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Returning to the Practicing with the Masters <\/em>podcast is our guest, Will Bess. As you might remember, Will is a certified speaker, trainer and coach, who works with John C. Maxwell. He has been studying under John for a long time and shares John\u2019s heart for leadership and passion for developing leaders at every level. Will works every day to inspire, challenge and equip leaders to live out leadership principles.<\/p>\n Will is a US Army veteran and spent 18 years as a state and federal probation officer. He has a master\u2019s degree in criminal justice administration and is a graduate of the Federal Judicial Center Leadership Development Program in Washington D.C. He is also an adjust instructor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and at Kaplan College.<\/p>\n Today, Will is here to teach three more of the 21 Laws of Leadership. With these laws, he\u00a0provides\u00a0the tools to help leaders prepare, steer and serve those that follow them. Explaining\u00a0the laws of Navigation, Addition and Solid Ground, Will demonstrates how to separate the average leaders from the good and the good\u00a0leaders from the great. Listen in to learn how you too can take advantage of John C. Maxwell\u2019s teachings through Will and his easily-applicable teachings on how to transform yourself into a leader worth following.<\/p>\n Welcome to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> for dentists with your host, Dr. Allison Watts. Allison believes that there are four pillars for a successful, fulfilling dental practice: clear leadership, sound business principles, well-developed communication skills, and clinical excellence. Allison enjoys helping dentists and teams excel in all of these areas. Each episode she brings you an inspiring conversation with another leading expert. If you desire to learn and grow and in the process take your practice to the next level, then this is the show for you. Now, here\u2019s your host, Dr. Allison Watts.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Welcome to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> podcast. I\u2019m your host, Allison Watts, and I\u2019m dedicated to bringing you masters in the field of dentistry, leadership, and practice management to help you have a more fulfilling and successful practice and life.<\/p>\n All right. So, you guys know that Will is a certified speaker, trainer, and coach with John Maxwell and I\u2019m not going to repeat his whole bio every time. I\u2019ll spare everybody that. I\u2019ve had the privilege of being around Will, I don\u2019t know, maybe what, a year now, Will?<\/p>\n Will: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Something like that.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pretty regularly. And he\u2019s starting to rub off on me a little bit. Anyway, he\u2019s in my Toastmasters group and when I watch him, I think, \u201cHe\u2019s definitely living these principles.\u201d He just quit his job of 18 years with the government. Is that fair to say? He was a federal probation officer for 18 years and he is a full-time John Maxwell coach now, and he\u2019s a speaker and trainer with John Maxwell.<\/p>\n I sat down with him, didn\u2019t I, Will? I sat down with you a few weeks ago, and said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your secret? How\u2019d you do that? That\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d Anyway, I\u2019m delighted to have you here with us, Will, and sharing these Maxwell principles and I will hand you the \u2026 what\u2019s the saying? I\u2019ll give you the stage.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The stage, the tape, the phone, whatever you want to say.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The stage is all yours.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you very much, Allison, and I just really don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a good thing that I\u2019m rubbing off on you. So that\u2019s kind of debatable.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s totally a good thing.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are going to have to revisit that, okay?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughs]<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But anyway, thank you all for joining and if you\u2019re not on the live call, when you do listen to it, welcome to you as well. I\u2019m glad to have all of you here this morning. As my drill sergeant used to say, \u201cIt\u2019s a great day to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to jump right in and talk about these next three laws, from John\u2019s book The<\/em> 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership<\/em>. We\u2019re going to start with the Law of Navigation today. This is the law that says, anyone can steer the ship but it takes a leader to chart the course.<\/p>\n Of all the laws in this book, this law is a technical law. It\u2019s more of a technical law. This law is actually closest to management of all the other laws. Last week, we talked some about the difference between leadership and being a manager. This Law of Navigation is leaning toward being a manager because it requires a bit of technical proficiency. Navigation requires preparation, a leader who sees more than others see.<\/p>\n John starts the chapter in this book talking about two explorers. I\u2019m not going to regurgitate the entire story because it\u2019s in the book, but I\u2019m just going to summarize it for you a little bit. But there are two different explorers. They were attempting to go to Antarctica to be the first men to reach the South Pole. One of them was a Norwegian explorer by the name of Roald Amundsen and the second was Robert Falcon Scott, a British naval officer.<\/p>\n Without laying out the entire details of the story, the difference between the leadership between these two men was life and death. Now I know it\u2019s understandably, and thank God for it, that most of our decisions are not life and death decisions, but in this particular case, it was. Amundsen took his team, he was well-prepared, had everything well-planned, he used dogs to pull the sleigh, he made sure that they had enough rest, he made sure that they had enough food, he had the proper clothing, the best gear. They made it there pretty much without a hitch. I believe John said the worst thing that happened was somebody got a bad tooth that had to be pulled. They made it, came back.<\/p>\n Falcon, different story. He tried to use the motorized sled as opposed to dogs, of course with motors, what happens? They break down. So five days into the trip, they broke down, the men ended up having to pull their heavy equipment themselves. They eventually did get to the South Pole, a month after Amundsen\u2019s team got there. And sadly to say, none of his people, including the animals with him, made it back. Everybody perished, everybody died on the trip because of poor planning.