I spend a lot of time encouraging business owners to identify mentors so they can expand their network and gain valuable insight. Business owners need to model from those who have already achieved the sort of success they would like to.
Some are skeptical of this approach, but I’m living proof that it works. Case in point is the incredible experiences of mentorship I’ve received from acclaimed author, speaker, and leadership expert John Maxwell. He’s authored countless books on the subject and was one of my earliest sources of inspiration at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.
Now, I’m lucky enough to say that John and I have a friendship, one born out of mutual respect and a shared drive to create a world of leaders.
One of the key concepts that John devised and that I so greatly admire is called The Law of the Lid, which comes from his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
Specifically, John states that you will not be able to attract great leaders in your life — and most specifically for your business — if you are not focused on elevating your own level of leadership.
Your goal in your business should always be to replace yourself with people who are even better than you, and you can only do that if you’re working with people who are driven to learn, grow, and innovate.
I’ve applied John’s concept to business, and identified that there are three core lids in any business that must continuously be raised to create 10X levels of growth.
These lids are the Belief Lid, the Operational Effectiveness Lid, and the Leadership Lid. These concepts and why they matter is crucial to your success.
The Belief Lid
If you’re the business owner or leader, you set the standard of belief in your organization. Every team member’s belief lid will be capped by your own belief lid. Your entire team looks to you to create their individual and collective perception of what’s possible. Simply put: the higher you believe, the higher you achieve.
Think about it. Career-driven people join an organization not just because they want a job but because they want to be a part of something. What message are you communicating to your existing team or to those potential team members that could help catapult you to the next level of success? Exhibiting a high level of belief, supporting your team’s successes, and achieving goals together. This will create even more success because each level of achievement will increase each level of belief.
The Operational Effectiveness Lid
Of course, this process can’t just be about belief. Your belief needs to drive results. And like Dr. Robert Anthony says in Beyond Positive Thinking, a majority of people need to see it in order to believe it.
Belief and operations intersect where you’re able to document how you are succeeding on a granular, incremental level. But it’s not just about having data, it’s about using that proven success to duplicate it from role to role, department to department.
You take what works, you recreate those conditions to do it again, and you document through a written or video process.
This is crucial because it prevents you from creating key-person-dependent roles, departments, or processes. A person perfects a task, that process is documented, and then they train the next person in line. And so on. And that person that originally perfected the task? They’re trained in something new until they perfect that task.
The Leadership Lid
One of the most important things I’ve learned in my career, largely through the mentorship of people like John, is that leadership is all about creating more leaders. Success is something that is created together, because it is people that move businesses forward.
When you’re hiring people for your team, you need to be looking for qualities beyond degrees and certifications. You need to look for a person’s sense of drive, their desire to learn, and their passion for taking on new challenges.
These are the people, either through skill or by will, that will push your business to achieve its goals because they have high levels of “Me leadership.” Mentor these people. Teach them how to be a “WE leader.” And teach them to teach others to be leaders. You will all go far together.
Mastery of the Three Lids = 10X Levels of Growth
Belief, operational effectiveness, and leadership. It’s a potent blend; one that will attract like-minded people to your mission. When you’re working towards your goals with people who share your passion, you will find that anything is possible. Believe me. This is exactly how you 10X. Not just your business. Not only your income. But your life.
Want to learn more about elevating your three lids and achieving massive business growth? Attend our next 10X360 event! Invest in yourself. Invest in your future. Everything is possible. But you need to take that first brave step.
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