The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
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663: Priya Parker - The Art of Gathering with Purpose: Power, Preparation, Magical Questions, and the Psychology of Bringing People Together
24 november 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
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My guest: Priya Parker is a master facilitator, conflict resolution expert, and author of the bestselling book The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. Priya has spent decades facilitating difficult conversations in boardrooms, communities, and conflict zones. In this conversation, she reveals the mechanics of meaningful gathering and why most of us are doing it wrong.
Key Learnings
A facilitator is interested in the life of a group. I think of facilitation as working with people who are interested in the infrastructure of three or more people who need to come together and are ideally changed for the better by what transpires between them. A facilitator thinks deeply about how to set up the conditions to increase the likelihood that transformation happens.
Great facilitators are obsessed with language. There's listening to make someone feel heard, but the difference between green facilitators and seasoned ones is an obsession and ability to hear, recall, and play with language. You have to understand what people are actually saying and be able to reflect it back in ways that unlock new meaning.
Understanding power is essential to facilitation. You need to know how decisions are being made, who is talking more than others, when to allow for that, and what your own relationship is to holding the group. When do you shut up? When do you pull people out? When do you push back? All of this is fundamentally about understanding power dynamics.
I'm a third-generation ostrich. On both sides of my family, when conflict arises, we stick our heads in the sand. Nothing to se…
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662: Nicholas Thompson - The Atlantic CEO on Growing Up With a "Precariously Insecure" Genius Father, Hiring Leaders with an Edge, How Running Builds Discipline, and Why Moving at an Uncomfortable Pace Built a Million-Subscriber Media Empire
17 november 2025 · 59 min
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My guest: Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic and former editor-in-chief of WIRED. He's the author of the best-selling book (and one of my favorites of the year), The Running Ground. Nick shares why great leaders must balance being decisive with staying open to being wrong, how to build teams that challenge your thinking without creating chaos, and why the most important skill for the next decade is knowing what questions only humans can answer.
Key Learnings
Consistency Over Intensity Creates Results - If you go out there every day, six or seven days a week, and a couple days you push yourself really hard, you get faster. There's no two ways about it. If you don't do that, you don't get faster. It's a very good reminder that you can get a lot done if you just go and allot time to pushing yourself.
Recommendation letter written by the Stanford faculty about Nick's dad to be a Rhodes Scholar: "Scotty Thompson is the kind of young man that comes along only once in approximately ten years. I cannot recall ever having known a student who possessed the same combination of intelligence, creativity, energy, drive, and dedication. He has attempted more, achieved more, than anyone we have studied– including some who now hold high office. He is generally conceded among those who have observed the student body since World War II to be the outstanding leader of the era. I think it likely that in the entire history of Stanford campus life, he has had no near rival since Herbert Hoover as an undergraduate."
Also about Nick's Dad: Tracy Bennett, one of his graduate students, said, "He was flamboyant, gently endearing, annoyingly arrogant, piercingly intelligent, enter…
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661: Suzy Welch - How to Identify Your Core Values, Close the Authenticity Gap, and Live with Purpose
10 november 2025 · 57 min
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My Guest: Suzy Welch is known for co-founding the Jack Welch Management Institute and writing bestsellers like 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea. Her career includes roles as an editor-in-chief for Harvard Business Review, a crime reporter, and a professor. She teaches at NYU and is the best-selling author of Becoming You.
Key Learnings
Purpose Requires Realism, Not Just Passion - Everyone wants to be the drummer in Disturbed, but that guy's good at drumming. My whole methodology is about realism. You have to know what your values are, what your interests are, but you better be good at it or forget it. Otherwise, it's a hobby.
Values Are Choices, Not Virtues - Most people confuse values and virtues. Virtues are things like integrity, courage, and thankfulness... Behaviors we all should have more of. Values are choices about how you want to live, work, and relate. It's a value if it would drive who you married, what job you took, and where you went on vacation.
There are 16 Measurable Values - Values exist on a continuum like a DNA profile. Scope reflects how exciting a life you want. Radius is how much you want to change the world systemically. Belovedness is how important an intimate relationship is to you. Work centrism is whether you love work for work's sake or if it's just a means to an end.
Men Over 32 Value Romantic Relationships Most - We just got data showing that for men over the age of 32, belovedness is their number one value. It's much lower for women. Only 50% of people have family centrism in their top five values—we assume everyone shares our values, but they don't.
Your Authenticity Gap Reveals Your Pain - You could hold the value of scope as…
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660: James Clear (Live at Ohio University!) - The Four Laws of Behavior Change, Systems vs Goals, Building Better Habits, Mastering the Two-Minute Rule, Having a Great Marriage, & The Plateau of Latent Potential
3 november 2025 · 1 uur 19 min
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This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one 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 has the hustle and grit to deliver.
My guest: James Clear is the author of one of the most influential books of our generation, Atomic Habits. He's sold over 25 million copies worldwide and has helped millions of people transform their lives through the power of small changes. We brought the podcast to the campus of Ohio University, where we recorded live in front of 250 of the most impressive college students I've ever met.
Notes:
I loved the Morgan Housel moment - It was cool to see James' reaction to it (you can watch it on YouTube.com/RyanHawk). Morgan said, "I have absolutely not a single cell of envy for him. Because he is the nicest guy you will ever meet. You will not meet a nicer human than James Clear. You will not meet someone as successful as he is and as humble as he is. He is a saint in my life. And because of that, I adore every bit of this guy, so I cannot envy him. I am just inspired by his success, full stop." We should all strive to be that for the people in our lives.
Your WHO - "Every opportunity in life comes through a person. Relationships are usually the most important thing. If you want to achieve more, there is a relationship that can unlock better results. If you want to make a meaningful contribution, helping others is a great way to do it. If you sim
Willpower – 'People with tremendous self-control aren't that different from those who struggle. They're simply better at structuring their lives in a way that doesn't require heroic willpower.' It's not about determination, it's about design. That's liberating.
Fall in Love with the Process - "When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don't have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. Yo…
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659: Derek Sivers - Not Waiting for Permission, Hell Yeah or No, Leadership Lessons From The Dancing Guy, & Why The Standard Pace is for Chumps
27 oktober 2025 · 56 min
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This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one 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 has the hustle and grit to deliver.
My Guest: Derek Sivers is the founder of CD Baby and author of "Hell Yeah or No" and "Useful Not True." He shared how he graduated from Cal Berkeley in two years instead of four because the "standard pace for chumps" - a lesson that shaped his entire career of institutional skepticism and unconventional thinking. From creating viral shipping emails to understanding why explorers make bad leaders, Derek shares why being busy means being out of control, how your first thought is an obstacle to your best work, and why you can't predict what the world will want from you until you try everything and listen closely to what it's telling you.
Notes:
No Speed Limit – Most things are paced so the slowest person can keep up. If you're driven and motivated, you can go so much faster than the standard pace. I graduated from Berkeley in two years by learning four semesters of harmony in one hour. "The standard pace is for chumps. You can do so much better than that."
Question the Standard Process – When someone says you must go through usual channels or something will take a certain time, assume there's probably a hack. Develop institutional skepticism - there's usually a better way than how most people do it.
Create Opportunities, Don't Wait for Them – You don't have to wait until a company is hiring. If you can see how to benefit them, walk in and show them what you can do for free first. Alan Tepper made Warner Brothers more money than anyone that year by just showing up with a plan.
Make Everything Valuable to Others – The starving artist spends all their time on work valuable to them but not to others. Use money as a neutral measure - if you can make money with your art…
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658: Dave Berke - From Top Gun to Extreme Ownership: Managing Ego, Building Humility, Emotional Detachment, Agile Planning, and Leading Teams Through Chaos
20 oktober 2025 · 1 uur
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one 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 has the hustle and grit to deliver. www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
My guest: Dave Berke is a retired US Marine Corps Officer, TOPGUN Instructor, and now a leadership instructor and speaker with Echelon Front, where he serves as Chief Development Officer. As a F/A-18 pilot, he deployed twice from the USS John C Stennis in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent three years as an Instructor Pilot at TOPGUN where he served as the Training Officer, the senior staff pilot responsible for the conduct of the TOPGUN course.
