Dan Martell - 21 Principles of Top 0.01% Leaders

00:00:00.000 John Maxwell, multi-millionaire, best-selling author,

00:00:03.380 and one of the world's leading experts on leadership.

00:00:06.300 He's the go-to guy for executives at Coca-Cola,

00:00:09.280 Walmart, NFL, IBM, and many more.

00:00:12.460 He's written over 90 books on personal growth,

00:00:14.840 selling over 35 million copies.

00:00:17.960 Now he's about to break down

00:00:19.160 the irrefutable principles of leadership,

00:00:21.300 the laws that make the top 1% of leaders

00:00:23.740 so rich and successful.

00:00:25.500 So get ready for this episode

00:00:27.000 because he's gonna show you how to use these principles

00:00:29.340 to level up your own life and business.

00:00:32.780 Talk about your career under the lens

00:00:34.640 of just doing a thing for a long period of time

00:00:37.060 because most people struggle to do anything for a week.

00:00:40.500 You know, I owe that to my father.

00:00:42.740 My father was very, very successful

00:00:44.680 and he was kind of a one thing guy.

00:00:47.560 This one thing I do, I have an older brother

00:00:50.060 that's been very successful in business

00:00:52.180 and very early on he would kind of watch us

00:00:55.440 and see what he felt our natural tendencies

00:00:58.520 and skills were and by the time that my brother was probably 10 or 11 he had him doing entrepreneur

00:01:04.780 stuff and starting little businesses and and uh and he just said larry you're just you just are

00:01:11.140 gifted in business and and with me i was kind of a kid that just had a lot of friends i was highly

00:01:17.160 highly highly relational basically i went to school to see my friends and i played bowl i mean i was

00:01:21.960 i was kind of a i tell i tell parents if you would have seen me at a young age you'd be greatly

00:01:26.840 encourage for your child because because where my brother he bought his first car cash by 16

00:01:32.400 you know i used my father's car up through college as far as i could you know i mean i was just i was

00:01:38.500 just a fun kid but i was highly gifted relationally with people and so i was always i led everything i

00:01:44.620 was just and so my father just said you know john you've got leadership tendencies so let's let's

00:01:49.460 build those leadership tendencies so i i want to say that i i think that i was fortunate very young

00:01:54.980 to kind of get on one track and and and i've always said the reason i don't do a lot of things

00:02:00.900 is i'm not very gifted in a lot of things you know i could if you could just do one thing you

00:02:04.760 just kind of hang there but i knew this i wanted to i what i knew was i didn't even know what the

00:02:10.340 calling or career was going to be in the beginning but i knew i wanted to spend time with people

00:02:14.260 and add value to them that i love leading and i loved improving people's lives and i felt that i

00:02:20.020 knew how to do that. And so I started off in ministry, really. I started off as a pastor,

00:02:25.140 and I was there for 25 years. Then I crossed over the business community. But here's what I know.

00:02:30.260 I fell in love with leadership when I was 24. And I came to the conclusion everything rises and

00:02:36.360 falls on it. That if you can lead well, you're going to do well, no matter where you go, where

00:02:41.600 you are, no matter even what your occupation is. I so bought into that, Dan, that I said,

00:02:47.860 I think leadership is worthy of my life.

00:02:52.860 And I bought into it, and I said, I think that it's true,

00:02:56.920 and if it's true, then I'm going to teach people to lead well,

00:02:59.320 so I'm going to help lift their lids.

00:03:01.440 And I have never looked back, what's really beautiful?

00:03:03.740 That was, well, I'm 77, so that's 53 years ago.

00:03:08.680 I believe that everything rises and falls on leadership more today

00:03:12.140 than when I started, and I feel very fortunate.

00:03:14.980 I feel very fortunate to be able to give my life to something that has intensified,

00:03:22.100 that has not ebbed away from me to where I thought, well, maybe that wasn't true in every situation.

00:03:27.820 And to give my life to something that helps people so much, and that is in the leadership field.

00:03:32.840 Because I've never been to any organization or any group anywhere in the world that said,

00:03:37.060 we have too many good leaders.

00:03:39.160 They always have a dearth, a lack of, we need more leaders.

00:03:43.000 We need to train more people.

00:03:44.020 So I followed my heart, and I found something I think that was constantly in need and still is.

00:03:52.940 And I followed something that really worked.

00:03:56.760 And, you know, you stay in the game because it helps people.

00:04:00.100 I mean, people say, why are you still in the game?

00:04:02.460 There's the only one reason I'm in the game.

00:04:04.320 What I'm doing is changing lives and helping people.

00:04:07.440 Why would I get out of the game?

00:04:09.200 You know, I mean, but, you know, if my game was golf, I'd get out of the game.

00:04:13.780 But my game isn't.

00:04:16.180 And so I love what I do, but I also love the people I do it with.

00:04:21.420 And I always say that if you have the two loves, if you love people, in fact, I tell

00:04:26.680 leaders, when you stop loving people, you really need to stop leading them because then

00:04:30.900 you start taking advantage of them.

00:04:32.440 You get an edge on it you don't want.

00:04:34.440 So I love people and I love what happens when people learn what I know, and that is leadership.

00:04:41.140 and it's just uh it's just joy i i just i i i honestly could say i've never worked a day in

00:04:50.720 my life i mean i woke up and i thought about us doing this today and i just got a big smile on

00:04:56.280 my face i gotta be with dan i get to be on the podcast we get to talk about things that are going

00:05:00.560 to help people and here i am and and i just doesn't work this is joy and i think that i'm

00:05:09.200 very fortunate i don't think everybody has that but i think i'm very fortunate and very blessed to

00:05:14.600 have found something that helps people that i love so much and so that's what i mean consistency is

00:05:20.900 not hard i mean once you find something like that you just keep one consistency is not hard

00:05:27.340 getting better is hard so so i i'm not just at rep i'm not talking about repetition consistency like

00:05:34.960 every day every day no no i'm talking about every day but every day there's improvement every day

00:05:38.820 there's growth. Every day there's change that happens in a person's life. So I'm very consistent

00:05:45.780 in leadership, but I'm very growth oriented in every day I have to get better at it because the

00:05:52.840 only guarantee anybody's future is going to be good is that they're growing right now. I mean,

00:05:58.680 there's no guarantee that tomorrow could ever be better if I'm not still growing and developing

00:06:02.560 myself today so there is a consistency of I've done leadership but I do leadership much better

00:06:09.720 today than I did 50 years ago you know what in fact in fact I look back at some of my early

00:06:13.700 books and I thought you know can I get in fact sometimes I go to the publisher and I say can I

00:06:17.620 buy that book out you know I mean because I've learned so much more now I look and I think oh

00:06:23.240 that wasn't that wasn't near as good as it could have been or should have been so there is a

00:06:27.720 consistency as far as I've done it a long time but I tell people you could do something a long

00:06:32.800 time and people are saying they're very consistent but that doesn't mean that you're really helping

00:06:37.920 people you've got to constantly grow so there's a I continue to do it but I continue to do it

00:06:44.700 better and I am in love with better I'm in love with growing when I think about my journey on

00:06:53.240 that topic of where i started where i am today same embarrassed some of the ways i acted some

00:07:01.200 of the things totally oh my gosh when you look back on your journey john what what are kind of

00:07:05.640 like three moments that like what who did you need to become to be the john maxwell i'm sitting here

00:07:14.320 with today from where you started well you know such a good question dan and really i feel the

