In order to become consistent in leadership effectiveness, leaders must first work hard on their own personal development. They must first challenge themselves to become more before expecting it from their teams.
When I graduated from University, I thought my school days were over. I was always ambitious and quickly learned that in order to continue to become the person I wanted to be and achieve new heights, I needed to continue educating myself.
If you are serious about your own success, be open to self-education and the knowledge and skills it can provide.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” Jim Rohn
I was recently introduced to a podcast by David Novak. It centers around leading from within as well as helping readers to lead others. David is the former Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell). He started his leadership training and podcast to address the leadership gap.
One of the best ways to invest in your self-education is to learn from people who have achieved success in the areas you want to succeed in.
I have been immersing myself in books, podcasts, seminars for years. It’s about keeping your mind fit. Even if you’re listening to something you have heard before, it’s about conditioning yourself to stay in a growth mindset.
In one of his podcasts, David interviewed Rory McIlroy, a four-time major golf champion and recent winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Rory spent 95 weeks ranked as the #1 golfer in the world.
Amazing right?
If you are not a golfer you might be asking yourself, “what exactly can I learn from listening to this podcast?”
Can you imagine the discipline, commitment and personal leadership required to achieve that level of success in a field? Those traits can be applied to any field and any goal.
Here are just some of the questions David asks Rory:
- What makes a great coach – not just for golf?
- What traits do you admire in a leader?
- What was it like during the 2011 Masters when winning was in your grasp, then you hit a bad drive on the 10th? What did you learn from that experience?
- When you are at the top how do you stay hungry and push for better results?
- What do you look for when you team up with people?
- How do you hold people accountable?
- Do you have any fears about winning?
Another great resource from this podcast are the notes that come with it. There is a transcript from the show with additional self-reflecting questions to help you get the most from the show. There is even space to write your answers for future reference and increased learning.
As an example, in the show notes, after the question of how Rory holds people accountable, there is a follow-up question David asks readers, “How well do you keep the overall objectives in mind when making decisions at work?”
I quickly became a fan of his podcast and have subscribed to future shows. What is your favorite tool or resource for your self-education?
ABOUT DAVID NOVAK and OGOLEAD
David Novak, founder and CEO of oGoLead, is on a mission to help aspiring leaders become more effective and successful by teaching vital HeartwiringTM and HardwiringTM skills that are more important than ever before. He founded the company in 2017, along with co-founder Gregg Dedrick and Dr. Tim Galbraith, Leadership Consultant, to help people become more effective so they can get better results and make a bigger difference in their worlds. The ‘oGo’ in oGoLead stands for “O Great One! A Little Book about the Awesome Power of Recognition”—the title of Novak’s third book released in 2016.
Novak was co-founder, former Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with nearly 44,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in more than 130 countries and territories with more than 1.5 million company and franchise associates. A renowned expert on leadership and recognition culture, he is known for handing out employee recognition awards in the form of rubber chickens and is the author of two other highly respected and critically acclaimed books, “The Education of an Accidental CEO” and The New York Times bestseller, “Taking People with You.”
Novak is a New York Times bestselling author, has been recognized as “2012 CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive magazine, one of the world’s “30 Best CEOs” by Barron’s, one of the “Top People in Business” by FORTUNE and one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review. Most recently Novak authored an op-ed on the topic for CNBC, link below.
Novak’s ‘Lift-A-Life’ family foundation created the largest privately funded leadership service program in middle schools and high schools called Lead2Feed. In 2017, David and his wife Wendy donated $21.6 million to the University of Missouri, School of Journalism, to establish the Novak Leadership Institute. He is the recipient of the 2015 Horatio Alger Award for his commitment to philanthropy and higher education.