Lead with a Story Podcast | Lessons in leadership,

Middle management gets a bad rap. It brings to mind terrible bosses from the Dilbert cartoons or Michael Scott from The Office, or a career graveyard for mediocre leaders unable to reach the upper echelons of management. And that’s too bad. Because the truth is, most of us are in middle management and always will be. So, rather than languishing in it — which only bolsters the lousy reputation — lean into it. With the right tools, you can be wildly successful as a middle manager. And this week, I spoke this week with someone who literally wrote the book on those tools. Scott Mautz spent 20 very successful years in middle management at The Procter & Gamble Company. Today he writes for Inc. Magazine, is a keynote speaker and leadership coach, and the author of the new book, Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization. In our conversation, Scott shared a few of the tools he recommends to middle managers. Click play above to listen. Here’s an overview of our conversation with a small sample of tips from the book: 3 Tools for Managing UP: How to Disagree with Your Boss 1) Always discuss INTENT before CONTENT – When you need to tell the boss they’re wrong, diving right into your disagreement can be off-putting and lower the likelihood they’ll listen and agree. Instead, preface the content of your disagreement with your intent in sharing it. That way they know the disagreement is coming from a place of respect and desire for mutual success, as opposed to a result of animosity or desire to see the boss fail. Something like this, “You know, you told me when I first got here that I should be candid with you. I think you’ve been a great boss, and I respect what you’ve accomplished here. But on this issue, I’m in a different place. And so, my intent here is to give you some other alternatives that I think will help us be more successful…” 2) Be respectfully candid – And both words are important. If you’re not candid, you won’t make a difference. And if you’re not respectful, you’ll offend and won’t earn the right to be candid. 3) Avoid judgment words – These conversations go south when the language starts to seem accusational. It sounds like this, “…and the reason why I think you made that decision is because you’re too power hungry (or not empathetic enough, or don’t care about your employees, etc.)” Stick to the decision and the ramifications. Let them do their own self-analysis unless they ask you for your opinion about that. 3 Tools for Managing DOWN: How to give feedback so that people view it as a gift 4) Be specific – Bland, generic feedback won’t help. Telling someone they’re too analytical isn’t actionable. Give specific examples of what they did well and did poorly. “You probably spent too much time and effort analyzing the ABC project and as a result, most of what you did never even got shared with management because it wasn’t very helpful.” 5) Be calibrated – Meaning, the feedback needs to indicate how big a deal the mis-step was and what ramifications it might have, if any, on their future career. If you just tell them they didn’t meet your expectations in the last meeting, and leave it at that, they might spend weeks spiraling into unproductive worry. Instead, give them some indication of the severity. Either, “…but that’s okay. That’s about where I would expect you to be this early in your assignment”, or “…so, we’ll need to work on this quickly so that it doesn’t hold you back.” 6) Be proportionate – Human beings want five pieces of positive feedback for every piece of negative feedback. Many of them want what Scott calls a “compliment sandwich” — tell me something good about me, them give me the negatives, then close with something else good. 4 Tools for Managing ACROSS the organization This is for when you’re trying to influence your peers or other people you have no direct authority over. And if you think about the people in your work life who’ve influenced you the most, even though they had no direct authority over you, Scott’s research suggests those people did one (or more) of the following four things: 7) Cared about you, and showed it somehow 8) Listened to you when you needed it 9) Gave you something, or 10) Taught you something Investing in people in these ways tends to earn you their ear and their respect, which means they’ll be more open to following your leadership even though they don’t have to. You can learn more about Scott at scottmautz.com. And if you go to scottmautz.com/freetools, you’ll find some free tools to help you lead from the middle. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox.  The post 10 Tips to Succeed in Middle Management appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.

