Lead. Learn. Grow.

In episode 37, I walk through this week's The Huddle, a weekly leadership newsletter. If you like this format, let me know.

It's an age-old dilemma. We know exactly what we should do...yet, we don't do it. Being able to bridge the gap between knowledge and action may be the key for you and me reaching our goals.

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, "To know and not to do is really not to know." It reminds us that true learning, true knowledge, is in the application. Learning is doing.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing."

My clients have heard me speak of the GPS model of coaching. It's based on where someone is today and then where they want to be in the future. Like a GPS. Here's the blue dot. Where are we trying to get to? Then, as a leader, I coach the gap.

I have a challenge for you this month. It's early June, so the timing is perfect.

I'd like for you to take a few minutes and think about a few of your goals for the month of June. Pretend it's June 30th. You say, "It was a great month. I thrived professionally and personally."

What happened? What made it a good month?

Write down the behaviors and actions that you would need to take to hit those goals. If you are in management, maybe it's "Have one coaching session with each team member and give honest, courageous feedback." If you are in sales, perhaps it's "75 prospecting attempts."

Whatever the behaviors are that would lead to a great June, write them down. Seriously. Do it.

Start with just 3 professional and 2 personal. If you use paper, put it somewhere that you will see it every single day. If you use Excel, keep it open on your desktop. I carry mine on an index card in my back pocket. Just write them down and keep them in front of you.

Now, every morning look at it.

At the end of the day, look at it.

Cross off things, make tick marks....track your progress.

If you do this, you have increased your likelihood of hitting your goals exponentially. Good intentions are just that.

Jim Rohn said, "Written goals are dreams with deadlines. When you write down your goals, you turn vague dreams into a visible, tangible roadmap."

Try it for 30 days. Let me know how you do.

The Huddle is a weekly newsletter that is designed for leaders. Leaders must be learners. There is never a moment when leaders arrive. It's a never-ending growth process. I hope it can be a resource that you can use to stay sharp and share with your team. Click here to subscribe.

With that, here are some things I ran across this week.

Get Outside - According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of all 18-24 year-olds in the United States have some form of depression or anxiety. It's an alarming fact about our culture. At a time when youngsters should be carefree and happy, we are trending in the opposite direction.

My son and I were discussing this recently. My uneducated and unresearched opinion is that Smartphones, or modern-day digital pacifiers, are a leading contributor. But we also talked about the fact that in our suburban culture, it's possible to go days without getting outside.

Think about it. Our car is in the garage. We hop in and drive to work. We park next to the building, always the closest door possible. We may take 20 steps to the entrance. We DoorDash lunch (or maybe we bring our own). Sit in our artificially lighted office. Drive home. Open the garage door. Boom. In 24 hours, we are outside for perhap 90 seconds. It's that easy.

Based on this article, maybe one of our June goals could be "Get outside for at least 30 minutes each day."

Stress-Free Vacay - Summer is here, albeit unofficially, and it's vacation season. Taking a vacation, and doing it right, is a bit of a dilemma.

One strategy is to do a little bit of work every day to ensure there isn't a digital tsunami when it's all over. Another strategy is to completely unplug, knowing that there will be a price to pay upon return. Either way, it's stressful.

I haven't seen a lot written on this topic so I was interested to read this short "How To" from the Harvard Business Review. It might be worth filing away in the vacation file.

Do it for the Fam - The difference between building a cathedral and simply breaking rocks is remembering the bigger picture—why you are doing what you are doing. When we live with a greater purpose in mind, life just seems easier.

Work can be a rut. Same ole, same ole. Another day, another dollar. A sarcastic, "Living the dream." Until you add purpose.

For most people, family is a great motivator. If we have kids, don't we want them to be proud of what we do? If we are a kid, don't we want our parents to be proud?

LeBron James once said, "I'm going to use all my tools, my God-given ability, and make the best life I can with it. And that's what I've done. I've been able to provide for my family because of this game...To give my mom something I've always wanted to give her and see her happy, it's beyond words." Family is a great motivator.

This article does a good job of linking personal responsibility and performance to family legacy.

Alive Time - Here's a short video from Ryan Holiday around the concept of Alive Time v. Dead Time. We can passively wait, or we can take action.

Give it a watch. It's good.

A Quote to Leave You With

Todd Bradberry is the CEO of Parallel Management Company, located in Richmond, VA. Todd is a noted Business Coach, management consultant, trainer, and speaker. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here and Twitter here.

In Episode 36, we talk about Todd's journey in putting a lifelong practice of reading and learning into his first book, which he is currently writing. Todd shares a funny and memorable description of the fast brain and the slow brain. Todd discusses his thoughts about the disconnect between business influencers and the typical small business owner.

Books that were mentioned.

Tao Te Ching

The Bhagavad Gita

Start with Why - Simon Sinek

Building a Second Brain

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You can contact Robin Green at [email protected]

You can connect with Robin on LinkedIn here.

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Thanks to Jay Smack of Jay Smack VO for the opening intro.

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If you enjoy the Lead. Learn. Grow. Podcast, please leave a review and subscribe.

Join host Robin Green as he chats with Andrew Wright. Andrew is the Minor League Field Coordinator for the Boston Red Sox. I met Andrew a few years ago, and in some ways, we continued that conversation.

