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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
Episode #298 with Michael Useem – How To Become A Learning Machine
Full shownotes can be seen at www.LearningLeader.com
- Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
- Thinking strategically
- Communicating persuasively
- Decisive decision making
- The power of using real life examples to demonstrate leadership
- Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
- He was a learning machine
- “We know not the future, and cannot plan for it much. But we can determine and know what manner of men we will be whenever and wherever the hour strikes.”
- He was a self directed lifelong learner – “I have always been interested in military matters, and what I do not know in that line, I know how to learn. I study I tell you every military work I can find.”
- He had a mentor/coach – Adelbert Ames was his tent mate and he learned all he could from him
- He had a disciplined focus on learning from him. “I asked him every night to tell me what he knew so I could learn”
- He routinely got outside of his comfort zone – “I will watch myself and do an after action review to analyze.”
- Get tangible experience
- The purpose behind taking students and family members to Gettysburg every semester – To “stand where Chamberlain stood.” And to “get you in their moment on that ground.” Recreate the moment as if you’re there.
- Gene Kranz and Apollo 13
- “Expecting high performance is a prerequisite to its achievement among those who work with you. Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite.”
- Being a decisive decision maker and preparing for those challenging moments with an attitude that “failure is not an option.”
- “I knew my teams even more than they knew themselves.”
- Had a great mentor in Chris Craft to help him
- Teams that are well developed go through experiences together can outperform individuals under stress
- The motivation behind risk takers:
- “A calculating adventurer, deriving a thrill from taking a risk and watching it pay off.” This is how visions are created.
- How to become savvy about calculated risk
- Risk tolerance is a learned skill
- Persuasive communication is an art form
- It’s a learned skill
- You can’t hide, you must be persuasive as a leader
- There needs to be a solid narrative (story), a purpose behind it
- Every person must know how important their specific contribution is — “Why are we doing this and what is my role?”
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