“Fear and anger give bad advice.”

— Matt Mochary

Matt Mochary (@mattmochary) coaches the heads of top Silicon Valley tech investment firms and companies on how to be the best leaders and build the best organizations possible.  His philosophy and method are captured in both the Mochary Coaching Methodology (which is available as a free Google Doc) and in his book The Great CEO Within, which is available on Amazon and online (also as a free Google Doc).

As a former founder, CEO, and investor, Matt knows firsthand the challenges of those roles as well as solutions to the most commonly encountered problems. His coaching is not questions-only; there is real guidance. Matt specializes in helping CEOs and their companies (or investment firms) transition from freewheeling startups to dominant enterprises.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Athletic Greens’s AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and FreshBooks cloud-based small business accounting software.

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Want to hear an interview with another world-class coach? Listen to my first conversation with Jerry Colonna, in which we discuss being complicit in creating the conditions in life we don’t really want, nagging self-doubt, finding time for self-discovery, confronting the difficulty most of us have with saying “no,” acknowledging compassion from a distance, journaling, guilt versus remorse, and much more.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Connect with Matt Mochary:

Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

SHOW NOTES

Editor’s Note: Timestamps will be added shortly.

• Fear and anger give bad advice.
• Dispelling dating dread.
• The power of prediction.
• Next actions.
• Turning conversations into action items.
• Accountability for introverts and extroverts.
• What is Focusmate?
• Separating decision from implementation.
• Firing well.
• Effective and efficient recruiting.
• Getting honest feedback from past managers.
• The energy audit.
• Running effective and efficient meetings.
• Reducing and removing energy-depleting obligations from the calendar.
• Assistance with assistants.
• Why did Matt stop making documentaries?
• Why Matt’s building a startup.
• Rules, guide rails, and exit protocols.
• Downregulating anger and feeling the pain.
• Parting thoughts.

MORE MATT MOCHARY QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“Fear and anger give bad advice.”
— Matt Mochary

“When I coach someone, I become their manager, period, end of story. And if by the third meeting they feel more successful, more engaged, more empowered, then they know the system works. And it’s all written out, so they can just copy, paste, use with their team members, and then it works with their team members as well.”
— Matt Mochary

“In any organization, there’s a human that you are prioritizing. So if it’s a company, you’re probably prioritizing the customer. If it’s an investment firm, you’re probably prioritizing your LPs. If it’s your own personal life, you need to be prioritizing you.”
— Matt Mochary

“I find that generally, humans are not incompetent … they’re uninterested. But if you can find a place where they’re interested, suddenly they become very competent.”
— Matt Mochary

“I would say the most valuable thing about recruiting is first, learn how to fire well. And if you can do that, now the pressure is off, and you can take a little bit more chance on people you have intuition about that you really like, but maybe they’re inexperienced, maybe they’re young. And I find those people are often insanely good performers.”
— Matt Mochary

“Allow yourself to feel pain.”
— Matt Mochary

PEOPLE MENTIONED

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.