The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Latest Episodes:

560: Dr. Barry Posner - Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Encourage Others to Act (The Leadership Challenge) Dec 25, 2023

Show notes

Pre-order our new book, The Score That Matters

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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Dr. Barry Posner, author of The Leadership Challenge and The Truth About Leadership

The 4 characteristics of leaders whom we would most choose to follow:
- Honest (trustworthy, they do what they say they're going to do)
- Competent (Smart, and constantly learning)
- Inspiring - Energetic, enthusiastic. Inspire means to breathe life in to...
- Forward-looking - They have a sense of the future. They share a compelling vision
People all have values, but not everyone knows what they are. To know what our values are, we must be thoughtful and intentional about them and do the reflective work to understand what we value most.
What is Kouzes and Posner's leadership theory? Their research, which they conducted over almost 20 years, suggested that leadership is not a position, but a collection of practices and behaviors. These practices serve as guidance for leaders to accomplish their achievements or "to get extraordinary things done.
The Leadership Challenge – Leaders drive results and achieve goals. To face the obstacles of today and tomorrow, we need leaders at a high level. The Leadership Challenge gives everyone the tools and practices to Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Hearts of those around them.
"In the middle of responding to an audience question one of us was saying, "I don't know what you call something that's been the same for twenty-five years, but…," and Ken Blanchard interrupted, exclaiming, 'I'd call it the truth.'"
The Truth About Leadership
1. The first truth is that You Make a Difference.
2. The second truth is that Credibility Is the Foundation of Leadership. If people don't believe in you, they won't willingly follow you.
3. The third truth is that Values Drive Commitment. People want to know what you stand for and believe in.
4. The fourth truth is that Focusing on the Future Sets Leaders Apart. The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is a defining competence of leaders. You have to take the long-term perspective.
5. You Can't Do It Alone is the fifth truth. Leadership is a team sport…What strengthens and sustains the relationship between leader and constituent is that leaders are obsessed with what is best for others, not what is best for themselves.
6. Trust Rules is the sixth truth. Trust is the social glue that holds individuals and groups together. And the level of trust others have in you will determine the amount of influence you have. You have to earn your constituents' trust before they'll be willing to trust you. That means you have to give trust before you can get trust.
7. The seventh truth is that Challenge Is the Crucible for Greatness. Great achievements don't happen when you keep things the same. Change invariably involves a challenge, and challenge tests you.
8. Truth number eight reminds you that You Either Lead by Example or You Don't Lead at All. Leaders have to keep their promises and become role models for the values and actions they espouse.
9. Truth number nine is that The Best Leaders Are the Best Learners. Leaders are constant improvement fanatics, and learning is the master skill of leadership.
10. The tenth truth is that Leadership Is an Affair of the Heart. It could also be the first truth. Leaders are in love with their constituents, their customers and clients, and the mission that they are serving. Leaders make others feel important and are gracious in showing their appreciation. Love is the motivation that energizes leaders to give so much for others. You just won't work hard enough to become great if you aren't doing what you love.
Credo = Beliefs (credibility)
Leadership is a team sport. You can't do it alone.
- We are all community-made.
The best leaders are the best learners.
Challenge is the crucible for greatness.
Life/Career advice:
- Remain curious
- Ask questions
- Volunteer

559: Marshall Goldsmith - The Power of Executive Coaching, How To Give & Receive Feedback, & Attributes of The Best Leaders (What Got You Here Won't Get You There) Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

Order The Score That Matters NOW. CLICK HERE. In The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values. Offering both descriptive and prescriptive advice and anecdotes, The Score That Matters will help you unlock true fulfillment and happiness by discovering your purpose, identifying your values, creating critical behaviors, and living them faithfully every day in all aspects of your life.

