Lead From the Heart

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is routinely ranked as one of the top executive coaches in the world – & the Thinkers50 organization named him the #1 leadership thinker in the world – twice. A former Professor of Management Practice at the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business, he’s the author or editor of 41 books, which have sold 2.5 million copies. His books, “Triggers” & “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” have both been recognized by Amazon as being in the top 100 books ever written in their field. His new book, “The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment,” was published today. In a very special edition of the podcast, Marshall shares story after story of luminaries he has coached & helped to excel over his 40+ year career. And the stories are rich because they reveal priceless wisdom he’s acquired that will benefit leaders at every stage of their career. We recorded this podcast late last Friday night – & had persistent technical problems that delayed us.  At one point, it seemed we would have to cancel. But as the unflappable Buddhist that he is, Marshall patiently waited for the issues to be resolved, & then acted as if time were no issue. The result is a conversation you’ll want to savor & ponder. As CBS’s John Dickerson has said, “for anyone who wishes to align their efforts with a life of meaning, Marshall Goldsmith is a fabulous companion, guide, & cheerleader.” The post Marshall Goldsmith: A Coaching Legend’s Wisdom For Living A Fulfilling Life appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Few business topics arouse more skepticism than the notion of corporate purpose – & for good reason. Too many companies have deployed purpose as a promotional vehicle to make themselves feel virtuous & look good to the outside world. The insincerity behind efforts like these are, of course, easily spotted by both outsiders & insiders (employees most importantly) leading them to feeling jaded – & to losing trust in the management team that attempted the deception. Despite all the harm that past efforts at establishing organizational purpose have caused, Harvard Business School professor, Ranjay Gulati, believes the time has come for companies to try again – this time with a sincere commitment. He argues that the pursuit of profits without purpose is no longer a sustainable business model. And in his new bestseller, “Deep Purpose,” he says “the road to high performance, for both individuals and companies, depends on deepening our connection to enduring & essential human values. He adds, “purpose isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ in the business world anymore. It’s a ‘must-have.’ As Gulati argues, a deeper engagement with purpose holds the key not merely to the well-being of individual companies but also to humanity’s future. With capitalism under siege & relatively low levels of trust in business, purpose can serve as a radically new operating system for the enterprise, enhancing performance while also delivering meaningful benefits to society. It’s the kind of inspired thinking that businesses—& the rest of us—urgently need. Tapping into extensive research, Ranjay Gulati shows how companies can embed purpose much more deeply than they currently do, delivering impressive performance benefits that reward customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, & communities alike. To get purpose right, leaders must fundamentally change not only how they execute it but also how they conceive of & relate to it. They must practice what Gulati calls deep purpose, furthering each organization’s reason for being more intensely, thoughtfully, & comprehensively than ever before. Is accomplishing this in most companies even possible?  Will top CEOs take these ideas seriously?  Listen in as Ranjay explains why every business’s survival will be at stake if they don’t. The post Ranjay Gulati: Why Purpose Is The Heart And Soul Of High Performance Teams appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

