By Mike Acker
The podcast currently has 71 episodes available.
INTRODUCTION TO EPISODE 24
What is meant by self-leadership? Why is it an essential skill to cultivate as a leader?
In this episode of the Advance Podcast, Mike interviews Andrew Bryant about all that and more. Andrew Bryant is a coach, leadership facilitator, motivational speaker, the Founder of Self-Leadership by Andrew Bryant and the author of 3 books on self-leadership, including The Self-Leadership Playbook. Passionate about all things leadership, Andrew has always kept himself open to new lessons and learnings on leadership, an attitude he expresses is crucial for success in any field: the growth mindset. In today’s episode, he discusses cultivating essential skills and values like resilience and self-leadership to create a promising journey for yourself professionally. Listen in!
EPISODE 24 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
How to be human and deliver results at work at the same time?: 00:52
As the US Navy SEALs say, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Slowly getting to know your people, their motivations, your customers, shareholders, and stakeholders and connecting with them at a human level while delivering results is key. You cannot keep pushing for results without caring for your people or vice versa. The results will not be sustainable that way.
What holds people from success?: 06:23
A limiting mindset keeps people from success. According to Carol Dweck, someone with a fixed mindset will constantly defend their position instead of being open to learning, as is seen with a growth mindset. A growth mindset is about thinking of ways to do better, rehearse well, and not see yourself as a failure for not being perfect. Perfection impedes progress.
How do people know if they have a fixed mindset? : 07:57
Your mindset depends a lot on how you take feedback. Think, what would your first reaction be if somebody asked you if you could do something better? Would you act defensive, or would you be curious to find out if they have a positive intent? Curiosity is the growth mindset.
What is self-leadership? : 9:10
The definition of self-leadership is the practice of intentionally influencing your thinking, feeling and actions towards your objectives.
How can you be more resilient?: 18:25
Step one is to recognize that wherever you are right now, and whatever's happened to you, you have survived to date the worst day of your life. Resilience means it doesn't matter where you are. It's not about being down. It's about the realization that you will bounce back.
QUOTES
31:38-31:43
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions, but sometimes it tastes like cardboard. We don't like it.”
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INTRODUCTION TO EPISODE 22
Learning how to launch, grow, and successfully run your business? In today's episode of the Advance Podcast, learn the secrets to exceptional entrepreneurship from athlete-turned-entrepreneur Patrick Parker, who runs not one but five successful businesses!
Over the last five years, Patrick has built out five different software companies, two of which are now venture-backed, and all of those are generating over a million dollars in revenues. Patrick's entrepreneurial journey started as a side gig and eventually turned into full-time business, beginning with a staffing company. When it first scaled to a million in revenue, he took 30% of the profits from that, launched a software company and grew that to 3 and a half million in revenue. Gradually, he's built and scaled many other businesses and has scaled them suitably to attain meaningful revenue.
In today's episode, join Mike as he interviews Patrick about entrepreneurship lessons from his amazing journey and learn to manage your time in a way that helps you grow financially.
EPISODE 22 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
What did Patrick’s athletics background teach him about leadership now that he’s in the business space? : 2:15
Patrick reveals that his athletics background prepared him greatly for the business space - helping him know everything from being coached, the ability to encourage and lift up teammates, to dedication and consistency and hard work and development of his personal skills. In his words, 'Going from being a player to still being involved with athletics and becoming a coach, and helping other people develop their skill sets, is exactly what leadership is about'.
How does Patrick go about managing five companies?
Patrick finds it a matter of prioritizing his time. His secret is perhaps being intentional and focused with each company. He also prepares a call list every night – a list of the things that he has to do in order for everything to continue moving forward.
Patrick believes strongly in not falling prey to a comparison mindset. The problems only get bigger that way. Patrick's way of working is starting small, staying grounded, and continuing to imitate or mimic that across all his businesses.
Another thing he does is document the lessons learned – documenting what works and what doesn't and building frameworks and processes that make your business easier.
Patrick also works on his focus. He uses time blocking to protect his time and spend his energy and effort in the right direction. He also uses focus tools on his phone to temporarily block the apps distracting him from work.
Patrick’s blueprint for growing a profitable business: 12:47
What's the purpose of a flywheel?: 25:17
Patrick’s closing advice for you: 32:04
(Full shownotes at https://connect.stepstoadvance.com)
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What does it mean to be a leader of integrity, and what does integrity mean in the workplace? Companies with a culture of integrity know that when the value drives employees, they understand and execute their responsibilities ethically and proactively, hold themselves accountable for their results, and are – in short – a true asset.
In this episode of the Advance Podcast, Mike interviews coach and author Jeffrey Klubeck about the importance of integrity at work and how it powers organizational growth. They discuss ways to cultivate motivation, accountability and communication and dig into what it means to be an ethical leader. Watch out for Jeffrey’s 3-step method of holding people accountable for their actions!
