S2E332 How to Work with Complicated People - a Conversation with Ryan Leak

It's a Good Life

Brian Buffini

Business, Unknown, Entrepreneurship, Life, Good, Entrepreneur, Coaching

4.4 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every workplace—and every relationship—includes complicated people. But as Ryan Leak explains, complicated isn’t about “them”; it’s about all of us and primarily yourself. In this episode, Brian Buffini interviews Ryan, one of today’s most in-demand speakers and bestselling author of How to Work with Complicated People. Ryan reveals how admitting our own complexity creates humility, empathy, and stronger connections. Whether you’re leading a team, collaborating with colleagues, or navigating family dynamics, Ryan’s insights will help you communicate with wisdom, extend more grace, and lead with strength.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Why admitting “I’m complicated” is the key to building influence and empathy.

• How clarity leads to healthier relationships in your family and in the workplace.

• How leaders can use open communication, trust and feedback to build stronger, collaborative teams.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Free Business Consultation

How to Work with Complicated People by Ryan Leak

Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, by Andy Stanley

NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:

“Complicated people are essentially people with layers, experiences, blind spots, strengths, weaknesses, and spoiler alert, at the end of the day, well, that's all of us.” — Ryan Leak

“The moment that I admit that I'm complicated it changes the game because now instead of approaching relationships with a fix them mindset I'm starting from a place of humility.” — Ryan Leak

“I think kindness can take you further than you know, trying to just push someone else off of the ladder as you try to climb the ladder of success.” — Ryan Leak

“In my travels, I learned that a lot of people's challenges weren't product problems. They weren't process problems; they were people problems.” — Ryan Leak

“Clarity really creates healthy relationships. Ambiguity is what makes things complicated.” — Ryan Leak

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to It's a Good Life, the podcast for entrepreneurs, where it's all about growing yourself
0:08.2	and your business. Here's your host, founder of America's largest business coaching company,
0:13.9	Brian Bafini. Well, the top of the morning to you and welcome to It's a Good Life. Boy, do I have a special guest and treat for you today.
0:24.0	You guys know, I've done seminars all over the world for the past 30 years, and I booked over 500 speakers.
0:30.3	And the guy we have today, everywhere I go, he's the hottest speaker on the circuit.
0:35.4	But also, that's not enough for me. I know a ton of people
0:39.1	who've built a relationship with this man, and he's the real deal off the stage, and that's
0:44.4	what really attracts me. His name is Ryan Leak, and we're here today to talk about his fabulous
0:50.3	book, How to Work with Complicated People. And I thought, well, this would be great for Ryan
0:54.8	because he would be in on with me. It was a great test case for how his book works and his new content.
1:00.3	Now, for all of you who are signed up for the peak experience, I want you know that Ryan is also
1:05.8	going to be one of our guest speakers this year at the Ritz Carlton and Capulua. That's May 3rd through 6th. So, again, I always feel bad. There's so many people want to go to that event. Make sure you're on the waiting list, okay? It's been sold out since 2003. Get on the waiting list. Things come up in people's lives, you know, babies being born and things happen in life. And there's always a few cancellations. And so if you get on the waiting list, we'd definitely love to see you. It's the highlight of my year every year. It's the best audience I've ever seen. And every time a speaker comes, they go, that was the best audience I ever saw. So with all that said, Mr. Ryan Leak, it is such an honor to have you here today. You are absolutely
1:44.7	killing it, my man. Welcome to the program. Brian, thank you so much for having me, man. It is an honor to be on your podcast, and I'm really looking forward to being with you in Hawaii with my whole family. So we're going to have a good time. Bring in the fam. That's how we sold it. Bring the fam, they got water slides.
2:00.5	Yeah, I love it.
2:01.9	They're going to have a blast.
2:03.4	That's great.
2:04.4	Let's just kind of... the fam. That's how we sold it. Bring the fam. They got water slides. Yeah, I love it. They're going to have a blast.
2:03.5	That's great. Let's just kind of dive in. How to work with complicated people. Fantastic title and
2:09.3	its simplicity, tremendously profound in its approach. So you have this great title. How do you define complicated? Because, you know, I'm an Irishman. Every Irishman I ever met is complicated.
2:24.7	I love that. You know, if when people go through the book, it's an interesting definition because, you know, we did a national research study on on how to, you know,
2:35.9	understand some of the complexities that people are navigating at work. And that was actually one
2:40.2	of the questions. We asked the question, hey, you know, how would you define a complicated
	...

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