Pros Train Off the Field

Leadership is an identity. It’s not a thing you do at work. 

The President is never not the President. A police officer might be off duty, but he’s always a cop. 

So in order to be a better leader, you need to practice the things leaders do—on and off the field. 

Things like: 

1. Practicing self-discipline

2. Setting a vision

3. Being strategic

4. Communicating well

5. Being selfless 

6. Having courage 

7. Leading by example 

And given how integral “people skills” are to leading, I suggest you stretch yourself this weekend to follow Dale Carnegie’s advice: Make friends and influence people. 

When you’re young, making friends is easy. It’s just a function of who you’re locked up with for long periods of time. 

As you enter the workforce and move around, it’s not so obvious how to make friends—or even with whom. The problem gets harder once you and your old crew marry and have kids. 

Connecting genuinely with people takes a lot of effort and frequency of interaction. 

But my ask of you isn’t that ambitious. Merely talk to people as if they might one day be friends. 

The other day I was in the gym and saw someone I’ve run into a couple times before. Except those previous times weren’t in the gym. She’s a hostess at the best breakfast place near us, and we’ve had at least one conversation. 

It would have been easy to just go do my workout without any awkwardness. I was pretty sure she’d already seen me but was pretending she hadn’t. 

But whatever, I went over anyway. “Hey there, Jayleen.” 

Her face lit up in a big smile. “Good to see you!” she replied. 

To be clear, this wasn’t me hitting on her. 

And to be clearer, she easily could have kept up the act of not recognizing me. She’s barely an adult, so I would’ve forgiven her. After all, I’ve found that fully 30% of grown adults who have mortgages and kids straight up ignore people they’ve met before. It’s weird. 

But don’t let that weirdness affect you. A leader acts with friendliness and confidence. 

Other people are just scared. They don’t want to be the one to say “hi” and then get the “Uhh, who are you again?” treatment. 

Charisma isn’t everything in leadership. But it sure as hell helps. 

People want to follow someone they like and who makes them feel seen. 

They might be happy to see you back. 

 ❤️ Andrew

Coda

On the topic of “going pro,” there’s no one better than Steven Pressfield in his classic book The War of Art. 

Outro

I’m loving Khruangbin. I sincerely hope that they continue taking over every coffee shop and bar that was conquered and brought into the Tame Impala empire. 

“People Everywhere (Still Alive)” by Khruangbin

Cheers

🧠 Let’s talk: Want to 10x your leadership? Grab a free slot to meet with me, and let’s talk through some solutions. 💥 🙌

📥 Did someone forward this to you? Make sure to join to receive elite leadership tips directly to your inbox.

🔎 Find me on LinkedIn.
🎧 Podcast: Spotify | Apple
🌐 People tell me my website has some cool stuff on there.

👉 Let me know how I did: [email protected] 

I’d love to hear from you.

Get unstuck, and crush it. Double period. 🔱