The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Text Hawk to 66866 for Mindful Monday... A carefully curated email sent to you every Monday to help you start your week right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12      https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jimmy Soni is an award-winning author. His book, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age, won the 2017 Neumann Prize, awarded by the British Society for the History of Mathematics for the best book on the history of mathematics for a general audience, and the Middleton Prize by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His book, Jane’s Carousel, completed with the late Jane Walentas, captured one woman’s remarkable twenty-five-year journey to restore a beloved carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Jimmy's most recent book is called, The Founders - The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.  Notes: “Your life will be shaped by the things you create, and the people you make them with. We tend to sweat the former. We don't worry enough about the latter." The founders and earliest employees of PayPal pushed and prodded and demanded better of one another. Instead of "Acknowledgements" to end his book, Jimmy titled the section "Debts" "A debt is deeper than an Acknowledgement." Envy the optimist, not the genius. There’s real power in optimism. The world is built by optimists. Look for the silver things. Have belief. Be the type of person that believes in themselves and others… Optimism builds confidence in yourself and others. Be an optimist. Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan – The fact that Phil told the best player in the world… “We aren’t going to win a championship if you keep playing that way. You have to buy into the triangle offense.” It shows the value of a friend (or a coach) telling you the truth in order to help you (and the team) get better. "Walter Isaacson made me believe in its (the book) importance and potential. At the very end, he provided the kind of advice that can only come from someone who has spent years laboring in the same fields. Peter Thiel refined Max Levchin's thinking... He made him better. Ask, "Have you thought about it this way?" Watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi Kobe Bryant was an incredible learning machine. His insatiable curiosity made him better. You can become curious about anything. Mr. Beast spent hours every day on Skype with his friends talking about how to grow a YouTube channel. We live in a moment were you can connect with others who are passionate about the same topics you are. With the internet, you can connect with anyone. Qualities of the leaders who created PayPal: It was so hard. They all experienced failure and bounced back. Highly intelligent. Hard-working. They worked 7 days a week. There was no work-life balance. They weren't just resilient, they were fast-moving. Life Advice: What looks like expertise on the outside is generally messiness on the inside. Leadership in Solitude. There are benefits to spending some time by yourself. Ask – The people who make things happen are willing to ASK. Steve Jobs to Bill Hewlitt. Elon Musk to Dr. Peter Nicholson. Those "asks" changed the trajectory of their lives. Who knows, maybe your next ASK will change yours… Claude Shannon, Bell Laboratories, renowned as an incredible hub of innovation…  whose work in the 1930s and ’40s earned him the title of “father of the information age.” Geniuses have a unique way of engaging with the world, and if you spend enough time examining their habits, you discover the behaviors behind their brilliance.

Text Hawk to 66866 to receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Steve Magness is a world-renowned expert on performance, co-author of Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success and The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life, and the author of The Science of Running: How to Find Your Limit and Train to Maximize Your Performance. His new book is called Do Hard Things. Notes: “The best aren’t concerned with being the best. They’re concerned with being the best at getting better.” Confidence: Confidence needs evidence. Acting with bravado we haven't earned only works on easy things. It backfires on anything truly challenging. Doing difficult things, even if you don't quite succeed at them, is how you develop real confidence. How do you find a good mentor? Do interesting things. Be open to learning and guidance. Be motivated, driven, and curious about something. Put your ego aside. Do good, quality work. The difference between real and fake toughness. Fake toughness is easy to identify. It’s Bobby Knight losing control and throwing tantrums in the name of “discipline.” It’s the appearance of power without substance behind it. Researchers out of Eastern Washington set out to explore the relationship between leadership style and the development of toughness. After conducting research on nearly two hundred basketball players and their coaches, they concluded, “The results of this study seem to suggest that the ‘keys’ to promoting mental toughness do not lie in this autocratic, authoritarian, or oppressive style. It appears to lie, paradoxically, with the coach’s ability to produce an environment, which emphasizes trust and inclusion, humility, and service. Sustained Excellence: Observation: the people who sustain success over the long haul are rarely shooting for success. They are focused on the path. Their goal is mastery, which knows no end. What characteristics do the best performers have? Don't get tired of the boring stuff Masters of compartmentalization Can flip the switch Know how to lose well Cultivate perspective Delayed gratification Drive from within Creating an enemy: Whenever an organization, group, or individual works hard to create an enemy to pit their idea/group against, it's a sign you probably shouldn't listen. Us vs. Them is the easiest way to exploit human nature, to get people on your side. It often means there's no substance there. The best way to get the most out of someone is to make them feel secure enough that they can take risks and fail. Most of us don't reach our potential because we default to protective mode. Threatening & demanding makes us protect further. Security and belonging frees us up. “Growth comes at the point of resistance. Skills come from struggle.” “The fact is that often coaches figure out what works in training and then the scientists come in later and explain why it works.” What can we learn about success and performance from Eliud Kipchoge? He is not fanatical about trying to be great all the time. He is consistent & patient. His coach says that the secret is that he makes progress “slowly by slowly.” Motivation + Discipline = Consistency He told The NY Times, "He estimates that he seldom pushes himself past 80 percent — 90 percent, tops — of his maximum effort when he circles the track." "I have a mindset whereby I am a human being. I am walking around as a human being. I learn to perform well at the same time being grounded. And I trust that being humble and being on the ground is the only way to concentrate" "You cannot train alone and expect to run a fast time. There is a formula: 100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the whole team. And that’s teamwork. That’s what I value." “To be precise, I am just going to try to run my personal best. If it comes as a world record, I would appreciate it. But I would treat it as a personal best.”

Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." It's a carefully curated email to help you start your work off on a high note. Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code, which was named Best Business Book of the Year by Bloomberg, BookPal, and Business Insider. Coyle has served as an advisor to many high-performing organizations, including the Navy SEALs, Microsoft, Google, and the Cleveland Guardians. His other books include The Talent Code, The Secret Race, The Little Book of Talent, and Hardball: A Season in the Projects, which was made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves. Coyle was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and now lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during the school year and in Homer, Alaska, during the summer with his wife Jenny, and their four children. Notes: Purpose isn’t about tapping into some mystical internal drive but rather about creating simple beacons that focus attention and engagement on the shared goal. Successful cultures do this by relentlessly seeking ways to tell and retell their story. To do this, they build what you call “high-purpose environments.” High-purpose environments are filled with small, vivid signals designed to create a link between the present moment and a future ideal. They provide 2 simple locators that every navigation process requires: Here is where we are and Here is where we want to go. "The world we live in is a learning contest." Deep fun = Solving hard problems with people you admire. Schedule regular team “tune-ups” to place an explicit spotlight on the team’s inner workings and create conversations that surface and improve team dynamics Foster strong culture in remote working scenarios. It doesn’t take much physical togetherness to build strong teams. Encourage remote teams meet up in person twice a year Create belonging: every group knows diversity, equity, and inclusion matter, but what separates strong cultures is they aim to create belonging across racial lines. Ex: normalize uncomfortable conversations; read, watch, reflect together; gather data and share it • Build Trust. Ask the magic-wand question to each member of your team: if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the way we work, what would it be? Connect. Hold an anxiety party to serve as a pressure-relief valve, as well as a platform for people to connect and solve problems together. Change perspective. Have a once-a-week catch-up session with someone outside of your group. Make it safe to talk about mistakes: Strong cultures seek to highlight and remember their mistakes and learn from them • Listen. Listening to others’ problems is one of the most powerful culture-building skills on the planet. It’s also difficult. Restrain yourself from jumping in, listen, then say: Tell me more. Embrace the After-Action Review (or as the military calls it, the AAR): Talking together about the strengths and weaknesses of your performance will make your group better. The Billion Dollar Day When Nothing Happened – “These Ads Suck." That was the note that Larry Page wrote and hung up about Google Ad Words. What did Jeff Dean, a quiet, skinny engineer from Minnesota, do to make the ads not suck? He had no immediate need to fix the problem. He worked in Search (a different area of the company. And how did Jeff Dean respond when he was asked about it years later (he said he didn’t even really remember it. It was just normal to do stuff like that)... There is a misconception that great cultures are places that are always happy. Doing great work is hard. The way we build great cultures is by doing hard things together focused on connection and safety. Life/Career advice: Think of your life in experiments and the learning loop. It is Experience + Reflection. Experience + Reflection. WRITE DOWN WHAT you’ve learned from your experiences. Writing creates clarity of thought. Amy Edmondson researched Chelsea and Mountain Medical – What made them a success? The answer lay in patterns of real-time signals through which the team members were connected. There were 5 things: Framing - They conceptualized MICS as a learning experience that would benefit patients and the hospital. Unsuccessful teams viewed it as an add-on to existing practices. Roles - Role clarity. Being told explicitly by the team leader why their individual and collective skills were important for the team’s success Rehearsal - Practice a lot Explicit encouragement to speak up Active reflection - Between surgeries, successful teams went over their performance

Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." A carefully curated email sent each Monday morning to help you start your week off right! Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Jim Weber joined Brooks Running Company as CEO in 2001 and is credited for the Seattle-based running company’s aggressive turnaround story. The business and brand success caught the attention of Warren Buffett, who declared Brooks a standalone subsidiary company of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2012. He’s the author of a new book called, “Running With Purpose, How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to lead the pack.” Notes: A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture. It is a choice, not an outcome. The secret to success is “constancy of purpose” - Instead of a mission statement, Jim decided that a purpose was preferable to a mission. A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture. The riskiest path is to look like your competitors. You can't just chase trends. They have distinct points of view: Focus Excellence in execution Trust: Charlie Munger has often spoken about the “seamless web of deserved trust” as a life pursuit. The Berkshire culture is built on trust Brooks is completely empowered Brooks is completely accountable There are no required meetings People choose to self-select into it "You're an outcome of your journey." What Jim looks for when hiring a leader: Competitive Culture driven - "Cultures are behaviors in action." Likes being part of a team Functional excellence Values: Word is bond Be active Authenticity The process Jim has in place to continue learning: He was involved in YPO in the early years His wife Mary Ellen A board of advisors - It's 6 former CEOs The one-page strategy that you relentlessly message to your team – Jim made the decision to walk away from non-premium running to concentrate on performance-running, eliminating 50% of his product line and 40% of his retail partnerships. He didn’t try to be all things to all people. Expectations and Messaging: After becoming CEO, Jim lowered revenue and profit projections so that he could establish some credibility by hitting his numbers. He brought in a new CFO, David Bohan… He shared a one-page strategy and told everyone they would get sick of you repeating it.  

Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday." A carefully curated email you'll receive each Monday to help you start your week off right. Full shownotes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Vanessa Van Edwards is the Lead Investigator at Science of People. She is the bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, translated into 16 languages. More than 50 million people watch her engaging YouTube tutorials and TEDx Talk. Vanessa works with entrepreneurs, growing businesses, and trillion-dollar companies; and has been featured on CNN, BBC, CBS Mornings, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Today Show, and many more. Her latest book is called Cues: Master The Secret Language of Charismatic Communication. Notes: Cues - It’s about warmth and competence. Can I trust you? Can I rely on you? – How are you showing others warmth and competence? Dr. Kofi Essel - His non-verbal protocol for warmth: Fronting - He angles his toes, torso, and head towards the person. Be in alignment with the patient. Non-Verbal bridges - Slowly warm someone up. Lean in. In your 1 on 1 meetings, remove all barriers between you and the person. Show them 100% focus. If you see someone gazing over your head, look where they’re looking. It will help make them aware of what they're doing. Question Inflection - From the Ring founder when he pitched on Shark Tank. This is something that a lot of us mess up. When stating a fact, SAY IT, don’t ask it. The 4 modes of communication: Nonverbal Verbal - Syntax Vocal Imagery Touch – A group of researchers at UC Berkeley watched the first 3 games of the NBA finals in the 2008-2009 season and counted every single time players were seen touching on camera. They found the team that touched the most, won the most games.    Touches = higher trust Speed dating research – Followed 144-speed dates and found that postural expansiveness was the most romantically appealing trait. Participants who took up more space were 76% more likely to be chosen for future dates. Want to show someone they matter? That you’re listening? Turning toward is tuning in. Zoom Calls – How do we best approach them? - Look into the camera so the other person feels you are looking them in the eye. Disney teaches all of their employees (from janitors to princesses) specific nonverbal cues to use with guests. And they all embody the pinnacle of warmth… “Being a highlighter is about constantly searching for the good in people. When you tell people they are good, they become better. When you search for what’s good, you feel great.” “When you try to be the same as everyone else, it’s boring. When you try to fit into a mold, you become forgettable. When you try to be “normal,” you become dull. Just be yourself, because no one is like you. If you’re a little weird, own it. The right people will like you for it.” “Vulnerability is sexy—it shows we are relatable, honest, and real. That is attractive. And the science proves it: “A blunder tends to humanize him and, consequently, increases his attractiveness.” “Humans are purpose-driven creatures. We want to believe there are reasons behind everything we do. Before leaders can inspire action, they have to get emotional buy-in. When we explain the motivations behind a goal, it allows listeners to feel partial ownership of that goal.”

