Afleveringen
-
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
Notes:
Serendipity isnât found. Itâs made. Make your own luck. The best leaders create serendipity for their teams. A success mindset precedes success. From Jenny - In 2011, I was single and living in New York City. I spotted an attractive guy across the train from me. I wanted to talk to him, but I was too nervous. Then he got off the train. She met her future husband by chasing after him off a train in NYC. "I was letting life pass me by." She used some wild courage to approach him. What sits between you and the thing you want is fear. Who are your dynamic dozen? The 12 people you need to meet. Monday mini-festo. In 15 minutes, write the 2 things you did last week that you're proud of. Write 2 things you're excited about for this upcoming week. Focus on doing the work that helps the company be better. Solve problems. Read the VP email. Know your stuff. Get to know your boss's boss. Do it the right way by talking with your boss. Jenny's career at Google - First 11 years in sales, Go To Market, Operations. Own your Career project. She got 2,000 people to come to her first training. Used all resources within the company to do it. Use "for example." Don't speak in generalities. Role, Objective, Impact - ROI At work, say no to the small. Donât reply all to the Happy Birthday emails. Donât do the NAP work. NAP stands for âNot Actually Promotableâ Work. Sign up for the projects that help make your company better. Carlye Kosiak is one of their best hires at Google. She had the courage to stand out. She was specific. Her resume indicated interest in ârecipe tasting in pursuit of the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie." Personality popped off the page. She was weird, reckless, nosy, obsessed, brutal. Must be yourself. Donât just be weird to play a role. Goal Setting framework - Rock, Chalk, Talk, Walk. Jenny's goal is to sell 15,000 books by the end of week 1 and hit the NY Times best seller list. If you sell 12,000 copies in week 1, how will you feel? "You ask such great questions." Don't play it cool. Play it hot. Don't decide to fit in. Stand out. Watermark your work. Put your name and picture on the deck. Let people know you made it. Lady Gaga â A group of students at NYU created a Facebook group called âStefani Germanotta, you will never be famous." Have the courage to stand behind your work. Lady Gaga wanted to be a big star. Life and Career Advice - Performance reviews - Focus 75% of your time on your strengths. Say yes to 75% of the things asked of you. Start sentences with "YOU" instead of "I" - Focus on them. Build influence thru empathy. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Rob Kimbel is an owner of Kimbel Mechanical Systems, located in Fayetteville, AR. He joined KMS in 1993, and in 2001, at the age of 26, he became the CEO and grew what was then 3 local plumbers making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year into a national company with more than 750 employees and earning hundreds of millions in revenue per year. Rob is also a partner in multiple start-ups, real estate projects, and real estate funds that specialize in affordable housing across the United States. Rob is also a mentor and advisor to several local businesses and entrepreneurs in NW Arkansas. He has also served on the boards of Generations Bank, NWA Home Builders Association, and Beyond the Game, a non-profit organization serving the impoverished of the Dominican Republic.
Notes:
Betty Joe Drive⊠Lived in the hood. $200/month. Rob regularly takes his children to see where they lived. "I want to remind the kids where we came from." They started as a 3-person plumbing company. Rob was working for his dad, making $12-$14 an hour. Now, they do $260m in revenue and have 750 full-time employees. When Rob was 25 years old, his dad asked him to be the CEO. He initially said no. Strategic risk-taking as a cornerstone of growth: Rob navigates the industry challenge of balancing new work with workforce capacity by making bold hiring decisionsâdemonstrating a greater risk appetite than his father. "We are always hiring" reflects their proactive approach to scaling. Kimbel is good at growing people. They fail, and stick with them to grow. âProfits are the applause for growing our people.â How to be good? Show up, work hard, and finish the job. The bar is so low. The No Child Left Behind Act wasnât great for the trades industry. They made it seem that every person needed to go to college. When every person shouldnât do that. Some should go into the trades. There are high school grads who make $100K/year by their mid-20s at Kimbel. The Kimbel Purpose: Create opportunities to improve lives. Values - TEAM, Humility, Hunger, Grit, Integrity. TEAM- We willingly sacrifice for the good of the team. Row together. Humility - We never consider ourselves above anyone or anything. Take the back seat. Hunger - We choose to continually raise the bar. Never complacent. Integrity - We do the right thing, in all places, at all times. The how matters. Grit - We persevere, no matter the situation. Remember the why. Thank you notes â Each executive member writes at least one thank you note per week. This works as a forcing function for them to look for people doing great work and living by their values. Touch points - Senior leaders (30 people) reach out to 2 people per week to check on them. Thatâs 3,000 touches per year. Free from all, servant to all. Tattoos on Rob's forearms. I have made myself a servant. Free from work, I donât care what society thinks. But I have a responsibility to be a steward. To be a servant to all. Rob works out like a psycho. Super hard. Why? Start with the end in mind. I want to hold Cheri on my shoulders when I'm 65. I want to ski with my kids when I'm 80. I like to compete. I want to win Spartan races. I like doing hard things. It also creates clarity in my mind throughout the day. Karomy messages me that she knows I'm running the stairs when she gets emails from me with lots of ideas. Marriage insights: "It must be intentional. We have fun together. We are genuine friends. We still have to work through stuff." Parenting philosophy shaped by observing other wealthy families: "It's critical that kids do hard work. They shouldn't start in an office. They should be out with the chickens. Be in the mess. Start at the bottom. Start in the ditch." Family-business boundary maintenance: "We get together every other weekend for family game night. We try not to have much business talk." Sold 70% of the business last July. What was the feeling the moment the money was wired? It was surreal. Want to honor Dad with 25 years of GRIT. Excellence defined: "It's continual learning. Wanting to get better. Think, what can I do better?" Creating a truth-telling culture: "Have to be willing to hear it and create a space where the truth is spoken." Life and career wisdom: "A career is not linear just like a marriage isn't. Have patience and live in the suck. Don't quit. There will be seasons of suck. Keep going." -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Notes:
