“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to a hundred other good ideas. You have to pick carefully. I’m as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” 

~Steve Jobs

In this episode:

● The secret to success for Warren Buffett and Ted Williams

● FOMO is killing your career

● Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things

● Finding your one big thing

● How to trade "good" for "better"

● Does this activity still serve me? (the curse of sunk costs)

Plus, 4 questions to ask yourself when you are lost:

1. What am I deeply passionate about?

2. What activities do you feel like you were "made to do?"

3. What makes economic sense?

4. What do you have fun doing?

Tom Brady left the New England Patriots after 20 years and six championships. He didn't leave under his terms and tension was bubbling under the surface.

His coach, Bill Belichick: "He looked at his options and he made his decision."

His owner, Robert Kraft: "If he wanted to be here, we would have put a deal together."

Tom Brady: "I made a decision to do something different."

On October 3rd, 2021, Tom Brady faced his former organization with his new team, the Tampa Buccaneers. It was one of the highest viewed NFL games in recent memory because most people can relate to a breakup with a company.

In this episode:

• Why companies won't root for you to succeed when you leave them
• How we are motivated to prove our old company should have done more to keep us
• Your boss will likely use fear to convince you not to take that competitive offer
• Yes, the grass CAN be much greener on the other side

With most goals, the hardest part can be starting. Regardless of how much progress we make in one area, most of us feel stuck in others. This episode was inspired by a recent blog post by Seth Godin in which he lists five useful questions to help you take action. We look at four major decisions we've been faced with recently and put the five questions to the test. They hold up well but we felt the need to add a 6th question by the time we finished.

In this episode, we look at five of the most common job interview questions. We start by discussing the purpose of each question from a company's perspective. Why are these questions valid and how do they help companies make better hiring decisions? Next, we approach each question from an applicant's perspective. What are the best kind of answers and what should be avoided at all costs?

The five interview questions covered in this episode:

1. "Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
2. "What is your greatest strength?"
3. "What is your greatest weakness?"
4. "Can you tell me about a failure that you learned from?"
5. "Why do you want to work here?"

With special guests David Neal and Jonathan Clark from The Eighth Mile Consulting, we break down Sun Tzu's famous book on strategy and leadership. Given that paintball is as close to combat as Frank and Ian have come, we brought in heavy hitters for this episode.

In this episode:

· "It's not about a fair fight, it's about winning."

· Why picking your battles is everything in business and war

· Lessons from Afghanistan for small companies

· Why context matters when evaluating risk

· Why do companies who stay on the offensive tend to last?

· How to link the goals of leadership with the team

The Eighth Mile Consulting: https://eighthmile.com.au/

Follow David Neal and Jonathan Clark on LinkedIn where they write daily about leadership lessons from the battlefield to corporate board rooms.

The Eighth Mile Consulting is built on a mantra of 'good people, helping good people.' Our Mission is to collaborate with organizations to improve their people, processes, product, and profile.

In particular, we provide services in:

Change Management,

Project Management,

Implementations,

Leadership/Management advice,

Individual and Team Coaching,

Risk Management, and

Representational roles.

We are different from other organizations because:

1. Our team is drawn from hands-on practitioners who have actually delivered what they preach, each with a reputation for delivering positive change to organizational cultures, and delivering complicated projects/tasks.

2. Our team consists of leaders with hands-on experience.

3. We are proud of our high-performing team, and we can help other teams perform to their absolute best.

4. We simplify the complex.

"The Peter Principle" is a book written by Dr. Laurence Peter in 1968. It was written as satire but contained enough truth that it touched a nerve with employees around the world. Today, the concepts in this book are accepted as a harsh reality. The Peter Principle observes that employees rise up through a firm's hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence. As a result, every position in a given hierarchy will eventually be filled by employees who are incompetent to fulfill their job duties.

Clearly, Frank and Ian are proof of the Peter Principle with this podcast so we consider ourselves experts on "earned incompetence." In this episode:

· Why most people won't turn down a promotion they are not qualified for

· The mistake most companies make when promoting people

· How good timing contributes to so many people feeling they are better than they are

· Why do so many incompetent people get promoted?

· Fancy titles with no direct reports are the first to go during a recession

· Why highly competent people are pushed out of companies

· Why are there so many terrible senior executives?

In 2017, Ian worked long hours, traveled constantly, and no longer found his work interesting. But like most executives, he was locked in with golden handcuffs in the form of stock options. In this episode, we talk about how Ian decided to leave and replaced his salary and bonus with several industrial properties that require only a few hours of annual work.

In this episode:

• When the only thing keeping you at a company is money
• Resisting the temptation to spend and letting your money grow
• Giving up "more" and being happy with "enough"
• Where Ian got the inspiration for industrial property
• How I found my first deal
• Building a team to fill in your knowledge gaps
• How to raise money for an industrial property
• Deciding when to sell at a profit

Webster's dictionary defines loyalty as "a strong feeling of support or allegiance." Most people see loyalty the same when it comes to family, friendships, and relationships. But does loyalty have any purpose in business? Here we look at the pros and cons of demonstrating loyalty to a company.

In this episode:

· News flash: Your company will survive without you

· Dealing with a toxic manager while feeling loyal to your team

· Dealing with a toxic environment while feeling loyal to your manager

· Explaining a perceived lack of loyalty in job interviews ("job hopper" label)

· How to handle a better opportunity even when you are happy with your current situation

· Why loyalty needs to be a two-way street

· Show your support to a company when they show their support to you

· Companies need to earn loyalty every day

Does your company treat you like trash? In this episode, Frank and Ian dig into the underlying reasons for the miserable state of customer service. From unhappy employees to an overreliance on outsourcing and technology, we discuss steps any business can take to become more customer-centric (and thus, more profitable).

Are you an annoying employee? Does your boss wince when she opens your emails? Does your mere presence make your manager think about nails scratching on a chalkboard? In this episode, Frank and Ian grumble about people who annoy them to no end. Brace yourself for a lot of "Get off my lawn!"