Author: Dr. Linda Lawrence M.D., Founder of People Always HCC, Co-founder of Revitalize

We’re all looking to do better. You’ve likely got a stack of leadership and personal growth books around your home. Do you still feel stuck? Are you looking to start that new business, transform your career, really thrive? The last year of my life has been transformed, in large part due to my experience with a Mastermind group. I will share my experience and share the secret formula for lasting change and growth.

After over 25+ years as a physician executive in a variety of leadership roles, I pivoted to a new career, as a physician leadership coach that focuses on helping others excel in their careers. I was excited to make this change, but also faced uncertainty and I needed to gain new skills. As a lifelong learner, I enrolled in an executive coaching program and left with new knowledge and skills that prepared me to be a coach. Then reality hit – how was I going to establish my own business?! I was not an entrepreneur and definitely not skilled in marketing, especially myself.

Thankfully in my coach training program, I met some wonderful people from different professional backgrounds yet we all had a shared a common goal of starting our own coaching business. One member suggested we form a Mastermind group and 6 of us embarked on a game changing journey. A Mastermind Group is a facilitated group of peers who share a common area of growth or purpose. Guided by a facilitator coach the group meets on a regular basis. Each individual brings a question or problem they are facing in moving forward with their goal to the “hot seat” where they receive ideas, insights, best practices and brainstorming from the peer network. The individual then decides what ideas and advice to apply to their problem and are supported with accountability of their peers to move forward. Check out our info page with FAQ to learn more.

So back to my story. My first hurdle was realizing where to start. Each of us started in different places, with different timelines for what we wanted to achieve but the key was we were all on the same journey. We set 90 day individual goals and weekly learned from each other and had accountability so we ALL made forward progress.

The second 90 days we decided to all work from a strategic perspective in establishing our businesses and focused on vision, mission, values and goals. While I knew how important this was I have to be honest if left to my own accord I would have made a to do list and started checking off tasks. Worse I would have procrastinated the tasks I didn’t like or didn’t have the skills or resources. My Mastermind colleagues saved me week after week not letting me slack, providing knowledge, insights and feedback where I needed it. Every week I left the “hot seat” energized and with pages full of notes of resources, tips, new ideas because I was not just learning what I needed that moment but learning from others in their requests. My entrepreneur “learning curve” was drastically accelerated. More so I built confidence at a rate I have never done in my career. I made decisions faster and with more surety and developed new habits for sustained success. And when I had setbacks or my internal saboteurs acted out my Mastermind group got my head back in the game with their encouragement and support.

We continue to meet biweekly over a year later. We have supported one another through major job changes, health crises, family issues and to the individuals we are today. I know I wouldn't be alone in providing testimony that we couldn’t have achieved what we have without being part of this amazing Mastermind. The biweekly meetings are the most productive 90 minutes I spend that actually move my goals forward. My life is richer on so many levels, my business is developing at a pace I didn’t think imaginable with a creativity magnified by the insightful input of my trusted inner circle. My decision making has confidence because I leverage the brilliance and experience of my colleagues. The accountability is empowering and pushed me to advance at a pace and level of innovation I would have never found on my own.

As a long time educator, highly skilled in leading change, large and small, I wish I knew about the Mastermind concept earlier in my career. While I look back on all the leadership programs, academies, and conferences I attended, the endless books and articles I read I now see clearly what was missing to advance me to that next level. It was the advice, coaching, encouragement and accountability of a Mastermind group that I trusted and who shared similar goals. And as empowering as it has been for my career what I enjoy most is knowing each meeting I am helping my colleagues who have become trusted friends.

My story captures what the founder of the Mastermind concept, Napolean Hill, recorded in a 1960’s multi-part television series sharing his Master Keys to Success principles. In this show he stated the following.

“First of all, it is the principle through which you may borrow and use the education, the experience, the influence, and perhaps the capital of other people in carrying out your own plans in life. It is the principle through which you can accomplish in one year more than you could accomplish without it in a lifetime if you depended entirely on your own efforts for success.”

Are you ready to stop going it alone? Are you looking for that trusted inner circle to help you make the decisions and changes you need to find the success and happiness you desire? Reach out and let’s talk.