Category: Communication

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Here’s a growing list of some of the best specific podcast episodes (I will keep updating this blog post). Some are my favourites and some have been recommended by readers and friends.

What are some of the best podcast episodes that you have heard? (looking for specific episodes rather than the whole podcast…) . Thanks!

I’d love your recommendations of channels or specific podcasts in the comments below.

Tim Ferriss

(link to his podcast https://tim.blog/podcast/) (itunes)

Dan Sullivan

(itunes)

Dan has several podcasts and often appears on others’ podcasts…

Leading Voices in Real Estate

(itunes)


Brian Buffini

(itunes)

Kevin Rose

(itunes)

Malcolm Gladwell

(itunes)

Matt Brown

(itunes)

James Altucher

(itunes)

What Episodes Do You Love?

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Google started asking team members to answer the following questions, using a 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) scale.

  1. My manager gives me actionable feedback that helps me improve my performance.
  2. My manager does not “micromanage” (get involved in details that should be handled at other levels).
  3. My manager shows consideration for me as a person.
  4. The actions of my manager show that he/she values the perspective I bring to the team, even if it is different from his/her own.
  5. My manager keeps the team focused on our priority results/deliverables.
  6. My manager regularly shares relevant information from his/her manager and senior leaders.
  7. My manager has had a meaningful discussion with me about career development in the past six months.
  8. My manager communicates clear goals for our team.
  9. My manager has the technical expertise (e.g., coding in Tech, selling in Global Business, accounting in Finance) required to effectively manage me.
  10. I would recommend my manager to other Googlers.
  11. I am satisfied with my manager’s overall performance as a manager.

And then a couple of fill-in-the-blank questions:

  • 12. What would you recommend your manager keep doing?
  • 13. What would you have your manager change?

The Google Manager Feedback Form

Here’s a link to the survey as a Google Form: Google Leadership Evaluation survey.

Soft Skills Matter Most

Only one question refers to technical skills.  Every other question focuses on soft skills: communication, feedback, coaching, teamwork, respect, and consideration. Google have seen that it is not what you know, but how you act that shapes your impact as a leader.

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You can listen to the full podcast on soundcloud, or subscribe on iTunes (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/radeo/id1250841955) 

I had a wonderful conversation with EO South Africa member and RadEO Podcast host Ross Drakes (along with the great Rich Mulholland) a few weeks back after the EO Global Leadership Academy in Washington.

About this Episode: In this episode of RadEO, Ross talks to Conor Neill, the president of Vistage Spain. They talk about how you are a vehicle for a project and one should realise your own potential and purpose. Finding meaning in suffering can help in not losing sight of your full strength. Conor gives his 3 top ways to communicating effectively and understanding others around you by asking them what fulfilment looks like. We are all encouraged by enthusiasm, and Conor suggests putting enthusiasm into everything we do.

Podcast Show Summary of our Conversation

  • 00:44 – Conor’s elevator pitch
  • 09:38 – Unlocking your own potential and realising your purpose
  • 13:20 – Finding meaning in suffering
  • 20:21 – Not losing sight of your full strength and potential
  • 22:05 – Communicating effectively
  • 26:05 – We are encouraged by other’s enthusiasm
  • 32:50 – Nothing worthwhile is within your comfort zone
  • 35:00 – When your core is clear you’re not seeking after the opinions of others
  • 37:13 – Ask people around who want they need to be fulfilled
  • 40:20 – Sometimes it’s easy for us to give to others, what’s easy for us to give
  • 43:40 – Allow your intuition to tell you what are the things that are important to you
  • 44:37 – Write down your purpose

You can listen to the full podcast here on soundcloud, or subscribe on iTunes (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/radeo/id1250841955) 

Running thru Washington with Ross and Friends

Ross is the one with the beard in these photos…

  • In front of the White House
  • Where Martin Luther King delivered “I have a Dream…”
  • With Abe Lincoln
  • Washington Mall with the Washington Monument in the distance

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Nothing brings more opportunity into your life than speaking well in public.

I have been teaching for 16 years on many leadership programs at IESE Business School. Today I’m sharing a playlist of a series of videos that we put together as an introduction for participants of future courses.

There are 10 videos in the full playlist with a total duration of about 60 minutes.

There are 4 steps to speaking with impact:

  1. Have something to say
  2. Say it well
  3. Say it with Intensity
  4. Connect with the people in the audience

Here’s the link to the Leadership Communications video playlist: 

 

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I’ve had a few people asking me for specific details on the kit I use to make videos for my YouTube Channel.  The most basic videos, I make with my iPhone 7.  Enter photo app, selfie mode, hit video and talk.  My friend Seb Lora has over 220K youtube subscribers and does most of his non-studio videos with his iphone.

Camera: My main camera is the Canon G7X Mark II.  There is a big vlogging decision to make between DSLR or “Mirrorless” camera.  DSLR are bigger, heavier but get a better image (especially depth of field – those crisp foreground images with blurrer background).  “Mirrorless” such as the G7X are lighter and easier to carry around with you.  My decision was to go with the camera that is easier to carry.

Audio: For YouTube vlogging, I was surprised to discover early on that poor sound is more damaging to your video content than poor image quality.  People can cope with low quality video, but they really hate low quality sound.  

Video Editing Software: I use Final Cut Pro on the Mac to do my video editing.  I used iMovie before, but found myself quite restricted in terms of what I could do with multiple cameras and audio tracks.

