Episode 300! Looking Back At Your Favorite Episodes

Mark Cole:
Hey, podcast family. Oh, my goodness. I don’t even know if I can welcome you yet because today, today is number 300. This is a special episode. More about that in just a moment. But welcome to the Maxwell Leadership podcast. This is the podcast that has, for 300 times, added value to leaders who have then went and multiplied value to others. Now, I’ve said it twice.

Mark Cole:
I’ll say it again. This episode is special because 300 episodes ago, we had a vision to add value to you. So as a way to celebrate what we’ve been able to learn together over the past few years, today we will be looking back on a few key moments from John’s lesson from our top three most listened to episodes. We’ll discuss how we can apply it to our life and leadership today. Then, Traci mise enthusiasm herself. We will come back to you. We will be able to celebrate. But let me tell you this, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing without you.

Mark Cole:
So make sure, stay tuned in until the end of this episode, and we’ll have a special surprise for you as a thank you for the first 300 that knows how to act. Now, I’d said all that because some of you, you work out, you’re driving, you’re going to want to pull over at the end because you want to be one of the first 300. Now, as always, if you would like to download the bonus resource for this episode, or if you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please visit maxwellpodcast.com/300. All right, so here’s three episodes, three excerpts from John. Let’s hit the rewind.

John Maxwell:
An influencer has integrity with people. Emerson was right.

John Maxwell:
If we live truly, we shall truly live.

John Maxwell:
I just recently read an article where they interviewed 1300 executives, of which they asked the executives to list five things that they expected in people that were going up the ladder in their company. Interestingly enough, in all 1300 of them, integrity was in all 1300 of them. In other words. I mean, they did this all across the country and they said, give me five. And in that five somewhere, integrity was in there. In other words, every executive says, you got to have integrity or you’re never going to climb this ladder.

John Maxwell:
Now watch this.

John Maxwell:
What’s really interesting is it was in the top five with 100% of the 1300 executives.

John Maxwell:
Watch this.

John Maxwell:
71% of them listed it. Number 171 percent of the executives across America said the number one issue of anybody that’s going to climb this ladder is the issue of integrity. That’s why in the business world, it’s acceptable to make mistakes to lay eggs, big ones. I’ve majored in those. But the center for Creative Research in a significant study learned that one thing that sounds the death knell for those who aspire to the top rung of the ladder is betraying a trust. Virtually anything else can be overcome over a period of time. But once trust is betrayed, moving to the top of the ladder is out of the question. It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for.

John Maxwell:
I want you to write that in your notes somewhere.

John Maxwell:
Would you please?

John Maxwell:
It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for. In other words, integrity is not an issue that puts pressure on us in a crisis if we already settled the issue before the crisis. The only time we have pressure on an integrity issue is when we never settled the issue before the crisis came. I’ll read it again. It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for. That is so key. In other words, integrity.

John Maxwell:
A lot of times I’ve heard people.

John Maxwell:
Tell me, they say, John, a crisis makes the character.

John Maxwell:
No, it doesn’t.

John Maxwell:
It just reveals the character. Character’s already made. I don’t know what you are, but I’ll tell you, whatever you are, you already are. And when the old pressure comes and it hits you, I promise you, what’ll squeeze out of you is what you already determined before that crisis ever came. Integrity number one of all influencers.

John Maxwell:
Wow.

John Maxwell:
When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs. That’s an absolute fact. When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs. You see, beliefs are nothing more than a byproduct of what you have thought long enough about, that you have bought into. Always remember that.

John Maxwell:
So what you believe is something that.

John Maxwell:
Has been previously continual thoughts that form themselves to one day it became a belief or it became a conviction. The book thinking for a change. I open the book with the five thoughts that are in your notes right here, because I believe these five thoughts absolutely with all of my heart.

John Maxwell:
The first thought is this one.

John Maxwell:
Everything begins with a thought. That’s where it all starts. The thought is the originator of anything that happens to us. That’s why Emerson said, life consists of what a man is thinking about all day. The second thought about thinking is this one. What we think determines who we are, and who we are determines what we do. That’s a fact. That’s why John Locke said, the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.

John Maxwell:
The process is very simple. Thinking, becoming, doing, that’s always the process. Thinking, becoming, doing. Third thought that I want to talk to you about in thinking or share with you this day is this. Our thoughts determine our destiny, and our destiny determines our legacy. That’s why James Allen would say, you are today where your thoughts have brought you, and you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. Your thoughts are like a taxi. You get in and it takes you to where you want to go.

