Logic and convincing don’t motivate: an example

If you want to motivate someone, using logic to convince them of what to do often seems like it should work. It rarely does. If the person is already inclined to follow, you don't need it. If they aren't you'll just as likely provoke them to argue back as to follow. Here's a story to illustrate. Context: In college sports (ultimate frisbee), at weekend tournaments we'd play three or four games, leaving us tired, sweaty, dirty, and hungry at the end of the day. After the last game, we'd usually collapse on the sideline of the field where we just…

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More value of low-level instruction for leadership: Margaret Thatcher

The more I teach and coach leadership, the more value I see in low-level instruction. Possibly because people think of leaders having high-level positions in organizations, I find the expect high-level instruction for leadership. I find beginning with the opposite---low-level instruction---more effective. Like piano lessons begin with scales, dance begins footwork, and many sports begin with basic cardiovascular and strength training. Sadly, most of what I learned about leadership in school was high-level and abstract, including Columbia Business School's leadership classes. For someone with little leadership awareness, the classes were invaluable, but looking back, I could have used more basic…

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How to engage people you lead

The insight below prompted spontaneous applause during a keynote talk I saw at a recent conference. The speaker, whose work brings him sometimes to the White House, was talking about principles of teaching, but you'll see it applies to managing and leading too. He said he was talking to a teacher about creating assignments and test questions. Teachers perennially face challenges of creating problems that the students haven't seen before and can't game. They often resort to abstract problems. Abstract problems address those challenges, but at the cost of relevancy to the students' lives, which leads students to disengage, to…

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Why is “know thyself” hard?

Why is "know thyself" hard? You'd think you'd know yourself better than anything. Here's a major reason why: because almost everyone in the world benefits from you not knowing yourself. Because organizations mediate your interactions with everyone in the world except the dozen or so people closest to you and nearly all organizations benefit from you not knowing yourself. They benefit from manipulating you. Don't believe me? Think of the most influential organizations in the world---governments, religions, corporations, schools, etc. Each says it's right or the best or something like that and all others should be more like it. These claims…

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Op/Ed Fridays: military leadership and conscientious objection

I read this commencement speech on leadership given by a military man at the University of Texas at Austin. As much as I found the speech inspiring, I couldn't help but think the following and post it at Hacker News. Here is the full discussion there on the speech, which, as you'll see, contained some controversy. It sounds like an impressive speech. I understand people share his values. The bravest and most meaningful action I saw from a military person was a college roommate who had returned from active duty as a Marine in the Gulf War. I don't know…

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Why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach

Science Magazine's daily web page, reported research that "Lectures Aren't Just Boring, They're Ineffective, Too, Study Finds." I agree, especially after decades of learning from teachers lecturing on me compared with inquiry-driven project-based learning, which I wrote about recently, "Inquiry-driven project-based learning rocks!," and have been learning about for years. I shared the following on an online discussion about that article. I used inquiry-driven project-based learning -- https://joshuaspodek.com/inquiry-driven-project-based-learnin... -- to teach my class at NYU-Poly, "Entrepreneurial Marketing and Sales" this semester. Experiential learning rocks! I never want to go back to lecturing. I had only recently learned of the teaching…

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See Joshua Spodek lead a leadership workshop at General Assembly, May 22

If you don't know about General Assembly, you should. They started as an incubator for startups in New York, then found offering courses met a larger demand and transformed into an educational institution and community, now all over the country, Europe, and Asia. Very exciting, dynamic, entrepreneurial, and building community. They've invited me to speak on leadership next Thursday in Manhattan, 6:30-8pm. Below is the announcement of the event. I look forward to seeing you there. Entrepreneur Meetup Joshua Spodek Adjunct Professor at NYU About This Event You're invited! Join us for a special entrepreneur meetup & workshop. The topic…

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How to follow up a referral

Referrals help get things done. After all, your network is often your greatest asset in any project and referrals increase your network. More valuable than a single referral is someone who will refer you again---a goose that lays golden eggs. You want people like that in your world and you want them motivated to refer you more. Sometimes people get so enamored with a new connection they forget what created the connection: the person who referred them. If they gave you one great referral, they probably have more. My policy for following up a referral: Make the person who referred…

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See my webinar at Ivy Exec at 12:30pm today!

