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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

As Kobe Bryant once said, “There is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own.” That’s why the Learning Leader Show exists—to understand the journeys of other leaders so that we can better understand our own. This show is full of learnings taught by world-class leaders—personal stories of successes, failures, and lessons learned along the way. Our guests come from diverse backgrounds—CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies, best-selling authors, Navy SEALs, and professional athletes. My role in this endeavor is to talk to the most thoughtful, accomplished, and intentional leaders in the world so that we can learn from them as we each create our own journeys.
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Now displaying: November, 2017
Nov 27, 2017

Episode 233: Gretchen Rubin - How To Be Happy

Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than BeforeThe Happiness Project and Happier at Home. She has an enormous readership, both in print and online, and her books have sold almost three million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages. Fast Company named Gretchen Rubin to its list of Most Creative People in Business, and she’s a member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100.

She’s been interviewed by Oprah, eaten dinner with Daniel Kahneman, and walked arm-in-arm with the Dalai Lama.

Gretchen Rubin started her career in law and was clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she wanted to be a writer. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

The Learning Leader Show

"What do I want from my life? I want to be happy. How can I be happier?"

Show Notes:

  • Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
    • They are self aware
    • They are happy and healthy and figured themselves out
  • Better Than Before -- How to create great habits
  • "I can't have a little.  I either have none or a lot."  -- Needed to abstain from things like that (sugar)
  • Think -- "What do I want from my life?" "I want to be happy..." She then went to the library to study. Did a deep dive on happiness
    • What are the keys to happiness?
    • Every month (for a year), she created a theme for the month: 3-5 concrete resolutions she could measure to make herself happier
  • Aim higher -- "Enjoying the fun of failure" -- Starting a blog. Initially worrying that nobody would read it. "It's okay to fail."
  • How can you buy happiness?
  • How to be grateful for what you have... Both experiences and possessions
  • Bill Gates takes "think weeks" -- Why we all should do this
  • Warren Buffett can buy anything he wants... But he cannot buy time
  • Gretchen describes her typical day
  • The Four Tendencies (Personality Profiles) -- How you respond to expectations
    • Upholders - Respond readily to both outer expectations and inner expecations
    • Questioners - Question all expectations; they meet an expectation only if they believe it's justified, so in effect they respond only to inner expectations
    • Obligers - Respond readily to outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations
    • Rebels - Resist all expectations, outer and inner alike
  • A live role play between Gretchen and me describing which tendency we inhibit and why we are different
  • Questioner vs Upholder - An upholder wants to always follow the rules (Gretchen)... A questioner (me) thinks differently
  • Gretchen's advice - Get clarity on who you are, your personality profile, and how you respond to expectations
    • Questioner - Why are you doing this? Know who, what when, why?
    • Obliger - Go beyond. Let's both commit. Find outer accountability. Take action
    • Rebel - Freedom, choice. "I want my voice heard."Influence change

Social Media:

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

Nov 20, 2017

Episode 232: It's Time To Go ALL IN (With Doug Meyer & Greg Meredith)

"Here's the issue:If you're going to pursue a low odds game, the reality is that at some point the odds will go to zero if you don't commit fully. You're never going to get across that chasm if you're going to keep yourself tethered to one side but that doesn't mean taking an unfounded leap into the wild beyond." Jim Collins gave me that advice on Episode #216 here On The Learning Leader Show. I've fired a lot of bullets over the past three years building this show and this platform while working a full time job at a big international corporation. The purpose of this episode is to announce that I have left my full time job to pursue my passion... My love: This show, this platform, this work, on a full time basis. It's time for me to go All In.

The featured leaders tonight are two of my business partners (and friends), Doug Meyer and Greg Meredith.  Doug Meyer is one of the founding partners of Brixey & Meyer.  In his role as Managing Director, Doug serves as a trusted business advisor to Business Owners, CEOs, CFOs and Boards of Advisors, driving value and accountability.  Greg Meredith runs Brixey & Meyer’s Business Advisory Services team, which helps clients with strategic planning, project management, sales strategy, business process and system optimization and more.  I am bringing The Learning Leader brand to Brixey & Meyer full time to run the Leadership Advisory Services team.  In addition to the podcast, I'll be focused on helping clients be more effective leaders, managers, and coaches.  This is done through: consulting projects, 1 on 1 coaching, leadership circles (Mastermind groups), creating written content (book and articles online), and much more.  I could not be more excited to get started!

