The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #287: Robert Greene - 5 Strategies For Becoming A Master Persuader (Part 1) Robert Greene teaches the most important subject of all – understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control. www.LearningLeader.com

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 286: Phil Jones - How To Build Your Squad (The WHO In Your Life) Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Ability to see things through the eyes of others -- empathy Create and articulate a shared vision Create momentum for others Build your squad -- The WHO in your life His mom said, "Be careful, go get a job and be safe." She is the right person in the wrong place. We all need: Cheerleaders - they put fuel in our tank Role modes - someone's model to follow Mentors - someone to share experiences with Coaches - they ask us questions Trainers - they teach us skills Advisors - overall strategy Aspirational peers - Peers you look up to and want to spend time with "Success leaves clues."

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #285: Scott Gerber - Stop Networking And Start Building Relationships That Matter Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Those who surround themselves with people smarter than them Empathetic Self-aware -- And an ability to understand others "We are losing connection for connectivity." How to become a super-connector? "Curiosity leads to everything." -- Always be questioning... "Learning is the defining quality of all of it." How to get to the core of person to better understand where they come from and their motivations... "The Road Less Traveled" -- Constantly revise our maps of reality "The Big Short" - "It's what you think you know that's not true that gets you in trouble." How to answer the "What do you do?" question -- Scott - "Try to live life purposefully" His nickname -- "The Pandora of Gen-Y networking" "Social Capital is the most important currency that we have. I'm a curator of people." "There is so much power to bringing amazing people together." Why it's bad to ask, "How can I help you?" "Marketers fundamentally f'd up this conversation." -- "It's become too formulaic as the next step. Instead, you should know how you can help and help. It's a bad question because it shows your thoughtless and it's part of a script. Don't do that." Be exceptional at making introductions -- Does it provide mutual value? When you become proficient at it, take it a step further... Film a short video to make the intro. Get creative. The gray zones -- Always ask "why?" "Real relationships take real time" How to create remarkable experiences: Get great people in the room -- carefully curate the guest list Build trust Exceptional atmosphere/environment Be very thoughtful about every tiny detail The YEC summit in Eden, Utah Create something remarkable to ensure people and things you bring together click. Humanize people that run the community -- Ex: The execs serve dinner to the guests, find common touch points "Get the intros right! Lift your guests up, brag about them in front of their peers." Being a connector vs being connected -- The tools How to build consistent referrals? Create events where people want to bring a guest who is not a current client but could be. The event must be exceptional. Invest heavily in this. Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #284: Michael Lombardi - A Masterclass In Building Teams And Winning Championships Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: A set foundation A standard of excellence in everything they do. Not rooted in sports, but in everything Understand how to build a culture Why mission statements were useless to Mike and his colleagues The focus on getting 1% better every day... If you do so, the score takes care of itself Demonstrate how to lead... The leader must model that behavior "Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing." Operating framework Have a plan Explain to self Build trust Command of self "Culture is a plant. You must nurture it everyday." Personal accountability is the ultimate sign of strength. "All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong." - Sophocles Bill Walsh - The value of being his personal driver and learning from him directly during all of those car rides. That's where Mike learned about leadership... And about Tom Peters Coach Walsh was always reading something that made him think and passed that along to Mike... "If you don't like change, you'll like irrelevancy less." Hiring process: Want people who are coach-able and able to learn the Bill Walsh system "Training is hard. Most managers don't do it." A "5 tool leader" Strategy Tactics Preparation Execution Situational instincts to know which among the first 4 is required and when The myth of coaches working long hours and sleeping in the office Sustainable values vs situational values -- command of the process When Al Davis interviewed people, he would do a deep dive on their background prior to the interview and use their high school mascot as his personal nickname for the candidate. This was Al's subtle way of letting the candidate know that he "knew everything about them so they better be honest." Creative vs divergent -- Take an existing idea and make it better The 7 QB qualifiers and how this relates to a leader in business: A winning way A thick skin Work ethic Football smarts Innate ability Carriage Leadership You must be able to process things at a high rate Learning from mistakes -- The Doug Pederson mistake Mike made... "How often is it the structure, the landscape, vs the player? Jackson Browne - "Never forget the ones you mess up." Life advice -- Jack Nicholson - "Read everything. It's the elixir of life. Understand something from all sides and all points of view. Read it all from the opposition side to get complete understanding on the topic." The most effective leaders have a willingness to receive feedback and implement it.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #283: Tyler Cowen - The Path To Prosperity In A Disordered World Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: "I admire people who are constantly reading and learning things." Those who have a quiet excellence about them The most effective leaders have a willingness to receive feedback and implement it. Tyler was a world class chess player at age 15 and won the world championship. He always played against older players, people who were better than him. (Reminds me of James Clear and the Goldilocks Effect) Doing vs. Learning: Tyler admires those who spend more time learning than doing (he takes a counter intuitive approach to this... like most things he thinks!) "I admire people who spend a lot of time thinking, those who read a lot of books, searching..." Tyler describes his book reading process Books - "Start with what you love..." Start with fiction: Shakespeare, others like that. Tyler is not a fan of most management books. Books he likes: The 5th Discipline, Michael Porter, Maslow, Flow, Daniel Kahneman "Read biographies" What was Tyler like as a kid? "Intense, curious, even tempered, quite happy... Much the same as I am now." There is always new information to learn from travel -- The perspective gained from traveling the world is extremely valuable. Tyler has traveled to 100's of countries worldwide Have dialog with local people in each place you go. We discussed my trip to Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. Learn the personal history of the places you go. Some great recent trips? Singapore, China, Mexico (learn to speak Spanish) Tyler's day to day actions: Write, blog, lunch with college students, teaches for 3 hours per day. He's 56 years old What is scarce? -- We all should focused on being great at what is scarce Quality land and natural resources Intellectual property, or good ideas about what should be produced Quality labor with unique skills Talent that can execute. Great leadership How to become great at what is scarce? Tyler interviewed the tennis great, Martina Navratilova... Her thoughts: "You need to make a deliberative decision to train. A complete dedication to the craft." You also need someone who will tell you the truth and help you improve. Who are your mentors, am I respecting others? A massive need to train and practice. Why shouldn't we pay kids to do chores? "Don't transact with kids. It should be part of their normal day. They shouldn't be paid for it." The shifting gender balance of power - Be conscientious. "Women are simply better at almost everything." How Stripe publishing is doing things differently... Latest book: Stubborn Attachments - "It's been 20 years in the making. My most philosophical book." "It's about the eternal principles how we should think about things..." The meta explanation for why it seems like our political world is wacky... "Most of history is wacky." Tyler makes a 2020 prediction for the presidential election "Stories are deliberate over-simplifications. Complexity has been drained away from most." How to prepare for a keynote speech? "For the Martina Navratilova interview, I read 40 books about her and tennis and learned everything I could to be prepared." Reading: Read books in clusters based on topics Go to the library and do a physical search Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "It's about conscientiousness. Women are simply better than men at almost everything." Social Media: Follow Tyler on Twitter: @tylercowen Read: Stubborn Attachments Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #282: Seth Godin - You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See "In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: It changes over time Must be willing to fail - "Okay... Will I do things that might not work?" Some of Seth's failures: many teaching mistakes, tried to build philanthropy platform that failed, blog has failed at times How to handle a slump? - "There's no such thing as a long slump." Stephen J. Gould - "The real problem is how you respond to the failure. You can't tell yourself a story that's not true." Have honest self talk -- "This isn't a slump." Stanford MBA - Friends with Chip Conley. "Everyone there feels like a fraud or an arrogant jerk. I felt like I was drowning. The sessions with Chip changed my life." Chips "Random Acts of Initiative" were life changing. Chip taking initiative and not fearing rejection. Remarkable. Empathy - A mentor wants to see you do things that are bold, leap forward because of them. Be a mentor - "Make the world shinier. Bring life to more causes." Economy of words - "I made the decision to write like I talk." "Talking isn't better because you're afraid." The book publishing world and why Seth chose to traditionally publish This Is Marketing What percentage of Seth's success is luck? "98.2%" The final 1.8% is "relentless persistence." "The 98.2% is the parent lottery." How to deal with rejection after rejection... "Culture IS strategy. How we treat people. It's hard to do the things we're proud of." "Great ones have better clients." Side hustle advice -- Start it on the side so that you don't have to make money at it right away. You can choose your clients and never just "do it for the money." "Exactly. Great advice." Keys to storytelling - "We have too much stuff." Better understand the story you're telling yourself. Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "Luck for me is 98.2% of it. The other 1.8% is relentless persistence." Social Media: Follow Seth's writing on Twitter: @ThisIsSethsBlog Read: This Is Marketing Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #281: George Raveling - Eight Decades Of Wisdom: From Dr. Martin Luther King To Michael Jordan Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Growth mindset Immense curiosity High level of self awareness -- "It starts within" Great vision Most important = "they execute" Relationship lessons learned over eight decades - "Be a giver, not a taker. Try to genuinely help people." Develop trust, respect, and care for others -- "It's all about love. Don't keep score. Do the right thing, be kind, but don't keep score or trade favors. That's not how it works." Standing next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr for the "I Have A Dream" speech Asking Dr. King for the speech after he finished (and getting it... still has it!) Why he won't sell of try to profit from the speech despite it being worth millions The power of "showing up early" and "asking for what you want" Why Coach reads so much -- "The slave owners used to hide money in books because they knew slaves would never look in the books because they couldn't read." -- "If someone can control my mind, they can control my body. I will not let that happen. Books are my mistress." Information = knowledge = wisdom = opportunity = growth = success The importance of his upbringing - His dad died when he was 9, his mom was institutionalized when he was 13. He was raised by his grandmother and nuns. "My grandmother taught me to be curious. She taught me to ask. She taught me good manners. She taught me humility. She taught me to help people. She was the #metoo movement before the #metoo movement" How basketball was the "greatest vehicle for transformation in my life." Earned scholarship to Villanova -- When George was first offered a scholarship, he didn't know what that meant. Going from player to coach and why he was suited to be a great coach Becoming the first African American head coach of the Pac 8 (Pac 12) The mindset of thinking of yourself as an educator/teacher George is a voracious reader and marks up each and every page of the books he likes (I saw first hand and it's amazing) The importance for older people to have 4-5 younger mentors in their life. Ryan Holiday plays this role for Coach. The importance of self leadership - "You must take care of yourself before trying to lead others" Working at Nike for Phil Knight -- Helping sign Michael Jordan away from Adidas Focus on being a great decision maker and seeking out growth opportunities Why you don't need a title to be an effective leader In order to be promoted, focus on being incredibly great at what you're doing right now "Be so good they can't ignore you." The 10 realities of life Coach Raveling values most at age 81 Pushing Coach to write a book about living a great life -- Tweet him to do this! Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #280: Danny Iny - Why You Shouldn't Go To College "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: An attitude of curiosity - interested. "I wonder why that happens?" Sense of things being "figureoutable." They will get it done. Fortitude. Danny and I discuss a partnership -- Working together on building a course Being "catalytically curious" Why start Mirasee? Built after previous failure. "On an emotional level, a startup falling apart is like a really rough breakup." "Mirasee was the rebound business." It has a value driven ethos. "At the end of an interaction with you, people should like you more regardless of what happens." "Mira" = To see, wonder Why build online courses? The convenience and practicality. It's "Just In Time" Learning Should graduating high schoolers go to college? "Probably not. There is an expectation that smart kids should go to college. That it's the ticket to the good life. This used to be true, but it's not anymore. The facts don't back that up." "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed." "Those non-specific degrees are functionally worthless." "It's not about where we are, it's about where will we be?" What should a smart high school graduate do instead? Find people you respect and trust in the working world. Offer to work for them for free. Shadow them. Learn from them. Figure out if you want to do that full time. This requires people to take initiative and ownership Why I started the podcast? -- "To create my own leadership PhD." "Pace of education is changing." "At the pace of change currently the curriculum being taught will be completely different in 5-10 years." You must have: Literacy Fluency You need a deep understanding of your topic How to know which online courses to take? Think: What am I trying to accomplish? Does the course offer this? What do I need to learn? To know? Does the teacher have a track record of success? A course must have a support mechanism... The teacher must stand behind promises made The "pilot" program Survey audience - data analysis Map out curriculum Adapt on the fly - take insight to create something great Peer to peer feedback system in place We learn more from giving feedback to others Accountability measures Read Leveraged Learning Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "It's not about where we are. It's about where we will be." Social Media: Follow Danny on Twitter: @DannyIny Read: Leveraged Learning Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk. Episode #279: James Clear - How Tiny Changes Can Changes Can Equal Remarkable Results (Atomic Habits) Show Notes: "It's important to know how everything works together." Ojai, CA - Circle talking about book writing Atomic = Atom, small, tiny. Habits should be small "Habits are the atoms of our lives" "It's about the collection of habits" "They are small... but put them together... they compound and are powerful." The system is in four stages. They stages are: The cue - gets attention The craving - in the brain The response - the habit, behavior The result - what happens Feedback loops - The cookie example "My readers and I are peers. An essential part of the process is to write about it. Try things out. Everything I've published has been revised many times." The four laws: Make it obvious Make it attractive Make it easy Make it satisfying The Goldilocks rule - Steve Martin People burn out or get bored. How to stay motivated... Be stretched just beyond your capacity but not too far. "Always stay just on the edge..." Steve Martin kept expanding his sets by just a few minutes each time until he had a 60 minute set. He started small with just a few minutes of material. Make sure you "stretch yourself... just a bit... everyday." Be the person who gets the additional task done How to do this all as a parent? -- "Life is in seasons..." "If you want to double your productivity, get 8 hours of sleep." The plateau of latent potential -- A melting ice cube. A 1 degree change "Habits don't add up, they compound. It looks like a hockey stick." "Outcome based habits vs identity based habits." Focus on identity based habits. Be the type of person who wakes up early and works out. The importance of being able to delay gratification Weightlifting - Reinterpret signals. "Being sore feels good." Re frame how you think about something like soreness "Happiness is simply the absence of desire." When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation "Being curious is better than being smart." Need to be eager to learn and accomplish things "Your actions reveal how badly you want something" "We can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional." System 1 = feelings System 2 = Rational, math problem System 1 always leads the way The Learning Leader Circle -- Apply Use the "Get To Know You Document" "Being curious is better than being smart" Social Media: Follow James on Twitter: @JamesClear Read: Atomic Habits Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #278: Mitch Albom - Tuesdays With Morrie & The Five People You Meet In Heaven Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Humility They contribute to the world - "Morrie did the bravest thing I've ever seen." Howard Schultz - The last person in line to get a book signed. After all of his employees "Some of the greatest performers I've ever met are painfully shy: jazz musicians, Barry Sanders, Joe Dumars." Tuesdays With Morrie - "He was my college professor. I had not talked to him in 16 years. I saw him on TV talking about having ALS." Morrie - "I'm a teacher. That's what