EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey

My wife and I attended Dave Ramey’s EntreLeadership 1-Day seminar in Dallas on March 11th. This is an intensive series of lessons which is a highly condensed version of his 5-day intensive EntreLeadership Master Series.

EntreLeadership was born out of Dave’s need to develop leaders within his organization. His team was at a point where it was expanding and bringing on new people. Skilled leaders were needed to bring these new team members into the fold and help them succeed. He asked for volunteers to stay after work for an hour a couple times a week. During that time he went over leadership principals and shared vision with those who volunteered.

One day, someone in the group asked if a relative could join in. Later someone else, seeing the value in what Dave was teaching, asked if their pastor could sit in on the sessions. Soon there were more non-employees than employees in attendance. It didn’t take long to figure out there was a genuine need for the information he was putting out.

This leadership training grew into a 3-day seminar in Nashville and eventually evolved into the Master Series held a couple times a year.

The information presented is also the way Dave runs his business; one he grew from a small thing rnn on a card table in his living room to a multi-million dollar enterprise. He’s bound to have learned something along the way.

The 1-day seminar was divided up into seven chapters:

• EntreLeadership Defined in which he defines what an EntreLeader is. It is a combination of “entrepreneur” and “leader”
• Dreams, Visions, & Goal Setting going over the importance of having dreams, setting visions and putting goals down on paper
• Time Management & Organization
• Financial Peace for the EntreLeader – Did you think there would be a Dave Ramsey class that didn’t cover this?
• Team Math – Adding & Subtracting in which he goes over his own hiring process, which is very detailed and involved, but is also very successful in getting the right people in the right place
• Delegation – A very important and often neglected subject
• Making The Call which explains the importance of being decisive.

It was a little over 5-and-a-half hours of great instruction, information and humorous stories. Much of what Dave taught one can learned from other teachers such as Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell and others. In fact, much of what was presented I had learned in leadership schools I attended in the military.  The part that made it more valuable was Dave sharing his heart, his successful experiences and some huge failures as well. Experience is the best teacher, and, like I tell my kids: It’s easier to learn from others’ mistakes than from your own.

Whether you work in the corporate environment or you own your own business I believe you would benefit greatly from this training. The things you will learn and the inspiration you will get is well worth the relatively small cost and taking a day or two off to invest in yourself.

Random Quotes
Some of these may be Dave quoting someone else. If I miss a proper attribution I apologize in advance. These are from notes I jotted down because they struck a chord in me:

• In your business: “You are the problem. You are also the solution.”
• “Employees come in late, leave early and steal while they’re there. Team members work towards a common goal to win.”
• “Take chances. Do the right thing even when no one else sees it.” (A classic definition of integrity)
• Regarding setting goals: “Be careful what you write down.” You never know what might come true.
• “‘What is the goal of this organization?’ If the team members cannot answer this question, communication and unity are not happening.”

My First Change
One change I’m going to make immediately is to unplug our cable television and cut off the service. We watch way too much T.V. in our home and thus waste a lot of time. I plan to use the time to read more and write more often here and in my other two blogs.

Dave, like many other business leaders, highly recommends reading. When I was younger I was a voracious reader, but got out of the practice when I married and started having children. I’m going to pick up the habit again in earnest. As one of my first written goals, I’m going to make a list of books I want to read by the end of the year. Less time spent watching T.V. will go a long way to help me reach this goal.

If you’re interested in attending Dave’s EntreLeadership training, you can get more information on his web site: EntreLeadership.

Update, May 23, 2011: It’s interesting to me that this article continues to be one of the highest read items on the site. Obviously, there’s a lot of interest in this topic. For those who want to learn more and haven’t yet caught one of Dave’s live or simulcast EntreLeadership events, his book on the topic will be released on September 20, 2011.

Update, September 21, 2011: Dave’s Book was released yesterday. You can order it for immediate delivery either in print or Kindle edition:

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey (Amazon Affiliate Link)

Tagged as: communications, Dave Ramsey, leadership