How can you use the principles of neurosurgery to maximize your leadership performance?

In this episode, Rich sits down with Dr. Theodore Schwartz, a pioneering neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medicine, known for developing minimally invasive techniques for brain tumor and epilepsy surgery.

Dr. Schwartz explores the mental and physical preparation required for surgery, navigating the challenge of making hundreds of cascading decisions and cultivating the personal resilience needed to persevere in such a high stakes environment.

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“I often say to the residents when we're operating, ‘Don't forget to listen to the tumor.’ And they're like, ‘What do you mean?’ I'm like, ‘You have to listen to the tumor. The tumor is telling you where it's going to hold on and where it's going to let you go. And you can't always impose your will on the tumor, but you have to listen to it and see what it's telling you, and react to that to change your plan.’ So you have to be receptive to the information coming in in order to create the most productive plan to move forward.”

“Although we erect a certain amount of emotional armor to deal when things go wrong, you then have to also be very, very sensitive and be able to let down that armor and be a human being.”

“And the question is, how do you put yourself in that mental space and in that physical space to function at a hundred percent, literally three days a week, I'm operating, you know, 48 weeks a year. Going on 25 years, right? I mean, it's just, it's relentless. It's every day. You have to show up because you have to be there for your patient.”

Practice Makes Profit: Assessing competition using the competitive landscape framework.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question]: What's the best way to communicate strategy?

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage: Sarah Blakely, self made billionaire and CEO of Spanx said, “Insights are gifts from the universe. Every time I have them, I capture them right away. The more that you write them down and pay attention to them, the stronger that the gift and the connection will become.” Where are you recording your insights and how often are you reviewing these insights to transform them into new value?

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(00:40) Deep Dive Interview with Dr. Ted Schwartz

(045:42) Practice Makes Profit

(47:22) League of Strategic Minds

(49:21) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

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Links:

Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds

Theodore Schwartz on LinkedIn

Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery

Rich Horwath on LinkedIn

Rich Horwath on YouTube

Rich Horwath on Instagram

Strategic Thinking Institute Website

Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book

New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter

[Subscribe to the Podcast]
On Apple Podcasts

On Spotify

What does it take to scale a business for sustained success?

In this episode, Rich sits down with Joel Holland, CEO of Harvest Hosts, a unique membership program for RVers offering stays at over 5,000 locations.

Joel shares his entrepreneurial journey founding and growing Storyblocks into a nine-figure business, culminating in a successful sale to a private equity firm. He dives into the real challenges of starting a company, from nailing the perfect product-market fit to scaling. Joel details his experience jumping domains from a tech startup to scaling Harvest Hosts in the hospitality travel space through leadership, listening, and learning.

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“Any action is more powerful than inaction.”

“The simplest way to run a good company is hire great people.”

“A lot of times the answers exist either with your customers or your team members. They already know the answer. You just have to find it.”

“So when you're starting from zero, you've got to create brand awareness. You've got to convince people, ‘This isn't too good to be true. Trust us, give us a shot.’ All those things go into product market fit. So it's frustrating because just having the best product for the best price doesn't necessarily get you the fit. And so you start to learn that brand is important.”

Practice Makes Profit: Using the Business Model Innovation Framework to think about how your business needs to evolve to remain relevant in your market.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question]: What's the most important skill for a leader to possess?

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage: Warren Buffett. Billionaire investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.” What have you said no to in the past month that's enabled you to work with greater focus and precision?

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(00:41) Deep Dive Interview with Joel Holland

(46:28) Practice Makes Profit

(49:44) League of Strategic Minds

(50:41) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

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Links:

Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds

Joel Holland on LinkedIn

Harvest Hosts

Rich Horwath on LinkedIn

Rich Horwath on YouTube

Rich Horwath on Instagram

Strategic Thinking Institute Website

Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book

New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter

[Subscribe to the Podcast]
On Apple Podcasts

On Spotify

How can you guide the growth of your people into a competitive advantage?

In this episode, Rich sits down with Tami Wolownik, Head of People & Organization at Siemens Mobility, where she leads the HR function for 4,000 employees.

Tami discusses one of the biggest strategic resources for any company: talent. She shares practical advice on how to help people create a skills-based future, improve performance management through Growth Talks, and enhance succession planning through Talent Spotlights. She also discusses aligning functional goals with corporate goals and her approach to leadership development throughout the organization.

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“I will tend to block portions of my schedule in the morning for what I call impactful thinking. When I know there's two or three different projects that I'm working on, or that I need to get with the team on and I need to do some advanced planning, advanced thinking, I'm going to block my schedule.”

“You have to have leaders who understand that they don't have to be the smartest person in the room.”

“You should be open to constructive feedback if it's coming from someone who has your back.”

“Leaders have to truly empower employees and not only empower, leaders have to rely on employees. And if the leaders get that up front, that they do need those employees, they need their ideas, they need their input, they can't generate everything that has to come out of their department or their group on their own, as soon as they understand that and decide to tap into that, they will be an effective leader.”

Practice Makes Profit: Completing the time assessment at the end of each quarter to see if you're happy with where your time's being spent relative to your priorities.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question]: What are the key areas to cover in a strategic plan?

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage:

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple said, “We want ideas coming from all 100,000 people, not just five or three. A much smaller number of people have to decide and edit and move forward, but we want ideas coming from everywhere.” What channels have you set up to enable your people to share their insights on a regular basis?

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(00:48) Deep Dive Interview with Tami Wolownik

(49:18) Practice Makes Profit

(51:13) League of Strategic Minds

(53:18) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

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Links:

Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds

Tami Wolownik on LinkedIn

Rich Horwath on LinkedIn

Rich Horwath on YouTube

Rich Horwath on Instagram

Strategic Thinking Institute Website

Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book

New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter

[Subscribe to the Podcast]
On Apple Podcasts

On Spotify