March 4, 2025

The Power of Everyday Leadership: Small Actions, Big Impact

The Power of Everyday Leadership: Small Actions, Big Impact

): Leadership isn’t just about grand gestures—it’s woven into everyday moments. It’s how we connect, communicate, and collaborate in ways that lift others. True leadership is personal, relational, and accessible to all. By shifting our view, we see...

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): Leadership isn’t just about grand gestures—it’s woven into everyday moments. It’s how we connect, communicate, and collaborate in ways that lift others. True leadership is personal, relational, and accessible to all. By shifting our view, we see that leadership happens everywhere, in small yet powerful ways. Tune in to explore how your daily actions shape the lives around you. Guest: Ross Blankenship

Working on Purpose is broadcast live Tuesdays at 6PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Working on Purpose is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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for choosing W FOURCY Radio.

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What's Working on Purpose? Anyway?

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Each week we ponder the answer to this question. People

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ache for meaning and purpose at work, to contribute their

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talents passionately and know their lives really matter. They crave

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being part of an organization that inspires them and helps

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them grow into realizing their highest potential. Business can be

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such a force for good in the world, elevating humanity.

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In our program, we provide guidance and inspiration to help

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usher in this world we all want Working on Purpose. Now,

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here's your host, doctor Elise Cortes.

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Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program. Thanks for

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tuning it again this week. Great to have you. This

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program has been brought to you with passion your pride

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since February of twenty fifteen. I'm your host, doctor Eleas

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corre Test. If we've not met before, you don't know me.

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I'm an organizational psychologist, management consultant, lawal therapists, speaker and author.

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My team and I at Gusto Now help companies in

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live and fortify their operations by building a dynamic, high

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performance culture and inspirational leadership activated by meaning and purpose.

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And did you know that inspired employees outperform their satisfied

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peers by a factor of two point twenty five to one.

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In other words, inspiration is good for the bottom line.

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We've learned more abouts on how we can work together

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at gustodashnow dot com or my personal website at leastcore

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test dot com. Before we get into today's program, I

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am thrilled to announce that registration is open for a

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fabulous new conference for women for which I'll serve as

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the MC. It's called Thrive in twenty five and said

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jam packed a few days in Chicago June twenty fifth,

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three and twenty eight, twenty twenty five, and it's designed

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to develop women as whole seals from bolstering your mindset

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to your financial acumen, to leadership, to incorporating nature and

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art into your life to raisee consciousness and much more.

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Visit thrive in twenty five for information and to register.

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You can use my promo code Gusto all caps to

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gain access to free books and programs. I'll be gifting

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registers as well. See you there now getting today's program

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we have with us today. Doctor Ross Blankenship and organizational psychologist,

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executive coach and lecture at the University of Virginia. He's

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the founder of the Leadership Coaching and Consulting from two

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Sday Advisors, where he coaches a wide variet of leaders

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and leadership teams to improve performance, communication, and decision making.

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He also advises founders and investors on leadership assessment and

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talent strategy. He's the author of Everyday Leadership, a Guide

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to developing your mindset as a Leader, which we'll be

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talking about today. He joins us from Birmingham, Alabama. Doctor Blankenship,

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welcome to working on Purpose.

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Hey, thank you for having me.

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Absolutely, it's always wonderful.

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As we were talking about the break before there we

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got on just delight in being able to meet people

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to come with my podcast toward wouldn't otherwise have any

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reason to meet.

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So welcome, Thank you. Yeah, it's fun to be here.

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This has been a fun treat of having written a book.

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It's being able to go and meet new people and

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learn more about the podcast world.

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Oh yeah. I want to first ask why name your company?

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Tuesday Advisors? What a fun name?

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I get this question a lot, which may not surprise you.

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I call it an idea that was in search of

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some meaning. But the short answer is I had a

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software company from twenty twenty to about twenty twenty two

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that was called Leader, but it was spelled l EA

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d HR, and everybody called it lead hr, unsurprisingly. And

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so when we sold the intellectual property from that and

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shut it down and I was starting Tuesday Advisors, I

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was working with a designer and told her I needed

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something that nobody would ever mispronounce, and she sent me

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a list of words, one of which was Tuesday. That

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asked her why Tuesdays is like every other day of

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the week seems to have something about it except Tuesday.

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So I thought, maybe you could like own that space.

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What's interesting about that though? Is it actually was like

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a precursor idea to the everyday the everyday idea, I

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started to think of Tuesday as you know, it's after

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the beginning, but before the end is in sight, which

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is when we need the most help, of the most support,

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And that became kind of an ethos around coaching, and

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it was part of where the idea for every day

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leadership that title came from.

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I ask so cool, Well, you know I often ask

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people because I care very much ross about the world

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of work. I believe very strongly in the power of

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work to help catalyze us into our higher potential and

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to give us a sense of impact and fulfillment. So

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that's why an organizational psychologist and not, for example, a

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clinical psychologist.

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Or anything like that.

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And of course you know you have a background at

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organizational psychology and leadership as well.

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Why choose this field? Why not accounting, architecture or whatever

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else there.

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Might be out there. Yeah, you know, the short answer

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there is I grew up in a family of mental

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health professionals. My dad trained as a neuros psychologist, but

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after the invention of the cat scan machine, actually his

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job was basically assessing evaluating patients in hospitals to figure

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out what part of their brain had been damaged, and

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the cat scan machine does that, you know, with computer imaging.

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So he went through his own kind of career disruption

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that way and started working with companies and did organizational

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consulting psychology for forty years after that. So I knew

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that it was a field which was important. My mom

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was a social worker and a therapist. And you know,

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the thing that I say about work is growing up,

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the thing I heard from my parents when they came

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home from work was I met the most interesting person today.

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And when I graduated from university and started trying other fields,

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I went into insurance, I went into finance. I just

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found that I had almost no energy for learning the

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mechanics and like the trade of insurance or of I

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was on a fixed income trading floor. But I was

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fascinated with the people who were there and why they

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did what they did. And I had, I like had

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a place for that feeling to go, which was my

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parents saying, you know, this is a field that you

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could go into. And then I just had to work

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up the nerve to go into a PhD. M.

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Yeah, I can appreciate that. My PhD was really big

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response to an early onset mid life crisis.

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That's why I got a PhD.

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No affair at work, no no sports car, no trip

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to the outline. Yeah, let's get a PhD. But you know, similarly,

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I when I was doing the PhD for my dissertation,

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I studied meaning and working identity. I wanted to understand

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I was working placing IT people at the time, and

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I thought what they were doing was so interesting, right,

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I didn't know anything about technology, and I could see

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they were changing how we.

