Episode 8: Give Away the Glory with Nathan Knight

Nathan Knight believes that most people want to - and certainly can - find purpose and create value at work which is why he’s passionate about leading teams in the learning, talent and organizational development space. He is currently the Director of People Development at Better which is rapidly redefining the homeownership process through faster and more efficient technology. Previous companies he’s worked with include Casper, Sony Music, Equinox, WW and Home Depot.

Learning to Lead a Team 

· Stress, fear or embarrassment can make it that much harder to address the real issue @5:45

· Be the coach off the field, enable the team to self-manage, spot potential, help when needed @9:47

· Make the tough calls with compassion and integrity, knowing you’re doing the right thing @11:31

· People will self-select in or out when presented with a clear vision @17:44

· High performers still require leadership in moments of transition and change @18:50

· People and teams require clear roles tied to intrinsic motivation @20:33

· Play back what you see, let people use that to make decisions to improve their performance @22:07

· Create self-sustaining performance to give you room to be strategic, set the direction and strategy, be sure the team is in lock step with where the company is going @22:14

· My job isn’t to come up with the answer, instead create a team approach with trust, listen to your gut, get other perspectives and then use that to propose the best answer at this time @29:01

· You have to view managing as a huge part your work, others can probably do the content part of your job, but no one else can do the leadership piece @30:00

· Give away the glory @31:54

Taking Your Own Medicine

· Perfection doesn’t exist, sometimes you need to stumble to get comfortable with leadership @6:50

· Feeling like I should know how to be a leader already @4:42

· You may not be able to change what happened, but you can apologize or address it @7:12

· Believe people when they tell you there's a problem with your leadership @12:35

· Getting a coach is not like sending people to a spa – it’s real work, you have to do the work @14:02

· Realizing there are many dimensions to the challenge and understanding each layer @ 15:00

· Once you remove some complexity, they become smaller problems you can solve @15:36

· Little shifts in mindset and behavior can make a big difference @15:47

Being an Empathic Leader

· Developing empathy and understanding for leaders because this work is challenging @5:32

· True leadership is having a high bar for performance while being compassionate @7:28

· Work is hard, show that you’re there for people @8:10

· Don’t jump to you’re doing a bad job, check to see what else might be going on @8:50

Personal Growth

· Changing myths and stories that get in your way @15:56

· Hold on to your integrity, don’t be fake, don’t change your core @24:24

· Nathan’s personal passion behind D&I @25:31, 26:48, 28:26

· When energy goes to trying hard not to be yourself, it takes away from your ability to be great @25:55

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I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!