\n“My experience as a leader is that all the conversations that really mattered happened in corridors when I was in transition from one meeting to the next. And it would be really easy — because of the time constraint — to just say, ‘This is what I think you should do…’. And yet, one of the most effective things you can do as a leader is say, ‘What do you think?\'” \r\nJenny Robinson\n\n\n\nPhil Renshaw and Jenny Robinson joined me this week with some simple techniques for how to be a better coach to your people in only a few minutes a day. All ideas they’ve captured in their new book, Coaching on the Go: How to lead your team effectively in 10 minutes a day. \r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHere’s an outline of our conversation. Click play above to join in. . . \r\n\n\n\n\n2:15 – What’s this book about?\r\n3:50 – Who’s it for?\r\n8:45 – Chapter 6: Self-awareness\r\n – Imposter syndrome: Jenny’s self-doubt on landing a top publisher\r\n14:10 – The same experience from Phil’s perspective\r\n\r\n17:10 – 3 tools to be better at Self-awareness:\r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStep back and notice what you notice – Create a break in your routine so that it’s easier to do. An alarm on your phone, etc.\r\n20:40 – Repeating or paraphrasing back what you heard\r\n22:05 – Tentative naming\r\n\n\n\n\nPhil started his career in international banking, treasury, and finance. Today, he’s a management and executive coach with a special expertise in the value of international assignments. \r\n\n\n\n\nJenny has worked in communication, coaching, and change management for most of the last three decades. She is also a visiting fellow and Ph.D. researcher at the Cranfield School of Management in the UK.\r\n\n\n\n\nYou can find out more about their work at www.coachingonthego.co.uk. You can contact Phil at phil@coachingonthego.co.uk and Jenny at jenny@coachingonthego.co.uk. \r\n\n\n\n\nClick these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean.\r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. \r\n\n\n\n\nConnect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.\r\n\n\n\n\nSign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox.\r\n\n\n\n\n\nThe post 3 Simple Tools for the Self-Aware Leader appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.\r\n

\n\n\n\nImagine you’re driving home from work one night around 8 pm. It’s cold. It’s raining. And there’s a dirty, slushy, melting snow on the ground. You glance out the car window and you see a young girl huddled up on the side of the road. She looks cold, scared, alone, and injured.\r\n\n\n\n\nYou pull over and invite her into your warm car, and take her to a diner for a meal.\r\n\n\n\n\nShe doesn’t speak to you the entire time. She just sits there, staring down into her plate while eating, dripping gray water all over the seat. Your mind races though all of the unthinkable possibilities for what might have lead her to this place in life.\r\n\n\n\n\nWhen she finishes eating, still not having said a word, she peels herself off of the plastic seat, gets up, and heads toward the exit. You watch as her frail little back walks away from you. In two more seconds, she’ll be through the door and gone from your life forever.\r\n\n\n\n\nAt that moment, what do you do?\r\n\n\n\n\nEmily Chang doesn’t have to imagine. She knows. Because this happened to her. At that moment what she decided to do was yell out, \r\n\n\n\n\n“Where are you going to sleep tonight”?\r\n\n\n\n\nThe girl stopped. Her shoulders quivered a bit. And Emily continued, “I have a spare room.”\r\n\n\n\n\nThat girl became the first of sixteen people over the last 25 years to have been blessed to spend some of the darkest times of their lives in the respite of Emily Chang’s spare room.\r\n\n\n\n\nAn abused child bride. An unwanted boy with hydrocephalus. A girl raised in a brothel. And over a dozen other young people whose lives were changed for the better in Emily’s spare room.\r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmily documents their stories in her new book, The Spare Room: Define Your Social Legacy to Live a More Intentional Life and Lead with Authentic Purpose. In the book, she not only shares their unforgettable stories, but the life and leadership lessons we can all learn from them.\r\n\n\n\n\nIn this episode, Emily describes one of those young people lucky enough to spend some time in Emily’s spare room. Click the play button above to hear the story of Devon, a child bride thrown out of her own home.\r\n\n\n\n\nEmily Chang has worked in leadership positions at Procter & Gamble, Apple, and Starbucks. Today she serves as the CEO of China for the global advertising giant, McCann. You can find Emily at https://social-legacy.com/.\r\n\n\n\n\nClick these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean.\r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. \r\n\n\n\n\nConnect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.\r\n\n\n\n\nSign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox.\r\n\n\n\n\n\nThe post The Spare Room appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.\r\n

