Becoming Your Best | The Principles of Highly Successful Leaders (Steve Shallenberger: Successful Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, and Bestselling Author | Rob Shallenberger: Former Fighter Pilot, Author, Executive Coach, and Corporate Trainer)

Rob:           All right well, welcome to our Becoming Your Best podcast listeners wherever you are in the world today. I have a person that we're gonna talk with today who I consider to be one of the most amazing people I've ever met and you'll quickly realize that and as you start to listen to some of his stories and hear some of the background and a little bit about Randy. But let me introduce Randy because, I don't say that lightly when I say he's one of the the most respected people I know and not just by me but might many many other people who I know, that says a lot about Randy. He started out as a student body president at Ricks and while he was there I said, “You know Randy, is there anything you haven't done?” Because he's done all these things and he looked at his phone and he showed me this picture of him riding a bull while he was in college. Not only was he study body president, he did some bull riding while he was there, which immediately my respect level went through the roof for him when I saw that. He went on to the Harvard OPM Program. He starred and sold several businesses very successfully. He has six children, a beautiful wife who's amazing in her own right. One of the things that stands out to me most about Randy, amongst all his success’ and all the people he knows, he's probably the most connected person I've ever met. The thing that really stands out the most about Randy is his impeccable character and honestly, he genuinely cares about other people and helping them succeed and that's one of the reasons I believe Randy has been so successful himself is because he wants to see other succeed and he comes across very genuine people realize that he's very sincere in what he does. So without further ado, one the most successful people I know and down to earth, just loving, kind people; Randy Garn!

Randy:       Well, thank you Rob! I really really appreciate you saying those kind words and I feel the same about you and what you and your dad have built with BYB and the whole leadership thing is so critical in everybody in all facets of our lives and so I'm learning to be a great student of yours.

Rob:           Yeah, well that goes both ways! It’s always hard too, when someone introduces you and says all these amazing things, it’s like what do you say after that? But Randy really is amazing! Do you think, Randy, if you wouldn't mind just giving them a brief background on you that I didn't cover? You know, where you're from, a little bit about you, anything that you think would be valuable for someone to know?

Randy:       Yeah, I think it is important to know where we've come from and you know, I grew up in a really small town called Sugar City, Idaho. You know, when I left I think there's 1150 people there after I left. And I mean it was just an amazing place and I'll get back to that. Why I think our roots and the way we are raised, and the way we're raising our children are so critical for the people that we become, and especially with character and integrity and in leadership. And so I grew up and and my dad was a high school football coach for 29  years. He's going into medicine and then you know he had these four boys and he's like, “Man I'm gonna buy a ranch and I'm gonna be a football coach. I'm gonna teach my kids how to work.” So I mean he sacrificed on what he could have done but he wouldn't give it up to the world and so you know, I grew up in a really fun environment. It's so funny when I meet a lot of leaders, they’re like, “You know my parents abused me,” or you know, “I was in some serious trauma,” or other things happen and that makes people great. You know when they can overcome those things, but I was actually fortunate enough to be led by a really,  really good man that told me that I could do anything I wanted in life and actually mentored me and stuck with me the whole time. And so, somebody that I love and admire and he's still alive today and I respect him and he still gives me a quote every night and how he help build me up every night and so that was some of my roots was growing up in that type of environment.

Rob:           Did I hear you right to say that you either rode a tractor or a truck or something and he would always be playing these tapes of some these greats?

Randy:       Yeah. In fact, we had about, you know it was about a twenty minute ride out to our ranch where we you know we raise cattle and horses. And so, we had about 300 head of cattle and we had 50 horses at one time so I mean it wasn't a huge ranch but it was a ton of fun and we would listen to Denis Waitley and Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar and The Strangest Secret from Nightingale and that’s some of the things that I’d listen to and then he'd mentor me. We're out there fixing fences and all that and he’d talk about it. You know, we grew up in kind of a family to where we are God fearing and we literally would say family prayers at night and then put it in and everybody in, ready? Break! Go Garns! And so it was just fun. It was a good time, so yeah we listened to a lot of the classics and you and I did a call with Denis a couple of days ago and he's a great man, but that's some of the things I grew up on.

Rob:           Yeah, and the irony is all these very people who you grew up listening to now, you become very close friends to them. In many cases ,helping mentor them as it goes both directions and ironic how you know that fate aligned that way. Speaking of this, interestingly, we were just with the group today and was talking about estate planning and one of the things was mentioned was often times we think about estate planning as it's just financial. You know, here's what happens to your finances. This particular person leading the discussion was saying, you know what? It's so much more that! It's a legacy that you're leaving. It's a legacy of character. It's a legacy of what you're teaching your children and in so many ways it sounds like you're such a product of what your parents created for you in the environment.

Randy:       Yeah, I would totally agree with that in a lot of ways. And so I mean now I've got a family of my own, married probably one of the most awesome women on earth and I've got an amazing life. In a lot of times I do I talk a lot about kind of the home court advantage. You know I had a CEO reach out to me the other day and he's like, “Man I've got two kids and you know things are rough at home. How do you balance everything? How do you grow a business and keep things right personally and stay fit and do all these things? I can't keep it up!” And he's like, “Randy, you're probably single and being able to do all these things!” I was like, actually I'm not! I have an amazing wife. I've got six kids. I’ve got two sets of twins. I run multiple companies and we’re growing things like crazy! He about lost it! He's like, “How in the world do you balance all that?” You know, I said, well first off you got to have make sure you get everything right both personally and professionally because for me, there's no distinction. And I know a lot of people try to put things in silo but for me, Rob, there's no distinction between who you are at business and who you are home and who you are church or who you are personally and professionally. It's you’re one person and so the way that you show up in one place is the way that you really show up everywhere.

Rob:           Ooh, we could stop the podcast right now. If we all just live that, what a huge impact it would have on the world. Randy, actually segways into a thought I had and that was you know one of the things that is amazing about you, is the relationships you have with so many people. And so you had a chance in your life in these different associations to meet some of the most incredible people and influencers on earth. So, from all these people you've met and you just describe some of it right there, if you had a narrow down to a few things what sets apart those who you most admire and respect and why?

Randy:       I thought about this a lot you know and I thought about this over a great deal. I actually wrote a book called, “Prosper.” We hit The New York Times in 2011 and I wrote the book with the with a close friend of mine. We started another company that we sold in 2014. But for me, it's those people that are balancing money and happiness and sustainability. And to be able to do that, that's where prosperity really comes in for me. But to be able to do that, you have to have some real deep character and there's a few people in my life that I really truly respect. You know, I just was on the phone with Brandon Steiner from Steiner sports and Harvey McKay - I'm on his advisory board. He's written 13 books, “Swim with the Sharks,” and you know, “How to use your head to get your foot in the door,” and many others. But for me, it's people that have really lived the law of reciprocity and that you know, Brandon always says, “Do as much as you can for as many people as you can for as often as you can without asking for anything in return. And watch what life does to you and for you.” And so, I watch them and I watch how successful they are but also successful is more than just monetarily. It's like it’s rich in relationships and rich in being able to do business development and rich in being able to call anybody at any time and have access instead of you know trying to pay your way into things. You have access to the things you'd never have access into because you're such a giver.  That’s one characteristic that I know the people that I really admire and love.

Rob:           Yeah it's interesting you say that because, really, we live in a world where it's almost counter to our culture. At least from my perspective, there's so much in the world of what's in it for me and how do we grow and I and we and us and what you described is so powerful and I just think, you know, our listeners don't know this but you have this ranch up in Wyoming, this beautiful ranch in a valley called Star Valley and you bring people there often go fishing and take some time in the outdoors and you had a couple of people who  from the outside would be considered very successful recently and I remember you show me the pictures of the dad catching a fish with his son and taking that time and so many things come from that. Not only was that a relationship that you had with him, where just purely giving of your time not only giving but creating a rich experience. It’s not even just a lunch or dinner, you're out there fishing side by side and secondarily there's this dad fishing with his son for what looked like one of the first times in his life and the rich experience that they were having together and his son will never forget that and so I think you're one of the epitomes of what you just described.

Randy:       Well, I mean that we were doing that for them and they become even deeper friends right? There's another principle that I live, one is the law of reciprocity but the other big one, Rob, that's really been effective for me is called the experience economy. Joesph Pine wrote a book called “The Experience Economy” and that's why we have you know the Trout Ranch. We've got other properties and then I do, I take a lot of people up too. Got some great friends up at Sundance and Chad Lindebaugh and the guys that run Rocky Mountain Outfitters or we go horseback riding or fly fishing or zip lining and you go have an experience with somebody and a lot of times you'll spend the whole day together and maybe talk business about twenty minutes. When they kind of come out for the whole day and we have a deal done. And so a lot of times people get so stuck in to, you know, “We will meet you at the hotel,” or wherever. I love to get out and do stuff with these guys that never experienced the things that we can offer. So I'm really big on the book by Joseph Pine called  “The Experience Economy,” to generate deep meaningful, relationships but also drive tremendous value and move business forward in a big way naturally.

