I woke up early this morning excited to watch Benjamin Carson’s talk at the National Prayer Breakfast. So many people have emailed me the link and said it reminded them of concepts shared by Oliver DeMille and me in the soon-to-be-released book LeaderShift. There is a law of life, similar to the one in science, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Today, America is drifting further and further towards a socialist nanny state; thankfully, however, a reaction is rising amongst leaders from all fields of life who are concerned about the direction of our society and are willing to do something about it. I sincerely believe that character-based leadership is needed more today in America than at any point since the founding of our nation.
Ben Carson, in this speech, made a stand for truth on education, history, and leadership. Not surprisingly, many of the concepts discussed in Dr. Carson’s speech are outlined in LeaderShift to help solve our national malaise. In other words, concerned Americans are not alone. Nonetheless, we need many more leaders to stand up and launch the LeaderShift! When faced with great challenges, the citizen’s choices reduce to two main paths: either shrink into silence and oppression or rise into leadership and liberty. What choice will the reader make? I believe we are entering great times for courageous leaders to live.
Dan Hawkins shares some sobering thoughts on absent fathers in this video. Dan and Lisa Hawkins are building a large community of entrepreneurs throughout the country. As a featured speaker on the Mental Fitness Challenge, Dan is making a difference around the world. Imagine if every dad learned the principles taught through the LIFE business and nurtured his children to dream and do. The gift of LIFE is given in 24-hour increments. The question is: What are we doing with our 24-hour gifts?
These sure are exciting times in the LIFE business. The LIFE community wrapped up a monumental set of LIFE Leadership Conventions, Wayne and Raylene MacNamara were recognized as new PC Members, and LeaderShift is just months away from launching a leader shift. 🙂 LIFE, in other words, is great! Because of the magnitude of the message captured within the LeaderShift fable, Oliver DeMille and I felt compelled to have this book published by one of the biggest and best publishing firms in the industry: Hachette Book Group. Even so, Oliver and I refused to have the LIFE community purchase our books without offering PV to the LIFE Members who market the world-class LIFE leadership and personal development materials.
Accordingly, even though the book will not be offered through the LIFE business until the paperback version is available, Oliver and I agreed to fund, for the first two weeks only, PV on quantity orders (see below) to help leaders serve their groups in a win-win fashion. In other words, LIFE Members can provide their customers with LeaderShift and still get points for doing so despite the product not being available in the LIFE shopping cart. Thanks to the support from the LIFE office, the book can be purchased through Hachette’s normal book distribution channels, and LIFE Members can just keep their receipt for PV credit (details below).
Oliver and I felt this was the best way to ensure the communities that are driving the leader shift in North America today are rewarded! Plus, this is our way of saying thank you to all the LIFE Members and Customers, who, in my opinion, are the best marketers and customers in the world! The LIFE community is a group of people who read, listen, and associate together in a quest for excellence in everything they do.
The embedded video is a talk from the California major on moving out of the subways of life into the Metropolitan stages of the world. Predictably, climbing out of the subways in life isn’t easy, but when a person has been called to do something, he doesn’t negotiate the price. In the same way, LIFE has been called to do something great and doesn’t negotiate the price to be paid. The LIFE Founders are committed to providing the best products and opportunity in the world, and LeaderShift is yet another world-changing product offered by the leadership team. I am confident the book’s message will resonate with leaders across North America and be a rallying point for liberty lovers everywhere.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone within the LIFE community for being part of the vision of one million people who will change the world! Attached below is the email message sent out by the LIFE office with further details.
Please join us in celebrating Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille’s soon-to-be released book LeaderShift: A Call for Americans to Finally Stand Up and Lead, to be released on April 16, 2013. This action-packed business fable is the culmination of Orrin and Oliver’s combined expertise and will offer every North American a deeper understanding of the Five Laws of Decline and how the respective effects are becoming increasingly evident in the United States. LeaderShift will explain this devastating phenomenon in detail, motivate readers to take immediate and precise action and, most importantly, offer guidance on how each individual can contribute to not only stopping, but reversing this crippling trend.
Orrin and Oliver are proud to have LeaderShift published by the prestigious Hachette Book Group (second largest book publishing company in the world) and will hit the mainstream under the Business Plus imprint of one of the country’s most elite book publishing groups. In 2011, Hachette Book Group had a record 182 print books and 62 eBooks on the New York Times bestseller list, 45 of which reached #1.
We at LIFE wish to extend our hearty congratulations and support to Orrin and Oliver as LeaderShift is pre-launched and begins to accept pre-orders, which are now available on sources such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. Due to the critically important and timely message that LeaderShift is carrying, the authors believe that Hachette Business Book Group is the best solution to deliver this message across North America. As such, Hachette maintains full rights on this publication and LIFE will not publish or distribute LeaderShift as we normally would with a book authored by one of the LIFE Founders.
Orrin and Oliver are excited to be working with Hachette Book Group on this project; however, they are also deeply devoted to the LIFE community and committed to ensuring win-win outcomes for everyone involved in LIFE (Members and Customers). Therefore, LIFE is offering a special invitation to its Members to purchase LeaderShift and receive 40 points total for purchasing between 5 – 9 copies. In addition, LIFE will offer 100 points total for purchasing 10 or more copies (12 copies ordered equals 100 points like 10 copies ordered does). LIFE Members should see their upline for purchasing less than 5 copies for a recommended 5-point transfer per book. Purchases may be made via the web, your local book store, or by placing a pre-order now—be sure to keep your receipt for PV credit after the April 16 release. All PV will be credited in the month of April—which is perfect timing for the April 27th Chart Topper Meeting in Tampa. Your upline will have further redemption instructions as we get closer to the book’s release. This special invitation runs from now through April 30, 2013. The LIFE business will not stock this item until it is released in paperback, which is at least six months after the hardcover release. It’s important to note that after April 30, 2013, no further PV will be available from LIFE until the paperback version is released.
Furthermore, don’t miss out on the special conference call with Orrin and Oliver for “VIP Customers” in early May! Members of the LIFE community that order 10 or more copies of LeaderShift and receive 100 points qualify for the conference call and will receive a personal invitation. This is your opportunity to share a very personal, insightful hour with the authors and achieve an even richer perspective on the significant role you play in this movement.
Below are links to pre-order LeaderShift from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Note: Credit cards are not charged until purchase actually ships.
Orrin and Oliver will be starting a book-signing tour—more details to come. We at LIFE will keep you posted on all the latest excitement surrounding LeaderShift, including news releases and other special events.
The second soft skill that every leader ought to develop is learning agility. Learning agility is an individual’s readiness, willingness, and ability to learn from experience. Since everyone makes mistakes, it’s the ability to learn from them that separates the winners from the losers in life. When a winner suffers a setback, he uses the experience as a teachable moment to improve. Unfortunately, however, when a loser suffers a setback, he quickly uses the experience to blame someone or something for his defeat. Evidently, people who blame others cannot comprehend that they are their own worst enemies. Indeed, when a person blames others for any situation, he absolves himself from responsibility, thus ensuring further failures in the future. A much better alternative would be to accept personal responsibility for the outcome and ask what he could do better in the future. There is always an answer to this simple question, and it leads to personal growth when applied, which is the key to leadership development!
This, in truth however, isn’t the whole story when it comes to learning agility. For there is a second part of learning agility that is just as important, namely, learning from the experience of others. Because a person cannot live long enough to personally experience every teachable moment, he must learn to borrow experiences from other winners in the game of life. Thankfully, this can be achieved through reading, listening, and associating with winners. This, in fact, is what the LIFE business is: a ready-made path of reading, listening, and associating! Indeed, with nearly 25% of all monthly subscriptions moved to customers that are not part of the LIFE Compensation Plan, our materials have proven to be viable, valuable, and affordable in the marketplace. Materials include CDs, DVDs, books, online videos, and live events, which the LIFE business has packaged into reading, listening, and associating segments to grow a person’s learning agility.
For instance, the Mental Fitness Challenge, at $220 for the 13-week course, is a steal at twice that price. Why then, does LIFE sell its world-class information for such a ridiculously low price? Because all of the LIFE Founders started their personal development careers with little to no money and had to stretch personally, professionally, and financially to achieve success. We vowed that if we ever started our own company, we would do it differently. Finally, when the doors opened to start our own leadership and personal development company, we fulfilled that vow. Learning agility, then, is not just learning from one’s own experiences, but also borrowing the experiences of others who are growing personally and professionally. There is no better way to do that than by joining the LIFE community as either a Customer or Member and reading, listening, and associating one’s way to success.
The LIFE business is no longer an unproven theory. For thousands of people have experienced the positive effects of learning agility in their lives. Finances have changed, marriages have improved, and leadership has been developed. By any leadership standard, learning agility is certainly one of the keys. The question is: What is the reader doing today to enhance his personal leadership agility? Remember, the quality of one’s life is in direct proportion to the quality of questions asked and answered.
Matthew Jeffers, a college senior at Beth Tfiloh in the Baltimore area, sent a special message through email to the Baltimore Ravens organization. Wow! It is powerful. Coach John Harbaugh forwarded the email to his team during the middle of a tough streak in the season. Matthew’s video teaches that life doesn’t care about feeling sorry for yourself or pity parties, but what it does respond to is a positive attitude. My favorite quote in the video is: The only disability in life is a bad attitude. BAM! A positive attitude is the most powerful combatant to life’s misfortunes. Life isn’t fair to anyone, but how a person learns to play the cards he is dealt makes all the difference!
The Mental Fitness Challenge has an entire teaching segment on the importance of attitude in overcoming life’s obstacles. This video is filled with nuggets on changing one’s attitude and perspective to change one’s results. I am not surprised the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl after the perspective change that occurred within the team from watching this video. Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens, but more importantly, congratulations to Matthew Jeffers for meeting life’s challenges head-on with a positive attitude, thus inspiring others to do the same!
Good news everyone: The Home Business Radio Network’s (HBRN) Leadership Factory archives are now up on the Orrin Woodward host page at HBRN. Now you can go to one page and get all the leadership nuggets in one place. Tony Cannuli, my co-host, and I have interviewed some of the top leaders and leadership teachers within the LIFE business community. The wisdom, philosophies, and heart shared have blessed me immensely, and I hope they do the same for you. We have had Chris Brady, Tim Marks, Claude Hamilton, Bill Lewis, George Guzzardo, Dan Hawkins, and Wayne MacNamara on the Leadership Factory so far. Each of these leaders has applied the principles of the Mental Fitness Challenge and built communities of thousands of people. They are proven leaders within the home-based business world. Stay tuned for more great leaders to be interviewed in future installments.
Here is the first promised article on the ten soft skills of leadership. The LIFE business builds each one of these into its customers and members. Each subscription sold reaches another person with life-changing truth. It is time for a LeaderShift, and it must begin inside each of us. In any event, here is the self-awareness article. God Bless, Orrin Woodward
3 Stages of Self-Awareness
The first soft-skill principle is self-awareness. Leaders must cut through the illusions most people suffer when it comes to their own strengths and weaknesses in order to identify areas to change. Interestingly, potential leaders swing to one of two extremes when attempting to see themselves as they truly are. On one side, they delude themselves into seeing no issues to work on and quickly blame those around them for any lack of results on the scoreboard—a sure way to never grow personally. However, on the other side, are the people who see others’ strengths and only their own weaknesses; hence, they beat themselves up and never fulfill their potential. The secret is to move from the extremes into the middle point of comprehending one’s strengths while working on one’s weaknesses. This is captured in a simple quote I developed nearly a decade ago:
Find a victory in every defeat to remain hopeful and find a defeat in every victory to remain humble.
Read that quote several times. This is one of the key principles I have utilized to grow in all areas. For in this quote is the secret to the Plan, Do, Check, and Adjust process: a humble, yet hopeful attitude. Since we are humans, we will always make mistakes—this keeps us humble. However, if we work consistently, we will improve greatly and produce phenomenal results, but these will never be perfect so that should also keep us humble. Indeed, John Wooden said to strive for perfection knowing that we will never attain it. Accordingly, humble and hopeful is the proper spirit to attack the leadership obstacles preventing a person from achieving his potential. Nonetheless, the extremes of self-love or self-hatred seem to be the rule, and this is the reason most people do not achieve leadership excellence.
The assignment for today is to peek inside the mental wall created by each reader to help them survive in this world filled with more discouragement, setbacks and haters than encouragement, achievements, and lovers. Even so, a leader must be self-aware and evaluate himself as he truly is so he can move to where he truly wants to be. Here are some questions to ask:
1. What areas of my leadership, if I changed today, would create the most growth for my community?
2. How can I feed my own heart encouragement to continue the change process?
3. How can I be a better encourager for those around me to pour oxygen into their spark of excellence?
Remember the “victory and defeat” quote above to stay humble and hopeful while moving ahead in 2013. Andrew Grove once said, “Only the paranoid survive.” I interpret this quote to mean that those who are self-aware and willing to see things as they truly are will grow, change, and survive. At any rate, are the readers ready to grow? Self-awareness is the key to beginning the change process.
Jean Leslie, a senior fellow with the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), identified ten soft skills for successful business leadership. Each one of these ten skills is taught in the LIFE business. In fact, I believe the soft skills are the difference makers in a leader’s success. Performers can get themselves to do the necessary tasks, but a leader must develop the soft skills to create a culture of success in an organization. Over the next several weeks, I will be diving into these ten skills to identify how to improve in each one. I have had a front-row seat in encouraging and mentoring many top leaders today who have worked on their soft skills. LIFE is life training for everyone to grow and become the leader he or she was called to be. Here are the ten soft skills.
1. Self-awareness: Leaders must have an accurate picture of their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Learning agility: This is an individual’s readiness, willingness, and ability to learn from experience.
3. Emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is a constellation of abilities that help leaders deal with their emotions and the emotions of others.
4. Resiliency: Bouncing back from adversity.
5. Building relationships at all levels: Being able to show compassion, sensitivity, and a sense of humor with others—above and below in organizational structure—and being able to cultivate these relationships toward positive business performance.
6. Political savvy: The ability to influence people to obtain goals. The heart of being politically savvy, according to CCL, is networking, reading situations, and thinking before speaking. Not every leader likes politics, but it’s present in every organization.
7. Motivating and engaging others: How many leaders have been successful when they cannot motivate their teams?
8. Building and leading effective teams: This is one of the top challenges CEOs report, according to CCL. Building trust, setting strategic direction, and breaking down silos are some of the micro skills needed.
9. Creating a culture of trust and respect: This has become a big challenge since the rise of virtual communication, yet trust and respect among team members—and chiefly among leaders—is paramount.
10. Communication: Voicing goals and inspiring others is vital—but so is listening.
Home Business Radio Network’s Leadership Factory has some of the best leaders in community building sharing their trade secrets with the world! Tony Cannuli and I host the show sponsored by HBRN and its co-founder Doug Firebaugh. This week’s guest is one of the fastest growing within the LIFE business. In fact, Wayne and Raylene recently went Policy Council level in LIFE. This is one of the highest echelons attainable within the community and is due to the tireless efforts, huge dreams, and massive resolve of this couple. Claude and Lana Hamilton joined our community back in late 2007, and that is when I first met Wayne at a men’s leadership meeting. He was barely a Turbo 10 (just over 20 people at events), but now he has over 1,000 people attending events—impressive, to say the least! Enjoy the interview and please share the key nuggets that you learn.
