Margaret Andrews on Manage Yourself to Lead Others

Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Margaret Andrews is the founder of Mind and Hand Associates, faculty at Harvard Extension School, and author of Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding. In this episode, she breaks down the MYLO framework—a practical, science-based system built around Motivation, Learning, and Opportunity—and explains how leaders at any level can use it to grow with intention, clarity, and effectiveness.

In this episode, we cover:

• What Is MYLO? Margaret introduces the Motivation–Learning–Opportunity triangle and why all three are essential for leadership development.
• Motivation Beyond Willpower: We explore how autonomy, relatedness, and competence drive sustainable motivation.
• Learning as a Leadership Lever: Why deliberate practice, feedback, and humility are key to developing new skills and perspectives.
• The Role of Opportunity in Growth: How stretch assignments, visibility, and support systems create the conditions for leadership advancement.
• What Gets in the Way: Margaret explains common blocks to growth—like fixed mindset, poor feedback loops, and misaligned expectations.
• The Importance of Intentionality: Why “just doing your job well” isn’t enough if you want to lead or level up.
• Feedback That Fuels Development: How to ask for, receive, and act on feedback even when it’s vague, hard to hear, or poorly delivered.
• How to Craft a Personal Leadership Development Plan: Using the MYLO framework to assess where you are—and what’s missing.
• The Case for Self-Compassion and Curiosity: Margaret shares how these two traits amplify resilience and long-term success.
• Applying MYLO at Every Level: Whether you’re an emerging leader or a seasoned executive, this framework gives you a way to stay sharp and self-aware.

Connect with Margaret on LinkedIn here.

Find Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding wherever books are sold.

Connect with Erik:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This Podcast is Powered By:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript 101⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Castmagic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ecamm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podpage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rodecaster Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Top Productivity Books List⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of a podcast where you get the core takeaways.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.