THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Jon Gordon Reveals The Mindset Shift That Builds Winning Teams

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Is Your Team Truly Committed—Or Just Chasing Goals? What separates teams that succeed from those that just survive? It’s not talent. It’s not resources. It’s commitment. This week, I sit down with my great friend Jon Gordon, and we got real about what it takes to build a team that doesn't just perform, but thrives under pressure. Jon’s new book, The Seven Commitments of a Great Team, is more than theory—it’s the roadmap every leader, entrepreneur, and family builder needs. We talked about why goals aren’t enough. Everybody’s got goals. But not everybody is committed. Jon broke it down beautifully—commitment is about action. It’s about the daily disciplines that align with your vision. Want to make a million dollars this year? That won’t happen without commitments to how you show up, how you serve, and how you lead your team. “Commitment is going to cost you something,” Jon said. “You have to ask yourself—what are you willing to give, and what are you willing to give up?” One of the biggest takeaways? The power of connection and love on a team. That might sound soft, but it’s not. Love is what makes great teams fight for each other. It’s what transforms a locker room, a boardroom, or a household. “You’ll never have commitment without connection,” Jon said—and he’s right. If your team’s not committed to each other, they won’t be committed to the mission. And when adversity hits, that’s when the cracks show. We also touched on something every leader needs to hear: emotional fatigue. Carrying the weight of your business, your team, your family—it gets heavy. If you lose your why, you lose your fire. “The crime isn’t that the passion ran out—it’s that you stayed around after it did,” Jon shared. That line stopped me in my tracks. Leaders, you’ve got to reignite your mission or risk slowly fading out. Key Takeaways: The difference between having goals and living with commitment Why devotion—not discipline—creates lasting change How prayer and purposeful rituals can unlock creative breakthroughs The role of connection and love in high-performance teams How to lead through adversity without losing your energy or edge This one hit home for me on a personal level, and I know it will for you too. Go grab The Seven Commitments of a Great Team. It's a game-changer. MAX OUT.   👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈   → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ←  ➡️ INSTAGRAM   ➡️FACEBOOK   ➡️ LINKEDIN   ➡️ X   ➡️ WEBSITE      Get my exclusive Monday Motivation training in GrowthDay, the world’s #1 app for advanced mindset and personal development. Visit https://growthday.com/ed. This show is sponsored by GrowthDay.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to the show, everybody. So today is one of my favorite days of the year because I get to spend this time with all of you and with one of my best friends in the world. He's the author of 30 prolific books and I just got to tell you everywhere I go people ask me, do you know John Gordon? Everywhere I go. And the reason is, is because his influence reaches all over the place. I mean, he's about to do an event with some of the top NFL coaches major league baseball coaches college football coaches TV and radio he is a leader to leaders is how I would word it and He's just an incredibly good man He's somebody that I look up to somebody that I take advice from you need to enjoy this conversation because there's a 50-50 chance He's gonna turn pro and pickleball here soon and not author any more books

But before he does that he's authored another book that I read many months ago that I'm excited to share with all of you And his thoughts about it called the seven commitments of a great team John Gordon. Welcome back to the show And my let you are not just the interviewer today. You're my great friend as well. I love you brother I love you and I gotta tell you everywhere I go people say you actually know Ed Mylatt are you kidding me but I just want to honor you for a second I know you weren't expecting this but not only are you one of the top three speakers in the world we always joke about that world-class but but as an interviewer the best thank you in the world how many people could say they speak and also interview?

I was thinking about you as I was coming over. The best interviews I've ever had are with you. Oh, thank you. Everyone I talk to experiences the same thing. Thank you. There's an energy you give, there's a way you ask questions. You're just, it's like the natural. You are so great at this.

I just wanna acknowledge you. I love you, brother. By the way, he teased me about being top three, but he really thinks I'm not the one. He knows how sensitive I am to that topic. So I want to really get into this. Now, by the way, I want you to all lean in here today. You all are building a team.

So today we're going to look at it from business mainly and sports, but also you're building a family. And so all of that to me is a form of a team. That's what we do as human beings. And so there's so many things in the book. John's work is unique. And I want to start with something that stood out to me because, you know, this this notion of commitments as opposed to goals. Why is that matter? Why is commitment greater than goals? Everyone has goals. They have a vision for the year. You and I are big on visions and having dreams

and even having goals, they're important. But will your goals take you to where you wanna go? No, your commitments will. When you are committed to your goals and you take action and you commit day in and day out, you actually will realize your goals. If you have goals without commitments, that's a vision without execution, right?

You have to take action to realize it So if you want to be great you have to be committed to what you're doing If you want to be a great team, you have to have commitments as a team in order to be great I asked the team the other day I was with a professional baseball team I said how many of you have your goals written down and most of the guys had their goals written down I said how many you have your goals written down? And most of the guys had their goals written down. I said, how many of you have your commitments written down? No one had their commitments written down. And then we wrote down their commitments.

It's a different conversation. My commitment is to recovery. My commitment is to eating healthy during the course of the season so I stay healthy. My commitment is to actually showing up and preparing more or watching film in order to get better. So there's a commitment that then leads you to being your best.

