wisdom leadership academy
How This Tribe of Gentle People Taught Me Mindfulness, Servant Leadership And How It Can Save Businesses 100’s of Billions Per Year and Transform Your Leadership Forever.
By Our CEO John English
If you’re a leader who is silently suffering with worry, overwhelm and stress. Maybe you have headaches and trouble sleeping at night, like I once did…
Maybe there’s days where you dread your job and it’s difficult to sustain the positive mindset as a leader you know it’s best for you to maintain…
If you feel like a phony at times because you have to put on a face for your team and organization but inwardly your unhappy and wondering if it’s all worth it.
I have something to share with you…
That is until you read this article. Once you do you’ll know the cause and you’ll have to do something about it.
Warning! Don’t read any further if you want to remain where you are and perhaps not so blissfully ignorant.
If you’d like to see how mindfulness and servant leadership will help you unlock your potential as a leader and a human being…
And, ensure you stay relevant as the world rapidly changes in the next decade.
If you’d like to make your mark and transform yourself as a leader becoming someone people will actually want to follow…
Before I share with you how mindfulness and the approach of servant leadership can resolve a host of issues plaguing leadership in the workplace today…
Before we dive into just a few key shifts to address and turnaround employee engagement, productivity and,
the problem of attracting and maintaining great talent…
I need to be upfront about something.
This doesn’t work for everyone. Let me explain…
What you’re about to learn doesn’t work for the type of person who genuinely doesn’t care for other people.
It doesn’t work for people who are motivated solely by self interest and people who won’t admit that they have shortcomings they need to address and change…
And, it won’t work for anyone who is going to stubbornly adhere to a command and control style of leadership that relies on manipulating people…
Meaning, where the need for a paycheck is overtly or covertly used to intimidate people into performing.
That being said, if you’re the type of person who really does genuinely care for people then this will work for you…
And…
Work better than anything else… That both myself, and other very successful business leaders, have found for leading people at work.
In 1988 after failing at my first business, I found myself thrust into a leadership role as a foreman of a tool company.
Like so many managers I was never given any training on how to lead other people. I had to figure it out along the way.
Luckily for me I had some natural ability in leadership, and I like to avoid pain 🙂…
I also love to learn, so I was able to muddle my way through it.
Today things are a little different as even small companies see the need for leadership development and having some type of leadership program…
Back then…honestly, I hadn’t even heard of it!
Over the next 25 years since my first foray into management I’ve successfully founded 4 companies in a variety of industries and it was in 1999 when my whole life changed…
I was introduced to mindfulness, emotional intelligence and a way to consistently get the best from myself, despite any outside circumstances…
And, be fulfilled and happy as I do it!
Then in 2003 while founding a publication company I made another fateful decision…
this decision would lead to having this conversation with you today…
It would result in getting all the training and experience I needed, to become an expert at helping people who lead others at work…get the most from those they lead.
I decided to make my #1 priority to help people overcome whatever challenges they have that are currently causing so much suffering in their lives.
I decided to find out what makes people tick…
What causes them to do the things they do.
Why they create so many problems for themselves…
Why they make life more difficult for themselves and those around them than it has to be!
I decided to make this my #1 focus and help people with what I learned. I would use the money I made in business to support that search…
And, I made some interesting discoveries one of which directly impacts you and your future as a leader…
In working with 1000’s of people over the last 16 years, for the overwhelming majority of them, issues with work are the top source of angst and discontent in their lives…
I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard something like this…
“I can’t wait to quit working in corporate America.”
Then around 2009 I was approached by a client who had become a friend and he asked me,
“Do you think we can use the Ancient Wisdom path of the warrior in my business.”
I replied,
“I don’t see why not.”
I had been using the Ancient Wisdom processes and techniques to lead my team for the last 5 years and I was looking for a new challenge.
It made perfect sense because people had been using the Ancient Wisdom of the Toltec path of the warrior to master transformation…
and the human experience for 1000’s of years…
So, we figured since business was a part of the human experience it would work there as well.
