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Welcome to Episode Seven of The Realities of Leadership: The Leadership Journey Never Ends!

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Seven:

1. Today’s leaders MUST be lifetime learners (open, vulnerable, curious, growth mindset). It’s very exciting to work FOR a lifetime learner.

2. Lifetime leaders always think their best leadership day is…tomorrow!

3. The leadership journey never ends, but it does change and evolve over time.

4. What do you say to the leader who claims not to have time for this continuous learning?

5. Leaders want to be scanning the environment to look for new things to learn, try, and integrate. We expect them to be current on trends, new technologies, new ideas, etc.

6. Risk-taking and affecting change never end of the modern business leader.

7. Throughout this entire series and all five seasons, we’ve talked about having to be a consciously competent leader. You might achieve that, but you can also lose that distinction if you don’t do the work.

8. What happens if you are an overzealous leader?

9. If you acknowledge that the leadership journey never ends, how do you keep it going?
a. Be in a constant state of anticipation.
b. Always be in a state of creation.
c. Keep facilitation moving forward.

10. The constant work of maintaining credibility and trust.

11. Are you mentoring? Are you teaching? Are you volunteering?

12. How do you encourage the whole of your leadership team to become lifetime learners?

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

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About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

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Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

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Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

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Welcome to Episode Six of The Realities of Leadership: People Will Leave You For Good And Bad Reasons.

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Six:

1. The modern business leader needs to be VERY focused on talent, and many are not. In fact, the leader needs discipline, philosophy, and practices around their talent approach.

2. HR plays an important role in talent yes, but the leader (CEO, GM) now have to play a much more engaged role with talent management.

3. “Hire for cultural fit, and train for technical skills.”

4. Leaders ALWAYS have to be looking for talent, both formally and informally.

5. It’s more than a matter of putting out a job description. You need to search for personality, skills, and behaviors as well.

6. Today’s reality for all leaders is that they have to take risks with talent, and make bold moves.

7. People will leave your organization for bad reasons:
a. Leaders push them into roles they are not comfortable in.
b. Leaders do not advocate on the behalf of their talent, putting them into positions where they can thrive.
c. Leaders are not developing the talent for success in the future.

8. How will talent leave you? Emotionally (become disengaged in the office)? Or physically?

9. Steps to become a better advocate for your talent:
a. Get to know them.
b. Learn their career aspirations.
c. Learn where their gaps are.
d. Stretch them.
e. Give them visibility to showcase emerging skills.

10. But, a very powerful way to advocate for talent is sometimes to encourage them to pursue an opportunity/challenge outside of the organization…one that you just cannot provide.

11. Think of the benefits this brings to the organization: trust, safe environment, loyalty, talent knows you have their best interests at heart, and very likely, the talent will be in a position to return to the organization down the road.

12. “You want to encourage ambition, and let people develop as fully as they can.”

13. If an employee leaves you emotionally, meaning they have mentally checked out and no longer really care about their work or the organization, how do you turn that around?

14. Talent will leave an organization if they sense leadership isn’t doing their job. And if talent suggests they are leaving simply for a larger paycheck, that is generally a sign that something else is wrong.

15. The final reality to understand here is that in the modern business world, talent moves around. People will leave your organization. Just be certain they leave for good reasons. And recognize that if they are leaving for bad reasons, those are opportunities you can fix.

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

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About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

---

Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

---

Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Welcome to Episode Five of The Realities of Leadership: Some Work Can Only Be Done By YOU (And Your Leadership Team)!

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Five:

1. “The strategy of hope.” A common problem, pushing off challenges and struggles to others, hoping the problems go away. The avoidance of conflict…

2. Leaders HAVE to make tough choices.

3. The most important choice a leader makes is putting in the right (or wrong) leaders around them.

4. If you are not prepared to make the tough calls, you are not ready to be a leader.

5. If you believe everything is important, then nothing is important, and you aren’t leading. Prioritization is a key responsibility of leaders.

6. Key to set the expectations of your people, and to determine role clarity.

7. As a leader, there are times you will be unpopular. This is a reality of leadership.

8. “You have to explain your choices.”

9. Some of the work only a leader can do:
a. Putting the right talent around you.
b. Managing your resources.
c. Establishing expectations for behavior.
d. Coach for performance.
e. Communication (communicate beyond what you think is logical).

10. A leader has to have the patience to communicate a message again and again and again, until it sticks. Most do not have that patience.

11. The leader must communicate the following: Where were we, where are we now, and where are we going? This is how the leader controls the narrative.

12. VOID: What happens when you do NOT do the work that only you as a leader should do. You create voids that cannot be filled by others.

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

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About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

---

Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

---

Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Welcome to Episode Four of The Realities of Leadership: Are You Enlightened Enough To Lead Today?

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Four:

1. Do modern leaders know what really matters today? “As a leader, am I created an culture that my people want to experience?”

2. “Enlightened leaders are connected leaders…they are engaged participants.”

