Leadership

A Recent Lesson on Credibility

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As most of you who follow my blog know, I just did a post on credibility. Fortunately for all of us there are always critics, haters, or simply people who have nothing else to do with their life except watch other people’s lives.  With all that said they also play a very important role in the process of success because without them there wouldn’t be a……..check and balance is a good term, I think.  Ok that was sarcasm but in actuality we all need people in our lives that will point out our flaws and mistakes (some will do it in a positive way, others will do it in a negative way).  Without them we would never have the chance to prove our credibility. Well it has come to my attention that “a group” has identified that I hadn’t paid my property tax on the house that I bought from Orrin.  Why someone would be trying to find that information I am not quite sure, but yes it is true.  Let me say this so this doesn’t get twisted.  I FORGOT TO PAY MY PROPERTY TAX.  Haven’t we all forgotten to do something or messed something up?  So here IS what happened.

– Moved into the house at the end of the 2011

– Tax bills come in twice a year, so about 6 months later I received the first one

– Threw it in my bill drawer because it wasn’t due yet

– Missed the deadline but mailed in the check anyway

– A while later the check came back and said I was past the deadline

– Either I missed it or it didn’t say it but once you miss the deadline you have to mail it to a different address

– I mailed it to the same address again ( stupid of me, yes, never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer )

– By this time it was well into 2012 maybe even 2013

– Mailed another check in but stopped payment on it because the new 2013 taxes came in and it had a different address then the previous one ( which I now know as the “late payment” address )

– Was made aware that people were “very excited” to see that I am human and made a mistake 🙂

– Went to the office and finally figured everything out and stroked 2 checks to pay for all of the taxes. Done

Now unfortunately for some of you out there we were not trying to avoid paying them. We are not struggling financially and neither Orrin or Chris “bailed us out” …..sorry.  As a matter of fact because of the smart financial principles that The Life Leadership has taught us I was able to write the $28,000 checks and take care of it.  So yes it is correct. Even Policy Council members make mistakes. However we don’t try to hide from them when confronted. Instead we do own up to them and we do try our best to make things right.  I just wonder if the people who are throwing stones do the same.  I am guessing not, otherwise they would be too busy with something else instead of worrying about me paying my property taxes.  I grew up with so many people who hated on other people or blamed other people and it always fueled me to become better and continue to prove them wrong.  The sad part about this case is some of them are people I use to call friends and as far as I know I never personally did anything to them except be nice and edify them.   As I have said in many of my talks…..HUMAN.  I have always tried to live my life around the fact that people are messed up and are going to make mistakes.  I just did and so does everyone else.  As my article says it’s not about IF or WHEN you make a mistake, it’s what you do about it after you make it.  What are you doing about the mistakes you have made?  I guess I should probably hand over my taxes to my accountant because I am sure she is perfect haha.

Thank you to the people who allowed me to show our teammates a live example of what you do when you mess up. I’m pretty sure mistakes will happen again because……HUMAN!

Bill Lewis

p.s.  Just so they don’t say I am trying to hide from something.  I also bought a $20,000rental property in downtown Flint 14 years ago.  I paid of the property and rented it for a while.  Eventually, we could not get anyone to rent the property.  I even called the city to try and give them the house but they said they had so many they couldn’t use the ones they had.  The city was doing a house clean up where they tear down old house.  I stopped paying the taxes and the city claimed the house and tore it down.

Faith, Family, Finances, Following, Friends

How to regain Credibility

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Despite your best intentions, despite your quest for excellence, despite being a person of character there are going to be times where things don’t go as you planned.  Things change unexpectedly, people you are counting on don’t do what they said they would do,  or it just plain gets messed up.  It is going to happen to every one of us.  The question is what do we do when it happens?  How we respond is more important then what happened.  Many times we choose to respond with blame,  denial, avoidance ( also called head in sand ).  Why do we do that?  Our society has created a culture of being scared to make mistakes.  In some of us that fear is deep rooted that we won’t even take enough action to make a mistake.  Its amazing to watch children trying new things.  They have no thoughts about making mistakes accept, “Hey mom, did you see that?”  But it doesn’t take long for them to start picking up the fear of mistakes.  Thank goodness people like Thomas Edison didn’t feel that way.  Many sources quote different numbers, but let’s just say it took him 1,000 attempts to create the lightbulb.  If he hadn’t persisted I would be doing this blog with smoke signals.  Failure is always part of the process of success but we should learn from Edison when he said, “I have not failed.  I have just found 999 ways that won’t work.”  Luckily, most of us have a mentor, which means we don’t have to learn from trial and error, like Edison.  We can learn from other peoples experience.  With all that said, what I want to focus on is, what we do when we make a mistake that affects others.

