone can tolerate the natural state of being bad at the beginning. When trying something new, there cannot be an expectation of mastery from the start. "Can you tolerate being bad long enough to be good?" In front of you are two sets of opportunities. Opportunity Set A is everything that is asked of you, for instance showing up at your job, things your boss needs done, etc. It is necessary to do a good job at Opportunity Set A. Opportunity set B is everything that is available for you to do that nobody is asking you to do. This could also be at your job, but it could also be something outside of work like taking a class to learn a new skill. With every single thing you do, ask What is it for? This forces you to make sure that the things that you do have a valuable outcome. It’s okay if that outcome looks strange, or if that outcome will come after some time working towards it. We want to know which things we should devote our time and energy to, and we want to understand how to maximize opportunities. Answering What is it for? clarifies that. So, What is it for? Content now is for relationships. People will trust you and like you because of your content. You build a relationship with people when you put something out into the world. Life/Career advice: Try, quit, and learn Life is a series of experiments
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of Learning Leaders from all over the world to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Mark Fogel is a former US Air Force fighter pilot and current squadron commander in the Ohio Air National Guard. He’s A graduate of the US Air Force Academy and the Harvard Kennedy School, he is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Dayton, and his TEDx Talk called The Culture of a Fighter Squadron is one of the best I’ve seen. Notes: American Fighter Sqaudrons are the most effective teams on the planet. Cockiness is unacceptable. Humility is a critical quality and skill to be part of the team. The subculture is you check your rank at the door. When you lead a mission, you’re in charge of the debrief. I love building a culture where feedback is regularly given both ways. And the trust created amongst the team to be able to do this with psychological safety. The real training and learning take place in the debrief…Spending hours pouring over video, computer graphic reenactments, radio calls, everything… To diagnose exactly what went right and what didn’t and why. The debriefs can last multiple days to describe 10 minutes of action. The person who leads the debrief is the flight leader. That person is not necessarily the most experienced member of the team. Fighter squadrons share the leadership and followership duties constantly. You might have a situation where it’s a 24-year-old lieutenant telling a 2-star General in front of the entire room, “You screwed up and this is why we failed the mission because of it.” This creates a mixture of perfectionism and humility. Building a culture takes time. Trust is built from character and competence. How do you reward and incentivize behavior? You're modeling what you want others to do.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders from all over the world to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dan Martell is an entrepreneur, investor and best-selling author of the book Buy Back Your Time. He founded, scaled, and exited three technology companies within a ten-year period.  In 2012 he was named Canada’s top angel investor, having invested in more than 50 start-ups, such as Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce. In 2016, Martell founded the SaaS Academy and grew it to become one of the largest coaching companies in the world. He’s also an Ironman athlete, philanthropist, husband, and father of two boys. The 3 keys to a world-class leadership retreat: Do something physically hard together (hike up a mountain, Wim Hof ice bath) Do the strengths and weaknesses exercise. Be honest, vulnerable, and open. It builds trust. Be very intentional about the seating chart (in meetings, at meals, and rooming assignments) Send cold emails: Dan sent hundreds of cold emails when he moved to San Francisco Paul Graham responded and said, "Do marketing. Every startup needs help with that." It changed how Dan introduced himself to founders moving forward. Read Tim Sanders' book, Love Is The Killer App Acquire knowledge for your customer Your network is your net worth. Build relationships. Love cat -- Nice guys finish first. Be a kind person. When Dan went to jail, he met a guard named Brian. Brian pulled Dan aside and said, "What are you doing? You don't belong here." As a leader, use your power for good. Help people believe they can do more. Dan has hired a family coach and had her live with his family to help them have deeper relationships. "I want to have an epic marriage." Intentional Family Actions Dan takes: A quarterly retreat with his wife, Renee Ask: "How have I shown up as a husband for you?" Wednesday family lunch meetings Write your family core values together Have family board meetings Dan is intentional about telling his boys what he sees in them Buy Back Your Time Dan shares the secret to engineering your perfect week – and then, your perfect year – to ensure you’re fully focused on what matters most. And... When to employ time hacks, such as the “Definition of Done” and the “$50 Magic Pill,” to help your team work more efficiently, prevent bottlenecks, and guard your energy. Dan teaches you how to calculate your Buyback Rate so you can start buying back time immediately. And... Why playbooks need to be the foundation of your business, and how to create them. Life/Career advice: Whatever you want out of life, help others get that. The world rewards those who help others.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join tens of thousands of other Learning Leaders to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...  Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/Instagram: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brian Kight is the founder of Daily Discipline. He writes essays on how to pursue your most meaningful objectives with intention, purpose, and skill. His work is read by millions of people all over the world. Brian (known as BK) personally works with leaders in business and in sports on how to align teams and accelerate results. Notes: What mistakes do leaders make when trying to change the culture? They are too fuzzy with their language. It's plain. They separate culture from execution. In reality, execution is the strongest indicator of culture. "The testing of my beliefs is the discipline of my actions." Learning Happens through Depth: People now place too much emphasis on learning fast and not enough on learning deeply. The consequence is a false equivalence of consumption with learning and a false confidence that what gets consumed is understood. Learning occurs through immersion, not cheat codes. No one cares how many books you've read or podcasts you've heard.  These are not marks of success, achievement, or wisdom. Success is applying the lessons of one book in a manner so disciplined that it transforms your life or at least impacts it in a meaningful fashion. To learn, transform, or build something of lasting capability, merit, and value, immerse yourself in the learning experience. If you want a change, fully engage. Shed volume for depth. Swap variety for rigor. Don't minimize your effort through hacks or cheapen your experience with cheat codes. Are you trying to feel good for a while or improve yourself forever? Leaders create the culture that drives the behavior that produces results… E + R = O Event + (Your) Response = Outcome The confidence - Doubt spectrum The 5 things confidence comes from: I know what to do I know how to do it Do I feel capable of doing it? I expect good results I'll be ok if the results are not what I expect Leaders instill confidence in people Reps are a tool for belief Goal Setting: "I'm not into goal setting, I'm a system setter." "My commitment is to execute the system." "Outcomes are not my goals." Light can be pushed through a prism or a magnifying glass. A prism creates a rainbow. Nice, looks good. A magnifying glass creates focus and fire. Ask, "Am I a prism or a magnifying glass?" Businesses are not rational environments, they are emotional environments. They don’t run by rational rules, they run by emotional ones. Everything is an exchange. You give attention, time, and energy (ATE) to things with the expectation of a return on that investment. How do we align our inner and outer Pursuits? – Getting secure and aligned on the inside leads to excellence on the outside. The best way to position yourself for external excellence is to prioritize internal fulfillment. Life & Career advice: Be a creator of the energy you need. Your energy comes from your purpose. "Don't follow your passion, just always bring it with you." "Your response needs to always be better than your circumstances."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ramit Sethi is the New York Times best-selling author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Millions of people read his work every month which focuses on personal finances, money in relationships, and he shares how you can define your rich life. His team has created online programs on making more money, finding your Dream Job, starting an online business, and mastering your inner psychology. Notes: If you have a partner, “create your journey together.” Money is not something to be delegated to one or the other. Both should be involved. Ramit's book-buying rule:  If you’ve even considered buying a book for one second, then BUY THE BOOK. If you learn just one new thing, it is worth it. The return on your investment is through the roof. When in doubt, buy the book. And Read the book. Ramit describes every detail of the conversation he had with his wife about signing a pre-nuptial agreement before they got married. "You should focus on $30,000 questions, not $3 questions." Top 5 Lessons from one year of interviewing couples about money Ramit shares how to get started with your money: automation, investing, and the other Big Wins of money. How to manage your money Fixed costs: 50%-60% Savings: 5%-10% Investments: 5%-10% Guilt-free spending: 20%-30% How to invest your money Target date fund - Vanguard Index funds Ramit advises that you do not pay a financial advisor based on AUM (Assets Under Management). Pay an hourly rate or a fixed cost. This will save you hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars over the course of 30-50 years. Decide what you want to spend your money on... What is your rich life? Create your money rules:  For example, Ramit has unlimited spending on his health. And he has money set aside for philanthropic endeavors
Text Hawk to 66866 to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... They are called "Mindful Monday." A perfect opportunity for you to be more thoughtful as you start your week. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Marc Schulz is the Associate Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and an award-winning professor at Bryn Mawr College, where he directs the Data Science Program and is the Sue Kardas Ph.D. 1971 Chair in Psychology. He completed his BA at Amherst College and his Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.  Notes: "Relationships are at the core of human flourishing." Friendships - Map out your social universe. Are the connections uplifting or depleting? Ask, “what do I value about the person?” Be intentional about your relationships and how you invest in them. The quality of the relationship you have with your partner will determine how long you will live. As we get older, we tend to get happier. We accumulate emotional wisdom. We should focus more on relationships that give us emotional sustenance. This work is built on a bedrock of scientific research. At its heart, the Harvard Study of Adult Development. An extraordinary scientific endeavor that began in 1938, is still going Bob is the 4th director of the study, and Marc is its associate director. “Generativity” – In psychology, expanding our concerns and efforts beyond our own lives is called generativity and it’s a key to unlocking the vibrancy and excitement of midlife. When asked at the end of their lives, “What do you wish you’d done less of? And more of?” The study participants often referenced their middle years and regretted having spent so much time worrying and so little time acting in a way that made them feel alive. The story of John Marsden and Leo DeMarco… Leo lived a rich life because of the relationships he fostered with his wife, daughters, and close friends. John put all of his effort into becoming a lawyer, becoming well-known, and didn’t focus on his relationships. They ended up on opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to happiness. Research has shown that people who have a close colleague at work are more engaged and productive than those who don’t. Close to half of your waking moments are spent thinking about something other than what you are doing. Loneliness increases your risk of death as much as smoking or obesity. Evolutionary theories: Survival depends on us coming together as groups. We are social creatures. How to handle remote/hybrid working environments? There is a cost to not being together. There is a cost to working alone. Friendships need repeated exposure. Doing tasks together builds friendships. You can't do those well remotely. Strangers on a Train: What do you want to do while on a train? Listen to music or talk with the stranger sitting next to you? Most will say that they would rather put their headphones on, listen to music, or read a book. However, the research suggests that you'll be happier if you spoke with a stranger on the train. Life/Career advice: Think about the nitty gritty of a job. Talk to people doing the job. Spend extended time with them while they are doing the job. See what it's like.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right!  Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of Dream Hoarders (2017), and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. His latest book has made waves worldwide … It’s called OF BOYS AND MEN: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It. Notes: How to be a great mom and/or dad? Model the right behavior. Children believe their eyes more than their ears. It’s our responsibility to be that positive role model for children. "The secret to life is to take your work seriously, but not yourself." Create a conversation with your team where all ideas are valued equally. "Communication just moves stuff around. Conversations make something new happen. "Boys are behind girls in education all over. College is now 60-40 women."  "In the education system and in terms of many aspects of mental health, boys are really struggling. That isn't to say that girls aren't also struggling but in different ways. In terms of the education system, girls and young women have blown right past boys and men. There's actually a bigger gender gap in education today than there was 50 years ago." "Boys develop later than girls. They should go to school one year later than girls." "The pre-frontal cortex is the CEO of the brain. This develops later in boys than in girls. It’s on us to recognize the facts and act accordingly. In this case, Richard is an advocate for starting boys in school one year later than girls." Richard's goal: "To create men who are acceptable at a dance and available in a shipwreck." What are the differences between men and women? "Women tend to have a higher level of agreeableness." "We now live in a world where 40% of women earn more than the typical man, where 40% of breadwinners in the U.S. are women. This is a gigantic social change that is entirely positive, looked at through one lens, and we should certainly celebrate it. But... It does raise this question, which is, well, what about men? What does it mean to be a guy in a world where the role of provider can no longer be presumed? What it means is that we urgently, desperately need to update our models of fatherhood, especially, and of masculinity, to fit with this new world." “The problem with men is typically framed as a problem of men. It is men who must be fixed, one man or boy at a time. This individualist approach is wrong.” Life/Career advice: It takes time to understand how your talents will be best used. Be patient. It's not a race. Be the type of person that people want to work with… It sounds obvious, but it’s not. Be pleasant, be on time, be a great teammate, be thankful, and do great work.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of Learning Leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jesse Cole is the founder of Fans First Entertainment and the owner of the Savannah Bananas. He’s fanatic about fandom and launched the Savannah Bananas with one mission: to spark a fan-focused movement. The Bananas have sold out every game since their first season and have a waitlist for tickets in the thousands. They have entertained millions of fans in Savannah and at ballparks all over their country on their Banana Ball Tour. Notes: “So many business owners are focused on short-term profits. We are focused on long-term fans.” “If you’re not getting criticized, then you’re playing it too safe.” - When is the last time you were criticized for pushing it too far? Ideas are about quantity. Jesse writes down ten new ideas in his "idea journal" every morning. Most of them aren't that good. You have to get through the quantity to get to the quality. It’s a numbers game. Send handwritten thank you notes to people. Tell them about the impact they've made on you. Jesse has done this for me multiple times and it always makes me feel good. Customers are transactional... Create fans for life. "Do for one what you wish you could do for many." Create special moments for people. One at a time. Do an energy audit: What activities give you energy? How can you do more of those? We learn who we are in practice, not in theory. We learn best through actual trial. Move from idea to execution quickly. If it doesn't work, move on. "I'm not afraid to be embarrassed. My biggest fear is being irrelevant." Jesse focuses a ton of effort on understanding his teammates (both players and everyone else who works for him) The love language assessment... He learned that the majority of his employees have "words of affirmation" as their top love language. "Recognition drives behavior." The job title for Jesse's executive assistant is "Executive Rockstar." What Jesse learned from Walt Disney and PT Barnum: Master storytellers They create attention "Without promotion, something terrible happens... Nothing." Watch "The Imagineering Story" on Disney Plus "They built Disney Land in less than a year!" "Money doesn't excite me. Ideas excite me." Advice: "Give without asking for anything in return. Give, give, give." 9 Rules To Banana Ball: Every Inning Counts - Create walk-off moments 2 Hour Time Limit 1 on 1 Showdown (if there is a tie). No extra innings. Walks are now springs (if you walk, it's a sprint) No Bunting (bunting sucks) No Mound Visits (they are boring The batter can steal first base (if a pitcher throws a passed ball) If a fan catches a foul ball, it's an out No stepping out of the box
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 My Guest: Buzz Williams is the head Men's Basketball Coach at Texas A&M University. He's coached his teams to eight NCAA Tournament appearances in 13 years as a head coach. In 2020, Buzz was named the SEC "Coach of the Year." His teams have won 20 or more games in five of the last seven seasons. Buzz's teams have four Sweet Sixteen appearances. Buzz is known as a coach who helps his players on and off the court. He teaches regular life development sessions to his players called "Get Better 101." Notes: Buzz has nine daily disciplines. “Your decisions reveal your priority.” Train body at 5:30, get steps at 7:30, write 2 thank you notes per day, write children a note on their favorite color note card every day, read a book a week, weekly date night with his wife, and on non-gamedays is 7 meaningful texts.  “You can be whatever you earn the right to be.” Team Bus 1 - The core group of people that make up the team. Those that sit on the bench and play in the games. In order to climb the ladder, you must go one step at a time. You can’t skip steps. There are no hacks, no shortcuts. Being able to delay gratification is a superpower and creates the opportunity to make a big impact. It’s the ability to show up each day and take one step at a time. “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”  “History rarely remembers the critics. It remembers the contributors. So contribute!” “Energized leaders can evoke energy from within others. But when the leader lets up a little, followers tend to let up a lot.” “The reward for passing the test is earning the next test.” “Being a boss is a job. Being a leader is something you earn.” “Goliath is not there to kill you, he is there to introduce you.” “Pressure is a privilege.” (Billie Jean King book title) "Basketball is not the source, it is the vehicle.” “While we are leading, our rate of learning must be at least as fast as the rate of change.” “Your patience when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have everything are two things that will always define you.” "You grow up thinking winning is the scoreboard at the end.  But you learn there is so much that goes into the business of winning. Winning is the details-the discipline. The business of winning happens every second, and this business doesn’t turn the lights off." “There's a ceiling to talent. There's no ceiling to someone's hunger & to someone's drive to be the best. How hard a team works, how hard they play, how together they are- there's no ceiling to that.” Many times in life what's invisible is what's important. “True love does not have an agenda.” Team Rules: Always tell the truth, no matter what Always be on time... 6 = early Be a great teammate... It compounds Never do anything to embarrass you/your family/your team/your school If anything is potentially a problem, please call Buzz What Buzz looks for when recruiting a player: Character IQ & EQ Work ethic - Do they want to work? Consumed with process Insatiable drive to get better A great teammate Life/Career advice: Never be without pen and paper. Take notes. Read more than you think you need to. Write down everything, about anything, all the time. Build trustful relationships. Seek to give to others and add value to their lives. Never turn down an opportunity to learn or work.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week of right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Diego Perez is a New York Times bestselling author who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name Yung Pueblo. Online he has an audience of over 2.7 million people. His writing focuses on the power of self-healing, creating healthy relationships, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. His two books, Inward and Clarity & Connection were both instant bestsellers. Diego's third book, Lighter, debuted as a #1 New York Times best seller. Notes: Using a pseudonym - Yung Pueblo means “Young People.” The pseudonym reflects a social commentary that points to humanity’s coming growth and maturation. The name signals a time when we will collectively transition from being ruled by shortsightedness and self-centeredness to having an elevated appreciation of our interconnectedness, which normalizes treating each other with a new and considerate gentleness. Immigrants – Diego to the United States when he was 4 from Ecuador. His parents' bravery, how much they had to sacrifice, and how hard they worked to give him, his brother, and his little sister a better life in the United States. His mom cleaned houses and his dad worked at a supermarket. “For the first decade and a half, we felt the intense pressure of poverty.” "I am less interested in debating and more interested in considering a topic collectively. Let’s peacefully share what we know with each other. When we arrive at diverging points of view, let’s focus on questions. How did you arrive to this point? Help me understand what you mean." "Saying less is incredibly helpful. Every thought is not valuable. Every feeling does not need to be voiced. What is often best is slowing down to spend time developing a clearer and more informed perspective. Ego rushes and reacts, but peace moves intentionally and gently." "You know you have matured deeply when you encounter someone’s rough emotions and instead of letting their volatility consume you, you mentally affirm within yourself “I am not going to join them in their turbulence.” "Find a partner who increases your power instead of diminishing it. Complimenting each other’s qualities in a way where you make each other shine brighter is an immense gift. You not only lend your strengths to each other, you also keep the spark alive that inspires evolution." Great friends appreciate you and are not afraid of your growth. It’s easy to be around them. You root hard for each other to do well and show support when it’s not. Create a reflection process for yourself. Write down what you’re grateful for… And reflect on the fact that everything is always changing. Reserve judgment. Don’t be so quick to make up your mind about something. Instead of judging something or someone, approach them with curiosity and a sense of wonder.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Join 10's of thousands of other learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jeff Shesol is a multi-hyphenate leader. He’s a Rhodes Scholar, a historian, a presidential speech writer, and a 3-time best-selling author. He also had a comic strip called thatch that was nationally syndicated from 1994–1998 when it appeared daily in more than 150 newspapers. Notes: If you’re going to set moonshot goals for your team, you must relentlessly communicate them to all involved. The what, why, how, and when… Relentlessly communicate with vivid clarity. Focus, Purpose, Urgency… This was what was lacking before President Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson helped take fragmented groups and bring them all together. Focus, Purpose, and Urgency. How can you do this for your organization? John Glenn – A leader of action. He didn’t let fate determine the outcome of his life. He went after what he wanted. He had a bias for action. In a world of drivers and passengers, John Glenn was a driver and that’s what led to him leaving his mark in the world. John Glenn – “Friendship 7—designed to fly itself—had begun drifting to the right, like a car with its front wheels out of alignment. Glenn took the control stick—not without satisfaction. He was a pilot, by training and temperament, and pilots take control.” Press conference to introduce astronauts… John Glenn said, “I was brought up believing that you are placed on earth… with sort of a fifty-fifty proposition. We are placed here with certain talents and capabilities. It is up to each one of us to use those talents and capabilities as best as we can. A higher power will certainly see that I am taken care of if I do my part of the bargain.” The space program may be the profession that requires the highest risk tolerance aside from the military. It is no surprise the original 7 astronauts were all test pilots. The Flight Director of the Apollo missions, Chris Kraft, is quoted as saying: “if we thought about odds, we wouldn’t do it (launch man into space)." Bob Gilruth, head of NASA, also said: “we don’t have enough chimpanzees” responding to criticism that not enough test launches were done. JFK, despite his outward speeches, was initially reluctant to go to the moon and was skeptical if it was a waste of time and money. Publishing your work can change your life... In 1997, President Bill Clinton read Mutual Contempt and invited Shesol to become one of his speechwriters. During his three years at the White House, Shesol became the deputy chief speechwriter and a member of the senior staff. Sustaining Excellence: Need to evolve, and be open to change. Musicians take risks with new albums. Be willing to take those risks as a leader. Continue to challenge yourself. Keynote speeches: Do not ever let them get stale... But have one fundamental core message. Dr. Martin Luther King had a core theme of every speech. Life and Career advice: "In your 20's, figure out where you can make your great contribution." Trial and error is good. What energizes you the most?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12   The Hard Makes It Good - A league of their own — Tom Hanks — when Geena Davis (Dottie Henson quit saying it just got too hard). “ “Of course it’s hard. If it wasn’t everybody would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” Writing - A writing life may seem to lie somewhere on the other side of the moon from a life in athletics, but the two are scary similar in the things that they require. They’re both ridiculously hard, even if they sometimes look easy. And the reward for either isn’t what you get at the end, it’s what you go through to get there. The process in both is the prize. Great teachers — "Great teachers crack open a door and cue the siren’s song that lures you in. Once inside, they give you hard. And then they let you decide what to do about it. I live indebted to them for the view.” The art of asking — Dr. Darryl Tippens — a Shakspere class... “I admired all he knew, but I admired what he did with it even more.” “His questioning and blatant unwillingness to give us the answers made us work for our conclusions. The process and the product stayed with us. We learned that what we strain for, sticks.” The job — “if a leader’s primary job is to be a dealer of hope, Whitney Hand was a leader of rare air.” It's not about the trophy - After winning the state championship, on the bus ride home with the team, Sherri noticed that she had left the trophy behind accidentally. And she said,“it so had never been about what you get in the end.” Confidence is self-governed. Nobody can give it to you and nobody can take it away. I’ve found that regularly doing hard things helps me earn more confidence. The makeup of a great point guard: An outward perspective. They care more about setting their teammates up than themselves. A capacity for understanding what each person needs. Athletic eyes - They have a broad spectrum. They see things before they happen. Sturdy, innate confidence. Sherri's Grandma: She was very observant. She spoke with purpose. No wasted words. "She taught me how to be observant and listen." "Coaches are great tellers. They aren't always great listeners. Questions are so much better than statements." Great mentors don't give you the answer. They teach you how to think. They teach you how to figure it out on your own. What makes up a great player (beyond the skill to score a basketball)? The intangibles: They build relationships They're observant They pay attention They are intentional about how they "do life" What do you value most? "Curiosity." "You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time." Advice: What makes your heart sing? Work to figure that out. What is that thing in you?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 VItaliy Katsenelson was born in Murmansk, USSR, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1991. After joining Denver-based value investment firm IMA in 1997, Vitaliy became Chief Investment Officer in 2007, and CEO in 2012. Vitaliy has written two books on investing and is an award-winning writer. Known for his uncommon common sense, Forbes Magazine called him “The New Benjamin Graham.” “I guess I was born in Russia but made for America." The two ways to look at life. Like an airport… Where you rush to get through it. Or an art museum. Where you take time to enjoy your surroundings. I think we should treat more days like they’re an art museum. “When you love what you do, your work stops being work and becomes a craft. And no matter what it is, you do it with pride, love, and care.” "In our relationships, we should set a goal, not for someone to love us, but to behave according to our values (to be worth loving) and to be a good, caring partner. We cannot control whether people will love us, but we can control our actions and our behavior." "I'm perpetually in beta. This in beta attitude is liberating, as it gives you the chance to constantly improve yourself; to learn and grow. This doesn't mean you need to be buried in self-help books. You just need to have this in beta attitude." "The best way to guard ourselves against our ego is by thinking of ourselves as evergreen students." Albert Einstein said, "As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." We should welcome the circumference of darkness wholeheartedly. How Zeno, the founder of Stoicism approached his students: "He did not claim to be a physician-- he saw himself as a patient describing the progress of his treatment to fellow patients in the hospital beds beside him." When Vitaliy's mother died (he was young), it made him appreciate his dad much more. I think we’d all be better off if we made the most of the time we have with the people we love and never take them for granted. What Vitaliy learned from Warren Buffett? He was not a present dad. It's important to be in your kids lives. It's a gift to get to drive your kids to school. Sit side by side with your children and talk (car rides, sit at the bar at restaurants, go on walks) Vitaliy plays chess and he loses a lot... "Losing is part of tuition." Seneca said, "Time discovers truth." Attention is the currency of time. "Writing is the most important thing that happened to me." Spend two hours a day organizing your thoughts. Writing helps you do that... "Create a connection between the unconscious and conscious mind."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Join 10''s of thousands of other Learning Leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on organizational storytelling. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books including Lead with a Story (which is now in its 11th printing, and published in 7 languages around the world), Sell with a Story, and The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell. Notes: “Decide what values you want your organization to have. Then find and capture stories that illustrate them. Remember, if you don’t have strong company value stories, you probably don’t have strong company values.” Fill your story with surprises to pique your audience's interest and memory. Often the best way to spread a company’s values and culture are through stories. Use stories to forge strong relationships between diverse team members. Stories can be used to inspire employees, even when times are tough. – You could spout nonsensical motivational phrases about “giving it 110 percent” – or you could tell an inspiring story. A successful story is comprised of only three ingredients — you need context, action, and the result (CAR). As NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt observes, “The human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.” Your job is to help the other person make a decision. To do that, they need to rely on both logic AND emotion. “Your first objective in a sales call should be to get buyers to tell you their stories, not the other way around." The James Watt story – Keep 1 or 2 small vital pieces of the story and save them for the end. The aha moment. The surprise makes it more memorable for your audience. Asking better questions… Instead of saying, “What keeps you up at night?” Ask… “Tell me about a moment…” You can also use this when walking home from the bus stop with your children. Instead of saying, “How was school today?” Ask, “Tell me about your day at school…” "We generally don’t tell our personal stories at work because we work with strangers. They remain strangers because we don’t tell our personal stories. You have to break the cycle.” “Sometimes getting your employees to be more creative isn’t the problem. The problem is getting their less-than-imaginative boss to give them the space to invent. Innovation isn’t a linear process. Inventors need the freedom to play with ideas to see what fruit they will bear. A well-meaning boss might think he’s doing his job by keeping his team focused on the most productive areas to explore. But when you insist on knowing what the fruit will be before allowing the play, many of the most revolutionary discoveries might stay undiscovered.” “Many of life’s failures are people who didn’t realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” The most effective stories play on people’s emotions. – We can take an example from Texas, which in the 1980s was ridden with so-called “litterbugs.” The government tried its best to combat littering by appealing to emotions, and publishing advertisements that showcased a person weeping at the sight of environmental destruction due to litter. While touching, these ads had no effect. The worst litterers were people with little concern for the environment. So, the government changed directions, What did they do? (Don’t mess with Texas) Literally. The slogan was developed by the Texas Department of Transportation for an anti-littering campaign. “It's not just a prideful remark, trying to pick a fight,” says Jeff Austin III, commissioner of the Texas Transportation Commission. “It's don't litter in Texas, don't mess up Texas." There are three types of learners: 40 percent of us are visual learners, 40 percent are auditory learners and the remaining 20 percent are kinetic learners. Stories attract all three – a story’s imagery influences visual learners, the vocabulary appeals to auditory learners, and the emotions and feelings connect with kinetic learners.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: AJ Hawk is the all-time leading tackler in Green Bay Packers history. He won a National Champion at Ohio State University and was voted captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team (2010-20110 He was inducted into the Ohio State University Hall of Fame in 2019. Currently, he is a co-host on The Pat McAfee Show which airs weekdays on YouTube. (AJ is my younger brother) Keith Hawk spent 30+ years as a sales leader. At one point, more than 1,000 people were in his charge. Keith now regularly speaks around the world on such topics as Leadership, Principled Negotiation, Consultative Selling, and Building Thriving Corporate Cultures. He is the co-author of two popular business books, Get-Real Selling, and Terrific – Five Star Customer Service. (Keith AKA "Pistol" is my dad) Pat McAfee is a future billionaire and the founder/CEO of Pat McAfee Industries. He's the host of "The Pat McAfee Show" which airs weekdays on YouTube from 12:00-3:00. Pat recently agreed to a deal with FanDuel which has them spending more than $140 million to be the title sponsor of his YouTube progrum. Prior to launching his media career, Pat was named the "punter of the decade" from his time booming balls for the Indianapolis Colts. Pat is also a WWE color commentator, professional wrestler (he once wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin), and analyst on ESPN's College GameDay. In WWE, fans and critics often deem Pat as one of the greatest color commentators of all time for his humorous comments, his energy, and his charisma. “When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” - Steve Jobs quote that Pat has hanging up in his studio. "I view life as a movie." - Pat McAfee Keys to a great marriage: Pistol - "On our wedding bands, we had "C, C, C" engraved. They stand for: Communication Consideration Cuddling Questions from fans of The Learning Leader Show: Haley Erickson – CPA: What an achievement! I glean so much from your work and am thankful you share this material with the world. My question: Who is one of the most impactful people in your life and how have they impacted you? Rob Stevens, Leadership Consultant: This is very personal to me. I’m curious what your dad would say about adding value as more and more people get beyond 60. I see a lot of older people, with a lot of wisdom and experience, either retiring or getting pushed to the side. I’d be interested if he has any ideas on how those of us that are over 60 can continue to make significant contributions. It’s kind of the question that you like to ask about advice for kids just out of college wanting to make a difference only the other end of the spectrum. David Salvador - VP at Gogo Aviation: Congratulations Ryan! "What is the most impactful investment you can make in yourself for your career?” The draft: It's your birthday dinner. None of your family or close friends can make it. You can invite any person in the world and they will be there. Who are your 5? Pistol: Steve Martin, Pete Rose, Paul McCartney, Al Michaels, James Taylor Ryan: The Rock, Dave Chappelle, Dave Matthews, Peyton Manning, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Taylor Swift AJ: Tom Cruise, Amelia Earhart, Sean Casey, Tiger Woods, Tim Dillon
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email from me... Each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Cody Keenan has written with President Barack Obama since 2007, working his way up to chief speechwriter. He’s been named the “Springsteen” of the Obama White House, even though he can’t play an instrument, and Obama calls him “Hemingway." His first book, Grace, became an instant New York Times Bestseller.  Notes: The use of productive paranoia. Cody said, “I was so afraid to fail that I would do anything to succeed.” – We can use fear as fuel… Storytelling – As a speaker, it is our job to help the people in the audience see themselves in the place of the hero in the story. When you’re preparing for your next team meeting or town hall address, think about that and how you tell the stories that you do. Singing at the Eulogy in Charleston - If you want an A+ performance, you have to choose to go for it. You can get a B by playing it safe, but you won’t perform with excellence unless you have the courage to go for it. In less than 10 years, Cody went from mailroom intern in Congress to chief speechwriter in the White House. My goal is to "write a speech that sings."  ‘In less than 10 years, I went from mailroom intern in Congress to chief speechwriter in the White House,’ President Obama said he relied “on Cody not just to share my vision, but to help tell America’s story.” “He’s a brilliant writer. He’s relentless.” The first speech Cody wrote was for Senator Ted Kennedy. Right after President Obama’s 2004 Democratic convention speech that put him on the map. You write: “To see someone else speak words I’d written sent electricity right up my spine and out my hair.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ted Rath the VP of Player Performance for the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, Ted spent three seasons (2017-19) with the Los Angeles Rams as the head strength and conditioning coach. In 2017, Ted was named the Strength Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, an award voted on by the league's strength and conditioning coaches. Los Angeles finished as the healthiest team in the NFL based on adjusted games lost due to injury. *At the time of this recording, the Philadelphia Eagles are currently the only undefeated team in the NFL. Notes: Do your habits today align with your goals of tomorrow? What is your daily process? If you set big goals, what actions are you taking to get closer to achieving them each day? The greatest players LOVED being coached. They demand it and are seeking it. Do you? Are you seeking out a coach? Are you asking for it? What processes do you have in place to get feedback, learn, and get better? How to Lead Others: Most of us want 3 things To feel APPRECIATED in their environment. To feel PROTECTED by those in charge of them. To feel that they are a part of something BIGGER than themselves. Do this through connecting. To connect, you must have trust. To build trust, you must be vulnerable. Once you allow yourself to be vulnerable, you can earn trust. Be an active listener. Listen to connect instead of listening to reply. The greatness of quarterback, Jalen Hurts: Sets high standards for himself: The standard is the standard Loves being coached Constantly works on his craft Stoic: He's calm, consistent, and poised. Ted was part of the decision-making team when deciding the next head coach for The Eagles: Nick Sirianni's five core values: connecting, competition, accountability, intelligence, and fundamentals – connecting is always first. Getting Fired: "It was my 7th year with the team. We had gone to the playoffs the prior year 2014 in Jim Caldwell’s first year. In 2015 we started out rough at 1-7 through the first half of the season. We played in London that year, and before leaving for the airport we fired our OC, OL, and asst OL coach. Through the staff shuffle, I ended up helping coach Special Teams during the second half of the season. Our Equipment Manager told me during practice on the first day in London as they were setting up my headset. We ended up finishing strong and going 7-1 in the second half of the season (our only loss was the Thursday night hail mary that Aaron Rodgers completed to Richard Rodgers). After we came back home from London we fired our team President and GM. At the end of the year, the new GM told me he had to let me go to make it look like they were making significant changes in the media." "The climb is about one step at a time." The obstacle is the way: Discipline and perception let you clearly see the advantage and the proper course of action in every situation, without the pestilence of panic or fear. Control your emotions and keep an even keel. How you react to every situation is YOUR CHOICE. Find the opportunity in the obstacle. Self-Discipline must be combined with logic while working through obstacles. Be honest with your self-assessment. Failure is part of all successful team and individual journeys: You don't need to fear it, you just have to refuse to let it beat you We either WIN or LEARN Fail Forward Trials in life will not define you... How you respond to them will. Persistence helps you get what you want, but CONSISTENCY helps you keep what you have earned. Consistency creates trust.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Julian Treasure is a sound and communication expert. His TED Talk, “How to speak so that people want to listen” is in the top 10 TED talks of all time and collectively, his 5 TED talks have been listened to more than 100 million times! He is also the best-selling author of How to be Heard and Sound Business. Notes: "I was taught this exercise many years ago by a wise old friend named Charlie. I was bemoaning someone being in my way and Charlie put his hand on my arm. “You know, resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die,” he said. When we’re unconsciously in the habit of judging and blaming others, it can have a huge impact on our well-being." You can’t judge and love at the same time. Being judgemental is the opposite of being curious. "Being judgemental comes from ego and from darkness in the soul." Julian's values: Write them down. Be clear. They help you make decisions... Faith - A decision that all will be well Love - Wish people well Acceptance - Go with the flow Gratitude - Be focused on the half-full bit of the glass There are 4 foundations that we can stand on if we want our speech to be powerful and make change in the world HAIL - To greet or acclaim enthusiastically H - Honesty - Be clear and straight A - Authenticity - Be yourself I - Integrity - Do what you say. Be your word. L - Love - Wish them well. “If you’re really wishing someone well, it’s hard to judge them at the same time.” 7 deadly sins of speaking Gossip Judging Negativity Complaining Excuses Exaggeration Dogmatism Listening is a skill. Hearing is a capability. Listening is making meaning from sound. You can practice it and master it. As leaders, we need to continue working on this skill to ensure the people we’re leading know they are heard and seen. We all can picture that bad boss that looked at their phone while we talked to them. Let's not be that person. Listening is making meaning from sound...
