What a Vision Is and How It Works? | John C. Maxwell

People do what people see so the reason Vision Works is it's visual uh leadership is visual uh when people follow a leader it's because they see that leader when uh culture is established in a company it's it's it's not a comp it's not established by the words that you say it's it's by the actions that you do it's so visual really works in fact Stanford research says 89% of everything you and I know we learned it visual first 10% audio 1% through the other senses so establishing of vision is just absolutely essential for the success

of a company however in the leadership world that I live what I try to help people understand especially when you're talking about Pat starting something building something up in the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership I have the law of buyin and the law of buyin just simply Says people buy into the leader before they buy into into the vision and so when uh leaders come up to me Pat and they'll say something like boy John I've got this great vision of something I would really like to build this company I'd like to start what do

you think what do you think do you think um do you think the people will will gravitate to the vision and I always stop up and I say well let me ask you the question have the people bought into you as a Leader you see if they've bought into you as a leader they'll they're going to buy in the vision if they haven't bought into you as a leader they're they're really not going to buy in the vision so when when people talk about Vision they talk about putting some kind of a preferred picture of

the future out in front of the eyes of people for them to see that would motivate them and I say no that comes second there there's there are two visions you've got to cast for Your people and the first vision isn't anything about what you want your company to be the first vision is who you are and and if you are the right person uh then they're ready to sit down and and they're ready to enlarge their mind about the vision that you may have for them but if they haven't really bought into you then

they're not going to buy the vision so whenever I talk about Vision Casting I I said there's a difference between a vision caster and a vision carrier um when they buy into me they buy into me because I carry that vision and words when they see John Maxwell when they see Pat flood they see the vision they already see it now there is a vision there is a preferred picture out there for that future but they see you they they see me so I always say that you know it's it's you that you sell before

it's the vision that you Sell and a lot of leaders they they they they they miss it there they just think if I have a great vision people will follow it well they may like the vision but if they don't like you they're not going to follow you to it so let's let's fix let's let's get ourselves uh in a sense in a state of credibility uh because we have a way of making that Vision uh talk to people every day and become uh personal every Day and become achievable every day if they see it

in us if they don't see it in us it's just not going to sell John we've been um a Serial best place to work and when I look at the data nationally um with regard to people in the workplace almost 90% of the people that go to work in America are either disengaged or actively disengaged meaning they're just they're going and they're doing something for 8 to 10 Hours a day they're getting a paycheck to do it and then they're going home which can't be good for whoever's at home when they get there because dis

actively disengaged all all day that doesn't mean there's joy being created I've always thought and we use two words here and more than anyone else any other words one is best I've always thought that people they want to be their best so Vision has to enroll them in Something that we're all going to try to do together that is going to finish at being the best in whatever it is that we're going to do whether it's building a church or building a mortgage bank or building a real estate concern there's no different why enroll or

yourself or why enroll someone in something that's less than that when people fundamentally want something better that's what they want to do they want to get involved with something that actually is Promising or hoping for a better tomorrow so I appreciate um the idea because um you always do talk about the individual that's leading it because it has to have credibility right is that what saying it has to have credibility whatever the vision is the person that's leading in has to be credible yeah it goes back P to show and tell in the beginning you

have nothing to show uh in other words the dream that you have within you or the vision you I Mean you don't have the facility to show you don't have the results I I remember I remember uh you know in what was it 19 probably 97 when I started equip I said we want to trade we want to train leaders around the world well that's a that's a wonderful statement but but I didn't have anybody to point to I didn't I didn't have anybody say now look we we've trained 60,000 people here and I had

nothing I just had a vision that's why the Buy in is essential there's Nothing to show so they have to buy into you and believe that you have credibility as a leader to pull it off before they buy into that Vision so you know it's it's what John Wooden used to tell his basketball players don't tell me what you're going to do show me what you're going to do well The credibility of a leader isn't what he or she says The credibility of a leader is what he or she does and so it's so key

for me to live that vision and become credible and Believable and have people borrow my vision until they can see it be a reality but they borrow it because because because of me uh KES and pner in their book the leadership challenge which is a phenomenal book by the way uh they what they say is that great leaders take the vision from me to we and and so go back to they have to buy into the leader before they buy the vision but then there's another important part that most people miss Again again we we

take the vision and almost make it like Paramount like oh if you just have a great vision you can build a great company and that's just not true it's not true let's talk about me to we for just a moment what that means is is that there comes there has to be a transition in any company where people quit talking about uh our Founders Vision or this is what John Maxwell has shared this is where where he says we're Going and you know that you're making great progress on the vision when the people start talking

about our vision and this is what we're doing together and this is where we're going and we're very excited about this next step in our journey now all of a sudden you're hearing conversation of Buy in they not only have bought into you but theyve bought into the vision but but how does that happen that happens by giving people a piece of the action and I can I Think this is where the big Miss is when I was a young leader this was a big Miss for me I thought man I just got to get

this perfect vision and I lay it out and the people will just respond and here we go well what I didn't understand was that that I I they didn't want to follow my vision they wanted to follow their vision and I learned over years that if I take my vision and then sit down with them and I ask him a very simple question help me make it Better help me make it better here here's what I think and here's what I see but let's talk about it and this is powerful I can tell you I've

done this so many times this is powerful I sit down with you Pat my other maybe there's seven of us around the table I said well okay let me let me share you let me share with you what thinking let me share with you what I'm seeing and I need you to help me by the way one of the most important phrases a Leader can ever tell their team is I need you to help me this this is you see most leaders they kind of come in and here I am to save the day and

I'm here to help you it's powerful when I walk in my people say you I I need you to help me that's not where here's what I know it's good but it's not great yet but you're going to help me make it great so let's talk about it now this is what I talk about when I talk about shared uh Vision creatively coming together and putting together there's shared thinking is huge if you have a good idea and I have a good idea we have we have two ideas but if you don't share it with

me and I don't share it with you I still only have one idea so the first thing is we got to get it on the table and we have to share it but now watch happens if you have a good idea and I have a good idea and we begin to share that good idea guess what Pretty soon we get three ideas because what happens is in the it's in the sharing that ideas multiply ideas are never great in the beginning I mean good Lord they have to be developed so a great idea is a

combination of several good ideas put together and then all of a sudden you have a great idea so around the room Pat I get all of you in the room and I say here's what I'm thinking here's what I'm seeing make it better for me If I've done this once I've done it a thousand times and if I've done it once and asked people to help me a thousand times they've helped me I have never left the room with the original thought I had that didn't have have better perspective and better content and every time