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Were community, getting around the world.

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Practicing healthcare, and I wanted to know how they were

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connected to their work. And so I interviewed twenty five

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IT people, and I wanted to understand what is the

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relation between meaning and work and identity?

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For you?

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What just work being to you? And I will relate

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to your sense of self?

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Because I had people who said to me that they

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got into technology because they thought that it would have

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the greatest impact on men, coming second only to fire.

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And I thought, wow, if you have that kind of

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wind in your sales coming into eight o'clock in the morning,

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that's pretty powerful. And then other people would say things

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like it doesn't matter what kind of work I do,

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I am going to imprint it with who I am

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and my values. And I thought that's a pretty big

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spectrum to populate there, and that's where the interest came from.

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But like you, same thing. It's like, this is pretty

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cool what these people do. And I never tire of

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hearing what people do.

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Yeah, I agree, it's I think my sense of it

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is a little bit of I had a lot of

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career in decision coming up as well, which is kind

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of funny coming from the background I came from, you know,

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with a dad who was doing career assessments, and he

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told me early on, like I think you'd enjoy this,

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I think you should do this, But I couldn't hear

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it from him. Yeah, And so I think having that

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experience of not knowing, like what should I do with

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my life, that question like occurred to me really really young,

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and I think I really identify with people who are

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struggling with that question and looking for a meaning in

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their life. And I do think I agree that work

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can be an incredible place for providing meaning and pursuit

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and like all of the things that make make it

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possible to kind of manifest your interests, and that is

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really interesting to me. I think my interest in leadership

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comes from the downstream effect that how we especially in

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the workplace, the downstream effect of like how we interact

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with other people and the impact that has on their lives,

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both in really incredibly positive and horribly negative way.

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No, no question, Ross, and I do want to get

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I want to finish with some of that because I

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do also believe in the power and the responsibility of

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leading people. Before we ever get into that, though, I

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do want to first situate you have a very interesting

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I think philosophy or framework through which you view leadership.

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I think leadership is one of those words that has

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become so mainstream that it doesn't really mean anything anymore.

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So let's talk about your philosophy, your framework here.

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So you know the framework, such as it is, I

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think of it as everyday leadership. I think what was

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occurring to me was a couple of things. As this

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idea was developing, I was coaching a lot of people

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who are in leadership roles and kind of walking with

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them through the discomfort of how do I identify with

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this idea? And that's at every level from people who

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are leading a team for the first time, to people

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who are stepping into the CEO role for the first time,

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to people who are stepping into a new CEO role

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at a different company. There just seemed to be these

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events that happened that change the way that we identify

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with our work and what it means for me to lead.

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And so I started thinking about, well, very practically, people

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would say what should I read in this circumstance, And

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I found myself referring books to people that kind of

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with a caveat, or saying like, read these pages, or

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just look at the first half because the last half

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is about being a CEO or and I felt like

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nothing was really framing leadership up as I saw it

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in its most atomic level, like getting to the atomic

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parts of what does it mean to lead? And so

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I started thinking about that and thinking about if you

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start pulling away other psychological constructs from what we associate

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with leaders things like authority or power or you know,

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in many circumstances like money or just title, if you

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start taking those things away, like what's left. And that's

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where I arrived at this idea that like, if you

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don't think about leadership as emerging in an event or

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as part of an endeavor. Then the only thing that's

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left is like day to day behavior, and that's incredibly mundane,

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but it's really powerful because I think the you know,

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the everyday leadership model that I write about in the

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book Scales it works at the at the you know,

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me and my family level, and it also works at

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the person you know creating an electric car company level.

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Because you're getting down to, like, what are the actual

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elements that make up what we call leadership? And I'm

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happy to get into that, but I'll pause there.

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Yeah, let me let me first situate before you get

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into some of the elements here. Right, One of the

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things that I that struck me is interesting and notable

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is you say, at the fundamental level, leadershi is a

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relationship with other people, and it is a form of

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interaction that is accessible to anyone. And this kind of

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framing opens the possibility that leadership happens all the time

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between and among all kinds of people. And that so

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the repeated gestures in our relationships, of practices of communication

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and collaboration and the effort we put into the every

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day is really what it is. It's not about these big,

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grand theories and these really big grand effects, you know,

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and I just think that is so accessible for people.

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Yeah. Yeah. The way I started thinking about it, even

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more recently than that, is like, leadership is not complicated. Yeah,

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what is complicated is how I, as an individual relate

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to the idea of leadership. And that's where, like all

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of coaching exists, at least leadership coaching, and I think

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a lot of that's where also a lot of the

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kind of confusion and cross wires and discomfort and lack

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of confidence or all of that stuff exists there. And

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I think it's because I do this when I do

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workshops related to the book, which we start by doing

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like free writing exercises about what you think of when

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you think of the word leadership, Who do you think of?

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What does a leader do? What does a leader not do?

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To try to draw to the surface what are called

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the implicit leadership theories that you kind of carry around

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based on cultural impressions or media that can you consume,

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life experiences anything like that. I think the more aware

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we become of how much we already think about leadership

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and have preconceived notions about it, the easier it becomes

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to then say, like do I actually believe that. Do

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I identify with that or is this kind of implicit

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assumption making my ability to think of myself as a

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leader harder? So that's where that idea came out.

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I think that's brilliant. I love that practice. I definitely

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want to get into a couple.

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I don't know what else you want to say about

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the model, but I definitely wanted to have you talk

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about what a leader does in terms of the fundamental elements,

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the intrecipation, participation, co operation.

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But I wasn't there if you wanted to situate something

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before that.

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Yeah, you know, anticipation to the point of like, what

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is leadership at the fundamental level? It is a social phenomenon,

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which means there have to be is among people. You

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can't lead on your own, you know. It's just sort

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of like if a leader leads in the woods and

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there's nobody there to be led, is leadership happening? Kind

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of mixed metaphor. And another thing that that kind of

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comes up in these conversations is the discomfort that people

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have with the idea of taking time to think in

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a leadership position. And I think a little bit of

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this is cultural, a little bit of it is you know,

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like hustle culture, Like if you're not doing something, you're

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not you're not doing something, and the idea of thinking

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becomes really stagnant. But it's an essential part of what

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it means to lead. And so the model is basically

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informed by you know, old behavioral psychoology research from the

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fifties and sixties that got at the fundamental factors that

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make up leadership, behavior or task or behavior, relationship, oring

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and behavior, and chang ory and behavior. I started thinking

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about that in like how would I actually talk about

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that to a person at a bar? This is kind

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of the mode that I was writing in, and I

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came up with these ideas of anticipation, participation, cooperation, so

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that when leadership is happening, somebody is having a thought

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about what they can observe and how they might affect

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it or change it. They're taking action on that thought,

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and they're inviting people into participate in that, and that's

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all it is. Like, that is what leadership is. That's

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the phenomenon, and that scales, like I say, all the

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way from how I think about my family to starting

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a company.

