Rick Williams, author and host of the Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, joins Marcus Aurelius Anderson to talk about the decisions that shape leaders and the organizations they run. Rick traces his path from physicist at Itek to Harvard Business School, Arthur D. Little, and founding The Equity Company, and explains why leadership and management are two different skill sets. He shares the Johnson & Johnson story that shows why a junior employee has to feel safe saying something is wrong, the Casablanca lunch where he sketched Create the Future on the back of a placemat, and his call to stop racing 100 miles from Bermuda after his boat lost its backstay. Rick also talks about driving donated supplies from Warsaw to Kyiv and what most Americans miss about the war in Ukraine.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

6:57: Rick explains why leadership and management are two different skill sets, and why successful leaders need management skills plus the ability to set a vision and build trust.

15:01: Rick shares how a junior Johnson & Johnson employee caught mislabeled bottles before they shipped nationwide, and why that only happens in a culture where people feel safe saying something is wrong.

44:41: Rick describes the lunch in Casablanca where he turned over a placemat and wrote down the title and core idea of Create the Future, that the decisions you make today create your organization's future.

48:09: Rick walks through the Newport to Bermuda race where a failed backstay 100 miles from the finish forced him to choose between crossing the line and protecting his crew and boat.

Rick Williams is a keynote speaker, author, and board member who shares his experience as a scientist, management consultant, company founder, and CEO. After studying physics at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked on high-level optics and reconnaissance systems at Itek, then went on to Harvard Business School and spent more than ten years at Arthur D. Little before founding The Equity Company, an award-winning real estate investment and development company. Rick is the author of Create the Future: Powerful Decision-Making Tools for Your Company and Yourself and hosts the Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, a forum for leaders to share the tough decisions they have made for their organizations. He is also an offshore sailor who has raced from Newport to Bermuda, and he has helped drive donated supplies into Ukraine. Learn more at rickwilliamsleadership.com.

Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.