7 Great Leadership Lessons in Less than 10 Minutes Each

Today’s post is the third in a series by Paul Smith, thoughtLEADERS instructor and bestselling author of Lead With a Story

As I’ve shared previously, I’d like to provide you some more great leadership lessons that you can immediately apply to the work you do.  Below are seven great lessons in easy-to-digest 10-minute podcasts you can listen to at your convenience.

These podcasts are based on interviews with 100 executives and leaders at dozens of companies around the world as they learned their most important leadership lessons – sometimes the hard way.  They feature stories from executives at Proctor & Gamble, Dollar General, Hewlett Packard, Kellogg’s, Dun & Bradstreet, Saatchi & Saatchi, Verizon, and many more. Each episode brings you an important leadership lesson through a single compelling story.

These seven episodes will help you make a better first impression, avoid the worst mistakes in a sales meeting, explain complicated ideas simply, trust your own judgment, and leave a lasting legacy.

“Sweetcheecks, fetch me a cup of coffee?” First impressions gone bad

In this episode you’ll hear about the importance of first impressions from one guy who brought his own folding table to work and became a hero, and another who asked for a cup of coffee, and never lived it down.

The worst sales call ever witnessed by the best sales coach in the business

My guest is Mike Weinberg, new business development coach and author of the bestselling book New Sales. Simplified. He shares a painful story about the worst sales call he ever witnessed and the career-changing lessons he learned from it.

Two bad presentation habits you need to stop right now

In this conversation with sales coach Mike Weinberg, he talks about two bad presentation habits he sees way too often.

Five lessons from watching Sam Walton sell an ironing board

Much has been studied about Sam Walton’s retail genius. But here are five simple lessons you can learn just from watching him sell an ironing board cover.

Explaining the complicated so anyone can understand

Frank Pietrucha, author of the book Supercommunicator, shares how physicist Brian Greene helped him understand the significance of the Higgs Boson particle, and the techniques he used that can help you explain anything complicated simply.

Trusting your judgment – a CEO’s unconventional decision that saved a man’s life

After a fired employee became suicidal, this CEO’s unconventional response may have saved the man’s life. And it can help you learn to trust your judgment.

Leaving a legacy: What happens to your focus when you read your own obituary in the newspaper

The sobering but true story of the man who invented dynamite – a Swedish chemist named Alfred, who woke up one morning to find his own obituary in the newspaper. The article referred to him as the “Merchant of Death.” What he decided to do about it changed not only his life, but changed the world. Find out how Alfred changed his legacy, along with five tips to create your own lasting legacy.

So there you go… seven great leadership stories in a few minutes apiece.  If you want more stories like these, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, or click here to sign up for a weekly newsletter delivery to your inbox.  If you’re interested in becoming a better storyteller yourself, check out our Influencing through Storytelling course where we can come into your organization and help you build this powerful, critical skill.

– Paul Smith is a former director and 20-year veteran of the Procter & Gamble Company, and author of Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives that Captivate, Convince, and Inspire and his most recent book Parenting With a Story (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Paul is also the primary architect of a thoughtLEADERS course on Influencing through Storytelling and loves teaching every minute of it.

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Photo: true story by Josh