How to Become a Super Communicator And Change Your Life

WORDS have POWER. This FLASHBACK MASHUP episode will teach you how to HARNESS that power by becoming a master communicator. You’ll hear profound teachings from me and one of the greatest communicators on the planet, John Maxwell. This episode is packed with valuable strategies that will up your communication and leadership game by leaps and bounds. We’re bringing you our practical and actionable communication skills including insights on: - The 3 Stages of Communication - How to Increase Your Influence - The LAW OF CONNECTING - The power of telling a GREAT STORY - Key Lessons from 13,000 Speaking Engagements - The difference between talking about FAILURES vs. SUCCESSES - Build a Powerful Movement in Business & Life I've always said that the ability to communicate effectively is a major component of what separates the good from the great. Whether you're leading a team, building a business, or just trying to make meaningful connections, how you express yourself and connect with others is crucial. Grab a pen and paper and dive into this communication MASTERCLASS! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 P.M. And my third day, 6:00 P.M. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over 12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better. So, hey, guys, are you frustrated with where you're at right now? Maybe stunted in your progress? Well, if you are, I want to recommend a place for you to go called Growth Day. GrowthDay.com/ed. It is the number one personal development app on the planet. It's got all kinds of high-performance techniques in there. Courses, accountability, journaling, live speeches from some of the top influencers in the world, including me. It's an overall environment to change your life. GrowthDay.com/ed. You do something you talk about in the book.

• 1:30Ed Mylett?

  We might as well just start there. You have the ability to take really complicated things and make them seem simple.

• 1:36John Maxwell?

  Yeah.

• 1:37Ed Mylett?

  And you talk about that as actually one of the laws in the book of being able to be a great communicator. Is that something that you do? I'm sure you do it intentionally, but do you do it naturally?

• 1:47John Maxwell?

  Well, I do it intentionally.

• 1:50John Maxwell?

  Let me say this. I was a good student, but I wasn't a great student. And so a lot of times when I was in college or in a classroom, I would want the professor to break it down and make it much more simple. I would look around the room, I said, "Am I the only one that's having a hard time here? And not maybe grasping and learning like I need to?" And so I, really as a student, I worked on helping. When I would hear a talk, I would say, "How could that be reduced so I can apply it to my life?" And so it almost started as a student. And I learned to reduce things and bring them down. And I tell people all the time, "I'm a communicator, not an educator." You know, an educator takes something simple and makes it complicated. I mean, that's just who they are.

• 2:35John Maxwell?

  I mean, honestly, if you're in the education world, if you're not confused, they're not pleased. You know what I'm saying? And then, but then a communicator takes something complicated, makes it simple. And so my whole goal is to make things very palatable for people. One of the things I teach in the book is the fact that if you have to keep explaining what you just said, you haven't said it right the first time. I mean, and how many times we have a person explain and explain? I just sit there and think, "Why didn't you take some time on the front end to simplify this so that everybody can apply it to their life?" And I, there are three, real quickly, there are three kind of, I take the simplistic, I start with simplistic.

• 3:19John Maxwell?

  And simplistic is not good. It's fast and it's easy, but it's not really deep and helpful. And it's a half-truth, it's never a whole truth. You know, so if I say things like, "Experience is the best teacher." That's a simplistic statement, but it's not true. If it were true, then as people got older, everybody get better. And I know a whole bunch of people, they're getting older, but they're not getting better. The experience isn't helping them at all. Although experience is not the best teacher, reflection and learning from that experience is the best teacher. So how do I get from experience is the best teacher? To reflection and learning from experience as a teacher.

• 4:04John Maxwell?

  Well, you've got to go from simplistic to complicated or complex. In other words, you've got to wrestle with the statements. And you've got to contextually take them from every angle. Until you can come to something that is really solid and something that is really true and something that really works. And so just as simplistic is easy and fast, you know, complex, complicated is is slow and deep. But but once you come through that, and it takes a while to do that. Once you come through it on the on the simple side now, it it's fast. But it's deep. In other words, people can grab it real quick, but then they go home and they think about it, Ed.

• 4:48John Maxwell?

  And they just they just can't they can't can't get away from it. Like when you wrote the book, when you wrote the book, The Power of One More. That is so simple. That you can grasp it immediately. But you can't. You have to spend a lot of time on it to work it out in your life.

• 5:08Ed Mylett?

  What a great point. Yeah, what a great point.

• 5:11John Maxwell?

  And so there so here's the here's the issue.

• 5:15John Maxwell?

  I think in communication, when I was young, when I was a young communicator, I I saw that I had charisma and I saw that I could probably get by onstage with the with having fun with people and enjoying them and making them laugh. And I I came to this decision, am I going to am I going to wing it or am I going to work for it?

• 5:38John Maxwell?

  And I was tempted to wing it. Because I could wing it and I could get by with it. See, here's the challenge. When you're gifted in a certain area. You can wing it and still be successful.

• 5:48Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 5:49John Maxwell?

  You could be in that top 20%.

• 5:51Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 5:52John Maxwell?

  But it but to work for it. That that's a whole different game. And and and in the law of simplicity, you have to work for this. You you have to work for work. Simple is hard work. But if you work for it, you can get in the top 2%. And so what I tell people all the time is the tendency and the temptation is in giftedness is you don't give it all because you just don't have to give it all. I mean, it's just, it comes. But because you don't give it all, you, you do well, but you don't do very, very well. But if you would just work on that area of giftedness, you'd get that top 2%. And you know as well as I do, if you're in the top 2%, whatever it is, you own whatever you want to own.

• 6:33John Maxwell?

  It's, it, the world is yours. And so, simple, I decided at a very young age in my twenties, I was going to work for it. I'm, I'm just going to work for it. And I spent a lot of time, I, this morning, I was, I write every day. This morning I was writing and I was wanting to make a, a statement. And, and, and I, I worked on a statement probably for 40 minutes. And it, I, I would write it and I said, no, it's not quite right. I gotta work, no, no, it's not, it's not. Still, and then finally about 20 minutes, I thought, okay, I got it. There, there it is, there it is. So I get up and I make this statement and people say, oh my gosh, the guy just, that just flows out of him. No, no, it didn't flow out of me. It, it didn't either. It had to cook and work it inside of me a long time.

• 7:16John Maxwell?

  And, and, but I get it to the place where it flows out of me. But it doesn't flow. Good stuff doesn't happen automatically.

• 7:25Ed Mylett?

  No. You know what's insane? When I, when I tell people that I do that too, that are other speakers, I kind of watch oftentimes their face kind of glaze over, like you really do that. I say, I do, because I do want to, I want to be as effective as I can. By the way, I should have started out by saying to everybody that you can go to 16lawsofcommunication.com and that's with the one, six in it. 16lawsofcommunication.com. You get the book and I guess there's favorable pricing in there too. You can actually get it for less. So 16lawsofcommunication.com and you go get it. Listen, I can just say this with all conviction in the world. The best books I've read collectively in my life are John's books. And the best speaker that I admire, that I look up to is John. So when he writes a book on this topic, it is something that you need to have.

• 8:09Ed Mylett?

  And for the record, everybody, some of you are listening to this going, I'm afraid to speak. I don't know that I should be one. And one of the brilliant things in the book is, and I'll have you talk about this, John, is that a great speaker, and I have found this, I think when I was young, when I would speak, if I'm being honest, part of it was about me, probably a significant part. Meaning I wanted to impress them. I wanted to wow them, you know, I wanted them to think I was great. And that did a few things. One, I made less of a connection. But two, it put tremendous pressure on me because it was about me. And a lot of you that are afraid of speaking, that would probably be great at it. It's because you're approaching it already from it being about you. And if you would just shift the impact to the service of others.

• 8:53Ed Mylett?

  Your piece about even trying to do it would change. And you'd be a ten times better speaker. So that's one of the laws in the book too. So we might as well start there because I think some people need to come into this tent of speaking, John. Do the tentative communication that thinks they don't belong in our tent. And they do belong in the tent. Their flawed thinking is they think it's about them and that creates anxiety and fear, which is sort of ego driven. So talk about that for a second.

• 9:18John Maxwell?

  One hundred percent, my friend, one hundred percent. It's, it's, it's the law of connecting. And the law of connecting just simply says, communicators know that it's all about others. It's, it's all about others. And I, I can identify exactly, when I started speaking, it was all about me. I mean, I, I, I hope they like me. I hope I say it right. Did I say it right? Oh, my gosh. And, and, and, and it, it became like a, I was a nervous bundle.

• 9:43Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 9:44John Maxwell?

  Because I was, I was, man, I, I, I hope I did okay. So when people say, John, what's the one thing? I mean, I know there are sixteen laws, but what's, what's the one thing to be a great communicator? Well, the, the one thing, Ed, is you have to get over yourself. You just have to get over yourself. It is not about me, it's about the audience. It's not about me, it's about the small group I'm dealing with. It's not about me, it's about the one person I'm talking, having a one-on-one conversation. It's all about them. And until I can get over myself, because if I can't, if it's about me, I can't, I can't really add value to you. If I'm thinking about me. I'm not that good. I don't have the ability to think about me and think about you and be good on both ends.

• 10:27John Maxwell?

  I, I'm a little limited. Maybe some, maybe some people can, but I can't. So if it's going to be about you, I've got to be thinking about you and it's, and I've got to be focused on you. And very quickly, you'll realize, John.

• 10:41John Maxwell?

  Really wants to help me and add value to me. I mean, it's contagious and it's that connection. So I tell people to get over themselves. And, and, and so what we did it when, when this book released, we did a video. And I told the people that were producing, I said, I want to start the video in the audience. I said, I want to, I want, I, I don't want the, you to shoot me on, on stage. And I was in the audience all by myself, sitting in a, in a, in a chair. And, and, and they zoomed in on me and I said, this is where great speaking begins, right here. I have to constantly be thinking about the people. And, and, and how can I connect with them? What can I say? How can I help them? Where are they? You know, you have to find them before you can lead them.

• 11:27John Maxwell?

  You, you just don't start leading people. You just don't start speaking. You have to find them. And soon as you find them now, all of a sudden you have the credit. So I, I, this whole get over myself, let me tell you a fun story. There's a, a, a company in Nashville that this, this guy has a very successful writing company. And he's read my books. He's, in fact, he came to me, I didn't know him. He said, I built my business off your stuff. And he said, you ought to write songs based on your books. Well, I looked at him and said, man, I've never done that before, but you know me, I, I'm seventy six. But I, I keep growing, I keep learning, I keep, I mean, why not try this? So I went to Nashville and he put me in the studio with like the guys that wrote number one hits. I mean, big hits.

• 12:10John Maxwell?