âI sensed something was terribly wrong when I dialed into the conference line at 8:00 a.m. and heard an unfamiliar voice. âHi, Mel ody, Iâm Janine. Iâm with an external HR firm. Unfortunately, this call is to let you know that your employment has been terminated, effective immediately.â Managing up is not kissing up. Managing up is strategically navigating relationships with those who have more positional power than you, namely your boss. Itâs a critical skill set for maneuvering through the complex web of power dynamics, conversations, and unspoken expectations that shape our daily work lives. The triple win â What is something you can do that is good for you, good for your boss, and good for the company? Focus on those issues and solving those problems, and good things will happen for you as you grow your career. Like Carly Fiorina. Run towards the fire. Solving those tough problems will help you, your boss, and your company Meeting with a CEO. Connect what you did with what matters. Adapt your communication to that. Have upward empathy. Put yourself in their shoes. What matters to them? Prior to the meeting, meet with their Chief of Staff. Anticipate objections and answer them before they are asked. Create a one-pager for your boss when they are doing your performance review. Highlight your wins. Remind them. Make it easy on them. Do what Lee Rivas told me to do. Every week, send an email with bullet points for all the things you did to help your boss and the company. For the one pagers - be proactive, start with wins, results and outcomes. it's not self-promoting; it's informing. Identify 1-3 key areas where you need their support. Help them become a trusted advisor or partner. Design your 1:1. Send them the topics to talk about so you can drive those discussions. Make their life easier. They have enough other things to worry about. Feedback can only happen after alignment, styles, ownership, boundaries... They go in order. Define your A B Cs Assumptions, Behaviors, Change you want to see The advancement conversation - Be open, and share what you want to do and how you can get there. My Dustyn Kim example and how I messed it up. The Money conversation - You don't get a raise just because time has passed. It has to be tied to results. Don't talk about the past and what you've done. Talk about what you can do to earn the company more. Don't do the "I deserve this" thing. Bosses hate that. Managing up is not kissing up. Managing up is strategically navigating relationships with those who have more positional power than you, namely your boss. Itâs a critical skill set for maneuvering through the complex web of power dynamics, conversations, and unspoken expectations that shape our daily work lives. Everything changes when you understand the art and science of influencing others while keeping your own emotions and insecurities in check. âManaging up isnât really about making your bossâs life easier. Itâs about taking control of your own work experience.â 10 Key Conversations: The Alignment Conversation How can I get in my bossâs head to understand their needs, motivations, and goals? The Styles Conversation Will I earn more respect from my manager if I get to the point quickly, or should I try swapping stories and building rapport? The Ownership Conversation How can I solve the problems that make my job frustrating? How can I seize opportunities without stepping on toes? The Boundaries Conversation How do I say no and push back with tact when my manager saddles me with yet another task? The Feedback Conversation How can I respectfully and effectively give my manager feedback in order to improve processes and communication? The Networking Conversation How can I build other allies in the workplace? How can I turn day-to-day interactions into opportunities that open doors? The Visibility Conversation How can I effectively advocate for myself and show off my strengths? The Advancement Conversation What do I need to do to get to the next level? The Money Conversation When is the right time to negotiate salary? How can I make sure I am getting the compensation I deserve? -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Chris Beresford-Hill is the Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at BBDO. Previously he spent 2 years as North America President and CCO of Ogilvy, where he helped bring the agency and its clients a new level of relevance. He brought Workday to the Super Bowl, led the team that brought in the Verizon account, and one of the biggest Super Bowl campaigns ever, âCan't B Broken,â featuring Beyonce, and created the most celebrated Super Bowl campaign of 2024, the social & influencer lead "Michael CeraVe," for CeraVe. Chris and his teams have won every award for creativity and effectiveness many times over. He has been included in ADWEEK Best Creatives, the ADWEEK 100, and Business Insiderâs Most Creative People in Advertising.
Notes:
Cold Emails: Be specific in your praise and specific in your ask. The lame "Can I pick your brain" type emails get deleted and ignored because they aren't specific. You never need permission to take responsibility. Chris learned this from Ed Catmullâs book Creativity Inc.⊠And heâs embodied this his entire career. The people who build huge careers take ownership of their own and regularly solve problems and improve their clients' and colleagues' lives. Chris has done this since his early days as an intern. At any level taking on responsibility yourself, unasked, makes you stand out. Competence combined with insane follow-through. For some clients, it takes 50 ideas to get to the one that will work. Creating a culture where the team can share all of their bad ideas safely to get to the one great one. The creative process: Brain dump everything. Purge your brain of everything it has. When you think you're done, you're not. There's more. You have to get it all out. "A lot of creative people aren't fully aware of the process or the structure, they just feel it (Rick Rubin). "When you can see it lift off the page, you feel a sense of mastery over it." Chris's first Super Bowl commercial -- Emerald Nuts. He won it because he was both funny and added the fact that the product provided energy. Most people only covered one part, Chris did both. Push your edges - Chris is like Lionel Messi. He's always walking around in the office, asking questions, looking for ideas, being curious. Then he sees an opportunity and goes for it 100%. Chris has a standing reservation every week at the same restaurant where he meets with a mentor, mentee, or peer to deepen the important relationships in his life. That would be a good idea for us all to do. Chris was pen-pals with Dave Matthews for 8 years. Chris saw that they recorded at Bearsville studios and wrote a letter to Dave there. He also said, "Show up with gifts." He gave Dave a Beatles Bootlegged album. A leader takes what comes and then turns it into an opportunity. The formula is Competence + Insane Follow-Through. How to build relationships: Meet with people in person. Get drunk with them. Do hard work with them. Go through something bad with them. Laugh with them. I got hired from my internship by cold calling Mark Cuban to get him to approve of using his name in an ad. The best ideas are often bad in their first moments, or massively wrong, and then someone flips it or unlocks it. You have to stay on things and play around. I made my first ad by going through a garbage can to learn how to write a script and sending a bunch of Budweiser scripts to my boss. The art of finding an idea on the edge of possible, and the value of going over your skis when on the cusp of greatness - having a stomach for it. Iâve told a lie to keep things moving on every great campaign I was part of. I learned the best lesson in leadership when we lost our biggest account (Accenture). I put Danny Meyer's mentality into practice, and we took that moment to put the business and clients second and play for each other. Culture carried us. Culture is built by the stories we tell and the behaviors we highlight. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Stu McLaren helps leaders and all types of business owners transform their knowledge, expertise, and influence into recurring revenue by launching, growing, and scaling membership businesses. Heâs the author of PREDICTABLE PROFITS - Transform Your Business from One-Off Sales to Recurring Revenue with Memberships and Subscriptions.