Notes:
July 2001: Plans Don't Survive Contact - Dave's Top Gun graduation exercise as flight lead. Wingman yells, "Showtime one-one break right!" - an F-5 snuck into formation. Dave was staring at the radar instead of looking out, had to fall out of formation, and ended up at the back instead of leading from the front. Mission successful, but nothing like he planned. Dave: "The outcome was still really good... except it was nothing like I thought it was going to be." Lesson: You're planning for the success of the outcome, not how you're going to do it.
The most important attribute in a leader is humility. To be effective, you must be able to listen, learn, be flexible, and admit you're wrong sometimes. One of the biggest issues they deal with when working with leaders is ego and/or the inability to be humble. As leaders, we need to be self-aware enough to realize when our ego is getting the best of us. And surrounding ourselves with people who will help us know when that is happening as well.
Be Fluid with Plans, Deliberate with Outcomes - Be really fluid and loose with plans, but deliberate about aligning the team o…
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657: Helen Lewis - Why Genius Is a Myth, Edison Needed Teams, Self-Promoters Are Overrated, Conspiracy Theories, Shakespeare Needed Luck, and How To Build an Excellent Career
13 oktober 2025 · 58 min
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This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one 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 has the hustle and grit to deliver.
My Guest: Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of The Genius Myth: Great Ideas Don't Come from Lone Geniuses.
Notes:
Shakespeare: Talent + Luck + Timing - William Shakespeare died in 1616 at age 52, celebrated but not yet immortal. His icon status required massive luck: friends published the First Folio (saving King Lear), then 50 years later, Charles II reopened England's theaters after Puritan closures and needed content. Companies turned to Shakespeare's IP, adapting his work (including changing tragedies to happy endings). Helen: "If anyone deserves to be called a genius, it's him. But he died as a successful man of his age.
Scenius Over Genius - Brian Eno coined "scenius" - places that are unusually productive and creative. Shakespeare moved from Warwickshire to London for the theaters and playwrights. Helen: "You don't just have to be Leonardo, you also need Florence... Where do you find the coolest, most interesting bleeding edge of your field?" Modern example: Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership in Austin created an alternative to LA/NYC for comedians like Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe. Ryan: "Put yourself in rooms where you feel like the dumbest person... force you to rise up, think differently, work harder."
Tim Berners-Lee vs. Elon Musk - Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. Has knighthood, lives an ordinary life, kids named Alice and Ben. Most people have never heard of him. Elon Musk has a lot of children, talks about his genes needing to live on, and lives a very public life. Helen: "We overrate the self-promoters, the narcissists. We demand oddness and specialness... We don't call modest people geniuses because they're to…
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656: Dakota Meyer - Medal of Honor, The Battle of Ganjgal, Leadership Under Fire, The Loyalty Question, and What America Needs Right Now
6 oktober 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
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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
Guest: Dakota Meyer, a United States Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient. At just 21 years old, Dakota's actions during the Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan saved many lives when he repeatedly went against his orders and drove into a Taliban ambush zone to rescue trapped soldiers. He became the first living Marine in more than 40 years to receive the Medal of Honor. Today, he's a firefighter, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. Dakota is dedicated to developing leaders who can handle crisis and complexity. In our conversation, you'll hear why Dakota believes his most heroic day was actually his greatest failure, what he was feeling the day he received the Medal of Honor from President Obama, and his practical blueprint for bringing our divided country together.
Notes:
The Three-Phase Life Cycle - Dakota's framework for wisdom: "You have an obstacle you face. You have to get through that obstacle and become better from it. And then the third piece is you have to share how you got through that obstacle."
Leadership vs. Responsibility - "Leaders are just people too. You can lead from anywhere in an organization... Leadership comes in many forms." True leadership means choosing where your loyalty lies - with the people you're responsible for or with protecting your own position.
September 8th, 2009: Leadership Failure - Dakota frames his Medal of Honor actions as "an absolute story of leadership failure at its best" - multiple levels of leaders avoiding responsibility while he went against orders to save his teammates.
The Loyalty Question - "Where does their…
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655: Morgan Housel - The Simple Formula For Happiness, Betting on Others, Gaining Independence & Purpose, Family Vacation Secrets, The Art of Spending Money, & The Death Bed Lesson Every Leader Needs to Hear
29 september 2025 · 57 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Morgan Housel is the New York Times Bestselling author of The Psychology of Money, Same As Ever, and The Art of Spending Money. His books have sold over 10million copies and have been translated into more than 60 languages.
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:
Morgan dedicated The Art of Spending Money to "Kellie the Unicorn" (his sister Kellie) after she was diagnosed with colon cancer and asked him to fulfill her long-running joke request. Sometimes book dedications "mean nothing to the reader, but they can mean everything to the author."
People Who Bet on You - Brian Richards (Motley Fool boss) bet on Morgan when he didn't have to, providing unconditional support for a mediocre college writer. Craig Shapiro (Collaborative Fund) pursued Morgan for months to join his tiny VC firm as a full-time blogger when it wasn't a business necessity.
What money can't buy - Morgan once heard a story from a priest that he'll never forget… It's from a priest who delivers the last rites in hospitals. He described the difference between what kids say to their parents when they're about to die. The priest tells them to tell their parents what they're most grateful for… In families with lots of problems, the kids usually talk about something that costs money. In the best families, the ones with solid relationships, the kids say the same thing every time. "Thank you for believing in me."
Making vs. Spending Money - "There are literally tens of thousands of books written on how to make money... There are virtually no books written about how to spend money." Most people assume spending needs no guidance, but wealthy people often demonstrate this isn't true.
The Internal …
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654: Jake Tapper - The Most Important Leadership Skill, Handling Criticism, Chasing Your Curiosity, Understanding Tradeoffs, Responding to Rejection, and Being So Good They Can't Ignore You
22 september 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
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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
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Guest: Jake Tapper is an award-winning broadcaster and chief Washington correspondent, currently anchoring The Lead with Jake Tapper every day on CNN. He's also the #1 New York Times best-selling author of 7 books, including The Outpost (which was later made into a movie), Original Sin, and most recently Race Against Terror.
Notes:
Be So Good They Can't Ignore You. Jake: I'm in control of how hard I work. It is our responsibility to work so hard that we become the obvious choice for the job or the promotion. Be So Good They Can't Ignore You. "I had to be so good that even though maybe on a broadcasting level I wouldn't be the number one pick... they had to give it to me."
The one leadership skill that is massively important to develop… Don't insulate yourself with "yes" people. You have to have truth tellers in your life. Who are your foxhole friends? Who are the people who are willing and able to tell you the truth? Who are the ones who love you and care about you enough to let you know when you've messed up? Those people are gold. We all need them.
Rejection: Dr. Seuss was rejected by 47 publishers. Rejection is part of life. You have to stay in the game for a chance to win it. Keep going. And nobody will give you a job to be nice. What value do you bring to a company? How will you make your boss's life better? You get hired to solve a problem, not because someone wants to be nice.
Pinned tweet since 2017 – "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." -- George Orwell. A reminder to see obvious truths being obscured by spin or wishful thinking.
"You Can Always …
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653: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy - Becoming a CEO, Transforming a Company, Earning the Promotion, Knowing Your Non-Negotiables, & Hiring Excellent Leaders
15 september 2025 · 58 min
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Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is the CEO of Xero. Xero is a cloud-based accounting software designed for small businesses. They did $2.1 billion in revenue last year. Over the past 25 years, Sukhinder has had leadership roles at Google, Amazon, and StubHub.
