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Today we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna be talking about creating heroes

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and how to create heroes and the power of making people feel like what they do

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matters and let them be seen for what they do. This is truly next-level

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leadership. So how I learned this was when we were running our K-8 school. We

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became one of the top academic schools in the country and it was the culture

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that helped create that. Now one of the things we did to help shape that culture

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is we asked ourselves the question, what if we inverted the normal thing where

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teachers are catching students doing things wrong? What if teachers caught

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students doing things right? So we came up with the Latin captaboni, caught doing

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good. Captaboni. And then every Friday at the general meeting, general

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assembly, we'd read out the names the teachers had given us. And you

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could watch these kids light up. My name, I was, it was amazing. Because the message

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it sent is, you're appreciated. This is normal in our culture. This is how we are

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together. This is normative. And so we made that positive thing normative. So

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this is the opposite of a toxic culture. This is a culture that inspires people

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who look forward to being part of this team. And so what is this? What do we mean

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by making someone the hero of the story? Look, here's the thing. Life is short, right?

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And we need, as leaders, give people their moment in the spotlight. And by the way,

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I'm not talking about trivial stuff like great job, awesome, whatever. That's

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trivial. I'm not interested in that. What I'm interested in is detailed, specific,

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with a kind tone, telling people that what they did not only mattered, but they

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were the hero of the story. You know, a few years ago, I was leading an

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organization. And we were installing some AI to reduce our customer service

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tickets that we had. This was before chat GPT. And those days putting

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installing AI was a lot of work. It's a lot of manual work. And I called the

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person who head up our customer service team. And she was self taught. She had

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never, she just loved people. She worked super hard. And I said, Hey, Natalie, we

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need to install a new AI program. And I would love to make you the year of the

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story. Here's what I'm suggesting. I'm going to give you some support. There's a

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CIO technology person who's really good, who's volunteered to help you. We're

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going to give you the resources you need to get this done. There's a catch. We

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only got six weeks to do it in. And we need to install this and make this

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happen. Then when we're done, I'm going to get up in front of the company and

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announce Natalie was the year of the story. I'm going to tell them why. And

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sure enough, six, you know, six weeks later, we installed it. And with

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literally within days, we were seeing a difference. So I got up and did not say

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we installed a new AI program. I said, Natalie installed the new AI program

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called Ada in our customer service department. She's had no prior knowledge

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of AI or any programming experience. And yet in six weeks, Natalie pulled this

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off. She implemented a brand new technology and it's already reduced our

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call volume by 50%. Natalie is the true hero of this story. Now, it wasn't just

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Natalie that felt uplifted and have a moment in the spotlight. The message to

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the whole team is you can be next. This is available to everyone. So how it

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builds leaders and why this is sort of next level leadership, because as we go

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beyond the good, you know, great, good job thing, you know, which to me is really

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lazy compliments. What we really can do is make someone the hero of the story.

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And here's three steps I've learned helps. Number one, tell them your

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intentions to make them the hero of the story. Just like I told Natalie, I'm going to

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make you, Natalie, the hero of the story. Two, write the narrative before you share

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with with the team once they've done. And so I'm going to send it and share it with

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them. Tell them this is what I'm going to say. Them having it in writing, I think is

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a huge thing. They will keep that. I think they may print it off, maybe, you

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know, frame it even. And the concept, number three, is the concept of giving

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people an A before they do the work. Ben Zander, in his book, The Odd

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Possibility, you know, as the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, they

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ran a very advanced program, a very tough program to get into, sort of as a

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postgrad program. And so musicians from all over the world, classical musicians,

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would come there. And the stress and the competition and the just the fearsome

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pressure on these students was incredible. He and his wife sat down to

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think about, and she's an industrial psychologist, and they thought how can we

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make this, you know, how can we take that pressure off? They need to be enjoying

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this and do well. So he got up and so this became his norm. Start a year, get up

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in front of the students and say, you've already got an A. Everybody gets an A.

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It's the highest grade we give. Everybody gets an A. But here's what you're gonna

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do. You're gonna go home, write a letter, and you're gonna postdate it one year

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from today and tell me why you got an A. The power of this idea is it says to

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people, I believe you're A material. You're the person who gets

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an A. I believe you're fully capable. I'm not quite sure of the details so why don't

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you write me a letter and tell me the details. This calls people up into a new

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place. It's a very powerful leadership idea. And you know, it's not our job to be

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the heroic leader for our team. Honestly, that's so outdated and so when you're

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the heroic leader and you're the hero of every story, you know, there's only

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one spotlight and that is you. And then on occasion it might, you know, bounce

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here or there, but basically it's the main leader. But here's the thing. True

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leaders are not the heroes. True leaders create heroes. The more heroes you create,

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the better your organization can pivot when things get tough, when you face

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tough challenges or difficult times. I'm telling you, develop the heroes in calm

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times so that in rough times they can shine. You know, it's a huge relief

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for leaders to buck this trend. Not to feel like I have to. It's exhausting being the

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hero of the story all the time and trying to be a hero to your team where

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you have to know everything, where you have to be sort of the, you know, in this

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ever-expanding complex world where people have access to information like

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never before. How can we possibly keep that up? So relax as a leader and make

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your members of your team heroes. So let's talk about how do we do this.

