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Dr. Shaan Patel‘s story reads like the American Dream made real: with grit and determination, he rose from a modest background and mediocre SAT scores to earn an MD and become CEO of a market-leading company. He also scored an appearance and investment on Shark Tank to add a little spice to the tale!

The CEO of Prep Expert spoke to us about his remarkable leadership journey in our podcast. Along the way, Shaan learned leadership lessons that are valuable to every exec and entrepreneur. Find them below.

Embrace Challenge.

You can’t lead on cruise control. From team conflicts to cunning competitors, challenges inevitably arise. At the very least, you gain knowledge and skills from each challenge. But shrewd leaders go further, accepting those challenges as opportunities in disguise. Even small challenges help: in a very real sense, penicillin and the wave of antibiotics that followed resulted from the challenge of washing dirty Petri dishes! In Shaan’s case, his initial struggle with his SAT test led to the creation of Prep Expert—a personal challenge leading to the solution of a broader issue.

Adaptability Is Crucial.

The world has changed. Instead of “getting back to normal,” changes continue to come at us all the faster. Adapting to these changing circumstances is key to success. Indeed, refusing to adapt can do more than limit success: it can render you and your organization outright irrelevant. So, embrace change along with challenges; you’ll stay ahead of the curve (and the competition). This is another face of resilience, and Shaan has demonstrated it many times on his journey. Even on Shark Tank, he was met with great skepticism—but persevered and won over shark Mark Cuban.

Put People First.

From front-line workers to customers, your business loop begins and ends with people. Internally, promote empowerment throughout your team; this fosters a sense of ownership and accountability in them. Externally, think about your social impact beyond profit. Having a broader view of success is a win-win: you’re doing good for others, which enhances your reputation and fosters customer and team loyalty. Plus, it just plain feels good (a fact that has been scientifically verified!).

Keep Learning.

This has become a common theme with our guests: with constant change, we must constantly learn. The knowledge that led to past success may not be enough to maintain it. Shaan is committed to continuous learning; right now, that’s reflected in working to better understand AI and how it will affect his industry. Even for seasoned execs, there’s tremendous value in mentorship and coaching. Shaan sees his mentoring with Mark Cuban as a major contribution to his leadership growth.

Innovate and Think Forward.

Being proactive keeps you ahead of the curve. By forward-thinking, you anticipate change before it becomes disruptive. That helps keep you and your team operating smoothly. Even better, the solutions you develop to meet those changes may well be ground-breaking innovations that enhance your success even further.

Shaan set himself apart by discerning these principles. He met challenges by innovating solutions—and by looking ahead to create his own changes, leading to leadership (and company) growth.

The best part is that these are universal principles anyone can adopt. In fact, they’re all part of the leadership framework we developed at the Innovative Leadership Institute. To learn about them in more detail, check our website at InnovativeLeadership.com, or DM us here on LinkedIn!

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our podcast episode Leadership Lessons from Shark Tank…and Beyond.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.

Some leaders see the big picture very clearly—they understand complexity, know their own weaknesses well, and follow principles rather than rules. These leaders are called post-conventional, and our guest, Michael Morrow-Fox, has studied them deeply for his doctorate and consulting practice.

He’s teased out several ways we can all grow and develop toward post-conventional perspectives. It’s not easy, he warns…but he shares them in this episode.

To update an old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s HOW you know.”

Today’s business climate can be maddening for leaders. It’s complex. It’s uncertain. It’s rapidly changing. In short, it’s VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). Yet there are some leaders who understand the complexity, stay steady through the uncertainty, and guide the change. These are post-conventional leaders, and, according to Mike, their key to personal growth is “vertical development.” That’s a process that not only enhances what they know but how they think and understand the world around them.

To oversimplify a bit, “horizontal development” is increasing what you know or expanding your knowledge. Vertical development, meanwhile, enhances how you process and apply that knowledge; it’s your growing mindset and actual thought process. This is where visionary leaders are born.

Fortunately, Mike has seven tips to help you on your own vertical journey:

1. Keep learning.

Get to know what your goal of post-conventional thinking is all about. Read articles on leadership development (may we recommend this weekly newsletter?). Get books by researchers in this field such as Bob Keegan and Susanne Cook-Greuter. Listen to our podcasts. Knowing what your end goal looks like makes it a lot easier to achieve.

2. Turn on the heat experiences.

These are simply things that push you out of your comfort zone. You can’t learn new skills or see new perspectives if you’re always doing the same old same old. Try joining a project at work that’s a little over your head, or volunteer to make a speech to a group you’ve never met. These new experiences help literally rewire your brain.

