[Music] Introduction

The host introduces Ryan Hawk, the host of The Learning Leader show and author of "Welcome to Management: How to Grow from Top Performer to Excellent Leader."

Ryan Hawk's Background and Achievements

• Ryan Hawk is the host of The Learning Leader show with over 475 episodes in seven years. Forbes labeled his show as the most dynamic leadership podcast.

• Forbes recognized Ryan's book, "Welcome to Management," as the best leadership book of 2020.

Ten Commandments of Excellence

Discussion on the first two commandments focusing on remote work challenges and having a bias for action.

Remote Work Challenges and Bias for Action

• Leaders face challenges with employees working from home but hesitant to return to the office.

• Having a bias for action emphasizes being intentional in behavior, moving from thoughts to actions, and partnering with doers rather than talkers.

Implementing Bias for Action

• To cultivate a bias for action, focus on practical experience over theoretical knowledge.

• Encouragement towards experimentation, trying new approaches, reviewing outcomes, and personalizing best practices.

Hiring and Taking Action

The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking action and making mistakes to achieve results rather than just thinking or brainstorming.

Importance of Taking Action

• Hiring individuals who get things done is crucial.

• Making mistakes at full speed (100 miles an hour) is preferable to being unsure and not taking action.

• Pushing one's edges leads to growth by expanding comfort zones and competencies daily.

Pushing Your Edges for Growth

The discussion delves into the concept of pushing one's edges to expand comfort zones, fostering personal growth through continuous challenges.

Pushing Comfort Zones

• Excellence occurs when expanding beyond current comfort and competency levels.

• Encouragement to push boundaries daily for gradual expansion.

• Reflecting on daily actions that pushed personal limits aids in long-term growth.

Challenging Employees for Excellence

The speaker shares a practical example of challenging an employee to push their limits, leading to enhanced engagement and fulfillment in their work.

Challenging Employee Limits

• Empowering employees by pushing them out of their comfort zones can lead to increased engagement.

• Embracing discomfort and uncertainty fosters personal development and excellence in individuals.

Leading with Trust

Exploring the significance of leading with trust rather than requiring it to be earned, creating a positive environment that attracts like-minded individuals.

Building Trust Environment

• Leading with trust attracts trustworthy individuals, fostering a positive work culture.

Posture and Trust in Leadership

The discussion revolves around the importance of posture and trust in leadership, drawing insights from personal experiences and interactions with mentors.

Posture and Trust

• Leading with trust attracts trustworthy individuals while lack of trust repels them.

• Personal experience of a boss retracting trust due to lack of earned trust leading to relationship breakdown.

• Leading with trust acts as a magnet for like-minded individuals, fostering positive relationships.

• Importance of leading with trust to attract high-trusting individuals for meaningful connections.

Earning Respect in Leadership

Delving into the dynamics of respect in leadership roles, emphasizing the need to earn respect continually.

Earning Respect

• Reflecting on personal experience earning respect as a freshman on the varsity team through actions and dedication.

• Acknowledging that while trust is typically earned, preferring to lead with it to attract similar-minded individuals.

• Contrasting media portrayal with personal interactions highlighting people's inherent goodness and kindness.

Trust Dynamics in Leadership

Exploring the impact of automatic trust in leadership on motivation and performance.

Trust Dynamics

• Discussing the motivation derived from being trusted from day one by leaders, leading to increased commitment.

Trust and Teamwork in High-Functioning Teams

The discussion revolves around the importance of trust in teams, drawing parallels between military training, sports, and building trust through shared challenges.

Building Trust Through Training

• Trust is crucial in teams; individuals work hard to maintain it.

• Military training emphasizes trust as soldiers rely on each other with their lives.

• High school coaches with military backgrounds instilled trust through tough training, fostering a strong team culture.

Importance of Preparation and Trust

• Doing hard things together builds bonds and prepares teams for challenges.

• Trust reduces transaction costs, enabling faster operations in any setting.

Fostering Trust for Efficient Team Collaboration

The conversation delves into strategies for enhancing trust within teams to facilitate efficient collaboration and speed up operations.

Strategies for Building Trust

• Vulnerability exercises and active listening enhance trust levels within a team.

Be the Hero, Not the Victim

In this segment, the importance of taking ownership of success or failure and avoiding a victim mentality is discussed. Being proactive and resilient in the face of adversity is highlighted as a key trait for personal growth and leadership.

Be Proactive and Resilient

• Embrace being the hero, not the victim, by taking ownership of outcomes.

• Distinguish between real victims of crimes and those facing everyday adversities.

• Choose perseverance over complaint when encountering challenges.

• Appreciate individuals who exhibit grit and optimism in difficult situations.

Embracing Challenges with Optimism

This part emphasizes maintaining an optimistic outlook when confronted with tough moments or adversity. The discussion underscores the significance of one's response to challenges in shaping outcomes.

Cultivating Optimism

• Encourage a positive mindset to navigate tough situations effectively.

• Highlight the importance of responding constructively to adversity.

• Acknowledge the role of optimism in driving problem-solving and resilience.

Passion and Excellence in Work

The speaker discusses the importance of choosing extra work to excel in one's career, drawing parallels between sports and business environments.

Choosing Extra Work

• Leaders face challenges as employees have various job opportunities.

• Importance of choosing extra work highlighted due to its scarcity.

• Values like passion and unity emphasized for sustained excellence.

• Opting for extra work crucial for achieving sustained excellence.

Work-Life Balance: Sports vs. Business

Contrasting attitudes towards hard work in sports and business contexts are explored, questioning societal perceptions of dedication.

Attitudes Towards Hard Work

• Praise for hard work in sports versus criticism in the business world.

• Discrepancy in expectations regarding dedication between sports and business.

• Criticism faced by individuals not meeting expected dedication levels in sports.

Work-Life Integration and Time Management

The discussion revolves around work-life integration, time management strategies, and the importance of passion in work.

Work-Life Integration

• Work-life integration is favored over work-life balance.

• Preparation for personal moments like family time requires extra work but can be balanced with focused work hours.

• Finding what works best for individual productivity is crucial.

• Flexibility in scheduling while maintaining a strong work ethic can lead to productivity without burnout.

Passion for Work and Self-Responsibility

The conversation delves into the significance of passion for work, self-responsibility, and overcoming challenges.

Passion for Work

• Being passionate about work can reduce feelings of burnout and stress.

• Drawing parallels between sports passion and dedication to current work endeavors.

Self-Responsibility

• Transitioning from viewing work as a job to seeing it as fulfilling hard work.

• Acknowledging the privilege that comes with creating fulfilling work opportunities.

Choosing Extra Work and Adding Value

Emphasizing the importance of choosing extra work, adding value, and taking ownership of one's actions.

Choosing Extra Work

• Encouraging individuals to choose extra work over victim mentality or excuses.

• Highlighting the potential for growth through additional efforts despite initial challenges.

Adding Value

• Stressing self-responsibility even in challenging circumstances.

Value of Continuous Improvement

The speaker emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement to be a valuable resource for others, highlighting the need to earn attention and engagement through consistent growth and quality production.

Continuous Improvement for Value

• Emphasizes the necessity to continuously earn attention and engagement by improving daily.

• Stresses the significance of quiet hours for self-improvement and meticulous work on content.

• Discusses the importance of observation, critical assessment, self-awareness, listening, and evaluating actions for personal development.

Self-Awareness and Observation

The discussion revolves around self-awareness, critical assessment, observation skills, and their impact on personal growth and career advancement.

Developing Self-Awareness

• Highlights the value of self-awareness in leadership roles through listening and evaluating actions.

• Emphasizes regular reflection to analyze strengths, weaknesses, and spatial awareness for effective interactions with others.

• Mentions being a professional noticer as a key skill for emotional intelligence and visionary leadership.

Embracing Challenges

Encouragement is given to embrace challenges rather than avoiding them, citing examples from various fields like work projects and leadership roles.

Embracing Challenges

• Contrasts running towards chaos with common tendencies to avoid difficult tasks at work.

Running Towards Challenges for Career Growth

In this segment, the speaker emphasizes the importance of tackling difficult challenges in one's career to stand out and grow professionally.

Embracing Challenges for Career Advancement

• Encourages taking on challenging projects that others avoid, as it builds a reputation for handling tough tasks effectively.

• Emphasizes the value of learning from challenging experiences, even if they do not result in perfect success.

• Suggests that facing chaos and difficulties head-on can lead to long-term career development and recognition.

• Highlights the culture of continuous learning and teaching at Turtle, underscoring the importance of becoming a "learning machine" to excel in teaching roles.

The Power of Learning Through Teaching

This part delves into how engaging in both learning and teaching modes can significantly enhance personal growth and leadership skills.

Learning Through Teaching

• Stresses the reciprocal relationship between learning and teaching, advocating for leaders to regularly engage in teaching activities to foster continuous growth.

• Illustrates personal growth through the process of writing a book, emphasizing how teaching others is an invaluable learning experience.

• Discusses oscillating between reading, interviewing, and teaching as a method to distill valuable knowledge for sharing with others effectively.

Balancing Learning and Teaching as a Leader

This section explores how alternating between being a learner and a teacher can enhance leadership capabilities and team dynamics positively.

Leadership Development through Learning & Teaching

• Advocates for leaders to regularly teach their teams on various topics to improve communication skills and knowledge base.

• Emphasizes the impact of consistent learning-teaching cycles on leadership effectiveness and team performance.

• Highlights the significance of oscillating between being a learner and a teacher for personal growth as a leader.

Closing Remarks & Call to Action

The conclusion encourages viewers/listeners to engage with additional resources provided by the speaker while highlighting avenues for further interaction.

Wrapping Up & Engagement Opportunities

• Encourages audience members to explore additional content such as books or podcasts shared by the speaker for continued learning.