You Can Be An Exceptional Long Term Leader: A Method for Long-Term Leadership Success With Scott Agnew - Genius Network Episode #195

All great leaders are great communicators. They are great communicators who connect with their people and they build permanent, long lasting, strong relationships by being trustworthy and gaining trust. But let's unpack that just for a minute. First of all, they honestly listen. They're clear and they're concise and they're empathetic.

If you'd like to join world renowned entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network event or want to learn more about Genius network, go to www.gienstruitnetwork.com. david Benedict is an athletic director and he is the single most important person in the recent University of Connecticut basketball championships victory at the NCAA finals last week. Yet he never even touched a basketball during the game. But he was their leader. What great leaders do is teach people how to think and model the behavior and demeanor necessary to have maximum potency with their influence. Exactly what did David do to demonstra exceptional leadership? He hired the right head coach, who in turn hired great assistant coaches. What you're about to learn is how David Benedict was successful at hiring Dan Hurley, men's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut. Dan accepted the trophy as the best college of basketball team in America this year. And he exemplifies the leadership qualities that you will learn about in the next 10 minute talk presented by Scott Agnew, a regional operating partner of the Keller Williams real estate empire. If you're not familiar with Keller Williams, they are the world's largest real estate company with over 185,000 salespeople and over 750 franchise owners, many of which earn over a million dollars a year. Those franchise owners are led by 31 regional operating partners like Scott, who in turn support 185,000 real estate sales associates. It's an amazing honor and responsibility to have the opportunity every day to practice leadership skills. Scott's gotten so good at that that he wrote a book called Long Term Leader. Please help me welcome Scott Agnew.

One of the things that opened my eyes so much when I joined Genius Network was the of having this elf business. You know, you guys all know what that is. Anybody new doesn't know it, doesn't know what that is, right? It's easy, lucrative, and most of all fun, right? How many of us strive for that every day, you know, and yet we end up with hard, annoying, lame and you know, right? I mean, it's frustrating sometimes, right? So if I'm really achieving long term success, it really boils down to one thing that I've discovered anyway. It's building really strong relationships and that's turn into friendships. And by the end of my talk today, I hope you'll have a little bit of an idea how to do that. Fair enough. All right, so let me ask you a question. Who do you follow? Who is it you follow? Who do you know that can help you and that cares about your success? What's different about him? What's different about Joe? What makes Joe different than other people? You know, there's something about him, right? Don't you love the way Joe just is? He smiles, he's humble. How do you feel around Joe? Do you feel safe? Do you feel like you could tell Joe anything? What would you be willing to do for Joe? And I keep using Joe, but let's just say it's a great leader that you admire. Is he easy to follow? Do you believe in their intentions, that they're good and noble? So what's up, you guys? Is it what Joe says or is it how he brings it? That's the question I want you to ask yourselves. So let's get to some hard skills of leaders. Let's get that out of the way. Here's what leaders job is, right? It's like you got to have a clear vision. You got to put the right people on the bus. Then you got to train them. You got to give them confidence to do the job they need to do. And then you got to coach them and consult them and mentor them. You got to hold them accountable. And you want them. You want them all focused on a common goal, right? And then if you want to be a great leader, you protect that environment. So what did I just tell you? I told you stuff you already know. What I'm about to tell you is maybe an insight that it's almost like breathing. It's something that's right in front of us. But how many of us really do it well? So how does a leader like Joe, how do leaders like Michael Fishman, how do they knock it out of the park? Here's how they do it. They demonstrate a healthy process, communicating. Notice I use the word healthy. They stay in okayness. You ever hear that word before? You've heard this. I'm okay, you're okay, right? They invite others to stay in okayness. And the message they send is, you are capable. You're enough. So when you're recruiting, training, holding people accountable, the question isn't that you're doing that. The real question is, how do you do it? Like, let's say you're behind on the numbers, right? So your guys behind on the numbers hasn't hit their sales goals. And there's a lot of ways you can approach that. One way is, well, what happened? What's going on, man? And when you do that, what do you think the message is? Right? Or you can say, hey, what happened, man? You know, what's going on? Sit down, let's talk. What do you think that invites you? See, it's more than just the words, right? And when you communicate well and everyone is okay in the communication because you're not stressing another person out, you're not acting stressed out, that's when we connect. And when we connect, we start a relationship. And when we start a relationship, we have the opportunity to influence. And influence is the cornerstone of leadership. Does that make sense? All right, so we know that nothing of great significance is ever accomplished alone. Buying back more time, right? Having the life you can live and having a great opportunity to spend time with your loved ones and do other things with your life. So here's a little quote. This is from John Maxwell. This might put it into better perspective. Loneliness is not a positional issue. It's a personality issue. You're supposed to laugh on that one. That's like a joke. It's how we communicate. So what is the job of a leader? It's to communicate in a healthy way. Let me ask you, is that a game worth playing? Getting really good at that, Is that worth it? Bringing other people into the mix can be scary, right? It's scary sometimes to even ask for help. And then you've got to figure out, well, how do I get them on my team? You know, there's talented people out there. How do I get them to want to work for me or with me? Do you think it's easy? Well, guess what? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Because it depends on how well you communicate when you're leading. Well, you're teaching people how to show up, to show up so that they'll get the job done quickly and correctly. We teach by our actions and behaviors much more than our words. Wouldn't you agree with that? Right. Like, 93% is facial expressions, tonality, demeanor, right posture. And like 7% is the words. What do most people focus on? The words. I know that because in my accountability sessions with my CEOs, they always tell me, well, I told them, By now, I hope we agree that all great leaders are great communicators. They are great communicators who connect with their people and they build permanent, long lasting, strong relationships by being trustworthy. And gaining trust. But let's unpack that just for a minute. First of all, they honestly listen. They're clear and they're concise and they're empathetic. There are several roadblocks to communication. Would you like to know what some of those are? There's a huge list, but can you mind if I share with you? Maybe like the top three. Big one is listening to yourself more than the other person. And then here's another one, letting criticism bother you. I welcome criticism. Don't you? I want that. I want somebody to tell me what's really going on. Here's another one you might be able to relate to. Letting other people's neediness and weakness bother you. Right. Or how about this one? Jumping in when they're not doing it quickly enough. Get out of the way. Let me do it. So failing to recognize communication is what damages all the relationships. Okay, so how do you do that? There are three P's. I want to give you the three P's. You ready? The first one is permission. You ask questions to seek understanding. And you ask several questions before making a statement. Is it okay if we talk about this? Do you have a minute where we could go over this in more detail? And then you give them permission to talk about the reality of what's going on. You invite them to think or you don't try to force them to do or be something. You deal with their distress. The second one is protection. You have empathy and concern. You stay relaxed and you show you're trustworthy. And if you do those two, if you give permission and ask permission and you provide protection and safety, then you will have leadership potency. That's the third P. And it feels like a healthy partnership. So listen, listen, listen. Make others needs, wants and style more important than your own.

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