Carlos Linares is the CEO of M.I.T Consulting Group. In our industry of direct sales, he is seen as an expert in coaching leadership, management, sales, marketing and personal development. All of the fantastic things our company is built on. Not only is Carlos himself an expert but he has also developed training mechanisms for successful training and knowledge transfer of skills in sales, marketing, management and leadership. He not only does but he also teaches other to do as well. Carlos has an MBA in business management from the University of Miami (Coral Gables, Fl.). He started his career in direct sales in 1998 in New York City selling home services door to door. Talk about a difficult place to start! His first corporation was opened in 2000. He quickly developed a reputation for developing leaders and placing them in their own offices and businesses. During his time running his independent offices, he never made less than 250k annually. His organization peaked at 4.6 million in revenue yearly.
For the past seven years Carlos has been mentored by one of the most internationally recognized leadership experts, speaker, and coach, John C. Maxwell. John's books have sold over 19 million copies. Through his mentorship Carlos, since 2010, has been a founding member of the President's Advisory Council in the John Maxwell Company. Carlos is a certified coach, teacher, and speaker doing workshops, seminars, keynote speaking, and coaching for companies and businesses around the US.
Carlos' main point illustrated during his speech with us in Miami invilved Los's Rule of 5. You've never heard of Los's Rule of 5? Well neither had we.
Rule #1: Lead myself first
Sounds pretty self explanatory, right? Before leading others we must first learn how to lead ourselves. Leadership is earned through responsibility and visual actions. This is so true in a company like ours where we encourage people to be leaders. How can you lead if you aren't even sure how to lead yourself in one direction or the other?
Rule #2: I continue to grow/ specialize my knowledge
If we teach what we know, we know/ reproduce who we are. There is a common connection between finding your passion and reaching your potential. The first sentence is interesting in that if we do not know, we need to find out from someone who does (they are reproducing themselves). Once we understand, that is when we can reproduce others like ourselves to be successful. The second sentence talks of passion and potential. This concept makes so much sense in the fact that if we are passionate about something we will unlock our own potential to be great at it for the sole purpose that we have passion.
Rule #3: I intentionally practice leadership
People don't want to follow your finger, they want to follow you. You can't build a team on what you're going to do. So often in business or life we think we can get away with setting goals and telling everyone what we're GOING to do. Instead of saying we're going to do something, why not just do it and then tell everyone that was the plan in the first place? People will follow a leader with a vision to go places, but more people will follow and be successful following a leader that not only envisions himself in those places but actually gets there.
Rule #4: My belief system is unwavering
Our belief system impacts our purpose and our intention and provides us with our results. there are two great moments in a person's life, they day they were born and they day they discover why. Fighting against belief systems is never easy, so why not put a business model and leadership style into an already established belief system?
Rule #5: My environment shapes me. The right environment is a place where:
Others are ahead of me.
Where I am continually growing.
Where my focus is forward.
Where others are growing or passing me by.
Where people desire success.
Where growth is expected.
Considering the speech Carlos gave, so much of what he had to say rings true in our business and many others. It reminds us of an entrepreneurial mindset, get it done no matter what. Sometimes this is a hard mindset to maintain, particularly when things aren't going our way. Changing small things to adapt what isn't changing into how we lead based on the things we know and the values we have make us better leaders, teachers, and mentors to those that look to one day be in the same place if not ahead of where we are now. \
This was an exciting and thought provoking speech by Carlos on our otherwise nonbusiness related vacation. I think it was the best way to kick off this trip to remind us why we are all doing this business and what we need to do to make ourselves better leaders when we get home.
“Leaders don’t tell better stories, they make the stories better.” Carlos Linares
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