9. Greg McKeown: The Essential Essentialist

Hello my friends, today I am so pleased to share with you a conversation I just had with Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times bestseller, Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Greg is an amazing thinker and teacher. He’s taught at companies that include Apple, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Linkedin, Semantic, Twitter, VMware, and he was recently named a young global leader by the World Economic Forum. He just moved to southern California. He’s got four kids. He has an MBA from Stanford University. He is truly wise beyond his years. In this conversation, he shares about a lot of things including culture; he says it’s the one thing you can’t lie about it in an organization, talks about leadership, things that he’s learned in his career as a consultant and as an advisor to some of the world’s leading companies. Talks about we’re always leading all the time. He gives some insight into how to do that more effectively. He breaks down, of course, the philosophy of the essentialist, which I will leave it to you to hear directly from him, but he talks about it as a contrast to the default setting. For almost everyone who is non-essentialist. He talks about developing the gift of discernment, filling your mind with light, the power and value of thinking. I love one of the things he says when you’re reading, you’re thinking with someone else’s mind, so we explore a bit of time talking about books, how to choose them, how to make the most of them. Greg talks about the power of cumulative consistency, celebrating what’s right, and he also talks about creating residual streams of goodness. So I’m so excited for you to hear this conversation. If you haven’t read Essentialism, I highly recommend you do. There were about a half dozen people who told me how much it had impacted them before I finally got around to reading it myself. If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll find many great ideas that you’ll love and I think you’ll love this conversation. So, with no further words for me, please enjoy my conversation with Greg McKeown. Greg, welcome to the School for Good Living Podcast. SUMMARY 00:05:43 – Touring with Beauty and the Beast. 00:07:28 – Lessons learned traveling around America. 00:10:55  – Everyone has a certain leadership skill. 00:17:06 – A big question. 00:24:00 – Putting your all into a failed business plan. 00:29:02 – How can we get clear? 00:35:51 – Greg’s journaling. 00:39:52 – The gift of discernment. 00:45:44  – Advice on reading the best books. 00:57:12   –  How do you live essentialism where you have limited control? 01:04:22  – Lightning round of questions. 01:27:17 – Anticipating the success of your book. 01:39:46 – People don’t buy what they need–they buy what they want. 01:50:36 – Writing words of encouragement. LINKS – (In order of appearance)Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeownBeauty and the Beast touring showEO, The Entrepreneurs OrganizationThe Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by Michael SingerJohn Adams, by David McCulloughJenkin Lloyd Jones Quote about what life is like.The Book of MormonThe Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul GawandeAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyChicken Soup for the Soul7 HabitsLife’s Best Practices Guided Coaching ProgramThe post 9. Greg McKeown: The Essential Essentialist first appeared on School for Good Living Podcasts.