3. A leader’s personal speed vs. the modern speed of business!

4. Are modern leaders embracing the new challenges (and opportunities) to leading today?

5. Leaders that are NOT enlightened to these issues are at risk…or whom don’t like the democratized workplace.

6. The emotional intelligence side of leadership, and the personal side, is an important stretch for leaders as well…

7. What are your team’s expectations of you? Do you know? Do you care about their career progression?

8. “We no longer have a war on talent. We now have a puzzle…” What does talent, work ethic, and performance really look like?

9. One of the reasons people leave a job is only because they are working for an unenlightened leader…

10. How do you know that you are NOT an enlightened leader? Obviously, if you are not seeking (or getting) feedback, you are not enlightened…

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

---

About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

---

Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

---

Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Joined on the show today by Gregg Thompson, president of Bluepoint Leadership Development, and author of The Master Coach: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary Conversations.

Discussion guide from our conversation with Gregg Thompson:

1. How leadership differs from coaching — and why master coaching is a key component of true leadership.

2. The 3 core dimensions of coaching:  character, connection, and conversation.

3. The qualities of great coaches.

4. Steps leaders can take to build a coaching culture in their organizations.

5. Signs of coaching success.

6. Think > Act > Interact

7. We also discuss how people can be more receptive to coaching!

About Gregg Thompson:

Gregg is the author of THE MASTER COACH: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary Conversations. He is President of Bluepoint Leadership Development, recognized as one of the finest providers of coach training programs in the world.

Find Gregg Thompson’s book here:

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Welcome to Episode Three of The Realities of Leadership: Your Fingerprints Are On Everything!

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Three:

1. “Whatever has happened, whatever is showing up in your organization, as the leader, YOU HAVE CREATED IT.” Directly, or indirectly. Through actions, or inaction.

2. You have an affect on the organization that you probably don’t even realize…

3. Leaders are COMPLETELY visible in the space. But, be aware of the blind spots!

4. Knowing this, you will see and observe the impact you are having. From here, you can learn and make adjustments.

5. You might be directly responsible, but you might be tolerating a negative behavior. And you should be called out on that. You are meant to make change, but you cannot tolerate behaviors that are holding back that change.

6. How to leave the right fingerprints. “You cannot solve a problem you cannot see.” You do this by seeking feedback! Good leaders do not want to be the smartest person in the room – they want the smart people to provide the leader the key insights

7. Be careful when, as a leader, you “think” you are doing the right things. You need feedback to confirm this.

8. Seeking feedback is NOT a sign of weakness. And when you take feedback and take meaningful action, it does strengthen you as a leader, but also powers the confidence (and performance) of the team.

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

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About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

---

Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

---

Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

---

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Welcome to Episode Two of The Realities of Leadership: Leadership Is A Skilled Profession!

Discussion guide from The Realities of Leadership, Episode Two:

1. Foundational first is to understand the “principles” of leadership.
a. Leadership can be learned.
b. Leadership is emotional.
c. This is a service business.

2. “The modern leader has to be emotionally-connected to people.” The two currencies of leadership: communication and relationships.

3. Fundamental models of leadership.

4. The importance of temperament. Do you have the self-management to make these adjustments? Do you have the emotional intelligence to deal with negative situations, and play the long game?

5. “People and organizations deserve great leaders.”

6. The distinction between motivation and inspiration, and why a leader needs to understand that (they need to provide an environment that inspires). “Do they know what motivates their employees?”

7. Quick reminder: Remember, you are a leader in service of others.

8. Truly understanding the motivations of your team/employees really simplifies the role of a leader.

9. Yes, one of the realities of leadership is to talk to your people, and begin to really understand who they are and what motivates them. This is a skill you can develop!

10. Get over the supposed fantasies of leadership (fame and fortune). You have to develop skills and do the work.

11. What is the required mindset of a leader (growth mindset). They need to be learners and open to feedback. You are going to make mistakes and you have to be committed to get better at the practice of leadership.

Click here to listen to all of Season Five!

---

About our host, Erica Peitler:

Erica is a Leadership Performance Coach who courageously partners with individuals, teams and organizations who want to realize their visions of success by transforming their leadership potential into visible, on the ground, breakthrough leadership performance!

With an engaging, provocative and straight forward approach, Erica inspires leaders to reach beyond their comfort level as they pursue becoming the performance based leaders they aspire to be in both their professional and personal life.

As a keynote speaker and author, Erica educates, entertains and enlightens audiences on leadership, transformational change and professional/personal growth initiatives.

---

Find Erica Peitler’s book here:

The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating change-ready leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these change-ready leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

---

Series co-host Todd Schnick is the Editor-In-Chief of intrepid.MEDIA and a media and content strategist. A former marketing strategist, lobbyist, and national political operative, Todd now lives and works in the Chicago Loop with his family. He is a writer, foodie, bibliophile, distance runner, and nearly full-time dog mom.

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This series recorded LIVE from our Merchandise Mart studios in Chicago, Illinois! (Click on photo below for history of our studios!)

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