Leadership isn't just about telling people what to do. It's about inspiring them to achieve their full potential and creating a sense of belonging and trust within your team.

In this episode of Executive Evolution, our host Craig P. Anderson is joined by Grant Calder, CEO and founder of Flyt Coaching. Grant discusses the importance of emotional connections in the workplace, how they strengthen business success, and the transformative power of asking the right questions.

Discover why building close relationships with your team matters and how coaching can lead to success.

After You Listen:

• Get your copy of Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore
• Connect with Grant on LinkedIn
• Check out Flyt Coaching
• Connect with Craig on LinkedIn

Key Takeaways:

• Building emotional connections with employees and colleagues is crucial for business success
• Leaders should embrace diverse communication styles and personalities within their teams to enhance decision-making
• Consistently showing care, support, and presence for team members can foster loyalty and a sense of belonging

Things to listen for:

• [01:33] Lightning round with Grant
• [11:57] Leaders empower others
• [15:04] Everything gets done through people
• [21:02] Establish a sense of trust and safety in your leader
• [23:36] Every leader is different, and that’s okay
• [29:16] Advice Grant would give to his younger self
• [34:23] Craig's takeaways

Grant's Transcript

[00:00:00] Craig P. Anderson: She said to me every day, I see him in the elevator and he never says anything to me, Welcome to Executive Evolution. I'm Craig Anderson. After spending 25 plus years in corporate America, I learned a lot of leadership lessons the hard way. I created this podcast so you don't have to I really try to tell stories about myself and my own leadership challenges as I build up for each week's podcast, but this week's guest, Grant Calder, the CEO and founder of fleet. coach in our discussion, he tells about. The importance of building emotional connection with employees. And I had a boss who I'm not sure why I don't think it was arrogance.

[00:00:44] It might've even been shyness or he was just an introvert, but every day we all had to go up the elevator to the office. And the teammates were in the elevator and when they don't hear that connection, they don't have a conversation with the boss. Those conversations aren't happening. They don't [00:01:00] feel that emotional connectivity in the business.

[00:01:02] So when the business ends up in crisis is that business did. It becomes really hard to get a throughput message because people don't know who you are. And there's not that connection. So today we're going to talk a lot about the emotional connectivity between leaders and teammates, leaders and employees.

[00:01:20] So let's move right into our interview with Grant Calder. Okay. Grant, welcome to executive evolution. So glad you're here.

[00:01:31] Grant Calder: Craig so great to be here

[00:01:33] Craig P. Anderson: grant, you know, we always like to open with the lightning round. Are you ready to dive in to the lightning round?

[00:01:39] Grant Calder: I am as a

[00:01:40] matter of fact

[00:01:42] Craig P. Anderson: All right, let's go.

[00:01:43] Question number one, grant, what is the best. Best leadership book you have ever read.

[00:01:49] Grant Calder: The best leadership book I've ever read is Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore. that book revolutionized my life. It's what got me into [00:02:00] executive coaching. And what I realized is a lot of leaders are used to telling people what to do. So the approach of actually Asking people what they think they should do and using that approach to unlock people's ability to take actions and insights on their own, where they're more likely even to act on it is something not as familiar to as many leaders as.

[00:02:24] Could be, and he introduces the grow performance model. So simple model, your goals, your reality, your options, your obstacles and your way forward. So I really love that approach and integrating it with also directive

[00:02:38] leadership.

[00:02:40] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. So that's really, it sounds like that was the book that really informed your leadership style and kind of freed you to be the leader that you want to be.

[00:02:48] Grant Calder: It did. I understood that I was able to tap into a whole new level of potential when leading others. So sometimes I tell people what to do and they don't do it. And I'm wondering why they [00:03:00] won't. So having another way, another tool to go at it in certain situations. And I understood from the early discovery of coaching, they used it with sports athletes, And rather than telling a tennis player, hit your stroke more to the right or hit your stroke more to the left, they started asking him what do you think you could do to get your ball more on the target?

[00:03:22] And they have this insight. II could pull my shoulder another 30 degrees to the right or the left. And then they had a tendency to do that based on their own insight more than just being told what to

[00:03:33] do.

[00:03:34] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. And then align so much with a lot of where we've been going lately in leadership of focusing more on the outcome rather than this dictatorial, you must do it this way style, right? I just want you, you know, here's, what I want. Here's kind of the boundaries. But just get it done and get it done on time.