John Maxwell:
Number four.

John Maxwell:
People who go to the.

John Maxwell:
Top think differently than others. William Arthur Ward said, nothing limits achievement like small thinking. Nothing expands possibilities like unleashed thinking. And there are basically two kinds of.

John Maxwell:
People in the world.

John Maxwell:
Those who think in limitations or in smallness, and those who think in creativity and unleash great thoughts within themselves. When I was going to write the book thinking for a change, I sat down with the Time Warner people, as you always do when you get the idea or the concept, and you sit around a table and you bounce it around for a while, and usually I’ll give them three to five pages of form of how the book is going to be conceived and the concept, the thesis, that whole process.

John Maxwell:
And basically, all we’re doing at that.

John Maxwell:
Time is forming it and kind of getting started the best way we can by getting other people’s ideas. And when I wanted to write the.

John Maxwell:
Book in the initial time, I didn’t.

John Maxwell:
Think of the title thinking for a change. In fact, that was one of the Time Warner people came up with. I wanted to call the book thinking your way to the top, because what I have done is I’ve identified that.

John Maxwell:
There are certain types of thinking that.

John Maxwell:
People that go to the top think so differently than people who never get to the top.

John Maxwell:
And by the way, that’s what we want. We want to get to the top.

John Maxwell:
And this isn’t part of the lesson.

John Maxwell:
But I just want to stop here.

John Maxwell:
For a moment and just say, you.

John Maxwell:
Really want to get to the top. You really want to get to the.

John Maxwell:
Top, because I can tell you right now, it’s not crowded up there.

John Maxwell:
It’s a wonderful place to be. You got room to stretch. You can run a little bit.

John Maxwell:
You can buy a ranch at the top. At the bottom, it’s really crowded. I’m telling you, it is Elmo to Elmo at the bottom. Everybody’s at the bottom.

John Maxwell:
I mean, the mass, but the higher you go, it just gets less crowded. You get on top, and there’s just.

John Maxwell:
A lot of room.

John Maxwell:
And people that go to the top.

John Maxwell:
They think differently, because your thinking is the seed of what you’re going to become and what you’re going to do.

John Maxwell:
And so all change. All I’m saying here is all change begins with thinking. If you change your thinking, you’ll change your beliefs. If you don’t change your thinking, you.

John Maxwell:
Won’T change your beliefs. So I say I want to believe something differently. It starts there.

John Maxwell:
Now, one more thought about thinking.

John Maxwell:
And that is we can change the way we think.

John Maxwell:
Paul said it better. What he says, whatsoever things are true.

John Maxwell:
Noble, just, pure, lovely, or good report. If there is any virtue, if there’s anything praiseworthy, he said think on these things. Now, that verse is a great verse to be because what basically he says, you can think on what you want to think upon.

John Maxwell:
If you want to think on things.

John Maxwell:
Of pure, lovely, wonderful virtue of all good report. He said you can think on those things.

John Maxwell:
He said, basically, you choose what you think upon. The first book I ever wrote, I.

John Maxwell:
Wrote back in 1979, and I called the book think on these things.

John Maxwell:
And it came right out of this verse. Because I truly believe that if you.

John Maxwell:
Think on the right things, you’ll be successful. You think on the wrong things, you won’t be successful. And you can go to the success or the unsuccessfulness of a person. You can literally traci it back to how they think.

John Maxwell:
You make a difference. People are connected to the leader. People that make a difference quickly get connected to a good leader.

John Maxwell:
Let me help you understand something. The reason that many of you will be a success is because you had a good leader.

John Maxwell:
That was a success.

John Maxwell:
Are you with me? If you want to be successful, you know what you do? You go find a good leader. Because everything rises and falls on leadership. So the people that want to make a difference, one of the first things they do is they say, wait a minute, I want to make a difference. Now I got to find somebody who’s a good leader, who’s wanting to make a difference. And I got to go attach myself to them at the hip because this proximity of relationship is going to make a lot of difference about my own success. So they look for a leader, a good leader that’s already making a difference.

John Maxwell:
Number two, make a difference. People are connected to the vision. They’re connected to the vision.