3. Bump heads (figuratively!).

Mike calls this “colliding perspectives.” Your parents may have called it “agreeing to disagree.” You want to expose yourself to ideas different from your own, so engage with people whose opinions are far from yours. Then listen instead of worrying about defending your own position.

4. Elevate your sense-making.

As you gain knowledge, experience, and exposure to others’ perspectives, your own perspective grows. You begin making sense of the world in new ways, often in ways that let you see a bigger picture of issues and their solutions. It helps to have someone whose worldview you admire—a mentor or coach who may already be a post-conventional thinker—help you understand your path.

5. Get to know yourself.

As leaders, we all have strengths to offer our teams, organizations, and the world. Get to know your weaknesses, too. Those are nothing to fear; forgive yourself for what you don’t do well, bring people into your team who can do them, and then love yourself for what you CAN do well. Mike points out that at this stage, you realize “I no longer have to be perfect.”

6. Be curious.

Watch for the differences in the ways others view the world. Ask questions. There’s an energy in curiosity that activates and charges the mind. This is why humanity’s greatest thinkers often seem so childlike; they never stop wielding the magic of “why?”. As Einstein said, “Never cease to stand like curious children…”

7. Get support!

This isn’t easy. Both Mike and our CEO, Maureen Metcalf, reiterate this several times during the podcast. There are growing pains, just like we had physical pains during childhood growth spurts. Draw on teachers, mentors, friends, and family for personal support. And take advantage of online offerings from researchers and thought leaders in the field, such as Terri O’Fallon at STAGES International.

Take heart. If you read the article through here, you’ve already taken the first steps on your own developmental journey: you’re curious and learning. Prepare to see a whole new world—a new leadership point of view!

*VUCA = Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Learn more in our interview with Chris Nolan at https://bit.ly/VUCA-Pod.

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our podcast episode Growing Up and Out: Development for Modern Leaders.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.

Communication for leaders isn’t as easy as we like to think. It’s far more than just opening your mouth and letting words gush out. Your followers analyze every word, look for nuance, and read between the lines—so they often hear things you never meant! That can spell disaster for your team, if not your company.

Our guest, executive coach Amiel Handelsman, has some proven ways to improve your leadership conversations—like swapping mansplaining with manquiring. He explains more in this episode.

“Just listen.” That tired old trope telling leaders how to better communicate doesn’t cut it anymore. The workplace and its teams have become far more complex: five distinct generations actively working, divisive politics, culture wars, real wars, shrinking talent pools…the list goes on.

Amiel has keenly discerned eleven skills and concepts most crucial for leaders to effectively communicate in our diverse workplaces. Here are five that stood out to us as particularly transformative or unexpected.

1. Inquire or Manquire

Inquiring moves you beyond the old-school stereotype of the leader who knows everything. If you’re prone to over-explaining in a condescending manner or assuming that a person has no knowledge of a subject, you may be mansplaining (or an offshoot thereof). Combat mansplaining with its foil: manquiring (man + inquiring). Though the concepts are directed at a specific gender group, the practice of inquiry is useful for anyone. Inquiring is the act of intentionally asking questions to better understand what someone is communicating to you. Assume from the get-go that you don’t know it all. Go to your team and ask what they know. This stance of curiosity fills your knowledge gaps while letting your team know they are heard and valued. It boosts two-way communication and navigates unconscious bias in the process.

2. Confirm and Clarify

Now that you have all that new information, make sure you understand it. Simple misunderstandings derail even the most fortified plans. Paraphrase what you heard (or read) from a teammate and relay that back to them. Tell them what you think the ramifications of their points are. This creates a great feedback loop. In the end, it boosts efficiency because everyone is clearly on the same page with the same goals and mission in mind.

3. Be a Conversational Chameleon

No two people communicate exactly alike. Some people read between the lines instead of paying attention to your words; others demand exacting accuracy in your vocabulary and take every word literally. It’s up to you as the leader to learn how each team member understands you best and to further adapt your communication style to the context and the medium. Cultivate your own conversational agility so your unique voice and intent come through no matter who you’re speaking with.

4. When You Assume, It Makes an…

It’s natural to assess someone, or what they say, on the fly. But these subjective judgments you make in the moment can be influenced by little things that have nothing to do with the conversation: something as big as having an accident on the way to work, or as small as garlic on their breath after lunch. During the conversation itself, pause before reacting; be certain you’re reacting to what you’ve just heard rather than leftover emotions from something else. Afterward, reassess, and see if your assessment aligns with concrete evidence, observable facts, and a clean rationale.

