#7 - Michael Sweeney on L&D, Coaching, Leadership, Teams, and Beyond!

In this episode of the L&P Podcast, I speak with Michael Sweeney, Chief Strategy Officer at RallyBright and founder of SaberCoaching, about his career enhancing the capacity and performance of individuals, teams, and organizations. Formerly VP of Digital Learning at Bain & Company, Mike has over two decades of experience in operations management, L&D, learning design, leadership development, coaching, and technology training.

A lifelong learner himself, Mike enjoys finding ways to help others perform better and master their crafts. Mike holds a Masters in Organizational Psychology from William James College and is a Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) coach. Outside of work, Mike enjoys reading, running marathons, coaching athletes, playing with his dog, and being the best dad he can be for his three teenage daughters. Mike currently lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

In our conversation, we hit on a wide range of topics, including:

The critical role of culture, values, and behaviors in organizational effectiveness The difference between peak performance and high performance The neuroscience of learning and skill development After-action reviews (AARs) Leadership and leadership development Coaching and feedback Motivation vs. inspiration Recruiting sponsors to drive organizational change And a whole lot more!

Mentioned in the conversation:

6:28 - Values-Based Leadership 7:28 - Deliberate vs. Evolutionary/Emergent Strategy 8:18 - Values: Espoused vs. Enacted/In-Use 8:30 - Bain Values and Operating Principles 8:52 - Definition of culture 13:00 - Operationalizing values 14:02 - Edgar Schein on culture 14:59 - Humble Inquiry 17:42 - Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People 20:11 - Peak vs. High Performance 21:05 - Learning in the brain 23:11 - Unlearning 23:52 - The P/PC Balance 24:58 - Atomic Habits 24:59 - The Power of Habit 25:56 - After-Action Review 26:36 - Teams that Work 28:30 - Agile retrospective 28:45 - Lean manufacturing 30:06 - John Maxwell's Leadership Law #2 - Leadership as influence 31:07 - Maxwell's Leadership Law #1 - Law of the Lid 32:12 - Feedback Model - Situation, Behavior, Impact 34:13 - Tim Ferriss on Learning to Learn 42:39 - Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis 44:12 - Building High-Performing Teams course 48:29 - The Losada Ratio 48:55 - Designing the Coach-Client Alliance 50:25 - Alfie Kohn on the Downsides of Punishment 51:22 - Positive Intelligence 53:58 - Radical Candor 1:05:00 - The Sponsorship Spine 1:07:15 - John Kotter's Leading Change 1:07:45 - John Kotter's The Heart of Change 1:09:45 - Spaced repetition 1:11:30 - Learning moments of truth 1:16:23 - Outlive by Peter Attia 1:20:06 - CTI Fundamentals

Connect with Mike:

Michael Sweeney Saber Coaching Rally Bright