I do." Why was it so popular and shared so much? "Death ends a life but not a relationship" "You can live within the hearts of people you help/touched." "You have to make time for those relationships while you're here." "I write about living. Death informs everything about how we live." "I try to write about reflecting on life." Why this theme? "I liked listening to stories from my uncle growing up. His World War 2 stories." "I spent so much of my youth myopically focused on career success. For many years I thought how far can I get?" "I wanted to explore what makes a better life?" Supporting 47 children in Haiti -- Taking two to college now. "Giving makes me feel like I'm living." "Taking makes me feel like I'm dying." Being part of Sports Reporters on ESPN Writers are critical thinkers and can be good on TV when thinking deeply Core pieces of advice: Be humble Be curious - Ask questions Don't lose self in the field you choose. Life can be brief. "Find out who you are and what you value, and do that." Advice from a security guard: Read the best books Listen to the best music Observe the best art Surround self with the best people - Osmosis Immerse yourself with what you value The Learning Leader Circle -- Apply Use the "Get To Know You Document" "I wanted to explore what makes a better life?" Social Media: Follow Mitch on Twitter: @MitchAlbom Read: Tuesdays With Morrie Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #277: Tom Goodwin - Life Advice From The #1 Influencer On LinkedIn Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Confidence + Conviction Ability to make quick decisions with limited amounts of information Faith in their judgement "There is a feeling in the room when a quality leader walks in. A charisma, an energy, a presence." How does one develop charisma? "Introversion is more interesting to me. Great presenters are introverts. They are empathetic and think of the audience first." There is "cultural permission" when you're on stage. The audience is rooting for you to succeed. Use that energy and positive vibes The importance of a proper introduction Head of Innovation at Zenith. What does that entail? "An observer. Reading a lot. Gain perspective through a lot of global travel. You learn more from countries outside of the U.S. where we have everything that we could want or need." How he became the #1 Influencer on LinkedIn? First, look for the differences in commonality vs causation. There is a difference "I orchestrate a conversation on LinkedIn. I facilitate it through my articles. I don't claim to know everything." "I got quite irritated. I got fired at my job for being outspoken. I started sharing my beliefs and it caught on." "Because I wasn't filtered, it hit a nerve with people. I am not careful with my words." How to gain support for your passion/side hustle while working at a big company "Encouraging this attracts great candidates and helps retain top talent." "Senior management needs to support and encourage it. If they have envy or are insecure, then it won't work." "Large companies need to understand why they got big. Those reasons may not be what gets them to the next level. We need to rethink rigidity." "Life is about creating good problems." "We need to create a culture of progressive criticism." The Apple commercial: "It took 1,000 No's to get to a Yes" "We shouldn't worship busyness. We should worship output." The reason for writing Digital Darwinism Life/Career Advice: "Don't worry. Too many people spend their youth thinking their career would take a tidy path. It's not. My career has been quite messy, but it's worked out fine. Be humble, thoughtful, and empathetic." Develop curiosity - "The UK education fuels curiosity, fuels interest. That doesn't seem to happen in the States. We need a breadth of the world. Like James Dyson or Elon Musk." Build a network - "Job postings. That's not how the world works and it won't in the future. I want sparkly talent that has five other jobs. Don't be afraid to nurture multiple talents." Have a sense of humor. It helps ease the mood/tension and makes you more enjoyable to be around. Issue: "We're obsessed with being correct rather than being helpful. That's not good." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" Social Media: Follow Tom on Twitter: @tomfgoodwin Read: Digital Darwinism Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #276: Scott Belsky - How To Find Your Way Through The Hardest Part Of Any Venture "Management is about people. You have to be at a personal level when you're a manager. It doesn't scale. It's not supposed to." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: The ability to sustain curiosity - "you need to keep paying attention with a tuned up curiosity." "They say no more often" "Get into the motion of trying things instead of perfecting things." How to compartmentalize? "I build windows of time in my day to not pay attention to anything but the deep work. No email, no social media, no check book sales." On flights, dedicate time to deep work No wifi, this is alone time to do work Odd reward mechanisms: "I only allow myself to listen to certain music when it's time to write. When I've accomplished deep work for hours, I reward myself with treats. But only after the work is done." Answering the "what do you do" question: "I am obsessed with products." Adobe purchased his company, Behance Seed investor Best selling author "I help creatives create" How to pursue a side hustle when you work at a big company? "Every person needs to be their authentic self" "You have to feed it. The thing that distracts you. The thing you stay up late to keep working on because you love it. That's where you should continue to give energy." "A labor of love is always worth it." The Messy Middle -- 820 Evernote notes whittled down to the most effective 120 pieces. Making the leap from individual contributor to manager: "Don't depersonalize it when you become a manager. A team is like a carefully crafted immune system." "Management is about people. You have to be at a personal level when you're the manager. It doesn't scale. It's not supposed to." "Don't do reviews, do regular check ins... How's it going?" "The stories are the culture of your team. You're the amplifier of the stories." Qualities to look for in a person to hire: "Every conversation with that person should be more interesting than the last one. They should become continually more interesting." "There is value on analysis & strategy... But equally important is empathy & intuition." Intuition = truthfulness with self. High level of self awareness. Be willing to seek feedback. Be truthful with yourself. "A successful creative entity must be comfortable alternating between the two creative phases: Ideation and Execution." Walt Disney mastered this. "Stimulate people to think differently. Help people suspend disbelief in themselves. What if we did this 100X better?" - Larry Page The importance of "staying in the early innings" -- "We're just getting started." This encourages people to keep trying new things. "Hire people for initiative rather than experience." "Anything extraordinary ever achieved comes from ordinary means." Advice for young professionals -- Find these three overlaps: Figure out what you're genuinely interested in. What do you stay up doing for fun? What skills do you have or could possess through learning? What is the opportunity? "Take the steps to get into that overlap" Don't make short term money decisions. Find the overlap over the extra $10K in salary Why we all should have a common place journal Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "Get into the motion of trying things instead of perfecting things." Social Media: Follow Scott on Twitter: @scottbelsky Read: The Messy Middle Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #275: Joe Navarro - The World's #1 Body Language Expert (FBI Special Agent) Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: They are exceptional observers They understand the needs, wants, desires, fears, and opportunities of themselves and others Strong attention to detail High levels of self and situational awareness "I don't go where the puck is. I go where it's going to be." - Wayne Gretzky Some leaders can get mired in the mindless day to day actions. The great ones focus on what's most important. Understanding non-verbals can lead to deep relationships. "One of the reasons we study non-verbals is so we can be empathetic." Moving to The U.S. as an 8 year old refugee from Cuba -- Joe could not speak the language, so it forced him to pay close attention to the non-verbal communication from his teachers and peers. The amazing focus of The Wright Brothers and how that led to their success Why the FBI called Joe when he was graduating from BYU "In the FBI, I was a paid observer. I detected when something was wrong with the person right in front of me." How do we become what we are capable of? "It starts today. What are my limitations right now? Am I observing the things I should be observing?" "People are what's most important. We have to be better observers." "Education is a continuous process. I still see myself as a student." "Curious people are usually exceptional." "Communication is both reflexive and fluid." Do not be cynical or expect people to lie. Treat everyone with a blank slate. Ask questions. Listen. Ask follow up questions... "I never assume to have all the facts. I want to hear what you have to say before I make a conclusion." "Our job as leaders is to ask questions, not presume we know all the answers." JFK vs Nixon debate: Why did the TV viewers think JFK won while the radio listeners thought Nixon won? JFK was tan, good looking, put makeup on, wore a tailored suit. Nixon had a cold, suit didn't fit as well, didn't wear makeup, he didn't look as good as JFK. How we dress is important: "Everything is communicating something about us." Winston Churchill -- "He always rehearsed what he planned to say in a meeting." Also think, "How can I say this in the fewest number of words?" Abraham Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes and 26 seconds for the Gettysburg Address. The speaker before him spoke for 2 hours. We remember people who can effectively be concise. "Choose each word carefully." How an introvert can succeed at a networking event? "It's a performance. Lead with curiosity. Ask questions. Get to know one person at a time." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "When you ask someone for help, you're giving them the opportunity to feel amazing." Social Media: Follow Joe on Twitter: @navarrotells Read: What Every BODY Is Saying Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 200: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk -- Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200 Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #274: Heidi Grant - How To Get People To Help You (Reinforcements) The Learning Leader Show "It's not about being good. It's about being better. Be in a constant state of continuous improvement." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: "All management is change management" "What's made you successful in the past may not be the case in the future." "How can I learn to be a better leader?' "A constant state of continuous improvement" "You've never arrived." "It' not about being good. It's about being better." "Focus on getting better, rather than being good." Growth mindset helps you find enjoyment in what you do "Focus on what you will do, not what you won't" Willpower -- Need to be specific. Get to a level of specificiaty Make steady progress "Have realistic optimism. I will succeed, but it will be hard." How to define success? Intrinsic vs extrinsic goals: A connected-ness to other people Autonomy - Do what feels authentic Being effective - Inherently get satisfaction by "I'm making things by making things happen in the world" "Human beings are wired to to want to feel effective" -- It creates lasting happiness Balance - Fundamental things stand in our way. "We all have issues with not being great at everything." Why don't we ask others for help when we need it? The Milgrim subway experiement What does a helper need from you? Must ask and help the helper be successful Why we need to eliminate the phrase "Can I pick your brain?" Just say what you want. Be direct. Send questions in advance. Create opportunities for helpers to be effective "When you ask someone for help, you're giving them the opportunity to feel amazing" Reinforcements - Extra personnel sent to increase the strength of an army or similar force --> Something that makes a behavior more likely Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "When you ask someone for help, you're giving them the opportunity to feel amazing." Social Media: See why over 91,000 people follow Scott on Twitter: @profgalloway Read: The Four Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 200: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk -- Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200 Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #273: Chip Conley - How To Be Wise Beyond Your Years The Learning Leader Show "When you're the leader, you're the emotional thermostat for the people you lead." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: "An operating system unique to them. It defines how they operate no matter what the context is." Understand Maslow's hierarchy of needs A way of thinking about people The importance of being both a practitioner and an author Having a finely tuned sense of your greatest strengths... And hire for the gaps "The capacity for holistic or systems thinking that allows one to get the gist of something by synthesizing a wide variety of information quickly." -- Pattern recognition How to develop self awareness: Having an internal and external antennae External -- "read a room" Internal -- "understand your intuition" --> How to tap into your "gut brain" The ability to be vulnerable is critical Action: Journal, meditate, speak with a coach. Converse in a vulnerable way Why being part of The Learning Leader Circle is so valuable Stanford Business School classmate of Seth Godin "Random Acts of Initiative" "When you're the leader, you're the emotional thermostat for the people you lead." "People get very attached to their identity." Learn to "listen to hunches and take chances." The story about the time Brian Chesky (founder of AirBnB) called him "Instead of trying to prove himself, he was trying to improve himself." We had an "EQ" for "DQ" relationship - Emotional intelligence for Digital intelligence A mentern = Mentor + Intern at the same time. The importance of having a beginners mindset -- "Ask questions. Be catalytically curious." The "modern elder" is as much a student as they are a sage Chip's inquisitiveness became contagious at AirBnB It's important to "intern publicly," and "mentor privately" There is progress to go from hubris to humble Wisdom: "Move out of trying to prove yourself, and instead work on improving yourself." As the leader, always ask: "How can I support you to do the best work here?" Know you boss has your back -- Support Put direct report in a role to create conditions to grow Set learning and development programs The biggest gap at AirBnB was "understanding humans. There were 28 year olds leading 24 year olds." How to build an alliance with someone who disagrees with you? Find some sort of alignment. Even the smallest amount is progress. Find the intent... "We're all like plants/flowers. Look at the soil. If you're a sunflower in the arctic, you have to get out of there." "Make sure you have a boss that has the capacity to get you there." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "Move out of trying to prove yourself, and instead work on improving yourself." Social Media: Follow Chipon Twitter: @ChipConley Read: Wisdom @ Work Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 200: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk -- Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200 Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #272: Scott Galloway - The Algebra of Happiness The Learning Leader Show "Steve Jobs is the most famous deadbeat dad. We should worship character and kindness." -- Scott Galloway Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: They are demonstrably great at multiple specialty areas They have grit -- a willingness to roll up their sleeves. And work a lot. They hold people accountable -- "If they don't perform, show them the door. Strategic firing." They have empathy - They understand other people and what they want to achieve Scott explains why he's a builder and a teacher He's an NYU professor. He also has started and ran three successful businesses at the same time. This allows him to give practical, real life, advice to his students The best method for learning is teaching -- "It forces you to really know what you believe." "You have to prepare, have themes, support them with research. You have to bring it." His viral videos -- "I try to behave as if nobody is watching... I need to be real and myself." Why he said, "Mark Zuckerberg is Putin's bitch." "Steve Jobs is the most famous deadbeat Dad. We should worship character and kindness." The power of saying "exactly what you think." "You're smart to be afraid when you're younger." Scott Galloway's Career Advice: 1) Get certified. Get your degree. College grades make 2X that of those who don't graduate. 2) Be remarkable ("So good they can't ignore you"). What two attributes can you bring together that make you unique (the artist who knows how to use excel). 3) Invest in variance - find the 6-8 things that are most important to your firm. Become in expert in a couple of them (Be a great public speaker, great writer) 4) Get to a city (Allen Gannett agrees) 5) Boring is sexy 6) Delay gratification - Power of compound interest. Invest in something that will pay off 7) Demonstrate strength and grit. Exercise everyday. Be stronger 8) Don't follow your passion - be passionate about being great at something. 9) Ignore the myth of balance. He has balance now because he worked like crazy for 20 years. 10) Build credibility. Advice I received from my Dad when I first became a manager -- "You can't just be an inspiration guy. You need to understand the numbers, the business side, too." The best managers "move their chair next to the person their leading and have a real conversation with them." The myth of balance: "If you want to be a top 1% earner, then you won't have balance. I don't know anyone who's able to do that who doesn't work their ass off." Did the money bring happiness? "Yes, but also a divorce. Money is a means to an end." The Harvard happiness study: "Happiness is love full stop." -- "Love who you are, who you're with... Love WHAT you do and who you do it with." Sweating vs watching: "You should spend more time sweating than watching other people sweat. High performers are physically fit. Work out." "The only youth serum is exercise." "When it gets real, I want to be able to run fast or kill them all. Working out gives me the confidence to do that." Things vs Experiences: "We overestimate the happiness things will bring us. We underestimate the happiness experiences bring us." The Four: The hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Google = God. Knows more about you than anything else Facebook = Love Amazon = Consumption Apple = Signals your worth. Sex. Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" Social Media: See why over 91,000 people follow Scott on Twitter: @profgalloway Read: The Four Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #271: Phil Hellmuth - From Poker Brat To #Positivity. 15 Time World Champion The Learning Leader Show "Therapy is very helpful. I want to know what I am doing wrong." Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: They believe they can do great things. That have energy, buzz, and confidence They have drive, intelligence, and the will to get it done Elon Musk, Bill Lee are examples Phil is known for having a legendary ego... He shares why that's not true Why didn't he have friends for many years? His midwest roots and being ridiculed for having an ego Why does he verbally berate people at the poker table? "That is 1% of what happens, but it always gets shown on TV." Most great poker players never tell the bad players they are bad, they just take their money. Why does Phil tell them how bad they are and how good he is? "It's because of my own insecurity." I asked if he goes to therapy... "Yes, if I can get 2 1/2 hours a week, that is great. Therapy is very helpful. I want to know what I'm doing wrong." How Phil felt that he could never live up to his Dad's lofty expectations (get good grades, be good at sports... Phil didn't do either) and how that impacted him "I'm like Draymond Green and John McEnroe... I lose it sometimes" "The poker brat made me famous" His friendship with Daniel Negreanu... And how it's grown over the years How to tell if someone is lying? "It's instinctual. Everyone has physical tells." "Look for thumbs and pinkies together as a power move" "There's always a full story. I put it all together and rely on my instincts from that story." Your instincts can be developed with a lot of repetition "The art of reading people is lost on the new generation." "Look into their eyes!" #Positivity -- New book focused on being in the right place at the right time Write your goals and tape them on your mirror Write your blessings and tape them on your mirror Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "The art of reading people is lost on the new generation." Social Media: See why over 270,000 people follow Phil on Twitter: @phil_hellmuth Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #270 - Sam Jones: A Comfortable Life Is Overrated Sam Jones is an acclaimed photographer and director whose seminal portraits of President Obama, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Bob Dylan, Kristin Stewart, Robert Downey Jr, Amy Adams, Jack Nicholson, and many others have appeared on the covers of Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, Time, Entertainment Weekly and Men's Journal. In 2013 he launched Off Camera with Sam Jones on Directv's Audience Network. Off Camera is an hour long show created out of his passion for long form conversational interviews. Show Notes: Commonalities of sustaining excellence: "They did not have a back up plan. They had a desire to do what they loved even if it wasn't the obvious choice." "A comfortable life is overrated." -- "I've always followed the things that excited me most." "It almost feels like a lie when I'm doing something that doesn't excite me." "I connect with this idea of listening to your gut feeling." For artists, the goal is to make art "No one knows you like you know you. There is no set path for how things get done." A life well lived = "Did I live up to my full potential?" "I've always been curious about the questions to ask that open people up." Sam started doing an interview show on camera when he was 14 years old "I think my own theories through voicing my thoughts." "Conversations are how I learn things... I've always been very curious." Rose Byrne - "It's good to look back and see where you've come from." The Jeff Daniels interview (one of my personal favorites) As an interviewer, the importance of seeing their body language, how they react, "the look in their eye." The interview preparation process Identify possible themes of the conversation As a communicator and conversationalist -- Think about how to do something better. A form of scrutiny. This leads to growth. Two things a guest needs to have Be willing Be able Is the guest open, honest, and self aware? They need to be... The guest needs to be able to tell a good narrative "If you're going to find something true and authentic, you have to go down a path." Goal = Make best environment for the human being to come out." "I really want to know who this person is." How to define success? "They keep letting us make more." Interviewers Sam looks up to: David Letterman -- He didn't adhere to strict rules. You shouldn't have to... Terry Gross -- NPR Howard Stern -- Consistently done it well over time Sam's upbringing: "I didn't fit in at school." "I always questioned social norms" -- "Why does this have to be this way?" How to decide where to start an interview? "That's the hardest part." -- "The best conversations are when your open to let it go anywhere." Dream guests? -- Paul McCartney, Cameron Crowe How to create an environment for people to articulate insecurity... Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "I've always questioned social norms. Why does it have to be this way?" Social Media: Follow Sam on Twitter: @samjones Watch Off Camera With Sam Jones Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 200: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk -- Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200 Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #269: Charlie Spaniard (UFC Fighter) Interviews Ryan Hawk - My Leadership Framework Show Notes: The WHO - "The most important question is WHO. Who will be your mentor? Who will be your friends? Who will you help? Who will you spend time with? You don't need to answer what until well after you've answered WHO." -- Jim Collins The importance of cognitive diversity Growth oriented people -- Why I like to be surrounded by those types of people The importance of time and maturity and "life reps" to develop my curiosity. "As you learn more, you realize there is so much more to learn" "Great leaders are willing to push." -- The impact Ron Ullery and Bob Gregg had on my life How preparation builds confidence -- "The greatest medicine for fear is preparation" Learning how to prepare for big moments How to use productive paranoia as fuel Building leadership skill over time "Finding your voice as a leader. It's time to speak up." There is a part of leading that is the "directing" part Earning respect through your actions before saying a word Playing quarterback is the "most cerebral position in all of sports" The incredible mind recall and brain capacity of Aaron Rodgers Why the Arena Football League helps you anticipate The importance of consistency - "Showing up" everyday Why loving the work is so important when embarking on a difficult challenge Who you marry will play a big role in your future success -- "Marry well" Reading The Five Love Languages Say "thank you" multiple times per day to your spouse Write "thank you" notes every week "How you do anything is how you do everything" The impact of my family upbringing -- Episode to listen to: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk The responsibility to sustain excellence because of being lucky to have great parents and siblings The importance of "showing up" as a parent The decision to go to Miami University and compete against Ben Roethlisberger to be the starting QB at Miami Why I moved to Oxford the day after I graduated high school "Taking the next step" -- What I learned from Alison Levine Why I started The Learning Leader Show instead of pursuing A PhD at a University Framework: Learn, Experiment/Do, Reflect, Teach. The practice of writing one "thank you" note per day from John Kralik and how it could change your life Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" Social Media: Follow Charlie on Twitter: @charliespaniard Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #268: Allen Gannett - How To Create "Aha" Moments And Spark Creativity Allen is the founder and CEO of TrackMaven, a marketing analytics platform that enables creativity. Marketers use TrackMaven to measure and improve performance across every channel Some clients are: The NBA, Microsoft, Saks Fifth Avenue, and many more modern marketers. His book, The Creative Curve, was published in June 2018 from Currency, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It is all about how anyone can learn to have moments of creative genius. We are hosting a workshop on developing YOUR personal excellence as a leader. For details and availability, go to RyanHawk.me "Learn how to learn. View the world as being a less fixed place. Anyone is capable of making it happen." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Surround self with others who are great at what they do. A very social phenomenon Collaborate with those who support their weaknesses Be aligned with an executive sponsor Live at the creative center -- Move to corporate headquarters if you work for a big company Need to build relationships outside of 9:00-5:00 The importance of building generational friends (friends from all age groups) What makes a hit? -- "Familiar but also novel." "As humans we're fearful of unfamiliar. It's the brains' elegant way of risk and reward." A balance of the novel and the new The truth about Mozart He didn't create his first music until he was 17 He had a helicopter Dad. He practiced music for three hours a day from a very early age He became great because of deliberate practice JK Rowling spent five years writing the first Harry Potter She was extremely deliberate in her process. It wasn't just a light bulb moment on a train. Paul McCartney spent years to write the song, Yesterday How to create "Aha" moments for self? -- Go for a run, drive, take a shower, lay down. Need to calm the brain. Writing a "descriptive" and "prescriptive" book: Consume a lot about your topic of choice Need to build prior knowledge Not just "what," but "how much" Ben Franklin -- He outlined previously written articles Andrew Ross Sorkin consumed mass amount of literature and worked to "copy" the style in which other greats wrote Confidence building - "Learn how to learn." View the world as being a less fixed place. Anyone is capable of making it happen. Creativity is something you can learn. How to get cast of "Wheel Of Fortune" TrackMaven is a marketing analytics platform Making the shift from individual contributor to manager -- A "communicator and coach" to others Mistakes new managers make: Need open lines of communication. "I was conflict averse initially and that's not good." Remember when hiring. It's hard to fire people. "It's brutal." Not everyone has all the answers. Get advice from people with different perspectives and incentives "You need to hire slow AND fire slow. Give people a chance." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" "A great manager must be a great communicator and coach for others."

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk We are hosting a workshop on developing YOUR personal excellence as a leader. For details and availability, go to RyanHawk.me #267: Louie Anderson - How To Crush It on Stage From One Of The Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time Show Notes: Louie's approach to stand up comedy -- It appears as if he is just "riffing off the cuff," however it is highly structured and prepared The pain of growing up with an alcoholic dad and how that fueled him as a professional This helps him pull from any of it at anytimeCreating a catalog of material It takes years to develop "I'm in complete control." That gives Louie the ability to handle a heckler in the crowd or go with a comment and tell an additional joke Going on Johnny Carson or Conan "They don't step on your lines, but they are prepared for where the conversation is going to go." "Just like you, I've worked hard to create freedom with my work." Sustaining excellence: "Be who you are" Ask yourself, "Does this mean something to you? If it doesn't mean something to you, why would it mean anything to someone else?" Confidence Nervous before a performance? "It depends on the event and how much importance I put on it." -- Saturday Night Live was a nerve racking experience Advice to keynote speakers? Be prepared Know your message Surprise the audience Piggy back on a great introduction -- Listen to the room prior to your time on stage "I'm always tilling the ground for comedy bits." Storytelling: "Tell them something they don't know. Humanize the story. Give a piece of yourself. Don't lecture." How did he get his start as a comedian? "A dare. I was a social worker and went up on stage for an open mic night and it went great." "I volunteered to be the emcee for experience." "Don't be afraid of trying new things" The importance of "getting the reps:" "I did seven nights a week, four shows per night. I was creating who I was." "We don't see all the work that goes into being great on stage. It takes years and years of work." "You need good friends who will tell you the truth." His mom's best advice: "Be nice to people. You never know what they're going through." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Use the "Get To Know You Document" Social Media: Follow Louie on Twitter: @LouieAnderson Read: Hey Mom Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #266: Ryan Caldbeck - CircleUp CEO: How To Build The Frameworks Of Your Life & Career We are hosting a workshop on developing YOUR personal excellence as a leader. For details and availability, go to RyanHawk.me The Learning Leader Show "What we look for in a person: Horsepower, Integrity, Work Ethic, Teamwork, Pride." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Persistence - regardless of skill, willing to run through unlimited doors with no light at the end of the tunnel. It can be soul crushing Identified focus passion - an understanding of the passion that is identifiable. Drive - A motor. Really good at email and/or communication. Can't take too long. "Have a motor." Always moving Values - "I don't say that lightly." You can't sustain excellence without values. "A framework to understand you." Isn't it hard to know what your passion is? "Yes. I got scared about the treadmill that I saw others get on." However, people don't think they can leave the corporate job that pays well. But you can. Begin by thinking about the framework to make it happen. "Silicon Valley is a hard town to talk about challenges." What it's like to lead 60 employees What mistakes were made in the hiring process? "We took too long to make frameworks." "Frameworks show others what to do." What traits/values do you look for in hiring? "The airport test doesn't make sense to me. I don't have to want to spend a day around them in the airport." "We have crystallized what we look for in a person." Horsepower - intelligence over experience Integrity - don't talk negatively about others Work ethic - must be willing to work hard Teamwork - need to work well with others Pride - Care How to gauge work ethic in a job interview? "It starts with everyone knowing we are looking for that." Advice for the individual contributor making the leap to manager... "Figure out framework for your specific role. Get clarity on what each person's role is." "Learn how to develop empathy for what your team goes through. Sit with them without micromanaging them." "Make sure you have a resource (person) to talk to about being a manager. Hire a coach. Get a peer group outside of your company." Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea Ryan has a coach and a group of 12 CEO's that he meets with regularly Building culture: Focus on your mission "To help entrepreneurs thrive by giving them the capital and resources they need." Their Values: Do it right Be brave Be a solution Constantly reinforce the vision Most useful advice: Winston Churchill - "Never give up." "Do what you're passionate about" How to have balance at home? Two kids and his wife is a senior leader at her company Mediation after the kids go to bed Online working from 8:30-10:00 Spend time with spouse only Use the "Get To Know You Document" "If you don't keep growing, you will become irrelevant." Social Media: Read Ryan's tweet storms: @ryan_caldbeck Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #265: Clay Mathile - Self Made Billionaire Shares His Keys To Success Former CEO and owner of The Iams Company, Clay is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Aileron. He believes strongly in free enterprise and has a high respect for business owners who risk their capital to employ others. Clay attributes professional management as one of the key reasons he was able to grow Iams to a $1 billion organization. In 1999, the Mathile family sold Iams to international conglomerate Procter & Gamble for the sum of $2.3 billion. The Learning Leader Show "I bought the business with borrowed money. I was scared to death. I didn't know how to run a business. I had to learn." -- Clay Mathile describes his feelings after buying Iams Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Vision of what they want to do and where they want to go A good idea of how to get there Committed to their vision and idea Clay's 4 things he wanted Own his own business Have that business be something that was excellent and stood for something To help entrepreneurs grow To use technology learned to help develop food for indigenous people Was hired at Iams in 1970 as the 7th employee It took five years to figure out the problems and five more years to fix it Convinced Paul Iams to sell Iams to him in 1975 (half) and the rest in 1981 Borrowed money to buy it Why Clay? "Paul had seen me work and seen me make an impact on the business. I spent a lot of time on the sales and marketing strategy." Focused on the breeders and vets. The people who influence the actual user. Clay was ahead of his time. Went to President's Course in 1982 at American Management Association "I'm scared to death, I don't know how to run a business. I needed to learn." The key was hiring a President and super charging their growth What went in the decision to sell the company? Sat down with his family to decide what each child wanted to do - "They all wanted to chase their own dreams, their own passions. They didn't want to own Iams." The CEO of Procter & Gamble called... Clay takes us inside the room to negotiate the deal: "We told them what our number was... And they exceeded it. It ended up with $2.3 billion." Starting the family office in anticipation of the sale of his business -- To build a new organization for the future. Aileron started as the center for entrepreneur organizations in 1994 Aileron - "We give lift and guidance to the business owner." "How can I possibly repay you?" -- Clay said to his mentors. They said, "Don't pay me... Just pass it on to others." "People are looking for immediate help for a problem they are having right now. And we've designed this place to help them solve those problems." Been married for 55 years, have raised a successful family... How? "When I was home, I was home. I was present. I wasn't playing golf or out with the boys." Keys: "Trust... You have to like the person too. Like hanging out with them." Why everyone should have a board? "They see things that you don't see. A strategic overview. It's something you can't do yourself." "After you've been in business for 10 years, 75% of all problems are because of you." Having a "Personal Board of Advisors" "I recommend all senior executives have mentors. All you have to do is ask. I've never had anyone turn me down when I've asked them." "Build trust and mutual respect." Culture "I built it so I could work in it." "I had strange things in my management style. I was promoting empowerment before it was popular." "Most people do the right things for the right reasons if you put them in the right environment." "The value of the individual is so important. Treat them with respect. They feel important and special. I saw every single employee at least once per year all over the world." "People are inherently good." Bad leaders = "Big egos, not trusting of others, insecure people." "When you push people outside of their comfort zone, you can't beat on them when they fail. You have to let them make mistakes." Individual contributor to manager jump... Advice: "You have to accept the fact that management is a profession as anything else is a profession." "Just because you're the best sales person doesn't mean you'll be the best sales person." "As a manager, you're job is to develop others." "You need to manage spontaneity, responsiveness. Don't react, be proactive." A good example of a proactive leader is a fire chief: They analyze the situation prior to making decisions. Manage in crisis "In 1984, we built Iams University to help people learn..." Most passionate about? "Teaching people, focus on the dreams of the people. Read the book Dream Manager. That's what we're all about." Example of a typical day: "I do about anything I want to do." One dream for Aileron -- "It will survive forever." Learning Leader = You have to be a continuous learner How much of his success is luck? "60% luck. Be in the right place at the right time." "Your listeners need to think