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Awesome. I love that.

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So I want to talk more about each of those

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because I think it makes sense. But let's grab our

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first break and then we'll come to.

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That sounds good.

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I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes, who run here, doctor

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Ross Blankenship, who's the founder of the Leadership Coaching and

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Consulting from Tuesday Advisors, where he coaches a array of

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leaders and leadership teams to improve performance, communication, and decision making.

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He also advises founders and investors on leadership assessment and

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town strategy.

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We've been talking.

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About his book, Everyday Leadership, will be right back talk

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next about how to scale leadership.

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Doctor Elise Courts has as a management consultant specializing in

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meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps

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companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose

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inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance

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and commitment within the workforce. To learn more, or to

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invite at least to his to your organization, please visit

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her at Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to

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get your employees working on purpose. This is working on

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purpose with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today

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00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.359
or to open a conversation with Elise. Send an email

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to a lease A Lisee at Eliscortes dot com. Now

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back to working on purpose.

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Thanksteresting with us, and welcome back to working on purpose.

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I'm your host, doctor ales Cortes, as I am dedicated

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to help and create a world where people realize her

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potential at work are led by inspiration leaders that help

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them find and contribute their greatness. And we do business

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at Betters the World. I keep researching me writing my

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own books, so my last one came out in twenty

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twenty three. It's called a Great Revitalization. How activating meaning

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and purpose can radically and live in your business. I

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root to help readers understand how much their workforce has

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changed what they need and want from their work, and

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then I provide twenty two best practices to help equip

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you to provide that for them in their leadership and

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your culture. You can learn about my books by going

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to Amazon or my website at least qure test dot

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00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:11.920
com if you are just joining us. My guest is

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doctor Ross Blank and Ship, the author of Everyday Leadership,

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a guide to developing your mindset as a leader. So

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let's start in a little bit here just to kind

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of help our our listeners and viewers become more familiar

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with those three tasks of leadership that you mentioned before

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the break.

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Where do you want to start?

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I'm happy to just kind of pick up and chat

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about the model itself. The awesome you know. I've struggled

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to come up with like a good slide for the model,

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and it only occurred to me after the last talk

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I gave that a good image in your mind is

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like a wheel with three spokes, because I think what

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that helps imply is that each of the three pieces

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of the model, anticipation, participation, and cooperation have to be

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present in order for leadership to occur or to have occurred.

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The idea there is you know, anticipation is thinking, so

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it requires kind of observing what's going on, having a

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thought about how things could change, what you could do,

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a company, you could start. You know, it's really kind

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of anything. What we usually call that part of leadership

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as a vision. Why I don't like that word is

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because it feels totally inaccessible to average people. I think

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I think that we all do have vision. I think

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it just occurs to us more as like expectations or

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imagination or even just ideas for how things could go,

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what we could do. So there's that fundamental element of

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thinking that's required. But if all you do is think,

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you know, you may just be daydreaming, you may be wondering,

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you may be reading. You know, there's lots of different

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ways to interact with that type of behavior that's not

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leadership in order for you to get to leadership, Like

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think about the next spoke in the wheel would be participation,

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which is acting. So you have to do something with

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the thought. You know, if you never if you never

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act on it, nothing ever happens. And I think what

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I what I like about that combo as kind of

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on the route to leadership but not leadership, is you know,

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if you have an interesting thought and act on it,

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you can be writing, you can be speaking. There's a

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lot of things you can do there that are not leadership.

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I struggle a little bit with the idea of what

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thought leadership might be because I think there are ways

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of thinking about I'm you know, I'm writing down ideas

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that are in theory, like drawing people in too, some

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way of thinking about something that could change. But I

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think the the others spoke here is cooperation, which is

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there is you have to interact with people about your ideas.

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You have to you know, either share them, draw people in.

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You have to kind of convince them that it's a

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good idea, idea. And the outcome of that is that

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you're accomplishing something that an individual can't accomplish. And like

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that's when leadership has happened, or when leadership is occurring.

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And you know, like I've said, the reason I like

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that idea is because it strips away all of the

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things that we tend to associate with leadership, like having

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a big title or having a I mean, in today's age,

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it's like having a big audience. You know, you don't

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need any of that stuff to do what is leadership.

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You can do it in a single interaction in a day.

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It doesn't mean that you're always operating in that way,

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but it's just a way of interacting. It's a relationship

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that you have with other people that is kind of

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defined in certain ways. I like it.

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It's just crisp and it is accessible.

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And then I don't know if that if your model

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relates to the next to those behaviors you mentioned before

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the breaker, if there's another level in there. But if

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you could go on to those, the other behaviors of

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relationship tasks can change or to be as well.

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Yeah. I think what's useful about having both language around

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like anticipation, participation, cooperation and the task relationship and change

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orient behavior is it gives you like a footbridge into

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the research and into things that you encounter in organizations,

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like competency models or assessments. You know, I think it's

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a little bit easier to think about what is a

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task oring and behavior in an organization? What's a relationship

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wearing and behavior? Things like setting goals, giving feedback, change

425
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orent behavior could be like setting a strategy. Those are

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the types of things that you encounter in competency models.

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And what I like about building that bridge is it

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gives people a way of inferior at least evaluating what

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am I good at, what do I prefer doing, where

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do I get a lot of energy, and using that

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to then identify like I may not be as good

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at relationship or your behaviors, or like where I need

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to develop as change or behaviors in order to round

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myself out as a leader. I think it then also

435
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opens the door importantly for like what should you go read?

436
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You know what other what other research should you do?

437
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Because all these books that I refer to people, I

438
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still like the books. It's just that I think it

439
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helps to have a little bit of context around like

440
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what is leadership and how do you relate to that

441
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idea and then identifying like, Okay, what I could use

442
00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:35.319
the help with is you know, how to think more strategically,

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and there's tons of resources about how to do that,

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or how to build better relationships at work, how to

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get along with people. You know, there's I think it

446
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creates avenues and like development angles for people who are

447
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looking to grow.

448
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Very helpful to segment that.