  They were, you know, I'm like, I, I always say, if you're at the head of the class, you're in the wrong class. Well, I shouldn't even been in the class on this one. I mean, these, these guys were pros and, and I'm in there throwing that. And, and so we took the book on, on the laws of communication. And I said, I would like to use the get over myself theme. And so we wrote a song called get over myself. And, and so if you're a listener, all you gotta do is go wherever you, you know, I don't know where you get your, your music. But wherever you get it, just, you know, get, get over myself. And the chorus says, and the chorus says it all, is that I gotta find myself to know myself. I gotta know myself to be myself. I gotta be myself to improve myself. I gotta improve myself so I can get over myself.

• 12:55John Maxwell?

  So I can give myself to you.

• 12:57Ed Mylett?

  Oh, wow. That's very good.

• 13:00John Maxwell?

  The song is going crazy. The song's going crazy. I got it. I got another one from my book, Make Today Count, called Day by Day. And I got my Sometimes Win, Sometimes You Learn book, or songs will come out next month. But I'm having a blast writing these songs. And of course, again, I'm the least of the least. And they're so kind, they even let me in the studio with them. But I'm throwing this stuff up and we're just having, we're having a blast. But I tell you, the moment that you think about the audience, and I can hardly wait to speak. I'm not nervous at all. I can hardly wait to speak because I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna give them something that is gonna help their life. And that is so fulfilling and so enriching to me

• 13:43John Maxwell?

  that it gets me over anything that is about me.

• 13:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:48John Maxwell?

  It's all about the-

• 13:49Ed Mylett?

  Are you getting ready to win a Grammy? This will be, you're gonna win a dang Grammy for your music now.

• 13:54John Maxwell?

  I have no, thanks. I have no idea, but I know I'm having fun. You know, again.

• 14:01Ed Mylett?

  I don't know if you all understand this. John's 76 years old. And I think you all go, hey, man, you, Ed, you work hard. They see my social media and my pace. And I am telling you, this is not, this is not, I'm not being nice. John is everywhere, all the time, crushing it, crushing it. Yet, like before we went on, he's telling me about golf that he just played. There's a way to have, I think one of the keys to longevity is that you do live a full, rich life, but you do bust your tail the entire time. John is, I've been with Johns, but I just got out from Europe. I'm going here. Now I'm in Tennessee. Oh, I gotta fly to California. My gosh, am I getting outworked by John? And by the way, you can tell his enthusiasm level is through the roof as well. I want to ask you this, though. Did you just say you're not nervous when you speak?

• 14:45Ed Mylett?

  Do you not get nerves at all anymore? No, no. Have you had, I think you tell a story, though, a time you did. I think you were going to Boston. I think it's going to Boston, maybe?

• 14:54John Maxwell?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 14:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I study you. So you're going to Boston, as I think the story goes, you were replacing a speaker or something. But there's a great lesson in this story. Do you know the one I'm talking about?

• 15:06John Maxwell?

  Oh, yeah. You're talking about Peter Lowe when he had his seminars. And he called me one day. And I was home, and he said that, oh, gosh, the guy that was Superman in the movies.

• 15:22John Maxwell?

  Uh, yeah, uh, what's his name?

• 15:24Ed Mylett?

  Reeves.

• 15:25Speaker 02

  Christopher Reeves.

• 15:25John Maxwell?

  Yeah, Christopher Reeves, Christopher Reeves. Okay.

• 15:29John Maxwell?

  He was sick and he was the last speaker on the day and he said, I, I, I can't speak today. And so Peter says, he called me in the morning and said, John, can you get up to Boston and, and, and, and, and fill in? I said, well, yeah. So I jumped on a plane and I went up to Boston. And I got there just maybe 30 minutes before I was supposed to speak. And so I'm kind of backstage or getting me all hooked up.

• 15:51Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:52John Maxwell?

  And then I find out they haven't told the crowd.

• 15:57John Maxwell?

  Hello? They haven't told the crowd and that Christopher Reeves is sick and isn't going to be here. The crowd, they've been staying all day waiting for Superman to come and show. And, and, and, and I'm sat, and I'm backstage saying, you haven't told them yet? What do you mean? What are you doing to me? They're looking for Superman. They're, they're not going to get Superman. They're going to get the Pillsbury Doughboy out there.

• 16:26John Maxwell?

  They're not getting, they're not getting Superman. They're getting Fat Man. What, I mean, what are you?

• 16:32John Maxwell?

  I kid you not. They went out right before, I'm, I, now they're all Christopher Reeves. Here, here he comes. Superman's about to come. And they said, we're so sorry, you know, Christopher Reeves couldn't come today.

• 16:45John Maxwell?

  We have John Maxwell. Well.

• 16:50John Maxwell?

  300 people get up and walk out as I'm coming out on stage and they're already leaving. I mean, they're already leaving. And then when they see me, another 200 people get up and they leave.

• 17:02John Maxwell?

  And it's like, it's like horrible. And I, I, I looked at them and of course, all you could do is you just start laughing and say, you know, I'm, I'm so sorry. You know what I'm saying? I go, now the good news is, once I started speaking, no one else left. But it's, it, yeah, I mean, hello, I mean, who's going to, who's going to replace Superman?

• 17:24Ed Mylett?

  Did you say something when you came out to grab their attention or to get them or to connect with them? Did you say something that saved them?

• 17:31John Maxwell?

  I said, guess what? I'm not Superman. I'm in trouble and you're gonna have to help me. But if you'll stay with me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna help you. And, and you know what I did, I got him on my side. Really what I did is I, what you, what you do in cases like, it's like the international audience, when I speak internationally, I ask them questions all the time. I'll say, now, I, I want to tell you a story, but d- d- does this happen in your, in your culture? And, and sometimes they'll say, yes. And I'll say, okay, let me tell you. What happens is if you do that, you engage them and very quickly they become an ally and they, they get on your side and, and so they help. When they realized that I wasn't Superman, they said, well, Fat Man needs my help. I'm gonna hang with him. And, and they did and, and, and so it came out okay.

• 18:16John Maxwell?

  But obviously, I was set up, I mean, I was set up for, there's, there's no good anything about, I mean, when I saw that all back, never in my life have I been more tempted to turn around.

• 18:27Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh. I can't even imagine.

• 18:29John Maxwell?

  Hey, not only is Superman sick, Fat Man just got sick too.

• 18:33Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 18:34John Maxwell?

  You know, I, I can't, you know.

• 18:36Ed Mylett?

  I'm actually crying, I'm actually crying thinking about it. And by the way, you guys, I, I know that, cause he's my dear friend, I say this, but I, I want you to get this book. I just really believe that more people could be great communicators than believe, than, than, than actually think they can be. And so go to sixteenlawsofcommunication.com and get John's book. The thing that John, I think is maybe the best I've ever seen at, and it's one of the laws, it's law number 12 in the book. You have to read the book to get all the laws, everybody. We're gonna go through a few of them today. But one of the laws in the book, and by the way, you all are good at this, you just need to work on the skill because there's certain areas of your life you're already great at it. And that is that I think great speakers, in fact, my favorite people to be around at a dinner or a lunch are storytellers. People who can tell a story.

• 19:21Ed Mylett?

  And law number 12 is the law of storytelling, which you just did so well right there. But elaborate on that a little bit of, cause I, I, I watch a lot of speakers throw a bunch of facts and PowerPoint and slide this and slide that. And I'm like, facts tell, but stories sell, right? Like, I want to hear a story. I'm gonna remember the story. So talk about that a little bit.

• 19:42John Maxwell?

  Well, you know, what I think when you're with us, the last time you're talking a lot about the story of your father.

• 19:47Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:48John Maxwell?

  You know, it, it, it just, what it does is it humanizes the speech.

• 19:53Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 19:54John Maxwell?

  It, it, when you tell a story, immediately, you're telling their story.

• 20:00John Maxwell?

  Because when I tell a story, we all have commonness in our life. And all of us have commonness and experiences. That's why when you're in a group and somebody tells a story, what's it do? It triggers somebody else's, "Oh, and I remember doing..." And all of a sudden, you're going around the table and you're just bouncing off each other. But what happens is stories stimulate our own personal journey and our own personal stories. And it becomes, it becomes something that everybody can identify with. You know, I, I grew up as a theologian, so I was trained in theology. And basically, one of the things they taught me, which was terrible, is they said, "Don't tell personal stories."

• 20:40John Maxwell?

  Because it'll, because it'll, it'll make people think that you're kind of like a narcissist or an egomaniac. And so for about, for my first year, I didn't tell any personal stories. I just told stories. And, and they were good. But one day, I just told a personal story and everything came alive. And what I found out was that when I tell my story, it lives in me. And it has, it, when I'm teaching a lesson or I'm speaking, I can either transfer information from me to you, which is not effective at all. Or if it goes through me to you. There's a difference between coming from me to you and through me to you.

• 21:24John Maxwell?

  And so whenever I'm doing my writing of a lesson, I always make sure that I have some personal illustrations in it. And I always, and, and ask, and the other thing is, I ask myself when I'm doing that, "Do I live this? Is this something I'm living?" Because when I was young, in my twenties, Ed, I, I made an important decision that I was only going to teach what I lived and what I believed. And I just wasn't going to teach. And so there are a lot of things I don't teach, teach at all. And, and some of them are probably very good, but I just don't live them or I, I, I maybe don't believe them. And, and I, what I found is, personal conviction, moral authority comes from the life that you've lived.

• 22:08John Maxwell?

  And, and, and so we, we teach you what we know, but we reproduce who we are. Oh, my gosh. And, and, and, and stories are who we are. And they're so transferable. Do people remember numbers? Do people not remember stats? I don't even use like, I don't know, charts and things like that. Honestly? And the reason I don't use them is because I never understood them myself. And so it's kind of like, if I can't figure them out. If you can't figure them out, you sure can't teach them, that's for sure. And so, but stories live. They have, they have breath to them. And, and they draw the people in immediately. And when, you know, when you, again, when you were at our conference, you were so superb. You were so superb.

• 22:51John Maxwell?

  And you started talking about your relationship with your dad. Everybody had a relationship with a dad.

• 22:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, by the way, so did you. I want to acknowledge something about you. I want to say one thing, everybody, I was just sitting here listening to you. I was thinking, man, this is pretty cool for people to listen to two of the, you know, more sought after speakers in the world talk about this topic. And then the best, John, has written this book about it. But that day, so by the way, what I try to do is try a me story with a you meaning. Oh, yeah. Yeah, meaning I'm telling a story about me, but you're getting your own meaning from it. That's an important key, everybody, when you tell stories. And John's the master at this. But that day, the other thing it does is it gives you more dimension. So what they see when you walk out on stage is the current version of you. And when you begin to tell stories about different times in your life, it gives you dimension and it actually alters their perspective and time of you.