Text Hawk to 66866 to join tens of thousands of others who subscribe to "Mindful Monday" -- A carefully curated email to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Marcus Buckingham is best selling author of 10 books, including his international hit, “First, Break All The Rules,” He’s been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, The Today Show, and by Oprah. Marcus spent two decades studying excellence at the Gallup Organization and co-creating the StrengthsFinder tool. His latest book is called Love + Work. Notes: “When you see someone do something with excellence, there is always love in it– loveless excellence is an oxymoron.” Fear versus Love – “The evolutionary purpose of fear is to narrow your focus to a few clear choices, fight or flight, the point of love is to create in you such feelings of safety and connection that you broaden your outlook and build your strengths.” If you're feeling fear, there's something you're passionate about Excellence = They take their love seriously They are confident that their love is worth paying attention to They are vivid in what they're drawn to Consistent They value mastery "We aren't short on time, but on energy." How Marcus would design a school: Teach self-awareness and self-mastery curriculum Get rid of the SAT, ACT, and GPA Your fullest life is one where your loves and your work flow in an infinite loop. The energy of the one fuels the energy of the other. Thus, the only way you’ll make a lasting contribution in life is to deeply understand what it is that you love. Goals: “Goals are tricky. They are one of the most common characteristics of your working world, and yet they’re also one of the least loving. They don’t have to be loveless.”  The Red Thread questionnaire. It’s full of “When was the last time…” questions: “You lost track of time…” “You surprised yourself by how well you did…” “you found yourself actively looking forward to work…” Never brag – Don’t say, “I’m the best.” Instead say, “I”m at my best when…” And “You can rely on me for…” Marcus shared how he responded to his ex-wife being involved in the college admission scandal where she offered large sums of cash for their kids to get into USC

Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" - A carefully curated email with the most useful leadership ideas of the week Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Liz Fosslien is the co-author and illustrator of the book Big Feelings and the Wall Street Journal best-seller No Hard Feelings. Liz is an expert on how to make work better. She regularly leads interactive, scientifically-backed workshops about how to build resilience, help remote workers avoid burnout, and effectively harness emotion as a leader. Her work has been featured by TED, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Economist, and NPR. Ask yourself… When you look back at your career and think of your best boss and your worst boss… What behaviors did each of them have? How can we embody more of the best boss behavior? Set up a regular cadence of not-urgent, developmental meetings with the people you’re leading. Show them and prove to them how much you care about them and their career. What have you enjoyed most? What have you not enjoyed? What have you learned? What do you want for your next job? Use envy to reveal what you value. But remember, ask yourself if you’d want that person’s entire life. Not just the cool part you see on Instagram. The Gretchen Rubin story of feeling envy over seeing someone else publish a book. She used that as fuel. Anger is a signal that something occurred that you didn't like. Acknowledge what you're feeling. She met her co-author, Molly West Duffy, on a blind friend date! How to deal with uncertainty? Over-communicate - Be transparent Switch from "I need to have this all figured out" to "I'm a person learning to become a manager" Pixar recruited animators that were frustrated at their current place of work... Liz's research process: Read a lot Talk with academics Learn from practitioners who are applying it Work-life balance? It's well-intentioned... but a very individual thing Some people are segmenters Some people are integrators... They like to mix work with friends Both are okay... Goal setting: There are long term and short term goals Liz chooses to abandon long term goals to live the life she wants to live She enjoys creative time on the weekends Short-term goals... What's going to make an impact? Top 5 priorities - "You have to run into the spike" Career/Life advice: DO something. Do the work. Take action See everything as a learning experience... Think, "What can I learn from this?" Liz once worked at a Starbucks and learned a lot about hospitality from it Create an emotional experience

Michael Easter, best-selling author of The Comfort Crisis and a professor at UNLV, dives into the benefits of embracing discomfort for personal growth. He shares how stepping out of our comfort zones can lead to resilience and improved mental well-being. Michael discusses the profound life lessons from his mother’s journey through addiction and recovery. He also highlights the importance of directly seeking information, contemplating mortality, and how novel experiences can enrich our perception of time. Get ready to reclaim your wild, healthy, and happy self!

