409 | Three Things Every Leader Must Do Before 2022 – Part 1

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

business, failure, shifts, people, companies, groceries, roles, clients, leaders, fail, industry, wasting, folks, delivering, planning, discover, person, online, hit, book

SPEAKERS

Chris LoCurto

Chris LoCurto  00:00

Today on the show, we're talking about the three things every leader must do before 2022, that is coming up next.

Chris LoCurto  00:18

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show, where we discuss leadership and life, and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show folks, we hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are, we have got a great show lined up for you today. At the end of the episode, you the business owner and the business leader, are going to have laser focus for what you need to be doing now, what you need to have in place before the end of the year. Now look, I cannot tell you how the rest of this year is going to go. But, I can tell you what you need to have in place so that you don't get hit sideways, again, should COVID or something worse happen. At any rate, these are sound principles you need to practice no matter what comes. So there is a whole ton of information, and I'm not even sure this is gonna make it into one episode we're gonna see, it's a lot. So, the first thing that you need to be doing before you get to the end of the year, and this is something you should be doing every year. But listen, a lot of this is going to be focused on because of what we've gone through. Because of what we've experienced over the last 12 months or more. So the first thing I want you to do, is plan strategically. We've got to make sure that we have great direction and strategy. So here's how we're going to start, there's a few points in here that I want you to start with. The first thing you need to do is taken accurate survey of, what is your business status? What's going on right now? What have you experienced? So if we wipe the slate clean of 2020, let's just, you know, hey, we are where we are, we're here in 2021, we've got to solve some things, we need to make sure that we are going forward with the best foot forward, let's wipe the slate clean 2020 and let go of how things used to be before COVID. So think about that. A lot of us want to get back to a lot of normalcy and what is normalcy to us? It's the thought of what was before COVID hit, we're just gonna have to let go of that. That's something that we're gonna have to get rid of, because we're taking an accurate assessment of where we are now. So we don't want to look at this assessment and say, "Well, 2019 is how it used to look. And that's, you know, where I want to get back to. So let me base my survey of where we are right now, on that." Nope, don't do it. Let go of that. Don't allow it to buy us anything. Don't allow it to, you know, throw anything off. There's no going back, we are where we are right now, we're going to be looking forward. Now the thing you need to survey, what are the latest trends that you're seeing. So, what has happened in the last 12 months in your specific market, your industry, your products, your services, who's making it, who's not? Take a hard look at what you do for a living. Now, one of the things that, you know, for us here, one of the things we had to take a hard look at is that we did not get to do our Next Level Leadership Live Event last year in person, praise God, we are doing it this year. And while we did it online, we transitioned, we busted our butt we got it moved over to the online event, literally during the event, and after the event, so many of our clients are like, "We loved it, this is great. But we miss you guys. We miss seeing everybody else. We miss seeing the other clients, we miss seeing the new folks who show up, we would rather be there in person." So, that was an important thing for us to really take a look at, how much of our industry was going to move online. And believe it or not, a ton has, a lot has. And we have moved a decent amount online, but we are still keeping a lot of the in-person stuff. So our quarterly retreats, they've been happening, people have been coming. And that's for the Next Level Mastermind, folks. They get four events a year, three of those are just for them. And one we open up to the public. They keep showing up. They like getting away, they like being able to come and hang out with a bunch of business owners and leaders, walk through these processes, learn things. So we know that that's something that we can keep in person. And then when we looked at the Next Level Leadership Live Event, which by the way, if you don't have your tickets yet, get those, that's coming up here in April. We looked at this and we said okay, so many folks still want to be here in person. Yes, we could go online, we can do a whole bunch of other stuff online, we're still doing this one in person, even though we're seeing a lot of stuff trending online. So we're getting into this balance, we're trying to figure out what this balance looks like for us. We're doing more trainings online. So, with individual companies, we're doing more two hour trainings, one day trainings, and things that we can do online from here virtually, with the company, their leadership team, or their team or whatever, people are loving that. They absolutely love it. So, we're finding that balance, you need to take a look in your market, your industry, your products, your services, whatever it is, and ask yourself, what has changed? What's moving in a good direction? What is making things stagnant? That's an important thing for you to understand. You know, if you go back to Jim Collins, his book, Good to Great, if you've never read that, get that book, fabulous book. One of the things that he talks about the railway company that refused as so many railway companies were you know, trucks are hitting the road, cargo planes are being built and hauling stuff around the country, the world, all this, you know, a lot of rail companies turned into transportation companies, except for one. One really, really held on I believe that it's been a few years since I read the book, but I believe it was Southern Railway. Specifically, I think that's the name. That held on to being a train company. And unfortunately, as the world was passing them by, it just tanked them a lot. Really, to a point where I believe, I don't know if they filed bankruptcy, or if they did it a lot of times, but it really impacted them in a very negative way. What are the trends? What are the latest trends that are going on in your industry, in what you do? Take an accurate survey, and ask yourself the question, what are we doing? Are we aligning with this? Are we testing these things? Or are we holding on you know, for dear life, with the hope that everything's going to go back to the same way it used to be? Do not make that mistake, I'm not saying you need to change, you might discover nothing is changing in your industry, that's a possibility as well. But you also may see by looking at what other people are doing, that they're being successful, that they are making shifts, and it's working out. And maybe it's even easier for them. So, make sure you do that. Next thing. What is the new economic landscape? So think about this, what innovations have created new pathways for distribution, or are created out of necessity? And I'm going to talk about this a little bit. But think about all the different ways that things are getting distributed now, right? Think of all the stuff that because of the necessity to not shut down specific industries, they've made huge shifts, and now they're looking at new ways of getting things out and about, you know, well talk about this in a little bit, but like, Uber, becoming somebody who's delivering groceries, you know, or delivering fast food, and it's I know, they're not the only one, I know, I believe Lift the same thing, and I think there's even other companies out there. But that decided to not just deliver people, but instead deliver food, groceries, all kinds of stuff, right?