For over twenty-five years, Marcus Buckingham has been one of the world’s leading researchers on human performance, especially in our workplaces. He is the New York Times bestselling author or co-author of ten books, including the business classic, “First, Break All the Rules” in addition to, “Now, Discover Your Strengths” & “Nine Lies About Work.” You probably know that Marcus is a highly analytical, data-driven trend evaluator who left his mark at Gallup. Yet, ironically, his rigorous study has landed on a conclusion many of us might accurately say needed no deep-dive at all: Love, which is the most powerful of all human emotions – the source of our creativity, collaboration, insight, & excellence – has been systematically drained from our work lives. And, It’s time we brought love back in. We’ve all heard the adage, “Do what you love.” But how many of us has fully discovered what we really do love doing most, what fully engages us & makes us thrive? And, how many of us get to bring our full, messy, unique, weird & amazing selves to our jobs instead of being expected to conform & tamp down our individual & personal expression? The release of Marcus’s new book, “Love And Work” coincides with the publishing of this podcast, & during our conversation, we not only discuss the many uncommon & creative ways we can unleash our true individual selves, we dig into the relevance of employee engagement in the post-COVID era (spoiler alert: it’s more important than ever), & why workplace leadership demands a complete reinvention in order to foster love, respect, appreciation – the things all of us are needing & wanting in our work experience today. As I hope you’ve come to expect, this is another stunning, insightful & unusual conversation that is sure to enrich you in many unexpected ways. The post Marcus Buckingham: Why Love And Work Are Inextricable appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” These famous lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s classic song, “My Way,” assert the idea that it’s very easy to recover & move on from the bad choices we make in life. But in 2020, Daniel Pink launched the “World Regret Survey,” & asked 15,000 people in 105 countries, “How often do you look back on life & wish you had done things differently? And 81 percent of the respondents said regret is at least an occasional part of their lives with one-in-five saying they feel regret all the time. Just one percent said they never lament their past. While letting ourselves be overwhelmed & even immobilized by regret is unquestionably bad for us, in his new bestseller, “The Power Of Regret,” Pink says repressing our regrets consigns us to making the same mistakes again & again. In his words “the trick is to not banish our bad feelings, but to acknowledge & use them for learning & improvement.” When we think about regrets, they usually fall into one of four core areas: “Foundation Regrets:” We regret not getting enough education or for not having made better choices about preparing for our future. “If only I’d done the work.” “Boldness Regrets:” Looking back, we see ourselves as having played it safe or not seizing on opportunities when they presented themselves. “If only I’d taken that risk?” “Moral Regrets:” We remember hurting another person by a betrayal of some kind. “If only I’d done the right thing.” “Connection Regrets:” The largest category of regrets arise from relationships that have come undone or that remain incomplete. “If only I’d reached out.” Through his research, Pink has discovered that – as long as we’re willing to look at them & re-experience the pain of them – we can remedy a lot of our regrets, heal them & benefit from them: “If we reckon with our regrets properly, they can sharpen our decisions & improve our future performance.” In this truly wonderful discussion, Daniel shares many informed ways we can optimize our regrets & vault ourselves forward to a happier, more productive & principled life. The truth is that life is a journey full of pleasures & pains, To live it well & fully means learning from every bit of it, including the mistakes, & moving forward. The legendary Daniel Pink shows us how to accomplish just that. The post Daniel Pink: The Surprising Power Of Regret appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

A lot of us would like to become more influential because – all boiled down – influence is the ability to create change, direct resources & move hearts & minds. But when we think about the tactics we’ve seen other people use to influence people, we use words like sneaky, manipulative & coercive to describe them. So, this episode is devoted to introducing you to ways to grow your influence in truly profound ways – but also in ways that aren’t just powerful, they’re deeply ethical. Zoe Chance is a professor at the Yale School of Management who earned her doctorate at the Harvard Business School. She once managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie doll brand at Mattel, but today teaches the most popular class at Yale called “Mastering Influence & Persuasion.” And she’s just published a book that’s become an immediate bestseller, “Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen.” Becoming more influential – being able to communicate better – is, of course, a huge leadership power. Yet most of us lean into facts & figures to persuade others not knowing that few humans are ever moved by this approach. Another myth about influence is our belief that asking people for more will make them dislike us – thereby making us less influential. As one of the many revelations Zoe shares in her book, “people who ask for what they want get better grades, more raises & promotions & bigger job opportunities.” One of the primary & recurring themes of this podcast is that we humans aren’t the rational beings we pride ourselves to be; most of the time, the choices & actions we take are motivated by our feelings & emotions, not through analysis. And research Zoe cites shows as much as 95% of our decisions & behavior are influenced by what she calls ‘the gator,” our instinctual decision-making process that lurks below our conscious awareness & is always prepared for immediate action. Especially for highly analytical people, this fact is hard to accept. This means it’s really just a small percentage of time that any of us really slows things down, applies great concentration – & employs what Zoe calls the “judge” that deliberates & carefully weighs all the evidence. Knowing that all of us are highly influenced by what we feel versus by what we think is a foundational idea of Zoe’s book. And, in this conversation, Zoe Chance conveys a truly enlightened understanding of humanity, & what really influences people to act. One of the great take-aways from this episode is Zoe’s explanation of the “Magic Leadership Question.” It may be the greatest piece of practical influence wisdom you’ve ever heard! So listen in for that – and to hear a management professor who isn’t just brilliant, she’s uncommonly kind, thoughtful and a really wonderful person.  She’s also a master of persuasion as you might imagine! The post Zoe Chance: How To Make Influence Your Superpower appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