• 23:41Ed Mylett?

  So even that day, and I know you well, after I spoke, it doesn't matter what the story was, everybody, but John then got up and actually, I don't know if you remember this, John, you talked about your dad and lessons he had taught you and what a prayerful, good man he was in lessons. And what it did, it's interesting, because even now, when I see you, it's different. I just want to tell you the impact a story can have. I pictured you as a little boy. And so I've always admired you as a mentor, but you're older than me. You were always like, when I started in this space, the first book I read was your leadership book, right? The Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. And so I've always pictured you at this version of your life. And when you started to tell this story about your dad, it switched and now I could see you as a little boy. And then I saw you in your thirties because the story was from those times.

• 24:25Ed Mylett?

  And it gave a depth and a connection that went far deeper, not just the story, but a different time in our lives. Gives you a dimension when you speak and it's it's actually now when I see you, I actually see the little boy and the man that I admire. And it's very deep connection when somebody does that. And that day you were emotional speaking about your dad as well. But I just want to acknowledge that something that that I noticed when you did it that day for me. Because I've watched a lot of speakers.

• 24:56John Maxwell?

  Can I jump in on that just for a second? Because this is so helpful. Because I love I love your dimension phrase because that's exactly right. If if I could have one wish granted.

• 25:09John Maxwell?

  You see, people are seeing me on the back end. And they're seeing me where all the success is and you know, it's compounded through the years. It's just compound. And and what I say is in the beginning, you're not as bad as people think you are, but if you do it right. In the end, you're not as good as people think you are. Because it compounds. And if I had one wish yet, it would be it. The people could have seen me in the beginning.

• 25:34Ed Mylett?

  What would they see?

• 25:35John Maxwell?

  Well, they they would have seen a person that wasn't a very good communicator. They they would they would have. Here's why I want them to see me in the beginning. If they saw me in the beginning, everybody would have great hope for themselves. That if they saw me in the beginning, every person would say, I can do that. That's as reachable as could be. That guy wasn't that good. I could hey, I can bore people for thirty five minutes like he just bored me. And and and it would it would be so much. Because one of the things I don't like about success is it separates us from people. And I hate that. I don't want fans. I want friends. I want, I, you know, I want to close that gap. But at this age, it's hard to close the gap because the, I mean, okay, I've spoken

• 26:19John Maxwell?

  thirteen thousand times in over a hundred countries of the world. Of course, I'm a great communicator. If I can't communicate after thirteen thousand times, go home. Do you understand that? You chose the wrong profession. Go home, boy. But what people don't understand, it was the practice. It's the, it's, you, you, you cannot separate action from success. And you can't separate intentional practice from success. And so after thirteen thousand times, of course, I'm good. Because I've been practicing and practicing and practicing, just like the people that are on the podcast right now, they'll be good too. But if they could have seen me on the front end,

• 27:02Ed Mylett?

  Interesting.

• 27:03John Maxwell?

  It would have helped them because that's where they are. When you talked about the dimensions of stories, when we tell stories about different times in our life, it does help people see us in, in, in another dimension that is very helpful for the, for the learning and the growth. But I don't like the separation that success brings. I, I, I abhor it. I, I wish that, I wish there was a way to, to close that gap because I, you don't help people when you're separated from people. You only help people when you're beside them and you, and you walk with them and, and they can connect with you, if that makes sense.

• 27:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you said something to me once, I'll mess the quote up, but I actually quote you when I speak. Um, cause I, I also believe self-deprecation, making fun of yourself is a great way to connect with people if it's true and sincere, right? When you, when you speak.

• 27:50John Maxwell?

  Totally.

• 27:51Ed Mylett?

  And I mess the quote up all the time, but I actually quote you in the current version of what I'm talking about. And I quote something you said to me, I quoted incorrectly, but it goes along these lines that, Ed, you said to me, Ed, something like, if you really want to impress people, show them how perfect you are. But if you want to connect with people, reveal to them your imperfections.

• 28:09John Maxwell?

  Totally. It's the impress, impress impact. If you want to impress people, talk about your success. If you want to impact them, talk about your failures.

• 28:17Ed Mylett?

  The reason I think that's important is because I think a lot of people think they have to have all these impressive things they've achieved in their life prior to making an impact on people. Now, I do believe you should have some type of a track record and have done something when you're speaking about it, but I don't believe you have to be this tremendous success in order to make an impact. In fact, I think sometimes that your proximity to the audience in terms of how far you are from them and your success, the, the, some of that proximity is actually a really good thing and that that success does separate you if you're not careful from the audience. One of the things that you do when you speak, this is subtle and it's maybe too subtle to share on the podcast, but I watch it in you and it's something that I think is, it's probably one of the only other two laws we'll cover because I

• 29:01Ed Mylett?

  want them to get the book. But you use better than anyone ever silence when you speak.

• 29:08John Maxwell?

  Yeah.

• 29:09Ed Mylett?

  You use it and my stand-up comedian friends always tell me when I speak, Ed, the funny is after the joke's told, it's in the silence. And when I speak, the biggest change in my speaking over the years is my comfort level with silence when I talk. That, and an amateur speaker or a newer speaker doesn't like silence. They talk too fast and they talk too much, in my opinion. You are the all-time best at the pause and the moment in between the words so that it makes an impact. I make mistakes sometimes, even still to this day, John, where I've made an impact and I go right into the next thing and I don't let that impact sit with the audience long enough. So please talk about that.

• 29:53John Maxwell?

  Yeah, I love to. I call it in the book, The Power of the Pause. And, and I, I, I'm very intentional. Let, let me just say, first of all, in my coaching with people, I find that the hardest thing to coach people in speaking is the pause. And for, for a long time, I kept asking myself, Ed, why is it that when I share with them that they need to pause more, that they don't do it? And I finally came up with the answer. In fact, when I was writing the book, it finally hit me. The reason that we're uncomfortable when we speak with pausing is the moment I stop, I give up control to the audience.

• 30:31John Maxwell?

  Very good. And we subconsciously don't want to give up control. We want to control. We know where we want to go with the speech and here's where we are. And so, so we keep talking, talking, talking, talking. I got control, I got control. When I stop all of a sudden, I allow the audience to think. And just like your comedian friends, they're exactly right. That pause is where what they said that was really funny. I'll tell you what the pause does. The pause underlines your words.

• 31:01John Maxwell?

  So when I pause, when I say something, like people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

• 31:07John Maxwell?

  If I pause, wow, the people are on that thought. They're underlining that thought mentally. If I don't pause, I immediately move them on. And, and what I do is most speakers, they play catch up the whole time. Most speakers get in front of their audience and they speak without pausing, without giving that, that, that time for people. And so what happens is the people are trying to catch up with them the whole time. And they're, they're never, they're never with them because they're behind them. And if somebody's behind me, whatever I'm saying doesn't have its full effect. So that pause is so huge because it gives the audience a chance. What basically I'm saying is, is you can, you can catch up with me. I'm gonna let you catch up.

• 31:52John Maxwell?

  And then, and then when I pause and I turn around and I walk back to my, to my bar stool

• 32:02John Maxwell?

  and sit down and then look at them.

• 32:06John Maxwell?

  It's entirely different. Man. I, I, I remember in school, when, if the, if the kids were rowdy, what would the school teacher do sometimes? They would just stop talking.

• 32:18John Maxwell?

  And the silence, and finally even the kid that talked the most, that all of a sudden everybody's very conscious, nobody's talking. And, and this teacher got control of the room by not saying anything. Until everybody got up to, up, up to speed with, if that, if that makes, if that makes sense. And, and the pause is so powerful for transition. It's, it's, it's a powerful, it's a powerful pivoting tool. And it allow, I'll tell you what else it does. It allows people to feel emotionally. If we speak fast all the time, they can't feel emotionally the words. And if they can't feel emotionally the words, the words don't have the same impact on them. I'm receiving them mentally.

• 33:01John Maxwell?

  But when I pause, they can digest those words. Geez, wow. And they can put them on the inside. And now, all of a sudden, I'm emotionally connected with you, Ed, because you just gave me a chance, not only to hear what you said, you gave me a chance to go down inside of me and feel what you said, which is just absolutely huge. And one more thing, I mean, the pause is just powerful. And I think this is a big miss. I think that when you pause, you give people a chance to hear the whisper. And you know I'm a person of faith. I'm not trying to throw that on anyone else. But when you say things that are substantial

• 33:44John Maxwell?

  and things that have meat to them and have application to them, if you pause sometimes, what you said, God, the Spirit, whatever, whispers to your heart. In fact, I ask myself when I hear a speaker, did I hear the whisper any time during the speech? And I can only hear the whisper if the speaker lets me have a little time. Not long, a couple of seconds, just to settle in and hear. And you know, Henry Nowlan said, "Silence is an act of war against the competing voices within us."

• 34:28John Maxwell?

  And I just think, I love that statement. Henry Nowlan was a great thinker, great, he was a great man. But I love it, and I think it's my responsibility. I want them to hear my voice, but there's a higher voice. That's a master class right there. If I pause, Ed, I give them a shot at hearing the higher voice. And let me tell you this. My voice, they'll forget. The higher voice, they will not forget.

• 35:00Ed Mylett?

  All time right there. All time, right there. That's an all-timer. You guys, as someone who does a lot of this, um, I can tell you right now, that is profound wisdom right there. And something that, you feel it. When that higher voice is whispering to you, you feel it. You don't hear it, you feel it. And that's when a speaker has done an unbelievable job as they get out of the way and let that higher voice make the impact on you.

• 35:27John Maxwell?

  And Ed, that's what you did at L2L when you were with us. That's exactly what you did. I promise you, you've learned the pause. You've learned it. I, hey, I, I, I learned it. I learned it from a, a, a, a beautiful African-American preacher in, in South Los Angeles, in the Watts area. And, and I, I would go up and speak for him. We, we were friends. Uh, E.V. Hill was his name. E.V. Hill, he's passed away. And, and, and I watched him. And when he got to something that was really important, what he did is, he, it, the pause also creates great anticipation. And he would get us right to where we were ready to hear this unfolding, unbelievable thought.

• 36:08John Maxwell?

  And I'll never forget, take a handkerchief, kind of wipe his face, walk around to the other side of the pulpit, lean in,

• 36:23John Maxwell?

  and then deliver it. And I would watch him, and I'd say, oh, I want to be just like that.

• 36:33John Maxwell?

  And I never got that, I never got that good, but I've tried.

• 36:37Ed Mylett?