Chris LoCurto  08:38

Also, what are new products or new services that have been created to supply new demands? So in other words, for a lot of you, you create something mechanically, you might have machinery that you're creating stuff, one of our clients makes, you know, nonmetallic gaskets like crazy. You know, it might be the time for him to look at Well, what's changed, and do we have a new product that we can create to help with the new economic landscape? Is there new pathways that we can fill in part of the problem here, we can solve part of the problem, because things are going in a different direction? So take a look at your products and services. We also have a client that makes everything from, fifth wheels going on forklifts to conveyor belts, all kinds of stuff. And he's stopped to take a look and see what part of the business is actually growing because of the new situation, and how can they meet those demands or get ahead of the things that are changing and provide a new product or a new service. So an example of this would be something that, I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but UPS is making some changes on how they pick up stuff. So I I believe FedEx still has drop boxes. But UPS, at least where we are, has gone to where instead of you having a drop box, they have access points, places that they're already going. So think about if they're already going to CVS to pick up stuff, or if they're going to I don't know, Kroger or something, to pick up stuff already, then that becomes the place you drop off. Now UPS has always been pretty innovative on looking at how do they make really, really efficient decisions, like, you know, back in the 90s, I think it was back in the 90s, where they discovered that they need to not make any left hand turns. So I don't know if you know this but, every time they would have to make a left hand turn, especially in a big city, they're sitting at a light, they're waiting for cars to go by, you know, so their routing actually became, everything's a right hand turn. So if you pull up to a stoplight, you turn right, you don't have to wait, you didn't have to sit in the middle of an intersection. And if the stream of cards is too heavy, you don't get through now you have to wait for another light. So think about what are some things that you can do. That's just one of those great ideas where they've looked out there, we're already going somewhere, remove the drop box, of course, it makes it more difficult for us because now you've got to figure out where the heck do you go take your, you know, your package that you're dropping off, but it makes it really efficient for them. It's making it where they are obviously saving a heck of a lot more money. And they're also not paying for the space of dropping those boxes. So, we're going to get to the painful part of strategic planning when we come back right after this.

