S4:E2 Leadership & Success Podcast Live with Chris Robinson

Hi, I'm John Maxwell. When the top companies in the world are looking for trainers, speakers, and coaches, there's one name that stands above the rest, and that's Maxwell Leadership. Our certified team members have gotten proven results for companies all over the globe, and our reputation I'm proud to say is second to none. Some of our members have risen to the top of their profession, including the one you're going to meet today. I proudly introduce you to my friend, Bob Fabien Zinga.

Welcome to the—

Hi, my name is Chris Robinson. I'm a speaker, business strategist, and executive vice president of Maxwell Leadership Certified Team. And I would love to speak for you. I would love to speak Why? Because all great events have one thing in common: impact. Real tangible results. People walk in tired, they leave inspired, and then they actually experience change. They don't just do better, they get better, and I want that for your people. As Executive Vice President of Maxwell Leadership, I've spent over 2 decades coaching executives, business owners, and high-performing teams on how to lead with influence and clarity, and confidence. Too many leaders focus on what they do, but the real question is, who are you becoming as a leader? When I serve as your keynote speaker, I offer custom-tailored training to meet your people where they are with proven result-driven strategies for personal, professional, and business growth that they can apply that same day. But if working personally with author John Maxwell has taught me one thing, it's that people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. So I strive to connect just as much as I communicate. Everyone I speak to has a goal. All the organizations I speak for have goals, but whether it's complacency or lack of clarity or struggles, we often just don't feel empowered or equipped to reach our full potential. It just takes the right catalyst to help us see our breakthrough. After I discovered leadership development, I was able to use I used my position as a senior sales manager to scale with an organization from 18 employees to over 700. And that commitment to growth has absolutely changed my life. After more than 2 decades in the leadership industry, I'm serving as the Executive Vice President of the world's leading coaching organization, playing a part in the growth of hundreds of thousands worldwide. And it's my mission to bring breakthrough to many more. I can't wait to work with you. And serve your people.

All right everyone, I'm so very, very excited today. I have my mentor, the man, the legend, Chris Robinson. Really doesn't need any introduction whatsoever. He's running, uh, like you just saw in the clip, one of the world's premier organizations for leaders certifying coaches, speakers, and trainers, including yours truly. So without no further ado, let me bring the man, Chris Robinson, everyone. Hey, how are you?

Hey, I'm doing great, Bob. Thanks so much for having me on today.

Well, your story is so inspiring, and part of this podcast, I have about 30,000 people who are connected with me and another 33,000 who follow me on LinkedIn, and If you add the second-degree connection, it comes to about 4 million potential viewers for this. But the people I am mostly focused about are the aspiring leader in technology, which I was a CISO in Silicon Valley, but also in the military, right? I am an information warfare commander in the US Navy. Those are the people I really want to pour into and help develop. Like you and Papa John's have taught me, Rich, you are not a leader because people follow you. That just makes you an influencer, right? But you are a leader because you develop other leaders. So that's really what we are doing here. And it's so critical. So to get started, would you please just tell us about your leadership journey, how you got to become the Chris Robinson that we know today?

Oh, wow. Chris Robinson we know today, that's a long journey, Bob, to walk you through. You know, but really, you know, my leadership journey started, you know, at a very early age. I was fortunate to kind of I wouldn't say stumble into leadership development in my early 20s. I was about 20 years old when I was actually a salesperson for an organization. And I was just really trying to figure out, how do I get promoted on the job? You know, I mean, I was making a good income. I was doing well. But I wanted to go to that next tier. I had the desire to be a manager. I wanted to be a leader inside the organization. So, I began taking courses that a, you know, church was offering at the time. They were actually offering a course by John Maxwell called The 21 Laws of Growth. And so for me, that was kind of my first introduction to what leadership was, was going inside of a classroom, watching John Maxwell on VHS, and then going back to the workplace and applying those principles. And as I began to apply those principles to my life, what happened was I began to get promoted on the job. And I recognized the pattern and said, oh my goodness, this personal growth stuff is really good. And so, I mean, I got hooked. I mean, I began to go into conferences, events, um, reading books, and I just really dove in, uh, to developing myself. But then in turn, what happened was, as I was developing myself, I found that, man, if I want to be of value to the organization, I can focus on myself and dedicate myself to success, but if I can be a person that can develop other people and stop just trying to be the star, I could actually be a star creator. And if I could become a star creator, that makes me much more valuable to an organization versus being the single star. And so, um, I, uh, just really focused on developing others. And in return, what happened was, you know, people begin to get promoted. I continued to get promoted because my whole goal and focus was on helping other people.. And so I truly just fell in love with the art and the craft of helping people. And so that's what opened up a lot of leadership doors for me and allowed for me to get promoted on the jobs and, and do well and start me on this path to actually speaking, coaching, training full-time for a living.

Wow, this is really awesome. And if we can go back kind of to the beginning, when your leadership journey started, can you tell us about that time? A couple of, uh, decades ago where it looks like you had everything, right? You had the house, you have the cars, all of the money, but something was missing. It seems like you were drifting. What happened?

