Ep 15: The Three Doors of Leadership

What separates the highly successful from those who just want to be successful? It's not talent. It's not luck. It's not who your daddy is or where you went to school.

In this episode of The Drive, Craig Harvey breaks down the 3 Doors of Leadership — a framework he discovered on a trip to his son's basketball game at Prince Avenue Christian School. What he found walking through those three doors changed how he sees success, business, and the grind forever.

🚪 Door 1 — The Manual Door: This is where most people quit. It's heavy, it's hard, and there's no doorman. You push it open with pure ferocity, repetition, and the habits (hinges) that hold everything together.

🔄 Door 2 — The Revolving Door: This one is about timing. You can't force it. You can only stay ready, because opportunity doesn't care about your schedule — and when it swings your way, you'd better be prepared to walk through it.

⚡ Door 3 — The Automatic Door: This is what everyone sees and calls "luck." But it's earned. It's when the room fills up when you walk in, when the phone rings without you chasing it, when the waters part — because you put in the work the others never did.

Whether you're in insurance, real estate, sales, or building any kind of business from scratch — this episode is your roadmap.

📖 Craig is also working on his new book Get Ripe — stay tuned.

🔔 Subscribe to The Drive for weekly conversations built around one thing: growth.

Transcript

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What separates, in my opinion, the highly successful people from the people that want to be successful is that highly successful people do daily, what slightly successful people just do occasionally. See, some of you think you suck at what you're doing. That's not true. What sucks is the effort that you're putting in. I mean, you're great Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday, you disappear. You're a ghost. You're Casper. We can't find you. And so it's not that you suck, it's that your level, your intensity, your ferocity, how damn bad do you want it? Sooner or later you gotta quit quitting. All right, guys, welcome back to the drive. Craig Harvey with his glasses on today. You know, I hear it makes me look more intelligent. Who knows? You get to a certain age and shit just doesn't look the same, right? Uh, thank you for tuning in. This is a growth-based conversation. And if you're not into growth, then you're gonna want to log off. Ever see somebody go to the gym but they never sweat? Ever see somebody work out but they never get sore? Ever see anyone go on a run and they come back looking the same way as they did when they left the house or the apartment or the condo? Dude, that that is not an investment uh by which you're going to get a return. And if you're looking for something for nothing, well, guess what? This is the wrong podcast for you because that's not what we adhere to. That's not what hopefully you subscribe to. But what I have found is a little bit of a formula, and I've found it in a way, and dare I say in a place, that I never dreamt I would have seen it. I was taking my son Caden to a basketball game, and the school is called Prince Avenue. It's near Athens, Georgia. Now, Prince Avenue is one of these high schools that looks like a college. As a matter of fact, Prince Avenue is bigger than the two colleges that I attended, Middle Georgia and Tusculum University, uh, when I was in school, when I was, you know, higher education. Prince is amazing. And I found when we entered the facility, again, to go to the gymnasium, there were three doors that we had to go through in order to get to the gym. Now I'm gonna make this very simple. First, there was a manual door. Second, there was a revolving door. Third, there was an automatic door. So the first door we went through was manual, the second was revolving, and the third was automatic. And as I sat and watched Caden's game and just kind of processed the entire day, I thought to myself, damn it, Craig, that is the same progression. That is the same series of graduation-based uh entrances that I've had to go through, that you have to go through, that that take us to a place that ultimately we want to go. So I want to break this down and I really want you to lean in and listen because you can't skip any of the first two doors to get to the last. And look, let's be honest, that's where all of us want to go. We want to get to a place to where things are automatic. We want to get to a place to where when we show up, things just happen. But it doesn't start like that, does it? No, it doesn't. It starts through this first manual door. Almost look at this like the three doors of leadership. I'm talking about three different levels of income, three different levels of respect, maybe three different levels of access that you have to go through, you have to enter in order not only to be that individual, but to be looked at as someone that