Leadership takes time to achieve. Some people are born leaders, while some learn leadership skills throughout their life and experiences. Jason Redman, former Navy Seal, business owner and author of the book, Overcome and the book, The Trident, tunes in with us to share some of his inspirational experiences on how he became a good leader. Jason intertwines how being a good leader is not only used in our everyday lives such as with family, work or friends, but how it is also a prerequisite for running a prosperous franchise or business. Life ambushes come our way, no matter if it’s with family, friends or businesses. How you handle the life ambushes are what determine if you will make a good leader or not. Will you allow these ambushes to create a better leader, or will you quit?
LEADERSHIP IS A NEVER-ENDING JOURNEY
Jason expresses in his own words, “leadership is a journey that will never end.” Many tend to believe that individuals are either born with leadership skills or they aren’t. However, this is a false statement. Jason was not always an excellent leader. He had many trial and errors in his life that we learn have led him to become the leader he is today. He also shows us that he is still learning every day. The day you think you have it all figured out; is the day you fail. Jason shares with us an interesting story about when he was fighting in Afghanistan. He explains how he thought he had it all figured out when leading men into a life or death situation. Unfortunately, Jason struggled with the loss of his leadership reputation. Luckily for Jason, he realized that leadership is a never-ending journey and patiently fought to regain his reputation and come out an even better leader then he was prior to that journey. If you feel that just because you were not born with specific skills, or even fight with a loss of reputation, Jason shares how it does not disqualify you from achieving the reward of being an immaculate leader.
HARD DAYS VERSUS LIFE AMBUSHES
How many of you get caught up in, “bad days?” During this episode, Jason puts an excellent outlook on the difference of hard days and life ambushes. He expresses how once we get the mindset of this is a bad day, we are less likely to turn that day around. It is important to be able to distinguish the difference between a bad day and a life ambush. It is also important to learn how to deal and cope with these. Jason shares some interesting points and facts about this and things that have happened in his life, including a time when he was faced with death and had to literally fight for his life… that can really help us look at bad days in a whole new perspective.
HOW PERSPECTIVE DELIVERS ABILITY TO LEADERS
How many of you find yourself questioning yours, or even other people’s perspectives in certain situations? Perspective has everything to do with the outcome of any reality. I cannot tell you how many times I have felt like I couldn’t or others could not relate to what is currently going on, or times when I have not understood something or someone, or even vice versa. Jason really inspires listeners by getting into detail about perspective and how we can turn negative perspectives into positive ones. Having a positive prospective means everything when being a leader.
THE THREE RULES OF LEADERSHIP, THE PENTAGON OF PEAK PERFORMANCE, THE PYRAMID OF CHANGE AND THE REACT METHOD
If you want to dive deeper and expand your leadership skills, Jason shares with us some of his philosophies he believes in and teaches through his published books. Each of the philosophies align directly with ways to achieve good leadership skills.
The three rules of leadership are… lead yourself, lead others and always lead. If you cannot effectively lead yourself, you will never be able to lead others. So, look around and ask yourself, are you properly leading others? Are others looking up to you and trusting in your lead? This is a good way to evaluate whether or not you are properly leading yourself. Leading others comes in two parts, one is to lead them with inspiration and motivation. While, the other is to lead by trusting them and allowing them the freedom to show their worth and further themselves. Part three, always lead means you are always leading. You cannot clock out of being a leader, wherever you go, you must lead.
The Pentagon of Peak Performance consists of five parts, physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual leadership. This theory strives to get individuals to look outside of themselves and see the bigger picture, which is a key part in being a successful leader.
The Pyramid of Change shows the three different levels to leadership. Jason explains how majority of people are content staying at the bottom level. The bottom level is a level of no effort. Many get content and do not strive to reach the higher level. The Pyramid of change shows us where we are versus where we can be.
The React Method is another method he teaches which is broken down by Recognition, Evaluation, Assessing, Choosing and Communication, then Taking action. Once the first four steps are executed, taking action comes in. This is where many people fall off. After communicating, you must take action, because others are relying on you as a leader to do so.
HOW TO GO FROM BEING A LEADER TO BEING LED
As discussed, leadership is a never-ending journey. So, once becoming a leader, how do you ever step down from that? Say like Jason, you suffer with a loss of reputation, or for some reason you must step back from being a leader. How and why would one flip the switch and be led, instead of leading. Jason puts it perfectly when he states that, “leaders do not like to be vulnerable.” He ties in a perfect example or metaphor with being a wounded warrior and how in this situation you are not physically able to be a leader, you must surrender and allow yourself to be led before things regress. Aside from physical, he helps us understand that it is important to realize that there are always people out there who are more knowledgeable or expert at certain areas, that we are not. Keeping an open mind and being able to flip the switch on this, will aid in your result as a leader.
LEADERS AT THE ONE PERCENT LEVEL
We learn that leaders at the one percent levels are a rare breed. Leaders at the one percent level are the ones who can go the extra mile, who can turn life ambushes into a growth spurt in their leadership methods, they are the ones who do not quit and strive to step outside their comfort zone. Although, this is a hard margin to be at and it always means pushing our self out of our limits, Jason expresses good leadership qualities as, “it may be more painful in the short term for the best outcome, there’s going to be short-term pain in long-term gain.” If you want to truly be moved as a leader or an individual with the help of Jason’s life experiences and how he got to this one percent level, despite all of his life ambushes, make sure to tune into Episode 37 of Franchise Secrets.
