PODCAST - why aragorn would outperform every business owner
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[00:00:00] Learning Transformed is brought to you by E-Learning Partners, your guide to designing transformational learning experiences in the age of ai. For millennia human intelligence was the highest form of intelligence on earth. Until now. Hi, I'm ai. I can process more information in seconds than any human in a lifetime.
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on this podcast hosted by me. Johnny Ha. We navigate these questions with clarity, creativity, and confidence. As the most adaptable species on the planet, we cannot only survive the rise of [00:01:00] artificial intelligence, but create better human centered, AI powered learning experiences that elevate humanity to a new era of abundance, transformation and meaning
AI is rising. And so are we
Now, let's dive in.
What I've learned that sometimes in order to find inspiration, knowledge, and wisdom, I need to look into my past and see what inspired me. As a kid, well, when I was 11 years old, I was in a small hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico, watching on a TV screen that was bigger deep than it was wide, the Lord of the Rings for the first time, and it completely changed my life.
So as an adult now, [00:02:00] fast forward 25 years later, I look to why did the Lord of the Rings have such a big impact? On me as a kid, and one of those reasons is the importance of the character. My favorite character in Lo the Rings Aragorn, has throughout all three installments of the trilogy and what you and I can learn from.
Aragorn to apply in our businesses and our lives, and that's why today on the show, I'm gonna share with you why Aragorn would outperform any business owner all the way up to Elon Musk if he owned a business today in our world. Now, if you haven't seen the movies, this is gonna have some spoilers throughout the video.
Because I am going to go through scenes, specific scenes during the trilogy where Argo's actions show what you and I can learn and start implementing into our businesses starting today. And [00:03:00] speaking of action, the first thing we can learn from Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings is that he is not afraid.
To take action. Now, Aragorn is a ranger, which means that he is very in tune with the earth. Doesn't really live a very glamorous life. He actually has chosen a life of exile because as we learn and go through these five points that I'm gonna share with you today regarding. What Rago teaches us or what you and I should be doing our businesses today, his journey is that of a Ranger has kind of put himself in exile by himself because he feels ashamed of his family name.
Aragorn is the rightful king to the throne of Gondor, which is the biggest civilization of men, of humans in the world of middle earth. There are multiple civilizations, but Gondor is kind of the big civilization, and he is the rightful king. But instead of [00:04:00] being king, he has taken this other route of exile, which basically means that he's kind of wandering around doing good here and there, and he isn't afraid to take action.
So there's a scene. In the first of the three movies in the Fellowship of the Ring, where Aragorn takes it upon himself to get Frodo safely to Rivendale. Now, the whole movie, the whole movie series is all about a hobbit named Frodo. Hobbit is another species of people that live on Middle Earth and hobbits are known to really stay in the Shire, which is where a very peaceful place.
They kind of farm and they go to the local pub and they kind of very relaxed culture. Well, Frodo is tasked to take the ring of power, which the ring is, was made by this evil sorcerer, soran to rule the world. It has been lost for thousands of years, [00:05:00] and Frodo ends up with it and he's tasked by other characters in the series to take the ring to Mount Doom, which is the only place.
That you can actually destroy the ring. The ring won't be destroyed if you do anything else to it, it has to be thrown into the volcano of Mount Doom. The fires of Mount Doom to destroy Frodo is told that he needs to go to a specific place to meet one of the most famous characters in the whole series.
Gandalf. He is a famous wizard. He is told to go meet Gandalf. At this specific pub, and then Gandalf is gonna take him further so they can start getting some answers about what to ultimately do with the ring. Well, Frodo ends up at this pub and it's, he's been being chased by the evil riders called the nas.
These hooded figures, they've been chasing Frodo. They work for Saron and they're trying to get the ring back [00:06:00] to Saron. So they've been chasing Frodo. Well, Frodo ends up at this pub and he's supposed to meet up with Gandel, but Gandel doesn't show up. But you know who does? Aragorn, also known as Strider.
Now, Strider slash aor, he is in the same pub at the time, and he realizes that Frodo and his friends Sam, and then I'm pretty sure Mary and Pippin are related to him. They're cousins, but they're all friends. They're all Hobbit. They're all friends are traveling together, but they're at this pub. They're there by themselves, and Gandalf is nowhere to be seen, but Aragorn or Strider.
Is there and he knows that they are on a mission of some sort. 'cause it's weird to see them at this pub. This is not a pub that hobbits hang out at. He takes it upon himself to become their guide, to prove that he is trustworthy and he protects them immediately. There's this whole scene that occurs where Frodo tries [00:07:00] on the ring and when he tries on the ring, he becomes invisible and then the ring pops off and it's a bunch of commotion.
And when Frodo puts on the ring, the dark riders, the shadow, we figured riders come after him. They can actually locate him. So Aragorn jumps into action and helps the hobbits, and he actually says that he's going to take them to safety at the Alvin City of Rivendale, which they ultimately, when they get there, they meet up with Gandalf.
So what we can learn from Argo's actions here is. He steps in without being asked. No one asks him to help. He's taking responsibility for these four hobbits just because he knows what their problem is. He knows that they are in danger and he knows that he has the solution. To their prom, so he doesn't wait around.
He takes action. He also acts [00:08:00] before planning every detail they have to keep moving. He knows that where they are isn't safe. He needs to get them to a safe place. He also demonstrates that they're leaders. So you and I. Can demonstrate that we are leaders by showing, by taking action, not by telling. He could have easily said, yeah, you know, I can keep you guys safe and, uh, it'll be cool, you know, we'll keep you guys safe.
No, he literally starts fighting off these hooded figures, these other, these evil, powerful creatures in middle earth. He fights them off to protect four hobbits that he is never met before. But just because he knows that this is what needs to happen. So AOR isn't afraid to take action. So the biggest takeaway here for you and I to implement into our businesses is that decisive action beats perfect planning every time.
Sometimes you just need to take [00:09:00] action and then you can make changes along the way. I was listening to a podcast a couple weeks back, and Tony Robbins is specifically working on a book right now about decision making, about making decisions when. There's two decisions that are equally good, making decisions when you're only 75, 80% sure making decisions when you're less than 75 or 80% sure making decisions because taking decisive action beats perfect planning every time.
Aero Go's decision to help Frodo Sam Marion Pippen get to Rivendale. If he didn't make this decision, there would not have been three movies. If he didn't make this decision, he would not have become King. In the end. There would've been nothing to become king of by making this decision. And hey, Frodo ends up getting stabbed by a poisonous blade.
I'm [00:10:00] simplifying this, a poisonous blade on their way to Rivendale, but he still gets him to Rivendale and he saves Frodo by getting him to Rivendale Decisive action. Beats perfect planning every time I coach and partner with high level entrepreneurs and enterprise business unit leaders. And what I've learned is that when you are looking to launch anything, in this case, e-Learning partners, we do a lot of learning experience, return on investment strategizing.
We look at. What actions can we take to create the biggest ROI, the biggest return for our businesses? By serving our learners, by serving our audience, by serving our learners, could be our customers if we're selling, if. A learning experience, an online course, an educational product or program, or we could be helping our customers by [00:11:00] educating them on one of our other products and services so they can get more value out of it.
Or we could be educating our team members. To make them more efficient and effective at their job so that they can flourish inside of our companies and they can provide the return on investment results that you and your company is looking for. When we're looking at all this, we plan as much as we can.
It is important to take decisive action, to take action, to make a decision to launch that learning experience, to serve your customers, to serve your learners. And what I've done is I've created my free masterclass so that you stop creating the wrong e-learning programs and instead learn how to implement the three pillars.
Of e-learning into your business so that you can save multi six figures per year, just like my enterprise learning accelerator partnership clients do by partnering with [00:12:00] me and so that you can get a return on your e-learning investment just like my VIP coaching clients do. When you take action, you take action from.
Knowing what the result you are looking to get is just like aragorn. His result that he was looking to get was to be a leader. To not be a leader by title, but but a leader by action. And this is the same for you. You could say, I am watching a program or I'm building my business. And you could be a leader by title, but until you do the thing and you serve your people, you serve your customers, and you serve your employees, your team members, then you are not actually a leader.
You are not the person bringing your vision to life, bringing your mission to the world, powerfully serving the people around you. Number two is aragorn is not corrupted by power. This is a really interesting one. So [00:13:00] AOR knows now that Frodo has a powerful ring. He's heard about the ring. His great, great, great, great, great, great.
Lots of greats ancestor. A seal door was the one who initially cut the finger of Soran to release the ring, and it ended up destroying the physical form of Saron thousands of years ago. And AOR is of that blood, and this is why he is also, you know, the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. But what happens next is the seal door takes the ring and he is corrupted by it.
He lets the ring take hold of him. So Aragorn knows this. He knows the stories, he knows how the ring could easily corrupt. Humans, men, and he knows now that Frodo has that ring. Well, Aragorn refuses to be corrupted by the ring of power. Now, still in the first [00:14:00] installment, the first movie of the Lord, the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo actually offers.
The ring to Aragorn. Now, you could argue that Frodo was testing Aragorn and in general, this was just a test that the universe was doing on Aragorn for his moral values. But when Frodo offers Aragorn the ring, he refuses it. And this is the second principle. That you and I need to learn from and can start implementing in our businesses.
Here's what happens. He gently backs away from the temptation. Rather than reaching for power, he reassures frodel. I would've gone with you to the end. Proving loyalty over control. Now this scene, basically what happens is Frodo is about to leave. This is near the end of the first movie and the fellowship that formed in Rivendale.
So AOR got Frodo to Rivendale. In Rivendale, something formed the Fellowship of the Ring, which was the four Hobbits [00:15:00] Aragorn, a elf named Leg Loss, a dwarf named Gimli, a wizard named Gandalf, and another human. Named Bo Mere, who, well, a great character and ultimately good. He was tempted and somewhat corrupted by the ring of power and right before this scene with Aragorn refusing the ring and trusting Frodo, telling Frodo, Hey, you go do it.
I'm gonna take care of. What's going on here? Because they were basically ambushed by orcs, which are these evil minions of the dark. Lord Saron and AOR knows that it's not his place to continue with Frodo. He knows that Frodo, his job, his role is to go and destroy the ring. Aragorn. On the other hand, his role is to continue to support Frodo, to be a collaborator.
I have another YouTube video and podcast episode all about how the Lord [00:16:00] of the Rings teaches you and I how to embrace the concept of who not how. Which is a book written by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan, all about how you have different, who's in your life. Well, Frodo is the star of this whole movie series.
Book series, and Aragorn is a supporting character. He is a collaborator of Frodo. He has his own story arc. He has his own goals, but they align with Frodo's goals. They're both trying to save middle Earth, so he trusts Frodo to go and do the thing. To go destroy the ring and Aragorn knows he has a different path.
He shows trust and loyalty over control. He could have been like, no, I'm gonna take the ring. I'm the rightful heir of Gondor. My great-great-great, great, great, great, great is Il Door is the one who cut the ring. I'm gonna be the one to destroy it. But he knew that Frodo was the right person to destroy the ring.
So Aragorn is not corrupted by power. [00:17:00] What does this mean? This means for you and I that scaling without ego protects the whole company. Aragorn knew his place and he knew that Frodo was the right person, the right who to go on this journey. He knew that he was not the right who. He put his ego aside. He knew that in order for this dream, this vision of evil being destroyed in middle Earth, the only way that was gonna happen is if they each executed their part in this.
Scaling without ego protects the whole company. Same with you and your company. Even if you're run, if you're the only person in your company looking at where you can enlist help, who is better at different things than you? This is why people hire us out [00:18:00] as a partner in my Enterprise Learning accelerator program, organizations will literally pay us a half a million dollars or more.
To help them get the biggest ROI on their e-learning and Learning Experience programs. They do this because our partnership, we are the best at doing this for our clients. I say we because it's not me, it's our entire team At E-Learning Partners. We have the team members in place that empowers us to empower you to be successful.
And that's why we've become partners with my Enterprise Learning Accelerator Partnership Program with my VIP coaching program. Similar situation where we work together. And my job, our job at E-Learning Partners is to, well, with my VIP coaching, we work one-on-one. I have the support of my team, but you and I work one-on-one, and together we map out [00:19:00] how to create results in your learners, in your customers, and your employees.
So that you not only serve them powerfully and help them achieve their goals, but by doing that, you are able to achieve your vision and your mission as a company. One of the most underrated scenes in the entire movie series, it happens in the second installment, which is my favorite of the three movies, the two towers, where Aragorn shows on a very humbling level that he is a person.
Of the people now throughout the series, there is scene after scene after scene where AOR shows that he is a person of the people, but this specific scene is so subtle, so you could overlook this scene where aragorn. Is at Helms Deep. So basically at this point in the movie, the fellowship has split Ra Gore and Legas and Gimli are hanging out together.
Frodo and Sam are hanging out [00:20:00] together. Mariam Pippen are hanging out together and Gandalf's just doing what Gandalf does where he kind of says hi to everyone here and there throughout, and he is doing his own thing, but he is. Really the guide for everyone. Well, Aragorn, Legas and Gimli are at Helms Deep.
So there's two major cities of men in Lo the Rings. There's Gondor and there's Rohan. Well, they're in Rohan right now. Aragorn is not the king of Rohan. He's a a ranger who's in Rohan. Just to help 'cause Rohan has been infected by one of sars ponds, uh, Saruman. Who is a powerful wizard turned evil and Soman has sent thou tens of thousands of orcs, these evil servants of Soran and now soman to go and destroy the world of men in [00:21:00] Rohan.
Destroy all humans in Rohan. And Rohan has gone to this, this stronghold of Helms Deep where first generations, they've been protecting themselves. When things get dire in times of war, they go to this stronghold. And at this stronghold there are only, you know, hundreds. There's hundreds of people and they're all civilians.
And you have Aragorn. Leg loss and gimli, who are all fighters. But the rest of these people, there's not many soldiers at this point that Rohan has. Now. A lot of the soldiers in Rohan were sent into exile. They were, they were banished because the king for a while was possessed by Soman. He was possessed and, and he sent.
The army away, and it is crazy. This movie's amazing. You haven't seen it. So he sent the armies away. So there's no army, there's just civilians at the stronghold. And then you have aor, [00:22:00] legless, and gimian, you know, uh, a couple hundred or more civilians who are supposed to fight 10,000 orcs while Aragorn is sitting on the steps at homes Deep.
And this one kid, he is probably a teenager, young teenager, 15, 13, 14, 15, and he asks him, lemme see your sword. That's a pretty good sword He got there and. Here's what happened. So he literally gets down onto his knee. This is like the, the King of Gondor, which like the King of Rohan and King of Gondor is going to be Aragorn.
Gondor is looked at as like the big city though. And then Rohan is just the smaller city. Gondor is like the big, the big civilization of, he's a big deal. And he gets down on his knee and he asks about the sort inquires about he just. Speaks with him just about, he just does some things with the sword. He is [00:23:00] like, Hey, you have a great sword here.
You're gonna be okay. It's gonna be fine. Like. We are going to do our best. Just give him a little bit of a pep talk. He acknowledges the fear 'cause he knows that the boy is afraid. There's tens of thousands of ORs versus hundreds of people. And, and he acknowledges the fear, but gives the boy belief and courage instead of false bravado.
He doesn't go up to him. Oh yeah, everything's gonna be okay. It's he, he's like, yeah, I'm strong. He's like, no, like I get it. Like this is scary and. I'm here with you. He knows every soldier. This shows that Eric Gordon cares about every single person at Helms Deep. He cares about every single person he runs into.
He cares about Frodo, Sam, literally, these little people, that's what hobbits are. They're these little, that's little people. All he cares about is that they're a person and he wants to connect with them. He's a person of the people. So what does this teach us? Founders win when they understand people as [00:24:00] humans, not assets.
You win when you understand people as humans, not assets. People have value.
People have so much value no matter who you are, no matter how successful you are. No matter if you're literally the heir or the king of the universe, you need to treat people as humans, not assets. You need to show, not to show. Take action. Your actions you need to be. A person of the people when you're serving your customers by either giving them a program that helps them create value in their lives or that helps them get value out of your products and services that you sell.
Or when you give your employees a program that helps them become more efficient and effective at their job, you're doing this because you care about them. [00:25:00] You're doing this 'cause you are a person of the people you are here to serve. People as business owners, we serve our team members and we serve our customers.
That's it. That's what business is. You serve your team members, you serve your customers. You do both of those extremely well. You will be successful at business. In order to do this, you need to be a person of the people, treat people as humans. Not his assets. This next one may come as a given because he does this throughout all three movies.
But Aragorn knows how to inspire people. He does it so many times. He inspires heli and the interaction we just talked about, where he is showing that he is a person of the people. People per, he is there with them and that is really how he inspires. He's not the king who says, Hey, you go do the things.
I'm go sit back here and eat some, just eat some food. And you go do the things you know who isn't the king ofAnd or he is the [00:26:00] steward of go or he is sitting on the throne protecting it while Aragorn goes and gets his mind. In a place where he can become king and then den, don't even want him to become king anyway.
Politics of of Lord the Rings. Aragorn knows how to inspire people. And in the third and final installment, the Return of the King, by the way, that's the name, the Return of the King. Well, I think you know who's returning Aragorn, the Return of the King. This is where everything culminates. And this scene I'm about to describe, this is the culmination of everything.
All these battles have occurred. The men and Alves have worked together. Frodo and Sam have made their way to Mordor, which is where Mount Doom is, which is where Soran has his headquarters. The armies of Mordor, Frodo, and Sam. Between them [00:27:00] and Mount Domer, they need to destroy the ring. Aragorn, Gandalf, Mary Pippen, leges, Gimli.
They know that they need to create a distraction to get the armies of Mordor out of Mordor and pay attention to them. So what do they decide? They decide to literally go on a mission. They cannot win. Well, they can't win in the typical way. Similar to Helms Deep, they're under armed, similar to Helms Deep.
They do not have the forces to take on the armies of Morgo, but they still come together led by Aragorn. Aragorn takes the armies that are very thin at this point to of the Black gate. The black gate is the entrance to Rador, and they challenge Saron and his armies. And challenge them because our goal is to get them out of Mordor so that [00:28:00] Frodo and Sam can get to Mountain Doom.
Amazing plan. They know that they're probably gonna die. They do it anyway. They know that there's a little bit of hope, and that's it, and that's all they needed was a little bit of hope. So before this. Whole encounter happens. Aragorn gives this speech. Hold your ground. Hold your ground. Sons of Gondor. Of Rohan, my brothers.
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails. When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. It is not that day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down. But it is not that day. This day we [00:29:00] fight by all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid.
You stand men of the West, and then he charges, he's the first one, the king. Charges into a sea of enemies. I don't know how, I didn't just tear up while just reading that I have cried so many times in this scene throughout the years watching it because Aro Gore knows how to inspire the people and he takes action back to the first thing we talked about.
He takes action. He shows he doesn't just tell. So the business lesson here is leaders don't motivate. They transfer certainty. This is what the best leaders in the world do. Now, one of my dearest clients is Mario with Sellis All Wellbeing for all. It's one of my VIP coaching clients [00:30:00] and we are working together to half the world suicide rate in the next three years.
Leaders don't motivate. They transfer certainty. Now we obviously can't guarantee that that's gonna happen, but Mario is the leader of this cause. He is the leader who is responsible for this. Cause leaders don't motivate, they transfer certainty. In order to achieve this goal. We are partnering with large organizations to.
Provide the support over suicide program that empowers you and I to support each other so that there's connection in the world by supporting one another, by being there for others who may be depressed, feel low. That's what this program's [00:31:00] all about, and we're doing this by partnering with large organizations, by distributing this program throughout large organizations.
We are looking for ways to get this program not only to millions and millions of people worldwide, but. To inspire millions of people worldwide to take action and actually take the program, take the knowledge, the wisdom in this program and apply it in your lives. Leaders don't motivate. They transfer certainty.
The certainty that there is a solution. To the suicide problem worldwide, there is a solution, and the solution is you and I supporting one another. We don't know if we're actually going to achieve this goal of having the world suicide rate in three years. AORN didn't know if they were going to survive or not, but he knew that he was taking the right actions.
He [00:32:00] was leading the right actions from the result that he envisioned, which is peace. In Middle Earth, well, ultimately spoilers they achieve their goal. They empty mortar of its armies so that Frodo and Sam can ultimately go and throw the ring of power into Mount Doom and destroy it. And then my favorite scene in the entire series ensues.
And to this day, I tear up and cry during this scene. And what it is, is it is the coronation of Aragorn. Becoming King. Gandalf puts the crown on ERO Go's head. Everyone who's alive is there from all the movies. All their favorite characters are there. They're lined up. They're all bowing to Aragorn. He is acknowledging him and bowing back.
He's walking down the aisle. He's reunited with the love of his life. He didn't even know that she was still in middle Earth. And [00:33:00] then he looks at Frodo. Sam, Mary and Pippin, and they all start bowing to aorn just like everyone else has been. Aorn, not only bows to them, he says, my friends, you bow to no one.
And he gets down on his knee and then the entire crowd gets down on their knees. And then I just baw my eyes out because Aragorn gives credit where it belongs. He and care, he is like, great, I'm King. It doesn't even matter. Like you saved the world. These. Nobody knew who. Frodo, Sam, Mim Pippen, or nobody even knew what hobbits were they, or if they did, they knew.
They just knew. They lived in this place called the Shire and they didn't really [00:34:00] do anything. Quote unquote. Aragorn shows that the best leaders elevate their people. Not themselves, and you can do this in every aspect of your business. No matter how I work with my clients, that could be in one of my free programs that I give access to my clients to empower them to get the most ROI.
On the system, the technology that they choose. This could be the enterprise proven system that I sell for my students, my clients, my customers to self implement in their businesses. E-Learning Simplified Academy. This could be my group coaching programs. This could be my one-on-one coaching programs.
This could be the Enterprise Learning Accelerator partnership programs that I have. No matter what it is, our number one goal in your business [00:35:00] is to elevate your people. Is to serve your people, your people, being customers and employees, team members. That's it. This is the heart. Of your company without customers, without employees, or not a company.
Yeah. I know AI is a thing and that's part of this too. But people are responsible for how AI is used. We elevate your people together. We either do it by serving our customers powerfully with our learning products, by serving our customers powerfully, with educating them on how to best use and get the most value out of our products and services.
Or we elevate our employees by giving them value, by helping them get results that they actually care about by making them more efficient and effective at their job, by serving them so that they can live the life that they want to live, not by overworking them. But [00:36:00] by empowering them to create the life that they wanna live for themselves and their family.
Thank you for tuning in today. I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I have a couple more episodes here and there on my YouTube channel, on podcast, all about Lord of the Rings. If you're interested in any of my coaching programs, my free masterclass, my e-learning platform find, or any of these resources, you can find them in the description below if you're watching on YouTube or on the show notes if you're listening to this as a podcast.
I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to Learning Transformed Now, if you're designing a transformational learning experience and wanna skip the overwhelm of trial and error. Check out our e-learning platform finder. Just answer a few simple questions and we'll match you with the right platform plus an extended free trial.
And as a bonus, you'll get free access to a course that walks you through building your [00:37:00] learning experience on your matched platform. Click on the link in the show notes or go to www.elearningpartners.com/elearning-platform-finder. I'd also love to hear from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or drop a comment on our YouTube channel.
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AI is rising and so are.
