720 The Gift of Acknowledgment with Chris Lee

EMPOWER OTHERS TO SHINE. How often to tell the people around you what you love about them? Sometimes it feels easier to criticize. But this isn’t the path to creating an amazing team. Even if it’s uncomfortable to tell people what they’re doing right, it’s important. Like everything else, it’s a practice. Practice acknowledging others, and own the acknowledgment given to you. You’ll be amazed by how it changes your life. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisited a conversation I had with Chris Lee where he shared his strategies for empowering the people around you to shine by acknowledging their greatness. Chris Lee has spent the last 27 years leading powerful Leadership Seminars around the world. A pioneer in emotional intelligence, Chris Lee has trained and developed people at the top of their game such as Olympic athletes, Fortune 500 Business leaders, celebrities and individuals with a desire to elevate themselves. Chris Lee also serves as a collaborator on TV and radio shows for Univision and The Fox Network. Chris says that great leaders are star makers. They make everyone around them better. Learn why it’s important to practice appreciation for the people around you and to receive gifts of praise on Episode 720. In This Episode You Will Learn: How to acknowledge the people around you (1:00) What to do if you feel uncomfortable acknowledging someone (2:30) How to receive acknowledgment (3:00) The seven strategies to empower the people around you to shine (3:30) Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is Five Minute Friday.

• 0:10Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone back to the show. Hope you guys are having a fantastic week, whichever day it is for you. And I'm so excited about this episode. I'm bringing back Chris Lee. He's a fan favorite. Now, for those who don't know who Chris Lee is, if this is your first time here, he's a transformation coach, leadership coach, and emotion intelligence trainer. And he's been doing this work for well over 25 years. And hundreds of thousands of people around the world have gone through his trainings and helped take their life, their business, the relationships to the next level.

• 0:43Chris Lee?

  Acknowledge the strengths that people have. Like, let them know. Give feedback. Be verbal about it. Appreciate, acknowledge, highlight. Highlight what people are doing right. Remind people of what is right about them. I have a saying that I always say, there's so much right about you. Because as human beings, our tendency is to focus on what's wrong. We look at our hair, don't like it. We look at our body, don't like it. We look at our results, and we're always conditioned to train ourselves what's wrong. You know,

• 1:23Chris Lee?

  my ethnic background, my age, my financial status, my sexual preference, we're always in judgment of what's wrong. And most of the time, when we communicate to our employees, it's to correct them on something wrong. But how often we say, hey, I just want to let you know that I appreciate you. I want to thank you for being so amazing. You know, think about, you know, I've worked for so many companies, I've never, I've rarely have I had a boss that was in gratitude about what I was doing. Usually it was no comment until I messed up, then there was a comment about messing up.

• 2:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 2:03Chris Lee?

  And see, I think in a relationship, very rare to do, except in the beginning. In the beginning, it's me too, me too, me too. In the beginning, it's you're great, so you, I love you, I love you. But you know, once the relationship is in that comfort zone, very rare do people remind each other of what's positive and what's amazing about each other. And so acknowledge people's strengths, acknowledge your family member's strengths, acknowledge your employees' strengths, acknowledge each other's strengths, assets, what you love about each other, what you appreciate about each other.

• 2:34Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 2:34Chris Lee?

  Gratitude will create stars around you.

• 2:37Lewis Howes?

  I love it. What if someone feels uncomfortable giving, acknowledging someone? You know, a lot of times I feel like the reason they don't is because they feel uncomfortable. Or are there...

• 2:46Chris Lee?

  Get over your ego.

• 2:47Lewis Howes?

  Okay, perfect, there you go.

• 2:48Chris Lee?

  Yeah, I mean, that's all about you.

• 2:50Lewis Howes?

  Perfect.

• 2:51Chris Lee?

  If you're gonna be a star maker and you're gonna be a leader, because leaders are star makers, you gotta get beyond whether it's comfortable or not. Usually, things that are worthwhile are out of our comfort zone.

• 3:00Lewis Howes?

  Right. People should be aware of is to receive when people do practice this, when people do acknowledge, because most of the times, I see a lot of people who can't look someone in the eyes when they're acknowledging them, or they're looking down, or they're saying no, or they're not accepting it. And I think it's just as equally powerful, you taught me this, is the power of receiving acknowledgement as well as giving, so...

• 3:22Chris Lee?

  And owning it.

• 3:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 3:24Chris Lee?

  And really owning it.

• 3:24Lewis Howes?

  Thank you, I appreciate that.

• 3:25Chris Lee?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 3:26Lewis Howes?

  So, thanks for the acknowledgement. The Star Maker, 7 Strategies to Empower...

• 3:33Chris Lee?

  The people around you to shine, and number one is to get over your own ego and your insecurities. Number two, see possibilities and gift in others. Three, acknowledge the strengths and assets that people have. Let them know what it is, appreciate them. Number four, acknowledge people's weaknesses and challenges. Number five, offer to coach and develop them.

• 4:01Chris Lee?

  Mentorship, emotional intelligence.

• 4:03Lewis Howes?

  Education.

• 4:04Chris Lee?

  Work with people to transform what they need to transform. Number six, pay it forward. Encourage the people in your life, on your team, to have that mindset of star making. And number seven, practice it on a daily basis, rigor. And, you know, do it yourself. I think it's important to let people know. And sometimes it's, you know, not only hard to receive it, it's a challenge to give it. Well, look, some of the ways we could practice it, it is one, one thing is with yourself. What you acknowledge and appreciate about yourself, because being a star maker, you get to create the star in you as well.

• 4:46Chris Lee?

  So when the moment comes, I don't, I don't necessarily say that every single day you gotta saturate the people. I love you! Right, right. Because then it may not be authentic. Then it's not real. Right, right. Another thing is writing it. Handwriting. Yeah, when's the last time you wrote someone a note appreciating it? But, um, yeah, writing a note, a gift. Yeah. You know, giving someone a gift just because today is Tuesday and I want to give you a gift. Why wait for a birthday? Why wait for a holiday? Give your boss a gift, you'll blow him away. Yeah. Or as a boss, give a bonus to, to your employees. Yeah. Or give them, you know, a certificate for dinner. Just small little, little details, little gestures. Yeah. Is a way to practice it.