Some Goodness

Episode 16: Handling Success and Failure

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In this episode, Richard Ellis and Steve Graves explore the complex dynamics of how leaders handle success and failure. Drawing from decades of experience working with thousands of leaders, Graves presents a counterintuitive perspective: many leaders actually struggle more with handling success than failure. The conversation delves into four main dangers of success—overinflated abilities, entitlement, addiction to success, and complacency—while introducing Graves' concept of "formation," which argues that leaders must grow who they are at the same rate as what they're doing.

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Chapters:

[00:00:00] Introduction and Success vs. Failure

[00:00:38] Guest Introduction - Steve Graves

[00:01:22] The Challenges of Handling Success

[00:03:00] Four Dangers of Success

[00:05:29] Leading with Strong Teams

[00:07:59] Feedback and Blind Spots

[00:09:58] The Addiction to Success

[00:12:11] Leader Formation Concept

[00:16:30] Handling Failure as a Leader

[00:19:43] Closing Thoughts and Resources

Keywords: Leadership Development, Success Management, Failure Analysis, Blind Spots, Team Building, Feedback Culture, Formation, Entitlement, Leadership Growth, Executive Coaching, Self-awareness, 360 Feedback, Personal Development

Soundbites:

  • "Often handling and digesting and sustaining success is just a lot of times harder for people than it is handling failure."
  • "Leaders play the role that the leader is supposed to play. And often you have way more talented people around you in the organization than maybe you were originally comfortable with."
  • "If I don't have a culture that really invites honest objective feedback, I can pass out a 360, but nobody's going to really give me anything."
  • "It's really important that leaders grow who they are at the same rate of what they're doing."
  • "There's a difference in a data point and a trend line... If I have a trend line, maybe I'm too ambitious with my goals."
    • ...more
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    Some GoodnessBy Richard Ellis