Coaching for Leaders

Amanda Davis is an executive consultant with 25 years of professional leadership and management experience specializing in the development and implementation of strategies and programs for better service delivery.

The Two-Tiered Approach to Onboarding:

Part 1: First day on the job

• Keep it short (1.5-2 hours long).
• What are the essential things an employee needs to know?
• Get to the why of the employee’s job. What’s the meaning and mission behind the organization?
• After Part 1 your employee should feel informed, excited, and motivated.

Part 2: About 45 days after hire

• Longer than Tier 1, should be around 3 hours long
• Covers what team members need to know to grow their jobs.
• After Part 2, your employee should feel educated, excited, and confident.

• Amanda Davis website
• Best Demonstrated Practices – Onboarding for Success (PDF download)

• Six Mistakes Leaders Make Sending People to Training (episode 30)
• What Every Leader Ought to Know About Sending People to Training (episode 36)
• How To Get The Most Out Of Training, with Boni Stachowiak (episode 135)

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Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide.

• Roger asked about the best way to motivate a remote employee who is just doing the bare minimum to get by.
• Thomas asked how to inspire a sales team that is not hitting their numbers.
• Kristeen asked our opinion on the value of a master’s degree in today’s economy.
• Francisco asked if he should include comments from past customers on his LinkedIn profile after a negative separation from a company.
• Andy wondered about how the business model works for our podcast.

• Zoom video conferencing service*
• Slack
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* by Daniel Pink
• First Break All the Rules* by Gallup
• Start with Why* by Simon Sinek
• ”On The Folly Of Rewarding A, While Hoping For B” by Steven Kerr
• Ending Human Trafficking podcast

• How Storytelling Helps You Lead, with Sandie Morgan (episode 51)
• How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)
• Start With Why, with Simon Sinek (episode 223)
• How to Manage Former Peers, with Tom Henschel (episode 257)
• How to Motivate People, with Dan Ariely (episode 282)
• The Way to Stop Rescuing People From Their Problems, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 284)
• How to Influence Cross-Culturally, with Erin Meyer (episode 286)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Erin Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, teaches us how to influence cross-culturally. Erin is the author of the bestselling book The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business*.

• It’s more helpful to know how cultures compare to one another on specific issues than it is to just describe a specific culture.
• Different cultures have signals that mean different things.
• Historically homogenous cultures tend to be less explicit in their communication styles, with much more communication implied.
• Americans tend to be very direct except when giving negative feedback, and many people from other cultures find this confusing.
• Remember to: be curious, be humble, listen before you speak, and learn before you teach.

• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business* by Erin Meyer
• The Country Mapping Tool by Erin Meyer
• The Personal Profile Tool by Erin Meyer

• How Culture Affects Coaching (episode 13)
• How We Do Things Around Here for Results, with Kent Rhodes (episode 144)
• How to Work in Different Cultures, with Nathan Czubaj (episode 166)

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Brenda Bernstein is the Founder and Senior Editor at The Essay Expert and the author of How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile*, a book that held the #1 best-seller spot in Amazon’s business writing skills list for 2 years.

• LinkedIn profiles are very important for job seekers.
• Your headline is the most important place to have keywords.
• Don’t include your company name in your headline unless it has cachet.
• In your experience section, emphasize your current job and make sure it has the best description.
• Think of three key words you want to come across in your profile photo.
• Make sure you have a 100% completed profile to get boosted by LinkedIn’s algorithms.
• Write your summary in first-person.
• If you have a very uncommon or unclear job title, it’s okay to write one that people would understand, so long as it’s accurate.
• Recommendations are important because they’re the only way on LinkedIn to really prove who you are and what you’ve actually done.
• When you request a connect, don’t just use the standard one, write a custom request.

• How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile* by Brenda Bernstein
• LinkedIn’s Overused Buzzwords for 2017 – Do You Really Need to Avoid Them?
• LinkedIn profile review services by Brenda

Download my highlights from How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile in PDF format (free membership required).

• How To Get The Most From LinkedIn, with Donna Schilder (episode 101)
• How To Create A Personal Knowledge Management System, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 129)
• How Twitter Can Help You Lead, with Joel Comm (episode 242)

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Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of eight books, including The Coaching Habit, which has sold more than a million copies and is the best-selling book on coaching this century. In 2011 he created and edited End Malaria, a book written in partnership with Seth Godin that raised more than $400k for Malaria No More.

Michael is the founder Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that’s trained thousands of people around the world to be more coach-like. He has been featured in many publications including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company. His TEDx Talk on Taming Your Advice Monster has been viewed more than a million times.

• When things get difficult, there are three roles people may fall into: the victim, the persecutor, and/or the rescuer.
• To step out of a victim role, figure out what’s really going on, take a deep breath, and think, “And what else?”
• To avoid the persecutor role, assume positive intent and that people are trying their best.
• To stop rescuing as much, ask the victim, “How can I help?” or “What do you want from me?”
• Ask yourself what you want in the situation, and make sure you’ve communicated it to others. Then ask the others what they want.

• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
• The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier

• How to Start Coaching Someone (episode 2)
• How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)
• These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Dustin asked about the distinction between mission and vision and how to get started on both in his organization.
• Andrew asked about how we remember to connect people in our network and stay in touch with the right people.
• Etai asked if asking for feedback too often might been seen as weak in his organization.
• Josh asked about resources for books and podcasts on leadership development in Spanish for his team.

• How to Write a Mission Statement That Doesn’t Suck by Dan Heath
• OmniFocus
• Learn OmniFocus
• Start With Why* by Simon Sinek
• Contactually
• Getting Things Done* by David Allen
• Talking From 9 to 5* by Debra Tannen

• How to Get Way Better at Accepting Feedback, with Sheila Heen (episode 143)
• Start With Why, with Simon Sinek (episode 223)
• The Way to Conduct One-On-Ones, with Zvi Band (episode 246)

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Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. His books include Irrationally Yours, Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, and his most recent book, Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.