Notes from my conversation with Marshall Goldsmith:

Attributes of the best leaders he's worked with:
- They are courageous, they have humility, and they are disciplined.
Do we all need a coach?
- "I don't know, but if we're honest with ourselves, we all need help. And a coach can be someone to help…"
Happiness and achievement are independent variables.
- I felt we kept going around in circles because I'm a prescriptive thinker and like actionable takeaways. And I feel like Marshall was helping me understand it's more of a mindset.
With a PhD from UCLA, Marshall is a pioneer of 360-degree feedback as a leadership development tool. His early efforts in providing feedback and then following-up with executives to measure changes in behavior were precursors to what eventually evolved as the field of executive coaching.
"Fate is the hand of cards we've been dealt. The choice is how we play the hand."
"Getting mad at people for being who they are makes as much sense as getting mad at a chair for being a chair."
"Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others."
"People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats."
"If we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us."
"A leader who cannot shoulder the blame is not someone we will follow blindly into battle. We instinctively question that individual's character, dependability, and loyalty to us. And so we hold back on our loyalty to him or her."
"Peter Drucker, who said, "Our mission in life should be to make a positive difference, not to prove how smart or right we are."
"People will do something—including changing their behavior—only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values."

558: Introducing Our New Book, "The Score That Matters," (With Brook Cupps) Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

"The big question about how people behave is whether they've got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard." - Warren Buffet – The inner scorecard is about eliminating comparison with others and living in alignment with what's most important to you. Your values and the behaviors to match those values.
- The inner scorecard eliminates the comparison of things.
How to build trust? Laugh together, cry together, suffer together (do hard things).
Resume virtues versus Eulogy virtues. We'll get caught up in living for our resume (promotions, money, objects) if we're not intentional. We think it's better to live for your eulogy virtues (the impact you had on people, fulfilling your purpose, living in alignment with your true values)
Why a strong purpose beats a good plan: we explain how a strong purpose erases obstacles, is never about you, and is highlighted by considering death.
Why being the greatest is a mirage: While greatness is a process that is attainable for all, we share why becoming the greatest is a destination that no one can reach.
How to navigate the tricky art of building trust: Throughout 25 years of teaching and coaching Brook has refined the trust-building process to 3 simple actions every leader can use.
How to fight the poison of comparison: Our focus on a consistent process over the societal pursuit of results seems contradictory to excellence but just may lay the foundation for its attainment.
Why self-awareness is not a solo flight: The feedback we seek from special people in our life, our foxhole, reminds us that we are tougher together.
Why team captains are overrated: Brook connects how the shared ownership of a team is best when all members assume the responsibility of upholding the standards.
How plain and simple can bore you right to excellence: We like to complicate success, but we point back to a consistent return to the fundamentals.
Brook originally learned about creating and living his core values from Coach Dick Bennett's "Pillars of Success."
Brook's values are: Tough, Passionate, Unified, and Thankful.
My values are: Thoughtful, Thankful, Curious, and Consistent.
Foxhole friends are disagreeable givers. They are kind enough to give you honest feedback. And you do the same for them.
Thankful Thursdays
- Send a text message, email, or handwritten note to three people you're thankful for every Thursday.
Push the pace... Full-court pressing and always running a fast break on offense is living up to Brook's value of speaking and acting with urgency (unified).
- How Brook coaches his team to play: "Our anchor defensively is no comfort, no vision. We want you to never be comfortable. And we want the same thing offensively. We say simple and together, but we think of pressing you offensively too. We don't want you to be comfortable. We want you to be on your heels."

557: Hal Elrod - How To Create a Morning Routine That Works For You Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

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

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

The SAVERS acronym – Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing. If you implement that consistently, you'll probably do better.
- 72% of people said they were not a morning person before implementing SAVERS.
The makeup of a great sales professional:
- They are coachable...
- They bring energy and enthusiasm to the job...
- They are consistent. They can handle rejection and keep going. They focus on the process...
Affirmations: First, affirm what you're committed to. Next, why is it a must for you, and finally, affirm the specific actions you will take and when. That's how you bring affirmations to life…
Hal died for 6 minutes, broke 11 bones, suffered permanent brain damage, and was told by doctors that he would never walk again. Then, at age 37, he nearly died again when his heart, lungs, and kidneys were on the verge of failing, and he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer.
"Any time you find yourself "wishing" you were further along than you are, or comparing where you are with where someone else is, keep in mind that when you finally get to point you've been working towards for so long, you never wish it would have happened any sooner. Instead, you see that the journey and the timing are perfect. So be at peace with where you are while maintaining a healthy sense of urgency to make the consistent progress each day that will ensure you get to wherever it is that you want to go. "
"Those who only do what they feel like, don't do much. To be successful at anything you must take action even when you don't feel like it, knowing it is the action itself that will produce the motivation you need to follow through."
"It's temporary. Tolerate it, accept it, embrace it, or enjoy it. Whatever it is, just know that it is temporary."
"The moment you accept 100% responsibility for EVERY aspect of your life is the moment that you claim the power to change ANY aspect of your life. I think where people get caught up with this is when someone else is to blame for a situation. But understand that accepting responsibility is NOT the same as accepting blame. While blame determines who is at fault for something, responsibility determines who is committed to improving a situation. It really doesn't matter who was at fault; all that matters is that YOU are committed to improving and creating the circumstances you want for your life, regardless of who is at fault. That's what taking responsibility is all about."

556: Morgan Housel - A Guide To Human Behavior, Telling Great Stories, Becoming a Reasonable Optimist, Writing Advice, Mr. Beast, & What Never Changes Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

"Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what's happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works."
- "All behaviors make sense with enough information."
The best story wins: Good stories have an extraordinary ability to inspire and evoke positive emotions, bringing insight and attention to topics that people tend to ignore when they've previously been presented with nothing but facts.
- Stories are more powerful than statistics. And most statistics are incomplete props to justify a story. Stories are easier to remember, easier to relate to, and emotionally persuasive.
Progress requires optimism and pessimism to coexist: A rational optimist. - Save like a pessimist and invest like an optimist. - Plan like a pessimist and dream like an optimist.
"It's supposed to be hard." – Everything worth pursuing comes with a little pain. The trick is not minding it hurts.
It's impossible to plan for what you can't imagine. - Invest in preparedness, not in prediction. - Realize that if you're only preparing for the risks you can envision, you'll be unprepared for the risks you can't see every single time.
Fostering envy vs. admiration. Are you creating envy by what you post on social media?
- "People admire you when you are pursuing something, not when you have it."
Reasonable Optimists: Once people believe in a better future – for themselves and others – they become willing to take risks, work hard, sacrifice near-term comfort, delay gratification, and cooperate with others, all of which are the raw ingredients of economic and social progress.
- A realistic optimist is someone who knows that what happens in any given day, month, or year will be surprising, disappointing, difficult, and mostly out of your control. But they know with equal confidence that what happens in any given decade or generation is likely to be pretty good, bending heavily toward progress.
- The reasonable optimist expects the world to break all the time. But they know – as a matter of faith – that if they can survive the day-to-day fractures they'll capture the up-and-to-the-right arc over time.
Writing: I think "know your audience" can be dangerous advice for writers. Write stuff you yourself find interesting and entertaining. Writing for yourself is fun, and it shows. Writing for others is work, and it shows.
If you're efficient, you're doing it the wrong way (Jerry Seinfeld micro-managed everything about his show). Counterintuitive. Highlights the dangers of shortcuts.
Be careful what you wish for: A carefree and stress-free life sounds wonderful only until you recognize the motivation and progress it prevents. Hardship is the most potent fuel of problem-solving. And what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal.
Read less news and more books. If you read good books, you'll have an easier time figuring out what you should pay attention to. (News isn't timeless. Good books are)
Writing: People don't remember books, blogs, or articles. They remember sentences. That should be your goal: a collection of memorable sentences. One good line is infinitely more powerful than a few clumsy paragraphs.
Mr Beast tells aspiring YouTubers to make 100 videos and he'll give them feedback and advice. 2 things happen. 98% never get close and give up. The 2% who do, no longer need his help.
People use success as an indication of what to keep doing. But most success plants the seeds of its own demise, so what people think works and try to copy is always changing.
Keep running - There is never a time when an investor can discover an investing strategy and be confident it will continue working indefinitely. The world changes, and competitors create their own little twist that exploits and snuffs out your niche. Same with careers, job skills, relationships, and countries. It's hard to accept that you have to put in a ton of work just to stay in one place, but that's how it works. Keep running.
Acceptable Flaws -- Short-term thinking is the root of most of our problems in business, investing, and politics. But I get why it happens. It has to happen. Short-term thinking can be the only way you'll survive long enough to experience long-term results. It's an acceptable flaw.
Useful Biases -- Reasonable ignorance – intentionally limiting your diligence in order to avoid decision paralysis in a world where everything, if you dig deep enough, is more complicated than it seems. (the paradox of choice).
Progress happens too slowly for people to notice; setbacks happen too fast for people to ignore.
"Stop telling kids they can be whatever they want to be. You can be whatever you're good at, as long as they're hiring. And even then it helps to know someone." -- Chris Rock
A good test when reading the news is to constantly ask, "Will I still care about this story in a year? Two years? Five years?"
"Money buys happiness in the same way drugs bring pleasure: incredible if done right, dangerous if used to mask a weakness, and disastrous when no amount is enough."
"I'm not interested in anything that's not sustainable. Friendships, investing, careers, podcasts, reading habits, exercise habits... If I can't keep it going, I'm not interested in it."
"I know people who have a lot of money, and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age and nobody thinks well of you, I don't care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster."