5. Practice, Practice, Practice

We all learn to communicate at some level from the moment we are born. Our communication gets a bit more specific as we grow because we constantly practice and tweak as we learn what gets better results. This shouldn’t stop just because we reach adulthood! Even the most gifted athletes practice relentlessly to hone their performance; practicing is perfect for your communications, too. Play with different writing styles, speak in front of a mirror, and be aware of your body language—all of these hone your messaging. And just as you paraphrase what you hear from others (remember #2?), ask people to paraphrase your words so you receive feedback, too.

Trendy leadership advice focuses so much on listening to your team that we forget effective communication is a two-way process. Amiel’s tips are a potent reminder to work on that circular flow. The best leaders do more than listen; they are also heard!

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our podcast episode Cultivating Conversation: How to Improve Leaders’ Communication.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.

How would you like to run a 100-year-old start-up?

Omaha Steaks has been around for over a century and has been tremendously successful throughout…achieving every marketer’s dream of becoming a household name. The secret, according to CEO Nate Rempe, is to act like a start-up, and constantly innovate. We’ll give you a taste of his Innovative Leadership ideas in this episode you can chew on. Read on for Nate’s key ingredients to success in a values-driven firm.

At first glance, Omaha Steaks may seem like a straightforward food company, a brand dedicated to selling gifts and subscription boxes that help families get dinner on the table. But in my time here, I’ve learned that we’re so much more—this is a 107-year-old iconic brand powered by passion that has mastered the secret sauce to creating premium customer-centric experiences for families all across the country.

With my background in technology and data-driven decision-making, I was thrilled to join the company in 2016 as its CIO. But to be honest, before I would be elevated to the role of President & COO in 2020 and then to CEO in 2023, I had a lot of learning to do about who Omaha Steaks was and what it needed to win the next 107 years.

Becoming the first non-family leader in the brand’s history meant that there were new leadership lessons I would need to learn and embrace. Even with my experience, I had much to learn about how to be successful at the helm of a century-old, family-owned company. While many companies refer to their culture as a “family,” it’s almost always more in words than action. Yet, at Omaha Steaks, there really was this sense of family—not in the traditional sense per se, but rather in the sense of membership and values. Team members here are celebrated as a part of something special, and we align on shared core values…values we actually live by. Understanding this key cultural element was critical in continuing the Simon family legacy at Omaha Steaks, a legacy I felt a strong responsibility to keep.

In my tenure, I’ve figured out a few key ingredients to being successful in a values-driven firm like ours—but in reality, these principles can be transformational in any business. Here’s my recipe:

1. Empathy and heart at the center: Change is good, but it doesn’t need to be immediate. My first eight months as CIO at Omaha Steaks were more focused on inflicting change on the organization and not on winning the hearts and minds of the people surrounding me every day. It wasn’t until I honestly reflected on my methods—something easier said than done—that I had the realization that I needed to adapt my approach. Empathy in leadership isn’t something that comes naturally to me, and I had to challenge myself to be more conscious of what others were feeling on a day-to-day basis. New leadership always creates feelings of uncertainty for team members, and I needed to inspire and lift up the people around me, so we could make changes together.

2. Transparency with ALL employees establishes a culture of trust: We’re all in this together. We win and lose together. As a result, our culture talks honestly about things like company performance and the ups and downs of running our business—the good and the bad. The more transparency exists, the more engaged and invested team members are, the more they trust the organization, the better they perform, and the longer they stay. I’ve seen transparency work wonders at scale. After all, building a culture of trust is what leadership is about.

3. Leadership means prioritizing two-way conversations: Omaha Steaks has 1,500 employees year-round, and we hire 6,000 more during the holidays. It didn’t feel like enough to sit behind a computer screen and preach at the company from my office. Neither did “all hands” meetings have the intimacy we needed. I wanted to have individual conversations with as many team members as possible. The end result: my team helped me form “Rempe’s Roundtables”—a program where every quarter, I hold 45-minute conversations with small groups of team members across the company, where individuals can share honest feedback and ask me questions. Going into our fourth year of the program, the sessions have been excellent, but the benefits have reached far wider. It has created a dynamic where people feel like they can approach me. That transparency creates trust and loyalty, and our job satisfaction rates have never been higher.

