Nate’s Notes 79: Ryan Hawk | Learning Leadership From The Learning Leader

Ryan Hawk has become one of the top leadership experts in the world, and I love the lessons he shared today.

First, the greatest determining factor of your long-term success or failure is your who. When Ryan finally got Jim Collins on the podcast after years of trying, Jim’s advice to Ryan was to focus on his who. According to Jim, the biggest determining factor of our success is our friends, our partner, and our mentor. So before anything else, think about your who.

Second, those who consistently perform at a high level compared to those who don’t is that they have a bias for action. In the words of Herminia Ibarra, “We learn who we are in practice. Not in theory.” We can learn from watching, but we learn infinitely more by doing.

Third, to be interesting, you need to be interested. If we approach every interaction with others with a genuine intellectual curiosity and we ask questions trying to learn about them and their stories, and if that becomes our default setting, it will make us more interesting.

In summary, figure out your who, take action, and be interested.

All simple ideas. Please take them seriously.

Ryan Hawk Bio:

Ryan Hawk is the host of The Learning Leader Show, and he has recorded more than 500 episodes over the past eight years. Forbes called The Learning Leader Show, “the most dynamic leadership podcast around.” Inc Magazine said, “it’s one of the 5 podcasts to make you a smarter leader” and Apple named it an “all-time best seller.” Ryan is also the author of two books: Welcome to Management and The Pursuit of Excellence.

When Ryan isn’t podcasting or writing, he’s helping leaders be more effective through his Leadership Circles, one-on-one advising, and The Learning Leader Academy, the online school he created. Ryan has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches on leadership and performance excellence all over the world.

I hope you enjoy learning from Ryan Hawk today, because I always do.