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Twitter: @RyanHawk12

#394: Todd Henry - The Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work

Show notes:

• What is the most valuable land in the world?
  • "The graveyard... All of the stuff we carry with us for our life and never put out into the world... All of that valued is buried in the ground."
• The two words that Todd wrote down after coming to this realization? "Die Empty."
  • “The rough edges they decry you for now… Are the very rough edges they will celebrate you for later.”
• What drives us to unleash our best work?
• Drawing on interviews with over 100,000 working professionals, the answer is no one size fits all. Todd Henry shows, in fact, that there are six unique "motivational archetypes"...
• They are:
  • The Visionary strives to make her mark on the world by building an ideal future, even when others may not see as far ahead.
  • The Achiever relishes a finished product and must conquer whatever obstacle comes his way, no matter how difficult or time-consuming.
  • The Team Player values being part of a group and will go to great lengths to achieve unity and enhance collaboration.
  • The Learner is obsessed with mastering new skills and showing off what she knows--which is often a lot.
  • The Optimizer thrives when systems are running smoothly and finds great satisfaction when things are done the "right way."
  • The Key Contributor shines at the center of the action, especially when others can recognize the value of his work.
• Todd's work teaches us to decode our motivational type so we can structure projects, have conversations, make decisions, and even choose career paths to amp up engagement and achieve fulfillment. Once we know how to activate our inner drivers, we can transform the work we do into the work we love.
• Why should you write?
  • "If you can learn to write, you'll be invited into rooms."
  • "Turn the ineffable into something."
  • Read, comprehend, synthesize, write...
  • "People won't follow you because of your position or title. You have to persuade them. You have to cut through the noise, hone your skills. It's a craft you must work on."
  • Have empathy, uniqueness, precisions. Have empathy for the end user. 
  • Have an intended audience: one person in mind. Ramp up your empathy for the end user...
• "We wait for tasks to motivate us and that's exactly backwards. We need to bring our motivation to what we do. We have to train ourselves to bring our motivation to our work instead of waiting for our tasks to motivate us."
• Because of the motivation code, "I have a language now that I never had a language for previously"
  • A new framework for understanding people. It's created "aha" moments
  • "Self-awareness is the first step to maturity."
    • "It helps use discern areas where we're insecure." 
• What was Todd thinking five minutes prior to going on stage at the Global Leadership Summit? 10,000 in the audience and hundreds of thousands watching worldwide...
  • "I reminded myself how grateful I was to be there..." It was calming.

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Full show-notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12

393: Chris Holtmann - Head Basketball Coach of Ohio State University Buckeyes

Notes:

• Chris played his college basketball at a small Christian school called Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. For a coach named Paul Patterson. Chris said, “I think the core of who I am as a coach comes from him.” 
• Don’t Be Afraid To Pursue Growth -  "As I debated, I realized that I couldn’t blame myself for craving stability – it was only human nature after all. We are drawn by the soft voice of consistency, the allure of a warm blanket of security in our jobs and lives. And while many of us willingly happily give in to living within the status quo, the reality is that the world around us rarely remains motionless. The sun rises and sets, the seasons pass and the world keeps moving and changing. It is only as we grow older and look back at life that we realize all that we have missed, all that we could have accomplished, had we simply pushed ourselves to break free of our fears."
• "As I found myself deliberating once again, I began to think back to the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck on motivation and failure. Dweck drew a distinction between performance orientation and learning orientation. Children that believe that their intelligence is fixed almost always give up on problems quickly, whereas those that believe their intelligence is malleable, conversely, stick with problems longer. Adults are no different. Those who are performance oriented are dissuaded by failure - they favor stability. Whereas those of who are learning oriented embrace opportunity and eschew the status quo."
• Head Coaches To Lead Their Teams To 5 Straight 1st Round Tourney Wins: Chris Holtmann, Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, Mark Few, Bill Self, Roy Williams, John Calipari
• Article: David Brooks - Thick versus Think organizations -- "How To Leave A Mark On People"
• Focus on the process... "Do today well."
  • "Don't compare yourself to others."
• Why is Brad Stevens one of the most effective coaches in the world?
  • "He's an extremely curious learner. He has tremendous EQ and understands how to connect with people."
• Chris got promoted to be the interim head coach at Butler shortly after accepting the job to be an assistant...
  • His boss (athletic director) told him, "You'll be evaluated daily." He came to every practice to watch Chris coach.
    • "It was hard to hear, but it was the reality. I couldn't listen to critiques. I had to coach to my convictions."
• Living your values: You must make a commitment to your values and live them daily.
  • The values of the Ohio State basketball team:
    • Truth
    • Humility
    • Respect
    • Toughness - "Grit is imperative in successful people. Your response to challenging moments says everything to success." Coach Tony Bennett is tremendously tough. "Calm is contagious."
      • Your response to difficult circumstances is what toughness is all about.
    • Accountability
    • Thankful
• "He who would be calm must first put on the appearance of being calm."
• How does one develop composure?
  • "You need people around you to give you honest feedback. We don't realize how reactionary we can be."
  • "Any time you feel upset with a player, wait to talk about it until you can process it. Think it through..."
• Excellence =
  • Consistency
  • Discipline
  • "Your habits need to match your dreams."
  • Be convicted in what you believe
• What Chris looks for in a player:
  • Toughness -- "What's the most challenging thing you've been through? How did you respond?"
  • Selfless
    • "What's your body language on the bench when you aren't playing?"
    • "What's your response to a teammates success?"
  • Honesty
• Advice to leaders:
  • You can't skip steps in the process of being a leader
    • Value the beginning stages
  • Eliminate comparison to others as much as possible
  • Be committed to growing professionally and personally. It's about your daily habits. Your character is put on display.
    • "We write our stories one decision at a time."

