Tag Archives: the-life-business

How to regain Credibility

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



Do you have a Fixed mindset or Growth mindset?

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

 

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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A Culture of Serving

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

Are you an influencer ?

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

Mentoring as a Talent Scout

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!

Talent, Luck or Work Ethic

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 lucktalent 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

Detroit – democracy or republic?

Yesterday,  I was getting some physical therapy done on my neck.  Yes it was from golfing, I believe, and yes I understand I am getting older.  As I was laying on the table getting my heat treatment the radio station was talking about Detroit’s emergency financial manager.  If you haven’t heard about it, good, most of us have enough negative things to deal with already.  What’s going on is the govener of the State of Michigan, Rick Snyder, has declared an emergency manager to come in and try to save Detroit City from going bankrupt.  They have hired, Kevyn Orr, attorney and turnaround specialist that helped save Chrysler.  One of the reasons this is attracting so much attention is because it is the biggest city to come under state oversight.  Detroit also has the potential to become the largest bankruptcy ever filed!  What caught my attention was the comments that citizens of Detroit and outsiders were making about the situation.

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Before I state my comments on this, understand I do not claim to know the law, what is constitutional, to know all the specifics, but I do know how to build a successful business and I understand human nature.  Those are the two angles that I am coming from as I comment.

The first thing they were discussing was how outraged everyone is that someone was doing this.  Now,  the man is there to save the city not hurt the city.  He is also doing the job that the elected officials are obviously incapable of doing.  Detroit has been on a steady decline and is on the verge of going totally bankrupt!  The definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  A guaranteed way to fail is to NOT allow new ideas or new perspectives on problems.  There are to many people that are only worried about their reputation and not about getting results.  It shocks me how many politicians are voted into office that have never run a successful company.  Here is the difference.  A business owner knows he must make correct decisions and if incorrect he must adjust quickly.  He also must spend the money wisely because he has a limited amount and his success is on the line.  A politician that doesn’t have business experience is in a dangerous position.  He or she is spending money that they did nothing to earn and they really will not be held responsible for what happens.  This is called a third party purchase or OPM, other peoples money.  If you were just given some money and there were no consequences to what you did with it, you would spend on what you want, right?  If you knew that your job was depended on the people that voted you in, you would naturally cater to them even if it’s not the right decision long term.

The second thing that caught my attention was a caller that said,”This is undemocratic” “We are a democracy and we should all have a say in this situation.”  I about fell of the table when I heard that.  I think I started talking back to the radio.  Obviously, they couldn’t hear me but the other patients laying on tables probably thought I was nuts 🙂  We are not a democracy and we don’t want to be one.  Do we want to have a voice, yes, but we do not want a democratic voice.  Wikipedia defines democracy as,”Every one in the population has an equal voice.”  Let me give you an example to bring this home.  When you are trying to determine where to invest your money do you take a democratic poll from your family?  Little five year old Johnny,”Where do you think we should invest our money?” “What about you uncle Bob?” You have been bankrupt twice.  Let me give you another one.  What if the neighborhood took a vote on what houses they were going to tear down to help the neighborhood look better.  They voted and yours was the one they decided to knock down.  Democracy doesn’t sound so good now.  We say that is absurd!  It is just as absurd to have the population have an EQUAL voice in matters they have no clue what they are talking about.  If the citizens of Detroit think they can fix the problem they are delusional.  Most people can’t even manage their own house but now they want to have an equal voice in running a major city.  We always use democracy when we aren’t getting what WE want.  What we really need is the ability to put people in positions that they have knowledge on what to do and also have the ability to remove them if they aren’t doing the job.

What we ultimately want is a working republic.  We want the ability to vote people in that know what they are doing.  Not someone that has a great smile and lots of money to run ads.  We also need an easy way to get them out if they are not performing.  My mentor Orrin Woodward co-authored a new book with Oliver DeMille called “LeaderShift.”  They give a detailed plan on how to do what I am  talking about.  There is a story that shortly after our country was officially formed, Benjamin Franklin emerged from a building and a lady asked,”What kind of government do we have, a democracy?”  Franklin answered with,” A Republic, if you can keep it.”  What he meant was if we ever get to the point that the citizens are uneducated and revert to mob rule (democracy).  It will be over.  Buy “LeaderShift” and you will be amazed at the solution.

Bill Lewis

 

The Life Business – Freedom Day

The Life Business has done it again!  BreAnne and Kevin Hafner are free!

Last week, myself and my wife had the privilege and honor to attend BreAnne’s last day of work.  There were around 50 people that made it out to, Chelsea Retirement Community,  to watch Bre walk out of that facility for the last time.  It was a chilly day but the excitement of watching someone get there time back was to enticing to miss.  The group had freedom signs, Life signs, and cameras as they gathered around the door that Bre would be walking out of.  At  3:05 she emerged from the building and the crowd erupted with applause.  Her husband Kevin was one of the first to great her as she made her way towards all her teammates.  Her support team was also there to help celebrate. The Hatchers, Tingley, Coon, Ewing, Powers all played a part in making this freedom day happen.  One of the memorable parts of the day was as Bre and Kevin were getting into the car, to drive away for the last time.  Someone pointed up.  As we looked up there was a huge picture frame window on the second floor that had about 25 faces smashed against the glass watching the event unfold.  Many of those faces were people that told Bre that this day would never happen or that she was crazy for thinking that SHE could accomplish something so great.  What they don’t know is that BreAnne and Kevin have guts! They are fighters and are willing to pay the price for freedom.  They also don’t know that Bre is backed by one of the greatest people development systems of all time.  You see when I first meet Bre I didn’t even know that I met her.  She was one of the shyest most quite people that I have met in 15 years of building The LIfe Business.  Now Kevin & Bre are turing themselves into world class leaders. Free from a job at 29 years old!   People of integrity expected to be believed and when they are not, they let time prove them right.

 

Everyone has it in them to earn their freedom.  The question is are you going to cultivate it?   Are you going to stay plugged into the entire process, like Bre & Kevin did?  Are you going to NOT be swayed by the opinions of others, who don’t have the results you want anyways?  Are you going to allow your teammates to help you?   Will you continue to take the next step even when you don’t feel like it?  When you get knocked down will you get back up?  Will you read, listen and associate?  Everyone can do that and we can’t wait to celebrate your day,  with YOU.

Go earn your freedom.

Bill Lewis

 

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The Life Business by Orrin Woodward

Had to repost this article.  Orrin does a great job of giving you insight into The Life Business.  I know what he is saying is true because I have witnessed most of this journey.  If it wasn’t for Orrin and Laurie and what they have done, my family would not be able to live the life we always wanted.  I cannot thank them enough for what they have done except to continue to pay it forward.

Bill lewis

The Story of the LIFE Business

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 17, 2013

LIFE Business Story

The LIFE Business is an ongoing story. Each person who joins the LIFE community chooses which part, whether large or small, he or she will play. What happens when a world-renowned best-selling author is introduced to LIFE and begins studying the history of this movement? The short answer is a compelling story of hopes, dreams, struggles, failures, perseverance, and finally victory. Thankfully, he has decided to write up the story of LIFE. In my opinion, it is great timing because never before has a LeaderShift been more needed than now. Indeed, this is exactly what the LIFE community intends to do – create a leadershift! Here is a portion of the introduction in his upcoming book about LIFE. What part will you play in the story?

Sincerely

Orrin Woodward

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LIFE Business Major Convention

 

LIFE Business Introduction

The fate of free enterprise is very much in doubt. By the first decade of the 21st Century, critics of free enterprise and modern democratic freedom had convinced many people that free enterprise is an outdated system, one that cares more about corporate profits than economic opportunity for everyone.

This problem was the result of a split between two approaches to free enterprise, the traditional type of freedom based on the cooperation of idealists and realists to share profits so everyone has the chance to succeed financially, versus a more cutthroat corporatist emphasis on what we might call “Skeptical Pragmatism,” or doing whatever is deemed most profitable regardless of who it hurts, and keeping most of the profits for a few elites.

In the midst of this growing divide, it was perhaps inevitable that new companies would arise to challenge the shift toward corporatism, and to once again champion traditional free enterprise. It is against this backdrop that the story of the LIFE business began.

It is a story set in a business world created by the likes of Jack Welch, Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I will state my almost preposterous thesis here and now, as controversial as it may seem: Had history developed just slightly differently, the other names on this list would be those who created and expanded network marketing.

Indeed, network marketing should have been as big as WalMart. It would have been, except too many people at the top asked themselves, “Why would we only take a 10% profit when we could take 30%?”

The story of the LIFE business is the exact opposite. The top leaders asked, “Why would we take 30% of the profit when we could earn 10% and pass the rest to others in the business?”

Why would anyone do this? Did they miss the memo? Did they skip the unofficial lessons of many prestigious business schools?

Did they misunderstand capitalism? Or were they just less experienced, ambitious or visionary than their competitors on Wall Street?

This is the story of a company that dared to do it differently, to apply Sam Walton-like thinking to network marketing. Moreover, instead of soap, health drinks or other typical network marketing products, this is the story of a company that chose to build its central product line around the most American of exports—leadership.

This is not a story of perfect men or women, or a feel-good tale of continual success without major difficulties. Far from it. This is a story of men and women, ordinary individuals who faced extraordinary challenges with hard work, resilience, and, above all, persistence.

It is a story of people who believed in an idea, and who refused to let it go—even when it almost cost them everything. It is a story of a few men and women who would not bend to the “normal” business trends that created elitism and corporatism in the modern economy. Some may say it is a story of courage, while others might argue that more “sophisticated” businessmen wouldn’t have so stubbornly held to their ideals and risked it all.

But whatever else it is, this is a story about families, friendships, and principles. In a way, it would more naturally fit into the storylines of past centuries, where leaders were expected to stand up, stand out, take on the establishment and blaze new trails based on firmly-held beliefs. In our modern world of political correctness, group therapy, management by committee, and the drive to “fit in” and pursue popularity at all costs, the concept of standing up against the system because “it’s the right thing to do” may seem amusingly archaic to some people.

Yet that is exactly how LIFE came about. This is the story of a leader, indeed of a team of leaders, who set out to build a widespread community of leaders. And while such a story may feel anachronistic in the 21st Century, it may just be the type of story that will redeem this generation.

Could it be that the “success bias” of our modern world is desperately in need of what Stephen Covey called “the character ethic?” Do we live in a world where the most important leadership principle is a desperately-needed acknowledgement that character counts? If so, the story of the LIFE business is a story for our times.

It is a story unfinished, however. The more time I spent interviewing the main characters, researching and studying the events, documents and details of this story, the more I felt that writing this story was like writing about Sam Walton in the 1960s, before WalMart was a worldwide phenomenon. While the future of LIFE remains to be seen, the unique beginning of this business is a story worth telling in its own right. To paraphrase Santayana, the future remains in the future, and the best we can do is learn (hopefully) from the past.

Whatever your business or career, your level of education or status in society, the story of the LIFE business is a case study of what can happen when an ancient set of leadership principles (based on idealism, frugality, hard work and integrity) are applied in a modern business environment dominated by pragmatism. Every modern leader struggles with this very challenge, and this story is therefore deeply relevant for today’s leaders in every sector and field.

Orrin Woodward – The Life Business