Life As Leadership

Quint Studer has led for decades in education, healthcare, and community development. He is an entrepreneur, a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, and he co-owns a minor league baseball team in Pensacola, FL. His newest book, The Busy Leader’s Handbook: How to Lead People and Places that Thrive came out at the beginning of October.

Josh, Jake, and Taylor discuss Monday’s interview with Anese Cavanaugh and the responsibility and opportunity each person has to shape the culture around them. They discuss whether or not they are conscious about how they present themselves in their energy and influence, areas they feel like they can become a more self-aware leader, and the three “contagious culture killers” of busyness, gossip, and a lack of direct engagement. They also discuss how to both take care of yourself well and make sure you are showing up for others.

Anese Cavanaugh wants to help you bring your best self to the table in order to create significant positive impact in your life. She is the creator of the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence) and an advisor and thinking partner to leaders and organizations around the world. She has written three books: Her first is called Contagious Culture, her second is The Leader You Will Be, and her third—which was released just last week—is called Contagious You: Unlock Your Power to Influence, Lead, and Create the Impact You Want.

Josh, Jonathan, and Thomas discuss Monday’s interview with Jono Bacon about the importance of communities f0r brands and organizations. Their discussion includes what brands do this well, whether or not they have been able to provide help within a brand’s community, and how capitalize on strengths and minimizing weaknesses when developing a community. They also discuss why organizations may shy away from attempt to build community and why they might develop it for the wrong reasons.

Jono Bacon is a leading community strategist, speaker, author, and podcaster. He founded his own consulting company and has served as Director of Community at multiple organizations. His clients include Huawei, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Sony Mobile, Deutsche Bank, and others. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed The Art of Community, a columnist for Forbes and opensource.com, and founder of the Community Leadership Summit and Open Collaboration Conferences. He has also written a new book entitled People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brand, and Teams, which is being released November 12th.

Josh, Jake, and Molly discuss Monday’s interview with Dr. Thad Hicks about leadership in Emergency and Disaster Response settings. Their discussion includes the value of experiential education, whether a grizzly or shark would win in a fight, the balance between make a quick decision and an informed decision, how EDR leaders learn from their mistakes, and why others do not do as good of a job at learning from their mistakes. They also discuss how to prepare others to handle higher-stress situations.

Dr. Thad Hicks is the Director of the Emergency and Disaster Management program at Ohio Christian University. He has served as the Director of Emergency Disaster Services at The Salvation Army along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where he was responsible for all Salvation Army emergency and disaster relief operations in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Dr. Hicks continues his relationship with them as a trainer and consultant, allowing for an abundance of real-world experiences for students at OCU with one of the world’s largest non-profit organizations active in emergency and disaster work. He currently sits on the editorial Board for The Journal of Emergency Management, a top tier academic journal in the emergency management field.

Josh, Cody, and Michelle talk about Monday’s interview with David Komlos and David Benjamin, who recently wrote a new book, Cracking Complexity. Their discussion includes the difference between what is complex versus what is complicated (and which they tend to deal with more), whether they prefer things that are complicated or things that are complex, and some of the details related to getting enough people together (requisite variety) to solve complex problems. They also discuss the three iterations of the complexity formula and which they would be best at.

David Komlos is CEO of Syntegrity, a consulting firm that specializes in applying the Complexity Formula in organizations. David has done this in some of the most interesting and high-stakes situations in the world, including inside Fortune 15 boardrooms, with international aid, in content creation in sports and entertainment, and in improving access to life-saving products. David Benjamin co-founded Syntegrity and is the chief architect behind the organization’s implementation of the Complexity formula outlined in today’s book. David advises Fortune 500 companies and government leaders on how to organize for complexity. Together, they are the authors of Cracking Complexity: The Breakthrough Formula for Solving Just About Anything Fast. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Complexity is uncertainty, unscientific, has a high human element, and is often uncharted territory. Complicated things are usually linear, have a blueprint, and can be easily handled by experts. Requisite variety is the "necessary and sufficient mix of peo

Josh, Bryce, Elijah talk about Monday’s interview with Liza Looser. Their discussion includes what leaders they’ve known have done to form strong bonds, how we as leaders can build that trust, and the value of branding when it comes to who we choose to have in our lives.