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Now I love the idea of situating the idea of

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of scale, and I wasn't sure or you know, when

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you talk about how leadership evolves, if you're also referring

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to you know, when we get our first supervisory job,

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and then we get the management job, and then we

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maybe get the director job or whatever, those are all

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different levels. And I tend to segment or different shape

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management from leadership. But if we talk about how leadership

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in general evolves, and I don't know if you have

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a perspective or a view on management versus leadership. Let's

459
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start there. I guess that's.

460
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A good question. I think I do. I don't know

461
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that it's quite as articulate as others you've written about that.

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My tendency is to think that management is a little

463
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bit more of a technical process based practice, and leadership

464
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is more of a relational social practice. You know, I

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think functionally in talking about how the task of leadership evolves,

466
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it probably is pretty similar to management. And in fact,

467
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a lot of my thinking about this was shaped by

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a management philosopher and psychology Elliott Jacks, who's a Canadian

469
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:06.880
psychologist who passed away a number of years ago. But

470
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.559
he had a theory called stratified systems theory that was

471
00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:13.480
basically like how close is the individual and the work

472
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:16.480
that they're doing in an organization. Basically, this is a

473
00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:18.759
very simplified version of it, and the idea is like,

474
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.920
as you get higher, you get farther and farther away

475
00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:25.240
from what's happening. And what is interesting to me about

476
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:29.960
that is it implies that relationship orent behavior is more

477
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.279
important the higher you get, because you have to be

478
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.680
more influential, you have to you know, you get farther

479
00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:39.680
away from the actual doing of the thing, which means

480
00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:42.720
that it's happening through other people. You're having to convince people,

481
00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:47.720
You're having to communicate more effectively. And I think the

482
00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.119
other thing that's interesting about that is even just the

483
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:53.240
idea that the task of leadership evolves should shape how

484
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:57.440
you think about approaching new jobs. I think there can

485
00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:59.960
be a tendency to think I've learned how to lead,

486
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:04.000
and so I'm a leader end of growth. And I

487
00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:07.039
think the better way to think about it is this

488
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:10.359
changes all the time. It may be different day to day.

489
00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.599
It's certainly going to be different as you rise up

490
00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.279
in an organization or as you work in different types

491
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:19.279
of organizations. And that's to say nothing of like how

492
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.480
do you actually relate to the task of leadership at

493
00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:24.480
an identity level? You know, one of the things I

494
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:28.279
talk about is the feeling of being productive will change

495
00:26:28.359 --> 00:26:31.200
as you as the scale of your leadership changes. And

496
00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:34.480
most of us learn how to feel productive by doing work.

497
00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:38.960
You know, a lawyer reviews documents, a psychologist does assessments.

498
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.359
Maybe you know there's an amount of like, I'm doing

499
00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:44.079
the task and the product is done, and I have

500
00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:46.640
the product in my hand. At the very highest level,

501
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:50.039
you may be doing none of that, and so you

502
00:26:50.119 --> 00:26:52.000
have to kind of rethink what does it mean for

503
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:54.839
me to be productive here? And probably at the most

504
00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.799
senior levels, the most productive thing you can do is

505
00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:01.279
the least tangible. You know, it is influencing people. It's

506
00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:05.599
convincing them of something or getting them on board. So

507
00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:08.960
I think that that kind of changing psychological nature of

508
00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:10.640
leadership is what interests me about that.

509
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:16.640
I really like how you how you have elucidated that.

510
00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:19.400
I think that really is it just really does help explain.

511
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:21.960
And then I think the higher you go, the better

512
00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.359
you have to be at uniting people as well, just

513
00:27:24.359 --> 00:27:27.440
the influencer piece of course. Okay, well, so let's go

514
00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:29.000
on here. The next thing that I want to get

515
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.119
into from your book that I appreciated. I mean, what

516
00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:32.720
I try to do is just take a little bit

517
00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:35.240
sub chunction with different chapters that I that I that

518
00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:38.519
I really was connected to. But I like the idea

519
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:41.400
of you know, learning how your practice leadership of course

520
00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:44.400
is committing that you mentioned earlier, committing to a process

521
00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:46.240
of learning. So let's talk about kind of how you

522
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:49.359
situate what's involved in learning m.

523
00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:53.559
You know, It's funny, the more I have taught and

524
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:56.880
thought about what is involved in learning, the more I

525
00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:02.880
think is just being uncomfortable. I think a lot of

526
00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:06.359
a lot of the conversation are on learning. I think

527
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:11.759
it brings up the topic of imposter phenomenon or syndrome,

528
00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:14.640
if you want to call it that. You know, I've

529
00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:16.759
started to even think about it just as like imposter

530
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.440
feelings because I think they're so common, and they're especially

531
00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:24.119
common among effective, successful people, which is kind of where

532
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.799
the idea comes from. Is like, you know, you have

533
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.079
impostor phenomenon if you are successful, but you don't feel

534
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:33.480
like you belong, so there's an amount of of pre

535
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.880
existing evidence that you're wrong. That's related. And I think

536
00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:41.720
if you if you think about kind of the precursors

537
00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:44.799
to that feeling, to feeling like an impostor and the

538
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.240
feelings of learning something new, they're almost the exact same.

539
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:51.319
You know, it's I don't know enough, I shouldn't be

540
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:55.680
doing this. This is hard. You know, there's an amount

541
00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:01.319
of general discomfort. One of things I like, I can't

542
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:03.559
remember who talks about this, but basically it's like, if

543
00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:06.200
you want to get good at anything. The main thing

544
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:08.920
you need to get good at is feeling bad at it,

545
00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.440
because that means you're learning, you know, you're pushing the

546
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:14.799
boundary of your confidence. The reason I like thinking of

547
00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.359
leadership as a practice is because it implies that it's

548
00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:20.240
not an accomplishment. It's not something that you arrive at.

549
00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:24.960
It's something that you're continually thinking about and working on

550
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:29.240
and evaluating in a process of you know, let me

551
00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:31.920
observe to the extent that I can and maybe even

552
00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:34.559
getting others, you know, in like a three sixty multi

553
00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:38.039
radar feedback type process, where am I what do I

554
00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:40.440
want to be doing? How am I lining up with that?

555
00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:43.240
What do I do to shore up the gap? And

556
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:45.720
then you're kind of continually doing that, And I think

557
00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:49.640
that's how you can become more adaptable to changing circumstances,

558
00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:53.039
become more adaptable to the changing nature of leadership. As

559
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:55.559
leadership scals like, all of these things I think are

560
00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.680
kind of bake into that idea of you have to

561
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:02.400
be open to to learning and being uncomfortable in order

562
00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:03.720
to get better at things.

