Coaching for Leaders

Academy alum Dev Baldwin joins Dave to share how he leveraged the power of learning from peers.

Are you at an inflection point? Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy will open in the coming weeks. Visit the Coaching for Leaders Academy page to request an early application.

Simone Stolzoff: How to Not Know

Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He is the author of How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

I’m not sure about you, but I very much dislike uncertainty. And yet, basically the job of leadership is to not only deal with it but to help others thrive in the midst of it. In this conversation, Simone and I explore how to build your tolerance for uncertainty so you can lead much more effectively.

Key Points

We love certainty and our tolerance for uncertainty is decreasing due to the internet, smartphones, and AI access.

Organizations with higher uncertainty tolerance tend to be more innovative and adaptable.

We assume unwavering confidence breeds credibility, when in fact, research shows that those who admit what they don’t know are perceived as more credible.

Professional athletes have the same threshold for pain but a higher pain tolerance. We can develop a similar tolerance for uncertainty.

Find your anchor points. By knowing the key boulders you can hang onto in a storm, you are vastly better able to weather uncertain times.

Build to learn. Progress depends on uncertainty.

Row through the fog. Maintain faith that you will discover the next step by continuing to row.

Sometimes what we feel is most uncertain is actually more certain than we realize.

Resources Mentioned

How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers by Simone Stolzoff (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Lead Better Through Complexity, with Jennifer Garvey Berger (episode 613)

Notice Disruption and Innovate Through It, with Steve Blank (episode 761)

The Counterintuitive Secret to Creativity and Focus, with David Epstein (episode 789)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

You’re invited to join Tom Henschel, Dave Stachowiak, and other listeners for dinner and an evening of conversation in Irvine, California on Tuesday, September 1st. Details and registration at coachingforleaders.com/dinner

Neal Schore: The 25th Hour

Neal Schore is the founder and CEO of 25th Hour Group, an executive coaching and leadership events firm. Previously, he served as the founder, president, and CEO of Triton Digital, a global technology, data, and services leader in the digital audio and podcast industry. He is the author of The 25th Hour: How to Thrive (And Gain Ridiculous

Amounts of Time) By Getting Out of Your Own Way (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

No productivity approach can negotiate with physics. How we manage time is really how we manage ourselves. In this conversation, Neal and I explore a key question to help us shift from ordinary to exceptional.

Key Points

Swirling shows up for all of us when we ruminate on an interaction in a way that’s not helpful.

Most people don’t think to ask about others’ intent.

The key question to shift our thinking: “What’s the intent?”

Ordinary thinking goes with the flow. Exceptional thinking pauses and allows us to consider the intent behind the interaction.

To free time each day, pause before responding in a complex situation and ask yourself, “What’s the intent?”

This question becomes powerful when you can ask and answer yourself without needing to say it out loud.

Resources Mentioned

The 25th Hour: How to Thrive (And Gain Ridiculous Amounts of Time) By Getting Out of Your Own Way by Neal Schore (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590)

How to Help Difficult Conversations Go Better, with Sheila Heen (episode 655)

How to Take Back Your Evenings, with Guy Winch (episode 783)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Jia Jiang: Easy Discipline

Jia Jiang is an award-winning speaker, entrepreneur, and the bestselling author of Rejection Proof. His TED Talk is among the top 1% most viewed of all time, and he has spoken to over 400,000 people worldwide. He is also the creator of Rejection Therapy, a platform designed to help people overcome fear and build resilience, and is the author of Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

No pain, no gain. We’ve all heard that before – and it’s true that one way to achieve is through a lot of pain. Good news: there are other ways, too. In this conversation, Jia and I explore how to harness the ambition you already have through easy discipline.

Key Points

Pain tolerance is admired and celebrated. When greatness comes through pain, our society cheers it. When greatness comes through loving work, we are suspicious.

Hard discipline and easy discipline both produce results, but easy discipline does so with more joy and sustainability.

Ambitious people often suffer from High Eyes, Low Hands Disease. Higher ambitions create higher expectations that make a gap seem harder to transcend.

In the game of Catan, it’s not the lucky players that win; it’s the most active players. Professional learning follows the same pattern.

The momentum loop is the practice of early action generating greater fuel for later action. Even wrong movements are almost always superior to standing still.

Resources Mentioned

Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things by Jia Jiang (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Jia Jiang’s speaking

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Change Your Behavior, with BJ Fogg (episode 507)

How to Get Out of a Rut, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff (episode 747)

How to Help People Flourish, with Marcus Buckingham (episode 778)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.