How science improves leadership and coaching: My conversation with Ron Potter

Does a background in science help someone lead? ... does it help someone coach? If so, how? I spoke with longtime leadership and executive coach Ron Potter, who came from an engineering and technical background to coach executives at top levels of major global companies, about how our backgrounds help. We covered: How a science and technical background helps us understand and work with emotions better than others ... and the limits of rationality ... and how to work with them effectively, calmly, and productively How science helps change beliefs, freeing yourself and teams from mental jails How a science…

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Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, Google, and a Harvard Expert: Colleges and Universities Are Broken

My Inc. article today, "Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, Google, and a Harvard Expert: Colleges and Universities Are Broken," begins Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, Google, and a Harvard Expert: Colleges and Universities Are Broken They aren't just complaining. They're offering alternatives. Malcolm Gladwell couldn't be more clear in his podcast about a school ranked by some as the number one liberal arts college: There's only one solution. If you're looking at liberal arts colleges, don't go to Bowdoin. Don't let your kids go to Bowdoin. Don't let your friends go to Bowdoin. Gladwell's podcast gave the context, about the school's values.…

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Personal responsibility, leadership, and global warming

Global initiatives miss the one big change you, the person reading these words, have control over and nobody else does, which is your behavior. If you don't change what you have control over, why would you expect or suspect anybody else would? Will you change what you can? Though I can't prove it, I know that if you do and you stick with it, however much it looks like sacrifice now, you will be glad you did. In fact, you will rank it among the best changes you've made in your life. The above words were my response to a…

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Learning social and emotional skills is hard but worth it

Ultimately all the advice in the world leads to one simple starting point: You have to act, practice, and rehearse new skills to get their benefit and those first acts, as with any new skill, will be clumsy, embarrassing, and full of other challenges that will lead the novice to feel bad. If you try, you will fail and feel bad, worse than if you never tried, but if you stick with it, you can overcome the failures. You'll never lose access to the skills you now have it you don't want to feel or act social, but you can…

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Op/ed Friday: How climate change scientists are undermining efforts to slow global warming

I wrote how much my visit to Columbia's Department of Earth and Environmental Studies left me. The scientists, who know more about global warming than anyone, 1) didn't seem to change their polluting behavior and 2) to the extent they tried to influence others, did so ineffectively, or even counterproductively. They shared information, expecting that people would change their behavior for learning the information. Not only did the information not influence their own behavior, facts rarely change behavior, especially away from comfort and convenience, as evidenced by the global obesity rates in the face of our knowing more about nutrition…

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$1.1 Billion and 3 NBA Championships: Leadership Lessons

My Inc.com story today, "$1.1 Billion and 3 NBA Championships: Leadership Lessons," stems from my interviewing basketball legend Byron Scott and business mogul Charles Norris, on their new book, Slam-Dunk Success: Leading From Every Position on the Court. Meeting them and getting solo time together to talk about leadership, growth, and learning was tremendous. The story begins $1.1 Billion and 3 NBA Championships: Leadership Lessons A Chairman of the Board and an NBA champion player and coach take on improving you as a leader in their new book As the crowd dissipated from the basketball court from their New York…

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Lies we tell ourselves about food and integrity

  • Post category:Leadership

A healthy diet results not from how much healthy food you eat but how little unhealthy food. You can eat all the spinach and kale you want. If you also eat tons of sugar, your diet isn't healthy. Same with leadership. If you lead effectively 90% of the time but not the other 10%, you probably don't lead well. Leadership is like how Vince Lombardi described winning: it's not a sometimes thing. It's an all the time thing. You don't succeed by trying some of the time, whether in leadership, winning, or food. If you don't eat healthy all the…

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John Mattone’s Expert Interview Series: Joshua Spodek of Spodek Academy About Embracing a “Just Do It” Attitude Toward Leadership Coaching

I am honored that John Mattone interviewed me as part of his Expert Interview Series and posted the interview, "Joshua Spodek of Spodek Academy About Embracing a “Just Do It” Attitude Toward Leadership Coaching." I'll tease you with the first few interview questions. For the answers, read the whole interview! As someone who is well-educated in a variety of disciplines, could you tell us what drew you to the study of leadership? Since you’re one of the relatively few Americans who has visited North Korea, could you tell us whether the portrayal of that country in the media is accurate?…

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“People Join Good Projects and Leave Bad Management,” My Techstory guest post