555: Shane Parrish - Raising Your Standards, The Difference Between Nice & Kind Feedback, The Inner vs. Outer Scoreboard, & Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results (Clear Thinking) Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

The power of believing in someone. Mr. Duncan, Shane's high school English teacher was the first person to tell him that he believed in him. He changed the trajectory of Shane's life. We, as leaders, can do that for others. Let's proactively look for opportunities to tell the people we're leading that we believe in them.
The difference between Nice and Kind feedback. Too often, the people we ask for feedback are nice but not kind. Kind people will tell you things a nice person will not. A kind person will tell you that you have spinach on your teeth. A nice person won't because it's uncomfortable. A kind person will tell us what holds us back, even when it's uncomfortable. A nice person avoids giving us critical feedback because they're worried about hurting our feelings.
Champions: "Champions don't create the standards of excellence. The standards of excellence create champions." "Expecting high performance is a prerequisite to its achievement among those who work with you. Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite."
The USS Benfold — was one of the worst-performing warships in the US Navy in 1996. The destiny of the USS Benfold changed the day Michael Abrashoff was named commander.
Shane was 13 years old. Shane was standing with a group of his friends after school and they were teasing one of his classmates and he was watching. Teachers intervened and it ended quickly. He didn't realize that your dad was parked nearby and was watching. You have to stand up for people who don't have a voice.
Warren Buffett: "The big question about how people behave is whether they've got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard."
Brent Beshore: "My favorite part of the book was the section on habits, rules, and safeguards (page 101). A principle that Shane and I discussed in January changed my life and was expounded on in the book. Shane said, "It's impossible to work out very often if you have to decide every day whether or not you'll do it. That's why I just do something active every day, no matter what."
Solutions/Ego: "Solutions appear when you stop bargaining and start accepting the reality of the situation. That's because focusing on the next move, rather than how you got here in the first place, opens you up to a lot of possibilities. When you put outcome over ego, you get better results."
"Small plans don't inspire, but consistently small actions create incredible results."
Knowing Your Defaults:
- The emotion default - We tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts
- The ego default - We tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy
- The social default - We tend to conform to the norms of our larger social group.
- The Inertia default - We're habit-forming and comfort-seeking. We tend to resist change, and to prefer ideas, processes, and environments that are familiar.
Ancient Greek word — Phronesis— the wisdom of knowing how to order your life to achieve the best results.
Life/Career advice: "I'd give the same advice to someone who's trying to find someone to marry. Go on lots of dates. Experiment. Do stuff. Get out in the world. You can only connect the dots looking backward."
If you want to develop good judgment, start by asking two questions:
- What do I want in life?
- And is what I want actually worth wanting?

