OTS 278: Insatiable Curiosity - John Spence

Today’s guest has made a career of making the very complex awesomely simple.

He has spent the last three decades helping companies and people be more successful. He serves his clients as an executive coach, training facilitator, keynote speaker, and strategy advisor. Recognized as one of the top business thought leaders and leadership development experts in the world, he was named by the American Management Association as one of America's Top 50 Leaders to Watch along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

He has been a guest lecturer at more than 90 colleges and universities, including MIT,

Stanford, Cornell, and the Wharton School of Business. He has been the owner or CEO of five companies and currently serves as a board member or adviser to several organizations.

Please join me in welcoming John Spence.

In this episode we discuss:

• his thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is when you become a living example of what you hope your followers will one day become.”
• how being selected captain of his football team helped him establish himself as a leader.
• how he went from extreme success in high school to failing out of college.
• the three key points that changed the trajectory of his college career.
• his first job and becoming CEO of that organization shortly thereafter.
• the impact of his parents on his life and entrepreneurship goals.
• the three things he believes are the essence of excellence - focus, discipline, and action.
• the actions he takes to grow his network and stay connected with them.
• why doing things you enjoy is such an important trait in business.
• how he finds and chooses mentees and the assignment he gives each potential mentee.
• his thoughts surrounding adaptability and how important it is.
• an incredible statistic he learned about reading.

Listen, subscribe and read show notes at www.OnTheSchmooze.com.