Coaching Through Stories

Today's guest, Jim Knowlton, is the Director of Athletics at the University of California, Berkeley. He previously served in the same role at the US Air Force Academy, Rensselaer (Ren-Suh-Leer) Polytechnic Institute and as an interim at the US Military Academy at West Point. After 26 years on active duty in the US Army he retired as a Colonel and began his career leading Athletic Departments. In this episode you're going to hear how he formed his leadership philosophy, which is very much a servant leader approach, and how he led Cal Athletics through the pandemic by being comfortable with not knowing but having his strategic plan serve as their guide. Jim shares why a strategic plan is critical and the unique approach they took to develop their plan.

Highlights

10:28 Going to West Point was a defining moment for him

13:38 West Point opened his eyes to leadership

15:16 His family also expected commitment from him as he entered West Point.

17:34 He loves his work as Director of Athletics because he can help student-athletes to be successful in life

18:58 He got the position at Cal because of the many people who helped him along the way

27:25 He suggests celebrating small victories

28:04 He developed core leadership core values by serving many bosses

29:08 Servant leadership, leadership by example, hands-on leadership, and caring for others are the things learned along the way

29:30 His leadership philosophy is taking care of people

30:22 The importance of the organizational vision

32:56 The importance of shared ownership of the plan

38:15 He switched early from crisis management to recovery management during the pandemic

40:00 He emphasizes the need to communicate plans and goals in the pandemic

42:52 Threats to the strategic plan: changes in the landscape and financial support

46:14 He believes in work-life integration.

Resources Mentioned

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell

Listen to Coaching Through Stories on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you download podcasts and leave us a review!

Coaching Through Stories is sponsored by HigherEchelon, Inc. hosted and co-produced by HigherEchelon's Director of High Performance, Dr. Eric Bean and co-produced by Siana Sylvester.

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features former VA Secretary, Robert "Bob" McDonald. Dr. Eric Bean is also joined by guest co-host, University of South Carolina President, Robert "Bob" Caslen. Learn how McDonald placed character at the heart of culture change to deliver Veterans with consistent, high-quality experiences and achieve sales metrics as the CEO at The Procter & Gamble Company. Listen to this episode and get the dose of depth and inspiration you need!

McDonald is credited with rescuing the VA from the brink and transforming the VA culturally to provide better and faster care for the nation's veterans. Prior to serving as the VA Secretary, McDonald led Procter and Gamble (P&G) and significantly impacted their product portfolio, "expanded the marketing footprint by adding nearly one billion people to its global customer base, and grew the firm's organic sales by an average of three percent per year."

Caslen is a retired Three-Star Lt. General who served 43 years in the U.S. Army and as the former Superintendent at West Point. He is the current President of the University of South Carolina and a co-author of the phenomenal book entitled The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity.

Episode Highlights:

• How McDonald got far in his career and what he is working on
• McDonald's purpose in achieving more in his life and career
• What happened earlier that drives McDonald to strive
• What McDonald believes in and what he thinks is most important looking back
• Why McDonald thinks that character is an essential trait of leadership
• McDonald's encounter with non-driven employees and how he deals with them
• What the Leaders Developing Leaders Program is
• McDonald's principles and values that drive his leadership philosophy
• McDonald's role in transforming the culture of VA and the process he went through
• How the Leaders Developing Leaders Program impact cultural change in VA
• What challenges McDonald encountered and the strengths he draws on
• How McDonald focuses on character development on the senior level leadership
• The annual McDonald Leadership Development Conference
• How to strike a healthy balance between fostering positive relationships and keeping sight of priorities and goals
• McDonald's recommended books

Three Key Points:

1. Character is an essential trait of a leader as well as integrating it in the organization.
2. Having the purpose and driving values to the leaders and employees are the foundation of high-performance organizations.
3. Understanding culture and the situation you are in and having a principle-based culture are keys in transforming an organization.

Quotes:

"I think it's a shame that too many people waste their time reacting rather than leading to where you want to go."

"Character is defined as putting the needs of the organization above yourself."

"If your ambition is for yourself, chances are you are not going to win in the long term. If your ambition is for the organization, you stand a much better chance of winning."

"Choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong."

"Purpose and values are the foundation of any high performance in the organization."

"In the sense you are taking initiative based on the values, you're guided by the values, you are not guided by the rules."

