Junto

In 1727, Benjamin Franklin convinced 12 of his friends to form a club dedicated to mutual improvement. Meeting one night a week, these young men discussed the topics of the day. The group lasted for 40 years and eventually became the nucleus of the American Philosophical Society.

Junto, pronounced who-n-toe, was a private forum for discussion and as a surreptitious instrument for leading public opinion. One of the functions of the group was to brainstorm publicly beneficial ideas.

To learn more about Ben Franklin's Junto, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junto

 

Mastermind Group

Mastermind Group: a group who want to develop excellent ling-term relationships. Primary purpose is to establish support for each other emotionally, personally and professionally. It also provides a unique forum for sharing ideas and information as well as discussing meaningful topics and everyday challenges. If you choose the right people, this wonderful support system can be enjoyed for many years…

…Everyone must make a commitment. Designed as a long-term support system. It is not for people who are casual. You know the type. They show up when they feel like it or there’s nothing else on their schedule that day. Explain this clearly to each candidate. You also want agreement at the start on a termination policy. If one person isn’t fitting in, for whatever reason, it is important for you to have a process that handles this. You don’t want to end up with the bad apple in the barrel syndrome, where one controlling or negative individual dominates the entire group process. A democratic vote within ninety days of your opening meeting is an easy way to avoid any early disruption. You can also implement this course of action at any future date…

…The level of commitment will determine how successfully your master mind group becomes. Commitment requires regular attendance, a willingness to participate each time you meet and an agreement to keep confidential anything that is shared in the group. This confidentiality is extremely important…

…Decide when, where, how often and for how long you wan tot meet. Two to three hours every month is a good rule of thumb, or you can meet more frequently if you want. Choose a location where you will not be interrupted by phones, faxes or other people. Make it a rule to turn off cellular phone when you are together. Don’t treat your Mastermind Group like a typical office meeting. ..

…What will you talk about? Elect a chairperson whose main role is to keep the conversation flowing and to allow everyone equal time. Start each meeting with a brief comment from everyone about the best thing that has happened since the last meeting. This will get things off to a positive start. Then ask two questions: What’s happen in your business life, and what’s happening in your personal life? Go to one person at a time. What is your greatest challenge at this time? Also, discuss and support each other’s individual goals. Inspire everyone to achieve what they want. Encourage them to think big and introduce them to people who can accelerate their progress…

…Sometimes you may want to have a special topic on the agenda. It’s also a good idea to reserve time for someone who has a particular need – a financial crisis or health problem that needs to be addressed. These situations are what really bonds your mastermind group…

…Some ideas are: Current business challenges and opportunities; how to create high impact presentations; where to find venture capital, and how to fire a key employee. Marriage difficulties, problems with teenage children, health issues, financial crisis and major career changes…

… I know what I don’t know, so I surround myself with people who do. That allows me to focus on what I do best. Also, I choose to go to work everyday.

- Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt. The Power of Focus, Deerfield Beach , Fla. : Health Communications, c2000.

Intellectual Idle time

The amazing thing about audio books is that you are able to listen to them while doing certain other activities. When I first developed these habits, it was like an alternate reality opened up around me; a parallel universe of learning and wisdom was given to me in the same time period during normal days. You can workout, shower, shave, drive, garden and do other things while engaging in your pursuit of intellectual prosperity. You can listen to audio books when working on mechanical activities. I call this conscious Intellectual Idle Time.

- Thomas Roman, Culture of Royalty, How to Become the Aristocracy of this Millennium

Master of Value Creation

Virtue Academy they will in essence be a MASTER OF VALUE CREATION, where they have perfected the art of transforming an idea into a lucrative business opportunity. What matters is the practical application of the education you receive. Virtue Academy will teach normal people of industry the practical application of their dream into a service to serve others and eventually into a successful business. People seldom realize that the lifestyle they currently own is a direct result of the service they provide to others. The financial remuneration one receives is a direct result of how well they apply business practices to the service they provide.

The Three Step Process to Becoming a Master of Value Creation

 

This learning will take place all in the same time that they would have remained idle. Consider it a Doctorate in practical business application of one’s life. Virtue Academy is Business School for people who want to make money in business, not just get a $20,000 per year raise for getting an MBA.

Academic PhDs may be good for certain subjects, e.g. science, math, engineering, medicine, etc. But there is no PhD program that could replicate what one learns from the daily battles that result in street smarts developed in Business and Industry.

The world is not without a sense of irony. Those very people who are supposed to be teaching you business in business school are people who during their 20’s and 30’s were getting PhDs in business or some other academic discipline. While in fact, the people out there doing it are the people who should be teaching it. So here is the situation: If the people actually doing it should be teaching it, and the people in the classrooms do not let those seasoned business people into the classroom, then how valuable is that education? You don’t learn from textbooks what you learn from years of street smarts, sales, and business. Virtue Academy brings savvy business leaders together in both the mastermind groups and forum to fill this void.

This is the exact point Benjamin Vaughn made over 230 years ago in a letter to Benjamin Franklin:

"School and other educations constantly proceed on false principles and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark. But your apparatus is simple and the mark a true one. And while parents and young people are less destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life. Your discovery that the thing is in many a man’s private power to be invaluable. Influence upon the private character late in life, is not only an influence late in life but a weak influence."

So how do we become wise, virtuous and successful in industry? Benjamin Vaughn wrote Benjamin Franklin in soliciting his autobiography:

"And more especially before we take our party as to our principle objects. But your biography will not merely teach self education, but the education of a wise man. And the wisest man will receive light and improve his progress by seeing detailed the conduct of another wise man. And why are weaker men to be deprived of such help? When we see our race has been blundering along in the dark almost without a guide in this particular from the farthest traces of time. Show them sir, how much is to be done both to sons and fathers and invite all wise men to become like yourself and other men to become wise…

…It will be so far a sort of key to life and explain many things that all men should have once explained to them.To give them a chance of becoming wise by foresight. The nearest thing to having experience of ones own is to have other people’s affairs brought before us in a shape that is interesting. This is sure to happen from your pen."

Virtue Academy brings wise men and women, who are proven practical geniuses, to teach the meetings and forums. This transfer of wisdom will explain the things which all people should have once explained to them and will lay a character based foundation for wisdom by foresight.