Friday Feature: Dan Rockwell, LeadershipFreak

Thank you for stopping by for the Feature Friday post. This is a new series dedicated to highlighting leaders, educators, and innovators. Today's feature is on Dan Rockwell, better known as LeadershipFreak.

Dan recently participated in our quarterly #USedchat, which we hosted on a Google Hangout. It was a lot of fun having Dan "almost in person" for the chat, and if you've read his blog you know that his posts are the kind that inspire, teach, and challenge. 

Along with blogging and presenting, Dan is the co-author of The Character-Based Leader. In 2014, Dan was named to the Top Fifty Leadership and Management Experts by Inc. You can read Dan's blog posts at leadershipfreak.wordpress.com, and interact with Dan on Twitter at @LeadershipFreak. 

I'm excited to share a little more of Dan here today. Enjoy!


1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Sometimes I wanted to be an astronaut and other times a hermit.

2. What brings you the greatest joy?

Learning from smart people and playing with grandbabies.

3. How do you maintain a work/life balance?

Trust yourself.

4. What is the best advice you've been given?

I protect open times on my calendar. An open space of time on my calendar is the last place I want to put an appointment. I prefer to fit appointments close to others.

5. What is a new skill you would like to learn?

How to organize my office!

6. What’s on your bookshelf?

You are kidding, right? I have 1,000's of books.

7. What did you learn from the worst boss you ever had?

Don't be paranoid.

8. What’s on your bucket list?

Live on a lake.

9. You just won the lottery. What one thing would you buy for yourself?

More time.

10. What’s your favorite book?

Usually it's the one I'm reading.

11. What is your number one productivity tip?

Figure out what people love to do and delegate stuff to them.

12. If you could have one super power, what would it be? 

Invisibility for two reasons. One, I can escape. Two, I can spy on you. (Does that make me sick?)

13. Who is on the guest list for your ideal dinner party?

Jesus, John Adams, Emily Dickinson, Winston Churchill, Peter Drucker, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Washington Carver, Steve Jobs, Will Durant, Benjamin Franklin, ... shall I go on?

14. What would people be surprised to know about you?

I am a homebody. I love people and giving presentations but I also love those days when I stay home in my PJ's.

15. What was your favorite class in college?

An organizational development class when I was earning my MBA.

16. What quote do you live by?

None comes to mind.

17. What is one thing you never, ever worry about?

Right now, money. But give me time, I might start worrying about it.

18. If you could swap places with someone from the past for one day, who would it be?

Winston Churchill on the day he realized he was a leader. Or, any slave during the days of slavery in the U.S.

19. Who are your heroes?

My dad.

20. What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?


That I didn't know as much as I thought I knew.