 "Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now." - Naval Ravikant

Show Notes:

  • 3:06 - My career, what I've done, why I haven't named the companies I've worked for, who has supported this, who hasn't.
  • 5:05 - Why I'm making this move to do it full time, the first lunch I had with Doug, the impact that lunch had on me, how long this has been in the works, advice that was given to me... The phone call I made to my wife Miranda after that meeting informing her of what I wanted to do...
  • 6:40 - The exercise that Doug and I did -- "Write down everything you love to do... And write down the things people have paid for.  Let's build the business based on that information." -- The dream job scenario
  • 8:03 Doug sharing why Brixey & Meyer is different from other firms and why... - The values: Having fun, providing value, passionate, driver of change, accountability, responsibility to the people of the firm
  • 10:01 Doug sharing how The Learning Leader Show has positively impacted his life
  • 11:48 - Greg describing The Business Advisory Practice he leads at Brixey & Meyer
  • 12:07 - How Brixey & Meyer evolves and adapts -- Taking it to another level
  • 13:02 - Why I decided to leave my job as VP of Sales at a large international company
  • 14:09 - Finding a way to love what you do everyday
  • 14:44 - “Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now.” - Naval Ravikant
  • 16:24 - The scary part about making this change -- Side hustle to full time job creates a lot of pressure
  • 16:56 - The incredible support from all of the people at Brixey & Meyer
  • 17:47 - Why I'm motivated by people who believe in me... And my desire to prove them right
  • 18:52 - "You're work is going to fill a large part of your life... And the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs
  • 19:34 - The biggest challenge for Doug (managing my expectations)
  • 20:25 - Doug describing that this was an opportunistic hire... Not something they were looking for, but why it was a no brainer when the opportunity arose
  • 21:52 - The day to day actions - Helping leaders be more effective. Keynote speeches, leadership circles (Mastermind groups), Consulting projects, producing podcasts, creating content (books, online courses/articles), and much more
  • 25:18 - Doug and Greg describing their current leadership circles and why they've been so effective (and will continue to be)
  • 27:53 - The power in the peer to peer learning model that is created from Leadership Circles
  • 29:22 - Rapid fire questions (for Ryan):
    • Dream guest? Elon Musk
    • Favorite thing to do with my daughters? Coach their sports teams
    • Learn more from success or failure? I remember my failures more, but I try to learn from both success and failure
    • Most impactful book in the last 12 months? The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
    • Favorite episode? #078 With Kat Cole
  • 33:13 - Rapid fire questions (for Doug):
    • Favorite episode of The Learning Leader Show? #200 With Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk
    • Smartest person in the Meyer family? daughter, Jocelyn Meyer
    • Are you a Visionary or Integrator? Tough question. People think of him more as an integrator
    • Best Advice: From Bill Matthews - "I was frustrated with team members." And Bill said, "Doug, it's not them, it's you."
  • 36:37 - How will you define success? "Success is fun. I want this to be fun. We are going to add value and be agile."
  • 38:38 - The phone call I made to Doug when he thought I was turning him down...
  • 39:06 Why 99 out of 100 people would not have left the corporate job to do this?  Doug's thoughts... And why I did.
  • 40:35 - Defining your personal hedgehog
  • 41:46 - The unique qualities I will bring to this role -- What's different from books or articles
  • 45:54 - How I define the makeup of a great leader... The qualities they possess
  • 48:43 - “The path to fulfillment in life, to emotional satisfaction, is to find what really excites you and channel your all into it.” - Rich Roll
  • 49:01 - Doug describing his beliefs: Energy, Passion, Fun
  • 49:26 - Why Doug wanted me to be part of his business -- Natural curiosity, thought provoking questions, attitude, helping others
  • 51:06 - What's most important -- To find your WHO
  • 51:47 - The story Doug shared that created an emotional and powerful moment... And convinced me to say, "Yes, I am doing this, I want to work with a guy with this much integrity, honesty, and love."
  • 55:28 - Doug's excitement to unleash the potential for what we can do
  • 56:45 - Acknowledging how instrumental Greg has been in the growth of The Learning Leader brand over the last three years. His honest feedback and mentor-ship has been monumental
  • 58:28 - One of my favorite artists, Tom Petty said "It's time to move on, it's time to get going. What lies ahead I have no way of knowing... But under my feet, baby, grass is growing, it's time to move on, it's time to get going."

"You're work is going to fill a large part of your life... And the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs

Social Media:

More Learning:

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

Nov 13, 2017

Episode 231: Michael Bungay Stanier - Say Less, Ask More, & Change The Way You Lead Forever

Michael is the Senior Partner at Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less good work and more great work.
He’s the author of several books, including The Coaching Habit and Do More Great Work. Michael has written for or been featured in numerous publications including Business InsiderFast CompanyForbesThe Globe & Mail and The Huffington Post.  Michael left Australia 25 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.  He was the first Canadian Coach of the Year.
At Box of Crayons, Michael and his team of facilitators teach 10-minute coaching so busy managers build stronger teams and get better results. Clients come from all sectors and include Box, the United Nations, Gartner, the University Health Network and USAA. A sought-after speaker, Michael regularly speaks to businesses and organizations and has delivered keynotes at Leadership, HR and Learning & Development, conferences around the world.

