Ever wondered what separates extraordinary leaders from the ordinary? Allow us to unfold the intriguing narrative of the three types of leaders: the Savage, the Stoic, and the Steward. We explore the Savage, the leader tirelessly fighting for excellence, the Stoic, a beacon of calm in the midst of chaos, and the Steward, a sacrificial hero for their team.
Ready to uncover the secret power of leadership balance? The second half of our episode is dedicated to exploring the combination of the Stoic and the Savage. It's not enough for a leader to embody just one; they must balance both to be truly powerful. A leader is a steward who signs a sacred contract to serve their team, and they must be prepared to don the hat of the Savage when necessary. We dig into the delicate equilibrium between war and peace and how straddling the line between the Stoic and the Savage gives birth to the Steward. Tune in for this invigorating deep dive into leadership and its many facets.
Ever wondered what separates extraordinary leaders from the ordinary? Allow us to unfold the intriguing narrative of the three types of leaders: the Savage, the Stoic, and the Steward. We explore the Savage, the leader tirelessly fighting for excellence, the Stoic, a beacon of calm in the midst of chaos, and the Steward, a sacrificial hero for their team.
Ready to uncover the secret power of leadership balance? The second half of our episode is dedicated to exploring the combination of the Stoic and the Savage. It's not enough for a leader to embody just one; they must balance both to be truly powerful. A leader is a steward who signs a sacred contract to serve their team, and they must be prepared to don the hat of the Savage when necessary. We dig into the delicate equilibrium between war and peace and how straddling the line between the Stoic and the Savage gives birth to the Steward. Tune in for this invigorating deep dive into leadership and its many facets.
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Speaker 1:
This is Unleashing Leadership and I am your host, travis Moss. We're in episode 35, which is a special episode. It's not quote day and we're going to take a break from the Ideal Team Player and I've written you a story the story of the three leaders the Savage, the Stoic and the Steward. This is inspired by Simon Sinek why leaders eat last. There's a YouTube video on it at minute 25. You'll start to see where the inspiration comes from and, like all my work not really going through all of his stuff for you you can listen to that on your own. I think the whole thing is worth listening to and I'm giving you my inspiration from it. Also, kind of weave throughout here is inspiration from the wartime and peacetime leaders concept from Ben Horowitz's writing the hard thing about hard things. So let's just get right in, let's just get you into this story. There's going to come a time for every team, for every company, for every position. There's going to come a time for you where there will be war. Well, there will be a threat that comes to end, whatever it is that you have Championship games, financial distress, changing markets and regulations, technology, competition. Competition wants your job, they want your team, they want your customers. They want your company. They want to destroy your company. They don't even know about your company and they want to destroy it just because it's in the way, or they want to destroy it not because it's in the way, but because it's an old idea and they have a new idea. Something is coming for whatever you have and you will, if you want it, have to defend it. You will have to fight for it. You will have to be the badass, you will have to step up or you will have to find somebody and put somebody in a position of leadership in front of you to usher the troops, to get you going in the right direction to fight that war, for you to lead you through it. Think about what you want. When you're backs against the law, when everything you have, everything you believe in, everything you cherish your identity, your future, your financial security, when everything is threatened, what type of leader do you want? I want a savage beast. I want someone who's not going to leave with a good of should on the table, someone who's you know. Think about it like this Somebody's going to come, you have a newborn baby and somebody's going to come take your baby. What kind of monster would you be to defend your baby? That's the type of monster I want to defend him, everything that I hold dear.
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They don't blink, they don't think twice, they don't back down. They don't worry about themselves, they don't worry about others, they worry about the fending Whatever is good and great, that you are concerned about losing. That's what they're worried about. They don't back down, they go after. Whatever the situation, whatever is going on in the situation, they just go after it.
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They're all consumed, they're possessed. They've got the type of energy, the type of focus, the obsession Like anybody watching. They're like, oh my gosh, it's either awe-inspiring or it's terrifying or it's some combination of both. But there are different type of person. They will will you the victory, they will save your dreams. They will do what it takes, they will take the broadside, they will take the enemies, the competitions, best shot. They'll step in front of it. They'll save you. They'll smile, they'll throw it back and they'll do it as long as it takes.
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That's the wartime CEO, that's the wartime leader, that's the wartime family man, whatever you want to call it, capable and willing. Capable and willing To do the things that most people cannot or will not. That person is the savage. The life is hard. Business is hard, leading people is hard, building teams and running a company is hard. But, as far as you know, when you go to work it's easy, because in front of you is a leader who solves problems. They never complain. They seem to have just endless stamina.
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The first one is in. The last one is out. When you're sleeping. They're working, they're solving problems when you're overwhelmed.
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What you don't see is the pain and the hardship that they endure to be in that position. They're like a sin eater. They take on a team's demons and they take on a team's heroes. They're like a sin eater. They take on a team's demons and they just lock them up. So those demons can't spread. Those fault lines can't spread, can't claim any more victims. They sacrifice and endure pain, even take on a personal hardship.
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You may not know what I'm talking about, but if you're a leader in this situation, you do. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You would never know. By the way that they act, though. God is the peacetime CEO, the peacetime leader. They are calm and steady even when the world's on fire. Underneath the surface there's flames everywhere. On the surface you would never know. There's not even sweat. That's the Stoic.
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The line between war and peace, between the savage and the Stoic, is hair thin. War winter lose is gonna take a toll on everybody. Everybody is gonna be hurt with war to some degree, but it's gonna come to your doorstep. You can't avoid it. Hide your hide in the sand, but it's coming. You can either fight for things you believe in or let them go.
Speaker 1:
I think it's absolutely necessary to fight. You have something that you believe in. You have something that's precious. You have something that's worth defending. You have to fight for it. And anytime you fight, you have to fight to win. And when you fight to win in real life, you're not only fighting to win, you're fighting to destroy the competition. You need to make an example of a competition so that no one ever wants to fight you again. That's the savage's job. The savage ends threats, brutal as it is. That's the savage's job. However, savages can only do what savages do. They're authentic. Savage only looks for and kills threats, even if there's not threats. The savage is hunting, it's looking, it's hungry and it needs to eat, and it will eat. So when that savage isn't needed, we need him to hibernate, we need to call him the Stoic.
Speaker 1:
The Stoic is the calm before and after the storm. It is the deep breath. It's not oblivious to the demons at the gate, though. It's fully aware of what's going on and what's happening and where the threats are, but it takes it all into perspective, it assesses, it, plans, it keeps things together, the little demons that slip through the gates once in a while. It takes care of them before they cause mass panic, but eventually, too many are gonna slip through where there's a full onslaught, and that Stoic has to be prepared and willing to step aside and wake the savage up, call him back into action, back and forth as needed, like a split personality, but only as needed. That is the Steward. The Steward's powers come from an ability to be the savage when needed and to turn it off when not needed.
Speaker 1:
Becoming the Stoic, being a savage, doesn't make somebody powerful. It actually makes them a monster. That brutality in that and the willingness to fight and destroy If that's all you are, if that's only who you are, that's everything that you are that's the monster inside. Being a Stoic, though, doesn't make someone powerful. It makes them a doormat. If you're never willing to fight, you are a doormat Doesn't mean you go, look for the fight, but you have to be willing, being a Stoic while being capable and willing to allow the savage to take over. I mean, that's the hardest part. Stoics like to keep everybody happy. Every now and then, though, either the Stoic can bring on the savage or the enemy will bring on the savage, and the question is, if you wait too long, is there even hope? So the Stoic's got to be willing, capable and willing. The Stoic's got to be capable and willing to turn over to the savage, but only when absolutely the savage is able to take over, but only when absolutely necessary. That's where the Stewart's power comes from.
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So, simon's point, if you've listened to that YouTube video, let's pretend that you've signed the sacred contract of being the leader for a team, for a company, for your family.
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You are expected to do whatever is necessary to help not only the team win and grow, but to protect it, and in return, you get things like. You get love and admiration, you get money, you get cars, perks, respect, attention, control whatever you can think of you can get for being in charge, but your duty, you as the leader, you have to be first in line to take the broad side At those do or die moments where everything that is so precious, everything that you wanted to be a leader for those things could be lost. You are required by contract, by the sacred contract that you signed. You are required to be the savage when needed. And if you are unwilling or incapable of being the savage because there are people who fit that, you cannot accept the job. You do not sign the contract. You only get the job if you are willing to be the savage when needed. You only get the job if you can be a good steward.