How to Be More Powerful in Your Business

A friend gave me an old Boy Scout Handbook from 1911, and I was stunned by what I found.  Do you know what used to be required to become a Boy Scout 100 years ago?

Hint: It wasn’t about knowledge.  It was about competency.  

And there’s a business lesson here for all of us…

Too often, we focus on “making it easy”, but often we’re missing the crucial piece of the equation to make everything work… and that missing piece will help you become much more powerful and effective in your business.

I was actually in the Cub Scouts and in the Boy Scouts and yes, that is a picture of me in my Cub Scout uniform. 🙂 I was probably 8 or 9 years old in that picture. 

It was an incredible experience for me. It got me out and into the woods, and learning things.

Competence vs Knowledge

If you are competent, you have the skills, abilities, or experience necessary to do it well.  

What’s it?  Whatever it is that you’re competent in.  

Knowledge is information and understanding about a subject, which a person has. 

That’s the difference between knowledge and competency. 

The Purpose of the Boy Scouts in 1911

When I saw this, I absolutely loved it. 

“The aim of the Boy Scouts is to supplement the various existing educational agencies and to promote the ability in boys to do things for themselves and others.” 

And then it gave some examples (these were the basics they had to learn):  

• scout craft 
• instruction in first aid 
• lifesaving 
• tracking, like as in tracking animals 
• signaling 
• cycling 
• nature 
• seamanship, which has to do with boats 
• camp craft, like when you’re setting up and camp
•  woodcraft 
• shivery 
• patriotism 
• other subjects 

I believe these are the things that built America. The Boy Scouts is a very large organization and was very popular when I was a kid and so I can imagine that it was back then as well.  

Scout Ranks and Statuses 

As you begin scouts, you start out at the Tenderfoot rank.  It was very easy to advance to the next rank but there was just a small requirement.  Once the requirement was met you advance to the next rank. 

The next rank was Second Class Scout, and then the next was First Class Scout where merit badges were required. And once you achieved the First Class Scout rank,  in order to advance, you had to earn merit badges.  

The final two ranks were Life Scout, Star Scout and then the Eagle Scout, which are really held in high regard. An Eagle Scout had to earn 23 merit badges minimum.

The Honor Medal was awarded to a scout who saved another’s life. 

Competence Training

There are 120 different merit badges today. I don’t know what the total was back in 1911, but it covered stuff like wilderness survival, woodcarving, woodwork, weather, swimming, small boats, sailing, rifle shooting, radio, pathfinding, leatherwork, gardening, fishing, et cetera. 

I hope this gives you an idea about what they were training boys on at the time.  To give you an idea of what scouts in 1911 were expected to be competent in, let’s look at the example of the Handicraft merit badge.

The Handicraft merit badge demonstrated that you were handy/valuable around the house. A scout had to prove competence in each item in order to attain this merit badge. And remember, this was for 12 year old boys: 

• paint a door 
• whitewash a ceiling 
• repair gas fittings, sash lines, windows,  indoor fastenings. In other words, the sash line is the trim around the windows 
• replace gas mantels, washers, and electric light bulbs 
• sodder 
• hang pictures and curtains 
• repair blinds, fix curtains, and curtain rods and blind fixtures
• lay carpets 
• mend clothing and upholstery
• repair furniture and china (glassware)
• sharpen knives
• repair gates
• fix screens on windows and doors 
• repair furniture and china (dishes) and glassware 
• sharpen knives 
• repair gates 

I hope you now get this idea of what they had to do to be competent and prove they could do each one of these items in order to get that merit badge. I can’t even fathom that – I’ve got a 10 year old son and he’s not quite up to par, but he’s going to be!  

It was a real competency test. It was not a knowledge test. 

Bow and Arrows, 1911

Here’s another example. I did a little comparison and I want to walk you through another merit badge.  

This is shooting a bow and arrow. The target was to shoot the arrow toward the targets. If the arrow hit right in the center, in the yellow area of that target, they would get 10 points. 

Picture bow and arrow

If the arrow hit in the red area, it was 9 points, and further out, the less points you got for hitting the target. If the arrow hit the white area you got at least one point. 

The first step for the scout was to make a bow and arrows, which would shoot a distance of 100 feet with fair precision.  

Step two: make a total score of 350 with 60 shots. And so, in other words, you would have to hit the target at 40 yards away, which is a pretty good distance on a longbow instead of a compound bow that we have today.  

Step three: make a total score of 300 with 72 arrows at 50 yards. 

Step four: shoot so far and fast as to have six arrows in the air at once.  

Six. Arrows. 

My videographer and I were talking about this earlier. I’ve got some bows and we were trying to just get two arrows in the air at the same time. 

Couldn’t do it.  That should give you an idea of the competency you would have to have in order to pull six arrows out and shoot while the first one is still in the air. 

That was quite a competency test! I am impressed with any scout who is able to attain a merit badge. They’re out there. They’re doing it. They’re trying. 

Now, for the comparison. 

Bow and Arrows, 1911 vs 2021

Here are the 2021 Boy Scouts requirements for the Archery Merit Badge: 

Repair an arrow. You don’t have to make/build an arrow or a bow. 

Shoot 150 score with 30 shots at 10 yards 

So what is the difference? 

• You didn’t have to build a bow and arrow versus repairing an arrow. 
• 132 arrows shot versus 30  

Why is that a big deal? It’s the fatigue factor. If you shoot and you’re drawing that back 100 times more you’re going to get fatigued. It’s also harder when you’re aiming to keep it straight. 

• 40 to 50 yards versus 10 yards. 
• Far and fast versus no speed requirement. 

So that’s the difference between the two merit badge requirements and what I hope you noticed was the contrast between 1911 and present time. 

Angling Merit Badge, 1911 vs 2021 

The Angling Merit Badge is also quite different. 

In 1911, the scout had to catch, name and cook 10 different species of fish, and know the preferred food of each species. 

In 2021, catch or buy one fish and cook it. 

That’s a lot different.

I want you to notice that the requirement is lower. 

Anyone Can Be Competent 

And here’s the key point I want to make with this whole comparison. 

When the requirements are low, then the competency is going to be low or lower.

Does that make sense? Because it’s going to be very important, especially as I move out of this series of videos and I move over into training.  

People are always trying to “dumb it down” for the average person. I think that is a mistake because you’re not requiring them to step up. 

Competency was a part of the culture in 1911, and I feel as though that right now, the culture is, “Make it as simple as possible.” 

The truth is, anyone at any age can become competent. 

Now, everyone likes to say it takes time to become competent. No, it doesn’t take time; it takes reps. 

It doesn’t take time to work out. It takes reps. It doesn’t take time to get fit; it takes reps. And that’s the difference. 

In other words, the number of repetitions that you do in the Pipeline, that’s what I’m talking about in relating all of this to network marketing. 

Also, don’t shy away from helping a person become competent. It’s the greatest thing that you can do, even with your kids. 

It’s the greatest thing you can do to teach them how to brush their teeth and take care of themselves and clip their fingernails. Right? 

Getting them competent gives them confidence. 

And once they are competent in one area, move to another. Next, teach them how to put clothes on, how to put a belt on, how to fold clothes and put them away. 

And then you move outside of that. And then you move them into learning how to wash dishes and  do the laundry or work in the yard. 

That’s really what is going to matter with them because their competence is connected to their ability to do something. And if the only thing that they can do is move their thumbs on the switch or the game console, then they are confident in that. But that’s all they’re confident in. 

Prove Competency in Network Marketing by Doing the Pipeline

So in network marketing, what you as the leader need to do first is prove competency by doing the Pipeline. 

Sometimes I talk to leaders and it bows their back to think about doing the Pipeline because they haven’t done it in a long time. I just say, “Hey, it’s going to bow your back.”  

Leaders view doing the Pipeline like it’s a lot of effort. But I tell them they are going to be so much better for doing the Pipeline. 

As a leader, your ability to train has everything to do with your competency in it, because you will learn it. 

If you have never ridden a bicycle and you’re trying to teach a kid to ride a bicycle, it’s not about pedals! It’s about balance, right? But you only know that wobbly feeling if you’ve experienced it. 

It’s the same thing in network marketing. If you’re not familiar with every step in the Pipeline, then you need to be. These columns are what any business in the world has to do, including yours in network marketing. 

Doing the Pipeline is how I got my wife. I generated a lead. I contacted her, I set an appointment to go to dinner. I followed up and then I kept following up for years. And then she became my wife. 

Every customer that is acquired in any business in the world has to do this. Every doctor has to do this, or somebody in the doctor’s office has to do this. 

The Pipeline is everything. 

So, get good at it because it will make you far better at helping people to have that competency in it. 

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