Visit BobbyPowers.com or my Substack Leader & Learner to learn how to become a stronger leader & a more curious learner.

🔥 Inspiring Quotes

⛽ Articles to Fuel Lifelong Learning

​38 Lessons in 38 Years​ Every birthday, I reflect back on what I learned that year. Here were the biggest lessons from this year, including a bunch of things I learned about how to take action and how to become a better communicator.

​10 Ways to Read More Books Than You’ve Ever Read Before​ Wondering how to read more? Here are the 10 specific tactics that have helped me read 70+ books per year.

📚 Books Definitely Worth Your Time

​Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff​ Nonfiction: Business/Productivity I tend to get caught in my own head, trying to think about something hypothetically rather than just taking action. This book was exactly what I needed to push me toward action in the form of testing small tweaks— for trainings I lead, articles I publish, LinkedIn posts I write, etc.

​Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman​ Fiction: Fantasy/Science Fiction What a fun ride! After disaster strikes the planet, Carl & his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut struggle to survive while the universe watches on intergalactic TV. Thanks to my friends Rob and Ashlie for the rec! -> If you check this out, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator is 10/10.

🧑‍💼 Quick Leadership Takeaway

Hollywood, TV, and magazines tell us that a leader is the person who scores the points, tells others what to do, and gets the big paychecks.

We get so tied up in the external, glamorized portrayal of leadership that we forget about the internal, servant-based reality of authentic leadership.

Leadership is bringing out the best in others. That’s it.

• Leadership is sharing a kind word with a colleague who is having a rough day.
• Leadership is helping the office secretary clean up after the board meeting.
• Leadership is inviting the unpopular co-worker out for happy hour drinks.
• Leadership is the stuff you do that doesn't show up on a performance eval.

True leadership often means doing the thing that least jives with our Hollywood-ized version of leadership.

Leadership and humility are inextricably linked.

🤓 A Personal Tidbit

Multiple times in my career, I've felt like an impostor who was in way over my head. (I wrote about that struggle here.)

Over the last several years training new managers, I've come to realize that MANY new leaders feel this way. In fact, it's one of the most common feelings I hear from managers.

I'm working on a comprehensive guide for new managers on how to overcome impostor syndrome. When I finish it, I'll share it with my subscribers (that's you!).

I've asked some of my friends the questions below. If you've felt impostor syndrome, I'd love to hear your insights too.

Just reply to this email with your answers to three questions:

1. What did impostor syndrome feel like to you?
2. What helped you battle it? What are 1-2 practical tips you have for others who face it?
3. If you share a tip/quote that I use in this guide, is it okay if I include your first name and last initial?

Your insights will benefit many other leaders who receive this email.

Thanks!

-Bobby

🤝 Someone You Should Know...

Historically, I've done a horrible job of networking with other creators.

I pursued my writing like a lone wolf, and this year I'm trying to rectify that mistake by reaching out to people who create things I enjoy.

That led me to connect with Kevin Noble, who runs a newsletter called The Catalyst. It's a free weekly email for thoughtful, ambitious leaders who want sharper thinking and stronger teams.

I learned that Kevin led at Atlassian for a decade (a company I've admired for years) and helped them improve the processes, software, and systems that helped them scale 50% YoY.

Kevin also serves as a Fractional COO who helps CEOs of $2-20M revenue companies who are ready to scale.

I've enjoyed reading Kevin's work, and you can subscribe to him below if you want to check it out. :-)

The Catalyst by Kevin Noble Learn the leadership perspectives, frameworks, and mental models you need to be successful. Subscribe​

🔐 From the Vault (New!)

I now give my subscribers free access to high-resolution PDFs of the 1-pager cheat sheets I share on LinkedIn and my website.

Here's a recent one I like:

-> You can find them here (and download them if you want).

👇 Helpful Resources

Visit me at BobbyPowers.com for more articles and book recs about leadership, communication, and personal development.

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