I ask people to help me they help me and it gets better now all of a sudden when I walk out of the room it isn't my vision it's it's not my idea it's it's it's our Idea and that's where ownership goes does that make sense Pat it makes a total sense because then everyone owns responsibility for the vision actually taking place right and they own responsibility for us to get to where we want to go you know when you were mentioning equip um this is just you know how you're wired but the idea you

want to uh train leaders around the world and you're just getting a business started right that's bold and audacious And um yet it's simple and it's Brilliance because you had something that the world needed and you had a heart and you had the wisdom to be able to know that leadership was going to be um The Catalyst for success for organizations good and not so good I remember at the time um when I met you we were one of your first clients that equipped because we were interviewing companies like gallop and cvy about their leadership

program They certainly are all good programs but I kept getting this feeling that it wasn't going to turn my people cuz the question I would ask is if my people participate in this program what will they become yeah sure and and and then you all answered that question um in a simple way and obviously since uh equip got started you have changed the world in fact I'm looking at your book right now it has changed the world right so an awful lot has happened since that early Period of time pat pat can I can I

say one other thing Pat sure because you you're opening up my mind with your questions which are always good I love being with you I I I have another teaching I do called action attraction and it's a very simple teaching but but the teaching is very powerful and that is sometimes we expect the vision to do the work for us so we get clarity as far as here's What we want to accomplish and you know we put the dream on the refrigerator or whatever it is and then we wait for that dream to work and

and what people Miss is the fact that you have to take action on whatever that vision is you you you you you you can't allow the vision to do the work you have to do the work of the vision so in action attraction here's what happens I have to start moving now the challenge for People on vision and movement is the fact that in the beginning you don't see everything I'm always very clear to let my people know here's what I see but I want you to know what I see isn't the total picture but

the only way I'm going to get the better picture and the only way I'm going to get the bigger bigger picture is to start moving so I move without all the answers I move without having quote perfect planning but I move because Here's what happens when I know who I am and when I know what I want to accomplish and I start moving on that it's the action it's the movement that begins to attract people to me so here's what happens I start moving and all of a sudden I attract resources I I I I

attract people I attract opportunities all the things that if I Stood Still and said boy I hope this Vision becomes true or boy I hope this dream becomes a reality In my life and I always say you know the dream's free but the journey isn't so you know so let's get moving here let's let's get moving and I think so many times we don't move and and and and people say well I I don't have all the answers well you you'll never move if you have all the answers what you find the answer moving is

how you find the answer so you you now you plan well you think on front end I'm not anti any of that but the you Know but you you have to move and all of a sudden when you start moving the picture starts open so when I said we're going to train a million leaders in the world people said well how are you going to do that well I said now there are two or three things I know we're going to do and they looked at me and they said is that enough I said no

I said it's not enough but when we start moving it'll become enough because we'll attract more people We'll attract more trainers we'll we'll attract more money it it'll all come but you have to move on the vision and to kind of just wait for the vision to make your day is is is a huge mistake you know you know we both know um Marcy fair and I was at a um an event with her just last week and um it was for cares for kids and it was a celebratory event about the achievements of her

vision and her vision was really just to help children right and they came out to Start with hey we'd like to help 500 children and they got moving and then it got to 5,000 and then it got to 100,000 and we just celebrated as a group all of those that got on board enrolled in her vision we just celebrated them touching the lives of 500,000 beautiful um children and now you know they've raised the number Marcy said now that we've gotten there we need to and of course everyone now realizes what's possible but I just

heard all That that you talked about Mar had yeah a a important mission in mind vision in mind which was to help kids and then she enrolled people in it because of who she is and then they got moving and she was just telling the stories of how many different things that have happened since then that they didn't foretell that they didn't have as a part of their plan just like you just described because they were on the move but they were doing something really Exceptional and that is they were helping um children I think

sometimes the vision is about getting something and what I heard you talk about the vision for quick was giving something giving the world and its leaders better insights about how to do their work better so that they could impact the people that they were actually leading Marcy very similar um and it was a blessing last week to be there I want to ask you about now so that's where we're Going vision and it's important and thank you for your insights on it because they're like always they're just brilliant I want to talk about Mission because

the the way we look at it is the vision is where we're going the mission is kind of how we're going to get there like what is it that's going to get us to that place that we all want to go and our mission statement at Supreme is really simple but we think it affects every part of life which is serving Others before self because it's our belief we talked about best the vision of becoming the best we believe that if you live a selfless life if you live a life at home in the workplace

everywhere where you're putting other people and their needs in front of your own and you're you're you're it's not natural but it leads to best we think it unlocks best so our mission statement here is serving others before self give us your thoughts on mission statements the how If you will the organization will kind of stay centered on its values well there essential as you know and uh they have different they have different responsibilities they they they do two different things for us um you know I I often say that uh you know Vision that

that is the eyes of an organization that's what we see I've always felt that mission is the soul of the organization and uh I think that it's from the soul that we receive our um Energy it's from the soul that we that we explain and know why we are doing something and and why we're so com why we are so committed to it I think mission is essential and here's why um I'm going to use because you know I'm a person of faith and by the way I loved your I loved your Marcy Fair illustration

her and Brian are great people and and I mean but there's an example of a lady who said I I want to Help kids and and she just started and and if you asked Marcy today a half a milon kids later if she ever planned on this she would say I planned on helping people I didn't know I would be able to help that many and that's and that's the beauty of of of of of of vision and when we and when we think of of mission I think it's easy to get distracted with vision

I think it's much I think mission calls for Commitment more than Vision does and so I like to see people get to the mission stage of their life the why that they're doing what they're doing because I think that is core to the tenacity and the uh commitment of of of making sure that that mission and vision come to fruition and so because I'm a person of faith I can use this illustration and that is you know in the story of of Nehemiah when he was Building a wall in Jerusalem and um you know he

had distractors he had people saying hey you know what I mean this isn't going he had a lot of he had a lot of opposition toas yeah you you you hey you can go teach I know those guys yeah yeah yeah yeah they come and see me often do they see you often too and all they are all they are is distractors every time you have a meeting with them they're going to get You off course the every time you have a meeting with him they're going to they're going to try to to move you

off of a mission and I love Nehemiah you know they're ready to have their meeting they're down there on the ground and they're yelling up to Nehemiah hey we're ready to have our meeting you know and and Nehemiah said no no you don't understand I'm building a wall and I cannot come down in other words his mission was so Great that allowed him to override the distractions of other people now this is huge I I hope I could do a good job in the next three minutes because this is going to give the people that

are with you in this great uh time together this is going to give them some food several years ago I was writing a book Pat and and it was it was a book on put how to how to reach your dreams okay and it was I I tried two times to write the book and I both times stopped Because it wasn't going where I wanted it to go which you know sometimes that happens when I write it just isn't what I wanted and and the reason I stopped was because both times is I thought this

is too hypy this is kind of too raw raw and I don't want that to be in in my dream book and so I pulled away so the third time I said I'm going to try it again but the third time I I found the I I I found the foundation I needed to build on this book on and here it Is how many times do we see people with a dream a mission a vision and they get started and then they they stop and they quit you guys say okay what what happened here what

happened I mean was the was it not a good dream was it not a worthy vision and almost always yeah it was a very good dream it was a very worthy of vision it hit me when I wrote this book don't miss this the more valid reasons I have to achieve a Dream a vision accomplish a mission don't miss this the more valid reasons I have to achieve it the higher the odds are that I will and all of a sudden it hit me if I only have one reason to be on this Mission if

