Nic Bittle: Life and Leadership – Details, episodes & analysis

It’s autumn and football season and Tarina is happy with the change of season. This means making sliders for the Crusaders football team.

Nic and Tarina continue their discussion on his book, Know This Do That. First up to bat is the need for apprentices to eliminate the phrase, “I know.” Why? It’s important to demonstrate humility and coachability. Even if you to do know, listen for Nic’s suggestion for how to respond when asked, “Do you know how to do this?”

“No one accomplishes anything great alone,” says Nic’s mentor, Mark LeBlanc. Tarina shares how a coach kicked her out of high school basketball practice for talking back. This proved a transformational moment in her life, helping her make better choices. Nic’s gratitude for the mentors he’s had in his life is worth the listen.

Great mentors go beyond the hard skills of the trade. Great mentors focus on building on your smart skills, the knowledge and ability to navigate difficult relationships, the right things to say, and showing up on time. If you’ve got a decade or more experience, then find someone to be a mentor to.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

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 🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

Nic shares the quote: “Margin is the space between your load and your limits.” And Tarina illustrates it with the two-lane highway and the space along the side of the road. It’s a buffer in your schedule, your heart, and your capacity. It’s room for error.

In this episode, they talk about Chapters 8-11 of Nic’s book, Know This Do That. The negative question a lot of people to ask themselves sound like, “Why does the coach hate me?” The positive version soundS like, “What can I do to getter better, faster, stronger?” It’s about taking responsibility for your actions and not blaming anyone or anything.

“You are where you are because of the decisions you’ve made.” Just because you weren’t born into a Big Oil family doesn’t give you permission to make excuses or not fly commercial. To paraphrase Confucius, the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is today.

This episode is about four things that will help you grow into becoming a high-value employee. You make not like the answers Nic and Tarina give, but they are true and practical. As Nic shares, we all have the same job: It’s to solve problems. Solving problems is the pathway to being more valuable. We all choose our path, our mindset, and how we talk to ourselves.

Someone smart enough to apply these insights will be happier and do bigger and better work. Why? Because it’s what’s needed. Because it works.  

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

What The Doer wants is action. What The Doer needs is a sense of urgency. Perhaps you’ve seen the sign: “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” While that’s one way to handle The Doer, Nic and Tarina discuss the importance of managing the relationship with The Doer, rather than putting too much stock in the thing that needs to get done. 

Listen for Nic’s “Rule #2.” You know you’ve handle the relationship right with The Doer when she says to herself, “I called the right guy.” For most people, The Doer is a temporary mindset just like The Struggler and The Thinker. When you’re working with your spouse or your foremen and they have a list of things that need to get done right now, take a moment to seek clarity on the deliverables and the timeline. Nic’s framework for better communication does not take a lot of time, but it does require a higher level of awareness and patience.

When we pause, we increase our ability to curb our knee-jerk attitude and we demonstrate that we care. We show that what’s important to The Doer and is important to us.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

“The Thinker” is anyone who struggles to make a decision. A confused mind says, “No.” When someone can’t make up their mind, a lot of foremen and parents make the mistake of making the decision for them. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about how when an individual is stuck or says “No,” it’s really a call for help.

Nic tells the story about his son, at 5 years old, with an unlimited number of options, was trying to pick out a treat at the gas station. A perfect picture of the second mindset: The Thinker. But, as Nic reflects, if you take away the choice from The Thinker, you rob them of the joy that comes from making a decision. Choices are real and personal—and because The Thinker wants to make the right decision, helping them achieve clarity is an act of kindness. Unfortunately, impatience leads many to make The Thinker feel stupid rather than walk them, in the moment, through the process.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

The hard part about being good with people is there’s no widely used framework. We are out doing our own thing or just winging it. In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about the first of four mindsets that people exhibit when they receive new information or presented with a novel situation. The mindsets are not permanent or a personality types. These are a useful framework when communicating because they can give insight into where the other person—and even yourself—is coming from.

Nic and Tarina build on their previous podcasts about communication. As a foreman or site manager, this framework offers you curbs and gutters as you seek understanding before being understood. Like a lot of things in your trade, a framework is a tool you use to do the job of communicating better. Whether you’re a foreman or a parent, you step into our Boulder Bag with suspenders so you have on-hand the approach you need to help solve the right problem, not just what you think the problem is.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

What role does emotion have in conversations? How important is communicating details? In this episode, Nic and Tarina resume their discussion about how to communicate and the challenges in doing it well. Nic shares his own best practices for reducing the heat in the moment, which might help avoid miscommunication.

They echo the value of not making assumptions and asking clarifying questions. As they talk about, the mistake a lot people make is not pausing. You’re a better foreman, speaker, or parent, if you take a breath and learn to be comfortable with a bit of silence. Listening is a clear sign to others that you care and it also gives you time to verify what you’ve heard.  As Nic has said in previous episodes, much of what he shares comes from mistakes he’s made. 

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

It’s a cliché to say that communication takes two to tango. As a leader, you can do better. In this episode, Nic and Tarina dive into what good communicators do that poor communicators tend to skip. One thing that sets good communicators apart is they ask good questions. And asking good questions is a practice. Only from a practice can the right skills develop—similar to becoming a good electrician, plumber, or carpenter.

They also talk about how good communicators seek clarification—which is just another way of being curious and not making assumptions. While foremen and site leaders are very skilled in their trade, good communication is often seen as a “soft skill” and automatic. As Nic points out, the next best step may be to slow down, pace the conversation, or take a pause. Ultimately, though, just because you’re talking doesn’t mean you’re communicating. As a leader, it’s on you to seek understanding before being understood.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

In this episode, Nic interviews Clint Bailey, an electrician and 43-year member of the IBEW, "extremely supportive partner" to Heather, father of two adult children, and grandfather to four. This was the first interview Nic did as he was launching the podcast. It took place about eight months ago and Clint has since retired. Their conversation is caring, insightful, and humble. It’s as though you’re just sitting in on two men discussing how to live and lead with empathy and integrity. Heartfelt, honest, and vulnerable—Nic and Clint recognize the challenges and opportunities leaders fathers, and husbands have in today’s world.

Clint Bailey is a licensed journeyman electrician, BICSI registered Communications Distribution Designer, Certified NICET Level II Fire Alarm Technician, Certified State of Iowa Electrical Examining Board CEC Instructor, 20 Year IBEW/NECA Apprenticeship Instructor, and 10 Years managing a limited energy division in Des Moines for Commonwealth Electric of the Midwest.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

People will never forget how you make them feel. Nic share’s a time in his life when McDonald’s was his office. He’d get his coffee and start the day’s work building his speaking business. On one occasion he got to watch an older couple show what it means to love and be loved. Today’s me-centric world with all its hustle and drive seems to have forgotten how to be human. Even in the middle of making a living, making a life worth living is about creating real connections with people.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

Timely and precise constructive criticism may only be timely to the one giving it. Nic and Tarina tell a story about Nic’s ice cream business and how their drive home from a catering job was colder than the ice cream in the three scoop sundaes. From this experience, they draw out many lessons learned. And Nic, true to form, shares his best practices for foremen and site leaders from his own real-world mistakes and errors in judgment. Ultimately, there has to be a standard on how the work gets done, but nothing replaces treating people with respect. This episode was recorded on a fishing trip with the family.

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🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.