<\/p>\n Now, like I said earlier, thank goodness that most of our decision making doesn\u2019t come to life or death. But this was the difference between somebody not making it home and somebody making it home for poor leadership.<\/p>\n You see, followers need leaders to be able to effectively navigate for them. That\u2019s what leaders do. That\u2019s what the purpose of them is, to navigate. And that\u2019s what followers need. Navigation requires preparation. That’s so important because the world changes.\u00a0 It changes quickly, people change quickly, and you can have the perfect \u201cgame plan\u201d but you need a leader who can see things that everybody can\u2019t see.<\/p>\n In sports, you hear the term of the gifted athlete who can actually see the play before it completely unfolds. Well, that\u2019s what a leader does. LeRoy Eims stated that a leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees further than others see, and they see before others do. This is not just by a coincidence, or even necessarily a God-given talent. The leader sees more and further and first because of the preparation.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like the quarterback in football and I\u2019ll make some sports analogies throughout this course. You don\u2019t have to be a sports fan, you don\u2019t have to be a student of the game to get what I\u2019m talking about. I hope you can just bear with me, and I\u2019ll get you to where I want you to go. But just like the quarterback who sees the play before it happens, well, it\u2019s not by accident. They\u2019re just not naturally gifted to do that. This is the person who studies. They study game film, and they prepare themselves. So when that situation comes up, they\u2019ve already seen it before. They\u2019ve seen it numerous times so they can predict what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s what the true leader does. They don\u2019t just go out on a whim and try to use their personality and their natural skill level to do something. They actually prepare. They prepare to lead. It\u2019s principles to leadership and this calls for preparation. Navigation also requires a vision of the future, because we know that people will perish without vision. People will perish without hope.<\/p>\n Something else that navigators do: They draw on past experience. We talked about this last week, so it\u2019s a common theme for a reason. Reflecting on your past experience, that\u2019s what navigation requires. The successful leader, they reflect on the past, and they draw insight from past experiences. Our past can be such a valuable source of wisdom to us if we allow it to be. As good as past success is, past failures, setbacks, are even more valuable.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you guys, but when I look back over my life, I recognize that I\u2019ve had some successes, and I\u2019ve had more successes than I\u2019ve had failures. But the failures that I\u2019ve had, the setbacks that I\u2019ve had, the mistakes that I\u2019ve made, they have taught me so much more about myself, about life, and about other people in general, than have my victories.<\/p>\n You guys know that, we can win well. Everybody knows how to win, you don\u2019t have to teach people how to celebrate when they win. But can you fail well? It sounds crazy, because we grow up teaching people to try to be successful, not to fail, but the fact of the matter is, failure will come. I think it\u2019s necessary. And how you recoup from it, how you recover from it, that\u2019s going to determine how successful you are.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what navigators do, they look back on their past experiences, and they don\u2019t necessarily see the failures as weaknesses, they don\u2019t see the failures as something bad. They see it as growth opportunities. And the opportunity to do something better than they had done it. You can learn from your failures, or you can find yourself repeating the same mistakes over and over and over.<\/p>\n I was in federal probation for 18 years, so obviously, I have a vast amount of experience of seeing individuals who continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over and over again. I\u2019m sure in your own lives, possibly you\u2019ve met somebody like that. Someone who keeps attracting the same types of friends, the same types of intimate partners, and they never learn from the previous experience.<\/p>\n Basically, they\u2019re going through pain, heartache, trials and tribulations for nothing. Because really, if you don\u2019t learn from it, if you don\u2019t grow from it, if you don\u2019t get better from it, then really you went through it for absolutely no reason at all.<\/p>\n John wrote a book some years ago called Failing Forward<\/em>, and this book really has helped me and it did help me through a significant setback that I had in my own career. Reading that book, and I believe there\u2019s power in the spoken word, that\u2019s why I choose to do what I do, and I\u2019m glad you guys are listening to what I\u2019m saying. There is power in the spoken word.<\/p>\n This book really helped change my life to a certain degree. I would recommend that any of you guys read it, even if you haven\u2019t really went through anything. Go ahead and read it. It\u2019ll give you some insight on what failure actually is, and what it should mean to you. It will also give you some insight on how to recover from it.<\/p>\n John also talks about reflective thinking. He talks about that in his book Thinking for a Change<\/em>. He says that reflective thinking gives you true perspective. It gives the emotional integrity to your thought life. It increases your confidence in decision making, it clarifies the big picture, and it takes a good experience and makes it a valuable experience.<\/p>\n Talking about navigators, navigator-leaders and what they do, they examine the conditions before making commitments. They don\u2019t just jump out there recklessly or carelessly. They examine the conditions. One of the things that they do, they listen. They listen to what other people have to say. Because a true leader will recognize that they don\u2019t have all of the answers. No one has all of the answers. You have to be willing to learn from everyone.<\/p>\n Navigating leaders, they get ideas from many sources and they listen to members on the leadership team, and they get information from outside the organization. They don\u2019t just rely on themselves. They rely on the team.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to give you a little football scenario, and like I said, you don\u2019t have to be a fan of the sport or even really understand it to get what I\u2019m saying. In the National Football League, and that\u2019s professional football, if you don\u2019t know that, they\u2019re called a copycat league. And what I mean by that is, if one team does something really well, then the other teams tend to want to emulate that.