Meikles & Dimes

171: What If You Were Incapable of Distrust | Writer Jennifer Latson

Jennifer Latson is a writer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, TIME, The Boston Globe, and other publications. She is also the author of The Boy Who Loved Too Much.

Jennifer has an English degree from Yale University and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of New Hampshire.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Williams Syndrome, which occurs in about one in 10,000 people, makes people incapable of distrust, so people with Williams Syndrome love everyone (and they want to hug everyone). And in return, people love those with Williams Syndrome.

• I love what Williams Syndrome teaches us. It’s not always about what we say, or how we say it. But rather, if we are genuinely curious about people and want to connect with them, they will feel it, and they will be forgiving if we aren’t the most articulate or charismatic.

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170: The Inner Bully versus the Inner Wimp | Mike Lerario on Leadership Development

Mike Lerario is President of Crispian Consulting Inc., which provides specialized training in Leadership Development to Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, and government agencies. Mike served 23 years in the United States military in Airborne Ranger assignments, and he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after serving with the Joint Special Operations Command. During his service, Mike completed multiple combat tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Mike is also the author of the International Best Seller Leadership in Balance.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Effective leadership is about finding the balance between how we naturally want to show up as a leader and what the situation demands of us.
• Mike distills leadership down to four domains: communication, adaptability, focus, and influence. But what’s most intriguing about Mike’s work, is that these four domains are each on a spectrum. For example, adaptability is on the spectrum of rigidity and flexibility. And the best leaders do what the task requires.
• Though we might naturally feel most comfortable being flexible as a leader, sometimes the task requires that we be rigid; we might feel more comfortable being selfless, but sometimes leaders need to be selfish.
• It is neither bad nor good to be rigid or flexible, to be selfless or selfish. But rather, the best leaders do what the task requires.

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169: The (Underappreciated) Power of Asking for What We Want | Professor Vanessa Bohns

Vanessa Bohns is a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. Her research has been published in top academic journals in psychology, management, and law, and has been covered by media outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, Economist, and NPR.

She is also the author of the book, You Have More Influence Than You Think.

She received her PhD in social psychology from Columbia University and her AB in psychology from Brown University.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• We tend to underestimate the power of a simple ask. As a graduate student, Vanessa felt anxiety about asking people to fill out a survey. But once she analyzed the data, she was surprised to see how different her perception was from reality. People were way more willing to help than she had expected.
• Before we ask for something, we should assume we are going to get the thing we’re asking for, and then ask ourselves, “Is this something I should be asking for.” Given how powerful our asks can be, this extra step will help us ask for things that are appropriate.

 

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168: How to Thrive | Professor John Bingham

John Bingham is a Professor in the BYU Marriott School of Business, and has served as Fellow in the Sorensen Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership at BYU, and as associate dean at the BYU Marriott School.

John teaches organizational behavior and strategic human resource management courses to Executive MBA, MBA, and undergraduate students, and he has won numerous teaching awards, including the Student Choice Faculty Award. And his research has been published in top management journals and been featured internationally in news outlets.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• John teaches students how to thrive. And the first thing he teaches are the myths of happiness: status, wealth, beauty, power. The motivation to pursue those things and the comparisons we make to others, can lead us to feel hollow and empty.
• To thrive, we have to be intentional and deliberate about progressing on the things that matter most to us…things that are intrinsically motivating rather than extrinsically driven.
• To thrive, it’s not just about knowing what to do. It’s actually doing it, as John learned for himself, when his daughter told him that she hated his job. So he changed.

 

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167: “Show Me Your Money & I’ll Show You Your Values” | Daniel Crosby, Behavioral Finance Psychologist

Daniel Crosby is a psychologist, behavioral finance expert, and asset manager who applies his study of market psychology to everything from financial product design to security selection. He is also a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Behavioral Investor and Personal Benchmark.

Daniel was named one of the "12 Thinkers to Watch" by Monster.com, a "Financial Blogger You Should Be Reading" by AARP and in the "Top 40 Under 40" by Investment News.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Our lives will tend to be as rich or poor as the lives of our friends. We mimic each other to an astonishingly high degree, and the people we surround ourselves with is predictive of who we are and where we’re going.
• “Show me your money and I’ll show you your values.” It’s easy to say we value health, while spending a sizeable portion of our income on fast food. By analyzing where we spend our money, we can see what we truly value.