• The things that motivate us are about accomplishment and achievement, not day-to-day happiness.
• Most people realize that they themselves are not truly motivated by money, but they still assume other people are completely motivated by it.
• Figure out a way to pay people that adds to the development of a long-term relationship, not a short-term transactional one.
• It is important to find a way to connect people’s jobs to the final outcome of their work, because many people don’t feel connected to their organization’s main purpose.

• Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations* by Dan Ariely
• Predictably Irrational* by Dan Ariely
• Drive* by Daniel Pink
• Dan Ariely’s website

Download my highlights from Payoff in PDF format (free membership required).

• The Surprising Truth About Influencing Others, with Daniel Pink (episode 84)
• Create the Best Place to Work, with Ron Friedman (episode 181)
• What to Do When Somebody Quits, with Molly Moseley (episode 251)
• New Management Practices of Leading Organizations, with David Burkus (episode 253)
• Employee Engagement With Management 3.0, with Jurgen Appelo (episode 276)

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Collins Osayamwen is the Managing Partner/Senior consultant of Sheltercare FM Consult based in Nigeria. He is also a founding partner of the Corporate FM Alliance – a group of international companies working together on regular basis to provide facilities management and real estate services throughout the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. He was the International Facility Management Association’s Distinguished Member from 2011-2012 and now serves on IFMA’s board of directors.

• Ask yourself some key questions:
  • Are you happy doing what you are doing right now?
  • Will you be happy doing it for the rest of your life?
  • What legacy are you leaving for your children?
• Failure can redirect you into new directions that are better than before.
• Don’t start a career just because of the money or because people tell you to, only do it if it’s your passion.

• How to Lead in Crisis, with Carol Taylor (episode 55)
• Sin by Silence, with Olivia Klaus (episode 103)
• Five Ways to Avoid Living With Regret, with Allison Clarke (episode 171)

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Eugenia Weiss is a clinical associate professor at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She is the co-author of the book The Civilian Lives of U.S. Veterans: Issues and Identities* and Supporting Veterans in Higher Education: A Primer for Administrators, Faculty, and, Advisors*.

• Military and civilian cultures are very separate, and sometimes it’s difficult to transition back into civilian life.
• Most veterans with combat experience won’t have PTSD, it’s about 15%-30% that do. The effects of PTSD vary from person to person.
• In the past, service members typically had several weeks of transport time between combat roles and home, now it’s only a couple of days. This doesn’t allow them much time to process their experiences.
• Don’t be afraid to engage with veterans and talk about their experiences, just do it with care and concern. Most veterans do want to talk about their experiences.
• Volunteering for a veteran’s group can be very rewarding both for you and for the veterans you’re helping.

• PsychArmor Institute
• Corporate Gray: Connecting Employers with Veterans Nationwide
• Student Veterans of America
• Career One Stop
• Veterans Upward Bound Program (college transition)
• My Next Move for Veterans
• Corporation for National and Community Service (veterans section)
• Vet Success
• Wounded Warrior Project
• Veterans for America
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
• Give an Hour Foundation (free counseling)
• The Soldiers Project (free counseling)
• Cohen Veterans Network (free counseling and resources now based at USC)
• Team Rubicon (vets volunteer disaster work)
• Mission Continues (volunteer work)
• U.S. Veterans Initiative (housing and services)
• Pegasus Rising (Equine therapy for vets with PTSD)
• The Civilian Lives of U.S. Veterans: Issues and Identities* by Louis Hicks, Eugenia L. Weiss, and Jose E. Coll
• Supporting Veterans in Higher Education: A Primer for Administrators, Faculty and Academic Advisors* by Jose E. Coll and Eugenia L. Weiss
• Handbook of Military Social Work* by Allen Rubin, Eugenia L. Weiss, and Jose E. Coll
• A Civilian Counselor’s Primer to Counseling Veterans* by Jose E. Coll, Eugenia L. Weiss, and Herbert A. Exum

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Tom Henschel is the host of The Look & Sound of Leadership, a popular leadership podcast spanning almost a decade. In addition, Tom is a talented executive coach and principal of his firm, Essential Communications.

• Networking is about abundance and a mindset of giving
• Networking is about relationships, not goals.
• Networks are built over time.
• Ask: How can I help?
• Be open to giving your time and talents away for free through a spirit of abundance.
• Always be prepared to network, no matter where you are.
• Show up consistently, and build relationships over time.

• Tom’s 10 Golden Rules of Networking

• How To Create Your Personal Networking Plan With John Corcoran (episode 106)
• How to Start a Conversation With Anyone, with Mark Sieverkropp (episode 177)
• Get ROI From Professional Associations, with John Corcoran (episode 209)

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Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Tyler asked about the usefulness of anger in the workplace.
• Yanko asked about making a major career transition.
• Rich asked about navigating challenges when coaching someone internally.

• Man’s Search for Meaning* by Viktor Frankl
• What Color is Your Parachute* by Richard Nelson Bolles
• How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Profile … And 18 Mistakes to Avoid* by Brenda Bernstein

• How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)
• How to Be a Non-Conformist, with Adam Grant (episode 238)
• How to Figure Out Your Career, with Scott Anthony Barlow (episode 259)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Mariano Mosquera, is an Edmond J. Safra Network Fellow at Harvard University and Postdoctoral Fellow of the National University of Cordoba. He is a professor of Ethics and Access to Public Information of the National University of Córdoba and professor of Public Policy at the Catholic University of Cordoba.

