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Episode: Questions to Ask When Developing Leaders

Author: John Maxwell
Duration: 00:38:35

Episode Shownotes

There are a few key questions that John Maxwell asks when he’s beginning to develop leaders, and he’s sharing them with you in this episode! You can ask them of yourself to develop yourself as a leader, and then you can ask them of your people to develop them as

well. After his lesson, Mark Cole and Chris Goede talk about these questions and help you to apply them to your own life and leadership. Key takeaways: Whatever you do well, that’s where you’re going to get your return. Awareness is an important asset in improving your game. So many times, people are working hard, but they have the wrong resources, so you want to find that out for them. Our BONUS resource for this episode is the Questions to Ask When Developing Leaders Worksheet, which includes fill-in-the-blank notes from John’s teaching. You can download the worksheet by visiting MaxwellPodcast.com/DevelopLeaders and clicking “Download the Bonus Resource.” This episode is sponsored by BELAY: Leaders, stop trying to do it all yourself. The best leaders know their limits, operate out of their strengths, and set others up for success. Find freedom with BELAY — pairing you with vetted U.S. virtual assistants so you can focus on what matters. To help you get started, BELAY is offering Maxwell Leadership listeners a free download of their resource, The Ultimate Guide to Working with a Virtual Assistant. This guide has everything you need to get started, grow, and succeed with your new VA. Just text MAXWELL to 55123 for FREE access. References: Watch this episode on YouTube! Learn more about the 5 Levels of Leadership Workshop for your teams! Join Mark Cole for a FREE Day to Grow Call on Dec 17th! Add to your calendar here! Are you a young leader? Take our Next Generation Leader survey and receive The Mentor’s Guide to Everyday Challenges for FREE! Enter the code PODCAST for 15% off of The Leader’s Greatest Return by John C. Maxwell Join the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Shop the Maxwell Leadership Online Store

Full Transcript

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00:01:50 Speaker_02
Welcome back to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others.

00:01:58 Speaker_02
My name is Mark Cole, and today we're gonna have John Maxwell go through and share with you seven questions he asked and that he asked leaders to ask to make sure that they're developing other leaders well.

00:02:12 Speaker_02
You know, one of the greatest things that we as leaders can do is to develop more leaders. It's not to get things done for the company. That's personal and responsible. It's not just to get others to do great things.

00:02:25 Speaker_02
It's to develop leaders who will develop others. That's legacy.

00:02:30 Speaker_02
So after John's lesson, my co-host Chris Godey and I are going to give practical ways that we can apply this lesson of questions to ask when developing leaders, how we can apply that to both your life and your leadership.

00:02:45 Speaker_02
If you would like to download the free bonus resource that goes with this episode, or you would love to watch Chris and I on YouTube, please visit maxwellpodcast.com forward slash develop leaders.

00:02:58 Speaker_02
Also, stay till the end because I'm going to give you an exclusive that is only applicable to our viewers and listeners. Here's John. Grab a pen, piece of paper, and take on the role of developing other leaders. Here's John Maxwell.

00:03:19 Speaker_03
And so as I began to thinking about the fact that I want to help you lead well, and then I want you to help lead other people well, I began to write down a list of questions that I ask when I'm getting ready to develop leaders, and so I want to give it to you, okay?

00:03:35 Speaker_03
And I almost guarantee you that they're going to work for you. You don't have to do every every question. You don't have to answer them all, but answer some of them and you're going to find out what your leadership potential probably really is.

00:03:50 Speaker_03
And they're not in any order priority. So the first question isn't more important than the last one. It's just, these are some questions you want to ask yourself to develop yourself.

00:04:01 Speaker_03
And then when you ask them to develop yourself as a leader, then you want to ask them of your people. So the first one is about motivation, okay? Because we know that to lead well, you have to motivate people well.

00:04:15 Speaker_03
And the question you want to ask for motivation is, you want to look at your people and ask them very simply, what keeps you in the game? In other words, at Ziphra, What keeps you being part of this company? What keeps you as part of this organization?

00:04:30 Speaker_03
And you want to find out what it is. And they may tell you, they may say, well, I love the relationships that I have. OK, that's what keeps you in the game. Somebody said, well, I'm making better money than I ever made.

00:04:40 Speaker_03
OK, that's keeping you in the game. The reason you need to know what the motivation of people is is because leaders lead people differently. They don't lead them all the same. In other words, you tell me what your motivation is,

00:04:53 Speaker_03
and then I'll know how to lead you. I will lead you based upon what motivates you, what excites you. I will lead you according to what you want, not at all according to what my motivation is or who I am or what I want.