Chris LoCurto  11:39

Hey, it's Joel Fortner here. I'm the Vice President of leadership development on Chris's team, and I oversee our Next Level Mastermind business coaching program. Most business owners and leaders lack a clear path to succeed in business. They question whether they're making the right decisions, if they're focusing on the right things to really grow their business. If this is you, you need a coach in your life. Coaches help you make better decisions, navigate uncertainty, lead more effectively, and grow your business without sacrificing your life and your family. In their first year, our clients typically see an average of 67% increase in gross revenue, and an average of 138% increase in net profit, and regained hours of time. Our clients stay in the program for three and a half years simply because of the results they get. So if you're ready to run your business at the next level, and see the growth you've been wanting, then visit chrislocurto.com/mastermind. Again, chrislocurto.com/mastermind, today.

Chris LoCurto  12:40

Alright, we are back. And now we are talking about the painful part of strategic planning. Here's the deal. Strategic planning is never going to go perfectly. As I'm saying that I'm trying to think of myself, have I ever had a time that everything went exactly as planned? Of course not. If it does, you're probably not planning big enough, right? Proverbs 16:9 says, "We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps." So, planning can look perfect on paper. And a lot of times it looks really fabulous. But one of the things that we teach people here, especially through like, Stratplan, where we're putting together a six to nine month, you know, thing for them to go execute is, hey, something's gonna come along and torpedo this, we get back on path, right? You've got to make the shifts, you got to make the adjustments, somebody might leave the business it's going to leave a hole, how do we fill the hole? How do we get moving? The key is, you don't stop. You look for, and for us, the way that I process, and I share this with the team a lot, I share this with our clients a lot. The way that I process is that I'm always looking for how it's going to fail. Once again, this concept that failure is not an option is ridiculous. Failure is inevitable, if you're going to do anything at all, right? If you're going to move anything around, you have to understand, failure is going to happen. But for the person who allows failure to be their teacher, they will actually capitalize on the failure, turn it around, figure out how to make it operate the right way, and how to make sure that they don't hit that, you know, same failure again in the future. So understand that as you put together a strategy. If it has any depth to it whatsoever, it's probably not going to operate 100%, you've got to be willing and ready to turn on the dime. So let's take a look at some model shifting innovators. One of those would be Amazon. So think about Amazon. I mean, definitely Bezos has made $1 or two during this whole COVID thing. Okay, he's made a few billion during this COVID thing. I think it's like 15 billion or something. I don't know what it is. But hey, listen. The company is making really smart decisions and shifting their model. Look at what they did with coming together with Whole Foods and adding groceries to this process. Look at how they put lockers there, you know, take a look at how they've put amazon prime in a way that you just almost have to have it, right? And of course, you don't have to have it. But it makes sense financially for you to utilize prime because it does two things. One, when you look at how much money you're probably going to spend, well, then Prime makes sense. Now, here's the little thing that you need to think about. It causes you to spend more money, because now you shop like crazy. Oh I need to everything. It's just like the old QVC. I say old QVC still around? It is? Yeah, well, there you go. You know, those people that are, you know, shopping at three o'clock in the morning buying their 27 piece silverware set that they absolutely have to have. The thing is, is that you're going to spend more money, so they put in something that causes you to go oh, I feel much better because I'm getting prime, it only cost me 100 bucks a year. And look, it's helping out, guys, they shifted their model they're making they continue to shift their model and make it more convenient for you. Little side note, always check the prices because sometimes it's considerably more expensive on Amazon than it would be from your local grocery store. So. But, check out the the the innovation that they've got. Kroger is in there now. Kroger started out with the you know, you pull up and they still have it, at least here, where we are, they've got where you can pull in and call them and then they bring the groceries out and put it in your car. Guess what they're doing now? They're actually doing delivery. So you go on their app, you can order this stuff and they will deliver to you. Why? Because it's making sense to make it more convenient to get stuff to people. Because then people look at the convenience and they go well, I'm going to shop at Kroger, I'm not going to shop it over here at ABC because they're not delivering. Kroger's making it easy. They're shifting their model and making it in a way that makes it more convenient for you, which makes you a more loyal customer to them.

