Introductory podcast episode by Brian Johnson for the Optimal Living 101 Masterclass Series (Leadership 101). The host opens with a promotional message for the "Optimize Me" / Optymyze membership (30-day free trial), then presents an overview of the Leadership 101 class organized as "10 big ideas": (1) Lead yourself, (2) Noble purpose / Be a hero, (3) Chisel your foundation (character/credibility), (4) Vision, (5) Process (functional optimism/momentum), (6) Flip the switch (take responsibility), (7) Neuroscience of being an iconoclast, (8) Charisma and "charisma squared," (9) a teased "best kept secret" of leadership, and (10) Leaders' math and legacy. The episode is both promotional (membership CTA) and educational, framing leadership as self-development and a service to others.
Chapters
Hey, this is Brian with a quick note before we jump into today's show. If you haven't signed up for the Optymyze Premium membership yet, A, what are you waiting for? And B, you can now get the first 30 days of optimizing for free. Just cruise on over to Optimize me and sign up. Over 10,000 people now start their days with Optymyze so they can actualize their potential, including best selling authors, leading entrepreneurs and even NCAA championship teams. Two of them. So again, 30 days of free optimizing at Optimize Me. If you're already a member, thanks for your support. Now for the show.
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in less time.
Hi, this is Brian.
Welcome back to the Optimal Living 101 Masterclass Series. Today I'm thrilled to be chatting about Leadership 101, how to inspire and empower people to do great things. As always, 10 big ideas I'm excited to explore. Let's take a quick look and then we'll jump in.
Alright?
Our first big idea, Lead yourself. All the great teachers of leadership say that leadership development is essentially self development. Warren Bennis has a great line. He says becoming a leader equals becoming yourself, expressing yourself fully. He says it's precisely that simple and that difficult. We're going to talk about that a little more. Our second big idea, noble purpose plus be a hero. It's not about you. It's about giving yourself fully the world. We want to identify and live our noble purpose. And we want to be a hero. We're going to look at the Greek root of the word hero and why that matters and how we can be one today. The third big idea, Chisel your foundation. Kouzes and Posner, two of the leading academic researchers on the science of leadership, tell us that credibility is the foundation of leadership. In a word, you need to have character. Did you know the word character comes from the Greek word for chisel? You need to chisel your foundation, remove the flaws that are getting in the way of you expressing the best within yourself if you want to be worthy of being a leader. The fourth big idea. You need to have vision. Leaders, of course, have vision. We're going to talk about seeing the future, seeing the potential in everything, in everyone, creating a guiding vision and inspiring us with hope. Our fifth big idea is process. We're going to look at functional optimism, creating momentum, inviting Mr. Mo into the house and victory. Process.
Process.
Process leaders are both visionary and practical. Our sixth big idea is to flip the switch Robin Sharma in the Leader who Had no Title tells us we need to flip the switch. What are we switching between? Between. Between being a victim or a leader. You need to decide which are you going to be, a victim or a leader. Are you going to complain and blame and make excuses or are you going to take 100% responsibility, extreme ownership style? That's what leaders do. Number seven, the neuroscience of breaking icons. There's a great book called Iconoclast which is all about the neuroscience of being an iconoclast, which this author defines as Gregory Burns defines as doing something that other people said you couldn't do was impossible. Well, if you take the iconoclast and rather than being a lone ranger, you make him a leader, you basically have a leader. So we're look at the neuroscience of being an iconoclast. Being a leader. There are three facets we want to pay attention to. The eighth big idea, Charisma plus charisma Squared. We're going to look at some big ideas from the myths of charisma. Short story there is you can cultivate your charisma and it's important. Research shows that leaders who have charisma get higher levels of engagement and satisfaction from the individuals that are part of their team. Then we're going to look at the ancient Chinese philosophy of Wu Wei and their idea of moral charisma, which I'm going to call Charisma squared. Really, really fun, powerful stuff. The ninth big idea is the best kept secret of leadership. I'm going to keep that one as a secret. See if you can guess what's the best kept secret of leadership. What would you guess it is? Well, think about that. And the tenth big idea we're going to look at is leaders math plus your legacy. Leaders do math differently. They're not trying to create followers, they're trying to create other leaders. John Maxwell tells us in his great book the 21 irrefutable laws of Leadership. Create leaders. We're going to talk about how and create your legacy. What are you here to do? What are your greatest gifts? How are you going to give them in greatest service to your family and to the world? We're going to get clear on that. That ultimately is what it's all about. Be a leader. And how are we going to know that you gave your greatest gifts in greatest service to the world? What will your legacy be? That's a quick look at the 10 ideas. Let's jump in. So if you enjoyed that quick overview, I think you'll love the full class.
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