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Sam Taggart 00:47
Hey everybody, this is Sam Taggart with the D2D podcast. And I’m here with a very, very special guest, John C. Maxwell, and he’s one of our keynote speakers at door to door con January 8, and 9, and he is going to be speaking on leadership he’s written how many books have you written? I don’t like countless books. Do you know do you did you lose count at some point?

John Maxwell 01:09
Well, yeah, I’ve lost count a long time ago. In fact, people ask me that question how all the time and I never know. But But my team is out there like they keep counting. And so the other day somebody asked me I said, well, I’ve done at some and it’s 86 I guess that I’ve done? Yeah, so so but Sam, Sam, think about it. Think about it for a moment. If you’ve done that many books, that’s that’s not any great accomplishment. You just have to be old. I mean, if you’re not into keep, if you’re not old, you can’t do that many books, so you just have to live a long time. So you know, so I’ve lived a long time. So yeah, and write every day. So that’s what happens. You get at some books, I did have, I did have an I was speaking to Random House, which is a big publishing company in New York City. And the CEO of Random House introduced me and said something and this one did take me by surprise he, when he introduced me, he said I’ve done research on this, he said, john Maxwell has written more material on leadership than any person’s ever lived in the history of the world. Man is a cool thing. And I thought that I thought, Oh, I like that I didn’t have it. I never even entered my mind, of who wrote the most leadership stuff. But again, so big deals, if you just had to be old, I guess

Sam Taggart 02:23
I personally have read countless of your books, I’ve probably led seven or eight of them. And my very favorite one is leaders ask great questions. And, you know, the most common one I feel like most people are reading or the 21 laws of or irrefutable laws of leadership. That’s probably one of your more popular books. But in a great one, but I I love how a lot of the books that you’ve written, you know, 360 degree reader, I love that one. I had my mastermind just read that two months ago. And one of the one of the things I like about your writing is it’s very contextual. It’s very, like say this, do this, you know, here’s the answers. And I think a lot of people get super fluffy. But leaders ask great questions. I love how you’re like, say this, when you’re dealing with this kind of scenario, do this, when you’re dealing with this scenario, say this, and I and that kind of learning helps me because sometimes I’m like, I can’t formulate the answers all by myself. And no, I have, I learned my very first year managing I was like 22. And I remember I lost every single one of my sales people, all of them didn’t come back. So I was like, Oh, just just so my first question is, does everyone make a good leader, or what makes a good leader, you’ve written more material than anyone in history on leadership, what makes a good leader because I remember that very first year, I got my butt kicked, and I was like, Oh, I need to learn how to lead. This is a thing. This is like a this is a quality I can learn and develop. So like what makes a good leader for you?

John Maxwell 03:57
Well, it is a quality that a person could develop say I’m, in fact, my I think the the breakthrough leadership book that I wrote was developing the leader within you. And the reason that that was the breakthrough book, it was came out that came out a long time ago came out in 1991 or two. And the reason it was a breakthrough book is that because it was the first book that basically said you can develop yourself as a leader up until that time, people had this mistaken idea that you’re the born leader, you know, it was a born leader. He’s not a born leader. And so people didn’t try to develop themselves as a leader. They either thought they had it, or they didn’t have it. And all of a sudden, I came out with this book that said no, you can develop yourself as a leader. And in that book. It’s the best mentoring book I’ve ever written to for leadership because there are 10 things in that book, that that if you just do those 10 things well, you’ll be a very good leader and so it’s very clear, it’s very solid. It’s very 123 Four or five. And so I talk about priorities I, you know, you’ve got to know, if you can’t prioritize your life, you’ll never be able to delete well, because you will be doing insignificant things all the time I, I talked about servanthood. And in fact, if you don’t go in with a spirit of adding value to people, that you’ll soon instead of adding value to people, you’ll want them to add value to you. And so it’s just that it’s really the solid basic things that I think that a leader does. But when people come to me, and they say, john, how do I develop myself as a leader, I always I always share with them that it begins with qualities in, you know, leadership, you know, leadership starts on the inside, not the outside, we think of leadership is outside and all these people follow you. But but it really an assets, it’s me having leadership values and qualities, that allow me to lead people for the right reason, and be effective and lead in it. Because what happens is, you know, I teach everything rises and falls on leadership. Well, the fall part on leadership is the fact that this is a leader that doesn’t have the values that he or she should have. And so therefore, you know, nothing is nothing is better than a good leader, and nothing is worse than a bad one. And so I tell that you either go up or mess up with leaders. And and, and, and, and, and the mess up side, is when I lose my way, as a leader, and I began to feel the people are to add value to me. And and, you know, somebody I was asked recently, John, what’s your greatest leadership challenge? And, and I said, Well, you know, my greatest leadership challenge is leading me honestly, I mean, it’s much easier to lead you, Sam, good lord, so much easier for me to tell you what to do, and lay it out and say, Okay, go do it. But what I have to do it, I have to, you know, all of a sudden, it’s more than words, it’s more than a vision, casting speech. It’s, it’s, it’s, you know, people do what people see. And so, you know, people follow, you know, leadership is very visual. And so I tell leaders all the time, if you have good values, if you’re the right person, the leadership skills, you can learn those, that’s but but but now, people will have a reason to follow you that it’s not, they’re following you, because you’re such a great leader, they’re following you, because you’re such a great person. And that’s, that’s how you that’s how you develop great people is by being, you know, by being a great person. It’s interesting when you said, you start reading my books and how practical they are, you know, 1234, that whole process, I, I don’t want anybody to miss the steps, here’s what you got to do to go do it. When I started writing, Sam, my publisher didn’t like the way I wrote it all. And they said, Well, you know, you don’t have enough stories, you don’t have enough fluff, you don’t have enough, you know, the aesthetic value of your books aren’t very good. And I looked up and I said, I know that but I said, I’m not writing my books that I’m writing my books to help people, if I’m going to help people, you got to give them steps. And so I said, I’m going to stay with my, you know, 123 fours, I know, that maybe doesn’t make me ever a great writer, but hopefully, it makes me help people. And it’s so funny, because now, you know, 34 million books later, you know, it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful example of Be true to yourself, and be true to and be true to your mission. And my mission was to add value to people. I never, I never wanted to be a great author. I wanted a great writer, I always wanted to be a great friend. And I wanted and I wanted to help people. And so I stayed true to who I was, and what I thought would help people to the elementary 123 the steps that aren’t sophisticated. And it’s worked for me. And I just think that that’s another thing is as far as leadership, you’ve got to be your you’ve got to be your best self, but you got to be yourself. Don’t try to imitate someone else. And you know, that’s always a trap.

Sam Taggart 09:02
I love that. And I think one of the one of the questions I was going to ask was, if you had to, you know, speaking of leadership qualities and being yourself like, let’s hypothetically say you erase everything that you’ve accomplished over the last 50 years or whatever, and you weren’t an author, you weren’t a public figure, you weren’t a speaker, and you were an app to start over today. What would you do? Like what would you do different if you had to go rewrite the script back 50 years ago and say, Hey, I would have done this or I would do this or I would be focusing more on this. And this is this is the identity that I would create. Is there anything that you would have done different or? You would?

