Shed & Shine – Riff Episode: 3 Things That Make You Go Huh
00:00:01 - 00:00:52
Gino Wickman
Hello and welcome back. This episode I call "3 Things That Make You Go Huh." On that note, if you have not listened to a "Things That Make You Go Huh" episode, this is where I have topics that just won't fill up a full episode, and so I save them up and share them when I have enough. What's interesting about these three that I'm going to share is each one were mighty close to being a full episode, and I didn't want to force it. I didn't want to try and stretch it out. And I also just want to give you the meat. I want to really kind of hit the bullseye and give you the aha as fast as possible without embellishing or forcing it or stretching it out, if you will. So nonetheless, here we go.
00:00:53 - 00:01:52
Gino Wickman
Number one, I call open and honest. So a little history here. So I created EOS 25 years ago, and one of the things I did very early on is I put an expectation in every session that we have for our clients called open and honest because I have a very strong belief that if we leaders are all open and honest on our leadership teams in the world, the world would be a better place. It's going to create more open and honest organizations. We'll get more done faster. The list goes on. And so with that said, with now over 30,000 companies we've taken through the process, with 900 EOS implementers doing that, we've delivered over 200,000 full-day sessions. There's 200,000 times somewhere in the world that an implementer has said to their client, "I just need you to be open and honest today." And then we build that every session. It becomes more open and more honest.
00:01:52 - 00:02:34
Gino Wickman
And so on that note, I had this beautiful opportunity just a few weeks ago at our EOS conference to finally teach what open and honest means in its purest form. And I had 75 minutes to deliver that message and just had an absolute blast. So with that, you know, if we leave nothing on the world with EOS, I hope that that's what we imprint on the world is for all leaders to be open and honest. Because like I said, I believe that will lead to better companies, better leaders, more authentic entrepreneurial leaders, as you may remember me talking about in a previous episode.
00:02:35 - 00:03:12
Gino Wickman
All that said, open and honest are two completely different words. Open is about you being open to receive whatever is being said, unfiltered and unguarded. Honest is your ability to speak the truth, how you're feeling and thinking in the exact moment. Very, very different. Open is receiving. Honest is sending. Okay, that was the aha moment for most of the audience. I've never said it that clearly. What I say to my clients is always, please be open and honest. Lower your guards. Open your minds. Let it fly.
00:03:13 - 00:03:50
Gino Wickman
But my point in all of this is we, as leaders, business is tough. We got to get shit done. We got to put a tidy bow on every issue. We have to protect our core values and our core focus, which the combination of those two things defines the soul of the organization. And we must protect the soul of our organizations. And so with that, we don't have time to fuck around, for lack of a better term. We don't have time for dysfunction. We can't spend time being closed off and holding back. We've got to let it fly.
00:03:51 - 00:04:35
Gino Wickman
And what I want to say to you is that if your team isn't open and honest, it's you. I've touched on this in the past. I want to get you right to the bullseye here in just a second. But when I say you and your team, so that means if you're the owner of the business, you know, that's your leadership team. If you're on a leadership team and you have a department that you manage, that's your team in addition to your leadership team, certainly. If you run a family, that family is your team. And if your family's not open and honest, it's you. And in your friend group, same thing. If your friend group is not open and honest, it's you. So my urging is you have to go first.
00:04:35 - 00:05:32
Gino Wickman
If they're not open and honest, it's you. And what I would urge is the only way they're going to be open and honest, and they're going to be honest with you, is if you open up and receive whatever they have to say to you. It's like the most dangerous thing in the world to be is honest but not open. So if you're really good at telling everybody the truth, but you can't receive the truth, with all due love and respect, that makes you a prick. That makes you an asshole. I'm speaking from experience. When I am in a situation where I'm not being open and I'm being brutally honest with everyone, I'm being a prick. I'm being an asshole. So I say that with as much love and respect as I can muster up.
00:05:32 - 00:06:48
Gino Wickman
So I hope you can picture that in your mind. If you're honest, but you're not open, ugh, are you capable of hearing exactly what the 10 most important people in your life really think of you? And if you're not capable of hearing that, you might not be as open as you think. And today's the day. Open up. Open up. Listen to what they have to say. Receive it. Because if you will receive it, you give permission for you to be open and they will start to receive it. I'm accused of being ruthlessly and lovingly honest. I can be so honest with all of my leaders and have been for 35 years because I'm so open. They can say anything to me and I will receive it unfiltered, unguarded. It's not always right. It's not always accurate. A lot of times it is, but I will receive it all. And as a result of that, I'm able to be absolutely, directly, brutally honest with them. Try that on.
00:06:49 - 00:07:06
Gino Wickman
On to number two. And I just need to take a deep breath. I got a little passionate on number one. Back down to the ground, into the synchronicity pocket, at the right speed. Number two, I call becoming.