554: Tim Urban - Becoming a High-Rung Thinker, Being The Boss of The Ideas In Your Own Head, Writing Wait But Why, & The Best Advice He's Ever Received Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

How can I become a high-rung thinker?
- High-rung thinking is independent thinking, leaving you free to revise your ideas or even discard them altogether. On the low rungs, it means you're working to dutifully serve your ideas, not the other way around.
How can I be the boss of the ideas in my own head?
- When you're the boss of the ideas in your head, you're always willing to revise them. When there's no amount of evidence that will change your mind about something, it means that idea is your boss. Humility is the awareness that no idea is worthy of being your boss.
Best advice Tim has ever received:
- "I met Chris Anderson, the head of TED, in 2015. He had read a few WBW posts and offered me the opportunity to give a TED Talk at the 2016 conference (which was six months away). Immediately full of both gratitude/excitement and dread/anxiety, I asked him if it might be better to wait a couple years until I had some more speaking experience. He paused thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, "There's no time like the present." I took his advice. Since then, his voice saying those words has popped into my head again and again during hard decisions, and I'm yet to regret following them."
  - Great advice is sometimes great because it's totally original or framed in an original way. But, as in my story, a well-known platitude, at the perfect moment, can also make a huge impact. What makes Chris's advice so valuable to me wasn't that it was something new—it was that the lesson I learned from taking the advice in that particular moment turned a cliché into a mantra.
No one "builds a house." They lay one brick again and again and again and the end result is a house. A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away.
"If I aired a highlight reel of your most selfish life moments and most shameful thoughts, you'd seem like an awful person. If I aired a reel of your best, kindest moments, you'd seem like a saint. But people aren't highlight reels, and the unedited cut is always a messy mix!"
Kids Asking WHY? When kids repeatedly ask "why?" they're trying to see the underlying reasoning behind what they're told by authorities. "Because I said so" rejects that instinct and says "stop reasoning and obey." We then become adults who only know how to trust authorities other than ourselves.
High Rung Thinking:
- Rung 1 - Thinking like a Scientist. When you're thinking like a scientist, you start at point A and follow evidence wherever it takes you.
- Rung 2 - Thinking like a sports fan. They want the game played fairly, but they really want the process to yield a certain outcome.
- Rung 3 - Thinking like an attorney. When you think like an attorney, you start from point B. The client is not guilty. Now let's figure out why. They cherry-pick evidence and piece it together to make an argument that leads where you want it to.
- Rung 4 - Thinking like a zealot. Their ideas aren't rugged experiments to be kicked around, they're fragile, precious babies to be adored and protected. The zealot doesn't have to go from A to B to know their viewpoints are correct– they just know they are. With 100% conviction.
Life/Career advice: "I'd give the same advice to someone who's trying to find someone to marry. Go on lots of dates. Experiment. Do stuff. Get out in the world. You can only connect the dots looking backward."

