Maxwell Leadership Podcast: How to Have Job Security (Part 1)
Listen to Part 1 here:
Listen to Part 2 here:
This week, we begin a brand-new, two-part series on How to Have Job Security! This lesson is for two kinds of people:
1) People who want to be invaluable to their company
2) Leaders who want to recruit invaluable people to their company
If my math is correct, that’s everyone on this planet in the workforce. Especially during times of economic uncertainty, job security and having the right people on your team is at the top of many employees’ and leaders’ minds.
So, today, John Maxwell is going to teach exactly how to embrace these skills. Then, after John’s lesson, Chris Goede and Mark Cole will share how they apply these values at Maxwell Leadership and how you can do the same.
Our BONUS resource for this episode is the “How to Have Job Security Worksheet,” which includes fill-in-the-blank notes from John’s teaching. You can download the worksheet by clicking “Download the Bonus Resource” below.
References:
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Relevant Episode: The Difference Between Successful and Unsuccessful People
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Read The Transcript
Mark Cole:
Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others. My name is Mark Cole, and today we’re beginning a two part series where we talk about how to ensure you have job security, and that’s by being the best leader you can be. This lesson is for two kinds of people. One, people who want to be invaluable to their company, and two, leaders who want to recruit invaluable people to their company. So if I’m math correct that’s, everyone on the planet, in the world and in the workplace will benefit from this lesson. So today, John is going to be talking about how to embrace these skills, skills that will help us create job security and add value to the organization. Now, after the lesson, I’ve got Chris Goede with me in the studio, and we’ll share how we’re applying these values here at Maxwell Leadership and how you too, can add value in your organization. First, if you would like to watch this episode on YouTube, please visit Maxwellpodcast.com/YouTube. Be sure to click that subscribe button while you’re there. If you would like to download the bonus resource for this episode, go to Maxwellpodcast.com/Security and click the bonus Resource button. Okay, grab your pen, grab your paper. Here is John Maxwell.
John Maxwell:
I have a friend who was talking to one day, and he was applying for another job. Now, you have to understand, I’ve known this friend for about 20 years, and he told me he was going to apply for another job. And I’ll call him Ralph. His name’s not Ralph, but I’ll call him Ralph. And I said, Ralph, what are you applying for another job for? I said, Because he’s changed his jobs all the time. In fact, on his resume, he had listed all the different jobs he had. And in less than at that time, I knew him for probably 16 years. In that 16 year period, he’d had eleven different jobs, and he was writing down all the different jobs, and he was very proud of that. He said, I think this is going to help, don’t you? And I said, no, I don’t think it’s going to help. I wouldn’t hire you if I looked at a guy said, eleven jobs in 16 years, this too will pass. You know what I mean? He ain’t going to hang around there very long. But he was all excited, and he said, Well, I think it’s good. He said, I think it’s good because it lets him know I have a diverse background and I’ve done a lot of jobs. And I said, no, Ralph, I don’t think it’s going to help. And I don’t think he got that job. But what I’ve known about him is he never stays at one place very long. So I’d like to talk to you about how to have job security, especially kind of in an insecure world where a lot of turnover happens to a lot of people, not only my friend Ralph, but to a lot of people. How do you have job security? So in your notes, let’s get started. Let me give you the secret of job security and success. And I wish every person could understand this. If they could, they could not only have security, they could have success on the job. And that is add value to your company. It’s that simple. Add value. When you’re adding value to your company, when you’re adding value to your leader, whoever your leader happens to be in the organization department head boss, whoever. When you begin to add value to the people around you, when you get adding value to the organization you work for, now, all of a sudden you’re beginning to have what I call job security. Now, Albert Einstein said, and it’s in your notes, gentlemen, try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. Now, that’s what’s key. Try to become a person of value. Don’t chase success. Don’t chase a particular job. Ask yourself, how can I add value to my organization? So let me give you now some ways to have job security. If you’ll do these things, I promise you, you’re going to have some job security. Number one, show a sense of urgency. When I’m talking about urgency, show urgency. Intensity concerning what you’re doing. I love this quote. Among the chief worries of today’s business executives is the large number of unemployed people still on the payroll. Wow, man. They’re still collecting money and then they’re not doing much. There’s a tendency of all of us at times in our lazy street to look for easy street. We all live on easy street. Just kind of take it easy. If you want to keep your job and you want to really add value, you’ve got to show a sense of urgency. And I have in your notes, start showing a sense of urgency by acting as if the company belongs to you. Come with an owner’s mindset. This is my company. I’m proud of it. This is who I represent. This is part of my family and have that same kind of feeling. And if you do that, I promise you, you’re going to have some job security. Here’s what I put as a last quote in this section. One of the worst mistakes anyone can make is to think that he or she is working for someone else. The bottom line is you’re always working for yourself. You may be get paid by somebody else, but you’re your own best representative. So number one, show a sense of urgency. Number two, if you want to have job security, show what I call a positive effect. In other words, what you do in your work environment has a positive effect not only on your company, but on the people around you. Do the people you work with, are they excited about seeing you come to work. When you walk into a room, are your coworkers excited that you’re here today or when you’re sick or you’re on vacation or something? The other coworkers kind of say, wow, we get a break. In other words, do you have a positive or a negative effect on people that are around you? You see, in your notes there are two kinds of people those who do the work and those who take the credit and try to be in the first group because there’s a lot less competition there. Okay, one of my favorite poems is by a lady by named Ella May Wilcox. And Elamie Wilcox said, there are two kinds of people on earth I mean, the people who lift and the people who lean. And she talks about in that whole poem it’s a wonderful poem. She talks about the fact that basically in life you are either lifting you’re either lifting or you’re leaning. You’re either adding value and lifting the company or your coworkers or your friends or your family or you’re leaning on them and you’re pulling them down. And the question again goes back, am I a lifter or am I a leaner? Do I provide a positive effect to the people that are around me? Point number three, if you want to have job security. Number three, show a willingness to do more. Okay, look at your notes. Some people have trouble reaching the top of the ladder because they mistake it for an escalator thinks, who’s going to carry them to the top? Art Williams said the following about work it’s so simple that it’s revolutionary. The fact is, you beat 50% of the people in America by working hard. You beat another 40% by being a person of honesty and integrity and standing for something. The last 10% is a dog fight in the free enterprise system. Just take a moment to let it sink in. I don’t care if you’re building a football team, going to business, or running the country. As its president, you beat 50% of the people at any level by just working hard consistently over a long period of time. I get so mad when I read some of those get Rich QuickBooks on the mark today. Like 30 days to instant success and two weeks to having it made. And money will make you rich. And how I turned $500,000 into a half a million. That’s a great title. They talk about how you need to work smart, not hard to succeed. Wrong. Nobody wants to tell you about the bone wearing, back breaking work it takes to succeed. But I can promise you one thing you aren’t going to get to square one if you aren’t willing to work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life. That is so true. Show a willingness to do more and then some. The other day I picked this up of excuses for missing work. I don’t know if you’ve ever read this or not, but I’m going to give you a few of them. These are people who have written in excuses why they didn’t come to work, such as, I can’t come into work today because I’m stalking my previous boss who fired me for not showing up for work. Here’s another excuse for missing work. I just found out that I was switched at birth. Legally, I shouldn’t come to work knowing my employee records contain false information. Some of these people are really working at it. This is terrible. Here’s one constipation has made me a walking time bomb. Or the dog ate my car keys and we are hitchhiking to the vet. I am stuck in the blood pressure machine at the Food Giant. When I got up this morning, I took two xlax in addition to my prozac, and I can’t get off the john, but I feel good about it. Excuses for not coming to work.
John Maxwell:
All right. If you want to keep your job, you got to show a willingness to do more. Let’s go to number four. Number four if you want to have job security, show unique skills. Show unique skills. Work gravitates to the most competent. And what I’m saying in your notes, don’t rely on your present skills. Look around. See what needs to be done. Determine what skills are missing in your company and acquire them for yourself. To really show you have some unique skills, there are two things you’ve got to be willing to do. Number one, you have to be willing to grow. And then number two, you have to be willing to change. And it’s not either or. It’s both. End you have to grow in what you’re doing now, and you have to change probably some things to be more unique. And in the area of grow, Robert Schuler said it well. He said, whatever you do today, do it better. Morrow and one time when I was doing some growth seminars for our staff, I said to this too, I said, if you don’t grow, you go. So let’s get the growth going and then change. Oh, my goodness. Bruce Barton said, when you’re through changing, basically you’re through. You want to keep growing. You want to keep changing if you’re really going to be adding value to your company. Number five, if you want to have job security, number five, show efficiency. And I’m talking now about not only excellence. As Aristotle said, pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. But I’m talking about the first principle of money management to tell your money where to go and not ask it where it went. These are people that save the company money. They are always watching on ways to save the company money. How can we do better so we can get a better profit line for the bottom? They’re always watching.
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Mark Cole:
Hey, welcome back again. If you’re viewing welcome to YouTube, we’re so glad you’re here. Chris and I are excited to spend the next little while with you. If you’re listening, thank you for being a part of our podcast family. I love this quote by Bo Bennett. He says, we can create the ultimate job security by becoming less dependent on the organization for which we work and more dependent on our own resources. And that’s what John’s talking about. I mean, when I first heard John’s going to talk about job security, the first time he did this lesson, I went, Job security. John was always talking about work yourself out of a job. But then as I heard this, it’s really about this idea that John opens with this idea, Chris, of adding value. How do you create so much value that everybody wants you around?
Chris Goede:
Well, I’m glad that’s where you went, because that is typical for John. I thought maybe this was an intervention. Jake and our entire team, and you said, let’s put this lesson on. Let’s invite Chris back. I got to talk to him about a few things. Let’s do it in front of the millions of people that you know what?
Mark Cole:
We have never issued a pink slip on the podcast before.
Chris Goede:
I got to go. I don’t feel good. Listen, I’m grateful to be here and again, just as you said. Thank you for listening. One of my greatest joys is knowing the reach and the impact that our team has through this podcast. And as we go places and travel the world, people are like, man, that podcast helped my team help me. And so I love that it’s adding value. To your point, that’s a core principle of what we do. It is adding value to people. So when he talks about job security, I’m looking forward to today because I got a couple of questions for you. You’ve had the opportunity to just ride shotgun and carry this legacy for John. Also be mentored by him. He is your leader. He is our leader, but you have the interactions with him on a daily basis. And when we talk about adding value, I think there’s a couple of things that I’ve seen you do. You understand your leader’s goals. So you want to add value to john, you understand his goals. You also understand his communication style and how you need to communicate to him and how he likes to receive communication. I think those are just two small things that I’ve observed and I’ve seen you do with John that, in essence, have added value to John as your leader again. Then you look at it and go, okay, this is job security for Mark, because he’s going about it that way. That’s not your motive behind why you’re doing it, but that’s what you are doing. Talk a little bit about as you have gone through the years of developing as a leader, and now as you lead our entire enterprise, how are you continually adding value to your leader, your mentor, john, in order, we’ll use this throughout today to have job security. I don’t think you’re going anywhere, but that’s not the mindset. But that’s not why you do it. But you do do that. Talk a little bit about that.
Mark Cole:
Well, it goes to this concept. Many of you listening to the podcast you’ve heard John teach on being unforgettable. And the whole time we’re talking about job security, I’m thinking of in the back of my mind, I’m thinking about John saying, hey, always be unforgettable.
Chris Goede:
Get out of the pile.
Mark Cole:
Yeah. And if you’ve seen it and you’re listening to podcast John’s recently now illustrating that, oh, no, it’s a whole nother level. Chris, you got to get on the road with me.
Chris Goede:
Is it just me, or the older John gets his illustrations, his illustration for me to watch.
Mark Cole:
Well, he is becoming more comfortable in his skin. And so anyway, he’s doing this whole just in the last two weeks, we’ve been traveling all over the world, and he’s doing this bit of getting out of the people pile. But what he’s really talking about that’s very apropos to us today is this concept of be unforgettable. And when you have job description, job security, it’s because there’s something that you’ve done that makes you unforgettable. I’m talking with Macy right now. She’s going into her senior year. She’s got three or four things that now is going to be up for her to have in the way of leadership. Cheer captain. She’s a part of Hosa, a student led youth organization that she’s up for consideration for the president of Hosa. She’s got a couple of other things that now that they kind of reserve for seniors, and now it’s her turn next year. Right. And I was going, Macy, what did you do today that makes the people that’s voting tomorrow remember you when it’s time to vote?
Chris Goede:
Wow. Good.
Mark Cole:
And it’s the question, do you want it? And she does. She’s a competitor. She’s a little fireball. She wants the lime like she wants to be recognized. And I’m going, It’s not about what you did all along. Often they get you there. What it is sometimes is, what did you do in the last interaction to make you memorable for the next moment. And I think that’s true in this place and what we’re talking about with John. I have a question for our podcast listeners, Chris, that I wrote down as we were listening. How are you adding value to the team, your leader and the organization? Let me ask it a different way. When was the last time you added tangible, memorable value to those around you? And if you can’t remember, then it’s probably time for you to go do something unforgettable.
Chris Goede:
Yeah.
Mark Cole:
If you can’t remember the last time you did something that was tangible value that you brought to the team, then I’m going to challenge you that you need to up your game. Recently, John and I were traveling and we were watching. We were a LeBron James fan. I know he’s political. I know there’s people that love to hate LeBron. A lot of times when you’re the best, you don’t like him. But I have a very personal story. A friend of ours that connected me with to LeBron James when LeBron James was 14 years old playing. So I’m a LeBron James fan. I’m not agreeing with all the stuff that makes all of you frustrated. And most of the time I don’t like the top dog because I like the underdog. But we were watching and it was the game to where one of the young kids from Memphis, the young kids were saying, I’m not going to respect LeBron James. He’s just an old man. Until he scores 40 again, I’m not even going to respect him. We watched the game. That guy got thrown out of that game. By the way. I’m sorry. I can’t remember all these names. He got thrown out of the game right after he had said that. My point in saying this. That guy became unforgettable to LeBron James because of what he said. We as leaders on a team will have greater job security if we do things that are memorable that gets us out of the people pile.
Chris Goede:
That is good. Yeah. What I love about that in that example is, by the way, we’ll do it in a positive way or maybe in this situation a negative way, just like influence. Either way, it is going to happen. It reminds me, as you’re talking to John wrote an incredible book, the 360 Degree Leader, where he talks about leading up lightning, your leader load.
John Maxwell:
What does that look like?
Chris Goede:
Same thing with peers, same thing with your organization. And I love that he started this lesson with let’s add value to people because that’s what we’re all about. He quickly moves into this, the second point, which is our point number one in our notes. And, well, I can’t wait to talk to you about this because I know we joke around around the Maxwell leadership about here comes Mark and his urgency, his passion, his fire, whatever he wants. We change the name of it, but I love this because we can’t have that type of job security unless we are acting urgently inside the organization. I oftentimes will hear people talk about, oh, this is the quiet quitting. And John mentioned that briefly that quiet quitting is just a new phrase in today’s terms of what people are doing, just basically to stay on payroll and get a paycheck. There’s no urgency about that. So why would leaders and organizations and people want those team members to be around? They probably wouldn’t when push came to shove. I like the statement of treat yourself as an internal consultant, and you spent some time consulting. And if you were treating yourself as an internal consultant to Maxwell leadership, to Mark Cole, to John Maxwell, your approach for urgency would be a whole lot different than, hey, I’m just along for the ride. I’m just a team member. You have a pace and a sense of urgency. So does John Maxwell.
Mark Cole:
No.
Chris Goede:
So does our organization. Talk a little bit again here about this and why that’s so important to you as a leader when you see that I want to switch. It not what you learn from John when you see that in other people in and or around your team.
Mark Cole:
Yeah, you know, people do what they see. People follow leaders that resonate with them. And so often we have leaders that are silent in their urgency or silent in their passions or silent in their expectations. So they don’t have Chris sense of urgency. They don’t have the sense of clarity. They don’t have this sense of expectation on their team. Therefore, they sit there and go, well, my team will never my team doesn’t, my team isn’t. And by the way, those of you that work for a leader, often you do that too. Well, my boss won’t they won’t let me. I don’t have the resources. I don’t this anytime that you put the focus on the other, you abdicate the responsibility that it is yours to accomplish. That’s why John’s last little statement in this is one of the worst mistakes anyone can make is to think he or she is working for someone else. It’s about working for yourself. What’s your sense of pride? What is your sense of commitment to yourself and bringing your best to the game? Recently in our organization, I had the privilege of showing a mirror to one of my brilliant teammates. I mean, this teammate and I have came through a lot together, accomplished a lot together, and for several reasons. They had allowed themselves to silently quit, put themselves on the sidelines. And I just had a breakfast, and I just kind of brought a figurative mirror, and I said, hey, let me tell you what I’m observing. The last three meetings I’ve been in, have I heard your voice once? Have I heard this? Yeah. I’ve kind of put myself on the sideline because of this person that person. That person. So that person has and this was my next question when I popped the mirror back up and I said, so this person that I’m looking at.
Mark Cole:
Person I have to look at, that I’m looking at you has given somebody else the ability to shut them down or to speed them up. And this individual went, thank you for that. They never even said, you’re right or anything. They went, thank you for that. This immediate turnaround from that individual and their performance is remarkable. Chris, I think a lot of leaders don’t know what to do with silent quitting. The lack of urgency, the challenge within people. Oftentimes the best thing we can do with a quality individual is just hold a mirror in front of them, say, do you know that I have observed this activity from you? Do you know that you are exhibiting yourself that way? Rather than come and say, Why aren’t you doing this? We get very aggressive or we get very paralyzed, I have found just a candid conversation with somebody to say, hey, this is what your silent quit image looks like to me. And there is this awakening that is good.
Chris Goede:
And when you talk about having that sense of urgency, it comes across differently in different people. And that’s okay. They all have different leadership styles, but there’s got to be that movement, there’s got to be that momentum, there’s got to be to your point, okay, let’s not blame it on somebody else. Let’s say, what have you done about that? And so it’d be different if someone came to you or to me or some other leader and said, hey, feel like I’m a little stifled here. Here’s three things I’ve done out a little bit of urgency. I don’t think this is working. Do you have any thoughts for me? Completely different approach than just being put on the sidelines. I love that illustration. John goes into the second one where I want to spend some time here, where he says, show a positive effect on the organization, on the leader, whatever that might look like. And then he gives us two points here for those who do the work and then those who take the credit. I won’t ask you which one you prefer on those two, but when I think about this, I think that this is part of our culture. What does your culture look like? Is it a culture where people are doers? Are they’re getting the work done? And it reminded me of you challenge us with plus one when it comes to productivity inside the organization, and it may fluctuate on a budget or whatever it is, but, man, what over year over year? What is that? Plus one? And by the way, if you’re doing that, that has a positive effect. So when it comes to production and that positive effect on the organization and or the individual as a leader, how does that help create job security in your eyes.
Mark Cole:
Well, we’ve heard John say on this podcast maybe multiple times, when you can afford to quit, you can’t afford to quit, right? And it’s interesting to me the way that you worded that question from what you pulled from John is because when you have made it, it’s when you can’t afford to settle back and say, I’ve made it. Macy doesn’t listen to every one of these podcasts, so I’m going to pick on her again. Macy, I mentioned her just a few moments ago in the podcast, but she’s going into 12th grade. She has been cheering now for twelve years or eleven years. The next year will be or twelve years. Hard worker, disciplined. Like I’m telling you, don’t miss and don’t ever show up without knowing her things. Well, she’s 12th grade. She might be cheering in college, but she’s kind of done. And so, just right before we listened to John talk, you heard me on the phone talking to my wife, because there’s something we’re supposed to go to. And my wife and I are dividing and conquering so we can support Macy. And Macy’s text and say, none of us want to go. You all don’t need to go. I don’t want to go. None of you need to go. I text Macy back, and I said, Macy, you want to act like a team member or a leader? Your choice. And she replied back, she said, why do you always have to ask those questions? Here’s what I’m saying to Macy. Macy does not have to show up to this event tonight. You know why? She’s shown up to eleven of them. But right when she can afford to post because she’s done it, she has an aspiration to be seen as a leader. And leaders show up when they don’t have to, not when they need to. We know the whole story. Hey, leader, you got to show up. You got to show up. Well, you know what I believe leaders show up when they don’t have to. They’ve already paid the price. They’ve already done it. But guess what? They plus won it. Guess what? I’m going to show up again, and I’m going to do it again. I’m going to plus one this thing that even though I’ve paid the price, I’m still going to pay the price again. And what I’m trying to tell Macy, if you listen this time, baby, I love you, you’re proud of you. But what I want you and I to do is as leaders in this world of silently quitting, in this world of doing what is required of us, let’s have a plus one mindset. Let’s have an attitude that says we’re going to put forth positive effort that we don’t even have to because we’ve done it. And then we’ll go back to what John and Tyler Perry talked about, is when you can afford to quit, you have arrived. You have succeeded. You have paid the price, you can’t afford to quit, because that plus one for Macy as a senior to all them underclassmen that’s going to show up tonight because they’re so excited they can’t wait, they’re good. But when a senior shows up and one of a few seniors show up, that plus one don’t equal one anymore. It equals a multiple because you’ve paid the price, you’re still showing up. It speaks greater volumes when you don’t have to show up, and yet you.
Chris Goede:
Still show up, and it’s increasing her influence and making her back to your first point unforgettable to those that are looking up to her in and around. So, Macy, I hope you go tonight and hope you’re listening to the podcast. I want to end with this last question for you. Kind of off the cuff. John gives us this is part one, by the way, of a two part lesson. So I hope you’ll join us for our next session, where we’ll talk about the last five on this lesson. John gives us three others that I hope you just took notes. I hope you downloaded the Learner’s guide and just made your own notes about show a willingness to do more, show unique skills, what is your unique skill set, and then show efficiency in what you’re doing as we transition from this first one to the next one. When you think about your journey and your years of leadership, what do you think is the one thing that Cole To mind that has given you? Again, we’re using this word job security. It’s not a language that we use around here often, but it’s in this title. And so just using in the title, what do you think is the one or two things that may or may not be on this list of this lesson from John that kind of gave you that job security?
Mark Cole:
This is a great question from a timing standpoint. I didn’t know you were going to close. No, we didn’t discuss it. I just finished a two week stint with John to where we spent about 30 hours on the plane, he and I, and this particular experience allowed us to have a lot of conversation time. In fact, not talking would have felt a little awkward. It was just this close proximity, and it was good because I went through about a year and a half of my leadership. Those of you that are in the podcast family, you’ve heard some of the mistakes and hopefully some of the successes that we’ve had. But one of the things that I’ve learned, Chris, is the wealth of knowledge in John Maxwell. And everybody listening and watching on the podcast just kind of go, oh, gosh for me. Okay. Just kind of go. Are you kidding me? That’s the best you’ve got? I’ve traveled with John for I’ve been on his team for 23 plus years. I’ve been a CEO for 13 years. He has personally mentored me and fulfilled all of my mentoring needs. And somehow I got off point of letting him mentor me where I am now, as if I still needed to be mentored the way that I was before. It’s a long conversation. We’ll unpack it in another podcast. But in this session with John, in this most recent trip that we had, john looked at me about 15 hours in and with tears in his eyes, it was a very sweet moment. And he said, I have missed you. And I said, I was sweet. And I hugged him. We hugged it out and I said, what you missed the most? He said, I miss your coach ability. He said, When I didn’t have you close to me, I didn’t realize how hungry you are to learn. And I started looking at you from a distance saying, I guess he’s got it all figured out. And I had a perception of you, even though we’ve been together this long, that you had lost your hunger to learn. And he said, the greatest thing on this trip that I have discovered is you still love to learn. Now let’s go back to your question. I love to watch a situation and pull something from it that makes me better. I believe the way that I got a promotion in John Maxwell’s world came in my very first plane ride to make this full circle when I was riding with John and four leader between me and John. And John began to ask questions of something that he wanted, and none of the leaders around him knew the answer. And Chris, I just took note and I went, wow, if I ever get a chance to ride in the plane with John again, I’m going to know the answer to those four questions he asked. Four. There was not an answer for any of them. All four of them was, I’ll get it. I’ll find out. We’ll know it when we land. We got that. And I watched that and I went, I just took it up. And so I took down those four things. It just happened that I won another contest of filling an event, and I got to go about three weeks later on another trip with basically the same people minus one of them. I went to the questions John asked, I did research, and I found the current day to date answers to that. And I handed it to the senior most leader on the group and I said, hey, I don’t know if John’s going to ask this, but if he does, here’s answers. Sure enough, he came on, he asked the exact same questions. And I watched this leader pull out my little form, my little slip, and give John everyone his answers. John said, thank you. Thanks for knowing your answers. I appreciate that. The guy circled back with me, which was typically very uncharacteristic of him, and he went, how did you know that. And I said, well, I didn’t. I just know that’s what he wanted. It last time, and I was just prepared. Here’s the illustration. I have made my life of leadership about observing others and trying to learn from them. I do not sit here today because of my education. I don’t sit here because I had a lot of business experience before John. I sit here because I’m a constant observer, learner and applyer to what I experience today so that I’ll be better for it tomorrow.
Chris Goede:
Good.
Mark Cole:
Well, thanks, Chris. But here’s the whole thing that we’re watching. I’m going to close with this because our time’s up. But, hey, if you like this, John’s got five more for you next week, so join us again next week. But, Chris, I’m going to talk about you for a minute because our friend Jeff Henderson a thought leader. He has the statement, the best gift you can give your company is a better version of you, and you’re living in a time of your leadership. I’ve been around you for 20 plus years, watched your leadership. You’re living in the best times of your leadership. Your podcast, the podcast that you use is like going gangbusters. What’s that podcast?
Chris Goede:
Maxwell leadership executive podcast.
Mark Cole:
It’s the executive podcast that will help you in an executive context in a corporate environment to lead better. It’s killing it. And I get feedback about your podcast everywhere I go. Now, you’re living your best life. As far as last year was one of your personal best as a producer, as a leader, as an earner, I think we started reaching some high numbers. You’re at a personal best. What I love is you and I just took on a new task together. We finished up a meeting to come down here and record podcast, and I watched you not settle on the results and success you’re having with your existing team, but step in and challenge yourself to be better for the next team. You could start this leadership new assignment with yesterday’s reconnaissance, but I watched you stand in front of that group today with a newfound hunger and willingness to say, guys, I don’t know half of what I’m supposed to do. So you guys, please help me. All of us needs to understand what Jeff Henderson is saying here, and that is the best thing you can do for your organization is not take another promotion, not make another sale all that’s good. Please do that, especially if you’re working for our company. We need some more sales. But the best thing you can do is to better yourself, because that best version of yourself will give you job security and will give you a sustainability that makes you unforgettable to those that make the decision on who should be on the team and who should not be on the team. So I want to challenge you. What? John wrote a book, the 21 Indispensable Qualities of a leader. What does a leader look like? Smell like, taste like, act like? This book is the 21 Qualities of a Leader. It’s kind of a companion to 21 Laws of Leadership. We’re going to make that available to you. You can get a 15% discount. We’re going to do this this weekend. Next week, a 15% discount. If you use the Code podcast, go to the Show Notes. We’ll have a link there for you. When you click on that link, use the free podcast, and you’ll be able to get that discount. Hey, I want to close, as I always do, with listener comments and questions. I’ve been traveling a lot, Chris. There’s so many comments from the field. There’s not a place I go anymore that I don’t meet a Maxwell Leadership certified coach, speaker, trainer, and that somebody doesn’t come up and say, the podcast has made a difference in my life. And so thank you for all of you that we see on the road. Thank you for coming up and saying something. For those of you that take time and give us feedback on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast, that’s helpful too. This comment comes from Susan. Susan listened to the podcast. The difference between successful and unsuccessful people. We’ll put that link in the Show Notes for you to listen to. If you haven’t heard that Susan said, I love this episode and the importance of bringing people along in our success and significance, breaking down the process of how we think, feel, and do makes all the difference in leadership. Susan, you’re exactly right. Thank you. Thanks to all of you for listening to the podcast. Chris, thank you. Come back next week. Man. We got to do part two. Hey, go make a powerful, positive change to those around you, because everyone deserves to be led well.
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