Episode 200: AJ Hawk & Keith Hawk – Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200

AJ Hawk  played 11 seasons in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers fifth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft and he would later be voted a team captain by his teammates and win Super Bowl XLV with the team over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  In that same season he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl. He was also a member of the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons. He played college football at Ohio State, where he earned All-American honors twice and won the Lombardi Award as a senior.

Keith Hawk is a best-selling author, inspirational key-note speaker, and has led 950+(people) sales organizations for Fortune 500 companies over the course of his career. He is the model of sustained excellence.  To get a feel for his mindset towards doing the work and “showing up,” he said, “Our family has always believed in hard work, and things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen.”

For those who prefer to watch what it looks like when we record a podcast, you can do that for this one on YouTube.

Episode 200: AJ Hawk & Keith Hawk – Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200

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The Learning Leader Show

“I’ve always been obsessed with being accountable to the people around me.  I have to be there for them.”

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

  • Common themes of great coaches/leaders:
    • A vividly clear picture of what success looks like
    • Mission/Vision — Habits built
    • Give coaching feedback
    • Look to help them “My success can only follow the success of others”
    • Show up — Be there
    • (AJ) They are authentic
    • Clearly communicate — Jim Tressel was great at this, never had to yell
  • Bad bosses/coaches:
    • When they don’t know what to do, they just yell
    • They lose the principle that their job is to help people
    • They only focus on numbers and not their people
  • Being retired
    • “It doesn’t mean what it used to”
    • “I now have the freedom to work on only what I want to…”
    • “I like not being on someone else’s schedule”
  • Key to quickly earning respect from peers?
    • “Be seen, not heard.”
    • “Be accountable to your peers/teammates. Always show up, be consistent.”
  • Must find a way to do the important “people” things and not just get caught up in the day to day tasks
  • What do you miss?
    • All of the people used to see daily
  • Micro-Coaching
    • The act of coaching others on the small details that lead to sustained excellence. The importance of doing this on a regular basis. Make it a habit
  • Thoughts as a parent
    • “My job to take you to the door, but it’s up to you to go through it and thrive.”
    • “You need to compete as much as possible… That creates adversity, which is healthy for a kid.”
    • (AJ) “I almost feel like we have to create adversity… We don’t want our kids to be spoiled.”
  • (To AJ) How will you handle it when your daughter Googles you and sees that you signed a 36 million dollar contract?
  • Creating appreciation for your kids — Making them earn what they get
    • Recommend your kids spend time around those are who less fortunate so they know how lucky they are
  • What do you hope others say about you?
    • (Keith) – “That I helped them.”  “My success can only follow the success of others.”  “That I was full of integrity, honest, trustworthy.”
    • (AJ) – “Accountable to others, that I was a guy who made other people feel good.  That they never had to question me and whether I would be where I was supposed to be.  That I showed up.”
  • When people say “Man, it must be sad that AJ is done with football!” — Not the case at all.  So grateful that it happened.
    • “Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.”

“Always be there.  Show up. Don’t delegate important tasks, be there.  Don’t say no if you can say yes.  You have to earn trust.”

Continue Learning:

You may also like these episodes:

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

Episode 071: Nate Boyer – Green Beret, Texas Football, The NFL

Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence – The Best Answers From 178 Questions

Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

Did you enjoy the podcast?

If you enjoyed hearing AJ Hawk and Keith Hawk on the show, please don’t hesitate to send me a note on Twitter or email me.

Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell

The Learning Leader Show is supported by Rhone.  Use the code “Hawk” for 15% off.  Rhone… premium activewear engineered with principle, performance and progress for the modern man.  Rhone builds clothing around 3 main tenants: Cutting-edge Performance, Premium Comfort, and Simplistic Style.