Coaching for Leaders

Michael Hyatt: The Vision-Driven Leader

Michael is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Michael Hyatt & Company. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past 4 years. Under his leadership, Michael Hyatt & Company has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row.

He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform*, Living Forward*, Your Best Year Ever*, and Free to Focus*. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren. He recently released his newest book: The Vision-Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business*.

In this conversation, Michael and I discuss where to start once you’ve created an initial vision. Michael invites us to engage those that don’t like change and take the time to listen. In addition, getting buy-in from your boss is essential — your vision should align with their goals and those of the organization.

Key Points

Start with your direct reports who don’t like change. Be quick to listen, slow to speak.

Make the distinction between risky vs. stupid.

Bosses don’t like surprises. You have to commit first.

When I had a boss, I had a basic rule: Don’t take a swing unless I’m confident I’ll hit the ball. -Michael Hyatt

Know your customer. Make sure the vision is helping your boss — and the organization — achieve their goals.

Before you schedule a time to pitch your proposal, answer the question: how is my Vision Script going to help my boss achieve their goals? If you can’t answer that question, you’re not ready to make the pitch. -Michael Hyatt

Anticipate the objections you’re likely to receive and be ready for them.

Once you’ve got buy-in on a vision, stop. Don’t oversell it.

When you’re starting to get tired of hearing yourself talk about the vision, that’s an indicator that you’re on the right track.

Resources Mentioned

Vision Driven Leader bonus resources

Book Notes

Download my highlights from The Vision-Driven Leader in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Get Noticed in a Noisy World, with Michael Hyatt (episode 40)

How to Create a Vivid Vision, with Cameron Herold (episode 345)

Embrace a Just Cause, with Simon Sinek (episode 473)

How to Create Your Personal Vision (free membership required)

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David Burkus: Pick a Fight

David’s work is changing how companies approach innovation, collaboration, and leadership. He is the award-winning author of four books and offers a fresh perspective on how to improve our organizations and build better teams by blending the most current research in psychology, sociology, economics, and network science.

His books have been translated in more than a dozen languages and his work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, and more. He has consistently been named one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50 and his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He is the author of the audiobook, Pick a Fight: How Great Teams Find a Purpose Worth Rallying Around*.

In this conversation, David and I discuss why picking a fight is a powerful motivation, but important to do with wisdom. Most organizations won’t benefit from starting fights with rivals. Instead, discover one of three fights that will support a cause worth fighting for.

Key Points

Avoid fights with rivals.

Picking a fight is a powerful motivator; but leaders need to pick their fight wisely. Instead of someone to fight, they need to find a cause worth fighting for.

Three kinds of fights that are useful for leaders to engage in:

The Revolutionary Fight

The Underdog Fight

The Ally Fight

Resources Mentioned

3 Days To A More Motivated And Aligned Team

Book Notes

Download my highlights from Pick a Fight in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

The Power of Weak Connections, with David Burkus (episode 347)

How to Clarify What’s Important, with Ron Williams (episode 410)

Embrace a Just Cause, with Simon Sinek (episode 473)

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Laura Huang: Edge

Laura Huang is an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. Her research examines interpersonal relationships and implicit bias in entrepreneurship and in the workplace. She is the creator of #FindYourEdge, an initiative dedicated to addressing inequality and disadvantage through personal empowerment.

Her award-winning research has been featured in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Forbes — and she was named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 by Poets & Quants. She’s the author of the book Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage*.

In this conversation, Laura and I discuss the value of constraints, why hard work isn’t enough, and the reason you’re not selling out when reclaiming an awareness of yourself. We also explore why it’s essential for you to be able to tell your story.

Key Points

“Be yourself” is sometimes bad advice.

You’re not selling out when you reclaim an awareness of yourself.

Bring value — and also be sure that people KNOW you bring value.

Self awareness can sometimes encumber our ability to guide.

Don’t passively let others write your narrative — write your own narrative and guide other’s view of you. Let your past make you better, not bitter.

Resources Mentioned

Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage* by Laura Huang

Book Notes

Download my highlights from Edge in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

Leverage Your Defining Moments, with Lynne Whiteford (episode 372)

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

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

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Emily Leathers: Emotional Leadership

Emily is an executive coach and software engineering manager. She has led teams and advised other managers for years. She’s seen the difference a truly passionate leader and manager can make for their team and the world around them.

