Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

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

  • Orrin Woodward

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    Former Guinness World Record Holder for largest book signing ever, Orrin Woodward is a NY Times bestselling author of And Justice For All along with RESOLVED & coauthor of LeaderShift and Launching a Leadership Revolution. His books have sold over one million copies in the financial, leadership and liberty fields. RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions For LIFE made the Top 100 All-Time Best Leadership Books and the 13 Resolutions are the framework for the top selling Mental Fitness Challenge personal development program.

    Orrin made the Top 20 Inc. Magazine Leadership list & has co-founded two multi-million dollar leadership companies. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of the LIFE. He has a B.S. degree from GMI-EMI (now Kettering University) in manufacturing systems engineering. He holds four U.S. patents, and won an exclusive National Technical Benchmarking Award.

    This blog is an Alltop selection and ranked in HR's Top 100 Blogs for Management & Leadership.

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Idolatry of the State

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 11, 2010

Man is a worshiping being and when man rejects God, it doesn’t mean that he stops worshiping, only that he stops worshiping the true God.  A
trend I see developing in the West is a love of the State as they
no longer seek solutions from an Almighty God.  Man should serve man, not have the State steal from one man to give to another.  The State robs the giver of the blessings of charity, robs the receiver of his dignity, and the State gains power at the expense of all citizens. I re-read Psalm 23 this
morning and was struck by the difference in the Biblical words of the
Psalm versus the thinking of today’s State.  This led me down a path of
rewriting the Psalm and updating for today’s State bureaucrats and all
the worshipers of the powerful State.  Read the two version and ponder
which path leads to a righteous nation.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Psalm 23 – Biblical Version


The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the
still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for
his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I
will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 23 – State Version


The State is my provider; I shall not want
It maketh me lie in green government housing: it leadeth me besides thy
still factories.

It restoreth my soup; it leadeth me in the path’s of unrighteousness for
State power’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of recession & depression, I
will fear no want: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff will take
from others to comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of the tax payers: thou
fillest my head with envy; my cup runneth over with government printed
money.

Surely rottenness  and indolence shall follow me all the days of my
life: and I will dwell in government housing for ever.

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Leadership & Tact

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 6, 2010

Here is an excellent article from a 19th century historian, William Lecky.  I have been reading some of the old late 1800’s literature on character and this is a classic that I had to share with the hungry leaders on my blog.  Tact is the art of saying the right thing at the right time to the right person with the goal of steering his thoughts and behaviors to a productive result while strengthening the bond of trust. Leaders without tact are more likely to injure their teams than serve them.  I believe that in order to move from a Level 2 Performer to a Level 3 Leader, as Chris Brady and I teach in  Launching a Leadership Revolution, it’s imperative to develop the art of tact.  The more tact you have the more you can guide your leadership craft without running it aground on the shallow waters of hurt feelings and damaged egos.  There is an art and science to all businesses.  Even after developing the skills to perform, the magic is in developing the communication skills to help others make the adjustment to perform.  For example, if you remove a fly from a teammates forehead with an axe, you are exhibiting a lack of tact.  Read the article and ponder how you can improve on the art side of your business.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Strength of will and tact are not necessarily, perhaps not generally, conjoined, and often the first seems somewhat to impair the second. The strong passion, the intense conviction, the commanding and imperious nature overriding obstacles and defying opposition, that often goes with a will of abnormal strength, does not naturally harmonize with the reticence of expression, the delicacy of touch and management that characterize a man who possesses in a high degree the gift of tact. There are circumstances and times when each of these two things is more important than the other, and the success of each man will mainly depend upon the suitability of his peculiar gift to the work he has to do.

‘The daring pilot in extremity’ is often by no means the best navigator in a quiet sea; and men who have shown themselves supremely great in moments of crisis and appalling danger, who have built up mighty nations, subdued savage tribes, guided the bark of the State with skill and courage amid the storms of revolution or civil war, and written their names in indelible letters on the page of history, have sometimes proved far less successful than men of inferior powers in the art of managing assemblies, satisfying rival interests or assuaging by judicious compromise old hatreds and prejudices. We have had at least one conspicuous example of the difference of these two types in our own day in the life of the great founder of German Unity.

Sometimes, however, men of great strength of will and purpose possess also in a high degree the gift of tact; and when this is combined with soundness of judgment it usually leads to a success in life out of all proportion to their purely intellectual qualities. In nearly all administrative posts, in all the many fields of labour where the task of man is to govern, manage, or influence others, to adjust or harmonize antagonisms of race or interests or prejudices, to carry through difficult business without friction and by skillful co-operation, this combination of gifts is supremely valuable. It is much more valuable than brilliancy, eloquence, or originality. I remember the comment of a good judge of men on the administration of a great governor who was pre-eminently remarkable for this combination. ‘ He always seemed to gain his point, yet he never appeared to be in antagonism with anyone.’ The steady pressure of a firm and consistent will was scarcely felt when it was accompanied by the ready recognition of everything that was good in the argument of another, and by a charm of manner and of temper which seldom failed to disarm opposition and win personal affection.

The combination of qualities which, though not absolutely incompatible, are very usually disconnected, is the secret of many successful lives. Thus, to take one of the most homely, but one of the most useful and most pleasing of all qualities—good-nature—it will too often be found that when it is the marked and leading feature of a character it is accompanied by some want of firmness, energy, and judgment. Sometimes, however, this is not the case, and there are then few greater elements of success. It is curious to observe the subtle, magnetic sympathy by which men feel whether their neighbor is a harsh or a kind judge of others, and how generally those who judge harshly are themselves harshly judged, while those who judge others rather by their merits than by their defects, and perhaps a little above their merits, win popularity.

No one, indeed, can fail to notice the effect of good nature in conciliating opposition, securing attachment, smoothing the various paths of life, and, it must be added, concealing grave faults. Laxities of conduct that might veil blast the reputation of a man or a woman are constantly forgotten, or at least forgiven, in those who lead a life of tactful good-nature, and in the eyes of the world this quality is more valued than others of far higher and more solid worth.

Though in its higher degrees it is essentially a natural gift, and is sometimes conspicuous in perfectly uneducated men, it may be largely cultivated and improved; and in this respect the education of good society is especially valuable. Such an education, whatever else it may do, at least removes many jarring notes from the rhythm of life. It tends to correct faults of manner, demeanor, or pronunciation which tell against men to a degree altogether disproportioned to their real importance, and on which, it is hardly too much to say, the casual judgments of the world are mainly formed; and it also fosters moral qualities which are essentially of the nature of tact.
We can hardly have a better picture of a really tactful man than in some sentences taken from the admirable pages in which Cardinal Newman has painted the character of the perfect gentleman.

‘ It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. … He carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast—all clashing of opinion or collision of feeling, all restraint or suspicion or gloom or resentment; his great concern being to make everyone at ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unreasonable allusions or topics that may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes an unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. . . . He has too much good sense to be affronted at insult; he is too busy to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. … If he engages in controversy of any kind his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better though less educated minds, who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean. … He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive. Nowhere shall we find greater candor, consideration, indulgence. He throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human nature as well as its strength, its province, and its limits.’

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Grand Slam of Shark Fishing – Florida

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 1, 2010

On Memorial day, Captain Bill, my friend Bill, my two younger boys, and Bill’s two young boys, and I went out for a shark fishing adventure.  Catching some sun, listening to personal development CD’s, chumming the water, and look out!  In less than 3 hours time we caught and released 3 nurse sharks, 1 10′ Bull Shark, 1 9.5′ Hammerhead (A bigger Hammerhead ran out 400 yards of line and broke off!), and one 10′ Tiger Shark! The last 3 types of sharks are like catching a Grand Slam Triple Crown – all in less than 3 hours!  Fishing is like life, sometimes you can do all the right things and not receive the desired results, but with patience and consistency, you are bound to win.  It has been over four years of Plan, Do, Check and Adjust and finally the breakthrough!  Life is the same.  You must Plan, Do, Check and Adjust consistently with an attitude that knows success will eventually surrender.  Never give in, never give up, and never surrender your dream!  The world needs leadership and whatever you do, do it with all your might!  Here is a short video on a 45 minute fight for the Hammerhead. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkHJmqINCRg&w=480&h=385]

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Top Tweeter Writer Leader – Online Christian Colleges

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 29, 2010

A quick Memorial Day weekend thanks to Karen Anderson, of Online Christian Colleges, for her selection of my Twitter account as the top tweeter in the Christian writer category.  Twitter has become a networking phenomena by allowing thought leaders to share messages to tens of thousands through the power of texting.  I was introduced to the networking effects of twitter by my good friend Art Jonak and hit the ground running.  Credit for this along with any other recognition goes to the hungriest group of students/leaders on my Twitter, Facebook, and blog online.  Have a super weekend and keep leading from the front!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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Moral Leadership – Nobilitas Naturalis – William Ropke

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 26, 2010

Ropke pictureI read the following paragraphs out of A Humane Economy by William Ropke in my daily study of economics.  Readers of this blog may have noticed a recurring theme of late on the importance of leadership in economics to prevent social chaos in a disoriented world.  William Ropke, a famous German economist, has captured the essence of the value of leadership in society by calling it the Nobilitas Naturalis.  As you read Ropke’s thoughts, I encourage you to think of your own leadership journey and contemplate if you are living up to your full potentially in character, task and relationships.  Are you ready to lead in the 21st century?  Maybe it’s time to step out of the pack and lead at a new level?  Thomas Jefferson called the new Aristocracy in America the Aristocracy of Achievement.  What I love about Network Marketing is that you cannot hide leadership or the lack of leadership.  People follow leaders in Network Marketing, not for titles, but because of the love and encouragement provided by you & your TEAM to them.  Enjoy the article and lead your way into the Nobilitas Naturalis – The Aristocracy of Achievement.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

In a sound society,” writes Wilhelm Ropke, leadership responsibility, and exemplary defense of the society’s guiding norms and values must be the exalted duty and unchallengeable right of a minority that forms and is willingly and respectfully recognized as the apex of a social pyramid hierarchically structured by performance. Mass society … must be counteracted by individual leadership-not on the part of original geniuses or eccentrics or will-o’ -the wisp intellectuals, but, on the contrary, on the part of people with courage to reject eccentric novelty for the sake of the ‘old truths’ which Goethe admonishes us to hold on to and for the sake of historically proved, indestructible, and simple human values.

In other words, we need the leadership of … “ascetics of civilization,” secularized saints as it were, who in our age occupy a place which must not for long remain vacant at any time and in any society. That is what those have in mind who say that the “revolt of the masses” must be countered by another revolt, the “revolt of the elite.” … What we need is true nobilitas naturalis. No era can do without it, least of all ours, when so much is shaking and crumbling away. We need a natural nobility whose authority is, fortunately, readily accepted by all men, an elite deriving its title solely from supreme performance and peerless moral example and invested with the moral dignity of such a life.

Only a few from every stratum of society can ascend into this thin layer of natural nobility. The way to it is an exemplary and slowly maturing life of dedicated endeavor on behalf of all, unimpeachable integrity, constant restraint of our common greed, proved soundness of judgment, a spotless private life, indomitable courage in standing up for truth and law, and generally the highest example. This is how the few, carried upward by the trust of the people, gradually attain to a position above the classes, interests, passions, wickedness, and foolishness of men and finally become the nation’s conscience.

To belong to this group of moral aristocrats should be the highest and most desirable aim, next to which all the other triumphs of life are pale and insipid …. No free society, least of all ours, which threatens to degenerate into mass society, can subsist without such a class of censors. The continued existence of our free world will ultimately depend on whether our age can produce a sufficient number of such aristocrats of public spirit. (A Humane Economy 130-131)

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Social Means vs. State Power – Conceived in Liberty

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 19, 2010

Murray Rothbard is fast becoming one of my favorite economists/philosophers/historians.  His synopsis of the struggle between liberty and power is the best description I have yet read.  Liberty requires freedom for the many and limited power for the few while Power requires subservience of the many to the will of the few.  What type of world do you want to live in?  Leadership is so important because it is the only way to organize society through Social means and not State control.  Social organization is based on freedom to enter and exit based upon what is best for each individual and the culture of each organization.  State control is based upon edicts from the power elites with the loss of individual choice and redress. The founding of America was a time where Social means was on the rise and State Power was on the decline.  England attempted to apply State pressure to force the Americans to bow to the will of the King and Parliament.  America applied the Social leadership skills of a Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Adams, etc, to resist the liberty destroying power grab of the English. 

Sadly, the history of America is a constant progress of State Power and subsequent withering of Social means.  Will America remain the bastion of liberty or succumb to the will of the few?  Where is the watchman on the wall that is sounding the alarm of our lost freedoms?  It is up to all good citizens to educate themselves on the history of America and Liberty to ensure our freedoms to lead through Social means.  We are in a leadership crisis and I ask all leaders to lead in their Social communities or we risk losing the freedom to lead at all.  Here is a profound portion of the Preface of Murray Rothbard’s classic history of America’s Colonies – Conceived in Liberty.  Are you building Social Capital or State Power? God Bless, Orrin Woodward

My own basic perspective on the history of man, and a fortiori on the history of the United States, is to place central importance on the great conflict which is eternally waged between Liberty and Power, a conflict, by the way, which was seen with crystal clarity by the American revolutionaries of the eighteenth century. I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the highest political good), but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity. Out of liberty, then, stem the glories of civilized life. But liberty has always been threatened by the encroachments of power, power which seeks to suppress, control, cripple, tax, and exploit the fruits of liberty and production. Power, then, the enemy of liberty, is consequently the enemy of all the other goods and fruits of civilization that mankind holds dear. And power is almost always centered in and focused on that central repository of power and violence: the state. With Albert Jay Nock, the twentieth-century American political philosopher, I see history as centrally a race and conflict between “social power”—the productive consequence of voluntary interactions among men—and state power. In those eras of history when liberty—social power—has managed to race ahead of state power and control, the country and even mankind have flourished. In those eras when state power has managed to catch up with or surpass social power, mankind suffers and declines.

For decades, American historians have quarreled about “conflict” or “consensus” as the guiding leitmotif of the American past. Clearly, I belong in the “conflict” rather than the “consensus” camp, with the proviso that I see the central conflict as not between classes, (social or economic), or between ideologies, but between Power and Liberty, State and Society. The social or ideological conflicts have been ancillary to the central one, which concerns: Who will control the state, and what power will the state exercise over the citizenry? To take a common example from American history, there are in my view no inherent conflicts between merchants and farmers in the free market. On the contrary, in the market, the sphere of liberty, the interests of merchants and farmers are harmonious, with each buying and selling the products of the other. Conflicts arise only through the attempts of various groups of merchants or farmers to seize control over the machinery of government and to use it to privilege themselves at the expense of the others. It is only through and by state action that “class” conflicts can ever arise.

This volume is the story of the seventeenth century—the first century of the English colonies in North America. It was the century when all but one (Georgia) of the original thirteen colonies were founded, in all their disparity and diversity. Remarkably enough, this critical period is only brusquely treated in the current history textbooks. While the motives of the early colonists varied greatly, and their fortunes changed in a shifting and fluctuating kaleidoscope of liberty and power, all the colonists soon began to take on an air of freedom unknown in the mother country. Remote from central control, pioneering in a land of relatively few people spread over a space far vaster than any other they had ever known, the contentious colonists proved to be people who would not suffer power gladly. Attempts at imposing feudalism on, or rather transferring it to, the American colonies had all failed. By the end of the century, the British forging of royal colonies, all with similar political structures, could occur only with the fearsome knowledge that the colonists could and would rebel against unwanted power at the drop of a tax or a quitrent.

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Writing, Thinking & Leading

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 5, 2010

Chris Brady and I are excited to be sharing our thoughts in a Leadership Column for the Networking Times.   Our goal is to share principles and techniques that will help you develop into the leader you were called to be.  Networking Times serves the great Networking community by sharing success stories from around the world and the principles applied to achieve that success.  I believe Network Marketing linked with Social Networking is rapidly changing the way business is done across the world. 

On another front, Online Degree just rated one of my blog post in the Top 15 for leadership content.  Online Degree called out an article written on Define, Learn, Do process to success.  Today’s business environment gives anyone with a dream a platform through blogging to share his thoughts with the world.  It just proves the principle that anyone willing to read, think, and write can make a difference today like never before.  I encourage you to lead in your chosen field and capture your thoughts either on a blog or another platform to share with others.  Learn Truth, Live Truth, and then Share Truth with others.

Enjoy the articles and step up your leadership to the next level. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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Murray Rothbard – Thomas Kuhn’s Paradigm Shifts

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 3, 2010

I believe an understanding of economics is essential for any leader in any field today.  Without the freedom of action in the economic field, there is a subsequent loss of freedom in any leadership endeavor as well.  Chief Justice Marshall stated, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”  When governments covet power more than they value liberties, the citizens lose their freedoms, money, and dignity.  If you are a leader or future leader then read the following thoughts by Murray Rothbard in his introduction to his study of Economic History.  Rothbard’s thoughts will start the education process to learn why the American and World Economy is in its current mess.  Do we honestly still believe that government can solve our problems when they cannot even solve their own?  We need a new paradigm that accurately predicted the results of the latest Statist interventions in our economies.  The Austrian Economists are the only school that studies the interventions and accurately predicts the dismal results.  Modern economics is in a dead end street and must admit failure before it can break free of it prevailing Keynesian paradigm.  Every promise by Big Government to solve your problems is actually a power grab to take more of your money and freedoms.  Wake up America before it’s too late!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

The continual progress, onward-and-upward approach was demolished for me, and should have been for everyone, by Thomas Kuhn’s famed Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn paid no attention to economics, but instead, in the standard manner of philosophers and historians of science, focused on such ineluctably ‘hard’ sciences as physics, chemistry, and astronomy. Bringing the word ‘paradigm’ into intellectual discourse, Kuhn demolished what I like to call the ‘Whig theory of the history of science’. The Whig theory, subscribed to by almost all historians of science, including economics, is that scientific thought progresses patiently, one year after another developing, sifting, and testing theories, so that science marches onward and upward, each year, decade or generation learning more and possessing ever more correct scientific theories. On analogy with the Whig theory of history, coined in mid-nineteenth century England, which maintained that things are always getting (and therefore must get) better and better, the Whig historian of science, seemingly on firmer grounds than the regular Whig historian, implicitly or explicitly asserts that ‘later is always better’ in any particular scientific discipline.

The Whig historian (whether of science or of history proper) really maintains that, for any point of historical time, ‘whatever was, was right’, or at least better than ‘whatever was earlier’. The inevitable result is a complacent and infuriating Panglossian optimism. In the historiography of economic thought, the consequence is the firm if implicit position that every individual economist, or at least every school of economists, contributed their important mite to the inexorable upward march. There can, then, be no such thing as gross systemic error that deeply flawed, or even invalidated, an entire school of economic thought, much less sent the world of economics permanently astray.

Kuhn, however, shocked the philosophic world by demonstrating that this is simply not the way that science has developed. Once a central paradigm is selected, there is no testing or sifting, and tests of basic assumptions only take place after a series of failures and anomalies in the ruling paradigm has plunged the science into a ‘crisis situation’. One need not adopt Kuhn’s nihilistic philosophic outlook, his implication that no one paradigm is or can be better than any other, to realize that his less than starry-eyed view of science rings true both as history and as sociology.

But if the standard romantic or Panglossian view does not work even in the hard sciences, a fortiori it must be totally off the mark in such a ‘soft science’ as economics, in a discipline where there can be no laboratory testing, and where numerous even softer disciplines such as politics, religion, and ethics necessarily impinge on one’s economic outlook.

There can therefore be no presumption whatever in economics that later thought is better than earlier, or even that all well-known economists have contributed their sturdy mite to the developing discipline. For it becomes very likely that, rather than everyone contributing to an ever-progressing edifice, economics can and has proceeded in contentious, even zig-zag fashion, with later systemic fallacy sometimes elbowing aside earlier but sounder paradigms, thereby redirecting economic thought down a total erroneous or even tragic path. The overall path of economics may be up, or it may be down, over any give time period.

In recent years, economics, under the dominant influence of formalism, positivism and econometrics, and preening itself on being a hard science, has displayed little interest in its own past. It has been intent, as in any ‘real’ science, on the latest textbook or journal article rather than on exploring its own history. After all, do contemporary physicists spend much time poring over eighteenth century optics?

In the last decade or two, however, the reigning Walrasian–Keynesian neoclassical formalist paradigm has been called ever more into question, and a veritable Kuhnian ‘crisis situation’ has developed in various areas of economics, including worry over its methodology. Amidst this situation, the study of the history of thought has made a significant comeback, one which we hope and expect will expand in coming years. For if knowledge buried in paradigms lost can disappear and be forgotten over time, then studying older economists and schools of thought need not be done merely for antiquarian purposes or to examine how intellectual life proceeded in the past. Earlier economists can be studied for their important contributions to forgotten and therefore new knowledge today. Valuable truths can be learned about the content of economics, not only from the latest journals, but from the texts of long-deceased economic thinkers.

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Lead People & Manage Numbers

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 1, 2010

Leadership, a subject that I have spoken and written about a length, is a necessary ingredient in all successful lives and companies.  The problem is that many people confuse Leadership with the ability to call a meeting and pontificate to existing members on all they know about life & success, while real Leadership is lived on the front lines in making tough decisions, strategic planning, follow through with unhappy customers etc.  Chris and I clearly stated that performance comes before leadership in our book New York Times best selling book, Launching a Leadership Revolution, but since performance is much tougher than pontification, most skip past performance and promote themselves to Grand Master Manager Level – a rank requiring no results, just a mouth that prefers to talk than act.  I know that statement can sound a little harsh, but the amount of damage that managers, who will not lead, who feel successful when giving seminars on concepts they are not doing, cause by their inactivity is beyond the ability to measure.  Meaning, you cannot measure leadership directly, but you can certainly measure the effects of leadership in the results of a group the leader is leading.

Measuring results reminds me of the Hawthorne Studies.  In the early 20th century, studies were performed at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works that revealed an interesting correlation between measurements and results.  Here is a description of the Hawthorne Effect:

In essence, the Hawthorne Effect, as it applies to the workplace, can be summarized as “Employees are more productive because the employees know they are being studied.” Elton Mayo’s experiments showed an increase in worker productivity was produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out, involved, and made to feel important.

Additionally, the act of measurement, itself, impacts the results of the measurement. Just as dipping a thermometer into a vial of liquid can affect the temperature of the liquid being measured, the act of collecting data, where none was collected before creates a situation that didn’t exist before, thereby affecting the results.

The major finding of the study was that almost regardless of the experiment employed, the production of the workers seemed to improve. One reasonable conclusion is that the workers were pleased to receive attention from the researchers who expressed an interest in them. The study was only expected to last one year, but because the researchers were set back each time they tried to relate the manipulated physical conditions to the worker’s efficiency, the project extended out to five years.

I can sum this up by saying Leaders must lead themselves, lead others, and then manage the numbers.  After leading yourself, the next best move is to expect others to lead themselves and teach them how to keep score.  In order to manage the numbers, you must start tracking the numbers and learning to keep score to identify if you are winning or losing.  Some people don’t want to keep score because they feel it would be negative, but nothing is more liberating than knowing the scoreboard so you can start the PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Adjust process.  When leaders start keeping score, an amazing thing happens, people start scoring more.  If you are going to be in business, you might as well keep score so you can learn, grow and change.  Life is not ultimately as much about winning and losing as it is about growing & changing through the wins and losses experienced in life.

No one would go to a football game and pay big money for seats only to find out that both teams decided not to keep score.  The fans would demand a refund and feel cheated that professionals were playing the game, but not keeping score, but that is exactly what 90% of the people in America do everyday!  Managers love to play the game and are even will to track other people’s score so long as they don’t have to track their own.  Let’s agree that today, we will lead our teams, track our own scores, and only then, track the scores of our teams.  I am not in business to expend effort, time, & resources without expecting to change where necessary to win; I hope you feel the same.  Business is as good or as bad as you make it in your mind and actions.  Let’s take business to the next level by tracking our numbers after leading ourselves, giving us the ability to help others track their scoreboard.

Some of the essentials in business to start keeping score are the following.

Profit margin
New growth
Lost customers
Profit per employee
Profit per employee cost
Total Revenue
Customer Complaints

There are certainly others, depending upon what business you are in.  One thing I can tell you for certain, those who keep score will adjust quicker than people who do not keep score.  If you run a company, identify the key variable necessary to track to understand whether you are winning or losing.  Losing is a temporary situation if you are willing to change and fatal for those who deny reality.  Learn, perform, lead, score, and repeat the process with others is the way to lead people and manage the numbers. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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Define, Learn, Do – 3 Keys to Success

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 27, 2010

In a home too cramped for our growing family, in a relationship where neither of us understood the other, in a time of increasing responsibilities and decreasing hope, in a desperate move to keep my baseball cards, Laurie and I started our Networking business.  Can there be a more bizarre beginning to a destiny changing day?  Your story is different in the details, but alike in the life-changing opportunity presented to you.  Networking provides people the opportunity to take control of their futures and no longer swim with the current of the times.  There are only 3 steps to master to accomplish nearly any goal or dream that you can imagine through the power of the of Networking:  

1. Define
2. Learn
3. Do

Life is not always a bowl of cherries as it pulls us in so many directions, requiring more than we would give in three lifetimes, forcing us to clearly define what we want to accomplish with the time God has given us.  Clearly defining your objectives, narrowing your field of vision to the critical few, painstakingly visualizing, repetitively experiencing in your mind, and developing your game plan are essential features of all successful lives. DO NOT WORK THE BUSINESS, BUT CHASE YOUR DREAM THROUGH THE BUSINESS!!  Businesses are not built with an employee mentality, but with an ownership mentality, meaning, to do everything with a specific intent.  Why do you go out night after night to build this business?  You didn’t have a dream as a young child to build a community did you?  The business is just the vehicle to accomplish your dreams, just as you buy a drill if you need a hole.  No one buys a drill because they have always dreamed of owning a drill.  A drill is the specific tool used to get the specific hole you need.

Networking is the specific tool to give you the time and money to get your dreams.  When you know what you want, learning and doing become the necessary steps to achieve what you desire.  If you do not take the time to clearly define why you are in business, then you are setting yourself up to fail.  Why share the product, why show the plan, why start the process, if you have no reason to?  If you are not showing the plan 15 times a month, it’s not because you are lazy, it’s not because you are loser, it’s not because you are incapable, it’s only because you lack focus by not beginning with the end in mind.  Where would you live if you could live anywhere?  Who would you choose for neighbors?  What car would you drive?  What charities would you support?  What vacations would you take?  What random acts of kindness would you do?  It must be defined, imagined, and experienced mentally before it will happen physically.

Learning is one of the most natural things that we do as human beings.  Anyone with children has experienced the endless questions that your kids will ask you as they seek to learn.  But daddy, why is the sky blue?  Why do we drive on the right side of the road?  How do our brains see the pictures from our eyes?  We are born hungry to learn, but society quenches this hunger through ridicule and scorn.  Networking has reversed societies rules and created a culture that is hungry to learn.  No one is above learning and the quicker you learn, the quicker you will apply, the quicker you will have.  Learning is not a part-time hobby, not a full-time job, but a life-time of joy.  Have you experienced the joy of learning lately?  Are you listening and learning from CD’s and your upline’s advice?  Are you reading books, brochures etc?  Are you pounding through the information from the best of the best?  If you’re not, perhaps you need to revisit your dream.

Making contacts, picking up the phone, showing the plan, talking in front of people, were some of the most fearful things that I had to overcome. In fact, the only thing that helped me get over my unbelievable shyness and corresponding fears was the power of my dreams.  It makes me want to gag when I hear people say, “Well you have to be a certain type of person to build a network,” assuming that you are born that way.  Yes, you have to be a winner to build a network, but anyone can be a winner with the three steps that we are covering.  Winning is simple, but it isn’t easy because you must swim against the current.  It you want to win, then you must Define your win, Learn how to win and then JUST DO IT!  No guts, no glory!  We do only one conference call open for everyone in our organization and that is our Go-Getter call.  15 plans per month and you spend several hours listening and learning from the biggest leaders.  Are you going to let 15 plans per month stop you from obtaining your goals and dreams?

Are you going to let the negative thoughts of others deny you from the destiny you desire?  Laurie and I decided to follow our dreams, not our dreads and it made all the difference?  Are you dreaming, learning and doing or dreading, lying, and dying?  The choice you make weaves the strands of your destiny.   Your posterity will either be blessed by your courage or cursed by your cowardice.  Choose wisely, my friend. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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