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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12

Notes:

• Sustaining Excellence =
  • Passion for what they do
  • Persistence - "Life is lumpy." People fall and have to dust themselves off.
  • Character - Must be trustworthy, caring, and sensitive to others
  • Values driven - "When things go wrong, take the pain"
• Bill Gates is an example of sustained excellence - "His persistence, his relationship with his wife Melinda. He's a great example of sustained excellence."
• Bob describes the time early in his career when he made big mistakes and the board fired him.
  • He said, "I needed to learn strategy. You can't blame your followers. You must take 100% ownership."
• Read the book, The Best and The Brightest by David Halberstam
  • "You need humility, you need to learn, you need emotional intelligence."
• How he felt when he got fired?
  • "Unbelievably sad. It hung heavy on my shoulders."
• There are two ways to respond:
  • Be a victim
  • Be introspective
    • "I remember the moment vividly. I was reading The Best and The Brightest. Hubris was the problem. They weren't going to the front lines to understand what was happening. I thought, Oh my God, Halberstam could be talking about me."
    • "Our job is to LISTEN, get feedback, and fix it."
• As a leader, you must have the willingness and ability to define reality, not what you want it to be.
  • Read Max Dupree - The Art of Leadership
• Understand The Stockdale Paradox - “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose —with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” ~ James Stockdale
• Building trust in a crisis:
  • The 4 elements to be trustworthy:
    • Sincerity - "Your public and private conversations should be the same"
    • Competence - It's not the same as never making a mistake.
    • Reliability - "Make promises. Deliver on those promises"
    • Care - "Treat people well. Care for their well being. It's not transactional. Treat them with dignity and respect."
• How Bob stays so sharp at age 82:
  • Lots of exercise - He trains 5 days a week
  • Time with grandchildren
  • Planning - "I still have a lot of gas left in the tank"
• Have a dream -- "Happiness is a mood. You can design a mood."
  • Satisfaction
  • Peace
  • Fulfillment
• The four primary functions of a leader:
  • Strategy - The CEO must shepherd the strategy
  • People - Get the right people in the right jobs
  • Communication - Align all constituencies behind the business. People must understand the mission
  • Evolve - The world changes. Find a small team of experts to identify the issue, and leave the rest of the team alone to do their work
• "You need thrill customers continuously."
• "People will always be evaluating you as a leader. They look at your body language, and see how you respond."
• Hiring qualities Bob looks for in a leader:
  • Crisp thorough about the job assignment.
  • Complementarity - The use Gallup's strengths. Focus on strengths and them filling a gap on the current team.
  • Fit the culture. Need to be able to work with a team and collaborate.

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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12

Episode #391: Jake Wood - CEO of Team Rubicon

Notes:

• Sustaining Excellence =
  • Integrity - "I've been honored to serve with leaders who have high integrity."
  • Initiative - Be proactive, take action
  • Tenacity - The ability to overcome
  • Enthusiasm - Bring energy to your environment
• What Jake learned from his Dad:
  • "I feel lucky. He worked his way up with an untraditional resume. He worked his ass off."
  • "He had this industrious nature and worked so hard."
• Giving the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin
  • "Our words (as leaders) matter."
  • "None of life experiences went according to plan. And that's okay..."
• Being the point man -- It means, “When you walked a patrol, you walked first. If there was a landmine or booby trap in the road, you would be the first man to step on it. Initially, you walked in perpetual fear… There were intersections you had to cross where you would close your eyes and clench your teeth, but you never stopped pressing on.”
  • "Leadership is about love. You need to have a deep understanding of WHO your team is as people. Always think, 'how can I help them?' When they know they're loved by you, they'll feel safe. When they feel safe, that leads to courage."
• Clay Hunt -- "We went to sniper school together... He was a good Marine. When I got paired up with him, I was told, 'you are nothing without this partner.'" He didn’t kill himself because of what happened to him in Iraq and Afghanistan. He killed himself because of what he lost when he came home: Purpose, Self-Worth, and Community. Since 2012, more service members have died by suicide than in combat. "Purpose is a universal human need."
• The Acceptance of Risk: In Blackjack, there is a correct move for every interaction. When you have 16 and the dealer has a face card, you should hit. There is a 32% chance you win if you hit. There is a 26% chance you win if you stay. And yet, people stay. They haven't come to grips with the risk. They'd rather sit back and try not to lose instead of taking the correct step. As a leader, you have to accept the risk, understand it, and press on.
• The WHO -- "Surround yourself with realists who offer you candid feedback."
  • What does Jake look for when hiring a leader?
    • They must demonstrate they can overcome hardship
    • Ability to persevere
    • Industrious
    • "I'll take passion over talent any day."
• The Haiti Earthquake in 2010. 100,000 people instantly died. 100,000 more died within the next 25 days. Jake felt compelled to go there to help.
  • Thus the beginning of Team Rubicon
• Winning the Pat Tillman award. "It was a huge honor. Pat was why I joined the Marine Corps."
  • His process to deliver the speech... "The producers wanted to take out the part of the speech that resonated most with people... The ending: Know your neighbor, love your neighbor, help you neighbor."
• Speechwriting/Communication skill:
  • "A company is nothing more than a story."
  • Treat your people like characters in the story.
  • READ a lot of books. General Jim Mattis said, "There is a moral responsibility for leaders to read. If you have not read 100's of books, you're functionally illiterate."
  • Vision - You need to convince your team you can take them to places they didn't know they could go.
• Book: ONCE A WARRIOR
  • It's the 10 year anniversary for Team Rubicon... It's time to memorialize it.
  • "America needs to find inspiration. The book finishes with hope. It's life's most essential virtue."

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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12

Notes:

• Sustaining Excellence =
  • The pursuit of WOW... "It's not just meeting spec."
  • Leading is voluntary
  • "Playing covers of yourself is not leadership."
• Leadership vs. Management?
  • Management is about power and a title
  • Leadership is about stepping up. NASCAR... Starbucks closed for a day to train everyone.
• Why does Seth teach people how to juggle?
  • "It's about the throw, not the catch."
• If you want to change your story, change your actions first. We become what we do.
• Lost in all the noise around us is the proven truth that creativity is the result of desire. A Desire to solve an old problem, a desire to serve someone else. It’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else...
• The difference between talent and skill: Talent is something we’re born with: it’s in our DNA, a magical alignment of gifts. Skill is earned. It’s learned and practiced and hard-won. It’s insulting to call a professional talented. She’s skill, first and foremost. In the words of Steve Martin, “I had no talent. None.”
• Sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully, “process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”
• Surprising truths that have been hidden by our desire for those perfect outcomes:
  • Hubris is the opposite of trust
  • Professionals produce with intent
  • Creativity is an act of leadership
  • We become creative when we ship the work
  • Passion is a choice
• Practical Empathy -- “We have to be able to say, ‘it’s not for you’ and mean it. The work exists to serve someone, to change someone, to make something better.
• We live in an outcome focused culture. The plumber doesn’t get credit for effort, he gets credit if the faucet stops leaking. Lost in this obsession with outcome is the truth that outcomes are the results of process. Focusing solely on outcomes forces us to make choices that are banal, short term or selfish. It takes our focus away from the journey and encourages us to give up too early.
• The story of Drew Dernavich — he shared a picture of his “no” pile and of his “yes” pile. He’s a cartoonist. “Drew’s not a genius, he just has more paper than we do.”
• Embrace your own temporary discomfort: Art doesn’t seek to create comfort. It creates change. And change requires tension. The same is true for learning. True learning (as opposed to education) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort (the persistent feeling of incompetence as we get better at a skill).
• Generosity is the most direct way to find the practice. It subverts resistance by focusing the work on someone else. Generosity means that we don’t have to seek reassurance for the self, but can instead concentrate on serving others.
• Selling is Difficult - Amateurs often feel like they’re taking something from the prospect - their time, their attention, ultimately their money. But what if you recast your profession as a chance to actually solve someone’s problem? “Selling is simply a dance with possibility and empathy. It requires you to see the audience you’ve chosen to serve, then to bring them what they need.”
  • Sales is about intentionally creating tension: the tension of “maybe,” the tension of “this might not work,” the tension of “what will I tell my boss…” That’s precisely the tension that we dance with as creators.
• The story of General Magic - Megan Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, Marc Porat inventing virtually every element of the modern smartphone. And their first model sold 3,000 units. There were 10 years ahead of their time. The business failed, but the project didn’t.
• Seth’s initial denial to be on my show… “Keep going and write back to me after you’ve recorded 75 episodes and have a big show.” Episode #75 came out November 26, 2015, I emailed you that day and said, “I’m at #75, are you ready to go?” And he was a man of your word. He was episode #86.
• His speaking style is built through visuals. He finds the visuals first and then creates the story and application second.
• Why does Seth fly fish without a hook? "To disconnect with the outcome."
• The story of Thornton May -- He had no sales quota. He went city to city and invited everyone from a specific industry to a meal. Competitors would join and Thornton would be the person to bring everyone together. He became the person they called.