Coaching for Leaders

David Yeager: 10 to 25

David Yeager is a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the cofounder of the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute. He is best known for his research conducted with Carol Dweck, Angela Duckworth, and Greg Walton on short but powerful interventions that influence adolescent behaviors such as motivation, engagement, healthy eating, bullying, stress, mental health, and more. He is the author of 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Older generations have been complaining about younger generations for all of recorded history. Today is no different, and I often hear how leaders are struggling with motivating their younger employees. In this conversation, David and I explore the most recent research and practice for what actually works.

Key Points

Older generations have been complaining about younger generations for all of recorded history. Often, our complaints are the result of our own past experiences.

Many leaders experience the mentor’s dilemma: being nice and putting up with poor performance, or being critical and demanding higher performance.

Status and respect for a young person are as critical as food and sleep to a baby. When satisfied, they can open up much better motivation and behavior.

The mentor mindset embraces both high standards and high support for the young person you wish to motivate. Because this is a mindset, you can absolutely get better at it.

When giving feedback to a young person, acknowledge the high standard you are setting and also tell the young person that you believe they can meet that standard.

Young people have often experienced a lot of “enforcing” behavior from parents, teachers, and coaches. They assume this in the workplace if you don’t make a point to say otherwise.

Resources Mentioned

10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Challenge Directly and Care Personally, with Kim Scott (episode 302)

How to Reduce Drama With Kids, with Tina Payne Bryson (episode 310)

How to Solve the Toughest Problems, with Wendy Smith (episode 612)

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In this episode, Dave shares the five things that he sees most commonly get in leaders’ ways:

Not asking for help.

Assuming knowledge drives behavior.

Setting the tactical bar too high.

Feeling worse before feeling better.

Not noticing any improvement.

Linda Hill: Genius at Scale

Linda Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School. Globally recognized as a top leadership and innovation expert, Linda has been named by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s top five management thinkers. She is the co-author, along with Emily Tedards and Jason Wild, of Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation (Amazon, Bookshop)*

We all want to think of ourselves as innovative, but it’s often not easy to know exactly what that means in practice. In this conversation, Linda and I explore what her research shows that leaders do to drive innovation successfully – and how each of us can get just a bit better.

Key Points

Rather than coming up with a vision and asking people to follow it, innovation is about creating the culture and capabilities to create the future together.

Innovation leadership shows up in three ways within organizations: the Architects, the Bridge Builders, and the Catalysts.

Instead of setting the stage for themselves, innovative leaders set the stage for others.

Often, we view horizontal relationships through the lens of organizational politics. The most effective innovation leaders view these relationships as leadership opportunities.

Traditional team structures are a starting point, but not an ending point. Leaders at Mastercard, Pfizer, and Cleveland Clinic all brought in team members from both inside and outside the organization.

Rather than thinking about a decision as final, it’s helpful for innovation leaders to frame it as a “working hypothesis.”

Resources Mentioned

Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation by Linda Hill, Emily Tedards, and Jason Wild (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

How to Build an Invincible Company, with Alex Osterwalder (episode 470)

The Way Innovators Get Traction, with Tendayi Viki (episode 512)

Doing Better Than Zero-Sum Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne (episode 641)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Academy alum Marisol Bello of The Housing Narrative Lab joins Dave to share how she made the shift from command and control to serve and support.

Are you at an inflection point? Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy are open until Friday, March 20th. Visit the Coaching for Leaders Academy page to apply.