In this episode of the Montgomery Companies Podcast we are unbelievably excited to interview Mark Cole – CEO of the John Maxwell companies for over 25 years. Mark brings a wealth of knowledge on leadership development experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, helping lead others through economic challenges, growth barriers, and disconnected dynamics and ensuring that teams are working to their fullest potential. 

 

One of the biggest challenges that leaders today face is that most of them spend less than one hour total developing and architecting what they want their life to be about, resulting in people at every level, in every organization, leaving to go find something else. But one of the greatest leadership lessons that you could ever learn is that personal growth will take you further than your dreams, and “the only guarantee for a better tomorrow is making a growth decision today” (John Maxwell). 

This growth is most significant when it takes place on the inside, versus the outside. If you don’t develop yourself on the inside, eventually your external exposure and influence will outgrow your internal capacity to lead from a place of authenticity. Leaders young or old – the day that you get so big that you lose your humility, your vulnerability, and your ability to shrink the gap between how people perceive you, and how you really are, is the day you develop a shelf-life.

 

The world needs values-based, people-centered, servant leadership now more than ever, and if you want to be one of those leaders, then guess what? You need to find one of those leaders and follow them. Too many leaders prematurely think they themselves are the leader worth following, rather than finding someone that is further along, that has a greater vision and a greater capacity, that they can follow, and unfortunately skipping that step frequently leads to burn out. Remember, success is what happens to you; significance is what happens through you, and you will only find significance by taking all the steps necessary to become not the best in the world, but the best for the world.

 

These are just some of the absolute gems of wisdom you will glean from this podcast, so we encourage you to join us on this amazing journey with Mark Cole today.

 

Download the Maxwell Leadership App with the intention of challenging yourself to grow and become bigger on the inside, and find your tribe, and the guide, that can help you do so