There are many disciplines outside of workplace management that can elevate our leadership effectiveness, & tapping into the experiences & insights of highly creative & accomplished people is one great way of skinning that cat. This is especially true when you have a guest who has interviewed over 400 of the world’s most creative people – & who happens to be one of the most inventive people on the planet herself. Debbie Millman is an author, educator, brand strategist & Chief Marketing Officer at Sterling Brands, where she has worked with over 200 of the world’s largest brands. Fast Company magazine named her one of the most creative people in business & one of the most influential designers working today. She’s also the host of the Design Matters podcast, one of the longest running shows of its kind that’s been downloaded at least 30 million times. Design Matters is a show about how the most creative people invent their lives. And one consistent theme that’s emerged is that no matter how talented & hard working they all are, they’ve had to overcome often monumental setbacks & hardships in order to succeed. No one gets off easy is a helpful reminder for us all. Debbie has a new book out called “Why Design Matters: Conversations With The World’s Most Creative People,” which features many of her most interesting interviews. Amongst the luminaries she’s had sit down with her are Brené Brown, Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Krista Tipppett, Ira Glass, David Byrne, Malcolm Gladwell, Cheryl Strayed, Anna Lamott, Adam Grant & Daniel Pink. After producing 80 episodes of my own podcast, I can tell you I’ve been fully transformed by all I’ve learned from my guests. And I invited Debbie to join us full-knowing in advance that the wisdom she’s gleaned from her five times as many conversations would be invaluable for you to hear. And, as it turns out, Debbie has some rather sage insights on leadership to share as well. The post Debbie Millman: Wisdom From The World’s Most Creative People appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

2,500 years ago, Greek philosopher, Heraclitus famously observed that “there is nothing permanent in life except change.” And anyone who’s lived just a few years on our planet knows old Heraclitus was speaking truth. Despite our intellectual acceptance of the ancient sage’s observation, we humans tend to strongly resist & even reject change – something many a workplace leader has come to discover when they’ve tried to alter a policy, introduce a new system or move a team in a new direction. David Schonthal – award winning professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management – is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “The Human Element: Overcoming The Resistance That Awaits New Ideas.” And his brilliant insight is that what most marketers, innovators, leaders, activists, & anyone else in the business of creating change, operate on the same deep assumption. It is the belief that the best (& perhaps only) way to convince people to embrace a new idea is to heighten the appeal of the idea itself. They try to put more “fuel” on the benefits of the change instead of investigating – & even anticipating – the psychological & emotional reasons why people are reluctant to support the change or even entirely resist it. A word we’re all going to hear more often this year is “friction.” David introduces it to describe what often inhibits successful change initiatives – & he asserts that there are four key “frictions” that operate against innovation & change. We humans like to stick with what we know – even when we know it limits us. We follow the path of least resistance & seek to minimize effort. We often feel emotionally threatened by requests to change our behavior. And we have a very strong impulse to resist when we feel change is being imposed upon us. Of course, David has developed uncommon remedies to all four of these “frictions” & this episode is devoted to introducing them. As a special feature, at the end of the podcast, Mark asks David to explain how he would use all of his research & knowledge to successfully overcome resistance to implementing the change in organizations that we all desire: to break away from our traditional leadership practices once & for all, & introduce a “Lead From The Heart” philosophy. His response provides a blueprint for all workplace managers to follow. The post David Schonthal: How To Overcome The Resistance That Always Awaits New Ideas appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

“Would you like vanilla, chocolate or strawberry?” When presented with simple decisions like these, most of us will instinctively pick our favorite from the three options, without ever considering that there may be many more ice cream flavors available. Columbia Business School professor, Eric Johnson is the lead researcher behind some of the most well-known and cited research on decision-making. And one of his key conclusions is that most of us give insufficient attention to what he calls “choice architecture, the many aspects of how a choice is posed to us that can be manipulated, intentionally or inadvertently, to influence the decisions we make.” Assume you own the ice cream store & have determined that sales of vanilla, chocolate & strawberry scoops earn you the most money. Promoting these flavors alone – and not pushing all the others you have – is in your best interest from a profit standpoint. But it also intentionally fails to inform customers who love Rocky Road & mint chocolate chip that these & other options are available as well. Through his research, Johnson has proven that the choices we make every day – whether it’s buying a health insurance plan, deciding how to invest for our own retirement or ordering a sandwich – are rarely entirely of own making. Whomever designs the “choice architecture” holds great influence in how we decide. And too often, we make choices that are not in our best interests because we don’t realize that we’re being steered in directions that don’t serve us best. We’re influenced by subtle aspects of the way the choice is presented that often make the difference between a good decision & a bad one. Johnson is the author of the new bestseller, “The Elements of Choice: Why The Way We Decide Matters,” & in it, reminds us that we too (especially leaders) are the architects of the choices other people make. And, as designers of decisions, we need to consider all the elements involved in presenting a choice: how many options to offer, how to present those options, how to account for our natural cognitive shortcuts, & much more. These levers are unappreciated, & we are often unaware of just how much they influence our reasoning every day. A recent guest on NPR’s “Hidden Brain” podcast with Shankar Vedantam, Eric Johnson joins us to provide a leadership clinic on “choice architecture.” You’ll be amazed to hear how often the daily decisions you make are not truly of your own, & to learn the informed ways you can make far better choices going forward.   The post Eric Johnson: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Every Day Decisions appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

