Leaders Growing Leaders

Last week, I attended the John Maxwell Team Live Event in Orlando and received my certification in coaching, speaking and leadership from the #1 Leadership Expert in the world.  After 5 months of online training, these three days of workshops and live training were beyond insightful.  I have always been a John Maxwell fan and have read many of his 100+ books.  Now, I am licensed to teach his materials and add value to others.  The title on the front cover of our workbooks said "Leaders Growing Leaders".  That seems appropriate.  As iron sharpens iron, we add value to others and help others lead significant lives.  My leadership training platform ULeadership emphasizes that everyone can be a leader because everyone can lead themselves and influence those closest to them.  Leadership really is influence, as John teaches.  Feel free to contact me for more information about John Maxwell or how you can add value to the people around you.  In the meantime, here are my seven favorite thoughts from last week's conference.

1. "Don't be envious of anyone's success until you are ready to go through their valleys." (Nick Vujicic) - Nick has no arms and no legs. More importantly, he has a great message!  He makes a lot of money speaking but even he started slow.  He got rejected by 52 different schools before one finally invited him to come speak.  It was 2 hours away and they paid him $50.  John Maxwell often says that everyone wants to do what he does but they don't want to do what he had to do to get to this point.  We all want get-rich quick type of success.  Sometimes overnight sensations took 10 years.
2.  "You can only fight the way you train." (Roddy Galbraith) - Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, that the battle is won or lost before it is fought.  Whether you are giving a big presentation, counseling someone in your family or taking a test, you are only as good as your preparation and training.  Wherever your battlefield is (and we all have battlefields), then you need to be ready.
3. "Exceed Expectations" (John C. Maxwell) - Average is a cuss word for John Maxwell Team Members.  Find out what is expected and then deliver more than what is asked for.  You are paid to deliver the goods so deliver them...and then some.  Don't ask how long it'll take but how far can I go?  Always be on the lookout for ways to do more or be more.  The journey is never complete because there is always more value to be added to someone.
4. "Coaching makes the unconscious conscious" (Christian Simpson) - Directing and telling people how to do something is not healthy coaching.  The answer is always in the individual.  They just might not be consciously aware of it.  A good question is infinitely more powerful than a good instruction.  This was not an easy concept for me to grasp since I spent 20 years as a college basketball coach telling people how things needed to be done.  We should always be striving to take a person from where they are to where they want to be, but this needs to be done through the answers that lie within.
5. "You may lose the sale but do not lose the relationship" (Ed DeCosta) - I have known for years that you don't want to burn bridges in recruiting, but I hadn't thought about it from a sales perspective.  Sales is all about relationships and connecting, not necessarily about a particular sale.  You are selling yourself and you are providing what the customer wants.  They might not want your particular product at that point but they might want something down the road.  Nurture the relationship even if you don't get the sale.
6. "Belief drives behavior" (Paul Martinelli) - Don't let someone tell you that you can't do something.  We were all born perfect but we've been programmed to fail.  This is unacceptable.  We cheat ourselves all of the time.  We place limitations on ourselves.  Your clients need you because they can't push themselves.  Paul talked about what we fight for is what we get.  "I don't have the time", "I don't have the money" ... yep, you're right.  Belief drives behavior.  Be solution oriented, not problem oriented. He summed it all up by saying "when you change the way you look at things,m things will begin to change."
7. "Culture eats vision for lunch." (John C. Maxwell) - You don't see vision when you visit a company or a business, but you can certainly see the culture.  How are things run?  How are people treated?  What is the overall vibe?  The leader may have a great vision for where he wants to go but what is he doing about the current reality.  Maxwell said, "sometimes you wonder if these places even watch their own commercials."

Jamy Bechler is the executive director of U-Leadership and a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Speaker and Coach.  Contact him at CoachBechler@CoachBechler.com to find out how you or your team can be more successful.  Click here to signup for THE ENCOURAGING NEWSLETTER