[00:03:51] And this feels like it really lines itself well with that.

[00:03:54] Grant Calder: Yes, so when we work with leadership programs, we do an exercise called a [00:04:00] conversation continuum, and it's several different ways for a leader to communicate with an employee or others. And we do sort of a litmus test. We ask people to stand. We do this. We put posters up around the road and we ask people to stand.

[00:04:14] Where's the leader that made the biggest difference in your life. And the cluster of people is never by the area where they told me what to do. Or even gave me advice. It's actually at the other area, leaders who asked good questions, leaders who supported people to reflect and think on what they should do.

[00:04:34] so that's really interesting. I mean, Microsoft is a great example where they were very performance based their whole culture after Steve Ballmer left, there was a change to see change. Where they implemented the new CEO, Nadala implemented coaching as a foundation in the organization and taking another approach.

[00:04:55] And he even started doing it at the very top himself and they got so [00:05:00] much more out of their team and that's when they went into cloud based and they ended up really succeeding even more than they had in

[00:05:06] the past.

[00:05:07] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. And when you just look at the trajectory of Microsoft over the last few years, I mean, they've become a whole different company and it's the power of coaching within your organization. Not just at the top, which is where I think a lot of companies think, well, we'll just invest up here, but we don't need to invest down here.

[00:05:23] And actually there's huge dividends down here.

[00:05:26] Grant Calder: Exactly. I could just mention for your audience, there's a great HBR article called the leader as a coach. by one of my favorite thinkers, Hermina Ibarra, and in there, she outlines how large corporate organizations are rolling out coaching as a foundation with a case study on Microsoft as well.

[00:05:45] So, I could really recommend

[00:05:46] that to people.

[00:05:47] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, we'll drop a link to that in the show notes so people can get to it easily. All right. Are you ready for question number two, grant?

[00:05:54] Grant Calder: Yes, I am.

[00:05:56] Craig P. Anderson: Question number two, who is your leadership [00:06:00] crush?

[00:06:00] Grant Calder: Well, I don't know how popular this is going to be with some people, but we had to pick someone. So, I'm Elon Musk.

[00:06:08] Craig P. Anderson: All right.

[00:06:10] Grant Calder: Let me tell you why. So, I think leaders have to think in multiple streams, no matter what they do, a leader can't operate in a silo. And I would say, Elon Musk is really an amplified version of thinking and Different, streams and almost having that enterprise mindset.

[00:06:29] So it's not just like your unit that you need to succeed at. It's the whole organization or the whole ecosystem or whatever is under your leadership. So I can really appreciate that. He's got an amazing chapter. One of my favorite. Chapters I've read in any book anywhere called pain, suffering, and survival.

[00:06:51] And in that chapter, every leader faces a crucible moment many micro crucible moments when everything that could [00:07:00] go wrong does. And not only that new things come into the picture, you're put under pressure. And he has a chapter where he's getting divorced, Tesla, SolarCity solar panel company. and SpaceX are all bleeding cash.

[00:07:15] Nothing's working. Engines are blowing up. The battery system's not working. He's out of cash. And he hasn't slept. And he feels alone. And he has to still go out, still meet stakeholders, still try and raise money, still try and innovate, not give up hope, and also motivate people. Communicate a message and get through that.

[00:07:36] So I feel that, Leaders really need to have that resilience, and they need to just sometimes even just show up even if they don't feel they can and rise to the occasion. So that's a real, story on resilience.

[00:07:50] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. And that's so fascinating because going through that crucible moment. I know in my leadership, as you're telling that story, I'm having flashbacks to that really big [00:08:00] crucible moment that I had in my career where I was in a panic. I was feeling overwhelmed, depressed, angry, feeling all those emotions.

[00:08:09] And then you also realize there's however, in my case, there were 75 people looking at me

[00:08:15] trying to understand how to react.

[00:08:17] Grant Calder: Exactly. You have to show up and show up for everyone else. Even when you're in pain. You know, or leader has to, consistently show up, it's their role to be that, rock in the storm, that base for everyone else, even when they don't feel like it.