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday" -- Join 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders who start their week with a curiosity-inducing email. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Donald Miller is the Founder/CEO of Storybrand, a marketing company. He is also the Founder/CEO of Business Made Simple, an online platform that teaches business professionals everything they need to know to grow a business and enhance their personal value on the open market. He is the author of several books including the bestseller "Building a StoryBrand." We recorded this podcast in front of a live audience at my 2022 Growth Summit in Nashville, TN. “I don’t think any of us should trust fate to write the story of our lives. Fate is a terrible writer.” – It’s on us to take ownership of our lives and write our own stories. The 4 Roles We Play In Life: The Victim - The character who feels they have no way out The Villian - The character who makes others small The Hero - They accept their own agency. They know what they want. They face their challenges and transform. The Guide - The character who helps the hero How do most value-driven people see themselves? They see themselves as an Economic Product on the Open Market -- (be a good investment to attract further investment) “They are obsessed with getting people a strong return on the investment made in them. People who are obsessed with being a good investment attract further investment and get to enjoy more personal economic value. When you offer greater economic value within the economic ecosystem, you are paid more, given more responsibility and promotions, and are sought after by customers looking for value. In business, your boss may really like you, but in large part, they see you as an economic investment. There is nothing wrong with that. So how do we become ridiculously successful? By making other people absurdly successful.” They are relentlessly optimistic - Staying optimistic, you dramatically increase the chances that at some point you will succeed. The more optimistic you are, the more willing you will be willing to try. Successful people fail all the time. The difference is their willingness to keep trying. They know the right way to engage in conflict - Conflict-avoidant people are rarely chosen to lead. All human progress happens by passing through conflict. They have a bias towards action - “There is one thing every successful person has in common: They have a bias towards action.” They don’t let ideas die on the vine. They take action to make those ideas happen. " Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG  @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Julia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent. She covers media with a special focus on the intersection of media and technology. In 2013, Julia created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting the private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. She’s the author of a new book called, “When Women Lead - What they achieve, why they succeed, how we can learn from them." Julia’s parents inspired her to pursue hard things and instilled in her a love of asking questions. As parents, we should do the same. Asking questions is a sign of respect and that you care. We should ask more questions than we answer both at work and at home. Approach people with curiosity. It’s how we show that we care. Julia found a unique way to add value to her employer: Creating the Disruptor 50 list. It’s important for us to find unique ways to add value to our company and do work that inspires us at the same time. It’s evident that Julia loves it and because of that, both CNBC and Julia win. She has taken an entrepreneurial approach to her career at CNBC and has come up with and championed many ideas that have been impactful and built her career. She shares how you can do that too… Julia shares her preparation process for interviewing a powerful leader like Sheryl Sandberg or Bob Iger. "I didn't have a background in business. I had to over-prepare." How to become a talent magnet and attract effective leaders to want to work for you... She shares the biggest takeaway that you learned from interviewing thousands of CEOs and executives including Katrina Lake, Gwyneth Paltrow, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Jennifer Hyman, and more. Advice Julia got from her dad: "The road is always better than the inn." Enjoy the process. "The best way out is always through." Don't look for shortcuts. "I can't go on, I can't go on, I'll go on." Be persistent. How to build confidence? Get the reps... Do it a lot. Confidence is built through action. Commonalities of excellent leader: Humility Focus High adaptability quotient Communal leadership Empathy "Make your own characteristics a superpower." Life/Career advice: Be willing to fail It's a volume game Be prepared for brainstorming meetings. Have a portfolio of ideas. Julia's book writing process: She interviewed 120 leaders What can men do to be supportive? "Men need to understand the statistics. Diversity = more value." Be a talent magnet. Be honest about what you don't know.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Mayor Eric Adams has served the people of New York City as an NYPD officer, State Senator, Brooklyn Borough President, and now as the 110th Mayor of the City of New York. Notes: When Eric was 15, he was beaten by a police officer. “Instead of saying woe is me, I said why not me?” He became a police officer... Mentor, Reverend, and Civil Rights Leader, Herbert Daughtry, encouraged him to change the system from within. If you have a problem with a system, try to change it from within. Instead of complaining about it, do something about it. Take action. A mindset shift: “There is something I’m supposed to learn from this.” – Shifting our minds from blaming and complaining to asking ourselves, “What can I learn from this?” Mayor Adams became President of a Black officers association before founding his own group, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. The New York Times has called Mayor Adams, “The mayor who never sleeps.” - He's known to be up early working and go out late at night… Including going to clubs like Zero Bond (a private club) and not being afraid to take pictures with fellow New Yorkers while holding a vodka/soda in hand… Being perfectly imperfect. Authenticity, being genuine. Mayor Adams goes out to clubs and drinks with his fellow New Yorkers. He doesn’t hide it. So many politicians put up a facade. An image that isn’t real. Part of his appeal is that he’s real, he’s human… We all want that. Cleaning up his diet – After 9/11, he relied on comfort food (quarter pounder or a bucket of KFC). One day in 2016, he woke up blind in his left eye and suffered nerve damage in his feed, which could have led to amputation. His diabetes was killing him. He switched to a plant-based diet and lost 35 pounds. (and wrote a book about it) “I would rather be a person that is authentic and make mistakes than robotic and be a fake,” Adams says, sitting on the couch in his office. “Folks are tired of just these terrible fake leaders. They’re always trying to live up to someone. Always." What does Mayor Adams think about those who use the phrase, "Defund the Police?" "They don't get it." "After protests, you must do something to protect. You cannot simply protest, you have to protect." “All I can say, have your haters become your waiters when you sit down at the table of success."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Join 10's of thousands of learning leaders from all over the world better understand how you can become a more effective leader. Text Hawk to 66866 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 My guest: Patrick Lencioni has written 14 books on business management, particularly in relation to team management. He is best known as the author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a popular business fable that explores work team dynamics and offers solutions to help teams perform better. He's also written The Ideal Team Player, The Advantage, The Motive, and his latest book is called The Six Types of Working Genius.  Notes: Pat loves The Pat McAfee Show because of their candor, humor, and authenticity.  "Humility is a virtue. You can practice it." "Seek first to understand prior to trying to be understood." Be curious. "If we don't understand them, we judge them." The opposite of judgment is curiosity. When you're humble, there is no sense of entitlement. Good teammates? "They take ownership of their mistakes and work to correct them." Must take ownership of it to improve. The Ideal Team Player -- Humble, Hungry, Smart. The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team: Absence of trust - unwilling to be vulnerable within the group Fear of conflict - seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate Lack of commitment - feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization Avoidance of accountability - ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards Inattention to results - focusing on personal success, status, and ego before team success The Six Types of Working Genius: Wonder – People with this genius can’t help but question whether things could be better in the world around them. They are troubled whenever they see unmet potential, and they are constantly curious and on the lookout for the need to change something. Invention – This type of genius is all about creativity. People who have it, love, to generate new ideas and solutions to problems and are even comfortable coming up with something out of nothing. Discernment – People with this type of genius have a natural ability when it comes to evaluating or assessing a given idea or situation and providing guidance. They have good instincts, gut feel, and judgment about the subtleties of making decisions that integrate logic, common sense and human needs. Galvanizing – This type of genius is about bringing energy and movement to an idea or decision. People who have it like to initiate activity by rallying people to act and inspiring them to get involved. Enablement – People with this type of genius are quick to respond to the needs of others by offering their cooperation and assistance with a project, program, or effort. They naturally provide the human assistance that is required in any endeavor, and not on their own terms. Tenacity – This type is about ensuring that a given project, program, or effort is taken to completion and achieves the desired result. People who have this genius push for required standards of excellence and live to see the impact of their work. Pat’s areas of working genius: “I am naturally good at and drawn to what we call Invention and Discernment, I like to come up with new, original ideas, even when it’s not what’s called for.  And I love to use my intuition to evaluate and assess ideas and plans to see what would be best.  My areas of frustration are Tenacity and Enablement, meaning I struggle to push projects through to completion after the initial excitement wears off, and I have a hard time providing assistance to others on their terms. That doesn’t mean I can’t do those things, because all of us have to do things we don’t like or aren’t good at sometimes. But if I’m in a situation where people are relying on me as their primary source of enablement and tenacity, that’s not good for me or for them in the long run.” Pat is a "discriminating ideator." My areas of working genius: Discernment and Tenacity. The assessment says: “You are good at and enjoy using your intuition and instincts to evaluate and assess ideas or plans, and pushing projects and tasks through to completion to ensure that the desired results are achieved.”  "You are what we call a judicious accomplisher."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...  Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Scott Galloway is a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing to second-year MBA students. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded nine firms, including L2, Red Envelope, Prophet, and Section4. In 2012, he was named one of the “World’s 50 Best Business School Professors” by Poets & Quants. He's the author of multiple best-selling books including The Algebra of Happiness, The Four, and Adrift. Notes: Leaders who sustain excellence: Demonstrate excellence in what they do. "People want to follow people who are excellent at their job." They hold people accountable "Excellent leaders are generally kind to others and establish goodwill with many people." "Your job is to find something you’re good at, and after ten thousand hours of practice, get great at it. The emotional and economic rewards that accompany being great at something will make you passionate about whatever “it” is." “I tell my students that nothing wonderful, I’m talking really fantastic, will happen without taking a risk and subjecting yourself to rejection. Serendipity is a function of courage.” "If you don't get criticism it means you aren't saying anything." What does it mean to be a man? “Being a responsible head of household that provides for your family and is a real partner with someone and raising kids and checking that instinctive box — being a good father, being a good husband … raising responsible, civic-minded kids. It's also realizing that if your partner is better at being the head of household and being the provider you get out of the way and support them to do it." "The most dangerous person in the world is a broke and alone male, and we are producing too many of them." Greatness is in the agency of others… When I asked Scott about how he’s built his career, his first thought was about the others who he’s surrounded himself with. Greatness is in the agency of others. Your ability to attract and retain talented people will be the difference between a good career and a great one… We should spread kindness. Have security in yourself and give people compliments they deserve. "The most interesting 5 minutes I've had in a long time" - Anderson Cooper describing Scott Galloway "This guy is a walking applause break" - Bill Maher describing Scott Galloway Scott has sat on the boards of Gateway Computer, Urban Outfitters, Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company, University of California Berkeley, Panera Bread, and Ledger, a crypto wallet. He hosted the CNN+ host of a business and technology show, No Mercy No Malice.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...  Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: Matthew Dixon's first book, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, was a #1 Amazon as well as Wall Street Journal best seller. He is also the co-author of the customer experience bestseller The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty and the sequel to the Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results. His new book is called The Jolt Effect.  The paradox of choice is real – People don’t want more options. They want someone who can confidently advise them on what to do. A challenger ultimately teaches someone something new and adds value to their life. A challenger is not afraid to take control of the conversation and has the confidence to show how what they’re offering will make someone else's life better. Think outside the box whenever possible. Be a bit skeptical. Ask why. Question things… That’s how we grow and learn and potentially find a better way. The Challenger: As a Challenger, you offer a new perspective to your prospect and don’t shy away from conversations about money. You understand what brings them value and leverage that information to deliver an irresistible pitch — and to tactfully pressure them. Remember the three T’s: You teach them something valuable, tailor the sales pitch, and take control over the conversation. The Hard Worker: The Hard Worker strives to get better in their role but doesn’t necessarily focus on the customer’s value drivers. The Lone Wolf: The Lone Wolf is a high performer but not necessarily a team player. Confident in their selling skills, they exceed quotas but are difficult to deal with interpersonal. The Relationship Builder: When you think of a salesperson, you’re thinking of the Relationship Builder. These sales reps get in contact with a gatekeeper at their target company and slowly try to create an internal advocate. The Problem Solver: The Problem Solver is adept at finding solutions for issues in both the team and the prospect’s business. They drive results by eagerly solving problems and keeping all stakeholders in the loop. The JOLT EFFECT Judging the level of customer indecision. Indecision is driven by a specific human, psychological factors that pop up in specific ways within purchases. The best sellers use these drivers as a way to qualify and forecast based on the buyer’s ability to decide. Offering a personal recommendation. Indecisive buyers—feeling overwhelmed by choices—struggle to make tradeoffs as decisions progress. The best sellers use specific techniques to guide buyers toward the best options. Limiting purchase exploration. Indecisive buyers easily fall prey to analysis paralysis. High performers who limit the exploration effectively close off “rat holes” customers' heads down which can eat up time and introduce delays in the purchase process. Taking risk off the table. Hesitant buyers are gripped by uncertainty about promises made during the sales process. JOLT sellers employ creative methods for reducing perceived risk, and building momentum toward decisions. Advice: Challenge yourself - push your comfort zone Think outside the box wherever possible Question things Have empathy Teach others
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dandapani is a Hindu priest and a former monk of 10 years. He originally got a degree in Electrical Engineering, then left it all behind and spent a decade studying under the guidance of one of Hinduism's foremost spiritual leaders. He gave a TEDx talk that has been viewed over 5.6 million times and his GoalCast videos have been watched more than 75 million times. He’s also written a book called, The Power of Unwavering Focus Notes: We need a core purpose in life. Your purpose defines your priorities. It’s worth it to do the work to understand this. Self-reflection needs to become part of your routine. Excellence = Clarity of purpose, a burning desire, and understanding WHO is aligned with your purpose and developing those relationships fully. Remember, life is finite. It will end. Let’s make the most of it. You’ll often hear parents say to their kids, “we just want you to be happy.” Happiness should never be pursued. Rather, one should pursue a lifestyle where the byproduct of living that lifestyle is happiness. We generally think of concentration as a skill we’re born with, rather than a skill we need to be taught and then cultivate by practicing over time. Would you expect to be an expert piano player naturally? Of course not - you would seek instruction, and then practice for years in order to grow your skill. Concentration, in short, is the ability to keep awareness on one thing until you consciously choose to move it to something else. Distraction, on the other hand, is awareness being controlled by your environment (the people and things around you) without conscious choice. We are what we practice. The reality is that most people are not conscious of the fact that they are practicing distraction all day every day and hence why they are masters at distraction.  The idea is to build concentration, willpower, and mastery of awareness into your days little by little, growing your skill over weeks, months, and years. Dandapani's guru has the biggest influence on his life. The role of a mentor is to empower people with tools and help them gain perspective. Book: Think and Grow Rich. Once you experience something, you can't un-experience it. A guru takes deep responsibility for someone's life. "You can only say no if you know what to say yes to." Learn to focus: Dedicate time in the morning. Find a quiet space. With self-reflection, there can be no mask. Excellence = Clarity of purpose Who are you aligned with?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email to help you become a more effective leader. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Todd Henry is an international speaker and best-selling author of 6 books including, The Accidental Creative, Herding Tigers, Die Empty, and his latest book is called The Daily Creative. Notes: The mantra Todd tells himself before going on stage is, "Be Present. Be Yourself." This is a reminder to be in the room, and pay attention to the nuance... And don't try to be someone you're not. Don't apologize for your existence. Authenticity shows that you have skin in the game. I am putting my actions where my mouth is. We crave real experiences: We do business with human beings. The most valuable thing we can do is make genuine connections with people. Make people feel seen and known. Creativity is problem-solving. If you solve problems every day, you’re creative. Have a BIG VISION. Walt Disney started as a cartoonist. Todd has Disney's business plan from 1967 hanging up on his wall. All arrows point to the creative output of the film team. Do the "What would blow your mind?" Exercise. Write a list of things that would blow your mind if you accomplished them in the next 10-15 years. What did you do? Who did you do it with? What impact did it have on others? Our greatest work will be accomplished in the community of others. Todd intends to influence 28 million people. That is roughly 17% of working Americans in his field. That ambition points his mind in a direction. Where do good ideas come from? Adjacent possibilities. "I'm not trying to build a business. I'm trying to grow a life." It's important for your kids to see you doing work. You must grow comfortable with Asking Uncomfortable Questions – Brilliant, effective creative professionals are willing to ask inconvenient and uncomfortable questions. Difficult Conversations – Douglas Stone wrote, “Difficult conversations are almost never about getting the facts right. They are about conflicting perceptions, interpretations, and values.” Clean and dirty fuels — proving doubters wrong or proving supporters right? Detractors can be helpful if they care about you. Reward leading behaviors rather than trailing outcomes. Reward the behavior -- "That was a brave choice." Advice: Get a job and add as much value as you can. Be resourceful. Figure out how to get things done.  Understand where you can uniquely add value and pay attention to what's needed. Stick around long enough to connect the dots. Don't follow your passion. What works better? Put in the hard work to master something rare and valuable, then deploy this leverage to steer your working life in directions that resonate. Todd had bumper stickers made that said: “Safety is not an option.” Coming up with safe answers over and over will make us irrelevant. “If you are not inspired, you will not inspire other people.” Focus on your inputs. You must take time to read, meet with mentors, and learn from a variety of sources. Pause. Reflect. As leaders, we must make this a priority. Buffalo, Not Cow – “Son, I need you to be the buffalo, not the cow.” In Colorado, when storms come, they almost always brew from the West. And then what happens is they roll out towards the East. Cows can sense that a storm is coming from this direction. So, a cow will try to run East to get away from the storm. Without knowing any better, the cows continue to try to outrun the storm. But instead of outrunning the storm, they run with the storm, maximizing the amount of pain, time, and frustration they experience from that storm. Buffaloes run at the storm and by running at the storm, they run straight through it, minimizing the amount of pain, time, and frustration they experience from that storm.  Prune Relationships – Sometimes we need to cut ties with people who drain us.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Cassie Holmes is a Professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Cassie is an expert on time and happiness. Cassie is the author of the book, Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, which is based on her wildly popular MBA course, “Applying the Science of Happiness to Life Design.” Notes: What do the happiest people do? They have strong, supportive relationships They feel a sense of belonging They feel safe and healthy "We have control over what we do and how we spend our time." Turn routines into rituals - Cassie does this for her Thursday morning coffee dates with her daughter. I do the same going to the pool with my daughter. Time poverty is prevalent for 50% of Americans. How to handle back to back to back meetings? It's unsustainable. Your team needs you to be full. Over time, you will not perform at an optimal level if you don't give yourself time to think, reflect, analyze the situation, and make a decision. Do a time tracking exercise and analyze what is the best use of your time. Block time on your calendar each day for yourself. And hold to it. Learning from admired elders – Ask, ‘what is your greatest source of pride?’ ‘what is your greatest regret?’ - Invest the time to learn from someone who is older than you that you admire. How to be happier? Unhappy activities can be made less painful by reframing them (bundling them with something fun or remembering its purpose–why you’re doing it) Reflect back on your last two weeks. When did you feel the most joy? A weekly coffee date with your daughter? Swimming together? Whatever it is… How can you intentionally create more moments of joy for yourself? If you have less than two hours of free time (leading to feelings of stress) or more than five hours of free time (undermining your sense of purpose), you’ll likely feel unsatisfied in your life. In between is the sweet spot— and most of us can achieve this with a few simple exercises provided in this podcast.  Why we tend to put off current enjoyment for the sake of tasks we “should” do and why we should do this less. Dr. Holmes says we need to identify and commit to activities that make us happy so we don’t later feel regret from missing out on life’s good stuff. Focusing on time increases happiness because it motivates you to spend your time more deliberately. Recognizing that your remaining time is limited and thus precious helps you savor life’s everyday moments of joy. Tracking Time Exercise: based on how you’re currently spending and actually experiencing your hours, identify which times are truly the most and least happy. Connecting socially, spending time outside, and being mindful during the hours you spend have the greatest impact on the happiness experienced in your day. The Five Whys Exercise: uncover your purpose. Eulogy Exercise: learn what really matters to you by how you hope to be remembered. Gallup Poll: Do you have a best friend at work? Counting times left exercise: How many times have you done it in the past month? How many more do you have left? How many meals will you share with your parents? Realize that it's probably not that many. That realization will help you cherish the time.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  Twitter/IG @RyanHawk12     https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 My guest: Charlie Baker is Governor of Massachusetts. He has also served as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a top-performing healthcare insurance provider. According to a Morning Consult poll, he has a 74% approval rating which makes him the most popular Governor in America. He is the author of the new book, Results: Getting Beyond Politics to Get Important Work Done. Notes: Your receiver is more important than your transmitter.” “You have two ears and one mouth.” Charlie learned at a young age the importance of being a good listener. What he learned when he lost his first race: “Charlie, you spend too much time with your customers and not enough time with your prospects.” We all would benefit from talking with people who disagree with us… In the fall of 2014, Charlie was struggling to find a secretary of transportation… This is a huge job within an administration. Charlie said he was looking for a 50% player – someone who thought you had real issues and wasn’t interested in making things just 5% better, but dramatically better. A friend recommended “Stephanie Pollack.” She was a well-known, well-respected liberal Democrat… Charlie's work embraces openness and accountability. In the words, again, of John F. Kennedy, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” He grew up the son of a moderate Republican father (who worked in the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan administrations) and a liberal Democrat mother (a fierce advocate for education and services to support the most vulnerable in your community). His parents expected him and his brothers to participate in dinner table conversations about the issues of the day… The model his parents set led Charlie to never approach this work thinking that one side or the other was evil– or harbors bad intent. “Wedge issues may be great for making headlines, but they do not move us forward. Success is measured by what we accomplish together. Our obligation to the people we serve is too important to place politics and partisanship before progress and results.” People Are Policy – “Steve and I start here because you need to get this right or all else founders. This so-called soft stuff is in fact the hard stuff of governing,” the authors write. In many organizations, and especially in the public sector, more work is just piled upon existing staff and managers. Instead, building the team is synonymous with building the necessary people capacity, which may mean adding specific expertise in short bursts. Follow The Facts - Facts define the problem and provide points of navigation for a response. In addition to gathering data evidence, interviewing people and identifying points of pain brings the abstract down to the personal. Stories demonstrate real-world impact and establish concrete information that data alone cannot reveal. Focus On How – “How” is the bridge between the problems that emerge from the data evidence and the points of pain and meaningful impact. This two-part step—what to do and how to do it—ensures that proposed actions align with targeted results. Push For Results - Results are not an endpoint; they encompass objective evaluation. Once underway, the repetition of a particular cycle (measure, evaluate, adjust, repeat) leads to steady, sustainable results that can drive further progress. Charlie is not only about getting things done but about renewing people’s faith in public service.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You, along with 10,000+ learners will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brent Beshore is the Founder and CEO of Permanent Equity, a Midwestern-based private equity firm. They take a long-term approach to private equity, investing "permanent equity" in small to midsize privately held companies throughout North America. He’s also the best-selling author of The Messy Marketplace. Notes:   Growth without goals – Listed as one of Brent's foundations. “We believe the best path to sturdy growth is not a plan, but a posture.” It’s a belief in continuous improvement, optimism shining through some thick scars, and a healthy dose of humility. Growth comes from what you know you don't know. (which feels terrible). The harm comes from what you think you know or what you don't know you don't know. (which feels great or oblivious) Progress isn't made by sweeping proclamation or grand strategy. It's built by unglamorous daily activities that are often overlooked and under-appreciated.  In March 2016, Brent wrote a medium post about how to sell… “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” — Zig Ziglar You have 30 minutes one-on-one with someone you know nothing about other than they are wildly successful personally and professionally. What questions do you ask to understand their life, tease out their life philosophy, and get advice? Great questions are the key that unlocks everything. Stop talking about yourself and be a student of others. No matter how important you think relationships are, they’re more important. Reliability is a superpower. Do what you say you would when you said you’d do it, for the price you said you’d do it for. Every single time. If you’re ever more focused on other people’s shortcomings than your own, you’re the problem. Important Qualities: High intellectual honesty Humility Optimism Life as a dad: "You will never be happier than your least happy child." "Culture is nothing more than what you reward and punish." Buffett and Munger" - "Both are thoughtful, kind, and generous." Enjoy life: "I didn't enjoy it in my 20's... Try to have an inner temperature of joy." It's important to sit down with sages... Older people: Ask, "How do you mark your days?" "We all have time for things we prioritize." Sales is a dirty word for a lot... It doesn't need to be. The best salespeople Brent knows aren't selling. They share what they know and how it could potentially help others. "Invite people into your world. Share a vision. Help them understand the cause. Give them an invitation to go along with you." Capital Camp - Shock people with hospitality. Help create meaningful relationships. Surround them with care and excellence. Writing - Use humor. Write like you talk. Brent chooses to be light-hearted because that's how he is in real life. Keys to being a great Dad: Love them unconditionally because of who they are We have confused what love is Show them love by what you don't tolerate
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG -- @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ryan Holiday is the best selling author of 11 books including The Obstacle Is the Way, The Daily Stoic, Ego Is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key which has sold millions of copies and been translated into thirty languages. His latest book is called Discipline is Destiny - The Power of Self Control. Notes: We must be in command of ourselves. We have to conquer ourselves before others. Self Discipline - Freedom is the opportunity for self-discipline. The trivial - The people who sustain excellence fall in love with the process. They don't cheat it. Choose to see obstacles as opportunities. Dr. Drew recommended to Ryan that he should read books about stoicism when he was 19. This was a pivotal moment. Carry The Load For Others  – General Jim Mattis. "The privilege of command is command. You don’t get a bigger tent. “Being the boss is a job. Being a leader is something you earn.” Seek Discomfort – Seneca was a rich man. He inherited estates from his father. He invested well. Yet every so often, for a few days, he would eat only the scantest fare and wear his coarest clothing. He would actively seek out discomfort, mimicking abject poverty and harsher life conditions.  Having a full calendar - "That doesn't seem like a rich life." Just show up — Consistency. Thomas Edison said “I’ve got no imagination. Thank never dream. I’ve created nothing.” The genius hangs around his laboratory day and night.” Your Why must be intrinsic. Just work - in Ancient Greece, there was a word to describe a ceaseless work ethic — philoponia  (about the author Joyce Carol Oates). She published a ton over the course of decades. Work out -- “Obviously the philosopher's life should be well prepared for physical activity.” — the Stoic Gaius Musonius Rufus explained, “because often the virtues make use of this as a necessary instrument for the affairs of low.” The strenuous life is the best life — exercise. You must take care of your body. And eat well. Endure - Shackelton’s family motto — “Fortitude Vincimus” — “By endurance we conquer.” George Washington — When he was 26, he watched a play about the Stoics and started repeating the phrase “in the calm light of mild philosophy.” Focus Focus Focus — In Yogic tradition they call this Ekagrata — intense focus on a singular point. Do the hard thing first — Mark Twain - “the idea is that if we eat the frog at the beginning of the day, it will be next to impossible for the day to get any worse.” Can you get back up? “Losing is not always up to us, but being a loser is. Being a quitter is.” Silence is Strength — The Spartans' “laconic” style. Never use 2 words when 1 will do. Archimedes once explained at a Spartan dinner, “An expert on speaking also knows when not to do so.” When Ryan speaks to NFL teams: "I try to give them one or two practical things to implement." Be Your Best - "Conquering the world is rather easy after we have fully conquered ourselves. Certainly fewer people have done the latter than the former.” Taking a stand - How successful are you really if you can't be yourself?" Lou Gehrig -  “When you love the work, you don’t cheat it or the demands it makes of you. You respect even the most trivial aspects of the pursuit.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Bill George is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of Discover Your True North, Authentic Leadership, and 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Bill is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic.  He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was the CEO from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002.  Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense. Sustained excellence = Authentic, real, and vulnerable They know how to bring people together and inspire them They challenge, help, and coach people People do not want the Jack Welch style today.  How did Bill earn the CEO role at Medtronic? Team building - "I continued to develop leaders." "Do your current job exceptionally well, develop others, and don't think about your promotion." Give people an opportunity and a sense of purpose Your True North Make the shift from what you are to who you are Process your life story and the significant events The difficult times make you who you are What do you want them to say at your funeral? The "Coach" Acronym Care Organize Align Challenge Help "You must be a constant learner if you want to be a leader." Leadership Crucibles: Leadership is about relationships What Bill has learned teaching at Harvard It's a mistake to chase external expectations You need to be fulfilled by your work Keys to a great marriage: Communicate all the time You need to grow together Keys to being a great dad: Be there, be present Listen Bill shares what it's like leading through today’s challenges, creating inclusive cultures, and how to lead through crises. Bill shares the dangers of leading without True North, including case studies of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, WeWork’s Adam Neumann, Uber’s Travis Kalanick, and Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes “Pursuing purpose with passion Practicing solid values Leading with heart Establishing enduring relationships Demonstrating self-discipline” “You need to be who you are, not try to emulate somebody else.” “The hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself.” “The reality is that no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else. There is no doubt you can learn from their experiences, but there is no way you can be successful trying to be like them. People trust you when you are genuine and authentic, not an imitation.” “The role of leaders is not to get other people to follow them but to empower others to lead.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Colin O’Brady 10-time World Record Holder. New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible First. Colin’s highly publicized expeditions have been followed by millions and his work has been featured in the New York Times, The Tonight Show, the BBC, The Joe Rogan Experience, and NBC’s Today. His feats include the world’s first solo, unsupported, and fully human-powered crossing of Antarctica; speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and the Seven Summits; and the world’s first human-powered ocean row across the Drake Passage. His new book is called The 12 Hour Walk. Notes: What’s your Everest - The question he asked all the rich bankers that night that none had an answer to? What’s your answer? What are you doing to turn that into a reality? Limiting beliefs - “We are the stories we tell ourselves.” What story are you telling yourself about… Yourself? Life is on a scale of 1 to 10. Most people live most days around a 5 or 6. They don’t have any 1s and they don’t have any 10s. What can you do to change that? How can you live a life that has some 1s and 10s? Mantra: "Colin! You are strong. You are capable." The most important muscle is the brain.  The possible mindset: See the optimism in all opportunities. Colin's mom told him he could achieve anything that he set his mind to. Colin had an accident and caught on fire while jumping a flaming jump rope... His doctor told him that he would probably never walk again. At that moment, Colin set the goal to complete a triathlon. A year later, he WON the Chicago triathlon. With Colin as your guide, The 12-Hour Walk asks you to invest one day in yourself. The goal? Conquering your mind and becoming your best self. By walking alone, unplugging, listening to the voice within, and rewriting the limiting beliefs etched into your psyche, you can break free of the patterns holding you back and learn how to cultivate a “Possible Mindset”—an empowered way of thinking that unlocks a life of limitless possibilities. The reward: being the hero of your own destiny. Question to ask yourself: What is your Everest? What does fulfillment look like? You must take care of yourself first... Excellence: A deep connection with your why. PASSION. Genuine curiosity Love If no one was watching, would you still do it?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You, along with 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Neal Foard has spent more than 20 years creating award-winning ad campaigns for clients on four continents. From the experience of thousands of presentations to clients all over the world, Neal has created The Passionate Logic Project™ to help business leaders sell their agendas more persuasively. He has been a featured speaker at TED and is recently known for his TikTok videos which have been viewed millions of times over the past few months. "There's nothing wrong with us that can't be fixed by what's right with us." The EQ of the gym bro – When someone is new on your team, ask them to help you out. Find a way to include them. Get them an early win. Make them feel part of the team as soon as possible. The element of mystery – Have an aha moment. Don’t spoil the punchline. Save the reveal for the end… Remember the Whitney Houston story? Your first words of a presentation or a meeting are the most valuable real estate you have. Don’t waste them. Be thoughtful. Practice. Don’t tell them “I’m so excited to be here…” Launch with intrigue, with movement, with a story… How To Use Power – “The thing that gave him more joy than anything was using power to make life more amazing for his team, make you feel like you mattered to him.” – “All business is personal. The best business is very personal.” - Rick Lenz Data is a tool - Our first use of it should be to make people smile. – Your family trip to Disney World… What happened? The Physics of a Bright Smile – The most important decision you can make is to be in a good mood. - Voltaire What Motivates people: Lillian Moore shares a quick story that reveals what really motivates people: "A few months after my husband and I moved to a small Massachusetts town I grumbled to a resident about the poor service at the library, hoping she would repeat my complaints to the librarian. The next time I went to the library, the librarian had set aside two bestsellers for me and a new biography for my husband. What's more, she appeared to be genuinely glad to see me. Later I reported the miraculous change to my friend. "I suppose you told her how poor we thought the service was?" I asked. "No," she confessed. "In fact—I hope you don't mind—I told her your husband was amazed at the way she had built up this small-town library, and that you thought she showed unusually good taste in the new books she ordered." Source: Reader's Digest (Similar to Neal's coffee story. “Puuuurfect”) Begin each story with a vague suggestion that there's a lesson to be learned by the end... Steve Martin - Do NOT begin a talk with, "Hey, how's everybody doing?" A leader's job is to facilitate their people's best work. Presentations: Do not read bullet points. If you do that, you're just passing along information. You need to attach emotion to it. How to be more persuasive? Be willing to listen and open to changing your mind. Send the signal to them that we can do it. We're not there to win. The power of listening is underrated. Learn what does and doesn't matter to them. "People don't change their minds unless they want to."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Eric Barker is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller “Barking Up the Wrong Tree,” which has sold over half a million copies and been translated into 19 languages. It was even the subject of a question on “Jeopardy!” Over 500,000 people have subscribed to his weekly newsletter. His work has been covered by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, and others. Eric is also a sought-after speaker, having given talks at MIT, Yale, Google, the United States Military Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Olympic Training Center. His latest book is called “Plays Well with Others." Love – Casanova said, “love is three-quarters curiosity.” That curiosity creates deep knowledge… And that helps you build what researcher John Gottman calls, a “love map.” “Everyone asks how you got together; nobody asks how you stayed together. And it’s the latter that is often the real achievement to be proud of.” Your WHO: Take your health, for example. The Framingham study showed that drinking, smoking, and obesity are all quite contagious. If someone you consider a friend becomes obese, your likelihood of obesity increases by 53%. And if the friendship is mutual, the number rises to 171%. "Friends are only there because you want them to be." "Friends make us happier than any other relationship." How to build deeper relationships with friends? Time Be vulnerable -- "Relationships move at the speed of vulnerability." How to make your relationship with your partner better? Do exciting things together - Be proactive Leverage emotional contagion - Associate feelings with events Bill Perkins - "Create memory dividends." You need to learn and grow together John Gottman asks couples to tell their stories... The ones that stick together celebrate the difficulties Profiling - “Humans are prone to seeing meaning when there is none.” There’s a fundamental reason that astrologers outnumber astronomers. Emotionally we want a feeling of control over the world around us. We desperately need the world to at least seem to make sense. And for that, we need a story, even if it isn’t true. Confirmation bias: what is it? And what are the 3 ways to resist it? Feel accountable Distance before decision Consider the opposite Lying — how can you spot a liar?  The average college student lies in about a third of conversations. For adults, it’s 1 in 5. In online dating, 81% of profiles deviate from the truth. And we are terrible at detecting lies, averaging a 54% success rate. So how do we become better at understanding if someone is lying? This system takes patience (so it isn’t useful for little lies but can be powerful for bigger issues). “The science overwhelming recommended a nuanced and sophisticated method humans have never tried in the past 5,000 years when attempting to detect lies: being nice. Never be a bad cop, be a friendly journalist. You have to get them to like you. To open up. To talk a lot. And to make a mistake that reveals deception. Don’t accuse. Be curious. Optimism – Shawn Achor’s Ted Talk (so funny and fast). MET Life saw such great results among happy salespeople that they tried an experiment: they started hiring people based on optimism. It turns out that the optimistic group outsold their more pessimistic counterparts by 19% in year one and 57% in year two. "Writing a book is like telling a joke and having to wait two years to know whether or not it was funny." —ALAIN DE BOTTON Eric writes to start his new book... Henry Thomas Buckle once said: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” I’m here to discuss people. Leveraging the best evidence available—free of platitudes or magical thinking—Eric analyzes multiple sides of an issue before rendering his verdict. What he’s uncovered is surprising, counterintuitive, and timely—and will change the way you interact in the world and with those around you just when you need it most. Life/Career advice: Set your personal definition of success "You need to be able to say this is enough."
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You, along with 10's of thousand of other learning leaders, will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week of right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Leaders have nothing in common. They don’t share gender or income level or geography. There’s no gene, no schooling, no parentage, no profession. In other words, leaders aren’t born with it. Actually, they do have one thing in common. "Every tribe leader I’ve ever met shares one thing: the decision to lead. Leadership is a choice." Great Stories – Great stories are rarely aimed at everyone. Average people are good at ignoring you. Average people have too many different points of view about life and average people are by and large satisfied. If you need to water down your story to appeal to everyone, it will appeal to no one. The most effective stories match the world view of a tiny audience—and then that tiny audience spreads the story. Really Bad PowerPoint  - Powerpoint could be the most powerful tool on your computer. But it’s not. Countless innovations fail because their champions use PowerPoint the way Microsoft wants them to, instead of the right way. Communication is the transfer of emotion. make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you’re saying is true not just accurate. Talking about pollution in Houston? Instead of giving me four bullet points of EPA data, why not read me the stats but show me a photo of a bunch of dead birds, some smog, and even a diseased lung? This is cheating! It’s unfair! It works. Define Brand – Seth's definition: A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. Linchpin — the combination of passion and art is what makes someone a linchpin. Gifts — there are 2 reasons to give gifts. One is reciprocity. You give so that someone feels like they owe you something. That is manipulative and no way to build a career. The second reason is fascinating. Gifts allow you to make art. Gifts are given with no reciprocity hoped for or even possible. The paintings of Chuck Close - the gift he gives with no possibility of reciprocity gives him room to be in charge. Room to find joy. Because when he’s painting he’s not punching a time clock or trying to please someone who bought his time. He’s creating a gift. My fundamental argument is simple. In everything you do, it’s possible to be an artist, at least a little bit. “How To Be Remarkable” Remarkable doesn’t mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you’re average, and average is for losers. It's not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that's for sure. Lost in all the noise around us is the proven truth that creativity is the result of desire. A Desire to solve an old problem, a desire to serve someone else. It’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else... The difference between talent and skill: Talent is something we’re born with: it’s in our DNA, a magical alignment of gifts. Skill is earned. It’s learned and practiced and hard-won. It’s insulting to call a professional talented. In the words of Steve Martin, “I had no talent. None.” If you want to change your story, change your actions first. We become what we do. Practical Empathy -- “We have to be able to say, ‘it’s not for you’ and mean it. The work exists to serve someone, to change someone, to make something better.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You, along with 10's of thousand of other learning leaders, will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week of right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Guest: David M. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $325 billion from 26 offices around the world. David is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS and Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV; and the author of The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians, a book published by Simon & Schuster in 2019, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, a book published in 2020, and The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream, a book published in 2021. Notes: How David defines success - “Other people tell you that what you’ve done is useful. They admire you. And you help people.” David's goals: Don't do anything to get in public trouble Give away the bulk of his money 4 Key Decisions David made that helped him: Going to law school Working in the Carter White House Starting the Carlyle Group Becoming a philanthropist Why The Carlyle Group? "I fell in love with building something from scratch." "Great ideas don't come from people who are busy." Why does David enjoy interviewing leaders? It gives him an opportunity to follow his intellectual curiosity How does he prepare for his interviews? Reads their books Gets help from a research assistant Digests all the material Writes questions Looks for humor opportunities Humor breaks the tension and produces a common bond "John Kennedy had a great sense of humor." David has lent his home in Nantucket to President Biden. Benjamin Franklin said, "it's a republic if you can keep it." Republics are not easy to keep. David had the opportunity to invest in Facebook when Mark Zuckerberg was in college... But he said no. The keys to the Wright Brother's Success -- Tons of books in their house growing up Their inquisitive nature Their passion to prove a point Commonalities of excellent leaders: Vision Determination - must walk the walk Influence others Communication skill Humility Highly ethical Doesn't need all the credit Higher goals than just money “Persist – don’t take no for an answer. If you’re happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you’ll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years.” "What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.' What they say is, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my family and done more for society or my community." "Moneymaking was never anything to me. I was happy never making money; I just was happy doing things I liked. But I fell into the money thing. I now don't feel guilty about it, but I am determined to give away the bulk of it and enjoy doing it." "Anybody who gives away money is mostly looking at things where they think they can make a difference. I'm trying to help people who helped me, educational institutions that helped me with scholarships, or organizations that were very useful to me in growing up." "It's clear to me that when you do private equity well, you're making companies more efficient and helping them grow and become more profitable. That success means our investors - such as public pension funds - benefit, which contributes to the economic wealth of society." "I regard food as fuel. I am not a brunch person." Life and Career advice: Find something you enjoy Experiment Read Keep an open mind
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You along with 10's of thousands of other learning leaders will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Susan Cain is the #1 bestselling author of Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which spent eight years on The New York Times best-seller list, and has been translated into 40 languages. Susan’s TED talks have been viewed over 40 million times. LinkedIn named her the Top 6th Influencer in the World, just behind Richard Branson and Melinda French Gates. Susan partners with Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Dan Pink to curate the Next Big Idea Book Club. Notes: "Compassion means to suffer together." How to use sadness? "Make the pain your creative offering." To suffer with other beings brings people together. When people are grieving the loss of a loved one, they often want to talk about that person. Aristotle wondered why the great poets, philosophers, artists, and politicians often have melancholic personalities… his question was based on the ancient belief that the human body contains 4 humors: each corresponding to a different temperament - melancholic (sad), sanguine (happy), choleric (aggressive), and phlegmatic (calm). Joseph Campbell said, “We should strive to participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.” Connecting with what matters and taking committed action—moves us from bitter to sweet, from loss to love.” Everyone experiences loss. It is part of the human condition. How have you moved “from bitter to sweet, from loss to love”? Are there coping strategies you recommend? The bittersweet quiz — 1-10. If you scored between 5.8 and 10, you’re a true connoisseur of bittersweetness: the place where light and dark meet. Questions: Do you tear up easily at touching TV commercials? Are you especially moved by old photographs? Do you react intensely to music, art, or nature? Have others described you as an old soul? Do you find comfort or inspiration on a rainy day? Are you moved to goosebumps several times a day? Do you feel elevated by sad music? Do you tend to see the happiness and sadness in things, all at once? Do you seek out beauty in your everyday life?" (I scored a 7.1) “The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers -- of persistence, concentration, and insight -- to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems. make art, think deeply.” “The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers -- of persistence, concentration, and insight -- to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems. make art, think deeply.” “There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” “If we could honor sadness a little more, maybe we could see it—rather than enforced smiles and righteous outrage—as the bridge we need to connect with each other. We could remember that no matter how distasteful we might find someone’s opinions, no matter how radiant, or fierce, someone may appear, they have suffered, or they will.” “The secret that our poets and philosophers have been trying to tell us for centuries, is that our longing is the great gateway to belonging.” “The tragedy of life is linked inescapably with its splendor; you could tear civilization down and rebuild it from scratch, and the same dualities would rise again. Yet to fully inhabit these dualities—the dark as well as the light—is, paradoxically, the only way to transcend them. And transcending them is the ultimate point. The bittersweet is about the desire for communion, the wish to go home.” “Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.” Life and Career advice: You have to find a way to do it. Life can sweep you up quickly. Establish a backup plan. It frees you up to be more creative. Develop rituals for writing... Purely with pleasure.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You, along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders will receive a carefully curated email from me, each Monday morning, to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Steve Holmes founded Springfree Trampoline in 2003 and has overseen its growth to almost 400 employees globally. He is responsible for strategic business development and leads growth initiatives worldwide. Springfree® Trampoline, the World's Safest Trampoline™, was introduced in 2003, and available in Australia in 2004. Dr. Keith Alexander re-designed the trampoline from the ground up to invent Springfree Trampoline, over fifteen years of research and development. Notes: “I hope that customers describe Springfree as a company which has integrity, honesty, great character, and deals with its customers in a way that values their experience with the brand and the product, and delivers on the promises they make. Living in the tension of competing priorities. This is the job of the leader. It’s happening at all times both at work and at home. We must be aware of and understand how to live in that tension. Your working genius - Jim has learned that his sense of wonder and invention is what brings him the most joy. We have to know what lights us up in order to sustain excellence over time. Responding to losing the Costco account. Steve called the Jim Sinegal and worked out how the relationship would end and then immediately planned for the future to keep his company in business. "The greatest piece of marketing is our customers." How to find your purpose: Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means your 'reason for being. ' 'Iki' in Japanese means 'life,' and 'gai' describes value or worth. Your ikigai is your life purpose or your bliss. It's what brings you joy and inspires you to get out of bed every day. Life is about giving so that others will benefit. The C's of business Clarity Competency Confidence Choice "The pace of change is faster than the pace of learning." Sustained excellence: Humble Hungry Smart As the leader, you must create an environment where people want to learn
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday," and join tens of thousands of Learning Leaders who receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week of right... Full show notes at www. LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kat Cole is the President, COO, and board member at Athletic Greens. She was previously President and COO at Focus Brands, the parent company of Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, Moe’s, Schlotzsky’s, McAllister’s, Carvel, Seattle’s Best Coffee International, and Jamba. She oversaw all businesses, their 6,000 operations globally, and the multi-brand licensing and CPG business with 90,000+ points of retail distribution. She has more than 20 years of operational, brand, and executive leadership experience and has an MBA from Georgia State University and an honorary Doctorate from Johnson and Wales University. This episode was recorded at the Insight Global Headquarters in Atlanta, GA as part of the Women's Leadership Council "Raise Your Hand, Raise Your Voice" event.  Notes: A pragmatic optimist: When Kat was 9 years old, Kat's mom decided to leave her dad. Her dad was an alcoholic. Kat has two younger sisters. Kat was in multiple car accidents with her dad while he was driving drunk. At the age of 9, Kat looked at her mom and said, "What took you so long?" She learned that "the people who are closest to the action know what to do long before the senior leaders do. But they lack the language to articulate the problem and the solution. And they lack the authority to do something about it." "I learned to stay incredibly close to the people who are close to the action from that moment." "With all that he did, my mother never spoke ill of my father. I remember in all of those years, we were super poor. Taking meat scraps from the butcher. I remember one holiday season we were driving around looking at holiday lights. We went through the fancy neighborhoods and she said, 'isn't that beautiful, they must work so hard.' There are these things I absorbed that I started expecting from leaders. I learned to be grounded in the practical (the pragmatic part), but still optimistic because a whole lot is possible with very little, especially if the leader stays close to the action." "I am a learning leader. Learning is my currency." Oh! I get to do something new and I can help people, and I can make money doing it. And money is freedom because it's independence."  "When we left my dad, my mom only had one goal, all she wanted was to raise three independent girls. Our willingness to be independent was her north star." Kat got a job at Hooters and quickly set the record for "close-opens." The shifts where you close the restaurant and open it the next day. She did it 22 straight days. She was then asked to travel to Sydney, Australia and open a new restaurant. She had never left the country and didn't have a passport. She said yes anyway.  She went on to open restaurants on four continents before she was twenty.  How to build trust: It's important to lead through action, not just words. Something as simple as when we get together in person, take time to buy the donuts and coffee or some AG1. Just that effort to find a way to do something that shows you care about their experience. I don't need to say 'I thought of you.' It is obvious." "In my role, my success is your success. Your success comes from me removing friction for you." Vulnerability - Lead with vulnerability first. Share your story.  Holding people accountable - A players do not like seeing B players, C players, people who don't give their best being given equal opportunity. Someone needs to be in control, expectations are communiated and managed, and the leader is keeping us on the tracks. You have to hold people accountable.  Conflict resolution - On Friday night a regular patron would go to Hooters with his friends and order 50 wings... "After finishing the wings, he would call me over and say, 'there was only 40 wings.' He did this 4 weeks in a row. "The 4th Friday, he comes, orders 50 wings, and while they were finishing, before he finished, and I on my own waitress discount ordered 10 wings, and brought them to him. And winked. And his buddies busted out in laugher, and he said, 'good one' and tipped me 100 bucks."  "Don't confuse my kindness for weakness or stupidity. I'm generous. I'm thoughtful. I'm caring. I assume positive intent first, but I'm not going to be taken advantage of." "Confidence is not an old school overly masculine swagger, I know what I'm doing, I've got this. It's a humble confidence. It's not I know what I'm doing, it's I know I can figure this out. My confidence is deeply humble. I have screwed up so many times. I spent 10 years doing humanitarian work on the border of Ethiopia. I know what bad actually looks like. Which keeps western world business bad equally in perspective. That helps me chill. And that translates as ease. And ease translates as calm. And calm translates as both maturity and confidence. But it's actually from perspective." "Confidence is built doing many new things where you are repeatedly uncomfortable." Humble confidence is like from The Mandolorian, "This is the way." "Traditional confidence, that swagger, can be successful. And can drive outcomes, but the teams don't last very long. But the humble confidence is a learning leader. Any leader who suggests they know the way will be wrong at some points. Teams won't last as long if they don't have humble confidence." Productive achievers: The behaviors of the most successful humans have these four qualities: Courage & Confidence + Curiosity & Humility -- They must be equally balanced.  Speaking up - "If you are speaking up with the expectation of a specific outcome, you will always be disapointed. Period. That may be part of the problem. But if speaking up is about contributing and pushing the conversation forward, you're sort of lowering the expecation of the outcome. So I have very low expectation on the impact I make, but I don't expect one hand raise or one memo to change the world. But I do believe in participation." As a first time vice president at Hooters, Kat was 26 years old. She's at the table and every one of her peers was in their 50's. They had been in business longer than she had been alive. Kat's "Hot Shot Rule." The Hotshot Rule is the act of thinking of someone Kat admires, then pausing, reflecting, and asking what they would do in her situation/shoes/role, then answering what that one thing is and acting on it. The answer tends to appear quickly because it seems to be clear when you think about it through someone else's lens. That alone doesn’t create change - the trick is taking action on it right away and then telling someone - the person it benefits, the person you envisioned who inspired you, or just someone you know will appreciate the change you’ve made. "Every time I tell my team, husband, or friend about the one thing I’ve done differently after the exercise, they say, 'What took you so long?' Or 'Finally!'" Kat's Monthly Reflection Questions: What has been the best part of the last 30 days? What has been the worst part of the last 30 days? Tell me one thing that I can do differently to be a better partner/teammate? What has worried you the most in the last 30 days? What is one thing you are most proud of in the last 30 days? What have you been most grateful for?