My guest post in Techstory yesterday, "People Join Good Projects and Leave Bad Management," began If you’re reading Techstory, you care about your work. You worked hard to get where you are—advanced degrees, challenging interviews, or other credentials. You don’t just show up and do what you’re told. You didn’t just choose any old project to work on. You chose something you care about. If you’re like most people who care about what they do, you probably focused on the project but not the people you’ll work with, especially the managers you report to. That’s a mistake. I’ve taught and…

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What 80s pop music teaches us about global warming

Most people seem to view acting to avoid polluting and caring about the environment as deprivation and sacrifice. They seem to ask, "why should I sacrifice something I like, like flying, meat, air conditioning, etc? If billions of others don't, then what I do doesn't matter. The result is most of the world, or at least most of America, contributing to global warming beyond nearly any contribution by anyone in history, well beyond the Paris agreement's allotment per person. For me the answer is clear, that behaviors that pollute less, like not flying, eating fresh vegetables, and dressing for the…

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Farnoosh Torabi interviews me for her So Money podcast

I'd heard about and listened to the award-winning #1 So Money podcast for a while, so I felt honored and flattered to be a guest. This morning Farnoosh posted the interview! She covers money more specifically than most. Since I grew up keeping talk about private finances quiet, she led me to speak about some things I rarely do, which led to some life-level realizations I am grateful to her for uncovering. I was surprised to find myself sharing some things publicly I didn't even realize about myself. Listen to the podcast! From Farnoosh's about page: My audience has been…

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The Fast Leader podcast’s Jim Rembach interview of me

Jim Rembach hosts the Fast Leader podcast. Today he posted his interview of me. Jim is friendly, thoughtful, and clearly understood my book and background enough to start with a simple, comprehensive summary of my background. He asked questions that got me to reveal about the book. how I teach, and what you can learn. You'll get to learn how Jim's subtitle for the interview, "I had to force my friends to read it," was a turning point for me as a teacher and writer. This is an interview worth listening to, as is Jim's podcast in general. About Jim…

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“4 Skills Not Taught in the Ivy Leagues that Every Great Leader Must Master”: Inc. on me!

Inc.'s columnist and bestselling author Kevin Daum wrote about me and Leadership Step by Step today. Usually when I post Inc. article's they're by me. This one is about me. It begins: 4 Skills Not Taught in the Ivy Leagues that Every Great Leader Must Master People don't just wake up as leaders. Like any athlete or artists, they must acquire certain techniques to become masters of the art of leadership. Here are some of those skills. Joshua Spodek, author of the bestselling Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow, got his MBA at the Columbia Business School…

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The Great Barrier Reef’s Demise and You

According to The Guardian: Great Barrier Reef at 'terminal stage': scientists despair at latest coral bleaching data ‘Last year was bad enough, this is a disaster,’ says one expert as Australia Research Council finds fresh damage across 8,000km I read this at a message board for geeks and entrepreneurs and shared the following, which I wanted to share here: Many posts here about how sad and disgusted people are. Not much about people taking personal responsibility. What do people think the carrying capacity of the planet means? Sustaining more humans means sacrificing other life that competes for our resources. It…

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If no one is leading in the environment, maybe I’ll have to

After my disillusioning visit and presentation to the scientists at Columbia's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, I attended a presentation of a couple NYU researchers who study and teach about our garbage and waste. One studied and documented the amount of waste hospitals create, which is more than you'd expect. The other described how New York City developed its Department of Sanitation, how that department cleaned the city, and some of how it handles the city's garbage today. The talks were engaging and their results clear and informative, but I felt they missed the point, like they were measuring…

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Ron Potter’s short, no-nonsense review of Leadership Step by Step

I'm honored for Ron Potter of TLC | TeamLeadershipCulture.com to have written one of his short, no-nonsense reviews of Leadership Step by Step. He and I also recorded a conversation on a science and engineering approach to developing social and emotional skills in ourselves and others based on our collective experience. I'm editing the audio, so stay tuned to hear that conversation when I post it here. I posted his background from his about page below. His short review: Leadership Step by Step: Become the person others follow written by Ron April 1, 2017 Ron’s Short Review: Can you develop leadership?…

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Mastering Leadership Concepts: My conversation with Skip Prichard on his blog

I'm honored today for Skip Prichard to feature a conversation we had on leadership and leadership development on his blog. I love working with experienced people. He got right to the point and kept the conversation focused, engaging, and meaningful, at least to me. For a teaser, the post begins: Mastering Leadership Concepts Learning how to lead. It’s the focus of many lectures, articles, blog posts, and books. Joshua Spodek prefers the active to the passive, teaching with exercises designed to master leadership concepts. He recently wrote a book titled Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow that takes…

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So You Want to Build a Luxury Vodka?