\n\n\n\n“Hi, my name’s John. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m the new CFO here at the airline.”\r\n\n\n\n\n“So f–ing what?”\r\n\n\n\n\nThat’s the beginning of how a senior airline executive learned to put employees first in their leadership communication. \r\n\n\n\n\nMy guest this week who shares that story is Gary Ross, who started his career as an Emmy-nominated TV news reporter. He then led the communications departments at Hyatt Hotels, CDW, and Fortune Brands. Today he’s a trainer, coach, and consultant for CEOs to help them tell their stories better and inspire their people.\r\n\n\n\n\nWe work through several of Gary’s most important leadership communication lessons, including the difference between Transparency and Clarity. It turns out one of those things is an absolute necessity for leaders. The other is not. Click the play button above to listen to our conversation and find out which is which.\r\n\n\n\n\n1:00 – Being an Emmy-nominated TV reporter\r\n2:55 – Running Inside Comms consulting\r\n5:30 – Learning the value of putting employees first – Gary tells the story of an airline CFO getting cursed out by a production worker for bothering him on the job\r\n8:30 – how he put that lesson to work later as the CEO of CDW.\r\n15:08 – Articulating the difference between Transparency and Clarity.\r\n19:00 – Why meeting someone without anything to offer is just wasting their time\r\n\n\n\n\nYou can find out more about Gary and his work at https://www.insidecomms.com/\r\n\n\n\n\nClick these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher or Podbean. \r\n\n\n\n\n—\r\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. \r\n\n\n\n\nConnect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.\r\n\n\n\n\nSign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox.\r\n\n\n\nThe post Transparency vs. Clarity: One is Necessary for Good Leadership, One is Not appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.\r\n

How Michael Brody-Waite went from a drug addict on the street to CEO and what you can learn about leadership from his journey. read more The post What Drug Addiction Taught Me About Being a Better Leader appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.

Humor Engineer, Drew Tarvin, recently partnered with the Procter & Gamble alumni organization to start a new podcast with former P&G executives called Learning from Leaders, and it’s open to the public. Join me on this episode with Drew for a brief discussion about the podcast, some of its early guests, and some of the early insights from his interviews with these industry leaders. You can find Drew’s new podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and most of the podcast servers. Or, find it here: https://www.pgalums.com/podcast  To learn more about Drew, visit: humorthatworks.com. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. https://amzn.to/3hItHly The post Learning from Leaders appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.

“Hey Paul, I’m thinking about writing a book. Can we talk? I’d love to get some advice.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten that email since my first book came out eight years ago. I usually end up spending an hour explaining everything I’ve learned about the subject. And I’m always happy to do so. But on my podcast this week, I had someone on who knows far more about it than I do — publisher and global credibility expert Mitchell Levy. And his method turns everything I thought I knew about getting books published on its head. Click the play button above and listen to our conversation about: 3 reasons why people typically write a book What your “Customer Point of Pain” (CPOP) is My first mistake after writing a book Why asking “How do I sell more books” is the wrong question to ask Would you feel awkward introducing yourself as a “bestselling author” (Spoiler: I do.) Mitchell’s #1 technique for getting a book into people’s hands. Amazon’s KBD program How to be a bestselling author with only 10 hours effort You can find out more about Mitchell at his website: mitchelllevy360.com. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. https://amzn.to/3hItHly The post The 10-hour Plan to Publish a Bestseller appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.

Jason Hartman has been earned a small fortune in real estate across 11 states and 17 cities. His office boasts pictures of him with Richard Branson, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Forbes, Tony Robbins, and Brittany Spears, among others. But he didn’t start his most profitable business until he sold his real estate company and created a business that had never existed before. And that’s where this week’s lesson comes in. Click play above to listen to my conversation with Jason where he’ll share what lead up to all that. We get to the first big lesson around the 14-minute mark, and number two starting at 16:30. Key Take Away After listening, here’s my challenge to you: Over the next week, any time you find yourself wanting something that just doesn’t exist (yet), write it down. By the end of the week, you’ll have a whole list of great business ideas. You can find Jason at www.jasonhartman.com or email him at Jason@jasonhartman.com. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post From Frustration to Founder: Building a Business That Should Have Been There Already appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.

I normally don’t pull a bait-and-switch on my podcast guests. But this week I did. I was scheduled to interview Jacob Morgan about his new book The Future Leader: 9 Skills and Mindsets to Succeed in the Next Decade. But Jacob is a futurist, and specifically an expert on the future of work — he wrote a bestselling book by that exact title back in 2014 and is the founder of FutureofWorkUniversity.com. So when I found myself interviewing him on March 31, right in the middle of the Coronavirus outbreak when 80% of the U.S. was on mandatory stay-at-home and work-from-home orders, I knew I needed to pivot. Who better to talk to about how all this is affecting the way we work and how we can prepare for the challenge? I started by asking Jacob for his take on what he sees as the biggest changes right now to the way people need to work (2:50). Then we moved on to his advice on how to do adapt to those changes. Below is a brief outline of the territory we covered. Click play above and see how your job and preparation stack up. . . How to cope with these changes: (11:00)     1. Accept the chaos (12:00)          – This is just temporary, mostly!          – Some things will never go back to the way they were (6:35)     2. Make time for self-care (12:35)          – Eat healthy and workout          – Don’t watch news all day          – Don’t constantly fret about your bank account          – Stay connected with friends     3. Invest in learning new skills (14:20)          – Like how to run virtual meetings     4. Revisit career goals – maybe it’s time for a change (16:00)     5. For entrepreneurs, find new revenue streams – re-strategize (17:25)     6. Opportunities:          – Practice human skills, like empathy for those affected most          – Recommit to what you want your business to stand for (19:10)               – i.e., No layoffs at Visa – Virtual dates (22:00) 7. Is this the future you envisioned? (23:00) Jacob can be found at FutureofWorkUniversity.com and TheFutureOrganization.com Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post How COVID-19 is Changing the Way We Work and How You Can Adapt appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