• Different places in the world have different concepts of corruption.
• A lot of corruption is created by poorly conceived or implemented laws.
• Some actions may be legal but should be still be considered institutional corruption.
• Just trying to catch corrupt individuals doesn’t work; we need to change the rules that incentivize or allow corruption.
• If you can anticipate corruption you can help prevent it.
• Rather than immediately reporting corruption, sometimes it’s better to simply steer the conversation another way.

• Mariano Mosquera’s website
• Harvard articles by Mariano Mosquera

• How We Do Things Around Here To Get Results, with Kent Rhodes (episode 144)
• Eight Ways To Use Power For Good (episode 154)
• Use Power for Good and Not Evil, with Dacher Keltner (episode 254)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Jurgen Appelo calls himself a creative networker. Since 2008 Jurgen has penned a popular blog covering the creative economy, agile management, and personal development. He is the author of Management 3.0*, the bestselling agile management text and the proactive follow-up book, Managing for Happiness*.

• Not all things work for each company. You must experiment to see what works for your company culture.
• Incentives should be tangible.
• Managers should only have to manage the business systems, and the employees should be able to manage themselves.
• You are learning the most when half your experiments fail.
• Figure out how to incentivize experimentation, not just successful results.

• Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders* by Jurgen Appelo
• Managing for Happiness: Games, Tools, and Practices to Motivate Any Team* by Jurgen Appelo
• That’s Not How We Do It Here!: A Story about How Organizations Rise and Fall–and Can Rise Again* by John Kotter

• How To Create Joy At Work with Richard Sheridan (episode 122)
• Start With Why, with Simon Sinek (episode 223)
• How to Succeed with Leadership and Management, with John Kotter (episode 249)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Terry Lipovski is the President of Ubiquity Executive Coaches. He is a leadership coach and workshop facilitator to top organizations around the world include organizations like Schlumberger, Air Canada, and GE.

• Being different from colleagues can present a challenge
• Many people at a disadvantage don’t realize it
• Some people just need someone who is in their corner

• Ubiquity Executive Coaches
• Why We Need Diversity Coaching by Terry Lipovski
• Quotes for Leaders by Terry Lipovski

• These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)
• How Women Make Stronger, Smarter Choices, with Therese Huston (episode 255)
• How to Ask for Career Help, with Larry Braman (episode 269)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• John asked about what to do when it’s the leader who is planning to leave the organization.
• Allison asked about strategies to train the most people with minimal resources.
• Andrew asked about giving feedback to an entire group of people.

• Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes* by William Bridges
• First Things First* by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill
• altMBA reading list
• 3 Reasons Why Punishing A Team Is A Bad Idea
• Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change* by William Bridges and Susan Bridges

• Giving Positive Feedback to Others (episode 9)
• Giving Constructive Feedback to Others (episode 10)
• Three Steps To Soliciting Feedback, with Tom Henschel (episode 107)
• The Seven Steps You Follow To Delegate Work (episode 117)

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Mindy Danna has over 20 years experience helping individuals and organizations achieve their goals through coaching, organization development, and strategic facilitation. She specializes in workplace communication, influencing skills, sales management, team building, strategic facilitation, and conflict resolution.

The stages of development from Robert Kegan:

1. Impulsive mind (early childhood)
2. Imperial mind (adolescence)
3. Socialized mind (46% of the adult population)
4. Self-Authoring mind (41% of the adult population)
5. Self-Transforming mind

• There are only modest correlations with age and the adult developmental stages.
• We can absolutely regress backward into prior stages depending on context and situation.
• Knowing more about what stage(s) you identify with will help you have more compassion for yourself and for others.
• Your most practical development plan: Do one thing every day that scares you.

• Invictus movie
• Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization* by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
• In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life* by Robert Kegan
• Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World* by Jennifer Garvey Berger
• Cultivating Leadership website

• The Best Way to Do On-the-Job Training (episode 32)
• What Every Leader Ought to Know About Sending People to Training (episode 36)
• How To Get The Most Out Of Training, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 135)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Muriel is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Paravis Partners. She hosts the Coaching Real Leaders podcast, presented by Harvard Business Review. She’s also the co-author, with Amy Su, of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence.

• It’s about learning to adapt and learning how you bring your best self forward for the situation at play.
• Effective leadership presence does two things: (1) it makes an impression through the value it brings to the table and (2) it connects with its stakeholders.
• A leader who has presence is able to both demonstrate their value in an authentic way that is unique to them while at the same time connect with their stakeholders.
• Credibility and reliability are two things people look for in every leader.
• When you walk into a meeting, think about what assumptions you are making, what communication strategies you are going to use, and what kind of energy you’re bringing.

• The Art of Stage Presence, with James Whittaker (episode 188)
• The Way to Make New Behaviors Stick, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 196)
• How to Find the Right Voice, with Laura Sicola (episode 220)

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Judith Glaser is an Organizational Anthropologist. She is one of the most pioneering and innovative change agents, consultants, and executive coaches, in the consulting industry and is the world’s leading authority on Conversational Intelligence, Neuro-innovation, and WE-centric Leadership. She is a best-selling author of seven business books including her newest best seller Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results*.

• Great conversation leads to great relationships, which leads to great culture.
• Level I conversations are about resistance
• Level II conversations are about “wait and see“
• Level III conversations are about co-creation
• When we are threatened by others, cortisol can linger for 26 hours.
• Children have the same capacity for conversational intelligence that adults do, but only if we have the courage to nurture their growth.

• Conversational Intelligence* by Judith Glaser
• Conversational Intelligence website

Sadly, Judith passed away in 2018 after a long battle with cancer. You can read about her life’s work at The CreatingWE Institute.

• How to Listen When Someone is Venting, with Mark Goulston (episode 91)
• How To Address Difficult Conversations, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 161)
• How to Start a Conversation With Anyone, with Mark Sieverkropp (episode 177)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Joshua asked about creating a genuine connection with the team he leads.
• Warren is wondering what he can do to create a culture where people bring solutions instead of problems.
• Brian asked about handling an employee who is dominant and intimidating.
• Mark asked about how to handle degrading comments in the workplace.
• Warren asked about the best strategies to encourage senior employees to embrace sharing their knowledge with newer employees.

