Elevating Leadership Standards in a Tech-Driven World

Can America rise to the challenge of producing leaders for the toughest times? Join us on "Unpacked Podcast" as we confront the stark leadership void that has become increasingly evident in the political and social spheres. I'm Ron Harvey, your host, and I'm sitting down with Robert Hargrove, an executive coach and seasoned author, to explore why our highest offices lack the robust training seen in military and corporate environments. Together, we illuminate the urgent need for a comprehensive, systematic approach to grooming leaders capable of navigating the complexities of today's world.

True leadership goes beyond titles; it demands empathy and sacrifice. Through captivating stories of historical giants like George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we unpack the essence of leadership and the foundational attributes that set these figures apart. Robert and I also spotlight modern leaders such as David Petraeus, examining how their genuine concern for others and prioritization of service over self-interest make them exemplary. In an age ruled by technology, we stress the importance of fostering strong relationships and leading with integrity and compassion.

What does it take to influence and inspire? From the ambition of Abraham Lincoln to the strategic genius of Lyndon Baines Johnson, we explore how courage and risk-taking drive social change. We highlight the pressing need to overhaul our educational systems to better prepare future leaders. Wrapping up, we delve into the transformative power of coaching with a preview of our Masterful Coaching Certification Program. If you're an aspiring leader or executive eager to enhance your influence and impact, this episode is packed with invaluable insights and practical advice.

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Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey

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Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host leadership consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron's delighted to have you join us as he unpacks and shares his leadership experience, designed to help you in your leadership journey. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Good morning. This is Ron Harvey. I'm the Vice President, the Chief Operating Officer of GlobalCore Strategies and Consulting, which is a leadership firm, and I'll tell you the bottom line is what we really do is help leaders really become effective for the people that they're responsible for and responsible to. We just help them take care of people at the end of the day, and there are a ton of ways to do it, so I won't get into that, but my wife and I started this company really to add value and make a difference, and that's what we do every single day. We love it, we enjoy it. We're both veterans and we had to find a way to do something different that made a difference to us and the organizations and the places that we live, work, play and go to school.

Speaker 2: 1:00

So so again, ron Harvey, with Global Core, but every single day, I pause and I will do a recording with a leader from around the world that's going to share insight and what we call Unpacked with Ron Harvey. I'm super excited to have on the call with us today. Robert is with us. He's coming in from Boston Excited. He has a phenomenal resume, but we are always open to real conversation. So, robert, I want to bring you onto the stage and get us started into this podcast of Unpacked with Ron Harvey. So welcome to the platform.

Speaker 3: 1:30

All right, I'll just say a little bit of who I am and what I do. I'm Robert Hargrove. I'm the author of a book called Masterful Coaching. The Wall Street Journal called it a landmark book. New York Times said it was the book that changed the world of coaching, consulting and training forever. I'm a founder of the Harvard Leadership Research Project and I've coached a lot of CEOs and top executives all over the world, including conducting leadership weekends with 25,000 people. I'm the author of five books, so I love talking about leadership. If anyone's interested in executive coaching or CEO coaching, let me know.

Speaker 2: 2:06

Yes, yes, I love it and thank you for putting it out there and phenomenal resume. And I'll tell you, as you listen to this, most of the people that come on, honestly they have a phenomenal resume in the background, but they come on here to add value to you. So if you want to know more and you want to pull up their bios, go to the website, go to their pages. But what they've been really humbled about is they're not really here to toot their horn. They're here to have a conversation with us about how do we add value to you in this podcast, and so please pull either one of us up at any time. We love to have a conversation. We are in business, we want to do business, we want to stay connected to you and we'd love for you to have a conversation. If you need our services, so let's dive into it.

Speaker 3: 2:40

So, robert, you've been doing this for years and when you look, at the world the way it is now, are there any concerns about how well we're doing with developing leaders across the landscape? Well, I think you'd have to be like Rip Van Winkle. You know, be asleep for a hundred years, you wake up in this situation. It's phenomenal. We got one presidential candidate that has 94 criminal indictments. We got another presidential candidate that may be a little bit past their prime. We're listening to news today about the war in Ukraine or Israel, where there's a den of vipers attacking Israel and Israel is producing a humanitarian crisis. The Congress is paralyzed, except, thank God, this week they passed a bill to get 95 million to our friends and allies overseas. So what I'm trying to say is America is really facing a leadership crisis.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Do you agree with that, ron? Yes, yeah, we are. Which is important I mean we were talking before we came on is that we are facing a leadership crisis. Regardless of what side of the aisle you stand on, regardless of your religion, regardless of your race and your gender, and where you live in this country, we are facing a leadership crisis and at the end of the day, I asked Robert in the green room where do we actually start getting people prepared to hold the highest office in our country? Where's that program at, where's that system at, and how have we navigated away from it? Have we ever done a great? I don't feel like we're doing a great job of preparing the person for the highest office in our country.

