Napoleon said "Number one, a leader needs
unwavering courage" and I don't know if I totally agree with
the unwavering part of this or not because sometimes our courage does waver
a little, you know bend but not break you know courage mounts up, and then
sometimes we have the doubts that creep in and we reach a little deeper to find
that courage that overcomes our doubts and our fears so I would probably debate
a little bit with Napoleon on this, Unwavering courage because sometimes
courage does waver but as long as it stays as long as the in the end there it
is to serve you, the courage to do what you didn't think you could do, the
courage to step into territory that might be a little unfamiliar; the courage
to talk to somebody you don't know the courage to attempt conducting a meeting,
the courage to give your first testimonial the courage to you know
solve problems you couldn't solve before that kind of courage the courage to
stand up when it's sort of dark in your corner the courage to do it when it
isn't going your way seemingly the courage to try to have a good day in the
midst of a bad day that kind of courage wavering a little at times yes because
we all have doubts that attack us we all have small fears that creep in that is
the nature of life but that's what faith is all about that's what courage is all
about: to serve us when our doubts will not serve us well, faith to overcome fear
and courage to overcome our doubts but that is a good quality a good attribute
for a leader and that's unwavering courage second Napoleon said self-control, that of course, is the very essence of life itself, is self-control
because we all have this warfare going on you know it's going on in the world,
the warfare between liberty and tyranny in our own body, the warfare between
health and illness the struggle is on the struggle between light and darkness, the struggle between good and evil I call it opposites in conflict and as
soon as you're born into the world as soon as you find yourself and discover
yourself on this spinning planet hit it somewhere you know that this exists. To
be a civilized society we must drive the dark side of our nature into a small
corner and let the positive side flourish. Early, we must learn to exercise
self-control, power is a wonderful thing but it must be exercised properly, it
must be exercised to benefit not to destruction,
so self-control is certainly necessary to be a strong leader, so that you can
become the best example, the example of having your temper well managed, to
having that dark side of your nature under control, the best example of
choosing wise words and not being careless that kind of control, control of
your appetite, control of your desires so that they fit into the positive side of
life and not the negative side self control very important, then he said, "a
leader must have a keen sense of justice" how very true, justice we become familiar
with you know even when we're small, when certain things that happened or were
done to us that we something told us that wasn't right
something did us someone did us wrong we have that sense of right and wrong and
it starts very early, then we have to have that sense of utilizing what's
right and what's wrong so that we develop this sense of justice, the sense
of being fair, the sense of being on the positive side, on the right side. To
minimize the person's mistakes, they need to have this sense of justice. We have to
have justice when we're building an organization,
you know what's fair, what what is a good balance the marketing system that Mark
put together has to be fair for everyone if you have a customer and you take care
of that customer, someone else cannot come along and and take that customer,
the same is true with the distributor certain rules and regulations, so that
all of us have a chance to fit within this framework of fairness, justice and
what's right, otherwise enterprise cannot work, otherwise we have what we call in a
political sense anarchy, where there is no justice, when might is the order of
the day, power is the order of the day not the law and not the rule, not what's
right but power, and we would all dismiss that It's been a catastrophe in the last
six thousand years, the governments that resorted to power instead of democracy, that resorted to intimidation instead of freedom, and we all know the terrible
toll that that takes, but it takes a toll not only politically in a country or
politically around the world, but it takes a toll even in enterprise, it takes
a toll in school if a teacher is unfair it takes a toll, and working on a team
where someone is unfair or where the leadership is not fair in the
administration of justice, so this is true a keen sense of justice, and what's
fair and what's right, part of this we have to learn as we go, you know you
don't have it all the first year you haven't got it all the second year, the
third year. After all the years that I've you know been around both as a human
being and as a as a business person we're still even at at these years
trying to decide what's best, what's fair what's right, to give balance to our life
and to build on a firm foundation for the future. So, I agree with Napoleon, good
idea a sense of justice Here's another one, he said, definiteness
of decision, indecision is the thief of opportunity, if you don't decide the
