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Curiosity #42 - Raise a Leader—Not Just a Teen

Jul 23, 2025
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🎤 Quotable Quote

“Adults are the doorway to opportunity.”
— Derrick Kinney

Let that sink in for a second.

And the key? Confidence, curiosity—and a dash of Sour Patch Kids.

Because every handshake, every hallway nod, every “nice to see you” is a leadership moment in disguise.

Leadership Rules with Derrick Kinney

 

🧠 This week on Leadership Rules, we sat down with Derrick Kinney—former financial advisor turned purpose-driven educator, founder of the Good Money Framework, and the creator of Simple Teen Success.

Derrick blends real-world money wisdom with character-based leadership lessons to help the next generation grow up confident, capable, and generous with their success.

(Also: he listens to audiobooks at 1.75x speed and rips out pages of books he actually likes. You’ve been warned.)

 

🔍 This Week’s Deep Dive: What Teens (and the Rest of Us) Need to Hear About Leadership, Money, and Mistakes

 

💡 Teens don’t need lectures. They need lessons—preferably with Sour Patch Kids.
Derrick built a thriving business club with candy and character coaching. The goal? Help teens feel seen, heard, and ready.

💡 Every Target aisle is a leadership test.
Whether you say “hi” or hide says more than you think. (Spoiler: most teens choose the chip aisle. Derrick shows them a better way.)

💡 Fail out loud.
Want your teen to listen? Tell them how you messed up. Derrick’s parenting breakthrough came when he shared a $5,000 investing loss—turns out, vulnerability builds credibility.

💡 Financial literacy = leadership literacy.
Whether you're building wealth or building confidence, the stories we tell ourselves about money matter. Derrick shares how one childhood belief nearly kept a future VP stuck—and how changing the script unlocked her success.

One of our favorite moments?

Derrick’s reminder that we’re not just parenting (or leading) for today.
We’re shaping who someone becomes five or ten years from now.

And forward this to someone who needs to hear:

“You don’t need to be an expert to raise a financially savvy leader. You just need to show up—and share the candy.”

More Musings


🍪 Biscuits with the Boss:

“What’s a weird leadership lesson you’ve learned at a grocery store?”

Derrick has a whole framework for how to greet adults in Target—and it’s better than most onboarding programs.

Seriously, it includes:

  • Pre-deciding how you’ll show up

  • Making yourself memorable in 30 seconds or less

  • Having an exit strategy that doesn’t involve awkwardly backing into the shampoo aisle

Whether it’s at Costco or career day, the smallest moments are often the biggest tests.


🏅 Whistle. Whistle.

You’re playing the long game.

But you keep dying on every hill.

Let Roy Kent step in:

“You think being perfect makes you trustworthy? Bollocks. Nobody trusts perfect. They trust honest.”

Derrick Kinney dropped a truth bomb this week:
Your imperfections aren’t liabilities. They’re assets.

So tell the story of your bad decision. Your lost investment. Your giant oops.

And then do what real leaders do:

Own it fast.
Make it right.
Move forward stronger.

Leadership isn’t about being flawless.
It’s about showing your team (or your kids) what to do when you’re not.


📚Beard’s collection: 

🎥 Kinney, Derrick. Simple Teen Success (Video Course)
What if teens had a roadmap for confidence, communication, and character? That’s what Derrick Kinney delivers in Simple Teen Success. With bite-sized lessons and real-world scripts, this course equips students to show up strong—in school, in interviews, and in life. 

 

 

📖 Stockman, Marnie and Coniglio, Nick. The Business of You: Ask the Right Questions, Tell Your Story, and Lead Your Life. 
Yup... That’s us! We’re super excited to announce that our next book—The Business of You—will be available on August 15, 2025.

It’s a guide for students (and anyone in a season of becoming) to lead their lives like a business—with vision, values, and a voice that’s unmistakably theirs. Think CEO mindset meets personal growth playbook.
More details soon—but for now, mark your calendars. 👏

 


🌎 This week in Here - There - Every F’ing where 

If the internet is working at your house, then you know Season 4 of Ted Lasso has started filming! Be sure to follow us on social (@leaditlikelasso on all the platforms) and we will keep you posted on any details we have (and provide side commentary on leadership lessons along the way).

If you want some more Lasso right meow, you can listen to us on Audible and join Alice @TedLassoRocks on Instagram! (Maybe you will be lucky enough to receive a handpainted Believe rock too! If you watch our podcast on YouTube, you can see Marnie's right behind her on the shelf ;) ).

 

Where are you out and about in the world this week? 

Onward. Forward.

Marnie & Nick


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