Speaker 3: 4:09

Well, that's a great point, that's a brilliant point actually, ron, and you put your finger on something right there. Now, if you go to work, if you get a job in the military, if you sign up for the military, you have to go through a gradation, step by step, by step.

Speaker 3: 4:23

The military does a fantastic job of training people. My stepdaughter, who is a nurse, very successful went into the Air Force and I can't believe the kind of training she's getting and she's moving from this rank to that rank to that rank, while still maintaining her career as a nurse. I'm a pretty good friend with General David Petraeus, who was the commander of CENTCOM and led our initiative in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he held jobs as the director of the CIA. But when I talk to him I really get the impression that this person is so well prepared to do almost any job because of the background that he has, and he's so self-disciplined. He always shows up in a way that you wish you could show up. He never makes a faux pas. He's always totally appropriate.

Speaker 3: 5:12

Now, if you join a big Fortune 500 company Google, apple, ibm, microsoft, whatever it is there are also all these steps you have to take to develop, to become the CEO of a big company. You usually have to work in those companies 20 and 30 years working in different jobs. Now, if someone decides they want to be president and all they have to do is to have a popular personality and raise enough money to run for office with absolutely no experience. Then they get there. Maybe it's easy for them to get elected, but they've discovered that it's almost impossible to govern. So I've said a lot there.

Speaker 2: 5:47

Yes, no, I mean, this is a conversation we have on Unpack, you know so when you start unpacking and you're talking to leaders, what are some things? Advice, appointments do you help leaders If they're not running for office, they're in leadership roles. And, robert, it's different when you're the person doing the work. And once you become the leader, because your job is not to be the one doing the heavy lifting what advice do you give executives? You spend a lot of time in that space. How do they become effective at leading versus doing?

Speaker 3: 6:14

Well, I'm not sure what the answer to that is, but the first thing that came to my mind is a quotation from Heraclitus. He's a Greek philosopher. He said character is destiny, and over the years I've noticed that the quality of the person's character determines what's going to happen in their role. If they have character, if they have integrity, people will trust them. If they have some character flaws, they may start out trusting them, but before long their trust will be.

Speaker 3: 6:43

I wrote a book, ron, and I'm happy to share with you. Maybe I'll send you a copy. It's called the first hundred days in politics. And I've got another one called the first hundred days in an executive job. And you're coaching all these executives. I gotta send that down to you.

Speaker 3: 6:59

Yes, but on the cover of my book, your First Hundred Days in Politics, is a fellow by the name of George Washington. And George Washington was a dedicated public servant. He never took a penny in remuneration. Instead of being president, he wanted to go back to his farm in Virginia. But yet, george Washington, he led the Continental Army, he created a whole country. And one thing about him, ron, is he hated partisanship. He hated political parties. He always spoke about America and put the best interest of America first.

Speaker 3: 7:38

And I think when someone becomes a leader, what has to happen is they have to become a steward leader versus a self-interested leader. They have to start to put service over self-interest, and a lot of leaders have a very difficult time subordinating their ego to something a bit greater than themselves. And so people in leadership, they're on a quest for blind ambition, power, money and often overlooked. You know what the number one job of a leader is, whether you're in business or the military or politics Caring. I mentioned a few minutes ago that I'm a pretty good friend of David Petraeus. I'm not saying that to name jobs just because I'm kind of impressed with him and man, you've got to be pretty tough to become this commander of CENTCOM in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaker 3: 8:27

But I noticed when he writes posts, for example, on LinkedIn. The underbelly of all his posts is he loves people. He cares. He wouldn't be someone who comes out and says I love you, but everything he does says how much he cares. A leader has to care. You know what the biggest, the number one quality a leader has to have. You know what that is, what is it.

Speaker 3: 8:53

Empathy. I'll give you a good example. It's Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was a man that became president during the Great Depression. He was born into a wealthy family, but he managed to pass the New Deal, which was an economic rights Bill, of Rights for all Americans. And you know what? He was called A traitor to his class, and people said why did you decide to help all these people that were suffering, standing in red lines and out of work and he started talking about that.