Notes:
Key Learnings
Strategic CEO Job Search Criteria – Sukhinder had four non-negotiables: macro tailwinds/good market, customer she could be passionate about, strong business model, and a role where she could "learn for miles" for 5-8 years. Only two companies met her criteria in 18 months of searching.
"Sell, Interview, Sell" Hiring Process – First meeting is 50% selling the opportunity to attract top talent. Only after candidates lean in do you shift to intensive interviewing with leadership team exposure.
The Virtuous Cycle Framework – Customer at the top, supported by "high purpose, high performance, high people" culture. "It's an 'and,' not an 'or'" - you don't get to choose just one element.
Back-Channeling is Critical – Reference checking happens throughout the entire interview process, not just at the end. "The most important thing is not just front channel... it's all the back channel."
Values Alignment Over Pure Qualifications – "Go where my values fit and my strengths are valued." Cultural fit becomes the deciding factor in close hiring calls, not competence.
The Layoff Leadership Test – Six weeks after joining, Sukhinder laid off 900 people based on McKinsey benchmarking. Showed consistency between the outside-in analysis presented to the board and transparent communication to employees.
Portfolio of Bets Strategy – Balance growth, profitability, and customer happiness through diversified initiat…
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652: Arthur Brooks - The Power of Teaching, The Arrival Fallacy, The Mad Scientist Profile, Lifting Heavy Weights, & The Two Best Practices To Be Happy
8 september 2025 · 57 min
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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
Notes:
Key Learnings
The Mad Scientist Emotional Profile – High achievers typically have both high positive and high negative affect. "Hustlers, hard workers, strivers, entrepreneurs, ambitious people, they're in that quadrant of high positive, high negative affect." This creates intensity but requires management of negative emotions.
Dangerous Negative Affect Management – People try to manage high negative affect through alcohol, excessive internet use/pornography, and workaholism. "The isms, the addictions, they're almost all negative affect management techniques."
Two Best Ways to Manage Negative Affect:
Faith, Spirituality, Philosophy - "Every day, go deep" into transcendent practices
Physical Exercise - "Go pick up heavy things" - resistance training moderates negative emotions
Arthur's 4:30 AM Protocol – Wakes at 4:30, works out 4:45-5:45, attends mass 6:30-7:00, then has high-protein breakfast with dark coffee at 7:45 for 4 hours of peak creative focus. "I get four hours of creative concentration with maximum dopamine."
Exercise Reduces Unhappiness, Doesn't Create Happiness – "Working out hard... moderates negative affect. It makes you less unhappy" rather than directly increasing positive emotions.
The Failure Journal Method – Write down failures/disappointments, return after 3 weeks to note learnings, return after 2 more months to identify good things that resulted. This installs learning in the prefrontal cortex rather than letting it "float around limbically."
Early Success Can Be Dangerous – Scholars rejected for early research grants outperformed those with early…
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651: Shaka Senghor - From Prison to Purpose: Breaking Mental Barriers, Working with Mentors, and Leading Through Vulnerability (How To Be Free)
1 september 2025 · 52 min
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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
Shaka Sengor spent 19 years in prison for killing a man. He's transformed his life through not making excuses and taking full ownership of his decisions. Now, he's a New York Times best-selling author who has been called a "soul igniter" by Oprah. His latest book is called How to Be Free.
Notes:
The Permanence of Split-Second Decisions – At 17, shot three times on a Detroit corner. At 19, he killed a man in a conflict after creating a narrative that he would "shoot first." Sentenced to 17-40 years for second-degree murder. "I try to teach young people about understanding the permanence of a 30-second decision."
Books as Portals to Freedom – Read over 1,500 books during 19-year incarceration, starting with street literature (Pimp, Black Gangster) as a gateway to philosophy (Plato, Marcus Aurelius). "Books allowed me to escape in the most literal sense... a portal into other worlds."
Prison Mentors Changed Everything – Lifers became his guides: "These are men serving life sentences who came equipped with wisdom about what's on the other side... they guided me to books that shattered old narratives and opened possibilities."
Reading Creates Writing Excellence – Speed-reading skill from age 8 (learned during punishments with encyclopedias) combined with voracious prison reading, led to becoming a NY Times bestselling author. "You have to be a practitioner of the craft every day."
Journaling as Transformation Tool – "It was the most healing experience I've ever had to speak to my truth, speak to the pain points." Uses 20 different journals, writes everywhere - planes, shower thoughts on phone, margins of books.
Hidden Prisons We…
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650: Michelle "Mace" Curran - Building a World-Class Team, Running an Excellent Debrief, Rebuilding Trust, Feedback Loops, & How To Turn Fear Into Your Superpower
25 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
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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: Michelle "Mace" Curran is a combat veteran, former fighter pilot, and only the second woman in history to fly as the Lead Solo for the Thunderbirds, the U.S. Air Force's elite demonstration squadron. Now on a new mission, she's using her story to inspire others. She is the best-selling author of The Flipside: How to Invert Your Perspective and Turn Fear Into Your Superpower.
How to run "debrief" so that giving and getting feedback becomes embedded in your culture.
The biggest mistake Michelle made when she became a new fighter pilot, and what you can learn from it.
Early Exposure to Male-Dominated Environments – Michelle's dad took her hunting with guys starting at age 7, teaching her she "belonged in any room" she wanted to pursue. This early experience prepared her for being 1 of only 2% female fighter pilots.
Parents Who Believed in Wild Dreams – Parents worked multiple jobs to afford camps (criminal justice, archaeology) whenever Michelle showed interest in something new. Taught her that opportunities weren't just possibilities - "I could go after it."
The Lone Wolf Trap – When struggling in her first squadron, Michelle was afraid to ask questions because she thought it would show she didn't belong. "I wouldn't even ask questions because I felt like asking a question was just so uncomfortable."
Three Years of Struggling in Silence – Despite performing well in the air, Michelle spent three years "belly crawling, pulling myself by my fingernails" because she felt pressure to represent all women perfectly.
The Fresh Start Power – Moving from Japan to Texas gave her a reset: "No one here knows about my divorce. No one here knows all these struggles I…
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649: Sam Lessin - Type 2 Fun, Voluntary Hardship, Joy as a Competitive Advantage, Long-Term Thinking, & Life Lessons From Dad (Lessin's Lessons)
18 augustus 2025 · 56 min
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My guest: Sam Lessin is a Partner at Slow Ventures, with prior experience as Vice President of Product Management at Facebook and CEO of Drop.io. His career highlights include serving as a key executive at Facebook, leading product management efforts, and successfully co-founding Fin. His current role at Slow Ventures involves investing in innovative startups across various sectors, showcasing his expertise in entrepreneurship and venture capital.
Notes:
Key Learnings
The 4:30 AM Advantage – Sam's father would be at his desk by 4:30 AM every day, saying, "It's easy to look smart if you have a several-hour head start on everyone else." Early work creates compounding advantages over time.
Either Be Early or Be Late, Don't Be On Time – Father's wisdom about timing and seasons. Start your career super early to get ahead, or strategically wait and come in later. Timing matters more than perfect preparation.
Joy as the Ultimate Competitive Advantage – "I just don't think that in the long run, angry people win." Look for joyful people in hiring and partnerships because joy is sustainable while anger burns out.
Type Two Fun Builds Resilience – Type 1 fun is enjoyable while doing it (rollercoaster). Type 2 fun "completely sucks while you're doing it, but there's joy on the other side" (climbing mountains, marathons). Entrepreneurs need Type 2 fun experiences.
Practice Voluntary Hardship – Sam ran a sub-3-hour marathon and got a pilot's license not for love of activities, but for "practice moments" of perseverance. Creates evidence that you can handle business adversity.
