The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 072: Jon Gordon - Optimistic People Win More | The Energy Bus

Episode Date: November 16, 2015

Episode 072: Jon Gordon - Optimistic People Win More | The Energy Bus Jon Gordon leads an inspirational life.  He’s had high moments and very low moments.  He openly shares some of the lowest moments of his life as well as the specific thoughts process he developed in order to go from the lowest of lows to an international superstar author and key note speaker. We are extremely fortunate to have Jon share his message with us, the loyal listeners of The Learning Leader Show.  Jon Gordon's best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous NFL, NBA, MLB coaches and teams, Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals and non-profits. He is the author of numerous books including The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Energy Bus, Soup, The No Complaining Rule, Training Camp, and The Carpenter. Jon and his tips have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Fox and Friends and in numerous magazines and newspapers. His clients include The Atlanta Falcons, LA Clippers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Campbell Soup, Wells Fargo, Northwestern Mutual, Publix, Southwest Airlines, Bayer, West Point Academy and more. Jon is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Masters in Teaching from Emory University. He and his training/consulting company are passionate about developing positive leaders, organizations and teams. Episode 072: Jon Gordon - Optimistic People Win More | The Energy Bus Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show “When I hear the phrase Learning Leader, I think YES! YES!” Some Questions I Ask: What are some common characteristics all high achievers share? Why should we strive to be a craftsman instead of a carpenter? What made you write “The Energy Bus?” How was the main character George actually a depiction of you? What mile do most people quit running in a marathon? Why? What are energy vampires? How should we handle them? What does being a learning leader mean to you?   In This Episode, You Will Learn: The importance of vision and why it helps you achieve your goals Changing your viewpoint and how to do it Passion and purpose leading to happiness Designing it. Why you must design it prior to building your business and the life you want Life is a series of marathons and boxing matches If you can see it, you can create it A learning leader? YES!  I love it  “Life is a series of marathons and boxing matches.” Continue Learning: Go To Jon’s website: com Read “The Energy Bus:” The Energy Bus   See why over 67,000 people follow Jon on Twitter: @JonGordon11 You may also like these episodes: Episode 001: How To Become A Master Connector With Jayson Gaignard From MasterMind Talks Episode 034: Jimmy Hatch – Shot While Searching For Bowe Bergdahl And Sky Diving With Gabby Giffords Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts Did you enjoy the podcast? This was a jam packed episode full of great content.  Jon Gordon is a leader who is constantly learning in order to help us all live a better life. Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show! Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell   Bio From JonGordon.com    Jon Gordon's best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous NFL, NBA, MLB coaches and teams, Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals and non-profits. He is the author of numerous books including The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Energy Bus, Soup, The No Complaining Rule, Training Camp, and The Carpenter. Jon and his tips have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Fox and Friends and in numerous magazines and newspapers. His clients include The Atlanta Falcons, LA Clippers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Campbell Soup, Wells Fargo, Northwestern Mutual, Publix, Southwest Airlines, Bayer, West Point Academy and more. Jon is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Masters in Teaching from Emory University. He and his training/consulting company are passionate about developing positive leaders, organizations and teams.

What is it that pops in your mind when you hear the phrase learning leader? Honestly, it's one word. It's yes. I'm like, yes. I love that. Because you know what? Leaders who are learning are leaders who are growing. Leaders who are growing will help others grow.

Leaders who are learning and growing will help others get better. First time I actually thought about this, but I just love the name of it. And my first reaction is, yes, this is what it's all about. If you're a leader who's willing to learn, you will be able to be. become a better leader for your team. So I love it. If we can help leaders learning improve, I feel like that's the key. Are leaders born or are they made?

Our host, Ryan Hawk, believes that leaders can be made through determined, focused work on learning the art and science behind the makeup of other successful leaders. Now it's time to inhale knowledge and exhale success. You're listening to The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk. Hey, and welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk. I would urge you all to go to learning leader.com or you will see a lot of information about the podcast, some testimonials and some deeper show notes in regards to each of my guests. Also put your name and email address into the top of the page.

You'll get some instant feedback and information as well as all of the upcoming news and cool giveaways we are doing. So please go there now and put your name and email on there. I promise you will be happy. you did so. So our featured leader tonight is John Gordon, thrilled to have him here. His best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball teams as well as Fortune 500 companies. He is the author of numerous books, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller, The Energy Bus, Soup, the No Complaining Rule, Training Camp, and the Carliners.

Carpenter. John has been featured on the Today Show, CNN, and Fox and Friends. A couple of the things we got into tonight. Why John loves learning leaders. And specifically why he said yes to doing this show. I think he's the first guest who solely said yes because he loved the title of the podcast. To that, I say awesome. I'll take it. It was great. I love this conversation. Also, what mile do most people quit in a marathon and why. And why is that even an important question to ask? John and I discussed that. And a quick hint to the answer there is that it has something to do with your vision and the vision of the people who are running those marathons and how that metaphor relates to our lives. And then if you find passion and purpose, you don't have to worry about looking for

happiness because happiness will find you. And this is part of John's message and he'll talk more about that on our conversation tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, it's John. Gordon. Okay, John, extremely excited to have you here on the Learning Leaders Show. I know our listeners are as well. Got a quick question to get us rolling. And that's around high achievers, big time leaders. You've been fortunate to spend a good amount of time around some of the best in the world, world-class leaders, people who have done big things in their lives. You obviously are one of those as well.

question is what are some of the common characteristics that those all high achievers seem to share? Well, I know these characteristics well because I wrote a book called Training Camp, what the best do better than everyone else. And I interviewed the best of the best in their field of work and athletes, artists, doctors, nurses, entrepreneurs, you name it. I interviewed these people. And they all share these common characteristics. And one of them was that they knew what they wanted.

They knew what they wanted to create. And if you can see it, you can create it. If you have a vision, you also have the power to make it happen. It all starts, though, with saying, hey, what do I want to build? They also worked harder than everyone else. I mean, hard work has been, is, and always will be the key to success. They have this grit, right? The grit, the willingness to keep on working towards a goal through failure, objection, rejection,

adversity in order to move forward, persevere, to ultimately achieve it. It's having this passion and perseverance for long-term goals is key to success. And then you make others around you better. I mean, the high achievers make everyone around them better, the people they work with. I'll get better when this person improves and grows and they make everyone around them better as well. So that's a big part of it. I also wrote a book called The Carpenter, and I believe a big part of this is being a craftsman instead of a carpenter.

In this book, the carpenter teaches the main character that, hey, I'm a carpenter, but I see my work as a craftsman. A craftsman put their heart, their soul, their passion into the work that they do. They're here building a masterpiece. A carpenter just builds something, but a craftsman creates a work of art. So as you approach your work every day, you see it as a craft that you're focusing on improving and growing every day. I love it.

Are there are a few specific people or faces that pop into your mind when you think of high achievers? Oh, of course. I mean, I think everyone, you know, thinks of Steve Jobs, right? Definitely. In the basketball world, Damian Lillard, Damian Lillard called me after his rookie season, had no idea he had read my book training camp. He said he read it twice to remind himself how hard he would have to work to make it in the NBA. He wins rookie of the year.

He got on to be a superstar. but people don't realize how hard this person has worked to improve his craft and to get better. I think of musicians. You know, you think of Billy Joel and Elton John and these performers and who are continually to improve their craft, even in later years in their life, Paul McCartney, right? Guys who are doing it with a passion and a joy all these years. Now, they're not a one-hit wonder, right? The one-hit wonder fades away.

But the ones who sustain their craft, those are the ones we remember. Those are the ones who leave a legacy. Awesome, man. So I want to dive in a little bit to you, John, and how you've gotten to this point. So there's probably a combination of people here listening. A lot of the listeners have heard of you and seen your work, and then there are a few who have not. And, you know, as I was preparing for our time together, I reread some of your books, and I watched about, I don't know, 35 videos on YouTube of you talking.

So yesterday and today I'm getting all amped up and excited, man, just watching the things that you have put out there on tape. And it really inspired and motivated me, it made me even more excited to do this. So like I said, for those who don't know, you just go search John Gordon on Google and YouTube and you'll get jacked up here pretty soon or read any one of your or multiple bestselling books. But talk to me about how you've gotten to this point to be this bestselling author, to be a world, speaker and everything else in between. Well, first and foremost, I would gather that a lot of people have no idea who I am, and that's okay. So I also feel bad for you that you had to watch that many videos of me.

I didn't have to. I wanted to, man. But, you know, really, I knew that I wanted to write and speak about 13 years ago. I was honestly very unhappy in my life. I was miserable. My wife was not very happy with me. I was just not living. in the life that I wanted to live.

And I remember she gave me an ultimatum. Like, you're not the man I married. You have to change. And it was a huge awakening for me, a huge moment for me, a defining moment where I said, you know what, why am I here? What is my purpose? What am I meant to do? And writing and speaking just kept on coming to me.

And so that began the journey of starting to write and speak. But it wasn't an overnight success. I didn't even know what I was going to write and speak about. But I gradually started to have ideas. started to work with a few organizations. I started to speak more. I wrote the energy bus in 2007. And that book really catapulted me to having a lot of leaders read the book, a lot of organizations read the book. And quite honestly, I'm a lifelong learner, right? So that book started getting out. And as it was getting out to different leaders, I now was working with their organizations. I was

working with NFL teams and NBA teams because coaches were reading the book. And they were asking me to come share the principles. And so as I'm with these, great leaders, I'm now learning what they're doing. I'm learning how they lead. So now I'm a student is learning from all these great leaders and then I'm sharing these principles and these strategies and practices with others. So now having worked with so many leaders, so many companies, so many organizations, so many sports teams, I can go into any organization and I can really tell what their challenges are, what their culture needs, what great organizations do. So I really have been the beneficiary of being a lifelong learner. I love that's what your podcast is all about,

but learning, growing, improving. I was at a leadership conference in Dallas. I'm speaking, and I look over in the front row and who's sitting there, but Zig Zig, couldn't believe it. I ran over to Zig, I said, Zig, one of the big goals on my life was to meet you. And Zig said, you need to have bigger goals. Still sharp after all these years. And while I'm speaking, I look over and Zig was taking notes. At 82 years old, a lifelong learner. And trust It wasn't because I was up there. Anybody could have been up there. He would have been taking notes.

82, lifelong learners, still learning, still growing, still improving. So if you ask me, like, how am I doing what I'm doing? How am I writing all these books? It's because I'm continuing to learn and grow. And then I say, okay, what needs to be said? What needs to be shared? I'm not going to write something unless something needs to be said. I had a publisher say, hey, you got to write a book next year.

I said, no, I'm not writing until I can write something that's meaningful that will impact others. I'm not doing it just to write a book. And that's been my approach. It's awesome, man. So speaking of the energy bus, the main character in that book struggles with negativity and not having the proper attitude and mindset. And you said, I've seen that you've said that that main character was written, it was easy to write because you were writing about yourself. Yes. Can you talk more about that?

Yeah, George was based on me and my own misery, my own negativity, my own struggle with adversity and obstacles. And, you know, my daughter's a senior in high school now, and she just wrote her a college essay. And in the essay, she wrote, when I was young, my family struggled. My mom struggled with her health, and my dad struggled with himself. Wow. And when I read that, I was like, whoa, it really hit me because I did struggle with myself. You know, we all have two dogs inside of us as I write in the energy bus. And whichever one you feed, that's what grows, the positive or the negative dog.

And it's about feeding the positive dog instead of the negative. I was feeding the negative dog. But on this journey, I started to research positivity. I started to practice it. I started to live it. I started to pray. I found faith in my life. It had a huge impact on me and the work that I do and the difference I want to make. I found my purpose as a result of that. And all that has led me to no longer struggle with myself. Now I just want to help others who are struggling. And my daughter wrote about that in yesterday about how she saw me change and how the impact that had on her, our family, and now how she believes that the world can change and other people can change, and she wants to have a positive impact on the world as well.

So I think it's a great example that one positive person who chooses it could really make a difference in the lives of others. So the character George, what he has to go through from negative to positive to turn around his team is basically a story of my life. But, you know, I'm not in the story, but my heart's in the story. Yeah, it's a great book. I encourage people to read it. And it's not shocking that it's done so well and that it's helped propel you to this,

this great career of helping and writing more, speaking more. And you obviously have done a great job from a speaking perspective, too. One thing I picked up on, and I think this could, you know, I try to relate these conversations to as many people as possible who are listening, who could potentially, say, oh, you know what? Like, how can, you know, that sounds great, John and awesome that you're able to, you know, have a rough go out of it, but now you're doing great. What about the people who are just kind of middle of the road?

They're okay. They're not bad. They're not depressed. They're doing fine, but they still are kind of striving for more. And so you said, you know, you listed a number of things that you did. But so think of like a, okay, let me just, I'll just lay it out there. So a 37-year-old accountant. She's a mother of three.

She has a mortgage. Like I said, she's a mom. She has a spouse. Makes pretty good money, but wants to do something bigger with her life. Has some ideas of how she could do that, but isn't really quite sure. It's kind of scared to take a leap outside of her job as an accountant because she makes enough money to pay the bills but is looking for something more. When you come across those people, and I'm sure you do, what is some of the advice you give to them?

Well, I wrote the book, The Seed for those people. And the seed is all about finding your passion and purpose for the work that you do. And it's not about chasing success. It's about deciding to make a difference and success will find you. It's not about seeking happiness because we live in a world right that says, hey, you seek happiness, find happiness. All these books are on happiness. It's about working with passion and purpose and happiness will find you.

And I would say to that person, think about what you truly want. and going back to what does your masterpiece look like from the carpenter? What is your masterpiece? What do you want to design? Because before you can build it, you have to design it. So what is it that you want to create? You have to become clear on that or have that clarity. I also believe that the more you work with passion and purpose,

the more a bigger purpose starts to move through you and you find your purpose. So maybe you're not living your ultimate purpose right now. It doesn't mean you to go quit your job. What it means is find ways to live a bigger purpose in the job that you have. Your job may not be your ultimate purpose, but it can be a vehicle to live and share your purpose. So what you do is you live your purpose and the job you have, you start to look for ways to make a difference to have an impact. And it's amazing. When you do that, it's like you open the floodgates to this bigger purpose that starts to flow through you.

And then you find more opportunities to live and share your purpose in a bigger way. So it's twofold. What do I want? how do I start living my purpose today and find that bigger purpose and then look for opportunities or be open to the opportunities that come your way that allow you to expand your influence expand the difference that you can make in the lives of others that's great advice and so another aspect of things I've said before and I recently saw on like I said I was watching a lot of videos and we talk about a marathon and I like to look at this as playing the long game

whether it's podcasting, book writing, giving speeches, all those things, things that I've done and want to do more of. And you obviously have done and others have other ambitions and visions of what they want to do. But you talk about a marathon. And the people, I know you asked this question when you give talks is when you know, when people quit or stop running a marathon, which mile do you think they stop at? And some would say, oh, maybe it's the first or maybe it's the last. And it's actually the 20th mile that people quit marathon. That's the number one spot where people decide, okay, I've had enough of this.

Talk to me more about why that is and how that metaphor relates to everyone in their lives outside of just actually running a marathon. Yeah, sure. Most people quit in the 20th mile because that's where they lose their vision. Second least amount of people quit in the last mile. You would think they'd quit then because they're tired. They're physically exhausted. They've been running the longest. But think about it.

They don't quit. Why? Because they can see it. because they know they're almost at the end, they keep on moving towards it. But yet in the 20th mile, they quit then. They have been running as long, but it shows that they've lost their vision. So because you lost your vision, you just stop running. You don't move forward anymore.

So the key is to keep your vision alive and what you want to create in your life. You know, just having a vision and keep on moving towards it. You're facing struggles. You're having adversity. You're dealing with obstacles. You know, it took years for the energy bus to become a best element. It took years for me to get out there and start sharing the work. No one who knew I was.

And by the way, my website is John Gordon. J-O-N, not J-O-H-N, because people often think J-O-H-N Gordon, but it's J-O-N Gordon. And again, people can't find me in the web, they maybe never heard of me, they haven't read my books. Even now, I was in New Jersey speaking of shop, nine hundred people in the audience. I said, how many have you read the energy bus? Two people raised their hand. And I thought, okay, this is okay. It's not a challenge, it's an opportunity to share the

this message with more people. And that's what was my approach throughout the whole journey of day and day out, of just going to all these cities that no one would want to stay in these hotels where I stayed at. But sharing the message. So it's that long view, like you said, it's not a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's a series of marathons, a series of sprints combined with a boxing match. We're not just running when we're getting hit along the way. Keep your vision alive. Have the grit. Keep moving forward. Optimism, belief, purpose, passion, hope, love, faith. they'll drive you on that journey of grit to ultimately create success. Man, that's awesome.

So what do you say to people who view this positive psychology with skepticism or all that's just woo-woo and stuff like that? I mean, you hear there are people out there like that. Are those the energy vampires that you say just get rid of rhythm of your life? Or what do you say to those people who are doubting this positivity type talk? Right. Well, the first thing is energy vampires are just, you know, negative, you don't first get rid of them. I think for every one of them, you can hopefully

enlighten them and shift them and maybe even transform them and most of all love them and try to encourage them. But if they're so negative that they're really, really hurting you and sabotaging your career, your life, your team, then at that point you've got to let them off the bus. So there's a fine line, but the ones that really don't get it, you got to let them off. But I think for most of us, we know that positivity has an impact. We know it's better to be positive than negative. We know that there's that hope doesn't matter. We know that when you're optimistic, and the research is now showing this from Duke, University has amazing research with optimistic people.

They work harder. They get paid more. They're more likely to get elected to office than more likely to win in sports. We're all this great research now that shows the importance of that. And I would say those who don't believe in or don't get it or just skeptical of it don't really understand what we're saying here. I think a lot of people maybe are polyanaposit. And that's, they don't like that. But I believe we all agree that positivity is resilience and mental toughness and faith and the

willingness to keep on working towards a goal and a passion and their dream. And I think we really do admire qualities with people like that. False positives, yeah, I don't like them either. Polyana positive, that's not what I'm about. It's about knowing the challenges you face, knowing that you're going to face adversity. How am I going to respond and how is an entrepreneur, will I deal with that? I love it. One more question, John.

It's all around this show. And we've talked about this. It's called The Learning Leader Show. And I know you've mentioned that you love going out and speaking with leaders because they're always learning. So it's kind of a duplicative term. And it is that by definition and by my own reasoning because I love the art and science of leadership. And I love studying people who are lifelong constant learners. And so I thought that's why I would name it what I did.

And I'm really glad that I did name it that. When you hear that phrase, though, What's the very first thing that pops into your mind? Is it a person? Is it a definition? Is it, what is it that pops in your mind when you hear the phrase learning leader? Honestly, it's one word. It's yes.

I'm like, yes. I love that. Because you know what? Leaders who are learning are leaders who are growing. Leaders who are growing will help others grow. Leaders who are learning and growing will help others get better. First time I actually thought about this, but I just love the name of it. And my first reaction is, yes, this is what it's all about.

If you're a leader who's willing to learn, you will become a better leader for your team. So I love it. If we can help leaders learn and improve, I feel like that's the key. I'm all about learning. I'm always reading new books. I'm always trying to grow myself. And then I'm trying to help other leaders grow. So I love it.

That's awesome. And I really appreciate you investing your time here. John, I know you're on an extremely tight schedule. So thank you. Where can everyone go to find you online and on social? Just John Gordon.com, J-O-N-Gordon.com, and Twitter at J-O-N-Gordon 11. Perfect. All right.

Thanks so much again for being here. I highly encourage people to, if you have not heard of John yet, go check out his books. Go to Amazon, Google, look them up and you'll be able to find them and pick them up. They're really good as well as YouTube. And you can watch some of these really positive, great messages. So thanks again, John, for being here. I really appreciate it. Hey, thanks, Ryan.

Appreciate it as well. All right. Talk soon. This episode of The Learning Leader Show is over, but we have plenty more to keep you locked in until next time. Head over to learningleadershow.com for more information and to request your favorite entrepreneur, CEO, world class athlete, or anyone else that inspires you. You can also talk to Ryan directly by reaching out to him on Twitter at Ryan Hawk 12. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time on The Learning Leader Show.