If you haven’t watched the Showtime show Billions, you’ve missed some brilliant television and more than a few critically important lessons. For instance, you’ve missed Wendy Rhodes, the power business coach to the show’s wall street masters of the universe.
Wendy is a performance coach for wall street traders including billionaire, Bobby Axelrod of Axe Capital.
Want some pearls of wisdom? How about:
“Get good at letting go, which is a different kind of freedom.”
- Are you spending time agonizing over the wrong issues? I get my clients to focus on and prioritize what is important and free themselves of unproductive issues which they can’t control or that are of little real import. The goal is to be more efficient, effective, and productive.
“If you’re successful enough, people think you can do anything, and then you start to believe it, too. It’s hard not to engage in a little magical thinking when everyone else is looking at you like you’re some combination of Warren Buffet and God above.”
- You’re not as good or infallible as you believe, and if you don’t understand that… you’re damaging yourself and you’re underperforming.
It’s not easy to do, but people are at their best when they feel appreciated.
- Many of my clients don’t feel appreciated. Oftentimes, leaders believe their job is to correct bad behavior and if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t require attention. Realize that when trains are running on time, there’s someone busting hump to meet a schedule. It is a motivator when you let the engineer know that she’s doing a great job. Let the team member in charge of the choo choo know you appreciate them empowering you to concentrate on things that need fixing.
It’s not about comp, but it is about value and growth. As in whether I’m still growing
- Compensation isn’t the prime human motivator. Research proves that people are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and mastery (another term for growth). Check out this post and video to understand more.
“An average trader makes a trade and feels good. A great trader makes a trade and feels nothing. As in be cold and act, don’t get hung up on emotion.”
- Ego and emotions can cloud rational decisions. It’s important to interrogate if you are making decisions with your head or your heart. A coach can help with that.
A fool doesn’t look at the downside but only a coward allows it to dissuade him from that which he knows he must do.
- Humans avoid risk to their detriment. Neuroscience studies show that humans will avoid risk with much more veracity than they will run towards a greater gain. Coaching helps a person rationally evaluate risk instead of allowing primal instincts to paralyze them from acting
That’s the problem with the real world, real people. We’re not computers with the software directing the hardware. We’re not rational actors.
- The belief that humans make logical decisions rationally is a trap. Humans make decisions with the same part of our brain that we share with reptiles (hence the term reptilian brain). Sure our frontal lobes gather information and feed it to that part of the brain… but ultimately decisions are made based on fear, a clear binary, and a black and white delineation of choices. I’d be happy to prove this to you in a complimentary coaching call. I am confident I can get you to make an illogical decision and we can evaluate why that happened.
The fictional billionaire, investment mogul, Bobby Axelrod hired Wendy Rhodes to ensure his team executes at optimum levels. In real life, top-performing business leaders hire coaches for themselves and their teams. Want to find out how that works? Try a complimentary coaching session by scheduling here:
