John C. Maxwell

Only babies.

I love, love, love, love, love that story from John C. Maxwell resonated with me so much because isn't that the truth? We're all just striving to raise great, right? It was my inspiration for writing this book.

I remember it like it was yesterday, that moment that they kind of wheeled me out of the hospital.

They double checked the car seat and I, Sent me off with this newborn life, like this life that was going to be attached to me forever.

She was completely dependent on me and John.

And they just kind of gave me the keys to the castle.

They just said, take her.

In fact, I was in so much pain.

I love that statement.

And I've heard versions of that from many people, John Maxwell, Craig Groeschel, this idea that the difference between where you are now and where you want to be is the pain that you haven't been willing to endure.

Because if growth equals pain, then to grow from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow, you're going to have to be willing to endure some pain.

My kids are teenagers.

That's why he coined the term bleedership.

Because if you're not bleeding, you're not leading.

John Maxwell says there are no two good consecutive days in the life of a leader.

So if you have a good day today, you can pretty much count on what's going to happen tomorrow.

Man, I just recently got certified with the Maxwell.

If you know who John Maxwell is, they have a Maxwell certified leadership team.

So I'm now working on my certification to be a speaker, trainer, and coach for Maxwell.

And I get to take that curriculum and that leadership style and bring it into CMC and train up.

So taking the content and the academic part of it is obviously super important.

I want to know what folks like you and ACOF, the John Maxwell podcast, there's just so many great places to consume content.

And I just... throw it into the brain and stay true to myself.

And you start to see it come out, right? You start to become a practitioner of what you're learning and hearing.

They get a little slice of all the advisors production and you keep the retail commission on your own.

And when the business does enough, they pay for their financial advisor to go on lifestyle trips, to golf courses, listen to people like John Maxwell speak.

It's just what I call the circle of bullshit.

And at the end of the day, the consumer doesn't know anything about this middleman IMO or FMO and all the incentives built around the financial industry.

And it was, I'm not surrounding myself with the people who I believe I'm supposed to surround myself with and or serve.

Because John Maxwell, who is a dear friend and coach of mine, he asked me one simple question.

And he said, Adam, when are you going to stop chasing success and start chasing significance? And Dr.

Angel, I had no idea really what he was asking me at that point in time until I spoke my father's eulogy.

And I've got plenty more to share on that this season, and I'm excited to get to it.

I've got Mark Cole, who is the CEO of Maxwell Leadership and John Maxwell's successor.

How's that for big shoes to fill? Mark and I discuss how you develop leadership capacity in yourself and the people that you lead so you can become the leader that you're capable of being and that your business needs you to be.

Brett Bartholomew's back.

And I think that's a great stepping stone for finding those things if you can't think of them yourself.

I would just say also, everything you do in life, you can evaluate like, I went through the John Maxwell training program and Maxwell Leadership Training Program.

And every single decision you make, anything you do, whether it's working on a team, a project, volunteering for something, you know, it doesn't have to be a very formalized.

It could be just playing kickball, right? Playing volleyball, being formal team sports, and then volunteering.