How to Lead with Clay Scroggins and Adam Tarnow

If your current job has you near the bottom of the org charge, what should you do if you feel you have some great ideas for positive change but little influence? Is it possible to be a positive influence for change when you lack authority? These are not easy questions to answer, but they are questions being asked by many emerging leaders. Today, Clay provides a few straightforward ways to leverage your influence, even when you lack authority.

Is it possible to lead your boss? Kind of. Tell them what to do? Probably not. Positively influence them? For sure. Learning how to develop and cultivate a great working relationship with your boss might be one of the most critical steps you take in your career. This episode gives you some simple ways to begin "leading up" with excellence. Tell your boss she can send her "thank you" notes to: Info@HowToLead.Work ✌️

How do you think about your professional life? This might sound like an odd question, but it can significantly impact your day-to-day job. How you think about your career will determine how you respond to good and bad days at work. In this episode, Clay shares a word picture that helped him change how he thinks about his career, and we know it will help you too.

Quick question: who is the salesperson you most want to be like? Don't worry if you struggled to answer that question.  We did too. Why is this? Because for whatever reason, not many of us hold up "salesperson" as an identity they want to chase down. We think this is unfortunate because every leader (and by "every," we mean "every") is in sales. Sooner or later, every leader has to try and "sell" an idea, a solution, a direction, or a vision. If you lead others, you cannot avoid sales. So, today on the podcast, we help you learn how to sell things without becoming too salesy.

Quick question: how's your relationship with The Morning doing? Are you two on good terms? Are you excited to see each other every day? Are you missing one another throughout the day? Is the relationship filled with appreciation for one another?  Are you two on bad terms? Have you two not talked in a while? Are there lots of broken promises? Are there tons of unspoken issues and frustration? If you find yourself nodding your head in agreement with "bad terms," we've got some good news. You don't need to start going to couples therapy to improve the relationship. All you need to do is listen to this episode of How to Lead. Enjoy!

No one makes it very far in their career without receiving difficult feedback. Hearing difficult feedback is never fun, but it happens to the best of us. The sooner you learn how to handle It, the better off you will be. In this episode, Adam and Clay talk about ways they've handled challenging feedback throughout their careers and how you, too, can bounce back from difficult feedback.

Late in 2021, CBS brought back the wildly popular Kids Say the Darndest Things. It's a simple show. Put a bunch of cute kids in a room and let the great Tiffany Haddish ask them questions. Hilarity always ensues. If the show fails, we have an idea for the next reboot. Instead of putting a bunch of kids in a room, just put a bunch of bosses in a room. We promise that hilarity will ensue. Why? Because kids aren't the only ones who say the darndest things. Bosses do too. On this episode of HTL, Adam & Clay unpack one (of many) confusing things bosses say. Do you have a confusing thing your boss often says? Please shoot us an email: info@howtolead.work

Clay recently ran into a friend of the podcast, Frank Blake (Former Home Depot CEO), and he summed up the current employment market perfectly. According to Mr. Blake, It all boils down to one question. If the answer to this question is "yes," then you have a great reason to stay at your current place of employment. If the answer to this question is "no," then it might be a good time to start looking around. What's the question? You'll have to listen to this episode to find out (you knew that was coming, right?) Don't worry, this episode Is less than twelve minutes. You won't have to wait too long before we give you the question.

Wanna know what's fun? COMPLAINING!! Verb. "To express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something." Hello! Who doesn't love to do that? Isn't that why Mr. Mars just bought Twitter? So we can all complain more freely? Although complaining is fun, it, unfortunately, doesn't lead to many changes. We want help. Today, we give you a formula that will allow you to complain in a way that sounds helpful, not annoying. A formula that will lead to real changes, not just more complaining. You're welcome.

"Money isn't the most important thing in life, but it's reasonably close to oxygen on the 'gotta have it' scale." - Zig Ziglar. Does inflation have you in a headlock? We Googled "products with the highest inflation in 2022." This list was not pretty. If you feel like you could use more financial breathing room, it might be time to ask for a raise. Ask for a raise is one of those ideas that feels super easy at 10 pm while sitting in your apartment talking with friends. It feels nearly impossible at 9 am the next day while sitting in a meeting with your boss. If you want to ask for a raise, but are unsure how to approach the conversation, don't worry; we got you. In this episode, we walk you through how to ask for a raise without sounding like a selfish jerk.