Authenticity, Leadership & Finding Your “One Thing” from the C Method Podcast
Christina Canters of The C Method podcast posted her interview of me today. We had a fun, open conversation. I think you’ll like listening.
Listen to The C Method podcast!
We talked about authenticity and how to achieve a lot by knowing how to focus on one thing by knowing what you want, not wondering, among other topics.
Many people hold back from devoting or committing themselves to one thing, afraid of regretting losing what they decide against. We talked about what specifically to do to prevent holding yourself back. See my Harvard talk on not dwelling on decisions for more on deciding.
Her blog page introduces me as:
Joshua Spodek is an author, executive coach and leadership expert who is one of the most accomplished people I’ve ever met.
He holds five Ivy-League degrees, including a PhD in Astrophysics. He helped build an X-ray observational satellite orbiting the Earth with NASA. He invented a technology to show motion-pictures to subway riders moving between stations, which has now grown into a worldwide phenomenon. He has taught art at Parsons the New School for Design, and as an artist have shown large public art installations in New York City and Amsterdam, and has won awards for his design work.
He has lectured on North Korean strategy at Columbia University and in South Korea and China, and is now a leadership and executive coach for Columbia Business School’s Program on Social Intelligence. Plus, he’s finished six marathons, has swum across the Hudson River, has done over 80,000 burpees, and blogs every single day. Phew!
Having achieved so many remarkable things, I was keen to learn how he’s managed to be successful in multiple fields, and how he knows how to pick “one thing” to focus on.
We also talk about how to be truly authentic as a leader. Joshua shares a simple yet effective exercise that I had never heard of before, so make sure you tune in if you want to be able to fully express yourself in order to influence and inspire others.
In this conversation you will discover:
- Why Joshua left academia for entrepreneurship
- How he feels about the “one thing” approach to success
- “You have to say no to a lot of things to have a great life”
- Why emotional awareness is so important for discovering your “one thing”—“What are you willing to clean the toilet for?”
- How to pick your “one thing” — even if you have multiple interests
- Leadership is a skill you can learn
- All fields have a set of progressive steps to follow in order to master that skill
- People can tell if you’re being inauthentic
- You can’t inspire people when you’re inauthentic
- Muhammad Ali and Robin Williams are examples of truly authentic speakers
- The inner monologue exercise to help you speak with more authenticity
- How speaking with authority can help you transcend hierarchies
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