Taking the quote from Theodore Roosevelt's The man in the arena: "Basically, it's easy to be the man in the arena. But if you are the man in the arena, you are getting the bloody nose, you're getting knocked down, you get up again… Who's better? What Leads to a more fulfilling life? The person standing outside of the arena throwing the stones or the person in the arena constantly getting up? You know you gotta apologize one or twice, I'd rather be in the arena. I think it leads to a more fulfilling life."

"As you grow within the company and as you train on culture and purpose and it's all written down, then you're promoted based on that."

"I stopped the military culture that had developed in VA. No more tent cards, no more standing up with my come in the room, no more calling me secretary. I am Bob and I want to have an ultimate relationship with you. So intimate that when something goes wrong you'll tell me it goes wrong."

Resources Mentioned:

• The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity
• If Disney Ran Your Hospital by Fred Lee
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• Leaders by Stanley McChrystal
• The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
• The Westpoint Way of Leadership by Larry Donithorne
• Man's Search for Meaning by Victor E. Frankl

Link:

• Robert McDonald Website

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features Dr. Angus Mugford, the Vice President of High Performance for the Toronto Blue Jays. In this podcast, Dr. Mugford shares with us how high performance doesn't just lead to the metrics we all are typically seeking but also improves our relationships, connection, and inner joy in pursuit of the outcomes. Dr. Mugford helps build a high performance and collaborative culture within the Blue Jays organization. He is passionate about developing a team that is truly interdisciplinary in nature, composed of great and passionate leaders who serve others to fulfill their potential. In this episode you will learn how failure challenges one to own their values and how you can embrace the process.

Episode Highlights:

• Angus shared a personal experience that required him to adapt his mindset in order to overcome fear and exercise his commitment to go all out.
• Angus' goal is to collaborate as a team to help the Blue Jay's organization reach their potential including the players, strength and conditioning staff, maintenance staff, etc.
• With positive effort and positive intent, good things usually happen
• Angus' leadership style is focused on empowerment and the servant leadership model
• Angus shares how he feels humility and confidence coexist in a leader
• Leaving everything on the field was a powerful transformation that has influenced Angus' confidence in taking positive risks
• Accept that failure is ok if you are willing to learn from it
• Be ok being uncomfortable
• VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous
• How Angus gets back up on days when he struggles
• The mental and emotional skills and competencies that separate a great leader from an average one
• Mission, Vision, and Values can serve as a compass during uncertain times
• Lean into difficult things by seeking support rather than avoiding or internalizing it, navigating difficulty is normal but there is a positive learning experience that can come from that
• Humility is the foundation for learning
• Emotional Intelligence is crucial to being an effective leader
• Urgency can inhibit your ability to reflect
• How Angus gauges if a culture is winning
• What accountability looks like for Angus
• What the next level is for them and the organization
• One book Angus recommends

Three Key Points:

1. With positive effort and positive intent, good things usually happen.
2. It's okay to be wrong. It's okay to fail if you are learning something from it.
3. Failure will challenge you to own your values, embrace the process.

Quotes:

"However, our process, our commitment is to everybody in the organization being able to fulfill their potential."

"It is the team and the people that drive me and excite me."

"I think collaboration, learning, and empowerment are really core to the way I operate and see things."

"Navigating difficulty is normal but there's always something positive to be gained out of that."

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• Ego is the enemy by Ryan Holiday
• Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features Sonia Rhodes, the founder and CEO of the Experience Lab, a one-of-a-kind experience design firm that's committed to transforming every aspect of the health care experience from the inside out. The Experience Lab is also the place where visionary health care leaders and systems design, collaborate, and explore the future for health care. Sonia and her team are committed to healing healthcare from the inside out.

Take a moment to reflect on the best experience you have had. In today's podcast, Sonia discussed how being authentic led her on the path she wanted rather than being distracted by those who offered her other opportunities or doubted her ideas. From this episode, you will walk away with clarity on how your connection and intention when providing a service (scratch that), when providing an experience, can have on your customers.

Episode Highlights:

• Sonia shared her story and how this event served as a wake up call for her to explore how to create connections and positively impact patient experience.
• Typical hospital experiences are charged with high emotion, focused on healing physical symptoms, and discharging you.
• Authentic positive employee experience will yield better patient outcomes and patient experience.
• How to gain clarity of your intent regarding the feeling you want an employee or customer to have.
• How integrity shows up in Sonia's life.
• Sonia's core leadership values and her leadership philosophy.
• How Sonia lifts herself and others up.
• Sonia's personal practices as a leader.
• How to understand, define, and design a feeling.
• How people can overcome negative chatter like self-doubt in order to be in the present moment.
• How Sonia highlights the value and the effectiveness of the human experience as it relates to performance.
• One thing that can be done to reshape an experience.
• How to embody the employee experience in a virtual environment.
• Sonia's vision for the Experience Lab.
• Books Sonia recommends.

