Remember, the Sherpa doesn’t celebrate how many times they personally have been to the summit but how many times they help others get to the top.
The Sherpa doesn’t celebrate how many times they personally have been to the summit but how many times they help others get to the top.
My (Jeremie’s) passion for 100X leaders came in the desire to be something that I had seen but hadn’t fully experienced. In my early years I had benefited from a few amazing mentors who were truly 100X leaders and I wanted to be like them. But I have always found it difficult to have the patience or desire to truly multiply (X). Through some traumatic events, mixed with these good examples, I decided to become more intentional than accidental, which is not my natural personality trait. Truly, I struggle with both 100 and the X, but because I am committed to the climb, have worked hard on my gear, and have Sherpas around me, I continue the climb. That is all we are asking of you.
Your Turn
Our assumption is that many leaders will work on getting themselves healthy—shooting for 100%. A good few may start the early climb of multiplication but for those who want to function as true Sherpas—full 100X leaders—then in our experience there are three filters/questions that every person must address before the climb.
Are you prepared to deal with your own wall of self-preservation? Ask the three questions again. What are you afraid of losing?
What are you trying to hide?
What are you trying to prove and to whom?
What does success really look like for you? Is it about your name in lights or something even higher? If it’s just about you, then you won’t become a 100X leader.
Are you prepared to invest your life and talents in others with no guarantee of a return? Those we invest the most in have the greatest potential to cause us pain, but we believe the prize is worth the price.
Assuming you come through the tough questions, then it’s time to quantify your reality. You need to be aware of your true starting point—to see what it is really like to be on the other side of you.
We have created an assessment for you to take to see where you are as a 100X leader. Simply go to www.100XLeader.com and take the 100X assessment.
You may not be thrilled with the results, but use it as a starting point to growth. If you want to become the best, then you must accept reality, plot your course, and create your game plan for liberation—for becoming a leader worth following.
The Reward of the 100X Life
The secure and mature leaders in this world have a “for others” more than “for ourselves” mentality. The rewards for living the 100X life are limitless:
You will expand your influence further than you ever anticipated.
You will have garnered the respect from those you lead in a healthy way.
You will have created a legacy of which you and your family can be proud.
You will get to see other people make different mistakes than you did as they climb to higher levels.
You will receive the joys of having multiplied people and seeing their accomplishments benefit many.
You will receive the gift of relationship as people will want to be around you.
You will continue to grow yourself as you have adopted self-awareness as a guide of continual improvement.
You will have more rest and peace in your heart and mind knowing that you are leading in the best way possible.
Living for others and leading from a place of health is truly remarkable. It is not idealistic, but entirely feasible. You will simply need to make some decisions. First, are you willing to go for it? Second, do you have the right equipment? Third, do you have the right guides?
Since you only live once, wouldn’t living as a Sherpa be worth the try? There is peace and joy and freedom in this style of leading, even amid the many hard days and frustrations that come by serving people and pushing them to higher levels.
We encourage you to not miss the opportunity to see the incredible views when you help others summit.
Sherpa Challenge
There are just too few leaders who are willing to give themselves to help others get better. Some call this servant leadership, but we think it’s even more than that. Yes, a Sherpa serves, but they also fight. That is the beauty of liberation. A liberating leader does both, serves and fights, because both are needed.
A 100X leader will leave a legacy because liberating leaders become significant and memorable in the lives of those they lead. Remember, true legacy of a leader is not how many times they have reached the top, but how many times they have helped others reach the higher levels.
The true legacy of a leader is not how many times they have reached the top, but how many times they have helped others reach the higher levels.
This is a good time to do something for those who have been liberators to you. Take a moment and write a letter or note to someone who has been a Sherpa to you and share specific instances that helped you reach higher. Thank them either in person or in writing and tell them why you are doing it.
And, commit to becoming a Sherpa for others.
At the end of the day, there must be no excuses or regrets. You have a mountain to climb and there is a mountain that you can help others climb.
May you be one that sets a new trajectory for you and for those you lead. And, may you celebrate the summits of those you lead and train them to do the same. When we do that together, we just might create the plan that changes cultures around the world.
Don’t wait to liberate yourself and lead yourself to heights you once thought unimaginable. Do it.
Don’t wait to dream higher for people and hold them accountable to their own dreams. Help them.
Don’t wait to calibrate high support and high challenge for others. Learn how to lead more effectively.
Don’t wait to create the culture of empowerment and growth. Help the subculture leaders.
Don’t wait to give something away to someone who needs it. Resource them.
Don’t wait to call people up, not out, as you help them see an area of growth in their life. That is how people mature.
Don’t wait to give more of yourself to family, friends, and colleagues. When you give it away you get far more in return.
Please don’t wait to bring life in a world that is full of chaos. People need you!
This is the Sherpa challenge and why the analogy is so powerful. The Sherpa are worth following because of their skills, expertise, and professionalism. And even more because their humility means their true success is not about them, it’s about those they help climb.
Fight for the highest possible good of those you lead—live as a 100X leader!
Note
1Mark Horrell, mountaineer and writer, www.markhorrell.com (blog).
Our Gift to You
The book is over, but the journey has just begun. As a faithful reader who made it to the end of this book, are you ready for your free gift? It’s something that’s been specifically designed to help you lead yourself and others up the mountain of work and family and life.
We want to give you a free month of access to GiANT TV. What is GiANT TV? It’s like Netflix for 100X leaders. GiANT TV is a media platform where we upload our premium teaching content (the same content that we teach at companies like Pfizer, Google, and other Fortune 500 companies), and it can be streamed to almost any device.
A book can only teach so much due to the space restrictions of the physical page, but GiANT TV can go much deeper into the concepts introduced here. To get your free month of GiANT TV simply visit:
http://www.giant.tv/freegift
It has been our privilege to be your Sherpas, but we know how easy it would be to put this book on a shelf and allow your excitement to die down. Please don’t. Instead, use Giant TV to continue your transformation into a 100X Leader.
Let’s all work to get to the next level!
Sincerely,
Jeremie Kubicek and
Steve Cockram
&nb
sp; Acknowledgments
We have a bevy of people to thank for their outstanding help with the writing of this book.
We want to thank Helen Cockram for her editing and for her eye for ensuring that our intent matches our words. Your work has made us better. Thank you.
We couldn’t be prouder to serve leaders around the world with the GiANT HQ team—Mike Oppedahl, Brian Fletcher, Hunter Hodge, Amy Ferguson, Connelly Rader, Justin Westbrooks, Rich Webb, Jared Humphries, Tracy Rader, and Emily Humphreys. Thanks for working so hard on the guts of our old and new businesses and allowing us to do this important work.
To our partners, senior consultants, ambassadors, internal Sherpas, and certified GiANT coaches, we are inspired by your hunger to want to liberate leaders across the globe and consider it an honor to work together with each of you.
And to our literary agent, John Willig, and our publisher and team at Wiley, thank you for believing in our mission. We are just getting started!
To Tracy Rader and Jessica Rimmer, thanks to your extra eye and great feedback on the review. Super helpful. Appreciate you taking the time you did to help so many.
From Jeremie
I am so incredibly grateful to my wife, Kelly, for her partnership in marriage and for her patience with the writing process. You are a true GiANT. Thanks for liberating our family and for your influence on so many. I love you!
Special thanks to my kids, Addison, Will, and Kate. Thank you for putting up with so many writing seasons. You inspire me and make me so proud for who you are as people. I am so excited to see how you continue to practice these principles for the rest of your life.
I can’t speak highly enough for my business partner and friend, Steve Cockram. You are the real deal—a true 100X leader. Thank you for calling me up consistently and for believing in my voice. It is so fun running the business together and bantering back and forth on the Liberator Podcast. Can’t wait for what is next.
Grateful for my GiANT partner pack and our HQ team—thank you for liberating leaders and working so hard for so many!
Special shout-out to all who have served in the writing of this book in big and little ways. To Mary Myrick, for allowing me to have some amazing views to write from at Carlton Landing and to Tony Yacovetti for the perfect hideaway in Florida to finish the last bits. Thank you!
Thanks to you Mike and Kianna Kubicek for being 100X parents. Thanks for pouring in to us so we can pour in to others. You are the best!
And, to the clients I call friends, who allow me to be me to help you be you. Thanks for allowing me to be a Sherpa to you through the years and in some cases decades.
From Steve
My thanks go to those people who have been a 100X leader to me, notably Graham Tomlin, Roger Sutton, John Lovell, and Mike Breen. I will always be grateful for the incredible investment you made in my life.
I would like to thank those who, a decade ago, gave me the opportunity to take my first faltering steps as a Sherpa—Armandee Drew, Brandon Schaefer, James Warren, Doug Paul, and Grant Eckhart. And my thanks to all those who have allowed me to play a Sherpa role since then—I’m so proud of all you have achieved and are now multiplying into others—Eric Pfeiffer, Toby Bassford, Jane Fardon, Mike Oppedahl, Terry O’Regan, John Cotterell, Matthew Kimpton-Smith, Keith Style, Jason and Suzie Lantz, Graham and Rachel Hawley.
