The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #287: Robert Greene - 5 Strategies For Becoming A Master Persuader (Part 1)

Robert Greene teaches the most important subject of all – understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control.

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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

286: Phil Jones - How To Build Your Squad (The WHO In Your Life)

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Ability to see things through the eyes of others -- empathy
  • Create and articulate a shared vision
  • Create momentum for others
• Build your squad -- The WHO in your life
  • His mom said, "Be careful, go get a job and be safe." She is the right person in the wrong place.
  • We all need:
    • Cheerleaders - they put fuel in our tank
    • Role modes - someone's model to follow
    • Mentors - someone to share experiences with
    • Coaches - they ask us questions
    • Trainers - they teach us skills
    • Advisors - overall strategy
    • Aspirational peers - Peers you look up to and want to spend time with
• "Success leaves clues."

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #285: Scott Gerber - Stop Networking And Start Building Relationships That Matter

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Those who surround themselves with people smarter than them
  • Empathetic
  • Self-aware -- And an ability to understand others
  • "We are losing connection for connectivity."
• How to become a super-connector?
  • "Curiosity leads to everything." -- Always be questioning...
  • "Learning is the defining quality of all of it."
• How to get to the core of person to better understand where they come from and their motivations...
• "The Road Less Traveled" -- Constantly revise our maps of reality
• "The Big Short" - "It's what you think you know that's not true that gets you in trouble."
• How to answer the "What do you do?" question --
  • Scott - "Try to live life purposefully"
  • His nickname -- "The Pandora of Gen-Y networking"
• "Social Capital is the most important currency that we have. I'm a curator of people."
  • "There is so much power to bringing amazing people together."
• Why it's bad to ask, "How can I help you?"
  • "Marketers fundamentally f'd up this conversation." -- "It's become too formulaic as the next step. Instead, you should know how you can help and help. It's a bad question because it shows your thoughtless and it's part of a script. Don't do that."
• Be exceptional at making introductions -- Does it provide mutual value?
  • When you become proficient at it, take it a step further... Film a short video to make the intro. Get creative.
• The gray zones -- Always ask "why?"
• "Real relationships take real time"
• How to create remarkable experiences:
  • Get great people in the room -- carefully curate the guest list
  • Build trust
  • Exceptional atmosphere/environment
  • Be very thoughtful about every tiny detail
• The YEC summit in Eden, Utah
  • Create something remarkable to ensure people and things you bring together click.
  • Humanize people that run the community -- Ex: The execs serve dinner to the guests, find common touch points
  • "Get the intros right! Lift your guests up, brag about them in front of their peers."
• Being a connector vs being connected -- The tools
• How to build consistent referrals?
  • Create events where people want to bring a guest who is not a current client but could be. The event must be exceptional. Invest heavily in this.
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #284: Michael Lombardi - A Masterclass In Building Teams And Winning Championships

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • A set foundation
  • A standard of excellence in everything they do. Not rooted in sports, but in everything
  • Understand how to build a culture
• Why mission statements were useless to Mike and his colleagues
• The focus on getting 1% better every day... If you do so, the score takes care of itself
• Demonstrate how to lead... The leader must model that behavior
• "Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing."
• Operating framework
  • Have a plan
  • Explain to self
  • Build trust
  • Command of self
• "Culture is a plant. You must nurture it everyday."
• Personal accountability is the ultimate sign of strength. "All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong." - Sophocles
• Bill Walsh - The value of being his personal driver and learning from him directly during all of those car rides. That's where Mike learned about leadership... And about Tom Peters
• Coach Walsh was always reading something that made him think and passed that along to Mike...
• "If you don't like change, you'll like irrelevancy less."
• Hiring process:
  • Want people who are coach-able and able to learn the Bill Walsh system
  • "Training is hard. Most managers don't do it."
• A "5 tool leader"
  • Strategy
  • Tactics
  • Preparation
  • Execution
  • Situational instincts to know which among the first 4 is required and when
• The myth of coaches working long hours and sleeping in the office
• Sustainable values vs situational values -- command of the process
• When Al Davis interviewed people, he would do a deep dive on their background prior to the interview and use their high school mascot as his personal nickname for the candidate. This was Al's subtle way of letting the candidate know that he "knew everything about them so they better be honest."
• Creative vs divergent -- Take an existing idea and make it better
• The 7 QB qualifiers and how this relates to a leader in business:
  • A winning way
  • A thick skin
  • Work ethic
  • Football smarts
  • Innate ability
  • Carriage
  • Leadership
• You must be able to process things at a high rate
• Learning from mistakes -- The Doug Pederson mistake Mike made...
  • "How often is it the structure, the landscape, vs the player?
• Jackson Browne - "Never forget the ones you mess up."
• Life advice -- Jack Nicholson - "Read everything. It's the elixir of life. Understand something from all sides and all points of view. Read it all from the opposition side to get complete understanding on the topic."
• The most effective leaders have a willingness to receive feedback and implement it.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #283: Tyler Cowen - The Path To Prosperity In A Disordered World

