The Authority Advantage, Book Value, The Law of Intentionality – Your Friday Champions Brew

What if building your personal brand wasn’t about self-promotion, but rather a powerful tool to serve others and make a lasting impact?

Happy Friday, Brew Nation !

Grab your favorite coffee cup, sit back, relax, and get ready to sip on some enriching and thought-provoking content that will equip you to thrive in all areas of your life:

• Read More, Network Well and Add Value –   I recently finished reading “The Authority Advantage” by Adam Witty and Rusty Shelton. The book emphasizes the importance of positioning yourself as a mission-driven leader to build your personal brand and expand your impact. In today’s world, people are more likely to trust individuals over corporations, so it’s crucial to focus on building your personal brand as an authority in your space. 

To me, ‘Authority Advantage’ (aka, ‘Personal Brand’) can often come across with a connotation of self-promotion and ego, and I initially felt uncomfortable with the term. However, after reading “The Authority Advantage”, I realized that building my personal brand is simply a means to an end – to better serve and inspire others. As Alan Mulally, retired CEO of Ford Motor Company & Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said, “To serve is to live. The book provides a practical and effective framework for modern-day leaders to communicate and share their messages with others. It emphasizes the importance of positioning yourself as a servant leader, and that is where the true value of building your authority advantage lies”. So, to me, Authority Advantage = Personal Brand = Servant Leadership. With that said, let’s dive into my key takeaways from the book.

When I first came across “The Authority Advantage,” the inside flap immediately caught my attention. The book promised to provide a step-by-step approach to building thought leadership focused on impact, not ego, to accelerate trust (emphasis added by me) with today’s increasingly skeptical audience. This resonated with me, as I believe that trust is the foundation of any successful relationship – whether it be with clients, team members, or followers.

• The book breaks down media into three categories: earned, rented, and owned. It recommends evenly breaking down content into three broad categories: You-Driven, News-Driven, and Relationship-Driven content. The authors stress the importance of creating attention-grabbing openings for speeches and podcasts to keep the audience engaged.
  • The book also emphasizes the importance of learning and growing, earned success, having control over your destiny, quality relationships, and hope to drive happiness. As you build your authority advantage, you are committing to lifelong learning and growing, earning success, having control over your destiny, building quality relationships, and having hope.
  • Overall, “The Authority Advantage” stresses the importance of building your personal brand to position yourself as an authority in your space. By doing so, you can expand your reach and build trust with people who might not have the opportunity to interact with you directly. The book provides practical tips on how to build your personal brand and create content that resonates with your audience. 

I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to build their authority advantage and expand their impact.

• Read More – Clearly, this week’s Brew is focused on reading.  I picked up this gem about reading in James Clear’s weekly newsletter:

Gene Roddenberry, television screenwriter and creator of Star Trek, on the value of reading books:

“I consider reading the greatest bargain in the world. A shelf of books is a shelf of many lives and ideas and imaginations which the reader can enjoy whenever he wishes and as often as he wishes. Instead of experiencing just one life, the booklover can experience hundreds or even thousands of lives. He can live any kind of adventure in the world. Books are his time machine into the past and also into the future. Books are his “transporter” by which he can beam instantly to any part of the universe and explore what he finds there. Books are an instrument by which he can become any person for a while—a man, a woman, a child, a general, a farmer, a detective, a king, a doctor, anyone.

Great books are especially valuable because a great book often contains within its covers the wisdom of a man or woman’s whole lifetime. But the true lover of books enjoys all kinds of books, even some nonsense now and then, because enjoying nonsense from others can teach us to also laugh at ourselves. A person who does not learn to laugh at his own problems and weaknesses and foolishness can never be a truly educated or a truly happy person. Also, probably the same thing could be said of a person who does not enjoy learning and growing all his life.”

• Read More – Welcome to my latest John Maxwell Law series of posts ( in previous posts we have reviewed The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and the 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication), where I’ll be reviewing one chapter each week from John Maxwell’s book, “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”. This book is a must-read for anyone on a personal growth journey, and I’m excited to share my insights and reflections on each chapter with you.

But this isn’t just a one-way street – I want to hear from you too! I value your feedback and thoughts on each chapter, and I encourage you to share your own experiences and perspectives in the comments section. Together, we can learn and grow from each other.

So, let’s dive into the first law:

Law # 1 – The Law of Intentionality

Growth Doesn’t Just Happen

In Chapter 1 of our series on the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, we explore the Law of Intentionality. This law aligns well with the coaching style that I use, where I strive to have a reason for every question I ask. I am intentional with my questions, just as I am intentional with my own personal development plan.

As James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh, once said, “People are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” It’s no secret that many people are held back by their own mindset, preventing them from experiencing growth. But if you’re reading this, it’s clear that you’re on a journey of personal growth. Don’t give up on those who are stuck – share this newsletter with them and encourage them to start their own journey. As the saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will arrive.”

To truly experience growth, we must overcome several mindset gaps.

1. The Assumption gap – we can’t improve by simply living; we have to be intentional about it. Excellence only happens on purpose, and we must continue to grow even after our formal education ends.   And, we all know what happens when we assume…
2. The Timing gap – it’s never the “right” time to start, but we must take action regardless. American politician Frank Clark said, “What great accomplishments we’d have in the world if everybody had done what they intended to do.”
3. The Inspiration gap – we can’t rely solely on motivation to push us forward. Instead, we must take action and let motivation follow.
4. The Comparison gap – This can also hold us back, but we must remain focused on our own growth and learning from those who are ahead of us.
5. The Expectation gap – change is hard, but we can always change our direction and continue to improve.

To overcome these gaps, we must face our fears. John Maxwell discussed the top 5 fears that keep people from being successful: fear of failure, fear of trading security for the unknown, fear of being overextended financially, fear of what others will say or think, and fear that success will alienate peers. For me, fear of failure used to be my biggest obstacle, but starting Growing Champions brought financial fears to the forefront. However, I have faith and stronger emotions generally win, and I’m working to keep faith over fear.

To wrap up the Law of Intentionality, Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

Growth doesn’t just happen – we must choose to grow. That is the Law of Intentionality.

• Quote:  “A longevity mindset doesn’t mean we need to work for the rest of our lives, but when we lean into work that fulfills us and gives us opportunities to live out our purpose, it can be life-giving rather than life-taking.” – Traci Schubert Barrett – Co-Founder of HGTV and recent guest on the Uncommon Leader Podcast.  Click here to listen to her inspirational story and message.

What You Need to Do:

Call to Action:  Make a choice and a commitment to start growing today.  You probably won’t FEEL like doing it, I don’t care how you feel.   I care about you, and you need to do it anyway!

It’s an honor to be your trusted “Friday Coffee Guy”.  Each week, I’m excited to provide yet another round of curated content that I’ve been reading, listening to, watching, or thinking over. The purpose of the Champions Brew is to inspire, equip and encourage you to become the uncommon leader you were designed to be. I am so grateful for your decision to invest a few moments with me! I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Champions Brew. If you did, I would appreciate it if you would share it with someone who might enjoy it as well and ask them to subscribe! I will make sure they automatically get this email every week.

Until next time, Read More, Exercise Daily and Grow Champions!

P.S. – Are you a podcast fan?  Maybe the Uncommon Leader podcast is for you.    Are you interested in being a guest on the Uncommon Leader Podcast?  Do you have a story to tell?  Email me [email protected] and let’s have a chat and set something up!!