Maxwell Leadership Podcast: How to Create a Growth Environment

Mark Cole:
Hey, podcast friends. Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to you as a leader so that you will multiply to those around you. My name is Mark Cole, and today we’re going to let John share with you 10 characteristics of a growth environment. Now, I’ve heard John share this several times, and maybe you as a podcast family have heard John share these 10 things because it’s kind of his benchmark of what a growth environment looks like. But I wanted to bring it to you today because, number one, we’re wrapping up November. I hope you’ve had a great Thanksgiving if you’re one of our US listeners or viewers. But as you go through December, I’m going to challenge you to take these 10 components or these 10 characteristics of a growth environment.

Mark Cole:
And I want you to find the place that you’re going to answer these questions or address these characteristics in your growth plan in 2025. This episode will measure whether you have an environment that is helping you or hurting you. It’s going to give you the ability to know whether you are challenging the people around you or whether you need to a better job getting challenged. So after John’s lesson, my co host, Chris Goede, and I will give you practical ways that you can apply this lesson to your life, to your leadership, and to your growth. If you’d like to download the free bonus resource for this episode or even watch the episode on YouTube, please visit maxwellpodcast.com/environment also, stay till the end. I’ve got an exclusive author that I want to have just for you as one of our podcast viewers or podcast listeners. Here we go. A growth environment.

Mark Cole:
John Maxwell.

John Maxwell:
What does it take to have a growth environment? What does it mean that I’m living in and working in an environment that is conducive for my personal development growth? 50 years ago, I wrote this down and I give this to you now. A growth environment, number one, is a place where other people are ahead of you. Very simple. When you’re in a good growth environment, there are people around you that are bigger, better, faster, smarter, more successful than you. It’s not healthy for you to be at the head of the class. In fact, I tell people, if you’re at the head of the class, you’re in the wrong class, you wanna get out. You always want somebody to be in front of you that stretches you, that you can point to and say, wow, I someday wanna be where they are and I someday wanna be able to. They have done so in a growth environment, you’re around other people that are doing well and they’re succeeding, and some of them are better than you.

John Maxwell:
I encourage you to make sure that you always are around people that can stretch you. We play to the level of the people that lead us, so you want to always be around bigger, better people. The second ingredient of a growth environment is that you’re continually challenged. In other words, you get up every day and you have a mountain to climb. Every day you have goals to accomplish. Every day you have things that you have to get done. And it’s not easy, it’s not quick, but it’s important. It’s essential.

John Maxwell:
And so every day you wake up challenged to better yourself, better your team, better your goals. You’re continually challenged. There’s something that brings out the beautiful competitive spirit within you that says, today, I wanna climb that mountain. Another part of a growth environment is that your focus is always forward, that you realize that the future is right in front of you. And what do leaders do? Leaders see more than others see, and they see before others see. And so therefore, they’re constantly looking forward, realizing that’s where the opportunity is going to be. And by the way, that’s where the problems are going to be that you got to go solve so that you can get the opportunities that you want to have. Opportunities are almost always disguised with problems.

John Maxwell:
But your focus isn’t yesterday, isn’t what you did yesterday. It’s not even the position you made yesterday. So you don’t live off the past. You don’t live off of your position at all. You just say, you know, tomorrow. You approach life like there is no finish line. I love that. I don’t even think there is a finish line.

John Maxwell:
I think you just keep stretching, you keep growing, and you stay in the game. A growth environment also is a place where the atmosphere is affirming, where you’re around other people who believe in you and you’re around other people who encourage you. You know, encouragement’s like the oxygen for the soul. My father was an incredible leader and a great encourager. And one day I said, you know, dad, you encourage everybody. I said, how do you know everybody needs encouragement? He said, john, if they’re breathing, they need encouragement. If they’re living, you know, it’s the thing. It’s the fuel for their soul, for their spirit.

John Maxwell:
And so he understood. He understood very readily that encouragement just breathes oxygen into people. I think another ingredient, a growth environment is a place where you wake up excited. You don’t wake up and say, well, I wonder what’s going to happen today. But you wake up excited because of the possibilities, because the people on your team, because of the opportunities, because of what you have to give to people that is life changing, the value that you’re going to add. That people, you know, I know some people, they, you know, honestly, they wake up and they kind of look at their day and they’re just boring. They’re just bored. So you wake up excited because, man, I get to help people today.

John Maxwell:
A growth environment is a place where failure is not your enemy, that you will fail a lot, but that’s not your problem. You just understand that failure is another learning lesson. And so you don’t let your failures sidetrack. You don’t let them distract you, you don’t let them stop you. You just basically say, well, I’ve learned a lesson today. So when you look at your failures, you don’t talk about your losses. You talk about the lessons that you learn in those losses. A growth environment is a place where other people are growing.

John Maxwell:
You’re not the only one growing. You’re not the only one developing. People around you, they’re getting better. A growth environment is a place where people desire change and they want to. They’re willing to change. I read the other day a statement that was so interesting, I thought, it’s very sad, to be honest with you. But the statement basically said that people, even when they know the change that they need to make, will make them better. Most people still resist change.

John Maxwell:
In other words, they say, well, I guess I’d rather be comfortable than better. And that’s not what you want for your life. A growth environment is where you get out of your comfort zone, but you get into your potential zone and you gotta get out of one to get in the other. And finally, a growth environment is a place where growth is modeled for you. You see it in your leaders. And it’s not only modeled for you, but it’s expected of you that people look at you and say, I expect you to get better. I had a wonderful manner. I close with this.

John Maxwell:
I was in my young 30s and we were talking about personal growth one day and he gave me the very best definition I’ve ever had of growth. And he looked at me and said, john, growth is happiness. He said, you show me people that are growing, developing, and they’re happy people. He said, it’s the people that don’t grow that get discontented. So if you just keep growing, if you keep stretching, you keep developing, you keep learning. He said, just have a very Happy, fulfilling life. He was right. So I gave you what a growth environment looks like and so create that for your team as a leader.

John Maxwell:
Make sure those things I just shared with you are part of the environment of your team. They’ll prosper because you do that.

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Mark Cole:
Hey, welcome back, everybody. I’m reminded, I love this quote by Jack Welch. The most important job you have as a leader is growing your people, giving them a chance to reach their dreams. The most credibility you have with that’s Jack Welch. Let me attribute the right quote because it’s incredible. The most important job you have as a leader is growing your people, giving them a chance to reach their dreams. The most credibility you will get as a leader is demonstrating growth to your team, is letting them know, just because I have the position, just because I have the title, just because I have arrived, quote, unquote, I still challenge myself to grow. And so, Chris, I want us to take this this week, and for some of us, we need to be as leaders, creating growth environments.

Mark Cole:
And I want us to challenge ourselves on how we do this with our role of leading in John’s legacy. But for some of us listening, I’m going to try to do a great job of challenging you over the next 30 days to make sure that you have components of this in your life, in your leadership, and in your intentional growth plan. So we’re going to kind of balance both of those as we talk and share today. Us as leaders, are we creating that growth environment? Me as an individual, do I have that environment around me?

Chris Goede:
It’s good. What I love about this is this is, I told you right before we went live, this is your sweet spot.

Mark Cole:
Yeah.

Chris Goede:
You have been immersed in this for so long and now it’s just part of your DNA. It’s who you are. I love what you said. And I want to go back for just a minute. For those that are listening, I would tell you that even if you haven’t arrived, as we said, or you’re leading somebody, I think understanding this as an individual contributor on a team, leadership is contagious. Remember, we define leadership as influence. Yeah, right. So you’re going to have influence on a team whether you’re, you’re the leader or not.

Chris Goede:
And man, if you are trying to drive a growth environment, even as an individual contributor or just part of a team, it’s going to become contagious and then just sit back and watch because not only is your growth going to go through the roof, your influence with the team is going to go through the roof. And then I think you’re just going to continually see opportunities. So here’s where I want to start because I was just thinking about it. A lot of people that listen and download and watching us on YouTube are familiar with your journey. But I would say as I talked about that statement, as I was thinking about it, it often reminds me of what you did when you started. You walk into a role wherever it is, and you’re like, well, man, I’ve never felt something like this before. It is here in this culture. It’s part of it.

Chris Goede:
We’re going to talk about that in just a little bit as well. But you bought into it and began growing at a pace even without a title, without a position, weren’t even here very long and became very influential not only in your life, your personal life, but those that around you talk about that when you just. That concept of you don’t have to be leading to be growing in order to help change an environment of growth.

Mark Cole:
Yeah, and thank you for bringing that up as a question first, because I didn’t know you were going to. But here’s what you said, right? Coming out in your comments. You said, this is a sweet spot for you. Thank you for that. If I, if I accomplish anything as an individual, I hope it’s personal growth, because expanding the capacity with which I have. I just did a talk this morning. I was doing a talk out of John’s book, High Road Leadership, and it’s chapter six, talking about high road. Leaders lead with emotional capacity.

Mark Cole:
And John said, here’s the great thing about emotional capacity. You can grow it. Here’s the thing about any capacity in our life, any limiter in our life, any, any, any limiter, you can expand it.

Chris Goede:
That’s right.

Mark Cole:
You can get bigger. And so I’m glad it’s A sweet spot because it means my best is yet to come. I might be the CEO of this large legacy of a leadership brand, but you just told me if this is a sweet spot, I got a lot more ahead of me, a lot more in my tank because I have greater capacity now. I very rarely do guest appearance on podcasts. We spend all of our time and energy on this. I can’t even get a guest podcast on your podcast. You didn’t know that was coming, right? I couldn’t. I couldn’t.

Mark Cole:
Chris has an incredible podcast, Maxwell Leadership’s executive podcast. You need to check it out. It will help you as a corporate leader, I promise you. Probably in that area more than this one, but not in place of this one. Let me just say that right there. I’m just kidding. I already seen the questions that I’m going to ask after this podcast. How did you get to be the leader of Maxwell Leadership? How did you get to be the leader of a leadership company? Personal growth.

Chris Goede:
I agree.

Mark Cole:
Period. I’m going to pontificate on that because that won’t get many listeners to his podcast to just say, but I can tell you this. The answer to Your limiter for 2025 is intentionality around your growth. It’s identifying what’s holding you back. It’s identifying what opportunities will propel you forward and getting a plan to intentionally go after that. So my whole journey, as you said, started with a question, what’s your growth plan? And I love to grow, but I had no intentionality around it. So the way I would answer that today, Chris, before we jump in into unpacking several of these growth environments, is the word intentionality. I think a lot of us are growing.

Mark Cole:
If you’re listening to this podcast, congratulations. You’re the choir. We’re speaking to the choir. We’re preaching to the choir.

Chris Goede:
You are the choir.

Mark Cole:
You’re listening to a podcast to better yourself. But are you just showing up, seeing if Mark and Chris and John Maxwell is going to say something that will inspire you, or is this a tool that is propelling you somewhere intentionally? And I can promise you this, for those of you that are using this 35, 40 minutes as a chance to grow in an already predisposed way, in a pre intentional design path, on a pre focused thought on what you’re trying to get out of here, you’re getting a lot more out of this podcast. Not because I’m any better, not because Chris is going to contribute and ask great questions. It’s because you already came in here. With an intentionality of what you were going to pull out. You know, when you buy a blue car, you know what? Everybody on the road has a blue car.

Chris Goede:
Yeah, that’s right.

Mark Cole:
When you’re looking for growth, growth stands out. In fact, it’s a standout statement right here. Jake, thank you for this standout statement. Our standout statement for this podcast is growth is happiness. I love talking about this content because growth brings me fulfillment, it brings me happiness, it has brought me dreams I didn’t even have. Because today’s intentionality is tomorrow’s clarity to the future’s opportunity.

Chris Goede:
That’s good.

Mark Cole:
And it will. If I can get intentional today, I’ll get clear on what I want tomorrow, which then expands my thinking for the opportunity.

Chris Goede:
That’s so good. I think it also drives energy in you. Enough said. You guys can sense it with him just communicating to that, but we get to see that every day in your leadership. And so we are going to talk about a couple of these environments. You have been exposed to all of these and more, and so I’m going to pick a couple of them. We have not talked about this beforehand, and I just want you to kind of react of the growth mindset and that you had the environment that came of that. So the first one I want to start with is where you are continually challenged as you grow through those challenges.

Chris Goede:
And you and I are kind of looking at each other, and there’s probably 15 things that we’re aware of or thinking of, and then you probably have 30 other that I don’t know where you were challenged. Like John said, man, these things are not easy. They’re not quick, they’re not fun at times. But when you are challenged, you are going to come out the other side through that. You’re going to. You’re going to create a growth environment for yourself and I would say also for those that are around you in your circle of influence. Talk just again, a little bit about this, about being challenged and what that does for your growth environment. Personally.

Mark Cole:
Yeah, I could think of one. Like right now, today. I’ve been here in studio for a while doing various things. Get a chance to have you come in. Thanks for flying in and then flying right back out. That’s what Chris Goatee did. We are not close to the Atlanta airport, And there’s about 200,000 Atlanta people between us and the airport. And Chris literally flew in this morning to be in the studio to do this podcast, and then he’s getting right back out.

Mark Cole:
Thank you.

Chris Goede:
Yeah, absolutely.

Mark Cole:
And I was telling you today, just right now, as I’m doing my best to focus right back here, there is this new challenge that I’m trying to solve, because that’s what leaders do. Probably the best way to illustrate this to our podcast family is for 10 years, I was the CEO of John Maxwell’s company for the last five years. Getting ready to start our sixth year, if you can believe that, it’s been the CEO of my own company. Okay, same company. We just. John and I changed the corporate structures. And I can tell you this just right now. Right now, while we’re listening, I’m learning how inadequate I am at being the CEO of my own company with the dynamics of my company.

Mark Cole:
Now, I might could be the CEO of your company if any of you are looking. I might be looking for a job. I might fire myself right now. I’m just kidding. I’m not looking, but I might could be the CEO of your company. You probably could do a much better job being the CEO of my company. But with my dynamics, I am learning a level of inadequacy even right now in the middle of this podcast. So what does that mean? I can see that as a challenge.

Mark Cole:
I can see it as an opportunity. I can see it as a problem, or I can see it as a solution to get to the next level. I’ve always chosen to take problems as opportunities. And I’ve also always seen the responsibility to take growth as a welcome challenge rather than a dreaded challenge. So when I sign up for something, I automatically calculate. I wonder what’s going to challenge me on this. That way, when the challenge come, I’m not surprised. I knew it was coming right now, today.

Mark Cole:
I didn’t know where the challenge was going to come from, but I knew that was going to be a challenge because I reoriented myself about 12 months ago to a new mindset to lead effectively through today’s realities. And today it showed up. Today it showed up. What I’m going to do with that is just as important as how I’m going to solve it. Because many leaders take the challenge of a growth as a reason to repel rather than a reason to lean in. If you premeditate a challenge, not necessarily the challenge, but a challenge, you have a reminder to lean in as soon as it comes rather than to repel. So I’m all in on this, baby. This thing will not get me.

Mark Cole:
I don’t know what I’m going to do about it yet, but it will not get me because I already anticipated the challenge yeah.

Chris Goede:
And I see and have seen your leadership go through that time and time again, and there’s consistency. I want to pause just for a minute, though, because when we’re talking about this growth environment, I think one of the things that you do and you model this is that. And we’ve learned it from John. Right. No experience, no challenge is worth its weight unless you reflect on what happened. The only way you’re able to handle every challenge that comes to you is you reflected and learned from the previous challenge of leading. And so your intentionality behind taking what you learned through challenges and you reflect on it, you pull out leadership principles and lessons, and then you share it. You openly share it with the leadership team, and then you say, guys, gals, if it’s.

Chris Goede:
If it’s relevant, share it with your team. Because I’m leading from the top. I’m trying to create a growth environment, and this is what I learned during reflection. So speak just a little bit of your process of reflecting on challenges, good or bad, and then the purpose behind laying that out on the table for leadership team in order to do something you’re extremely passionate about, which is one thing. Add value to people and create a growth environment for them to grow.

Mark Cole:
So. Oh, man. Jake, just roll this. We’re going to be about four hours today. Thank you for joining us.

Chris Goede:
I’ll tell you what time my flight is. 200,000.

Mark Cole:
I love this angle, and I’m going to tell you why. There are a half a dozen reasons why I lead with authenticity. Remember, podcast family? I failed. Failed big time in the major, most major areas of my life. Not so long ago, it’s been two and a half decades, but that’s not so long ago.

Chris Goede:
Right? Right.

Mark Cole:
I never want to do that again. And so I have found that vulnerability in the strains and struggles of humanity and of leadership lived out is much better than trying to keep them secret and lived in. I’d much rather live my authenticity lived out because it’s much less toxic than if it’s concealed and deep within. That’s one. There’s another. And that’s a whole nother lesson, by the way, that I’d love to go to. There’s another one that says my authenticity inspires others to not put my leadership on a pedestal. So just because I have the title, the position, the paycheck, the car, the whatever you want to look at and equate as successful leadership, never allow a success gap between you and the perception of the people you’re trying to lead.

Mark Cole:
It’s a farce it’s not true. There are just as many challenges that I have today. Several years ago, when I had all the challenges that were my challenges at that time. Right. The challenges are just different. They have more zeros on them.

Chris Goede:
Right.

Mark Cole:
Okay, so then the third reason, and I’m just quickly running through a couple, I could come up with a whole lot more. The third reason is my journey lived out inspires more people than my accomplishments celebrated. At the end, it’s much more inspiring to hear somebody walking the journey than somebody that has walked the journey. Okay, but here’s the real selfish reason. Okay, here’s the real selfish reason of doing this. Growth lived out keeps you accountable to your growth plan. And when I come in and say, hey, Chris, I’m going to run a marathon, and you go, really? How are you going to do that? I’m going to get on an 18 week training curriculum. Let me tell you the reason I ran my first marathon.

Mark Cole:
I was 39. I was determined to run a marathon before I was 40. I’ve wanted to all of my life. I’m 39. Don’t give me an award for running at 39. I had procrastinated for about 39 years. Okay? I got all these people to say they’d run a marathon with me. We all trained, we all did this stuff together.

Mark Cole:
I mean, you’ll know some of the guys, Reggie David, Jim Powell, all these guys, shout out to all you, my friends that helped me run my first marathon. I trained, I did all this stuff. But let me tell you something. The night before my first marathon, 39 and 4 months, I’m turning 40, I developed this nasty cough and started coughing up blood. Now I found out 34 hours after my first marathon that I had ran my first marathon with walking pneumonia.

Chris Goede:
Wow.

Mark Cole:
But you know why I ran that first marathon? I had six families that had driven to Kiawah Island. We had done this vrbo. We were all out there. I couldn’t disappoint the people.

Chris Goede:
No.

Mark Cole:
Now let me tell you why I live my growth out. Because when I live it out and I tell people what I am doing now, I have accountability to the fact that I declared it. I’m going to give you one quick story. It’s much deeper than how quick I’m going to go. We’re still in the month of November and everybody remember what happened on November 5.

John Maxwell:
Election.

Mark Cole:
I came out right before the election this year and we’re still reeling from this. I mean, it’s still. So if this is still raw, my Podcast family, don’t cut me off for just this one comment, but I’ll tell you, for three or four months, Chris, I came off social media. I could not handle the visceral and ill will from one neighbor to another neighbor just because of what color they like politically or what stand or policy they preferred. Politically, I could not handle it. And I came off of social media until about a week or two before the election. And I realized that my responsibility to be a high road leader, stewarding the high road leader message, needed to be heard more between conflicted neighbors now than ever before. And I came out and on the day of the election, I did a talk to over 100 of our coaches and I did a talk on the emotional capacity of a high road leader.

Mark Cole:
And I looked at them in this call and I said, guys, I’m your leader, but I’m gonna tell you, I didn’t have the emotional capacity to be salt and light between quarreling neighbors for the last three or four months. And I realized that wasn’t a problem between two, a Republican and a Democrat being mad at one another. That’s a problem that I had to remove myself because I didn’t have the emotional capacity. Everybody flipped out in the comments when they came to me in a Q and A session after they went. I’ve never heard it like that. Social distancing. Do you remember that from COVID Oh, yeah. My social distancing from a disease that I could not understand is not the right response to being salt and light in a difficult time.

Mark Cole:
A leader does not retreat from the problem. They lean toward the problem. My lack of emotional capacity is why I retreated from social media, not the visceral disconnect in social media. It was my inability to have a higher narrative that would not take sides but would actually unify. Because this is what John says about high road leadership. It brings people together in a world that divides. I didn’t bring people together. I resorted from both people.

Mark Cole:
And when I taught that lesson, the impact of that vulnerable moment was much greater than whether I’m a Republican or a Democrat, Whether I voted one side or the other. It was the realization that muting myself, social distancing myself, putting a mask on my voice during a very critical time was a fallacy of my leadership, not a reflection of other people’s leadership.

Chris Goede:
This is really good. Let me just stay here for just a second so that the time that you decided to socially distance from social media, you realize and you reflect that it was an emotional capacity issue for you. What did you do then through those three months talking about growth, creating an environment for yourself to be able to grow your emotional capacity to get to a point to back in early November when you decided to post that?

Mark Cole:
So what did I do in the three to four months? Let me be really honest, for three or four months, I lost momentum in being a high road leader. Because you see, without revelation, then without intentionality on that revelation and a plan to fix the revelation, you won’t grow. You lose ground. You don’t ever get that ground back. I lost three months of bringing positive, powerful change to a very quarrelsome moment. I lost it. I can’t get it back. Now I can go forward with some great intentionality.

Mark Cole:
So what did I do in that three or four months? I lost ground. I created a gap that I’ll never be able to get back. That’s what I did. Sorry, podcast listeners, I wish I could give you a more positive answer, but without revelation and without intentionality to what has been revealed and without a plan, you lose ground. Yeah, so I lost ground. What did I do once I realized it? Man, I got back on. I apologize to all of my social media and I’m acting like I got a bunch of people. I don’t really have that many people, guys.

Mark Cole:
There’s about four people that like my comments. But by the way, if you’re one of the four, thank you very much. But I went and said, okay, I’m now going to get on and I’m going to find positive messagings that unites people and I’m going to identify those. I’m still going to stay away from the people that’s wanting to make all these crazy comments about their neighbors, but I’m going to go show a different way.

Chris Goede:
Yeah, that was a challenge, right? So wrapping up this point, that was a challenge that you faced, that you realized and then you came out and you’re like, hey, after reflecting, this is that. Which, by the way, just creates. We’re talking about a growth environment today. Creates an incredible growth environment for those that are running in your circles with you. You also mentioned this takes me right to the next point about, hey, I’m not looking back, all right? I’m going to look forward. A lot of people talk about, don’t use the, you know, rearview mirror. We’re looking through the windshield, we’re going forward. And John said, opportunities, no doubt about it, are always going to be disguised with problems.

Chris Goede:
And, you know, we often have heard it said before that some people believe leadership is solving problems and that is part of it. But what I love about what you just said and I. And you’ve learned a lot of this from John and his mindset, but now it’s kind of, it’s just oozing out of you as a leader as well. You are very much forward facing. Hey, we’re gonna, we’re gonna identify what the problem was, maybe something went wrong, we’re gonna learn from it. But then, man, it’s like we’re going, we’re going. I’ve seen them do that with you on projects, on people, on processes over the years, and now you’re doing that as part of it. Why is it so important for you as a leader to have an environment of growth where the people are looking forward, learning from the past, but looking forward in regards to their team, their organization, their family, their church, whatever it might be going forward?

Mark Cole:
Well, first let me celebrate the 90% of leaders that’s listening, including you talking with me, that don’t have the privilege of looking forward because you’re too busy trying to execute people that are looking forward. And the reason I want to celebrate that is because of what Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, said right after he became CEO. He said, the biggest difference between CEO of Delta and president of Delta is now I have to stay forward facing all the time. And I cannot look at the present or the past. Because if the CEO, if the visionary of an organization is not looking forward, the company has had its best days. It’s living its best days. So before I answer that question, I want to honor all the people that really make yesterday’s commitments and today’s plans a reality while somebody keeps challenging us for the days ahead, having done that, because now I am doing that. And thank you for noticing the growth just yesterday.

Mark Cole:
I’m in a meeting with you, you’re out of town. I’ve got several other people on and I’m casting a vision for the future of what the future could be, recognizing that there are people that’s got to get us from the present to the future. Because a lot of times what happens, and I’m learning this as John is mentoring me about forward thinking. John has been forward thinking for so long and I have been current thinking for so long that I’m realizing you can get so forward thinking that you lose relevancy and therefore credibility with the now thinkers. The first thing that I would challenge you as a forward thinking leader is don’t lose relevancy with the people that’s making it happen today on the ground because your ability to mobilize a team to get there is your ability to relate to the team here. And so keeping relevancy is extremely important to me. And I’m not so far removed from having to deal with the here that I forget that I don’t need to keep relevancy. However, keeping relevancy does not mean keeping encumbrance or keeping a burden.

Mark Cole:
The first thing I’m having to do, Chris, and this is so much fun, I can’t wait for you to experience this. And you do in certain things, your podcast and other things. But it is so fun to truly come in and go out of a meeting and not feel the weight of can that work, should that work? Or anything? It is, does that make sense? Does that align with the vision and do you trust the team to figure it out? And I had two meetings like that yesterday. That was incredibly liberating to me to deliver a vision and then step out of the room and go, man, I got it delivered. Now what’s the next thing I need to think about? That’s a really fulfilling thing. That is new for me. The third thing that is new is thinking about the future. When you don’t know how to write it down, it’s that think time.

Mark Cole:
I’m a doer. I’m a get it done. I’m a planner. Right. And you’re even more so than I am.

Chris Goede:
Let’s go get it.

Mark Cole:
Yeah. Not having the ability to execute on a list is one thing. Not even being sure what to put on the list is another thing. Not even knowing that there should be a list is an altogether different thing. And I’m enjoying that part. I’m learning so much from it.

Chris Goede:
Yeah, I love that. And again, this environment that you create, when we see leaders like that, whether it’s on our team or in the organization, it’s contagious, I’m telling you. Then your other people begin thinking like that, making sure the list get taken care of, but they begin to do that. And that’s the power of this, of influence. And when you make a decision, individually and personally to start growing, you’re going to create an environment around that. Now, I’m going to wrap up. I’m going to throw it to you to wrap up. But I want you to talk about this last point that John talks about.

Chris Goede:
He makes a statement that says that growth is modeled for you and expected of you. And I love the expected of you. We often say that it feels like we’re in a bubble at times. Maxwell Leadership because it is Modeled for us. And it is expected that you’re going to grow. We, we have a phrase around here that you say, be a product of the product. Right? We are going to do that. And when it’s modeled for you.

Chris Goede:
And so I’m, I’m saying this to encourage those that are listening that maybe aren’t doing this right now. When you model it, it is going to show up in others. When you then begin to expect it, by the way, model it first, then expect it, man, it is going to take your team, your personal journey to a different level. You continually do this, and so why is it important for you to make sure it’s probably all encompassing, everything we talked about today and many other things around personal growth, that you model that for your team and your family and your people on a daily basis.

Mark Cole:
You know, they say when you’re talking about your vision or your dream or your calling, you’re never selling. You’re convincing, but you’re never selling.

Chris Goede:
Right.

Mark Cole:
And I will tell you, you’re in my jam today. To where I’m never selling. Podcast family viewers, listeners, I already told you, I’ve got a special offer for you, but I don’t have just one today. I have three. Here’s why. It’s because, Chris, for me, for me, I would give every dollar that I have. In fact, this year, I’m paying more for personal coaching than I’ve ever paid in my life. Because the expertise that I needed and the challenges that I had required a lot more than what I’d ever done and ever paid before.

Mark Cole:
I believe in this so much that I would give everything to it. Therefore, when you challenge others, it doesn’t even feel like selling to me. It feels like that’s it. And that’s another thing from a vision standpoint that I’m learning back to, that question is I’m learning that when you get into your true element of your vision, you never feel like a salesperson, you feel like an ambassador. You’ve got to get people to understand. And I’m going to tell you, the reason that you feel that passion, the reason I have not left the edge of my chair this entire podcast is because, number one, we’re in a time of the year to where it gets natural to get intentional on the next year’s growth.

Chris Goede:
That’s right.

Mark Cole:
Number two is because I know what growth has done for you and me and our entire team. Number three, I care so much for you podcast family. And if you’re watching YouTube, I’m looking you dead in your Eyes, I care so much for you and want so much for you that I want you to bet on yourself. Chris, we’re right after Thanksgiving. We’re getting ready December, middle of December. I’m doing a deal with you about a growth day we’re having next year, right?

Chris Goede:
Yeah.

Mark Cole:
And I’m going to talk deeper about an intentionality on growth plan. Do we have enough information to even share what they can do as a call to action?

Chris Goede:
We don’t yet, but it will be on the podcast. And here’s why you’re hearing about this podcast family is because Mark Cole was asking me right before we went live, what is this about? I said, mark, it’s about personal growth. He said, I’m in.

Mark Cole:
I’m doing a free event that will add tremendous value on how to get a growth mindset for 2025 in that I’m going to talk to you about an event that we’re doing in Orlando that is unique and special just to the concept of personal growth. Please go ahead, get it on your agenda. See us in Orlando, ready to grow. I’m passionate about it. We’ll put more information in the show notes. You’ll see links to join it. I want you to be a part of that with me. The final thing that I want to share with you is I’ve got two more things.

Mark Cole:
Finally, I want to share with you that we have a 15 laws of growth. It’s a book that John did several years ago. We created a digital product and for our podcast listeners and viewers, we’re going to let you have that digital product that’s normally $499. We’re going to let you have it for $99 for your 2025. Our Christmas gift to you. And so bet on yourself. Is $8.25 a month too much to bet on yourself in 2025? That’s what this digital product is. Go to the link in our show notes, use the code word podcast and you’ll be able to get that for $99.

Mark Cole:
And then finally, we are building a growth environment to where you can get more free information on developing yourself as a growth passionate, intentional leader. Somebody that really wants to grow your influence. And so you can go to maxwellleadership.com go ahead and register, get on our email list, subscribe to this podcast and in 2025, make those kind of things a part of your growth. That’s what we want you to do. Chris, we have a listener comment I’m going to close with. It’s Albert. He listened to how to be a Real Success, part one. You and I did that.

Mark Cole:
Yeah. We’re going to put that link in the show notes. Albert, you get the. You get the fan award here today. He says, mark and Chris, y’all are amazing.

Chris Goede:
Okay, just stop right there.

Mark Cole:
Yeah, that’s it. That’s all I said. He said, the stories you both shared made this lesson for John so practical. Thank you very much, Albert. We do take feedback like that and really take it to heart. Thank you. Hey, let’s go make powerful, positive change because everyone deserves to be led. Well.

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