Adam Galinsky on How Great Leaders Inspire Their Teams | EP 560

26:24What are they worried about? Why is this value affirmation, this value reflection task not working? They're really worried about losing standing in their organizations, of not being valued, of not being respected. So we went back to the drawing ball and we did a different manipulation. And we asked people to think about the things about themselves that other people value in them. What is it about you that other people value, that they respect you for? And then that sense of getting their standing, their sense of being seen, recognized, valued, respected, affirmed, and confirmed in their own mind, then they started to open up to the possibility of looking at AI, understanding what it is, and utilizing it.

27:05That's fantastic research. And I think it goes to really the core of what mattering is all about. When they don't feel like they're seen, when they think AI is going to take over their prominence in an organization, it creates a huge threat, a barrier to them thinking that they're going to hold value in the future and that they're going to be able to progress. I think it goes right into so many of the things that are bringing people fear right now. Absolutely. So I wanted to go into this chapter a little bit more, and I'm going to read from it. You write, identifying the motivation of others isn't a one-shot solution.

27:49It's a dynamic and ongoing process. And you crafted a phrase to capture this principle. Different people have different needs at different times. And when I think about that, I remember I was in a job interview one time and I was interviewing with the CEO of this major company. And he asked me, what is your leadership style? And I told him it's situational. And he said, what do you mean it's situational? I said different situations require different leadership depending on what is going on, meaning if you have five or six different employees, you can't approach each of them with the exact same manner.

28:33You've got to look at what their motivations are, and it's understanding those motivations which is going to get them to do the actions that you want them to do, and also you got to create a reward system for them based on knowing them. So in each situation, you're going to act differently. And you go on to say that this phrase encompasses a key insight about inspiring others. Just because you understood your colleagues or your spouses or your friends needs yesterday, it doesn't mean you will automatically be good at identifying them today. And even if you understood them today, the person's preferences may grow and change over time.

29:11That is why we need to really listen to others and carefully observe their behavior. It helps us recognize their evolution and changing desires. And this, again, goes into this whole situational leadership, because people react differently over time, and you have to adjust to it. But how big a gap do you think this is in most organizations and the way leaders lead their teams? I think it's a big gap. And part of the gap is a complicated one, right? Because at one level, we want efficiency and we want equity and fairness. And so the question is, when we start tailoring or personalizing motivation or rewards, we can get into those problematic areas.

29:53But let's just start off with how do we understand the motivations of others? The single biggest mistake we make is we think everyone's a mirror image of ourselves. One of the examples I give in the book, which I really love, is that I've been dating my now wife for about just over two months. and we were going, I had to give a talk in DC and she was going to come down. It was a birthday. And I found out that one of my favorite comedians, Demetri Martin, was going to be performing, but the show was sold out. So I spent like 36 hours doing everything I could. I have like friends of mine with Amex cards, trying to get tickets, like whatever I could do.

30:27And I finally was able to get two tickets and I thought I'd hit the boyfriend jackpot, but it turned out my wife hates standup comedy. It's just like, I love it. She hates it. She loves opera, I hate opera, right? So if you can imagine getting me opera for my birthday, right? And so one of the biggest problems is we really have to let go of our own perspective. And so one is they're not just like me, but they're also not just like each other. And anyone that has two kids immediately recognizes they come from us, right? But how different each of those kids are. It's just one example. My older son, he's generally outgoing, but you can go to a party and he'll just walk right in and start interacting with people.

31:08And my son Aiden, it'll take him 45 minutes to go in that party. So here's one of my great leadership inventions I did as a parent is I realized I just have to get to every party 30 minutes early. Because if I get to the party on time, it's going to take him 30 minutes to go in. But I've got to 30 minutes early, then he's finally going to be ready to go in right when the party starts. So that's just one small example. Now, one of the questions is how do we create equity in the fact that different people value things differently, right? Just as one good example is some people may want more money, other people may want more flexibility in their job.

31:43And so one of the things that I think is really important is how do we create rewards for people that are equal value or cost to you, but can tap into their different needs and desires that they have. And actually one of the first consulting projects I ever worked on in my life was back in the mid-2000s out there. I was at Northwestern University of Chicago, there's a little company that you might've heard out that's headquartered out in the suburbs there called McDonald's. You might've heard of them. And so anyway, I was working with them and another professor, Huggy Rao, because they were trying to figure out the fact that they had two different types of workers.

