Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Leader by Design podcast. Today, I'll share with you the most important piece of advice the world's number one business coach has for all leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs. So stay tuned.
G'day. I'm Brendan Rogers.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I've built a thriving business creating confident leaders who achieved the results they always wanted, along with the lifestyle they always dreamed of. How do you become a confident leader? By focusing on three key areas, developing character, building confidence, and creating connection. This is the Leader by design podcast.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Hello, everyone. Thanks very much for tuning in. Again. I'm your host, Brendan Rogers. Welcome back to the Leader by Design podcast. I recently interviewed a chap known as the world's best business coach. His name's Brad Sugars, founder and CEO of action coach. I interviewed Brad on the Culture of Leadership podcast. Now, that episode won't be released for six to eight weeks, but I just thought it very useful to share the top advice that he has for all leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Brad, as I said, is the world's number one business coach, and he's the founder and CEO of ActionCoach. Now, that's an empire that he started back in 1993, and it now covers 83 countries. And he has a goal of expanding that to at least 120 countries by 2030. Now, the interesting thing is on the podcast, on the cultural leadership podcast, I asked Brad about his future and what his goals were for action coach, where he wants to take it. And that 120 number is not just any number that he's thought of. It's actually one better McDonald's. He said to me, McDonald's is in 119 countries. So my ambition is to have action coach present in 120 countries by 2030 and also to be a $1 billion business. What is it that fuels Brad's relentless ambition? The answer is simple but profound, and takes discipline. Brad's advice to all of you leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs is continuous learning. He learned this from Jim Rowan back when he was Brad was about 1617. He won the Rotary Young Leaders award and had an opportunity to meet Jim Rowan. And that was some advice that Jim Rowan gave him. And that's advice he's followed to this day, 30 years into action coach. So this is the best advice Brad believes is out there. It's worked for him. It can work for you. Embrace learning every single day. Now, it could be through podcasts like this, could be reading books, taking courses. Running a business, I think, is one of the best learning experiences you can have every single day, or even just reflecting on life's experiences generally. I know I do that a lot. And with our fostering, there's always a lot of life experiences that help us every day. The key is to never, ever stop learning. Now, in Brad's view, learning is not just about acquiring knowledge, it's about taking action. Maybe that's why he call it action coach. Taking action. Not a question I actually asked him. He emphasizes that it's absolutely crucial to apply what you've learnt and experiment. Experiment with new ideas that you've got. This not only helps in personal growth, but it can drive business innovation and absolute success. And Brad and action coach is testament to that excess and his focus on continuous learning. As I said earlier, Brad founded action coach in 1993 and since then he's grown it into a global franchise. He wants action coach to be a $1 billion business by 2030 and to be in 120 countries. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that this ambitious goal reflects his commitment to growth both personally and professionally. Let's break down Brad's advice a little bit further. Why is continuous learning so vital? The actual research shows that lifelong learning improves cognitive function and also keeps you adaptable in rapidly changing world and enhances problem solving skills. And for business leaders, staying updated with the latest trends and strategies can also provide a much needed competitive edge. Moreover, Brad's emphasis on taking action is crucial. Knowledge without application, it's like a car without fuel. It won't take you anywhere. When you experiment with new ideas, you can discover what works best for your business and you'll innovate really, really well. Brad's success with Actioncoach illustrates the power of his continuous learning philosophy. From a single idea in 1993 to a global presence in 83 countries. This journey is testament to the impact of continuous learning and taking action. And his goal to expand to 120 countries and achieve a $1 billion valuation by 2030 underpins his belief in setting high targets and working tirelessly to achieve them. How do you bring continuous learning into your day, into your life, if you're not already doing it? Here are some practical tips that I think can be useful and things that I know I've done over the time and continue to do. To keep learning every single day. It's important to set aside time for learning. I know when I used to travel into the city and commuting, I used to make sure I kept at least 30 to 45 minutes of that train trip for learning either reading, listening to a podcast or taking a course, reading different books, those sorts of things. So I would set aside 45 minutes, but I think even if you just set 20 minutes aside a day for learning, learning something new, learning something related to your business, learning something of a hobby that you want to take up, whatever it is, then that can be useful. Time reflecting on your experiences is also super important. So as I said earlier, mine and my wife's experiences with fostering my coaching of clients every day and my sporting background, I'm reflecting on those experiences. I mean, reflecting on those conversations that I have. I'm reflecting on some of the work that I do within fostering and working with young children. I'm learning every day and I'm taking away things every day that I can put into practice and keep learning. At the moment, a real key thing I'm reflecting on every single day is my ability to get better at growing the digital part of my business and learning about how to grow the digital part of my business. Applying what you learn. It's about learning and then taking action. If you're a business owner and you're reading something about how to have better meetings, then start applying that in your business. What's the one thing you can do tomorrow in order to have better meetings? What's the one thing you can do tomorrow to improve your business generally? Doesn't matter what it is. It is about applying whatever you've learned and learning from that application, developing new ideas and strategies, finding out what works for you, what doesn't work for you, and that can obviously be within your business or within your personal life. The last bit of advice or practical tip that I'd share with you is it's important to stay curious. If you stay curious and you're always on the lookout for new information, new perspectives, then that underpins continuous learning. Do that. It's