I had the pleasure of recently seeing Eddie Turner featured in a leadership masterclass hosted by Alain Hunkins. I was connected to Eddie for years on LinkedIn, and once I saw this masterclass, I decided to reach out to him. Eddie responded to my message and we ended up having a fruitful 30-minute chat. This was a great example of taking an existing connection and deepening it.
In this post, I’ll share with you Eddie’s powerful insights on authenticity, leadership, integrity, perspective, mindset, and more.
Eddie is a #6 ranked motivational speaker in the world, which is very impressive. He’s a leadership expert, Executive Coach, successful author, and host of the Keep Leading!® podcast. I recommend you check out some of his work, as he’s making a tremendous impact in the field of leadership (at the end of this post is a link to his website).
Masterclass Value-Bombs
Before I go into my one-on-one discussion with Eddie where I got his answers to all sorts of questions, I’d like to tell you what stood out to me in his masterclass with Alain.
First off, Eddie said he’s a geek at heart. I loved this, as I have nerdy qualities myself. This allowed me to feel like I had a connection to Eddie.
“My mentor said he hired me because ‘I was an IT guy with a personality,'” Eddie said.
Eddie worked for many years in IT before transitioning into writing, speaking, and coaching. Once again, I resonated with this. My master’s degree is in finance, and I’ve worked finance jobs on multiple continents. As finance people are known to be buried in numbers, no one really expected me to become the author, speaker, and coach I am today. The highest reason I did it is to help others, despite what the critics had to say to me.
It was extremely refreshing to see someone like Eddie who also came from a non-traditional background before doing what he’s doing now. As we’ll see later in the post, Eddie didn’t let anyone stop him or get in the way of his success, which is inspiring.
In this masterclass, Eddie went on to say that we deceive ourselves and believe we’re better than we are. This is such a powerful comment and really spoke to me. We need to keep self-reflecting and growing; as I talked about in my award-winning book Reach Your Mountaintop, when we stop doing that, we’re setting ourselves up for a metaphorical crash.
“Data alone doesn’t change people,” Eddie said to Alain. “We need that to be paired with coaching. Coaching unlocks a part of their brain that moves them to want to change.”
This is a remarkably impactful statement from Eddie, especially being that some people don’t believe change is even possible. Yes, change is hard, and yes, change is a process and takes time, but when you have the right coach – working with someone like Eddie – change can become a real and practical process in your life. Instead of change being something you fight against, you will desire to change when working with the right people.
Think of it like unlocking a coded lock; you need the right code, and it needs to be unlocked in the right order. Coaching is a big part of this code.
Are you as excited as I am by these Mountaintop-level insights by Eddie? Let’s now take a deep dive into my one-on-one conversation with Eddie.
Eddie’s Thoughts on Authentic Leadership
Let’s dive right into this powerful and enlightening discussion I had with Eddie.
“To start,” I said to Eddie as we began our call, “tell me your thoughts on what authentic leadership means to you.”
“Authentic leadership is to be true and unambiguous,” Eddie said. “It’s about being absolutely genuine and non-artificial. As an individual you are leading yourself, and it’s about allowing that to emanate to those you lead. A big problem leaders have is their own self-deception.”
Let me repeat Eddie’s words once more here because they are insightful: a big problem leaders have is their own self-deception.
I know I’ve deceived myself before, as many other leaders have as well. To be open here, I struggled during the coronavirus. While I’m an introvert and recharge by being alone, I very much enjoy my freedom and seeing friends. During coronavirus lockdown, I felt isolated, like I was getting “cabin fever”, and even a bit stuck. I respected all the government’s rules, regulations, and restrictions, but I was struggling.
I didn’t expect this, as I had been growing as a person my whole life and had come so far. It felt like 10+ years of personal development went out the window. Point being, I had to humble myself and stop deceiving myself. The truth is the world was in a massive crisis, and I had to learn to cope with this new way of living. By facing reality, I was able to focus on doing things in my control, like reading, reflecting, and in-home exercise. Once you acknowledge your self-deception, in my experience, it’s the first step to healing, progress, and turning things around. Eddie really hit the nail on the head here.
Lack of Safety In Some Modern Business Environments
“There are a lot of people who feel unsafe in the workplace,” I said to Eddie. “What is the reason for the lack of safety?”