Yeah, you know, so a couple different things happened, you know. So I did very well getting promotions, going through, uh, utilizing these principles, and then I wanted to take that step out on my own, you know. I had the Midas touch that I thought in my 20s, because you gotta think, at age 21 I was making a high 6-figure income all throughout my 20s. So, you know, I mean, I was a young guy thinking, oh man, I can do well. If I could do this, I can do that. I went out and I started another business and left that job. And turns out that I didn't have the Midas touch. Things went wrong. I had that company fail. I had another company that failed. And then I had accumulated all these things, you know, the common things, you know, I had the cars, you know, the BMW, a Hummer. I had built a house. From the ground up. And I had found myself at a place where I was 2 business failures in, and I found myself at a place where I didn't know what to do next. But Bob, here's where I found myself at a place of not complacency at the time, but at a cry for complacency. And I remember very clearly, you know, after having 2 businesses fail, I'm driving in this Hummer and, and I am just crying, Bob. I am just crying, just letting it all out. Just a nasty cry, like, I mean, just everything's a mess. And I remember pulling up behind this F-150 truck, and it had this little silver symbol on the back of it, and it was a fireman seal. Now, by no means am I saying a fireman's job is a normal job, but in my moment of pleading and, and crying, I'm, I'm asking God Why can't I just have a normal job? Now again, fireman's job is not normal by any stretch of the imagination, but kids growing up saying, hey, I want to be a fireman, I want to be a policeman, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a lawyer, and I want to be an entrepreneur, right? And so like, why can't I just do that? Because I was never able to take, you know, uh, you know, the traditional jobs that my parents wanted me to take. And, and so, you know, I was crying out, and then I believe in the most audible voice— I believe I'm a person of faith, so I don't want to offend anybody out there, but I believe God's word to me was, I didn't put that inside of you.

Wow.

And Bob, you know, from that moment, you know, I, I said, okay, I'm gonna chase, I'm gonna pursue what I want to do, which is helping people, adding value to people, becoming a speaker, and I just want to make an impact in people's lives. And so that was the impetus. And I'd love to say that, hey, from right then there, Bob. Everything clear. It was sunny. I had no more tears and everything worked out. But it didn't. You see, the road only got harder when I recognized that turning point, that I had a choice. So what happened after I got this clarity from God that was so good? What happened, Bob? I had to give up my house to foreclosure. I had to turn in the BMW. I had to turn in the Hummer. I had to make a conscious, intentional decision that I was not going to care what my path to success looked like to anyone else. And Bob, can I tell you that letting go of those things— those things were an anchor in my life, but what they were meant to be was a stepping stone in my life. And I realized that if I had just tried everything I could, if I went back to the job, and if I had went back to do those things and I held on to that stuff— that stuff at that time in my life, in my 20s, would have been my pinnacle, and it was always meant to be my stepping stone. So now, of course, you know, I mean, the things will exceed that. All right. And then you find out that the things don't matter. And what we're really looking for is not success, but we're looking for significance. And so I'm on the other side of that now, and it's all about significance.

Well, we're going to come back to significance because you and I, we went to the Dominican Republic. I believe it was in 2021. I believe it was in May because it was my birthday. And that was just life-changing. And you had a similar experience with Papa John's when you went to Cambodia. Actually, you were one of the keynote speakers. Actually, before we get there, this is so exciting. We have so much to cover, not enough time. But can you tell us about how you were a foundational member for the John Maxwell team coaching program, which became the Maxwell Leadership, the premier coaching program in the world? Now we've certified how many people? 50,000?

58,000.

Yeah, just over 58,000 people. Nobody else comes anywhere close. Can you tell us about kind of how you kind of helped being one of the founding coaches there to now that you are the EVP for Maxwell? Leadership.

Yeah, you know, I came into the Maxwell Leadership Program with just a desire to, you know, I wanted to speak, coach, and train for a living, but I did not know how to monetize the soft skill of leadership development. Like, I, I came from a sales background and, you know, working inside of call centers, and I just didn't— I couldn't comprehend it. So I knew that I needed tools and resources. And then on top of it, you know, as a speaker and a developing speaker, I didn't have a lot of content to start off with either. I mean, Bob, I literally had 10 minutes of content I could go out and teach, and that was with an opening, a close, and 10 points in between, right? I was just excited and enthusiastic, and, uh, but I didn't have a lot of content. So I knew that I needed to join the team to be able to utilize some of John's content that we were licensed to use, to be able to get around some other speakers, coaches, and trainers, some people that had that desire to get to where they want to go. And then I knew that I needed some guidance. I knew that I needed support of someone that had already done what I wanted to do. And so I joined the team, and upon joining the team, I decided that I was going to just follow their process. I was going to be just smart enough but just dumb enough to follow the steps that they were telling me to take. And, you know, the process worked. I ended up building a business as a full-time coach and trainer and speaker, and then I would always come back to the Maxwell events I was highly involved as a volunteer. I just knew that that was my home. And in 2016, they asked me to be the first teaching faculty member for the team because of the results that I had. In 2018, they asked me to become the faculty president. And then in 2020, they said, hey, would you be the vice president of this organization? And I said, yes. All the way through.

That is amazing, amazing, amazing. And before we continue, guys, there are a couple of people watching us now live on LinkedIn. Please let us know where you are joining us from. I see Kevin from Ridgecrest, California. And also, if you have a question for my esteemed guest today, Chris Robinson, please type it in, uh, into the comments. We're gonna get to as many questions as we can. Now, Chris, uh, man, we already running out of time, but I want to know, I One of the key words— thank you for sending us the advance copy for your book, and for those watching, we're gonna tell you soon what you can do now to get a whole bunch of bonuses if you pre-order this book, which I believe will be a number one New York Times bestseller. Yeah. One of the key things that kind of jumps out, you're just reading the first two chapters, is the word complacency. It looks like you've redefined what that word means. Can you tell us the story about kind of how you got there? And what it really should mean to us now.

Yeah, you know, complacency, you know, so the subtitle of the book is This Is a High Achiever's Guide to Break the Chains of Complacency. Now, on first glance, when we think about the word complacency, we— you probably think of laziness or apathy and you would probably say, well, I'm not a complacent person. But what I realized is that we all have complacency in our lives in some area or another. No matter what level you're at financially, career-wise, we all have a level of complacency. And because if you call 100 people that know me and said, hey, is Chris Robinson a complacent person? I'm guessing that 99.9%, you know, Bob is shaking his head going, no, no, not there. But that's not true, Bob. I have complacency in my life. And so the way that I redefine complacency in this book, Bob, is I call it A Secret Place of Satisfactory Success. Now that's where our good becomes good enough. Now when we're developing in something or trying to become proficient in something, like, we give it all of our effort. Like, we, we are trying to learn it, we're trying to develop, and, you know, we get to about 80%. And then at about 80%, in order to get that next 20%, it really, it really takes a lot of work. And oftentimes we don't want to do the work to actually fulfill our potential. And so we will get good at something, but our potential is much greater than our good. And so the gap between our good and our potential is great. And so we all have complacency in our lives, and we have to figure out where's that secret place of satisfactory success. So what you pulled up there earlier, there was, uh, we have a free assessment that you can take called the Complacency Assessment Profile, and, um, it gives you not only where you're at right are now in complacency, but it gives you action steps in order to move forward. So that's a free assessment that you can take, and, and that's going to add value to your life. But Bob, I, I realize this complacency, where it really hit home with me was, um, about a year and a half ago I was with John Maxwell. John Maxwell and I went to the country of Cambodia. We were going there to speak at a conference. It was going— you gotta think, I mean, yeah, I think in 2011 I'm just trying to get in the room and, you know, I just want to, you know, learn. And now I'm flying to the other side of the planet with John Maxwell. There's only 2 speakers on the agenda that day, John Maxwell and me. Like, this is, you know, this is a pinnacle moment. I've, you know, been on stage with John Maxwell hundreds of times now, and, you know, but this is, this is one of those moments. Because before that, right before we're getting ready to speak to 2,500 people, we also meet with the president of Cambodia. And now I am coming out of the President of Cambodia's office with John Maxwell. We're laughing, we're smiling. I'm getting ready to go speak. And, you know, we get there and I'm speaking and things begin to go wrong. You know, as a speaker, things go wrong. The first thing that happens is that the remote is not working. It's just not advancing the slides and things just aren't going well. The second thing that happens is I'm speaking with an interpreter. So I'm not speaking English only. I'm speaking a couple lines in English and then there's an interpreter that's speaking a couple lines in Khmer, their language. It's a little choppy because I didn't do a whole lot of practice with that individual ahead of time. So it's a little choppy and I've got to find the rhythm. It's okay. I end up working through it. We get through it. Then my slides finally come up and, you know, typically when I speak internationally, there's English slide and there's a native language slide. Well, in this country, their language has to go above any other language. And so my slide, instead of them being separated, now looks like, you know, you took all the letters from Scrabble, threw them up in the air, and then just put them on my slides. That's the way it looked. All right, so things are going bad, but you know, I've spoken thousands of times and I'm going good. Well, I am, um, get through the presentation. The presentation is good. I have a line of people lined up and, and they're telling me how great the presentation was, how good it did, how it impacted them. But then I go and sit down and have dinner with John Maxwell and a few other people, and I say to John Maxwell, hey, could you give me some feedback on my presentation today? And he says, oh, no problem. And he begins to list them, Bob. I mean, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. He gets to around 10, 11 different things, right? The things I did wrong, Bob. And, and he gets to 10 things I did wrong. And in fact, the table begins to talk about all the things I did wrong. And I'm sitting here looking at this list, and I look at the list and there's nothing on there that I do not know. But Bob, what I can tell you is because I've done it so many times, I had began to drift and I did not prepare for that presentation the way that I did years prior to speak in front of a Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce or just a little small free event. I didn't prepare for that. Why? Because I had kicked into autopilot and was going with what I know and stopped sharpening the axe. Now, Again, I speak and communicate every single week, multiple times a week, 4, 5, 10 times a week. But I wasn't being intentional with it. I was just going off of the good versus really sharpening that potential. And so that fired me up and I found that secret place of satisfactory success.

Yes, complacency. That's, that's how you define secret place of satisfactory success. So definitely for those starting on their leadership journey now, which is my biggest focus, right? Aspiring military and tech leaders, they definitely need to get a copy of the book. But even those who've been studying leadership for a long time, even masters like yourself, sometimes, you know, you do need to be reminded. But also, as you mentioned, I've taken the test. Let me go back there. It is complacency assessment. The link is already in the chat for everyone. If you go to Drift, to drive quiz, right? drifttodrivequiz.com. You can take this test because one thing is you may be even successful at a certain level, but you can always improve, right? There may be another area in your life where you may not be doing so well. I took the test myself last week, so I know exactly what my mentor, my coach told me to do in order to improve, but I really urge everyone to do this right now. And I also want to recognize Daniela McCoy, she is on the call right now. She's the number one female content provider for risk and resilience in the US on all social media. So thank you so much for being here. And again, for those who are on the call live, if you want to ask a question to my guest, Chris Robinson, please do it right now, and I'm going to try to get to your question as much as we can. So back to you, Chris. So from the experience you had, I feel like probably the most central message from your book, which again applies to only people not only people who are starting their leadership journey, but those who've been doing this for a very long time, are the 7 steps, right? The 7-step framework to go from drift to drive. So I don't know if we're gonna have time to go through every single step, but maybe you can just salt it a little bit, just give us a little preview and people absolutely need to purchase your book. Maybe we just give them 4 or 5 and then they need to buy the book to get the other 2.

I'll be quick, Bob. I'm gonna give the people all 7, 'cause I want these 7 steps known. Whether you get this book or not, you need to know these 7 steps in order to go from drifting to driving and, and really get back on track. The 7 steps are really simple. The first step—

and, and also, uh, how did your, uh, experience kind of, you know, inform those 7 steps? How did you come up with that framework, which is really, uh, revelatory and can apply to anyone?

Yeah, so the framework, it applies to anything. Uh, I, I've applied this framework to pickleball, I've applied this framework to golf, I've applied this framework to business, I've applied whatever area that you want to grow, you can use these 7 steps to grow in. Now, the first step really helps you just define that starting point, and the first step is clarity. And that's simply asking yourself the question, what do you want? What do you want? And I, I think a lot of people are so busy, so moving forward, so distracted by social media and all the different things, that you're actually doing things and going after things that you actually don't even want. So I think everyone needs to start with clarity is the first step, is because you cannot have what you cannot see. And so we want to get clear on what it is that you want, and then everything else begins to line up behind it. The second step in the process is what we call the gathering phase, and that's where we begin to gather information about what it is that you want to grow in the area that you want to grow. So for me, if I'm trying to improve as a communicator, well, I'm going to begin to gather resources that are lined up specifically with that thing of which I want to move towards. So as a communicator, I would get books, I would get— start watching videos and programming YouTube to send me, you know, videos that are lined up on communication. I'm going to listen for audiobooks. I'm going to look for courses. I'm going to look for conferences that are specific to the thing that I want to learn. But I want to gather all that information. Now, the third step is, I think, critical because now we have to filter the information. In the past, your success was dependent upon the information that you had access to. Today, it's about filtering the information that you have access to because we have so much information that that leads to overwhelm and causes you to stop, not even drift, you come to a complete stop because you just have so much information overload. The fourth step is guidance, Bob. You know, we all need to have a guide, someone that's where we want to go to help us get there. Everything that I've ever achieved, anything of significance in, has been as a result of having a guide in my life to help me in that area. And we talk about how to get those inside the book. The next phase, Bob, is relationships. It's about being around like-minded people that are going the direction that you want to go. And there's something that happens when you eliminate proximity. Meaning that, hey, you're not just hanging out with the neighbors, you're going to go meet with somebody on the other side of the world, or you're going to go meet with somebody in a different state or another part of the town virtually because they share a common thread. And so when you get around like-minded people, that's critical. And of course, action is a big one, Bob. That's the next step is number 6 is action. You have to take action. You have to do something. Don't fall into the trap of just gathering information, being clear on what you want, and getting stuck and doing nothing. You know, you have to learn a little bit and then you have to do a little bit. And so if you do not take action, nothing will move forward for you. And then the last phase of the last step, Bob, is evaluation. Evaluation. Taking time to reflect on the results that you have and seeing what you can do to change it. And if you do that cycle again and again and again, the speed of which you'll reach your goals, your dreams, your vision will come a whole lot faster. Wow, love it.

Now, a couple examples you use is, um, pickleball, which you mentioned, but also your son, right, is at the baseball camp. How was he able to use these 7 steps and really come out?

Yeah, yeah, you know, so for, uh, you know, I love pickleball. It's a great game. I haven't been playing much lately because I've been so, um, uh, you know, entrenched in doing, uh, this book and, and so many different speaking things that we've been into. But, you know, when I started pickleball, I knew instantly that day, oh my goodness, I want to get good at this. So I started pickleball on a Thursday. On a Saturday, I was in a clinic getting coaching and beginning to develop as this. So I was clear that I wanted to play this game. I gathered information on it. I began to buy some books on Amazon. I've got— started watching YouTube on it. Then I began to know that, hey, I got to filter this. What specific skill set do I want to learn? In pickleball? What shot am I working on? Then I got the guidance that I needed. Then I got around other players. Then I was, you know, playing every single day. I was taking action. But then I was filming so I can go back and evaluate what I was doing. And, you know, I actually became a certified teaching pro in pickleball. All right, but what I do, I use the 7 steps, right? Use the 7 steps. Uh, same thing, you know, as I'm trying to raise my children and apply these principles to this life. You know, my son David has been in Cooperstown, New York playing baseball for the last 2 weeks. And, um, you know, leading up to, uh, Cooperstown, you know, of course we were playing games, but we, we had a special, you know, training that we did outside of the training that he was getting, going, okay, hey, look, it's every single day that ends in day, let's make sure that we're doing something, because he had a clear goal. He wanted to hit a home run in Cooperstown. This was his goal. So every single day he was working on hitting. He was listening to, um, you know, confidence videos on hitting. He was reading a book, um, on baseball called Teammate. And, um, but every single day he doing something to it. So he was journaling that to track it so that I could show him evidence that, hey, you don't just show up to Cooperstown and hit a home run. You show up to Cooperstown if you did the— and hit a home run if you did the work to show up to Cooperstown and hit a home run. And, uh, Bob, you know, he hit his first 3 home runs in these past 2 weeks. It, uh, it just phenomenal. But we can point back to the work that he did and show him that, hey, you followed the process, this is the result that you got. And so very excited for him. But this process works with everything.

Wow, that is quite amazing. If you have time really quick, maybe you can talk briefly about the trap for each one of those, going back with step 1, clarity, but also from what you just said, especially again for the aspiring leaders, military and tech leaders out there, 2 things that are very important. One is focus, right, from everything Chris Robinson talked about, you need to be able to focus. There is too many distractions in the world, especially with the internet and now with AI, just way too much information. So you need to be able to focus and say, what is important and what do I need to do? Because I believe it was Warren Buffett, right? Probably the best investor of all time. He said his number one superpower is the ability to say no. He says no to everything that doesn't align with where he wants to go and what his goals are.. And that makes it very, very easy for him to just focus and do what he does best. So I think it's definitely somewhere as a leader you have to be. And then number 2, Chris also talked about consistency. It's not just doing it one time and you're done, but doing it over and over and over again until you see a result. Usually people think you are a success overnight, but that's not true. You've been doing the work for a long time and then all of a sudden people see your glory and the result of what you do, right? There's like a compounding happening, but you do have to be very, very consistent. So Chris, thanks, thanks again for taking the time. I'm so glad you're here. So if we can go briefly about the trap for each one of the steps, starting with— yeah, one, you know, clarity. What's—

yeah, so when it comes to clarity, uh, you know, the trap for that one is really, um, you know, confusion by, you know, overthinking. You know, if you're not clear on what you want, so if you lack specificity, it leads to confusion, and confusion leads to complacency.

It.

So you have to be crystal clear on that. So the trap for that one is just confusion by overthinking. You know, a trap inside a gathering is accumulating noise instead of wisdom. You know, a lot of people, they love to gather information. They're like, oh my goodness, Chris, yes, I'm a good gatherer. All right, but here's the thing, is that you can get fat, you can get overweight on consumption of personal growth, right? There's a point of which you need to just— you need to consume it, you need to gather it, but you've got to get it out. And so don't just be an over-gatherer by doing that. Um, you know, the filtering trap there is really to say delayed decision-making, because what will happen is when people begin to gather, they don't layer their learning And if you don't layer your learning— and what I mean by layered learning is that everything lines up. So what you need needs to line up with what you read. And so many years ago, Bob, I switched from, you know, asking successful people the question I used to ask them all the time: what are you reading right now? That's a good question, but it's a bad question because oftentimes that led to me reading and spending time on topics and things that were not in alignment with my goals, my dreams, my vision. So I stopped asking people what they were reading, but how they read, and that shifted everything. And layered learning is lining up the content that I'm reading to where it's all lined up in the same direction. So, you know, I read in two areas of my life, Bob. I read in areas that I'm trying to solve a problem. Or passion. So all the books, all the videos, all the audios, all the courses, they all line up. And then that allows for me to move to the information. But when you just— if you're not filtering properly, you're listening to a podcast on one topic, you're listening to reading a book on another topic, you're watching YouTube videos on another topic, you're watching another topic, and you're overwhelmed and confused.

Yes.

Uh, the trap inside of guidance, Bob, is really what we call lone wolf leadership. And, and that's thinking that, you know, trying to figure out all on your own, um, is strength. Okay? And you think that, hey, if I ask for help, that's weakness. And that couldn't be further from the truth. And that's a trap that many of us find, you know, fall into of, well, I don't want to look silly by asking for help, or I don't really want to ask this dumb question. And so, you know, don't fall into that guidance trap of trying to be that lone wolf.

Actually, Chris, we have a question on LinkedIn from Daniela McCoy from New York. She's saying, kind of related to this, can you talk more about proximity and who you surround yourself with? I am working on developing my personal board of advisors. I am in the stage of determining who to ask or who do I want to surround myself with.

Yeah, so you gotta be highly intentional in that. So when it comes to proximity, of people. Um, you know, if you're looking for guides and mentors, there's two ways to get a guide or mentor: either seek to serve or pay to play. Okay, meaning that you're either going to pay someone to get proximity to them, you're going to pay them to be your coach, your mentor, be a part of their program, etc., or you're going to serve that individual so you can get proximity. So what can you do, or what What skill set do you have or how can you add value to that individual that gets you access and proximity? Not to take from them, but to give to them because you just want to get in the room. And then when it comes to, you know, peers, that's simply being intentional about, hey, who are the people that I want to be around and be like and where are they hanging out? All right. What conferences? What events? What fitness facilities? What clubs? What private groups? Um, you know, are they a part of— and again, am I willing to pay to be a part of that group? You know, one group that I'm a part of is an exotic car club. I'm a part of an exotic car club. Um, I love, you know, the supercars. And, you know, there's a fee and a membership and an application that had to be paid, thousands of dollars, just to be a part of this club. But I knew that I wanted to be around these types of owners, okay? These are business owners, these are professionals, these are, um, you know, exotic car owners. Hey, I'm intentional about that. Same thing for speaking. That's how I ended up with Maxwell Leadership. I wanted to be around other speakers. What that required— that required an investment, yes, of thousands of dollars to be inside the room. But then now I'm around the room of like-minded people. So there's pay to play and their seek to serve. But be intentional about who it is that you want to be around.

Wow, that is, that is wonderful. And maybe the only thing I would add to this, Danilo, is sometimes you can be mentored from a distance too, just by reading a book. Like, for example, one of my greatest mentors, General Colin Powell, even now that he is no longer with us, he still mentors me through his work and his books. So I, I was, I think, 16, 17 years old when I first heard of Dr. Maxwell. Actually, back then, I believe he was a pastor. In the church in San Diego talking about leadership all the time. So I started reading his book, getting it back when they had cassette tapes. My kids don't know what that means these days, but yeah, so I've been mentored from him. He didn't know my name. We never were in physical proximity, but he was my mentor. He was my guide. And then I finally met him face to face, I believe it was 2007 at the Church of the Island in Birmingham. But anyway, and then later I was a member of the Maxwell Leadership Coaching. But anyway, and then the other thing I want to add to this too is it's very important, like Chris said, to really invest in what you prioritize, right? One of my mentors, Brian Tracy, says you need to spend at least 3% of your income. It doesn't matter if you only make a dollar or $5,000 a year, it doesn't matter. 3% of your income needs to go into your personal development. You need to spend it out. But I think eventually you need to spend about 10% of your income When I started this, back when I was 17, 18 years old, I was only making maybe $15,000, $17,000 a year. Now I make a lot more than that. So 10% of my income now is a lot, and I need to find ways to spend that money. And things like Maxwell Leadership Training and curriculum, those are the places where you need to be. You need to be in the room where decisions are being made. Anything else you would like to add to this, Chris?

Yeah, no, no, you're absolutely right. Investing in yourself is the best investment that you can make. And I think a lot of people oftentimes are scared to make that investment in themselves outside of traditional schooling. You know, they're scared to do that because of maybe perhaps failures in the past or things that didn't work out. But here's what I found, you know, Bob, is that I've never lost a dime in business. I've never lost a dime in business, but I've paid a whole lot of tuition, right? A whole lot of tuition. And it's okay if we look at it is that But every single thing that we invest in, if we can get one thing from that to shape or shift our perspective, our thought, or our philosophies, or to get us to look at something different, that just gets us one step closer and further to who we're supposed to become.

Yeah, that is awesome. So let's take a quick break here. This is what we are here to do. I want everybody to go to drift2drivebook.com. It's in the comment, drift2drivebook.com, and I want you to preorder The Unbooked, and you can preorder from everywhere books are sold, right? Amazon, Barnes Noble, Simon Schuster, Target, Walmart, anywhere and everywhere. But the most important thing is once you purchase the book and you get your receipt, you're gonna get an order number. I want you to come back to drift2drivebook.com and to fill out this form. It takes you like 5 seconds. And Chris, what are they going to get? What bonuses are you giving away? I think you are crazy, Chris. You are completely out of your mind. What are you giving to my audience once they purchase your book?

You know, well, the first thing that they'll get is they're going to get early access to the first 2 chapters of the book. So they're going to get the first 2 chapters of the book before they come out, because the book doesn't come out till September 2nd. Then I did a 10-module masterclass on the book with practical applications. So that masterclass comes with the workbook. It's going to be something that you work through, and that's going to be a product that we sell. For $199 after the book releases. But if you purchase just a single book, you're going to get that masterclass alone. In addition to that, you're going to get a behind-the-scenes interview with me and Valerie Burton. Now, Valerie Burton is a coach's coach, a great friend of mine and colleague, and we just have a great time talking about growth and leadership in this. So you're going to get that behind-the-scenes interview. You're also going to get access to the private launch team. So this is where I'm actually taking, especially those of you that are interested in being an author and publishing a book. I'm taking you behind the scenes and sharing with you everything that I'm doing to really promote this book, to get this— what was the process? I'm going to introduce you to the publisher that I'm using. I'm going to introduce you to the architect behind all of the marketing. I'm going to introduce you to the writer that I worked with. We're really taking you behind the scenes and making this launch team page just a really great resource. And then we're going to do a summit. On September 9th where I'm gonna bring in some speakers that we're gonna be right here live in West Palm Beach, and we're gonna do a full-day summit— half-day summit, I believe. But you're gonna get a virtual ticket to that that we're gonna be selling for $97. But you're gonna get all of those resources, all those bonuses, by pre-ordering the book. And the book is just $28 on Amazon, and, and you pick that up and Hey, you're gonna get all those bonuses there.

Just thinking about the return on investment, you spend $20, you get the wisdom from Chris Robinson. Again, he didn't just start this yesterday, he's been doing this for years and years and years. And now he's the EVP for Maxwell Leadership, the premier leadership coaching program in the entire world, and you only spent $20. And on top of that, Chris gives you over $500 worth of stuff. And I know if you order even more books, you can get even more bonuses, but this is just not You've got to do this. Absolutely everyone here, please go there and purchase the book right now. So I know we do have the hamster, so if I can switch over now to the 7 questions I ask every leader that comes on this podcast, and you probably already know this question because they come straight from Papa John. And another thing that Chris mentioned earlier, I just wanted to emphasize really quickly, something Papa John taught us, right? Every single day, that consistency, he says, you write He thinks, he asks questions, and he files. And what is the fifth one? Write, think, ask questions, files, and—

Thinks.

Thinks, yes. So every single day, every day, even on Saturday, even on Sunday. And the thing is, when you start doing this process, right, of growth, you may not be very good, but after a while you're gonna get better and better and better, and before you know it, you are gonna be in the top 3%, 5% of your field. So anyway, the 7 leadership questions. Number 1, what is the greatest leadership advice you have ever received?

I think it's something that was kind of caught, not actually taught, and it would be that treat people like people and adults like adults. I think if you could follow that, if you do nothing else and you follow that philosophy as a leader,, you'll go a long way as a leader. So treat people like people and adults like adults, and you'll lead a long time.

Wow. And something Chris just said, right? It was caught, not taught. And to catch anything, you have to be in the room. So hopefully you're going to be at IMC, you're going to be in the room where there are leaders where you can even, through osmosis, just get principles inside your, your, your brain. That happens all the time. But you do have to be in the room and you do have to invest. Okay, number 2, what is the greatest investment you have ever made in yourself?

Oh my goodness, personal growth. Uh, if I go back to the greatest investment, it was the $25 that I spent to go take a course by John Maxwell on VHS. Okay, and I call it the greatest because it was the first. Now, the greatest— it's not the greatest in amount or money, but it was the greatest because it was the start. So some people that are watching today, hey, this investment in the book From Drift to Drive or The 15 Laws, that $20, $25 investment could be the greatest because it's the start of what it leads to.

Yes. And I remember Papa, um, actually I would also say, yes, and I think back then maybe $700 on the cassette, um, program, which he said In time, it gave him over $1 million just from what he learned back then. And back then, he spent $700 for the cassette program, but he was maybe only making like, I don't know, $300 a month or something. So that was a huge, huge investment for him. But again, it paid off over and over and over again. That is wonderful. Okay. Number 3, what is the greatest fear that you were able to overcome? And how has failure shaped your life?

Yeah. You know, I wouldn't call it, I don't know if I've overcome it because I've got to live this out. Out the rest of my life. But, you know, one of my greatest fears is, um, you know, not having a gap between who I am on stage and who I am in person. And so I want that to be the same. And so who people see me as on person, you know, on stage, I want to be that person off stage as well too. And, you know, and that's— and who I am off stage, I want to be that person on stage. And so my biggest fear is that there's a gap gap between that. And so, because I've met many of the, you know, many, many speakers and coaches and authors, and they're one way on stage and then a different way off stage. And so I want that gap to be the same. And John Maxwell's really modeled that well for me.

Absolutely. Integrity and character. And that's why leaders like Maxwell, when they come in a room, they pretty much change it. I think it changed at the atomic level because he he preaches. Wow, that is powerful. And how has failure shaped your life, Chris? I know we only look at the shiny thing, everything you've accomplished and books and all of that, but I'm sure everyone who's very successful today has had to go through failure in order to get there. Anything you can say about that?

About failure itself?

Yes. Yes. How failure has shaped your life?

Yeah. Well, I think that it's, It's the only way to shape life. I think that so many people are scared of failure on this side and success on the other, but really in reality it's failure in front of you, success behind it. So it's becoming comfortable, uh, and confident enough to try something and fail and know that it's okay. Like, there's usually no consequences of failure besides what you think people are thinking about you or what it is that you're going to say. So like, remember, if you go back to what I said earlier in my path to success, is like I had to come to a point to where I did not care what anybody thought of what my path to success looked like. And so, um, you know, I was failing at the time, you know. I mean, I had failed businesses, I was repossessed cars and foreclosed house. But if I had let that become my story and my framing that I had failed, then then I wouldn't be able to move on. But just because you fail doesn't make you a failure. That means you need to go try something else different. But failure is a part of the process.

So that's, that's the mindset. So if you could choose 3 people to have dinner with, who would you choose and why?

Yeah, 3 people to have dinner with. Well, anytime I can have dinner with John, I'm going to do it. We always have a great conversation, dialogue. There's always gold that can be shaped there.

Two others that I would have dinner with, you know, it's three people too, they don't have to be alive now.

You know who I'd also like to have dinner with? Jerry Seinfeld. I'd like to have dinner with him just from his comedic standpoint, his mind, his thinking. What makes Jerry tick? I'd probably say Steve Harvey I'd throw in there. So Jerry and Steve together with John. I think that would be a humorous dinner.

So Papa John's has taught us number 5, that leaders are readers. Which books are you reading now? Which book would you recommend my audience to read? Of course, Drift to Drive is number 1.

Yeah, yeah.

Anything else?

Yeah, right now, a great focus that I have where I'm layering my learning is in the area of AI. That is really, you know, it's something that we're going to have to learn, or you're going to be working for somebody that has learned it. Okay. And so a great book that I recently read, uh, was called The AI-Driven Leader by, um, Jeff Woods. So AI-Driven Leader, a phenomenal book, but really getting that grasp around, you know, how can we utilize AI and utilize AI as a thinking partner to help catalyze everything else that we do.

Yeah. Well, and I'm gonna make sure to add that book to the, uh, notes to comment. So number 6, uh, if you had one day, only one day to live, what would you have liked your final contribution to be?

Oh wow, final contribution, man. If I could just have one more, one more time for an opportunity like this, Bob, uh, to be able to add value to people. And if I had one day, you know, I want to see my kids, I want to see my family, and I want to add value to people. That's right there. Wow.

Okay, the final question: how can we add value back to you? I know for sure we need people to order this book right here, but what else can we do, Chris, to add value back to you?

Yeah, you know, share about the book, you know, because this book, I really do believe this book is going to help a lot of people. You know, I think this book is going to be a wake-up call for many that have had success, many that are seeking success right now, And I really do believe it's going to add value to people. So spread the word about this book, not just purchase the book, but purchase a couple more for other people. Share the link with people to go out and do that. That would add tremendous value to it. But more importantly, go out and apply the lessons that you learn from the book. That would be the greatest way to add value is applying what you learn.

And right now, I think you're only selling the hardcover, but soon you're going The audio version and Kindle version and all of that too, right? And are you planning to have an accompanying workbook as well for like life group?

Yeah, all the above.

Fantastic. No, this is great. This really could be life-changing. I mean, I am telling you, it's just a book. You know, by me, you see, when I was 17 years old, I read over 2,000 books, not because I had to, but because I was trying to find out what is the essence of leadership and success. One book could change your life. One idea could make you more than $1 million in your lifetime. So this is yours. Okay, to end now, thanks so much for your time. I know you have to go, but what are 3 adjectives that describe you as a child and then as an adult? 3 adjectives.

Oh geez. Yeah, 3 adjectives as a child, um, I guess open, uh, adventurous, and, um, uh, you know, happy. As an adult, I would call it the same.

A very, very last question. We know you have go, what is one word that represents our shared experience in this podcast right now? What word comes to mind?

One word that would— repeat that again one more time.

One word that will represent our shared experience on this podcast right now as we are finishing up this podcast, this time we spent together. What words come to mind to crystallize, represent that?

Yeah, fun and just value add.

I am extremely, extremely grateful, Chris. You have no idea. I think this is going to be the most popular episode on my podcast ever. I've been doing this for about 3 years now, but thank you so much for your time. And I know you have to go, but again, everyone, we want this book to be number one, right? New York Times bestseller number one. That's exactly what we are looking for. And again, thank you. Thank you so much. And any last word, anything you want to say, Chris, before we end this podcast? Thank you so much.

Thank you.

This is absolutely— thank you for listening to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our channels and come back for more wisdom nuggets on how you may develop into a better leader and achieve greater levels of success. Leadership is the most critical skill. The world will always need leaders to lead others deploy the next disruptive technology, or execute a business strategy. You may as well decide on counting yourself among the 21st century leaders. See you right here next time on the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach BZ.