66. Revolutionising Leadership Mind Over Grind from Dark Coffee

This week’s episode is with Anthony Vaughan (who prefers AJ), an out of the box, radical hybrid who is obsessed with all things entrepreneurship and employee experience.
A current 3x Founder, Startup Advisor, Executive and proud son, Anthony’s rise in the world of HR/Entrepreneurship is not typical. His focus and dedication to putting employees first drives him to help forever change the world of work, though!
AJ is currently working on a brand that will hopefully forever change the world of work, “The E1B2 Collective”, a collective of brands and practitioners designed to make substantial employee experience within the world of startups and small brands.
In this episode, the topic of leadership is discussed extensively, including how it is changing and adapting to suit less-traditional forms of working, Anthony’s background in entrepreneurship, and knowing your values.
Also discussed:
[1:28] Introduction to the episode
[2:33] Anthony’s background as an entrepreneur, thought leader, trail blazer. Starting a company at 19, how it affected him mentally, second business at 23 and the burnout that followed, upcoming projects
[7:30] HR, Anthony as a revolutionary leader that comes along to shake things up for the greater good. Not trying to be disruptive but trying to do something important, the concept of employee engagement (not for the tradition reason for having a positive effect on business)
[8:55] Al – studies have shown that when you prioritise wellbeing, results follow.
[10:03] We’re taught ‘business first, people second’ but when we prioritise wellbeing the rest follows, how people are taught the traditional methods and struggle to think outside of that and may sometimes put on a front
[13:06] Bringing more of yourself to work rather than having a separation, what’s unique about all of us is our set of skills, abilities and insights that we bring to the party
[14:00] Mentorship, how Anthony started business while Working two jobs, dropping out of university after being a footballer, suffering losses and the stressors of high-intensity work and trying to prove things to himself
[19:32] The struggle of figuring out leadership and only having a mentor, the effect of ego on leadership,  how leadership training is missing in HR generally because it’s focused on processes rather than people and not “How would I want my daughter/son/family to be treated?” and working back from there
[22:45] How the new style of HR needs to incorporate psychology, neuroscience and organisational psychology
[25:06] The rise of social media in Anthony’s early career and how this influenced burnout, how changing trends can influence business changes that might be unnecessary (“Staying in your lane”)
[33:14] Anthony’s experience with burnout and how it affected his ADD, discovering what burnout was, being a business owner and the pressures of outside influences, the idea of what an entrepreneur ‘should’ do and how that can negatively affect work
[40:00] The self-awareness that can come from experiencing burnout, educating people on alternatives to ‘hustle culture’
[50:25] Unpredictability of entrepreneurship and building a sustainable business, knowing what is important for you and your ideal lifestyle, what your values are
[59:17] Closing comments, Anthony’s podcasts and the differences between them, living paycheck to paycheck and how to think differently about job searching in terms of being a graduate, the value of networking
 
 
Anthony’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-vaughan-8ba8a8172
Twitter: https://twitter.com/E1B210
E1B2 podcast https://anchor.fm/anthony-vaughan7
Monday Anticipation podcast: https://anchor.fm/MondayAnticipation/episodes/Welcome-To-Monday-Anticipation-ecu6ic
 
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