#31: Derek Sloan — Leading With Vulnerability

Derek Sloan is a licensed professional clinical counselor, a certified master life coach, and a leading authority on integrating leadership effectiveness with mental health awareness. With years of experience, Derek has dedicated his career to helping individuals and organizations bridge the gap between their current realities and their aspirational goals. He is also a coach with Lead Every Day and the host of the Mental Stillness Podcast.

Connect with Derek Sloan: 

LinkedIn | Podcast | Official Website | The Resilience Playbook

Selected Links From The Episode

• How to Embrace Slow Productivity, Achieve Mastery, and Defend Your Time — Cal Newport & Tim Ferriss

• Brené Brown | The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk

Recommended Books:

• Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

• Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, Kaley Klemp

Quotes From The Interview

• If we’re hurried, it hurts us but it also hurts them. - Derek Sloan

• No one wants to follow a leader that’s perfectly put together. How do we share in a way that’s enough to show them that I’m flesh and blood but not so much that I’m showing that I’m bleeding out. - Derek Sloan

People Mentioned

• Tim Ferris

• Cal Newport

• Brené Brown 

• Danny Meyer 

• Rodney Rocha

• Marshall Goldsmith

• Jason Kelce

Show Notes

• [00:00:00] Introduction to Derek Sloan

• [00:02:12] How do you approach people who don’t know how to rest?

• [00:07:00] Getting caught in trap of striving for the next thing instead of living in the now

• [00:09:49] Repeatable version of a vacation that is sustainable

• [00:13:15] Derek Sloan’s personal process of decompressing

• [00:17:20] Derek Sloan’s backstory

• [00:27:10] How helping in the free clinic was a profound experience

• [00:31:00] Idea of slow productivity

• [00:36:30] People are reaching out for connection and need for more vulnerability

• [00:46:00] Fear of being judged as weak but really shows as strength

• [00:46:56] Resiliency Playbook and the six plays

• [00:47:46] How to cultivate psychological safety

• [00:53:27] Open communication and tactical ways to do this and keep it authentic

• [01:01:00] How to motivate employees and give autonomy in communication

• [01:07:29] The trap of it being really easy to find the bad

• [01:14:00] Every leader hopes they’re not a micromanager but how can leaders really empower their members

• [01:19:20] How to empower leaders through fear and change

• [01:29:00] Idea of work life balance and our identities