[00:08:35] A famous entrepreneur I'm coaching, who I thought had the world at their fingertips, told me that there's a lot of things going on in their life that I hadn't even imagined because they're very visible in the media. And they said, sometimes you need to just keep showing up, you know, even that

[00:08:53] Craig P. Anderson: there's a leader I know and she said this to me one day and it's so true is that leaders can carry the weight and the pain of [00:09:00] leadership better than anyone else in the organization. That's what makes a great leader.

[00:09:04] Grant Calder: it's so true. It's like, I don't know what your experience is, but I've had many moments as a leader at work. I want somebody else to do it or to take over. Why do I have to answer that? Why do I have to go to that room? Why do I have to look at that email? Oh, this person needs to talk. you know, it's tough, and you can get exhausted, but, you know, you need to be that person and do that, and that's part of the responsibility of a leader.

[00:09:28] that's like a true leader. I mean, leaders under combat. they're there at the front line and they're not supposed to wilt, you know, I mean, there's so much to leadership, but That really struck me because I feel like a leadership role can be so lonely when the crucible happens. you have a team around you, you have resources, you might have an executive team right next to you, but at the same time, there's always someone who can take a day off or a pass on something or let somebody else worry about it.

[00:09:56] But at the end of the day, you need to marshal everybody and [00:10:00] make sure that everybody is solving that problem. Or even if you delegate someone, you need to circle back and check on it. should be in your mind.

[00:10:08] Craig P. Anderson: yeah. it's always present, always on. And there's no getting away from it. and I'm always amazed by people who say, well, I want to get into leadership because, you know, it's more money or it's more of this and it's more of that. and it is, and there's, upsides for sure.

[00:10:22] But if that's the reason you're going in. you're going to burn out. And that's where we see, I think these really bad leaders who kind of flame out and actually hurt the organization. If you're not going in because you have a vision and you want to pull people together around that vision and you have somewhere you want to go and you're willing to take the slings and arrows as you go.

[00:10:41] You're not going to succeed long term. And I think that's why we see so many leaders burn and flip, every two to three years now.

[00:10:46] Grant Calder: Yeah, I actually work with an assessment called the career leader assessment. It was originally designed by, Harvard business school for their MBA participants to figure out what their career path is. And I [00:11:00] was really fascinated to learn that. you should be guided by your motivation. You should be guided by your skills.

[00:11:07] The culture matters, but the core foundation should be, are you interested in what you're doing? Are you passionate about what you're doing? And motivators like just money or status. Or to have that title, that leadership title, they say that's a wrong move, satisfaction outcomes as well, performance.

[00:11:30] So, if you want to be a leader in something, I also connect it to, is it something that you're truly interested in? Because if you're interested in it, not only do you synergize information, get motivated to do deep learning, find meaning in it, But you're also resilient. you have that resilience when those crucible moments come because you're so interested in it.

[00:11:54] You want to see it through and show up.

[00:11:57] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. Love it. All right. So now [00:12:00] that we've really gone around leadership in 10 words or less, Grant, can you give me your definition of leadership?

[00:12:06] Grant Calder: one of my favorite phrases is empowering people and organizations to realize their full potential and grow. So, it's very personal statement, but it's what I came up with for, you know, what I think leadership is. And I'm sure there's a lot of different ideas, but. so for me, for starters, I feel like a leader should be empowering others.

[00:12:31] I feel that it's a leader's job. They do it through vision. They give people a strong vision to march towards. They do it through data. They make sure that the data is presented that comes with the vision. Their job is to really maximize what others can do by empowering others and making sure that they're a leader in that.

[00:12:53] And then the phrase realize for me has a double meaning. So realizing your full potential, [00:13:00] it's like left and right brain. So I feel that a leader should really facilitate people to reflect, to question, to dream, to understand, and at the same time realize Is to actualize, to use the best science, the best methods, the best trends and approaches.

[00:13:23] What does the research say about how we should do this? And to combine that, so to realize your potential is very open and very hard at the same time. And that's why I like the kind of double meaning for a leader to kind of have that left and right brained approach to things. And The other strong word is grow.

[00:13:43] It's my favorite question when I'm coaching someone is how do you want to grow next? I feel like if you tap into people's desire to grow and how they want to grow, you can accomplish so much.

