Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

Brian Christian is the author of The Most Human Human, which was named a Wall Street Journal bestseller, a New York Times Editors' Choice, and a New Yorker favorite book of the year. He is the author, with Tom Griffiths, of Algorithms to Live By, a #1 Audible bestseller, Amazon best science book of the year and MIT Technology Review best book of the year. And his newest book is The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values. AI has been a very hot topic of discussion among business leaders over the past few decades, and there are varying degrees of worry. Today Brian is sharing his view on AI and machine learning and whether we should be worried or not. He also explains why everyone should get to know more about AI, even if you aren't in a technical role. In this episode of the podcast we explore: The history of AI and machine learning How questions from Elon Musk pushed Brian to write his book, The Alignment Problem What is supervised learning vs. reinforcement learning in regards to AI Potential problems we should look out for when it comes to AI What is an algorithm and what goes into creating one Advice for people who want to be more aware of this realm

Empathy and sympathy are not the same things. Sympathy is the idea of feeling sorry for someone. In other words, when somebody comes to you with a problem or a situation, sympathy is saying, "Oh, I'm sorry." Empathy, on the other hand, is about being able to take that person's perspective and to put yourself in their shoes to feel what they feel. Being a master of empathy will allow you to create better products for your customers, better deal with people, resolve conflicts more effectively, and foster collaboration because you'll be able to build connections with other people since you'll be able to understand them and take their perspectives. Is your organization empathetic or sympathetic?

Building the right team is very important and can increase your chances of success as a business leader. When it comes to building a team, one of the first things to consider is diversity. But diversity doesn't mean different types of looks, it's about bringing together different types of intelligence, beliefs, and views on the world. Another crucial component when it comes to thinking about teams is team size. I love the "two pizza rule" Amazon uses. If two pizzas aren't enough to feed an entire team, then the team is too big. The last piece for creating effective teams comes down to metrics and measurement. Organizations use OKRs, objectives, and key results. Objectives are the big picture things that you're trying to accomplish, and the key results are the milestones that lead you to that objective. Keep those things in mind as you build an effective team or are part of an effective team.

Fear is something that we all deal with both inside and outside of work. What is fear stopping you from doing today? Are you not speaking up in meetings because you might say something dumb? Have you avoided asking for a raise or a promotion because you might be told 'no'? Do you shy away from challenging your manager's ideas because you might get reprimanded? My guest this week is Luvvie Ajayi Jones, bestselling author of I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual and the brand new book, Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual. For years Luvvie let fear stand in her way, but she's definitely not anymore. While we can't get rid of fear completely, we can live out our lives boldly in spite of it. Today Luvvie shares her personal story of how she overcame fear and became a professional troublemaker--and she gives advice on how we can do the same. In this episode of the podcast we explore: How Luvvie started writing and what most shaped her outlook on life Why she argues that being a troublemaker is a good thing How to get comfortable with being uncomfortable The importance of setting boundaries at work and in your personal life How Luvvie deals with trolls and toxic people Why leaders can encourage everyone around them to be troublemakers "Our comfort zones are not the place where big things are waiting for us.They're not the place where the best life that we want to live is waiting for us. Because the reason why it's comfortable is because you've learned all you had to learn. There is nothing in there that challenges you. And there's no way you're going to grow."-- Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Self-awareness is all about understanding your feelings, emotions, mental state, and how you're doing. Another big part of self-awareness is being aware of your strengths and weaknesses, such as what you're good at, what you're capable of doing, and where you might need some help. Self-awareness is crucial for leadership because it helps us understand who we are and what we need and expect from other people. Also, it'll help us identify the areas we shine and the areas we can potentially improve. It also helps control how we come across to other people.

