In this episode of the L&P Podcast, I speak with Michael Sweeney, Chief Strategy Officer at RallyBright and founder of SaberCoaching, about his career enhancing the capacity and performance of individuals, teams, and organizations. Formerly VP of Digital Learning at Bain & Company, Mike has over two decades of experience in operations management, L&D, learning design, leadership development, coaching, and technology training.

A lifelong learner himself, Mike enjoys finding ways to help others perform better and master their crafts. Mike holds a Masters in Organizational Psychology from William James College and is a Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) coach. Outside of work, Mike enjoys reading, running marathons, coaching athletes, playing with his dog, and being the best dad he can be for his three teenage daughters. Mike currently lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

In our conversation, we hit on a wide range of topics, including:

The critical role of culture, values, and behaviors in organizational effectiveness
The difference between peak performance and high performance
The neuroscience of learning and skill development
After-action reviews (AARs)
Leadership and leadership development
Coaching and feedback
Motivation vs. inspiration
Recruiting sponsors to drive organizational change
And a whole lot more!

Mentioned in the conversation:

6:28 - Values-Based Leadership
7:28 - Deliberate vs. Evolutionary/Emergent Strategy
8:18 - Values: Espoused vs. Enacted/In-Use
8:30 - Bain Values and Operating Principles
8:52 - Definition of culture
13:00 - Operationalizing values
14:02 - Edgar Schein on culture
14:59 - Humble Inquiry
17:42 - Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
20:11 - Peak vs. High Performance
21:05 - Learning in the brain
23:11 - Unlearning
23:52 - The P/PC Balance
24:58 - Atomic Habits
24:59 - The Power of Habit
25:56 - After-Action Review
26:36 - Teams that Work
28:30 - Agile retrospective
28:45 - Lean manufacturing
30:06 - John Maxwell's Leadership Law #2 - Leadership as influence
31:07 - Maxwell's Leadership Law #1 - Law of the Lid
32:12 - Feedback Model - Situation, Behavior, Impact
34:13 - Tim Ferriss on Learning to Learn
42:39 - Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis
44:12 - Building High-Performing Teams course
48:29 - The Losada Ratio
48:55 - Designing the Coach-Client Alliance
50:25 - Alfie Kohn on the Downsides of Punishment
51:22 - Positive Intelligence
53:58 - Radical Candor
1:05:00 - The Sponsorship Spine
1:07:15 - John Kotter's Leading Change
1:07:45 - John Kotter's The Heart of Change
1:09:45 - Spaced repetition
1:11:30 - Learning moments of truth
1:16:23 - Outlive by Peter Attia
1:20:06 - CTI Fundamentals

Connect with Mike:

#7 - Michael Sweeney on L&D, Coaching, Leadership, Teams, and Beyond!