Authority Optional: Leadership Beyond the Rulebook

Continuing their interview with Jeremiah, the three get into more effective ways of helping other humans be better, managing up when the circumstances call for senior management to be coached, how powerful music can be, and just how valuable it can be to truly get to know your people.

Max and Josh interview a true visionary in the field of turning work environments into places that don't suck. Jeremiah has written and co-written a few books, worked for some extremely high value entities, and delivers a ton of excellent information in our two part episode where we cover everything from abstract thinking and leveraging seemingly disparate skill sets to actually treating people like what they are, a company's greatest asset.

Max and Josh talk about the way feeling or pattern can creep up on you and how it can impact relationships. This is particularly relevant in leadership as it is their belief that working towards optimal relationships on a team is part of the job. After some stories and examples they provide some tips and suggestions on reversing unproductive neuro-associations.

Max and Josh interview an expert on building cohesive cultures people ACTUALLY want to work in. Courtney Feider (say it like "fighter") utilizes over 25 years of experience in corporate business focused in the areas of leadership development, organizational strategy, behavioral development, and business communications/marketing. She talks about addressing the common bifurcation of work from who we are as humans, challenges of middle managers leading well but not collaborating well and some tools to improve that, the undeniable value of assessments and some options, and overall acknowledging the pure fact that we’re working with humans and some opportunities to improve our environments based on that knowledge.

Max and Josh wrap up the series on engagement with the biggest and best part: development. Starting with their intent, being super explicit about what excellence means which can mean gaining clarity from your own leadership, leveraging what they’re good at often discovered by assessments, and having the tough conversations when necessary are all part of strong development.

Max and Josh define this concept for the purposes of what is meant by it when they're talking and asking about it, how it impacts a quality team, and how to go about implementing it.

Max and Josh continue with the series on Engagement, now moving on to providing your team with autonomy. Hire the right people to do the job, then get out of their way. In addition to providing some steps that can aid this journey they discuss the importance of failure and how powerful it can be for someone to learn it's allowed.

Max and Josh interview Joel about an interesting transition in his life where he could have gone to a dark place but instead turned it into enlightenment, a fulfilling career, and strong leadership. They pick his brain on getting connected to his people, remote team building, and how he maintains psychological safety.

Max and Josh launch a series on Engagement, a critical component of creating an environment people actually want to work in.  The series starts with Inquiry, Max and Josh talk about some of the best questions they’ve found to ask in order to get engagement started. Additionally they provide examples for how those questions tend to pan out and how to leverage what you learn about the person so you can help them grow. 

This is the sequel to last week's topic, Max and Josh reveal the last 3 steps to finding a way into crafting that culture you're after despite being in a business or work environment that may not be receptive to it.