Right Person, Right Opportunity, Right Time – Don't ask "is th…
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648: Ed Latimore - Going From Zero to One, Taking Ownership, Positive Body Language, Strategic Hardship, & Hard Earned Lessons From The Hurt Business
11 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 2 min
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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
My Guest: Ed Latimore is a professional heavyweight boxer, best-selling author, and veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard. He earned a degree in Physics from Duquesne University. Ed has gained recognition for overcoming personal struggles with addiction and poverty. We recorded this at our 2025 Learning Leader Growth Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. He's the author of Hard Lessons From The Hurt Business.
Notes:
Key Learnings
The Heaviest Weight at the Gym is the Front Door – Starting is often the hardest part. "Zero to one is the hardest part" in any endeavor. Once you begin, momentum builds, but that first step requires the most effort.
How You Feel is Irrelevant – "How you feel about doing something is irrelevant. If it is vital to your success, you've gotta bump to the wall a bunch of times." Discipline isn't about motivation—it's about doing what's necessary regardless of feelings.
Sobriety: The Hardest Fight – 13+ years sober, describing it as "the hardest fight I've ever had." The turning point came during basic training when he built an identity completely free of alcohol for the first time in his adult life.
From Being Liked to Being Respected – "When people like you, they want to party with you... When people respect you, you start getting invited back to family events." Shifted focus from seeking approval through partying to earning respect through character.
The Baby Shower Revelation – Breakthrough moment when friends showed up with gifts for his unborn child, "all because he is my human." Realized people genuinely cared about him, which became the foundation for believing he mattered.
Taking Ownership vs. Play…
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647: Tim Ferriss - Chasing Your Curiosity, Internal vs External Scoreboards, Effectiveness over Efficiency, Winning Even if You Fail, Fame's Hidden Costs, & The Mount Rushmore of Podcasting
4 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 22 min
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My Guest: Tim Ferriss is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers (including The 4-Hour Work Week, Tools of Titans, and Tribe of Mentors). His podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, has been listened to more than a billion times. Tim was an early investor in Uber, Shopify, Twitter, Alibaba, and many others. He's the creator of a new card game called COYOTE.
Decision making - How can I win even if I lose? He viewed angel investing like his personal MBA. Instead of paying for business school, he invested in companies and learned about business by working with actual businesses. He didn't expect to make money on those investments. That was just a bonus. Think, "How can I win even if I lose?" Tim won with those investments, regardless of whether he made money or not on them.
Key Takeaways and Learnings:
Parents Who Foster Curiosity – Tim's mother created a "books are always in budget" policy despite tight finances. Used remainder tables at bookstores to expose him to random, off-menu knowledge that sparked lifelong curiosity about unconventional topics.
Curiosity-Driven Exploration – When Tim showed interest in marine biology, his mom found Frank Mundus (inspiration for Jaws character), arranged a meeting, and created low-cost adventures like crab fishing with chicken bones to fuel his interests.
The Mask You Wear Becomes You – "Be very careful what you pretend to be" - spent years presenting as overly serious to be taken seriously, which created a recursive feedback loop. Now embraces more play and laughter to avoid burnout.
Fiction and Poetry as Life Teachers – Shifted from non-fiction purist to reading more fiction/poetry. Re…
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646: Nick Maggiulli - Proven Strategies for Every Step of Your Financial Life (The Wealth Ladder)
28 juli 2025 · 49 min
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Guest: Nick Maggiulli is the Chief Operating Officer and Data Scientist at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is the best-selling author of Just Keep Buying: Proven Ways to Save Money and Build Your Wealth, and his latest book is called The Wealth Ladder. Nick is also the author of OfDollarsAndData.com, a blog focused on the intersection of data and personal finance.
Notes:
Money works as an enhancer, not a solution: Like salt enhances food flavors, money amplifies existing life experiences but has little value by itself without relationships, health, and purpose. "Money by itself is useless... without friends, family, without your health, it doesn't add much... it enhances all the other parts of life."
Nick beat his dad's friends at chess when he was 5 years old because he practiced more than they did. He got more reps. He did the work. It's not that he was a chess prodigy. He just worked harder than his opponents did. And he still does that today.
Practice creates expertise beyond intelligence: At five years old, Maggiulli could beat adults at chess not because he was smarter, but because he had more practice. Consistent effort over time can outcompete raw talent. "I could beat them, not because I was smarter than them, only because I had practiced something... In this very specific realm, I could beat them."
Consistent writing builds compound advantages: Writing 10 hours every weekend for nine years created opportunities including book deals and career advancement. The discipline of regular practice compounds over time. "I've been writing for nine years... I spend 10 hours a week every single week for almost a decade now, and …
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645: Ryan Petersen (Flexport CEO) - Front Line Obsession, Gemba Walks, Relentless Work-Ethic, CEO Mastermind Groups, & Valuing Simplicity
21 juli 2025 · 58 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
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Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport, a technology-driven global logistics company. He's a leading voice in supply chain innovation and has been at the forefront of solving major trade and shipping challenges worldwide.
Notes:
"Arrogance is its own form of stupidity."
The Tweetstorm That Saved Christmas:
Ryan shares the now-legendary story of how he rented a boat, brought tacos, and took another high-powered CEO with him to tour the Port of Long Beach during the supply chain crisis. His viral Twitter thread sparked immediate action, California Governor Gavin Newsom called within hours, and the policy changed shortly after. A masterclass in "doing the thing."Frontline Obsession & Gemba Walks:
Why Ryan frequently travels the world (visiting 19 countries last year) to meet employees and customers. He explains the power of Gemba walks, being physically present on the frontlines, and how it shapes his leadership.How He Runs Flexport:
Ryan's leadership playbook includes:Managing through writing. Every one of his 26 teams writes a six-page memo monthly, followed by deep conversations.
Daily conversations with 30-40 employees to stay connected.
Living Flexport's values:
Empower Clients, Play the Long Game, Act Like an Entrepreneur, Commit to the Vision, Ask Why 5 Times.Leadership & Decision-Making:
He shares his "must-haves" for hiring leaders:Relentless Work Ethic
Intellectual Curiosity
Humility ("Even wise people are wrong 30% of the time.")
Reliability
Charisma
Lessons from Mentors:
Ryan talks about advice from Paul Graham (Y Combinator) and Brian Chesky (Airbnb),… -
644: Blaine Anderson - The #1 Dating Coach In The World Teaches You How To Genuinely Connect With People
14 juli 2025 · 54 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
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Guest: Blaine Anderson is a dating coach and matchmaker. She's helped more than 3,000 happy clients attract and build long-term relationships. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and she earned a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank.
Notes:
Someone asked Charlie Munger… How do I get a great wife? Deserve one. The best way to find a good spouse is to deserve one, he often said. In business, this translates to working hard and behaving with integrity consistently over time. "To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want."
What is the #1 reason you don't get a second date? You talk about yourself too much.
When you go out to eat with someone, what percentage of the time are you talking? Aim to talk 30% and listen 70%. The reason we don't get the second date or the follow-up meeting with the prospect is because we are talking too much.
Pull conversational threads: Avoid rapid-fire questioning by following up on answers with related questions. Share brief personal connections to create dialogue rather than interrogation. "You want to pull the conversational thread... ask a follow-up question about that same thing. That's where you can start having a conversation."
Marketing your trajectory matters: People want to know you're going places. Share your goals, dreams, and aspirations authentically to demonstrate upward momentum. "You want to find the balance of sharing things about yourself that indicate you are on an upward trajectory... from a place of getting to know one another."
Nice guys need boundaries: Being overly accommoda…
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643: Anthony Scaramucci - Getting Fired by President Trump, Working With a Life Coach, Playing Quarterback, Building Confidence + Charisma, Telling The Truth, & Finding Your Superpower
7 juli 2025 · 55 min
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Anthony Scaramucci served as the White House Director of Communications for President Donald Trump from July 21 to July 31, 2017. He was at Harvard Law School with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. He's the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital. And he's the founder and Chairman of the SALT conference.