Speaker 3: 9:24

He had polio. He contracted polio just before he decided to run for president, yes, and he couldn't walk and he felt so much pain. He empathized with other people's pain. Who was it? Barack obama, that?

Speaker 1: 9:37

said I feel your pain. That's what made him great or makes him great.

Speaker 3: 9:41

Yes, so I hope I said a few things there. I get excited talking about this stuff.

Speaker 2: 9:45

Oh, no, I mean that's why you're here too. I mean that's what the show is really about, because it's not scripted and I tell everybody we don't know the next question, we don't know the next statement. But we're being really transparent and honest and open here to have real conversations that we've gotten away from in our society really comes down to.

Speaker 3: 10:08

when someone becomes the CEO or an executive. Really what it becomes about is standing for something bigger than yourself. Yes, and I have a son that doesn't do that. I'm a 16 year old son. My mother used to say that she said one mother or father can take care of 10 kids, but 10 kids can't take care of one mother and father. My son's a good example of that. I'm usually, when I'm not doing podcasts, I'm an unpaid Uber driver driving my son to hockey and basketball and violin lessons, whatever.

Speaker 2: 10:34

Yes, yes, so you're talking to a real person and it's good to hear it because a lot of experience. But even in our roles we're challenging. We got to navigate. The same thing we're telling leaders to navigate. So it's not like when you look at us and think we got it all together If you listen to this podcast. The same stuff that we're talking about. We have to navigate, we have to figure out. We got to have people in our corner to help us also figure it out. We were talking in the green room. You said, ron, how do you mentioned the relationships? How important is it for leaders to have phenomenal relationships with all this technology, with everybody texting in and using all of the technology? How important is it and how do we start having a relationship? That used to be me and you knew each other. We can sit down and have a drink, we can disagree and we can get back to the table and get the real work done.

Speaker 3: 11:19

Yeah, you're reminding me of a story by a fellow by the name of Warren Bennis, who was the dean of the University of Southern California. He was like a famous leadership. I don't know whether to call him. Let's call him a guru. He wrote a book called Becoming a Leader. He was just so wise, he had a shock of white hair and he spoke in a deep voice. And he was asked once what he wanted to be remembered for. You know what he said being good company. He had racked up all these incredible titles at Harvard and Stanford and CEO titles. What he wanted to be remembered for at the end was being good company. And you know it's not that easy to be good company. I can see you, ron, see you have a quality that I like. I've got a lot of edge. Sometimes I find myself too ready to take a stand for something to get in the fight. You seem very easy to get along with.

Speaker 3: 12:13

Yes thank you.

Speaker 2: 12:15

It's a trained skill, you know, 21 years in the military service. I think what helped me in that space, robert, is how do I show up to be of service and not about self. And so I'm always figuring out how do I meet people where they are, and I don't always have to agree, I don't have to disagree. But I think you said a quality that I really do work on is how do I be good company, like how do I add value that makes a difference and get me out of the way. So I spend a lot of time in that space. You know, as a leader, as a person, that it takes a lot of work. So yeah, thank you for that compliment. I do work hard at how do I be good company. I love that phrase.

Speaker 3: 12:51

Yeah, how do I be? That's all he wanted to be. He could have made a list a mile long, but if you want to have good relationships, you have to sacrifice, you know. Put differences and disagreements aside and focus on just being good company. Disagreement society and focus on just being good company. Them people will like you.

Speaker 2: 13:10

Yes. So my observation people don't want to sacrifice. People want what they want. It's almost like as I watch you know I don't like looking at the news. It frustrates me. But people don't want to sacrifice. People want to have an agenda and if they don't get the agenda, they kickball and they go home. They don't stay on the field and figure out how to still play the game. We've gotten away from sacrifice. How do you get us, as leaders, to realize what you said is so important? What are you willing to sacrifice for the success of the organization or the people you serve?

Speaker 3: 13:40

The comment I said earlier comes back again putting service over self-interest. Let me tell you another example. I was doing executive coaching in the Pentagon, you another example I was doing executive coaching in the Pentagon and my client there was the basically the COO of the Pentagon, who was in charge of developing all the weapon systems and army bases, navy bases. He was in charge of making sure that the men and women that put on the cloth of the nation had everything, all the necessary wherewithal, that they needed to fight or to defend themselves. But anyway, again, I'm not saying this to drop names, but I went to a presentation of my client in the Pentagon. His name was John Young and I walked out of the presentation and I forgot my computer bag somewhere.

