Leaders Lead

January 10, 2024

John C. Maxwell is recognized worldwide as one of the foremost authorities on the subject of Leadership. I qualify that because, while John is an author, speaker, and mentor, there are those who would argue that a particular military, political, or business leader is that authority by stature and experience, perhaps on a battlefield, and I would not argue back. It doesn’t really matter.


That said, I will offer that you can pick up any of John’s books on leadership, and there are many best-sellers among them, read a chapter, and apply the lesson immediately in your life. His foundational work “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” , is the primer on what you need to do in order to exhibit leadership at any level. “The 5 Levels of Leadership” guides you on the path of the attributes, behaviors, and values you need to exhibit in order to climb from Positional Leadership, Level 1, to the Pinnacle, Level 5, a Leader who develops others to become Level 4 Leaders.


What is required of a Level 1 Leader? Only that you have a position of authority, such as a parent, a boss, a coach. Do all the folks in these positions remain at Level 1? I pray not, but there are some, for sure, who do. Positional Authority requires no moral buy-in. It’s about “I’m the – Fill in the blank” – and you will follow my orders” To become a Level 2 leader does require a shift from “Position” to “Permission”. First, you have to like people and they need to like you. As John quotes in the book “People go along with people they get along with”. Think of it this way. If you’re walking and no one is following you, you’re just out for a walk. This is where it becomes helpful to invest in two resources. The first is “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” in written or Audible formats. The other is training in the science of creating authentic relationships with people who are not like you. 


Why? It’s inevitable that you will need to lead people who base their decision on whether to “buy-in” to your leadership on completely different values than yours. If you don’t connect with them and establish a working relationship, data indicates you will only have an 18% chance they will follow you vs 82% if you can match your values.


Once you have established Level 2 Leadership, you need to keep growing to maintain it and potentially climb to Level 3, which yields Production. As you will learn, leadership operates on a continuum and will require you continuous growth, increased emotional intelligence, and situational awareness. It can take years to build the status of a leader and minutes to destroy it.


Which level are you? Well, guess what – you may be at a different level depending on who you are serving at that moment and the roles that you find yourself in.

If you are up to the journey I would encourage you to stay tuned to this channel. There will be resources posted here, some free, some with an opportunity to invest, all of the value that will reward the time, energy, and the dollars you invest in yourself.

The Pistachio Effect

October 25, 2024
Recently, I was in an event with about 6,000 other people, and the keynote speaker was Jack Canfield. Jack taught us many things from his best-selling book “The Success Principles”. One of the concepts that really stood out was a formula he shared which guided how to take personal responsibility, which was E, an event, plus R, responsibility equals O, which is outcome. So E plus R equals O. And what does that mean? It is not an event that happens to us that really makes a difference, It's how we respond to it. And by taking personal responsibility for the Response, we have control of the Outcome and you can improve it. On the flight home I was considering Jack’s formula. Almost every weekday I begin my day by journaling the people to whom I am grateful and the things I grateful for. I do this in a study group with a friend. One of the things we journal about in that study group is sending positive vibes even to somebody with whom I might have a disagreement. Well, I thought about a person who's very dear in my life, which is my wife. Occasionally, my day will be going along just great and seemingly out of nowhere she will throw a criticism at me for something. An example is on the golf course and we are playing together when she says, “Tuck in your shirt, your tummy is showing” because my shirt came out while I was swinging, or maybe I loaded the dishwasher incorrectly, or something of that nature. Another mentor of mine, whose name is Robert Dilts, in his book, “Coach to Awakener”, said that when somebody's criticizing you, there is almost always a positive piece to that because unless the person is evil, they are coming from a place of being helpful. If you view the Event through that frame and you are grateful for the help then okay, what is that criticism all about? I thought about it on the plane ride home from the event, in terms of taking personal responsibility, and I named it the Pistachio effect. Why the Pistachio Effect? Well, when you look at a pistachio, you wouldn't eat the outside of it. If you bit on it, the taste and texture would be terrible. But, when you open it up, there's the sweet fruit inside. Visualize the shell of the pistachio as the criticism, the sharp object on the outside. And if you just bit on it, it would be pretty bitter and be harsh on your mouth metaphorically and your psyche for real. Yet, if you open it up and taste the sweet fruit (the positive message) inside, well, there you go. So the principle basically is remembering when we are being criticized to pause a second or two, open the nut and recognize the positive message inside.
A man with a beard is standing in front of a building with his arms crossed and smiling.

Genesis

August 23, 2024
I don’t use the word “Every” lightly because it tends to be an exaggeration in many cases. Having said that, I believe it’s accurate to offer that literally every action has a starting point as an idea.

True Energy of Sales

October 24, 2024
Science was not my favorite subject in elementary school because it often involved blood. I hate the sight of blood, particularly mine. Other than that I’m told I would have made a great doctor NoBody lol. But the one science experiment I always loved was when Mr. Dellelis would make a volcano erupt. Fireworks! I don’t light them myself but I love to watch them. Always have! The energy, the creativity, the timing, the beauty! Art only works when science does. Sales is also an art only when we understand the science. Yesterday I had one of those moments when energy was abundant and created by the chemical process of human connection. With my training partner, Valerie Johnson, we taught three awesome students the secrets, the science, and the system that will increase their ability to persuade and increase their sales by up to 300% in less time. The emphasis of yesterday’s training was on business and particularly sales situations. There is true energy when people connect in a common language. As our students began to understand and demonstrate the first level of fluency in the global B.A.N.K. language of BUY-Ology, the energy in the Zoom room was built geometrically. Next week we build on that facility with the power of B.A.N.K. to improve personal relationships. With their higher level of emotional intelligence, I am excited to hear how their results translate in Harvest Time!