Notes:
People come for the content, they stay for the community. People want to feel a sense of belonging. This has been hard-wired in us from many years ago. We want to be part of a group. In the old days, this was the only way to survive. We have not outgrown that need and the feeling of being a part of something bigger than ourselves. Life advice: Listen to your gut instinct and embrace the unknown. You are not ever going to know how itâs going to pan out. You have to keep taking that next step. And I loved the story of the lengthy process of adopting his son Sam. The raw emotion in Stuâs eyes as he told that story was awesome. Watch this on YouTube and you can see. Take the next step. Keep going. Youâre not going to know how it will go. Embrace that. And keep going. Cody Burch Story â In October, Codyâs dad was diagnosed with leukemia. Cody had been sitting with the idea of a membership. He saw the fear in his dadâs eyes that he was nervous about the financial part of it. âI wanted to take that financial fear away from him. Within a few weeks of launching my membership, I had a few hundred members, and I was making thousands of dollars per month." âThe more we make, the more we can give. The more we make, the more we can help.â Stu says that all the time Create âsuper surprisesâ for your friends. Create an amazing experience for them. Online communities must be one of the three: Can I solve an ongoing problem? Weight loss, dog training Can you teach a skill? Can you make someoneâs life easier? Provide teachers with lesson plans You donât need a big platform to get started. Have founding members. Float the idea that youâre thinking of it. Momentum starts with movement. Get going. Pay close attention to onboarding. The first few days are EVERYTHING. His daughterâs new school was âthe best school everâ because she met one friend on the first day. Help them build one meaningful relationship within the first few days. Connect them. Proactively do this. Sales is the most noble profession in the world. Everything must be sold. Stu learned from John Childers, but couldnât do it like him. So he just told stories about transformation. People donât care about the âstuff.â They care about the outcome. They care about the transformation. The objection matrix - Match every objection with a story of someone who had the same objection and overcame it. Use stories. The importance of building a membership around transformation, not just content. While many focus on delivering endless content. By focusing on helping people achieve meaningful outcomes, rather than overwhelming them with information, leaders can build stronger communities, improve retention, and deliver real value that keeps members coming back. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Be optimistic in the face of uncertainty. We discover who we are by doing it. We learn who we are in practice, not in theory. The only way to fully know if you can do it, is to do the thing. Take action. Fail sometimes. Then keep going. The explore-exploit dilemma. Do we keep on the same path and stick to what we know works or do we go out into the unknown? Do we invest in R&D with no guarantee that it will pay off? This reminds me of Scott Galloway on episode #578, In order to do anything of significance in your life, you must take an uncomfortable risk.â The Hard is what makes it good. From Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own. The HARD stuff adds texture to time. The effort needed is a source of meaning. Similar to the Ikea paradox. There is more meaning in the piece of furniture if you assemble it. We shouldnât run away from the hard things (like Dottie Hinson was doing in A League of Their Own)> We should run towards them. The effort is where find a source of meaning. Opened with gratitude for him helping me with my first book, Welcome to Management. The beginnings of chapters/stories. Whatâs most important and whatâs interesting? Use the best story you have. The beginning is super important. Time with Friction - âI donât want it to be easier.â Challenge and complexity make it more meaningful. Itâs less meaningful if itâs not challenging. Effort is a source of meaning. The Ikea Effect. A piece of furniture is worth more to you if you put it together. Why do you keep pushing your limits? What am I getting out of this? Is there some intrinsic pleasure? We are wired to explore, push our limits We are also wired to be lazy, to rest in between hunts. Dichotomy there. Some are nomadic and some settle. Itâs useful to have both. Alex and his wife take their daughters with them on adventures. They earn a feeling like, âI can do anything.â Adding voluntary hardship to a childâs life can be helpful. If itâs a foregone conclusion, itâs not interesting. This is why people love live sports. We donât know how itâs going to end. Uncertainty makes it interesting. The same is true for life. Uncertainty - Weâre willing to pay a lot to not know the ending. The arc is important. âBold beginning of uncertain outcomes.â Alex was shy and didnât introduce himself to girls. âI would have had a better time if I wasnât scared to ask someone out.â My first job getting rejected 60 times a day. Useful. His job as a newspaper intern having to go to peopleâs houses after their family member died in a car accident and talk with them. Made everything else seem easier. Quote to open the book: âTo say that we should not change wines is heresy; the tongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass even the best bottle yields but an obtuse sensation.â â Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Waffles â They are great. But if you have them every day, you lose the magic. A metaphor for life. Life/Career Advice: Be optimistic in the face of uncertainty. Have both the exploring and exploiting mindset. Explore widely. We discover who we are by doing it. Have to do the thing. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Rachel Botsman has become an expert on trust in the modern world. Sheâs written three books: Whatâs Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views. And she teaches at Oxford Universityâs Business School where she created pioneering courses on trust in the digital age has become an expert on trust in the modern world. Sheâs written three books: Whatâs Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views.
