John Maxwell multi-millionaire best-selling author and one of the world's leading experts on leadership he's the go-to guy for executives at Coca-Cola Walmart NFL IBM and many more he's written over 90 books on personal growth selling over 35 million copies now he's about to break down the irrefutable principles of leadership the laws that make the top 1% of leaders so rich and successful so get ready for this episode because he's going to show you how to use these principles to level up your own life and business talk about your career under the lens of just doing a thing for a long period of time cuz most people struggle to do anything for a week you know I owe that to my father my father is very very successful and he was kind of a one- thing guy this one thing I do I have an older brother that's just very been very successful in business and uh very early on he would kind of watch us and see what he felt our natural uh Tendencies and skills were and by the time that my brother was probably 10 or 11 he had him doing entrepreneur stuff and starting little businesses and and uh and he just said Larry you're just you just are gifted in business and and with me I was kind of a kid that just had a lot of friends I was highly highly highly relational basically I went to school to see my friends and I played ball I mean I was I was kind of a I tell I tell parents if you would have seen me at a young age you'd be greatly encouraged for your child because because where my brother he bought his first car cash by 16 you know I used my father's car up through college as far as I could you know I mean I was just I was just a fun kid but I was highly gifted relationally with people and so I was always I let everything I was just and so my father just said you know John you've got leadership Tendencies so let's let's build those leadership Tendencies so I I want to say that I I think that I was fortunate very young to kind of get on one track and and and I've always said the reason I don't do a lot of things is I'm not very gifted in a lot of things you know I could if if you could just do one thing you just kind of hang there but I knew this I wanted to I what I knew was I didn't even know what the calling or curve was going to be in the beginning but I knew I wanted to spend time with people and add value to them that I loved leading and I loved improving people's lives and I felt that I knew how to do that and so I I started off in Ministry really I started off as a pastor and I was there for 25 years that I crossed over the business Community but here's what I know I fell in leader love with leadership when I was 24 and I came to the conclusion everything Rises and falls on it that if you if you can lead well you're going to do well no matter where you go wherever you are no matter even what your occupation is I so bought into that Dan that I said I think that's I think leadership is worthy of my life and I I bought into it and I said I think that it's true and if it's true then I'm going to teach people to lead well so I'm going to help help lift their lids and I have never looked back what's really beautiful that was see well I'm 77 so that's 53 years ago I believe that everything Rises and falls on leadership more today than when I started and I feel very fortunate I I feel very fortunate to be able to give my life to something that has intensified that has has not ebed away from me to where I thought well maybe that wasn't true in every situation and to give my life to something that helps people so much and that is in the leadership field because I've never been to any organization or any group anywhere in the world that said we have too many good leaders they always have a dir a lack of we need more leaders we need to train more people so I I I I followed my heart and I found something I think that was constantly in need and still is and I I I followed something that really worked and you know you stay in the game because it helps people people I mean people say why are you still in the game there's only one reason I'm in the game what I'm doing is changing lives and helping people why would I get out of the game you know I mean but but you know if if if my game was golf I'd get out of the game but I but but my game isn't and so I love what I do but I also love the people I do it with and I always say that if you have the two loves if you love people in fact I tell leaders when you stop loving people you really need to stop leading them them because then you start taking advantage of them you get an edge on it you don't want so I love people and I love what happens when people learn what I know and that is leadership and it's just uh it's just Joy I I just I I I I honestly could say I've never worked a day in my life I mean I I woke up and I thought about us doing this today and I just got a big smile on my face got to be with Dad I get to be on the podcast we get to talk about things are going to help people and here I am and and I this isn't work this is joy and I think that I'm very fortunate I don't think everybody has that but I think I'm very fortunate and very blessed to have found something that helps people that I love so much and so that's what I mean consistency is not hard I mean once you find something like that you just keep want consistency is not hard getting better is hard so so I I I'm not just at rep I'm not talking about repetition consistency like every day every day no no I'm talking about every day but every day there's Improvement every day there's growth every day there's uh change that happens in a person's so I'm very consistent in leadership but I'm very growth oriented in every day I have to get better at it because the only guarantee anybody's future is going to be good is that they're growing right now I I mean there there's no guarant guarantee that tomorrow could ever be better if I'm not still growing in developing myself today so there is a consistency of I've done leadership but I do leadership much better today than I did 50 years ago you know what in fact in fact I look back at some of my early books and I thought you know can I get fact sometimes I go to the publisher and I say can I buy that book out you know I me be because I've learned so much more now I look and I think oh that wasn't that wasn't near as good as it could have been or should have been so there is a consistency as far as I've done it long time but I tell people you can do something a long time and and people are say they're very consistent but that doesn't mean that you're really helping people you got to constantly grow so there's a I continue to do it but I continue to do it better and I am in love with better I'm in love with growing when I think about my journey on that topic of where I started where I am today same embarrassed some the ways I acted some of the things oh my gosh when you look back on your journey John what what are kind of like three moments that like what did who did you need to become to be the John Maxwell I'm sitting here with today from where you started well you know it's such a good question Dan and really I feel the same way I tell people if they would have seen me in the beginning they would all be greatly encouraged because they really would be my first book wasn't good I mean it just really wasn't good it was my first book but you're never good the first time you know in fact you're usually not not too out the second time either you know but but why do I keep doing it because