  It's not that true. I want to say this. I, I swear to you, I don't want this just to be a love affair with you on the show, but I want everyone to understand this. I learned that from you. And I'm not, I'm not saying that because he's here. I looked at my speaking, I thought, what, what is this thing he does? Because John, when he was a little younger, would still stand still most of his speech. Didn't move around a lot. He wasn't a big pacer. He did some. But now when John speaks, he's even better. And oftentimes, he's seated most of the time. And I'm like, how does he do this? And it's these unbelievable pauses before a profound statement? And after, and he is the best at this.

• 37:20Ed Mylett?

  And the reason he's the best at it is because of his faith background. And it is that, is that he does understand that there's a higher voice. And so I, I got that from you. And it's something, by the way, forget stage speaking, everybody. I do that with my children now, when I make a point.

• 37:36John Maxwell?

  Of course.

• 37:37Ed Mylett?

  I, I do it and I do it with my, my wife. I, I want to say something and just let it sit there and feel it. And not move on to the next thing. It's, it's where I learned it. It's, um, it's remarkable. Couple more things, because I want to make sure everybody gets the book. So sixteenlawsofcommunication.com by the single greatest author on, I, I, I say thought leader, um, leadership expert, communication expert, I think life expert. When you get to seventy-six and you've traveled around the world and impacted millions of people, you become somebody who knows a lot about life. So, hey, guys, as you know, I've partnered up with my good friend Brennan Burchard, who's created the greatest personal development system that has ever been designed called Growth Day. There's everything from journaling to accountability programs,

• 38:22Ed Mylett?

  live messages every Monday from myself and other influencers. There's an opportunity for you to get courses that would cost thousands of dollars completely for free. It's incredible. Go to growthday.com/ed and check it out. I think that first, the beginning place is, I think most people don't see themselves as a leader. Just that in and of itself, I think most people don't see themselves that way. That it's some mystical role in life. What would you say to somebody who says, I just don't know that I am a leader or could be a leader?

• 38:52John Maxwell?

  Well, everybody's a leader, because leadership is influence. That's what it is. And that has been, that has, that definition of leadership has served me so well for so many years. It's, it's, in fact, in my book, The Twenty One Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, there's the law.

• 39:08Ed Mylett?

  Great book.

• 39:08John Maxwell?

  You know, the leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. So when somebody says they're not a leader, I say, well, let me ask you a question. Do you influence anybody? And, and almost always, almost, I've had a couple, maybe, I'm not sure. But almost always, I'll say, well, yeah, I mean, you have children, okay, okay. You got your family, you know. So, yes, now, it may be a little influence, it may be eight, 10 people, it may not be. But I look at them and say, okay, if you influence eight or 10 people, you are a leader. See, what people think is, they've got to have some kind of a title or position. To be a leader. And so they said, well, I don't have a leadership position, so I'm not a leader. Well, you and I both know the position doesn't make you a leader anyway. It gives you a chance to practice leadership, but it doesn't make you a leader. So what I tell people is this, leadership is influence.

• 39:52John Maxwell?

  So how do I increase my influence? Because if I influence 10 and next month I influence 20, wow, I've doubled my leadership influence. And so how do I do that? And it's a very simple answer. To increase your influence, you have to intentionally add value to people. This is where it all begins. So Ed, let's say that I want to have increased influence with you. Well, my first question isn't, boy, I hope that Ed will follow me. The first question I ask is how can I serve you? What can I do to add value to you? So I'm going to ask you, you know, how can I serve you? What can I do to help you? In fact, what's interesting, before we had this interview, I mean, it was cracking me up. We were kind of trying to out-serve each other. What can I do for you?

• 40:36John Maxwell?

  And it was a beautiful thing, because all we were really doing is I'm trying to help you.

• 40:41Ed Mylett?

  Correct.

• 40:41John Maxwell?

  And here's what I know. If I sincerely add value to you, my influence will increase with you. That's a fact. So we don't need to make leadership complicated. Just go out and intentionally add value to people and your influence pool begins to expand. And after a while, I'm becoming quite a leader. So leadership isn't title, position. It's all about adding value and serving and making a difference in other people's lives.

• 41:11Ed Mylett?

  In order to do that, a lot of people are going to build an organization, build a team. They'll be in some sort of an environment like that. Nobody wins alone, it seems like in life.

• 41:19John Maxwell?

  That's a fact.

• 41:20Ed Mylett?

  I was listening to this story you were telling, and I'd like you to share it about, you know, there's the analogy of getting people in the right seats on the bus. But you have this wonderful story about when you played basketball. About at the end of practice, your coach would do something very...

• 41:33John Maxwell?

  The scrimmage.

• 41:33Ed Mylett?

  This absolutely illustrates this point, so if you don't mind saying that.

• 41:38John Maxwell?

  No, it's a beautiful point. He would have the first team, the better players, five players, play the second team. And the only thing that he would do is he would put we who were on the first team out of position. And he always stuck me, I was a number two guard. But he always stuck me under the basket, guarding a guy named Doug Roth that was six foot eight. Okay? And he'd put maybe our center out there with the point guard. Well, he's put us out of position and they said, now stay in your position and play to 20. Well, what would happen is the first team would always lose. And he'd sit us back down and say, now, did you lose because of talent? No, did you lose? No, no, you lost for one reason, you were out of position. And remember this, whenever you're out of position, you're gonna lose.

• 42:23John Maxwell?

  Well, what they did is, I mean, I'm guarding a six foot eight guy, they just throw a high pass. He's just dropping that belt over me the whole time. Well, and so it was a great teaching for me that no matter how gifted you are, no matter how committed you are, if you're out of position, you're not going to be successful. That's why everybody needs to find their sweet spot. You know, what do I really do well? And on that, there's a point that I really want to make, and that is, I tell people, if you want to be highly successful, you've got to get into what I call the top 5%. So you've got 100 people, you've got 100 people here in whatever chosen profession you've got. You've got to be in the top 5.

• 43:04Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 43:04John Maxwell?

  You've got to get there. And you can only get to the top 5 if you're in your sweet spot. You can't get to the top 5 working on weaknesses. You can't get to the top 5 if I'm not in the area of my giftedness. So you've got to find out what you're good at, because that'll give you, then if you're committed and if you've got a good strategy and all this other, you've got a good team around you, then that'll allow you to get in that top 5. And once you're in that top 5%, you're in good shape. You're going to do very well. And I tell, it doesn't matter what your profession is, you've got to get in the top 5%. And you can only get in the top 5% if you're in your position, if you're in your sweet spot, if you're in your giftedness.

• 43:39Ed Mylett?

  Is there any technique, strategy thought you have in order to identify what those sweet spots are for you?

• 43:44John Maxwell?

  Oh yeah, trial and error. I mean, you know, when I started, okay, let's go to my, I started off as a pastor. And so, and I had a counseling degree. So now I'm counseling people. Well, it takes me about six months to realize I'm not any good at that.

• 44:00John Maxwell?

  You know, I'm not. It's not my gift. I mean, they're coming in and I'm listening to them. And then I say, well, okay, it's obvious. Here's your issue. Here are three things. And I write on a piece of paper and, you know, hand it to them and say, now, go be healed. Do you know what I mean? Go be healed. And the next month, they'd come back in. I'd say, now, okay, what are we in here for? Well, I've got this problem. Well, it's a problem I've heard the last month. You know what I'm saying? Well, did you do the three things? No, I didn't do the three things. Oh, you'll go back. Well, it wore me out. I wore them out. I wasn't any good. But that's what I was trained in. But it wasn't giving me the results. And one day, I mean, it took me, really, it really took me, Ed, three years. One day, I realized that when you counsel people, you work on their weaknesses. And when you equip people, you work on their strengths.

• 44:44John Maxwell?

  Oh, that's good. And the moment I went from working on weaknesses to working on strengths, I became, I was, I was a rock star with strengths. Because you show me your strength and I'm going to give you a game plan and let's get going. Because I'm a natural equiper, not a natural counselor. Nothing wrong with counseling. It's just not my gift. You with me? And what did they teach me in college? They taught me how to administrate. So I'm in my, you know, I've got my little country church. I'm doing administration. Well, there's no return there. I mean, my gosh. And one day, I'm waking up and I'm saying, wait a minute. This isn't working. I gotta go get me some volunteers to do this administration so I can get back. And so it's trial and error. And sometimes, I think, we go to people like, I mean, Ed, if I'm trying to find out my strengths and you and I know each other really well, I may come up to you and say, okay, talk to me. You know, what do I do well? Yes.

• 45:28John Maxwell?

  You know, sometimes, we don't understand our own strengths. And it takes somebody that really is a good friend, that knows us well, that can say, well, I think you're really good in this area. But you gotta find them. And the good news is, everybody has gifts. That's right. Everybody. So there's not such thing as, well, you know, I just have no gifts and so I'm left out. Everybody has them. You've just gotta go find them. But once you find them, that's where, and by the way, that's where you put all of your time in personal growth and development. Because the goal isn't just to learn a lot of things. I know a whole bunch of people, they're very knowledgeable, but they're not very successful. That's right. So what you gotta do is you gotta say, I'm going to stay in the area of my strengths. Yes.

• 46:09John Maxwell?

  And so, when I, at 27, when I decided I was gonna speak and maybe write some books.

• 46:17John Maxwell?

  I asked myself a very simple question. What are the areas that people need to excel in to be successful? And I came up with four areas. Relationships, if you can't get along with people, hello. Equipping, if you can't develop a team, you may have personal success, but you're not going to have multiple, you're not going to compound success because you don't have people helping you. An attitude of overcoming adversity and difficulty, the getting back up, not quitting, that whole process. And leadership, the ability to influence people. And at 27, I said, those are the four things I will spend my life. And if you'll look at my books, almost all of them are in relationships, equipping, attitude, leadership.

• 46:56Ed Mylett?

  It's true.

• 46:56John Maxwell?

  And I found what I call, I found the sweet spot for people to success.

• 47:02Ed Mylett?

  Man.

• 47:03John Maxwell?

  And so I wrote all my books in those areas.

• 47:05Ed Mylett?

  I've read, I'm gonna tell you something. I've read of the majority of your books. And there was a window of time where I read every single one as they were coming out. And now I'm back in that cycle again with you. And for me, the last couple of minutes were really valuable because I'm always, I'm obviously acknowledged like you are as a good leader.

• 47:25John Maxwell?

  Sure.

• 47:26Ed Mylett?

  And, but in my own mind, I've wondered whether I am sometimes, because I'm not a great counselor either. And I mean that, like, when people are looking for counsel from me, but what I am, I do feel like I'm really good at identifying giftedness in people. I see giftedness. I think I'm good at equipping people. And so leaders come in different shapes, sizes, and forms. That was just really a good validation, just for me, and I think it would be for certain people listening to this. Because I think also sometimes people that are really good at executing themselves, potentially maybe struggle with counseling people on their new things, but they're great at, they could be great at equipping.