Notes:
Trust is being comfortable with uncertainty. Capability and Character - Assholes are capable people with low character. Demonstrate the ability to take risks. Confidence in the unknown. Healthy challenge and push mentality. Trust willing â Lead with Trust. Make the trust wager. Whatâs the best way to earn someoneâs trust? LEAD with trust. Trust them first. This also creates a highly attractive company or team. Donât you want to attract highly trusting, capable people? The best way to do that is to lead with trust. Be more trust willing. Lead with Trust. Jim Collins story. Make the trust wager. You don't have to earn it, you got it. Willingness to be a beginner. Be curious. Look stupid at first. Those are good qualities in a leader. For keynote speaking: Share your expertise, but don't seek approval Share your stories, but don't look for validation Share your passion, but don't perform for the applause Don't sell from the stage. Don't show your book. Don't give your resume. Honor the present. If youâre running a meeting, start it on time. Honor the people who showed up on time. Leaders who are overscheduled⊠Itâs usually their fault and it comes from ego. If youâve hired a capable team, then you donât have to be in every meeting. Also, if youâre always late, you arenât reliable. And that becomes part of your reputation. Thatâs not something we want to be known for. How can people trust you if you're always late? They won't. You aren't reliable if you're always late. Reliability is a big part of your reputation. It can become the thing you're known for. That's bad. The power of consistency: Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress. Consistency builds trust. Leaders who are overscheduled have a problem they've created for themselves. It's usually from ego. Interviewing leaders for jobs. High character is a must. We can teach capabilities later. Paul Simon's audiobook with Pushkin is awesome. Rachel's five principles for trust: Competence: Having the skills, knowledge, time, and resources to do what you say you'll do Reliability: Being dependable and consistent in your actions Integrity: Being honest about your intentions and motives, and ensuring your words and actions align Empathy: Caring about others' interests and how your actions affect them Consistent action: Earning trust through how you show up, set expectations, and deliver acts of caring Life/Career Advice: Donât get boxed in too early and grow a career based on being able to tell people at parties that you work at a prestigious company. Look for great teams and great bosses. The industry doesnât matter as much as the people. Culture is everything. People are everything. And then when youâre younger itâs helpful to be a generalist. Know a little about a lot of things. But as you get older, itâs useful to become a specialist at something. Become an expert. Go deep on a topic. This is similar to what Mike Maples Jr said on episode #619. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
Episode #620 with Steve Magness, author of Win The Inside Game
Notes:
Clearly define your purpose and what you want to do. For Steve, itâs: "Explore interesting ideas that will help people." "Those things will help me too. I'm curious about them." Defining that one sentence frees you up to say no to those things outside of your purpose and to focus on actions within that align with your purpose. Steve's Framework for Sustainable Excellence: Be - Clarity on who you are Do - Clairty in your pursuits Belong - Clarity on where and how you fit in Steve stood up as a whistleblower after earning his dream job at Nike, showing courage and sticking to his values and ethics. Why don't we speak up? We have a built in preservation system. We justify, rationalize, and avoid it because it minimizes the negative feeling in the short term. Don't play prevent defense. Give yourself the permission and freedom to fail. Diversify sense of self. Don't intertwine a sense of self with success or fear of failure. Diversify your sense of selfâdonât intertwine your identity solely with success or the fear of failure. Itâs not an all-or-nothing game. Outcomes matter, but they arenât everything. Focus on process goals and let outcomes be a byproduct of good effort. Set your environment up to define what success means for you. Big achievements, like becoming a best-selling author, rarely feel as fulfilling as imagined. Success can be multi-dimensional and definitionally nuanced. The Power of Belonging When facing a challenge (like climbing a hill), it feels easier when youâre with others versus alone. We need each other. We share the load. Surround yourself with compounders. "We are built to belong." It is a mistake to make success or failure a virtue. It's not "I'm a failure." It's, "I failed at that thing." It's temporary. It's not who you are. In moments of stress (e.g., choking in sports like Simone Biles), your brain defaults to survival mode and shuts down higher-level functions. Strategies to overcome it: Narrow your focus: Break tasks into smaller, actionable steps. Create a personal definition of success to shift focus from fear. Try doing something unexpected or crazy to reset your perspective. To have a meaningful life we need to feel Coherent - Life adds up. You have a cohesive story. Significant - You matter and can make a difference. Directed - Thereâs a purpose to your life and pursuits. Belonging - Part of something bigger than you. âThis book is for those who stood up, found courage, and stuck to their values and ethics.â -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
My Guest: Mike Maples Jr is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was recently profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship. Some of his early investments include: Twitter, DemandForce, Twitch, and Applied Intuition. Mike is also the bestselling author of Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future.
Notes
Chance favors the prepared mind. We are all visited by luck, but most of us donât answer the door. We need to become a professional noticer. That is Mikeâs favorite verb. Noticing. Most people donât have prepared minds. Be intentional about noticing the world around you and being prepared for when luck visits you. Mike's dad died 7 days before we recorded. âHe was a mentor, a friend, and one of the greatest inspirations of my life.â His advice: Do your best. Thereâs only one of you. Decide what to do with your gift of time, be intentional. Have gratitude for your time. Make the most of it. Donât waste it trying to be someone else. Focus - Fishing competition when Mike was 5 or 6. Letâs find a good spot and stay there the entire time. While everyone else moved constantly, Mike and his dad stayed in their spot, caught a big carp, and won. Bill Gates begged Mikeâs dad to âbe the adult in the roomâ at Microsoft. Mike Sr would say to the people he led at Microsoft, "I want to know that youâre thinking about what youâre doing." He used a Socratic method. He was not prescriptive. Be proactive. Have an intentional strategy. Be intentional. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - The biggest limits in the world are the limits of your mind, your imagination, and your actionsâ not the limits of the world itself. Have to get over that voice in your head that says, âYouâre not good enough.â We get told to be realistic or stay within the lines. Everybody is figuring it out as they go. Everyone is âwinging it.â Only by being radically different can you make a radical difference. Great founders are like Patrick Mahomes and Steph Curry. You donât know how theyâre going to score, but you know they will. Practice Reckless Optimism â The world is built by Optimists. You need to be FOR something. Bet ON something, not against it. Mike sees himself as a co-conspirator more than an investor. There canât be a recipe for a breakthrough because by definition breakthroughs havenât happened yet. âChance favors the prepared mind.â We are all visited by luck but most donât answer the door. Chris Rock - Forming unexpected connections. Sam Beskind (Stanford basketball player where he played for Rob Ehsan) - Time management strategy. Stanford coaches had a one-pager with 3 keys to winning. Not 20. 3. If you have 20 keys, you have none. Nobody can remember all that. Life/Career Advice: Internalize what it means to do your best. Gratitude for your time. Avoid the trap of mimetic desire. The âTâ of knowledge. Charlie Munger. Try to know what the best ideas that have ever existed in a wide range of fields. Then choose one field to know about more than anyone else in the world. Have one area where you are fanatically obsessed. For Mike, thatâs startups. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes of The Learning Leader Show
Sign up for "Mindful Monday" (it's free) - https://ryanhawk.kit.com/profile
My guest for episode #618 is Chase Jarvis. Chase is a photographer, director, artist, and entrepreneur. He was the CEO of an online education platform called Creative Live from 2014 to 2022. Heâs earned countless awards for his photography and creative work including a Pulitzer Prize for a New York Times story he contributed to called âSnow Fall.â Heâs also the author of multiple books including Creative Calling and Never Play It Safe.
