206: Dave McKeown—The Need For Self-Evolved Leadership

Learn how to be the great leader the future needs!

We have been developing a Leadership Academy for a healthcare system and working with their team to develop great leaders. This is particularly important during times of great stress, like this pandemic that is upon us. But it is equally important during the more normal yet still uncertain times that were affecting the world before the COVID-19 mess. The need for effective leadership goes way beyond healthcare. It is a recurring theme virtually everywhere. But what type of leaders are needed for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with all the changes to our workplace and workers? Add the pandemic to the mix and leadership is facing its own crisis. How can we soften the great transformation and enable leaders of today to refocus for tomorrow? Listen in.

What makes a great leader?

In this podcast, Dave McKeown and I talk about why our current leadership models are broken, why it’s imperative that we fix them and how to take the first steps to becoming a Self-Evolved Leader, the subject of his book. There is no shortage of literature about leadership, the different styles that fit different cultures, and the approach that is needed to build followers. But Dave teaches us how to actually make it happen: how to master the key components of becoming a great leader, build a team vision, and create an implementation plan to develop needed disciplines.

In our interview, we also discuss how to take this Self-Evolved Leader concept and spread the ideas across a team, department or entire organization, in part by building a shared vocabulary and language and in larger part by showing the way, not telling people how. It is a very timely conversation that you will enjoy.

Some of the topics Dave and I discuss:

What is Self-Evolved Leadership?
What is the problem with our current leadership models?
What is the cycle of mediocrity?
What is heroic leadership and why is it a problem?
What is the key mindset of the Self-Evolved Leader?
What are the key components of becoming a Self-Evolved Leader?

More about Dave McKeown

Dave helps individuals, teams and organizations achieve excellence by doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. As Founder and CEO of Outfield Leadership and author of “The Self-Evolved Leader: Elevate Your Focus and Develop Your People in a World That Refuses to Slow Down,” Dave specializes in connecting individual and team performance to improved business results with a particular focus on fast-growing, complex organizations.

Dave started his career as a consultant at Accenture, quickly rising to COO. He then became President of Predictable Success, a boutique consultancy focused on helping businesses achieve scalability, while also leading Inc. Consulting, a joint venture with Inc. Media. He has worked with leaders at Spectrum Health, Renewal by Andersen, Akamai, NYSE and many smaller, fast-growing organizations, and has shared his leadership strategies at numerous conferences.

Currently, Dave speaks, coaches and trains individuals and organizations how to move from execution to excellence by building a culture of real, authentic, but ultimately results-driven leadership. He also hosts the podcast, “Lead Like you Give a Damn,” and writes a weekly column for Inc.Com.

You can contact Dave at info@selfevolvedleader.com, LinkedIn, Twitter or his website.

Want to be a better leader? Start here:

Additional resources