“It’s a lack of psychological safety,” Eddie said. “It comes from dealing with coworkers who have made it psychologically unsafe to show up as they’d like. Sometimes it’s the boss. Other times it’s the entire ecosystem and culture of that place of employment.”
I’ve been in several unsafe work environments – not only with the worst boss ever, but where, like Eddie said, the entire ecosystem is flawed. There’s no easy solution here and if you’re in a situation like this now, I wanted to let you know you’re not alone. It’s good that you’re aware that you’re struggling to be yourself in the ecosystem you find yourself in.
If your bosses and colleagues aren’t listening to your respectful requests to make some changes, you may need to seriously consider removing yourself from that environment completely and finding a different place of employment.
Courage and High-Level Emotional Intelligence (in the Board Room and Elsewhere)
“How do you find the balance between knowing when to speak up and when to let things go?” I asked Eddie. “For example, how do you speak up and be direct with someone without hurting their feelings or rubbing them the wrong way?”
“I speak when I need to,” Eddie said. “If it’s a matter of personal choice or personal opinion, there’s nothing for me to say. If I don’t need to speak, I won’t.”
“Let’s use the example of a board meeting,” Eddie continued. “And let’s say a woman named Sally brings up a good idea and no one really acknowledges it. The meeting continues, and let’s say a gentleman named Jim then brings up Sally’s idea, talking over her and stealing her idea. Everyone acknowledges Jim and gives him credit for this idea.
“The good idea was originally Sally’s, but Jim took it as if it was his. The key in a situation like this is to be an advocate for the person who doesn’t feel psychologically safe. This takes courage and high-level emotional intelligence. It also takes caring.
“What I would do in a situation like this is jump in and say, ‘Hey Jim, Sally first brought this idea up earlier in the meeting. Let’s hear more from her about it.’”
“This is brilliant, Eddie,” I said, “And I really like this example. When you speak up, though, would it be possible that you would offend Jim, especially if it’s an unsafe environment?”
“When you speak up,” Eddie explained, “you are not only helping the person psychologically violated, you are also helping Jim.”
I love these words from Eddie. What he’s saying here is that speaking up helps Jim to see his blind spots and that he was disregarding someone else in the board room (Sally) who didn’t have the psychological safety to advocate for herself. Yes, it takes guts and courage to point this out to Jim and everyone else in the board room, but the truth is you’re helping Jim to be a better leader in addition to helping Sally feel acknowledged.
Also, I’d like to highlight Eddie saying that speaking up takes caring. This is huge. When you stop caring, that’s when dysfunction ensues:
- Dominant, aggressive personalities go unchecked
- Workplace bullying becomes tolerated
- Good people start to leave the organization because the entire ecosystem is toxic and unsafe
The simple act of caring can go a long, long way to improving awareness, creating change, and preventing environments from becoming completely toxic.
The Roller Coaster of Starting a Business
“This is great content,” I said. “When is a time when your back was up against the wall and you faced a big challenge from life? How did you overcome it? What’s your advice to someone who is struggling with life?”
“I had a big challenge when I first started my business,” Eddie said. “Fifty percent of all businesses fail in the first twenty-four months. When you’re in that phase, people start to question their dreams, their goals, even their own abilities. It’s an interesting place to be – it’s one thing for someone else to say it, and it’s another when you’re saying these things to yourself.
“I didn’t have strong revenue from my business at first, and I had to keep my head in the game. The key to doing this is always having vision and seeing the full field. I’m not talking about seeing just what’s in front of you and the next play; I’m talking here about seeing the entire game.
“Another way to deal with these big challenges is to tap into your past experiences and past successes. Doing this may allow you to realize, Why don’t I do x, y, z. It’s important to stay committed to the goal. Many people will quit right before things are about to break out for them and go their way.
“There’s something to be said for quitting, but there’s also something for persistence and resilience.”
Extraordinarily powerful content from Eddie, here. Keep your eyes on the whole game, not just the next play. Know your parameters for quitting, but also know when you need to stick to it and keep moving forward. Listen to your intuition, trust yourself, and take the action that you know is right.
Eddie’s Take on Values
“What are some of your most important values, and how do you stay true to those values, even when push comes to shove?” I asked. “I was impressed in your masterclass discussion with Alain how you said your newborn is your priority, and that you were taking time away from your business to focus on your family. So, I already know that taking care of your family is one of your values.”
