—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Kevin Kruse's new book, Great Leaders Have No Rules: Contrarian Leadership Principles to Transform Your Team and Business, came out yesterday. We talk about it in our conversation.
In pursuit of the American Dream, Kevin started his first company at 22 years old. He worked around the clock, living out of his one-room office and showering at the YMCA, before giving up a year later deeply in debt.
But after discovering the power of Wholehearted Leadership and Extreme Productivity, Kevin went on to build and sell several, multi-million dollar technology companies, winning both Inc 500 and Best Place to Work awards along the way.
Kevin is also the author of several books including the NY Times bestseller, We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement, Employee Engagement 2.0, and 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management. He is a Forbes Leadership columnist and was named to the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders list by Trust Across America.
Kevin’s mission is to convince everyone that wholehearted leadership for employee engagement is the key to unlocking both dramatic business results and to better health and relationships for individuals.
Based on his own experience as a CEO, and on the results of surveys of over 10 million people in 150 countries, Kevin reveals how Growth, Recognition and Trust are the key drivers that turn average groups into high performing teams. He shares specific tactics to:
Kevin has traveled the globe as a keynote speaker on leadership, productivity and entrepreneurship. He is consistently rated among the top keynote speakers at events he attends.
Kevin currently serves as Founder & CEO of LEADx, an online learning platform that provides free leadership development for millions of people around the world. Kevin lives with his three children in Pennsylvania.
Kevin and I have been friends since we both wrote for Inc, and before I appeared on his podcast, which always opens a conversation. It's two guys talking about leadership and love with examples of hardball football and basketball coaching and the like. We talk about leadership from the vantage point of his new book, Great Leaders Have No Rules: Contrarian Leadership Principles to Transform Your Team and Business, which came out yesterday. I wrote a blurb for his book, which gives an idea of our conversation: If you want to lead so people love working with you, not just manage so they comply, and the usual instruction isn't helping, you probably need some shaking up. Kevin Kruse wrote his book to provoke you into changing and growing. It's filled with stories, research, and personal experiences that will make you think and point to how to change and grow. He specifies how each lesson applies, to work, home, family, military, and more, but most of all yourself, even when no one is looking. He also takes the environmental challenge seriously and shares views I hear a lot. Water bottles are a challenge for him so this episode features a recognized, experienced leader and teacher of leaders struggling with challenges everyone else does. My prediction: he'll face challenges he didn't expect, he'll feel like giving up, he won't give up, and he'll learn more than he expected. Specifically what he'll learn I can't say, but we listeners will hear how someone who writes about how to handle challenges handles challenges. Read the transcript.