Leadership & Vision: How to Capture and Cast a Vision That Inspires Growth | #Success - Ep. 13

Summary

Summary of "Leadership & Vision: How to Capture and Cast a Vision That Inspires Growth | #Success - Ep. 13"

The Russell Brunson Show, hosted by Russell Brunson, delves deep into the intricacies of leadership and vision, offering entrepreneurs and business leaders actionable insights to inspire growth and cultivate successful teams. In Episode 13, released on February 26, 2025, Russell breaks down the foundational elements of effective leadership, emphasizing the importance of capturing a compelling vision and casting it in a manner that galvanizes both customers and team members.

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1. Introduction to Leadership and Vision

Russell opens the episode by highlighting a question posed by a friend post-Funnel Hacking Live: "How do you capture a vision, and how do you share that vision to attract the right people?" This sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of leadership beyond conventional marketing strategies, focusing on personal development and organizational growth.

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2. Becoming a Leader: Stepping Up and Taking Ownership

Russell emphasizes that leadership begins with the willingness to step up and take responsibility. Drawing from the novel Atlas Shrugged, he recounts a scene where the protagonist, Dagny Taggart, decides to take control of a stalled railroad train despite others' reluctance.

Russell Brunson [04:20]: "If it's not right, I will take extreme ownership over the thing because most people will not do that."

He underscores that true leaders are those who embrace accountability, even in the face of potential failure, setting themselves apart from those who avoid responsibility.

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3. Bringing Energy and Vibration to Attract Followers

Russell discusses the concept of energy in leadership, explaining that the energy a leader brings influences the energy of the entire team. He likens this to tuning forks synchronizing vibrations when struck together.

Russell Brunson [07:15]: "The energy you bring to a situation will attract the same type of person."

He highlights that maintaining a positive and proactive energy attracts like-minded individuals who are motivated and aligned with the leader's vision.

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4. Establishing and Maintaining Standards

Standards are pivotal in defining what a leader stands for and against. Russell shares a personal anecdote from September 11, 2021, where he publicly set standards for his team amidst external pressures, reinforcing the importance of consistency and integrity.

Russell Brunson [09:50]: "The higher you set your standards, the higher those people will come to you as well."

By establishing clear standards, leaders create a culture of accountability and excellence, attracting team members who resonate with these values.

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5. Living in the Trenches: Leading by Example

A key aspect of Russell's leadership philosophy is being "in the trenches" with the team. He recounts an incident where his CEO, Bill Allen, took on the responsibility of cleaning up the aftermath of a large event, demonstrating hands-on leadership.

Russell Brunson [12:10]: "Bill stopped everything, grabbed his kid, started running down the hall, grabbed the rest of the team and went down there cleaning the entire thing with everybody."

This example illustrates that leaders who actively participate in day-to-day operations inspire their teams to commit wholeheartedly.

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6. The Three Mandates of Leadership

Introducing Tony Robbins' framework, Russell outlines the three mandates essential for effective leadership:

1. See It as It Is, Not Worse Than It Is
   Leaders must assess situations objectively, avoiding unnecessary pessimism.

2. See It Better Than It Is
   Vision stems from the ability to imagine improvements and aspire for greater outcomes.

3. Make It the Way You See It
   Translating vision into actionable steps is crucial for realization.

Russell Brunson [11:40]: "The three mandates of leadership are: see it as it is, see it better than it is, and make it the way you see it."

This framework equips leaders with a structured approach to navigate challenges and drive progress.

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7. Capturing the Vision: Inspiration and Creativity

Russell delves into the process of capturing a vision, emphasizing the role of inspiration. He shares how he draws from diverse sources—such as businesses like ClickBank, influential thinkers like Dan Kennedy and Tony Robbins, and cultural touchstones like the movie Social Network—to formulate a unique vision.

Russell Brunson [16:45]: "I take influences from four or five things and then remix them, and then, boom, I create something that's my own."

By amalgamating varied inspirations, leaders can craft a distinctive and compelling vision that stands out in the marketplace.

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8. Casting the Vision: Attracting A-Players and Communicating Effectively

Casting the vision involves more than just sharing it; it's about creating opportunities for top talent and effectively communicating the vision's essence. Russell highlights the importance of:

• Living the Vision Daily: Demonstrating unwavering commitment to the vision inspires others to follow.
• Creating Opportunities for A-Players: Offering avenues for growth, such as equity or profit-sharing, attracts and retains top talent.
• Selling the Destination, Not the Journey: Focusing on the ultimate vision rather than the step-by-step process prevents overwhelming potential followers.

Russell Brunson [22:30]: "You sell the destination, not all the steps inside the trip."

This approach ensures that the team remains motivated and aligned with the overarching goals, even amid challenges.

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9. Conclusion and Final Insights

Russell wraps up the episode by reiterating the core principles discussed:

• Leadership requires stepping up, bringing positive energy, setting high standards, and leading by example.
• Capturing a vision is a creative process fueled by diverse inspirations.
• Casting the vision effectively attracts dedicated team members ready to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

He concludes with the T.E. Lawrence quote, reinforcing the ethos of visionary entrepreneurship:

Russell Brunson [31:10]: "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night... But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams with open eyes to make it possible."

This serves as a rallying call for listeners to embrace proactive dream-chasing, transforming visions into tangible realities.

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Key Takeaways

• Embrace Leadership: Take ownership and set clear standards to inspire and guide your team effectively.
• Energy Matters: Maintain a positive and proactive demeanor to attract and retain motivated individuals.
• Define and Share Your Vision: Draw inspiration from diverse sources to craft a unique vision, and communicate it in a way that emphasizes the ultimate destination.
• Lead by Example: Actively participate in your team's efforts to foster commitment and accountability.
• Be the Unreasonable Leader: Challenge the status quo and persistently pursue your vision, even when faced with skepticism.