32:20They had teenagers, college students, and then they had people that were like mothers and fathers who were, this job was actually what they needed to feed their family and to give housing to their family. And so the question is, how do you set up a set of rewards that cost the company the same, but are equally valuable? And so one of the things that we talked about was, well, what do the younger people want? Well, they might want money for education. So you could give them as a reward, right? For every six months, we'll pay X amount of dollars towards education. What are older people? Well, maybe they want health insurance, right?

32:53To help their family be healthy and safe. And so part of it is we want to think the things that we can offer and give people a choice. And that is probably the single, I think, biggest thing that I've done in my own research. I've shown in negotiations, one of the best ways to get the best possible outcome for yourself while leaving the other side satisfied is giving people a choice between different options that are equal value to you. And then that allows you to be ambitious or even what some of you might call aggressive in your offers because the choice is signaling flexibility, is signaling your desire to reach a deal.

33:29That means the other side is going to trust you more. And so you're going to get this great outcome. They almost always don't get a worse outcome. You've expanded the pie. Most of it's gone to you, but they walk away satisfied. So choice really matters in the psychology of people. It absolutely does. And that's one of the core things that I try to talk about here all the time on the podcast is the power of choices and especially our micro choices or micro decisions that we make. And as in behavior science, there's this thing called choice bracketing. I think people make narrow choices instead of looking at them as you would through choice bracketing and on a longer horizon.

34:09What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think that's exactly right. It's not just thinking about the choice. One of my favorite movies is a movie called Out of Sight by Steven Soutenberg and it's got George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez and so many amazing actors. But there's one point where Vin Rain says to George Clooney, they put a gun on you, you're going to prison. He's like, they put a gun on you, you still have a choice, right? And this idea that sometimes we don't see choices and options. And part of that sometimes is just the routines that we follow through. And so part of it is how can we see the bigger picture?

34:41This is where visionary comes in. I'll give you one example, which I really love from my kids. So I take my kids to school every morning. My wife picks them up in the afternoon. This is a special time we have together. And my one son was in a kindergarten. He was in the second floor and my first grader was on the third floor. So naturally, we'd walk up to the second floor, drop off the kindergartner, and then walk up to the third floor, drop off the first grader. But there is a big problem. The problem is my kindergartner, the second born, is more relaxed. He likes to take his time. He liked having a big goodbye ritual with me.

35:14And my older son, older son, first born, type A, he hates the possibility of being even late. Even if he still had 10 minutes to get to his classroom, he'd be like, Aiden, hurry up. He would get so incensed and I would get so frustrated. I'd be like, I was like, Asher, just be patient. And then he would storm up to his classroom. So after about, I don't know, a few weeks of this, I was just thinking about how could I make this go more smoothly today. And then I realized we actually have a choice. And I said to the boys, I said, hey, I have an idea. Why don't we try something different today? I'll drop Asher off first.

35:48So I'll walk up to the third floor, drop Asher off first, then walk and do Aiden on the second floor. And it solved everything. So Asher was now happy. He got to class without stress on time. He'd give me a hug goodbye. Now he just gives me a high five. And then we walked downstairs. Aiden got to take as much time as he wanted, big hugs. And to me, I was in my own world. I didn't even recognize that the teacher was observing Asher's behavior in the dynamic. And so about day three of our new routine, she said to me, she's like, wow, it's really an amazing success dropping Asher off first. And I was like, oh my God, you noticed all that?

36:25But even she noticed what a difference it made. And that's, I think, a great example of every time we're in a difficult situation, we want to take a step back and ask yourself, what's going on here? How can we meet the needs of both people without a huge dramatic shift? Sometimes you need a dramatic shift, but in this case, all we had to do was get the younger one to walk up an extra flight of stairs and then come back down. But it changed everything. Adam, I want to explore this concept of being a visionary in more detail. In my book, I came up with this metaphor that I call the bee and turtle effect.

37:03And it goes something like this. We need to incorporate both of these principles into our leadership style. And in one regard, we need to be like the honeybee who goes out a hundred times from the hive on a daily basis, really fanatical about the daily execution that needs to be done on behalf of the queen and the hive. And on the other side, we need to be like the sea turtle, who is willing to travel thousands of miles because of their vision and is very patient about this. And a good scenario I'm going to bring to highlight this is let's go back a number of years before there was any payment type of solution that was mobile.

