Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

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Chris Beresford-Hill is the Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at BBDO. Previously he spent 2 years as North America President and CCO of Ogilvy, where he helped bring the agency and its clients a new level of relevance. He brought Workday to the Super Bowl, led the team that brought in the Verizon account, and one of the biggest Super Bowl campaigns ever, “Can't B Broken,” featuring Beyonce, and created the most celebrated Super Bowl campaign of 2024, the social & influencer lead "Michael CeraVe," for CeraVe. Chris and his teams have won every award for creativity and effectiveness many times over. He has been included in ADWEEK Best Creatives, the ADWEEK 100, and Business Insider’s Most Creative People in Advertising.

Notes:

• Cold Emails: Be specific in your praise and specific in your ask. The lame "Can I pick your brain" type emails get deleted and ignored because they aren't specific.
• You never need permission to take responsibility. Chris learned this from Ed Catmull’s book Creativity Inc.… And he’s embodied this his entire career. The people who build huge careers take ownership of their own and regularly solve problems and improve their clients' and colleagues' lives. Chris has done this since his early days as an intern.
  • At any level taking on responsibility yourself, unasked, makes you stand out.
• Competence combined with insane follow-through. For some clients, it takes 50 ideas to get to the one that will work. Creating a culture where the team can share all of their bad ideas safely to get to the one great one.
• The creative process:
  • Brain dump everything. Purge your brain of everything it has.
  • When you think you're done, you're not. There's more. You have to get it all out.
• "A lot of creative people aren't fully aware of the process or the structure, they just feel it (Rick Rubin).
• "When you can see it lift off the page, you feel a sense of mastery over it."
• Chris's first Super Bowl commercial -- Emerald Nuts. He won it because he was both funny and added the fact that the product provided energy. Most people only covered one part, Chris did both.
• Push your edges - Chris is like Lionel Messi. He's always walking around in the office, asking questions, looking for ideas, being curious. Then he sees an opportunity and goes for it 100%.
• Chris has a standing reservation every week at the same restaurant where he meets with a mentor, mentee, or peer to deepen the important relationships in his life. That would be a good idea for us all to do.
• Chris was pen-pals with Dave Matthews for 8 years. 
  • Chris saw that they recorded at Bearsville studios and wrote a letter to Dave there. He also said, "Show up with gifts." He gave Dave a Beatles Bootlegged album.
• A leader takes what comes and then turns it into an opportunity.
• The formula is Competence + Insane Follow-Through.
• How to build relationships: Meet with people in person. Get drunk with them. Do hard work with them. Go through something bad with them. Laugh with them.
• I got hired from my internship by cold calling Mark Cuban to get him to approve of using his name in an ad.
• The best ideas are often bad in their first moments, or massively wrong, and then someone flips it or unlocks it. You have to stay on things and play around.
• I made my first ad by going through a garbage can to learn how to write a script and sending a bunch of Budweiser scripts to my boss.
• The art of finding an idea on the edge of possible, and the value of going over your skis when on the cusp of greatness - having a stomach for it. I’ve told a lie to keep things moving on every great campaign I was part of.
• I learned the best lesson in leadership when we lost our biggest account (Accenture).  I put Danny Meyer's mentality into practice, and we took that moment to put the business and clients second and play for each other. Culture carried us.
• Culture is built by the stories we tell and the behaviors we highlight.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Stu McLaren helps leaders and all types of business owners transform their knowledge, expertise, and influence into recurring revenue by launching, growing, and scaling membership businesses. He’s the author of PREDICTABLE PROFITS - Transform Your Business from One-Off Sales to Recurring Revenue with Memberships and Subscriptions.

Notes:

• People come for the content, they stay for the community. People want to feel a sense of belonging. This has been hard-wired in us from many years ago. We want to be part of a group. In the old days, this was the only way to survive. We have not outgrown that need and the feeling of being a part of something bigger than ourselves.
• Life advice: Listen to your gut instinct and embrace the unknown. You are not ever going to know how it’s going to pan out. You have to keep taking that next step. And I loved the story of the lengthy process of adopting his son Sam. The raw emotion in Stu’s eyes as he told that story was awesome. Watch this on YouTube and you can see. Take the next step. Keep going. You’re not going to know how it will go. Embrace that. And keep going.
• Cody Burch Story – In October, Cody’s dad was diagnosed with leukemia. Cody had been sitting with the idea of a membership. He saw the fear in his dad’s eyes that he was nervous about the financial part of it. “I wanted to take that financial fear away from him. Within a few weeks of launching my membership, I had a few hundred members, and I was making thousands of dollars per month." “The more we make, the more we can give. The more we make, the more we can help.” Stu says that all the time
  • Create “super surprises” for your friends. Create an amazing experience for them.
• Online communities must be one of the three:
  • Can I solve an ongoing problem? Weight loss, dog training
  • Can you teach a skill?
  • Can you make someone’s life easier? Provide teachers with lesson plans
• You don’t need a big platform to get started. Have founding members. Float the idea that you’re thinking of it. Momentum starts with movement. Get going.
• Pay close attention to onboarding. The first few days are EVERYTHING. His daughter’s new school was “the best school ever” because she met one friend on the first day. Help them build one meaningful relationship within the first few days. Connect them. Proactively do this.
• Sales is the most noble profession in the world. Everything must be sold. Stu learned from John Childers, but couldn’t do it like him. So he just told stories about transformation.
• People don’t care about the “stuff.” They care about the outcome. They care about the transformation.
• The objection matrix - Match every objection with a story of someone who had the same objection and overcame it. Use stories.
• The importance of building a membership around transformation, not just content. While many focus on delivering endless content. By focusing on helping people achieve meaningful outcomes, rather than overwhelming them with information, leaders can build stronger communities, improve retention, and deliver real value that keeps members coming back.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

• Be optimistic in the face of uncertainty. We discover who we are by doing it. We learn who we are in practice, not in theory. The only way to fully know if you can do it, is to do the thing. Take action. Fail sometimes. Then keep going.
• The explore-exploit dilemma. Do we keep on the same path and stick to what we know works or do we go out into the unknown? Do we invest in R&D with no guarantee that it will pay off? This reminds me of Scott Galloway on episode #578, In order to do anything of significance in your life, you must take an uncomfortable risk.”
• The Hard is what makes it good. From Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own. The HARD stuff adds texture to time. The effort needed is a source of meaning. Similar to the Ikea paradox. There is more meaning in the piece of furniture if you assemble it. We shouldn’t run away from the hard things (like Dottie Hinson was doing in A League of Their Own)> We should run towards them. The effort is where find a source of meaning.
• Opened with gratitude for him helping me with my first book, Welcome to Management. 
• The beginnings of chapters/stories. What’s most important and what’s interesting? Use the best story you have. The beginning is super important.
• Time with Friction - “I don’t want it to be easier.” Challenge and complexity make it more meaningful. It’s less meaningful if it’s not challenging.
• Effort is a source of meaning.
• The Ikea Effect. A piece of furniture is worth more to you if you put it together.
• Why do you keep pushing your limits? What am I getting out of this? Is there some intrinsic pleasure?
• We are wired to explore, push our limits
  • We are also wired to be lazy, to rest in between hunts. Dichotomy there.
  • Some are nomadic and some settle. It’s useful to have both.
• Alex and his wife take their daughters with them on adventures. They earn a feeling like, “I can do anything.” Adding voluntary hardship to a child’s life can be helpful.
• If it’s a foregone conclusion, it’s not interesting. This is why people love live sports. We don’t know how it’s going to end. Uncertainty makes it interesting. The same is true for life.
• Uncertainty - We’re willing to pay a lot to not know the ending. The arc is important.
• “Bold beginning of uncertain outcomes.”
• Alex was shy and didn’t introduce himself to girls. “I would have had a better time if I wasn’t scared to ask someone out.”
• My first job getting rejected 60 times a day. Useful.
• His job as a newspaper intern having to go to people’s houses after their family member died in a car accident and talk with them. Made everything else seem easier.
• Quote to open the book: “To say that we should not change wines is heresy; the tongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass even the best bottle yields but an obtuse sensation.” – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
• Waffles – They are great. But if you have them every day, you lose the magic. A metaphor for life.
• Life/Career Advice: Be optimistic in the face of uncertainty. Have both the exploring and exploiting mindset. Explore widely. We discover who we are by doing it. Have to do the thing.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Rachel Botsman has become an expert on trust in the modern world. She’s written three books: What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views. And she teaches at Oxford University’s Business School where she created pioneering courses on trust in the digital age has become an expert on trust in the modern world. She’s written three books: What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views. 