“Values are different than principles,” Eddie said. “Values are our core; this is what we’re about. If it’s something that changes easily, it’s not a value. For example, let’s talk about integrity, which is being morally sound and morally upright.
“What is the morally correct and upright thing to do? If your integrity is fungible, then it’s not a core value. If you can be tempted by the quick route and easy money, then integrity is not one of your core values. But living without integrity leads to calamity, as it’s only a matter of time that someone gets away with something.
“I’ve always lived my life with the thinking that what I do, one way or another, will eventually be made known to others. I don’t want to be there on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for the wrong reasons. Something like that is an embarrassment to both you and your family.
“With painting and paint strokes, it’s one little stroke here, one little stroke there – the painting itself only exists in the mind of the great painter, like Michelangelo. With each stroke, he knows what he’s doing.
“Other people can’t see what you’re building and making. Then, eventually, they see this beautiful masterpiece that lasts for centuries. While that painting is being created, all it takes is one act of vandalism, one stroke across it all, to destroy its value and reputation.
“It takes years to build things like this, one act at a time, that creates a masterpiece of a brand. And all it takes is one act to take down these whole companies. This is why values and integrity must be adhered to no matter the stakes.”
I love that integrity is such a high value for Eddie. Integrity is truly at the center of everything. Also, take note of Eddie’s wisdom here and live your life as if what you do will be made public. Eddie’s not joking around when he says that these lapses in character and integrity are often put on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Ignore Your Critics – Some of Them Will End Up Asking You How You Did It
“How do you deal with your critics?” I asked Eddie.
“Ignore them,” Eddie said. “They can’t see what I see. People laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a coach. Now there are so many people who come to me asking how I did it. People go from why are you doing this, to how do I do this? Once you’ve done it, people will come to you and say, can you show me? Help me? Tell me? It goes from a why to a how.”
Eddie didn’t listen to his critics. Don’t listen to yours, and then they’ll be coming to you asking for advice!
The Balance Between Confidence and Humility
“This is gold, Eddie,” I said. “What’s your perspective on finding a balance between confidence and humility?”
“You have to put the work in and be humble,” Eddie said. “With that said, when you go into business for yourself, you can’t be the world’s best kept secret. If people don’t know you, they can’t buy from you. If you’re an entrepreneur, that means no business. Let people know about your ideas, accomplishments, and what you bring. Otherwise, you get passed over and you won’t be effective.”
This was an enlightening moment in the conversation for me (well, this whole conversation has been enlightening!)
In my experience, when I’m humble, people criticize me and tell me to be more outspoken, and when I’m genuinely promoting myself so that I can help more people, I’ve gotten criticized for not being humble enough. Piggybacking off all the value Eddie is adding to us here, I’d like you to keep in mind that people are going to judge and criticize you no matter what you do – be comfortable with being yourself and doing what you know is right and leave people to their dysfunctional ways. As Eddie said in the last section, ignore people like this.
There’s a balance here, and I resonate with Eddie’s words and feel that he helped me find that “sweet spot” in the middle. I hope you have the same feeling after reading this.
“You also have to look at what you’re producing and how you’re acting,” Eddie continued. “I have a persona online and a persona on stage. After the speech, I make time for people in the audience who’d like to speak with me. I’ve spoken at any school who has ever asked me to, and I participate in all kinds of donations, support, and coaching.
“There’s a difference between being someone who is confidently promoting and being someone who is condescending and an absolute jerk. The way I balance my confidence and self-promotion is by sincerely believing that I’m not better than anyone. I can learn from every single person, no matter who they are and what their occupation is. When I talk to people, I’m genuinely interested. I’m in learning and absorption mode with others.
“My fundamental belief is that I’m really good at what I do, but that doesn’t make me better than you.”
Concluding Thoughts
There you have it – insights, tips, ideas, and strategies from one of the top speakers and coaches in the world. Take your favorite insight from this post, run with it, and begin applying it in your life right away!
I’d love to hear in the comments below which insight resonated with you the most.
Eddie Turner is an Executive Coach, best-selling author, leadership expert, and #6 ranked motivational speaker in the world. He’s also the host of the Keep Leading!® podcast. Learn more about him on his website, and consider working with him as your trusted coach and advisor.
Leave a Reply