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Overcoming Negativity to Build Positive Teams w/ Jon Gordon · Something Extra

• 0:01
  Jon Gordon: Optimism
• 0:02
  Jon Gordon: and belief.
• 0:04
  Jon Gordon: Those are competitive advantages.
• 0:06
  Jon Gordon: Like, when you have optimism and you have belief and you transfer
• 0:10
  Jon Gordon: that belief to your team, it really is a competitive advantage.
• 0:13
  Jon Gordon: We saw we we so often poo poo positivity.
• 0:17
  Jon Gordon: We think it's soft.
• 0:19
  Jon Gordon: We think it's weak.
• 0:20
  Jon Gordon: It's actually the real thing that delivers results.
• 0:24
  Jon Gordon: Being positive doesn't mean Pollyanna.
• 0:26
  Jon Gordon: It's not about seeing the world through rose colored glasses.
• 0:29
  Jon Gordon: It's knowing that you have the power to overcome the thorns.
• 0:35
  Lisa Nichols: It takes something a little more to lead with impact.
• 0:39
  Lisa Nichols: I'm Lisa Nichols, author of Something Extra, and this podcast
• 0:43
  Lisa Nichols: was inspired by our daughter, Allie, whose additional chromosome has shaped
• 0:47
  Lisa Nichols: how I see people in leadership.
• 0:50
  Lisa Nichols: Each episode features conversations with inspiring leaders from around the world
• 0:54
  Lisa Nichols: about what truly defines how they lead and serve others.
• 0:58
  Lisa Nichols: If you enjoyed today's conversation, please consider leaving a five
• 1:02
  Lisa Nichols: star review.
• 1:04
  Lisa Nichols: It helps more people discover the show.
• 1:06
  Lisa Nichols: And if you'd like to go deeper, my book, Something Extra, is available on
• 1:10
  Lisa Nichols: Amazon and through other major book retailers.
• 1:14
  Lisa Nichols: Jon Gordon is a husband, father, and author.
• 1:17
  Lisa Nichols: His best selling books and talks have inspired millions of readers and audiences
• 1:21
  Lisa Nichols: around the world.
• 1:22
  Lisa Nichols: He is the author of the timeless classic, The Energy Bus, The Carpenter,
• 1:27
  Lisa Nichols: Training Camp, The Power of Positive Leadership, The Power of a Positive
• 1:31
  Lisa Nichols: Team, and his latest seven commitments of a great team.
• 1:34
  Lisa Nichols: When he's not running through airports or speaking to businesses, hospitals, or schools,
• 1:39
  Lisa Nichols: You can find him playing pickleball and taking long walks, which are when he
• 1:42
  Lisa Nichols: gets most of his ideas.
• 1:44
  Lisa Nichols: Jon believes in keeping his bio short because his past accomplishments
• 1:48
  Lisa Nichols: are meaningless.
• 1:50
  Lisa Nichols: What matters most is that he says something today that will inspire you to
• 1:53
  Lisa Nichols: take action tomorrow.
• 1:55
  Lisa Nichols: Ladies and gentlemen, Jon Gordon.
• 1:58
  Lisa Nichols: Well, Jon Gordon,
• 2:01
  Lisa Nichols: I cannot even tell you how grateful I am for you coming
• 2:05
  Lisa Nichols: on the show today.
• 2:06
  Lisa Nichols: You don't know this, but I've been a fan for a very long time.
• 2:09
  Jon Gordon: I'm honored.
• 2:10
  Jon Gordon: Thank you so much for that.
• 2:11
  Lisa Nichols: Fan.
• 2:11
  Lisa Nichols: Thank you.
• 2:12
  Lisa Nichols: Big fan.
• 2:14
  Lisa Nichols: I don't kinda tell you the story behind that, but you,
• 2:18
  Lisa Nichols: you and I I was sitting in the audience, but you just spoke for
• 2:22
  Lisa Nichols: Garden City Equity for the summit, and it was just horrific.
• 2:26
  Lisa Nichols: And so shout out to Michael Arrieta for connecting us.
• 2:30
  Lisa Nichols: I really appreciate him doing that.
• 2:33
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 2:34
  Lisa Nichols: So I have to tell you, you're my four hundredth guest
• 2:39
  Lisa Nichols: on the show.
• 2:40
  Jon Gordon: That's amazing.
• 2:41
  Jon Gordon: Four hundred guests.
• 2:42
  Jon Gordon: Wow.
• 2:43
  Lisa Nichols: Four hundredth guest.
• 2:44
  Lisa Nichols: And you and I were talking before, and I did not realize this, but
• 2:48
  Lisa Nichols: you do you've done a lot with Patrick Colencioni.
• 2:51
  Jon Gordon: Yep.
• 2:51
  Lisa Nichols: And Patrick was my three hundredth guest.
• 2:54
  Lisa Nichols: Ken Blanchard is your mentor.
• 2:57
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 2:57
  Lisa Nichols: He was my two hundredth guest.
• 2:58
  Jon Gordon: That is wild.
• 2:59
  Jon Gordon: That is so wild that Ken was two hundred.
• 3:02
  Jon Gordon: He is my mentor.
• 3:03
  Jon Gordon: He really showed me the way in this work, made me wanna do this
• 3:06
  Jon Gordon: work.
• 3:07
  Jon Gordon: When I first started writing and speaking, I reached out to him.
• 3:10
  Jon Gordon: He was so supportive.
• 3:11
  Jon Gordon: I don't think I'd be doing it if it wasn't for for him.
• 3:14
  Jon Gordon: He really had a huge role in my life and such a sweet,
• 3:18
  Jon Gordon: amazing, loving, kind man.
• 3:22
  Jon Gordon: He showed me what it was like to be a Christian, but also a
• 3:25
  Jon Gordon: business leader that you could do both.
• 3:27
  Jon Gordon: And then Pat Lencioni, known Pat for years, and we just got together
• 3:32
  Jon Gordon: in Franklin just the other day.
• 3:33
  Jon Gordon: I went to visit him, and I was there speaking.
• 3:35
  Jon Gordon: But I popped over to see him, and we hung out.
• 3:37
  Jon Gordon: We talked.
• 3:38
  Jon Gordon: We took a walk around Franklin, just Pat and I, just walking around the
• 3:42
  Jon Gordon: little little square, seeing the little shops.
• 3:44
  Jon Gordon: And we had a couple people stop us, which was really nice to say
• 3:47
  Jon Gordon: hello.
• 3:48
  Jon Gordon: But I love Pat, and, Pat is someone who just I have the best
• 3:52
  Jon Gordon: conversations with.
• 3:52
  Jon Gordon: So he was three hundred, and now I'm four hundred.
• 3:55
  Jon Gordon: But, Lisa, I'm gonna say, what took you so long to reach out to
• 3:58
  Jon Gordon: me?
• 3:58
  Lisa Nichols: I know.
• 4:00
  Lisa Nichols: Exactly.
• 4:01
  Lisa Nichols: Well, I'm sure we gotta figure out five hundred.
• 4:04
  Lisa Nichols: It's gotta be somehow connected in the change.
• 4:06
  Jon Gordon: Oh, yeah.
• 4:07
  Jon Gordon: It just happens.
• 4:08
  Jon Gordon: Gonna be my daughter, Jade Gordon, so you never know.
• 4:10
  Jon Gordon: She's speaking now, so you never know.
• 4:12
  Jon Gordon: Wow.
• 4:12
  Lisa Nichols: That is awesome.
• 4:13
  Lisa Nichols: I wanna hear more about that.
• 4:15
  Lisa Nichols: That is so, so awesome.
• 4:18
  Lisa Nichols: Well, let me tell you because I I told you I've been a fan
• 4:21
  Lisa Nichols: for a very long time.
• 4:22
  Lisa Nichols: Really good friend of mine, he's a leadership coach, a seven time NCAA tennis
• 4:27
  Lisa Nichols: champion, Renee Vidal.
• 4:29
  Lisa Nichols: Long time ago had asked me, have you ever read the energy bus?
• 4:33
  Lisa Nichols: And I said, no.
• 4:34
  Lisa Nichols: And he goes, read it, Lisa.
• 4:36
  Lisa Nichols: You're gonna love it.
• 4:37
  Lisa Nichols: And I fell in love.
• 4:38
  Lisa Nichols: I fell in love with it.
• 4:40
  Lisa Nichols: And I love he Ken Rocha Ford
• 4:43
  Jon Gordon: Yep.
• 4:43
  Lisa Nichols: To that book.
• 4:45
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 4:45
  Lisa Nichols: And, Jon, I love that you dedicated it to your mom.
• 4:48
  Lisa Nichols: And I know your mom lost her battle with cancer, but, like,
• 4:53
  Lisa Nichols: the energy bus I mean, listen.
• 4:56
  Lisa Nichols: You've written thirty three books, eighteen bestsellers.
• 5:00
  Lisa Nichols: But I would love for you to tell our listeners about the energy buzz
• 5:04
  Lisa Nichols: because I think that it will encourage them.
• 5:07
  Lisa Nichols: It wasn't an immediate success.
• 5:09
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 5:09
  Lisa Nichols: No.
• 5:09
  Lisa Nichols: I mean
• 5:10
  Jon Gordon: It wasn't.
• 5:10
  Jon Gordon: It wasn't.
• 5:11
  Jon Gordon: And, you know, Ken wrote the forward to that.
• 5:14
  Jon Gordon: That's a funny story how that happened.
• 5:15
  Jon Gordon: I was in San Diego with my family and reached out to him,
• 5:19
  Jon Gordon: and it was Father's Day.
• 5:21
  Jon Gordon: And he invited us over for Father's Day.
• 5:23
  Jon Gordon: And I had written the manuscript.
• 5:24
  Jon Gordon: And while I was there, I said, hey, Ken.
• 5:26
  Jon Gordon: Would you write the forward to this book?
• 5:28
  Jon Gordon: This is before I had a publisher.
• 5:30
  Jon Gordon: And he said yes.
• 5:31
  Jon Gordon: And I believe it's one of the reasons why the publisher took on the
• 5:35
  Jon Gordon: book because he wrote the forward for it.
• 5:37
  Jon Gordon: But that book, when it came out, it was not a a huge success.
• 5:41
  Jon Gordon: In fact, it was rejected by thirty publishers initially,
• 5:45
  Jon Gordon: and then finally found John Wiley and Sons agreed to publish it.
• 5:49
  Jon Gordon: So then it comes out, and bookstores wouldn't carry it.
