While we still find ourselves in the era of social distancing, many of us have had to find new ways to pass the time while confined in our homes.

Given the circumstances, there’s never been a better time to brush up on your reading. Reading has been shown to improve communication, emotional intelligence, and organizational effectiveness. All of these traits are critical requirements for effective leadership. We were curious to know what books the world’s top impact business leaders are reading.

We asked the CEOs of the winning companies of the Real Leaders Impact Awards to tell us what books inspire them to achieve greatness as they build their careers. These are the answers we received:

World’s Top Impact Companies – Call for Entries

The Real Leaders Impact Awards honors the top impact companies applying capitalism for greater profit and greater good. This award helps companies attract new business, top talent, and raise awareness within their industry as well as the impact investing community. You deserve to have your company recognized as one of the world’s top impact companies. Apply for the 2021 Real Leaders Impact Awards before August 31st to get our special Early Bird Rate.

The real estate industry is no stranger to crisis. As a sector that heavily relies on in-person interaction, COVID-19 has created noticeable challenges for the industry. However, throughout this uncertainty, we as leaders have learned to find new ways and rise to the occasion to see our businesses progress forward.

Due to low consumer confidence, stay at home orders, and other social distancing measures buying and selling a house became increasingly hard—this, coupled with low interest rates, made for a fluctuating and unpredictable market. 

The Role We Play

As leaders, we’ve been tasked to adapt, motivate our employees, and reassure clients that we’re available and online. Decision-makers must be surrounded by a supportive and forward-thinking team and utilize experience to lead with confidence.  

For many executives, determining the next steps while navigating the unknown is the ultimate struggle. Fortunately, our leadership team collaborated and worked through these issues to come up with solutions. 

Using The Past To Lead The Future

One way to approach these difficult decisions was by reflecting on other professional hurdles I had experienced during the duration of my career. One of which was navigating the housing crash and the other, transitioning our former law firm into our current title agency. Using hindsight to guide my thinking allowed the leadership team and me to navigate the obstacles Covid-19 presented calmly. 

Looking back at these experiences and comparing it to today’s current obstacle, Covid-19, I can’t help but notice certain similarities. The two most significant being the unknown and change.

 Following both the housing market crash and our companies transition, there was a lot of uncertainty, new procedures, and change. For our team to push on today, I’ve leaned on the lessons learned from the past and found value in these three pillars when making decisions. 

1. Communicate 

Our job as a leader is to communicate and overcommunicate to ensure every employee understands their role in moving the business in the right direction. Without proper communication, employees can get off track and not perform to the best of their ability. Inadequate communication is a disservice to your staff and your organization, and to set employees up for success, there can be no confusion. However, another consideration is that communication is and should not be one way, at Patten Title, we value our employees’ feedback. We are always open to recognizing and listening to their insights. This open-door policy has proven successful when tackling an obstacle, big or small.

2. Prepare for Change

Being prepared for changes in the market and embracing the unknown has shown to be valuable. The ability to be flexible and agile during uncertainty allows for an easier adaptation of new policy and eases transitions. The unknown is most challenging to navigate through my experience, but recognizing and being in tune to change is the first step when navigating a crisis. Having back up plans and emergency protocols in place are necessary to combat a crisis when it occurs and being mindful of what do when a disaster strikes not only gives employees peace of mind but also allows businesses to pivot more quickly towards the right solution. 

3. Proceed with Caution

As mentioned, it’s essential to be agile but equally as important to be cautious. Often, employees will look to their company leaders as a voice of reason, so it’s critical to be attentive and not overly bullish when it comes to decision making. During Covid-19, as state sanctions begin to lift, many business leaders are left with tough decisions on their plates, so recognizing the times we live in and heeding warnings is vital to ensuring employees and clients feel safe and valued. 

The impact of communication and comradery play on business during tough times is priceless. With changing laws, new hurdles inhibiting our work, and other questions arising – a strong team is crucial to succeeding. We always strive to put our people first. Through communication, preparedness, and caution, we’ve been able to resolve issues quickly and present solutions that have allowed us to respond and take action during past, current, and future disruptions.