Three Key Points:

1. Better patient experience leads to better patient outcomes and patient experience is directly influenced by employee experience. Positive patient experience cannot emanate from a poor employee experience.
2. Identifying your intention and feeling you want your customer to have can guide you in designing the ideal experience you want your customer to have.
3. Being in the present moment is critical to providing a meaningful experience.

Quotes:

"We are dedicated to fully transforming the human experience in healthcare for team members, providers, patients, guests, and the community and every single day, we get up passionate and striving to help make healthcare better."

"You are who you say you are."

"Who am I as a leader? Is someone called to something higher than myself and someone who can call others to their highest selves as well."

"We are memory makers in this work and that matters."

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• The Experience Lab
• The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features Dr. Dean Taylor, a professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, the Director of the Duke Sports Medicine Fellowship Program, and team physician for Duke University. He is also actively involved in leadership initiatives in the Duke School of Medicine and the chairman of the Feagin Leadership Program. Prior to earning his MD from Duke University, Dr. Taylor received his B.S. degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served in the United States Army for 24 years.

In today's podcast, Dr. Taylor points out the role of emotional intelligence in leadership and why it is especially important today while leading through a Pandemic. Dr. Taylor emphasizes how his approach is more than patient-centered and requires teamwork, critical thinking, integrity, and trust within the team he is leading in order to have success.

Episode Highlights:

• Dr. Taylor's current role and passion
• Story that started Dr. Taylor on the path he's currently on
• How Dr. Taylor got into his profession
• What pushes Dr. Taylor to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery and leadership development
• How Dr. Taylor maintains trust in himself while remaining empathetic by asking himself, what does this person need from me right now?
• Great leaders understand when to shift their focus on each stakeholder dependent on the situation which requires strong self-awareness and presence
• Lack of commitment to get better and learning from failure impacts our ability to grow
• Dr. Taylor shares his definition of leadership: it begins with ethically influencing others for the benefits of patients
• Influence provides a leader with the role to make things better for the population you are working with rather than focusing on authority
• Executive coaching provides health care professionals with the ability to reflect on their experiences and maximize learning and growth
• The difference between a great leader and an average leader is time and commitment to growth
• Dr. Taylor shares an experience where he was accidentally injured in the operating room while observing a resident and how his reaction to this accident impacted the resident's performance and patient's experience.
• Dr. Taylor's ability to control his emotions and behavior during an event that could have ended his career motivated him to learn more about leadership development.
• The pandemic has challenged our comfort zone, focusing on what we can do for others and looking outward rather than inward improves our ability to take care of our own well-being
• Selfless service means to prioritize other's needs over individual wants and desires while maintaining personal and professional balance.
• Self care is the foundation of selfless service and it begins with self-awareness.
• Dr. Taylor defines emotional intelligence within 4 buckets, (1) self, (2) others, (3) awareness, and (4) management. The ability to recognize and understand thinking and emotions effectively in self and in others and to use this awareness to effectively manage your behavior and relationships.
• Dr. Taylor discusses a time where he lacked emotional intelligence and how that could have impacted patient care should his colleague not provided some important information regarding the patient's needs in that moment
• Leaders in healthcare must strike a balance between empathy without setting themselves up for compassion fatigue

Three Key Points:

1. Self-awareness and empathy are critical to performance and leadership
2. Emotional Intelligence is a critical component for interpersonal and professional effectiveness.
3. Commitment to growth and learning sets great leaders apart from average ones.

Resources Mentioned:

• Patient Stories: Humans of the Hospital
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don't by Jim Collins
• The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
• Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity by Dr. Ronald Epstein M.D.
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

During this episode Coaching Through Stories, host Dr. Eric Bean coaches us on how to effectively manage and eventually overcome a paralyzing pattern of behavior most people have: fear. Discover how you can look at fear from a totally different perspective—something that can lead to growth and joy rather than a feeling that's triggered by danger, pain, or threats.