Notes:
Opening Joke: "What has 52 teeth and holds back a monster?" We are all wildly creative. It is trained out of us as we grow older. Creativity is foundational to all human beings. Itâs on us to tap into our creativity and get it out of us to help solve problems, to create optionality, and to be innovative. Regardless of your job, becoming more creative will make you better at it. Play infinite games with transformational people. It seems like when we give to others, genuinely try to help them, and have a service orientation, good things happen to all. There are transactional people and transformational leaders. Letâs strive to be transformative and play the long game with high-character people. Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring. âA bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch, but on its own wings.â Believe in yourself and your ability to bounce back if the thing doesnât go your way. Set up a series of experiments. Not all of them will work. Youâll be better for having tried, and tried again, and then again. We learn from both our successes and our failures. Initially, Chase planned to attend medical school after graduating from undergrad. A few weeks before his graduation, his grandfather died and left all his photography equipment to his grandson. âSecurity is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.â - Helen Keller "Safety is an illusion. It does not exist in nature, so why then do we seek it? "Playing it safe is about fear. And fear is only optimized for survival--not creativity, happiness, joy, connection, harmony, fulfillment, or any of the gifts you have to give or receive in this life." Intuition is everything. What if we started paying attention to that? "I don't know why they call us founders. I didn't find anything. I built that shit. We are builders." There are 7 basic levers for life: Attention Time â NYU Professor James Carse. Finite and infinite games. Treat life like an infinite game. Whatâs the difference between systems and schedules? (why are systems better?) Intuition â The benefits of compounding trust. Chase's wife Kate. First met on a beach just after high school. Sparks were present, but no fire. âShe had a special quality I couldnât quite place.â Went to college 1,500 miles apart. All along it was your intuition that kept you on notice. How do you know when itâs your intuition speaking? Why is playing it safe the riskiest thing we can do Constraints - What can we learn about constraints from Stefan Sagmeister? Play - What can we learn about play from Novak Djokovic? Failure - Melissa Arnot Reid â Replaces the word âfailâ with the word âliveâ â Instead of saying âIâm afraid to fail. She says Iâm afraid to live.â Practice - Purposeful practice. Anders Ericsson Keynote speaking - Don't be a robot. Have fun. Let it rip. Results are better in a better state of mind. Do tiny experiments when the stakes are low. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes for episode #617 with Adam Galinsky
Notes:
10 Words - âWe are not going down. We are going to Philly.â The composure of pilot Tammy Jo Shults after the side of her airplane exploded. Leadership is needed most when things go bad. How do you respond when adversity strikes? Those are the moments when we must be prepared to share the vision and help our team stay the course. EMTs asked, "How did you get through security? You have nerves of steel. You don't even have an elevated heart rate." The 1992 cockpit study of pilots. Did more errors happen at the beginning or the end of a 19-hour flight? Youâd assume the end because of exhaustion. However, more errors happen at the beginning of the flight because the crews donât know each other yet. How does this translate to your team? Itâs imperative to genuinely care and get to know the people on your team. Host barbeque parties, ask questions, and genuinely LEARN about the people youâre leading. Those arenât soft skills, those are essential skills. What did Adam learn from his parents? The idea of Kaizen, is a Japanese business philosophy that promotes continuous improvement through small, incremental changes. Kaizen means "good change," "change for the better," or "improvement." Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring. Great leader exercise: "Tell me about a leader that inspired you..." What qualities do they possess? "Courage, Optimism, Generous." Inspire - the universal path for leading yourself and others Build habits - floss teeth before brushing. Write thank you notes. Moments of Greatness -- Elks basketball Team thank you notes - Rob Kimbel Columbia football coach -- "Who can I yell at?" Need to know who can handle it. Ron Ullery -- Share the vision early. 1:1 conversation, bring your leaders in. Adam did not get tenure when most thought he deserved it. They messed up by not sharing the vision until after, but then they made it better by sharing and showing him love. He then turned down Harvard to stay at Northwestern because of it. Vision - Big picture. Put context for behavior. Why is consistency important? The Great Gatsby and his dad. Greenlights. When you're thinking about trying to persuade others, you persuade yourself. Parenting -- When you flip out, they do too. We set the tone. -
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com
Mindful Monday is the best way to start your week. Sign up for free here: https://ryanhawk.kit.com/profile
Bob Stoops was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2016. He led the Sooners to a 191-48 record over his career. His 2000/2001 team won the national championship. He earned the National Coach of the Year award the same season. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach in the XFL, winning an XFL Championship in 2023 with the Arlington Renegades. He played college football at the University of Iowa, earning team MVP his senior year as a defensive back.
Notes:
Coaches Bob has worked for: Hayden Fry at Iowa, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, and Steve Spurrier at Florida. He's worked for some amazing coaches. Relationships are everything. You must connect with people. You must be authentic. Learn from other coaches, but you have to be yourself Sherri Coale: âOne of my favorite things about him is heâs the busiest man on the planet but never appeared that way. Thatâs a skill and an art. That fascinates me.â What makes a great head coach? They relate to people. They care about them. They can motivate and influence by clearly sharing the vision of the program and inspiring others to get on board. They are decisive people. Most importantly, they know how to connect with people. All leadership is a people business. If you canât connect with others, youâll probably struggle. Creating a âcoaches forestâ (beyond a tree) - Mike Stoops, Mark Mangino, Mike Leach, Bo Pelini, Kevin Sumlin, Kevin Wilson, Lincoln Riley, and more. How has Bob prepared so many guys to be successful head coaches? Hiring â âI always tried to hire people smarter than me.â A lot of people say this, but not all do this. Coach Stoops looked for people who had a track record of performance⊠And then he used his gut instincts after he spent time with him. He paid attention to how they treated his secretary, how they treated the waiter at lunch⊠Some call those the little things, but they were very important to Coach Stoops The overarching theme of the entire conversation was the simplicity of how Coach Stoops built his program. He didnât try to overcomplicate anything. He knew he wanted coaches who were accomplished, high-character people. And he wanted tough players who loved football. Their offenses may have looked exotic but they didnât have a ton of plays installed. They focused on what they did and then practiced it relentlessly so that they would execute better than their opponents. I think thereâs something beautiful in the simplicity with how heâs built his program and the results speak for themselves. Great players want to be coached - Jeremiah Smith, Adrian Peterson. What he looked for in players: They have to LOVE football. Need to be tough and physical. Someone like Dan Cody. From Oklahoma, was skinny, and nobody on the staff wanted to give him a scholarship, but Coach Stoops did, and he turned out to be a great player. Liked to keep local guys home. Off-season workouts create the culture of the team. "We won because we outworked everyone." The attitude of the national championship team - "They were tired of being kicked around." And "I shared with them the history of Oklahoma and let them know the way it should be. When we started, they were a losing team." Josh Heupel - The most valuable recruit ever for Coach Stoops. Mike Leach was a 1 of 1. An original. He seemed relaxed and casual, but he was also very demanding that they do it right. He was also focused on just a few plays instead of trying to do everything. FOCUS. Do what we do Wife Carol - Impressive leader at Mary Kay. Won a pink Cadillac 16 years in a row. National Sales Director. Life/Career Advice - Go hard, be tough, be true to yourself, enjoy the struggle, and look forward to the fight. Nothing great happens without going through struggles first. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and all episodes of The Learning Leader Show
Notes:
Brad Thor best selling author of 22 thrillers...