It’s impossible and not even desirable for an organization to orchestrate the actions of each individual—the situation on the ground changes monthly, weekly, or even hourly. The organization’s supervisors and frontline workers want and need to make their own decisions in ways that they interpret to be best for the organization. To create alignment so that execution flows smoothly, leaders need to play a role as the organizational architect.

Ensuring that those thousands of micro-decisions, taken as a whole, move the organization in the right direction means that leaders must ensure their systems, structures, processes, and culture are all in alignment. Each of these must be crafted to support the overall strategic intent. 

Unfortunately, misalignment is far more common than alignment. As competitive strategy evolves at an ever-faster pace in response to faster-changing business environments, organizations often find their architecture is aligned to an old, out-of-date strategy. Such misalignment slows execution. 

Those systems, structures, processes, and culture are the “nature” of the organization and misaligned with its competitive strategy; people tend to default to old habits. The nature of the organization trumps its strategic intent. People do what they’re rewarded for, even if those actions aren’t advancing the strategy. As a result, their work isn’t as productive as it should be. Execution of the strategy is inconsistent, slow, and unresponsive to rapid changes in the competitive environment. There’s too much friction in the organizational gears.

It’s easier to see the symptoms of misalignment than it is to identify precisely what is misaligned. For example:

– A supervisor in a factory resisted a change to his production line. Everyone else in the organization understood and supported the move, yet it took several months for the supervisor’s line to fully integrate the change. Why? Even though the company was much better off, the supervisor was concerned his bonus was going to be negatively impacted by the change.

– A general manager in a company was asked to integrate more effectively with a sister division. He fully understood it was the right thing to do, and his bonus incentives rewarded him for doing it. But, his boss had told him previously that keeping his job was based solely on how his operation performed.

– Sales and service reps in a company were paid 100 percent on their individual performance. While the strategy of the company once focused on simply acquiring as many customers as possible, it evolved into delivering superior service to its customers. This change required those reps to coordinate with each other, but their compensation unequivocally rewarded individual accomplishment. Until the system of compensation changed, the behavior remained as before.

In each case, the companies suffered from organizational friction. They tried to live with it rather than fix it until the friction became almost unbearable. That’s understandable. Correcting misalignment often requires a fundamental shake-up in how an organization goes about its business. That’s difficult for any number of reasons, including:

– Sometimes, leaders don’t even see the friction that’s created by misalignment in the organizational architecture.

– Other times leaders implicitly accept the systems, structures, processes, and culture that exist, not recognizing the role they could or should play in changing them. It’s a little like living next to the train tracks — you don’t hear the train’s sound anymore, yet anyone who visits can’t drown it out.

– It can be frightening to start meddling with systems, structures, processes, and culture. As a leader, it’s hard to feel confident about a change that’s unfamiliar to everyone in the organization. The benefits occur in the future, while the discomfort of change will be felt today. 

Yet, when you are the organizational architect and work to ensure alignment that had been out of whack, the results can be immediate and dramatic. It’s like the alignment you feel when you leave the repair shop that has stopped your car from pulling to the left. Execution of your strategy begins to flow freely once your architecture aligns with it.

PODCAST PEOPLE: A Summary from the Real Leaders Podcast

“Every single day is this fire and this burn that lies inside of me that I won’t stop, I won’t quit. I want to serve. I want to give everything that I have. One day at a time. And I think for all of us, we have that burn. And if you can get yourself to the point where your mind is controlled by your burn every single morning, not the fears, doubts and uncertainties, and you wake up, and you connect to that burn, it allows us to respond positively in a world right now that is very, very tough.”

Ben Newman is a highly regarded Performance Coach, International Speaker and Best-Selling Author, though you may also know him as the host of The BURN Podcast. He coaches a wide range of clients from sports teams to Fortune 500 companies, encouraging them all to pursue what fuels their burn.

The following is a summary of Episode 115 of the Real Leaders Podcast, a conversation with performance coach Ben Newman. Watch, read, or listen to the full conversation below.

Purpose Overtakes Pain

Ben shares his the impact of his mother’s death when he was a child and her lasting legacy. Her strength and determination through a terminal illness inspired fortitude that would carry him through the rest of life:

“I knew my mother’s story drove me. I didn’t articulate it as “the burn” then, but I was trying to encourage people to find what inspires you. Because when you’re inspired, and you create consistent action in your life, the consistent action is what causes you to go write one hell of a story. And so, for all of us, that’s what we’re looking for. It’s the consistent action, it’s the answer. The magic answer is typically the work and the action connected to a big belief in yourself.”

The BURN Comes from the Heart

Ben encourages us all to pursue passion. Connecting from the heart generates a mindset of thinking bigger and believing beyond what we might think possible for ourselves.

“When you connect somebody’s heart to their passion, and you teach them to think bigger and believe in all the greatness that lies inside of them, they’re going to work like they have never worked before. And the relationships I’ve had in my life, whether I’m coaching an individual, coaching a company, working with a team, to me, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about being able to connect with the heart, get them to think about what’s possible, and then you go attack it one day at a time.”

How to Sustain the BURN

Ben presents us with key questions for taking on any future successes: What exactly is it that you want? What type of life do you want to lead? And then what does that person do on a daily basis? And how do you have to live? What does your purpose have to be to achieve all those things?

“Grab your future. Bring it to today. A lot of times the things we want in the future help us find clarity on what our purpose is, or the reason why we want to take the necessary action to have the things that we want in the future.”

Transcript

Read the full conversation here:

Connect

Find Ben at: https://www.bennewman.net/

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How do we strike the balance between extreme caution and necessary risk-taking when navigating a crisis? Many of us in the third month of quarantine are experiencing a bifurcation between daily personal and business experiences. At home, we embrace a highly conservative posture. We’ve cut spending to protect our rainy-day fund, organized our kids around a highly routine schedule, and eliminated all unnecessary trips to the store and physical contact with non-family members. 

But within our business lives, a decade’s worth of change has transpired in just a few short weeks, and the same conservative posture would be destructive. The only certainty right now is that we will be living with uncertainty for an extended period, and business leaders must embrace and foster an entrepreneurial mindset in order to adapt. Acting successfully and strategically in this environment requires the ability to move forward with limited resources and a dearth of information. 

Adopting an entrepreneurs’ mindset enables business leaders to continuously and thoughtfully adjust in an environment of ever-changing circumstances. Here are three entrepreneurial strategies that will help business leaders move forward amid the extreme uncertainty we face today. 

1. Be Transparent with Your Employees

Entrepreneurs are focused on expanding and creating resources to benefit their companies, their employees, and investors. A true entrepreneurial mindset — the kind that is able to evolve and lead a team through hard and unpredictable circumstances — is authentic. Entrepreneurs can imagine how circumstances may evolve to support a compelling vision, but they can also adjust when the reality diverges from what was expected. They know how to articulate this divergence and instill confidence among employees to calibrate toward eventual success. 

The key to success in this approach is transparency: Be honest and open about the challenges your company is facing, and create a forum for discussion and discourse. Transparency ensures that your team has the insight needed to trust your vision. It makes them feel valued and gives them the opportunity to propose solutions to the challenges you’re facing. Collecting ideas from your entire organization, not just the people at the top, gives you a much better chance of choosing and executing on projects that drive your business forward; the team members you don’t trust with knowledge of your challenges can’t provide valuable insights.

Transparency, however, goes beyond sharing the truth. Itis a learned skill that requires you to gain clarity about the relevant information you know — and don’t know — so you can focus yourself and your team on solving the right problems. 

2. Make Room for Creativity

Entrepreneurs are natural problem-solvers. To adopt their mindset, you need to give yourself time to think creatively about the challenges your business is facing. That means that you can’t involve yourself in every aspect of the business; a hands-on approach leaves no room to develop a supportive team that’s invested in your collective success. A leader with an entrepreneurial mindset gives employees the freedom to solve issues inside your company in ways you can’t even understand, freeing you to work on the company.  

To make room for creativity, delegate any tasks that don’t require your authority or expertise. Offload higher-level projects, like business development and efficiency improvement, to employees in those areas and all of your admin and other low-level work to an assistant. This will allow you to focus on strategic initiatives without burdening your employees with tasks that distract from their core responsibilities. 

3. Act Fearlessly with Your Clients

During tough times, it’s tempting to put on a brave face in front of your clients and pretend that business is going great. When you act that way during a crisis, though, you miss out on a powerful opportunity for connection. 

The pandemic has affected nearly every area of the economy, and many of your clients are struggling; those who aren’t likely have many customers or close connections who are. When you act fearlessly and are vulnerable about your own challenges, you encourage them to do the same, opening up a conversation about how you can support each other through the crisis. This transforms your relationship from a purely transactional one into a long-term, dedicated partnership. 

In my own company, we contacted each of our clients at the beginning of the quarantine. In doing so we identified many who might have canceled our service but only needed a bit of short-term help to keep us on. By extending generosity wherever we could, we enhanced our reputation and strengthened our bond with clients who have the potential to be valuable accounts long after the current economic difficulties. Not only did this save us future business development dollars to replace accounts but it also fostered a sense of confidence and pride among our own team. 

We’re all working through the same turbulence currently, and there’s a lot we can learn from entrepreneurs. They’re confident in their company’s ability to reach an attractive destination even if they lack confidence in any given waypoint on the journey to get there, and we can take a similar outlook. The crisis allows — and requires – that we adopt an entrepreneurial mindset: developing and acting with transparency, delegating to make room for critical creative thinking, and acting fearlessly with clients. This boldness will ultimately allow us all to act in a more measured and protective way in all areas of our lives.  

“It’s okay to be kind and commanding,” says Sasha Shillcutt (above), CEO of Brave Enough, an organization that encourages women to live authentically and stop apologizing for their strength. Leading an organization with more than 10,000 women, Shillcutt’s mission is to share life lessons learned from falling down and getting back up again.

I was angry. I had been in an important negotiation but left empty handed. I had gone in prepared with impressive data and a good argument. As I lamented my frustration to a coworker, she interrupted. “Don’t get upset about it. The guys wouldn’t.”

Of course, they wouldn’t be upset, I thought. Statistically, a man wouldn’t have left empty-handed! But I took her words to heart and thought about how I could have negotiated better, more like a man. After reading Crucial Conversations and other books on negotiating, I knew men were seen more favorably than women when negotiating. Surely this meant that if I wanted a better outcome, I needed to model a man, right?

When I went into my next negotiation and tried to emulate a man, I felt ridiculous — unauthentic, rehearsed, and forced. I was incredibly direct, didn’t mince words, and spoke more than I listened. I tried to be as flat and unswerving as possible. It makes me laugh at myself now as I tell this story, but this is what I had pictured a man would do: state forcefully why I deserved what I was asking for, as I had witnessed a few men do in prior meetings. Needless to say, my strategy didn’t work, and I vowed that day never to negotiate, lead, speak, or teach in any way other than as myself. I should have gone into the negotiation with transparency, honesty, and facts. Now when I negotiate, I state at the beginning of the conversation, “Look, I’m going to negotiate, and I know from the data that women are looked upon unfavorably and face backlash when they negotiate. I’m telling you this now so that doesn’t happen, and we can both be as transparent as possible.”

The path to success in the corporate world fits a man’s walking shoes: the more assertive men are, the more competent they are judged to be. We know this is opposite for women, as the more assertive we are in the workplace, the more we face leadership backlash. Academia, science, and technology fields are similar, and women receive societal cues that tell us to follow the path made for men. We struggle to follow the unwritten rules that tell us if we want to succeed professionally, we must alter our authentic selves or face backlash. Some of us choose the latter. We rise up and fight the status quo, engaging in the workplace as our authentic selves. But we often find ourselves exhausted, constantly fighting the internal battle of who we truly are. And then what happens? We retreat. We grab the manual off the shelf and pick back up in chapter one. We grow war weary.

Some of us don’t even realize we are following the manual. We are constantly conflicted in predominantly male environments and thus blame ourselves when we fail to get what we seek. We think we must not be strong enough, or we are too strong and stepped on toes, or it must be a personality flaw or blind spot we need to fix.

We operate in a constant flux of indecisiveness, unassured if we can step forward into roles or areas dominated by men. We think we just need a few more classes, more experience, and more mentorship. We blame ourselves for not arriving. We wonder why we were looked over, passed over, or told no. We assume we just need more of something. I want to challenge the status quo on the notion that women need more. Actually, I want to flip the tables (except for the one I’ll stand on) and shout this: You do not need more classes, more mentorship, more of anything to strip yourself of being you and thus emulating men in the workplace to succeed. You do need opportunities to grow, strong mentors to follow, and sponsorships to open doors for you so you can learn from your failures and wins as a woman. You will become the best version of yourself by growing within experiences
and roles. 

One of the loudest messages women hear in the workplace is that if we think like a man, we think like a leader. No, no, no! Did you hear me?! (Sorry if you haven’t had coffee yet.)

We are not men. Many men have great attributes and make great leaders. But it’s not because they are men. It’s because they are wise people, servant-minded, strategic thinkers, and have strong work ethics. Guess what? Strong women leaders possess those same attributes but display them in different ways. Women are communal, great listeners, strategic thinkers, and also have incredibly strong work ethics.

Leaders with these attributes are what make organizations strong. There is room at the table for both men’s and women’s ideas. We are not the same but are wonderfully different. Each human being was created with a specific set of strengths, creativity, and diversity that is radically and desperately needed within our organizations and workplaces. We must unlink the concept of men and women competing against one another in the workplace. We must embrace our differences and celebrate the distinctive qualities and abilities we each possess.

Men and women were created differently for a reason, and our differences are our strengths. When we lead as women, we may lead contrarily to our male colleagues, and that’s a worthy thing. Research has shown that diverse thinking is great for innovation and for teams. Fortune 500 companies that have diverse boards, made up of both men and women, not only have more innovation but also demonstrate better financial growth and return on investment.

When we come together as diverse people, we see things differently, we hear things in ways others may not, and, thus, we may identify groups of people or important concerns that would otherwise go unnoticed.

To lead as strong women, we must embrace the fact that we are women. We need to stop hiding our mix of attributes, both feminine and masculine — the special sauce that makes us unique individuals. Recognizing that we may experience internal conflict when expressing our strengths as women and understanding what it means to thrive in a world in which we are not the elevated gender requires clarity. Clarity requires time alone with ourselves to come to these truths. Therefore, one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves is time. 

Time alone to pour into our authenticity is often referred to as self care. I like to call it internal work because, quite frankly, it isn’t easy. It’s how I feed my soul, identify my weaknesses, process my failures, and reset my mental health. It is work. Time with ourselves is the single most difficult thing women seem to be able to find these days. 

There is value to both men and women when we are vulnerable enough to open up and be honest with how women must navigate our workplaces, our families, and our expertise. When we share our biggest struggles and our biggest challenges, we normalize what it means to be a woman. We step out of the shadows and find courage, hope, and solidarity. We also find the strength to say enough is enough.

This is an adapted excerpt from Between Grit and Grace: How to Be Feminine and Formidable by Dr. Sasha Shillcutt. HCI Books. Copyright 2020. Used with permission.

We often negotiate in our personal and professional life. We negotiate with our children about their curfew time and with members of the family about household chores.

We negotiate about rent and when we buy or sell a car or a house. The work environment frequently involves negotiations between employers and employees about important issues, such as promotions, benefits, and pay raises, as well as between coworkers and outside parties, such as customers, potential partners, and mergers. In any negotiation, it’s essential to use specific tools to tip the scale in our favor. But most people are not aware of how expressing certain emotions can influence negotiations.

Negotiation outcomes are influenced not only by the content discussed but also by the emotions expressed during the negotiations. The question is whether we should display positive or negative emotions. Studies show that people who expressed positive emotions gained more in the negotiations than those who expressed negative or neutral emotions. So, here’s my advice: when you want people to accept your terms, try to be friendly, smile, and talk in a pleasant tone.

However, sometimes people can get genuinely angry during negotiations—for example, if the other party makes annoying remarks, refuses to accept what you believe is a very reasonable offer, or states an outrageous demand. What should you do in these situations? Should you express your anger or try to continue displaying positive emotions?

The answer is: it depends. Anger can arouse anger in the other party, which is not good for the negotiations, and it can also incite fear, which may lead to concessions.

What are the determining factors? Here are four factors you need to keep in mind:

1. Power

A crucial element is power. If you desperately need the job or the sale, you are not in the position of power, and anger from the other party may lead you to make concessions. Your anger will probably lead to the other party getting angry as well. If, on the other hand, you have other offers and you feel powerful, then anger from your negotiating partner will lead to anger on your part, and you will not agree to the offer. In general, if you feel powerful, expressing anger will often lead to gaining concessions. If the other party is more powerful, expressing anger will elicit more anger, since powerful negotiators are immune to expressions of anger and will not make more concessions. On the contrary, they might even be tougher in the negotiations.

Takeaway: If you are in a more powerful position, and the other person makes you angry, do not hesitate to show it. If you are not in the position of power, swallow your anger, and carry on if you want to reach a reasonable agreement.

2. Staying Objective 

Another essential factor to keep in mind: if you are angry and want to express it, direct it towards the offer rather than the person. Studies show that sharing your outrage at the offer will increase the chance of agreement from the other party. On the other hand, making your anger personal will only alienate the person with whom you’re negotiating.

3. Keeping it Real 

It’s also important not to fake anger. This is counterproductive. When you fake anger, the other party will often realize that it is not genuine. As a result, they will not trust you and will not agree to your offer. Studies also show that mild or moderate anger brings better results than extreme anger.

To sum up, expressing genuine anger can be advantageous, but only in certain situations and in a position of power. However, remember not to raise your voice, not go to extremes, and express your anger towards the offer rather than the person.

4. Be Aware of Gender Differences 

Unfortunately, even today, people often expect men and women to behave differently. A woman who expresses anger is judged more harshly than a man who is doing the same. In studies, a woman interviewee who expressed anger was rated lower than a woman who did not express anger, while expressing anger did not influence the rating of a male interviewee. Other studies show that when participants saw a female attorney expressing anger in her closing arguments, they reacted to her less favorably than the female attorney who did not express anger. In contrast, they reacted more favorably to the male attorney, who
expressed anger.

Men have an advantage over women in negotiations. Women candidates who initiated negotiations about compensation were judged more harshly than men with the same resume who also began negotiations. These findings are disturbing, but on the bright side, such gender differences and judgments decrease from year to year. I certainly hope they will eventually disappear.

We live in challenging times. However, that does not give us an excuse to rest on our laurels, ignore responsibility for our lives, or the opportunity to be a contributor to humanity. The time is now to share our skills and talents and offer insights and solutions from our experience as leaders and entrepreneurs. We must, because we can.

Solutions are needed everywhere right now: for people, cultures, the environment, healthcare, education, food and shelter. I know this because I grew up rough on the street, homelessness, and part of the nightlife. I had the fortitude to realize that I would likely leave this earth too soon if I didn’t learn from this experience. I survived harsh obstacles in life, and so can you. My plea to you in this article is to: decide, commit and execute.

DECIDE

“Where there is a will, there is a way.”

What does it mean to decide? Decisions mean precision. They require focus and attention. A first step is to know what decision you need to make going forward, and an awareness of those you’ve already made, to bring you where you are today. It also requires you to ask which ones need to change.

Be confident in your decisions. What happens when a decision doesn’t pan out? You have to reevaluate and make another decision, and sometimes yet another decision. It’s perpetual. Life is too short to be at war with yourself – or with others for that matter. Focus your efforts and on your powers — which includes your ability to communicate, your relationships, your drive and a generosity of time and compassion.

Know when to step back or step up. When a venture falls apart, take stock of why it happened. Decisions include risk, and a mentality of “no risk no reward.” Find the silver lining. Typically, this is the experience itself, and the resulting lessons. Trust the process and stick to the heart and soul of your purpose and who you are. Whatever you create, you initiate. If you haven’t experienced transition yet, you certainly will soon. Be true to yourself. Seek mentors and guidance. There is strength in asking for what you don’t know, or what you need.

COMMIT

“Nothing or no one will get in the way of my success.”

We dream or proclaim: “I want to do this. I desire this.” Yet, when the rubber meets the road – will you actually do “it”? We may have pure intentions in changing our lives, businesses and attitudes, but then it falls by the wayside. We’ve all had this happen. I’m not a fan of resolutions, but I’m an absolute fan of being resolute. Just get it done.

A commitment is really to yourself. You have the control over your decisions and commitments. No one else is responsible for that. It’s squarely on your shoulders. As for input from others, seek it, but know the choice or decision is ultimately yours. Don’t get wishy-washy if a commitment is hard to make or you feel you may not fulfill it. Return to the necessity of “Decide” in the previous paragraphs. Decide, and then commit. Tell someone that you’ve made that commitment. Be accountable.

Once you know and focus on what is important to you, clarity will be king, and your commitment will follow.

EXECUTE

“What is the power of execution?”

Nothing really happens without execution. Execution is also perpetual. It’s not a one stop shop. The meaning of the word execution is forward movement. It requires physical and mental action. Busy doesn’t always mean being productive. Making sure that you are in flow is proper movement, necessary for propelling you toward your goals. It necessitates an assessment of what you want and how you will accomplish it. I take inventory of my actions, outcomes and executions every single day. This might happen when I wake up, take a shower, workout at the gym, drive in my car or make my bed — but it’s always a conscious effort.

What you’ll discover when you pay attention, is what you need to recalibrate about yourself. No day is the same. Something will come up that interrupts your energy or thoughts and actions. Give pause when this happens.

When you decide, commit and execute it means that you hustle. This doesn’t suggest you become a hustler – that has a very different meaning and connotation. What I mean, is that you must have an intensity and desire to do more in your day, in our world, and with all the people with whom you interact. Put yourself at the front of that list.

Put the Following Hustle into Your Daily Practice:

• Be clear on your intentions
• Focus on your character and characteristics
• Utilize your time effectively
• Do not over-extend yourself and take time to refresh.
• Speak your truth
• Define what is next
• Formulate the right questions to ask of those who have different experience and wisdom. Discern on whether you should apply it
• What will be your routine?
• Who will you include in your process?
• How will you make your life happen… and how will you show up in it?

Stay focused. Be clear. Know yourself. You will receive the dividends of decide, commit and execute in more ways than one. Become your very best. Treat others with kindness. Impact just one life; more if you can. Be truthful and act with integrity. Demonstrate the essence of character. Be discerning in your choices and you will always rise to personal and professional success.

PODCAST PEOPLE: A Summary from the Real Leaders Podcast

“My definition of success is inner peace. True happiness is just inner peace. When you trust yourself, you know what kind of value you bring to the world, you know what you want to accomplish in the world. That’s what it is, it’s true peace.”

Drew Hanlen is a private skills coach and consultant for NBA players, and CEO of Pure Sweat Sports. More recently, he has also introduced his strategic coaching process to the business world. In both business and basketball, he helps clients take their game to the next level.

The following is a summary of Episode 114 of the Real Leaders Podcast, a conversation with private skills coach Drew Hanlen. Watch, read, or listen to the full conversation below.

Off-Court to On-Court Strategy

“The funny thing is most of the executives that hire me, they hire me because they’ve hit a plateau and they want to take their game to the next level. If you use the word game like I do. And a lot of times we find out that something off of the court, outside of their business, is the thing that’s really holding them back.”

1. Have a clear objective 
   • not numerous objectives, but one that you can put all energy towards
2. Create a road map
   • not only for what direction you’re going, but exactly the steps to get there
3. Have an accountability partner 
   • someone to consistently keep you on track

Overcoming Ego

“I always say: you have to master the role that you’re in while working towards the role that you want… You have to succeed in your current role to work toward getting the chance to prove that you can provide value in that future role that you want.”

1. Have to be a willing learner
2. Have to crave improvement if you’re going to get results
3. Have to put in the work

Quotes to Motivate

“You should pursue things that bring you energy. That’s it.”

“My grandma always told me, ‘You’re never going to have everything you want, but you’re always going to have more than you need.”’

“I believe that most people fail at accomplishing things because they focus so much on direction instead of the steps to get there.”

“Here’s what happens: when you start something: you get motivated. And when you get motivated, things get easier. And when things get easier, then you start wanting to do them more often.”

“Hate me now, thank me later. That’s what I always tell my clients.”

Transcript

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Find Drew at: https://www.puresweatbasketball.com/

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