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #264: Liv Boeree - The Three Life Lessons From The Poker Table Liv Boeree is a poker player, television presenter and speaker. She is a World Series of Poker and 2010 European Poker Tour champion, and is the only female player in history to hold both titles. Born in Kent, Boeree studied at Ashford School before going on to earn a First Class Honours degree in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Livis a three time winner of the Global Poker Index European Female Player of the year and currently sits at #5 on the female all-time live poker winnings list. We are hosting a workshop on developing YOUR personal excellence as a leader. For details and availability, go to RyanHawk.me The Learning Leader Show "Our instincts are built off our life experiences." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Humility to continue question themselves Growth mindset Confidence Curiosity to try new things "My hyper competitive mindset propelled me to do well in school... Even though I wasn't as naturally smart as others. I had to work at it." There are two people that exist in the world: Those who are humble and those who are about to be humbled. Why poker? "I wanted to be a musician and a rock star, but I wasn't good enough. Poker was even better. I'm able to play a great game and travel the world." The mental framework of Poker: The foundation: Rational decision making Communication skill Read LessWrong.com How does poker thinking apply to life? "Our instincts are built off our life experiences" -- The Jesse Itzler model for decision making (trust your gut) vs the analytical approach... They are more similar than you think How can you tell when someone is bluffing? (lying) "It's rare that people have physical tells" Most of the time it's based on the math and your knowledge of how that person has played in the past (you see what they have played) How poker relates to the interview process... How can you spot when someone isn't telling the truth in a job interview? "Ask them to re-tell their career story... But this time do it backwards" --- It's hard to do this unless you are telling the truth Look for baseline behaviors when you meet someone and they don't feel like they are in the "interview process" yet Walking in from their car, checking in, going to happy hour, dinner Thoughtfulness -- Are they willing to admit a mistake Three life lessons from the poker table: Quantifying - Increase granularity in thinking. Willingness to work in uncertainty. What action will achieve the best response? Intuition can be great with lots of data, but it's not magic Don't let a run of good luck make you think you're good But how can you know the difference? -- Find a great set of peers who will tell you the truth Advice to an amateur player in the World Series main event of poker Recognize the other players at the table. Who is great? Who isn't? Watch closely when you are not in the hands to see the showdown value and gain information. Balance your play based on who is in the hand with you Read WaitButWhy.com from Tim Urban "There is no other leader than The Learning Leader." Use the "Get To Know You Document" "If you don't keep growing, you will become irrelevant." Social Media: See why over 130,00 people follow Liv on Twitter: @Liv_Boeree Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #263: Charlie McMahan - How To Build A Tribe From 50 To 5,000 Charlie McMahan has been the Lead Pastor of SouthBrook Church since 1992. He is driven by a deep concern for those who may feel like they don't belong in a church and a sincere hope that anyone who struggles with faith can end up with a life that looks like the life of Jesus. He is focused on developing future leaders and spends many hours a week mentoring others (including me!). Charlie has led SouthBrook from a small church that originally met in an elementary school to now hosting more than 5,000 members per weekend. He has a deep understanding for how to build a loyal tribe of people. The Learning Leader Show "The Process: Teaser, Tension, Truth, Take Home, Together." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Integrated people - They aren't chasing a bunch of different things Consolidated on the self mission Focused - Not distracted Family Charlie's dad was gone 25 days a month (he later found out he was in the CIA) The reason he turns down big opportunities is because he doesn't want to travel and wants to be with his family Levels of communication with kids Don't spend money on stuff, spend money on experiences -- Their place is Hilton Head Process for Charlie's performances (his speeches/sermons) The word entertainment means "To hold people's attention" The Process: Teaser - Something that grabs you Tension - The inductive part of speaking that you have to do today. So the listeners know "this is important." If you don't do this, people will leave Truth Take Home - The practical "do" Together - "Isn't this the kind of person we want to be?" Most preachers were trained to be deductive... You can't do that now. You need to help them draw their own conclusions. Finding a way to weave stories and science together The Medici Effect - The renaissance happened because seemingly disconnected entities were connected. "I'm always figuring out how disconnected entities connect" "The upside of stress" "Emotions are like waves. You can't choose which ones come, but you can choose which to ride." Choose to embrace stress, it can have a positive impact on you Create a habit of how you look at life: How long did it take you to put this message together? "30 hours and a lifetime." The intersection of the reality of the struggles with Charlie's kids and applying it to the lives of the people you serve What is it like to be the children of someone as successful as Charlie? "Our kids had so much pressure on them. We didn't appreciate how much it was." "The Famous Father Syndrome" - Kids choose to differentiate from their parents because they can't win that game Advice give to parents: "When you walk in the room, the temperature will go up for them. Kids need stress to grow." "The stress free life is the dying life" "When we walked in the room, the temperature went way up for my kids. The same heat that drove me, burned them." --> "Most parenting things you learn 5 minutes too late" PLAY - Personality type, Learning style, Ability level, Yes factor -- "You don't have to cave under the pressure. It doesn't have to destroy you" Growing a church from 50 people to 5,000 per weekend. How? Has to be a commitment to excellence that is YOU -- Has to be in ALL areas of your life. "Excellence is a habit." "Excellence is expressing my worth... Ennobling others because I care. Perfectionism is trying to earn my worth by being perfect... And that is dangerous." Be careful to not think, "I have to be perfect or I"m not worth anything." "Maturity is way underrated" "Excellence comes out of peace. In excellence the process is as much of importance as the product." "I don't have grammatical errors on the manuscript that nobody else ever sees." "Excellence is the right people doing the right things for the right reasons." "The right motivations are not so compulsive." "The constant burden of leadership is the constant interception of entropy." "There is constant gravitational pull to become like everyone else." "Our church is for someone who doesn't like church." Why? "Because I didn't like church." How do you handle the immense value of YOU as the leader? And the success moving forward without you? "We're constantly in process of finding the next leader." "When you've been some place a long time, you become in the way." Level 5 leader helps a place be better after they are gone How to build a tribe? Max DuPree - What are your unique tribal speaks? The 5 S's of SouthBrook: Solitude, Scripture, Service, Support, Significant Events "A Tribe is where story and strategy meet." What is it like the minute before you go on stage? "I used to panic. It took me 10 years to get over the "what am I doing!?" "Leading is so presumptuous." "I've never stepped behind a microphone where I didn't believe that I could save people's lives. I truly believe every word I'm saying." "I can't wait to share this." "I didn't think about public speaking until I had

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #262: Keith Yamashita - The Keys To Great Execution (Oprah, Starbucks, Steve Jobs) Keith Yamashita has led SYPartners for the past two decades, a practice that collaborates with CEOs and their leadership teams to build great companies and organizations. He's worked with leaders at Apple, eBay, IBM, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Nike, Starbucks, and Target Corporation, among others. SYPartners has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune for its unique, human-centered approach, applied to both business and social challenges. Earlier in Keith's career, he was the chief writer for Steve Jobs. The Learning Leader Show Action Step - "Build a daily contemplative practice to create mind-fitness." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: The ability to envision a future that doesn't currently exist -- Make it a reality Optimistic Creative A diverse background Authentic communicator Daring and bold People Keith has worked with who have sustained excellence: Oprah Winfrey - magnetic personality, she can envision the future we want. She constantly re imagines herself. She has a strong creative core. She has a sense of deep creativity. Howard Schultz - He's always restless, reinvents regularly. He's earned 9,000% return on investors money How do you respond when Oprah calls you for help? "We are always on the outer edge of incompetence. We take on projects that we don't know the answer to. And then figure it out. We respond to those calls with deep humility." Why choose Keith and SYPartners? "If a leader wants to try something new... We help them experiment." Starbucks: Closed 8,000 stores for racial bias training. Keith and team helped them build new habits SYPartners origin story: "Our goal has never been to be famous, our goal is to be impactful" 25 years ago with "three partners and $912 in my checking account" Started as a communications firm --> Strategy --> Innovation --> Culture --> Transformation There are 200 employees now "We fight for greatness. We help leaders choose a more daring path" "Everything is set with intentions" --> "Set your intentions and be very open to the universe" How do you respond to skeptics? "When I started I had $912 in my checking account. I had to borrow money for rent." Only you know what's inside of you. "Your skepticism needs to be inward, not outward." "If greatness is your choice, it's not made in big leaps, it's made in daily focus." "Micro actions add up" How to make the leap from individual contributor to manager? Leadfully.com has been helpful What was it like working for Steve Jobs? "I showed up with writing samples. He said they were awful. He was testing me to see if I believed in my work. It was the worst interview of my life... However, I got the job." "He's the toughest boss I ever had. But I learned more from him than anyone I've worked for." Steve was gifted in seeing what people were capable of and he was willing to push. He knew how to motivate you to your capacity The danger in mimicking Steve's behavior? "People try to mimic the behavior, but they don't have his intentions." Mimicking the behavior without the intentions is a recipe for disaster. Execution and implementation: Mind-fitness - Creativity in moments that matter. Be connected to others in a calm way. Ideas are just ideas. "You can train your mind to be present in this moment." Don't judge others. "Build a daily contemplative process." Build a daily creative practice - Read, write, take notes, be awake, alive, aware. Get a folder, cut out articles, pictures. Create inspiration. Recall past events. Understand what moment you're in - What's happening? Develop keen awareness to the moments Why books are the greatest investment ever (my thoughts) Use the "Get To Know You Document"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #261: Darryl Strawberry - MLB Superstar: World Series, Home Runs, & Substance Abuse Darryl Strawberry helped lead the New York Mets to a World Series championship and the New York Yankees to three World Series championships. He was also suspended three times by Major League Baseball for substance abuse. He was a nine time all star and he hit 335 home runs during his illustrious career. He is an ordained minister, speaker, and author. He is taking his message to the masses with his new book, Don't Give Up On Me -- Shedding Light on Addiction. The Learning Leader Show "My Dad beat the crap out of me. He told me I would never amount to anything. I believed him." -- Darryl Strawberry Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: A calming presence... Confidence in what you know Time spent learning to lead Davey Johnson and Joe Torre -- A measured, confident approach to understanding each individual and how they needed to be managed Best teammates? Gary Carter Keith Hernandez Lead by example type people... Those who are consistently doing the work every single day They understand how to prepare and do not get distracted from the work Darryl struggled to be consistent because of his wondering focus How to bounce out of a slump? "When you're 2 for 30, how do you get yourself out of a jam? Go to the batting cage and do the work." What was the key to winning the World Series in 1986? "A complete team effort. We were a WHOLE team. Complete. Every guy did their part." Why did Darryl use drugs? "An emptiness. I've never been well on the inside. Pain led me to greatness, but was also the cause for drug use." "My dad beat the crap out of me. He told me I would never be anything and I believed him." Why are so many world class athletes insecure? "They are yearning for love and do not always get it. I never had a good Dad. I had to learn lessons on my own. Nobody taught me." Advice to young people who do not have a Dad? "Listen to your mom. I wish I would have. Take her direction. Allow mentors to help you. Allow people to power into your life. It was hard for me to trust people." Being a dad to successful athletes -- (His sons are professional basketball players and his daughters are scholarship volleyball players) "I did not coach them, but I encourage them continually work to get better. I didn't push them to play baseball." The Doc and Darryl 30 For 30 "I love Doc. We are still good friends. We've been through a lot." Why write Don't Give Up On Me? "There are so many problems in the world. Addiction is everywhere. I want to help people. I was great, but broken at the same time." A defining moment? His wife said, "If you're ever going to get well, you have to take that uniform off." Had to stop identifying as a baseball player "You must take responsibility for your actions" "You need people in your inner circle who will be honest with you and tell you no." Day to day work: Pastor, travel, bring hope to those who are struggling" Would you ever work in baseball again? "No... Unless Derek Jeter called and asked me to help his team." Toughest pitcher ever faced? Nolan Ryan Why were you a great hitter? Preparation... On deck circle. Always getting ready "Focus on hitting line drives to the opposite field. That's how you know you're on it" -- Keith Hernandez was very helpful "It's about people. I should have been dead, had cancer twice, chased women, drug issues. I have urgency everyday." Use the "Get To Know You Document" "It's about people. I should have been dead. I had cancer twice, chased women, had drug issues. I have urgency everyday." Social Media: Read: Don't Give Up On Me Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 234: Jocko Willink -- Why Discipline Equals Freedom

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #260: Mark Divine - How To Create An Unbeatable Mind At twenty-six Mark Divine graduated as Honor Man (#1-ranked trainee) of SEAL BUD/S class number 170. Mark served for nine years total on active duty and eleven as a Reserve SEAL, retiring as Commander in 2011. His leadership of teams was so effective the government tasked him with creating a nationwide mentoring program for SEAL trainees. He earned his MBA at NYU. In 2007 he launched the SEALFIT program to provide transformational personal and team training experiences. The training utilizes an integrated warrior development model he developed, called Unbeatable Mind, which draws from his 20 years as a SEAL and business leader, 25 years as a martial artist and 15 years as yoga practitioner. Mark has written has written four books, including The Way of The SEAL, and Unbeatable Mind. The Learning Leader Show "Do today what others aren't willing to do. You're 20X more capable than what you think." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: People who have practices that value excellence and practice it regularly Optimized training, sleep, and balance Mental health: Meditation, nature, learning, reducing potential to be stuck in biases Emotional health: Not afraid of going to therapy, spritual Why is therapy helpful? Mark married a therapist They can be an emotional coach "It's preventative maintenance" --> Must be proactive A "check up from the neck up" You should always be investing in improving your "self" Be mindful - yoga, zen. It's an evolutionary skill to help you connect at a deeper level Why become a Navy SEAL? Got MBA and a CPA -- Got a job on Wall Street and hated it after three months Started Zen meditation... It changed his brain It created a structured program to look within himself and reflect Mark did not like what was happening in the outer world (with his job) He was meant to be a warrior and a leader Did he ever have doubts? No... Because he had prepared for the difficult moments through visualization and fully understanding his WHY "I created total certainty in my mind. 100% that I was going to become a SEAL. I won in my mind." This outlook helped him finish #1 overall in his BUD/S class How can we apply this to our world? Outside of the military? You must deeply care about what you're doing... And then visualize your success. A "personal practice of excellence" "It must be something in your vision that you are really passionate about" "Visualize it as a completion. Visualize doing it to completion." "You're the type of person who is worthy of completing that challenging task... Of achieving THAT" How do you respond to skeptics? The science backs it up... Do your research Give it a try... Why wouldn't you? VUCA = Volatility, Uncertainty, Complex, Ambiguous -- How to handle these situations Creating a decentralized organization -- Why this works in the military and in business (trust and certainty) Why you must "learn to embrace risk" -- Cannot be afraid of failure... And the plan must be flexible "Do today what others won't" -- 20X more capable than what you think "Society has weakened us... Everything is easy now. You need to force yourself to do hard things." "Challenge leads to growth." "Your body will adapt to the new reality." "Push it past where you think it can currently go" "You must challenge yourself every single day" Exercise - Write your own obituary. Think "What would people say about me?" Do the deep self awareness work to "know thyself" "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything" "Derive your passion around purpose. Create your set of principles." Originally, there was a scathing obituary written for Alfred Nobel... It was meant for his twin brother, but there was a mistake and someone wrote it about him. It changed his life. He was not aware of how badly he was thought of... And he became known for peace moving forward. So much so... That they named a prize after him. How Brad Stevens and Bill Belichick have mastered the art of coaching Why the "hacking movement" is not good according to Mark There must be deep learning over many years to get to mastery level of anything Simplify = Be narrow on what you want, get rid of everything else. And focus Use the "Get To Know You Document" Social Media: Read: Unbeatable Mind Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkDivine Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #259: Shane Snow - How To Build A Dream Team Shane Snow serves as Founder at Large at Contently, which works with Fortune 500 brands and has helped over 100,000 freelance journalists, artists, and photographers put food on the table. His writing has appeared in Wired Magazine, The New Yorker, GQ, Fast Company, Advertising Age, The Washington Post, and others. He's author of Smartcuts, and is now releasing his most important book yet: Dream Teams, a journey through history, neuroscience, psychology, and business to reveal what separates groups that simply manage to get by from those that get better together--and how we might make our companies and communities better by understanding the difference. Shane has been named one of Details Magazine's "Digital Mavericks," called a "Wunderkind" in the New York Times, and honored as a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. Originally from Idaho, he studied journalism at Columbia University and lives in New York City. The Learning Leader Show "Two heads are only better than one if they think differently." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: 2 X @ Matrix chart Skepticism and credulity Optimism and pessimism They believe the world can be better, but they don't always take things at face value Be skeptical AND optimistic as a leader The leader should provide complete emotional AND intellectual support Be willing to push. Be okay with conflict. Be a "disagreeable giver" and create psychological safety How to improve? Get help? "I have a lot of faith in my self. A healthy ego. But I'm paranoid about my blind spots. I want to learn so much. I collect inputs that are critical from my business partner." Why write Dream Teams? The desire to study the best teams. The best cultures. "I wanted to learn this for my own business." "When human beings come together, we can do incredible things." The impact his Dad on Shane - A nuclear engineer The importance of cognitive diversity "Two heads are better than one only if they think differently." The power of ragtag teams Buddy cops Street smart By the book Man/woman teams solve crimes better How to implement and execute? WHO is on the team? How you deal with problems/issues? "We need to re-frame how we think about this. Set up a pool to make it as cognitively diverse as possible Perspective - How you view the world, who you are Heuristic - The way you approach solving problems. (eg: different university, different piano teacher) Think about solving problems how a movie director acts? Do they use the exact same actors for every movie they direct? No, it doesn't make sense. They cast the best actors for each movie. "If you're solving different problems, why would you cast the same people every time?" Shane explains why "culture fit" is not a good characteristic in hiring The disaster that was the Daimler-Chrysler merger Miscalculation on how much companies complimented each other Culture kills most - "It's the fact that they didn't speak to each other." Mergers that don't go well... People need to talk. It's okay to fight and disagree. It's ruined when people stop talking (just like a marriage) "Silence is the enemy of innovation" The Wright Brothers - They would argue one side of a point. Then have lunch... And switch sides of the argument. It forced expansion of the way they thought about problems Wu Tang Clan - "Competition breeds excellence" Magic Johnson & Larry Bird DJ's in the Bronx Competing against Ben Roethlisberger Why is it okay to argue and compete? "An overriding cause that's worth it. A purpose. A passion... To win." Build an empire with people - Intense, full emotional support. Learn each others stories, their motivations Blackrock - Form a new team, have everyone tell their personal stories, develop a sense of connectedness If you dislike a colleague (like Shane did): "I went to her house and met her family and friends. I learned about her life growing up and the people who support her. It changed my perspective of her." Use the "Get To Know You Document" "Silence is the enemy of innovation." Social Media: Read: Dream Teams Follow Shane on Twitter: @shanesnow Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 258: Jesse Itzler - Creating Your LIFE Resume (Living With The Monks) Jesse Itzler is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Living with a Seal, cofounded Marquis Jet, the world's largest private jet card company which he and his partner sold to Berkshire Hathaway/NetJets. Jesse then partnered with Zico coconut water, which he and his partner sold to The Coca-Cola Company. His latest book is titled, Living With The Monks. He's a former rapper on MTV and wrote and performed the NBA's Emmy Award-winning "I Love This Game" music campaign and the popular New York Knicks anthem "Go NY Go." When he's not running ultra-marathons, eating vegan food or being a dad to his four kids, Jesse can be found at the NBA's Atlanta Hawks games, where he's an owner of the team. He is married to Spanx founder Sara Blakely. The Learning Leader Show "I invest in people... You must look into their eyes before making a decision." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: Spending time around the 4,000 people who used Marquis Jet, "I always asked them about their habits." You have to create the system that works best for YOU: Attack fear, take risks Get up early in the morning Create daily wins, momentum Be a great connector, build relationships Run -- Create great exercise habits Winning habits, routines, mindset. A system for self For 27 years, Jesse has only eaten fruit before noon Relying on gut instinct... How to build this, make better? Must spend time alone, to think. Running is where this happens for Jesse (in the car for Sara) Why? Awareness with time... Understand your own mortality A constant drive to build a "life resume" You only get 1 shot to do this thing Hiking Mount Washington -- Helps you feel "super alive... It's addicting." Have you always been this way? "I get bored easily. This has nothing to do with money." Always being urgent to accomplish something Always carving out time for yourself. Carve at least 1 hour per day. Put parameters around your time YOU are the business plan. "I invest in people... Have you ever looked into his eyes?" "At the end of the day, people drive companies." Why live with the monks? "I did the physical part while living with a SEAL. I needed to focus on the spiritual part." Lived in a monastery with 8 monks... 4 had been there for 50 years How living with the monks helped him handle "decision fatigue" How it free'd up so much energy "The power of cumulative work" "Always do something hard" It sets the tone for yourself Don't back away from challenges -- Build the grit muscle Do small things every day (clean, make the bed, finish tasks, do the dishes now) "I'm turning 50. I only have 28 summers left if I'm lucky." The perfect day = Family time Wellness time (running) Business time "Get your heart rate up!" Social Media: Read: Living With The Monks Follow Jesse on Twitter: @the100MileMan Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #257: David Marquet - Intent Based Leadership (Turn The Ship Around!) Captain Dave Marquet is a 1981 U.S. Naval Academy graduate. He served in the U.S. submarine force for 28 years. After being assigned to command the nuclear powered submarine USS Santa Fe, then ranked last in retention and operational standing, he realized the traditional leadership approach of "take control, give orders," wouldn't work. He "turned his ship around" by treating the crew as leaders, not followers, and giving control, not taking control. This approach took the Santa Fe from "worst to first," achieving the highest retention and operational standings in the navy. Stephen R. Covey said it was the most empowering organization he'd ever seen and wrote about Captain Marquet's leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit. Captain Marquet is the author of Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders. Fortune magazine called the book the "best how-to manual anywhere for managers on delegating, training, and driving flawless execution." "Leadership is not for the select few at the top. In highly effective organizations, there are leaders at every level. When we give our people more authority, we actually create more effective leaders." Show Notes: Sustaining excellence: "The ability to decouple from their personal feelings their personality. It can't all depend on one person. In a consistent organization, the leader is part of it, but not all of it." How parenting helps you become a better leader: "That's really interesting. As a parent, you're trying to create an independent decision maker." The United States Naval Academy definition of leadership = Leadership can be defined as directing the thoughts, plans, and actions of others... So as to obtain their command and obedience, their confidence, their respect, and their loyal cooperation." --> Why this is wrong and not effective. "I intend to..." -- Intent based leadership How to create the environment for the team to make decisions Intent based environment: People don't need to be told what to do. Lean back, team leans forward. Don't make yourself (as the leader) a bottleneck. Risks = Tune level of control to competence or confidence of the team... Expose my thought process (as the leader) to you to see how I put it together. Ask "what" and "how" questions... If you get hired as a new manager and did not get to choose anyone on your team? "Focus on what you can control. Do we welcome each other? Do we care? Do we connect?" Making the jump from individual contributor to manager: "Talk less, don't have all the answers... Listen." "Push information to authority. Be knowing, not telling." The job of the leader is to determine how the team works Minimize cognitive burden -- "The leader defines the structure." "We act our way to new thinking, not think our way to new acting." Social Media: Read: Turn The Ship Around! Follow Captain Marquet on Twitter: @ldavidmarquet Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #256: Elena Botelho - How To Become A CEO Elena Botelho has been a Partner at ghSMART since 2007. Elena initiated and co-leads The CEO Genome Project® featured in a cover article of Harvard Business Review. Her recent book, The CEO Next Door, is a New York Times Bestseller. The CEO Genome Project® is an extensive research and client practice supporting CEO's and executives on the path to CEO. The research explores paths and behaviors that lead to the top, typical setbacks CEO's encounter and ways to prevent them. Elena is a member of McKinsey M&A Integration Council – an invitation-only forum of senior executives from major corporations to share M&A best practices. Elena is a sought after speaker at leading industry events on leadership and M&A. The Learning Leader Show "Charisma is a myth when it comes to success as a CEO. The research suggests introverts are equally or more successful than charismatic extroverts" Show Notes: How do we define excellence? "Delivering results is how we define it" The keys to excellence (delivering results) Decisiveness - Conviction and speed Adapting proactively Relentless reliability - Delivering consistently -- This is the most powerful and important behavior Engage for impact Self assessments The lowest rated among 11,000 people Elena surveyed was: Reliability Why do people struggle with consistency? Consistency is hard across all domains of our lives Reliability - 3 keys Mindset - basic habits. How do we develop the correct mindset? -> Recognize that others need to be able to count on you. This translates to consistent habits Get an honest look in the mirror The WHO - Who are your surrounding yourself with? Process and culture you build The CEO Myths: Need to go to an Ivy League school (not true) CEO's were destined for greatness (nope) 70% of CEO's never set a goal to be a CEO Charisma - It helps you get the job, however when you look at results, it's not the way the ensure results Introverts are not less likely for success Advice to a current individual contributor: Having powerful mentors didn't seem to help them more than those who didn't Becoming a mentor to others does show it helps It forces you to be clear and become a teacher. Helps you get in the head of others and lead What are some mistakes first time managers make? "It can be messy" Be clear on what success looks like Is this the right team? Do personnel changes need to be made? What are the career catapults? 25% went to a top business school 97% of them did one of these three sprinters: 60% "went small to go big" -> Took a smaller role at an organization that led to something big They took on a big mess and fixed it The big leap - Take a role well before you're ready --> Take a risk Adapting proactively Being able to let go of a profitable business in order for long term success (give up short term for the long term) Key learning = the ability let go of the past "Becoming a mentor to others forces you to be clear and become a teacher." Social Media: Read: The CEO Next Door Go to: ghsmart.com Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #255: David Burkus - The Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life (Friend Of A Friend) David Burkus is a best-selling author, a sought after speaker, and business school professor. In 2017, he was named as one of the world's top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. The Learning Leader Show "The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives are the people we surround ourselves with and the conversations we have with them." Show Notes: What defines a happy life? "The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives are the people we surround ourselves with and the conversations we have with them. That's how you live a happy life." Adam Rifkin - The "strength of weak ties" The research suggests you have better odds of getting a job through a loose acquaintance than a close friend "Dormant ties" are very valuable to have in your life. Make a deliberate effort to reach back out to those people. Use a system to keep track of those relationships This is the "what" and the "how" to get it done From "science" to "practice" -- The key to success is to be prescriptive. Give actionable advice The story of Michelle McKenna Doyle -- How she created her dream job in the NFL. 1 dormant tie - 1 degree of separation. "Most of us are only 1 or 2 introductions away from what we want..." Clusters - People tend to cluster around like minds. There is amazing power of small communities "Build your own stage, your own community" Super connector - Dunbar's # -- Brian Grazer Having regular curiosity conversations -- That is how he met Ron Howard Never ask the question, "How can I help you?" Figure out how you can help someone else, then help them. Don't put the onus on them. Always think, "who does this person need to meet?" And make connections In a networking situation, don't just ask - "What do you do?" -- Try to learn more about them as a person, not just their job "What excites you right now? Who's your favorite super hero?" Where did you grow up?" Be interested in order to be interesting "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 How David and his wife measured their friendships and peer group -- They made lists How to give a TED Talk? -- Practiced it hundreds of times, hired a coach Go to www.DavidBurkus.com/Ryan Social Media: Follow David on Twitter: @davidburkus Read: Friend of A Friend Go to: DavidBurkus.com/Ryan Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode 254: Robert Kurson - How To Be A Master Storyteller: Rocket Men, The Most Daring Mission In NASA History Robert Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discovered a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson began his career as an attorney, graduating from Harvard Law School, and practicing real estate law. Kurson's professional writing career began at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he started as a data entry clerk and soon gained a full-time features writing job. In 2000, Esquire published "My Favorite Teacher," his first magazine story, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. He moved from the Sun-Times to Chicago Magazine, then to Esquire, where he won a National Magazine Award and was a contributing editor for years. His stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. His latest book is titled, Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon. Show Notes: How Rob quickly realized going to Harvard Law School was a mistake "The people who liked being at Harvard Law School are the people I liked the least." Following that, he got a job at a large law firm in Chicago -- "Made a lot of money, bought a BMW, a stereo, a bicycle... And I was miserable" The big corporations/large law firms "punished creative thinking" Writing... "It all started with a basic curiosity that would grow into love." --> "You can't hate what you do and be happy" The theme of writing stories -- "Freedom... Being unbound. When I was writing stories, the time would go so fast." "Whatever it cost me, I was going to get out of practicing law, and be a writer." "I begged for any job. I'm incredibly persistent. I came in on the weekends and took high school football scores as my first job working for a newspaper as a writer" How can others follow their love/passion? "Never give up, do it at night, weekends, refuse to take no for an answer." "I was unwilling to see my life go that way. I would never stop trying, no matter what. There was no choice, that's what I was going to do." Key ingredients to being a great story teller? Understand the structure, the arc, the format: inciting incident, challenge, the heroes journey, the battles --> The beginning, middle, and end How the long car rides with his dad gave him a prime example for story telling -- "My dad was a travelling salesman and he would often take me with him. He's the greatest story teller I've ever known" Why write about the Apollo 8 mission? -- "They are the first 3 men to leave earth and go to the moon. The people at NASA say Apollo 8 was the most daring mission of all time. They orbited the moon 10 times. It was the most rushed mission in history." They needed to beat the Soviets and rushed it because of that and President JFK George Lowe - The NASA manager had the idea to go without the lunar module The 3 astronauts refused to give up. No matter what happens, they wont' give up. Most of the astronauts were fighter pilots in the war. They developed a psychology that "it won't happen to me." They were fearless. They had self-delusion and irrational