Joseph Dixon - On the Court Coaching

The phrase mastermind group  was first coined by Napoleon Hill in his classic book Think and Grow Rich.  In researching his book, Hill spent twenty years studying hundreds of successful Americans, including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison, who were all in a mastermind group together. On his deathbed, Hill was asked which of the success principles he identified as most important. He replied, the mastermind.

To state it simply, a mastermind group is a support team that meets on a regular basis to share advice, feedback, and ideas among its members. Together we know more and can focus more energy than any one of us can alone. The mastermind group can function as your personal board of directors.

The most common mastermind groups are comprised of entrepreneurs, business owners, and CEOs. However, there are also specific mastermind groups for other purposes with members ranging from chief marketing officers, CFOs, and CIOs to authors and artists. The common denominator in each case is that individuals leverage the power of a group for a specific purpose.

Success  tips  for  creating  a  mastermind  group

Ask  up. Ask someone whose success you’d like to emulate.  This prevents your fears from stopping you and ensures that your mastermind group provides the greatest benefit.

Start  with  one  person  at  a  time. Many times the thought of forming the mastermind group seems too challenging. In reality, you need only find one other person. Once you’ve found that person, the two of you can work together to discover the third person, and so on.

Be  rigorous. The mastermind group is a place where you get to hear what others are not willing to tell you, and you get to share at a very deep level.

Begin  now.  It is easy to start a mastermind group, yet it is also easy not to. Take action now to create your mastermind group, and you will quickly experience the power and results that flow from this action.

Joseph Dixon is an executive and personal coach for CEOs and senior executives. He is the founder and executive director of the Six Sigma Leadership Forum . Atlanta, an exclusive membership organization comprised of Six Sigma Deployment Champions for global Atlanta corporations including Home Depot, GE Energy, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta, CheckFree, CIBA Vision, and others. To find out more, visit his Web site at
www.onthecourtcoaching.net.