Leadership through service: True leadership isn't about personal glory but about making others better and helping them succeed in their roles. Derek Jeter exemplified this by never caring about personal statistics, only team success. "If you're on the team, it's not about me, right? It's about you. How am I gonna make you better? Or how am I gonna make you feel good about your role? How am I gonna get you to think that I'm here to help you?"
Flexibility and decision-making under pressure: Football taught Scaramucci the importance of reading situations quickly and making audibles at the line of scrimmage - skills that translate directly to business and life leadership. "You can't just say, okay, here's the game plan, right? Because that's what Mike Tyson says, right? You have the plan until you get punched in the face, or all battle plans go by the wayside with contact with the enemy."
Resilience through adversity: Getting "your ass kicked" early in life builds the resilience needed for future challenges in business and politics. Early defeats teach you how to bounce back from failure. "That's called resilience, right? You gotta get over that... That's how you gotta get your ass kicked. Here I was... and I just remember feeling so puny... So how you gotta get over that."
The confidence battle …
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642: Jim Murphy - Inner Excellence, AJ Brown, Presence, Managing Fear, Daily Goals, & Understanding Our Greatest Needs
30 juni 2025 · 52 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
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Jim Murphy is a mental performance coach for some of the most accomplished professional athletes in the world. Formerly a professional baseball player, he now focuses on helping others. You may have heard of him if you were watching the Philadelphia Eagles' playoff run last season, and star wide receiver AJ Brown was reading Jim's book Inner Excellence on the sideline between offensive series.
Notes:
The first 11 days of 2025, Inner Excellence (originally published 16 years ago) sold about 25 copies… What happened on January 12? AJ Brown was shown on TV reading it in between offensive series. It then sold 200,000 copies in 20 days.
Fear is a concern about the future.
Give the best of what you have today. Be present.
Heart, will, spirit = the deepest part of you
When we're at our best, there's no thought of self.
5 greatest needs
That we have value
Love and acceptance
Integrity
Purpose beyond self
Growth
Dick Vermiel's coaching style - Coach the person first. Then the sport (or the thing you're doing). The same is true for any leadership role. People won't care what you think unless they know you actually care about them.
4 Daily Goals
Give the best of what you have today
Be present. Fear is a future thing.
Be grateful
Focus on what you can control
Anxiety is a mind with too many thoughts and concerns. Need to face our fears.
3 Key Areas:
Belief - expand what you think is possible.
Freedom - play like a kid (let it rip).
Focus - Be fully present
Status vs amazing experiences. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Joy comes from love. Love can come fro…
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641: Larry Connor - The Big 6 Leadership Attributes, Building a Values-Based Culture, Becoming a Billionaire, Working on Saturdays, Flying Into Space, Diving To The Mariana Trench, & Existing To Be The Best
23 juni 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
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Larry Connor is an entrepreneur, non-profit activist investor, and adventurist. In business, he is best known for founding The Connor Group, a real estate investment firm, and growing it from $0 to $5 billion in assets. Outside of work, Larry lives an adventurous life. Within a 12 month period Larry did something that had never been done before. He completed 3 dives to the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench) AND traveled to the International Space Station as an astronaut. In addition to that, Larry is a private pilot and was part of a Le Mans racing team that has won championships.
"At The Connor Group, we don't have, and never will have, a mission statement. We have culture. When you have the latter, the former is not necessary."
The culture is built on 5 core values, on which we don't compromise:
Do the right thing
People count
Live the Circle of Success
Think long-term, not short-term
Relentless pursuit of excellence
"We exist, quite simply, to be the best."
"We don't hire for experience. We don't hire for knowledge. We don't care where you went to school. We hire for personality traits. Especially in leadership roles. You have to have the big 6. You have to have all 6. They are:
1. Be able to motivate and inspire others.
2. Self-accountability and ability to hold others accountable in an honest, direct manner.
3. Organizational multi-tasking. The speed of the game is fast.
4. Cultural fit.
5. Grit. Doing the thing that others say are impossible.
6. Work orientation. If you want to come in at 8:30, take a 90-minute lunch, and leave at 4:30, The Connor Group is …
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640: Tony Reno (Yale University Head Football Coach) - Writing a Team Creed, Leaving it Better Than You Found It, Going to Gettysburg, Leadership Retreats, & Winning Championships
16 juni 2025 · 55 min
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The Arena gives you direct access to some of the most respected coaching minds in the world. Led by HOFer Sherri Coale, Brook Cupps, Geron Stokes, and Eli Leiker. Leaders who have built winning programs, led at the highest levels, and shaped the next generation of elite performers. The Arena is a Learning Leader Circle for Coaches only. We are opening applications now for our first cohort. If you'd like to be part of it, CLICK HERE to apply. Once the cohort is full, we will be pausing applications.
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In Patient Pursuit of Greatness – In the spring of 2012, General McChrystal was teaching a leadership class at Yale. That's when he met Tony Reno. He said about the meeting, "Not many things materially affect my trajectory. But this time was different. What was different? Coach Reno."
The goal of the program: "Leave the jersey better than you found it."
The team creed, a pledge written by players on Team 142 (the 2014 squad), as they do at the start of every practice: "I vow to believe in the process, I am mentally and physically tough, I compete with passion and overcome any challenges. I stand tall alongside my family at all times, I challenge my brother, believe in him, hold him accountable. As I create my own path I always put team before myself, I strive for excellence on and off the field, I hold myself to a higher standard. I am a Yale football player."
Standards - Every player must recite the creed. The younger players are coached by the older players.
The brick tradition - At each practice, one player presents his brick, then adds it to the others in the tunnel-- a visual remin…
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639: Katie Gatti Tassin (Money with Katie) - Building A Media Business, The Morning Brew Acquisition, Knowing Your Retirement Number, & Living Up To High Expectations
9 juni 2025 · 56 min
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Katie Gatti Tassin is the author of the "Money with Katie" newsletter and podcast, both acquired by Morning Brew in 2022. Katie provides fresh personal finance advice with a unique outlook, coupled with deep, self-taught knowledge. Before founding Money with Katie in 2020, she worked professionally in marketing and user experience design for Southwest Airlines, Dell Technologies, and Meta. She's the author of Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures.
Notes:
If you're not curious about it, you're not going to give it your all. But if you are, you can become relentless. Chase your curiosity and obsessions with great rigor. That passion and love for whatever the thing is can lead to big opportunities in your life.
Do you want 100% of a grape or 25% of a watermelon? Advice Katie got when she was considering accepting the offer to be acquired by Morning Brew.
The importance of having a coach. Katie talked about the life-changing impact her coach, Elizabeth, has had on her. Ambitious, motivated people who have high standards need help, too. In fact, maybe as much as anyone. It's worth it to invest in yourself and find a person to talk with 1 on 1.
Parents - High expectations, straight A's or bust. Driven, hard to turn it off.
The Morning Brew acquisition - Money with Katie. Worked at Meta and did Money with Katie at the same time. Left for the acquisition. Austin Rief (CEO) DM'd her on Twitter and made an offer during their first 30-minute conversation.
Big lesson - Your IP is everything.
Book Dedication - "To the anonymous guy who 'works in finance' that used to relentle…
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638: Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster In The World, Responding To Adversity, Faith, Elk Pride, High School Sports, NIL Deals, Lee Corso, & The Emotional Moment When The Buckeyes Won The Title
2 juni 2025 · 1 uur 16 min
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Kirk Herbstreit is the voice of college football. A former Centerville High School and Ohio State University Quarterback, Kirk has been the lead Analyst for ESPN's College Gameday since 1996. He calls the biggest games in college football on Saturday nights, and he broadcasts the college National Championship. Beyond college football, Kirk is also the lead analyst for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video. Kirk has been nominated for 19 Sports Emmy Awards and has won 5 times. This conversation was recorded in front of about 300 people in Centerville, Ohio. Kirk's dog Peter was with us on stage when he wasn't wandering around in the audience.