Conor’s Vlogging Kit in Detail

Here’s a full list of all the bits and pieces that make up my vlogging kit.  Here’s the full list as an Amazon.com wish list: Conor’s Vlogging Kit.

Video: Canon G7X Mark II

Gorrilla Pod tripod for Canon G7X
Optional: improves sound quality (especially outdoors) from Canon G7X

Audio: Zoom H1 audio & lavalier microphone

Super portable, long battery life and great audio quality
lavalier mike – get better voice quality
necessary adaptor for Rode lavalier to Zoom H1

Video Editing Software: Final Cut Pro

I use Final Cut Pro, but Adobe Premiere is also powerful. 

Iphone Extras: tripod & clamp

flexible tripod and clamp to get good video shots with smartphone

Video Extra: Go Pro Hero 5

Gives an extra camera angle. Adds interest to your video image – allows switching between “headshot” and “scene” image.

Audio Extra: Remote Microphone

This is only useful if you speak at conferences and want to film yourself.  I can be on stage and leave the camera & audio gear at the back of the room.

Spares (Batteries, Memory cards)

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It’s a “first world problem”.  Flight delays.  When air travel works, I love travelling as a speaker and teacher.  When there are delays… I start to reconsider how much it should be worth to leave my comfortable home city of Barcelona.

What to do when your flight is delayed? 

  1. Step 1: be grateful that I am travelling alone, and not with my kids. 
  2. Step 2: buy some food before the shops in the airport close and I am left starving. 
  3. Step 3: hope that the connection in Madrid waits for us.  
  4. Step 4: start writing…

Here’s one ugly looking departures screen at Barcelona airport this evening. There’s some storm hitting Portugal at the moment.

What I do when I am waiting?  I write blog posts, I update my IESE technical notes, I add thoughts and ideas to my journal.  

I’m sitting here for the next 2 hours… so hit me with your comments and let me know how you handle flight delays?

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If Life is hard, it is especially challenging for rugged individualists.  

Rugged individualism, derived from “individualism”, is a term that indicates the virtuous ideal where an individual is totally self-reliant and independent from outside assistance.

W

I was a proud rugged individualist through school, into my first corporate job, and into my first 2 entrepreneurial ventures. 

In 2006 I came across Entrepreneurs Organisation (or better, they came across me…) and I began to change.  I learnt that you can make much wiser decisions when you allow others to guide you with their experiences and their questions.

I have had many mentors in these last 12 years.  I have been asked to be the mentor to others.  I feel underprepared to be a mentor.  David Cohen, founder of TechStars, wrote about the lessons he has learnt over 11 years of day to day experience in identifying great mentors for the entrepreneurs that form part of TechStars.

The Mentor Manifesto

Here is David’s mentor manifesto (full text on his blog: The Mentor Manifesto)

  • Be socratic.
  • Expect nothing in return (you’ll be delighted with what you do get back).
  • Be authentic / practice what you preach.
  • Be direct. Tell the truth, however hard.
  • Listen too.
  • The best mentor relationships eventually become two-way.
  • Be responsive.
  • Adopt at least one company every single year. Experience counts.
  • Clearly separate opinion from fact.
  • Hold information in confidence.
  • Clearly commit to mentor or do not. Either is fine.
  • Know what you don’t know. Say I don’t know when you don’t know. “I don’t know” is preferable to bravado.
  • Guide, don’t control. Teams must make their own decisions. Guide but never tell them what to do. Understand that it’s their company, not yours.
  • Accept and communicate with other mentors that get involved.
  • Be optimistic.
  • Provide specific actionable advice, don’t be vague.
  • Be challenging/robust but never destructive.
  • Have empathy. Remember that startups are hard.

If you liked this post on mentorship, you will also like How to be a good mentor and What is Mentorship?

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“If every one of you changed the life of just 10 people… in 6 generations we will have changed the world” Admiral McRaven

Admiral McRaven offered advice for changing the world from his 36 years of experience as a Navy SEAL:

  1. Ask for help when you need it,
  2. respect everyone,
  3. persevere through failures and,
  4. make your bed every day.

So, go back to your bedroom… and make your bed.

 

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What is the good life?

We can survive for 75 years… but what is a good use of those years? The good life is choosing to go beyond mere survival.  The good life is a daily intentional choice to flourish.  We can develop the best of our strengths and bring the worst of our weaknesses under disciplined control.

The ABC’s of a Fulfilling Life

The ABCs of living the Good Life:

  • Action towards your strongest values (Productivity) make progress towards important things; Eisenhower’s matrix
  • Belief. Give your life away… chosen sacrifice-Sense of purpose (contribution, give your life away… can’t “save” your hours, must invest). The test of value: you get paid. Paid doesn’t guarantee value, but free is idealistic… and idealists will kill us all.
  • Curiosity – Life long learning (always curious, painful feedback) be better today than yesterday, be better tomorrow than today
  • Discipline over your poorer habits
  • Energy. Health (Imagine you had 1 car all your life… how would you take care of it? that is your body…)
  • Friends (top 20… when was last you spoke?) inner circle… better a shack with someone who loves you than a mansion with those that use you

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Ken Blanchard’s book “The One Minute Manager” is short, simple, quick to read… and excellent for any new manager or leader.

In this video I share 4 Conversations that Ken Blanchard says we need to learn to be able to have with our team members if we wish to be effective Servant Leaders.

4 Conversations we need to be able to have with our team.

  1. Goal Setting,
  2. Praise,
  3. Re-Direct and
  4. Wrap up.