confidence. That fueled them. They were not afraid to fail and had already failed many times in their lives Neil Armstrong crashed on a test flight... Just an hour later, he was seen in his office doing paperwork as if nothing happened. The best astronauts were not phased What Rob enjoyed most -- Meeting each of the 3 astronauts. All 3 are alive and still married (rare in the astronaut program). They are down to earth, humble leaders Rob describes what it was like flying with Frank Borman What it was like watching Apollo 13 with Jim Lovell (who was also on Apollo 8) The power of constraints -- "Deadlines can help us do incredible things. Construct them for yourself." Rob's routine -- At desk by 6:00 am and work until 2:00. "After that, my work isn't very good." Structure it first, organize, and storyboard it Take a lot of walks with a digital recorder and speak the story out Rocket Men has been optioned by Netflix "Deadlines can help us do incredible things. Construct them for yourself." Social Media: Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertkurson Read: Rocket Men Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode 253: Aubrey Marcus - Total Human Optimization (Own The Day, Own Your Life) Aubrey Marcus is the founder and CEO of Onnit, a lifestyle brand based on a holistic health philosophy he calls Total Human Optimization. Onnit is an Inc. 500 company and an industry leader with products optimizing millions of lives, including many top professional athletes around the world. Aubrey regularly provides commentary to outlets like Entrepreneur, Forbes, The Doctors and The Joe Rogan Experience. He has been featured on the cover of Men's Health, is the author of the life-coaching course Go For Your Win, and his first book is Own The Day, Own Your Life from HarperCollins. The Learning Leader Show "If you have 5 employees, don't focus on growing to 180 employees. Focus on #6, and the #7. Just the next one. You must surrender to the process." Show Notes: Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: Mental Override They are willing to do the thing you don't want to do (ex. turn the knob to COLD in the shower) Focus on the little things... The little things become the big things Instead of thinking of your life as a whole, focus on making this one day great... OWN the day, own your life Identify the process and structure you need for your ideal day... Do it one day at a time The ability to create you environment and "own your current space" regardless of the environment The difference between 2012 (with 5 employees) and today (180 employees) "Then I did everything, I had to. Now, I have an incredible team to help." "If you have 5 employees and you want to grow, don't focus on 180 employees. Focus on #6, and then #7. Focus on your team and your customers." "Surrender to the process." Aubrey is a questioner... Why? "I'm constantly reminded how much I don't know" "I'm always open to continued learning. I have a curiosity mindset." "I was down to my last $110K which was loaned to me. If AlphaBrain failed, we were done... Fortunately, it sold out quickly." The importance of Joe Rogan "I was completely all in." "Instead of focusing how to be friends with Joe, I focused on who I was as a person... And becoming a person that people would want to have around." Focus on yourself "The 30 minute coffee with Joe turned in to a 4 hour dinner" "People will detect and know if you're not genuine" -- You must be yourself "Rules are for dogs. Human beings should be driven by morality. By what's right and wrong." How about rules at Onnit? -- There are some that are necessary (talking about sex, or safety. Both are important and there are strict rules) Having an open relationship with his fiance, Whitney "I questioned the nature of love. What is true genuine love? How does that look? It's wild... And challenging." "This isn't a fairytale. It can feel like you got struck by lightening in the solar plexus." "Having an open relationship is not for everyone and I don't advocate it. I'm an advocate for understanding relationships." The importance of writing Own The Day, Own Your Life "All of our work needed to be documented. There are over 300 clinical references in the book." Process? "You must show up and write... Even when you don't feel like it. You have to have the mental override." "I know nothing. But every day I ask questions and take a seat at the table where Truth likes to have snacks." - Aubrey Marcus Social Media: Follow Aubrey on Twitter: @AubreyMarcus Read: Own The Day, Own Your Life Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 252: Tom Peters - In Search Of Excellence

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode #252: Tom Peters - In Search Of Excellence Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence—the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged as the best business book ever. Sixteen books and almost thirty years later, he's still at the forefront of the "management guru industry" he single-handedly invented. What's new? A lot. As CNN said, "While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all its worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself." Tom's bedrock belief: "Execution is strategy—it's all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory." (Keep up with Tom at tompeters.com, ranked #9 among "The Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs.") His most recent effort, released in April, 2018 is titled, The Excellence Dividend. "Excellence is the next 5 minutes... Or not." Show Notes: Commonalities of those who sustain excellence: They are "thoroughly decent human beings" They help other people grow They really care about the people they work with and help them get better everyday Quotes from Tom Peters: "Arguably the eight most important words a leader can utter: "THANK YOU." "I'M SORRY." "WHAT DO YOU THINK?" "Priority #1, #2, #3: Culture. Culture. Culture. "It IS the game," Lou Gerstner on IBM turnaround. "My 20-year-old "agile": WTTMSASTMSUTFW/Whoever Tries The Most Stuff And Screws The Most Stuff Up The Fastest Wins. "Every meeting that does not stir the imagination and curiosity of its attendees is what I like to call a PLO: a Permanently Lost Opportunity. I am all in favor of eliminating unnecessary meetings!" The big corporations/large law firms "punished creative thinking" "You must create space for people to be better than they ever have." "Excellence is the next 5 minutes... Or not." The key to being a great manager? "MBWA" -- "The minute those words came out of his mouth, my life changed (Managing By Wandering Around) The importance of being intentional and thoughtful My Dad is a huge fan of Tom's work and told me to read his work "Your culture is managed every minute of every day" The process to prepare for your week as the leader (Sunday night work) Start your meetings with "Good morning" "Find a smile, find the energy" --> Your team will follow your attitude and behavior. "It's your duty to be in a good mood." How to run a world class meeting? A meeting can and should be excellent" --> It sets the stage for the next 5 days. Think about it and prepare. Will it be an upper or a downer? Should have civility and thoughtfulness --> "No smartassery" The definition of a great teacher is "someone who is desperate to help their students succeed." How to choose better people to promote? "First line leadership is of supreme importance" "We always hire for character." --> Theo Epstein: Look at the analytics and combine them with culture and character to decide Training -- "Practice should be harder than the games" Neighbors with Bill Walsh -- "The Score Takes Care of Itself" He spent the first 18 months as the coach of the 49ers developing a new culture John Wooden -- Similar story about culture building Jerry Seinfeld spends six months at very "out of the way" clubs in order to add a new 2 minutes to his stand up routine -- Be that deliberate Tom's training and preparation for a speech (even after doing 3,000+ of them!) Read on the company and the industry in depth Read what's going on in the world - stay up to date Read about the specific city where the speech is being delivered, read the local paper, pick up little vignettes Awake at 2:00 am rearranging the PowerPoint slides -- "I make about 700 changes" How do you feel 30 seconds before you go on stage? "Pure fear, there is enormous pressure for me to deliver for them" Why you should always write thank you notes Campbell's Soup CEO wrote 30,000 thank you notes Home Depot CEO wrote them every Sunday Social Media: Follow Robert on Twitter: @tom_peters Read: The Excellence Dividend Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode 251: Joey Coleman - How To Never Lose A Customer Again Joey Coleman is the Chief Experience Composer at Design Symphony - a customer experience branding firm that specializes in creating unique, attention-grabbing customer experiences. His clients include individual entrepreneurs, start-ups, small businesses, non-profits, government entities, and Fortune 500 companies. For over a decade he's worked with clients that include NASA, Network for Good, Hyatt Hotels, Zappos, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the World Bank. Joey is a recognized expert in customer experience design, an award-winning speaker at national and international conferences, and has taught business and creativity courses at both the college and graduate school level. Past appearances include presentations at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, Google, the Georgetown University School of Business, Stanford University, Zappos, YouTube. Joey's first book is titled Never Lose A Customer Again: Turn Any Sale Into Lifelong Loyalty In 100 Days. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show "The best way to say thank you to someone is to show love to the people they love." Show Notes: The 3 things a great keynote speaker does: Change how you think Change how you feel Change how you act The 60 second SPEED pitch from Joey (this is something Joey has never done before and it was incredible!) He speed talks what happens following a purchase you make and how you can secure a customer for life The stages: Assess, Admit, Affirm, Activate, Acclimate, Accomplish, Adopt, Advocate The importance of your messaging within the first 100 days Research and science back -- From Harvard, Bain, Stanford "People who get promoted most and fastest are those who positively impact the business." "People we like get promoted" Why write this book? -- Needed to work out all the kinks, document the 46 case studies and the people/companies who have implemented "the first 100 days" strategy Why do companies lose customers? Selling to human beings - people are skeptical and get buyers remorse Fear, uncertainty, and doubt The new business sales people are not aligned with the account managers More energy spent on getting new clients instead of taking care of the current ones "For a marriage, it requires a lot of work, continually building, communicating, growing." A client should be treated in the same manner Why are the first 100 days so important? Must be on-boarded properly If your customer gets to day 101, they will be with you for at least 5 years The Garrett Gunderson experience "When I showed up, he had a 6 pack of root beer for me and said, 'I wanted you to feel like you are home." -- A preview of what it would be like to be a customer of theirs The $35,000 golf ball -- Pebble Beach Pay attention Record small details that could help you later "When you talk, I listen" Strategic appreciation -- How to say thank you. The use of gifts, presents, and pictures The best way to say thank you to Joey -- "Do amazing things for my wife and kids." -- Delta did this for Joey and he is a customer for life As John Ruhlin would say, "The best way to say thank you to someone is to show love to the people they love." Don't send gifts for the holidays when everyone else does. It's about timing "If you're going to host someone, welcome them at the door... Offer them a glass of water." "A great speaker can: change how you think, change how you feel, and change how you act." Social Media: Follow Joey on Twitter: @thejoeycoleman Read: Never Lose A Customer Again Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode 250: Shep Gordon - The Super Mensch: How To Add Value To The Lives Of Others Shep Gordon is known in the entertainment industry as having an eye for talent and an innate understanding of what people find entertaining. After graduating from SUNY Buffalo, Shep moved to LA and in 1969 co-founded Alive Enterprises. Over the years, Gordon has been responsible for managing the careers of Alice Cooper, Groucho Marx, Raquel Welch, Luther Vandross, Kenny Loggins, and countless others. He's also credited as creating the celebrity chef, which revolutionized the food industry and turned the culinary arts into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. His clients that include culinary legends, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, Nobu, Daniel Boulud and many more. In addition to the impact he's had on the music, film and food industries, he's also highly regarded for his philanthropic endeavors. Shep was named one of the 100 most influential people in Rolling Stone magazine. He was the subject of Mike Myers 2013 documentary - Supermensch The Legend of Shep Gordon. He's also written a best-selling book called They Call Me Supermensch A Backstage Pass To The Amazing World Of Film, Food, and Rock 'N' Roll. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show On meeting with His Holiness, The Dalai Lama -- "When he walked in the room, it felt like I had taken the greatest shower of my life." -- Shep Gordon Show Notes: The value that Jayson Gaignard added to his life "He came to Hawaii and helped me launch my book and it was a best-seller" "You should always bring value first" A 1968 graduate of college -- great divide in our country at the time - Vietnam War, "I was raised a liberal Jew" "I was a long haired acid dealer" The Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix story -- How it got him his start as a manager in Hollywood Fame -- Media is a manipulation - "It consumes people and can be very damaging" "My job was to push the artist. Fame was fools gold." People who wanted fame needed attention... When they stopped getting it, bad things happened Shep had a visionary eye for what would be successful in the future, the ultimate talent scout. He also understand how to earn PR for his artists to help make them famous "Create things that parents hated... Which led to kids loving it." --> Alice Cooper played a show naked Going from Alice Cooper to Ann Murray... Shep did great work for them and it kept leading to his next client --> Groucho Marx, Raquel Welch Commonality among great entertainers? "They have that moment right before they go on stage... They are scared, neurotic, full of fear. This fuels them to be great." Commonality of those who sustain excellence? "They never did it on their own. All the best were surrounded by great teams." Meeting with The Dalai Lama? "When he walked in the room, it felt like I'd taken the best shower of my life." How to throw a world class dinner party? Great food, customized for your guests Eat at a round table and always leave an extra seat (for the host to sit at and move from table to table) The food needs to be buffet style Send quality invitations -- "It's all about the WHO" --> You must get that part right, it's most important Don't talk business Think -- "What could I do to really make their night great?" Life lessons -- "The failures are more important than the successes" "To me, failure is not trying" "If your team can't fail, you can't win" Success to Shep = "A life of service to others" Serving others will make you happy Use you wealth to help other people (ex: "If you own a private plane, find people who will never fly on a private plane and offer them a ride.") "Use your resources in service to other people." Always think about how you can add value to the lives of others. "Success for Shep = "A life of service to others" --> Helping other people will make you happy Social Media: Follow Shep on Twitter: @SupermenschShep Read: They Call Me SUPERMENSCH Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk. Episode 248: Colin Nanka Colin Nanka is the Senior Director, Enablement for North American Sales and Leadership Development at the world's leading Customer Relationship Management Company, Salesforce.com. He is a proven sales leader with over 20 years of sales experience including time at Salesforce and Xerox Corporation. In his spare time, he competes in multi-day, self sustained, adventure races in the world's most treacherous terrains, including the Sahara Desert, Gobi Desert, Iceland, Grand Canyon, Atacama Desert and, most recently, in Antarctica. The Learning Leader Show "Success starts with a choice. Find someone above you, below you, and at your level. That's mentor-ship." Show Notes: Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence? Understanding of their strengths - self awareness "Do what you say you will do" "DWYSYWDO" - integrity The combination of vision --> execution How have you sustained excellence? Know how to prioritize Tiered accounts Invested 4-6 hours on Saturday and Sunday while others were not working "Going in on the weekend" - The sheer amount of hard work AND extra work differentiated from the rest Going door to door in Canada - "It takes 20 knocks to get 1 opportunity" "Good pipeline solves all ills" "Flood the market with good will" Marc Benioff's management process, V2MOM, an acronym that stands for vision, values, methods, obstacles, and measures Why do crazy races all over the world? "I hit a crisis. I was very successful and then had a couple bad years. It hurt my confidence." "I realize there is more to life than just working. The elements of nature... A give back -- be of service to others." The 2011 Sahara Desert race - Trained for a full year. 6 days a week, 160 miles/week. "Success starts with a choice. Find who's the best, learn from them." Mentor-ship = "Above you, below you, and at your level." Have all three. The practice of "playing up." Play against someone who is better than you in order to stretch and grow. Constantly put yourself in positions to be stretched Using Gallup to find your strengths -- "A very wise investment" Colin's #1 strength - Learning. Curiosity The compound effect of learning, growing, approaching each conversation with a curious mind What have you learned from the adventure races? Dealing with failure. How to learn from others. "We all get better from sharing ideas." Biggest mistake new managers make? "They are constantly surprised about the "people" side" How to have tough conversations They try to do it all -- You need to be a multiplier -- Trust, Coach, Empower "If you don't lengthen the leash, you aren't allowing them to grow" First 30 days - "Focus on winning hearts and minds" Do a full day off site meeting with no focus on the business. Get to know them. Utilize my "Get To Know You" document Understand your team value system: Vision Values Methods - Critical success factors Obstacles Measure -- The Marc Benioff model The #1 value is TRUST -- Ensure this is established early on. Empower the team to make decisions. As the leader, be a facilitator Roger Federer -- Finding joy in what you do. Loving the practice, the process. Do things daily that bring you joy in life "Before I do anything for the company, I do something for myself. To bring me joy." Hiring a coach? Why? Colin has had a coach for 10 years "Just put 1 foot in front of the other" -- 19 hour race in Iceland Be: 1) Strong 2) Relaxed 3) Grateful ("It's hard to be angry when you're grateful") "Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist." - Pablo Picasso Social Media: Follow Colin on Twitter: @ColinNanka1 Read: Colin's story Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show LIVE! With Ryan Hawk & James Clear Episode 248: James Clear LIVE! - How Can We Live Better? This was recorded in front of a LIVE audience in Columbus, Ohio. My teammates at Brixey & Meyer had the original idea for a live event and collectively we put together an amazing evening with more than 100 invited guests. It was incredible! The room was full on engaged leaders. I loved the energy! I'm already looking forward to the next one. James Clear studies successful people across a wide range of disciplines — entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and more — to uncover the habits and routines that make these people the best at what they do. Then, I share what I learn in my popular email newsletter. His work has been covered by dozens of major media outlets including The New York Times, CBS, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, TIME Magazine, and more. The Learning Leader Show "A constant dose of uncertainty will help you grow your comfort zone." Show Notes: The aggregation of marginal gains - "The 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do." If you improve every area related to your life by just 1 percent, then those small gains will add up to remarkable improvement. When you google "goal setting," JamesClear.com comes up within the top 3 answers. James goal setting process. The difference between systems and goals. Goals are useful for setting the direction. Systems are great for actually making progress. If we are serious about achieving our goals, however, we should start with a much different question. Rather than considering what kind of success we want, we should ask, "What kind of pain do I want? First Principles: Elon Musk on the Power of Thinking for Yourself. First principles thinking is the act of boiling a process down to the fundamental parts that you know are true and building up from there. Mindset shifts --> Reframing Love of Travel -- Why do it? Perspective? Voluntary hardship. "You don't know what you're capable of if your body has never been forced to do it." (David Goggins) "You don't know your capabilities until you're forced to do it." Put yourself in situations that forces you to do "hard things." --? Travel to Vietnam where few people speak English... Getting lost and being forced to ask for help "A constant dose of uncertainty will help you grow your comfort zone." Voluntary Hardship = until you are tested, you can't develop the ability to be mentally tough or develop new skills. Put yourself in these situations regularly to grow Successful People Start Before They Are Ready - Richard Branson story… "Start before you're quite ready, and trust yourself to figure it out as you go." "Motivation is overvalued, environment is undervalued. Willpower doesn't work, think about choice architecture." "Trust the ability that you have what it takes to figure it out" The "Goldilocks" rule - "Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty." Why you should stretch and "level up," but not too much. "It's not helpful to seriously play tennis against Roger Federer." You will be demoralized. How to stop procrastination using the 2 minute rule -- "There is that 2 minutes around 5:30 every day where my wife and I decide... Will we go to the gym or will we sit on the couch and watch The Office all night?" -- The 2–Minute Rule works for big goals as well as small goals because of the inertia of life. Once you start doing something, it's easier to continue doing it. I love the 2–Minute Rule because it embraces the idea that all sorts of good things happen once you get started. "Decrease the number of steps between you and the good behaviors and increase the steps between you and the bad behaviors" The James Clear "garden hose" analogy Why it might be a good idea to put your TV in the closet... Smaller habits require smaller activation energies and that makes them more sustainable. The bigger the activation energy is for your habit, the more difficult it will be to remain consistent over the long-run. "Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of the change, not to whether the change is a favorable or unfavorable one." By contrast, when you accumulate small wins and focus on one percent improvements, you nudge equilibrium forward. It is like building muscle. If the weight is too light, your muscles will atrophy. If the weight is too heavy, you'll end up injured. But if the weight is just a touch beyond your normal, then your muscles will adapt to the new stimulus and equilibrium will take a small step forward. "Decrease the number of steps between you and the good behaviors and increase the steps between you and the bad behaviors." Social Media: Follow James on Twitter: @james_clear Read Lance Salyers Forbes story about the event: 3 Surprising Insights From An Evening With Ryan Hawk And James Clear Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk: Since 2015, Benjamin Hardy has been the #1 writer on Medium.com. He is pursuing his PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Clemson University. Ben's writing focuses on self-improvement, motivation, and entrepreneurship. His writing is fueled by his personal experiences, self-directed education, and formal education. Ben's work is read by millions of people every month. Show Notes: Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence? They continually put themselves in situations that demand a lot of them. They put themselves in high stakes situations They invest in themself They create conditions for success to happen Pianist John Burke (Grammy nominated) He puts external pressure on himself ("I will release an album a year"). It forces him to get to work to fulfill those expectations he puts on himself Being socially invested is a forcing function Signing up for the race like Parker Mays -- A date on the calendar to prepare for. "If I don't prepare, I will fail miserably" Why you should invest 10% of your income in your self The best self improvement book Ben has ever read? Letting Go "Willpower doesn't work." You must create the environment to be successful -- Upgrade your mindset Self signaling - How you view yourself is not permanent. Start to alter your behavior, you start seeing yourself differently You can shape your personality How to upgrade yourself? -- "When you invest money, you are committed" Why all high performers invest in a coach Peak moments -- how to change your life for the better Cal Newport - "Be So Good They Can't Ignore You" Investing in relationships (Jeff Goins and Ryan Holiday) How to build a platform Learn marketing Learn how to write viral headlines (Use numbers, matching, focused on outcomes) Want To Become A Multi-Millionaire? Do These 15 Things Immediately Understand structure - subheadings, short/snappy sentences and paragraphs Have a call to action at the end Create a landing page for email capture What is great writing? Be a good teacher: Communicate effectively. Convey & connect. Weave stories in and out: Story --> Science --> Story --> Science --> Story --> Science Head knowledge: Know your space. Have heart: Emotional rigor, intense stories How to become a master of your craft Your decisions determine your destiny Visualize the process, not just the outcome Create environments for optimal implementation Pre plan for adversity to strike and how you will respond Morning routine: Write in journal --> "Write it down, make it happen" --> Read --> Work out. Create momentum for yourself. "Willpower doesn't work. You must create the environment for success to be achieved." Social Media: Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenjaminPHardy Read: WILLPOWER DOESN'T WORK Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Pat is the founder of The Table Group and the author of 11 books (including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team)which have sold over 5 million copies and been translated into more than 30 languages. The Wall Street Journal called him "one of the most in demand speakers in America." He has addressed millions of people at conferences and events around the world over the past 15 years. Pat has written for or been featured in numerous publications including Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fortune, Fast Company, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek. This is the second time Pat has been a guest on The Learning Leader Show. To listen to the first conversation we had, CLICK HERE. Prior to founding The Table Group, Pat worked at Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation and Sybase. Show Notes: The email he received from Miami Heat coach, Erik Spolestra, after his first appearance on The Learning Leader Show How he helps professional sports teams Why NFL teams focus on the wrong things when deciding who to draft Teddy Bridgewater vs Johnny Manziel The characteristics of a great teammate: Humility Hunger Emotional Intelligence The success of Nick Foles in The Super Bowl The camaraderie built by coach Doug Pederson of The Philadelphia Eagles "I'm meant to work with people..." The origin story - How Pat started his own business... and why? Potential to work with Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt The biggest moment in the growth of his business? Speaking at Willowcreek Church(50,000 people watched) Doing a "talk" instead of thinking of it as a "keynote speech" -- "I'm just talking with the audience." Why turn leadership issues into fables? "We don't read books, but we read yours." They are so interesting. "I keep reading your books because I want to see what happens next." Leaders must: Have difficult conversations -- must do the hard things What are the biggest mistakes a new manager makes? "You cannot avoid the discomfort" "Being a leader is uncomfortable" The best leaders are "pushers" The Steve Jobs and Jony Ive story -- "You're so vain" Keys to a great culture: Leaders must be intentional about behaviors they want Must be brutally intolerant if people don't do it well How Pat helped Southwest Airlines Codify their culture -- It had never been done before Working with Chic-fil-a Their CEO wasn't too big to do dishes and clear the plates "They gave snacks for my trip home" "You don't come up with culture, you look at what's there" The importance of stories Pat's business: There are 45 consultants all over the world. They are: Humble Hungry Smart "Being a leader is uncomfortable. You cannot avoid the discomfort." Social Media: Follow Pat on Twitter: @patricklencioni Read: The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk: Episode 245: Maria Taylor - ESPN Gameday, Embracing The Grind, The Value Of Versatility Maria Taylor is in her sixth season as a host analyst & reporter. In the fall of 2017 Taylor will enter a new role as co-host on ESPN's College Gameday and sideline reporter for ABC's Saturday Night Football. Show Notes: How to quickly build rapport with the people you interview? Be prepared with a purpose, truly try to learn about them as a person (quickly), it's not just about their sport or their job. Care about them as a person Being viewed as an athlete -- "It's helpful working in the sports world that they know I played sports" "As an athlete I was always a perfectionist, I always over prepare." -- Maria sending her producers a copious amount of notes -- thoughts on situations/games/ideas How to earn promotions quickly? "I never said no to anything. I was never too big for any game." Maria did high school football games, ACC digital. She's traveled everywhere, stayed in bad hotels, etc. "You have to be comfortable in the grind, you can't get discouraged." "If I'm not doing something (work wise), I feel wrong." Why Kirk Herbstreit is the best in the business -- "He's the most invested person I've ever seen. He's always the most prepared person." Adnan Virk "Always show up." -- "They remember how you made them feel." Be conscious of that Balance? It will never be perfectly balanced. Think of it as a stew - vegetable and beef... Certain bites are vegetables and other times it's beef. That's work-life balance. There are moments where it is all work, all day, every day. There are other times where you can relax at home. It's never a perfect 50 50 balance. The story of Maria making the decision to be a sports broadcaster as a junior in college at Georgia... And then also earning her MBA as a backup plan! She grew up loving sports. Her dad played college sports. Maria was recruited to play both volleyball and basketball at Georgia. Our mutual feeling about the structure of being "in season" and how the routine helped us get better grades. The first 90 minutes of Maria's day: Start the day with gospel music (worship/faith) New York Times daily podcast Joyce Meyer podcast Why do multiple jobs? (Gameday, sideline reporter, women's basketball studio host) To diversify -- "I don't want to just be one thing. It's an opportunity to flex different muscles." "I try to investigate to find the best answer" "I like challenges" Person most enjoy interviewing? Nick Saban. "I try to steer him off the line he's trying to stay on." Receiving coaching as a broadcaster... Who provides it? SEC network producers Feedback is just as important to what you put into your body. It needs to be healthy and helpful -- "What are we filling our minds with?" How to handle "Twitter haters?" "Sometimes I'll put them on blast..." What is an ESPN Gameday production meeting like? A cast of characters - (listen around the 43:00 minute mark to hear the inside scoop) Winning Edge Leadership Academy Helping young women and minorities in broadcasting Focused on student athletes Doing a retreat in Miami The sense of responsibility Maria feels as an African American woman "Being black.... Half time spent assimilating and half time spent helping your people." The Jemele Hill story at ESPN... Maria's reactions Social Media: Follow Maria on Twitter: @MariaTaylor7 Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk: Bill Curry is a two-time Super Bowl Champion. As an NCAA coach, Bill was named National Coach of the Year at Alabama and later became the first head football coach ever at Georgia State. As an ESPN commentator, he regularly shared his thoughts with a worldwide audience of millions. When Bill talks of discipline and success, his life experience is proof-positive of the effectiveness of his methods. Bill played for some of the greatest coaches of all time, including Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, and Bobby Dodd. His teammates included legendary players like Willie Davis, Bart Starr, and Johnny Unitas. Bill has studied the lives and methods of his personal heroes from past generations, ranging from Helen Keller and Rudyard Kipling to Theodore Roosevelt and Goethe. When Bill talks of leadership and success, his is a personal message molded by his extraordinary mentors and role models. He is also the best-selling author of TEN MEN YOU MEET IN THE HUDDLE: LESSONS FROM A FOOTBALL LIFE. "Everyone has the will to win, but not everyone has the will to prepare." Show Notes: The 6 common characteristics of champions = Show up - on time, be early, every time, be punctual, read to be your best Singleness of purpose - Vince Lombardi, "his focus was powerful" Unselfish - Bart Starr - "he literally gave the shirt off his back for others" Tough - Don't make excuses, be great in the 4th quarter, never blame anyone else Smart - Prepared, always last person off the field. Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry did this Never quit - Never give up FEAR? Prepare out of fear? - "There is some truth to that." "Everyone has the will to win, but not everyone has the will to prepare." Personality, GRIT, Heart, Soul -- "Keeping prepping when others aren't" The difference between good and great coaches? Bobby Dodd (Georgia Tech) was a great coach. A great coach can change your life. They study the game so intently. They intimidate other coaches with their brain. Vince Lombardi would not tolerate prejudice or racism. He had more African-American players than anyone else. He was so precise in his methodology. Don Shula had the ability to build relationships with each player How can this be translated to the business world? Reach inside the souls of the leaders -- the gift we have is "Magna Nimitas" -- Greatness of spirit. Each person has a unique spirit - it's beautiful. WE have brilliance within us. Directly challenging the leaders to understand their people Narcissism destroys leaders Bill sat down with his players and went over their goals We all need to have our own board of personal advisors, mentors Bill's 4th year at Georgia Tech -- John Robert Bell said "I know you can play/" --> The impact that had on Bill was immense Bill as a mentor -- He loves doing it. He hears from at least one play every single day Being humble -- "I know two types of people. People who are humble and those who are about to be humbled." -- "Ray Nitschke humbled me pretty good" The huddle - We need every teammate on every play to survive. The huddle is a metaphor for our culture. Why does the huddle matter? "You can't be racist, sexist, everyone is part of that huddle." Unique exercises Bill does at companies -- Understand each individual unique finger print, joining hands across aisles The importance of intellectual curiosity and asking questions -- "People ought to be skeptical... Ask questions" "There is a fellowship of the miserable. I love them, but I avoid them." Success? His wife has helped him understand what success is... It used to be winning games. He was miserable when he lost. She taught him that's not a rational way to live. Now success is "Am I making a contribution to the well being of others?" Important marriage advice -- Do what you're told and what you say you're going to do. Learn to listen. Learning Leader - "I love that title!" "Success = "Am I making a contribution to the well being of others?" Social Media: Read: Ten Men You Meet Huddle Follow Bill on Twitter: @coachbillcurry Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show - Annie Duke is a woman who has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker to public speaking. For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded the National Science Foundation Fellowship. Because of this fellowship, she studied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Show Notes: Sustained Excellence = Open-minded to people who disagree with them They ask "Why am I wrong?" Using "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" shows immense security in oneself. Great leaders do this. The "half life of facts" should never be 100% certain -- "It does you a disservice in becoming more knowledgeable if you are certain you are right" Hidden information -- Invite others to share information with you... To collaborate "Here's what I think, but I don't know..." --> We're trained from an early age that those are dirty words, but they shouldn't be. We're supposed to always know, but having that mentality limits what you can learn Put systems in place to allow exploration of alternative strategies Do a deeper dive, consider all reactions. This will help you prepare in case something goes wrong. You can put plans in place by acting in this manner Why write Thinking In Bets? Annie has a unique background: cognitive psychology, professional poker, decision making under pressure. In poker: decision making is fast and furious (a hand of poker is 2 minutes) "Learning occurs when you make a decision and have feedback" The art of boosting academic research with stories and popular culture -- Seinfeld, The Super Bowl Listen to the disagreement Annie and I have in regards to Pete Carroll's decision to throw a pass on the goal line at the end of The Super Bowl (around the 24:00 mark) Most people are "resulting." They are not measuring the decision making process with all the facts, they just view the result. That is wrong. Resulting - "Using the outcome as the sole determination if the decision was good or bad" While Annie and I disagree, we both had an open mind to what each other had to say and considered the other person's point of view A good approach in your business = Analyze the decision making process prior to knowing the result Example: If a number of people are interviewing the same candidate (separately), the boss should wait to offer her opinion until the end. Her thoughts will skew the feedback she needs from her teamCommonalities of great CEO poker players = They don't think they're good at poker. They recognize they aren't as good as the pros and they work to put themselves in higher odd situations to "get lucky." (Listen around 45:00 to get the full context) How to be a good head's up poker player? Recognize your strengths and weaknesses vs that particular opponent. If you deem they are better than you, then look for "coin flip" situations (example: Ace King vs a pair of 7's). If you are better than your opponent then avoid coin flips and extend the match. The longer the match, the better the odds for the better player to winThe importance of accountability: How often does someone spout off without thinking? If you follow that up with, "You wanna bet?" How do they respond? They probably rethink what they've said. We should always "think in bets." Think of our decisions as being "bet worthy." If someone says, "You wanna bet?" We should be in the position to say yes. If we're not, then we need to rethink what comes out of our mouths and the decisions we are making. "A bet is just a decision based on a belief that you think is how something will turn out." If we think in bets, it forces us to seek out as much information as possible prior to making a decision. That is a good thing and will help us make better decisions "A bet is a decision based on a belief that you think is how something will turn out." Social Media: Read: Thinking In Bets Follow Annie on Twitter: @AnnieDuke Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

Sustained Excellence = "They're over themselves" - They do not have an ego. They figure out the big truths, get over feelings, have clarity, vision. Great communicators - Like an athlete, they can be obsessed. Keenly aware, active listeners, intentional with actions. Why write The Culture Code? Spending time around great teams and businesses, "I love the vibe, it's different." Had a desire to understand how that happens. How to create trust"Typically we think of culture as in your DNA or not, but it's not. "Great culture is something you can learn"The competition with Dan's two brothers growing up led to this fascination and curiosity with building great team culture"We routinely deeply underestimate our environments and the effect they have on us." "As leaders, we need to create the conditions for excellence"The 3 Skills -- 1) Build Safety 2) Share Vulnerability 3) Establish Purpose Build Safety - Why do a group of kindergartners do better than a group of CEOs? The kindergartners have now agenda or care about credit. They focus on doing the best work. CEOs (in the study) were worried about who got credit and tearing each other down. Safety is the single most important piece of foundation needed for great culture Greg Popovich overdoes the "thank yous" - He regularly says thank you to the members of his team. A painstaking hiring process - The single most important decision is "who's in and who's out." You should script the entire first few days of a new employees time at a company -- Pixar example (20 minute mark) -- "At Pixar, we hired you because we need you to help us make our movies better." John Wooden would routinely walk the locker room and pick up trash Share Vulnerability - Functional notion that's so important "Sharing a weakness is the best way to be strong" -- Navy SEALs example: The AAR (After Action Review) The most important 4 words a leader can say, "Anybody have any ideas?" Also, "I screwed up" Over-communicate expectations "We shoot, move, and communicate "The only easy day was yesterday" How to be a great listener "Your goal as a listener should be to add energy." Ask questions, don't just sit there and nod. Listen and absorb. Help them leave higher than when you arrived. Follow up to go deeper. Being a great listener is a heroic skill. Have "empathy and energy" as a listener -- dig in to assumptions (unearth) Aim for candor, but avoid brutal honesty - good groups care about relationships, not brutality. Candor is a better word "Culture: From the Latin word cultus, which means care." Great teams are made up of players who don't want to let their teammates down. Greg Popovich and other great coaches disappear on purpose to let their team figure out it through tough moments. Smart leaders create opportunities for teams to struggle and figure it out. --> "The leaders job is to make the team great without him/her." Build a wall between performance review and professional development -- When you combine the two, you get neither. Toggle, create safety so you can be more open and honest. Establish Purpose What's important now? You must define that Value statements aren't super useful -- "fill the windshield with a story." Clear narratives guide attention Name and rank your priorities

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Episode 241: Austin Kleon - How To Steal Like An Artist Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of three illustrated books: Steal Like An Artist, Newspaper Blackout, and Show Your Work! His latest release is The Steal Like An Artist Journal: A Notebook For Creative Kleptomaniacs. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and featured on NPR's Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work "brilliant," The Atlantic called him "positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet," and The New Yorkersaid his poems "resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead." He speaks about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. He grew up in Ohio, but now he lives in Austin, Texas. "Reading is so essential to writing... I don't even think about it. I just always do it." Show Notes: Sustained Excellence = "I wrestle with jealously about others who do better work than me... Until I realize it's very rare to see someone who doesn't deserve it based on how hard they work." The people who sustain excellence are typically the hardest workers over the long term "If you want to do better, work harder." Austin's ritual Write a page a day like Stephen King Little bits of work add up over time When you do something you love, you're always working... It's an endless stream "I try to be a good boss to myself" -- But there is no punching the clock in and out... It's always in Steal Like An Artist Wrote an article titled "10 things I wish I had known when starting out" -- That became the best-selling book The blog post and speech that went with it went viral The Creative Process Daily writing... Eventually show the audience to test if it's useful for them "It's like a factory" Collect Make time to write Gather to longer piece to essay Put it out to the world Collect feedback (live audience sometimes) A daily blog helps the book writing process Collect, synthesize, make, share -- "Stealing & Sharing" Reading is a massive part of the writing process... Must read a lot "Reading is so essential to writing. I don't even think about it, I just do it." "My job as an author is to point people to things people haven't seen" "Being a leader... You have to be curious... You have to find great stories and examples." -- You must read a lot to do this What advice do you give to others? "You need hobbies... People used to have hobbies, not they have Netflix." Try to restore something, do work, have a hobby -- It will build creativity The two desks Analog desk -- pens, markers, paper, scissors... Make stuff Digital desk -- computer "Walking is an insanely creative activity" Enjoying captivity -- Be useful on train rides, flights... No wifi The open office plan is a nightmare for an introvert like Austin "You want hearts, not eyeballs." -- Focus on engagement of your audience, not just the size of it. "The number of people doesn't matter as much as the quality of the people who follow you." "Becoming a friend of someone you look up to is one of the best things that could ever happen" Creating great work gives you the opportunity to do this "You want hearts, not eyeballs." -- Focus on engagement of your audience, not just the size of it. Social Media: Read: Steal Like An Artist Follow Austin on Twitter: @austinkleon Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

The Learning Leader Show Todd Henry is the founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams be prolific, brilliant and healthy. He regularly speaks and consults with companies about how to develop practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of four books (The Accidental Creative, Louder Than Words, Die Empty, Herding Tigers), speaks internationally on productivity, creativity, leadership and passion for work, and build tools for creative people and teams. In short, he's an arms dealer for the creative revolution. His latest book is called Herding Tigers: Leading talented, creative people requires a different skill set than the one many management books offer. As a consultant to creative companies, Todd Henry knows firsthand what prevents creative leaders from guiding their teams to success, and in Herding Tigers he provides a bold new blueprint to help you be the leader your team needs. Learn to lead by influence instead of control. Discover how to create a stable culture that empowers your team to take bold creative risks. And learn how to fight to protect the time, energy, and resources they need to do their best work. "Great leaders have great rituals. Great leaders are connected. Great leaders have set questions they ask when they meet someone for the first time." Show Notes: Sustained Excellence = Great leaders have great rituals Disciplined time to study/reflect Well read Go on walks Great leaders are connected to their network Great leaders have set questions they ask someone when they meet for the first time Todd's rituals Same breakfast everyday, same coffee mug everyday 1 hour of study/read/time to think Writes morning pages (3 full pages long hand) Creating space for yourself Predictable space, a buffer - "I have a ritual of taking a long walk in the middle of my day" -- "It helps me get lost in thought" Set questions to ask when you meet someone "What's the most important thing I should know about you?" What's inspiring you right now?" Cover bands don't change the world Go out and present YOUR ideas to the market place "If you want to have a voice in the market place, you have to have a voice" -- You can't just regurgitate what others say: Take what you learn, synthesize it with your own thoughts and have a voice, a point of view "Your synthesis is what is valuable" Writing The Accidental Creative was hard and lonely Leading Creatives - We assume they get it... No, you must be clear that they do. Walk them through your thought process, what you expect, why you expect it Jocko's principle -- "You own all of it" Brian Koppelman (Creator of Billions) - Leading with influence vs being a micro-manager. The director must own the show... They must have a compelling vision, point of view. Koppelman must create the space to give the director of each episode that ownership (he owns it all) Creative people need two things Stability - Protect them, give them the space they need, be clear Challenge - Cannot allow boredom These two exist is constant tension, push/pull. You have to know how/when/why to turn the dial on each "Your entire career, up until you're a manager, you have complete control -- As a manager you must shift from control to influence (it's hard) or the team cannot scale beyond you Your team must understand the WHY behind what you do -- If not they just inherit tactics but don't know why they do it. It can't scale without knowing the WHY Need to make certain creative people feel ownership of the work Influence is about principle Why is implementation and execution so hard? Leaders struggle with insecurity "Your area of greatest insecurity can inflict the most damage to your organization... It's about ego more than confidence" Why write Herding Tigers? "I wrote the book I wish I had... A lot of people don't have the model of what great leadership is" Here's what it feels like right now: Action Pause Reflection Redirection Action "Cover bands don't change the world. Find your own voice." Social Media: Read: Herding Tigers Follow Todd on Twitter: @toddhenry Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12 More Learning: Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

Episode 239: Dan Pink - The Scientific Secrets Of Perfect Timing (When) Daniel Pink is the author of six provocative books — including his newest, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, to be published in January 2018. His other books include the long-running New York Times bestseller A Whole New Mind and the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 37 languages. If you'd like to listen to the first time Dan joined me on The Learning Leader Show, CLICK HERE. Dan's TED Talk on the science of motivation is one of the 10 most-watched TED Talks of all time, with more than 19 million views. His RSA Animate video about the ideas in his book, Drive, has collected more than 14 million views.(from DanPink.com) (Photo Credit - HOW Design) The Learning Leader Show "It's like brick laying. I show up every day and I hit my word (count) goal. Day after day after day. Every day." Show Notes: Dan's book writing process: "It's like 1930's football... One short play at a time." Brick laying, very laborious... Get in office by 8:30 and hit the writing (word count) goal every single day... Day after day after day after day... Write 700 words a day, every da "I show up and hit my number, every single day" Combining research with interesting stories -- work in chunks, have research in a Word doc, and the book in a separate doc. Review, go back and forth Go through the (printed out) research, highlight, underline, review a lot If you do this every day, it adds up Why write about this topic? The topic of When As a writer, you must pick a topic you are VERY interested in... You spend years on the project (research, writing, speeches) "I wrote this book because I wanted to read it" How to know if an idea is worth exploring? "You don't... But when you share it with others, does it create curiosity in them? Do they ask follow up questions? If they do, you may be on to something" The 3 stages of our days Peak - Analytical work, smart Trough - The afternoon "Bermuda Triangle" -- A bad time to make decisions Recovery - A creative time Why lunch is the most important meal of the day -- This is a time where you need to leave what you're doing, go outside, go with a friend, disconnect from work, don't look at your phone, need to recharge Breaks are enormously important - Social breaks (with friends) are better than solo breaks Napping for 20 minutes in the afternoon is very helpful Drink a cup of coffee, set you iPhone for an alarm to go off in 23 minutes, lay down with an eye mask. If you fall asleep in 5 minutes, you get an 18 minute nap, and you wake up and the caffeine starts to kick in Why NBA players who get more "touches" have more success than others... Scientific evidence supports this The importance of endings... How we end things: Energize - More 29, 39, 49 year olds run marathons than any other age. People want to end on a high note Encode - Evaluate and record experiences - How something ends is very important. Look at Yelp reviews -- People remember the experience for how a meal ended more than anything else Elevate - People prefer rising sequences. Dan's favorite tip: When sharing good news and bad news, always START with the bad news, and end with the good news We are very intentional about who, what, why... why aren't we intentional about WHEN? We should be... "We are very intentional about who, what, and why. We aren't intentional about WHEN. We should be." Social Media: Read: When - The Scientific Secrets Of Perfect Timing See why over 396,000 people follow Dan on Twitter: @DanielPink Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show Episode 238: Neil Pasricha - Why Action Creates Motivation: 1,000 Awesome Things Neil Pasricha is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Happiness Equation and The Book of Awesome series, which has been published in ten countries, spent over five years on bestseller lists, and sold over a million copies. Neil is a Harvard MBA, one of the most popular TED speakers of all time, and after ten years heading Leadership Development at Walmart he now serves as Director of The Institute for Global Happiness. He has dedicated the past fifteen years of his life to developing leaders, creating global programs inside the world's largest companies and speaking to hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. "Most think motivation leads to action... No, motivation doesn't cause action... Action creates motivation." Show Notes: Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: C -- Clarity - Clear, succinct, memorable O -- Optimism -- "Find the good in everything" P -- Patience -- Delaying decision making until the last possible moment The quality can improve if "we let the tension live" Empower others - "Parkinson's Law" - Work rises to the time needed to complete it. "I don't want to fight the customer." -- Thinking about everything from their perspective. Wal-Mart Being a Harvard Business School graduate "Chase the companies that don't come to Harvard to recruit. You'll learn more." -- Why Neil went to Wal-Mart Neil's 30 second pitch to why someone should hire him for a leadership role when he was very young "I had to be artificially confident" His pitch -- 3 quick questions Do you value internal promotions? What's the #1 program you've seen? Would you be interested in topics of developing leaders at Harvard? Get their email address and follow up None of the companies were hiring when he was leaving school... Neil had to "create a job" within companies to get hired Brene Brown - "If you go through life trying to find confirmation you don't belong, you'll find it." 2008 - The world was falling apart, his marriage ended, his best friend committed suicide.. He started the blog, 1,000 Awesome Things Won a webby award for best blog in the world Wrote The Book Of Awesome He moved to NYC... Didn't know anyone, lived alone He was going through pain while starting the awesome things blog. Focused on three things: Make the blog public - hold him accountable Use a countdown - From 1,000 to 1 -- Helped him know it was going to end at some point Finite - There is light at the end of the tunnel "Most think motivation leads to action. Not true. Action creates motivation." The importance of consistency - Neil's idea was not unique, but doing it everyday made him different from most "Try to be receptive of other people's ideas" -- Helps you "notice things" "Your questions are fantastic. I'm not surprised." Working on deadlines -- Neil wrote for a newspaper for four years. Helped with this skill "I believe in consistency" Actionable advice: You have three, 56 hour buckets of your week. They are: 56 Hours - Sleep 56 Hours - Work/Job 56 Hours - What are you spending this time on? You can do whatever you want... The happiness equation - Work/Life balance fulcrum -- Flywheel Taking his side hustle and making it his full time job -- "I should have done it sooner." "If you go through life trying to find confirmation that you don't belong, you'll find it." -- Brene Brown Social Media: Read: The Happiness Equation - Want Nothing + Do Everything = Have Anything Follow Neil on Twitter: @NeilPasricha Connect with me on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12