Scott Mordell on Leading with Principles

Scott Mordell most recently served as the CEO of YPO from 2011 through December 2020. His extensive background in varying industries, geographies, types of organizations and business disciplines has helped him develop important leadership lessons and collaboration skills for success. Prior to YPO, Scott’s experience includes Chamberlain Group, Arlington International Racecourse, HeathCo, Duchossois Industries, Deloitte and KPMG. Scott is currently leveraging his experience providing strategic counsel for leaders through Forrader Group LLC.

In this episode, we discuss connecting in real life (6:19), why a lot of people don’t follow through with in-person meetings (7:54), following through and doing what you say you will (10:21), why Scott seeks out connections intentionally (12:31), what he does to manage energy throughout the day (16:22), what he’s noticing with regards to the impact of the pandemic on humans (19:31), happiness (22:39), legacy (25:02), spirituality (26:23), being and becoming (28:37), where his spirituality came from (30:24), Catholicism (32:30), more on religion (36:42), podcasts (37:49), when leadership became a passion of his (38:46), what leadership aspects he didn’t have when he became a CEO at the age of 33 that he does have now (40:57), more on leadership (42:34), what he learned about being young as a CEO (45:18), his introduction to Young President’s Organization (47:32), YPO (50:22), what’s changed at YPO in the last 10 years (51:52), what led him from just being a member to wanting to be a leader of the organization (53:58), where to start out if you’re trying to change the world (56:27), what he did on his sabbatical (58:12), interacting with others (59:21), his principles (1:00:36), why he decided to leave YPO and what he’s up to now (1:02:38), how 9/11 impacted him (1:05:05), and massive changes (1:08:58).

You can check out the Forrader Group website here, as well as follow Scott on LinkedIn and Twitter. Lastly, Scott recommends you check out the websites for Women Leaders in Data and AI and The Knowledge Pledge.

Thank you so much to Scott for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

-Brian