Andrew is a former college baseball coach who is now in professional baseball. Before his current role, Andrew was the Director of Operations at the New York Yankees Dominican Republic complex.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Being intentional
• Managing your personal brand
• The importance of clearly defining and communicating expectations
• Why putting your plan in writing is important
• How Andrew thinks about People & Processes
• An interesting way to think about Outcome Management
• Design v. Default

If you aim to be a better leader, there is much to learn from this conversation.

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Andrew recommends "Let's Talk: Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower." You can link to the book's Amazon page here.

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You can find his LinkedIn profile here if you'd like to connect with Andrew.

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You can contact Robin Green at [email protected] or (804) 914-1723.

Join me as I chat with Scot McRoberts, the Executive Director of the Virginia Council of CEOs.

Scot shares insights from a career of leading volunteer organizations, from the Boy Scouts of America to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, to founding VACEO 22 years ago.

We talk about the challenges of leading volunteers, what mentors have taught Scot about leadership, and various other topics.

If you are a CEO, connect with Scot on LinkedIn, or if you have questions about the Virginia Council of CEOs, you can email him at [email protected].

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If you enjoy the Lead. Learn. Grow. podcast, rate, and review us on your podcasting app.

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To get a weekly leadership email called The Huddle, click here. The Huddle is for growth-minded leaders who enjoy a short, curated message each week to guide their learning.

You can contact me at [email protected].

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Links to books and podcasts that came up during our discussion

Small Giants

Forum

The Big Leap

Jeff Brown and the Read to Lead Podcast

Join Kaley Klemp and me for an interesting conversation on the Enneagram. What the heck IS the Enneagram, and why are people using it to become better versions of themselves? Kaley shares insights on each of the 9 types and how she uses the Enneagram as a development tool with her corporate clients.

Kaley is a best-selling author and a leading Executive Coach based in Denver, CO. She co-authored The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, one of my favorite leadership books. I've read it more than once and refer to it often.

Her most recent book is about marriage which she co-authored with her husband, Nate. You can read about The 80/80 Marriage here.

You can view her TEDx Talk here, subscribe to her newsletter here, and get a guide for what she calls "epic date night" by clicking here.

Of particular interest to listeners of this episode may be Kaley's Enneagram course.

Finally, the homepage for her new book and her company website will keep you updated on the things Kaley is working on.

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You can connect with Robin Green here. Following the link, you can sign up for The Huddle, a weekly leadership email. You can follow him on LinkedIn for interesting and sometimes provocative takes on sales and leadership topics.

In Episode 32, I talk with Jeff Fitch. He shares his journey from a high school teacher and coach in Hopewell to working for a local non-profit (SportsBackers) that has put Richmond on the radar as a destination for outdoor enthusiasts. He was there when many of the significant events were in their infancy.

Jeff is now an employee of the PGA Tour and is a key member of the team that hosts the Dominion Energy Classic, a PGA Tour Champions event held each year at the Country Club of Virginia. In 2022, the event will be held on October 21-23. During the intro to this episode, I may have listed the wrong date.

If you know a local leader that you'd like for me to consider for a future episode of the podcast, call or text me at 804.914.1723.

To sign up for The Huddle, visit this link and insert your email address. The Huddle is a weekly leadership email designed for leaders.

Tom Prusak, a Maryland native who came to Virginia to study and play lacrosse at Randolph-Macon College, joins us in Episode 31. Tom talks about his expectations coming into his first sales role and how great leaders around him have fueled his success.

This is a great message for people interested in starting a sales career and also for leaders who seem to struggle to find productive, entry-level sales professionals. There are a lot of nuggets that Tom shares about his journey that you will take away.

Tom was our 2021 Sandler Training Rookie of Year, given each year to a new client that exhibits the mindset, behaviors, and applied techniques necessary for lasting success.

We had a minor editing issue where the conversation was a bit disjointed, but none of the message is lost.

When a college student interns in a sales training and consulting business, what are the things that surprise them? What are some of the lessons that someone without experience in sales learns while being around sales every day?

I had an interesting conversation with my son Casey about his experience so far this summer. If you are a young professional and looking to get into sales, you may learn a few things in this episode.

As the owner of a Sandler Training business, I get the opportunity to work with great people. People that invest in their success, are growth-minded, and willing to change in order to be more successful.

For the last 2 years, we have selected a Client of the Year. This is an individual that embodies the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques that train and coach on a regular basis. It's a difficult decision and both this year and last, there were a handful of people that we could have chosen and felt great about it. But someone had to win!

This year, Andrew Belcher of Continental Underwriters is our Client of the Year. Andrew embodies the things we want our clients to be. He's been a great client - but more importantly, he's been a great leader in his company and a role model to other talented professionals.

Andrew is a Chesterfield County native and graduated from VCU. He grew up in his family business and since college, Continental Underwriters is the only job he's ever had.

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With COVID restrictions, we weren't able to meet face-to-face. So the audio quality of Zoom is good - not great. I don't think it'll distract from our conversation but it's not perfect.

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If you'd like information about Sandler Training, contact me at [email protected].

In episode 028, René Haines, Founder and President of FocalPath Coaching as she talks about how she got started as a business coach, what kinds of things she helps business owners with, and some ideas on how to weather the storm in a distressed economy. René has been helping business owners from throughout the country reach their potential and prosper.

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If you'd like to schedule a free, initial consultation with René, you can reach out to her at [email protected].

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We discussed Profit First and Traction during our chat. You can get a free chapter of Traction by clicking on the link.

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Contact Robin Green about Sandler Training at 804.914.1723.