John Maxwell:
John Scully was right when he said the future belongs to those who see.

John Maxwell:
The possibilities before they become obvious.

John Maxwell:
It takes a leader to see it first. It’s too late when everybody says, oh.

John Maxwell:
Yeah, now I see it.

John Maxwell:
The train’s already gone, nobody’s home.

John Maxwell:
Let me share with you when I talk about being connected to a vision. There are four voices of vision. Vision is not only something you see. Vision is something you hear.

John Maxwell:
Let me give you those four voices.

John Maxwell:
There’s, first of all, the inner voice. The inner voice is the voice inside of you that pulls you above the mundane and says, you were born for something better than this. You were created to do something great. It’s the inner voice. Second is the unhappy voice. You see, the unhappy voice is the voice of discontentment that says, I don’t like things just as they are. You see, great leaders in history have created change, not prevented it. Administrators prevent change.

John Maxwell:
Their theme song is I shall not be moved leaders. They create change. And they create change because of the unhappy voice inside of them that basically says, things could be better. Things should be better. There’s something I could do to make it better. Does this make sense? They push the envelope.

John Maxwell:
They get out on the edge.

John Maxwell:
Then there’s the successful voice. Those are the words of successful people who inspire others by giving a vision that has credibility. And all of a sudden you hear.

John Maxwell:
Them and you say, oh, yes, I should do that, or I could do that, or I want to become like that. It’s the voice of somebody that’s already.

John Maxwell:
Gotten to the mountain.

John Maxwell:
And they’re saying, basically, I’ve got up here and there’s room at the top. Come on up. Come on up. You don’t have to stay down there. Come up to the top. There’s a lot of room at the top. And it’s true. There’s always room at the top.

John Maxwell:
It’s crowded at the bottom.

John Maxwell:
Then there’s the higher voice. That’s what I call the God voice. It’s the voice of the one who.

John Maxwell:
Believes in you more than you believe.

John Maxwell:
In yourself and the one who created you, so he knows what you’re capable of. It’s the voice of one who has never shortchanged anyone. And these are the voices of vision.

John Maxwell:
And what I know about people that make a difference is people that make a difference. They’re connected to a leader that makes a difference, but they’re also connected to a vision. A vision that’s got a high voice to it, a vision that’s got a successful voice to it, a vision that’s got the inner voice, a vision that’s got the unhappy voice at times, but they listen to those voices and they respond accordingly.

John Maxwell:
And thirdly, make a difference, people. Are you ready? Make a difference. People are connected to others, not only to leaders, but others who want to make a difference. Now, what I’m saying is when it comes to making a difference. Make a difference people hang around with make a difference people. And people who don’t care to make a difference hang around with people who don’t care to make a difference. Isn’t that true? Lazy people hang around with lazy people. Who are you hanging around with?

John Maxwell:
Because if you want to make a difference, you got to get around and make a difference person. And all of a sudden, it hit me when I was doing this last I’m attracted to these make a difference people. They’re my kind of people.

John Maxwell:
That’s why I like you so much. That’s why I want to hang with you.

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Mark Cole:
Hey, welcome back, guys. Welcome back to the future. Hey, you just went on a trek. Some of these were over two years ago.

Traci Morrow:
Amazing.

Mark Cole:
And I’m going to tell you, a lot has happened, Traci, in the last two years. When one of these episodes was aired, some of them were a little bit closer than that. But I’ll tell you what has not changed. Well, number one, our podcast community continues to grow and expand, but what has not changed is John Maxwell’s appetite and this podcast community’s appetite to grow and to become better. And, Traci, I love doing this with you. I’m so glad to walk back in memory lane. I’m glad to create some application on this today. And, wow, what a good one.

Mark Cole:
We started with how to gain influence.

Traci Morrow:
I know. And you know what? I’m kind of disappointed. Mark, I was kind of hoping you would show up in, like, a 300 from the movie 301 of those uniforms, like a warrior 300 theme uniform. What happened there? You’re, like, wearing a zip up sweatshirt. Like, where’s your 300 theme costume?

Mark Cole:
Yeah, and my 300 m car. I know I kind of missed the whole moment here, but I hear that you’re a rapper, and so I think that you should wrap us a song.

