High Road Leadership (Part 3)

Mark Cole:
Hey, welcome back to Maxwell Leadership podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others. Hey, if you’re new to us, thank you. Leave us a comment today. Let us know how well we’re doing. By the way, if you don’t know, we’re over on YouTube and you can see us live on YouTube. And that’s important today because those of you that have been listening back in the studio with me today live is John Maxwell. And there’s a lot of reasons John’s here.

Mark Cole:
One big reason is because he’s passionate about. About adding value to you so that you’ll multiply value to others. Our tagline and our podcast comes straight from John’s life purpose. And so, John, I’m so thankful that you’re here. I’ll talk a little bit more about what we’re gonna do in a minute, but truly, I pause just for a minute and say, hey, week three in a row, I’m kind of liking this, you being in the studio live with us today.

John Maxwell:
Yeah, I’m having fun, too. It’s good to be with you. Of course, it’s always good to be with you. But, you know, Mark, everywhere I travel, everywhere people talk about the podcast. You’ve done such a great job leading it and fleshing out the leadership principles for people to apply to their life. They. They look at this leadership podcast, two things they say they look at as very practical. In other words, when they hear the leadership principles I teach, and then you flesh them out for how to put them and make them really work in their life, it’s a practical one.

John Maxwell:
And then I think they also just feel the family friendship idea. I think when they come into the podcast, they just know that they’re safe and that we care for them and that we greatly value them. And we’re just really here to make a difference in their life. And I think they get that, you know, friendship, family feel with the podcast, and you’ve done a great job. So, anyway, finally I get to be on it with you. Thank you.

Mark Cole:
Well, I’m glad. Seriously, thank you. Hey, we are in a four part series right now. If you’ve not heard week one and week two, please go back within the next couple of days and listen to that. We’ll put all the out access points in the show notes, but we’re here because we want to equip you and mobilize you with a very important message for today’s time. Leadership has made John Maxwell leadership sad over the last four or five years. And so he’s written a rebuttal, a response, if you will, to this concept of leadership gone bad, leadership done wrong. And the response, for you YouTube viewers, I’m holding in my hands today.

Mark Cole:
The response, it’s a book, a new book. It’s coming out now. John, we’re days away from the pub date.

John Maxwell:
Yes.

Mark Cole:
And that book is high road leadership, bringing people together in a world that divides. Now, we’re two weeks in. I need to go ahead and remind you, you can go right now to highroadleadershipbook.com dot. We’ve got specials there for you. We’ve got some experiences there that are coming up that you’re gonna get to see. John, talk about high road leadership. And there’s some free resources there. But if you’ve watched or listened to week one and week two, you know, we’re on a path of equipping you with this concept of high road leadership.

Mark Cole:
And so, John, today I wanna dig right into one of the chapters you wrote, is to do the right things for the right reasons. And my question for you, you deal a lot with motives here. Why do motives matter?

John Maxwell:
Well, I love the question. Motives matter, Mark, because people matter. That’s why. What do leaders do? Leaders lead people. So the question is, why do we lead them? Do I lead you to add value to you and be a plus in your life, or do I lead you for you to add value to me and be a plus in my life? I mean, who’s going to give and who’s going to receive? The motives are going to determine that. As you know, I have a teaching called the leadership advantage. The leadership advantage just simply says that leaders see more than others than they see before others. Now, if I see more than you and I see before you, I see a bigger picture and I see a quicker picture because I’m a leader.

John Maxwell:
That sets me up at an incredible advantage. If honestly, I can get started before you can get started, I can already be on my way before you even know there is a way. There’s a terrific advantage in seeing more before that’s part of leadership. The question is not, do leaders have an advantage over other people. The question is, do they take advantage of other people? Yeah. Write that down, would you, Mark? I’ve never said it that way before. That was so good. I saw Mark immediately started writing that down.