• Analyzing Performance Problems* by Robert F. Mager and Peter Pipe

• The Best Way to Do On-the-Job Training (episode 32)
• How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)
• How to Manage Former Peers, with Tom Henschel (episode 257)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Larry Braman is the president of Global Career Consulting and Placement and the founder of Career University, live and on demand job landing and career advancing webinars.

• It’s essential for us to recognize that the most successful people ask for (and receive) help all the time.
• Say less initially in your interactions with influencers so that you can meet them where they are as the conversation progresses.
• When someone offers to help or to make an introduction, take immediate action to follow up.
• It’s important for us to have both mentors and advocates in our careers.
• Be memorable in a genuine way by making a human connection to the other party.

• Finding the Career That Fits You*
• The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired*
• How to Win Friends and Influence People* by Dale Carnegie
• Mentors Are Good. Sponsors Are Better by Sylvia Ann Hewlett
• Larry Braman’s Career Hacks
• How To Become a Career Coach*

• How To Get The Most from LinkedIn, with Donna Schilder (episode 101)
• Your Career Strategy, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 243)
• How to Figure Out Your Career, with Scott Anthony Barlow (episode 259)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Nancy Duarte has created thousands of presentations for the world’s top institutions, including Apple, Cisco, Facebook, GE, Google, TED, and the World Bank. She’s also the author of Resonate*, Slide:ology*, the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations*, and co-author of Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols*.

Patti Sanchez is a communicator with 25 years of experience leading transformative marketing initiatives for brands and causes, co-author of Illuminate, and Chief Strategy Officer for Duarte, Inc.

• Change is the reality for every leader and organization.
• Empathy for others is key at every stage of the change process — and in all communication.
• Stories are a powerful tool for teaching.
• Ceremonies help create buy-in for major transitions.

• Torchbearer Tool Kit
• Illuminate: Visual executive summary
• Resonate: Multi-Media Version
• Slidedocs: Downloadable book and free templates
• Diagrammer: free presentation diagrams

• How Storytelling Helps You Lead, with Sandie Morgan (episode 51)
• The Four Critical Stories Leaders Need For Influence, with David Hutchens (episode 148)
• How to Steal the Show, with Michael Port (episode 219)

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Ron Wallace is the former president of UPS International. During his tenure, he was responsible for operations in more than 200 countries and territories, with more than 60,000 people under his direction. He’s the author of the book, Leadership Lessons From a UPS Driver: Delivering a Culture of We, Not Me*.

• By promoting from within, a company’s legacy and culture is seamlessly passed on.
• Don’t hire people for jobs, hire them for careers. Focus on hiring people when they are young and try to keep them for their entire career.
• Most CEOs are only good at one or two things, and that’s what they should focus on.
• Tell your supervisors what your goals are.
• When you’re in a leadership position, always remember where you came from.

• Ten Ways to Pick Yourself Up When You’re Beaten Down (episode 85)
• Three Ways To Reinvent Your Career with Donna Schilder (episode 97)
• The Secret To Happiness (episode 134)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Lynda Gratton is a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School. She has been ranked in the top 15 on The Thinkers50 list of the world’s top 50 business thinkers. She’s the author with Andrew Scott of The 100-Year Life: Living and working in an age of longevity*.

• Many more of us, and potentially a majority of our children, will live to be 100 or more
• Organizations (and society) still tend to frame our lives in three stages: education, work, retirement
• Transitions now happen more often for us and are less likely to be in lock-step with our peers
• The problem with transition: the people who know you best don’t want you to change
• Navigating more transitions in life means that we need to have networks with people who are not like us
• Truth is essential in leadership

• The 100-Year Life: Living and working in an age of longevity* by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
• The 100-Year Life website

• The Surprising Truth About Influencing Others, with Daniel Pink (episode 84)
• The Way to Make New Behaviors Stick, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 196)
• How Superbosses Master the Flow of Talent, with Sydney Finkelstein (episode 236)
• How to Be a Non-Conformist, with Adam Grant (episode 238)
• How to Succeed with Leadership and Management, with John Kotter (episode 249)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Dave asked what advice we would give to our younger selves about leadership.
• Bill asked about how to balance stern and serious with light and loose.
• Luiza asked about how to lead volunteers.
• Jeff asked about influencing change in culture.
• Elmer asked what he can do with his StrengthsFinder results.

• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom* by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Working Wardrobes
• 8 Ways To Influence Without Authority
• Finding the Career That Fits You
• What Color is Your Parachute?* by Richard Nelson Bolles

• The Value of the StrengthsFinder Assessment, with Steve Dosier (episode 89)
• How to Interpret Your StrengthsFinder Results, with Steve Dosier (episode 90)
• How To Create Joy At Work, with Richard Sheridan (episode 122)
• Start With Why, with Simon Sinek (episode 223)
• How to Figure Out Your Career, with Scott Anthony Barlow (episode 259)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Croft Edwards is a Master Certified Coach who has been serving an array of clients from energy and mining, to forestry and aviation, since 2000. He’s a retired US Army Officer and has over eighteen years in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve.

• Much of leaders’ effectiveness has to do with their level of self-mastery.
• Flow is a combination of physical, mental, and emotional factors.
• We learn our behaviors from others, and they learn their behaviors from us.

• Flow* by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

• Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, with Amy Morin (episode 204)
• Increase Your Personal Capacity, with Beth Buelow (episode 218)
• How to Tame Your Inner Critic, with Tara Mohr (episode 232)

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Susan Gerke is the president of Gerke Consulting & Development. She has worked with global teams and has certified facilitators around the world to deliver management, leadership, and team offerings. Susan is co-creator of GO Team, a training suite for organizations to power team performance.

