How to Succeed & Improve at Being a Leader: From the Number 1 Coach in the World Marshall Goldsmith

0:00Customers don't have to buy, salespeople have to sell. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, he's the genius behind the book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. We're here on earth to make a positive difference, not to prove we're smart and not to prove we're right. Not the smartest person, the best person, a fair person, a wonderful person. Decisions are made based on one and only one variable power. Rated number one thinker in the Thinkers 50, number one executive coach in the world. Who's the most famous coach? Me. Why? Build a brand. You have to invest to build a brand. Most people want to have a brand, but they don't want to build a brand.

0:31What is the Marshall Goldsmith way of making success a reality? Now, the first one is motivation. Motivation, as you know, is a tricky term. It's not like I'm motivated to be a success. I'm motivated to make money. Everybody says they're that. The question is, are you motivated to do the work required to get there? That's what's important. The second thing is, do I have the ability, potential to do this? Do I have the skills required? Do I know what to do and how to do it? Am I getting the support I need to make this happen? Well, the next factor is, am I confident? Do I believe I can do it? Do I believe in myself?

1:05And then finally, is there a market for this? As you know better than I do, there's got to be a market. Marshall, when I first read this book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, where did the idea of the book come from and what is the essence behind the theory? A couple of inspirations for the book. One is Peter Drucker. Peter Drucker said, we spend a lot of time helping leaders learn what to do. We do not spend enough time I'm helping leaders learn what to stop. He said, half of the leaders that I meet do not need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop. Well, that was part of the book.

1:36The second thing is my friend Alan helping great people get better. So rather than sitting there saying, how can I fix losers? This book is winners. This talks about the problems that come with success and how do you overcome these problems? Nobody had written a book before about the problems that come with success. Everybody, well, success is good. Well, yeah, sort of. Success also brings problems. And here are the problems that it brings, and here's how you overcome these problems. And also part of that, look, that book, a lot of life is luck. And this book sold a million and a half or two million copies.

2:09And the title is just a killer. What got you here won't get you there. Well, I was at the publishers. Publishers, it was a book about it. I said, it's kind of like, what got you here won't get you here. My friend Mark Ryder said, you know, that sounds really stupid. You ought to say, what got you here won't get you there. That's where the title came from. Sometimes you get lucky. Let's talk about leadership then. How do you succeed at leadership in this time? For the great individual achiever, it's mostly about me. The great leader, it's about them. And that's a very difficult transition. You work with a lot of people who are in startup businesses, mid-sized businesses, and it's a tough transition for these people.

2:46Maybe they're the founder. They got the brains behind the business, whatever. And it is very hard to let go of it. It's all about me and make it about them. Scaling, I'm sure you know far better than I do, is a huge, huge challenge. So in terms of developing yourself as a leader, all the leaders that I work with do get feedback. They talk to people what they learn. They develop strategies. They follow up. We measure improvement and it's work. They have to do things over and over and over again to get better. I wrote an article called Leadership as a Contact Sport. It's research from 86 ,000 people.

3:19They all went to the similar courses. They got feedback. A lot of them were taught by me. I taught them all the same thing. Talk to people, learn, follow up, feed forward. Here's what you do. Here's how you get better. You know what I learned? The people that did this stuff, that did all that follow up and practice feed forward over and over, got better. And shockingly, the people that did nothing didn't get better. If I am an executive looking to grow my career and move up the path, because you've worked with the most spectacular executives, what sets the two apart? What do you think it is? Is it as simple as that feed forward and keep getting better or is there more to it?

3:57I'm going to share a couple of thoughts from the great Peter Drucker. Now, again, it begins with point one. We're here on earth to make a positive difference, not to prove we're smart and not to prove we're right. Number two, every decision in life is made by the person who has the power to make the decision. Make peace with that. Not the smartest person, the best person, a fair person, a wonderful person. Decisions are made based on one and only one variable, power. Whoever's got the power to make the decision is going to make the decision. Point three, if you have the power to make the decision and I need to influence you to make a positive difference, there is one word to describe you.

4:27That word is called customer. There's one word to describe me. That word is called salesperson. Customers don't have to buy. Salespeople have to sell. In life, sell what you can sell. Change what you can change. If you can sell it, sell it. You can change it, change it. You can't sell it. You can't change it. You smile. You take a deep breath. Let it go and move on. Most people understand this when they deal with external customers. They don't understand it inside their own company, so they somehow think it's different. Your boss is the customer. What are some of the keys to being successful at branding anything, but most importantly, yourself?

5:02Number one, you need a clear brand identity. So my brand identity, helping successful leaders achieve positive long-term change in behavior. All right, do a Google search, helping successful leaders in quotes, the first 500 links, 450 are me. The entire rest of the world, they get the rest. Who's the most famous coach? Me. You know, that's it. Why? Build a brand, right? Very clear and focused, stay on message and reinforce that brand over and over and over. Building a brand takes work, and there is no short-term pat on the head. There's no short-term money. You have to invest to build a brand.

5:43Most people want to have a brand, but they don't want to build a brand. I wrote in part of my book, The Earned Life, a chapter called Credibility Must Be Earned Twice. Part of credibility is doing great work. The second part of credibility is being recognized for doing great work. They're not the same thing. They're not the same thing. they're totally different things. A lot of people have misguided belief, my good work should speak for itself. You ever heard that before? My good work should speak for itself. What a bunch of nonsense. Your good work doesn't speak for itself. If your good work would speak for itself, no company would have a marketing function.

6:20How do we succeed at being great at coaching? Do not make it about you. Make it about them. First thing, by the way, when I coach people, first thing I say is, look, for years, I didn't get paid if my class didn't get better. Better wasn't judged by me or them. It was judged by everyone around them. What I always tell my clients, I don't get paid if you don't get better. I'm going to help you. Better is not going to be determined by me. It's determined by you. Now, I'm going to tell you stuff to do. And if you do this stuff, you're probably going to get better. But you're not going to get better if you don't do it.

6:47And it's work. If you don't want to work, it's okay. Don't work with me. On the other hand, if you do this stuff and put in the hard work, you're probably going to get better. But the key variable is not me. Legacy. How do we succeed at building a life that leaves us a legacy? I heard a great definition the other day of legacy. Legacy is being present when you're absent. Legacy is being present when you're absent. That's pretty much most of my life now is that being present when you're absent. I mean, hopefully some people are going to hear this. Maybe help them have a little better life. That's my legacy.

7:22I would be present when I'm absent. And then maybe they help somebody else. They have a little bit better life. I'm present when I'm absent. In your life, you spend a lot of time helping people, teaching people. You're present when you're absent. And that's the Big Success Podcast for today. Hopefully, you took a lot of notes, learned a whole bunch. And if you need to, go re-listen to it. We dropped a lot of information right there today. Big success is what it's all about. And by the way, if you haven't subscribed, hit that subscribe button so you're here with us every single week on the Big Success Podcast.

7:56I'm Brad Sugars. That's BS. Big success is what we're shooting for. Check the show notes for all the links. Make sure you follow through. Keep learning. Keep coming back. Oh, and by the way, share this with any of your friends who you know are up for success. I'll see you next week on the Big Success Podcast. You've been listening to the Big Success Podcast with the number one business coach in the world, Brad Sugars. To learn more about how to achieve business and personal success, as well as how to level up or listen to past episodes, visit www.bradsugars.com. I'm not ever forgetting.