JOHN MATTONE
Las Memorias conversadas® son historias de vida escritas en primera persona por Isa López Giraldo.
Mattone ha sido reconocido como maestro de coaching ejecutivo corporativo (MCEC) de la Asociación de Coaches Ejecutivos. Es uno de los 10 mejores pensadores del prestigioso premio liderazgo Thinkers50 y por su trabajo como consejero y coach de CEOs tanto de pequeñas y medianas empresas, como de grandes negocios globales.
Desde 2010 ha sido coach de alrededor de 250 líderes, incluyendo 25 CEOs globales ayudándoles a ser personas más fuertes, más efectivas y más cercanas. Steve Jobs fue uno de los grandes CEOs que eligieron a Mattone para el desarrollo de su estilo de liderazgo.
El método de Mattone para un Liderazgo Inteligente es uno de los 3 programas avanzados de desarrollo de liderazgo que cambian la vida.
- The first question I want to ask you is: who are you beyond what you do? In other words, who are you?
I would say that I’m most proud of my marriage, to my wife Gill of 41 years (she’s a registered nurse). And you know, my four kids who are now adults, I’m very proud of them and very proud of two grandchildren: one little guy who’s three and a half and another guy who’s ten month and another one coming next week.
When I look at my identity and how I define myself, I define myself more as that, then how I define what happen to me today. So, what do we do (my wife and I)? Well we love to work out, we do a lot of cycling: If we can’t cycle outside we typically go to the gym five days a week, when I’m not travelling.
My purpose in life which I didn’t really know until I was 55 is really just about providing a beautiful life for my family.
¡That’s it, that’s me!
- What advice do you consider is the most important to succeed as a person in life?
Well, and I talked about it today. I think humility and vulnerability are the most important things in life, because when you learn that embracing that value and living it, you also discover that the world opens up and you let other people in your life because you’re vulnerable; what ends up happening is that you get enriched by the people around you. Why? Because you’re pulling down barriers and you’ve made the decision to be vulnerable and I think, is not that you accept everybody’s perspective—so like when I do a speech, 99% of the people like what they hear, there’s always somebody out there saying “I don’t like it”— I’m always open to it ¡always! But we have a choice of feedback? To accept or reject it, but now I understand that if I reject it I might lose an important choice. I think to me when I started to recognize that was the key to growth as a person. Once you get that and you see it as not weak but courageous, now you got an answer to marital relationships, partner relationships, relationships in business.
I think that’s the key.
- And where have you found your inspiration to become so creative as a leader in your life?
I can’t answer that question. Um, no I can.
So, where has the inspiration come from? I would say that I have incredible role models in my parents both my mother and father (who are no longer with us). I grew up in a strong Italian, sort of like the Latin culture, oriented, big heart, passion. That’s how I grew up.
And you’re capable of achieving great things, you just got to. I had inspiration. My dad in particular was a respected air force guy, for many, many years, and he was a great leader in the air force and also a great speaker.
- ¡Like you are!
I appreciate that. But I think I got a lot from it, so I think that was the foundation of my inspiration.
I’m going to be honest with you. I met my wife at 15 we got married at 21 I went to high school with Gill. We dated since 15 and then we dated for 6 years, we actually grew up together.
- (People interrupt us in this moment) So, the last question. What are you thinking about right now?
I would say that um, I was really touched today with the opportunity to speak to so many great people, and thank you very much for this.
We didn’t spend much time but it was really enjoyable to meet you.
- Thank you so much.
SPEECH NOTES
“They want to be inspired, by your vision, by the essence of your soul”.
“Consider yourself a magnet…you want to attract greatness”.
“It’s the quality of questions that you got the courage to ask yourself and others”.
“We have a leadership gap”.
“You can’t have a bell-shaped curve in leadership”.
“Its not about the vision of the essence of the organization that you want to create…its about the vision of the essence of the organization that you must create. There’s a massive vision between those two”.
“The vision of the essence of the person and leader not that you want to become, who cares, its about the vision of the essence that you must become”.
“The essence of what leadership is, has very little to do with you”.
“I knew the reason I was not as successful as I could’ve been, it was because I was selfish…I was pursuing my dream, it was all about me”.
“Your mindset has got to be correct, it cannot be about you”.
“The journey that we walk everyday is not about us, the journey that we walk everyday is about touching hearts, minds and souls of the people around us”.
“We have a massive responsibility with the people around us, the make their life enriched”.
“Its about making a commitment and a recognition that we are not in the world alone”.
“If we make that decision it’s going to ignite growth…the decision is called being vulnerable”.
“Do you have the courage to say I do not have all the answers?”
“Having the courage to accept perspective and feedback is not being weak”.
“Talented leadership is possessing the courage to accept that something inside needs to be strengthened”.
“What ever values you have, will drive your behaviors”.
“You got to be an incredible communicator”
“Are you a role model of courage?”
“Character, courage, hard work and diligence”.
“I commit every single day to become the best that I can be”.
“Think differently, think big”.
“You’ve got to be proud of your strengths and the gifts that you bring to the world”.
“The ability to execute with courage, do not be afraid to disrupt, create new comfort zones, do not be afraid”.
“Execute with courage, with passion, with precision, with pride”.
“As you execute with courage, keep your eyes wide open”.
“As you act and move on the world, you impact”.
“If you don’t make the decision to be vulnerable, you cease to grow: its not a weak decision it’s a courageous decision”.
“I am privilege to touch the hearts, the minds, and the souls of my people”.
“Leadership is all about having a mindset of privilege”.
