David Novak, co-founder and former CEO of Yum! Brands, shares insights on cultivating joy in your career. He delves into the significance of self-coaching and the need to identify personal joy blockers. David emphasizes using joy as a guiding principle for career decisions and encourages self-reflection to align passions with professional journeys. He also discusses the evolution of personal and professional goals, highlighting adaptability and focused objectives as keys to career advancement.
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Reluctant Co-Leader
David Novak was initially hesitant to co-lead Yum! Brands, preferring to remain at KFC.
He believed he was better suited to lead and needed a mentor, not a co-leader with less financial experience.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Self-Coaching for Career Decisions
Identify what truly motivates you and brings you fulfillment.
Advocate for your career aspirations, even if it means disagreeing with superiors.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Blueprint for Growth
Develop a good understanding of your strengths and motivations.
Create a blueprint for personal and professional growth.
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This book provides a straightforward process for self-coaching, helping readers define their goals and achieve success through tools like getting into a coaching mindset, using all five senses, visualizing success, and practicing neutrality. It combines insights from business and sports to foster lasting change.
Taking People with You
David Novak
In 'Taking People with You', David C. Novak shares his leadership program developed over 15 years, emphasizing the importance of vision, strategy, and team alignment to achieve significant success. The book provides a step-by-step guide to setting big goals, building strong teams, and celebrating achievements, drawing from Novak's experience as CEO of YUM Brands.
O great one!
David Novak
In 'O Great One!', David Novak uses a fictional story to illustrate the impact of recognition on business performance. The narrative follows Jeff Johnson, the new CEO of the struggling Happy Face Toy Company, as he discovers the importance of acknowledging employees' contributions to revitalize the company. The book offers practical lessons on how recognition can boost morale and productivity in any organization.
Tap Dancing to Work
Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012
Carol Loomis
This book is a compilation of articles from Fortune magazine, offering insights into Warren Buffett's investment strategies, business philosophy, and personal life. It includes pieces written by Buffett himself and other notable writers, providing a detailed look at his career and impact on corporate America.
David Novak: Take Charge of You
David Novak is Co-Founder, retired Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company with over 45,000 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories. During his tenure as CEO, Yum! Brands became a global powerhouse, growing from $4 billion in revenue to over $32 billion. After retiring in 2016, he became Founder and CEO of David Novak Leadership, dedicated to developing leaders at every stage of life. David is also the host of the top-ranked podcast, How Leaders Lead and founder of the leadership development platform of the same name.
An expert on leadership and recognition culture, David is also a New York Times bestselling author. His books include Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen, O GREAT ONE! A Little Story About the Awesome Power of Recognition, and his latest book with Jason Goldsmith, Take Charge of You: How Self Coaching Can Transform Your Life and Career*.
In this conversation, David and I discuss the importance of finding joy in our careers. David highlights several of the key questions that he utilizes when helping others to uncover how joy can show up their work. He encourages us to surface the single biggest thing that’s important right now in order to get immediate traction.
Key Points
Sometimes your best (and only) coach is yourself.
Use joy as your destination finder.
Find your joy blockers by asking yourself: what’s getting in the way of my joy? Your worst days often provide insight on this.
Discover your joy builders by asking yourself: what would grow your joy personal and professionally? Your most memorable days are starting points for answers here.
Your goal is to surface your single biggest thing. This changes over time, but ideally is only one thing, one at a time. That’s how you gain traction.
Resources Mentioned
Take Charge of You: How Self Coaching Can Transform Your Life and Career* by David Novak and Jason Goldsmith
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
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How to Find Your Calling, with Ken Coleman (episode 352)
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