Welcome to Mindful Monday!

This week, we focus on building a values-based company, inventing on principle, the benefits of conflict, truth, status, and tribes, and some wise words from Picasso. And... CLICK HERE to read our USA Today Best-Selling book, The Score That Matters.

#626: Rob Kimbel - A Values-Driven Leader

​Rob Kimbel is an owner of Kimbel Mechanical Systems, located in Fayetteville, AR. He joined KMS in 1993, and in 2001, at the age of 26, he became the CEO and grew what was then 3 local plumbers making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year into a national company with more than 750 employees and earning hundreds of millions per year. We discussed living by your values, caring for your people, taking the back seat, creating opportunities to improve lives, and much more. You can also WATCH our conversation on YouTube.

Inventing on Principle

"You can choose to sleepwalk through life and accept the path that's been laid out for you. You can choose to accept the world as it is. But you don't have to. If there's something in the world you feel is wrong, and you have a vision for what a better world could be, you can find your guiding principle and fight for a cause." CLICK HERE to watch this talk from Bret Victor.

Creativity Is Nourished By Conflict

Talk to any brilliant creative about their life leading up to their success, and you’ll discover some messy stuff. The role of conflict — conflict with others and conflict within — is especially evident when you examine the inflection points in creative careers. CLICK HERE to read more.

Truth, Status, and Tribes

The idea of increasing one’s status often carries negative connotations — conjuring up imagery of political jockeying and impurity of intentions. That’s not what I’m talking about. Instead, we're referring to “increasing status” in the positive sense: to accomplish or contribute towards something that increases others’ estimation of your value. As Nassim Taleb puts it in his book Antifragile, anything done with the explicit intent to improve one’s status likely won’t improve one’s status. Status is a very specific game: any time you think about the game, you lose. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Wise Words...

"When art critics get together, they talk about form and structure and meaning. When artists get together, they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.” - Pablo Picasso​

Mindful Check-In

I'm always looking to better understand what matters most to you as a leader. Your input helps me shape content that’s more valuable to you. Please take a moment to answer one question...

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Ryan Hawk Author: The Score That Matters, Welcome to Management, & The Pursuit of Excellence​ Host: The Learning Leader Show​