Lead the People

Kimberly Spencer is an award-winning high performance, trauma-informed coach and trainer, Amazon best-selling co-author, international motivational speaker, and the founder of CrownYourself.com. She helps visionary leaders transform their self-limiting stories, build their empire, stand out fearlessly, and make the income and the impact they deserve.Top 3 TakeawaysPick up the pace—early career leaders often delay when making decisions. This can hold you back. Of course you’ll experience self-doubt—we all do—but as a leader, all eyes are on you to be decisive when it counts.Expand your perspective—experienced leaders need to look at situations and their own capabilities from a broader vantage point in order to break through a performance plateau.Don’t confuse busy-ness with business. If you want to move beyond frenetic activity toward delivering results that matter, you have to be clear about your purpose. You must do the uncomfortable things that you know you ought to in order to maximize your impact.From the Source“A lot of times we're told it's ‘new level, new devils’, and for me, I've never experienced that to be true. And honestly, in five years of coaching, I've never experienced that to be true with a client. Typically it's ‘same devil, new level’.““For early career leaders, the number one thing that stops them is self doubt. And the number one thing that doubt creates is delight. And so the swifter you can be at speeding up your decision-making, the faster you're going to move through that earlier period. Because when you delay on making a decision, it then allows for that insidious interloper of doubt to creep in.”“One of the things that I see as they start giving their power away to meetings—to endless meetings.”“So often we can unconsciously get into this pattern of blame. Blame the meetings, blame the project, blame the children, blame the husband, blame the partner blame—you know, 'oh, if my partner wasn't working me so hard' or, 'oh, if my, if I didn't have so many clients'—blame the clients. When you look at 'where are you blaming?' that's where you'll see that you are giving away your power of conscious choice and you are defaulting to blame, which doesn't actually put you in a position to change anything. So if you want to enact change, then you have to look examine it as to where you're placing blame and then move forward from there.““Blame really stacks up. So examining and curtailing it as quickly as possible so that you don't—five years from now, ten years from now—turn around and say what happened to my life? ““Our brains are wired to survive. They're not necessarily wired to thrive unless we actively, consciously program them to.”Connect with KimberlyCrownYourself.comYouTubeFacebookLinkedIn

Susanna Katsman is a leadership development consultant and a coach. She has held a variety of leadership roles in healthcare and higher education settings. She holds an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Susanna is also certified as a Talent Optimization Consultant and a practitioner of The Predictive Index talent optimization platform.Top 3 TakeawaysWhile having a socialized mind may help you be a great team member, having a self-authoring mind is more critical than ever to be a great leader. A self-authoring mind can be developed with practice—doing so requires you to take calculated risks and design novel solutions in ambiguous situations.A great way to ensure that you’ve fully absorbed a lesson learned is to use the formula, “I used to think __________, and now I think __________.”From the Source“The socialized mind internalizes the behavioral norms and expectations of others, and it looks to others for direction, validation, and approval. People with a socialized mind tend to make excellent team members and do good work.““A self-authoring mind no longer looks to others for direction, validation, and approval. It is well aware of what others think and expect, of societal norms, and all of that is subordinated.““I would say that the greater the self-authoring capacity, the greater the degree to which one owns the role— not just in the workplace but also in life.”“Stretch goals can be very important because stretch goals—where falling short of target doesn't impact performance rating or compensation—make risk-taking safer, and risk-taking promotes development of self-authoring capacity.““Asking ‘What are you learning?’ makes people stop and reflect, and reflection is a key practice for development of greater mental complexity which goes along with development of self-authoring capacity.”Connect with SusannaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannakatsman/Click here to get Susanna’s free guide “3 Simple Steps to Greater Confidence in Yourself as a Leader!”