For much of the pandemic, a familiar ritual played out in workplaces around the globe. Companies set return-to-office dates, only to repeatedly backtrack & delay them due to health concerns. Apple, as one example, was set to have employees back in its offices at the start of 2022, but now has an indefinite target date. And, with COVID cases clearly on the rise again, many other companies including JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Goldman Sachs have moved their goal posts as well. But let’s assume for the moment that the worst of the pandemic is behind us & returning to our workplaces has suddenly become viable. Can we assume companies have firmly defined how many days a week they’ll expect employees to be in the office? Have they decided how they’ll specifically manage people differently in the post-COVID era? And, overall, do they know all the ways they’ll pivot at this unprecedented #leadership inflection point? Well, it may or not surprise you that they haven’t. Surveys of CEOs have shown that most top leaders simply don’t know what the future is going to be like and – just like the rest of us – are still trying to figure it all out. Many CEOs even appear to be deliberately waiting to see what postures their competitors take, meaning the waiting game is likely to continue longer. Making things even more challenging is the fact that many employees want to continue working remotely at least some of the time, while for employers, the benefits of people working from home or hybrid approaches seem less obvious. In light of the “Great Resignation,” where millions of workers are quitting jobs every month, workplace leaders have critical decisions to make about how they intend to manage – & they need informed guidance on how best to make them. Truth be told, workers themselves also need informed guidance on what kind of working experience will be best for them. While presently overlooked, there are some very clear downsides to people hoping to work remotely most, if not all of the time, that workers must fully consider. So, we’ve invited Wharton Business School professor, Peter Capelli to join us on the podcast. His prescient new book is called, The Future of the Office: Work from Home, Remote Work, and the Hard Choices We All Face, where he unveils the surprising tradeoffs both employers & employees may have to accept in order to get what they want. His research reveals there is no consensus among business leaders. Even the most high-profile & forward-thinking companies are taking divergent approaches. And his research shows that previous efforts at allowing workers to telecommute and work-from-home didn’t work out as expected. So, what’s the best decision for you and your employer?  We can’t give it to you, of course; but Peter Capelli joins us to explore how we should all think about these choices going forward as well as who wins and who loses in all scenarios. One Final Point: In this interview, Peter Capelli repeatedly challenges common assumptions about the future of the workplace, and is one of the most informed people on this topic in the world.  Listeners will learn much from this conversation! The post Peter Cappelli: Why Most Employers Still Haven’t Decided The Future Of Their Offices appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Success in life is never a question of how many tasks we get done in a day. It’s not even a question of what we manage to achieve. Instead, it’s about knowing our life’s purpose & taking the right steps to fulfill our potential. That all sounds very nice & neat until we come face-to-face with real life, where short-term thinking, short-term gratification & short attention spans often take us off track. We also live in a society that values “busyness” & treats it as a badge of honor. And, so, when we tell ourselves all the time that “we don’t have enough hours in the day,” it’s not really a sign of accomplishment – it’s a sign our lives are out of control & that we’ve lost sight of what truly matters & makes our lives meaningful. These are some of the big ideas from Dorie Clark’s new book, “The Long Game: How To Be A Long-Term Thinker In A Short-Term World,” which launched recently as a Wall Street Journal bestseller. And her conclusion is that if all we do is bumble along reacting to events as they happen, we won’t ever fulfill our life’s dreams or personal potential. Dorie Clark has done a lot of interesting things in her life: She left home at 14 to attend a school for gifted students. She transferred to Smith College, graduating magna cum laude, & then earned a Masters in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School. She’s been a Presidential campaign staffer, public speaker, musical theater lyricist, leadership author, & today teaches at the Duke University Fuqua school of business. And as she reveals in our discussion, she had a long-term strategy for achieving them all. Read the word “gifted,” & we might assume Clark’s success was pre-ordained & even guaranteed. But the essence of her book is that few people (including her) ever achieve success without also experiencing delays, setbacks, denials & even failures. In effect, she says we need to be nimble & adapt when circumstances change. But long-term thinking is what undergirds everything & enables us to make those adjustments. If we embrace long-term strategy & recognize that the path may change over time — that’s what maximizes our chances of success. Noting there is no such thing as overnight success, Clark’s book reminds us that this doesn’t mean success for us will be illusive. It means we just need a more effective process for achieving it. That’s what this episode is all about: helping you get back on track for achieving all you were meant to. The post Dorie Clark: How To Be A Long-Term Thinker In A Short-Term Focused World appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.