The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #304: Laura Gassner Otting - How To Carve Your Own Path

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

The Learning Leader Show

"It starts young.  We have a world where we are given an identity. We need to think, 'is that really what I want?"

Show Notes:

• Sustaining excellence:
  • Live on the edge of your incompetence -- "The more you talk, the less you listen."  Need to be asking questions and listening.
  • Tenacity, grit
  • Put yourself in uncomfortable situations
• Be in a position to learn something new from your failures... "That is delightful."
• "Looking into someone and seeing their greatness."
• Running coach -- "Calm, confident, reflect back to the dream  Compete.
• Issues with execution... Why? "We get stuck chasing someone else's dream."
• How do we know? "It starts young.  We have a world where we are given an identity. We need to think, 'is that really what I want?"
• The four parts of consonace:
  • Calling -- It's bigger than you
  • Connection - The work actually matters
  • Contribution - It contributes to the life you actually want
  • Control - How much do I have?
• "My mother told me I needed to be a lawyer." -- "I wanted to run for office."
• How did Laura end up in the Clinton Whitehouse?
• "I learned how to show up for others... And be dedicated to excellence"
• "I was a great leader, but a terrible manager."  You need to be self-aware
• Advice to new managers:
  • "People want feedback.  Ask them if that project reflected their understanding of the assignment or their ability?"
• Laura's TEDx Talk:
  • Stop asking, 'how can I help?'
  • Think, 'what needs to happen?'
• Her fight with Ann Coulter
• Must be willing to change your mind as a leader -- "Our stories are our connections."
• Becoming an athlete -- Laura ran the first mile of her life nine years ago.  Now, she's a competitive rower.  And she ran in the Boston marathon.
• Confidence is built through doing.  Continue to push the boundaries of our own competence.
• Tel Aviv:
  • Hunger
  • Weight
  • Tenacity
  • Speed
  • Grit/Heart
• Don't get in the comparison trap with other people's highlight reels on social media
• Advice she received that's been helpful -- "You're just not that important"
• Study -- Team of Rivals -- About Lincoln
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #303 - General Stanley McChrystal

Full Show Notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

A retired four-star general, Stan is the former commander of US and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and the former commander of the nation’s premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).  In June 2009, the President of the United States and the Secretary General of NATO appointed him to be the Commander of US Forces Afghanistan and NATO ISAF. His command included more than 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries. 

Notes: 

• There is a formulaic myth: Leadership is not what we think it is...
  • "I thought it was just behaviors, but that's too simplistic."
  • "Leadership is intensely contextual."  A great leader must adapt themselves to the situation.
    • "There's not a style that's perfect for every situation."  Vince Lombardi coached differently based on the team he was coaching.  Coach K (from Duke) is known to be incredibly adaptable and that's why he's succeeded year after year.
• Important leadership qualities:
  • Great listener -- Pay attention.  Marinate in what's happening.
  • Have humility -- Think of the people you serve
• Why General McChrystal went to West Point:
  • Dad, brothers, grandpa were all soldiers.  It's in the family.
  • He wanted to be an Army Officer
• Stan struggled his senior year in high school.  He lived by himself, his mom had died.
• His Freshman year at West Point, he didn't take the school part seriously and got in trouble.
• He was almost kicked out of West Point.
• However, he got extremely high peer review ratings:
  • His new tactical officer told him, "You're going to be a great officer" -- This was said based on how his peers had so much respect for him as a person.  That mentor reached him and made a significant impact on him.  "We all need someone like that."
• The power of a mentor/leader who believes in you:
  • It's huge to have someone who mentally maps it out for you and believes in you.  Someone that takes time to get in your mind... To care about you.  It must be genuine, and when it is, it's powerful.
• Team of Teams:  It's hard to scale a lot of small team. It must be organically connected.
• The front line leader -- It's impactful to have a "front line obsession."  Be with your team.  Show them you care through your actions.  In order to fully understand the situation, you need to get out and see it for yourself.
• We often don't have the answers.  "You can't fake it.  The role of the leader has changed.  It used to be command and control.  A leader is more like a gardener now.  You must orchestrate the pieces of a team, and ensure they are well connected."  You want a well connected, curious organization.
• "If when you get on the ground the order we gave you is wrong, execute the order we should have given you."
  • The leader must educate the team to make wise decisions from the front line if the leader is somewhere else.  The leader must trust the team to make the right decisions in that moment.
  • "The leader still owns the outcome.  The reality is the team will do better if properly trained."  Create an organization of trust and speed.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

