Latest / Andy Stanley Sermons / Andy Stanley - Mastering Communication x John Maxwell

Transcript

Andy Stanley - Mastering Communication x John Maxwell · Andy Stanley Sermons

0:05
So hey, everybody, Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, a conversation
0:09
designed to help leaders go further faster. I'm Andy Stanley and joining me today
0:13
is my friend and yours, John Maxwell, to discuss his latest book,
0:18
The Sixteen Undeniable Laws of Communication. Welcome back, John. It's great to
0:24
be with you again. Andy. This is I think maybe twice in the
0:28
year I've been able to be with you, and it's a it's a real
0:31
joy. I always enjoy our time together. And of course I listen to
0:35
your podcast monthly, so that counts for something now that. Hey, if
0:40
you're the only one listening, I'll keep doing the podcast. Unfortunately, you
0:43
just get to hear me. Regurd you take most of your stuff and occasionally
0:46
occasionally give you credit for it. Right, So, what's mine is yours?
0:51
Hey, and what's yours is mine too? It's a two way street.
0:54
You got to sound like something Sanders says. Hers is Andy, what's
0:57
yours is mine? And what's mine is mine? That's what she says.
0:59
I'm like, Margret's out of that school too. Yeah, hey, Margaret
1:03
understands that school. Yeah. Well, for the four of you out there
1:07
who are not familiar with doctor John Maxwell. He's the best selling author,
1:11
speaker, coach, and leader. He has sold over drummer roll thirty five
1:17
million books. His books and programs have trained literally millions of leaders globally.
1:22
I am one of those. He leads the Maxwell Leadership Foundation and Equip,
1:25
a nonprofit that he has used for years and years and years to give away
1:30
so many resources and so much good stuff literally people all over the world,
1:34
really impacting global leadership through values based training. He's recognized as the number one
1:40
leader in business by the American Management Association and the world's most Influential Leadership expert
1:44
by Business Insider and inc Magazine. But most importantly, he's been a mentor
1:48
and a friend to me for over twenty years. He's given me so much
1:52
great advice. He's been a go to person. When I'm going through stuff
1:56
with people on social media, I'll just get a handwritten note in the mail
1:59
from John just encouraging me. So I'm thrilled. And today we're talking about
2:02
something that's near and dear John to both of us. Communication. So hey,
2:07
before we dive into a few of these laws of communication, here's the
2:09
question I think may help some of our listeners. Do these only apply to
2:14
like public platform speakers or can anyone benefit from these sixteen laws? You know?
2:21
And this only applies to people who talk, Okay, So if you
2:28
talk, there's all kind of application for you. I mean, because think
2:32
of a parent just for a moment. I mean, what do we do.
2:36
We're trying to communicate values to our children. I mean we're constantly in
2:39
it. Everybody's in a communication world, right, and it can be one
2:44
on one in conversation, it can be in a small group. So if
2:50
you are trying to influence people, add value to people, help them,
2:53
THEND the books for you because it will the laws work, whether it's one
2:59
or one or one to thousands. Yeah, and as we jump into this
3:01
conversation, that's going to become evident. So for those of you who have
3:05
not picked up the book, first of all, anything John writes you should
3:07
pick up and read. You're going to benefit. But this book specifically for
3:10
those of us, whether you're just casting vision for your company, you have
3:14
a sales pitch. I mean, again, as he said, if you're
3:15
opening your mouth and trying to move something forward, there's so much here.
3:20
So anyway, as a book title, says it's sixteen laws of communication.
3:23
And today we are not going to talk about all sixteen. We're going to
3:28
leave some to your imagination and obviously for those of you who pick up this
3:30
book. But I do want to talk specifically about three. The law of
3:34
connecting, the law of simplicity, which is near and dear to my heart,
3:38
and the law of results. So let's start with what you number as
3:42
number seven in the book, the Law of connection, which says, communicators
3:46
know it's all about others. Communicators know it's all about others. Talk a
3:51
little bit about the importance of connecting with the audience. Well, you know,
3:55
Andy, as a young speaker want to be communicator. I really studied
4:00
other speakers. I would not want to go to hear them speak to get
4:03
their content. I would constantly ask myself, how are they connecting with their
4:10
audience? I mean, what did they do? What what you know?
4:14
What mannerisms do they have that draws people into them? And cause it was
4:17
what I call that you know, that that listening lean in people's lives.
4:23
And I came to the conclusion that there was only one thing that all great
4:27
communicators and connectors have in common, and that is that it's it's all about
4:31
the people. It's not about them. You know. Some you hear some
4:35
speakers when they speak, you can just tell it's all about them, you
4:39
know. And here's what I know. And you know, they ask questions
4:42
the audience could never answer, so that it makes them look smarter or better
4:46
or whatever. And I hear some communicators it's all about the content. I
4:49
mean, I literally have heard a few communicators who never looked at the audience.
4:54
They just let read their manuscript and cover the material, cover the material.
4:58
It's kind of like the rest of them could go naked and you wouldn't
5:00
even know it. You know. Well, I always think, hey,
5:03
just send me the email. If you're just going to read it to me,
5:08
just send it to me at home. Save me time in money,
5:10
right, I could I could read it on my own time. Yeah,
5:13
quicker, quicker. You know they're in that content or else it's all about
5:16
them. But the great communicators, honestly, they've gotten over themselves. And
5:21
so when people say if I could do one thing to really connect with people,
5:26
John, one of you advice, I said, it's very simple,
5:28
get over yourself. It hit It really isn't about me. When I speak,
5:32
it's about the audience. It's about the people. When the book was
5:36
getting ready to come out, we did a video, and so when we
5:40
were producing it and put it together, I said, I wanted to start
5:44
not on the stage. I wanted to start literally in the in where the
5:47
audience sits. And so when when the when the video begins, I'm out
5:51
there with you know, by myself, with the audience. And I said,
5:55
this is where I always began. I said, in the seat of
5:58
the audience. And I asked myself, what do they need? But I
6:01
started the audience. It doesn't start with me, and it doesn't start on
6:04
the stage. I got to be asking myself, where are the people?
6:08
You know, because what great communicators you have, you have to find people
6:12
before you can connect with them. You got to find people before you can
6:15
lead them. And so having this intentionality and of finding the people and wanting
6:21
to find and by the way, people know when you want to find them,
6:26
and people know when you want them to find you. It's conveyed in
6:30
the whole attitude, in the way that you speak. So I tell people
6:34
to get over themselves. And if I can do that. The day that
6:38
I quit worried about what do people think of me? And am I doing
6:40
a good job? And am I saying it correctly? The moment I could
6:45
get off of me because I don't have the ability to focus on me and
6:48
focus on you. I don't have that ability. I begin to be dual,
6:53
and now I don't do either one of them well. And so I
6:57
go out and when I speak, it's all about the audience. It's all
7:01
I was getting ready. We were up in northern Ohio a couple of years
7:04
ago. It's about six or seven thousand people, and I was in the
7:06
green room with a couple other speakers. It was kind of like a day
7:10
deal speaking conference whatever. And so the guy that one of the speakers,
7:15
then I was about five minutes out, he came over to me, said
7:17
what are you thinking about it? I said, well, I'm thinking about
7:18
the audience, the people. And he said, well, I thought you'd
7:21
be kind of be thinking about what you're going to say. I said,
7:24
well, I know what I'm going to say. In fact, honestly,
7:29
think about it. If you don't know what you're going to say, now,
7:32
come on, if you don't know what you're going to say, five
7:34
minutes out, you shouldn't even go out, you know, don't hey,
7:38
don't get over yourself, just go home. But it was all about the
7:41
people. And so when I go out and talk to you or anyone else,
7:46
I just want to focus on you, because people really know when you
7:49
want to help them, and they really know when you really care about who
7:55
they are. Does that make sense? Yeah, And here's what I would
7:58
And you can piggyback on this. I think every communicator when they think about
8:03
their audience, whether it's five people, there's fifty people or five hundred people,
8:07
I think we all have to figure out how to emotionally and mentally get
8:13
connected to the audience. And I think for me on a Sunday, I
8:18
make it a habit of coming out of the backstage area about five to ten
8:22
minutes before the service and I walk through the whole auditorium and just greet people.
8:26
And this this isn't for them. It's not that I want them to
8:28
think, oh Andy's so persemble and accessible, which I hope that communicates that
8:33
it helps me emotionally engaged. Suddenly, I know I've talked to some people,
8:37
and so when I do a leadership conference even and people you know,
8:41
they want to you know how it is. They want to get you miked
8:43
up and make up up, and they want you to stand back there all
8:45
nervous so they can go three two one, John, You're on. And
8:48
I have learned that is a mistake for me. I need to go walk
8:52
through the room, even with a microphone on, whether or not anybody knows
8:56
who I am or not, just say hi to people. I need to
8:58
sit on the front row. I need to be in the room during the
9:01
stuff that happens before my part to feel the room and feel the audience.
9:05
And I've learned from me I'm more comfortable, and I feel like I'm more
9:09
personable, and I feel like you're the same way. I've seen you do
9:11
that before, one percent, Andy, one hundred percent. In fact,
9:15
I don't want to be separated from the people, because if I'm separated from
9:18
people and they do the countdown, I come on from backstage. Now I
9:22
have to connect with them, and now I've got to do some work.
9:24
But if I go out and mingle with the people, say hi to them,
9:28
and I'm the same way, I want to sit down. Just let
9:30
me sitting on the front row in the auditorium and when it's my time,
9:33
let me walk up on stage and start talking to the people, because I've
9:37
already emotionally connected with them because I'm saying something to them by my presence,
9:41
and that is I want to be with you. Yep, and I value
9:45
you. And people pick up on that, and so I'm one hundred percent
9:48
you and I are soulmates on that. I've seen you do that walk slowly
9:54
through the crowd. I've heard you say, walk slowly through the crowd.
9:58
Oh my gosh, it's it's portant. Hey, let me just say something
10:01
that This is a little bit of a shameless plug. But I'm writing music
10:05
now. What I'm writing music in Nashville, and I'm doing some stuff on
10:11
my books I have. I have a friend in Nashville who has a huge
10:16
writing studio in the city and he reads my books and he said, John,
10:18
you ought to do music to your books. And I said, well,
10:22
you know, I don't do that. I'm not a musician, but
10:26
I like to write. And so he put me in the studio with a
10:28
couple of you know, number one writers, I mean, guys that were
10:31
really good. And so I mean, that's like I'm at the bottom of
10:35
the class, and I'm just hoping once in a while, but you know,
10:37
have a thought or an idea. We had so much fun in the
10:41
studio that we've now put out two songs. We got our third win coming
10:43
out pretty soon. But one of them is on the Laws of Communication,
10:48
and the title of the song is get Over Myself, and it's out so
10:52
wherever people get music, they can get it. But let me just let
10:54
me. The chorus says, I got to find myself to know myself.
10:58
I got to know myself to be myself. I got to be myself to
11:03
improve myself. I got to improve myself so I can get over myself so
11:07
I can give myself to you. Wow. And if I don't get over
11:11
myself, I can't give myself to you. And we had anyway. It
11:15
is so much fun and we're doing really well. But I've got a third
11:18
song coming out in August. But of course you do, because you John.
11:24
We need to come back and just talk about this. Sometimes you have
11:26
reinvented and I don't mean reinvented yourself because you need it to be. You
11:31
have moved through so many iterations in your career of building upon building, upon
11:35
letting things go, giving things away, selling things, and building and so
11:39
the fact that you're writing music either you have run out of things to do
11:43
or once again, you're paving the way for the rest of us to feel
11:46
like. Okay, you never get too far down the road. I wouldn't
11:50
say old. You never get too far down the road to reinvent yourself.
11:52
That is amazing. Hey, real quick, can I ask a couple more
11:54
questions on this particular this go for go? You right, make your first
12:00
impression, your best impression, and then you say. Psychologists say people take
12:03
about seven seconds to size up the person on the platform and decide whether or
12:09
not they like them. Yeah, seven seconds. Yeah, the seven seven
12:13
seems extreme to be andy, I'm just reading what I read on that.
12:18
Seven seems a little bit too quick. But listen, let its quick.
12:22
It is quick. Let's remove seven on us. Say you get a minute,
12:26
okay, but in about a minute, they have you sized up as
12:31
far as why you're there. But the audience more than anything else, before
12:35
they hear the subject, they really would like to figure out why you're there.
12:39
And so that's why I when you know you've seen me before, I
12:43
walk out and I sit on a stool, And I said, on a
12:46
stool for one reason. When I started as a communicator, I was too
12:52
harsh and dogmatic, and I was trying to just make sure they got the
12:56
point and I wasn't in their face, but I was overwhelming to people.
13:03
You, fellow, I've seen it. Yeah. And so I said,
13:07
if I sit down, I'll have a conversation with him. And so when
13:11
I sit down, and you know, hey, my name is John,
13:13
and i'm your friend. On account of three give me your name, one,
13:16
two, three, they give you their name. All I'm trying to
13:20
do is develop a friendship connection with them. Does that make sense? Yep?
