Chad Silverstein argues that becoming a leader means finding mentors who've actually done the work, staying humble, and persisting through failure. He pushes you to define your purpose, dream big, and build a culture that lifts others up.
Chapters
Leading anything is hard. Figuring out how to do it by yourself is even harder. Everybody needs a mentor, Everybody needs a coach. But how do you find a really good coach? How do you find someone who's not just going to tell you what you need to hear and tell you what they think you should do? For me, I like to find people who do the hard work, who've been there, they've done it. I don't want to be coached by somebody who is a consultant, and I don't want someone who has the numbers and facts behind them unless they put it to the test themselves. It's important to find people who can walk the walk. It's important to be able to be coached by someone who you can trust, someone who has credibility, someone who has been recognized for what they're coaching you for. Someone who is going to be able to take you further than you think you're capable of going. The problem is you put a ceiling over your head. And if you can't find someone who's gone further than what you want for yourself, how are you going to get there? How are they going to help you get there? Becoming built to lead is not for everyone. It's for a few. The systems designed to weed people out. It's why today there's so few leaders that are worth following. People who don't mix their messages, people who dream big, and people who are actually chasing after something worth chasing. Living a life worth living, it's inspiring. It helps. People want to rally for that person and run through walls for them. Do you have people who will do that for you? Do you want that? Again, it's not for everyone. Being an entrepreneur is even harder. Starting a business, getting people to rally behind your idea, making sure that the sabotage that is happening every single day behind every leader's back is something that you can root out, something that you can squash before it becomes a virus throughout your entire company and takes down your culture. Because building a world class culture is tough. Having people love your company, you got to give them something to love. You got to give them something to chase themselves. You got to be able to let them be themselves. The problem today is that everyone wants to be themselves, but they're so busy trying to be like everyone else that they forget who they are. Becoming built to lead means you got to slow down. You got to figure out who you want to be, what you want to do, why you want to live, what you want to pursue and how you want to do it and why. Most people go their whole life and Never think about that stuff. Do you think about it? Do you dream big? Do you have goals written down? Do you have someone who can hold you accountable if you do, you're rare. Most people don't. I get asked all the time what leaders I look up to. And I don't have that many people that I can look up to. And even if I did, I don't care. I'm trying to be myself. And every day that's a test. It's a battle to fight. Because we're tested with everything. Every single day, everybody struggles with something. Do you know what you're struggling with? And do you know what you're doing? And are you doing anything to overcome those struggles? Few people do. Few people who are willing to look in the mirror and face their challenges and run through those obstacles with enthusiasm, fail after fail after fail, getting back up with enthusiasm and running after it again. Those are leaders worth following. Those are leaders who have earned the right to be able to influence other people. And those are the types of leaders that people want to work with. What do people say behind your back? Are people complaining about you? Do they know what they get with you? Built to lead leaders are strong and they don't waver, they don't send mixed messages. And if they do, they repair. Because they're master repair men, master repair women because they understand how taking responsibility and humbling yourself, being transparent about your issues is actually a strength, attracting other people to you and not detracting people away from you. Do people run when they see you coming? Do you have a big dream? Something worth fighting for? The worst thing in the world is a parent who's living a life not worth living. Do you view yourself better than other people? Can you learn from everyone? This is the real sign of your humility. And if you think you're better than anyone else and you've got that arrogance about you and you're not sure if other people see it, they do, they're just not telling you. And worse, if they're scared to talk to you because you're angry, because you're good at articulating and squashing people and doing what we call a triple D. You defend you, deny you, destroy anything coming your way. If you do, nobody wants to come talk to you. And it's why you find yourself alone a lot. Being a leader is lonely, but you don't have to make it worse by scaring people and by using a power hungry attitude or an arrogant attitude because you think you're better, because you're not we all have to humble ourselves and understand that we have something to learn from everyone and everything. You could turn every experience into an opportunity to learn from and share that learning. Because if you're not making other people's lives better, then you're wasting your life. Build to lead Builders understand this. They want to make an impact not only in their own life, but in other people's lives. They dream big. They know who they are. They get clear on that, and they make no excuses for it. They know why they're living, they know who they're living for, they know where they came from and they know where they're going. Do you, Sam.