553: Eric Potterat - Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World's Top Performers (Learned Excellence) Nov 13, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

"Amateurs focus on outcome. Professionals focus on process." And if you want to change the process, focus on just one change at a time. He used the fly fishing analogy. You don't change all three at once. Try one change and re-evaluate.
I love the idea of creating a personal checklist for yourself much like pilots fill out every time before they fly a plane. We should all create our checklist and fill it out consistently. This is a great tool to become more self-aware.
Top performers have a thirst for feedback in victory and defeat. The leaders who sustain excellence over time are intentional about surrounding themselves with a kitchen cabinet who is there to regularly provide feedback so that they can iterate and improve. That's one of the biggest differences between those who sustain excellence over time and those who don't.
Goal Setting
- 34%-42% chance of hitting a goal if you ideate it
- 62% chance of hitting a goal if you write it down
- 75% chance of hitting a goal if you verbally share it with others
Eric developed a psychological "resilience" test that when combined with data on the candidate's physical characteristics became a very good predictor of who would fail BUD/S (97%).
While working with the Navy SEALs in San Diego, Eric frequently had guests come to observe the SEALs and how they worked. A lot of them were professional athletes like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, and many more… While there, Eric asked to interview them. Over time he was able to build an extensive knowledge base of the mental approaches of the world's top performers.
"If your brain is firing, it's wiring." Learned from downhill skiers...
Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
- They accelerate what they value. They move from reputation to identity. They worry less about what others think.
  - One of the biggest regrets of people on their deathbed is that they regret what they didn't do.
  - Capitlize now to have no regrets later.
  - Create a credo (your identity)
- Mindset
  - They have a growth mindset (instead of a fixed mindset)
  - They are thirsty for feedback (they want feedback in victory and defeat)
  - Eric is agnostic about motivations - Clean fuel vs Dirty fuel
  - They have different mindsets for the roles they play
  - Think of yourself as a dimmer switch -- Sometimes you're white hot, sometimes you need to dim down
- Efficient and Consistent
  - They manage their time well
  - They sleep 8 hours
  - They don't let life dictate what's important to them.
  - Time = Currency. Block time for what's most important. Color code your calendar.
- Adversity Tolerance
  - They control their human stress response
  - They have a pre and post-performance routine
  - They set goals
  - They use visualization tools
  - They compartmentalize well
  - They use positive self-talk (they believe)
  - They are good contingency planners
  - They have high levels of self-awareness
  - Like a pilot, they have checklists for themselves
- Balance and Recovery
  - The more balanced, the more productive
  - Feed all of your pillars
    - Work
    - Health
    - Relationships
    - Hobbies
    - Spirituality
    - Legacy
Leadership role "Must-Haves"
- Emotional Intelligence - "Feel for a room"
- Empathy - Put our own perspective aside to understand others
- Curiosity - A desire to learn, to know more

552: Brian Johnson - How To Activate Your Heroic Potential, Develop Charisma, Become Intrinsically Motivated, Build Emotional Stamina, & Live With Arete Nov 06, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

