Success came faster when I stopped flying solo.
And I’m not talking about my dating life (though this dictum applies there, as well).
I like to joke that I get guidance for absolutely everything. I have had mentors, coaches, healers, therapists. I have belonged to multiple Mastermind communities. I belong to one now. It wasn’t always so.
The iconic American success thinker Napoleon Hill first popularized the notion of not flying solo in his seminal book “Think and Grow Rich,” published in 1937. Hill emphasizes the psychic impact of communing with exceptional like-minded colleagues. No two minds, Hill writes, ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind. (Hill, “Think and Grow Rich,” Fall River Press Edition, 2012, 125)
Hill called the third mind a mastermind. This mind is the collective energy and wisdom that are unleashed through group interaction. This energy lasts well beyond the conversations that occur, and it exponentially accelerates the personal growth of every individual in a Mastermind Group.
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed."
Napoleon Hill
Masterminding works in mysterious ways.
2003 is a year that changed my life. I don’t use the phrase “changed my life” lightly – it did. I was completing a Master’s Degree in Organizational Psychology and International Relations at New York University. I got a contract to write my first book. AND I joined my first Mastermind Group.
Every other Monday evening, five of us met for two hours in an office on West 23rd Street in Manhattan, right off Sixth Avenue. The meetings were facilitated by Kathi Elster, a small-business strategist. This was a Mastermind for successful small business owners who wanted to accelerate their business impact by sharing and receiving wisdom from other small-business owners. We met for a period of nine months. Participants had been personally vetted by Kathi. I was the “new kid on the block” who was just launching his first business.
The lessons I received in this Mastermind were more impactful than anything I was learning in graduate school. My colleagues helped me clarify the business model for Influens, the firm I was about to launch. They showed me how to define a global brand. Offered practical and well-tested guidance on the many micro-decisions I was making and would have to make in the future.
My fellow masterminders acted like my own private advisory board. Influens became a highly successful business.
In Manhattan, we liked to say – yes, a little tongue-in-cheek – that there was something suspect about you if you didn’t see a therapist. In the blue-chip C-Suites where I coach, few executives I know operate without the support of an executive coach.
Awareness. A mirror. A sounding-board. Truth-telling. Possibility generation. More awareness, again.
Those are the gifts of support. The need for support never stops. Support is an essential life-thread of successful people. They know.
I had a business coach for 15 years. I have been in a Mastermind with 4 acclaimed coaching colleagues for the last 5 years. We live in LA, Hollywood/Florida, Cheltenham/UK, Oslo, Budapest. We’re all really good at what we do. And my life is significantly better – and more successful - because I regularly speak with Damian, Lise, Paul and Zoltan.
That’s the power of a Mastermind.
Make 2024 the year of greater support. What might that sort of support look like for you? Who are the people that can best support you? A mentor? A coach? A healer? A Mastermind community?
If the notion of a Mastermind speaks to you, please know there is one I host.
It’s called the FOURTH ACT Mastermind. And it isn’t for everyone.
Participants in my FOURTH ACT Mastermind tend to be 50+ years in age. They are highly accomplished. They have held the big titles. They’re not looking to scale. They’re not motivated by making more money. Or taking another class. They like to go deep.
They look to explore new WHYs. Success is an old WHY. Making more money is an old WHY. Cue the entrance of a next act.
FOURTH ACT Mastermind participants have included celebrated leadership experts, spiritual leaders, composers, government officials, world-renowned poets, global happiness experts, other executive coaches, rule-breaking entrepreneurs. Powerful stuff happens when these folks are in conversation with each other. Stuff that can change lives.
I will launch a new Mastermind cohort in February. Participation in a FOURTH ACT Mastermind is by invitation only. How do I get invited, you wonder? Drop me a note, and we’ll have a conversation.
If you’re curious by the notion of a Mastermind but are still scratching your head and wondering, I’m not sure exactly what it is – well, you’re in luck.
Participation in a Tasting is limited to 6 individuals. These slots go fast. If you wish to participate, don’t wait. Click here to sign up.
I don’t know what sort of support is best for you in 2024. But I know that the right support elevates every single one of us. So please, make this the year of not flying solo. Allow support. Shine.
