Coaching for Leaders

Lesson 2: Take Daily Action

Behavior change works best when we work to create small wins, consistently. In this lesson, I invite you to take 5-10 minute daily actions that align with your new identity.

Academy Applications Close Friday, September 11th

The Academy is a year-long cohort of participant leaders who work personally with me to create movement in their leadership development and organizational results. Discover more and submit your application by Friday, September 11th.

Resources

Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers* by Morten Hansen

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals* by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling

Related Episodes

How to Actually Move Numbers, with Chris McChesney (episode 294)

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

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Lesson 1: Create Your New Identity

The first step in changing your behavior is taking on a new identity. In this lesson, you’ll discover how to do this and what a new identity may sound like.

Academy Applications Close Friday, September 11th

The Academy is a year-long cohort of participant leaders who work personally with me to create movement in their leadership development and organizational results. Discover more and submit your application by Friday, September 11th.

Resources

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful* by Marshall Goldsmith

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals* by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling

Related Episodes

The Way to Make New Behaviors Stick, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 196)

How to Actually Move Numbers, with Chris McChesney (episode 294)

How to Become the Person You Want to Be, with James Clear (episode 376)

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Joseph Getuno

Joseph is a finance director based in Mauritius. He’s a longtime listener from the show and a member of the Coaching for Leaders Academy.

In this conversation, Joseph and I discuss how he captures ideas from audio podcasts and motivates himself to implement what he’s discovered. We also highlight the value in establishing team guidelines, zeroing in on self-awareness, and the power of consistency. Plus, he highlights the work of key experts that have sharped his own leadership development.

Key Points

Listen to an audio podcast one time through. Then, review a second time at higher speed to capture the key ideas from the conversation.

Insights and ideas are a starting point, but of little value without action. Find a way to support daily action in your development.

Establishing team guidelines can change the entire dynamic of culture in the organization.

Consistency isn’t a flashy word, but it’s a key factor in how much movement you’re able to create as a leader.

Related Episodes

How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)

How to Build Psychological Safety, with Amy Edmondson (episode 404)

The Way to Be More Self-Aware, with Tasha Eurich (episode 442)

The Value of Being Uncomfortable, with Neil Pasricha (episode 448)

How to Motivate Leaders, with John Maxwell (episode 452)

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Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Listener Questions

Dustin asked us about how to handle going through a merger or acquisition.

Melanie wondered what our biggest learning curve was when we were new managers.

Taryn wanted to know the best ways to track goals and progress when doing internal coaching.

Resources Mentioned

Difficult Conversations by Seth Godin (Akimbo podcast)

Productivity Tools by Bonni Stachowiak

Monday.com

OmniFocus

Related Episodes

The Path of Humble Leadership, with Edgar Schein and Peter Schein (episode 363)

How to Build Psychological Safety, with Amy Edmondson (episode 404)

Appeal to the Nobler Motive (Dave’s Journal)

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Keith Ferrazzi: Leading Without Authority

Keith Ferrazzi is the founder and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a management consulting and team coaching company that works with many of the world’s biggest corporations. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Keith rose to become the youngest CMO of a Fortune 500 company during his career at Deloitte, and later became CMO of Starwood Hotels.

Keith is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fortune and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who’s Got Your Back* and Never Eat Alone*. He’s the author of the new book, Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration*.

In this conversation, Keith and I discuss the importance of co-elevation in leadership. We also explore the six deadly sins that leaders should avoid — and discuss why it’s all on you, especially at the start.

Key Points

Six deadly excuses leaders should avoid:

Ignorance: there’s no excuse to sit back and do nothing.

Laziness: do not abdicate your responsibility to lead.

Deference: beware hiding the truth just to defer to the organizational chart.

Playing the victim: avoid running away or resigning to self-pity.

Cowardice: if someone scares you, it’s probably an opportunity to grow.

Indulgence: stop indulging resentments as they often hold back your career and limit personal and professional success.

Resentment leaves us blind and powerless; it’s been compared to drinking poison and hoping the other person will die.

Book Notes

Download my highlights from Leading Without Authority in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

The Choice for Compassion, with Edith Eger (episode 336)

How to Motivate Leaders, with John Maxwell (episode 452)

How to Create Great Relationships, with Colleen Bordeaux (episode 455)

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Elizabeth Cousens: UN Foundation

Elizabeth is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation, leading the Foundation’s next generation of work to support the United Nations. She is a diplomat and thought leader who has worked on the frontlines of peace processes, played an influential role in UN policy innovations from peacebuilding to the Sustainable Development Goals, and helped build public-private partnerships to solve global challenges at scale.

Before joining the Foundation, Elizabeth served for several years at the U.S. Mission to the UN in New York. She was Principal Policy Advisor and Counselor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and later served as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council and Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly.

In this conversation, Elizabeth and I discuss the short and long term goals of the UN Foundation. In addition, we explore how Elizabeth’s team raised $200 million in the face of COVID-19, how she works with impatient optimists, and the importance of leading with kindness.

Key Points

The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund has raised over $200 million for relief efforts.

Leaders should work to lead with kindness in every sector.

Many high-performing leaders are natural impatient optimists, always pushing for change.

COVID-19 is front of mind for most of us, but we cannot let it override our organization’s strategic goals.