Traci Morrow:
Okay. Let’s stick to the script. Let’s stick to the script. I love that a lot of things have changed, but these principles do not change. We come right back to them, and they stand. They stand. John’s lessons stand. Whether we listened to them a couple years ago or decades ago, the principles stand.

Traci Morrow:
The examples change from year to year as technology changes and companies change, but the principles remain the same. And I love that we can depend on that. And that anchors us from year to year, decade to decade. And so, jumping right into episode 189, how to gain influence. I love that. I’d pull out the quote, it is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for, what you stand on, what you stand for. And I couldn’t help but think, mark, that for some in our audience, that this could be a new concept in this new world. And it makes me think of our values, our transformation values, and how sometimes, maybe for some new leaders, they’re listening to this.

Traci Morrow:
And maybe for some older, long term, seasoned leaders, this is maybe new as well, that not all leaders might not know what they stand for. And what better time, as we revisit this episode to establish what it is that you are going to stand for. There is no better time than today to determine what you want to stand for. And a lot of times, people feel like they need to compromise because the world out there, it feels cutthroat. It feels like you need to do whatever you need to do to get to the top. That misconception in leadership or leading to compromise to move up. And so how would you encourage our friends who are listening and they’re thinking, uhoh, I have compromised. I’ve made some changes, and I’m not actually really sure what I stand for and what I stand on.

Traci Morrow:
How would you encourage them to build a foundation based on values to predetermine, starting today, what they’re going to stand for moving forward? Maybe that’s a new concept, and they are not certain about how to even establish that. What would you say to a leader who is curious about how to determine that moving forward?

Mark Cole:
Yeah, and I was thinking that was just such an expanded podcast. For those of you that have not heard any of these podcasts, you’ve not went back and listened in the show notes. We have the link to full episodes of each of these three that we just kind of rewound and picked up something from John. So go back and listen to the full episode, because what you’re going to find in this one where John’s talking about know what you stand for before you become forced with a decision. John talks about opportunity this way. He quotes his mentor John Wooden, and says, when opportunity presents itself, it’s too late to prepare. When a decision that will cost you your integrity presents itself, it’s too late to take a stand. You should have already answered that question before you got to that crossroads.

Mark Cole:
And I think that’s what differentiates great leaders from good leaders is you can come back to them 111 episodes later, because this was 189. And guess what? You’re going to get the same leader. My prayer for you, those of you that’s been listening for a long time, my prayer for you is the Mark Cole, the John Maxwell, the Traci Morrow that you heard four years ago, five years ago, when we first started, is the same Mark Cole, the same Traci Morrow, and the same John Maxwell in the area of integrity that we were back then. Now, I hope everything else has improved. I hope everything else has increased. But you see, I feel like John Maxwell when he says, and this is for all of you that are brand new to this, when John Maxwell says, the older I get, the less certain I get about many things. But the more certain I get about few things. Those few things, I guarantee you, always links back to his integrity, who he really is and who he has been all along.

Mark Cole:
He values all people and will work hard to demonstrate that. For many of us, we’ve seen leaders or worked around leaders that their integrity changes depending on what group they’re hanging out with or what leadership position they have. And I do a lot of global traveling, by the way. We’ve got some real challenges in the United States as well. But I do a lot of global traveling. And the number one problem between governments and government’s people, the people that government exists to serve in, is corruption. It is a disconnect from what the laws say and are enforced to the people and the laws that are lived out by the leaders. Don’t let that be true about your organization.

Mark Cole:
Don’t let that be true about your team. Don’t live by a set of standards that you do not implement throughout the organization, and don’t drive some standards that you personally are not living out to. That’s what we’re talking about here when we say, know what you stand for before you get to the point that you have to demonstrate that.

Traci Morrow:
That’s right, we could stay on episode 189. Let’s move forward because we’ve got three great episodes to visit. Episode 197, change your thinking. Change your life. And this was a great one, again, where John talks about when you change your thinking, you change your beliefs. And I think sometimes we can get into a place where we establish what we believe and we make some decisions based on that, and we think it might be a form of weakness, maybe to say that we were wrong, maybe in our beliefs, and that it takes a big person to say, hey, you know what? Maybe I wasn’t right in that, but that’s part of what growing is, right? Changing the way we think and changing some of our beliefs as we grow. And he goes into our thought life, that our thoughts determine our actions. And so I believe that our thought life has such power over the trajectory of our lives, where we go.