Rob:           Yeah that's awesome. I mean there's another terminology: transactional versus transformational. I mean, lunches are great, dinners are great but what you're talking about is the spirit of good, better, best. Taking something that's good and making it way way better because it's so rich, it's so deep and so real. I mean you're out in the outdoors and so much amazing things that can happen from that. So building on that what you just described there, and maybe now zeroing in on you not so much on others, but from your own life experiences ,what are two or three of your biggest lessons learned through life? I mean you've seen so much now. What are one, two or three of those lessons learned that you feel could we have a real impact in the lives of our listeners and what tips would you share from your own experience?

Randy:       From my own ,experience, I think some of the biggest things are ,you know you don't need to please everyone. And I think early on in my career, you know the most valuable asset that any of us have is time - is our time. And so I have a formula for whether I’ll do business with others or not and it's a formula that I actually learned from it another gentleman that does partner with this up at the top of the trout ranch. It's called you're the P. over your E. squared. Take look at fractional equations get your P. over your E. squared that means that your principles are higher than your ego or economic interests, always. I always look at somebody and I say, at the end of the day is as their principles other principals higher than their ego or their economic interest in something and will they stick to that more so because I have done business and I've done things with individuals where, man,  it looks on paper like it's going to be a fantastic, amazing, awesome opportunity and we’re going to crush it and we're all gonna be billionaires and you know being able to give back and do all the stuff but the end of the day you know that something's just not right and I've actually got some pretty good Spidey senses for that, where you just know that there's just something that's just not right and I went forward with that is like I haven't quite figured that out you know when I was younger but now I have. If it just doesn't chemistry, doesn't fit right or like something just doesn't feel like, “Oh heck yeah. We’re gonna crush this, we're gonna do this!” if you leave a meeting and you feel like I just I don't know if I am in. It doesn't mean that they're always unintegrous or whatever it may be, but it's always been where their ego or their economic interest don't align with mine, it has not ended up being a good thing.

Rob:           That right there just to pause, I know you have one or two more to say, but that is a huge, huge deal. You know it's interesting as we put together the book you know as you well know Become Your Best and ironically used the word principles -  The 12 principles of highly successful leaders. And in doing so interviewing hundreds of people and you try to look for these patterns of success and what sets apart great leaders and high performing teams from everyone else. And so you see that there's this pattern that emerges there's where the 12 principles come from. At the same time it was really interesting because another pattern emerged and it was at the very same principle but when they were violated. And one of the things you see over and over in CEOs and leaders that at least was from my experience and perspective was their downfall was their ego.

Randy:       Totally.

Rob:           And when ego became so big that it got in the way the progress of the company or got in the way of the finances so they couldn’t  wrong or they couldn't take input - the ego, was in many cases, their downfall. And we have several coaching clients right now and part of the reason I know this is, “Hey I've got a nice present or so and so and their egos got so big, how do I handle this?” Because it’s kind of killing our business. So just to reinforce it, what a great thought that is so P over E squared, is that right?

Randy:       P over E squared - so your ego and economic gain, but you're right, I mean there's been, in fact we just met with another amazing, amazing man and he said the best CEOs in the world are those that have humility. Isn't that interesting? They have humility and they follow their principles. Because you can do anything, I mean you can have success for a short period of time but if your ego and your economic interest and you get too greedy, it's gonna get in the way and it's going to stop you from growing and the best CEOs both have humility and also give credit where credit's due. I mean, there's different forms of ways you can pay people. One of the best ways that I know how to pay people is to give them credit.

Rob:           Yeah, make them the hero. Yeah, that's really good. Any other thoughts on that lessons learned from your past experiences? I mean that's a fabulous one right there.

Randy:       Yeah, I think the other big one for me is something that again my dad, he is just an amazing man and I can't wait for you to meet him but one of the things; I was leaving for college and he told me one thing and I wrote it down. I’ll never forget in this state is like my first day going up from college. I just got back from living in the Philippines for two years and literally had like four days until I start college and he said, “Randy, I want you to know one thing is that if you don't have your own goals then someone else will use you for theirs.”

Rob:           Wow. Yeah that's powerful.

Randy:       So, you think about that whether you're a CEO or you know working for somebody or whatever that is but again you know if you don't have your own goals then someone else will use you for theirs. So I work closely with a lot of very high powered people in on some advisory boards and we work on strategy. If you do not have your own personal strategic plan and if you don't write down those principles like you guys talk about like leadership, like when I went to your live event, it was awesome! Because you were really pushing people to write down and to really manifest what they wanted to accomplish and so that was like one of the biggest key advices that had ever been given to me is, you know, “Randy if you don't have your own goals someone else will use you for theirs.” And I know you guys do a lot of that with what you do and even this year, BYB Daily Journal that I'm using and everything else it's so critical, to set those goals and know exactly what you're doing -every single day, every single week, every single month and execute well.

Rob:           Yeah, because the whole point is to lead a life by design rather than live a life by default.

Randy:       Exactly.

Rob:           And you know the research, backing up what you just said, is that a person is 90% more likely to accomplish something when they have a clearly written goal. Yet on the other side of the scale, on average only 10% of people have clearly written goals and so getting very intentional and focused. But I love that quote, I wrote it down. I'm gonna use that again in the future because it’s so spot on. “If you don't have your own goals someone else will use you for theirs.”

Randy:       Exactly right.

Rob:           That's a good one. I like that. You know, we're sitting here talking Randy and so many people listen to this podcast because their businesses in a leadership position or you know they want to be a better employee, yet many people also have these families at home, they’re in a relationship with someone else and a lot of what you're saying now goes right back into the home, doesn't it?

Randy:       Well, it does. I mean that's why I said it. It really does. You think about your family, to think about your most valuable asset. To me, it’s my children.  I actually literally plan time to spend time with them or planning out you know our whole entire year; when we're doing vacations and all that. When I was younger, we didn’t plan our vacations and then somebody else put something on there like, “I'm sorry honey, we really can't go to San Diego,” or “We can’t go to Hawaii this month of August, because I actually have an event I'm speaking at or doing.” But now, we do have to plan those things out or you will miss baseball games, you will miss opportunities for your your family and family things and so, why do we work so hard? Literally, for me, it’s because so I can actually give my family that things that they need so I don't want to miss that time especially the prime of their life. And so, I don't want to be one of those guys you know like Cat Stevens, “A cat's in the cradle,” where I didn't spend time with my most valuable assets so I think it does spill over to home and again that's part of my whole thing on home court advantage. You got to plan those things out or else other people use your time for other things.

Rob:           I’m so in agreement on that, absolutely! And, everything you're talking about, not only planning and being intentional with our children and with our spouse. I just met someone at a conference, Randy, last week and the two people walked up and, it's not a credit to me or you. It's the principle. That's what you're talking about. And they just said this short hour just changed my life and they say, “Well, you know I haven't been on a date with my spouse in over a year.” It is just because life - it's so easy for life to come in and take over if we're not being intentional planning and doing the things you're talking about. Because, in our society, unlike in some others around the world, wow it's so fast paced here and so we’re not intentional we run the risk of something else taking over our lives and suddenly we look back and say, “Wait a second, where’d time go and our kids around the house and our relationships? You know, what happened?” So I love that! If you want, Randy, since we’re about twenty minutes or so. I can't believe it goes by that fast and I got to tell our listeners, something cool about Randy, that we don't know, we're in the very early stages but I just had this thought, it'd be fun to go to the Everest base camp store talking about experiential and this experience economy, and so we got on the phone and I asked for Randy, “Hey Randy, how would you like to go? And would this be some you might be interested in?” And we want to keep this to a small group and Randy was like, “Man I had this is as a dream of mine forever!” You know, I was thinking maybe it might be fun to take my will be, at the time my 18 old son with us now and we talk about these experiences and we're in the early stages of planning and just before the podcast we’re thinking, you know, maybe 2019/2020, the thought is if we don't plan it now, what's the odds it's something like that's ever going to happen?

Randy:       It's so true, Rob and just think about that both! It will help us to get in shape to do that – that’s some serious, serious hiking but just think of the experience that we have that the group that will go will do something that we’ll never forget, right? And so you're exactly right but we're planning that after two 2019 or 2020 and you have to do that because time flies! Time flies so fast that if you're not staying on top of stuff you will you'll miss out on living the intentional life is what I call it.

Rob:           Hopefully my mother in law is not listening in this podcast because she doesn't know that yet. So as we get ready wrap up, maybe one more thing if you don't mind Randy. I haven’t really asked you this yet. What's an experience in your life that really ,if you look back say maybe that experience or one of the experiences that was one of the most influential experiences on you, help shape you and who you’ve become today? Would you mind sharing that?