Speaker 3: 14:21

I'm always forgetting things. And I said, oh my God, I'm always a man who's identified with carrying a computer because I'm always writing books. And I happened to walk up to someone and I said look, I left my computer bag here. I have to get out of the building. Could you help me maybe find an aid or something to help me find my computer bag? And you know what turned out to be it was a three-star general. He was so at service that he spent a half an hour helping me to find my computer back. I mean, he didn't say I'm a three-star general and you're a coach or consultant.

Speaker 3: 14:57

He was totally there. He put service over self-interest or service over rank and file. He helped me find I was so impressed with that and one of the things I noticed when I was in the pentagon was that a lot of the people you met in the military they had a greater purpose, but may call it patriotism of love of country or what I didn't see with people working in corporations. Now I also love people working in corporations. I don't know, this is coming out probably because you told me you were in the military.

Speaker 2: 15:26

Yes, yeah, I mean, I think, at the end of the day, a lot of that is transferable. So when you look at, like you know, 21 years of military service, when I walk into organizations, I literally walk in and say we're here to be of service, in order to be a good partner, I got to be of service and so I don't look at them as clients at all. I think I started that way and I begin to navigate the company away. From calling them clients, I say no, it's a partnership, because if you win, we want to win. We're in business. If you get paid, we want to get paid. If you fail or you don't get paid and you don't make money, you shouldn't pay us. Our job is to be in a healthy partnership.

Speaker 3: 16:01

And that partnership means you don't look at them as clients.

Speaker 2: 16:03

Yeah, and that's helped us out a lot. So if you're listening and you're a business owner, so if you're listening and you're a business owner, entrepreneur, and you're thinking about being an entrepreneur which is a tough thing how do you make sure that the person that you're going to be of service to not sell anything to be of service to so I'd never sell anything. I say, if I have something that's going to help make life better or make your team better, your organization better, I'd love to have that conversation, but I'm not here to sell anything that you don't need. If you need it, of course I can offer it and we'll talk about what that looks like from an investment stage. I think it's helped me mature and have real conversations.

Speaker 2: 16:34

What I've learned for everyone, that's listening. People hate to be sold anything. Now we love to buy everything, but we don't want to be sold. We want to be in control of our spending. So I've learned the hard you know from the military. When I went into Iraq, we had to win the people support. Now we know they needed us, we know they were struggling. They were in some bad situations, but even in those situations, people still want to feel like you see them, you hear them, you care for them. Even if life is hard for them, they don't want to be looked down on.

Speaker 3: 17:03

Oh, were you part of the surge over there in Iraq?

Speaker 2: 17:05

Yes, yes.

Speaker 3: 17:06

Oh, that's great, and what I loved about that campaign was trying to win the hearts and minds of the local population versus just kill the enemy on the battlefield. Yes, yes, and that was intentional.

Speaker 2: 17:17

That was very intentional and I think when you're thinking about leadership, you mentioned it. How do you have love and empathy? And that's the only way you're going to win hearts and minds. You're not going to win hearts and minds by punching people in the mouth all the time. It's just that's not reality. So the leadership said here's how we're going to do it. We're going to win the hearts and minds of the locals and what does that look like? So, if you're in a leadership role, how do you win the hearts and minds of your team, your organization, that people that make you look good? How do you actually win the hearts and minds? And I love that you say Robert, and I love that you say Robert, you used the word love and leadership. Very rarely do we hear that together.

Speaker 3: 17:51

Leadership is love. I mean, no one is a great think about Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln, you know what he said. He said I hated slavery all my life. Yes, but he didn't speak up about it because he knew that if he spoke up about it he probably would never get elected. Yes, if he spoke up about it he probably would never get elected. But he told the guy one day who was making a big case for slavery. He said if you like slavery so much, why don't you try it yourself? He had empathy, he had tremendous. I think one thing a leader has to have, which maybe we're underplaying here, is ambition. You have to have ambition for yourself and ambition for your country or your organization. And William Herndon, abraham Lincoln's law partner, said that Lincoln was a little engine of ambition and he got himself into that presidential role. But when he got there, what he did was he issued the Emancipation Proclamation to give people of all races the rights guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence.

