Olivia: A Harvard study tracked CEOs for over a decade and found they spend 72% of their workweek in meetings. That’s 37 meetings a week. It’s not leadership; it’s quicksand. And today, we’re talking about how to get out. Jackson: Seventy-two percent! That's just staggering. That’s not leading, that's just… surviving. It feels like you're swimming as hard as you can, but you're not actually going anywhere. Olivia: You’ve just perfectly described the central problem Mark Miller tackles in his book, Smart Leadership: Four Simple Choices to Scale Your Impact. What's fascinating is that Miller isn't some distant academic; he's the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A. He started there as an hourly worker over 40 years ago. Jackson: Wow, so he's lived this from the ground up. This isn't just theory from an ivory tower. He’s seen a company grow from 75 stores to a $17 billion giant. Olivia: Precisely. And this book, which has been widely acclaimed by readers for its practicality, is different from his others. It's less of a leadership fable and more of a direct, practical guide based on four simple choices he identified through years of research into what the most effective leaders do. Jackson: Okay, I'm intrigued. If we're all stuck in this quicksand of meetings and emails, what's the first step out?

Olivia: Well, the first of the four Smart Choices is probably the hardest. It’s to Confront Reality. Miller opens the book with a fantastic analogy from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Remember the scene with the Holy Grail? Jackson: Oh, of course. The villain grabs the flashiest, most ornate golden chalice, drinks from it, and then ages into dust in seconds. Olivia: Exactly. And the old knight just looks on and says that iconic line: "He chose... poorly." Indiana Jones, on the other hand, picks the simple cup of a carpenter. He chose wisely. Miller argues that leadership is a series of choices just like that, and most of us are drawn to the flashy, easy-looking options, not the real ones. Jackson: That makes sense. But "confront reality" sounds a bit harsh. If my reality is that my project is failing or my team is struggling, isn't it better to stay optimistic and just tell everyone to work harder? A little hope can be a powerful motivator. Olivia: It can, but Miller would argue that hope without honesty is just delusion. He tells this incredible, almost painful story from his research. A leader he was coaching wanted to take on a big new project. Miller asked him, "How's your current performance?" And the leader said, "Oh, it's pretty good." Jackson: The classic "pretty good." I've definitely used that line when I don't want to look at my credit card statement. Olivia: We all have! But Miller pushed him and asked, "What does the data say?" The leader went quiet, pulled up the report, and confessed that on his team of thirty people, his own performance was ranked dead last. Number thirty. Jackson: Ouch. That is a tough pill to swallow. So the idea is that you can't fix a problem you refuse to even see clearly. You can't navigate out of the woods if you won't admit you're lost. Olivia: That’s it exactly. Miller quotes the former CEO of Herman Miller, Max DePree, who said, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality." It’s not about being pessimistic. It's about having an accurate map before you start the journey. Otherwise, you’re just running faster in the wrong direction, sinking deeper into that quicksand. Jackson: Okay, so I've confronted my grim reality. I'm in the quicksand, and my performance is last on the team. I've accepted it. Now what? I can't just sit there and wallow in the brutal facts.

Olivia: This is where the next choices create a powerful engine to pull you out. The third and fourth Smart Choices are to Fuel Curiosity and Create Change. Miller argues that the reason great companies and great leaders fail is that they stop being curious. They get complacent. Jackson: Right, the classic cautionary tales. Kodak, which actually invented the digital camera, was so afraid of disrupting its film business that it buried the technology. And Blockbuster famously had the chance to buy Netflix for a tiny fraction of what it's worth now, but they just laughed them out of the room. Olivia: They weren't just business failures; they were failures of curiosity. They stopped asking, "What if?" They stopped wondering what the future could look like. They were drinking from a stagnant pool of their own past success. Jackson: A stagnant pool. I like that. So what's the alternative? Olivia: Miller tells this beautiful story about a professor he admired, Howard Hendricks. Hendricks had been teaching the same subject for over twenty years, but Miller would see him in the library studying late into the night. Finally, he asked him, "Prof, don't you have this all figured out by now?" Jackson: Yeah, you'd think he could just reuse his old notes. Olivia: That's what Miller thought. But the professor looked at him and said, "Son, I made a decision years ago that I would rather have my students drink from a running stream than a stagnant pool." Jackson: Wow. That gives me chills. A running stream versus a stagnant pool. That’s the whole mindset, isn't it? To always be learning, always be flowing with new ideas, so what you offer others is fresh and alive. Olivia: It is. And that directly powers the final choice: Create Change. Curiosity gives you the vision for what could be. It shows you the blueprint for a better future. But 'Create Change' is the choice to actually pick up the tools and build it. It’s what separates a dreamer from a leader. Jackson: So it's the action that follows the insight. Olivia: Yes. And it doesn't have to be a massive, world-changing action at first. Miller uses the story of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, the "Miracle on Ice." They were a bunch of college kids going up against the Soviet Union's team, which was this seemingly invincible, professional machine that had dominated the sport for decades. Jackson: They were the ultimate underdogs. No one gave them a chance. Olivia: Absolutely not. But their coach, Herb Brooks, made a choice to create change. He changed their strategy, he changed their conditioning, but most importantly, he changed their mindset. He made them believe they could win. He confronted the reality that they were outmatched in skill, but he fueled their curiosity about a different way to play the game, and then he drove them to create that change on the ice. And they won. They created a future that no one thought was possible.

Jackson: So it's a cycle, then. You can't create meaningful change without a vision for a better future. And you can't get that vision if you're not curious. But none of it even matters if you're lying to yourself about where you're starting from. Olivia: That's the entire framework of Smart Leadership. It’s a virtuous cycle. Confront Reality to get your bearings. Fuel Curiosity to see a new, better destination. And finally, make the choice to Create Change to actually start the journey. It’s not about a grand, one-time transformation. It's about these small, continuous, smart choices. Jackson: It feels so much less overwhelming when you put it that way. The pressure isn't to 'be a perfect leader tomorrow.' It's just to 'make one better choice today.' Olivia: Exactly. And that's the power of it. The book is so highly-rated because it feels achievable. It’s a practical roadmap, not an impossible ideal. It reminds us that leadership isn't a title you're given; it's a choice you make, over and over again. Jackson: So the question for everyone listening is: which of these choices do you need to make first? Are you avoiding a difficult reality, or have you let your curiosity become a stagnant pool? Olivia: A perfect question to reflect on. And a powerful place to start. Jackson: We'd love to hear your thoughts. Find us on our socials and let us know which 'Smart Choice' resonates most with you, or if you've ever had a 'running stream' moment. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.