Little did we know, but we bit off a lot…almost more than we could chew. 🙂
We poured through a decade of our personal experiences and 1000’s of years of teachings and made an extraordinary discovery…
Continue And… Servant Leadership. We began to formulate a very successful 3 pronged approach to leadership and chose to call them Ancient Wisdom Leadership Skills. We developed and began using the working hypothesis that when it comes to leaders people fit into two categories… More on that in a moment… First check out the success he created as a result of applying these principles and techniques in leading his company. His experience gives you a hint on one of the pillars in the 3 pronged approach… Back to the two categories of leaders… In the Toltec teachings they describe a person on the path of freedom as a warrior. A man or woman who lives with the courage and power of Heart… They refer to a non-warrior as an ordinary person. So, that’s what we’re going to do for our two categories of leaders… An average leader to describe someone who has come up through the ranks…They’re, directly or indirectly, a product of the leadership development available over the last 40 years… Someone who despite their best efforts…Resembles this gentleman below…Let’s call him Bill. Despite Bill’s efforts to do otherwise his frustration occasionally boils over into “Do it this way…and get it done, because I’m your boss and I said so!” It’s not really Bill’s fault. He came up in leadership being taught by someone who was old school, command and control style leadership. He was never taught how to effectively deal with his stress using mindfulness and often you can find him in his office like this… Bill is often… Overwhelmed… Stressed out… Fearful about his future… Frustrated, Angry and sometimes even… Resentful. Sometimes he dreads his job and wonders… He often thinks things like.. “There has to be more…” “There has to be an easier way…” Despite his success, all of this tension is causing collateral damage in Bill’s life. Collateral damage like… Health issues such as high blood pressure…headaches…trouble sleeping…a slight case of depression… And, he worries about so much stress causing heart disease… It’s negatively impacting his relationships with his wife and family. These are all things Bill really doesn’t want in his life… But, unfortunately, he’s come to accept that when it comes to stress due to his work…“that’s just the way it is.” What Bill doesn’t know is that all of these problems are not really THE problem… We’re going to get to the cause of all these symptoms in Bill’s life and how he can transform them in just a few moments… But first we need to discuss Evan…He’s a True Business Warrior… Someone who leads with Heart… Evan is a very successful and fulfilled entrepreneur who has very little stress even though his company is growing rapidly… But, It wasn’t always that way… By the way, Evan is a real person. I changed his name to protect his identity but if you feel the need to check on this… Reach out to us and I’m sure he’d eagerly provide the proof you need… Anyway, back to Evan, and a little about what his life was like before he made the decision to become a True Business Warrior… Evan had a highly successful multiple 7 figure business but he was burned out and running on fumes… His stress had resulted in chronic migraines that kept him in the office most days. It prevented him from getting out into the field and pursuing more opportunity for his company… He was overworked, overwhelmed, worried about his health. He couldn’t see any other way to get out from under all of this pressure, without selling his company! He loved his team but the challenges created by having employees were just one more issue Evan didn’t have the energy to deal with… When I asked him, “How much are these headaches and all of the stress costing you?” He replied without hesitation… Like our average leader Bill, all of Evan’s challenges were really just symptoms of the real problem…The real cause… What happened next in Evan’s life was truly remarkable. His stress along with his headaches disappeared. His passion for his business returned… And, Just 8 months after his headaches went away he would complete his best year in business! This year, the year after he made a pivotal decision, Evan’s company is going to grow over 112%! Continue What he had been taught about stress in business, “That’s just the way it is.” Was a bunch of bullshit! He decided to embrace the path of the warrior with his leadership. To become a True Business Warrior…a person who leads with the power of Heart… He made the decision for Servant Leadership… He began using the 3 pillars of the 3 pronged approach I mentioned earlier… The first pillar being Mindfulness and using mindfulness to take control over his mental and emotional states to stop the stress response… Mindfulness allows you to… And, among other things… Stop the stress response in your physical body. So you have control over your mental and emotional states. Speaking of stress… Check out what it’s costing American businesses… Which is probably why Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says… “Overall, 43 percent of working adults told us their job negatively affects their stress levels…The takeaway here is that job No. 1 for U.S. employers is to reduce stress in the workplace.” You see after eliminating his own stress and the chronic headaches Evan realized something… And, because he was leading with Heart he decided to do something about it! He realized that his employees needed this relief as well. So, he modeled his new way of operating at work to his employees and began to educate them on how to use mindfulness and stop their stress… Smart guy Evan, by following his heart and wanting their lives to be better, he greatly increased productivity and his team got fully engaged again… His company invoiced 75% of what they did last year (which was their best year ever) in the first six months of this year! Evan stepped up and took a leap into the unknown… He took heart and borrowed the courage of every warrior who made the same fateful decision before him… To dare to believe that maybe the majority had it all wrong… Meaning… He chose Freedom… He stepped up and borrowed the courage from every warrior who went before him and decided to believe… that despite his obligations and responsibilities he just might be able to have the only Freedom any of us can achieve… The Freedom of having complete control over how we think and feel about anything! Next we would move Evan onto the second pillar in the 3 pronged approach of a True Business Warrior… This pillar really is the epitome of Servant Leadership… You might have guessed what this pillar is. It’s a heart centered approach to your work relationships… An approach that gives every person what they really want… Evan was quick to see the wisdom of servant leadership where he applied what we call the 3 needs in relationships to give his employees something… Something every person wants and something that inspires and motivates almost anyone into doing their absolute best… That something is Love and Respect! When it comes down to the bottom line something almost every human being wants out of life is to be loved and respected… If this is something everyone is looking for… Doesn’t it make sense to give it to them where most everyone spend the majority of their waking hours?…At work! John Wooden, the UCLA basketball coach who won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, thought so…. With that amount of success he must have known a thing or two about leadership… The 3 needs in relationships develop a deep rapport with those you lead and something a True Business Warrior implements in all of their work relationships… The 3 needs come from 3 things Ancient Wisdom teaches about what a dying person desperately wants to know when they’re on their deathbed… I’ll get to what the 3 needs are in a moment but first check out what Evan experienced when he started using the 3 needs… “John, this stuff works like magic. All I did was turn and face the guy and use a couple of rapport techniques you taught me. Then I asked a question about how he could solve the issue he came to me with…and Boom! He shifted right before my eyes and resolved it himself.” Side note: Due to the lack of stress, and no more chronic headaches, Evan hired a COO to run operations at his company. Growth exploded! Evan’s COO decided to become a True Business Warrior. Shortly after making this commitment, here’s what he had to say about how Evan worked with an employee’s perception… “I sat in awe as I watched Evan work with this employee’s view of the world….” He turned him around from a, “There’s nothing we can do” attitude, to having confidence and a positive outlook…Then he moved the employee into actually being excited about resolving the client’s problem!” So, I need to explain what I mean by view of the world… Every person, and your employees or team are no different, has a set of beliefs that limit them based on their assumptions and experiences in life… Here’s a link to a powerful video on this. It’s about 20 minutes and moves a little slow but it’s very informative and clearly depicts a “View of the World.” Anyway… When you use the 3 needs in relationships along with some rapport techniques it allows you to enter a persons view of the world to lead them… Because, They get some things they actually crave. Which is to be seen, loved and respected. They create way less drama at work and become engaged. Office Vibe statistics include over 1000 organizations and 1,200,000 data points. Look at the difference engagement makes with… Employee engagement and retaining talent… On increasing sales… And, employee engagement regarding productivity… Now let’s look at each of the 3 needs in relationships and then we’ll move onto the 3rd pillar of a True Business Warrior’s approach to increasing your success… “Every person who works for you, actually every person you come in contact with, should know and feel that…” This is you letting them know that they are loved and respected by you. You see them. This results in… And, you’re going to feel relieved, and rewarded, as there will be less struggle and stress in getting people to do the work to fulfill your vision. Onto “Every person needs to know and feel that who they are and what they do matters. And…That it matters to you!” I was watching a program featuring the founder of the hamburger chain Wendy’s as he was speaking with an employee who put the condiments on the customer’s burgers… I’m paraphrasing here but here’s the gist of what he said… “Some people might think that applying condiments isn’t very important but it’s actually a very important job