John Maxwell:
Thank you. It’s so good. I had an original thought about 27 years ago, and it felt good there, too. So, you know, every, you know, every couple decades, it just happens. But isn’t that true when we have this leadership advantage? The question then is, do we take advantage? Do we take advantage of people? And so often that’s exactly what happens because I’m the leader. I see more before now. I’m helping me, I’m not helping you, and I’m adding value to me and I’m not adding value to you. That more than before just sets us apart.

John Maxwell:
I remember so well, several years ago, I was in Kiev, Ukraine. I was getting ready to speak to 15,000 people, large leadership conference. And my translator was in the green room with me about five minutes before I went out. He said, john, I’ve read a lot of your books. He said, I’m very excited to be here with you on stage and interpret. But he said, I just want to say to you that you talk about how leaders add value to other people. And he said, you’re very consistent in that message that leaders add value to people. He said, you’re going to go out and talk to 15,000 people that if you tell them that, they’re not going to understand you.

John Maxwell:
In fact, you’re not going to understand. You’re going to lose credibility with them because they’ve been under leadership that hasn’t added value to them for decades now. They’ve been under leadership that has manipulated them, lied to them, taken advantage of them. The government won, the people lost. So he said, I just want you to know, when you go out, if you start talking about leaders adding value to people, they’re not even going to know what you’re talking about. I’ll never forget. This is like five minutes before I was going out to talk, and then he left the room. And I thought, he could have told me this an hour ago.

John Maxwell:
I mean, I could have kind of been kind of thinking what I’m going to do, because now, I mean, I’m about to go on stage 15,000 people, and I certainly can’t talk about how leaders add value to people. And I remember going out on that stage and looking at these people and I said, let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever had a leader take advantage of you and manipulate you? I kid you not, Mark. Every hand raised. I got so sad. And then I looked at him and I said, how many of you would like to change that? How many of you would like to see leaders, instead of manipulating you, begin to add value to, of course, every hand would raide. And then I talked about how to make that happen. Now, where I’m going with this is very very simple, right mode.

John Maxwell:
Doing the right thing for the right reason is a motive issue, and motives can be hidden. Motives aren’t always upfront. And so sometimes we’re getting led and we’re not sure what the motive or the intention is behind the leadership. So when I’m with presidents of countries and I’m alone with them and all the handlers have left the office where we are, the first question I ask a leader when we’re one on one is, talk to me about your people. Are they better off because you’re the leader of this country, or are you better off? Who’s winning? Who’s got the advantage? And I wrote high road leadership because I want the people to win, because what leaders do is they should be lifting people. And I wrote this. Distinguishing characteristics. High road leaders do the right things for the right reasons, because that’s exactly what they do.

John Maxwell:
It’s what are your motives? Why do you want, why do you want to lead? Do you want to lead because you feel responsible to help and add value to people, or do you want to lead because you want to be rewarded as a leader and get all the good stuff for yourself? And of course, right answer is, we want to do it because it’s the right thing to do. We want to be responsible. So I have a whole chapter, I love this chapter about motives and the difference between motivation and manipulation, because it’s a very thin line. It’s a very thin line, Mark. In fact, it’s possible to start off with the right motive and then begin to have some personal gain out of it. And all of a sudden, you slip across this very, very thin, kind of almost disguise line of manipulation. And all of a sudden, now you’re leading not for what’s best for the people. You’re leading out of what’s best for you.

John Maxwell:
And I’m here to tell you, when you start leading for what’s best for you, it’s always wrong. And so many times today, in our world that we live in, I just look at the leaders and I say, you’re leading based upon what’s best for you. You’re not leading what’s best for me. You’re not a servant leader. You’re a selfish leader. So that’s why motives matter. And that’s why Hyrule leaders do the right things for the right reasons. They just do it because they know it’s right.

John Maxwell:
And that’s what makes it a healthy leadership situation.

High Road Leadership Book:
Are you ready to elevate your leadership to new heights? Join the movement towards heights. High Road Leadership with John C. Maxwell’s latest book. In High Road Leadership, John explores the power of valuing all people, doing the right things for the right reasons and placing others above personal agendas. Learn how to inspire positive change and bring people together in a world that divides. Order now and receive exclusive bonuses, including a keynote on High Road Leadership. by John Maxwell himself and a sneak peek into three impactful chapters. Take the first step towards becoming a high road leader. Visit highroadleadershipbook.com to order your copy today.