Excellence as a leader⊠What has Brad seen from the military leaders heâs studied: Empathy - Understand what itâs like from their perspective. LISTEN - Care for your people. Actually LISTEN to them and be there. Creativity. Innovate, and think of new creative ways to solve problems. Effective storytelling - Donât start with the weather. Leave out the parts people skip. Donât be boring. This same advice is useful for leaders when communicating with your team. Put yourself in their shoes. How can you most effectively share your message without being boring. The more entertaining it is, the more likely theyâll remember it. Effective storytellers - Plotters (outlines, Dan Brown), Pantsers (write by the seat of your pants). Brad is a pantser. Take the first 4 ideas and throw them out. You need the element of surprise. Create surprise. Be comfortable breaking the rules. Loves Ray Donavon and Billions for the element of surprise "No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader." "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." Brad has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Securityâs Analytic Red Cell Unit. Excellence as a leader (McChrystal) - Empathy, Listen, Creativity. PBL - Problem-Based Learning. John Bettis (country singer). How do you recharge your battery? International travel. Immerse yourself in another culture. Loves politics. Ran for President. Advice for writers â âGotta Keep Writingâ Mary Higgins Clark did it for 2 hours each morning before her family woke up. Whatever it is we want to be great at, we have to get the reps. Consistency beats intensity.00:53 The Art of Storytelling
04:13 Elements of Effective Storytelling
08:26 The Importance of Surprise in Storytelling
11:33 Writing Process and Challenges
20:43 Research and Realism in Writing
27:04 Leadership Lessons from Writing
30:59 The Importance of Open-Mindedness
32:01 Pre-Publishing Feedback Process
35:09 Homeland Security and the Red Cell Unit
39:05 Maintaining Creative Energy
42:38 Political Ambitions and Leadership
50:57 Advice for Aspiring Writers
54:36 The Benefits of Reading Fiction for Leaders
56:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
-
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
Notes:
The Pete and Leona story - What will people say about you at your funeral? "They changed my life and the lives of my entire family." Tough love out of 100% care for you. Be tough AND supportive. Don't lower your standards. High standards. High support. 10 to 25 - Find the right trigger for motivation. Find out what they care about. They need meaning and significance. They want status and earned respect. Are children less afraid of their parents now than they used to be? Dan Gilbert calls this the "illusion of moral decline." It's been happening for 75 years. The Parental Nagging Study - A common tactic adults use to get teens to âpay attention.â Research shows that nagging triggers the emotional part of a teenâs brain, shutting down their ability to think logically. Theyâre not ignoring you on purposeâtheyâre simply wired to tune out. A better way? Speak calmly and neutrally to engage the part of their brain that handles planning and decision-making. This opens the door to real conversation. Satya Nadellaâs Model, Coach, Care philosophy at Microsoft. This is the opposite of Jack Welchâs rank and yank style at GE. Remember, the stack ranking methodology limited innovation and stopped people from taking any type of risk. We want to model the right behavior, coach others, and ensure they know we care for them so they feel the support they need to take risks, sometimes fail, get back up, and work to innovate. Theory X = Rank and yank. It stifled innovation for fear of failure and getting fired. Theory Y = No stack rankings. Built on connecting leaders with their people. Still high standards and demanding. Followed the "Model, Coach, Care" methodology. This is what's happening today at Microsoft. Be a place where people want to work. The Mentor's Dilemma - Stef Okamoto - honest, direct, and supportive. The "mentor's dilemma" refers to the challenge of balancing honest, critical feedback to young people while still maintaining their motivation and self-esteem, as this age group can be particularly sensitive to perceived criticism and may easily feel discouraged or disrespected if not approached carefully; essentially, it's the struggle between pushing someone to improve and potentially damaging their confidence by being too harsh. The mentor mindset: A mentor mindset can be adopted by using practices such as validating young people's perspectives, asking them questions, and holding them to high standards. Questioning â Kate, a mom of two who lives in Chicago, whose oldest son was a sophomore came home one night from a party drunk and high. Kate responded with a combination of yelling and prosecuting⊠She instigated an interrogation and not a two-way conversation. Instead of interrogating, get curious. They had a reason for what they did. Figure out why. What's your plan? Ask questions to get them to own their thinking and share it with you. Advice - Donât accept some perceived path. Be reliable, show up, do the work, and ask for more work. Add surplus value. Whatever youâre being paid, focus on delivering 10x more value. Find a way to do that and your employer will beg to give you a raise and promote you. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
Notes:
Mo Bunnell is the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of seller experts at over 400 clients all over the world.
I wake up every morning looking to help my friends succeed, and some just happen to be clients. â Proactively thinking of ways to add value to others is a great way to build a meaningful life. Our brains think literally. Relationships grow exponentially. Give consistently to grow relationships. Celebrate incremental progress. Mo writes in a journal the growth of himself, his business, and his customers. We all should be better at celebrating incremental progress. Teresa Amabileâs research shows that this leads to a more enjoyable life. August 4, 1984, was a meaningful day for his family. (Dadâs alcoholism. That was the day of his last drink) The difference between doing the work versus winning the work Example: You win the work by asking lots of questions. You do the work giving answers. Every successful career hinges on two things: Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Both delivering value on the current work and developing the relationships that create future opportunities are vital for long-term success. Whether youâre in a new role or want new outcomes, the most powerful results come from prioritizing both Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Ask questions â Mo shares 50+ questions to ask. Ask self-disclosure questions. Those are questions that only that person can answer. Fall in love with the problem. Pronoia â The world is out to help you succeed. People can live in 1 of 3 ways. Drift - Stay busy. Answer emails. Driven - Hyper emphasis on one thing at the detriment of others (triathlon guy) By Design - Write down where you want to be and make a plan to do it. On purpose. Delayed gratification: Weekly planning process Offer 3 proactive change agent ideas Mo is in 5 masterminds Shawn Blanc in Breckenridge. Net givers. MASHUP - His house. Help others. Ask for help. Elite Adventure athletes GivetoGrow.Info MASHUP! Mastermind of Awesome Super Human Unreal People -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and to listen to all episodes of The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Lawrence Yeo is a storytelling teacher and the founder and writer at MoreToThat.com. He writes stories about the nuances of the human condition. Heâs become one of my favorite writers over the past few years and regularly makes me rethink what I believe.
