¶ Becoming an Influential Coach
Welcome to One Insight . My name is Rich Litvin . I grew up in London and I now live in LA , and this is a podcast for extraordinary top performers and their coaches . You see , I've coached some of the most successful and talented people on the planet . I can see what most people cannot see and I dare to say what most people wouldn't dare to say .
And what I know about success is that on the other side of it , it can be incredibly lonely . You can feel more of an imposter the more successful you become , and when you're the most interesting person in the room , you're actually in the wrong room .
Clients who are more successful , more intelligent and wealthier than you need your support , more than they know and more than you can imagine . I coach around insight . Life looks one way , something happens and the world looks different and your entire world changes .
It can happen in an instant , and this podcast is called One Insight because a single insight can change everything . Hi , welcome to a new season of the podcast . For years , I've taught coaches how to build a word of mouth business . It's the prosperous coach approach . Sell the experience of coaching , not the idea of coaching .
Create so much value for people when you spend time with them . They don't have to ask should I sign up for coaching ? They ask how can I not have more of this ? That's the prosperous coach approach . Now there's another level of coach , called an influential coach . An influential coach is a thought leader .
They share intellectual property , ip tools , distinctions , scorecards . They write newsletters , they have a podcast , they share videos and they create a body of work that stands online for years after they've created it . It that's when you become a thought leader and people start knocking on your door .
And in this season I'm going to work with a whole range of coaches on drawing out their IP , their intellectual property , to show how they and then you can become a thought leader . So people start knocking on your door . In a moment you're going to hear me working with Laurie .
I have huge respect for this woman who has been a chief of staff to a Fortune 10 company leader and she's written one book , working on a second one in ideas for her third , and I play with her and we draw out two pieces of IP , two pieces of intellectual property . So as you listen along , think about what this could be for you .
I draw out a scorecard based on the qualities of the idea that she teaches to her dream clients , and I draw out a tool based on a two by two matrix , based on two ideas , two key principles that are needed to be a successful leader , according to how she works and who she works with . Have that in your mind as I'm working with Laurie .
I'm drawing out IP from you . If you want to play , intellectual property is the name of the game . It takes you from being a prosperous coach to an influential coach . That's when people start knocking at your door . Enjoy . Hello Laurie , hi Rich . So we're going to play today .
We're going to play around thought leadership being provocative ideas , ip , intellectual property . I can see right behind you . You've got your first book there . Who has your Back ? So you have a background in leadership and a particularly very unique aspect of leadership . Give me 30 seconds on your background and why you wrote that book .
Sure thing . I've been a senior leader growing up at AT&T . It was a Fortune 10 company when I left there and I had the honor of serving in a sales capacity and a senior leader capacity the last five years of my career .
I served in a chief of staff capacity to our senior team , one of our CEOs and then two of his successors , and I had such an honor and a privilege to work in that space .
I really came to appreciate the power of the relationship between a senior leader and a chief of staff , how pivotal the role of chief is , and so I wrote that book , because it was the book that I never had when I became a chief and I thought why not demystify this role for both the leader and the chief ?
And I'm so fortunate that it's doing well and having an impact in the world . I'm on my second book , and the second book is called Well , the working title is Hit the Ground Running how to Nail your First 90 Days as Chief of Staff .
So the first book is really geared toward the leader , the second book is geared toward the chief , and then the third book , which has a full outline , is called the Handshake and it's all about how to set expectations for any pivotal relationship In this case the CEO and a chief , but you could use this anywhere .
It's sort of the professional equivalent of marriage vows and what needs to happen at that handshake meeting and how to have them at any time during a relationship that is driving big impact .
I love that so much because I create handshake agreements with people when they're presenting on my stage . When I'm in business partnership , I always say let's create an agreement that's so powerful , we don't need litigation Like we are , and so we , we , so I love that you're thinking that way .
