The Power of Writing in Leadership

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Twitter: @RyanHawk12

#394: Todd Henry - The Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work

Show notes:

• What is the most valuable land in the world?
  • "The graveyard... All of the stuff we carry with us for our life and never put out into the world... All of that valued is buried in the ground."
• The two words that Todd wrote down after coming to this realization? "Die Empty."
  • “The rough edges they decry you for now… Are the very rough edges they will celebrate you for later.”
• What drives us to unleash our best work?
• Drawing on interviews with over 100,000 working professionals, the answer is no one size fits all. Todd Henry shows, in fact, that there are six unique "motivational archetypes"...
• They are:
  • The Visionary strives to make her mark on the world by building an ideal future, even when others may not see as far ahead.
  • The Achiever relishes a finished product and must conquer whatever obstacle comes his way, no matter how difficult or time-consuming.
  • The Team Player values being part of a group and will go to great lengths to achieve unity and enhance collaboration.
  • The Learner is obsessed with mastering new skills and showing off what she knows--which is often a lot.
  • The Optimizer thrives when systems are running smoothly and finds great satisfaction when things are done the "right way."
  • The Key Contributor shines at the center of the action, especially when others can recognize the value of his work.
• Todd's work teaches us to decode our motivational type so we can structure projects, have conversations, make decisions, and even choose career paths to amp up engagement and achieve fulfillment. Once we know how to activate our inner drivers, we can transform the work we do into the work we love.
• Why should you write?
  • "If you can learn to write, you'll be invited into rooms."
  • "Turn the ineffable into something."
  • Read, comprehend, synthesize, write...
  • "People won't follow you because of your position or title. You have to persuade them. You have to cut through the noise, hone your skills. It's a craft you must work on."
  • Have empathy, uniqueness, precisions. Have empathy for the end user. 
  • Have an intended audience: one person in mind. Ramp up your empathy for the end user...
• "We wait for tasks to motivate us and that's exactly backwards. We need to bring our motivation to what we do. We have to train ourselves to bring our motivation to our work instead of waiting for our tasks to motivate us."
• Because of the motivation code, "I have a language now that I never had a language for previously"
  • A new framework for understanding people. It's created "aha" moments
  • "Self-awareness is the first step to maturity."
    • "It helps use discern areas where we're insecure." 
• What was Todd thinking five minutes prior to going on stage at the Global Leadership Summit? 10,000 in the audience and hundreds of thousands watching worldwide...
  • "I reminded myself how grateful I was to be there..." It was calming.