[00:13:57] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. it's all encompassing. And, I think [00:14:00] we have, this idea that, like I had a leader once who said, well, our responsibility is shareholder value. And that's all I care about. I was like, you have 400 people on this team. And they're all trying to figure out what's going on. And we were an industry in crisis and I appreciate that we have to do shareholder value and it's important, but if you're not focusing on the team, you can't go up the elevator every day and not talk to your team. Not talk to the people, right?

[00:14:25] Your five words to them in the elevator could make a dramatic difference. And when I had the opportunity to launch my own business, I created a space where my office actually worked out to the break area because I wanted to actually be able to talk to and interact. I mean, sometimes I had to close the door because I had to get things done.

[00:14:42] But if I could go out and have those conversations with the team and help them figure out how to grow and say, why aren't you applying for higher level roles? You have the potential, or whatever it is, that's where we can really start making a difference, because that builds loyalty with our team when they start to see, I actually care as a leader about your growth and about how I can [00:15:00] help you see your potential.

[00:15:01] And it's just a difference maker.

[00:15:03] Grant Calder: Yeah, I have a phrase that I love. everything gets done through people. So people's feelings matter and,no matter what, if you're working on an Excel sheet, or you're creating code for a software service, or,any type of, Product service or operational activity at the end of the day, like, no matter what there is a human somewhere connected to that.

[00:15:29] Even if you automate things and have an methodology to whatever you're doing. There's a person overseeing that methodology and your policy and whatever it may be. So, at the end of the day. People really want their leader to feel that they care about them. I'm not saying anything new or revolutionary, but it, like a leader can be very fact and logic based. And they could care about people, but they might not be their 1st instinct to really put more time into that. like, you say, [00:16:00] that mingling outside of your office store and the workspace, you know, those words to people up and down the elevator. But I've been, working with so many leaders and a leader myself, and I've heard the reflection from some great leaders that I've worked with that.

[00:16:15] You know what, Krat? the more mature I get, the more I realize. I want to think, how I say things to people affects how they hear it. And then ultimately their engagement to do things. So, 1 of the greatest leaders I ever worked for in a small company.

[00:16:32] Created an amazing culture and he was very fact and logic based But he said want to create a place in the space where people really feel they belong in a group and it's inclusive and it was a really diverse group group of people working there from all over the place and and 1 thing he did do is he made time is a very busy man. He made time to talk to and educate people [00:17:00] along the way in his busy day. And that made us so motivated to work for him. And, as an alumni. We're all still in touch. I literally was SMSing one of the people from this job many years ago, today about meeting me for a dinner, in two weeks time and that leader, I think, made that environment.

[00:17:18] Craig P. Anderson: So these are all very high level leadership discussions we're having, and it's great. But Grant, what I want to do is take you back before you learned all these lessons to your first leadership role. Tell us about what your first real leadership role was.

[00:17:33] Grant Calder: Well, I don't mean to throw a little bit of a doozy at you, but, I really had two first leadership roles. So one was in university. where I was president of the student body and I learned a lot from that experience. had a student senate executive committee and that was an amazing experience. And if I had to give myself a rating there, I'd score a 9 out of 10.

[00:17:56] conversely, when I [00:18:00] got out of university, right after that, I started a company with two other co founders. It was a silver jewelry business. And we had a chain of retail locations in malls. And then we became wholesaler and eventually like an online seller. So I immediately had employees in my office and I had employees at these retail locations and I would say I got a three out of a 10 when it came to my leadership, the business itself I would say was successful, but in terms of leadership.

[00:18:35] It was such a hard challenge and thinking back now, the hardest thing was showing up what we were talking about before. Showing up consistently and not being self centered about my own self. I was extremely unaware that my behavior affected people, my communicative, my executive presence. So we were very [00:19:00] dysfunctional.

[00:19:00] Craig P. Anderson: Okay. and for you in that kind of having had that fairly successful leadership role, which interestingly in kind of a volunteer and maybe sometimes antagonistic culture and kind of a government leadership culture. And then pivoting over into a business where you could set whatever tone you wanted.

[00:19:18] What made the change for you where you didn't make those connections to say, Hey, this is a, the people are the thing. What was holding you back from that at that point?

[00:19:27] Grant Calder: Well, first of all, well, I guess this comes up a lot, but just sheer inexperience, you know, that would start, The more experience you gain, the more you learn, of course, and especially in the business world. I mean, one thing I coach younger people, ambitious people is, if you really want to grow, advocate to become a direct manager, even if it's one employee, and it's really hard to break the ceiling from just being a high performer in a team.

