Life as Leadership: Where Leaders Gather to Grow Together

Josh, Maria, Thomas, and Parker discuss Monday's interview with CEO and ultramarathoner Greg Nance about his work with his business, Dyad.com and his nonprofit, Moneythink. The conversation goes from what your strengths are as a leader, how to select a team to complement your own abilities, identifying key points in your life connected to what you are passionate about today. They also talk about ways they find are and much more.

Key Takeaways:

- Identify what is holding you back form reaching your goals

- Take an internal look at your fear of failure

- Seek environments and people who want to grow and will motivate you to grow as well

- Live life fully - it's more enjoyable that way!

- Don't underestimate the power of a team with the RIGHT team members

- Be intentional about your leadership pipeline

- Remember the concept of "luck surface area" - be the first to initiate and follow up and good things are more likely to start happening!

Music credits:DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-aroundDJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Greg Nance shares some of the lessons he's learned from starting a nonprofit and a business with the mission of expanding education access.

Josh, Bevelynne, Maria, and Jake talk about Monday's interview with Brian Tibbs, CEO at Ardeo Global. They discuss how to guide teams toward more effective work and how to foster trust. They also talk about Brian's thoughts on Millennials' drive - the importance of objectives, tools, training, value alignment. Are Millennials different in this than other generations? Finally, they discuss the importance of passion and purpose and how they relate to each other.

Key Takeaways

- Asking "why not?" as a way to encourage ourselves to reach for more.

- Take on the goal and preparation of training your replacement.

- Good leadership qualities are more about character traits than technical knowledge.

- The characteristics of good leadership: loyality, good quality of spirit, and capacity (the first two are much more important than the third).

- You have the ability to shape the direction of your team, whether or not you have a formal position. How are you using this power and responsibility?

- Fight hard behind closed doors but stand unified as a team afterward.

Music credits:

DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-around

DJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Brian Tibbs, CEO at Ardeo Global, shares insight into how to build and lead teams, how to work in a cross-cultural context, what to look for in an excellent teammate, and how living in community results in more effective leaders and better relationships.

Want a year’s worth of weekly action steps to improve your leadership for FREE? Download the Leadership Action List today at https://leadershipactionlist.com.

Josh, Anna-Maria, Austen, and Michelle discuss Monday’s interview with Wes Griffin, president and CEO at the International Leadership Institute. They discuss how different experiences in their lives worked together in unexpected ways, the difficulty of measuring outcomes (especially in small organizations and small group settings), and how to grow along with your organization or your team.

Key Takeaways:

- Do not undervalue what you're doing, what you're starting, or what you're being intentional with. It will multiply and have lasting effects.

- There is value in the evaluation and assessment of yourself.

- Always ask yourself the "why" question

- Purposefully and constantly pursue growth

- "Hope is not a strategy"

- Be preparing for whatever the next phase is

- Mobilize people instead of just training them - it is better to help people take action on the knowledge they have rather than to just give them knowledge.

- Do not be afraid to ask the hard questions about what you're doing and where you're going.

Article reference: Harvey, J. B. (1974). The Abilene Paradox: The management of agreement. Organizational Dynamics, 3(1), 63-80. doi:10.1016/0090-2616(74)90005-

Music credits:DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-aroundDJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Dr. Wes Griffin discusses the importance of not only training but also mobilizing leaders to maximize impact, why "why" matters, how to grow with your organization, and much more.

Want a year’s worth of weekly action steps to improve your leadership for FREE? Download the Leadership Action List today at https://leadershipactionlist.com.

Josh, Kelsey, Jake, and Jonathan discuss Monday's interview with Phil Darke, president at Providence World. They discuss their experiences with mentorship, what it means that “leadership doesn’t always make sense,” when to delegate, and their thoughts on personality assessments (mainly, the enneagram).

Key takeaways:

* Leaders are learners—as a leader you have to be willing to grow and improve and help your followers grow and improve. Great leaders make great leaders.

* As leaders, do not make duplicates of yourself—equip followers to be who they are meant to be.

* Do not necessarily follow the norm. Some organizations or industries see problems as cut-and-dry. Leaders should think differently. Start at the very bottom, evaluate how the issue in question is carried out, and question whether or not it can be improved.