 

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166: Our Brains Are Wired for Stories | Author Lisa Cron

Lisa Cron is a story coach and the author of: Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers From the Very First Sentence.

Lisa has worked in publishing at W.W. Norton, as an agent at the Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, as a producer on shows for Showtime and CourtTV, and as a story consultant for Warner Brothers and the William Morris Agency.

And since 2006, she's been an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts MFA program in visual narrative in New York City.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• Take almost any bit of data, random or not, and our brain will try to make sense of it…it will try to create a story to explain it.
• Given that our brains are wired for stories, when it comes to persuading other people, stories are the most powerful tool we have. Don’t underestimate the power of stories.

 

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165: Sundays with Tozer Episode 18 | The Books That Have Most Influenced Tozer

In this episode we talk about how to solve problems that no one has ever solved. And then we discuss the books that have most impacted Tozer. 

I've started making my way through these books and they're excellent. And to make it easier for you to read the books, here's the list:

As A Child

• Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour
• Western books by Zane Gray
• Old Testament and New Testament
• Old Mother West Wind by Thornton W. Burgess

As An Adult

• The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
• When I Found You, Walk Me Home and Take Me With You by Cathryn Ryan Hyde
• Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
• The Boys in the Cave, by Matt Guzman
• Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
• Centennial by James A Michener
• Greyhound by Steffan Pyper
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• A Child Called It by David Pelzer
• A Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
• Endurance by Alfred Lansing
• South by Ernest Shackleton
• Teach Like Your Hairs on Fire (first 2/3 of the book) by Rafe Esquith
• Einstein by Walter Isaacson
• Jesus the Christ by James Talmage
• The Journal of Joseph by Joseph Smith Jr. and Leland R. Nelson
• Battle Rock: The Struggle Over a One Room School by William Celis
• Blind Man’s Bluff by Sherry Sontag (Tozer worked with Tiernen)
• Dead Run by Dan Schultz (murder that happened in Cortez)
• October Sky by Homer Hickam

164: Kim B. Clark Former Dean of Harvard Business School and President of BYU—Idaho | Leaders Increase Light

Kim Clark’s leadership experience is impressive: Dean of Harvard Business School, President of Brigham Young University—Idaho, Commissioner of Church Educational System for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kim is also the author of the book Leading Through, which he wrote with his daughter Erin and son Jonathan.

Kim earned his B.A., MA, and PhD in economics from Harvard.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• We’re all leaders. And the best leaders lead in 3 ways: they help people experience meaning, purpose, and personal growth. They help the organization realize its purpose. And they strengthen the organization.
• Leaders always do good. They strive to increase light and decrease darkness.
• When Kim became Dean of Harvard Business School, he knew he had to fire a colleague who had been a kind of poison. The previous administration had been afraid to fire the colleague for fear of a lawsuit with the Union. But when Kim fired the person, the Union said, “What took you so long?”

 

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163: Pulitzer Prize Winner Matt Richtel | “Don’t Mess with Happiness”

Matt Richtel is an award-winning writer and journalist for the New York Times. He is the author of several books including, Dead on Arrival and Doomsday Equation, and in 2010 Matt was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a series on distracted driving. Matt earned a bachelor's degree from Cal Berkeley and an MS from the Columbia School of Journalism.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Matt was happy in San Francisco, and when the New York Times told him he needed to relocate to New York City or be fired, Matt decided that he didn’t want to mess with happiness, so he stayed in San Francisco. He then waited for the Times to fire him, but the call never came. And eventually Matt went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.
• “Happiness can be fragile. Don’t mess with happiness.”

 

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162: Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod | “I Have More Bosses Now than I’ve Ever Had in My Life”

Doug Girod is the chancellor of the University of Kansas. Under his leadership, KU has recruited the largest freshman class in history and earned the highest designation for the KU Cancer Center. Before becoming chancellor, Doug was a head and neck surgeon and served as executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center.

Doug earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California at Davis and his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco. He also served in the United States Navy Reserve for 15 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander and earning the Meritorious Service Medal.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Listen before you speak.
• Doug intentionally tries to not sit at the head of the table in meetings to signal to others that they’re all equals.
• Doug has more bosses now than he's ever had

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