The Learning Leader Show

"If you can't coach in 10 minutes or less then you don't have the time to coach at all"

Show Notes:

  • Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
    • "They probably haven't sustained it. It's really hard."
    • Role Models -- They succeed AND they fail.  "You can't hit it out of the park every time"
    • Some times you do it all right and you still fail
    • Resilience and persistence are commonalities among people who have success
  • Michael's list of failures "is long"
  • The incredible story of how Michael was initially rejected as a Rhodes Scholar... And then how he persevered to earn it (the story about how he differentiated himself from the others is fantastic)
    • "Purple suit, long hair" -- "Everyone else had a blue suit, white shirt, red tie"
  • Where did he develop so much courage?
    • From his parents  -- They gave him unconditional support to be different and unique
  • He's a bit of a rebel who also follows the rules sometimes
    • Ask yourself "Do I want to be playing this game?"
  • Box of Crayons -- A training company on how to coach in 10 minutes
    • The mistake of saying "yes" to everyone who asked for his help when he started the company
  • Jim Collins -- "Fire bullets and then cannonballs" -- Low risk experiments
  • The 3 ways coaching shows up in corporations
    • Executive coaching -- People at the top of the Org Chart
    • Training internal people to be the corporate training team
    • Train all managers/leaders to be more coach like -- This is what Michael and his team does
  • "If you can't coach in 10 minutes or less then you don't have the time to coach at all"
  • Transforming to be more "coach like"
  • The 7 important questions to ask:
    • What's on  your mind?
    • And what else?
    • What's the real challenge here for you?
    • What do you want?
    • How can I help?
    • If you're saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
    • What was most useful to you?
  • Why most 1 on 1's are terrible
  • The first and last questions are vital (must bookend the meeting well) -- "Start fast and end strong"
  • The Learning moments -- Help them learn. They learn when there is a moment to reflect on what just happened
  • Be careful when "the advice monster" kicks in... "Can you stay curious a little longer?" -- As the coach, you need to.  You must solve the correct problem and focus on the person you are coaching
    • If you just give advice, very little brain activity happens. If you ask questions, it grows the brain activity...
  • Coaching for performance vs. Coaching for development -- There is a big difference
  • The best question in the world is... "And what else?" -- It helps them go a level deeper.  Keep asking it, keep going deeper
  • "Be lazy, be curious, be often" -- Michael's motto towards coaching. Listen, ask questions, help them learn
  • "Be more coach like"
  • "Help them learn rather than teaching them" -- We do this by asking great questions
  • Learning Leader = "A great coach is a great teacher.  A learning leader is the essence of what it means to be a great leader." You help people learn by constantly learning more yourself

"Less Advice. More Curiosity."

Social Media:

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

Nov 6, 2017

Episode 230: Dorie Clark - How To Monetize Your Expertise & Create Multiple Income Streams

  • Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
    • They do what they say they're going to do -- Have integrity
    • They have a great ability to focus.  They don't get distracted.
    • They have patience
  • Principles:
    • Create multiple streams of income -- However, don't try to create them all at once.  Patience. 1 or 2 at a time.
      • A steady progression.  Add 1 or 2 per year.
      • Dorie has 8 income streams.
      • "If you're relying on one paycheck, from one employer,  you may be courting disaster."
  • Dorie was laid off on September 10, 2001 -- She received a 4 day severance package... A highly stressful time. "Never be reliant on just one employer"
  • "Side hustles make you a better employee, it liberates you." -- "You can speak truth to power"
  • Dorie's 8 Streams of Revenue:
    • Consulting
    • Executive Coaching
    • Writing Books
    • Teaching at Duke
    • Keynote Speeches
    • Online Courses
    • Affiliate Marketing
    • Mastermind Groups
  • Dorie's online course "Become A Recognized Expert"
    • Create the content
    • Social Proof -- Credibility
    • Strong network -- To be recognize, need to be an expert and have others share the message
  • We discussed the goals Dorie set from her first time on the show (2 years ago):
    • Double email list
    • Have a best selling book
    • Get a girlfriend
  • The importance of joint ventures
  • Why Dorie wants to become an Italian citizen
  • "The thing that gives you courage is the market rate" -- "No one is a competitor"
  • "When someone asks you your fee, find the number that makes you scared and then add 10%"
  • Doing TEDx Switzerland
  • How to build online courses:
    • Surveyed audience -- 1,200 responses
    • Pilot course at discounted rate ($500)
    • Final course ($2,000) -- Premium content, premium price
    • Total cost -- $1,200 (had 150 students paid in full)
    • Video module type courses are lower cost and not as much engagement
    • The $2,000 course has regular follow up and conversations with Dorie in addition to the video work.  Interaction with others in a Facebook group chat as well. -- It has 40+ hours of content created for it... And webinars
    • Dorie Clark is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, she is the author of Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press,), Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine and one of the Top 10 Business Books of the Year by Forbes. It was also a Washington Post bestseller.

      Clark, whom the New York Times described as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives,” consults and speaks for a diverse range of clients, including Google, the World Bank, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Yale University.  At age 14, Clark entered Mary Baldwin College’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. At 18, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College, and two years later received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School.

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