My Inc. article yesterday reflected my journey from a pipe-dream I had in business school of starting a vodka brand to meeting the CEO of Absolut's attempt to regain the lead it lost decades ago, Jonas Tahlin. He's taking on the challenge in part by connecting himself personally with the brand. He has lots of resources but a lot to lose. The article, "So You Want to Build a Luxury Vodka?," begins So You Want to Build a Luxury Vodka? Premium is more personal and vulnerable than ever. Do you have the guts to do it? Jonas Tahlin shares what…

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From Astrophysicist to Leadership Coach To Bestselling Author With Josh Spodek: The Smashing the Plateau Podcast

No matter how successful you are, there's probably at least one area where roadblocks are keeping you from fully achieving your goals. The Smashing the Plateau podcast focuses on overcoming these challenges. The host, David Shriner-Cahn of TEND Strategic Partners, interviews experts one thing in common---they all know how to fix problems that keep people and businesses stuck. I was honored to be interviewed by David. We talked about getting through the difficult times, the emotional nature of those times, how to develop the relevant emotional skills, examples, role models, mental models, and so on. Listen to the conversation! David's…

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The experience and results of Leadership Step by Step

You've read the reviews of Leadership Step by Step---51 so far on Amazon, 98% 5-star---and are interested. You wonder how they got so positive. Chris is a professional who did all the exercises in the book as an online course from SpodekAcademy.com. I interviewed him to learn his experiences taking the course and his results afterward. I edited the interview. Here are the highlights (I recommend listening): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ODcbJarCM The full interview is available here.

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Absurdly Useful Leadership Tactics That You Can Use Today: the second interview with Jim Harshaw

I don't know if the interviewers are getting better, if I'm developing in conversation, or if I'm just enjoying podcast conversations more, but it feels like the interviews are getting better all the time. Yesterday, Jim Harshaw (scroll down to learn more about him) of the Success Through Failure podcast posted our second conversation. Second conversations lead to greater comfort, depth, trust, and intimacy, so I recommend listening. We cover a couple exercises from the book, connecting leadership to everyday living, sports, and more. Jim was a division 1 athlete and coach, among many other achievements so he knows leadership…

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Why Do We Dream Big About Everything Except Changing Our Behavior to Pollute Less?

My Inc. article today, "Why Do We Dream Big About Everything Except Changing Our Behavior to Pollute Less?," responded to a New York Times opinion piece yesterday that I found lame, even sad. My piece begins Why Do We Dream Big About Everything Except Changing Our Behavior to Pollute Less? A New York Times editorial illustrates our limited vision about our shared world Inc. readers are resourceful. We dream big. We entrepreneurs and visionaries are inspired by our predecessors in science, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, NASA, and so on. People who launched humans to the moon, doubled transistors per chip every…

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How to Find Your Authentic Voice: The Engaging Leader podcast interview with Jesse Lahey

Jesse Lahey, who runs the Engaging Leader podcast, led me in a conversation about leadership, how to behave more authentically. The conversation was fun, informative, and, I hope, engaging and inspirational. Jesse kept the conversation meaningful and valuable, at least to me. Listen to the podcast! Listen to the podcast! Here are Jesse's show notes: To lead and influence others, whether as a workplace leader or as a thought leader, you need to develop an authentic voice. For example, let’s say you are a CEO delivering a speech to your employees, or a functional VP writing an email to your…

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365 days without flying

My Inc. article yesterday "365 days without flying," began 365 Days Without Flying Leadership means taking responsibility for my actions and empathy for those affected It's so easy to think greenhouse gases come from "other people," but when I learned that a flight across the country polluted roughly one year of driving, I could no longer tell myself flying wasn't that big a deal. So I told myself I would not fly for one year. I returned from my last trip March 23, 2016, so today marks day 365. Everyone loves travel, so I probably lost most readers who don't…

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Astrophysicist turned media wiz tells listeners what leadership is all about: The Tim Laskis interview

Tim Laskis is a psychologist, but unlike most of them, has done things in life, including starting and selling a company and coaching others. He specializes in business and sports. Read more about him below. He also interviewed me for his podcast, The Tim Laskis Show, a genuine, fun, rewarding, and, I believe, engaging and informative conversation. We talked about success, failure, what it takes to achieve, how to make it through, what works, what doesn't, and more. Click here to listen to the podcast! Here is more background on Tim from his about page: ABOUT TIM LASKIS No one…

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