Anton Gunn Recap: Becoming an Admired Leader

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Welcome back to the Lead On Purpose podcast. It's that time when I share with you the three key takeaways from our previous full length episode. We were lucky enough to sit down with Anton Gunn. Anton was the former advisor to President Barack Obama. So get ready to hear some of the key distinctions I took away from that and feel free to write them down and implement them in your business, in your family, in your life. But before we do that, I just want to ask you for help. So I want you to help me reach more leaders, reach more people, connect with people who need to hear the podcast. And if you at all enjoy the podcast, then please can you take a minute or maybe even two minutes just to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if that's where you listen to it on Spotify, just make sure that you're subscribed and you download on a weekly basis. Those simple steps can help me reach so many more people and I'm so passionate about this. I don't run the podcast as my career. I do this for pure joy and for pure impact. So I would love to for you to help me in spreading the word. And you know, if you can think of a friend who you could just copy the link to this podcast and send it to them, please do that. That would be huge. So let's get into it. Let's have a bit of fun. First, key takeaway there's never a wrong time to start doing the right thing. That was just so valuable when I got that from listening back. There's never a wrong time to start doing the the right thing. That could apply to your health, that could apply to your wealth, that could apply to your relationships, that could apply to your leadership. So where in your life are you doing something that you know you shouldn't be? Or where are you not doing something that you know you should be doing it? What's that one thing that you know you need to start doing today? My challenge to you is take some action and Start doing it right. There's never a wrong time to start doing the right thing. So if you've at poorly for years or you've smoked, or you've maybe had a few too many beersies, whatever it might be, there's never a wrong time to start improving things. If you've been short and rude to people, there's never a wrong time to start improving that. What is the one thing you're going to do? Number two, the most admired leaders are the ones who do whatever it takes to make things right. Are you that leader? Do you take the time when you screw up, when you misjudge, when you make a poor decision, when you talk to somebody in a way that's not empowering? Do you take the time to make things right? Well, look, this is the time to do it. This is the time to go, you know what, I'm a leader, I'm human. I screw up and certainly I look back over the teams that I've had the privilege to lead and I screwed up so many times and I stepped over the line and lost my composure. But it's in those times and becoming aware of those moments that I learned to go back and make things right and lift that phone. And sometimes things are irreparable, but not always, most of the time they are absolutely reparable. Number three, diversify your peer group. This was so powerful, right? Diversify your peer group. Why would one want to do such a thing? Well, talking to Anton, it was just phenomenal. He said, look, if you are a white middle aged male and you hang out with lots of other white middle aged males, well, you guys are going to have similar blind spots and similar things that you don't see. So those individuals you hang out with are not going to help you to really raise your, your emotional intelligence, but hanging out with people from different ethnicities who are different genders, different age groups, different economic brackets, those people will see some of your blind spots and help you to identify those and help you grow emotionally. And that's really powerful. And that's what this world needs more of. We need more diversity, inclusion, getting around people that are not the same as you. You know, certainly that's been a very big focus for me in this last year, was trying to make sure that I am getting around people that are different than me, that are different ages from different countries with different ideas. And that's been amazing and enlightening. Really enriching in fact. So my challenge to you is a look at your peer group. Who do you hang out with at work, outside work, on the weekend, who do you go on holiday with? Are they quite similar in age, background? Now, the chances are they are, because that's just the nature of the world. But my challenge to you is what can you do to make your peer group more diverse? That's your challenge. Now, look, I know I always leave just three takeaways, but there was one golden thing that Anton shared. So I'm going to give you a fourth today, a little bit of extra value. So Anton said that every single time you have an interaction with a team member and you're the leader of that team, doesn't matter whether you're the mom of the family or you're the CEO of the corporation, the team member is subconsciously asking three questions. These are the three questions that the team member is asking. Do you care about me? Will you help me? And can I trust you? Those are the three questions that keep running through the mind of a team member. Do you care about me? Will you help me? Can I trust you? You can see how that crosses over between family and work, right? You can see how that would be applicable on a team, say, a sports team as well. So you need to make sure that you're not just answering those you don't want to say, hey, I care about you. I really want to help you and you should trust me. That doesn't work. It's through your actions that they see that you know, do you care about me? If they're asking, does this person care about me? Well, that comes down to the time you make for them. Do you have time for them? Will you help me? Well, you know, in a professional sense, are you able to help them do their work brilliantly? Are you able to help them progress in their career if that's what they want to do, or do you hold them back and then, can I trust you? So, a huge one. So can they rely on you? Can they trust you? What you say and what you do, do those things line up. So, look, this is a short recap, but hopefully it was powerful. Hopefully there was one distinction in there that you could take away and really apply as a leader, as a parent, as a community organizer, whatever it might be. I hope there's one thing, one gem in there, and if you want to go to your leader, if you report to someone and share one of those with them, it may be incredibly helpful. So thank you so much. And again, I really appreciate for those of you that take the time to leave me a rating and review and subscribe on Apple podcasts or over on Spotify. I so appreciate it. And please take a moment to share this with a friend that might enjoy it. And go back if you haven't listened to Anton Gunn. It was the most epic episode. Looking forward to connecting with you all soon, but it's time right now to get out there and lead your life on purp.

Sam.