Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Oscar Munoz served as CEO and chairman of United Airlines, previously holding several executive leadership positions at CSX, AT&T, US West, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola.

• Listen, Learn, AND THEN Lead… The purpose of the listening tour was to hear from people at the ground level, listen, learn, and then make decisions.
• I love the simplicity in the question to his team, “Hey, what are the 10 dumbest rules we’ve put in place?” And then changing them… This is something we all should think about periodically.
• The father-daughter bond Oscar has with his daughter, Jessica. The traits he sees in her that are also in him are “tenacity and refusal to give in no matter what.”
• Before Oscar became CEO, the culture was based on a “cost-cutting, rule-obsessed, disciplinary-heavy culture."
• Listening Tour - In 2015, After becoming CEO of United Airlines, Munoz embarked on a "listening tour" of the company, meeting with disgruntled employees around the United States and discussing their concerns. While this phase was intended to last for the first 90 days of the job, Oscar was hospitalized after having a heart attack in October 2015, 38 days into the job.
• In 2015, Oscar was one of two Hispanic CEOs in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 list. Munoz has been named among the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" by Hispanic Business magazine. In March 2017, Oscar was named "Communicator of the Year for 2017" by PRWeek.
• How to be both a great dad and a great CEO?
  • "Model the right behavior for your kids."
• Advice: Swing easy. Be yourself.

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the books Hit Makers and On Work: Money, Meaning, Identity, and the host of the podcast Plain English.  

Notes:

• Before graduating from high school, Derek appeared in several theatrical productions at the Folger Shakespeare Theater and the Shakespeare Theater.
• Why do Americans care so much about work?
  • workism is “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.”
• Jobs, Careers, or Callings: One theory of work holds that people tend to see themselves in jobs, careers, or callings…
• The Bow and Arrow metaphor… We need stress, but we need to let it go. You pull back on the bow and arrow… Then you let it go. Stress + Rest = Growth
• “Happiness means being balanced between busyness and leisure.”
• The mark of a good leader? Don’t be afraid to ask the ignorant question… Have the confidence to ask it.
• Derek had breakfast with the prominent CEO… The CEO was deeply curious about Derek. Asked him a lot of questions, listened intently, and asked great follow-ups. Great leaders make their conversations about the other person. Follow your curiosity with great rigor.
  • That same leader also had the emotional intelligence to not bother Derek Jeter while he was having breakfast. He knew there would be a better time to meet.
• The book, an anthology of Thompson’s articles for The Atlantic, includes a new adaptation of his essay on workism, a term that he defines as “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.”
• “The decline of traditional faith in America has coincided with an explosion of new atheisms,” Thompson writes. “Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.”
• How Derek earned a job writing for The Atlantic out of college?
  • After being rejected 30 times, he applied for a fellowship with The Atlantic and got it. He then earned a job writing about economics for them even though he had no background or interest in economics. "It's like the New York Yankees offered me to play second base even though I played catcher my whole life."
• How Derek earned a role as a podcast host working for Bill Simmons?
  • "Bill had me on his podcast to talk about Covid after he read some things I'd written for The Atlantic. That was sort of an audition. After he had me on, he asked if I wanted to have my own podcast on his network. We eventually came up with the name Plain English."
    • The name of the show is very important. You want people to be able to easily say, "Hey, I listen to Plain English."
• How to predict the next great quarterback?
  • It's contingent upon their surroundings (their coaching staff, receivers, linemen, etc...)
• Life/Career Advice:
  • Skin thickness -- It can't be so thin that you can't accept criticism, but it can't be so thick that you stop listening. You have be somewhere in the middle.
• Working hours — no large country globally averages more hours of work per year than the United States. Americans work longer hours, have shorter vacations, get less unemployment, and retire later.

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He is also the editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets half a million unique visitors per month. He co-founded Wired in 1993 and served as its Executive Editor from its inception until 1999. During Kevin’s tenure, Wired won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence (the industry's equivalent of two Oscars). He is the best-selling author of many books including New Rules for the New Economy, The Inevitable, and his latest is called Excellent Advice For Living - Wisdom I wish I’d Known Earlier. 

• You lead by letting others know what you expect of them, which may exceed what they themselves expect. Provide them a reputation to live up to.
• Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout.
• "Every great and difficult thing has required a strong sense of optimism,"
• Prototype your life. Try stuff instead of making grand plans.
• The best way to learn anything is to try to teach what you know.
• Don’t create things to make money; make money so you can create things. The reward for good work is more work.
• The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they’ll find you. To be interesting, be interested.
• Promptness is a sign of respect.
• The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show was first published on April 9, 2015. TODAY marks the show's 8th birthday! To celebrate, I kick off the episode by sharing some key learnings I've gathered over the past 8 years... And then I answer YOUR questions and did a full AMA (Ask Me Anything). If you'd like me to do more AMAs, send me an email: Ryan (at) LearningLeader dot com