00:07:19.360 same way. I tell people if they would have seen me in the beginning, they would all be greatly

00:07:23.440 encouraged because they really would be. My first book wasn't good. I mean, it just really wasn't

00:07:28.240 good. It was my first book, but you're never good the first time. You know, in fact, you're usually

00:07:32.720 not too out the second time either. You know, but why do I keep doing it? Because I may not be good

00:07:39.000 the first time or the second time, but I do want to be good sometime. And you're only going to be

00:07:43.180 good sometime if you're working at it and you're practicing. And so the catalyst for me was that

00:07:48.340 when I was in my 20s, I had a mentor and he asked me if I had a personal plan for growth in my life,

00:07:54.600 which I did not, didn't even know I should have one. And he awakened me to the fact that if I was

00:08:00.000 going to really get better, I had to be intentional. And I would look back at that moment and say that

00:08:05.320 was my eureka moment. Because I kind of thought if you just show up and do your work, you kind of

00:08:11.200 improve. And I remember he said to me, you know, getting older is automatic, but getting better is

00:08:16.080 not and you know just keep breathing and you get older yeah but but he said if you're going to get

00:08:21.640 better and that awakened me at a very young age and i became extremely intentional in my growth

00:08:27.660 so that's the first area i think the second catalytic time for me dan was when i asked

00:08:32.360 myself well what i realized when i got on a growth track i thought i can't grow in every area i mean

00:08:36.880 i'm not that smart i don't have that much time i mean how much can you read how how wide can you

00:08:41.720 go. And I decided that with, that I didn't want to go wide and growing. I wanted to go deep and

00:08:48.160 growing. And so that I needed, I needed to pick a few spots because first of all, I'm not highly

00:08:54.400 gifted. So a lot of spots I couldn't do well in if I did learn. And so I sat down for about 14

00:09:02.160 months. I can't remember doing this for really well. I would have been probably 28, 29. And I

00:09:07.380 said, if I'm going to start writing books, I'm going to start helping people. Where do I really

00:09:11.780 help them? And I just studied success. I came to the conclusion after 14 months that if there are

00:09:16.620 five areas that if I could really get five lanes going, it would help. And those five areas are

00:09:23.000 communication because to be successful, you really have to be able to communicate, connect with

00:09:28.780 people. I mean, if you're a leader, you have to cast vision. You know, Warren Buffett says the

00:09:32.900 most important skill that you can have. And I think he's right probably is communication to be

00:09:36.740 ability to connect so i said okay i'm gonna i'm gonna help people communication obviously i'm

00:09:41.320 gonna help people in leadership i will help people learn how to develop teams and equip

00:09:46.480 people because you know as well as i do if you're going to be if you're going to compound money

00:09:51.400 influence time you have to have a team so i said i'm going to help people do that i'm going i'm

00:09:56.380 going to help people with attitude just mainly attitude on adversity and difficulty and and how

00:10:02.660 do you work through the the emotionally difficult times in your life because you know how many times

00:10:07.860 do we see people quit when they had all the gifts and all the resources to make it they just

00:10:13.320 emotionally couldn't handle the pressure and yeah they dropped it so if i could help them with

00:10:17.060 attitude kind of and then and then relationships the ability to really connect people because

00:10:23.280 honestly if if you know if if you don't get along with people people really won't go along with you

00:10:28.160 So you've got to have some pretty heavy relationship schools.

00:10:31.380 That would be the second ah-ha moment for me.

00:10:33.840 You know, the first year, I've got to be intentional.

00:10:36.020 Then now I've got to get specific.

00:10:37.660 And my books today, I've just finished writing my 90th book.

00:10:41.740 And they're in those five areas.

00:10:43.460 I have five lanes.

00:10:44.840 And here's what, I wish we had time to talk about this.

00:10:46.980 And you figured this out at 28?

00:10:48.640 Yeah, I did.

00:10:49.340 Well, there's a lot of things I didn't figure out.

00:10:52.020 I said that.

00:10:52.900 Not that I said that.

00:10:53.760 I said that too quick.

00:10:54.720 Yes, I did.

00:10:55.860 That's an honest answer.

00:10:56.900 But it took me 14 months to discover the five things.

00:11:02.600 And I never wrote a book for me.

00:11:04.060 I know because people tell me, well, I have a story I want to tell.

00:11:07.140 And I said, well, your mother will buy it.

00:11:08.640 You got your two sisters.

00:11:09.840 I'll buy it.

00:11:10.300 You got your next door.

00:11:11.540 After you sell the 11 books, no one cares.

00:11:14.340 They really don't.

00:11:15.620 So I never told my story.

00:11:18.140 It's always about where are you and how can I help you?

00:11:20.920 And what I found is the moment you add value to people and they look at you and they say,

00:11:25.900 my life is better because of you. That is your most important moment in helping develop leadership

00:11:33.120 relationships with people. And I've spent my life specifically helping people get better.

00:11:41.700 I had a lady the other day come to me. She said, I know why you're successful. I said,

00:11:45.420 good, tell me why. She said, you're very successful helping people become very successful.

00:11:51.040 i said yeah i do that that's what i do i help people get better and when you help people get

00:11:57.120 better i don't they're they're yours for life not yours for life like slaves are yours for life as

00:12:02.220 far as connection and relationship and and when people say well how do your book sell so well well

00:12:07.240 it's a john maxwell book and john maxwell helps people and he adds value to people oh there's a

00:12:13.200 title well what's the title it doesn't matter it's a john maxwell book and so that the ability to

00:12:19.720 find these five lanes then when you get a lane obviously you could add more lanes to it but but

00:12:27.180 so you know in some of my in leadership i probably have about a 12 lane freeway in leadership you

00:12:33.780 know in some things it would be less lanes but i tell people you you pick a lane and get it and

00:12:38.180 then you add another lane and and and after a while you can you can move a lot of stuff down

00:12:42.540 the road. So that would be the second catalyst. And then the third one was I really worked

00:12:50.700 hard getting around great people. We hear the phrase, who luck, which is who you know

00:13:01.020 is important. I realized very early that I needed to get around great people. So I did

00:13:07.480 everything in my power to meet people that were bigger than me, better than me, faster

00:13:11.860 than me, smarter than me. You know, I have an expression that says, you know, if you're the

00:13:16.400 head of the class, you're in the wrong class. I have never been in the head of the class in any

00:13:23.240 area. I still am not. If I'm at the head of the class, I get out of that class so quick because

00:13:28.580 if you're at the head of the class, all you're doing is talking to people about what you do

00:13:33.720 and you're not growing. And so that's why I like to be around people like you. And that's why I

00:13:39.540 ask questions I ask questions because you know things I don't know and I'm not going to find out

00:13:44.500 until I ask you questions and I've never lost that appetite to be around people bigger better

00:13:50.280 and faster than me I'm I'm uncomfortable when I'm the head of the class I'm not uncomfortable

00:13:55.300 leading anything but I'm very uncomfortable when I look around and I say wow I think I'm probably

00:14:01.280 I know more than the rest of them because at that moment how are you going to learn more

00:14:06.320 and so I have been very passionate about jumping the fence going anywhere I have to go to meet

00:14:15.060 people and ask them questions because I have this when I'm with somebody and I don't get to ask them

00:14:22.360 questions I feel I walk away and I think there was something they know that I don't know and I

00:14:27.840 didn't get any time with them to ask them the question so I still don't know it and that is

00:14:33.420 very uh i i every day i i think wow i could have learned more if i could have just had a little

00:14:39.160 more time with somebody and ask them questions and and sat at their feet and take notes and

00:14:45.500 apply it to my life so i think those three things as i look back at it dan that's where i am today

00:14:53.300 that's i mean that's how it got to to where i am today and they've never changed they've never i

00:14:58.120 I mean, it's, again, back to consistency compounds.

00:15:01.700 Every month I still have a learning lunch

00:15:03.600 where I take somebody bigger, better, and faster than me.

00:15:06.980 It's my favorite thing every month.

00:15:08.920 And I buy their lunch.

00:15:10.280 I don't even need it.

00:15:10.720 I just got a list of seven questions.

00:15:12.720 And I ask them the seven questions.

00:15:15.120 And it's just, I walk.

00:15:17.280 When I'm done, I look at them and I think,

00:15:19.280 you have deposited stuff in me that's going to have a return.

00:15:24.280 And hopefully I'll be able to thank you

00:15:25.800 and let you know that you're the one that was the catalytic for it.

00:15:29.260 But I have, I still, I would, if somebody said, what do you want to do?

00:15:33.440 What's your favorite thing?

00:15:34.140 My favorite thing is learning, not writing, not speaking, not leading.

00:15:40.680 My favorite thing is learning.

00:15:42.840 Because every time I learn, then I have something to give to others.

00:15:47.220 You know, you can't give what you don't have.

00:15:48.980 Oh, that's so good.

00:15:50.140 My father, one more question.

00:15:51.360 I'm so sorry, I'm talking to you.

00:15:52.240 my father who is so great so good he said John keep the well filled keep he said don't don't

00:16:00.540 ever go to the well and have have it empty you got a deposit you got to keep putting stuff in

00:16:05.820 and he told of course the word max well literally it's a if we're Scottish max well is really means

00:16:12.980 to fill the well to the max and so he'd say live up to your name you're a max well I mean we're

00:16:19.280 not a mini well we're not a half full well we're not like it you know we got an empty well we're

00:16:24.020 a max well and so he said he said the only person that can fill your well is you so you that's he

00:16:30.400 taught me how to file every day how to ask questions and so i deposit in my well every day

00:16:37.800 you know thoughts ideas quotes stories i have thousands thousands that i've because i've been

00:16:48.880 doing that since I was 17. Well, I've done that for 60 years. So I never run out of material. I

00:16:54.300 mean, I always have something to write about. I have something to talk about, not because I'm

00:17:00.000 brilliant, but because every day I read, every day I think, every day I file, every day I ask

00:17:04.340 questions, and every day I write. Those are those everyday essentials. Back to consistency,

00:17:09.460 I do those every day. So people say, how do you write 90 books? Well, it's simple. Every day I

00:17:13.380 read, every day I think, every day I file, every day I ask questions, every day I write. I mean,

00:17:16.760 when you think about it, isn't that all simple? I'm a very simple person. There's nothing complex

00:17:22.540 about my life at all. But I do it every day. And I also, Dan, I don't do it all day. I didn't say

00:17:30.820 all day I write. I think intensity is overrated. I think consistency is underrated. And, you know,

00:17:39.960 some days, like we're doing conferences here right now, at best I'll get 15 to 20 minutes to write

00:17:46.240 today i don't get any time hardly i'm doing stuff that's okay but i do it every day that's the key

00:17:52.240 you know 10 15 minutes every day you put that out for three or four months you've got some pretty

00:17:57.820 serious writing going on does that make sense yeah and you said that to me on that call you go

00:18:03.620 damn i've been doing this for 53 years it's not that impressive and i was just like just have to

00:18:08.620 be old yeah just give it time it's working yeah in fact it's really working the longer you live i

00:18:14.780 I mean, it's kind of, you go, whoa, you know.

00:18:17.360 So old's not all bad.

00:18:19.240 And I believe your dad lived to 95?

00:18:22.080 No, he lived to 98, almost 99.

00:18:24.240 Where you got the 95, Dan, is he worked full-time.

00:18:28.060 That's what I was asking because that work ethic,

00:18:30.520 that must have been a huge influence on you.

00:18:33.840 Well, and again, it wasn't work to my dad.

00:18:36.280 So, yeah, I mean, we grew up, and my brother turned 80,

00:18:39.800 and he works, and, you know, I work.

00:18:44.780 yeah we work just do it just do it yeah and just do it if somebody's starting from scratch today

00:18:50.640 and like in your situation let's say you're starting from scratch today but we take everything

00:18:55.300 away from you and the goal is to be a best-selling author how would you approach that well i would i

00:19:02.740 would say don't write until you have something to write about i think people write too early

00:19:08.440 i think that they still somebody says you know i got a thought i want to write a book i said

00:19:14.040 you know, a thought doesn't fill a book. A thought fills a page. So you've got 140 pages.

00:19:20.900 You've got 140 thoughts to go. You know what I'm saying? So what I tell people all the time is

00:19:25.000 don't write a book, but start writing. And what you do is you write and put things that you're

00:19:31.000 writing in different subjects or categories. And I label everything I write. And so if I'm writing

00:19:38.800 on uh on if i'm writing on attitude i'll i'll put you know i wrote maybe a paragraph on attitude

00:19:44.840 i'll follow under attitude just start writing and start filling up all of these little uh areas of

00:19:53.060 things that you care about and love and and don't try to don't try to write a book just try to have

00:19:59.000 good thoughts and then after a period of doing that for a few years you really have something

00:20:06.780 now that perhaps has enough maturity to really write it because you know writing shows up

00:20:14.940 writing shows maturity speaking doesn't necessarily but writing does because when

00:20:20.380 you can see something visually you you are much more acutely aware if it's good or not

00:20:26.300 than if you hear it through your ears and so i say speak often when you're young

00:20:31.820 write seldom as far as books and so i didn't start i started i wrote in i started in 79 so

00:20:38.380 i was born in 47 so i was 32 when i start writing and i and as i look back i probably started

00:20:45.420 writing three or four years at least too early anyway and i'm not trying to discourage me i i

00:20:49.660 don't i'm not discouraging writing i'm discouraging somebody putting it in a book because if you just

00:20:55.980 keep writing good thoughts thinking them through there's a time when you'll have a plethora of good

00:21:02.700 material that you can then start putting on pages that'll just it'll serve you better because you

00:21:09.420 know better and uh you know because nothing's more embarrassing than my writing i speak and people

00:21:14.460 forget about that but there's books i've got i mean they're still around yeah and i think only

00:21:19.980 i've written 90 books i think only i have three of them out of print and that's so frustrating i need

00:21:23.900 need to have like 30 out of print I really do but they won't go out of print because they sell now

00:21:29.640 because of who I am and so when people have that book I don't want to go up and say now let me

00:21:33.540 that's really not that good of a book you know what I'm saying it it's because it I didn't know

00:21:39.640 I had a guy one time tell me he said I wish I could have heard you 20 years ago and I said no

00:21:45.820 you don't he said no I really do he said and I said really just trust me you don't need to have

00:21:51.680 heard me 20 years ago and I could tell he was baffled and he said if I would have heard 20

00:21:57.660 years ago what you taught me today it would change my life I said if you'd heard me 20 years ago

00:22:02.480 you wouldn't have heard what I taught you today I didn't know it then I've learned it and I think

00:22:09.200 that's what the big miss is I think the big miss is the fact that what I'm teaching today

00:22:14.440 i didn't know maybe 10 years ago because i'm constantly growing and learning so my material

00:22:22.000 is constantly hopefully getting better more mature and fresh and and i think that's i think

00:22:29.180 that's what really excites me is is not what i knew but what i'm learning and then how how do i

00:22:35.460 pass it on to other people but i mean i didn't come out of my mother's womb with the 21 irrefutable

00:22:39.580 laws of leadership you know that stuff has to evolve how many books did you write before

00:22:44.340 that i'm going to guess 35 maybe that's i mean 35 i i didn't write a good book until my seventh i

00:22:53.380 wrote a book called the winning attitude which was my seventh book and when i wrote that book

00:22:57.500 all of a sudden i thought i'm starting to really understand how to write well because i was a

00:23:02.780 natural uh speaker but i was not a natural writer so i had a lot of people help me a lot of good

00:23:08.940 writers kind of helped me and it took me a while i was a little slow to catch on so i i did seven

00:23:13.660 books before the winning attitude and then i would have i probably didn't know 25 before the 21 laws

00:23:21.120 of leadership and of course that book is it probably that book today is still the number

00:23:26.360 one leadership book in 100 i mean it just keeps doing and then i wrote developing the leader

00:23:30.620 within you that was cadillac because that was the first book that really said that you can develop

00:23:36.780 yourself as a leader up until that time there was not one book written on leadership that said you

00:23:41.720 can develop yourself as a leader. It was basically leaders are born. In fact, what's really interesting

00:23:46.360 about leadership, Dan, if you go back to the 1980s and go into a bookstore, there's no leadership

00:23:51.760 books in the bookstore. They're management books. You know, Peter Drucker, and I have his privilege,

00:23:58.340 he mentored me. Peter Drucker was the great management guru, and he owned the world, and

00:24:03.260 businesses were buying management books. But in the late 80s, times were moving so quick, things

00:24:08.800 were happening you can't manage speed you got to lead speed and all of a sudden managers were

00:24:14.580 getting frustrated because they were trying to keep things together and and orderly and things

00:24:19.720 were getting not together and messy and that's when there was a call we got to get beyond

00:24:24.540 management of what is we got to get to leadership what can be and will be we got to get a little bit

00:24:30.400 more futuristic so you really go about you about 1990 and i then that's right when i started i

00:24:36.780 wrote developing a leader within you right in maybe 92 3 that I kind of I was I would to say

00:24:47.320 would be first would not be maybe right but if I wasn't first I was an awful close second or third

00:24:52.760 I I I saw that and I wrote developing leader within you then I wrote developing the leaders

00:24:57.900 around you and and immediately it started catching on and and that you know that kind of

00:25:03.500 leadership development yeah yeah well your latest book is incredible um talking about you know the

00:25:09.900 united states we're more the divided states high road leadership but at the end of the book because

00:25:15.080 i had it highlighted of just so many things i want to talk to you about but one of my favorite parts

00:25:21.160 is literally almost like the last five pages you talk about kind of takeaways about people should

00:25:28.140 show up as i will serve you and you mentioned some key people in your life that i want to ask you

00:25:32.880 about as it pertains specifically to, you know, a lot of people know me as, you know, the buyback

00:25:38.120 your time guy and productivity. I'm going to mention these names and I'm curious what they

00:25:43.160 mean to you. The first one is Linda Eggers. Who is Linda to the world? Linda's with us today.

00:25:50.140 You know, Linda, she's our executive, my executive assistant. And I think she's been with me for 37

00:25:55.100 years. My gosh, we were young and she was very capable. She was good at details. And, you know,

00:26:02.240 I just said, Linda, can you help me?

00:26:03.840 And she came alongside and helped me.

00:26:05.920 I didn't even know how to call her an executive assistant back then.

00:26:08.780 It was just back there.

00:26:09.880 It was kind of secretary.

00:26:11.400 Can you just do some busy work for me?

00:26:13.760 And I watched her do busy work.

00:26:15.780 And every time she was doing something that I would have to do,

00:26:19.360 she was saving me time back to time, that whole process.

00:26:23.200 Very quickly, I realized that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.

00:26:28.780 so but prioritizing what you do it now now you're going to start making some progress and she allowed

00:26:37.380 me to do three or four things that i did exceptionally well of which was giving the

00:26:43.620 return it was it was giving us the return and then she picked up everything else and i watched her

00:26:49.140 you know you know the first you give her the calendar and she said the calendar and then i

00:26:53.180 said okay now you do the travel and she did the travel and you know it's like every anybody that's

00:26:58.280 anybody that's really good you give them the ball and they run with it score touchdowns so

00:27:02.000 well let me give it to you again and it's kind of like how much how much can i give her i mean

00:27:07.180 i you know hey linda can you go speak for me if you go speak for me you know then she's called

00:27:12.520 timeout i'm not going to do that for you but hey but i'll get you to the event and you won't have

00:27:17.580 to worry about tickets or hotels or anything else and very quickly my calendar my workload

00:27:24.840 as far as anything that was busy was freed up immediately and within one year with her

00:27:31.880 I was just doing the things that I need to be doing that's going to give the return for

00:27:37.500 myself or for my team that we need and I looked at her and I thought you're my most valuable player

00:27:43.260 and there will be nobody more valuable than you because I really for a person is there anything

00:27:51.060 more valuable than your time because that now now you can play the game the way you want to have it

00:27:56.900 you know if you don't have margins and you don't have that then it's impossible for you to to go

00:28:01.940 where you need to go i'd like to go there but i can't go there because i got these three things

00:28:05.780 well i don't have these three things she takes those three things so she's just been with me and

00:28:12.020 we laugh and we ask you know how long we how long gonna be in the game we have no we're in the game

00:28:17.140 we we love what we do and we love doing it together and and and I what would I ever do

00:28:23.040 without her I mean so much of my success would be because she serves me so well and cares for

00:28:31.380 what I do so much and believes in what I do so much that I'm not I'm not here without Linda

00:28:39.940 I'm not here without her it's just that simple she's indispensable yeah totally that's beautiful

00:28:46.500 when you think of the impact it's had to your ability to is it a a double a triple i mean or

00:28:53.920 it's i'm not here like when people because sometimes they're the unsung hero behind the

00:28:59.100 scenes that most people don't always and yet they produce the space for us to do the work

00:29:04.420 that everybody else gets to appreciate when you think of the headspace the energy the focus the

00:29:10.700 conversations you were able to have well here's what i know um the people that are not seen are

00:29:17.620 the ones that have helped my work to be seen and and i just want to also say i think i've tried to

00:29:24.240 take good care of her she's very valuable to me and i try to let people know how valuable she is

00:29:29.760 too but i try to take good care of her financially i tried why shouldn't i i mean she's been so

00:29:35.340 important to me and and i just think that i think the greatest way i can respect her

00:29:41.340 is to acknowledge how much she's helped me but also make sure that she's very well taken care of

00:29:47.840 because uh that's a big loss i got i got a lot of people you could lose and you could say

00:29:53.120 next you know what i mean how do you do next with an executive assistant that's been with you for

00:29:58.640 37 years who knows you well well you know what funny story one time we were talking and i i was

00:30:03.560 writing a book and I was trying to help leaders be authentic and talk about, you know, what they

00:30:08.000 don't do well or their weaknesses. And so I said, Linda, I said, you know, over the next couple of

00:30:12.740 days, just make a list of some of the things I just don't do well. I'm just, you know, I'm just,

00:30:18.040 it's not my gift. And I kind of mess it up if I do it. Just kind of, you know, take a couple of

00:30:23.480 days and just, you know, write down a few things that I don't do really well and then give them to

00:30:28.900 me and I'll put them in a book to let people know that you can be very successful and yet there's

00:30:34.500 some things you don't do very well it's so funny Dan she said well I don't need a few days she said

00:30:39.960 I can tell you right now I said I said well you mean you can tell me right now oh she said no no

00:30:47.340 no she said you gotta you know here here start writing these things down and she's going down

00:30:52.480 this and i'm going wait wait can you not even act like well yes i'll have to think about these things

00:31:00.480 no she i mean she's guess why she's lived with them and she does know me and there's something

00:31:07.620 beautiful about people who know you know your weaknesses your strengths your humanness and

00:31:14.560 that they love you and they believe in you and they help you and they support you and we've laughed

00:31:20.260 about that a lot. But I think it's very true that your inner circle, the people that are closest to

00:31:26.400 you, they see your highest moments, but they also see your lowest. They see the wind, but they also

00:31:32.860 see the valley when you're going through some very difficult times. And I kind of love having

00:31:37.580 people around me that care for me enough that we can talk about it and work through it, and

00:31:43.060 I can ask their advice. Last night at the table, I had a couple of my, well, I had her and I had

00:31:49.340 Aaron, my content curator, and I was just asking him questions to help me become more aware about

00:31:56.020 this or what am I missing? And I find that there are huge assets because I really am not sure a

00:32:04.040 person is self-aware. I think the self-awareness I have is because somebody came into my life

00:32:10.440 that cared for me enough to deal with the blind spots for me. I mean, I think self-awareness,

00:32:16.740 My self-awareness mainly is me asking my team to help me with my blind spots

00:32:21.980 and the things that I don't see automatically.

00:32:25.360 And I think we have to give permission to people to do that.

00:32:28.340 I think people will not share honestly with you unless you really want to hear from them.

00:32:35.960 And, you know, I'm 77.

00:32:37.020 I look at my team all the time and say, now, look, if you see me starting to slip, raise your hand.

00:32:42.500 Because my observation is people stay too long.

00:32:45.860 I mean, look at athletes that, you know, they play two or three years after they hit their peak.

00:32:50.940 And I don't want to do that.

00:32:53.040 And I think people stay too long because they don't have somebody tell them that they're staying too long.

00:32:59.180 And I want people around me to talk to me and be open and honest with me

00:33:04.440 because I want to do it right and I want to do it well.

00:33:08.120 But I don't want to start sliding.

00:33:11.540 And, yeah, I just think that they can help me in that area.

00:33:14.900 I want them to help me.

00:33:15.860 because i need it i love that you asked for advice you know one of the other things that

00:33:23.180 you talked about and you just mentioned her aaron miller she's another name in charlie

00:33:27.920 because you told me you said one time you said there are speakers who or there's authors who

00:33:34.880 speak and then there's speakers who write yes and have people and support you you mentioned aaron

00:33:39.760 your content person so i met her last time i was at this event and i was just blown away

00:33:44.240 and i i went and hired my aaron miller so i've got joel harrison he's on my team they've talked

00:33:49.660 thank you for that yeah and that'll make it that'll help well we'll tell tell the world about

00:33:54.580 how you collaborate on creative projects because that's an again buying back your time it's like

00:33:59.820 sometimes it's it's a better product it's how have you set up your book writing 90 books

00:34:07.000 share with the world kind of how that works well first of all i i hired her by accident she was

00:34:12.580 all the way on the team and she was one of our coaching conferences that we're here right now

00:34:16.880 in Orlando. And every year, every time we bring our coaches together, there's one talk I give

00:34:23.060 every new coach and that is what's the DNA of a John Maxwell coach? What's our culture? What do

00:34:29.380 we look like? In fact, I gave that yesterday. And so she'd been at about three coaching conferences

00:34:35.680 and she'd heard me. She came up one time to me and she said, would it be okay if you just

00:34:40.760 gave me that talk and she said I have a couple ideas that maybe I could just and I said sure

00:34:47.340 have at it I gave her that talk and about two days later she brought it back with about a half a

00:34:53.420 dozen much better thoughts and ideas than what I was giving and I looked at her and I said you did

00:35:00.240 this she said yeah she said I just was kind of wanted to nicely said upgrade you a little bit

00:35:04.920 and freshen you up well i said this is good and then that's the day i realized that she could do

00:35:12.040 it i would i honestly that's how and i look at i gave her something else can can you upgrade this

00:35:18.940 and she upgraded that and after about three or four i looked at mark i said mark you need somebody

00:35:24.080 i need somebody to help us here we've got somebody already on the team we just didn't realize it

00:35:29.400 And so then, of course, then she became official content curator.

00:35:34.580 And she is brilliant in three areas.

00:35:38.800 And I think content curators are all different.

00:35:41.360 I mean, I think some content curators are great researchers.

00:35:45.160 They're just really great researchers.

00:35:47.000 When I started off with Charlie, I said, I don't need a lot of material.

00:35:52.160 And who is Charlie for the rest of the world?

00:35:53.680 Charlie's my wordsmith guy.

00:35:55.340 He's been with me for 30 years.

00:35:56.820 Yeah. Whenever there's a derivative project, Charlie does all of that for me.

00:36:00.820 He's just major help for me. He's been with me for a long time.

00:36:05.220 But I said, Charlie, I want you to do research for me, but I don't need a lot of research.

00:36:10.840 So if I'm going to deal on leadership, I don't need 500 pages on leadership.

00:36:15.240 You've got to figure out what I want out of research.

00:36:18.960 But you've got to help them narrow down.

00:36:20.340 So I took quote books with Charlie and I said, I want you to mark what you think are the good quotes in this book.

00:36:27.720 And so he marked them, and then I looked at them, and I marked them,

00:36:29.980 and we were about 80% different.

00:36:32.320 So then I sat down with him, and I said,

00:36:34.000 Oh, Charlie, you like that quote.

00:36:35.540 Let me tell you why I would never use that quote.

00:36:37.840 And I started walking him through what fits me and what doesn't fit me

00:36:43.140 because I don't want him to bring me material on a subject.

00:36:46.300 I want him to bring me material on a subject that I can immediately apply and use.

00:36:51.600 We did that for three books, and by three books, we were about 80% together on it.

00:36:56.120 So you have to, you have to teach them, you have to, you literally teach your content people.

00:37:01.300 I know that's the subject we're looking at, but there are certain parts of that subject I'm never

00:37:05.960 going to talk about or I'm not very interested in. So you have to spend what I call a lot of time

00:37:11.400 with them in the beginning for them to understand. It's like Linda with letters and now emails.

00:37:16.580 You know, in the beginning I'd sit down, here's how I would write that letter.

00:37:19.560 And here's why I would say that. And then after a while she'd write and she'd look at it and I'd

00:37:23.840 I said, okay, everything, I wouldn't say that.

00:37:26.000 And, you know, you just do that after a while.

00:37:27.860 Now she takes care of everything.

00:37:29.620 So I think there's a passion and patience needed to make sure that they are on the same wavelength that you're on.

00:37:42.700 Fortunately for Erin, she'd been around the team long enough.

00:37:45.540 She already kind of knew me better.

00:37:48.240 And so she kind of, she was much quicker.

00:37:50.960 But she's brilliant in three things.

00:37:52.600 She's brilliant in taking something I said way over here to the right

00:37:58.020 and something I'm doing here to the left and saying, that fits.

00:38:04.700 She can find the pieces from different places.

00:38:11.640 In fact, I told her the other day, I said, your memory.

00:38:13.900 She'll say, remember when you talked about this?

00:38:16.520 Well, yeah, yeah.

00:38:17.720 Well, you know, if we pulled that out, we could put that over there.

00:38:20.160 So she has a high gift of being able to take things I've said somewhere else

00:38:26.980 and putting them in something I'm doing right now, which is absolutely huge.

00:38:31.760 She's extremely good on that.

00:38:33.220 The second thing that she's really brilliant in is she can take something I have said

00:38:37.720 and she can elaborate it and pull it out and make it better.

00:38:42.160 So she can work it.

00:38:43.820 She can work it.

00:38:44.520 Now, I'm a pretty good work of phrase person myself.

00:38:47.040 but what she does she doesn't work a phrase dynamically like I do but she works a phrase

00:38:54.340 practically to where but that's going to help them that's where they live you've got to understand

00:39:00.140 because I have a tendency sometimes to be you follow me success has a gap in it a lot of times

00:39:06.880 she's here and I'm and she said no no John these people are wondering they're not asking that

00:39:12.060 question or asking this question so she she kind of speaks for the person that's in the seat a

00:39:18.280 little bit more than what i i would have a tendency maybe to skip it or feel my that's kind of basic

00:39:24.580 we we we don't want it we don't want to go go go there at all and the third thing that she has

00:39:29.500 really a good ability to do is take what we're doing and figure out what we could do with it

00:39:34.400 next oh you know what would happen if we went over and did that later on that is a high gift

00:39:42.000 that's a high it's kind of like a leadership creative gift that i think most people do now

00:39:47.940 those are her three i mean she has a word smith for me there's a lot of things that she doesn't

00:39:52.720 do because it's not in her strength but what i'm wanting for is a thought provoker and somebody

00:39:57.520 that could you know throw it out and so i'll talk to her i'll say here's a subject what to do i gave

00:40:02.480 one the other day i said do find some stuff on servanthood and some stuff on some just some

00:40:07.740 vulnerability for me and and what what she'll what she could do she could find it but she could say

00:40:14.320 do you remember when you did that you were very vulnerable there that would be a good illustration

00:40:18.740 that you could use so their worth their weight in gold oh one other thing she does very well

00:40:25.820 is when i'm speaking she takes copious notes yeah because i speak i watched her oh yeah

00:40:31.380 in fact just standing for she didn't look she didn't anybody else in the room

00:40:36.080 and you can't talk to her she's like nope yeah yeah and what she's doing is she's gleaning gold

00:40:43.440 because when i speak i naturally speak and i i boom boom i i think on my feet while i talk

00:40:49.380 and and so i'll say things i've never said before she catches it i say she's a gold catcher yeah you

00:40:55.780 and then because at the end of it really dan if you at the enemy asked me now you said something

00:41:02.340 was really creative i look at you i can't i can't pull it out i i that's how quick i say it and i

00:41:08.820 move it on but she's she catches it in thousands of ideas and thoughts she's caught the other day

00:41:16.500 she said i was speaking and she said i got about four things for you out of that talk

00:41:20.740 that you haven't said before well that's what's the worth of that it's huge wow so i'm very

00:41:27.880 grateful and i'm so glad that i'm so glad that you found your you know because i'll tell you

00:41:34.720 what dad they're worth they're worth their weight in gold well i thought i was pretty good at like

00:41:38.980 buying back my time in all these creative areas and i saw that and i was like john that is

00:41:43.360 fascinating and it was what you just said about the idea of listening to my talk because sometimes

00:41:48.740 i get off stage and people like i love that thing you said i'm like i don't remember saying that

00:41:52.420 oh no and i and and that would just go into the ether and i would never be able to reuse it so

00:41:57.460 having joel around to watch my talks and collaborate with and it's more fun i mean that's to me fun is

00:42:03.360 is good um the third person i wanted to ask you about because a lot of entrepreneurs watch

00:42:08.360 my stuff and you know they have this vision someday wouldn't it be cool if i could just

00:42:14.080 do the thing i do and have somebody run the thing mark cole the ceo you've been again somebody's

00:42:22.680 been in your life for a long time i think mark's supposed to be 23 24 years beautiful talk talk

00:42:29.020 to me about mark how you found him what and and i believe he said something to you that is you said

00:42:35.200 this in your book your most recent book you said he made a commitment to me that he'd always put

00:42:39.640 me at the priority of things to support the vision or something like that well when i think

00:42:45.780 of mark it's very humbling to even talk about him i i didn't find him we hired him and we hired him

00:42:51.920 to work in a stock room to very i mean we just i didn't even know him probably for three years

00:42:56.300 the company i mean somebody hired him so he's in there and then i started hearing people talk about

00:43:01.920 him i before i ever met him they just talked about how they like working with him and he was

00:43:07.880 now already moving up out of the stock room and and it was kind of like Mark Cole well Mark and

00:43:13.720 I'd ask about it I said well he's he's a good leader and people love him and they really care

00:43:18.220 for him so finally he started to get my attention and and so when I met him I thought yeah this

00:43:24.640 this kid's got some good he's got some real good potential but we really let him work himself all

00:43:30.000 the way up I mean we it wasn't like a fast climb it's just everywhere he went where he was it did

00:43:37.320 well and everybody that he was with loved him and was pushed it was kind of like they were pushing

00:43:43.220 him up and he so marks at the next spot the next spot and so so finally i had him start traveling

00:43:49.240 with me a little bit so that i could get to know him better when i got to know him better i thought

00:43:53.460 now i'm starting to understand why these people really like him so he started getting closer got

00:43:57.680 in started getting on my inner circle i kept giving him more responsibility extremely he's a

00:44:04.940 finisher he's a make it happen person and one day i looked and i said this guy just like linda can

00:44:10.260 take care of all of my busy stuff that i want to get off now this guy can start unloading some of

00:44:16.060 the important things that i'm doing as a leader what he really did is he started taking the

00:44:20.620 leadership responsibilities off of me because although i lead very well i make rain when i

00:44:27.520 write and when i speak yeah a lot of people can lead a company but not a lot of people can make

00:44:33.640 the ring that that i can make either through speaking or writing so now i'm saying i love to

00:44:39.640 lead i love leadership but now i'm giving up things i really i that i'm good at but but he's

00:44:46.020 as good at and in many ways better than i am was that hard yeah and so i so you know again when you

00:44:51.420 start giving up in the beginning you give up all the busy stuff but the harder i always say the

00:44:57.900 higher your climb the harder it is to give up because after a while you're giving up stuff

00:45:01.220 you really like to do yourself and that you're good at yourself and you say but i can do that

00:45:04.820 well that's the question not can i do it but can someone else do it because somebody else can

00:45:08.500 if somebody else can do what you're doing you need to get rid of it as quick as possible

00:45:12.820 you need to be doing what no one else can do that that's that's the distinctive that you're going for

00:45:20.500 the man just loves me and cares total trustworthy and puts me always first

00:45:28.820 he is being a second person is an honor to him it's not like i think i'm good enough i ought to

00:45:36.820 be first and i've had a lot of second people that i said you need to go be your own ceo because you

00:45:42.720 are good and you don't you know and mark can do the same thing and of course he gives him i give

00:45:47.200 him more and more and now he really has uh so much of the i mean he's part owner of the company and

00:45:52.620 it's all it's going to be a handoff to him but the thing that makes mark so incredible and so

00:45:58.080 humbling to me is that he lives, lives to serve me. And there's never been a time in my life I

00:46:09.920 questioned his motives. There's never been a time I looked at him and said, no, what's happening

00:46:16.000 over there? Total, complete trust. And the only way that you can give complete trust is,

00:46:24.620 you know, you can't trust what hasn't been tested. It has to be tested. So people say,

00:46:33.560 well, you trust Him. Well, I can give you initial trust just based on I will trust you as a person,

00:46:38.260 but you're going to have to, it's going to have to be tested. We're going to have to see if during

00:46:43.220 all times you're trustworthy. He is. And I probably, the greatest thing I could say about

00:46:50.160 him. And because he is that way, the people he leads are that way. And so the environment is

00:46:58.340 extremely safe. And the environment is whole. It's not dysfunctional. And he has created people

00:47:07.280 who care greatly about what we're doing. And he's been a phenomenal asset. And now I'm enjoying

00:47:17.520 mentoring him and his leadership level. And, you know, it's one thing to, it's one thing for your

00:47:23.940 second person to lead through you and go and say, well, here's what Dan wants. And there's another

00:47:30.080 time when no longer Dan's in the scene, here's what I want. When that handoff all of a sudden,

00:47:35.420 because if it's from Dan there, yeah, we got it. If it's from John, we got it. But all of a sudden

00:47:40.660 now it's from Mark. So I said, now Mark, you're going to have your, your leadership's going to

00:47:44.160 be tested it has to stand on its own to a great you know it's kind of like I can get you in the

00:47:49.760 room with all my peers but I can't keep you in the room you got to keep yourself in the room

00:47:54.260 and so we just what when we started we started to say we're gonna do this handoff I said you

00:47:59.360 write down the things you need from me and I'm gonna write down the things I need from you and

00:48:03.900 let's have a talk and there were I think there were nine things he needed from me I think there

00:48:08.020 were maybe 10 things I needed from him we just had open conference can I can can can you give

00:48:13.560 that to me can i receive that from you but back and forth and it was a very healthy kind of like

00:48:18.400 handoff exercise that we go over we still go over it every once we'll go back say now are we still

00:48:24.140 being true to that list and have we done it well and and is there something we need to add to the

00:48:29.220 list or maybe something now i a lot of things of the nine things he needed for me probably now he

00:48:34.460 needs maybe three or four of them he doesn't need them all because he's it's been tested yeah and

00:48:38.680 But I think that kind of understanding and transitioning is wise

00:48:43.820 instead of just transitioning.

00:48:46.660 Yeah, I like to put some thought behind it.

00:48:49.480 What's your style?

00:48:50.220 Because you talked about this with Linda, Aaron, Charlie, and even Mark.

00:48:53.620 What's your process when you let go?

00:48:56.420 Because that's the biggest fear.

00:48:57.320 People are like letting go, and then something happens,

00:49:00.360 and you've got to sit down and help correct them.

00:49:03.620 What's your thinking behind it without being upset, trying to be supportive?

00:49:08.680 Well, I think in any type of transition, the first thing you say to that person is we're going to have some tough conversations because you can't transition and hand a baton off and it go all well.

00:49:19.840 I mean, that's not a possibility.

00:49:21.480 So let's just, hey, the great news is I think you are capable of this.

00:49:27.360 The bad news is we're going to have some big boy, big girl conversations about you didn't pull this off like you needed to.

00:49:34.200 And my whole thing is, please let me interrupt you quickly.

00:49:38.680 let's not wait for our three-month review and then we go another two or three things i'm

00:49:45.320 observing i don't like that i if there's if i see something i want to walk into it immediately and

00:49:50.840 say now i may see this wrong but look here's what i saw did i miss something i love um almost uh you

00:49:58.520 know many years ago uh kim blanchard wrote a great book he's a wonderful wonderful person

00:50:04.280 called management while walking around or something like that.

00:50:07.740 I like leadership by walking around.

00:50:09.800 And so if there's something that Charlie, Linda, Aaron, Mark,

00:50:15.060 my inner circle people that I think is amiss, we talk about right now.

00:50:21.340 We don't wait for like the right time.

00:50:23.780 The right time is now.

00:50:25.560 And by the way, they have the same opportunity for me.

00:50:28.580 In fact, when I'm done, I'll look at them a long time and say,

00:50:30.660 now what am I missing?

00:50:32.340 What am I missing?

00:50:33.840 And a lot of times I'll say, well, I think you're missing this, John.

00:50:35.960 And we have this relationship that we can be very open and free with each other quickly.

00:50:40.620 Because I think that the problem is never the problem.

00:50:44.660 The problem is you didn't solve it quick enough.

00:50:47.400 You can wait to tell me your victories, but you can't wait to tell me your defeats.

00:50:52.820 I want to hear those now.

00:50:55.020 And the reason is most of the time, I remember one time with Charlie,

00:50:59.500 things were not moving on his side as quick as I wanted to on a book.

00:51:02.960 and so one night I was somewhere I was traveling and I called and I said Charlie I said I'm not

00:51:06.820 catching it's been about a week and a half I'm not getting anything from you on this book and he

00:51:12.180 says yeah I said I'm in a writer's block right now I said well tell me about it so he started

00:51:17.300 talking about I promise you in 20 minutes I got him through the writer's block I said well here's

00:51:22.800 what you go here da da da and it just opened it up for him and then we're done I said let me say

00:51:29.260 something, Charlie. How long have you carried that? He said, well, I carried it for probably

00:51:33.760 about a week. I said, we lost a week, Charlie. Now, Charlie is carrying it because he's

00:51:41.200 responsible. Charlie, he wants to bring it home himself. Well, of course, I want that

00:51:46.740 kind. I want people that want to bring it home, but I don't want people who want to

00:51:51.540 bring it home and they're delaying the process for three days. Bring it to me. Don't bring

00:51:57.060 it home bring it to me and let me see if I can jump in and I think we all know that and we're

00:52:01.520 all comfortable with that and it doesn't bother me at all for them to look at me and say John

00:52:06.380 you know have you ever thought of doing this well no I haven't well so I like kind of the

00:52:11.120 I like the caring enough for a person that you don't carry stuff but you share stuff and I think

00:52:20.520 that's I think that's a culture that we've created and it serves it really serves us really well and

00:52:26.320 I would say this. I would say they do this to me as much as I do that to them. I mean, they feel

00:52:33.200 very at home to come in and say, you know, I think there was a mist there. And they say, yeah, well,

00:52:38.620 let's talk about it. And I think that that's very healthy. And I'm a very impatient person.

