The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 240: Todd Henry - Be The Leader That Creative People Need (Herding Tigers)
Jan 15, 2018
Todd Henry, author and founder of Accidental Creative who coaches creative teams, shares how rituals, rituals and disciplined practices fuel sustained excellence. He describes personal routines like morning pages and midday walks. He explains leading by influence, creating stable space for creativity, asking set questions to connect, and helping creators find their own voice.
53:59
Rituals Enable Sustained Excellence
- Great leaders maintain daily rituals that protect focus, energy, and clarity.
- Rituals like reading, strategic conversations, and buffers enable sustained excellence.
Create Daily Space For Thinking
- Create predictable buffers in your day like morning study and midday walks.
- Use morning pages or reflection time to clear your mind and generate ideas.
Ask High-Value Questions
- Ask distinctive, open questions when meeting people, e.g., “What's the most important thing I should know about you?”
- Ask about recent inspiration to learn what fills their well and sparks ideas.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
Rituals and sustained excellence
01:35 • 8min
Todd's daily rituals and buffers
09:14 • 5min
Asking great questions to connect
14:08 • 5min
Finding your voice vs. being a cover band
19:00 • 6min
Writing is lonely and requires clarity
24:31 • 5min
You own all of it: leader accountability
29:10 • 2min
Leading with influence, not micromanagement
30:56 • 2min
Stability and challenge for creatives
33:07 • 2min
Shift from control to influence
34:47 • 6min
Why leaders fail to implement change
40:20 • 5min
Why I wrote Herding Tigers
45:49 • 4min
Give yourself grace and iterate
49:47 • 3min
Outro
52:46 • 1min
#3370
• Mentioned in 14 episodes
The accidental creative
How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice
Todd Henry
The Accidental Creative is a comprehensive guide designed for individuals whose jobs involve producing ideas, projects, and deliverables.
Todd Henry addresses the challenges faced by creatives in demanding work environments and provides a blueprint for managing and enhancing creativity.
The book is divided into two main sections: The Dynamics and Creative Rhythm.
It outlines five key practices—Focus, Relationships, Energy, Stimuli, and Hours—to help readers improve their creative output.
Henry emphasizes the importance of intentionality, whole-life planning, and effective time management to maintain creativity and productivity.
The book is highly recommended for creatives, leaders, and anyone involved in generating new ideas and acting upon them.
#7704
• Mentioned in 6 episodes
Herding Tigers
Danny Blitz
#84
• Mentioned in 194 episodes
The artist's way
a spiritual path to higher creativity
Ada Arbós Bo
Julia Cameron
This book presents a comprehensive method for artists to recover their creativity from various blocks such as limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, and other inhibiting forces.
It is designed to help individuals discover and develop their artistic potential, whether as writers, painters, poets, or musicians.
The book emphasizes the connection between creativity and spirituality, providing step-by-step exercises to nurture creative expression as a consistent part of daily life.
#19
• Mentioned in 389 episodes
Good to Great
Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Jim Collins
In 'Good to Great,' Jim Collins and his research team investigate why some companies achieve long-term greatness while others do not.
The book identifies key concepts such as Level 5 Leadership, the Hedgehog Concept, a Culture of Discipline, and the Flywheel Effect.
These principles are derived from a comprehensive study comparing companies that made the leap to greatness with those that did not.
The research highlights that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance but rather a result of conscious choice and discipline.
The book provides practical insights and case studies to help businesses and leaders understand and apply these principles to achieve sustained greatness.
The Learning Leader Show
Todd Henry is the founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams be prolific, brilliant and healthy. He regularly speaks and consults with companies about how to develop practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of four books (The Accidental Creative, Louder Than Words, Die Empty, Herding Tigers), speaks internationally on productivity, creativity, leadership and passion for work, and build tools for creative people and teams. In short, he's an arms dealer for the creative revolution. His latest book is called Herding Tigers: Leading talented, creative people requires a different skill set than the one many management books offer. As a consultant to creative companies, Todd Henry knows firsthand what prevents creative leaders from guiding their teams to success, and in Herding Tigers he provides a bold new blueprint to help you be the leader your team needs. Learn to lead by influence instead of control. Discover how to create a stable culture that empowers your team to take bold creative risks. And learn how to fight to protect the time, energy, and resources they need to do their best work.
"Great leaders have great rituals. Great leaders are connected. Great leaders have set questions they ask when they meet someone for the first time."
Show Notes:
- Sustained Excellence =
- Great leaders have great rituals
- Disciplined time to study/reflect
- Well read
- Go on walks
- Great leaders are connected to their network
- Great leaders have set questions they ask someone when they meet for the first time
- Great leaders have great rituals
- Todd's rituals
- Same breakfast everyday, same coffee mug everyday
- 1 hour of study/read/time to think
- Writes morning pages (3 full pages long hand)
- Creating space for yourself
- Predictable space, a buffer - "I have a ritual of taking a long walk in the middle of my day" -- "It helps me get lost in thought"
- Set questions to ask when you meet someone
- "What's the most important thing I should know about you?"
- What's inspiring you right now?"
- Cover bands don't change the world
- Go out and present YOUR ideas to the market place
- "If you want to have a voice in the market place, you have to have a voice" -- You can't just regurgitate what others say: Take what you learn, synthesize it with your own thoughts and have a voice, a point of view
- "Your synthesis is what is valuable"
- Writing The Accidental Creative was hard and lonely
- Leading Creatives - We assume they get it... No, you must be clear that they do. Walk them through your thought process, what you expect, why you expect it
- Brian Koppelman (Creator of Billions) - Leading with influence vs being a micro-manager. The director must own the show... They must have a compelling vision, point of view. Koppelman must create the space to give the director of each episode that ownership (he owns it all)
- Creative people need two things
- Stability - Protect them, give them the space they need, be clear
- Challenge - Cannot allow boredom
- These two exist is constant tension, push/pull. You have to know how/when/why to turn the dial on each
- "Your entire career, up until you're a manager, you have complete control -- As a manager you must shift from control to influence (it's hard) or the team cannot scale beyond you
- Your team must understand the WHY behind what you do -- If not they just inherit tactics but don't know why they do it. It can't scale without knowing the WHY
- Need to make certain creative people feel ownership of the work
- Influence is about principle
- Why is implementation and execution so hard?
- Leaders struggle with insecurity
- "Your area of greatest insecurity can inflict the most damage to your organization... It's about ego more than confidence"
- Leaders struggle with insecurity
- Why write Herding Tigers?
- "I wrote the book I wish I had... A lot of people don't have the model of what great leadership is"
- Here's what it feels like right now:
- Action
- Pause
- Reflection
- Redirection
- Action
"Cover bands don't change the world. Find your own voice."
Social Media:
- Read: Herding Tigers
- Follow Todd on Twitter: @toddhenry
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
- To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12
More Learning:
Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon
Episode 216: Jim Collins -- How To Go From Good To Great
Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions
Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why