Archive for the ‘Leadership/Personal Development’ Category

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

You Cannot Lead Who You Need

Posted by Orrin Woodward on August 12, 2014

Leaders must have posture (a mixture of self-respect and love for others) to build a following. For people will not respect a person who begs and pleads them to follow. Instead, people follow a leader who knows where he is going and invites them to come along while maintaining his self-respect, dignity, and direction. In short, you cannot lead those you need. LIFE Leadership is about building a leader’s self-respect so that he can serve others needs.

Posture is the recognition that life is a parade and that a person’s leadership is not for everyone. Therefore, maintain your self-respect, recognize that God will lead the right people to you, and work constantly on becoming a better leader for the right people better. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of posture. In fact, once a person has developed unquestioned character and work-ethic, posture becomes the one of the key differences between success and failure.

I love serving people but I have learned through many years experience that my effectiveness is directly related to the hunger and respect the student has for the information I share. For example, if a student does not respect the leader’s time then he does not respect his information either. Posture is recognizing the line between service to others and self-respect. Every great leader must have self-respect before he can expect others to respect him. Indeed, it’s only when this posture is set that a leader is capable of making a difference in others lives.

Perhaps the best description I ever read on posture came from Dr. James Dobson in his fantastic marriage book called What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women. I know it sounds crazy, but in the middle of seeking to be a better husband for Laurie, God directed me to one of the biggest breakthroughs in my personal leadership journey – Posture with People. Dr. Dobson was explaining his own posture journey with his future wife Shirley. I will let him explain the principle in his own words:

Dr. James Dobson

When we first met, she was a lowly sophomore in college and I was a lofty senior. I viewed myself as a big man on campus, and my relationship with this young coed mattered little to me. She, in turn, had been very successful with boys, and was greatly challenged by the independence I demonstrated. She wanted to win me primarily because she wasn’t sure that she could . . . but her enthusiasm inhibited my own interest in return.

After graduation, we had one of those lengthy conversations well known to lovers the world over, when I said I wanted her to date other fellows while I was in the Army, because I didn’t plan on getting married soon. I’ll never forget her reaction. I expected Shirley to cry and hold onto me. Instead, she said, “I’ve been thinking the same thoughts, and I would like to date other guys. Why don’t we just go our separate ways, for now.” Her answer rocked me. For the first time in our relationship, she was moving away from me. What I didn’t know was that Shirley stoically closed her front door and then cried all night.

I went to the Army and returned to a nearby school (USC) for my graduate training. By this time, Shirley was an exalted senior and I was a collegiate has-been. She was homecoming queen, senior class president, a member of Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and one of the most popular girls in her class. As might be expected, she suddenly looked very attractive to me. I began to call several times a day, complain about who she was spending her time with, and try to find ways to please my dream girl. However, the moment Shirley saw my enthusiasm and anxiety, her affection began to die. Gone was the challenge which had attracted her two years before. Instead, I had become just another fellow pounding on her door and asking for favors.

One day after a particularly uninspiring date, I sat down at my desk and spent two solid hours thinking about what was happening. And during the course of that introspection, I realized the mistake I was making. A light flashed in my head and I grabbed a pen and wrote ten changes I was going to make in our relationship. First, I was determined to demonstrate self-respect and dignity, even if I lost the one I now loved so deeply. Secondly, I decided to convey this attitude every time I got the chance: “I am going somewhere in life, and I’m anxious to get there. I love you, and hope you choose to go with me. If you do, I’ll give myself to you and try to make you happy. However, if you choose not to make the journey with me, then I can’t force my will on you. The decision is yours, and I’ll accept it.”

. . . The first night when I applied the new formula was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The girl who is now my wife saw me starting to slip away on that evening, and she reacted with alarm. We were riding in silence in my car, and Shirley asked me to pull over to the curb and stop. When I did she put her arms around my neck and said, “I’m afraid I’m losing you and I don’t know why. Do you still love me?” I notice by the reflected light of the moon that she had tears in her eyes. She obviously didn’t hear my thumping heart as I made my little speech about my solitary journey in life. You see, I had reestablished the challenge for Shirley, and she responded beautifully.

The psychological force which produced our see-saw relationship is an important one, since it is almost universal in human nature. . . we crave that which we cannot attain, but disrespect that which we can’t escape. The axiom is particularly relevant in romantic matters, and has probably influenced your love life, too. Now the forgotten part is that marriage does not erase or change it. Whenever one marriage partner grovels in his own disrespect . . . when he reveals his fear of rejection by his mate . . . when he begs and pleads for a handout . . . he often faces a bewildering attitude of disdain from the one he needs and loves.

Just as in the premarital relationship, nothing douses more water on a romantic flame than for one partner to fling himself emotionally on the other, accepting disrespect in stride. He says in effect, “No matter how badly you treat me, I’ll still be here at your feet, because I can’t survive without you.” That is the best way I know to kill a beautiful friendship.

So what am I recommending . . . that husbands and wives scratch and claw each other to show their independence? No! That they play a sneaky cat and mouse game to recreate a “challenge”? Not at all! I am merely suggesting that self-respect and dignity be maintained in the relationship.

How can you improve your leadership posture? Please share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development | 42 Comments »

William Bradford on Property and Prosperity

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 30, 2014

Private Property and Prosperity

And Justice For All

The right to private property, as I discuss in my recently released Guinness World Record breaking book And Justice For All: The Quest for Concord, is an essential part of a working civilization. Without it, injustice and apathy quickly destroy the Six Duties of Society productivity. This isn’t just my opinion, it has been proven over and over again throughout history. For instance, the Pilgrims (a Godly group of Puritan separatist) attempted a communal approach to land when they first arrived in Plymouth, The catastrophic results nearly wiped out the colony.

Why? Because people quickly discover that regardless of how much work they do, they share in the rewards equally. This causes a Gresham’s Law decline in productivity as everyone seeks to do the minimum possible. However, because few work under this plan, famine and hunger result. For the past 20 years I have studied the effects of of compensation upon results. LIFE Leadership realizes that in a Compensated Community, the rewards must follow those who do the work. In other words, private property reigns.

William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony discovered this for himself. In fact, he captured the challenge and response in his history of the settlement. Private Property is the only way that a person can reap what he has sown. If he does not work, he will not eat as Paul stated. Hunger, it seems, has historically been a great motivator for people to act. A modern equivalent is the statement that a timid salesperson has skinny kids. 🙂 If a person can eat without working, rest assured many people will follow Gresham’s Law and choose the same path.

Indeed, remember that someone always owns property. The choices are 1) private individuals with no monopoly of force or 2) the State with a monopoly of force. If feel much safer knowing private people own property, not only for the productivity gains, but also for the protection of liberty inherent within ownership. Private property tells the State to keep it hands off this private sphere. However, if the State owns everything then the peopler are merely serfs or slaves.

Leon Trotsky, the Russian communist, said as much when he cynically changed the Biblical admonition to work into “He who will not obey will not eat.” Simply put, allowing the State to own the land means the people are at the mercy of those in power. Therefore, those who hate private property inadvertently support oppression of the people and depression of the economy. Perhaps its time to learn from our Bradford’s history of the Plymouth Plantation.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

All this while no supplies were heard of, nor did they know when they might expect any. So they began to consider how to raise more corn, and obtain a better crop than they had done, so that they might not continue to endure the misery of want. At length after much debate, the Governor, with the advice of the chief among them, allowed each man to plant corn for his own household, and to trust to themselves for that; in all other things to go on in the general way as before. So every family was assigned a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number with that in view, — for present purposes only, and making no division for inheritance, — all boys and children being included under some family.

This was very successful. It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could devise, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better satisfaction. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to plant corn, while before they would allege weakness and inability; and to have compelled them would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

The failure of the experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times, — that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.

For in this instance, community of property (so far as it went) was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment which would have been to the general benefit and comfort. For the young men who were most able and fit for service objected to being forced to spend their time and strength in working for other men’s wives and children, without any recompense. The strong man or the resourceful man had no more share of food, clothes, etc., than the weak man who was not able to do a quarter the other could. This was thought injustice. The aged and graver men, who were ranked and equalized in labour, food, clothes, etc., with the humbler and younger ones, thought it some indignity and disrespect to them. As for men’s wives who were obliged to do service for other men, such as cooking, washing their clothes, etc., they considered it a kind of slavery, and many husbands would not brook it.

This feature of it would have been worse still, if they had been men of an inferior class. If (it was thought) all were to share alike, and all were to do alike, then all were on an equality throughout, and one was as good as another; and so, if it did not actually abolish those very relations which God himself has set among men, it did at least greatly diminish the mutual respect that is so important should be preserved amongst them. Let none argue that this is due to human failing, rather than to this communistic plan of life in itself. I answer, seeing that all men have this failing in them, that God in His wisdom saw that another plan of life was fitter for them.

These matters premised, I will now proceed with my account of affairs here. But before I come to other things I must say a word about their planting this year. They felt the benefit of their last year’s harvest; for by planting corn on their own account they managed, with a great deal of patience, to overcome famine. This reminds me of a saying of Seneca’s (Epis. 123): that an important part of liberty is a well-governed belly, and patience in want.

The settlers now began to consider corn more precious than silver; and those that had some to spare began to trade with the others for small things, by the quart, pottle, and peck, etc.; for they had not money, and if they had, corn was preferred to it. In order that they might raise their crops to better advantage, they made suit to the Governor to have some land apportioned for permanent holdings, and not by yearly lot, whereby the plots which the more industrious had brought under good culture one year, would change hands the next, and others would reap the advantage; with the result that manuring and culture of the land were neglected. It was well considered, and their request was granted.

Every person was given one acre of land, for them and theirs, and they were to have no more till the seven years had expired; it was all as near the town as possible, so that they might be kept close together, for greater safety and better attention to the general employments.

An excerpt from Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Settlement; 1608-1650, by William Bradford, rendered into modern English by Harold Paget and published in 1909, originally titled Of Plymouth Plantation, reprint by Mantle Ministries: San Antonio, TX, 1988, pp. 115-116, 141-142.

Posted in Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 13 Comments »

LIFE Leadership Breaks Guinness World Record!

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 25, 2014

And Justice For All

When Ken Dunn (CEO of Next Century Publishing) informed me that Sammy Lee from Hong Kong had shattered the old Guinness World Records by signing 4,649 books during one book signing, I was impressed. For the previous mark was mid-2000’s and he nearly doubled that amount. Shortly afterwards, Chris Brady suggested that maybe we could break Lee’s world record with the release of my new book. I knew it would demand world-class levels in the process, people, and perseverance, but also knew LIFE Leadership was up for the task.

However, I didn’t just want to break the record, I wanted LIFE Leadership to smash it by topping 6,000 books signed. Of course, this wouldn’t be easy, especially when one considers that Mr. Lee took over 11 hours to sign 4,649 copies of his book. There is no way that I could sign 6,000 copies of my new book And Justice For All at that pace and still speak later in the day. Accordingly, if LIFE Leadership truly wanted to break the Guinness World Record, an interdependent leadership strategy was needed involving people, processes, and perseverance. In other words, not just working hard, but working smart was in order.

The people portion was the area I was least concerned about. With tens of thousands of active members and customers, I knew the people needed to break the record would be in attendance. However, it wasn’t just the number of people, but the quality of the people that made the difference. The LIFE Leadership Convention is filled with people trained on the best leadership information provided on a monthly basis. I believed the people would “buy into” the record-breaking strategy and discipline themselves to get their book signed quickly with few delays. Remember, time was of the essence because even at just 10 seconds per book, to sign 6,686 books would have required over 18 1/2 hours! No way could I have done that and still fulfilled my other responsibilities.

Guinness World Record Holder

This forced LIFE Leadership to develop a process to hit the 6,000 plus book signing target and do so in under 10 hours. This had never been done before. Undeterred, Chris Brady, Rob Hallstrand, and Michelle Turner planned a process to do what until that day had been impossible. These three studied the constraints in the people and process to improve the book ordering process. From the queue to order the book, to the line to get the book signed, to how the books were placed in front of me, everything was simply world-class. To say that the process achieved its goal would be an understatement. In fact, the old record was broken in under 4 1/2 hours without even taking a break.

Finally, the small part I played in the record was perseverance to serve the people and follow the process. I made a vow at the start of the signing to not remove myself from my chair until after the record was broken. Given the length of time required to break the record previously, I knew my bladder would probably be the weak link. 🙂 Nonetheless, by believing in the people and the process, I sat down and did not move until I had signed over 5,000 books. Even though I was legally allowed 5 minutes every hour that I could break to eat, drink, or use the bathroom, I wanted to beat the record without the luxury of a break.

After my first break, we pressed forward and blasted past 6,000 books on our way to our final count of 6,786 total books signed. This was a team effort and I would like to personally thank everyone involved. First of all, the people who disciplined themselves to follow the process flawlessly. Second, the office personnel for developing a world-class system to break the record. And third, a special thanks to Marc Militello, Neal Ruffner, and John Croyle for making the process fun and orchestrating the process and people through the line at record breaking speed. The Guinness World Record could not have been broken without your efforts.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank Michael Empric, the adjudicator from Guinness World Records, for investing his day in certifying the proceedings. Michael was a treat to work with and said this about LIFE Leadership’s process and people, ““What people often forget is the scope of organizing and coordinating a record attempt this large. The number of people in line was almost like being at a theme park, except instead of Space Mountain, all of these people were waiting in line to buy a book and have it signed by Orrin.” Michael went above and beyond by personally presenting the Guinness World Record plaque on the LIFE Leadership stage in front of a packed out Columbus arena. That was the perfect culmination for the record breaking day as it was a team victory.

LIFE Leadership Crowd – June Convention

In closing, leadership is the art of building belief. When people believe on the inside, a previously impossible task becomes possible. In this case, the impossible became possible once leaders believed and then developed the people, processes, and perseverance to finish. All of this, of course, inspired by the power of the dream. LIFE Leadership’s Guinness World Record performance proves that it is among the best of the best in the leadership field today. I am a blessed man to be associated with such a fine group of leaders on our way to changing the lives of millions of people.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Orrin & Laurie Woodward GWR Plaque

Guinness World Record Plaque

Michael Empric Presents GWR plaque to Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 41 Comments »

Leaders Create a Virtuous Teaching Cycle Culture

Posted by Orrin Woodward on June 14, 2014

Although anyone can be a leader, it is important to understand that leadership is rare. While most people wait for something to happen, leaders make things happen. In fact, true leaders cannot stand to sit on the sidelines when the team’s game, business, or purpose is on the line.

Indeed, what makes leaders different is the unceasing desire to improve and then to share what they learned with others. This quality of all great leaders is called the Virtuous Teaching Cycle – learning, doing, and then teaching. In a word, the best way to determine the quality of the leader is to identify the quality of leaders he or she is building.

I am so proud of LIFE Leadership for so many reasons, including the level of leadership developing throughout the organization. Despite not chasing after leadership credentials (since true leadership isn’t based upon titles, but rather the size of the community following the leaders), LIFE has produced two NY Times bestselling authors and several other bestselling authors in its first few years.

LIFE is poised to explode onto the mainstream leadership stage by simply serving people rather than chasing credentials. Recently, for instance, Inc Magazine announced their Top 50 Leadership list, using a complicated formula to measure the real reach and influence of each leader. The Top 50 list includes many great leaders, but only one organization had two leaders place in the Top 50 – LIFE Leadership.

This represents what makes LIFE Leadership different. For LIFE believes the true measure of leadership greatness is how many great leaders one serves. How was this achieved? First, by the Grace of God and his continual blessings in our lives and second by building a Virtuous Teaching Cycle where anyone desiring to lead can learn from those already leading at the highest of levels.

I believe over the next decade that the Virtuous Teaching Cycle will catapult many more LIFE Leaders onto the world stage as we create a servant-based leadership dynasty? How? By improving ourselves daily and sharing what we learn with others.

Western Civilization is suffering from a leadership drought. It’s not going to be fixed by government credentialists more concerned with padding their pocketbooks and power contacts. Rather, it’s going to take leaders willing to serve people within society. LIFE Leadership is a group of men and women who refuse to keep waiting for something to happen. Instead, we are going to make it happen. Will you help?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in All News, Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 15 Comments »

Fire the Manager and Hire the Leader

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 22, 2014

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, when asked what made him great, responded, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” This simple statement concisely explains the difference between leaders and managers. Leaders acknowledge the present realities (where the puck is) but never forget the future possibilities (where the puck is going).

This is the key difference between leaders and managers. Whereas managers seek to organize the present resources of a company, a leader seeks to build the resources of a company by creating products, services, and systems that satisfy currently unmet needs in the marketplace.

Vision is tomorrow’s reality expressed as an idea today and leaders are the drivers that make today’s ideas tomorrow’s reality. Are you a leader actively sailing your ship to its future or merely a manager allowing the wind to blow you where it will? LIFE Leadership is about teaching people to seize the helm and sail! My advice is to fire the manager and hire the leader within.

The world has plenty of people capable of managing the results of your productivity, but is suffering from a dearth of true leadership. Despite having no guarantee of success, despite lacking all the relevant data and despite competing against bigger and faster ships, leaders still muster the courage to set sail upon the rough seas of free enterprise.

So what are you waiting for? Get out of the harbor of life and out onto the high seas. This is where the adventures, the learning, and the prizes are in life. Will everything go perfectly? Of course not! But refusing to leave he harbor ensures that you will never arrive at your port of destination. Leaders must leave home port to arrive at their future destination.

Perhaps you think the effort is not worth the reward. Only those who have not experienced the joy of sailing on the high seas could contemplate such a thought. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry described it best, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Personally, I yearn for the high seas that God has called me to and seek others of similar intestinal fortitude to take the journey with me.

Thus reminds me of Ernest Shackleton’s advertisement seeking men to be the first to journey to the South pole. The ad read, “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.” Interestingly, there were no guarantees, nor huge bonuses, but just the challenge of doing something great together!

In fact, it’s the challenge of doing something that has never been done before that unites a team and steels their resolve to finish what they have started. At the Columbus LIFE Leadership Convention, on June 21 of 2014 (Saturday starting at 8am until every book is signed), LIFE Leadership will seek to do what has never been done before in the history of mankind.

With Guinness World Records™ staff officially tracking the proceedings, LIFE will seek to break the all-time record for Largest Book Signing. The goal is to break over 5,000 books signed in one sitting. Perhaps, if enough people participate, and my hand holds out 🙂 we can break 6,000 books signed!

In any event, leaders make events like this possible and I would like to thank all the leaders in advance who intend to play a part in making history in Ohio. Isn’t it time to fire the manager and hire the leader in your life?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Guinness Book of World Records Attempt

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 22 Comments »

Seek Wisdom

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 15, 2014

Life is less like a box of chocolates and more like a box of jalapeños. If you don’t apply wisdom, what you do today may burn your butt tomorrow.

I read a tweet recently from Brian Powers on life, chocolates, and jalapeños. I changed the quote slightly to tie it to the importance of wisdom and the quote above resulted. Life truly is about gaining wisdom in the 8F’s so that one can learn to handle any situation with peace and grace. Since everyone experiences the ups and downs in life, wisdom is the key delineator between successfully navigating the storms of life or being added to the growing list of shipwrecked lives.

Relativism = Value Free

The Free Dictionary defines wisdom as the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight. If wisdom requires on to judge between truthfulness and rightness of one’s actions then one must believe that there is truth and right in the world. After all, how can one discern truth and right when one is a relativist and rejects the notions of good/evil, truth/error, and right/wrong?

LIFE Leadership begins with this foundational principle to seek wisdom. The Bible states, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” and the transformation for many begins with the recognition of a moral order in the world. For without this moral order, seeking wisdom is a fools errand as one would have rejected the goal (discerning truth) before one begins the journey.

One of the many things I love about the LIFE Leadership community is it is difficult to remain a relativist when one attempts to lead. Leadership, at its essence, is buying into one’s purpose/vision and then selling it to others. This purpose/vision must be inspirational and rational in order to be bought into with conviction by the community. However, a relativist struggles with conviction. This isn’t surprising when one considers that a relativist’s statement of faith centers around, “nothing is true absolutely.” Of course, my quick rejoinder is, “are you absolutely sure that nothing is true absolutely?”

This is the quandary for all relativist who attempt to lead a community. If he answers my question by saying, “I am absolutely sure,” then he has disproved his own statement of faith. If he says, “I am not absolutely sure,” then I say, “great, let’s help you start reading, listening, and associating, so you can be sure about what you believe.”

At the end of the day, it’s the leader’s certainty, and the conviction that comes from this certainty, that creates the passion around the purpose for other’s to follow. Thus, knowing why you believe what you believe is foundational to all leadership.

How has LIFE Leadership helped you develop wisdom in life and discern truth and right in today’s relativistic age?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 35 Comments »

Compensated Communities Equals Creative Destruction

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 8, 2014

Leadership, in any field, demands individuals who can think for themselves. Unfortunately, in today’s conformance-oriented culture, thinking is in short supply. For instance, the fear of ridicule causes more people to fail in life than lack of talent ever has. I am not proposing people rebel against all societal norms since that is just as thoughtless as conforming to all. Rather, I am suggesting that a person ought to think through what is truly important in his life and then follow the proper principle-centered trail to achieve it.

Why follow the masses into mediocrity if you have a burning desire to do something worthwhile? Yes, many won’t understand you; yes, many will laugh at your naiveté; yes, some will even fight against you. Nonetheless, a person who is true to his or her purpose is the only one who can live a life of no regrets. This, in fact, is what led me into the leadership field. For as an engineer, I realized that my efforts to reach the mountaintop, despite enjoying immense success, was not taking me where I wanted to go.

Thankfully, God, in His matchless wisdom, opened another door for me. It wasn’t the products or company that attracted me to network marketing, but rather an embryonic leadership engine that captivated me. Although not fully understood, the origins of LIFE Leadership were formed while studying the best training organizations within network marketing. These training organizations somehow managed to build loyal tribes of people who bought and sold the company’s products.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that the secret to massive results in network marketing was less the specific product sold and more one’s ability to lead people. The products can change (even within the same company) but relationships can be for life. This breakthrough led me to form a leadership training company and launch a revolution in leadership and community building.

Indeed, Chris Brady, Tim Marks, and I started meeting every Monday morning to design and PDCA our fledgling training company. Our goal was to teach people the essentials of leadership, systems, and processes to build communities. The results were nothing short of spectacular. From 200 people in attendance monthly in 1998, we grew to over 5,000 in monthly attendance by 2003. We surpassed the growth of all other organizations and proved the adage that everything rises and falls on leadership.

Creative Destruction

Leaders, in effect, cause Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction to occur wherever they go. Average results are not acceptable to leaders; therefore, they are driven to change the rules, the culture, and themselves in order to win. This drive to excel is what causes the Creative Destruction in each field which enhances society. However, like all change, what benefits society at large does not benefit everyone equally. For any time a new entrant climbs to the top, the older, more established organizations, are forced to adjust.

LIFE Leadership is causing adjustments throughout network marketing. Of course, LIFE is loved by those who enjoy the benefits of the world-class leadership and personal development training. Not surprisingly, however, the new methods and approaches to network marketing – so transformational that it has birthed a new field called Compensated Community – are disliked by the old-guard who resist any change to the existing pecking order. Although LIFE seeks to improve society and carries malice towards none, it refuses to tolerate mediocrity in any area it is involved. If this mindset upsets the marketplace, then so be it.

What areas of mediocrity are you tolerating in life? LIFE Leadership provides the personal development products needed to generate the Creative Destruction necessary for you to live the life you’ve always wanted? What are you waiting for? If your ladder is leaning against the wrong wall then it only makes sense to move it. Perhaps your destiny awaits your move into LIFE Leadership’s Compensated Community.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 26 Comments »

Robinson Crusoe: The Entrepreneur

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 16, 2014

Financial Fitness Pack

This is part 2 of Hernando de Soto’s enlightening example of the savings process role in a non-State-interventionist’s free market economy. LIFE Leadership has taught, since its inception, the three keys to wealth (1. Long term Vision; 2. Delayed Gratification; 3. Utilize the Power of Compounding). Unfortunately, the State does not follow these concepts and, since 1913, it has rarely attempted to apply these principles. Instead, it chooses inflation, taxation, and debt accumulation, seeking short-term bandaid fixes while the underlying issues become a greater risk to society’s future.

Needless to say, the current lack of long term vision, delayed gratification, and positive power of compounding must be changed. I believe the only way to change the political process is to change the thinking of the populace. Instead of demanding the State take care of everything, what if we put the State on a fixed budget and demanded they balance it? Imagine someone in Washington having to balance the budget like practically every household in the world must.

The State must end the temporary stopgaps (printing money and debt growth) which only mortgage our children’s financial futures to satisfy the State’s financial lunacy.

What can we do? We can start by displaying financial literacy in our own home by applying the principles from the LIFE Leadership Financial Fitness Pack. On a weekly basis, I am receiving letters, emails, and LIFE Lines describing how the Financial Fitness Pack has changed their financial future. Indeed, how can we criticize the financial mess in Washington until we model the proper behavior personally?

Let’s lead our homes first and then find leaders who will do the same in every branch of government.

If you have applied the principles from the Financial Fitness Pack and have achieved progress in your personal financial situation then please share a comment below.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Robinson Crusoe’s production process, like any other, clearly arises from an act of entrepreneurial creativity, the actor’s realization that he stands to benefit, i.e., he can accomplish ends more valuable to him, by employing action processes which require a longer period of time (because they include more stages). Thus action or production processes yield capital goods, which are simply intermediate economic goods in an action process whose aim has not yet been reached. The actor is only willing to sacrifice his immediate consumption (i.e., to save) if he thinks that by doing so he will achieve goals he values more (in this case, the production of ten times more berries than he could gather by hand).

Furthermore Robinson Crusoe must attempt to coordinate as well as possible his present behavior with his foreseeable future behavior. More specifically, he must avoid initiating action processes that are excessively long in relation to his savings: it would be tragic for him to run out of berries (that is, to consume all he has saved) halfway through the process of producing a capital good and without reaching his goal. He must also refrain from saving too much with respect to his future investment needs, since by doing so he would only unnecessarily sacrifice his immediate consumption. Robinson Crusoe’s subjective assessment of his time preference is precisely what enables him to adequately coordinate or adjust his present behavior in relation to his future needs and behavior.

On the one hand, the fact that his time preference is not absolute makes it possible for him to forfeit some of his present consumption over a period of several weeks with the hope of thus being able to produce the stick. On the other hand, the fact that he does have a time preference explains why he only devotes his efforts to creating a capital good he can produce in a limited period of time and which requires sacrificing and saving for a limited number of days.

If Robinson Crusoe had no time preference, nothing would stop him from dedicating all of his efforts to building a hut right away (which, for example, might take him a month minimum), a plan he would not be able to carry out without first having saved a large quantity of berries. Therefore he would either starve to death or the project, out of all proportion to his potential saving, would soon be interrupted and abandoned. At any rate, it is important to understand that the real saved resources (the berries in the basket) are precisely the ones which enable Robinson Crusoe to survive during the time period he spends producing the capital good and during which he ceases to gather berries directly.

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 9 Comments »

America’s Power Pendulum

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 2, 2014

American society is moving away from concord and quickly into coercion. Where people used to function with leadership and service to others, it is now functioning more and more under compulsion and threats. Unfortunately, this is the normal outcome when the State assumes responsibility for society’s roles.

In my soon-to-be-released book And Justice for All, I cover the roles of the force State and free society. Anytime the roles get mixed up the Power Pendulum moves into either chaos or coercion. LIFE Leadership is an all-volunteer community based upon leadership and service to others. Our goal is to build compensated communities and teach people entrepreneurship and the principles of a healthy civilization.

Below is a portion of a talk I gave last year in Saginaw, Michigan.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 15 Comments »

Dan and Lisa Hawkins: Communication Skills

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 30, 2014

Dan and Lisa Hawkins share the Communication Code

Dan and Lisa Hawkins have become two of the most dynamic and effective communicators in LIFE Leadership. The popular demand for their leadership materials is expanding around the world. Why? Because Dan and Lisa treat leadership as their profession. Leadership is not a part-time, nor full-time, but a lifetime assignment for both of them. For instance, the video below is just a short segment of an amazing talk that would help marriages across the globe.

This talk, plus hundreds of others are available on Rascal Radio for the unbelievably low price of under 50 dollars per month. LIFE Leadership is changing the world one life at a time. Thousands of people per month on signing up as customers and members because they understand the importance of leadership in every area of life. Are you one of them?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 14 Comments »

« Previous Entries

Next Entries »

Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

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

Orrin Woodward

Orrin’s Latest Book

7 Day Free Access to Leadership Audios!

Email Me

NY Times Bestselling Book

Mental Fitness Challenge

Categories

Favorite Blogs

Favorite Sites

Social Media

Archives

Archive for the ‘Leadership/Personal Development’ Category

You Cannot Lead Who You Need

William Bradford on Property and Prosperity

Private Property and Prosperity

An excerpt from Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Settlement; 1608-1650, by William Bradford, rendered into modern English by Harold Paget and published in 1909, originally titled Of Plymouth Plantation, reprint by Mantle Ministries: San Antonio, TX, 1988, pp. 115-116, 141-142.

LIFE Leadership Breaks Guinness World Record!

Leaders Create a Virtuous Teaching Cycle Culture

Fire the Manager and Hire the Leader

Seek Wisdom

Compensated Communities Equals Creative Destruction

Robinson Crusoe: The Entrepreneur

America’s Power Pendulum

Dan and Lisa Hawkins: Communication Skills

Dan and Lisa Hawkins share the Communication Code