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This episode of The Russell Brunson Show provides a comprehensive blueprint for aspiring leaders, blending personal anecdotes with established leadership frameworks to deliver actionable strategies for inspiring growth and building successful enterprises.

Transcript

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[Bank of America Sponsor]

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[Russell Brunson]

This is the Russell Brunson Show. What's up everybody? This is Russell.

[Co-host or Guest]

Welcome back to the show.

[Russell Brunson]

Excited to be hanging out with the guest today. And today I want to talk about a topic I haven't talked a lot about with you guys, which is leadership. And more so than leadership, actually very specific part of leadership, which is how do you, first off, how do you capture a vision? And then number two, after you've captured a vision, how do you actually share that vision with other people to get people to want to follow you? Both like customers, but also employees and partners and team members. How do you cast a vision, a way that gets people to who want to come to you? And this is actually a really interesting question. I got it from one of my friends. It was after Funnel Hacking Live. Obviously if you guys, if you've been following the click Funnels movement for the last decade, we built a huge business and a brand and every single year we did this big event. And this was the last one.

[Co-host or Guest]

Funnel hack live 10.

[Russell Brunson]

And it was a little after I got off stage, I got the message from my buddy and he asked me, I said, how do you do that? He's like, I want to do that in my business. Our company's growing, things are good. I want to figure out how to cast, first off, how to capture that vision. What is the vision? How do I find what the vision is for my business? And number two is after I have that, how do I get the right people? So that's what I'm talking about today. Because as you know, without a vision, the people perish. And our job as visionary entrepreneurs is to cast that Vision. When you cast that vision, your people will come to you. You probably heard me, you know, talk about this before, but a lot of people are scared. Like, I don't want to put myself out there, my vision out there, because people are gonna make fun of me. And the reality is, like, I promise you, people make fun of me more than probably anybody, right? We spent just on one event last week, we spent a million dollars in ads. My face was everywhere on the whole Internet. And guess what? A lot of people don' likes seeing my face everywhere, all over the Internet. And there's, like, all sorts of people talking trash in the comments and things like that, right? Like, when you put yourself out there, there's gonna be people who do not like you, and they're gonna be vocal about it. But your job is not to speak to everybody, right? Your job is to talk to the people you've been called to serve, right? And so when you put your vision out there, they'll be people who be offended, who'll be annoyed, people who don't care. But when you do it correctly, your people will hear you. They're gonna come to you, and you have a chance to serve them and change their life. We are visionary entrepreneurs. We are the dreamers. One of my favorite quotes is from T.E. lawrence. He says, all men dream. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the day to find that it was in vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they must act out their dreams with open eyes to make it possible. I love that quote. It's like a rallying call. We had that on the back of the T shirts one year at Funnel Hacking Live because I love it so much, it's kind of funny. I have an OURA ring, so I sleep every single night. It is funny. My wife and I was teased because my wife, she sleeps so good every night. Her REM and her deep sleep's, like, at 25, 30%. Mine always like, my REM's like at 3% or 1% or 2%. And it bothers me because she always has these amazing dreams. She tells me these dreams. Like, that is so cool. I don't remember any of my dreams. But then I found this quote. I teased her. I'm like, well, I'm a dreamer of the day. So that's the difference. You dream at night, but I dream in the day. But it's such a powerful thing, right? That's our job as visionary entrepreneurs, to be the dreamers of the day. I'M gonna read the quote one more time because it's so powerful. I want you to rehear it. Cause some of you guys don't want to roll back on the thing. Instead, I'm just gonna share it with you. Okay? So once again, all men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of. Wake in the day to find that it was in vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men. They may act out their dreams with open eyes to make it possible. Such a powerful thing. Okay, so I'm gonna go through this. I've got a bunch of notes here I'm gonna go through. And there's basically three kind of phases I'm walking you through. So the first phase, the first step, whatever you wanna call it, the first secret, if you're Russell Brunson. Oh, I am. Secret number one. Step number one, whatever you wanna call it is actually, you have to become a leader. And this is an interesting thing because, I don't know, I've never really taught leadership before. I don't love reading leadership books even. But the reality is that people want to follow a leader. Like, you have to be willing to step up and be that leader. And most people in this world do not want to be a leader. They are scared to death of leadership. Right? And essentially, if you've read the book Atlas Shrugged, it's one of my favorite books. But there's a scene in the very beginning where Daphne is on the. You know, she's the head of the railroad. She's on the railroad train and gets stuck. And, you know, this train's been stuck for like, 20, 30 minutes. She comes out and she's like, wow, it not moving. Like, oh, the light turned red. Like, well, like, how do you fix it? Like, well, I wait for them to fix it. Like, well, is there any issue? Like, no, you could go, but, you know, and the railroad workers, like, they did not want to take the responsibility on their own shoulders. They refused to do that. Right? And finally she's like. She's like, I'm dagging, Taggart. I'm the president of the road. Like, you're gonna go. And, like, so if you go, you'll take. Like, if something goes wrong, it'll be on your shoulders, not ours, right? And she's like, yes. And, like, she was willing to step up and, like, and take that. Right? And then take the responsibility if something went wrong. Like, that's what leadership is, right? To be willing to.

[Co-host or Guest]

This is the direction we're going.

