#28: Q&A with Bob Burg (Bestselling Author) — Becoming a Go-Giver

Last year, I read a lot of books, but one book that made a particularly lasting impact was The Go-Giver.  A special thank you to Graham Cochrane and his podcast for introducing me to this book.  The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success.

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Last year, I read a lot of books, but one book that made a particularly lasting impact was The Go-Giver.  A special thank you to Graham Cochrane and his podcast for introducing me to this book. 

The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman. Pindar takes Joe (and us as the reader) on a journey, where Joe meets 5 “go-givers” and learns the 5 counter-intuitive laws of stratospheric success.

“The Go-Giver is the most important parable about business—and life—of our time.”

— Adam Grant

“If you follow the principles in this fantastic little book—if you really strive to be a go-giver—you’ll find that Zig Ziglar was right: You really can have everything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

— Dave Ramsey

And today, I’m honored and excited to bring you an interview with Bob Burg, co-author of The Go-Giver.  Bob is a sought-after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences sharing the platform with today’s business leaders, Olympic athletes, broadcast personalities, and even a former U.S. President.

Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence, with total book sales of well over two million copies. The Go-Giver, coauthored with John David Mann, itself has sold over 925,000 copies and has been translated into 28 languages.  It was rated #10 on Inc. Magazine’s list of the Most Motivational Books Ever Written, and it was on HubSpot’s 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time.  The American Management Association named Bob one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders, and Richtopia named him one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World.

The Go-Giver series has now expanded to The Go-Giver Leader, The Go-Giver Influencer, and their newest edition, Go-Givers Sell More. 

Bob is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve. He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch in his town of Jupiter, Florida.

And I can honestly say that Bob is a Go-Giver in real life.  From the moment I reached out to Bob to ask him to be on the podcast, he was humble, generous, and kind.  And you’ll see in this interview that he was very authentic and honest about areas he has tried to improve in his own life.  I really think you’ll enjoy this interview. 

Below is a short video overview of the Go-Giver:

During the podcast, Bob mentions the following books:

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

By James Clear

The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude

By Sarah Ban Breathnach

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By Benjamin Franklin

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#27: Q&A with David Marquet (Bestselling Author) - Leadership is Language

Today, I am bringing you an interview with former Navy Captain, best-selling author, and a true leadership expert, David Marquet.  Here are a few quotes about David Marquet: "I don't know of a finer model of this kind of empowering leadership than Captain Marquet." Dr. Stephen R.

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Today, I am bringing you an interview with former Navy Captain, best-selling author, and a true leadership expert, David Marquet. 

Here are a few quotes about David Marquet:

“I don’t know of a finer model of this kind of empowering leadership than Captain Marquet.”

— Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“To say I’m a fan of David Marquet would be an understatement. I’m a fully-fledged groupie. He is the kind of leader who comes around only once in a generation. He is the kind of leader who doesn’t just know how to lead, he knows how to build leaders. His ideas and lessons are invaluable to anyone who wants to build an organization that will outlive them.”

— Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why, Leaders Eat Last, and The Infinite Game

I can relate to Dr. Covey and Simon’s thoughts on David.  He is a true leadership hero for me, so it was really special to get to do this interview. 

A little bit of David’s story for those that are unfamiliar.  He graduated in the top of his class at the US Naval Academy, graduated #1 from his nuclear power school class and the submarine officer basic course.  David has always been a brilliant guy, but over his years in the Navy, he learned that being a great leader is not all about being the smartest guy in the room. 

After years of proving his competence, David was awarded his very own command of a nuclear submarine.  He was told he’d be taking over the USS Olympia, so he spent an entire year studying every aspect of the ship, becoming an expert on all the ship's capabilities.  But about two weeks before taking over the Olympia, he was reassigned to take over the Santa Fe.  He knew nothing about the Santa Fe, but its crew had a reputation for being the worst in the fleet.  With only two weeks before taking over, he knew his typical leadership approach of being the smartest person in the room and just giving orders wasn’t going to work. 

So aboard a nuclear submarine — a place that few would feel comfortable taking a lot of risk and doing experiments — David tried an entirely different approach to leadership.  Instead of viewing his crew as followers that simply followed his orders, David empowered them to think, to take initiative, and he ultimately developed them into leaders.  He moved from the leader-follower model he had been taught to viewing everyone as a leader.  And the results were truly remarkable.  His leadership turned the ship around.  They went from worst in the Navy to receiving the best evaluation in Navy history.

Even after David departed the Santa Fe, it continued to win awards and promoted a disproportionate number of officers and enlisted men to positions of increased responsibility, including 10 subsequent submarine captains.  When Dr. Stephen R. Covey visited the ship, he said it was the most empowering organization he’d ever seen and wrote about David’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit.

Captain Marquet and Dr. Covey aboard the Santa Fe.

David first shared his leadership principles in the #1 Amazon Bestseller, Turn the Ship Around!  A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders.  Fortune magazine named it the #1 must-read business book of the year, and USA Today listed it as one of the top 12 business books of all time. 

And, on February 4th, David is releasing his new book, Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don't, which I have had the chance to read and it is truly an incredible book.  Some books give you a nugget of wisdom here and there, but David’s books challenge me to take my leadership approach to a new level.  His books are transformational and paradigm-shifting.  Leadership is Language has been endorsed by Adam Grant, General (ret.) Stanley McCrystal, and Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers. 

You can connect with David Marquet at his website, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

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#26: Q&A with Justin Batt (Author + Founder of Daddy Saturday) - Intentional Parenting

Have you read the book Daddy Saturday? About a month ago I picked it up and finished it in 48 hours. Not only did the book convict me as a parent, but it also inspired me to do better and equipped me with practical tools to be more engaged with my daughter.

