Intentional Leader with Cal Walters

In this engaging discussion, Dr. Michael Norton, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on human behavior, explores the transformative power of rituals in our lives. He shares insights from his book, highlighting how small acts can add purpose and pleasure. The conversation dives into the vital role of rituals in parenting, relationships, and even leadership. Dr. Norton emphasizes the emotional significance behind routines and how they can strengthen connections, enhance well-being, and improve everyday experiences.

Get instant access to my new Discover Your Core Values Mini Course People love to keep score. Managers keep score of a range of business metrics: market share, revenue, profit margin, growth rate. In our personal lives, social media has us keeping score by likes and followers. These external scores are outcome-driven and serve as proof of our success—money, fame, material possessions, wins—but this constant chase for more validation often leaves us feeling exhausted and empty. In their new book, The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values. It also measures how we are leading ourselves and others, prompting us to: Differentiate between the two scoreboards that run our life  Use our fear as fuel Avoid the poison of comparison Embrace the mundanity of excellence Regulate our emotional thermostat Create a mentality for attacking adversity Follow Ryan Hawk's work at LearningLeader.com  Follow Brook Cupp's work at Blue Collar Grit   

We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm. With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth. You’ll never look at failure the same way again. Connect with Amy Edmondson: https://amycedmondson.com/ Follow Amy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/ Learn more about Intentional Leader: https://calwalters.me/ Watch Intentional Leader on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@intentionalleader_calwalters Support this podcast:  https://www.patreon.com/calwalters  

In this conversation, Clay Scroggins, a speaker, author, and former lead pastor, shares insights on leading without formal authority. He emphasizes the power of influence and self-leadership, offering practical strategies to foster a positive work environment. Clay also talks about his journey from engineering to public speaking and highlights the importance of embracing joy in leadership. He encourages listeners to see leadership as transcending titles, emphasizing personal accountability and growth in everyday life.

The views expressed on this podcast and page are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position, or endorsement of the US Army, DoD, or the US Government. I'm so pumped to welcome Brian Johnson to the podcast! Check out Brian's brand new book:  Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential Download the Heroic app for free: https://www.heroic.us/join Brian Johnson is the Founder & CEO of Heroic Public Benefit Corporation and the author of Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential. He’s 50% Philosopher + 50% CEO and 101% committed to helping create a world in which 51% of humanity is flourishing by the year 2051. As a Founder/CEO he’s raised $25M+, made crowdfunding history, and built and sold two social platforms. As a Philosopher/teacher, he’s helped millions of people from around the world, trained 10,000+ Heroic Coaches from 100+ countries and created a protocol that science says changes lives. He lives in the country outside Austin, Texas, with his wife, Alexandra, and their two kids, Emerson and Eleanor. As a Founder/CEO, he’s raised $20M+ and built and sold two market-leading social platforms. As a Philosopher, he’s served tens of thousands of people from nearly every country in the world with his Heroic membership and trained over 3,500 people from 90+ countries with his Heroic Coach program—which has been demonstrated through research to change lives. His YouTube channel has 225,000+ subscribers and 20 million views while his podcast has another 14 million downloads. He was also featured in the documentary Finding Joe on Joseph Campbell and the modern hero’s journey alongside Deepak Chopra, Laird Hamilton, Tony Hawk and the late Sir Ken Robinson. His podcast Heroic with Brian Johnson, which launched as the #1 podcast on iTunes, has been featured as the #1 Health podcast and has over 15 million downloads. In March 2021, with the support of 2,500+ Founding Investors from 75+ countries around the world, Heroic Public Benefit Corporation made history as the first company to close a $5M Reg CF equity crowdfunding as part of their $11M Seed round.

It's great to welcome Dr. Chevy Cook back to the podast!  Chevy was on the show for Episode 36, but a lot has happened since that interview.  We catch up on him finishing his PhD, serving as the speechwriter for the 25th Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Christine Wormuth, completing the Battalion Commander Assessment Program (BCAP), and taking command as the Battalion Commander of Headquarters Command Battalion at Fort Meade, MD.  Chevy also serves as the Executive Director for Military Mentors, a growing non-profit that helps elevate mentoring in the military and beyond.   Chevy also mentioned this book during the interview: The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.  

Juliet Funt, globally renowned keynote speaker and founder and CEO of the efficiency training firm, discusses the significance of empathy in leadership and the need for a focused, agile, sane, and humane work environment. She explores the challenges and exhaustion faced by individuals in the working world, particularly during the pandemic. Additionally, Juliet provides strategies for improving email communication, reducing unnecessary recipients, and emphasizes the importance of teaching rather than just talking in leadership.

After graduating from West Point (where I’m pretty sure Doug was the #1 ranked cadet in our class in physical fitness, which is incredible, but I couldn’t get a straight answer from Doug on that fact), Doug commissioned as an infantry officer, graduated from Ranger School, and then went on to leave at several different levels at home and in combat.  Doug was awarded multiple Bronze Star medals, including one for Valor that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld presented in 2011. In addition to being the Managing Principal for Cushman and Wakefield in Dallas, Doug also leads their Military and Veteran Programs. As you will see, it’s no surprise that Doug has been trusted with significant leadership responsibilities at such a young age.  His mindset is something we can all learn from.  We dive into how we has dealt with moments of failure and setbacks, key habits he focuses on for self-leadership, his top leadership principles, and much more.  As a book recommendation, Doug also mentioned Patrick Lencioni's book The Motive.    

It's great to be back after taking a few months off!  I'm really excited about all we can learn together in 2023!   Today I have the privilege of sharing my interview with Simone Askew. In 2017, she became the first African American woman to earn the role of First Captain, the leader of the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  This is regarded as a major step in racial and gender equality within the United States military. She was also named by Glamour magazine as one of the top 10 College Women of the Year. She is also a Rhodes Scholar.  Askew earned a MSc with merit in refugee and forced migration studies from the Refugee Studies Centre and a MPP from the Blavatnik School of Government at University of Oxford. She also recently published her first book, Citizen Skyland, a compelling story of a young black woman finding herself, her courage and her legacy when the world needs it most.  If you'd like to learn more about Military Mentors and their upcoming event, The MMoment III, visit militarymentors.org.  

Download this free 12-page PDF to get 12 key ideas to make you a better leader today.   Cassie Mogilner Holmes is a Professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Cassie is an expert on time and happiness. Her research examines such questions as how focusing on time (rather than money) increases happiness, how the meaning of happiness changes over the course of one’s lifetime, and how much happiness people enjoy from extraordinary versus ordinary experiences. Across these inquiries, her findings highlight the joy that stems from interpersonal connection and paying attention to the present moment. Cassie’s academic research on the role of time in cultivating well-being has been published in leading academic journals, including Psychological Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Consumer Research, and earned her the Early Career Award from both the Association of Consumer Research and the Society of Consumer Psychology. Cassie was identified by Poets & Quants as one of the best 40 business professors under 40, and popular accounts of her research have been featured on NPR and in such publications as The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Scientific American.  Professor Cassie Holmes is the author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, which is based on her wildly popular MBA course, “Applying the Science of Happiness to Life Design.” Holmes is a faculty affiliate with The UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, an interdisciplinary organization dedicated to the research, education, and practice of kindness. Previously, Holmes was a tenured faculty member and award-winning teacher at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a Ph.D. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. from Columbia.