So, I’ve been listening to “Good To Great,” which is all about dissecting what made the most successful companies in the world who they are today.

In addition, I had one of those long chats with a close friend last night over a couple of drinks.

Combine the two and it’s exactly why I’m up right now at 1:15 AM on a Saturday night writing this post for you. I couldn’t sleep thinking more and more about it, figured I’d share.

My friend and I were talking about what’s going on with the world today and how things are falling apart left and right. Well, HIS view on the situation is quite more cynic than mine is, I understand there are two sides.

No matter how much evil we see, there is just as much great around us as well (it’s just that the media chooses not to talk about the good).

Anyways, he posed a question that concerned me and also led into a long heated (yet friendly) debate:

“Is it too late to change things? Is there no more hope? Look at everything around us, how did we let it get to this?”

As we talked about it, only one word came to mind…

Leadership

That’s right. I explained to him firstly that absolutely not, it’s not too late. Also, “how did we let things get to this point?” It’s all about leadership.

I’m a big believer that everything, every organization, family, business, government – all of it is shaped by a leader. We all look to follow someone who can INSPIRE and MOVE us. We believe in his/her dreams and we pledge our loyalty.

A great leader stays TRUE to his commitments and does ANYTHING to make them happen. I mean EVERYTHING, that includes the toughest decisions anyone can imagine making.

“Much of The Leadership Is Absent Or Has Gone Astray…”

That was my only answer for him. I oversimplified the matter by saying that really if we want to see things fixed, we need new leadership. But, if you really think about it, it really is THAT simple.

Any and all successful organizations have had leaders that were fearless, brilliant and made tough decisions like you wouldn’t believe. If you have not yet, I HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of “Good To Great” – it really drives home this point.

A Great Leader Inspires

Without going into a great big rant, I want to leave everyone with just one thought – if you want to succeed in life, you need to first master the art of inspiring and motivating those around you.

You have to begin to lead and get away from following (believe me, it sounds great, but it’s tough).

Every great leader in our world has been the role model for what it means to be a “fighter.”

Creating Impact…

One of my good friends and probably one of the nicest guys I know, Kenneth McArthur, recently wrote a book called “IMPACT.” I just got done listening to the free audio and I loved it.

Kenneth’s book is the next one on my list, I’ve only heard great things about it.

The subtitle explains my entire point:

“How To Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World…”

Fighting for your goals and dreams involves building a coalition around you and gaining support. If you ever plan on doing that, you have to inspire, motivate and create impact…

Kenneth is giving away MANY of his materials for FREE, including the amazing interview I listened to, just visit his site and sign-up. I highly recommend getting the book as well (I’ll give you a full review when I finish it).

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I just recently got back from an internet marketing seminar led by Ross Goldberg and there were many amazing internet marketers there. There is one problem with being around crazy genius minds.

They’re full of ideas…

First of all, they make everything sound so darn easy and to top it off they are extremely convincing.

Here’s some funny proof of the same thing working in reverse. You see I was also speaking at this same conference on the topic of affiliate marketing. Well, an affiliate marketing “wizard” himself, Kenneth McArthur, who has been around much longer than myself came up to me afterwards and said: “Man, Anik every time I see you do that presentation, I want to run out of here and start doing it too!”

So, now that I’ve stroked my own ego, here is my point…

I go to these events, hang out with very smart folk and come back with TONS of ideas that I want to start implementing right away. What happens next is that my mind starts to RACE…

It almost gets out of control!  I start to lose focus, I start doing 10 things at a time and the entrepreneur gets bored with what I am already doing.

All in all, the great ideas can start to back-fire on me.

Today, I’m dealing with just that so I’ve had to take a step back and really try to turn my mind OFF.

What I did was make a list of 5 things that I’m already working on, my team has already started it and I’ve already built a mastermind behind many of the projects (this means that many other people are invested in my previous already in motion ideas).

So, if what I learned can help augment what I’m already doing, great, but if not, I’ve decided to WRITE IT DOWN in my nice black journal as a way of removing it from my mind.

If your mind starts to race, quickly make a list of everything on it, pick a few you really want to think about or act on and leave the rest on paper.

It’s amazing how well this simple exercise works!

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