Equipping Leaders for Life

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on “commitment” and its importance to building trust.  Making commitments to one and another and living up to these commitments is absolutely critical in building trust.  We touch on this in our post “The One Thing that Changes Everything” which to learn more about trust we encourage you to read.

Bigger picture wise, I’ve been reflecting on how “commitment” shows up in our culture today and its potential influence on the generations to follow.  Honestly, it’s my experience that we live in a culture that, in general, does not honor commitment.  Yes, if we ask the average person walking down the street if the honored their commitments, they would likely respond “absolutely”.  But really, are we truly honoring our commitments?

Let me set a little context.  First, in conjunction with our friends at Zarvos Leadership & Coaching, we coach five levels of commitment.  They are:

1. “I don’t care”
2. Wishing, hoping, and wanting
3. Trying
4. Committed “Unless”
5. Committed “Whatever it Takes”

Read the rest of this entry »

This past week in one of our advisory boards, we were discussing the topic of “integrity”.  The question was posed, “Are you and your business operating with integrity?”  Now, I don’t know about you, however, I am guessing a high percentage of the folks reading today’s newsletter would answer this question as “yes”.  However, before we answer this too quickly, let’s think about it a bit further.

First, we must define what “integrity” means.  The Merriam Webster Dictionary de­fines “integrity” as:

1. an adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY
2. an unimpaired condition: SOUNDNESS
3. the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESS

Now, let’s break that down a bit further:

• Incorruptibility – de­fined as being incapable of corruption: not subject to decay or dissolution: incapable of being bribed or morally corrupted.
• Soundness – free from injury or disease: free from flaw, defect, or decay, free from error, fallacy, or misapprehension.
• Completeness – having all necessary parts, elements, or steps: brought to an end.

Well, I don’t know about you; however, when we start to look at “integrity” through this lens, these are some pretty high standards to uphold.  As a matter of fact, could anyone of us truly operate in integrity 100% of the time looking at these definitions? Read the rest of this entry »

When you read the subject header, “Do you have a personal board of advisors,” what came to mind? Chances are, some didn’t even open this email as they associate a “board of advisors” with bigger businesses. Many companies have formal advisory boards made up of trusted advisors and thought leaders in a particular industry. They are focused at allowing the leadership of the company a third party sounding board to aid in casting vision and developing big picture strategy. While the concept may be similar, this isn’t the intent of my question. The question is more centered around “you” and your “personal” board of advisors.

Reflecting back on my years in corporate positions, I would tell you that I definitely had great members on my teams who I bounced things off of and even shared a bit of my personal struggles. That being said, due to our working together and, in some cases, having these people report directly to me, it wasn’t easy to maintain a high level of transparency with these individuals. Additionally, since they were in the fire with me, they didn’t really provide that independent third party prospective that is so important in identifying potential blind spots. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a Truth@Work webinar with Donnie Smith, CEO, Tyson Foods. Let me simply say, WOW!   In today’s culture, it’s sometime difficult to discern wise counsel when it comes to leadership.   There is an abundance of information and people claiming to have “best practices”, however, do they truly have “fruit on the tree”? So, when you get an opportunity to listen to someone like Donnie Smith, it is truly impactful.

Given this and as a testament to Donnie’s humility, he began the presentation by acknowledging right up front that he’s just another man and there is nothing special about him.  With his southern accent, he says, “Donnie Smith is just eat up with normal. There is nothing special about me, but there is something special about the Lord I serve.”

Much of the context of the webinar was about how Tyson Foods has created a “faith-friendly” culture. If this is of interest to you, I am more than willing to share more on this topic with our partnership with Truth@Work. However, today, I want to focus in on a couple of key points Donnie made that stood out to me. Read the rest of this entry »

If we were to honestly do an assessment of the “heart” of your business, which of the following scenarios would best apply?

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time:…a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;…paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on…”

Stated differently, we might list words like: “untruthful, discontent, worry, impetuous, hard driving, immorality, idolatry, fits of anger, emotional outburst, & selfish ambition.”

Wow, tough stuff huh!

Or, is it possible this describes the “heart” of your business?

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard-things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

Stating this a bit differently, we might list words like: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and others oriented.”   Yes, for those who are familiar with the Bible, these are the “fruits of the spirit” and the passages above are taken from the book of Galatians 5:19-23 MSG. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past few weeks, we have been reflecting on the importance of buy-in and wanted to share a few thoughts. You’ve likely all heard that in relationships and in working with teams of people, it’s important to gain buy-in. However, have you ever truly assessed how good you are personally at promoting and seeking buy-in?

Several years ago a professor at Indiana – Kelley School of Business shared something that has really stuck with me over time. It was the following equation:

Level of Success = Value of the Idea X Level of Buy-in

So, if we have an Idea that is a “10″; however, only have a Buy-in of “1″, then the Level of Success is only a “10″. Vice versa, an Idea of a “1″ with a Buy-in of “10″ is still a “10″.

What I frequently see is businesses, organizations, and individuals having some really great ideas; however, they don’t take the time to stop and seek buy-in. They tend to be so excited about “their idea” that they get out in front of their teams without ever truly seeking input. In multiple studies, we see that what people value most is that they have an opportunity to contribute and are being heard. When we don’t take the time to allow this with our ideas, we are sabotaging them from the get-go. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the difference in these two pictures?

If you study these two pictures, you will find many things that are different. For example, the books, reading glasses, chair in the background, taller grass along the edge of the pond, and likely many other things.

For our followers, you likely know that this is a view off of our back porch which tends to be my summer office/reading area. The books in the picture represent my most recent reading.   This morning, in preparation for the front coming through our area on Labor Day weekend from the hurricane, I found myself focused on the difference between a “sunny” and “cloudy” day.

A bit more context, I received a Facebook message from an old colleague of mine this morning. This past year, the company I previously spent the majority of my corporate career (I left 4 years ago) was acquired by a major competitor. Unfortunately, as it typically goes in an acquisition, there are efforts to centralize and downsize the combined entity. This has resulted in many people making a decision not to relocate therefore severing their relationship with the new company. So, in some aspects, I guess you could say that it’s a “cloudy” day for a lot of these folks. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to see Oliver DeMille (http://oliverdemille.com/), speak a couple of times and have read his books, Freedom Shift and 1913. In November 2011, he began his speech by telling a story of a successful businessman going to a major university and giving a speech on “Becoming a leader of the 21^st Century”. This link is DeMille telling the story which I would encourage you to listen. What you will hear is that 6 people in a stadium full of 15,000 – 20,000 raised their hands when asked the question, “How many of you are going to change the world?” The speaker then invited these people to come down front and proceeded to conduct a seminar on “Becoming a leader of the 21^st Century” while the rest of the stadium including the President of the university were invited to leave. DeMille made his point quite well by sharing the story and asking a stadium full of people to whom he was speaking the question: “how many of you are going to change the world?”

So, what does it look like to “change the world”? DeMille is one of those people that when he speaks, everyone intensely listens. In a word, DeMille’s purpose in this world is “freedom”. In his book, Freedom Shift, DeMille states:

“Americans enjoy a legacy of freedom and prosperity that is perhaps without equal in the history of the world. The pride we have traditionally felt over the idealism, vision, heroism, and sacrifice of our Pilgrims, Founders, and those that followed them is a part of our national heritage.

And yet it seems that it is no longer alarmist to assert that we are in grave danger of losing the freedom and prosperity that were won at so terrible a cost. Strangely, though, our culture of idealism, heroism and sacrifice is not lost.

Our people still show a great capacity for moral courage, tenacity and altruism. There are still those among us who are willing to take risks, endure hardships and make difficult choices. We still take our hats off when the flag goes by. We honor the sacrifices of our military brothers and sisters; we show compassion to the less fortunate. Why, then, are we sliding virtually unchecked down the slippery slope of cultural and societal decay?

Why are we losing our freedoms?”

In his November 2011 speech and his book, Freedom Shift, DeMille talks about the fact that every hundred years, give or take a few, there is a major world shift for or against freedom. The last major shift in American was during the period of 1913 to 1936. DeMille outlines four specific events which transpired (3 – 1913 and 1 – 1936) which shifted America in the direction of “force” or less freedom. I’ll let you read his books and listen to his speech to better understand what these four events were and how they have changed our world. DeMille states, that what he is sharing, you’ll likely not hear on the news, learn in schools, or other public media.

DeMille believes, which many tend to agree, that we are in the midst of another “world freedom shift” which will happen within the next 10 – 12 years. This shift will either take us dramatically further away from the freedoms our country was originally founded or be a “turning point” restoring many of the freedoms we’ve lost to date.

So, the question comes, what will it take to insure this world shift is “for freedom”? DeMille says, it will not be easy, however, it’s not as difficult as many would have it to be. He emphasizes that the events of 1913 were originated by a very small percentage of the population, 3% – 5% or even less. It’s his belief, that if this same 3% – 5% of inspired leaders band together and do three things, then we’ll make a dramatic difference and “change the world”.

What are these three things? You really need to read DeMille’s books or listen to his CD, however, here they are:

1. A Revolution of Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneurs tend to be free thinkers or Rascals, whom aren’t easily influenced to “follow the herd”.
2. The Rise of Vivacious Readers and Independent Thinkers – DeMille stresses the importance of reading; you’ve likely heard it said “leaders are readers”. He states that very few have ever truly read the founding documents of our country and they aren’t taught in our schools anymore. Adding to this, he states that as readers we must develop our ability to be “independent thinkers versus institutionalized thinkers”.
3. Building and Leading the New Tribes – Referring to Seth Golden’s book Tribes, DeMille speaks of the importance of this small percentage of leaders banding together and building tribes within their local communities.

Again, I encourage you to get DeMille’s books to better understand the history and his position on freedom. Many have chosen to band together with the LIFE community and support the principles DeMille outlines.

Going back to his speech in November 2011, DeMille challenges the crowd to stop and think about their grandchildren. He says that many of you will have the opportunity to sit with your grandchildren 25 years from now and share the story of how you lived during the time of a major world shift for freedom. With tears in his eyes, DeMille challenged the crowd to really stop and think about that moment. (pause) What will you tell your grandchildren? (pause) Will it be how you lived during one of the most important times in history and sat on the sidelines because you didn’t know what to do. Or, will you chose to engage with 3% – 5% of the population whom are banded together as a community of influence and committed to doing what’s required to insure we have a shift “FOR FREEDOM”!

DeMille’s books, as well as many other great resources related to Freedom, are accessible through our LIFE website. You will need to enroll as a member or customer and then you will be able to purchase DeMille’s products as well as a suite of many other life transformational products. We encourage you to get on a subscription of this information as part of your continual learning experience.

We live in a time where there is more information accessible at our finger tips, than any other time in history. The challenge is discerning, what of this information, is TRUTH? While LIFE doesn’t claim to have all the right information, they do work very hard to discern and publish the information weighted on the principles by which our country was founded.

So, with that, I have one final question for you: “How many of you are going to change the world?”

Sincerely,

Chris

Wow! We are coming off of an exceptional weekend and we wanted to share the exciting news.  The reason you’re receiving this email is that we have either met one-on-one to discuss or you’ve had an inquiry via web expressing interest in our LIFE business.

 LIFE is experiencing exponential growth and it just accelerated!  This weekend, the Policy Council of LIFE held another fantastic conference with some exceptional news.  Likely one of the best ways for us to share our thoughts is to share our response to Orrin Woodword’s blog post, LIFE Teams Gather Across America , where he asked for our biggest take ways from the weekend.

“Orrin,

I think the biggest take away was a continued affirmation of the heart and purpose behind the LIFE business. One gentleman’s comments sums it up for me. He said, “What we feared the most about this organization is truly what we’re seeing be the heart of the organization”. As he explained it, many look at this opportunity asking if God truly is at the center of it. Or, is it a scam, cult, deceptive lie which is not God honoring. What this gentlemen experienced this weekend and we personally had reaffirmed within us was that this opportunity has a much higher calling associated with it and the hearts of the PC are truly honorable.

With the present registration offering, the PC is providing the best opportunity yet to allow people to become a part of this journey and “test the waters” for the price of a tank of gas. This speaks to the confidence of the leadership knowing that really all we need to do is get people around our community and they will experience what the true heart of the organization is. There are no more excuses associated with the level of investment required. We are plugging everyone in upfront to the right systems designed to promote behaviors to allow someone to truly understand what this opportunity is about and how you can actually be successful in the very first month.

There were many more highlights of the weekend which I anticipate others to share. Overall, I would like to thank the PC and yourself for your continued leadership. You’ve never promised this would be easy and always promised it would be worth it. We look forward to seeing you at the top!

God bless,
Chris and Lisa Arnold”

 I encourage you to read others responses and the testimonials on the LIFE site to see firsthand the impact these life transformational products are having.

So, what do we mean by, “there are no more excuses associated with the level of investment required” to become part of LIFE’s compensated community.  LIFE now has a Super Charged Enrollment Process:

Super Charged Enrollment – $49.99 and 50 PV

Yes, you are reading this correctly. We have come up with a simple $49.99 enrollment option and the details are:

• The $35 LIFE Enrollment Fee is waived if the new Member subscribes to a $50 book/cd subscription of any type or combination.
• The new Member will also get a FREE Open Meeting Subscription for 1 month.
• The $45 Team EBC Subscription is waived if the Member registers for Team’s Training System.

So the added value of this $49.99 enrollment process is:

• Waives $120 ($160 for a couple) of typical member sign-up investment.
• Get’s members plugged into the TEAM system and Open Meetings immediately such that your best equipped to build the business.
• Provides access toward over $200 worth of additional savings which I won’t try to even explain at this point.

So, why the email?  Well, we wanted to get this news out to you as quickly as possible as we are experiencing massive growth and the sooner you’re involved the better positioned you are to benefit from our compensation model.  We are so busy getting people started in the business, we don’t have the time to call and discuss this with everyone.  Frankly, it’s a no brainer to invest $49.99 in this opportunity to “hold your spot” on faith, get more information to evaluate, and allow us to build a huge organization below you.   Historically, many of our teams would target 10 member per month enrolling.  With the announcement this weekend, we’re seeing members across the Team add 10 members per day and many exceeding these levels.

Not interested in the business?  We all know that its most likely not a question of interest, it’s a question of belief.  I addressed “belief” a bit above, however, I want to share something a pastor friend external to the business shared with me yesterday.  She said, “If you look at the twelve disciples, did they “believe” first or “belong”?  (Pause & Smile) They “belonged” before they believed.”  This is the same with our community.  It’s not until you “belong” to our community that you truly “believe” that this is a business opportunity where anyone can “live the life you’ve always wanted” and be a part of a much bigger vision.

So, what’s next?  HOLD YOUR SPOT!!!  Simply, click here , go to “enroll”, and “enroll as a new member”.   The process is self explanatory and you’ll want to enroll in LIFE, get on a subscription, enroll in TEAM, and get on a TEAM subscription to take advantage of the Super Charged Enrollment.  Once you do this, we’ll be notified and will contact you to schedule a time to sit down and go through more details of how your team will assist you in getting started.

Yes, I am using the word “team” which is critical for you to understand the importance of not delaying your decision.  At this point, we’re really not asking you to join or “belong” to our community as much as we are asking if you want to HOLD YOUR SPOT!.  The truth of the matter is, we have already built a large organization and will continue to place thousands of people on this team regardless of your decision.  Really, you’re simply paying $49.99 for an opportunity to check us out  and benefit from those who HOLD THEIR SPOTS following you.   Your delaying even 24 hours could cost your thousand of dollars in the long term.

Need more information?  Of coarse you do!  Members and their guests are always welcome to attend one of our Open Meetings.  The next meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, July 31st from 8P – 10P and you can register and obtain specific information by clicking here.

It’s difficult to express in words how great of an opportunity this can be for you and your closest friends, family, and fans.  This isn’t just another one of “those things” and we truly hope you’ll give us the opportunity to share the Truth with you.

Go ahead, click here to HOLD YOUR SPOT!  We don’t promise easy, however, we do promise worth it!

God bless,

Chris & Lisa Arnold

PS:  If that didn’t get you, check out these Incentive Trips which you can qualify for after only a few months.