Transcript for:
Maxwell Leadership Podcast: Leadership Blind Spots

[Music] welcome back to the Maxwell leadership podcast our goal is to add value to leaders who multiply value to others I'm so glad you're joining us today my name is Mark Cole and this week's episode is all about leadership blind spots I don't know about you but one of my greatest concerns as a leader is what am I missing John M is going to share a lesson that will help you become aware of areas in your leadership where blind spots may be present so that you can take action after his lesson Chris go will be joining me and we'll begin to talk about some of those blind spots and how we can apply what we've learned to our life and Leadership if you would like to download the free bonus resource this for this episode or even watch this episode on YouTube visit Maxwell podcast.com blindspots okay get ready here we go here is John [Music] Maxwell the blind spot I think is an area in the lives of people in which they continually do not see themselves and I left that blank that continually because that's such an important part of understanding a blind spot it's an area in the lives of people in which they not from your perspective but from their perspective you motivate and Lead others not from how you feel about something but how other people feel about something and so the ability to have a wide perspective is the greatest asset a leader has well the blind spot is when a person has a leadership position and they have a singular perspective and what I have discovered is a blind spot for leaders is when they have a singular perspective and they read every situation and every person from how they see from their perspective for probably the first five six years of my leadership I was so focused on how I felt about things and what I believed about things that I really was not a consensus leader I just absolutely said this is right this is it this is my conviction this is what I believe this is where I'm going this is the goal go to the mountain and I had a very very singular perspective in my life and it was becoming a blind spot in fact my motto was save time See It My Way followers are inward focused basically the follower question is always how will this affect me leaders are outward focused and they have to be asking the question all the time how will this affect others what happens to leaders is that when they have a singular perspective their followers get nervous on them eventually because they say he doesn't understand he doesn't see he has not considered and they begin to get very insecure with that kind of leadership because they're viewpoints or their thoughts or their ideas or their input have it at all been validated and it creates an enormous gap between the leader and the follower okay number two is insecurity major blind spot I think among leaders insecure leaders are a detriment to themselves and to their organization at which they lead they Place their followers in Jeopardy they place the organization in Jeopardy they even Place themselves in Jeopardy insecurity causes the leader to think only of himself well this is a very key phrase and the very essence of leadership is others and therein is the blind spot you have never met an insecure person who was other focused insecure people are absolutely how's it going to affect me how do people think about me how do they perceive me how did I do they are constantly doing inward checks which is the anti IIs of what leadership is all about so insecure people have major blind spots because they can never get away from themselves long enough to see others and so therefore they're very very vulnerable two basic blind spots we've talked about with leaders one a singular perspective number two insecurity number three as I look at leaders and again try to generalize or put in a common pool things that I think leaders have blind spots in I think number three is without any question my mind would fit into category that's devaluing people leaders who devalue other people will constantly have blind spots let me give you these thoughts on leaders here leaders who value their people give them their best effort leaders who devalue their people give them their least effort can I tell you that is an absolute fact when you and I as Leaders devalue people I have never known a leader who devalues people who gave them his or her best it is not in the DNA in fact here's what I have always said a leader will give his or her effort based upon his or her evaluation of the people they lead how I evaluate you will determine my effort I give to you that is a fact and when you devalue people the blind spot becomes huge in your life because the effort you give is going to be corresponding to how you see them leaders who value their people serve their people or leaders who devalue their people want to be served by their people leaders who value their people Empower them leaders who devalue their people control them leaders who value their people motivate them leaders who devalue their people manipulate them okay let's go to the fourth blind spot of many leaders and ego out of control many many leaders pride and ego has been their blind spot and John Ruskin was exactly right when he said pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes and I've often said the biggest mistake a leader makes is not admitting that the leader made the mistake the cover up and what causes that is ego and pride you see pride is concerned about who's right humility is concerned about what's right two different agendas what does pride do in a leader pride is costly destructive it's the inverse of humility instead of taking responsibility you blame others instead of being objective you live in denial