3 Leadership Lessons I Learned From Maximus!

3 Leadership Lessons I Learned From Maximus!

I want to take a few minutes and share three things that Maximus taught me about Leadership.

* Real Leaders Lead from the Front *

Maximus had the respect the men he led not because they feared him but because he led them.

He was not afraid to get into the trenches and fight alongside his men.

Too many business leaders will not get their hands dirty because?of their ego.

One of my favorite business LEADERS is Marcus Lemonis from the “The Profit.”

Marcus always leads from the front.

It is not beneath him to grab a broom or a clean a toilet.

Most CEO’s would never leave their Ivory towers to consider even doing those things, but not Marcus.

He is the first one to roll up his sleeves and get to work in the trenches.

Real Leaders lead from the front, and they keep their egos checked at the door.

Marcus never asks anyone to do anything that he is not willing to do, and neither does a real leader.

Real Leadership is about respecting the janitor as much as you respect the Chairman.

* Leaders Do Get Betrayed and Hurt *

In love, people often get hurt and betrayed by someone that they loved and trusted, and they use that as an excuse never to trust or love again.

Leaders do not carry this attitude in business.

Listen, you are going to be lied about, and not everyone in business is going to have your best interest at heart.

There are people that are sitting in bars drinking their life away talking about the ex-partner who screwed them out of their million dollar business or the ex-wife who took everything.

Instead of moving forward and rebuilding their life they allow a betrayal to rob them of their TODAY.

The first company that my wife and I built, we brought in a partner to help run the business because that was his strong suit.

I trusted this man as a Father.

In 6 months, we had generated revenues more than 1.6 million dollars, the company was HUGELY successful.

Vickie and I thought we were set for life.

My business partner then informed me that he was terminating the partnership and keeping the company.

The betrayal devastated my wife and me. I was embarrassed and humiliated that I had allowed this to happen.

I had a decision to make at that moment.

I decided that I would not allow this event to rob me of my future.

He took the company, but he would not take my future.

I was advised by my closest advisers to let it go and move forward with my life.

“Men like your partner never succeed long term TC…you are young enough, let it go and rebuild without him” was the sound advice I received from a close friend who was much older and wiser than myself.

He was right, within a year, my ex-partner bankrupted that company while I had gone to invest in millions of dollars of real estate and launch my first website that sold over a million dollars of product.

* Leaders do not allow their past to dictate their future *

Strength And Honor Are Core Principals That Are Non- Negotiable.

In spite of the injustice that was done to him and how life was not fair to him, Maximus never strayed from his core principals.

Strength and Honor.

I was very fortunate growing up to live with a real life Gladiator, who lived these principals and instilled them into me.

My Father was my Hero.

My Father was a blue collar worker all of his life who lived by the principal of strength and honor his entire life.

When my brother and I were infants, he had a terrible accident at a manufacturing plant that crushed his right foot.

In spite of the pain, he finished his shift and crawled out to his car when it was over only to be followed out by his supervisor and he was fired and called a cripple. (This was in the early 60’s)

The doctors wanted to cut the foot off because of the damage and my Father refused.

“How can I feed my two babies and provide for my family with 1 foot.”

He kept his foot and rebuilt his life.

I remember my father never allowing folks to call him Mr. Bradley because ‘The Real Mr. Bradley was still alive” (His Dad)

He would tell me “Son; My Daddy gave me the Bradley name without spot or blemish, and it is my #1 desire to give it back to him when I see him again in Heaven, in the same condition he gave it to me.”

Yes, my Father was a real Gladiator in my eyes.

His desire for a spotless name has now become my desire.

I want to hand him back the Bradley name in the same condition that he gave it to me in.

I can tell you that in business, it is easy to lose your core principals of “Strength and Honor” to make an exception “this one time.”

Real Leaders do not compromise on their core principals.

Not for a moment.

Not for a second.

It only takes one bad decision to destroy what you have spent a lifetime building.

Never compromise on your core values.

No amount of money and no business deal are worth it.

Strength and Honor.

Let me close by asking you a simple question?

Are you not entertained??