has achieved that level of notoriety. So let's start. The first was a manual door. When I hear the word manual, you know what I think of? Manual labor. Now, what was your first job? My first job was digging footings in Gwinnett County when I was 15 years old. Now I can tell you, if you've ever dug a footing without a backhoe, without any kind of uh electrical equipment or assistance, just you, a pick and a shovel. Folks, that's hard work. My second job was working in DeCab County, tarring roofs. That's right. Tarring roofs, man. In college, uh, when I was at Middle Georgia, we would work Danny O'Rourke, John Hyam, Jose Mendoza, shout out to these boys. We're we're we're roof tarers. You talk about manual labor. Nothing will keep you in college, like digging footings or tarring roofs in July in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Whatever industry you're in, whatever it is you're attempting to do, I don't care if it's real estate, it doesn't matter if it's insurance, it doesn't matter if it's the solar business, anything where you're exchanging time for money, in the very beginning, there's going to be a manual door that you have to press through. There's going to be some manual, dare I say, labor that you're going to have to exert if you want to get to a place that you're not at. Now, I can just tell you, I don't know who installed these doors, bro, at Prince Avenue, but these sung bitches were heavy. I'm telling you right now, they had to have been 250, 300 pounds. They were huge. And it took, can I say, a man's effort in order to open this manual door. It wasn't easy, it wasn't sexy, it wasn't sleek, it wasn't gentle. There had to be a level of aggression that I had to exert. My little daughter, who was with us, Eden, would not have opened that door. This manual door was difficult. This manual door was tough. This manual door, I think purposefully, was something that it was almost like in order to gain access, you had to have a sense of ferocity. You had to have a sense of aggression in order to enter this gymnasium and enter this door. I've learned something about business and about life. A lot of people oftentimes look for the easiest way to enter a place that ultimately they think they want to go. And while they say they have these uphill dreams, they have these downhill, dare I say, habits or downhill aggression, or this gentleman to get to a place financially that they're not at. Listen, it's not that Rome was not built in a day, that's true. Rome was built on the backs and on the labor of men and women that wanted it, that fought for it. And I'm telling you right now, whatever your Rome is, whatever you're trying to build, whatever it is that you're fighting for and you're looking for, I promise you, it's going to take a ferocity. It's going to take just an intensity inside of you. I used to put little pictures of what it was I wanted, where it was I wanted to go, homes I wanted to buy, pools I wanted to swim in, pool houses I wanted to hang out in. And whenever that door got tough, whenever that door got difficult, whenever it got heavy, I would take that little picture out of my pocket and I would look at the Jeep I wanted to buy. I would look at the vacation I wanted to take. I would look at the basement that I wanted to finish. And at times that I wanted to quit and I wanted to stop pushing, that was a reminder of why it was that I was pushing as hard as I was pushing. Keep a reminder, keep it close. Remind yourself, keep it in your remembrance, so to speak, so that you don't forget why the hell you're pushing so hard. One of the things I noticed about that door was the hinges that that held the door in place. So manual doors swing on something called hinges. Let me pause here to say something. Tiny hinges enable giant doors to give you access to places you would have never entered. Let me say that again. Tiny hinges give these giant doors the ability to hang, the ability to suspend, the ability to give you entrance or access to places that you would have never entered without the hinge. In other words, the hinge is what holds the door in place. So let's talk about this. We all have this manual door to enter, don't we? We all have this habit that we have to create because that's what a hinge is, is a habit. We all have a vocabulary that we've got to memorize. We've all got uh if it's a script, if it's some kind of an ideology that we've got to learn, whatever it is, this learn behavior, a hinge, that enables us to access these doors regardless of the industry. All of us have to embrace the hinge that hangs the door. So let's talk about this because I think it's so important. What separates, in my opinion, the highly successful people from the people that want to be successful is that highly successful people do daily, what slightly successful people just do occasionally. See, some of you think you suck at what you're doing. That's not true. What sucks is the effort that you're putting in. I