EPISODE 20 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
Where do you draw motivation from?
1:34
Motivation can come from outside sources and can also be internal. External motivation involves the strategies, tactics, and resources that inspire you to take action or move from a place of mistake or confusion. Internal motivation is knowing what works for you and making decisions that go with your mindset, values, attitudes, beliefs, fears, perspectives, faith, and everything that influences your insides.
What is accountability? In what ways does accountability show up in our lives?
8:55
Accountability can sound confrontational and almost aggressive sometimes. Because when you confront somebody on their story, commitments, or report their work, performance, results, or mindset, it involves coming face-to-face with a report of their work. But it's far from it. Accountability is the willingness to be vulnerable.
What do you do when you don’t like the person you’re holding accountable?
11:41
Move from the point of dwelling in judgment and replace that with questions. Appreciative inquiry, mutual discovery, rapport, strategy building, offering debriefing. Drop your dislike for the person while you’re assessing them professionally. Use communication strategies, techniques, and questions to get to that point.
What strategies can an accountability coach employ to hold employees accountable for their actions?
15:07
Jeffrey’s three-step approach for holding people accountable for their actions involves:
What does it mean to be an ethical leader?
28:49
An ethical leader tries to motivate people toward pleasure instead of away from pain. Their principles, when simply stated, can be like, 'Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal'. If you can lead people towards pleasure without lying, cheating, or stealing, or encouraging them to lie, cheat or steal, you're closer to an ethical leader than a boss, a manager, a director, a supervisor, or direct, according to Jeffrey.
(Full shownotes at https://connect.stepstoadvance.com)
There are good employees and there are excellent employees. There are also those employees you know aren’t performing well enough to stay or progress in your company. But to begin with, on what basis do you assess your employees’ performance? What makes a five-star employee? Does a two-star employee have to stay a two-star employee? How can they grow themselves?
Find answers to all those questions in this episode of the Advance podcast with Mike and his guest Danielle Mulvey. Danielle reveals the ingredients that make a five-star employee – the irreplaceable one who delivers consistent results for the company. With 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, Danielle comes equipped with all the knowledge regarding hiring the right people for your team, letting go of those employees who don’t fit well, and the metrics to assess each of them for their skills, ability, and performance. She also shares how she does the market analysis and competition to provide adequate pay to her employees. Listen in!
EPISODE 19 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
What is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when hiring their first few significant hires?
1:33
They take everything that they don't want to do, or they're not good at, and assign it to the new hire. The problem is, often, it becomes too much for the other person.
What is a five-star employee?
9:18
A five-star employee represents the top 15% of available talent in the market for the role. A major hiring mistake made by businesses is not casting a very wide net for applicants. Hiring from a small pool means your chances of getting that 5-star employee are also less.
Does a two-star employee always have to be a two-star employee?
19:21
A two-star employee is two-star only for that role. Danielle and her team have identified 11 Universal qualities that are key to being a five-star employee – some are coded red, which means they're very difficult to change, two are coded green, and the rest are coded gray. The green ones are relatively easy to change, and the gray ones also can be changed, but maybe with some coaching or help from a hiring manager. The red ones are the toughest to change.
How much time should we give employees to improve their performance before they’re shown the door?
24:20
In the shortest, possibly two weeks. Also, we don't need it to take six months. The reason is, we're all creatures of comfort. If we can show up to a place and the people there are relatively polite to us, and we get a paycheck every other week, we'll stay within that comfort zone forever. To a certain degree, you have to make it a bit uncomfortable for those employees so they're ready to move on and can move on quickly.
(Full shownotes at https://connect.stepstoadvance.com)
INTRODUCTION TO EPISODE 18
Have you ever considered what kind of leader you are or would make? Do you work best under chaos, or are you someone who works best when things are clear? Can you multitask?
Whatever your leadership type, this episode would be helpful for you. In this episode of the Advance podcast, Mike interviews Robert Jordan about the four different styles of leadership he has described in his book, ‘Right Leader, Right Time’. You’ll learn what makes the four kinds of leaders, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they benefit an organization.
EPISODE 18 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
Why do some big leaders fail?
1:35
It’s because after doing one thing well, they assume they can make each other great too. That’s not true of any human being, not just leaders. Also, they don’t bring another person to run a different lane. They keep in the same lane that made them famous or successful in the first place.
What are the four leadership styles, according to Robert?
6:43
The four leadership styles include:
● Fixer: A fixer is someone who keeps on running in to fix things. So once they've had a successful experience, like, fixing a client relationship, a division, a company, a community or industry, and it has reached the state it had to, they are going to get bored, and they need to move on to the next troubled situation.
● Builder: A builder is great at building systems, processes, products, services, and people and taking a small team to a dominant position. Once that is achieved, they will get bored, and most builders will seek the next product company with which to scale again.