[00:19:54] To getting that direct management and the growth maturity you get from that is [00:20:00] exponential. So I didn't have that in a business sense before I had this business role. I had it in a. Student volunteer organization, so it became different in a business sense. So, experience was 1, but then also, I feel like a leader, even if they're older, a leader needs to be mature.

[00:20:19] They need to be the grown up in the room. I don't mean in a demeaning way to their employees, but they have to like as a parent. I mean, you really have to. care about your child in every context, in every situation, when they do right, when they do wrong. You're responsible, so you have to be responsible.

[00:20:38] And, I completely didn't understand what it was to be responsible for people in a business context and, what that required. So I didn't focus on building trust. I didn't focus on developing others. I didn't focus on communicating and proper leadership and [00:21:00] oversight and management.

[00:21:01] Craig P. Anderson: and when you think about the outcomes from that, you said, you created a lot of dysfunction. So As you kind of moved on from that into the next opportunities for you, what was the real big lesson that you took away for yourself to say, next time I'm going to do it different?

[00:21:18] Grant Calder: So for starters, it was establishing a sense of psychological safety and trust in their leader and in the culture and in the environment. So inviting people to open up And be vulnerable and be a role model in that way. I, was mentored early on that, you know, if you want people to share information, ask for feedback, ask for help, be open about their weaknesses, start to explain how trust works to others creating an environment of psychological safety and start to spend time on that in the organization or the team or the group of people that you're [00:22:00] working with in a project and also, create a sense of.

[00:22:04] Structure and place and what you're doing in a sense of order, you know, fairly chaotic when I was younger. it was a startup and I was young. So that combination, you know, leading people. So, really think it comes down to, starting to experiment with the different areas of, creating that trust and, also creating that accountability as well.

[00:22:26] and making sure that, people are, accountable to what they say they're going to do. And that's hard for a young person as well. I mean, how you do that in a good way? And how you do that in a way that measures what you're doing, but at the same time, respectful. So, how do you give feedback in a good way versus yelling at somebody, you know, in a

[00:22:45] productive way?

[00:22:46]

[00:22:47] Craig P. Anderson: and it's so hard, right? Because you're still growing. You're still maturing. You don't even necessarily know who you are. And by the way, you don't realize any of that when you're 23, 24, 25. And then you're having to actually say, how do I influence [00:23:00] other people? And unless it just comes to you very easily, it's a very difficult transition.

[00:23:05] my early leadership roles. It was a struggle because I just didn't know what to do. And I had just two or three people. But trying to figure out, well, I did it this way, so you should do it my way, but not really clicking on something we talked about earlier of focusing more on the end, not on the how right.

[00:23:21] And it's tough. It's a really tough thing we put new leaders into. and by the way, at least here in the States, I think we don't do a great job mentoring them either. So we just kind of throw them to the wolves and hope they do the best.

[00:23:34] Grant Calder: Yeah, and just something you said just made me think, I think young people and I know some incredibly bright young people and, I think, and I remember myself being younger as a leader, I got really frustrated when people were different than me. why aren't they like me?

[00:23:53] Or why aren't they doing it like me? And not that my way was, you know, incredible, but it's just as a [00:24:00] leader, I was just like, everyone should be molded doing it like me. But, I think a leader should really realize that. this is 1 of my biggest insights in my leadership journey was wait a minute.

[00:24:10] People are very different. People are very diverse. So, rather than get frustrated. By their differences, understand that they're different. And then have people communicate with each other about their differences and then figure out where you can. address the gaps between different styles, leverage the strengths.

[00:24:30] How do you make, the orchestra play? and I feel that, you know, as a young person, I wanted every, or I thought people should be like me.

[00:24:40] Craig P. Anderson: yeah, it's tough. It's a really tough place to be, but a lot of these lessons that you're talking about. So now Graham, right? You're a coach. You're an entrepreneur. You're a leader of a business. how have you taken those lessons and incorporated those into your leadership style today?

[00:24:57] Grant Calder: it's, interesting. I work [00:25:00] in different areas. So, I have, a tech scallop, which is, making a software solution. So I'm actually, Working in an organization, I get to implement my leadership lessons that I picked up along the way. And I'm trying to do that in an exemplary way, because I also have a role leading leadership development, team development, executive coaching programs in the executive education space, and also for companies.