37:52And you had this glassblower named Jim McKelvey, who had this amazing piece of art that he wasn't able to send because the person didn't have enough cash, didn't have a check, wanted to pay for it, and he had no way as a small business owner to take it. So he and his friend Jack Dorsey come up with this idea that they're going to create this vision for this reader that's going to make mobile payments a possibility in the form of Square. And yet, although they have this incredible vision, they run into obstacle after obstacle where they have to be like the bee to overcome them. So my question for you is, how do you balance being that visionary with driving the execution that's needed to close the gap?

38:40Because sometimes as a leader, you can have that vision and it can be far out, but others on your team don't see the vision or your shareholders don't see the vision. So how do you close that gap? That's a great question. I love the metaphor. It's such a great example. I think there are a couple of things that I think are really matter. One of the benefits of being visionary, of having a vision and sharing that vision, that's really important. It's not just to have it, but share it and repeat it so that people really understand it is it gives context for people's work. And you talked about earlier about wanting to be seen, be valued.

39:15People want to know how their individual effort is contributing to the larger whole. So part of that really big vision really matters. If you go back, a great example of that is John F. Kennedy says, by the end of this decade, we will walk on the moon. And so then people always even, and it took a lot of little steps for NASA to get to the point where they were capable of doing that, but it was always in the context of, we know why we're doing this because it's in the service of this larger one. And one thing that you're bringing up is the difference. Sometimes people contrast between the CEO, the chief executive officer, and the COO, the chief operating officer, right?

39:51Where that person is really tasked with the daily execution and operation of the, in kind of some ways, mini visions that build up to the larger vision that someone has. And so I think that, yeah, we need to find, to be visionary means you have to find ways to implement your vision, right? And help people take those individual steps towards achieving that goal. But I think the larger goal is still really critical for helping people make sense of those individual steps that they're taking part of. Okay. And I want to go back to mattering here for a second. In leadership, often there's this balance between holding people accountable and a reward system and making people feel seen and valued.

40:34So how, as a leader, can you ensure that you are making people feel that they matter, but it doesn't come at the cost of accountability or challenging them to grow. Yeah, I think that's right. I think people generally, not everyone, wants to achieve their full potential, right? And they want to be challenged to do that. And there's something that they really value. But there's this balance between challenging people, right? And let's say, crippling their self-esteem, right? And so how do you challenge people, but also encourage them at the same time? And there's actually, there's a famous study that I don't cite in this paper because I didn't make this connection until right now in my book.

41:18But Jeff Cohen did this research, a guy at Stanford with David Yeager also. And they just wanted to understand what's a type of, and Jeff Cohen's in the School of Education. He's a social psychologist in the School of Education at Stanford. How can teachers give the best feedback to students? and especially ones that can transcend different genders, different races, etc. And so part of it is that it's this three-step process is the leader sets the standard that they expect of people. They highlight the ways that people have met the standard, but also ways they haven't. But also they show encouragement and belief in the other person.

41:56I know you can reach that standard, right? And they help them maybe with a little coaching. So it's really this idea of setting high standards, documenting where people have and have not reached that standard, but also believing that they can reach that standard and expressing that encouragement to them. And so I think that is really the key. Okay, thank you for sharing that. And another area I wanted to go into that you write about is the leader amplification effect. And I have seen this play out so many times, meaning when I was working at Dell, Michael could enter a meeting and based on what he said, it could change the whole dynamics of the entire meeting and sway it one way or the other.

42:41I've seen the same thing when I was at Lowe's where we had this president and chief operating officer, Larry Stone, who had been with the company 40 years, was highly respected. And if he came into a meeting and shot down the idea, it could create a ripple effect that would take months, if not years to recover from. And in the book, you highlight the fact that you had a really dynamic and incredible mentor, Danny Kahneman, and you learned this leadership amplification effect through his mentorship. Can you describe what happened to you and how it highlights what this can do? Yeah, let me just say one thing about the leader.

43:28So this is a phrase that I coined, the leader amplification effect. It really captures the idea that when we're leaders, we're on stage and everyone's looking at us. And so that's the big thing, is that psychology tells us something really important. Anything that we're paying attention to, that we're looking at, whatever that stimulus is, it's going to have an amplified reaction on us, and we're going to have a more intense reaction to it. And so that's really what the leader amplification effect is. And that can be good or bad, right? Like an offhand compliment versus an offhand criticism can have hugely monumental effects on people.

