Chris Brady & Launching the Leadership Revolution

The LLR staff tracked down best selling author Chris Brady for discussion on his latest collaboration with Orrin Woodward, Launching the Leadership Revolution. Chris Brady lives a dream lifestyle with homes in Michigan, Florida, and a 160 acre wilderness retreat. Chris and his lovely wife Terri have four beautiful, energetic children and enjoy spending quality time together.

LLR: Chris, tell me what started you and Orrin working on your latest book?

Chris Brady: Orrin and I were staying up late one night at the Peter Island resort. We kept discussing back and forth what leadership was. We could not come up with a definition that didn’t sound like a bunch of buzz words. Finally we decided leadership was both art and science. The next morning we agreed we had to capture our conversation in book form.

LLR: Have you always been so leadership conscious?

Chris Brady: Hardly. I always wanted to achieve my best, but I had no concept of how to do that through helping others. When I started motocross racing I knew I had to prepare, practice and visualize doing my best, but I never understood the art side of leadership. It wasn’t until I started listening to leadership CD’s, reading books, and building a community that I realized how much more there was to learn.

LLR: Can anyone learn the techniques in your book?

Chris Brady: We wrote the book because we are convinced that anyone can become a good leader and if the principles are applied consistently, you can become a great leader. Everything rises and falls on leadership. We have a growing team because we have great leadership. If you are looking at a business, make sure you spend time studying the leadership team as well as the numbers.

LLR: When you first met Orrin was he a great leader?

Chris Brady: Orrin was not a great leader when I first met him; however, he was a great student. This is one of the main points of our new book: that the best students will eventually become the best leaders. You must hunger to learn and grow and that is what Orrin Woodward did with a vengeance. I saw his tenacity and vision and decided to go where he was going and help him get there.

LLR: It sounds like there is a special bond between you and Orrin.

Chris Brady: We have been through many battles, struggles and victories together. In all of our years of working together we have never raised our voice in anger against each other. Character for both of us is extremely important, and I have seen Orrin exhibit character in many trying circumstance. Orrin has earned my respect and I have earned his over the last eleven years of our partnership.

LLR: Any thoughts on doing another book?

Chris Brady: Of course. We are working on a book about thinking. The longer we are in leadership, the more we learn that your thinking makes all the difference. The saying, “it is not what happens to you, but how you handle it,” is so true. People with proper thinking respond to challenging situations by growing in character. People with improper thinking respond to challenging situations by becoming victims and blaming others. Obviously, you are not going to be leadership material if you choose to be a victim.

LLR: Would this explain people who criticize the Team business?

Chris Brady: For some of them it would. I don’t care what happens to you in life, with the proper thinking, you can get through it. Abraham Lincoln said, “Man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.” If you change your thinking, you will change your life. That is why Orrin and I have spent our lives helping people to think better. There are two choices in life when bad things happen to you; bitter or better. Winners get better and whiners get bitter. Winners realize failure is personal and analyze what they can do to improve. By accepting responsibility they grow personally and become leaders. Becoming bitter is so dangerous because you deny any responsibility in the situation. With no responsibility to change you are handing your future over to someone or something else, waiting for them to change and blaming your failures on them. What a sad way to live. You have the choice on your responses and your responses create your destiny.

LLR: Chris thanks for sharing.