So look , you have so much IP , so many ideas , one book written , one in the middle , one on its way . How can I support you ? What's going on ?
I would love to riff a bit on the handshake . So let's park the 90 days and come back to that , because I do want to hit on both . But let's talk about the handshake for a moment .
My vision of this handshake meeting is to take what sort of happens invisibly and put some structure around it so that people know how to conduct an effective handshake meeting and what the whole purpose is Like
¶ The Power of the Handshake
. The handshake goes way back in history way back in history and it was all about establishing trust , like that's the main point of a handshake .
Do you know why we shake with our right hand ? Oh , that I don't know , because most people are right hand dominant and back in the day you carried your weapon in your right hand , so you had to put your weapon down , or at least in your least dominant hand , or to shake hands . So it's absolutely about trust in the most profound way .
Yeah , and I just think there's something there right . I've seen opportunities for better handshake meetings . I've seen opportunities where it's happened and failed or where it works really well , and I feel like there's something to put into the world sort of a playbook , if you will .
A playbook that tells people how to do it and how to make it their own and personalize it , and I think all great things can come from a well-run handshake meeting . It's foundational .
What are the three ways it goes wrong ?
When people think what is that quote ? The greatest delusion is when people think communications actually happened . So communication in a handshake meeting where the pitch is definitely not caught but the pitcher thinks the pitch was caught and that happens all the time in business .
When it fails it's because they didn't take the time to properly understand or talk about roles , responsibilities , how we're going to make decisions , how how many decisions this person needs to make and how many persons , how many decisions this person doesn't need to be even informed about , just kind of that delineation . It also fails when there's micromanagement .
So , while a great handshake meeting can appear to have happened , if a leader comes in and just micromanages , the heck out of a chief comes across as hovering and it's a lack of trust . So it's literally counterintuitive to having a handshake meeting .
So those are some of the reasons why a handshake meeting would fail and I'd like to introduce a framework to the world that's best in class . Gold standard works everywhere and I love the orientation of this . Is the equivalent of marriage vows . You know , it's who I be , it's what I stand for .
I just keep leaning on that , thinking there's something to build here .
I think that's great . I would just like I told you about the history of the handshake . I would study the history of marriage vows . I'd look back Like why were they first created ? What were they meant to be ? I love well , I forget what culture it is .
It's some culture where your marriage vows are renewed a year and a day later , and I think that's really important because for most of us , we say our marriage vows on day one and then three , five , 17 years later we're just in this marriage and we've forgotten what we actually promised one another , and a promise , I think , is a living promise , not a dead
thing on a piece of paper that we've forgotten .
It's totally , totally that . And keep in mind that what I think about is the structure of a leader chief relationship .
According to the data is that it lasts about 18 months to two years , so it's it's different than a marriage , which I think most would aim to go into a lifetime of marriage , but you want to have the vows be just as powerful and have the grit in it as you would a long-term marriage .
But if done right , the handshake meeting should happen kind of at the beginning and the middle and even an end of the formal role .
But it's a way of being and it's a way of performing so that the relationship can really be ignited , so that when you reach conflict or there's a roadblock , you know exactly how to be with each other and I don't have to tell you . But there's , you know there's . That kind of working rhythm pays dividends in business right , it does it does .
So I hear a couple of things . One is it's a living document , it's not a P . I was an organization once where one day we came in and the values of the organization were put on a big glass glass plaque on the wall in the foyer reception of the building . None of us were consulted . I was on the leadership team . None of us consulted about these values .
We didn't know this thing was going up there . It just became a piece of furniture that after about three weeks nobody even noticed . So it changed nothing . So that's the opposite of this . This is a living document that you create .
I haven't thought about it that way . I really appreciate that this is so helpful to Riff , because I was thinking that it's an ebook , something that's a little more turnkey short , sweet , tight , tell everybody how to do it . And now I like that it becomes a living document . That has a slightly different orientation to me , because there's some fluidity .