Text Hawk to 66866 for Mindful Monday Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com  Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Polina Pompliano is studying the world's most interesting people & companies. She is the Founder & Author of The Profile. Polina is a former writer at  Fortune. Some of the people she’s written a profile on are: Martha Stewart, Keanu Reeves, and The Rock. I am a paid subscriber and love her work. Notes: Sustained excellence comes from being obsessively curious about what you do… And knowing that failure is part of the process. It’s how you choose to respond that matters. Examples: Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Martha Stewart. The advice she received from David Perell (also a previous podcast guest). He said, “Everything you put into the world is a vehicle for serendipity.” Polina wrote a profile on The Rock. She had no idea he would share it four times on all platforms. Create your own personal board of advisors. Listen to criticism, but only from people who want you to win. Only from people who care about you doing well. Not from trolls online. "Consistency is the best way to earn trust. – Name a relationship in your life where you trust someone who is inconsistent. You can’t. That’s because we don’t trust people — whether it’s in work, business, or relationships — who constantly break their promises. Since I started The Profile three years ago, I have never missed a single week." Criticism: "I once heard Kat Cole say that one of the biggest lessons she has learned after years of business experience is to put your ego aside and improve from criticism. She said, “Anytime you’re criticized, assume first that it’s correct.” The act of simply considering that a fraction of the criticism may be accurate will keep you learning, unlearning, fixing, and ultimately, gaining respect." How to Find Ideas: "It’s about being obsessed with the details. A great idea typically masquerades as a question in a friend’s text message, a quote in a documentary, a line in a book, or an observation on a walk." Creativity: "I can't get new ideas staring at a blank page. Creativity, for me, requires motion. When you go on a walk, you can turn your world into an idea-generating sensorium, and ideas will spring up from the most unlikely sources. There is one thing that's absolutely certain about creativity: It's an active process, not a passive one. The best ideas come when you become curious, aware, interested." Daniel Ek – Makers schedule versus a Managers schedule. This is from Paul Graham. I wrote it about it in my first book, Welcome to Management. Marriage: "In 2013, I asked my great-grandmother what she had learned from 53 years of marriage. She said, “When you’re young and beautiful like we were, falling in love is easy. But you have to fall in love with someone’s soul — because you will get old, but the soul will never change.”" "I don’t like to gamble, but if there is one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.” - Beyonce How to attract more luck into your life? – Written by George Mack (published by Polina) Avoid Boring People Have a luck razor Have a Poker mindset Polina desires to help you "improve your content diet." Instead of binging TV shows and scrolling through random social media, read The Profile. How to be more creative: Take a walk Allow room for serendipity Look at the footnotes of books What Polina learned from James Clear: When he doesn't read enough, he doesn't have the ideas to write about. Reading helps generate ideas. Have a stack of books everywhere in your house and office. Why leaders should write? It creates clarity of thought. "I can tell that you're thinking is sloppy if your writing is sloppy." Every single word of a post matters. It's about being precise. Precision is so important when it comes to writing. You have to clearly think it through to create precision with thought and writing. Storytelling - Get rid of the generic, fluffy writing. People enjoy profiles because it takes you inside the mind of a person. Life/Career advice: Don't tie your identity to something that can be taken away from you.

Text Hawk to 66866 for "Mindful Monday" Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Brady Quinn set 36 records at The University of Notre Dame.  He graduated from Notre Dame as one of their greatest football players ever. Along with the likes of Joe Montana, Tony Rice, and Rocket Ismail… He was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in the 2007 NFL Draft.  He currently serves as one of the main analysts on Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” on FS1. He's one of the only people broadcasting both collegiate and NFL games. Now, he’s on the radio every morning:  "2 Pros and a Cup of Joe" show he hosts with LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knox. AJ Hawk is the all-time leading tackler in Green Bay Packers history. He won a National Championship at Ohio State University and was voted captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team in the 2010-2011 season. He was inducted into the Ohio State University Hall of Fame in 2019. Currently, he is a co-host on The Pat McAfee Show which airs weekdays on YouTube. Notes: Playing quarterback: “You can find the intangibles of being a quarterback in almost every profession in the world. There’s nothing like it.” – Brady Quinn You must be efficient and effective as a communicator. You have to prepare for all of the "what if" scenarios - "Have a plan, work the plan, plan for the unexpected." You have to be a great listener You need to be curious to ask the right questions "The quarterback runs the show. They need to be the person that you can go to when there are problems." - AJ Why has AJ resonated with viewers on The Pat McAfee Show: "You're relatable. People liked you for being a Super Bowl-winning linebacker, but they didn't know you then. They get to know you now on your show and they see that you're like them. They can relate to you." - Brady Dad Life - "Discipline is love. Do the hard thing. Don't take the easy way out." - Brady The Fiesta Bowl - AJ (the All-American linebacker from Ohio State) vs. Brady (the All-American Quarterback from Notre Dame) High-pressure situations: Must be prepared so you can let your instincts take over Need to learn from past failures to improve the next time Must work on the little things every day so they become ingrained habits The Draft - Your ultimate golf group. You can choose any person Brady: Chopper Quinn (Brady's dad) Elon Musk Chris Farley Tiger Woods Will Ferrell Ryan: George Washington Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Eddie Vedder Kobe Bryant Steve Carell AJ: Samuel L. Jackson Sean Casey Charles Barkley Tom Cruise Pierro Manzoni