<\/p>\n If you watched the Super Bowl, you saw two teams, the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. And the San Francisco 49ers have the young quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. And this kid, he\u2019s a really good athlete. He runs as well as he throws. He\u2019s a new breed of quarterback that they call the mobile quarterback, him, Robert Griffin, Russell Wilson, guys like that.<\/p>\n That means that they can hurt you running the ball as well as throwing the ball. Well, one team in particular, the Seattle Seahawks, played a great number of these so-called mobile quarterbacks this year. They won every game that they played against these types of quarterbacks.<\/p>\n So teams started to go to the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 coaches and say, \u201cHelp, let us talk to you guys. What are you guys doing to stop all of these quarterbacks? Because we are having problems with them, other teams are having problems with them. But whenever your team played them, you seem to know how to control them.\u201d<\/p>\n See, I love that. I love that, because the teams that go to Seattle\u2014yes, they are all competing against each other\u2014but they\u2019re not so arrogant and so egotistical that they\u2019re like, \u201cYou know what, we\u2019re going to figure it out ourselves.\u201d No. They recognize that somebody else has already seemed to figure out how to do that. So instead of you trying to reinvent the wheel so that you can get the credit for doing it yourself, you put the ego aside and you go to these people and say, \u201cHey, what are you guys doing? Because it\u2019s working. Can you show us how to do it?\u201d The success is for the team. They want the team to win. Who really cares where the credit comes from? Who cares, if the team wins, does it really matter who gets to stand on the stage and say, \u201cI did it?\u201d<\/p>\n So that\u2019s what the navigating leader does. The navigating leader uses sources, they learn from everyone to put together the piece of the puzzle so they can steer the course for their troops. They don\u2019t really care who\u2019s coming with the bright ideas as long as the bright ideas are coming and you can use them for the success of the team.<\/p>\n Navigators also make sure that their conclusions represent both faith and fact. You have a positive attitude, and positive attitudes are great, they\u2019re necessary. They\u2019re not the only thing, but they are the most important thing. But you do have to couple it with being realistic. You have to call a spade a spade. If something\u2019s going to be a problem, then say it\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a forecast that says something is not going to be good, then say it\u2019s not going to be good. You can say it with a confidence and a positive that we\u2019re going to turn it around, but you don\u2019t have to sugarcoat it. You don\u2019t have to be a gloomy Gus either. There\u2019s a strategy to learning how to navigate, there really is. I\u2019m going to give you some tools to do that.<\/p>\n The first thing you want to do is predetermine a course of action. Know where you want to go. That\u2019s the first thing. If you don\u2019t have a goal, if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, how are you going to know when you get there? So know where you want to go. Lay out your goals. Make sure that you get the buy-in from your team, because it\u2019s a team effort.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t live life alone. Whether you work by yourself or you have people under your authority or you work for someone, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n Ultimately you\u2019re going to need someone else to help you get to where you want to go. You\u2019re going to need someone else to help you succeed. So make sure you get buy-in from those individuals who you need the help from. Simply saying, \u201cI\u2019m the boss and this is the way we\u2019re going to do it, that\u2019s all there is to it, I don\u2019t want to hear no lip from anybody\u2026\u201d Well, that\u2019s not really going to work too well. It might work for your house or children \u2026<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work. [Laughs]<\/p>\n Will: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What did you say, Allison?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I said, it doesn\u2019t work, I\u2019ve tried it.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You tried it? [Laughs] See, there you go, Allison can speak from experience that that method does not work. And so what you want to do is make sure that you get buy-in from your team, make sure they understand the path that you\u2019re taking. They may not always agree with it, but at least make sure that they understand this is why we\u2019re doing this. And then you\u2019re going to adjust your priorities. You\u2019re going to listen, you\u2019re going to watch, and you\u2019re going to measure.<\/p>\n Adjust is the key word there, because you might start off with something being a priority, but as time goes you recognize that you need to refocus and reshape it and re-shift it. You may have to adjust your priorities.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Will, can you repeat what you said after you said, understand your priorities and you said measure? What did you say? Measure, adjust \u2026 ?<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I said listen, watch, because you\u2019re going to listen to what the people are saying, you\u2019re going to listen to what\u2019s going on, and then you\u2019re going to watch. You\u2019re going to watch the progress, you\u2019re going to see how everything is going. And then you\u2019re going to measure it. Is this working? If something\u2019s not working, then you may have to adjust. That\u2019s what adjust your priorities means. Something that started off seemingly that it\u2019s going to be the top priority may not necessarily end up that way. You may have to have the ability to adjust and be flexible.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just like if you were navigating, if you were on a ship, you were sailing somewhere, and you may be going a certain direction. But a storm may come, the winds may shift, whatever the case may be, and something else becomes a priority. It\u2019s the same thing with leadership. You have to have the ability to adjust your priorities.<\/p>\n Make sure you notify key personnel. Sometimes you need a meeting before the meeting. And it\u2019s not to necessarily undermine the meeting, but sometimes if you let people know, \u201cThis is the agenda, this is what we\u2019re going to do, this is what we want the outcome to be,\u201d then you won\u2019t have those long, lengthy, a bunch of nothing \u2026<\/p>\n I mean, maybe it\u2019s just me, but have you guys ever been to a meeting where it was just unnecessarily long and confusing and you came out and nobody was on the same page? And you say, \u201cOkay, that\u2019s just two hours of our lives that we\u2019ll never get back and didn\u2019t benefit anybody.\u201d So notify the key personnel of what you need from them, sometimes before you even have a meeting.<\/p>\n Allow time for acceptance. A lot of times for the ideas to marinate in people, you announce it, \u201cThis is what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d You discuss it. And then you summarize it. Sometimes leaders, it\u2019ll be a change. Change is difficult a lot of times for people.<\/p>\n They\u2019re bringing something to the table and they\u2019ll give it to their subordinates and then say, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s make it happen.\u201d And they don\u2019t really even give them time to process it and give them time to figure it out in their head. \u201cOkay, this will work, or this is why this will work.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, implement it right now, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s go.\u201d Sometimes you have to step back and allow time for the idea to be processed. Allow time for people to accept what it is that you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n The next one you\u2019re going to do, you\u2019re going to head into action. You\u2019re going to execute the plan. I don\u2019t really have to go into detail with that, this says what it is. You execute.<\/p>\n Next, you\u2019re going to expect problems. Yes, expect problems. You\u2019re dealing with human beings, there are going to be some problems. That\u2019s just the nature of the beast. Change creates friction, it does. Anytime there\u2019s a change, even if it\u2019s a good change, it\u2019s going to create some friction because you know you\u2019ll never be able to please all of the people. That\u2019s just the way it works.<\/p>\n But you have to be prepared for it. Be prepared for somebody to be a little disgruntled. Be prepared for somebody to be upset because the old way suited them better. It may not have been good for the team or the organization, but it was good for them. So they were happy with it and now they\u2019re unhappy. So be prepared to expect that sort of thing.<\/p>\n Always point to the success. Be assuring, be positive, and be confident. That\u2019s very important because you\u2019re a leader, people are watching you. They\u2019re watching you always, to see how you\u2019re going to handle things, what you\u2019re going to do.<\/p>\n Finally, you\u2019re going to have a daily review of your plan. You\u2019re going to watch and see what\u2019s going on. Make sure that your vision is still intact, that things are working. Sometimes a plan needs to change. If you\u2019re not paying attention to it, you\u2019re not watching it close, a problem comes up and by the time you recognize the problem, or by the time you get to the problem, it has become much larger than it would have been had you been watching it on a continuous basis.<\/p>\n If you look at the first initial of all of those that I just said, it says \u201cP.L.A.N. A.H.E.A.D.\u201d Predetermine, lay out your goals, adjust, notify, allow, head into action, expect the problem, always point to success, daily review your plan. That stands for PLAN AHEAD. That\u2019s a good acronym that you can use.<\/p>\n Again, going back to careful reflection, you\u2019ve heard that thing, \u201cWe\u2019ve been burned before?\u201d Just because you\u2019ve been burned before, it doesn\u2019t mean that fire is bad. I remember reading Mark Twain. Mark Twain talked about a cat, he talked about a cat who sits on a hot stove. Mark Twain says, the cat who sits on a hot stove will not sit on a hot stove again. But the cat also won\u2019t sit on a cold stove. The cat won\u2019t sit on any stove again.<\/p>\n A cat is a cat. And hopefully we\u2019re smarter than a cat because we know that there\u2019s nothing wrong with stoves. Just don\u2019t sit on a hot stove. So sometimes something will happen and it doesn\u2019t turn out good for us, so we just want to run away from it and stay away from it period. When it\u2019s not necessarily that thing that was bad, it was something about that thing that was bad. So careful reflection would let you know that, \u201cOkay, just because I\u2019ve been burned before doesn\u2019t mean that all fire is bad. It means that I just have to conduct myself appropriately when I\u2019m around flames.\u201d<\/p>\n Careful reflection means don\u2019t learn the wrong lessons. It\u2019s kind of like, if you have a child, and you know children are sponges and you think they\u2019re not paying attention. And you can say a whole paragraph, but if you say a bad word somewhere within that paragraph, that\u2019s the only thing that the kid is going to hear. Kids tend to want to learn the wrong lessons. They don\u2019t learn all the stuff you\u2019re trying to teach them, they learn the wrong stuff. So make sure you learn the right lesson.<\/p>\n Make sure you fail forward. In your life, you should be either up or in the process of getting up. Also, keep success in perspective. You can celebrate your victories because you\u2019ve earned them, and you should celebrate them. But don\u2019t rest on your laurels. Don\u2019t rest on them. Be constantly trying to improve yourself.<\/p>\n Lead others by knowing your craft and being well prepared. When you\u2019re leading others and engaging, these are some key phrases that you want to listen to. If you hear these permeating around your office or around your work environment, this is when your people are subconsciously telling you that they need some navigation from you. If you recognize that your people would do what you say, but you have to tell them over and over, you have to say things like, \u201cOkay, people listen up, I need you to listen up.\u201d They may need some navigation.<\/p>\n Allison: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hey, Will, can I interrupt you?<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When you hear somebody saying, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m not even sure what I need to do next.\u201d They need some navigation. When you’re hearing people saying, \u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed, I\u2019m over my head, I\u2019m not sure what I need to do, I keep hitting a wall.\u201d They need some navigation from you. You\u2019re the leader. That\u2019s one of the requirements and responsibility of leading people. It\u2019s being in the position to navigate them when they need navigating. That\u2019s the Law of Navigation. We\u2019re going to move on to the Law of Addition.<\/p>\n Allison: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Will, we have a question.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure.<\/p>\n Lisa: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you. Hi, Will.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hi, Lisa, how are you?<\/p>\n Lisa:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wonderful, thank you. You were talking about keeping success in perspective, and then you said don\u2019t depend on your\u2026 something.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I said, don\u2019t rest on your laurels.<\/p>\n Lisa:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t rest on your what, say that again?<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On your laurels. L-a-u-r-e-l-s\u2014the successes.<\/p>\n Lisa: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is that? I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Basically that that\u2019s when you do something well and you\u2019re so busy celebrating and basking in the glow of that, that you don\u2019t improve and that you don\u2019t get better.<\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of like in sports, that\u2019s why if a team wins the championship, it\u2019s so, so hard for them to do it again because they tend not to do those same things to do it again that they did the first time. Because they\u2019re so busy celebrating, \u201cThis is what we did, this is what we accomplished,\u201d that they don\u2019t recognize that they need to continue to grow. They need to continue to strive to be better.<\/p>\n So basically, resting on your laurels, that\u2019s what that means. That you\u2019ve accomplished something and so you think you\u2019ve made it, you think you\u2019ve reached the pinnacle, so you stop working hard. And they say you know that you were back to where you were before you won, or even further back than that.<\/p>\n Basically that\u2019s what that means. That you keep your success in perspective. You recognize this worked, this was a good thing, we were victorious, I\u2019m proud of myself, I\u2019m proud of the team. But we have to keep working. We have to keep growing. We can\u2019t just stop here. So essentially that\u2019s what that means. Does that make sense to you?<\/p>\n Lisa:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, that does make sense, thank you. I can definitely see myself kind of on that line.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes ma\u2019am. Thanks for the question. Do we have any more, Allison?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, not right now.<\/p>\n Will:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, all right. We are going to proceed to the Law of Addition. I love this law. There are a lot of the laws I like, some I like more than others, I love the Law of Addition because to me, this is one of the laws out of the 21 that\u2019s really, really going to separate the average from the good, the good from the great, because it requires something of the leader.<\/p>\n He talks about Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco, and this book was written some time ago, so I don\u2019t know if that guy is still the CEO of Costco. But at the time, he was, and he was really, really an amazing CEO. He knew his people by name, he added value to them financially. They got paid more than the average person working in their industry. He added value to them emotionally. He made sure he wore name tags so everybody could call him by his name. He knew everybody\u2019s first name. He visited all of his stores at least once a year to get to know the people.<\/p>\n And the thing that really stood out was that the people were glad to see him when he came. That\u2019s because they knew he liked them. And let me ask you, how many people have you worked for, that you were genuinely happy to see them when they came?<\/p>\n I remember when I first started working with federal probation, the chief who hired me, her name was Ruby Lehrman. She was that type of boss. When she came around to the divisions to visit, her office was headquartered in San Antonio, but she would travel around West Texas to visit all the different divisions. When she came and you heard, \u201cHey, Ruby\u2019s in the office,\u201d people literally would stop what they were doing to go search the building to find her.<\/p>\n And you know guys, many times when we work, especially in some sort of corporation or organization, when the big boss is in town, you are trying to disappear. You don\u2019t want anything to do with them. You don\u2019t even want to see them. So you\u2019re trying to go the opposite direction. But she wasn\u2019t that kind of boss.<\/p>\n We were genuinely happy and pleased to see her when she came. She called everybody on their birthday and sang Happy Birthday<\/em> to them. She wasn\u2019t exactly Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston, but the effort was there. It made you feel good that she would call you personally and sing Happy Birthday<\/em> to you.<\/p>\n I remember some years ago, early 2001\/2002, or something like that, I don\u2019t recall, but we were going through budgetary problems in the federal government just like they are now. They were talking about furloughing employees, just like they are now. In case some of you don\u2019t know what the furlough means, that basically means you\u2019re going to take some unpaid leave. You\u2019re going to go home, you\u2019re not going to work, and you\u2019re not going to get paid for it, because it saves on salary. We know that salary eats up a large part of anybody\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n We were in that position then, and so she came to East Division office, and I remember her coming to Midland and we had a big meeting. She was talking, and she was rather somber, and she was a really upbeat person normally, but she was really somber. She was talking to us about the budget, and she said, \u201cWe really have kind of two options. And I\u2019m going to let you guys have some input in what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n She said, \u201cWe may have to lay off some of our support staff.\u201d That would be the clerical positions and things like that. She said, \u201cWe may have to lay off some of them. Or, if everybody volunteers to furlough\u201d however many days it was, a week, or something like that, \u201cthen we could save everybody\u2019s job and make our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n She said, \u201cBut I\u2019m going to let you have some input because I know all of you guys have family. Most of these people you don\u2019t even know. They work in different offices. You\u2019ve never met them, you don\u2019t even know them. But I\u2019m going to let you guys think about it, and then we\u2019re going to vote and then we\u2019re going to look at it and we\u2019re going to evaluate it.\u201d<\/p>\n And I remember somebody raised their hand and said, \u201cRuby, when do we vote? Can we vote right now?\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cWell, yeah.\u201d This person was like, \u201cWell, I\u2019d vote that we furlough.