If something's working , double down on it . If something's not working in the handshake meeting , come in , tweak it , steer it . I really like that .
So for my wife and myself , we have values that we put at the center of our relationship . Our top two values are adventure , humor and adventure , and so if everything's not working , we have to come back and look at like where's the adventure gone out of our relationship and where's the humor missing ? And so it's very simple from that place .
I mean , don't get me wrong , it's a marriage , so it's complex , but the simplicity of knowing these are our values . And I wonder whether you know an e-book is something we're never going to go back to . We might aspire to , but it's like , yeah , no , do you know the number of five plus or minus two ?
It's the number of things we can hold in our mind at one time , five plus or minus two , so around about five , whatever they are . Five premises , five values that people know , five words . They know like our handshake agreement is based on these five words . If it's not working , which one of these have we slipped on ?
I love that . Yeah , I really . I love that it would be rooted in values , because I would imagine those exist for both a CEO and a chief already , and so putting them in as a foundation or pillars to this handshake are critical . I want to play with your last comment , which is you know , an ebook may just collect dust .
It may get did as a PDF and just collect dust . Did as a PDF and just collect dust . So I will normally now , as an Enneagram one , start to figure out well then , if it's not that , what is it ? But I don't want to go there yet , I want to just be with . Maybe this isn't an ebook , maybe it's something else .
And the ebook might be created , but the truth is , how do you have something that lives ?
Fair . Yeah , can you see the growth in me , though at this moment , right I'm , so I'm taking credit for it , rich , because it's work I've done in your community , just to sort of slow down , you know .
So the thing about the Enneagram as a tool all it does is it shows you the lens through which you tend to see the world . Yeah , it's not like Myers-Briggs or something that's putting you in a box , that this is who you are , this is your type . It says this is where you go when you're not paying attention .
Enneagram ones like things to be black and white , like to be clean , right or wrong . Tell me the rules . You need someone like that on a team In a big organization . You want that , but your power is knowing that . Oh , that's my default , but I don't have to always go there .
I can see your smile on your face . It's powerful . I just because I love the growth and I'm proud of myself . You know , I'm just noticing how I'm participating in this dialogue and it feels awesome , so yeah , yeah , beautiful .
So tell me three more things that would make a handshake agreement fail .
Well , when they don't make a commitment to it . So you can spend all this time designing it and saying this is how we're going to be together , and then one person is doing a lot more of the work than the other there's not sort of an equal commitment to the outcome of how we're going to be .
I also think it can fail , or it has failed , when the communication chain has broken down .
Oftentimes I see chiefs of staff come to me when they're working for very powerful leaders and they'll say I operate with some fear just trying to give him or her feedback , or I'm not sure how to read them today , and so that , to me , is an utter failure of the handshake . The working styles are maybe communicated upfront but not really lived out .
So what I think should be simple in terms of the foundation can easily break , just like they can in a marriage , if you're not holding it as to your point . This live thing that we are feeding and fueling and nurturing .
It's like as humans , we take our vitamins , we drink our water , we get our exercise , we nurture ourselves to be the healthiest person we can be , and I like to think of this working relationship in the same way . You have to feed it and care for it . It's a big one , right , you're driving impact .
Sometimes you have billions of dollars you're managing , you have boards that are evaluating your performance and investors , and I know you get this . But this isn't a little relationship . It really isn't .
Yeah , here's the thing about it being a live thing you have to come back and review it . The thing about values is you can get clear on what your values are . What most people miss is there's an order to them and they shift over time . For me , one of my most important values is being there for my clients .
I would never be late for a session , wouldn't dream of it . I prioritized them until my kids arrived and then I realized , oh , there's a value I put above my clients . I would not hesitate If this moment , if a call , came through my kid's school , we would have to talk another time , because now I have kids and those values will shift .
There'll be a time when my kids don't come so high . There are moments when I'm running an event and I cannot be present for my kids . So those values shift in time . We have to be aware of that .