13:24
I'm just saying, you know, I'm going to speak now, but
13:28
more than anything else, i'm your friend, and I just want to share
13:30
with you things that have helped me. Hopefully they help you. And let's
13:33
let's kind of take this journey together today. And it's who I am.
13:39
And I think that there's a gap many times between the speaker and the audience,
13:43
big gap yep. And the question I always ask people do you want
13:46
fans or friends? If you want fans, you keep that gap wide.
13:50
You want you want people to leave and say oh and He's amazing. John's
13:54
amazing. But if you want friends, you want to close that gap as
13:58
fast as you possibly can, and so that they when they leave, they
14:01
don't say John's amazing. They say, you know what, I'm amazing.
14:05
I can do this. And there's something very empowering and connecting about that.
14:11
So I think, yes, I think the first minute visually, even probably
14:16
more than what we say visually, are being comfortable with the people, making
14:22
sure that they're kind of like our agenda. They can pick up on it
14:26
real quickly, and you get a minute. But after about a minute,
14:30
people have already started to decide who you are, and now you're having to
14:33
go sometimes through a grid you don't want to go through because they've already determined
14:37
what kind of a person you are. Does that make sense? Yes,
14:41
I tell even our singers, anybody on stage, your goal is to close
14:46
the gap between the audience and the stage. You got to close the gap.
14:52
And every once in a while I've said to people, you widened the
14:54
gap, you came across more unapproachable. You got to close the distance.
15:01
And again, I think the takeaway for any of our listeners is how we
15:05
do that is somewhat personal and personalized. But you got to think about it,
15:09
especially if you're nervous. If you're nervous because I'm not a public speaker
15:11
and I hate to do these presentations and I hate the quarterly thing, you
15:15
know, whatever it is, whether you're sitting around the table with a board
15:16
or again standing up in front of rose trying to figure out what, how
15:22
do I get comfortable as quick as possible because if I'm comfortable, they're comfortable.
15:26
If I'm not comfortable, right, they're listening at me, they're not
15:31
listening to me. And how many times do we get nervous for the speaker?
15:35
I mean, I just get you know, you know, after about
15:39
ten minutes, I'm sitting there and I'm saying, you know, God helping
15:41
you know, just helping me, you know, and then I thank God,
15:43
help me, God help us, you know, strike us with deafness,
15:46
do something here, you know, because the connection is just not there,
15:52
it just is it. Well, but I know at them, we're
15:54
listening at them, not to them, And that's exact right, And here's
15:58
what helps me. What I I know that I'm going to help people.
16:02
It is very inspiring to me to go help them and through speaking is one,
16:07
not the only way, but it's one way to really help people.
16:11
And I think people know when you came to help them versus when you came
16:15
to impress them, right, And so I thank you. My name is
16:19
John, I'm your friend, and I want to help you. And I
16:23
think that sets the whole tone for everything else that you do in the teaching.
16:27
Personally, you are a very very comfortable person to listen to. And
16:33
again, I'm not open to being influenced as much by people who are trying
16:36
to impress me as people who I feel like really are for me. Okay,
16:40
that's just one. That's why this book's amazing. I want to move
16:42
to number ten if we could. Law number ten is the law of simplicity,
16:47
which says communicators take something complicated and they make it simple. They take
16:52
something complicated and they make it simple. Not simplistic, that's different, but
16:56
simple. It's something I can walk away with. I noted what to do
17:00
with and John, this is so important, and this is so important to
17:03
me. And I was first exposed to this idea by Gary Smalley. You
17:07
remember Gary Smalley was an incredible communicator and he told a story one time that
17:11
I so related to he was not a good student in school, and for
17:15
him to pass and get passing grades, he had to take what was complicated
17:18
in class and make it simple in order to pass test. And when I
17:22
heard him say that, I thought that explains my sees I was not a
17:26
good student. I had to make it simple or I just couldn't move forward
17:30
with any subject. And so I think for me it has been a matter
17:36
of survival and maybe for other people as well, But for every communicator to
17:40
not be fooled into thinking because it's clear to me, it's necessarily going to
17:44
be clear to everybody else. So talk a little bit about just making something
17:47
complicated simple. Well, well, heah, I'm glad to do that.
17:51
But first of all, Andy, nobody does it better than you. Nobody.
17:56
I have been privileged to be a member of your cairegate when we lived
18:00
in Atlanta. I've heard you speak hundreds of times in different venues. Nobody,
18:07
nobody's better than you. You. You can take one thought and work
18:12
that thought in so many different ways for clarity for the people that are listening
18:18
to you. I've always marveled. I've always marveled when I'm done hearing you
18:22
speak, I have a takeaway. I have a takeaway that I could apply
18:26
to my life that is very simple and very doable. So you you you
18:33
really put the cookies on the lower shelf, Captain. I mean you really
18:36
did. And so when we talk, well, yeah, so when I
18:40
talk about this law, honestly, it's like you could either read the chapter
18:45
or just watch Andy speak for a you know, for about a dozen times,
18:49
and you're going to get it because you always have it simple. I've
18:56
never left you when you speak and say I knew he was saying something too,
19:03
do you know what I mean? It's kind of I know what you
19:06
mean because I grew up in the Holiness movement, where they prided themselves in
19:10
depth. You know, we're really deep preachers. And I'd sit there and
19:11
I say, yeah, you're deep, but you're I can't find you.
19:15
I mean, it's in other words, it's way beyond me. And I
19:19
think you know when you gave the Gary Somalley illustration and yourself, I was
19:22
the same way. I wasn't a great student. I had to always bring
19:26
it down to simplicity. That's why I say all the time that I'm a
19:29
communicator, not an educator, because an educator takes something simple and makes it
19:33
complicated, and a communicator takes something complicated and makes it very simple. So
19:37
I'm constantly saying to myself, how can I bring this down? And there
19:41
are three stages. I'm going to give them to you, but yeah,
19:44
tell us that give us this. Yeah. Well, because things start off
19:48
many times as simplistic, you don't want simplistic. Simplistic is fast and shallow.
19:53
In other words, you know when people say things like experience is the
19:59
best teacher. Okay, well that's kind of catchy, but it's not true.
20:02
I mean, if experience was the best teacher Andy, then everybody as
20:04
they got older, we'd get better. Always. Yep, that's a simplistic
20:08
statement, you know. But we like simplistic sometimes because it's catchy and we
20:11
can kind of say it. But if we really think about it very much,
20:15
we think that's really not true. So I go from thinking simplistic to
20:19
go into complex, and complex is exactly opposite. Complex is slow and it's
20:26
deep. In other words, Simplistic doesn't ask any questions at all, It
20:30
just assumes, but complex ask a whole bunch of questions. It doesn't assume
20:37
anything. It is trying now to take something and be able to connect it
20:41
with the audience. And so there's it's a slow process. There's a lot
20:45
of thinking, there's a lot of interaction with other people. There's a lot
20:49
of feedback in that process and get you to go deep because you ask a
20:53
lot of questions. Now, if you do complex well enough. And by
20:57
the way, ninety percent of my time in preparing a lesson is in the
21:00
complex world. I'm looking at it every time. I've said, okay,
21:04
I want to take a good deep thought, but I want it to be
21:07
something that I can put in their hand. How do I do that?
21:11
How do I do that? If I do it well, I go from
21:14
complex, which is slow and deep, to simple. And what's beautiful about
21:18
simple? Simple is fast and deep. In other words, they can get
21:22
it quickly, yep, but it has a depth to it that when you
21:26
carry it with you, you say, oh, there's food here, there's
21:30
food here. I need to spend more time thinking on it because it's got
21:33
some depth to it. So it's quick, you got it, but it
21:37
has a depth to it. And I think that's the difference between simplistic and
21:40
simple. But that's kind of the three step process that I go through.
21:45
I was working on a message this morning, early in the early hours.
21:48
I spent probably close to an hour just forming one thought, and I thought,
21:55
John, why is it I've been doing this a long time, Why
21:56
is it still take me so long? Came the conclusion. It takes me
22:00
so long because I care so much that when I said, they have it?
22:06
Can I touch something? If I teach, and then I've got to
22:07
explain what I just taught. Oh and so when somebody and let me explain
22:15
this one and then let me explain. And I sit there and think,
22:17
well, I said, why didn't you kind of think it through? You
22:18
didn't have to explain it so much? Yeah, you didn't. You didn't
22:22
finish preparing for the message. If you've got you just said, yeah,
22:26
Well, can I want to drill down this a little bit? This is
22:29
so important to our audience. What John is saying not that I need to
22:33
explain what you just said because you said it so well, and I don't
22:34
want to vielate what you just said. Here are my words I should say,
22:38
because I've known you farched for so long. When you are exploring a
22:42
topic, you don't cheat the process of fully facing the complexity of the issue
22:49
you're addressing. And because you're willing to face all the complexity, when you
22:55
begin to move towards simple, you're bringing with you all that complexity. Otherwise,
23:00
we cheat the audience by making it sound simplistic and we're motivational and then
23:04
with a big song, and then they get home or they get back to
23:07
work and they're like that that doesn't really work. And the reason it doesn't
23:11
work, when it doesn't work, is because we didn't take into consideration the
23:15
actual complexity of the situation. And the reason your books are so good and
23:19
the reason they are simple and portable and memorable is because of what you just
23:25
said. You really do sit in the complexity long enough to appreciate it and
23:30
to then make sure the nuggets that you give us and the takeaway statements you
23:33
give us take into consideration the complexity. And that's very different than just coming
23:38
up with a one liner or an easy to preach or teach message. So
23:42
that's very important. And so I just want to say to anybody who's in
23:45
the communication business, don't cheat the agonizing, the agonizing process of sitting in
23:53
the complexity of whatever it is you want to talk about right and Andy,
23:57
When I was young, I really had a big temptation necessary of speaking because
24:03
when I was young, I wasn't a very good speaker. Obviously, you're
24:07
never good the first time and you're not too hot the second or third time.
24:10
So I mean, you know, I tell people all the time,
24:11
you're never good the first time, so you know, get through the first
24:14
time and get better. But I had some charisma as a communicator, and
24:18
I want to taste something Andy. In my first little church, I mean
24:22
a little farming community in southern India, I'm just a little I mean,
24:25
just good, beautiful, sult of the earth, simple folk. And I
24:30
remember, you know, I came up to Sunday and it hadn't been a
24:33
busy weekend. I only probably spent maybe a couple of hours on a message,
24:37
and I got up and I apprecched it and it really went well.
24:40
I mean, people loved it. And all the way home I thought,
24:42
you know, I didn't work very hard on that, and they really liked
24:45
it. And I went into about three months Andy of a personal temptation,
24:51
ye am, I going to wing it or work for it, and we
24:53
get you know, when you have personality and some chrismea, like you said,
24:57
and you get a couple of stories, you can kind of wing it
25:00
and everybody goes home happy, but they don't go home with answers. They
25:04
don't go home fulfilled. It's like I ate, but it wasn't good food.
25:10
And so I went through it and I finally something. I'm going to
25:12
work for it. That's when I started writing my message is out word for
25:15
word and doing things that were kind of contrary to a charismatic personality. But
25:21
I'm so glad that I that I didn't fall into that temptation, which was
25:26
really big for me for a couple of months, because I thought, man,
25:27
if I can wing it, I can. Now here's what I want
25:30
to say. If you're highly gifted, and here's why we fall into problems.
25:36
When we're highly gifted, we can wing it and be somewhat successful.
25:40
Yep, I say it lands as in the top twenty percent because we're already
25:44
gifted. But if you work at it, you can get in the top
25:47
two percent. And there's a world of difference between the top two percent of
25:52
the top twenty percent. And so the temptation is when you're naturally gifted in
25:56
anything is to never give it one hundred percent, because you can give it
25:59
about seventy percent and still pass. You can get by or people will clap.
26:03
I think that's even more than speaking. I think it's a principle of
26:07
life. Take your gifts, and those are the ones that you just have
26:11
to bear down and work them hard because those are the gifts that are going
26:15
to give you the high return. So you know, so anyway, work
26:18
it, don't wing it. That's passion and preparation. And if you've got
26:22
charisma and passion and the preparation, it's going to win. A quick story
26:27
just came to mind, and I may have shared this with our podcast listeners
26:32
before, but John, you're going to love this if you haven't heard this.
26:33
When my dad turned eighty, he was eighty one or eighty two,
26:37
I know he was a little older than eighty. He called me one day
26:40
and he said, he said, you know what I would like I said
26:42
what he said, I'd like to find some And he was still pastoring his
26:45
church at the time. Okay, so he's still working full time. He
26:48
said, I'd like to find somebody a little bit further ahead of me,
26:51
and ask them a question. I said, Dad, there's not anyone.
26:56
When he said ahead, he met somebody who's a little older than him who's
27:00
doing what he's doing. I'm like, Dad, there there's not anybody,
27:03
I said, but I'm curious. What would you ask them? And here's
27:06
what he asked them. He said, I would ask them talking about pastors.
27:11
Does this get any easier? Wow? And I said, Dad,
27:15
do you know how discouraging that is to me? But here's what he was
27:19
talking about, John. He was talking about sermon preparation. Yeah, that
27:23
he was sitting at his desk trying to put together a message and it was
27:27
hard, and it was still hard, which means of course he was doing
27:30
right. He was working and Been't that amazing? Oh I talked to somebody
27:36
older. Yeah, I think I hadn't heard it, so thanks for giving
27:38
it to me. But see, don't you love that he's eighty one,
27:41
eighty two and he's still andy in the game. He's still in the game
27:48
that you know this has been there, done that stuff. I mean,
27:52
just let me die when I start talking like that. You know that,
27:56
well, I've been there, I've done that, you know. I'm or
27:59
kind of with I still want to learn. I still want to grow,
28:02
I still want to dig still, and I still want to ask questions.
28:04
I mean, here he is he aged You people when they get older they
28:07
quit asking questions. Yep, And I love it. He's still working,
28:11
he's still working it. Yeah, all right, So that's our second one
28:15
we're talking about today. So we're going to jump to this third one again.
28:17
We're hops gipping and jumping through some incredible, incredible content. But anyway,
28:21
law number sixteen in the book is the law of results. You're convinced,
28:25
and I think anybody who's leading anything would agree. You're convinced that the
28:27
greatest success in communication is action, that somebody actually does something with what we've
28:33
talked about and knows what to do with what we've talked about. So talk
28:37
a little bit about the law of results. Yeah. You know, Andy,
28:41
the reason I let put it last is you know sixteen laws, okay,
28:48
and you know it starts off with thirty laws, and you keep kind
28:51
of reducing it and bringing it down, say this doesn't fit or you know
28:53
these can go together. This is the speaker leader in me here. I
28:59
think if if you take out the leader, you probably don't put the law
29:02
of results. I think you just basically say I delivered, and you know,
29:07
let's hope that they do well. But the speaker leader in me is
29:11
not content with them just taking notes. I want to see them take action.
29:18
This has been known for years. You know, what do I want
29:19
them to know? And then what do I want them to do? So
29:22
that we've got that part. But there is no success without action. I
29:26
was speaking at a corporate deal recently and I did a whole lesson on there
29:30
is no success without action, and I talked about how is it that people
29:34
have come to the conclusion that they can think their way to success? Now,
29:38
thinking is vital, my gosh, thinking is huge, but you've got
29:42
to act. There comes a time when the notes are taken. Now what
29:47
am I going to do with You can't separate success in action results in action.
29:52
There has to be some action. So, you know. One of
29:56
the few things and it was very few, to be honest with you,
29:57
in college that I ever received that was good as I had a homiletics professor
30:02
say preach for a verdict, and I always remember that preach for verdict.
30:04
So when I'm getting ready to speak, I want to do two things I
30:08
want to connect with the audience until they they've got it. They they've leaned
30:12
in, they've got it. But I want to also convict have a conviction
30:17
with what I've taught that they say, I must do something about this.
30:22
This is not just food for thought, but it's going to lead to some
30:26
kind of an action. So I'm always geared to what are we going to
30:30
do about what I've delivered, because that's the practice of the lesson. And
30:33
again, how do we get better? We get better by practice, you
30:37
know, how do you develop leaders? It's sure you have to learn principles,
30:41
but it's the practice of the principles that make us better. So I'm
30:45
very passionate about somehow in the delivery calling people to action. What are we
30:52
going to do with what I have shared today? Now, one of your
30:56
strengths in communicating is you are the one thing communicator. I mean, you
31:00
have one thing, You ride that one thing. There are times I just
31:04
love listening to you because I think, how can he get another way to
31:07
express one thing? I mean some people call that repeating themselves. No,
31:11
no, no, I'll tell you what I call it. I call it
31:15
layering yourself. You layer, you layer, there's a difference. In other
31:21
words, it takes you up to another level, another level lefl but I
31:22
keep saying, how many horses is he going to ride? That one idea
31:26
on? And you go, get you another horse and put it on.
31:29
But the whole point of it is, when you're done speaking, Andy,
31:33
I know what to do. I'm not looking at and say, Okay,
31:36
that was good. Now I wonder how that applies to my life, and
31:38
I wonder, I wonder what comes next. And I just think that great
31:41
communicators they make it easy. They make it easy for them to understand,
31:47
but it also makes them easy to apply. And let me just say this,
31:49
easy to apply is not application is always hard. I mean you gotta
31:55
do it, but easy to apply in the fact that I know what to
31:59
do. Now. If I don't do that, that's it. But I
32:01
know what to do, and so I want to see something happen out of
32:06
that action. And every time I've ever heard you speak, it's never simplistic.
32:09
You've navigated the complexity, but the takeaway, the what to do next,
32:15
or the three things to do next, or where to get started is
32:16
always super clear. My dad used to call this. We would listen to
32:22
a preacher, and he would say he has no burden. He has no
32:25
burden. That was his way of saying, he's not so concerned that people
32:30
do something with what he's saying that he's you know, he's reaching out beyond
32:35
the stage to say, you've got to get this. There's something at stake,
32:37
and it's not just a preaching thing. I mean, whether you're a
32:39
cast envision for your company, pitching sales or whatever it is, if there's
32:45
not a burden. And so sometimes I ask our communicators, Okay, I've
32:49
looked at your outline. I see the content, where's the energy, where's
32:52
the Oh my gosh, you have got to get this. And then if
32:55
we don't have that, I don't think we're ready because that that either comes
33:00
through or it doesn't. Right, Yeah, we either as communicators just share
33:05
thoughts which goes nowhere, bounces off the thoughts bounce off the wall. The
33:09
thoughts are bouncing around the wall and people are hearing them. I either hand
33:14
something to you or I give you something that's come through me. And when
33:17
it's come through me, that's the burden that your dad was talking about.
33:21
That's the passion, the conviction, and you know, we cannot give what
33:25
we do not have. And so putting together a teaching a message, I've
33:30
got to live it. I have got to live it now I may be
33:35
learning from it. And so in my teaching I'm saying I'm doing this,
33:37
but there are some areas where I'm not yet there. So I'm not trying
33:40
to snow people. But if it isn't working on me, it didn't go
33:45
to work on you. Yeah, and if it hasn't caused me to take
33:47
action, there's no authenticity or credibility or moral weight that I can give to
33:54
you, Andy, that's going to cause you to take action. What causes
33:58
people to take action when somebody says, look what has happened to me,
34:00
look at my life, and because of that, it could happen to you.
34:04
That's where the that's where the empower in the and the anointing I think
34:08
come from. And again, don't I mean we don't have to be in
34:10
a spiritual sense. I mean I hear people in a specular world who just
34:15
really have a passion for what they do and what they and when it's over,
34:20
I wanting to sign up, you know, you know, yeah,
34:22
I want to be on the team. I want to be on the team.
34:23
But if it hasn't happened to me, it's not going to happen through
34:29
me, And if it doesn't happen through me, it isn't going to happen
34:31
to you. Wow. And I have heard, even most recently when we
34:37
were together, as you lay out content and this was for business leaders talking
34:40
about where you failed. You know this is true. And one of the
34:44
reasons I know it's true is because I remember when I didn't do it,
34:46
or as you just shared earlier, when you would stand up and your personality,
34:50
which you know, you were up in people's faces and you were sincere,
34:53
but then you realize, Okay, I gotta sit down. So again,
34:58
it's it's it's not a matter of having ever perfected anything we're talking about.
35:00
In fact, the transparency of our failure oftentimes is what gives us credibility
35:05
with people. So always anyway, I get talk about this with you all
35:08
day long, and I'm so grateful. And unfortunately everybody has arrived at work
35:13
and they're now sitting in the parking lot knowing they have to go in,
35:15
but they just can't turn this off until we finish. So John, thank
35:20
you so much. For being here and to all our listeners, we want
35:22
to thank you as well for joining us. As an exclusive offer to the
35:24
Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast audience. John's team, John thank you for this is
35:30
offering a limited time discount on his book plus free shipping. So if you'll
35:36
go to www. Sixteen Laws of the Communication and the sixteen is a one
35:40
in a six sixteen Laws of Communication dot com sixteen Laws of Communication dot Com
35:45
and use the promo Andy at check out, you're going to get this discount.
35:50
And as always, make sure you visit Andy stanley dot com website where
35:52
you can download the Leadership Podcast application guide that includes a summary of this discussion
35:58
and questions for reflection with your group. Again, thank you so much for
36:01
joining us. John, thanks so much for being a part of this discussion,
36:05
and we will see everybody next time on the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast