How to Live Out the Law of Victory

Perry Holley:
Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast where our goal is to help you increase your reputation as a leader, increase your ability to influence others, and increase your ability to fully engage your team to deliver remarkable results. Hi, I’m Perry, Holley and Maxwell, leadership facilitator and coach.

Chris Goede:
And I’m Chris Goede, executive vice president with Maxwell Leadership. Welcome and thank you for joining. Today we’re going to dive in and we’re going to talk about living out the law of victory. And this is something that comes right out of again, where most of our content does the field like we are having conversations and we’ll dive in and talk a little bit about this. And so based out of John’s 21 laws of leadership, a book that’s his number one selling book, continues to do that. We’re going to dive in and talk about some of those powerful principles around the law of Victory. But first I want to encourage you go to MaxwellLeadership.com/ExecutivePodcast. There you can learn a little bit more about the five levels of leadership, which is the foundation, the common language of everything that we build this podcast off of and really in organizations that changes their culture.

Chris Goede:
And you can learn more about that there. Well, as I mentioned, we’re going to talk about the law of victory and how do you live that out? What does that look like? And so this obviously is something that I want you to weigh in on because you’re bringing this to us because you’re hearing about it and it’s relative. We’ve had some conversations and then it got you thinking, man. Let me share this with our audience and get them thinking about it with their team as well.

Perry Holley:
Yeah, I have a group coaching client that have the the executive and their team that reports to them and they wanted to do a book study almost. So we’re working our way through on about a 10 session over 10 months reading the 21 law. They picked the book. I was a little nervous because I thought these aren’t folks that normally would read the 21 laws. But I am been completely appreciative of their effort to do this and how they’ve poured themselves in. And I’m enjoying revisiting the 21 laws. I wouldn’t have probably brought this as a podcast except we got on a call. So the law of victory, if you’re not familiar, the 21 laws says that leaders find a way for the team to win.

Perry Holley:
Sounds simple enough, but when I brought this up to the group and we were talking about it, I think what do you do things Are tough, it’s uphill. There’s challenges, changes, all this stuff going on. How do you as a leader set yourself up and your team up to win? What are the things that you would do? And I was thinking about the old NASA Gene Kranz, Apollo, failure’s not an option. That’s kind of the mentality here. Failure is not an option. And you think, actually the Apollo 13 is a great example of that. What were they will to do whatever it took to win, to get those astronauts home. So what are you willing to do as a leader and to really create conditions for the team to win? Wow.

Perry Holley:
When we got into the discussion, this group came out of their shoes discussing, wow, we need. We could do more. I think we could all do more.

Chris Goede:
And what I love about this and the law of victory and where, where we’re going, even the conversation is it’s not a personal victory. The team.

Perry Holley:
Yeah, right.

Chris Goede:
Victory. Right. And it’s about the team and. And it’s more than just a desire for the team to win. It’s about a deliberate mindset and then the behaviors of the team, of you as a leader and the team that drive that. So today, I mean, we’re going to just dive into some things that we think really that you should be aware of, the attributes that you need to be looking at, some ideas of how, as a leader, you can lead your team to victory.

Perry Holley:
The first one that came up in John’s teaching is about, are you as a leader, have you taken full responsibility? And I thought then that sound. Well, of course I have.

Chris Goede:
Yeah.

Perry Holley:
But what give me your read on that. Is that, I mean, is celebrating the team. Is it, you know, you owning, I thought was such a simple thing to say.

Chris Goede:
Well, you were on to it there about. Are you owning it? Like, how many of us have worked for a leader where something went wrong? We’re not headed towards victory. We got a little speed bump. And the leader doesn’t take responsibility, doesn’t take full responsibility of what that might be. And I think it’s really leadership maturity. When you take accountability as a leader for the team for something that you did, that you did, maybe a decision that you made, it builds trust with your team. And instead of where you try to blame others and the focus becomes on, you know, on them or the solution, like, just own it, first of all, just straight out take responsibility for it. And Harvard Business Review says that leaders that model high accountability, they outperform their peers by 21% in profitability.

Chris Goede:
Now, I don’t know how they measure that. I know Harvard Business Review put it out, so it must be true. Right? Harvard wanted to do that. And I love the fact that losing is not an option. That’s really like, that’s ownership. Like, as a leader, you’re saying this is not an option. The thing I want to add here that I was thinking about is the law of timing. So leaders could, in the middle of something, be completely absent and not take ownership and not take responsibility.

Chris Goede:
And what’s going to happen is the team’s going to slow down. It’s. We talked about momentum last week. It’s going to derail or whatnot. So what is the timing of when the leader steps up and says, guys, it’s on me like that. I take full responsibility, I own it. And then you clear them of any guilt, of any wonder, of any, oh, my gosh, are we going to have a job? Is the team going to survive? And so I thought it was really interesting when you think about this is how do I around the law of timing when I think about the taking responsibility and accountability for it?

Perry Holley:
So you did. There you were law stacking.

Chris Goede:
I was lost acting Layered layer instead of layered learning. We’re going to call this layered 21 laws.

Perry Holley:
Tell me about the importance of. I think another thing, if you’re going to express the law of victory. So I’ve got to take full responsibility but also have to, you know, set a vision or a unified vision. Do I define what winning looks like? And this again, sounds a little simple, but I. It’s. It’s easy to do, makes it easy not to do, as Jim Rohn would say, is that I just assume people know that this is the vision, this is what the goal is, this is what winning looks like.

Chris Goede:
And you got to repeat it, oh, gosh, over and over and over again. And so you could have a team that hears what you’re saying and what you’re communicating the vision is, but could live that out completely different. And what ends up happening is you get all this sideways energy going on and each of them think that they’re correct. But it all started with the fact that they’re not unified because the vision that you created, you didn’t repeat it enough. It wasn’t clear. I’m hearing a lot of leaders nowadays where they go, hey, listen, I just might not be communicating this well, so tell me what you heard me say. And then they’re like, no, that’s not what I was supposed to say. I really wanted to say this.

Chris Goede:
And I think when you do that, and you do that around the vision, and you do that with the entire team, and you get everybody rowing in the right direction together. The force of that energy creates a lot of momentum. The other thing I want to encourage around this is not only to have a unified vision, make sure everybody understands that and everybody’s working in one direction, but make sure that everybody understands their role in that unified vision and how that’s tied to the bigger part of the organization. So many people, they’re just there and we talk about the middle of the boat. They’re doing the bare minimum to get by. They’re not engaged because they don’t feel unified with the team. Matter of fact, they probably sometimes feel siloed from the team. And then also they’re not even sure what they’re doing and how that contributes to the bigger part of the vision.

Chris Goede:
And so just be thinking about that as you’re kind of marching towards victory. It’s so important to be able to do that.

Perry Holley:
One of the leaders I coach said this week, he said, my people aren’t paying attention. I go, what do you mean? They’re not just not paying attention? Well, they’re paying attention to something. They’re just not paying attention to you.

Chris Goede:
I was going to say.

Perry Holley:
Yeah, what are they paying attention to? Well, they don’t. And I think that we got into it a little bit about, are they aware of what winning looks like? I didn’t use those words. But what we’re trying to do and do they think they own it? Are they present? Do they know that they’re on the. What they’re supposed to be doing? They know their role in doing that. Which kind of brings up another one John talks about, build the right team. Do you have the right people on the bus? You’re not going to be able to, you know, pursue victory at all costs if you don’t have the right team that’s there either coaching them up, you know, if you’re hiring well and. Or coaching people well, getting people prepared to win, it’s got to be a huge issue, 100%.

Chris Goede:
I think the, the, the talent, what I would call the, the war on talent, right, is a couple of things. One, are, to your point, are you developing them? Are. Are you literally trying to raise their lid? It makes me think, here we go again. Layered.

Perry Holley:
Oh, there you go.

Chris Goede:
21 laws. The law of the lid, right? And you think about this lid on you as a leader, but the individuals around your team, and if you’re not raising that level of that lid, it’s a couple different reasons. One, maybe they don’t have the capacity to do that. Maybe they’re not the right person. Maybe you need to bring in someone new and maybe you need to figure out how to build your bench a little bit differently. But I think this right here with building the right team and then coaching them up and raising the lid is a big issue, a big pain point in organizations today. And when, when you understand the five levels model that we talk about and we implement in organizations, you get level one, you got a job, it’s great, people follow you position. Level two is permission, level three is production.

Chris Goede:
We get that. And then there’s just a lid that I think sits right across the top of level three. And people don’t understand that the capacity, the leadership capacity of your team is directly tied to the success of that organization. And if you don’t figure out how to have the right team in the right place and to coach them up or coach them out either way to raise that, then I think you’re not necessarily on the right road to victory.

Maxwell Leadership Certified Team:
Hey, podcast listeners, many of you listening right now would probably love the autonomy that comes with owning your own business or becoming a coach that helps other businesses successful succeed. Well, we have a phenomenal strategy where you are 100% in control of your own business, earning income on your own terms, and have access to the people, tools and resources you need to build a thriving leadership development business. When you become a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team member, you join a global community of entrepreneurs led by our expert team of of mentors and faculty, including John C. Maxwell. You’ll also get one of the top leadership certifications in the world next to your name, giving you the boost you need to get started. Visit us online at MaxwellLeadership.com/JoinTheTeam to find out more.

Perry Holley:
We talked last week a little bit about mindset, but about do you as a leader have to develop a winning mindset with people on the team? And this may be more of a culture statement that does your culture support a winning, a winning attitude, a winning mindset that we, we win and we do what it takes to win to do that, do you think, is it about resilience? Is it about fighting through the hard things? What do you think?

Chris Goede:
Yeah, so my answer is going to probably surprise you a little bit here. We are overly optimistic inside the Maxwell Leadership organization.

Perry Holley:
That’s true.

Chris Goede:
Okay, so I wrote this down. I said, how do you stay strategically optimistic, not blindly optimistic? Now, I’m not saying we’re blindly optimistic, but I think a lot of leaders can be when it comes to this mindset. Like, you know, you can have this crazy big mindset, but if the leader doesn’t necessarily believe in it, doesn’t stay committed to it, and you waver from that, then you’re setting the energy. You are setting the culture, the energy inside that organization. But when you show up every day and you’re ready to get after it, it doesn’t matter. We got a bunch of grit. We’re going to. People take notice.

Chris Goede:
And if. I think if you have a plan and you’re strategic behind it, that’s why I wrote down this strategically optimistic thought. Because I was like, man, for me, maybe it’s because I’m very logical in my wiring, and I’ve got to have a little bit of a plan and a strategy. And then I’m like, oh, no. Like, that’s just a bump. Like, this is gonna work, and we’re gonna get after it a little bit. But I think the opposite is. You said something.

Chris Goede:
You said it. Either this episode or a previous one where you can work as hard as you want, but. But we’re never gonna. Achievable goals. We were talking about last week with momentum. Another thing I wrote down that I thought about around this one, about a winning mindset, and it’s. And since we’re talking about the fact that, you know, people watch you all the time, and as a leader, you’re setting the tone, you know, that we fly a lot and we go through all kinds of turbulence. Doesn’t even bother us, that we’ve been on some rides.

Perry Holley:
I’m like, and that was good.

Chris Goede:
That was good. I don’t know about you, but the first person that I’m looking at is the flight attendant, right? And they’re setting the tone for my emotional situation, right? Like, their mindset of what’s going on.

Perry Holley:
They’Re putting on the life preserver.

Chris Goede:
I am. I am boning home. Like, I’m jumping. I don’t know, doing something out the window, but you see what I’m saying? Like, they, in essence, they’re not the leader of that flight, but. But they are serving us. And so they’ve been on these flights, and they have that experience, and to me, they’re the leader.

Perry Holley:
Yeah, they know and they know, right?

Chris Goede:
And so they’re like. They’re not even worried about it. They’re still throwing bottles of water at you, why you’re doing it. It. They. There’s a. There’s a strategy behind that, and they’re Comfortable with it. And so I just think that’s so important to have that winning mindset, but for it to be realistic.

Perry Holley:
Yeah, I got you. Don’t miss the obvious here around executing strategy is that we have a plan, we have a goal, we have a plan, but are we actually executing and I thought some of the challenges that we face around analyzing what’s happening and looking at the challenges, anticipating roadblocks, laying out a path to win, looking for where we’ve struggled in the past, customer issues, challenges that we’ve seen. Are you actually as a leader, stepping up and, and heading those off before they derail momentum, as we talked about last week, or, or kill your ability to win? I thought, how many, how many losses have I taken? Because I didn’t. Right. Get the, the rocks out of the road.

Chris Goede:
Right. Get them there and just continue to keep doing the same thing over and over again. Because conditions change, obstacles are going to evolve for you and your team. You got to stay flexible. But remember the, the vision, the mission’s not going to change, but the strategy that you’re executing on, you’re going to develop an excellent. It may change. And you have to be flexible to that and you have to adapt quickly, not necessarily emotionally like you. Calm is contagious.

Chris Goede:
And as a leader, you got to be consistent and you got to be calm and, and be okay to adapt and change quickly. But do it based off of the strategy that you built going after that vision, not a emotional knee jerk reaction because then you’re about to lose your team.

Perry Holley:
Yeah. You think about kind of combining a couple of thoughts here, but leading you. Leading by example, but also inspiring and motivating. I think in the coming weeks I want to do. I’ve been thinking about this a lot around the push and pull of leadership that you. We are pretty good at pushing people for results, but. But pulling them with the motivation. Inspiring.

Perry Holley:
Leading by example. But you know, work works hard by nature is tough. And so if I’m going to set my team up to win, obviously, like you said, the eyes are on the flight attendant. The eyes are on you.

Chris Goede:
Yeah.

Perry Holley:
But also, what’s your role in kind of building up inspiration and motivation?

Chris Goede:
Yeah, I’m a big team guy. Like I just come in my background and so I have the whole we, you know, kind of over me philosophy. And I think when as a leader that you’re engaged and you’re able to make the tough call, you’re able to hold yourself to high standards, you can then do that with your team as well. They’re going to fall like they’re going to follow you even when it’s hard, right? They’re going to follow you. And so I think if you’re engaged as a leader, you’re going to have lower turnover, you’re going to have lower absenteeism. They’re going to be engaged with you. But you gotta make sure that you, as a leader are leading by example and doing that and doing the hard with them and getting in the trenches. And then I think what ends up happening is they follow right along with you, maybe at a different pace than you.

Chris Goede:
You might be going a little faster than them. You may have to slow down a little bit, but they’ll come right along with you.

Perry Holley:
I’m also looking at people that win and they set their team up to win. They’re always doing, I think, continuous improvement. They have growth plans, they’re getting. They’re better than they were yesterday. They tend to have a feedback kind of a culture. They let each other know, they reflect or have a ARS after action reviews. They talk about how to get better, how to get better, how to get better. And I thought that might be overlooked sometimes.

Perry Holley:
If I’m going to have the law of victory, what was it going to take to win? We’re going to. That’s why teams go to practice all week and then play the game.

Chris Goede:
100%.

Perry Holley:
Are we doing the practice?

Chris Goede:
That’s good. I love that. Are we living that out?

Perry Holley:
Also think about modeling teachability yourself as a leader. Are you growing that? Are you learning new things to do that?

Chris Goede:
So 100%, I think that you have got to model teachability. Here’s what I would tell you. I think that as a leader, people need to see you growing. Like, they need to see you evolving. They need to see you leaning into development things and what that’s like. And what I want to encourage you to do is share with your team what you are learning, what you are. You. You are continuously saying, man, I was reading this the other day and let me tell you what I learned.

Chris Goede:
Or, hey, that got me thinking. I read a book or I listened to a book or, you know, and it’s. So when you begin sharing that you’re continually saying, I’m a lifelong learner, like, I want to be teachable. The other thing about this is for about the last 12 months or so, John Maxwell and Mark Cole both talk a lot about the fact that we want leaders around here that are responsible and teachable. Like, how do you take responsibility but then yet be able to be Teachable. And that comes with success, that comes with failure. And I think it all goes in line with each other right there, so. Well, yeah, as we wrap up here, the law of victory and even some of the things we shared with you today, we’re going to put out a disclaimer.

Chris Goede:
This doesn’t guarantee success. This is. Well, it is a money back guarantee. By the way, whatever you paid to listen to today, you absolutely can get that back if it’s not successful, I think. But, but without thinking about some of the things that we talked about today, I think it guarantees failure as your team. And these are simple. Some of these things are simple. Maybe, maybe not to you.

Chris Goede:
Maybe some of these things are a little bit more, you know, earth shattering. Like I hadn’t thought about that before. But what we want to encourage you to do is to break it down to its simplest term because it’s not easy to apply, but we want you to apply it. And that’s, that’s kind of the key of what, what we’re doing. We want to give you some things that are actionable, like, go do this. Like, are you doing this? Like, what does your team think about that? And just remember, it’s a process. Right. Victory doesn’t happen in a moment.

Chris Goede:
Perry talked about. It’s in the practices, it’s in the changing things. It’s in the different things that you begin to work on that victory ends up showing up. You make a decision, then you manage that daily that you’re gonna, you’re gonna be able to do that. So my question for you today is, as I leave you and then turn it back over to you, Perry, is if your team had your mindset, would they believe victory is possible? I was like, oh, I better make sure that my mindset is right. Because my, my team is very aware of what my mindset is about, what we’re working on.

Perry Holley:
Well, winning doesn’t happen by accident. And closing there is about an intentional effort by leaders to do these things. They may seem easy or simple, but they have to be done and you’re responsible for that. So great insights. As a reminder, if you’d like the learner guide for this episode, like to learn more about our offerings or other podcast offerings. You can find all that at MaxwellLeadership.com/ExecutivePodcast. You can also leave us a comment or a question there. We love hearing from you and very grateful you’d spend this time with us.

Perry Holley:
That’s all today from the Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast.

Transcript created by Castmagic.