Greg Harden is best known for working with 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. He also worked with Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard, and 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Brady, Howard, and other athletes credit Harden with inspiring them to overcome obstacles and achieve success in their professional and personal lives. He’s the author of Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive. The book debuted at #1 on all of Amazon and is a New York Times bestseller.

WATCH this conversation on YouTube. And SUBSCRIBE!

Read my 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 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

  • “You need to become the world’s greatest expert on one subject. Yourself.” We need to do the work to better understand who we are, what we’re scared of, why we say the things to ourselves that we do, and how to improve. It’s hard, but very necessary work. And the fun part about it is it never ends…
  • “People who are mentally fit recover faster than the average person.”
  • Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about facing your fears. It’s about turning that fear into fire and passion. For people to say that they are fearless… That isn’t realistic. We all have fears. It’s about how we handle them and the courage we show in the face of fear.
  • Commonalities of people who sustain excellence: commitment to continuous improvement, humble, hungry, coachable, and they continue to push. They are driven and it never stops.
  • “My real obsession is to convince an individual that they have to determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves.”
  • Control the controllables… “Tom Brady turned his haters into a source of motivation.”
  • “Surrender the ego.”
  • Do a SWOT analysis on yourself:
    • Strengths
    • Weaknesses
    • Opportunities
    • Threats
  • Identify 2-3 people in your life that you trust to also do a SWOT analysis on you…
    • Miles Miller had a boss who fired him and an ex-girlfriend do a SWOT analysis on him and it was one of the most useful that Greg had ever seen…
  • Create an accountability partner for yourself
  • Identify self-defeating attitudes, behaviors, and language you use. They can sabotage you.
  • Self-Talk:
    • We all talk to ourselves. We need to change the internal dialogue from negative to positive.
  • “The greatest competition is between your ears.”
  • Mastery:
    • Capture your negative self-talk on paper. You’ll be surprised how much you do it and how it impacts you.
  • Instead of beating yourself up about it, be amused by it. Be critically conscious of it though…
  • Separate the behavior from the person… It’s not, “You’re a bad person.” It’s, “You made a poor choice.”
  • Public speaking:
    • Understand your audience and what they need to hear
    • Memorize your first 2 minutes cold
  • There is a thin line between anxious and excitement… “Turn your feat into fire and passion.”
  • “Courage is not about not having fear. Courage is about facing your fears.”
  • “Practice, train, repeat. Practice, train, repeat.”
  • Hiring leaders:
    • “See how they deal with uncertainty. Bring extra people into the room. Create an environment that isn’t what they expected. See how they respond.”
  • Life/Career advice:
    • “If you had to work and not get paid, what would you do? The pursuit of purpose is half of the fun.”
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle
Resources:

Time Stamps

00:33 – Commonalities of Sustained Excellence

01:50 – Meeting With Tom Brady’s Parents

05:05 – Controlling the Controllables

11:34 – Surrender Your Ego, Accept a Mentor

22:15 – Experiences When Working With Senior Leaders

27:11 – The Importance of Positive Self-Talk

34:31 – Be Solution Focused

38:16 – Tackling the Fear of Public Speaking

43:45 – Fear is Normal – How Do We Handle It?

50:45 – Hiring Is An Art

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