Notes:

• Trust is being comfortable with uncertainty.
• Capability and Character - Assholes are capable people with low character.
• Demonstrate the ability to take risks. Confidence in the unknown. Healthy challenge and push mentality.
• Trust willing – Lead with Trust. Make the trust wager. What’s the best way to earn someone’s trust? LEAD with trust. Trust them first. This also creates a highly attractive company or team. Don’t you want to attract highly trusting, capable people? The best way to do that is to lead with trust.
  • Be more trust willing. Lead with Trust. Jim Collins story. Make the trust wager. You don't have to earn it, you got it.
• Willingness to be a beginner. Be curious. Look stupid at first. Those are good qualities in a leader.
• For keynote speaking:
  • Share your expertise, but don't seek approval
  • Share your stories, but don't look for validation
  • Share your passion, but don't perform for the applause
• Don't sell from the stage. Don't show your book. Don't give your resume.
• Honor the present. If you’re running a meeting, start it on time. Honor the people who showed up on time. Leaders who are overscheduled… It’s usually their fault and it comes from ego. If you’ve hired a capable team, then you don’t have to be in every meeting. Also, if you’re always late, you aren’t reliable. And that becomes part of your reputation. That’s not something we want to be known for.
  • How can people trust you if you're always late? They won't. You aren't reliable if you're always late. Reliability is a big part of your reputation. It can become the thing you're known for. That's bad.
• The power of consistency: Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress.
• Consistency builds trust.
• Leaders who are overscheduled have a problem they've created for themselves. It's usually from ego.
• Interviewing leaders for jobs. High character is a must. We can teach capabilities later.
•  Paul Simon's audiobook with Pushkin is awesome.
• Rachel's five principles for trust:
  • Competence: Having the skills, knowledge, time, and resources to do what you say you'll do 
  • Reliability: Being dependable and consistent in your actions 
  • Integrity: Being honest about your intentions and motives, and ensuring your words and actions align 
  • Empathy: Caring about others' interests and how your actions affect them 
  • Consistent action: Earning trust through how you show up, set expectations, and deliver acts of caring
• Life/Career Advice:
  • Don’t get boxed in too early and grow a career based on being able to tell people at parties that you work at a prestigious company. 
  • Look for great teams and great bosses. The industry doesn’t matter as much as the people. Culture is everything. People are everything.
  • And then when you’re younger it’s helpful to be a generalist. Know a little about a lot of things. But as you get older, it’s useful to become a specialist at something. Become an expert. Go deep on a topic. This is similar to what Mike Maples Jr said on episode #619.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

Episode #620 with Steve Magness, author of Win The Inside Game

Notes:

• Clearly define your purpose and what you want to do. For Steve, it’s: "Explore interesting ideas that will help people."
  • "Those things will help me too. I'm curious about them." Defining that one sentence frees you up to say no to those things outside of your purpose and to focus on actions within that align with your purpose.
• Steve's Framework for Sustainable Excellence:
  • Be - Clarity on who you are
  • Do - Clairty in your pursuits
  • Belong - Clarity on where and how you fit in
• Steve stood up as a whistleblower after earning his dream job at Nike, showing courage and sticking to his values and ethics.
• Why don't we speak up? We have a built in preservation system. We justify, rationalize, and avoid it because it minimizes the negative feeling in the short term.
• Don't play prevent defense. Give yourself the permission and freedom to fail. Diversify sense of self. Don't intertwine a sense of self with success or fear of failure.
• Diversify your sense of self—don’t intertwine your identity solely with success or the fear of failure.
• It’s not an all-or-nothing game. Outcomes matter, but they aren’t everything. Focus on process goals and let outcomes be a byproduct of good effort.
• Set your environment up to define what success means for you.
• Big achievements, like becoming a best-selling author, rarely feel as fulfilling as imagined.
• Success can be multi-dimensional and definitionally nuanced.
• The Power of Belonging
  • When facing a challenge (like climbing a hill), it feels easier when you’re with others versus alone.
  • We need each other. We share the load. Surround yourself with compounders. "We are built to belong."
• It is a mistake to make success or failure a virtue. It's not "I'm a failure." It's, "I failed at that thing." It's temporary. It's not who you are.
• In moments of stress (e.g., choking in sports like Simone Biles), your brain defaults to survival mode and shuts down higher-level functions.
• Strategies to overcome it:
  • Narrow your focus: Break tasks into smaller, actionable steps.
  • Create a personal definition of success to shift focus from fear.
  • Try doing something unexpected or crazy to reset your perspective.
• To have a meaningful life we need to feel
  • Coherent - Life adds up. You have a cohesive story. 
  • Significant - You matter and can make a difference.
  • Directed - There’s a purpose to your life and pursuits.
  • Belonging - Part of something bigger than you.
• “This book is for those who stood up, found courage, and stuck to their values and ethics.”

