Think and Grow Rich For Women- Sharon Lechter and John Assaraf

Hey everybody, this is John Ashraf, CEO of PraxisNow and New York Times best selling author of Having it all and the Answer. And with me is another fellow best selling author, Sharon Lechter, dear friend of mine who is a CPA as well as the former CEO of Rich dad, Poor Dad Enterprises and co author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And Sharon's got just an amazing background in the financial literacy arena and she's got a new book coming out called Think and Grow Rich for Women, which is all part and parcel of her work that she's doing with the Napoleon Hill foundation to really get the word out of Napoleon Hill and focus it on very, very specific target groups. And so this particular book is all about think and grow rich for women. And now we know that this word's going to get out. And more importantly, it's time that women shatter their financial glass ceiling. So, Sharon, great having you and thanks for doing this.

Well, John, you're fantastic. I'm so excited to be with you today. And yes, we're dear friends and I'm just thrilled to have your support. And I know you were actually helping me. You wrote the afterword for the book and I'm just thrilled with it and I'm so excited about it because so many years I resisted doing a book for women because I felt that the steps to success are the same for men and women. But now as I enter the twilight of my career, I realize we do kind of think differently. And of course your work has proven that and female brains are different. So I realized that while the steps to success are the same, men and women tend to approach those steps a little differently. So I'm very excited by bringing out Think and Grow Rich for Women.

It's awesome. I think it's actually a phenomenal marketplace. And I know when my wife and I talk about the inequalities in whether it's low paying jobs, middle paying jobs, or high paying jobs, whether it's in corporate America or even in starting businesses, I know that women are actually making up one of the largest booms in people starting businesses. And so their mindset and thinking and growing rich. I think you're right at the entry point for being able to help millions of women around the world think and grow rich. So tell me a bit about the book and why you decided to partner up with the Napoleon Hill foundation for yet another book.

Well, it's really exciting and you're right. I do believe we're at a tipping point for women. So many things happen when the Economy went south. Typically, women come to the rescue when things get really, really tough. And what we've seen is a real change in the workplace for women. And my goal in this book is to change the dialogue. There's still so many women out there criticizing each other and holding each other back. And yes, we complain that there's still a glass ceiling, and yes, there's still room to be made in the CEO suites across America. But I want to change the dialogue and say, yes, we only have 23 CEO that are women in the Fortune 500, but. But in 2000, there were only two.

Wow.

So let's celebrate the progress that has been made and proof positive that this book is needed in the dialogue is when Sheryl Sandberg's Lean in her book came out and she was pummeled by other women. And I go, let's stop that. Let's stop criticizing each other. And let's celebrate that she's very successful and she found the pathway that worked for her. And her pathway may not be the right one for you, but you might find some great advice in what she shares. And let's celebrate each of us, and what we find is our own pathway to success. And so in Think and Grow Rich for Women, I interview and highlight women from history, over 300 women that I mention in the book, and all about how they found their unique formula for success. So I want to celebrate women and celebrate the progress that's been made. Over 50% of college graduates now are women. Over 50% of management positions are now women. And so women are a very strong force. But we can't do it alone. Again, it's not women against men. It's women working with men. And so that's the whole purpose of the book, is to change that dialogue from what's not working to let's celebrate the progress that's been made. And as we start changing that dialogue to celebration, more doors will open more freely for us because we're not carrying a grudge on our shoulders. So that's the whole purpose.

I love it. Well, you know, what's interesting is, as you know, I do a lot of the brain research, and I'm thinking about the, you know, the industrial revolution, the agricultural revolution, the biological, the technology revolution. And I think we're at the forefront of a mindset revolution where men and women really are on the same footing, not just because they deserve to be, but because that is the only way we're going to progress as a society. And I think in the past, women were playing a Support role. And from a DNA perspective and from an expectation perspective, women fit into that role because of society and maybe the types of jobs that were available. Now we're seeing, as you mentioned, 50% of management jobs are women and higher positions are women. And I think it's really a mindset shift that's helping. And when I heard that you were writing this book about think and grow rich for women, I think that really just sets the new bar of success, whether it's financial is not just for men. They're not just responsible for taking care of the families and staying at home and taking care of the home home and things like that as it once was. And so it's really a shattering of the mindset. That's what this book really celebrates, which is absolutely amazing. On that note, I've got a question for you. As you travel around the world and you speak to women, what's the consensus of women's roles? Do you feel like women are finally getting it and feeling like, you know what, it's time that I shift and think about being whole in my own life as well?

Well, you know, perfect question, John, because I've had the pleasure and honor to travel all over the world and I never cease to be amazed at the amount of enthusiasm and excitement from women around the world about having the opportunity to stand in their own power. And in Africa, these young women are turning their economies around with a $50 loan. I mean, it's amazing the progress that's being made in China. These so eager to learn and realize that they can create value on their own. And it really helped me understand what value we've created in America that we kind of almost don't, don't celebrate. We don't realize how much progress has been made. And I love your comment about the different ages because I talk about, people talk about the industrial age. And now we're in the information age. I think we've actually gone into the communication age, where exactly what you're talking about, we're singing from the same songbook, just a different tune. And that is the fact that women and men have different ways to communicate. And when we come together, miracles can happen. And if we work together and the age of the industrial age competitive environment, dog eat dog, is now much more of a collaborative environment. And women tend to excel in that arena. So it's a very exciting time. And no matter where I go around the globe, women are starting to stand in their power. That's the subtitle of the book, using your power to create Success and significance, knowing what your strengths are and playing to your strengths. I love that.

So if there's a woman or a man who wants to buy this book for his woman, what would they receive when they read the book? What are some of the takeaways from the book that'll get women to step into their power?

Well, what I've done, because I value Think and Grow Rich, I read it when I was 19, and the wonderful wisdom of Think and Grow Rich is as valid today as it was when Napoleon Hill published it in 1937. But at that point in time, all the titans of business were men. So what I did was I followed the same exact format. I just got the galleys. Oh, isn't that great? You get to see the first person to see the galley.

Congratulations.

Yeah, very excited. So I followed the same chapter outline of the original Think and Grow Rich, and I start each chapter with a synopsis of Hill's philosophy. And then I bring in women who have used that philosophy to achieve their own success, and we tell their stories, because I'm a huge believer in experiential learning, and by telling stories, a reader experiences the stories, as opposed to just reading data. And so. And at the end of each, then I talk about how I've applied that chapter in my own life. So I get a little more personal about my success and my. And not all my successes, a few of my failures, too, but things that I've learned along the way. And then at the end of each chapter, I have a sisterhood mastery where I have gone out. And I tell you, it was not easy. I was kind of surprised at how tough it was for me to find quotes from women on each of those principles. And so the first 14 chapters are the exact same chapters as at Pink and Grid. But then I added the 15th chapter, which I think is much more applicable to women. My goal, John, is to get rid of this guilt trip about work, life, balance that women put themselves on much more than men do and say, you know, we all have one big life. And that's the title of the chapter, One Big Life. And that women tend to waste a lot of time worrying about stuff in the past and worrying about stuff in the future, and you're wasting the time of being present. And so I say, you know, if you're not happy with how you spent your day today, maybe you feel like you spent too much time with your children and enough on your business, or maybe you spent too much time on your business and you missed a soccer game at the end of the night, say, you know what? I blew it today. I'm going to make a different choice tomorrow, but get rid of the guilt, get rid of the worry. And so I actually don't believe in the worry balance. I think it was created by some old male psychiatrists who wanted to make sure they had women patients forever. And then, you know, it's crazy, but it's so important to me to get that message across that we. It's not having it all. It's having it as you desire to have it. And you know and understand that each and every one of us are where we are today because of the choices we've made. And if you want to be somewhere else, make different choices in the morning.

I love that when you're talking about balances, it's crazy. If you think about what a balance does, it's basically equal. And what I've discovered about life is balance is more like this. It's more of a flow. It's more like harmony and fluidness. And I agree with you. I think it's time that women let go of the guilt and the shame and the embarrassment and the I should do this, and I could do this, but I have to do this and put that in the past. And so one of the things that you just reminded me of is about a year or two ago, I spoke for the Napoleon Hill foundation, and when they had a lot of other successful people who were speaking about how Think and Grow Rich had changed their lives, most of them were men. You were the only woman there. And what I'm hoping that this book will do is that it'll create the groundswell for a. A new generation of women who rise to the occasion. And they become the women who in a year, in three years, in five years, in 10 years, say, this is how Think and Grow Rich for Women changed my life. And this is how I was able to make a difference in the lives of so many other men or women in their lives. And they become the spheres of influence. And that's what really excited me about this project for you and for the world. I have a team here, and we're probably about 50, 50 balanced. And the women that are in here are bright, they're sharp, they're enthusiastic, they bring such an element of genius to the table that men don't have, that I think that what you're doing is just absolutely phenomenal.

But the men have a different kind of genius. University of Pennsylvania, and I'm sure you've probably seen that, released a picture of how Men think and how women think. And men are very linear in the two sides of the brain. They have a lot of up and down motion and women tend to go across, you know, problem solver and they tend to use both sides of the brain. And so it's like, there it is. Science has proven that we are different, but yet when you pull our skills together, I mean, some of the stats are now companies that have men and women on their boards outperform male only boards by 66%.

Wow.

And so you've got proof positive that it's not just more women on board, it's more women and men working together that's going to generate the recovery that we need to see, not only in America, but around the globe.

Yeah, I love it. So if there's a woman watching right now who's saying, okay, you know, think and grow rich for women, what are two or three steps that any woman can take right now to move into her power right now?

Well, the first one is to recognize that you are in the driver's seat of your own life. Not your spouse, not your partner, not your kids. What happens? A lot of women put themselves last. And I'm speaking from experience, we tend to want to take care of everybody else around us in our business and we don't take care of ourselves. And in fact, I do an exercise when I talk to groups about making a list of I say, who are you? And less than 2 to 3% of the room will put their own name on the list. They'll say they're a mother. They'll say a wife, say. And it's because we have become a society, John of we judge ourselves through the eyes of other people. And so we think of ourselves with those labels of who we are to everyone else instead of who we are to us. And once we can start creating a better Sharon, then I can be a better mother, a better wife. And it's still a lesson I haven't learned completely. I have to work on it every single day. But that's one of the things that I think is really a big issue for women, more so than for men. There are still. You know, it's hard when you try and generalize every principle. But women need to understand that you are in control of your own life. You have the power, you have the ability to make different choices tomorrow than you made yesterday and today. And that's a huge issue. And to stop judging yourself through other people's eyes. And if you're stressed out about someone else, there's a The definition of the word worry. This is something that has a huge impact when I share this with female audiences. To worry is to pray for something you do not want.

I love it.

And I will tell you that every head in the audience will start going like this. And I use that for my own self because I was the queen of worry, queen of guilt. So I speak from total experience here, but when I catch myself, I call it my own personal little roto chiller where I go, well, if I say this, he's going to say this. If I say this, he's going to say this, you know, and you go through this craziness. So what I want people to do is say stop and say, to worry is to pray for what I do not want. And immediately it allows you to change your thought process into what you do want. And it's what you teach, John, is understanding that we can stop ourselves when we can identify it. And that's the first step, is to identify when you allow yourself to go into that worry and guilt. So, number one, remember you're in the driver's seat, and stop the worry and guilt. And then start thinking about the first step you can do. That's a personal step for you, whether it be physically, whether it be financially, emotionally, so that you do something positive to work on your own be.

I love that. And in taking little micro steps, that's how you step into your power, and then you walk your path of power, which is great. And so if somebody is thinking right now, well, I can't do that because I've got children, I've got a job, I've got children, my husband and I have got separate schedules, and I need to take care of our household? What do you tell that woman who's being pulled in a variety of different directions and has these beliefs that says, hey, I've got to be a great mom, I've got to be a great lover, I've got to be great host or hostess at home when we have guests, I've got to do this. I've got to do this. When they've got their life already full and have this story that they're telling themselves, how do you break free from the story?

Well, then first I have to say that I was where they are, so I can identify with them. A lot of times it's with somebody like that, they're so down into the tunnel that they have a hard time pulling themselves out. So I say, okay, do you have two or three friends who feel the same way you do? The answer is always yes, because we tend to flock together. Right. So I said, well, get a group together, a mastermind, which we talk about. That's one of the chapters in Think and Grow Rich. Get a group of ladies together and you can probably plan one lunch a month together. And everybody get the book and start doing a book study. Because if people that pre order the book, John. Are going to have free access to a series of seminars that I'm doing, webinars that go through the book chapter by chapter. I love that you can go to thinking you go to Sharon Lecter.com women and you order the book and you'll get registered for those free classes. I think it's like a $900 value. We know how that goes. So we've done all kinds of of people that I'm interviewing.

So hold on just one second. So Sharonlecter.com women and sign up and get the book there and they're going to get a free access to you to teach them over a series of weeks. If they pre order yes.

Back to this lady. Get two to three friends and all of you agree that you are going to change your paradigm. Everybody get the book and start going through one chapter at a time together over lunch. Have fun. It shouldn't be work. It should be a way for you to support each other. And what happens when we talk about someone starting to make those changes? All of a sudden people around you are going to see that you're changing. They're going to want to know what's happening because they want to do it too. And you're going to start seeing that positive energy, start perforating and going into other areas permeating the group around you. And you're going to be able to make not just a change for yourself and your family, but for all the people that are important in your lives.

Awesome. And one of the things I love about the book is it gives you step by step instruction on how to do this as well, as opposed to just wondering what should I do? Think and grow rich. I read it when I was the initial version, when I was, I think, 19 or 20 years old. And to even get into the minds of some of the wealthiest individuals in the world back then and gave me hope and gave me, I guess, possibility, dreaming ability to be able to say, maybe I can do this. And then as I start to think differently, I started to behave differently. As I started to behave differently, I started to achieve great results. And that's possible for anybody. That's what I love about the focus Is this is going to help millions and millions of women. And I love the fact you're going to do a series of webinars to give them even more knowledge of your time and expose them to women who are doing it, who have similar challenges that they have right now. And one of my friends said, as we climb, lift the other person up. And that's what you're doing. That's what I love about this. And the group of women that you've put together for this book.

Well, I think it's very exciting because Think and Grow Rich, I also read it when I was 19. Was the reason it's such a powerful book is that it was a synthesis of all those successful people coming together. So Napoleon Hill, I call it the term paper of success because it has everybody's philosophy pulled together and distilled into a formula that is presented in the book. And that's what I wanted to emulate with thinking Grow Rich for Women. I wanted to bring the brilliance of all these women so that the reader. You may not relate to Susie, but when you start reading Deborah's passage, you're going to go, that's me, that's me. And so I wanted to make sure that every woman felt welcomed, felt like, I can relate to this book. And you know, if she could do that, I think I can do that. And you know what happens. And you will, you know it more than I do. When you have these seminars, people come and they get all jazzed and ready to go and they go home and do nothing. So I want to distill it down to where at the end of each chapter I have an ask yourself section where I go back over what we talked about in the chapter and say, how does that apply in your life? Did you ever have a time when you felt guilty? Let's think about it. And so I hopefully can get women to start doing a little self inspection and say, you know, maybe I can do this. I can do this one thing next week and make myself feel better. Because I talk about little wins. Sometimes we get these big hairy, audacious goals and then sometimes they're so big that we, the inertia can't get off the sofa. So I say, let's have little wins. Little wins. Instead of saying you want to lose 50 pounds, let's say I want to lose 5 pounds. And all of a sudden you're going to do the little wins two and three and you're going to be a whole lot closer to 50. And I think as women who we are great multitaskers. But sometimes that means we don't get nearly enough accomplished that we want. So let's look at the little goals and celebrate the little wins. And that will give us the motivation and the excitement to keep going.

I love that. Well, I am a big fan of Think and Grow Rich. I'm a huge fan of Sharon Lechter and your Think and Grow Rich for Women book. And I can't wait for it to hit the best seller list and to be a part of helping you get that. So Everybody go to Sharonlecter.com women Sharonlecter.com women and we'll have a link for you as well just below this interview. So, Sharon, I want to thank you so much for. I'm just so excited for you. It's a book whose time has come and so I love when there's a transformation that I'm about to witness. And so congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. And again, for your Is this your 20th or 21st book?

Oh, I don't know. Somewhere around there.

Somewhere around there. All right. So thank you so much for letting me interview you and for sharing the wisdom you've put together of some mega successful women around the world so that all women of the world can step into their power and into their greatness. And so everybody pick it up@sharonlecter.com women. Thank you so much, Sharon.

Thank you, John. You're a champion for women and I appreciate your support. It means so much to me and I love it. To the Napoleon Hill Foundation. So thank you so much.

My absolute joy.