Everything that you have in your life right now is the result of a previous decision you made. Your decisions shape your life and your destiny both personally and professionally. The question then is - how do we and how should we make our decisions? There is a great quote mentioned in this book right at the beginning...'You'll never have all the information to make a decision, if you did, it would be a foregone conclusion, not a decision." This episode discusses how we should make decisions, why the rational decision making process is optimum in most cases but also how sometimes following your guy instinct is correct. Knowing when to use each one is the real secret. 

What this episode is about: 1. Personality and behaviour aren't different online vs. offline. The internet and social media is an extension of our lives and communication and so not completely separate. It has very real impacts on us, and how we interact with the world so it's important to understand that and manage your time and behaviour accordingly. 2. Focus on the different personality styles and how they look online.  Different people can respond fundamentally differently to stress, challenge and adversity. Understanding how different people react, and what kind of support they need is a huge step in building healthy and resilient teams. Understanding that the 'dark side' isn't just aggressive. There's a whole range of other behaviours that can cause problem and conflict - understanding how that happens and with whom can help to prevent misunderstandings and reduce conflict 3. Social and technology factors.  Social media platforms are designed to elicit strong emotional reactions, so creating conflict is built into the platforms. Manage that and how you use them with that in mind! And there's all sorts of ways we can build systems that are resilient to prevent toxic leadership.

Stories are one of the most persuasive ways to convince someone of your argument, position yourself as an expert and to move someone along in a sales process. Some people are natural storytellers but the rest of us can learn the rules and structure to tell a compelling story. That is the essence of Building a Storybrand. Author Donald Miller sets forth a plan for you to create a story around your brand to allow you to bring a visitor to your website or a new subscriber to your mailing list along on a journey. This journey sets out your understanding of the problem the potential customer might be facing, your domain expertise and the steps that they will need take to solve their problem with you by their side. This is a simple but far from easy concept to implement. Luckily for you, we have laid out the steps in this episode. 

There is a lot to be said about when to have rules, when to trust the team and when to provide guidelines. In this episode we cover the 10 principles author Kevin Kruse thinks you should consider when it comes to your leadership style. Some make perfect sense and you will wonder why you didn't think of them. And some, might take a bit of convincing for you to implement them. Either way, it is a great exercise to develop your leadership style or audit what you think you already know about leading your team. 

Peterson does not mince his words when it comes to delivering his rules for living a good life, a considered life. Considered by some to be a divisive figure, Jordan Peterson is unapologetic about what ills society in this book. If you or someone on your team is stuck in a rut, this episode could unlock some of the mystery about how it was arrived at. The rules also lay out the path from where you are to where you want to get to. Love him or hate him, these rules are undeniable.

All any of us want is to do good work. We want to solve interesting problems with good people. This is easier said than done for some people. Kim Scott puts forth 6 issues that can cause untold damage for some people while others think everything is rosy in the garden. Just Work covers what issues need to be addressed and how to address them. Everything from bias, unwanted physical contact to prejudice and bullying. Heavy topics but this book covers them with a really deft expert touch. The author draws on her own experiences to  point out issues that some are not aware of but definitely should be aware of. 

According to Patrick Lencioni there are 5 dysfunctions in a team that left unaddressed will lead to disaster. In this episode Kevin speaks to executive coach and leadership expert Maggie Perotin, founder of StairwayToLeadership.com about how she has used the lessons in this book in her own teams. 

Explore the 4 personality types - red, yellow, green, and blue - and how to interact with them effectively. Learn to improve communication, leadership, and team dynamics by understanding and applying these different personality traits.

Going from pillar to post is a trap that a lot of us fall into. We are too busy working, looking after kids etc. to stop and think about the direction of your life. This episode addresses this 'busyness'. What is it all for? You need to find time to hit pause, take a breath, look around and decide if you are at least trending in the right direction in the areas of your life that are the most important to you.

Carnegie recognized that convincing people of your argument is an essential skill to have in business. He developed 12 hacks for winning an argument. Most of the time arguments only serve to make people even more sure that they are right and you are wrong. This is why Carnegie believes that it is better to prevent a disagreement from becoming an argument no matter how much you feel like you are right and they are wrong.