Speaker 2: 18:56

Yeah, I love that you're bringing that up and you think about what you and I do and the roles we played. Leadership you got to take some risks. You work hard to get to where you are and then you don't want to extend that courage of being courageous and stepping in there and taking a risk that someone else can't take. And I'll tell you, some of my best leadership opportunities were I did something for someone that they could not do for themselves, even if they were at their best day. They didn't have the power, they didn't have the influence, they didn't have the stage that I had. I took a lot of risks, even when I knew my career could be harmed by it, to be effective for the people I was responsible for. And I see oftentimes it's self-service versus selfless service what are you following your sword for? That can cost you everything and you don't necessarily benefit from directly, other than taking care of people.

Speaker 3: 19:38

I'm going to give you another presidential example yes, I love them.

Speaker 3: 19:42

Lyndon Baines Johnson became president after the JFK assassination and he was asked by his team what did he want to have for his political economic agenda. And he said I'd like to do something about civil rights. You know, this was the time when Martin Luther King was around stirring up the civil rights movement and his colleague in the White House said well, if you say you're standing on civil rights, you're going to burn up all your political capital. Johnson said well, what the hell do you think the presidency is for?

Speaker 2: 20:13

So that's what you say. That has always been a mantra of mine is I built the capital to use it when I needed to use it and it wasn't for self-use. Like what did you build it for? If you're going to build it up and get all of these accolades and people care so much about you and you got all the support well why don't you use it when it's time to use it, don't?

Speaker 3: 20:34

save it for being a good corpse.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Use it today.

Speaker 3: 20:39

Now let me ask you a question, ron, because I'm seeing you right there and you know I'm a coach. So I'm saying what could I say in this conversation with Ron that would make a difference in his life? So let me ask you this question because I know you can make speak.

Speaker 3: 20:53

You give great keynote talks all over the country. You're very much in demand. You're a great coach. You've got more business than you can handle. What's the question on your mind for yourself? About leadership, or about management, or about life that I could delve into with you when you wake up in the morning? What do you wake up thinking about? Worrying about looking for?

Speaker 2: 21:15

Phenomenal question. There are two things that's on my mind every single morning I wake up. One is what do we do for our youth to make sure they can take care of a world that we sometimes? I think we've always worked hard to make the world a better place for our children, but I feel that we've missed the mark on making our children better for the world.

Speaker 3: 21:34

Now is that something personal to you and with your children.

Speaker 2: 21:38

No, not necessarily. I think it's across the landscape, like we're not developing people to lead organizations effectively, politics effectively, police departments effectively, school systems, like where are we missing the mark to make sure that we don't give them?

Speaker 3: 21:51

hope I was trying to get to something more personal with you, but I'll get back to that. Yes, but where we're missing the mark is the education is not pro. You know, my motto is better leaders, better world.

Speaker 2: 22:03

Yes, I saw that.

Speaker 3: 22:04

And I think our education should help to produce better leaders and better world. Now my son is fortunate. He goes to a pretty fancy private school in the Boston area. Okay, and what do they teach him? He spends a fourth of the day studying Greek history or some kind of history, a fourth of the day studying quadratic equations, a fourth of the day studying Latin and another fourth studying biochemistry or whatever it is Probably none of those things he'll ever use again, and the cost of the program is like $50,000.

Speaker 3: 22:36

Fortunately, we get some scholarship for that, but I don't know, I don't understand the educational. Instead of raising people to be great men and women that make a difference in the world or make a difference, we raise them to take these courses that they've been teaching for the last 300 years, that in many cases have no relevance to the lives that they're going to need to live and they're also programmed to be successful. You know Charles Barkley went into the high school somewhere down in. Where's Charles Barkley from?

Speaker 2: 23:05

Alabama.

Speaker 3: 23:06

Alabama and he goes down there. He said how many of you want to be president or engineer? Put up your hand. Nobody put up their hand. How many of you want to be basketball players and celebrities? How many put up your hand? I mean, something's off there.

Speaker 2: 23:19

Ron, yes, it is. It is and I'm thinking, I'm listening and I'm loving the conversation.

Speaker 3: 23:24

I think you and I ought to replace Shaq and Charles Bronsson on that story.

Speaker 2: 23:27

Hey, pull out some of those relationships, call them up, we'll go do it for you.

Speaker 3: 23:31

Yeah, I mean, those guys are silly, you know. Replace them with us. Those guys are funny, I love them, but I think America would be better if we had that here.

Speaker 2: 23:40

So you asked the question. Here's something that's been because of where we are now. I feel like you know, the thing that I do struggle with is how do we get past this lack of all of us getting along? De&i has taken a hit across the board. You know, we look at our country, where we are, and I'm in business and DE&I and looking at race relations in our country, I feel like we're going backwards. I feel like it's becoming.

