What Chris Wants: Be Helpful and Create Work That Matters

Chris Brogan shares some brutally honest insights about leadership, growth and being helpful. He's a self-proclaimed expert at failing, but what does that mean? And how can leaders learn from it to keep their organisations flexible and effective even as they grow at speed?

Ten-time author, executive coach, strategic advisor, writer, photographer and co-host of the internet’s Backpack Show and Playing For Time, Chris is a master communicator. As Chief of Staff at Appfire, he most recently helped steer the B2B SaaS company from $10m to $275m of ARR (annually recurring revenue). Despite this, he claims he's never been ‘capable or qualified’ for anything he's done professionally. 

This is a conversation packed with wisdom, experience and smart thinking. And a very dry reference to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers that went right over my head at the time. Listen to discover:

• what Chris thinks is crucial about failure and failing,
• the traits that make for great (and not so great) leaders,
• why companies lose their elasticity as they grow - and what you can do about it,
• what he wants to do for the rest of his life,
• why he’s learning to code,
• some excellent tips for cold email marketing, and 
• the philosophical lessons we should take from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbrogan/

Sign-up for his newsletter:
https://chrisbrogan.com/#newsletter

Check out that Anthony Kiedis/Red Hot Chilli Peppers reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DyziWtkfBw

The report about the gender difference in confidence when it comes to apply for roles:
https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified

And due credit to The Adaptavist Group's Jari Worsley for the story about his dad training spreadsheet users back in the day. Read more here:
https://bit.ly/4onTjXJ

Further reading:

Chris Brogan ‘Social Media 101’ (affiliate link)
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780470621004

Chris Brogan & Julien Smith ‘The Impact Equation’ (affiliate link)
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780670922406

Ryan Holliday ‘ Ego Is The Enemy’ (affiliate link) 
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9781781257029

Chris Whipple ‘The Gatekeepers’ (affiliate link)
https://amzn.eu/d/1m2wNHl

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Thanks for listening.

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