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

My Guest: Mike Maples Jr is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was recently profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship. Some of his early investments include: Twitter, DemandForce, Twitch, and Applied Intuition. Mike is also the bestselling author of Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future.

Notes

• Chance favors the prepared mind. We are all visited by luck, but most of us don’t answer the door. We need to become a professional noticer. That is Mike’s favorite verb. Noticing. Most people don’t have prepared minds. Be intentional about noticing the world around you and being prepared for when luck visits you.
• Mike's dad died 7 days before we recorded. “He was a mentor, a friend, and one of the greatest inspirations of my life.” His advice: Do your best. There’s only one of you. Decide what to do with your gift of time, be intentional. Have gratitude for your time. Make the most of it. Don’t waste it trying to be someone else.
• Focus - Fishing competition when Mike was 5 or 6. Let’s find a good spot and stay there the entire time. While everyone else moved constantly, Mike and his dad stayed in their spot, caught a big carp, and won.
• Bill Gates begged Mike’s dad to “be the adult in the room” at Microsoft. Mike Sr would say to the people he led at Microsoft, "I want to know that you’re thinking about what you’re doing." He used a Socratic method. He was not prescriptive.
• Be proactive. Have an intentional strategy. Be intentional.
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull - The biggest limits in the world are the limits of your mind, your imagination, and your actions– not the limits of the world itself.
• Have to get over that voice in your head that says, “You’re not good enough.”
• We get told to be realistic or stay within the lines.
• Everybody is figuring it out as they go. Everyone is “winging it.”
• Only by being radically different can you make a radical difference.
• Great founders are like Patrick Mahomes and Steph Curry. You don’t know how they’re going to score, but you know they will.
• Practice Reckless Optimism – The world is built by Optimists. You need to be FOR something. Bet ON something, not against it.
• Mike sees himself as a co-conspirator more than an investor.
• There can’t be a recipe for a breakthrough because by definition breakthroughs haven’t happened yet.
• “Chance favors the prepared mind.” We are all visited by luck but most don’t answer the door.
• Chris Rock - Forming unexpected connections.
• Sam Beskind (Stanford basketball player where he played for Rob Ehsan) - Time management strategy. Stanford coaches had a one-pager with 3 keys to winning. Not 20. 3. If you have 20 keys, you have none. Nobody can remember all that.
• Life/Career Advice: Internalize what it means to do your best. Gratitude for your time. Avoid the trap of mimetic desire. The “T” of knowledge. Charlie Munger. Try to know what the best ideas that have ever existed in a wide range of fields. Then choose one field to know about more than anyone else in the world. Have one area where you are fanatically obsessed. For Mike, that’s startups.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes of The Learning Leader Show

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My guest for episode #618 is Chase Jarvis. Chase is a photographer, director, artist, and entrepreneur. He was the CEO of an online education platform called Creative Live from 2014 to 2022. He’s earned countless awards for his photography and creative work including a Pulitzer Prize for a New York Times story he contributed to called “Snow Fall.” He’s also the author of multiple books including Creative Calling and Never Play It Safe.

Notes:

• Opening Joke: "What has 52 teeth and holds back a monster?"
• We are all wildly creative. It is trained out of us as we grow older. Creativity is foundational to all human beings. It’s on us to tap into our creativity and get it out of us to help solve problems, to create optionality, and to be innovative. Regardless of your job, becoming more creative will make you better at it.
• Play infinite games with transformational people. It seems like when we give to others, genuinely try to help them, and have a service orientation, good things happen to all. There are transactional people and transformational leaders. Let’s strive to be transformative and play the long game with high-character people. 
  • Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring.
• “A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch, but on its own wings.” Believe in yourself and your ability to bounce back if the thing doesn’t go your way. Set up a series of experiments. Not all of them will work. You’ll be better for having tried, and tried again, and then again. We learn from both our successes and our failures.
• Initially, Chase planned to attend medical school after graduating from undergrad. A few weeks before his graduation, his grandfather died and left all his photography equipment to his grandson.
• “Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Helen Keller
• "Safety is an illusion. It does not exist in nature, so why then do we seek it?
• "Playing it safe is about fear. And fear is only optimized for survival--not creativity, happiness, joy, connection, harmony, fulfillment, or any of the gifts you have to give or receive in this life."
• Intuition is everything. What if we started paying attention to that?
• "I don't know why they call us founders. I didn't find anything. I built that shit. We are builders."
• There are 7 basic levers for life:
  • Attention
  • Time – NYU Professor James Carse. Finite and infinite games. Treat life like an infinite game. What’s the difference between systems and schedules? (why are systems better?)
  • Intuition – The benefits of compounding trust. Chase's wife Kate. First met on a beach just after high school. Sparks were present, but no fire. “She had a special quality I couldn’t quite place.” Went to college 1,500 miles apart. All along it was your intuition that kept you on notice.  How do you know when it’s your intuition speaking? Why is playing it safe the riskiest thing we can do
  • Constraints - What can we learn about constraints from Stefan Sagmeister?
  • Play -  What can we learn about play from Novak Djokovic?
  • Failure - Melissa Arnot Reid – Replaces the word “fail” with the word “live” – Instead of saying “I’m afraid to fail. She says I’m afraid to live.”
  • Practice - Purposeful practice. Anders Ericsson
• Keynote speaking - Don't be a robot. Have fun. Let it rip. Results are better in a better state of mind.
• Do tiny experiments when the stakes are low.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes for episode #617 with Adam Galinsky

Notes:

• 10 Words - “We are not going down. We are going to Philly.” The composure of pilot Tammy Jo Shults after the side of her airplane exploded. Leadership is needed most when things go bad. How do you respond when adversity strikes? Those are the moments when we must be prepared to share the vision and help our team stay the course.
  • EMTs asked, "How did you get through security? You have nerves of steel. You don't even have an elevated heart rate."
• The 1992 cockpit study of pilots. Did more errors happen at the beginning or the end of a 19-hour flight? You’d assume the end because of exhaustion. However, more errors happen at the beginning of the flight because the crews don’t know each other yet. How does this translate to your team? It’s imperative to genuinely care and get to know the people on your team. Host barbeque parties, ask questions, and genuinely LEARN about the people you’re leading. Those aren’t soft skills, those are essential skills.
• What did Adam learn from his parents? The idea of Kaizen, is a Japanese business philosophy that promotes continuous improvement through small, incremental changes. Kaizen means "good change," "change for the better," or "improvement."
• Transactional leaders are infuriating. Transformational leaders are inspiring.
• Great leader exercise: "Tell me about a leader that inspired you..." What qualities do they possess? "Courage, Optimism, Generous."
• Inspire - the universal path for leading yourself and others
• Build habits - floss teeth before brushing. Write thank you notes.
• Moments of Greatness -- Elks basketball
• Team thank you notes - Rob Kimbel
• Columbia football coach -- "Who can I yell at?" Need to know who can handle it.
• Ron Ullery -- Share the vision early. 1:1 conversation, bring your leaders in.
• Adam did not get tenure when most thought he deserved it. They messed up by not sharing the vision until after, but then they made it better by sharing and showing him love. He then turned down Harvard to stay at Northwestern because of it.
• Vision - Big picture. Put context for behavior. Why is consistency important?
• The Great Gatsby and his dad. Greenlights.
• When you're thinking about trying to persuade others, you persuade yourself.
• Parenting -- When you flip out, they do too. We set the tone.

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

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Bob Stoops was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2016. He led the Sooners to a 191-48 record over his career. His 2000/2001 team won the national championship. He earned the National Coach of the Year award the same season. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach in the XFL, winning an XFL Championship in 2023 with the Arlington Renegades. He played college football at the University of Iowa, earning team MVP his senior year as a defensive back.

