Today I have the 2nd episode in my interview series on leadership, and it’s a great one. AmyK Hutchens is an incredibly accomplished speaker, author, trainer and business strategist. Her latest book, The Secrets Leaders Keep, is an Amazon bestseller, and it resonates with me on a lot of levels.
AmyK is a catalyst for producing sustainable solutions to a leader’s most pressing challenges, and more than 45,000 executives in nine countries have benefited from her keen insight and intuitive understanding of the issues leaders face.
Before entering the corporate world, AmyK was an elementary school teacher. As a student and then as a teacher, she was inspired by a 5th grade teacher to be curious and love learning.
“For everything that I do, whether it’s a corporate job or going out on my own, she taught me to be curious, and then she taught me how to help other students be curious, and that stayed with me.”
When AmyK was 14, her 5th grade teacher taught her the concept of guided choices. “Guided choices was really about giving people the freedom to explore their own passions.” It taught AmyK to follow her passion, identify where there is a need in the world, and identify the point at which her passion and that need intersect with her skillset.
A couple months ago, when AmyK was giving a talk, she was approached and asked why she gives so many of her tools away. Her answer? “Because I have so many more.”
“I could train and I could speak every single day until the day that i die, and I would still probably touch a very small percentage of the population on this planet. So, I just believe in playing bigger and finding a bigger stage, and sharing it.”
In The Secrets Leaders Keep, AmyK shares many secrets from the perspective of 14 leaders. She shared some of the most common secrets that we can all relate to and learn from:
AmyK helps entrepreneurs overcome Imposter Syndrome and The Comparison Condition: “Stay focused on your journey. Stay on your path, and know that you’re going to make mistakes, and everybody else is making mistakes too.”
“Every single day you need to wake up and say, ‘There is room for me in this world.’ I don’t need to be competitive, I don’t need to hoard, I don’t need to be filled with fear. There is room for my gifts and talents for me to play today.”
AmyK is the Queen of Questions, and she invented a business adage: “Change your thinking, change your behavior, change your result.” You can’t get a different result if you’re thinking in the same way, so it starts with thinking, “and the very best way to raise the level of critical thinking in a dialog is to ask the bigger, better, bolder question.”
AmyK shared some of her favorite questions:
AmyK discusses how, in 90 seconds, you can go from tight ass to triumphant. Start by taking a deep breath and honestly answering four questions:
AmyK’s next writing project is The Secrets that He Keeps. It’s not a self-help book, but a collection of fictional stories, similar to the stories in The Secrets Leaders Keep. “What we’re hoping is that men will read it so that they’re not so hard on themselves, and that women will read it so that they will be more understanding and have a depth of compassion in a relationship with their guy.”
“Have compassion and start asking questions.”
I had a blast speaking with the Queen of Questions, AmyK Hutchens, about leadership, learning and success. I highly encourage everyone to go out and pick up a copy of her book, The Secrets Leaders Keep.
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