• 20% of our workday is spent resolving conflict
• AIM Frame:
  1. What happened?
  2. What’s the goal?
  3. What options are there to move forward?
• Solve conflicts outside of email

• GO Team: Powering Team Performance

• The Four Unique Types of Teams, with Susan Gerke (episode 138)
• How To Maximize Team Performance, with Susan Gerke (episode 139)
• How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)

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Chris Voss is the Founder and CEO of the Black Swan Group and the author of Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It*. Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group.

• Compromise is a dirty word.
• Really smart people often have trouble being negotiators.
• Negotiation is not just a rational conversation, but brings in the emotion of both parties.
• A successful negotiation is one where the other party walks away respecting you after the interaction.
• Beware of anchoring high at the start of a conversation as it may exclude you from an even better outcome.

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss*
• The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence by Adam Grant
• Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
• Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In* by Roger Fisher and William Ury

• How to Get Way Better at Accepting Feedback, with Sheila Heen (episode 143)
• How to Be a Non-Conformist, with Adam Grant (episode 238)
• How Women Make Stronger, Smarter Choices, with Therese Huston (episode 255)

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Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Rachel asked about how to balance performance and people.
• Mike asked about getting the employees to communicate, engage and work together as a team.
• Pierre asked about how to prevent the distortion of storytelling.
• Rasmus asked a follow-up question from a previous episode on our motivation for continuing to move forward.

• Leadership Dilemmas-Grid Solutions* by Robert Blake and Anne McCanse
• Managerial Grid Model
• Bonni recommended the author Debra Tannen
• Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin Gannon

• The Four Critical Stories Leaders Need For Influence, with David Hutchens (episode 148)
• How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, with Mark Barden (episode 207)
• How to Succeed with Leadership and Management, with John Kotter (episode 249)

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For over 30 years, Bob Frisch has worked with Senior Executive Teams and Boards on their most vital strategic and organizational challenges, both as a consultant and a corporate executive. Cary Greene has over 20 years’ experience working with senior executives and boards on challenging and complex strategic issues. They are co-authors with Robert Galford of the book Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Guide for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace*.

When creating a book on how to sabotage an occupying enemy’s industry, the OSS (precursor to the CIA) recommended a list of organizational sabotage techniques. Ironically, these techniques look very similar to common actions we see in our organizations today.

• Make sure a committee is appropriate for the task.
• What is the purpose of a committee?
• Who actually needs to be on a committee?
• Make sure committees are structured and have an agenda.
• Make it clear what authority the leader of the committee has.
• Is the committee being asked to make a recommendation or asked to make a decision?

• Overusing the CC function in emails creates an overwhelming and unnecessary amount of communication.
• Remember that sometimes it’s best to just pick up the phone or walk down the hall to communicate with someone.
• Use the email subject line effectively.

• Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944)
• Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Guide for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace* by Robert Galford, Bob Frisch, and Cary Greene

• Communication in a Family Business, with JoAnne Norton (episode 74)
• How We Do Things Around Here for Results, with Kent Rhodes (episode 144)
• How to Tame Workplace Incivility, with Sharone Bar-David (episode 210)

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Scott Anthony Barlow is the Founder of Happen to Your Career. He’s been featured on CNBC, Yahoo, CareerBuilder, Fast Company and Huffington Post and various colleges and universities as a top expert on career happiness. He’s held roles executive roles in human resources, business development, and career coaching.

Scott is the host of the Happen to Your Career podcast, featuring the career stories of many successful professionals. His team and him have worked with over 25,000 people to help them stop settling, find their signature strengths, and start doing meaningful work they are enamored with.

In this conversation, Scott and I explore common career misconceptions, how framing your career around your strengths is key, and tools and assessments like StrengthsFinder that will support you.

• Common career misperceptions:
  • You need to have it all figured out at the start
  • You should focus on getting better at the things you’re not good at
  • It takes a ton of experience to move into the job you want
• Framing a career around your strengths is key.
• If you had to work extremely hard to get good at something, it’s probably not a true strength.
• There are exercises and assessments like StrengthsFinder (also known as CliftonStrengths) that you can participate in to help you gain clarity on the above.

• Finding the Career That Fits You (Scott’s FREE 8-Day Video Course)*
• The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired*
• How To Become a Career Coach*
• Scott interviewing Dave on why your career is not a straight line
• StrengthsFinder training for individuals and teams* (use code CFL10 for a 10% tuition discount)
• StrengthsFinder 2.0

• The Value of the StrengthsFinder Assessment, with Steve Dosier (episode 89)
• How to Interpret Your StrengthsFinder and CliftonStrengths Results, with Steve Dosier (episode 90)
• The Secret To Happiness (episode 134)

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Brian Robertson is the primary developer of Holacracy, which allows leaders to release the reins of personal power and persuasion into a trustworthy and explicit governance process. He co-founded HolacracyOne to support Holacracy’s growth, and he fills and loves a broad variety of the company’s roles. Brian is the author of the book Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World*.

• Holocracy functions like a city; everybody knows the parameters, and they go about their business without constantly having to consult a leader.
• It replaces the functions of managers with a set of processes.
• It holds meetings to decide who has authority and is responsible for each project, but not to decide how to do a project.

• Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World* by Brian Robertson

• The Surprising Truth About Influencing Others, with Daniel Pink (episode 84)
• How to Delegate Work Effectively (episode 117)
• New Practices in Organizational Leadership, with David Burkus (episode 253)

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Tom Henschel of Essential Communications grooms senior leaders and executive teams. An internationally recognized expert in the field of workplace communications and self-presentation, he has helped thousands of leaders achieve excellence through his work as an executive coach and his top-rated podcast, The Look & Sound of Leadership.