* Improve each week and help others do the same. We’re not the “end of the rope” but are meant to help other people along

* Be humble. There are many unknowns in leadership.

* Identify the areas in your life you need to grow and find specific mentorship for your life—even if it is a number of different people.

Music credits:

DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-around

DJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Phil Darke is the president of Providence World, an organization that seeks to inspire and equip others to love orphaned and at-risk children and their communities with excellence. Phil lives in Folsom, CA with his wife Becca and their five children. He received his JD from Vanderbilt University School of Law and his BA in rhetoric and communication from U.C. Davis. Before coming on-board with providence as Research and Development Director in October 2008, Phil worked as an attorney with different firms in Sacramento, CA, and Atlanta, GA, and as a clerk for a federal judge in Honolulu. in 2014, Phil co-authored the book “In Pursuit of Orphan Excellence,” a much needed and inspiring call for excellence in global orphan care and is a co-host of the ThinkOrphan podcast.Leadership insights:- Our path in leadership doesn’t always make sense- Enter into leadership with a posture of humility, realizing that you don’t have it all figured out- A lack of executive experience can keep you open to areas where growth is needed- Get mentors (even different mentors for different areas)- A key for growth: Find other leaders you admire and learn from them- Never think you’ve arrived- Empathy and listening are two key areas of growth for Phil since becoming a leader at Providence World- On building and maintaining organizational DNA in a cross-cultural organization (the leadership at La Providencia is Honduran): Identify best practices and determine how these can be applied uniquely in cultural contexts so that the organization will maintain excellence. This can’t be imposed—it needs to be developed togetherAbout La Providencia:- Focuses on the nuclear family- When the children grow up, the house parents don’t take on new children. When they have raised their children, the leave and allow - another family to begin caring for children.- There is a global movement to de-institutionalize orphan care to make it more family-centric- La Providencia represents an imperfect solution that is much closer to the ideal than it could be- Providence World exists in large measure to train and equip other organizations of individuals to do their work, better- There is a theory-practice gap that needs to be bridged, and La Providencia is helping to do thisQuestions to Inspire us Toward Action:- A lesson, saying, or experience that continues to influence your leadership to this day: Leaders are learners- Three descriptors. A leader is: Humble, a listener, a servant- A question that leaders should be asking themselves or others: How can I get better this week, and how can I someone else to do the same?- Book recommendations for leaders: Spiritual Leadership (Oswald Sanders)- A habit to start THIS week to be a better leader: Learn something about someone or something that you know absolutely that you disagree with- As a general life principle, is it better to ask “why?” or “why not?”: It depends! Typically, it would be why. When you know what you want to do, and what you’re doing, you absolutely have to know why you’re doing it. But in things that are in a dreaming-stage, why not is a critical question to ask and not be limited by the known of the world.Links:https://providenceworld.com (https://providenceworld.com)https://thinkorphan.com (https://thinkorphan.com)

Music credits:DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-aroundDJ Quads | Smile | https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/smileDJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Josh, Anna-Maria, Elijah, Tubby talk about their thoughts on the interview with Dr. Kathleen Patterson, servant leadership expert. They discuss some of they insights they found most interesting and point out what they think are contemporary examples of servant leadership.

Key takeaways from this week's interview:

* Servant leadership isn’t confined to your professional life—it flows from your personal life TO others parts of life

* Love, humility, and seeking the interests of others is not weakness—it takes strength and maturity

* Don’t dub yourself an effective servant leader—look to followers to see what they have to say about your ability as a servant leader

* Servant leaders point success to their followers

* When you’re great to your people, they do great things

* As servant leaders, we should build better human beings

* Ask yourself, “How have I loved my followers this week?”

* When you take care of your people, they take care of your organization

* Servant leadership is for the brave

Music credits:

DJ Quads | Cruise Around | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/cruise-around

DJ Quads | It Just Makes Me Happy | Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads/it-just-makes-me-happy

Dr. Kathleen Patterson is a noted expert on servant leadership. In this interview, she discusses what servant leadership is and how it is possible to lead as a servant. She provides some practical tips on what this looks like in some difficult situations, and much more.