John Maxwell 09:45
Yeah, yes. Yes, there is. Yeah. Let me ask you the question is twofold. Let me go back and tell you what I did. Right. And because I never share what I talked about what I would have done differently if I Help people. But I know if I tell them what I did, right, I help them. And so let me first of all, what i what i did right was very simple, Sam, I determined every day to add value to people, period into story, we’re done. Every day, I want to be a plus, when I come along you, Sam, what I’ve done with our interaction, you’re gonna look at me and say, he just added value to me. Because that, and that’s simple. And I tell people, anybody can do that. So I mean, this is not complicated stuff. In all relationships, we are either a plus or minus. That’s true in marriages as true in business as true it in community where either we’re either adding value or subtracting value from people every day. It’s just that simple. And so I intentionally, in the beginning said, I’m going to add value to people every day now that I didn’t always know how I was going to do it. I didn’t always know how to do it. But I just knew I was going to add value to people. And then I was going, when I came away from a relationship with somebody, they were looking at me and say, I want him around me. Because he makes me better. So that’s what I did. Right? It wasn’t so it wasn’t a career choice. It wasn’t like I was brilliant. It was just that I was very committed to every day. And by the way, I do that I do that. Now, I do that now. I mean, every day, I value people think of ways to add value to people look for ways to add value to people do things add value to people and encourage people to add value to each other every day. I still do that. I you know, I don’t have to do that. I mean, I if I want to I can collect coupons I you know I don’t have to work, I can do a lot of things. I got all the options a world for me. But why do I do that? I do that because that’s what works. And and so you know, when people people come to me all the time. I mean, this is so true, because I love working with young leaders love roundtables with kids. And one of the first questions I mean, I know them like, they’ll they’ll say, Well, how I helped me brand myself, I got to get and I’ll look I said Listen to me very carefully. Just get good. Could you get good? If you get good any brand works, trust me. You can have the hokey dokey bright, I could care less when you’re good, hokey doggy brand works. And when you’re bad, you can’t have a slick enough smart enough brand to help you. Because what eventually happens is, you show up, and you either show up good and adding value to people or you show up bad and you’re taking value from people. And so that that’s what that’s what I did, right? what I did wrong. And there that I mean, now I could did did what I did, right and five minutes was wrong it you know, do you have an hour? I mean, no, I mean, and what I did wrong in the beginning is is I tried to be someone else but not myself. And, and I looked at people that I really admired and I thought well, I’ll I’ll try to be like that. And and I just found out in it within about a year and a half have started out that. It just didn’t work. It just I I constantly fumbled. And I think why why am Why is this working? why it wasn’t working, because I wasn’t who I was, I was I’ve tried to be somebody that I admired thinking, I admired them. So if I’m like them, people will admire me too. And what I didn’t have is authenticity. And and, and what I what I’ve learned about leadership is people don’t, they don’t want to perfectly, but they do want an authentic leader. And they want it they want a leader Sam that just says you know what, I blew that one. I mean, that’s that’s not me. I I didn’t do that, right, I made a bad decision there. Let’s back up, let’s let’s let’s let’s let’s review this, let’s let’s let’s correct this as quickly as we can, because I’m not taking the right path. That’s what they want. And, you know, it takes a little time and confidence and to get that but but I got there I got there. I got there, in fact, fairly quick because I realized, I’m a good, what I’m really good at is I’m good at reading the situation and saying I’m doing good or I’m not doing good here. And what I’ve always done well is when I’m not doing good is I don’t stay there. I don’t say well, let’s just double the effort. You know, you know, let’s see if I get double bad here. I pull away and I pivot. It’s a word we use in COVID. Now and and I shifted and I say Okay, wait, why didn’t that work? And what do I need to change? And I’ve always been very willing to back out and say, Hey, you know, let’s let’s, we got to we got to do different we got to do better. I love that.

Sam Taggart 14:45
So what would you say, dude, in today’s leadership world, you know, you’ve obviously seen leadership 20 years ago, leadership 30 years ago, leadership in today’s modern world where there’s a lot of technology there’s a lot of differences in business and COVID, you’ve probably seen leadership shifting, like, you know, I was I was talking to a business owner, he runs a big security company on Friday with mountain biking. And he’s like, my goal is to get everybody to work from home. So I can go live on a boat. And I was like, you’re gonna take your 100 something employees? And he’s like, yeah, I’m noticing, I don’t need this massive building, I sold that. So it closes next month. And you know, and I was like, that is so different. 20 years ago, that conversation would have never happened, you know what I mean? Like? So in today’s world, though, you’ve just seen different decades of leadership and having this evolution of how people have managed, how people coach, how people, you know, XYZ. So I guess in today’s world, what are some of the biggest flaws that you’re starting to pick up on that maybe people are losing touch with the core leadership qualities, or, you know, just like a common flaw that you’re like, man, leader, don’t do this, or this is like a flaw that you you just constantly see?

