I just finished a great book called The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster by Darren Hardy and there was one particular lesson in that book that I found very profound and really stood out for me. It was a conversation Darren had with a three-times billionaire, he asked the billionaire, “What’s the secret to your success?” Obviously, a question we all want to be answered. The billionaire gave him the three simple words and those words were; “be a quitter.”
Now, Darren, like myself, and most likely like you’re thinking right now, was a little perplexed with the answer. But Darren thought, “wait a minute, this guy’s a three times billionaire, each word is worth a billion dollars so maybe it makes sense.”
The billionaire replied, “Darren, I see your perplexed, let me explain what I mean. As business owners, leaders, CEOs, managers, and most importantly entrepreneurs, when we start or manage a business, we tend to sometimes wear a lot of hats. What being a quitter means is; our goal and commitment to be a great leader is to quit a lot of the things that we don’t really get paid to do. We actually need to quit on everything except for one thing, and that’s to be a great leader. A great leader knows how to delegate properly to the team so that the team can step up, take ownership, and get the job done.”
I found this a very simple lesson that really made me think. We’ve been groomed to hear, “Being a quitter,” is a bad thing because it’s always, “Go the extra mile – Never give up.” And that’s true when it comes to being perseverant in life and business in the achievement of our goals and dreams. However, if you want to be the true entrepreneur that you really want to be, if that is your goal, learn how to delegate, be a great quitter, and become the best leader that you can possibly be because when you lead others only then will they learn how to lead others also. Leaders building leaders is how you build a business that works for you.
I hope this lesson has been as valuable for you as it was for me. Ponder this subject and plan of how you can be a better quitter to become the better leader.