● Artist: Artists see the world as a blank canvas. They are driven to create, sometimes at their own peril. Maybe it's the risk of career, fame, money, or just a creative urge to get satisfied.
● Strategist: A strategist is a leader who operates at scale. They work in highly complex and large organizations.
What are some strengths and weaknesses of a fixer?
10:48
A fixer is very linear in their thinking and way of working. They are laser-focused on the problem at hand. But they cannot have five things happening around them once at the same time. It isn't optimal for their performance.
How does an artist work?
15:21
An artist convinces the team, builds a compelling product, case, or service, and gets it ready to be tested in the world.
How can a leader assess their own strengths and weaknesses?
33:29
Listen to podcasts like this to learn leadership from top-level leaders of different companies. There is also a leadership assessment called FEMS leadership assessment – a three-minute profiling test used to determine your leadership style, which you can check out.
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Many of us are living in fear: fear of something in the future or regret and resentment about things in the past. However, if we live in the present moment, we can achieve peace of mind despite any uncertainty.
Amy Wong joins Mike in this episode of the Advance Podcast to discuss how to live in the present and on purpose. Amy explains the cause of our dissatisfaction, resentment, and anxiety in life and shares some actionable insights on overcoming them, which she has also discussed in her book, Living On Purpose. Amy also talks about the link between our primary objective at any moment and fear. She explains how to live a fearless life by working on understanding and reinforcing your primary objective with compassion and dedication.
EPISODE 17 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
How prevalent is Imposter Syndrome in America?
1:35
Imposter Syndrome is more prevalent than most of us admit. There's so much shame wrapped around it that people find it hard to accept they've experienced something like that.
How can you find peace amid this time of uncertainty?
5:46
Anxiety lies in our thoughts about the future; it is not of the moment. We intend to be three steps ahead or replay what happened in the past that we forget to be in the moment. It takes practice to become present to reduce anxiety levels even during these times of uncertainty.
What can you do to live in the present?
09:42
One thing you can do is use mantras to pull you back to what you started with. Another thing is meditation. It helps you stay present throughout the day.
How can you find more purpose and meaning in life?
15:58
In the end, all that we want is a desired feeling. Finding meaning is about asking yourself how you want to feel about your job, role, or responsibilities.
How can people become more fearless in life, business, and relationships?
24:56
We all have a primary objective at any moment. Due to our psychology and neurobiology, that objective shifts to something that doesn't usually serve us sometimes. Nervousness is a symptom of an unintentional stance at any moment. If you're feeling scared or nervous at any moment, it's because of this shift in your primary objective. It takes a lot of compassion to claim that stance back. You've to channel your eloquence, innovation, and creativity in a productive way to live a bold, powerful life.
(Full show notes at https://connect.stepstoadvance.com)
RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST
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If you think you know enough about the power of resilience, you probably haven’t heard Stanley Andrisse’s story. After a series of wrong choices early on in life got him into prison – for 10 years, he knew it would take nothing but strong will, determination, and untethered resilience to succeed in his dream of becoming a doctor. Fast forward to today, Stanley is a Ph.D. and MBA holder, a doctor, author, and entrepreneur, who aims to change the lives of others with criminal convictions “through advocacy, mentoring, and policy change”.
Join Mike and Stanley in this episode as the latter explains his story of triumph through tough times and the indomitable power of resilience, hard work, and faith in transforming your life. Labeled a criminal at just 14 for selling drugs, Stanley explains the challenges he faced in keeping his dreams alive amid all the negative opinions people surrounded him with.
EPISODE 15 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS
How do you understand your inner strength?
27:47
Do not let outside interference define or determine you. Do not let another person’s opinion harm you. Be a source of good.
How did Stanley manage to get his Ph.D. despite being in prison?
30:22
Stanley read research articles and papers day in and out in prison, dreaming and working hard to become a doctor. He then put together applications for education in multiple colleges; all except one were rejected. St. Louis University was the only university that accepted his admission after being released. He managed to complete his MBA and Ph.D. simultaneously, as the topper in class. He moved on later to Johns Hopkins University, where he became the number one in Endocrinology.
What do you do when the going gets tough?
39:02
Lean into your higher power. Hold onto your integrity. Do the right thing even if it brings you harm. Root into good beliefs and faith. Have patience and condition yourself to see multiple outcomes.
QUOTES
41:14-41:34
“For me, I kind of had plans, A, B, C, D, E, and so forth. Like, if I wasn't going to get A, I was going to be okay. And so I think that's one of the tough things like people having their eyes set on a prize and not getting that is considered a failure. And for me, I had multiple things that I was going towards.”
13:53-14:11
“For most people that go through incarceration, it's like it just beached you down in terms of psychologically mentally, emotionally, to where you no longer have any feeling of self-worth or self-value or purpose.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST
CONNECT WITH STANLEY
Website
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The podcast currently has 71 episodes available.