That's why this document has to live inside of a conversation . Yeah , what's coming up for me ? As you say that are , my mind is thinking well , what are the things that feed the handshake then ? Or feed these vows ? You know , your point values are one of them , but maybe there's also some diagnostics .
You know , in many of the coaching engagements I'm involved in the corporate world , we do 360s or we put some kind of . The Enneagram is considered a diagnostic , but what do we want to know about these two individuals that will inform how they be ? So the handshake has some order to it .
We're not just making this stuff up right , we're saying this is what the data says are my strengths ? This is what the data says are your strengths . Now , with that in mind , what's possible ? Maybe I'm thinking too linear , but that's what's coming up for me .
Yeah , so here's what I hear . There are three elements to a handshake . There's values , metrics and boundaries . Values that's where it starts . Metrics yeah . How do you assess this ? I use a tool called Colby with my team . Colby tells me how I operate in the world . I'm high on quick start . I'm an entrepreneur , so I have an idea .
I want to implement it immediately . I have team members who are really low on quick start . That's not good or bad . They want to make sure everything that's happening is perfect before I give them a new idea to work on .
So if I don't pay attention to that , it goes wrong , because I don't think about how they communicate and they don't think how I do Go ahead .
So this is awesome because when you know how you put out the extraordinary , the performance scorecard . I can't remember exactly what you called it , but there was a 4PC session where you had all of us create our own and at the meeting I created a chief of staff assessment .
So I have a scorecard that I've built that will help inform how the relationship is going , or how the chief thinks the relationship is going . I could create a version of that . That would be a part of the handshake so they could both assess how things are going and then compare if there's any gaps in how they think it's
¶ Creating a Powerful Handshake Agreement
going . I think I want to put a scorecard , if you will , together .
So that's what I've been doing behind the scenes , as we've been talking . The whole time , I had a scorecard in mind . The reason I asked you for the ways it would go wrong is that once we know the ways it could go wrong , you turn that into a positive . And I want to have six elements because I was planning what would your scorecard look like ?
So what if we didn't call it a scorecard , because I don't worry about that .
That will come later . Like right now , you call it a score . It's an assessment , it's a tool . I love it . The name is later . Here's what I hear .
So a scorecard for anyone who's listening or watching would look like a table with six rows based on these six elements I've drawn out from Laurie and there'll be a score from one to ten , one to five , that she would put into each of these boxes .
This is what you look like if you're a one , this is what you look like if you're a five , so that they can assess themselves and then they can compare . So here's what I hear . First element is clear communication , and this is is what you call the pitch , the initial clear communication .
There might be better words you'll use over time , but first , one's clear communication . Second one is time . This is given time . This isn't a five-minute conversation . Are we in ? Yeah , we're in , let's go . No , the time looking at roles , responsibilities , decisions , all the things that you said are important to this .
The third one now you called it the negative is micromanagement . What's on the other side of micromanagement , if it's going well , autonomy and freedom . Right , there you go . So autonomy and freedom are here . Micromanagement is column number one . You're afraid of this going to go wrong , so you're managing every detail . In number three . I forget who this was .
It may have been Zappos , I forget . There was a company that if you looked at their training manual and opened it up , there was a single page in this big binder and it said do what you know to do , trust yourself , I know .
I know I've seen that before . I don't know if it's Zappos , maybe it is . It's great , isn't it .
And the reason they can get there is because they spend months training people . Here are our values , here's some case studies , here's what we do . And once you've trained people in that , now you can say trust yourself , you know what to do , so awesome . I love that . I love that . That's autonomy and freedom . The fourth one is commitment .
Yeah , an equal commitment , it's not commitment if one person says I'm in and the other one says I'm not . Equal commitment . The fifth one you call it the communication chain where it breaks down what I call I know this is the right phrase for you , but what I call it with my team is two-way vulnerability , a chance for both of us to speak our truth .
