On this episode of The Playbook Podcast, Ken Eslick and Onika Kwatsha cut through the noise and get to the core engine of human drive: the Six Human Needs. Your ability to lead others is a direct reflection of your ability to lead yourself. This discussion is about understanding your subconscious strategy for fulfillment and uncovering the 'why' behind your hardest decisions.

We dive deep into the six needs, which include four needs of the personality and two needs of the spirit. Our goal is to give you the blueprint to align your personal needs with your professional vision so you can stop managing and start leading to your full potential.

We discuss:

• The paradox of Certainty and Uncertainty (or Variety) and how they drive our behavior.
• The tension created when prioritizing needs like Significance and Certainty over Growth or Love and Connection.
• How to differentiate between chasing significance versus genuine contribution.
• Strategies for leaders to approach team dynamics and difficult conversations from a place of Love and Connection.
• The wisdom of Tony Robbins: “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with”.

• 00:00-01:49 | Introduction & The Core Problem: Why understanding your core needs is the missing layer in leadership.
• 01:50-04:29 | Defining the Six Needs: Detailed definitions of Certainty, Uncertainty/Variety, Love & Connection, Significance (the four needs of the personality), and Contribution and Growth (the two needs of the spirit).
• 04:30-08:09 | Personal Wiring & Self-Awareness: Ken's experience with top needs of Significance and Certainty and why awareness can lead to quick behavioral change.
• 08:10-14:49 | Significance & Connection in Leadership: The difference between a high need for Significance met through contribution versus destruction. Building a reciprocal work relationship from a place of Love and Connection.
• 14:50-18:09 | Handling Difficult Conversations: Grounding yourself in care and connection when conducting difficult performance discussions.
• 18:10-24:24 | Applying the Needs to Team Coaching: Coaching team members by appealing to their specific needs, such as appealing to Certainty through activity in sales. Blending the needs with behavioral assessments.
• 24:25-28:40 | Focusing on Growth & Top Two Needs: The necessity of Growth and why focusing on the relationship between your two highest needs is the key to aligning your life.
• 28:41-End | Conclusion & Key Quote: Final thoughts on embracing uncertainty.

• Email: ken@theleaderslab.co
• Book a call with us: https://ken-2xppm4iy.scoreapp.com/

Tony Robbins Quote for the Audience:

“The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with”.

FREE TEST: https://6-human-needs.sfwalker.com/en

#LeadershipDevelopment #HumanNeeds #CoreDrivers #SelfAwareness #TonyRobbins #BusinessLeadership #Entrepreneurship #GrowthMindset #TheLeadersLab #ThePlaybookPodcast #Significance #Contribution

On this episode of The Playbook Podcast, host Ken Eslick is joined by former NFL Linebacker, speaker, and coach, Anthony Trucks.

Anthony Trucks shares the raw, emotional journey from a child in foster care to a professional athlete, detailing the exact internal pivot that changed his trajectory. This conversation is a blueprint for radical ownership, directly addressing the Founders and Enterprise Leaders who feel caught in the "cycle of diminishing returns" and whose companies are overly dependent on them.

Anthony explains why his only belief was in the opposite—the certainty that if he did nothing, he would not be great —and how he channeled that fear into Dark Work. Learn why true self-mastery is about building a "Dominator's Identity" that dominates the weaker version of yourself and how taking ownership ("I am the common denominator in all of my problems" ) is the best gift a leader can receive for achieving maximum valuation and a smooth transition.

• [00:01:00] The early life: From being given away at three years old to enduring abuse and instability in the foster care system.
• [00:08:00] Finding stability and a new identity: The adoption that created the emotional room to pursue something new (football).
• [00:13:00] The Catalyst: The moment a peer rationalized her circumstance and Anthony committed to controlling his own destiny .
• [00:17:00] Defining Motivation: Why the belief in the opposite of what you want is the most powerful anchor against quitting.
• [00:21:00] The Power of "Dark Work": How Anthony's commitment to preparation led to an internal shift—"I have done too much work in the dark to lose in the light".
• [00:23:00] The Dominator’s Identity: Exerting control over the weaker version of yourself to be a better spouse, leader, and person.
• [00:30:00] College, the NFL, and the Fog: Navigating life after football and falling into a dark place.
• [00:33:00] The Ultimate Gift: The realization that "I am the common denominator in all of my problems".
• [00:38:00] What stopped him? The harrowing moment Anthony almost committed suicide, and the strange anchor that brought him home.
• [00:42:00] How to work with Anthony: The Dark Work Experience and the necessity of taking action.