Notes:

• Coaches Bob has worked for: Hayden Fry at Iowa, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, and Steve Spurrier at Florida. He's worked for some amazing coaches.
  • Relationships are everything. You must connect with people. You must be authentic. Learn from other coaches, but you have to be yourself
• Sherri Coale: “One of my favorite things about him is he’s the busiest man on the planet but never appeared that way. That’s a skill and an art. That fascinates me.”
• What makes a great head coach? They relate to people. They care about them. They can motivate and influence by clearly sharing the vision of the program and inspiring others to get on board. They are decisive people. Most importantly, they know how to connect with people. All leadership is a people business. If you can’t connect with others, you’ll probably struggle.
• Creating a “coaches forest” (beyond a tree) - Mike Stoops, Mark Mangino, Mike Leach, Bo Pelini, Kevin Sumlin, Kevin Wilson, Lincoln Riley, and more. How has Bob prepared so many guys to be successful head coaches?
  • Hiring – “I always tried to hire people smarter than me.” A lot of people say this, but not all do this. Coach Stoops looked for people who had a track record of performance… And then he used his gut instincts after he spent time with him. He paid attention to how they treated his secretary, how they treated the waiter at lunch… Some call those the little things, but they were very important to Coach Stoops
• The overarching theme of the entire conversation was the simplicity of how Coach Stoops built his program. He didn’t try to overcomplicate anything. He knew he wanted coaches who were accomplished, high-character people. And he wanted tough players who loved football. Their offenses may have looked exotic but they didn’t have a ton of plays installed. They focused on what they did and then practiced it relentlessly so that they would execute better than their opponents. I think there’s something beautiful in the simplicity with how he’s built his program and the results speak for themselves.
• Great players want to be coached - Jeremiah Smith, Adrian Peterson.
• What he looked for in players: They have to LOVE football. Need to be tough and physical. Someone like Dan Cody. From Oklahoma, was skinny, and nobody on the staff wanted to give him a scholarship, but Coach Stoops did, and he turned out to be a great player. Liked to keep local guys home.
• Off-season workouts create the culture of the team. "We won because we outworked everyone."
• The attitude of the national championship team - "They were tired of being kicked around." And "I shared with them the history of Oklahoma and let them know the way it should be. When we started, they were a losing team."
• Josh Heupel - The most valuable recruit ever for Coach Stoops.
• Mike Leach was a 1 of 1. An original. He seemed relaxed and casual, but he was also very demanding that they do it right. He was also focused on just a few plays instead of trying to do everything. FOCUS. Do what we do
• Wife Carol - Impressive leader at Mary Kay. Won a pink Cadillac 16 years in a row. National Sales Director.
• Life/Career Advice - Go hard, be tough, be true to yourself, enjoy the struggle, and look forward to the fight. Nothing great happens without going through struggles first.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and all episodes of The Learning Leader Show

Notes:

Brad Thor best selling author of 22 thrillers...

• Excellence as a leader… What has Brad seen from the military leaders he’s studied: Empathy - Understand what it’s like from their perspective. LISTEN - Care for your people. Actually LISTEN to them and be there. Creativity. Innovate, and think of new creative ways to solve problems.
• Effective storytelling - Don’t start with the weather. Leave out the parts people skip. Don’t be boring. This same advice is useful for leaders when communicating with your team. Put yourself in their shoes. How can you most effectively share your message without being boring. The more entertaining it is, the more likely they’ll remember it.
  • Effective storytellers - Plotters (outlines, Dan Brown), Pantsers (write by the seat of your pants). Brad is a pantser.
  • Take the first 4 ideas and throw them out. You need the element of surprise. Create surprise.
  • Be comfortable breaking the rules.
  • Loves Ray Donavon and Billions for the element of surprise
  • "No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader."
  • "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."
• Brad has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit.
• Excellence as a leader (McChrystal) - Empathy, Listen, Creativity.
• PBL - Problem-Based Learning. John Bettis (country singer). How do you recharge your battery? International travel. Immerse yourself in another culture.
• Loves politics. Ran for President.
• Advice for writers – “Gotta Keep Writing” Mary Higgins Clark did it for 2 hours each morning before her family woke up. Whatever it is we want to be great at, we have to get the reps. Consistency beats intensity.

00:53 The Art of Storytelling

04:13 Elements of Effective Storytelling

08:26 The Importance of Surprise in Storytelling

11:33 Writing Process and Challenges

20:43 Research and Realism in Writing

27:04 Leadership Lessons from Writing

30:59 The Importance of Open-Mindedness

32:01 Pre-Publishing Feedback Process

35:09 Homeland Security and the Red Cell Unit

39:05 Maintaining Creative Energy

42:38 Political Ambitions and Leadership

50:57 Advice for Aspiring Writers

54:36 The Benefits of Reading Fiction for Leaders

56:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts