The ‘ALL IN’ Principle
All Selling Aside with Alex Mandossian | "Seeding Through Storytelling is the 'New' Selling!"
English - June 18, 2018 22:19 - 23 minutes - 13.7 MB - ★★★★★ - 91 ratingsMarketing Business Entrepreneurship Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
In the summer of 1992, I learned an important fact that has stuck with me ever since: leadership is a choice. On the day I learned this, I was climbing a wall in an obstacle course as part of a team-building exercise. I was dripping with sweat, my shoulders were aching, and my legs were throbbing. I felt battered, but ready to take on the challenge. (This feeling probably sounds familiar to you, even if the battering is a mental or emotional rather than physical one!)
The pain didn’t matter to me. If I could prove my mettle and see the competition through, I knew I would impress both my fellow competitors and myself. There I stood, with over 20 other people all equally bent on climbing that wall. There was no way to get over but through physical strength, stamina, determination, and help from the others. My instincts told me that if I scaled the wall first, I would inspire the others to do the same. That was leadership, I believed.
Within seconds of being told, “Go,” I made it over the wall. There I was, all alone. Everyone else was on the other side, trying to get over the wall, and I couldn’t do anything to help them. In other words, I put myself in a powerless position, and my “leadership” turned out to be just cheering people on from the sidelines. In contrast, one of my closest friends in the competition stood at the base of the wall and help others climb the wall and reach the other side. Once everyone else was over, he made a leap of faith, and others’ hands clasped him and pulled him over the wall.
Do you see the lesson here? My choice in attempting to be a leader left me feeling inadequate and ineffective. This became a defining moment in my life, and sparked a new way of thinking about leadership. Back then, I tried to lead from the front, by command. The sustainable way is to lead with the “engage and enroll” style of leadership, or leading from behind. Tune into this episode to learn much more about leadership, the key insights listed above, and more!
In This Episode:
[02:13] - Alex introduces this episode’s three key insights.
[03:13] - We hear about a day in 1992 when Alex learned a specific lesson.
[05:06] - Alex continues his story, explaining that there were two dozen other rivals bent on climbing the same wall.
[08:13] - Alex shares what he felt and learned after his incorrect leadership decision.
[09:16] - Leading from the front is the classic leadership position. Servant leadership, or leading from behind, makes you more sensitive to the immediate needs of the people you are leading.
[11:06] - Many leadership books ignore the leader from behind. Alex explains why this is the case.
[13:01] - On the day Alex described, he learned what “all in” means.
[14:41] - In 711 AD, the Muslim commander Tariq ibn Ziyad ordered his ships to be burned. In 1519 AD, Hernán Cortés did something similar. Alex explores how this concept relates to what he’s been talking about.
[15:56] - Alex shares this episode’s Alexism. There are two types of problems entrepreneurs face each day: the ones you currently have, and the ones you will have.
[16:37] - We hear a quick review of the specific insights that Alex has covered in this episode, and shares the story of the cliff divers in Acapulco.
[19:58] - Did you like this episode? If so, please take a moment to head to this link and write down your biggest takeaway as a review!
[21:28] - As a final gift, Alex offers listeners a complimentary copy of his book Alexisms! Tune into the episode to learn how to get your free ebook.
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