I only have one reason to go for that Vision life will knock it out of me trust me it's only a matter of time until they're going to be hollering and Saying come down off the wall okay okay so how do I keep from being distracted how do I keep from getting off of the Rails when I'm doing something that would really make a difference in people's life and the answer is very simple the more reasons I have to accomplish the vision the more reasons I have to stay on Mission the higher the odds are

that I will so if I only have one I'll get knocked off but what happens if I have a half a dozen reasons To get there now all of a sudden when I start getting knocked around okay oops I lost that one but I still got four other reasons why I need to be doing this and and so what I tell people is I want the vision to be clear I want the mission to be in your soul but let me explain something to you you better figure out why you want to go there because

until you figure out why you want to go there and you get some reason stacked up and Lined up you're going to you're going to get off track you are you are aren't going to make it so like in that book put your dream to the test I came up with 10 good valid reasons to achieve your dream and and so you know I did it with questions but I put it in the book I basically just said let's go through these re you know put your put your dream to the test put your vision

to the test put your mission to the test and I Found it to be very successful and in our conversation today Pat I'm here to say I want the dream I want the vision to be clear I want the mission to be felt I got it I got it but you better figure out how many reasons you've got to get there because when people talk to me about the things that I've accomplished in my life I can give you a half a dozen reasons why I am on this course not just One not just two

and so therefore I'll get a few knocked out on me on the way but they can't knock all of them out by the time they knock all six Hey by the time they knock all six or seven out from unre I'm already there today I want to talk to you about one of the attributes and contributions that leaders give other people and that's what makes leadership so important I would like to talk to you about the fact that leaders lift Others in other words wherever you see a leader the people around that leader will always

go to Higher Ground my friend Johnny Cash in our time of mentoring and just talking together constantly brings up to me in my mentoring time with him John I have a great desire to help other people and I want to make their lives better for them and he works really hard at that and it's one of the things I greatly appreciate about him every time I look Into his heart his heart is to lift up other leaders now we've heard the expression that it's Lonely at the Top but I've always said that a good leader

never says that because think about it for a moment if you're at the top all by yourself you didn't lift anybody you didn't bring anybody to the top with you in fact if you're only at the top by yourself you're really not a leader honestly you're you're just a hiker Leaders lift other people recently I was doing a lesson on fulfillment because there are so many people instead of living a fulfilling life they lead and live an empty life and I was trying to distinguish the difference between what is emptiness in a person's life and

what makes them feel empty and what is fulfilling in a person's life and what brings great joy and fulfillment to them in that lesson I was talking about that people that live A fulfilling life they value people and they add value to those people now that's what I'm talking about when I'm saying lifting others if you as a leader value people and you add value to people trust me my friend without any doubt you will lift other people I have spent my life doing that exact thing in fact the other day I had someone come

and ask me tell me they said a little bit about your journey how did how did this happen that you began To be what I would call a leader that lifted other people well honestly at 75 it's easy for me to understand my life as I Look Backwards it was Steve Job who's it was Steve Jobs who said um when we look forward it's hard to connect the dots but when we Look Backwards that then it it just is kind of natural to see how things just fell in place in my life back in 1973

I went to a convention in waterl Iowa and I heard Charles tremendous Jones and he said that that I would be the same person I was in five years unless I met new people and I read more books in other words Charles tremendous Jones said to me that the people I associate with and the books that I read are going to determine how success uccessful I will be in life and from that very moment I determined that I was going to be around great people and I was going to help people become Great I've often

said that when you have a great dream and you have a great team then all of a sudden you can realize everything that you want to accomplish now I've known those who had a a big dream and a bad team and and and and that's a nice nightmare so how did I lift up people how do you how do you lift up others as Leaders I'm going to share with you now some material some some thoughts that really I've never shared with other people before this is For you this is for your training this is

for your growth this is for your development this is help to help you to be a leader that lifts up other people so how do we do this how do I lift others how do you lift others number one I think to lift other people it starts with you I think you have to have a desire to become great you have to have a desire inside of you to do great things I can still remember as a very young leader in my 20s I came to the Conclusion that I wanted to make a difference I

really did that I wanted to make a difference in my life I wanted to make a difference in your life I wanted to make a difference in the people's lives around me and I had this desire it was a passion of mine Napoleon Hill said the starting point of all achievement is desire I believe that with all of my heart I have found that great people great leaders you don't have to motivate them you don't have to say hey get up Get out of bed get into the game they already have that passion they already

have that desire and I did and so because I had this great desire this desire to be great I went to one of my mentors his name was Elmer I called him affectionately ET he's still alive he's older than me he's 90 years old but he has been a friend and a mentor for many many years of my life and so I'm very very young I'm in my 20s and I go to ET and I ask him how do I become great what He said to me that day was life-changing and for while 50 years

of my life I've been following those words here's what he said if you want to become great go to Great events seek out great people ask great questions read great books find great mentors and then he said above of all attempt to do great Things when ET told me that 50 years ago I marked those words I said that's exactly what I'm going to do I'm going to go to Great events I'm going to seek out great people I'm going to ask great questions I'm going to read great books I'm going to find great mentors

in my life and I'm going to attempt to do great things if you want to lift others the first thing you want to do is just have a desire inside of you to be great the second characteristic I think That you need to possess is you need to do what my mentor Elmer towns told me to do as a very young leader go to where great people go wow I have discovered that this is the secret to having a a faster Pace on My Success Journey my mama used to talk to me and said John

birds of a feather flock together average people hang with average people uh people that are successful hang with people that are Successful my father knew that and as I was growing up he took time to introduce me to great people wow I I was in the seventh grade when he took me to meet his long distance Mentor himself Norman Vincent pill who wrote The Great book The Power of Positive Thinking in Columbus Ohio 7eventh grader I met nurman Vince PE when I was in the 11th grade I I met e Stanley Jones another great man

a great missionary a friend of Gandhi a man that influenced the world a Great writer Elmer towns my mentor said and taught me at a young age what he called the hot poker principle the hot poker principle is just very simple if you have a fire in the fireplace if you put the poker in the fire or by the fire it's only a matter of time till it gets hot if you remove the poker away from the fire it's only a matter of time till it gets cold and Elmer said John get around hot People

get around great people so you can stay hot so you can stay passionate that's exactly what I have done when I was in my late 20s I wrote a a a lesson that has been life-changing for many people about how to create a growth environment in it I just simply say listen carefully a growth environment is a place where others are ahead of you where you're continually challenged where your focus is forward where the atmosphere is affirming where you're Often out of your comfort zone where you wake up excited where failure is not your enemy

where others are growing where people desire change and where growth is modeled and expected those are the 10 things that make a great growth environment the other day when I was preparing this lesson for you I was looking at those characteristics of a growth environment and all of a sudden it hit me five of the 10 very essential items to have a growth Environment in your life are having great people around you others are ahead of you the atmosphere is affirming others are growing people desire change growth is modeled and expected five out of the

10 are specifically about great people Mark Cole the CEO of my companies calls it the power of proximity he talks about the fact that if you really want to do something great you've got to be around great people because there is a contagiousness that Happens when you're around those type of people and so I've looked at myself and I've asked myself many times how did I become great and I'd have to say without any doubt I not only had a desire to be great but I put myself around great people and again that's what's so

exciting to me about this program because you're in these lessons you're going to be exposed to great people who have great ideas and great thinking that Can really help you to become great in my early years when I was very young inexperienced and not knowing at all as a leader my mentors were my books back then we didn't have all the incredible technology that you have today but I was mentored from afar by books or or by tapes that I could listen to so if you really want to lift others up you have to have

a desire to be great and you have to go where the great people go where are the great people thirdly if You're really really want to be great and be a leader that can lift others you have to do what great people do again many times we look at great people and we say wow I would like to have that title I'd like to have that position I'd like to have that money I'd like to have that influence and we don't realize that all those things that we want are a result of what great people

do every day the things that we don't even see the be the scenes the hidden Disciplines that keep people doing the great things every day so that their greatness shows when they're out in public a book that I grew up on and was mentored on was Stephen Cy's book The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People and when people talk to me about doing what great people do I say go to that book and I would suggest you need if you haven't you need to read that book and if you have read the book you need

to practice the seven habits that step Cubby talks about the things that you have to do to be great what did he say he said number one be proactive in other words take action there is no success none without action nobody nobody ever reflected their way to success nobody ever thought their way to success nobody ever hoped their way to success no one with good intentions ever had success it takes action action is always associated with success be Proactive number two begin with the end in mind this is all about intention ality this is all

about seeing the big picture this is all about don't do something stupid today that will mess up the long-term journey of your life everything that you do look at your dream look at your goal do everything with the end in mind the third thing that stepen cubby suggests that we do is to put first things first in other words prioritize Your life all leaders know activity is not necessarily accomplishment I know a lot of busy hardworking people that are not successful at all so what we have to do is we have to say what's the

most important put first things first don't put first things last hey put last things last put first things first number four stepen cubby says think win win I have lived my life following that principle if I'm going to work with you I'm going to ask myself a simple question what is the win for you and what's the win for me I never get into any relationship where I win and you're going to lose or I'm not going to get in a relationship where you're going to win and I'm going to lose no I'm going to

get into a relationship where together we both are better together we both win the fifth thing that stepen cavy talked about that was so effective is he Said seek first to understand then to be understood he talked about listening he talked about caring for people in such a way that you allow them to tell their story and you listen and care and are intely drawing their story out in other words if I understand you well you'll have a desire because I listen and care to understand me but I must again as a leader I must

go first so many times leaders they just want to be understood they want to make sure That they got their Vision out they got their directions out and it's kind of now listen to me listen to me listen to me but if you really want want to lift others and you really want to grow in this area you don't start with yourself you start with your people and say okay tell me your story what are your dreams what is it in your life that you would really like to do that would make a difference in

people's life I love those words seek first to Understand then to be understood the sixth thing that stepen cby talks about that is so important for us to again and be leaders who do what great people do is he said he talks about synergizing and and if you really read the chapter it's really about teamwork it's it's about coming together it's it's what Mother Teresa said when she said you can do things I cannot do I can do things you cannot do and together we can do great things synergizing means That we come together as

a team one is too small of a number to achieve greatness when we synergize we we leave people in a desired uh Vision but we we do it together as a team the last thing that Steven cvy said is sharpen the saw in other words uh develop yourself personally he what he said sharpen the saw he's talking about cutting down trees and you all know that if I don't stop long enough to sharpen the saw if It's not the best instrument I could possibly use to cut that Lumber it it's not going to cut very

well and and so we have to constantly keep sharp we have to constantly grow we have to constantly learn we have to constantly improve our life okay we're talking about how do we become leaders that lift others and we've talked about so far three things we we've talked about how important it is for us to have a desire to be gr be Great we have talked about go we're great people go and and then do what great people do now I'm going to talk to you about number four be Unforgettable be Unforgettable uh my friend

Jack Welch used to talk about getting out of the people pile you see in every organization there are just a lot of people so how do you and I distinguish Ourself I mean how do we we get out of the people pile until they see us and they notice us and what I want to share with you today is something that's very important and it's just it's just lifechanging if you want to get out of the people pile just commit your life to living a life beyond expectations I I want you to I want you

to exceed expectations I want you to set your bar your personal Bar your your productivity bar your your life conduct bar I want you to set it high you see only 15% of the people in life even meet expectations so this people pile it's just got a whole bunch of people that are just average and 15% exceed expectations or or meet expectations and of those 15 % that meet expectations only 2% exceed expectations so I want to encourage you in your life to live a life that says I exceed the expectations of other people around

me In fact the way I look at it is this when I'm getting ready to speak for a company I do a pre-conference call and one of the questions I ask them is what are your expectations of me what do you want to see happen when I come and speak for you and they tell me and I write it down now when they give that to me I look at what I wrote down and those expectations they have of me that's not my ceiling that's my Floor I stand on that I make sure that's going

to be done now I ask myself the question how am I going to exceed expectations how am I going to be so Unforgettable that I'm irreplaceable and they look and they say I got to have John back because he truly does make a difference in my life how am I going to do that let's re let's just let's review just for a second for me to be a leader that can Lift to other people I have to have a great desire to be great I have to go where great people go do what great people

do I have to be Unforgettable exceed those expectations and and number five I have to be greater on the inside than I am on the outside wow this is huge you see when we look at successful people what we normally do is we see what they have accomplished the tangible things on the Outside but I here to tell you that greatness begins on the inside first my wonderful friend Tru Kathy was the found of Chick-fil-A this incredible best company to work for in America restaurant chain when when when Chick-fil-A was just kind of starting to

get momentum the people around him said we need to get bigger we need to get bigger and Tru cath he said no no he said we need to Get better he said when we get better when we improve ourselves when we get better the people the customers the clients they'll insist that we get bigger our job is to be big on the inside our job is to be greater on the inside than we are on the outside and so what does that mean well that means that I'll be different than most people for example many

people live a life of scarcity I live a life of abundance most people in relationships With others they either take the low road or the Middle Road they they either kind of well if you'll treat me good I treat you good you treat me bad I'll treat you bad I I take I take the high road you see I take the road where if you treat me bad I'll still treat you good I will always um I will always be bigger in my spirit and my attitude than you trust me I was talking about High

Road the other day and a person came up to me at the conference And said you know the high road is a toll road but the price is worth it when they said that to me I thought how true that is I am always going to treat people better than they treat me I'm always going to live a life of abundance not scarcity and I'm I'm going to choose sewing over reaping I'm always going to sew seeds of goodness into people's life you see most people until they get up and they look at life in

that day and They say I wonder what life is going to bring to me today I wonder what it's going to give me I wonder what I'm going to get out of life that's how they think I I never think about reaping I always think about sewing in fact the success of my day is determined by the seeds I seow not by the Harvest not by the Harvest that I want to reap so I'm going to constantly do more for others than they do for myself I'm going to constantly be greater on the inside than

I'm on the outside now I'm preparing you all the things I've given you I'm preparing you to lift other people so number six live out your great vision now what I mean by living out your great vision it's one thing to tell others about your vision but it's another thing to to show others your vision when I tell you my vision I'm a vision Caster but when I show you my Vision I become a vision character and when I can show and tell my vision I become what I call a vision champion and great people

are attracted by great success so my credibility as a leader isn't what I say I can do it's what I actually do so what I do is I bring people with me the people that I'm mentoring the people that I'm uh leading and lifting I I take them with me I take them with me to have leadership experiences I say come and be with me And and watch this and and observe this this begins absolutely lifechanging when a person sees the vision that you have created they buy into it so quickly because now they get

to be a participant of that Vision now I get to the very essence of this lesson if you want to lift others you got to develop great people when people ask me at 75 what is the number one reason for My Success it's very Obvious I have developed great people in my life and there are two principles for developing great people and those two principles are number one growth requires people development I have to spend time developing people growing organizations grow people so growing leaders is at the top of my agenda and personal development my

own personal growth precedes the development of others here We go perspective principles how we view things is how we do things I'm going to give you I'll give you probably maybe three now and then tomorrow I'm going to give you eight okay so I think there are about 11 perspective principles so don't miss what I'm going to give you tomorrow but I'm going to give you three right now number one everything worthwhile is uphill if you've heard me do any teaching at all because I I wrote a book Called intentional living you you've watched me

use the visualization of everything is worth house uphill and I put my arm in the air and I just basically say up at the top are my dreams my hopes my ambitions my desires everything good it's up there it's not down here I got to climb to get it now when I say everything worthwhile is uphill let me tell you the difference between in average times and in crisis Times in average times everything worthwhile is uphill and in during times of Crisis everything worthwhile is uphill it's just a higher Hill decline but we still can

alignment you see we are not given an overcoming life we are giving life to overcome there's a world of difference I'm not entitled to winning I'm not entitled to have an overcoming life but I am entitled to Having a life of which I can choose to be an overcomer you see there's a wrong perspective and the wrong perspective is that life should be easy I'm telling you my name is John I'm your friend life's not easy it's all uphill always has been always will be the problem is we we have uphill hopes we have downhill

habits and and downhill isn't going to get us where we want to get so I mean I could give you all kind of examples I Mean people hear me speak I'm talking to you now and people say John you're a terrific Communicator well I I wasn't always a terrific Communicator this wasn't easy first of all let me give you a perspective I I've spoken 12,000 times I mean talk to me for a moment if you speak 12,000 times and you don't become a great communicator you chose the wrong field 12,000 times it's uphill all the

way the First time I spoke it was terrible spoke for 55 minutes I bored everybody in fact I went back the next year and apologized to the people that I had bored and then I realized none of those people would ever come back to hear me the second time because I was so bad the first time I wasn't any good I wish you could have seen me then if if you could have seen me when when I started every one of you would be greatly encouraged what am I saying I'm Saying very simply the it

took a great amount of time effort energy Focus concentration commitment to become a a great communicator it's all uphill rting it wasn't easy over 34 million books have been sold through my name and my writing people say wow that's a that's amazing that's amazing no you got to understand it was all uphill my first book think on these things I talked about a little bit Ago 100 Pages 33 chapters do the map that's three pages per chapter it took me a year to write the book or wasn't any good at the book's not any good

don't buy the book had a lady the other day bought the book she came up to me to sign it and I shocked she said I love the book I said you love the book why do you love that book she said I love the short chapters she said how did you ever think of writing short chapters I said lady I wasn't any good I I ran out of gas after three p pages in fact some of those chapters are two pages too long it literally took me five books to learn how to write literally

and I mean I took writing courses I had writing mentoring it took me five books before I said oh I I can write and it took me 11 books before I ever sold much now it was a process now I I don't want you to miss this I everything worthwhile is uphill I it nothing comes fast nothing comes Easy it's all uphill it's okay we're we're we're working on perspective here the moment I believe and accept that everything worthwhile is uphill guess what I do I expect to walk uphill all the time if I don't

believe that I expect it to be easy I expect it to be average I I expect to Coast some you see my my perspective that it's uphill every day all the way is huge we have John Maxwell team okay Here's a perfect example of this we got the John Maxwell team and and we've had huge success with it I mean in in what nine and a half years 33,000 members in almost every country of the world and people look at that and they say oh my gosh John this is this is huge I mean how

did you get H how did you get so good how did you how did you pull that off was uphill all the way now let me just stop for a moment and just say to you that I'm constantly Asking myself what can I do to add value to you because here's what I know a crisis never leaves you or me the same it moves us it either moves us forward or it moves us backward it either moves us upward or we go down but it does move us and we're saying oh I can hardly wait

for things to get back to normal I hear that all time oh my gosh won't you be glad when this is all over and wow like things will become normal and oh this will be so good can I tell you something They're never going to return back to normal not the normal that you and I know trust me there's never going to be that normal again it's just like 9/11 after 911 we didn't go back to normal I mean every day almost I'm reminded of 9/11 through something that you or I have to do just

because of safety precautions so max depri when he said the first responsibility of a leader is To Define reality the the reality is very simple and that is that normal is gone and there's going to be Mass massive change well if the first responsibility for me is to Define reality to you my second responsibility for you is to help you make positive changes huge and how do we do that well I've been through a lot of changes I've been through a lot of Crisis I'm 73 so in the 60s I you know I saw the

assassination of some of our great Leaders John Kennedy Bobby Kennedy Martin Luther King in the 70s it was Vietnam and the incredible bitter taste that we had over political manipulation in the 80s we had AIDS that for two years we were just trying to identify a virus and we also had economic recession back then in the 1990s remember Enron and corporate undoing and and and you we were just kind of had lost our way ethically in that whole process 9911 of course and then the 2008 recession now Here's what I want you to know when

things get out of control what leaders do is they try to help people get back into control control of their lives and how do I do that as a leader how do I help you get back into control of your life well you can control your own personal decisions and a decision that I would hope that you would make during this crisis a decision To personally develop and grow yourself you see the only guarantee that tomorrow is going to be a better than today is the fact that I'm growing and I'm developing myself I I

I'm 73 but I'm so excited about my future future because to me I'm continually learning I'm continually growing there is no Finish Line in my life so how how do we continue to grow how do we continue improving oursel after the 2008 financial recession I Began to ask myself how do I help other people and I came to the conclusion back then that I was going to start the John Maxwell team I didn't need another business I already was quite successful in life I had basically everything I want in my life but I said if

I if I what would happen if I if I took people that wanted to better themselves what would happen if I took people want to better themselves and and and what they need is they need good training they They they need some people to good mentoring and and and then what they need is somebody to put their Good Housekeeping seal of approval on them and say hey look this person's a good person and and give them an opportunity and give them a chance so that's why I started the John Maxwell team and we have basically

five Lanes we have the leadership Lane we have the entrepreneurship Lane we got the sales Lane we got the coaching Lane we got the Speaking Lane and what we knew is if we could teach you these five Lanes you're going to find out which lane you best identify with but we can greatly improve your life so then I got a Dream Team I got my faculty together and I got people that were highly successful I mean people that were doing it now not people who had done it or had never done it and were quote

professors but people that were right in the action they knew how to build a business and they knew how to Be successful with their life and so I brought a faculty on and then I said I'm going to certify people I'm going to I'm going to put the John Maxwell you know seal of approval on them and I'm going to certify them after they go through this certification process and with that I'm going to give them credibility I'm going to give them opportunity and I can tell you today over 33,000 coaches around the world and

I can tell you my greatest joy is Everywhere I travel internationally nationally everywhere I travel here's what happens I see John Maxwell team members totally fulfilled because now they have a purpose and mission in life and that is to add value to people because John Maxwell team members we tell them all the time we are people of value who value people and add value to people so just just I'm going to go to the next perspective in just a moment But just just just a few questions questions such as do you want to take adversity

and turn it around and make you know an advantage an opportunity out of it do do you want more for yourself do you want more for your family do maybe maybe you would even maybe you're saying boy there is no new normal I'm going to go back I'm not even sure I'm going to have a job do you would you like to would you like to be an entrepreneur would you like us to help You to to C we we've got thousands of people now that have an incredible career of adding value to people and

we equip them and train them and certify them or or maybe want to subsidize some income and say wow you know I I'm not sure I'm going to have enough when this is through I'm going to be behind financially all of those things but the most important question for you is just very simple most important question is this one would you like to be part of a Community that's making a positive difference in the lives of other people that's the question if that question resonates with your heart and by the way a whole bunch of

you you're already doing great things you don't you don't need to be part of a John Maxwell you just this is just for this is just for the this is just for the few who say wow yeah I'd like to be part of a community that's making a POS POS a difference if that's where you are I Just say to you I want you to stand on my shoulders I'll walk alongside of you I'll certify I'll do everything I can to add value to you and if the answer is yes then I would just encourage

you to think about becoming a part of the team now uh I'm getting ready to go to that second perspective which is huge but now all of a sudden as I'm thinking about becoming a part of Team Mark I'm I'm going to need you to help me for a moment and uh um if they become a part Of the team what um if if they want to become part of John Maxwell team what tell them what to do real quickly because then I want to get to the next perspective yeah if you just would want

more information John they can go to John Maxwell team.com John Maxwell team.com there's a form you'll fill out one of our teams will connect with you on that okay okay again uh just it's just for people that would like to be part of that Community I just love you all team members non- team members in fact what was great is the John Maxwell team said let's make your talks John available to everybody so that they can get the ad advantages of of of adversity so perspective number one we've already got that one down and and

it's a huge perspective don't miss it everything worthwhile what is uphill number two the second perspective is there is always an answer there just is there is always an Answer I have a wonderful friend Larry stockto I was casting Vision about 5,000 leaders in a conference it was a big Vision it was about community and and Country transformation in fact I was challenging these leaders to help me literally go and teach good values in different countries we we've had incredible opportunities we are now in three getting ready to go in countries four and five going

in by the invitations of the president of those Countries to teach transformation through uh what we call Round Tables transformation tables teaching values and it's a pretty exciting opportunity so I cast this Vision Larry stockto came up to me afterwards and he looked at me and he said John the answer is yes and I said okay Larry good that's good what do you mean by yes he said well what the answer is yes what whatever you need from me whatever you want from me the answer is yes I'm going to give it to You because

I love your vision I love your leadership I believe in what you're doing the answer is yes and then he looked at me he said John I live on the other side of yes and when he made that statement I thought wow I love that statement and and that's what I want for me that's what I want for you and what what I want you to understand in this crisis time is that there's an answer we will find a way out we will find a way Through there's an answer and what happens is this successful

people know that and unsuccessful people don't know that if I thought that there was no answer in this crisis to be honest with you I'd be huddled up in the corner and I'd be a miserable person but there's an answer there always has been an answer the world has always found a way and we're going to find a way through the Corona virus trust me we're going to find find a way it may be hard it may Take a long time it won't be easy but we will find a way you see the greatest gap

between successful and unsuccessful people okay listen to me this is huge stay with me for nine more minutes if you'll stay with me for nine more minutes my friend I I I'm here to tell you I'm I'm just about to serve stuff that's going to make a difference for you the greatest gap between successful and unsuccessful people is the thinking Gap how we think I'm not Talking about intellect I'm not talking about IQ I'm I'm talking about successful people think differently than unsuccessful people I'm going to give you an example right now successful people in

every difficult situation believe there's always an answer and people that don't do well in the crisis believe that there's not an answer if I think that there is an answer I'll become a Victor and if I think there is no answer I'll become a Victim it's just that simple my father my father's 98 and he's an incredible inspiration to me he's been very successful but he grew up in a little town in Georgetown Ohio about 25 miles from Cincinnati just a very poor community and as he was growing up uh he said John he said

uh all of us were poor except for three families and the three families that were not poor he said I had the privilege because he was a Hardworking kid that I would leave school and I would do errands for those three and so I got to know them all and he said I came to the conclusion by the time I was a junior in high school the only difference between the three successful families and the rest of us is that they thought differently and that goes back to the greatest Gap is is is the thinking

Gap so during the depression during the a very difficult time when my father was still very young Everybody was out of work so what did everybody do every day they got in the bread line and they waited for some food it was a very difficult time but can I tell you that during that very difficult called economic downturn crisis crisis my father held three part-time jobs and while everyone else was waiting to get breed my father was earning money to buy bread you say John what happened how'd he do it well it's very simple he

Thought differently you see he would go down to the hardware store and say look I I know that you can't afford to hire me it it's a very ult Financial time but I love to work and so could I work for free for you today and just tell me some things you'd like to have done in the store and the the owner would say well you got to understand I son I can't I can't pay that's I don't want to be paid I just want to I want to work for free for you today and

that's what he would Do all day work for free at the end of the day shake his hand say I hope I helped you and of course the own said my gosh you know I just wish I could help pay you no no no it's okay you don't have to pay me I just wanted to work for you he said by the way if anytime there is a little bit of an opening for a job would you remember me well of course the owner is going to remember him he's become Unforgettable he worked for free

for a whole day Dad we go to another Store the next day another store the next day for a whole month he went to a different place of employment and just work for free and in about six weeks he started getting calls hey we we've got to you know could you work for8 hours a week for us yeah well sure I can work eight hours and we could pay you for 8 hours can't pay you full time oh yeah I could I oh yeah you want had three parttime Jobs everybody else is out of work

what was the difference same place same crisis but not the same thinking my precious friend there is always an answer don't let anyone take that away from you I will not let anyone take that away from me there's always an answer the third and last perspective I want to give you you today because I think this is just absolutely huge in your life and in my life and everybody's life not only Is there always an answer but number three allow adversity to help you discover who you really are because adversity will move us it'll move

us and sometimes we need to be moved to find our Niche okay now I'm going to give you a real corny cute story this this is just as corny as can be so just hang with me for a minute but I'm talking about all allowing adversity to to help you to to discover who you Really are it's it's the kid who was playing baseball just by himself in his backyard his mom was was looking out the window and you know he's typical kid throwing the ball up and then swinging the bat and and so when

he saw his mom looking out he he looked at his mom said Mom I said I am the greatest hitter in the world he threw the ball up and he missed the ball and he said strike one he wasn't discouraged picked the ball back Up threw it up the second time strike two mom's kind of look at him you know he swung twice he hadn't got a hit yet and he said it's okay Mom I'm the greatest hitter in the world I only need one strike I'm the greatest hitter in the world and this time

he threw the ball up swung as hard as he could missed the whole Ball but he swung so hard he's now on the ground his mom's kind of feeling a little bit bad for quote the greatest hitter in the world who just Struck out and she said honey she said I'm so sorry said oh no no no would be sorry Mommy it's okay listen I've discovered something I just struck out the greatest hitter in the world I am the greatest pitcher in the world I love that story it's corny but I give you that story

because my friend some of us need to be moved and when we get moved we're going to get Moved to the place where he really should be do a quick personal examp examples most of you know that I started my career off as a pastor had a degree in Psychology counseling and so I did a lot of counseling for the first couple years it was kind of expected of me but there was a problem and the problem was I wasn't good at it I I don't have the patience I don't have the mercy gifts I

I just I Lack all the qualities of a good counselor and some people come to counseling with me but it was wearing me out and it was wearing them out and I really wasn't that good in fact after after about two years of doing something I wasn't really good at I'll never forget I I I just said I'm not a good at this I came to I came to the bottom okay I came to the bottom and said I'm never going to be good at counseling and so I remember do my little small country Congregation

