Summary In this episode, Andy Kaufman interviews Ryan Hawk, host of the Learning Leader podcast and author of the book The Score That Matters: Growing Excellence in Yourself and Those You Lead. They discuss the importance of valuing excellence and pursuing personal growth, as well as the dangers of comparing oneself to others and keeping score based on external metrics. They also explore the role of self-awareness and fear in leadership, and the importance of surrounding oneself with people who provide honest feedback. The conversation highlights the need for leaders to lead themselves first and develop transformational relationships. Sound Bites "The world isn't driven by jealousy, it's driven by envy." "Leading yourself first is mandatory before you lead anybody else." "Surround yourself with people who will give you honest feedback and be prepared to accept it." "They don't care about your pants. They care about their pants." "So if you're not ready to crush it, your business falls apart." "The fear is fuel." "How can I best serve these people? How can I give everything I got to help them to better their life?" Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:09 Start of Interview 02:42 You Have To Value Excellence To Develop It 03:42 How Ryan's Family Influenced His View of Leadership 05:51 Where Scores Help Us (and Hurt Us) 10:39 What Are Some 'Outer Scoreboards' We Can Be Tempted To Fall For? 13:15 About Envy 14:23 You Have to Start By Leading Yourself 15:21 How to Be More Self-Aware 18:35 Learning How To Listen To Contrarian Feedback 21:15 What Holds Us Back? 22:54 Fear as Fuel 28:57 A Unique Way to Identify Your Core Values 32:27 What's The Quick Hack to Grow As a Leader? 35:41 Applying Leadership Ideas at Home 39:49 Interview Wrap Up 40:24 Andy Comments After the Interview 43:38 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Ryan, his book, and the Learning Leader podcast at LearningLeader.com. If you’d like more on this subject, here are some episodes to check out: Episode 391, with Adam Bryan about making the leap to being a leader Episode 242, with James Clear about his book on habits AI for Project Managers and Leaders With the constant stream of AI news, it's sometimes hard to grasp how these advancements can benefit us as project managers and leaders in our day-to-day work. That's why I developed our e-learning course: AI Made Simple: A Practical Guide to Using AI in Your Everyday Work. This self-guided course is designed for project managers and leaders aiming to harness AI's potential to enhance your work, streamline your workflow, and boost your productivity. Go to ai.i-leadonline.com to learn more and join us. The feedback from the program has been fantastic. Take this opportunity to unlock the potential of AI for your team and projects. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills   The following music was used for this episode: Music: Tranceverse by Sascha Ende Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/5223-tranceverse License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/2992-tuesday License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license