Look Mama!

Welcome everyone,

This is my first ever post as a “leadership blogger”. I’d be remiss if I didn’t immediately give thanks to Orrin Woodward and the leadership system that he, along with the policy council of the team, have created.

This stuff is all new to me, so please go easy on me. I ain’t got no English degree n sometimes I don’t speaks so goodly… But I don’t want to attempt to be too ‘high brow’ either. I’m reminded of the story where a mother took little Johnny to the rodeo, where he’d repeatedly holler “hey mama, look at that cowboy with them thar bow legs!” The mother eventually got so embarrassed and frustrated, that she told little Johnny “You holler like that one more time, and I’m sending you off to grammar school!” Needless to say, he did, and she did. The following year they returned to the rodeo, and almost immediately little Johnny hollered out “Harken dear mother, observe yonder, what manner of men that walketh in parenthesis!”

There was a time – not so long ago, that anyone who knew me would not put John Graff and leader in the same sentence. So how else do you explain how a no people skills engineer (I still have miles to go), and as assisted living home owner/operator, rising up to modest levels of leadership in a ‘people business’!?!  What I’m learning is that there are fundamental principles of success. The discernment of what those truly are, can be a very slippery slope…. To quote current #1 leadership guru, John Maxwell: “The amount of information available in the world has doubled in the last  five years, and it keeps doubling.” 

As  we all dive headlong into the information age, whether we want to or not, one would wonder… How do I get to truth? As well as asking; What’s the motive behind the source of any info?  One of the many reasons my wife, Penny and I, love the team system, is that it provides us correct knowledge from people with proven ‘fruit-on-the-tree.’ For example; regarding finances, I so appreciate what my mentor and co-founder of the LIFE business, Dan Hawkins says, “Beware who you take your advice from, they just might be broke!” 

With the advent of the LIFE (living intentionally for excellence) business, my wife and I are determined to make it our life’s work (pun intended) to go out into a frustrated and confused world and offer up real solutions to anyone desiring improvements in their – Finances, Faith, Family, Following, Friends, Fitness, or Freedom and have a ton of Fun in the process! These, dear friends, are the 8 F’s! So thanks again to Orrin and the Team/LIFE/Leadership system, for providing real solutions to very real problems.

God bless, “little Johnny”