Brandon W Johnson | Leadership Trainings, Keynote Speaker and Organizational Development Consulting

“How to Be Like Walt” by Pat Williams

brandon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:22:01 +0000

I have always been a Walt Disney fan ever since I first put on the Mickey Mouse ears as a young child, and ever since then, the “magic” around everything Disney has continued to impress me. So what better way to learn the secrets of the Disney Empire than to read a book about Walt himself and I can proudly say, I was not disappointed. Although the writing style of the author wasn’t as “inviting” as other authors I’ve read, the stories, interviews, and lessons from Walt more than made up for that slight drawback for me. I very much enjoyed the book cover to cover.

Here are 3 of the main lessons that I have taken away from the “How to Be Like Walt” book:

1. Passion, Perseverance, and Performance. This man was so passionate about his career and making things the best of the best, almost to a fault. He was not the “nicest” boss to work for, but his staff/team loved him because they knew in his pursuit of greatness it was all about serving the customer - it wasn’t about them personally. And as they performed, the rewards were great, yet all of those rewards were invested back into the studio, park, and business future….it was never about the money for Walt.

2. Being successful is also about being successful at home. Even with his tremendous work ethic, travels, and meetings, Walt was most always home for dinner with the family and he never missed his daughter’s activities throughout their lifetime. I love that a man of his stature and success was ultimately committed to his wife and daughters just as much as he was committed to bring the Disney brand to new heights.

3. Tough and stressful times surround successful people too. Many times in life I believe that successful and happy people are given a “bad rap” about them not having it tough. This book, amongst many others about successful people, continue to show that we all have the same stressful and challenging situations in our lives. What separates the successful and the unsuccessful is how you handle those times. Walt was brilliant in surrounding himself with people that could handle the many challenges that they would face in their journey and he was someone that never gave up on his dreams – he and his team would always find a way.

I recommend this book in that it is a nice leisure read that has wonderful insights about one of America’s greatest entrepreneur’s whose ultimate heart was in creating a better place for future generations. I know you will enjoy learning about the man that has brought us Disneyland – “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

In service to your success,

Brandon W. Johnson
“Positive Energy Guy”

Be You. Lead from your Heart. Make a Difference.

“The Leader Who Had No Title” by Robin Sharma

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:12:07 +0000

This book is not only an “easy” read, it is full of great stories and examples as well. I found myself very inspired to continue on my own journey of doing my best in every given situation, thus having a positive impact on everyone and everything around me. This little book will have you embracing the fact that we are all leaders in business and in life regardless of title or position and as you perform to the best of your abilities, you’ll earn even more opportunities.

I took numerous lessons out of this book, yet here are 3 of them that I applied immediately:

1. When committing to changes in your life personally or professionally, they do not take “hold” or sustain unless you are emotionally connected to the change(s). Just like Tony Robbins says, unless you are in the proper “state” mentally, physically, and emotionally, you will not achieve as much as you deserve to achieve. Focus your energy on getting emotionally connected to why it is you are making the change and I guarantee you will begin to have different results – the “why’s” tend to be much more powerful than the “how’s.”

2. When we individually “shine” (perform) at our highest level, we impact/inspire everyone else to do the same more often than not. And when you have a team and/or organization all performing at their best you have unlimited amounts of success. Performing at your highest level, regardless of a title or position is a choice. A choice that you have to make within in order to consistently perform at the level you are capable of. Make that choice, as the world deserves to see that.

3. “Leadership is for everyone.” As I read that in the book, I definitely had this sense from Robin that he was wanting to “lessen” the “burden” of leadership on everyone – to not make it out to be such a troublesome, tough thing to do. He’s absolutely right in that Leadership is for everyone and no matter where we are or where we’ve come from, we have a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and our businesses and community to do our part in making a positive contribution to this world. When all of us do that, I have no doubt that our families, economy, businesses, and communities will not only be stronger, but there will be much more happiness in the world because we would have EARNED IT.

Again my friends, a fantastic read. I highly recommend not only the book, but Robin also has many other tools and resources on his website and elsewhere that will help you on your journey. I have made him a part of my Success Library and I highly recommend you do the same.

I wish you continued success and happiness on your Personal Research & Development journey.

In Service to your Success,

Brandon W Johnson
“Positive Energy Guy”

“Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:09:39 +0000

This is one of the best books on optimal performance and the psychology of success and happiness out there. I quite often measure the value of a book with how many times I highlight elements in the book, as well as how many times I stop reading and find myself reflecting and taking notes – this book kept be busy in both areas! It would be impossible for me to capture all of the brilliance in this book when it comes to performing at your best in any arena of your life. If you have a desire to become all that you are capable of becoming and would like to achieve your goals and dreams, then this book is a must have for you.