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." You along with 10's of thousands of other Learning Leaders will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Chandler Bolt is an investor, advisor, the CEO of Self-Publishing School & SelfPublishing.com, and the author of 6 bestselling books including his most recent book titled “Published.”. Self Publishing School is an INC 5000 company the last 3 years in a row as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the US. He's currently spending his time scaling Self Publishing School, a company he's built from 0 to $20M+ in 5.5 years.  Notes: Thinking of your topic – What are the broken record conversations you continue to have? What questions do others ask you on a regular basis? The market will help you understand where you add value… Hiring others-- An hour is an hour. A simple metric… Your take-home pay is divided by 2,080. That is your hourly rate. Hire others to do work if it’s cheaper than your hourly rate. This is hard to do but appears to be a wise investment long term The 4 P’s of writing – Person, pain, promise, price. Write to one person… just like you’re responding to an email. "A book is a $15 mentor" Writing process: Mind map Outline Rough draft "People who pay, pay attention." "Go from I want to, to I am doing it." The root word of authority is author Revenue = Vanity Profit = Sanity Cash = King Designing the life you want first... Michael Hyatt has helped him schedule his time off first. “Valuing freedom above all else; entrepreneurs work harder to create future freedom, which directly takes away from their freedom in the present.” “The truth is, you'll never "find the time" to write a book. You have to make it.” “Don’t be the person who misses out on opportunities in life because you take too long to accomplish your work tasks. Be the kind of person other people marvel at. Be the kind of person other people see and say, “I don’t know how they do it.” Be the kind of person who takes action and does so immediately.” Get a free copy of his new book, go to www.PublishedBook.com/Hawk
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Receive a carefully curated email each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of 15 books including Leadership B.S.: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time; Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t; The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management.  Notes: “The two fundamental dimensions that distinguish people who rise to great heights and accomplish amazing things are will, the drive to take on big challenges, and skill, the capabilities required to turn ambition into accomplishment. The three personal qualities embodied are ambition, energy, and focus. The four skills useful in acquiring power are self-knowledge and a reflective mindset, confidence and the ability to project self-assurance, the ability to read others and empathize with their point of view, and a capacity to tolerate conflict.” “Being memorable equals getting picked.” “Measuring the wrong thing is often worse than measuring nothing because you do get what you measure." “People are seduced by and attracted to narcissists and despots and wind up voting for or working for them, frequently with bad outcomes." Break the rules — in one test, the rule breaker dropped cigarette ashes on the floor and spoke rudely to the waiter. That person was perceived to be 29% more powerful than the person who was more polite. “I completely reject the idea that working adults need to be treated like infants or worse and not told the realities, harsh or not, about the world of work.” Build a powerful brand — in late 2020, Laura Chau was promoted to partner at Canaan Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm. She started a podcast. It gave her the opportunity to ask women who were very senior in their careers to talk for an hour… she expanded her network. Her own status was enhanced through her association with high-status people. Then she started writing and publishing her work. This attracted people to her. A brand needs coherence. Have a narrative and tell it repeatedly. Love: "Kathleen, whom I met at a party in the Green Room of the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco on January 19, 1985, and married on July 23, 1986. As she would say, no algorithm would have matched us." “To the amazing Kathleen, the love of my life, whose death left a hole in my heart and soul.” The 7 rules of Power are: 1)     Get out of your own way. 2)     Break the rules. 3)     Show up in a powerful fashion. 4)     Create a powerful brand. 5)     Network relentlessly. 6)     Use your power. 7)     Understand that once you have acquired power, what you did to get it will be forgiven, forgotten, or both.
Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. You, along with 10's of thousands of learning leaders from all over the world will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday Morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ed Mylett is a globally recognized entrepreneur, coach, and speaker. He started in the financial services industry, eventually earning a spot on the Forbes 50 Wealthiest Under 50 List. Since then, he has spearheaded a range of ventures, spanning technology, real estate, health, nutrition, and more. Ed is the best-selling author of #MaxOut Your Life, and the new book The Power of One More. He has grown his online audience to more than 3 million followers in just four years. Ed also regularly inspires audiences ranging from small gatherings to mega-venues of 50,000+ attendees, and online audiences in the hundreds of thousands.  Notes: Self-confidence is about keeping promises to yourself. And surrounding yourself with people who live at a higher temperature. You become what they are. You think differently, act differently, and will achieve different results based on your inner circle. "Link your confidence to your intention." Excellence = high standards. People who sustain excellence expect more from themselves. They’re prepared for big moments. Their habits, routines, and rituals enable them to perform at a high level each day. And they keep raising their standards. Isn’t that the type of person we want to be? Definition of leadership – “As I define it, you are a One More leader if you help people do things they would not otherwise accomplish without your presence.” - Ed Mylett The six basic needs that drive people: Certainty, Uncertainty and Variety, Significance, Love & Connection, Growth, and Contribution. Many people think they’ve got to make several huge changes to improve their lives and achieve their goals. This common misconception works as a barrier instead of a motivator.  And as a result, people never start making changes, or quickly give up, never fulfilling their potential. The One More philosophy is built on two main premises. First, you don’t need to make dozens of big changes to achieve significant growth or change. Often, important changes take place as the result of doing one more thing. Second, the One More philosophy is about combining thinking and doing. We often do one or the other and assume that’s enough. But it’s not until you combine those two that you’ll start to see profound changes in your life. "My dad was an alcoholic when I was young. It wasn’t until my mom gave him a One More ultimatum that he got sober. For the last 35 years of his life, he devoted himself to helping others with alcohol addiction, almost until the day he died, making the most of the One More chance he’d been given.  He passed away a little over a year ago, and his death was also a reminder to reach out and spend as much time as you can with the people you love because if you don’t, you’ll regret not having one last One More with that person when they’re gone." The questions you ask yourself directly reflect what you think about. When you don’t think about the right things, you’ll ask yourself questions that don’t advance the quality of your life. Better questions lead to better answers, and better answers lead to a better life. Asking tough questions can be uncomfortable but doing so eventually leads you to the best answers although they may be difficult for you to address. Facing these answers empowers you to remove roadblocks that have been holding you back from your best One More life. Goals & Standards - Many people often confuse goals and standards, thinking they’re the same thing. They are not! Although goals are important, standards determine whether you’ll reach your goals or not. The proper standards create a framework that feeds into your efforts, mindset, and what you’re willing to tolerate. You can control these parts of your life while goals are often at the mercy of external forces. The role Ed plays: Identify your own gifts and the gifts others possess. Link the work that needs to be done to those gifts. Henry Ford - People need to feel loved, and cared for, and that you believe in them. They can grow into roles. How to help powerful people? They want clarity, specificity, and laser focus. Become evangelical about your mission. The mission is what you stand for and against. What is going through Ed's mind the few minutes before he gives a keynote speech? He prays. He focuses on the audience and their needs. It's about them. They need to feel his intent. Energy - "The highest energy person wins." Sustained excellence: High standards Preparation Habits and rituals Why do all of this? Ed is motivated to have high standards to "catch the guy I was capable of being."
Text Hawk to 66866 for Mindful Monday... A carefully curated email sent to you every Monday to help you start your week right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jimmy Soni is an award-winning author. His book, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age, won the 2017 Neumann Prize, awarded by the British Society for the History of Mathematics for the best book on the history of mathematics for a general audience, and the Middleton Prize by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His book, Jane’s Carousel, completed with the late Jane Walentas, captured one woman’s remarkable twenty-five-year journey to restore a beloved carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Jimmy's most recent book is called, The Founders - The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.  Notes: “Your life will be shaped by the things you create, and the people you make them with. We tend to sweat the former. We don't worry enough about the latter." The founders and earliest employees of PayPal pushed and prodded and demanded better of one another. Instead of "Acknowledgements" to end his book, Jimmy titled the section "Debts" "A debt is deeper than an Acknowledgement." Envy the optimist, not the genius. There’s real power in optimism. The world is built by optimists. Look for the silver things. Have belief. Be the type of person that believes in themselves and others… Optimism builds confidence in yourself and others. Be an optimist. Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan – The fact that Phil told the best player in the world… “We aren’t going to win a championship if you keep playing that way. You have to buy into the triangle offense.” It shows the value of a friend (or a coach) telling you the truth in order to help you (and the team) get better. "Walter Isaacson made me believe in its (the book) importance and potential. At the very end, he provided the kind of advice that can only come from someone who has spent years laboring in the same fields. Peter Thiel refined Max Levchin's thinking... He made him better. Ask, "Have you thought about it this way?" Watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi Kobe Bryant was an incredible learning machine. His insatiable curiosity made him better. You can become curious about anything. Mr. Beast spent hours every day on Skype with his friends talking about how to grow a YouTube channel. We live in a moment were you can connect with others who are passionate about the same topics you are. With the internet, you can connect with anyone. Qualities of the leaders who created PayPal: It was so hard. They all experienced failure and bounced back. Highly intelligent. Hard-working. They worked 7 days a week. There was no work-life balance. They weren't just resilient, they were fast-moving. Life Advice: What looks like expertise on the outside is generally messiness on the inside. Leadership in Solitude. There are benefits to spending some time by yourself. Ask – The people who make things happen are willing to ASK. Steve Jobs to Bill Hewlitt. Elon Musk to Dr. Peter Nicholson. Those "asks" changed the trajectory of their lives. Who knows, maybe your next ASK will change yours… Claude Shannon, Bell Laboratories, renowned as an incredible hub of innovation…  whose work in the 1930s and ’40s earned him the title of “father of the information age.” Geniuses have a unique way of engaging with the world, and if you spend enough time examining their habits, you discover the behaviors behind their brilliance.
Text Hawk to 66866 to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Steve Magness is a world-renowned expert on performance, co-author of Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success and The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life, and the author of The Science of Running: How to Find Your Limit and Train to Maximize Your Performance. His new book is called Do Hard Things. Notes: “The best aren’t concerned with being the best. They’re concerned with being the best at getting better.” Confidence: Confidence needs evidence. Acting with bravado we haven't earned only works on easy things. It backfires on anything truly challenging. Doing difficult things, even if you don't quite succeed at them, is how you develop real confidence. How do you find a good mentor? Do interesting things. Be open to learning and guidance. Be motivated, driven, and curious about something. Put your ego aside. Do good, quality work. The difference between real and fake toughness. Fake toughness is easy to identify. It’s Bobby Knight losing control and throwing tantrums in the name of “discipline.” It’s the appearance of power without substance behind it. Researchers out of Eastern Washington set out to explore the relationship between leadership style and the development of toughness. After conducting research on nearly two hundred basketball players and their coaches, they concluded, “The results of this study seem to suggest that the ‘keys’ to promoting mental toughness do not lie in this autocratic, authoritarian, or oppressive style. It appears to lie, paradoxically, with the coach’s ability to produce an environment, which emphasizes trust and inclusion, humility, and service. Sustained Excellence: Observation: the people who sustain success over the long haul are rarely shooting for success. They are focused on the path. Their goal is mastery, which knows no end. What characteristics do the best performers have? Don't get tired of the boring stuff Masters of compartmentalization Can flip the switch Know how to lose well Cultivate perspective Delayed gratification Drive from within Creating an enemy: Whenever an organization, group, or individual works hard to create an enemy to pit their idea/group against, it's a sign you probably shouldn't listen. Us vs. Them is the easiest way to exploit human nature, to get people on your side. It often means there's no substance there. The best way to get the most out of someone is to make them feel secure enough that they can take risks and fail. Most of us don't reach our potential because we default to protective mode. Threatening & demanding makes us protect further. Security and belonging frees us up. “Growth comes at the point of resistance. Skills come from struggle.” “The fact is that often coaches figure out what works in training and then the scientists come in later and explain why it works.” What can we learn about success and performance from Eliud Kipchoge? He is not fanatical about trying to be great all the time. He is consistent & patient. His coach says that the secret is that he makes progress “slowly by slowly.” Motivation + Discipline = Consistency He told The NY Times, "He estimates that he seldom pushes himself past 80 percent — 90 percent, tops — of his maximum effort when he circles the track." "I have a mindset whereby I am a human being. I am walking around as a human being. I learn to perform well at the same time being grounded. And I trust that being humble and being on the ground is the only way to concentrate" "You cannot train alone and expect to run a fast time. There is a formula: 100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the whole team. And that’s teamwork. That’s what I value." “To be precise, I am just going to try to run my personal best. If it comes as a world record, I would appreciate it. But I would treat it as a personal best.”
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." It's a carefully curated email to help you start your work off on a high note. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code, which was named Best Business Book of the Year by Bloomberg, BookPal, and Business Insider. Coyle has served as an advisor to many high-performing organizations, including the Navy SEALs, Microsoft, Google, and the Cleveland Guardians. His other books include The Talent Code, The Secret Race, The Little Book of Talent, and Hardball: A Season in the Projects, which was made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves. Coyle was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and now lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during the school year and in Homer, Alaska, during the summer with his wife Jenny, and their four children. Notes: Purpose isn’t about tapping into some mystical internal drive but rather about creating simple beacons that focus attention and engagement on the shared goal. Successful cultures do this by relentlessly seeking ways to tell and retell their story. To do this, they build what you call “high-purpose environments.” High-purpose environments are filled with small, vivid signals designed to create a link between the present moment and a future ideal. They provide 2 simple locators that every navigation process requires: Here is where we are and Here is where we want to go. "The world we live in is a learning contest." Deep fun = Solving hard problems with people you admire. Schedule regular team “tune-ups” to place an explicit spotlight on the team’s inner workings and create conversations that surface and improve team dynamics Foster strong culture in remote working scenarios. It doesn’t take much physical togetherness to build strong teams. Encourage remote teams meet up in person twice a year Create belonging: every group knows diversity, equity, and inclusion matter, but what separates strong cultures is they aim to create belonging across racial lines. Ex: normalize uncomfortable conversations; read, watch, reflect together; gather data and share it • Build Trust. Ask the magic-wand question to each member of your team: if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the way we work, what would it be? Connect. Hold an anxiety party to serve as a pressure-relief valve, as well as a platform for people to connect and solve problems together. Change perspective. Have a once-a-week catch-up session with someone outside of your group. Make it safe to talk about mistakes: Strong cultures seek to highlight and remember their mistakes and learn from them • Listen. Listening to others’ problems is one of the most powerful culture-building skills on the planet. It’s also difficult. Restrain yourself from jumping in, listen, then say: Tell me more. Embrace the After-Action Review (or as the military calls it, the AAR): Talking together about the strengths and weaknesses of your performance will make your group better. The Billion Dollar Day When Nothing Happened – “These Ads Suck." That was the note that Larry Page wrote and hung up about Google Ad Words. What did Jeff Dean, a quiet, skinny engineer from Minnesota, do to make the ads not suck? He had no immediate need to fix the problem. He worked in Search (a different area of the company. And how did Jeff Dean respond when he was asked about it years later (he said he didn’t even really remember it. It was just normal to do stuff like that)... There is a misconception that great cultures are places that are always happy. Doing great work is hard. The way we build great cultures is by doing hard things together focused on connection and safety. Life/Career advice: Think of your life in experiments and the learning loop. It is Experience + Reflection. Experience + Reflection. WRITE DOWN WHAT you’ve learned from your experiences. Writing creates clarity of thought. Amy Edmondson researched Chelsea and Mountain Medical – What made them a success? The answer lay in patterns of real-time signals through which the team members were connected. There were 5 things: Framing - They conceptualized MICS as a learning experience that would benefit patients and the hospital. Unsuccessful teams viewed it as an add-on to existing practices. Roles - Role clarity. Being told explicitly by the team leader why their individual and collective skills were important for the team’s success Rehearsal - Practice a lot Explicit encouragement to speak up Active reflection - Between surgeries, successful teams went over their performance
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." A carefully curated email sent each Monday morning to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jim Weber joined Brooks Running Company as CEO in 2001 and is credited for the Seattle-based running company’s aggressive turnaround story. The business and brand success caught the attention of Warren Buffett, who declared Brooks a standalone subsidiary company of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2012. He’s the author of a new book called, “Running With Purpose, How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to lead the pack.” Notes: A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture. It is a choice, not an outcome. The secret to success is “constancy of purpose” - Instead of a mission statement, Jim decided that a purpose was preferable to a mission. A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture. The riskiest path is to look like your competitors. You can't just chase trends. They have distinct points of view: Focus Excellence in execution Trust: Charlie Munger has often spoken about the “seamless web of deserved trust” as a life pursuit. The Berkshire culture is built on trust Brooks is completely empowered Brooks is completely accountable There are no required meetings People choose to self-select into it "You're an outcome of your journey." What Jim looks for when hiring a leader: Competitive Culture driven - "Cultures are behaviors in action." Likes being part of a team Functional excellence Values: Word is bond Be active Authenticity The process Jim has in place to continue learning: He was involved in YPO in the early years His wife Mary Ellen A board of advisors - It's 6 former CEOs The one-page strategy that you relentlessly message to your team – Jim made the decision to walk away from non-premium running to concentrate on performance-running, eliminating 50% of his product line and 40% of his retail partnerships. He didn’t try to be all things to all people. Expectations and Messaging: After becoming CEO, Jim lowered revenue and profit projections so that he could establish some credibility by hitting his numbers. He brought in a new CFO, David Bohan… He shared a one-page strategy and told everyone they would get sick of you repeating it.
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." A carefully curated email you'll receive each Monday to help you start your week off right. Full shownotes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Vanessa Van Edwards is the Lead Investigator at Science of People. She is the bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, translated into 16 languages. More than 50 million people watch her engaging YouTube tutorials and TEDx Talk. Vanessa works with entrepreneurs, growing businesses, and trillion-dollar companies; and has been featured on CNN, BBC, CBS Mornings, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Today Show, and many more. Her latest book is called Cues: Master The Secret Language of Charismatic Communication. Notes: Cues - It’s about warmth and competence. Can I trust you? Can I rely on you? – How are you showing others warmth and competence? Dr. Kofi Essel - His non-verbal protocol for warmth: Fronting - He angles his toes, torso, and head towards the person. Be in alignment with the patient. Non-Verbal bridges - Slowly warm someone up. Lean in. In your 1 on 1 meetings, remove all barriers between you and the person. Show them 100% focus. If you see someone gazing over your head, look where they’re looking. It will help make them aware of what they're doing. Question Inflection - From the Ring founder when he pitched on Shark Tank. This is something that a lot of us mess up. When stating a fact, SAY IT, don’t ask it. The 4 modes of communication: Nonverbal Verbal - Syntax Vocal Imagery Touch – A group of researchers at UC Berkeley watched the first 3 games of the NBA finals in the 2008-2009 season and counted every single time players were seen touching on camera. They found the team that touched the most, won the most games.    Touches = higher trust Speed dating research – Followed 144-speed dates and found that postural expansiveness was the most romantically appealing trait. Participants who took up more space were 76% more likely to be chosen for future dates. Want to show someone they matter? That you’re listening? Turning toward is tuning in. Zoom Calls – How do we best approach them? - Look into the camera so the other person feels you are looking them in the eye. Disney teaches all of their employees (from janitors to princesses) specific nonverbal cues to use with guests. And they all embody the pinnacle of warmth… “Being a highlighter is about constantly searching for the good in people. When you tell people they are good, they become better. When you search for what’s good, you feel great.” “When you try to be the same as everyone else, it’s boring. When you try to fit into a mold, you become forgettable. When you try to be “normal,” you become dull. Just be yourself, because no one is like you. If you’re a little weird, own it. The right people will like you for it.” “Vulnerability is sexy—it shows we are relatable, honest, and real. That is attractive. And the science proves it: “A blunder tends to humanize him and, consequently, increases his attractiveness.” “Humans are purpose-driven creatures. We want to believe there are reasons behind everything we do. Before leaders can inspire action, they have to get emotional buy-in. When we explain the motivations behind a goal, it allows listeners to feel partial ownership of that goal.”
Text Hawk to 66866 to join tens of thousands of others who subscribe to "Mindful Monday" -- A carefully curated email to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Marcus Buckingham is best selling author of 10 books, including his international hit, “First, Break All The Rules,” He’s been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, The Today Show, and by Oprah. Marcus spent two decades studying excellence at the Gallup Organization and co-creating the StrengthsFinder tool. His latest book is called Love + Work. Notes: “When you see someone do something with excellence, there is always love in it– loveless excellence is an oxymoron.” Fear versus Love – “The evolutionary purpose of fear is to narrow your focus to a few clear choices, fight or flight, the point of love is to create in you such feelings of safety and connection that you broaden your outlook and build your strengths.” If you're feeling fear, there's something you're passionate about Excellence = They take their love seriously They are confident that their love is worth paying attention to They are vivid in what they're drawn to Consistent They value mastery "We aren't short on time, but on energy." How Marcus would design a school: Teach self-awareness and self-mastery curriculum Get rid of the SAT, ACT, and GPA Your fullest life is one where your loves and your work flow in an infinite loop. The energy of the one fuels the energy of the other. Thus, the only way you’ll make a lasting contribution in life is to deeply understand what it is that you love. Goals: “Goals are tricky. They are one of the most common characteristics of your working world, and yet they’re also one of the least loving. They don’t have to be loveless.”  The Red Thread questionnaire. It’s full of “When was the last time…” questions: “You lost track of time…” “You surprised yourself by how well you did…” “you found yourself actively looking forward to work…” Never brag – Don’t say, “I’m the best.” Instead say, “I”m at my best when…” And “You can rely on me for…” Marcus shared how he responded to his ex-wife being involved in the college admission scandal where she offered large sums of cash for their kids to get into USC
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" - A carefully curated email with the most useful leadership ideas of the week Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Liz Fosslien is the co-author and illustrator of the book Big Feelings and the Wall Street Journal best-seller No Hard Feelings. Liz is an expert on how to make work better. She regularly leads interactive, scientifically-backed workshops about how to build resilience, help remote workers avoid burnout, and effectively harness emotion as a leader. Her work has been featured by TED, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Economist, and NPR. Ask yourself… When you look back at your career and think of your best boss and your worst boss… What behaviors did each of them have? How can we embody more of the best boss behavior? Set up a regular cadence of not-urgent, developmental meetings with the people you’re leading. Show them and prove to them how much you care about them and their career. What have you enjoyed most? What have you not enjoyed? What have you learned? What do you want for your next job? Use envy to reveal what you value. But remember, ask yourself if you’d want that person’s entire life. Not just the cool part you see on Instagram. The Gretchen Rubin story of feeling envy over seeing someone else publish a book. She used that as fuel. Anger is a signal that something occurred that you didn't like. Acknowledge what you're feeling. She met her co-author, Molly West Duffy, on a blind friend date! How to deal with uncertainty? Over-communicate - Be transparent Switch from "I need to have this all figured out" to "I'm a person learning to become a manager" Pixar recruited animators that were frustrated at their current place of work... Liz's research process: Read a lot Talk with academics Learn from practitioners who are applying it Work-life balance? It's well-intentioned... but a very individual thing Some people are segmenters Some people are integrators... They like to mix work with friends Both are okay... Goal setting: There are long term and short term goals Liz chooses to abandon long term goals to live the life she wants to live She enjoys creative time on the weekends Short-term goals... What's going to make an impact? Top 5 priorities - "You have to run into the spike" Career/Life advice: DO something. Do the work. Take action See everything as a learning experience... Think, "What can I learn from this?" Liz once worked at a Starbucks and learned a lot about hospitality from it Create an emotional experience
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" - A highly curated email to help you start your week off with intellectual curiosity, rigor, and thoughtfulness Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 "We are wired for laziness. It takes conscious thought to do the harder thing." What Micheal learned from The Pope... If you have a question, go directly to the source. The science-backed ways to slow down time? Learn and do new things. Get off "auto-pilot" mode. Benefits of thinking about death? Michael learned in Bhutan why we should think about death... In the United States, we rarely think about death—especially our own death. And when we do, it tends to make us sad and uncomfortable. But there are powerful benefits to regularly contemplating the fact that our time in this world will eventually come to an end. The shift in perspective can be profound and lead to a kind of deeply felt and enduring appreciation for life. Michael's love for his mom: "My mom got sober when my dad was in rehab. That's how my favorite story I've ever written starts. It's about my mom, a single parent who taught me everything I need to know about being a man. As I was writing that story five years ago, my mom was battling cancer. She'd just finished chemotherapy and was undergoing radiation. Doctors officially deemed my mom "cured" from cancer. In the story I wrote, "Have you ever played tug-of-war with a pit bull? It’ll pull until you quit or it dies. That’s Lynda Easter." How Michael dealt with alcohol - “I saw a choice. Option 1, do nothing. Cling to complacency and the numbing lifestyle that would ultimately end badly but allow me to keep drinking. Or option 2. Get uncomfortable. Ditch my liquid comfort blanket. I hadn’t a clue where this second option would take me or if I could even pull it off. And I was terrified.” Take The Stairs: A mantra I try to live by when traveling – “Take the stairs.” When there is an escalator and stairs, always take the stairs. If you’re fortunate enough to have legs that work, then take the stairs. Be a 2 percenter… 98% of people take the escalator at the airport. Take the stairs. Exercise: Exercise grows the hippocampus in the brain. This is something that is shrunken in people who suffer from depression. We exercise 14 times less than our ancestors. "We've engineered movement out of our lives." Michael traveled 30,000 miles around the world, met with experts ranging from Harvard researchers and Icelandic geneticists to Buddhist Lamas and Special Forces soldiers, and also spent more than a month in the remote Alaskan backcountry. "Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild." "If you want to improve your life, you have to go through discomfort." The benefits of boredom - Michael spent time in the Arctic on a hunt. It's very boring to sit on the hills for hours. But, boredom created ideas. It's evolutionary discomfort. In those boring times, Michael thought about ideas and wrote chapters of his book. "Your life is a culmination of that which you are aware of." - William James Go out in nature. Take walks.
Text Hawk to 66866 for Mindful Monday Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Polina Pompliano is studying the world's most interesting people & companies. She is the Founder & Author of The Profile. Polina is a former writer at  Fortune. Some of the people she’s written a profile on are: Martha Stewart, Keanu Reeves, and The Rock. I am a paid subscriber and love her work. Notes: Sustained excellence comes from being obsessively curious about what you do… And knowing that failure is part of the process. It’s how you choose to respond that matters. Examples: Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Martha Stewart. The advice she received from David Perell (also a previous podcast guest). He said, “Everything you put into the world is a vehicle for serendipity.” Polina wrote a profile on The Rock. She had no idea he would share it four times on all platforms. Create your own personal board of advisors. Listen to criticism, but only from people who want you to win. Only from people who care about you doing well. Not from trolls online. "Consistency is the best way to earn trust. – Name a relationship in your life where you trust someone who is inconsistent. You can’t. That’s because we don’t trust people — whether it’s in work, business, or relationships — who constantly break their promises. Since I started The Profile three years ago, I have never missed a single week." Criticism: "I once heard Kat Cole say that one of the biggest lessons she has learned after years of business experience is to put your ego aside and improve from criticism. She said, “Anytime you’re criticized, assume first that it’s correct.” The act of simply considering that a fraction of the criticism may be accurate will keep you learning, unlearning, fixing, and ultimately, gaining respect." How to Find Ideas: "It’s about being obsessed with the details. A great idea typically masquerades as a question in a friend’s text message, a quote in a documentary, a line in a book, or an observation on a walk." Creativity: "I can't get new ideas staring at a blank page. Creativity, for me, requires motion. When you go on a walk, you can turn your world into an idea-generating sensorium, and ideas will spring up from the most unlikely sources. There is one thing that's absolutely certain about creativity: It's an active process, not a passive one. The best ideas come when you become curious, aware, interested." Daniel Ek – Makers schedule versus a Managers schedule. This is from Paul Graham. I wrote it about it in my first book, Welcome to Management. Marriage: "In 2013, I asked my great-grandmother what she had learned from 53 years of marriage. She said, “When you’re young and beautiful like we were, falling in love is easy. But you have to fall in love with someone’s soul — because you will get old, but the soul will never change.”" "I don’t like to gamble, but if there is one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.” - Beyonce How to attract more luck into your life? – Written by George Mack (published by Polina) Avoid Boring People Have a luck razor Have a Poker mindset Polina desires to help you "improve your content diet." Instead of binging TV shows and scrolling through random social media, read The Profile. How to be more creative: Take a walk Allow room for serendipity Look at the footnotes of books What Polina learned from James Clear: When he doesn't read enough, he doesn't have the ideas to write about. Reading helps generate ideas. Have a stack of books everywhere in your house and office. Why leaders should write? It creates clarity of thought. "I can tell that you're thinking is sloppy if your writing is sloppy." Every single word of a post matters. It's about being precise. Precision is so important when it comes to writing. You have to clearly think it through to create precision with thought and writing. Storytelling - Get rid of the generic, fluffy writing. People enjoy profiles because it takes you inside the mind of a person. Life/Career advice: Don't tie your identity to something that can be taken away from you.
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brady Quinn set 36 records at The University of Notre Dame.  He graduated from Notre Dame as one of their greatest football players ever. Along with the likes of Joe Montana, Tony Rice, and Rocket Ismail… He was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in the 2007 NFL Draft.  He currently serves as one of the main analysts on Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” on FS1. He's one of the only people broadcasting both collegiate and NFL games. Now, he’s on the radio every morning:  "2 Pros and a Cup of Joe" show he hosts with LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knox. AJ Hawk is the all-time leading tackler in Green Bay Packers history. He won a National Championship at Ohio State University and was voted captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team in the 2010-2011 season. He was inducted into the Ohio State University Hall of Fame in 2019. Currently, he is a co-host on The Pat McAfee Show which airs weekdays on YouTube. Notes: Playing quarterback: “You can find the intangibles of being a quarterback in almost every profession in the world. There’s nothing like it.” – Brady Quinn You must be efficient and effective as a communicator. You have to prepare for all of the "what if" scenarios - "Have a plan, work the plan, plan for the unexpected." You have to be a great listener You need to be curious to ask the right questions "The quarterback runs the show. They need to be the person that you can go to when there are problems." - AJ Why has AJ resonated with viewers on The Pat McAfee Show: "You're relatable. People liked you for being a Super Bowl-winning linebacker, but they didn't know you then. They get to know you now on your show and they see that you're like them. They can relate to you." - Brady Dad Life - "Discipline is love. Do the hard thing. Don't take the easy way out." - Brady The Fiesta Bowl - AJ (the All-American linebacker from Ohio State) vs. Brady (the All-American Quarterback from Notre Dame) High-pressure situations: Must be prepared so you can let your instincts take over Need to learn from past failures to improve the next time Must work on the little things every day so they become ingrained habits The Draft - Your ultimate golf group. You can choose any person Brady: Chopper Quinn (Brady's dad) Elon Musk Chris Farley Tiger Woods Will Ferrell Ryan: George Washington Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Eddie Vedder Kobe Bryant Steve Carell AJ: Samuel L. Jackson Sean Casey Charles Barkley Tom Cruise Pierro Manzoni
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Max Lugavere is the author of the New York Times best-seller Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life. He appears regularly on the Dr. Oz Show, the Rachael Ray Show, and The Doctors. His latest book is called Genius Kitchen - Over 100 Easy & Delicious Recipes to make your brain sharp, body strong, and taste buds happy. "A healthy person has 100 wishes. A sick person has 1." This subject became personal for Max when his mother, Kathy, was given a diagnosis of dementia, and he devoted himself to her care. She died in 2018. “Now that Mom is gone, I am even more obsessed with the topic.” Shop in the perimeter of the supermarket. Reach for nutrient-dense foods. Lifestyle changes that will 10x the quality of your life: Getting 8-9 hours of sleep instead of 4-6 Eating more animal protein (especially beef and eggs) Less cardio, more strength training Regular heat (sauna) and cold (ice bath/cold shower) stress Daily sunlight Intermittent fasting – instead of eating 16 hours a day, eat 8. Drinking caffeine is “taking a loan out on energy from later in the day?” – Cortisol peaks in the AM. Wait 45 minutes after you wake up to drink caffeine. Stop drinking caffeine from time to time so that your body can reset. Willpower is a finite resource. Create your environment to make good decisions. Whole Foods - 3 Things to think about: Protein - #1 satiating piece. Greek yogurt, beef jerky, eggs Fiber - It stretches out your stomach. Helps fill you up. Greens, broccoli, whole fruit. Water - Get hydrated. Supplements - Protein shakes. Whey isolate. He uses muscle feast. Most bread is not useful. It's ultra-processed food. Alcohol - Most wine has a lot of sugar. Most alcohol does. Max drinks tequila. Wake up, hydrate... "I’m up somewhere between 7 and 8. I don’t use an alarm clock. I go straight into the kitchen and drink a tall glass of room-temperature water. I may sprinkle a bit of mineral salt in it which replenishes electrolytes." Light... Air... "Whether it’s winter or summer, I go out onto my terrace and do a few minutes of deep breathing, stretching, and meditation. I’m a big believer in getting in natural light in the morning because it aligns my circadian rhythm for the day.
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and ten other bestselling thrillers. He also writes non-fiction books like The First Conspiracy, about a secret plot to kill George Washington – and the Ordinary People Change the World kids book series. His newest thriller, The Escape Artist, debuted at #1 on the bestseller list. Brad is also responsible for helping find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero, making national news on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Former President George H.W. Bush also gave Brad, for the very first time, the secret letter he left for President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office desk. If you need a good cry, read this story about Brad reading to President Bush before he died. The Hollywood Reporter put him on their list of the 25 Most Powerful Authors, and he’s been asked to serve as a member of the America250 Council, to celebrate the upcoming 250th birthday of the country. Notes: “Stories aren’t the beauty of what did happen. They’re the beauty of what could happen.” “For me, Superman's greatest contribution has never been the superhero part: it's the Clark Kent part - the idea that any of us, in all our ordinariness, can change the world.” The 3 things he tells his kids each night when he tucks them into bed: Dream Big - Young people have the biggest and best dreams. Work Hard - Your first book got 24 rejection letters. And in your TED Talk, you share the story of your Dad and how hard he worked (maybe open with this?). When you were writing your 9th book, your book of heroes for your soon. A story about The Wright Brothers… Every time The Wright Brothers would go out to fly their plane, they would bring enough extra materials for multiple crashes. Every time they went out, they knew they would fail. And they would crash and rebuild, and crash and rebuild. And that’s why they took off. Stay Humble - Noone likes a jerk. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he never took credit for it. It was announced when he died and it was in his obituary. All history ever is, is a bunch of stories. How to change history, all you have to do is write your story. History is a selection process. It chooses every single one of us, every single day. You will change history. “Brad’s meticulous research and interviews with top-level government sources — including U.S. Presidents — fill each page with authenticity and make his characters come alive.” His belief is that ordinary people change the world. It is that core belief that runs through every one of his projects. How to respond from rejection? Brad’s first book was rejected 24 times… And then later that book went on to become a bestseller. As a culture, we're starving for heroes “We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day.” “There's nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.” “In this world, there was nothing scarier than trusting someone. But there was also nothing more rewarding.” “No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.” “The worst lies in life are the ones we tell ourselves.” From Brad's book to his daughter: “As your father, my instinct is to protect you ... Other people will want to protect you too. But remember that you are not a damsel in distress, waiting for some prince to rescue you. Forget the prince. With your brain and your resourcefulness, you can rescue yourself.” “You need to understand something... In this world, we're not humans having a divine experience. We're divine beings having a human experience.”
Text HAWK to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jane McGonigal, PhD is a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games — or, games that are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems. She believes game designers are on a humanitarian mission — and her #1 goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize. She is a two-time New York Times bestselling author: Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully. Her TED talks on how games can make a better world and the game that can give you 10 extra years of life, are among the all-time most popular TED talks, and have more than 15 million views. Jane dedicates this book to her sister Kelly... "who lives six minutes in the future." They are twins. "It's so helpful having her. If she can achieve something (TED Talks, Books), I could do it too." Being able to predict the future is not enough. You have to be bale to pre-feel it. Write down your long term plans. "Talk about a world you want to wake up in." "Any useful idea about the future should sound rediculous initially." "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." How to think like a futurist? In the corporate world... Carve out a role for yourself to fight short-terminism. Fight short term thinking. Play the long game. Create future planning habits in your organization. Dare to daydream. Take ownership - Create moments of joy... Be of service to others. A 30 second practical activity: Imagine 10 years from now... Where are you? What woke you up? Who are you with? The 3 questions to give you a baseline sense of your “future mindset” When you think about the next 10 years, do you think things will mostly stay the same and go on as normal? Or do you expect that most of us will dramatically rethink and reinvent how we do things? When you think about how the world and your life will change over the next 10 years, are you mostly worried or mostly optimistic? How much control or influence do you feel you personally have in determining how the world and your life change over the next 10 years? How to predict the future? Unstick your mind Think The Unthinkable Imagine the Unimaginable Imaginable - How to see the future coming and feel ready for anything– even things that seem impossible today One of the issues that cause depression is it doesn’t allow you to imagine a future. For us as leaders, we need to be able to imagine a positive future for ourselves and our team. Be a spotlight for other people’s good ideas. Bring attention to it. Be known as someone who spreads positive gossip Living in the present. Giannis – "When you focus on the past, that's your ego... And when I focus on the future it's my pride... And I kind of like to focus in the moment, in the present. And that's humility. That's being humble."
Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Josh Peck is an actor, comedian, author, entrepreneur, and YouTuber. He began his career as a child actor in the late 1990s and early 2000s and had an early role on The Amanda Show from 2000 to 2002. Josh rose to prominence for his role as Josh Nichols alongside Drake Bell's character in the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh. Josh Peck provided the voice of Eddie in the Ice Age franchise since Ice Age: The Meltdown and voiced Casey Jones in the Nickelodeon animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also starred with John Stamos in the Fox comedy series Grandfathered. In 2017, Josh started a comedic lifestyle YouTube channel, Shua Vlogs, featuring his wife Paige O'Brien, David Dobrik, and many of the vlogsquad members. His new book is called Happy People Are Annoying. Notes: "Do good things and don't get caught doing them." Be of service to others. It seems when we focus on doing good things, good things seem to happen. When Josh was 8 years old, he felt powerless, insecure, and uncomfortable. He was having a family dinner during the holidays... He decided to commit fully to telling a joke. And he earned his first real laugh from his family. At that moment he said, "I decided what I wanted to do with my life." He became a stand-up comedian and eventually an actor. "Laughing is uncontrollable. It's so honest." How to add humor to your business meetings? "The only thing more compelling than a joke is honest vulnerability. Being willing to call yourself. Be human." That vulnerability will bring people closer to you. The power of listening: It helps you constantly make adjustments. Be open, free in the moment. Humor, acting, or leadership... All of those are acquired skills. You have to have the willingness to be bad at it first to get good at it later. Using a chip on your shoulder as motivation? It can work in the short term but doesn't typically work in the long term. "It was the wrong fuel for my engine." "You gotta ask:" When he was 12 years old, he found himself on set telling jokes to an older man. He was cracking the guy up. He didn't realize that person was the President of Nickelodeon. Josh then asked him to be on one of the hit Nickelodeon shows. He eventually got a call that changed his life. After that call, Josh and his mom moved to Los Angeles where he's worked as an actor ever since. You have to be willing to ask. You have to be willing to face rejection or embarrassment. Aaron Sorkin said you can make the hall of fame in baseball striking out 2 out of 3 times. The same is true in life. One of the first people Josh called when he was launching his podcast was Bob Saget. Bob was one of the more famous people he knew. And he immediately responded and said he would record the following week. There are hundreds of stories like this about him. We all should be more like him. Ryan Holiday advice - Get really honest and tell your story. Your journey can help other people. As a dad, Josh wants to correct the trauma of the past... He never met his dad. "Do good things and don't get caught doing them." Be in service of others.
Read my new book: The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencebulk Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Gary Burnison is the CEO of Korn Ferry. Under his leadership, Korn Ferry has been transformed into a global organizational consulting firm with nearly 9,000 colleagues. Burnison is the author of seven leadership and career development books, including a New York Times bestseller. Notes: In his early days as a CEO, a member of Gary's board who was mentoring him, looked him in the eye and said, “I don’t just want you to be successful—I am going to ensure that you are successful.” Gary was moved by words. Looking back now, he sees that moment as a gift of grace. How he built a career from an entry-level worker to the CEO of a 9,000 person company: Humility and hustle drive careers forward To learn, you must be humble and self-aware. Hiring decisions: "I higher for hunger over pedigree." The Five Graces of Leadership: Gratitude―the attitude that elevates our spirits, boosts morale, and lifts our hearts Resilience―the quality that allows us to achieve beyond our wildest dreams Aspiration―the knowledge that we can make tomorrow better than today Courage―the ability to understand and move beyond our fears Empathy―the understanding needed to connect with others from their perspectives The most impactful leaders have four key skills: Adaptability: Being comfortable with unanticipated changes and diverse situations; being able to adjust to constraints and rebound from adversity. Curiosity: Approaching problems in novel ways; seeing patterns and understanding how to synthesize complex information; having the desire to achieve a deep understanding of things. Detail-oriented: Having the ability to systematically carry out tasks as assigned, with an understanding of the procedures and the importance of exactitude. Tolerance of ambiguity: Being comfortable with uncertainty and willing to make decisions and plans in the face of incomplete information “In today’s world, leadership is all about establishing community and connectivity so everyone can be part of something bigger than themselves.” “To have the grace to create this kind of leadership, we need greater self-awareness and genuine connection to others – particularly in this hybrid work environment where connections are increasingly more challenging to come by.” The #1 predictor of a candidate being effective? Learning agility "Humility is key for lifelong learning." Gary wrote a book called, "Lose The Resume, Land The Job." - Target the opportunity you want. Work to earn a warm introduction. A day in the life as the CEO of Korn Ferry: "You suddenly stop being a person and you start being a function." "Leadership is about inspiring others to believe." How he earned the role of CEO: Continuity helped (he was already working at the company) Vision, purpose, "the why," and the 4 or 5 parts of the strategy laid out moving forward When you're going for a VP role: Make sure it is a fit for you You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you Have purpose and passion for the role Why Gary writes so much: "It's therapeutic for me." He likes to write with others to learn from them and gain clarity. "I like to get their point of view and listen to them." How he's built confidence: It comes from life experiences. When Gary was 11 years old, he lived in the middle of Kansas. The moving vans showed up and took their furniture away. His family went bankrupt. In times of crisis, it's critical for the leader to step up.
Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Ken Blanchard is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world and is respected for his years of groundbreaking work in the fields of leadership and management. He's written 60+ published books... Most notably, The One Minute Manager has sold over 15 million copies.  Notes: T he One Minute Manager: 1 Minute goals – All struggles go back to one simple thing: communication. Set 3 goals for each employee. Write each of them down in 350 words or less. 1 Minute praisings (“catch people doing the right things”) – Do this immediately following good work. Don’t wait (you might forget). Be specific in your praise. 1 Minute reprimands (later changed to 1 Minute re-directs) - Address this immediately after it happens. Be very specific. "Teach people the power of love instead of the love of power." "Life is what happens to you when you're planning on doing something else." What made The One Minute Manager catch on? It was a parable. Those were rare at that time. It was a short book. A quick read. He started his company in 1979. Charles Schwab told him to name the company after himself... Thus, "The Ken Blanchard Companies" was started. It helped that YPO adopted them quickly. "All good performance starts with clear goals." Create magical moments – For his wife, Margie’s 80th birthday party, They rented a big house in Hawaii for a week surrounded by the people they love. How can you create magical moments? Ken has written 65 books... Only 2 of them by himself. He likes to write with others. Profit is the applause you get for creating a great environment for your people. Expectations: You get what you expect. Humility - Be there to serve others. Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less. Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see that connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity, and meaning in their job. Leadership is not something you do to people. It's something you do with people. Vision is knowing who you are, where you're going, and what will guide your journey. "Many people measure their success by wealth, recognition, power, and status. There's nothing wrong with those, but if that's all you're focused on, you're missing the boat...if you focus on significance -using your time and talent to serve others -that's when truly meaningful success can come your way.: If becoming a high-performing organization is the destination, leadership is the engine. Sustained excellence: They realize it's not all about them They have a sense of humor They listen more than they speak Feedback is the breakfast of champions Get to D4 -- The highest level of development: Competent and Committed. Life/Career Advice: Be a lifetime learner Look for good leaders... Ask them to lunch
Read my new book, The Pursuit of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Daniel H. Pink is the author of seven books, including the forthcoming The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward (Riverhead, 2022).  His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. Notes: The truth: We regret inactions much more than actions.The lesson: Be bold. Take that chance. In a world full of talkers, be a doer. Have a bias for action. The 3 keys to a productive achiever: empathy/compassion, curiosity, doggedness (consistency). We overvalue intensity and undervalue consistency and doggedness. Continue to show up and do the work. The four core regrets: Foundation regrets - People want stability. (save money, plan for the future) Boldness regrets - "If only I'd taken that chance." People regret not taking the chance. Moral regrets Connection regrets The truth: We deeply regret not asserting ourselves. The lesson: Speak up. Optimizing Regret: Our goal should not be to always minimize regret. Our goal should be to optimize it. By combining the science of anticipated regret with the new deep structure of regret, we can refine our mental model.  “Regret makes me human. Regret makes me better. Regret gives me hope.” This is a great exercise. Instead of a New Year's resolution, choose a single word to guide your 2022. After 2 years of upheaval, it can help you focus on the goals & changes most important to you. Dan's choice? Restore. The Dan Pink family acronym: HAHU - Hustle. Anticipate. Heads up. Big life decisions: Maximizers and satisficers Know when to maximize and when to satisfy. For low stakes decisions (the color of your car), you don't have to maximize Regret is part of the human condition. We all have regrets. Disclose it. Lift the burden. Someone that says they have "No Regrets" is either lying or they are a sociopath. Disclose lessons from your regrets. Ask yourself, "What did I learn from it?" Does everything happen for a reason? The lesson to be learned from it is understanding what we have control over and what we don't. Regret depends on storytelling. And that raises a question: In these stories, are we the creator or the character, the playwright or the performer? The answer is... YES. We are both. We are both the authors and the actors. We can shape the plot but not fully. We can toss aside the script but not always. We live at the intersection of free will and circumstance. "Our everyday lives consist of hundreds of decisions—some of them crucial to our well-being, many of them inconsequential. Understanding the difference can make all the difference. If we know what we truly regret, we know what we truly value. Regret— that maddening, perplexing, and undeniably real emotion—points the way to a life well-lived." Career/Life advice: Doggedness is important. Be a person of action. Be willing to try stuff. "We learn who we are in practice, not in theory." Doing something helps you figure it out.
Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Oliver Burkeman is the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals. It's a book that has become an international best-seller.  The final person Oliver thanked in his book? His grandmother: “My dear grandmother Erica Burkeman, whose childhood departure from Nazi Germany I describe in chapter 7, died in 2019 at the age of 96. I don’t know whether she would have read this book, but she would definitely have told everyone she met that I had written it.” The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. If you live to be 80, you’ll have had about 4,000 weeks. But that’s no reason for despair. Confronting our radical finitude – and how little control we really have – is the key to a fulfilling and meaningfully productive life. When someone close to you dies, Oliver writes, “Such experiences, however wholly unwelcome, often appear to leave those who undergo them in a new and more honest relationship with time. The question is whether we might attain at least a little of that same outlook in the absence of the experience of the agonizing loss.” When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness. Don’t ask: Will this make me happy?”, but “Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?” The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it. (This is why it’s wrong to say we live in especially uncertain times. The future is always uncertain; it’s just that we’re currently very aware of it.) Embrace radical incrementalism - People who work a little bit every day tend to cultivate the patience it takes to get good. Oliver tells the old parable about a vacationing New York businessman who meets a Mexican fisherman… The capacity to tolerate minor discomfort is a superpower. The solution to imposter syndrome is to see that you are one - Everyone is totally “winging it.” The lesson to be drawn isn’t that we’re doomed to chaos. It’s that you – unconfident, self-conscious, all-too-aware-of-your-flaws – potentially have as much to contribute to your field, or the world, as anyone else. The original Latin word for “decide” was decidere which means “to cut off” as in slicing away alternatives. The sooner you welcome uncertainty and not knowing as normal ways of being, the better off you’ll be. People who work a little bit every day tend to cultivate the patience it takes to get good. These people also quit their day’s work when it’s finished: they identify what their chunk of time or task is per day, they do that and only that, and save more for tomorrow. “More often than not, originality lies on the far side of unoriginality.” To illustrate this point, Burkeman uses The Helsinki Bus Station Theory. As the photographer Arno Minkkinen explained, Helsinki bus lines start out traveling the same path but then diverge at different points in the route, spreading out to far and wide locales. When you find your work resembles someone else’s, or you’re on someone else’s bus, traveling someone else’s path, don’t try to go back to the bus station at the very beginning and completely reinvent yourself and start from scratch, keep working and “stay on the bus!” At a certain point, your path will split off into something new. The central challenge of time management isn’t becoming more efficient, but deciding what to neglect. In an accelerating world, patience – letting things take the time they take – is a superpower. In conditions of limitless choice, burning your bridges beats keeping your options open. The need to control events is unhelpful. There is too much uncertainty for that. Is "follow your passion" good advice? Find something you're good at instead. Do things "daily-ish" Harness the power of patience as a force for daily life. Relish the value of consistency. Goal setting: "We are incapable of living goalless lives." With that said, "a plan is just a thought." Excellence: A willingness to accept the truth of their present situation and not wear blinders. They are clear-eyed. Generosity to other people. They have a basic assumption of a non-zero-sum world. Four Thousand Weeks is an entertaining and philosophical but ultimately deeply practical guide to the alternative path of embracing your limits: dropping back down into reality, defying cultural pressures to attempt the impossible, and getting started on what’s gloriously possible instead. It’s about actually getting meaningful things done, here and now, in our work and our lives together – in the clear-eyed understanding that there won’t be time for everything, and that we’ll never eliminate life’s uncertainties.
Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Jim Levine has been a literary agent for more than 30 years. Some of his agency’s clients include Ray Dalio, Scott Galloway, Jay Shetty, Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl), Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), Tom Brady, & Giselle Bundchen among others… He also is my book agent and he brokered the deals for my book deals for both Welcome To Management AND The Pursuit of Excellence with McGraw-Hill. Notes: Early in my podcasting career, I asked all authors I recorded who the best book agent was... And many of them said, Jim Levine. "Being an agent is a continuing liberal arts education, it’s an opportunity to engage with experts and thought leaders in a wide variety of fields and help shape their work to reach the broadest possible audience.” Jim has written and published 7 books and over 100 articles for professional magazines… He's won awards for his work as a writer. He's the founding director of The Fatherhood Project – A 20-year long foundation-supported initiative to increase men’s involvement in childrearing in all segments of society. Jim takes us inside the process from book proposal, selling to a publisher, and ultimately getting the book published. "Being an agent is so much more than just selling the book. The relationship is so much more intimate. You have to care." Building a company and a culture of growth... The best book proposals he's read: The Master Algorithm -- Pedro Domingos Welcome To Management Smartcuts by Shane Snow Jim has spent most of his career putting together ideas, people, and money; identifying, nurturing, and marketing talent; and creating projects that make a difference. Jim graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Amherst College, winning Woodrow Wilson, Fulbright, and Ford Foundation Fellowships. He holds two advanced degrees in English Literature from UC Berkeley, where he specialized in Shakespeare and modern literary criticism, and a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he specialized in child development and social policy. Advice: Don’t think about a job, think about skills you have and challenges you could take on… The WHO is really important - Who you work for... Be a perpetual learner Follow your curiosity Have a wide range of interests What Jim looks for when hiring – Pat Lencioni’s humble, hungry, and smart – It’s about helping people solve problems.
Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/thepursuitofexcellence Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" This episode starts with a short review of 2021 and I share my goals for 2022. Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Gary Chapman, PhD, is the author of the bestselling The 5 Love Languages® series, which has sold more than 20 million worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages. Dr. Chapman travels the world presenting seminars on marriage, family, and relationships, and his radio programs air on more than 400 stations.  Notes: The Five Love Languages: Words of Affirmation - Words of affirmation is about expressing affection through spoken words, praise, or appreciation. When this is someone's primary love language, they enjoy kind words and encouragement.\ Quality Time - For those who identify with quality time as their love language, love and affection are expressed through undivided attention. This means putting down the cell phone, turning off the tablet, making eye contact, and actively listening. Physical Touch - A person with this love language feels loved through physical affection. Acts of Service - For acts of service, a person feels loved and appreciated when someone does nice things for them, such as helping with the dishes, running errands, vacuuming, or putting gas in the car. Receiving Gifts - Gift-giving is symbolic of love and affection for someone with this love language. They treasure not only the gift itself but also the time and effort the gift-giver put into it. My personal Love Language assessment results: Quality Time: 37% Words of Affirmation: 33% Acts of Service: 20% Physical Touch: 10% Receiving Gifts: 0% We all express and receive love differently. Consequently, understanding those differences can make a serious impact on your relationship. According to Dr. Chapman, this exercise is one of the simplest ways to improve your relationships. Here are some ways that understanding love languages can improve your relationship: Promotes selflessness - When you are committed to learning someone else's love language, you are focused on their needs rather than your own. Creates empathy - As someone learns more about how their partner experiences love, they learn to empathize with them. Maintains intimacy - If couples regularly talk about what keeps their love tanks full, this creates more understanding in their relationship. Aids personal growth - When someone is focused on something or someone outside of themselves, it can lead to personal growth. Shares love in meaningful ways - When couples start speaking one another's love language, the things they do for their partners not only become more intentional but also become more meaningful. It’s not a feeling. The “in love” feeling wears off after about 2 years. It’s an attitude to love someone. “I want to do anything I can to enrich your life.” There is a thought process and intention behind it. Keys to being a better listener: Start with the intention to understand THEIR perspective Do not interrupt the other person Wait until they are completely done speaking How to earn back trust? Forgiveness is not a feeling, it's a choice. You have to make the choice to forgive someone. Thank you to Verywellmind.com for help preparing for this conversation
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more details... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Debbie Millman has been named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, and “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA, Debbie Millman is also an author, educator, curator, and host of the podcast Design Matters. Notes: Visual Storytelling is the art of using language and images to convey a narrative account of real or imagined events. How to make an effective presentation? You must know it thoroughly. Practice, rehearse. Get to the point where you can let it flow when you're in it. Don't just read what's on the slide. Use at most one sentence. Use images to help reinforce your message "Life is so difficult when you don't know what you're talking about." Ideas are easy... Strategies are hard. You need to understand that a presentation is a performance. Teaching forces you to learn your topic. If you want to learn about something, sign up to teach others about it. “I once read that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I fundamentally disagree with this idea. I think that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of hope.” “A brand is simply a set of beliefs. And if you don't create a set of beliefs around your products or services, well, you stand for nothing - you have no values and no vision.” “Actually - and ironically - people aren't really interested in a new brand form or flavor as much as they are interested in how a brand can change, impact, or improve their lives. They want brands around them that make them feel special and provide some social cache or confidence.” Interviewing is like a game of billiards. Each question should leave you in a position to hit the next shot/ask the next question. Be overprepared so that you can flow in the moment. "You have to listen and really focus on the person." Research everything Courage and confidence - The reps lead to confidence. Confidence leads to courage. Branding --“Branding is a deliberate differentiation.” Brands aspire for consistency. "You can't metabolize regret." -- Go for it. At age 50, Debbie came out... And felt so much freedom from it “Don’t edit your hopes and dreams before you can ever attempt them.”
Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence: https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Rob Fitzpatrick is an entrepreneur of 14 years and has written three books about his learnings along the way, including the best-selling handbook for doing better Customer Development, The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and figure out if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. In 2007, he dropped out of grad school to go through YCombinator with his first startup, and has been building products and businesses ever since. Beyond software, he has also kickstarted a physical card game, built an education agency, and more. Notes: The 3 simple rules of the Mom Test: Talk about their life instead of your idea Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future Talk less and listen more How to run better meetings: Focus on who will be in your meeting and how to maximize the value they receive while there Think about learning outcomes - How will you (as the leader) help them be wiser by going to your meetings
Order my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/thepursuitofexcellence Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Stan Johnson was hired as Loyola Marymount University's men's basketball head coach on March 20, 2020. The 2020-21 season saw meteoric growths across the board for LMU men’s basketball. In his first season as head coach, Stan Johnson guided his team through the COVID-19 pandemic and posted a winning record in the WCC for the first time since 2011-12. Notes: “I escaped a war at 10. I come from really the gutter in this business. I don’t come from a tree,” “I was at gunpoint at 10 years old with 15-year-olds holding M16s. We got evacuated on a war jet on a mining strip. We came to this country with three bags. That stuff, I think, has helped shape me for this task that I have.” "That gives you empathy and understanding. It makes you relatable to all people." “Being lazy is disrespectful to the people that believe in you.” Focus on proving your supporters right. The people who love you and root for you. Prove them right... The purpose behind "Coffee With The Coach" during COVID... I wanted to "Win The Wait." Don't just wait it out... Win the wait. Culture is a set of behaviors... How do we want to behave? It's a life thing. It's not just a basketball thing. Stan has weekly "Culture Meetings." Their structure: Academic highlights Habit share Success hotline -- a pre-recorded hotline with a quote/saying Thought of the day What's happening in the world? Culture emphasis of the day Their core values: Selfless - LM Over You. When you're truly selfless, you care about the greater good... It comes back to you Connected - You need great relationships. Relationships over championships. Relentless - Attack everything we do. It's not just basketball. What do you want to be remembered for? Do your daily behaviors align with what you want to be remembered for? Consistency is what transforms average people, companies, and teams into GREATNESS. Anyone can do it now and then. GREATNESS is found in your ability to bring your best every single day. Keep Going. Don’t mistake silence for weakness. Smart people don’t plan big moves out loud. Holding people accountable - Truth helps. It doesn't hurt. The greatest form of love is discipline. Stan is known as one of the best recruiters in the country... What does he focus on? Relatability - "I can relate to people from all different backgrounds." Sincere - "I say how I feel." Relationships with family - Stan recruits all the members of the family. The must-have qualities to be a coach on his staff: Must be really good people (most important) "They gotta be smarter than me. I want them to stretch me, and hold me accountable. They must be smart." Passionate - They need to love it. Questions he asks when interviewing someone to be on his staff: What do you want to be remembered for? What are your expectations? (Mine are high") How do you evaluate yourself? What are your relationships like with people you've worked at before? Do you become friends with them? How he develops his assistant coaches: Give them big tasks to be responsible for... Their mission: "Take people to places they can't take themselves." Your competition isn’t other people. Your competition is your procrastination. Your attitude.Your ego. Your blaming. Your complaining. Your ability to stay in the past. Your bad habits. Your jealousy. Your comparison mindset. Your inability to dream bigger. Compete against that. “Anytime your gonna grow, you’re gonna lose something. You’re losing what you’re hanging onto to keep safe. You’re losing habits that you’re comfortable with, you’re losing familiarity.” Keep Going. You attract what you are, not what you want. If you want great things to happen, then be great with your habits and your daily process of becoming. Keep Going. Rejected to Redirected… Keep putting your butt on the line. Don’t get boxed in. Who knows what you could be? Put yourself out there…
Order My Book, The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 John Amaechi is an organizational psychologist, best-selling author, and CEO of APS Intelligence Ltd. In 2019, John was recognized as one of HR’s most influential thinkers by HR Magazine. John is the first Briton to have a career in the NBA. John is a Chartered Scientist, a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health. He is a Research Fellow at the University of East London and his research interests are effective, inclusive leadership, building high-performing teams and organisational design that maximises productivity and human thriving in readiness for the future world of work. Notes: “Excellence is in the mundane.” The hours and hours of work when no one is watching. Effective feedback - If it’s not developing them, it’s not feedback. And feedback is never cruel. Ask, what can we learn from this? The evidence-based traits he shared about effective leadership “Promises have an enormous impact when kept by giants. And a devastating impact when broken. To keep these promises, unconditionally and persistently, is the duty and honor of being a giant.” "You can't be a part-time man of principle." There is a difference between elite teams and a group of elite individuals. We want to build elite teams. Look at how you reward people -- What gets measured, gets managed. Reward people for being great teammates. People must earn and maintain their job titles. Coaching leaders: Start at the end - What does great look like? Introspection - How well do you know yourself? Pragmatic - Measure real progress Introspective work - view yourself critically, but not cruelly "You need people around you to be truly candid and caring." John and his team take an analytical approach - "I have a geek squad and we analyze data." They use expertise to provide commentary on the data Feedback - It must be timely and effective. Do regular micro-appraisals. What made you think of that? What can we learn from this? If it's not developing them, it's not feedback Feedback is never cruel Mantra: "I promise to reject excuses and embrace discomfort." You can't skip to comfort... The Promises of Giants is the product of a lifetime spent observing and studying effective leadership - from accompanying his mother's visits to her dying patients to competing at the highest levels of professional sport, through two decades of management consulting with multinational corporations. These experiences have shown that everyone has the ability to act decisively to influence the world in a positive way. Everyone is a giant to someone...
Order my new book: The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and the author of Willpower Doesn’t Work and Personality Isn’t Permanent. He also co-authored Who Not How with Dan Sullivan, which sold over 120,000 copies in the first 4 months of publication. Their most recent book is called, The Gap and The Gain. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, and many others. For several years, he was the #1 most-read writer on Medium.com. Notes: The broaden and build theory — Dr. Barbara Fredeickson — shows that positive emotions are the starting point of learning, growth, and high performance “Competing against someone else puts you in the gap. Your happiness as a person is dependent on what you measure yourself against.” More specifically you measure your own gains, rather than worrying about other people. When we measure ourselves against that ideal, we're in "the GAP." However, when we measure ourselves against our previous selves, we're in "the GAIN." "This one simple concept is a masterclass on positive psychology, healthy relationships, mental well-being, and high-performance. Everything that psychologists know about how to create a high-functioning and successful person can be achieved using The GAP and the GAIN." Who Not How -- Life is about surrounding yourself with the right WHO’s. Who are the WHO’s in your life to help you achieve what you want? “Surround yourself with people who remind you more of your future than your past. —Dan Sullivan” Commitment creates freedom -- Once the decision is made, then you can focus on the work. I like thinking of it that way and in a way it frees your mind when the decision, the commitment has been made. “Your behavior doesn’t come from your personality. Rather, your personality is shaped by your behavior. When you act a certain way, you then judge yourself based on your actions. Hence, you can quickly alter your identity simply by altering your behavior.” “The belief that you cannot change leads to a victim mentality. If you are determined by nature to be what you are, then there is nothing you can do about your lot in life. Conversely, the belief that you can change leads you to take responsibility for your life. You may have been born with certain constraints, but you can change those constraints, allowing yourself to improve and grow.” “Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. —Jim Rohn” “You are never pre-qualified to live your dreams. You qualify yourself by doing the work. By committing—even overcommitting—to what you believe you should do.” “You shape the garden of your mind by planting specific things from your environment, such as the books you read, experiences you have, and people you surround yourself with.” “True learning is a permanent change in cognition and/or behavior. In other words, learning involves a permanent change in how you see and act in the world. The accumulation of information isn’t learning. Lots of people have heads full of information they don’t know what to do with. If you want to learn something quickly, you need to immerse yourself in that thing and immediately implement what you’re learning.” “You need to deepen the quality and intimacy of your relationships with other people. Our culture is being shaped to isolate us more and more from each other. Addiction is becoming an epidemic. When you have deep and meaningful relationships, your chances of unhealthy addiction are far less. The following are four principles for overcoming harmful defaults in your environment.”
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 John McWhorter teaches linguistics, philosophy, and music history at Columbia University, and writes for various publications on language issues and race issues such as Time, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Beast, CNN, and the Atlantic. He’s also the author of many books including his most recent New York Times bestseller, Woke Racism - How A New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. Notes: How to change someone's mind? "I try to understand where other people are coming from. I am not surprised by anyone. I think you need to listen to it from their point of view and not assume that anyone is crazy or evil." John recommends pragmatic action against racism involving only three programs: an end to the war on drugs, teaching reading by phonics to children lacking literate households and, promoting the idea that not everyone needs a college education to succeed. “I don’t think of myself as brave. What I really am is a failed lawyer. My issue is if things don’t make sense to me, I just want to try to make sense of it and I want people to understand what I mean.” John believes that affirmative action should be based on class, not on race. What to do if your leadership team is not well represented by people of another race? From John: "Don't hire a token black person. Don't hire someone just because they are black. They need to be qualified for the role." Expansion from Dr. King's statement about judging someone for the content of their character rather than the color of their skin... "I agree with that, but I think you also have to look at class, and if they come from a poor upbringing." John criticized the 2018 book White Fragility following its resurgence in sales during the George Floyd protests beginning in May 2020, arguing that it "openly infantilized Black people" and "simply dehumanized us," and "does not see fit to address why all of this agonizing soul-searching (for residual racism by white people) is necessary to forging change in society." He said, "it's a true horror of a book. The worst book I've read since I was 16." Qualities John looks for in a friend: A wry sense of humor You have to "see beyond level 1" and be smart to have this "They don't have to have the MSNBC take on race" "I want coherence." From Woke Racism: "The people wielding this ideology and watching its influence spread ever more are under the genuine impression that they are forging progress, that reason and morality are in flower. However, society is changing not because of a burgeoning degree of consensus in moral sophistication. What is happening is much cruder. Society is changing not out of consensus, but out of fear." Life advice: Don't get a degree in law unless you want to practice law To the extent you can, follow your passion "Follow your own gut. Go with your own mind. You'll have a much richer adulthood doing this." Linguistics: the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 to read my new book, The Pursuit of Excellence, early. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 red Reichheld is the creator of the Net Promoter Score system of management. Also known as “NPS.” NPS is used in two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies. Fred has worked at Bain and Company since 1977. He is also the best-selling author of five books, including his most recent, “Winning On Purpose.” Fred graduated with Honors both from Harvard College (B.A., 1974) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., 1978). Notes: The ultimate question: “How likely are you to recommend this brand to a friend or colleague?” Fred views "Net Promoter Score" as "Net Lives Enriched." “At Bain, we came to realize through our own experience that the frontline team leader sets the tone, models the values, sets the priorities, and balances individual needs with team needs. Given this critical importance, we select leaders with great care and invest heavily in their training and coaching.” The difference between good profits and bad profits. Play the long game. It’s not helpful to earn a profit from someone who had a bad experience. Negotiation - Try to give the other person as much as possible. The story of the Costco CEO sharing the extra profits with others... Think about how you can do this in your negotiations with family, friends, and work colleagues. The Costco leaders always think of how they can put they can love on their customers How can you turn someone from a detractor to a promoter? Pleasantly surprise your customer The Certa Pro Painters example - They train their teams to seek out opportunities for acts of kindness. For example, when they are on a ladder up high painting a wall and notice a light bulb is out, they will put in a new light bulb (for free). They go out of their way to surprise and delight their customers. Richard is a big believer in the golden rule: Treat others as a loved one should be treated. When customers feel loved, they come back, and they tell all of their friends. "You want a workforce that is inspired to treat others as loved ones." "The leader's job is to love their team." Front line leaders -- Make sure you're constantly getting feedback. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve." Earned growth rate - Warby Parker - 90% of their business through referrals Joe Girard - The top-selling car sales professional of all time - "I hope you get a lemon." "What! Why would you want me to get a bad car?" "Because then I get a chance to show off. I will give you the best customer service experience of your life. And after I do that, you'll buy cars from me for the rest of your life. And you'll tell all of your friends and family to do the same." Good profits - Earn from promoters Bad profits - Profits from detractors "You don't deserve profits unless the customer is happy." “Where there is individual accountability, things get done. Measure is another magic word: what gets measured creates accountability. With no standard, reliable metric for customer relationships, employees can’t be held accountable for them and so overlook their importance.” “These companies manage to balance the need for profits with the overarching vision of providing great results for customers and an inspiring mission for employees.” How to sustain excellence? Think of NPS as your moral compass Great leaders create a community by living the golden rule Enrich the lives you're responsible for Life advice: Your WHO - The people you spend your life with are everything Only invest in places where you can bring something of value
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Gino Wickman is the author of the award-winning, best-selling book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, which has sold over 1 million copies, as well as five other books in the Traction Library that have sold almost 2 million copies. Notes: Keys To Sustaining Excellence: Fanatical about excellence Stamina Endurance to stay with something Drive - a desire to succeed, to win Gino believes that entrepreneurship is nature, not nurture (you are born with it) What's usually missing in someone who thinks they're an entrepreneur, but they're not? The ability to take a big risk. Gino's dad was an entrepreneur. His two brothers are not. Gino set a goal to be a millionaire by the time he was 30.  He achieved that goal... And then went broke two years later. It took more than five years to create Traction. He worked with more than 50 companies testing the ideas. He eventually found patterns and trends. Delegation -- Gino obsesses over delegating at least one task for the last 30 years. This has helped him scale his business. The difference between a visionary and an integrator: Visionary - Wild and crazy entrepreneur Integrator - Run the day-to-day operations. Sometimes called the Chief Operating Officer. How to run better meetings? Use the Gino Wickman Level 10 Meeting format: Segue – Spend 5 minutes sharing one personal best and one professional best from the previous week. No discussion; just an announcement. This helps move your team from working “in the business” to working “on the business”. Review your company scorecard. This is a 5-minute high-level review to make sure your most important five to 15 numbers are on track. The person responsible for the number says whether it is “on track” or “off-track”. If the number is “off”, move that measurement to the Issues List portion of the agenda. Rock review. Take 5 minutes to review your company and individual Rocks to determine if they are “on track” or “off track.” Again, if the rock is “off”, move it to the Issues List portion of the agenda. Customer/Employee headlines. This is a 5-minute opportunity to announce any news, positive or negative, about a customer or employee. If the announcement is an issue, add it to the Issues List portion of the agenda. To-Do List. Review the seven-day action items from the previous meeting, and report whether each task is “done” or “not done.” This should take no more than 5 minutes Issues List. Your leadership team now has 60 minutes to identify, discuss and solve your company’s biggest issues in order of priority. Solving an issue usually requires someone to take action, which becomes a task for the to-do list for review at your next meeting. Conclude. Use your final 5 minutes to bring the meeting to a close, recap the to-do list, and discuss any messages that need to be communicated to the rest of the organization. And rate the meeting on a scale of 1 – 10; this helps your team self-correct. Establish the practice that anyone who rates the meeting below an “8” must explain why, and “because I never give high marks” is not an acceptable reason. Leadership teams should get together in person every 90 days What is EOS? EOS™ is a holistic management system with simple tools that help you do three things we call vision, traction, healthy. Vision from the standpoint of first getting your leaders 100% on the same page with where your organization is going. Traction from the standpoint of helping your leaders to become more disciplined and accountable, executing really well to achieve every part of your vision. Healthy meaning helping your leaders to become a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team. The six key components to your business that Gino's work helps you improve: Vision. Build your V/TO™ within Traction Tools and keep it easily accessible to everyone in your company. V/TO content is integrated throughout the software so that you always have the right information at the right time. People. Our People Tools™ add-on (currently in Beta) bundles everything you need to manage the key People component of your business—including the Accountability Chart, People Analyzer™, LMA™, and Quarterly Conversation™ tools Data. The Traction Tools Scorecard makes it easy to record and measure your company, departmental and employee numbers. Everything is located in one place, and many metrics can be automatically updated. Personalize the Scorecard according to your viewing preferences. Issues. Manage and IDS™ all of your company and departmental issues in the Issues List. Flexible features make it easy to add and solve your Issues or move them to other meetings. Process. It’s quick and easy to attach your company’s core processes to notes within Issues, To-Dos, or Level 10 Agendas Traction®. With Traction Tools Rocks, you’ll take your company’s vision to street level, and make it real. The Level 10 Meeting™ Agenda will help you keep your Meeting Pulse™ EOS-pure. Life/Career advice: "Let your freak flag fly." -- Be yourself. "It took me until I was 45 years old to learn this. Do it now." "Know thyself. Be thyself." Spend time understanding your strengths and weaknesses.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kirk Herbstreit played quarterback at Centerville High School. He was a PARADE All-American and the Ohio Player-of-the-Year as a senior (1986) … threw for 1,298 yards and 10 TDs as a senior … also rushed for 576 yards and 16 TDs his final year … career totals of 55 TDs and 4,258 yards in total offense in two years as a starter … led Centerville to a 10-0 record as a junior … all-league in baseball. Currently, Kirk is the lead analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, a TV program covering college football and he is the #1 color analyst on college football games on ESPN and ABC. For his TV work, Kirk has won five Sports Emmy Awards. He is known as one of the best sports broadcasters of all time. Notes: “Coach Gregg was a legend on the field but so much more. He was TOUGH-DEMANDING-at times intimidating. But he taught us about TEAM-HARD WORK-PERSEVERANCE & SACRIFICE. Blessed to have him in my life." "Part of what makes football great is what you learn playing it. Being selfless, learning how to go through adversity as a group, learning about perseverance." When first meeting Coach Gregg, "I was like half scared and half man I  want to play for this guy." The Centerville Elks were about execution, work ethic, pride, and excellence. "I thought... Mannnn, how lucky am I to be part of this program." The summer workouts: "The Monday's and Friday's were bad... The Wednesday with the circuits were DREADFUL. I was scared to death." Coach Gregg had established the "decade of dominance" before Kirk was there. "You had an appreciation and you were in awe of him and the program." "We thought, 'Am I going to be good enough to be part of this program?'" "Those workouts broke me down... And then they built us back up." "As a group, we went through torture, but we did it together. It created this unbelievable bond." "Bob Gregg taught me so much about humility, sacrifice, hard work, team team team... The team is so much more important than you. All the fundamental principles that you use in life are what you learned from him." "The person you are today is because of that." "What I learned from him... We beat teams with superior talent with execution and preparation and our work ethic collectively. And our team. It was from all that work we put in June and July." "You can get a leg up on your competition in anything you do in life by just outworking them." "When you feel like you don't matter, the best thing you can you, how you create confidence, is by outworking everyone in the room. Do little things. Do more. Do more." "I thought work ethic was HERE, before I met Bob Gregg, and then they taught me the hard way, that I was capable of working a lot harder." "Coach Gregg reminds me a lot of Nick Saban." They have incredibly high standards and keep their players humble. "You and I are grinders. All of us that played for him are wired the same way. I don't think that's a coincidence. It's because of Coach Gregg." "His personality... I wish more people got to know him. He had a personality that to outsiders seemed gruff. Some thought he was a tyrant. But if you really got to know him, he was not that way. He had a soft heart." "I think we need more than ever, right now, MORE people like Bob Gregg." "He's going to ruffle some feathers, but he's going to do it the right way."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for earyl access to my upcoming book... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 In 2005, Rebecca Minkoff designed her first handbag, which she dubbed the “Morning After Bag. This iconic bag ignited Rebecca’s career as a handbag designer and inspired the brands’ expansion into a lifestyle brand in the years to come. Actress Jenna Elfman wore her "I Heart New York" shirt on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Today, Rebecca Minkoff is a global brand with a wide range of apparel, handbags, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, eyewear, and fragrance. When Rebecca was 8 years old, she wanted her mom to buy her a dress. Her mom said, "no, but I'll teach you to sew." From that point, Rebecca was fascinated with the idea of buying things for herself. Rebecca doesn't love the word "mentor." She was forced to learn by doing. She moved at age 18. Became an intern and then a designer. Eventually, she started her own business. When Jenna Elfman wore her I heart NYC shirt on Jay Leno's show, it got her foot in the door. "When Jenna asked if I could make her a handbag, I lied and said I could do it." "I think everyone should get cozy with failure." Self Care: “Work can be self-care, too." She’s particularly resistant to the notion that self-care can solve burnout — the feeling of acute exhaustion that has gained more attention recently. “There is no scented candle in the world that will make that feeling go away.” Self-reflection cures burnout, she argues, not self-care. "You don't need to ask for permission. Don't seek permission. Just go for it." Rebecca learned from her mom to be genuinely herself. "I learned to be tough, resilient, and fight back from my mom." "Don't get scared to lead with strength." "Trying hard is not good enough. You must get results." Advice for future generations? "There are no shortcuts." "Failure is like a muscle. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn." "Success is the ability to keep going." "The definition of happiness is overcoming barriers towards your goal."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Randall Stutman is a leadership scientist dedicated to exploring the behaviors and routines of extraordinary leaders. Labeled by Goldman Sachs as the most experienced advisor and executive coach on Wall Street, he has served as a Principal Advisor to more than 2,000 Senior Executives, including 400 CEOs. His work as an advisor and speaker has taken him to the White House, West Point, the Olympics, and the Harvard Business School. Randall is the founder and co-head of the Leadership Practice at CRA. and the Admired Leadership Institute. Notes: The three types of leaders: Result Leaders: People who achieve the company’s goals Followers Leaders: People who are loved by their subordinates Admired Leaders: People who both achieve results and are loved by subordinates Admired leaders aren’t just admired in the workplace, they’re admired by friends, family, neighbors, and basically everyone they interact with... “It applies to everything. Leadership is leadership and it applies to every aspect of your life.” A great way to spread positively is through third-party praise. Say something nice about someone to another person and eventually, the positive comment will make its way to the individual mentioned. Excellence: Optimistic Persistent Focused Sound judgment Objective Learning machines Best coaching relationships: Created peer-like quality... You learn from each other The best leaders? It's not about them. It's others focused Leaders put other people up front. They lead from the back. Leadership is making people and solutions better. Anyone can lead anytime they choose. How does a 1:1 Leadership Coaching call go? Catch up personally and professionally Discuss critical episodes in the business Walkthrough situations Set agenda Register - Keep notes, send follow-ups Frequency of conversations with clients: Every three weeks Must be: A sounding board A deep listener Offer feedback Highly prescriptive - Need to make you better Admired leaders are: Someone that produces extraordinary results over time. Followership: People feel differently when engaged with them. They will do anything for them. Admired leaders are rare... Excellence in leadership: Show up in a crisis Admit mistakes Walk the talk Who coaches Randall? Feedback from clients Coaching clinics -- Gets together with other coaches 3rd party praise: Don't be "praise stingy" When you see excellence, tell a third party "There's no 'but' in it." What's something Randall has changed his mind about over time? "I initially thought leaders should be objective and fair. Then I studied Admired Leaders. They play favorites based on performance. They reward high performers.: Life/Career advice: Control what you can control Work hard at getting better "The best people bring passion to what they do."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Liz Wiseman is the New York Times bestseller author of Multipliers, Rookie Smarts, and most recently Impact Players. She is the CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm. Some of her recent clients include Apple, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Tesla, and Twitter. Liz has been listed on the Thinkers50 ranking and named one of the top 10 leadership thinkers in the world. Notes: Habits of high impact players: Learn the game Play where they are needed Play with passion Impact players have a good internal locus of control. They believe they have agency in their life. They believe they are in charge of their life. Liz said, “You have a lot more power than you might think you have.” Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “what you know is not as important as what you think.” If you aspire to have greater influence, start thinking like an impact player…don’t just use the playbook. Adopt the impact player mentality as your ethos. Many leaders commented how much they learned thru the process of answering questions. Teaching others can be one of the greatest tools for learning in the world... Seeking feedback and guidance versus seeking validation. Impact players don’t need validation. They crave feedback and guidance so they can continually improve. Say less: Play your chips wisely - Before an important meeting, give yourself a budget of poker chips where each chip represents a comment or contribution to the meeting. Be relevant, be evidence-based, be unique and additive, be succinct. Building credibility with leaders and stakeholders: Some credibility killers? Waiting for managers to tell you what to do, ignoring the bigger picture, tell your manager it’s not your job. Some credibility builders? Doing things without being asked, anticipating problems, and having a plan. Instead of following your passion… Be useful. Make a name for yourself by running towards the problems and solving them. Make your boss's life easier. Be useful. Work on what’s important for the people you work for… “The Diminisher is a Micromanager who jumps in and out. The Multiplier is an Investor who gives others ownership and full accountability.” “Multipliers invoke each person’s unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius—innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence.” “It isn’t how much you know that matters. What matters is how much access you have to what other people know. It isn’t just how intelligent your team members are; it is how much of that intelligence you can draw out and put to use.” “Multipliers aren’t “feel-good” managers. They look into people and find capability, and they want to access all of it. They utilize people to their fullest. They see a lot, so they expect a lot.” “The highest quality of thinking cannot emerge without learning. Learning can’t happen without mistakes.” What do Impact Players do? While others do their job, Impact Players figure out the real job to be done. While others wait for direction, Impact Players step up and lead. While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line. While others attempt to minimize change, Impact Players are learning and adapting to change. While others add to the load, the Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter. Some think you become great on the big stage under the bright lights. But the light only reveals the work you did in the dark. —Jeff Bajenaru An overarching idea: I can be of service and solve problems. The slogan from Kaiser Sand & Gravel; “Find a need and fill it.”
