The idea of a mastermind group was put forth and expounded upon by Napoleon Hill in his two classic books: “Think and Grow Rich,” written in 1937, and “How to Sell Your Way Through Life,” written in 1938.

A mastermind group can help you and your business succeed better and faster than you can on your own.

Here are a few of my ideas for an ideal mastermind group:

• A mastermind group consists of people working in HARMONY, trying to achieve by giving a bit more than taking.

• A mastermind group works best when there is mutual respect between members.

• A mastermind group should consist of people who are approximately at the same financial level.

• A mastermind group should consist of people who do not compete with one another.

• All members of the group should explain their motive for joining and their expected outcome for becoming involved.

• All members should make it a priority to attend the meetings.

• All members should be “on the lookout” for member opportunities between meetings.

Here are some additional thoughts and strategies:

Appoint a facilitator to keep the meetings on track. It should be a different member each meeting. The leader has the responsibility to make sure that the topics and agenda stay within the parameters.

Equal brains. Anyone in the group who is clearly superior to the group will quickly lose interest and leave. All members should feel they can contribute, and all members should feel they can benefit.

Give an idea. A mastermind is about sharing and giving. The more ideas you bring to the group and the more concepts you present and the more thoughts you provoke from the group, the more respected you will be, and the more your group members will be compelled to give ideas back.

Come prepared. If you just show up, the outcome will not be as powerful as if you gave it a little thought prior to the meeting. I recommend that you keep an open word processing file and try to add a thought or two each day.

Take notes. During the course of the meeting, all kinds of information and ideas will fly. I recommend that someone capture major thoughts to be shared with all.

Personal or just business? The group should decide prior to making a long-term commitment whether they’re willing to discuss personal issues or just business.

Give more than you take. I’m a giver by nature, and I find that when I give more than I take, then I receive more than I expect.

Book club. Select a book each month that everyone can read and benefit from. Discuss the book for a portion of each meeting and then take a daring step: try to arrange an interview with the author so you can gain his or her insight to add to your own, and that of the group.

It’s proprietary. It should be agreed that what happens in mastermind stays in mastermind.

I’m not in favor of a rigid meeting agenda, but I am in favor of having an understanding of the elements that should be part of each meeting:

A few minutes of talking about THE world.

Double that amount of time talking about YOUR world.

The pre-selected topic. Topics such as customer loyalty, problem employees, networking or social media make good discussion themes for each meeting.

The book of the month.

One member’s issues. Agree on the issue at the previous meeting so that each member can come prepared with an idea or two.

A mastermind group has to be content-rich and to the point with value-based dialogue – and it’s every participant’s responsibility to bring gold to each meeting.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by email at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 Jeffrey H. Gitomer