Speaker 3: 24:01

What do you mean by that?

Speaker 2: 24:03

When I look at all the work that Dr King may have done, or you look at the certifications, or you look at how do you and I come to the table and we're still not having the conversation of race at the level that we're having it at and it's causing a lot of conflict. So in business in the last year I've watched where I got to be certified to be competitive in my space with bigger corporations and certified as what?

Speaker 2: 24:23

as a coach no, no, not certified as a coach. There's what they call MBE, which is minority business enterprise, which is about minorities. Or I got to be DBE certified. So if I want to work with a major organization they're looking at their spin we have to be DBE. Wow, yeah. So in order to be competitive, they have all these certifications. Here's where I got frustrated at and I'm certified, but I will tell you that it's always been a challenging conversation for me. The only person that doesn't have to be certified is our white male population. Everybody else, in order to be competitive, has to be certified. I said why do we have to be certified? And here's what certification is about.

Speaker 3: 24:59

Well, I'm glad you hear that, because I don't want to have to be certified.

Speaker 2: 25:03

It is a challenge. Here's my disagreement with it. A certification says I know finances, I have a business plan and I know my craft and I'm qualified to do the job. I said, well, shouldn't everybody have to meet that requirement? Like, why is there anybody that doesn't have to meet that requirement?

Speaker 3: 25:21

So it's only minorities Blacks.

Speaker 2: 25:24

Blacks, hispanics, women, any other category, the only population that doesn't. It is very strange and that's why I disagree with it, because I'm like well, why doesn't Robert have to say his finances are good? Why doesn't Robert have to say you know he has a business plan? Why does Robert have to say he's qualified to do business? And I say the certification comes and I do an evaluation every three years on my company that makes sure I meet all these requirements in order to be competitive, to get a certain percentage of business. That's always been a challenge. I was like I totally disagree with it and until we change the policy, I'm going to continue to do the work, but that is always one way around that, because I've never been.

Speaker 3: 26:02

No one has you realize. I've been an executive coach for almost 40 years. No one has ever asked me what my education was. Yes, I have a good education, but no one has ever asked me what my education was. Yes, I have a good education, but no one has ever asked me, no one has ever asked me if I was a certified coach?

Speaker 3: 26:18

never. So now, why is that? Well, maybe it might have to do with systemic racism, I don't know. But one thing to get around all that certification stuff is you have to get a belief. You have to believe, you have to have confidence. You have to have unshakable confidence. When I walk into the room, I feel with, let's say, a bunch of CEOs, I feel, or generals, I feel unshakable confidence. It's okay with me for the three-star general to look for my back.

Speaker 1: 26:45

I don't know why that is.

Speaker 3: 26:47

Why do I feel confidence? Because I have a set of beliefs. I talked about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson and Franklin. I believe strongly in America's ennobling ideals and enduring values. When I walk into the room, those things walk in with me. I stand for those things I am and where I stand, for those beliefs that give me confidence, whether I have a certification or not.

Speaker 1: 27:16

Now how about Michael Jordan? Okay, he has confidence right.

Speaker 3: 27:18

He has a set of beliefs. So what I'm trying to say is that it may not be a bad idea to get those certifications. I'm not really for that. Yes, I definitely don't think it should happen on a discriminatory basis. Yes, but if you believe in yourself strongly enough, I think you can bypass that to some extent.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Absolutely, and I think you're spot on. I mean, that's what actually helps me bypass that all the time. So when I walk into a room, I never like marginalize myself because of anything to do with who I am as a human being. So I totally agree with you 100% and I learned that through the militaries. At the end, of the day.

Speaker 3: 27:52

Yeah, you can marginalize yourself.

Speaker 2: 27:54

Yes, yes, and so I walk into the room just like you do. I say, hey, me and Robert are in the room together. I'm never telling myself or have self-limiting beliefs that I'm not good enough to be there. I'm never saying that to myself. And I think, as leaders, if you listen to this, be careful that you play in your own head. Be careful of the stories that you say to yourself. That marginalizes you. Society can do whatever society do make laws the way they want to make them, but you got to believe, as Robert just said, you must believe and have core values that you believe in who you are every time you show up, regardless of what the policy is. That carries me a long ways.

Speaker 3: 28:25

That's it. You make a brilliant point there, very, very spot on very eloquently. You've got to believe in yourself, regardless of what the policy is.

