WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:04.080 Welcome to Hacking Your Leadership. I'm Chris and now I'm Lorenzo, and welcome 2 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:07.400 to this week's Thoughtful Thursday. Don't forget to follow us on YouTube at Hacking 3 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:10.400 Your Leadership and leave us a review on iTunes. On this Thoughtful Thursday, 4 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:13.759 I want to talk about a listener question that I received in on Instagram. 5 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:19.359 They were asking what things that you and I have done recently to kind of 6 00:00:19.399 --> 00:00:22.359 further our own learning. You know, we we've spoken many times on the 7 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:28.320 podcast about how the best leaders are students of leadership, constantly doing things to 8 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:33.679 learn about leadership and learn about new leadership theories, new authors, new books, 9 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.960 There's a lot out there. This particular listener question was more about the 10 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.600 kind of the formal leadership learning. So is it not just you know, 11 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:44.119 finding a podcast or a book, but you know, do we do anything 12 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:48.679 that actually helps us further our leadership skills or that gives us skills that you 13 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.119 know, we might be able to use on a on a resume when you 14 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.960 know, leading a new team or applying for a new job. I thought 15 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.439 it was a great question because you know, we've we've talked about the informal 16 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.640 stuff. Maybe this the formal stuff is just as important, I think, 17 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.359 although maybe it doesn't get as much spotlight because there's not as much of it. 18 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:07.879 Yeah, No, I love the conversation. I think, you know, 19 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:12.159 I've really looked at formal learning outside of just like the things that you 20 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.680 can discover, as you kind of mentioned, like podcasts and books and videos 21 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.159 and things like that. There's so much great content out there, but there's 22 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.959 an aspect of formal learning that, you know, looking twenty years later from 23 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:30.040 when I left college to say like, oh, like at that time in 24 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.840 my life, it was just the thing that you were trying to get done. 25 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.920 Sure, and now fast forward a couple decades later, you're like, 26 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:42.640 wow, Like there's an element of joy and accountability and feeling of progress and 27 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:47.840 feeling confident with what you're consuming and then what you're able to then you know, 28 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.879 kind of share, whether it's a paper that you have to write or 29 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:56.840 a test that you have to take. But there's a really, really great 30 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:00.439 learnings that I've been able to take from that that I think really dial you 31 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:05.920 in to have to pay more attention really and like really like wrestle with some 32 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.080 of the premises of leadership and approaches to leadership and things like that, and 33 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.400 so I love that we got this question. And you know, I know 34 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:19.000 that both of us have have done some formal learning recently that I think has 35 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.719 been really really helpful for not just the scope of the roles and jobs that 36 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:28.479 we have, but just in general our kind of perspective and are kind of 37 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.680 confidence in talking about leadership. Right. There's there's an element of accountability that 38 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:38.199 happens internally when you kind of sign up to do something that's on somebody else's 39 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.960 timeline or somebody else's schedule. So if you enroll in a class, or 40 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:45.599 if you are, you know, going to college, or if you are 41 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:49.199 taking an online course, or you know, whatever it is, if it's 42 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:53.840 not something that you can kind of engage and disengage with on your own, 43 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:58.080 but rather it's a finite amount of time and you have to get this thing 44 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.400 done in this amount of time. There's an element of commitment that that takes. 45 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.280 You know, I can pick up a great new leadership book and start 46 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:07.360 reading it, and then if I get really busy, I can put it 47 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.319 down and come back to it three weeks later or three months later, and 48 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.360 no one is worse off for it. Besides myself. You know, whatever 49 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.479 I time, I didn't take to read it. But when other people are 50 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:21.719 counting on you, maybe you have a team of people working together, or 51 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:24.960 groups working together, when you have an instructor or a professor, or someone 52 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.759 who is teaching a class on a specific timeline. You know, all these 53 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:32.680 other accountabilities come into play when you kind of sign up to do something that 54 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:38.599 is formal rather than informal. Most recently, I got my SHIRM Certified Senior 55 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:46.120 Certified Professional Certificate in twenty fifteen, and I've kept renewing it every two years 56 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.680 since I've gotten it, which requires courses. I have to take classes and 57 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.159 take a certain number of units to be able to maintain that, and then 58 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:57.080 I take tests in order to maintain the little certificate that I get sent every 59 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.639 two years saying that it's been renewed. And I think, I mean, 60 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:03.680 it's not just that it looks good on a resume. I feel like a 61 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:08.400 lot has changed over the last five or six years in the world of human 62 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:13.199 resources, Whereas if I just didn like a one and done thing. You 63 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:15.319 know, a lot of that stuff is stuff that you don't really need anymore. 64 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:17.519 It's the new stuff that's coming down that you really have to know in 65 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.600 order to be you know, relevant and kind of on the forefront and whatever 66 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:25.920 field you have. I love that and I think that I recently took a 67 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:30.040 course on Coursera and and you know, in full transparency, the first thing 68 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.639 I saw was the University of Michigan logo and I was like, I want 69 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:34.639 to take that course, whatever it is. And it was leading teams, 70 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.160 which was you know, yeah, yeah, a little bit bias, a 71 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:42.199 little bit biased, right, like Ohio State University could have the greatest leadership 72 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:47.240 platform in the whole world. I would never take a class because I'm petty, 73 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:50.560 but no, it was. It was great, and you know, 74 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:58.079 it was interesting because it was through Coursera, which I found really really enjoyable. 