Andrea Wilson Woods is a writer who loves to tell stories, and a patient advocate who founded the nonprofit Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Andrea is the CEO and co-founder of Cancer University, a for-profit, social-benefit, digital health company. With Cancer U, Andrea synergizes her talents of coaching, writing, teaching, and advocacy. Her best-selling and award-winning book, Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days, is a medical memoir about raising and losing her sister to liver cancer.Top 3 TakeawaysDuring challenging times, it’s all the more important to remember your why—your North Star—to keep you focused and moving forward.When you have to deliver bad news, be human about it—be truthful and direct but also empathetic.When you struggle to find strength within, draw it from those around you—you’ll have the chance to return the favor by giving back after you’ve had time and space to heal.From the Source“Coming to live with me was probably the best thing that could've happened to me at that time. Because even though I didn't want better for myself, I wanted better for [Adrienne]. And by being able to focus on her, I was able to get through all of those challenges.”“I can remember a time where I was working four jobs and all part-time, but it was a way that I could be on her schedule and be there for her, but they were four completely different jobs. So I was traveling all over Los Angeles. It felt like I was every single day. Um, but you know, she was my. In many ways. Adrienne was my North Star.““You will have to give bad news, so there is a way to give bad news and be kind, but also don't sugar coat it, don't just gloss over it.”Connect with AndreaWebsite: http://www.bluefaery.comWebsite: http://www.andreawilsonwoods.comWebsite: http://www.betteroffbald.comWebsite: http://www.cancer.university(Use coupon code LEADTHEPEOPLE for a free lifetime membership!)

Joanna Dodd Massey, Ph.D., MBA has more than 25 years of experience in the media industry at companies, such as Condé Nast, Lionsgate, CBS, Viacom, Discovery and Hasbro. She’s an experienced C-level communications executive and Board Director. Joanna has managed brand reputation, corporate turnaround, crisis communications, culture transformation, and multi-million-dollar P&Ls. She’s the author of two books, "Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations In One Workplace" and "Communicating During a Crisis: Influencing Others When the Stakes are High"Top 3 TakeawaysOur brains are wired to detect threats in our environment—whether those threats are real or imagined.When your brain switches into threat mode, it begins to shut down executive functioning—the part of the brain responsible for rational decision making and strategic thinking.During times of change, you may get better results as a leader if you can understand what’s naturally happening inside the brains of those affected by the change—be empathetic and avoid making change more difficult by pushing your followers too hard or moving too quickly.From the Source“When we are in what's called an amygdala hijack which is basically when the amygdala is in charge, it is incumbent on the company, on the leader, on the manager, on the boss to dialogue with employees in a way that is going to get them out of the fear place where the amygdala is running the show and back into the rational mind so that they can look at it more rationally and not from fear and stress and upset.”“Human beings have a very predictable response to change, and what's even more predictable is the type of change that will trigger them.”“The one guarantee in life is change, and yet human beings are hardwired to resist change. We gravitate to that which is comfortable and familiar and similar to us, and we reject that which is different  and makes us uncomfortable.“Connect with JoannaWebsite: http://www.joannamassey.comBook: Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One WorkplaceBook: Communicating During a Crisis: Influencing Others When the Stakes Are High

Paul is the Founder and CEO of Reciprocity ROI, Inc., a technology management consulting firm. He’s a thought leader, an investor, and a futurist. Like me, Paul is a former Marine. Unlike me, Paul is an expert in all things heavy tech including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and other technologies that are changing our world for the better—usually. I sat down with Paul to learn about how we can see into the future despite being hyper-present in our business and our leadership.Top 3 TakeawaysEntrepreneurship and leadership are at their best when they improve people’s lives—whether developing a new technology to cure a disease or investing in someone’s potential.Embrace reinvention or perish—prior success can hold you back if you let it; always be on the lookout for the next big thing and your next opportunity to stretch and grow.Fail your way into the future—let go of your ego and prepare for the inevitable setbacks that will inch you closer to a big return on your investment.Connect with PaulLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessmanathletemarineWebsite: http://www.reciprocityroi.comWebsite: https://bambusinesses.com/