Like a lot of managers and coaches, she’s had a front row seat to the patterns that cause a lot of leaders to overwork and over stress. She is the author of the guide The 7 Leadership Lies and she’s the host of the Emotional Leadership podcast. She’s also a member of the Coaching for Leaders Academy.

In this conversation, we discuss some of the common lies that leaders tend to tell themselves that lead to frustration and impostor syndrome. Then, we explore better ways to frame these beliefs, to lead with more confidence and effectiveness.

Key Points

Lie #1: I’m supposed to do everything I, my manager, or my team can think of.

Truth: A leader’s job is about prioritization - and that means prioritizing how we spend our own time as well.

Lie #2: There’s a timeline.

Truth: There is no rush. Work gets much easier when we turn off the unneeded sense of emergency. Prioritization is the aim.

Lie #3: Emotions don’t belong at work.

Truth: Every action we take is driven by an emotion. You are going to experience emotions at work - that or you’ll be staring at a wall all day without a single thought in your mind. Turning them off isn’t an option. Learning to allow your emotions and use them to your advantage is critical for your success as a leader.

Lie #4: I’m supposed to have an answer for any problem or question a team member asks.

Truth: A manager’s role is to help your team solve problems, not to solve problems for your team.

Resources Mentioned

The 7 Leadership Lies

Anger + Allowing Strong Emotions with Vivien Yang (Emotional Leadership podcast)

Related Episodes

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

What to Do With Your Feelings, with Lori Gottlieb (episode 438)

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

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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

Joseph asked our opinion about this HBR IdeaCast on StrengthsFinder: Stop Focusing on Your Strengths

Matt asked about using personality assessments when coaching an athletic team.

Mike wondered the best way to approach conducting internal podcast interviews of employees.

Resources Mentioned

Brené Brown: The Call to Courage (Netflix special)

StrengthsFinder training for individuals and teams* (use code CFL10 for a 10% tuition discount)

Blubrry podcast hosting*

Related Episodes

How to Know What to Ask, with Andrew Warner (episode 198)

How Teams Use StrengthsFinder Results, with Lisa Cummings (episode 293)

How to Talk to People Who Have Power, with Jordan Harbinger (episode 343)

Journey Towards Diversity and Inclusion, with Willie Jackson (episode 441)

Changed My Mind (Dave’s Journal)

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Starting July 6th, create connections with other leaders through membership in the Coaching for Leaders Community. Discover more at:

coachingforleaders.com/community

Applications close Friday, July 10th for the first 50 membership seats.

Pat Flynn: Let Go

Pat Flynn is a father, husband, and entrepreneur who lives and works in San Diego, California. He owns several successful online businesses and is a professional blogger, keynote speaker, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He’s the host of the Smart Passive Income and AskPat podcasts, which have earned a combined total of over 60 million downloads, multiple awards, and features in publications such as The New York Times and Forbes.

Pat is the author of the book Let Go: How to Transform Moments of Panic into a Life of Profits and Purpose. You can find him at Smart Passive Income.

In this conversation, Pat and I discuss the events leading up to his layoff in 2008, how he processed the change at the time, and what he did to respond purposely. Plus, he has reminders for leaders considering layoffs and many resources for those who’ve gone through it themselves.

Key Points

Plans are good and necessary to have, but they shouldn’t be written in stone.

When the unexpected happens, keep moving.

If you find yourself leading an organization and the future is uncertain, don’t say or pretend otherwise.

A core value of Pat’s organization: embrace the process.

Resources Mentioned

Online Business Toolkit: Free resources from Pat Flynn’s team during COVID-19

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles* by Steven Pressfield

Book Notes

Download my highlights from Let Go in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

Ten Ways to Pick Yourself Up When You’re Beaten Down (episode 85)

How to Tame Your Inner Critic, with Tara Mohr (episode 232)

Your Attitude Defines Your Altitude, with Howard “H” White (episode 384)

Keep Going (Dave’s Journal)

If You Can, Move Your Feet (Dave’s Journal)

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Steve Blank: The Startup Owner's Manual

Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley serial-entrepreneur and academician. He is recognized for developing the Customer Development methodology, which launched the Lean Startup movement. Steve is also the co-founder of E.piphany.

His Google Tech talk, The Secret History of Silicon Valley, offers a widely regarded insider's perspective on the emerging Silicon Valley's start-up innovation. He’s also published three books: The Four Steps to the Epiphany*, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, and The Startup Owner's Manual*.