opportunity could slip away, if you don't decide what you're gonna do today, the
day could get away and you're not very effective. I talked about in my recent
travels about time management, here's one of the best ideas of time management:
don't start the day until you have it finished,
is it possible to finish the day before you've started, and the answer is yes, if
you don't finish it to the best of your ability, have some idea, some good plan
sure enough the day escapes, and in the morning you say let's see what should I
do now, in the afternoon you say hey times getting away from you what should
I do now, and now most of the day is lost most of the day escapes not being
utilized, and doesn't work for you simply because you didn't make those decisions
early, at the early part of the day the decisions we make in the early part of
our life, sometimes, lasts for a lifetime the early decisions that you make about
what you're gonna do with your life as far as Herbal Life is concerned, those
decisions are vitally important, if you neglect them and don't make them, sure
enough the time passes and the opportunity sometimes is diminished and
sometimes you spend a lot of time now catching up, simply because you didn't
make those early decisions, so it's the decisions at the first of the day, it's
the decisions at the early part of the month it's the decisions at the early
part of the year that greatly determines what kind of year you're gonna have, the
decisions you make in the early days of your marriage sometimes, those are the
decisions that affect the marriage for a lifetime, the decisions you make at the
first chance you see opportunity, those decisions, what you're gonna do with it, how far you're gonna take it, what it's going to be a meaning to you in the
years to come, those early decisions are vitally important,
then we need decisions to correct poor decisions, to overcome our mistakes, it's
possible of course for all of us to make unwise decisions, and at the end of one
year, at the end of one week, one month there at the end of a few years, we say
that decision cost me too much, cost me a lot of time, cost me a lot of money, cost
me maybe a good relationship, cost me a chance to be productive, but as long as
you're alive, there's still a chance to use new decision power to correct the
mistakes of decisions that were bad in the past. All of us have the opportunity
to do that but I think Napoleon was right here - you've got to be definite
in making decisions so that the opportunity doesn't pass you by,
take advantage, here's the next one Napoleon Hill said a good leader has
definite plans, how important that is and of all the years I think to cash in on
Herbalife's momentum and make some plans for the future, this has got to be one of
the greatest years. Herbalife in these 18 years, now, has created some incredible
momentum, not only in opening up the countries, but momentum in the refinement
of our marketing, momentum in developing new products, momentum in developing our
support system, the key is now for you to make plans to ride on that momentum.
Herbalife is like the tide that comes in and the rising tide lifts all the ships
if they're in the water, if your ship and your boat is not in the water even
though the tide comes in that would lift all the ships, if yours is not in the
water then it doesn't benefit you so here's what you should do, have the same
intensity to make your plans for the future as Mark Hughes has, as the
president's team, Chairman's Club especially make the plans for the
Herbalife company future, you've got to now make your plans,
don't let this momentum pass you by don't let this momentum go uncashed in
on, don't let it be like a lost cause for you, and maybe you've because of the lack
of plans have lost a month or two or you've lost a week or two or maybe
you've lost a year, and you were ten percent effective instead of a hundred
percent, now is the time to change all that and start making some plans, your
Herbalife plans, they're vitally important, you might as well cash in on
the Herbalife plans for world expansion the Herbalife plans for expansion within
your country, the Herbalife plans for the expansion of the business, the incentives
you know, cash in on that, capture that and say I've got to have some plans that
match your Herbalife, not necessarily match Herbalife in numbers, but that can match
Herbalife in momentum, that can match Herbalife in cashing in on the
opportunity, your plans for Herbalife expansion, you've got to have some plans
for your family, right, you've got to take your family along, don't leave
them out. One of the challenges all of us have in making our plans is how to
balance everything, to make sure that we don't regret at the end of the year I
spend too much time on that, I spent too much money, and then if you have say how
can I not do that again and construct some better plans, so that you won't have
any regrets at the end of a year to come, five years to come three, four or five
years to come, definite plans, the plans for the use of your money. One thing I've admired about Mark Hughes since I've met him all those years ago
once he started becoming successful he had a splendid plan not only for his
personal success, in terms of financial security, but in terms of the company
because Mark has to look after the company, and make sure that the company
is secure, that the company has plenty of reserves, so that no matter what happens
around the world, and when you're doing business in 37 countries, you can imagine
what the challenge is, to make sure the plans for each country are there, the
backup plans, the financial plans as well as products and opportunity in
marketing, it is a challenge beyond comprehension to most of us,
what kind of planning that takes in terms of trying to make herbal life
secure for the future. I described it in one of the summit classes as Mark takes
the same pledge that the President of the United States takes and that is to preserve and protect and defend the
Constitution, says the president, but Mark has to preserve and protect and defend
the company, to make sure it's viable not just in America where it started, but all
around the world in each country, it's an awesome responsibility, but now for you,
your plans, your plans to be financially secure if you're starting to make some
big money in Herbalife I'm telling you you've got to have a good plan for your
resources, so that you find yourself secure regardless of what happens, I
agree with Napoleon here, you got to have good plans
One more on plans and that is the plan for your personal development, the plan
to be better this year than last year, the plan to take the classes, attend the
the workshops, do everything you possibly can to show personal progress, not just
financial progress, not just the progress of having one more car or one more home
,but the progress of personality the progress of communication skills, the
progress of recruiting skills the progress and how to deal with people, progress in using your influence so that it multiplies its power by five by ten
versus what it used to be, you need those kind of plans a plan for personal growth,
personal development, a plan to be all that you can possibly be in the years to
come, as you develop your Herbalife business, and your life business, and your
family business, all of that, got to have good plans.
Next, Napoleon Hill had a good saying, it was something my father had, and passed
it on to me as a good philosophy and here's what he said, a good leader has
the habit of doing more than what he gets paid for,
what an incredible philosophy this is, the habit of doing more than you get
paid for, it's what we call the service that you put out, like seeds in the
ground that doesn't bring the harvest immediately, but the harvest is yet to
come It's called like putting out the capital
in capitalism, doing more than you get paid for means that you're getting ready
for the next move up because if you do more than you get paid for, you've made
an investment, the average person might think if I do more than the company
requires, you know, then they're ripping me off, you know. I'm not getting paid for
that extra time, that extra attention, but you must not view it that way, you must
say I'm getting there a little earlier, staying a little later as an investment,
in my own personal future because I want that kind of reputation. I want that kind
of philosophy to work in my life, do more than you get paid for, and this
philosophy works incredibly well in Herbalife You make the Herbalife sale, of
the Herbalife products, now you must do more than you've gotten paid for, right,
they've got the product, you've got the money, but you can't stop your investment
there, now you must develop the investment in time, effort and energy in
turning that new customer into a testimonial, and sometimes that's the
most difficult work, the work after the sale because the sale might be fairly
easy. Someone says hey I've been looking for this product, I need it, here's my
money, but now you've got to stay with them, make sure they don't just buy the
product, but that they use the product and that they don't just use the product,
they keep using the product, that's the work after the sale, but if you learn to
make that kind of an investment, and do more than you get immediately paid for,
the payoff in the future can be fantastic because as we all know in Herbalife what
really pays off is not a sale of the product, what really pays off is a
testimonial, a testimonials that gives you more sales, and you can keep up with
a testimonial that takes you places you could never go by yourself, introduces
you to people you'd never see on your own, that kind of investment is so
powerful, so you do more than you get paid for upfront, it's happened for me
making the investment. When I first started lecturing 36 years ago I talked
to high school classes, college classes, service clubs, and I gave it all away I
went, and talked for free someone said, "Mr. Ron would you come
and do this breakfast talk", I said, "sure", "Could you do this luncheon talk for
this service club", I said, "of course" and all of that in the beginning was for
free, primarily because I'd made my fortune, you know, I didn't need the money,
but I did it for free, but look what it's made for me, by giving that kind of
service in those early days, and finally it led to business, and led to an
enterprise, and I was giving the seminar all those years ago, here in Los Angeles
and Mark Hughes was in my audience, so what you don't get paid for, don't worry about
that just render the service with the vision of the future that it'll come
back multiplied, if you have this kind of habit, this kind of philosophy.