when it comes to people loving our burgers. Because, to fully enjoy our burgers the person needs to get a taste of each condiment in every bite.” Damn that was good! He just let this young woman know…She had been seen…That she was respected… And that who she is, and what she does mattered, and it mattered to him… He then went ahead and applied condiments with her for awhile… As we move onto the 3rd Need in relationships you might notice the theme of 3 popping up here. 3 needs, 3 pillars and 3 pronged approach… I have a reason for that and we’ll be getting to it shortly… “Every person needs to know that they’re a part of something that’s important.” This is where your company mission and vision come into play and the use of what is commonly referred to as an attractive character… Because of the unique leadership development of becoming a True Business Warrior Evan began to realize… That if he really wanted every person who works for his company to fully engage in his vision, and care about fulfilling his company’s mission, then he needed to… Ask himself some important questions.. To be able to answer these questions to his satisfaction Evan would have to embark on a path of personal transformation as a leader…he would have to change and cast off what doesn’t serve himself or others… Then Evan would use the highest qualities of his personality that work best for each situation in leadership… This is the attractive character. The absolute best version of you to inspire and motivate those you lead… Most leaders have been frustrated, at one time or another, about the necessity to “jump through hoops” to motivate employees or team members. I know I have… My response… “Do you think you will enjoy work more if profits go up?” “Do you think you will enjoy work more if your team or employees create less drama?” Most leaders have felt this way at one time or another. I know I have… But if Evan would have adopted that attitude ,or stayed with it, like our ordinary leader Bill, he would have missed out on a whole new level of opportunity… Because next he would revise his hiring process based on what he learned on his journey of becoming a Business Warrior… This was when Evan hired the COO who was a perfect match for him as a visionary and he dove deeper into his personal transformation as a business leader… Evan would need that transformation and the third pillar of the three pronged approach because of the explosive growth that would take place next… This all happened because Evan was inspired again without the stress induced headaches…And, he had a new set of leadership skills to channel his Inspiration and Power as True Business Warrior… Next, due to all of this growth, his new COO would have to reorganize the company 3 times during his first 8 months on the job! Even though we’re discussing growth, more profit and a renewed passion for his work, Evan could have easily become overwhelmed with all of this rapid change without the 3rd pillar… Continue The leaders who brought him up through the ranks were command and control style leaders who didn’t place an emphasis on Emotional Intelligence and caring for people… Because most leadership development that’s been available to Bill was born from this model and it doesn’t address the cause of Bill’s symptom’s… Bill doesn’t have control over his mental and emotional states to eliminate his overwhelm and stress! Without this control it’s extremely difficult to even exercise emotional intelligence… Until recently Bill probably never even heard of or considered servant leadership and leading with heart like our Business Warrior Evan… Evan realized that with the accelerated pace of change we live in today, where our world will most likely change as much in the next 10 years as it has in the last 50… He realized if he was going to continue to lead his company through such explosive growth without overwhelm and stress… Then the business leader he is today is not the person who needs to lead 5 years, 2 years or even as little as 6 months from now… He needed to learn from his peers. He needed the support of like minded business leaders. Other leaders who saw the need to use servant leadership… And, embrace continual transformation of their leadership skills along with who they are as human beings… This is the 3rd pillar of the 3 pronged approach of the True Business Warrior… There’s an old saying, “It’s lonely at the top” and although we don’t want to give this any energy…Let’s look at Evan’s situation when it comes to having support… Who can Evan speak with about the problems he has, and the different strategies associated with leading people in his organization, along with… the personal challenges he encounters on his path of transformation? He can’t speak with his team about them. That might undermine his leadership… He can’t speak with his spouse too much about them or else he would “Be bringing his work home with him.” Evan can’t really talk with his friends about his personal challenges or worries because even though they might empathize with him… without being in a situation similar to him, they really can’t understand…besides who wants to talk with our friends about that stuff? I’ll remind you at this point that Evan’s first realization was that something had to change. He had to…somehow, remove the chronic headaches and stress… He had to start sleeping well again at night… He had to make a decision for transformation which means the old Evan who had created the success to this point had to die… And, make way for the new Evan. It was at this point that he joined the Wisdom Leadership Academy… A group of business leaders who learn together, grow together, and support one another in becoming True Business Warriors… Men and Women who lead with Heart! These Warriors… Take control over how they think and feel about everything, thereby giving them the power to stop their stress…Versus controlling it… But… Actually stop the stress response in their physical bodies… They use the Ancient Wisdom principles and techniques of the warrior as servant leaders to love and support their teams into… Engaging fully at work and fulfilling their potential… They continually transform themselves as leaders. A renewed passion and excitement for leading, work and life returns… These Business Warriors change their relationship to their past so they have the wisdom, knowledge and power of their experience in business… Without… Its baggage! Without overwhelm, stress and the baggage of their past they excel at critical thinking and emotional intelligence… And… They support one another in a very unique leadership community to fulfill their greatness in the important area of leading people at work! So here we are, you have made it to the end of our story of Bill the average leader and Evan the Business Warrior… Perhaps it’s time for you to make the leap into the power of being a Business Warrior with our transformational leadership program… Should you decide to join us, there’s something you need to understand first… Everyone in the academy is highly motivated to fulfill their potential and they’re willing to transform themselves to do it… Actually, secretly they’re motivated to be the best at what they do. Not just great…but to be the best… If you don’t have that type of desire then this isn’t for you…If you do have this type of drive. Join us… If you want to step up and have that level of desire, then you’re welcome to Join us, but just know…We’re going to insist on your best! Real quickly should you decide to become a True Business Warrior here’s what you can expect… For now, we’ve come to the end of our time together. Regardless of the choice you make right now you have the 3 pillars of a True Business Warrior…To use as a 3 pronged approach to fulfill your potential as a leader. I’ve used the #3 because 3 is a sacred number in many Ancient Wisdom traditions and 3 points of contact is required to create a foundation… A new foundation of a whole new approach in leadership where the focus is on you and who you’re becoming… Where the focus is back on the people you lead and giving them what every person wants out of life…Love & Respect! Currently we have plans to train other facilitators to run Wisdom Leadership Academy groups, but for now I’m the only one on our team who does… Obviously we have a limit to people we can accept in the groups. I only have room for 120 people at this point…10 to 12 leaders in each group Act now and let’s get you started with becoming a True Business Warrior! [Link to order form] I’m sure you have a very busy schedule… Everyday you wait is another day you increase the odds of becoming an ordinary leader like Bill just simply because… Most of us have all the traits of our ordinary leader, Bill. We need to discard these limitations like our Business Warrior Evan did… Everyday you wait is another day of addressing, and tolerating, maybe suffering with, the symptoms instead of eliminating the cause… It’s really something to consider!…All Evan wanted was to make his chronic headaches go away and get a good night sleep… And now he’s leading and building a corporation with passion, purpose and power! To the possible, John English
Is this really all there is?Is this worth the toll it’s taking?
“Millions!”
Keep from boiling over when an employee makes a mistake wasting time and costing the company money.Quit taking your work home with you. Find the best solution to any challenge as quickly as possible. Because, your mind is clear and you’re not wasting energy with worry.Stay passionate about leadership and business despite all the hard work.
Less drama at work increasing productivity.They want to grow and develop as employees and perform better.They’ll stop resisting your leadership.
Am I the type of leader people actually want to follow?Am I the type of leader I would follow?Am I a person I would actually like to work for?
As soon as you join you’ll be taking to our private membership area containing 7 modules of our unique leadership development.You’ll be contacted by our Chief Relationship Specialist, because we want to develop a powerful relationship with you. We want to discover what you need now and which group will best suit your needs.All memberships and what is discussed in our groups is confidential.You’ll be placed in a group without direct competitors.Two Free tickets to the Wisdom Leadership Mastery Event.Stay a member as long as you like. You can cancel anytime.
Our Mission
Using Ancient Wisdom principles we transform organizations into spirited cultures of purpose!
We achieve this by empowering individuals to become charismatic, mindful & passionate leaders.
Our Vision
To create a bridge to a new workplace where people are engaged, courageous & fulfilled in today’s world