One of the biggest challenges CEOs today say they are facing is lack of leadership talent to carry the organization forward. But it is not a lack of talent that is at the root of this problem. My guest this week is Scott DeRue, the Edward J. Frey Dean of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Based on his award-winning research, this challenge CEOs are facing is caused by the fact that 40%-50% of capable leaders are not stepping up because of the risks involved in leadership roles. Today Scott shares the research behind his article titled, Why Capable People Are Reluctant To Lead, as well as what we can do to change that. In this episode of the podcast we explore: The three kinds of risks that deter people from leadership positions How we can overcome all three risks What separates great leaders from average ones The biggest mistakes Scott sees leaders making The most important thing for leadership development "One thing that we can all do to maximize our own potential is lean into those risks--Whether it's outcome risk, whether it's image risk, whether it's interpersonal risk-- let's not let that risk hold us back. But let's lean into it. Let's embrace that risk. And in doing so, by stepping up and assuming these leadership roles, we're able to have a bigger impact in the world."--Scott DeRue

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to interview hundreds of executives with different roles within organizations. One of the things I find consistently across the board is an emphasis on servant leadership, this change in leadership mentality that the role of a leader is actually to help others. Being service-oriented simply means that you think about others before you think about yourself. You put other people ahead of yourself, and it can be extremely powerful. It makes you a more effective leader, a more valuable employee, and a better teammate. Being service-oriented also helps create happy, loyal, and engaged customers, which is huge for company growth.

With new modern technologies and the knowledge that we have in order to lead more healthy lives, we are living longer than ever. So what does that mean for the way we live and work? For decades we have lived out our lives in three main stages-- full time education, full time work, and full time retirement. But in a 100-year life, that structure is no longer effective. In this week's episode Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and bestselling author of The New Long Life, shares her advice on how our current practices need to change in order to make the most out of our longer lives. As Lynda shared with me: "At any point in time, you could follow a number of different paths. And I think that's a mindset shift, really. The idea that at any point in time you could plan to be something different. That's the first action. So let your imagination go in terms of thinking about "what could I be?" In this episode of the podcast Lynda shares: Why Lynda wrote her book, The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World If life stages are no longer in a linear path, what does it look like? A look at the three fundamental principles Lynda uses in her MBA class to help students understand and navigate the challenges ahead Why we all need more personal agency and responsibility over our careers. Lynda's advice on how we can prepare for the new world of work today

The worst thing that you can do as an organization is to have a fixed mindset. In a fixed mindset, you don't believe that people can change. You don't believe that people can learn new things or that they can adapt and improve. This kind of culture will kill innovation inside your organization. Instead, you must have a growth mindset. Always believe that there is room for further improvement, and always learn new things. Encourage your employees to think outside the box and constantly innovate in this rapidly changing world of work. This is a really fantastic way to future-proof yourself, your career, and even your organization.