00:07:07 - 00:08:22
Gino Wickman
So here's where this stems from. I fed everything that I ever created into AI with the desire to get one word. So you can imagine it's every book, every video, every article, every everything. I put it all in there and I asked it this question. Give me the one word to describe what it is that all of my content does for people or in the world or whatever that word was. And so I eagerly awaited the answer. And the number one word that bubbled to the surface was becoming. And I could have never come to that conclusion on my own. I loved it the second I saw it. But then it gave me great pause to really process what it meant. And I still love it. And I love what it means. And I want to spend just a few minutes on it with you.
00:08:23 - 00:10:10
Gino Wickman
I'll start with a question. Are you becoming? Another question. What are you becoming? And so with every leadership team that I've ever worked with, I start with a question. And I say to them, are you willing to become your best? It's like that is the — like if they don't want to become their best, I can't help them. But that word become, there's that word. 25 years ago, I came up with that sentence. There's that word, become, become, become, become. And then I thought about everything I do in my work life, everything I've created, EOS, the eight books I've written, this Shed and Shine podcast, all the interviews I've done, our mastermind talks I've delivered, every bit of it is about helping people to become. It's about helping you become. Become what? That's up to you. But greatness is my favorite word, or one of them. And so for me, it's all about greatness. If we just keep becoming and moving toward greatness, becoming the best version of ourselves, growing, ascending, evolving, as long as we're becoming, moving toward that, I think we're on the right path. And I think it's a much more enjoyable journey. And so with that, I'm doing it, becoming. It's really hard, so please know that. And I would love it if you would join me.
00:10:11 - 00:10:46
Gino Wickman
And on to number three. This one I call D6. So the letter D as in dog, six, and the number six, two characters, D6. Where this stems from is Discipline Number Six, Say No Often. So that mouthful, Discipline Number Six, Say No Often, condensed all the way down to two characters, D6.
00:10:46 - 00:11:38
Gino Wickman
So I want to tell you a funny story. So at the EOS conference, after my keynote, after the cocktail party, I was sitting with some friends afterwards. We're having a couple of drinks with friends and family and having some great conversation. And all of the people involved in this conversation were familiar with the 10 Disciplines, living by the 10 Disciplines. And one of the people asked me for a favor or asked if I would do something, and I said no, as I need to do when it doesn't fit. So the other gentleman that was asked immediately shot back, and he said, D6. But the delivery on it was so perfect. He just said D6. And we all knew exactly what it meant, and we broke out laughing.
00:11:38 - 00:13:02
Gino Wickman
And so here's the point of that story. What if we were all living by the 10 Disciplines so well, so strongly that when it came to that, when someone in that circle — there are tens of thousands of people that understand and live by at least one, if not all, 10 Disciplines, maybe hundreds of thousands to this point, but at least tens of thousands — but imagine in your 10 Discipline circle, when asked a favor, a question, a request, whatever it was, if we could all just boil it all the way down to a simple response, just say D6. And the power of that, the instant knowing and respect for the work that went into that person's ability to say no. In other words, now we don't have to do all of the pomp and circumstance, you know, the explaining why no and all the detail, because you would just instantly know that this person did the work. Because remember, the bold statement in Discipline Number Six, Say No Often, is that you say no to everything that doesn't fit in the first five Disciplines.
00:13:03 - 00:13:38
Gino Wickman
So you say no to anything that doesn't fit in your 10-year thinking, Discipline One, or anything that doesn't fit in Discipline Two, take time off. It doesn't fit into your time off schedule. Or Discipline Number Three, it doesn't fit in how well you know thyself. It doesn't fit in Discipline Number Four, your stillness practice. And it doesn't fit in Number Five, know your 100%. It doesn't fit in your work container. There's no time for it. And instantly, by saying D6, that other person just knows you've done the work.
00:13:38 - 00:14:26
Gino Wickman
You know, and so I think about a lot of the times, and in this particular request that night, I think about how when someone asks me for something, and it's, you know, it's a one 15-minute thing, hey, will you spend 15 minutes with this person? Well, I get a thousand of those in a year. And I explain, I say, if I say yes to that, if I say yes to every request for that thing and that time commitment, I would never see my family or friends. And I'd be divorced, and I'd have no family or any friends. And they instantly get it. I mean, how can I say yes to everything? How can you say yes to everything? But now, with a simple response, D6, there's an instant knowing, understanding, and we don't have to go through all that dialogue.
00:14:26 - 00:15:09
Gino Wickman
So with that said, that was a lot of fun. It was a powerful aha. And I leave you with that thought. Just simply say D6 to those who get it. So there they are, three things to make you go huh. So I hope there were a few golden nuggets in there for you. Or at a minimum, I hope at least one thing made you go huh. Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us. And please tune in for the next episode. Until then, we wish you all the best in freeing your True Self. Stay focused and much love.