[EDIT: Download the presentation slides here] Ivy Exec is an online set of resources for building community among those serious about getting ahead. Among other resources, they host webinars on workplace skills. Today at 12:30 I'll host a webinar on the core of my seminar "How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again," principally the central exercise. As with all my seminars, I will give a core skill you can use immediately and a simple explanation of why it works so you can make it your own. This exercise helps you motivate people deeply to contribute…

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My semester at NYU

With the semester finishing, I wanted to record what I did at NYU. My main goal was to help my students and give to the NYU community. Taught Entrepreneurial Marketing and Sales. One of main roles NYU hired me for was to teach this elective for graduate students. Several students said it was the best course they took at NYU and I was their best instructor. More than half said they are continuing the projects they started in the course after it ends. At least one got a job offer from a class exercise. At least one got an internship…

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Personal development: take your training wheels off after you learn to ride

I coach and work with a lot of people with MBAs. A lot of people without too. They keep doing what school taught them for social and business interactions. It kills me. School teaches you the bare fundamentals. It gives you training wheels to practice new behaviors, if it even does that, since it mostly just teaches abstract skills. Training wheels are great for getting you on a bicycle but if you want to ride, you have to take them off. When you ride a bike without training wheels you have to tilt it to be stable even though that…

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See the April 21 NYU panel on Women in Entrepreneurship video

Here is the video from April 21st's panel on women in entrepreneurship I posted about before. From the April 21, 2014 event announcement: Bridge at Wagner, NYU Special Interest Housing and NYU Entrepreneur's Network Present Women in Entrepreneurship Many entrepreneurs face similar challenges: getting the first round of funding, launching while in school, or avoiding burnout in the lean years before your business becomes profitable. While we often look for ways to solve these challenges, we rarely talk about how this experience is different for women. Join NYU Entrepreneurship Special Interest Housing, the NYU Entrepreneur's Network and Bridge at Wagner…

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The problem with business books, and a solution

Why do you read business books? I've asked people that question lately and a common theme runs through their answers. They read business books to improve their performance. They read them to get this feeling, like when the read something like that mastery takes ten thousand hours of dedicated effort: "That's a useful piece of information [or technique]. Now that I know it I can use it to get ahead." That is, they read business books to change their behavior. Some people clarify that they read them to improve skills so they can lead others better, meaning to change others' behavior,…

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The value of low-level instruction

Between coaching, teaching, and seminars, I give a lot of exercises. People want to make big transitions and grow. Time and again, the biggest advances come from very low-level instruction---things like say these words in this order to this person, avoid using these words, or take only cold showers for a month. The lower the level of instruction, the higher the level of insight my clients and students get. That used to seem ironic to me until I got how experiential learning works (and lecturing doesn't). If you lead or manage people, I'm sure you'll see the relevance of keeping…

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Seminar testimonial: tears of gratitude from leading an employee so they want you to lead them again

An attendee from March's seminar “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again”, wrote about her experience using the techniques of the seminar at her job---that is, leading employees so they want you to lead them again. She also has an MBA from Columbia and works at a prestigious firm. Josh, you may be interested to know I took out an Associate who will be working on my team and used your technique. She teared up, saying, no one ever asked her these questions and she is so grateful that I am taking an approach to…

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See an NYU panel on Women in Entrepreneurship April 21!