302: Nick Kokonas - How To See The Genius In People

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Intellectual curiosity - A desire to learn.  Not for the outcome, but for the curiosity to learn more
  • Healthy degree of paranoia - What Jim Collins would call "productive paranoia"
    • In the pursuit of excellence
  • "No one is giving it away for free.  It takes effort."
• Balance -- "I get manic at times. I'm not always well balanced."  The skill is in being able to turn it on and off... Which can happen over time
• "I've always been curious about how things worked..."
• Why it was helpful to go to Colgate University
  • A Liberal Arts school forced Nick to study areas outside of just his major.  Made him more well-rounded
  • He "learned how to learn" -- Forced him to wrestle with existential questions
• Rhetoric -- Can you understand all sides of an issue? Where does ambiguity exist?
  • Need to learn to think critically -- How you do it is more important that you do it
• General advice:
  • "Learn to communicate well.  Concisely. Learn to write and speak well.
  • From a psychology perspective, analyze, "what are they really saying?"
• Why he became a derivatives trader:
  • "I got into law school, but didn't want to go."
  • He tested well, but desired his independence
  • "Prestige as part of pay doesn't matter to me."
  • To be great at anything, you must be disciplined to show up everyday -- "My money has always been at risk everyday. Some think that's crazy.  But I've always worked to have an edge."
  • How to figure out outcomes as soon as possible
• The decision to leave the world of derivatives trading to open a restaurant... Why?
  • "I took some money off the table... Then my dad died... and I thought, what am I doing?  I had no idea what I was going to do next..."
• Meeting Grant Achatz and the impact that had on Nick's life...
  • "He reminded me a lot of myself.  He was thoughtful, driven, shy (this was the opposite), and he wasn't afraid of hard work."
  • "I think I have a skill to see the genius in some people."
  • "Grant's work is of artistic genius"
• Doing what you love and are passionate about:
  • "For me the test is... When I wake up in the morning is it nagging at me to do it?"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #301 with James Kerr

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Humility - An ego-less approach. "Serve to lead" mentality
  • Curiosity - Following passion
  • Value Excellence - Focus on doing the small things right
  • These are transferable principles to any organziation
• The "All Blacks" rugby team "are our Gods in New Zealand." 
  • They've won just under 80% of their games in history
  • Scored twice as many points as their competitors
  • The most successful sports team of all time
• Sustained high performance
  • Mana = The God within.  The spirit... The ethos that creates excellence decade after decade
• Surprises? "The softness in this hard game.  A love, a brotherhood, connection, meaning, caring for one another."
• How have they sustained excellence?
  • Tradition
  • Starts at the top with the leaders
  • Breaking down old orthodox
  • Like the British SAS - "Rank but no class"
  • Leadership group -- It's not just one coach.  Everyone's ideas are valued.
• It's a player led team - "Positive power of peer pressure."  That feeling of not wanting to let one of your teammates down
  • "You fight more for the person in the foxhole next to you."
  • The Spartan sword and shield.  You can lose you sword, but you can never lose your shield.  That helps protect your brother.
• Accountability - There is leadership at every level
  • It empowers the individual in a project bigger than themselves
  • How does this work in business?
    • Helps them step up, take ownership, be responsible
• "A leader is responsible for the result.  Good or bad."

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #300: Keith & AJ Hawk - How To Instill Work Ethic & Curiosity In Your Kids

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com 

Keith Hawk is a 32-year veteran sales professional and sales leader.  For over ten years he led one of America's greatest sales organizations, at LexisNexis.  He continues in a customer focused role to this day at that global organization, speaking to customer groups around the world on the topic of solving business problems with the solutions offered by his firm.  In addition, he continues to speak regularly on topics such as consultative selling, selling to executives, and how to effectively lead people.  He also happens to be my dad.

AJ Hawk played 11 seasons in the NFL.  He was a two-time All American at Ohio State and he also won The Lombardi Award (as a senior at Ohio State) as the countries best defensive player.  He was the fifth overall draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2006 NFL draft.  He was voted team captain on their Super Bowl winning team in 2010.  He finished his career as the all time leading tackler in Green Bay Packer history.  AJ is my younger brother.

• Staying sharp after official retirement?
  • "My mind is as clear as it's been in many years. I read more, write more, listen to more podcasts, I learn more now than I ever have."
  • "I never liked getting the question, 'did you get all of your work done?' As a senior leader at a big company, the work was never done. In my role now, I can go give a speech and get the work done."
  • Advice to others - "Stay patient a little bit, you have to find a way to grab hold of your day and take control of it.  Don't let others do that to you."
• AJ's progress to improve as a broadcaster:
  • There is no end game
  • Must keep grinding and getting as many reps as possible
  • "You have to jump in and do the work." You can't worry about judgement from others. You have to get the reps. Get on the stage and do it.
• How to handle the follow up to a competitive life in the NFL?
  • Must have realistic expectations... That amount of competition will never happen again.  That's okay as long as you're prepared for it
  • Broadcasting is a never ending battle with myself to get better.  To improve.  "I'm competitive with myself to get better."  Learning the intricacies from the greats.  "I've learned to be quiet, to let a moment breathe."
• Why are walk-thurs so important in the NFL?  Why does a world class athlete need to walk-thru a step for over an hour a day?
  • “The tiny details consistently worked on everyday so they become instincts. In the moment you don’t have to think and just rely on the instincts you created.  That's why we did so many walk-thrus in the NFL."
  • Why my Dad went to Green Bay for his birthday week every summer? The famous Tom Hanks quote, "I could watch my son brush his teeth all day." And he loved watching world-class athletes work on perfecting their craft.
• Listener question: From Tony Milenberger (member of one of my leadership circles) - With all the different directions you guys are going, how do you still manage to like each other? What rhythms keep you connected in the busy seasons?  How does it help your success?
  • We each have different roles and we've worked hard to do a great job at our role.  We all have creative outlets and have remained each others biggest fans.  We push each other to be better.  And when one of the family members reaches a level of fame and fortune (AJ), their ability to remain humble and down to earth is huge.  AJ has done that and created a ton of phenomenal family experiences because of it.
• The process of earning my book deal with McGraw-Hill... How it all came about.  There was an instant huge belief from Casey Ebro, senior editor from McGraw-Hill.  I describe that conversation and why we chose to work together.
• Listener question from Mike Flynn: What is your Dad's greatest hopes for his children and grandchildren?
  • Maslow's hierarchy
    • Economics taken care because of their hard work
    • Fulfilled life with a great spouse
    • Work stimulates us, gets us excited
    • Put our children in a place to be successful
    • Self-actualize -- Live up to what you want to do
• How to handle a situation when you hit a rut?
  • When this happened with my Dad, he always wanted to get directly to the front lines.  "When times got tough, I scheduled days in the field to meet with our customers and our front line people.  I wanted to be reminded why they did business with us.  I wanted to break it down to the bare essentials.  How could I do this in a different way?  Meeting with them helped." Reminded of the quote, "if it's not broke, fix it."  Be proactive.  Billy Joel had this happen to him and he rediscovered his love when he went to a new fan base in Russia.
  • With AJ - "When I was struggling or kept getting caught in the garbage of the linemen in front of me, my coach, Winston Moss, would say, 'why don't you take a step back and see what the view is like from there?' A simple step back to gain a new perspective helped.