Eight Lessons of Leadership From The Dirt Road

…a journey of learning

Bay East Association of REALTORS and Contra Costa Association of REALTORS

Today we are just going to share some dirt.

Len Dawson

Pro Football Hall of Fame – 1987

Lead the Kansas City Chiefs to Three Championship Seasons

Former Host of HBO’s “Inside the NFL”

Played professional football for 19 years – one of the longest professional careers in history.

No quarterback ever won the game by running all the touchdowns himself. It takes a team.

The dirt road is wide enough to walk shoulder to shoulder.

NO NEED FOR SINGLE FILELesson #1

Kemmons Wilson

Born in 1913 in Osceola, Arkansas

1952 opened first Holiday Inn.

Went international in 1960.

Opened his school for service in 1952.

No Sidewalks. The highest ground is the middle of the road.

Get out in it!

NO SIDEWALKSLesson #2

Jack Herschend

Follow the tracks and see what the customer is seeing. When you can afford

the limo – don’t take it. Walk the road with your customers and learn from them.

Founder of Herschend Family Entertainment: Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, Stone Mountain Park, White Water, Splash Country. . . .

Founder of Gift of Green (1,500 trees gifted annually since 1993)

Through The Eyes of a Child

IT IS EASY TO TRACK BEHAVIORLesson #3

WHEN TRACKING THAT BEHAVIOR… WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO FOCUS ON?

The MEMORY of the customer. (What the customer remembers about you.)

Experience Pyramid

line of

differentiation

The Differentiated Experience

The Banana and the Fresh Georgia Peach

Workshop:

• Identify the services/experiences you provide your clients that would be considered “over the line of differentiation.”

Point of Differentiation Through The Client’s Eyes

Marsha Johnson EvansDirector: Office Depot, Huntsman Corp, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Weight Watchers International.

President and CEO of American Red Cross (2002-2005)

Past President of the Girl Scouts of the USA (1998-2002)

Twenty-nine year career with the U.S. Navy

Retired in 1998 as the first female Rear Admiral of the Navy.

Daughter of a U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer

When you are leading – be aware of your dust. Make way for a clearer view. Don’t eat dust!

LEAD! DON’T EAT DUST.Lesson #4

An even bigger lesson….

• Make a path.

• Not so others can marvel at what you accomplished and where you arrived….

• But rather as a trail to get to where you stopped more quickly than you and to go farther than you ever imagined.

Lesson #4

Lead… so you can make a path for others to follow.

Workshop Question:Who has made a path for you in your career?

What have you done with that path?

Lesson #4: Lead…so you can make a path for others to

follow.

Dr. James Neff

Orthopedic Surgeon at University of Nebraska Medical Center.

(passed away 2005)

Past Chief of Orthopedic Oncology at Kansas University Medical Center and University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Inventor of the Neff Femorotibial Nail

It often gets too loud to hear the voice within. Leadership qualities are within. Seek the solitude of the dirt road and hear the answers to your own question.

DIRT IS QUIET. QUIET IS GOOD.Lesson #5

Ted Miller

Director of Dolly Parton Productions

Past Executive Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Founder of the Dollywood Foundation

*2.5 million books annually

When you grow up on a quiet dirt road you are more awake to any and all opportunities. There are not a lot

of distractions.

See the Opportunity Coming

• When you live on a dirt road you always know when company is coming. Watch the dust. Keep your eyes open… and you are prepared for all opportunities.

OPPORTUNITY IS ALWAYS COMING!Lesson #6

Patricia Diaz Dennis

If you travel fast on a dirt road you’d better be prepared for change. It curves and dips and twists and just when you think you’ve got it memorized… it rains and changes everything!

Sr. VP and Assistant General Counsel for AT&T (formerly SBC Communications)

Former Chair of the National Board of Directors – Girl Scouts of America

Served on the National Labor Relations Board

First Female FCC Commissioner appointed under President Reagan. (1986-‘89)

President Bush appointed her assistant secretary for human rights and humanitarian affairs at the U.S. Department of State

FCLP… THE LEADER AS COACH

Focus Conversations on

Learning and Performance

How Does the Leader Prepare Others for Change?

Key Questions

• 1. What did you do? (results)

• 2. What did you learn?

• 3. How will you behave differently (or the same) because of what you learned?

NO STRAIGHT LINES - - EMBRACE IT…CHANGE IS GOOD

Lesson #7

But What About The Edge• “When you have come to the edge of all light that you

know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught to fly.” Patrick Overton

• What are your choices? Stop, Jump, Build A Bridge, Climb????

NO VICTIM

Millard Fuller1935-2009

Founder and Past President of Habitat for Humanity International

Founder of The Fuller Center for Housing

Currently built over 350,000 homes.

1996 awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by President Bill Clinton.

My momma could always find out where I had gone by the footprints I left in the dirt. As a leader – I want to leave footprints I am proud of.

Leave Footprints

• On a Dirt Road the walker leaves footprints. People can tell where you have been.

LEGACY LEADERS

Legacy Leaders keep their eye on the horizon and their heart in today.

LEAVE FOOTPRINTSLesson #8

Today… make a commitment to create a path to follow…not just a trail showing where you

have been.

Aye JayIf it is meant to be… It is up to me!

♥Life isn’t about the moments we breathe.

♥It’s about the moments that take our breath away.