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Robert Greene has written 7 international best-selling books focused on strategy, power, and seduction, including The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature, and most recently, The Daily Laws. Notes: What matters is not education or money, but your persistence and the intensity of your desire to learn; that failures, mistakes, and conflicts are often the best education of all; and how true creativity and mastery emerge from all this. Adapt your inclinations. Avoid having rigid goals and dreams. Change is the law. Find inspiration from your heroes. Are there people whose work affects you in a powerful way? Analyze this and use them as models. Trust the process. Time is the essential ingredient of mastery. Use it to your advantage. What The mentor needs - Find a master to apprentice under, but instead of thinking about how much they can give you, think about how you can help them with their work. Learn by Doing -- The brain is designed to learn through constant repetition and active, hands-on involvement. Through such practice and persistence, any skill can be mastered. Master your emotional responses - displaying anger and emotion are signs of weakness; you cannot control yourself, so how can you control anything? Always Say Less Than Necessary. When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Avoid the false alliance -- Cultivate real allies. No one can get far in life without allies. The trick is to recognize the difference between false allies and real ones. A false alliance is created out of an immediate emotional need. A real alliance is formed out of mutual self-interest, each side supplying what the other cannot get alone. Despise the Free lunch - Learn to pay and to pay well. -- I find that the best clients don’t haggle on price, they pay immediately and they are easy to work with. The clients who want to fight about every last dollar always end up being the most difficult to work with. “There is no cutting corners with excellence. It is often wise to pay full price.” Judge people on their behavior, not on their words - What you want is a picture of a person’s character over time. Restrain from the natural tendency to judge right away, and let the passage of time reveal more about who people are. Don’t mistake extra conviction for truth - When people try to explain their ideas with so much exaggerated energy, or defend themselves with an intent level of denial, that is precisely when you should raise your antennae. Determine the strength of people’s character - In gauging strength or weakness, look at how people handle stressful moments and responsibility. Look at their patterns: what have they actually completed or accomplished? Be a source of pleasure - No one wants to hear about your problems and troubles. An energetic presence is more charming than lethargy. Being lighthearted and fun is always more charming than being serious and critical. Leave people with a feeling - Keep your eyes on the aftermath of any encounter. Think more of the feeling you leave people with -- a feeling that might translate into a desire to see more of you. Transform yourself into a deep listener - It will provide you the most invaluable lessons about human psychology. The secret to this: finding other people endlessly fascinating. Do Not let success intoxicate you - after any kind of success, analyze the components. See the element of luck that is inevitably there, as well as the role that other people, including mentors, played in your good fortune. Increase your reaction time - the longer you can resist reacting, the more mental space you have for actual reflection, and the stronger your mind will become. Alive time or dead time - Never waste a minute. Make today your own -- whether you’re stuck in traffic, sick in bed, or working long hours. You are renting just about everything in your life. The only thing you own is your time. Make the most of it.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 General Stanley McChrystal retired in July 2010 as a four-star general in the U.S. Army. His last assignment was as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and as the commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He had previously served as the director of the Joint Staff and as the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. The author of My Share of the Task, Team of Teams, and Leaders, he is currently a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the co-founder of the McChrystal Group, a leadership consulting firm. Notes: Stan's mentor for his military career and still to this day: an Army officer with a thick southern accent, Major John Vines. His advice: “If there are 3 people responsible for feeding the dog, the dog is going to starve.” Stan graduated from West Point 31 years after his father did. Major General George Smith Patton (General George Patton’s son) handed him his diploma. Stan wondered at that moment, what kind of leader you wanted to be. And he came up with, “a good one.” Now the more fundamental question is “What do good leaders do?” Instead of just being a good leader, Stan desires to be an effective leader. Effective leaders: Tactically competent Are morally good Respected They create an environment where others want to follow They shape how people think and behave People that others want to follow Have high standards Risk: in reality, risk is neither mathematical nor finite. Its impact depends to a great extent on how we perceive, process, and respond. A healthy risk immune system successfully executes 4 imperatives: Detect, Assess, Respond, and Learn "Risk comes at you from out of the blue, from every angle, when least convenient. There is a cost in becoming overly focused on risk and another at ignoring them. And the sweet spot between the two extremes moves with the circumstances around you.” “I chose a soldier’s life for many reasons, one of which was the desire to perceive myself as a courageous risk taker. I liked the idea of taking risks that others would not.” Threat x Vulnerability = Risk Risk is an eternal challenge. But trying to anticipate or predict every possible risk is a fool’s errand. The key is to understand how we need to think about risk, and to then respond appropriately. Rather than living in dread of things we often can’t anticipate, duck, or dodge – we must remember these five key insights. Look Inward: The greatest risk to us is us. It's Up to Us: We have a risk immune system Be holistic: It's the system. Make it work Balance: The muscles you exercise will be strong: those you ignore will be vulnerabilities Risk is always with us, and it's our responsibility to make our teams ready for it When taking command of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, Stan, along with the leaders of the unit, established The foundational skills - They called them the big 4: Physical conditioning Marksmanship Medical Skills Small Unit Drills But even before mastering basic skills, grounding both individuals and organizations with answers to the most basic questions that relate to the narrative is essential: What are our values? What exactly do we do? And why do we do it? What is expected of each of us? What went wrong with our response to COVID-19? 50 states operated separately instead of a united response "We weren't unified" "Our leaders did not communicate effectively." "You have to act before the population sees the requirement for it." Have a front-line obsession - Stan was known for going on the front lines with his soldiers. As leaders, we should do the same with our teams. Be on the front lines to: See how it's done with your own eyes, not just reports They need to see you go. They'll appreciate it It helps create your self-identity The new hybrid model of in-office and at-home working... Be intentional Use technology Understand what you're not doing Don't get lazy How to deal with imposter syndrome? Ask, "What do I know?" "What's my responsibility?" "You have to fight that crisis of confidence." Excellence = Be less flexible on your basic values Be flexible with how a problem gets solved
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jay Williams is known as one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. At Duke, Jay won the Naismith College Player of the Year award, won the 2001 National Championship, and had his #22 retired. He was the second overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 2002 NBA draft. Now Jay works as a basketball analyst for ESPN, hosts a radio show, and is actively involved as an investor in the business world. Notes: Jay starts by describing the terrifying night when he wrecked his motorcycle which led to the end of his playing career… Coach K flew a private plane to be with Jay in the hospital right after his motorcycle accident. He gave him a rosary and said, "you're going to give that back to me when you play again." Jay learned a valuable leadership lesson in that moment. Great leaders create hope. They give people something to strive for. "He gave me a reference point to look forward to." Communication: As a leader, you need to initiate a conversation with each person you're leading. You can't just lead one generic way. You need to get to know each person for who they are. Ask questions about them. Get to know them. Jay's mom said, "Life isn't interpreted by headlines." There is context to things. Jay learned from his mom to have a drive for knowledge and education. Legacy: "Impact is what I want my life to be." Coach K: "I was coached by one of the great minds at coaching life. He's a life leader." "I chose Duke because I wanted to be a king among kings." When Jay got drafted by the Chicago Bulls, he asked to have Michael Jordan's locker. It had not been used by anyone until that moment. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown." Preparation process - It never turns off. Always working on preparing for his work. Jay Bilas called all the prep the parachute. You don’t want to need it, but you know it’s there in case you get stuck. While at Duke, Jay decorated his body with tattoos, quotations, and symbols that meant far more later on. On his right leg, he inked the Chinese symbol for sacrifice; on his right arm, two hands clasped together, praying, next to the words “To err is human. To forgive is divine.” He also added this, from Gandhi: “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” Jay graduated in 3 years: He majored in sociology, graduated early, and turned professional after his junior season. For his final thesis paper, he studied athletes who left college early, their backgrounds, why they failed or succeeded. Kobe - "A relentless pursuit to be the best." "Don't F with me, I'm in killer mode." "He crystalized those fruits that translate to things off the court too." Career advice: Appreciate your position while planning your promotion. Be excellent at your current role while also thinking about what could be next
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ryan Holiday is the best-selling author of more than 10 books including The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, and most recently, Courage Is Calling. He’s sold millions of copies and his work impacts leaders all over the world. Notes: A philosophy of offense. General James Mattis was once asked by a tv reporter, “what keeps you up at night?” And he said, “I keep people up at night.” Captured his philosophy of offense (a bias for action… People who make it happen) Preparation makes you brave. —- the Army life handbook that was handed out to millions of soldiers in the Second World War. All about preparation. As Epictetus says the goal when we experience adversity is to be able to say, “this is what I’ve trained for, for this is my discipline.” Never question another man’s courage. “It’s very easy to judge. It’s very hard to know.” Waste not a second questioning another man’s courage. Put that scrutiny solely on your own. Be strong and of good courage. We hear in the book of Joshua. William Faulkner said  “be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.” You can’t spend all day in deliberation — the story of a Spartan king who was marching across Greece. As he entered each new country, he sent envoys to ask whether he should be prepared to treat them as friends or enemies. Most of the nations decided quickly and chose friendship. But one king wanted to think about his options. So he thought and thought and thought until it was chosen for him. “Let him consider it then,” the frustrated Spartan General said as he fixed his jaw. “Which we March on.” Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You are voting to let them decide. The power of poise — in the year 175, Marcus Aurelius was betrayed by his general Avidius Cassius in an attempted coup. He could have been scared. He could have been furious. He could have exploded. But this would not happen. He said, “the nearer a man is to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.” Ernest Shackleton — Arctic expedition got stuck in the ice. His motto —fortitudine vincimus — By endurance we conquer The courage to care — General Mattis said “cynicism is cowardice, it takes courage to care.” Only the brave believe, especially when everyone else is full of doubt. the story of Theodore Roosevelt the biographer Herman Hagedorn wrote “is the story of a small boy who read about great men and decided he wanted to be like them.” Ryan shared a personal story about his experience working for American Apparel and his relationship with founder/CEO, Dov Charney. He was asked to do something immoral and he declined... But, he didn't stop Dov from doing it. "It doesn't age well to just be scared in the moment. All that's left is what you didn't do." When you earn some power or develop a platform, how will you use it? When Lyndon Johnson became President, he said, "What the hell is the presidency for if not to do big things?" Consistency -- How does Ryan produce so much work (publishing lots of books) on a consistent basis? You have to show up every day. Tackle the smallest component part of the project for that day. Do what's in front of you. Why does Ryan work out every day? "I like to think, 'who's in charge?' I'm in charge." Excellence = All leaders are readers Curiosity is a must Desire for knowledge Self-discipline An element of service - it's not just about you How does Ryan define success? Autonomy. "The power of my own life, who I spend time with, and what I'm doing. I don't want to be a slave to the system."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 John Bacon has written twelve books on sports, business, health, and history, the last seven all National Bestsellers. His latest book is "LET THEM LEAD: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America's Worst High School Hockey Team."  Notes: Be Patient with Results, Not Behavior - Accept where you are to get where you want to go. Be present so you can own your attention and energy. Be patient and you’ll get there faster. Embrace vulnerability to develop genuine strength and confidence. Build deep community over efficiency and optimization. Move your body to ground your mind Reduce Your Rules, but Make Them Stick - Make your rules few, clear, and connected to your larger mission. They have to be within everyone’s control to follow every day. When your people start enforcing the rules themselves, the culture has changed. To make it special to be on your team, make it hard to be on your team. The people who apply to the Navy SEALS and the Peace Corps are attracted to the difficulty. They know not everyone can make it, and that’s what makes it special You can't motivate people you don't know - Leadership doesn’t require rousing speeches; it requires that you get to know your people.  The more power you give, the more you get -Select leaders for their ability to lead, not their ability to do the job they used to have. Leaders must know their jobs, know how to do their jobs, know everyone else’s jobs, and help them all do their jobs better! This is how you create “layers of leadership,” which benefits everyone, and keeps you from burning out. All credit goes to your people - If you give away the credit and accept the blame, you’ll be rewarded with loyalty. If your team succeeds, you will always get more credit than you need. “The reward of a job well done is to have done it.” John's two initial goals when he took over the worst team in the state: Be the hardest working team in the state Win a state title On day 1, he set high standards -- Previously, they were 0-22-3 "Make no small plans, they lack the power to stir people's souls." John Bacon's two rules: Work hard Support your teammates "Behaviors you can always control, performance and outcomes you can't." Life advice: Focus on yourself first Work hard and support your teammates
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day. Notes: "Crisis come and go, but our chance to demonstrate leadership skills is constant. In times such as these, Johnny abides by three key principles: Culture comes first Data is your greatest friends Be "extra" Mistakes made by Chief Human Resource Officers: RULES: CHROs who fail emphasize rules over solutions. ROLES: CHROs who fail develop an instinctual approach to solidifying their role, necessitating constant validation RELATIONSHIPS: CHROs who fail prioritize relationships (when hiring) above results or data. RIGHTEOUSNESS: CHROs who fail need to be right at all times without accounting for other perspectives “Culture is the cure amid chaos” -- At SHRM, they’ve defined themselves by their guiding principles: Bold Purpose Excellence & Accountability Flexibility & Agility Smart & Curious Collaborative Openness How Johnny earned the CEO role? He's had a wide range of jobs: Lawyer, a business leader in 'for-profit,' business leader in non-profit, understands being responsible for his own Profit and Loss of a business Since Johnny was seven years old, he knew he wanted to be a lawyer Why leaders need to become excellent writers and speakers: Inspiring employees has become table stakes to be an excellent leader How to work on this? READ. Johnny regularly reads with his 11-year-old daughter to help her work on this. "Grammar matters. Typos matter. We judge people on those things." Hiring: What does Johnny look for in a candidate to hire: Technical competencies - They have to know how to do the job Cultural alignment - We do not hire brilliant jerks Curiosity is key: "Tell me something you've been thinking about that would surprise me..." Self-awareness: Tell me about situations where you've been wrong or failed... Their motivation: "Why do you work? What has changed most over the years? "Culture is everything now. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are getting better." How can leaders create a healthy culture that acknowledges and prevents racism, sexism, and bias? "We have to talk about it." Acknowledge it Commonalities of people who sustained excellence: Curiosity - receptive to change Fiercely competitive - They want to win Exist for a bigger purpose The RESET - The opinion and perspective of Human Resources is changing... "They can't be the department of NO anymore." "The job of the HR professional is to help their leaders get a good return on their hiring investment." Life/Career Advice: Become really good at something. Become an expert Build relationships Build empathy - "When I was a young 'hot-shot' attorney, I would run through people." You need to build empathy for others."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brad Stulberg is the author of Peak Performance, The Passion Paradox, and The Practice of Groundedness. He coaches executives, entrepreneurs, physicians, and athletes. He is also co-creator of The Growth Equation, an online platform dedicated to defining and attaining a more fulfilling and sustainable kind of success. Notes: Build deep community over efficiency and optimization. It takes more time. It has a physical connection and a sense of belonging. Don’t move so fast that you don’t see people. Keys to great leadership -- Look at the boundaries and create space for work to unfold. Don’t be the helicopter parent or the micromanager. Don’t neglect them, but ensure they have the space to grow and blossom. Move your body to ground your mind - It’s so important to have a physical practice. Make it part of your work. It needs to be in order to support your mental health. The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship. Their MVP leader, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points and helped his team win. But he may have earned even more fans when he was asked during a press conference how he keeps his mind right. His three-part answer, in his own words: “Focusing on the past is ego. Focusing on the future is pride. Focusing on the present is humility.” The six principles of groundedness:  Accept where you are to get where you want to go Be present so you can own your attention and energy Be patient and you’ll get there faster Embrace vulnerability to develop genuine strength and confidence Build deep community over efficiency and optimization Move your body to ground your mind Trying to be "balanced" does not work. When you care deeply about something it draws you in. That's the point. You don't need to force some kind of proportionate allocation of your life. Aim for the self-awareness to PRIORITIZE and CHOOSE how you spend your time and energy. Wherever you are, the goal post is always 10 yards down the field. If you develop a mindset, "If I just do this, or just accomplish that, THEN I'll arrive," you're in for trouble. There is no arriving. The human brain didn't evolve for it. Enjoy the process. Be where you are. Everyone wants to be SUCCESSFUL. But few people take the time and energy to define the success they want. As a result, they spend most, if not all, of their lives chasing what society superimposes on them as success. Define your values. Craft a life around them. THAT is success. Stress + Rest = Growth. Too much of the former not enough of the latter you get injury, illness, burnout. Too much of the latter, not enough of the former you get complacency, stagnation. This equation is universal. It holds true for individual and organizational growth. "Wouldn't this be rad?" The process of striving for ambitious goals is what brings fulfillment. The process is how you live your life. "Your addiction to growth might be making you miserable." The human condition is oriented towards more. Advice on building a business: Think less about building the business and more about building the life you want to live. Brad limits himself to 15 clients and they only meet on Monday and Friday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are days for creativity, reading, research. Brad optimizes for autonomy and freedom. For the over-worked, over-scheduled VP: Find 2 hours a week for deep work. That's a start. Challenge the culture, test assumptions. Think of your schedule as a moral document Sustain excellence: Wise patience... Step back sometimes When making a big decision, adopt the lens of a wise observer, what would your wiser self tell you to do?  Stimulus + your response = outcome When you feel restless to do something, use that as an alarm. Force yourself to take three deep breaths. What will you regret less? No raising voices... Your language shapes how you think and act... The Good Enough Mother: Not helicopter Not each and every need Doesn't neglect Gives a safe space to grow and blossom For the insecure leader... Approach them with curiosity Musicians have intense periods of focused practice. People have breakthroughs when they have been on a sabbatical... Embrace vulnerability to develop genuine strength and confidence with others... "The way to build trust is by being vulnerable." Don't be performative. It must be real. Build deep community over efficiency and optimization It takes more time to meet in person. Brad's tattoo sleeve: Mountains sit through it all. Trees = grounded, the roots support it. We need to tend to our own roots.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Sahil Bloom is a writer who attempts to demystify the world. He's an investor, advisor, and creator. As a pitcher at the University of Stanford, he once gave up a grand slam on ESPN in 2012 and he's still waiting for it to land. Sahil is an angel investor in 25+ startups across the technology landscape. In this capacity, he works directly with entrepreneurs and founders to identify and execute against core value creation initiatives to build scalable, sustainable value for all stakeholders. Notes: Writing makes you better at everything you do. Writing is the best way to expose gaps in your thinking. When you write, you think better. The makeup of a great coach - Never too big to do the small things. They push you beyond what you think you’re capable of. Everyone should take a moment and say thank you to someone who has done this for them. Learning Circles -- Develop a circle of people to collectively learn with. Push your thinking. I do this with my Learning Leader Circles and it’s some of the most rewarding work I do. Why the cheeky Twitter bio? ("Once gave up a home run on ESPN that hasn't landed yet"). "People take themselves too seriously." The difference between big public failures and private ones: "I think private failures can shape you more." Freshman year at Stanford was a grind... "I thought I was hot shit." "Are you willing to spring when the distance is unknown?" It's all about how you bounce back from failures. "You need to be able to take constructive feedback. You can't crumble." Sahil asks, "What do I want to instill in my child?" Let them fail... It's the greatest experience. Angel Investing - An individual who provides money to start-ups. The "must-have" qualities in a person for Sahil to invest in them: Resilience and Grit. "You're going to get knocked around. They are willing to die before they'll fail." "I'm driven by relationships over data points. I like to ask: Tell me about a time you got your ass kicked..." Sahil invests because he learns so much through the process of it. The intellectual returns make it worth it. "Writing is the best way to expose gaps in your thinking. It makes you better at everything you do." Be a teacher: "I'm learning alongside you." Great storytelling... "It is a built skill." Disney, Pixar... It's a foundational skill. They infuse personality in writing. The three biggest keys to storytelling: Elicit an emotional response Novelty - That "Oh wow!" moment Punchy & Concise - "I didn't have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead." Viral tweet threads - It started in May 2020 for Sahil. He went from a few followers to hundreds of thousands... Be "Positive Sum." The world is positive sum. A rising tide lifts all boats. You should genuinely root for others to succeed. The makeup of a great coach: In the trenches with the team - never too big to do the small things Willing to challenge you and call you out. They help you get better They push your thinking Coach John Beverly (Sahil's high school baseball coach) He was first to suggest that Stanford could be a reality for Sahil ("He was nuts") He had very high expectations He believed in Sahil more than Sahil believed in himself He changed the trajectory of people Cognitive bias - High expectations lead to higher performance You need to vocalize your appreciation for those who have pushed your thinking and expected a lot from you The power of learning circles: There is push & pull with others Helps you develop circles of friends to collectively learn with and push your thinking
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www. LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is a leading digital CEO and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of leadership experience founding, scaling, and advising companies including Google, Amazon, StubHub, Yodlee, and more. Most recently, Sukhinder served as the leader of StubHub, the premier global consumer ticketing marketplace for live entertainment, which she and her team sold for $4 billion in February 2020. Earlier in her career, Sukhinder built Google’s business throughout Asia Pacific and Latin America. Notes: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” - Samuel Johnson “We think when we do nothing there is no cost.” That’s not true. There’s a cost to standing still. Proximity to opportunity benefits us even more than planning. Sukhinder moved to Silicon Valley in 1997. She rode the tailwind of the Internet and being at the epicenter of it all. Prioritize the WHO before the WHAT. As a leader, watch what you validate with your words and actions. Reward the behavior that you want. If you want to promote taking risks, then reward the people who do that. “You get what you create and what you allow.” At one point, Sukhinder went to her boss at Google (who worked with Eric Schmidt) and said, “I’m pregnant, I want to keep running international at Google. I need for you to pay for me and my nanny to travel the world business-class. And they said yes.” BIG ASK.  She did the calculus and realized it was a reasonable ask. And they said yes. Career path - "My career is not linear, it's cyclical. It has ups and downs. I've made 13 different meaningful choices along the way." The myth that there is a linear relationship between risk and reward. Not all choices have an equal amount of upside and downside... Sukhinder sas been on the board of Urban Outfitters with Scott Galloway: Should you move to a big city? Should you move to your company's headquarters? Being at the center of the action matters... It helps if you can understand the pulse of HQ How to become a smart risk taker? What are our goals, passions, and values? What are we great at? Look for headwinds and tailwinds - (Join a growing company that has momentum) With that said, Sukhinder went to StubHub and there were significant challenges Over-prioritize the WHO over the WHAT Why did Sukhinder take the StubHub leadership role? It was a calculated risk She missed running a company of scale They needed entrepreneurial and executive energy How do you create an environment for people to take risks? You want people who are "truth-tellers, truth seekers, and authors" Make it safe to take risks -- Reward that behavior. Watch what you validate by your words and actions. Understand the magnitude and the weight of your words. People are always watching how the leader responds, who they commend, what they say... How to go for a job that you aren't qualified for? "The next level of learning is going for something you don't know..." To be a CEO, you need depth AND breadth. You need to expand your skillset. This is the path to accelerated learning. How do you know when you should leave a job? "I like 3-5 year sprints. Are you having fun? Are you making an impact? If you aren't having fun or making an impact, you'll want to leave." Think about: "Who am I doing this with? Are our values aligned?" Why did Sukhinder want to be a CEO? "A little bit of ego" "I was built to lead" "I enjoy being on the hook" People who sustain excellence: They surround themselves with other great people. They don't let their ego get in the way. They don't feel threatened by great people. Career/Life Advice: "We tend to assume that everything is zero-sum. It's not. Choice is a multiplier of opportunity and we get to control it. Make a choice and get in motion."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Melissa Urban is the co-founder and CEO of Whole30, and a six-time New York Times bestselling author. She is is a prominent keynote speaker on social media and branding, health trends, and entrepreneurship. Notes: “I’ll Go First” -- As Leaders, it’s on us to do the hard thing first. Be vulnerable first. Trust first. That mindset will serve us well “I decided to look for evidence that I was already a healthy person with healthy habits.” and that helped form her identity. Whole30 -- The Whole30 is not a diet, a weight-loss plan or quick fix – it’s designed to “change your life,” the founders say, by eliminating cravings, rebalancing hormones, curing digestive issues, improving medical conditions, and boosting energy and immune function. "You can think of the Whole30 like pushing the reset button with your health, habits, and relationship with food." “For 30 days, you’ll eliminate the foods that scientific literature and our clinical experience have shown to be commonly problematic in one of four areas — cravings and habits, blood sugar regulation and hormones, digestion, and immune system, and inflammation “The food you eat either makes you more healthy or less healthy. Those are your options.” “You cannot “out-exercise” poor food choices and the resulting hormonal disruption.” The diet culture has been beaten into our heads and can make us feel disempowered This helps you take back the power. It's not a diet. Not a quick fix. It helps you figure out what works for you. Melissa always buys herself flowers... Take care of yourself first. Must-Have leadership qualities in someone Melissa hires: "I hire for talent, not skill." Entrepreneurial spirit -- "I want them to take ownership." Ambitious - "They need to want to grow and learn." Sharing pictures on social media that are not airbrushed or edited: "It is me existing in my body. It's not courageous to exist in your body. I shouldn't be seen as brave for posting those pictures." Grey Rock - This is how you respond to a narcissist or complainer... Don't react to them pushing buttons. They are trying to get you to react. Don't give them that gift. Boundaries are essential life skills - We learn about these in times of crisis. "Clear is kind." Example: "When my parents attempt to parent my child, I have to sometimes tell them that that's my job and they need to stop. That's setting a boundary." How to be a great CEO? "I have figured a lot out as I go. It helps to have mentors. I've hired a lot of talented people." It's about surrounding yourself with excellent talent and trusting them to do the job. How to have high self-awareness A lot of therapy Self-experimentation Committed to working on empathy Life/Career Advice: It's easy to tell someone to follow their passion, but that's not always good advice "Whatever job you do, overdeliver. Do it well." Be known as someone who goes the extra mile. Be kind. Go first. Be vulnerable. Get it done.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Matthew Dicks is a Bestselling author, a professional storyteller, and a teacher. He is a 52-time Moth StorySLAM winner & a 7-time GrandSLAM champion. He’s recognized as one of the greatest storytellers in the world. Notes: Every great story is about a five-second moment of our life. The purpose of every great story is to bring a singular moment of transformation and realization to the greatest clarity possible. "Let me tell you about my vacation to Europe" is not the beginning of a story, despite what many seem to believe. This is merely an attempt to review the itinerary of your previous vacation But if someone said, "While I was in Europe, I met a taxi driver who changed the way I think about my parents forever," that is potentially a great story. “People are not attracted to people who do easy things. They are attracted to people who do hard things. It’s hard to be vulnerable. That takes courage. And that’s why we are drawn to it.” Being vulnerable opens people up. The beginning and end of a story: Beginning - Promise that what I'm going to say is worth your time End - The fulfillment of that process How to put a great story together? Start at the end... The five-second moment. "What are you aiming at?" You have to know that to craft the beginning. Use a thesis statement -- "I used to be... and I realized..." Jurassic Park is not a movie about dinosaurs. It's about love. How to open a story: Try to start your story with forward movement whenever possible. DON'T start by setting expectations (“This is hilarious, “you need to hear this,” “you’re not going to believe this.”) Requirements of a personal story: Change - your story must reflect change over time. It can’t simply be a series of remarkable events. Stories that fail to reflect change over time are known as anecdotes. Your story only -  not that of others The dinner table test - Be human Homework for life — 5 minutes at the end of each day. “If I had to tell a story from today — a 5-minute story onstage about something that took place over the course of this day. What would it be? Homework for life slows time down... Humor -- It keeps your audience’s attention. “The goal is not to tell a funny story. The goal is to tell a story that moves an audience emotionally.” “A written story is like a lake. Readers can step in and out of the water at their leisure, and the water always remains the same. An oral story is like a river. It is a constantly flowing torrent of words.” -- “To keep your listener from stepping out of your river of words to make meaning, simplification is essential. Starting as close to the end as possible helps to make this happen.” During a talk at a school in Brazil, Matt was asked why he shares so much of himself? (Writing novels, stories, teaching, blog posts, podcasts). And he thought for a while and then said, “I think I’m trying to get the attention of a mother who never paid me any attention and is now dead and a father who left me as a boy and never came home.” Your first job as a speaker (at home, on stage, or at work) is to be entertaining... Advice: When you graduate college, it's the end of your assessed learning. What do you want to study next? It will be on you to track. It won't be assessed by others... What do you want to learn next?
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Tim Grover is the CEO of ATTACK Athletics, Inc., founded in 1989. World-renowned for his legendary work with elite champions including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of other NFL, MLB, NBA, and Olympic athletes. He is the preeminent authority on the science and art of mental and physical dominance and achieving excellence. He's also the bestselling author of W1NNING & RELENTLESS. Notes:  Cleaners have the ability to achieve the end result over and over. Cleaners know who they are, they know the difference between criticism and feedback, they take control of their story. They know that there is always more to do. The Language of Winning & Motivation - ‘In the language of winning, there is no talk of motivation. “Motivation is entry-level, the temporary rush you get from eating too much frosting. Motivation is for those who haven’t decided whether to commit to their goals, or how much time, effort, and life they’re willing to invest to achieve them.” The Dark Side turns your anger into controlled rage. High performers know how to control and use their dark side to be in control. It's not evit. It's what's unique to you. The vocabulary test  Tim gives his -- “Describe winning in one word.” Some of the answers he receives: Glorious, Euphoric, Success, Domination, Achievement. Not bad. The answers he receives from champions:  Uncivilized. Hard. Nasty. Unpolished. Dirty. Rough. From Kobe? Everything. "WINNING isn’t heartless, but you’ll use your heart less." Your mind must be stronger than your feelings. "Your feelings keep you in bed." “You can’t buy a map to the top. If you could, everyone would be up there. They’re not. The steps to Winning are infinite, and constantly shifting.” “Winning requires you to learn, question what you learned, and then learn more.” How to push through when you feel bad? "You have to capture little wins. The joy of the wins cannot be attained if you only work when you feel like it." "You have to crave the end result so bad that the work is irrelevant." Do Hard Things - Doing hard things creates trust in oneself. Doing the hard work others aren't willing to do builds confidence. The phrase "fake it til you make it" - "I hate that phrase. It's so easy to do this on social media and you end up not even knowing who you are. Those people are too worried about how others perceive them." His favorite Kobe story - "He's so coachable." He was always asking questions and listening to learn more. "And he always held himself accountable." "Confidence is the ultimate drug. And winning is the dealer." "The greats always bet on themselves." High performers always seem to be the ones reaching out for a coach... Always trying to get better. The average performers don't think they need a coach. Winning makes you different. And different scares people. Michael Jordan started lifting weights on game days and people thought he was nuts. Knowing what to think versus knowing how to think -- You need to be able to have confidence, challenge other people's thoughts and preconceptions. Don't copy others. Learn and create your own point of view. Your own ideas based on what you've learned. "You can have sight (copy others), but no vision. You need to have a vision." Winning is a test with no correct answers. "Winning is not a marathon. It's a sprint with no finish line." You don't have the luxury of time. Most people manage time. Don't manage time, manage focus. Career/Life advice: Do everything to figure out what you want to do. No job is beneath you. There is no shortcut.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 James Clear is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. His writing is focused on how we can create better habits, make better decisions, and live better lives. Notes: “My primary hope is that people find what I write to be useful. As long as someone is able to implement the ideas I share to get the results they want, then I feel like I’ve done my part to make the world a slightly better place.” "Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.  It’s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it—even if progress is imperfect and slow." Action relieves anxiety. We often avoid taking action because we think "I need to learn more," but the best way to learn is often by taking action. Lack of confidence kills more dreams than lack of ability. Talent matters—especially at elite levels—but people talk themselves out of giving their best effort long before talent becomes the limiting factor. You're capable of more than you know. Don't be your own bottleneck. What looks like talent is often careful preparation. What looks like skill is often persistent revision. You need volume before intensity. The bad days are more important than the good days. You need to maintain consistency. Preparation for a lawyer: Most cases are won long before you enter a courtroom. You must be willing to prepare. Question James asks to those who are pitching him a TV show or movie for Atomic Habits: What causes a similar show to succeed? ("I don't think people are serious enough about succeeding.") "Having a plan almost always serves you even if it doesn't go according to plan." A+ work - Good enough is ok for most things. For creators, doing A+ work is crucial. Be “selectively ignorant.” Ignore topics that drain your attention. Unfollow people that drain your energy. Abandon projects that drain your time. Do not keep up with it all. The more selectively ignorant you become, the more broadly knowledgeable you can be. At multiple points this year, the top 3 read books on Amazon were: 1) A Promised Land by President Barack Obama 2) Atomic Habits by James Clear, and 3) Becoming by Former first lady, Michelle Obama... I asked James, what is it like to see your work amongst the world's most powerful people? "It's been a wild few years!" The best marketing strategy? Excellent work Read Scott Young's article, Do The Real Thing There are 3 primary drivers of results in life: Your luck (randomness). Your strategy (choices). Your actions (habits). Only 2 of the 3 are under your control. But if you master those 2, you can improve the odds that luck will work for you rather than against you. A Chilean saying: "Criticizing a musician is easy, but it is more difficult when you have a guitar in your hand." -- Don't criticize someone else unless you're willing to do the work. Be known as a champion for great ideas versus someone who is against something. "The more comfortable I am with myself, the less I feel a need to win arguments with other people." Peer pressure applies when you don't know who you are. Fame - "I have no interest in being famous. I want to be known by brand, not by face." What he learned from a cab driver in Singapore about fame: "They have the name and not the life. We have the life and not the name." The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What gets rewarded, gets repeated. What gets punished, gets avoided. Don’t reward behavior you don’t want to see repeated. The easy way is often the hard way. Shortcuts, one-sided deals, and selfish behavior create debts. You only look like a winner until the bill comes due. Short-term actions become long-term frustrations. In hindsight, the hard way only seems slow in the moment. "The target audience is always the same: myself. I like Morgan Housel's line, "Writing for yourself is fun, and it shows. Writing for others is work, and it shows." Life/Career Advice: Questions are better than advice... Ask these questions: What am I optimizing for? Can my current habits carry me to my desired future? What am I really trying to achieve? What do I really want? Go fast - "Don't rush, but don't wait."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jay Clouse leads Community Experience for Smart Passive Income. He joined Smart Passive Income in December 2020 after SPI acquired his private community and virtual accelerator, Unreal Collective. You will notice it sounds different from all of my other episodes. Notes: Commitment: “You don’t need to be uniquely talented or creative to make a living as a creator. But you need to be committed." "A creator makes an asset for the purpose of being consumed and creating value for both the consumer and the creator.” -- Leaders need to be creators -- They create/build culture. They need to be effective communicators, writers, they need to create a vision and inspire people… The WHY: “I created Creative Elements to bridge the gap between art and business by talking to high-profile creators about the nitty-gritty of building their creative career.” Community - “A group of people with commonality – shared interests, values, or beliefs.” -- Community traces back to the late 14th century, with both French and Latin roots. “Community” was used to describe “a number of people associated together by the fact of residence in the same locality” as well as “the common people." Sales -- "Sales is a scorecard for storytelling." Culture - “Culture is the sum of behaviors you tolerate and reward over time.” Patience & Commitment - “The effort of earning an independent income, regardless of path, takes a lot of patience and commitment. Those words aren’t sexy and they aren’t fast. But they are reliable.” In 2019, Jay produced a feature-length documentary called Test City, USA about the growing startup ecosystem in Columbus, Ohio. A+ work - A Power law. The #2 result gets half as much as the #1 result. When creating something, shoot for A+ quality work. The test: When someone sees it, they can't help but comment on it, share it, and tell their friends. You want to start a podcast? Why are you doing this? What's the format? How can you market it? Audio needs to sound great The Juice = feedback from listeners that your show has helped them. Authenticity - You need to feel aligned and comfortable with your voice on air. Wabi-sabi is the view or thought of finding beauty in every aspect of imperfection in nature. It is about the aesthetic of things in existence, that are “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” Life/Career advice: It takes time to forge your own path Get in touch with what you want Trial and error - view it as a series of experiments Get your WHO right
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 McKeel Hagerty is the CEO of Hagerty. Hagerty is an American automotive lifestyle and membership company and the world’s largest provider of specialty insurance for classic vehicles. He is the former Chair of Young President's Organization (YPO). YPO is a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives — more than 30,000 members from 142 countries. McKeel is also a Co-Founder and General Partner at Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital firm Grand Ventures. Notes: Arete is a concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to "excellence" of any kind. This meaning was related to the idea of the fulfillment of purpose or function, the act of living up to one’s full potential.  In his early twenties, Mckeel planned to be a Russian Orthodox priest. He earned his master’s degree in theology from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers, New York. Why McKeel tracks everything: "I noticed that people who accomplished a lot kept track of their life." He tracks: sleep, exercise, diet, goals, and more Think, "What am I trying to do?" "We are in the golden age of habit formation." "The best leaders are constantly looking for better ways to do things." "Intrinsic motivation is imperative for happiness." "I'm inspired by what I see in others." -- The spirit of the craftsman In 1999, Hagerty had 35 employees... They now have 1,600. The lightning bolt moment - McKeel went to a YPO branding conference at Nike. And learned about how Nike viewed branding. "Nike is the spirit of the sport." -- Think more like a club than a company. McKeel created a membership organization and media brand as part of his business. Leadership "Must-Haves" Growth mindset - you are not a finished product "I don't believe in work-life balance. You get life." Curiosity in the interview process They need to understand what they will need to learn along the way The power of YPO: 30,000 members It's operational leaders doing work with people It's a wholistic view of life The Learning Leader Show is tightly in line with YPO In 2016, McKeel was elected Chairman Keys to a great YPO group: Holistic leaders (business, personal, family) Egos checked at the door Vulnerability and generosity are the keys to breakthrough leaders McKeel has interviewed some of the world's most notable leaders (Hillary Clinton, Sheikh Mohamed of Dubai, Paul Kagame, Prime Minister Lee of Singapore) His writing practice: General Eisenhower would sit alone and write out his thoughts... Ask yourself, "What's the narrative here?" Write summaries of what you learn from books, podcasts, videos, articles...