Kirk's emotional moment after Ohio State's national championship was about his authentic connection to Coach Day, his son (who was on the team), and all the players. "I try so hard to be impartial. I try so hard to be just objective and fair. It's almost like the culmination of just a release."
Showing authentic emotion and humanity makes leaders more relatable and trustworthy, not weaker.
Bob Gregg and Ron Ullery's impact: "They didn't tear your knees out, but they just made sure as a 16, 17, 18-year-old that you knew this ain't about you. It's about us." This foundation created a work ethic that translates across all of life.
The most prepared broadcaster in the world - "When I started in 1996 on college game day, unless you were a Big 10 fan, you had no idea who I was. So my idea of trying to build my brand was they're gonna know me from my work ethic."
"They're gonna know me from my work ethic. They're gonna know me like, damn, I don't know who that dude is, but he seems to k…
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637: Tom Ryan (Ohio State Wrestling Coach) - Chosen Suffering, Emotional Control, Responding to Tragedy, Success Pillars, and Learning from Dan Gable
26 mei 2025 · 1 uur 16 min
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Tom Ryan is the head wrestling coach at Ohio State University. In college, he wrestled for perhaps the greatest wrestling coach of all time, Dan Gable, at Iowa, where he was a two-time Big Ten champion and a two-time NCAA All-American. As a coach at Ohio State, he's won numerous national coach of the year honors, has coached more than 75 All-Americans, and led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2015. We filmed this in his office in Columbus, OH, after spending the morning watching some of his championship wrestlers practice. It was one of the coolest days I've had in a long time.
Notes:
"My first workout after driving from Syracuse to Iowa was a soul-cleanser. I collapsed in my car outside the arena. I couldn't stop crying."
"It was a line in the sand moment for me. Where are you going or staying? Because I could have turned around, I could have went right back. But it was this sense of knowing that you were in the right place."
It's amazing that Tom decided to leave Syracuse with no guarantee of even making the team at Iowa, let alone a scholarship. He shows up on day 1, and Coach Gable didn't even know who he was! Crazy. And then he goes on to earn his spot and become an All-American.
Competitive Spirit from Early Age: "There's certainly an element of competitive spirit... even in second grade, we were on the playground... if you lose, you're fighting somebody. You just wanna win, you wanna win everything you do."
Why go to Iowa?
The Will to Be Great – "I wanted to be elite at something. And by trial and error, it was almost trial and error... I wasn't gonna end my career …
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636: William Von Hippel - Why We Need Both Autonomy and Connection to Find Happiness (The Social Paradox)
19 mei 2025 · 1 uur 1 min
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William von Hippel grew up in Alaska, got his B.A. at Yale and his PhD at the University of Michigan, and taught for a dozen years at Ohio State University before finding his way to Australia, where he is a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland. He's the author of multiple books. A few months ago, he published The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness.
Notes
Why do people who have comfortable lives filled with freedom and abundance still feel unhappy? Need two things… Connection and autonomy.
Are leaders born or made? Yes. Like most things, it's not a black and white answer. The key is to use your unique strengths to effectively inspire others to do the work that must be done to achieve the goals of the team or company.
How happy is Bill? He scores high on the genetics polygene(?) score. Some people are more genetically wired to be happy than others.
You can fight against your genes and win. It's just harder for you than others with better genetics. What's my path of genetic least resistance? If you have low willpower, get the potato chips out of the house. Know yourself.
Be yourself plus 20%. Overconfidence can be a good thing. Especially earlier in your career.
Fake it til you make it. It can be good a lot of the time. He was overconfident as a new assistant professor, and it helped him.
How you receive feedback is critical.
Be honest, be kind
His dad moved the family to Alaska because he didn't love being told what to do. He was a heart surgeon.
Bill moved to Australia. A hard place to make friends because they don't move around much. He made connections …
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635: Rich Gotham (President of The Boston Celtics) - How To Build a Championship Organization
15 mei 2025 · 57 min
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Rich Gotham is the President of the Boston Celtics. He is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics' business operations. In addition, he works closely with Celtics ownership, basketball operations staff, and the NBA on basketball-related matters, as well as team and league initiatives. He succeeds "Red" Auerbach as Celtics team President and serves on the NBA Board of Governors. Since joining the Celtics in 2003, he's helped grow team revenues by over 300%, and they've won two NBA championships.
Notes:
Must-haves when making hiring decisions for a leadership role: Work ethic, self-awareness, a catalyst for positive energy, purpose-driven, and care ("give a shit").
At the time, the Celtics were run like a mom-and-pop shop. Rich was brought in to help them run like a professional business.
Rich was recruited to the Celtics by new owner (at the time), Wyc Grousbeck. 3 different people told Wyc that he should talk to Rich. – Add value. Leave people better than you found them. They will refer you to others for big jobs without you even knowing it.
Celtic pride - grew up there, made you proud to be from Boston.
"Different here." 18-time champs.
Pressure from fans to win: It beats indifference.
Making bets on potential - Hiring Brad Stevens.
Danny Ainge did a great job selling it to Brad.
Watching Payton Pritchard warm up. He cares.
Working with the Bruins and Red Sox leaders – Lower the ego, put yourself in their shoes. Seek first to understand. And find a way to get it done. Rich went outside of the office to meet regularly with a leader of the Boston Bruins to get their lease squared away. That had been an issue fo…
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634: Tom Nolan (CEO of Kendra Scott) - 2% Moments, Setting Big Goals, Being Unbalanced, Moving Fast, Coaching High Performers, & Going Through Hard Things Together
12 mei 2025 · 57 min
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Notes
"Average players want to be left alone. Good players want some coaching. Great players want the truth."
It is not a company's job to give work-life balance to someone. And he is not balanced. He's on 24/7. It was refreshing to hear the real story from someone who is running a company. As Dr. Julie Gurner said on episode #538, "People will tell you in books that you have to live a 'balanced life,' but if we are completely honest, almost all great things are born from periods of imbalance."
Make the most of your 2% moments. 98% of the time, life is just happening… But every once in a while, you'll have the 2% opportunities. Like when he met his wife, or interviewed with Kendra Scott. It's on us as leaders to be ready to make the most of those 2% moments.
Tom's relationship with Kendra: "We've been through so many hard things together." Those hard times can forge a strong relationship, or they can break you. Remember that the next time you're going through something tough with someone else. It's an opportunity to fortify a relationship.
Hiring - Play your position well. Know what you're good at. Don't have to like teammates, but do need to love them. Learn from mistakes.
Work is like family. But you don't fire your family... Discipline comes from a place of love.
Read: The Way of the Shepherd
Goal maniac - After failing at his first job interview, he asked for another shot and showed up the next day with pages of goals.
Tom's Strengths - immediate urgency, insatiable need to win, good problem solver, better when things are hard.
How do you navigate slow walkers? It's har…
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633: General Stanley McChrystal - In Pursuit of Greatness, High Standards, The Ranger Effect, Self-Discipline, White-Water Rafting, Obsession, & Making Choices That Define Your Life (On Character)
5 mei 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
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Stanley McChrystal is a retired four-star general. Stan is the former commander of the nation's premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (also known as JSOC). His command included more than 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries. Since he retired from the Army, Stan has written multiple best-selling books including, Team of Teams, and most recently, On Character.
The most crucial discipline is to think for yourself. To a sad degree, we're lazy. People comment on things they haven't watched or read, but have seen comments by others who align with their political party. They aren't thinking for themselves (this is why it's almost impossible to align completely with one political party for me). If you find yourself saying "I just do" or "that's what I heard," that's not thinking.
Being Obsessed – "I am convinced that few truly great achievements are reached by individuals with an impressive work-life balance, and the price of greatness, in a word, is great. In the end, I'm an advocate for obsession."
