From Accidental to Intentional: Leading with Curiosity, Courage & Fun with Joel Hilchey

Have you ever wondered if you became a leader intentionally or if you stumbled into it one day and never looked back? What if leadership wasn’t about having all the answers, but about learning how to play again?

In this episode of the Inspirational Leadership podcast, I speak with Joel Hilchey about what it really means to lead like a human. In addition to leading the Beanstalk Creative team, Joel maintains a busy schedule as a keynote speaker, creating unforgettable spectacles on stage. He's the father of 3 kids, and he attempts to be a good husband. Joel has authored 4 books (2 of them with Brandon Love), his latest one is called: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 6½ 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. He taught engineering for over a decade at McMaster University, where he was named one of the Top 150+ Alumni. He’s a seasoned barbershop quartet singer, he formerly chaired the board of the world-renowned Hamilton Children’s Choir, and he's a semi-competitive joggler (that's right... juggling whilst jogging).

Listen in to learn about the accidental manager problem and how a lack of training creates a ripple effect in organizations. You will also learn the many faces of poor leadership — feedback fumbling, credit stealing, finger-pointing, inconsistency, and mediocrity mongering.

Key Takeaways:

• How to blend meaning and play to create stronger workplace cultures to avoid killing creativity.
• The concept of the accidental manager, why it’s so widespread, and the four key leadership functions.
• The difference between task-focused and people-focused leadership, and how to balance them.
• The importance of intentional calendar design and unstructured time for reflection and long-term thinking.
• How to focus on only three main priorities to prevent divided attention and achieve true productivity.
• The three ways leaders mishandle feedback and how to build a culture of real-time, conversational feedback.
• The importance of balancing flexibility with predictability in leadership decisions.

Standout Quotes:

• “We need enough predictability for people to feel stable and do good work, but we need enough flexibility to actually adapt to what’s happening around us.”- Joel [33:11]
• “Bosses need to have a philosophy about how to handle differences in performance in the team.”- Joel [49:12]

⇢ Get full show notes and more information here: https://bit.ly/JoelHilchey

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𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗧𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗻-𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁: www.kristenharcourt.com