What Talent Are You Looking For?

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #305: Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall - A Leader's Guide To The Real World (Break All The Rules)

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

Marcus Buckingham holds a master's degree in social and political science from Cambridge University and is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management.  He's the author of the international best-seller, First, Break All The Rules.

Ashley Goodall is the co-author, with Marcus Buckingham, of Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World.  He is an executive, leadership expert, and author, and has spent his career exploring large organizations from the inside.

Notes from this talk:

• Sustaining excellence:
  • Optimism -- An innate predisposition that things will get better
  • Individualization -- Ability to attract great talent.  Knowing that each person has something unique to bring
• "You follow somebody if they give you confidence in the future."
  • "The world will be better if I hitch my wagon to you."
• Great managers/leaders =
  • They know how to surround themselves with the right people -- "If you want a great party, invite great people."
  • They focus on people first
  • They help them.  They coach them.  They find a path and set expectations.
  • They grow.  They make the next step and help others do the same.
• "Talent is more important than experience."
  • Talent = a recurring pattern of thought.  Enduring patterns in a person.  Hire for those, then train for skills.
• How to find talented people?
  • Ask open ended questions, stay quiet, believe what they say.
  • Ask appetite questions:  "What did you love most about that?"
  • Talents are far more about natural appetite
• Feedback:
  • "People need feedback to grow and excel.  It grows best not with feedback, but with help."
  • People grown when attention is given to them.  "Pay attention to me.  My talents."  People need attention to what really works in them
• Leaders must look at the real world
  • Idiosyncratic -- The best are...
  • There is a difference between theory world and the real world
• "Learning is an emergent experience."  It's inside out... How you do your version...
• How do you measure things that are hard to measure?
  • "Must make a distinction between traits and states."
    • Example of a trait = extroversion
    • Example of a state = mood, skills (can change)
    • Competencies are a combination of both
• Being labeled a "Hi-Po" (high potential) in an organization:  "It's made up, not a thing.  Toxic because it presumes that some human brains can't/won't grow."
  • "There is no point in having the 'hi-po' conversation.  In talent reviews, ask for each person... How will they grow best?  Don't use a 9 box grid."
  • "Replace potential for momentum."
• "Work life balance is a very weird aspiration.  It's very hard to do it perfectly."
  • "Balance is a way of being stationary.  It's not a good way to move through life."
  • "We shouldn't tell people to do this.  Health is motion, finding love, finding red threads."
  • "It draws you in.  You should move through life.  Draw strength from the movement."
• "If a leader has no followers, they're not a leader." -- "Follow-ship is the thing."
• "We all have fears for the future.  Find a leader that can see around the corner, we're drawn to that."
• "Be a free thinking leader."

• Use the "Get To Know You Document"
• Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea

Social Media:

• Read: Nine Lies: A Freethinking Leader's Guide To The Real World
• Follow Marcus on Twitter: @mwbuckingham
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12