In this conversation, Steve and I discuss the steps that leaders should take when making pivots. We explored the importance of creating a Minimal Viable Product or Minimum Viable Service, followed quickly with customer discovery, rapid testing, and refinement.

Key Points

What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. -Friedrich Nietzsche

To pivot quickly:

Create a MVP (Minimal Viable Product) or MVS (Minimum Viable Service).

Conduct customer discovery: validate your idea by speaking with existing/potential customers about the new product/service.

Do rapid testing: get your work into the hands of existing/potential customers quickly. Don’t try to get it perfect right out of the gate.

Refine your offering: use fast feedback to make the product/service better.

Resources Mentioned

Seven Steps to Small Business Recovery

The Virus Survival Strategy For Your Startup

How To Keep Your Company Alive – Observe, Orient, Decide and Act

Customer Discovery In the Time Of the Covid-19 Virus

Related Episodes

Ideas Worth Stealing From Top Entrepreneurs, with Dorie Clark (episode 318)

Serve Others Through Marketing, with Seth Godin (episode 381)

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

If You Build It, They Will Come (Dave’s Journal)

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Stacey Barr: Practical Performance Measurement

Stacey Barr is a specialist in strategic performance measurement and evidence-based leadership. She is the creator of PuMP®, a performance measurement methodology that routinely transforms measurement cynics into its greatest advocates.

Stacey is also the author of two books, Practical Performance Measurement: Using the PuMP® Blueprint for Fast, Easy, and Engaging KPIs, and Prove It!: How to Create a High Performance Culture and Measurable Success.

In the conversation, Stacey and I explore the struggles of holding people accountable for quantitative results, including behaviors that often lead to unintended consequences. Instead, she invites leaders to hold people accountable for monitoring, interpretation, and action.

Key Points

Holding people accountable for quantitative results tends to lead employees to:

Choosing measures of what they are already good at

Choosing easy targets

Manipulating the numbers to make the measures look good

Having lots of excuses for why targets are missed

Our typical definition of accountability drives the wrong behavior.

Instead, hold people accountable for:

Monitoring the important results: when someone is responsible for a specific business result, like problem resolution or accuracy of advice or eliminating rework, they can be accountable for routinely monitoring that result with a performance measure.

Interpreting their measures: when someone is responsible for monitoring a performance measure, they can be accountable for interpreting what that measure is telling them about the business result it measures.

Initiating action when action is required: when someone is responsible for interpreting a performance measure, they can be accountable for deciding what kind of action is needed, if at all.

Resources Mentioned

Download a free copy of Stacey’s book, Practical Performance Measurement

What is a KPI Owner Accountable For? by Stacey Barr

Measure For Collaboration, Not Competition by Stacey Barr

Case Study: Reducing Administrative Waste With a Single Powerful Performance Measure by Stacey Barr

Reach out to Stacey with questions at [email protected]

Book Notes

Download my highlights from Practical Performance Measurement in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

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

Performance Measurement That Gets Results, with Stacey Barr (episode 419)

How to Balance Care and Accountability When Leading Virtually, with Jonathan Raymond (episode 464)

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Elena Kornoff: Surf City Still Works

Elena Kornoff is a founder partner of Surf City Still Works, an independent craft distillery dedicated to supporting talented artists and sharing the spirit of California. She’s been a listener of the show the past few years and now a member of the Coaching for Leaders Academy.

In this conversation, Elena and I discuss the massive disruption that COVID-19 made to their business and how her team responded with flexibility in a time of change. We also explore how to be a leader and still be yourself, despite our common perception of leadership. Plus, the invitation from Elena to ask for help when you need it.

Key Points

Surf City Still Works is an independent craft distillery founded in 2017 to support talented artists and share the spirit of California.

Past failures are an important teacher in how to pivot quickly.

Successful leaders may show up as inspiring and charismatic — and they also are supportive and quiet. Research shows that both styles can lead well.

When you need help, ask for it. There are people in your network you are able and willing, but they need to know.

Resources Mentioned

Surf City Still Works

For sales outside the State of California, email Elena and her team at [email protected]

Coaching for Leaders Academy

Related Episodes

The Value of Pivoting for Growth, with Beth Garrison (episode 351)

Permission to Be Yourself, with Bar Schwartz (episode 414)

Leadership Through Massive Change, with Elizabeth Lilla (episode 463)

Embrace a Just Cause, with Simon Sinek (episode 473)

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