mean, you're great Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday, you disappear. You're a ghost, you're Casper. We can't find you. And so it's not that you suck, it's that your level, your intensity, your ferocity, how damn bad do you want it? Sooner or later, you got to quit quitting at whatever it is that gets hard. Because wherever it is you go, there will be a manual door that you have to go through. And can I just tell you something? There's there's no chauffeurs, there's no doorman, there's nobody that's gonna come and just kind of grant you access to the knowledge, to the ability that you've got to learn in the beginning to get you to a place ultimately that you want to go. There's no free passes. I've often said there's no elevators, you gotta go up the steps. My my my my my son loves to use Alexa. Alexa, what time is it? Alexa, what's the weather like? Alexa, set an alarm for me. There's no damn Alexa in this business. Whatever business you're in, nobody's going to bring it to you, son. You gotta knock that door down, and it is a manual door. And listen, I'm I'm not I'm not ashamed of getting fired up about it. Because sometimes when you get punched in the mouth, the only thing you can do is lay there and get kicked or get up and punch back. And I've learned that the fight, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. And so, for some of you right now that are looking to quit what you're in, listen, before you quit on yourself again or this opportunity, look inside and see how hard am I pushing through this manual door? I want to say it again. So many people, uphill dreams, downhill habits. The hinges that held that door were habits. And I've just learned it's a habit. You can't out-exercise a bad diet. How many of us have tried to do that? You keep going to the gym, you keep running, but you keep eating Twinkies and ho-hos, and and you ain't seen a cake that you didn't like or didn't like your back. Okay, that's not gonna get you where you want to go. You can't anticipate positive growth without positive habits. And there there came a time in my life, man, where I just had to stop lying to myself. I could lie to my spouse, I could lie to my parents, I could lie to my kids, but but eventually I had to look myself in the mirror and be real with Craig and say, dude, your habits have to improve if you want your results to improve. I chose insurance. There's a lot of different vehicles. I think insurance is one of the greatest vehicles that you could ever uh get in because it not only pays you to meet the needs of others, but it pays you long after that transaction is completed. Long after Miss Johnson or Miss Stevens is protected, they keep showing up. Every time Miss Johnson or Miss Stevens makes a payment, guess what? You get paid. It's a beautiful way that at the worst time of her life, when everyone else is showing up with a bill because of you, because of me, somebody shows up with a check to meet a need. I've loved it. It's it's created an amazing life for my family. And I just want to say again that there's a manual door in your business that you've got to push through. You've got to learn the vocabulary, you've got to learn the habits, you've got to be able to go through the go-through. This isn't St. Regis. This isn't uh, you know, the writs. There's no doorman that's gonna open it for you. And so as we look at this, I've learned that after you press your way through this manual door, and this is exactly what I saw at Prince Avenue. If you've ever been, uh you can attest to this. You go through the manual door, and next came a revolving door. And it was interesting because have you ever seen someone try to go through a revolving door at the wrong time and just bust their ass? You don't mean to laugh at it, but it's like, hey, it was right there, right? It's just spinning and it's spinning and it's spinning. And a lot of times in business we feel like that, don't we? Things are just spinning and spinning and spinning. And we press through that manual door, we know the presentation, we know the script, we know what to say, we've bought the leads, we've invested in the class, we've done everything we need to do. We've pressed our way to a place of knowledge, and now we feel like it's our opportunity. But can I tell you something? Opportunity is like a revolving door, it's based on what? Timing. The revolving door is based on timing. In other words, you can enter it at the wrong time and feel like, oh, this just wasn't for me because you bust your forehead right up against it, right? All of us have maybe done that, or at least I have. There's a there's there's something in business that I believe uh called timing that that is on a schedule. And I wish to God, I wish to God we knew when that time was, don't you? I mean, if you knew when the time was, you'd be ready, wouldn't you? I mean, if you knew when that opportunistic time, when you could meet the next great participant in your organization, if