Notes
Envy: Envy is inversely correlated with self-examination. The less you know yourself, the more you look to others to get an idea of your worth. But the more you delve into who you are, the less you seek from others, and the dissolution of envy begins. Curiosity is gratitude for the unknown â âThe key to cultivating curiosity is to have a healthy relationship with uncertainty.â Lawrence is called the L.S.E. by his wife. The Life Story Extractor. Ask More Questions to Those You Love - Itâs quite shocking how few questions you ask when youâre with people youâre comfortable with. If youâre no longer curious to know about the person in front of you (friend, wife, parent), then that relationship is devoid of life. Your Values: Your values are as unique as your genes because no one shares the exact set of experiences and insights that were required to form them. They are the fingerprints of your being, and they are the invisible forces that guide everything you touch. Integrity is the ability to navigate the outer world without discounting your inner values. There is an anchor of authenticity that youâre unwilling to budge, no matter how fervently people want you to.â Confidence is a commitment to trusting your inner compass, despite how strong the outer winds are. If you do the work to know yourself, then youâll realize that no external voice can convey the inner complexities you embody. And through that awareness, youâll reliably choose your intuition above all else. The Problem with Following Your Passion - Ultimately, you canât live off your love for something. It doesnât matter how powerful your inner engine of expression is; without the fuel of money, you will stall out and be left on the side of the road. And like it or not, the only way for this fuel to be provided to you is to create something valuable enough to warrant that exchange. Ambition - Ambition is critical to the development of a healthy mind. Not only does it allow you to know who you truly are, but it also acts as a gateway to humility. Since ambition is about putting the bar ahead of you, youâll understand your shortcomings in a visceral way." Ambition breeds humility. Always setting the bar ahead of where you are. "I'm not quite there yet." âThis email brought me to tears.â -"Hi Lawrence, I just came across your site and love what I am reading. Great insights and reflects a lot of my thoughts lately, like the last 20 years. I'm 72, stage four cancer, and the happiest I've ever been because I have the luxury of being able to examine my life. Best self-help ever. I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing." Writing: 2 types of writing: Writing to think. Writing to present. Journal vs. Diary. Journal is asking why you feel the way you do. A diary is a catalog of what happened. Have a job that acts as a patron for your creative work. Moretothat.com -- There's always something deeper. Advice - Learn storytelling. Consistency is the driving force of your curiosity. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Codie Sanchez is an entrepreneur and investor known for founding Contrarian Thinking, a media and business education company. She has a diverse background, including entrepreneurship, finance, and journalism. Through her book "Main Street Millionaire," she advocates for wealth-building by acquiring small businesses and shares her insights on financial independence and business success. Codie emphasizes practical, contrarian approaches to wealth and leadership.
Notes:
Her dad always said to her: âYouâre not going to be a princess, youâre going to be the presidentâ â Itâs a great reminder of the power we have as leaders to believe in someone and raise their level of expectations because you see something special in them. Codie was glowing while talking about her dad. How Codie earned a job at Vanguard. She went to conferences. She met people. She got IN THE ROOM and took action. And then when she got her opportunity, she led with her curiosity, asked questions from the woman she met with, learned, read the books she told her to read, and followed up. Showing up, doing extra, and following up are a great way to earn a job that you might not be qualified for. How you start and end your meetings. What type of energy do you bring to the space? Remember, you no longer get to be energy-neutral as a leader. Youâre either lifting the room up or taking it away. We want to add energy additives to the rooms we enter. One of Codie's favorite books â Letters to a Young Contrarian by Cristopher Hitchins. âWhat I like about Christopher Hitchens, he pushed back against the common narrative in a time where to be an activist was really frowned uponâ âHe was what the people these days that say they're activists actually are. He really had no loyalty to any type of thought; he was simply trying to find the truth. He was the inspiration for contrarian thinkingâ Career Path â âI donât believe that humans have linear paths ever. Anyone who has had an interesting career in my opinion has had a completely divergent set of experiences. High Performers: They hate small talk. Are not okay with wasting your time. Do what they say theyâre going to do. Do it with urgency. Are obsessed, not just interested. Goal Setting: âIf you want to be a person who hits your goals: Skip setting goals and set sacrifices. What are you willing to give up to get what you want? That is the missing piece to winning. Every one of your goals has a price." Codie's Anti-Goals: Being an employee/work for others, Selling other people's products, Speaking for free, Coffee meetings. The richest self-made woman in the US is⊠Diane Hendricks (co-founded the largest wholesale roofing, siding, and window distribution company). There are billions in the boring. Writing = Clarifying Your Thinking Writing helps Codie think clearly and organize her thoughts. The process of writing demands coherence and structure, unlike verbal communication. 4 Parts to buy a business - Cover debt, Cash to have an operator, Money to make a salary, Operating cash. 3, 9, 12 method - Learn the 10 steps in the first 3 months. Get in on a deal. Stabilize. Boring Businesses - Laundromats, car washes, and port-a-potty services can be very profitable. They are less glamorous but have a higher success rate compared to sexier industries. Advice - Meet with a small business owner. Ask to shadow them. Get curious. 42% of the population works for or in a small business. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.