563
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:07.920
Yeah, and then they also mentioned situational awareness too, that

564
00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:11.599
is so so important as being able to recognize, you

565
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.000
know what when you walk into a room, for example,

566
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:17.720
and does everybody stop talking that might tell you something,

567
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:22.440
you know, or does everybody just immediately, you know, brace

568
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:25.799
themselves or you look like they're afraid, or are they

569
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:28.960
leaning in and looking welcoming? Those are all paying attention

570
00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.319
to those sorts of things I think is really important.

571
00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:33.920
And then of course you also say and then the

572
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.519
fourth thing that you mentioned was something like improvisation, which

573
00:30:36.519 --> 00:30:39.000
I thought was really interesting if you can stay more

574
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:42.480
about both the situational awareness and the improvisation.

575
00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:50.200
Yeah, yeah, you know, situational awareness, situational judgment. That's that

576
00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:52.799
also relates idea of like leadership as a practice to me,

577
00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:56.000
which is which is why I push really hard against

578
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:58.599
like the five practices of every leader, or like the

579
00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:01.960
seven things that you have to do, because it's super

580
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.079
different for each individual and each circumstance that they find

581
00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:09.759
themselves in. And I think what it requires then to

582
00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:14.160
learn what to do is is evaluating the circumstance. You know,

583
00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:17.480
I don't know that I would say the everyday leadership

584
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:20.559
model works quite like this, but I think even just

585
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:24.279
thinking like if I walk into a room and everybody

586
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:28.079
like gets quiet and backs up intense. It's like to

587
00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:30.240
me that says, like what you need to do. You

588
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:32.839
need to like go through your mental rolodex, like relationship

589
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:36.680
or your behavior, Like you need to connect right. You know.

590
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:39.200
It's like if nobody stops talking and everybody's having a

591
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:41.160
great time, that's great, but like you might need to

592
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:45.680
get everybody on task. You know. It's sort of a

593
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:47.799
way of thinking through, like what's the lever that I

594
00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:53.759
need to pull here in order to try to lead

595
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:57.240
the improv thing. I've come to like that idea more

596
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:02.359
and more on a see a lot of from listening

597
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:07.079
to people on podcasts like on Cone O'Brien needs a Friend,

598
00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:08.960
like listening to people who are trained and improblem in

599
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.680
the way that they interact with other people who do improv.

600
00:32:13.319 --> 00:32:18.079
There's an amount of like not having any attachment to

601
00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:21.799
how you think things should go yes, that I think

602
00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:24.119
opens you up to like being more observant to what

603
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:27.559
is happening. There's sort of like a radical acceptance of

604
00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:30.759
like here is what's happening, and in that circumstance you're

605
00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:33.480
saying like yes and and kind of following the thought

606
00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:39.279
as it goes. I like that idea in the leadership

607
00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:43.359
practice as a way of pushing yourself to be more

608
00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:45.400
open to what is happening and how do you respond

609
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.960
to it, rather than saying like, this is not what

610
00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:50.880
should be happening, what I thought wanted to happen was X,

611
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:52.680
Y or Z. I think you can get kind of

612
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:54.960
wrapped around the axle of your expectations in that way

613
00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:01.920
and not attend to the actual needful thing in the moment. Sorry,

614
00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:02.799
go ahead, Oh.

615
00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:03.480
I was just going to say.

616
00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:05.640
I've been taking new proquests for a couple of years now,

617
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.960
and for just exactly that reason. It helps me so

618
00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:11.400
much more effective with my own team, much more than workshops.

619
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.400
It just allows me to be able to play with

620
00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:17.960
that which is gets present and served up among the

621
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.519
group that I wouldn't have ever anticipated.

622
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:21.240
It's better than that.

623
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:25.759
Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, I think facilitating groups, it's it's

624
00:33:25.799 --> 00:33:28.400
critical to do that because it's usually like the little

625
00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:32.480
random tangents that you pull on that create the better insights. Yeah.

626
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:35.559
Yeah, and it's not it's not you know, something that

627
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:37.680
is just you know, we I want to say tired,

628
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:40.000
and you know you play it from all the time.

629
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:42.400
It's truly is totally fresh and creative.

630
00:33:43.079 --> 00:33:46.559
Yes, I also like, I just bought this book. I'm

631
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:48.359
gonna I'm going to blank on the author's name. It's

632
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:52.079
called Improv Wisdom. It's from the former uh uh. It's

633
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:54.680
a woman who's a professor at Stanford and she either

634
00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:58.279
taught or teaches an improv class there to like business

635
00:33:58.279 --> 00:34:01.400
school students, and it's a really popular bus. But the

636
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:04.839
subtitle of the book is don't prepare, just show up.

637
00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:08.000
And I kind of like that too. It's like, just

638
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.360
like strip away all of your preconceived notions and just

639
00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:12.320
show up and go be you know, go be you.

640
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:17.440
That's another idea that I that is kind of woven

641
00:34:17.480 --> 00:34:21.280
into the everyday leadership ideas. You have to develop sort

642
00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:23.559
of your own theory of what it means for you

643
00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:28.480
to lead. Because the more energy you've been trying to

644
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.519
fit yourself into a model that you've either like adapted

645
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:37.159
or acquired or passively accepted or whatever, the less sustainable

646
00:34:37.159 --> 00:34:39.800
it is every time. And I will tell you from

647
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:44.119
having coach leaders who are in very high level jobs,

648
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:47.840
it is incredibly stressful. And if you're wasting energy trying

649
00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:49.320
to do it in a way that you think it

650
00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:51.360
should be done rather than just how you do it.

651
00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:53.679
You're going to run out of energy, you know, you're

652
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.239
going to burn yourself out, or you're going to just

653
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:58.239
do it in a way that's you know, it comes

654
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:02.760
so unnatural that people experience that, and it makes it

655
00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:03.519
harder to connect.

656
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.239
Love the conversation. Here we are, let's grab our last break.

657
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:11.320
I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes on air with doctor

658
00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:14.599
Ross Blankenship, the founder of the leadership coaching and consulting

659
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:17.599
firm Tuesday Advisors, where he coaches a wide array of

660
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:21.599
leaders and leadership teams to improve performance, communication, and decision making.

661
00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:25.039
He also advises founders and investors on leadership assessment and

662
00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.719
talent strategy. You're talking about his model and some of

663
00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:31.000
the elements of what he believes are the critical behaviors

664
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.599
of leadership. After the break, we're going to dive into

665
00:35:34.039 --> 00:35:37.440
the idea of how at tension shapes our behavior.

