The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

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Episode #353: Jeni Britton Bauer - How To Create A 'Craveable' Reason To Return

Jeni Britton Bauer is an American ice cream maker and entrepreneur. Jeni opened her first ice cream shop, Scream, in 1996, then founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in 2002. Her first cookbook, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller and won a coveted James Beard Award in 2012. Jeni is a 2017 Henry Crown Fellow and has been recognized by Fast Company as "one of the most creative companies in the world."

Notes:

• Leaders who sustain excellence =
  • "The main thing is you show up every day.  You show up and lead by example. You have to be IN IT daily."
  • That develops trusts.  Trusts leads to it the rest...
• Jeni is a subject matter expert on the topics that matter to her: ice cream, leadership, curiosity, creativity...
• "It’s not a genius idea then lots of funding, then success.  It’s really more subtle than that. Blazing a slow path through a tangled jungle, learning as you go over many years.  It takes time."
• "I find my discipline when I find my passion.  And that passion starts with curiosity. And finding the place of what I want to do is needed in the world."
• How to know what your passion is?
  • "There's a cross road of what you want to explore and what other people want." -- "That's entrepreneurial thinking.  It's about community and creativity."
• "We don't know what's possible... You've got to be out exploring and be open to new ideas."
• Create time for yourself and your team to follow your curiosity...
• Entrepreneurship is about a 2 way communication with customers. 
• One pint of ice cream tested positive for listeria but there was never an outbreak. -- They recalled 6 months worth of ice cream, destroying 535,000 pounds (or 265 tons) of ice cream, costing the company more than $2.5 million!  It almost put them out of business.
• “You want to say you've got talent, hustle, and guts. You want to tell that to the world, but you don't really know until you prove it."
• "If we create a community, everything falls into place.  Put your values front and center and merge with the community.  When the community sees your business as vital, they will help you when times are tough."
• “There’s nothing more important whether in the financial industry or ice cream, than trust.”
• "Create a craveable reason to return" - Why would a customer come back to you? Why would someone follow you? What are you doing as a leader that makes someone want to follow you?

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Text LEARNERS to 44222

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

Episode #352: Patrick Lencioni - The Five Key Actions Of Excellent Leaders

Notes:

• Leaders who sustain excellence =
  • Humility - They don't feel they are more important than others, but they realize that their words and actions carry more weight.
• "Leadership is a privilege... It's about serving others. A lot of leaders lead because they think it looks cool."
• "Leadership has to be about what you can give, not what you can get."
• Exploring the two leadership motives:
  • Reward-centered leadership: the belief that being a leader is the reward for hard work, and therefore, that the experience of being a leader should be pleasant and enjoyable, avoiding anything mundane, unpleasant or uncomfortable.
  • Responsibility-centered leadership: the belief that being a leader is a responsibility, and therefore that the experience of leading should be difficult and challenging (though certainly not without elements of personal gratification).
• One of the questions to ask yourself:
  • “How do you see your job in terms of verbs?” — what do you do to really help the business?
• The leader must be a constant, incessant reminder of the company’s purpose, strategy, values, & priorities.  You’re not only the CEO, you’re the CRO.” Chief Reminding Officer
• The actions of great leaders:
  • Running great meetings
  • Managing the executive team
  • Managing the executives as individuals
  • Having difficult conversations with people
  • Constantly communicating and repeating key messages to employees
• "The CEO should have the most painful job in the company."
• For the mid-level manager -- "Am I waking up with the right rationale to do this job?"
• Love is a verb:
  • Time
  • Affection
  • Discipline
• "Leadership is not a noun, it's a verb."
• Running great meetings:
  • "Meetings are the central activity of leadership.  Bad leaders have other people run their meetings."
    • Good meetings have debate and conflict.  People are able to be passionate without consequence.  The leader prioritizes what will be talked about.
• CEO's are responsible to build teams.  Your job is to build teams based on trust
• When receiving a message from a cynical leader who says "You don't understand."  Our response? "No, we're not going to be that way.  The ones who do the hard work change the world."
• Micro-managing vs. Accountability:
  • "There is an abdication of management.  You should know what your team is doing."
• Parenting: "The great news about being a parent is it's humbling."
• The leader must be the chief reminding officer:
  • "Constant, incessant, reminder of the company's purpose, strategy, values, and priorities. You must over-communicate."
• Marriage advice:
  • "Be completely humble, vulnerable, especially in front of the kids.  Engage in healthy conflict.  When people can't argue, that's a problem."

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Text LEARNERS to 44222

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

Episode #351: John Maxwell - The Laws Of Leadership (Follow Them & People Will Follow You)

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, coach, and author who has sold over 20 million books. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell has written three books which have each sold more than one million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.