Liza Looser is the founder and CEO of The Cirlot Agency, a global brand strategy, integrated communications, and business development firm specializing in public relations, creative development and media strategy. Over the past 35 years, the firm has grown to represent both private and public companies on a national and international basis. It has also become known as one of the top three aerospace defense communications agencies in the nation. Liza has degrees from Mississippi University for Women and Harvard Business School, and she is the Chairman of the Board of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Mississippi.

Josh, Parker, and Michelle discuss Monday’s interview with Melisa Celikel. The discussion includes their favorite time-saving tips and tools, how they’ve handled burnout, their experiences with leaders who are more or less organized, and which type of person they are. They also discuss the importance of remaining flexible and open to change in leadership and what their Zone of Genius is.

Melisa Celikel consulted in the employee relations space for five years at several Forbes 500 companies including Roche, Abbott, and GE. She has spent the last 2 years consulting for small businesses with her company called Let’s Get You Organized. She is a master of productivity, time management, and process improvement, and she has a knack for digging deep with leadership teams to find their zone of genius, hone in on their mission & vision, set goals strategically, and discover the needle movers to increase their profitability. As a business owner herself, she understands the brain of a Founder and can speak directly to their pain points.

Josh, Jake, and Maria discuss Monday's interview with JJ Sutherland on the Scrum process. Their discussion includes where they naturally seem themselves in the three roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Team Member), how conflict resolution would work within the system, how Scrum-like feedback loops naturally arise in our interactions, and the important of having - and finding - a single priority (as opposed to multiple "priorities"). They also discuss the dynamics of cooperation and competition on teams.

JJ Sutherland is the CEO of Scrum Inc., a consulting and training firm that uses Scrum to rapidly deliver results in companies across the globe. He is the author of The Scrum Fieldbook: ​A Master Class on Accelerating Performance, Getting Results, and Defining the Future​ and coauthor of Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, written with his father, Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum. Previously, he was an award-winning Correspondent, Producer, and Baghdad Bureau Chief for NPR. He covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, and the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. He has won Dupont, Peabody, Edward R. Murrow and Lowell Thomas awards for his work.

Josh, Elijah, and Issac discuss Monday's interview with Dr. David Pittman, director of the Engineer Research and Development Center at the US Army Corps of Engineers. The talk about the differentiation between formal authority and moral authority, the relationship between leading and teaching, and how they approach preparation and opportunity-seeking in their own lives.

Dr. David Pittman is the Director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (more commonly known as ERDC). As Director, he manages one of the most diverse research organizations in the world – seven laboratories located in four states, with more than 2,100 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and a $1 billion annual program. The center’s research and development supports the Department of Defense and other agencies in military and civilian projects. Dr. Pittman is also the Director of Research and Development and Chief Scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In that role, he is responsible for creating policy and performing strategic planning, direction and oversight of research & development for the Corps’ Military and Civil Works programs and for the Warfighter. He advises the Chief of Engineers on matters of science and technology and sets conditions for success in all science and technology conducted in the Corps.

Josh, Bryce, and Jake discuss Monday’s interview with Oscar Trimboli on the five levels of deep listening. Their discussion includes whether or not they listen well, some of the difficulties of deep listening, why we do not always ask the deeper level of questions, and what level of listening we use the most. They also discuss Oscar’s point about the emphasis on using speaking to influence in the 20th century versus the need for listening as leaders in the 21st century.

Oscar Trimboli is on a quest to create 100 million Deep Listeners in the world. He Sydney, Australia and is an author, host of the Apple Award winning podcast Deep Listening and a sought-after keynote speaker. He has been a marketing director at Vodafone and Microsoft, and he is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces around the world. Through his work with boards of directors and executive teams in organizations around the world, Oscar has experienced firsthand the transformational impact leaders and organizations can have when they listen beyond the words. He consults organizations including Cisco, Google, HSBC, News Corp, PayPal, and TripAdvisor helping executives and their teams listen to what’s unsaid by the customers and employees.

Josh, Cody, and Molly talk about Monday’s interview with the teachers at the Paramount Schools Network (AKA the leadership reflection episode). Their discussion includes how your followers might describe your leadership, what you would want them to say, the weight we place on character and competence in our own leadership, and how to handle high expectations for volunteers. They also pose this question: Do you know where your followers want to go both personally and professionally? If you know this and can get them to those points, you will be able to have incredible influence in the lives of others.