Today I’m celebrating 200 episodes. This feels like a major accomplishment. When I launched the show in May 2018, just getting to 10 episodes felt a little overwhelming. Now, looking back, I’m so proud of what I was able to do and how many managers like yourself I’ve been able to help. It’s because of you that I create this show week after week.
For this special 200th episode, I looked back over the guest episodes and thought about what ideas really stood out for me. While every episode has golden nuggets, I chose 5 key takeaways that have impacted or stayed with me in some way. I hope you find these ideas useful, but more importantly, I hope you’ll scroll back into the feed and check out older episodes even if you have already listened to them. There are some truly great conversations and solo episodes in the archive. And listening to a show for a second time helps us hear new things because we’ve grown and evolved since we first listened.
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Read the related blog article: 5 Management Takeaways From 200 Episodes
Key Takeaways:
- A heartfelt thank you to my listeners, members of The Modern Manager community and all my guests!
- Reflection is thinking about what you could have done better. Introspection is asking yourself why you had that reaction. Use introspection to get to the root of your challenges.
- When driving a car, an intersection dictates rules the driver obeys. A stoplight has strong control rules that reduce driver autonomy. A roundabout puts more trust and responsibility on the driver to make his own decisions. Roundabouts are more effective, safer, and cheaper.
- Apply the stoplight / roundabout metaphor at work. Create more roundabout processes at work for an increase in motivation, critical thinking, and ownership.
- If your reaction to an opportunity isn’t a Hell Yeah (super excited response), you’re likely best off turning it down. We can easily rationalize all the things we should do, but it’s these activities that eat up our valuable time, often with little return.
- Exercising new DEIB muscles is uncomfortable because of fear of doing the wrong thing. It’s okay to feel awkward or make mistakes. Model taking risks and learning from missteps. Put together a board of advisors or a single trusted individual who can give you honest feedback when you misstep.
- Balancing on a bike is only good if you want to keep going in the same direction. To change course, you need to lean to one side and then counterbalance. Do the same with all of your responsibilities. Don’t try to do everything all at once. Choose what to focus on and go for it. Then, lean into the next when appropriate.
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