somehow God just, I don't know, maybe text messaged you or emailed you the day before you were going to meet the next best uh participant or agent or or or realtor within your group that you were gonna meet at Starbucks, that guess what? Tomorrow you're gonna meet this person at a restaurant, on an airplane, at a bar, at a ball game, at a church. You'd be ready, wouldn't you? But that's not how opportunity knocks, is it? No, it's not. And that's not how that revolving door works. It's based on timing. You don't know when that time is coming. You don't know when you're gonna meet that next great person. You don't know when when that phone's gonna ring, when that email's gonna come, when that text message is gonna come through. You don't know when you've got to be ready, and that's why you've got to stay ready in the moment. Because you never get that second chance, do you, to make that initial first impression. And so as we talk about this revolving door, I want you to understand that it it it it this door doesn't discriminate. I want to be clear. This door doesn't care what color you are, this door doesn't care what gender you are, this door doesn't care about your tenure, how long you've been doing it. This door isn't about your socioeconomical status or who your daddy was or what your last name is or where you went to school. Did you get a G HD or a PhD? This door doesn't give a shit. This door just continues to revolve and says, guess what? There are going to be opportunities. There's going to be times in your life that you have a chance and you've got to be ready. You've got to be ready to enter. You've got to be ready to walk through. All this revolving door in my notes here states is asking, is are we ready? Are we on time? Are we on time when it's our time? And I promise you, your time is coming. I guarantee you, there's some of you watching right now, like, Harvey, when is my time coming? I've been waiting, man. I've been looking, I've been patient. It looks like everybody else is getting promotions. Everybody else is moving up the ladder. Everybody else seems to be farther ahead than I am. Look, I hate to say this word and I hate, I really detest this, but it's true. There has to be a level of patience. There has to be a level of readiness, but patience in this journey. Because I don't know when, and neither do you, but I know it's coming. And that's the way this revolving door works is you wait your turn, don't you? You wait your turn. And when your opportunity strikes, you are there to attack it, to run through it. Again, with this ferocity, because you've waited, you've gone through the go-through, you've gone through the manual, and now it's your time. I wrote here, and I think it's important, this door is like a it's like a time game. And when I say a time game, I used to play this little trick on myself. Everybody thinks they work hard. But but have you ever tracked how much time we waste? Have you ever written down what you do when you wake up? Specifically, what happens between the time you wake up, the time you eat breakfast, the time you get ready, the time you leave your house, where do you go? What do you do? What phone calls are you making? You know, one of the tragic mistakes people make is that their morning begins in the morning. My morning began last night. My morning doesn't begin today. My morning begins yesterday evening, knowing exactly where I'm going and what I'm doing, so that when I wake up, I don't got to get ready, son. I'm already ready. And I'm waiting on that door to open. I'm waiting on that revolving door to give me an opportunity. That's all you can ever ask for is an opportunity for a conversation, an opportunity for a conversion, an opportunity to help somebody that that needs what it is that you've got. Can I just say this? The CEO and the janitor both have the same amount of time. And time is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. How they spend their time is what separates those that want to or say they want to from those that step into a place of reality versus always dreaming and wishing and hoping it's being ready when that opportunity strikes. Time is the ultimate equalizer. I don't care how tall you all, smart you are, charismatic you are. It doesn't matter what you scored on your ACT, SAT, whatever it might be. Look, you may have more degrees than a thermometer. I don't give a damn. There's gonna be a time when you have, again, that opportunity to be able to have a conversation, to be able to sit in front of a client, to be able to sit in front of someone that could change not only your life, but but potentially their life. The question is, when the door swings your way, will you be ready? And that's what we're talking about today is being ready to walk through this revolving door when it's your time. I've I've often said time will uh expose you or promote you. That's what time will do. Time will expose you, or time will promote you based on what it is