298: Michael Useem - How To Become A Learning Machine

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Episode #298 with Michael Useem - How To Become A Learning Machine

Full shownotes can be seen at www.LearningLeader.com

• Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
  • Thinking strategically
  • Communicating persuasively
  • Decisive decision making
• The power of using real life examples to demonstrate leadership
• Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
  • He was a learning machine
  • "We know not the future, and cannot plan for it much.  But we can determine and know what manner of men we will be whenever and wherever the hour strikes."
  • He was a self directed lifelong learner - "I have always been interested in military matters, and what I do not know in that line, I know how to learn. I study I tell you every military work I can find."
  • He had a mentor/coach - Adelbert Ames was his tent mate and he learned all he could from him
    • He had a disciplined focus on learning from him.  "I asked him every night to tell me what he knew so I could learn"
  • He routinely got outside of his comfort zone - "I will watch myself and do an after action review to analyze."
  • Get tangible experience
• The purpose behind taking students and family members to Gettysburg every semester - To "stand where Chamberlain stood." And to "get you in their moment on that ground." Recreate the moment as if you're there.
• Gene Kranz and Apollo 13
  • "Expecting high performance is a prerequisite to its achievement among those who work with you.  Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite."
  • Being a decisive decision maker and preparing for those challenging moments with an attitude that "failure is not an option."
  • "I knew my teams even more than they knew themselves."
  • Had a great mentor in Chris Craft to help him
  • Teams that are well developed go through experiences together can outperform individuals under stress
• The motivation behind risk takers:
  • "A calculating adventurer, deriving a thrill from taking a risk and watching it pay off."  This is how visions are created.
  • How to become savvy about calculated risk
  • Risk tolerance is a learned skill
• Persuasive communication is an art form
  • It's a learned skill
  • You can't hide, you must be persuasive as a leader
  • There needs to be a solid narrative (story), a purpose behind it
  • Every person must know how important their specific contribution is -- "Why are we doing this and what is my role?"