Thank you so much for creating such an environment to learn in. After Men's Leadership in Flint tonight I am so fired up and love learning new things everyday. I appreciate all of the things you, Chris and members of the Policy Council do for us and thank you again for such an incredible experience!

Orrin: I can't remember which CD I heard it from, but I like the quote, "if we're green, we're growing. If we're ripe, we're rotten" - and someone else said that the difference between you and your competitors is your organizations ability to grow and learn and to adapt that culture in your company.

We had a new market structure/organization meeting at work this week -being held at our offices all around MI & IN, and our new COO talked about some of those very concepts. I know he has read Maxwell, and Covey and other "management/ leadership" books - he's now going to get a REAL leadership book, LLR- courtesy of me - can't wait to see what he thinks! Does LLR stand for "Launching a leadership revolution" or maybe it's " Launching a LEARNING Revolution!?!"

See you in St. Louis!
Best Regards,
Ann Clous

the mind is like a parachute it only functions when its open

and pointed in the right way in the correct environment.

Orrin,

One of the greatest treasures in life is men’s capability to increase his wisdom. But it is a choice that he has to make. There are choices in everything we do, but the choices we make, make us.

Unfortunately it’s the results that show the choices we make. The man that works out every day shapes his body. The man that exercises his brain shapes his brain. In both cases the results are based on the hunger for improvement. How bad do we want the results to be shown?

I admire your “sacrifice” Orrin that you were willing to grow first personally and open doors for others. Through your example followers are attracted to the results and the possibilities. I have come to the conclusion in my life, that it takes only one to make a change. But that one can’t accept any compromise in his level of performance. If great is available good isn’t enough. We will relentlessly continue to learn.

Thanks for setting the bar high and living up to it. The results are available to all that have the hunger to learn.
With respect, Herbert S. Wagner.

Orrin,

I couldn't agree more with this post! I committed a quote to memory I read from John Wooden. He said: "when you are through learning, you are through!" I thought that quote was a great growth reminder for me to always stay committed to becoming a better leader. I have said this before and I will say it again: As leaders our effectiveness is tied dependently to our continued growth. Because you cannot give what you do not have. You see in order for us to stay relevant in our leadership we need to be growth-oriented, not necesarrily goal-oriented.

To explain why growth is so important and is tied dependently to your effectiveness as a leader I would like to draw your attention to the law of the lid. One of the concepts John Maxwell teaches in his book, 21 Irrefutible Laws of Leadership is the "Law of the Lid." It states: "Leadership Ability Determines a Person’s Level of Effectiveness." The lower a person’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his leadership ability, and the lower his effectiveness. On the contrary, the higher the leadership ability, the greater the effectiveness. Your leadership ability always determines your effectiveness. Thus, for a leader, their leadership ability determines the effectiveness of his organization. If his or her leadership is strong, his lid is high and his organization functions well. But if his leadership is weak, then the organization is limited. For example let's say your leadership ability is a "6." Well that means you can only attract "5's" and "4's" to your organizations. Leaders that are 9s and 10s don't follow 4, 5, or 6's. Through continued growth however you can increase your leadership ability from a 6 to a 9. When that happens you attract the 9s and 10s. So your continued growth is tied directly to your growth and effectiveness!! Remember this principle: You Attract Who You Are, Not Who You Want!!! Big Leaders attract Big Leaders. Small Leaders attract Small Leaders.

A few weeks ago I also posted the fact that their are 3 types of learners, which I think is very relevant to bring back up for this discussion:
1. Arrogant Learners - people that think they know it all
2. Naive Learners - they think one person can teach them everything
3. Teachable Learners - no matter their position in life they believe anyone that they come in contact with has the ability to teach them something.

If we are committed to being a life long learner than we have to be teachable learners. As leaders we have to LET GROWTH BE OUR PROMOTER!!! Don't rely on office politics, family connections, personal friendships or sheer luck to move you to the next level--let growth be your champion and your ultimate promoter. Let me give you an example that I think will help tie the thought of "Letting Growth Be Our Promoter" all together: About 5 months or so ago I had a lot of people/friends/family (Just as many of you did:) ask me questions about the controversy regarding a business I was affiliated with. They would ask me questions like: "Are you going to start another business?" Additionally, at the same time I just started working on a leadership book and I had people ask me: "How many books do you plan on writing?" My answer to both of those questions was very simple. I said "I don't know, but I am still growing. That is the one thing I know for sure I will continue doing is growing!" You see, the only ace we hold in our hand isn't what we've done, where we are, who we are or the positions we hold. It's growth!

If we keep growing, we will be prepared for any opportunity that comes our way! Personally speaking I don't need a list of career goals to keep me moving forward; I just need to keep growing. That's because my goals do not insure my future--my growth does!!!

I am so proud to be affiliated with this group of people that are committed to growth!

Thanks Orrin!

Best,
Matt

Orrin,

You are spot on! After having the privelege of learning from Mark & Tami at a recent seminar in WI, their humility and genuine love of others created such an attraction you could not help but hang on their every word! Their message was loud and clear, NEVER stop learning and improving. They along with the other leaders on this wonderful TEAM continually push the bar higher & higher and create an environment unlike that of any other. There will never be enough words of thanks that can be said but as we all know, actions speak louder than words. The greatest compliment any of us can every pay to those that have blazed the trail before us is to not only follow that trail, but also to learn how and why it was created and apply that knowledge in blazing our own! I, like Matt, am so very proud to be associated with this incredible group of leaders and WILL play my part to the very best of my (ever growing & changing) abilities!

Sincerely,
Mike

Orrin,
Thank you, first of all for the culture that you continue to nurture on this blog and in leadership development. I feel blessed to know that this group of people are standing for their values. A few years ago I did not think of picking up a book or asking questions for my own growth, all I wanted to know was why I was not getting a raise this year, again after giving so much of my time and hard work. This learning system and the people who are associated with it are by far setting the standard of excellence back into a culture that has been accepting OK, or Alright for far too long (at least I was doing it in my own life). It truly is a great feeling to grow, to strengthen, and to push for best. I will be a life long learner. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Gerard

Orrin,
It is interesting and sad to note that Henry Ford did not live up to his own standards of livelong learning. Your reference to him in your December 12 article on Billy Durant, and his inflexibility shown in his statement, "Give them any color they want as long as it is black," prove that. Examples such as yourself and John Maxwell as shown in last Tuesday's article on him show how a true leader never stops learning. Thanks for growing.
DaveC

Orrin through the affiliation with TEAM and your leadership to always learn and expand influence -you have given myself and countless others a breath of fresh air on this journey to become all the Lord created in us to be. Thanks, you are very much appreciated --be free Coach

Orrin, A story I read this morning caused me to reflect on Chris' earlier recording. I suspect you'll know the specific one after reading the attached below:

Take care, WAM


Mike Jovica, 1866-
by John Fischer


Suffer me one last visit to Holy Cross Cemetery in Butte, Montana. As you can see, I finally got the name of the place, which explains the preponderance of statues and rosary beads. I understand this town was originally settled by a large contingency of Irish Catholics.

Also, one of our readers shed some light on those "luggage tag" markers. She has a similar thing on her husband's grave right now while she is having a permanent marker made -- something she calls "a work of art that depicts a day in his life" that his children and their children can come and see (a pretty neat idea, I thought). I wonder if those tags I saw were temporary markers that never got a permanent stone for some reason.

Well, Friday morning on my last run, I saw something even more negligent than that. I passed a headstone with "JOVICA" carved in large letters and then "Anna" and "Mike" underneath. Anna's dates were 1884-1925. Mike had one date 1866- . That's it. Nothing more.

Now it's not unusual to see a shared stone with one of the parties still living, but not someone born in 1866! Unless Mike Jovica is alive somewhere setting all records at 142 years old and still going, I'm afraid this person has somehow dropped off the map.

I'm going to speculate here. Mike probably had the headstone made shortly after Anna's death in 1925. She was 41 years old when she died; he was 59, and being almost 20 years older than his wife, he probably never thought she would die first. It could have been a blow from which he never recovered. He had his name and birth date engraved on the stone, intending to be buried next to her, something commonly done with married couples: you purchase a joint plot. But something prevented him from being buried there.

Here's my guess. Mike Jovica died somewhere where no one knew who he was, or cared. No one bothered to find out where his family was, if he had one, or if he even had a wife, much less a burial plot already purchased.

People like Mike are the homeless and skid row people, uprooted from everything. Who knows how they got there (it doesn't matter), but the tragedy is, they're going to die without anyone to remember them. Next time you encounter someone like this, think of Mike Jovica,1866- , and try and think of something you can do to help someone like this gain back some dignity before they are just a blank space at the end of a dash.