Mark Cole:
You know, podcast listeners, you get to watch John Maxwell lead through my application week in and week out. And John comes on here and tells stories. The story, like in his first or second pastorate position, somebody was buying his dinner, buying his dinner. And then finally he felt it was time for him to move to the next assignment. And the guy looked at him and said, after all I’ve done for you. And we hear these Maxwell stories, and they’re cute or they’re inspiring, or sometimes they’re convicting. I’m gonna tell you, they’re not just stories to impress you. There’s stories to impact you.

Mark Cole:
Just last night, John, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And I won’t take too much podcast time with you being with me live. But just last night, we put in front of John an idea that would literally sell tens of thousands of these books, high road leadership, tens of thousands of them. And John said, wow, that’s the right reason. I don’t know if it’s the right thing, Mark, because the people that we would need to leverage to make this happen, I’m not sure it’s the right reason, but it may not be the right thing for all involved, because John’s motive is to add value first, not extract value first. And John, I just watch you at this stage with much credibility and change in the proverbial pocket that we talk about still to this day goes back to these cute stories that inspire us, convict us, amuse us, and they’re life principles for you, John. And I’ve just watched you, and it’s fun to be on the podcast, live with you, to say, I’ve watched you live out, even to at this moment last night, in fact, the fact, the idea, the belief that motives matter. So thank you for that.

Mark Cole:
And podcast family, this is more than just a cute, instructional idea. This is a lifestyle of leadership. John, you talk in your chapter on acknowledging your healing humanness. I love what the first time I heard you teach about this, you write about the eagle and the hippo. What does that mean? Our podcast family may not know about the eagle and the hippo.

John Maxwell:
Well, first of all, yes, high road leaders acknowledge they’re humanists. High road leaders, they know their weaknesses and they know their humanness, and they’re in touch with it. They don’t try to cover it. They have a real sense of authenticity. I don’t think people want a perfect leader, but I do think they want an authentic leader. And I think authentic leadership means that I come to you and I just say, you know, there are some things I’m really good at. There’s some things I’m not really that good at. And I have some good days and I, you know, and also I have some days that aren’t so good.

John Maxwell:
And so the analogy is the eagle and the hippo. Now, I want to be an eagle every day. I just do. I just want to soar and go high. And by the way, I want everybody. I teach, I want everybody on the podcast. I mean, why do we have the podcast? Because we want people to be eagles. We want you to reach your go as high as you possibly can go, and we’re going to be cheering you on.

John Maxwell:
We’re going to be doing everything we can to support that because it’s a great life. We want you to have an eagle life. But as much as I want to be an eagle, there are parts of me that are not eagle. They’re hippo. I got hippo within me, and a hippo doesn’t want to fly, doesn’t want to soar. Never looks up at the eagle and says, oh, my gosh, if I could just do that. No, no, no. The hippo is looking for a mud hole.

John Maxwell:
And as soon as he finds a mud hole, he’s just going to get in that mud hole. He’s going to get in there about as deep as he can, and he’s just going to sit there for a while and enjoy the mud. He’s not going to fly. He’s not going to change any lives. He just kind of is in love with mud. And let me tell you something, I got that in me. And so to every one of our listeners, we all have this within us. But what happens is so many times leaders, they try to always act as if there’s no hippo in them, that it’s all ego.

John Maxwell:
And it’s not all ego. There’s, you know, if we could do this all visually, I’d be having you raise your hand. How many of you. Let me even. Raise your hand anyway, even if you’re just listening, how many? Raise your hand. Say, I got a little bit hippo in me. Come on, talk to me. Mark and I are raising both hands right now.

John Maxwell:
It’s a little bit of hippo. Sometimes would be good. Sometimes I got a lot of hippo with me, and there are times when I just don’t want to get out of the mud. I just could. Could I just. Let me settle for mud today. All right, well, here’s what I know. If you’re going to be a high road leader, you’re in touch with your humans.

John Maxwell:
And here’s why this is important. If I’m not in touch with my failures, my weaknesses, my shortcomings, if I’m not in touch with that, I’m going to judge you very harshly. Instead of looking at you and say, I understand, I’ve been there before, I’m going to, as an eagle, look down on you and say, what are you doing down there? Oh, my gosh. I’ve never been in that mud. Get out of that mud. You can fly higher. There’s a lack of connection when leaders don’t acknowledge their humanness. There’s a lack of connection.

John Maxwell:
I inspire people when I talk about the eagle within me, but I connect with people when I talk about the hippo within me because everyone, everyone has. Every one of us have a day that we hope nobody ever knows about. Every one of us have done some real stupid things in our life. I could still remember several years ago when I accidentally took a gun through an airport. Come on. Okay. Old hippo showed up that day. You know what I’m saying? And my kids have always loved it because they’ve said, you lowered the bar of stupid so low that we never have to worry about it anymore.

John Maxwell:
And when they do something as hippo, they look and say, well, at least we didn’t take a gun through an airport. Okay, well, okay. I didn’t do it on purpose. I had a hippo day. And I remember as soon as I was arrested. And it was a long process. Unfortunately, everything came out fine. But within 30 minutes of me realizing I’d made this mistake, I had Charlie and our team put out through social media, stupid hurts.

John Maxwell:
And I just told the people all the stuff I had done. I had forgotten that it was in there. It was a good mistake, pure mistake. It was still a mistake. And I just. But I said, look, this is what happened. I’m right now, you know, being an interrogation room and, you know, I’m going to go get fingerprinted and photographed. And it’s not a good, it’s a hippo day for me.

John Maxwell:
But I just want you to know what happened. And I tell you, Mark, the credibility we got off of that moment, I mean, everybody said, okay, that was really a hippo move there, John. Well, it was a hippo move, but immediately I acknowledged that humanness. And everybody that’s done something stupid like that, they say, oh, yeah, I got it. I’ve been there too. I’ve done that myself. I have a teaching. You’ve heard this mark before where I talk about walk between the lines and I talk about our road that we walk on.

John Maxwell:
We all are taking a journey. We’re walking, and on the right side is, on the right side there’s a line of success. On the left side is a line of failure. And there are times when I’m over there on the success line, but that’s not who I normally am. I’m not normally that good. And there are times when I’m over there on the failure line, but that’s not who I normally am. I’m not normally that bad. But when I’m over the line of failure, I feel my weakness and I feel bad.

John Maxwell:
And when I’m over on the line of success, I feel my strength. And if I’m over on the line of failure, in fact, if you want to, we can call it the hippo line. Okay, when I’m on the hippo line, okay, it depresses me. When I’m on the ego line, it impresses me. You follow me. And when I’m over doing hippo stuff, I say, oh, God, I gotta get, I gotta get this over as quick as I can. When, when I’m over on the eagle line, I’m saying, I want this to, you know, last forever. And hey, hippo line, I want anybody to see me.

John Maxwell:
The eagle line, I want everybody, everybody to see me, you know, you know, it’s because ones me at my worst ones invest. Now let me just say this. Acknowledging your humanness is just, you just say to yourself very simply, I’m not as good as people think I am when I’m over there on the, on the eagle line, and I’m not as bad as people think I am when over there doing hippo stuff somewhere I’m just kind of between the lines and ought to tell people is every day just walk between the lines. If you get over in hippo land. Say, oops, I made a mistake. I’m over in Hippolyta. Got to get out of the mud as quick as I can. If you’re over there on eagle land, enjoy the journey.

John Maxwell:
But, but don’t look down at other people because the eagle’s going to land and maybe Hippo is going to take over again. There’s a sense of realism and acceptance of who I am that is just, I think, extremely important for high road leaders to possess. That’s when we connect with them because we say, oh, they’re like us. They have hippo days too. And for me to ignore that or be like social media, that people just trying to always put their best side of themselves as if that’s their life. Are you kidding? We all know better. There’s no such thing as having just that kind of a life. You’ve got the ups and the downs and the ins and outs.

John Maxwell:
So accepting our humanness is a great connector that Hyrule leaders have with people. People they say, okay, I’ll let that person lead me because he understands me and cares for me and is going to value me even in my worst moments, not just my best moments.

Mark Cole:
You know, John, just an incredible job on acknowledging and accepting humanists that you’ve lived out. There’s, there’s three things that I’ve heard you teach. If there’s more to comment on this, acknowledging your humanness, I think it’s such a big thing because I’ve watched it. No matter your success level, and certainly after 24 years with you, the success that we’re experiencing now is a ten x, a 20 x, a 50 x multiple of what it was even 24 years ago when I joined. But there’s three things that I’ve picked up on you in this acknowledging and accepting humanness that you truly live out. One is be comfortable in your own skin podcast family. You know, when I get asked all the time, I’ve said this multiple times on the podcast. One of my favorite things about John is he never takes himself too seriously.

Mark Cole:
He’s comfortable in his own skin. The second thing John, I’ve watched you over and over and over and over do is to shrink the success gap. You make sure that people don’t put you on a pedestal, that you have to stay. And leaders, I’m just going to tell you, sometimes you’ve lost effectiveness because you’ve started reading your own press clippings. Rather than staying accessible to your people, you’ve got to stay accessible. And John, you’ve stayed accessible to your team no matter what. The other thing is. I love when people try to talk about their success a little too much.

Mark Cole:
You come in and you do talks like you did that one time on flops, fumbles and failures, and you just come in and said, I got to disrupt the whole conference because this has been too much success for me. I just want to talk about failures, and you’ve just done that in books. You’ve done that. And so before I move you to another chapter, I want to discuss today, anything else you would say, kind of about how you have accepted humanness and something that we can do a little bit better to accept our humanness?

John Maxwell:
Well, the thing I say to people all the time is you have to get over yourself. You just really do. And by the way, let me just say this, because I. You said nice things. Thank you, Mark. In the beginning, it was about me. In the beginning, you wouldn’t have liked me near as much as the leaders you like me now. It’s about, oh, I’ve got to get my thought in there, and I’ve got to make sure they know that I made that decision, and I got to make sure that everybody knows that I’m leading well.

John Maxwell:
And so I got to position myself, and I got to make sure that they know that it was me that did. And I started off as a young leader who just, I desperately wanted the approval of people, and I wanted them to think that I was a good leader. And so when we talk about high road leadership, let me, I’m so glad we’re on this subject. First of all, I do travel high road, but I take exit sometimes. I’m not a perpetual high road leader. There’s times when, sadly, I take an exit and I go down to that middle road and I kind of play the tit for tat type of game. And what have you done for me in that whole process? There have been a few times when I’ve gone clear down the low road and it was as wrong as could be, and I feel very bad. I wish that I could say that my behavior was always high road leadership, but, but I, there are times when, when it’s not high road leadership.

John Maxwell:
I tell somebody the other day when I lived in Atlanta when the traffic was terrible, of course, I’m, I’m a fast driver anyway. I’m a reckless driver. I’m a risky driver. And by the way, I don’t like lines. And so I’m going to cut in and do things I shouldn’t do. And, you know, I’m down in Atlanta, downtown with the traffic just packed. Some guy’s just mad at me because I cut in front of him. So he pulls up beside me, and I look over, and, I mean, he is mad.

John Maxwell:
He raises his hand and then raises his finger, and then he says to me, he shows me I’m number one. And I’m saying, oh, my gosh, how does he know? Does he recognize. He must recognize me. He just. He’s showing me, in fact, emphatically, that I’m number one. He just wants to make sure that I know that he thinks I’m number one. And sometimes, mark, I’m so moved by the fact that he thinks I’m number one that I think, oh, I can’t take all this credit myself. And I raise my hand and I raise my finger and I said, no, no, no, you’re number one.

John Maxwell:
You’re number one. Now, what I’m wanting to podcast people to know is I’ve done number one. Okay? Okay. And the reason you gotta know this is because I’m very uncomfortable when people do put me on a pedestal. I’m very uncomfortable when people think I’m better than I really am. And by the way, when you’re 77, you don’t want to be on a pedestal. If you fall off you, you’ll die. You know what I’m saying? Falling is terrible for old people.

John Maxwell:
So you don’t want that. You get rid of that pedestal. But the point of it, I’m very comfortable if people accept me as I am. I walk down the middle of the road. Most of the time, I’m not on the right side or left side. I’m down the middle. And when they know that, okay, now. Now we can not only get along, but now we can have some common ground to do some good things.

Mark Cole:
John, in chapter number five, you talk about give more than you take, and you make a statement. In the book, it says, rich or poor, famous or obscure, young or old, anyone can be someone who gives more than they take. Will you talk a little bit to us about that?

John Maxwell:
Yeah, I love. I love to give more than you can take, because I think it’s so essential to live that kind of life again. That’s high road living. Middle road living is I give, but I take. In fact, I got to make sure that I’m receiving as much. In fact, middle road basically is. Let me see how much I receive. That determines how much I give.

John Maxwell:
That’s kind of middle road thinking. Low road thinking is just give it to me. I want it all. I deserve it all. I’m a victim. Please give to me. Okay. The reason I make that statement in the book is I think, especially with youth, I think so many times we just kind of say, well, I’m not able to do that right now.

John Maxwell:
I don’t have a lot of money. What would I give? And what I’m trying to do is I’m trying to let young leaders know several things. I’m trying to let them know. One is they don’t have to wait a whole lifetime to be significant. They can do something significant immediately, because significance is about putting others before yourself. And in this area of giving, I’m not. It doesn’t have to be money. You can just serve people and determine, very simple, determine every day that you’re going to be a plus, not a minus.

John Maxwell:
If you’re a minus, you’re receiving more than you’re taking. If you’re a plus, you’re giving more than you’re receiving. And you know what I do? I teach. I teach. I’m so glad you brought this question up, Mark. I teach leadership as influence. How do you gain influence? Well, you gain influence by adding value to people. You show me a person that continually adds value to you, and I’ll show you a person that has influence with you.

John Maxwell:
Why? Because you love them. They. They make you better every time you see them. They’re, they’re. They’re an asset to your life. So what I tell the youth is, every day, make sure you’re a plus. Every day, make sure you are intentionally adding value to people. And it starts with valuing people.

John Maxwell:
And then when you finish the value in people, then you can go to the next step. And that is think of ways to add value to people. Look for ways to add value to people. Do things that add value to people, and then encourage others to add value to people. It’s just that simple. Several years ago, when I wrote intentional living, when my grandchildren were a lot younger, when I would have dinner with them, I would talk to them about, what are you going to do tomorrow, intentionally at school, to make a difference in people’s lives. And I’ll never forget, James, the youngest, was about ten. And he said to me, he said, papa, he said, tomorrow at school, what I’m going to do on purpose, intentionally, is I’m going to open doors for people.

John Maxwell:
If I see somebody close the door, I’m going to open it. And when they walk through, I’m going to smile. I’m going to say, have a good day. I said, james, I love that. I said, tell me how it happened. And so next day goes to school. After school, we’re on the phone and he’s given a report. I said, james, how did it go? And he said, well, papa, he said it went great.

John Maxwell:
Then he said, I talk about counting. He said, I opened 38 doors today, 38 times I opened the door and he said, I smiled and I said, have a great day. He said, I said, how do you feel? Oh, he said, I feel so good. He said, I’m going to just keep opening doors. Now, here’s what’s very interesting. He’s 17 now, so that was seven years ago. Every time you’re with James, my youngest, if he’s near a door, he’ll open it. Every time I have watched him with strangers, he’ll see something.

John Maxwell:
He’ll just go over and open the door, smile. Have a good day. So what I’m, what I’m wanting everybody to know on high road leadership is you don’t, you don’t become a high road leader when you’re 50 or 60. You can be a high road leader when you’re 15 or 16. In fact, that’s why it’s so important, I think, for parents to put this book in their children’s hands. If you’ve got kids fifth grade up, you need to put this book in their head. You need to walk through this book. You need to give them the picture what a high road leader is.

John Maxwell:
And this giving more than you take, it’s not about money. It’s about money mindset and what we’re doing. This book develops a mindset that helps you think like a high road leader, so you will behave like a high road leader. It starts with the mind and then it goes into the actions. And that’s why I’m just so excited. But I love that quote. I’m glad you brought it out, Mark, because it’s really for the young leaders saying, you don’t have to wait your whole lifetime and say, someday I’m going to be a high road leader. Hey, let’s start today.

John Maxwell:
Let’s start as a teenager. You can be a high road. In fact, if you’re a teenager and you do the twelve characteristics and the practices of high road leaders, your influence factor will dramatically change in a positive way. That’s a fact.

Mark Cole:
So, you know, John, I’m really challenged today with this last challenge that you just gave us. I was today, just before the podcast recording, I was working with one of mine and your young leaders, just a young leader, very bright, brilliant leader and yet taken himself way too seriously just working through that process with him. And I watch, you know, our young people, our teams, people new to leadership. They have seen this style of polarizing leaders. Yes, and style of polarizing leadership for the last 1216 years. This is not a new phenomenon that United States is facing. We have been building to this point of leaders that show their agenda is more important than the people’s agenda. And my challenge to you today, this is just a thought that I just was inspired by John, with you, we need to find somebody that is new to leadership or a young person that has not even braced their call to lead yet.

Mark Cole:
And we need to put this book into their hand every single week for the last three. Today is no exception. I’ve challenged you. I’ve challenged you with this. Buy the book for yourself. Get it into you and your family’s life. Last week, I challenged you to buy the book and send it equip a political or a service leader in your community. Give them this book.

John Maxwell:
Today.

Mark Cole:
I really want to challenge you. Find a young leader, find an impressionable new leader, a youth, and let’s get this book and this concept in their hand. It’s radical. It’s revolutionary to what we’re seeing. And I want to challenge you to do that. Go to highroadleadershipbook.com. You’ll find a bunch of things that augment this book. You’ll find an event coming up that John’s going to be sharing with you on Hyrule leadership.

Mark Cole:
You’ll find a digital download of the first chapter that you can do. You can order the audio book, the actual book, but most importantly, order this book. Find somebody. Help us get this message out to the masses, because I think that’s how we’re going to make a difference. John, before we kind of close out week three and get ready for next week and week four, anything you’d like to share as we close today?

John Maxwell:
Well, I’ve loved the podcast and I’m so happy about the large amount of people that watch it or listen to it, because we’re helping people. And what I would just say to you very simply is the fact that when you put a good book in somebody’s hand, you do a good thing. How many of you have had either somebody give you a book or you bought a book and it helped change your life? You see, books are difference makers. It’s one thing to talk about things that are important. It’s another thing to deliver a book that absolutely has been thought out that has a principle of life that will help people be successful. And so when you give a book to somebody, you’ve done a good thing. Let’s figure out who can we get this high road leadership book? Who needs to read it, and who can we help? Just go to another level. Yeah.

Mark Cole:
About three weeks ago, I was meeting with a bunch of people, and Elaine, a 16 year old young lady in 10th grade, came up to me with her mom, and she said, I want to tell you I enjoy the podcast, Elaine. Number one, thank you for listening to the podcast. You’re our next generation. I said, why do you love it? She said, because it gives me a free, fresh perspective on how I want to influence others. And I thought, Elaine, you’ve got it. Number one, thanks for being a podcast listener. Hey, podcast listeners, what other elaines out there needs this book, needs this fresh approach to serving others through high road leadership. Thanks for joining us.

Mark Cole:
Today we do this podcast. We’ve done this book because everyone deserves to be led. Well.