We help you hire the right leaders and build the structure to scale, so the business runs without being dependent on you. Check out our work:

• Website: theleaderslab.co

Ready to stop being dependent on your business and build capacity to scale?

• Book a call with The Leaders Lab: https://ken-2xppm4iy.scoreapp.com/

#AnthonyTrucks #DarkWork #IdentityShift #LeadershipDevelopment #FounderLife #ScalingUp #CEO #BusinessGrowth #Ownership #ThePlaybookPodcast

Most founders can track their customer acquisition cost down to the penny, yet when it comes to their most expensive asset—their people—they rely on "bad luck" or "personality conflicts" to explain performance issues.

In this episode, Ken Eslick and Onika Kwatsha pull back the curtain on TeamCompass, a proprietary diagnostic tool designed to replace hiring guesswork with actionable data. Ken discusses why relying solely on behavioral assessments or KPIs creates a blind spot in your leadership and how blending them creates "radical self-awareness" for your organization.

If you are trapped in the weeds of your business and looking to build the structure necessary to eventually scale and sell, this episode provides the data-driven roadmap you need to put the right people in the right seats.

• [00:00:00] The Leadership Blind Spot: The disconnect between behavioral assessments and real-world performance.
• [00:00:45] The Financial Paradox: Why leaders track financial data to the penny but accept "bad luck" when it comes to people .
• [00:02:55] The "Gut Instinct" Trap: Why you can't rely on intuition alone, and the danger of the "ambitious introvert" in sales.
• [00:04:30] The "Mini-Me" Bias: Why we naturally hire people who remind us of ourselves and how it hurts the business .
• [00:07:35] Why DISC Wins: Why Ken prefers the 4-quadrant DISC model over Myers-Briggs (16 types) for team analysis.
• [00:09:20] Warning Signs: How to tell if your team dynamics are broken (turnover, morale, and getting blindsided).
• [00:11:30] The Workflow: How a simple 15-minute administrative input generates a comprehensive leadership action plan.
• [00:13:50] Beyond the Algorithm: Why Human + AI analysis is critical for context.
• [00:15:40] Future Hiring: How to use data to ensure you never make a bad hire again.
• [00:16:40] The Investment: Pricing details and how new clients can credit the cost back to their first placement.
• [00:17:50] The 30-Day Result: Moving from friction to flow—what happens after you implement TeamCompass.

"You don't accept bad luck in your financials. So why do we accept it with our most expensive asset, our people?" — Ken Eslick

"We connect the easiest... with people that are wired the same way we are... doesn't even necessarily mean they're the best person for the job." — Ken Eslick

"Radical self-awareness is... the definition of development or evolution as a leader." — Ken Eslick

This episode introduces TeamCompass, a product born from Ken's 30+ years of leadership experience.

• The Goal: Move your team forward faster by replacing guesswork with real-life data.
• The Methodology: Combines leader input, KPI performance ratings, and DISC assessments to identify synergies and friction points .
• The Output: A 10-page comprehensive report on communication styles, potential mismatches, and specific profiles to target for future hires.
• Investment: Complimentary for existing clients. For non-clients, the $2,000 investment is fully credited against your first placement with the firm.

Learn more about the tool here: 👉 https://www.theleaderslab.co/teamcompass

Are you ready to stop being the bottleneck in your business? At The Leaders Lab, we help you hire the right leaders, scale your operations, and eventually sell for maximum valuation.

Book a Discovery Call to Get Started: 👉 https://ken-2xppm4iy.scoreapp.com/