The most important thought to begin with is you can actually gain credibility by making and owning up to a mistake.  Its amazing how counterintuitive, in todays culture,  it seems to own up to a mistake.  The book “Credibility” gives a real world example.

Pradeep Vaswani, project manager at Infosys Technologies, recalled a time when his team went off course and as a result would fail to deliver on time to the client.  His managers had advised him that he shouldn’t disclose this in advance to the client, but should merely work overtime to catch up.  However, Pradeep knew that keeping this secret would result in a breach of trust with his client if the matter went out of control.  Furthermore, he was unwilling to set such a poor example to his staff.  Consequently, Pradeep accepted the responsibility for informing the client about the projects status.  The client was upset, but Pradeep also told them how sorry and disappointed he and his team were about missing the deadline.  He had explained what had caused the delay and what the team would do.  He showed his commitment to the new deadline  by indicating what he would do himself to ensure the new deliverables were met.  The project was completed by the new deadline, and the amount of trust the client had for Pradeep actually increased tremendously.  At the same time, the respect his team members had for him was enhanced because he accepted responsibility and showed accountability for the team without pointing fingers.

I think the reason someone owning up to mistakes is such a big deal is because it so rarely happens.  The reason gold is so valuable is because it is so very rare.  The same is true with human emotions.  When we see someone display a trait that we rarely see, we naturally look at that person with more esteem.  Studies have shown that “admitting mistakes” ranks second to “tells the truth” when people were asked what behaviors best define an honest person.  So, here are the six A’s of accountability:

  1. Accept = come to recognize 
  2. Admit  = confess to be true or be the case
  3. Apologize = express regret for one has done wrong
  4. Act = take action
  5. Amend = make changes to make it correct
  6. Attend = be present, deal with it

 

“When” not “if ” you make a mistake, apply these six A’s and you will not only maintain your credibility but you will increase it.

 

Bill Lewis



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Do you have a Fixed mindset or Growth mindset?

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Fixed mindset versus growth mindset

The growth mindset says your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.   That people become leaders and are not born leaders.  The fixed mindset believes that your qualities are carved in stone.   Fixed mindset people believe that people are born leaders, so why even try.   If you are newer to personal development or leadership you probably lean more towards the fixed mindset.   That is because we have been conditioned to believe that that mindset is correct.   It is proven everyday because people are not growing and changing.   People  are not accomplishing their goals and dreams.   On the other hand, if you have associated with growth communities then you know that the growth mindset is completely true.   You have seen people that showed very little leadership ability but through effort and studying, they have developed themselves into leaders.   So you might be asking yourself, “What happened?”  As a society wouldn’t we want more of the population to have a growth mindset?

 

Fixed mindset or growth mindset, what happened?

Let me give you an example.   Five monkeys were put into a cage.   At the center of the cage was a ladder with a hand of bananas.  Of course, one of the monkeys leaves the corner, and climbs the ladder to get a banana.  As he is about to grab the banana, the scientist spray all the other monkeys  with  cold water.   Undeterred, the next monkey goes to the ladder and climbs to get a banana.   As soon as he gets on the ladder the scientist spray the other monkeys again.   When the next monkey goes to get a banana the rest of the monkeys attack him.   Now it gets interesting.   The scientist replace one of the old monkeys with a new monkey.   Guess what the new monkey thinks?   I don’t know why no one else is getting a banana but I’m hungry.   He goes to climb the ladder and gets attacked by his fellow monkeys.   He is probably thinking, “Man I won’t try that again.”   They replace another monkey and the same thing happens.   The scientist take out the rest of the original monkeys and now no monkey in the cage has ever been sprayed with cold water, yet no monkey will ever get one of those bananas.   They have been conditioned to believe that if they try, something bad will happen.   Sound familiar?   In a country that was FOUNDED ON TAKING A CHANCE, BEING COURAGEOUS, AND RISKING IT ALL, we are starting to become safe, fearful, and spineless.   Why?   Because someone tried something, was sprayed with cold water, or worse yet they HEARD that people were getting sprayed with cold water,  and now it’s their duty to protect you.

