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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

311: Adam Savage - Life Lessons From A Master Maker

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Ryan Hawk

Careers, Management, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

#311: Adam Savage

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

Adam Savage was the co-host and Executive Producer of the hit show, MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. Fourteen years, 1,015 myths, 2,950 experiments, eight Emmy nominations and 83 miles of duct tape later, the series ended in March 2016.

He is the author of Every Tool's a Hammer - Life Is What You Make It.

Be part of "Mindful Monday" -- Text LEARNERS to 44222

Notes

  • Leaders who sustain excellence =
    • "Obsession is the gravity of making"
    • Obsession towards the project -- A "desire to see the thing they made to your satisfaction."
  • Adam on failure:
    • "I don't trust people who haven't failed."
  • What it means to be a great boss?
    • Give great opportunities... "The time, the facilities, reason, and logic."
    • "Hey, you're doing great." Let employees have the space they need.
    • "There's nothing better than when someone leading a team project can just run with it."
    • "Give total autonomy with narrow bandwidth. Give ownership."
  • Being a generalist -- "The specialist wasn't always helpful because answers are within the context of a wider story."
  • It's very damaging to ask a nine year old what they want to be when they grow up:
  • The WHO
    • "I think about my relationships all the time." The people you consciously choose to have in your life are everything
    • "Am I serving those relationships? Am I being present and non-judgmental with them? Am I with them in the room?"
  • Stop getting mad at customer service -- It's not their fault. And you'll feel better about yourself.
  • Adam on his preparation process for a big speech:
    • It depends on the engagement, but it's extensive.
    • There are 2 specifics:
      • Record yourself and listen to it -- "It illuminates where you're not hitting your mark. It's the transitions typically. How you link them together as a narrative whole."
      • Memorize conceptually -- Practice, practice practice. Get the reps.
  • Communication as a leader -- "Story is completely vital to leadership in every way."
    • "Language was invented to tell stories."
    • Pay attention to how they people who move you tell stories
  • How playing quarterback is similar to a work of art
    • There is always something changing -- You must adjust on the fly
  • How to become more self-aware?
    • Write everything down -- Keep a journal of your thoughts. Reflect. Be introspective
    • Have someone on your team who will tell you the truth. "It's all about the team."
  • How Adam lowered stress level:
    • Stopped drinking alcohol
    • Slept more
    • Started meditating
  • Increase your loose tolerance
    • Learn by doing -- Take action -- "Creation is iteration." Being wrong isn't failing
    • You don't have to have everything in place to start
    • Be easier on yourself during the iterations
  • Share everything:
    • We love the myth of the lone genius, yet none of us make stuff in a vacuum. Share credit, ideas, everything. Increase generosity through sharing
  • Use more cooling fluid:
    • It takes more time on the front end, and forces time to clean up on the back end, but it gives more value to the final product -- "It's a reminder to slow down and reduce the friction in your work and relationships."
  • Sweep up every day:
    • "A clean workbench gives energy. It helps the future me."
    • Leave a place better than you found it
  • The cultural malaise currently is based on the scarcity model. Wrong. There is enough food, be a giver. Be generous.
  • Use the "Get To Know You Document"
  • Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

My thesis is that human beings invented language in order to tell stories.

0:06.0

That within the chicken and the egg, the story is the initial mover that generates language.

0:12.0

Because we're taught in schools that science and math

0:17.0

are groups of facts to memorize by Friday's test but facts don't mean anything unless you put them into a context in which you can make them

0:28.0

useful and that's called a story. A story is an arc by which facts are changed and moved and mutated throughout the course of the narrative.

0:36.7

So to me, being able to articulate the story of what the vision is is so paramount.

0:44.0

Welcome to the Learning Leader Show.

0:51.0

I am Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here.

0:55.6

Text learners to 442-22 in order to join tens of thousands of learning leaders

1:01.6

from all over the world receive mindful Monday updates

1:05.1

what I am watching reading thinking about as well as the latest updates on

1:12.1

becoming part of my book launch team.

1:15.2

Text learners to 442-2.

1:18.3

Now on to tonight's featured leader, the great Adam Savage, he was the co-host and executive producer of the hit TV show

1:27.0

Mythbusters on Discovery Channel for more than 14 years. Also given a number of incredible TED Talks and has a new book out called

1:37.4

Every Tools A Hammer. Life is what you make it. A few of the topics we got into, Adam defines what it means to be an exceptional boss and specifically what you should do in order to be one.

1:51.6

Then, his preparation process for giving keynote presentations,

1:56.3

namely the one key tactic he uses in order to do a great job. Then the importance of a generalist

2:05.0

and the advantages of building a wide range of knowledge

2:09.0

and how that will make you more valuable in your career.

2:12.0

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Adam Savage.

2:19.0

All right, Adam Savage, so good to have you here on the Learning Leader Show.

...

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