No Clichés - the podcast from A Bold Leader

Oak McCulloch knows leadership - how to do it and how to pass it down - after a lifetime of service in the US Army, on college campuses and in the social sector. … and he knows discipline. The man has kept a personal journal since he was in fifth grade. Someone with that level of sustained focus is just the right guy to collect a lifetime of practical, useful leadership advice. You can read a lot about leadership today. It’s the #1 topic for newly published books. In fact, you could read them all - if you had the time - and still not be an effective leader. Sure, you would know a lot of leadership stuff, but you could feasibly be left without the practical examples and useful tools that would transform you into the leader you were meant to be. If you’re lucky, though. One of these books might have been Oak McCulloch’s Your Leadership Legacy - Becoming The Leader You Were Meant To Be. Oak joins me on No Clichés to share some of the leadership gold in his book. Tune in to start the journey to leaving your leadership legacy.

Face To Face is a leadership book, but one unlike anything you’ve ever read - in both format and content. Career healthcare executive, hospital president, international performance consultant and author Cheryl Lynn Mobley was inspired to write Face To Face by the intersection of trust, disruption and uncertainty and her experiences on an African horse safari - where she and her group came face to face with threats that could end their lives. ‘Doesn’t get much bolder than that! Cheryl joins me on No Clichés to talk about what inspired the book, the application of some of its lessons and the unique way she turned a book into a living project to keep the journey alive.

In your worst nightmares, you’ll likely never have to defend your office against an armed terrorist. Tim White, however, had to do exactly that on July 16th, 2015. It was the last full day of Ramadan when terrorist Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez rammed his vehicle through the gate of Chattanooga’s Navy Operational Support Center and approached the headquarters building with an AK74 semi-automatic rifle. Inside, the Center’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Tim White rose from his desk, reached into a drawer for his personal sidearm, and fired on Abdulazeez from the window. The first to engage the terrorist, White’s gunfire alerted those inside the Center to the impending danger, giving most the opportunity to escape unharmed. White was a hero to many, but his Navy career from that point forward was anything but guaranteed. Navy regulations prohibited personal firearms on installations; but White, recognizing an imminent threat to his team that the chain of command failed to address, reached outside the rule book to display bold leadership that saved lives.

When something goes wrong in Navy aviation, it’s called a “mishap”. When it goes tragically wrong - the kind of wrong that leaves someone dead or strikes an entire aircraft from the Navy’s inventory - it’s called a “Class A mishap”. It didn’t take the Navy Safety Center long to determine the Tango 5 fire to be a Class A mishap. Had we caused the fire? Had we contributed to it?

The 2022 cohort of Leadership Fort Worth's CEO-level program, LeaderPrime, recently graduated. To kick off the commencement, TD Smyers moderated a panel of respected leadership academicians discussing engagement of today's workforce and the new irrelevance of command & control leadership. What you thought you knew about leading our Millennial and GenZ workforce is about to get reset. From the University of Texas at Arlington - Dr. David Mack; from Texas Wesleyan University - Dr. Tommy Nichols; and from Texas Christian University - Professor Tracey Rockett.

If you've ever had to endure a dysfunctional workplace culture or tiptoe around a supposed teammate who's looking for a reason to lodge a new complaint against somebody, you may think you know toxic. Well, I'm here to tell you - Pete Havel knows toxic. A former lobbyist for some of the biggest, most powerful organizations in the US, Pete’s shocking corporate experience was the inspiration for his book The Arsonist in the Office: Fireproofing Your Life Against Toxic Coworkers, Bosses, Employees and Cultures. As a leader, you owe it to yourself to heed Pete's advice on how to avoid toxicity, and what to do WHEN you encounter it - because there are those who have and those who will.

If you google Dan Pallotta, he comes up identified as an "American Entrepreneur". While true enough, this description is really only part of the story. Dan is a visionary, a development economics guru with a Harvard sheepskin, a social sector champion and a bold leader. You may already know of of him, since he's been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Forbes magazine, among others. Or you may have already seen him, since he's appeared on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, American Public Media’s Marketplace, the TED Radio Hour, the BBC's Business Matters, and on numerous NPR stations, among others. In fact, if you haven't seen his viral TED Talk "The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong" on YouTube, go there as soon as you finish listening to this episode. It'll change your whole worldview. There's a link at a aboldleader.com to help you get there.

Leading boldly isn’t always about breaking the rules. A bold leader’s best moments often come from navigating a group through unknown territory, a threatening situation, or even an unpopular requirement. This story features all three. Although these events took place at the very end of the 20th Century, my story opens up with a topic that is very contemporary and very controversial – mandatory vaccinations.

Operating under the rules is safe, but exploration beyond them is where all discovery originates. A bold leader's goal should be to lead like my wife Barbara cooks - understanding the recipe well enough to know when and how to depart from it. Also available to read at aboldleader.com

Bold isn't fearless. Fearless doesn't exist in the sane, rational leader. Courage certainly does, but courage is different. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's the conquest of it. In fact, in my experience bold isn't homogenous at all. It's a complex mix of sometimes competing traits. A good analogy this time of year is to think of bold as a kind of stew. A hearty recipe with just a few key ingredients. Also available to read at aboldleader.com

Love the gritty art of leadership, but feel the need to dig deeper than the repetitive memes and simplistic advice that make up the online leadership conversation? Yeah, me too. That's why I record stories and interviews about tough leadership situations on No Clichés.

Welcome to No Clichas, the podcast from A Bold Leader, coaching and leadership blog by TD Smyers. Also available to read at aboldleader.com