The death rate for people who play it safe and for those who live boldly is the same.  Patti Digh

 

Fixed mindset, how do you go from a fixed mindset to a fix-ed mindset?

 

You will become like the five people you hang around the most and the books you read.   As I write this  I think about what I did before I was involved with growth communities.   My friends were great guys and I love them but you need someone that is much farther down the road.   I think I had read two books from cover to cover over a twenty year time frame.  WOW!   I was proving this theory to be totally correct because my life was a mess.   Most of us have been around negative or limited thinking for so long we begin to think it’s normal.   Heck, the government and television tell you not to think at all!   I can do an entire article about that later.   Fixed mindsets have been scientifically proven to be inaccurate.   A group of scientists were studying the brain when they accidentally discovered what they now call, brain elasticity.   They discovered that the brain is ever changing.   They found that patterns in your brain can be re-wired, but the longer one subject has been grooved in that area, the harder it is to overcome.   Example:  young children have no problem learning multiple languages at the same time.   Ask an adult to learn multiple languages and they may break down and cry.   The reason is the area of the brain for language is being conditioned for multiple languages, when younger, but the longer we go with only one language we condition that area for one language.   So as an adult, you almost have to totally immerse yourself in the new language because you have to overcome the years of one language being grooved into that area.   The same is true with a fixed mindset and we just have to overrun that area of your brain with growth mindset.   Here’s what you do.

1.  Find a group of growth mindset people and associate with them as much as you can.

2.  Listen to positive audio recordings daily

3.  Read books from people that are teaching or have experienced a growth mindset.

4.  Try to eliminate as many fixed mindset activities as you can

  • negative people
  • limited thinking people
  • television that isn’t positive
  • magazines or movies that tear down instead of building up

5.  Do these over and over and over  and over and over and over and over …………………

Remember we have to overrun the areas that have been grooved with fixed thinking and try to get our brain re-wired for growth mindset.   You ever notice that fixed mindset people think that everything is hard or undoable.   Growth mindset people think that anything is possible.   The best thing about that is most growth mindset people started off with a very fixed mindset.   We know this works because the results are all around us.   Everything we use in our life was developed from a growth mindset person and they all have written books about what and how they did it.   Acquiring a growth mindset  is hard, it is annoying, it takes time, it takes persistence, but man, is it worth it.  You don’t know how great you can be until you get around people that see your greatness.

Bill Lewis

life leadership.com

 

Orrin Woodward Life Business

2013 June Major

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This weekends major was another smashing success!  We had huge numbers at the Nationwide arena and some of the best talks we have  ever had were given this weekend.  We also had some great recognition.  The Spiewaks  and Spolars were recognized for hitting a level called Policy Council and the Powers team won the Power Player top gun.  It’s so amazing to be able to watch people step up their game and get really focused on hitting a goal.  I know the Spiewaks and Powers very well and although they are great leaders they did not do something that others cannot do.  They both have strengths that you don’t have, but you also have strengths that they do not have.  These two couples have made the difficult decisions that success requires, and their lifestyles are  on the verge of becoming unexplainable to most people.  If you want to taste the sweetness of success you only have to do some very basic things.

1. Do the work

2. Grow yourself

3. Set a goal and attack it

4. Put a ten on your teammates forehead

5. Stay tough

If you consistently do these steps, maybe one day you will be on stage receiving your reward.

 

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Family, Following, Friends

A Culture of Serving

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Story from the book “Credibility”

Once there was a village in Nigeria where the people made their living by farming.  The village lay in a large green valley that was lined with palm trees and bushes.  Surrounding the village were fields with crops of yams, corn and other vegetables.  Just beyond the fields was a deep river that the villagers called “Baba.”  In the rainy season, the river  overflowed and the people were fearful of its power.  So, at a place were the river wound beyond the fields, they built a strong dam to hold back the water.

There was a man in the village named Modupe, which means “I am grateful.”  Modupe was a shy, quiet man whose wife had died and whose children were all married, so he moved to the top of the mountain overlooking the valley and lived alone.  There he built a small hut and cleared a small piece of land to grow his vegetables.  The people rarely saw Modupe but they respected and loved him.

One year at harvest time, the rains were unusually heavy, but the crops had done well and there was much to do, so no one paid it any mind.  As Modupe stood by his house on the mountain, he noticed that the river, swollen from the rains, was straining the dam.  He knew that by the time he could run down to the village to warn the people of the flood, it would be too late and all would be lost.  Even as Modupe watched, the wall of the dam begun to break and water started to seep through.

Modupe thought of his friends in the village.  Their crops, their homes, and their very lives were in danger if he did not find a way to warn them.  Then an idea came to him: he rushed to his small hut and set it afire.  When the people of the valley saw Modupe’s house burning they said, “Our friend is in trouble.  Let’s sound the alarm and go up to help him.” Then, according to custom, men, women, and children ran up the mountain to see what they could do.  When the reached the top of the hill, they did not have time to ask what had happened – a loud crashing noise behind them made them turn and look down.  Their houses, their temple, and their crops were being destroyed by the river, which had broken the dam and was flooding the valley.

The people began to cry and moan at their loss, but Modupe comforted them.  “Don’t worry,” he said “My crops are still here.  We can share them while we build a new village.”  Then all the people began to sing and give thanks because they remembered that, in coming to help a friend, they saved themselves.

Not sure if the story is true or not but what a great example of serving your neighbor.  There are many lessons we can take from this example but I would like to focus on two:  helping friends in trouble and a culture of serving.

When Modupe saw that his friends were in trouble he didn’t think, “Man, that’s too bad, I hope they figure out something, I wish there was something I could do, what if I burn my house and they don’t come up to help?   He immediately thought I have to help my friends and then he thought of a plan.  In life we see so many people who just turn a blind eye.  We could do something or we have information that could help but we don’t.  We are afraid of what that person might think.  We are afraid of what other people will think.  We are afraid of sacrificing something of our own.   Ninety nine percent of the negative things we think could happen, usually never do.  What usually does happen is we end up making a big impact in someones life.  If you see someone that you think you can help, be the good Samaritan.

The second lesson was they had a culture of serving each other.  Modupe wasn’t worried that burning his own house wouldn’t work because Modupe’s community had a culture of serving each other.  He knew they would come to help him and by helping him they ended up helping themselves.  There is an old statement that says, “If you help enough people get what they want you will always get what you want.”  If your organization has a culture of serving the customer, you cannot lose.  Even though you may not see the return, in the immediate, you will always see it in the long term.  Set your goals around how many people you need to serve to accomplish your goal.  Doing this accomplishes two great things.  You get to your goal but more importantly you model the serving attitude.  The compounding affect of a serving organization creates amazing results.

Are you serving your God, wife, kids, business partners?  If so are you serving them the way they want to be served or the way you like to be served?  What ways can you improve your service to your team? Can you be more patient, understanding, goal focused, give time, explain thought process, help overcome obstacles, give ideas or just listen.  Whatever it is, if you model the behavior I can guarantee that others will follow your lead.

Bill Lewis

Following

Are you an influencer ?

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Since this blog is primarily about leadership then we should define what a leader is.  As my mentor Orrin Woodward says,”Leadership is influence.”  Influence means that someone is following you.  John Maxwell says,”If you call yourself a leader and no one is following you then you are just out for a walk.”  So it appears that having influence is key to becoming a leader.  We have all been in the situation where a group is discussing what they want to do or what they should do.  The group hasn’t made a decision yet because they are waiting for a key person to give their input.  That key person is called the influencer.  It may be the person that has the title of leader or it may be someone that doesn’t have the title of leader but none the less the group is always looking for what the main influencer has to say.  That is what we want to discuss.  How do you become the E.F. Hutton?  When you talk everyone is listening.    If you don’t know what that previous statement is referencing then I am really starting to get old. 🙂

 

Below is the pyramid of influence according to Stephen Covey.  The foundation is built on example, then by relationships and finally by teaching.  This is a great illustration of what it takes to become an influencer and it is a great illustration to remove peoples false ideas about leadership.  Most people believe that being the leader means you are the best at teaching or the best at relationships but that is untrue.  They are key components but the most important thing in leadership is modeling the correct behavior.  This should be a very freeing idea for most of us.  We just have to model the right behaviors long enough that we are elevated to the position of leader.  This is actually the best way to become a leader.  The term is called reluctant leader.  This means you didn’t start out thinking I want to be the leader,  you just did the right things long enough that someone started calling you a leader.

 

 

 

Pyramid of Influence

 

Example ( other see ) is the foundation and also the hardest because it requires us to change ourselves.  Our human nature would much rather tell people what to do then actually do it ourselves.  That is called managing.  The United States is in a leadership crisis because everyone is so focused on others instead being focused on themselves.  Managing will never create true influence.  They may have a positional or authoritative influence but not leadership influence.  To create true influence we must grow ourselves and create the culture that we want to have.  There is a statement that says,”The leader creates the culture and then the culture grows the group.”    That culture is created by who we are not what we say.  You want to be the example of the culture you want to create.  I would suggest to start reading some of the foundational books on human nature.  How to win friends and influence people, Bringing out the best in people, Attitude is everything, Personality plus, The magic of thinking big, How to have confidence and power in dealing with people, Resolved, Eat that frog, The seven habits of highly effective people.  If the goal is to be the example of the culture you want to create then reading is not a choice it is a must.  Determine what you want the culture of your organization to be and start attacking those items and master them.

 

Relationships ( how others feel ) is the next layer to build on.  We have to make people feel better then they feel about themselves.  Do you assume the best in others?  I see people create issues that don’t exist because they assume the worst.  Seek first to understand.  Try to see from the others person view and completely understand before we start to make judgments.  Admit your mistakes and cover up other peoples mistakes.  If you even think you have offended someone apologize to them.  If someone in your organization hurt someone else’s feelings, you apologize for it.  Why do this because that person and your relationship with that person is more important then whatever happened.  Follow the three A’s principle.  Accept, approve, appreciate.  The old African proverb says,”Look at a man as he is and he only becomes worse, look at him as he could be and he will become what he should be.”  We have the power to give people the freedom to become better.

 

Teach ( what others hear )  To me the teaching aspect means something different then what it means to most people.  When I think of teaching I am not thinking of the exact do’s and don’ts.  That is an important piece of the teaching but the science, of what to do, is not as important as the art of what to do.  there is a quote that says something like,”The man that knows what will always be at the mercy of the man that knows why.”  Its not enough to just count on people knowing what to do.  If you only teach people what or count on your system to teach them what then they will always have to come back to you to learn why the what didn’t work.  If you teach them the “why” or the principle behind the “what” then they will always know how to do the “what” correctly.  If your the leader then there is a reason why.  You understand something that the rest of the crowd doesn’t yet.  It doesn’t mean they can’t it just means you need to teach from a different level.

Bill Lewis

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Mentoring as a Talent Scout

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I am re-posting Orrin Woodwrd’s blog because it is such an important topic.  Mentoring is one of the key components to duplication and exponential growth.  It is also critical because you learn how to mentor by being mentored.  As I tell people, it is the short cut to success only because so few people use it.  When your time becomes more and more limited it is very important to narrow your focus and use it where you will get the best return.  The most important part about having and using your mentor is that you can plan, do, check, and adjust at a faster pace.  Let me give you an example.  Many of you know that I am a golfer and I have a golf coach.  He is a great coach but unfortunately I can’t carry him in my golf bag and pop him out every time I hit golf balls.  ( My bag would be really heavy ) He has to see me hitting balls to correct me and at best I can see him once a month.  I recently found an app for my phone that allows me to record my shots, at super slow speed, and I can compare it side by side with a professional golfers video.  This app allows me to get instant feedback and PDCA daily, instead of monthly with my coach.  The faster you can PDCA the faster you can become better.  If you have a mentor that is giving you time, take advantage of it!  The newer you are in your field the more you need to PDCA.  Enjoy this article from best selling author and The Life Business founder, Orrin Woodward

Bill Lewis

Mentoring as a Talent Scout

Oliver DeMille and I have been bantering back and forth on the importance of mentoring in building teams, cultures, and organizations to create the LeaderShift. The number one ingredient I look for in someone to mentor is hunger, for everything else can be taught, but hunger must be caught! As Oliver says, “Don’t require, but inspire.” I love coaching/mentoring people, but I refuse to begin until I am convinced a person would proverbially “eat nails” to gain and apply wisdom. LIFE is a business of gaining and applying wisdom into the 8F’s of life. Are you willing to “eat nails” to gain wisdom? If you are, then, as Zig Ziglar used to say, I will see you at the top. Here are some thoughts Oliver and I developed on the subject.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

A mentor who understands powers of decline that are at work in the world knows that he must become a talent scout to maximize his impact as a leader.

Everyone has the potency to become a genius, but because of the laws of decline, statistically few people are willing to pay the price to really tap into that genius. Recognizing this sad fact, mentors should be careful to target their effort to those who will actually do something with it.

The story of the young man who had read the mentor’s book—and his friend who hadn’t—illustrates this point very well. A mentor who spreads his focus between 12 protégés, when only two of them are actually acting the part of a tenacious leader-in-training, is actually being less effective than he could be if he put his focus toward just the two who were both ready to work and worth his time. Of course, he needs to mentor a number of people to find the two protégés. Or better still, ten or twelve protégés.

It’s kind of like the saying, “A bird in the hand is better than two in the tree.” Three mentees who are truly fighting for their dreams are better than 10 who are flitting around hoping to find an easy road. Good mentors must learn to recognize the right kind of mentee—one who is really willing to walk the rocky, uphill path to success. In other words, good mentors must become Tenacity Scouts.

One mentor shared the following story:

“I’m often approached by people who want me to mentor them, but I’ve learned that my time is precious, so I don’t waste it on people who won’t really value it as they should.

“Once, a young woman came up to me at a book signing I did in her neighborhood. She wanted me to be her personal mentor. I immediately said no, as was my practice, but told her I could recommend some good books. She took the sticky note with three or four titles on it and she walked away, sadly. I thought that was the end of it.

“A few months later, my assistant told me there was a girl from Arizona on the phone for me, could I take it?

“It took me a few minutes to recall who this girl was, but when I realized it was the girl from the book signing, I was shocked.

“She told me she had read the titles I had given her, plus the biographies of two of the authors, and she had some questions for me.

She asked if I had an hour or two to discuss the books with her. I had a busy schedule that day, so I had to decline, but we scheduled a call for the next evening.

“When we discussed the books, I discovered that she really had read them all—quite thoroughly. There were some things she didn’t understand, and even a few we disagreed on, but it was an interesting conversation, to say the least.

“When we finished discussing the books, she had just one more question for me: wouldn’t I please reconsider, and agree to be her mentor?

“When I saw how hard she would work, not only to pursue her own success by reading great books, but also by persistently seeking out the mentor she wanted, despite obvious obstacles, I knew should was going to be successful someday, and I wanted to help get her there.

“Long story short, I said yes, and over the years I’ve found her to be one of my most dedicated and successful mentees and associates.”

Mentors should remember to focus their time and energy on those mentees who are really willing to take advantage of it. This means learning to recognize the signs of real tenacity.

If a mentee is easily deterred from achieving what she wants on the small things—such as reading a book, doing the basic work of success, or seeking out a good mentor—she is very unlikely to stick to her dreams when the real challenges come up; and they will come. Mentors should look for diligence, tenacity, ingenuity, initiative, optimism, and vision in perspective mentees. If they don’t have these qualities, they probably won’t choose to be in the 10% who really matter, and that 10% is where great mentors should put the power of their focus. Of course, the best way to find out is a person has the right traits is to give them a chance—put them to work!

Following, Freedom

Talent, Luck or Work Ethic

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Year after year we see people on television, read about them in magazines or hear others talking about a person that has become incredibly successful.  Within one minute of someone saying the successful persons name, someone else will say, “Man they are lucky.”  or they might add, “I wish I had the talent to do that.”  At some very deep level they are correct in their statement but mostly they are incorrect.  Success has very little to do with talent or luck.  To the casual observer of success they would say that I don’t know what I am talking about.  To anyone who has ever really tasted success before, they would say that I am hitting the nail on the head.

 

I grew up in Saginaw, Michigan.  Not much else to say about that except its nickname is Sag-nasty.  That should give you a good idea of what the mindset of the community was.  You could go to almost any basketball court in the summer and find a group of five guys that could beat every high school basketball team in Saginaw.  If talent and luck are the key factors, then how is this possible?  Was every kid on street courts unlucky or did they create their own circumstances by not putting in the work.  In this case it could have been school work that kept them off the team but any way you look at it, it comes down to work ethic.  Sometimes, I wish this wasn’t true because it would make for a very valuable excuse.  Fortunately, there have been many books written on the subject that debunk the talent myth.

The first step to moving toward success is to realize that the idea that you have to have talent to be great at something is a myth.  We naturally move towards something if we show a little bit of talent but we also will quickly pull away if someone is better or we experience a few setbacks.  In the books Talent is Overrated and Outliers,  both authors prove that this is exactly what we are talking about, a myth.  The first example is called the Hamburg Crucible.  We see the Beatles as being this overnight sensation that were so gifted and talented.  Well, that’s not exactly the story.  The Beatles were just like every other band; they were struggling.  Until they were invited to come and play in Hamburg.  They performed in Hamburg on five different occasions between 1960 and 1962.  They performed live, for 270 nights, around eight hours a day,  in less than a year and a half.  By the time of their first success in 1964 they had performed over 1,200 live performances.  This is more then most bands will do in their entire career.  The long hours of playing forced them to learn new ways of playing and gave them time to experiment with different genres of music.  All of this compiled into one of the greatest luck – talent stories in history.  Of course, I am kidding.  It was sheer work ethic that created this amazing band.  The second example comes from a Hungarian couple that lived in the Ukraine.  Laslzo and Klara had three daughters and for some reason decided to try and turn them into chess champions.  Neither of the couple had any talent in playing chess but they decided they could learn and work.  The three daughters were homeschooled and the schooling consisted largely of chess instruction.  The family accumulated over ten thousand chess books.  The three girls competed for their country and two of the girls were named grand masters.  That is a pretty amazing feat for someone that showed no chess playing ability at all.

The other critical factor that these two books spoke of was deliberate practice.  Deliberate practice is different then work ethic because it is focused.  It means focusing on getting better at a specific skill instead of just practicing.  They would measure how well they were progressing and when they felt good about the skill they would move to the next skill they needed to master.  My mentor Orrin Woodward calls this P.D.C.A. or plan, do, check and adjust.  I am a golfer and amateur golfers are famous for just going to hit some balls.  Well, practicing the bad habits you already have can actually make you worse.  It has to be something specific that you can measure and see if you are improving.  Talent is Overrated did a study of 250 music students.  All of them had around the same skill level.  They watched them for some years to see what made the top notch students the best.  There were only 2 things that made a difference.  Work ethic and deliberate practice.

 

If we can stop saying we are not talented enough or lucky enough and just go outwork everyone, then we will one day be able to taste the sweet victory of success.

Bill Lewis

Following

Success requires Bozos

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If you’re a person who is striving to succeed, then you must click the link on The Life Business Founder -Chris Brady, and read his latest post.  He does a great job explaining what will happen when you strive for excellence.  Anyone who is on the road to success will run into the bozos of life.  You must know that they are part of the process of success.  I have encountered so many during my lifetime simply because I was a dreamer.  What you have to understand is that dreamers and non-dreamers will never view the world the same.  It’s like putting a die hard Michigan fan and a die hard Ohio State fan in a room together and tell them to discuss football.  They will not come out as friends.  They just see the world differently.  It’s the same when you are willing to strive for success and others aren’t.  There’s nothing wrong with you, or them for that matter, you just see the world differently.  Surround yourself with other dreamers who will fuel your belief and you will make it and ………”if you fail, at least you fail while daring greatly.  So that this place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”  Theodore Roosevelt

Bill Lewis

Orrin Woodward Life Business

Don’t miss the launch of “LeaderShift”

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Just wanted to repost, from Orrin Woodwards blog, about this historic occasion.    Not only is the book a fun read and very captivating but the authors give a very detailed plan of how to repair what has gone wrong with our political system.  The plan is so simple you will think,”Why hasn’t someone come up with this before.”  Genius is taking the complicated and making it simple.  These two authors, in my opinion, are geniuses. This is a great opportunity to meet and hear from one of the authors,  Orrin Woodward.

The LeaderShift launch

We are four days away from the official launch of LeaderShift. The book signing tour has been announced, the book will be in all the bookstores across North America, and we have radio interviews scheduled across America. What exciting time to be alive with a dream. In this case, the dream is to restore hope and freedom for society at large.

An increase in government (beyond internal and external defense) leads to a decrease in society’s freedoms. Therefore, the only way to limit government is by limiting the funds fed to government and holding those responsible who are assigned to use funds wisely. Since no one is capable of watching over a government as large as Washington DC, we must break government down into bite-sized pieces where local leaders can lead and oversee its proper functioning.

My friend Oliver DeMille was a complete joy to work with in this project. He sees things from a different perspective on many issues; however, he also loves to think and reason. Consequently, even when we have disagreed, after reviewing the underlying principles, we have typically improved the book and proposal beyond anything it was to begin with. Oliver is a walking encyclopedia on the Founding generation, but isn’t dogmatic in his beliefs which makes him an amazing student of history and leadership. He has certainly made me better as a thinker, person, and leader. This is true synergy and what makes our LeaderShift partnership work so well.

In fact, we have already started the second LeaderShift book and it is coming together nicely. We are in earnest in our belief that a leadershift can and will be launched on April 16th. When Western Civilization was ailing and needed leaders who would speak truth with love and courage, never let is be said that there wasn’t enough courageous men and women to answer the call. I truly believe God is gathering a group of concerned citizens to restore freedom, dignity, and hop for all. Below is a preview of LeaderShift.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

“A lot of people are starting to realize something really important,” said the New York Times bestselling leadership author, Orrin Woodward. “They’re figuring out that Washington isn’t going to fix its problems anytime soon, that things are probably going to get worse in our politics and the economy until real leadership is found outside of government.”

Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille have written a new book that literally takes on the project of fixing America. The book is LeaderShift: A Call for Americans to Finally Stand Up and Lead. “Politicians just aren’t going to fix our problems,” DeMille said, “not in Washington, Ottawa, London, Sacramento, Albany or anywhere else. If things are going to get fixed, the leadership will almost certainly come from business. And network businesses are among the most important source of building leaders in our current society.”

According to their book, a LeaderShift is coming. But just what is a LeaderShift? As Woodward and DeMille put it, “Every once in a while in history, a LeaderShift occurs. It usually comes unexpectedly, and it transforms the world for at least a generation.” Past LeaderShifts include:

  • The historical switch from kings and chiefs as the top leaders to community fathers such as doctors, lawyers and town merchants
  • The 1880-1920’s transition from city fathers as the main leaders to titans of industry, like Carnegie, Morgan and Rockefeller
  • The 1940-1970’s shift from business tycoons as the top leaders to managers, spurred by the work of Edward Deming and innovators from Jack Welch to Sam Walton
  • The 1980-1990’s transition from managers to leaders, influenced by sages like Buckminster Fuller, Earl Nightingale and Stephen Covey

The authors argue that today we are in the early stages of another great transition, this time from political leaders as the top leaders to successful business leaders standing up and making their influence and leadership talents felt in leading society.

But this isn’t a partisan book. Woodward and DeMille say that political parties are at the center of the problem, that what is needed to really get our nations back on track is for business leaders to start making a bigger difference. “There is so much wisdom in our business books and business leaders,” Woodward said, “but most of it is ignored in Washington.”

The book hinges on Five Laws of Decline, each of which is currently chipping away at the strength of many institutions, including business organizations. Executives and entrepreneurs who don’t understand these Five Laws, and how they cause government to hurt business profitability and growth, won’t know how to overcome them. And until the business community learns and responds to the Five Laws of Decline, the authors say, the economy will continue to face overregulation, over-taxation and growth-killing uncertainty.

LeaderShift is written as a business fable, where the lead character is a successful business leader who realizes that politicians aren’t likely to fix our economy any time soon and sets out to find a solution to America’s decline. In the process, he applies the wisdom learned from years in business and from many of the greatest business books, puts together a team of business people to deal with our national problems, and creates a plan of how to really fix America.

When the team gets help from a surprising source, what happens next is a story you’ll want tell and retell. And the solutions in the book are a unique approach that really might work. Most importantly, every business leader—large or small—will want to understand the Five Laws of Decline and take action to deal with them effectively in your own business.

This book is a fun read, an enjoyable story, and it just might be the wake-up call our generation needs to finally stand up and lead. In short, if our politics and politicians aren’t going to lead, it might just be up to business leaders to turn things around.

This book will make you think, and you’ll want to pass it on to everyone you do business with. No business leader right now can afford to be without the knowledge of the Five Laws of Decline, and the book teaches a number of other important ideas that will help business people of all stripes be better leaders.

 

Bill Lewis

Life Leadership