I went Sunday announced I'm not going to be doing any more counseling and that's when the that's when the lights all came on because those Farmers they just started clapping they started CL oh he's finally realized she's not any good at that and and I wasn't any good at it now now through my not being any good and failure in counseling within about 6 months I began to instead of counseling working on the weaknesses of people I began to focus on The strengths of people what they did well to make them better and immediately I

found that I I'm a terrible counselor but I'm a fabulous equipper if I wouldn't have been bad in counseling I'd have never become an equipper I had to get bad in something to move me to get good in something else and for many of you that's what this crisis is going to do it's going to move you to Higher Ground last Story at 51 22 years ago I had a heart attack and in that heart attack was literally at a Christmas Eve party with our with our companies when I was battling for my life for

a couple of year for a couple of hours there it was it was pretty tough you know you know you're not in good shape when when they bring you in and you have one doctor and and and about an hour and a half later you got five doctors in the room and it wasn't Going very well I needed to have a heart cath I was in the wrong hospital it's a long story I don't want to go into it but here here here's what you got to catch here's what here's what I don't want you

to miss don't don't miss this okay in this incredible crisis of my life life and death crisis that I had when I came out of it and I came through of it it made me such a better man you say okay John what what happened what what Was that turn in your life the turn was very simple I felt that I my life was spared because my calling was important and all of a sudden it raised the stature of that calling and it raised the stature of what I was doing the calling got bigger and

I deter to get better and I can say in the last 22 years of my life they've been the best 22 years of my life in fact I would say The last year of my life has been the best year of life I'm 73 and I'm still going up but it was that crisis it was the fact that I came out of that and said to myself I'm here for a purpose I'm here for a reason the calling is bigger I've got to get better so moving on to number eight where at developing others to

do it and John talks about you know that's that's really about um sharing and and teaching other people to do that and and Sharing the vision with your team in such a way that uh they feel like you know you can't if you're teaching it and developing others to do it then that means they have to catch it and see it and almost climb inside and feel what you feel so that that vision is transferred and so I'm curious for you I mean we we talk about um the six types of working genius book we've

talked about that before and the person who is a vision caster and helping get the team On board if you haven't read the book we've talked about before on the podcast uh gal that's a galvanizer right that's getting everybody on board so I'm curious for you mark are you someone a leader who can is that one of your working Geniuses can you clearly cast the vision and then how does one a leader who's listening in who maybe isn't a galvanizer isn't really one who can clearly cast The Vision how do you practice if you've got

this big dream if You are now at step eight um how do you learn or practice clearly casting the vision well I think it's I think it's a little bit of this story I just gave you uh Tracy you got to look for ways to teach it and you got to look for ways to teach it when you're not lecturing or when you're not condescending and uh for me I I've figured out that as the parent of a 17-year-old soon to be my my daughter is now finished with Junior uh her junior year she's not

a senior yet that's a big argument in our home just a sidebar uh she thinks that when she's done with a junior she's a senior I think that on day one of school after the Bell Rings if she's in her seat then now she's a senior it's a very dysfunctional conversation one that's very close to me so I'm going to use my podcast platform to convince my daughter and I'm just teasing but but one of the things that I have found at this stage In Macy's life is telling her what to do or even giving

her context is not working as effectively as seeing myself almost as a mentor to right so oftentimes I think I talked about this on a podcast a few months ago oftentimes now I ask Macy Macy what do you think should be the decision here and what do you think the consequences of that decision would be I've changed it a little bit the way that you te teach something especially in the idea of a Dream what we're talking about these last two weeks the way that you teach a senior level teammate is different than the way

that you teach someone that's just starting with the company you use a lot of language a lot of stories a lot of excitement with leaders you have to ask the question hey are you trying to discourage me are you trying to level set me or are you trying to discourage me I'm a little bit confused here I I did not know how this leader Would respond I was pleasantly surprised but here's what him telling me after we were leaving what that told me I use the right way to teach him in that story I don't

always get it right we could talk for the rest of the day about the times I've got it wrong but I think teaching somebody to embrace the dream we you've got the dream you're experiencing the dream you've got people that are fighting the dream that's where we are right now as an organization that's Where probably a lot of you are in your leadership you're experiencing some success you got some few people that don't like that success and they're coming after they're fighting it well you're going to have to find ways that will help your team

help those around you to grasp the lesson of the importance of the dream and rather than giving you three steps to help people to teach people how to catch the dream or be part of the dream with you let me Give you one step know where your people are so you can lead them to where you are you've got to go to them before you can teach them to where you are and too many people with the dream they hope their passion will be contagious rather than their example and I'm just going to tell you

your example is more contagious than your passion yes yes that is so good I'm writing that down passion versus example and boy is that true now it would be wonderful if you have Passion as you are living out your example abely let me just let me just say that if you are just drudging along Le showing your giving your example that's not really all that contagious absolutely absolutely but I just think of like you know when when you're casting a vision is it is it visual is it your you know painting a picture for them

of this is where we're going as you are when you're painting the the dream And teaching them um the brand new vision and what I'm hearing you say is it's different for new PE new team members versus old team members when you are casting a vision it's different it's not the same it's not a one-size fit all fits all for your team so it's knowing your team members is really important and I've seen that in leadership to be totally honest I have been on the receiving end of people of a leader casting a vision and

just really missing The pulse because they didn't do a good job casting the vision or con connecting with the people so when they went to con cast The Vision they didn't know what language to use to meet the people they were sharing it with because there was no there was such a disconnect in relationship so what does it all come back to relationship that's a big important piece if you're going to move forward with someone with a team of People in order to put this dream into play with a team of people you need to

know your people whether they're newbies or they are they've been with you for years years and years and years John John gave me on that point John gave me a point uh to use with some of my leadership um a few weeks ago he said Mark I want you to go talk to your leaders and I want you to say this or he recommended it he didn't say I want you to do he recommended he said and I tried This tell me where you are so that I can lead you where I need you to

go ah now it was on a particular subject we were wrestling with it and there was this huge disconnect what was interesting is two things happened with that statement one is is I gave them a chance to show me let me hear Let it re be revealed where they were that's always a good thing as a leader know where your people are but number two it let them know very clearly we're not on the same Page and and John John was using the point that his leaders sometimes were were the Umpire we call the balls

and Strikes and there's half the there's half the crowd that's watching the game that disagrees with the call it was too close to a to the strike zone for it to be a ball and there's a bunch of people watching that's a fan of the of the batting team that says man that was a close call but that umpire got it right that was a ball it's that borderline Call and yet at the end of the day who make the call the referee not the batter not the pitcher not the fans not whatever fan side

of the fans you were the Umpire had to make call in leadership sometimes you have to call the balls and Strikes well I did with that question that said hey tell me where you are where I can get you where I need you to be I gave them a chance to say Hey how do you see this situation what are you Seeing but by the way you're seeing it differently than me and I got to get you to where I am not stay where you are so it was a statement to let someone reveal where

they are it was a statement that said we're not on the same page but here's the third thing it was a statement that says you need to get to where I am because I'm the guy that's calling the balls and Strikes here yeah not in an egotistical way just somebody's got to call the balls and Strikes and this particular day it's my turn if we can teach you how to lead at zi and we can get you up to a seven or an eight if you're an eight what do you you attract some eights you

see the better leader you are the better people you attract the higher you go the more you attract people that have already gone High the more successful you are the more that you attract successful people this is huge people want to be on a winning team they want to be with Somebody that's successful so when you're successful you begin to bring around and attract to yourself really successful people number three take action this is what I call Action attraction in other words there's something about when somebody is moving forward that it's that movement that people

say oh she's going somewhere he's going somewhere where are they going I wonder if I could go with them I wonder if I could join Their team you see what leaders do is they not only know the way they show the way in other words they basically look at the people around them and say I'm going to climb this mountain do you want to climb this mountain with me I'm going to be successful in zi do you want to be successful with me I'm going to go to the top do you want to go to

the top and it's that action that really makes the difference in people's lives again Nobody ever joined a person that just had good intentions they only join somebody that has good actions so the moment you start taking action on a situation you begin to attract those people to you now what are we doing we're talking about how do you attract leaders to your organization number one love what you do that gives you passion number two be successful that draws the best people to you number three take action now all of a sudden you're Creating movement

number four have a big Vision you see the size of the vision that you have determines the size of the person that you attract if you have a small Vision you attract small people if you have an average Vision you attract average video If you have a big Vision you attract big people I know this because for 50 plus years I've been leading many years ago I gave a vision that was just amazing I looked at a Small group of leaders and said let's train a million leaders around the world now when I gave that