[Russell Brunson]

If it's not right. I will take extreme ownership over the thing because most people will not do that. Okay? They're so scared of getting in trouble or breaking something, they don't want to have the responsibility. They'd rather do nothing. In fact, this is why the whole. I'm not going to get political because I don't care about politics. But it's like the whole situation we are in as a country because nobody wants to step up and do the thing and then take accountability, whether it fails or successful, right? So if you're going to be a leader, it's one of the core things. You got to be willing to be the person who's going to take extreme ownership. Like, just, I'm doing the thing, and people look up to that. People are looking for that. They're begging for that. Like, they desire that so bad. I think it was Jay Abraham who once said. He said people are walking around with, like, a cord coming out of their bilgo cord. And he said they're secretly, like, they're looking for a leader they can plug into, right? They're looking for something. So the masses, the most of the people that you are trying to lead, like, they're walking around looking like, I want to plug into something. Like, I'm looking for that. You're looking for the person who's going to step up, right? That's what you, as a leader have to do. The next thing I have in my notes here is that if you want to be a leader, you have to bring energy to the table. Now, it doesn't mean you have to bring Russell Brunson energy or Gary Vee energy or Tony Robbins energy. You got to bring your energy, but at the right level, right? And when you do that, there's a really cool. In fact, it's so funny. When I got in this business, I used to hate when people talk about energy. I'm like, it's so cheesy. So I used to hate that, right? But as I've done this more and more, like, it is insane how powerful it is. Like, the energy you bring to a situation will attract the same type of person. Okay? In fact, I bought. I don't know what they're at. I bought some tuning forks. I heard this is a thing. I don't know if it really is or not, but it illustrates my point, so I'm going to share with you anyway. Okay. So when you get two tuning forks, right? Two different ones, and you hit one over here, one over here, and they're two different Vibrations, but you bring them together, what will happen is that they sync vibrations. So eventually they're both the exact same vibration, same vibe, right? And so what you are the energy you're putting out in the world, you will attract people with the same vibration as that, right? So you got to put those things out there. So if I come into a room and I'm like, hey guys, what's up? What's gonna happen? Everyone else in the room is gonna lower down to that energy level, right? And so you have to understand, like you're in charge. Like as a leader is like the energy management of the room. Like when we look at funnel hacking live, I got 5,000 people in the room. Like my number one role is energy management. Like getting people's vibration high enough they can learn, they can listen, they can pay attention. Same thing in my inner circle. I told people, like, we have two days, we're sitting in a room talking about our businesses. Like it's really easy to fall asleep and it doze off. And my job is energy management. I gotta raise the vibration of the room and keep it up here. That way we can learn, we can focus, we can grow. Because if it's not, it's gonna. And the same thing is true when you're trying to attract people, like they're attracted to your vibration. So if your vibration is like, oh, woe is me, things are sad, you're not gonna attract the right people. You're gonna attract other people who are like, oh, life is hard, woe is me. You don't attract what you want, you attract who you are. This is the Myron golden quote, right? You don't attract what you want. You attract who you are. Okay, we talk about this like selling, like if you wanna be someone who goes out there and you wanna sell thousand dollar courses, you never bought a course, guess what? Okay, you're not gonna attract who you want. You're attract who you are. If you're someone who's too cheap to invest in yourself, guess what? You're not gonna attract the kind of person you want who's gonna invest in themselves. Okay? I remember Dean Graziosi launched $100,000 mastermind. I literally was the first person to write a check. And he's like, you don't even know it's about. I'm like, I know, but I know that if I am going to try to ask people for $100,000 in the future for my masterminds, I've got to be willing to be the person to do that. Because I'm not going to attract who I want, I'm going to attract who I am. And I'm the kind of person who will invest $100,000 in my education. Okay. When I did my million dollar seed offer, guess who the very first person to buy it was? It was Myron Golden. Why? He told me, he's like, because I wanted to sell a million dollar offer and I needed to be the kind of person to spend a million dollars an offer. If I'm going to be asking something because I don't attract who I want, I attract who I am. Vibration, it is huge. Okay? Now it doesn't mean again, you don't have to have Russell Brunson vibration. It's interesting. I look at successful companies and organizations and I look at the leader and the team around leader, very similar. Like Jeff Walker is a great example. Jeff's been doing this game for, you know, I mean, back when I got started, he was getting started. So it's been 20 plus years he's been doing this game. And if you look at like when my organization, his organization try to work together, it's interesting because like we have different vibrations. I'm like the Russell Brunson, let's go vibration. Like, that's our people and there's that that's happening. Jeff is very much more, you know, conservative, like slower energy, things like that. And the people in this team are that way. Now, it doesn't mean that he's right, I'm wrong. It's not. I'm saying you're going to attract the people that are similar to you. So you look at Jeff's entire team, I remember every conversation, I'm like, this is so fascinating. Like they're all Jeff Walker's energy. That's the energy level that they're all sinking to. My people sink to my energy. And so it's just fascinating. So it doesn't mean you have to have the wrong energy. It's just bringing the right energy. Your version of that, your version of like high energy doesn't have to be Russell Brunson energy. Right? Your version of that is going to attract the right people. So if you want to be a leader, that's the big key. Next thing about leadership I want to share is you have to have standards. What are you for and what are you against? What are you not willing to allow happen? What are you willing to allow happen? Right. Your people are looking for that. They're watching you. They're seeing like, does Russell bend in this situation? Is he not what does he do? And you can make mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes. I've had to apologize to my own team about stupid stuff I've done in the past. I apologize to our community. I literally, at Funnel Hacking live, apologized again to our community for stupid things I did. Like, it doesn't mean you have to be perfect, but you have standards, right? You set a standard and you stick to it and people relate to that. And again, sometimes they're gonna hate you for your standards, but other people are gonna be attracted to you because of those standards, right? Like that is the key, what you're trying to do. In fact, I found a. This is something I've had multiple people on my team tell me. This is why to this day they've stuck with me even though through ups and downs the last couple years. September 11, 2021, I made this post and what happened to set this whole thing off? This is during the whole pandemic. All the things I'm sure you remember, but there was a time in that season when we literally had people coming to our office asking how many employees we had and then trying to find force us to force our people to do things, which I am not okay with. I'm okay with everyone. Like, I'm people choosing what they want to do. Totally cool with that. I think everyone should have freedom of choice. But for me to force something I do not agree with. And that night I posted this and I'm just going to read it because this was like me setting a standard for myself, my team, and again, I have people to this day are like, because of that post is why I am here and I'm not going anywhere because, like, I saw your standards and I aligned with that and I want to be part of that. So this is what I wrote. I said, what happens when you take away freedoms from prime movers, AKA entrepreneurs? For anyone wondering how this plays out, Reed Atlas Shrugged. When the government comes in and takes away freedoms and makes it so that the prime movers don't want to produce anymore. Well, the ending isn't good for anyone. There's three statues I had commissioned that will be standing in my office soon. The first represents Atlas, my entrepreneurs holding the way of the world on their shoulders. This is a responsibility we happily bear. The second statue is Atlas shrugging and the third is him walking away from it all. We are quickly seeing the government overstepping their reach and taking away our freedoms. I don't get political ever online. I don't care if you're on the left or on the right. I don't care if you get a jab or not, as long as your choices don't affect my ability to produce. I am fine letting you do you. As Voltaire said, I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. But when you try to take away my freedoms, this affects everything. For the record, I won't take away my employees freedoms if it means I have to pay fines to protect them. I will. If it gets worse, perhaps that will be the point that I shrug and I walk away. I hope not. I love what I do. I love producing. I love my life. Our estimates now show that ClickFunnels has conservatively created close to a million jobs and counting. When entrepreneurs start to shrug and walk away, we are all in trouble. Fight for everyone's rights, even if you disagree with what they want to do with those rights. Okay, boom. Set the standard. This is what I believe right for you. Does your team know the standards? Like, they put those things out there? You need to be willing to put those things out there because people will be attracted to that. It's interesting. In a day and an age where us as humans are more and more soft, it's interesting, like you don't attract people with that, you attract people with standards. And the higher you set your standards, the higher those people will come to you as well.