Confession: I was a little disappointed when I started reading this book and realized it was fiction. I thought I was reading a serious, non-fiction business book. But then I couldn’t put it down. And by the time I was done, it was my favorite business book I’ve read in the last year.  That was just one of six true confessions I admitted to author Skip Prichard while interviewing him about The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. Like an experienced novelist, Prichard weaves a magical tale of mystery and intrigue so captivating you won’t even realize you’re learning something important about your work and your life. I’d compare it to Eliyahu Goldratt’s The Goal. In fact, I think it’s better.  As I do with all my podcasts, I’m including a little something below to read as a summary. But the summary is only a fraction of the value and enjoyment you’ll get out of listening to our conversation and reading the book. Click play above and join us to learn more about success, and the rest of my confessions. . .  9 Mistakes #1 – Working on Someone Else’s Dream – Don’t let your parents, spouse, friends, or strangers define your dreams for you. A life choreographed by someone else is not our finest performance. Live your own dream. (Another confession: I made this mistake 35 years ago and have regretted it ever since. Details in the interview at 18:15)  #2 – Allowing Someone Else to Define Your Value – Don’t let other people slap a price tag on you and tell you what you’re good at and not good at. Don’t accept limitations others put on you.  #3 – Accepting Excuses – If you want to take your life back, take your thoughts back. Excuses cannot withstand positive self-talk.  #4 – Surrounding Yourself with the Wrong People – Don’t spend more time picking out your clothes than you spend picking out your friends. Your friends determine your fate because we emulate the people we spend time with.  #5 – Staying in Your Comfort Zone – Mediocrity is the end result of too much comfort. Leaders consistently push beyond what’s comfortable.  #6 – Allowing Temporary Setbacks to Become Permanent Failures – There’s nothing wrong with a setback. Just keep going.  #7 – Trying to Blend In Instead of Standing Out – Most of us spend our lives learning to blend in when success is about standing out. Sameness makes you a commodity.  #8 – Thinking There Is a Fixed and Limited Amount of Success Available – Success isn’t like pie. Just because other people have some doesn’t mean there’s less left over for you. Be motivated, not intimidated, by other people’s success.  #9 – Believing You Have All the Time in the World – While there isn’t a limited amount of success in the world, there is a limited amount of time. Successful people have a sense of urgency.  You can learn more at www.thebookofmistakes.com. And you can find Skip at www.skipprichard.com.  Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post 9 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Future appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

My guest this week is Bobby Herrera. He’s the co-founder and CEO of the Populus Group, one of the fastest-growing HR service companies in the U.S. And he’s also the author of a new book called, The Gift of Struggle: Life-Changing Lessons About Leading, which, interestingly, Patrick Lencioni called, “A powerful leadership book from the best CEO you’ve never heard of.” Click the play button above to hear Bobby’s personal story of struggle that made him the leader he is today and how he finally spread his company vision across the organization. We also talk about some of the lessons you’ll learn from the book.  Here’s one of the stories he shared. . .  It wasn’t until I was eighteen, in the Army and three weeks into boot camp, polishing my boots by flashlight at 11:30 p.m., that I began to re-evaluate my upbringing. Surrounded by members of my new platoon, I found that most of the others were unprepared for long hours of drills, the sergeant’s demeaning profanity, and the systematic breakdown of everything we thought to be true about ourselves. As everyone around me that night complained about waking up at 4:30 a.m. to start the next torturous day of training, I realized it was not that different from the life I had lived at home. I had already endured years of labor in the fields, rising before dawn. I had already encountered blatant racism, and I was already accustomed to living without material comforts or much free time. That night it occurred to me that what I had already experienced was as tough as what I would face in the next few months. For the first time, having struggled early in life was turning out to be an advantage. It felt like a gift not to worry whether I would make it through basic training. I never questioned whether I could handle the grueling physicality and mental strain demanded from new recruits. I simply needed to draw on the persistence, strength, and resilience I already had. I was grateful for the sacrifices my parents had made, but it took longer to internalize that my dad—a humble, powerful peasant—had accomplished his goal for our family. Even though it didn’t feel like it as a kid, he had succeeded in providing opportunities for his children that were never available to him. Eventually I began to study in earnest what struggle had taught me, why I should be grateful for it, and how I could apply the lessons it offered. In each case, struggle gave me a gift. I realized that I could often look back to an event from my past to find the clarity I needed. When I found myself facing a new challenge, my life experience could provide a new story and a crucial lesson to add to what I knew. You can learn more about Bobby on LinkedIn or at his website: bobby-herrera.com.  Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post A Leader’s Greatest Gift: Struggle appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