Books: The Score That Matters, The Pursuit of Excellence, Welcome to Management
Notes:
The Commitment Continuum Resistant Reluctant Existent - Stealing scholarships (sandwich eaters) Compliant - Box checkers Committed - Heart is into it. They do extra. They are bought in. Compelled (Obsessed) - On a mission. Do an audit first of yourself. Where am I on that continuum? And then each member of your team. The goal is to get each member closer to becoming committed and compelled. Team audit - Where is everyone? People can drift down if their needs aren't met. For existent and compliant - Shift mindset to "I get to be here!" For committed and compelled - Keep them challenged. Put them in leadership roles. The art of leadership - Make it easier to move up on the commitment continuum. Walt Disney - The little things are the big things. Jeff experienced this firsthand when he went on a Disney cruise and saw the workers polishing the railings on the cruise ship early in the morning. The same is true for the janitor mopping the floor at NASA. Thereâs a story about President John F Kennedy in 1962. He was at NASA and he asked the janitor what he was doing. The janitor replied, âIâm helping put a man on the moon.â The leader should be praising everyone involved in the mission and celebrate their role and its importance. Holding your teammates accountable - âWeâre not calling you out, weâre calling you up.â The encourager and the enforcer help raise the standards and encourage others to aim higher. Thatâs the role of the leaders on great teams. âWeâre not calling you out, weâre calling you up.â What's our vision? Am I embodying the standards myself? Have we clearly set the standards and got buy-in? "These are the expectations and standards of our program." Performance and behavior metrics Praise people when they meet the standard The best teams practice so much that they can't get it wrong. Team Captain's Leadership Manual. Mike Fox. Can you lead yourself first? Commitment. Composure. When it hits the fan, can you stay poised? Character: Can I trust you? How do we get people excited to be part of the leadership development program? Make it a privilege. They have to apply and get accepted into the program. They "get" to do it. Make it relevant to their lives. Give real-world strategies. The encourager - Calls out great work The enforcer - "We need more from you." The servant - It's not about you or your stats. It's about serving others. The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches Character-based people. They do the right thing. People trust them. Extremely committed to the mission and the team. Competent Care Confidence Builder Communicator (great listener) Consistent -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for the full show notes of The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk.
Eric Jorgenson is the CEO of Scribe Media, the largest Professional Publisher. Heâs also the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness and The Anthology of Balaji. His books have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages.
Notes:
The obsessive genius. Eric likes to invest in founders who have been obsessively trying to solve a problem for years. They are myopically focused on that one thing. They have a depth of expertise in the area where they focus. Eric has developed the skill to get good at recognizing that genius in others and thatâs helped him make good investing decisions. He is an investor in dozens of (borderline crazy) deep-tech startups through Rolling Fun. They fund obsessive geniuses building utopian technologies. Ericâs first 90+ days as the CEO of Scribe: He spent as much time as possible learning from the current members of the team. Leading with curiosity, asking questions, listening, and leading with trust. Being both trustworthy and willing. You donât have to earn my trust, you have it. "Flawless on the Fundamentals" - The one phrase Scribe is focused on. Your content diet: It's more important than a healthy/wellness/food diet. "If you're taking in bad information, you're becoming a moron." You want high-signal sources of information. An audience of 1 - "I wrote that book for myself." Bezos - Great compression of ideas and communicating them to the team. Focused on one thing. Why write a book with Scribe instead of a traditional publisher... You want 100% ownership of your IP We talked in depth about Naval Ravikant and his viral Twitter thread titled, âHow to get rich without getting luckyâ â Here are some of the tweets from that thread: Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy. Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you. Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth-creation games. Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people. Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity. Don't partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling. Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now. Insane and Pragmatic â Great founders are insane and pragmatic. Yes, both. Leverage â How do you build a mountain of levers? (Levers are force multipliers. This is how some people can accomplish 10x, 100x, or 1,000,000x what others can. Leverage can multiply outcomes from your effort, your skill, and your judgment.) âYou can make it big without accountability. You can make it big without specific knowledge. But if you donât have leverage, youâre never going to make real wealth. Leverage is the most important component of the principles Iâve discussed.â - Naval Transformation Through Writing: Writing a book can be a transformative process that deeply embeds certain mental models and knowledge. Interview Process: Engaging with a skilled interviewer can help clarify ideas, which is particularly valuable for busy executives who wish to author books but lack the time to write them themselves. Impact of Books: Books can play unique roles in positioning leaders and sharing knowledge, which is an invaluable tool for personal branding and legacy. Learning from Experts: Eric believes that his talent lies in recognizing and synthesizing the genius of others, which he shares through his books and investments. Professional Growth: Through interacting with talented individuals and absorbing high-quality content, Eric has developed a nuanced understanding of what drives excellence. -
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes
Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3Yrxfj8
Notes
Luck is not real â âLuck is something we conjure in our minds to grapple with the consequences of whatever life may throw our way. Luck is a physiological concept. Itâs determined by how we view a situation. Academic studies show that you can become luckier simply by telling yourself that you are lucky.â Pessimists sound smart, but optimists change the world. Believe in yourself. Have agency. Strive to make something happen. "Luck is the flip side of risk. They are mirrored cousins, driven by the same thing: You are one person in a 7 billion player game, and the accidental impact of other peopleâs actions can be more consequential than your own." - Morgan Housel Surround yourself with compounders and fire your boring friendsâ Being around other ambitious people who are willing to push you will make you better. Strike the balance between being loyal to longtime friends, and doing anything for them, but spending the bulk of your time around people who will push your edges and make you think bigger. Fire your Boring Friends - âIf you are optimizing for living an extraordinaryâ life, you have to fire all the boring friends and find people living extraordinary lives.â You donât get what you donât ask for. I love the story of Anthony meeting his future wife, Polina, for coffee and asking for the next date for that same night. The answer is NO if you donât ask. Itâs worth the potential rejection because the upside is so great. In this case, they got married and have two children. The people who sustain excellence are not afraid to make the ask. Get on the plane -- When in doubt, go see them in person. "Experience is a liability when it comes to setting expectations." Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Not knowing that something is supposed to be hard can be useful. Respect other people's time - âWhen I was playing football in college one of our coaches used to say, â5 minutes early is on time and on time is late.â By respecting other people's time they will realize you are a serious person. Childhood is not a crutch â Don't have a victim mindset to use childhood as a crutch for poor behavior. âItâs easy to use your childhood as a crutch instead of seeing it as a chisel.â - Cameron Hanes Simplicity signals mastery â Tim Urban is the master at this. As a writer and/or teacher, your writing should make the reader feel smarter, not dumber. Using big complicated words and sentences shows that you donât know what youâre talking about. The world seems to separate itself into two groups - the people who never stop learning and everyone else. Document Good Ideas â Ideas run the world. âI created a system that works well for me. I broke everything down into four areas where I could find a good idea. Books, social media, conversations, and audio/video content. Advice: "Seek risk. What is the riskiest thing you can do? The greatest returns are on the other side of risk. Run towards the risk." - Laat meer zien