[Co-host or Guest]

What's up, funnel hackers? Today I want to talk to you about something that's kind of like a funnel for your finances. There's an app called Rocket Money that my wife and I recently downloaded. We went and added our bank accounts, added everything in there, and instantly started showing us all the subscriptions we were paying monthly for. And what's crazy is most of these things we completely forgot about. Oftentimes, my wife has signed for something and I also signed up for it. We're paying twice for the exact same service. It was crazy. So we started using Rocket Money and changed everything for us. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you to find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and it helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Here's what Rocket Money did for me. It showed me all the subscriptions in one spot. Our streaming services, our apps, our membership sites, some of which we literally had not seen in months. And a couple in over a yearocca Money canceled the ones we didn't want anymore, saving us hundreds of dollars. In fact, actually for my wife and I was over $1,000 per month. And they didn't stop there. Rocket Money even monitors my spending and sends alerts if bills increase or if I'm going close to my budgets. Now with their personalized dashboard, you can see exactly where your money's going. I've even created custom badges with categories for everything from groceries to business expenses. Do you want to save automatically for new house or paying off some debt? Their Goals feature makes it simple and hands free. Rocket Money has over 5 million users, including my wife and I, and have saved over $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 per year when using all of the app's premium features. So if you want to cancel all your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money, then go to RocketMoney.com Russell today that's RocketMoney.com Russell R u s s e l l that's RocketMoney.com Russell what's up funnel Hackers? I want to talk to you guys about a challenge that every business faces, including mine, and that is finding good people to hire. For the last few years, we've been using Indeed to find the right hires in every one of the different departments inside of our company. Now think about this. You've built a successful funnel, your business is scaling, and now you're wearing all of the hats.

[Russell Brunson]

Does this sound familiar?

[Co-host or Guest]

This is the path that most entrepreneurs go on. So at some point you need a team to help you keep growing. But finding the right person can be very overwhelming. It can be a huge pain. And for me, it's not something I love to do. That is, until we found Indeed. And here's why I love it. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is literally all that you need. Their Sponsored Job feature is a total game changer. It pushes your job listing right to the top of your ideal candidates page. It's literally like having a billboard right in front of the dream person that you are trying to hire. Now, Indeed not only works, it's also fast and it's flexible. There's no monthly subscriptions, no long term contracts. You only pay for results. In fact, to show you how fast this is, since we started talking a few seconds ago, 23 people have already been hired on Indeed. That's the kind of efficiency every entrepreneur dreams of. So don't wait and build a team that'll take your business to the next level. Go to Indeed.com clicks right now and get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility. That's Indeed.com clicks start hiring faster and smarter when it comes to hiring. Indeed.

[Russell Brunson]