The Ranger Effect – The value of unwavering standards.Created near the end of Vietnam when the Army had lowered its standards. They created 2 units of Rangers to raise the standard. It permeated the entire Army. How does a leader do this in Corporate America? Clearly establish expectations. You cannot have a "say-do" gap. The leader must demonstrate the values on a constant basis. BE what you want. Discipline to hold people accountable.
"My major takeaway at almost 70 years old is conclusive. I wish I'd thought more, been more contemplative about my con…
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632: Nick Huber - The Attributes of Winners, Becoming Great at Sales, Changing Your Mind, & The Fundamental Truths of Life (Sweaty Startup)
28 april 2025 · 1 uur 1 min
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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
Episode #632: Nick Huber is an entrepreneur who owns stakes in 11 companies, including a real estate private equity firm and several agencies. His portfolio of companies employs over 325 people living all over the world. Nick lives with his wife and 3 children in Athens, Georgia. He's the author of the book, The Sweaty Startup: How to get rich doing boring things.
Notes:
Sales is the foundation of Every Business. From Nick's mentor, Dan Cohen: "If you don't like sales, I suggest you give up now and go get a regular job. You're wasting your time."
"Life as an entrepreneur is sales." To succeed in this world, you must have the cooperation of other people.
The attributes of winners:
Abundance mindset
A sense of urgency
Not afraid to stand up and call you out. The story of his VP of Finance, Kevin. He called Nick out on deals he tried to make while Kevin was on vacation.
Make good decisions
Aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and do the work
The Four Fundamental Truths of Life
1. You can't do it alone.
2. You can't make people do anything.
3. Everyone in this world is selfish.
4. It isn't about you.
So how do we use these four fundamental truths of life to get what we want? Sales. We sell ourselves and our ideas. We convince other people that their lives will be better if they trust us, work for us, buy from us, and more.
Networking. Don't go to events telling others to help you. Become someone worth knowing.
Do something of value that makes others want to come to you…
The story about the guy wrangling carts on a cold night at the Walmart in Ithaca, New York
Nick cr…
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631: Bert Bean & Sam Kaufman - Obsession, Grit, Growth-Mindset, Winning in a Tough Market, Hiring for Potential, Running Ultra-Marathons, and Caring For Your People
21 april 2025 · 1 uur 13 min
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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
Bert Bean is the CEO of Insight Global. Insight Global is a 4.3-billion-dollar, industry-leading talent and technical services firm based in Atlanta, GA. Bert started with Insight Global in 2005 as a Recruiter and has since worked his way up within the company, exemplifying Insight Global's "promote from within" culture. Sam Kaufman is the Chief Revenue Officer of Insight Global. Sam began his career as an entry-level recruiter in 2004, and he has earned many promotions throughout his career. I initially started working with Sam as his executive coach in March 2020, and then mid-2021, we formalized a bigger partnership with Insight Global, becoming the presenting sponsor of The Learning Leader Show, and we broadened my role working with leaders throughout the company. It's been so much fun.
Notes
Insight Global is a $4.3B business. Insight Global grew 9.2% last year, while the industry declined 9%.
How is Insight Global winning while all other staffing firms are losing?
A lot of companies will succumb to the idea that it's just gonna be a bad year, but our people are like, no, we'll just figure it out. We'll pivot. We'll move industries. We'll change accounts, we'll change our focus. We'll sell different services. And that's really what we've done.
"Many in our industry are losing hope. That's not us. This is where we thrive."
"Our people's ability to show up, keep going, um, do new things, evolve, is really, I think it's second to none. And that's been a huge part of our story."
The whole world is soft. We love leaders like Laura Downey. She's so driven, so hardcore. A beast. She's…
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630: Marcus Sheridan - How To Build Trust, Drive Sales, and Earn Endless Customers
14 april 2025 · 1 uur 2 min
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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
Bio: As an owner of IMPACT, Marcus Sheridan has established one of the country's most successful digital sales and marketing agencies. He is the author of the international best-seller They Ask, You Answer… His new book is called Endless Customers: A Proven System to Build Trust, Drive Sales, and Become the Market Leader.
Notes:
The 4 Pillars of a Known and Trusted Brand:
Say what others won't say
Show what others won't show
Sell how others won't sell
Be More Human than others are willing to be
75% of all buyers prefer a seller-free sales experience. Create great self-service tools to help your buyers make buying decisions.
The buyer's journey - They want to know what it will cost. So, tell them.
Have a client story for every objection. Collect them. Tell those stories.
The story of Steve Sheinkopf and Yale Appliance… ($37m to over $100m).
"That means obsessing over their questions, fears, worries, and concerns. Answer every single question honestly and transparently, right there on your website, for everyone to see."
"Tackle topics your competitors are afraid to touch. Break the unwritten rules of your industry. When you focus solely on empowering your buyers with the information and experience they crave, something incredible will happen: You'll earn their trust. And when you earn their trust, you earn their business. Do this consistently, and you'll capture the market's attention, transform your company, and see numbers you never imagined."
The 5 Components of Endless Customers:
The Right Content
The Right Website
The Right Sales Activity
The Rich Technology
The Right Culture of Performance
Path Finders - Hel…
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629: Anne-Laure Le Cunff - How To Live Freely In a Goal Obsessed World (Tiny Experiments)
7 april 2025 · 54 min
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk. Lees meer
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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
At 27, Anne-Laure had her dream job at Google. She quit. "Are you sure?" "No."
She was focusing on a narrow vision of success.
Anne-Laure was most curious about the brain, neuroscience, and why we think the way we do. She went back to school to learn more.
Writing - First, to clarify thinking. Works as a forcing function for that. You need to create your own version of it. You do that by writing. The generation effect. You remember it better that way. Next, it created a magnet of people to her.
The meaning behind the name "Ness" is "The state of being."
Goal setting - What are the traps of linear goals? We think we know what we want. We assume we'll always want the same thing. The arrival fallacy. Think we'll be so happy when we get it, but usually we aren't. Instead focus on the process, the daily behaviors. And run continual experiments. Through those experiments, you'll probably figure out what you want to accomplish. Or you might even stumble into it.
Practical goals - Was it useful? Focus on the process. There is nuance. How do you hold others accountable? It's more than just the number. Do the work to understand the nuance, the details behind the number. Too many managers are lazy.
Collaborate with uncertainty. Understand why you're scared of it. Comes from a long time ago. That's no longer a thing. You don't just want your team to survive. You want them to thrive. Don't cling to the first obvious conclusion. Do more work.
What about vision for a CEO? Instead of focusing on being #1 in the marketplace, focus on your approach. Your values, your mission. Focus on your co…
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628: Anthony Consigli - Digging Graves, Playing Football at Harvard, Learning From Failure, Taking Big Chances, & Growing a Business From $3 Million to $4 Billion
31 maart 2025 · 49 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Episode #625: Anthony Consigli - Digging Graves, Playing Football at Harvard, Learning From Failure, Taking Big Chances, & Growing a Business From $3 Million to $4 Billion
Anthony's great-grandfather came from Italy and he was a stone mason. He had 6 sons. He gave each a trade. His grandfather had a business mind. Then WWII came. 4 brothers went and fought. His grandfather and blind uncle stayed back to run the business. He brought his son into it (Anthony's dad) he was a heavy equipment operator. And did business leadership work after it.
Hard Work: Born in 1967, 2nd oldest of 5 kids. Grew up in the 1970's remembering his dad always working 2 jobs including Saturdays as a heavy equipment operator in construction with side jobs at night, his mom as a night nurse with his grandmother watching them during the day. Hard work and work ethic were drilled into them by their dad, grandfather, and uncles who all were in construction. All had stoic personalities. Anthony started working full-time in the Summer, Saturdays, and school vacations in the 7th grade when he was 12.