00:05:08 Speaker_03
So question number one is a motivation question. It's a good one. What keeps you in the game? Number two is a gifted question. It's about abilities now and giftedness. And the question is, what is your number one strength?

00:05:24 Speaker_03
This really helps develop leaders. You do not develop your leadership and improve your leadership by working on your weaknesses. You develop your leadership by working on your strengths. And so, for example, what is my number one strength?

00:05:44 Speaker_03
I'm very strong in leadership. I'm very strong in relationships. I'm very strong in communication. I don't have a lot of gifts, but I have a few that I'm pretty good at. And so what you do is you ask yourself, what is it that I do well?

00:05:59 Speaker_03
Because whatever you do well, that's where you're going to get your return. So that's where you really maximize your time, your effort, and your energy so that you're going to get the kind of return that you really want in life.

00:06:10 Speaker_03
And so as you look at your leaders, what are their strengths? Because once you find out what their strengths are, now you can begin to position them for those strengths. This begins to be quite beautiful, honestly. So that's how it works.

00:06:27 Speaker_03
What are your abilities? What are your giftedness? So let's find out what your number one strength is. Another question is about teamwork. I love this question because it really works well for me. I think it'll work well for you.

00:06:42 Speaker_03
When you sit down with a player on your team, ask the question, how can we work better together? Now you may say, well, I think we're doing pretty good now. Well, you may be, I don't know.

00:06:54 Speaker_03
But here's what I know, it's a great question because when you ask somebody on your team, how can we work better together? They're going to tell you about yourself. And they may just say to you, you know what?

00:07:06 Speaker_03
I think that if you would show me what you want and be a little bit more clear, I think I could perform better for you. Well, good. I didn't know that. I love the question, what can we do to work better together?

00:07:21 Speaker_03
It's not like, what do you need to do so you're a better team player? It's what do we need to do? There's something that is. Team building, there's something that is very connecting with that question.

00:07:34 Speaker_03
So if you go to your players on your team and ask them that question, they're gonna give you some answers. And when you give those answers, honestly, you're gonna work better together. That's just a fact. Okay, this is an emotional question.

00:07:51 Speaker_03
This is about emotional strength, okay? Because people only succeed if they stay emotionally strong. And so you ask your people, what wears you out? You know, when you get tired, what is it that makes you tired?

00:08:10 Speaker_03
And if you can identify where's that person out, to the place where you say, okay, you can't avoid that, that's part of the business, that's part of life, but when you get to that and you have enough of that, you need to take a break, you need to pull away.

00:08:25 Speaker_03
In other words, awareness is a tremendous asset in improving your game, and awareness is a tremendous asset of not getting burnt out. And so I know what wears me out. And in fact, you know, I do a lot of speaking. I do a lot of writing.

00:08:41 Speaker_03
But if I do too much writing and not enough speaking, I wear out writing. I think, wow, I'm tired of writing. If I do too much speaking, not enough writing, I say, well, you know, I need to write some more. What I need is I need a a balance.

00:08:56 Speaker_03
Now, these are my strengths, but I know what wears me out. And in the area of communication, after I've communicated for several days, I need a break from people. I need to be alone.

00:09:09 Speaker_03
So it's a great question on emotional strength that you need to ask your team. What wears you out? Next question is about teachability. Ask the players on your team, What have you learned recently? Let's talk about what you're learning right now.

00:09:29 Speaker_03
Let's talk about what you're learning about life. Let's talk about what you're learning about business. Now, this is a very, very insightful question.

00:09:39 Speaker_03
Because when you ask a person, what are you learning right now, you're going to find out real quickly if they're learning anything. When you ask that question, your people say, well, I'm sure I'm learning something, and I've got to think about it.

00:09:53 Speaker_03
Can I tell you something? They're not increasing their growth in learning like they could.

00:09:59 Speaker_03
You know, when you ask a person what they're learning right now, they'll look at you, and if they're really learning, they'll say, well, you know, I just picked this up in the last week, and it's really helping me.

00:10:08 Speaker_03
And it gives you insight, again, if they're growing or if they're not growing. It's a great question. This is a resource question that you need to ask your people, and it's just very simple. What's the best resource I can give you?

00:10:24 Speaker_03
that would help you succeed? I love this question. In fact, every year with my inner circle, about the end of November, I send them an email. And bottom line is this, what area would you like to grow in next year?

00:10:44 Speaker_03
You tell me there you want me to help you in mentoring you. Hey, what tool do you need? What resource do you need to help you to literally go to the next level?

00:10:53 Speaker_03
You know, if you're trying to cut a tree down, you don't want to give them a baseball bat, you want to give them an ax. So many times people are working hard, but they have the wrong resource. They have the wrong tool.

00:11:04 Speaker_03
So you want to find that out for them. Another question, and maybe this will be the last one. It's a great question. It's a networking question. Who do you know that I should know? Let's talk about it.

00:11:18 Speaker_03
Is there somebody that you know that maybe we could get them into the company? Is there somebody that you know that if I had a lunch with them, I would learn from them? Or let me tell you somebody I know that could help you.

00:11:32 Speaker_03
Here's what I know about this question. I've asked this question hundreds of times, and when I ask who do you know that I should know, It has led me to some of the most important people in the world. And I've been surprised.

00:11:47 Speaker_03
I mean, it was literally a high school principal that I asked, who do you know that I should know? And he said, you ought to know John Wooden, the great leader, teacher, basketball coach. And I began a relationship with him.

00:11:59 Speaker_03
Ask that from a high school principal. Who do you know that I should know? So when you look at your team, these are some questions you can ask. You ask these questions so you can find the answers, so you can develop those leaders. And I know you will.

00:12:17 Speaker_01
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00:12:59 Speaker_01
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00:13:18 Speaker_02
Hey, welcome back. The quote from Harvey Firestone just sums it up. He says, it's only as we develop others that we permanently succeed. And Chris, I like that from Mr. Firestone, and let me tell you why. We've committed our life to this.

00:13:32 Speaker_02
Developing others, right? I mean, that's what we eat, sleep, drink, wake up in the morning, stay up late at night doing. And this whole concept of questions to ask when developing leaders, I've been developed by John, you've been developed by John.

00:13:47 Speaker_02
I feel like John took me from a clump of something and crafted this leader out of it. You feel the same way about John in this environment.

00:13:55 Speaker_02
And you not only feel that same way, you literally travel the world teaching what we call the five levels of leadership. Now, I'm going to let you talk about five levels of leadership in just a moment.

00:14:04 Speaker_02
But this level four is what we're talking about today, how we develop leaders. And these are seven questions that John challenges us to develop others.

00:14:14 Speaker_02
So now Chris is not going to go off the fly here because literally Chris just a couple of weeks ago was with over 250 leaders in a billion dollar company, teaching them the five levels of leadership. It's kind of what you do.

00:14:28 Speaker_02
So talk to us just real quickly on the five levels of leadership. Tell us how that applies to this fourth level. And then I want you to do one more thing. I'm giving you assignments right here.

00:14:40 Speaker_02
Tell everybody else, because you work with companies of 50 people, again, thousands and thousands of people like you were just with on the five levels of leadership, and you'll come serve them with this. Tell us a little about five levels.

00:14:52 Speaker_02
Tell us how it applies to this fourth level right here, and then tell us how to get in touch with you and your team.

00:14:57 Speaker_04
Well, I appreciate that. I'm going to make this quick because we want to get to some really good content that are questions that lead to developing people. Mark and I had a conversation years ago, and I'll never forget it.

00:15:07 Speaker_04
I said, man, I'm so passionate about the methodology and the model of five levels of impacting the culture and changing and enhancing leaders inside organizations.

00:15:16 Speaker_04
If there's not a role for me tied to that, then maybe I need to go find another way to go do developing people because I'm so passionate about it. And John created this model that I don't know, Mark, it's probably 27, eight years old.

00:15:29 Speaker_04
And now I see it as a common language that people begin to believe in their behaviors are there inside organizations. It's simply this, level one is you lead people because you're a title, period, right? It's great, we all start there.

00:15:41 Speaker_04
It's given to you by the organization. Hey, thanks leader. Hey, thanks individual contributor. But you can't stay there with people. Level two, we talk about how do you connect with them?

00:15:49 Speaker_04
How do you build relationships so that they give you permission to lead them? Level three is, man, we gotta get things done if we wanna have a company. So we gotta produce together. What does that look like?

00:15:58 Speaker_04
And then this is what we're gonna talk about today. Many of you that are listening are big followers of John and you understand the law of the lid.

00:16:05 Speaker_04
What I see, Mark, in organizations around the world and in teams, the lid inside organizational development is sitting right above level three. They understand I got a job, I got to connect with people, and then I got to produce for my payroll.

00:16:17 Speaker_04
They don't understand. The growth of their company and their team in the organization is the fact that they won't go to that next level, which is what we're going to talk about today is developing other people.

00:16:28 Speaker_04
How are you reproducing leaders inside your organization? I don't have time. I don't have the resources.

00:16:33 Speaker_04
No, I'm telling you, we have seen it time and time again at level four is when you get to the point where you reproduce other leaders, you will grow level four influence. Then finally level five is John talks about the pinnacle level.

00:16:45 Speaker_04
Those are leaders that have been in your life. Some of the greatest leaders you ever had where.

00:16:49 Speaker_04
if they text you right now and said, hey, I need something, which by the way, you did it earlier, you're gonna get up and leave no matter what you're doing. We often say at level one and five is given to you.

00:16:58 Speaker_04
One's by the organization, five's by the people you've led. The work is done at levels two, three, and four. We're gonna talk about how to do some of that work today at level four. Before I do, real quick.

00:17:09 Speaker_04
If you have a leadership team, you're interested, I have an incredible team. We'll come, we'll speak to your leadership team, we'll do a keynote, whatever. Go to maxwellleadership.com.

00:17:19 Speaker_04
forward slash five levels, either the number or the word, just in case you mess it up, there'll be a form there and we would love to respond.

00:17:25 Speaker_02
So if they want you to come talk to their team, if you want to, they just want to get on the phone and talk five levels, same thing leaders. I just want to catch this because this is so important.

00:17:34 Speaker_02
We're, we're wrapping up a year and we want a better year next year. I don't care if you had an Epic year this year, you want a better year next year. We can come in and help you with your leadership culture.

00:17:42 Speaker_02
We can come here and help you with your leadership development structure and plan. And that is at maxwellleadership.com forward slash five levels number or spell it out. Love it.

00:17:54 Speaker_02
I know you're going to get some people to call, so don't take too long on Christmas break. I need you here. Okay.

00:17:59 Speaker_04
This is what we're passionate about is developing other people. So let's talk about this content real quick. I love the fact that John is saying, Hey, here's some really simple questions. Here's seven questions for you.

00:18:09 Speaker_04
that are going to get you started to truly understanding the other person and how to develop them, right? And he starts right out of the chute. What keeps you in the game?

00:18:18 Speaker_04
There are a lot of people that are on your team right now that are around you and your influence that you have no idea what keeps them in the game. And by the way, they might not either.

00:18:28 Speaker_04
Because the longer you've been doing what you're doing, the more unaware you become of who you are and how you show up. Well said. So it's your job as a leader.

00:18:36 Speaker_04
And I want you to think back and give just some thoughts, some example of saying, man, you've worked with a lot of leaders. You've developed a lot of people.

00:18:44 Speaker_04
I've even challenged you before in the past where you said, I don't think I'm a level four leader. And I said, I'd like to argue with you. You loved the debate. So we had a good conversation. I think that's the only one I ever won.

00:18:53 Speaker_04
But when you're asking people around you, whether they are donors on our nonprofit side, whether they're business people you and John serve, whether it's your team that you lead here, man, what keeps you in the game?

00:19:04 Speaker_04
That's why we had the conversation at lunch about, man, for me, Mark, what keeps me in the game is five levels of leadership, developing other people, it being an organizational culture methodology that will change your life, and I want to be a part of that.

00:19:16 Speaker_04
When I shared that with you, then automatically you knew, right, how to better develop me.

00:19:21 Speaker_04
Give some thoughts and just some examples around what drives you in different areas of the business and your leadership to make sure you understand what it is that keeps those individuals in the game.

00:19:31 Speaker_02
Yeah, for me personally, what keeps me in the game, I'll be really quick, but then I want to talk about how you extract that out of developing people, okay?

00:19:39 Speaker_02
What keeps me in the game is very, very much a gift that I received at 33, and that is clarity on what I wanted my life to be about. I knew at 33, just as crystal clear as I'm talking to you now, what I wanted my life to be about.

00:19:56 Speaker_02
Not everybody has that, but everybody should stay with it until they get that. Get clear. It's like you came to me that day and said, Mark, I'd love to be on your team, but let me be really clear.

00:20:05 Speaker_02
I want to be on your team doing what I already know, because I've already tried two or three other gigs, and I know what I like, what I don't like.

00:20:10 Speaker_02
There was a maturity to that conversation that let us get somewhere quick, and we're still here and thriving. Get clarity because you having clarity will help you better than anything in the world. Now, enough about me.

00:20:24 Speaker_02
Let me talk about the same exact thing for others. They need clarity. We use tools like PPFs, personal professional financial goals. We're constantly having going questions. You do this some of the best.

00:20:39 Speaker_02
I talk to people that report to you, people in your side of the organization. Chris is always talking to me about what's on my dream bucket list, what's on my wish list, what's in my dream pail, what do I want to accomplish?

00:20:52 Speaker_02
You need to be having those kind of conversations as much as you have production conversations. Too many people, back to what you said about level three, Too many people intuitively, instinctively go to level three.

00:21:06 Speaker_02
What are you doing for the organization? Without asking the question, what's the organization doing for you? You have got to have conversations. What can this organization do to help you accomplish what's inside of you?

00:21:18 Speaker_02
And when I first asked people that, all the time, they had this deer in the headlights look. I don't know what's inside of me. Yeah, you do. You just don't feel safe enough to say it.

00:21:27 Speaker_02
So now we spend a lot of times creating safety for people to be able to say it and without feeling like me saying this is going to be punitive that I'm not doing something right. So you got to create that safe space for conversations like that.

00:21:41 Speaker_02
Then you got to get that clarity. Once you have clarity, you've done everything. because now it's just putting a plan together. Now it's putting accountability to the plan.

00:21:48 Speaker_02
Now it's putting growth to the plan to where, because half the people, it certainly happened to me, that I work with, they had no idea where their life would be once they started being intentional with the clarity they got.

00:22:04 Speaker_02
It's almost like climbing Everest or climbing a mountain. You get to the mountain only to see a mountain range you never knew was there. And you want to go climb the next hill and the next hill.

00:22:14 Speaker_04
Yeah, let me say this. I know it's true here inside our organization, but for leaders out there, as you approach this, like Mark's talking about. Make sure you have a pure motive behind why you're doing it.

00:22:24 Speaker_04
Because where we're at, we want to make sure everyone is led well because they deserve to be led well. And you can't lead them well if you don't do what Mark's talking about, right? You've got to do that. You've got to help pull it out of them.

00:22:37 Speaker_04
They probably already know, to Mark's point, they probably haven't worked in too many environments where they felt safe sharing that. And so I want to encourage you to be able to do that. Man, what keeps you in the game?

00:22:45 Speaker_04
That's a great, easy question to start that conversation in order for you to begin to learn them a little bit better. Another question he talks about, I want to give a personal example between you and I that just came to mind.

00:22:56 Speaker_04
It's weird to sit here talking. I hope you don't mind because I'm going to do it anyways. But how can we work better together? There was a time, because we worked together a long time, where we're similar, but yet we lead differently.

00:23:07 Speaker_04
And you were like, man, I'm not understanding why you're not doing this. And I know you're frustrated with me because I do this, whatever.

00:23:14 Speaker_04
Okay, you're right, hey, I need 30 minutes of your time, Thursday morning, come in early, before anybody else, I wanna talk to you about how we can work better together.

00:23:23 Speaker_04
And I don't know if you remember this, we were in a different building up on the whiteboard and I took your personality profile, I took mine, I took how we were bent and I said, this is what's happening and I feel like we're doing this, we're doing this, but if we just change these three things, and then I said, Mark, in order for us to work better, because I'm reporting directly to you as a team, this is what I need for you.

00:23:41 Speaker_04
I'm a little bit more of a processor than you are, So if you want me to contribute, give me a heads up before a meeting and I'll come ready to contribute. Right.

00:23:49 Speaker_04
I went through all this, that immediately, that question of me, man, go, go to just tell me that's my last name. By the way, we, we use it.

00:23:56 Speaker_02
Yeah. Yeah.

00:23:57 Speaker_04
Yeah. Goody. I just, I need us to work better, better together as a team. And so you and I kind of worked through that. And all of a sudden we said, Oh man, look, yeah, that this is where we're missing it right here.

00:24:06 Speaker_04
And that meeting coming out of that empowered me. and it empowered you for us to lead each other at a completely different level. And I'll remember it to the day that I moved.

00:24:16 Speaker_02
So it's so funny. It's so funny. I absolutely remember the first front office, you were sitting there, you had to move some stuff off the board because you had a ton of stuff more and said, let me show you this right here. I remember it distinctly.

00:24:28 Speaker_02
Let me pull out of what you just did, because that is a brilliant example of developing the leaders around you, developing leaders. Forgive me for doing this for just a moment, but let's note the reporting structure. I'm the boss.

00:24:43 Speaker_02
I've got the responsibility to develop Chris. Notice how he said it happened. He called me in his office and he said, this is what it's going to take to get the best out of me.

00:24:55 Speaker_02
Whoa, how many leaders will take a risk to talk to a leader in a reporting structure above them like that? Not many, you did.

00:25:05 Speaker_02
How many leaders, forgive me for just a moment while I break my arm patting my back, how many leaders are confident enough to be told by somebody that reports to them what they need to do better to help that person that reports to them lead better?

00:25:20 Speaker_02
Not many. The dynamic of creating an environment to where you can have those upfront intentional conversations is everything. Because you didn't feel unsafe with that, you felt very affirmed and confident in that.

00:25:38 Speaker_02
And I came out with so much clarity that if it would have been left up to me, the leader, to come up with that, I wouldn't be able to do it. Your processing mind is what came up with that solution.

00:25:49 Speaker_04
But it started with you saying, We got to figure out how to work better together. You started with the question, but then you, you were, you postured in a way to say, no, man. Okay, great. Yeah, let's do it. What you got, let's learn from it. Right.

00:26:01 Speaker_04
So you started with that question and man, one of the greatest things John, you know, wrote a book leader's greatest return. I love this. It cracks me up.

00:26:08 Speaker_04
I go in, I'm in the business world a lot and they're like, Oh, so you're going to, you're going to show me like an art. Where's the financials and the EBIT is going to increase because we're going to develop. I can't wait to read this book.

00:26:16 Speaker_04
And I'm like, yeah, you dig into that book, right? Because it's not about that. It's about developing the people.

00:26:22 Speaker_04
And for you, one of the greatest returns on your investment in me at level four and where we're at now today and my leadership, your leadership has to do with that question you asked, how are we going to work better together?

00:26:33 Speaker_04
So this is a great question for leaders to be able to do that. By the way, let's just take a little squirrel trail for a minute. Both Mark and I are married to incredible women, strong leaders. By the way, some of these questions work at home too.

00:26:45 Speaker_04
And I would just challenge you to be asking those questions, because you're not developing, but you're working together as a family and as a family unit. There's so much practicality to John's principles that I want to make sure you guys understand.

00:26:55 Speaker_04
Your children, everything that goes along with that.

00:26:57 Speaker_02
Well, I'm watching you. You're raising leaders. I mean, you just did this incredible memory-making experience with your daughter just in the last month. I'm intentional asking these questions of Macy. You're intentional asking questions.

00:27:10 Speaker_02
I've started asking them with my three grandsons, which I get more out of my two-year-old granddaughter than I do these three grandsons that's older than her. That's probably what she's the favorite. Let's not go there. But Yes.

00:27:23 Speaker_02
Using these questions to just develop leaders wherever you are.

00:27:26 Speaker_04
Yeah. It'll be your greatest, I promise, your greatest return when you do that. Now, I want to move us into the third, one third, I want to pull out a question that John talked about. This is something I've heard you talk a lot about lately.

00:27:39 Speaker_04
And John talked about it here. He said, what have you learned recently? I've heard you tie this to three words that I just want you to unpack that I think are really important as you think about developing people around you.

00:27:52 Speaker_04
You talk a lot right now about accountability, responsibility, John added here, teachability. I think all of those come into that, right?

00:27:59 Speaker_04
Because when you're accountable, you take responsibility, you better be ready to learn something because it's going to show up, right?

00:28:05 Speaker_04
Talk about that in regards to how important that is to you in your role when you're thinking about future leaders inside your organization and developing them.

00:28:15 Speaker_04
Why are those three attributes so important that we need to be asking and or expecting of those around us?

00:28:22 Speaker_02
So let me do one step more than that, Chris, and then take me somewhere else if you want to pull something out. I really put those into teachability. then responsibility, then accountability. I put it in that order and let me tell you why.

00:28:36 Speaker_02
I'm a constant learner. I want to be, I'm learning right now in this podcast. You bringing that illustration you just brought up was so, it was such a good lesson that has been dormant in my mind for some time.

00:28:48 Speaker_02
And boy, I just, I'm brushing that thing off in my mind right now and going to use that.

00:28:52 Speaker_04
By the way, you were sitting there and I'll never forget, you were just staring at the board and you're never one for lack of words in a meeting.

00:28:59 Speaker_02
Yes, we all know.

00:28:59 Speaker_04
And I was like, We good here? And then you stood up and gave me a standing ovation. And I was like, I don't know what just happened right here, but I'm glad I still have a job. I took that page out of Alan Mulally.

00:29:11 Speaker_02
I gave you a standing ovation. It was so impacting. And just to get that off, here's my point. I am constantly learning. I believe the learning then drives what the responsibility is. Clarity drives responsibility.

00:29:24 Speaker_02
Be clear on what you're responsible to, what you're responsible for, what you're responsible to produce, be responsible to it, and then hold yourself accountable to make sure that you produce. And so everything's a lesson for me.

00:29:38 Speaker_02
That's why failure doesn't mess with me as much. We've talked about that in past podcasts. Trust me, we'll talk about it in future. At the same time, The lesson learned, I will stay there to the point that a lesson is extrapolated out of it.

00:29:51 Speaker_02
It's that teachability. And then I believe you are responsible to a lesson learned. It's like you've been given a precious gift, given somebody's baby. You've been given a treasure that if implemented will make a huge difference.

00:30:07 Speaker_02
And then ultimately, I, maybe some of you listening to the podcast, watching the podcast, can do this. I cannot get things done without accountability.

00:30:16 Speaker_02
I just have to have people around me that knows what the lesson was, that knows my responsibility to the lesson, that will take me to a place of accountability.

00:30:27 Speaker_04
I love that. What we're doing here, if you aren't picking up on this, this is allowing you as a leader, not only to figure out best how to develop people, it's getting you a lens into how do they think How are they making decisions?

00:30:38 Speaker_04
You and I have conversation all the time. And I'll be like, hey, why'd you ask me that question? You're like, I just want to know how you're thinking about it.

00:30:44 Speaker_04
Because then you know that you can think about how I thought about it and then help me get there. And so I think that's awesome. Now, this might be a Chris Robinson, an incredible team member of ours, first time ever. John gave you seven points.

00:30:59 Speaker_04
You're going to leave here today, or seven questions, you're going to leave here with 10. Because I asked Mark a question before we started.

00:31:06 Speaker_04
And I said, Mark, I think about this lesson, and you have been the privilege of riding shotgun right next to the greatest leader that you and I are aware of.

00:31:16 Speaker_04
And so I said, man, what are the questions that you've learned from John or that John has used with you? And so we sat here, and you just, man, right off the cuff gave us a couple. And so we said, we're going to give 10.

00:31:28 Speaker_04
We're going to give our listeners and our viewers three more. So I'm going to let you run with that, give us that process and those three questions, and then wrap us up.

00:31:36 Speaker_02
Yeah. And we'll see if Jake works his magic and these make it into the show notes. See if last minute he can do that. But it was such a brilliant question. I've never been asked it that way.

00:31:46 Speaker_02
I've been asked, what's the three greatest things I've learned from John? What do I love about working with John? And so I've given these three questions before, but never in the context

00:31:55 Speaker_02
of how John used these questions to develop me, because this is how John leads me. I answer that question all the time.

00:32:01 Speaker_04
You just think it's a leadership thing, but he's very intentional about it.

00:32:04 Speaker_02
But he's very intentional about it, and it has developed me, because I now can not only give you three questions John asked me as a leader that impacts me, I can tell you how it developed me as a leader, and that's what I'm going to spend our last few minutes with.

00:32:14 Speaker_02
Love it. Do it. Question number one, John always asks when he comes into a meeting, what do I need to know? What do I need to know? Now, isn't it true most leaders walk into the room and feel like they need to be the smartest person in the room?

00:32:25 Speaker_02
John demonstrates to me, asking that question on the front end of any meeting, he comes in and says, what do I need to know? He demonstrates humility.

00:32:33 Speaker_02
He shows me that great leaders come in not trying to show they know everything, but they want to learn something. It's a humility lesson that I learned from John when he says, what do I need to know?

00:32:43 Speaker_02
The second thing that he showed me with that is a leader's perspective is one dimensional. A team's perspective is multidimensional. And for a leader to be multidimensional, a leader has to ask the question, what do I need to know?

00:32:56 Speaker_02
Because without asking that question, I may know everything in the room, but I still promise you it's only one dimensional. When I ask that question of the room, I may not pick up any new knowledge, but I'll catch up all kind of new perspectives.

00:33:10 Speaker_02
It's brilliant, Chris. It's brilliant in the context of this, of what I've learned from John. So I come into every meeting now trying to find new information, even if I already know what the net of that meeting's gonna be.

00:33:20 Speaker_02
I always try to come into every meeting now asking the question either verbally or subconsciously, what do I need to know? Question number two is, what did you hear? Now, what I learned in developing others is sometimes people heard better than I said.

00:33:38 Speaker_04
That's so good, that's so true.

00:33:40 Speaker_02
Sometimes I get greater clarity of what I meant by hearing somebody give it back to me, that by the next time the next person hears it, I say it the way that I was told I said it, when I really didn't say it that way.

00:33:52 Speaker_02
I got smarter and sounded better because somebody else gave me what they heard.

00:33:56 Speaker_04
Or it could be the other way as well. Which they didn't hear it correctly. They didn't hear it correctly, which then allows you to come in from a development standpoint and shape the way that they're thinking.

00:34:05 Speaker_02
Exactly, which is the second thing that I picked up this from a developing standpoint. When I ask that, I substantiate the direction I want the meeting to go, where I want people to go after the meeting.

00:34:17 Speaker_02
Without asking that question, I have assumptions. You know what assumptions do. And making assumptions that everybody heard me rather than asking what they heard makes me a better leader because I quit using so much, I take assumptions out of it.

00:34:31 Speaker_02
They tell me what they heard. The final question that John asked me that has developed me beyond any level to have enough time to share you is what am I missing? When John comes in and says, what do I need to know? What did you hear?

00:34:46 Speaker_02
He then gives this directive. He's never short of giving direction, ever. I'm never short of giving an opinion and thoughts and talking. John's never short of giving direction. He loves to give direction.

00:35:00 Speaker_02
But after he gives direction, you would think most leaders, I gave direction, now hop to it and get it on. He always goes, what am I missing? Now here's what happens and what I learned by him asking me that question.

00:35:11 Speaker_02
Every leader is missing something in every meeting. Their ability to find the lesson after the lesson has already been learned and applied is layered learning. That's really good.

00:35:24 Speaker_02
Because he goes, what am I missing is not just a question that says, are you getting it right? Do you have it? Get going. No, it's a leader with a learning posture that says, now that you hear my direction, what will make it even better?

00:35:38 Speaker_02
It is brilliance, Chris. And then the second deal, John's got to listen to this podcast because I've never had this conversation before. The second thing that I learned from that question, what am I missing,

00:35:49 Speaker_02
It makes me now take authority of his direction. I now take ownership of his direction because I'm giving it back to him. And I go, John, you're not missing anything. You know what I just did? John, I agree with you 100%. I'm in lockstep with you.

00:36:02 Speaker_02
We're after it. Or what am I missing? John, you may not be thinking about that. And he goes, oh, yeah, okay. I just took over authority and ownership of John's direction. We may do our own little podcast on those three questions, because I love it.

00:36:17 Speaker_02
So thanks. Hey, guys, let me do two things. Chris mentioned the Leader's Greatest Return book. Today, I want to give you 15% off of that. So if you'll go to the show notes, click the link, use the promo code podcast.

00:36:31 Speaker_02
We'll give you a chance to buy the book at a discount that will help you develop leaders better as a part of your growth plan for next year. I want to remind you.

00:36:41 Speaker_02
Go to maxwellleadership.com forward slash five levels because I want you to be a part of bringing five levels into your company in 2025. Hey, I wanted to go to Sheila.

00:36:54 Speaker_02
Sheila gave us a statement here that I just want to give you and share and say thank you, Sheila. It's from the podcast Mindset Matters.

00:37:03 Speaker_02
Sheila said, I just wanted to take a moment to express how much your latest podcast episode on Mindset Matters has impacted my life as a leader. The insights, the practical steps you shared have truly transformed the way I approach leadership.

00:37:19 Speaker_02
Your emphasis on intentional thinking and clarity has made a significant difference in my effectiveness and purpose. Sheila, I'm so proud of you. Sheila says, thank you for the invaluable guidance.

00:37:30 Speaker_02
Sheila, thank you for taking our podcast, letting it add value to you so it would multiply value to others, because everyone deserves to be led well.

00:37:45 Speaker_00
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