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • "I admire people who are constantly reading and learning things."
  • Those who have a quiet excellence about them
• The most effective leaders have a willingness to receive feedback and implement it.
• Tyler was a world class chess player at age 15 and won the world championship. He always played against older players, people who were better than him. (Reminds me of James Clear and the Goldilocks Effect)
• Doing vs. Learning: Tyler admires those who spend more time learning than doing (he takes a counter intuitive approach to this... like most things he thinks!)
  • "I admire people who spend a lot of time thinking, those who read a lot of books, searching..."
• Tyler describes his book reading process
• Books - "Start with what you love..."
  • Start with fiction: Shakespeare, others like that. Tyler is not a fan of most management books.
  • Books he likes: The 5th Discipline, Michael Porter, Maslow, Flow, Daniel Kahneman
  • "Read biographies"
• What was Tyler like as a kid? "Intense, curious, even tempered, quite happy... Much the same as I am now."
• There is always new information to learn from travel -- The perspective gained from traveling the world is extremely valuable. Tyler has traveled to 100's of countries worldwide
  • Have dialog with local people in each place you go. We discussed my trip to Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia.
  • Learn the personal history of the places you go. Some great recent trips? Singapore, China, Mexico (learn to speak Spanish)
• Tyler's day to day actions: Write, blog, lunch with college students, teaches for 3 hours per day. He's 56 years old
• What is scarce? -- We all should focused on being great at what is scarce
  • Quality land and natural resources
  • Intellectual property, or good ideas about what should be produced
  • Quality labor with unique skills
  • Talent that can execute. Great leadership
• How to become great at what is scarce?
  • Tyler interviewed the tennis great, Martina Navratilova... Her thoughts: "You need to make a deliberative decision to train. A complete dedication to the craft."
  • You also need someone who will tell you the truth and help you improve. Who are your mentors, am I respecting others? A massive need to train and practice.
• Why shouldn't we pay kids to do chores?
  • "Don't transact with kids. It should be part of their normal day. They shouldn't be paid for it."
• The shifting gender balance of power - Be conscientious. "Women are simply better at almost everything."
• How Stripe publishing is doing things differently...
• Latest book: Stubborn Attachments - "It's been 20 years in the making. My most philosophical book."
  • "It's about the eternal principles how we should think about things..."
• The meta explanation for why it seems like our political world is wacky... "Most of history is wacky."
• Tyler makes a 2020 prediction for the presidential election
• "Stories are deliberate over-simplifications. Complexity has been drained away from most."
• How to prepare for a keynote speech?
  • "For the Martina Navratilova interview, I read 40 books about her and tennis and learned everything I could to be prepared."
• Reading:
  • Read books in clusters based on topics
  • Go to the library and do a physical search
• • Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
  • Use the "Get To Know You Document"

  "It's about conscientiousness. Women are simply better than men at almost everything."

  Social Media:

  • Follow Tyler on Twitter: @tylercowen
  • Read: Stubborn Attachments
  • Connect with me on LinkedIn
  • Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
  • To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #282: Seth Godin - You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See

"In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible."

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • It changes over time
  • Must be willing to fail - "Okay... Will I do things that might not work?"
• Some of Seth's failures: many teaching mistakes, tried to build philanthropy platform that failed, blog has failed at times
• How to handle a slump? - "There's no such thing as a long slump."
  • Stephen J. Gould - "The real problem is how you respond to the failure. You can't tell yourself a story that's not true."
  • Have honest self talk -- "This isn't a slump."
• Stanford MBA - Friends with Chip Conley. "Everyone there feels like a fraud or an arrogant jerk. I felt like I was drowning. The sessions with Chip changed my life." Chips "Random Acts of Initiative" were life changing. Chip taking initiative and not fearing rejection. Remarkable.
• Empathy - A mentor wants to see you do things that are bold, leap forward because of them.
• Be a mentor - "Make the world shinier. Bring life to more causes."
• Economy of words - "I made the decision to write like I talk."
  • "Talking isn't better because you're afraid."
• The book publishing world and why Seth chose to traditionally publish This Is Marketing
• What percentage of Seth's success is luck? "98.2%" The final 1.8% is "relentless persistence." "The 98.2% is the parent lottery."
• How to deal with rejection after rejection...
• "Culture IS strategy. How we treat people. It's hard to do the things we're proud of."
  • "Great ones have better clients."
• Side hustle advice -- Start it on the side so that you don't have to make money at it right away. You can choose your clients and never just "do it for the money."
  • "Exactly. Great advice."
• Keys to storytelling - "We have too much stuff."
  • Better understand the story you're telling yourself.
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

"Luck for me is 98.2% of it. The other 1.8% is relentless persistence."

Social Media:

• Follow Seth's writing on Twitter: @ThisIsSethsBlog
• Read: This Is Marketing
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #281: George Raveling - Eight Decades Of Wisdom: From Dr. Martin Luther King To Michael Jordan

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Growth mindset
  • Immense curiosity
  • High level of self awareness -- "It starts within"
  • Great vision
  • Most important = "they execute"
• Relationship lessons learned over eight decades - "Be a giver, not a taker. Try to genuinely help people."
  • Develop trust, respect, and care for others -- "It's all about love. Don't keep score. Do the right thing, be kind, but don't keep score or trade favors. That's not how it works."
• Standing next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr for the "I Have A Dream" speech
  • Asking Dr. King for the speech after he finished (and getting it... still has it!)
  • Why he won't sell of try to profit from the speech despite it being worth millions
  • The power of "showing up early" and "asking for what you want"
• Why Coach reads so much -- "The slave owners used to hide money in books because they knew slaves would never look in the books because they couldn't read." -- "If someone can control my mind, they can control my body. I will not let that happen. Books are my mistress."
• Information = knowledge = wisdom = opportunity = growth = success
• The importance of his upbringing - His dad died when he was 9, his mom was institutionalized when he was 13. He was raised by his grandmother and nuns.
  • "My grandmother taught me to be curious. She taught me to ask. She taught me good manners. She taught me humility. She taught me to help people. She was the #metoo movement before the #metoo movement"
• How basketball was the "greatest vehicle for transformation in my life."
  • Earned scholarship to Villanova -- When George was first offered a scholarship, he didn't know what that meant.
  • Going from player to coach and why he was suited to be a great coach
  • Becoming the first African American head coach of the Pac 8 (Pac 12)
• The mindset of thinking of yourself as an educator/teacher
• George is a voracious reader and marks up each and every page of the books he likes (I saw first hand and it's amazing)
• The importance for older people to have 4-5 younger mentors in their life. Ryan Holiday plays this role for Coach.
• The importance of self leadership - "You must take care of yourself before trying to lead others"
• Working at Nike for Phil Knight -- Helping sign Michael Jordan away from Adidas
• Focus on being a great decision maker and seeking out growth opportunities
• Why you don't need a title to be an effective leader
• In order to be promoted, focus on being incredibly great at what you're doing right now
  • "Be so good they can't ignore you."
• The 10 realities of life Coach Raveling values most at age 81
• Pushing Coach to write a book about living a great life -- Tweet him to do this!
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #280: Danny Iny - Why You Shouldn't Go To College

"The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed."

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • An attitude of curiosity - interested. "I wonder why that happens?"
  • Sense of things being "figureoutable." They will get it done. Fortitude.
• Danny and I discuss a partnership -- Working together on building a course
• Being "catalytically curious"
• Why start Mirasee?
  • Built after previous failure. "On an emotional level, a startup falling apart is like a really rough breakup."
• "Mirasee was the rebound business." It has a value driven ethos. "At the end of an interaction with you, people should like you more regardless of what happens."
  • "Mira" = To see, wonder
• Why build online courses?
  • The convenience and practicality. It's "Just In Time" Learning
• Should graduating high schoolers go to college?
  • "Probably not. There is an expectation that smart kids should go to college. That it's the ticket to the good life. This used to be true, but it's not anymore. The facts don't back that up."
  • "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed."
  • "Those non-specific degrees are functionally worthless."
  • "It's not about where we are, it's about where will we be?"
• What should a smart high school graduate do instead?
  • Find people you respect and trust in the working world. Offer to work for them for free. Shadow them. Learn from them. Figure out if you want to do that full time.
  • This requires people to take initiative and ownership
• Why I started the podcast? -- "To create my own leadership PhD."
  • "Pace of education is changing."
  • "At the pace of change currently the curriculum being taught will be completely different in 5-10 years."
• You must have:
  • Literacy
  • Fluency
  • You need a deep understanding of your topic
• How to know which online courses to take?
  • Think: What am I trying to accomplish?
  • Does the course offer this?
  • What do I need to learn? To know?
  • Does the teacher have a track record of success?
• A course must have a support mechanism... The teacher must stand behind promises made
• The "pilot" program
  • Survey audience - data analysis
  • Map out curriculum
  • Adapt on the fly - take insight to create something great
• Peer to peer feedback system in place
  • We learn more from giving feedback to others
  • Accountability measures
• Read Leveraged Learning
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

"It's not about where we are. It's about where we will be."