• There is a certain amount of fear involved in a promotion over peers.
• The situation has feelings attached to it.
• People’s reactions will be based on a bell curve, with most people not caring, but with a few being either really happy or really unhappy.
• What group will you focus on?
• Don’t take things personally.
• Have intentional conversations with your former peers to acknowledge that feelings are there and to listen to how they feel.

• The First 90 Days* by Michael Watkins
• Self-Esteem at Work* by Nathaniel Branden
• The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem* by Nathaniel Branden
• The Look & Sound of Leadership podcast

• Three Steps to Soliciting Feedback, with Tom Henschel (episode 107)
• How to Handle a Boss Who’s a Jerk, with Tom Henschel (episode 164)
• How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)

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Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

• Phan asked about how to best identify a business partner.
• Ruben asked for recommendations on 360 assessments.
• Jaimee asked about how to educate herself on becoming a leader of leaders.
• Phillip asked how leaders can themselves find the next opportunity, especially without the right experience.

• The Leadership Challenge* by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
• Leadership Practices Inventory
• Human Synergistics
• 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role* by Pam Fox Rollin
• Your First 100 Days In a New Executive Job* by Robert Hargrove

• Five Rules For Your New Leadership Role, with Pam Fox Rollin (episode 98)
• Promote Yourself Through Intrapreneurship, with Dan Schwabel (episode 163)
• How to Get Value From Associations, with John Corcoran (episode 209)

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Therese Huston is looking to change the conversation about women as decision-makers. Her book, How Women Decide: What’s True, What’s Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best Choices*, debunks popular negative stereotypes about women as decision-makers. She is also the Founding Director for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University.

• When a female leader makes a mistake in a job traditionally held by men, people are much more critical.
• When women are collaborative, they’re seen as less decisive.
• Don’t be fooled by someone’s confidence—it could just be a sign they don’t know all the facts.
• Use the Loopback strategy – think about your situation a year from now, and project what you wish you would have done differently.

Strategies to help women in the workplace:

1. Make sure nobody is interrupted when speaking in a meeting.
2. Take designated turns for speaking in meetings.
3. Make it clear that negotiations are expected when discussing salary, office setups, etc.

• Research: We Are Way Harder on Female Leaders Who Make Bad Calls by Therese Huston
• Thinking, Fast and Slow* by Daniel Kahneman
• Therese Huston’s website

• Personality Preferences and Decision-Making (episode 46)
• How to Tap Into Wisdom, with Barry Schwartz (episode 92)
• Start With Why, with Simon Sinek (episode 223)
• How to Tame Your Inner Critic, with Tara Mohr (episode 232)

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Dacher shows us how to use power for good and the most important ways we can gain and lose influence.

We need to rethink what power is … it’s not necessarily a dirty word.
—Dacher Keltner

If you can just stay interested in other people and know where their minds are, you will rise in power … and you will keep your power because people will respect you.
—Dacher Keltner

In today’s collaborative workplace, our power rests critically upon the good work of other people.
—Dacher Keltner

One of the things that accompanies leadership and power is the privilege of enhancing the lives of other people.
—Dacher Keltner

I really see power as having an enormous force for good.
—Dacher Keltner

• The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence* by Dacher Keltner
• The Secret to Being a Better Leader: See and Hear Others by Dacher Keltner

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David is the author of Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual*. In this conversation, David teaches us how leading organizations are now using new management techniques.

If you’re not embarrassed by your work from five years ago, then you’re not growing fast enough.
—David Burkus

You need to be a great place to be from, not just a great place to be at.
—David Burkus

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Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

I’m wondering about coaching someone who has inherited a job that pushes them beyond their skill set. Specifically, someone who was focused solely on a job specifically training tellers. That function moved from HR to ops. HR retained the former teller trainer for a corporate trainer role. The employee’s wheelhouse is black and white training, ops and compliance focused. Now the employee’s focus is on more ambiguous training around developing staff on a variety of skill sets. It’s challenging for her. I struggle coaching her because her natural drive and skill is very ops focused. Any advice on some coaching on this topic would be much appreciated!

I have an MSC in environment and sustainable development, and although I do some studies and recommendations on sustainable cities, the reality is that most developers don’t care about the environment, and sometimes I feel I am missing my ideals.

Other team members agree with me. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable, because of my beliefs and the developers expectations.

I know I can only know how much I can stand of this incongruity, but is it something usual in the workplace? Is it common that you find that you don’t agree with the position of the company you work with? Sometimes this position might only be recognized once you are working within the company.

• How To Get Buy-In For A New Initiative, with Christina Kull Martens (episode 96)

• Analyzing Performance Problems by Robert Mager and Peter Pipe

• Teaching in Higher Ed

• The Lean Startup* by Eric Ries
• Originals* by Adam Grant
• How to Be a Non-Conformist, with Adam Grant (episode 238)

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In this episode, Molly Moseley of LinkUp teaches us how to respond when somebody quits.

When someone is approaching you putting in a resignation, you need to throw out that reactive brain and think logically.
—Molly Moseley

As a manager, you need to know the [career] goals of every one of your direct reports.
—Molly Moseley

If you are constantly worried that this person is going to leave, maybe you did make the wrong decision to have them stay.
—Molly Moseley

• LinkedIn Article: Employee resignations: counter offer or say good bye?
• LinkUp

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On this episode, Ryan Williams, author of The Influencer Economy*, teaches us how to master the influencer economy — and the importance of getting started.

