Eagles Insight Podcast
Dive into a world where military precision meets corporate strategy, uniting the best leadership principles from the battlefield to the boardroom.
In this podcast, you will learn how to:
- Sharpen Your Vision: Gain transformative insights that equip today’s leaders to excel amidst complex challenges.
- Veteran Discipline in Business: Uncover how the discipline and efficiency of veterans transform their roles in civilian sectors, influencing successful business strategies.
- Combat Wisdom for Executives: Explore the dynamic parallels between military tactics and executive decision-making, applying combat-tested wisdom for impactful organizational leadership.
Tune in to navigate the complex terrain of leadership and strategy, where each episode enhances your understanding and elevates your leadership prowess.
Eagles Insight Podcast
34 - Investing in Deliberate Leader Development with Brad Spears
Bob Dixon interviews Brad Spears, a leadership coach, adjunct professor, and Air Force veteran. Drawing on his extensive operational experience and academic rigor, Brad shares powerful strategies for leader development applicable to every industry. Listen in as they discuss the significance of investing in people, the long-term benefits of leadership development, and practical ways to foster growth within your organization.
About Brad Spears:
Brad Spears is a transformational Leadership Development Strategist and Executive Coach who combines academic excellence, strategic insight, and practical business acumen to help leaders and organizations reach their fullest potential. With 30 years of experience, including as an Air Force senior leader, and through multiple roles at the University of Colorado Boulder Brad has built an exceptional track record of developing high-impact leaders across diverse organizations. His distinctive approach combines rigorous academic frameworks with real-world application, drawing from his experience leading complex global organizations and managing multi-million-dollar operations. When not developing leaders or teaching at CU Boulder, he can be found exploring Colorado’s outdoors – fly fishing its many creeks and rivers, skiing its slopes, or hiking its countless trails.
Key Takeaways:
- Investing in leadership development is not an expense, but an investment that yields significant returns, both financially and in terms of organizational culture.
- A deliberate process of "assess, learn, practice, reflect" is crucial for effective leader development.
- Creating opportunities for emerging leaders to practice and even fail in lower-stakes situations builds confidence and essential skills.
- Aligning your leadership development plan with your overall business strategy ensures that investments in people directly contribute to organizational goals.
- Self-awareness, both internal and external, and emotional intelligence are fundamental competencies for effective leaders and team members.
- The traditional "positional authoritative model" of leadership is insufficient in today's complex environments, emphasizing the need for connection and trust.
Quotes from Brad Spears in this episode:
"And one of the things, you know, we found with that remote workforce that you talked about is that is where you see your return on investment for the development."
"The word that I come back to every time is deliberate. We went through a deliberate process, you know, to do this."
"I don't really like the term soft skill at all. I think it is a fundamental competency and so if you are going to be a functioning member of a team, just a follower. Let alone a leader. But if you're just gonna be a functioning member of a team, you have to have that competency in your, in your toolkit.
Resources Mentioned:
LinkedIn: Brad Spears
Website: 3C Insights