• Here are some key things I've learned after publishing The Learning Leader Show for 8 years...
  • Consistency > Intensity. Showing up to do the work (prep) each day is key. Become part of your routine as a listener. Consistency builds trust. You know you’re going to have a new show for your Monday morning walk or commute.
  • Following your genuine curiosity is attractive. This parasocial relationship is built because as the listener you know I’m following what I’m actually curious about. I own guest selection 100%. They are all my call and my call alone. I only choose guests that I’m deeply curious about.
  • The curiosity-judgemental spectrum. Talking with more people with a wide range of life experiences has helped me view the world from their eyes and be less judgemental. All the way back to episode 3 with Maurice Clarett. Approach people with curiosity, not judgment.
  • The prep works as a forcing function to learn. Same with mindful Monday. I have systems in place to ensure I’m getting a little bit wiser each day. And that learning compounds over time. Create forcing functions on your life to intentionally get better. Don’t just wander from meeting to meeting each week. What are you doing to ensure your learning is compounding? The Charlie Munger quote; go to bed a little wiser than when you woke up. I try to live by that.
  • Relationships with your heroes: General McChrystal. Pat Lencioni. So many others. Being pleasant to work with. Showing up prepared. Being grateful. Following up. All of that has helped me build real relationships with people I admire. The McChrystal trip to Gettysburg. Forewords to books. McChrystal and Lencioni. Dan Pink. The Kat Cole ATL show. Adam Grant. Ryan Holiday.
  • Relationships with listeners. Some amazing friendships have been formed and fostered because of this podcast. So many of my Learning Leader Circle members. Technically they are clients of mine, but lots of them have become genuine friends for life.
  • Communication skill - LISTENING. Thinking. Speaking, Writing. All have improved. Earned the opportunity to speak on hundreds of stages all over the world. Publish books. Meet fascinating people.
• Listener AMA:
  • Learn 2 Cope (Instagram) – What was the biggest struggle you had transitioning to life after sports?
  • Kevin Janiec (Instagram) – How do you and Miranda balance and align your competing priorities?
  • Samantha Phillips (LinkedIn), Sales Manager at Insight Global – 1. What is 1 of your champagne toasts? (Victory Shot toast) 2. Who is 1 person you have not yet had on your show that you’d like to?
  • Aaron Arnston (LinkedIn) - Congratulations, Ryan!  Truly blazing a trail, we’ll done! You have interviewed hundreds of guests and I have liked every show, can't recall one, not one, show I didn't like...have you ever interviewed guests that didn't make the cut or do you have a filtering process prior to the show that helps with this?
  • Noah Vasilj (Mindful Monday email response): My question is a “3 parter”:
    • What is your favorite part of your job?
    • Do you generally enjoy/love what you do?
    • What keeps you interested and going on the days when you are not at 100%?
  • Brian Causer (Twitter) — Congrats! Love the show, Ryan. One of my top podcasts and I listen weekly. Maybe have two questions... How do you choose your guests? Referral? Follow your curiosity? Also, what is one question you wish someone would ask you that nobody has asked you before?
  • The Greek In The Kitchen (Instagram) — Who is the guest you think about most or has had the most influence on you?
  • Denise Kollias (LinkedIn) Hi! Congratulation! I have been listening to your podcast since 2017 and it has been a Godsend. It has taught me so much and I appreciate all your hard work to continually bring insightful conversations on leadership. My question is what episodes were your favorite to record or the top 5 that you recommend with the greatest impact to help people grow or push through?
  • JP Botero (Instagram) - After 8 years of experience, what would you recommend to the Ryan thinking of creating The Learning Leader Show?
  • Aaron Campbell – After 8 years of exploration along a central theme, how would you finish this sentence: “A great leader is….”

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Dan Lyons is the New York Times bestselling author of "Disrupted," "Lab Rats," and "STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World." Dan was a writer for HBO's hit comedy, "Silicon Valley," and before that was a journalist at Newsweek, Forbes, and Fortune.

• The best sales reps spend 54 percent of the call listening and 46 percent talking. The worst reps talked 72 percent of the time. They made calls feel like conversations.
  •  A company called Gong uses machine learning software that analyzes sales calls to find out what works and what doesn’t. Its software vacuums up millions of hours of audio data and then analyzes it to figure out how the best sales reps operate. Gong’s customers use this information to train new sales reps and help underperformers improve. In 2017 Gong analyzed more than five hundred thousand calls and found that sales calls with the best close rates were ones in which reps knew how to be quiet and ask questions instead of making a sales pitch. To be precise, the most successful reps asked eleven to fourteen questions. Fewer than that, and you’re not digging deep enough. More than that, the call starts to feel like an interrogation.
• Eavesdropping on happiness: The research showed that people who spent more time having substantive conversations were happier than those who spent more time having small talk, and weather conversations.
• Always Say Less Than Necessary – "When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.” -- Robert Greene
• Researcher, Mehl joined a team that made a third big discovery: that people who suffer from anxiety and depression use the first-person singular pronouns I, me, and my more than other people.
• Go OUTSIDE – Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who hypothesized that our affinity for the outdoors and love of living things have been hardwired into our DNA by evolution and exist as innate parts of our psychological and physiological makeup. Wilson calls this “biophilia,” a name derived from the ancient Greek words for “life” and “love.” It’s the reason people watch birds, melt at the sight of baby bunnies, travel to Yellowstone National Park to marvel at the bison, and rush to the window when a deer wanders into their yard. It’s why walking through Muir Woods among giant thousand-year-old redwood trees takes your breath away.
• The Talkaholic Scale Test – Prior to writing the book, Dan scored a 50 (the highest possible score)… Meaning he is a talkaholic. AFTER writing the book, he scored a 40, and Dan's wife scored him at 38.
• Life/Career Advice: Earn attention by doing great work, not by being loud and outlandish. It’s more lasting and will help you build better relationships and a great career.