Speaker 2: 28:35

Yes, yes, yeah, phenomenal conversation. You spend the time, you have a wealth of knowledge and you can't pull it all out at one time. And what would you say, you know, for someone that's going into an executive level which is what I want to really drop something that may help someone say, hey man, I'm nervous, I'm concerned, I'm going into this and I'm not doing well, I'm struggling. What are some things that you would tell people that are first-time executives and trying to figure out how to transition into it and be a really effective leader?

Speaker 3: 29:04

Well, having come back to what we just said, you have to believe in yourself. Another thing is it's about you can underestimate. Getting into a job is one thing, but in order to be effective in the job, you have to increase your level of power, influence and impact. So, whether you like it or not, when you become an executive, it's important to have a vision. But unless you're the CEO, you're not the ultimate decision maker. So one of the things you need to focus on as an executive is who would I rather have? A vision or a goal or the power and influence to make it a reality? Yes, and I think that would be one thing that you can do to again I come back to character is destiny. That would be the first thing have a vision of where you're going. Arnold Schwarzenegger says you're going to have a vision of where you're going. If you don't, you're going to drift around in circles. But a vision isn't enough. You have to develop power, influence to have an impact, and the way you develop power, influence and impact comes down what the old Ron Harvey had to say right at the beginning of his call God bless his soul.

Speaker 3: 30:17

Relationships. I'll tell you a little story here. Lyndon Johnson was 23 years old when he went to Washington as a freshman congressman. He wanted to have an impact, but he had no power. So he walked into the Congress and he talked to the guy in what they called the cloakroom and he said who's the most powerful person in Congress? And he said he's that guy over there. I can't remember his name at the moment and from that day on, oh, I wish I had his name.

Speaker 3: 30:44

Lyndon Johnson decided to become that person's son. He decided to become that person's best friend. He invited that person he and Lady Bird invited that congressman over to Sunday breakfast every weekend, sunday, making him Southern food. He called him daddy. He did whatever I can to help you. The next thing that happened is he said well, daddy, let me tell you something. I'd like to get a meeting with the president.

Speaker 3: 31:10

He said why do you want to do that? He said, daddy, let me tell you something. I'd like to get a meeting with the president. He said why do you want to do that? He said, well, because I want to bring electric light to the hill country of Texas. I want to build a dam there. And at this point he had enough power. Yes, the congressman got in the meeting he went to Roosevelt. Roosevelt told the guy who had previously rejected LBJ's quest for an electric dam. He said give the kid a dam. So that's a very good example. It's not like some super strategy of here's 10 bullet points of what you should do. Go and make a relationship If you want to have an impact. Go and make a personal relationship with someone that has power.

Speaker 2: 31:45

Yes, yes, so I'll go back to Robert as we get ready to wrap up. I'll go back to something you said how do you help leaders? Because you're exactly right, the relationship is important. How do you help leaders swallow their ego? Because sometimes, as you're working towards becoming influential or having the power, your ego can get in the way, and you mentioned earlier, you're gonna have to get past that because that will be a barrier if you don't check it well, you know one of the things we run into with CEO coaching.

Speaker 3: 32:13

I'm starting a podcast called the CEO podcast. I've got to get your advice about how to do this, one of the things that one of my CEO friends told me. His name is Greg Goff. He's the CEO of a company called Endeavor. It was a Fortune 100 oil company. He's now on the Exxon oil board and I'm only saying this because you know the source of it. He said CEOs are some of the most egotistical people you've ever met. Yes, and this is one problem with signing people up for coaching because they're so egotistical, they don't think they need coaching. They don't want coaching. They don't want to order anybody to know they're getting coaching.

Speaker 2: 32:48

Yes, so I think the best thing to do to get people to swallow their?

Speaker 3: 32:59

ego is failure. Yes, it teaches you a lot. What's that?

Speaker 2: 33:01

Yeah, failure will teach you a lot. It will humble you real fast.

Speaker 3: 33:03

You have to bounce up against the wall enough times. Like my son, he plays in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He's a violinist. Unfortunately, although that story sounds good, he doesn't practice enough. So the other kids were practicing twice as much as him. So he went to the spring audition for the Boston Youth Symphony. He didn't get into the program that he wanted to get into. He applied for the Tanglewood Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts, a very famous. He didn't get into that. He applied to get into the Yale School of Young Global Leaders. He didn't get into that. Now those failures really got him to take stock of himself. So I don't know how we relate that to leaders, but I want to say, before we wrap up about a program we're offering, it might be relevant to you and your group.