a really, really difficult skill to master. Being curious all the time. It's very easy for us to make judgment on things, on situations, on something that we read. Ask why? Why is it coming across like this? Why is the author thinking that? Why is the person thinking around that topic in a certain way? Stay curious. If you stay curious, you'll learn to ask questions. And if you keep asking questions, you'll learn to ask better questions. And through questions, we learn. Through learning. We can then apply and the cycle repeats. How can you find time every day to learn? I gave an example earlier about how I integrated my learning into my morning commute. If you're not commuting, what part of your day could you bring in learning? If you're exercising, it's really common for people to listen to an audiobook about something they want to learn about, or a podcast on a topic they really enjoy. So whether it's specific within your exercise routine, a daily commute, it could be a lunch break. I know for myself I've got a very small daily commute now, given I generally work from a home office or at client premises, I do a lot of my learning at night. I get to bed at a reasonable hour most nights and I listen to a podcast or I read a book or I do some learning work on my digital program side of the business. Again, learning and applying something. So I like to do that at night. Works best for me at the moment because when I exercise, I'm generally exercising with friends. So it's a good time just to wind down, have a chat, clear the mind, swim, relax and enjoy, and just feel like you're getting the best start to the morning. What if you're not sure about how to apply what you've learned? My advice is start small. What can you implement tomorrow from what you've learned today? Just to make a difference and move forward in whatever you're trying to move forward with. These improvements don't need to be massive steps each and every time. I remember a guy called Paul Akers, I assume he's still around, but he was very big in the lean continuous improvement community and he talked about two second improvements. What can you do tomorrow that is a two second improvement from the day before? The reason with his philosophy why he thought 2 seconds was a good way to go because his belief, and I agree, is that everybody can achieve that. If you start just focusing on what's a small two second improvement I can make tomorrow in my business, or how I work within my family, how I do something every day, then it's always achievable. And if it's nothing, then personally, I think you're kidding yourself and you actually are not interested in improvement. If that works for you, work on what's a two second improvement I can make when you're learning something, consider how you can apply that the next day and it doesn't matter how small that improvement is. Make it happen, do it, learn from it, and adjust where needed. Refine your approach as you go. The last question I would ask that maybe you're thinking about is how do I stay motivated to keep learning? I've met and know plenty of people over time where they've started learning something and even myself. I've started learning languages before because I have this dream of learning language, but obviously the timing of it's not right for me because I start it and I don't follow through on it all the time. The passion about it is not enough. I go back to some of my business learnings and what I want to do with my business and learning about podcasting and learning about fostering and helping children and learning about growing digital programs, those sorts of things. So those things are really aligned with my personal passions, my values and what I'm about. If you set learning goals and also track your progress, that can help with keeping you motivated. Again, I know with business definitely set certain goals and I've got metrics along the way and they help keep me motivated, they help keep me on track and they also help with making some decisions about okay, I need to adjust this because when I'm not quite achieving where I wanted to achieve and one thing that I've got better at over the years, I'm still a long way from great is celebrating achievements. So if you learn something and you make an improvement or you achieve a goal, it's really important to celebrate your achievements. And remember, always stay curious about new topics and I believe if you can keep that motive about staying curious, then you'll always be motivated to keep learning. So that's it for today. I've given some advice from Brad Sugars, the world's number one business coach, founder and CEO of Action Coach. Continue to learn continuous learning is the most important piece of advice that the world's number one business coach can give you. He's grown a business that is in his 83 countries and on its way to being a $1 billion business. So if he says to me, this is the advice that has helped me, then I think it's worth listening to. I hope you take it on board. I hope you make sure that you are learning every day and applying what you learn. Thank you for tuning in to leader by design. Remember, the journey to success is paved with continuous learning and action. Take a Brad's advice to heart. Learn something new every day and put it into practice. And remember, if you're a business owner or leader who wants to learn our complete a z system on how to use one on one meetings to maximize the performance of your employees. Join our waitlist for the Master one on one meetings program at Leaderbydesign au Waitlist Hot off the press our founding members program will be launching on the 24 July 2024. We will be closing enrollments a few days before that on the 19 July. If you are interested in learning how to master one on one meetings to get more performance out of your employees and more consistent businesses results. Then sign up at Leaderbydesign au Waitlist and we are launching that program for 15 founding members only on the 24 July 2024. Also, if you love the show and want to develop your leadership and grow your business, then make sure you follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. It's really super helpful if you can, leave us a five star review. And when you do that, it helps other leaders and business owners and entrepreneurs to find us. The algorithm will push it out to more and more people. Until then, always remember, leaders aren't born. They're designed by developing character, building competence, and creating connection. Be a leader by design. Today.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: In the hybrid working world, I've seen too many business owners and their businesses suffer because of poor performing employees, leading to below average results.
If you want to improve your employees performance to deliver consistent results for your business, you have to master one on one meetings. The doors to our master one on one meetings training program are opening soon. I'll teach you how to improve employee performance and deliver consistent results using one on one meetings. To be one of the first people notified when the doors open, go to leaderbydesign au waitlist. Don't wait, sign up now.