Colin McIntosh, founder & CEO of Sheets & Giggles, a fast-growing bedding and sustainability company based in Denver, Colorado. Sheets & Giggles’ eucalyptus lyocell sheets recently won Good Housekeeping Magazine’s “Overall Best Sheets” award. Colin & his well-rested team are all about sustainability, reforestation, philanthropy, and building his cheeky brand. I reached out to Colin after I received a strong, passionate response to a LinkedIn post I wrote about sleep.Top 3 TakeawaysPrioritize sleep—the work will always be there, so give yourself the chance to rest and rejuvenate. You’ll improve your performance, and you can pick up where you left off.Aim for uninterrupted sleep—the quality of your sleep matters as much as the quantity.Change your sleep, change your life—you may have to make lifestyle changes to things like your exercise and diet, but when you improve your sleep you’ll improve your results.From the Source“I can tell you right now that when five, six o'clock comes around,  I will have another hundred hours of work that I could do that I could just keep doing—because my to-do list is always doing this.”“The way that I always advise people to sleep is … your Non-REM cycles hit at different times. And so you really want to wake up either at four hours, six hours, seven and a half or nine. And you'll feel much well rested if you wake up at those times. So I actually don't have a set time on my alarm clock.”“Every everything from bodybuilding to herniated disks to chronic pain—more sleep is the answer. It's when your body heals itself.““It's not just about the amount of sleep, it's about uninterrupted sleep. And so that's the thing that I think is really screwing people over is they might get eight hours, but if they're waking up an hour or two, they miss their first non REM cycle. If they're waking up at hour five, they miss their second. And if they're waking up an hour seven, they miss their third.““You've got to make other changes in your life if you're actually gonna wind up changing the way that you get your sleep. And changing the way that you get your sleep can be completely life-changing for someone.“Connect with ColinWebsite: www.sheetsgiggles.comTwitter: @SheetsGigglesBuy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/sheetsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colindmcintosh/

Dr. Greg Barnett is the Chief People Scientist at Energage, the provider of a leading employee engagement platform. Greg is an Industrial Organizational Psychologist who’s done stints at Hogan Assessments and IBM Kenexa. More recently, Greg and I worked together at The Predictive Index. He’s as entertaining as he is knowledgeable, and as soon as I launched my new podcast, I couldn’t wait to get Greg onto the show. Top 3 Takeaways:Pay attention to feedback when it’s given to you, but don’t be overly self-critical—make progress, don’t chase perfection.Recognize that self awareness is a journey and that your developmental efforts should evolve over time—work to be well rounded earlier in your career while doubling down on strengths later on.Use your self awareness as a type of North Star and always remain true to yourself so that you don’t convince yourself that a situation or a decision is a fit when it actually isn’t.

Thad Peterson is the Director of Product Marketing, Core Platform at Zoominfo. Thad and I worked together at The Predictive Index, and he has always struck me as one of the most authentic people I’ve ever met. When I decided to delve into the topic of leadership authenticity, I knew I had to get Thad onto my show. Top 3 Takeaways:Pay attention to how other leaders make you feel when you feel at your best, and try replicate those specific behaviors in your own leadership.Show interest in other people as people and you’ll have a strong relationship foundation for those times when you have to deliver constructive criticism or ask for a better effort.Conceding a point when you’re wrong or in favor of a better approach doesn’t weaken your authority but instead creates trust and respect on the part of your followers.

In this inaugural episode, I share a series of origin stories.MY STORY [1:29]I provide a detailed walkthrough of my story arc to help you get to know me better and understand my leadership perspective.THE STORY OF THIS PODCAST [14:09]I relate how I decided to start a podcast centered on leadership development.YOUR STORY [16:28]I share what you might be experiencing when you want to double down on your leadership development.I also summarize the episode with my Top Three Takeaways [18:15].You can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpoepsel/If you'd like to grab my free Leadership Values exercise to discover your superpower, you can get yours at http://mattpoepsel.com/values/