Scott Belsky, author of The Messy Middle The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture
Scott Belsky and Bill Ringle discuss the pitfalls to avoid and the practical tips for getting back on track for small business leaders.
Visit MyQuestforTheBest.com for complete show notes and more expert advice and inspiring stories to propel your small business growth. My Quest for the Best is a top-rated small business podcast with over 300 episodes of thought-provoking and insightful interviews with today’s top thought leaders and business experts. Host Bill Ringle’s mission with this show is to provide the strategies, insights, and resources that will unlock the growth potential of your business through these powerful conversations.
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Interview Insights
Top 3 Takeaways from this Interview
Self-awareness is the only sustainable competitive advantage in business.
Hardship brings your teams together and equips you to endure for the long haul.
Nobody wants to inflict pain on their team, but quick and controlled pain is better than a drawn-out infection.
Read the Show Notes from this Episode
Scott shares how he learned about his work ethic and personal empathy from his father, an orthopedic surgeon. [01:39]
He shares how his father's lessons had helped him when he was tired and unfocused as a young man. [2:49]
Shares his experience as he wrote The Messy Middle. [3:29]
He talks about the "relative joy of creating." [5:04]
How you define when you're in a Messy Middle and how you orient others that this is part of the project. [7:59]
What are some effective ways to harness that conviction when leading your teams? [10:13]
Scott imparts advice about dealing with the long game. [13:39]
How to effectively develop teams. [15:56]
The consequences of fake wins at the expense of hard truth, and how to move forward from it. [21:15]
How to deal with your team truthfully in the context of Elizabeth Holmes' very public, disastrous experience. [22:53]
How Scott leads organizational change. [26:27]
My Quest for the Best Lightning Round begins [28:50]
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Expert Bio