To our dear friends Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing and the Latimer Minister community for their constant encouragement.
To Jeremie Kubicek, a true 100X leader. Your energy, intentionality, and passion for liberation are an inspiration to me and the whole of our GiANT family. You have carried by far the greater share of writing this book—thank you for expressing us so well.
To my parents Ian and Sue Cockram, the most supportive and liberating parents anyone could wish for. And finally, to my beloved wife Helen and daughters, Izzy, Megan, and Charlotte—you inspire and liberate me every day to do what I love. Thank you.
About the Authors
Jeremie Kubicek is a thought leader who specializes in unlocking leaders and getting them to a higher level through his speaking, coaching, and writing. Jeremie has the unique ability of taking complex concepts and turning them into powerful tools that are practical and scalable for individuals and organizations. As CEO and cofounder of GiANT, he oversees the licensing and digital platform, GiANT.tv, to help people around the world receive powerful and inspiring content.
In addition, Jeremie is the former CEO of Leadercast and the Catalyst conferences and a best-selling author of the book Making Your Leadership Come Alive.
Together with Steve Cockram, he also has written 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There Is Never Enough Time; 5 Voices: How to Communicate with Everyone You Lead; and now The 100X Leader.
Steve Cockram is an international speaker, author, and consultant to top-level executives and leaders around the world. He is a subject-matter expert on personality and wiring, organizational leadership, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal communication. As cofounder of GiANT Worldwide, Steve influences the GiANT consultants and works on content, from the 5 Voices leadership system to original content at www.GiANT.tv
About GiANT Worldwide
GiANT is a content development company, specializing in leadership transformation. With a consulting division of professionals working in over 15 countries; a licensing division of the powerful 5 Voices system and the digital media platform, GiANT.tv, GiANT produces scalable and practical content and programs for people wanting to be relevant in the twenty-first century. The leadership language of GiANT is being used in organizations, large and small, to change the way people lead.
Our specialties include:
Teaching a common language that 90% of an organization can understand, use, and teach.
Utilizing visual tools that shape culture and enhance leadership growth.
Inserting a pass-it-on apprenticeship process into organizations that blows away traditional leadership development programs with a system that impacts culture for a decade.
Focusing on individual transformation rather than on information transfer. We teach self-awareness that spreads throughout teams to produce secure, confident, and humble leaders.
Serving clients in agile and relevant ways to fit the fast-paced, task-oriented work world.
To find out how to powerfully grow your leaders, teams, and organizations or to see how to become a part of GiANT as a senior consultant, license specialist, or joint venture partner go to www.giantworldwide.com.
Speaking Inquiries for Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram
If you have enjoyed the content created by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram and would like to bring one or both of them to speak at your conference, organization or event, you can contact them at:
www.jeremiekubicek.com
www.stevecockram.com
www.giantworldwide.com/speaking
Topics include:
100X Leader: How to Become Someone Worth Following
5 Voices: How to Discover Your Voice, Build Your Team, and Change Your World
5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There Is Never Enough Time
Making Your Leadership Come Alive
And much more
Index
Abdicating leadership, 42, 49–50 in community, 84
expectations in, 127
in family, 78, 79
subcultures with, 168
on teams, 81
Accidental leadership, 74, 75, 136, 160
Accidental life/living, 57, 74, 78
Acclimation: in climbing Mount Everest, 7, 8
of leaders, 21
and self-awareness, 57, 59
by Sherpa, 20
Accountability: in developing others, 130–133
of leaders, 21
Acknowledging your journey, 14–15
Actions: consequences of, 63–65
of lazy leaders, 89
patterns of, 62. See also Patterns of actions and
behavior
power of, 88–89
reality resulting from, 65
self-awareness of, 63–64
showing your intent in, 103
The Advantage (Pat Lencioni), 173
All talk, no action leaders, 181
Apprenticeship, multiplication by, 143–146
Aristotle, 162
Arrogance, 21, 136
Atmosphere: culture as, 156, 159–166
of subcultures, 166
toxic, 163, 164
Atmosphere for growth, 155–174 goals for healthier culture, 172–174
greenhouse metaphor for, 159–160
language components of, 157–158
leader's commitment to, 174
responsibility for, 160–163
shaping culture, 157
subculture levels, 166–171
and toxicity, 163–166
transplanting people among cultures, 171–172
Attention, lack of, 180–181
Authenticity, 72, 73, 90
Authority, of Sherpa, 175
Backler, Eddie, 35–36
Bassford, Toby, 144–146
Beede, John, 3–8, 135
The 100X Leader Page 17