Speaker 3: 33:47

I mentioned it because you mentioned you had a team.

Speaker 3: 33:50

As I said, I wrote the book Masterful Coaching. It's considered a landmark book and it's probably the book that brought coaching from the world of sports to the great game of business. And over the years, many people have asked me to do coaching certification programs, so I decided to give it a try. I'm going to be offering four this year. It's about how to be a masterful coach. You can coach people on leadership. You can coach people on business. You can coach people in government.

Speaker 3: 34:16

Masterful coach is someone that can help people realize an impossible future. A masterful coach is someone who can do deep work, transformational work. What I realized out there there are a lot of people that want to be a master level coach, but they're standing in a gap. There's a gap. You're either on one side of the gap or the other side of the gap. On one side of the gap, you have master level coaches who are struggling to get clients and make money, or you have master level marketers and salespeople who give keynote speeches and whatnot and are struggling to be masterful. So I'm putting this program together. It's a three day, 72 hour immersion experience. It's a masterful. So I'm putting this program together. It's a three-day, 72-hour immersion experience. It's a masterful coaching certification program that will help you bridge the gap between being a masterful coach and being a prosperous coach. Wow.

Speaker 2: 35:03

You're going to do it four times throughout the year.

Speaker 3: 35:05

We're having the first one, I think, in June. We're going to do it once a quarter, okay, because a lot of the coaching programs that are out there, ron.

Speaker 2: 35:13

I know they're very basic.

Speaker 3: 35:14

You know, listen to me, you know I'm okay, you're okay. They're not really developed. They're not really about coaching executives. They're more like being a psychologist who's about teaching people how to change their behavior. The Masterful Coaching is about realizing a possible future, winning in the great game of business or whatever game you're playing in and doing deep transformational work with people I mentioned to you. If you're interested, I guess you can contact Robert Hargrove at masterfulcoachingcom wwwmasterfulcoachingcom, or connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm pretty excited about this. I'm just saying it to tell the world that it's available.

Speaker 2: 35:53

Yes, and if you're listening and you're watching it and catching what, I would love for you to reach out. Go to Robert's website, pull up the information on Masterful Coaching and I will tell you that you kind of want a framework, you want to understand how to do it. You don't want to wake up and coach me and guide me, and I embraced all of that. The thing that mattered the most is figuring out, once I became a coach, how do I do it effectively? That actually makes a difference for people and there is an art and science to this.

Speaker 2: 36:24

So, if you're in the coaching arena, if you've never done it or you've been in it for a while and you need to just freshen up and get better at what you've been doing for years and you should always Robert said something into the green room. He says I've been doing this, you know, for a long time, but I'm still learning. Coaches, here's an opportunity for you to still learn, for you to still grow, for you to still enhance your skillset. Go out, pull up his website, find him on LinkedIn, go to roberthardworldcom and you'll pull up the program. So please check it out. Is there any last minute things that you'd love to share before we wrap up?

Speaker 3: 36:53

Well, I'm sitting here feeling an appreciation for one. Ron Harvey, I was thinking about you and how great you are, how much you've done to be of service and put service over self-interest, and the reward has been that you've been successful. So, and you are successful. Maybe it sounds very plain, but you're a good person that counts for a lot. What I'm trying to say is if I can help you in any way at all, any way possible at any time, if I can be of service to you, please let me know, and that goes for anyone else in the listening audience.

Speaker 2: 37:26

Yes, yes, thank you. Thank you, robert. Thank you for saying yes to the podcast. Thank you for sharing you know the information that you've shared with us. You know your wisdom and having a real conversation without being prepped for it, and that's what I love about the podcast is we just have a real conversation with human beings that care about what we do. We want to be good at what we do, we want to stay in business and we want to be a service.

Speaker 2: 37:47

Always find both of us on LinkedIn. You can reach out to any one of us at any time. Ask a question. We respond directly to you. So if there's something that we can do or you're struggling as a leader or as an executive or coaching, please use the resources that we're sharing with you, and until next time. I want to tell you we're going to sign off. Rob and I have had a great time. Hope you've enjoyed us. Thank you for staying with us and please tell your friends, your colleagues or your leaders in your organizations about who we are and what we're doing. So thank y'all for joining us. We're going to sign off and until next time, you guys have a wonderful week and we're excited to be able to drop information that's helpful.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron unpacks sound advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are, for the people you serve, because people always matter.