\u201d And everybody else raised their hand like, \u201cYeah, we should furlough. We should furlough.\u201d And she was like, \u201cWow, I appreciate that, guys, that you\u2019re doing this.\u201d Somebody said, \u201cWe\u2019re doing it for you, Ruby.\u201d And she got teary-eyed, and she was really touched, but that\u2019s really what it was. The type of leader she was, we were willing to make the sacrifice for her.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re leading people, and you\u2019re adding value to people\u2019s life, I\u2019m telling you, you\u2019ll get it back. They will do things for you because of who you are, not because of your position, not because of your title, not because you\u2019re signing the checks. But because of you. That\u2019s what happens when you invest in people. So when you focus on serving others, because that\u2019s what the Law of Addition is about, it\u2019s about serving people. That\u2019s why I really like this law, because that distinguishes the great leaders from other people.<\/p>\n Sometimes when people get to a certain position in life and they\u2019re elevated, they have a mindset that they should be served now. That they\u2018ve made it. Then they don\u2019t have to do those things because they\u2019ve already done it to get to this position. But no, it\u2019s the opposite. The higher up you go, that\u2019s when servanthood comes in. Your focus is on serving others and adding value to other people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n So John asked the questions, \u201cDo motives count? Do leader\u2019s motives count? Or is it about getting the job done that\u2019s important?\u201d We have to ask ourselves as leaders, \u201cWhat\u2019s the most important thing to you? The bottom line or the person?\u201d Many people view leadership the same way they view success. They hope to go as far as they can and to climb the ladder to achieve the highest position possible for their talent. But leadership is not about advancing you. It\u2019s about advancing others.<\/p>\n Remember, as we talked about last week, leadership is influence. The ability to positively influence others. Many of us have what it takes to be successful ourselves. We can train ourselves up, coach ourselves up, get ourselves in the position where we can excel ourselves. But true leadership is asking, do you have the ability to take somebody else with you?<\/p>\n As a leader, you\u2019re either a lifter or you\u2019re a leaner. You\u2019re lifting somebody up or you\u2019re leaning on them. You\u2019re adding or you\u2019re subtracting from a person\u2019s life. There\u2019s no gray area. There\u2019s no gray.\u00a0 You\u2019re either adding value or you\u2019re subtracting. You\u2019re either having a positive or a negative impact.<\/p>\n A critical question that you can ask yourself as a leader: Are you making things better for the people who follow you? Is their life better because you\u2019re in it? If you can\u2019t answer that with an unhesitant yes and then also get some evidence that backs it up\u2014because we can all say, \u201cYes, yes,\u201d but how do you know? Do you have evidence of that?<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t, you may have to look in the mirror and acknowledge that you may be a subtractor. It\u2019s not an ugly thing because most of the time it\u2019s unintentional. You\u2019re not trying to subtract from people. But nonetheless, it happens. When a leader is a subtractor and they don\u2019t change their ways, they go from subtracting to dividing. We\u2019re not talking about math.<\/p>\n Have you ever worked for anyone like that? It seems like everything that they did was to their benefit. They make sure their vacation is taken care of first, then you go ahead and fill in your days when my days are taken care of. \u201cOh, I need to get off early next week, so you guys need to make sure you turn in all your work and get it to me so I can leave early.\u201d Everything is to their benefit. Everything is to them making sure that they are taken care of first. Those are subtractors.<\/p>\n On the other hand, 90% of the people who add value to people, they do it intentionally. It\u2019s intentional. Leadership is intentional. Because you know what guys? We\u2019re selfish. We are. All of us, all of you guys listening to this, including myself, we are naturally selfish. If you guys took a picture of yourselves at work and somebody handed you the picture, what\u2019s the first thing you\u2019re going to do? You\u2019re going to look for yourself on that picture to make sure that you look okay. And you know everybody on that picture could be looking drunk, they can be looking like they\u2019re high on drugs, but if you see yourself and that you look good on that picture, then you consider that to be a pretty good picture. You don\u2019t see the reason that you all need to do a retake.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t feel bad, we can\u2019t help it. We came out of the womb crying and screaming. I mean, look at babies. If you guys have children, I\u2019m assuming most of you probably have children. They may not be small now, but you\u2019ve been through that process. When your children are small, they don\u2019t care if you\u2019re sick, they don\u2019t care if you\u2019re tired, they don\u2019t care if you\u2019re sleepy, they want what they want when they want it. They want to eat when they\u2019re hungry, they want to be changed when they got poopy diapers, they don\u2019t really care what your situation is. They need you to take care of them.<\/p>\n Look how we raise children. We don\u2019t have to teach them not to be selfish, do we? Yes, we have to teach them not to be selfish. We don\u2019t have to teach them to not share their toys, we have to teach them to share their toys. Because that\u2019s how human beings are built. We naturally look out for ourselves, and we have to untrain ourselves to do that.<\/p>\n So to be a leader, to be an adder in somebody\u2019s life, you have to do really what\u2019s not natural for you. That\u2019s put somebody else\u2019s needs and wishes in front of yours. It\u2019s not natural, it\u2019s not. But that\u2019s what makes the leaders the leaders. You see, leaders do the things that other people won\u2019t do. They don\u2019t necessarily enjoy doing a lot of things but they do it in spite of that. They\u2019re committed to it.<\/p>\n John talks about some Nobel Peace Prize winners: Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu. These were people who were more concerned with positively influencing other people than themselves. Schweitzer made the comment, \u201cSeek always to do some good somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, we don\u2019t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.\u201d That\u2019s basically how leaders of addition live their life. Looking to serve and looking to add value to other people.