As the faculty advisor to NYU's special interest housing floor for entrepreneurship, I asked my residents what types of events they wanted. Among the responses was that they wanted exposure to women in entrepreneurship. I asked a friend if she would speak. She responded with several women who could speak. The entrepreneur in me seeing high demand and high supply knew there was opportunity in bringing them together. I followed up by speaking to some NYU student groups that all showed interest in building the event, community formed, and meeting the initial student request evolved into a major panel of…

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A testimonial from “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again”

Following up yesterday's testimonial, an attendee, Amy, from my seminar a week and a half ago, wrote about applying what she learned days after the seminar and seeing results. I really enjoyed the seminar - it gave me a great deal to think about (and apply). In fact, I am hiring an Associate for my team and approaching it entirely differently based on your framework. The interview I had recently in which I spent more of the time understanding his deep motivations was more enjoyable that interviews I've had in the past. Probing in the way you suggest - and…

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A testimonial from Harvard talk on Friday

An attendee, David, at Friday's talk at Harvard with GiveGetWin, spoke to me for a while before the event began and then after. He wrote the following Joshua’s talk at Harvard was wonderful. He masterfully dissected the process of decision-making and the influence it has on people’s lives. In less than 15 minutes he left me with enough to think about for a week. After the event we ended up speaking more and Joshua’s knowledge of etymology and his precise and knowledgeable demeanor blew me away. I couldn't help sharing it. The audience asked lots of questions and shared personal…

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See Joshua Spodek at Harvard today!

Monday I spoke at NYU-Stern with a group called GiveGetWin on Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Judging by the number of attendees who asked questions and went out for drinks with us after, the event went great and they invited me to speak at Harvard today. Sorry for the last-minute notice, but I wasn't sure I could make it work in my schedule. The details are that I'll talk about leadership and entrepreneurship along with a few other speakers involved in GiveGetWin's tour. We'll speak at the Harvard Science Center starting at 6:30pm in Auditorium D. If you're around Boston or Cambridge,…

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Emotional skills versus emotional intelligence

Who hasn't heard about the value of emotional intelligence? Everybody talks about how mere regular intelligence only gets you so far before you hit limits. It makes sense. Emotions affect your relationships and for projects bigger than you can finish alone, which means nearly everything, you need to use relationships. Deeper than how well you lead others, emotions help you understand yourself, so understanding emotions helps you improve your life too. As much value as emotional intelligence has, I feel the concept misses something important. The more I learn about and coach people on emotions, the more value I see…

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My Q&A with a Nobel Prize winner

Following up yesterday's post on Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz's talk and my Q&A with him... He spoke on leadership and ethics. I felt honored and flattered for him to describe my question as "A great question, really the core question." He spoke mainly about the many corporate decisions business and political leaders made that hurt many people and the systems that enabled them, as well as the beliefs and assumptions that also enabled them. For the decisions, think of the predatory lending leading to the recent great recession, schemes pharmaceutical companies made to make creating generic drugs impossible, BP…

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The value of entrepreneurial skills for artists and vice versa

Pyragraph Magazine just published a piece I wrote, "The Value of Entrepreneurial Skills for Artists," on how I hustled (a term that for me in entrepreneurship means only positive things) my way into a prestigious teaching gig at NYU while creating a big public art work. I loved and benefited from each. Neither opportunity could stand on its own, but both together worked. And the city, the school, and the students benefited. You don't have to make art to see how you can apply the story to your life. Check out the story.

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See Joshua Spodek on a distinguished panel on Entrepreneurship and Leadership at NYU March 27

I've been invited to participate on a panel with several distinguished entrepreneurs and leaders at NYU March 27 6pm-7:30pm. Click here for the announcement and to register (the event is free, but you have to register). Below is the text. NYU Entrepreneurs Network & NYU Leadership Development Initiative present Entrepreneurship VS Leadership Similarities, Differences, & Lessons Learned We often talk about leadership and entrepreneurship as if they were the same thing. Have you wondered what is the relationship between these two fields? How transferable are the skills and capacities that might be required for each? What role does entrepreneurship play…

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