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LEADERS, IN 2026 STOP TELLING OTHER PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD DO! LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE IS THE ONLY STYLE THAT WORKS ANYMORE!

LESSON: Keep your mouth shut and lead purely by example. Outwork, outproduce, and out-kindness the entire organization and you will be shocked by your firm’s performance.


The lesson below is an excerpt from my 25-lesson course, Building Special Companies, FCI Beckley, 2019.


No one wants to hear about how great you are and how much more work you produce than them, but the right A-Players-In-Training can quickly get inspired by the example of a leader who crushes it every day. They begin to believe this is the expected and reasonable pace of performance, and they overachieve light years beyond what they previously thought possible – and likely don’t even understand why.


A team reflects the coach, 100%. If you want your teammates to be highly productive, crazy-organized, and incredible relationship builders, quietly show them how to do it every single day. No slacker days off or we ruin the entire effect.


If you can’t make this commitment as the leader, go lead a life of mediocrity and safety – there is nothing wrong with that. But if you want to build something amazing, battle the sharks and alligators, and have no regrets about what could have been, you must be a quiet leader by example.


I couldn’t have motivated an army of rookie financial advisors to believe they could help the world unless I had previously made 89 cold calls for everyone who finally agreed to a meeting to possibly help them.


If I hadn’t beat my manager John Schantz, 2-tour Vietnam Vet, to the office each morning at 5:30am, he would have never given me the freedom to build an amazing firm on my own.


If I hadn’t filed over 500 motions and petitions in my own federal criminal case to overturn the rulings and remove 2 federal judges, the other 300 inmates would have never let me file their own actions in their cases.


Today as we rebuild the world, I am incredibly grateful for the new teammates who trust me enough to follow and partner on so many impactful projects and companies. Every morning, I remind myself to work to be humble and kind because that previous $Billion built means nothing now. I ask God to allow me to again build something of significance through hard work, leadership, and kindness. It’s the only formula which truly works in the world today.


This 2026, please get up earlier, produce more, and know this week might be your very last. How do you truly want to be remembered? Physically, intellectually, and spiritually commit now to, again, be an incredible leader – all the rest will take care of itself!


Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!

- Hunter S. Thompson




 
 
 
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