Traci Morrow:
And so it’s important how we are thinking, what the time that we spend thinking. Do you have an exercise mark for people? Maybe based on what you do, maybe based on what you have heard that John does, but for someone who wants to check their thoughts, who wants to hold their thoughts up to truth and get into a habit of maybe some new, healthy thought patterns, yeah.

Mark Cole:
I’m a verbal processor, and so my thoughts are better when I hear them come out of my mouth. Now, they’re not good to the people around me because I’m just rattling. I’m disjointed in my thinking, but I always get clarity when I talk out loud what I am thinking. There’s others that are internal processors. There’s others that are action processors. They’ve got to act something out and process the results. For me, it’s verbal. I have to talk it out, is the way that I do it.

Mark Cole:
That’s why our podcast runs so long sometimes, is because I’m verbally processing what I just heard John say. But I’ll tell you this. So for me, because I’m a verbal processor, for those of you that are internal processors, I’ll come to you in a minute. Because I’m a verbal processor, I really get a trusted environment that can deal with my unbaked thinking. I’ve watched too many people that are verbal processors try it out on a new audience, and they lose respect, not because the leader is not respectable, but because the leader is almost just throwing up on an audience as they verbal process. And I don’t think that’s healthy. As a leader, I don’t think that’s healthy to the people that are looking to you to follow you. At the same time, as a verbal processor, I have to have a trusted space.

Mark Cole:
And when I am done with that trusted space number one, I typically am smarter because I have processed that way, but what always happens is I get feedback that up levels my thinking. So, number one, I’m a verbal processor. I told you I’d come to the internal processor in just a moment. So I’m going to come back to your question, Traci. But if you’re an internal processor, we have a couple of internal processors on our team. Recently, John and I were in a strategic ideation meeting, and I brought a couple of internal processors into the room. And John said to both of those internal processors, there was other external processors. But he said, hey, what’s your thoughts? And I watched them wilt, and their eyes get big and say, oh, my gosh, I’ve got to do that now, rather than sleeping on it, rather than waiting 24 hours and really thinking what, clarifying what I think.

Mark Cole:
And I watched them do it. And let me tell you this. If you’re an internal processor, the best way to make sure that you are getting the best thought is to push yourself to let your thoughts be heard. Now, I know you’re an internal processor, not a verbal processor, but I believe the best idea wins when there are more people contributing to the best idea. And if you’re an internal processor and you naturally just want to get it all sorted out in your mind, I will tell you you’re missing a lot because you’re not allowing others to speak into it. So, back to my system of thinking, Traci, I also really challenge myself to what is the bigger picture in this thought? What is the bigger picture? What’s the higher narrative to what’s going on? I have a lot of tendency in me. I know this may surprise some of you, because I get a lot of feedback about being positive, but I have a tendency at times to see things from a negative perspective. John was talking, this is going to be in a podcast coming up, because I asked John to share it.

Mark Cole:
But John was talking about he’s his own best friend. And I thought, that’s really good. You know what? I’m my own worst critic, and it’s a very big statement, Traci. And John and I kind of broke this down in a conversation, and he said, man, I’m my own best friend. I said, well, I’m my own worst critic. And he said, you need to quit self talking like that. And too many times, our thinking will drive our perspective, even of ourself. And so I have to challenge myself to get a bigger picture, a higher narrative.

Mark Cole:
And then the final thing that I do that’s very intentional on thinking is I’m a visual learner, so I have to write down my thoughts to get them completely settled within me. So I think about it. I verbally process. I challenge myself to a higher way of thinking, and then I write down my thoughts. It’s kind of my process.

Traci Morrow:
I’m certain that people can relate to that. It made me think when you were saying that about what John said, he said your thoughts are like a taxi. You get in and they take you where you want to go. Well, sometimes you are in a negative taxi, and sometimes you need to get out of that taxi and get into a better taxi if you want to get into a positive taxi, into a positive mindset, because your taxi is taking you down to a negative area. And so before we move on to the next episode, we all just left growth day and in the last month. And so I want to encourage all of us to look into. I’m going to give you all in the next episode a website because I want you to consider joining us for our next growth date. Because if you are looking for a place, a taxi that can take you to a positive place, I am going to give you a website that is a taxi of sorts, a growth day that’s coming up in August of 2024 that will take you to a positive place.

