The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
531: Dr. Angus Fletcher - Building Confidence, Responding To Adversity, Telling Your Story, Exhibiting Vulnerability, & The New Science of Narrative Intelligence
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Authentic storytelling builds trust and connection in leadership.
- Confronting fears leads to personal growth and effective leadership.
- Finding one's core self is crucial for authenticity and self-efficacy in facing challenges.
Deep dives
The Power of Maximizing People's Potential in Leadership
Maximizing the potential of individuals under a leader contributes significantly to winning outcomes. By focusing on nurturing the potential of team members, success is more likely to follow. This approach emphasizes the importance of leadership in guiding and developing individuals, ultimately leading to overall success.
Overcoming Challenges and Fostering Self-Leadership
Transitioning from individual contributor to leader often poses significant challenges. Leaders must confront their fears, adapt to new responsibilities, and self-assess effectively. The process involves turning past strategies upside down, fostering emotional resilience, managing fear responses, and maintaining consistency to prevent permanent failure.
Authentic Storytelling and Vulnerability in Leadership
Authentic storytelling and vulnerability play key roles in effective leadership. Leaders should share genuine stories of personal challenges and growth to build trust and connection. By embracing vulnerability and humility, leaders can inspire others to embrace personal growth, learn from mistakes, and lead with authenticity.
Discovering Your Core Self and Overcoming External Influences
The key advice discussed in the podcast revolves around helping individuals in their early to mid-twenties find their core self and own their life. The speaker emphasizes that life experiences and societal expectations often lead individuals astray, causing them to lose touch with their intrinsic motivations. By rediscovering their core self and regaining self-efficacy, individuals can approach challenges fearlessly and authentically. The message stresses the importance of being true to oneself and resisting the influence of external pressures and advice.
Facing Fear and Building Confidence Through Adversity
Another significant point highlighted is the role of fear in leadership and personal growth. The podcast delves into the idea that stepping up in the face of adversity defines true leadership. It is during challenging times that leaders have the opportunity to show their mettle and earn the respect and trust of their teams. By confronting fears, one can build confidence through evidence of overcoming difficult situations, demonstrating the resilience required for effective leadership and personal development.
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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com
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Dr. Angus Fletcher has dual degrees in neuroscience (BS, University of Michigan) and literature (Ph.D., Yale). His research employs a mix of laboratory experiment, literary history, and rhetorical theory to explore the psychological effects—cognitive, behavioral, therapeutic—of different narrative technologies. He’s the best-selling author of multiple books including Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature, and Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence.
- "The story you tell yourself needs to be the true story of yourself."
- How Angus tells his story:
- Build trust
- Listen
- Demonstrate courage - Angus told a group of special forces operators one of the most embarrassing stories of his life. After that, he said, "I'm not scared of anything."
- You must be genuinely humble to learn from your mistakes.
- "Real leaders activate the leader within you."
- Being a leader is all about contemplating fear. Stepping up when adversity strikes is why we exist as leaders. It’s easy to lead when everything is going well. We want to be known as the leader who is there when it’s hard.
- Dr. Fletcher's ultimate goal of using the power of story to bring us closer to self-actualization. Seems like that's a good first step to being a great leader.
- Confidence is earned by creating evidence for yourself that you can do hard things. Angus did this when he shared his story of not making it through Marine Corps boot camp. Angus's vulnerability earned trust with the military leaders.
- “For the longer we suspend our judgments, the more accurate our subsequent verdicts become. This valuable fact has been uncovered by researchers who’ve spent decades probing the mechanics of better decision-making, only to discover that the key is simply more time and more information. Which is to say: reserving our judgment until the last possible moment.”
- Unlike a computer, the brain wasn’t particularly data-driven. Or particularly logical. Instead, it was emotional. And creative. And powered by story.
- “There are a number of judgments that we can suspend permanently, including most of our judgments about other people. Our brain is constantly making such judgments. It looks at strangers on the street—and judges them. It looks at celebrities in magazines—and judges them. It looks at family members and colleagues and friends in homes and offices and restaurants—and judges them. These judgments feel instantly good to our neurons; they deliver pleasant microdoses of emotional superiority. But in the long run, they make us anxious, incurious, and less happy, so we can improve our long-term mental well-being if we suspend them.”
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- 02:12 - Highlights of Leadership Training04:24 - How to Prevent Failure09:14 - What is a Story Scientist?
12:57 - Is Story Science Therapy?
14:22 - Tell Your Story
18:56 - Vulnerability is the Most Powerful Thing You Can Do
22:00 - Can You Go Too Far With Being Vulnerable?
25:19 - How to Be Vulnerable
32:42 - Real Leaders Activate the Leader In You
36:10 - Where Does Your Sense of Confidence Come From?
40:50 - Punch Through Your Own Fear
43:00 - Be Open About What Could Go Wrong
44:47 - Questions to Ask During the Interview Process
48:33 - Responding to Adversity IS Leadership
51:45 - How to Be Excellent at Speaking
56:27 - Advice For Younger Leaders
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