Not many people can claim that they taught Steve Jobs how to lead. But my podcast guest this week can. John Mattone is one of the world’s top executive coaches, along side other legendary names like Tony Robbins, or Marshall Goldsmith, or John Maxwell. He’s coached some of the most admired CEOs in the world including Steve Jobs and former Pepsi CEO Roger Enrico. He’s the author of nine books, including his latest one that we talked about today, The Intelligent Leader: Unlocking the 7 Secrets to Leading Others and Leaving Your Legacy. John shared some of his most insightful conversations with Steve Jobs and what he learned from him which lead to the first two of his 7 secrets to leading others. Click play above and have a listen. Below is a list of John’s 7 Secrets. He talks about the first two in our conversation. . .  The Seven Secrets 1. Thinking Differently, Thinking Big 2. The Vulnerability Decision 3. Having a Mindset of Entitlement Versus a Mindset of Duty 4. Leveraging Your Gifts and Addressing Your Gaps 5. Having the Courage to Execute with Pride, Passion, and Precision 6. Staying Present and Being Vigilant 7. Course Correction You can get in touch with John at: john@johnmattone.com Johnmattone.com Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post What I Learned From Being Steve Jobs’ Executive Coach appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

“People get more done when they enjoy their work. So, humor in the workplace isn’t about making work funny, or being the funniest person in the office. It’s about making work fun, and getting better results.”  That’s according to my podcast guest this week, Drew Tarvin. Drew is a comedian and former corporate IT manager for Procter & Gamble. But today he describes himself as a humor engineer because what he does is help people be more effective at work through the art and science of humor. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, FastCompany, and Inc. Magazine. And he’s the author of several books, including his most recent one, Humor That Works: The Missing Skill for Success and Happiness at Work. Drew’s so much fun to talk to I’ve actually had him on the show several times. I’ve outlined below some of the questions I asked and where you’ll find them in our discussion. But, honestly, just click the play button above and listen to the whole thing. It’s a lot of fun, and you’ll learn plenty that will make your work more fun along the way. 1:52 – Why did you write this book? 3:00 – Exactly what is humor and what is it not?  4:30 – What are some of the 30 benefits of using humor at work?  7:45 – What are the 4 types of humor we should avoid at work? “Nobody ever got fired for telling a bad joke at the office. But they get fired all the time for telling inappropriate jokes.”  15:00 – Why is the advice to “start with a joke” usually misguided? 17:15 – What are the types of humor we should use at work? 18:05 – 5 skills needed at work and 2 humor strategies that work for each one 18:55 – Drew’s favorite humor strategies You can learn more about Drew at humorthatworks.com.  Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post Humor at Work: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What Will Get You Fired appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