Episode Highlights:

• People are much more comfortable choosing the familiar over the unknown.
• While fear is one of the seven universal emotions, it manifests behaviorally and psychologically in several different ways.
• Managing fear is a learned response.
• Generally, without the gift of experience, managing emotions comes down to space.
• It is necessary to create space in between the stimulus that's creating the fear so you can choose your response.
• Developing the ability to create the space and measure and create your response is critical to high performance and will take some work.
• To change your relationship with fear, you need to get clarity on what you're truly reacting to.
• The biggest fear of all is the idea that you can't handle it.
• Part of changing your relationship with fear is shifting your mindset from one of threat to one of opportunity.
• Before you face your fears, examine them.
• Instead of focusing on the worst case scenario, ask yourself what the best case scenario is.
• You can practice engaging your fears by getting out of your comfort zone.

Three Key Points:

1. To change your relationship with fear, you need to get clarity on what you're truly reacting to.
2. Part of changing your relationship with fear is shifting your mindset from one of threat to one of opportunity.
3. You can practice engaging your fears by getting out of your comfort zone.

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• Inside Out (Pixar Film)
• The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
• Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
• Challenge vs. Threat: The Effect of Appraisal Type on Resource Depletion by Erin N. Palmwood and Christine Mcbride
• Lazarus and Folkman's Psychological Stress and Coping Theory
• Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions by Barbara L. Fredrickson
• Google's Study on Psychological Safety (Project Aristotle)
• Building a Pyschologically Safe Workplace by Amy Edmondson

Quotes:

"Moving toward our fears could actually set us free. Unchecked, our fears would continue to quietly run over our life and steer us away from our goals, hopes, and dreams."

"To maximize our performance, we've gotta get better at creating the space."

"Part of changing your relationship with fear is exposing the illogical catastrophizing that is triggering our situationally excessive fear response."

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features Dr. Nohelani (Lani) Lawrence, a Clinical and Sport Psychologist and the current Director of Wellness and Clinical Services for the New York Giants. Prior to joining the Giants, her background in sport and clinical psychology has given her a unique insight and perspective on the concerns of student-athletes.

In today's podcast, Lani shares how she navigates challenges, how she builds trust and connections, and her advice for those who are dealing with uncertainty and discomfort. Lani discusses how we all need an outlet to feel understood and it helps for someone to bear witness to the challenges we experience in life. Developing trust and listening are critical for helping others feel understood. Do you have the listening skills that create the space needed for others to share their stories?

Episode Highlights:

• Lani current role and passions
• The story that started Lani on the path she's currently on
• What Lani messaging was growing up
• What excites Lani the most about her new role as the Director of Player Engagement and Sport Psychologist for the NY Giants
• How Lani navigates challenges to achieve her personal goals and that of the organization
• How Lani goes about building trust and connection
• What being heard, accepted, and understood enables one to do
• Challenges Lani faced as a leader
• Lani thoughts on intrinsic motivation
• Lani advice for people who need to deal with uncertainty and discomfort
• The self-care practices that has helped Lani focus on the controllables
• Character traits, values, and virtues tend to shine when we reflect on what really matters to us rather than our accomplishments and awards
• Two books Nohelani recommends: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein and The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance by George Mumford

Three Key Points:

1. Trust is crucial when it comes to building connections.
2. Being heard, accepted, and understood can be life-saving; provide space to listen.
3. Knowing your WHY can help you push through challenging times.

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• Foundations of Self for Women of Color by Nohelani Lawrence
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
• The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance by George Mumford
• The Last Dance - Michael Jordan Documentary on Netflix

Today's Coaching Through Stories episode features Anthony Noto, the current CEO at SoFi, a unique finance company whose goal is to help clients "get their money right." Anthony shares the challenges that helped shape him, the early failures and setbacks that propelled him to move forward, and how he goes about building a great culture. Anthony says the secret to success is to "work as hard as you can, do the right thing, and take care of others."

Anthony Noto is the former COO of Twitter and the former Co-Head of Global Telecommunications, Media and Technology Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. He also served as the National Football League's CFO and Executive Vice President for nearly three years. His past experience also includes his service as a Captain in the U.S. Army.

Episode Highlights:

• Story that has a significant impact on Anthony's life, values, and leadership philosophy
• How the challenges Anthony has experienced has helped shape him and his values
• The messaging of Anthony's mom about being good enough
• Anthony's thoughts on the dark side of the independent mindset
• The early failure and setbacks that has propelled Anthony to move forward
• What drives Anthony today
• How much Anthony tries to craft and control his professional life
• What Anthony learned about being a leader during his time as COO of Twitter
• How leaders should go about completing their visions and desires
• What keeps Anthony up at night and what gets in his skin as a leader
• Anthony's leadership philosophy
• The mental and emotional skills Anthony believes are critical to becoming a great leader
• How Anthony manages himself and maintains his composure
• How Anthony creates a space for his emotions
• What Anthony did first in terms of culture when he first joined SoFi
• How Anthony goes about building a great culture

Three Key Points:

1. There's a thin line between success and failure. Those that chase problems rather than run from them are more likely to succeed.
2. To succeed as a leader, one needs to show composure, drive structure, and bring people together that are worried or scared.
3. To be a great leader in uncertain times, you need to have the ability to keep everyone calm.

