AJ Hawk is the all-time leading tackler in Green Bay Packers history. He won a National Champion at Ohio State University and was voted captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team (2010-2011). He was inducted into the Ohio State University Hall of Fame in 2019. Currently, he is a co-host on The Pat McAfee Show which airs weekdays on ESPN and YouTube. (AJ is my younger brother).

Keith Hawk spent 30+ years as a sales leader. At one point, more than 1,000 people were in his charge. Keith now regularly speaks around the world on such topics as Leadership, Principled Negotiation, Consultative Selling, and Building Thriving Corporate Cultures. He is the co-author of two popular business books, Get-Real Selling, and Terrific – Five Star Customer Service. (Keith AKA “Pistol” is my dad).

Watch this conversation on YouTube. And SUBSCRIBE!

Order Our NEW USA TODAY Best-Selling BOOK, The Score That Matters. “People spend far too much time obsessing about external scoreboards and not nearly enough time thinking about their internal one. Hawk and Cupps offer an important corrective, arguing the most important measure is whether or not you are living in alignment with your core values.” — Brad Stulberg, Best-Selling Author of Master of Change

Be part of “Mindful Monday” — Text Hawk to 66866

The Learning Leader Show

  • Tell a story about an awesome leader you worked with…
    • Ron Ullery – I’m a firm believer that people either live up to or down to your expectations. And most people set their expectations for themselves too low. So it’s on you as a leader to raise those expectations for them. Demand more because you know they can do more.
    • Tyler Cowen – The high return activity of raising others’ aspirations. Encouraged someone who was going for an MBA to get a Phd. At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, especially when they are relatively young, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind.  It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous.
  • What helps you give a great speech? How do you prepare?
    • Ask, “What do I want my audience to do after seeing my speech?” Interview members of their team. Learn their terminology, challenges, what’s going well, what’s not, what are their goals, etc…
    • Practice, practice, practice. Say it out loud. Rehearse so that once you’re on stage, you can let it rip.
  • What did the best teams you’ve been on do differently than the average teams? 
    • The best players on the best teams always practiced the hardest. They set the tone for the work ethic of the team. They chose extra work. They set high standards and they demanded others raise their level of performance.
    • The best teams hung out together outside of work. AJ was a Captain of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning team in 2010-2011… That team regularly hung out together outside of working hours, shared lots of meals, and knew each other extremely well. They trusted each other.
  • Tell a story about how you’ve shown resilience… Failed and what did you do next?
    • The Miami/Ben Roethlisberger story – The world doesn’t care what you think you deserve. The primary goal is focused on adding value to others’ lives.
    • AJ shared a story from his sophomore year at Ohio State. His defensive coordinator, Coach Mark Dantonio sat with him 1 on 1 watching each play of the Michigan game. A day he’ll never forget for how hard it was, how upset he was, and how determined he was to respond. AJ never lost to Michigan again in his career after that.
    • Pistol shared a story about the time when the new CEO wanted to bring in his own head of sales (which was Pistol’s job). Instead of complaining and leaving the company, he got creative and offered a new idea and a great way to leverage all the skills and knowledge he developed from being at the company for so long. It is amazingly rare for the head of sales to stay at a company after he’s been replaced. But he thrived in the role and made the company better.
  • Front line obsession – Pistol’s story of the legendary Mert McGill going to the Supreme Court to demo LexisNexis and earning the most important sale in the company’s history. I love stories about leaders proactively taking action and not being afraid to do the work.
  • Update since Episode #500:
    • Built the Learning Leader Team — Officially working full-time with Sherri Coale, Brook Cupps, Geron Stokes, and Eli Leiker. We are working with leaders from a wide variety of companies throughout the U.S.
  • The magic of the Pat McAfee Show — They are unafraid. They say what others are thinking but are too afraid to say. They are authentic and fully themselves. They have great role clarity. Everyone knows and embraces their roles and excels at them.
  • The End of the Podcast Draft – You’re stranded on a deserted island. You have one iPad. On that iPad has 5 TV shows (and nothing else). Which shows do you choose? This is a competition with a clear winner and losers. The object is to win the draft. 
Resources:

Time Stamps

More Learning:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 216: Jim Collins — How To Go From Good To Great

Episode #300: AJ & Keith Hawk – How To Instill Work Ethic & Curiosity In Your Children

Episode #303:  General Stanley McChrystal – The New Definition Of Leadership