[00:25:31] So I get to practice. What I preach, so to speak in real time and fail and learn from it and experiment and I really just try and also learn from the leaders that I work with. or trying to find education sources on leadership development. So I'm often working with leaders who tell me that they're inspired by this book or that book or this podcast, but they're out there learning, they're trying to learn from others and at the same [00:26:00] time, also learning through experience.

[00:26:02] So, I mean, actually trying to implement things like daring to you. Implement something you've learned somewhere and see if it works or taking part of what you learned and merging that with something else. for example, I worked with a leader who, worked with OKRs in their company

[00:26:21] objectives and key results.

[00:26:22] It's a goal setting framework and methodology for companies. And, they spoke so highly of it. That I decided to read a book about it. And then I got certified it. Not everyone's going to do that, but went and took a course, a two day course at it, and then I dared to. Implement it, and, it means communicating, teaching others, also following up on it.

[00:26:49] And ultimately being a champion of some new leadership methodology and tool. So, I'm constantly trying to [00:27:00] use what I learned from others and experiment with it. And I think a leader could really benefit from that.

[00:27:07] Very

[00:27:08] Craig P. Anderson: And, as a leader, bringing in something like OKR is kind of a new way, a new framework. How does the leader effectively get that disseminated through the organization? How do you champion it?

[00:27:19] Grant Calder: good question. so, The classic, Cotter, who, developed something called the Eight Steps to Change. first I, educated myself, then I built a guiding coalition. So, I got a few key people to buy in and help support this. Through the organization. So I, tried to educate them and I said, this is not force it down their throat, but I tried to really advocate for it get a few others to buy in.

[00:27:49] Then I took people away. I mean, if you're going to do a huge change, I feel that you really need to give people space. To understand it, question it, go [00:28:00] through the five stages of grief that they're going to make a change and then show them the benefits and then give them space to work on it.

[00:28:07] So, we went away, we did an offsite for a couple of days. I got everyone to participate in it. So that they could feel ownership in it. So, okay, ours have like a top down and bottom up approach to things. So it's like a perfect candidate for change. But I think it's really important with change that you get people to be.

[00:28:29] Active stakeholders in it, and so that they can help shape it as well. I did the classic, I created a sense of urgency for why we needed to do it, but also painted a picture of the reward and some motivational factors for what would happen at the end of it. so here's another thought for you is, I think you need to get champions.

[00:28:52] For change, so I was just talking about that the other day with the leader is like, it's so important, you know, to have a [00:29:00] champion, someone who really understands everything about it and who will coach others on it. So you have, like, an expert reference person.

[00:29:08] But who will continually think about the communication parts and

[00:29:12] supporting people to do it.

[00:29:14] Craig P. Anderson: so if we take all these lessons you've learned and all these things we've talked about, Grant, Now I want you to go back in time. You can pick an HG Wells time machine, a DeLorean, however you like to travel through time. Go back to Grant at that business, that jewelry business that you had.

[00:29:31] What's the one piece of advice you would give him That would have put him on whatever you think is the best trajectory for him.

[00:29:40] Grant Calder: The biggest piece of advice I would have given myself, back at that time would be, Grant, I really want to encourage you to proactively network with others. So I really want you to make it a habit, and build a muscle for [00:30:00] networking. There's many reasons why I'm giving you this piece of advice grant, but, it's something that you will build over your lifetime.

[00:30:09] And if you start now, the power of your network will be exponential and will provide so many opportunities for you. And they'll provide opportunities for. advice, perspectives, encouragement, feedback, especially, at moments in your career when there's a, maybe an inflection point or a career pivot.

[00:30:36] Maybe you need a new job or maybe you need some type of, some type business opportunity, a sale of your product or service, whatever it may be. There's three kinds of networking. So there's personal networking that might be based on your interests and Sports or your personal life or friends, there's something also called operational [00:31:00] networking.

[00:31:00] And that's really about networking in your company and, really so you can do your job better. So, make sure you,network or people at similar companies, you know, network with others who have a lot of knowledge about what you're actually doing and your activity. But thirdly, and even most importantly, Grant, please do strategic career networking.

