Eric Walton is a Maxwell-certified trainer who empowers people to build better downlines with their network marketing business. That means he’s been equipped by the premier leadership organization in the world AND he knows how to help you succeed.
I asked Eric to talk with me about his book Downline Leadership. He gave me the first version of the book, which had just come out, before he spoke at Advance 8.0 in Nashville in September 2017.
Since then, the book has been used to train hundreds (even thousands!) of leaders AND has undergone a few tweaks he’s gleaned from the trenches…
Eric has a knack for seeing “obvious things” (they’re not obvious until he points them out) and communicating them in a way that defies conventional wisdom but becomes incredibly simple and do-able. His leadership engine is no exception.
In this talk, Eric takes us through four elements of the engine. They are: credibility, , relationships, trust, and influence.
(You can find the engine in module 2 of the book, by the way- https://amzn.to/2RqqLjY.)
Eric reminds us that “Leadership is influence,” something he’s pulled from Maxwell. We want influence, but we generally go about gaining it in the wrong ways.
“You can’t do command and control,” Eric reminds us. “Especially since this is really a volunteer organization…”
He explains that the people in your downline don’t work for you. You can’t hire them. You can’t fire them. You can’t adjust their pay…
“So you have to begin at credibility…”
That- credibility- is the first element of the engine– which I refer to as a flywheel.
Today, credibility doesn’t come from titles and ranks (most people outside your organization don’t even care about those words that have become so important to us…). Credibility comes in other ways…
Second, you’ve got to lean into the relationships. You’ve got to learn to communicate and connect, Eric says.
Third, you’ve got to build trust. Eric explains that trust is built as you “close the say-do gap,” that is, when what you say you’ll do and what you actually perform begin to match more and more…
Fourth, this leads to influence…
However, we’re not done here. This engine works like a flywheel. Once you have momentum with it, the engine keeps running…
That means that influence builds credibility, which is the first element on our list…
And more credibility opens doors for more and deeper relationships…
And that gives you the platform to prove you’re trustworthy…
Which builds influence even more…
Which garners even more credibility….
Links for this show-
For videos from great leaders like Eric and others, go to OilyApp+ online- https://oilyapp.com/p/plus
Listening options for the show can be found at https://oilyapp.com/blog
Eric’s book, Downline Leadership, on Amazon- https://amzn.to/2RqqLjY
Eric’s website- for coaching + training- https://buildingupleaders.com/