• 5:52
  Jon Gordon: So I went on a twenty eight city tour paid for by myself from
• 5:55
  Jon Gordon: city to city, sharing the message in the book.
• 5:57
  Jon Gordon: And that was a time when there was no social media.
• 6:00
  Jon Gordon: You had to get on local TV, local radio, and that was about it.
• 6:03
  Jon Gordon: And I went to all these cities trying to get on these local shows
• 6:06
  Jon Gordon: and then did these little small events in each city.
• 6:08
  Jon Gordon: We had five people in one city, ten people in another, twenty in another.
• 6:13
  Jon Gordon: Like, it was crazy.
• 6:14
  Jon Gordon: Get back.
• 6:14
  Jon Gordon: Didn't know what the future held, but I just knew that I had this
• 6:17
  Jon Gordon: vision and mission, and I had to live it and breathe it every day.
• 6:20
  Jon Gordon: Knew that I had this book about George who was miserable and negative.
• 6:25
  Jon Gordon: He's got this team at work that's in disarray.
• 6:27
  Jon Gordon: He has problems at home, and he wakes up Monday morning to a flat
• 6:31
  Jon Gordon: tire.
• 6:31
  Jon Gordon: And he's just fed up with life.
• 6:32
  Jon Gordon: And we say he was really easy to write about because because he was
• 6:35
  Jon Gordon: based on me and my own personal struggles with negativity and adversity.
• 6:40
  Jon Gordon: And so George meets Joy the bus driver because he has to take the
• 6:44
  Jon Gordon: bus to work, and she had a cast of characters teaching the ten rules
• 6:47
  Jon Gordon: for the ride of his life that not only help him become a more
• 6:50
  Jon Gordon: positive leader, but a better father, a better husband.
• 6:52
  Jon Gordon: And it's about getting his team on the bus and moving in the right
• 6:55
  Jon Gordon: direction with a shared vision, focus, and purpose.
• 6:58
  Jon Gordon: And that book now has sold over, like, three and a half million copies
• 7:03
  Jon Gordon: after all those rejections, after all the adversity, after bookstores
• 7:07
  Jon Gordon: wouldn't carry it, and now it just continues to reach more and more people.
• 7:11
  Jon Gordon: And I think it's because every one of us has to overcome that negativity
• 7:15
  Jon Gordon: to define ourselves and our team success and our family success.
• 7:19
  Jon Gordon: Like, we all have to go through the battle ourselves to overcome whatever negativity
• 7:23
  Jon Gordon: we're facing to ultimately become who we're meant to be.
• 7:26
  Jon Gordon: And as I said, George was based on me, and I had to go
• 7:29
  Jon Gordon: on that journey from negative to positive as well.
• 7:33
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 7:33
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 7:34
  Lisa Nichols: And you're you're free to talk about that, Jon, if you want.
• 7:37
  Lisa Nichols: Like, where did that negativity come from?
• 7:39
  Lisa Nichols: I mean, we all to your point, we all have to we all
• 7:43
  Lisa Nichols: have to battle that.
• 7:44
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 7:45
  Lisa Nichols: And it's the battle starts in our mind.
• 7:47
  Lisa Nichols: It starts.
• 7:47
  Lisa Nichols: And it really does in taking you know, in the Bible,
• 7:52
  Lisa Nichols: and I know you're a Christian.
• 7:53
  Lisa Nichols: I'm a Christian.
• 7:54
  Lisa Nichols: The Bible says we have to take every thought captive.
• 7:56
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 7:57
  Jon Gordon: We have to take every thought captive because if we don't, our negative thoughts
• 8:01
  Jon Gordon: will take us captive.
• 8:03
  Jon Gordon: And we don't wanna be taken captive by our negative thoughts.
• 8:05
  Jon Gordon: And for years, you know, I struggle with that.
• 8:08
  Jon Gordon: I often joke, but it's true.
• 8:09
  Jon Gordon: I grew up in a Jewish Italian family.
• 8:11
  Jon Gordon: A lot of food, a lot of guilt.
• 8:13
  Jon Gordon: A lot of wine, a lot of whining.
• 8:15
  Jon Gordon: And my dad was a New York City police officer, undercover narcotics.
• 8:19
  Jon Gordon: And so he was shot a few times.
• 8:21
  Jon Gordon: He wasn't very positive, my dad.
• 8:22
  Jon Gordon: A loving man, but one of the most negative guys on the planet.
• 8:25
  Jon Gordon: And so I grew up in in many ways with a lot of negativity,
• 8:28
  Jon Gordon: a lot of fear, a lot of worry, a lot of doubt.
• 8:31
  Jon Gordon: And I really struggled with with my mindset a lot.
• 8:35
  Jon Gordon: Perfectionism, always trying to be successful to make it, to work
• 8:39
  Jon Gordon: hard, ultimately feeling like a failure when I didn't make it, when I lost
• 8:43
  Jon Gordon: my job during the dot com crash.
• 8:45
  Jon Gordon: I don't know how I'm gonna pay the bills.
• 8:46
  Jon Gordon: I don't know how I'm gonna support my family.
• 8:48
  Jon Gordon: And I really came to a to a a breaking
• 8:53
  Jon Gordon: point where I I was crumbling.
• 8:54
  Jon Gordon: And my wife said, if you don't change, we're over.
• 8:58
  Jon Gordon: Because I was blaming her for why I had not lived up to my
• 9:01
  Jon Gordon: potential, why I didn't reach my dreams.
• 9:04
  Jon Gordon: And and, you know, it was a great wake up call.
• 9:06
  Jon Gordon: I I needed change.
• 9:08
  Jon Gordon: And after that, I said, alright.
• 9:10
  Jon Gordon: I'm gonna try to work on becoming a more positive person.
• 9:12
  Jon Gordon: I wanted to stay married was my first goal, to stay married.
• 9:16
  Lisa Nichols: And and the second goal family intact.
• 9:17
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 9:17
  Jon Gordon: And the second goal was to be better myself, to be a better father,
• 9:20
  Jon Gordon: to be a better husband.
• 9:22
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 9:22
  Jon Gordon: Like like George and the energy bus, I wanted to be better.
• 9:25
  Jon Gordon: And then
• 9:27
  Jon Gordon: that turned into a mission to help others get better.
• 9:30
  Jon Gordon: Like, it was a quest for my self to get better.
• 9:32
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 9:33
  Lisa Nichols: It
• 9:33
  Jon Gordon: led to a mission to help others get better.
• 9:36
  Jon Gordon: And, I'm just proof that anyone that anyone of us and every one of
• 9:40
  Jon Gordon: us can change, that we can all face our battles, face
• 9:44
  Jon Gordon: our demons, face our past, and we don't have to be who
• 9:48
  Jon Gordon: we were.
• 9:49
  Jon Gordon: We can literally become a new creation.
• 9:51
  Jon Gordon: We can become who God has called us to be, and we can rewire
• 9:55
  Jon Gordon: our brain from negative to positive.
• 9:58
  Jon Gordon: And we could start having spiritual disciplines and
• 10:02
  Jon Gordon: spiritual rituals that help guide us, that help us focus, and
• 10:06
  Jon Gordon: help us really connect to God in a in a greater way.
• 10:09
  Jon Gordon: And that that's what I did.
• 10:10
  Jon Gordon: I literally began walking and practicing gratitude years ago because
• 10:14
  Jon Gordon: I read you can't be stressed and thankful at the same time.
• 10:17
  Jon Gordon: And as I began taking these walks of gratitude every day, those walks of
• 10:21
  Jon Gordon: gratitude turned into walks of prayer.
• 10:24
  Jon Gordon: And that's where all the change began.
• 10:26
  Jon Gordon: Like, literally on those walks of doing it day in and day out.
• 10:30
  Jon Gordon: I took one this morning as well.
• 10:32
  Jon Gordon: I took a walk of gratitude and a walk of prayer this morning.
• 10:35
  Jon Gordon: I'm still doing it twenty five years later, and it still has guided
• 10:39
  Jon Gordon: me and shaped me.
• 10:40
  Jon Gordon: And it has lifted up my spirit, nourished my soul,
• 10:45
  Jon Gordon: and allows me ultimately to do my best work and to overcome whatever challenges
• 10:49
  Jon Gordon: I'm facing.
• 10:49
  Jon Gordon: So I'm living proof that you can actually rewire from negative to positive,
• 10:54
  Jon Gordon: that you can change your mindset, that you can develop a deeper
• 10:58
  Jon Gordon: connection of faith, and that when you do, your life begins to exponentially grow.
• 11:02
  Jon Gordon: And that's why I began, you know, writing a year ago, the power
• 11:07
  Jon Gordon: of positive habits.
• 11:07
  Jon Gordon: It came out a few weeks ago, and I wrote that book because I
• 11:11
  Jon Gordon: wanted to share all these different habits over the years of what I was
• 11:14
  Jon Gordon: doing and what I was sharing with, you know, millions of people over the
• 11:18
  Jon Gordon: last twenty years and what has helped all these people.
• 11:21
  Jon Gordon: And I wanted to put in a book that someone could read and go,
• 11:24
  Jon Gordon: okay.
• 11:24
  Jon Gordon: Ninety three habits.
• 11:26
  Jon Gordon: I can do a few of these, and just a few will literally exponentially
• 11:31
  Jon Gordon: grow your life and your relationships.
• 11:33
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 11:34
  Lisa Nichols: I don't have that one, but, I told you.
• 11:39
  Lisa Nichols: Look at this.
• 11:40
  Lisa Nichols: Oh, I love that.
• 11:41
  Lisa Nichols: I love that.
• 11:42
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 11:42
  Lisa Nichols: I've got,
• 11:43
  Jon Gordon: I see the one truth there.
• 11:44
  Jon Gordon: I love that.
• 11:45
  Lisa Nichols: I love the one truth, and you've got the one truth, shirt on.
• 11:48
  Jon Gordon: That I wrote the yeah.
• 11:49
  Jon Gordon: Well, the I wore this T shirt just
• 11:51
  Lisa Nichols: It is wild.
• 11:53
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 11:54
  Lisa Nichols: The one truth, carpenter the carpenter, the power of positive
• 11:58
  Lisa Nichols: leadership.
• 11:58
  Lisa Nichols: So I'll have to get the power of positive habits.
• 12:01
  Jon Gordon: I think the carpenters I love the carpenter story when I think back on
• 12:04
  Jon Gordon: it.
• 12:05
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 12:05
  Lisa Nichols: I love that.
• 12:06
  Lisa Nichols: Tell tell me the story.
• 12:07
  Lisa Nichols: Tell me the story.
• 12:08
  Lisa Nichols: Tell our listeners the story.
• 12:10
  Jon Gordon: Well,
• 12:12
  Jon Gordon: it the way the book began was I was at home.
• 12:16
  Jon Gordon: It was during the great recession, and a carpenter
• 12:20
  Jon Gordon: came over to my house to build an entertainment center.
• 12:22
  Jon Gordon: And it was during a time when I thought people were gonna be struggling
• 12:25
  Jon Gordon: with their business.
• 12:26
  Jon Gordon: And I said to him, how you doing in the great recession?
• 12:29
  Jon Gordon: He said, I'm busier than ever.
• 12:31
  Jon Gordon: And I realized it was because he was a craftsman in his work.
• 12:35
  Jon Gordon: He wasn't just a carpenter.
• 12:37
  Jon Gordon: He craftsman.
• 12:38
  Jon Gordon: Other people were slow during that time, but not him.
• 12:41
  Jon Gordon: And I realized that if you pursue excellence, if you love what you do,
• 12:44
  Jon Gordon: if you serve your customers, and you show that you care, you will
• 12:49
  Jon Gordon: grow your business in any economy.
• 12:51
  Jon Gordon: And so I wanted to write a book that really shared that and demonstrated
• 12:55
  Jon Gordon: that.
• 12:55
  Jon Gordon: And that began the, you know, the idea, the inspiration behind it.
• 12:59
  Jon Gordon: And then, ultimately, it's about a guy named Michael who's struggling with his business.
• 13:03
  Jon Gordon: He's building it with his wife, and and he's jogging.
• 13:07
  Jon Gordon: He's out for a jog, and he has he has, like, an episode where
• 13:10
  Jon Gordon: he falls and
• 13:13
  Jon Gordon: and gets a note, written to him, as he's in a hospital
• 13:17
  Jon Gordon: because the note was left at the at the spot where he fell.
• 13:21
  Jon Gordon: And it was the carpenter who saw him fell and and really helped
• 13:25
  Jon Gordon: him and saved him and called nine one one and so forth, and he
• 13:28
  Jon Gordon: wrote a note to him.
• 13:29
  Jon Gordon: And so Michael goes and visits the carpenter, one of his worksites to go
• 13:33
  Jon Gordon: see him, and they begin this relationship and conversation about the
• 13:37
  Jon Gordon: greatest success principles of all.
• 13:40
  Jon Gordon: And that book, yeah, is really special.
• 13:42
  Jon Gordon: A lot of people say it's my my best book.
• 13:45
  Jon Gordon: And it's so funny we're talking about it because I even just recently prayed
• 13:48
  Jon Gordon: on it because I thought, you know, this book is not taken off by
• 13:51
  Jon Gordon: the energy bus as.
• 13:52
  Jon Gordon: The energy bus Mhmm.
• 13:53
  Jon Gordon: But I think it's it's a story for these times now more than ever,
• 13:56
  Jon Gordon: the carpenter.
• 13:57
  Jon Gordon: So just the other day, I said, yeah.
• 13:58
  Jon Gordon: I gotta start putting that book out there again because it's a timeless book,
• 14:02
  Jon Gordon: and I really want that book to just take off like it deserves because,
• 14:06
  Jon Gordon: you know, it's it's such a good story and such great principles on
• 14:10
  Jon Gordon: what it means to build a successful business.
• 14:13
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 14:14
  Lisa Nichols: I love I love that.
• 14:16
  Lisa Nichols: Your books for our listeners, for the two or three people that
• 14:20
  Lisa Nichols: don't know who you are, Jon.
• 14:21
  Jon Gordon: I think there are a lot that don't.
• 14:25
  Lisa Nichols: You know, so many of your books are written kind of like a fable.
• 14:28
  Lisa Nichols: You know?
• 14:29
  Lisa Nichols: But, you know, I was thinking about it yesterday, and I was thinking, you
• 14:32
  Lisa Nichols: know, what I love about that is
• 14:36
  Lisa Nichols: the greatest leader you and I have ever known is Jesus Christ.
• 14:39
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 14:40
  Lisa Nichols: And Jesus taught in parables.
• 14:43
  Lisa Nichols: He did.
• 14:43
  Lisa Nichols: He taught in parables.
• 14:44
  Lisa Nichols: He he took ordinary things that people understood
• 14:49
  Lisa Nichols: day to day, sheep, wine,
• 14:52
  Lisa Nichols: wineskins, whatever the thing was, seeds, growing agriculture,
• 14:58
  Lisa Nichols: and then taught from those, taught the principles from those.
• 15:01
  Lisa Nichols: And so I was thinking about I was thinking, I love it because Jon's
• 15:04
  Lisa Nichols: done the same thing with his writing.
• 15:07
  Lisa Nichols: And so
• 15:08
  Jon Gordon: I've been inspired by the ultimate carpenter.
• 15:10
  Jon Gordon: That's for sure.
• 15:10
  Lisa Nichols: Amen.
• 15:11
  Lisa Nichols: Amen to that.
• 15:14
  Lisa Nichols: You know, so I love this and you've already kind of alluded to it
• 15:17
  Lisa Nichols: that you, you know, really had to change your mindset.
• 15:20
  Lisa Nichols: It was funny because a lot of people call you Mr.
• 15:23
  Lisa Nichols: Positive.
• 15:25
  Lisa Nichols: In fact, Jon, this is funny.
• 15:26
  Lisa Nichols: I was on the call with the CEO forum member this morning, and
• 15:30
  Lisa Nichols: I'm like, I'm so excited.
• 15:32
  Lisa Nichols: Jon Gordon is coming on the podcast.
• 15:34
  Lisa Nichols: I know he's gonna be at our annual summit, etcetera, etcetera.
• 15:38
  Lisa Nichols: And she said she goes, he is, like, the most positive person.
• 15:41
  Lisa Nichols: Mister energy is what she said.
• 15:44
  Lisa Nichols: But here's what you say.
• 15:45
  Lisa Nichols: You know?
• 15:47
  Lisa Nichols: You weren't really born positive.
• 15:49
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 15:50
  Jon Gordon: Nope.
• 15:51
  Lisa Nichols: You know, what you know,
• 15:54
  Lisa Nichols: if someone met the twenty five year old Jon Gordon, what would
• 15:58
  Lisa Nichols: surprise them the most?
• 16:01
  Jon Gordon: Well,
• 16:03
  Jon Gordon: on the outside, they would see someone who had a lot of energy and
• 16:06
  Jon Gordon: who was fired up and passionate, excited,
• 16:11
  Jon Gordon: who was a mover and shaker at twenty five and accomplishing things and
• 16:16
  Jon Gordon: but they would see that that person didn't have much faith and
• 16:20
  Jon Gordon: didn't have much connection to God Yeah.
• 16:24
  Jon Gordon: And was powered by their own individual
• 16:27
  Jon Gordon: belief.
• 16:29
  Jon Gordon: But then as that belief waned, as circumstances became
• 16:34
  Jon Gordon: challenging.
• 16:34
  Lisa Nichols: Difficult.
• 16:36
  Jon Gordon: As there were times I wanted to give up,
• 16:40
  Jon Gordon: I had to find a greater faith, a greater strength, a greater source.
• 16:44
  Jon Gordon: And that's ultimately what led me to the real source of positivity.
• 16:49
  Jon Gordon: That person who met me would also say, you know,
• 16:53
  Jon Gordon: I I like him, but he's got a lot of work to do.
• 16:56
  Jon Gordon: And so been been been doing a lot of work all these years just
• 16:59
  Jon Gordon: to become, you know, a better person, a better father, a better husband.
• 17:03
  Jon Gordon: And we're all works in progress, but you gotta do the work.
• 17:07
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 17:07
  Jon Gordon: You gotta invest in yourself, and you gotta look for ways to learn and
• 17:11
  Jon Gordon: heal and grow.
• 17:13
  Jon Gordon: And I would say that twenty five year old version wasn't even remotely
• 17:18
  Jon Gordon: healed and had to work on the healing process.
• 17:21
  Jon Gordon: And if you know anything about Jesus, he he came to heal.
• 17:24
  Jon Gordon: It was a healing ministry.
• 17:26
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 17:26
  Lisa Nichols: And so God Not just physical healing.
• 17:29
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 17:29
  Jon Gordon: It was it was complete healing.
• 17:31
  Jon Gordon: It was soul healing.
• 17:32
  Lisa Nichols: Heal.
• 17:32
  Lisa Nichols: It's soul healing.
• 17:33
  Jon Gordon: And God God didn't just come to save us.
• 17:37
  Jon Gordon: He came to heal us, and that's what we have to remember.
• 17:40
  Jon Gordon: So for me, it's it's all about it's all about the healing.
• 17:44
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 17:45
  Lisa Nichols: So that brings me to another question because,
• 17:49
  Lisa Nichols: you know and I I know you're transparent with this, but your biological
• 17:53
  Lisa Nichols: father left you guys when you were one year one.
• 17:56
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 17:56
  Jon Gordon: I when I was one of my my older brother was, was about three
• 17:59
  Jon Gordon: or four.
• 18:00
  Lisa Nichols: Three or four.
• 18:01
  Lisa Nichols: You know?
• 18:01
  Lisa Nichols: And and, Jon, to your forgive you know, healing,
• 18:05
  Lisa Nichols: the unforgiveness.
• 18:07
  Lisa Nichols: There was some unforgiveness.
• 18:08
  Lisa Nichols: And I think you took a journey to go and forgive your biological
• 18:12
  Lisa Nichols: father, and you said you really did not write one word
• 18:17
  Lisa Nichols: until you had done that.
• 18:19
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 18:19
  Lisa Nichols: And then you had done the work of forgiving him.
• 18:22
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 18:23
  Jon Gordon: I wrote about that in the power of positive habits, and it was in
• 18:27
  Jon Gordon: the writing of that book that I really thought about, wow.
• 18:29
  Jon Gordon: I didn't start writing until I went and visited
• 18:34
  Jon Gordon: him and forgave him.
• 18:35
  Jon Gordon: Before that, I had writer's block.
• 18:37
  Jon Gordon: I couldn't write.
• 18:38
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 18:38
  Jon Gordon: I had I had a faith encounter with Jesus.
• 18:41
  Jon Gordon: I had these encounters that really just led me to
• 18:45
  Jon Gordon: greater faith.
• 18:47
  Jon Gordon: I'm now transforming.
• 18:48
  Jon Gordon: I get baptized, and I wanna write.
• 18:51
  Jon Gordon: I wanna speak.
• 18:51
  Jon Gordon: I know that's my calling, and I can't.
• 18:54
  Jon Gordon: And so I went up to visit him
• 18:57
  Jon Gordon: to forgive him, but I wasn't doing that so I can write and speak.
• 19:01
  Jon Gordon: I just knew I was supposed to go forgive him because that was something
• 19:04
  Jon Gordon: I was being convicted on.
• 19:06
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 19:06
  Jon Gordon: So I went up to Long Island, New York where I grew up, and
• 19:09
  Jon Gordon: and I went to go do that.
• 19:10
  Jon Gordon: I brought my daughter with me.
• 19:13
  Jon Gordon: And when I got back,
• 19:15
  Jon Gordon: I started writing.
• 19:16
  Jon Gordon: Now I didn't realize this until recently.
• 19:18
  Jon Gordon: Like, when I look back, I'm like, oh, wow.
• 19:20
  Jon Gordon: That's when I started writing, when I forgave.
• 19:22
  Jon Gordon: I had to let go of the old in order to create the new.
• 19:26
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 19:27
  Jon Gordon: Don't let old battles keep you from new victories.
• 19:29
  Jon Gordon: So often, we're allowing ourselves to fight these old battles that
• 19:33
  Jon Gordon: keep us stuck in the past.
• 19:35
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 19:35
  Jon Gordon: Like, God wants to propel us forward to create the life and the future
• 19:39
  Jon Gordon: you're meant to create.
• 19:40
  Jon Gordon: So I had to let go of that.
• 19:41
  Jon Gordon: Forgive that.
• 19:42
  Jon Gordon: Move on.
• 19:43
  Jon Gordon: Let go of of that hot coal that you're holding on to, wanting it
• 19:46
  Jon Gordon: to throw it wanna throw it someone else.
• 19:48
  Jon Gordon: Just let it go so you can actually
• 19:51
  Jon Gordon: create your life and create your future.
• 19:53
  Jon Gordon: And I did that, and I'm so glad I did.
• 19:56
  Jon Gordon: And I try to encourage other people to do the same.
• 19:58
  Jon Gordon: Like, really forgive.
• 20:00
  Jon Gordon: Don't hold on to it.
• 20:02
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 20:02
  Jon Gordon: They wronged you.
• 20:03
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 20:04
  Jon Gordon: They hurt you.
• 20:05
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 20:05
  Jon Gordon: You're justified in being angry.
• 20:07
  Jon Gordon: And yet, by being angry, by holding on to it, you're holding you
• 20:11
  Jon Gordon: back.
• 20:12
  Jon Gordon: You're poisoning yourself.
• 20:13
  Jon Gordon: So just let it all go,
• 20:16
  Jon Gordon: and you go be free to create your future.
• 20:18
  Jon Gordon: So that's why I call it forgive fast because the faster you forgive, the
• 20:21
  Jon Gordon: sooner you can start growing.
• 20:23
  Lisa Nichols: That you have freedom then.
• 20:24
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 20:25
  Lisa Nichols: I mean, yeah.
• 20:25
  Lisa Nichols: Because it'll it it'll enslave you.
• 20:28
  Jon Gordon: It will.
• 20:28
  Jon Gordon: Faster forgive fast, and then you have freedom faster
• 20:32
  Jon Gordon: and sooner.
• 20:33
  Jon Gordon: And then once you have freedom, then you're able to really start start
• 20:37
  Jon Gordon: growing up.
• 20:38
  Jon Gordon: I had to forgive Michael Arrieta for for at his event at Garden City
• 20:42
  Jon Gordon: where we're at because when did I speak?
• 20:44
  Jon Gordon: Outside at dinner and then
• 20:46
  Lisa Nichols: at dinner?
• 20:47
  Jon Gordon: There's, like, a storm, like, just like the winds are blowing
• 20:51
  Lisa Nichols: Right.
• 20:51
  Jon Gordon: On the stage.
• 20:53
  Jon Gordon: I'm about to go up.
• 20:53
  Jon Gordon: And Chris Hodges, the second most influential pastor in in
• 20:57
  Jon Gordon: in the country, says to me,
• 21:01
  Jon Gordon: man, that's a tough that this is a tough environment.
• 21:03
  Jon Gordon: I go, I know.
• 21:04
  Jon Gordon: It's like he goes, I don't think I've seen a a harder environment.
• 21:07
  Jon Gordon: I'm like, I know.
• 21:08
  Jon Gordon: Like, it waves are crashing.
• 21:10
  Jon Gordon: You're it's pitch black.
• 21:12
  Jon Gordon: People just ate.
• 21:13
  Jon Gordon: People were enjoying some cocktails.
• 21:15
  Jon Gordon: Oh, Jon.
• 21:16
  Jon Gordon: And go give your talk up there.
• 21:17
  Lisa Nichols: Go give your talk.
• 21:19
  Lisa Nichols: Oh my goodness.
• 21:19
  Jon Gordon: And I said, Michael, really?
• 21:20
  Jon Gordon: You want me to speak in this?
• 21:22
  Jon Gordon: But it was amazing because once I started speaking, I just felt the holy
• 21:25
  Jon Gordon: spirit, and God was just moving in a pout way.
• 21:28
  Jon Gordon: And I know I told that story of forgiving fast.
• 21:31
  Jon Gordon: And
• 21:31
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 21:32
  Lisa Nichols: And
• 21:32
  Jon Gordon: people came up to me and said, man, I needed to hear that.
• 21:34
  Jon Gordon: So so
• 21:35
  Lisa Nichols: cool.
• 21:35
  Lisa Nichols: To hear that.
• 21:36
  Jon Gordon: I needed to hear it too.
• 21:37
  Jon Gordon: So it's so cool God used that story, that environment.
• 21:41
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 21:41
  Jon Gordon: And it it was the perfect environment for that story.
• 21:43
  Jon Gordon: It was the perfect environment for if it was the perfect environment during the
• 21:47
  Jon Gordon: day where people were on stage, like, normal talks that everyone else was giving,
• 21:50
  Jon Gordon: now let's put Jon on the pitch black storm stage.
• 21:55
  Jon Gordon: But but it was it was like, for some reason, God used it in
• 21:58
  Jon Gordon: a a cool mystical way to share these kind of stories.
• 22:01
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 22:02
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 22:02
  Lisa Nichols: I yeah.
• 22:03
  Lisa Nichols: I can only imagine how difficult that was, but the message was not
• 22:07
  Lisa Nichols: lost.
• 22:08
  Lisa Nichols: The message was not lost on anyone.
• 22:10
  Lisa Nichols: So kudos to the holy spirit.
• 22:13
  Lisa Nichols: Kudos
• 22:13
  Jon Gordon: There you go.
• 22:14
  Lisa Nichols: To you.
• 22:16
  Lisa Nichols: Oh my goodness.
• 22:16
  Lisa Nichols: Well, I got a lot of questions here, Jon.
• 22:18
  Lisa Nichols: But we do need to take a quick break, and we'll be right back
• 22:21
  Lisa Nichols: on the Something Extra podcast with Jon Gordon.
• 22:25
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• 22:54
  Lisa Nichols: Welcome back, everyone, to Something Extra podcast with the
• 22:59
  Lisa Nichols: amazing, incredible Jon Gordon.
• 23:02
  Lisa Nichols: So, Jon, you know, you've coached Super Bowl champions,
• 23:07
  Lisa Nichols: Fortune five hundred CEOs, championship teams.
• 23:11
  Lisa Nichols: What do you believe separates great leaders from merely successful
• 23:15
  Lisa Nichols: ones?
• 23:17
  Lisa Nichols: Successful and you know, it's kind of like that significant versus
• 23:21
  Lisa Nichols: success.
• 23:22
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 23:22
  Jon Gordon: I think you could be successful with the numbers, with the win loss
• 23:26
  Jon Gordon: record.
• 23:27
  Jon Gordon: I would say great leaders are transformation leaders.
• 23:32
  Jon Gordon: They leave their mark on you.
• 23:33
  Jon Gordon: They leave their imprint.
• 23:35
  Jon Gordon: They put their fingerprint on your soul, and they impact you in a very
• 23:39
  Jon Gordon: deep, powerful way that you're thinking about that leader
• 23:43
  Jon Gordon: years from when that person led you, years later.
• 23:46
  Jon Gordon: I think about my coach, coach Richie Moran, who just impacted me in such
• 23:50
  Jon Gordon: incredible ways.
• 23:51
  Jon Gordon: I think of Ken Blanchard, who had such an impact on me.
• 23:55
  Jon Gordon: These are transformational leaders, and they don't just care about
• 23:59
  Jon Gordon: you and your performance.
• 24:00
  Jon Gordon: They care about you as a person.
• 24:03
  Jon Gordon: They really want you to grow, and they want you to develop, and they
• 24:07
  Jon Gordon: want you to become all that you're meant to be.
• 24:08
  Jon Gordon: And so I believe that they give everything that they
• 24:12
  Jon Gordon: are to help you become all that you are meant to become.
• 24:17
  Lisa Nichols: Oh, that's so beautiful.
• 24:19
  Lisa Nichols: And for our listeners, you talk I mean, really,
• 24:23
  Lisa Nichols: the seven commitments of a great team.
• 24:27
  Lisa Nichols: Coach Ritchie is all throughout this book.
• 24:31
  Lisa Nichols: So for our,
• 24:32
  Jon Gordon: team based on my real life coach Ritchie that I put in the seven
• 24:36
  Jon Gordon: commitments of a great team, and and he's someone who, you know, coach Ritchie
• 24:40
  Jon Gordon: impacted my life.
• 24:41
  Jon Gordon: And so, yes, coach Ritchie in the book, his mannerisms, characteristics,
• 24:45
  Jon Gordon: and so forth, that was coach Ritchie.
• 24:48
  Jon Gordon: And I wrote about him in a fictional way, but inspired by
• 24:52
  Jon Gordon: my real coach.
• 24:53
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 24:54
  Lisa Nichols: That's so cool.
• 24:55
  Lisa Nichols: That's so cool.
• 24:57
  Lisa Nichols: Let me let me ask you this.
• 24:58
  Lisa Nichols: So we're we've talked about the energy bus.
• 25:02
  Lisa Nichols: You talk about energy vampires.
• 25:04
  Lisa Nichols: You wanna talk about that a little bit, but, you know, you've spent years
• 25:08
  Lisa Nichols: talking about energy.
• 25:09
  Lisa Nichols: Do you think one leader really can change the emotional of an organization,
• 25:14
  Lisa Nichols: Jon?
• 25:14
  Jon Gordon: Oh, yeah.
• 25:14
  Jon Gordon: One leader who is a positive leader, who brings love,
• 25:19
  Jon Gordon: passion, care, transforms the team, transforms
• 25:23
  Jon Gordon: the organization.
• 25:24
  Jon Gordon: I've seen this with Dabo Swinney, the coach of Clemson University,
• 25:29
  Jon Gordon: the football team.
• 25:29
  Jon Gordon: And I've seen how Dabo and his spirit, his energy literally transformed
• 25:34
  Jon Gordon: not just the team, but the school, the community,
• 25:38
  Jon Gordon: and now an entire state because of his energy.
• 25:41
  Jon Gordon: Alan Mulally turned around Ford when they were losing fourteen billion
• 25:45
  Jon Gordon: dollars.
• 25:46
  Jon Gordon: He defined his leadership style as positive leadership.
• 25:49
  Jon Gordon: He transformed the entire company and the community.
• 25:55
  Jon Gordon: And thousands of jobs he was able to save because of his leadership, his
• 25:59
  Jon Gordon: energy, his belief.
• 26:00
  Jon Gordon: So, yes, one leader can change everything.
• 26:03
  Jon Gordon: You put a great leader in a school,
• 26:08
  Jon Gordon: That school principal will transform the school.
• 26:11
  Jon Gordon: You put a great coach on a team, that coach will transform the team.
• 26:15
  Jon Gordon: You bring in a great CEO, that CEO will transform the company.
• 26:18
  Jon Gordon: This is why I do what I do now.
• 26:20
  Jon Gordon: I am here to develop positive leaders who make a positive impact.
• 26:23
  Jon Gordon: And I've worked with the best of the best, and I've seen what they
• 26:26
  Jon Gordon: do.
• 26:27
  Jon Gordon: And my goal is to continue to share this with with all the leaders
• 26:31
  Jon Gordon: out there so they can become that kind of leader, so they can impact
• 26:35
  Jon Gordon: their team, their family, their organization.
• 26:37
  Jon Gordon: And if your team is five people, great.
• 26:39
  Jon Gordon: You impact those five people.
• 26:41
  Jon Gordon: If you choose a hundred people, great.
• 26:42
  Jon Gordon: Impact those hundred people.
• 26:44
  Jon Gordon: You have the ability to do that.
• 26:46
  Jon Gordon: Leadership is a transfer of belief.
• 26:48
  Jon Gordon: So you're transferring your belief and your energy every day to those
• 26:52
  Jon Gordon: that you lead and then has a direct impact on them and their performance.
• 26:56
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 26:57
  Lisa Nichols: Them and their performance, Jon.
• 26:59
  Lisa Nichols: And there's one other thing I'm gonna add.
• 27:00
  Lisa Nichols: There's a multiplication factor.
• 27:03
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 27:04
  Jon Gordon: Be more.
• 27:04
  Jon Gordon: A multi yeah.
• 27:05
  Jon Gordon: It's a multi it's a I call it a ripple effect, and you call
• 27:07
  Jon Gordon: it a multiplier.
• 27:09
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 27:09
  Lisa Nichols: It's a multiplier.
• 27:10
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 27:10
  Jon Gordon: A ripple effect because you impact them, what happens?
• 27:14
  Jon Gordon: That person now is leading their family in a different way, their team
• 27:18
  Jon Gordon: in a different way, interacting with the customers and bringing more positive energy
• 27:22
  Jon Gordon: to the customers.
• 27:23
  Jon Gordon: So one leader has a ripple effect or a multiplying effect
• 27:27
  Jon Gordon: with how they lead and all the people that they impact.
• 27:30
  Jon Gordon: And when we work with leaders with our company, with our leadership development part
• 27:34
  Jon Gordon: of our company, our whole goal is to teach them to cascade the
• 27:38
  Jon Gordon: leadership down and throughout the organization.
• 27:41
  Jon Gordon: So you lead your direct reports.
• 27:44
  Jon Gordon: And then from there, your direct reports lead their teams.
• 27:47
  Jon Gordon: Those direct reports then lead their team.
• 27:50
  Jon Gordon: So you're cascading this kind of positive leadership throughout the organization.
• 27:54
  Jon Gordon: That's how you transform a culture.
• 27:55
  Jon Gordon: That's how you elevate performance and results.
• 27:58
  Lisa Nichols: So good.
• 27:59
  Lisa Nichols: So good.
• 28:00
  Lisa Nichols: So good.
• 28:00
  Lisa Nichols: So good.
• 28:02
  Lisa Nichols: You know, I guess if you out of all your books, I mean, you
• 28:06
  Lisa Nichols: know and and it could be what you just said.
• 28:09
  Lisa Nichols: But if there's one principle that you can leave through all of
• 28:13
  Lisa Nichols: your book I mean, what what would be that one principle, Jon?
• 28:16
  Jon Gordon: I believe in many principles.
• 28:18
  Jon Gordon: That's the hard part.
• 28:18
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 28:19
  Lisa Nichols: I know.
• 28:19
  Lisa Nichols: That's the hard part.
• 28:20
  Jon Gordon: But but, I mean...
• 28:21
  Lisa Nichols: Well, name one.
• 28:24
  Jon Gordon: Optimism
• 28:25
  Jon Gordon: and belief.
• 28:27
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 28:27
  Jon Gordon: Those are competitive advantages.
• 28:29
  Jon Gordon: Like, when you have optimism and you have belief and you transfer
• 28:33
  Jon Gordon: that belief to your team, it really is a competitive advantage.
• 28:36
  Jon Gordon: We saw Yeah.
• 28:37
  Jon Gordon: We we so often poo poo positivity.
• 28:40
  Jon Gordon: We think it's soft.
• 28:42
  Jon Gordon: We think it's weak.
• 28:43
  Jon Gordon: It's actually the real thing that delivers results.
• 28:47
  Jon Gordon: Being positive doesn't mean Pollyanna.
• 28:49
  Jon Gordon: Like, it's not about
• 28:50
  Lisa Nichols: That's what I was gonna ask you.
• 28:51
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 28:52
  Jon Gordon: It's not about it's not about seeing the world through rose colored glasses.
• 28:55
  Jon Gordon: It's knowing that Mhmm.
• 28:56
  Jon Gordon: You have the power to overcome the thorns.
• 28:58
  Jon Gordon: And it's definitely not about ignoring reality.
• 29:01
  Jon Gordon: It's maintaining optimism, belief, and faith to create a better reality.
• 29:04
  Jon Gordon: Because, Lisa, I often say, pessimists do not change the world
• 29:09
  Lisa Nichols: Throughout Have you ever seen a pessimist change the world?
• 29:11
  Lisa Nichols: Never.
• 29:12
  Lisa Nichols: Never.
• 29:12
  Jon Gordon: Throughout history, it's the positive leaders that do that.
• 29:15
  Jon Gordon: So so Right.
• 29:16
  Jon Gordon: I believe it's the most important part of leadership is that optimism
• 29:20
  Jon Gordon: and belief next to integrity.
• 29:23
  Jon Gordon: The integrity of what I say and what I do, there's no
• 29:27
  Jon Gordon: gap.
• 29:27
  Jon Gordon: There is a completeness.
• 29:30
  Jon Gordon: Integrity comes from the word integer, which means whole and complete.
• 29:33
  Jon Gordon: So when you have integrity, you have wholeness and completeness.
• 29:36
  Jon Gordon: And because of that, you have a strong foundation, and then there's moral authority,
• 29:40
  Jon Gordon: and your team knows they can trust you.
• 29:42
  Jon Gordon: So integrity is essential for leadership, but optimism and belief is sort
• 29:46
  Jon Gordon: of what you then convey to others to help them perform at a higher
• 29:50
  Jon Gordon: level.
• 29:51
  Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
• 29:52
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 29:53
  Lisa Nichols: From the energy bus, I mean, you say positive leaders
• 29:57
  Lisa Nichols: yeah.
• 29:57
  Lisa Nichols: I was gonna ask you about the Pollyanna because sometimes things are really
• 30:01
  Lisa Nichols: hard.
• 30:02
  Lisa Nichols: Let's just face it.
• 30:03
  Lisa Nichols: There are economic challenges.
• 30:06
  Lisa Nichols: There's political challenges.
• 30:08
  Lisa Nichols: Business can be really hard.
• 30:09
  Lisa Nichols: I mean, we've definitely in thirty two years of running our company, we've we've
• 30:14
  Lisa Nichols: seen some hard, really hard seasons.
• 30:16
  Lisa Nichols: And you say positive leaders don't ignore reality,
• 30:20
  Lisa Nichols: but they choose to lead with hope despite the reality.
• 30:25
  Jon Gordon: And they create a better reality as a result of that because of their
• 30:28
  Jon Gordon: hope, because of their optimism, because of their belief, because they're not defined
• 30:33
  Jon Gordon: by their circumstances.
• 30:34
  Jon Gordon: Circumstances could be difficult, but they lead through the circumstances to
• 30:38
  Jon Gordon: create better circumstances.
• 30:40
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 30:40
  Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
• 30:42
  Lisa Nichols: That is so good.
• 30:45
  Lisa Nichols: Alright.
• 30:46
  Lisa Nichols: Is there something that God's been teaching you specifically this year?
• 30:49
  Lisa Nichols: And I I just your faith journey, Jon, you didn't even come to
• 30:54
  Lisa Nichols: know Jesus Christ until you were thirty five, I think.
• 30:56
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 30:57
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 30:57
  Jon Gordon: Thirty five.
• 30:58
  Lisa Nichols: I was I was my mom was Jewish.
• 31:00
  Lisa Nichols: Other things.
• 31:01
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 31:01
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 31:02
  Jon Gordon: Mom was Jewish, then I was into new age
• 31:06
  Jon Gordon: and Buddhism and all that good stuff in my twenties.
• 31:08
  Jon Gordon: I was a spiritual seeker.
• 31:10
  Jon Gordon: I always felt like there was a god, the father, who cared about me.
• 31:13
  Jon Gordon: So I always felt there was a personal god.
• 31:16
  Jon Gordon: Didn't understand anything about Jesus until I was thirty three,
• 31:20
  Jon Gordon: thirty four, until I started to listen to some sermons that friends gave me.
• 31:24
  Jon Gordon: And I remember going, wow.
• 31:27
  Jon Gordon: I think there's something to this.
• 31:29
  Jon Gordon: And I said a prayer.
• 31:30
  Jon Gordon: God, if there is something to this Jesus, I'm open.
• 31:33
  Jon Gordon: Show me the signs, god.
• 31:35
  Jon Gordon: And I started seeing signs everywhere.
• 31:36
  Jon Gordon: I was driving down the road, and I'm looking to the left.
• 31:40
  Jon Gordon: And I lit I literally heard look, and I turned to the right, and
• 31:43
  Jon Gordon: there's a sign that says, Jesus is the answer.
• 31:47
  Jon Gordon: It was a literal sign.
• 31:49
  Jon Gordon: And I kept seeing signs like that everywhere I went.
• 31:53
  Jon Gordon: And so, yeah, God was pointing me in that direction,
• 31:57
  Jon Gordon: showing me the way, and eventually, you know, came to faith at at thirty
• 32:01
  Jon Gordon: five years old, and it it's changed my life.
• 32:04
  Jon Gordon: It's the number one decision I made besides marrying my wife.
• 32:07
  Jon Gordon: That's the most important second decision I made.
• 32:10
  Jon Gordon: You know?
• 32:11
  Jon Gordon: Sometimes, if I'm honest, my wife, I feel, is my most important decision, but
• 32:15
  Jon Gordon: we know God forgives me for that.
• 32:18
  Jon Gordon: And then there is God.
• 32:19
  Jon Gordon: There is my wife, and then there's what am I here to do?
• 32:23
  Jon Gordon: What is my profession?
• 32:25
  Jon Gordon: How am I to live this vision and mission and
• 32:29
  Jon Gordon: purpose that you have for me, God?
• 32:31
  Jon Gordon: And so then I found that in in doing this work.
• 32:33
  Jon Gordon: So, yeah, God is always teaching me new things.
• 32:36
  Jon Gordon: That's how Yeah.
• 32:37
  Jon Gordon: New book new books emerge, new ideas.
• 32:40
  Jon Gordon: And so I've got, like, five new books that I have written down that
• 32:43
  Jon Gordon: I know I wanna write on.
• 32:45
  Jon Gordon: I'm just not sure which one to do next, honestly.
• 32:47
  Jon Gordon: And I'm I'm So
• 32:48
  Lisa Nichols: you're praying about it?
• 32:50
  Jon Gordon: I, I am praying, like, I'm praying, God, which book do you want me
• 32:53
  Jon Gordon: to write next?
• 32:53
  Jon Gordon: Like, what am I supposed to do?
• 32:55
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 32:55
  Jon Gordon: What am I supposed to write?
• 32:56
  Jon Gordon: And it might be a year.
• 32:57
  Jon Gordon: I might take a year off this time.
• 32:59
  Jon Gordon: I haven't taken a year off in a long time.
• 33:01
  Jon Gordon: I mean, thirty three books,
• 33:03
  Jon Gordon: but I think I might even take a year off.
• 33:05
  Jon Gordon: We'll see.
• 33:06
  Jon Gordon: But if God starts to put these ideas and I can't sleep and I
• 33:09
  Jon Gordon: start waking up and I start Mhmm.
• 33:11
  Jon Gordon: Writing things down, that's when I know I'm supposed to write a new book.
• 33:14
  Jon Gordon: But what I've been really thinking of a lot about lately I don't think
• 33:17
  Jon Gordon: there's a new book right now, but what I'm enjoying teaching and sharing
• 33:21
  Jon Gordon: is the fact that every leader has wounds that need
• 33:25
  Jon Gordon: to be healed.
• 33:26
  Jon Gordon: And so I really love talking to leaders about their wounds and the healing
• 33:30
  Jon Gordon: that must take place so that they can lead from the healing, not their
• 33:34
  Jon Gordon: wounds.
• 33:35
  Jon Gordon: Because if a leader is leading from their wounds, they're gonna lead with pride,
• 33:39
  Jon Gordon: with ego, with fear.
• 33:41
  Jon Gordon: They're gonna lead trying to get approval from others, and you're not a strong
• 33:44
  Jon Gordon: leader when you're leading from your wounds.
• 33:46
  Jon Gordon: I want leaders to lead from their healing where they're leading from that connection
• 33:50
  Jon Gordon: to God, where they lead with power and purpose and peace and presence,
• 33:54
  Jon Gordon: and then they have a greater impact as a result of that.
• 33:57
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 33:57
  Lisa Nichols: That's where transformation is gonna happen.
• 34:00
  Lisa Nichols: Right?
• 34:00
  Lisa Nichols: That's where transformation is gonna happen.
• 34:03
  Lisa Nichols: I love that.
• 34:04
  Lisa Nichols: Well, I I don't know.
• 34:05
  Lisa Nichols: I'm I'm not putting words in your mouth.
• 34:07
  Lisa Nichols: I know you're huge on gratitude.
• 34:10
  Lisa Nichols: Our family does a gratitude circle every night.
• 34:13
  Lisa Nichols: I think gratitude is huge.
• 34:14
  Lisa Nichols: But is there one habit one or two habits, Jon, that have had
• 34:18
  Lisa Nichols: the greatest return Oh.
• 34:20
  Lisa Nichols: For you on your line?
• 34:21
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 34:22
  Jon Gordon: The thank you walk.
• 34:23
  Jon Gordon: No doubt.
• 34:23
  Jon Gordon: I mean, the the walk of gratitude
• 34:25
  Lisa Nichols: The walk of gratitude.
• 34:26
  Jon Gordon: That I started doing over, you know, twenty five years ago.
• 34:29
  Jon Gordon: That is where all the book ideas have come.
• 34:31
  Jon Gordon: It's where I found the most healing, just the most peace.
• 34:35
  Jon Gordon: That one habit changed my life.
• 34:36
  Jon Gordon: And it's why I wrote the power of positive habits because one habit can
• 34:40
  Jon Gordon: change the course of your life.
• 34:42
  Jon Gordon: You just gotta find the right habit.
• 34:44
  Jon Gordon: This is not a book about how to build habits.
• 34:47
  Jon Gordon: This is a book of various habits that you
• 34:49
  Lisa Nichols: Different habits.
• 34:50
  Jon Gordon: Right.
• 34:51
  Jon Gordon: These habits will help you build a better life.
• 34:55
  Jon Gordon: And so as you pick some of these habits, you start doing them these
• 34:58
  Jon Gordon: habits, and you see how they they impact you.
• 35:00
  Jon Gordon: So that was one that really impacted me.
• 35:02
  Jon Gordon: And the other one was was when I learned to talk to myself instead
• 35:06
  Jon Gordon: of listen to myself.
• 35:08
  Jon Gordon: So instead of listening to all the fear, the worry, the doubt, the anxiety,
• 35:13
  Jon Gordon: I began speaking truth and words of encouragement to those lies.
• 35:17
  Jon Gordon: I call it becoming your own greatest encourager in the book.
• 35:21
  Jon Gordon: And the more you encourage yourself Right.
• 35:23
  Jon Gordon: And you're the greatest encourager.
• 35:26
  Jon Gordon: You you don't need the encouragement of others.
• 35:28
  Jon Gordon: It's nice to have the encouragement, but you don't need it.
• 35:31
  Jon Gordon: You are powering yourself to overcome your challenges, and that's when you get
• 35:35
  Jon Gordon: through all the obstacles because encourage gives you
• 35:39
  Jon Gordon: courage to take on the challenge.
• 35:41
  Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
• 35:43
  Lisa Nichols: You I know you love Jon Maxwell.
• 35:45
  Lisa Nichols: I do too.
• 35:46
  Lisa Nichols: I'll never forget Jon saying one time, encouragement
• 35:51
  Lisa Nichols: is oxygen for your soul.
• 35:54
  Jon Gordon: That's that's a great word.
• 35:56
  Lisa Nichols: Encouragement is oxygen for your soul.
• 35:59
  Lisa Nichols: And he was talking about it in terms of encouraging your
• 36:03
  Lisa Nichols: team
• 36:04
  Jon Gordon: Right.
• 36:04
  Lisa Nichols: And being an encourager to other people.
• 36:06
  Lisa Nichols: It's like you're, you know, you are infusing their soul with oxygen
• 36:10
  Lisa Nichols: when you do that.
• 36:11
  Lisa Nichols: But yeah.
• 36:12
  Lisa Nichols: You you know?
• 36:13
  Lisa Nichols: And I you've got, like, I know you write about these three habits,
• 36:18
  Lisa Nichols: the practicing unceasing gratitude, talking back to your anxious
• 36:22
  Lisa Nichols: thoughts, and you do that.
• 36:24
  Lisa Nichols: You know, if somebody's listening, they're like, what does that even look like?
• 36:27
  Lisa Nichols: Y'all because I have anxious thoughts, and I have fears all the time.
• 36:30
  Lisa Nichols: But how would I talk back to that?
• 36:32
  Lisa Nichols: And for you, you talk back with scripture.
• 36:35
  Lisa Nichols: You said you put truth in there.
• 36:39
  Lisa Nichols: But, you know, I mean, what other things?
• 36:41
  Lisa Nichols: I mean, if somebody's sitting there going, you know, yeah, I'm I
• 36:45
  Lisa Nichols: have these negative thoughts running through my head all the time.
• 36:48
  Lisa Nichols: How can I talk back to them
• 36:51
  Jon Gordon: and put up It's it's first understanding
• 36:54
  Jon Gordon: that the negative thoughts you have are not coming from you?
• 36:58
  Jon Gordon: And how do I know that?
• 36:59
  Jon Gordon: Who would ever choose to have a negative thought?
• 37:02
  Jon Gordon: You never would.
• 37:03
  Lisa Nichols: Right.
• 37:03
  Jon Gordon: The thought comes in so fast that you often believe it.
• 37:07
  Jon Gordon: You then speak it out loud.
• 37:09
  Jon Gordon: You reinforce it, and then it does become a part of you.
• 37:13
  Jon Gordon: So you're not the thoughts you think, you're the thoughts you believe.
• 37:17
  Jon Gordon: And you don't have the power of the first thought, but you have the
• 37:20
  Jon Gordon: power of the second thought.
• 37:21
  Jon Gordon: So when that negative thought comes in, it's knowing this is not for me.
• 37:25
  Jon Gordon: I don't have to believe this thought.
• 37:27
  Jon Gordon: I don't have to agree with this thought.
• 37:30
  Jon Gordon: I don't even have to listen to this thought.
• 37:32
  Jon Gordon: But what I'm gonna do is speak words of encouragement and words
• 37:36
  Jon Gordon: of truth to that negative thought.
• 37:38
  Jon Gordon: Like, the negative thought might come in and say you don't have it today.
• 37:41
  Jon Gordon: And the positive thought that you might replace it with is, with God, all
• 37:45
  Jon Gordon: things are possible.
• 37:47
  Jon Gordon: Right?
• 37:47
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 37:47
  Jon Gordon: I can do all great things through Christ who gives me strength.
• 37:50
  Jon Gordon: I feel weak, but in your strength, God, I am strong.
• 37:54
  Jon Gordon: God, use me for your purpose today.
• 37:56
  Jon Gordon: Guide me.
• 37:57
  Jon Gordon: Show me the way.
• 37:58
  Jon Gordon: Whatever it may be,
• 38:00
  Jon Gordon: you use that positive thought to counter the negative thought.
• 38:03
  Jon Gordon: And sometimes for me, it might be, hey.
• 38:06
  Jon Gordon: Stop being worried.
• 38:07
  Jon Gordon: You didn't come here to be average.
• 38:09
  Jon Gordon: Just go for it.
• 38:10
  Jon Gordon: And I'll even tell myself that.
• 38:12
  Jon Gordon: Or it might be scripture, right
• 38:14
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 38:14
  Jon Gordon: That you're saying.
• 38:15
  Jon Gordon: So
• 38:17
  Lisa Nichols: I love what you did that.
• 38:18
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 38:19
  Jon Gordon: It depends on the situation and what you do in a practical way.
• 38:23
  Jon Gordon: I encourage people to do this.
• 38:24
  Jon Gordon: You write down your negative thoughts on a piece of paper on the left
• 38:28
  Jon Gordon: hand side of the paper.
• 38:29
  Jon Gordon: Write down those negative thoughts that often come in for you because each person
• 38:33
  Jon Gordon: has their negative thoughts.
• 38:34
  Jon Gordon: You have yours.
• 38:35
  Jon Gordon: I have mine.
• 38:36
  Jon Gordon: Each person is different.
• 38:38
  Jon Gordon: So you write down your thoughts.
• 38:40
  Jon Gordon: Then on the right side, write down the words of encouragement that you will
• 38:44
  Jon Gordon: speak to those negative thoughts whenever they come in.
• 38:48
  Jon Gordon: And as you practice doing this, you then start to become those positive
• 38:52
  Jon Gordon: thoughts because the thoughts we think and the words we say become the reality
• 38:56
  Jon Gordon: and the life that we create.
• 38:58
  Jon Gordon: As a woman thinks, she becomes.
• 39:00
  Jon Gordon: As a man thinks, he becomes.
• 39:02
  Jon Gordon: Your thoughts, your words are that powerful, so make sure you are speaking
• 39:06
  Jon Gordon: those words of life to yourself, and that's how we overcome our challenges.
• 39:11
  Jon Gordon: So that's what it looks like from a practical way.
• 39:13
  Jon Gordon: And then from a mental toughness way, it gives you resilience and strength.
• 39:17
  Jon Gordon: And from a spiritual way, you're taking the word of God and you're
• 39:21
  Jon Gordon: using it and applying it to power your life instead of
• 39:26
  Jon Gordon: the enemy's words and thoughts trying to derail you from your life.
• 39:30
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 39:31
  Lisa Nichols: So true.
• 39:32
  Lisa Nichols: That's gold.
• 39:33
  Lisa Nichols: That's gold.
• 39:34
  Lisa Nichols: And we know for a fact that we have a real enemy
• 39:37
  Jon Gordon: Oh, yeah.
• 39:38
  Lisa Nichols: Jon, And he wants to take us out.
• 39:40
  Lisa Nichols: So recognizing that too, don't give him, you know,
• 39:44
  Lisa Nichols: too much credit, but he's there.
• 39:46
  Lisa Nichols: And, you know, he doesn't want us to become all that God intended us
• 39:50
  Lisa Nichols: to be.
• 39:50
  Jon Gordon: And if people I'm thinking of the person that says, do we really have
• 39:53
  Jon Gordon: an enemy?
• 39:54
  Jon Gordon: And for for that person, just look around
• 39:58
  Jon Gordon: the world and look at the evil.
• 40:00
  Jon Gordon: Look at the sex trafficking that happens
• 40:04
  Jon Gordon: with evil people doing this, and they're literally trying to steal and
• 40:08
  Jon Gordon: destroy kids' lives.
• 40:11
  Jon Gordon: Look at the abuse that happens with with kids from adults
• 40:15
  Jon Gordon: and sometimes trusted loved ones.
• 40:17
  Jon Gordon: There's an abuse that happens, an evil that happens.
• 40:20
  Jon Gordon: And you can look and you could say, well, yeah, those people are bad.
• 40:25
  Jon Gordon: But within those people, there's an evil that is
• 40:29
  Jon Gordon: forcing them to do those bad things, that is leading them to do
• 40:33
  Jon Gordon: those bad things.
• 40:34
  Jon Gordon: And so you could just see that evil everywhere.
• 40:37
  Jon Gordon: You can also see it when you're just sitting there idle.
• 40:41
  Jon Gordon: I don't know about you, Lisa, but I had a time when I was
• 40:43
  Jon Gordon: sitting there idle, not doing anything, and a thought popped in and said,
• 40:48
  Jon Gordon: you should kill yourself.
• 40:50
  Jon Gordon: It literally popped into my head, and I would never choose a thought like
• 40:54
  Jon Gordon: that.
• 40:54
  Jon Gordon: And I knew that did not come from me.
• 40:57
  Jon Gordon: There's no way I would say it.
• 40:58
  Jon Gordon: It was like, what?
• 41:00
  Jon Gordon: And I literally was like, what?
• 41:01
  Jon Gordon: Now imagine you don't know what I know, and you think that thought is
• 41:05
  Jon Gordon: from you, and then you give it powering suggestion.
• 41:08
  Jon Gordon: Or the thought that says, yeah.
• 41:10
  Jon Gordon: You're not gonna make it.
• 41:11
  Jon Gordon: You should give up.
• 41:13
  Jon Gordon: It's hopeless.
• 41:14
  Jon Gordon: Would you choose that thought initially?
• 41:16
  Jon Gordon: No.
• 41:16
  Jon Gordon: But it comes in.
• 41:17
  Jon Gordon: And I remember being on stage once couple years
• 41:21
  Jon Gordon: ago, big old crowd, and I look out there, and literally, a thought popped
• 41:25
  Jon Gordon: in my head that said, remember that woman from a few months ago that
• 41:29
  Jon Gordon: didn't like your talk?
• 41:33
  Jon Gordon: Why would I be thinking about a talk a few months ago that didn't
• 41:37
  Jon Gordon: like it?
• 41:38
  Jon Gordon: And it popped in, and it came at the worst possible time as I'm
• 41:42
  Jon Gordon: on stage trying to break me of my confidence and my flow.
• 41:45
  Jon Gordon: And I saw it.
• 41:46
  Jon Gordon: I'm like, woah.
• 41:48
  Jon Gordon: And here's even here's even, proof of this that in a
• 41:52
  Jon Gordon: fun, but, you know, you know, maybe not a fun way.
• 41:55
  Jon Gordon: I don't know.
• 41:56
  Jon Gordon: I think it's funny.
• 41:57
  Jon Gordon: My son said to me one time, he goes, dad, isn't it weird how
• 42:01
  Jon Gordon: when you're single, he's like, the devil's always trying to get you to have
• 42:05
  Jon Gordon: sex, when you're single and not married.
• 42:07
  Jon Gordon: And then once you get married, the devil tries to keep you from half
• 42:11
  Jon Gordon: accepting your marriage.
• 42:14
  Jon Gordon: And every married couple will will understand and laugh at that.
• 42:17
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 42:18
  Jon Gordon: Yes.
• 42:18
  Jon Gordon: So true.
• 42:19
  Jon Gordon: And I I I heard that.
• 42:20
  Jon Gordon: My sons I go, how do you know these things, by the way?
• 42:22
  Jon Gordon: One one.
• 42:23
  Jon Gordon: And two, it shows you the devil is so subversive
• 42:27
  Jon Gordon: that that's actually what happens, and it's crazy.
• 42:31
  Jon Gordon: You know, when you shouldn't be, it's trying to force you to to to
• 42:35
  Jon Gordon: to to hurt your soul, to sin, to sabotage.
• 42:38
  Jon Gordon: When you're married, when it's okay, when you when it should be a beautiful
• 42:42
  Jon Gordon: thing, it's keeping you from it, and so you don't have the connection and
• 42:45
  Jon Gordon: the love that you're really looking for to keep your relationship strong.
• 42:49
  Jon Gordon: It's always trying to divide you and your relationship.
• 42:51
  Jon Gordon: It's so clear that there's evil and there's an enemy
• 42:54
  Lisa Nichols: Yes.
• 42:55
  Jon Gordon: That tries to keep you from yourself, from others, and
• 42:59
  Jon Gordon: spiritually from God.
• 43:00
  Jon Gordon: And that's what I wrote about the one truth.
• 43:02
  Jon Gordon: Right?
• 43:02
  Jon Gordon: There's this force trying to divide you, but there's a god always trying to
• 43:05
  Jon Gordon: unite you back to himself.
• 43:07
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 43:07
  Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
• 43:09
  Lisa Nichols: I love that that your that your son
• 43:12
  Lisa Nichols: used that, because it's so true.
• 43:15
  Lisa Nichols: Oh my goodness.
• 43:18
  Jon Gordon: Gosh.
• 43:20
  Jon Gordon: I've got some like, where do I go from here?
• 43:22
  Lisa Nichols: I know.
• 43:23
  Lisa Nichols: Where do I go from here?
• 43:26
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 43:27
  Lisa Nichols: I'm I'm just gonna let me do this.
• 43:29
  Lisa Nichols: I'm gonna do a little quick little lightning round with you.
• 43:31
  Lisa Nichols: Just a little fun lightning round.
• 43:36
  Lisa Nichols: Which which of your books was the hardest to write?
• 43:39
  Jon Gordon: The Carpenter.
• 43:40
  Jon Gordon: I had writer's block, and I couldn't write the book.
• 43:43
  Jon Gordon: And I had never really had writer's block and only when I first
• 43:47
  Jon Gordon: started.
• 43:48
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 43:48
  Jon Gordon: And after that, all the books were flowing.
• 43:50
  Jon Gordon: And then I'm like,
• 43:53
  Jon Gordon: the thoughts came in.
• 43:54
  Jon Gordon: Your best work was behind you.
• 43:56
  Jon Gordon: People are gonna think you're this new book is a piece of junk.
• 44:00
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 44:00
  Jon Gordon: Energy bus is great.
• 44:01
  Jon Gordon: Training camp was great.
• 44:03
  Jon Gordon: People love those, but they're gonna say over.
• 44:05
  Jon Gordon: Yeah.
• 44:05
  Jon Gordon: You're you're done.
• 44:06
  Jon Gordon: You can't do this anymore.
• 44:08
  Jon Gordon: Wow.
• 44:08
  Jon Gordon: And those thoughts were coming in.
• 44:09
  Jon Gordon: And I woke up one morning, and this is my best advice to people.
• 44:14
  Jon Gordon: I woke up with the thought, it was straight from God, love
• 44:18
  Jon Gordon: casts out fear.
• 44:20
  Jon Gordon: Don't worry about the outcome.
• 44:23
  Jon Gordon: Just love writing.
• 44:26
  Jon Gordon: Love the reader.
• 44:28
  Jon Gordon: Love the process, and you'll love what the process produces.
• 44:31
  Jon Gordon: I wrote that down, and it became a huge part of the book and
• 44:35
  Jon Gordon: part of my teaching ever since.
• 44:37
  Jon Gordon: So for those struggling with fear of messing up, of making a mistake, of
• 44:41
  Jon Gordon: not performing well, if you have kids that are athletes and they're struggling
• 44:45
  Jon Gordon: and they have, you know, goals and they have things they wanna
• 44:49
  Jon Gordon: achieve, but they're perfectionists and they're angry when they don't play well or perform
• 44:54
  Jon Gordon: well, and it's affecting their performance and their happiness,
• 44:58
  Jon Gordon: just remind them, love casts out fear.
• 45:00
  Jon Gordon: Focus on the love of it, and you won't fear it because love
• 45:04
  Jon Gordon: is more powerful than fear.
• 45:06
  Jon Gordon: And I did that, and I wrote the book in two and a half
• 45:09
  Jon Gordon: weeks after that.
• 45:11
  Lisa Nichols: Wow.
• 45:12
  Lisa Nichols: That's remarkable.
• 45:13
  Lisa Nichols: That's that's right from the heart of God.
• 45:15
  Lisa Nichols: That was a word right from the heart
• 45:17
  Jon Gordon: of God.
• 45:19
  Lisa Nichols: So,
• 45:21
  Lisa Nichols: do you have a favorite Bible verse,
• 45:23
  Lisa Nichols: Jon?
• 45:24
  Jon Gordon: Romans eight five six.
• 45:26
  Jon Gordon: A mind governed by the flesh leads to death.
• 45:29
  Jon Gordon: A mind governed by the spirit leads to life and peace.
• 45:33
  Jon Gordon: That's ultimately the choice we all have.
• 45:35
  Jon Gordon: I think it all comes down to that.
• 45:37
  Jon Gordon: What am I choosing?
• 45:38
  Jon Gordon: To live according to the flesh or the spirit?
• 45:41
  Jon Gordon: To the greed of this world, to the demands of this world, or to
• 45:44
  Jon Gordon: the spirit of God, spending time in prayer, allowing that prayer
• 45:48
  Jon Gordon: to renew me, recharge me, to transform me,
• 45:53
  Jon Gordon: to restore me, to give me faith and confidence and belief and
• 45:57
  Jon Gordon: power and hope.
• 45:58
  Jon Gordon: What are you gonna choose?
• 45:59
  Jon Gordon: The flesh or the spirit?
• 46:01
  Jon Gordon: Too often, we choose the flesh, and that's why we feel like we are
• 46:04
  Jon Gordon: facing destruction.
• 46:05
  Jon Gordon: But the minute we choose faith, we start to experience life.
• 46:10
  Lisa Nichols: That's that's a great place to end there.
• 46:13
  Lisa Nichols: It's a great place to end.
• 46:15
  Lisa Nichols: I can't I can't top that.
• 46:17
  Lisa Nichols: Well, let me ask you this.
• 46:20
  Lisa Nichols: You know, this is called something extra.
• 46:24
  Lisa Nichols: And I know it's not just one something extra, Jon.
• 46:27
  Lisa Nichols: That's an unfair question, really.
• 46:30
  Lisa Nichols: But what do you believe is this something extra?
• 46:32
  Lisa Nichols: I'll give you a couple that every leader needs.
• 46:36
  Jon Gordon: Every leader needs and needs to give more love.
• 46:40
  Jon Gordon: You know, more love.
• 46:41
  Jon Gordon: We all need more love, and we need to give more
• 46:46
  Jon Gordon: love.
• 46:46
  Jon Gordon: Going back to the carpenter, love, serve, and care.
• 46:49
  Jon Gordon: Like, love your people.
• 46:52
  Jon Gordon: Love the work that you get to do.
• 46:54
  Jon Gordon: Let them know you truly care about them.
• 46:58
  Jon Gordon: I I think about my grandmother who made the most amazing soup.
• 47:02
  Jon Gordon: And after she passed on, other people tried to make the same recipe,
• 47:07
  Jon Gordon: but it never came out the same.
• 47:10
  Jon Gordon: And I'm convinced it was her love that made the difference.
• 47:13
  Jon Gordon: Oh.
• 47:13
  Jon Gordon: The the phenomenon where certain restaurants and
• 47:18
  Jon Gordon: could have the same same, ingredient, the same recipe, the
• 47:22
  Jon Gordon: same dish, everything, but have different people make it,
• 47:26
  Jon Gordon: and it still comes out a little different.
• 47:29
  Jon Gordon: We can't separate the soup from the soup maker.
• 47:31
  Jon Gordon: We can't separate the meal from who's making the meal, and you can't separate
• 47:36
  Jon Gordon: the family and the team from the leader and the leader's love.
• 47:40
  Jon Gordon: Your love is gonna make the difference, and the love you put into it
• 47:43
  Jon Gordon: determines the quality of it.
• 47:45
  Jon Gordon: What stories do you want them to tell about you?
• 47:50
  Jon Gordon: And when you love your team, those stories are gonna be wonderful.
• 47:54
  Jon Gordon: Look at the stories I'm telling about Ken Blanchard.
• 47:56
  Jon Gordon: Like, I genuinely felt his love for me, and so
• 48:00
  Jon Gordon: his love made all the difference.
• 48:01
  Jon Gordon: My grandmother, I felt her love.
• 48:04
  Jon Gordon: Well, what stories are your team gonna tell about you?
• 48:08
  Jon Gordon: Did you love them and did they feel your love, or were you always
• 48:11
  Jon Gordon: pushing them, challenging them, and grinding them,
• 48:16
  Jon Gordon: but not feeling the love?
• 48:18
  Jon Gordon: Mhmm.
• 48:18
  Jon Gordon: I call it love tough.
• 48:20
  Jon Gordon: You gotta be tough, so let's get real.
• 48:22
  Jon Gordon: You gotta challenge Yeah.
• 48:23
  Lisa Nichols: You've gotta accountability.
• 48:24
  Lisa Nichols: You gotta have accountability.
• 48:25
  Jon Gordon: You gotta have accountability.
• 48:26
  Jon Gordon: But accountability
• 48:28
  Jon Gordon: when it's a part of love means because I love you, I'm
• 48:32
  Lisa Nichols: not gonna let
• 48:32
  Jon Gordon: you settle for anything but your best.
• 48:35
  Jon Gordon: So I'm gonna love you, but I'm gonna challenge you because I see more
• 48:38
  Jon Gordon: in you, and I know you can achieve more than you are.
• 48:40
  Jon Gordon: I can know you can do more than you are.
• 48:42
  Jon Gordon: You're not living up to your potential.
• 48:44
  Jon Gordon: So because I love you, I'm gonna push you.
• 48:46
  Jon Gordon: But it is done from a place truly of love, and they know you
• 48:50
  Jon Gordon: love them.
• 48:51
  Jon Gordon: So now you earn the right to challenge them.
• 48:54
  Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
• 48:55
  Lisa Nichols: That's beautiful.
• 48:56
  Lisa Nichols: Beautiful.
• 48:56
  Lisa Nichols: We'll do another podcast on this because you you're speaking my language
• 49:00
  Lisa Nichols: Let's go, Lisa.
• 49:01
  Lisa Nichols: About about love about love.
• 49:04
  Lisa Nichols: I always say people feel you before they can hear you.
• 49:07
  Jon Gordon: That's good.
• 49:07
  Jon Gordon: I love it.
• 49:08
  Lisa Nichols: They feel you.
• 49:09
  Lisa Nichols: They do.
• 49:10
  Lisa Nichols: They feel how you communicate to them.
• 49:12
  Lisa Nichols: And, oh my goodness, Jon.
• 49:14
  Lisa Nichols: We could just keep talking and talking, but we do need to wrap it
• 49:17
  Lisa Nichols: up here.
• 49:18
  Lisa Nichols: I appreciate you coming on the show so incredibly much.
• 49:23
  Lisa Nichols: You are my four hundredth guest, and, I just know that our
• 49:27
  Lisa Nichols: listeners are gonna benefit from learning from you.
• 49:29
  Lisa Nichols: So thank you so much for your time.
• 49:31
  Lisa Nichols: Thank you for who you are.
• 49:33
  Lisa Nichols: Keep writing.
• 49:34
  Jon Gordon: Thanks for having me.
• 49:35
  Jon Gordon: Hopefully, we don't wait for another four hundred to do it again till we
• 49:37
  Jon Gordon: take
• 49:38
  Lisa Nichols: it to right.
• 49:39
  Lisa Nichols: Well, I know I'm gonna see you at the annual, CEO forum, and
• 49:43
  Lisa Nichols: maybe I might see you, at another event here soon too.
• 49:47
  Lisa Nichols: So you take care, my friend.
• 49:49
  Lisa Nichols: Have a great rest of the day.
• 49:50
  Jon Gordon: God bless you.
• 49:51
  Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
• 49:52
  Lisa Nichols: God bless you.
• 49:54
  Announcer: Something extra with Lisa Nichols is a Technology Partners production.
• 49:58
  Announcer: Copyright Technology Partners Inc.
• 50:00
  Announcer: Twenty nineteen.
• 50:01
  Announcer: To learn more about this week's guest, check out the show notes at tpi
• 50:05
  Announcer: dot co slash podcast.
• 50:07
  Announcer: If you enjoyed this episode, consider leaving us a review.
• 50:10
  Announcer: Thank you for listening to Something Extra.