Executive TLDR
Set impossible goals and commit fully—no Plan B.
Develop a positive attitude, discipline, and relentless work ethic.
Simplify the complicated and create a competitive edge.
Build ownership, praise people, and lead with heart.
Winners “do it” consistently until the job gets done.
Video Summary
Impossible Goals Change Everything
In this high-energy keynote, Art Williams lays out a blueprint for changing your life and your business.
His message is clear:
If your goals don’t scare you, they’re too small.
When he launched AL Williams in 1977 with just 85 people, the mission was outrageous:
Change the life insurance industry
Beat industry giants
Create financial independence for ordinary families
And they did.
Coach, Not Boss
Williams draws from his football coaching background:
Nobody wants a boss.
Everybody needs a coach.
Bosses intimidate.
Coaches motivate.
Bosses look for weakness.
Coaches look for strengths.
Great leaders build belief. They don’t crush it.
Character Over Credentials
AL Williams attracted people who were:
Overlooked
Underrated
Told they weren’t “supposed” to win
Williams rejects the idea that IQ scores, backgrounds, or status determine destiny.
“No test can measure the heart of a champion.”
The Power of an Edge
To win in free enterprise, you need:
A better product
A better price
A better delivery system
Williams studied competitors obsessively and simplified a bloated industry. While others sold complicated, high-cost products, AL Williams focused on one simple concept: buy term and invest the difference.
Simplify the complicated.
Study the competition.
Exploit inefficiency.
Positive Attitude Is Everything
Williams calls positive attitude the most important trait in business.
You can overcome:
Financial problems
Sales problems
Recruiting problems
But you cannot overcome a bad attitude.
“People won’t follow a negative, dull, disillusioned crybaby.”
Winners stay excited—forever.
Discipline and Doing a Little More
Discipline is doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it.
The difference between a $50,000 earner and a $500,000 earner?
The higher performer does everything required—and a little bit more.
One more call
One more minute
One more effort
That extra margin compounds over time.
Passion Comes From Purpose
Williams’ passion was personal.
His father died underinsured.
He saw families suffer because of bad financial advice.
That emotional fuel drove him through rejection and setbacks.
You don’t win with your head.
You win with your heart.
He echoes leadership wisdom from figures like Vince Lombardi:
Heart power wins.
Ownership Changes Behavior
AL Williams gave people ownership—building their own business inside the company.
Ownership creates:
Pride
Protection
Long-term thinking
When people feel they own something, they fight for it.
Reward, Punish, Repeat
Long-term goals require short-term accountability.
Williams used clear performance standards in both coaching and business:
Hit the goal → reward
Miss the goal → adjust and push harder
No excuses. No shortcuts.
Praise and Recognition
Recognition is the most powerful form of motivation.
Williams became known for simple rewards—like $2.50 T-shirts—but the real reward was belief and acknowledgment.
People crave to feel valued.
Balance and Commitment
He emphasizes balance:
Faith first
Family second
Business third
But also total commitment.
To win big, you must burn the bridges. No Plan B.
The Core Message: Just Do It
The defining difference between winners and losers?
Winners do it.
They:
Keep calling the play
Push past rejection
Stay positive
Act without waiting for perfect conditions
“Almost” wins nothing.
Winners execute until the job is done.
FAQs
1. Who is Art Williams?
Art Williams is the founder of AL Williams and a pioneer of the “buy term and invest the difference” financial strategy.
2. What is the main theme of the speech?
Set impossible goals, maintain belief, and execute relentlessly.
3. What does “buy term and invest the difference” mean?
Purchase inexpensive term life insurance and invest the savings separately rather than buying cash value policies.
4. Why does Williams emphasize coaching over bosses?
Coaches build strengths and motivate; bosses intimidate and criticize.
5. What does he mean by “heart power”?
Passion and emotional commitment drive sustained success more than logic alone.
6. Why are impossible goals important?
They force growth, belief, and extraordinary effort.
7. What is the role of positive attitude?
It determines resilience and influence; negativity kills momentum.
8. How did AL Williams compete against giants?
By simplifying products, lowering costs, and empowering part-time entrepreneurs.
9. What is the difference between winners and losers?
Winners do what’s required consistently until results appear.
10. What does ownership create in a team?
Pride, responsibility, and long-term commitment.
11. Why is discipline critical?
Because consistent execution compounds into major results.
12. What leadership lesson came from football?
Preparation, toughness, and refusing to quit determine outcomes.
13. How does recognition impact performance?
Praise increases motivation and emotional investment.
14. Why does he reject IQ and background as predictors of success?
Because determination and belief outweigh natural ability.
15. What is the message about time?
Life is short—commit fully before it passes.
16. What does “burn the bridges” mean?
Eliminate fallback options so commitment becomes absolute.
17. What role does balance play in success?
Spiritual life, family, and business must align for lasting fulfillment.
18. What does “almost” represent?
Settling short of full execution—where most people fail.
Glossary
Buy Term and Invest the Difference
A financial strategy advocating low-cost term insurance paired with independent investing.
Ownership Mindset
Operating as if the business is yours, increasing responsibility and commitment.
Heart Power
Emotional conviction and passion that fuel persistence.
Impossible Goals
Ambitious targets that require extraordinary effort and belief.
Positive Attitude
A consistent, optimistic mindset that influences performance and leadership.
Discipline
Doing what must be done when it must be done, regardless of feelings.
Recognition
Public praise and acknowledgment used to reinforce positive behavior.
Competitive Edge
A strategic advantage gained by better product, price, or execution.
Transcript:
Check out this amazing video (originally by @Entreleadership on YouTube). We loved repurposing it for our audience! Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dave. I love Dave Ramsey, one of the giants in our country. You know, when I talk to my team, I coach football in Georgia for seven years, and then I coached AL Williams for 20 years. And when I said, you know what? They answered back, what? And so it would encourage me when I say, you know what? If you would say what? You know what? You got it. Okay. I’m going to talk to you about how to change your life and how to do something absolutely incredible in business. I mean, I was a football coach, graduated in college with a PE degree, the kind of person that’s not supposed to make it in business. And I found out a lot of things about winning in business, the real important things to winning in business.
A lot of these people that write books that ain’t ever done nothing, but they try to tell you how to do it. That’s a pile of know. Going to college and listening to these professors that ain’t ever done nothing tell you how to build a business. A pile of know. Only when you’ve done it like Dave Ramsey do you know the little things, the real small things that are difference between winning big and just being average and ordinary. And I’m going to cover with you today the real small things and important things that you need to do to win big in business. So you know what I believe? Nobody wants a boss, but everybody needs a coach. Bosses intimidate. Coaches motivate. Bosses look for your weakness. Coaches look for your strengths. Bosses criticize you. Coaches praise you.
The number one theme that we had in a. AL. Williams was, I want to be somebody. I wanted to be somebody so bad, it just ate me up inside. It was in my bones, it was in my blood. It was in my heart. I want to be somebody. Those five little words were important to those a. AL Williams people. It hit a nerve for anybody that wanted to make a difference with their life. There was a goodness in a. AL Williams. There was a goodness that drew the right kind of people to us. We believed you had a responsibility to do what’s right. We believed your reputation was everything. If you don’t do what’s right, you might get by for one day, one week, one month, one year, but sooner or later, they’re going to smell you out. A. O.
AL Williams believed that character was more important than education. We believed that morals was more important than status. We cared more about determination than ability. People who joined a. AL Williams saw that were built for people that grew up tough, for people that had a number of disappointments in their life for people that wanted their life to be special. I hate these big companies and these big liberal universities that tried to program people like me to believe that it’s the winners of the pretty people, these people that have the perfect bodies. You know, they’re 6ft, 2185 pounds, slim three piece suits, wing tip shoes, power ties, beautiful teeth, beautiful smile, great tennis players. That’s a bunch of crowd. They have these perfect backgrounds. You know, these people put this out.
There that if you’re born on the.
Right side of the tracks, if you’re born rich, you’re the privileged class, you’re supposed to go to college, you’re supposed to get all the good jobs. If you’re born from a poor, average, ordinary background like me, that you must give up all your big dreams and all your big ambitions. If you have a high iq, they rule you brilliant. If you have an average iq like me, they say you’re supposed to drive a truck or be a janitor.
Will bull.
People are judged by how high they score. An aptitude test, personality test, achievement test and crap like that. Ain’t nobody ever designed a test. Or will they design a test that.
Can measure the heart of a champion?
I believe. You know what? You know what? I believe people want three things. Really deep in their heart, they want three things. They want to be their own boss. They want to be their own boss. Number two, they want to work at something they love, something they believe in, something they’re passionate about. And number three, they want to build total financial independence for them and their families, where nobody can put their thumb.
On you and squeeze you and use you, where you can tell everybody out.
There to take a flying leap if you want to. And AL Williams provided for its people. Those three things. February 10, 1977. AL Williams was born. Just a peanut. 85 people in one city, in one state. The enemy was 250,000 peoples in every city, in every state. Our weapon was by term and invest the difference in an IRA. Our motto is a company where salespeople are king. See, folks, I really believe the first step to winning is you got to have impossible goals.
Big goals. Listen to these goals.
We had at AO, where were just a peanut. 85 of us in one city, one state, fighting the largest, most powerful industry in the world. Our number one goal was to change the largest industry in the world and destroy cash value life insurance. That’s impossible.
Can you imagine a little peanut?
85 people, just like this, first two rows right here, talking about changing the largest, most powerful industry in the world. Number two, we wanted to become number one. There were 2000 companies in that industry and we wanted to be prudential. 40,000 agents versus our 80, 519, 77. We were born, they were born in 1864. It’s just like if I were some of you right now, I mean, if I had to target a company I’d like to really go after right now that reminds me of prudential is Starbucks. They’re the most overpriced, overblooded pile of crap, I think, out there in their business. So number three, our goal was to see our families become financially independent. Now folks, can you imagine? I started off making $4,600 a year.
My last year, 7th year in coaching football in Georgia, I was paid $10,700 as head coach and athletic director.
Can you imagine how impossible that goal seemed to me, to become financially independent.
To change my family financial future for generations? Folks, when we founded AL Williams in 1977, I told every new recruit in our company for two years. I spoke at every meeting like this for two years in AL Williams. And I said, I want you to know if you’re going to join AL Williams, I want you to understand upfront going in this thing that the ods are like this, of us surviving.
I’m not talking about beating prudential, I’m not talking about changing an industry, I’m not talking about becoming financially independent. I’m talking about the ods are like this, of us surviving.
But if you asked me, said, art, be honest with me, tell me how you really feel. I got to tell you, I feel it.
I feel it.
I feel it in here. I think we’re going to do it, and I think it’s going to be big. You know, being somebody is seizing the moment. Winston Churchill said it best. He said, there comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission, a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness. It is his finest hour. In 1977, the life insurance industry owned 60% of the assets in the United States. They owned the politicians and they owned the regulators. They had been in business over 100 years. They did everything they could possibly do to put AL Williams out of business. But the industry had to defend things that were indefensible. They had to defend selling a fraud.
They sold a cash value life insurance product, whether it was called whole life or universal Life or any of that stuff out there. There were two benefits locked together in one contract, insurance and savings. In one contract, you paid for two things, but you only got one. If you died. Your family got the life insurance benefits, but they kept your savings. If you wanted your savings, you had to surrender your life insurance. Al Williams separated that split funding, we called it, where you bought an insurance, cheap term insurance from an insurance company, and you invested with an investment company. You paid for two things, and you got both things. Next, they had to defend. You lose your savings if you die. Let me ask you this.
What kind of low life, scum sucking.
Dog could create a product like that, a savings program?
You lose if you die. They had to defend prudentials average size benefit, like in my family of $4,500. Was there average death benefit? Just a burial policy.
The industry’s average death benefit was $6,000.
Just a burial policy.
They had to defend that 90% of.
Their agents, 90% of those scum sucking dogs owned term insurance on their own life. They bought the inexpensive stuff and sold.
Trash value to their clients. Who could do something like that? See, winning in business, in my opinion, is accomplishing your goals. We had impossible goals, but we did it.
We did it.
Number one, we destroyed trash value. Now, these are the industry numbers. These are not. AL Williams made up numbers from 1977 were born to 2003. The life insurance industry lost 41 million policies.
41 million policies. Ain’t that something?
Ain’t that something from in 1977, 90% of all life insurance sold in these United States was cash value life insurance. Only 10% term. In 2000, and 390 percent of all.
Life insurance sold was term and only 10% cash value. Ain’t that something? See, AL Williams did that. AL Williams did that.
Think about this. In 1977, there were 2000 life insurance companies. In 2003, only 69 companies sold one new policy. Only 39 life insurance companies recruited one new agent.
Ain’t that something? Ain’t that something? Think about this. In ten years, AL Williams grew from 85 people in one city in one state to 225,000 people in every city in every state. The life insurance industry went from 250,000 people to 170,000 people, lost 80,000 people. Ain’t that something? Ain’t that dad gum something? Our number two goal. Now, folks, this is impossible. This is impossible. But you can still do those things today.
But you got to do the important things, and I’m fixed to talk about it in just a minute. Our second goal was to beat prudential, who had been number one forever. But in 1989, AL Williams did $92 billion in business. We beat number two, prudential. Number three, New York life and number four, metropolitan combined.
Ain’t that something? Ain’t that something? See, our number three goal, our number.
Three goal seemed impossible for our families.
Just a bunch of coaches and people.
That had played on a team to build financial independence for their families. And we did it big time. In 13 years, we produced 140,000,000 heirs. Now, back in the were worth something. We had more $100,000 earners. Today, that’s $400,000 than any company in our era. Think about this. In 1988, of the hundred largest companies, 34 were AL Williams team. Our number five, Bob Busan’s team, did $26.7 billion. Number six, prudential, did $26.5 billion.
One of our teams beat Prudential. Ain’t that something? Ain’t that something? See, folks, you got to set impossible goals. You got to set impossible goals. You got to dream big. You got to go out there and do impossible things.
Another key to AO William’s success is we gave our people ownership. See, I believe ownership. Building your own company, like we talked about taking, you know, if some group.
Of people had the courage to come together and go out there and knock their butt off, it’s just unbelievable what you can do.
We gave our people ownership. We gave our people a chance to build their own company within a company. And when people have ownership, they love it more, they protect it more, they try harder. Let me give you a couple of examples. Bob Turley died a few years ago. He had built an army of 16,000 people in 36 states. In Canada, he had a payroll of $145,000,000 a year, $1.4 billion over ten years. And he left that to his son. He’s changed his family for generations. Bob Safford, another great leader in AL Williams, had an army of 19,000 people operating in 38 states plus Canada, had annual cash flow of $110,000,000.10 years, $1.1 billion, and left that to his two sons. And we had dozens more examples like that.
See, I believe to win in the free enterprise system, folks, you got to do two things. Number one, you got to have an edge. You got to have an edge.
You got to have something that you’re.
Better than other people that you’re competing against are. You got to have a better product at a better price and a better delivery system. Now, how do you get that edge? You get that edge by studying the competition. Like, if I was going after Starbucks, I’d know everything about them.
I know them from a to z, and I guarantee you, if you go look at a company like Starbucks that’s.
Got over 3000 coffee crap places and.
That kind of stuff, you can find all kind of things that they’re overblooated on. They got fat and lazy and sorry, right? But you got to take this stuff serious to get an edge. You got to look at the competition and you got to analyze them and study. I studied Prudential, I studied New York life. I studied metropolitan like you can’t believe. And I found out their weakness.
It was just like when I was a football coach and were playing somebody on Friday night, I’d look at those game themes and I’d study those game themes and I’d find the weakness of the opponent. So we studied the game themes and we looked at the life insurance center said the largest industry in the United States, they own 60% of the assets in the United States.
They look so big. Prudential looks so big, they look so powerful, they look so unbeatable. But then when I got in there.
And I looked at them, I found out there were nothing but a paper tiger. I found out the big life insurance companies is like the federal government. They’re fat, lazy, slow and inefficient.
Everything the federal government touches turns to crowd. Let me give you two examples.
FedEx, they have better service and they make a profit. The post office run by the federal government, poor service and they lose money. The competition spent millions and millions of dollars on things we didn’t think were important. As an example in advertising, Prudential spent $68.50 per policy. AL Williams spent four cents in office expenses. Prudential spent $1,383 per policy. AL Williams spent $149 per policy. Equitable took out a full page ad in USA Today and said they spent $220,000 per agent, getting them ready to sell life insurance. AL Williams spent zero. Our part timers paid their own $100 licensing fee. See, AL Williams took all the money we saved by being more efficient and we built a better product for the consumer, and we built more commissions for our sales force. Next to get that edge, we had to simplify the complicated.
When you get as big as Starbucks as an example, it’s like a bureaucracy.
It just gets out of control.
And the life insurance industry was a million times bigger than Starbucks. And we had to find a way to simplify how complicated they made it. Let me give you an example. This is Prudential’s rate book. If you look at, it’s 176 pages.
It’S an inch thick.
This is what they got three series of products. They got the Gibraltar series modified life, three, modified life. Five modified life. Ten modified 25. Ten played light. Up at 85. Economatic whole life paid up at 90. Life paid up at 85. Life paid up at 65. 20 year pay life, ten year pay life co life joint whole life. Now, if you don’t like any of those, they got the state series modified life five citation 50 life paid up at 90. Professional 52 life paid up at 85. Modified life. Three, modified life five, modified life. Ten graded premium whole life. The abbreviator modified life 21 increase in premium life paid up at 90. Modified 25. Ten life paid up at 85. Estate, 25 whole life, economatic whole life, paid up at 90 a life paid up at 65.
20 year pay life, ten year pay life, co life, joint whole life. Now, if you don’t like that, they got the Prucose series, they got variable life waiver premium, appreciable life waiver premium, appreciable life level death benefit, appreciable life variable death benefit, variable appreciable life level death benefit, variable preachable life variable death benefit variable preach life waiver premium. And this is what we got. Our rate book is one page thick. We sell our best product that we own on our own life. Every time you’ve got to get an edge, you’ve got to simplify the complicated. The next thing we had to do is we had to build a better delivery system. See, AL Williams was the first company that built with part timers. We wanted to build an army of part timers and go to the kitchen table and educate the consumer. Now, a.
AL Williams had that edge. Now, the second thing you have to do once you study the competition and get the edge is you got to compete better than the competition in the free enterprise system. You got to get up early and you got to compete hard or you going to get your butt knocked off. And to compete, your attitude is everything.
I believe the single most important thing you develop in your lifetime is a positive attitude. The glass has always got to be half full. You got to expect your people to be positive. You can’t ever let your meetings turn into a gripe session. Positive attitude is everything there is, plus everything there is. Positive people are like a dad gum magnet. People are drawn to them like bees to honey. Folks, I believe you can overcome every problem in business. You can overcome financial problems, sales problems, health problems, business problems, recruiting problems, personal problems. You can overcome everything and still be all you want to be in business. But you can’t ever overcome an attitude problem. The moment you give up on you.
You’Re dead as a doorknob.
Now, if you get this positive attitude, you can’t walk around like a dead butt. You’ve got to show it.
You got to walk faster.
You got to talk faster.
You got to show your excitement about.
What you are doing. See, I believe 90 plus percent of winning is always being excited.
Stamp this in your brain.
People won’t follow or believe in a negative, dull, disillusioned, frustrated, dad gum crybaby. The greatest definition of a winner I ever heard. This person said, almost everybody can stay excited for two or three months. A few people can stay excited for two or three years. But a winner stay excited forever. People want to follow a leader that’s positive, that’s aggressive, that’s enthusiastic, that’s tough.
Another principle I believe in. Winners are disciplined. You’ve got to have standards in your life. You’ve got to have rules. You live by discipline. The definition is doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. I had one rule on my football team, and that was you were going to come to practice every day unless your butt was in the hospital, hooked up to life support, your butt was going to be at practice. And one day were fixing to start practice, and I had my starting right guard, Johnny Campbell, walking out to practice in his blue jeans and a t shirt. And I said, campbell, have you quit?
Have you quit? He said, no, coach.
A beast stung me in my eye. My right eyes closed, and my head’s swollen up. I can’t get the helmet on my head.
And I said, campbell, if you want.
To play on this football team, you get your butt back in the locker room.
You fit that uniform on, you find.
A way to squeeze that helmet over.
Your head, and you get your butt out here to practice. And just think, Campbell, if you can practice with one eye, just think how.
Great you’re going to play Friday night with both eyes.
See? You know what?
You know what?
To win big, you got to have a big dream. You got to have a big vision.
See, I had the privilege of coaching in high school, and I believe for most men and women, their high school years were their peak years to dream and be excited. I’d have these guys and gals come in the 9th grade and their eyes were as big as a baseball. They’d start driving or dating or playing before hundreds of thousands of people. They were in beauty contest on debate teams. They felt like life was a bowl.
Of cherries, that they were put on.
This earth to conquer the world or.
Really be somebody to make a difference.
And then they graduate and they get dumped out in the big, bad world and they get married. They have a few kids, they change jobs a few times. And one day this vibrant, turned on, pumped up human being becomes a shell of a man, and his foot hits the floor and he’s developed an attitude that life’s dealt me a bad hand, that I can’t do it. I just got to give up on all my dreams. See, at. AL Williams, we didn’t sell life insurance. It was so much bigger than that. We gave a different kind of person.
A chance to dream again, a chance to hope again, a chance to get excited again. See, folks, it’s your responsibility as a leader to reach inside your people’s heart, to grab your people’s heart and to help that person get excited again, to believe in themselves again.
I believe you win with your heart, not your head. Coach Lombardi, the great coach of the Green Bay packers, was speaking at his last speaking engagement in Washington, D. C. Before he died of cancer to a group of top executives. And early in his speech, he said, I’m fixed to give you the secret to winning in business. And there was a hush came over the room. You could hear a pin drop. And he said, the secret to winning in football and the secret to winning in business is heart power. You capture the person’s heart. You capture the person. See, folks, the secret is passion. Your passion’s your heart. Your passion’s your mind. Your passion’s your soul. Winning big in business has got to.
Be more than just making money. You’ve got to have a passion. And to get a passion, you got to love it.
Mickey Mantle, the great baseball player with the New York Yankees, said, I love hitting the baseball.
I wake up every day. I’m excited to go out to the ballpark. I love hitting a baseball. Man, when it rains a game out, I get angry because I want to go hit a baseball. I don’t like it. I love it.
He said, if you like something, you’ll never be good at it.
You got to love it.
See, how do you keep a passion.
Once you love it? How do you keep a passion?
By not ever forgetting the things that blow your butt out the water. Let me give you two examples. I never got over what they did to my mama. My daddy died at age 48 of a heart attack, and he was sold too little of the wrong insurance. And I had two younger brothers still at home with my mother. I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to punish them. I had the daddy of one of my football players. I was making $4,600 a year, assistant coach in Thomasville, Georgia. I had a wife and two kids. And he said, art, I want to come talk to you about insurance. I knew I needed insurance, and so I said, sure, come on. And I didn’t want to know anything about insurance. I didn’t want to know anything about investments. All I was interested in is football, right?
And so he sits there and he talks to me about insurance, and he says, how much can you afford? And I said, $20 a month. And he sold me a $10,000 whole life policy. And I found out a couple of years later he could have sold me $150,000 of insurance. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to punish him. Don’t ever forget the things that gave your passion. Another principle I learned is you always got to learn to do a little bit more. I learned this 40 years ago in AL Williams from two of my vice presidents in Dallas, Texas. On the outside, both looked the same. They were the same age, they were the same sex. But one made $500,000 a year and one made $50,000 a year. And I started studying, and I said, man, why such a difference?
They both do everything you’re supposed to. They both are loyal to the company. They work hard, they make money, they.
Save money, they treat their people good. On the outside, everything looks the same. But what does a $500,000 a year person do?
The $50,000 a year person doesn’t do the $500 a year person does everything he’s supposed to. And a little bit more. He works hard and a little bit more, he makes money a little bit more. He saves money a little bit more. Three years ago, I had back surgery, and I had a partial knee replacement, and I became a swimmer. I swim every day from an hour to 2 hours. I swim time. I don’t swim. Laughs and I probably hadn’t missed five days of swimming in the last four years. And, folks, when I get to that hour mark, let’s say I’m swimming an hour today. It’s so programmed in me. For 40 years, I’ve done this. It’s so programmed in me. When I get to that hour, the finish line, I always go, another three.
Minutes, another five minutes. If you want to win in this life, you got to do what you’re supposed to and a little bit more. And you can’t ever stop at the finish line.
Let me give you another example about being tough. In my five years as a head football coach, I never had to call time out and drag one of my players off the field. I told my players, I said, listen, football is not a team game. It isn’t an eight. Football is a game between you and that guy in the wrong color jerseys right across from you, and somebody’s going to win, you or him. And the first four plays of the game are critically important.
You got to hit him hard and.
Show him who’s boss. And then from there on, you look.
For every weakness and you can’t ever show hurt. You can’t ever show doubt. You can’t ever show quit.
I never let one of my teams take a knee during a timeout. I said, on a timeout, you turn.
Around and you look at that guy, you see him on his knee, you see him take his helmet off, see how much he’s sweating. You see how much water he drinks. You know he’s sucking eggs. Hit him hard and we chalk him up.
Now, we pray before every game. We pray before every game. And it’s a sincere player that nobody on either team would get hurt. That’s not the purpose of sports. But right when our kids in the locker room came in to dress for the game and exit the back door to board the bus to go to the stadium to do battle, I had a giant board, and it was a knockout chart. And our goal was to the referees in the third quarter were going to have to raise their hands and say, look, those folks ain’t got nobody that wants to keep on playing.
And our goal was to knock them out.
In our championship year, we had 49 knockouts to nothing, to zero. And I would tell the players they’re down there working out an hour before the game and then 20 minutes before the kickoff, the players always go to the dress room for the last minute instructions. I told my players this for five years. I said, now, fellas, you saw me talking to the refs tonight. And I told them, I said, Mr. Ref, you see those guys in the wrong color jersey down there? They don’t love it like my guys. They’re not as tough as my guys. Mr. Ref, I’ve never had to pick up one of my guys and drag them off the field.
And I want you to know, on.
Friday night, I wear my nice, clean clothes to the game.
And if one of my guys get hurt, I’m not going to go out there and get all his blood and.
Sweat and all that crap all over my clothes. You’re going to have to move the.
Ball to the other side of the.
Field and play a little bit till.
He can walk himself, get to crawl, and get off the field.
Now, folks, if one of my players had got hurt, I’d have been the first one out there, but they didn’t know it, so they didn’t get hurt. My first two years. My first two years, when I went in business, all I heard was, no.
No, I don’t want any. No, thank you. No.
And it was killing me. But two years later, I paid a death claim. I took a woulda and two children, a check for $150,000. And if it not been for me.
And my company and my toughness, they’d.
Have had to try to live on $10,000.
And my whole world changed. I said, wow, I thought this thing worked. The numbers proved to me that buy.
Term and invest the difference was the best way to go.
But now I see a real live situation where a family’s in desperate crisis, and this stuff really works.
But you know what? You know what?
People kept saying, no, thank you.
And you know what? See, I forgot that 95% of the.
People I went to see said, yes, thank you. And so I developed. I changed my attitude. I said, look, all you can do is all you can do. You can’t do no more than all you can do, right? I mean, I can’t do no more than sell what’s right? I can’t do no more than sell what I own on my own life, right? So when I walk in a house, I can’t pay the premium for the people, right? I can’t make the decision for them, right? They got to pull their own little red wagon, right? So all you can do is all you can do. You can’t do no more than all you can do, right?
But all you can do is enough. You got to keep being positive. You got to keep being positive and have a can do attitude. The worst two words in the english language is, I can’t. I was watching our kids in the weight room for a few weeks one year, and I kept hearing these guys say, I can’t. Maybe they wanted to get in a 300 pound club, and they’d get it almost up here, and they’d say, I can’t. The spotters would take the weight and put it on the rack, and I.
Said, wow, that’s our problem.
And I called an emergency meeting the next day, and I got all my team together in the locker room down there.
And I said, fellas, I’m passing a law today. You can’t ever say I can’t. In fact, I’m going one step further. You can’t even think I can’t. And anybody that catches one of my football players saying I can’t, you get to give them three licks with a board.
I had a board about this wide and this long and I had little.
Holes board in the fatty and, you know, so you could really get spleen viscerally, a little butt. And it took me about two or three weeks every year I’d have a kid come down and knock on my door and he had said, coach, he said it, coach, he said it.
And I’d make that other kid bend over and I’d get that kid the board. He’d bust him three times.
And folks, you could not create a word game to get one of my.
Kids to say I can’t.
They’re bringing home a little bit closer.
When art in April, my kids were this little and could understand words. When they said, I can, I made them do three push ups. Stamp this in your brain. A winner is not afraid to fail. A winner is not afraid to fail. In a high school football game, if you’ve got two teams of equal ability, there’s about 120 plays, 60 plays on each team, and 98% of those plays fail.
You’re going to fumble the ball, you’re.
Going to make a yard or two, you’re going to lose a yard or two, you’re going to drop a pass.
And if you really study football, you’re.
Going to find that four or five.
Plays are the difference in winning and losing. But see, every player on that team knows when he’s in that huddle. He knows that 98% of those plays are not going to work. But he also knows that the next play might be one of those four or five plays. So the team that wins is going to give it everything they got, leave it all on the field 120 times. You got to keep calling to play. Most of the things you do in business don’t work like it’s supposed to. You just got to keep calling to play.
Let me give you another leadership principle. Reward and punish. See, you got to have long range goals, like I talked about earlier, these goals that seem impossible, you got to have long range goals. But then you got to have a plan to get there with short range goals. In football, my long range goal was to win a state championship. But in order to get there, we had short range goals every week. We’d go out on Thursday in shorts and we’d loosen up and then I’d take them up to the classroom and go over our goals and this was our goals for five years as a.
Head coach, that if you go out.
There tomorrow, fellas, and you really get after it and we have a great offensive effort and beat them by 21 points or we hold them scoreless and win, we’re going to go out in shorts on Monday. And you know, you former football players, they’re not a greater feeling in the world than go out there and win.
And then you go out on Monday and you put those shorts on and you’re prancing around and your little girlfriend sitting up there on the heel watching you out, man, that’s the ultimate, right? But I said, listen, if you go out there tomorrow and you slop it up and you just give a half butted effort and you win, but you don’t beat them by 21 points and you don’t hold them scoreless, we going to go out in pads. We got to punish ourselves because we got to get better.
And if you lose, I’ll see you Saturday morning. My first year in business, my long range goal was to build financial independence for me and my family. And my short range goals to punish myself till I got there was Monday through Friday. My goal was to have five sales and three recruits Monday through Friday. If I met that goal then I took off on Saturday and Sunday and spent it with my family. If I didn’t make those goal by Friday, I worked on Saturday. If I didn’t make it by Saturday, I worked on Sunday. Folks, there’s no easy way to the top.
You’ve got to reward and punish yourself.
To be a great leader, you’ve got to be a great motivator. Always remember, the most powerful form of motivation is praise and recognition. In the early days of a. AL Williams we didn’t have any money and we became famous for our t shirts. I would go out and spend two and a half dollars on a t.
Shirt and I’d put, I am a stud.
I am somebody.
Play like a champion. Just do it.
I’ve literally seen grown men and women cry at a meeting that were making two and $300,000 a year, not get.
One of those little two and a.
Half dollar t shirt. They would go back to their room.
They couldn’t sleep at night. They’d beat the head against the wall and cry all night. See folks, you’re never too old and you’re never too young to be praised and recognized. People are starving in this world today for recognition. It’s the most powerful form of motivation in the world.
Let me give you an example that just happened to us in Highlands, North Carolina, where we spend the summer. We own an inn and a spa called Old Edwards Inn up there. And we built an indoor swimming pool for the city, a really beautiful indoor swimming pool. And they have a swimming coach from Clemson. I met a Clemson guy in here a while ago, but a Clemson swimmer is the swimming coach at Highlands, North Carolina right now. Four years ago, they had four people on their swim team. So we build this beautiful indoor swimming pool. And I said, coach, I want to put a wall of fame board on the end of the swimming pool down here. And he said, coach, me, coach? Said, coach, don’t you think they’re a little too young? 810 years, twelve years, 15 year old kid.
I said, you don’t get too young. You can’t ever motivate kids enough, right? Hey, this year, four years later, to get on that wall of Fame, you had to go to the Junior Olympics. You had to go to the Junior Olympics.
Last year, it was in Detroit, Michigan. We had 66 swimmers come out for the swim team, and we have twelve.
Swimmers go to the junior Olympics and.
Get their name on the wall of Fame.
If you want to win in this business, if you want to win in this world, in business, you’ve got to become an expert on praise and motivation.
So, see, I believe being somebody is being an example and a doer, not just a thinker and a talker. I own an inn in spa, Hollands, North Carolina, old Edwards Inn, like I said. And I want all of our employees to feel like a family, to feel important, like we tried to do at AL Williams. Let me just give you four example. I handwrite a letter every day. Every day I handwrite a letter to one, we got 500 employees now to one of our people and tell them I love them, I appreciate them, and thank you for what you do. Number two, I instructed all our 500 employees to call me art or call me coach, not Mr. Williams. I told each one of them, I said, you’re much more important to this business than I am.
And number three, I don’t want to see teammates shaking hands. You don’t do that to a teammate. Somebody you go to work with every day, for heaven’s sake, shake the darn hands. I want you to give them a high five, or I want you to hug them. I want old Edwards to become a hugging company. And I would go around every week. Every week.
I do this every week.
And I give every leader in old Edwards a cookie or a piece of candy and just hug them and tell them I love them and tell them I appreciate them. See, I wanted to create an environment where we are a Family. You’re my teammate, you’re my friend, and you know what? You know what? See, it’s not the cookie, it’s not the candy. It’s not the letter. That was important. It was my heart. It was me showing our people that they’re important to me, that they’re special to me, that they’re special to this company. See, folks, I believe the difference in being a somebody and being a nobody is people that are somebody’s have a special kind of belief in themselves.
They have a change the world kind of desire and determination. Their attitude is bringing on the tougher, the better. They understand you don’t get what you want or what you’d love to have. Life gives you what you’ll accept. If you’ll accept being average and ordinary, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. Somebody’s expect to win. They demand for themselves. They demand for themselves happiness and success and fulfillment. They always have a can do attitude.
Somebody’s really believe in their heart that they’re supposed to be somebody. A somebody would be the most surprised person in the world if they wound up a nobody. I had a coach, my only hero in life, where there was somebody important to me. My only hero in life was my high school coach. In every way. I was just a little bit better than average athlete, just a little bit better than average student. But Coach Taylor saw something in me I didn’t know I had. Coach Taylor made me feel like I’d do something important in my life. He made me feel like I was different, that I was special, that I would make a difference with my life. And you know what? You know what? I found out one thing about life. Nobody has ever accomplished anything significant on their own. Think about this, folks.
Nobody has ever accomplished anything significant on their own. They always had somebody, some one person, some adult like Coach Taylor to me.
Who cared about them, who saw something.
Special in them, who believed in them.
I wanted to be that someone at a. AL Williams. I wanted to be that someone that was always there in the toughest times, encouraging them, fighting with them, pushing them forward, never giving up on them. I wanted to be that someone that was willing to invest time one on.
One, building relationships, building friendships that would last a lifetime. See, I believe, coaches believe that you practice until perfect coaches believe you practice until you can’t fail. I believe you win by outworking the enemy. Gary player, the great hall of fame golfer from South America that’s won more international golf tournaments than anybody in the history of golf. He said, you know, I’ve played golf in every civilized country in the world, and I find out that people are the same everywhere. People have the same desires, ambitions everywhere.
And I always have.
These guys and gals come up to me after I play around.
They say, gary, I love watching you hit a golf ball, man. I love watching you hit a golf ball. I’d give anything if I could do golf ball like you.
And he said, one day I had a particularly bad round. And somebody said that, and I turned around, I said, no, you wouldn’t. No, you wouldn’t.
You’d give anything to hit a golf.
Ball like me if it was easy.
But see, nothing good comes easy. You know what you got to do to hit a golf ball like me? You got to get up at 05:00 in the morning, you go down, you hit a thousand golf balls. You hit so many golf balls that your hand starts bleeding. Then you run up to the clubhouse, you wash that blood off your hand, you slap a bandage on it, and you go down, you hit another thousand golf balls. Yeah, you’d love to hit a golf ball like it was me, if it was easy. Well, nothing good comes easy.
All I ever wanted to do as a young boy was be a football coach. Now, stamp this in your brain. See your players live up to your expectations of them. See, if you see your player as a dud, he’s going to turn out to be a dud.
If you see your player as a.
Loser, he’s going to turn out to be a loser.
Let me give you an example.
If you want a wide receiver, that’s six four runs a 4440, but your wide receiver is five eight. That runs a 4840.
You got to look at him as an all American. You got to make him believe you think he’s an all American, that you wouldn’t trade him for anybody.
My first head coaching job was in a town that hadn’t had a winning season in 20 years. The last two years had won one game and lost 19. I went to all the clubs around town. I went to the school and I said, we’re through losing. I guarantee I’m a winner and we going to win. Beginning this year, I had 75 players come out for spring practice. After one week, were down to 17 or 18 players. I lost my first two quarterbacks. We were going to have a spring game against last year’s old, sorry seniors that had won one game in two years. Only time I ever did this, never did it again. And they came up Thursday and I issued them uniforms. They hadn’t practiced. We’d been practicing for four weeks. I thought we’d beat 100 and nothing. The whole town comes out.
They were going to see the savior of the football program and they were excited and all that crap. And I sit there on a 50 yard line, said, this is going to be a joke. We’re going to beat them like a drum. And they beat us. And I got lower and I said, my life’s over. There’s no way I can recover from this. Who would hire a football coach like me? And I went home and I cried and I moped around all weekend. And then Sunday afternoon, I looked in the mirror and I was ashamed of Art Williams. I said, shame on you. Yeah, you’re playing in a tough league. Yeah, you only got 17 or 18 kids, but they believed in you and.
They did everything you ask.
And I called the next morning, I went up to the principal’s office and I got on the intercom system and I called all the football players down to the gym and I said, fellas, when I came here, I told you this was the greatest opportunity of our life because nobody except the town and the school thinks we going to win. As great as I thought it was, it’s 100 times greater today because nobody, even our town and our school don’t think we’re going to win. The only people that think we going to win are the people in this room.
But I ain’t nothing but a stud and I know how to win. And I’m going to teach you how to win.
The first thing I did, greatest thing I ever did in my life, my business life or my coaching life is I brought each one of those players in and I started talking to them about their goals and their dreams and what they wanted to do and how a bunch of football meant to them. And I found out something unbelievable, that I was looking at most of these kids and say it and comparing them to some of the kids I’d coached before at a better football school. And I was looking at them at what they didn’t have and I said, wow, every one of these kids, they have some good stuff.
They had some good stuff. And I started at that moment, folks, I started praising their strengths and not criticizing their weaknesses. And all that ragtag bunch of players did was give me the greatest coaching thrill of my life. Six months later, on that same field where those SaR seniors beat us, we beat the number one team in the state of Georgia. Now, listen.
Now you know what? I’m about through, so hang in here with me. You know what one of my great life lessons is? I preach balance. Like Dave said in the introduction. See, I wanted our people to win in all areas of their life, their spiritual life, their family life, and their business life. The first company I went with was Itt. And my first people that I admired in business were these vice presidents that were making six figure income, and they were traveling around on airplanes and motivational speaking and all that kind of crap. And I said, man, if I could ever get to be one of those people, that’s all I’d want out of life. And I met, a couple of years later, I got promoted, and I met those people on a personal basis, and I was devastated.
So many of them were alcoholics, and they’d been divorced two and three and four times. And I said, man, if that’s the price you got to pay to be successful in business, it’s not worth it. And I began to preach, and I tried to be an example. I failed a bunch of having balance in your life. I believe God should come first, your family second, and business third. And it’s hard. It’s hard. But I tried to help our people win in all areas of their life. To win big. Listen to me, folks, to win big, you got to make a total commitment to one thing. I mean, a total commitment to one thing. You got to burn all your bridges. There can’t be any plan b. See, most people fail because they run out of time.
See, it takes 20 to 30 years to win in business. And most people keep changing and keep.
Changing and keep changing, and they’re no.
Longer 2535-4555 you know, somebody once said, and I believe it’s true, I turned 77 last Friday. They say the biggest surprise in life is old age. See, folks, you’re here on this earth for a flicker. It’s scary. You’re here on this earth for flicker. I don’t feel 77. I fell in love with my wife in the second grade.
I remember that just like yesterday. I remember suiting up in high school just like yesterday, having my first baby, just like yesterday. Got 14 grandbabies, great grandbabies right now. I mean, you’re here on this earth for a flicker. See, it’s not going to be long. They’re going to be planting me in the ground out there, and they’re going to be platting me in the face with a shovel. And there’s going to be a tombstone over my head. And it’s going to say one of two things. Here lies a stud or here lies a dud. Now, folks, let me ask you this. What’s your tombstone going to say about you?
What’s your tombstone going to say about you? You’re here for a flicker. Time’s running out. My last principle. Almost everybody does almost everything you need to do to win.
Almost everybody gets there. Almost everybody’s over the hump. Almost everybody has it going. Almost is a way of life to almost everybody. But the winners, they do it. What do they do? They do whatever it takes to get the job done. They do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. We need leaders who can do it. If you want to become somebody, do it. If you want to become financially independent, do it. I hear too much talk around AL Williams. You need to do it and then talk. I hear people say, art, you can count on me. Great. Just do it, Art. I’m going to be a sales leader in 30 days. Wonderful. Just do it, Art. Our life underwriter association is going to run all you termites out the business super duper. Just do it. Boy.
Art, if I could just have one good month, I know I could make it big. Great. Just do it, Art. If I could just pay off this debt, I could really go. We’ll do it, Art. If I could just sell my house. Do it. But houses ain’t selling. Do it anyway, Art, I’m not making any money. What can I do? You just do it. Do what, Art? You do it and do it. Art, when I get to be a vice president, can I quit doing it? No, Art. I guarantee I’m going to win this contest. Great. Just do it, Art. I’m over the hump now. Watch my smoke. Wonderful. Just do it, Art. I want to make it so bad I can taste it, what I do. You just do it, Art, I’m hurting.
I don’t know if I can keep on keeping on what I do. You just do it. Do what, Art? You do it and do it. Art. All my life I wanted to be somebody important. We’ll do it then, Art. I’m going to recruit 20 people this month. Wonderful. Just do it, Art. I’m going to save money so I don’t ever have to go through this again. Great. Just do it. I’m hurting, Art. I’m really hurting. What I do. You just do it. Art I don’t feel like I’ve had enough training. What I do, you just do it. Art my manager don’t give me enough help. What I do, you just do it. Art I won every award at my form of company. You don’t mean somebody like me has got to start off down there and do it, do you?
Yep. You really got to do it.
Art what’s the primary difference between winners and losers? The winners do it. They do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. And then they talk about how great it is to have achieved something unique and how glad they are that they didn’t quit like everybody else, and how.
Wonderful it is to finally be somebody they’re proud of. Thank you.
