Are Leaders Born or Made?

Often, people get promoted to leadership roles because they are effective at what they do. However, when it comes to effective leadership, that detail barely scratches the surface. A big chunk of the hard work lies underneath because being effective at work is one thing and effectively managing people is another.  

Stepping up to leadership is a milestone that marks the start of what is to be rigorous and consistent cultivation of skills without losing unique abilities and character as an individual.

Our guest, Shawn Clark, was at the forefront of the leadership coaching industry. He knows exactly how leaders can fine-tune their left and right brains so that they can leverage their superpowers, strategize around their weaknesses, develop an effective leadership mindset, and not end up as a nervous wreck in the process.

Tune in to this episode of Breakthrough The Ordinary Podcast and create a game plan for your leadership path.

These are the episode highlights you shouldn’t miss:

01:44  Shawn’s journey into becoming a coach

04:35 The four quadrants of the brain that define thinking styles

06:15 Understanding your strengths and consciously approaching weaknesses

08:10 How admitting your vulnerabilities help you as a leader, your reputation, and create an impact on your personal brand

10:10 Executive skills vs. executive thinking

11:22  The struggle with delegation

18:22 How to intentionally set yourself up for success in the shortest possible time

21:29  Understanding mental fitness and recognizing  mental hijack when it happens

26:45  How to build  the muscle that handles stress positively to get  you back on track

32:41 Mapping your time spend and evaluating if it is serving you well

35:08 How to catch the monkey mind and silence it

39:43 The sense of balance that’s called executive presence

40:32  The five-second pause that lets you release the panic buttons pressed on you

44:55 Shawn’s influences

46:17  Shawn’s daily habits and routines that keep him showing up effectively

47:16 What Shawn does instead of reading books

50:29 Shawn’s superpower

Episode Challenge (32:41)

Map out where your time is spent to assess if you have all your bases covered.

Take a look at an average day or average week and understand where your time is spent.  

Create four boxes and label them as follows: what I enjoy doing, what I don't enjoy doing, what I need to do on the side, and what I don't need to do.  

Write down in each of those boxes the things that you do and order them by importance.

Doing this will help you qualify the things that are important (whether you enjoy doing them or not) and need more attention, things that will get you more results, and things that you need to delegate to people who are really good at those. Your strengths and weaknesses are well accounted for and none of the important things are missed out in the process.

This is a reasonable and logical way to approach leadership. If you try this exercise, let us know and tag us @iamclaudine and Marc Anthony at the @btopodcast.  

About the Guest:

Shawn Clark is the President of Atlanta Challenge, LLC, an Atlanta-based training and coaching enterprise where he develops and facilitates cutting-edge workshops and effective coaching for teams and leaders.  

Shawn helps leaders unlock the team dynamics that will help them harness simple strategies to delegate, prioritize, and communicate effectively so they can accomplish more together as a team without the usual stress and overwhelm.

Shawn has several certifications under  his belt including:

Robbins-Madanes Coach (Tony Robbins and Chloe Madanes

Marshall Goldsmith Leadership Coach and Teamwork Coach

Thinking Styles Practitioner

Positive Intelligence Coach

Dr. Amen Licensed Brain Trainer.

Over the last two decades, Shawn has worked with companies such as Accenture, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and Cox Media. He also worked with many non-profit and government organizations, including the US Army, CDC, American Cancer Society, and other groups.

He also developed the Teamwork Compass®, a tool that helps leaders guide their teams through the different phases of growth, providing a clear set of guidelines to keep them empowered and focused on developing a culture of success.

His company supports the Boys & Girls Club of America and the Georgia National Guard Family Services Program through bicycles, toys, and financial donations.  

Shawn is also an avid hiker, kayaker, and father of 2. He lives in the Atlanta area with his wife of 24 years.

You have a burning idea of where you want your team to be. Find out how we can help you get there. Book a 30-minute call with us: calendly.com/atlcoaching

Connect with Shawn:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-clark-39966110  

Visit: https://atlantachallenge.com/  

Follow Atlanta Challenge: https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaChallengeTeamBuilding/

Resource Links:

The Teamwork Compass: https://atlantachallenge.com/teamwork-compass/  

Find out which monkey mindset is sabotaging your leadership success. Meet Max and Take the Quiz:  https://atlantachallenge.com/max/  

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About the podcast:  

Are you ready to commit to your future self---if you are, Marc Chiaramonte, a creative entrepreneur, coach, and adventure seeker, and Claudine Chiarmonte, psychotherapist, coach & joy creator, are ready to take you on a journey of self-discovery to unlock your highest potential! Join Breakthrough the Ordinary to reveal what awaits you on your next quest of exploration, bringing practical strategies, tools, and secret fairy dust that our guests, coaches, healers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders, will be sharing with you! New episodes drop every MONDAY!