Jeff Shesol is a multi-hyphenate leader. He’s a Rhodes Scholar, a historian, a presidential speech writer, and a 3-time best-selling author. He also had a comic strip called thatch that was nationally syndicated from 1994–1998 when it appeared daily in more than 150 newspapers.

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Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence — See why Patrick Lencioni said “this book is an absolute must-read if you care to live an excellent life.”

FORBES recently called WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT, “the best leadership book of 2020.”

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  • If you’re going to set moonshot goals for your team, you must relentlessly communicate them to all involved. The what, why, how, and when… Relentlessly communicate with vivid clarity.
  • Focus, Purpose, Urgency… This was what was lacking before President Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson helped take fragmented groups and bring them all together. Focus, Purpose, and Urgency. How can you do this for your organization?
  • John Glenn – A leader of action. He didn’t let fate determine the outcome of his life. He went after what he wanted. He had a bias for action. In a world of drivers and passengers, John Glenn was a driver and that’s what led to him leaving his mark in the world.
    • John Glenn – “Friendship 7—designed to fly itself—had begun drifting to the right, like a car with its front wheels out of alignment. Glenn took the control stick—not without satisfaction. He was a pilot, by training and temperament, and pilots take control.”
  • Press conference to introduce astronauts… John Glenn said, “I was brought up believing that you are placed on earth… with sort of a fifty-fifty proposition. We are placed here with certain talents and capabilities. It is up to each one of us to use those talents and capabilities as best as we can. A higher power will certainly see that I am taken care of if I do my part of the bargain.”
  • The space program may be the profession that requires the highest risk tolerance aside from the military. It is no surprise the original 7 astronauts were all test pilots. The Flight Director of the Apollo missions, Chris Kraft, is quoted as saying: “if we thought about odds, we wouldn’t do it (launch man into space).”
    • Bob Gilruth, head of NASA, also said: “we don’t have enough chimpanzees” responding to criticism that not enough test launches were done.
  • JFK, despite his outward speeches, was initially reluctant to go to the moon and was skeptical if it was a waste of time and money.
  • Publishing your work can change your life… In 1997, President Bill Clinton read Mutual Contempt and invited Shesol to become one of his speechwriters. During his three years at the White House, Shesol became the deputy chief speechwriter and a member of the senior staff.
  • Sustaining Excellence:
    • Need to evolve, and be open to change.
    • Musicians take risks with new albums. Be willing to take those risks as a leader.
    • Continue to challenge yourself.
  • Keynote speeches:
    • Do not ever let them get stale… But have one fundamental core message. Dr. Martin Luther King had a core theme of every speech.
  • Life and Career advice:
    • “In your 20’s, figure out where you can make your great contribution.”
    • Trial and error is good.
    • What energizes you the most?
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle
Resources:

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

WATCH this conversation on YouTube. And SUBSCRIBE!

Read my new book, The Pursuit Of Excellence — See why Patrick Lencioni said “this book is an absolute must-read if you care to live an excellent life.”

FORBES recently called WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT, “the best leadership book of 2020.”

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

Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio

The Learning Leader Show

  • “I guess I was born in Russia but made for America.”
  • The two ways to look at life.
    • Like an airport… Where you rush to get through it.
    • Or an art museum. Where you take time to enjoy your surroundings. I think we should treat more days like they’re an art museum.
  • “When you love what you do, your work stops being work and becomes a craft. And no matter what it is, you do it with pride, love, and care.”
  • “In our relationships, we should set a goal, not for someone to love us, but to behave according to our values (to be worth loving) and to be a good, caring partner. We cannot control whether people will love us, but we can control our actions and our behavior.”
  • “I’m perpetually in beta. This in beta attitude is liberating, as it gives you the chance to constantly improve yourself; to learn and grow. This doesn’t mean you need to be buried in self-help books. You just need to have this in beta attitude.”
  • “The best way to guard ourselves against our ego is by thinking of ourselves as evergreen students.”
  • Albert Einstein said, “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.” We should welcome the circumference of darkness wholeheartedly.
  • How Zeno, the founder of Stoicism approached his students: “He did not claim to be a physician– he saw himself as a patient describing the progress of his treatment to fellow patients in the hospital beds beside him.”
  • When Vitaliy’s mother died (he was young), it made him appreciate his dad much more. I think we’d all be better off if we made the most of the time we have with the people we love and never take them for granted.
  • What Vitaliy learned from Warren Buffett? He was not a present dad. It’s important to be in your kids lives. It’s a gift to get to drive your kids to school.
  • Sit side by side with your children and talk (car rides, sit at the bar at restaurants, go on walks)
  • Vitaliy plays chess and he loses a lot… “Losing is part of tuition.”
  • Seneca said, “Time discovers truth.”
  • Attention is the currency of time.
  • “Writing is the most important thing that happened to me.” Spend two hours a day organizing your thoughts. Writing helps you do that…
    • “Create a connection between the unconscious and conscious mind.”
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle
Resources:

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