Endless lessons in this book my friends, yet here are three that have continued to have a positive impact on my life:

1. Creating the “Flow Channel” in your life one must do 2 main things; increase the level of challenge while increasing your level of skill. If you only increase the level of challenge without increasing your level of skill you will find yourself full of anxiety and stress. And if you only increase your level of skills without increasing the level of challenge you will find yourself being bored.

2. The 4 main elements that must be present to achieve optimal experience/Flow are: 1. Setting clear goals/objectives, 2. Becoming immersed in the activity, 3. Paying attention to what is happening, 4. Learning to enjoy the immediate experience. Many athletes call this being “in the zone.”

3. Contrary to what we tend to assume, the “natural” state of our minds is chaos. Without us choosing to focus on a goal/objective we are left with our minds only being able to focus for a few minutes at a time. This is a huge reminder to me that continually shows up – when I focus all of my attention and energy on an objective/goal it is amazing the level of success I am able to achieve.

Again, there are endless lessons that await you in this book. I cannot stress high enough the value that it will add to your life personally and professionally while being an outstanding addition to your Success Library.

In service to your success,

Brandon Johnson
“The Positive Energy Guy”

“Good to Great” by Jim Collins

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:48:09 +0000

This is one of the most read and sought after Business books over the past 10 years and is well worth the time, energy, and resources investment to add it to your Success Library. Jim Collins and his team always do phenomenal research and make a strong case of what that data is telling us about organizational success. This book is a must have my friends – even though it is 10 years old, the findings still have many of the same implications now as they did then. It is a great read that is not too data driven, etc. – great examples and writing throughout.

3 of the main lessons that I have taken from this book are:

1. Good is the enemy of Great. This title of a page says it all – too many people and organizations are striving to be average or good versus really challenging themselves to become Great. This book will help you and your organization take the necessary steps forward to bring about Greatness.

2. Organizational success is dependant on the 3 circles of the Hedgehog Concept; 1) What you can be the best in the world at, 2) What are you deeply passionate about, 3) What drives your economic engine. Without a plan and the ability to have success and commitment on these 3 areas, your organization will not be able to reach greatness.

3. A blend of Professional will and Personal humility make up what is classified as a Level 5 Leader. The research found that the ambition of successful leaders of these Great companies is first and foremost for the institution/organization and not themselves.

These are but a few of the many lessons that I’ve taken away from this book and USED over the past approx. 10 years. Out of the many business books out there, this is one of the top 5 that I feel you should read, study, and apply to your life. It’s time to take yourself and the organization you are a part of to the next level!

In Service to Your Success,

Brandon Johnson
“The Positive Energy Guy”

“The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:43:43 +0000

This book is a fantastic read my friends! I have always been a huge believer in the concept we teach in our Leadership trainings that “Energy is Everything!” And Jon does a great job in this easy to read story about the influence of positive energy in your life, both personally and professionally. The reality of the story is that your energy doesn’t just impact you – it impacts everything and everyone around you in either a positive or negative way. I also love the analogy of the “Energy Bus,” as I tie this into Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great” where he speaks about getting the “right” people on your bus in order to achieve all the things you set out to achieve. And if there are some people in your life that don’t want to be on your Energy Bus – great….as that will open up more seats for people that do really want to be there, which will lead to a much higher level of success.

There are many lessons that I’ve taken from this book, here are 3 of them:

1. The answer to the many “tests” that life sends our way is positive energy. He refers to this as being the optimism, trust, enthusiasm, love, joy, passion, spirit to live and work, and the desire to to perform at a higher level – and not the rah-rah stuff that many people attribute positive energy to be. More often than not putting negative energy towards something or a situation doesn’t provide an opportunity for things to move forward – only positive energy can do that.

2. I love the 5 ways to love your passengers on your Energy Bus. Make time for them, listen to them, recognize them, serve them, and bring out the best in them. This gives us a great framework to use as we grow, develop, and network with people on our Energy Bus.

3. The heart’s electromagnetic field is 5,000 times more powerful than the brain. I have always believed in and trusted my heart to lead me as I believe it is not only more powerful from a spiritual standpoint but now it’s been proven scientifically! Being emotional creatures as us humans are we can “feel” whether or not someone is bringing positive or negative energy into our lives. I strongly suggest you be more aware of what energy people are bringing to your life and choose to spend much more time with the positive energy ones.

People and customers are “buying” your energy my friends. It is one of the currencies of today’s day and age – I encourage you to pick this book up and give it a chance as I believe it will add significant value to how you operate on a daily basis.

This will make a positive and profound impact on your Success Library, I encourage you to add it today!

In Service to Your Success,

Brandon Johnson
“The Positive Energy Guy”