No Bullsh!t Leadership

Episode #300 // “If you can look on the light side of any crisis, remain positive and optimistic, and crack a joke or two, you'll be in a much better place to deal with whatever comes your way.”Looking back on 300 episodes of No Bullsh!t Leadership, I’m incredibly proud of the body of knowledge that Em and I have created to help leaders all over the world to become better.I’m also humbled that each of you tune in, week after week, putting in the hard yards to improve your leadership capability and confidence…using the tools and strategies to improve the way you lead. The impact you’re having on the world by leveraging our content is incalculable.I thought pretty carefully about what topic I would choose to mark this milestone, and decided it was time to revisit an important piece of the leadership puzzle, which is often overlooked. About 3 years ago, I released Ep.145: Humor is Underrated. In today’s episode, I upgrade that assessment… I think that, these days, humor has become essential. Even in the last 3 years, our collective senses of humor seem to have been further stifled, and we’re in imminent danger of completely losing the value of humor in the workplace. Today, I give you five compelling reasons why you need to fight to keep the arrow of humor in your own leadership quiver! The culture and performance of your team depend on it more than you could imagine!Source Material:No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast: Ep.145: Humor is Underrated Ep.197: Why Can't We Be Friends? Ep.257: Your Leadership User Manual Ep.229: Confidence, Arrogance, and Self-DoubtMcKinsey article: Laugh More, Lead BetterAmazon book links: The Humor Code The Leadership Pipeline————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Moment #70 // There are any number of life lessons that I could absolutely have used earlier on, and lots of stuff that would have made me a better leader way sooner. But, then again, with the benefit of hindsight and wisdom, I’ve come to realize that the depth and value of any lesson comes from the very fact that it’s hard fought and won.If you learn by starting in the right place, going through the trial and error, (and, yes, a little of the essential pain), the lessons you learn stay learned... they are indelibly imprinted on your psyche.If you want to hear my 7 life lessons, as well as the 2 critical leadership skills I developed later than I should have, listen to Ep.259: Things I Wish I’d Learned Earlier.————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Episode 299 // “When you try to protect your people by setting a lower standard, you effectively rob them of their opportunity to improve, to thrive, and to build their confidence and self-esteem.” Occasionally, I throw in a myth busting episode to challenge conventional leadership wisdom. This is my way of helping you to adopt the essential mindset of a truly successful leader.One of the broadly accepted leadership myths is that any focus on individual performance detracts from the needs, wants, and (dare I say it) entitlements of your people. This is complete bullsh!t… Conventional wisdom encourages us to let people work to their own capability and capacity, and not put any performance pressure on them… but this is a recipe for disaster, in so many ways! Not only is it bad for the team and the organization — it’s also bad for the individuals who are struggling to perform! In this episode, I put forward the case for setting a higher standard — not just to achieve better results, but also to do the very best you can to help the people who work for you! I look at some unlikely examples, from the decline in educational standards in the US, to the fall of communist Russia. Everyone benefits from higher standards!————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Moment #69 // Virtually every senior leader finds themself executing a major change or transformation program at some point in their career. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype – expensive consultants telling you what needs to be done… teams drowning in PowerPoint decks that explain the change… and a whole bunch of traffic light reports to convince you that what you’re doing is working.I’m a simple man, and I like simple metrics. My favorite change barometer is, “How much push back am I getting from the old guard? Because they’re the people who want the world to stay exactly the way it was before I turned up?”If it’s too quiet, then I know that nothing is really changing. If you want to take a deeper dive into what it means to drive real change, have a listen to Ep.66: No Noise = No Change.————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Episode #289 // "Build an island of excellence within your team, even if the organizational culture resists change. Your leadership can thrive despite the barriers."It’s often the case that the biggest impediments to improving your leadership performance are the organizational barriers that frustrate your efforts to be a strong leader. For example:A boss who doesn’t want to change the way things are being done;Irrational policies in critical areas like HR and finance;Cultural barriers that provide resistance to any change; orA lack of commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.How do you lead through this, when it feels as though the people around you don’t necessarily want you to make things better? How do you improve your team’s performance, despite the barriers that exist in the organization’s DNA?Your goal is to build an island of excellence in your team. This will free you from the constraints that seem to hold everyone else back. Even with a bad boss and a poor culture, there’s no reason why you can’t improve the way your team performs — control the controllables!In this episode, Em helps me explore the issues of accountability, staff attrition, and peer resistance. We also talk about the constraints of your job… every role, every team, and every organization has them. The question is, can you live with them, or not?————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Moment #68 // There are many ways to get your team to do things, and the type of power you use to get results is all-important. But, we rarely think about it.Some types of power are more sustainable than others, so be careful to wield your leadership power deliberately, not just let it flow subconsciously, based on your mood of the day!Being aware of power dynamics opens the door for you to wield real influence. You can’t be successful at senior levels unless you have the ability to influence your peers, and persuade them to unite with you to meet the company’s strategic objectives.If you want to take a deep dive into my key principles for influencing your peers to help you get sh!t done, have a listen to Ep.39: Getting Results Without Control.————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Episode #297 // “If you ever find yourself thinking, "How could the company possibly do without me?" Well, trust me, they'll work it out!” For as long as I can remember, the business media has been awash with stories about the job market… how to get a job, how to keep a job, how to juggle your job with other demands, and how to climb the corporate ladder. Since the Covid pandemic, it seems as though the volume of this advice has grown exponentially. The most recent article to catch my eye, from the Wall Street Journal, discusses the concept of indispensability… it exposes the startling revelation that being indispensable might not necessarily provide you with the bulletproof job security that you thought it would.For leaders, the indispensability landscape is very different. How should you approach this conundrum? What does it mean for you and your team?  In this episode, I take a look at the WSJ article, bringing some practical balance and perspective, and then I give you my 3 hot tips for making yourself invaluable, without trying to be indispensable. Source MaterialWall Street Journal article: The Big Work Lie: Being Indispensable WIll Save Your Job————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Moment #67 // You’ll often hear people explain away someone else’s success by saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!”It’s easy to discount another person’s achievement by putting it down to their position of privilege… to believe that the only reason they made it was because they received a leg-up, or a head start… to succumb to the dangerous thinking that says, “they have something that I don’t”. Don’t lull yourself into surrender. Don’t wait until you’re in a rocking chair, saying “I could have been a contender”… it’s never too late to work on building your success ecosystem! If you want to take a deep dive into my 10 key principles of career success, have a listen to Ep.138: It's Not What You Know.————————FREE QUIZ: I’ve developed a 3-question quiz that’ll give you a free personalized podcast playlist tailored to where you are right now in your leadership career!Click here to take the 30-second quiz now to get your on-the-go playlist————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. 

Episode #296 // "Middle management is the engine room of performance. This is where you are closest to the work, and you can make some real inroads into performance improvement."I produced a podcast episode over 4 years ago, titled “The Curse of the Middle Manager”. So, when I recently came across an HBR article that signaled a resurgence in middle management roles, I figured it was time to take another look!In many businesses, the role of the middle manager is by far the toughest. If you’re in that position now, you’ll know exactly what I mean.You’re effectively the meat in the sandwich — the punching bag for both your team (who often don’t want to change the way they do things), and the senior leaders above you (who sometimes just want you to do as you’re told, without discussion).Middle managers are often the most unloved (and unrewarded) people in an organization. But here’s the essential lens you need to look through: middle management is the petri dish in which senior leaders are identified, developed, and hatched.I’m dedicating today’s episode to the middle manager, so that you can not just learn how to survive the cauldron, but to grow, thrive, and move onto bigger and better things!No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast:Ep.74: The Curse of the Middle ManagerEp.267: Management vs LeadershipEp.53: Don’t Overdo CollaborationHBR Working Knowledge article:The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less CommandingClay Christensen books:The Innovator’s DilemmaThe Innovator’s Solution