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jon Gordon is the author of 23 books including 10 best sellers. His books include the timeless classic The Energy Bus which has sold over 2 million copies, The Carpenter which was a top 5 business book of the year, Training Camp, The Power of Positive Leadership, The Power of a Positive Team, The Coffee Bean, Stay Positive, and The Garden. How to be a great teammate: Put the team first "We not me" Superstars make the people around them better Get tactical (be a great teammate): Look for opportunities for the betterment of the team Work hard, build a foundation of trust, communicate well, connect with each team member, CARE about them Encourage means to "put courage into them." "Leadership is a transfer of belief." Use 'positive discontent." "Love tough instead of tough love." "Trust is the currency of leadership." Change Management (learned from Dabo Sweeney) Know what the culture stands for Know what you value Set standards (non-negotiables) Create your vision and purpose -- WHY are you doing it? Get buy-in Optimism and belief are vital Must develop relationships "People follow the leader first and the vision second." Ask: "Are they connected and committed?" A great leader wants their team members to get promoted Culture is not static. It's dynamic. It must be built every day. "It's not one thing. It's everything." Jon wrote The Energy Bus in three weeks. And it changed the trajectory of his life. Don't be carrots or eggs... Be coffee beans. Be able to "transform the environment." 10 Life Rules of Row The Boat: #2: Trained behavior creates boring habits, boring habits create elite instincts. #3 You win with people, not just players--- people who make their life about others. #5 The hardest part about being the standard is that you are the standard all the time.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Notes: Bert Bean is the CEO of Insight Global. Insight Global is a 3.3 Billion Dollar staffing company that focuses on living its shared values and empowering people. started with Insight Global in 2005 as a Recruiter and has since worked his way up within the company, exemplifying Insight Global’s “promote from within” culture. Bert was announced as Insight Global’s CEO on January 13, 2018. According to Comparably, Insight Global and its executive team (led by Bert and Sam) have been rated as an A+ by their employees. Sam Kaufman is the Chief Revenue Officer of Insight Global. Sam began his career at Insight Global as an Entry Level Recruiter in 2004, and he has earned many promotions throughout his career. Sam’s mission day in and day out is to improve and grow as a leader in sales so that he can help his people develop personally and professionally. Notes: Don't Bury The Lede -- The purpose of this episode is to announce that we (Insight Global + The Learning Leader) are formally working together. Insight Global will be the presenting sponsor of all episodes moving forward and I will work with the leaders at Insight Global. Changing the culture -- In 2017, employee turnover was 40%. Bert took over as CEO in January 2018. The current turnover is 14%. Fortune Magazine ranked Insight Global as one of the best workplaces for both millennials and women. 70% of leadership promotions in 2019 were for women The impact of episode #242 with Daniel Coyle "A leader at a Private Equity conference told me to listen to your episode with Dan Coyle. I did and it changed the trajectory of our company." Why Bert is a great CEO (according to Sam): "Bert gives everything to his people. He wakes up at 4:00 am every day to handwrite notes to people. He cares so much about developing people." Why Sam is a great leader (according to Bert): "Sam is super driven. Extremely hard worker... And cares about his people. He's also willing to take a risk and bet on himself." Insight Global has a "promote from within" culture. "We are the ultimate growth mindset business." "We must invest in training and developing our people." I will be helping with Insight Global University, Leadership Academy, and providing feedback for leaders within the business. Bert -- "I love aligning with grinders." The "Bert voicemail" -- "When I see something I want, I love being a bad negotiator and just telling them." "I believe in first WHO, then what. That's why I want to work with you." "We want you to remain independent and out in the market giving speeches and learning from leaders outside of Insight Global. We value you having fresh eyes to help us." The Utah Offsite retreat: Rented a big house with 28 leaders and rebuilt the value system and the culture "We all got in a big circle and shared our lowest moment and highest moment. There were a lot of tears... And we came together in the moment." Legendary leader -- "Kirby was dying from cancer. He couldn't walk. The cancer was eating his bones and he flew out there to be with us. He means everything to us. He is the ultimate example of grit." Kirby died a few months after that off-site meeting. Leadership "must-haves" Sam - Three things. You have to care - You won't follow someone who doesn't care about you. High character - Must earn the respect of your peers. Do the right thing all of the time. You're there to serve - "Don't think of leadership as power. Think of it as a burden. A massive responsibility." Bert - "You can't be a bullshit leader. Must be authentic. Not a phony. People see through that. You must take care of and develop people in your charge." The Insight Global shared values: Everyone matters We Take Care of Each Other Leadership is Here to Serve High Character and Hard Work Always Know Where You Stand Purpose - “Our purpose is to develop our people personally, professionally, and financially; so they can be the light to the world around them.” - Bert Bean
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Julia Galef is co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality. She is the author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't. Notes: What is the scout mindset? “The motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish them to be.” The Scout Mindset allows you to recognize when you were wrong, to seek out your blind spots, to test your assumptions and change course. It’s what prompts you to honestly ask yourself questions like “Was I at fault in that argument?” or “Is this risk really worth it?” As the physicist Richard Feynman said: “The first rule is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” The three prongs: Realize that trust isn't in conflict with your other goals Learn tools that make it easier to see clearly Appreciate the emotional rewards of scout mindset She closes her TED talk with this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." "The biggest bottleneck is not knowledge. It's motivation. You need to cultivate the motivation to see things clearly." “Julia Galef is an intellectual leader of the rationalist community, and in The Scout Mindset you will find an engaging, clearly written distillation of her very important accumulated wisdom on these topics.” -- Tyler Cowen We should assume that we are wrong. We need to build the skill to change our mind. "Our goal should be to be less wrong over time." How do you work on this? The key principle is the way you think about being wrong. "Don't accept the premise that being wrong means you screwed up." Jeff Bezos left his job on Wall Street to start Amazon and acknowledged the uncertainty. He estimated that his idea had about a 30% chance to work. The Scout versus Soldier mindset: A lot of times, humans are in a soldier mindset - "Belief was strong, unshakeable, opposed argument. A soldier is having to defend." Scout mindset - survey and see what's true. Form an accurate map. Practical application: Be cognizant how you seek out and respond to criticism. Don't ask leading questions. Recognize the tendency to describe the conflict accurately. Also... Not all arguments are worth having. Show signals of good faith. Distinguish between two kinds of confidence: Social - Poised, charismatic, relaxed body language, be worth listening to Epistemic - How much certainty that you have in your views Persuade while still expressing uncertainty: "I think there's a 70% chance this won't work." Lyndon Johnson - Need to understand why someone wouldn't agree with you... We are all the sum of our experiences... Approach people, places, and things with curiosity Life/Career advice: You're creating a brand - Be conscious of the type of people you're attracting. Work to attract those that make you a better version of yourself. Make the choice to attract people who like intellectual honesty like Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum)
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dr. Ron Friedman is an award-winning psychologist who has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester and has consulted for political leaders, nonprofits, and many of the world’s most recognized brands. His first book, The Best Place to Work, was selected as an Inc. Magazine Best Business Book of the Year. His most recent book is called, Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Succes. Notes:   When Michael Dell was 16 years old, his parents bought him an Apple Computer. And they were horrified by what he did next... He took it apart to learn how to build it. He was curious. Excellent performers don't passively observe. They take action. When you encounter an awesome memo or speech, try to identify why it was remarkable... And then see how you can implement what you've learned to do the same. Nature vs. Nurture? "It's both." The stories we've been told are wrong: That it takes talent + practice. That's only part of the story. It's thinking in formulas and becoming a collector. "Identify what works and turn it into a template for yourself." A presidential speechwriter like Jon Favreau (President Obama's speechwriter) would study the greatest presidential speeches in history as he wrote... Reverse outlining - Take a finished product and reduce it to small paragraphs. Read the transcript and identify the emotion. There are six main narratives for main characters... The analysis comes after collection. Identify what's extraordinary... And then create a template. Create metrics and rate your work. "Measurement begets improvement." This requires a mindset of curiosity (like Michael Dell) Think in "blueprints." How does this work? How do I recreate it? President Obama initially was not a good politician... He observed pastors at churches. He started using repetition and pausing for effect to improve his ability to give compelling speeches. How are Chipotle and Starbucks similar? "They think in blueprints." The creators of Chipotle knew that people love burritos, but there wasn't a fast way to get great ones. They created a blueprint. The leaders at Starbucks modeled their buildings after Italian coffee bars. It's "pattern-thinking." Tom Petty didn't watch Bruce Springsteen because he felt they were too similar. He didn't want to outright copy him. Ron reads fiction to help him become a better storyteller and use cliffhangers in his non-fiction writing. Visualization - Why does it not work? "It can give you temporary satisfaction and lead to you not working as hard for the goal. You feel as if you already achieved it." "Visualize the process instead of the outcome." The UCLA Study: Visualize the process Practice in the past - Be reflective, use a journal, look back at previous entries Deliberate practice - It needs to be hard and you need feedback from an expert. Practice in different locations. Novelty is important. This allows you to be more present in the moment... Sign up for improv classes Find a hobby that has an overlap with what you do (if you're a manager, join toastmasters to become a better public speaker) Tinder algorithms - They predict who you'll find attractive. It looks for commonalities... The takeaway? Start a collection intake engine. Curate what that contains and what you exclude. Ritz Carlton obsesses over metrics. They understand that what gets measured gets managed. They optimize for their net promoter score (NPS). The links that are drivers to outcomes... For Ron, he needs to do cardio to get into creative mode. To do great cardio, he needs great sleep. To get great sleep, he needs regular massages. It's a chain of events to get the optimal outcome. Figure out what that is for you. How to give a great Ted Talk? Ron reverse engineered the most watched talk... Here is what he found: Ken Robinson used one fact He had lots of anecdotes There were LOTS of jokes (and they were funny) The storytelling drives the whole talk Taking risks -- Ron learned this from his grandmother and dedicates his work to her. He was born in Israel and moved to New York when he was 7. His grandmother would go door to door selling the services of her husband (he was a dentist). "The more risks we take, the more likely we are to succeed." Life/Career advice: Take more risks Optimize for your relationships... And your spouse is the most important relationship Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Sebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of THE PERFECT STORM, FIRE, A DEATH IN BELMONT, WAR, TRIBE, and FREEDOM. As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around the world and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is also a documentary filmmaker whose debut film "Restrepo", a feature-length documentary (co-directed with Tim Hetherington), was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Notes: Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives, and they need to feel connected to others. Definition of Freedom: “We walked 400 miles, and most nights we were the only people who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom, but surely that’s one of them.” Running a company versus LEADING a company -- “You can run a company or lead a company. If you want to lead a company, you have to make sure that when things take a downturn, as the leader you’ll be the first to experience the downside. Before jobs get cut, you’ll take a pay cut, you will suffer with the people you lead.” One great example of this is Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya. All employees are part owners of the company. He comes from a family of Nomadic Sheep farmers from the Turkish mountains. He learned a collective approach to life and work where he grew up. “When people are actively engaged in a cause their lives have more purpose... with a resulting improvement in mental health." How becoming a dad (at age 55) changed his life: "they are the point of life." Sebastian's dad was a refugee from two wars... War has had a significant impact on his life. As Sebastian grew up, he decided he wanted to be a journalist and cover wars. He went to the Civil war in Bosnia. Guts - "Most scary things are more frightening before you go. I have a formidable capacity for denial." People want to feel like they have agency. They're more scared when they feel that they don't have it. Front line vs backline soldiers - The backline soldiers are scared because they feel like they don't have as much agency as the front line (even though the front line is more dangerous). Uncertainty is scary. To help with fear, go in front of your mirror and make the "fear grimace" face... When Sebastian was competing in track events for the 1500m race, he would yawn in the faces of his opponents to intimidate them Freedom - We aren't subject to the whims of the largest male in a group anymore... You remain free by being mobile He organized his new book, Freedom, in three parts: Run -- Fight -- Think Sebastian went on a walking trip and called it, "The Last Patrol." - They walked on a railroad from Washington DC to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh "Met America from inside-out" What did he think about at night when he went to sleep outside during "The Last Patrol?" "Always thought safety first." "The most meaningful experiences happen when I'm physically dirty and security wasn't guaranteed." How to help your children push their edges? "We traveled to Liberia with our daughter." "The core value children value is closeness. We sleep on a mattress on the floor with our daughters. They want to be close." Collaboration/Working together -- Football and the military. The football locker room is a beautiful place. It’s democratic. People join from diverse backgrounds. And create a common goal. A theme of collaboration. A “we can’t win games without each other.” And when it comes together it’s a magical feeling.  There must be a core commitment to the group. "Being ego-driven is an emotional burden." Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: Principle driven - In politics, democracy should be #1 Sacrifice own interest for the group Life/Career Advice -- FAIL. If you’re only doing things you know you can do then you’re never near your limits. In order to grow, you have to push those limits. And sometimes that means you’ll fail. That’s ok.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Sean Covey is President of FranklinCovey Education. He is a New York Times best-selling author and has written several books, including The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which has been translated into 20 languages and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Sean's dad is Stephen R. Covey, the author of one of the most sold books of all time (more than 30 million copies), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Notes: Sean played Quarterback at BYU -- Led the team to two bowl games and twice selected as ESPN’s Most Valuable Player of the Game. What he learned from his time as a QB: How to prepare How to "do hard things" - "Your zone of comfort expands because the hard things aren't as hard anymore." Importance of a system - Rigorous practice, filming of the practice, reviewing of the work. Daily. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People came out in 1989... It had a tepid release and then exploded. It changed the lives of the Covey family. Sean said his dad Stephen (the author of The 7 Habits) was "very genuine... A better husband and dad than a writer. H was very congruent. He had the power of principles. There was no hypocrisy." How do you handle yourself when talking to a person who has a powerful position? "Treat the garbage collector and the CEO with an equal amount of respect." 4 Disciplines of Execution: Focusing On The Wildly Important Goals (WIG) - Exceptional execution starts with narrowing the focus— clearly identifying what must be done, or nothing else you achieve really matters much.  -- Example: JFK has one of the best examples ever: "Send a man to the moon and return him home safely by the end of the decade." It was one goal. There was a starting line and a finish line. Act on Lead Measures – Golden rule of execution: Identify lead measures. Twenty percent of activities produce eighty percent of results. The highest predictors of goal achievement are the 80/20 activities that are identified and codified into individual actions and tracked fanatically. Lag Measures are the end goal. Keep A Compelling Scoreboard -People and teams play differently when they are keeping score, and the right kind of scoreboards motivate the players to win. Create A Cadence of Accountability -Each team engages in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary, creating the ultimate performance-management system. Goal setting - There are two kinds of strategies: Deliberate strategies Emergent strategies - "Be ready for waves that might hit you... And knock you in a better position." With goal setting, remember the phrase "No Involvement, No Commitment." Involve your team to set their own goals. Don't set the goals for them. Advice to parents with teenagers: Have a purpose as a family Set values Write a mission statement Have 1:1 time with kids Career/Life advice: Have a plan... But be flexible Live according to your principles, values, and mission statement Create a credo of your own
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 The 3 things Scott told his daughter Kiraat a YPO event... Family, Family, Family It will always be ok. Things will go bad. It will be ok. Anything, anytime - "you can always call, text, FaceTime, no matter what. I am here for you." Scott's 4-part process to become more present: Find perspective Seek authentic feedback Cultivate reflective strength Love your leadership constitution Public failure: Scott started a business with Seth Berger, founder of AND1, basketball shoes. HoopsTV. Raised $14 million from investors… Eventually failed, had to lay off 50 people, including his own brother(!) The good old days are today (scene from the office (Ed Helms)  Andy Bernard: “I wish there was a way to know you're in "the good old days" before you've actually left them.” Scott got fired from his role as President of Madison Square Garden. He says it was because he was "too busy being right instead of being effective." Scott is a change agent and values performance more than experience Watch the Battle at Kruger video (Scott shared this with the team) "To do great things, you have to be confident" Need to focus on "WMI." What's Most Important "Work-life balance does not exist. Beware of the mediocre middle." "Life is about tradeoffs" The most effective leaders seek authentic feedback and are able to hear it. Ask yourself, "Who have you connected to in the last month?" Behaviors of Excellence: Be your authentic self - "Be you. People follow authenticity." Work unreasonably hard. Intellectually curious - "The world is changing so fast." Passionate - "Fall in love with it." All executives at the Philadelphia 76ers are challenged to declare who they are at their core in the form of a leadership constitution. Anyone can—and should—create one by answering the following two questions: 1. I declare that I am... and 2. You can count on me to... Scott's leadership constitution: I declare that I am a passionate and authentic leader of leaders who feels a gravitational pull towards talent and character. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I love people and being part of a team. I get energy from helping others and would give the shirt off my back to a stranger and anything, anytime to a friend. I am family first, high integrity, and surprisingly sensitive change agent who is confident, caring, and intellectually curious. This fuels a competitive drive that at times feels like a chip on my shoulder. You can count on me to bring positive energy into my space. Exude urgency and push you, challenge you, nudge you and raise the bar beyond your expectations, and sometimes what you think reasonable. Laugh with you, cry with you, love you even when you won’t laugh, haven’t cried, and don’t feel loved. Root for you today, every day, and always. Share the most personal of thoughts, emotions, stories, highs, and lows because I am okay with it and who I am. Enjoy the rollercoaster of life, whether we are going forward, backwards and upside down. Drive hard to reach the summit and then quickly start on another mountain. Share wins and take hits for losses
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Mark Scharenbroich is an Emmy award winner, best-selling author, and hall of fame keynote speaker. He is known for his authentic delivery, his talent for delivering unique stories, and his comedic timing. He's the author of Nice Bike: Making Meaningful Connections on The Road of Life. Notes: Nice Bike. It’s not a technique, it’s a genuine interest in others and the willingness to acknowledge the talents and accomplishments of everyone. The three parts to story-telling: Stories need to be unpredictable, they need to have a hook, and they have to have a cast of characters. While in college at St Cloud State, Mark toured high schools and colleges with a comedy troupe called Mom’s Apple Pie which helped him develop his comedic timing and ability to improv. While on a trip to Washington DC with his dad, Mark witnessed his dad walking up to a couple of Vietnam veterans and saying, "Thank ya fellas. Welcome home." The moment was unforgettable to Mark as he witnessed what it meant to be grateful for others and to connect with them. The "dark chocolate" that Mark's daughter gave to a struggling stranger at the airport. "We don't have to fix all the problems, but acknowledge others, see them, and try to connect with them." The CEO of Cargill said it's not a secret what leaders need to do: State where we're going State how we're going to get there Show that you have your team's back Show that you care about your team as people Leaders must always be in the trenches and learning... And work to create memorable experiences for the people they are leading How to give a great toast at a wedding or eulogy at a funeral? Remember it's not about you, it's about the bride and groom Be story-driven The power of three - "She's about faith, family, and friends" and then tell a short story about each of the three What Mark learned from a "meat raffle" You have to buy a ticket for a shot to win You must be present to win The same is true for leadership. You have to be engaged and take the chance to do it. You must be present with your team. Be a "day-maker." Instead of just being a barber or a stylist, work to make your client's day by giving them an amazing haircut. BWCA - Leave the area better than you found it... A great rule for life. Core values - "When your core values are clear, decisions are easier." Comparison - Compare yourself to your previous self. Be grateful for what you have. Someone else will always have more crayons. Focus on your crayons. Advice to those who think they aren't creative. You are... You have to find the stories. Focus on four columns People you've had experiences with Experiences you've had Lessons learned Application to the lives of others Roberta Jordan: "It's more important to be interested than interesting." Life advice -- "Leave a tip for the staff who cleans your hotel room."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Hubert Joly is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School and the former Chairman and CEO of Best Buy.He is the author of the upcoming book “The Heart of Business – Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism.” Notes: In May 2012. Jim Citrin, the leader of the CEO practice at Spencer Stuart, the global executive search company, asked Hubert, “Would you be interested in being the next CEO of Best Buy?  Issues at Best Buy were all self-inflicted. Hubert realized there was an opportunity to fix it... Hubert's "5 Be's" of leadership are purpose, values, clarity, authenticity, and service. "My purpose in life is to make a positive difference on people around me." - Hubert Joly "If you cannot go outside, go inside. Leadership starts from within." Work to be the best version of yourself Ask your people, "What is your dream?" -- "My job as a leader is to help you achieve your dreams." "We're the captains of our lives." "Profit should be an outcome, not a goal." The 3 imperatives in sequential order: Great people Great customers Make money Remember that 98% of questions that are either/or should be AND's... Key Philosophy: Pursue a noble purpose Put people at the center Embrace all stakeholders Leaders must create the environment to unleash the magic What Hubert learned at McKinsey: The emphasis in the early years was on solving problems. In 2012, when Hubert joined Best Buy, he hired an executive coach. Why? "100% of the top 100 tennis players have a coach." We all need a coach. "It sends a powerful message when the CEO has a coach." It shows that he understands he needs help. We all do. Must-Have leadership qualities: Knowing people... Who are they? What drives them? How do they want to be remembered? "Tell me about your soul" -- Accept imperfections of self and others How to turn around a business by putting people first and reducing headcount as a last resort. How to unleash “human magic” for outcomes that defy logic. This includes an actionable commitment to diversity and inclusion, such as the “reverse” mentor program that pairs Best Buy executives with employees who help broaden their understanding of differences and issues they face. How to become a purposeful leader focused on creating an environment in which others can flourish and perform at their best, and who inspires by showing vulnerability and embracing their and your humanity. How to place a noble purpose as the cornerstone of a company’s strategy and concretely embrace and align all stakeholders around that purpose. For Best Buy, that purpose is enriching people’s lives through technology. And it allowed them to form genuine partnerships with the world’s foremost companies, including unlikely allies like Amazon, to the benefit of all. Jeff Bezos, founder, and CEO of Amazon: “Best Buy’s turnaround under Hubert Joly’s leadership was remarkable—a case study that should and will be taught in business schools around the world. Bold and thoughtful—he has a lot to teach.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Greg McKeown wrote the New York Times best-seller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.  As well as frequently being the #1 Time Management book on Amazon, this book challenges core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success. His latest book is titled, Effortless: Make It Easier To Do What Matters Most. Notes: Essentialism was about doing the right things; Effortless is about doing them in the right way... The best free throw shooter ever is not Michael Jordan or Steph Curry… It’s Elena Delle Donne. 93.4%. “If you keep it simple, less can go wrong.” The word NOW comes from the Latin phrase, novus homo, which means “a new man” or “man newly ennobled.” The spirit of this is clear: each new moment is a chance to start over. A chance to make a new choice.” “Whatever has happened to you in life. Whatever hardship. Whatever pain. They pale in comparison to the power you have to choose what to do now.” The question to ask yourself: "What's something essential that you're under investing in?" The second question is: How can you make that effortless? Life changes the day you discover residual results How to make it effortless? Create a routine so you don't have to think about it. The competition to the South Pole -- The difference between Amundsen versus Scott Amundsen -- 15 miles per day, no matter what. The "15 mile march." Scott -- Push to exhaustion every day. Amundsen and four others arrived at the pole on December 14, 1911. Five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Scott and his four companions died on the return journey. Amundsen made it to the South Pole and back to base camp without suffering a death in the party. Consistency day in and day out help Amundsen "achieve the goal without particular effort." Effortless is about simplification. Ask, "what if it could be easy?" Ask: "Is there an effortless way to do this? Highland High School Rugby - Won 19 national championships: Systems were put in place Consistent systems are the key How to deal with the guilt when we don't work as hard? Give your best to what you're doing, but have an open mind to finding a better way to do something This book for Greg grew out of agony... His daughter was living an ideal life... And then had health issues that completely changed their family. They had two possible paths to help her: The harder, heavier path of 24/7 always on work... OR Easier path of being grateful. Sharing optimism, and live in the state to help re-wire the brain. "Be grateful for every thing possible." They chose the latter and Eve got better... How they chose to respond was everything...
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Suneel Gupta is on faculty at Harvard University. He's the author of Backable - The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take A Chance On You Notes: Let’s start with the obvious -- when lots of people are applying for the same spot, you have to find a way to stand out. You can’t just check a box, you have to leave an impression.  (But backable people “go beyond Google” and dig for insights that other people interviewing for the job may not find. They talk to customers, they attend shareholder meetings, they test-drive the product. (But backable people “go beyond Google” and dig for insights that other people interviewing for the job may not find. They talk to customers, they attend shareholder meetings, they test-drive the product. ) Suneel comes from a family of highly backable people—including his mother, Damyanti Hingorani, the first woman engineer for Ford Motor Company, and his brother Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN. Reid Hoffman recruited Suneel to Mozilla... Name someone early in your life who backed you. Call them and say 'thank you.' Hire "high ceiling" leaders: Suneel was a speechwriter in 2004. He was backstage at the Democratic National Convention. There was a State Senator from Illinois. Suneel watched him speak from behind the curtain. "He created an electric wave of energy when he spoke." It was President Barack Obama. After that, Suneel became obsessed with following the work of the State Senator. He studied President Obama's history and learned that he went from a dry speaker to inspiring through preparation and practice. He worked on his skill to communicate and got better. The "It" quality -- People get a job because others want to take a chance on them. They're backable. Specifics to make this happen: Play exhibition matches -- Prepare, practice, rehearse They develop a level of mastery so that they don't have to think when it's time to perform. Their preparation allows them to flow Ella Fitzgerald performed in Berlin... She forgot the lyrics and improvised the words for the next half of the song. She rehearsed a lot. That allowed her to perform even when she forgot the words. Confidence comes from believing something will go wrong and that you've practiced enough to be able to handle it. "Build your recovery muscle." Surround yourself with great people - Early adopters need to feel part of the build.  Steer Into Objections. Anticipate three key objections to your idea. When pitching, don’t avoid those objections; steer into them. Don’t Pitch Prematurely. Instead of sharing an idea before it’s ready, nurture it until you’re ready. It’s not charisma that convinces people, it’s conviction. Don’t Overshare. Share what it could be, not how it has to be. Share just enough to get the essence of your idea across, then open up the conversation. Build Your Backable Circle. Don’t rely on just one person to help you with your pitch. Surround yourself with a trusted group of people who bring different perspectives. Humans are not risk takers - We do whatever we can to avoid a loss. You need to neutralize that fear. "Don't just talk about why it's new, but why it's inevitable." "Backable people convince themselves first. It's not charisma that convinces people, it's conviction." "Most new ideas are killed inside hallways. We share too early. Before they're ready. Nurture your ideas behind the scenes. They need an incubation time. Write it out. Draw..." Quiet time is so important to hone ideas. It's critical to the creative process "Ken Robinson was not that charismatic, but you believed everything he was saying." He believed it first. He had conviction. Storytelling - "You need to cast a central character." "Re-write the book for on person as the reader... 'I'm writing this book for my daughter to read.'" "Don't talk about the market, talk about one person." Life advice: "Figure out what makes you come alive. I left Groupon and created a list of ideas."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 to learn more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, one of the leading international business schools. Erin conducted an in-depth study with Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix, investigating the underlying principles necessary for building a corporate culture that is inventive, fast, and flexible. The results of that research were published in their book No Rules Rules. In 2019, Erin was listed by the Thinkers50, for the second time, as one of the fifty most impactful business writers in the world and in 2018 she was selected by HR magazine as one of the top 30 most influential HR thinkers of the year.  Notes: “Corporate culture can be a mushy marshland of vague language and incomplete, ambiguous definitions. What’s worse, company values — as articulated — rarely match the way people behave in reality.” The Netflix culture deck. 127 slides originally intended for internal use but one that Reed Hastings (CEO) shared online in 2009. Sheryl Sandberg called it “the most important document ever to come out of Silicon Valley.” Erin said "I loved the deck for its honesty. And loathed it for its content.” "If you want your culture to come alive, you need to avoid speaking in absolutes." Instead, use either or… Security or High Performance? Candor or Comfort? Why did the Netflix culture deck go viral? "This is a company that tells the truth. It said what it believed. That is rare." On May 31, 2015 you got a cold email from Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix)… Reed told her that he read her book, The Culture Map, loved it, and was having his leadership team at Netflix read it. Erin's biggest surprise during her time researching Netflix and writing with Reed? "That management paradigms are hangovers from the industrial era. Previously, the #1 goal was error elimination. That isn't the #1 goal at Netflix. It's innovation." Reed Hastings had a company before Netflix called Pure Software. He put in a lot of rules and processes. He realized that "if you dummy proof the system only dummies want to work there." Too many processes can kill flexibility and innovation. This is "applicable to any environment where innovation is more important than error prevention." "Most rules are put in place to deal with low performers." "Instead, create an environment with 'talent density.' Only high performers..." Performance is Contagious: Professor Will Felps, of the University of New South Wales in Australia, conducted a study demonstrating contagious behavior in the work environment. He created several teams of 4 college students and asked each to complete a management task in 45 minutes. The teams who did the best work would receive a financial reward of $100. (Bezos: "People are pretty good at learning high standards simply through exposure," writes Bezos. "High standards are contagious. Bring a new person onto a high standards team, and they'll quickly adapt. The opposite is also true) The two different types of jobs: Operational - Ice cream scoopers Creative - Rely on your brain Pay Top of Market for talent - Matt Thunell (Manager of Original Content) said about Netflix, “We live in a walled-garden of excellence, where everyone is a high performer. You go into these meetings and it’s like the talent and brain power in the room could generate the office electricity. People are challenging one another, building up arguments. That’s why we get so much done at such incredible speed here. It’s because of the crazy high talent density.” With that said, Netflix doesn’t believe in “Pay-Per-Performance” bonuses. When you first began to collaborate with Reed to write this book, Erin asked him how he would find the time to collaborate. He said, “Oh, I can give this pretty much whatever time you think it will need.” That surprised Erin... In Reed's mind, the leaders should create a system so that they don't have to be busy, packed with back to back to back meetings... Candor -- Giving and receiving feedback Top performers regularly help other top performers get better by giving feedback At Netflix, they do live 360 feedback dinners -- Go around the table giving feedback for each person. The 4 A method of feedback: Aim to assist Actionable - It must be clear what could be done Receive the feedback with gratitude Accept it or decline it... It's not always right. Be grateful for it regardless Sustain Excellence: Humility Curiosity to Learn - Never stop learning, never feel like you've mastered it Life/Career Advice: Get the talent right Create Candor Eat the cake -- Remove rules and processes If you create an open vacation policy (meaning that vacation days are not tracked), it is imperative that the senior leaders lead from the front and go on a lot of vacations. The rest of the team will follow... If you never go on vacation, then your team will feel like they have to do the same.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brook Cupps is a leadership teacher and the coach of the Centerville High School basketball team. In 2021, he led his team to the first state championship in school history. He is best known as a leader who truly lives his core values. They are: Tough, Passionate, Unified, & Thankful. Notes: Brook's personal mantras: Wolf - Wolves travel in packs. They are not good by themselves. They need the pack. BC needs people around him. Loves teams. "Wolves are more badass than lions or tigers. You don't see a wolf in a circus." Chop Wood - "I've never viewed myself as talented, but I'm willing to work. We say chop chop. When things are going well, get to work. When things are bad, get to work. The connection is always back to work." The Man In The Arena - "I had to develop this over time. The critics used to bother me and I would listen to them. It affected my confidence. I learned that the most important opinions are the people in the arena with me." Brene Brown - “A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor. They just hurl mean-spirited criticisms and put-downs from a safe distance. The problem is, when we stop caring what people think and stop feeling hurt by cruelty, we lose our ability to connect. But when we’re defined by what people think, we lose the courage to be vulnerable. Therefore, we need to be selective about the feedback we let into our lives. For me, if you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.” Purpose - "My purpose is to inspire others to strive for excellence over success." Self awareness leads to self confidence - Know who you are. Be comfortable with who you are. "You can't be tough alone. You need others." Foxhole Friends - It takes time to build foxhole friend relationships. "With my foxhole friends, I can be completely open. They tell me the truth. They have the freedom to criticize me." Coach Z -- Dave Zeller. “He never won a District. He’s the best coach I’ve ever been around. A state championship isn’t success. It’s the impact you have on the kids because nobody’s going to tell me that those guys that won state championships are better coaches than Z was.” Core Values: Values become real when you define the behaviors that exemplify the value... Tough - Positive body language leads you to be fight ready Passionate - Choosing extra work leads you to steal inches Unified - Speaking and acting with urgency leads you to not flinching in big moments Thankful - Showing love for one another through touches (help someone off the floor, give them a five after they make a mistake) Unified --  You must speak and act with urgency. "If you choose to remain silent when someone has done something wrong, then that is selfish." Choosing the easier path of not saying anything is selfish. The selfless act is having the guts to speak up when it's needed. Patch Adams - "Indifference is the greatest disease of all." You need to stand for something or you stand for nothing... "Your behaviors are the crux to your values." Do your behaviors match the values you claim to be yours? Gabe Cupps (Brook's son) entered the conversation for a few minutes... Gabe sent a text to each player on the team before tournament games that simply said, "We're gonna win." Where does that confidence come from? "It's the work put in leading up to the big moments." Gabe originally tried out for the North Coast Blue Chips AAU team... The same team that Bronny James (LeBron James Jr) played on... During a break in the action, he asked Bronny to play 1 on 1... "I didn't know how good I was. I wanted to see." Gabe earned their respect and made the team... Later LeBron noticed Brook's coaching ability when he was helping out at practice and determined he was the best coach to lead the team moving forward. LeBron's superpower as a leader is "gassing up his guys." He has the ability to create more belief in others through his belief in them. A critical leadership action where LeBron excels... What did Brook and Gabe say to each other during their long embrace after winning the state championship? "I just told him how much I loved him." Goal setting process -- Brook does not set results oriented goals. He sets process oriented goals. They had no goals to win their conference, or regionals, or the state championship (they won all of those this year). Their goal for this season was: Attack every opportunity with purpose Process based versus Results based? In the world of coaching basketball, there is a clear scoreboard. You have a record. If you lose too many games, you get fired. How does Brook manage that? "If I have a group of guys that are tough, passionate, unified, and thankful... And they attack every opportunity with purpose, we'll probably be pretty good and win a lot. The results usually take care of themselves." Honoring those who have come before you: "Drink the water, but remember who dug the well." Will you take a charge? This is what he looks for in a teammate. Someone who looks for opportunities to sacrifice for the team. There is a physical sacrifice. "It's gonna hurt. It's an unselfish act to take a charge." "To be all in, you need to take charges." High Standards - There was a moment in a game earlier in the season when Centerville was winning 60-24 in the third quarter. Brook's team started playing a little sloppy. Turned the ball over a few times. It was uncharacteristic of their usual play. Brook called a time out and yelled at his team. It was obvious they were going to win (by a lot), but that moment showed me that Brook holds his team to higher standards and won’t allow them to lower even when the opponent isn’t posing a challenge... "You get what you accept. That's my standard. If I ignore that, then I'm not living to my values, and that's not ok with me." Creating your values -- "I think as the leader, they need to be your values." "If you go to work for someone else, you need to be bought into their values. If you're not, then you probably shouldn't work there." When interviewing for a job to work for a leader, ask them: "What are your values and how do you live them? I noticed after big wins that Brook doesn't join in the pictures with his players... Why? "That's their moment. It's about them. I love watching them enjoy those moments." Common traits of foxhole friends: "They may not communicate them the same way I do, but we have a shared appreciation for our values." “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” -- Teddy Roosevelt
Text LEARNERS to 44222... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kevin Sharer has a distinguished career as a successful CEO and Board Member. He is currently a senior lecturer at Harvard University Business School and continues to mentor a select number of senior executives. Either as a Chairman, independent director, or mentor, Sharer has been a part of more than 20 successful CEO-successor transitions. Kevin led Amgen for 20 years, first as President and then as CEO for 12 years. Under Sharer’s leadership, the company achieved annual revenue of $16 billion with operations in 55 countries.  Notes: "What Operational Excellence Looks Like" Must know the details Must have a listening system to know where problems brew The leaders have a clear agreement with the team on what success is A cadence of clear communication The leader must embody the behavior... They are the model Must have real empathy for people and care about them The leader needs to assess when things go wrong so that they don't make the same mistake twice... Kevin spent 110 days underwater in a submarine... When he left the Navy, he knew he wanted to be a manager. He joined a program at AT&T to become one... He had an ambition to rise high in an organization Kevin's dad - A military aviator. His hero and role model. his dad cared a lot about leadership... How did Kevin earn the CEO role at Amgen? Spent 8 years as the President of the company. And "made it pretty obvious" to hire him for the CEO role He consistently delivered results and formed a strong partnership with the CEO How to sustain what's special about a company as it grows? The book Built to Last by Jim Collins was very helpful.... How to create and live your values? They are not defined by what's written down, it's the behavior of the people. And that starts at the top... Understand what your real values are. If you don't believe in the values, you shouldn't work there... You "have to have social data to know that the values are real." Ask others in the organization: "Are the values you experience consistent with the values stated by the company?" How he got hired as the President at Amgen? "I first decided that I wanted to be a General Manager and not a functional specialists." Kevin pursued that through General Electric and got great experience...They hired him in part because of his broad range of experience. It was a multi-step interview process. Kevin interviewed with 20 people at the company before getting the offer... Listening ability: Kevin went from bad to great... "On the way up in my career, I had the view that I was so fast, so smart... It was working. I thought I was being helpful by telling others what I thought, but I was cutting off the full picture." Kevin had an eye opening moment when he asked the CEO of IBM to talk about leadership with his team... "I learned to listen for comprehension. Listen to understand first." "You need to listen to the entire eco-system." Big idea: Pick 10 CEOs who didn't make it: "Seven of them weren't situationally aware." What are some "must-have" hiring qualities? A record of good knowledge Great communication skill Comfort in their own skin Curious - they must ask questions Answer the question, "what are your goals?" Answer the question, "what have you learned from failure?" "If five people were asked about you, what would they say?" Their accomplishments speak for themselves. They don't have to overly sell themselves They need to "clearly want the job." A good sense of humor Hiring trap: "There is a bias for us to hire people like us. It's overwhelming. We're wired to think, "other is dangerous." We must be aware of that."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ryan Petersen is the CEO and Founder of Flexport. Prior to starting Flexport to fix the user experience in global trade, Ryan was co-founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, a data-as-a-service business for global shipping. Flexport hit a $3.2 Billion valuation after $1 billion investment led by SoftBank. Notes: Excellence = Curiosity - "It's a more fun way to live." Learners Appreciative Have fun "It doesn't have to be boring." The importance of writing as a leader: "I write a lot of essays. Some are published. Some aren't." Communication: "It's a huge part of the job of a leader." For investor updates... "It's good practice." Try to use humor, learn something new, don't be boring, get people "pumped up" Raising money from investors: "It's like your love life. You have to earn it. There are no shortcuts. You need to have a business that doesn't need them." "We built a track record over the 15 years prior to raising money." Masayoshi Son is the CEO of Softbank. He is a Japanese billionaire technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Ryan met with him and earned a $1 Billion investment... Making Flexport worth $3.2 Billion. Flexport became the fastest growing company in Silicon Valley. Ryan wrote an essay about raising a lot of money so that they could ride out a "100 year storm." How was he able to raise so much? "Don't do an auction. I said, 'I'm only talking to you.' Create a win-win. See the world through their eyes." Masa had written a 300 year vision. Ryan said, "The audacity to have a 300 year vision, it just resonated with me." "One of our core values is to play the long game." Flexport enables all parties to move large product around the world. It was born out of Ryan discovering the pain of shipping. There is a lack of technology with freight forwarders. There was no culture of customer satisfaction. There was high friction - "We counted 984 steps to get a product shipped." Paul Graham, one of the greatest investors of all time and founder of Y-Combinator said this about Ryan Petersen: Ryan is what I call an armor-piercing shell: a founder who keeps going through obstacles that would make other people give up. But he's not just determined. He sees things other people don't see. The freight business is both huge and very backward, and yet who of all the thousands of people starting startups noticed? Ryan Petersen." By 2016, Flexport was serving 700 clients across 64 countries. Tech Crunch described it as the unsexiest trillion-dollar startup. Flexport has grown to 1,800 employees across 14 offices and 6 warehouses, and 10,000 clients. His goal: "Drive velocity: You need speed in the right direction. Velocity is the key to success. That's culture ultimately." The two forms of bureaucracy: Too many rules, order No rules, no process, chaos Need to find the balance between the two "Transparency helps get people aligned." Doing an open Slack Q&A with all employees -- Helps with transparency. What Ryan looks for when hiring a leader? And why Ryan admires Parker Conrad from Zenefits: He's "hungry, curious, has a chip on his shoulder, determined, ambitious, and solves complex problems." The profession of sales: It's "one of the most misunderstood professions. It's part of all jobs. You have to persuade, create value." "Sales is about creating value for others. Create win-wins. So much is repeat games. Almost nothing is a one time transaction." Obsession with company culture: "When I reach out to top execs, they always take the call if I'm asking about culture." The secret to the tech industry: Everyone is willing to share tools, mindset, and lessons learned with one another. It's "normal to pick up the phone and ask." How did becoming a dad change him? "It's exhausting. Babies are fragile." Generalists vs. Specialists? The world needs more generalists. "Generalists are under-valued. Leaders need to be well-rounded and cross over into multiple disciplines." Has has Ryan learned to speak 6 languages? Read books, make flash cards, read the newspaper, hire a tutor... "You have to experience pain to learn. You have to like the pain." Life/Career Advice: Get out of student debt Read books. Your life will be different in 5 years based on the books you read. "Most people don't read books." Success compounds - Add up a lot of little wins
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Dustyn Kim is the Chief Revenue Officer at Artsy. Artsy is used by art lovers and collectors to discover, learn about, and buy art. Prior to working at Artsy, Dustyn was a senior executive at LexisNexis. While at LexisNexis, she was my boss! She is a rare combination of highly respected, extremely well-liked, and typically the smartest person of every room she walks in. I loved working for her. Notes: Excellence = Authenticity and team building. "A leader should be focused on building great teams." What Dustyn learned from one of her favorite bosses, Kumsal Bayazit (the CEO of Elsevier) "She was inspiring and very human. Work and life go hand in hand." "When I got a senior leadership role, I didn't want a command and control organization." What she learned from Sebastian at Artsy: "He said to me, 'I advise, you decide.' That empowered me and gave me ownership of my decisions." It's critical to empower others What are must-have qualities in a leader? Empathy - EQ + IQ Communication skill - Set the vision and communicate that effectively to you team Collaboration - Lead through influence. Cross team collaboration is key to getting things done. How to collaborate better? "Map out the key people you need to know and understand their goals." Starting early: "When I was 15, my dad woke me up and told me he was taking me to Wall Street for my first internship." How to lead as a parent for you children? "I try to introduce them to as much as possible." "My job is to help you figure out what you love doing, but you have to show up and do the work." Advice for women leaders? "I don't love the advice from Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In." It's really hard to have a full time job and travel a lot if you want to build a family. It's okay to slow down at times for your family. "Kumsal wanted me to go for a big promotion when I had just given birth to Mason. I didn't want to travel the world and be gone all the time. It's okay to not go for the big job all the time." Advice for new managers: Avoid the desire to micro manage Know that there are lots of different paths to success Don't expect to know everything A lot of new managers are too nice You need to give feedback How to be both respected and liked? Focus on the challenge at hand - "What's the plan? What's the goal?" "Then build the narrative and ask the team, what do you think?" "It didn't work for me to try and act like a guy. I had to be myself." Confidence is very important. That comes from being prepared and knowing your stuff. A tangible takeaway for how to find your voice in a meeting: "In meetings, when I was younger, I would turn bright red when speaking. A trick I had to implement was, 'say something very early in the meeting.' Just so that too much time passes without me saying anything." Career/Life Advice: Stand out -- Be excellent at your current role. Make sure others know they can count on you to do great work. Speak up -- Don't expect others to read your mind. TELL THEM what you want in your career. Make sure people know what you want to do. Give them the opportunity to help you get there... Have a goal, but be flexible on your path to achieving it
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Adam Bryant interviewed more than 500 CEOs for “Corner Office,” a series on leadership that he created in 2009. Adam is the author of three books based on the themes that have emerged from his interviews and consulting work. His new book is THE CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders. Notes: Interview style - Instead of asking them about strategies and industry trends, Adam focuses on timeless questions (how they were influenced by parents, lessons from early years in their careers, what they look for when making bets on people to invest in) about the important leadership lessons that CEOs had learned… Some questions he likes to ask: How do you hire? What questions do you ask? Describe yourself in one word... Work to get around the polished façade What animal would you be and why? Tony Hsieh would ask, "On a scale of 1-10, how weird are you?" Some additional interviewing tactics: The CEO has the interviewee drive his or her car. Monitors how they react in a different vehicle, in a new city Sharing meals "Put the mosaic of what a person is like as a human being" -- not just interviewing for a job The Dinner Party game: "If you could only ask a job candidate one question, what would you ask?" Learn about failure - Id you desire humility, learn about their failures, learnings, and lessons of life Ownership - The 3 most beautiful words: "I'm on it." Every employee needs to write a playbook to how they'd do the job... They need to take ownership. If you were an animal, what would you be? Adam: "A Hawk. Hover at high altitude, when they figure out what they want, they go get it." Question: What qualities of your parents do you like the most and the least? Ask that if you really want to go deep -- This forces the candidate to get real. "We're fooling ourselves if we think we can escape our parents." Process to ask questions: Think, "I want to cut a record with you." -- Have the desire to make something new with the person. His premise at the New York Times: "What if I sat down with CEOs and never asked them about their companies?" Questions: What were you like as a kid? What were your parents like? How have your parents impacted your leadership style? What drives you? "I like to see them in the moment of learning about themselves." "Eye contact is the 5 G of communication." Two tracking - Know where to go next AND listen intently Sustaining Excellence: Feedback look must be strong - They must be open to it Recognize patterns Take action Learn new things Be self-aware Be humble Need to ask, "What does this moment need?" "What is the gooey center of that candy?" A leader needs to know that about their business. Life advice: "Play in traffic." You have to get out there and meet people and do things. Build relationships. Those help with the pivot points of your career and life. Always be prepared to learn the most important lesson of your life...