<\/p>\n Because it\u2019s reciprocal. Just like Zig Ziglar says, \u201cYou get what you want by helping other people get what they want.\u201d It\u2019s reciprocal. The best place for the leader isn\u2019t always at the top position. Recognize that. If you\u2019re not in the top position of your organization, it doesn\u2019t matter. The leader doesn\u2019t always have to be there. It doesn\u2019t have to be the most prominent or powerful place. It simply has to be the place that you can best serve. And you can add value to other people.<\/p>\n There are some benefits to adding value and serving others. It benefits those being served, because you\u2019re helping someone. It\u2019s fulfilling to you. It gives your life meaning, and it gives you the right attitude about life. It allows you to lead with the right motive. You don\u2019t have ulterior motives saying, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to do this because there\u2019s something in it for me.\u201d No, you\u2019re doing this because there\u2019s something in it for the other person. Serving develops leadership culture and the leadership team.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to give you four guidelines to add value to others. We add value to others when we truly value others. It\u2019s not so much about not harming people but it goes into intentionally helping them. You don\u2019t need to try to make anybody feel important, what you do is truly believe that they are important. Then you treat them accordingly.<\/p>\n The second one, we add value to others when we make ourselves more valuable to others. We cannot give what we don\u2019t have. If we don\u2019t possess it, then how can we give it to someone else? How can I teach you skills if I don\u2019t have the skill? How can I give you opportunities if I don\u2019t have the opportunities to give you? You need to be more intentional by growing yourself personally and that way you will continue to have things to offer and benefit other people.<\/p>\n Third. We add value to others when we know and relate to what people value. Get to know people. Listen to people and to what they value. Sometimes an inexperienced leader will try to lead without even knowing about the person they\u2019re leading. How do we know what people want, if we don\u2019t know them? How can I add value to you, if I don\u2019t know what\u2019s important to you? You listen, you learn, and then you lead.<\/p>\n You listen to people, find out about their hopes and dreams and aspirations. Listen to their stories. You pay attention to the emotions of people. Then you learn what\u2019s important to them. How can you motivate someone if you don\u2019t know what motivates them? Because people have different motivations. You get to know them. You learn what\u2019s important to them, and then you lead them based on what you\u2019ve learned. Always remember to seek first to understand, then be understood.<\/p>\n Lastly, and John always mentions in his books and his trainings, he\u2019s a man of faith and he doesn\u2019t want to push his faith on anyone. So I\u2019m just going to add this last one that he says, but I\u2019m not going to go into detail, because I\u2019m doing the same thing that he does. I don\u2019t want to push my faith or his faith on someone else. But I\u2019m going to read you what it is that he says is the fourth thing to add value: \u201cWe add values to others when we do the things that God requires. God requires us to treat people with respect and actively reach out and serve people.\u201d<\/p>\n So in applying the Law of Addition to your life, just ask yourself, do you have a servant\u2019s attitude when it comes to leadership? What are the times that you get impatient or resentful? Another question to ask, are there tasks that you think are beneath your dignity, your position? Then ask yourself, do you make it a practice to perform small acts of service without seeking credit? Look at the people in your life. Look at the people closest to you and ask yourself, do you know what they value? Do you know them? Do you know what they value?<\/p>\n The last law we\u2019re going to talk about this morning is the Law of Solid Ground. This is the law that says trust is the foundation of leadership. How important is trust? Trust is the most important thing. It is. It is the foundation of leadership. Trust is like change, and John uses this analogy. Trust is like change in a leader\u2019s pocket. Change as in coins, as in money. Each time you make a good decision, you earn more coins, you earn more change. Each time you make a poor decision, you pay out some change.<\/p>\n So as you\u2019re leading people, you\u2019re either building change in your pocket, or you\u2019re depleting the change that you have. I\u2019m here to tell you today, don\u2019t ever empty your pocket. You cannot ever make change if you don\u2019t have any change. I\u2019ll say that again. You can\u2019t make change if you don\u2019t have any change. When you run out of change, you\u2019re out as the leader. And it doesn\u2019t even matter if that last mistake was big or small. When you run out, you\u2019re out.<\/p>\n Consequently, if you\u2019ve spent much time building change, accumulating coins, even if you do make a mistake, even if it\u2019s a huge mistake, you still have plenty of change left over. So you can continue to lead. You build trust in people by consistently exemplifying competence, connection, and character.<\/p>\n People will forgive you if you make the occasional mistake based on your ability. Especially if they see that you\u2019re still growing as a leader and you\u2019re trying to do the best that you can. People can forgive a mistake, if they see that you\u2019re trying to grow. As far as connecting, people will give you time to connect, to get to know them, for them to get to know you.<\/p>\n But people don\u2019t trust someone who has slips in character. If you violate somebody\u2019s trust\u2014and we can probably relate to that just in our own lives, whether it\u2019s professional or personal\u2014either we violated someone\u2019s trust, or they violated ours. We know when that happens, it\u2019s hard to regain it. It\u2019s very hard to regain it.<\/p>\n We really have to treat trust as our most precious asset, we really do. We may fool the boss, but the people who see you every day, the people that you work with, your colleagues, your subordinates, the people who work underneath you\u2026 they can tell. They know.<\/p>\n So one of the things that we have to do to increase the Law of Solid Ground, we have to build our character. Character communicates the following: it communicates consistency. Followers need to know what they can count on, they need you to be consistent in your behavior.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always said, when I was working in an organization, to my supervisor, \u201cI really don\u2019t care if you\u2019re crazy. I really don\u2019t. The only thing I ask is that if you are crazy, just be crazy all the time.