666
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:38.360
We'll be right back.

667
00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:57.480
Doctor Elise Court has as a management consultant specializing in

668
00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:01.239
meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps

669
00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:05.119
companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose

670
00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:09.519
inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance

671
00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:12.599
and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to

672
00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:15.719
invite Alease to speak to your organization, please visit her

673
00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:19.000
at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get

674
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:27.840
your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose

675
00:36:27.960 --> 00:36:31.199
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or

676
00:36:31.239 --> 00:36:34.000
to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to

677
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:39.599
Elise A Lise at elisecortes dot com. Now back to

678
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:40.880
working on Purpose.

679
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:47.480
Thanks for sting with us, and welcome back to working

680
00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:50.320
on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor release Cortes. I mentioned

681
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:52.039
in the last brink that my book came out to

682
00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:54.840
great vialization. What I did for you is I created

683
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:57.960
a very simple three page organizational assessment that you can

684
00:36:57.960 --> 00:37:00.840
pull off my website gusterdashnal dot com, and it will

685
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:03.280
help you ascertain the extent to which your current culture

686
00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:06.559
really meets the needs and wants it today's discerning workforce.

687
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:09.920
You can find it at gustodeshnow dot com. If you

688
00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:12.480
are just now joining us. My guest is doctor Ross Blenkinship,

689
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:15.119
the author of Everyday Leadership, a guide to developing your

690
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:19.239
mindset as a leader, So getting into this idea, this

691
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:21.239
and this makes complete sense to me as well. You

692
00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:24.199
talk about how attention shapes behavior, and of course you're

693
00:37:24.199 --> 00:37:27.039
interested in the voluntary kind, how we direct our attention

694
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:30.480
and to decide what to focus on. Talk to us

695
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:32.519
a bit about the power of attention.

696
00:37:33.239 --> 00:37:39.639
Yeah, yeah, you know, attention is interesting. It's especially interesting

697
00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:41.599
in this kind of cultural moment that we live in.

698
00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:45.320
There's a lot of even recently books coming out like

699
00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:48.239
Chris Hayes's new book or Sole and Focus. There are

700
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:51.800
lots of books that talk about how much, especially social

701
00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:58.000
media kind of creates this addictive pattern for drawing our

702
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:02.159
attention in some places. It's interesting even rereading the little

703
00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:07.599
segment about voluntary versus involuntary attention and thinking about social

704
00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:11.800
media and starting to wonder, like, how much voluntary attention

705
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:15.320
do we actually have? But I think, you know, the

706
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:18.639
thing that is interesting to me about that is also

707
00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:21.920
tied up in the everyday noss of this idea, which

708
00:38:21.960 --> 00:38:26.639
is you have a limited amount of time and kind

709
00:38:26.639 --> 00:38:31.079
of attention in a day to sit down and do

710
00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:35.239
whatever it is you're going to do. And if the

711
00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:39.679
thing you're doing is you know, doing work at your

712
00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:43.760
desk rather than going and talking to people. You will

713
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:49.079
probably accomplish something, but you have to evaluate, like how

714
00:38:49.159 --> 00:38:53.079
much of what am I I'm accomplishing is helping my

715
00:38:53.199 --> 00:38:56.360
group or my organization or whatever get towards the goal

716
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:59.480
that we're trying to accomplish together. And I think the

717
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:03.800
reason I like attention in this context is it's so individualistic.

718
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:08.159
You know, we all know that feeling of being drawn

719
00:39:08.199 --> 00:39:11.519
in by something or or the task of trying to

720
00:39:11.559 --> 00:39:15.199
train your attention on something. But I think it implies

721
00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:18.719
at the very kind of day to day, moment to

722
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:24.119
moment level where this occurs, this idea of you have

723
00:39:24.199 --> 00:39:26.679
to train your attention on the thing that you're trying

724
00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:31.719
to pursue, where you can't like create anything. You know,

725
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:34.760
the you can relate to this, and this is the

726
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:36.960
way that it occurs to me as somebody who's written

727
00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:41.039
a book, so much of the work is just sitting

728
00:39:41.079 --> 00:39:45.440
down to do it without overthinking, like what am I

729
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:46.960
going to do when I sit down, Like you just

730
00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:49.880
have to get to the desk and like train your

731
00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:52.960
attention on it, and you know, over time it becomes

732
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:55.679
a book. But if you can't sit down and do it,

733
00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:58.159
it will not. And I think a little bit of

734
00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:01.800
that is related to probably think about leading other people

735
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:05.840
and being a social phenomenon. You know, this comes out

736
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:08.800
in the research as people who are extroverted tend to

737
00:40:08.840 --> 00:40:15.360
be tend to over represent people in leadership positions. I

738
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:17.199
think a little bit of that is just people who

739
00:40:17.239 --> 00:40:19.760
are extroverted enjoy being around other people and get energy

740
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.079
from that. It has nothing to do with being extroverted

741
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:26.079
meaning that you're a better leader. But I think what's

742
00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:30.760
helpful in thinking about that in this context is you know,

743
00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:34.079
if being around people and having conversations all the time

744
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:37.719
is exhausting and you don't enjoy it, then leading in

745
00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.400
some circumstances is going to be exhausting and you want

746
00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:43.440
enjoy it. And so I think, you know, the more

747
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:45.920
that you can boil down, like what is the actual

748
00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:48.800
task and what I'm trying to accomplish related to what

749
00:40:48.880 --> 00:40:51.840
do I want to attend to during the day, it

750
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:54.360
can be a really helpful way I think of directing

751
00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:57.079
your energy in a way that will help you be

752
00:40:57.320 --> 00:41:01.119
either kind of deductive in a way that you want

753
00:41:01.159 --> 00:41:03.239
to be in order to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish.

754
00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:03.599
Or not.

755
00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:07.679
And I think we can extend this conversation about attention

756
00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:09.519
here in terms of what are you trying to accomplish?

757
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:13.480
I really like your three frames of pragmatic, strategic, and existential.

758
00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:17.800
We've got to talk about those for us.

759
00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:21.760
So this is a model that I call thinking in frames.

760
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:26.880
I think this kind of emerged out of helping people

761
00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:34.000
think through career decisions, where the so at the fundamental

762
00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:36.280
kind of day to day level, there's the pragmatic level.

763
00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:40.480
I think of the strategic level as kind of the

764
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:43.840
next level of the how am I thinking about the future,

765
00:41:44.679 --> 00:41:48.079
and that can be anywhere from tomorrow to three years

766
00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:51.400
from now plus and then the existential is kind of

767
00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:56.440
the broadest, you know, basically like what does my life mean?

