Episode Transcript.

Hey guys, welcome back to THE a.m.

So I actually want to talk about one of the greatest responsibilities that we can have in this life. I think it’s so important to know that there are several things that have been given to us that we’re responsible for. First, stewardship of this world, I think that’s a huge responsibility, the things that are on it for the next generation. But even more than that, I want to talk about the greatest responsibility we have with people. I mean as people, is actually people. This gets lost a lot.

We don’t think about it, especially in leadership. We don’t, well, not, not normally in leadership, it’s not a normal thing to think the most important thing that that I have in the care of my hands is actual human beings, their lives, their livelihood that they’ve entrusted me with if I’m in a leadership position the company, if I’m leading a peer group, even like Man, my friends and peers, they trust me to be honorable, right? And that’s part of caring for them, the responsibility that they’ve given you, knowingly or unknowingly.

And most people are not even aware of this. Most, I don know maybe you guys do think about stuff like this, but this is the stuff I think about a lot, and it’s interesting, because this often times really gets forgotten and lost. It really gets forgotten that the most important thing that we’re responsible for as people is actually people, other people’s lives, other people’s relationships, the trust they give us.

That’s why, when somebody trusts you, there’s a lot of weight. If you’re in sales and you have somebody on the other line, they’re trusting you not to lie to them. You got to believe in the product, right? But they’re trusting you not to lie to them. They’re trusting you to actually tell them, hey, you sound like honestly, you’re a little too small for us, and this would hurt you more than help you. I don’t know a lot of sales people that would do that, but you got to think about the person on the other line, who is actually, you know, they’re thinking about their livelihood.

They might be a fresh entrepreneur. They might have their whole livelihood. They might have mortgaged their house to pay for their business. And you as a salesman, you’re in an honorable position. Most people think sales is sleazy, but honestly, it’s honorable because you’re in a position to print, to present an offer in a service or a product that could have life changing results for somebody. But most times, we don’t think about the weight of the other person ‘s life. On the other end, we don’t think about that. We don’t think about the weight of their trust. They’re trusting us to help us give them good information, to make informed decisions.

We’re not thinking like that in the sales, right? We’re thinking about, Oh, man, I need to make the paycheck. I gotta pay my bills. We’re thinking selfishly, and I know what that’s like, Man, when Andrew and I first started, we were broke, broke, broke, broke like dirt poor, broke, nothing. We were eating oatmeal every day, because that’s all we could afford, pretty much like for breakfast and then oftentimes for lunch and dinner, because we’re broke.

And it’s interesting, because even during that, it’s like, oh my gosh, there was a struggle towards that. We got to pay bills. I need to make sales. I got to go network and convince people to buy our stuff and partner with us so we can pay bills and feed ourselves, and then yet, on the other side of that was, Well, I I don’t want to present something and then lie to them and be dishonorable and what’s worth more than money or their trust in my honor? What’s worth more? I don’t know, but if you’re in sales, that’s stuff you got to consider about. That’s what I’m talking about this.

Because if you’re in sales, you’re automatically placed in a position of leadership in somebody ‘s life to help them open up a new path that may be the best thing that’s ever happened in their life, to help them bring to pass what they need and have wanted to for their families and their livelihood. But this goes beyond sales. This is leadership really, having people ‘s lives attached to yours, the decisions you make, and this is on all levels of leadership, whether you’re leading a massive company, whether you’re just a manager, right, whether you’re an assistant GM somewhere in a restaurant, or whether you’re just a leader in your peers and among your peers, everybody ‘s got leadership on them. Everybody ‘s leading somebody somewhere, convincing and doing negotiations.

But the point is, is we miss the weight of the responsibility of the person that we’re interacting with, of the person that we’re influencing. And we don’t think about the weight. It’s often times we don’t want to think about the weight of our own lives and how big things are in the decisions that we make, and how much they change and affect us, and how if I did this today, it would totally alter the course of my life.

And so it’s a whole nother thing, and it takes a whole nother level of maturity to stop, to come outside yourself and to think about other people in the same way, wow, if they did this, or if I’m helping them, wow, I’m having a really important conversation. I’m being flippant about this, but this could alter the course of their life. Maybe I need to really take this more seriously. Maybe I need to actually help them, and by pausing to really take what I’m about to say more serious versus just flippantly and emotionally.

So I’m saying that because one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given is others and other people, and one of the biggest responsibilities we have is people. Anyways, guys, I’m over. I’ll catch you later. Peace.