🧢 Group Coaching Launch, Stop Disrupting HR, and How to Achieve Outsized Returns
PROGRESSION: October 2022
As I sit down to write this month’s newsletter, I can’t help but reflect on the power of small changes. I’ve been reading Discipline is Destiny (more on that later) and have seen big changes come as I’ve taken small, consistent actions.
I invite you to reflect on this question: What small action if done consistently would have a massive impact on my life? If you’re looking for a place to start, check out the Wheel of Life exercise below.
Leadership Coaching Circles
In August I became a full-time executive coach. I provide a 1:1 transformational experience that helps leaders discover their blindspots, balance competing demands, increase confidence, and become the incredible leader they’ve always wanted to become.
I love the work I do and I'm having a big impact on the 13 people I'm actively coaching. But my schedule limits the number of leaders I can individually work with and the price of one on one coaching is out of reach for some.
So I’m launching a group coaching pilot I’ve dubbed Leadership Coaching Circles. I’m only making this available for 8 people (4 spots are already claimed). This gives you the opportunity to receive powerful coaching and learn from exceptional leaders at a price point that's more accessible.
If you’re committed to getting to the next level but want help getting there, Leadership Coaching Circles is for you. Hit reply if you’d like to learn more.
Books, Articles, etc.
Positive Energy is a Superpower (Tweet)
There’s so much pessimism and skepticism in the world. Bringing positive energy to your workplace every day is a superpower. And it requires zero skill. Simple, but not easy. Great advice from Jack Altman, co-founder of and CEO of Lattice.
Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday (Book)
One of the things I love about being a solopreneur is the autonomy I have over my schedule. But success requires extreme discipline as I’m the only one holding myself accountable.
I picked up Holiday’s recent book and I’m really enjoying it. I’m not even halfway through the book yet but want to share my favorite insight so far.
“Most of us spend our lives building up walls between us and anything unpleasant…not understanding how dependent this makes us. The whole point of success, we feel, is to never have to struggle, to have not only what we need but everything we want on demand. This is perfectly fine to enjoy in moderation. Why shouldn’t life be comfortable? Still, we must understand that our modern world is conspiring against us, working to degrade our ability to endure even the slightest difficulty. It spoils us…and sets us up for failure or slavery.
How to Achieve Outsized Returns (Quote)
I stumbled on this quote from Jeff Bezos last month and have been reflecting on it since. If you strike out, you get another at bat. Swing freely. Swing hard.
"Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a 10 percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But you're still going to be wrong nine times out of ten…We all know that if you swing for the fences, you're going to strike out a lot, but you're also going to hit some home runs.
The difference between baseball and business, however, is that baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1,000 runs. This long-tailed distribution of returns is why it's important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments."
Observations
Leadership Development Tool: Wheel of Life
Sometimes I’ll meet with a prospective coaching client and they want to make meaningful progress but don’t know where to start. I’ve found the Wheel of Life exercise to be a great tool for self assessment.
The wheel contains eight sections that, together, represent one way of describing a whole life. I invite the person to rank themselves across each dimension on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being extremely satisfied in that aspect of their life, and 1 being extremely dissatisfied. We then dive into a conversation on the area(s) they want to make progress in.
I invite you to complete the Wheel of Life exercise for yourself. For those areas that are low, ask yourself, what can I do to make it a 10? For those areas that are already high, ask yourself, what have I done to find success here? How can I keep the momentum?
We Don’t Need To Disrupt HR—We Need To Operationalize It. Here’s How
Everyone wants to disrupt HR. It's fun. It's sexy. It's a distraction from the hard, often grueling work of building a People team that scales. But HR “disruptions” are like trick plays in football. You can’t run an offense exclusively on trick plays. You need to build the right foundation.
This article was a guest post I wrote for Continuum, a marketplace for executive talent led by friend Nolan Church. Here’s a link to the full article.
Gratitudes
I’ve found power in regularly expressing gratitude so I’ll continue the habit. I’m grateful for the beauty of this world. Our family went to Salt Lake City a few weeks back and the fall colors were incredible. Here’s a picture from our family’s hike up American Fork Canyon. 😍
If you've read anything worth sharing I'd love to hear about it. And do let me know if there's anything I can do to help you.
Nathan
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