768
00:41:56.679 --> 00:41:58.119
What do I want it to mean? How do I

769
00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:02.519
want to spend my time on earth? You know, getting

770
00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:07.800
out into the broadest possible philosophical context of like what

771
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:09.360
does it mean to be a person? What does it

772
00:42:09.400 --> 00:42:13.639
mean to know things? In like a more pragmatic way,

773
00:42:13.719 --> 00:42:17.199
in a more kind of academic way. I think of

774
00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:20.800
this as an approach to coaching that's basically like cognitive

775
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:27.079
behavioral coaching with an existential rapper because you know, I

776
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:32.440
think cognitive behavioral methods can be incredibly powerful and useful,

777
00:42:32.840 --> 00:42:35.679
and they all have a limit. You know, if you

778
00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:37.800
if you get all the way out to the edge

779
00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:40.559
of like what you can think and do and feel,

780
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:47.039
inevitably you encounter things like theology and spirituality and questions

781
00:42:47.079 --> 00:42:50.440
about what does any of this mean. You know, you

782
00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:56.760
can help somebody be incredibly successful in the profession, and

783
00:42:56.920 --> 00:43:00.519
frequently what happens is if they achieve a very tangible

784
00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:03.679
goal that they've been pursuing for a long time, it

785
00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:07.840
is either a relief because they've been after it for

786
00:43:07.880 --> 00:43:12.440
so long. This is there's research about Olympians don't feel joy.

787
00:43:12.519 --> 00:43:16.599
Typically they feel relief when they win a medal and

788
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:20.440
it lasts, you know, a couple of days. There there's

789
00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:22.719
an article I think it was in The New Yorker

790
00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:27.679
about like the Therapists to the Stars, who said, you know,

791
00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:30.480
I typically don't hear from my Oscar Winter clients for

792
00:43:30.519 --> 00:43:35.039
about three weeks, but it wears off and then you realize, like, oh,

793
00:43:35.079 --> 00:43:37.840
achieving that didn't change like how I feel about things

794
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.840
or the fact that I'm still me, And those questions

795
00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:44.639
are all existential questions. They are not you can't quite

796
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:46.559
get at them. I think in the same kind of

797
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:50.559
comitive behavioral way. So this thinking in Frame's idea is

798
00:43:51.239 --> 00:43:54.920
how do you shift from the very pragmatic what can

799
00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:57.880
I do today? What do I have control over to

800
00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:01.079
the extent that I have control over things. The strategic

801
00:44:01.159 --> 00:44:02.599
level then is like what am I willing to do

802
00:44:02.719 --> 00:44:04.920
today in order to make something happen in the future,

803
00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:07.679
So that could be I'm going to go to business

804
00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:09.760
school because it's going to set me up two years

805
00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:12.519
from now to be able to do, you know, consulting

806
00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:17.199
or something. And then the existential level is and how

807
00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:18.880
do I want to spend my time? You know, what

808
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:21.320
does it mean to be a person? What do I

809
00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:24.159
want to accomplish in my life, not just in my profession.

810
00:44:25.039 --> 00:44:29.159
And the kind of method there is is not planting

811
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:32.079
yourself in any one of those brains, but it's cycling

812
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:37.440
through them. So really simple example could be I'm going

813
00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:40.000
to change jobs to get a raise. You know, at

814
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:42.880
the pragmatic level, you might say, like we need more

815
00:44:42.880 --> 00:44:46.159
money to support our family. Strategically, you might say this

816
00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:48.679
is going to put you in like a different career trajectory.

817
00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:50.920
Is that were the direction you want to be going,

818
00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:53.360
and existentially you might say it's going to require a

819
00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:55.119
lot more time, and what I really want to do

820
00:44:55.159 --> 00:44:57.719
is spend time with my family. So it's a way

821
00:44:57.719 --> 00:45:01.760
of kind of figuring out what are the parameters that

822
00:45:01.800 --> 00:45:05.400
you're solving for and how do they impact ultimately, like

823
00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:07.840
your values, you know, and what you want to prioritize

824
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:08.360
in your life.

825
00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:13.559
I really like that, again, very accessible. We're coming close

826
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:14.880
to the very end of the show here. We have

827
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:16.639
a couple of minutes left here. I want to finish

828
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:18.559
with where we kind of started ross and that was

829
00:45:18.599 --> 00:45:20.480
what do we owe the people we lead?

830
00:45:23.480 --> 00:45:23.719
You know?

831
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:28.239
It's it's an interesting question that I got past the question.

832
00:45:29.119 --> 00:45:32.280
I kind of I kind of like it just as

833
00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:36.239
a question rather than something that I feel equipped to answer.

834
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:40.440
You know. The short answer I think would be, we

835
00:45:40.519 --> 00:45:44.360
owe something to the people that we lead. You know,

836
00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:47.599
I kind of end the book on the impact that

837
00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:51.679
we have on the people around us, and especially you know,

838
00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:55.039
to get back to where we started, especially in leadership positions,

839
00:45:55.119 --> 00:45:58.880
because you may have an amount of authority or control

840
00:45:59.159 --> 00:46:03.280
or power or whatever over somebody else's life and the

841
00:46:03.320 --> 00:46:06.119
way that you interact with them. Absolutely goes home with

842
00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:09.000
them through the door. You know, this is the idea

843
00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:11.480
that I kind of think of as the leadership commons,

844
00:46:11.559 --> 00:46:14.559
Like what does it mean to have an impact as

845
00:46:14.599 --> 00:46:17.320
a leader for the common good of the people around you?

846
00:46:19.039 --> 00:46:23.199
Which is to say, you are having an impact, whether

847
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:25.760
it's good or bad, whether you're aware of it or not,

848
00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:28.280
whether you're trying to be intentional about it or not,

849
00:46:28.400 --> 00:46:31.480
the impact is happening. You know, there is no neutral here,

850
00:46:34.199 --> 00:46:38.239
and I think you know in that way, you have

851
00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:41.320
a responsibility in a leadership role to be mindful of that,

852
00:46:42.119 --> 00:46:44.719
you know, to at least consider the question what do

853
00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:47.360
I owe the people that I lead? Yeah, you know,

854
00:46:47.400 --> 00:46:50.599
I attempted to kind of get into the philosophy of

855
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:56.519
like like what do we owe other people? Which is

856
00:46:56.519 --> 00:46:59.360
a really rich philosophical stream that I'm kind of ill

857
00:46:59.360 --> 00:47:03.159
equipped to navigate solo, I think, and I kind of

858
00:47:03.159 --> 00:47:05.559
wound up just leaving it as an open question in

859
00:47:05.599 --> 00:47:07.960
the book because I think it raises so many other

860
00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:11.360
important questions that I think can bring people into other

861
00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:13.480
areas of their life that they tend to court an

862
00:47:13.559 --> 00:47:18.800
off for work in a useful way, Because ultimately, I

863
00:47:18.840 --> 00:47:20.480
think you have to kind of show up as a

864
00:47:20.559 --> 00:47:25.039
leader in the kind of fully individualized way that you

865
00:47:25.159 --> 00:47:27.920
can in order to be as effective as you can

866
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:33.039
be as yourself. I like the.

