Nic Bittle: Life and Leadership

Nic and Tarina jump into Nic’s book, Know This. Do That . Over three years, Nic collected written answers to three key questions from foremen and supervisors. He asked what they would like apprentices to know to be successful in their work. In this episode, they discuss the first chapter about building a career. Nic shares how it’s important to know the difference between having a career mindset v...

In this episode, Nic and Tarina explore how you to see yourself from moment to moment as a Struggler, Thinker, Doer, or Achiever and then give yourself what you need. They talk about Nic’s recent week of air travel and how after multiple delays (way more than normal) he identified his own Struggler Mindset. Tarina shares how she managed home and hearth in Nic’s absence—recognizing how both her Ach...

What The Achiever wants is teamwork. What The Achiever needs is a resource. Even if you cannot be a contributing member of their team, you might be able to provide them a resource. As Nic and Tarina discuss, how you talk with The Achiever matters—just like how you talk with the other mindsets. In this episode they also tie together the four mindsets. For example, Tarina may have The Achiever minds...

What The Doer wants is action. What The Doer needs is a sense of urgency. Perhaps you’ve seen the sign: “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” While that’s one way to handle The Doer, Nic and Tarina discuss the importance of managing the relationship with The Doer, rather than putting too much stock in the thing that needs to get done.  Listen for Nic’s...

“The Thinker” is anyone who struggles to make a decision. A confused mind says, “No.” When someone can’t make up their mind, a lot of foremen and parents make the mistake of making the decision for them. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about how when an individual is stuck or says “No,” it’s really a call for help. Nic tells the story about his son, at 5 years old, with an unlimited number of...

The hard part about being good with people is there’s no widely used framework. We are out doing our own thing or just winging it. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about the first of four mindsets that people exhibit when they receive new information or presented with a novel situation. The mindsets are not permanent or a personality types. These are a useful framework when communicating becau...

What role does emotion have in conversations? How important is communicating details? In this episode, Nic and Tarina resume their discussion about how to communicate and the challenges in doing it well. Nic shares his own best practices for reducing the heat in the moment, which might help avoid miscommunication. They echo the value of not making assumptions and asking clarifying questions. As th...

It’s a cliché to say that communication takes two to tango. As a leader, you can do better. In this episode, Nic and Tarina dive into what good communicators do that poor communicators tend to skip. One thing that sets good communicators apart is they ask good questions. And asking good questions is a practice. Only from a practice can the right skills develop—similar to becoming a good electricia...

In this episode, Nic interviews Clint Bailey, an electrician and 43-year member of the IBEW, "extremely supportive partner" to Heather, father of two adult children, and grandfather to four. This was the first interview Nic did as he was launching the podcast. It took place about eight months ago and Clint has since retired. Their conversation is caring, insightful, and humble. It’s as though you’...

People will never forget how you make them feel. Nic share’s a time in his life when McDonald’s was his office. He’d get his coffee and start the day’s work building his speaking business. On one occasion he got to watch an older couple show what it means to love and be loved. Today’s me-centric world with all its hustle and drive seems to have forgotten how to be human. Even in the middle of maki...

Timely and precise constructive criticism may only be timely to the one giving it. Nic and Tarina tell a story about Nic’s ice cream business and how their drive home from a catering job was colder than the ice cream in the three scoop sundaes. From this experience, they draw out many lessons learned. And Nic, true to form, shares his best practices for foremen and site leaders from his own real-w...

Eisenhower once said, “In planning for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” So, while planning may be indispensable, even the best plans don’t work out. Nic leads with a story about a fiasco in a movie theatre. Then he and Tarina talk about how COVID-19 derailed their plans to build a house. While they had to walk through a period of disappo...

Nic and Tarina are joined by their daughter, Elle. She shares how she got started making the Encouragement Cards and how this experience over the past 9 years has given her confidence in her gift of encouragement. It’s a special episode profiling Elle’s leadership as well as her courage to do what others may consider weird. Her example is living proof that small gestures—whether it’s encouragement...

In a world starved for appreciation, showing people you care makes a big difference. And it doesn’t take much. To give people encouragement means being aware and committing to a wholehearted courage to speak into their life. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about their daughter, Elle, and her Encouragement Cards. At 9 years old, Elle had a lemonade stand. In addition to ice cold lemonade, she...

Everyone at some point in their life faces challenges. Part of the job as leaders and parents is watching those we manage or care for struggle. Success is sweeter, though, when it is earned. We need to let people earn their success and not try to fix everything that’s painful. In this episode, Nic and Tarina discuss how owning anything starts with owning the work. This means the good, the bad, and...

What’s needed in the industry is for more men and women to become problem solvers. This is a learned mindset—which a lot of foremen believe they were born with. In this episode, Nic and Tarina share what they learned growing up, whether chopping cotton, babysitting, or waxing tractors. Hustle, drive, and work ethic were taught, and encouraged, from an early age. It’s this lived experience which de...

Good foremen are good communicators. And good communicators are good listeners. As Nic and Tarina discuss, to listen well is both active and purposeful. We listen with our ears for what’s being said and with our eyes for what’s not being said. While empathy is a dirty word in construction and trades, the pressure we all feel from time to time does need a release valve—before things blow up. Listen...

Trade and construction leaders are in the people business. Part of the job of the foreman, like a nurse, is to pay attention and care. It’s not simply about being the boss. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about how empathy and listening are skills everyone can learn—whether you’re on a job site, with your family, or helping someone feel beautiful. Nic shares a story about how one foreman used...

When things aren’t going according to plan, change is necessary. But change can be scary and hard. So we may resist it because we get stuck in thinking of only the big kinds of changes, which Nic talks about. Or we open ourselves to possibility and begin to see how a small shift is all it takes to achieve real results. In this episode, Nic and Tarina continue the conversation about needing to do h...

Muhammed Ali once said he didn’t start counting pushups until they started to hurt. The fact is we all face hard things in life and actively avoid pain—but it’s in doing the hard things where we grow the most. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about the importance of taking on the challenge of doing hard things as professionals, as parents, and personally. Whether it’s a cold plunge,...

Nic and Tarina discuss an experience Nic had one morning in a Las Vegas Spa. It’s not what you may think but revealing all the same. From his experience Nic discovered a life lesson about making assumptions and having courage. This light-hearted conversation shows the importance of paying attention for these self-leadership moments life unexpectedly throws at us.

No one enjoys having tough conversations. Most of us would you rather avoid them. Life and leadership will forever give us situations where we must address really hard stuff. Whether with a family member or a member of the team, it’s part of being human. In this episode, Nic and Tarina explore the art and heart of how to have a tough conversation. Nic shares some of the tools and techniques h...

Only once in a great while do we get an opportunity that can change our life forever. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about the time when Nic was asked to speak on the National Speakers Association (NSA) Main Stage in San Francisco. As one of the greatest honors in the industry, and a true once in lifetime opportunity, it can make or break a professional speaker’s chances of achieving re...

Almost everyone has a turning point in their life: a defining story which forces one to make a choice or choose a path. In this episode, Nic and Tarina unwrap a major turning point in their life. A simple accident with their one-year-old son leads them to make a tough, life-changing decision. These become the line in the sand for Nic, his career, and the health of his family.

Nic and Tarina tell the the story of how Nic got his start as a professional speaker in the construction industry. They discuss the ups and downs of breaking into a new career, how many times they wanted to give up, and how life and leadership proved harder than they imagined. Nic also shares a story of how two men gave him the greatest gift possible: an opportunity, which changed everyt...