Kick-A$$ with Klaas Podcast

In this episode, we explore the power (and opportunity) of showing up, even when we don't want to. We'll lean upon the lesson of NFL coach Bill Parcells and his line, 'availability is the best ability' as it sets the tone for the power of showing up for opportunities, keeping our mouths shut as we assess before we speak and pushing conversations forward by saying the things that need to be said.

Maybe this is the scientific proof we needed that shows the correlation between good deeds and good performance at work. Last week, Green Bay Quarterback Jordan Love dominated social media two days before he dominated the Dallas Cowboys. But why? Because in the middle of a Wisconsin blizzard and just two days before the biggest game of his career, he was found pulling over to help a stranger push...

Despite traditional perception, 'It's a Wonderful Life' is a dark movie.   It's the story of a man seeped in bitterness, resentment, and jealously. He's known to fly into fits of rage. Though a father, husband, and community leader, he thinks the world would be better had he never been born. Ultimately, he attempts suicide. Interestingly, the movie's star, Jimmy Stewart was also struggling in his...

Did you ever consider the striking parallels between Aaron Rodgers’ injury, the sudden crash of the in the New York Jets' 2023 season, and hero to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Achilles? Well, I did and in today’s episode, we’re exploring how vulnerabilities impact success. We’ll also discover crucial strategies for enduring triumph. From guarding against overconfidence to making strategic...

What is failure? By definition, it's 'omission of performance'. Over the last 4 and a half years, one of the formerly best golfers in the world experienced a lot of failure. But then a funny thing happened, life started bringing a lot of success to Rickie Fowler and it's here that we can start to see the lessons of how we perform when performance in one area is struggling but the demands of anothe...

It’s easy to get trapped in the woulda, coulda, shoulda's of life, especially when times don’t go as we would have hoped. A relationship scarred, a job lost, an opportunity missed. The list could go on and on and unfortunately, so does our head: I shoulda done __ different I coulda done __ different I woulda done __ different It’s not that self-critique isn't important, it is. The danger i...

Season (and series) finale of the fantastic Ted Lasso is out and we've got some thoughts. What is the theme of Ted Lasso? Are we boxing in the lessons of Lasso to just that of one-liners on leadership? If you ask me, the genius of Ted Lasso is due to the exploration of friendship and how when friendships are former, vulnerability is explore. Where vulnerability is acted, grace is received. Where g...

The moment you take on a leadership position, you are granted two unique powers: AUTHORITY and ACCESS. How you utilize each will define your leadership style. In today's episode, we're exploring the unique powers and burdens that all new leaders carry. What is Authority? Is it good or bad? What is access? Who and what makes it valuable as a leadership asset?  This is season 3 and we coul...

Despite traditional perception, 'It's a Wonderful Life' is a dark movie.   It's the story of a man seeped in bitterness, resentment, and jealously. He's known to fly into fits of rage. Though a father, husband, and community leader, he thinks the world would be better had he never been born. Ultimately, he attempts suicide. Interestingly, the movie's star, Jimmy Stewart was also struggling in his...

'Just Keep Swimming', perhaps one of the most popular lines in all of film from the last 20 years. As we work through another month of difficult economic conditions as well as witness another 46,000 people lose their jobs in the month of November alone, there's no better time than to revisit the lessons of a naive fish with short-term memory loss. On this episode of the Kick a$$ w/Klaas podcast, w...

Winter is coming and your job change is going to be much longer and colder than you expect. So, add another item to the list of things you should have started...yesterday: taking action on your job and career transition. While we hear & see success stories of folks making rapid fire job transitions, on average it takes approx. 5-6 months to land a new role. Consider that overnight,  some of the bi...

For an athlete, each passing year is one step closer to their professional irrelevance. They say the worst thing you can give an athlete is a birthday card. In our corporate careers, we assume our paths are quite the opposite. In fact, we're told (directly or indirectly) that each year of experience is another notch on the belt, boasting time in chair as a natural rise in our level of expertise, c...

What does President Lincoln, Impostor Syndrome, Talent Assessment, and Top Gun Maverick all have to do with one another? In today's episode we're exploring two psychological phenomenons, 'Impostor Syndrome' and the 'Dunning-Kruger Effect'. Each present unique barriers for personal and professional growth. We're kicking it off with a great line from our 16th President:  ' Every man is proud of...