John Maxwell 15:55
Well, first of all, I read a book, I don’t know, if you’re acquainted with it, Sam called leader shift. And this, this book is going huge right now, because I wrote it three years ago, and it’s always done well. But when COVID hit the whole issue of being able to be flexible, adjustable move quick pivot fast. You know, it I mean, this became the book this has become the book all across I mean, everywhere by just say, teach on leadership, teach us about leadership, how to how do you downshift How do you adjust? And and the point, the point being, the difference between managers and leaders is managers lead everybody to say they want ever they want organization, they want everybody to be the same stay the same, not change. And leaders lead everyone differently. And they know that. And so the difference is management kind of likes things to stay the same. leaders understand that things are always going to change. And they realize the best leaders are going to get on the front end of change, and be creators of change. Instead of being resistors of change. And so when we see the COVID-19, or something like that, that throws a manager but that doesn’t throw a leader. Does that make sense? All

Sam Taggart 17:13
right, that was great. JOHN, I honestly like this, this is really good. So another question that I have, because I’ve managed a lot of sales teams. And I think a lot of these people listening are sales leaders, sales managers, they’re, you know, managing commission 1099 type salespeople. And a big problem that we often find is how do you motivate somebody that’s commission only 1099. You know, they kind of eat what they kill. And they go in these like ebbs and flows of ups and downs. So like, what are some good tips and tricks that you would recommend to that leader that’s trying to motivate or trying to get the guys to be more consistent?

John Maxwell 17:49
Yeah, well, that’s very common. That happens all the time. In fact, you know, the challenge of every leader, regardless of who they’re leading, is to keep their people moving. I mean, that’s what leaders do they move people and, and, you know, people stop people stop for different reasons, you know, in sales, what happens is, you know, when you when you had a good month, and you did well, you have a tendency to say, Okay, let’s, let’s eat off of that month for a while, and you only kind of get back in when things aren’t going quite so well. My I have, I really have, I think, a very solid answer, because I’ve had to answer that question a lot with people and I, out of my own practice, I have seven companies myself, I really know what works. And what really works is very simple. Let’s just say, Sam, that you and I were together, and let’s say you were, you know, eating what you’re you know, killing and kind of going back and forth. You I would just have a private conversation with you. And I’d say, Sam, I, you know, I noticed you have good months. I know you have real low months. And I just helped me understand, because I want to lead you. Right? And well. Talk to me about the low months, the high months, why do you have that inconsistency? And what I found it goes back to my book, good leaders ask great questions. What I have found is is you I lead always by questions, because if I give answers, I own it. If I ask questions, they own it. And that is a huge difference. And so what we what I do is, is I’ll share with them, I’ll say, you know, talk to me about your, your low months and why do you Why do you have that? And I listened to them. I listened very carefully to them. And after I listen to him, I ask why. Okay, do you like glow months? I mean is I mean, is it kind of like you’re okay with robots. I mean, because if you’re okay with them, they’re I don’t there’s not a motivational tool in my bag that can help you I just have to realize this is who you are, this is what you’re going to produce and, and then give you the time that I’m going to give you based upon who you are. And and so I really, I really allow them to express themselves and the reason for that is If I allow them to tell me why they have low months in that whole process, very quickly, two things happen. Awareness really rises. Because you know, when people say they’re self aware, they’re not self aware, the only self awareness anybody has is somebody walked in their life, and it made them aware of it. And because we all have blind spots, so when you start asking questions and interacting in that kind of a private setting, asking these questions, two things really, really come to fruition and one is awareness up, all of a sudden, I thought, wow, yeah, I guess I would rather not have low months. Well, let’s, let’s talk about it in that whole process. And then the second thing is an understanding of how I’m going to lead you. You know, I would I would look at you and say, when you have a low month, do you want me to kick you in the butt? What do you need from me? You know? Or do you want me to let you go and just basically say, that’s who they are. And if that’s the case, you’re just going to give me leadership time for other people. And again, ownership and awareness comes out of asking questions, which just becomes absolutely huge, because now they have to own it. And I and they’re aware of it and I have an understanding how to lead him.

Sam Taggart 21:11
I like that. So do you so the question would be Do you have any go to questions that you almost like have pre recorded or like, pre scripted that helped bring the fire out of somebody that helps them like, that kind of lights? The lights the spark and digs and digs deep? Do you have any good like thought provoking questions?

John Maxwell 21:34
That No, I have, I have no desire to have a thought provoking question. I have a desire, though to know the person the know it, because when I know the person, Sam, then I’ll know what question to ask them. I, I never go in with a with a preset of questions except the first one, which is basically help me understand where you are begin. And this is my observation. And is my observation, correct? Because maybe I’m not maybe I’m not saying it correctly. But But I always let the person at the conversation, determine the next question. Because I think that what’s more important than a series of questions to ask, is a seriousness about asking the questions. And and people can tell, people can tell when you’re authentic with them. And they can they can tell when you have, you know, I’ve got four questions I’ve gotten laid out here, they can tell that versus Okay, I see where you are now. Oh, I had no idea. Okay. Now, now, I’ve got to ask this question. Now, when people say, okay, that doesn’t help me very much it does help you it, here’s what I’m going to say to you? Well, you’ll say, well, you just you know, you’ve got a lot of wisdom there. You know, I don’t think I would have that wisdom to go into a conversation and let it unfold that no, they ask questions. And I would say you don’t in the beginning. But that’s how you get that wisdom. Wisdom is birthed out of experience that’s tried. And so when I started off, I didn’t know how to flow with those with with their life, either. But the longer that I did it, the more I understood how to do it. And today, when people hear me do it, they say, john, you’re you’re a genius. I said, No, I’m not a genius. I’ve just done this 10,000 times, honestly. And you know, after a while, you kind of Hey, after a while, you just say Ah, that was a dead end. I don’t think I’ll go there anymore. And, and so you learn

Sam Taggart 23:24
a lot of that. No, I think that it’s people want to microwave mentality. They want to fast track, they want to just be an awesome leader right away. But it’s going through those failures. Like literally today, I let a guy go and it’s scary going and trying to have to have a firing conversation. I’m not comfortable with those or, you know, having the rep or a salesperson come to you and be like, hey, like, you know, I’m not performing because my grandma and she’s going through something and you’re like, Okay, how do I navigate this? Like, do I be a dick and be like, just man up or it’s like to empathize, be like, okay, obviously, you get your grandma’s situation. And it’s like, this is a new one for me, like, how do I and then the third or fourth time the grandma situation comes up? Like, yeah, I’ve dealt with this before. It didn’t go well, this time, because I was kind of a dick. And I, you know, so I think that I think a lot of people try to fast track.

John Maxwell 24:17
Well, yeah, it’s that’s a great real life scenario. But what are the things I understand is grandma is good the first time. The second time grandma comes up, I say, Well, you know, this talk is your grandma got a chronic issue here. You know, I mean, we’ve we’ve, we’ve kind of been here before. But see, I think it’s very essential to have authentic conversations. I do not appreciate people not being true for me. I tell people, I care for you too much to ever be a fake, and I care way too much for you not to not to constructively try to help you. I’m not going to allow you to stay where you are. You may allow yourself to Stay where you are. But I’m going to do everything I can not to move it. But, but what I tell people every time all the time in my organizations is, I unconditionally love you. So let’s start right there, your family, okay, now that we’ve got that settled, you have to earn my time, I don’t unconditionally, give my time out, you have to earn my time and you earn my time by producing, you earn your earn my time by producing. And so when you say, well, Jay, you’re spending a lot of time over there with Joe and boy, Susan’s getting a lot of your time I look at you very simply and say, it’s because they’re producing, when you produce like Joe and Susan, guess what, you get my time too. And so, you know, you don’t have to earn my love, but you do have to earn my time. And I’m very clear with that with everybody, they understand that. And that really works that really works. And, and, and so when hate when they complain about not having enough time, there’s a reason for that.

Sam Taggart 25:52
I really like how you said, and I, let’s just get one thing out in the clear and in the and just say it out front, I unconditionally love you. And I think that that’s been my hardest thing to convey when I’m trying to reprimand somebody, or I’m trying to correct the behavior. I’m such a nice guy, like, I want to see the good and everything and my employees, some of my leadership team, they’re like, Sam, you, you assume everybody’s too good. And I’m like, I want that I want to assume the best in somebody I want. I want them to be their greatest self. But I think I flaw in the element of like, what you just said, You earn my time by producing. And I’m trying to like standardize and be like, well, I got to give everybody time, and I got to give everybody love because I love them. And I want them to succeed. But I exhaust myself with the wrong people sometimes. And I don’t know, I feel like that’s a common thing. So at what point do you say you’re very simple,

John Maxwell 26:47
Sam, it’s very simple. I tell people, I said, I’ll put a 10 on your head. And only you can take it off, I won’t take it off. And so I’ll put a 10 there. And then and then if you’re not producing, I didn’t take it off, you took it off, I always believed in you always wanted what was best for you. But behavior determines the how successful you’re going to be. So and the other thing, one other quick thing I would say is, we have a when when people become a part of our organization, we sit down and we just address things right up front. And one of the things we address right up front is, you know, we’re really glad to have you on the team. Let me explain something to you. We’re going to have very tough discussions. I want you to know that right now, the day you’re getting hired. There’s nothing tough about getting hired. You just got hired to go celebrate. But But let me tell you something, we will have tough conversations. And we tell them that because you cannot have a working relationship with people. You can’t You can’t have a marriage without having tough conversations. There’s no such thing. There’s anything that last without tough conversation. So what we do is we tell them that on the front end. So three months later, when I have to have a tough conversation, Sam, I go in and say remember our conversation, the beginning that we would have tough conversations, guess what, we’re just about ready to have one?

Sam Taggart 28:06
At what point do you kind of like your last cause? Like you’re just constantly coming into victim? You’re constantly coming into story? And it’s not changing? Like, Is there like a grading skit? Yeah, like, like,

John Maxwell 28:20
it’s very simple. At one point, consistency compounds positively and it compounds negatively. When you’re consistently doing good things, you compound your value to the copy when you consistently don’t produce, you’re becoming a negative influence. And so basically, I always say, it’ll show up, it’ll show up. It’s not what you and don’t tell me what you’re going to do, you got to show me what you’re going to do. So I have no interest in in your words. And it’ll show up. And so we’ll look and see what you did last month. Oops, oops, it showed up bad again. And so what it basically says, I don’t fire you, you really fire yourself. I just let it happen.

Sam Taggart 28:58
Man, this is wise. Anybody Listen to this. I feel like you’re just coaching me right now. And maybe I’m being selfish and just taking this wisdom for my company. Because I have several different little companies and 30 something employees.

29:09
It’s because you’re talking it’s because you’re talking to an old man. You know, when you talk to old people, you get wisdom. You know, that’s what happened.

Sam Taggart 29:16
Here’s one of your big mentors, like Who did you look up to as you you know, progress through your leadership journey?

John Maxwell 29:22
Well, my father was my main mentor, and he just passed away on July 4, this year was 98. And, you know, all my life he’s been it’s spoken into me. So I was very blessed to have him and then I’ve had great mentors. I have john wooden, the coach, UCLA, the last 11 years of his life, we were very, very close and, and most of my mentors have been what I would call seasonal mentors. I needed them for a season because I was going through something and and I think we make a great mistake at measuring when we think only one person can mentor me and I want only one mentor and I you know I when people ask me be their mentor, I say no, I’m not that good at most things. Seto, if you don’t want me to mentor you in most stuff, I’m not a good at it, you know, I’m only good in a few things, I’ll mentor you in what I’m good, but you know, you don’t need. So I think it’s having a maturity to understand that you need different mentors for different reasons. And most of those mentors will be with you for a season. And that’s good. And when you get to that season, you go, you know, you’re gonna go into another season where you’ll need another kind of mentor, no doubt about it.

Sam Taggart 30:26
I love that that’s a, that’s a great way to look at it. You know, a friend of mine just told me he’s like, I have three types of mentors, of the old wisdom, the 78 year old Maxwell’s in my life that have built dynasties and been through all the ups and downs and have a lot of wisdom. And he’s like, I have the lateral mentors that are kind of on the same journey that I’m at similar stage in business or career family, or whatever. And then he’s like, I’ve my younger mentors that are like, in the hip in the know, in the hustle in the, you know, and I’ve He’s like, I have all sorts of mentors. And I like that your approach of just kind of seasonal of like, what are your What are your solid? Yeah, no, I really liked that. And I’m like, man, who are my young hip mentors, even though I’m still fairly young, but I’m like, I don’t know what’s going on with tik tok and like Snapchat, and like, you know, and I don’t know what’s going on. You know, and I’m sure you’ve done all sorts of, you’ve been through all sorts of lawsuits, and you’ve been in sort of all sorts of different real estate deals. And I’m sure you’ve been through all sorts of business, like, ups and downs. And you know, my father is an entrepreneur. And you know, when you said your father, your first I would say, 100%, my dad as well, has been my number one mentor, so blessed to have somebody in my life as well. So well, john, I guess, are you excited to come out to Utah in January,

John Maxwell 31:43
I’m very excited, very excited, I’m going to come ready to share wisdom to your people, I, I can promise you, that I’ll give, I will give great value. When I finish speaking, it’s very simple. People have a game plan. And they absolutely know what to do next. And, and, and, and they have a fire to do it. Because I’m passionate about what to do. And I know what I’m doing. And that’s just a good combination. So I’m delighted to be with you, Sam, delighted to be with the people at the conference. I’ll give it my best shot. And I’m really looking forward to our time together, that’s for sure.

Sam Taggart 32:22
What would you tell somebody that’s sitting on the fence, whether they should invest in themselves and buy a ticket or not? Like it? What point I mean, you’ve been to 1000s of conferences spoken a lot of different events? Like, why why spend the money? Why go if I’m sitting on the fence?

32:38
Well, two reasons. First of all, I tell people, I’m not about to invest in you to invest in yourself, you have to invest in yourself first, you’ve got to bet on you. If you bet on you, then maybe I’ll bet on you. But I’m not going to bet on I never bet on anyone that hasn’t first bet on themselves. Why? I mean, why would I do that? Why? Why would you ask me to do something for you that you should be doing for yourself? So when people say, what should I do? Like come to Sam’s conference? My answer. But if you really want a high return, I mean, high ridiculous return, bring two or three key players invested in them. Yeah, cuz because I can promise you for about for about three years as a young leader, I would go by myself, and then I’d have to go back and try to bring all this stuff, my team, and they just kind of looked at me like deer in headlights. And because they didn’t experience with experience, I couldn’t bring it. You can’t bring the experience home with you. You can bring the facts, but you can’t bring the experience and experience to change his life. So what I’m telling people is invest in yourself. But if you want to compound that investment, invest in two or three of your key players and bring them with you. And then you reflect and think and talk about what you’re learning together. And then you get a game plan for when you go home.

Sam Taggart 33:52
I love that I always tell people, I’m like you enter into an experience at one wavelength. And if you invested in yourself during that experience, and you applied yourself, you should leave at a different wavelength. And those when you get home, you’re going to show up with that new wavelength that they don’t know you at. And you’re going to somehow try to be like, how do I replicate this experience and give you on this new wavelength? And there’s, there’s no replication and you asked earlier, like, are you doing this thing on virtual? And I’m like, Yeah, the virtual events are really good. But there is nothing like experiencing the energy of a collective massive amount of high level high achieving leaders and entrepreneurs all in one room. And you can’t replicate that on a virtual event, in my opinion. And, you know, the networking, the social elements and the experiences at dinners and, you know, just just being able to shake hands with really high level people is inspiring for you. And that’s part of why I put these experiences on So anyway, January 8, and ninth, DDD conduct calm, we’re selling tickets fast, it’ll cap out at 100. We have a couple 100 left. And if you haven’t got your ticket, let’s get there. So appreciate you being on the show, john. This has been an honor a pleasure. And I know that you’ve just shared tons of value, like you said earlier, you know, adding for value, how can I add value today? How can I inspire other people to add value to each other? I love that I loved, you know, just all the the element of just in develop the leader within yourself, I think that we fail to we always say, oh, how do I lead others? Like what are the structures and behaviors and all the things that we’re doing versus how am I shifting my own identity to step into the leader that I need to be so that people follow me. And in my opinion, that’s influence. So I love that. I love that. So thank you so much for being on the show, john. We’ll see you here soon. And hopefully you get some time to spend in the snow and ski and Dink around in the cold Utah mountains. So thank you again.