4. A leader’s impact stretches far past the employee count: The late Bruce Simon, who also held the role of CEO at Omaha Steaks, imparted an unforgettable piece of wisdom to me—as CEO, we are the captain of a ship of 7,000-plus souls. And it’s not just the faces we see in the hallways every day: we’re responsible for the well-being of their kids and spouses, too. When the company performs well, we enrich all of those lives—and the opposite is true, too. That’s given me perspective and a unique sense of motivation.

5. Leadership is a learned skill, not an instinct: We can’t “talk the talk” about growing our business without fostering growth inside, too. It’s all connected, and true transformational change in an organization will only come when its culture commits to continuing education around how to lead. Leadership is a learned skill, and at Omaha Steaks, we recognize one of the best investments we can make is in helping our leaders master their craft. Our Accelerate Leadership Program and our Omaha Steaks University courses teach our leadership methodology and reinforce our vocabulary, including relevant concepts that drive our mission: creating amazing experiences—for both our team members and our customers.

Omaha Steaks has had an amazing 107 years in business, and I’m excited to see how we can harness the changing technology and DTC landscape to transform over the next 107. I recognize and am humbled by the impact we can make on customers’ lives every day, and I never take that impact for granted. Whether we’re here to get a wholesome dinner on the table during a busy night or we’re helping someone give the perfect gift during a special occasion, it’s because of the collective heart of our teams that we are able to do so. I’m proud to lead that charge.

This article was written by Nate Rempe as a companion to our podcast episode Why Rare Leadership is Well-Done at Omaha Steaks.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.

Would you like to be valued for being you rather than for being your job description?

That’s a personal benefit of working in a skills-based organization. For the company, that kind of recognition brings better engagement, more productivity, and increased innovation.

A skills-based orientation goes beyond job titles and descriptions. Instead, it assesses the talents of everyone, from the front line to the back office, and then assigns people to projects that best suit their unique combination of skills.

Brian Richardson helps organizations enter this skills-based world. The founder and CEO of Richardson Consulting Group, Inc. shared the following steps and tips as a guest on our podcast. They can help you plan your move to fully realize your team’s talents.

1. Start with your own leadership mindset: it’s time to experiment.

As with anything new, expect stumbles and outright failures. More importantly, let your team know to expect them…and that they’re okay. One primary reason innovation and change stagnate is fear of failure; far too often, employees expect to be punished if they fail, so stop taking risks. Let your team know some failures are expected; it’s okay if you then look at the data and learn from your implementation experiment. At the Innovative Leadership Institute, we call this leadership trait “the mind of a scientist.”

2. Assess individual talents on your team.

Determine each person’s skills; without this step, you’ll obviously have trouble being skills-based! Skills assessments are nothing new. Your HR department most likely knows them quite well. Artificial intelligence platforms have entered this arena, making the assessments all the easier to collect, collate, analyze, and then have at your fingertips when it’s time to deploy. With AI’s help, go even deeper: fully understand what employees can do now and what they could do in the future with some development.

3. Start with one or two targeted pilot projects.

Remember the mind of a scientist? These pilots are your experiments. Don’t expect overwhelming victory from the outset; you’re gathering data now for your ultimate success. What works best in your particular workplace? For the quirks and strengths of your particular team? Discover your new best practices as you build momentum with quick wins in these focused domains.

4. Consider the cultural ripples.

Most firms grew with the old-school practice of squeezing people into narrow job descriptions instead of providing the personalized work experience that skills-based systems create. That standard workplace culture must now change, too—especially for leaders! HR leaders, for example, will now shift perspectives, enabling fluid workflows by basing activities on employee abilities rather than predefined responsibilities. Managers will move to flexible teams, quickly identifying qualified people from across the company to fill particular project needs. C-suiters will drive strategies (and strategic plans) by aligning them with the skills pool buoyed by their talented staff—talent they can now appreciate thanks to this new skills-based approach!

5. Expect an organization-wide change.

With a few successes under your belt, the advantages become clear. The win-win for employees and the company fosters a desire to change across the company. Hold steady; despite the excitement, this will be a multi-year journey requiring patience and commitment. Every step of the implementation provides you with more experience and data to make the next rollout smoother and more successful.

As the pace of change and the increase in disruptive events continues in our world, adopting a skills-based approach is more than a forward-thinking HR strategy; it’s an absolute necessity. Think of it as an accelerator for your organization’s survival skills: adaptability, resilience, enhanced productivity, and boosted employee engagement. And for you personally, what could be better than being valued for being you?

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our podcast episode Economies of Skill: Moving to a Skills-Based Team.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.