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon.com
• The Man in the Arena by Theodore Roosevelt
• The Fighting Spirit: A Championship Season at Notre Dame by Lou Holtz
• Anthony Noto LinkedIn

During this episode of the Coaching Through Stories podcast, host Dr. Eric Bean coaches us on how to free ourselves from the habitual emotions, thoughts, and energy patterns that limit our consciousness using Michael A. Singer's book "The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself." Learn how to free yourself from limitations, transcend your perceived boundaries, and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving self-realization and happiness.

Episode Highlights:

• Many people resort to merely adjusting their lives rather than addressing their thorns.
• The ability to see a broader perspective is crucial because it will enable you to see your thoughts alongside the rest of the situation.
• When you can see things from a broader perspective, it's easy to see thoughts for what they really are—a transient piece of data that you can choose to respond to or not.
• It is important to remember that you are not your thoughts. Therefore, you don't have to be led by them.
• Awareness of your thorns is important so you can minimize their impact.
• If you address the thorns underneath the surface, theoretically, you won't have any negative thoughts to deal with.
• The first step to rewiring the brain is to examine the thoughts and emotions that show up.
• When making a commitment to look within, you can try helpful techniques like journaling.

Three Key Points:

1. Removing an inner thorn is doable but it's not always easy.
2. As with most situations, the key to removing the thorns is through self-awareness and looking within.
3. The idea is to face the thorns head-on and do the inner work first. Nothing changes until you do.

Quotes:

• "Remember, a thought is just an idea or opinion produced by thinking. It's not a directive. It's not an official or authoritative instruction."
• "If we are not our thoughts, then we don't have to be led by them. We can instead be led by our values or by our identity."
• "We've got to become aware of our buttons, or thorns, or triggers and we can address the thoughts that emerge as a result of those to minimise their impact."

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• Cognitive Defusion Technique
• James W. Pennebaker
• Pennebaker's Expressive Writing Paradigm
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer

On today's Coaching Through Stories episode, our guest, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff, Ph.D., shares how you can use your experiences to make you a better person and leader and how you can train your mind to think powerfully, on purpose. Dr. Cindra Kamphoff, Ph.D., CMPC, is an award-winning keynote speaker, University Professor, and the author of the Amazon bestseller, Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High-Performance Edge.

For the past four years, Dr. Kamphoff has provided mental training for the Minnesota Vikings players in team and individual settings and also provides mental skills training to business professionals and executives. You can learn more about Dr. Kamphoff by checking out her top tanked podcast, the "High Performance Mindset."

Key Points:

1. Deliberately cultivating your energy and attitude is a process and requires effort.
2. One can find their purpose by exploring three questions (Why am I still here? What difference do I make? Why do I do what I do?).
3. Leadership is about doing the work yourself first and allowing it to impact others in a way through modelling and not directing.
4. To be our best, we don't need to eliminate fear but instead, we can make a deliberate choice to choose courage over fear.

Episode Highlights:

• The unifying thread that keeps Cindra on her true north
• Cindra shares how her experience at the 2013 Boston Marathon that led her to the path she is currently on
• What Cindra had within her that enabled her to use her experiences as a springboard to her future
• What Cindra recommends to people who would like to let go of being small
• Cindra shares how her inner critic shows up and how she silences it
• What Cindra recommends to people who want to stay in the right frame of mind during challenging times
• Cindra's advice to those who want to be less reactive and more proactive in terms of their emotions
• Cindra's recommendations for leaders who want to build a resilient culture

Cindra's advice to those who want to be deliberate with their energy and the way they show up

Books Cindra recommends to those who want to level up

Cindra shares where people can find her and connect with her

Resources Mentioned:

• HigherEchelon
• Dr. Cindra Kamphoff Website
• High Performance Mindset Podcast
• Dr. Cindra Kamphoff, PhD Twitter

Books:

• Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High-Performance Edge by Cindra Kamphoff
• The Power of Purpose: Find Meaning, Live Longer, Better by Richard J. Leider
• Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D.
• The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown