Maxwell Leadership Podcast: Leaving a Legitimate Leadership Legacy

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. I’ve been with John Maxwell for 24 years. And today on this podcast, we’re going to talk about something that John Maxwell can legitimately talk about. We’re going to talk about how we can leave behind a legitimate leadership legacy to others. Now I’m holding in my hand for all of my incredible, incredible community that watches us on YouTube, I’m holding in my hand John Maxwell’s new book that was released just over a month ago called High Road Leadership, bringing people together in a world that divides. Now, we did a whole series on this book, four lessons, four podcast episodes, that was.

Mark Cole:
I want you to go back and listen to that from April may timeframe. But here today is what I want to share with you. What John’s talking about in this lesson is exactly what John has talked about in this book. He is known for high road leadership. His legacy will be leadership done a different way. And today in this lesson, you’re going to hear what John decided early in life. Four decision points that he had on how to build a leadership legacy. And this book depicts his leadership legacy better than any that he has written.

Mark Cole:
Now, we’ll put that book in the show notes. We’ll give you a discount today because I want you to get this book. If you’ve already read it, I want you to give this book to someone else. After the lesson today, my friend and co host Traci Morrow will join me to discuss what John has taught us and how we all can apply it to our life and to our leadership. If you would like to watch this episode on YouTube or you would like to download the bonus resource for this episode, visit maxwellpodcast.com/leadershiplegacy. I am truly excited for us to dig into this lesson. Let’s go.

John Maxwell:
I’d like to talk to you today on the subject leaving a legitimate leadership legacy. When I wrote the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, the last law of the 21 is the law of legacy. And the law of legacy says a leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. So let’s get started. What is a legacy? Let’s start right there. A legacy is something that we leave behind. And it can be, for example, it can be possessions. In other words, when we leave this world, we leave some wealth and some possessions, and it’s from our material success.

John Maxwell:
And by the way, this is the legacy that is most common. Most people leave either small or a large type of legacy in this area. But it can also be not only possessions, it can be people. People that we’ve influenced through our moral significance, through our example. Now, just like material possessions is the most common type of thing, to leave behind people is the least common. I many, many times see people live and die and never left anyone to fill their place, fill their role, stand in their footsteps, and so therefore, there’s a vacuum or a void there. And then thirdly, there’s another kind of legacy beside possessions and people. And that’s principles.

John Maxwell:
Principles that we have lived, that live beyond ourselves. Now, when I’m talking about legacy, I’m not talking about one, two, I’m talking about all three. So I can be talking about a moral legacy of people. I can be talking about maybe possessions behind you, maybe principles that you’ve taught that people say, I live by the principles that this person taught me. Okay? The question is, how can I leave a legitimate legacy, a leadership legacy, to others? And there are four words that are going to be the center of the rest of this lesson, because these four words are the game plan for you and I, to leave a leadership legacy. The first word is character. The second word, choices. The third, conduct, and the fourth, consequences.

John Maxwell:
Now, in your notes, this next paragraph, stay right with me. These four standards build upon each other. Character or lack of it, influences our choices. Choices have a direct bearing on our conduct. Conduct helps us determine our consequences. And consequences are a reflection of our character. Choices and conduct. These standards have been hammered out on the anvil of time and proven to be true.

John Maxwell:
We can embrace these truths and leave a legitimate legacy, or. Or we can reject these truths and leave a legacy that is lacking or lowly. So let’s talk about, first of all, character. Let me define character for the sake of this lesson. Character is being and becoming a moral example. And I want you to notice those two words at the front of it. Being and becoming a moral example. I want to make sure that in our character illustration and teaching, we not only have something to strive for, but we have something that we are becoming.

John Maxwell:
We are evolving into a person of character. Now, the two words most commonly linked to character is, number one, integrity and number two, honesty. Now, integrity is being true to self and honesty is being truthful with others. So I want us to see the distinction. When we talk about integrity, I’m talking about being true to yourself. When I’m talking about whole process of honesty, I’m talking about being truthful with others. No matter what your strengths are, if moral authority or character is not present, in my life or it’s not present in your life. It’s only a matter of time until it will hurt us.

John Maxwell:
It’ll hurt us with leadership, and it will certainly hinder us with passing on a legacy. So in leaving our legacy, character is foundational not only to our leadership, but to our legacy. Let’s talk about choices now for a moment. And I would help us to understand choices by these following words, thinking clearly and making wise decisions. And one way to define choices is. I love that phrase. Care in selecting. Careful decision making requires a sense of right and wrong that is rooted in character.

John Maxwell:
So let’s talk about learning right from wrong in the area of decision making, to make the right decision consistently, we can’t let external influence or peer pressure cause us to do something wrong when our internal conscience is telling us what is right. James autry, in love and prophet, said, we must stop thinking of work as something imposed upon us by the need to make money and think of it as something we have chosen to participate in because of its value in our lives and in the community at large. In my book today matters, I have this statement that I really basically build the book off of successful people make important decisions early in their life, and then they manage those decisions the rest of their life. You see, decision making is important in your early years. Decision managing is important in all of your years. And I would say this. I would say we over value decision making and we undervalue decision managing. Now, quick review.

John Maxwell:
We’re talking about leaving a legacy, a leadership legacy, successfully. There are four words. One character, being honest or being, and becoming a moral example. Choices, thinking clearly, making wise decisions. Let’s talk about number three now for a moment. Conduct. And conduct I would define as doing the right thing consistently well. See, conduct is defined as a mode of personal behavior.

John Maxwell:
Doing the right thing consistently. Well. I love that phrase. Let’s go on. In your notes, there are two important quotes I wanted to give you in this lesson on conduct. One is this one, people do what people see. That is just so true. In fact, the highest motivational principle I’ve ever taught is this one.

John Maxwell:
People do what people see. They don’t do what they hear. They do what they see. People do what people see. In other words, conduct is learned through observation. So when people conduct themselves a certain way in behavior, it’s because that’s what they have observed in others. People do what people see. One more statement on conduct.

John Maxwell:
We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. That’s an absolute fact. We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. We’ve talked about three words so far. Character, being and becoming a moral example. Choices, thinking clearly and making wise decisions. Conduct, doing the right things consistently well. The last word is consequences.

John Maxwell:
Receiving the results of seeds that we sow. In other words, at the end of the legacy, done well or not done well, there will be a harvest. There will be consequences, positive or negative. Now, this next statement in your notes is one I’ve been living on for the last month. It’s powerful. It says, the success of my day is based on the seeds that I sow, not the harvest I reap. 95% of the people in America walking around on the streets right now are trying to find a harvest. They’re looking for results.

John Maxwell:
They’re looking for a way to make a buck. They don’t understand that harvest is automatic if the proper seeds have been sown. Sow the seeds the proper way with the right timing. Harvest is automatic. But most people, they’re wanting the return more than they’re wanting to make the investment and the success of your day and my day is not based upon the harvest that we reap. Don’t even worry about it. Just ask yourself, every day, am I sowing seeds? Am I benefiting others? Am I adding value to others? Am I doing the stuff every day that is going to have, in the long run, in its proper timing, a good return. Now, the success of my day is based on the seeds that I sow, not the harvest I reap.

John Maxwell:
Why? Number one, the seeds I sow will determine the harvest I reap. Two, there is no reaping unless I have been sowing. Three sowers are committed to giving. Four, sowers enjoy giving more than receiving. And five, sowing daily into the lives of others will compound over time. Back to my book. Today matters. Here’s another statement that is an anchor statement in the book.

John Maxwell:
The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. What you and I do every day is what’s going to determine our success. Success is not a mystery. It’s not an event. It’s not something that’s going to happen 22 years from now. Success is determined by your daily agenda. And I close this lesson today by saying what I would wish for every one of you here today is this. That today you would make a commitment.

John Maxwell:
And that commitment is very simple. That you are going to immediately begin to make a conscious effort to every day pour your life into somebody that you can pass the baton on and successfully leave a legacy with. It’s the greatest gift that you’ll ever give the next generation. It’s the greatest gift that you’ll ever give the person that you pour your life into. It’s the greatest gift you’ll ever give yourself. Because is there any greater fulfillment in life than to know that what you worked hard for, believed in, valued greatly, will continue on even after you’re no longer there? Thats what leaving a successful leadership legacy is all about.

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Mark Cole:
Hey, welcome back, everyone. I love this standout statement. Our production team always kind of puts an idea that we’re trying to communicate in this podcast. Jake, I love today’s cause you say no matter what your strengths are, if character is not present in your life, it’s only a matter of time until it will hurt you and the legacy you’re passing on. Traci, I’m gonna let you kind of jump into this lesson cause it so impacted you. You were ready to dance a jig. You were ready to run around the studio. I mean, you were fired up after we listened to John.

Mark Cole:
But I wanna say this to all of you before I let Traci kind of set us up today. There’s a magazine, again, you got to watch YouTube because I’m holding it up right now. There is a magazine, it’s a great friend of ours, Colleen Rouse has a magazine called thrive today. Traci is a quarterly contributor to this magazine. She always sends in articles. It’s incredible. You want to get the resource, especially women, that wants to lead the way you were designed to lead. But this particular month, Traci is highlighted because of the priority power, the living, a life of overflow.

Mark Cole:
And I’m so excited, Traci, because even as you, we listen to this podcast from John. We listen to the content. You got all fired up jazz. You were ready to go. And that’s because you live a life of overflow. So go pick up the magazine thrive today. You’re gonna love Traci’s article in there consistently. But this particular magazine periodical, you’re going to love her being highlighted on it.

Mark Cole:
Traci, what a great lesson John’s given us today.

Traci Morrow:
This lesson. Thank you for saying that. And yes, this is a great journal for women who are in business and who lead and who are in whatever capacity you lead. It is a great journal. I know I get so much out of it. So thanks for highlighting that. And we love Colleen and every, every woman who contributes to this, even John contributes to it quarterly. So I, this, as I listened to this lesson, I said, as soon as it, I said, ah, this reminds me of the lesson I heard from John when I was 21, 22 years old.

Traci Morrow:
And I thought I was going to learn from John about business. And when I heard this, I thought, now these are handles I can grab hold of. This is something that I can do because I thought I was going to be learning. I don’t know what I thought I was going to be learning something about business. But everything that he teaches in this lesson is the heart and the life of John. This can be. It makes me think of, you know, you’re talking about his most recent book, High Road Leadership, but it also reminds me of today matters. These are like the bookends of John’s life.

Traci Morrow:
One is at the beginning of him sharing, really today matters to me is like the heart of who John Maxwell is and him sharing his whole life. And then high road leadership is who he is today. And what that looks like of applying everything from today matters through his entire life as he stands today. So those are kind of like bookends to me, books that show the beginning of his life and the end of, like, where he stands today. Not the end of his life. No, nowhere near the end of his life. But anyway, I’ve just felt like this is an incredible lesson, and I can’t wait to break it down with you into these four points, because character, choices, conduct and consequences are really, when we get those things straight, then the sky truly is the limit for any leader, no matter where you’re at.

Mark Cole:
Before we go to these four points, and I know you’ve got some questions prepared to how we live this out in Maxwell leadership, in our companies, with our teams. But let me say this, and again, I go back to the article that you have in the thrive Today magazine. You live a life of overflow. But this idea that at 21, 22 years of age, this was one of the first lessons you heard from John, and look at the business you’ve built, look at the family that you have and look at the ability to bring together multi generations now around the success that you’ve built. You are building a legacy and you haven’t built one because you’re improving it every single day. But you could stop today and have built a legacy. So I’m really excited. I’m glad this struck a chord with something John gave you.

Mark Cole:
You said when you were 21, so about ten years ago. I’m so glad. That’s. I wanted a point right there. For those of you that don’t know.

Traci Morrow:
And are not watching, here’s your $10 mark.

Mark Cole:
I needed a point right there with saying Traci was 21 ten years ago. But Traci, you’ve built this legacy. John helped you and I, and I’m excited to dig into this today.

Traci Morrow:
Well, I am too. And I thanks for the joke about me being ten years ago, it was really well over 30 years, but it really comes back to something that John talks about in point number two, and we’ll talk about that in just a second. But it’s about choices and decisions that we make. Because when I heard John first speak, it so pierced my heart and let this be. It’s never too late. You know, he talked about decisions that we make when we are young and then managing of those decisions over the course of our life for all of our years. But it doesn’t matter if you are listening to this and you are in your seventies at any point when you make a decision, how you manage it from today forward, because today does matter. And, you know, if you are 18 and you are listening to this, 14, and you’re in your parents car driving on your way to school and your parents have you held hostage in the car on your way to school, the decisions that you make no matter where you are in your life and you manage them, let me just tell you from experience that managing those decisions and the decisions that you make for yourself of this is who I want choose to be.

Traci Morrow:
They really, truly matter and they make a difference. So let’s dive in to character. And you talked about being and becoming a moral example. And that is really to me. And I know you agree with this, Mark, because you are a person who is being and becoming a moral example to me, to your team, to your family who is ever growing. But getting this is all about getting settled on your priorities. And maybe for some people, they tune into this because they didn’t have a family example of what that looks like. And so they tune into John because they want to listen to what? He’s kind of a papa to them.

Traci Morrow:
And we know from so many people who come to our international Maxwell certification conferences twice a year, and they love to learn from John and meet him in person because he has become a father figure to them. And he helps them settle on the priorities that maybe they didn’t get from their family of origin. Or like me and you, he is confirming the priorities that we learned from our family of origin and really setting boundaries around those. But he then talked about being true to ourselves and truthful with others. That’s integrity and honesty in leadership. There are times, as young leaders are coming up when every person feels that there is an inner conflict between rising in the ranks and proving to your boss and your coworkers and your team that you’re really committed to the team and to the company. But there are some times where I feel like people need to. They feel like maybe they’re confused, that they need to compromise on being true to themselves and what matters to them.

Traci Morrow:
That is time with family. Or maybe there’s a conflict with a work event and something with their kids at school or a key event in their kids lives where they. They do feel that conflict of being true to themselves and to what is a priority for their family of maybe taking a little bit of time to, you know, do I go on that business trip or do I stay because my kid is getting an award? That’s very important that they worked really hard for. Or I’ll use an example, our business. For four years of my kids high school, they had their leadership retreat every year at the same time as the end of season cross country, big meet. And my kids were cross country runners. And that big end of season meet was the first day of that leadership conference. And I qualified and was asked to speak at that leadership conference every year.

Traci Morrow:
And every year I would. I was in conflict because my team needed me to see me at that event. But also, my kids worked really hard to qualify to be at that big event. And every year, the conflict was, do I let down my team and the company and not show up to that first day of that retreat, or do I. And do I remain truthful to myself and my truest priority because to my team and to my kids, or do I show up to my kids so that conflict. Four years, they only have four years in high school, and all four years they made it to that cross country. So I would meet with my CEO at that time, and I would say, I’m going to come a day late, if you could work it, that I could speak, you know, my kids are my priority and you are a priority, I want you to know, but I want my kids to remember that I was there. They worked really hard and he understood and made it so I could speak the second day and I talked to my team.

Traci Morrow:
So my kids have in their memory, they’re now entering their thirties. They have it in their memories that I was there and gave my team a permission that their kids could still be a priority and they could make arrangements so that you could be both. So can you talk to, what do you say, the leaders who really struggle with showing early on that both matter, but those hard decisions that sometimes you can’t be there and sometimes you can, can you talk a little bit about that? Because those are, I think, very hard, critical decisions. You can’t always do both. And what do you say to those people who, to give them permission to kind of be in that tension?

Mark Cole:
Boy, we could camp out on this first one, the lion share of our time, and we may just do that because John’s given us great content. You guys can go work hard on choices, conduct, and consequences if we run out of time. But let me take a moment. Your story was really riveting to me, and John’s content in this principle was really riveting to me because I spent 30 years of my life, and many of you on the podcast know the story, but I spent 30 years of my life and I did not have the difference between integrity, being honest, true to ourself, and in honesty, being truthful or authentic to others. I just didn’t have that context. And let me say this now, I am a soldier in the army of better leadership. I mean, I fight this battle day in and day out. I travel crazy.

Mark Cole:
We’re going to get into that in just a moment and talk about this family tension that you just shared with us in your story, Traci. But let me say, before we get into the family, and how do we balance going on a trip or not going on a trip? You got to reconcile it within yourself first.

Traci Morrow:
Absolutely.

Mark Cole:
There is an order to these two points under character, and you’ve got to get the integrity true to yourself first before anyone else. I’m not deprioritizing your family. I’m not deprioritizing other things in your life. But you have to live with yourself with great conscience, not live with yourself by numbing yourself to poor decision making. And you see, I spent ten years of my life numbing myself to poor decision making. And. And exonerated myself by saying, yes, but I’m doing it for all the people around me. See, I had it out of order.

Mark Cole:
I knew I was living an incomplete, unfulfilled train wreck, eventually, of a life in my early twenties. I knew it. I’d written the book developing the leader within you. John gave me the roadmap to effective, longstanding, tenured legacy leadership. He gave it to me in developing the leader within you. I read it, I checked it off and stopped staying integrous with myself and started a ten year journey to impress everyone around me with my leadership. So I’m walking this, I’m living this, and I’m realizing that not only did John give us an incredible template on developing character, integrity, how we focus on ourself, honesty, how we’re truthful in our interactions with others, but please, leaders, especially you young leaders, don’t get it out of order. Because when you get it out of order and you feel like you’re living your best self and your authentic self with everyone around you, and you get the accolades and you get the affirmations, you become numb and lie to yourself, and that’s where it all begins.

Mark Cole:
I am passionate about this, Traci, because I’m ending Macy’s. She just finished her high school career, her four years, as you just talked about. Boy, if I go back and look at the things I missed, I will tell you that I did not get it. All right? I was not as present. There were conversations I probably could have and would have had if I’d have just heard your example just then. But let me tell you what I determined as a very passionate person about what my family is called to in extending John’s legacy and bringing great leaders and transformational leadership qualities around the world. We determined what was going to be important to us and our family, and I didn’t miss those. Now, that’s a tricky, slippery, hard conclusion, because isn’t everything important? That’s family.

Mark Cole:
Isn’t the lacrosse games important? Isn’t the, in Macy’s world the academic place? Macy got in her high school, she graduated with about 650 kids. She was in the top 5% academically. She was cheer captain. She got voted the most involved in her class. Now she is the most.

Traci Morrow:
I wonder who she gets involved.

Mark Cole:
Exactly. Exactly. She’s the most involved. If I would have tried to be involved in everything Macy was involved in, my last four years of her life would have been different. So Macy, Stephanie and I sat down and we talked about the things that were very important to her. Just recently, I had an opportunity. I’m telling you, I’ve met a lot of key, high influential stars known around the globe in my life. Tons.

Mark Cole:
But I’ve never met as many as I had an opportunity to meet just a couple of weeks ago. I mean, it was who’s who, the people that could have helped our nonprofit, that would have accelerated leadership development, that would have made a huge difference. Here’s the problem. It was on the night to where Macy was going to be recognized for her academic accomplishments in high school. Now, I’ve missed cheerleading games. I’ve missed her flag football games. I’ve missed some games. I’ve missed some things.