That's it . That's it Because they will have already established clear communication at the beginning . But vulnerability is really speaking your truth and from an authentic place , and that's a deeper kind of communication .
So I might use the word truth , because authenticity and vulnerability are A they're overused and B there's such high level of abstraction it's hard to get to In the corporate world we see the world truth or honesty ?
perhaps honesty that lands when I was cheeping for one of my ceo or one of my leaders at at&t .
He used to call me the soul of the team because he said you're you're a truth teller , but you're a compassionate truth teller , which means you'll say anything that needs to be said , but you put it in a bit of a love bubble and that that's why it works here , because not everybody wants the truth , but I don't give them what they want , I give them what
they need and I'd like to have a handshake meeting or framework help people do that .
Okay , this is good . So I've got a second tool for you in a moment , but let's finish the scorecard , and the last one I heard you say is some kind of review that this is not . If you've done it and then you've put it in a drawer and not talked about . This is when do we ? How often do you talk ? Every 90 days , every month , and we're clear .
We don't miss our annual physical , we don't not celebrate our anniversary . I mean , in the same way , I'd like to keep building these parallels right Around . Yeah , I'd like to keep building these parallels right around yeah , that's good .
I think that's really great . It's a great metaphor . People really get it . And marriages go wrong and you could do a little bit of research on you know what's the most common reason marriages go wrong . Where's the parallel here ? Using this thing about vows ? So how's that land ? First of all , I think this is awesome .
I feel really energized because now I have a framework , a mental framework , about how to lay this out , and I think it'd be fun to put together a scorecard to reflect all of this . Of course , my mind is going to like how , how would I package this and introduce it to the world ?
Well , I'm going to show you . Okay , Well that's what I figured we were going to do . If you saw my hand shaking just then , I've got these marker pens that yeah , yeah . Oh , darn it , I can't do it . Okay , my camera that shows you in real time isn't working . I'll hold this up to the screen so you can see it .
So what I've drawn those of you who are listening is four boxes . It's a two by two tool . So what we need is two criteria that , when we put them onto this two by two matrix , we can see what happens when you're high in both of these , low in both of these .
What comes to me as I was thinking this through is that these are the two elements that land for me . We're going to draw them out for you see what they are , but I think one is a promise , some kind of commitment , and the other one is truth , honesty , yeah . So let's play with these and we can change them afterwards . So let me put them on here .
What's the word that lands better for you ? Is it honesty or truth , truth ? So if I hold this up so you can see it , here we've got a promise promise along the X axis and truth along the Y axis . If you are high on promise and high on truth , well , you have a handshake agreement .
Yeah , a powerful one . I mean you have a yeah , you have a solid . There's some solidity to an effective handshake arrangement for sure .
And so is there a name you would give to that , the impact of that .
I mean just for kicks and giggles . I'd say possibility , or Teflon , or I don't think on the fly , no , no , no worries .
We're playing , so don't worry yeah we're playing . What would a leader feel if they could trust that person they were working with as their chief of staff ?
Totally ignited , ignited , powerful you know .
Okay , I'm going to leave lead with that word power right now . I think there's something in the word power . So what I've written down here in that box it says , oops , let me do so , I can see it Hang on . That's that box . It says , oops , let me do so , I can see it hang on . That's the way . Yeah , powerful handshake agreement .
And I've highlighted the word power in that box . You have power . You have power as a chief of staff , you have power as a leader because you have a powerful handshake agreement . Yeah , what happens down here ? Power , sorry , both people . No , no , it's mutual . That's really key , very key down here . No truth , no promise , what we got ? Failure .
And what does it look like on the outside ?
I mean ? I mean you're not reaching your fullest expression as a leadership team . You are not driving impact . You do not have an engaged team . You have awful client relationships , employee relationships . You're not making your numbers . You really have failure in any traditional way of looking at how the business is running . Yeah .