So is the commitment, I wanna dig deeper on that. So, because I'm gonna steal it from you. So if I have a goal, you're saying the commitment delivers on that goal, help us break it down like in our own life. Like if someone's building a company right now and the goal is, you know, we're going to reach a million dollars in sales this year and you're going to make a hundred thousand dollars a year. Help us work through what would the

commitment part, if you were working with that company, what would, how would you help them delineate and distinguish what the commitment part is? I would identify what our goals are. So first I would say, actually, what's our vision? Okay. What do we want to be? Then I would talk about the why, Why do we want to do that? What is our purpose? We don't get burned out because of what we do, we get burned out because we forget why we do it.

So why is essential, vision is essential. And then, okay, what is our goals? What numbers do we want to achieve? What kind of outcomes do we want? So now we have these goals, we have these outcomes. Okay, what are our commitments? Sales, how many calls are we gonna make every single day? Customer service, how will we show up for our customers?

How will we serve them, make them feel special? How will we be committed to each other in the course of that year in terms of working together and honoring each other and being there for each other and sacrificing for each other, supporting each other? How will we do that as a team? So every team has to make these commitments to realize these goals, but you got these numbers

and then each department will have the commitments to achieve those numbers. It's really interesting, those of you that are listening, by the way, the great thing about John, when he comes on and he has a book, he'll just tell you the book because he knows you're gonna go read it anyway. A lot of authors are like, I'll give you a little piece.

You know, and the reason the interviews are so good with you is because you're so forthcoming with the information. And I'm you and I were talking before you got here today that I'm on this sort of kick to get my physical body back in shape. So I've got a dramatic weight loss goal that I've got. Really wanted to get down to my college weight. And so I've got that goal. But to your point, it's my day-to-day commitments about when I'm eating, what I'm eating,

when I do my cardio, when I do my stretching and lifting. It's the commitments that I'm sort of obsessed with. Now that I think about it, it's kind of been my formula for achievement. I'm like a commitment freak when it comes to getting things done. You really are. You are next level in your commitments

and you inspire me to work out. Every day I work out Mm-hmm every day. I'm walking. I'm exercising I'm eating right those commitments on a daily basis actually lead to the results that you haven't wanted 54 I feel better than ever you look great Yeah You look great, too But I would not be looking great if I didn't meet you and I did not get committed to my health to my weight

so I think commitments and weight and health are probably the best examples of seeing an action. Because everyone could say, okay, I have this goal of losing weight or this goal of getting fit, and then I know my commitments to eating healthy will get me there. If I eat that chocolate cake every day,

that's not being committed. Right, exactly. By the way, I know it sounds like we compliment each other a lot, you guys, is because we really have a mutual affection. But like in my case, my faith is what's grown, which is far more important than what I've helped you with with your physical part. My walk with Jesus has really improved and grown, and I attribute a lot of that to knowing you. And one of the reasons is, is

I see how committed you are to certain things, like your faith walks and being in scripture and things like that. So these are day-to-day commitments I've now made that have really changed those things, and it's modeling you. Can we talk about prayer for a second? Please, I'd love to. Because what you just said is so profound and so important because I have recently

been more committed to prayer. So every morning I'm now walking and I am praying. I'm trying to get couples to pray together, because if you pray together 99% stayed together research is clear on this so couples who pray together are more likely to stay together and have a better marriage So if you can commit to prayer in your relationship in your marriage You will elevate your relationship if you can commit to prayer in your own life You'll actually find more healing more peace and more power power So I take these walks of prayer now every single day I go through that prayer acronym of praise

repent ask Yield expect receive by the time I'm done. I feel better if I don't commit To that action on a daily basis I do not have the feeling the outcome and the healing and the power that I'm now living with as a result of that Oh boy, we're gonna go personal on you now. Since we're in this lane, let's go a little layer deeper. You probably wonder how does a guy who used to own bars end up writing 30 books and sell millions of books and I would say it's particularly in the sports space but even beyond that leadership faith like

is known as the guy in that space. Right. How does that happen? This guy stone bars everybody. Okay. Right. This is not any, wasn't by the way, a Christian many, many years ago was not. What are the commitments and practices? So this is a really cool part.

I know how it happens. Tell them how this book came to you. How does it get you to think about that? Like, how am I going to get, how do I do it again? If you ever give it a speech, you've made a post on where's the next one going to come from, tell them, one going to come from tell them basically these books come from but since we're talking about the seven commitments of a great team tell them how this book came to you and how you

wrote it because I think this is very telling commitment wise and habit wise well I'm 54 years old now I mean I feel like I've been writing this book my entire life because I've been on teams my entire life going back to college being a lacrosse player and Wanting to be a great lacrosse player had to be committed to getting better committed to pursuing excellence committed to Practicing and elevating my game my mindset all of that, but I did not have a great mindset back that that's the funny thing My teammates cannot believe what I'm doing that you're the positive guy. They're like, yeah, you're the positive you were a mental wrecking Why am I injured again, but I was a mental wreck I really was and but I but I had this great coach Coach Moran and Richie Moran was was the best. He believed in me. He recruited me

He brought me to Cornell and he gave me a shot and I'll never forget him for that He was my coach for the rest of my life. And so, about a month before he passed away, I gave him a call and we were talking. And he said, remember John, teammates are forever. And he said, I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go.

I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go.

I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go. And so about a month before he passed away, I gave him a call and we were talking and he said, remember John, teammates are forever. Teammates are forever. And I couldn't get that out of my head. It's in the book. Yeah, it was for a couple years. That's the beginning of the book. And I knew I wanted to write about a coach

that impacted a player, but also a team that impacted each other, a team that was committed together because of their coach and because of each other. And this book is a embodiment of, of all the principles, all the ideas, all the lessons I learned as an athlete, but also all the work I've done with teams along the way. So, and I walk every day and while I'm walking, I pray and all my books have come to me during that time And this book came to me on a walk. I'm walking i'm praying and boom I got seven commitments of a great team

I didn't have all the commitments but I knew that was the title and then I started to think about what those commitments were What truly makes a great team and I began writing them down. It's got to be about staying positive That's one definitely a great team stays positive together You have to commit to the vision of mission I knew that was one and so as I was writing these down and walking more and more of the story came to me the ideas Came to me. I wrote this book at in 16 days Now people often think well 16 days. It can't be a good book. My son said I shouldn't tell people with 16 days. But I actually think it was so magical in writing this

because I was walking and praying. It was a divine download. It was, it just flowed like no other. It's never taken me that short of a time to write a book, but 16 days I had this book and when I read it, I literally cried as I read the audio book of it because it's so special, so impactful, so meaningful in terms of the story, what happens,

people will read it, they're gonna be inspired, they're gonna be encouraged, they may cry a little bit, but they're also gonna realize, wow, I can be a more committed team member and I can get my team committed. Can't wait for people to read it. Me too, and by the way, you guys, John's writing style is unique just to him.

It's why it's so easy to read and takes you on this journey. And I remember the day, I don't know if you know this, but the day you took the walk that night, you called me or texted me and said, I just got my book. And then I just want you all know that's where the strategy comes from. So we're talking about prayer. We're talking about having rituals. We're talking about his is that what basically is a prayer walk. Imagine that get a download like that in your life

What if it was your next business idea your next concept your next thought your next strategy? So I was awesome brother and I got the next two others From a prayer walk and I want to thank you also for reading it You were one of the first to read this book and gave me feedback really meant the world to me Thank you, brother. You guys all hear that like I that's a long road by the way But I want you to understand it for this reason. Like, first off, if you'd have froze when he was bartending, and I said, hey, you'll be one of the most prolific authors in the world.

20 years from now, everyone would have laughed at you, right? Laughed and thought it was crazy. And then also, you know, many of you have a dream. You know, you're going to have to stabilize your life to some extent before you jump in and pursue that dream. Most people aren't willing to do the grind work to get to the good stuff. They wanna be planted in the dream immediately, not do the stuff that's required of you

to get into a position. When I started my business, I'll just tell you all this, when I started my business, it didn't go well in the very beginning, and I had to go stock shelves at night. It's Safeway. I'd stock shelves all night long, get a couple hours of sleep, put my suit back on,

and go do business all day long until I could find a way but what I wasn't gonna do is quit on my dream altogether. If you really want it bad, your obsessions become your possessions and you'll eventually possess them. So hey guys I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth and you know by the way it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow and also taking a look at the future. If you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around

other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself and that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second. growthday.com forward slash ed. My friend, Brendal Bruchard, has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability, journaling, horses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other

influences like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. So I gotta tell you something. I love when technology revolutionizes an old industry. I also think one of the tragedies of education is that our kids get out of school. They know a lot about history and algebra and all these other things. They don't know how to budget. They don't understand the value of money, the value of work, and that's why I love Greenlight. Listen to this. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for

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Ed to get started Greenlight.com. Ed today's show is sponsored by strawberry dot me. So you know this, I'm a big believer in coaching, especially when it's from a reliable source. And I think most people should have some interaction with somebody who's helping them get better in their life. So if you're waking up every day and you know you're capable of a little bit more, but you're not really sure how to get there, listen, success doesn't just happen. Most successful people in the world don't figure it out on their own. They have a coach, they have mentors, they got coaches,

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I've had a personal coach for a long time and it's helped me tremendously in my life. You know, I love that Chinese proverb, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. That's what a coach can do for you. They've got the directions many times in my life. You know, I love that Chinese proverb, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. That's what a coach can do for you. They've got the directions many times in your life. Go to strawberry.me slash ed and claim your $50 credit. That's strawberry.me slash ed. Let's get back to the book a little bit.

I want to get back to the book. So the second commitment in the book, he has these seven commitments, right? I'm going to give you a few of them today. One of them is staying positive. And I was like, Oh, John Gordon, the positive guy, that's pretty basic stuff. But in the real world, okay, once pressure hits, once failure hits, once setbacks hit, it's very easy in a company in a family, like you and Catherine during that difficult time, start pointing fingers. No, it's your fault. No, it's your fault. No, it's your fault No, it's you Well, if you would just do this then I could do that and that happens in a locker room as well Right like a guy drops a fly ball every very easy to get negative

Someone misses their assignment doesn't practice doesn't show up in in business same thing Like, you know when a problem comes the normal CEO the average one who's to blame rather than solving the problem How do you stay positive? That's easy in the good times. That commitment, how does someone stay committed? And I guess if it's a commitment, it's different than we should. When the sheesh hits the fan. It's important to know that the collective belief and optimism of a team is made up of each person's belief and optimism. So each person says, I'm gonna stay positive for myself and for my team.

I'm gonna feed myself in order to feed others on my team. And then collectively, we make a decision, we make a commitment. This is why this is in the book, a commitment that we will stay positive through challenges, through adversity, through setbacks. Everyone's positive during training camp because you're undefeated.

