Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

Here is an inspiring video that displays the type of friendship and loyalty that all of us should have with our friends.  Fair weather friends are a dime a dozen, but true friendship is built and maintained by a common set of principles and honor.  I have been blessed with long lasting friendships in my life that are my true wealth.  True friends are there when you are up and there when you are down.  Stephen Covey calls his leadership style principle centered leadership.  I believe that more people need to learn principle centered friendship.  I know life will at times deal you some bad cards, but if you are true to your principles then your true friends will stay true you.  I have seen many of my friends soar to incredible heights and have seen others struggle financially.  My friendship with them is not based upon their external results, but by their internal principles.  I love my friends because they live a life based upon the ideals espoused in their principles and a short term financial hardship would never change my love or respect.  Is that true of how you feel about your friends?  Friendships are glued together by the principles that you hold in common.  Friendships can be lost when the previous principles honored begin to change.  This happens when one person continues to grow and apply better principles in their life and another chooses to stagnate.  All of us have high school friends that were really close that might not be as close anymore.  Why?  You are no longer honoring the same principles in your lives.

This is why I love the MV Team community – our friendship is not based upon the points being generated, but, instead, on the consistency of the principles being applied into their lives.  The Team is a group of men and women who espouse and live (to the best of their ability) principles that we hold dear.  The community has, is, and always will be the key to building a strong and successful business.  All networks will produce new products, but the staying power of any network is in the links of friendships, loyalty and common principles, not products and money.  I am surprised at how many people miss this key point!  Like the old saying goes, “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.”  Living according to the right principles makes a person lovely.  Here is how I would describe my friends – principle centered, encouragers, believers in others, character first, honor, selfless, team oriented, faithful, loyal.  I have never lived up to my ideals, not through lack of effort, but because my ideals are very high.  I pray that you set ideals for your life and become a friend to others worthy of emulation.  How would you rate yourself on the list of principles for true friendship?  Are you loyal to the men and women in your life who are loyal to the principles that you share in common?  

This video started me on this train of thought – would we be as loyal as Tara was to Bella?  Tara and Bella were best friends, but Tara displayed honor and loyalty by her vigil for Bella.  Tara didn’t run out and get a new friend at the first sign that Bella was hurting.  In fact, she displayed her friendship more when Bella was in need.  Honor and loyalty are in short supply in the world and all of us suffer as a consequence.  We must choose to be the change that you wish to see in the world!  A person is truly blessed if they have friends like Bella has in Tara.  Be that blessing into someone else’s life!  I want to personally thank my friends for being friends like Tara.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBtFTF2ii7U&w=425&h=344]