Robin Sharma breaks down three practices for extreme leadership: Influence through example, Impact via execution over talk, and Inspiration through sustained energy. He uses Steve Jobs stories, including how Jobs obsessed over the iMac's interior design, to show what craftsmanship looks like.
Chapters
Hi, this is Robin Sharma. I'm happy to welcome you to this mastery session. This mastery session is called the 3i mindset for extreme Leadership. So it comes out of my book the Leader who Had no Title. And really I want you to dial in as a leader of your life as well as a leader in your work about three I's and this is why I call it the three I mindset. The first I I want you to practice and calibrate to world class is influence. The job of the leader is to influence other people. I mean, if you are not developing other leaders around you by your example of possibility and audacity and ingenuity, then you're not leading, you're following. So you definitely want to start thinking more than ever before about am I influencing people? The number one way to influence another human being is actually by your example I mean we are tribal, we used to travel in herds. We are profoundly influenced by the social networks we are around. And so if you want to influence and elevate and uplift people around you start with. You start with your example. So the first I in the 3i philosophy is influence. Second I impact. Less talk more do is a wonderful brain tattoo. You see, we live in a world where a lot of people, it's like, well, I read this book and I'm going to act on the ideas next month. I've got this heroic idea that will change and disrupt my business, industry or field and I'm going to execute on it next quarter. I'm going to be more loving next year. I'm going to climb a mountain in two years. One of the things we do as human beings is we postpone our greatness to some imaginary time that is perfect in the future. And the reality is we all know that time will never happen. There will never be a better time to be your finest you and do your loftiest dreams than now. The Chinese say it. Well, they say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. So the second I in the 3I mindset is impact. Leadership is about getting giant things done. It's not about chit chatting, it's not about death by meeting. It's not about telling your team or telling your family or your social orbit what it is you're going to do. We don't care. No one cares what I say I'm going to do. Leadership is about a bias towards gargantuan execution. So the two I philosophy I really want you to dial into and start practicing after this Mastery session is really being a human being of impact. I can tell what kind of a performer, producer, leader you are by the trail of results that you leave behind. And then the final I in the 3i mindset that I really want you to think about and practice because you get brilliant at the things that you practice every single day is inspiration. Now you might say, robin, I was with you on the two eyes, but now inspiration, that sounds a little soft. Actually. Being a radiant optimist is really, really hard. Actually maintaining high levels of energy, optimism, interior fuel through inspiration in is really challenging in this world of so much volatility, distraction, interruption and uncertainty. And it really makes me think of Steve Jobs. You know, people say Steve Jobs was rude at times and he was abrasive, he could be difficult. And yet, if you poll a lot of the former employees at Apple, they will tell you that the best years of their entire career were at Apple and were working with Steve Jobs. And if you ask them why, they will consistently say to you, this Steve Jobs was inspirational. I mean, Bud Tribble from Apple called it his reality distortion field. He would come up with a very disruptive, innovative idea. And initially when people heard it, they would dismiss it. Because every great idea is initially dismissed on the first encounter with a cynic or a critic or an average thinker. And yet when they would be in the room with Steve Jobs, they would be seduced and hypnotized by this reality distortion field. And it was really about Steve Jobs visceral belief in the idea. I mean, he was so inspired by the idea that he was selling or the product that he wanted to create or the vision that he wanted to bring on into his industry that people were just compelled by his energy and his belief and his inspiration to go, yeah, you know what? That impossible idea is going to be a probability and we're going to nail it and we're going to execute on. Makes me think of a story about Steve Jobs. You know, when he was a young boy, his father said, steve, go out and paint the fence outside of our house. So Steve Jobs said, sure, I'm going to go do that, no problem, dad. A few hours later, Steve Jobs father came outside and inspected the fence and said, Steve, you did a great job painting the outside of the fence, but you didn't paint the inside of the fence. Steve Jobs looked up at his dad and said, dad, you know, no one's gonna see the inside of the fence. And Steve Jobs looked up at his or his father looked down at Steve Jobs and said, son, but we will.
Well, now it's many years later, and Steve Jobs is with his design team, and they are working on the first Apple Macintosh the idea. And Steve Job looks at his team and says, well, here's your deliverable. I want you to make the outside of this first new computer that we're doing, the imac beautiful. But here's the real deliverable. I want you to make the inside of the computer so staggeringly gorgeous that when people look at it, tears will come to their eyes. And the design team almost instantly said, but, Steve, no one is going to see the inside of the computer. And then he paused and he said, but we will.
And when Steve Jobs saw the first, I guess you call it, motherboard of the inside of the imac, he started to cry. Because Steve Jobs was so much more than a business visionary or a remarkable entrepreneur. Steve Jobs, in many ways, was an artist, just like you and your work. My challenge to you, with great love and respect, is to see yourself as an artist on the path to mastery and artistry. And then he said to the team, he said, you know, now I want you to sign the board. And they said, why? And he said, because all artists sign their work the third eye. If the 3i mindset is really inspiration, it's not soft, it's hard in this world of ours to be inspired. I mean, just think about it. The Sistine Chapel, right? Michelangelo's David.
The Mona Lisa, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal. Every great innovation, the incandescent light bulb, the Internet, the Tesla SpaceX. Every great innovation, every great piece of art, every gorgeous business that is changing a marketplace. Start it in the mind of an inspired woman or man. If inspiration was so easy, why are so few people utterly inspired? Makes me think of one of my favorite people on the planet, the Johannesburg janitor. You've probably seen the video I shot when I met him last time. And he kept on saying to me, I mean, this is a man who cleans the toilet in the Johannesburg men's room. He's a janitor, but he works like Picasso painted. And the last time I saw him was when I went to the Johannesburg airport and I looked for him. I had to find him again. And he kept on saying to me when I saw them that time, more fire, more fire. Bring on the fire. Never lose your fire. And that's what inspiration is all about. So the 3i mindset for leadership will help you become an extreme producer. It'll help you own your game. It'll help you master your craft. It'll help you do otherworldly things. Really dial into them, practice them. Because more than anything else, please remember this. And I know you know this and you hear me say it often, but repetition is the mother of mastery. And the idea is this. No idea works unless you do the work. Love you a lot. Sending you lots of great wishes from here and I will talk to you very soon. Hi, this is Robin Sharma. I hope you received great value from this mastery session. If you'd like to receive potent training videos, blog posts, learning tools and information on my two live events, Personal Mastery Academy and my flagship four day experience, the Titan Summit, go ahead and visit RobinSharma.