Social Media:

• Follow Danny on Twitter: @DannyIny
• Read: Leveraged Learning
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk. Episode #279: James Clear - How Tiny Changes Can Changes Can Equal Remarkable Results (Atomic Habits)

Show Notes:

• "It's important to know how everything works together."
  • Ojai, CA - Circle talking about book writing
• Atomic = Atom, small, tiny. Habits should be small
• "Habits are the atoms of our lives"
• "It's about the collection of habits"
• "They are small... but put them together... they compound and are powerful."
• The system is in four stages. They stages are:
  • The cue - gets attention
  • The craving - in the brain
  • The response - the habit, behavior
  • The result - what happens
• Feedback loops - The cookie example
• "My readers and I are peers. An essential part of the process is to write about it. Try things out. Everything I've published has been revised many times."
• The four laws:
  • Make it obvious
  • Make it attractive
  • Make it easy
  • Make it satisfying
• The Goldilocks rule - Steve Martin
  • People burn out or get bored. How to stay motivated...
  • Be stretched just beyond your capacity but not too far. "Always stay just on the edge..." Steve Martin kept expanding his sets by just a few minutes each time until he had a 60 minute set. He started small with just a few minutes of material.
  • Make sure you "stretch yourself... just a bit... everyday."
  • Be the person who gets the additional task done
• How to do this all as a parent? -- "Life is in seasons..."
  • "If you want to double your productivity, get 8 hours of sleep."
• The plateau of latent potential -- A melting ice cube. A 1 degree change
• "Habits don't add up, they compound. It looks like a hockey stick."
• "Outcome based habits vs identity based habits."
  • Focus on identity based habits. Be the type of person who wakes up early and works out.
• The importance of being able to delay gratification
• Weightlifting - Reinterpret signals. "Being sore feels good." Re frame how you think about something like soreness
• "Happiness is simply the absence of desire."
  • When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation
• "Being curious is better than being smart."
  • Need to be eager to learn and accomplish things
  • "Your actions reveal how badly you want something"
• "We can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional."
• System 1 = feelings
• System 2 = Rational, math problem
  • System 1 always leads the way

• The Learning Leader Circle -- Apply
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

"Being curious is better than being smart"

Social Media:

• Follow James on Twitter: @JamesClear
• Read: Atomic Habits
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #278: Mitch Albom - Tuesdays With Morrie & The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Humility
  • They contribute to the world - "Morrie did the bravest thing I've ever seen."
  • Howard Schultz - The last person in line to get a book signed. After all of his employees
• "Some of the greatest performers I've ever met are painfully shy: jazz musicians, Barry Sanders, Joe Dumars."
• Tuesdays With Morrie - "He was my college professor. I had not talked to him in 16 years. I saw him on TV talking about having ALS."
  • Morrie - "I'm a teacher. That's what I do."
• Why was it so popular and shared so much?
  • "Death ends a life but not a relationship"
  • "You can live within the hearts of people you help/touched."
  • "You have to make time for those relationships while you're here."
• "I write about living. Death informs everything about how we live."
• "I try to write about reflecting on life."
• Why this theme?
  • "I liked listening to stories from my uncle growing up. His World War 2 stories."
  • "I spent so much of my youth myopically focused on career success. For many years I thought how far can I get?"
  • "I wanted to explore what makes a better life?"
• Supporting 47 children in Haiti -- Taking two to college now.
• "Giving makes me feel like I'm living."
• "Taking makes me feel like I'm dying."
• Being part of Sports Reporters on ESPN
  • Writers are critical thinkers and can be good on TV when thinking deeply
• Core pieces of advice:
  • Be humble
  • Be curious - Ask questions
  • Don't lose self in the field you choose. Life can be brief.
  • "Find out who you are and what you value, and do that."
• Advice from a security guard:
  • Read the best books
  • Listen to the best music
  • Observe the best art
  • Surround self with the best people - Osmosis
  • Immerse yourself with what you value

• The Learning Leader Circle -- Apply
• Use the "Get To Know You Document"

"I wanted to explore what makes a better life?"

Social Media:

• Follow Mitch on Twitter: @MitchAlbom
• Read: Tuesdays With Morrie
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12