\u201d Be consistent in your mood so I\u2019ll know where I stand. I can\u2019t deal with a person who is crazy one day but they are not the next day. That drives me crazy. Just be consistent. So followers need to know what they can count on. Now, don\u2019t be crazy, okay? Don\u2019t be crazy, but be consistent in your behavior and in your moods.<\/p>\n People need somebody with inner strength. Somebody who won\u2019t fold under pressure. Jerry West, the NBA legend, stated that, \u201cYou can\u2019t get too much done in life if you only work on the days that you feel good.\u201d Be consistent. Successful people don\u2019t like doing things any more than anyone else, but they do it anyway. Be consistent.<\/p>\n Next thing you want to do, potential. You can\u2019t go beyond the limits of your character for very long because talent is never enough. It\u2019s not. It must be bolstered by the person\u2019s character.<\/p>\n John talks about Terrell Owens, he\u2019s a Hall of Fame football talent, wide receiver, played on a variety of teams. But he always had the inability to get along with the other players and the coaches. And he always divided a locker room because of his attitude, because of his character. His talent was legendary, he\u2019s one of the best receivers ever. But his character was lacking in the sense that he did not know how to get along with other people. He was selfish, so that was his downfall.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t build trust by talking about it, you have to do it. I\u2019ve always been very wary of the person who has to verbally convince somebody to trust them, \u201cPlease trust me. Please trust me.\u201d No. When your character is strong, people will trust you, and they\u2019ll trust your ability to help them. They\u2019ll see it.<\/p>\n The next one is respect. It\u2019s about the team, putting the team first, ahead of your own personal gain. Admit where you\u2019ve made a mistake. In the book, John talks about Vietnam, and I don\u2019t know if any of you guys on this call was alive during that time period, but he talks about Vietnam. And not to talk about the whole story but he talks about the administration of President Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the Secretary of State, Robert McNamara. During that time period, and McNamara wrote a book about this subsequently, and he said that they were consistently deceptive and misleading to the American people about the success of the war.<\/p>\n See, they didn\u2019t have the technology we have now. They didn\u2019t have the World Wide Web to stay updated. They had to depend on the words of those in charge to let us know how the war was going on. And they consistently lied to the American people, saying that the war was going much better than it was.<\/p>\n So trust in that administration eroded tremendously and it carried on into the Nixon administration. And we all know what happened to Tricky Dicky, who took mistrust to a whole other level. But that\u2019s what happens when you put yourself first and don\u2019t think about the entire team, and you don\u2019t admit when you\u2019ve made a mistake, it erodes trust. It erodes trust.<\/p>\n A few little things you want to do in leading others to the Law of Solid Ground, make sure that you earn trust with people. One of the ways you can do that, measure if your team or the people around you, are holding back, if they\u2019re not giving their all. You know they have more in them but you\u2019re not seeing it. If you have a difficult time rallying the troops, getting them to do what needs to be done, you may need to have some sit-down one-on-ones. It might be a trust issue. They may not trust you enough to give you all that they have. So pay attention to that.<\/p>\n We always want to focus on our character, by focusing on integrity, authenticity, and discipline. We commit to being honest, we don\u2019t tell little white lies, and we don\u2019t fudge numbers. If you have broken trust, whether it\u2019s in your private life or your public life, commit to regaining it. Commit to regaining it, it\u2019s important.<\/p>\n Lastly, be authentic. Be yourself. Everybody else is taken, so be yourself. Have you guys ever known anybody who was the chameleon? I mean, whatever group of people they are with, whatever situation they\u2019re in, that\u2019s who they were. They would change themselves to fit into wherever they were. Don\u2019t be a chameleon. Be who you are, be yourself. Yourself is good enough. You don\u2019t need to play politics with people, be who you are. Be authentic, be true to yourself. And be true and consistent in your treatment with other people.<\/p>\n To strengthen your discipline, do the right things regardless of how you feel. Do the right things. Day in, day out. None of this is saying be perfect. Because we\u2019re not perfect, we\u2019ll never be perfect. But if you set your sights on these efforts and trying to do these things, you\u2019ll find yourself being an exemplary leader. I think that\u2019s what we all desire to be.<\/p>\n So with that, to respect everybody\u2019s time, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going to end today. If anybody has any questions, please let Allison know and I\u2019ll be happy to talk with you about anything that you may have. Thank you very much for listening to me this morning. God bless.<\/p>\n Thanks for listening to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> for dentists, with your host, Dr. Allison Watts. For more about how Allison Watts and Transformational Practices can help you create a successful and fulfilling practice and life, visit transformationalpractices.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Returning to the Practicing with the Masters podcast is our guest, Will Bess. As you might remember, Will is a certified speaker, trainer and coach, who works with John C. Maxwell. He has been studying under John for a long time and shares John\u2019s heart for leadership and passion for developing leaders at every level. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[303],"tags":[309,305,304,307],"yoast_head":"\nWhat You’ll Learn From This Episode:<\/h3>\n
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Listen To The Full Interview:<\/h3>\n\n
Featured On The Show:<\/h3>\n
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Full Episode Transcript:<\/h3>\n
![\"Allison's-Button\"](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/transformational-practices-llc\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1587010383\/Allisons-Button\/Allisons-Button.jpg?_i=AA)
<\/a><\/p>\nThe 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership with Will Bess Part 2<\/h3>\n
CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT (8,520 WORDS )<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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