How about high truth but low promise ? I'm going to speak honestly to what's going on , but there's no commitment here .
I think you'd be missing . It's like there's no air , there's no pressure . There's no pressure , there's no air in the bubble , there's no air in the balloon . It's like kind of a passive way of leading . Passive leadership or pass-through leadership is how I would , you know , kind of doing what needs to be done to get by , but without a commitment .
It's like a wet handshake , it's like a it's like a Wet handshake is great , right , Because we've got the handshake model . It's a wet handshake .
Like a wet , flimsy or limp handshake . A wet , limp handshake .
Nice . So here we go . We've got failure . Down here , no promise , no truth . Up here , a lot of truth , but not much promise is passive leadership , yeah , passive . What's down here ? High promise , but no honesty , no truth behind it .
We make a commitment but we don't keep that . Just a strong will , will , but low capabilities . Yeah , strong , strong , you know . Strong intent , low impact , unimportant . I mean , you really have to have the intel of knowing what you're doing . It's not a hokey pokey game , right ? So I think without , yeah , what do you ?
have there . So here we go . So we've got down here failure when promise is high but truth is low . You've got low impact . When promise is low but truth is high , you've got passive leadership . You have a powerful handshake agreement . You have power with high truth and high promise . Right Now , play with these .
Actually , I found a chat GPT or Claude can be really great because you describe it . You say , hey , you know what , let's do it in real time . I want to show you how this works . This is kind of fun . I'll model for you and for other people how you can use chat . I love it . I love it .
So let me just record this Hour of the prompt , so let me just record this Hour of the prompt .
Help me create a two-by-two matrix for Laurie , who's one of my clients . She helps high-level leaders work with their chiefs of staff . The two axes of this tool are truth and promise . Doesn't really get my British accent so I have to change the word . Okay , let me carry on . Choose the stuff . Okay , this tool , our truth and promise .
When you have low promise or commitment , but high truth and honesty sorry , low truth and honesty you have failure .
Yep .
New paragraph when you have high promise and low truth , it's a low impact agreement , low impact leadership . New paragraph . When you have high level of truth but low promise or commitment , it's passive . The agreement and the leadership , the effect on the leadership Yep . New paragraph . When you have high truth and high promise , you have power . New paragraph .
The entire premise of this tool is about the book that Laurie's creating on the power of having handshake agreements . New paragraph . Can you create a title for this tool ? Can you create names for the four boxes of this tool and , if possible , use some alliteration so they each begin with the same letter ? Ok , that's really fun . We'll see what it does .
But this is how you can play with it . It's good , right . Sometimes on the first run through it's not that great and what I'll do is I'll take what I just said , everything I just said . I'll put into Claude , by the way , always have the paid version . It's about 20 bucks a month . Definitely use the paid version . So here we go .
This is the first run through the handshake matrix , unlocking powerful leadership agreements . For the name of the four quadrants low promise and low truth , failed agreements . I'll send this to you later , you don't have to write it down High promise and low truth . False commitments . Low promise and high truth . Passive leadership and high promise and high truth .
Powerful partnerships .
Oh , I love this . Oh my gosh . And you just saved me a month . Right , you would pay somebody to do this .
I find ChatGPT , these AI software , really good to bounce ideas off . You couldn't have said at the start I want to write a book on handshake agreements , what can you do ? It would create something generic .
What we did is we took the IP that we drew out from you , turned it into a tool , and then we asked it to help us fast forward on the brainstorming , and then you can play with it .
I think that's awesome . So I would even take it a step further , because now this is becoming less of a book and almost more of a tool .
Well , so this is going to be a tiny book wrapped around a tool . Let me teach you the tool for handshake agreements . There'll be a chapter on the power of truth , a chapter on the power of promise . There'll be a chapter on what happens when these two dynamics combine in four different ways . Right , maybe there's more detail .