Resources Mentioned

COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO

Elizabeth Cousens Has Raised Over $200 Million for the World Health Organization (Mostly) in Her Pajamas

Related Episodes

Leadership in the Midst of Chaos, with Jim Mattis (episode 440)

How to be Diplomatic, with Susan Rice (episode 456)

How Great Teams Find Purpose, with David Burkus (episode 481)

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David Hutchens: The Storytelling Leader

David Hutchens help leaders find and tell their stories. Stephen M.R. Covey says, “David has the ability to convey key messages in a way that is both simple and profound.”

He has taught the Storytelling Leader program all over the world at some of the most influential organizations — and he’s written many books, including most recently the Circle of the 9 Muses* and The Leadership Story Deck*. He is the co-creator with Susan Gerke of the GO Team program.

In this conversation, David and I explore the importance of storytelling, especially during uncertain times. David teaches us the framework of the kinds of stories leaders can tell for continuity, novelty, and transition. Leaders can use one of all of these frameworks to help connect and inspire during difficult times.

Key Points

The continuity story highlights identity, values, and founding principles — things that will never change.

Example:

What’s a time we held our values, even though it came with a cost?

The novelty story shows what is new and focuses attention on innovation and possibility.

Example:

What’s a time you saw something valuable that we don’t have here? But imagine if we did.

The transition story dives in on change and learning — and illuminates a journey of shared progress.

Examples:

What’s a time you saw someone make a personally courageous decision to change?

We tried something, it didn’t work, and we learned something valuable.

Here’s a time we solved a tough problem.

Resources Mentioned

GO Team program

Leadership Story Deck* by David Hutchens

Circle of the 9 Muses: A Storytelling Field Guide for Innovators and Meaning Makers* by David Hutchens

David’s email: [email protected]

Related Episodes

How Storytelling Helps You Lead, with Sandie Morgan (episode 51)

The Four Critical Stories Leaders Need For Influence, with David Hutchens (episode 148)

Practical Storytelling That Isn’t Awkward, with David Hutchens (episode 228)

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Michael Byrne: Silverman Shin & Byrne

Michael is an attorney and partner at Silverman Shin & Byrne in New York, one of the largest minority owned law firms in the State of New York. Michael’s primary areas of focus include tort and commercial litigation defense. He serves clients in a broad range of matters, including attorney malpractice, personal injury torts, insurance, business formation, securities and cyber liability claims.

He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and of several committees. Michael is also a member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association and the Defense Research Institute. He provides legal advice to various civic associations and youth ice hockey organizations in Long Island. He’s also a member of the Coaching for Leaders Academy.

Key Points

Trying to do everything yourself in leadership is like mowing a lawn with a pair of scissors.

A critical shift for leaders to make is “time of possession” in the conversation. Work to have the other party speaking more.

The answers people give to my questions are the answers to their own questions.

Delegating well means that more time emerges to support others with skill development.

Making time to be present for people also allows you more time for deep work.

Resources Mentioned

Michael Byrne on LinkedIn

Silverman Shin & Byrne

Related Episodes

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

Effective Delegation of Authority, with Hassan Osman (episode 413)

How to Ask Better Questions, with David Marquet (episode 454)

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Robbie Kellman Baxter: The Forever Transaction

Robbie helps companies leverage subscription pricing, digital community and freemium to build deeper relationships with customers. She has been quoted on business issues in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Consumer Reports, and many others. She has created and starred in eight video courses in collaboration with LinkedIn Learning on business topics ranging from innovation to customer success and membership.

She is the author of The Membership Economy*, a book that has been named a top 10 marketing book of all time by BookAuthority. She recently released her new book, The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave*.

In this conversation, Robbie and I discuss the shift to subscriptions and memberships in many industries in recent years. We address implications for leaders who are considering strategy on making changes to how they do business — as well as some of the tactical steps. Finally, Robbie highlights some of the myths and best practices when beginning with subscriptions.

Key Points

There’s been a significant shift to memberships and subscriptions in recents years in many industries.

It’s critical for organizations considering a move in this direction to create and articulate a forever promise.

Be cautious about simply building existing products and services under a membership banner.

It’s critical to speak to your best customer.

Beware of treating members worse than strangers or taking advantage of your most loyal customers.

Resources Mentioned

Free downloads of Robbie’s keynote presentation slides, membership manifesto, and book chapter.

Book Notes

Download my highlights from The Forever Transaction in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Start Seeing Around Corners, with Rita McGrath (episode 430)

How to Build an Invincible Company, with Alex Osterwalder (episode 470)

How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank (episode 476)

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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Listener Questions

Kierstin asked for suggestions (books, individuals) for starting her leadership journey — and also how to navigate leading people who are older than her.

Bridgette wondered if we had suggestions on funding priorities, vision, and bringing others into leadership roles.

Michael asked our advice on handling confrontations between departments.

Resources Mentioned

The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations* by James Kouzes and Barry Posner

How to Win Friends and Influence People* by Dale Carnegie

The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work* by Peter Block

Personal History* by Katharine Graham

The Post

Related Episodes

What Search Dogs Teach About Engagement, with Jan Frazee (episode 25)

Seven Principles for Leading People Older Than You, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 59)

Your Permission to Screw Up, with Kristen Hadeed (episode 338)

How to Deal with Opponents and Adversaries, with Peter Block (episode 328)

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

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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.