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Have you read the book Daddy Saturday?

About a month ago I picked it up and finished it in 48 hours. Not only did the book convict me as a parent, but it also inspired me to do better and equipped me with practical tools to be more engaged with my daughter.

After the book impacted me, I reached out to the author, Justin Batt, and asked him to come on my podcast. He generously agreed, and today I’m excited to bring you that interview!

As you will see, Justin has a lot of wisdom about parenting and is just an all-around inspiring guy.  He’s a husband (his wife is an entrepreneur and runs a successful bridal boutique in Charleston, SC), a father of 4, and the Founder and Chief Dad Officer (as Justin likes to say) of Daddy Saturday and the Daddy Saturday Foundation, which is a movement all about intentional parenting and engaging your kids (which sounds simple, but it can be tough in a busy world).  Even if you’re not a father, the principles Justin teaches may challenge the way you think about time and help you turn the mundane into more meaningful moments.

Daddy Saturday started in Justin’s backyard and is now an international movement.  With an ambitiously awesome goal to impact 10 million fathers in the next 10 years and eliminate fatherlessness, Justin travels internationally and around the US (including speaking at TEDx) inspiring fathers to be more engaged. It’s important to note that when Justin refers to fatherlessness, he isn’t just referring to children without fathers; he is also talking about fathers (like me at times) who are physically present, but mentally or emotionally absent. 

Somehow, Justin does all of this when he’s not at work.  In addition to being a highly sought after business advisor and healthcare consultant, he is also the President of Growth and Revenue for Kameleon Partners, LLC, the global leader in Life Sciences Account Management and Electronic Health Records Enablement. Justin also has a retail startup that ranks in the top 10% of U.S. businesses, and he is a partner in the real estate app ZoomOffers.

Consistent with the principles he teaches, Justin competes regularly in Spartan obstacle course races and has inspired his kids to join him for the challenge. Check out Justin’s interview on the Spartan Up podcast, hosted by Joe De Sena, the Founder and CEO of Spartan Race.

“Justin understands that challenging kids to step outside their comfort zones will help them overcome all of life's obstacles. His views and practices on intentional parenting will make our kids better humans and set them up for success.” Joe De Sena, Founder and CEO of Spartan Race

I hope you get a lot out of this interview.  I know I sure did Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Also, a special thank you to my good friend Ryan Brence for contributing to the content and questions in this episode.  I sincerely appreciate Ryan’s assistance and couldn’t do this without his encouragement and support. 

Connect with Justin and get updates on Daddy Saturday here. You can also subscribe to the Daddy Saturday podcast.

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#25: First Things First in a FOMO World

In life, we face endless options about how to spend our time. With social media and the internet, we have never been so aware of these options, and the barrier has never been lower for people to share their opinions about what we should be focusing on (like this post!).

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In life, we face endless options about how to spend our time. With social media and the internet, we have never been so aware of these options, and the barrier has never been lower for people to share their opinions about what we should be focusing on (like this post!).

We also live in a world where everything is urgent, needs to be done now, and we ignore the fundamental reality of trade offs — saying yes to something invariably means saying no to something else.

With these obstacles, how do we decide what is important and remain focused on the most essential things in life?

On this episode, I share what I have discovered on my journey to live a life prioritizing the important over the urgent. It is not always easy, but it is absolutely worth it.

Wisely, President Eisenhower thought that we should devote attention and time to our activities in accordance with their importance and urgency. He acknowledged how we are too inclined to focus on the things that are both important and urgent, generating a reactive behavior based on what has to be done right now, instead of focusing on the things that are important and not urgent, which would be the basis of a more strategic behavior based on long-term goals.

In his classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen R. Covey popularized Eisenhower’s time management theory by organizing activities into four different quadrants (see below), based on their relative importance or urgency. In Dr. Covey’s book, he defined urgent as requiring “immediate attention.” Urgent matters “act on us” and they are often “pleasant, easy, and fun to do.” But urgent matters are often unimportant. Importance, however, is about getting results. Important matters contribute to your life mission, values, and high priority goals. But often these important activities are not urgent, requiring initiative, planning, and discipline.

The Time Management Matrix from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Successful people — meaning people whose lives are in line with their deepest values — spend most of their time in Quadrant II. Over time, small deposits in these important, non-urgent tasks of Quadrant II can produce incredible results. But the opposite is also true. Neglecting Quadrant II activities can lead to long term regrets and more urgent matters (e.g., health issues or relationship problems).

I hope this episode of the podcast will help you think more about the important things in your life, prune away the non-essential, have the courage to say no, and truly put first things first.

The books below have really shaped my thinking on this topic (and this episode), and I want to give credit to the authors for their thought-provoking work. I recommend each of them:

First Things First

By Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

By Stephen R. Covey

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

By Greg McKeown

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At the end of this episode, I mention the following article by Colonel Mark Blum:

#24: New Year, Same You - The Art of Reflection

On this episode, Cal shares an impactful and replicable process he uses to reflect.  This is useful any time of year, but the New Year presents a natural time to reflect.   In less than 1 hour, you can turn experience into insights to grow and make progress in the New Year.  Check it out!

On this episode, Cal shares an impactful and replicable process he uses to reflect.  This is useful any time of year, but the New Year presents a natural time to reflect.  

In less than 1 hour, you can turn experience into insights to grow and make progress in the New Year.  Check it out!

On this episode, Cal discusses being inspired by Ray Dalio and Adam Grant to be more teachable.  Below are two resources on this topic:

Principles: Life and Work

By Dalio, Ray

Interview of Adam Grant by Tim Ferris 

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