When it comes to a platform, it’s all about the relationships.
—Ryan Williams

In the internet, everyone is reachable.
—Ryan Williams

Never ask for a favor … always make it a win-win.
—Ryan Williams

You need to make it as easy as possible for influencers to say yes.
—Ryan Williams

You’ve got to give people value and make sure it’s the right fit. And if it is, then it’s a win-win.
—Ryan Williams

If you’d like to receive the free book chapter that Ryan promised, visit this link:

https://www.influencereconomy.com/coachingforleaders/

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On this episode, John Kotter, author of That’s Now How We Do It Here!*, and many other bestselling books on organizational change, shares how to succeed with leadership and management.

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

I am from Brazil and I would like to let you know that since January I’ve been listening your podcast and I think it’s fantastic. Even though I’ve had great experiences in leadership, your podcasts have been changing my perspective. Don’t you think that instead of considering someone as a leader we should recognize people who have good human relations? Because of this skill, people start to follow you, but on the other hand, you are still learning and you also follow someone.

• Leading Change* by John Kotter

We have two departments which have been merged in November last year but the new team are still not working together – they seem to be stuck in their old teams. We have tried team building, changes their seats etc. and yet they are not integrated. I know it has not been that long since November, but how would you handle this case?

• The Four Unique Types of Teams, with Susan Gerke (episode 138)
• How To Maximize Team Performance, with Susan Gerke (episode 139)
• How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)

I have recently had the wonderful experience of listening to your podcast and now I am hooked. I’m writing to find out what you would recommend as a wonderful organization to join for leadership development. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

• Toastmasters
• Association for Talent Development
• OD Network
• Coaching for Leaders Academy

• The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, with Susan Cain (episode 44)
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking* by Susan Cain

Until last year I used to be at the top of the organization and was always directly linked to directors or owners. Today I find myself in an intermediate position as the second manager.

I’m a hard time dealing with this, because sometimes I feel that my manager does not want to solve the problems and likes to go to others, but people who are neither managers nor knowledgeable are dealing with the situations.

Talking to a trusted person, she told me to put aside and learn to manage. How can I discover the technique to be managed and at the same time influence within the organization?

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Chase Carey, author of Chasin’ Meditation*, teaches us how to reduce stress using the practice of meditation.

Meditation isn’t about what happens in meditation; it’s all about what happens in your external life.
—Chase Carey

Just because you have a thought doesn’t mean you have to pay attention to it, and it doesn’t mean you have to come up with a conclusion or emotional response to it.
—Chase Carey

If you’re a business leader, a coach, or a professional, you need some space just to be quiet.
—Chase Carey

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Zvi Band, CEO of Contactually shares how his organization conducts one-on-ones and how their strategy leads to results.

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David Nihill, author of Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker*, teaches us how to practically engage our audiences with humor.

Humor isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have.
—David Nihill

If there’s embarrassment in there, there’s humor in there. It’s just about whether you’re willing to talk about it.
—David Nihill

The end of laughter is followed by the height of listening.
—Jeffrey Gitomer

• FunnyBiz
• Example of rule of 3 with President Barak Obama
• GIFS for follow up emails

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Joe Knight, co-author of Financial Intelligence*, teaches us how to improve our own financial intelligence, so we can influence within organizations more effectively. He is a highly regarded finance and business literacy keynote speaker, trainer, and published author.

Those who understand [financial statements] are the vast minority of people who are moving up in the corporate environment.
—Joe Knight

One of the problems with fraud is that you have these companies reporting profit, but it wasn’t real profit, and it was never converting to real cash.
—Joe Knight

Wall street, other investors, and banks have shifted to looking at cashflow as a concrete, tangible number.
—Joe Knight

It’s important never to lose sight of the fact that cash flow almost eliminates the possibility of fraudulent financial reporting.
—Joe Knight

We’re not trying to create high-level financial people; we’re trying to decode [financial statements] for the rest of us.
—Joe Knight

• Business Literacy Institute
• The 100 Best Business Books of All Time
• HBR Tools: Return on Investment (ROI) by Joe Knight
• HBR Tools: EBITDA by Joe Knight
• HBR Tools: Business Valuation by Joe Knight

Resources for Business Literacy Institute:

• Online Financial Intelligence Training
• Financial Concepts Dictionary
• Take the Financial Intelligence Assessment

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Last week I got a phone call offering me a great position. I was not looking for a job, and I had no intentions of leaving anytime soon. But after reading the job description, it really seems like a job I would love.

After speaking with them, I learned the position would offer much better pay, benefits, retirement, a year-end bonus, and it’s also offering to pay to send me back to college to further my education.

Taking into account just what I would gain career-wise, it’s a no-brainer. But when I think of the organization I’m leaving behind and what it stands to lose, my heart breaks. I don’t want to disappoint all the people I’ve worked with by leaving so soon. I don’t want people to feel I’m abandoning the mission or my values. That said, I am under no obligation to stay.

My question to you is this: How can I communicate my reasons for leaving without them viewing me as a sell out? Is it wrong that I feel so much guilt for leaving? In a way, I don’t think I should have to disclose my reasons, because it’s very personal, but on the other hand I wouldn’t have this new opportunity without my time there. Any advice or guidance would be so appreciated.

• The Empowered Manager* by Peter Block
• 7 Steps to Take Before You Quit Your Job by Michael Hyatt
• Finding the Career That Fits You*
• The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired*

I have been leading a small nonprofit for about 18 months in my first executive role. One of the (many) areas in which I need to improve is in making time for coaching my core staff, rather than having conversations consistently around ongoing tasks, deadlines, etc. I would like to make time (weekly, monthly, quarterly?) where I sit down with them one on one for a set period of time and we talk about how they want to improve, why, and make a plan together for doing so. Can you recommend some resources where I can get advice on establishing a coaching routine and culture, setting expectations to make it fruitful, how often to set the meetings, etc.?

• Asian Efficiency
• Do This for a Productive Week (episode 180)
• The Weekly Review (Teaching in Higher Ed podcast)

I’m a director-level product manager (software) at a large diversified industrial company and I’ve recently been given an amazing opportunity to build a new vertical business unit with a small team of great folks from across the business. My mentor (and someone who probably had a lot to do with my new opportunity) is a very senior exec and I just found out that he and I are going to meet consultants next week which means I’m going to have a lot of 1:1 time with him. I adore and deeply respect this guy – he’s one of those rare leaders who is scary-smart, has accomplished really big things but is also a genuinely nice person. Getting informal time with him is a huge opportunity for me to learn more about the market, the company, and leadership in general. I would love nothing more than to sit there with a notepad and interrogate him, but that’s probably not a great idea!

Can you offer any advice on good ways to utilize conversations with 2- and 3-level-up executives? I don’t want to annoy him, and I don’t want to ask questions whose answers he isn’t in a position to share, but I feel like it would be ludicrous to waste the opportunity on casual conversation.

I am a department manager for Walmart and going to school for business. Would retail be good on a resume? I have a lot of fun and the experience is very challenging.

I have most troubles with the elderly and plan on reading the millennial manager book from you podcast.

• Seven Principles for Leading People Older Than You, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 59)
• Managing the Millennials* by Chip Espinoza

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Joel Comm shares strategies from his book, Twitter Power 3.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time*, to help us discover how to use Twitter to support leadership development.

The crazy, mundane tweets actually turn out to be one of the areas that more people connect with because we can relate to the silly things … it provides real human connection.
—Joel Comm

When we talk about search, people immediately go to Google … but Twitter is actually one of the greatest search engines on the web.
—Joel Comm

Authenticity is the key word; people are tired of being marketed to.
—Joel Comm

The question shouldn’t be, “How do I use Twitter to market?” The question should be, “How do I reach into this audience … and bring value to them?”
—Joel Comm

Twitter is the watercooler of our time.
—Joel Comm

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David Marquet, author of Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders*, is the former captain of the USS Santa Fe. Under his leadership, the Santa Fe moved from being the worst performing ship in the Navy to the best. David teaches us what his officers and him did to make this happen — and how to turn followers into leaders.

Good leaders give good orders, but great leaders don’t give any orders because they’ve built a team that doesn’t need to be told what to do.
—David Marquet

Too many times leaders think the problem is “out there,” but the real problem is in their own head.
—David Marquet

You only need to do one thing to engage employees: give them decision-making authority.
—David Marquet

By treating people like leaders, you build more leaders.
—David Marquet

The concept is act your way into new thinking, not think your way into new actions.
—David Marquet

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Andy Kaufman is the host of the People and Projects podcast and an expert on project management. He joins me in this conversation to explore how to influence a large number of stakeholders.

If we’re honest here, there are some stakeholders that we don’t even want to involve … Even for the difficult people, we have to find a way to involve them. It helps manage their expectations, and it helps manage our expectations.
—Andy Kaufman

Hope is not a good strategy. Hope is a wonderful thing for mankind, but it’s a terrible thing for projects.
—Andy Kaufman

If I don’t sufficiently think through who I’m impacting, or who could impact us, I’m not going to manage their expectations.
—Andy Kaufman

I mistake keeping someone informed for keeping them satisfied.
—Andy Kaufman

Listen to the other person’s story so well that you can say it as well as them.
—Donny Ebenstein

• Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader* by Herminia Ibarra
• I Hear You: Repair Communication Breakdowns, Negotiate Successfully, and Build Consensus…in Three Simple Steps* by Donny Ebenstein
• Essentials of Project Management by Andy Kaufman (use coupon code coachingforleaders-50)
• Advanced Project Management by Andy Kaufman (use coupon code coachingforleaders-50)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

I have been facing a hard/stressing moment with a specific guy from my team and it’s not been an easy situation to handle.

The rest of the team are always complaining about this guy, they don’t trust on the guy opinions. I asked the team to try to have some informal conversations (on the lunch for example), and I also tried to give some advice to the guy, but the situation still the same, and sometimes I fell it is getting worse.

It is really consuming a lot of energy from my side on trying to fix the situation, and I have been feeling quite depressed with all of it…

Mentioned:

• Love is the Killer App* by Tim Sanders

You are so wonderful. I have been listening to your podcast for about 2 years now. It has helped me to grow and become a better leader. One thing that I struggle with as a leader is that push back when I try to encourage someone to learn something new especially the employees that feel like they just don’t have the time. I sense that at times the group that I lead will be a little afraid of any change. I also wonder sometimes if I may be pushing too much change too fast.

I also run a newly established monthly alumni meeting. Part of my role is securing speakers to discuss topics business leaders face day-to-day. Since we don’t have a budget to compensate the speaker what we can give in exchange is access to our cohort members. Unfortunately, I have NO experience in such a role. Any guidance or possible suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am exploring the prospect of becoming a Leadership Coach. Currently I work as the head of a division in a large company. I have always had an interest in teaching and coaching. While I have never taught (consistently) in a classroom as part of a school or organization, I have done a bit of training at work with my Marketing team. More specifically, I find that as I am getting older, I pride myself on working with others in particular the younger persons at the office. I have been listening to all of the back issues of your podcast and have been learning so much and as a result I think this area may be for me. I am not sure where to start thus the inquiry with you.

Mentioned:

• • How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190)
  • These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237)

I was wondering if you can recommend a source; book, website, blog, etc…for changing organizational culture. I work for a major university which is great, but being part of a bureaucracy has it problems. I would like to find a way to change the culture to a positive one. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Mentioned:

• Organizational Culture and Leadership* by Edgar Schein
• Transitions* by William Bridges
• Managing Transitions* by William Bridges
• The Way of Transition* by William Bridges
• The Fifth Discipline* by Peter Senge
• Leading Change* by John Kotter
• Our Iceberg is Melting* by John Kotter
• Reframing Organizations* by Lee Bolman Terrence Deal

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