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Making someone the hero of the story. The way I first learned this actually, I was

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15 years old. I was on a young man's camp and even then I was really

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interested in leadership, which has been my life study and my life's work. And so

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I was with a great youth leader and I noticed that all the boys on the youth

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camp, all these teenage boys, all felt like they were on this leader's team.

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You know, they were all on John's team. John liked them. They were in. And I was

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like, how is he doing this? So in one of the breaks, I asked him, how are you doing

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this? And he said, you see Pete over there? Well, most of the boys would look

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down on Pete, sort of see him as the, you know, the lowest in the group, so to

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speak, you know, teenage boys. And so what I did is I made Pete my friend. And I

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keep using his name, you know, like anything Pete does, you know, I

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highlight it. And so the message then is if Pete is in, we're all in. So that was

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such an eye-opener to me, because it sends a message to everyone. Everybody

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can excel in this environment. And it encourages people to go past their

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limits and boundaries. Look, who of us know what our actual limits and

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boundaries are, right? Not just when things get tough. At the end of the day,

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you know, it's how much pain are you willing to endure as to how far you can

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go in life. And, you know, I learned this in the military when I was an officer's

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course doing two years military service, which is compulsory. In that specific

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training, I remember one day feeling like I'm a feel like I was gonna drop dead. I

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was so exhausted, so tired, full kit, rifle, all the stuff, running. And I thought

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there's no way I can go. I've reached my limit. This is, I'm done. And then the

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military taught me I'm at 10%. I had no idea, you know, because that was gonna go

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on for the rest of the day and get a whole lot worse. Hills and other

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challenges I never thought I was vaguely capable of doing. And that's the point.

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None of us know our limits. None of us know our boundaries. So why don't we

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allow our team to explore? And that's what good leadership does, is it allows

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new leadership to arise in the organization and where you give people a

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profile. You know, it's easy for people in your team to be overlooked and to be

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underestimated. People will not create a profile for themselves. Most will not.

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Some will. I want to say a moment here. For the quiet leaders, watch for them

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because they're often the one not creating the profile for themselves.

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They're just quietly competent and get on with it.

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it. And often we overlook these leaders. It might be one of the biggest mistakes we make in modern

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leadership is we speak, we always see the person who's verbal, who's expressing themselves and

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sometimes very good at creating a profile for themselves. They're the ones that get promoted

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and emerged. Be careful of that. Sometimes some of the most competent, capable leaders

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in your organization are the ones who are quietly competent. Watch for them.

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So, when we set this up, it sets up a place for innovation and growth. I want to deal with one

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of the hardest things that leaders have to learn in creating heroes and that is the willingness

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to let them make their own mistakes. You know, many leaders try to create strict systems,

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you know, to stop their team from failure. But the problem is what creates a leader? Think of

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it for a minute. It's when you fall down and get up, fall down and get up. It's that muscle growth

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in leadership how you learn. So, if nobody can ever fall down and I'm not talking about

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put no boundaries in place, just broad ones. We're not going to put the business at risk.

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But people must have the opportunity to fail. Because without that in a strict we cannot make

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mistakes thing, that's a terrible way to train people. It's a terrible place to live and very

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tough to fulfill a mission under those conditions. And here's the thing, heroes are actually born

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out of the courage that comes from being knocked down again and again. And so, if we give them that

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opportunity, we also give them the opportunity for courageous leadership. You know, and I love that.

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So, great leaders aren't the heroes but they inspire and empower their team members to become

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heroes. They create such a clear sense of mission, allowing people to make their own mistakes, help

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them get up and cheer them on. Way to go! So, we're living in an age of huge disruption, especially

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with the introduction of AI. Heroes are needed more than ever. But we as leaders, we have, even

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whether you're a team leader, whether you lead just yourself or a team. Again, we're a team of leaders.

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We have the power to inspire and develop individuals who really can embrace challenges,

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who really can transform themselves and take on opportunities for greatness. Opportunities they

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never knew they were capable of doing. That is the great gift and the great joy of being a leader.

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So, we can break through from the whole trying to fit people into a tight system.

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And honestly, let's let people rise to the occasion and let them bring about positive

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change. It is time for us to unleash the power and the full potential of our teams.

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And it's all upside from here. So, let's go and create heroes. I hope you enjoyed that.