Mark Cole:
But Macy, who got several full ride scholarships to some of the best, most recognized educational institutions in the world, has made a decision that her academic stuff is important. So you know what? I looked at John Maxwell and all these incredible stars that I had the opportunity to sit and have dinner with about 20 of them. I said, no, thank you. This is Macy’s night, and I’m catching a red eye back from the west coast to make sure that I’m at something that’s super important to Macy. You know how I can make that decision? Because I never lost my way in the last 14 years after I got to reach the start of making sure what integrity within me looked like. Other people don’t get to determine that. Other people don’t get to tell me what that looks like. I and my counsel and for me, my faith makes the decision on what integrity true to myself looks like.

Mark Cole:
My greatest challenge to all of you listening today, if we don’t get to choices, conduct and consequences, is, have you reconciled the character question? Because as John says here, and as the standout quote that Jake gave me at the beginning of this lesson said, if character is not present in your life, it’s only a matter of time until it will hurt you and it will hurt the legacy you’re passing on. It starts with your character, and character starts with integrity to yourself. I could go on and on, Traci, but I’m gonna pause, catch my breath, and let you direct us to another question. Cause this is that important to us.

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Traci Morrow:
Everything comes out of those decisions that we make and then we manage them. And I want to just add to that everything that I said in that opening. I don’t want it to make it to imply I have six kids and I ran a business where I traveled. I don’t want to make it sound like I attended everything and put a halo over my head. There were many things that I didn’t do and there attend and there were things that. There were lots of conversations, but there were conversations in line with the decisions that I made. There were conversations that we had with our kids that I would say, were there things that you want me to be at that I need to be at? Then I would have conversations with them. I’m not going to be able to be at this thing.

Traci Morrow:
And they understood that. So there were those conversations for sure that I wasn’t at everything for sure. And those are, that’s okay because we can’t be at everything. And, you know, their dad could attend some things and some things they went to by themselves. And that’s okay for those parents who are listening that are like, hey, I’m a single parent. There wasn’t another parent to attend. And I want to say that to you. Sometimes we don’t have the ability to do that.

Traci Morrow:
And you can still be true to yourself if you give it a try and you have those conversations. Those conversations are key with your team and with your kid. If you are not able to be there, those conversations can fill in those gaps when you aren’t able to do that. I want to give that to you. If you’re listening to this, maybe tearfully thinking I wasn’t able to be there and asking forgiveness, apologizing for the times where you may have missed it also covers a lot of gaps as well.

Mark Cole:
So we’re only here on Mother’s Day. We had our pastor’s daughter communicated and phenomenal. She’s communicated on stage multiple campuses, multiple times. She’s an incredible leader. Just incredible leader. Loves John’s content. I mean, she’s just incredible. She talked on Mother’s Day and it was brilliant.

Mark Cole:
But she made a point. She’s talking to her children almost every night. She’s saying, hey, what do you like about my parenting? What could my parenting have done better today that would have parented you better? Just candid conversation her daughter told her nine year old daughter told her, a couple of weeks before the Mother’s Day presentation that she had her daughter told her. Her nine year old daughter said, mom, you know what I love the most about you? And that helps me, you know how to apologize. Now, we as parents kind of go, oh, my, can we, can we show vulnerability to our kids? Do we let them know that we get it wrong? And the answer is yes. Yes, because you give them the opportunity, number one, to respect you. But number two, you get them, you give them a chance to know it’s okay to miss it and still hold yourself to an integrity that you will respect about yourself.

Traci Morrow:
Absolutely. That’s how they learned that saying sorry is. It’s exactly what John says. We reproduce what we are, and when we apologize, we teach them, by modeling it to apologize as well. So let’s close out, because that’s conduct, and those are choices, what we’ve all talked about. And he ends by consequences. We’re either going to have good consequences or bad consequences. And the beauty of bad consequences is that we can apologize.

Traci Morrow:
And that really does, it does soothe over and heal wounds that we leave in our team and in our people. That goes not just in parenting, but with our team. A sincere apology is just. John always says, like, when we apologize to our team and show them that we know it, it instills confidence in them again to us, because they already know when we’ve blown it. So when we apologize, it’s showing them we know and we own it and we apologize. And it’s amazing how that can heal things. But let’s talk about seeds. Let’s end on seeds.

Traci Morrow:
What seeds are you sowing today in your team, Mark?

Mark Cole:
Yeah, I think one of the seeds that I have been very intentional about in 2024 didn’t do this in 2023, and we paid a price for it. We had a consequence because of the choices of the seeds we sowed in 2023. But I really have reacquainted myself in 2024 with the idea that leaders are hope dealers. And so every meeting that I have with our leadership team, I am finding a place to interject hope. Despite the visible realities, the visible numbers. I believe that last year, for instance, I got away from instilling hope. And when I got to the end of the year and I kind of reassessed our culture, I didn’t like the amount of negativity and the amount of despair that we had allowed just to sit around in team meetings and team believers. So this year, I’ve been incredibly intentional, every meeting, even the tough meetings, because we do have difficult conversations.

Mark Cole:
It’s one of our upfront expectations. We will have difficult conversations. But even in difficult conversations, I strategically and intentionally interject hope. Another thing that I interject is this book that I’m holding up. I held it up at the beginning of the lesson before I threw it to John today. This is our rallying cry of the season that we’re living in, guys. In the US, it’s mid June and we’re starting to see a divided world here in the United States. It’s staggering.

Mark Cole:
If you would have told me 30 years ago when I started voting, if you would have told me that we were going to be at this place in politics in my lifetime, I would have told you you’re crazy. The world is divided and I’ve challenged our team. I’m sowing a seed. This message of high road leadership, bringing people together in a world that divides, is another seed. The final seed I’ll end on, Traci, is the seed of personal growth. We talked about at the beginning of the show today that John Maxwell has truly created a legitimate leadership legacy. Talked about that and held up the book. The way he did that was at 22 years of age.

Mark Cole:
He made a decision, I’m going to grow myself. He made a decision that growth was an infinite game. There would be no finish line. And I can tell you, after 24 years of working with John, at 77 years young, John Maxwell still has a huge propensity, a huge passion, a huge commitment to grow himself, to learn something. We created a digital product called 15 Laws of Growth. It’s an online course, and it was all based on the book that John wrote several years ago called 15 Laws of Growth. Why? Because John has a leadership legacy. Because he has a personal growth commitment.

Mark Cole:
And that’s what I want for you today. In fact, we’ll make that available to you. It’s a dollar 449 product. We’re going to make it available to you today for $99 because you listen to the podcast, I’m just going to challenge you. Your legacy will show up. Will it be the legacy you want it to be? The way to start defining that is growing yourself, developing yourself, intentionally, designing the life, the leadership, the legacy that you want to have. And so go take advantage of that. Take advantage of high road leadership.

Mark Cole:
We’ll put that in the show notes as well. And I got to tell you, Mercy. Mercy left us our podcast comment that I wanted to highlight today. Mercy was listening to, do you have what it takes? Part two it’s a podcast that we had several months ago. We’ll put that in the show notes. This is what Mercy said. My take home today is, can I handle criticism well, mercy, I don’t know if you’re like me, but I can handle criticism. But sometimes it’s not.

Mark Cole:
Well, then Mercy went on and said, when I am secure and settled in who I am, then I can have a good perspective about the motive of criticism and know how to handle it. I’m always learning, and I’m always looking forward to the next podcast. So mercy and the rest of us go and do this well. Handle criticism well, intentionally. Plan your legacy well, because everyone deserves to be led well.