Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

Inc Magazine Top 20 Leader shares his personal, professional, and financial secrets.

Archive for August, 2012

1913 and America’s Lost Freedoms

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 31, 2012

The year of lost freedoms.

1913, Oliver DeMille’s new book, is a fascinating study of a crucial year and the changes wrought upon our government by the political leaders of that time. Indeed, it can be said that no year is as important for American freedoms as 1913. Oliver DeMille articulates, in a clear, concise, and comprehendible style, the three key changes that occurred in 1913 along with the later Supreme Court decision that solidified the governmental revolution. I believe that Oliver DeMille is one of only a handful of men and women in America today that grasp the Founding Generation’s original intentions and principles. Anyone concerned about the freedoms lost since 1913 ought to read and reread this book and share it with others!

Just as fish need water in order to survive, entrepreneurs need freedom in order to weigh choices, develop plans, and execute strategies. However, when a government destroys the liberty of the people by assuming too much power and control, the entrepreneurs are destroyed and, thus, the engine of all true economic growth. This isn’t a hypothesis or a pet belief of mine or Oliver’s, but a historical reality proven numerous times over the last several millennia. For instance, look what happened to the entrepreneurs in the Roman Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Empire, and now, sadly, the American Empire. In truth, empires historically have sacrificed the freedoms of the masses for the power of the few.

Have you read 1913 yet? What were your thoughts on Oliver’s new book? What part can you play in educating the West on its lost freedoms? If you haven’t read it, then get over to the LIFE site and pick it up today!

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Freedom/Liberty | Tagged: , | 47 Comments »

Leaders Build Other Leaders

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 23, 2012

You can tell the size of the leader by the size of the leaders he has around him. Good leaders have good followers, but great leaders have great leaders around them. When the right people are on the bus, as Jim Collins would say, then it’s just a matter of determining which direction the leadership team desires to go. Indeed, what is so great, yet at the same time challenging, in today’s economy is that technology keeps changing the rules of the game. Nonetheless, the best leadership team will adjust the quickest and win in today’s marketplace. Here is a video on leadership that I did at a recent LIFE Open.

Who do you have on your team? Are you developing leaders or followers? May the best team win.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in All News, Leadership/Personal Development | 39 Comments »

Power Player Top Gun

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 16, 2012

Shortly before the LIFE Summer Leadership Conference, Claude Hamilton and I spoke at the Michigan Mens Leadership that was broadcast around US and Canada. In Claude’s talk, he challenge each of the PC organizations to build more depth and break more Power Players than ever before. The challenge itself was fantastic, but only the way Claude can, he went further and publicly stated that Kaizen organizations would win hands down over the next year. Clearly, Claude Hamilton was not fooling around with his business and had placed all his focus on building depth and breaking Power Players.

Power Sweep to Power Player

Personally, while listening to Claude’s talk, I was getting more and more fired up because I know the level of competitors we have within the LIFE team. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get up to speak after him to ensure that everyone heard his message loud and clear. Claude’s talk reminded me of one of my favorite sayings, “True competition creates cooperation.” Indeed, the best way to make teams cooperate is to give them some honest to goodness competition. Claude’s talk provided this in spades. 🙂

Evidently, the other PC who were not on location were receiving hundreds of text, because all of them reached out to me saying Claude’s claims of depth dominance were greatly exaggerated. 🙂 With this, the spark of our current explosion was born. Chris Brady, Tim Marks, Bill Lewis, George Guzzardo, Dan Hawkins, and, or course, Claude Hamilton, all have as many Power Players in the first two weeks out of this major as they did the entire three month cycle previously. This is FANTASTIC growth and reminds me of our original Power Player explosion that catapulted the Team from 200 people at major to over 12,000!

 

Our next major, in Columbus, will be the first opportunity to see which specific teams responded to Claude’s challenge. Every organization will be counting Power Players and which teams finish in the Top 5 for the Power Player Top Gun. Most importantly, all eyes will be on the Top 5 to see which team broke the most Power Players and above for this three month cycle! I haven’t had this much fun stirring the pot in a long while. 🙂 All kidding aside, I have never been prouder of the leaders within LIFE who have stepped to the plate and hit homeruns.

Man, with all the excitement around this Power Player Top Gun, I think I am going to add even more fuel to the fire. This is crazy, as I haven’t even talked to Laurie or the rest of the PC about this one, but I am sure they will love it. The winner of the Columbus Power Player Top Gun is invited down to Laurie and my (I’m sure she won’t mind 🙂 Florida property for a 24 hour check-up from the neck up and (weather permitting) a day of yachting, shark fishing etc. There now we have set the stakes properly. 🙂 Perhaps we ought to make that part of the normal reward for winning the Power Player Top Gun? Since, in my opinion, its the biggest award outside of PC, I think I will.

Ok, let’s wrap this post up. What team are you part of? Are you out sharing 15 plans a month so you can contribute to your teams Power Player totals? Why not step up to the plate and give it all you got for the next three months? LIFE has a goal to reach one million people and we can do that through honest win-win competition with the greatest group of leaders in the world. Today is the day! Isn’t it worth your personal best?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in All News, Fun, Life Training | 80 Comments »

LIFE Business Vacations

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 10, 2012

I LOVE this video. I saw it for the first time at the Milwaukee major and was blown away. The LIFE video department is producing world-class material and the business continues to roll. In fact, sign ups are up nearly six times since the majors! What vacation are you going on when you qualify for one of these trips? The secret of the LIFE Business is to serve people and build depth. It’s time to call the play that never fails – Power Player! Enjoy the video.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in All News | 40 Comments »

Dreams, Drama, & Conflict Resolution

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 3, 2012

Here is the second part of the interview Art Jonak and I did on Dreams and Drama. In this portion, we dive into resolution of drama for the good of the entire community. Art is a master at delving underneath the surface to reveal the key principles in every leadership area.

Imagine how much bigger community building would be if all leaders focused on both building and bonding their communities. Indeed, the communities would double in no time at all. As a leader, are you majoring on dreams or drama? With this answer, I can accurately predict the size of your community.

The LIFE Business has over tripled its growth rate in the last two weeks through better building methods; however, the key to longterm communities is, and will always be, a leader’s ability to bond his community into a team.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development | 25 Comments »