Cleaning the mortar off bricks from demolished buildings so that they could be reused, then digging and covering graves by hand at a bunch of local cemeteries. Chopping wood and burning the rubber off electrical wire from demolished buildings so we could bring the copper to the scrap yard for cash. It was not your typical childhood but I can see now it gave me incredible life lessons at an early age that allowed me to flourish in business and be a strong leader.
Anthony was a gravedigger -I was a big part of the business because it was a consistent revenue stream. Regardless of a recession, people were going to die. For that reason, his dad and grandfather never wanted to give it up. Anthony dug them by hand, year-round.
When I was in high school I was in charge of laying out the graves to be dug for the rece…
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627: Jenny Wood - How To Go After What You Want and Get It (Wild Courage)
24 maart 2025 · 58 min
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Notes:
Serendipity isn't found. It's 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. Don't reply all to the Happy Birthday emails. Don't do the NAP work. NAP stands for "Not Actually Promotable" 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 "recipe tasting in pursuit of the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie." Personality popped off the page. She was weird, reckless, nosy, obsessed, brutal. Must be yourself. Don't 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 12,00…
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626: Rob Kimbel - Living By Your Values, Caring For Your People, Taking The Back Seat, & Creating Opportunities That Improve Lives
17 maart 2025 · 1 uur 19 min
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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 decisions—demonstrating 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. "Profits are the applause for growing our people."
Ho…
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625: Melody Wilding - Effectively Managing Up, Designing Your 1:1s, Getting Paid What You're Worth, Creating The 1 Pagers, & Earning The Triple Win
10 maart 2025 · 1 uur 2 min
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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Notes:
"I sensed something was terribly wrong when I dialed into the conference line at 8:00 a.m. and heard an unfamiliar voice. "Hi, Mel ody, I'm Janine. I'm with an external HR firm. Unfortunately, this call is to let you know that your employment has been terminated, effective immediately."
Managing up is not kissing up. Managing up is strategically navigating relationships with those who have more positional power than you, namely your boss. It's 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 – 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 happ…
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624: Chris Beresford-Hill - Writing Excellent Cold-Emails, Taking Responsibility of Your Career, Pushing Your Edges, Becoming Dave Matthews' Pen Pal, Building Culture, & Leading a Creative Agency
3 maart 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
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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, "Can't B Broken," 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 Insider's 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 Catmull's book Creativity Inc.… And he's 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'…
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623: Stu McLaren - Building Communities, Stories About Transformation, A World-Class Onboarding Process, & The Business Model of The Future
24 februari 2025 · 58 min
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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. He's 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 it's 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 Stu's eyes as he told that story was awesome. Watch this on YouTube and you can see. Take the next step. Keep going. You're not going to know how it will go. Embrace that. And keep going.
Cody Burch Story – In October, Cody's dad was diagnosed with leukemia. Cody had been sitting with the idea of a membership. He saw the fear in his dad's eyes that he was nervous about the financial part of it. "I 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." "The more we make, the more we can give. The more we make, the more we can help." Stu says that all the time
Create "super surprises" for your friend…
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622: Alex Hutchinson - Why We Seek Big Challenges, Adding Texture To Time, The Explorers Gene, Working Through Uncertainty, Tom Hanks, and Pushing The Limits of Human Performance
17 februari 2025 · 57 min
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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."
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 shouldn't 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. What's most important and what's interesting? Use the best story you have. The beginning is super important.
Time with Friction - "I don't want it to be easier." Challenge and complexity make it more meaningful. It's less meaningful if it's 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…
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621: Rachel Botsman - Being Comfortable with Uncertainty, Giving Trust Before It's Earned, Being on Time, Giving Great Keynotes, & How To Trust and Be Trusted
10 februari 2025 · 1 uur 2 min
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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. She's written three books: What's 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 University's Business School where she created pioneering courses on trust in the digital age has become an expert on trust in the modern world. She's written three books: What's 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 – Lead with Trust. Make the trust wager. What's the best way to earn someone's trust? LEAD with trust. Trust them first. This also creates a highly attractive company or team. Don't 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 you're running a meeting, start it on time. Honor the people who showed up on time. Leader…
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620: Steve Magness - Defining Success on Your Terms, Setting Process Goals, Speaking Up in the Face of Fear, Winning The Inside Game, & Living a Meaningful Life
3 februari 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
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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, it's: "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 self—don't intertwine your identity solely with success or the fear of failure.
It's not an all-or-nothing game. Outcomes matter, but they aren't 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 you're with others versus alone.
We need each other. We share the lo…
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619: Mike Maples Jr. - Practicing Reckless Optimism, Betting On Founders, Bill Gates Hiring Mike Sr at Microsoft, Being Overprepared, & What It Means To Do YOUR Best
27 januari 2025 · 1 uur 8 min
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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 don't answer the door. We need to become a professional noticer. That is Mike's favorite verb. Noticing. Most people don't 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. "He was a mentor, a friend, and one of the greatest inspirations of my life." His advice: Do your best. There's 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. Don't waste it trying to be someone else.
Focus - Fishing competition when Mike was 5 or 6. Let's 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 Mike's dad to "be the adult in the room" at Microsoft. Mike Sr would say to the people he led at Microsoft, "I want to know that you're thinking about what you're 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 …
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618: Chase Jarvis - Never Play It Safe, Work Your Creativity Muscle, Trust Your Intuition, Tell Great Jokes, & Become a Transformational Leader
20 januari 2025 · 1 uur
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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. He's earned countless awards for his photography and creative work including a Pulitzer Prize for a New York Times story he contributed to called "Snow Fall." He's 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. It's 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. Let's strive to be transformative and play the long game with high-character people.
Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring.
"A 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." Believe in yourself and your ability to bounce back if the thing doesn't go your way. Set up a series of experiments. Not all of them will work. You'll 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.
"Security is mostly …
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617: Adam Galinsky - How To Inspire Others, Build a Team, Speak Up For Yourself, Thrive Through Adversity, & Become Their Favorite Boss
13 januari 2025 · 56 min
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes for episode #617 with Adam Galinsky Lees meer
Notes:
10 Words - "We are not going down. We are going to Philly." 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? You'd assume the end because of exhaustion. However, more errors happen at the beginning of the flight because the crews don't know each other yet. How does this translate to your team? It's imperative to genuinely care and get to know the people on your team. Host barbeque parties, ask questions, and genuinely LEARN about the people you're leading. Those aren't 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 the…
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616: Bob Stoops- Building a Winning Culture, Connecting With People, Creating a Coaching Forest, Caring For Your Team, & Winning Championships
6 januari 2025 · 52 min
Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Lees meer
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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: "One of my favorite things about him is he's the busiest man on the planet but never appeared that way. That's a skill and an art. That fascinates me."
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 can't connect with others, you'll probably struggle.
Creating a "coaches forest" (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 – "I always tried to hire people smarter than me." 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…
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615: Brad Thor - The Art & Science of Storytelling, Creating Surprise, Billions, Ray Donavon, & The Willingness (& Ability) To Break The Rules
30 december 2024 · 1 uur 3 min
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and all episodes of The Learning Leader Show Lees meer
Notes:
Brad Thor best selling author of 22 thrillers...
Excellence as a leader… What has Brad seen from the military leaders he's studied: Empathy - Understand what it's 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 - Don't start with the weather. Leave out the parts people skip. Don't 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 they'll 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 Security's 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 – "Gotta Keep Writing" 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 Writ…
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614: David Yeager PhD - The Science of Motivating Young People: A Groundbreaking Approach To Leading The Next Generation (Author of 10 to 25)
23 december 2024 · 55 min
Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk Lees meer
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 "pay attention." Research shows that nagging triggers the emotional part of a teen's brain, shutting down their ability to think logically. They're not ignoring you on purpose—they're 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 Nadella's Model, Coach, Care philosophy at Microsoft. This is the opposite of Jack Welch's 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. Follow…