[00:31:26] So put that time in your life and, gain other perspectives. There's a lot of research out there, Grant, about how opportunities come and they usually come from the next person to you, not the person closest to you. So that's meeting people outside of your closest sphere. And so make a habit of that.

[00:31:46] Networking, following up with the people you've networked. Also, even though you're young, Grant, make sure that you feel you can even ask the person, is there anything I can do for you? you could share with them, maybe your knowledge, maybe [00:32:00] something you learned or something you experienced.

[00:32:01] Maybe it's even a clip of a video or an article about something that they mentioned that they like. But,it's in all my years of leadership development and all my years of coaching and in all my personal experience, networking has been the biggest exponential game changer. For myself and the people that I've been supporting.

[00:32:26] Craig P. Anderson: Love it. and the things that would open up in the experiences that would help mold so to maybe make fewer mistakes. Overall, because now you're starting to get more input from more seasoned and more experienced people. So often I think we run into issues and you think, Oh my gosh, no one has ever faced this problem before.

[00:32:44] And the reality is it's just new to you. Everybody has, and you can benefit from that. The bigger your network is, right?

[00:32:50] Grant Calder: Yeah. And it's, people have experienced that problem before a similar problem or, but they just have another perspective that you hadn't thought of, and it could be [00:33:00] an encouraging one, or it could be another way to think about it, or it could be an actual action to take or a solution for you.

[00:33:07] So yeah, you're so right. it's. collective intelligence. It's intelligence outside of yourself, basically.

[00:33:13] Craig P. Anderson: right. That's right. Yeah. Well, Grant, this was phenomenal. Thank you for sharing your executive evolution story. If people enjoyed this interview and they want to learn more about you or connect with you, what are the best ways for them to go about doing that?

[00:33:27] Grant Calder: Speaking of networking,I'm really happy if people connect with me on LinkedIn. So I have a networking profile and maybe Craig will post it down there. And I post a lot from that profile as well. And I share about different thoughts on, Coaching technology, leadership development, executive evolution, as it may.

[00:33:49] So please feel free to connect with me

[00:33:51] there.

[00:33:52] Craig P. Anderson: Absolutely. We'll drop all those links into the show notes. Grant, thank you so much for being here. I really enjoyed our conversation.

[00:33:59] Grant Calder: [00:34:00] Thank you, Craig, so much for this. It's such an honor to be on your show. And I really, really want to experience my own executive evolution until the day I end up in a rocking chair. So this is

[00:34:13] great.

[00:34:14] Craig P. Anderson: Fair enough. Fair enough. Thanks Grant.

[00:34:17] Grant Calder: Thank you. I really think that interview with Grant could have gone on for hours. I so appreciated all his insights and how much care and thought he's put into both his own leadership style and the way he coaches leaders throughout the world. As always, I like to break down my big three takeaways from the interview in the area of confidence, confidence, and calm.

[00:34:42] Craig P. Anderson: So let's drop right in with confidence. Grant talked about empowering team members through delegation, by delegating authority, by encouraging them to take on additional work. The only way that you can do that effectively as a leader is if you have confidence in your team. [00:35:00] that you can delegate. You have confidence in the team that they can delegate.

[00:35:04] So make sure you build those muscles up for delegation. It's not just telling people what to do. It's really getting in and working with them so they know exactly what it is you need done. So. competence. I really liked what Grant said about leveraging diverse communication styles, diverse personalities on your team, people who may be really aggressive in business.

[00:35:26] People who may be more conservative, people who touch base with customers more, people who are more in tune with operations, getting all those diverse viewpoints on the table strengthens decision making. So it's really a strong area of leadership competence when you pull all those voices together and then distill the.

[00:35:43] Key answers that you need to drive your business forward. And then finally, in the area of calm, and this goes back to the story I told at the beginning of the pod today, build connections with your employees. That was so important. Grant said, everything gets done by people. So people's feelings matter.

[00:35:59] And the best [00:36:00] way to show people that their feelings matter is to build that connectivity with them. They're all human. They're all facing the same issues you are every day. And by building that connectivity, you build a stronger, more comprehensive and cohesive team for your business. So that's it. For this week's executive evolution podcast.

[00:36:16] Thanks again to my guest Grant Calder of fleet. coach as always remember, you can go from being an accidental leader to the greatest leader of all time. All it takes is developing your competence, confidence, and calm. Have a great week.