Traci Morrow:
It’s a positive taxi, our growth day. So remind me about that if I forget it, we get talking into good conversation.

Mark Cole:
Hey, before, though, Traci, before we go to the next one, I love this thought. Jake’s the one that kind of gave it to me. It’s not weak to change your mind. It’s actually courageous when you apply new things you’re learning to your life. You’re not betraying the old way of thinking. You’re being faithful to the life you were intended to live. And I love that, Jake, I love kind of your thinking on that. Let me model that or illustrate that very quickly.

Mark Cole:
I’ll be very quick, and then we’ll go to the last point here, the last episode. Emery, my five year old grandson, he’s living with us. Three years ago, he was not living with us, and I didn’t have the fun of watching him process how he’s going to think, well, he’s eight days into recovering from three surgeries. He had his tonsils removed, he had his adenoids removed, which a lot of times they call that one surgery, but it’s not, it’s two. And then he had to have ear surgery on some tube issues and hearing issues that he had all in one swoop. And so he’s on the 14 day injured reserve list from all playing. He can’t do anything. And so he was getting ready for a surgery eight days ago.

Mark Cole:
I was home, I was getting ready to go to Orlando, and I said, emery, it’s going to be okay. He said, oh, I know it is GPA. And I went, how do you know it is? You’ve never had a surgery like that. He said, I know it is because this doctor has done it hundreds of times. He’s already told me. And plus GPA, you wouldn’t let anybody hurt me, so nobody’s going to hurt me because you would take care of me. I went, Emery, I cannot believe it. You have the best thinking of any five year old that’s ever went through surgery like this.

Mark Cole:
Oh, he was smiling. He was beaming. He called me afterwards and said, Gpa. I came through like a champ. I said, emory, it’s because of your thinking. Well, fast forward eight days. This kid’s on injured reserves. We’re out throwing the football last night, and he is sitting over on the side.

Mark Cole:
He can’t throw the football. He can’t think about football. He can’t smile about football, because he’s on injured reserves for 14 days. He can’t do anything. And he’s over there. For those of you doing YouTube, I am folding my hands, I’m pouting. I’m slumped in my feet. The boy was in the toilet with his, thinking he was terrible.

Mark Cole:
I looked over him and said, emery, what’s going on? He said, goede, paul, this is not fair. This is wrong. I’m so tired of this. Well, you know what? I’m sitting there empathizing with him, saying, I remember when I was a boy, if I was on a 14 day disabled list, I don’t know what I would do either. And I’m trying to empathize with him, and he is just rotten. And I said, emery, what happened to that boy eight days ago? And all that good thinking. He sat there for a minute. He looked at me, said, give me a minute.

Mark Cole:
I’ll change it. And I watched this little boy, in a matter of about two minutes, change his mindset and turn what he was thinking. And I went, you know what? If a five year old boy can do it, why can’t we do it? John says, it’s thinking, becoming and doing. And I watched my little grandson do it like a champ eight days ago. I watched him have to work at it a little bit last night. And I’ve watched adults never get it right.

Traci Morrow:
Seriously, what a great example to us all. Wow. From the mouths of babes, from the attitude of babes. Well, episode 192, we could land on all of these. Emery could teach us all in all of these. But are you a difference maker? My question for you on this one, I’ve got several, but, oh, gosh. How did you notice your success change, Mark, when you connected your life to John? John talked about make a difference. People are connected to the leader.

Traci Morrow:
It’s about proximity. How did you notice your success change once you connected your life to know.

Mark Cole:
Let me say this, because we say it often because he deserves a lot of credit, but he doesn’t even get close to the amount of credit that he needs. But here’s what I love about what Jake did for this 300th episode, which is a great capstone to almost six years of podcast. And I believe the answer to your question, Traci, is you got to change your thinking. Well, let’s talk about it. What are we trying to do? We’re trying to gain influence. Everything rise and falls on leadership. Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.

Mark Cole:
And what Jake said, hey, let’s go back, and I know it was the top three listen to episodes, but I don’t think that’s an accident. How do we gain influence? And, Traci, you’re asking how have I gained influence through the years.

Traci Morrow:
That’s right.

Mark Cole:
Well, one is with embracing. I want to have greater influence at episode number 400 of the podcast than I do 300. I am about gaining influence now, the way I think that we have to do, Chris, we have to change our thinking. And we’ve been talking about that, Traci, we have to make sure that we understand that changed lives. Start with changed thinking, and then we go into this beautifully orchestrated. Jake, again, I give you great honor and credit. Here we go into this question that John asks us, and there’s three great questions John asks us. Are you a difference maker? What John’s really saying is, are you a player or are you a pretender? And all so many times I’ve been given a new task, a new responsibility, and realized I was not passionate about making a difference there.

Mark Cole:
I was just looking for a way to get by with mediocre. I think there has to be a commitment to grow our influence, change our thinking, and absolutely make a difference that impacts other people. And those three things, which happens to just be our podcast that we went back and revisit, I think, are the three building blocks to what I’ve been able to accomplish here at maxwell leadership.

Traci Morrow:
And that can be it for all of us. We don’t have to be mark cole. We can do those things as all of us. And as we close out when he talks about make a difference, people are connected to others who make a difference. The podcast here at episode 300 hopefully draws you, the listener, you, whether you’re sitting in your car, working out at the gym, or out on a walk or sitting in your office, it draws you to be a part of the legacy of true leadership in this. You know, you carry it around in your pocket, on your phone, listening on your laptop or whatever, where you have influence, where John and Mark are inspiring us with vision, giving us handles to grab ahold of, it’s bringing us into a flowing river of content where we can apply it and be proactive, active being the key word and bringing us into a community. And that community is that next step is how do we take this from a podcast and bring it into our life where John and Mark will never go. You are going to go somewhere where John and Mark will never go.

Traci Morrow:
So you will take these principles and apply them into a life with people, touching people’s lives where they will never go. You will take them and apply them in your unique way, in places they’ll never go, becoming legs to the legacy. But also you can join in alive, take it from a podcast to that next step to join our live community. We gather those of us who listen in on the podcast, and I count myself as a listener, too. We join in and see one another live and in person. And that’s where I’m going to bring it back, because I remembered I looked up the web address where you can join us for a day to grow, where we can have our thinking changed, where we can become a difference maker, and where we can gain influence by gathering with other leaders to learn from John and Mark and all these other leaders. So let me give you the web address. Pull over, write it down, put a little bookmark on your podcast so you can come back to it.

Traci Morrow:
But it’s l the number two, l two l maxwellleadershipcom. And you can sign up to join us at our next day to grow, and we can all gather in person. That’s where the podcast becomes people. Like, it really becomes a part of who you are, and we can gather and grow together. And I want to just challenge you to take the podcast into the next step and join us live. We didn’t talk about this ahead of time, but as I was listening to it, I was like, you know what? This is where we can gather live. And we can hug each other in person and where the podcast becomes real and we become like true community. So, anyway, I’ll let you close out mark, but I just thought it would be a fun way to encourage our podcast listeners to join us live.

Mark Cole:
Yeah, I’m so glad you did that, Traci. It’s truly one of the greatest things that we do is come together as community. We’ve got 51,000 coaches, speakers, trainers. We come together twice a year in Orlando and we want to see you. We don’t have enough and we want to meet you and greet you. That’s why we do the data grow that Traci was just talking about. Hey, drum roll, everybody. By the way, you should already be pulled over.

Mark Cole:
You should quit working out because, listen, this is completing 300 episodes of the podcast. Here’s what we’re going to do. I love this that Jake and the team has put together. We’re going to give the first 300 people that respond a free 30 day experience in the Maxwell leadership growth plan pro. This is something that Traci and I are a part of. It’s something that I believe in. It’s something that’s been a difference maker for me. John was built his leadership on a platform of growth, and we’ve created that.

Mark Cole:
The link is in the show notes. Go click it. Go join. It’s free to you. That’s a huge value that we’re giving to you for free. You’re going to enjoy that. So the first 300 people gets 30 days free of the Maxwell leadership growth plan pro. We’ll be so excited.

Mark Cole:
Hey, Roger. Roger from Mexico said, I just want to thank you all for the amazing information that you always have for people like me. My life started to change due to the incredible knowledge that you have shared and taught me as I become my best and learn how to develop my leadership again. Thank you. Thank you, Roger. You listen to how to hire the right people. We’ll put that link in the show notes. But Roger, we do it because of you.

Mark Cole:
So go do something great for somebody else because everyone deserves to be led.

John Maxwell:
Well, us.