867
00:47:33.039 --> 00:47:36.440
Questions that you ask in that particular chap, and what

868
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:38.599
kind of impact are you having? Are you grinding people

869
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:41.119
down or building them up? Are you holding them accountable

870
00:47:41.119 --> 00:47:43.440
by letting them know only when they fall short or

871
00:47:43.480 --> 00:47:45.800
given them the feedback showing them how to improve and

872
00:47:45.840 --> 00:47:48.960
teach them how to excel? Are you infusing positivity or

873
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:53.760
injecting negativity into leadership comments? I think those are valuable questions,

874
00:47:53.840 --> 00:47:55.480
and I can tell you I mean in the work

875
00:47:55.519 --> 00:47:58.480
that I do in organizations. You know, leadership is such

876
00:47:58.519 --> 00:48:00.920
a personal thing. As you say in your can I agree,

877
00:48:01.320 --> 00:48:04.199
And oftentimes leaders are not aware of the impact they

878
00:48:04.280 --> 00:48:05.880
have on the people, for better or for worse.

879
00:48:07.239 --> 00:48:10.960
Yeah. Yeah, I've experienced that directly and I've observed it

880
00:48:11.559 --> 00:48:15.199
indirectly as well. It is an unfortunate reality.

881
00:48:15.239 --> 00:48:17.480
Yeah, which is why why we exist.

882
00:48:17.559 --> 00:48:17.880
Right.

883
00:48:18.440 --> 00:48:20.519
So we've come to the end of the show here.

884
00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:22.320
While this shows us some of my people around the

885
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:25.280
world that care about improving their own connection to their work,

886
00:48:25.480 --> 00:48:28.039
becoming a better leader, and trying to build organizations that

887
00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:30.760
really aren't doing things that better the world?

888
00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:32.039
What would you like to leave them with?

889
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:37.119
The question that I always come back to in my

890
00:48:37.239 --> 00:48:39.280
own mind and in my work with people is what

891
00:48:39.320 --> 00:48:43.079
are you trying to accomplish? You know? I had a

892
00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:47.599
client yesterday say, I you asked me that question, and

893
00:48:47.639 --> 00:48:50.440
I've been thinking about it and I can't sleep because

894
00:48:50.480 --> 00:48:53.599
if you really ask yourself the question, I think there's

895
00:48:53.599 --> 00:48:55.880
an easy answer, like I'm trying to grow my company,

896
00:48:56.039 --> 00:48:58.039
you know, But if you really ask it at the

897
00:48:58.039 --> 00:48:59.840
broadest possible level, zoom all the way out to the

898
00:49:00.039 --> 00:49:03.039
existential level, like what are you trying to accomplish? It

899
00:49:03.039 --> 00:49:07.719
can have a reorienting effect on your whole life, and

900
00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:11.559
I think a really positive way, And it's a it's

901
00:49:11.599 --> 00:49:14.119
a powerful question to ask in any circumstance, what are

902
00:49:14.159 --> 00:49:15.599
you trying to accomplish?

903
00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:19.039
Yeah, beautiful us very happy to know you, to learn

904
00:49:19.079 --> 00:49:20.920
from you, and if not be connected with you.

905
00:49:21.199 --> 00:49:22.760
Thank you for being on working in a purpose and

906
00:49:22.800 --> 00:49:25.159
sharing your heart and your soul. Appreciate it.

907
00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:27.280
My closure, Thanks so much for having me les.

908
00:49:27.599 --> 00:49:29.039
Very very welcome listeners.

909
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:30.360
In a fewers you were going to you want to

910
00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:32.639
learn more about doctor Ross Blankenship, the work he does

911
00:49:32.679 --> 00:49:35.079
at Tuesday Advisors and his books. You can start by

912
00:49:35.119 --> 00:49:39.039
visiting a couple sites. His personal site is Ross Blankenship

913
00:49:39.199 --> 00:49:42.760
dot io, So Blankenship b l A N K I

914
00:49:42.880 --> 00:49:46.119
N s h I, P Ross Blanketship dot io or

915
00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:51.119
his company site Tuesday Advisors dot com. Last week, if

916
00:49:51.119 --> 00:49:52.679
you missed the live show, you can always catch up

917
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:55.360
you recorded podcast. We were on air with Monica Mitchell,

918
00:49:55.519 --> 00:49:58.079
who was built a thirty year career at AT and

919
00:49:58.119 --> 00:50:00.840
T where she has moved seven times. Today she leads

920
00:50:00.840 --> 00:50:03.079
an organization of one hundred and twenty employees and manages

921
00:50:03.119 --> 00:50:06.679
a three billion dollars software development portfolio. We talked about

922
00:50:06.719 --> 00:50:08.760
how the workforce has changed in the last few years

923
00:50:08.760 --> 00:50:10.840
and how we can design a workplace that meets the

924
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:14.239
needs and wants of today and tomorrow's workforce. Next week

925
00:50:14.239 --> 00:50:16.360
will be on the air with Toneil Miller talking about

926
00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:19.960
her book The Flourishing Effect, Unlocking Employee thriving and high

927
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:23.760
Performance as your competitive Advantage. See you there, Remember that

928
00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:25.480
work as one of the best adventures and meanings and

929
00:50:25.519 --> 00:50:28.280
realizing our potential and making the impact we crave and

930
00:50:28.360 --> 00:50:30.119
can give us the opportunity to do business in a

931
00:50:30.119 --> 00:50:31.280
way that betters the world.

932
00:50:31.559 --> 00:50:32.960
So let's work on Purpose.

933
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:39.039
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

934
00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:42.760
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,

935
00:50:42.880 --> 00:50:46.079
each week on W four C. Why Together, We'll create

936
00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:50.239
a world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion

937
00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:53.360
performance and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the

938
00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.760
meaning and purpose They crave see you there, Let's work

939
00:50:56.840 --> 00:50:57.519
on Purpose.