The leadership game -- creating cultures of leadership | Drew Dudley | TEDxAnchorage

Summary

This inspiring talk emphasizes the importance of planning and defining personal values for leadership and personal growth. The speaker shares a transformative exercise to identify one's core values and suggests setting daily questions to live by those values, leading to a more fulfilling life. The narrative includes a personal journey of weight loss, illustrating how consistent daily actions can lead to significant change. The speaker encourages everyone to play the 'leadership game' by creating a culture of value-adding behaviors.

Takeaways

• 😀 Hope is important, but it's not a strategy for achieving goals in life.
• 🚀 To achieve what we want, we must plan and take action, not just hope.
• 🌟 Leadership is a skill that can be developed and should be planned for.
• 🤔 Many people underestimate their potential to be leaders and overestimate their understanding of what leadership means.
• 🧐 Defining our values is crucial for personal growth and leadership development.
• 🔍 A powerful exercise is to consider what three fundamental values one would stand for if observed for two weeks.
• 💡 The speaker emphasizes the importance of defining values in simple terms, as if explaining them to a four-year-old.
• 📝 Setting personal goals that align with our values allows us to celebrate achievements and live a fulfilling life.
• 🗣️ The 'leadership game' involves asking oneself daily questions that align with one's values to ensure consistent behavior.
• 🔄 Embracing failure as part of the process is key to growth and achieving long-term goals.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The speaker shares a personal transformation story, demonstrating the power of daily questions and actions in achieving significant life changes.

Q & A

What is the main message the speaker is trying to convey about hope?

The speaker suggests that while hope is an important force in our lives, it is not a sufficient strategy for achieving our goals. Instead, we should plan and take deliberate steps towards what we want in life.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of planning to be leaders?

The speaker believes that many people do not plan to be leaders and think that leadership is beyond them. They argue that planning to be a leader can bring happiness and fun, and it's a role everyone should consider.

What is the 'leadership game' the speaker refers to?

The 'leadership game' is a mental exercise where one asks themselves what actions their ideal self would take in a given situation, and then follows through with those actions.

How does the speaker suggest we discover our core values?

The speaker proposes a thought experiment where one imagines being followed for two weeks and asks what three fundamental values that person would identify as central to their life.

Why does the speaker think it's important to define our values?

Defining our values allows us to create a set of criteria for decision-making that aligns with who we want to be, and it enables us to recognize and celebrate when we live up to those values.

What is the significance of the question 'What would the person I want to be do in this situation?'

This question is significant because it helps guide our actions towards embodying the values and characteristics of the person we aspire to be.

How does the speaker use the example of the cashier to illustrate the impact of recognizing leadership?

The speaker uses the example to show how a small act of kindness and recognition can significantly impact someone's day and potentially change their behavior towards others.

What are the six questions the speaker uses to operationalize their personal leadership values?

The six questions are: 1) What have I done today to recognize someone else's leadership? 2) What have I done today to make it more likely that I will learn something? 3) What have I done today to make it more likely someone else will learn something? 4) What positive thing have I said about someone to their face today? 5) What positive thing have I said about someone who isn't even in the room today? 6) How have I been good to myself today?

How does the speaker relate the concept of leadership to personal growth and self-improvement?

The speaker relates leadership to personal growth by suggesting that embodying leadership values and asking oneself reflective questions can lead to a more fulfilling life, better relationships, and a successful career.

What is the speaker's advice on how to achieve significant personal change, like losing weight?

The speaker advises to identify specific, actionable questions tied to the desired outcome and commit to answering those questions positively most days of the year to achieve gradual but significant change.