Most company founding stories are boring. And that’s a shame. Because nobody ever quit their job and risked everything to start a new business for a boring reason. But if you read the company website for most companies, their founding stories sound like this: “Our founder started the company in 1936 in her basement with $500 and two employees. Today we have over twenty thousand employees, offices all over the world, and last year made the Fortune 500 list for the first time…” Yawn. I mean, sure, those are impressive numbers. But so what? Every single company on the Fortune 500 started small and got huge. So, yes, your company is very successful now. But that’s not what a founding story is supposed to communicate. The founding story is about the founding of the company, not what it’s like today, and not even the 83-year journey to get where you are now. Here’s a better way (from chapter 1 of The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell): To craft a proper founding story, you need to explain the visceral, human reason why the founder founded the company in the first place. Ideally, what you’re looking for is that single moment in time where the founder decided they couldn’t stand to keep doing what they were doing one minute longer and struck out on their bold new plan. You’re looking for a time like when Fred Smith got a ‘C’ on his term paper at Yale outlining his idea for an overnight delivery company but decided to start FedEx anyway. You’re looking for a moment like when Bill Gates decided to drop out of Harvard and start Microsoft. Here’s what a story built around a moment like that sounds like: In 1990, Gary Erickson went out for a 175-mile bike ride around San Francisco with a friend. And as most bikers do, he’d brought half a dozen energy bars with him to eat when he got hungry. About 125 miles in they took a break. Gary had already eaten five of his six bars but was still famished. He looked at the sixth one in his hand and thought, No way. I can’t do one more. I’d rather starve than eat another one of these! Those early energy bars were hard and sticky and would sit in your stomach like a rock. As he was finishing up the ride on an empty stomach, Gary was thinking to himself that he ran a bakery in town, and everything they made tasted great. So, why did these energy bars—that just about every cyclist and runner were eating—have to be a bitter pill you had to swallow just to perform? That’s when Gary had an epiphany. He turned to his friend and said, “You know what. I can make a better energy bar than this!” The next day he called his mom and started working on a formula in her kitchen. After six months of trial and error they’d found just the right recipe—with whole oats and real fruit, but no oil, butter, or added sugar. He’d already named his bakery after a woman in his family. So, when it came time to give the new product a name, he thought he should name it after his father, Clifford. So, he did. And that’s when the CLIF Bar was born. Tips to craft your founding story: If the founder’s still alive, ask for an interview. If not, ask someone else who knows the original story. You’re looking for the pivotal moment that changed everything, like Gary’s epiphany a mile 125 of his bike ride. Don’t be satisfied with a vague answer about building a business or even saving the world. Find out what that moment was for your founder and craft a story around it. Ask questions as if you were an investigative journalist. Then keep asking questions until you find yourself wanting to quit your job and start your own damn company. That’s how you’ll know you’ve got the story right.  Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. Source: The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell, by Paul Smith — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post How NOT to Tell Your Company’s Founding Story appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

I got a surprising email in April of last year. It was from a woman named Meg Gibbons at a publishing company called Sourcebooks. She basically said she liked my work, and that she’d be interested in publishing one of my next books. But she said, “Here’s the deal. I only work on books designed to be read in one hour.” Basically, books for the busy executive who gets on a plane and wants to learn something important before the plane lands. I guess I hadn’t been paying attention, but there’s a whole genre of these mini-books that have popped up recently. Anyway, she asked me if I had any ideas that could fit that format. I said, “Well, I never thought about that before. I didn’t know that was a thing until just now. Give me a while to think about it.” But, it didn’t take me long. Across all three of my books, I’ve described 70 different kinds of stories people need to tell, from leadership stories, to sales and marketing stories, to stories parents tell their kids. And those books include over 250 individual stories as examples! So, I’d obviously been erring on the side of thoroughness in my writing so far. What I hadn’t done, was focus. Not all those stories are equally important. And since you can’t cram 100 stories into a book if you want people to be able to read it in an hour, this project would force me to prioritize. In fact, I figured I’d have enough space to tell about ten stories. So, that lead pretty directly to the idea and the title of the book I decided to write, which is The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell. And it’s exactly what it sounds like. The ten most important stories I think any leader needs to be able to tell at a moment’s notice. But let me start with how I picked them. I ended up settling on these four criteria: First, I looked for stories that my executive clients most frequently ask me for help with. That way, I’d know these would be practical choices for leaders. Second, I wanted stories that covered the territory of ideas that I know are critical to the success of a company. And I think anyone who’s spent thirty years in the business world like me will look at this list and think, “Yeah, those are ten stories that’ll make a difference.” Third, I wanted stories that would be useful to leaders in just about any functional discipline. Not just general management, but HR, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, IT, etc. No matter who or what you lead, these stories will be useful to you. And last, I wanted stories that wouldn’t need to change very often. That way you can feel comfortable investing the time to get them right, because you’re going to be able to tell them for years, if not decades. Ok, using those criteria, here’s what I came up with, and the first four go together because they’re about setting direction for the organization: 1) Where we came from (our founding story) 2) Why we can’t stay here (a case-for-change story) 3) Where we’re going (a vision story) 4) How we’re going to get there (a strategy story) If you can tell those four stories, your organization is much more likely to get wherever it is you want them to go. Alright, the next four go together, too. But they’re more about who we are as an organization: 5) What we believe (a corporate-values story) 6) Who we serve (a customer story) 7) What we do for our customers (a sales story) 8) How we’re different from our competitors (a marketing story) So, those stories define who you are, what you do, how you do it, and who you do it for. Okay, the last two are a little more personal: 9) Why I lead the way I do (a leadership-philosophy story) 10) Why you should want to work here (a recruiting story) Those stories help make sure talented people want to work with you and that they’ll embrace and follow your leadership. So, those are the top ten. And the book just came out last week. So, if you want to see an example of each story and learn how to find and craft your own top ten stories, check out The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell wherever you like to buy books. It’s a lot of fun and a quick read. As I said, you can probably get through it in an hour or so. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. Source: The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell, by Paul Smith — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox.   The post Behind the Pages of The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