Everyone's positive in the beginning of the year usually because you're just getting started But but as we move on and we face adversity as you said we face setbacks we face challenges How do we respond to the adversity do we stay positive through it now? Here's what I know being positive won't guarantee you'll succeed but being negative will guarantee you won't and so often what we believe Determines what we create I went up to speak to the commanders before the playoff series against the Playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year and I went up there and I talked about the power of belief Brotherhood and be you and I said listen guys you believe and that's where you are right now because of your belief You're you're here because of your belief, but every team must rise higher in the belief.

As we reach new levels, we get new devils, new challenges. So your belief must rise higher individually and collectively. And that belief of a team, that staying positive through adversity will define the kind of success you have. So every team's gonna get tested. How do we respond to the test? That's key.

Every family will be tested. Every marriage will be tested. I think too many people give up when they face the challenge. Too many give up when they face that setback. And because it's hard, they give up. No, we're not supposed to give because it's hard. We're supposed to stay focused and positive and stay encouraged to overcome the discouragement that makes us give up. The positive thing, I wanna stay on it for a sec. Why I think this matters. Let's set sports aside.

Let's just do like personal relationship for a second. Okay, you're building a family. That's hard. When you're really in that disagreement phase to stay positive, you and I both struggle with that. We, you know that it's not easy for either one of us, but one of the reasons that it's so important and I want you to talk about this, it's not in the book. I want us to talk about it is the damage done when you're not, that

can become irreversible. So if you're building a company, for example, and it's gone bad and the leader, cause I've done it, doesn't stay positive and attacks, accuses, blames. And if you're not careful, you can say something in those moments in the difficult dark times in your company or in your marriage or to your children. That is unforgettable. And although your relationship may get better, it'll never be the same one. It was before you said those things in the negative.

Does that make sense? Yeah, big time. And so let's just unpack that a little bit. I want your thoughts on that because stay positive. Right. The ramifications of not at least attempting to trend in that direction can ruin a long-term business relationship. They can alter the direction and the destiny of a personal relationship as well, my opinion. If you don't at least have a commitment

that we're gonna try to stay positive and stay out of the negative. As a relationship, as a family, as a business, I do a lot of work in positive leadership. My mission is to develop positive leaders who make a positive impact in every business school, team, organization, and community. Now people think positive leadership is about hunky dory and being kind all the time and generous. No. Positive leaders are

demanding. They're just not demeaning. And there'll be moments when we need to be demanding, but we can't be demeaning. There'll be moments when we are frustrated, but we can't allow our frustration to cause us to say things that we wish we didn't say. So often we do it because we're activating the reptilian part of our brain. And if you know anything about a reptile, it will never love you, it's all about survival.

Well, when you're in survival mode and you're activating the reptile, it actually hijacks the rational part of the brain called cortical inhibition. So it hijacks it, and you say things you wish you didn't say you act in ways You normally wouldn't act and so it's actually the reptile reptile, but only works once As an excuse like my reptile ate this positive dog part of the brain And only works once as an excuse and and the key is to know that okay, just

Really be intentional know that you have a quarter second at every moment, a quarter second to override the reptile with what I call the positive dog, the loving, rational, kind part of your brain. And you have that quarter second. So we have to just slow down, take a deep breath and be intentional. And there have been moments when I wanted to say something

and I didn't. Maybe a better lead in that moment. There have been times when I said things I wish I didn't say. And you can't take it back as you said. You can only apologize afterwards. And as a leader, there are moments that you do need to ask for forgiveness and apologize.

There have been moments with my kids where I said, you know what, I said that, I'm sorry, it was in the heat of the moment, I wish I didn't say that. Can you forgive me? And you're right, they'll never forget you saying that. And there are moments I'll be driving or walking and thinking, God, why did I say that?

God, I wish I didn't do that. God, I wish I was a better person than like I am now. But we also have to give ourselves grace. Some grace. And know that it's not who we were, it's who we're becoming. And along the way, no one is perfect. We all have flaws.

And I think if the kids that you have see Your flaws, but they know you're working and getting better that allows them to see that they're not perfect Too and they can get better as well by the way, which is commitment for in the book committing to get better, right? I gave a Talk a couple weeks. No, I was actually getting interviewed a few weeks ago the guys like well You're just a leadership guru and you've built these businesses and podcasts and stuff. And I said, I'm gonna be really honest with you. And it was just, the older I get,

the more I'm just brutally honest in front of groups too. And I said, I've become pretty convinced I'm not that great of a leader. And the older I get, the older I get, the more I realize what I don't know. Maybe just a skosh of humility sets into my life. And the older I get, the older I get, the more I realize what I don't know. Maybe just a skosh of humility sets into my life. The more I'm, I wasn't a great leader.

I was a inspirational leader, but I wasn't a great leader. I could have treated people better. I could have been more patient. I could have been more tactical. I could have spent more time. There's just so many things. And I'm not a great leader, but I do want to get better.

And I'm committed to getting better. And I've been committed to getting better for quite some time. And so when you first gave me the copy of the book, which was many, many months ago, and I'm like, commitment to getting better. Man, I don't know which one's the most important commitment, but for me, if we can have a commitment in our family

or in our company, right, or in our team, I'm going to get better. I'm always trying to get better. And I know that's your intent. To me, that opens up a lot of room for grace and a lot of room for growth. So I just want you to talk about that. I see it all the time.

I am not the best leader either. It's ironic. I'm the best at helping leaders become better. Like that's what I'm great at, helping a leader build their team. I believe I've worked with more leaders and helped them build more teams than just about anybody on the planet.

So I'm great at that. But I am not a great leader. And I say it all the time, which is ironic to me. I'm not a great leader. I watch these leaders. I work with these leaders and I go man They are great. You spend time with dabba swinney. He is a great leader I was just saying that to zack johnson a couple weeks ago. I ran into my go. Let's talk about dabbo

I don't know if there's a better leader anywhere spend time with shawn mcbake great leader So corey close great leader alan mallele Who turned around ford and and Boeing spend time with him great leader I'm not that kind of leader but but the goal as you said is to always get better and my team the other day actually Said to me John. We know you're working at it. We can tell mmm, because you write about positive leadership This is your mission and we know your struggle But we can tell you are really working at it and actually putting your own principles into practice.

I had to do it during COVID. I lost a hundred percent of my business during COVID in three days, three days. That was a tough time. Let's talk about commitment. Yeah. Putting this into practice and I'm walking around the house going, every text was coming in canceling one more event after another I was like darn it darn it next day I'm like damn damn next day I'm like shit

yeah my wife goes it's gonna be okay John I said no it's not it's not no John it's gonna be okay go no no we're done like we're losing everything she goes aren't you the guy that writes these positive books? Don't you tell everyone how to stay positive like the ashes, you know follow your own advice I made a decision in that moment a commitment that I was gonna stay positive and get better During that time during kovat It was a defining moment in my life to get better and to stay positive during that time got my team to do the same And we started putting out a lot of positive messages to the world talked to a guy the other day a new client

He said we had 500 people during that time. They were reeling they were in deep trouble They started listening to my messages that I was putting out there because I made that commitment He said John it was huge for us. We stayed positive. We now have 3,500 employees Thrive and doing better than ever the commitment to staying positive and get better. So to getting better We all have something we need to improve upon and here's the thing about getting better Like we're not always gonna be at 100% I know that you're not at 100% right now. I'm at 100% We're always dealing with something but we can always give a hundred percent of what we have

So even if you're at seventy percent. Hmm give a hundred percent of this You know a hundred percent of what you have in that moment that day It's very good. Give your best in order to get better and then every day as a team ask, what are we doing? Well? What can we do better? And what are we learning that will make us better if we ask those three questions every single day as a team Individually and collectively we will get better as a team You just got to ask those questions and then as a team you have to challenge each other There are times when you have to call your friend up and say hey, I don't see you being your best

I don't see you getting better. Here's what I noticed Here's what I believe you can do and you encourage but also challenge your teammates, your friends and others in order to get better. We need people who are going to speak truth in our lives to get better and great teammates, great teammates speak truth to each other in love in order to help each other get better. Hey guys, like my shirt? Guess where I got it? Quince. Yep, Quince is an awesome place to go get first class quality stuff, first class suitcases, clothes, gear, you name it, at affordable prices. Like lightweight shirts and shorts from $30, pants for any occasion, comfortable lounge sets, with premium luggage options and durable duffel bags to carry it all. The best part, all Quince items are priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands.

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with a message about love. Yeah. It's interesting that you walk into these very masculine locker rooms with a message about love. Yeah. Right. And so it was literally probably at the core of what I wanted to get to today. And you just said it. So there's seven commitments of a great team, guys. But this concept overall, his philosophy involving love.

So if I say the term love to you, you would say what as it comes to building teams and elevating performance. Great teams love each other. And because you love each other, you're going to serve and sacrifice for each other. Love is about being sacrificial. That's real love. Sacrificial.

It's going to cost you something. Commitment is going to cost you something. You're going to have to give your time, your energy, your effort, a piece of you, something maybe you want that the team actually needs and maybe the team the need of the team is more important than what you want. So you're gonna have to sacrifice time, energy, effort, money, something for your team and for others. So there's gonna be a sacrifice and when you love your team and you love the people that you're living with, that love your family and you love who you're working

With you're gonna give to them. So every day when you're committing to your team, you have to ask yourself What am I willing to give and also what am I willing to give up? Because sometimes you may have to give up something For your team. It might be it might be your ego. It might be playing time It might be a higher salary as Tom Brady did to lower salary for your team. It might be your ego. It might be playing time. It might be a higher salary as Tom Brady did to lower his salary for his team. It might be a position in a company,

you want that promotion, but right now your team needs you to be in this role. And so you have to stay in that role. Whatever it may be, there's gonna be a sacrifice to be a great team member and to be a great team. So I think love is sacrifice. I also hear it all the time. Every time a team wins a championship, what do they say?

We loved each other. We cared about each other. It's always about relationship. And when you know that there's love, there's also trust. And then there's commitment. And because there's commitment, you're willing to fight for each other. You're willing to go to battle together.

You will sacrifice for each other you're willing to go to battle together you will sacrifice for each other so a big part of this book is committing to each other yeah you commit to the vision and mission yes you can commit to staying positive but committing to each other like you and i ed are going to battle like i know this like i would commit to you in a heartbeat and and i would fight for you and the friend you've been for me. I will die for you. Likewise. I would I know that I know that about you too. That is to me. That's that's real commitment. That's real friendship. That's a real bond That's real trust and that leads to real high performance. Yeah, real success. So so you show me a team that loves each other I'll show you a team that's stronger and willing to go into the battle. So it's not soft Like I always tell teams love the battle. Yeah love

competing against your competition Love the moment and commit to the person in front of you Commit to your team commit to the moment that you're in in that moment if you do that, right? You'll rise higher. You'll help your team rise higher So so it's all about the love we bring. And the great thing about love is also it casts out fear. So the minute you focus on love, fear dissipates. So if fear is your enemy, which it is, and fear is holding you back, how do you counter

fear? How do you overcome fear? It is through love. So the more we focus on love, fear has no power over you. Gosh, you know how right he is, you guys. By the way, just think about that in your business right now or the team you're building. Do they really deeply know how much you love them and do you have commitments like this? Like don't just casually you're driving in your car, you're on the treadmill, you're

on your walk. That's good information. Process it through your own life. We go to a new dentist here in town. When you walk into this place, in fact most of the ladies that are in that office can actually came and saw me speak, which, you know, probably helped me be number three in the world, according to you. And the top three. I'm not saying you're not number one. But so, but every time I go in this place, this is so strange to say about a dentist place. You ever walk in a business, you just feel love. Yeah, regardless of what it is, it could be a sandwich shop, a pizza place, it could be a dry cleaners. It's my dentist. These women love each other. There's a I'm sure it's set by the tone of

the leader, the way they care for one another. They're all very different too. I can tell their backgrounds are different. I actually like going to the dentist, which is rare. It's rare. And it's just there's a loving environment. They treat you loving, they treat one another loving. It's just, do you have that? You go, well, it doesn't really fit. I'm in the day trading business.

Yes, it does. Yes, it does. It does. And if you don't have that, you're missing one of the commitments of a great team. You're missing an element that could cause you to go to the next level. This is not casual.

Okay, is it Nito Cobain? What's his name? Nito, Nito Cobain. What's his name? Nito Nito. OK. He's a leader that I know that you admire, John Maxwell. And and he's he's actually I had him come speak to our firm before many, many years ago. So I want to ask you a question. You mentioned him to me as someone that you really admire as a leader. You've mentioned Dabo Sweeney, who is the coach, football coach at Clemson,

but if you're not a sports fan and and he's mentioned Sean McVeigh, he's mentioned coaches that a lot of you wouldn't know my name. I love him. Okay, Sean McVeigh is the coach of the Rams. I happen to have met all of these people as well. For you, what's the through line with the, just take those three.

What's the through line so that, if I say that to you, great leader, what are you thinking? You know what Dabo has that Sean also has that Nito has? What is the through line? I can tell you what it is for me after you answer. Really? Yes.

And it'll be different than yours. It's who they are. It's their character. It's their integrity. It's their essence. There's an essence about them and they all believe bigger. They all have a massive vision of what they all believe bigger. They all have a massive vision

of what they wanna accomplish. They also have confidence in this vision and mission. I mean, Nito Cabane turned around high point from a little podunk university to a national powerhouse and well-respected university. There's not many people in the world that could actually do that. Pretty incredible.

Daboswini turned Clemson, which is a good team, but they weren't huge at the time, into a national powerhouse. No one expected that he could do that, and he did that. Chameleon comes in to the Rams and turns around the Rams. If I had to pick though, it would be belief and optimism. They all have this incredible belief and optimism. Obviously that's my my core message It's yep. It's ultimately what I strive to be. Yep. It's what I love talking about. I see that in them. There's there's a belief

Hmm. There's a belief that we can transfer this belief To others and when we transfer it to others they accomplish more than they ever thought Possible. Yeah, and I always think we see in others what we want to see in ourselves Or what we actually know we can be or want to be and for me. I love being an encourager. I love watching people Accomplish more after working with them. I love you do and rise higher. I know you do as well So seeing people accomplish more so so I love leaders who believe in the vision the dream and Also believe in others to accomplish it

Character is that the root of all leadership and you know the three of them better than I do So really closely correlated. This is just a takeaway for everybody all three of them have Unbelievably infectious energy. Hmm There's an energy when you're around a great leader that you feel something that you don't when you're around an average one. There's an energy. That when you're around Dabo, you feel something.

Sean has a very similar energy by the way to Dabo's. It's high, I guess, it's positive, it's intense. Dabo's is slightly different. And even when he spoke, I mean, he was already a, he wasn't a young man when he spoke, I'm like this guy's energy level is enthusiasm is it's it's contagious energy is contagious and John's probably most famous book until this one it's called the energy bus and so I have to tell

you that when you're a leader of a team I think one of the if there was an eighth or ninth commitment it would be to high energy it would be to making people feel something when they're around you and being intentional about this energy, feeling it. You can't create great energy unless it's actually an outcome of yours. It's actually something you're focused on is pouring energy into people. So that's one of the things I would take from them. It's one of the things, like when I think of friends of mine that I love like you, like

it's just great energy. Like I feel energy from you. I feel like loving and belief and wisdom. That's the energy I feel. You're always making people feel something. And most people are oblivious to that fact. They're more oblivious. They're more about, well, I made this speech or I said this, these are our six

tactics, these are our core values. All that's great. What do you make people feel go to speaking? People tell me all the time when you speak man. He just made me feel a certain way I know when I speak it's the energy that people feel positive energy Maybe I'm gonna be the best speaker may not even have said the best thing that day And yet when you smile as a speaker When you are contagious when there's an essence,

when people know you care about them and you're there to serve them and add value to them, they feel your energy. You just woke something up in me in a big way. And it really isn't the energy bus. I wrote about energy being contagious and enthusiasm. I wrote that book so long ago I forgot. But it is like essential, I guess.

The energy you bring to your team. And I think that's why so many leaders in business and sports and non-profits and healthier have resonated with the energy bus because they all know we need to bring energy to our organization, to our company, to our customers, to our community. And it's the energy you bring.

You are energy. Thank you. I am energy, right? And every day, what kind of energy are we? Bring it's when you see a leader in their prime compared to when they're past it You look at videos of Steve Jobs in his prime There was an energy of vibration to the guy that was incredible when you look at your favorite political figure as a president in their prime They're best moments

They bring a particular energy that you feel and I think it's one of these invisible things It's got to be a commitment that you make to your point in the book. But why do they lose it? As you're saying that Ed, I'm thinking like what you said earlier in the interview they forget why. Yeah why do they lose it because John Maslow we know at 77 still has the energy. Because I don't think he still has it. I think his calling is so high it's got to do with the kingdom that he's never forgotten why. You said this in the very beginning here is one of the first sentences you said is that when you forget why you forget why you started your purpose and kingdom that he's never forgotten why. You said this in the very beginning, here's one of the first sentences you said,

is that when you forget why, when you forget why you started, your purpose and your reason, and the longer you're a leader, you're carrying, here's the thing everybody, this may be one of the most important things you're ever gonna hear. A leader's job is to carry the emotional burden

of the company, of the business and of the family. If you're the leader of your family, and what falls on you? The emotional load. It just does, and usually in a marriage, it falls on one of the two. Doesn't mean a marriage isn't 50-50, but the emotional load, you know exactly what I mean, falls on usually one of the, I'm sure it's great and 50-50 and all that. If you're the leader of a company or a business or a team, it's the emotional burden.

It's the emotional load. It never leaves you, right? If you're a leader of anything, that's the case. And so over time, you get leadership fatigue. If you don't have new whys and a real reason for why you do it, because here's the truth in life, people hurt you, they let you down, they screw you, they lie to you. This is just a fact.

That's the enemy trying to get you off of your mission. He's trying to get you doubting, discouraged, delusional, so you'll delay. Those are the Ds. You have your Ds, right? We've talked about this a million times. And all of this work sort of together is like leaders get fatigued. It's just the emotional burden. And if you don't have a really huge purpose, eventually it just gets heavy.

And by the way, it's subtle. A leader doesn't go from like a level 10 unbelievable to a 2 they go from a 10 everyone listening knows exactly what I'm doing till like an 8.2 most people would never notice you're not the leader you used to be it's invisible but you know you know it's a you still want it quite as bad as you did when you were younger quite as bad as when you were broke quite as bad as before you won the first championship. It's subtle. You don't go from 10 to one. You go from 10 to 10 point or eight point three. It's just subtle. But if you're not careful, eight point three turns into seven point two.

And three years later, you're to six point one. And all of a sudden, you can't even remember that person that was the vibrational leader. And that's why we admire these people, I think. And I think both of us are saying, which is a great conversation for us to talk about everyone here How do we stay that way? How do we keep the fire alive? What would you say passion the burning alive? Well, I would say would you walk and said to me? The crime is not that the passion has run out. It's that you stayed around after it did

And I would say guess what? Don't let it run out. I would say, guess what? Don't let it run out. I would say, find your why. Find a new mission, a new vision. Everyone needs three things. We need a mission, a team, and a scoreboard to keep us going. So what is your new mission?

You retire, find a new mission. You lost an old mission, find a new mission. I don't care what it is, find a mission that wakes you up every day and excites you. And it's usually not going to be about you. It's usually going to be about an impact that you can make a legacy you can leave. And that ultimately is what will drive us in the long run. I wake up every day more fired up than ever. More now than ever, because I have this new mission and vision of developing positive leaders around the world. That's what's getting me going. I would say find your team.

You got to find a team that's going to encourage you, support you, be there for you that will hold you accountable, that will give you life. Because think about it every day you're waking up when you're working for a company, working for your own business, even, and you got a mission and you got this team that you're working with and you're going to battle every single day. And perhaps you sell the company. Now you no longer have that team or perhaps you retired, no longer have the team, or maybe you. Now you no longer have that team. Or perhaps you retired, no longer have the team. Or maybe you got fired, no longer have a team.

You gotta find a team right now that is your squad, that is your crew, you lift each other up. And then you gotta have that scoreboard. What are we chasing? What progress do we wanna make? You're speaking at all these incredible events now with a life search, I love that. And you're telling me, hey, we we just impacted 800 souls and just

500 souls the other day. A thousand here. I'm blown away when I hear that. And that number means something to me. And it means something to you. There's a number even at that level, even when we talk about souls, we still want to know that we're having progress and impact. So have your scoreboard.

Amen. And that progress that you're measuring along the way. And we're actually going to create our own scoreboard now of how many leaders have we developed. And we're starting that now and hopefully the next 20, 30 years we'll be able to measure that and see how many leaders we've developed. I love that. Hey, it's Ed Milet. Let me share something powerful with you. You know, in uncertain times, the smartest people I know protect what they've built. That includes my father-in-law, by the way, who've been buying gold for a number of years up until his passing, and it paid off for him every single time that he did it. And I'm licensed,

so I can't tell you where to put your money, and I would never do that, but I can tell you this. He bought it because gold is timeless, and that's why most of the smart people I know have bought gold. It's real, it doesn't vanish when the market takes a hit. And right now, many smart people I know are investing their money in gold and silver as part of their retirement plan and their future planning. That's why Advantage Gold is a part of our program now. And what I love about what they're doing is they're giving away a free gold and silver investor kit that walks you through exactly how to get started.

Text WIN to 85545 to get your free kit. That's WIN to 85545. Don't wait for the next crash. Be the one who's ready. Protect, prepare, and prosper. Message and data rates may apply. Performance varies. Always consult your financial and tax professional. There's a part of the book that I, that you talk about that I won't let the interview end

because I just think it's a unique perspective. So a lot of people listen to like my team's not disciplined. We're not disciplined. I can't get them disciplined. I can't get them doing what they need to be doing and you have this correlation in the book between devotion and discipline. This guy's like just let this sink in right here. Let this settle in. This is real brilliance to me. This is my favorite concept I believe because so many coaches out there so many leaders like I want my team to be disciplined. And they're yelling at them be disciplined.

And as parents, we were yelling at our kids, be disciplined. But it's not discipline that actually drives us. It's devotion. When you're devoted to something and you truly love it, discipline is a whole lot easier. No one had to make Tom Brady work on his passing. He was devoted to his craft, and because he was devoted to it, that drove his discipline. So if you're trying to be disciplined without devotion,

which many of us do, it's like we're swimming upstream, climbing uphill. It's really hard. It always feels like a challenge and like a grind. But if you're devoted to it, you're still working hard, and there will be times that you're grinding, but you feel like you are just having a current that you you're a part of and you're just riding this current Through this devotion through this power as you're being disciplined in what you do

And so if you truly want to be great You truly want to be your best you truly want to be a great team you got to be devoted to each other and to what you're accomplishing together and individually if you want to be Excellent at what you do. There has to be a devotion to it. It's very good. And the last thing about it, I wanna go through here just to tie it all together, is the fifth commitment in the book is connected

to I think how you become devoted. And I've heard it said this way before and when you sent me the book, I said, I think this is my favorite part of the book. And now that I've read it twice, I don't know what my favorite part is. There's a lot in it that I really, really like. You know why I say I wasn't that great of a leader?

I don't think I was that good at this. Yet as a friend, I'm great at it. Like as I got older, I'm very connected to my friends. So the commitment, by the way, everybody, is the commitment to connect. Just think about all the things in your business or your family, you just kind of do stuff. But are you committed to connecting on a deeper level in your marriage with your children with your team with your

business? Like, are you and then like, if you are like, what are you doing about it? What's your plan? What's your strategy? Right? So the commitment to connect as a team, the more connected you are, the more committed you'll be, because you'll never have commitment without connection And so when there's a connection there's trust and there's a bond. There's a relationship. There's love There's a feeling of oneness which we talked about previously in our other podcast So when you have that oneness and connection you now have power as a team and in too often where we're not connected

We're going through life disconnected disconnected families broken relationships Broken marriages so many teams out there are disengaged and disconnected and they're in despair And that's why they're actually suffering and not performing well, so it's simple. I mean we just have to make the time Intentionally to connect initially and what I love about this book is I actually gave some really good exercises in the book that you follow this team Learning how to connect together and as they do you see the impact of that connection You see the personalities come out as well, which there will always be personalities come out But as the connection happens you watch this team become stronger We're united and we're powerful together and that will be the same thing if you take the time to

Intentionally connect as a leader. Here's let's make it practical as a leader more united and more powerful together. And that will be the same thing if you take the time to intentionally connect. As a leader, let's make it practical. As a leader, connect with one person that you lead on your team every day in a meaningful way. Just pick one person every day and connect with them five, 10 minute conversation. How you doing? Not about business, how you doing?

What are you working on? You know, you're struggling with this, how can I help? And have a nice conversation with that team member and connect with them foster connection amongst your team see great leaders don't just connect individually and collectively. They also get their teams to connect. And that's why I wrote this book. It's for a leader to get their team more connected. So as a leader, what are you doing on a

daily basis to foster the connection amongst your team members? And so for us during kovat for instance, we got together once a week and we did team-building exercises We were intentional about it. You can't just allow it to happen. You will drift towards your culture You won't create your culture unless you actually do it and connect and make it purposeful and intentional So every week do a team-building exercises and in the book I wrote about the five H's which is my favorite, which is who's your hero? What's a hardship you face that made you who you are today? What's a highlight that you are proud of?

What's hilarious? Make it fun. And then what do you hope for? As each person goes around and shares their five H's, I guarantee every team that does this at any level will become a stronger more united Connected team what happened is vulnerability Paves the way for this connection the walls of pride and ego come crumbling down and now you get to know each other

And now you want to fight for each other really good John the five H's To connect thank you for doing this today. I love thanks for having me brother. This is really good It's fun really good every time Isn't it easy when you have a good friend on it's a cakewalk everyone You're welcome, by the way, because this was good everybody Um, if it's good enough for the washington redskins the clemson tigers the colorado rockies You name it the los angeles rams It's probably good enough for you, right? Go get the seven commitments of a great team

by the great John Gordon. I highly recommend you do that today. God bless you everybody. Max out. This is the Ed Myron Show.