For several years in a row, Aron has been on the Glassdoor top 100 CEO list and in 2012 he won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. UKG was rated the #2 best large employer in America by Forbes, it received a 100% on the Corporate Equality Index, and prior to the merger both Kronos and Ultimate Software were separately named a Best Workplace for Parents by Great Place to Work. How do you build an organization where people love to come to work? Aron Ain, CEO of Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG), believes it is all about trust, transparency, and collaboration. Contrary to past fads, creating an engaged workforce is not about free food, free gym memberships, and frequent parties. As Aron says, "I believe people join organizations because of the organization. I believe they leave because of who they work for." In this episode of the podcast Aron shares: How to keep consistency among leaders in an organization. What it means to be an "un-leader". How to deal with failure. Why showing true gratitude for employees is so important and what that looks like. The importance of humility and vulnerability How to keep leaders accountable for being the best they can be And much more! The leaders that employees deal with on a daily basis make or break the experience that employee has. You can work for the best organization in the world, but if your direct manager is a horrible leader, you are going to hate your job. Because of that fact, leaders inside of UKG, known internally as people managers, are held accountable to be great. People managers are not just evaluated and rated by their direct reports, they are also evaluated by the employees who work for them. Twice a year employees inside of UKG are given a survey with 19 questions with straight forward questions that measure the effectiveness of their manager. These are separate from engagement surveys as those only measure the relationship between the employee and the organization, not the relationship between the employee and the manager. How to keep consistency among leaders in an organization Inside of any organization there could be anywhere from 10 to thousands of leaders who are in charge of teams. So how do you make sure that your leaders are consistent and living up to the company values? This is part of why UKG has the employee surveys in place. Leaders are evaluated by employees twice a year, and if they aren't either at a 90% or higher, or at least improving each time, there are steps in place that are taken. Depending on the situation the first step if a leader is struggling is to have a conversation and see if improvements can be made. The next step may be to move the person out of a leadership role, while still remaining at the company. And if all else fails, they may be asked to leave the company if they aren't a good fit with the company values. Having these ratings from employees is a huge game-changer as leaders typically look at employee engagement surveys to get a feel for how they are doing, but that's not an accurate picture of the employee-manager relationship. Aron shares a story about when UKG first started implementing these manager effectiveness surveys. There was a manager who asked Aron for a sit down meeting. When they were talking the manager asked Aron, "Are you going to train me to be a better manager?". Aron told him that of course he would, but wondered why the manager was coming to him at that moment asking for help. The manager told Aron that he had always seen himself as a great leader because his team always gave high scores on engagement surveys. But when it came time for these new surveys he received a 59 out of 100 and he was shocked. He had never had the right data that would help him measure his true performance. Well after realizing it he worked hard to improve and two years later he had a score in the 90s. It is so important for leaders to get an accurate view of how employees see them. How can you expect them to change if they don't realize they are doing anything wrong. As Aron shares, "Our homegrown training program for our managers is called Courage to Lead. And I tell them the action word isn't lead. The action word in it is the courage, because it takes unbelievable courage to be a great leader. It's hard...it's hard." What does it mean to be an un-leader In Aron's book, Work Inspired, he talks about the concept of the un-leader. What is an un-leader? Well Aron believes CEOs get too much credit when things go well and they get too much blame when things don't go well. But this shouldn't be the case. The reason organizations do well or don't do well does not rely solely on what the CEO does, and CEOs need to have more humility and humbleness. They need to realize that the world doesn't revolve around them. To be an un-leader means you realize the value of the people around you and as a leader you understand that you are not more important than anyone else in the organization. Un-leaders show respect, they offer dignity, and they are thoughtful to the people they work with. They realize that they play by the same rules as everyone else. When un-leaders don't know something, they don't act like they do. They admit that they are not sure. Aron says, "I don't expect everyone to care about people in the full spectrum of how I care about people. But I do expect everyone to be respectful. I do expect everyone to tell the truth. You want to ask people who work with-- you want to get on my bad side quickly, don't tell the truth. It's like, I just have no patience for that. Look, I'm a sore loser. I'll admit that, I play to win. But it doesn't mean I do it in a way that doesn't exhibit good sportsmanship and being thoughtful about it." How to deal with failures when you give employees autonomy to experiment One of the key components of the UKG values is trust, it is something that Aron emphasizes. He doesn't ask employees to gain his trust, they start with full trust in the very beginning, the trust is theirs to lose. So as a leader if you give full autonomy and trust to employees how do you deal with failures when they happen? Aron says for him it comes down to not keeping score. He says, "I try really, really hard to not keep score. And the reason I try really hard to not keep score, if you came and sold me on an idea to do something, and six months later, it's not going well-- and you know it better than anyone that it's not going well-- what do I want you to do? I want you to stop it, stop the project, stop throwing good money at a bad idea. But if every time I'm keeping score, and I'm going to put you in the penalty box, then you're going to spend another six months absolutely, positively proving it was a stupid idea. And wasted another six months of time and money. So that's how I deal with failure. Now, if the same people keep bringing ideas, and we say, okay, go do it. And it keeps being a dumb idea. And at some point, I say, well, I'm not sure that this person has great judgment on ideas like this, but I certainly start with the way I described it." Action items for leaders who want to start improving When asked what advice he has for leaders who are looking to better themselves, Aron says the biggest thing is to understand the world doesn't revolve around you. Work hard to trust your people, communicate with them, be transparent, and show them respect. You should also respect that people have lives outside of the organization and that their families are the most important thing and they should come first. Take time and think about what it looks like to trust your people. If you trust them to get their work done, how does that exhibit itself? You can't just say the words, you have to make trust a living breathing part of your organization. "If we want to be great leaders, if we want to create organizations where everybody loves to work, if you want to have these places that have these great people work for us, then you better find ways to engage them and you better do these key components around this that we've been talking about. You may be able to trick the people to come work for you. But you're not going to keep them."