It's all you need. Next part of leadership, you've got to be in the trenches with your team. I think the reason why my team will produce so hard and they work so hard is they know that I am producing hard and I'm working hard. They know that I'm here late nights. I'm here early mornings. I'm killing myself on the weekends. I'm like, stressed and anxiety, all the things. And they see me doing it, and because of that, they're willing to do as well. We had something really cool happened. Bill Allen became our CEO for the prime mover side of our business, our info coaching side of the business, and funnel hacking live. We'd done last day. It's crazy. Everyone's like, you know, our team's stressed out of the max and we're ready to go and, you know, go leave and go party and go whatever. Get out of Vegas and go do whatever, right? And Miles and Clayton, who run our events, they were trying to leave and they went down. And if you guys are funnel, I have these big glow sticks. We have like 5,000 times two. So 10,000 of these glow sticks, everyone's whacking around. When Tony Robbins on stage, it was really, really fun, right? And the hotel said they refused to clean it up even if we paid a fine. They refused to. So Miles clean it down. They were by themselves. Clean this whole thing up. Called Miles, hey, just want to come hang out and, you know, go enjoy. Go enjoy Vegas. He's like, oh, I can't because we got to go, you know, clean up these. These things now. What? You know, some types of leaders do, it's just like, oh, well, okay, Let me know when you're done. We'll see you. Right? But Bill, who's again, the CEO of the company, he's got his own successful company. Like, he. Of all the people, he shouldn't have been down there. But Bill stopped everything, grabbed his kid, started running down the hall, grabbed the rest of the as many people as him he could, went down there, was down there cleaning the entire thing with everybody, right? Guess what, Miles Clayton, our team, like, they will go. They will do whatever Bill says at this point, right? Because he lives in the trenches with them. Wasn't just, like, him trying to lead from afar and, like, whatever. It's like he was down there doing it. Like, that's what people need to see, is they want to see. And then the last thing, this is actually Tony Robbins Thing I heard him my very first UPW ever went to. He shared this. And it has such a big, profound impact on me. Every time I think about leadership. This is the quote that, like, pops back in my head. So this is one of Tony's frameworks. He calls it the three mandates of leadership. And the first mandate is when something happens, you have to see it as it is, not worse than it is. What most people do, what the 99% of people out there who are looking for leadership, they're going to see something. Oh, this is way worse than it is. No, you have to understand, leaders, they see things as they are, not worse than they are. So that's the big thing. You have to be able to say, this is what it is. It's not worse than this. This is what it is. Right? That's step number one. Step number two, after you've done that, then you need to see it better than it is. Okay? This is where vision comes from. I saw it as it is, not worse. Worse is the opposite of vision. I see it as it is now. I see it better than it is now. That's vision. This is good, but there's great over here. And then the last step in Tony's three steps is then you make it the way you see it. That's the job now to go out there and to move heaven and earth and do everything you need to do to be able to go and actually create that thing and make it happen. So those are the three mandates of leadership. So powerful. Again, number one is see it as it is, not worse than it is. Number two, see it better than it is. And number three, make it the way you see it. That's what leadership. That's what vision. That's what all those things are. Okay, so that's the first thing I want to kind of caveat. This entire. This show is just like, leadership, because I don't ever talk about it. But those are the. And again, there's been books written. I've got a book right here from John C. Maxwell about leadership. Right. You know, like, there's been millions of books written on. So, like, this is not a, you know, all things, but these are the things that, for me, that I feel are the most important. So things that have had the biggest impact. A lot of things weren't things I was thinking about. I just did it. And then I see what happens on the other side. I'm like, oh, wow. And I see, like, other people's teams and other companies. It's like, that's why those people aren't having success. Right? Because the leader is not leading. And when the leader was willing to lead, that's when everything changes. And if you've been a leader in the past and you've forgotten yourself, that's a big step too. Like, come back and like, remember who you are. At Funnel Hacking Live this year, I did a presentation at the very end. It was called One Funnel Away Evolution. It was like part two of my One Funnel Away pitch from now. I did, I did an event, I did a presentation in 2017 talking about one funnel way and this was part two. And in there I talked about how over the last couple years how, like, I forgot who I was. Right. It happens to all of us, all leaders. You forget who you are. And I was lucky enough to have somebody who is a leader who had a set aside, high standards. Andy Elliot. I went out to his office and like in the presentation I talked about that, how that, like, helped, like, Andy helped me to remember who I was after. I remember, like, oh, yeah, I'm Russell Brunson. I'm gonna step back in this calling. Like, it's been crazy ever since then. Like the shift I've seen in myself. And you've probably seen it, you've probably felt it if you've been following me for a long time, Right? And so, yeah, leadership is such an important part of the game. Okay, all right, so number one is you being the leader. Step number two, three steps here. So step number two is how do you then capture the vision? And my friend that voxed me asked that. He's like, he's like, are you just sitting around, like, thinking about things or like, how do you find that? And so it's such a good question and it's a hard one to answer. It took me a to think this, like, how do I, like, how do I see the visions I see? Like, what does that look like? The first one, the first note that I have here is like that. I think there's like, who is it that inspires me? I need the inspiration. Like, you don't just come with a vision just like out of thin air, right? It's like you're looking at inspiration in a lot of different places. Like one of my buddies, Dan Usher on my team, who does a lot of our film stuff, he spends, I don't know, half his. I'm probably exaggerating. He spends so much of his time actually watching film and studying inspiration, getting ideas from other people. And then from there is where his creativity and his Vision comes, right? It's not just like looking at a blank slate. Like, okay, like brain, be creative. Come something. It's like, no, like, you got to look at a lot of inspiration. A lot of people, like, hear me talk about funnel hacking. Look at one thing and they copy. It's like, no, that's not what funnel hacking is. Funnel hacking is, look at like everyone doing what you want to do. What are they doing? Why does it inspire you? Like, and from there, what you do is you get influences from four or five things and then you remix them, and then, boom, you create something that's your own. I remember I asked Dan about that. I'm like, how do you create your. He creates these things for us called after Movies. Like, so funnel hacking live happens and they make. They take all the footage. They build these. Like, it's like a trailer for the. For the event that just happened, right? It's an after movie. And that's what he told me. He's like, I look for inspiration from 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 different places, right? From there, I'll find three or four things that really inspire me. I take those ideas, I remix them, and then from there, boom, I create my own thing, right? I start thinking about that. With me, it's like very similar. I'm looking a lot of things, like, I think about just pre click funnels. I remember going to ClickBank's offices. Like, ClickBank is here in Boise, Idaho as well. I remember walking in, I saw their office and they had like this international team. They had clocks on the wall and all this stuff. I was like, God, I wish I had a business like this that actually mattered, right? Clients and clocks and like, all. It was such a cool thing. Then I remember going to. I flew out to my friend Andrew Fox, who is in the. He's in Ireland, and we went on his yacht. I remember being in the yacht that night. And then that was the same time that the movie Social Network came out. I remember going like, leaving the yacht, went to the Social Network and watched that. I remember seeing that. And there's that scene when Zuckerberg was like. And he's talking to the Napster guy, what's his name, anyway, and he's like, he's like, you know what's cool? A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool is a billion dollars. I remember thinking like, God, I want a billion dollar idea, right? And then like, and I'm looking at businesses and brands and companies. I saw like, what Ryan Dice and Perry Belt were Doing traffic conversion, I saw other. And from these things, I saw Dan Kennedy, I saw Tony Robbins. Like, I saw all these different things. And from that I was like, okay, I like pieces from all these. Like, I love traffic conversion. I love Ryan and Perry teaching. I love Tony Robbins guys jumping around in energy. I love the personal development stuff. I love Dan Kennedy because of the learning. I'm like, how do I take those and create my version of it? Right? Boom. Insert funnel hacking live. What's funnel hacking live? Right? It's like the. It's the education from trafficking. It's like the story. Education stories from traffic conversion. It's the content from Dan Kennedy and it's the energy from Tony Robbins. Boom, boom, boom. Remix Funnel hacking live. This is my version because I love Tony stuff, but I wanted more tactics. I love Dan's stuff, I wanted more energy. I love Dice's stuff. I wanted more, you know, like people from the community and like from there is how we remix funnel hacking Live. Right click, funnels. I was like, we're using this software and this, like all these different things to build our stuff. It's like remixing. Boom. This is our version, right? So what inspires you? Like looking at that, Spending time with it. Like, really, you know, a vision is to come from a new thing. It's coming from a remix of stuff that's. That's good. Like, I take three or four really good things and from that I can create something that's great. Okay, so that's the first thing to think about. Number two is like, what is your art? People get inspired by art. I don't know how to explain that better than it's like, for me, my art was funnel building. Like, it still is funnel building. And that's the thing that I love. Like, it's the. So it's like I'm looking at these different inspirations through the lens of like, what is your art? What's my art? Right? So for me, it's like, you know, Dan Kennedy, Tony, they're teaching their things. But my art's different, right? And so I'm figuring out like the art that I had. And then from there, from there, I started kind of mixing my things together. Okay. Next thing about capturing vision is initially the vision is not going to be clear at the beginning, and that's okay. I think a lot of times we're waiting for like this thing to appear. Like, wait, so I get the vision, then I'm going to move. And I don't think it works that way. I think that and you think about, faith doesn't work that way. Like, what does? Like, how does faith work? Like, faith is all about, like, you see. You see a glimpse of, like, some way that you feel like you need to go the call, the contribution. I feel like I need to go that way, right? But then the path is completely foggy and overgrown, and you can't see it at all, right? The vision is not clear. But in the pursuit of the vision, you start moving towards the direction. You get into momentum. Then, like, the pathway starts getting clear. I was thinking about this, like, stepping into the fog, right? You can't see anything. You step in the fog, and as soon as you just step down, boom. Like, the fog parts a little bit, and you can see a little bit forward. You take the next step. Boom. And it keeps parting and parting. And if you keep going, moving forward in faith, then it shows up, right? And I think. I don't know. I believe that God gives us these ideas, and he's like. He plants these little ideas in our head, right? And we have the idea. And he's like, is Russell going to be a good steward of this idea? Let's see. Plant this idea, and then, like, see what he's going to do. And then if I do nothing with. He's like, hey, Russell's not a good steward of ideas. That's it. There's no good vision there, right? But he's like, I'm gonna give him a little vision. I'm gonna give him this thing called ziprander. I'm gonna give him this thing called article Spider. I'm gonna give him. These are my first ideas, right? And I like, okay. And I take the idea, I do something with it, and God's like, wow, okay, He's a good steward of this idea. Let me give him another idea and another idea till eventually he's like, hey, click funnels. And then even as I clickfunnels, I didn't know where I was gonna go. She's like, here's the first part, right? I'm gonna tell you just enough so you're excited enough that you're gonna take the next step of faith and next step of faith. Next step of faith. So that's how God's doing with us. I'm sharing that because. Because for step three, it's gonna be how you're gonna deal with your people as well. Okay? Because if. Yeah. So the vision is always clear.

[Co-host or Guest]

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[Russell Brunson]

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[Russell Brunson]

A good example, more recent for me in my life is these old books, right? It's such a weird thing. Like, you know, I bought a first edition Book of Mormon 7, eight years ago, and that was like a one time thing. And then I bought a bunch more like four years later. And then I started like, just like piece by piece. I got excited and like, there's something where I got excited about old books, I got excited about Napoleon Hill, I got excited about this. And like, and I didn't know where it was going. I felt like there's something. I'm like, I'm like, somehow this is gonna be. This is gonna change the world somehow. I don't know how yet or where or when, but I feel like this is something. So I just kept pursuing the thing and opportunities come to me, things would show up. And a lot of people thought I was crazy. A lot of people thought I was insane. People thought, in fact, people were like, should we do we need to call somebody to have an intervention with Russell? And I was like, I'm like, I wish I could explain to you as my vision, but I don't. It's not clear enough for me to explain, but I know there's something and I'm moving towards it because I move in faith. That's what I've been doing my whole last 20 years. And people thought I was crazy. Every step along the way, people thought I was crazy. You know, starting an online business, I thought I was crazy. Building a software company, I thought I was like, you know, everything we've done, people thought I was crazy. And every once in a while I forget that because the people in my immediate around my world like, oh, this is awesome. Like the funnel hackers, the prime movers, like, my people, like, they're all excited, right? But I always remember this, like when I go to a bank and I ask for money. So for example, I'm building this crazy library, right, with all these old books and I go to the bank, I'm like, hey, I need, like, a 15, $20 million loan. And they're like, why? I'm building a big building. There's gonna be naked statues of Atlas in the middle of them. There's gonna be books there, and there's gonna be an event center, and people are gonna come, and they're gonna look at my books, and then we're gonna do events, and we're gonna record the events, and it's gonna be awesome. And they're like, what? That's not. None of that makes any sense. I know. It makes total sense. People aren't gonna fly here to go look at your old books. I'm like, no, they will. No, there's no precedent for that. That's not a real thing. This is all in your head. It's not real. I'm like, I have a really good track record. Look at clickfunnels. Here's this big business, $100 million plus a year. This is a brand I built. Trust me. This is another thing that's gonna work. That doesn't make any sense. Even clickfunnels, like, because it's software, there's no, like, tangible assets. Like, it'd be easier for me to borrow money from a bank if I was a chiropractor or a dentist with assets. Because, like, oh, well, you feel I can repossess your assets with clickfunnels. Like, I can repossess code. Like, it's so hard. Like, so every time I think that, like, that, like, you know, that I'm, you know, inside my world, I'm like, oh, Everything I'm saying makes total sense. Because all of you guys get excited. My team gets excited. And when I go to a bank, it's like, oh, no, I forget. Like, what I'm doing is not normal. I forget that sometimes. In fact, I have a quote right here. This is such a good quote. It says, the reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. Okay, I think when you look at this, like, your vision, like, you become an unreasonable man, right? This is what people are looking for. Like, we're trying to capture something. Like, I'm not looking for logic. Oh, this makes a lot of sense. I'm gonna build this. We're gonna do this like, it's the unreasonable idea. Like, that's the interesting vision, right? That's something people plug into. That's where they're like, wow, this is different. This is not what I've seen before. Right. And so I think a lot of times it's that it's like putting out ideas that are just, they don't make any sense and people are like, I don't really know what he's doing, but man. And there's something exciting about that. I want to be part. I want to plug into, I want to plug into that thing. Right? So again, the quote, one more time because it's so good. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. Such a cool thing. Such a cool thing. Okay, before I jump into step number three, I got a really quick ad read for you guys from the greatest company in the world. It's called Click Funnels. Now obviously if you want to sell your stuff online, you're going to need a good funnel. But if you want a great funnel, then you're going to need to use Click Funnels. ClickFunnels is the number one funnel builder in the world, helping more first time entrepreneurs to leave their 9 to 5 and to launch their dreams than any other company in the world. Click Funnels was built for the dreamer and the doer. And you can get a free 14 day trial by clicking on link in the description or going to ClickFunnels.com podcast right now. ClickFunnels. Because you're one funnel away from changing the world. Okay, let's move on to step number three. How do you cast the vision? And how do you cast a vision in a way that's going to attract a players to come to you? Right? Both from customers, but then also employees, partners, things like that. And so there's a couple things. Number one is you have to live this right? I wasn't trying to attract people into Click Funnels. I was just obsessed with my art. I was obsessed, I was doing it. And like people saw how excited I was. I was living it every single day. And people like, I want to be part of that, right? That's such a big, a big part of it is like you've got to live your mission. You got to live the. Some people just, I don't know, they're creating it, they're trying to create this vision over here for something that they're not actually obsessed with. They're not, they're not living it, right? Like you've got to be the one living this where people are like, wow, whatever that guy's drinking, I need some of that. That's a big part of it, right? That's one of the things you got to do. The next thing I had here is you've got to create a really great opportunity for those people, for the A players. Like, what's the opportunity for them? Right? Everybody's looking for an opportunity. They're trying to figure things out. And good people, the A players, they have a lot of opportunities. So what's the opportunity for them? Like, why should they step into your world? What does that look like? Number one is like, they got to feel part of the vision, right? So I started sharing the vision. Like, oh, that's cool. I want to be part of that. It's the first part, right? Then next is like, how do you create an opportunity for them? A really good example is Dave Woodward. Dave was someone who me and him. Like, I met him initially, probably 10 years before ClickFunnel, and I cast a lot of visions with him. I tried to do things. I pitched him on a lot of things, and a lot of me is like, oh, it's cool, it's cool. But, like, it wasn't the right thing. And I was okay with that. He was okay with that. And then eventually, I remember when clickfunnels came around, we were probably, I don't know, five or six months old. And he knew how passionate I was about it because, like, he saw me glowing up and fired up, right? He remember, he started coming to the events, and he came to him when I spoke at Traffic and Conversion, and he saw me living it. So exciting. And then he came to me afterwards. He's like, I want to plug into that. Like, I feel the energy of this. It feels bigger than, like. Than just a software company. It feels like something like, I want to be part. Like, what does that look like? And I didn't know, but I was like, dude, if you want to come be part of this, like, we'll figure out an opportunity. We'll figure out a way where this will be very. Like, this will be amazing for you, right? And so we started trying to figure out that opportunity for him. And again, at first, I didn't know what it was. Same thing with Todd Dickerson. When I plugged in Todd, like, he didn't come initially for, like, here's how much money you're gonna make. Here's the salary, here's the paycheck, right? He came. Cause he's like, there's something here. Like, we can do something. Like, he's like, my skill set, but your skills, like, we can do something really, really cool, right? And Todd works As you probably heard the story, we worked for free for a year before he ever asked. In fact, he never asked for something. I find the smart if I should pay you something so you don't leave, right? But then inside of that, it's like we're creating a world where they can thrive, right? How do you create an environment where the A players can, like, long term, Like, I can plant my flag here because there's opportunity. Like, I could build a business, I could get equity, I could get profit share, I could like, whatever. Like, the thing that they desire. Like, how do you build that opportunity for them as well? Right? That's a big part. And the last thing I kind of had here was just understanding that. The same way that when God's, like revealing the vision to you, he doesn't show you everything up front. And the same thing is true when I share my vision, people. I can't. If I were to share. If I were to share with my team everything that's in my head, it would overwhelm them. It would stress them out. There are a few people I can pitch and catch with 100%, but there's not a lot, right? And I know that. So I share with them what they need to understand for the next step of the vision. Right. I remember Hermozi spoke at Funnel Hacking Live five or six or something, and he was doing a sales presentation. The thing he said, it was so cool. He's like, the problem most salespeople have is that they're selling the trip, not the destination. Like, let's say you're going to Hawaii. You're selling a trip to Hawaii. Like, you sell the palm trees and the coconuts and the, like, the beach. And, like, that's what you're selling, right? You're not selling. All right, you're going to go on an Uber to the airport. They're going to sit on a plane for 22 hours. Then you're going to like all the little things. That's what most people are doing, right? So I'm casting a vision. I'm not casting, like, okay, you're going to jump in an Uber, and then from there you're going to do this, and you're going to, like, you don't sell that, right? I sell them like, this is what Hawaii looks like. I've seen it. It is beautiful. You guys want, like, you're going to want to come to Hawaii. I promise you. It's amazing. And they're like, okay, like, that's the vision. You're selling them on be, don't tell them all the other pieces because that'll overwhelm, it'll stress people out. But after they're sold on the vision and they're part of it, they plugged in and they understand it, then you can start revealing, okay, here's the path, here's the things we got to do. But they got to be bought in first. If they're not bought into the strategy, the vision, the thing first, they're not going to be willing to put in the effort it takes. I think this all the time, like had I have known what it was going to take, in fact, I would say probably once a month I get somebody comes and be like, hey, Russell, I've got a billion dollar idea. Like, I'm gonna share with you. Like, you're gonna make so much money. I was like, no. They're like, why not? Like, I have a billion dollar idea, I do not want another one. I know what the destination is to build a billion dollar thing. And I have been on that path. I've been doing it for the last decade. I have no desire to do it again because I know what it's like. So when people pitch me on a billion dollar idea, I'm like, that's the last thing in the world I want right now is another billion dollar idea, okay? Because I know what it's like. They always say, like, the reason why we're successful entrepreneurs when we're younger is because we don't know any better. We don't know all the pitfalls and the stress and the ups and the downs and all things are going to happen for us to be successful. We don't know about those things. And so what we see a vision, like, I want to do this thing. So you go down and you're willing to do the things, you're willing to go through the pain, you're willing to go through all the steps in the trip, in the travel, because you're trying to get to that destination, right? And so for you, it's the same thing. Understanding, like, if you try to spew out, like, okay, this was going to take and we're going to have to kill ourselves. And like, you don't tell people that up front because that's not how you sell them, right? You sell them the vision, here's the destination, here's we're going to go. It's going to be hard, but together, if we combine our forces, this is what's possible, this is what we can do. They get bought in the vision and Then they don't care about like the rest of it, right? You know, after we got, we bought into the ClickFunnels vision, we started running and we were doing the thing and it was, was like, I can't tell you the, like, I wish someday I'm gonna write a book. I bought Bootstrap.com a long time ago specifically for the purpose of writing a book to tell the clickfunnel story. Someday. So someday you guys will hear the story. But it has not been sunshine and roses like building a billion dollar brand. No, it is not. The things that I deal with on a weekly basis are things that would have crushed me if I had to deal with one of those things a year ago. Things I deal with hourly, daily. How much you have to increase your capacity to handle a thing is so much, right? Anyway, so someday I'll tell the full story, but just understanding that the job of yours is to cast the vision and then people start running and then what will happen is that your capacity will increase. The trials, the headaches we had year one of ClickFunnels or things that like now I solve in a text message like, boom's done, right? And they're like week long, you know, month long. Stress, anxiety, da da da da, right? And the things I'm dealing with now I never could handle back then. And so that's what's happening to you. Like you're sharing the vision. People come on board and then they're going to go through with you, right? And it's going to break them, but it's going to increase their capacity and break and increase the capacity. And along the way you're going to lose people. There's people like, I can't do this anymore. I'm out. I cannot handle the heat, I can't handle the pressure. And that's okay, right? People are going to leave. They're going to. They were part of your vision for a while, but now they're not. That's okay. But there's going to be people who keep going and they're going to go through this refiner's fire with you. Breaking down, increasing capacity, breaking down, increasing the capacity. And you look at them a decade later when they're still with you. Those are your A players. Those are the ones. But it's because they bought into the vision initially. So those are some of the things. Again, I don't think it's a complete answer. I don't think it's the best answer, but it's the best answer. I have to Kind of recap the things that I talked about. Number one was you have to step back up and become a leader. You do that by the energy, the vibration you bring, by raising your standards, letting people know about their standards, living in the trenches with your team and then understanding the three mandates of leadership. See it as it is, not worse than it is, see it better than it is and make it the way you see it. Okay, step number two, we talked about how to capture it through figuring out like the inspirations. Look at those things, what's your art? Being the unreasonable person and understand the vision is not going to be clear, but your job is to go out there and keep stepping forward and going through it. And the last step was then how to cast it. Living it every single day, creating opportunities for the A players and then selling people on the vision or the destination, not on all the steps inside the trip. We do those things. That's the things that I've done successfully over the years to build up click funnels. The brand, the people, the team. And I'm going through the process right now. Like we're in the middle of casting new vision and there's a lot of pain with that going through it, but also a lot of excitement and it's really cool. So for those of you guys who have a funnel, I want you understand if you have a funnel but it's not converting, the problem 99% of the time is your funnel is good but you suck at selling. If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to our next selling online event by clicking on link in the description or going to sellingonline.com podcast right now. Alright, with that said you guys, I hope that helps you guys to figure out how to capture and cast the vision as a leader. Hopefully it helped you to have a vision so your people will not perish. And hopefully it helped to change your business and your life. If you enjoyed this episode, please let me know. Please share with other people. It means the world to me. If you're on YouTube, make sure you like subscribe comment down below. I read all the comments which is really fun and if you listen to the podcast, please go leave me a review. It means the world to me. I appreciate you guys. Thanks so much for listening and I'm going to end this one where we started with one of my favorite quotes from T.E. lawrence. All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake up in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day, they are dangerous men. For they may act out their dreams with open eyes to make it possible. Thanks so much, you guys. I appreciate you become a dreamer of the day.