THE ED MYLETT SHOW - 12 Powerful Listening Hacks to Instantly Build Deeper Connections

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL - so this show can reach more people 👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 Click the Link Below to Subscribe to my emai...l list to MAXOUT your life (all value, no fluff) https://konect.to/edmylett The Power of Listening: How to Build Deeper Connections That Last In this mashup episode, I’m bringing you transformative insights from five powerhouse guests—Brad Lea, Chris Voss, Chuck Wisner, Jason Wilson, and John Maxwell—on the skill that too many people overlook: listening. If you’ve ever struggled to connect with others, influence at a higher level, or strengthen your most important relationships, this episode will show you why listening isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a superpower. Brad Lea opens up about how active listening changed the way he leads and sells, while Chris Voss, one of the world’s top negotiators, reveals the exact listening strategies FBI agents use to build trust and influence in high-stakes situations. Chuck Wisner dives into the deeper role conversations play in shaping our lives and why most of us miss the opportunities hidden in everyday dialogue. Jason Wilson brings raw honesty about listening as a pathway to emotional strength, healing, and breaking generational cycles. And John Maxwell, one of the greatest leadership voices of our time, shares how leaders who listen lead movements that last. What ties all of these conversations together is simple but profound: people don’t just want to be heard—they want to be understood. When you learn to listen with intention, you unlock influence, intimacy, and impact in every area of your life. Whether you’re negotiating a deal, leading a team, raising a family, or building a brand, listening is the multiplier that will elevate you to the next level. I want you to walk away from this episode not just inspired but equipped—with practical tools you can use today to listen better, connect deeper, and lead stronger. Because when you master listening, you master life. Key Takeaways: - Brad Lea on why listening is the ultimate sales and leadership edge - Chris Voss’s FBI-tested listening techniques to build trust and influence - Chuck Wisner on how conversations shape our lives and relationships - Jason Wilson on listening as a tool for emotional healing and strength - John Maxwell on why great leaders are always great listeners - The difference between hearing and truly listening with intention - How to create deeper connections in business, family, and everyday life - Practical listening hacks you can use immediately to strengthen influence and impact This episode will challenge the way you communicate and transform the way you connect—with yourself, with others, and with your calling. Thank you for watching this video—Please Share it and get the word out! 👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 ▶︎ Visit My WEBSITE | https://www.EdMylett.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:22 Call 1866-531-2,600. Or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. This is the Edmiler Show. Hey everyone, welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes.
Starting point is 00:00:47 You'll never miss an episode that way. And one of the things we've not covered that is such a critical part of communication and maybe more important even what you say is your ability to listen to people. It's a huge part of communication. You know, I've taught you before that people don't respond to what they hear or see. They respond to how they feel when they interact with you.
Starting point is 00:01:07 And one of the best ways to make somebody feel good is that they feel listened to and that they feel heard. And it's one of the skills that I struggle with the most, which is why I'm so excited to cover this with you today. Because quite frankly, it's something that I've struggled with myself is my ability to just be present and to listen to people. And so like many of the shows, I'm excited to teach these things to you for your own benefit, but it also helps me in owning this material. and frankly, anything you teach to people, you end up owning more yourself. And so very, very excited to cover this with you here today. And like I said, it's not something I've been very good at my entire life
Starting point is 00:01:38 as being a great listener. So I want to get right into it. And what caused me to do the show today is really two things. I had someone join me on my jet a few weeks ago on a pretty long flight, and there was a group of people, but one particular guy who's an entrepreneur, and I won't say who he is. But he spent a three-hour flight with me on my jet. So he spent about three hours with me about a foot and a half
Starting point is 00:01:58 from me and for three straight hours he did not ask me one question about myself. He did not listen to one thing I had to say, didn't ask me for any advice, and he talked about himself for three hours. This is somebody prior to that flight that I really liked. I was struck and so were other people on the flight than when they landed, and I don't mean that I'm a big deal or anything like that, but they were shocked why a rising entrepreneur wouldn't take advantage of the time of being with me to ask me questions. I think most of you, if we spent three hours together, you'd probably want to ask me a question
Starting point is 00:02:27 or two. And he did not ask me one single question. And he talked about himself and his life and his background and what he had achieved and what he was going to achieve and what he was good at and all those things. And it was probably true. But I found myself when the flight was over, quite honestly, not liking him quite as much as I did before the flight because people don't like to hear about you all the time. People want to feel heard. They want to feel listened to. And he didn't do any of that the entire flight. Plus the fact, he didn't learn anything that flight. So remember this. I know there's the old adage that you have two eyes and two ears and one mouth for a reason and you ought to use them in that ratio, but really you should even use the, you should use your mouth even less. And so two things happened on that flight. One, he didn't get anything out of it. He didn't learn anything. And two, it made the people around him, quite frankly, not care for him to the extent they could have because he's a really good guy. But he just talked the entire time. And I don't think he did it out of ego. I think he did it because he was nervous. And so that's one thing I want you to check in the very beginning. When you get nervous, I do. When you get nervous, do you begin to.
Starting point is 00:03:26 talk more. One of the great things about my show is that I've had to learn to listen more. And people say all the time, one of the reasons they like my show is I seem so excited and so interested in what people are saying because I sincerely am. I've learned that being a great listener is easier than being a great talker. Because being a great listener, the pressure is off you to come up with the perfect thing to say, right? The perfect response, the perfect phrase that sounds smarter or better than somebody. You don't have to do that when you're a great listener and people's favorite topic number one remember this people's favorite topic is themselves they love to talk about themselves one of the things i found over and over in my life
Starting point is 00:04:03 and my friends get a kick out of this but when i play golf you know you'll spend four or five hours with somebody when you're on a golf course and oftentimes my friends will tell me man dave really liked you ed like he really enjoyed the time with you eddie so much but he doesn't know anything about you and one of the reasons they like me so much is i don't talk about myself. I love to talk about them. I love to ask questions about them. And so it's interesting when we're done, they really, really like me and they know nothing about me. And they wonder why they like me. But the reason they like me is I allowed them to talk about themselves. Plus the fact, the way I look at life, I already know about me. I'm not going to learn anything else
Starting point is 00:04:36 by talking about myself. I'm going to learn by asking them questions about them. And so I think being a great listener has lots of benefits. One, people will like you more. Two, you're going to learn more. Three, it takes the pressure off you. And so listening skills are so critical And even as we cover this, you may say, I'm a great listener. Well, let's go through some things and see how good we all are, because even on my show, I'll be honest with you, I watch replays back of my show, and I interrupt too much. I jump in too much. I finish people's sentences for them too often. And that's an ego thing, almost like I think I can say it better than them.
Starting point is 00:05:08 In fact, I'm so bad at it, I'll be honest with you. Before every show, I tell them, hey, this isn't like any other interview you've been on before. I'm going to interrupt you, you can interrupt me. We'll make it like a real conversation. And all of my guests always politely say, wonderful, that's great. I want you to cut me often. But the truth is, that's not how a great conversation goes. It's not two people interrupting each other all the time.
Starting point is 00:05:26 It's one person talking, another person listening until they're finished speaking, and then responding. So this is something I'm not very good at. And so I teach this to you today, not being critical of you, but knowing that it's something I'm going to have to get better at myself. So here we go. Let's talk about some critical steps of being a great listener. There's this thing that's out there too that says, hey, when you're speaking to a woman, she doesn't want you to solve her problems. You just want you to listen to her. You've all heard this before, right?
Starting point is 00:05:52 Men, that's different. Let me tell you, none of this stuff is gender-specific. It's not true at all. Nobody wants you to solve their problem necessarily. Not right away. Everybody wants to be heard. Everybody wants to be listened to. Everybody likes to talk about themselves.
Starting point is 00:06:06 And so just please remember that. This is not gender-specific. Men and women aren't different on this. Men like to be heard as well. Men like to be important. Men like to be funny. Men like to be interesting. Men want to share their ideas and thoughts
Starting point is 00:06:19 and worries and fears with other people just like women do. So remember this. You don't always want to just go solve their problem right away. Next thing is this. Always be asking people for understanding so that when they say something, when they're finished speaking, ask them, so what I think you're saying is, or what I'm hearing is, or clarify this for me,
Starting point is 00:06:38 because this shows how deeply you were listening when you ask for clarification. And what I'm hearing is, by the way, when you say the sentence of somebody, so what I'm hearing is, that lets them know you were hearing them, you were listening to them. So as I was listening to you, this is what I understood.
Starting point is 00:06:53 Help me understand. Clarify for me because this gives a deeper sense you were listening to somebody. The next thing is what I'm doing right now with you. Make eye contact. Look right at them when you're talking to them. Don't be distracted. Don't look around.
Starting point is 00:07:05 Don't look at your phone. The way you tell me I'm important is by looking at me. I have a significant person in my life. And one of the things that drives me crazy is I'm always saying, are you listening to me? And she's always like, yes, of course I'm listening to you. And I'm like, well, could you look at me and let me know you're listening to me? I'm not going to say who that is either.
Starting point is 00:07:23 But we all have that person in our life who they're listening, but they don't know to let us know they're listening. One of the best ways you can do that is by just looking right at somebody, nodding with them when they say something you agree with, right? Smiling when it's funny. Like giving a normal response and you'd say, well, this is basic stuff. You'd be surprised how often you look away, how often you're not focused. The next thing is check your body language. Are you leaning in? Are you welcoming? Are you warm? Or are your arms crossed when you're talking to somebody? See, I have this tendency. When I'm really listening, I get really drawn in.
Starting point is 00:07:57 One of the things I do is I get very serious. And I almost begin to grimace and make a face because I'm so interested. I'm in deep thought. But what happens is my visual on my face doesn't indicate to them that I'm enjoying what they're saying or that I'm listening very deeply. So make sure that your facial expression, this may seem basic, but your facial expression, matches the moment, matches the emotion. Some other people do something different. They're always smiling when something very serious is being said. That's not an appropriate facial expression, and it looks like you're not listening or it disconnects the connection, if you will,
Starting point is 00:08:33 no pun intended, between you and that person. So check your facial expressions. Make sure you're looking at them. Check your physiology and your body language. The next thing is that when someone's talking, the highest form of listening, is to let them finish their sentence. Do not interrupt them. Do not interrupt them. I do this all the time when I get excited. Oh, really? Almost like I want to jump in and get my point in before they're finished or I want to sound smarter or if I don't say it now, I'm going to forget to say it.
Starting point is 00:09:00 Probably the number one weakness in my ability in listening to people is my desire and tendency to jump in before they finish their thought. And what that says is my thoughts more important than yours. My needs are more important than you. I'm done listening to what you're saying. Be careful to say things. things like this when they're talking. Uh-huh. Right. Got it. Yeah. Wow. Because what that does is it's called a nudge. You're nudging them along verbally to finish. It's like, hurry up. I got something to say. Uh-huh. Right. And that nudges them verbally. I used to think that those were things I was saying that confirmed what they were saying, but it was really what it was really happening is I would nudge. Better is that when they're done, you say, wow, or that's interesting. Or you at least respond when they're finished. All responses are one, once they're finished speaking, but don't do the verbal nudges that get them to speed
Starting point is 00:09:50 up and finish. Don't finish sentences for people next. It's another thing I do. They'll be saying something and they'll be struggling for a word and I give them the word. Let them find the word. It's their word, not yours, and you're stealing control of the conversation from them and making them feel like you're not listening to them. Don't finish their sentences. Don't give them better words. Don't talk over them.
Starting point is 00:10:09 Don't interrupt them. These are all things that we all kind of do from time to time when we get excited. I'm not suggesting if someone does make an incredible point that you don't begin to laugh or jump in when it's your pattern with somebody, you're not being a good listener. Also use acknowledgement statements when they're done. I agree. That's wonderful. That's amazing. Congratulations. Do things like that that acknowledge what they said because when you acknowledge what they've said, they feel open. That's an invitation to say more.
Starting point is 00:10:37 But when you don't acknowledge what they've said, you don't give a statement to it when they're done, then they don't feel comfortable continuing to speak. And so ask probative questions. So when you ask somebody, for example, oh, if they're new to you, do you have kids? They say, yes, I do. A follow-up question is, what are their names? What are their ages? Begin to learn the volley of follow-up questions.
Starting point is 00:10:57 The more specific questions you ask, the more what I call follow-up questions, the more and more interested you appear to somebody. Let me give you one more huge thing in being a great listener. Where appropriate, you touch somebody. So when they're talking, if they're leaning in, it's an emotion when you grab their hand or you touch their knee. touch their knee. Or when they're finished speaking, you shake their hand or hug them or pat them on the shoulder. And by the way, this has to be appropriate, right? Especially when you're talking about different genders. Be very careful of this. But one of the ways you anchor in, I'm listening to you, is with a touch, it anchors in the emotion. So I'll often be careful when I shake
Starting point is 00:11:32 their hand of touching them or touching their shoulder or hugging them when we're done or patting them on the shoulder or knee or something like that that just acknowledges I'm hearing you. If it's a guy, maybe it's a fist pump or a high five, right? But it acknowledges the listening and it encourages them to continue. So that is a little bit gender-specific, but I just want to reinforce to you that that just shows you're listening. Then there's a series of questions I think you should ask yourself, just sort of a checklist of whether or not you're a great listener. So ask yourself this, in conversations you have, do you intend to do more or less talking than the other person? This is a huge one for me, especially in business or even in social as well.
Starting point is 00:12:08 do I talk more than them in the conversation? If I've come out of a good conversation, I've talked less than the other person has talked. Man, is this a difficult one for me? Particularly when you're in a position of authority with somebody, when they're asking you a lot of questions and you're just answering, make sure you're feeding questions back to them. A great conversation is at least a 50-50 split,
Starting point is 00:12:28 but I think the best of them, they've talked more than me. That way, I think I've given them more of my emotion and caring and concern than they've given to me. So ask yourself, what are your ratios in your, average conversations. This is true, by the way, in everything, in your business meetings, in your sales meetings, with your children, with your spouse, with your friends, with someone you're comfortable with for 30 years and someone you've met for 30 seconds. Who talks more in your exchanges? Number two, when you don't understand what they're saying, do you ask them
Starting point is 00:12:57 questions? This is such a huge form of connection with people. Oftentimes if we don't understand something somebody said, we don't ask them a question about it because it may make us look not so smart or not very prepared but the way that you really indicate I'm listening to you is hey can you help me understand this and you ask for understanding I didn't understand what that word meant or I'm not sure who Bill is that you're referring to bill who right when you begin to ask questions of understanding the connection deepens with that person another question ask yourself is when you're in a conversation with somebody do you often try to figure out what
Starting point is 00:13:31 they're going to say before they finish saying it this is an indication that you're not present with them when you're listening and you're trying to get them to finish speaking so that you can jump in and say your very important thing. So don't be trying to project forward what they're about to say because that means you're not listening in the present and there's a disconnect when you do that. So ask yourself this, do I often or ever try to project forward what they're going to say before they've said it? Next, do you find yourself just not paying attention when somebody's speaking to you?
Starting point is 00:13:58 I mean, maybe you are looking around or do you find yourself just thinking about other things when people speak to you? This is a value issue. It really means that these other things are more important to you than what this person is is saying and when you begin to build a habit and a pattern of truly not paying attention one of the reasons I enjoy my interview so much and quite frankly my connection with my guests are so long lasting after the program is because I am so interested in what they're saying and I'm interested in what all
Starting point is 00:14:24 people are saying if you were my Uber driver I think my Uber drivers would tell you man this guy is overly interested in what I'm saying and my cameraman Mike is nodding right now because he's been in enough Uber's with me to know I talk to everybody I think people are gifts and I believe the way you open them up is by asking them questions. And so I don't care if you're a server and a restaurant, my Uber driver, a guest on my show who's worth a billion dollars of the top athletes in the world,
Starting point is 00:14:47 my pattern of conversations with people is very similar. I'm interested in what they're saying sincerely. And I think you should just begin to ask yourself that question. Are you sincerely interested in what they're saying? Because they can feel this intuitively. Another thing to ask yourself is in a conversation, can you intuitively sort of tell the difference
Starting point is 00:15:05 between what somebody is saying and what what they really feel. Why is this so important? Because oftentimes people wear social masks with us, don't they? And they'll tell us things frankly that just aren't true or don't completely confirm the way they're feeling about something. And so a deeper, deep level of listening
Starting point is 00:15:21 is you can almost feel what they really sense about something or what they're really feeling, not just listening to the words. This is a way of connecting with someone. They don't even know you're connecting with them, but their words don't match their feelings. And when you can connect with their real feeling, man, have you not only got influence,
Starting point is 00:15:37 over them. But most importantly, you've got a connection with them. Next one. In conversations with people, do you find yourself finishing their sentences or supplying them with better words? Don't do that. I have this mistake sometimes where I finish their sentence for them, right? And I think, oh, we're connecting. I'm with you. That's not what it does. It disconnects you from somebody when you use a better word or a different word. They say, you know what? I really was just really sad. Oh, you were just really bummed out then, huh? You've rephrased something for them. Another way of listening the wrong way I think is do you sometimes only hear the facts and details they're given and not listening for the emotion behind it? Just listening for the emotion
Starting point is 00:16:15 from somebody gives you a much deeper level of connection with them than just listening to the facts and figures. This is important, especially in sales when someone's giving you facts and figures back. If you can connect with the emotion of it, big, big difference. Lastly, do you struggle with seeing things from that person's perspective like really connecting with them, really empathizing with them, really believing in them. This is so important when you're listening to somebody is to really try to connect with their point of view. Because the way you help influence me is if I can meet you where you are, I can take
Starting point is 00:16:46 you where we need to go. But if I can't meet you where you are by letting you use your words, your emotions, listening for the emotion behind it, really listening for your point of view. Maybe you sell cars, for example, this person's had a really traumatic time buying cars in the past. They're very skeptical about it. You've got to be able to see it from their point of view. This is true with getting your children to behave differently or interacting with your spouse.
Starting point is 00:17:08 It's critical that you meet with them where they are and take them where you're going. So why are all these skills so important, especially from a business perspective? Because this has been very detailed, very granular. The reason it's so important is because to really influence somebody, they have to trust you. And the way you do that is by building rapport with them. So one of the things I used to do incorrectly is I brought all this massive energy. Ever people say, you've got to bring the most energy. The highest energy person does win.
Starting point is 00:17:33 But the way that you really influence somebody is by connecting with them and listening, and then matching them physically and their tonality as well. So when I talk back with somebody, I listen for their tonality, I listen to the volume of their voice, the pace of their voice, how they speak, I begin to try to match by listening to them the words they use, the tonality they use, and the volume they use. If they use a certain set of words from time to time, if you were listening closely, if you then use some of those same words back to them, you connect. So this is a form of influence.
Starting point is 00:18:05 If this person sort of repeatedly use the words literally, literally, literally, you've heard that word three or four times. When I'm then going to be saying my stuff back them to influence them, I'm going to use the word literally. This is a connection word. It's part of the words they love. When I use words they love, I can influence them. This is a huge thing in influence, in closing,
Starting point is 00:18:26 and moving people to make decisions that are best for themselves. If they talk at a pace like this, just like I'm talking at this pace right now, And I'm talking like this very fast. I break connection and we can't have rapport. So I want to listen for the pace that they speak at, the cadence, also the tonality. You know, they talk kind of hunched over and quiet. I want to talk like that and a little bit better. If they talk at a certain volume, if they talk like this, I don't want to talk like this.
Starting point is 00:18:53 The same time, if they talk like this, I don't want to talk like this. I wasn't listening for their volume level. We want to match their volume level. And so when you begin to match and mirror like this, use the words they use, just a few of them. Don't overcook it. But when they've got three or four words they use and use one or two of those words, I can promise you you connect. When you speak at a similar pace to them in tonality, you connect. When you speak at a similar volume to them, you connect.
Starting point is 00:19:19 If there are hand gestures as I'm listening and observing them, they use. If they're constantly folding their hands like this. If you're on audio, I'm folding my hands right now. They pray, or they have their hands down, or they do some. sort of a gesture with their hands or shoulders, I will oftentimes, I'm watching, this isn't manipulation, this is connecting with people, I'm listening so closely, I can see their physical moves as well. If there's emotions I hear them go too often, which is regret or sadness, let's just say. They keep telling me stories about things they regret or they're sad of. I will
Starting point is 00:19:50 share with them one of the things I regret and bring them with me. If they talk about past achievements or they talk about, you know, some material things, then I'll talk about some material things or past achievements. I'm listening for them to give me the language, the words, the tonality that I can move them with. And this is also true in every area, but particularly in influence when we're trying to persuade people. So the reason this is so important is people have go-to words. And so if you're really listening closely, not only you connecting better with me, but they will tell you the three or four words they use a lot. Every human being does this, by the way. You do it too. You have a few words you use more than most. And if someone's
Starting point is 00:20:26 really listening closely, they can hear what those words are. And if I use one or two of those words back with you, I've connected with you on a deeper level. The next thing, it's huge, by the way, in listening is to repeat back to them what you believe they've just said. Repeat back to them what you've heard. This is what I've heard. This is what I'm hearing. This is what I'm listening to. This is true when I'm interacting with my children. Before I just tell them I want to do something, I listen to them and I say, here's what daddy's hearing. Is this true? That's really bothering you regularly. So when I'm listening to them, they know I'm listening. Use acknowledgement statements. It's not done enough. People love to be
Starting point is 00:21:00 complimented. I love to be complimented. You do. So after I've listened to you, after you've told me what you need to tell me, I want you to learn this sentence everybody right now. I just want to acknowledge you. I think you're amazing. I think you're incredible. Thank you for sharing this with me. That's awesome. And it might be with guys. You don't say, hey, bro, that was cool. Thanks, man. Man, I always love connecting with you, brother. You're my brother. Right. Always do a connection statement. Always do an acknowledgment. That's why I love you, man. Whatever it is, you know, People talk differently depending on who they're around. Someone even known 30 years different than someone even known 30 minutes.
Starting point is 00:21:28 But the fact of the matter is, I always do connection. I love you, brother. Thank you so much. That's why we're so close, man. That's why I love being around you. Whatever it is, you begin to say acknowledgement statements to somebody because it connects the conversation. It's what I call a post frame.
Starting point is 00:21:44 After someone said something, the last thing I want you to focus on, children, spouse, business, brand new person in a social environment or someone you know in 30 years, acknowledge them. Thank you. was awesome. Great meeting you if they're new, right? I get out of a new, I go, man, I enjoyed our time so much. Thank you. That's post-framing what we just talked about. If it's someone I've been with a long time and say, brother, man, that's why I love you, bro. That's why I love you. And then other people, it's like, you always inspire me. You fire me up. Thank you. I love
Starting point is 00:22:08 how vulnerable you are. Whatever it is, I just want to acknowledge you. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you. I just want to thank you. I just want to tell you you're awesome. I just want to tell you I believe in you. Do an acknowledgement statement that post-frames what you've covered, and I promise you, you've now put a bow around being one of the great listeners that anyone will ever be around. It's going to make you one of the most well-liked and most influential people that you know. And by the way, isn't that we're after in life being well-liked and being influential? And that usually comes down not to being an incredible orator, but being an incredible listener. And these are the skills. And these skills matter
Starting point is 00:22:42 in every area, in building a church, and building a Boy Scout troop, in building a softball team, in building a business, in building any family, anything in life is that we want to be able to be liked and have influence. And that always comes down to what we make people feel. And more than anything, people feel great when they've been able to talk about themselves. But most importantly, they feel listened to, connected with, and acknowledged. Listen to, connected with, and acknowledged. This is how we have influence over people. This is also how we make a difference in people's lives.
Starting point is 00:23:13 The final piece of the puzzle is this, is that because of social media, we have such an advantage. And I just want to tell you something that doesn't happen enough, but when it has happened for you, man, does it feel like the connections even deeper? It doesn't matter what it is, is that when your separation from that person takes place and they leave you, especially if they don't live with you, whether that be a client, a best friend, a new friend, or someone you just met, following up a little while later with a text that just says, I enjoyed our time so much, I enjoyed listening to you. Thanks for sharing this with me.
Starting point is 00:23:44 and maybe repeating back to them what you heard a little bit of. And when you do that, it's cemented them. Not only did he listen to me or she listened to me in my presence, but they continued to listen to me after I was gone. They continued to connect with me. And this extends the connection and deepens the connection when after you physically separated. And even, by the way, if this communication happened by phone
Starting point is 00:24:05 and you weren't physically with them, for you to follow up after a phone call with a text a few hours later that just says, man, I enjoyed the talk so much. Thanks for sharing that with me, or always love when we connect, or you always make me laugh, or I'm so glad we're new friends now. I feel like I've made a new friend. Whatever it is, you strengthen and deepen the connection with people by letting them know later, hey, I heard you, hey, I listened to you.
Starting point is 00:24:28 So not only doing great in their presence, but later confirming for them, I was with you, I heard you, I enjoyed it, I want to acknowledge you. Man, have you deepened the fact that you've listened to them. So today was about tactical stuff. I know it wasn't the most motivational thing in the world, But I feel like this is another thing in your tool bag that'll help you live blissfully to achieve your dreams, to be more fulfilled. And it's something that we overestimate when we think we're good at it. When you hear it sort of laid out like this, you think, man, I could be a better listener.
Starting point is 00:24:55 There are tactical things I could do better. Hope today helped you out. Okay, guys, I'm drinking a ton of water, which is good. I'm sure you do as well. You know what I'm learning about? It's depleting my electrolytes. And so electrolyte deficiency or imbalance can give you headaches, cramps. Big one for me, fatigue.
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Starting point is 00:25:47 That's drinklmn t.com slash my let. These statements and products have not been evaluated of the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. This message is sponsored by Green Light. Hey guys, number one thing we're not taught in school that we should be, in my opinion, is about money. I love when technology revolutionizes an old individual. And that's why I love Greenlight so much. I wish it was around when my kids were young. Thank God I taught my kids about budgeting and managing money, the value of money, the value of chores and hard work.
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Starting point is 00:26:56 Greenlight.com slash ed. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Chris Voss. So Chris, welcome to the show, finally.
Starting point is 00:27:13 Thanks, Ed. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. And this is where I want to pull apart. So everybody, forget negotiation. This is just life skills right here. And I think I have been, by and large, terrible at this most of my life, what I'm about to ask you about.
Starting point is 00:27:25 And I think I'm an assertive, number one, probably. And although I don't have a lot of abilities, I really don't. One of them is the ability to speak and to communicate. and I think oftentimes I rely on that as opposed to what I've really worked on the last decade is my listening skills and I have found like I'll do a retreat with a bunch of people that'll come in for example for business right and I'll talk for three days given the best information engage them train them up motivate them inspire them and they leave and I think they think it's good this is back in the day and then another buddy in mine would come in he's not even really that
Starting point is 00:28:02 prepared they sit around and BS for three days and he asked them a bunch of questions. They all talk and they leave and it gets back to me. That was the greatest retreat they've ever been to in their lives. And it felt to me like it's probably because they were listened to more. So it's just a concept as a negotiator, as a communicator, as a man, as a human, how important is active listening and listening in general to persuasion and connection with people? Because I think it's lost art. It's an advanced skill. And in many cases like it's an assertive and you sound very much like an assertive your description for a variety reasons assertives are time is money people and so if you're given instructions like i'm gonna jam
Starting point is 00:28:46 you know time is money every moment no moment can be wasted i'm going to download as much value as i possibly can and i'm not going to waste a moment not giving these people value for each and every minute they're here and so that becomes a bit of a deluge to start with and it's hard to keep up with. It's everybody on my team, we got that problem in our instruction. We're so want to give you nothing but valuable content. And so then listening, like the tiniest little things, how much time do you have for somebody who's not listening to you? Like zero. And you're going to notice it right away. And so in these tiny moments, being listened to actually increases analysis on both sides it gives people an opportunity to do a
Starting point is 00:29:35 little bit more processing and so there's a there's a whole variety of subtle nuances invisible nuances that affect proactive not just active proactive listening starts to kick into gear and so i'll get it seems less efficient and then suddenly you're in a you've excelled accelerated 15 steps, you don't even know how to happen. And that's, you know, and to me, and it's one of the, I possess that's the magic. I know the magic's coming by just these subtle little tweaks. So what are a couple of tweaks you use? What do you, there's some active listening skills you'll use to let someone know you are, right?
Starting point is 00:30:20 So it's one thing to be listening. It's another thing for them to get the message and feeling that you're listening as well, right? Well, the secret easiest one, simplest, is the mirror, repeating the last one or three words of what somebody has just said. And this is the best one to open up your teenager. Like there have been so many moms who suddenly open up their daughters. Because, you know, the kid comes home from school. How was your day? Fine.
Starting point is 00:30:50 What did you do? I don't remember. You didn't indicate to them that you even listened to the end. answer the first question. So you say, how was your day? They go fine. The parents' response should be, fine? Which is, even though you only gave me one word, I just proved that I listened to. Now, that tiny moment tends to open people up very quickly because normally you've got a list of questions, and you're checking them off the list. Mom, dad, I'm going to say, How was your day? What did you do?
Starting point is 00:31:29 Boom, boom. You know, you feel like your intention to do a job as apparent to display interest is there. Yes, it is. But your method was poor because by following up immediately with your next question, you made them think you weren't listening to the first answer. And so the mirror is like the first way to get your foot in the door to open a communication up. You guys, this is why you should be following Chris's work, why you should bring him in to speak, why you should get never split the difference. That alone is simple.
Starting point is 00:32:03 And I don't do it. I don't do it. Here's what I do do. I just learned from you recently. I was in, I am in the middle of a rather intense negotiation on something right now. And I allowed it to escalate to where it got heated. And the advantage to that, though, was I got to use one of your techniques. And I want everyone to have you elaborate on.
Starting point is 00:32:23 this because I think the foundation of what I've learned is just allowing someone to feel heard or be heard is so critical. We'll talk about that in the negotiations hostage-wise next, but I want to ask you this. So anyway, it got elevated. This was just like a week ago, even though I learned this from you a little while ago. And the guy said something to me about what he wouldn't do and then sort of a statement about me that wasn't flattering. And the normal me would have been just to annihilate him, right, verbally, which would have made me feel good in the moment and gotten us further away. And I'm not kidding you, I was sitting about 30 feet from where I am right now. And I knew I was having you on the show in a few weeks.
Starting point is 00:33:07 And so I was even more familiar with you work. And I actually said to him, I said, I won't say his name. I said to him, I said, listen, you must have a great reason for feeling that way and saying that. What is it? and he just opened up and it allowed him to talk and basically what it did is it bought me time to think about other things but it also I got so much more information in the next seven minutes from him than I'd gotten in three two hour full sessions previously and we connected pretty deeply during that moment so can you talk about the question to ask when someone says that
Starting point is 00:33:42 I probably phrased it wrong and why it matters so much yeah that is like the universal magic label like no matter somebody's arguing with you somebody's agreeing with you like there's never going to be an instance when you can't say it you know you said you must have a great reason for saying that a version of that is it seems like you have a reason for saying that seems like you have a reason for doing it like somebody just calls you the worst name they could possibly call you seems like you got a great reason for saying and they open up somebody completely agrees with what you just said seems like you got a great reason for saying and they open up like that is like if i if i could if i could teach people just that one label and say here's what i want you to do for the rest of today
Starting point is 00:34:28 nothing nothing else comes out of your mouth just today just today it seems like you got a great reason for saying that you start that tomorrow morning for saying at the end of the day you got to say it 15 times post on my instagram what happened after the FBI negotiate. Tell me what kind of day you had. I guarantee you you're going to have a cooler day than you ever could have imagined.
Starting point is 00:34:56 And first of all, well done. And that's a great example. And it bought you time. You know, and it stopped you from, you know, counter-launching your nuclear missiles and mutually assured destruction, right? You're right. You're right. Americans.
Starting point is 00:35:12 Can I tell you the other thing it did? It not only connected us. I'm working on some content. I'm creating right now that I just stumbled into in my life the last five years where I talk about changing the lens in your life when you're engaging with people of switching it because we all see them and our relationship with them through our lens our filter our lens and so I'm creating work right now that talks about creating an ability just to be a better human about switch the lens and have your mom see you through how your mom sees you know how does she react to you the last and change the lens is the bottom line and what it actually is did in that moment for me, so so angry, is it changed the lens and I actually saw me from him. And when I started to see what he sees in me, it helped me better understand his position, but also how to respond and react and connect with him. The topic of today's podcast, we're going to call Flip the Lens. And I've been waiting a while to put this on the podcast because I've been writing about it. It'll be in my next book. But now I feel like I'm able to articulate the
Starting point is 00:36:14 concept. And so I wanted to put it out to all of you. you in an effort to maybe help you with your personal and your business relationships. I think it's sort of, at least for me, it's been groundbreaking understanding and work. And so first let me tell you how I stumbled upon this level of understanding and this work, the concept. First, I think it'll make sense for you. And then we'll break it out and sort of extrapolate it into our personal and business relationships. So maybe about a year ago, I was at my mom's house. I was visiting. And just for a quick second, I was going to make an Instagram post. So I went to take a selfie picture, and I held the camera out. And I went to take
Starting point is 00:36:48 the picture, except when I held it up, I don't know if you had this happened, the lens was the other lens. The lens had flipped. And the picture wasn't facing me. It was my mom. And I caught this glimpse just of my mom in the other end of my phone, just for a second. I was expecting to see me, but I didn't. I saw her. And I saw my mom. And it just struck me looking at my mom through this lens when I was expecting to see it through the lens that would see me. I just had this flash of seeing my mom differently. And ironically, seeing my mom see me, if that makes sense, because she was watching me take this picture. And it flipped the lens. It switched the lens for me instantly to where, let me explain, I saw my mom seeing me, not me seeing my mom.
Starting point is 00:37:40 And in a minute, I was just flooded with all these thoughts. What does my mom see of me? Now, obviously, I'm her only son. She loves me. I'm not referring to those kind of things. What's the lens through which my mom has experienced me? And I thought, obviously, she sees me at holidays or whatever, you know, and we talk on the phone. But her lens of life looking at me, and it dawned on me.
Starting point is 00:38:06 In life, we see every relationship we're in throughout. lens through how we see them and how we see them seeing us. I don't want to get too deep here, but that's completely different than seeing them as they see us. And I thought, what's my mom's experience with her only son? Does she get the time with them that she wants? Is the depth of our conversations to the extent that she would like them to be? Am I in a hurry too often when I see her? Do I take it for granted too often? And then that day, as I was driving away, I started to picture all the relationships in my life that meant something to me through their lens of looking at me. The last time my daughter saw me walk in a room, the last hundred times, how did I
Starting point is 00:38:49 respond? What did she see? What was my mood? What were our interactions? What were the topics? How much was laughter? How much was intense? How much was just looking at our phones? And I started to see my daughter in the lens through which she sees me. Her conversations, her experiences, does she see me stressed, worried? Does she worry about me? What are her thoughts? What are her thoughts about me? Am I too brief? Do I stay on the phone too long? Am I helping her? Do I listen to her like I need to? And it flashed to several of my friends. And in a lot of those friendships, I thought, well, they're just in maintenance mode. I see them. And when I see them, I see how much I love them and believe in them and think they're awesome and funny. But when they look through
Starting point is 00:39:27 their lens at me, do they see a man who loves them, who believes in them, who thinks they're funny, who listens deeply, who cares about them deeply? Do they see that through their lens? It's a trip when you begin to see other people in your life and just you consciously when you're with them or you think about them switch that lens around and look through their eyes at you. You'll learn a lot real quickly. It's actually very humbling. And it's interesting that you could go your entire life if you didn't hear this or think about it. Only seeing life through the lens of your own eyes outward and never flipping it to their eyes outward. And I just thought about so many different relationships in my life, so many of them that I think are going
Starting point is 00:40:13 very well, or I'm going to get around to it, or I feel a sense of emotion with this person or depth of friendship. And then I flashed to one buddy of mine and like, wow, the last three times he's replied to me, he called me. I replied with a text. He hasn't even seen me in many months. And when he does see me, what did he see in those conversations? What did he hear about? What did he feel? What did he experience? And as I've said many times, you're always making people feel something. So you should be intentional about what it is they're feeling, but they're also seeing and hearing things all the time as well. It's a very interesting way that we go through this life, almost in this projection, almost in this dimension that we live inside ourselves and we see
Starting point is 00:40:55 everything from our perspective. But we almost never stop and see it from theirs. And this isn't the old adage of put yourself in their shoes. I'm saying put yourself in their lens. What do they see, feel, hear, and experience from you? It'll shock you how much you overestimate some relationships, the depth of them, and the extent to which they feel the things you assume they feel from you or about you. And then I switched it from that to my business relationships, some of the people I'm in business with that I have in maintenance mode. You exactly what I mean. But the last 20 times my assistant saw me walk into the office. What did she see? Did I stop and talk? What was her lens? Did I ask about her children?
Starting point is 00:41:41 Was there a depth of exchange there? Was I in a hurry? Did she see me stressed? Did she see me worried? Was I caring and kind? Or was I rude and flippant or short? And then I thought, now take that last one and the one before that and the one before that. And what about the last 30? What's the lens that she sees me through. People that I'm in negotiations with now, I stop and think, what's their lens? What are they seeing? What are they feeling? What are they experiencing before this conversation and after? And it's absolutely changed the way that I interact with people. It's made me connect more deeply. It's made me care more deeply. It's made me more conscious and intentional about my interactions with people. And frankly, in many senses, somewhat
Starting point is 00:42:28 ashamed of how maintenance mode so many relationships have been in, how passive I've been, the lack of depth, the surface level conversations, how I'm brief with certain people, how certain people have seen me in stress the last four times they've seen me. And it changes you deeply. It certainly has changed the way that I look at my relationship with my mom, probably most. You know, I'm her son, so she loves me. But, you know, do we have conversations? as friends? Do I know her as an individual outside the family? Or do I just know her as mom? How would, I caught my mom saying to me the last three or four times we talked, thank you for calling me. And I thought my mom shouldn't have to thank me for calling her. I didn't feel
Starting point is 00:43:16 right about that. Take your family, the people that are most important to you. Just for a second, even close your eyes and switch it. What's their lens seeing? What are they feeling? Not just the last conversation, the last 10, the last 30, the last 50. How about your friends? What's the lens that they see you through? How do they see you? Right? How do they see you? Not how you see them, not how you would like them to see you or feel about you or you assume they do. Stop and look at the camera through which they've been observing you for however how long. Then go to business just for a second. The people that you work with or you're negotiating with, clients of yours. This is huge for those of you that are in sales, which almost every business in the world is sales of some
Starting point is 00:44:05 type. What's the lens? I'll give you an example. I'm sitting in this barn that I'm restoring here on my property. And right outside the door here, every day, there's a group of men that are doing masonry work. They're great guys. And they've been here for quite a while. They'd do a wall back here. They're doing different walls. And it's hand-laid stone there. If you're looking at this video, video they did this fireplace right here which is just it's huge that doesn't even show most of it but anyway they're they're craftsmen and every time i come down here hey guys how you doing what's going on we'll talk about the red socks or whatever and then i thought about their lens just for a second the other day because i'm working on this and as i was driving down here i'm like you know
Starting point is 00:44:48 i assume they know i think they do great work but then i thought about their lens i've walked by their work like 10 times in a row and not complimented them once, not thanked them one time. You know, I've said, hello, we've engaged, we've talked about sports. They've asked me about my show and how I became, you know, whatever. A speaker and well known, how to get, you know, whatever I've got. But I've walked by their work at least 10 times. So they've watched this man who they're doing work for, walk right by their work 10 times in a row or more and never acknowledge it, never thank them for it, never tell them it was good
Starting point is 00:45:21 work, never give them feedback on how to fix it. I just walked by, this is their craft. This is what they do with their lives. This is obviously one of the most important things they have. I've been seeing it through my lens. I like the work. I like them. Hello, blah, blah, blah. But when I switched it and saw it through their lens, I was embarrassed. But they've watched someone walk right by their work, whom obviously they take pride in and would probably like to impress and probably would love to be told some feedback about it. And so it changes everything when you use the concept and I want you to begin to use it. And then flip it all the way over to how strangers see you. Or when you meet someone new, hi, I'm Edmy Ladder. Hi, I'm Sarah. Whatever the
Starting point is 00:46:05 interactions when you meet people, what are they seeing? Not what do you see? What are they saying? Here's the other cool thing about it. It calms you down. There's not a lot of pressure on you to say or do all the right things. You're actually an observer of your life now. You're observing, not just from your perspective, though. The other thing I found is my depth of connection with people that I otherwise may not connect with, it may disagree with me about economics or politics or whatever. I see them differently because I'm seeing me through them, not just how I look at them individually. So I hope you can take this concept and really extrapolate it. You'll be much more conscious of how you're making people feel. You'll also be much more conscious of other people's
Starting point is 00:46:48 feelings. You're going to be a far better persuader. You're to be far better at marketing. Take marketing for a minute. What if you just flip the switch right now, all of you in marketing, whether it's internet marketing or in-person marketing or print marketing, and right now you switch the lens and ask yourself, what are they seeing from me? What's their lens of my email, of my funnel, or whatever it might be? Ask yourself that. If you make content online and you're doing any type of branding, switch the lens, not from like looking at your video, like what do you see? Do you like your video, but what do they see? What do they feel? What are they experiencing? What are their opinions about you? Your trustworthiness level, your credibility level, your knowledge level, right?
Starting point is 00:47:29 Your entertainment level, your connection to them. And not enough people. Most people just push content out through their own lens, through their own camera, through what they see, not ever really thinking about what the person is experiencing from their perspective when they interact with you. So I know this is really kind of a new thing for most people. And you've got to be careful because it's so fascinating that if you're not careful, everybody you see you're actually doing this with. But I'm telling you, you're going to begin to sense that you're much more connected to people instantly. You're going to evaluate some relationships immediately.
Starting point is 00:48:02 And you go, my gosh, that's not the lens I want them to see. I notice just with my kids, I'm like, I think they just see me stressed out too much. You know, I assume they know I'm strong and that I'm fighting and that I'm focused, right? I'm a focused, intense dude. But their lens, it may be, dad's stressed, dad's worried. Should I be worried about dad, right? I don't see it through their lens. I see it through mine.
Starting point is 00:48:24 They're seeing an intense, focus, driven, dad. But maybe they've seen too much of that through their lens. The last five, 10, 20, 30 times they're with me. And maybe they worry about their dad. Maybe they'd like their dad to relax a little bit. They obviously know I've had some health challenges. I'm not even posted on social media. My travel schedules down to 20% of what it used to be.
Starting point is 00:48:43 So I can't do what I was doing pace-wise right now until I get a little healthier. So what's their lens? What do I want them to see and feel an experience? It will change everything. The biggest thing you're going to notice is you have a dramatic misperception, overestimation of what they're seeing and feeling because you only see it through your lens. And by the way, your lens is affected every day by what you're going through. Your stress level, your worries, your concerns, your thoughts, your energy, your diet,
Starting point is 00:49:12 your nutrition, your sleep, right, your hydration, all of it affects the lens you see things through. There could be the same exact situation that you see very differently two different days. One day you're in a peak state, focus, things are going good, you've got momentum in your flow, you're in the zone, you see something through that lens. Six weeks later, the exact same event could happen and you're tired, frustrated, angry, worried, dealing with a mountain of problems, and that impacts your lens. and the biggest thing overall that you're going to figure out when you begin to do this is that perception is reality and whatever lens it is they're seeing things through
Starting point is 00:49:50 is true to them and the one you see it through for you probably isn't true for them it's just true for you based on the filter of your life that day and so all of this stuff with these lenses is filtered through current experience it's also through repetition. If the last time I saw you, you walked right by me and were dismissive of me, I'm less apt to connect with you the next time you try. If the last time you were there to persuade and sell me, I felt pushed and pressured. The next time you walk in for the follow-up visit, I'm much more on guard and skeptical, and you have a much bigger hurdle to get through to earn my trust back than you did after the first time or before the first time. So this is a really
Starting point is 00:50:37 healthy tool for you. It's going to change almost everything in your life. I've been really excited. I've been writing about it and it's altered every relationship I've got. And it's even altered like how I interact with a flight attendant on an airplane or a server in a restaurant. I've always really thought I was good at this. I'm serious. And maybe I have been better than most at it. I'm not really good at that many things, but I do think I make a pretty good connection when I meet people. I don't have lots of talents or skills, but one of them's been that. But even at that, I think I overestimated it until I started this. And then I thought, wow, this isn't exactly the way I thought it was. If I were them, I would see X, Y, or Z. And so really spend some time in
Starting point is 00:51:19 contemplation about this. You don't have to be with that person to do it. Just evaluate these relationships, your children, your parents, your siblings. What type of a brother or sister are you? Main things with family is we really take them for granted. We really just assume, well, my family, I see my Christmas, I see my holidays, you know, we're good. We'll get around to really being good. The truth is, that's not fair. Just because there's the same blood running through your veins doesn't mean that they don't deserve the same level of effort, communication, repetition, caring that you give other people. Oftentimes, these are the people that get cheated the most because we feel like we've got extra deposits in the bank simply because we're family. And we don't even
Starting point is 00:51:59 give them the same level of attention, concern, caring, grace that we might extend to a stranger or someone we're trying to do business with. And so it'll affect you. You know, one thing I want to add about this too is that you need to use this with the right intention. You know, the wrong person grabs a hold of work like this and they begin to use it to manipulate or to do harm because now they're wearing a mask. This is, this needs to come from a place of true sincerity. Like any work, it can be used for good or for ill. And, you know, A lot of people that, frankly, take advantage of people are excellent at this already. They know exactly how to see it.
Starting point is 00:52:37 But what they're doing is they're wearing a mask. They're wearing a mask that is persuasive and manipulative towards people. Now, I happen to believe that you can't transfer to somebody sincerely, that which you're not really experiencing. And so usually intuition will tell you when someone's doing this. But I want to be really clear, you have to have great intent. if there's one thing I've talked the most about over the last two or three years that I learned from Wayne Dyer, it's the power of intention. And I think more than anything, you have to have an intention to serve, an intention to give, an intention to heal, an intention to be kind towards
Starting point is 00:53:12 others. And if you don't, I think at some point, even you using this methodology and this technology that I'm talking about here, if you're using it to do harm, if you're doing it to persuade somebody to buy something they don't need or can't afford or you're doing it to manipulate. I just want you to know that eventually that lens will come back to hurt you. And so please use this with the right intention. What I'm really doing right now, I feel like is sharing with so many good people the things that they should have known most of their lives that sometimes the most manipulative people understand. I'm talking about coming from a very sincere place of really I believe it's true love, true kindness, true humility is to see less
Starting point is 00:54:00 of yourself and more of them. You know, there's two types of people in life that would use what I'm talking about. There's a type of person that walks in a room and says, here I am. And then there's a type of person who walks in and says, there you are, there you are. I want to be a there you are person. So if you're here I am, now you're beginning to use that lens to get people to notice you and see you and acknowledge you and do things for you that you want them to do. But the right person takes this and says, there you are. And that that person from their lens feels seen, feels heard, feels loved, cared about, valued. That's the most powerful thing about this. That's the most important thing. So many people through their lens feel invisible. Feel like nobody sees them. Feels like they're
Starting point is 00:54:54 just a pawn in the game that they're not valued, that they're not worth something, that they don't count. And the most important thing you can do when someone's looking at you through their lens is they feel sincerely. I'm cared about. I matter. I'm important. I'm valuable. That matters. people. I have value. I have value. I'm not invisible. I'm not worthless. I'm not small. And when you begin to do this the right way, man, are you spreading something powerful in the world for good? You become a tremendous force for good. I have to tell you, in all of the work I do, the one thing I sense more than ever in this culture of wherever we are now, celebrity idolization at its highest is that so many people don't feel seen, valued, important, never mind, loved,
Starting point is 00:55:53 just acknowledged, I see you, there you are, not here I am, probably the most important thing I can tell you about using this work here. And almost all of our relationships in our lives, we see everything through our own lens and not the lens of the other person. And when you begin to switch that perspective and just think just for a second about what it is they are seeing in their lives. It will awaken you. And in some cases, it's a rude awakening. Because let me tell you something, most people feel invisible. They don't feel worthy. They don't feel important. They don't feel valued, never mind loved in many cases. And when you're interacting with clients, the most important thing you can do is see that interaction, that coaching call, that sales call through their lens.
Starting point is 00:56:38 it will be the most incredible awakening. It also is the best way for you to be able to spread kindness, love, value, worth to other people. And I have to tell you that if you begin this week to see every conversation through the lens of the other person, your whole world would change. It'll also help you spread more of the things in life that you would like to spread. I promise you it will change things for you. So this week, you got a call today? Before you get on that call, see that call through their lens. If you've had one with them already, what did they actually see and feel last time?
Starting point is 00:57:08 Do they feel seen, valued, believed in? If you're supposed to be giving them growth items, are they growing? Do they feel growth? Do they feel cared for? Do they feel like they're getting overwhelmed with value compared to what you charge them? Do they feel like they're winning this with you? If you don't have that going this week, if you've got a sales call, when you're communicating with them, throughout that call, switch the lens and see what they're feeling, hearing, and seeing from you,
Starting point is 00:57:33 it'll cause you to make the right adjustments on the fly. If you've got calls on the phone, Zoom calls, begin to feel and see things through their lens. You are hyper addicted, I promise you, to your own lens. Hyper addicted to your own lens, completely addicted to seeing things through your lens, your view, your filter, your emotions, your worries, and your thoughts. And that guides everything you do, which is why your influence is limited. But if you begin to see things the way I'm referring to them, your influence will expand. dramatically the way you communicate with people, what they feel. And by the way, if you're in sales, do they trust you? Right. Do they think you're competent and do they trust you? They're asking
Starting point is 00:58:15 themselves all the time. Can I trust this person? Do they care about me? And can they help me? That's what they're asking themselves all the time. And if you're just talking from your lens, typically what you're doing is just trying to show them that you can help them. And there's not enough coming from you that sees them, that feels them, that listens to them through their lens where they say, I can trust this person. They can help me. They care about me. These are the three questions they're asking themselves all the time. I promise you that if you see it through their lens, and by the way, you can do this with your children this week. What lens have they seen you through this morning? The last week, the last 10 times they've seen you. Your siblings,
Starting point is 00:58:53 I had to evaluate a lot of this. And in my own case, my own siblings, I'm in too much maintenance mode with them. They're not getting a depth of relationship with me that they deserve because they're my siblings. I just take it for granted. They take it for granted. well, they're my sisters. I'm their brother. Like, we're good for life, right? We don't have to work on this stuff. Yes, you do. And so I've taken that for granted because they're my family. Somehow family in our lives, like, well, they're family. Like, yeah, I don't have to really work hard of that relationship. You don't have to. Yes, you do. And if you don't wake up, you know, you'll end up much older and just have a maintenance mode with your siblings, which sucks. It's not
Starting point is 00:59:30 what you want. You want a depth of relationship. I want them to feel loved, believed and valued, cared for, important, smart, somebody that I need in my life. And so I would challenge you to do that with your clients, with your family. You'll have a much better week, a much more productive week, and you'll be 10 times, a hundred times more influential as a result. I can tell you that your sales, persuasion, marketing, connection with the marketplace, branding, social media, any of that stuff will be infinitely better if you begin to see the world through their lens, not yours. It's going to be really powerful for you. So I hope that
Starting point is 01:00:12 helped you today. It certainly has helped me. And I just challenge you. I'm doing it right now with you. I'm doing it right now with you with the content I'm creating. I begin to think even more deeply through what you see, feel, and experience. Because I know how I feel about you. I know how I feel about the work I want to do. I know how much I want to give. I know my heart to serve. I also know that you need to feel that and experience that if I'm going to have the impact on you that I want to. And oftentimes, I think I take for granted that people just know that. What if you're brand new to my video? What if there's the first one you've seen? And so it's altered a little bit the way I communicate my message. And I think it will with you with others as well.
Starting point is 01:00:53 This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I got to tell you, I'm glad that they do because, you know, people ask me all the time. What are most of the guests on your show have in common? Because there's all these different industries and stories. I'd say the one thing, most of them have been to therapy. And I've been to therapy. I think it's a great thing. Whether you've had a lot of trauma in your life and it's extreme and needed to work through it. Or maybe it's not so severe, but you just need clarity. Somebody to talk to. Get a plan in place. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform having served over five million people globally. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of five for a live
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Starting point is 01:02:52 No miss calls, no miss customers. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Chuck Wisner. Chuck, welcome to the show.
Starting point is 01:03:09 Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. So talk a little bit about in ourselves evaluating our triggers when we're listening to somebody. The storytelling conversation is the first one for a very good reason. because unless we begin to understand the stories we tell ourselves, right? Some help us, some harm us, right? But until we understand our storytelling patterns,
Starting point is 01:03:34 and I use patterns in a very particular way because it's less, it takes sting out of judgment. The patterns we have around stories and patterns we have around how we get triggered, the patterns we have around reacting to people, we didn't even choose them. They're unconscious patterns by our family, by our culture, by our teachers, by our friends, just our social stuff. So we have patterns, right?
Starting point is 01:04:00 So we can start looking at the story I'm telling as a pattern. I can then look at myself with less judgment. And in a way, what your friend did was he was able to reveal his story about his childhood, right? And, and that there's a couple things happening. He's revealing, he's opening his hand. I'm concerned because I know what it's like to be on the other side. I have, my standards say that, you know, we can afford to help take care of some of these people because they do need it. And, you know, so, so he's revealing his hand. And also it begins to show some vulnerability. And so if I show some vulnerability, the other person,
Starting point is 01:04:46 or in your case with that conversation, as your friend shared his story, that vulnerability changes the other person. That reduces that tension. All conversations where there's tension, they're somehow involved in that is a judgment of the other person. What does one do?
Starting point is 01:05:03 Because it's hard. You're like, this guy's crazy. He's out of his mind. What a bozo. You know, like it's very difficult to do. He really believes this crap. You catch yourself mid-sentence, already raising your hand going,
Starting point is 01:05:15 this dude is I got to let me fix this guy right so yeah what do you do when you're starting to feel this judgment or a because you know maybe the guy is crazy right like I it but what I found it in my life is like you're not going to change that person by attacking them you're not going to change that person by somehow being more authoritative than them which we'll talk about in a minute in business about the power dynamic yeah what is a practice that I can do when I'm in midst judgment almost of somebody going, what in the world are you talking about? Is there something you do? What's a technique or a thought? One technique I like, and it's a sort of a metaphor of if something's coming at you and you really dislike what's going on, your automatic pattern,
Starting point is 01:06:01 right, is to react. Yes. Right? Because because it goes into your system, goes through your brain and the pattern pops out. Very little effort on your part. That's right. That's right. That's right. It's triggered. So the idea is to begin to name your pattern. So if you have a pattern of where a certain kind of person or a certain kind of conversation, whether it's politics or sex or abortion, that is a trigger for you, just be totally aware of that pattern and name it. In fact, there's a thing called voice dialogue where you can actually name that voice in your head.
Starting point is 01:06:41 like there's there's snobby chuck or there's intellectual chuck or there's hurt little boy chuck you know you can sort of name it and if you can name the patterns and become familiar with it then you might be able to catch it before it enters your body it loses its power over you when you become aware of it and name it yeah yeah and then you can catch it and then if you catch it Then, literally in the book, the four questions that I, that peppers through the book, just ask yourself, is there a power issue here? If I have a strong judgment, what standard is based, am I basing that on? I mean, standards are in every judgment we have.
Starting point is 01:07:24 Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Maxwell, welcome back to the show, brother. You do something you talk about in the book. We might as well just start there. You have the ability to take really complicated things and make them seem simple. Yeah. And you talk about that as actually one of the laws in the book of being able to be a great communicator. Is that something that you do? I'm sure you do it intentionally, but do you do it naturally. Well, I do it intentionally. Let me say this. I was a good student, but I wasn't a great student. And so, So a lot of times when I was in college or in a classroom, I would want the professor to break it down and make it much more simple. I would look around the room, I said, am I the only one that's having a hard time here and not maybe grasping and learning like I need to?
Starting point is 01:08:21 And so really as a student, I worked on helping. When I would hear a talk, I would say, how could that be reduced so I can apply it to my life? And so it almost started as a student. And I learned to reduce things and bring them down. And I tell people all the time, I'm a communicator, not an educator. You know, an educator takes something simple and makes it complicated. I mean, that's just who they are. I mean, honestly, if you're in the education world, if you're not confused, they're not pleased.
Starting point is 01:08:49 You know what I'm saying? But then a communicator takes something complicated, makes it simple. And so my whole goal is to make things very palatable for people. One of the things I teach in the book is the fact that if you have to keep explaining what you just said, you haven't said it right the first time. I mean, and how many times we have a person explain and explain that? I just sit there and think, why didn't you take some time on the front end to simplify this so that everybody can apply it to their life? And there are three, real quickly, there are three kind of, I take the simplistic. I start with simplistic.
Starting point is 01:09:29 And simplistic is not good. It's fast and it's easy, but it's not really deep and helpful. And it's a half truth. It's never a whole truth. So if I say things like experience is the best teacher, that's a simplistic statement. But it's not true. If it were true, then as people got older, everybody get better. And I know a whole bunch of people, they're getting older, but they're not getting better.
Starting point is 01:09:57 The experience isn't helping them at all. Although experience is not the best teacher, reflection and learning from that experience is the best teacher. Wow. So how do I get from experience as the best teacher to reflection and learning from experience the best teacher? Well, you've got to go from simplistic to complicated or complex. In other words, you've got to wrestle with the statements.
Starting point is 01:10:21 And you've got to contextually take them from every angle until you can come to something that is really solid and something that is really true and something that really works. And so just as simplistic as easy and fast, you know, complex, complicated is slow and deep. But once you come through that, and it takes a while to do that, once you come through it on the simple side now, it's fast, but it's deep. In other words, people can grab it real quick, but then they go home and they think about it, Ed, and they just, They just can't, they can't get away from it. Like when you wrote the book, when you wrote the book,
Starting point is 01:11:04 when you wrote the book, The Power One More, that is so simple that you can grasp it immediately, but you can't, you have to spend a lot of time on it to work it out in your life. What a great point. Yeah, what a great point. And so there, so here's the issue. I think in communication, when I was young, when I was young, when I was, I was a young communicator, I saw that I had charisma and I saw that I could probably get by
Starting point is 01:11:33 on stage with having fun with people and enjoying them and making them laugh. And I came to this decision, am I going to wing it or am I going to work for it? And I was tempted to wing it because I could wing it and I could get by with it. See, here's the challenge. When you're gifted in a certain area, you can wing it and still be successful. Right. You could be in that top 20%. Yes. But to work for it, that's a whole different game.
Starting point is 01:12:07 And in the law of simplicity, you have to work for this. You have to work for simple is hard work. But if you work for it, you can get in the top 2%. Yeah. And so what I tell people all the time is the tendency and the temptation is in giftedness is you don't give it all because you just don't have to give it all. I mean, it's just, it comes. But because you don't give it all, you do well, but you don't do very, very well.
Starting point is 01:12:34 But if you would just work on that area of giftedness, you'd get that top 2% and you know as well as I do. If you're in the top 2%, whatever it is, you own whatever you want to own. The world is yours. And so simple, I decided at a very young age in my 20s, I was going to work for it. I'm just going to work for it. And I spent a lot of time. This morning I was, I write every day. This morning I was writing and I was wanting to make a statement and I worked on a statement probably for 40 minutes.
Starting point is 01:13:04 And I would write it and I said, no, it's not quite right. I got to worry. No, no. It's still a fit. And then finally about 20 minutes. I thought, okay, I got it. There it is. There it is.
Starting point is 01:13:14 So I get up and I make the statement and people say, oh, my gosh, the guy just flows out of him. No, no, it didn't flow out of me. It didn't either. It had to cook and work it inside of me. a long time, but I get it to the place where it flows out of me. But it doesn't flow, good stuff doesn't happen automatically. No. You know, when I tell people that I do that, too, that are other speakers, I kind of watch
Starting point is 01:13:40 oftentimes their face kind of glaze over. Like, you really do that. I say, I do, because I do want to, I want to be as effective as I can. By the way, I should have started out by saying to everybody that you can go to 16 Laws of Communication.com, and that's with the one six in it, 16 laws of communication. You get the book, and I guess there's favorable pricing in there, too. You can actually get it for less. So 16 Laws of Communication.com, you can go get it.
Starting point is 01:14:02 Listen, I can just say this with all conviction in the world. The best books I've read collectively in my life are John's books. And the best speaker that I admire that I look up to is John. So when he writes a book on this topic, it is something that you need to have. And for the record, everybody, some of you are listening to this going, I'm afraid to speak. I don't know that I should be one. And one of the brilliant things in the book is, and I'll have you talk about this, John, is that a great speaker, and I have found this, I think when I was young, when I would speak, if I'm being honest, part of it was about me, probably a significant part, meaning I wanted to impress them, I wanted to wow them, you know, I wanted them to think I was great. That did a few things. One, I made less of a connection, but two, it put tremendous pressure on me because it was about me.
Starting point is 01:14:50 And a lot of you that are afraid of speaking, that would probably be great at it, it's because you're approaching it already from it being about you. And if you would just shift the impact to the service of others, your peace about even trying to do it would change. And you'd be a 10 times better speaker. So that's one of the laws in the book, too. So we might as well start there because I think some people need to come into this tent of speaking, John, to the tent of communication that thinks they don't belong in our tent. and they do belong in the tent. Their flawed thinking is they think it's about them, and that creates anxiety and fear,
Starting point is 01:15:24 which is sort of ego-driven. So talk about that for a second. 100%, my friend, 100%. It's the law of connecting. And the law of connecting just simply says communicators know that it's all about others. It's all about others. And I can identify exactly.
Starting point is 01:15:42 When I started speaking, it was all about me. I hope they like me. I hope I say it right. Did I say it right? Oh, my gosh. And it became like a, I was a nervous bondo. Yes. Because I was, man, I hope I did okay.
Starting point is 01:15:57 So when people say, John, what's the one thing? I know there are 16 laws, but what's the one thing to be a great communicator? Well, the one thing, Ed, is you have to get over yourself. You just have to get over yourself. It is not about me. It's about the audience. It's not about me. It's about the small group I'm dealing with.
Starting point is 01:16:17 It's not about me. it's about the one person I'm talking, having a one-on-one conference. It's all about them. And until I can get over myself, because if I can't, if it's about me, I can't, I can't really add value to you if I'm thinking about me. I'm not that good. I don't have the ability to think about me and think about you and be good on both ends. I'm a little limited.
Starting point is 01:16:37 Maybe some people can, but I can't. So if it's going to be about you, I've got to be thinking about you, and I've got to be focused on you. and very quickly you'll realize John really wants to help me and add value to me I mean it's contagious
Starting point is 01:16:54 and it's that connection so I tell people to get over themselves and and so what we did it when when this book released we did a video and I told the people that were producing I said I want to start the video in the audience I said I want to I don't want
Starting point is 01:17:10 you to shoot me on stage and I was in the audience all by myself sitting in a in a chair and they zoomed in me and I said this is where great speaking begins right here I have to constantly be thinking about the people and and how can I connect with it what can I say how can I help them where are they you know you have to find them before you can lead them you just don't start leading people you just don't start speaking you have to find them and soon as you find him now all of a sudden you have to create so I this whole get open
Starting point is 01:17:45 myself let me tell you a fun story there's a company in nashville the this guy has a very successful writing company and he's read my books he's fact he came to me i didn't know him he said i built my business off your stuff and he said you ought to write songs based on your books well i looked at i'm said man i've never done that before but you know me i'm 76 but i i keep growing i keep learning i keep i mean why not try this so i went to nashville and he put me in the studio with like the guys the wrote number one hits i mean big hits they were you know i'm like i i always say if you're at the head of the class you're in the wrong class well i should even been in the class on this one i mean these these guys were pros and and i'm in there throwing at that and so we took the book
Starting point is 01:18:32 on the laws of communication and i said i would like to use the get over myself theme and so we wrote a song called get over myself and and so if you're listeners all i got to do is go wherever you I don't know where you get your music, but wherever you get it, just, you know, get over myself. And the chorus says, and the chorus says it all, is that I got to find myself to know myself. I got to know myself to be myself. I got to be myself to improve myself. I got to improve myself so I can get over myself. So I can give myself to you.
Starting point is 01:19:06 Oh, wow, John, that's very good. And the song is going crazy. The song's going crazy. I got another one from my book. Make Today Count called Day by Day. And I got my sometimes win. Sometimes you learn books or songs will come out next month. But I'm having a blast writing these songs.
Starting point is 01:19:24 And of course, again, I'm the least of the least. And they're so kind to even let me in the studio with them. But I'm throwing this stuff up and we're just having a blast. But I tell you the moment that you think about the audience and I can hardly wait to speak. I'm not nervous at all. I can hardly wait to speak because I'm going to go out. and I want to give them something that is going to help their life. And that is so fulfilling and so enriching to me
Starting point is 01:19:51 that it gets me over anything that is about me. Yeah. Are you getting rid of win a Grammy? This will be, you're going to win a name Grammy for your music now. I told thanks. I have no idea, but I know I'm having fun. You know, again.
Starting point is 01:20:09 I don't know if you all understand this. John's 76 years old. and I think you all go hey man Ed you work hard they see my social media and my pace and I am telling you this is not I'm not being nice John is everywhere
Starting point is 01:20:25 all the time crushing it crushing it yet like before we went on he's told me about golf that he just played there's a way to have I think one of the keys to longevity is that you do live a full rich life but you do bust your tail the entire time
Starting point is 01:20:39 John is I've been with John's but I just got out from Europe I'm going here. Now I'm in Tennessee. Oh, I've got to fly to California. My gosh, am I getting out work by John? And by the way, you can tell his enthusiasm level is through the roof as well. I want to ask you this, though. Did you just say you're not nervous when you speak? Do you not get nerves at all anymore? No, no. Have you had it? I think you tell a story, though, a time you did. I think you're going to Boston. I think it's going to Boston maybe. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I study you. As I think the story goes, you were replacing a speaker or something. But, you're going to Boston. I think you're going to Boston as I think the speaker or something. But there's a great lesson in this story. Do you know the one I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. You're talking about Peter Lowe when he had his seminars. And he called me one day.
Starting point is 01:21:21 And I was home. And he said that, oh, gosh, the guy that was Superman in the movies. Chris Reeves. Yeah. What's his name? Reeves. Christopher Reeves. Yeah, Christopher Reeves.
Starting point is 01:21:35 Yeah, Christopher Reeves. Okay. He was sick, and he was the last speaker on the day. And he said, I can't speak today. And so Peter says, he called me in morning and said, John, can you get up to Boston and fill in? I said, well, yeah. So I jumped on a play in.
Starting point is 01:21:52 I went up to Boston. And I got there just maybe 30 minutes before I was supposed to speak. And so I'm kind of backstage or get me all hooked up. And then I find out they haven't told the crowd. Hello? They haven't told the crowd. and that Christopher Rees is sick and isn't going to be here. The crowd, they've been staying all day waiting for Superman to come and show.
Starting point is 01:22:21 And I'm backstay saying, you haven't told them yet? What do you mean? What are you doing to me? They're looking for Superman. They're not going to get Superman. They're going to get the Pillsbury Doe Boy out there. They're not getting, they're not getting Superman or getting fat, man. I mean, what are you doing?
Starting point is 01:22:40 I kid you not. They went out right before, now they're all, Christopher Reese, here he come, Superman's about to come, and they're so sorry, you know, Christopher Reed couldn't come today. We have John Maxwell. Well, 300 people get up and walk out as I'm coming out on stage and are already leaving. I mean, they're already leaving. And then when they see me, another 200 people get up and they are there. And it's like horrible. And I looked at him, and of course, all you could do is you just start laughing and say, you know, I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 01:23:20 You know what I'm saying? Now, the good news is once I started speaking, no one else left. But it's, yeah, I mean, hello. I mean, who's going to replace Superman? Did you say something when you came out to grab their attention or to get them or to connect with them? Did you say something that saved them? I said, guess what? I'm not Superman.
Starting point is 01:23:44 I'm in trouble, and you're going to have to help me. But if you'll stay with me, I'm going to help you. And you know what I did? God, I'm on my side. Really what I did is I, what you do in cases like, it's like the international audience when I used to be internationally. I ask them questions all the time. I'll say, now, I want to tell you a story, but does this happen in your culture?
Starting point is 01:24:06 And sometimes I'll say yes, and I'll say, okay, let me tell you. What happens is if you do that, you engage them. And very quickly, they become an ally. And they get on your side. And so they help. When they realized that I wasn't Superman, they said, well, fat man needs my help. I'm going to hang him with him. And they did.
Starting point is 01:24:23 And so it came out, okay. But obviously, I was set up. I mean, I was set up for, there's no good anything about it. I mean, when I saw that on back, never in my life have I been more tempted to turn around. Oh, my gosh. I can't even imagine. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far.
Starting point is 01:24:41 Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Jason Wilson, thank you for being here. It's a pleasure. Thanks, I appreciate it. A lot of men are listening. They're getting emotional.
Starting point is 01:24:56 The suicide thing was a tremendous stat you gave because like you, I get reached out with men. I don't have any value to my family. You know, I'm amazed by how many men, just the number that take, their lives, but actually contemplate it like you've shared. Like, I get lots, I don't know to quantify the number, but lots of messages from men, particularly when they're failing financially. When men feel like they're failing financially, if you're with a man right now, if you're a woman and he's failing financially, I'm telling you so often, so much of his identity is
Starting point is 01:25:28 worth is tied to earning and providing and winning, you be very vigilant with that man. He is, and he is not playing his cards on the table. He is probably not showing you based on what Jason's talking about here, how he really feels. What would you say to the man, though, who says, I do want to, because this is how we think. If I do that, I'm going to lose something. So this is how men think, okay, this sounds good. I do want to be more present with my daughter. I probably would feel really good to cry when I need to.
Starting point is 01:25:58 I'd like to laugh a little bit more and let my guard down and be who I really am. But then I'm going to lose this other part of me. I'm going to lose. You have this great analogy of the lion and the lamb. I definitely need to have more lamb, but I'm afraid if I do that, I'm going to lose all the lion. And men do think this. You know that.
Starting point is 01:26:16 What would you say to a man who's saying, I'm afraid I'm going to lose parts of me I do like if I become this new version of me? I don't think it's parts of them that they're afraid of losing. It's the people, the success, and everything that comes with just being the man or being a certain type. of man. What I had to come to grips with was that I want to live from my
Starting point is 01:26:41 heart man. So a definition for a comprehensive man is a man who's courageous but also compassionate, strong but sensitive, a man who can boldly live from his heart instead of his fears. What do we do typically when we meet someone let me guard because I don't know if they're really a good person and all these other things. So that hinders me from expressing the love I have not just not for them but just in general in life I care about people. So as men, we stay guarded, and now we've shut off our hearts really from really expressing the full essence of who we are. So if a person hurts you or take advantage of you, that was a blessing because now you don't have to waste time in that relationship anymore.
Starting point is 01:27:23 You didn't lose anything. It was all gain. And when me and I talked to men, even those who are wealthy seem to struggle with it a lot more. Of course. You're reinforced. Your identity's reinforced over and over again. And so I never forgot the time I was at a track, man, and a doctor recognized me. And he says, man, I think it was a doctor or lawyer. But anyway, he was professional, very successful. He wanted to take his life.
Starting point is 01:27:48 And I said, why? He has a beautiful family. He said, I don't feel like I'm valuable. Yeah. I said, wow. And here's this guy's very successful. But what he's saying is that he's really not living from his longing. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:28:02 He's living from what he's been programmed to believe. a man is. But we're so much bigger, we're so much more than masculine. So when we're confined to just providing, getting the watches, the clothes, the cars, the houses, we know that's nothing after a while. Once you buy it, it's done in a few days. Yes. So who you really are is what matters the most. And so we were walking, he says this counselor told them or therapist, you know, what about, ask what about your family? What about, you know, your mom and your kids? And he was like, Well, what about me? And that's what I tell men, you are worth a living.
Starting point is 01:28:41 Don't allow your entire life to be, you know, it's great to be a family guy I am. But I don't allow my life to be completely centered around them. First is God, then it's my family, and then it's my service. And then another thing that misleases is, man, we fight to live this balanced life. Yeah. Like, I don't believe in that concept because if everything is balanced, that means everything is the same amount of attention. So my family and the things that matter the most are in this part of the scale, and this is everything else, the success, books, everything else. This must always tip
Starting point is 01:29:15 the scale. As soon as I start feeling, do this, I'm like, oh, it's too much here. Yeah. Let me get some of this off, because this is really not important. This is not how I get my affirmation. This is not who I am as a man. But hearing my wife say, I'm so proud of you, Jay, my daughter, Daddy, I love you, my son leaning into me. When my mother was living, how proud she was, how that I was able to serve her with dementia and fight through so much, I want to stay in balance. And as men, we're trying to do everything, but we need to fight to do what's important. So good.
Starting point is 01:29:46 And then we'll find the peace that we long for, man. So good. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. I'm honored to have the great Brad Lee here today.
Starting point is 01:30:02 Brad, thanks for being here, brother. Man, I'm honored. I'm honored you treated selling this is important by the way because I did too young I started out just in the selling business too and so but you treated selling like it was your own business well it is elaborate what do you mean when you're on commission you know you don't have a limit so if you're going to give me cars let's use cars or art because I've sold art cars RVs ridiculous vacuums really candy bars yeah I've sold everything Matter of fact, six years old, there's a story about selling candy bars that is pretty funny. Give me it. I want to hear it. Well, I was six years old, and they gave out the boxes of candy, world's finest chocolates. Yeah. You remember those?
Starting point is 01:30:45 Yes. They were delicious. They were. I mean, still to this day, I think they're probably the best actual chocolate with almonds you can find. So I went out and I started selling candy bars. And all the other kids that couldn't sell their candy bars, normally they would ship them back to the company. And that was it. Well, they just gave me all of the candy bars everyone else couldn't sell.
Starting point is 01:31:06 And I literally sold every candy bar that the school received. Like how knocking doors? Yeah, I went on knocked on doors. They'd open the door and I'd have it behind my back. And when they answer the door, I would say, do you have the phone number to a good roof repairman? And they'd always be like, no. It's six years old you're saying it. Six years old.
Starting point is 01:31:23 And I developed it all by myself. I don't know how. But I said, do you have the phone number to a good roof repairman? They said, no, why? and I say, because when you taste one of these, you're going to go through the roof. And people were just buying... A little six-year-old little face saying that, Adam, you can't say no. And people were just buying boxes at a time.
Starting point is 01:31:42 I'll take 20 of them. So I learned selling then. Okay, I'm going to point this out what you just did. I told Brad, before we went on the camera, because you just did it again, that he has an interesting way of communicating. Do you remember when I told you this earlier? You just did it again. You started it at six years old.
Starting point is 01:31:57 And this is why I want you to follow him, because a lot of people speak the same way. They'll say, here's what I'm going to tell you, then they tell you. Brad's communication style is it ends up a punchline. So you don't know where you're going and then boom, you land somewhere. Whether that's a joke or a sales pitch or a close or a statement, watch when you watch him. And just so you know, you did it at six years old. You start with the candy bar behind your back, right?
Starting point is 01:32:18 Yeah. Do you need a roof, you know, and boom, then you come back at them. So you always take them down an interesting road when you communicate. It's very unique to this dude with the way that you talk. It is. And it's why I think your social media stuff's interesting. Because it's not like, let me tell you what you need to think, and then you say it. You start out somewhere, and I don't know where we're going, and then boom, there's a punchline and we land somewhere.
Starting point is 01:32:36 And when I say punchline, it may not mean something funny. It just may mean you take me where you're going to take me. It's almost like going around the corner and I find the prize. And that's what you were doing when you closed then, too. So that's awesome, by the way. You started that at six. Started it at six, you know. So let me ask you a question.
Starting point is 01:32:52 You're this good closer at six. You become a great car salesman, young. You've gone on to sell other things and been successful. Then you built this huge training thing that we're going to talk about in a minute. But I'm a salesperson, which, by the way, the first thing is the first step of that is admitting it, right, that I actually close. I actually sell, right? Give me a couple things that someone out here just got into sales or is in it and struggling, right? Like, what's a couple real keys of being great at closing?
Starting point is 01:33:17 One, you've said you own it like your own business because not everybody does think that way. But give me a couple things. What makes a good closer, a good salesperson, a good persuader? The ability to listen, first of all, because a lot of salespeople really don't listen and they're not even prepared to ask good questions in order to get good answers. So I'll give you an example. When I used to train people, I would carry around a quarter, a dime, and a nickel. So they can put this on the screen if you're editing this. But pretend this is a quarter, okay, and this is a dime, and this is a nickel. Now, I'm going to ask you a question.
Starting point is 01:33:56 I want you to listen. Okay, Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas, the second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name? I don't know. What is it? Okay, well, I'm going to have you listen again. Okay, do it again.
Starting point is 01:34:12 Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas. Second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name? I don't know. See, that's because you're not really actively, listening. Okay. Now, actively listen to me. Okay. Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas. The second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name? You got me. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:34:36 Listen closely. Stop it. Give me the answer. Bob's mom. Bob's mom. It's Bob. There you go. It takes me a while. See, you know, it doesn't take you a while. You're not listening actively. I'm struggling with my IQ issues, but I got it eventually. I guarantee it's not that. And people do it all the time. They're not listening actively because we're having a conversation and you're not trying to sell me anything Right. But when someone says what makes the best salesperson, ultimately- Were all of you just watching that go, what the hell is wrong with me or were any of you with me on that? Like it's at least 5% of you with me that you did not know Bob's damn name.
Starting point is 01:35:14 I'd say 90% because what is the trick is there's a damn and a D and a Q so you're throwing me off with the Q. Yeah, well that's why I'd have a dime, a quarter, and a nickel. Yeah. So people just are trying to, because they're not listening. So if you want to be great in sales, first of all, you need to learn to listen closely and actively. And then secondly, learn to ask the right questions. Wow, that is such an awesome illustration right there.
Starting point is 01:35:37 My whole audience now just unfollowed me because they know how low my key. Well, watch this. Well, you can edit it. No, I want to leave it. It was awesome. 95% of the people I do that with never get Bob. Sometimes they'll get it on the third one, occasionally on the second one. hardly ever they're listening no i'm leaving that in there that's too damn good however knowing
Starting point is 01:35:57 the right questions to ask you know when people start selling things like if i say you know go ahead and sell me that you know people start saying oh it's quality leather and it's going to last a long time and that's not really selling that's telling selling i have to know what it is about you that values that and i do that through questions so if i were going to sell you that i wouldn't and just start selling it like most people that's what they'll do like next time you talk to a sales person that says their top salesman say okay well sell me that chair and they'll say oh this chair's constructed this way and it's the greatest fabric and it's going to last the best and they're not asking you you know who's the chair for you know are you replacing a chair you know what do you
Starting point is 01:36:40 like about the chair you're replacing what didn't you like about the chair you're replacing so by the time i explain that chair i can provide value and explain to you why it's valuable now let's say for example, you tell me that chair is so quality and it's going to last forever and I find out you're getting a divorce and you have to provide your ex-wife a replacement chair. Yeah. I just unsold you the chair not even knowing it. Why? Because I didn't ask you some questions and listen to the answer. Well that's the big thing. Cardone said this to me. Grant Cardone and I were talking about this very topic off camera also and he said because it's what you just
Starting point is 01:37:12 did with me. It's not just asking the question, it's getting the answer. So a lot of people ask questions but they never get the answer you forced me through finally to get me to get the answer right and that's what a good closer gets also they don't just ask the question they actually get the answer I think some people think all I do is ask a bunch of questions well no you have to get the answer and get them actively listening that's why that is really powerful and why I want to absolutely leave that in there so very very good you want to be good in sales listen and ask good questions this is the admiral show
Starting point is 01:37:47 Thank you.

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