Insights From Interviews With the World’s Best

In Ep.254, which we released about 18 months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott J Miller. Scott is the host of FranklinCovey’s On Leadership podcast. 

Over the 6 years that he’s been hosting On Leadership, Scott has interviewed some of the all-time greats in leadership, business, and life.

He has interviewed household names like Deepak Chopra, John Maxwell, Matthew McConaughey, and Malcolm Gladwell…  

He’s also sat down with people who made breakthrough contributions to our understanding of what modern leadership requires, like Amy Edmondson, who originally coined the phrase, “psychological safety”…

… and Daniel Goleman, whose iconic 1995 book brought “emotional intelligence” into the public consciousness.

Although we only do interviews extremely rarely on No Bullsh!t Leadership, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview the interviewer. 

It was like spending time with Graham Norton, or Joe Rogan, or David Letterman — what did he learn from the luminaries who’ve found major success in a variety of different fields?

So, my opening question was, “What do these people have in common?”… and he said, almost apologetically, that there was one common quality that every single one of these individuals possessed: an indefatiguable work ethic!

Scott said, and I quote: “They live balanced lives, but they just have a level of responsibility they feel to invest, and to teach, and to listen, and to keep going. So, I don’t know that they’re that much smarter than you and me – maybe not. But I do think they outwork most people.”

OK, this sort-of breaks the narrative a little… we’re told to work smarter, not harder… we’re told to try to seek balance… we’re told to pursue our purpose, which has taken on a dangerous sub-text about purpose being a replacement for hard work! 

But, here’s the thing: to reach the heights of success that you see in these exceptional individuals, working harder than everyone else is just table stakes… it’s the entry ticket yo need to acquire before you can try your hand at success!

The second attribute that Scott identified as a common success factor was an abundance mentality. 

As he said, “There’s not a scarce bone in their body. They usually feel compelled to share, and to pollinate ideas, and make connections.” They all have an abundance mentality versus a scarcity mentality.

The third attribute that Scott identified was what he called a beautiful balance of courage and vulnerability, both of which are leadership competencies. 

He said, “They’re very comfortable sharing that a book flopped, or a course didn’t work, or a keynote imploded. They’re confident enough to share with you what went wrong as well as what went right.”

Scott was at pains to explain something that we all get, at a superficial level, but that really struck him quite deeply: “There’s no such thing as overnight success.” 

Scott said, “Every one of these people had years of writing books, and their sixth book took off, right? Or they toiled in the leadership space for a decade before they really got traction. 

No such thing as overnight success. And, when there is, it’s usually ill-gotten or fleeting. 

But what almost all of them have in common is, you’d be shocked to see how long they worked before they became an overnight success.”