The Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves with Mo Bunnell
- The Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves with Mo Bunnell Karl Staib 53:01
Join us for a conversation about overcoming psychological barriers as a leader. Mo Bunnell is the author Give to Grow and CEO of Bunnell Idea Group. One of my favorite parts of the interview was how we tell ourselves lies to avoid doing the hard project.
You can get the Magnetic Systems Guide (and other business system guides) to find issues before they become expensive problems.
Here’s a five-part summary highlighting the best ideas from the podcast interview:
1. The Power of Systems in Leadership and Relationship Building
Mo and Karl emphasized the importance of identifying and leveraging systems in both leadership and relationship development.Â
Using a “10x mindset”: Focus on providing value 10 times to build trust, expecting only one success out of ten efforts.
Balancing tasks: Leaders must manage the duality of “winning the work” (persuasive relationship-building) and “doing the work” (execution with precision).
The actionable insight: Approach Relationships with intentionality, structure, and clear processes to maximize effectiveness and impact.
2. Overcoming Psychological Barriers and the Five Lies
Mo shared the “Five Lies” that hinder relationship building. Leaders can use these insights to identify personal roadblocks and take actionable steps toward Growth.
3. Leading Through Emotional Awareness
Mo’s example of organizing a large-scale event revealed how labeling emotions (e.g., Stress, worry) can foster team collaboration.
By sharing his concerns openly with his team, he transformed stress into actionable solutions, leading to a successful event.
System Insight: Recognize emotions as indicators, articulate them to trusted collaborators, and use collective brainstorming to navigate challenges effectively.
4. Strategic Giving and Its Boundaries
The distinction between “successful givers” and “unsuccessful givers” lies in setting boundaries:
Successful givers say no to unnecessary demands and scale the size of their contributions relative to the expected impact.
Examples: Offering small, manageable assistance to lower-priority requests while reserving deeper engagement for high-impact relationships.
The core idea: Giving should be generous but sustainable, ensuring that it does not drain the giver’s energy or resources.
5. Leadership Bottlenecks and Business Growth
Mo introduced a four-box model to diagnose and address bottlenecks in business growth:
Solution: Ensure differentiation and ease of purchase.
Learn more about Mo Bunnell over at Bunnell Idea Group. You can also check out his book Give to Grow (Amazong Link). Connect with him on LinkedIn.Â
As always, if you have any questions or want to submit an amazing guest for the podcast, just reach out to me on the Systematic Leader website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Systematic Leader podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!