This chapter here is where there'll be a scorecard to say hey , here are the six elements of the vows you need to make to have a powerful handshake agreement , in order to have a powerful partnership .
And I think I would weave in this constant parallel to a marriage as we know it right . I like the idea of playing with those two kind of polarities . I like the idea of playing with those two kind of polarities . I also think it might be good to pepper this with examples of what right looks like . Like I'm making this .
You know there's powerful pairs everywhere , like surgeons and nurses and coaches and athletes . I mean pilots and co-pilots , you name it . I think it would be really interesting to showcase what right looks like and what a wimp handshake looks like .
I love that metaphor . The wet handshake is so good .
Thank you .
Yeah , and there's , there's two . There's the wet handshake , but there's also the soft handshake .
Yeah .
There's a droopy one and there's the one where they they actually make contact , but it's just you don't feel comfortable , like you feel coming and you let go .
¶ The Handshake Matrix
I'll get some visuals in this book ?
Yeah , so what is it ? What did it call it ? What did you give it ? Did you ask it for a name of the book or name of the tool ?
Well , this is the name of the tool the Handshake Matrix Unlocking Powerful Leadership Agreements . So let's try , let's play . Let me go a bit deeper . Here we go . Help Laurie to come up with a book around this concept , to help high-level leaders and their chiefs of staff create such solid partnerships based on this premise of a handshake agreement .
Okay , here we go . It's doing a bit of thinking . I never know whether it's actually this is a chat .
TBT or Claude . Which one are you using ? This one's ?
chat . Just so you know , I put it into Claude a minute ago the same , because I can copy and paste . It didn't come up with a very good answer so I didn't mention it . Okay , here's a title and a subtitle the Handshake Leader building unbreakable trust and partnership with your chief of staff .
And then a subtitle how high impact leaders and their chiefs of staff can create powerful , honest and commitment driven agreements okay , definitely good stuff to play with .
Yeah , it's good stuff you play with that right yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah .
This is great she went a bit deeper . It's given key themes of the book . The handshake matrix introduced the two by two framework of truth and promise . Number two , building trust with transparency how truth and honesty build the foundation of a strong working relationship .
Number three , the power of commitment , why leaders must honor promises and how this strengthens leadership effectiveness . And then fostering high impact leadership , the role of the chief of staff and finally , case studies . And then it even gives practical tools . So this is where it becomes . I'll copy and paste this and then it even gives practical tools .
So this is where it becomes our copy and pastes and send it to you oh my gosh .
Yes , I mean like the book , the first book , which is , you know , hit the ground for the chief of staff . Hit the ground running how to nail your first 90 days as chief of staff . I had to write that because all chiefs need to know what to focus on for the first 90 days , but it almost feels like all three of these books are cousins .
Absolutely .
They're all aimed . Each one of the books is aimed at one of the individuals , and then the handshake is kind of aimed at both of them .
So here's how you put it . You say what I've created is a framework for leaders and chiefs of staff , and it's like a three-legged stool . If any of those legs isn't present , the stool falls over . You actually need all three . Now do you need all three at once ?
No , start where you need to start , but at some point you need all three elements of this , because this is the framework of leadership .
And then sell them as a set for sure . Oh , I love this . This is just so helpful , so helpful . Oh my gosh , I'm trying to have all of this done before November 13th and I think this call and this exercise leveraging the power of AI , it was just jump in and get her done and I feel really armed to do that now .
Yeah , yeah , this feels good .
And it feels fun at the same time . It's not a heavy vest , Like I'm engaged and I like this is awesome , Awesome . This is why I wanted to be on an IP call with you , because I don't have you know . I know that my personality style is I need a sparring partner . If I'm just sitting alone trying to figure it out in my room , it doesn't come like I .
Most people , I think , need a sparring partner , but look .
I'm here for you because you're in for PC and I can be here for you . But I've actually started thinking of Claude and chat gpt as my sparring partners . So I use them on a regular basis writing an article I but but it will . They won't help non-creative people . If you are creative and you're super creative , which way you came in with all these ideas ?