• 47:57John Maxwell?

  Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And what I found is successful people are really good at finding their gifts, getting in their gift zone, and then just really staying there and becoming successful.

• 48:08Ed Mylett?

  I think they're happier, too.

• 48:09John Maxwell?

  Oh, yes, but successful leaders, there's the difference. Successful leaders have the ability of what you just described, Ed, of finding the sweet spot for other people and getting them in that sweet spot.

• 48:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 48:20John Maxwell?

  And that's where the return is.

• 48:22Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 48:22John Maxwell?

  I've spent my life, after I discovered what my strengths were, now I'm just helping other people find their strengths. Because there's nothing more empowering to a person than to find out that they are good at something and then being equipped and taught how to do it well.

• 48:36Ed Mylett?

  Honestly, what you just described is what I enjoyed doing most of my life.

• 48:40John Maxwell?

  That's why you're a leader.

• 48:41Ed Mylett?

  Well, I hope I'm working on it. Thank you. I just want you to know something. Like, the whole interview, everything we're doing today, that was valuable for me. Because I've struggled even myself, like, why am I... There's an element of my ability with people that's just limited. I'm not great at counseling people, but I am good at equipping them. So it's just a distinction that I really appreciate. One of the things about teams, and then I want to talk about the new book. But one thing I want to talk about on building teams and having teams is, I have probably talked about the law of the catalyst.

• 49:07John Maxwell?

  Oh, yeah.

• 49:07Ed Mylett?

  In my life in business, that you've talked about in various different books.

• 49:12John Maxwell?

  Yes.

• 49:12Ed Mylett?

  Both identifying them in organizations so that they can grow, and also wanting to be identified as one, as someone coming through an organization. Could you just talk about, most people listening that are familiar with your work, but obviously there are people that aren't as well. So what is that law of the... What is a catalyst in an organization? Why is it important? Why do you want to be one?

• 49:32John Maxwell?

  Well, Ed, that's out of my book, The Seventeen Laws of Teamwork. And basically, that chapter is about the fact that good leaders have the ability to make things happen. And so when people look at me and they say, "Okay, John, I'm looking for maybe a potential leader." What's the first thing I look for? The first thing I say for them to look for is, "Look for somebody that makes things happen."

• 49:52Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 49:53John Maxwell?

  Because you know, there's a whole bunch of people, they're wondering what happened. You want to say, "And they're not the one you want to recruit." So I say, "Go find..." Because here's what I discovered. If you can make things happen for yourself, you now have the credibility to make things happen for other people. If I'm not successful, there is no appeal for you to follow me. I tell people all the time, "Success is the credibility of a leader to lead." Because you think about it, no one ever got, you know, nobody ever said, "Oh, my gosh, you know, okay, I got it." "I'm financially in deep weeds, oh, my gosh, I'm going to..." "I think I'm going to go call my buddy Joe, he's been bankrupt three times."

• 50:33Ed Mylett?

  Right, right.

• 50:34John Maxwell?

  "Hey, Joe, how..." No, no, you don't follow Joe. Joe's been bankrupt three times. You gotta go find somebody that's successful with money. So true. Go and get the divorce. Oh, my gosh, my, oh, I'm gonna call Jack. He's been divorced four times. You know, Jack, help me with my marriage. You see, people, when they need help, the first thing they think about is who is better than me that I can follow? And so, the credibility of a leader, as far as to lead, is that they're successful. I mean, if I'm successful, I say, hey, Ed, wanna join my team? Well, of course. I mean, if LeBron James was in the room right now, LeBron says, we're gonna play a little basketball. And LeBron says, you know, I'll pick, and then John will pick. Well, when LeBron's there, you're got your hand up and say, LeBron, pick me, cuz you're gonna win if you get LeBron. And every time I'm getting ready to pick, you're diving behind the chair. It's a fact.

• 51:19John Maxwell?

  You don't wanna be on my team, you're gonna lose on my team. So what I tell people all the time is that the first thing you've gotta do is you gotta be, you gotta get good yourself. If you're, why would I ever think that I should lead somebody if I'm not any good at it? So true. Okay. But once I'm good and I've found my success, now I begin to say, okay, how do I compound this? Well, I compound this by looking at Ed and saying, okay, Ed, let me help you find your sweet spot, and let's get you on this same road. Because now, all of a sudden, this is how I, this is how I really build a team. And so, the law of the catalyst is all about making things happen. And that's what I look for. I mean, Jack Welch, his phrase was, you know, who's gonna get out of the pile? Yeah.

• 52:04John Maxwell?

  You know, he'd say, when he's at General Electric, you know, there's a big pile of people in this company. Well, who's gonna get out of the pile? Well, somebody's gonna climb out. Mark Colan's the CEO, I have six companies, and Mark Colan's the CEO of them. And the reason that he is, is because he got out of the pile. Yes. He got out of the pile. He started, he started in the stockroom. Yes. And he did. Did he really? Mark did? Yeah, absolutely. Wow. And I just took him out last week. No.

• 52:33John Maxwell?

  Mark's here, by the way.

• 52:34Ed Mylett?

  Mark's here, everybody.

• 52:35John Maxwell?

  He's cracking up over this. But he got out of the pile. In other words, everywhere he was, he succeeded. And everywhere he went, he won. And after a while, you just sit there and say, "Okay, okay. I think I'll let him run this thing." Because he knows how to do it. And so, for all of us, I say, before you go lead somebody else, just kind of get good yourself.

• 52:57Ed Mylett?

  So right. You're a mutual hero of mine, friend of yours, that we're talking about off-camera, Art Williams. How important is leadership, right? And Art would used to say, and still probably does, say, "You want to show me any church, boy scout troop, football team, company? I'm going to show you something being run by a leader." And in every great company, the leaders are great at identifying catalysts. And when you find them, pay them well. Keep them, because they're priceless when you have them. Somebody, I'm sure Mark's over there nodding his head that you should even pay them even better.

• 53:26Ed Mylett?

  But I wanted to say something to you about your books that I think are just, they're so, everybody, they're such great reads. They're easy to read. They're memorable. He makes points and then backs them up with incredible stories and anecdotes and quotes. And so, it's the other thing about your books, they're incredibly, I would say, the information is profound, unique, and deep, yet very easy to, you equip people so well with the way you write it, that it's transferable.

• 53:54John Maxwell?

  That's right.

• 53:54Ed Mylett?

  The information is so transferable. You do that better than anybody, of anybody's work that I read. I enjoy reading every single book. The problem with your books oftentimes is when you highlight them. You would almost be better off in John's books, highlighting the parts that you don't want to go back and remember. Because he's literally just covered in highlighter when you highlight his books. I'm serious.

• 54:11John Maxwell?

  Thank you, buddy.

• 54:12Ed Mylett?

  It's an absolute fact. Because I always get tired of highlighting. It's like every single part of every single page, it would seem to me.

• 54:18John Maxwell?

  I'm a communicator. So let's start here. You know, an educator takes something simple and makes it complicated. I mean, think of all, you know, think of all my college, all this stuff. I mean, in an educational world, if you're not confused, they're not happy. I mean, hey, their sentences are paragraph-long. I mean, by the time I get down to the paragraph, I forgot what the first part of the sentence was. I gotta go back and read the paragraph. Instead of short sentences, you know, I'm dealing with a paragraph. So, but a communicator is the exact opposite. They take something complicated and make it simple. And so here's, when I write a book, or when I speak, doesn't matter. My, my first objective is to keep it so simple that when I say it, it immediately resonates with people.

• 55:01John Maxwell?

  In fact, anytime you have to explain what you said, you didn't say it right the first time. So, I, my, my joke is, I put the cookies on the lower shelf, so everybody can have some. And so, simple as far as understanding, but deep, because there's a difference. Sure. But deep when it comes to profound results that it'll make in your life. It's an absolute fact. So, I mean, one of the principles I teach is very simple. I just hold my arm up in the air, and I say, "Everything worthwhile is uphill." Everything. Everything, there's nothing, there's nothing in your life worthwhile that's not uphill. It's all uphill. Well, everybody gets it. I mean, it's all uphill.

• 55:42John Maxwell?

  You know, and here's the problem, we got uphill hot hopes, but we have downhill habits. Okay, we're in trouble. You know, got a downhill habit, you're not going uphill. Got to change that habit. So, everything that I teach, I teach with a, with a, with a real passion to keep it simple, but keep it very practical, and, and make sure that the principle is life-changing. Yes. If you could do those three things, then you, you really got it going. And when I wrote the book, Leadership, I've been sitting on that book probably for a good 12 years. Have you really? In fact, a lady on our, on our team named Erin, who does a lot of content for me. Yes. She shared with me, she said, "John, you really need to get that book out."

• 56:27John Maxwell?

  And I, I kind of put it on the shelf, and really wasn't too excited about getting it out, because I thought, "I don't know, this may be a little too simple." But when I started writing, I thought, "This is going to be life-changing." And, and now that I'm looking at the book coming out, I'm so excited, because, because here's what happens, we start leading in a way that gives us some success. And immediately, we get into this pattern. And what we don't understand is that leadership, if leadership is about anything, it's about adjusting and being flexible. And if you want to be a manager, then nail it, get it straight, do it the same way every time. That's management. But when it comes to leadership, in fact, if you go back into the 1980s,

• 57:11John Maxwell?

  there were no leadership books in bookstores. They were all management books. Right. Because you were trying to manage your company, your business. And then, things began to change so fast. People were saying, "This management stuff doesn't work because this baby isn't staying the same." I turned around and it moved on me. And so, I've got to get in front of it. And so, leadership is all about being in front. Well, if you're in front, one of the first things you know is if you're in front, you don't know everything. Yes. So, the issue is not knowing everything. The issue is when you know something, adjusting as quickly as you possibly can. Because, because if we don't adjust quickly, we miss it. Yes. Because it's a timing thing. Especially today.

• 57:53John Maxwell?

  Oh, well, I was getting ready to speak for a company recently and their theme was fast-forward. And we were doing a pre-call and they asked me, "What's fast-forward mean to you?" I said, "Well, fast means faster." As you look in the future, if anybody thinks that the future is going to be a little bit slower, or I love these people, say, "Well, I'm just, honest to God, I'm just waiting for things to slow down." You know what? I would suggest dying. That's probably about the only way it's going to slow down for you. So, fast is faster, but let me tell you something. Forward is shorter.

• 58:27John Maxwell?

  When I started off as a leader, we had 10-year long-range plans. And five-year was a mid-range. A short-range plan when I started off, now I'm talking about the dark ages now, was a two-year plan. Well, a two-year plan now, that's a ridiculous long-range. I mean, that's, that's a little, that kind of makes you suck air. You say, "I think that's a little bit long." Yes. So, what I know is fast is faster and forward shorter. There you go. So, let me tell you something. The only people that are going to win are people that can make leaderships and adjust quickly. And so, I wrote the book. I talk about 11... Leadership that I've made in my lifetime. And people ask me all the time, they say, John, how have you stayed? I'm 71. How have you stayed on top of your game? And I say, it's very simple. It's not the same game.

• 59:13John Maxwell?

  Gosh. Okay, baseball is called baseball. But it's not the same game. So true. You don't go to the baseball game the second day and say, oh, my gosh, now wait a minute. That leadoff hitter got a single yesterday. Oh, he struck out. Oh, my Lord. See, it maybe had the same title. Yeah. But it isn't the same game. Yes. And you don't lead today's game on yesterday's results. No kidding. Babe Ruth said one day, he said, yesterday's home run won't win today's game. And I'll tell you what, yesterday's thinking won't win today's game either. So I talked about leaderships that you need to make in your life to keep you on the edge and to keep you adjustable and flexible so that you can really, so that you can really lead your people well. Because here's what I know.

• 59:58John Maxwell?

  Here's what I know. People don't like change. You're right. So when the leader is resistant to change,

• 1:00:07John Maxwell?

  he's going to get into this leadership gravity pool, or she is, that's going to go down every time. Because I can tell you, you're not going to have the people behind you saying, come on, let's make some more changes. Let's, let's make some more adjustments. No, no, they're, remember, they're wanting to hold on to what they have. And your job as a leader is to say, there's something better if you'll just, if you'll just let this go, there's something better for you here tomorrow. And that's, you know, and that's what the good, the good leaders do.

• 1:00:31Ed Mylett?

  So I get asked all the time, how did I get so much attention on social media, in my businesses, email list, et cetera? I can tell you straight up, it's been Constant Contact. If you don't know who Constant Contact is, you need to know about these guys. Constant Contact's award-winning marketing platform has helped millions of small businesses, mine being one of them, stand out, stay on top of mind, and see big results fast. They've got an easy way to promote your business with powerful tools like email, SMS marketing, social media posting, and they even do events management, what they've done for me in the past as well. You're going to reach new audiences, you're going to grow your customer list big time, and communicate more effectively to sell more, raise more, and grow fast on social media.

• 1:01:12Ed Mylett?

  So get going and start growing your business today with a free trial at constantcontact.com. Just go to constantcontact.com right now. Constant Contact, helping the small stand tall. Constantcontact.com.

• 1:01:25John Maxwell?

  Eight streams of influence. I knew he would do this again. I knew it. Well, it's magic. It's your fault, Ed. Hey, I've had to help interviewers finish their program. Right. Okay. Yeah, I know. And I'm with you. I just sit there and I say, jump in and the flow, edge flow will take you wherever you want to go. And you do it so well. But leadership, everything rises and falls on leadership. So in every community, in every country, there are eight streams of influence. We, this is just well documented. We've got it down. Government, business, education, media, arts, family, religion, and, and, and, uh, health. Okay. Now, these are the eight streams of influence.

• 1:02:11John Maxwell?

  We only go into the country when we get permission from the top of those people. And, and here's what's key. So the president says, we want you to come in. We say, well, to the president, will you and your cabinet go through transformation tables? Uh, you know, when the Supreme Court justice, I said, now, will you and your Supreme, will you, will you start a transformation table? And, and we go right to the top. And, and, and if they won't, we vet countries and we don't go because, because they won't. Here's what we found. I have, I have seven companies, but one of my companies is, is a, is a, um, leadership training company. And, and, and what, here's what we discovered. This is huge. The major difference between success and failure in a company, when we're doing leadership training with them, there, there's one indicator.

• 1:02:55John Maxwell?

  And we can tell it on day one, whether they're going to make it or not. There's one indicator of whether it's going to be successful or not. And here it is. When the leaders buy into the program and they go to the program themselves.

• 1:03:09John Maxwell?

  It's going to be successful. Interesting. If they have the program, pay all the money and resources and send their people, it's not going to go.

• 1:03:19John Maxwell?

  People do what people see. And so the buy-in is the fact that in those eight streams, at the very top, they say yes, and they get involved. Now, what does influence do? Influence just filters down to the whole country. And to the whole culture. Very good. And so what, so what, no matter what stream your listeners are with me on right today, no matter what stream they're in, this really works. And, and I'm going to give you one example. I can give you a hundred, but I would give you one. It that's the in Guatemala. We've been doing transformation tables, teaching values. To the second largest bank in the country. It has 10,000 employees. Okay, so it's a big bank. So the CEO, after they've done this for two years.

• 1:04:04John Maxwell?

  The CEO asked me to come down. He said, I have 2,000 of our clients that I'm bringing together, and I want you to talk to them about. Change your world and transformation tables and values. Because he said, it's so changed our company. I want, I want to help our clients. And so I said, I would. So he introduces me. 2,000 clients out there. And here's what he says. For two years, we've been doing transformation tables in our business. Three positive outcomes. Number one. Our bottom line. The profit. Better than it's ever been by for. In fact, he said it increased 36% last year. Now, why, why did the bottom line do so well? We teach values. Yeah. Hard work. Industry.

• 1:04:48John Maxwell?

  Honesty, integrity, teamwork. His employees are, are, are learning all these values and all of a sudden they start to, to live them and embrace them now. Bottom line profit, number one. Number two, he said. We now have a leadership culture in our company. He said, we didn't have a leadership culture here. There you go. He said, and where did they get their leaders? In the tables. Because Ed, if you're not a table. One week, you'll, you'll facilitate that table and you'll take whatever value that comes up. Next week, the person beside you facilitates it. And we go, we, we, we, we pass the leadership baton around and, and how do you develop leaders? By practicing leaders. How do you know you have leaders? By watching them practice. Very good. And he said, all of a sudden, leaders are popping up. He said, we have more leaders now than we have positions for them.

• 1:05:33John Maxwell?

  Now that's a pleasant thing to have. Nope. Number three. And this is what it really got me. So good. He said, the families of our employees. Have beautifully changed. What are they doing? They're taking those values they've learned at work. And by the way, every week, forty-five minutes, they, the banks all shut down. We do the tables on, on, on bank time. Hey, they go home to their families, say, here's what we're discussing this week. It bleeds right into the families and all of a sudden the family gets better.

• 1:05:59Ed Mylett?

  So good.

• 1:06:00John Maxwell?

  That's why I love what this work, this is, okay, I wrote a book, but I, I, I'm wanting to create a movement.

• 1:06:08Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:09John Maxwell?

  And that's what I'm passionate about. It's, it's, and, and movements don't start with a mask. They start with a few. You know, mass movements never start with a mask. When Gandhi left prison and started going to the, by the time he got to the sea, he had a million, but he only had six with him in the beginning. So let's, let's, hey, he just had one transformation table in the beginning. And by the time he got there, he had a million. And, and we think we have the possibility through this book to, to start a positive movement of, of values, learning, living and embracing and, and, and that's gonna be fun.

• 1:06:39Ed Mylett?

  And the way that you do it, John, is worth, see, I think watching what John's doing, not only in the content, but the way in which he's creating the movement. So for me, I, I don't always just watch the execution. I also watch the, the ex, the person executing. I shouldn't say executioner, but the person doing the executing.

• 1:06:56Speaker 02

  When you were born, let me ask you a question. The doctor slapped you on the ass. Make sure you're okay, didn't he? Right? Then he sat you probably on your mama's chest or put you in the nursery. I doubt when he handed me mom, he goes, hey, here's one of the average ones. Mediocre kid you got there. Congratulations. See, you were made to do something great with your life, weren't you? And you've always known it. There's always been this little voice in your head since you were a little boy or a little girl. You've always known there was something special about you. Those of us that have faith in the room, we know we were made as a masterpiece. We know the Lord looks like us, looks at us like we can do anything with our lives through him, don't we? Is that right?

• 1:07:36Speaker 02

  You weren't born to be average. You weren't born to have a mediocre existence on this earth. You were born to do something great and that's why you're in this room. It's by no mistake that you've always had those thoughts, that intuition, that aspiration, and you find yourself in this room at this time today. So if this is the worst talk you ever heard, you heard from Ted Mylett. But if it's the best talk you ever heard, give Ed Mylett a little credit. Is that fair? Yes? And so do you feel the energy in here, by the way? Because see, the difference between maxing out, 10x in your life, has a lot to do with energy. There's a winning energy, right? People respond to what they feel more than what they hear. In fact, as I'm speaking right now,

• 1:08:20Speaker 02

  you already feel different the first three minutes of this, don't you? And the reason is, you can feel that I mean what I'm saying. You can feel the transfer of energy. Let me ask you a question. What do you make people feel? And the more you become conscious of what you're making people feel, not what you say, not their opinion of you, but what they feel when they're around you, is gonna make all the difference in the world of whether or not you're going to influence them to change their lives or participate with you in business, your company, etc. Do you hear me on that? Say yes. Because the day he slapped you on that ass, a race started. Listen to me. A race began. And it's a race that started that first day when you were born, to the last day of your life.

• 1:09:03Speaker 02

  And that race is to finally reach the ultimate version of you. You're chasing down the person you were born to be, that you were destined to be. And since that day started, the world, the people around you, are trying to get you to conform to average. They're trying to get you off that track to finally meet your twin someday, the best possible version of you. Every single day has to be a pursuit to get better, to improve, to grow, to stretch, because you are ultimately chasing the destiny version of you. Do you hear me on that? Say yes. So every decision you make in business, every call you have, whether you go to the gym or not, you need to put it through this paradigm, through this barometer.

• 1:09:45Speaker 02

  Does this decision, does this relationship I'm in, does this choice I'm making right now, put me closer to becoming that man or woman, or further away? Listen, you gotta get a little bit more intense about your life, about your business. You gotta stop being so dad gum casual. You gotta get in the game. If you're gonna play the game, let's play to win it. Let's play to max it out. Let's play to 10x it. Right or wrong? Right?

• 1:10:13Speaker 02

  I want you shaking, I want you feeling it, I want your intensity level to go up. Not in this room, but when you leave this room, you're focused on more energy, more intensity, more focus, because these people you see speaking here, they're not smarter than you. We're not better than you. I don't like when we get up here, "I'm rich, I'm rich." You know what? Who cares if I'm rich? I care whether you're rich. I want you to live richly. And I can tell you, I don't like it sometimes when we come to events like this, because you always see the after. If this was a weight loss ad, we're all ripped up here. The power of the weight loss ad is you see the fat lady, then she's the skinny lady, right? You don't see the before, you're only seeing afters here. The before with me is an introverted,

• 1:10:56Speaker 02

  shy guy, insecure guy, low self-esteem, afraid of public speaking. That's the before me, a broke me. And I'm not getting into the details of that, but I want that to give you hope, because it's decisions we make to chase that best version of us every second, every day, that every day alters the direction of the course of our lives. We've all made decisions that we regret. That decision took me off course. That decision put me further away of being the best life I could have, the best version of me. When you were a little girl, or a little boy, there was somebody who knew you were special. It was your grandma, your uncle, a coach, a teacher. There's been one person in your life, hasn't there? They're the one who knew you were special. There's always one. If you're blessed in

• 1:11:39Speaker 02

  life, you may have two or three of those people. Just picture their face for a second. Who was that person, that when you were a little girl, or a little boy, they just looked at you a little different? They just knew you were special. They knew you were great. They knew you could do something great with your life. See, I think the key to being great in business, is being that person in other people's lives. I don't believe in faking it till you make it. And you can listen to all my podcasts and know how broke I went. But I'm gonna prove to you how crazy entrepreneurs are. Because you know what entrepreneurialism is, right? It's the greatest self-discovery process in the history of mankind. You learn more about yourself, what you don't know, your resiliency, how tough you are, what your weaknesses are by being an entrepreneur. It's probably the greatest self-discovery program in the history of the world. It's also this, it's the greatest self-improvement program with the highest compensation package possibly attached to it too.

• 1:12:23Speaker 02

  That's what entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship is a self-improvement program with massive compensation package attached to it. And that's why too many of you are too focused on growing your company and not focused enough on growing you, because your company will never, ever exceed your identity or your vision for it. You gotta grow you, because what will happen, when it starts to grow, you'll start making unconscious mistakes to shrink it, making bad calls, getting weak, getting lazy, making mistakes. You're all nodding, because you've all done it, because at some point, your business got ahead of you. Far too many of you, in your life, are obsessed with what cab driver number two and bouncer number one think about what you're doing. Instead of the lead characters, you're obsessed with what other people think about you.

• 1:13:05Speaker 02

  The thing that's gonna kill your dream is your addiction to other people's approval. And cab driver number two, he ain't gonna approve of what you're doing. At the end of your damn life, he's not gonna show up in any of the important chapters, yet you give him all this power all the time. Stop giving people power who aren't in your book. Do your life for the leading character. You, your spouse, your children, your parents, your legacy, they're the lead characters in the story of you, of your life, and the more you focus on them. And I know that many of them are the very ones giving you a hard time. They're the very ones telling you, you can't make it, you should quit, you should give in. Let me tell you, somebody who experienced that, who's now written a pretty damn good book, they are thrilled with the book. And they knew you were gonna write it all the time someday.

• 1:13:50Speaker 02

  But you get focused on the lead character. Here's the good news. A leading character can decide to live a new script at any point she wants. She walked in here, one character, and she says, you know what? I am the lead character. This is some stupid script my parents gave me, or a script my boss gave me, or a script someone else gave me, or my husband gave me. You know what? Screw that. I'm the new leading character. This woman's more beautiful, more confident, more influential, more resilient, more evangelical. This woman's just a little stronger. And you leave here in the break, and you just feel different. You decide, I'm a new character. I'm a new leading character in the book of my life. Because the more you decide to take control of the narrative, of the script of your life, and you live your dream, the more likely at the end of your life, you're gonna meet that dude.

• 1:14:36Speaker 02

  You're gonna meet that woman. See, at the end of my life, because I am a person of faith, the Lord's gonna go, "Hey." Hopefully, he goes, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And I have this other little hallucination. He's gonna go, "Hey, by the way, this guy over here, this is the man you could have been. This is the person you were born to be. All those choices you made, if you made them all, you got the right place, this is who you could have become. This would have been your dreams. This is where you would have gone, what you would have seen, who you would have helped, what you would have changed. This would have been your book. Meet him." My dream in my life is that when I meet that person, we're not total strangers. You don't want to get to the end of your life, and that character is a total stranger to you. I don't care if you have faith or not. You know damn well, there's gonna be a funeral for you someday. And at that funeral, there's gonna be a sense and a spirit of what you could have become.

• 1:15:20Speaker 02

  The woman, the man, you could have become. And every day, those decisions you're making to max out your life are chasing that person. See, you know what I want at the end of my life when I meet him? Watch how I pull this together. I want to be identical twins. I want to be identical twins. I want you to be identical twins. Ted and Ed are gonna meet each other someday, and I'm gonna say, "Hey, man, good to see you. Been riding with you for quite a while. Been chasing you, man." He's gonna go, "I've been watching you. You're exactly like me, man. We're identical twins. You maxed out your damn life. Congratulations."

• 1:15:56Ed Mylett?

  How to build something great. How to create a movement. And when I say that, I'm really talking about multiple areas. This could be how to build a great church, how to build a great business, how to build a great family, how to build a great Boy Scout troop, Girl Scout troop, any movement you want to build. Anything great has the elements we're gonna cover today. There's a lot of detail here, and hopefully some inspiration for you as well. So, you know, there's a great book I read a long time ago. I'm gonna show my age here, called Selling the Dream by a guy named Guy Kawasaki. And what it really was is Guy Kawasaki was the guy that kinda helped market Macintosh way back in the day for Apple. And it was a study of the history of Apple. And basically, his contention was that all great movements, I think all great families, all great churches, all great everything, sell the dream.

• 1:16:39Ed Mylett?

  The leader of that enterprise is almost evangelical, almost like a preacher. for their cause, you know, great businesses, those of you that are business people, great businesses have a cult-like following, have a religious-like following, it's something that all great movements have. Apple has it, the great fitness companies that you think of, any company you know that's really flourishing has kind of raving fans, and to a level past that is almost cult-like and religious-like followers. They believe that deeply, and by the way, I don't mean that in a sacrilegious way, like they believe in it more than they believe in God. You know exactly what I mean when I say that, deep raving fans. And those followings are led by evangelists, all great business people, I think all great dads, all great moms,

• 1:17:22Ed Mylett?

  should be evangelical about their family, all great business leaders should be evangelists, constantly touting the greatness of your family, the greatness of where you're going, the greatness of your company. For whatever prism you're listening today through, or whatever filter, whether you're listening to this and you want to be a better mother, a better father, a better pastor, a better business leader, a better entrepreneur. I think these things we're going to talk about today are going to rock your world, absolutely. And so, how do you build a religious cult-like following in your business? And how do you become more evangelical about your cause? I want you to write these three things down right now, as a dad, as a mother, and as a business leader. Dream, crusade, recognition. These are the three pillars of building anything great. Great evangelists, great leaders in families are constantly selling the dream.

• 1:18:07Ed Mylett?

  Moms selling the dream, here's where we're going as a family, we're amazing, we're going to do something great, it's going to be a great day. Great business leaders, here's where the company's going, this is what we're going to accomplish. This is the vision, this is the future, this is the road we're heading down, this is how amazing it's going to be. See, great leaders always sell the dream, leaders must have vision, because of your position, just by being a position of a leader, you are in front of everybody, aren't you? Which means your point of view should be different, you can see things they can't see. Your job as a leader is to say, here's what I see, this is how amazing it is, and this is how we're going to get there. So, great leaders, like that book said, sell the dream constantly. Great entrepreneurs are constantly conscious of selling the dream to their employees, to their clients, to their vendors,

• 1:18:52Ed Mylett?

  to potential clients, to people they sell, to people they do business. To people in the warehouse, no matter what your business is, I don't care what it is, always be selling the dream. Listen to me, always be selling the dream and do it repetitiously. Don't get tired of saying the same things over and over again. See, business is not about saying new things to old people. Business is about saying old things to new people. So constantly be selling the dream. As a mother or father, you want to turn your family around? You want to raise great kids? Sell them the dream on the future, sell them where they're going, sell them where your family's going. All the time, sell the dream, sell the dream, sell the dream. Second element is crusade. If you're going to build a cult-like and religious-like following in your business, for example.

• 1:19:34Ed Mylett?

  Your crusade, constantly be messaging your crusade, your cause, your mission. These are all in that same thing of the difference you make in the world, the contribution you make. You must be messaging it all the time. We're making a difference, this is our cause, this is our mission, this is our crusade. These are the two big messages that all great entrepreneurs that are evangelical create. They're constantly selling the dream, constantly selling the crusade. This creates a culture. All your systems, all your messages, all your marketing, all your social media. Everything you do is about dream and crusade. You want to create an infectious environment in your company? You get on fire about selling the dream. I don't care if you're a two-person dry cleaners. You sell the dream of having four, you sell the dream of making 10 of them or 20 of them. And you have a crusade about it.

• 1:20:18Ed Mylett?

  We do the best job, we get close to the cleaners, we're meticulous, we take it to a level nobody else does. We care, we make a difference, we help people make more money. Because they're sharper dressed in our clothes. I don't care what your business is. If you make sandwiches, the crusade of being the best and them eating healthier, them enjoying it, or bringing passion to people's lives, or pleasure to their lives. Talk about your crusade and your mission. If you're in the financial business, or the real estate business, or the fitness business. I don't care, the tech business. What's the dream, what's the crusade, what's the mission? And sell it over and over and over again. This is how we build a following. And then lastly, recognition. Always be recognizing people, always be holding people up. Always acknowledge people that are performing at a high level. Build an environment where you're recognizing people all the time, so that people want to rise up.

• 1:21:04Ed Mylett?

  You know, if you have an environment of recognition... All the time that the people who aren't being recognized see the ones who are and want that to happen. So recognition elevates the company, elevates your vendors, elevates your clients. By the way, what do you do to recognize your clients? What do you do in your business to recognize your clients? What do you do to recognize your recruits? What do you do to recognize your employees? What do you do to recognize your vendors? What do you do to recognize your assistant? What do you do to recognize people? How great are you at recognizing people? Right? And if you, you show me a leader who sells the dream, who's got an unbelievable crusade, who's got recognition in place, I'm going to assume you have systems in place because you can't function without those as an entrepreneur. But the separator between the good and the great, the extraordinary companies, the movements,

• 1:21:49Ed Mylett?

  the systems are not the separator. The systems are fundamentals to even get in the game. But once you're in the game, how good's your dream selling? How repetitious is it? How believable is it? How big is it? By the way, on selling the dream, you have to sell a big enough dream to people that everybody's dreams who come in contact with you can fit inside the one you're selling. Do you do that? Are you cognizant of selling it big enough that everybody listening to you, whoever that crowd is, their dream can fit inside the one you're selling? Your crusade and mission, is it emotional? Is it compelling? Do you hold up evidence of it? What do you do to reinforce it? Do you, on a regular basis, hold up success stories? Do you reinforce it with the stories you've had? Do you reinforce it with the message you have? Do you reinforce it with your own behavior? So how well do you reinforce the cause, the mission, the crusade of your business?

• 1:22:33Ed Mylett?

  And then how do you do with recognizing people? Do you have an environment full of recognition and enthusiasm and winning and progress happening all the time? Do you constantly find ways and reasons to recognize the people you work with and your clients? As a mother or a father, how good are you at selling the dream of your family? We're special. We're a great family. We do great things for people. We're going to win in our lives. We're going to travel the world. We're going to make a difference. Then they get to the crusade. This is the kind of family we are. We serve people. We've got a mission as a family. We're about making a difference in the world. We're special. We're givers. Do you do that? And do you recognize people? Man, you look beautiful today. You look amazing. Great job on your test. I'm so proud of you. You're my favorite. Do you do things all the time to recognize?

• 1:23:16Ed Mylett?

  Your children and your spouse, how good are you at that? Like, just take a step back and breathe for a second. When's the last time you recognized your spouse? And you do it repetitiously and regularly all the time where it's infectious? Do you recognize your children? Do you recognize your parents or your siblings? How good are you at just, "I love you, I believe in you"? Do you call them? Do you text them? Do you write handwritten notes? Do you hug them? Do you just have an environment of recognition in your household? See, I think a great family's got a dream. A great family's got a mission and a cause. And a great family recognizes each other. That's what a great church does. It's what a great football team does. It's what a great business does. The most powerful force in the history of the world is religion, right? And I'm not talking about building something that is as important as someone finding God. But I am talking about building the same elements.

• 1:23:59Ed Mylett?

  See, Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life wrote this great book. It was the best-selling book of all time, other than the Bible. And in that book, he lists five things that are sort of the keys, purposes to a religion. Right? I thought it was interesting. So I'm gonna give you what those five keys were because I think they apply to business. I think they apply to family. So we're gonna listen to Rick Warren's five things. I'm gonna give them to you right now. And then I'm gonna tell you they apply to business for you being evangelical and creating a religious cult-like following for your company and your products, which is what you all want. So those five things are fellowship. Two, discipleship and education. Three, worship. Four, ministry and service. And five, evangelization.

• 1:24:41Ed Mylett?

  These are the five purposes of a religion that he lists in The Purpose Driven Life. So how does that apply to business? Let's start with fellowship. You wanna create fellowship in your business. You wanna create a community-type environment for your clients and the people that work with you. Because people want to belong in life. Number one need for human beings is the need to belong. So if you're not creating that in the atmosphere around your company, again, if it's a dry cleaners, what do you do when they walk in to make them feel like they're a part of a community? Things you say, things you give them, signs that are on the wall. It begins to build a community. If you have a financial services business, or a real estate business, or a tech business, or a nutrition business, what are you doing to build community around your business? Could that be your social media, your website? Your environment, the workplace, the things you mail to your clients thanking them.

• 1:25:25Ed Mylett?

  What are you doing to build community or fellowship in your business? Number two is discipleship or education. What are you doing to build disciples? Which means what does your company believe in? What does it stand for? What's the action that you want to give them? The way you build people who are raving fans and followers is they know what you stand for. They know what you believe in. They know what your mission is. This is the way that you begin to build sort of disciple-type following. And then the second thing is education. Every business can be teaching somebody something. And that's another way you build raving fans and building disciples is by teaching them something. So your business ought to have an educational slant to it in some way. You need to be thinking through how you begin to create that in your business by teaching people things. And that could be just a value proposition. It could be something you stand for. It could be something you mail them, something you teach them.

• 1:26:09Ed Mylett?

  But it begins to build discipleship and education in your business. The third purpose of religion that Rick lists is worship. And we do want people to kind of be in our presence in our business being that in love with who we are and what we do. In religion, they worship a creator. In your business, they're going to worship your cause and your mission and what you stand for. And so it's got to be constantly messaged all the time in some way, shape, or form. Worship is a strong word for really believe. Strong word is to really be connected. A strong word to believe that you're different and unique and special and cause-oriented. People want to be a part of a movement, just so you know, even as a consumer. That's why you'll see people wear the T-shirts of different brands.

• 1:26:49Ed Mylett?

  Anything they can do to say, "I belong here and I belong here because I worship or I believe in the cause. I believe in the mission. I believe in what this company stands for." That could be what the leader stands for, the product stands for, the delivery stands for, the industry stands for. But they need to know what you stand for. "For" is ministry and service is one of the purposes that Rick lists for religion. And that's also true for a business. Businesses exist to solve a problem. Your messaging needs to all the time be about the service that you do because it's how you mobilize people. You mobilize people around that mission. You're going to hear the common theme here of dream, mission, and recognition. And inside this, what are you doing to recognize the people? That are in your service. For example, in a church, if you've ever been to a church,

• 1:27:34Ed Mylett?

  there are people who get identified roles, don't they? There's the pastor, or the priest, or the rabbi, etc. And whatever the religion is, there's also the ushers. There's the people who do the sign-ins. There's the people who lead worship service, who play the music. These are forms of recognition inside the organization. What are you doing to recognize your client? What are you doing to recognize your colleagues? Recognize your recruits at every level, all the time? This is how we begin to build this part of the element of our cult-like religious following. And then lastly, evangelization. Think about all the people who you maybe think are some of the best business people, or most influential people you know. Everybody from, and they're different. Think about this, from Martin Luther King, to Oprah Winfrey, to Mark Cuban, to Steve Jobs, to Mark Zuckerberg,

• 1:28:17Ed Mylett?

  to Elon Musk, to the guy I see on TV all the time. You seen this guy with the pillow, MyPillow? The guy with the mustache, and the blue shirt, and the cross that he's... I don't even know the guy's name, but he's like evangelical for his cause of why his pillow will help you sleep better. And he repeats it over and over and over again. This is a part of building that religious cult-like following, is being evangelical about your company all the time. What do they all have in common? Because they're all different people. Maybe you look at me this way. Maybe it's one of your favorite business leaders, right? One of your favorite influencers. They have that element. We all look different, we all talk different, but we all had a cause that we preached over and over again. And by the way, in no way, shape, or form, am I equating the MyPillow guy with my hero Martin Luther King, or am I equating Oprah Winfrey with myself? My point is, is that any great leader,

• 1:29:02Ed Mylett?

  I'm talking about the best restaurant in your town, there's an experience when you go in there. And that's the part of it I want you to understand. There's got to be an experience in your family to make it special. There's got to be an experience of being in that household. Whether it's where you go, or the environment in your home, or just the spirit that's inside your home, that's an experience. People want to have a great experience that they do business with, right? So what experience are you creating? When they walk in your restaurant, how do they feel? From the very beginning they meet with you, to the end of their meal? What's the experience that you want them to have? In your business, the transaction they make, if you're, say, in the financial services business, what's the experience that you want them to have? Think that through for a minute. From the minute they meet you, through their entire lifetime with you,

• 1:29:47Ed Mylett?

  what's the experience feel like? Because if you want referrals, which is what you say you want, you want new people. People refer people when the experience is blissful, when the experience is amazing, when the experience is unique. Think about the places or businesses you do business with right now that you love the most. Your favorite restaurant, your favorite clothing brand, your favorite influencer on social media. Hopefully me.

• 1:30:14Ed Mylett?

  Right? So what's the experience like? How do they make you feel when you're in their restaurant? When you're consuming their protein product? And maybe that whole experience is how you order it, how you buy it, the note they write you. My friend Andy Frisella, my business partner, they're so specific at First Form, but when you buy that product, everybody gets a handwritten note. There's an experience that's different than just getting it shipped to you. They're creative in how they make people feel, even if it's in a benign transaction. Like a dry cleaners, right? Like a sandwich shop. But it's really important in every business to just make the experience of doing business with you slightly different and more enjoyable and pleasurable than everybody else. In today's world, what distinguishes you more than anything is the experience. It's all the things we've talked about.

• 1:30:59Ed Mylett?

  It's the dream, it's the cause, it's the crusade, it's the recognition. It's all of that wrapped up in what's the experience that people are having when they're with us? Because that's what they will recommend to people is the experience. What makes a great family is the experience. Day to day of that family, it's never perfect, right? There's ups and downs. But what's the spirit and experience in that family? As a mother, what you're creating? What's the experience you're creating as a father for your family? As a business leader, what's the experience? As a pastor of a church, what's the experience there? From when they walk in, to when they walk out, to when they get home and you connect with them through social media or however you connect with them. What's the experience of doing business with you? These are the elements of creating a movement, of creating anything great. These are the ways, I believe, that you create a great family,

• 1:31:44Ed Mylett?

  a great baseball team, a great Girl Scout troop, Boy Scout troop, church or business. These are the elements that create that kind of following. And that greatness about what you're doing. You can do something great with your life. You were born to do something great with your life. Yes, you, driving in your car right now, having that bad day, on the treadmill right now, man, just things aren't going the way you want right now. Maybe you're watching this on YouTube going like, hey, man, I don't even have a business right now. I'm not even sure I am a good dad. I haven't... It doesn't matter. Your past does not equal your future. You were put here to do something great in big ways and small ways. You're supposed to help other people. You're supposed to make a difference. You matter. Listen to me. You matter. Your past does not equal your future. Here's the good news.

• 1:32:27Ed Mylett?

  Your present doesn't equal your future either. You're capable at any time of turning your life around. And if no one's reminded you lately, let me remind you. You're supposed to do something great. You're called to greatness. You're called to something higher than where you are right now. And it's some of these elements that matter in doing it. But more than anything, what matters is you knowing it. You know in your favor. You know you can do something great. You know you're not out of time. You know you can turn your life around. I know it now. You need to know it. In fact, you need to know it deeply because it's true. I promise you. I promise you, I promise you, you can do something great with your life. I'm always here, by the way, to help you do it, to inspire you. But most importantly, probably, to give you the tools to do it.

• 1:33:09Ed Mylett?

  I wouldn't be spending my time for free with millions of people if I didn't think each and every one of you were capable of doing something great with your life. I do this because there's this little part of me that hopes in the... I'm looking at the Pacific Ocean out here. If I'm a drop of water in the ocean of your life that helps you create a wave that makes a difference in the world, I'd love to be that drop of water in the wave of your life. And I know you can be that wave. I know you can transform your own life and other people's lives at the same time.