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jeff Immelt served as CEO of GE for 16 years. He has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. During his tenure as CEO, GE was named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and the Financial Times.  Notes: Raised in Cincinnati, OH by his father Joe and mother Donna. Both of his parents grew up in the depression. Growing up Jeff said, “I remember when my dad had a great boss, he was motivated, and when he had a lousy boss, he was neither challenged nor happy. The worst kind of boss he always used to say, was one who criticized all day long but never offered solutions.” GE was founded on April 15, 1892, by one of the greatest inventors in history, Thomas Edison. For most of the 20th century, GE had more patents than any other corporation. Jack Welch, deemphasized technology and innovation, and instead focused on management techniques like six sigma. Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology invented by a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith in 1980. It trains managers to be experts (called Black Belts) in improving business processes to reduce product defects. Jeff's first day as CEO of GE was September 10, 2001. On his first day, he introduced himself, via simulcast, to GE’s 300,000 employees. His second day as CEO was 9/11/2001. "Good leaders absorb fear. They give people a plan. You have to hold two thoughts at the same time." By the end of his first week as CEO, GE’s shares had dropped 20%, decreasing the company’s market capitalization by $80 billion. Leaders learn everyday — “I’ve always believed an important determinant of success could be found in how one answered 3 questions: How fast can you learn? How much can you take? What will you give to those around to you?” The trifecta: “In your career, you meet only a handful of leaders who have the trifecta of being able to innovate, execute, and develop talent. Omar Ishrak had that." Jeff was the ultimate grinder, a true believer of GE, he got the “meatball” (the GE logo) tattooed on the left hip. The GE story is extremely personal for Jeff.  Why the "Success Theater" story about Jeff is wrong. "For seven years, 10 times per year, I had a leader from GE flown to my house with their spouse. We'd serve them dinner and then I'd spend 6+ hours with the leader asking them questions, learning about them, and saying, 'Tell me something I don't know.'" What Jeff learned from playing football in college at Dartmouth: "When the best player is not caring about the team, nobody will get in line." The story of Harry Wilson (Russell Wilson's father, Jeff's teammate in college) and Reggie Williams. "Football teams are self policing. It's a series of peer relationships. Failure is not definitive. You have to always think about the next play." "The best people get 100% of the work done in 80% of the time. That leaves them more time to push boundaries." How did Jeff get picked to be Jack Welch's successor? "I was a good peer. Your peers are who promote you. Those relationships have to be earned." What was a Jack Welch Quarterly Business Review like? "Jack was a screamer. He was spontaneous. He would like at page 7 and then jump to page 17 and ask questions." Front line obsession - "You have to have a passion for understanding how people work." Front line managers - "I told them they are more important than me. That have direct access to the customer." The profession of sales: why it's noble Amazing sense of urgency - Never waste a minute or let it pass See the company through the customers eyes - "The salesforce sets the culture... I was persistent, dogged..." Good leaders are systems thinkers: Keep your head up and stay engaged at the same time Read books, ask question... "You must be curious." Sustain excellence: Must be a learner. "Fred Smith (CEO of FedEX) is my leadership hero." Heart broken over GE: "You can still progress as a human being even when you have a broken heart. You have to keep trying. Even when the efforts don't seem to be working for you." "There's value in a human being in just keep moving. Don't hide. Don't disappear." When you are on top, it is easy to be long on friends. When you hit bottom, there are a select few who reach out. For me, those standouts included American Express’s Ken Chenault, Delta Airlines' Richard Anderson, and especially Cisco’s John Chambers. Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Ryan Serhant is a real estate broker, CEO, and founder of SERHANT. He's a bestselling author, producer, and star of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing New York and Sell It Like Serhant. He led the #1 ranked (in sales volume) real estate team in New York City in 2019 with just under $1.45 Billion in sales. Notes: His mantra is: "Expansion. Always in all ways." It's about growth. Work to find your own brand and mantra -- It must be honest and genuine for you. A learning exercise for you to do: A "self-audit." Ask your friends and colleagues, "When I'm not around and you're describing me to others, what do you say?" Find friends who are willing to be honest with you to better understand what you're known for... If you don't like it, work to change it. Ryan Serhant was known as the guy who kept his hands in his pockets and couldn't look you in the eye. He needed to change that. "Your perception to others is your reputation and your brand." "Fake it til you make it" is not useful... Instead, Ryan sold the TV producers at Bravo the person and the real estate broker he would become... "When Tom Brady got drafted in the 6th round, he told the owner, 'That's the best decision you've ever made.' Tom Brady truly believed that. I believed I would become the best real estate agent in the world." "I didn't show them who I was in the moment, I showed them who I could become." Pivotal moment - Ryan went to the top selling agent in his office and said, "Man, how are you doing this, can you teach me?" And the agent said to Ryan, "Na man, I ain't telling you shit." Ryan thought, "Wow. I'm going to have to figure this out on my own. This guy is threatened by me." The New York City market - "It's cut throat. I went there for theater school, and stayed because, 'I would rather regret the things I did, than what I thought about doing and didn't do." Ryan depends on a routine to be productive. It is: "I wake up at 4:00am. In the gym by 5:00. 6:00 shower. Baby time at 7:00. First meeting at 7:30. I figure I wake up three hours earlier than most people. If you multiple that 3 hours times 365 days, I get on average 30 more days per year than others. I like my odds with 30 extra days." Discipline is critical - "Of course I'm tired in the morning, but I get up and do it anyway. People need to do more things that could better their lives. Do the things within your control." It's harder, but worth it. How has becoming a dad changed Ryan? "My wife says it's being a male nester. I worked harder and worked more while she was pregnant. I want to be the provider for my family. My daughter has made everything bigger." What about balance? "I have no balance. I'm lucky I found a partner who understands my drive and work ethic." What to say to those who don't like him because of the self-promotion? "I'm a real estate broker. I'm a salesman. The difference with me is I don't hide it. Our job is to promote our success so that we can get the next listing." Building confidence: "People who spend millions on real estate don't lack confidence. They want a broker who is confident too." Big Money Energy: "It's a unique set of qualities that every successful, confident person has..." Code #1: "When you can't change your circumstance, there's one thing you can change. Your energy. I sell a transfer of energy. Of excitement." Energy "Develop magnetism so others want to be around you. How? Ask questions, be interested in them, listen to their responses, create friendships instead of clients." "Shift your mindset -- What is your why? What's the wall you're fighting against? -- "I had no money and no connections in NYC. I rode the Subway crying that I couldn't even get a rental listing... That's my why." Commonality among excellence real estate brokers: Must be very organized Follow up is critical Disciplined Relentless work ethic Empathetic - The ability to be excited or sad with a client. There are 3 types of sales people: Car sales - pushes, thinks short term Tour guide - Just points to stuff, never closes deals Push & Pull - They work to get the deal done
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 John Chambers served as Cisco’s CEO from 1995-2015 and Executive Chairman from 2015-2017. Cisco went from $70 million to $40 billion in annual revenue during his time. Notes: When John was six years old, he went fishing with his Dad in Elk River, WV. He was told, "Don't get too close to the water, the current is strong and could pull you under." John's curiosity got the best of him. He went too close and slipped, falling into the water. His dad ran towards the current as it was pulling John and yelled, "Just hold on to the fishing pole." Fortunately, John survived and was eventually pulled out of the water by his dad. His dad said, "Do you know why I told you to hold on to the fishing pole? "Don't let panic set in. Focus on what you can control. Work your way to calmer waters." It's a great metaphor for life. When dealing with stress, hold on to the fishing pole. How to deal with fear and uncertainty? "I had two parents that were doctors. They helped me a lot." "They taught me not to waste cycles on things you cannot change. Focus on the future, deal with the world as it is, not as you wish it was." This is why John deliberately puts the leaders he leads in stressful situations. "Under stress you learn who people are." "With that said, I only coach leaders that want to be coached." -- If you don't want to be coached, you probably won't work with John Chambers. How did he earn the job as CEO of Cisco? "My parents taught me that education is the equalizer in life. I was a professional student. I got three degrees. And was trained very well at IBM, even as an entry level employee." "I decided to leave my job at Wang for the same reason that most people leave their jobs. My manager." "I left prior to even discussing another job with someone else. I didn't feel it was right to be laying people off while looking for another job." "I thought the job offers would roll in. They didn't. I initially had no job offers... And then I reached out to my friends and network and asked for help... I had 22 offers in 90 days. 21 of them from friends of mine. I learned that the golden rule is true. Treat others how you'd like to be treated and it will come back to you when you need it." "How you treat people determines your brand." Relationships -- "I'm usually the best prepared for every meeting I'm in. That way, I can move with speed." "The emotional part of relationships comes from my mom. She taught me how to connect with people." "I love building extended family teams. My team at Cisco was my family. We had only 5% turnover while the market rate was 15%. How is John different from Jack Welch? "I learned a lot of lessons from Jack. He sent his team from GE to benchmark us at Cisco. They took 22 ideas from us." "Jack was great at quarterly business reviews, but he was very tough on his people." "I tried not to embarrass the people on my team in front of one another. I like to praise in public and criticize in private. That was different from Jack." How did they successfully acquire 180 companies? They developed great playbooks and implemented them. What John looks for in a company: Do they have an excellent CEO who wants to be coached? Can the company be #1 or #2 in their market? Talk with customers and get a feel for the company from that vantage point What is their culture? What John looks for in a leader: A track record of overachieving "I look at their leadership team. Can they build a great team? That speaks volumes about them." Cultural match - "Our values need to match." They understand the industry they're in Culture must be owned at the top: "The CEO must own the culture. In every meeting, the CEO should point out an example of how someone is living their values." Why are off site leadership retreats so important? "It allows you to develop relationships outside of the office environment. You can build in depth relationships, built on trust." "The off sites helped us learn much more about one another." Gustavo (a leader John works with) saw a grizzly bear. Later he said, "I've never been more scared or more alive." "In the evenings, I ask for each person to give a toast and share a key learning." "I look for teaching moments." Sales - A noble profession: "We are all in sales. It's about connecting with people. I was with the King of Jordan and his wife (the Queen) was pregnant, I asked, "So King will you be in the room while your wife gives birth?" This was not something that was typically asked of the King. John did it as a way to connect and offer advice. "You need to be in that room. It's the most amazing moment." This is how John connects with others. Sales is part of everything we do. You get rejected, have to bounce back, and keep going. "I once asked Steph Curry, 'do you think you're going to make every shot? Even if you've missed your last five?' 'Yes, he said.' Sales is like that, you have to believe in yourself to make the next one." Advice: Never compromise your values How you handle your setbacks with determine your life Treat people like you want to be treated. Be kind. Focus, but also relax. Don't be so uptight.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Ryan Deiss is a best selling author, founder of multiple companies collectively employing hundreds around the globe. He is the founder and CEO of DigitalMarketer.com and Founder and Managing Partner of RivalBrands.com and plattr.com. Ryan is the creator of the “Customer Value Optimization” methodology and have introduced and popularized many of the digital selling strategies. He is also the founder and host of the Traffic & Conversion Summit, the largest digital marketing conversion conference in North America. Notes: Commonalities of excellence: They understand why they've made mistakes - they learn why they've failed. They are purposeful about their decision making Appetite for risk: "I have a very low appetite for risk." "I value security." Must have qualities in a leader to hire on his team? "I want them to not be like me." Need to have skills that compliment his... Early on he hired people just like him. It was a mistake. Consistency - Must show up. A big heart - People who care about others and their work. Why writing is so important as a leader: Like academics being peer reviewed. "It forces you to crystalize your own ideas." "You need to say something new that hasn't been said before. And be willing to be criticized." Eugene Schwartz Breakthrough Advertising =  one of the best books ever written on marketing The Awareness Levels: Completely Unaware - They don't know they have a problem worth solving Problem Aware - They sense they have a problem, but don't know there's a solution Solution Aware - Know the results they want, but don't know your product provides it Product Aware - Know what you sell, but aren't sure it's right for them Most Aware - Repeat buyers and loyal customers who refer you to their friends How to make your leadership training better? Acknowledge their problem is real. Make them feel heard... Sell the soft. Speak into someone's reality. Acknowledge the pain, offer a solution... "Outsourced Leadership Development" "Your service is a vehicle to a more desired result." Be the "transportation to transformation." Scaling beyond a personality driven business: Get off the field, get in the owner's box. Productize yourself. Build an asset. Create ideas that travel - Have your version of 10 commandments on one single piece of paper Ryan has his "customer value journey" - The Customer Value Journey is about turning strangers into super-fans. Redirect it into the artifact Say "We" instead of "I" Give it a name - The genius is in the artifact The Goal is a book on manufacturing about assembly lines. They identified weakest link and fixed it. The value of creating of having a big event like Traffic & Conversion Summit: Create the place for others to go - It helps with branding, earning media, and the gathering spot for great people. It draws others to it. You become the connector. The host of the party. Story is the leverage of persuasion: Don't talk about yourself Help others change the story they tell about themselves Marketing shouldn't stop at the order - Marketing should own the entirety of the customer journey. Career wise - Get as close to the revenue as possible. Advice: Study old, rich, happy people.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations that are developing collective leadership to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Today, more than 6,000 Teach For America corps members—outstanding recent college graduates and professionals of all academic disciplines—are in the midst of two-year teaching commitments in over 50 urban and rural regions. Notes: Jim Collins called Wendy “my entrepreneur for this decade.” He continued, “Her organization is truly an entrepreneurial creation that is out to utterly transform education. It’s taking an entrepreneurial, let’s-do-something approach to tackling a massive social problem.” Goal setting: It’s all about setting a goal that’s at the right intersection of ambitious and feasible. The #1 responsibility of a leader is to catalyze a clear and shared vision for the company and secure commitment to and vigorous pursuit of that vision. The differentiator is the “first WHO” principle. It’s what she’s learned. What is it that drives system change in education? “Jim thinks it’s the answer in corporate America, I think it is the difference in social change.” Wendy grew up in a bubble in Texas. She didn't realize the inequity and disadvantages to children born in different situations. At the end of her college years at Princeton, she wrote a 100+ page thesis. She narrowed down to 30 pages... And created a four page plan. She mailed her thesis to 30 executives in an effort to spread awareness and raise money  Everywhere she went, people said, "This is a great idea but college kids won't do this." Wendy was steadfast in her belief that they would... After the first year, Wendy found herself on stage speaking to 500 "Teach For America" teachers... The benefit of naivete: "The world needs you before you become jaded by your experience."  "We need leaders to channel their energy in marginalized communities." What was the key to the first year growth? "It helped writing a plan. I sent 100 letters to potential donors and got rejected or ignored by 98 of them." You have to persevere and have conviction for the idea. Leadership - An idea that magnetizes people. People were drawn to Wendy's mission and purpose. Strategic Framework - What is your core purpose? The core values are what brings people together. Create a sense of mission - "You need to enable a diverse group of people. Articulate it and make it possible for others to engage." Recruit people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Diversity is very important. Why did Wendy do this instead of take a job that would pay well? "I knew myself well. I knew that whatever I did, I would throw myself at it 24/7. I wanted to have a bigger impact on the world." "What keeps me at it? I started gaining the sense of responsibility for so many others." How Teach For America helped Washington D.C. "I met with so many civic leaders who said, 'We've tried everything and it won't work.' DC was 2 years behind Harlem from an educational perspective with their public schools." Washington DC was completely transformed by Teach For America and now has one of the better public school districts in America. How is she so humble? "I realize we're going to get so much wrong." Must learn from what goes wrong and improve moving forward What are some "must-have" leadership qualities? Look at what people have accomplished How have you managed through challenges? People who are passionate about the purpose People who live into the values Optimism Commitment to diversity and inclusiveness What's currently exciting? Seeing the leadership effects in others from Pakistan to Peru The power of locally rooted leadership Commonalities of leader who sustain excellence: Put impact first... Ahead of career ambitions Solve problems Perseverance Optimism Humility - Constantly learning Act on conviction What does Wendy do for fun? Runs and listens to books while running. Which books? Human Kind by Rutger Bregman Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux Life advice: "Solve as early as possible." "Do not put off your passion until after you've had a job for a few years." "Don't think you have to start something new." Look for others who are doing it and join them...
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Rich Diviney Rich Diviney draws upon 20+ years of experience as a Navy SEAL Officer – with 11 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the Commanding Officer of a Navy SEAL Command. Rich is is the author of The Attributes - 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance. Notes: The process to select Navy SEALs: Rich created a program to effectively articulate why someone made it through SEAL training. "It's not about training to be a Navy SEAL, it's about proving if you can be one." "Skills are not inherent to our nature. They are learned." Attributes are wired into our internal circuitry, always running in the background, dictating how we behave and react and perform. Attributes should not be confused with personality traits. A personality is built from patterns of behavior that emerge over an extended period of time. It’s an outward expression of all the things that make you you - your skills, habits, emotions, perspectives, and attributes all blended together. What is optimal performance? "It's not a peak. It's doing the best you can, with what you have, in the moment." What are some of the surprising attributes that helped or didn't? Drive - Some of the most driven people weren't necessarily cut out to be a SEAL The difference between Self-Discipline and Discipline: Self-discipline is about controlling those things that the outside world has no say in. Discipline is the ability to move through the challenges of the world. Narcissism - Some of the benefits of it? From Rich: "Why did I want to be a Navy SEAL? I wanted to see if I could be a badass. I desired to standout and be admired. That's a little narcissism." "However, extreme narcissism is awful. Excessive narcissists are rarely loyal-- loyalty requires trust and a sense of safety-- so their tribes are inherently unstable: Healthy members tend not to stay long, and new ones are let in only when they show the requisite deference. Those who do leave usually suffer a disproportionate amount of wrath from the person to whom they once deferred-- because defectors are considered enemies. The energy and effort of the highly narcissistic person will be used to prop up their fragile egos rather than to achieve shared objectives or serve a common purpose.” Did he ever think about quitting during Hell week? "The training trains you to compartmentalize. You can't ever entertain that thought. You have to chunk things down to the moment. You're running around and saying, 'this sucks!' But you have to focus on just getting to the next berm. And then the next one. Think, 'what can I control right now?' And focus on your three foot world." The highest performing people ask better questions: Think: "What's the better question to ask right now?" "What can I control right now?" Introspection is vital. Why aren't we better at being introspective? "Because we escape too much." We have devices to ensure we're never bored. Never lost in thought. On long car rides, children never have to look out the window anymore to pass the time. They have a device or a screen to watch. You need to allow your brain space... Need to spend more time in our heads. "Knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power." Be decisive. Take action. "Decisions are final, but not permanent." Be adaptable like a frog. Frogs have survived five extinction level events. "If you don't adapt you will become a dinosaur." Rich has narrowed it down to 5 segments of attributes. They are: Grit, Mental Acuity, Drive, Leadership, and Teamability. Grit - Beware of the fearless leader (Courage), Fall 7 times get up 8 (Perseverance), Be Like the frog (Adaptability), The Benefits of Little Tragedies (Resilience) Mental Acuity -- The art of Vigilance (Situational Awareness), Wired for Efficiency (Compartmentalization), The Multitasking Myth (Task Switching), Forged in Plastic (Learnability) Drive -- Mastering the Pivot (Self-Efficacy), The Self-Disciplined Loser (Discipline), A Fish Is the Last to Discover Water (Open-Mindedness), The Princess and the Dragon (Cunning), It’s All about Me (Narcissism) Leadership -- No One Cares How You Feel (Empathy), If it Doesn’t Hurt, You’re Doing it Wrong (Selflessness), You Can’t Hide You (Authenticity), Many A False Step Is Made by Standing Still (Decisiveness), Don’t Be A Mediator (Accountability) Teamability -- The Subjectivity of Right and Wrong (Integrity), There’s Always Something to Do (Conscientiousness), Play Black, Not Red (Humility), Honor The Class Clown (Humor)
Text LEARNERS to 44222 to join thousands of leaders of leaders from all over the world and read "Mindful Monday." A carefully curated email of the most useful leadership articles/books/video. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 #402: Donald Miller - CEO of Business Made Simple Notes: The Characteristics of a Value Driven Professional: “Value driven successful people see themselves as an economic product on the open market. They are obsessed with getting people a strong return on the investment made in them. People who are obsessed with being a good investment attract further investment and get to enjoy more personal economic value. When you offer greater economic value within the economic ecosystem, you are paid more, given more responsibility and promotions, and are sought after by customers looking for value. In business, your boss may really like you, but in large part, they see you as an economic investment. There is nothing wrong with that. So how do we become ridiculously successful? By making other people absurdly successful.” "If you know how to make people money, you will make a lot of money." They have a bias towards action - “There is one thing every successful person has in common: They have a bias towards action.” They don’t let ideas die on the vine. They take action to make those ideas happen. While others may have terrific ideas or be able to see an important issue from many angles, action-oriented people are good at getting things done.” They see themselves as a hero, not a victim. Ask, “How often do you position yourself as a victim?” How often do you talk about yourself as though you are not in control of your life? Do you believe other people are responsible for your failures? Don was born in Texas and grew up poor. His dad left and never came back. His mom had to work long hours just to keep him and his sister alive. He told me, “The biggest transformation in my life happened when I stopped thinking of myself as a victim and started thinking of myself as the hero. I lost 150 pounds and became more in control of my life. If you’re always the victim, you’ll find that people get tired of carrying your load.” They know feedback is a gift. They create an established routine in which they get feedback from their peers. They are relentlessly optimistic - Staying optimistic, you dramatically increase the chances that at some point you will succeed. The more optimistic you are, the more willing you will be willing to try. Successful people fail all the time. The difference is their willingness to keep trying. A story has four characters: Victim - The victim is rescued by the hero. The victim makes the hero look good. It's a bit part. Villian - A backstory of pain. The villian seeks vengeance. Hero - Faces challenges, is focused, overcomes obstacles. Guide - Older, sage, wise. Helps others win "I remember when my biggest transformation happened. I realized that girls wanted to be with the hero, not the victim. I lost 150 pounds." Taking action: "The magic is not in the thinking, it's in the doing." Be a "delusional optimist." It's scientifically proven that people who believe they can do something accomplish more than those who don't. What is a story? "A character that overcomes conflict to try to accomplish something." "Invite people to overcome an obstacle and solve a problem." One piece of advice: "Be known for solving a problem." One problem. We are all in sales. What is sales? "Clear articulation of how you can solve someone's problem." How To Create a Mission Statement and Guiding Principles: “The #1 job of a leader is to wake up every morning, point to the horizon, and let everybody on the team know where the organization is going.” “The #2 job of a leader is to explain, in clear and simple terms, why the story of going to and arriving at that specific destination matters.” "The #3 job of a leader is to analyze the skills and abilities of each team member and find them an important role to play in that story.” In Don's personal guiding principles, his repeatable critical actions are: "get up early, you write, and you say, “after you.”  -- Those 3 critical actions establish a way of life that if repeated day in and day out ensures success. Know how to attract people to your mission by telling your story. How do we do this? What’s the biggest mistake made? (Biggest mistake is telling their history, complete with bullet points and boring asides). Your history is not your story. Here is a formula for a good, short mission statement: “We will accomplish ____________ by ___________ because of _________. How To Be Productive -- Make Wise Daily Decisions - Every morning you ask yourself a simple question: “If this were the second time I were living this day, what would I do differently?” Bill Gates is never late to a meeting. How does he ensure he’s always on time? He blocks his time The StoryBrand methodology: A character that wants something The character encounters a problem The character meets the guide The guide gives the hero a plan The guide calls the hero to action When clarifying your marketing message, never position yourself as the hero. Always position yourself as the guide. The Core Competencies that will immediately make or save the company money: They are a clear and compelling leader - Align & inspire a team. Create a mission statement & guiding principles They are personally productive - Mastered a specific system They know how to clarify a message They can sell - introduce products to qualified leads They are great communicators - Give a speech that informs & inspires a team They know how to run an execution system
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... For full show notes go to www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 David M. Rubenstein is a Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Mr. Rubenstein co-founded the firm in 1987. Since then, Carlyle has grown into a firm managing $217 billion from 32 offices around the world. Notes: David is most interested in continuing to learn... He reads six newspapers per day and 100 books per year. Your commencement is the beginning, not the end. "Keep your brain active, it's a muscle. It will atrophy without use." David would give all of his money away to be one year younger... Keys to happiness: Thomas Jefferson said we all have the right to be in pursuit of happiness "It's the most elusive thing in life." Happiness is all about building meaningful relationships The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis -- "JFK showed tremendous leadership to avert disaster. He strategically ignored Khrushchev's second letter and responded to the first one when making a deal to avoid nuclear war. David was in 9th grade at the time and that moment of leadership impacted him in a big way. He worked in the White House for Jimmy Carter. "When I worked in the White House, everyone thought I was the smartest person in the world. When we lost and I didn't have a job anymore, nobody called, and nobody offered me a job." Why leave his job as part of a big law firm? "If you don't love what you do you can't be great at it." Launching The Carlyle Group: Raised $5m Hired incredibly competent people New idea: "I wanted to create a private equity one stop shop." How did he hire well? "I went after the best people I knew and sold them on why they should join me." What was said? Convince them they will have responsibility They will learn a lot They will make more money It will be enjoyable What does David ask in interviews with candidates to hire? "I want to learn mostly about what motivates them." Must have qualities to work at The Carlyle Group: Intelligent Hard working Get along well with others Share credit Effective communicator (both written and the spoken word) Help others Honest/High Integrity Why start The Carlyle Group? "I wanted to prove that my idea could work." What created the success of the company? "It was the luck of meeting great people... Like Bill Conway." "Prior preparation prevents poor performance." What are the keys to being a great interviewer? Good listener Enjoy it Sublimate your ego - It's about the guest, not the interviewer proving how smart they are Why does David like to interview so many people? "My mother said it's because I'm a 'yenta.' I want to know everything." Why own so many of our countries historical documents? (Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence) "I want to remind people of our history." He's one of the first 40 members of the giving pledge and plans to give ALL of his money away to charity. Advice to a young college graduate: Experiment, find things you enjoy Share credit Read a lot... Learn to speak in public Become a skilled writer Retain humility What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.' What they say is, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my family and done more for society or my community.' "Anybody who gives away money is mostly looking at things where they think they can make a difference. I'm trying to help people who helped me, educational institutions that helped me with scholarships, or organizations that were very useful to me in growing up."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #400 with Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk Notes: I sourced questions from members of my Leadership Circle, friends, listeners, and colleagues for this episode... How does Keith continue to feel impactful after retirement? KH: "It's like I have a paper route. I work a little bit in the mornings, get my work done, and then I can go have fun with my friends. I work on a few boards, do voice over work, and know how to hit the post." What has AJ learned from working with Pat McAfee? "I learned to trust my instincts and not try to be somebody I'm not." What's the best way to make introductions? AJ: "Text (message) intros are so much better. They are more personal." From Leadership Circle member, Amanda Wilson: "What habit do you admire the most in each other/best attribute?" Pistol about AJ: "He's an unbelievable teammate. He has earned the respect of all his peers. I respect his intensity to prepare." Pistol about Ryan: "A huge preparation guy. His focus on other people. He has more of an outer focus now. And a huge intensity around growth." "Gotta change, Gotta grow." AJ about Pistol: Consistency. He wakes up early. I never saw him asleep. He never made us do anything. I want to live up to that standard. I don't want my kids to see me asleep. And universally, everyone loves him." AJ about Ryan: "You're a mini-version of Pistol with your consistency. So detail oriented. Such a leader and not afraid to hold people accountable. People have confidence that you'll take them where they want to go." Ryan about Pistol: Absolute selflessness. Reminds me of my wife, Miranda. A willingness to always help others succeed and will do anything for them. Ryan about AJ: A relentless work ethic. A drive to be there for the people who depend on him. Whenever I talk with teammates of AJ, they all say the same thing, "That's my guy. I know he'll be where he's supposed to be when he's supposed to be there. I can depend on him." He shows up to work everyday and gets it done. Being selfless: Pistol - "My success is better and richer if it follows other people's success." From Jeff Leung (Sr. Engineer at Facebook): "As the father of two young boys, I would love to hear how you and your brother AJ grew up in a way that you cheer for each other more than compete?" A mutual love and respect for each others work. An appreciation for what the other does. From Doug Meyer, Co-Founder/CEO of Brixey & Meyer: "What was your reaction when you heard Ryan was  leaving a high paying job at a large company to take a substantial pay cut to start a Leadership Advisory practice at Brixey & Meyer?" Pistol: "Joy, fun, fulfillment. I was so excited for him." AJ: "Of course. He's gonna kill it." Give an example how you handled when one of your kids wanted to do something but you thought it was a mistake? "When Ryan was at Miami, I probably pushed him too hard to transfer so that he would get another shot to be a starting QB after losing the job to Ben Roethlisberger. I sometimes have thoughts that he could have moved positions and become Julian Edelman." From Nate DeMars (Founder/Owner of Pursuit) - "You guys have all moved onto what I guess you could consider second careers recently… How do you approach starting over as a novice in a new field?" "There is no excuse to not learn everything about what you want to do. There is so much out there to read and watch and people to talk to. If you don't learn it, it's your fault." Find something you care about, that you're passionate about, and pursue that. "Deal with imposter syndrome when you're new. There's never been a better time to learn something new." Life experiences that have shaped you. Pistol, what experiences shaped AJ/Ryan? Playing for the legendary Bob Gregg and Ron Ullery. They molded you and helped you: Faced the requirement to prepare a lot Learned how to be a great teammate Learned to compete hard Learned to take tough, critical feedback, became coachable Learned how to be a leader How to deal with great teammates, but bad coaches? AJ: "It doesn't help to complain and be negative. Be quiet. Do your job." And strive to learn from those who aren't good at their job so that you don't repeat what they do. The Rex Caswell exercise: When you're new, write in a journal in two columns. One is for the great actions of your boss and the other is for the not helpful behaviors. Keep it with you and review it as you continue to get promoted. Pistol: "Wrap yourself in the mission. Don't wrap yourself in negativity." "It's the duty of the leader to be in a good mood." We conducted our first draft. The topic: Our favorite sports movies (listen to hear who we picked).
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com IG/Twitter: @RyanHawk12 Notes: Sustaining Excellence = Learn constantly Experiment constantly Obsessive about learning the details, not a cookie cutter approach Rapid Skill Acquisition: Must be specific Break it down: don't try to do it all at once Do research Practice Deconstruct the skill to its smallest parts Make a pre-commitment - "I'm going to practice this skill for 20 hours no matter what." Create fast feedback loops for yourself: Keep a daily log of what you do... Meetings, interactions, what was discussed, how you feel, etc. This helps reinforce the importance of paying attention to the small details of what you're trying to learn If something happens, you can review your notes later Josh has always had "a desire to understand the world around me" Teaching is one of the greatest tools in the world for learning "Management is the act of coordinating a group of people to achieve a goal. Management is not business. Management is not leadership. Management is a supporting function, not a decision making function." "Leadership = define the goal, account for change." "Good management = Recruiting - must get good people Communicating well between teams and decision making parts of the business Must create environment of psychological safety Create a productive working environment Planning - Estimating time lines and schedules Measurement Commander's Intent - "When you are a leader, decision making authority, the least effective thing is for you to make all the ground level decisions." Push decision making power to the people closest to the action. More quotes from Josh's work: “You can't make positive discoveries that make your life better if you never try anything new.” “Every successful business (1) creates or provides something of value that (2) other people want or need (3) at a price they're willing to pay, in a way that (4) satisfies the purchaser's needs and expectations and (5) provides the business sufficient revenue to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation. “If you rely on finding time to do something, it will never be done. If you want to find time, you must make time.” “The best thing that can happen to a human being is to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.” “Every time your customers purchase from you, they’re deciding that they value what you have to offer more than they value anything else their money could buy at that moment.” “The trouble comes when we confuse learning with skill acquisition. If you want to acquire a new skill, you must practice it in context. Learning enhances practice, but it doesn’t replace it. If performance matters, learning alone is never enough.” "Be positive, force yourself to smile." “Improve by 1% a day, and in just 70 days, you’re twice as good.” “Ideas are cheap—what counts is the ability to translate an idea into reality, which is much more difficult than recognizing a good idea.” “Fear of the unknown will always be with you, no matter what you do. That’s comforting in a way: if there’s nothing you can do to change it, there’s no reason to let it stop you.”
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more details... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Jim Collins books include Good to Great, the #1 bestseller, which examines why some companies make the leap and others don’t; the enduring classic Built to Last, which discovers why some companies remain visionary for generations; How the Mighty Fall, which delves into how once-great companies can self-destruct; and Great by Choice, which uncovers the leadership behaviors for thriving in chaos and uncertainty. Jim has also published two monographs that extend the ideas in his primary books: Good to Great and the Social Sectors and Turning the Flywheel. His most recent publication is BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0), an ambitious upgrade of his very first book; it returns Jim to his original focus on small, entrepreneurial companies and honors his coauthor and mentor Bill Lazier. Notes: What Exactly is Leadership?” “True leadership only exists if people follow when they would otherwise have the freedom to not follow.” Many business leaders think they are leading when in fact they’re simply exercising power, and they might discover to their horror that no one would follow them if they had no power. General Colin Powell said, “In my 35 years of service, I don’t ever recall telling anyone, ‘That’s an order.” “Leadership is the art of getting people to want to do what must be done.” When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, one of the first people he called was Jim Collins. Jim asked Steve,“what did you first build upon to emerge from the darkness? What gave you hope?” Steve was talking with perhaps the greatest product visionary of our time.. so he expected him to talk about operating systems or the Macintosh computer or other product ideas.  But he didn’t. What did he talk about? People. "It was all about the WHO." History is the “study of surprises.” There will be no “new normal,” there will only be a continuous series of “not normal” episodes, defying predictions and unforeseen by most of us until they happen. This is why we double down on the “first who” principle. Track the number 1 metric: some say sales or profitability or cash flow or something about products. But there’s one metric that towers above them all that’s rarely spoken about in meetings. And that is: The percentage of key seats on the bus filled with the right people  for those seats. How to know when to shift from “develop” to “replace?” Jim has distilled years of reflection down to 7 questions that he offers to stimulate your thinking when you face the “develop or replace” conundrum.  Are you beginning to lose other people by keeping this person in the seat? Do you have a values problem, a will problem, or a skills problem? What’s the person's relationship to the window and the mirror? Does the person see the work as a job or a responsibility? Has your confidence in the person gone up or down in the last year? Do you have a bus problem or a seat problem? How would you feel if the person quit? Jim spent time at West Point as the Chair for the Study of Leadership… One of they key things he learned from that time was the importance of focusing on your unit and taking care of your people, not your career… “The key to a leader’s impact is sincerity. Before he can inspire with emotion he must be swayed by it himself. Before he can move their tears his own must flow. To convince them he must himself believe.” - Winston Churchill Kroger made the leap because they became fanatical about getting the right people in the right seats A key position at your company does the following: Has hiring responsibility A failure by them could expose the company to disaster Their performance has an outsized impact on the business as a whole The Personal Hedgehog Concept You love to do the work You're doing something you're wired for The market will pay you for it Great success in life is when you have people in key seats that fit their hedgehog When analyzing if a person should remain on the team, ask, "What is the person's relationship with the window or the mirror?" We want people who have a tremendous capacity to grow. Be a growth machine. An example of a world-class leader? Wendy Kopp, CEO and Co-Founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations working to expand educational opportunity in their own countries and the Founder of Teach For America. "Wendy had no power and not much charisma, and yet she got hundreds of thousands of people to sign up and do work that is not fun." That's leadership. "Leadership is the art of getting people to want to do what must be done." The #1 responsibility of a leader is to catalyze a clear and shared vision for the company and secure commitment to and vigorous pursuit of that vision. From Jim, "I'm more of a teacher than a leader. What's my leadership artistry? Trust." Ann Mulcahy saved Xerox. She kept getting promoted... When asked how she earned those promotions, Anne said, "I tried to make my mini-bus a sparkling pocket of greatness." They came to her and said, "We want you to drive the whole bus."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Jim Collins is a student and teacher of what makes great companies tick, and a Socratic advisor to leaders in the business and social sectors. He has written a series of books that have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. They include Good to Great, the #1 bestseller, which examines why some companies make the leap and others don’t; the enduring classic Built to Last, which discovers why some companies remain visionary for generations; How the Mighty Fall, which delves into how once-great companies can self-destruct; and Great by Choice, which uncovers the leadership behaviors for thriving in chaos and uncertainty.  Notes: Shortly before Jim's 25th birthday, during his second year at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he got hit with a lightning bolt of WHO luck. The type of luck that comes as a chance meeting with a person who changes your life. That person was Bill Lazier... Bill Lazier was the closest thing to a father Jim ever had. Jim's dad died when he was 23. Creating a Generosity Flywheel -- “One day, two large wooden crates appeared on your front porch, the address labels indicating they’d be shipped by Bill. He sent you a few dozen bottles of spectacularly good wine. You called and asked him what prompted him to send to you and he said, “Dorothy and I had an inventory problem in our wine cellar, and we needed to make room for some new bottles. We thought you could help us out by taking some of it off our hands.” Bill mastered the art of getting people to accept his generosity, somehow framing it as if you were doing him a favor. Jim's question to me: How is quarterbacking a football team similar to quarterbacking a conversation for a podcast? Make the Trust Wager - “I choose to assume the best in people and accept that they sometimes disappoint.” (Lead With Trust) Build a Meaningful Life by Building Relationships — Life can be a series of transactions or you can build relationships. Transactions can give you success, but inky relationships make for a great life.” —- How do you know if you have a great relationship? “If you were to ask each person in the relationship who benefits more from it, both would answer “I do.” Both feel like they’re getting the better end of the deal. Start with Values, Always Values — values aren’t the “soft stuff.” Living to core values is the hard stuff. "Prep prep prep so that you don't have to be rote." -- "For me the opening plays are questions. And I know the opening two or three questions to get the session started." "Then the game starts. I have this set up things, but then something really surprising happens. What I found interesting about it, is that you'd think high levels of prep, it's actually being so well prepared that you can adapt. That's the critical thing. It's only because you're super prepared that you can do something surprising." The opening question to a company he works with is always the same: "It starts at exactly 8:00am. I have an atomic clock and it's set to the exact atomic time. At 8:00, I open the doors. I walk in and say, "Good morning, I feel a tremendous responsibility to make the most of our time. Everybody take out a blank sheet of paper. I want you to write down the top 5 most brutal facts that face the company today. Go!" -- "We're 12 seconds into the meeting. There are no pleasantries, they're not going to talk about how the flight was, or dinner last night. We are here to make the most of our time. I'm trying to set the tone that we don't have time to waste. I can't waste your time. You're here to have your brain challenged." And then Jim has them allocate 100 points for the 5 most brutal facts. You need to start with an honest account of the brutal facts. This gets the group talking immediately. "The entire thing opens up." "Preparation is respect." "That previous podcast we did (episode #216) was masterfully done by Ryan. There's some wonderful things he pulled out." How has your style evolved? I'm less robotic, less formulaic, more agile, and able to go with the conversation. Bill Lazier -- "Bill went to the Dean at Stanford and put himself on the line for me. He believed in me. He bet big on me. Nothing I've accomplished happens without Bill Lazier." Here is WHY joining a Learning Leader Circle is a good idea...
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Episode #396 - Scott Galloway: Professor at NYU Stern, best-selling author, entrepreneur (started 9 firms) Notes: Scott and I have the same book agent, Jim Levine. It's the first person Scott thanks in the Acknowledgement section of his latest book... "Jim is someone I can go to for help with any aspect of life. He's much more than just a book agent. You need people in your kitchen cabinet that you can go to." Sharing admiration for others? Why did Scott struggle with this when he was younger? "We should do this. It doesn't make you less impressive because you shared your admiration for someone else." "The greatest untapped resource = good intentions, good thoughts. Express them. Verbalize them. Don't let that resource go to waste." Leaders should be constantly giving praise to the people on their team. Send the quick email, give the shout out. "People need watering. Give them recognition. Notice others, let them know when they do good work. That's how you recruit and retain great people. That's how you build loyalty." Action step: Call the parents of the young people on your team. Tell them their daughter or son is doing excellent work and are a joy to work with... "Be the man your kids think you are." It's motivating to try to live up to those standards. Life is about those moments with your kids. The key to excellence? "Success is not my fault. I grew up as a heterosexual white male, born in 1964. We have this problem of conflating luck with talent." Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence? Competence - Must be highly competent in one area. "You must demonstrate excellence. Be outstanding at it." Grit - "As the leader, I wanted to show my team I was willing to pull all nighters when needed. I would never ask my team to do something I wasn't willing to do." Empathy - "You have to want others to win. You have to leverage all your talents to help others be successful. That creates loyalty." "People's loyalties are misplaced. Don't be loyal to companies, be loyal to people." Why make predictions? "It's not about being right. It's about catalyzing a conversation. I want ideas to have sex." "Plans are useless but planning is invaluable." "Once a prediction happens, it seems obvious." When I go to keynote speaking engagements, I'm often asked about Scott Galloway. He's become the person so many men follow? Why? "Most business news is PG13. I'm the rated R version and I speak my mind. There aren't enough people doing that." "Most guys have trouble talking openly about their feelings. We have trouble expressing our emotions. Men want to do it, but don't. That's what I do." "Write as if your kids will read it in 30 years." In Chinese the word for crisis… the first character means danger, and the second is translated as a critical juncture A Scottish MP George Galloway said “nothing can happen for decades and then decades can happen in weeks”
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Ep #395: Dr. Marisa Porges Notes: Keys to a good coffee meeting with someone: Be early Find a quiet spot Know your order before you get there. Don't make it too complex Have a goal for the meeting. Know what you want to get out of it "You don’t have to be a feminist to care about these lessons, nor do you need a daughter or a sister. You just have to know a girl or young woman and care about her future." The differences for a woman vs. a man in business: Women have fewer mentors and sponsors "You need to seek mentors on a regular basis" "Men need to mentor women" -- "Make room for women mentees" What should the man who is nervous to mentor a woman do? Meet in a public place Talk about business Key to excellence: The ability to adapt Marisa joined the Navy after High School. She was inspired by the movie Top Gun She got in a bad car accident and had to be rescued by the jaws of life She had to shave her head in the Navy "Our reality forces us to adapt. We change jobs 4x more than our parents did." How to be adaptable? Be open to pushing yourself to new environments Test yourself in a new environment. Don't always set up for the perfect environment Do something differently -- Test your boundaries How to be authentically empathetic? The platinum rule -- Treat others as they want to be treated (not how you want to be treated) Be vulnerable, open, and real While interviewing terrorists in Yemen, Marisa got them to open up by authentically opening up first "Be conscious about when and how you're vulnerable. It can't be too often. Monitor your emotions." Look for go for it moments... Learn to rebound from failure and understand the key takeaways from them. Be able to deal with uncertainty. Marisa shares a story about a parent of one of her students. Marc. His daughter was going through an issue at school. Marc said, “I went into Dad mode and said should I call the school? Talk to a teacher? —- This is a terrible way to respond as the dad of a daughter. A dad needs to "coach from the sideline." Help your daughter practice self advocacy. Ask them questions, be curious. Help your daughter find her voice and speak up. One easy example to practice -- "When you go out to eat, always have your daughter order her food. When you call to order a pizza, have your daughter do it." Marisa worked in the White House and needed to become an excellent communicator to prepare for her conversations with The President. How did she do this? "Practice, practice practice." Excellence: How we learn from failure and bounce back... What happens next? It's always about the others in your life. Who are you surrounding yourself with? Small things make a big difference
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more details about The Learning Leader Circle Full notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter: @RyanHawk12 #394: Todd Henry - The Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work Show notes: What is the most valuable land in the world? "The graveyard... All of the stuff we carry with us for our life and never put out into the world... All of that valued is buried in the ground." The two words that Todd wrote down after coming to this realization? "Die Empty." “The rough edges they decry you for now… Are the very rough edges they will celebrate you for later.” What drives us to unleash our best work? Drawing on interviews with over 100,000 working professionals, the answer is no one size fits all. Todd Henry shows, in fact, that there are six unique "motivational archetypes"... They are: The Visionary strives to make her mark on the world by building an ideal future, even when others may not see as far ahead. The Achiever relishes a finished product and must conquer whatever obstacle comes his way, no matter how difficult or time-consuming. The Team Player values being part of a group and will go to great lengths to achieve unity and enhance collaboration. The Learner is obsessed with mastering new skills and showing off what she knows--which is often a lot. The Optimizer thrives when systems are running smoothly and finds great satisfaction when things are done the "right way." The Key Contributor shines at the center of the action, especially when others can recognize the value of his work. Todd's work teaches us to decode our motivational type so we can structure projects, have conversations, make decisions, and even choose career paths to amp up engagement and achieve fulfillment. Once we know how to activate our inner drivers, we can transform the work we do into the work we love. Why should you write? "If you can learn to write, you'll be invited into rooms." "Turn the ineffable into something." Read, comprehend, synthesize, write... "People won't follow you because of your position or title. You have to persuade them. You have to cut through the noise, hone your skills. It's a craft you must work on." Have empathy, uniqueness, precisions. Have empathy for the end user.  Have an intended audience: one person in mind. Ramp up your empathy for the end user... "We wait for tasks to motivate us and that's exactly backwards. We need to bring our motivation to what we do. We have to train ourselves to bring our motivation to our work instead of waiting for our tasks to motivate us." Because of the motivation code, "I have a language now that I never had a language for previously" A new framework for understanding people. It's created "aha" moments "Self-awareness is the first step to maturity." "It helps use discern areas where we're insecure."  What was Todd thinking five minutes prior to going on stage at the Global Leadership Summit? 10,000 in the audience and hundreds of thousands watching worldwide... "I reminded myself how grateful I was to be there..." It was calming.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for leadership development resources Full show-notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 393: Chris Holtmann - Head Basketball Coach of Ohio State University Buckeyes Notes: Chris played his college basketball at a small Christian school called Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. For a coach named Paul Patterson. Chris said, “I think the core of who I am as a coach comes from him.”  Don’t Be Afraid To Pursue Growth -  "As I debated, I realized that I couldn’t blame myself for craving stability – it was only human nature after all. We are drawn by the soft voice of consistency, the allure of a warm blanket of security in our jobs and lives. And while many of us willingly happily give in to living within the status quo, the reality is that the world around us rarely remains motionless. The sun rises and sets, the seasons pass and the world keeps moving and changing. It is only as we grow older and look back at life that we realize all that we have missed, all that we could have accomplished, had we simply pushed ourselves to break free of our fears." "As I found myself deliberating once again, I began to think back to the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck on motivation and failure. Dweck drew a distinction between performance orientation and learning orientation. Children that believe that their intelligence is fixed almost always give up on problems quickly, whereas those that believe their intelligence is malleable, conversely, stick with problems longer. Adults are no different. Those who are performance oriented are dissuaded by failure - they favor stability. Whereas those of who are learning oriented embrace opportunity and eschew the status quo." Head Coaches To Lead Their Teams To 5 Straight 1st Round Tourney Wins: Chris Holtmann, Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, Mark Few, Bill Self, Roy Williams, John Calipari Article: David Brooks - Thick versus Think organizations -- "How To Leave A Mark On People" Focus on the process... "Do today well." "Don't compare yourself to others." Why is Brad Stevens one of the most effective coaches in the world? "He's an extremely curious learner. He has tremendous EQ and understands how to connect with people." Chris got promoted to be the interim head coach at Butler shortly after accepting the job to be an assistant... His boss (athletic director) told him, "You'll be evaluated daily." He came to every practice to watch Chris coach. "It was hard to hear, but it was the reality. I couldn't listen to critiques. I had to coach to my convictions." Living your values: You must make a commitment to your values and live them daily. The values of the Ohio State basketball team: Truth Humility Respect Toughness - "Grit is imperative in successful people. Your response to challenging moments says everything to success." Coach Tony Bennett is tremendously tough. "Calm is contagious." Your response to difficult circumstances is what toughness is all about. Accountability Thankful "He who would be calm must first put on the appearance of being calm." How does one develop composure? "You need people around you to give you honest feedback. We don't realize how reactionary we can be." "Any time you feel upset with a player, wait to talk about it until you can process it. Think it through..." Excellence = Consistency Discipline "Your habits need to match your dreams." Be convicted in what you believe What Chris looks for in a player: Toughness -- "What's the most challenging thing you've been through? How did you respond?" Selfless "What's your body language on the bench when you aren't playing?" "What's your response to a teammates success?" Honesty Advice to leaders: You can't skip steps in the process of being a leader Value the beginning stages Eliminate comparison to others as much as possible Be committed to growing professionally and personally. It's about your daily habits. Your character is put on display. "We write our stories one decision at a time."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Notes: Sustaining Excellence = Passion for what they do Persistence - "Life is lumpy." People fall and have to dust themselves off. Character - Must be trustworthy, caring, and sensitive to others Values driven - "When things go wrong, take the pain" Bill Gates is an example of sustained excellence - "His persistence, his relationship with his wife Melinda. He's a great example of sustained excellence." Bob describes the time early in his career when he made big mistakes and the board fired him. He said, "I needed to learn strategy. You can't blame your followers. You must take 100% ownership." Read the book, The Best and The Brightest by David Halberstam "You need humility, you need to learn, you need emotional intelligence." How he felt when he got fired? "Unbelievably sad. It hung heavy on my shoulders." There are two ways to respond: Be a victim Be introspective "I remember the moment vividly. I was reading The Best and The Brightest. Hubris was the problem. They weren't going to the front lines to understand what was happening. I thought, Oh my God, Halberstam could be talking about me." "Our job is to LISTEN, get feedback, and fix it." As a leader, you must have the willingness and ability to define reality, not what you want it to be. Read Max Dupree - The Art of Leadership Understand The Stockdale Paradox - “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose —with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” ~ James Stockdale Building trust in a crisis: The 4 elements to be trustworthy: Sincerity - "Your public and private conversations should be the same" Competence - It's not the same as never making a mistake. Reliability - "Make promises. Deliver on those promises" Care - "Treat people well. Care for their well being. It's not transactional. Treat them with dignity and respect." How Bob stays so sharp at age 82: Lots of exercise - He trains 5 days a week Time with grandchildren Planning - "I still have a lot of gas left in the tank" Have a dream -- "Happiness is a mood. You can design a mood." Satisfaction Peace Fulfillment The four primary functions of a leader: Strategy - The CEO must shepherd the strategy People - Get the right people in the right jobs Communication - Align all constituencies behind the business. People must understand the mission Evolve - The world changes. Find a small team of experts to identify the issue, and leave the rest of the team alone to do their work "You need thrill customers continuously." "People will always be evaluating you as a leader. They look at your body language, and see how you respond." Hiring qualities Bob looks for in a leader: Crisp thorough about the job assignment. Complementarity - The use Gallup's strengths. Focus on strengths and them filling a gap on the current team. Fit the culture. Need to be able to work with a team and collaborate.
