Coaching for Leaders

Lesson 3: How will you know you’re on the right track?

Changing behavior is part of moving forward — but it’s often hard to notice progress. In this lesson, a key question that will help people stay motivated when making change.

Academy Applications Close Friday, September 8th

The Academy is an intimate cohort of participant leaders who work personally with me to accelerate their leadership development and organizational results. Discover more and submit your application by Friday, September 8th.

Resources

How to Get Traction With a New Habit

Related Episodes

How to Help People Engage in Growth, with Whitney Johnson (episode 576)

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Lesson 2: What’s an example of this?

When it’s not clear what’s being discussed, it’s hard to know what to do next. In this lesson, a simple question that can open up a lot more detail to help everyone move forward.

Academy Applications Close Friday, September 8th

The Academy is an intimate cohort of participant leaders who work personally with me to accelerate their leadership development and organizational results. Discover more and submit your application by Friday, September 8th.

Resources

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People* by Stephen Covey

Related Episodes

How to Discover What Others Value, with Joe Hart (episode 616)

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Lesson 1: How so?

Just two simple words can get people saying so much more. In this lesson, you’ll discover the way a question like, “How so?” can be so powerful for both others and you.

Academy Applications Close Friday, September 8th

The Academy is an intimate cohort of participant leaders who work personally with me to accelerate their leadership development and organizational results. Discover more and submit your application by Friday, September 8th.

Resources

The Coaching Habit* by Michael Bungay Stanier

Related Episodes

These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)

The Way to Be More Coach-Like, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 458)

How to Inspire More Curiosity, with Shannon Minifie (episode 520)

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Eduardo Briceño: The Performance Paradox

Eduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker and facilitator who guides many of the world’s leading companies in developing cultures of learning and high performance. Earlier in his career, he was the co-founder and CEO of Mindset Works, the first company to offer growth mindset development services. Previously, he was a venture capital investor with the Sprout Group.

His TED Talk, How to Get Better at the Things You Care About, and his prior TEDx Talk, The Power of Belief, have been viewed more than nine million times. He is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow, a member of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network, and an inductee in the Happiness Hall of Fame. He is the author of The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset Into Action*.

Many of us have heard the invitation in recent years to have a growth mindset — but how do you establish this for an entire team? In this episode, Eduardo and I explore his research on systemizing the learning zone to help teams perform at the highest levels. Plus, we explore tactical shifts that managers can make in order to align intention with reality.

Key Points

In order for teams to performance at top levels, they need to spend intentional time in both the performance zone and the learning zone.

Internal competition can hold back teams from learning — and can over focusing on the present instead of the future.

Systemizing the learning zone helps build a culture where this is expected and normal. Setting expectations for feedback, role plays, and study groups are a few of the many ways organizations can do this.

Eliminate forced ranking systems, as they often over-perpetuate a culture of performance only vs. performance and learning together.

Include learning goals in professional development, not only performance goals. This normalizes and systemizes the learning zone as a critical part of work.

Resources Mentioned

The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset Into Action by Eduardo Briceño

How to Get Better at the Things You Care About by Eduardo Briceño (TEDx talk)

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

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Six Tactics for Extraordinary Performance, with Morten Hansen (episode 337)

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The Way to Make Struggles More Productive, with Sarah Stein Greenberg (episode 569)

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Mark Bowden: Winning Body Language

Mark Bowden is a world-renowned body language expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. Voted three times by Global Gurus’ as the #1 Body Language Professional in the world, Mark’s unique GesturePlane™ system of nonverbal communication helps audiences maximize the power of using their own body language to stand out, win trust, and gain credibility every time they communicate.

As the founder of communication training company TRUTHPLANE®, Mark’s live and virtual keynote speeches and training prove invaluable to business leaders and teams from influential companies including Zoom, Shopify, Toyota, KPMG, American Express, the US Army and NATO; and prime ministers of G7 nations. His bestselling books on body language and human behavior are: Winning Body Language*, Winning Body Language for Sales Professionals*, Tame the Primitive Brain*, and Truth & Lies, What People are Really Thinking*. His highly acclaimed TEDx talk The Importance of Being In-Authentic continues to reach millions of people, as does his own YouTube Channel.

Most professionals are on video more these days than they ever thought they would be. As a result, making the best first impression on camera is more essential to our work than ever before. In this conversation, Mark and I explore several of the key principles that will help us start better in virtual interactions.

Key Points

We make judgment calls very quickly depending on how someone shows up visually.

It's your duty to influence and persuade — and we all do this in some way already to change outcomes.

While we’re used to viewing content on screen (television, movies, YouTube) we aren’t used to interacting and collaborating on screen.

Use video in short, consistent ways. Tools like Loom can help us do on camera what we already know works well in person: regular interaction.

Your smile can set the tone for an interaction and it’s important to use a visual aid to remind you of this if you’re staring at black boxes on screen.

Bring your gestures into the camera frame. Gestures that match the cadence and rhythm can help connect your audience with your message.

Resources Mentioned

Winning Body Language* by Mark Bowden

Truth and Lies*: What People Are Really Thinking by Mark Bowden and Tracey Thomson

The Importance Of Being Inauthentic by Mark Bowden (TEDx talk)

Best Tips for Virtual Presentations by Mark Bowden (YouTube)

Mark Bowden on LinkedIn

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These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)

The Way to Influence Executives, with Nancy Duarte (episode 450)

The Way to Make Sense to Others, with Tom Henschel (episode 518)

Moving Towards Meetings of Significance, with Seth Godin (episode 632)

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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Mauro Guillén: The Perennials

Mauro Guillén is Professor of Management and Vice Dean at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. An expert on global market trends, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic, and technological developments.

His online classes on Coursera and edX have attracted over 100,000 participants from around the world. He has won multiple teaching awards at Wharton, where his presentation on global market trends has become a permanent feature of over fifty executive education programs annually. His book on 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything was an instant Wall Street Journal bestseller and he's now the author of The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society*.

Many of us grew up in a world where life was divided into three stages: school, work, and retirement. Traditional ways of thinking about credentialing and ways to transition in the workforce are also changing. In this conversation, Mauro and I explore what has changed and how we can shift our thinking and actions to stay relevant in a new world of work.

Key Points

The sequential model of life is no longer as relevant as it was a generation ago. Life span, health span, and technology are massively affecting how we think about generations.

It’s no longer a correct assumption that entry level positions are going to be only filled people in their twenties coming out of school.

Intergenerational learning is an opportunity that many institutions and organizations still miss. Embracing this will increasingly help us stay relevant.

Traditional credentials will still hold value, but it will be assessed in the context people's ability in learning how to learn.

Intergenerational differences are real, they do not necessarily result in different values, attitudes, and behaviors in the workplace. There is lots of heterogeneity that our stereotypes conceal.

Resources Mentioned

The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society* by Mauro Guillén

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Lead a 100-Year Life, with Lynda Gratton (episode 266)

Essentials of Adult Development, with Mindy Danna (episode 273)

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Renée Mauborgne: Beyond Disruption

Renée Mauborgne is the INSEAD Distinguished Fellow and a professor of strategy at the global business school INSEAD. She is the co-author of the 4 million copy global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, which is recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written, and is also co-author of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times bestseller Blue Ocean Shift.

To date, the Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift teaching materials have been adopted by over 2,800 universities across the globe. In 2022, Harvard Business Review selected Blue Ocean Strategy as one of the most influential and innovative articles published in HBR over the last 100 years. Along with her colleague W. Chan Kim, she was named the most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. She is the first woman ever to secure that top spot. She is the co-author with W. Chan Kim of Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs*.

Key Points

Zero-sum thinking means that if we win, someone else must lose. Many of us have been conditioned to accept that this is how competition has to work.

Nondisruptive creation creates new industries without leaving failed companies, lost jobs, and destroyed markets in its wake.

Consider shifting focus from structure to agency. Firms that generate nondisruptive creation lead with agency.

Don’t confuse the means with the ends. Technology enables, but value innovation is ultimately what creates a nondisruptive new market.

Unlock the many, not just the few. Overemphasizing an entrepreneur or creative leader underemphasizes the contributions of everyone else.

Resources Mentioned

Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs* by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant* by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

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This is a re-airing of episode 358. New episodes return on Monday, August 14th.

Mamie Kanfer Stewart: The Modern Manager

Mamie Kanfer Stewart is a managerial excellence expert, executive coach, author of Momentum: Creating Effective Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings*, and host of The Modern Manager podcast. She loves helping managers apply the best thinking on human behavior and flourishing in how they lead themselves and their teams.

Key Points

There are six reasons to have meetings: connect, align, decide, ideate/brainstorm, plan, and/or produce.

Set an outcome for the meeting and structure the agenda accordingly.

Approach other leaders for clarity when the purpose of the meeting is not apparent.

Consider the impact of unnecessary participants in meetings and decide in advance who needs to be consulted, informed, and engaged.

Maximize all attendees time by providing clear meeting invitations and concise instructions on pre-work or pre-reading to be completed.

Resources Mentioned

Momentum: Creating Effective Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings* by Mamie Kanfer Stewart and Tai Tsao

The Modern Manager podcast

Related Episodes

How to Lead an Offsite, with Tom Henschel (episode 377)

How to Create Meaningful Gatherings, with Priya Parker (episode 395)

Moving Towards Meetings of Significance, with Seth Godin (episode 632)

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This is a re-airing of episode 284. New episodes return on Monday, August 14th.

Michael Bungay Stanier: The Coaching Habit

Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of eight books, including The Coaching Habit*, which has sold more than a million copies and is the best-selling book on coaching this century. In 2011 he created and edited End Malaria, a book written in partnership with Seth Godin that raised more than $400k for Malaria No More.

Michael is the founder Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that’s trained thousands of people around the world to be more coach-like. He has been featured in many publications including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company. His TEDx Talk on Taming Your Advice Monster has been viewed more than a million times.

Key Points

When things get difficult, there are three roles people may fall into: the victim, the persecutor, and/or the rescuer.

To step out of a victim role, figure out what’s really going on, take a deep breath, and think, “And what else?”

To avoid the persecutor role, assume positive intent and that people are trying their best.

To stop rescuing as much, ask the victim, “How can I help?” or “What do you want from me?”

Ask yourself what you want in the situation, and make sure you’ve communicated it to others. Then ask the others what they want.

Resources Mentioned

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever* by Michael Bungay Stanier

The Advice Trap* by Michael Bungay Stanier

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How to Start Coaching Someone (episode 2)

How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)

These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)

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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

This is a re-airing of episode 192. New episodes return on Monday, August 14th.

Susan Gerke: GO Team Resources

Susan Gerke has been the president of Gerke Consulting & Development. She has worked with global teams and has certified facilitators around the world to deliver management, leadership, and team offerings. Susan is co-creator of GO Team, a training suite for organizations to power team performance.

Key Points

Don’t create guidelines yourself and give them to the team.

A starting point for how to create team guidelines is what did not work well on a previous team.

The interpersonal dynamics that emerge are more critical than the guidelines themselves.

Aim to create no more than 8 guidelines.

Disagreement is the sign of a healthy team.

Continue to revisit guidelines in future meetings and team milestone (new members join or the team, change to team composition or purpose)

Resources Mentioned

GO Team Resources

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How Top Leaders Influence Great Teamwork, with Scott Keller (episode 585)

How to Help Team Members Find the Right Work, with Patrick Lencioni (episode 610)

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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.