Charisma: Presence, Power, and Warmth - Show up, be fully there. In that moment with the person in front of you. Flip the switch. Understand your power. And deeply care for others. Be warm, not cold. And it's important that each of these is expressed with authenticity. That's how to develop more charisma.
How to develop our protocol - A simple exercise. Get a sheet of paper. On one side write "DO." On the other side, write "DON'T." Think of yourself at your best, what do you do? That's your protocol. And remember that the worse you feel, the more committed you need to be to your protocol
It's always day one. Brian thinks of his time spent with the Navy SEALs. They work to earn their trident every single day. Today is the day. It's always the right day to earn it. It's always day 1.
Arete – An ancient Greek word. We translate it into English as 'virtue' or 'excellence,' but it has a deeper meaning. Something closer to 'expressing the best version of yourself moment to moment to moment.'
Inter-leaving - The basic idea is simple: If you want to learn something, you're better off varying your practice rather than grooving one identical rep after another.
Epictetus - One of his students took great lecture notes and captured his wisdom in a manual called the Enchiridion. The Greek word for Enchiridion is translated as "handbook," and it's important to note that the word literally means "within" + "hand."
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation – Which motivation leads to greater levels of happiness and flourishing? Why? It's why people who get to the peak of what David Brooks calls the "First Mountain" look around and wonder why they don't feel fulfilled. They got all the stuff they were told would make them happy and… they're not.
Phil Stutz wrote the Foreword – Practice comprised of unusual people. "They refuse to be defined by any single accomplishment. Their Identity is based on a process of endless possibility. They don't stop creating."
- Two primary obstacles getting in our way are fear and laziness. This comes from Phil Stutz...
AM and PM Bookends – "Get these right and you're 80% there."
Targeted thinking - What do I want? What's needed to get that done?
Consistency - "Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say."
Unshakeable confidence -- Anti-fragile confidence. You have intense trust that you have what it takes to respond.
Anti-Fragility - The more life kicks you around, the better you get.
Emotional stamina - The worse you feel, the more committed you are to your protocol.
Protocol - Think of yourself at your best... What are you doing?
Hero - An ancient Greek word for protector
- Get clear on your identity
- Sleep, meditate, work out, work, love
Pilots have checklists before they fly a plane... We should use one too each day.
Create your "Do" and "Don't" list
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation -- Deepend relationships, help in your community, focus on your eulogy virtues today...
Hire a coach... We all need a coach
- A great coach has believable hope, they see your potential

551: Greg Harden - How To Control The Controllables and Stay Sane in an Insane World (Tom Brady's Mentor) Oct 29, 2023

Show notes

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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

Greg Harden is best known for working with 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. He also worked with Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard, and 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Brady, Howard, and other athletes credit Harden with inspiring them to overcome obstacles and achieve success in their professional and personal lives. He's the author of Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive. The book debuted at #1 on all of Amazon and is a New York Times bestseller.

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The Learning Leader Show

"You need to become the world's greatest expert on one subject. Yourself." We need to do the work to better understand who we are, what we're scared of, why we say the things to ourselves that we do, and how to improve. It's hard, but very necessary work. And the fun part about it is it never ends…
Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about facing your fears. It's about turning that fear into fire and passion. For people to say that they are fearless… That isn't realistic. We all have fears. It's about how we handle them and the courage we show in the face of fear.
Commonalities of people who sustain excellence: commitment to continuous improvement, humble, hungry, coachable, and they continue to push. They are driven and it never stops.
"My real obsession is to convince an individual that they have to determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves."
Control the controllables... "Tom Brady turned his haters into a source of motivation."
"Surrender the ego."
Do a SWOT analysis on yourself:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
Identify 2-3 people in your life that you trust to also do a SWOT analysis on you...
- Miles Miller had a boss who fired him and an ex-girlfriend do a SWOT analysis on him and it was one of the most useful that Greg had ever seen...
Create an accountability partner for yourself
Identify self-defeating attitudes, behaviors, and language you use. They can sabotage you.
Self-Talk:
- We all talk to ourselves. We need to change the internal dialogue from negative to positive.
"The greatest competition is between your ears."
Mastery:
- Capture your negative self-talk on paper. You'll be surprised how much you do it and how it impacts you.
Instead of beating yourself up about it, be amused by it. Be critically conscious of it though...
Separate the behavior from the person... It's not, "You're a bad person." It's, "You made a poor choice."
Public speaking:
- Understand your audience and what they need to hear
- Memorize your first 2 minutes cold
There is a thin line between anxious and excitement... "Turn your feat into fire and passion."
"Courage is not about not having fear. Courage is about facing your fears."
"Practice, train, repeat. Practice, train, repeat."
Hiring leaders:
- "See how they deal with uncertainty. Bring extra people into the room. Create an environment that isn't what they expected. See how they respond."
Life/Career advice:
- "If you had to work and not get paid, what would you do? The pursuit of purpose is half of the fun."
Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle

Resources:

Read: The Pursuit Of Excellence
Read: WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT
Be part of "Mindful Monday" -- Text HAWK to 66866
Read: Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

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