you do with those 24 golden hours, those 168 hours in any given week. I I've had people leave my organization, I'm sure you have too. I've made a list of them all. Sometimes I send them Christmas cards. Sometimes I send them pictures of my 15 Rolexes, sometimes I send them pictures of my homes and my cars, not to be a douche, not to be a prick, but to just say, I told you so. I told you so because here's the point. Some people get so in a rush, don't they? If it doesn't happen this week, if it doesn't happen this quarter, if it doesn't happen this year, then for some reason they're bouncing to something else. And they just keep Easter bunny bouncing to one potential opportunity after another. Sooner or later, again, you're gonna dig your heels in and you've got to wait on that door to open for you. And once it does, amazing things begin to happen. Can I just tell you, be ready? Get ready, man. Start looking for them. Start looking for them. I've hired thousands of people because I went out of my door every day saying, look, somewhere I'm gonna find somebody that needs what it is I've got. Not just in the way of selling a product, but in the way of selling a platform. Because again, I felt like it. I knew, and and you know, the proof's in the pudding that that we had something to offer. Here's what happens: you press through this manual door, you begin to understand and learn the power of timing through this revolving door. And we got right before we entered the the the um the the actual uh court when you walked up and almost like you were at a Publix or you were at a Walmart, there was an automatic door. And I was like, damn. So the first door I had to press my way through. The second door I had to wait my way through until it was my time, until it was my season, until it was it was my turn, so to speak. But the last door, it opened for me. Holy shit! And I began to listen to my you know, my crazy self. And I said, you know, that's what begins to happen in business. Doors, once you get to a place of prominence, once you get to a place of notoriety, once you get to a place of real knowledge in your industry, isn't it amazing how things just seem to automatically happen? And people think it's automatic. Don't they? People think, wow, look at this guy, they just get all the luck. Look at this guy, he just gets all the breaks. Well, you know, she's just beautiful or he's just taller. No, no, no, no, no. I don't care your size, I don't care your your weight or your hair color or your gender. You went through the go-through to earn the right that when you show up to speak, the room is full. When you show up to run a Zoom, it's max capacity. When you have an opportunity, it it it's it's almost like I'm telling you, you get to a place to where things, you've earned the right for things to automatically begin to happen for you. And people think it's luck. People think, oh, you know, they're just gifted or they're just blessed. Uh, you know, God's just shining on them bullshit. They earned the right to be where they are, to be heard at the level that they're heard. And so I'm just gonna say this and I want you to hear me. When you get to this level and when you get to this place of automation, so to speak, okay? When you get to this place where things just come easier than than they did harder, I'm writing a new book. I hope you get a copy of it. It's called Get Ripe. This is your ripe season. This is when things really start to crank for you. This is when you really start to cook with gas you've never seen. This is when that kerosene is poured on the fire and things start to go at a warp speed, and you're like, holy crap, it's really working. If you haven't seen this happen in your business, it's electric. It's absolutely exhilarating. And it's one of the funnest times you will ever have in your life. I'm talking about people that would never return your phone calls now are calling you. People who would never have you as a guest are now chasing you down to be a part of something that they're doing. I'm telling you it'll happen for you. It doesn't happen overnight. I'm not telling you it's easy. What I am telling you is that in the beginning, it's going to be hard, hard as shit. Grant Cardone calls it 10X. Different ones talk about the 10,000-hour rule. I'm telling you the manual door, whatever business you're in, because wherever you go, there's a manual door you got to push through once you get through it. And it's about timing. It's waiting on your time, waiting on your season, waiting on your turn, and attacking it with everything that's within you. And then there comes an opportunity where things start to happen and there's little effort on your part where you just step up and guess what? The door's open. You step up and the water's part. You step up and things are just, I don't know. It's it's is it magic? Hell no. It's called a formula, son. It's called a recipe. It works if you work it. Thank you for tuning in to the drive.