Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

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Jim Murphy is a mental performance coach for some of the most accomplished professional athletes in the world. Formerly a professional baseball player, he now focuses on helping others. You may have heard of him if you were watching the Philadelphia Eagles' playoff run last season, and star wide receiver AJ Brown was reading Jim’s book Inner Excellence on the sideline between offensive series.

Notes:

• The first 11 days of 2025, Inner Excellence (originally published 16 years ago) sold about 25 copies… What happened on January 12? AJ Brown was shown on TV reading it in between offensive series. It then sold 200,000 copies in 20 days.
• Fear is a concern about the future.
• Give the best of what you have today. Be present.
• Heart, will, spirit = the deepest part of you
• When we’re at our best, there’s no thought of self.
• 5 greatest needs
  • That we have value
  • Love and acceptance
  • Integrity
  • Purpose beyond self
  • Growth
• Dick Vermiel’s coaching style - Coach the person first. Then the sport (or the thing you’re doing). The same is true for any leadership role. People won’t care what you think unless they know you actually care about them.
• 4 Daily Goals
  • Give the best of what you have today
  • Be present. Fear is a future thing.
  • Be grateful
  • Focus on what you can control
• Anxiety is a mind with too many thoughts and concerns. Need to face our fears.
• 3 Key Areas:
  • Belief - expand what you think is possible.
  • Freedom - play like a kid (let it rip).
  • Focus - Be fully present
• Status vs amazing experiences. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Joy comes from love. Love can come from weaknesses.
• Ego - Always comparing, creates a fear of screwing up
• Rory McIlroy – Didn’t care if he made the cut at the US Open. Played free and made a few birdies at the end of the second round and made the cut.
• Jim's Dedication: “My father, Donald C. Murphy. The one who greatly influenced me to think deeply about what to love and what to let go of. I love you. See you soon.” His dad worked on the Apollo 11 mission. The first lunar landing.
• Grade yourself on presence. 4 daily goals. Rate them 1-10. Anxiety is a sign that someone isn’t present.
• Jim has always struggled with being self-centered.
• Be non-judgmental. Share unconditional love.
• Ricky Scruggs - Former teammate and roommate in pro baseball. He invited me to the desert in 2003. Led me to take the risk to leave the safety of family and friends to pursue a meaningful life.
• What about for those people who say your stuff is "woo-woo?" “I get paid to help people perform better. And that’s what happens when you work with me.”
• “My whole life, I obsessed about being a superstar, being rich and famous. What I now realize is what I’ve always wanted was to feel fully alive. I’ve realized since that what I always really wanted was to feel fully alive. That’s what Inner Excellence is about. Pursuing a full life and letting everything else be added. We’re created for relationships."
• Among Jim's strengths is that he listens and doesn’t judge. That’s what many people want. “I have this one client, a pro athlete. He said, ‘Jim, I smoke, I gamble, I drink. I do all these things, but I don’t think you do all those things. Do you think we can work together?’ I said, ‘If you don’t judge me for not doing those things, I won’t judge you for doing those things.’ We became great friends.”
• Resonance Key #3 - Love Your Opponent. “The opponent is not the enemy– they’re our partner in the dance.” – Phil Jackson

The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Larry Connor is an entrepreneur, non-profit activist investor, and adventurist. In business, he is best known for founding The Connor Group, a real estate investment firm, and growing it from $0 to $5 billion in assets. Outside of work, Larry lives an adventurous life. Within a 12 month period Larry did something that had never been done before. He completed 3 dives to the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench) AND traveled to the International Space Station as an astronaut. In addition to that, Larry is a private pilot and was part of a Le Mans racing team that has won championships.

• “At The Connor Group, we don’t have, and never will have, a mission statement. We have culture. When you have the latter, the former is not necessary.”
• The culture is built on 5 core values, on which we don’t compromise:
  • Do the right thing
  • People count
  • Live the Circle of Success
  • Think long-term, not short-term
  • Relentless pursuit of excellence
• “We exist, quite simply, to be the best.”
• “We don’t hire for experience. We don’t hire for knowledge. We don’t care where you went to school. We hire for personality traits. Especially in leadership roles. You have to have the big 6. You have to have all 6. They are:
  • 1. Be able to motivate and inspire others.
  • 2. Self-accountability and ability to hold others accountable in an honest, direct manner.
  • 3. Organizational multi-tasking. The speed of the game is fast.
  • 4. Cultural fit.
  • 5. Grit. Doing the thing that others say are impossible.
  • 6. Work orientation. If you want to come in at 8:30, take a 90-minute lunch, and leave at 4:30, The Connor Group is not for you.
• “People never outperform their own self-image. So aim high!”
• “Mediocre people don’t like high achievers and high achievers don’t like mediocre people.”
• “By definition, if you want to be exceptional, you have to be different. If you’re like everybody else, you’re going to end up like everybody else.”
• In 2008, Larry said, “We simply decided we weren’t going to participate in the global recession.”
• 3 P’s - People, Plan, Process
• People’s performances are measured through daily, weekly, and monthly IAMs (Individual Accountability Meetings). Clear expectations and clear management.
• When I asked him about becoming a billionaire, Larry immediately jumped to the impact he’s having on others. “There are far more important standards than money. How well have you treated your associates? Have you made them better people? How much have you done to help other people? Have you made a difference?” All of that is available to all of us regardless of us being a billionaire or not.
• The company headquarters are next door to a hangar that houses a working model of the “Wright B Flyer” - The Wright Brothers’ first production airplane.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

​The Arena​ gives you direct access to some of the most respected coaching minds in the world. Led by HOFer Sherri Coale, Brook Cupps, Geron Stokes, and Eli Leiker. Leaders who have built winning programs, led at the highest levels, and shaped the next generation of elite performers. The Arena is a Learning Leader Circle for Coaches only. We are opening applications now for our first cohort. If you'd like to be part of it, ​CLICK HERE to apply​. Once the cohort is full, we will be pausing applications.

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• In Patient Pursuit of Greatness – In the spring of 2012, General McChrystal was teaching a leadership class at Yale. That’s when he met Tony Reno. He said about the meeting, “Not many things materially affect my trajectory. But this time was different. What was different? Coach Reno.”
• The goal of the program: “Leave the jersey better than you found it.”
• The team creed, a pledge written by players on Team 142 (the 2014 squad), as they do at the start of every practice: “I vow to believe in the process, I am mentally and physically tough, I compete with passion and overcome any challenges. I stand tall alongside my family at all times, I challenge my brother, believe in him, hold him accountable. As I create my own path I always put team before myself, I strive for excellence on and off the field, I hold myself to a higher standard. I am a Yale football player.”
  • Standards - Every player must recite the creed. The younger players are coached by the older players.
• The brick tradition - At each practice, one player presents his brick, then adds it to the others in the tunnel-- a visual reminder of the team’s solidarity. Reno instituted the tradition to build camaraderie through candid reflection.
  • Hero, Hometown, Hardship, Highlight. Someone who has impacted you. One word for the season.
• His players went to bat for him. On December 28, Casey Gerald '09, a cornerback, and 63 other former players sent a letter endorsing Coach Reno's candidacy to athletic director Tom Beckett, and later to president Richard Levin and provost Peter Salovey. 12 days later, he earned the job.
• Gettysburg Retreat: Yale's football team takes an annual retreat to Gettysburg with McChrystal to focus on leadership, bonding, and team culture.
• Presidential Leadership - Lead people, but don’t do it for them.
• When his players host recruits, they will tell Coach Reno if their character aligns with being a Yale football player.
• Coach Reno names a player of the day for each practice. The one who lives out their values and the Yale football player creed.
• Life/Career advice - Help you become the best version of yourself in all you do. Make you an elite leader. Maximize you as a football player. Help you find your passion.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

William von Hippel grew up in Alaska, got his B.A. at Yale and his PhD at the University of Michigan, and taught for a dozen years at Ohio State University before finding his way to Australia, where he is a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland. He’s the author of multiple books. A few months ago, he published The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness.

Notes

• Why do people who have comfortable lives filled with freedom and abundance still feel unhappy? Need two things… Connection and autonomy.
• Are leaders born or made? Yes. Like most things, it’s not a black and white answer. The key is to use your unique strengths to effectively inspire others to do the work that must be done to achieve the goals of the team or company.
• How happy is Bill? He scores high on the genetics polygene(?) score. Some people are more genetically wired to be happy than others.
• You can fight against your genes and win. It’s just harder for you than others with better genetics. What’s my path of genetic least resistance? If you have low willpower, get the potato chips out of the house. Know yourself.
• Be yourself plus 20%. Overconfidence can be a good thing. Especially earlier in your career.
• Fake it til you make it. It can be good a lot of the time. He was overconfident as a new assistant professor, and it helped him.
• How you receive feedback is critical.
• Be honest, be kind
• His dad moved the family to Alaska because he didn’t love being told what to do. He was a heart surgeon.
• Bill moved to Australia. A hard place to make friends because they don’t move around much. He made connections with others who had moved there from out of the country.
• Life/Career advice: Too many choices can be bad. What are the elements of a job that I enjoy? What are my strengths?
• Leaders - It’s lonely at the top. You need a group you can trust and enjoy their company. Google study - They do everything in teams. What’s needed? Psychological safety. You need to be able to disagree with each other. Give feedback. It’s on the leader to create healthy disagreement. And receive feedback in a way that encourages more of it.
• I was surprised by how much of our happiness, health, and strength were based purely on our genetics. Some people are just born happier, healthier, and stronger than you. It doesn’t mean you can’t be happy, healthy, or strong. It just means that you need to work harder to make it happen. That’s life!

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Rich Gotham is the President of the Boston Celtics. He is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics' business operations. In addition, he works closely with Celtics ownership, basketball operations staff, and the NBA on basketball-related matters, as well as team and league initiatives. He succeeds “Red” Auerbach as Celtics team President and serves on the NBA Board of Governors. Since joining the Celtics in 2003, he’s helped grow team revenues by over 300%, and they’ve won two NBA championships.

Notes:

• Must-haves when making hiring decisions for a leadership role: Work ethic, self-awareness, a catalyst for positive energy, purpose-driven, and care ("give a shit").
• At the time, the Celtics were run like a mom-and-pop shop. Rich was brought in to help them run like a professional business.
• Rich was recruited to the Celtics by new owner (at the time), Wyc Grousbeck. 3 different people told Wyc that he should talk to Rich. – Add value. Leave people better than you found them. They will refer you to others for big jobs without you even knowing it.
• Celtic pride - grew up there, made you proud to be from Boston.
  • "Different here." 18-time champs.
• Pressure from fans to win: It beats indifference.
• Making bets on potential - Hiring Brad Stevens.
• Danny Ainge did a great job selling it to Brad.
• Watching Payton Pritchard warm up. He cares.
• Working with the Bruins and Red Sox leaders – Lower the ego, put yourself in their shoes. Seek first to understand. And find a way to get it done. Rich went outside of the office to meet regularly with a leader of the Boston Bruins to get their lease squared away. That had been an issue for decades, and he helped get it figured out so both sides could win.
• Advice - You have to have self-belief, believe in your ability. Don't let that get chipped away. Why should they pick you? Be vulnerable.
• Leave others better than you found them.