It’s the age of cancel culture and hair-trigger offense. Depending on the type of group you want to assemble for your mastermind business, that may be a big deal.

One thing the last few months has taught me is that even if you go to great lengths to curate a group of people who demonstrate great self-control, controversy will find them. Late last year, long before COVID-19 or the George Floyd incident, one of our members took fire from an online social justice mob.

We learned of the matter and quickly advised him not to retaliate, but as the weeks continued, the attacks mounted. This is heartbreaking to hear as the leader of an online mastermind group. I felt powerless to help him, but I also have enough experience and insight from years of dealing with situations like this to know - it would eat itself.

So let me tell you right now, you can have the most harmless mastermind group on the planet. It’s an age of being guilty by association, and...

Another topic of online mastermind groups people ask about is hiring and firing staff. It’s very likely, if you’re leading a group across multiple time zones and different countries, your team will also be virtual.

Well, it’s a good time to discuss that question, because in Iron Sharpens Iron, we’re reading up on the topic. The book this month is “The Ride of a Lifetime,” by former Disney CEO Robert Iger. And he has some handy principles he lives by when it comes to hiring and firing.

First off, though - I want to acknowledge that a meeting over Zoom is still not the same as a face-to-face interview. I realize there’s an inherent risk in hiring someone overseas. To offset that a little bit, we’ve included some useful tools in The Mastermind Playbook that are worth checking out if you really want to keep tabs on people’s productivity.

How to Hire For Your Mastermind Group Online

Iger tells an...

If you know much about me, you know I put a high price on character and integrity. It’s part of the brand - View From the Top, Iron Sharpens Iron and The Mastermind Playbook. We go the extra mile to treat people how they should and want to be treated.

This isn’t to lecture you, while you’re busy forming your online mastermind group. Everybody has their own niche they serve, and there are different levels of maturity and growth in every person you meet. I’ll say this, however - mastermind groups get much more complicated if you don’t value things like humility, authenticity and moral character.

In Iron Sharpens Iron, we’ve been reading this book called “The Ride of a Lifetime” by Robert Iger. He was CEO of the Walt Disney Company for the last 15 years. His story is amazing. One thing I couldn’t help but notice was how careful and attentive he was to the people he worked with the most, inside and outside Disney.

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Where to Find the Answers for Your Mastermind Group

People are searching for answers to a lot of questions these days, aren’t they? Even more so if you have a mastermind business. I can’t recall a time so many people have looked to me so often for direction, guidance or wisdom.

I don’t like to sugarcoat things - leading an online mastermind group will put you in a position that requires tremendous self-awareness and self-control. You’ll face “D” personalities like me on the DISC profile, who want to tell you how they think things should be run.

You’ll take things into confidence, you’ll have people ask you to rubber-stamp approval on things. Living in community can get messy, because people are involved. If patience, discretion, listening and asking questions aren’t “your style,” you may have a tough time getting your mastermind going.

When Answers Don’t Come

We read an...