Joshua Spodek has five Ivy League degrees, including a Ph.D. in physics and an MBA from Columbia, is a bestselling author, and a professor at NYU. So, of course he had to try his hand at entrepreneurship as well. And one of his first attempts was both a huge business success, but at the same time a bitter personal failure — a failure he didn’t truly recognize until his new investors decided to move the company to a new building, and didn’t give him a key. That kind of rude awakening is bound to lead to some serious introspection and, hopefully, some lessons to learn from it. And that’s exactly what Josh did. In my podcast this week, Josh joined me to share the story of that rude awakening and some of the lessons he learned from it, much of which is summarized in his new book, Initiative: A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work). Click the play button above to listen. And you can find out more about Josh and his work at joshuaspodek.com. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post Lessons from Getting Locked Out of Your Own Company appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

When you’re trying to help your employees be more innovative, getting them to leave their office and do their work somewhere else might not be the first idea that comes to mind. But that’s exactly what Yann Toutant recommends, and with good reason — it works. Yann explains, “Having the same habits every day is the enemy of creativity. Remote working breaks the pattern.” Importantly, he also has four creative ways to do that without resorting to working from home. I interviewed Yann in my podcast this week. Click play above and you can hear the whole discussion, including the details behind what he calls a ladder of options for working remotely — each step a little bolder than the last. Try each for a few days or weeks every month: Rung #1 – Work from anywhere inside the office, other than your normal desk. This is basically having open spaces or hot desking. Let people sit wherever they want and let that change on a daily basis. Shaking them out of their routine prompts more creative thinking. Warning: you need to go fully digital to make this work. Rung #2 – Work at one of your customers’, suppliers’, or partners’ offices. Ask permission to use space where your business partners work. You’ll naturally develop better relationships with them and learn more about what their needs, capabilities, and culture are. Rung #3 – Use a co-working space close to where you live. Instead of driving across town to work every day, find a shared workspace office to rent near where you live. Don’t waste time commuting, but don’t stay home either. You’ll find new people to learn from and be inspired by. Rung #4 – Work abroad. Next time you go on vacation, stay an extra week or two and work from there. You probably picked a fun, relaxing, inspiring place to vacation, right? Get more benefit from that choice by staying a few extra days and working from there. That beachfront cottage is probably more inspiring than your cubicle. Rung #5 – There is no rung 5. I expected Yann to tell me that the last step is to actually start working from home. But he didn’t. Home is a place you’re at every day. It’s probably no more inspiring to your creativity than your regular office. It’s also probably the hardest to get your boss to agree to. Stick to the other 4 rungs. Listen to the whole conversation above and then try climbing your own ladder to see how much more creative it can help you be. Connect to Yann on LinkedIn here. And if you’re planning on being in Holland, reach out to Yann and schedule a visit to see how it works out in person. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author of the books Lead with a Story, Parenting with a Story, and Sell with a Story. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post 4 Ways to Work Remotely Without Working from Home appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

I’ve interviewed a number of people who’ve run multi-billion dollar companies. But this might be the first time I’ve interviewed someone who’s LOST a multi-billion dollar business. At the age of 26, and fresh out of Harvard Business School, Warrick Fairfax made a successful play to privatize one of the largest public media conglomerates in Australia in a $2.25 Billion leveraged buyout. Three years later, the company went under. Today, Warrick runs Crucible Leadership, an executive coaching and leadership consultancy in Maryland, where he teaches leaders to learn from their biggest mistakes — their crucible moments, like his. Listen to our conversation above to hear what he learned from his crucible moment losing a $2.25 billion company that was founded by his great grandfather. You can learn more about Warwick at www.crucibleleadership.com including getting a free workbook to learn from your crucible moments. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author of the books Lead with a Story, Parenting with a Story, and Sell with a Story. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post Lessons from Losing a $2.25 Billion Company appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