Chris LoCurto  17:14

Take a look at Target. They're doing the same thing, right? Now there's is more of that-I don't think they're delivering yet. But they've got that, you know, you can now order from Target pull up, they'll bring it out to your car, throw it in your car. These are things you want to take a look at, is there a way for you to shift your model? Is there a way for you to be innovative with what you do? If you took a look at this-now, here's how I want you to think about it. People miss this all the time. Are we losing money by not being innovative? Are we losing money, are we losing clients to somebody else, because we are not convenient. So in other words, I talked about this at the front side of the show. For us, we've shifted part of our trainings to being you know, a couple hours training, full day training, for clients, for companies, that want us to teach leadership, customer service sales, whatever that is. We've now got this where we can do this online, so that it's all virtual, they pull their team together, and they have but people have been loving that. Why? Because they don't have to pick up their team and come across the country for a one day event. Now a lot of companies still do love to travel, companies are still coming here all the time for Stratplan. Companies are coming, bringing their leaders to the Next Level Leadership Live Event. Folks are coming for Next Level Life's, we have a lot of folks that travel but we have some companies that are like man, I would much rather be able to just pull my people into a room, you guys do it virtually, great. We shifted that part of that model. You know, we still do the other. So we're now being convenient on multiple fronts. So next thing, what are the lessons from 2020? If we take a look at an article that was done by Forbes.com there are a lot of lessons that we've learned. One of those is you know, and I'm just going to hit through probably about, I don't know seven or eight, nine of these bullet points. Commercial airlines are now offering cargo flights. So think about it. A) They're getting you know, fuel subsidies to fly. But now they're offering the opportunity since they're not staying up in the air as much, rip out some seats. Let's throw some cargo in these things and fly it around. They're utilizing their planes, they're getting the subsidies, they're making money. Smart thing to do. Grocery stores became dark fulfillment centers. What that means is, a lot of places, you know, they're shutting their lights off, but you can still order pull up and they'll bring stuff out to your car. Restaurants have entered the marketplace of doing groceries. So that they keep their doors open. So they've got, you know, companies like Cisco and stuff, delivering stuff to them, they order more stuff, make it convenient for you to come over there, sell you some groceries. Maybe you're not getting at your local, you know, main grocery store, they've got some things that you probably need, right? Retailers have pivoted to curbside pickup, stores have expanded to digital ordering offerings. Fitness companies have moved their workouts online man, I can't tell you how ridiculous it was to have a bunch of people showing up to run in a mask or two, that's really actually not very healthy. Right? So they've actually moved things online to help you to be able to still work out and utilize something that you're already paying for. Right? Uber and Lyft became delivery services. So anything that can be virtual, believe it or not, will be virtual? Is there something in your line? Is there something in your business, your industry? Is there something with your products or services that you could actually make virtual, I can tell you right now, this is going to be a two parter. So I'm not making it through, there's just so much information for you guys to focus on. And that's actually probably going to make it a lot easier for you to to implement a lot of this stuff. So next question, Where do you need to change your model in order to improve? So a great book, if you've never read the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" That is a fantastic, small, tiny little book.

Chris LoCurto  21:34

What I mean, it's not that many pages, you can sit down and read this pretty darn quickly. It's a great book, that is basically the concept is-still go get the book and read the book, we'll put some information down in the notes on how to do that-the main concept is, you know, you think of the mice, the mice, they put these mice in a maze, they put the cheese at the same place every day, day in day out, they after the cheese after the cheese after the cheese. And then when they move the cheese, what they're looking for is which mice don't know what to do and which mice actually go find where the cheese you know, somebody moved it, let me go find it. You have to start looking at, if things have been shifted or moved or something's not happening the same way. Again, the client that works on conveyor belts, they also made some lifts that, believe it or not, the repo industry was one that bought a lot of their lifts, because it just went in the back of a pickup truck. And so they would use them all the time. Well guess what? COVID hit, that industry that buys that from his business shut down. So while he's still selling things to other industries, that part shut down overnight. And so he has to take a look at this and go, "Okay, well, if I'm not selling them to that industry, where else can I sell these? Or is there something else I can make?" If I'm not going to sell as many, let's say it cut, I don't know, I'm making this up. But let's say cut 25% or 50% of the sales because that industry went out, well, you still have machinery, you still have stuff, you still have people that can work, can you create something else? This might be a great time to figure out, can you create something else and sell it? What does that look like? Also, you can be looking at, so take it from the other side, what if an industry shifted away from you, because the thing that you're making is too expensive. Or maybe it's not fulfilling the need, or maybe somebody else out there has made it easier, somebody has gone virtual somebody has done something that you've not caught on to yet. And so you're losing clients, because once again, you're staying exactly the way you are, and you haven't shifted anything. So take a look at your model, is there something that you need to change? Another piece of this is KRA's and roles you're anticipating meeting 12 months from now. So based on all of these shifts based on the assessment, based on the shifts that you might need to make, are going to make, based on all of these things, you have to sit down and ask yourself, where are we going to be 12 months from now? What is our business going to look like 12 months from now? And it is incredibly smart to sit down and start focusing on the roles and the KRA's needed for those roles. So in other words, as we grow in this business, what are the expectations that we have, as far as filling out the very roles that we're going to need because of the growth, or these shifts right? When COVID hit here, I sat down with the team and I said guys, the live events part those of you that are working on the in person live events, guess what? Part of your role is going to change because people aren't going to come for a little bit, and sure enough, it actually didn't take as long the people started coming back pretty darn quickly. But what we did is we went through and told everybody in the business, you may be working admin, and now you're going to be working in marketing for a while, we're going to shift whatever roles, we're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that I can continue to pay you. Because I want to keep everybody in house. I want to keep everybody here, right? So we made shifts, we made adjustments. And funny enough, as we made adjustments, we discovered a role or two, that needed to shift. Because it pulled out somebody else's gifts and talents in a different area. And so that worked out really well. You've got to take a look at what shifts you're making, what shifts you have made, what shifts you plan on making, what growth you're planning for, what growth you think you're going to have in 2022. And then lay out what roles do you need, and my goodness, do not move forward until you have the KRA's for those roles. You've got to know what you expect the actual execution to result in, in those roles. If you do not have that, don't hire those folks. All right, we're gonna get to the last piece of this episode, we're still only on the number one thing you need to do, I said three things. We're still only on the number one thing, we're going to hit two and three on the next episode. But we're going to come back right after this message. And we're going to hit the last part of number one.

Chris LoCurto  26:29

Hey, leaders, what has this past year taught you? For many of you, the events in 2020 opened your eyes to core challenges and struggles that are deep within your business. I'm sure we can all agree that business as usual, just won't cut it this year. But as a leader and a business owner, you may not know where to go from here. So I'm here to tell you that it's time to make a change. As a leader, it's time to pour into your business and your team by learning and implementing new core skills that will make an immediate impact. It's time to sign up for the Next Level Leadership Live Event this April. This event is tailor made for small business owners and leaders just like you, helping you to move forward even in a climate of fear and uncertainty. This is not a positive thinking session, but a strategic thinking workshop. Chock-full of insightful teaching, and impactful learnings, that's going to equip you to return to your business and your team ready to implement and immediately impact their growth and stability. Go to chrislocurto.com/liveevent or text "liveevent" one word, to the number 44222, for more information and to get your tickets. Again, that's chrislocurto.com/liveevent. It's time to change your business and your leadership for the better. Don't miss it.

Chris LoCurto  27:57

Okay, we are back. And again, still focusing on only the first of the three things you need to focus on this year before 2022. The last piece of number one is you have to stay willing to pivot. Now listen, this is the third episode in a series of failing episodes, failure episodes, the episodes haven't failed. There you go. Hopefully the episodes haven't failed. Where we're talking about failure. Guys, here's what I need you to know. I teach on failure all the time. We say this business is built on my failures, and God teaching me how to overcome those failures, and teaching me how to teach people to overcome those failures. If I teach you how to overcome failure until I'm blue in the face, but you don't do anything about it, it's a waste. So here's the deal, you've got to be willing to do something about it, you've got to be willing to pivot. If you fail to plan or to pivot during 2020, you can fix that right now. It's never too late to correct your mistakes, that part's gone, that part's done, but shift now, your mission is always the mission. But the means can change. Now, I'm assuming for most if not all of you, the mission has stayed the same. Now for me, mission is-now don't think of 90s you know, buzzwords, they really kind of screwed up a whole bunch of stuff, back in the 90s of making mission and core values and vision not really matter that much. Here's what I say your mission is your purpose for existence. So take a look at your business. What is the purpose for your business to exist, our mission is: worshiping God by loving people, and guiding individuals and organizations to greater perspective. That is our mission. Now, we could say, changing lives, we get that all the time, changing business, we all the time we get people say, you changed my life, you changed my family, you changed my business, and we always respond with the same thing, hey, we didn't actually change it, you made the decision to go do something about it. We spent the time teaching you, giving you perspective, guiding you, directing you, getting you all the information you need, coming from a side of experience, but you actually made the decision. So our mission is to worship God. It's to love people. And it's to guide individuals and organizations to greater perspective, because when we do those things, people can take the information that we've helped them to get to, and change their lives. So take a look at what your purpose for existing as a business is. Ask yourself this question. Is it still the same?

Chris LoCurto  31:00

It should be. It should be yes. But it may not. Maybe something has changed so much, that it can't be the same mission. If it's not, then you have to ask yourself, what is the new mission? What are we doing? We always say you can have 700 visions, they should always be changing, you should be you know, ticking those things off like checkboxes, right? Get to the vision, make a new one, get to the vision, make a new one, get to the vision, but your mission should really stay the same. Next thing is, it's time to fail upwards in your leadership, learn now to fail better. What that means is accept the fact that you did fail, get to the responsibility side as fast as possible. And then take a hard look, don't you know, a lot of folks don't like to look at the failure. They'll say they failed. Yep, I screwed that up. And then all they want to do is move forward. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Use the failure, use the failure, use the failure. Where did things go wrong? Pay attention, go through it, rip it apart, discover it. take a hard look at what went wrong. So that you know you can say, how do we make sure this never happens again? How do we fix this? What does this look like in the future? All those things. What should we have paid attention to? How did this creep through? How did this get past our, you know, our warning systems? Do we even have warning systems? One of the big things you will discover very quickly as you walk down this path is, where are we lacking accountability? Leaders, business owners, I will tell you this: it's the number two biggest issue inside of your business, is a lack of quality accountability. You don't have it in a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of places. Let me just say, the top three issues we see number one, lack of high levels of quality communication, by far, by far, by far, by far, by far. That's why we teach so much on communication. It is a full day in Straplan, the first day, full day, because it's the number one issue. Next thing is, lack of a high quality accountability. Next thing is cultural issues. So, if you don't have good accountability in place, and I'm going to bet that you have areas of weakness, I will tell you, if you do not have KRA's and you're not using KRA's as accountability, you are colossally wasting time, you're wasting time in your leadership, you're wasting time in your team members being confused. You're wasting time and expecting things that people don't know you're expecting. You're wasting time not knowing what results should look like, you're wasting time not having metrics on how somebody is doing well, or they're sucking wind, you're wasting time, put this stuff in place, make sure that you get in a place we're taking a whole day at the Next Level Leadership Live Event to do a workshop, bring your best roles or the roles that you need, or bring all of them, we're actually going to be teaching and then working through how to do your KRA's so that you have great success in the accountability side, this will make you a lot of money by saving you a lot of problems. Next thing, what can you put in place right now to stay ahead of the curve? So as you take a look at a lot of these failures, what are some things that you can put in place right now, so that you, you know, you know that it's coming, you can see that something's coming, you can have some sort of warning system in place to say, oh, crud, this is probably going to result in pain. Like I say, the way that I look at everything is, when I'm planning something or I'm working through a process or a strategy. The thing I always ask is, how can this fail? Where will it fail? I'm always thinking ahead so I can solve that quickly. Before we ever put the thing in place, right? I don't want to get down into it. And then it fails. And then I'm like, well, if I'd have just spent, you know, 30 more minutes thinking about this, I could have figured that out. Where a lot of folks, instead of wanting to think about how it could fail, like, let's just do it. Let's just put it in place. Let's go. Spend time, right? Next thing, failure is wasted on the insecure. Yes, yes, you whose heart rate just kicked up a little bit. Yes, you whose adrenaline is pumping through your body just a little bit more, after I said that, I'm speaking to you. If you are insecure about failure, then unfortunately, you're doing everything you can to protect yourself from failure, which means that you are limiting your risk. You're limiting your abilities, you're limiting your capacity.

Chris LoCurto  35:56

Only leaders who are mature and secure enough in their role can be humble or self-aware enough to learn from their mistakes. Folks, if you are worried about people's judgement of you, because you failed, you are always going to hold you back. Let me say this again, please listen to me. Take it from somebody who is probably considerably more healthy than the people that you're worried about. Here's what we teach in Next Level Life, the person who wants to judge the daylights out of you because of your failures is unhealthy. So don't worry about them. Don't worry about their thoughts. Don't worry about their opinions. If you're going to worry, focus on the person who in a healthy way will call you out. Hey, man, you know, that thing's gonna fall apart. Hey, you know, you're not spending enough time on that. Hey, you know, you didn't put any, you know, enough effort into that. Hey, are you looking at this? You know, focus on the person who wants to help you not fail. Not the person who can't wait for you to fall and then tell you that you're a failure, right? Only leaders who are mature and secure enough can learn from their mistakes. Those that are insecure, failure is going to be wasted on them every single time. Because they're not going to look at the failure and ask the question, How do I learn? How do I grow from this? So if you're not mature and secure enough, failure is being wasted, Let me say it again. Failure is wasted on the insecure. So how do you overcome that? Well, first thing, get your butt in here to Next Level Life. We can help you with that. But what do you do today? Do like I just said, recognize that every time you're afraid of somebody judging you because of failure, then your focus is going to be way more on protecting yourself, not taking risks, not, you know, using the capacity that you have not using the gifts and talents that you have, you're going to spend all of your time trying not to screw up so that you don't feel judged. You got to flip this around, you got to tell yourself the truth. My worth is not in me failing in a situation, you know, Zig used to say, "Failure is a situation not a person." Okay, Zig said it more eloquently than that. But that's the gist of it. So you are not a failure. You may fail, guys, I fail a lot. I move a whole lot of stuff around. I fail. I screw things up. The difference is, I'm not insecure in those failures. I'm going to look at the failure asked the same five questions. 98% of the time, I will ask this, there's probably about a 2% I got to go a little bit different direction. What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? How do we fix it? How do we make sure it never happens again? When you look at failure through that lens, then you actually learn like crazy.

Chris LoCurto  39:02

Alright. So I had planned on telling you the three things you need to do before 2022 that is one of them. That is one section on the strategic side of things that you need to focus on. We've got two more sections that we do not have time for today. So we're gonna follow that up on another podcast and I promise I'm going to do everything I can to get through both of those on the next episode. So folks, hopefully this has helped you today put these things in place. Go if you have not looked at the website, you know, go to the podcast on chrislocurto.com look at the website. We've got these bullet points, we've got these things you need to do so that you can carry them over and start working on them. If you have not signed up for the Next Level Leadership Live Event, get your butt here, get your leaders here. Get here especially the first day focused on the KRA workshop or we will help you get all this stuff in place. I promise you, it will make you way more money than you will spend on coming to this event, by getting this stuff in place. Make it happen. Make it happen, make it happen, make it happen. All right. Take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life, and join us on the next episode.

Our later episode on KRA's:

https://chrislocurto.com/406-what-good-is-a-kra/

Book, "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't" by James Collins:

https://amzn.to/2OBT9jG

Book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson:

https://amzn.to/3lpwvqS

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