instead of being open-minded and receptive you're closed-minded and defensive instead of team spirit you end up with low morale boy this is so true about prideful ego outof control leaders instead of being connected you find yourself out of touch with the client customer or the community of people you're trying to reach number five a lack of character and in your notes I talk about character protects your talent the thing about character is what it does is it doesn't make you a leader but what it does is it protects you as a leader now here's the key when values thoughts feelings and actions are in alignment a person becomes focused and their character is strengthened and character is the sum total of all our everyday choices the sixth basic blind spot for leaders is living in our weak Zone instead of our strength Zone here's the statement that is so key to the blind spot lesson here we go people are intuitive in the area of their strengths so let me just talk to you a moment what about this I can win a 100 yard dash against the fastest person in the world the Olympic gold medal winner whoever that person might be at this time I can win a 100 yard dash if they give me a 90 yard Head Start the ability to sense and get moving before others sense and get moving is the greatest Advantage a leader has can I tell you something leaders have an intuitiveness about moves that should be made and decisions that should be made quicker than somebody else now here's what I want you to catch we're intuitive in the area of our strengths so when a person comes up to me and they say I'm not intuitive that's not true at all you're intuitive but let me tell you where you are intuitive you're intuitive in the area of your giftedness in the area of your strengths let me tell you what you're not intuitive in the area of your weaknesses and that's where the blind spots occur it's not in my strengths it's in my weaknesses that's where I get hit broadside and say what in the heck happened I didn't even have a clue this was going to appear here so therefore when you think of leadership and blind spot if you're in your strength Zone you're going to kind of sense it probably before other sense it but if you're in your weak Zone you're going to be the last person in the room to figure it out that's why I have for your notes blind spots are in areas of our weakness okay that's very important hey podcast listeners many of you listening right now would probably love the autonomy that comes with owning your own business or becoming a coach that helps other businesses succeed well we have a phenomenal strategy where you are 100% in control of your own business earning income on your own terms and have access to the people tools and resources you need to build a thriving leadership development business when you become a Maxwell leadership certified team member you join a global community of entrepreneurs led by our expert team of mentors and faculty including John C Maxwell you'll also get one of the top leadership certifications in the world next to your name giving you the Boost you need to get started visit us online at Maxwell leadership.com SL jooin the team to find out more hey welcome back everyone I'm I'm uh really really excited about this lesson our our team meetings and you talk about hey the first thing we need to do as Leaders is Define reality now you're talking about the organization in that moment but how true is that for our individual leadership side of things and you say when you're talking to the team we got to Define reality because if not we're going to damage whatever we're working on or influence or whatever it's the same thing with you know your own personal growth and your own personal blind spots how do we Define reality and the hard part about that is uh is that and you you mention we have led for several years both of us are still in our 20s but when the longer we have led right the more that we are uh we feel competent and and the more we grow our competence there's thing there's two things that happen number one we become unaware of what our blind spots are and then number two I think our blind spots change because we're growing and we're getting more confident in certain areas and if we're not careful we're not aware to your point you and I are both guilty of this and we've worked with a lot of leaders where they've left some they've left some damage in in the wake and I think we got to become become aware of that I'll say this Chris and then we'll jump into some questions and thoughts that you and I have I was just on the phone this week with Craig Rochelle now he's been on this podcast he helped us with our High Road Leadership book launch recently by the way if you're watching the the podcast on YouTube I'm holding up the book I've got an idea that I want to share with you about this book a little bit later but I was talking with Craig this week and Craig's without doubt and question the most successful Faith leader in the United States leading the largest church um his podcast by the way is incredible you ask me what podcast do I listen to the first one I'll tell you after hours of course is uh is Craig grell's leadership podcast it's brilliant every time I listen to it it's incredible I was on the phone uh yesterday day before with John Maxwell both of them in conversation uniquely enough in preparation for today were saying hey Mark what am I missing right here Craig had an invitation to speak at a group and he was like Hey I noticed John did but I had a little bit of question what am I missing here here's the point I don't care how successful you are at the at your game if you want to sustain success you better be asking the question what am I missing here you better be