Can you respect someone, like your boss or your team member, who hasn't earned it? Should you? A core ingredient in all healthy relationships is showing a certain level of respect without the bottleneck of asking someone to earn it. That's because respect is, and should be, more than just the definition of admiration as we traditionally think of it. In this episode of the Kick-a$$ w/Klaas podcast,...

Spend enough time on water and eventually, you'll experience sinking! It's a frightening event and if you consider your company culture like a boat carrying your people, then it's all the more reason to ensure that you don't have a sinking vessel on your hands that's putting you, your people, and the growth of your business at risk.  In today's episode, we explore what culture is as it pertains to...

Effort will be rewarded, but that doesn't always mean the reward is what we had intended or equal to the effort which we put in. To help understand this more, we'll dig-in to the complicated equation of effort vs. reward and how our environments, and definitions can complicate the two. We'll also explore how (although fictional) a fighter like Rocky Balboa attacked his goals with clarity on what w...

Humble leadership is all the rage but the danger anytime a new model, theory, or methodology gains traction or attention, is that it can quickly become more catchphrase or idea, than actual mode of delivery. When that happens, we can miss out on what type of impact something like humble leadership can provide, or worse, we can fail to recognize it when we see it. In the latest episode of the Kick-...

For many, our Fathers  are our first (super) heroes. Yet, somewhere between the end of  childhood and the temptation of independence, there comes a point where  the fantasy ends. We depend less upon others and more on ourselves. In  doing so, our egos make tragic heroes of us all: virtuous, noble, but  ultimately handcuffed by flaws which lead to our downfall. During this  rise and fall, there are...

Episode 14 of the Kick a$$ w/Klaas podcast and we're taking a bath! Not in the literal sense but the cleansing of the mind is attributed to a different type of immersive experience: Forest Bathing. Long touted by Japanese culture as a way to combat the negative health effects of overwork, Shinrin-Yoku, as Forest Bathing is known in Japan, is thankfully making its way to our shores and the timing c...

Episode 13 of the Kick a$$ w/Klaas podcast and we're getting mindful. Just like the popular HiiT workouts, which maximize cardiovascular conditioning through micro but intense physical exertion sessions, an abbreviated but focused mindfulness effort can spark creative vision in the workplace. Studies have found that the practice of meditation prior to business meetings, broadens organic idea devel...

Episode 12 of the Kick A$$ w/Klaas Podcast and we're talking about performance super-foods! There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of, 'advice is easy  to give but hard to take.' Which may lead one to believe that if advice is so easily cast around and our ability to act on it is so  difficult, then why are we asking for it at all? Because of this, we ask for feedback....

Episode 11 of the Kick Ass w/Klaas podcast and we're talking frogs, princes and the 4 reasons that great talent fails! We've all been there, attracted to potential but married to disappointment. In our careers or relationships, we ignore red flags and trust that our influence or talent alone can resolve a 'work in progress'. But if the here and now is stalling your own potential, then we're foolin...

New year, new season, new themes but the same motto: You don't have to be an ass to Kick Ass!  This week, we're talking about the curious case of loosing cultures and how even elite talent is subject to its losing environment. Matthew Stafford, a lovable loser who in just one year, forever changed the fate of his reputation. Aaron Rodgers, a pursuer of perfection but dismantled by the errors...

Episode 9 of the Kick Ass w/Klaas podcast is up and we're diving into the lessons from my favorite holiday film, 'It's a Wonderful Life'.  Even as a kid, I was drawn to its mix of innocence and haunting. As an  adult, I've only grown to appreciate and learn from it even more. Yet  despite traditional perception, 'It's a Wonderful Life' is a very dark  movie. The story of a man...

Episode 8 of the Kick Ass w/Klaas Podcast is up and while a little belated, we're taking a little history trip to Plymouth colony and what we can learn from the early Pilgrims as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.  Who were the Pilgrims? Zealots, heroes, or something in between? Just like we consume ourselves on Thanksgiving with turkey and pie, we can just as easily consume  ourselves with th...