I I may not be good the first time or the second time but I do want to be good sometime and you're only going to be good sometime if you're working at it and you're practicing and so the Catalyst for me was that when I was in my 20s I had a mentor and he um asked me if I had a personal plan for growth in my life which I did not didn't even know I should have one and he awakened me to the fact that if I was going to really get better I had to be intentional and I would look back at that moment and say that was my Eureka moment uh cuz I kind of thought if you just show up and do your work you kind of improve and and I remember he said to me you know getting older is automatic but getting better is not and and you know just keep breathing and you get older yeah but but he said if you're going to get better and and that awakened me at a very young age and I became extremely intentional in my growth so that's the first area I think the second catalytic time for me Dan was when I asked myself well what I realized when I got on a growth track I thought I can't grow in every area I mean I'm not that smart I don't have that much time I mean how much can you read how how wide can you go and and I decided that with that I didn't want to go wide and growing I wanted to go deep in growing and so that I needed I needed to pick a few spots because first of all I'm not highly gifted so a lot of spots I couldn't do well in if I did learn and so so I sat down for about 14 months I can remember doing this very well I would have been probably 28 29 and I said if I'm going to start writing books I'm going to start helping people where do I really help them and I just studied success I came to conclusion after 14 months that if there are five areas that if I could really get five Lanes going it would help and those five areas are are communication because I I to be successful you really have to be able to communicate connect with people I mean if you're a leader you have to cast Vision you know Warren Buffett said the most important skill that you can have and I think he's right probably is communication to be a buil to connect so I said okay I'm going to I'm going to help people in communication obviously I'm going to help people in leadership I'm going to help people learn how to develop teams and equip people because you know as well as I do if you're going to be if you're going to compound money influence time you you have to have a team so I said I'm going to help people do that I'm going I'm going to help people with attitude just mainly attitude on adversity and difficulty and and how do you work through the the emotionally difficult times in your life because you know how many times do we see people quit when they had all the gifts and all the resources to make it they just emotionally couldn't handle the pressure yeah they dropped so if I can help them with attitude kind of and then and then relationships the ability to really connect people because honestly if you know if you don't get along with people people really won't go along with you so you've got to have some some pretty heavy relationship schools that would be the second AO moment for me you know the first year I've got to be intentional then now I've got to get specific and my books today I've just finished writing my 90th book and they're in those five areas I have five lanes and here's what people I wish we had time to talk about this you figured this out at 28 yeah I did well I that there's a lot of things I didn't figure out I said that now that I said that I said that too quick yes I did that's an honest answer but it it but it took me 14 months to to discover the five things and and I never wrote a book for me I know because people tell me say well I have a story I want to tell and I said well your mother will buy it you got your two sisters I'll buy you got your next door after after you sell the 11 books no one cares they really don't so I've never told of my story it's always about where are you and how can I help you and what I found is the moment you add value to people and they look at you and they say my life is better because of you that is your most important moment in helping develop leadership relationships with people and and and I've spent my life specifically helping people get better I had a lady the other day come to me said I she said I know why you're successful I said good tell me why she said you're very successful helping people become very successful I said yeah I do that that's what I do I help people get better and when you help people get better I don't they're they're yours for life not yours for life like slaves are yours for life as far as connection and relationship and and when people say well how could your book sell so well well it's a John Maxwell book and John Maxwell helps people and he adds value to people oh there's a title well what's the title it doesn't matter it's a John Maxwell book and so that the the ability to find these five Lanes then when you get a Lane obviously you can add more Lanes to it but but so you know in some of my in lead leadership I probably have about a 12 Lane freeway in leadership you know and some things it would be less Lan but I tell people you you pick a lane and get it and then you add another Lane and and and and after a while you can you can move a lot of stuff down the road so that would be the second catalst and and then and and then and the third one was um I really worked hard um getting around great people you know uh we we we hear the phrase hul Lu you know which is you know who who you know is important I I realized very early that I I needed to I needed to get around great people so I did everything in my power to meet people that were bigger than me better than me faster than me smarter than me you know I have an expression that says you know if you're in the Head of the Class you're in the wrong class I have never been in the head of the class in any area I and I still am not I I if I'm at The Head of the Class I get out of that class so quick because if you're at the Head of the Class you all you're doing is talking to people about what you do and and you're not growing and so I I that's why I like to be around people like you and that's why I ask questions I ask questions because you know things I don't know and I'm not going to find out until I ask you questions and I've never lost that appetite to be around people bigger better and faster than me I'm I'm uncomfortable when I'm the head of the class I'm not uncomfortable leading anything but I'm very uncomfortable when I look around and I say wow I think I'm probably I know more than the rest of them because at that moment how are you going to learn more and so I have been very passionate about jumping the fence going anywhere I have to go to meet people and ask them questions because I have this when I'm with somebody and I don't get to ask them questions I feel I walk away and I think there was something they know that I don't know and I didn't get any time with them to ask him the question so I still don't know it and that is very uh I I I every day I I think wow I could have learned more if I could have just had a little more time with somebody and asked them questions and and sat at their feet and take notes and applied it to my life so I think those three things as I look back at it Dan that's where I am today that's I mean that's how it got to to where I am today and they've never changed they've never I mean it's it's again again back to consistency compounds I'm every month I still have a learning lunch where I take somebody bigger better and faster than me it's my favorite thing every month and and and I buy their lunch I don't even eat I just got a list of seven questions and I ask them the seven questions and it's just it I walk when I'm done I look at them and I think you have deposited stuff in me that's going to have a return and hopefully I'll be able to thank you and let you know that you're the one that was the catalytic for but I have I still I would if somebody said what do you want to do what's your favorite thing my favorite thing is learning not writing not speaking not leading my my favorite thing is learning because every time I learn then I have something to give to others you know you can't give what you don't have oh so good my father one more I'm so sorry I'm talking my father who is so great so good he said John keep the well filled keep he said don't don't ever go to the well and have have it empty you got to deposit you got to keep putting stuff in and and he told course the word Maxwell literally it's Scotti Maxwell is really means to fill the well to the Max and so he'd say live up to your name you're a Max well I mean we're not a mini well we're not a half full well we're not like it you know we got an empty well we're a Max well and so he said and he said The only person that can fill your well is you so you that's he taught me how to file every day how to ask questions and so I deposit in my well every day you know thoughts ideas quotes stories I have thousands thousands that I've because I've been doing that since I was 17 and I'm s well I've done that for 60 years so I never run out of material I mean I I always have something to write about I have something to talk about not because I'm brilliant but because you know every day I read every day I think every day I file every day I ask questions and every day I write those are those everyday essentials back to consistency I do those every day so people say how you write 90 books well it's simple every day I read every day I think every day I file every day I ask questions every day I write I mean when you think about it isn't that all simple there's nothing I'm a very simple person there's nothing complex about my life at all but I do it every day and and and but and and I also Dan I don't do it all day I I didn't say all day I write I I think intensity is overrated I think consistency is underrated and you know some days like we're doing the conferences here right now at best I'll get 15 to 20 minutes to write today I I don't get any time Hardley I'm doing stuff that's okay but I do it every day that's the key you know 10 15 minutes every day you put that out for 3 or 4 months you got some pretty serious writing goals going on does that make sense yeah and you said that to me on on that call you go D I've been doing this for 53 years it's not that impressive and I was just like just have to be old got be old and I'm old so that it's working yeah in fact it's really working the longer you live I mean it's it kind of you go whoa you know there so old's not all bad and your I believe your dad lived to 95 no he lived to 98 almost 99 he what where you got the 95 Dan is is he worked fulltime that's what I was asking cuz work ethic that like that must have been a huge influence on you well and again it wasn't worked to my dad it so yeah I mean we grew up and my brother will turn 80 and he he he works and and I you know I work and yeah we work just do it just do it yeah and just do it if somebody's starting from scratch today and like in your situation let's say you're starting from scratch today but we take everything away from you and the goal is to be a bestselling author how would you approach that well I would I would say don't write until you have something to write about I think people write too early I I think that they somebody says you know I got a thought I want to write a book I said you know a thought doesn't fill a book a thought fills a page so you got you got a you got 140 Pages you got 140 thoughts to go you know what I'm saying so what I tell people all the time is don't write a book but start writing and and what you do is you write and put things that you're writing in different subjects or categories and and I uh label everything I write and so if I'm writing on uh on if I'm writing on attitude I'll I'll put you know I wrote maybe a paragraph on attitude I'll file it under attitude just start writing and and start filling up all of these little uh areas of of things that you care about and love and and don't try to don't try to write a book just try to have good thoughts and then after a period of doing that for a few years you really have something now that perhaps has enough maturity to really write it because you know writing shows up writing shows maturity speaking doesn't necessarily but writing does because when you can see something visually you you are much more cutely aware if it's good or not than if you hear it through your ears and so I say speak often when you're young write seldom as far as books and and so I didn't start I start I wrote in I started in 79 so I was born in 47 so I was 32 when I start writing and I and as I look back I probably started writing three or four years at least too early anyway and I'm not trying to discourage me I I don't I'm not discouraging writing I'm discouraging somebody putting it in a book because if you just keep writing good thoughts thinking them through there's a time when you'll have a plethora of good material that you can then start putting on pages that'll just it'll serve you better because you know better and uh you know CU nothing's more embarrassing than my writing I speak and people forget about that but there's books I've got I mean they're still around yeah and I think only I've written 90 books I think only I have three of them out of print and that's so frust I need to have like 30 out of print I really do but they won't go out print because they sell now because of who I am and so when people have that book I don't want to go up and say now let me that's really not that good of a book you know what I'm saying it it because it I didn't know I had a guy one time tell me he said I wish I could have heard you 20 years ago and I said no you don't he said no I really do he said and I said really just trust me you don't need to have heard me 20 years ago and I could tell he was baffled and he said if I would have heard 20 years ago what you taught me today it would change my life I said if you'd heard me 20 years ago you wouldn't have heard what I taught you today I didn't know it then I've learned it and I think that's what the big Miss is I think the big Miss is the fact that what I'm teaching today I didn't know maybe 10 years ago because I'm constantly growing and learning so my material is constantly hopefully getting better more mature and fresh and and I think that's I think that's what really excites me is is not what I knew but what I'm learning and then how how do I pass it on to other people but I mean I didn't come out of my mother's womb with the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership you know that stuff has to evolve but how many books did you write before that oh I I'm going to guess 35 maybe I mean 35 I I I didn't write a good book until my 7th I wrote a book called The Winning attitude which was my seventh book and when I wrote that book all of a sudden I thought starting to really understand how to write well cuz I was a natural uh speaker but I was not a natural writer so I had a lot of people help me a lot of good writers kind of help me and it took me a while I was a little slow to catch on so I I did seven books before The Winning attitude and then I would I probably did another 25 before the 21 laws of leadership and of course that book is it it probably that book today is still the number one leadership book in just do and then I wrote developing the leader within you that was catalic because that was the first book that really said that you can develop yourself as a leader up until that time there was not one book written on leadership that said you can develop yourself as a leader it was basically leaders are born in fact what's really interesting about leadership Dan if you go back to the 1980s and go into a bookstore there's no leadership books in the book store whoa they're management books you know Peter Ducker yeah was and I was privileged he mentored me Peter Ducker was the great management Guru and he owned the world and businesses were buying management books but in the late 80s times were moving so quick things were happening you can't manage speed you got to lead speed and all of a sudden managers were getting frustrated because they were trying to keep things together and and orderly and things were getting not together and messy and that's when there was a call we got to get Beyond management of what is we got to get to leadership what can be and will be we got to get a little bit more futuristic so you really go about you about 1990 and I and that's right when I started I wrote developing leader within you right in maybe 923 that I kind of I was I would to say would be first would not be maybe right but if I wasn't first I was an awful close second or third I I I I saw that and I wrote developing the leader within you then I wrote developing the leaders around you and and immediately it started catching on and and that that you know that kind of then it took off leadership development yeah yeah well your latest book is incredible um talking about you know the United States we more The Divided States High Road Leadership but at the end of the book Because I had it highlighted of just so many things I want to talk to you about but one of my favorite Parts is literally almost like the last five pages you talk about kind of takeaways about people should show up is I will serve you and you mentioned some key people in your life that I want to ask you about as it pertains specifically to you know a lot of people know me as you know the buyback your time guy and productivity um I'm going to mention these names and I'm I'm curious what they mean to you the first one is Linda Edgars who is Linda to the world Linda's with us today you know Linda she's our executive my executive assistant and I think she's been with me for 37 years my gosh we were young and she was is very capable she was good at details and and you know I just said Linda can you help me and she came alongside and helped me I didn't even know how to call her an executive assistant back then it was just back there was kind of secretary can you can you just do some busy work for me and and I watched her do busy work and every time she was doing something that I would have to do she was saving me time back to by back of time that whole process very quickly I realized that activity is not necessarily A accomplishment so but prioritizing what you do it now now you're going to start making some progress and she allowed me to do three or four things that I did exceptionally well of which was giving the return it was it was giving us the return and then she picked up everything else and I watched her and I you know you know the first you give her the calendar and calendar then I said okay now you do the travel and she said the travel and you know it's like every anybody that's anybody that's really good you give them the ball and they run with it and score touchdown you say well let let me give it to you again and and it's kind of like how much how much can I give her I mean I you know Linda can you go speak for me if you can go speak for me you know then she's called timeout I'm not going to go do that for you but I hey but I'll get you to the event and you won't have to worry about tickets or hotels or anything else and and very quickly my calendar my my workload as far as anything that was busy was freed up immediately and within one year with her I was just doing the things that I need to be doing that's going to give the return for myself or for my team that we need and I looked at her and I thought you're my most valuable player and and there will be nobody more valuable than you because I really for a person is there anything more valuable than your time because now now now you can play the game the way you want to have it you know if you don't have margin and you don't have that then it's impossible for you to to go where you need to go I'd like to go there but I can't go there because I got these three things well I don't have these three things she takes those three things so she's just been with me and we laugh and we ask you know how long we how long going to be in the game we we have we're in the game we we love what we do and we love doing it together and and and I what would I ever do without her I mean so much of My Success would be because she ser serves me so well and cares for what I do so much and believes in what I do so much that I'm not I'm not here without Linda I'm not here without her just that simple she's indispensable yeah totally that's beautiful when you think of the impact it's had to your ability to is it a a double a triple I mean or it's I'm not here like when people cuz sometimes they're the s hero behind the scenes that most people don't always and yet they produce the space for us to do the work that everybody else gets to appreciate when you think of the head space the energy the focus the conversations you were able to have well here's what I know um the people that are not seen are the ones that have helped my work to be seen and and and I just want to also say I think I've tried to take good care of her she's very valuable to me and I try to let people know how valuable she is to but I try to take good care of her financially I try why shouldn't I I mean she's been so important to me and and I just think that I think the greatest way I can respect her is to acknowledge how much she's helped me but also make sure that she's very well taken care of because uh that's a big loss I got a I got a lot of people you can lose and you can say next you know what I mean how do you do next with an executive assistance been with you for 37 years who knows you well well you know what funny story one time we were talking and I I was writing a book and I was trying to help leaders be authentic and talk about you know what they don't do well or their weaknesses and so I said Linda I said you know over the next couple days just make a list of the of some of the things I just don't do well I'm just you know I'm just it's not my gift and I kind of mess it up if I do it and just kind you know take a couple days and just you know write down a few things that I don't do really well and then give them to me and I'll put them in a book to let people know that you can be very successful and yet there are some things you don't do very well it was so funny Dan she said well I don't need a few days she said I can tell you right now I said I said well you mean you can tell me right now oh she said no no no she said you got to you here here start writing these things down and she's going down this and I'm going listen wait wait can you not even act like well yeah I'll have to think about these things no she I mean she's guess why she's lived with them and she does know me and there's something beautiful about people who know you know your weaknesses your strengths your humanness and that they love you and they believe in you and they help you and they support you and we've laughed about that a lot but I think it's very true that you're Inner Circle the people that are closest to you they see your highest moment but they also see your lowest they they you know they see they see the wind but they also see the valley when you're going through some very difficult times and I kind of love having people around me that care for me enough that you know we can talk about it and work through it and I can ask their advice you know last night at the table I had a couple of my well I had her and I had Aon my content creator and I was just asking them questions that help me help me become more aware about this or what am I missing and and I find that they are huge assets because I I really not sure a person is self-aware uh I think the self-awareness I have is because somebody came into my life that cared for me enough to deal with the blind spots for me I I mean I think self-awareness my self-awareness mainly is me asking my team to help me with my blind spots and the things that I don't see automatically and I think we have to get permission of people to do that I I I I think that I think that's I think people will not share honestly with you unless you really want to hear from them and you know I'm 77 I look at my team all the time and say now look if you see me starting to slip you raise your hand because I my observation is people stay too long I mean look at athletes that you know you know they play two or three years after they hit their Peak and and and and and I don't want to do that and I think people stay too long because they don't have somebody tell them that they're they're staying too long and and I I I I want I want people around me to talk to me and be open and honest with me because I want to do it right and I want to do it well but I don't I don't want to start sliding and and and yeah I just think that they can help me in that area I want them to help me because I need it I I love that you ask for advice you know one of the other things that um you talked about and you just mentioned her Aaron Miller she's another name in char because you told me you said one time you said there are speakers who or there's authors who speak and then there speakers who write yes and have people and support you you mentioned Aon your content person so I met her last time I was at this event and I was just blown away and I I went and hired my Aaron Miller so I've got Joel Harrison he's on my team they' talked thank you for that and that'll make it that'll help well well tell tell the world about how you collaborate on Creative projects cuz that's again buying back your time it's like sometimes it's it's a better product it's how have you set up your book writing 90 books share with the world kind of how that works well first of all I I I hired her by accident she was already on the team and she was one of our coaching conferences that we're here right now in Orlando and every year I every every time we bring our coaches together there's one talk I give every new coach and that is what's the DNA of of a John Maxwell coach what what what's what's our culture what do we look like in fact I gave that yesterday and so she'd been at about three coaching conferences and she' heard me she came up one time to me and uh she said would it would it be okay if you just gave me that talk and she said I have a couple ideas that maybe I could just and I said sure have at it I gave her that talk and about two days later she brought it back with about a half a dozen much better thoughts and ideas than what I was giving and I looked at her I said you did this she said yeah she said I just was kind of wanted to nicely said upgrade you a little bit and and freshen you up well I said this is good and then that's the day I realized that she could do it I would I honestly that's how and I look at I gave her something else can can you upgrade this and she upgraded that and after about three or four I looked to mark I said Mark you need somebody I need somebody to help us here we've got somebody already on the we just didn't realize it and so then we of course then she became official content curator and she is brilliant in three areas and I think content creators are all different I mean I think some content creators are great researchers they're just really great researchers when I started off with Charlie I said I don't need a lot of material and who is Charlie for the rest of the world Charlie's my word Smith guy he's been with me for 30 years whenever there's a derivative project Charlie does all of that for me he's just major help for me he's been with me for a long time but but I said Charlie I I I want you to do research for me but I don't need a lot of research I so if I'm going to deal on leadership I don't need 500 pages on leadership you got to figure out what I what I want out of research but you got to help them narrow down so I took quote books with Charlie and I said you I want you to Mark what you think are the good quotes in this book and so he marked him and then I looked at him and I marked him and we were about 80% different so then I sat down with him and I said Charlie you like that quote let me tell you why I would never use that quote and I started walking him through what fits me and what doesn't fit me because I don't want him to bring me material on a subject I want him to bring me material on a subject that I can immediately apply and use we did that for three books and by three books we were about 80% together on it so you have to you you have to teach them you have to you literally teach your content people I know that's the subject we're looking at but there are certain parts of that subject I'm never going to talk about or I'm not very interested in so you have to spend what I call a lot of time with them in the beginning for them to it's like Linda with letters and now emails you know in the beginning I'd said now here's how I would write that letter and here's why I would say that and then after a while she'd write and she'd look at and I'd say okay I everything I wouldn't say that and you know you just do that after a while now she takes care of everything but so so I think there's a I don't I think there's a Um passion and uh patience is needed to make sure that they are on the same wavelength that you're on fortunately for Aon she'd been around the team long enough she already kind of knew me better and so she kind of that was she was she was much quicker but but she's brilliant in three things she's brilliant in taking something I said way over here to the right and something I'm doing here to the left and saying that fits she is she she can find the pieces from different places in fact I told her the other day I said your memory she'll said remember when you talked about this and well yeah yeah well well you know if we pulled that out we could put that over there so she has a a a high gift of being able to take things I've said somewhere else and putting them in something I'm doing right now which is absolutely she's extremely good on that the second thing that she's really brilliant in is she can take something I have said and she can elaborate it and pull it out and make it better so she can work it she can work it now I'm a pretty good work a phrase person myself but what she does she doesn't work a phrase dynamically like I do but she works her phrase practically to where but that's going to help help them that's where they live you got to understand because I have a tendency sometimes to be you follow me success has a a gap in it a lot of times she's here and I'm and she said no no John these people are wondering they're not asking that question or asking this question so she she kind of speaks for the person that's in the seat a little bit more than what I I would have a tendency maybe to skip it or feel oh man that's kind of basic we we we we don't want we don't want to go go go there at all and the third thing that she has really a good ability to do is take what we're doing and figure out what we could do with it next oh you know what would happen if we went over and did that later on that is a high gift that's a high it's kind of like a leadership creative gift that I think most people now those are her three I mean she does word Smith for me there's a lot of things that she doesn't do because it's not in her strength but what I'm wanting for is a thought provoker and some they could you know throw it out and so I'll talk to her I'll say here's a subject we want to do I gave her one the other day I said do find some stuff on servant hood and some stuff on some just some vulnerability for me and and what what she what she could do is she can find it but she can say do you remember when you did that you were very vulnerable there that would be a good illustration that you could use so they're worth their weight and gold oh one other thing she does very well is when I'm speaking and she takes copious notes yeah because I speak I watched her in fact just stand in for she didn't look she didn't sbody in room and you can't talk to her she's like nope yeah and what she's doing is she's gleaning go because when I speak I naturally speak and I I boom boom I I think on my feet while I talk and and so I'll say things I've never said before she catches it I I say she's a gold catcher yeah you know because at the end of it really Dan if you at the end of me ask me now you said something was really creative i' don't cat you I can't I can't pull it out I I that's how quick I say it and I move it on but she she catches it in thousands of ideas and thoughts she's caught the other day she said I was speaking and she said I got about four things for you out of that talk that you haven't said before well that's what's the worth of that it's huge wow so I'm very grateful and I'm so glad that I'm so glad that you found your you know your to because I'll tell you what dad they're they are worth their weight in gold too I thought I was pretty good at like buying back my time in all these creative areas and I saw that and I was like John that is fascinating and it was what you just said about the idea of listening to my talk because sometimes I get off stage and people are like oh I love that thing you said I'm like I don't remember saying that oh and and I and and that would just go into The Ether and I would never be able to reuse it so having Joel around to watch my talks and collaborate with and it's more fun I mean that's to me fun is is good um the third person I wanted to ask you about because a lot of entrepreneurs watch my stuff and you know they have this Vision someday wouldn't it be cool if I could just do the thing I do and have somebody run the Thing Mark Cole the CEO you've been again somebody's been in your life for a long time I think Mark's been with me 23 for years beautiful talk talk to me about Mark how you found him what and and I believe he said something to you that is you said this in your book your most recent book you said he made a commitment to me that he'd always put me at the priority of things to support the vision or something like that yeah well when I think of Mark it's very humbling to even talk about him I I didn't find him we hired him and we hired him to work in a stock room the very I mean we just I didn't even know him probably for three years the company I mean body hired him so he's in there and then I started hearing people talk about him I before I ever met him they they just talk about how they liked working with him and he was now already moving up out of the stock room and and and it was kind of like marcole well and and I'd ask about him they say well he's he's a good leader and people love him and they really care for him so finally he started to get my attention and and so when I met him I thought yeah this this kid's got some he's got some real good potential but we really let him work himself all the way up through the I mean we it wasn't like a fast climb it's just everywhere he went where he was it did well and everybody that he was with loved him and was push it was kind of like they were pushing him up and so marks at the next spot the next spot and so so finally I had him start traveling with me a little bit so that I could get to know him better when I got to know him better I thought now I'm starting to understand why these people really like him so he started getting closer got in started getting in my inner circle I kept giving him more responsibility extremely he's a finisher he's a make it happen person and one day I looked and I said this guy just like Linda can take care of all of my busy stuff that I want to get off now this guy can start unloading some of the important things that I'm doing as a leader what he really did is he started taking the leadership responsibilities off of me because although I lead very well I make rain when I write and when I speak yeah a lot of people can lead a company but not a lot of people can make the Reign that that I can make either through speaking or or writing so now I'm saying I love to lead I love leadership but now I'm giving up things I really I that I'm good at but but he's as good at and in many ways better than I am was that hard yeah and so I so you know again when you start giving up in the beginning you give up all the busy stuff but the harder I always say the higher you climb the hard is to give up because after a while you're giving up stuff that you really like to do yourself and that you're good at yourself and you're say but I can do that well that is the question not can I do it but can someone else do it because somebody else can if somebody else can do what you're doing you need to get rid of it as quick as possible you need to be doing what no one else can do that that's that's the distinctive that you're going for the man just loves me and cares a total trustworthy and puts me always first he he being a second person is an honor to him it's not like I think I'm good enough I ought to be first and and I've had a lot of second people that I said you need to go be your own CEO because you are good and you don't you don't and Mark can do the same thing and of course he gives him more I give him more and more now he really has uh so much of the I mean he's part owner of the company and it's all it's going to be a handoff to him but the thing that makes mark so incredible and so humbling to me is that he lives lives to serve me and there's never been a time in my life I question his motives there's never been a time I looked at said no what's happening over there total complete trust you know uh and the only way you can give complete trust is uh you know you you can't can't trust what hasn't been tested has to be tested so people say will you trust him well I can give you initial trust just based on I will trust you as a person but you're going to have to it's going to have to be tested we're going to have to see if if during all times you're you're trustworthy he is and I probably the greatest thing I could say about him and is because he is that way the people he leads are that way and so the environment is extremely safe and the environment is whole it's not dysfunctional and uh he has created people who care greatly about what we're doing and um he's he's been a phenomenal asset and now I'm enjoying mentoring him and his leadership level and you know it's one thing to it's one thing for your second person to lead through you and go and say well here's what Dan wants and there's another time when no longer Dan's in the scene here's what I want when that handoff all of a sudden because it if it's from Dan there yeah we got it if it's from John we got it but all of a sudden now it's from Mark so I said now Mark you're going to your leadership's going to be tested it has to stand on its own to a great you know it's kind of like I can get you in the room with all my peers but I you I can't keep you in the room you you got to keep yourself in the room and so we just one of when we started we started say we're going to do this handoff I said you write down the things you need from me and I'm going to write down the things I need from you and let's have a talk and there were I think there were nine things he needed from me I think there were maybe 10 things I needed from him we just had open conference can I can can can you give that to me can I receive that from you but back and forth and it was a very healthy kind of like handoff exercise that we go over we still go over it every once we go back and say now are we still being true to that list and have we done it well and and and is there something we need to add to the list or maybe something now I a lot of things of the nine things he needed for me probably now he needs maybe three or four of them he doesn't need them all because he's it's been tested yeah and so but but I think that kind of understanding in transitioning is wise instead of just transitioning yeah I like I like to put some thought behind it what's your style because you talked about this with Linda Aaron Charlie and even Mark what's your process when you let go cuz that's the biggest fear people like letting go and then something happens and you've got to sit down and help correct them what's your thinking behind it without being upset trying to be supportive well I think in any type of transition the first thing you say to that person is we're going to have some tough conversations because you can't transition and Han a baton off and it Go all well I mean that's not a possibility so let's let's just hey the great news is I think you are capable of this the bad news is we're going to have some big boy big girl conversations about you didn't pull this off like you needed to and and my whole thing is please let me interrupt you quickly let's not wait for our three-month review and then we go now there two or three things I'm observing I don't like that I if there's if I see something I want to walk into it immediately and say now I may see this wrong but look here's what I saw did I miss something I love um almost uh you know many years ago uh Kim Blanchard wrote a great book He's a wonderful wonderful person called management by walking around or something like that I I like leadership by walking around and so if if there's something that Charlie Linda Aon mark my inner circle people that I S think is a Miss we we we talk about right now we we don't we don't wait for like the right time or the right the right time is now and by the way they do they have the same opportunity for me in fact when I'm done I I'll look at a lot of time say now what am I missing what what am I missing and a lot of times they'll say well I think you're missing this John and we have this relationship that we can be very open and free with each other quickly because I think that the problem is never the problem the problem is you didn't solve it quick enough oh you can wait to tell me your victories but you can't wait to tell me your defeats I want to hear those now I I and the reason is most of the time I remember one time with Charlie uh things were not moving on his side as quick as I wanted to on a book and so one night I was somewhere I was traveling and I called I said Charlie I said I'm not catch it's been about a week and a half I'm not getting anything from you on this book and he said yeah I said I'm in a writer's block right now I said well tell me about it so he started talking about I promise you in 20 minutes I got him through the writer's block I I I said well here's what you go here da da da da and and it just open it up for him and then we I said let me say something Charlie how long have you carried that he said well I carried it for probably about a week I said that's we we lost a week Charlie now Charlie is carrying it because he's responsible Char Charlie he he wants he wants to bring it home himself well of course I want that kind I want people that want to bring it home but I don't want people who want to bring it home and they delaying the process for 3 Days bring it to me don't bring it home bring it to me and let me see if I can jump in and I think we all know that and we're all comfortable with that and it doesn't bother me at all for them to look at me and say John you know have you ever thought of doing this well no I haven't well so I like kind of the um I like the caring enough for a person that you don't carry stuff but you share stuff and I think that's I think that's a culture that we've created and it serves it really serves us really well and I would say this I would say they do this to me as much as I do that to them I mean they they they feel very at home to come in and say you know I think there was a Miss there and they say yeah well let's talk about it and and I think that that's very healthy and what I'm I'm a very impatient person that's one of my huge weaknesses and I'm a get it done person and if there's some kind of delay over here and it's because we're not having conversation that delay is a worthless delay let's have conversation now and see if we can fix it now or at least start creating a way to fix it the gold you just said for everybody I want them to hear this is the the permission to catch it early like just letting them know I'd rather be in that that mood that's so so gen yeah I remember with my first executive assistant I said let me tell you something when you see me doing something you think I'm doing wrong please tell me I don't need a historian I I don't need somebody so you know what when you did that 4 days ago I wonder about that can I tell you didn't help me at all if you wonder about it ask me now while I'm doing it to stop me from because there's a high possibility you saw something I didn't see I think that is very important so I I have to have people around me that know that I unconditionally love them but are secure you know I if somebody is not secure they probably would have a difficult time on our team because we're going to have tough conversations but tough conversations are they're tough because we have a problem we're not they're not tough because you're a problem and so there's a difference and so let's deal with the issue and then can we please move on I mean do we now do we need to go to therapy and have three weeks of what we did three I mean because I am a I am a fix it and move on but you you can't look here and go there and so I am once it's fixed do we have to talk about this anymore let's keep let's go to the next step on that Vision I love the the way you cued that up Faith is a big part of obviously where you came from but even at this event all the people around you there's a lot of people that are struggle in the world right now that are still they're lacking their belief what would you say to these people that have not come to God yet that are still wondering where they gosh Dan you know I've walked with God and had a relationship with him since I was 17 so for 60 years so it's hard for me to imagine my life without God I mean he is so essential he's the source of my life and he's the joy of my life and uh I'm very careful this we don't have Christian companies our coaching company is a it's not a Christian we have beautiful people from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures and faith and they're absolutely welcome I value all of them because God values everybody yeah so I don't value people that just do what I do or think like I think I value everybody because God created them so for me to I can't imagine my life without God because he's so much a part of my life what I try to help people understand is this you and I have uh in fact I want to talk about this tomorrow and one of my teachings you and I have potential giftedness opportunities and I love people who try to maximize I try to maximize my potential you try to maximize your potential people that do well they try to Steward and maximize their potential but in my faith relationship with God I understand there are things he can do that I cannot do and it's it's it's it's what I call God room when I get to at the top of my potential it's like the ceiling it's the best I can do honestly that's God's floor and the moment that I understand that when I get there God can take over and he can do something in my life for my life through my life that is so much more important and so much more helpful and I just become extremely grateful ful and Reliant upon him to be the Difference Maker and I watch him be the Difference Maker and when I need wisdom I ask him I have I have a lot of friends I have a beautiful atheist friend and we were talking one day and I said I I know I know you don't believe in God that's okay it's all right I said I I know you don't believe in God but but you sure do miss him don't you of course he misses it you know everybody misses God because they're born to know him they were born to have a relationship with him and until they do if they're honest with themselves there's something in their life that just Falls a little short of what they want and I know that so what I try to do is just love people unconditionally and wait for the moment when they come to that realization like there is something more and when they do I my name is John I'm their friend I I said well I know what it is and and I can help you and I have incredible opportunities to help many many many manyon people know God and it's a it's a it's a real honor it's a real Joy because once that happens then they see this incredible asset I mean it's it's kind of like the god asset I mean okay you can can you do something without him of course you can do something without him but it's a lot easier with him would you like for him to sit beside you and kind of you know do a little with you and so it's hard hard for me to manage my life without God because he's been so important in my life and I but God really has given me a major gift of of caring for people where they are and then helping them find God and we've seen literally in my life I've seen thousands of thousands of people really come into a relationship with him and that's my great that's my greatest joy I mean if somebody said what's your greatest joy my greatest joy is introducing somebody to him because once they know him that this now we're on a whole different level of change and transformation person's life so true John you U you've been an incredible uh example for me and just uh there's very few people that when I meet um I see a person like the character traits of just the way you love people it's just at first I was like it's not possible and then where I spend time with you I'm like you really are that way I do love it yeah and you don't judge people because they were created by God and the way you show up for your for your team and for your for the people at this event and just for anybody you meet just your curiosity it's um you're an incredible uh role model for me so I just want to thank you for being on the show well I want to thank you for being my friend because we're we're new friends and we've not been able to spend as much time together as I want but I I I I know God brought us together I I'm not trying to be mystical but when I met you I said what can I say one more thing yeah in 1981 I began to see what I thought God had planned for my life the vision and it was very overwhelming and it was much bigger than me and so I was very open with him and I I I I I said I'm willing to to to be obedient but it's way over my head and the only way that that could ever be pulled off God is you're going to have to bring people into my life that are bigger than me and better than me to help me you're just going to have to I I don't have that kind of capacity so I began in 1981 every day asking God every day which I've done for many years now send me people that you know I need that I can't do it without them send me and I just send me some winners I got to have some winners and over these many years now well gosh that that would have been 50 you know three years ago or 43 years he's done that and I I I can point to hundreds of people where I just say you're a gift from God to me and when I met you I knew you were a gift of God for me I I knew he I didn't deserve you I didn't even find you our good friend had myet kind of put us together and and of course that's one of those people in my life too but I looked at you and God said yeah yeah Dad is one of the guys he's he's a gift to you and I it's it's very humbling because then what happens when all these great things happen that are happening in my life that are not kind of Beyond explainable there is absolutely no like Pride Factor at all to I mean I I'm proud of what we're accomplishing but there's because I look around say the only reason that happened is because God sent people into my life to help me make it happen that the it's and so I get very grateful for the people that he sent me but I never ever have taken a personal like look what I did or look I built this team I just kind of accepted the team that that he brought to me and that's going to be too mystical for a lot of people but I would just tell them that if that you with a with a relationship with God you'll see things happen that you'll never explain but you sure will appreciate so good John thanks thanks for being here thanks man great appreciate it amazing