75 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:01.360 I found it easy to you consume the content. I was able to 76 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:05.240 do a lot of it kind of listening while driving. And then there's like 77 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:09.800 there's there's parts of it where you kind of have to interact answer questions things 78 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.800 like that take Quiz's testinal, which I could sit down and be able to 79 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:16.160 do. But being able to listen to the content, listen to the lectures, 80 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:18.800 rewind them, you know, like tag certain things that I wanted to 81 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:23.800 go back to. While while much of it what I would say would be 82 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:28.639 kind of like an intro to leadership and like the basic concepts of leadership, 83 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:34.839 I really enjoyed it because I have never had formal leadership education. All of 84 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:39.839 my educational leadership is either either come from experience or coming from you know, 85 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:45.079 different maybe certifications over time or classes that I've taken with with with with the 86 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.680 organizations that I've worked for, you know, books, free content online. 87 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.519 So it was the first time where to your point, like I was being 88 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:57.439 held accountable to learn about leadership. And what I liked about it was while 89 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:02.160 the concepts were very familiar, the words, the definitions of the words, 90 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:08.560 things like surface diversity that you know, like I maybe never connected the dots 91 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.800 on that. I thought about that as a means of defining the things where 92 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.480 we you know, the physical attributes that may be different in diversity versus kind 93 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:20.319 of like the deep diversity, which can be more around experience, background, 94 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:27.600 perspectives. Things like that. I learned a ton of language, and I 95 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.399 liked all of the data and research because I think so many times, sure, 96 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:34.480 we know concepts in leadership, but to say, like here's a data 97 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:39.519 point or here's something from a research standpoint that really kind of like solidifies that 98 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.399 perspective. I find it really helpful. Yeah, that's right. And I 99 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.839 want to ask you a question around So, if a person is listening right 100 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.079 now, where should they start? You know, whether they want to go, 101 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:49.680 you know, seek out the same places that we've done, or go 102 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:54.720 elsewhere. If they want to do something to kind of further their education in 103 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.519 leadership development or elsewhere in a formal way, where should they begin? So 104 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:00.279 I want to ask you up at first, I'm gonna get it for one 105 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.600 of our sponsors. All right, Lorenzo. People are listening right now and 106 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.759 they want to further their formal education, where should they start? I think 107 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.120 first and foremost, especially if you're you know, a leader in an organization, 108 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:14.680 or maybe you're not a leader, but you're looking to aspire to be 109 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:19.600 a leader. Does your organization or company provide any kind of tuition reimbursement, 110 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:24.240 free classes, free certification? So the first thing I would say you to 111 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.319 do is start there is there any way that you can get some element of 112 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:31.160 formal education, either paid for or sponsored by your organization or maybe they have 113 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.000 partnerships with different companies where you can get some of these certifications. So start 114 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:39.439 there, because I think that any way that you can kind of get it 115 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:43.959 for free, I'm a huge proponent for and a lot of organizations, especially 116 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:47.439 for full time employees, offer those types of benefits. If not, then 117 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.879 I would definitely just hit the search engine, hit your favorite search engine, 118 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:56.720 and just start typing in, like you know, free leadership courses, free 119 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.519 leadership classes. I think what you will find out is that there are many 120 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:03.839 that are out there that while not formal in the fact where you have to 121 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.160 enroll or where you have to pay a fee, they definitely have timelines. 122 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.439 They have you know, quizzes, they have courses, some of them have 123 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.959 discord channels where you can kind of take these classes with other people that are 124 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:20.240 doing it. I like the idea of the formality where you have a semester, 125 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:24.319 or you have four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks, and you're 126 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:26.959 kind of on the hook for making sure that you not only consume the content, 127 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:30.680 but that you learn it and that you're ready to apply it. That 128 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:35.159 to me, I really like, I really like that more. But if 129 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:39.679 you don't have that capability right now, there are definitely more places that you 130 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.039 can find that will give you more of a formal learning without maybe it has 131 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:48.039 to be done in this timeframe or through this school or through this software, 132 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.919 through this company, But that's kind of where I would start first. It 133 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:54.159 is like, see, see what all of your options are. Once you've 134 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:56.360 kind of done that, now, start thinking about what are the things that 135 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:00.320 you want to develop in in your in your organization or in your role. 136 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.840 Is it things like project management and you're trying to figure out how to how 137 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:07.480 to prioritize and how to you know, build out schedules and systems to help 138 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.720 you get work done. Is it people leadership? Is it understanding people and 139 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:18.000 leading people, inspiring motivating people. Is it things like in HR and policies 140 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:20.159 and procedures that you need to know for your role? Is it inclusion and 141 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:24.919 diversity and understanding how do you lead different teams in different ways? Like like 142 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.960 really taking taking into account where you're at right now and what are the things 143 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.159 that you feel that you need to you know, kind of upskill in to 144 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:37.279 then create opportunities for yourself in your current organization or into the to the next 145 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.519 job somewhere else. Right right. I was just going to say that if 146 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.480 you if your next step in your career is not at your own organization, 147 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:48.240 or if it's just a steppingstone into something else, you need to be really 148 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.559 focused on talking with people who are doing the thing that you want to do 149 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.679 next, whether that's the next step above you in your org or in a 150 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.720 completely other company. Talk to the people who are doing that and find out 151 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:03.639 the skills that they have have or that they believe are important to success in 152 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:07.480 doing that role. And there will there will always be courses that you can 153 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:11.320 take that that kind of help you level up in that particular set of skills 154 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:15.440 to make you just kind of a more formidable applicant when it does come time 155 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:16.759 to, you know, take that next step in your career. Absolutely, 156 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:20.399 and with that it brings us to the end of this episode. This is 157 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:22.519 hacking your leadership. I'm Lorenzo and I'm Chris, and have a great day.