44:05That's also why Tammy Jo Schultz's phrase, We're not going down. We're going to Philadelphia was so powerful because she was that leader. Everyone was paying close attention to everything that she said. I started my PhD at Princeton University in 1993. And the first class I ever took was with Danny Kahneman, who is the only psychologist who would one day go on to win the Nobel Prize in economics. And he just arrived with incredible fanfare from University of California, Berkeley. He was one of the top five paid employees in the entire university. I think he might've even been second or third after the president and general counsel.

44:40I think he was third, actually. Anyway, so there's 11 of us, so 10 other classmates that are first-year doctoral students at Princeton in psychology. And on the first day of class, I raised my hand and I'm eager to prove that I belong, that I'm valued and respected, as we've talked about already. And I still remember the four things Danny did that day. He crossed his arms. He shrunk up his face. He shook his head and he said, that's not right at all. And then he smiled and he moved on and the rest of the class moved on. But I was frozen in place. Like I felt humiliated. Right. His offhand comment, that's not right at all.

45:19It reverberated inside of me. Right. But then and it took me weeks before I felt comfortable speaking in any class, let alone Danny's class. about five or six weeks later, I was walking in the hallway and Danny's walking this way and I'm walking this way. And Danny just over his shoulder says, Hey, Adam, I love reading your reflection papers. Then he turns the corner and you're a great writer. He said, I love reading your reflection papers. You're a great writer. And that offhand compliment filled me with so much joy. I literally skipped down the hallway. I didn't know what to do with my energy.

45:52And so what I'd like about this example is these are two casual, offhand, inconsequential comments by Danny Kahneman that he doesn't even remember to this day. But because of his position of authority, but also because of the respect, so much eyes were on him paying close attention to what he said, right? What he said got magnified, amplified, intensified, right? So that that's not right at all became like humiliating criticism, right? Crushing criticism. But that your great writer became glorious praise. And so I realized in that moment how these offhand comments can have a huge impact, right?

46:37You mentioned the person at Lowe's who's well respected. One comment could like green light or red light a project, right? One of my favorite examples of this is a man named Barry Salzberg, who was CEO of Global Deloitte. And after he, you know, there's tens of thousands of employees. And after a few months, he realized there's always bananas at important meetings. And he's like, huh, are bananas a symbol of Deloitte that I didn't discover my 30 years here? Does someone really important love bananas? So he asked his assistant, why do we have bananas at every meeting? And she said, because you love bananas.

47:13He's like, wait, what? So apparently the first meeting he ever attended, the assistant was like paying close attention to whatever he did. And she saw him pick up a banana with a little bit of enthusiasm and eat it. And so she coded that as Barry Salzberg loves bananas. We have to have bananas at every meeting. And that's such a great example of how he didn't even say anything. It was so incidental. It was so offhand, but it had this massive impact. Yeah, and I'm going to take you through a scenario that my daughter and I experienced. And as I go through this, I think this is a one-off thing that happened, but it happened to occur at one of your alma maters, Harvard.

47:57I took my daughter at the time she was between eighth grade and freshman year in high school. And she's one of these women who is extremely driven. She wanted to go to an Ivy League school and she was already thinking about where she might want to end up. So during the summer, we go up to Boston to go tour MIT and Harvard. And we go to Harvard on our first visit and we are in this huge auditorium, probably 300, 400 people around us. And the guidance counselor stands up, I guess it was an admissions counselor, stands up in front of everyone and says, I want you to look in front of you to each of your side and behind you.

48:41She goes, now I want you to turn your gaze to me. And I want to realize that probably no one in this room is going to get into Harvard. And because of that fact, the way we conduct our tours of the campus is that we don't go into any of the buildings. We're not going to show you any dorms, anything like that, because it'll be a waste of time to you and to us. So we're going just walk around the campus. Next day we went to MIT, same room, same number of people, and in front of the room was an admissions counselor and then there were about 20 students of different ages and etc. And this guidance counselor said, we want to give you the full experience of what it's like to be at MIT and to guide you on this.

49:27I can talk about it up here all day, but we're going to bring you into small groups where you can actually go on a tour with a student who's here. We got a student who was from Brazil. She had already graduated and was working on her master's. She took us into the labs that she was working in. She introduced us to professors, took us to the student union, took her into our dorm room, et cetera. And to me, this is an example of the leadership amplification effect of how those two different ways of approaching admissions create such a different experience for those and their desire to want to attend those two universities.

50:09Yeah, and I think it also ties into so much of what we've talked about because, you know, I said there's these three universal factors, right? Being visionary, be an exemplar and being a mentor. And you've just highlighted how being visionary and being a mentor go together. What's the vision for campus visits? The vision for campus visits is, I think, twofold. One is to present your university in an optimal way, right, positive way. But two is to make the people that are visiting feel excited and valued and respected. And so Harvard lost the vision, right? The vision isn't to be realistic, right?

50:48The vision is to create a sense of excitement and wonder in these people. Sure, they're probably not going to get in there, but the dreaming of getting in there is also something that's really positive and powerful. And so why kill someone's dream, right? Why not? That dream, they might not get into Harvard, but maybe they'll get into Princeton or Cornell or Penn or Duke or UNC or Texas or UCLA, other great schools. And so there's like the idea of like killing someone's dream is just so unnecessary. It's cruel. It's selfish. It's patronizing. It's small-minded, right? And so to me, what I see in that, what happened to you and your daughter was they didn't have a vision that was generous towards the people that they were interacting with, right?

51:39And I'm sure, it would have a huge impact. And you can just ask yourself, what was the point of the Harvard person saying that? What purpose did it really serve? And so I think that's one thing that we learn as leaders is after, we could be honest, but one of the things you talked about visions, you talked about goals, you talked about, you could, someone at NASA could have said, look, the odds of us ever walking on the moon are so low, and it's certainly not going to happen for 20 years, right? But what's the purpose of doing that? Let's work towards a goal. And maybe instead of 20 years, it becomes 12 years.

52:12It's not 10, but that's okay. We're still better off than we were by not having that ambitious goal. And there's a famous phrase, there's no point to rain on someone's parade. Absolutely. And I think the other thing you don't realize, and this happens in corporations or nonprofits alike, when you take that approach like Harvard did in that situation, not only are you stifling things in that moment, but you could change the trajectory of how a high school student approaches everything. If they've just lost the hope that they're never going to be able to get in, it might change their whole approach to, I'm not saying it would, but it could.

52:54And I think the same thing a leader does, how you, I have this principle that we speak with our feet. And when you're out there and you're talking to people and you're showing up, it's how you do it that matters so much. It's the inflection in your voice. It's how you personalize the response. It's remembering something that an employee told you about their family or something. It's the way that you show up that really motivates people to take the hill, so to speak, or not. Yeah. And I think there's different ways that we can try to create rewarded motivational systems that matter for people. I personally, based on everything I know, am very much against Rankin-Yank systems.

53:39And the Rankin-Yank system would be something where every year, 10 % of people have to be fired and only 10 % of people get promoted or something like that. And those systems are horrible for collaboration, for teamwork. And Microsoft was famous at one point for doing that within teams. So you have a seven-person team. One of you is going to be out of here. How are you going to collaborate with each other? But that's different from still having very high standards. So Netflix is famous for their keeper test, where like, when you decide whether to retain someone at the end of the year is, what do I fight to keep this person?

54:12And what's better about, like you can say it's cutthroat, but what's better about that system is you're just competing against yourself, right? You're not competing against anyone else. That means you don't have to undermine anyone else. So we can actually help each other all be kept, right? And so I think that's part of it is how do you create high standards that don't lead to cutthroat competitiveness and all the downsides that occur with that? You're so right. When I was at Dell, the average tenure of a VP was between three and six months. And they had adopted a lot of the GE, Jack Walsh, philosophy.

54:48And one of the things was we had mandatory 10 to 15 % were gone every year. And when I was there, what I saw was you were trying to bring in all these visionaries with different perspectives. And yet the old guard who were in most of the leadership positions were protecting the old guard. And so the people that they were taking out were the very people that were coming in to bring change. So it had a negative effect. And Adam, I want to use that to go into the last topic I want to explore with you, which is the power of perspective. And you write in chapter seven that highlighting expertise is so critical because people feel more comfortable speaking up when they possess unique knowledge or insights.

55:33When people feel they know what they're talking about, they're more likely to talk about what they know. Along with feeling supported, having expertise is one of the biggest predictors of speaking up when in a low power position. In fact, when people feel they have a unique and relevant perspective, they are often compelled to put their insights or information on the table. It's why expanding the status pie is a key solution to making wise decisions. I think this power of perspective is one of the most important things that we can bring, and it's one of the most undervalued superpowers. And I was hoping you could go into this and explain its power.

56:13So I've been studying this concept called perspective taking for almost 30 years now. And actually, 1995, I started my dissertation, and that was what I ended up studying. And the title of my dissertation was Perspective Taking, Debiasing Social Thought. And one of the things that I've discovered over the years is that perspective taking really is this superpower. And it functions in so many different ways. One of the ways it functions is it helps us navigate a diverse world, right, by understanding the different perspectives. So I've shown in my research, my award-winning dissertation, right, that perspective taking decreases the tendency to stereotype others.

56:49I've also shown in negotiations that when we're really good at understanding the other side, we can propose creative solutions that not only get us what we want, but also solve whatever issue our partner, our opponent, the other side is experiencing. It's also really helpful for innovation to take perspectives. And sometimes we're taking the perspectives of individuals, and other times we're taking the perspectives of what we might call a class of people. So one of the things I've studied in my research, and you mentioned in my TED Talk earlier about how to speak up for yourself, is I've studied power dynamics.

57:23And so one of the things that we know is there's a term, I mentioned the leader amplification effect. I have another term that I coined called the leader silencing effect. And the leader silencing effect is that because of our power and our authority and our position, we tend to silence the perspectives of other people. But those perspectives can be incredibly valuable. They can carry the critical insight, even if someone's like lower down in the social hierarchy. And so one of the things we have to do to get to wise decisions or innovative solutions as a leader of a group is we got to lower the risk of speaking up.

58:01We got to reduce the leader silencing effect. And so one of the ways that we can do that is we can take the perspective of what prevents low power people from speaking up. And if we can identify those things that prevent them from speaking up, we can counteract them. So one of the things that you mentioned is, and I mentioned this word elevating other people before elevating. If you know someone in the room has unique expertise or experience, you want to highlight and say, hey, I know Jane over here has worked for 20 years in this industry, and I'd love to get her perspective on what might be a solution as we try to enter that market, right?

58:38And so by highlighting that, it's elevating that person saying their opinion really matters. It's lowering their risk of speaking up, right? Versus Danny Kahneman telling me my point wasn't right at all, right? That was so shattering to me of my confidence. It increased the risk of my speaking up for a very long time. And so that's one of the things we want to do is we want to take the perspective of our opponent negotiation, of our interaction, the person we're trying to motivate, like what's going to motivate this person, but also because I'm a leader, what is the perspective of someone with less power than me?

59:12And how can I mitigate some of those constraining forces that prevent them from sharing their perspectives and therefore not allowing for wise decisions or innovative solutions. Adam, I want to end on this as a tribute to your father. At the end of the book, when you were giving your cellulation speech at high school graduation, you read something from the great Gatsby that goes like this. And as I sat there brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.

59:55It eluded us then, but that's no matter. Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms, father. And one morning, so we beat on boats against the current. And you write that Gatsby's and my dad's green light speak to the universal, inspiring, infuriating continuum. The life worth living is one where we perpetually strive towards the inspiring. And so my last question for you would be, we all have the capacity to inspire others. What's the most significant shift people can make to unlock this potential in their own lives? It's a great point. I still remember when I was reading the Gatsby, my dad, without skipping a beat, could quote that entire last page.

1:00:39And that's, again, an example of being in awe of his competence, right? But he also, that was part of his vision, right? And I write in the book that my parents had infuriating flaws, but really inspired me about both my mom and dad is they wanted to be a better person today than they were yesterday. And they wanted to be more inspiring tomorrow than they were today. And so just like that green light, they strove towards that. So I would say the single biggest thing, maybe the core of this book, is that it answers centuries old question, right? Are leaders born or are they made? And I think that I've shown definitively that leaders are made because there is a universal set of characteristics that make someone inspiring.

1:01:22We can study those, learn those, practice those, and develop those skills. It also means that it's our current behavior that inspires or infuriates. So that means that you could be inspiring today, but you could slide towards the infuriating end of the continuum tomorrow. But it also means no matter how bad you are today, tomorrow you can be a little bit better, right? You can strive towards that green light of inspiration. And so part of it is that we have to stay the course, right? Even when the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the winds of chaos are all around us, we have to keep going forward.

1:02:01And here's a final thing that I think is really important from my research is that don't be too hard on yourself. One of the things I've shown in my research is shame is a particularly destructive emotion. It makes us into defensive monsters or hiding ostriches, putting our head in the sand. And so none of us are perfect. We're all going to make mistakes, right? I'm going to be an inferiority person tomorrow, even with the best efforts. And so the question is, how do we recover from that? And how do we become more inspiring tomorrow? If we dwell on those moments and we beat ourselves up, we're going to be incapable of seeing the big picture, of being that calm, courageous protector and really empathizing with others.

1:02:48So we've got to focus outward. We've got to strive towards that. And one thing I think that all of us can do is once a month, reflect on times when you're infuriating, but also when you're inspiring, and also to reflect on the people in your life and when they inspired you and how you might emulate those behaviors. And then just once a month, take whatever you've reflected on, those emulations and reflections, and just make one commitment for the next month. Here's one thing I'm going to do better. What I'm going to do is I'm visionary, but my message is too complex. I'm going to simplify it. I'm going to do this next month.

1:03:24I'm going to try to be calmer even when I'm experiencing time pressure. I'm going to do this month. Every couple of days, I'm going to elevate someone and point out what a great job they're doing. If we can do those reflections and emulations into intentions, we're going to be more inspiring, more of the time. We're going to spread the seeds of inspiration, and we're going to make the world a better place to be. Well, thank you for ending on that because this podcast is all about intentions and Adam, where's the best place for people to go to learn more about you? AdamGalinski.com. Awesome. Well, it was such an honor to have you today and congratulations on such a fantastic book.

1:04:03Highly encourage the audience to pick up a copy. Thank you so much. It was such an honor to be here and thanks for all of your generosity today. What an extraordinary conversation with Dr. Adam Galinski. His work on the science of inspiring leadership is a testament to the idea that we all have the potential to lead and influence with purpose and intentionality. Through his research and insights, Adam reveals how becoming a visionary, exemplifying desired behaviors, and mentoring others can transform not only how we lead, but also how we live. Adam's message is a powerful reminder that leadership isn't just about managing tasks, it's about creating meaning, fostering belonging, and empowering others to thrive.

1:04:41As you reflect on today's episode, consider this. How can you inspire those around you through your words, actions, and presence? What steps can you take to shift toward the inspiring end of the leadership continuum? Remember, as Adam shared, inspiring leadership is not reserved for a select few. It's a skill we can all develop with intentionality and reflection. For more on Adam's groundbreaking work, including links to his books, Inspire and Friend and Foe, as well as his viral TED Talk, visit the show notes at passionstruck.com. Be sure to check out today's episode on YouTube and explore exclusive offers from our sponsors at passionstruck.com slash deals.

1:05:16Supporting our sponsors helps keep the Passion Struck community thriving and allows us to bring you conversations like this one. You can connect with me on Instagram and Twitter at John R. Miles or find me on LinkedIn. I'd love to hear how this episode impacted you and what steps you're taking to become a more inspiring leader in your life. Looking to take your growth to the next level? head over to passionstruck.com and take the Passion Struck quiz to see where you are on your journey to living intentionally. And don't forget to sign up for the Live Intentionally newsletter for weekly tools, exercises, and insights to help you apply these lessons to your everyday life.

1:05:46If you found value in today's episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show with five stars and share it with someone who could benefit from Adam's incredible insights. Your support helps expand our mission to empower people worldwide to lead intentional, impactful lives. Now, here's a sneak peek at what's coming up next on Passion Struck. I'm joined by Dan Heath, the bestselling author of Upstream and The Power of Moments, to discuss his transformative new book, Reset, How to Change What's Not Working. Dan shares powerful strategies for identifying what's holding us back and actionable steps to create lasting change in our lives, teams, and communities.

1:06:19You won't want to miss it. We're looking at the employees who gave a one or two or three out of ten because they're very disengaged. They may be in danger of leaving, and so we've got a fire. We've got to put out the fire. It's an emergency. And what we don't do a lot of times instinctively is say, well, hang on a second. Yes, it's important to pay attention to problems. But do we understand why the nines and tens, the employees who are super duper happy at the far other end of the curve, do we understand why they're happy? Thank you as always for spending your time with us and for being part of the PassionStruck community.

1:06:53Remember, the lessons you learn here are only as powerful as the actions you take. Live life, PassionStruck.

1:07:05We'll see you next time.