You just have these ideas . What do I do with them ? So I find this is where it can be like a conversation to start with , and and then a tool that I can play with . Then you come back into a conversation because you'll try this out with a client .
The next time somebody says what do you do , you say , hey , pull over that napkin and you draw this tool like this , and you say , hey , one of the things I've noticed is that leaders who have handshake agreements live up here in this box . Leaders who have written agreements and signs on their wall live over here with high promise but low truth .
They're low impact leaders and you're going to say who do you know ? Tell me about your boss right now . Where do they come ? Tell me about your chief of staff , where do they come Tell me about ? And you can use this framework like , hey , let's just have a look .
Let's look at what Tesla just did in the latest earning report and what they said about their employees . This is where this framework is valuable . It's an assessment .
I see two things coming out of this . One is that tool and it's a great visual to help people identify at any point in time where they fall , and then I think this scorecard , if you will , or this assessment , sits along with it , so they go from .
You know what is it struggling to , striving and what that behavior looks like with communication and with decision-making , and all the attributes of the relationship we think are important that should be equally owned by the leader and the chief . So I'm now developed two pieces of IP here that fuel this .
I'm just I'm just creating a scorecard for you in real time , so give me one second . I'm just drawing it out .
You just send me your bills .
Communication time autonomy commitment . What do we say next ? Two-way vulnerability . So let's put . What do I say ? Not vulnerability . We had a different phrase for that Truth , truth , yeah , oh , that's perfect , yeah , truth .
Time Clear communication time .
So here's what the scorecard looks like . It's just a quick sketch because I'm in a hurry . Oh , you can't really see the lines , but there are lines here . You would fill in the boxes . So communication , time , autonomy , commitment , truth and review . And then you have a scale from one to five and you put descriptions of some of these elements .
You don't have to do them all , but maybe a one , a three and a five or just a one and a five , so they can decide like where am I on this scale ? And then you ask them where are you now ? Where do you want to be in six months ? And that's the genius part of the scorecard , because now that you're taking them into a future that doesn't exist .
And there's space for each of the pair , each of them to fill it out together , because I think I want to see the variance . I think that's going to be very telling . This could be a genius session in 4PC when you think about it . Once I'm ready for this , it'd be kind of fun to do this with in a safe space , with a team . This is awesome .
I don't know what to say you one thing when I started for PC with you , I had no aspirations of writing a book , and now I'm on my third . So , what does that tell you ? I just , yeah , it's really amazing , rich , what this community can do for us .
I never had these visions for myself and it was only through this work and I think , what you see in me that it came out and I'm loving it . I'm really loving it .
Yeah , I feel that , laurie thanks . Thanks for playing . Thank you . Okay , that was awesome .
It was great . Thank you so much . Thank you so much .
¶ Energized Leadership and Coaching Transformation
I have sweaty palms right now because I'm really excited about . Don't put that in your . Don't put that in .
This is leaving this recording running . This is great I know , but you are not allowed to use that I want you to have sweaty palms because , because what I feel and what I see is you're excited about making this happen in the world I am , I am .
I mean , it just lights me up and it's also a bit of a diversion from where I was when I came to victoria , where I was like I don know , maybe this is getting a little bit boring for me . This , I feel like this conversation was the answer to that . So , yeah , so I feel awesome . I feel like I need to go like running or something .
Okay , yeah , cause you got a lot of energy in your body because now you got ears and things . Yeah , yeah .
Yeah , yeah , so helpful . Thank you so very much .
My pleasure . Thanks , Laurie .
For most of human history . It wasn't called coaching , it was called leadership , and it's what I love to do to coach people , to lead people and to mess with people's thinking . If you'd like more of this , or if you'd like to learn more about our community of extraordinary top performers , go to richlitvincom forward slash one insight .