Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes and all episodes of The Learning Leader Show

Notes:

Brad Thor best selling author of 22 thrillers...

• Excellence as a leader… What has Brad seen from the military leaders he’s studied: Empathy - Understand what it’s like from their perspective. LISTEN - Care for your people. Actually LISTEN to them and be there. Creativity. Innovate, and think of new creative ways to solve problems.
• Effective storytelling - Don’t start with the weather. Leave out the parts people skip. Don’t be boring. This same advice is useful for leaders when communicating with your team. Put yourself in their shoes. How can you most effectively share your message without being boring. The more entertaining it is, the more likely they’ll remember it.
  • Effective storytellers - Plotters (outlines, Dan Brown), Pantsers (write by the seat of your pants). Brad is a pantser.
  • Take the first 4 ideas and throw them out. You need the element of surprise. Create surprise.
  • Be comfortable breaking the rules.
  • Loves Ray Donavon and Billions for the element of surprise
  • "No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader."
  • "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."
• Brad has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit.
• Excellence as a leader (McChrystal) - Empathy, Listen, Creativity.
• PBL - Problem-Based Learning. John Bettis (country singer). How do you recharge your battery? International travel. Immerse yourself in another culture.
• Loves politics. Ran for President.
• Advice for writers – “Gotta Keep Writing” Mary Higgins Clark did it for 2 hours each morning before her family woke up. Whatever it is we want to be great at, we have to get the reps. Consistency beats intensity.

00:53 The Art of Storytelling

04:13 Elements of Effective Storytelling

08:26 The Importance of Surprise in Storytelling

11:33 Writing Process and Challenges

20:43 Research and Realism in Writing

27:04 Leadership Lessons from Writing

30:59 The Importance of Open-Mindedness

32:01 Pre-Publishing Feedback Process

35:09 Homeland Security and the Red Cell Unit

39:05 Maintaining Creative Energy

42:38 Political Ambitions and Leadership

50:57 Advice for Aspiring Writers

54:36 The Benefits of Reading Fiction for Leaders

56:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes. The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

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Notes:

• The Pete and Leona story - What will people say about you at your funeral?
  • "They changed my life and the lives of my entire family."
  • Tough love out of 100% care for you.
  • Be tough AND supportive.
  • Don't lower your standards.
  • High standards. High support.
• 10 to 25 - Find the right trigger for motivation. Find out what they care about. They need meaning and significance. They want status and earned respect.
• Are children less afraid of their parents now than they used to be? Dan Gilbert calls this the "illusion of moral decline." It's been happening for 75 years.
• The Parental Nagging Study - A common tactic adults use to get teens to “pay attention.” Research shows that nagging triggers the emotional part of a teen’s brain, shutting down their ability to think logically. They’re not ignoring you on purpose—they’re simply wired to tune out. A better way? Speak calmly and neutrally to engage the part of their brain that handles planning and decision-making. This opens the door to real conversation.
• Satya Nadella’s Model, Coach, Care philosophy at Microsoft. This is the opposite of Jack Welch’s rank and yank style at GE. Remember, the stack ranking methodology limited innovation and stopped people from taking any type of risk. We want to model the right behavior, coach others, and ensure they know we care for them so they feel the support they need to take risks, sometimes fail, get back up, and work to innovate.
  • Theory X = Rank and yank. It stifled innovation for fear of failure and getting fired.
  • Theory Y = No stack rankings. Built on connecting leaders with their people. Still high standards and demanding. Followed the "Model, Coach, Care" methodology. This is what's happening today at Microsoft. Be a place where people want to work.
• The Mentor's Dilemma - Stef Okamoto - honest, direct, and supportive.
  • The "mentor's dilemma" refers to the challenge of balancing honest, critical feedback to young people while still maintaining their motivation and self-esteem, as this age group can be particularly sensitive to perceived criticism and may easily feel discouraged or disrespected if not approached carefully; essentially, it's the struggle between pushing someone to improve and potentially damaging their confidence by being too harsh.
• The mentor mindset: A mentor mindset can be adopted by using practices such as validating young people's perspectives, asking them questions, and holding them to high standards.
• Questioning – Kate, a mom of two who lives in Chicago, whose oldest son was a sophomore came home one night from a party drunk and high. Kate responded with a combination of yelling and prosecuting… She instigated an interrogation and not a two-way conversation. Instead of interrogating, get curious. They had a reason for what they did. Figure out why. What's your plan?
  • Ask questions to get them to own their thinking and share it with you.
• Advice - Don’t accept some perceived path. Be reliable, show up, do the work, and ask for more work. Add surplus value. Whatever you’re being paid, focus on delivering 10x more value. Find a way to do that and your employer will beg to give you a raise and promote you.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Notes:

Mo Bunnell is the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of seller experts at over 400 clients all over the world.

• I wake up every morning looking to help my friends succeed, and some just happen to be clients. — Proactively thinking of ways to add value to others is a great way to build a meaningful life.
• Our brains think literally. Relationships grow exponentially.
  • Give consistently to grow relationships.
• Celebrate incremental progress. Mo writes in a journal the growth of himself, his business, and his customers. We all should be better at celebrating incremental progress. Teresa Amabile’s research shows that this leads to a more enjoyable life.
• August 4, 1984, was a meaningful day for his family. (Dad’s alcoholism. That was the day of his last drink)
• The difference between doing the work versus winning the work
  • Example: You win the work by asking lots of questions. You do the work giving answers.
  • Every successful career hinges on two things: Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Both delivering value on the current work and developing the relationships that create future opportunities are vital for long-term success. Whether you’re in a new role or want new outcomes, the most powerful results come from prioritizing both Doing The Work and Winning The Work.
• Ask questions – Mo shares 50+ questions to ask. Ask self-disclosure questions. Those are questions that only that person can answer.
• Fall in love with the problem.
• Pronoia – The world is out to help you succeed.
• People can live in 1 of 3 ways.
  • Drift - Stay busy. Answer emails.
  • Driven - Hyper emphasis on one thing at the detriment of others (triathlon guy)
  • By Design - Write down where you want to be and make a plan to do it. On purpose.
• Delayed gratification:
  • Weekly planning process
  • Offer 3 proactive change agent ideas
• Mo is in 5 masterminds
  • Shawn Blanc in Breckenridge. Net givers.
  • MASHUP - His house. Help others. Ask for help.
  • Elite Adventure athletes
  • GivetoGrow.Info
  • MASHUP! Mastermind of Awesome Super Human Unreal People