If you’ve ever tried to use Myers Briggs in your organization, you know the problem with it. It’s just too complicated. Most people can’t remember which of the 16 personality types they are, or what difference it would make even if they could. My guest this week has a solution for that. Steve Cockrum is an expert on organizational leadership, personality, emotional intelligence, and communication. He’s the co-founder of GiANT Worldwide, a global leadership consultancy. And he’s also the author of several books including 5 Voices: How to Connect Effectively with Everyone You Lead, which we talked about on the podcast. Here’s what Steve did that’s both brilliant and simple. He synthesized and simplified the 16 Myers-Briggs personality types into 5. He gave them more common-sensical names, and created practical tools to leverage that knowledge in any group. I’ve summarized below the 5 Voices, as he calls them, as well as one of his tools for using that knowledge. But our conversation is much richer. Click play above to hear that. The Five Voices Most people speak all five, but one is our main voice. Here’s a short summary: Nurturer – (43% of the population, and 70% female) These people are the champions of relationships, harmony, and values. They are self-giving, the relational oil inside teams, they delight in the success of others, and they intuit how people will react to change. They ‘get’ people. If their voice can be heard, things will go better. Creator – (9%) They are the champions of future ideation, innovation, and social conscience. They are visionaries. They see opportunities (and dangers) first. Guardian – (30%) They are the champions of truth, due diligence, and stewardship of resources. They guard the past while looking toward the future. They help us save time and money because they are skeptical of ill-thought-out ideas. Connector – (11%) They are champions of relational networks, internal and external communication, and marketing. These are the storytellers. Pioneer – (7%) These are the champions of strategic vision. They love to align people and systems to achieve goals. They are competitive and love to win. They tend to be the boss in the commercial sector. Steve explained that the first three groups (Nurturers, Creators and Guardians, which make up 82% of the workforce) rarely feel heard, valued, or appreciated. And they don’t feel like they’re able to bring their best into a team discussion, often because they don’t feel comfortable disagreeing with others on the team. The last two groups (Connectors and Pioneers) are loud voices and tend to speak first in meetings, are heard more, and assume silence is agreement. Recommendation Once you know who is who on your team, Steve recommends trying these rules of engagement, so that everyone can be heard and leveraged the best. In a group discussion, make sure: Nurturers go first Because they don’t like to disagree with what’s already been said But they represent 43% of the people in the organization. Promise not to critique them right off the bad Creators go next Let them think outside the box and take risk Don’t judge them right off Ask them clarifying questions Guardians go 3rd Encourage them to ask the difficult questions and show us where we’re making mistakes Let them do due diligence Connectors go 4th Sell it for all it’s worth, and make us cry if you need to When we challenge, don’t take it personally Pioneers go last Listen first while everyone else talks, even though that’s probably very hard for you Be careful with your critique, so that it’s not too sharp If you want to learn more about the Five Voices, go to 5voices.comleadwithastory. There you’ll find a host of free resources, including a free assessment and free workshop. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author of the books Lead with a Story, Parenting with a Story, and Sell with a Story. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post The Five Voices in Your Company and How to Lead Them appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.

This week I had a chance to talk to Rich Berens, the CEO and Chief Client Fanatic of Root Inc. (seriously, the best job title I’ve ever heard), and a noted speaker on the issues of strategy and change. Rich has a new book out called What Are Your Blind Spots? Conquering the 5 Misconceptions that Hold Leaders Back. It’s based on his 25 years’ experience working with 800 companies around the globe, where he and his partners noticed these same blind spots popping up over and over. For the record, here are the 5 misconceptions: Purpose matters, but it doesn’t drive our numbers We have a compelling story to tell that our people care about Rational and logical presentations engage the hearts and minds of people People will not do the right thing unless you tell them what to do and hold them accountable to do it My people feel safe telling me what they really think and feel We had time to talk about one of them, and I chose #5. Click play above and listen to Rich explain that blind spot: how to identify it and how to fix it. Visit Rich at Rootinc.com and take a free assessment to identify your leadership blind spots. Click these links to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or Podbean. — Paul Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author of the books Lead with a Story, Parenting with a Story, and Sell with a Story. Connect with him via email here. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Sign up for his newsletter here to get one new story a week delivered to your inbox. The post What Are Your Leadership Blind Spots? appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.