Vision there were only about oh maybe 1,200 people that were following me in this vision of training leaders just a handful of people but the moment that I gave them what I called the million leader mandate it brought the best out of people let me say this when you get a big vision for people it draws the bigness out of it when you give the best Vision it draws the best out of people and immediately they said let's do it and literally hang on in seven years we had trained a million people around the world

and then I said let's train people in every country and the vision got big again and another seven years we had literally trained 5 million people in every country of the world what was it a big Vision it draws big people and Finally if you really want to attract great leaders to your organization you need to lift your leadership lid and what I mean by that is very simple you need to become a better leader the reason I teach leadership around the world and have for so many years years is because when I was in

my 20s I became totally convinced that everything Rises and falls on leadership I was so convinced of it I said that's my Calling here's the good news 50 years later I am more convinced of that truth than I was when I started it's a beautiful thing to give your life to something that you know to be true 50 years later I am telling you again as your friend everything Rises and falls on leadership so if you become a be a better leader if you have a bigger Vision if you take action if you yourself are

successful and if you love what you do guess What you'll attract a lot of good leaders to your organization and that's what I want for you hi John Maxwell here today welcome to minute with Maxwell a person that has greatly influenced my life um was Bill brigh for many many years he was the founder CEO leader of Campus Crusade and um he has now passed on but I spent many good days with him and and the the word that I want to use on a minute with Maxwell with in in regards To bill brigh is

the word vision for 25 years I was a pastor I lived in San San Diego some of those years and at that time a campus saved for Christ headquarters was up in Arrowhead Springs about 2 hours North of San Diego and Bill brigh became a mentor to me a great influencer in my life and and we were as a pastor we were going through a major relocation about $45 million and I was working hard and I just got a little tired and so I called And asked if I could come up and spend some time

with him he said certainly so I went up and we sat for a couple of hours that morning and I shared with them the load I was carrying and the 45 5 million building project and he was just listened so kind and when we were done he prayed with me and so let's have lunch we had lunch when we were done he said John he said uh do you have another hour I want to show you a project I'm working on I said of course and we set Down that day and he showed me the

Jesus film now this was before it became a worldwide evangelism phenomena literally it was just being birthed and and they were just getting ready to to launch this incredible project and and he shared with me he said John I'm going to be able to to share Faith with with the whole world and I'll never forget at that moment I realized how big his vision was and my $45 million building project was so Small compared to him now let me just say something about big people when you're with big people they make you feel bigger I

I never felt small with Bill brigh even though his vision was much much bigger than my vision because he loved me and he believed in me but that two-hour drive from Arrowhead Springs to San Diego that day trust me I realized that I had been again one more time influenced by a person that saw more than I saw and they saw before I Saw wow I will always be indebted for the man who who taught me how to think bigger than I'd ever thought before bill brigh was his name vision is what he taught me

and I'm glad today you're with me on minute with Max thought number four that'll take you to the top success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do that is a fact let me repeat it success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures Don't like to do in other words one of the greatest differences between successful people and unsuccessful people is in their habits that's why I have in your notes when you do the things that you ought to do when you ought to do them the

day will come when you will do the things that you want to do when you want to do them I have a statement that I make many times in leadership conferences The Secret of your success is discovered in Your daily agenda you can go to the bank on that two more thoughts thought number five what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us Emerson said what lies behind you what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you so the question is not what

big problem do you have in your life what big issue do you have to solve in your life the question Is what have you got on the inside two thoughts Roberta Flack was exactly right when she said the situation you live in doesn't have to live in you second thought maintaining the right attitude is easier than regaining just keep your maintenance of your attitude up because if you lose it it's hard to get it back is't that true haven't we all lost it your attitude is so key and here's why an attitude is an outward

Expression of an inward feeling that's what an attitude is I wrote a book in 1986 called the winning attitude you can tell a person whether they have a bad attitude or good attitude sometimes without them ever talking to you isn't that true you know what your attitude is your attitude always goes before you let's review because the sixth thought is a very important one I want to get to it in a moment number one it's what you learn after you know it all That counts number two don't let anyone steal your dream number three you

can spend your life any way you want but you can only spend it once number four success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failers don't like to do five what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us thought number six your greatest achievements are those that benefit others that's why Henry van djk Said there is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world it is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher it is true the greatest achievements you and

I will ever have are those that benefit others the other day I was at lunch people were talking about significance and they were talking about success and all of a sudden it just came to my heart and mind I mean I knew that I had the difference and for The first time clearly articulated I said success comes when we add value to ourselves but significant comes when we add value to others you see both of them add value but one is singular and the other is plural one is inward the other is outward and I

think that statement that I've made that the greatest achievements that we're ever going to have are those that benefit others is a true statement the Ecclesiastes writer said two are better than one because they have a good return for their work if one falls down his friend can help him up but pity The Man Who falls who has no one to help him up ja Holmes said it is well to remember that the entire population of the universe with one trifling exception is composed of others so what do I believe about teamwork and what do

I believe about Partnerships number one leaders Lead for the benefit of others that's why you lead if you're a leader you lead for the benefit of others you lead to add value to their life the quote true leadership must be for the benefit of the father followers not for the enrichment of the leaders anytime the benefit is for the leaders more than the followers the leaders are now beginning to manipulate their followers number two partnership purifies our Motives when we partner with somebody else to give them the credit it purifies why we're in that business

John bunan said you have not lived today until you have done something for someone who could never repay you I promise you that will purify your motive number three proximity is not necessarily Unity Billy Graham said our world has become a neighborhood without becoming a Brotherhood number Four my highest value is the value I bring to others two quotes one by Red arbach who for many many years general manager very successful Boston Celtics he said one person seeking Glory doesn't accomplish much everything we've done has been the result of people working together to meet our

common goals Bill Russell who for many years was the anchor on the Boston Celtics team said the most important measurement of how good a game I played was how much better I made my teammates play isn't that a great way to look at yourself thought number five in the area of teamwork and partnership great achievements are a result of teamwork and part Partnerships woodro Wilson past president of the United States said we should not only use all the brains we have but all that we can borrow lynon Johnson other past president said there Are no

problems we cannot solve together and very few that we can solve by ourselves one more thought number six lasting achievements are a result of teamwork or they're a result of Partnerships Harvey farstone said it only as we develop others that we permanently succeed I love that quote and Andrew Carnegie on his tombstone has this written here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better Men than himself I have committed my life to partnership I've committed my life to teamwork everything I do now has value for others in other words there's a

multiplication whenever we team up we're here to complete one another not compete with one another we're here to add value it is true we are our Brother's Keeper pour your life into others and add value to Them come not to be served but to [Music] serve welcome to the Maxwell leadership executive podcast where our goal is to help you increase inre your reputation as a leader increase your ability to influence others and increase your ability to fully engage your team to deliver remarkable results