doing a diagnostic on what are my blind spots this lesson is incredibly important to all of us as Leaders it is really good and and you got to challenge yourself because you again as we get older we get more comfortable not everybody gravitates towards like what Craig and John did what am I missing here they don't they don't want that feedback and so what we're hoping to do today is is just encourage you to do that it's something that uh we all need to be doing on a continual basis and Mark and I talked and there's there's three of of the points that John talked about that we really just want to unpack a little bit for you the first one is we really want to talk about this singular perspective and I see this a ton you see this as well I think I can even get into that mode sometimes um because I have a uh I think all of us a confirmation bias and that's what John was talking about early on in his career right he he may have an idea and then he may be asking people thoughts but he's looking for people that align with that thought that perspective to kind of grasp what that looks like and then there's a disconnect right in between the leader and their teams or their people their family or whatever it might be and their perspective and and it's our job as a as a leader uh to close that Gap around the perspective I was reading this uh study and I went back and when I knew we were going to talk about this I went back and pulled this statistic I thought it was really interesting it's a corn fairy study and it said 92% of leaders that work to develop their EQ so they're working they're growing one of our values here when they do that they have high performing teams I was like okay so that's interesting so what is EQ in essence it is being open a lot of things the skills to be able to to take in others perspectives to be able to ask questions to be able to to to look look at yourself and assess yourself so 92% that continue to work on their EQ Sky side have high performing teams because they're open to perspectives that's interesting so that that builds off of what John was talking about and you and I there's a couple statements that John talked about here we both have highlighted we want to talk a little bit about this and and from your seat you have experience of being around a lot of leaders led a lot of teams um you have been singularly P perspective at times so have I you've also then done the other and that's really where you try to goow in talk to us a little bit about your philosophy behind that and the importance of that not only in your personal growth for your blind spot but then also in the areas of your responsibility uh on behalf of John you know so here's what's interesting Chris as we look at the six that John shared with us today on this podcast the one I struggle with the most is the singular perspective now I feel like because of my Rel ational skills and my bent on serving others and making others the hero and I do have a natural bent my dad did it his parents did it I have this multi-generational model of serving others we've just been in the service-based industry right or the service-based world so I can get really good at seeing the perspective from other people's point of view so that's not really the struggle although we're talking about is a blind spot a lot of leaders can it's my way or the highway John John made a quote uh John made a quote here that says we can save time see it my way oh I want to ask John did you really learn that or did you catch that because sometimes it still feels like you might think like that that's a conversation for John and I have on another day I am extraordinarily driven I mean high intensity High passion but I don't have to be reminded at most of the time I don't have to be reminded Mark are you looking at this through other people's perspective however here's where the blind spot about this comes from a Leader's responsibility is to lead from her or his Vantage Point not the vantage point of others and sometimes this is how I overplay this blind spot I spend more time after relating with people trying to lead the people from where they are which is good we teach that it's been on this podcast a lot but not from the vantage point of where I believe they could and should go I overplay allow too much weight on me to paralyze me to lead because I look for people's perspective too often and while that's not asking that's not the blind spot necessarily that John's talking about the effectiveness of understanding the blind spot of where people are and how you can connect with them is why to get them to the next level of Effectiveness and too often we F we we sacrifice the potential of a room that we're in and where we could go because we're too busy working hard on relating with where they are you got to know where they are but it's just to get you prepared to take them where they want to go and too often when we either are naturally bent to think about the world through other people's perspective or we over discipline oursel to think about the perspective of other people we let that be the end result and that's only a tool to get the result of taking a group of people where they need to go yeah so this this is a great point I want to pack it just a little bit um how have you grown in that area right like uh this even makes me think about back where you've shared this before with John is like hey Mark like you know do do you want to lead or be liked right like where and in order we want to do both right but but what you're talking about now is is from a perspective Point understanding where they're at from their perspective to go meet them there you hear John say all the time you got to go you got to go find your people and that's that's what you're saying and then so just unpack a little bit about then how have you grown in that area and then now what do you strategically do to understand their perspective because we believe everybody needs to to be led well everybody deserves to be led well and order to do that everybody needs to be led differently because they have different perspectives so you can get where they're at and then you learned and have grown to move them to a bigger perspective which by the way may not just be your perspective it may be our perspective once you know the rising tide raises all boats talk to us about how you've done that cuz that's interesting I had thought about it this comment like that till you just explained it well and so every time every time this this I wish John were here in studio with us today every time we have a challenge that I the leader needs to run people through John says I'm not taking any time with you on helping you to connect with the people and get them where they need to go Mark you are better than me thank you John you are better than me and that I have nothing to offer you will go and relationally connect with where people are your challenge is is once you connect with them a little bit of what I was just saying once you connect with them you often times come out of the meetings and say hey John I got my point across they heard me and he's going okay they heard you and did what right they heard you and discovered what about themselves and too often times this is this is a vulnerable moment for me but you guys love my vulnerability too often times I go into a very difficult meeting in other words we're leading through a difficult challenge we're we're really working through the team's not doing what they should do we're not we're not moving the way we need to go I walk into a meeting and I walk out of that meeting feeling awesome because I connected with them and they even gave me some nods that we agreed on the problem but 15 minutes after the meeting I realized I'm heavy after the meeting than I was before the meeting here's why I connected with them they related with me they felt appreciated by me but they didn't feel tasked by me so I walked out of the meeting with greater Clarity but no less load and as a leader when you walk into a room and there is a challenge your blind spot often makes you be ships passing in the night you never even connect with them there's others of us perhaps some of you relate we connect we got it but we walked out of the room carrying the load rather than sharing the load and a Leader's responsibility when they connect with people is not just to have a Kumbaya great relational time oh I'm not missing you I don't have a blind spot I know where you are you know where I am it's to move the ball forward together as a team rather than walking out of that room and like I do often 15 minutes later I still feel the same heavy load are you ready to elevate your leadership to new heights join the movement towards High Road Leadership with John C Maxwell's latest book in High Road Leadership John explores the power of valuing all people doing the right things for the right reasons and placing others above personal agendas learn how to inspire positive change and bring people together in a world that divides order now and receive exclusive bonuses including a keynote on High Road Leadership by John Maxwell himself and a sneak peek into three three impactful chapters take the first step towards becoming a highroad leader visit highroad leadership book.com to order your copy [Music] today you just said move the ball and that's exactly where I was going to go which is how do you get to a point where you instead of additional Clarity which by the way is needed uh a a reimagining uh communication of the vision which is needed the real question is and I think what you're talking about is here where did you move them in that meeting because what you're feeling is that 5 10 15 minutes later you're like oh that was awesome let's go get them and then you're like wait a minute we're still in the same spot we're still in the exact same spot and now when am I going to get in front of them again we I going to do that so I love that and I think the power of this in this blind spot let me just recap this for you about John saying man listen the problem with us as Leaders is we do have a singular perspective for Mark Mark's sharing hey I am gifted in the area right that God's given me a gift that I can go and understand their perspective and then now I'm working and has been working on moving them to a bigger perspective I would just challenge leaders out there a lot of us you listen I get it right like you want to you you know where you want to go I get all that but man we got to take time to understand what their perspective is and how to lead them into a greater perspective which is Mark's um is sharing with us and that's a blind spot because we don't take time to understand and their perspective and it's a gap um you and I were both talking about the next point that John mentioned about the uh insecurity and you know I have worked with a lot of leaders you have as well and the higher you go in leadership it's a lonely place but it it's a weird place because I think there's even some more self- sabotaging that goes on and they become insecure and where they're at but they don't necessarily show it so they're dealing with it internally and that becomes a blind spot for for them um talk a little bit about this one and why you're so passionate about sharing with our listeners and our viewers on YouTube about this about this topic well so here's why I wanted to share it today and every one of these topics Chris I love when you're here because I literally we could take one we've worked so well together for so long I say well that's by faith maybe you would say the same thing that the next podcast Mark not be here and Jake and I will be in the studio um we've worked so well together for so long together and so much and had so much access to John that it's fun just to even take one of these points and talk about it for 45 minutes I kind of want to do like other podcast out there that go two hours on one subject and you go okay I've had enough but but I know why they do it because sometimes I want to do it this topic right here is the one that I would love to dig into not just with you but I wish this was open Forum with our podcast listeners here's why of all the blind spots that John talks about today the blind spot that feel the least adequate and have been the least effective in leading leaders to the best version of themselves is when insecurity is involved can't get them so insecurity is a blind spot it's a blind spot it's blind spot but here's the deal you can even point out insecurities to people and they still won't see it and I think that's because I'm going to act like I'm a psychologist here for a moment I think that is because they're embarrassed they don't trust the leader for them to to admit it so they will look at you Blank Stare when you call out their insecurities or they cannot see that it is insecurity they label it as something else excuses most of your insecure leaders never deal with reality they deal with excuses I can't because they didn't because whatever created the insecurity within them many many years ago in some cases they have spent a lifetime insulating that insecurity and it's not that it's blind to them it's that they don't want to embrace it because of the insecurity that they feel and I spent so much of my time trying to convince people of blind spots IE insecurities in their life rather than just calling it and giving them a chance to embrace it telling them that it's okay I will support them they don't have they can trust me with it and not be effective and so what I would tell you as a leader as someone listening if I could wish anything for you in this blind spot right here it would be a place to where you would feel unconditional love and complete support in your blind spot because and specifically in your blind spot of insecurity because in security is the easiest to work through some of the other blind spots that that were're talking about devaluing people if you're just a mean nasty person we you can't make mean h happy you can just teach them how to be less mean right but an insecure person that gets confidence in who they are and who they were made to be can really begin to build on that and flourish and I've just watched the insecurity the blind spot of insecurity which again often is not even a blind spot it is a lack of admitting spot yeah it's not that they're blind to it it's that they won't admit it because there's not enough trust exchange there's not enough um there's too many too many wounds and baggages and things that have uh uh solidified that that insecurity in that leader and I have lost more leaders in my tenure of leading incredible people because of insecurity than any other reason and I guarantee you could open up and talk about 53 insecurities that you have but the way you lead and I that's why I'm I really want to talk about this because I want you to talk about how you create this Aura of security because of of many leaders that I've worked with I know you got insecurities we've talked we've been very vulnerable with one another but you don't lead from a place of insecurity and I just wonder what you could add on why you don't allow insecurities to affect your leadership that's a great question I have a great follow-up question that I'm thinking about in regards to where you are going you threw me a little curveball let me give you some thoughts on that I appreciate you asking that um I I have been through a lot of things you have helped me through a lot of things other leaders have helped me through a lot of things and I think at the end of the day because I'm a person of Faith um I ultimately know that I can control what I can control um and so for me um it's taken me some time to become secure uh with either my thoughts my opinions my ideas whatever it might be but I think also your I think your wiring has a little bit to do with that um but this is going to lead me to where I want you to respond to you and I have both have the privilege than anybody else around here other than probably Linda Edgar to to be around and work with John for the longest amount of time and I believe that I have been around and watched from a distance not at the not at the perception level you have John who is probably the most secure leader that I've ever seen and goes about thinking through decisions well ahead of making decisions he's way out in front of us at all times and also very secure in where he's at uh in in his faith and his life and Leadership and adding value to people and um I've seen a lot of leaders that have come and and gone like we've talked about that are more worried about their insecurity in themselves than they are others and John is so others focused I you and I could tell that's why I want you to respond to this because like even just thinking about you John's like oh that's okay I mean John has the most abundant mindset than anybody and I think right here when we're talking about this insecurity is that as Leaders we begin to think about ourselves and what's in it for me and this and that and John is so outwardly focused and adding value to others and I think there's a I think there's a connection between the two that allows them to be that so I want you to respond to that but I say that because I feel like because you and I have had the privilege of being around that environment and osmosis and and knowing uh and rest assured that there's trust there and there's comfortability there not complacency right but comfortability to lead and decisions that I've made and all kind that I think that's just over time has allowed me to do that now there's definitely the self-sabotaging going on let's just be real there's a selft talk that all of us go through and maybe you're listening or watching right now and dealing with that that is normal right um it's just beginning to grow in those areas that you are uh you are feeling that and that may be one of the things too like when I start to feel that then because I'm a I like to process and analyze like I'm like okay great well how do I go learn because I'm in a growth environment again where we're at where I've never I would if I wasn't exposed to this environment I would never have been able to get through that right um and so I'll go dig in and want to learn more so that I feel comfortable and secure no matter what the conversation is so respond to us about the the John comment because that's what I was thinking about when you were talking about that I was like man he's so secure that um his insecurity to me and maybe to others is is not a blind spot whatsoever for him and what are those attributes that you see in him that allows him to to be that way well I think number one he's comfortable in his own skin so technology he his technology will crash on stage in front of 5,000 people and he'll go hey Mark come up here and help he he does there's no pretense or any kind of thing that happens in John's mind that he's inadequate when areas that he is not known to be successful in begin to crumble he makes those a part of his magic so he's very comfortable in his own skin he doesn't have an image that is more important than Effectiveness yeah period it just doesn't I think the second thing that I would say that really helps John and it definitely helps me when you've had enough life that you've been through the fears of failure become less and less and I hope that's true for many of you podcast I in the years of struggling as a business guy and the years of struggling and and creating a financial step back before I step up I never do that in fear of oh my what if I lose everything I've lost everything right it doesn't have a power on me in the areas of reputation I've had I've had years to where my reputation was absolutely rightly so sabotaged self-sabotaged and sabotaged by others and after that you kind of go okay I mean what now yeah what now but I think so I think think John has had a lot of life to where those kind of things don't have a hold on him I think the biggest thing that I would tell you though is when you are learning when you are given the opportunity of a lesson that actually shows in you a weakness it can become your friend or your foe yeah and John is so passionate about growing that any time of deficiency a shortcoming a a fallacy of some sort comes into his awareness it's like his best friend thank you now I'll go work on it and get better yeah and I think that's part of back to you asking that question I think that's part of my nature as well just because I've seen it modeled from him for so long um but I do appreciate the question let's talk about this last point that we want to talk about um and this is really the blind spot that I believe um in in the circle of leadership and whether it is in in professional organizations whether it's in nonprofit organizations whether it's in professional athletic teams whatever it is is this ego and um we all carry some type of ego right right there it's there um but yet John is challenging us here to say hey we got to be aware of this because it is happening it's a blind spot and we need to make sure that that we understand the difference between pride and humility and when I was when I was thinking about this point it led me to Tim Elmore incredible part of our team thought leader content creator around the paradoxes of leadership in the first chapter he talks about how as Leaders do we have confidence and humility in the same way and he didn't use the word ego but a lot of us because it's different a lot of us do have ego that ends up showing up oh look at me look at me it becomes uh a little bit like I feel intitled because I am doing this I have this title I have a versus feeling like someone empowered me to be able to go and help people accomplish this to have this opportunity and so I see this all the time and man it just breaks my heart because you know why they're unteachable limits their potential all this stuff and their people know it right away and so when that happens um you know John says all the time people already know and they can feel it and they can sense it and so how do we get to a point where we keep our ego in check so that it's not a blind spot for our leadership well I think the first thing that every last one of us I don't care how humble you are and how aware you are of your success being because of others which are two of the biggest things is all of your success on a daily basis attributed to others or attributed to yourself if you spend more time attributing to you're a self-made person you really need to check your ego yeah to the person that's the most humble and says hey I I really am where I am today because of others I all of us need to understand understand we are all one step away from leaning into the ego that's in all of us so I again wherever you are on the Spectrum you need to be aware that ego is lurking and wanting to grab you I think um where where I would go with this is I I think I've exp said this a little bit on the podcast but this year because 2023 was just such a it was a destabilizing year in my thinking in my confidence in several things I went and got a spiritual advisor this year uh an organizational Health advisor a spiritual adviser kind of all-in-one because of the individual that I picked just has a lot of experience in both and I did that because uh last year my ego was shattered and you got to have some ego you got to have a little bit it and so having a blind spot about your ego you can so self-deprecate and so self- sabotage with your talk you talked about this a little bit earlier that you don't realize that your blind spot is the lack of any self-respect and so what's interesting though what's interesting is it's got to be in Balance it's got to be attention so I was talking cuz man this year has been so much better all the piece that I'm running and so what that has done is caused me to be a little bit more critical of the very people that has helped me get where I am okay so I was talking to my spiritual advisor just this week as as the recording of the podcast and I said hey you got to help me because you're encouraging me right here to get an agree I'm get an agreement for this person that person that person he said what's your agreement with yourself he said what are your minimums on what it means for you to be healthy and for you to get focused on yourself and we started talking through that he said let me let me help you with something this is a Biblical reference because it was one of my spiritual advisors he says do you know that what caused Moses perhaps the best leader in all of the Old Testament of all Jewish history Moses do you know what caused him to not be able to reach the promise it wasn't his leadership it wasn't his loving the people it wasn't him taking blame wasn't that he couldn't hear from the Lord it wasn't all the things that we try to fix when we feel spiritually out of syn he said it was his ego he got mad at the people he' already he'd already had to bring water out of the rock for those of you that don't know the biblical reference here sorry he' already had to bring that before and did it this time he was mad that he had to do it he knew God was going to do it he knew it was his role to do it but he was just flat out mad he had too much ego I'm better than this why am I having to do this again what's it all about in that moment of ego is when what he had been working and leading for all of his life the Lord looked at him and said hey you're going to get to see it you're not going to get to experience it because it was his ego now wow for all of us that are out there with a tattered ego like Mark Cole was in 2023 or a little inflated ego like I might have been in the last couple of days when I had to be tweaked ego being a blind spot in the NBA aware and so you ask this question and we'll wrap but I want to talk a lot more we you asked this question what can we do to keep our ego to not let ego be a blind the only way I have ever been effective at this is to truly let close people around me get to monitor whether I have no ego or whether I have too much ego and for them speaking into my life and so in the area of ego and and I have a wife just like you that loves to tell me I'm too big for my britches I let people around me determine how regulated my ego is I don't get to determ that and so this week I had a spiritual advisor said you need a little bit more ego in this area and I went yeah but and he went oh okay that's what Moses did but you you're not there you've got to put a little more ego into your life and I would just tell all of us to not let ego be a blind spot but the only way you're going to deal with any of these six blind spots that we've talked about today is getting people around you Chris that will help you with them that's the only way because here's the deal as I close you know what a blind spot is it's blind what part of blind do you not understand you cannot see it the only way you have ever been revealed something that you can't see is with the enlightenment of others the enlightenment of experiences and so in these six areas as well as perhaps some other blind spots that you have I'm going to really challenge you to ask the people around you what am I missing what's it like to be on the other side of me one of the things that we've created because there's so much blind spot in leadership right now it's just blind our political leaders don't even understand that these debates they're having and all this kind of stuff is all about their ego and not serving the people and so John wrote a book intentionally this year to address the blind spots in leadership because it's keeping us from High Road Leadership I held it up a little bit earlier for our podcast viewers but for our podcast listeners and those viewing now this is 's newest book High Road Leadership bringing people together in a world that divides probably more passionate about this book than any that I have been uh passionate about in my 25 years and that's because I believe not only is the book incredible but the message of the book is needed I agree now age and so we've got a product called High Road Leadership online course I think typically it's uh I think it's regular two $99 but we going to give it to you our podcast family today this week for $199 if you will go into our show notes we'll create a link there or there's a link there for you you can click on it use the key code uh podcast and we'll give you that discount I want to challenge you to get out of your blind spots eliminate your blind spots and take the high road leadership Journey with us because after all everyone deserves to be led well