My Guest
In 1991, Rob co-founded imageOne, a managed print services business based in Oak Park, Michigan. Since then, imageOne has been recognized as a Top 25 Small Businesses in America on the list of Forbes Small Giants, an Inc. Magazine Best Places to Work, a National Best and Brightest Company to Work For, one of Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America, and a Positive Workplace by the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, among many other accolades.
Rob is also the author of the best-selling book, donothing, the most rewarding leadership challenge you will ever take, and the host of the Leading with Genuine Care podcast.
Our conversation today focuses largely on Rob’s newest book, Shine: How Looking Inward Is the Key to Unlocking True Entrepreneurial Freedom, which he co-authored alongside Gino Wickman, author of the widely-read Traction, the book that introduced the world to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (“EOS”).
Rob is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Small Giants Community, the Boys and Girls Club, former Chairman of the Boys and Girls Club Walk for the Future, and past President of the Detroit Chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
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Can Ambition and Inner Peace Coexist? With Rob Dube – In The Trenches
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Questions Asked
Introduction
- Walk us through the chronology of your career, including what led you to what you’re doing today
- How did you go from case study in Traction to co-authoring a book with Gino Wickman only 13 years later?
“Looking Inwards”
- Why do you think there is still such a dearth of business books related to how CEOs can better manage their inner worlds?
- Please summarize The Three Discoveries and The Ten Disciplines that form the foundation of your new book
- Tell us more about the third discovery: That a relentless sense of ambition can indeed co-exist with a deep sense of inner peace
- What do you mean by peace? If it’s not a lack of stress, self-doubt, or problems, what exactly is it?
- Your book suggests that there actually is no destination (an exit, a certain revenue goal, etc.), but that it’s all just a big, long journey. Can you please expand on this idea?
- Are entrepreneurs generally honest with themselves with respect to what is truly driving them and their desire to succeed?
- You say that all decisions are rooted in either love or fear. How do we know when we’re subconsciously making a fear-based decision? How do we make the unconscious, conscious?
- How do you feel about the recent explosion in online content purporting to help CEOs manage their energy and psychology? How do your thoughts on managing energy and psychology differ?
Small Business Entrepreneurship
- How much “armor” did you wear when dealing with your own management team and employees, and how has your stance changed on this over time? How vulnerable should CEOs be with their internal stakeholders?
- How might current CEOs better understand the truth of how they are currently “showing up” emotionally at work?
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Thanks to our Sponsors
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