Text LEARNERS TO 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Episode #391: Jake Wood - CEO of Team Rubicon Notes: Sustaining Excellence = Integrity - "I've been honored to serve with leaders who have high integrity." Initiative - Be proactive, take action Tenacity - The ability to overcome Enthusiasm - Bring energy to your environment What Jake learned from his Dad: "I feel lucky. He worked his way up with an untraditional resume. He worked his ass off." "He had this industrious nature and worked so hard." Giving the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin "Our words (as leaders) matter." "None of life experiences went according to plan. And that's okay..." Being the point man -- It means, “When you walked a patrol, you walked first. If there was a landmine or booby trap in the road, you would be the first man to step on it. Initially, you walked in perpetual fear… There were intersections you had to cross where you would close your eyes and clench your teeth, but you never stopped pressing on.” "Leadership is about love. You need to have a deep understanding of WHO your team is as people. Always think, 'how can I help them?' When they know they're loved by you, they'll feel safe. When they feel safe, that leads to courage." Clay Hunt -- "We went to sniper school together... He was a good Marine. When I got paired up with him, I was told, 'you are nothing without this partner.'" He didn’t kill himself because of what happened to him in Iraq and Afghanistan. He killed himself because of what he lost when he came home: Purpose, Self-Worth, and Community. Since 2012, more service members have died by suicide than in combat. "Purpose is a universal human need." The Acceptance of Risk: In Blackjack, there is a correct move for every interaction. When you have 16 and the dealer has a face card, you should hit. There is a 32% chance you win if you hit. There is a 26% chance you win if you stay. And yet, people stay. They haven't come to grips with the risk. They'd rather sit back and try not to lose instead of taking the correct step. As a leader, you have to accept the risk, understand it, and press on. The WHO -- "Surround yourself with realists who offer you candid feedback." What does Jake look for when hiring a leader? They must demonstrate they can overcome hardship Ability to persevere Industrious "I'll take passion over talent any day." The Haiti Earthquake in 2010. 100,000 people instantly died. 100,000 more died within the next 25 days. Jake felt compelled to go there to help. Thus the beginning of Team Rubicon Winning the Pat Tillman award. "It was a huge honor. Pat was why I joined the Marine Corps." His process to deliver the speech... "The producers wanted to take out the part of the speech that resonated most with people... The ending: Know your neighbor, love your neighbor, help you neighbor." Speechwriting/Communication skill: "A company is nothing more than a story." Treat your people like characters in the story. READ a lot of books. General Jim Mattis said, "There is a moral responsibility for leaders to read. If you have not read 100's of books, you're functionally illiterate." Vision - You need to convince your team you can take them to places they didn't know they could go. Book: ONCE A WARRIOR It's the 10 year anniversary for Team Rubicon... It's time to memorialize it. "America needs to find inspiration. The book finishes with hope. It's life's most essential virtue."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Notes: Sustaining Excellence = The pursuit of WOW... "It's not just meeting spec." Leading is voluntary "Playing covers of yourself is not leadership." Leadership vs. Management? Management is about power and a title Leadership is about stepping up. NASCAR... Starbucks closed for a day to train everyone. Why does Seth teach people how to juggle? "It's about the throw, not the catch." If you want to change your story, change your actions first. We become what we do. Lost in all the noise around us is the proven truth that creativity is the result of desire. A Desire to solve an old problem, a desire to serve someone else. It’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else... The difference between talent and skill: Talent is something we’re born with: it’s in our DNA, a magical alignment of gifts. Skill is earned. It’s learned and practiced and hard-won. It’s insulting to call a professional talented. She’s skill, first and foremost. In the words of Steve Martin, “I had no talent. None.” Sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully, “process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.” Surprising truths that have been hidden by our desire for those perfect outcomes: Hubris is the opposite of trust Professionals produce with intent Creativity is an act of leadership We become creative when we ship the work Passion is a choice Practical Empathy -- “We have to be able to say, ‘it’s not for you’ and mean it. The work exists to serve someone, to change someone, to make something better. We live in an outcome focused culture. The plumber doesn’t get credit for effort, he gets credit if the faucet stops leaking. Lost in this obsession with outcome is the truth that outcomes are the results of process. Focusing solely on outcomes forces us to make choices that are banal, short term or selfish. It takes our focus away from the journey and encourages us to give up too early. The story of Drew Dernavich — he shared a picture of his “no” pile and of his “yes” pile. He’s a cartoonist. “Drew’s not a genius, he just has more paper than we do.” Embrace your own temporary discomfort: Art doesn’t seek to create comfort. It creates change. And change requires tension. The same is true for learning. True learning (as opposed to education) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort (the persistent feeling of incompetence as we get better at a skill). Generosity is the most direct way to find the practice. It subverts resistance by focusing the work on someone else. Generosity means that we don’t have to seek reassurance for the self, but can instead concentrate on serving others. Selling is Difficult - Amateurs often feel like they’re taking something from the prospect - their time, their attention, ultimately their money. But what if you recast your profession as a chance to actually solve someone’s problem? “Selling is simply a dance with possibility and empathy. It requires you to see the audience you’ve chosen to serve, then to bring them what they need.” Sales is about intentionally creating tension: the tension of “maybe,” the tension of “this might not work,” the tension of “what will I tell my boss…” That’s precisely the tension that we dance with as creators. The story of General Magic - Megan Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, Marc Porat inventing virtually every element of the modern smartphone. And their first model sold 3,000 units. There were 10 years ahead of their time. The business failed, but the project didn’t. Seth’s initial denial to be on my show… “Keep going and write back to me after you’ve recorded 75 episodes and have a big show.” Episode #75 came out November 26, 2015, I emailed you that day and said, “I’m at #75, are you ready to go?” And he was a man of your word. He was episode #86. His speaking style is built through visuals. He finds the visuals first and then creates the story and application second. Why does Seth fly fish without a hook? "To disconnect with the outcome." The story of Thornton May -- He had no sales quota. He went city to city and invited everyone from a specific industry to a meal. Competitors would join and Thornton would be the person to bring everyone together. He became the person they called.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Notes: Episode #389: Ed Latimore The four life lessons: “Never underestimate the power of being likeable and controlling your emotions.” "Nothing is neutral. People are trying to help you or move ahead of you. In basic training, he was a terrible shot. He failed the shooting test three times (which was the limit), and yet got a fourth chance because he was likable. And then passed. "They saw me working hard, so they helped me." How to be more likable? -- "Don't curry favor. Be you... Have high standards. Treat everyone with respect. Have impeccable manners. Be comfortable with the fact that you're not for everyone." “No one cares what happened to you or what you’ve been through. No one is coming to save you.” "Society is not going to take pity on you if your problems create problems for others." You need to work to through your own issues and ow your actions. Don't take your trauma out on others." How has Ed built the perspective to not be a victim? "It's about delivering value to others. And not subtracting it. That's destructive. Forgiveness is a powerful idea. Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." “The most powerful belief you can have is that given enough time, you can learn anything. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Hiroshima was wiped out in seconds.” Keep plotting along... Ed did this as a boxer and math and with every aspect of his life. Keep going. "Fall in love with the process." "Make a movement with intention and in pursuit." “A limitation is only as powerful as the energy you give to it. Your dreams also follow this same law.” "You'll only be as successful as your worst habit." "You must recognize the problem and/or the limitation." High achievers tend to be a paradox. They have self-confidence combined with insecurity. It creates a fusion reaction. It drives them to continually prove themselves. How is money made? "Give people something they want." Ed desires to be the most interesting version of himself Compartmentalization: You can't approach others with a sense that you're better than them You must be adaptable to a variety of circumstances Understand the dichotomy of being confident and humble at the same time
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #388: Patrick Lencioni - The 6 Types of Working Genius Notes: What is a "Working Genius?” – There are six different types, and we all have two of them that are natural to us.  We are good at doing them, and we get energy and joy and satisfaction from them. What about the other four areas? – Two of them are areas that we really struggle with.  They exhaust us and drain us of our energy and passion, and in many cases, we’re not very good at them.  We call these our areas of Working Frustration. We should doing those things as much as we possibly can, and we certainly shouldn’t do work that calls for us to do them frequently. That is a recipe for frustration, failure, depression. And then there are two other areas that are in between our geniuses and our frustrations, we call these Working Competencies, areas that we can do pretty well, maybe even really well, but that don’t necessarily give us energy or joy. It’s fine to have these things be part of your job, and even the primary part of your job sometimes, but it’s not as good as living and working in your areas of genius. What is different about The Six Types of Working Genius and other personal assessments out there? -- This one is quicker to understand, easier to apply, and focused on the work of getting things done. What are the six types of working genius? Wonder - People with this genius can’t help but question whether things could be better in the world around them. They are troubled whenever they see unmet potential, and they are constantly curious and on the lookout for the need to change something. Invention - This type of genius is all about creativity. People who have it love to generate new ideas and solutions to problems and are even comfortable coming up with something out of nothing. Discernment - People with this type of genius have a natural ability when it comes to evaluating or assessing a given idea or situation and providing guidance. They have good instincts, gut feel and judgment about the subtleties of making decisions that integrate logic, common sense and human needs. Galvanizing - This type of genius is about bringing energy and movement to an idea or decision. People who have it like to initiate activity by rallying people to act and inspiring them to get involved. Enablement - People with this type of genius are quick to respond to the needs of others by offering their cooperation and assistance with a project, program or effort. They naturally provide the human assistance that is required in any endeavor, and not on their own terms. Tenacity - This type is about ensuring that a given project, program or effort is taken to completion and achieves the desired result. People who have this genius push for required standards of excellence and live to see the impact of their work. What are Pat's areas of working genius? "I am naturally good at and drawn to what we call Invention and Discernment, I like to come up with new, original ideas, even when it’s not what’s called for.  And I love to use my intuition to evaluate and assess ideas and plans to see what would be best.  My areas of frustration are Tenacity and Enablement, meaning I struggle to push projects through to completion after the initial excitement wears off, and I have a hard time providing assistance to others on their terms. That doesn’t mean I can’t do those things, because all of us have to do things we don’t like or aren’t good at sometimes. But if I’m in a situation where people are relying on me as their primary source of enablement and tenacity, that’s not good for me or for them in the long run." What are my areas of working genius? Discernment and Tenacity. The assessment says: "You are good at and enjoy using your intuition and instincts to evaluate and assess ideas or plans, and pushing projects and tasks through to completion to ensure that the desired results are achieved." Your likely areas of Working Competency are: Invention and Galvanizing. "You are capable of and don’t mind creating original and novel ideas and solutions, and rallying people and inspiring them to take action around a project, task or idea."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 Episode #387: Arthur Blank - Owner of The Atlanta Falcons Notes: His Dad died when he was 44 years young, leaving his business to Arthur's mother. Arthur's mom took over and built a successful company. He learned to be principled and values driven from his mom. His mom always told him, "Principle matters." Arthur got fired from his job at Handy Dan in 1978. He didn't take it personally and founded The Home Depot with Bernie Marcus. At the original Home Depot headquarters, he and Bernie Marcus shared a bathroom between their offices. In the hallway outside the bathroom, they hang up press clippings. Not the accolades, or the awards won, but the negative stories and criticism. Why? You cannot have complacency or believe you are beyond reproach. Must always keep striving to get better. How did they duplicate the original Home Depot culture when they expanded beyond their first four stores? "You must always promote people based on them living the values of the company. Ahead of everything else." "The culture is critical." Ask, "Can they lead using our values?" --> Read the book, The War For Talent How did they maintained the culture as they acquired nine additional stores? Originally, it was an issue. "It was like changing the tires on a car as it was driving 30 miles per hour." "We had to self impose slowing down the growth." Must train the team on the culture "We didn't have money for training, but we did it anyway." To build a long term, sustainable business, you must focus on training. "You have to have a caring mentality. It takes time. I'm only interested in relationships. It's all about building long term relationships." Arthur tells the story of when he came to an agreement to buy the Falcons from Taylor Smith -- He booked a nice hotel suite, had dinner/wine, etc… He wrote on a napkin, “For Atlanta and the Falcons, $545 million. To the heritage and the tradition, in the past and the future.” ---> Taylor asked what you were doing and Arthur said “This is a bond between the two of us.” And further, “Important deals don’t get done on paper napkins, it had to be a cloth one.” → That napkin is displayed at the training facility of the Falcons and the team is now worth 5 times what he paid. "It was a win-win negotiation." In the lobby of your Atlanta offices, stands a custom bronze statue of a Sioux warrior in full battle regalia. He cannot move from his position on the battlefield -- he will stand his ground until victory or death. His chin proudly lifted and eyes scanning the horizon, he raises his bow, an arrow poised on the string. It’s entitled, Point of No Return. It depicts a time-honored tradition of Sioux Leadership. "You have to lead from the front." Arthur names all of your conference rooms after personal heroes (Kurt Hahn is one of them, he is the founder of Outward Bound) -- “To strive, to serve, and not to yield.” When he was the new owner of the Falcons, he walked to the back of the plane where the players were sitting and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to coach you, but I need to know, what can I do for you? What do you need?” (“The Best Think Tank Any Company Could Ask For) -- “That one hour flight was worth a dozen strategy meetings with the team’s executives or coaching staff.” (You need to have a front line obsession, Chris Zook -- Get to the people who really know. The ones closest to the action) Innovate Continuously -- Need non stop reinvention. Leaders need to ensure that the road is cleared of unnecessary speed bumps and overly stringent traffic rules. Too much bureaucracy will kill innovation before it has even begun. Top down management structure will always constrain people’s entrepreneurial spirit. --- The “Invisible Fence” style of management. “Hire people who are overqualified.” -- Arthur had lunch with Charles Lazarus one day, the founder of Toys R Us, and he said, “the hardest moments are when you have to look at a person who helped you get to $1 Billion and realize that person can’t help you get to $10 Billion.” “Treat every team member as a free agent” -- Never take people for granted. "They should be committed because of the culture, not the contract."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com IG/Twitter: @RyanHawk12 Notes: The Learning Leader Show "Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting." -- Karl Wallenda (Nik's grandfather)  “Fear of Feathers” -- One of the greatest fears of our current age: uncertainty. On March 4, 2020, Nik completed his greatest accomplishment to date, walking over the lava lake of the active Masaya Volcano.  On June 4, 2011, Nik Wallenda successfully completed the high wire walk in San Juan that took his grandfather’s life -- a 135-foot-long high-wire crossing between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel. John Maxwell saw Nik speak at an event and encouraged him to write a book. Nik shares how his worst fear came true when five family members fell while doing a stunt. He thought, should I get back up on the wire? He learned from his family that they always fulfill their contracts. "I get goosebumps telling this story... My dad said, 'I'll always be there for you.'" "It's my job as the leader to figure out who's shaky and be there for them." Work to counter negativity with positivity and preparation. Nik's mother walked the wire when she was six months pregnant with him. "This is the way I came into the world. This is the way I want to go out." "One day you eat the chicken. The next day, you eat the feathers." "What you would call fear, I would call respect." "The worst thing you can do for a wild animal is show it fear. Show respect instead." "I never wear a harness unless my network partner makes me." The preparation process for a big event is meticulous and intense. He wears an oxygen deprivation mask to feel what it's like to not have a lot of oxygen. "It's all about building mental confidence." Make training much harder than the event "You cannot ever train enough." "If you think you should practice 5 times, do it 50 times." Excellence = A passion about being good at what you do Too many people are miserable at what they do. It's fear. "Even if you hate your job, do it with excellence." "You have to show up at work every single day." "Be positive, force yourself to smile." What is Nik thinking while walking over an active volcano? "I'm free, I'm excited, I have every emotion you can imagine." Alex Honold and David Blaine have become great friends and are very helpful.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full notes at www.LearningLeader.com IG/Twitter: @RyanHawk12 Notes: Community — In Rome, Panaetius met a fellow student of Diogenes named Gaius Laelius, and later in a naval contingent, met and served with Scipio Aemilianus, one of Rome’s great Generals. These three men formed a kind of philosophical club — known to historians today as the Scipionic Club (like Ben Franklin’s Junto’s) — they would meet you discuss and debate the stoic philosophy they all pursued. Plutarch wrote in Moralia: Precepts of Stagecraft “it is a fine thing also, when we gain advantage from the friendship of great men, to turn welfare of our community, as Polybius and Panaetius, thru Scipio’s goodwill towards them, conferred great benefits upon their native states” Ryan participates in off site adventures with other top authors in the world like James Clear and Mark Manson. They go there to share ideas and help one another. He experienced another example of this as he was asked to speak to a group of the top athletic directors in collegiate sports. All of them are very competitive with each other, yet they still meet regularly to share ideas and help one another. Zeno had little patience for idlers or big egos on his porch -- "Stoa is the Greek word for porch." Zeno said “better to trip with the feet than with the tongue” He was the first to express the four virtues of stoicism Courage Temperance/Moderation Justice Wisdom Consistency -- “His work was not defined by some single epiphany or discovery but instead by hard work. He inched his way there, through years of study and training as we all must.” Zeno said “well being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing.” Cleanthes — he not only continued his labors but actively turned down large financial gifts to help him retire to his studies — to him labor and philosophy were not rivals. They were pursuits that furthered and enabled each other. The ancients used to describe his industriousness: philoponia - a love of work. Chrysippus, the third Leader is the stoic school. He was introduced to running and it changed his life. The same is true for Ryan... "A marathon doesn't care that you're tired at mile 20. You have to get to 26.2 to be done. Your mind wants to quit much earlier than your body has to." "When you think you're done, you're at 40%." - David Goggins The stoic idea of Oikeiosis - that we share something and our interests are naturally connected to those of our fellow humans — is as pressing in the ancient world as it is today. “Being poor is not having too little, it is wanting more.” Seneca Stay a Student -- The Maxim For Every Successful Person; ‘Always Stay A Student’ -- “Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. Genghis Khan one of the greatest military minds who ever lived, he was a perpetual student. How to find stillness? Stop watching the news Journal - Anne Frank wrote when she struggled: “Paper,” she said, “has more patience than people.” Go for a walk or run Seek solitude -- Bill Gates “think weeks” How to balance temperance and justice? Start by being better ourselves As a citizen, where do you draw the line? Particularly when it's not in your interest to do so... What are you willing to sacrifice to insist on your standard?   Epictetus’ instructions: Separate things into what you control and what you don’t Choose not to be complicit in getting offended Prep for adversity in advance Realize every situation has 2 handles—grab the right one Memento Mori—let death put everything in perspective “Writer’s block is a phony, made up BS excuse for not doing your work.” Jerry Seinfeld Life advice -- "Don't send me an email asking if you can ask me a question. Just ask the question." -- Ryan Holiday Be worthy of a great mentor... Do work that impresses them. Gets their attention. "Writing forces you to clarify your thinking..."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #384: Les Brown - You've Got To Be Hungry Notes: "If you want to be successful in life, do these three things..." Change your mindset - “You don’t get in life what you want, you get in life what you are.” Practice OQP - “Only Quality People” Develop your communication skills - “Once you open your mouth, you tell the world who you are. Sidney Poitier wrote a book called The Measure of a Man and she said, “When you go for a walk with someone, something happens without being spoken. He said, “either you adjust to their pace or they adjust to your pace.” Think “Whose pace have you adjusted to? Les needed to disrupt the vision he had of himself in order to change... Distract Dispute Inspire Expand the vision of what's possible for life Mike Williams -- "The Road To Your Best Stuff" Keys to growth: Hire a coach Use your story to create an experience for your audience "Be transformed by the renewing of their minds." "You can't fit a big dream into a small mind." "We are here to live a life that will out live us." "The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain Les has battled cancer for 27 years... The beginning: When Les's mom worked for a white family, they would make her clap her hands regularly when she was alone in a different room to ensure she wasn't stealing anything. When Les learned why his mom always had to clap her hands together, he made it his mission to ensure that he would buy her a house one day... And eventually that's exactly what he did. Negative thoughts are like weeds. They'll keep coming back. You have to keep at it and have a positive mind. Every morning, Les takes the following action: Has a verbal (positive) affirmation Writes seven things he wants to do that day Reads 20-30 pages "There is power in pursuit... Set goals beyond your comfort zone." Have a perpetual plan of action "You're never too old to learn" "You're never too young to teach" "Don't ever stop raising the bar on yourself." There are three kinds of people: Millionaires, Billionaires, and Witnesses "You gotta be hungry." Thoreau - "Go where there's no path and leave a trail." What does Les think immediately before going on stage with 80,000 people in the crowd? "More of THE, less of ME." "When you wax a floor, you need to strip it first. The same is true with coaching." "Cancer Conquerors" -- "I don't have time to die, I've got too much work to do." Excellence: Durable, sustainable advantage. "I will not fail." All accomplishments happen in the mind first... And then in practice.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #383: Guy Raz - How I Built This Excellence = Ambition Desire to produce for the sake of personal fulfillment -- "It's oxygen" Bill Gates is constantly challenging himself... Having a growth mindset. "To survive means to grow." How has Guy become one of the greatest interviewers in the world? "I've been shooting free throws for 25 years. I've gotten a lot of reps." To be great, you have to be bad at the beginning... And keep going. How to connect with others? "I interpret the non-verbal feedback." Purposeful Practice: It's a team effort -- "I've worked with my team for twenty years. There is a strong bond and connection. They are very honest with their feedback. Constructive criticism is essential. We need outsiders to assess us." Guy thanks his mom and dad in the acknowledgement section of his book: They came to America in the 1970's. "Being courageous requires resilience." Guy has covered four wars, but he still doesn't feel he's as courageous as his parents. "Without taking a risk there is no reward." When Guy is afraid to take a risk, he thinks of his parents. How his fellowship year at Harvard impacted him: They teach through case studies and stories. It helped him understand business and storytelling. Guy is inspired by Joseph Campbell's hero's journey... His 'Must-Have' qualities to get hired to work on his team: Kindness - "We filter for kindness" They have to "want to improve" How Guy prepares to interview someone for one of his shows: Contact them well ahead of the interview date Do a deep dive on them and people around them (read, watch videos, listen to podcasts) Do a background check "All of us are imperfect... That's what make someone relatable. We all have flaws. You need to hear the failures." "The interviewee must be generous with their emotions. "The idea that I can learn from someone excites me." "I love transmitting the story." The idea for How I Built This came to him in 2008 when he took a class at Harvard Business School during a sabbatical year as a Nieman journalism fellow after nearly eight years as a foreign correspondent. Guy demands that those who sit for an interview with him are completely open. “I ask them, ‘Are you willing to come to this interview and surrender?’” Guy stared as an NPR intern and didn't get the initial jobs he wanted... I asked... "How much of your success can be attributed to luck and how much skill/hard work?" Life advice: Get a job in sales -- All jobs have a selling component. Learn this crucial skill. Be methodical about your experiences. Keep your eyes open for problems all around you... Look for problems to solve. All businesses are built on solving a problem.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more details Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #382: Morgan Housel - Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed, & Happiness Notes: "Writing helps crystallize vague thoughts in your mind." It helps clarify your thoughts. Writing is an art. When you publish your own work, you own the success or failure. Public speaking is a great tool to learn how to communicate succinctly. It's a skill worth building. The Psychology of Money is a study in understanding why people do what they do... "Use money to control your time. That's the highest dividend money can do for you." Why work with Collaboration Fund: You need more than just a check: values, philosophies, get your thoughts out into the world. Stories are more powerful than statistics. And most statistics are incomplete props to justify a story. Stories are easier to remember, easier to relate to, and emotionally persuasive. "Stop telling kids they can be whatever they want to be. You can be whatever you're good at, as long as they're hiring. And even then it helps to know someone." -- Chris Rock Excellence = Patience - Stick with it. Continue to go during down periods. That's how compounding works. Success Laws -- "Strong beliefs, weakly held." Storytelling: "The prize goes to the person who can explain something well... Stories move the needle. You convince someone something is true through stories." How to become a better storyteller? READ a lot. And practice. "If you’re going to try to predict the future — whether it’s where the market is heading, or what the economy is going to do, or whether you’ll be promoted — think in terms of probabilities, not certainties. Death and taxes, as they say, are the only exceptions to this rule." Some quotes (thanks to RightAttitudes.com) "Two things make an economy grow: population growth and productivity growth. Everything else is a function of one of those two drivers." "Changing your mind is one of the most difficult things we do. It is far easier to fool yourself into believing a falsehood than admit a mistake." "Study successful investors, and you’ll notice a common denominator: they are masters of psychology. They can’t control the market, but they have complete control over the gray matter between their ears." "There’s a strong correlation between knowledge and humility. People who spend 10 minutes on Google studying monetary policy think they have it all figured out, while people with PhD's and decades of experience throw up their hands in frustration. The more you study economics, the more you realize how little we know about it." "When you think you have a great idea, go out of your way to talk with someone who disagrees with it. At worst, you continue to disagree with them. More often, you’ll gain valuable perspective. Fight confirmation bias like the plague." "Short-term thinking is at the root of most of our problems, whether it’s in business, politics, investing, or work."
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 IG/Twitter: @RyanHawk12 Full notes at www.LearningLeader.com #381: John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Notes: Excellence: Energy - Vitality -- "You cannot be lazy" "You need a strong desire to be excellent" Excellent leaders strive for excellence in everything they choose to do Good physical and mental health Honor - "Hold yourself to high standards" John and Rene Lawson raised $45,000 from family and friends and borrowed $10,000 in 1978 to open a small natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin, Texas. When the couple were evicted from their apartment for storing food products in it, they decided to live at the store. Because it was zoned for commercial use, there was no shower stall, so they bathed using a water hose attached to their dishwasher.  Two years later they brought on partners who owned another grocery store and formed Whole Foods Markets. Having high expectations: As a younger person in his early 20's, John was curious about learning... He loved organic, natural food before it was popular. Revolutions: The running revolution happened in the 1970's - He got into that. The long runs made him feel fantastic. He became a vegetarian. It helped him feel better, be more alive. He is now a vegan. In 1981, they had to deal with a 100 year flood in Austin. "Renee had to swim out of the store that day." "Whole Foods should have died that day. That was when I learned about stakeholders." --> Many people helped them stay in business. "A banker co-signed on the loan without approval because he trusted me. I didn't find out until later." He moved to Boulder in 1999 to run WholePeople.com -- Then the internet bubble popped and it failed. When he moved back to Austin, TX, a coup was afoot... One of his trusted senior leaders was trying to get John fired. John walked through the nearest Whole Foods while preparing to tell the board why he should keep his job... "I get a super high touring that store." Touring the stores helps you feel the pulse of the company. John thought, "Oh my God, this is the love of my life. This is my purpose." That's what he told the board and senior execs and convinced them to let him keep his job. He learned to cultivate and build relationships with his board through that... A "Conscious Leader" = Vision & Virtue – Put purpose first, lead with love Mindset & Strategy – Find win-win solutions. Innovate and create value People & Culture – Constantly evolve the team. Regularly revitalize, continually learn and grow John has elected to take a $1 yearly salary and to forgo any bonus or stock grants since 2007. Hiring: "You're no better than your team." "Excellence is continued growth." "When you stop growing you begin to die." You need to constantly revitalize yourself: Sleep well Eat healthy food Exercise People are addicted to bad food... But you can change this habit if you're willing to go through some pain for a month or two. You can teach yourself to enjoy healthy foods. It needs to become a habit. Hiring: Do group interviews - Don't rely on just one person Looks for: Intelligence ('that's the ante to get in') Emotional Intelligence -- "Steve Jobs would not have gotten hired at Whole Foods" Need to work well with others Take responsibility High integrity Chemistry with others and high character Ask, "Who have you helped get promoted?" "Who have you developed?" "How?" The sale to Amazon "We took a plane up to Seattle and met in Jeff's (Bezos) house. It was very secretive. There was a lot of security around." "The conversation was like falling in love. They were just regular guys who were very smart." "Jeff (Bezos) is unpretentious, has a great sense of humor, and is a genius. He's brilliant." “It’s like marriage, I love them 98% of the time.” Advice: "Life is an adventure. Go for it."
Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #380: Jay Hennessey - How To Build A Learning Organization Shared Adversity - "That's what creates the foundation for teams. It's the glue that builds trust." MOFO - Mandatory Optional Fitness Opportunity SEAL training - The shared adversity among trainees creates camaraderie. Evolutions are team based. "Lock arms laying the surf" "Great teams aren't created by happenstance" -- You must be intentional and deliberate. What is the culture you want to create? - "You must be deliberate about that up front." "The language you use is so important." Dan Coyle is the ultimate connector "When people are asking you questions, it's super energizing" -- Approach each conversation with a curious mind Foster "Organization Humility" The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge: The discipline of team learning starts with ‘dialogue’, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine ‘thinking together’. To the Greeks dia-logos meant a free-flowing of meaning through a group, allowing the group to discover insights not attainable individually…. [It] also involves learning how to recognize the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. Dialog vs. Discussion Dialog = Strong convictions loosely held. Starting with, "I may be wrong..." Discussion = Trying to convince others you're right The Learning Organization Get reps - Read with someone else and share Engage the learner: Just in time Just for you Just in case Building a learning organization creates a competitive advantage: Great teams are always learning, evolving, and changing. What you know now will be extinct in five years. Must keep learning. "Nobody that we hire wants to be stagnant." There is no mandatory compliance. Book: Practice Perfect -- "Whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning." When building a learning organization, stress that it's about active participation. Not passively watching lectures, but actively participating in them. Being a "Yes, And..." leader -- Build off the ideas of others. Lift them up. A "Yes, And..." leader doesn't need the credit. They bring energy to the group. "Leadership is about making something better than it was when you found it and doing so by developing people along the way. Leaders cannot be energy neutral. They are either adding energy or taking energy." - Tom Ogburn Don't be a "Mr. Poopy Pants" -- "Oh, well that will never work." Nobody wants to work with Mr. Poopy Pants. How to develop awareness: Started as the second youngest guy on the seam when he went to SEAL team 5. He was 2nd in charge of his platoon. "Show up with humility and think, 'where can I add value?' Ask for help from mentors -- Hitch yourself to a strong chief. "Have a strong burden to add value" A stay ready mindset -- Have a 'never peak' attitude. Always ready to go. No excuses. "In every aspect of your life, no one cares what you used to be able to do, they care what you can do today." What type of leader do you want to be? -- Write it down. Leaders need to think deeply. Writing forces that to happen. Write your command philosophy Be deliberate Be a connector: What is the difference between Connecting and Networking – Networking is looking for people who you can help; networking is looking for people who can help you. Be a connector. How to build comfort in your own skin? Do hard things -- Progress turns into confidence It's a self-efficacy model -- It's okay to fail. Overcome it and keep going. Be part of something bigger than you. Excellence -- "Humility is the enabler for curiosity." Here is WHY joining a Learning Leader Circle is a good idea... Jay's “Leadership Philosophy” Mission: To execute at my fullest potential and to serve as a resource to help my Family and Teammates continuously improve at every stage of their personal and professional development. Vision:  to lead a healthy and happy family where we all strive to become the best version of ourselves. Professionally, my vision is to be a contributing member of a learning organization with a culture that encourages learning and development at every level. Core Attributes: Humility, curiosity, empathy, trust, followership, generosity, competition, health & fitness, gratitude Guiding Leadership Principles: Exude positivity, communicate effectively, learn and adapt in all areas of personal and professional life, be creative, iterate & execute quickly, be aggressive, have fun, show initiative toward opportunities and problems, challenge self, solitude/mindfulness, be deliberate (set goals, reflect) Leadership Statement: Make the most of everything I do – be positive, have fun, learn, adapt, and push / pull / drag or chase my teammates toward our goals.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 to learn more Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com #379: Jack Butcher - Founder of Visualize Value Notes: Excellence: Humility - "People who don't think they're very good." The willingness to "put yourself in situations where you don't have a clue." No Plateau - Need to put yourself in scenarios where you are inexperienced... To learn and build resilience. Why Jack shoots "one take" videos and doesn't edit --There is a focus on "getting things out there." Ship it. Publish. Take action. "The ability to publish is prioritized." You can build a bond with a teacher through their authenticity. Create and share what you're building in real time... People want to go on that journey with you (when it's real) How Jack has built such a high level of confidence in himself -- Had a great mentor who was a polymath. It was six months into being a designer... Jack was preparing to show some of his work. He framed it as "I'm not sure if this is any good..." His mentor told him, "Never discount what you're doing prior to showing it to them." Frame it right. KNOW YOUR WORK. Own the full interaction of your story. Explain how you got the answer. DO the necessary work to understand it at its fundamental level. Think as if you are going to defend your work as you present it -- "What would the worst critic say about this work?" How would I respond to that? Do your research and be prepared. That's how confidence is built. Be consciously competent about your work. Visualize Value -- Jack is a designer by trade. He has built his skills based on his previous decade working with some of the world's largest brands. He most enjoyed the strategic component of the process -- The articulation of the strategy through the use of compelling visual images. Think: How can I make this argument more visual? He helps businesses understand their value proposition He takes the same principle to consumers now with Visualize Value Leadership Development - Understand the individual components to transformation Curriculum - Organize it to a sequence of principles that build on one another. Share myths - What's incorrect Don't skip the foundation Share the problem - Don't just focus on the symptom Prescriptions can mask the symptom Help with transformation -- "Debug the code" "Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better." - Pat Riley As a leader, it's important to constantly set a new baseline. Consistency - "We're bad at understanding the compounding function." Resistance - Progress is a force you're pushing against. Your ability to continually push forward against the resistance is critical in your long term success. Sales - There's no scenario where sales isn't important. Sales is always a component to what you're doing whether you like it or not.
Text LEARNERS to 44222 IG/Twitter: @RyanHawk12  Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com #378: Brad Feld Notes: Excellence: Honesty - Clear view of what's going on with self and others Transparency/Authenticity is overused Confirmed process of learning - Hypothesis, clarity of though around experimentation Advice to a new manager: Ask a lot of questions REALLY LISTEN - Engage in conversations... Don't just try to get the right answer We have endless biases "People defend their biases instead of questioning their biases." --> Have a curious mind. Curiosity: His parents gave him positive feedback for being inquisitive... An exploration of new ideas. Brad loves to read and takes a digital sabbath every Saturday. Approach new ideas with a Buddhist philosophy --> Let go of assumptions. Approach each topic with a beginner's mind. A founder who is an explorer -- "Don't get stuck as an investor by constantly asking questions. You need to want to deeply understand someone. It goes both ways. Literal answers aren't enough." The role of the founder is “to collect people.” → Mentor side, peer side, employee side, customer side. Engage with people. Create a 'bi-directional' connection. This has shifted over time for Brad. Think #GiveFirst Life partner - Amy... They are equals. It's important to acknowledge that. They almost split up after 10 years because Brad's words were not matching his actions. "YOUR WORDS MUST MATCH YOUR ACTIONS.' Prioritize what's important and then follow through. If it's important to you to spend time with your spouse, then do it. Brad and Amy had to learn how to fight... When their 13 year old dog died, it was devastating. Amy and Brad deal with tragedy differently. It's important to understand that it's OK for your spouse to deal with grief differently than you do. Key Parts to building community: The people in charge must be leaders Must have a long term commitment --> 20 years+ Inclusive of anyone who wants to engage Have events that engage people Complex systems to how communities evolve --Complicated systems has more steps. Goal setting - They tend to be too rigid. The time component can be a problem. Brad prefers raid iteration. Better to have a hypothesis. If the hypothesis fails, learn it. Eric Ries - Lean Startup Rapid experimentation - Rapid learning is better Vast majority of goals you set are not right in the future Writing - "When I write, I learn." Force yourself to write it down. Put it in public. Have an open mind to feedback. "People get stuck in dogma when they don't write things down. They don't know why they believe in it." You can't do this quickly. People don't feel like they have time to think. That's a problem. The role of selling: Selling is crucial. You are selling all the time. Sales is a noble profession. Acknowledge it. Develop the skills to do it well. Everyone works in sales.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Episode #377: Casper Ter Kuile - How To Turn Everyday Activities Into Soulful Practices Notes: Excellence: Always learning Commitment - Willingness to go deep Generosity Patience Casper spent his 30th birthday with nuns. He's not very religious but realized he had a lot in common with them. They care about the same things. They're very honest. What he learned from his mother and father: Father - Do well when you follow the rules. Be detail oriented. Honest. Trustworthy. Mother - She has a more "cheeky side." She breaks the rules. Deep connection isn’t just about relationships with other people. It’s about feeling the fullness of being alive. It’s about being enveloped in multiple layers of belonging within, between, and around us. Four Levels of connection: Connecting with yourself Connecting with the people around you Connecting with the natural world Connecting with the transcendent Tradition -- "We mistake tradition for convention. Tradition is the beating heart, convention is the outer expression." A college football team can change their uniforms and not lose tradition. The uniforms are a form of outer expression. You change symbols as you grow. Preaching at its best is a conversation with the congregation. Ancient texts are so valuable. The Bible is a description of how life is... Casper shares what it was like growing up in England and not fitting in... His home life was great. His school life was awful. Connection: Willing to change Forged in flames Honesty & commitment to each other Science is stable - we value being in tribes. There's less of a connection to places and family. There is a decline in religious communities. Why has there been a decrease? Productivity has become so important. To be productive, relationships are sacrificed. Priorities have shifted. We are missing opportunities to go deep with people At work: Younger people show up at a job for the meaning of the company... The military: Soldiers care about the people they are shoulder to shoulder with... They honor their culture. As a manager: Replicate water cooler moments (virtually). 30 minutes snippets on zoom. Invite people to go deeper. Use question prompts - create safe spaces. It's an interesting time for relationship design. He's created "The Confession Group" The leader needs to model vulnerability but hold the boundaries. Have a place where people can go to admit they screwed up -- 10 minutes to share, 10 minutes to ask questions Discipline: Take a tech sabbath -- Each Friday, Casper hides his phone and computer. It's rest time. Sabbath - "The apex of life." What we practice is what we become "We all worship something. We just don't know what we're worshiping." The paradigm of how we see ourselves in the world.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 @RyanHawk12 Full notes at www.LearningLeader.com Episode #376: David Perell - Why You Should Write Notes: The importance of writing -- Why everyone should write… “Having a website with articles you've published is like having a personal agent who finds career opportunities for you 24/7." “Writing crystallizes ideas in ways thinking on its own will never accomplish.” — Morgan Housel "The person who writes sets the strategy. If you want to lead, write." "Writing is a 'proof of work' mechanism" It shows the world that you've thought deeply about a topic Networking - The old way vs the new way Old -- Go to conferences, happy hours, networking events New -- Publish your work online. You attract the type of people you want... Bill James analytical approach. His book only sold 550 copies, but one of them was to Billy Beane (General Manager of the Oakland A's). And the "Moneyball" revolution was created... The Venn Diagram of Specificity Learn how to create this for your business How to built a career? Do things that are unique, in demand, but the world doesn't have yet Your first draft is what is top of mind -- "Rewriting is rethinking." It's the process to make our ideas better. Writing and re-writing will make you a more thoughtful person and will create clarity. Writing is an element of teaching. Expertise is like a ladder -- Be like an investigative reporter about a topic that fascinates you The benefits of learning in public: "It is the best way to build a network." It's a forcing function. It forces your brain to always be on. "Want a great spouse? Deserve one." - Charlie Munger Publishing your work online (podcast, essays, book) is the greatest networking tool in the world. I’ve met amazing people because they’ve benefitted from my work (head coach Atlanta Falcons, Brooklyn Nets, Ohio State basketball coach, SVP of Fortune 50 companies). Community and connection —- community becomes the byproduct when you’re going through something challenging together (ie: Navy SEALs). “The strength of a community is hard to quantify, which makes it hard to advertise. But like good music, you measure it by how it moves your spirits and how you feel in its presence.” Competition is for Losers: Avoid competition. Stop copying what everybody else is doing. If you work at a for-profit company, work on problems that would not otherwise be solved. If you’re at a non-profit, fix unpopular problems. Life is easier when you don’t compete. (Hint: don’t start another bottled water company). Personal Monopoly: Corporations reward conformity, but the Internet rewards people who are unique. If you work in a creative field, strive to be the only person who does what you do. Find your own style, then run with it. Create intellectual real estate for yourself. (Jerry Garcia -- Be the only person who does what you do) The Map Is Not the Territory: Reality will never match the elegance of theory. All models have inconsistencies, but some are still useful. Some maps are useful because they’re inaccurate. If you want to find an edge, look for what the map leaves out. There are two kinds of companies: 1) Product-First Audiences: Build a product, then an audience. Attract customers with paid advertisements. 2) Audience-First Products: Build an audience, then a product. Attract customers with differentiated content. Take Action -- "Taking action will teach you more about yourself in a month than years of contemplation ever will." Making something easier expands the market... But making it harder gets you the clients you really want. Twitter is the town-square of the internet. It can be the best learning tool in the world if you use it right: Mute politics Unfollow people who make you angry Understand your opponent's opinion better than they do Production: Make tweets useful. It forces you to focus on ideas that are timeless. It forces you to have constant epiphanies. Have "spiky" ideas -- They pierce society. Have a point of view Sustained excellence = Obsession - Doing great work is hard. You need to love it. "I can't live without creating." Vision - Set a goal that scares you and march toward it. Have ambition A keen understanding of what one is good at - Self-awareness.