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How Leaders Lead with David Novak

#225: Harris Barton, 3-time Super Bowl Champion & Founder and managing director of H. Barton Asset Management – To learn from others, you’ve got to listen

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8596 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just in time for the Super Bowl, this week’s guest is Harris Barton, the founder and managing director of H. Barton Asset Management. He was also an all-pro left tackle for the 49ers, winning THREE Super Bowls with Joe Montana and Steve Young.  Today, he runs a thriving investment fund, where he has about a billion dollars of assets under management. If you’re feeling stuck on a problem, listen to this episode. Why? Because Harris understands the power of listening and learning from others. The answers you need are probably already around you somewhere—it’s just a question of whether or not you’re listening for them! You’ll also learn: How to bounce back after a big failure Leadership lessons from inside the huddle at Super Bowl XXIII The one thing everyone notices about their leader The mindset you need to stack one success on top of another Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go  Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You don't have all the answers.

0:01.2

I promise you you don't have all this.

0:02.4

But there's somebody out there that has a bunch of the answers, and you should start listening.

0:14.5

Well, everybody, the Super Bowl is this week.

0:16.7

And my guest today is going to take you inside the huddle of Super Bowl 23, where the 49ers are down by three points with three minutes to go,

0:26.9

and they're about to drive 92 yards down the field to win it all, and you won't believe what they talk about.

0:34.6

My guest today is Harris Barton, the founder and managing director of

0:38.2

H. Barton Asset Management. He was an all-pro left tackle on the offense for the 49ers,

0:45.0

winning three Super Bowls with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young. Today, he runs a thriving

0:52.8

investment fund where he has about a billion dollars of assets

0:57.3

under management. Harris is a textbook definition of what I call an active learner. With any person,

1:05.0

any situation, any opportunity in his life, Harris is listening for the lesson in it. In this conversation, he's sharing those

1:13.9

lessons with you, and he's going to remind you that the answers you need are probably already

1:19.8

around you. It's just a question of whether you're listening for them. So here's my conversation

1:25.8

with my good friend and soon to be yours,

1:29.0

Harris Barton.

1:35.0

Harris, it's great to have you on the show. Well, it's been a long time. I mean, I've been asking

1:40.0

to get on this show forever and you've never let me on. So now here I am. Hey, you know,

1:44.0

that's not true. I've been trying to get your butt on this show for a long time.

1:48.0

I know. You sure have. It is Super Bowl week and you won three Super Bowls with the 49ers.

1:56.4

Which one meant the most of you and why? Well, she's, first of all, I didn't win three Super Bowls. Joe Montana and Steve Young won three Super Bowls. I just happened to be on the team. But to answer your question, you know, obviously the first one is, to me, the most, that was the one that really inspired me the most. And it really, once you win the Super Bowl, it gets a taste in your mouth and you've got to

2:18.7

get back to that thing. I mean, I, you know, it's just, you spend your whole career trying to get to a Super Bowl, then trying to win it. And then the rest of your career, you try and say, hey, I got to do that again because it's kind of like a bad drug, you know, you got to have it. And so winning the first Super Bowl against Cincinnati in 1988 was a thrill.

...

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