Notes:

• "Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better." - Pat Riley
• The difference between 'best' and 'better'
  • "Whatever is best for now... Tomorrow has got to get better. I always look at 'best' for a moment."
  • "If you're not growing today, I have to talk about yesterday. I don't want to talk about yesterday."
• The great leaders:
  • Listen
  • Learn
  • Lead
• The importance of listening and asking questions:
  • "I began to ask questions, invite people to sit down and talk."  Shared learning and growing together...
• What John learned from Angela Ahrendts:
  • "I aim to always give 60 and take 40.  Always give more than you take."
  • "Add more value to people than you take."
• Working with your team:
  • "I put an idea in front of my team and say, 'make it better,' and they always do."
• Proactive: "If you're not proactive, you're reactive.  I've never met a great leader who wasn't proactive."
  • "Be unforgettable.  Always be the first person to help."
• Action Attraction
  • "The moment I move, I attract all resources because I'm moving."
  • "I never draw people to me when I sit still."
    • "Action shows intention"
• Keynote speaking preparation:
  • "When I'm in the green room preparing, I'm thinking about the people in the audience. I begin to envision the people leaning in, taking notes, engaged.  It helps me."
  • The content you have will alone will not cut it -- "Connecting the content to the people carries the day. I want them to say, 'oh my gosh, he's talking to me.'"
    • "The response of the people charges me up."
• Layered learning:
  • Is your fence facing out or facing in?  Are you growing?  Or shrinking?
• Building a company?  "I wasn't trying to build a company.  It started in a garage.  Each company was created just to help solve problems for people. --> Find a need, start a company, find a need, start a company."
  • There are now over 30,000 John Maxwell coaches
• "I've always had the ability to take a problem and develop a resource for it."
• "I can smell an opportunity... And I can see it in people.  I've always been quick to spot this."
  • How to develop this skill? --> "You must seize the opportunities. Act quickly."
• Adaptability - "A person that lacks flexibility will mist a lot of opportunities."
  • Peter Drucker did not make long range plans.  He focused on seizing the moment.
  • John's long range plan: "What I want for people is for them to do well and I want to help them do that."
• Life advice:
  • Value people
  • Continually grow
  • Live very intentionally

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

For details, Text LEARNERS to 44222

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

Episode #350: Tom Rath - Answering Life's Great Question

Tom Rath is an author and researcher who has spent the past two decades studying how work can improve human health and well-being. His 10 books have sold more than 10 million copies and made hundreds of appearances on global bestseller lists. Tom’s first book, How Full Is Your Bucket?, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller and led to a series of books that are used in classrooms around the world. His book StrengthsFinder 2.0 is Amazon’s top selling non-fiction book of all time. Tom’s other bestsellers include Strengths Based Leadership, Eat Move Sleep, and Are You Fully Charged?

Notes:

• Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
  • "They are the single best people at asking good questions."
  • "They are amazing listeners. They make you feel like you are the only person in the room."
    • Ask insightful questions that help others identify something they had not previously thought of
• How does one develop that skill?
  • Spend time alone learning... Have a genuine intellectual curiosity... Write caring, handwritten notes
• Make sure your teammates know you care about them and show your gratitude
  • I shared the story of Doug Meyer calling me simply to say "thank you" and how much it meant to me.  Be a thoughtful leader who leads with gratitude.
    • Use specifics when describing why you appreciate someone
• Why did StrengtsFinder catch on?
  • "We should not fall back to a resume.  We don't have a good language to describe what we do and our talents."  Strengths Finder does that for people
    • As leaders, we should always be on the lookout for the unique talent in others
• Tom's Top 5 Strengths:
  • Futuristic
  • Analytical
  • Relater
  • Significane
  • Activator
• My Top 5 Strengths:
  • Learner - People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
  • Input - People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
  • Intellection - People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.
  • Individualization - People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
  • Achiever - People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.
• Individualize -- Send articles to specific people each day -- Write: "Hey, I was reading this and thought you might find it helpful."
• What you can contribute is more important that your passions. "There's an enormous mismatch in what the world needs and what's out there."
• Three big influences on Tom:
  • Dr. Martin Luther King - “Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”
  • Ben Horowitz's commencement speech
  • His grandfather, Don Clifton -- "Our greatest contribution can be to teach others."
• There is a higher correlation in helpfulness when you can literally see the people you're helping (Tom shares the research to back this up).  This gives you motivation to see your impact.  We need a productive purpose.
• When feeling unfulfilled or unhappy at work?
  • Instead of looking to leave the company, look for new ways to get to your intended outcome.  How could you re-write your job? Can you make the job you have today meaningful?
• The Peter Principle - The principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent.
• Qualities Tom looks for in a leader:
  • Desire to develop other people
  • Vision
• Life's great question is: "What are you doing for others?"
• We need to align basic expectations: "How do each of us want to contribute?"
• Create - Have a challenger as part of your team.  Someone to push back and ask questions
• Relate - An energizer.  How do you get and stay charged up? What reminds you of the vision? Of the mission? How to have fun?
• Operate - Scaling... Reaching more people.
• Advice: Map what the world around you needs. Who are you? What are your talents? Interests? Motivators? --> Draw the connections.  Look where they intersect.