00:52:45.580 That's one of my huge weaknesses. And I'm a get it done person. And if there's some kind of delay

00:52:51.620 over here and it's because we're not having conversation that delay is a worthless delay

00:52:56.740 let's have conversation now and see if we can fix it now or at least start creating a way to fix it

00:53:04.360 the gold you just said for everybody i want them to hear this is the the permission to catch it

00:53:09.540 early like just letting them know i'd rather be in that that mood that's so so yeah i remember

00:53:15.660 with my first executive assistant i said let me tell you something when you see me doing something

00:53:20.100 you think i'm doing wrong please tell me i don't need a historian i don't need somebody say you

00:53:26.720 know what when you did that four days ago i wonder about that can i tell you you didn't help me at

00:53:32.040 all if you wonder about it ask me now while i'm doing it to stop me from doing it because there's

00:53:38.200 a high possibility you saw something i didn't see i think that is very important so i i have to have

00:53:45.500 people around me that know that I unconditionally love them but are secure you know I if somebody

00:53:51.660 is not secure they probably would have a difficult time on our team because we're going to have tough

00:53:57.100 conversations but tough conversations are they're tough because we have a problem we're not they're

00:54:03.020 not tough because you're a problem and so there's a difference and so let's deal with the issue

00:54:07.920 and then can we please move on i mean do we now do we need to go to therapy and have three weeks

00:54:15.560 of what we did three i mean because i am a i am a fix it but you can't look here and go there

00:54:23.980 and so i am once it's fixed do we have to talk about this anymore let's keep let's go to the

00:54:30.480 next step on that vision i love the the way you queued that up faith is a big part of obviously

00:54:36.780 where you came from but even at this event all the people around you there's a lot of people

00:54:42.100 that are struggling the world right now that are still they're lacking their belief what would you

00:54:49.860 say to these people that have not come to God yet that are still wondering where they gosh Dan you

00:54:59.500 know I've walked with God and had a relationship with him since I was 17 so for 60 years

00:55:06.420 so it's hard for me to imagine my life without god i mean he is so essential he's the source of my

00:55:14.080 life and he's the joy of my life and uh i'm very careful this we don't have christian companies

00:55:21.340 our coaching company is a it's not a christian we have beautiful people from all kinds of

00:55:25.420 backgrounds and cultures and faith and they're absolutely welcome i value all of them because

00:55:30.900 God values everybody yeah so I don't value people that just do what I do or think like I think I

00:55:37.460 value everybody because God created them so for me to I can't imagine my life without God

00:55:44.920 because he's so much a part of my life what I try to help people understand is this you and I have

00:55:54.300 in fact I want to talk about this tomorrow in one of my teachings you and I have potential

00:55:59.860 giftedness opportunities and i love people who try to maximize i try to maximize my potential

00:56:07.300 you try to maximize your potential people that do well they try to steward and maximize their

00:56:12.140 potential but in my faith relationship with god i understand there are things he can do that i

00:56:19.780 cannot do and it's it's it's what i call god room when i get to the top of my potential

00:56:27.240 it's like the ceiling it's the best I can do honestly that's God's floor

00:56:34.060 and the moment that I understand that when I get there God can take over and he can do something

00:56:42.700 in my life for my life through my life that is so much more important and so much more helpful

00:56:51.900 and I just become extremely grateful and reliant upon him to be the difference maker.

00:56:59.720 And I watch him be the difference maker.

00:57:02.420 And when I need wisdom, I ask him.

00:57:06.340 I have a lot of friends.

00:57:08.100 I have a beautiful atheist friend.

00:57:09.900 And we were talking one day and I said, I know you don't believe in God.

00:57:15.360 That's okay.

00:57:16.120 It's all right.

00:57:17.120 I said, I know you don't believe in God, but you sure do miss him, don't you?

00:57:21.900 Of course he misses. You know, everybody misses God because they're born to know him.

00:57:27.160 They were born to have a relationship with him. And until they do, if they're honest with

00:57:33.960 themselves, there's something in their life that just falls a little short of what they want. And

00:57:39.400 I know that. So what I try to do is just love people unconditionally and wait for the moment

00:57:44.900 when they come to that realization, like there is something more. And when they do, my name's

00:57:51.480 john i'm their friend i i said well i know what it is and and i can help you and i have incredible

00:57:58.180 opportunities to help many many many many people know god and it's a it's a it's a real honor it's

00:58:04.720 a real joy because once that happens then they see this incredible asset i mean it's it's kind

00:58:10.680 of like the god asset i mean okay you can can you do something without him of course you can do

00:58:16.400 something without him but it's a lot easier with would you like for him to sit beside you and kind

00:58:22.060 of you know do a little with you and so it's hard for me to manage my life without god because he's

00:58:29.020 been so important in my life and i but god really has given me a major gift of of caring for people

00:58:35.860 where they are and then helping them find god and we've seen literally in my life i've seen

00:58:42.240 thousands of thousands of people really come into a relationship with him and that's my great that's

00:58:49.580 my greatest joy i mean if somebody said what's your greatest joy my greatest joy is introducing

00:58:53.960 somebody to him because once they know him that this now we're on a whole different level of

00:59:00.180 change and transformation a person's life so true john you uh you've been an incredible

00:59:05.880 uh example for me and just uh there's very few people that when i meet um i see

00:59:15.740 a person like the character traits of just the way you love people it's just

00:59:20.860 at first i was like it's not possible and then more i spend time with you i'm like

00:59:25.740 you really are that way i do love yeah and you don't judge people because they were created by

00:59:30.760 god and the way you show up for your for your team and for your for the people at this event

00:59:35.880 and just for anybody you meet just your curiosity it's um you're an incredible uh role model for me

00:59:42.280 so i just want to thank you for being on the show well i want to thank you for being my friend

00:59:46.200 because we're new friends and we've not been able to spend as much time together as i want

00:59:51.840 but i i i know god brought us together i'm not trying to be mystical but when i met you i said

01:00:00.360 can I say one more thing? Yeah. In 1981, I began to see what I thought God had planned for my life,

01:00:08.740 the vision. And it was very overwhelming. And it was much bigger than me. And so I was very open

01:00:15.880 with him. And I said, I'm willing to be obedient, but it's way over my head. And the only way that

01:00:24.260 that could ever be pulled off God is you're going to have to bring people into my life that are

01:00:29.600 bigger than me and better than me to help me. You're just going to have to. I don't have that

01:00:34.400 kind of capacity. So I began in 1981 every day asking God every day, which I've done for many

01:00:41.940 years now, send me people that you know I need, that I can't do it without them. Send me some

01:00:50.600 winners. I've got to have some winners. And over these many years now, gosh, that would have been

01:00:56.060 53 years ago, or 43 years ago. He's done that. And I can point to hundreds of people

01:01:05.560 where I just say, you're a gift from God to me. And when I met you, I knew you were a gift of God

01:01:13.120 for me. I knew I didn't deserve you. I didn't even find you. Our good friend Ed Milak kind

01:01:18.320 of put us together. And of course, Ed's one of those people in my life too. But I looked at you

01:01:23.820 And God said, yeah, yeah, Dan's one of the guys.

01:01:27.180 He's a gift to you.

01:01:28.440 And it's very humbling because then what happens when all these great things happen that are happening in my life,

01:01:35.060 that are kind of beyond explainable, there is absolutely no, like, pride factor at all.

01:01:43.180 I mean, I'm proud of what we're accomplishing.

01:01:45.820 accomplishing, but there's, because I look around and say, the only reason that happened

01:01:51.120 is because God sent people into my life to help me make it happen. And so I get very grateful

01:01:57.320 for the people that he sent me, but I never ever have taken it personal, like, look what I did,

01:02:03.940 or look, I built this team. I just kind of accepted the team that he brought to me. And that's going

01:02:10.420 to be too mystical for a lot of people but i would just tell them that if that you with a

01:02:16.000 with a relationship with god you'll see things happen that you'll never explain but you sure

01:02:20.520 will appreciate so good john thanks thanks for being here thanks man appreciate it that's amazing

Dan Martell - September 10, 2024

21 Principles of Top 0.01% Leaders ｜ John Maxwell Interview

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