Randy:       Yeah, I mean, one that just comes to my mind that I'll share with you. As you know, back in our company we started  company back in 1999 and you know, it just exploded and back after two and a half years of being business and really profitable and growing and we had some people that came in and said, “Hey, we'll give you all this money and you know we'll take you IPO and we'll do a reverse merger and you know we ended up doing the deal and it took us 3.5 or over 3 years to unwind it and it'll cost millions of dollars to be able to do so and so that was one of my most valuable experiences because we said you know what these guys are really super smart you know they're in their forties, they're amazing, they've done business stuff but come to find out that it was really not what it was all out to be. I remember my business partner looking at me and he said, “You know what, if we're waiting for all the smart people to show up, we're actually here.” And we’re literally just looking at each other and so I think one of the biggest things is that I've learned in my life is to have confidence in myself, in that, if somebody else can do it, I can do it. So you can't fear those things and it's just like what's the difference between a $4,000,000 company a $40,000,000 company and a $400,000,000 dollar company - that really is really good people and strategy but it's a really good leader. Leadership is everything and so I stopped looking at other people to be my leaders and I started looking inward and started to build my own leadership qualities and traits and that's been a big focus of mine I’d really say for the last 18 years or so. But it all stemmed from that experience.

Rob:           How was that when you're going through it at the time?

Randy:       Oh bro, it was the worst ever. It was dark days, you know. It was it was really, really hard because we had all our employees that were also rooting and fighting for an understanding but it was a lot of prayers and in a lot of good things but we ended up you know really, really exploding after that as well, so I mean it's those things that build character and put hair on your chest when you go through tough experiences so it was good.

Rob:           It is. You know it's interesting that's what you shared and I think a lot of our listeners know that my dad went through a similar experiences and it took him seven years. I remember him going down to the office with him. You know, speaking of being intentional, bringing everything back together. I remember running around the building -  it's a dark building but I'm down there in his office with him until like 9pm. He’d work these 15 hour days - trying to get out of a similar dark period and from that experience, that was kind of a refiners fire for him to really shape him to who he became later on in life and they're certain principles as a result of that and standards that we live by now as a company, for example, we will not operate with debt. I know that's not the case in every industry and companies there’s, you know, different thoughts on that but that's one of our things that we will do. He will never get in that position again. It's one of my personal mottos - the same principle. So it's amazing what can come from those refiner prior experiences. Boy, they're tough when you're in the middle of them aren't they?

Randy:       Yeah, and I learned too, you can't go sometimes in life you can't go around things or over things. Sometimes you just have to go right through them, you know?

Rob:           That's why you got the nickname. What they call you as a full back in high school?  The little ball of hate?

Randy:       Yeah, the little ball of hate. Back in the day. It’s a ton of fun!

Rob:           Randy, thank you so much for being on this podcast. I mean you're such an incredible friend, mentor, example and I think all of our listeners - I'm extremely confident they felt not only sincerity, but who you are and why you’ve had the influence on people that you've had and who you've become. So if you wouldn't mind, if there's any way they can either contact you or any details that you share about how they can learn more about you? If someone wanted to reach out in some form or fashion – is that something you could share with them?

Randy:       Yeah you know what, this is gonna be awesome because one of the software technology companies that we have is a marketing communications technology and it allows you to get really good at personal relationships and following up. It’s a company called Skipio and so the best way to get a hold of me as I'm really on my V. I. P. line and if you will just text me the words S K I P I O at 801 332 9909 and I'll be able to be able to follow up with you and you'll get a reply from me on some of the cool things that we're working with on the how to be a really, really amazing communicator and how to be really good on follow up. So again it's Skipio, just text key words Skipio to 801 332 9909  and you'll get a text right back from me with all my contact info.

Rob:           Awesome, so text Skipio – S-K-I-P-I-O to 801 332 9909 is that right?

Randy:       That's correct.

Rob:           And Randy will respond to you and we use Skipio. This is a great service if you're in any type of business where the customer experience is important which should be just about all businesses. You can also go to skipio.com and see what they do is a business a little bit more. Very, very cool what they do and Randy will respond so that's very generous of you to offer that out there for them Randy. Any parting thoughts?

Randy:       You know the last parting thought that I have is that I hope that all the listeners are you know utilizing Becoming Your Best tools. Honestly Rob, you came in and you spoke our company about what was it three months ago?

Rob:           Yeah that in there. Somewhere in there.

Randy:       And it has been it's been amazing, both for myself but other people keep referencing it in our office so all of the listeners I'd say you know the most important thing to do is to continue to work on yourself and continue to become the best individual, the best human, the best person that you can, and that way you can really reach out to others in a big way. And so I'm just that’s the one thing but I'm trying to do a lot better is to be the best you know leader that I can be and change as many lives but I possibly can before I go to the other side. And, so the other thing is one last thing - relating back to that story, is that a lot of people think you know in today's society it's like you know well I should deserve that or I should you know that's something that I deserve. I should deserve to be the CEO or I should deserve to have lots of money. I will tell you, that you really don't get what you deserve in life. You get what you work hard for and what you negotiate. So those are the two things – the two principles I live by: you don't get what you deserve in life you get what you fight, scratch, beg and plead for and negotiate. That's what you end up getting in life so that's part of my last leadership tip for everyone.

Rob:           Well, that is so true and I certainly echo and feel the exact same as you do so. Randy you're amazing! Thanks so much for being on the podcast. I know this is a huge deal for our listeners. It impacts me and it will certainly impact them so thank you for being here and everyone remember that one person can make a difference and it's just like Randy said it's you and I asking what can we do to make a difference so wishing you a great day and wonderful week where you're at in the world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you want to create a team culture by design or by default?

A culture by design only happens when you have a clear, compelling vision in place. 

A clear vision is what drives leadership and action in an intentional direction. 

But have you taken the time to create a vision for your team? 

...your family? 

....yourself?

In this episode we will walk you through the process for creating a compelling vision in all three areas of team, family, and personal. 

Leading with a vision is Principle #2 of the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders and it's one of the most important because without a clear vision your efforts can quickly lead you off track or be diluted from focusing in too many directions.

In this episode, you will…

• Discover why a clear vision is a critical piece of the puzzle for creating team alignment
• Learn why creating visions for your team, family, and yourself is essential 
• Learn the four question process for creating a vision that creates buy-in from your team
• Realize that a personal vision is the seed of your legacy

[Tweet "Having a clear vision is characteristic of highly successful leaders we’ve seen over and over again."]

Get the 12 Principles

Becoming Your Best Book

Breakthrough Leadership Conference

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not many CEOs can claim that they have worked in every department at their company, but our guest today is the exception. After nearly 33 years with O.C. Tanner, Dave Petersen is now the CEO and president of the company and he has truly proven himself to be a dedicated and inspirational leader who looks not only to reach his own potential but to help his employees to reach theirs.

In this episode, you will…

• Learn why O.C. Tanner found itself on Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2015 and what Dave is doing to keep it there
• Be inspired by how Dave worked his way up through the ranks to arrive where he is today
• Hear strategies used by Dave and O.C. Tanner to keep their employees engaged and minimize employee turnover
• Find out what the three core competencies of O.C. Tanner are and how they maintain their culture of trust
• Hear why it pays to care for others with a quick anecdote about Dave’s encounter with a police officer

O. C. Tanner

http://fortune.com/best-companies/o-c-tanner-40/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our podcast listeners, wherever you might be in the world today. This is Steve Shallenberger, your host with Becoming Your Best, Global Leadership.

Think of one of the most amazing books you have ever read!  What sets it apart from all of the others?  Well, it’s the words!

And, imagine an incredible speaker or comedian.  Aside from their unique presentation, it is the words that gives them passion to make a difference. They’re put together in the right way that make us laugh or reflect upon a play or movie that you have been to or seen, it is the words that also really penetrated your soul in a way you can never forget.

I mean, just think about Mary Poppins:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it Is something quite atrocious If you say it loud enough You'll always sound precocious Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Who could ever forget that one or “A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down?”

Or how about John F Kennedy? “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”

Or Martin Luther King, “I have a dream,”

Yoda:  Do or do not!  There is no try!

So, think of words that have influenced your life:   I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can, I know I can…., I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could.  This little phrase fro The Little Train that Could has lasted with me for all these years.

Today’s podcast is about the use of words, which is a wonderfully exciting and a mind-blowing part of Principle #7 of The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, and this particular one is: How to be an effective communicator.

Words happen to be a huge part of communication. So, what’s really the vision for using words?  Well, they allow us to both communicate and understand in a way that inspires and impacts both your behavior and the behaviour of others.

So, words really do provide you with the capacity to articulate even your own personal vision, just think about that. Which in turn can affect your thoughts, actions, habits, character and ultimately your destiny.

So, if there was ever a reason to work on your Good, Better and best in an area, your use of words is it!  So, whether you are 20, 40, 60, or 80 years old, our words, and in turn, our actions really define who we are.

As a matter of fact, talk about being self-conscious of something, my capacity to do this podcast is limited or enhanced by my use of words.  Yikes—what a responsibility.

And as we reflect on The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, these principles are ever vibrant, fresh and NEVER get stale or old.  Each one is an inspiration that lifts us to new heights.  However, when they work together, all 12 together, magic happens.  A chemistry of excellence is released.

So, Principle #7 is  of course to be an effective communicator.  Our capacity then, to use these words, really  effects our capacity to communicate well.  And so to improve in this area is an exciting, wonderful, breath-taking journey.

Today, actually, it would be so fun to be together, to discuss and brainstorm these in person. To share our thoughts on ways to use words better.  And so, I will imagine that your thoughts and contributions in our discussion are a vibrant part of this podcast today. In the absence of being together, let’s just share some of the things we might have discussed in the form of a word checklist of things that you (we) can do to enjoy this expansive journey that has such a big impact on our lives.

We could talk about language and words:  So let’s start out by listening to this one. Diane Setterfield from The Thirteenth Tale.

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”  ― Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

Wow! Words are so cool and so inspiring. Whether you are communicating with a large group, small group or one-on-one, the words that you use make all the difference in the world.

To stimulate our discussion, I have identified 6 different dimensions of the “word checklist” that helps you in Becoming Your Best in this area.

Let’s dive right in this! Here is the first one of the checklist that helps us Becoming Our Best through the use of words:

1. Increase Your Vocabulary: Increasingly your vocabularly is a huge predictor of success.  You can practice new words that you don’t use - really, everyday. Some years ago, as a father who wanted to help his children, I became aware of an institute called The Johnson O Connor Institute, Test. It’s located in different areas of the United States and this is something – it’s about a 5 hour test and it accesses your capability, among other things, your vocabulary as well. And so, we have sent different of our children to this in San Francisco. I actually accompanied them. And after the 5 hour test, an assessment result is given to you which is probably about 20 pages. It’s terrific! But then it focuses in on vocabulary! And so, Johnson O’Connor’s done a huge amount of research in this area. And particularly the studies have focused on the impact of vocabulary on people’s lives and has drawn many amazing conclusions from a vast amount of testing and experiments performed in more than 20 years of research. A significant part of Johnson O’Connor’s research observed successful people in many walks of life and really trying to correlate their success with factors such as gender, age, scholarship levels and many others including vocabulary levels. He tested people on the most versed endeavors like the students about to take their SATs or Executives in large corporations, coaches, teachers etc.

He always found the same results, no matter which area he looked at, and no matter how he analyzed the data: a person’s vocabulary level is the best single predictor of occupational success.

He actually did a study with managers in 39 large manufacturing companies. Below are the average results of an extensive vocabulary test, averaged and grouped by hierarchical level:

*Chart described in podcast for visualization purposes.

O’Connor really took extreme care to statistically isolate variables that could distort the results. So scholarship level and age, for example, were considered to make sure it was indeed vocabulary, and not something related, that correlated with success. His studies also show that vocabulary usually comes before achievement, and not because of it. Even if we’re not able to ultimately prove the correlation, it’s hard to ignore O’Connor’s findings.

And so ultimately, here is the deal. He discovered professional success depends entirely on thinking and communication skills which are directly related to vocabulary. That was the bottom line. I love this quote from Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science.

“A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing.”  ― Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science

So this is a huge part of a checklist in strengthening our capacity to use words is to build a strong vocabulary.

Here’s number two:

2. Make your words come alive. Words that breathe - Color, imagery, smell, texture, feel, energy andemotion. For example, Zig Ziglar, who’s spoken a number of times at our company seminars and he would say:  People refer to money as Cold hard cash.  “It is never cold nor hard.  It is soft and warm.  “

We can use similies and metaphors. Here’s one for example: Her tears were like a rushing river. Well, what a great simile! Because t compares someone’s tears with a rushing river. A person’s tears can’t literally be like a rushing river, but by saying that the tears are like a rushing river, you’re conjuring up an image in the individual’s mind, that’s listening to you or reading what you’ve shared, of how much someone is crying.

Or Her heart broke like glass! See what an image that creates?

Or The young man trying to remember his father’s advice on a blind date and paying his date a compliment.  He could have said, “Your face could make a clock stop”.  Or, he could say, “Your face makes time stand still!” 

Well, these are tremendous images that help use see things. How about this Primary Song that I learned this when I was 8 years old.

1. I looked out the window, and what did I see?

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Spring had brought me such a nice surprise,

Blossoms popping right before my eyes.

I could take an armful and make a treat,

A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.

It wasn’t so, but it seemed to be

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Isn’t that great? Well that’s an example of making words come alive! Of course there’s no popcorn on an apricot tree, but you can see it in your mind! You can see the beautiful white blossoms on an apricot tree – you can almost smell them and it connects you to Spring and the surprise and you want to go out and take an armful and what smells so sweet. This is an idea of using words in a way that they bring things to life.

Here’s number 3 on our word checklist of things that we can do to use words better:

3. Use words that are kind, uplifting and encouraging. Never mean, degrading and discouraging. Find something good to say about others.  Especially in their absence.  Think how much better the world would be if we were all kind to one another.  That doesn’t mean we can’t disagree and have differences, different points of view, but just imagine what kind of world we would have if EVERYONE were uplifting in their comments about others. They found the good. The change in a world starts with you and it starts with me. We can do this and it spreads. Here’s a great quote by Vashti Quiroz-Vega.

“Words! What power they hold. Once they have rooted in your psyche, it is difficult to escape them. Words can shape the future of a child and destroy the existence of an adult. Words are powerful. Be careful how you use them because once you have pronounced them, you cannot remove the scar (or blessing) they leave behind.”  ― Vashti Quiroz-Vega

Well how true. Here’s another one from Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute The Sun. This is an amazing one:

“We cannot control the way people interpret our ideas or thoughts, but we can control the words and tones we choose to convey them. Peace is built on understanding, and wars are built on misunderstandings. Never underestimate the power of a single word, and never recklessly throw around words. One wrong word, or misinterpreted word, can change the meaning of an entire sentence - and even start a war. And one right word, or one kind word, can grant you the heavens and open doors.”  ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

So there’s three that we’ve talk about on our checklist. To recap so far: 1. Build your vocabulary 2. To Make your words come alive 3. Use words that are kind and encouraging. What can we do next to build our capacity to use language?

4. Use your Spellcheck and good Grammar. There are a few things that distract more from a well meaning letter that communicate that words that are spelled incorrectly and in the right order.  Read over your document several times to assure accuracy and have others read your important letters or correspondence. Have others read over your documents to ensure there is a check and a balance. So that’s number 4.
5. Use words that are positive and upbeat! Watch the impact words have on your thoughts and feelings!  I’m going to use an example from a book that was a huge inspiration to me, especialy in my youth and early 20’s. I read the book The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz numerous times. On page 68 in that book, he uses this example of phrases which create small negative mind changes versus Phrases which create big, positive mind images. Here are the examples he uses in his book.

Phrases which create small negative mind images

Phrases which create big, positive mind images.

1.  It’s no use, we’re whipped.

1.  We’re not whipped yet.  Let’s keep trying.  Here’s a new angle.

2.  Five years is a long time to spend before I’ll get into the top ranks in your company.  Count me out!

2.  Five years is not really a long time.  Just think, that leaves me 30 years to serve at a high level.

3.  It won’t work.  Dark, gloom, disappointment, grief, and failure.

3.  It will work, let me prove it. The image:  Bright, hope, success, fun and victory.

4.  I’m too young (old) for the job.

4.  Being young (old) is a distinct advantage.

5.  The market is saturated.  Imagine, 75 per cent of the potential has already been sold.  Better get out.

5.  Imagine!  25 per cent of the market is still not sold.  Count me in.  This looks big!

It’s really important for us to discipline ourselves so we are using the big positive words.

As we think about this thought of using words that are positive and upbeat - Think good words. Use good words.  Use good language versus bad language. 

I will never forget when I heard the tapes of one of our President’s of the United States.  I could not believe the foul language that was totally unnecessary. What a disappointment that was.

My friend, Stephen Covey, who had had one of his trademark wass a shaved head would often say, why waste hormones on growing hair when you can use them on good looks.  😊

Well this was another way of saying - why waste time on unsavory language, when you can focus on good language.

Things that are upbeat and positive. Because so often, when we are using language to the opposite, it’s an expression of frustration, of wasted time. And so this is a way that we can really use our language to a better use in a way that puts us in a better place.

Here’s number 6:

6. Use words to be a captivating and tell interesting stories.

To be an interesting story teller. People love stories. So, think about it. What are some of your favorite stories.  How about TRUE stories from your own life!  Share them with others, write them down, learn from them and in many cases, you will have fun time with them, as will others. We can learn great wisdom from our experiences and we know them in total detail in smell, in feel and what it was like and what we look like from it. But let’s not forget that these may also be a benefit for others. I’ll just share an experience that I had when I was 17 years old. I happened to be a senior at Vlayo High school on the baseball team. Our baseball team was an extraordinary baseball team. There were very successful, one of the best in California. I was 16, I was a junior and I was working hard to get into the starting rotation. Mid season, I worked my way into starting – I was both a catcher and played outfield and so we had a great catcher so I was played in left field. We were battling with Napa High School for first place. They had a couple of players that became future professional baseball players. One played for The Mets, another for another team. They were good. Thu Buckner boys. So, this particular day, a game was being in the evening. Left Field was facing th setting sun and so I was on the east side of the field looking directly west as the sun set. There was a man on 1st, it was the 5th inning and Billy Buckner got up and I couldn’t wait for things to get going here. I’m ready to make it happen. We had a good game. We were ahead 3-1 at this time and excited. Billy Buckner hit a long fly to left field and it was a high fly. I was ready for it. I put up the glove as I was taught to do to block out the sun when the ball gets into the sun and you can’t see it coming. So you theoretically put your glove up there, block the sun right where the ball’s at and you catch it. Well, this particular day, it didn’t quite work out that way – I put up my glove and I was off by a couple of inches. The ball came right over my glove, hit the top of my head and scooted off as a high rate of speed right behind me and I turned around and chased it down but by the time I could throw it in, it was a home run and the score was tied. I was devastated. I felt terrible. And so we got up and ready for the next batter and the next batter came up and hit a line drive down the left field line and it was one that I thought I could have a shoe string catch on the fly and make the out. And so I was giving a 100%, full speed and I reached down to catch it and the ball bounced three inches in front of my glove, straight over my head. I turned around and ran after it full blast. By the time I threw it in, it was another in the park, home run. The score was now 4 to 3, and now tears are going down my face. I’m praying, “Oh Lord, please do not let them hit another ball into left field.” Oh, well there was two outs and the next hit was into left field, fortunately I was able to make the out and the side was retired. Of course I had to return to the dug out and face my team and my coach. My coach was just shaking his head down at the end of the dug out – I don’t think he’d seen anything like that. I happened to be the next batter up, so things could get worse – in this case they didn’t , I did get on base, but we lost the game. Well, there we go! What did I learn from that? Well, I learnt a lot of things form that. First of all, you don’t give up. Things will work out.  Better days will come, even if we have a bad day.

The next day at baseball practice, the team presented me with a hardhat with a glove taped to the top of it. Well that’s the way it goes. Well this is a great story and a great memory for me. I can still see the baseball field, I can still smell the grass. I can still see the dirt and it lives on. Well this is a story I’ve shared with my children occasionally and it was a great learning experience for me.

So there you have it! That’s just an example of how we can use words that might be interesting and might be captivating as we become story tellers to teach important principles.

 So, here we have it. That’s our 6 “word checklist,” that we might think about that helps us use words better.

Conclusion:  Here is your 6 “word checklist”.

1. Build your vocabulary.
2. Use words that live! Popcorn popping on the apricot tree. Bring em alive!
3. Use words that are kind, uplifting and encouraging. Never mean, degrading and discouraging. Speak to people well wherever you might be! Find the good. These words will bless lives versus tear them down.
4. Use you spellcheck and work on good grammar.
5. Use words that are positive and upbeat that create positive images and ultimately actions within our lives that leave good behind us so we focus on high efficiency in effectiveness in using positive good words.
6. Use words to be a great story teller: To teach principles and to communicate.

Well here’s my invitation to each of us today:

What can you do in order to make these a bigger part of your life? To use words so that we can be an effective communicator. Well one of the things – the actions that you can take, and this is my invitation for us today, Invest and regularly study Becoming Your Best, the 12 principles of Highly Successful Leaders. If you do not have a Becoming Your Best Book yet, I would recommend that you invest in one.  And that you should take 5-10-minutes to review the principles and go through them. What will happen is that this will help you be in the upper 5% of leaders anywhere as you start mastering these 12 principles because that’s what we discovered in our 40 years of research of what sets apart high performers, the best leaders in history, from everybody else. It is these 12 principles. So, not only invest in one yourself and regularly study it, also invest in BYB as a gift to family members and fellow-workers. Because they will have the same type of experience and maybe one other action, that you can take, is within your families and organizations, share one principle per week. You can assign out who will teach the principle. But you just take 5 minutes and have one person share the principle then the next week, another person will share or teach the principle. If you do this, at the end of 12 weeks, you can step back and evaluate how you did in the 13th week, and then start over again. 13 x 4 is 52 weeks! It means that you can work on these wonderfully powerful principles, that will lift your life, for the rest of your life.  As we master them, these create a light within us of effectiveness, a chemistry of excellence, that radiates without and touches everyone. Well we wish you the best, as you work on using words effectively! May this 6 word checklist be a blessing to each one of us. Never forget as you do this that you are making a difference, every day of your life. This is a great way to focus on becoming your best. This is Steve Shallenberger with Becoming Your Best – Global Leadership, wishing you a great day!

Source Material:

“We live and breathe words. .... It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them. Reading your words, what you wrote, how you were lonely sometimes and afraid, but always brave; the way you saw the world, its colors and textures and sounds, I felt--I felt the way you thought, hoped, felt, dreamt. I felt I was dreaming and thinking and feeling with you. I dreamed what you dreamed, wanted what you wanted--and then I realized that truly I just wanted you.”  ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can bring tears from the hardest hearts.”  ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

 “Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”  ― C.S. Lewis

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”  ― Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.”  ― Confucius

“Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.”  ― Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing

“Words! What power they hold. Once they have rooted in your psyche, it is difficult to escape them. Words can shape the future of a child and destroy the existence of an adult. Words are powerful. Be careful how you use them because once you have pronounced them, you cannot remove the scar they leave behind.”  ― Vashti Quiroz-Vega

We cannot control the way people interpret our ideas or thoughts, but we can control the words and tones we choose to convey them. Peace is built on understanding, and wars are built on misunderstandings. Never underestimate the power of a single word, and never recklessly throw around words. One wrong word, or misinterpreted word, can change the meaning of an entire sentence - and even start a war. And one right word, or one kind word, can grant you the heavens and open doors.”  ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve:  Welcome To The Becoming Your Best Podcast. This is Steve Shallenberger your host. I’m excited to talk about the subject today. It’s how to stay motivated and 6 Key Actions that you can take to stay highly motivated. As we think about Becoming Your Best and the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, I’ve been thinking about never giving up, that’s principle #12.  Each one of the Principles alone is important but alone really, insufficient by themselves. It’s how they work together that creates a chemistry of excellence. Never give up   is a decision to keep going, it is a pattern of employing the other 11 principles and in the process of working on our vision and goals, of Becoming Your Best, while experiencing success, failure, making pivots, failing again, succeeding, succeeding, failing, learning and moving forward to a great place.  Never Giving Up is at the heart of success for all humanity. It is a principle, a force of human will, will power of overcoming setbacks, learning, never giving up and making progress.  Sometimes spectacular progress.

The subject today is part of Never Giving Up and a vital component, even a full cousin and it is  Staying Motivated to Reach Our Vision and Goals!

Whether you’re a Sales Person, CEO, Division Leader, Parent, Coach, Teacher, Professional (Doc, Dentist, Lawyer, Accountant, etc.) Student, technician, truck driver and so forth the STAKES ARE HIGH!  Our level of motivation can literally determine our success!  Our level of motivation is like a light burning without that radiates everywhere without. 

One of our five sons is working as a Sales Rep in Chicago and it’s very interesting because he has some very clear goals, a great skill set and deciding to make a difference is a mental state and it literally drives us to a high level of achievement but it is the motivation that is the drive line that is helping Tommy be successful every single day. One of the things that Tommy has done to help reinforce this motivation is he’s chosen my wife (and I get to be the bystander to reporting each day). She is his accountability partner. He calls her every single day and reports how it’s going. This is one of the ways Tommy is able to sustain a high level of motivation and it’s paying off. He’s one of the very top in this business. Towards the end of his wonderful and amazing life, Stephen Covey and I went to lunch one day and we were talking about what were the most important things that he taught. And out of all the things that he taught, the 7 Habits and the other things, he said, these are the two: P/PC balance – Probability now and Profit Capability. The PC is the ability to produce profits over a long period of time. Our ability to balance these in a successful way are what determines our long term success. So if you focus too much on profitability this year, you can burn yourself out at the expense of your PC. If you focus too much on the PC then your P suffers this year. It’s this balance. The second of the concepts that he felt were the greatest that he taught, was that the private victory precedes the public victory. I love this concept and it is as true today as it was over his illustrious career where he touched millions throughout the world. This is what I’d like us to think about is that the private victory has a huge impact on our public victory in terms of sustaining high motivation.

So in preparation for this podcast, here at BYB, we have been doing research throughout the world on this very subject:  How Do You Stay Motivated or What Discourages You or What keeps you from staying highly motivated .  The findings from this research have had a huge impact for me on better understanding what people do to stay motivated or what discourages them. I appreciate the feedback from our many listeners around the world. This has been so helpful. Staying motivated is both a science and an art. I have culled from the feedback from the research on this study and developed this into 6 key actions you can take to stay motivated.

The opposite of being motivated is to be discouraged.  This can vastly impact your happiness, joy and productivity, not to mention your quality of life.  This is especially true is you are suffering from fiery adversity.  The fact is:  The STAKES ARE HIGH in our lives.

What can you do  (what can I do?) to stay highly motivated? So here are the 6 things that I have called from this research and I’ll try to really touch on some of the various thoughts that have been given – I’ll weave them into the 6 thoughts as well.

1. Follow your vision, goals and pre-week planning. This is huge in terms of staying highly motivated. Dr Oz recently said, “Your heart needs a reason to keep beating.” That is what we put into our vision. What is the reason that we have for living? So making it passionate, exciting and meaningful. This is the head point, the starting point, the head gates, the direction we want to move in life including love, relationships and doing great things with your talents.  This REASON is articulated it in a vision and cascading now through smart annual goals and being executed pre-week planning.  This is a process that inspires leadership and action. And literally as you embrace these experiences, you recognize the daily victories that you have!  It’s interesting as through this study, I’ve realized that ,money as a goal is important, but it was far from the biggest factor in keeping people highly motivated.  So this is an important part of our  vision and goals and pre week planning to be financially reliant and ahead of the game but it’s not the most important think that keep us highly motivated. One fellow said, “Money isn’t important, but it does rank right up there with oxygen.”  Well, what’s so important about pre-week planning is it helps you to put it all together.  It helps you to visualize your success, the things that count most to stay highly motivated.  The components of that that do help us maintain this high motivation is Exercise, meditation, doing good things, working on balance; so it’s this whole package of key things that allows us to stay at the top of our game. Some people said in the survey and in our research to  make a game for achievement.  So, daily execution in sales is a good example if that happens to be your business. I recall, when I was going through college, during the Summers, I was a  door-to-door book salesman for the South Western Company also for Eagle Systems International. Here was the game that I made: this was Door-to-Door sales, everyone was a potential customer – we just didn’t know it until we  opened the door. So everything was pretty fast hitting. The game was to give 20 demos in morning, afternoon and evening.  People in the area that I worked in called me “The Running Book Salesman.” I literally run from door to door so I could achieve that goal. I did that  - the result was that it would help me be the Top Sale Reps in the company. And so, these are things you can do: vision, so you really follow your vision, annual goals that are set by roles – so what are going to do in the personal aspect, family and friends, professionally and civically? This very clear focus of smart goals meaning very specific achievable, measurable, relevant to your vision and timely – they help us stay focused. And then it’s down to the implementation, pre week planning which is simply this: taking a few minutes during the weekend, 20-30 minutes to think through the lens of your roles, the key roles that you have in your life and what are the actions that matter most. And then you mesh that in to when you’re do them with your existing goals and so you set up your week so you can win and succeed. This focus really helps you control the things that you can control. It’s interesting because when you follow a focus on these things, you’re literally working on what you can control and not wasting your time or your focus to things you cannot control. This focus has a huge impact on being able to stay highly motivated. Just one quck footnote before we go on the number 2 , from the study, these are actually the things that discourage people:  Not living up to my potential, not getting things done/procrastination, having negative thoughts or when things don’t pan out that’s what leads to discourage. This next one is really interesting - no recognition, direction, or deadline. This one of no recognition from others is important. Biases, and lack of finances. So what I found is our annual goals and Pre-week planning really help with every one of those. They really help you control the things you can control and work on those type of things so you end up on the other side of the ledger.

Now, we actually listed in a graphic pie chart each of the top of these 6 things. Here is number 2.

2. Belief in a higher power. This was ranked way up there in helping people remain highly motivated. And expressing gratitude and recognition of this belief in a higher power. What this does is that when people believe in a higher power, they recognize the potential they have.  My friend Zig Ziglar used to say, “God don’t make no junk!”  How true that is! You are special and have God-given capabilities and capacity.  There is a higher purpose in life.  This belief can provide enormous motivation.  This belief will help you LOVE yourself and realize how good you really are. At least that’s my take on it. That’s why so many people I think rank this as such a high force or influence in their life to stay highly motivated.
3. Prayer and meditation. These are major influences on staying highly motivated. This reminded me of both George Washington and Abe Lincoln. Two of the very most significant historical influences to impact on our world particularly on the United States and being key figures on setting up and establishing a government a constitution, a way of living that has influenced all of us in our modern world and billions of people. George Washington in the very depths of despair in trying to stay motivated – he needed, as the leader of this force – this continental army who were fighting for their very lives, needed to stay upbeat and motivated. Our home and others, that I’ve seen that we have this great painting by Arnold Freeberg of George Washington kneeling in prayer. There’s many accounts of this of this is where he gained his strength to stay focused and motivated. Abe Lincoln, during the battle of Geddessburg, he went to his study and knelt in prayer and asked for divine help, that they were able to be successful in the battlefield. He relates that this gave him a great sense of peace and confidence  and people were marveling while many were leaving Washington during that battle of Geddesburg and the event that the confederate army would have been victorious, Abe Lincoln said, “I’m staying.” During this time, he was very motivated. This is the account that he gave. Meditation and reflecting on the things that count most are very helpful to us.
4. Associate with other upbeat motivated people. Have fun. Recognize others for the good that they do.  Failure to recognize others and their contribution does leads to discouragement.  On both sides of this – we are going to determined to control what we can control but we can control recognizing others. So let’s associate with other people that are like minded. In this regard, I am so fortunate. I’m fortunate to have an upbeat family. My work associates are amazing, high achievers and they focus in all aspects on their lives in being upbeat and having fun. A good example is at a conference last week, a number of us executives went to. Just before the evening or the afternoon session of the conference, we went out to a Go Kart place which was not too far away. And we had a great time. We survived the Go Kart experience together. My back got slightly rearranged but we work hard and we play hard. We have upbeat language and actions and consideration and respect for each other’s. All of these things literally create a culture of high motivation. It doesn’t we don’t have challenges. It doesn’t mean we don’t have set backs and problems.  How we approach it really is a big deal.  So have an accountability partner on positive goals.  If possible, stay away from chronically negative people.

Let’s go over these first four:

1. Follow your vision, goals and pre week playing.
2. Belief in a higher power – everybody isn’t going to do that in the way you do it, but that is one of the results of this survey from across the board for what people can do. If it’s helpful, it’s something you can think about.
3. Prayer and Meditation and the strength, peace and depth it can give you.
4. Associate with other motivated, upbeat people.

5. Fill your mind with upbeat, inspiring thoughts. This is something that you can control. I like what William James wrote, “The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds as you think, so shall you be. These are things you can control for example like: Read great stuff, listen (podcasts, TED talks, motivation materials, upbeat soundtracks), Learn – literally as you learn, you increase size of hippocampus. The size of your hippocampus, it directly impacts the health of your brain, body and your life. Memorize upbeat poems. I love doing this. This does the very same thing as in filling your brain with the right kind of stuff. Share learnings and experiences with others.  One of the people that I met last week in a seminar came up to me afterwards said ‘I loved being here today. I love the thought of BYB. I’ve been thinking about motivating thoughts. And I’ve created a journal where I’m writing these down. And in the morning, when I wake up, I look at the journal and it helps me continue this process. When I say fill your mind with upbeat  and inspiring thoughts, I mention soundtracks, movies, whatever. I like things like “Amazing Grace,” with William Wilbur Force, Apollo 13, Rudy, Remember The Titans, The Sound Of Music, The Legend Of Bagger Vance, Rocky and so forth. These are all little things that we just keep doing little by little.
6. Positive Self Talk and affirmations (include this type of language in your vision). I like what Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Sow a thought and you reap an act. Sow an action and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. And that’s what we’re talking about here. Positive self talk and affirmations. This the type of language that you include in your vision. So a good example of this one is “Today is going to be a great day.” That is an affirmation. “I do great work.” These are the type of things we can put in our vision and fill our minds. Positive Talk. The body is very obedient.  The body will conform to what we ask it to do. One of the great examples of this. One of my first companies – ESI we have over 700 hundred sales reps and they would go out and of course be positive with every single client or customer. We would hold a training with all of them before the launched out to all of their assigned areas in the United States and as we worked on positive self talk and one of the things we would work on is, we would say together, three times, but they may need to say it 10 or 20 times or as many times as they were going to their areas:

“I Feel Healthy, I feel happy. I feel  terrific. “ At  first they may not have felt healthy, happy and terrific. They may have felt lousy and discouraged and down in the dumps. But as they said, “I Feel Healthy, I feel happy. I feel  terrific,” over and over , pretty soon they found themselves feeling that way. It literally impacts the body on releasing endorphins and changing how you feel.

So those are 6 things that you can do that came from this research. I’m just going to review it one more time.

1. Follow your vision, goals and pre week planning. This sets up a process that deals with so many things that take away from motivation and add to motivation and helps you do it better.
2. Belief in a higher power: Each person will have to decide how you do that and what it means to you
3. Prayer and meditation
4. Associate with other update and motivated people: That is so fun. I’m grateful to have friends work associates and family who do that. And it’s helpful to me! I reflect upon them and feel the gratitude and appreciation I think that adds to my motivation.
5. Fil your mind with upbeat, inspiring thoughts
6. Positive Self-Talk: Be careful of the language going on in your own mind.

Here’s an invitation – something that may be helpful. Many people help us if we have a sample of what a vision or goals may look like. If you would like a PDF of some samples,  email us at support@becomingyourbest.com  and we will just send you the Free PDFs of samples of vision and goals. Another thing that you might consider is investing in a BYB book and BYB planner. You can go to our website becomingyourbest.com and indicate that you would like to have a book and a planner and I would be happy to sign the book for you. These will help you do these 6 things we just talked about and stay focused on What Matters Most.

One other thing that you might consider is to give a gift of a BYB book and/or BYB planner to a family member or work associate.  These are transformational forces that have inspired the #1 Leadership forces in your life. As you work on these 6 KEY ACTIONS which is to: 1. Follow your vision, goals and pre week planning

2. Belief in a higher power
3. Prayer and Meditation
4. Associate with other upbeat and motivated people
5. Fill your mind with upbeat and positive thoughts
6. Positive Self Talk.

These things will help you Stay Motivated:  You WILL STAY HIGHLY MOTIVATED and it will affect your happiness, joy and productivity and that of everyone around you.

We are wishing you all the best as you make a difference in the world for good every day.

This is Steve Shallenberger, with BYBGL, wishing you a great, safe day.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can a subtle shift in focus really make that much of a difference when it comes to succeeding in business and increasing your income? What do you think?

Bob Burg, author of The Go Giver, shares how shifting your focus from getting to giving will make a huge impact on your level of success.

On today’s episode, Bob shares tips and insights for reframing your mindset so you can cultivate an other-focused perspective. We talk about achieving happiness through serving others, and we even talk about how to shift from a transactional to a transformational leadership mindset.

Tune in for tips and philosophies you won’t want to miss!

In this episode, you will…

• Understand why building and maintaining trust are important parts of leadership
• Realize that value is in the eyes of the beholder
• Learn how to spend more time focused on giving than getting
• Uncover how to transition from me-focused to other-focused
• Discover how to become a transformational leader

Shift your focus, today!

Becoming Your Best

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

The Go Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg

Bob Burg Website

Bob Burg Twitter

Bob Burg Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing Weeders into Leaders with Jeff McManus

https://www.becomingyourbest.com/growing-weeders-leaders-jeff-mcmanus/

Steve: Super. Welcome to all of our Becoming Your Best podcast listeners wherever you might be today. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger, and I am so much looking forward to our guest today. He's unlike any other that I've had on this show. Our guest has an earthy background that has had a big impact taking principles from nature and helping recognize those in a leadership application. So, welcome, Jeff McManus.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the corporate world, and even in your personal life, the temptation to stray from your true self and character is strong. Yet, our research has found that the most successful individuals and companies stay true to their character through all sorts of tests, trials, and tribulations.

In this episode, you’ll hear some stories of leaders who persevered; as well as stories of leaders who got a second chance to rebuild their character. You’ll also hear three things you can do today with your family or your business to keep your pack on the straight and narrow, including:

1. Lead from the top and set the example.
2. Create a climate of openness.
3. Create a channel for oversight and honest feedback.

CLICK TO TWEET

Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times, New and Expanded Edition

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you find yourself at a turning point? A fork in the roads where your only choices are to either stay on your current trajectory or pursue a passion you can’t yet back with experience or expertise?

Lucky for you, passion wins out over talent every day of the week, because having a natural talent is almost inconsequential if you’re not passionate about using it to achieve and make a difference.

Bernie Swain joins us today to talk about his leap from steady career to entrepreneurship, how it almost failed, and what he did to turn his failing project into the thriving business we know today as The Washington Speakers Bureau.

Tune in!

In this episode, you will…

• Learn why passion is more valuable than talent
• Realize how important it is to discover your passion, and then incorporate it into your career
• Be reminded that relationships are integral to development, because success and accomplishment don’t happen in a vacuum
• Understand that people aren’t born great, but great qualities and traits can be developed
• Discover that a willingness to learn from others makes you stronger, wiser, and positions you for success

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

The Washington Speakers Bureau

What Made Me Who I Am by Bernie Swan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What kind of drive and discipline does it take to win over 250 awards in body building? Today’s guest, Ron Williams, is here to share with us how he does it all. Not only is he one of the most decorated natural body builder in the world, but he is also an author, a trainer, a coach, a speaker, and an educator.

In this episode, you will…

• Hear how Ron’s faith and resilience helped him to rise from the traumatic events of his childhood
• Learn how Ron transfers the principles he learned in competition to all parts of his life
• Discover why divorcing your beliefs can be necessary to help you see how you can improve
• Find out how you can see past the wall and into your successful future

Click To Tweet

Iron Chest Master

Ultimate Fat Loss system

Faith and Fat Loss

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you have a big goal you’d like to accomplish? Maybe you want to push your business to the next level, mark something off your bucket list, or try something totally new! Whatever the object of your desire, if you’re waiting for inspiration to get started, you should know that inspiration is most often found on the other side of getting started.

Today, Aaron Anastasi joins us to talk about all the ways you can start working toward your goals by overcoming the voices of limitation.

What are the voices of limitation? Tune in to find out!

In this episode, you will…

• Understand how changing your why might be the key to your success
• Hear why being successful is all about staying on your path
• Uncover what’s holding you back in your life, and get rid of it
• Discover what the voices of limitation are, and how to overcome them

Learn how to identify the voice of your dreams

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

The Voice of Your Dreams by Aaron Anastasi

Aaron Anastasi’s Twitter

Aaron Anastasi’s Facebook

Aaron Anastasi’s Instagram

Superior Singing Method

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every year, millions of managers and supervisors get promoted into management positions without learning how to successfully lead a team. 

As a result, many of them find themselves at the top of the corporate ladder while lacking the training to lead. 

Justin Constantine wants to change that. 

As a Marine officer, Justin volunteered for deployment to Iraq in 2006, and served as a Civil Affairs Team Leader while attached to an infantry battalion. While on a routine combat patrol, Justin was shot in the head by a sniper. 

Although the original prognosis was that he had been killed in action, Justin survived. Through teamwork and a positive mental attitude, he has had quite a successful recovery. 

Justin is a great example of living the 12 principles of Highly Successful Leaders, particularly of doing WHAT MATTERS MOST and LIVING THE GOLDEN RULE and the vital role they play in being successful as a leader.

He applies his incredible story of overcoming adversity to every level of an organization, and all audiences to move beyond the challenges they are facing in their own lives.

In this episode, you will…

• Discover the importance of getting other people involved in your life
• Learn that you need to regularly set aside space to identify how you want to spend your time
• Learn your number one priority as a leader
• Realize the power of leading from the front

[Tweet ""When you are leading from the front in your personal life it means you are being proactive." Justin Constantine"]

JustinConstantine.com

My Battlefield, Your Office

Get the 12 Principles

Becoming Your Best Book

Breakthrough Leadership Conference

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, you’re going to hear an amazing story of triumph, hope, survival, and vision from humanitarian, entrepreneur, and family-man, Ken Sharpe.

Ken joins us to share his heartbreakingly hope-filled journey of narrowly escaping death and how being given a second chance gave him more strength than ever to pursue his dreams of helping elevate others and providing opportunities for life-changing transformational development.

Tune in for valuable insights from an entrepreneur and developer who keeps the heart of humanity in mind, with everything he does.

In this episode, you will…

• Understand that the greatest glory is in rising above failure
• Hear how to use your success for good by crafting entrepreneurial pursuits around helping others
• Get Ken’s Five “P’s” of Life
• Discover that, if your vision is true, you’re bound to succeed
• Realize that being born into privilege doesn’t make you superior to others

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Ken Sharpe’s Website

ken@westfoods.net

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you put your business’s marketing campaigns on the backburner because more important things come up? What if we told you how much money you were leaving on the table by not putting marketing at the top of your list?

Ajax Union founder and CEO, Joe Apfelbaum, joins us today to talk about just that – the power of marketing and how integral it is to growing your business.

Tune in to get Joe’s three basic steps for building a social media campaign, hear about his upcoming book, From Average Joe to CEO, and get insights on how to build a successful business based on things you’re already doing to provide others with value.

In this episode, you will…

• Learn how to build your brand using digital marketing
• Discover how important a cohesive marketing strategy is for building your brand
• Get insights on leveraging the competition to grow your business
• Understand how you, too, can transform your business from transactional to relationship-based
• Realize that marketing is all about testing

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Joe Apfelbaum LinkedIn

Joe Apfelbaum Website

Joe Apfelbaum Twitter @JoeApfelbaum

Joe Apfelbaum Instagram

Joe Apfelbaum Facebook

Ajax Union Digital Marketing Agency

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you a leader? Whether you’re already leading a team, or you’re working your way toward that role, it’s important to understand the difference between teaching your team the skills they need to have, and empowering them to put those skills to use.

David Marcum of Zag Learning shares some of the pitfalls leaders face, insights on why ego can be so corrosive, and thoughts on how leaders can really inspire team members to grow.

You know you’re doing a great job as a leader when your team really starts to impress you and show agency in their roles, but they can only get to that place with your help, so tune in for tips and insights you won’t want to miss!

In this episode, you will…

• Understand the purpose of a team leader
• Get David’s 4 things leaders can do to add to the success of those around them
• Hear how ego gets in the way of success, and what you can to to keep it in check!
• Learn how to overcome obstacles and be a person of integrity on, and off, the stage
• Realize why impulse control is an important part of gaining and maintaining success

Transform yourself and become a better leader today!

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Egonomics by David Marcum

Zag Learning

David Marcum’s LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As some of the most in demand keynote speakers and bestselling authors, Steve and Rob Shallenberger have been adding value to executives and top leaders around the world. Every week, they will be answering your questions by sharing the same tools and strategies from their seminars, granting you free access to the same world class materials typically reserved for Fortune 500 companies.

Steve Shallenberger has 40 years of experience under his belt as a successful author, CEO, speaker, and trainer of leaders throughout the world. But most importantly, he has been happily married to the same woman for 41 years and has six kids.

In this episode, Steve will share:

• How he rose from humble beginnings in Valeo, California
• The power of dreaming
• The first of twelve principles of highly successful leaders
• Ways to find an inspirational vision for your life

Rob Shallenberger is a Harvard MBA, former fighter pilot, author, speaker, and trainer of corporate leaders with his father, Steve. He is also a husband and father to four beautiful children.

Later in the episode, Rob will share:

• His turning point where he took charge of his life and his future
• The true opposite of failure and the cure to it

The goal of this podcast is to share this incredible, life-changing content with as many people as possible. If you like what you hear, please go rate us on iTunes and share this podcast with your friends, family, and team.

www.becomingyourbest.com

Zig Ziglar

Steven Covey

Earl Nightingale

Norman Vincent Peale

Denis Waitley

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t- Jim Collins

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders- Steven Shallenberger

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is short but important. It’s both an invitation and a challenge: In the next week, find someone to mentor. That’s right—wherever, whoever he or she is, reach out. It can start with an email, a phone call, a simple chat. Just make that first step.

Why is this our topic today? Well, on a recent trip abroad, my father and I were walking through a neighborhood of extreme poverty, and it got us thinking: How do people break negative cycles, transcend barriers, and create real change in their lives?

In the days that followed, I considered the examples I knew of people who overcame tremendous challenges in the midst of adversity. And do you know the common thread I realized in them? They all had a mentor of some kind—a person that gave them a spark of hope and a sense of possibility. Now it’s our turn to be a spark for someone.

In this BYB episode, you will . . .

• Understand just how crucial the mentor spark can be
• Learn how people take hope and turn it into a vision
• See how having a plan lays the foundation for transformation
• Get motivated to mentor someone today
• Be reminded that the path of Becoming Your Best involves lifting up others along the way

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, Steve talks to Rick Miller. As a kid, Rick was really close to his dad. His dad was a personnel guy in the only non-union manufacturer in central Massachusetts. So Rick was accustomed to  sitting around the kitchen table and listening to stories about compensation, communication, and benefits and grievances. The apple does not fall from from the tree. Rick is an unconventional turnaround specialist, a servant leader, and go-to chief. All things that require skills he learned form his dad. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m Possible vs Impossible!

https://www.becomingyourbest.com/im-possible-vs-impossible/ ‎

Have you ever had a dream? Everything was working in your favor and your dream with was within your grasp. Suddenly a random accident cut his dreams short?

That’s the story of Jeff Griffin.

Jeff recounts, “I always dreamed of playing sports on the ‘big stage’! As a kid I envisioned playing college football as a receiver. I was one step closer to fulfilling this dream until the following summer when a construction accident left me broken and paralyzed from the waist down. The 'experts' told me the bad news that I would never walk or run again...EVER!”

After Jeff’s construction accident he picked up the pieces of his shattered dreams. He realized he had a decision to make. He could either stay down and quit or get back up and succeed. He chose the latter!

Jeff has turned the impossible to the possible!

Jeff’s experience helped him find a formula for success! It's helped motivate himself as well as others to find a definite purpose in life.

Jeff’s purpose is to inspire millions to Desire, Dream, and Do one step at a time. “I’ve turned this tragedy into a triumph! I have since fulfilled my lifelong dream of performing on the ‘big stage.’”, says Jeff.

In today’s Becoming Your Best Podcast, Rob Shallenberger interviews Jeff Griffin. Jeff is a wheelchair athlete who earned his Master’s degree in Education and knows how to win. He played in the 2004 Athens Olympics, holds a Guinness Book of World Records, and is a four time NWBA All-Star MVP. He enjoys mentoring youth, distributing wheelchairs, and providing Peer Training Materials through his humanitarian efforts with LDS Charities, which he currently sits on the board.

“These successes, all though impressive, do not define who I am. What really defines me is my ability to overcome life’s great challenges one step at a time! And inspire others to do the same.” - Jeff Griffin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before we began this podcast, we asked our audience what they wanted to hear most from us. While the responses ranged from “how do I stay positive in a slump?” to “how do I handle difficult people”, one of the most frequent questions deals with managing your time and balancing your priorities all while staying sane.

Whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a stay-at-home parent, or a student, we all struggle with making sure that our schedule reflects what’s most important in our lives. This is why we’ve decided to share our Pre Week Planning process with you today. This process will help you to transform your good intentions into a reality that will yield the results you want in your personal and professional lives.

In this episode, you will learn:

We challenge you to try Pre Week Planning for the next four weeks to see the radical difference it can make in your life. Choose an accountability partner to keep you honest and download our Life Organizer app or go on our website to www.becomingyourbest.com to find a layout that works for you.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST

RESOURCES

Life Organizer App

Becoming Your Best store

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders- Steven Shallenberger

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode Rob talks to former NBA player, Mark Eaton. You might have heard Mark’s name throughout the years.  He spent 12 seasons with the Utah Jazz team and holds two NBA records for the most blocks in a single season. However Mark's success did not end with the NBA. His post-NBA career continued to be just as successful. His released a book called The Four Commitments of a Winning Team, where he talks about his life experiences and how it lead him to other successful opportunities outside of sports.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many times a week do you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or maxed out? Do you often find yourself feelings frustrated or upset over something? If you’re anything like our team, you can’t afford to have a bad day. Today, Steve and Rob Shallenberger share the eleventh principle of highly successful leaders: living in peace and balance.

In this episode, you will…

• Find out how you can radically change your mindset with a few simple tools
• Tune in to hear Steve’s strategies for taking charge and setting the tone in your business and familial relationships
• Discover how just three words can take your attitude from where you are to where you want to be
• Learn how you can break free from mediocrity
• Hear how you can change your reality with affirmations and positive self-talk

CLICK TO TWEET

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leadership is something that is pivotal and transformational in our lives regardless of whether it's applied at an individual level, in our relationships or with our profession and organizations. So this is about everybody. This episode is centered on a quote from Peter Drucker who was considered by many to be the founder of modern management. Here is the quote, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." That is just so powerful and it's interesting that this one is vital to our success whatever phase of life that you're talking about but particularly organizationally.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Working with people can be challenging. 

Sometimes conflict can happen. 

Or sometimes people are simply falling short on their potential. 

This episode is designed to help you navigate those situations as a leader with a focus on helping people truly become their best. 

This episode is about leadership.

Leadership is a game changer. It's what makes a difference in the world. 

The five things we will go over in this episode are powerful things that help leader lead relationships to a better place. To lift, inspire, and build others. 

And... to deal with any situation, whether simple, complex, emotional, or high risk. 

In this episode, you will…

• Discover the 5 things leaders can do to MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR GOOD when working with others
• Learn how three simple words can transform the way you get feedback from people
• Learn the two sides of the communication coin
• Realize the importance of your strategic rhythm 

[Tweet ""A leader helps people get to a better place." Steve Shallenberger"]

Get the 12 Principles

Becoming Your Best Book

Breakthrough Leadership Conference

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever talked to a customer service representative who refused to take responsibility over a mistake? How did that make you feel about the company? Accountability has a huge influence on trust and who we decide to do work with.

Is there a culture of responsibility and accountability in your company? So often we get stuck in a cycle of finger pointing. The principle of being accountable is such an important element of becoming your best.

We discuss:

• What accountability REALLY means
• How accountability affects you in business and at home
• Three things we can do to build more accountability
• A 21-day challenge that can change the way you think

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

Subscribe on iTunes

Breakthrough Leadership Conference: 12 Principle of Highly successful Leaders

Entrepreneur Success Bootcamp

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest has helped people from all walks of life, from kindergarteners to to rocket scientists, to achieve more, overcome adversity, and give back through his dynamic and engaging speeches. As the son of a librarian, Danny hated reading, but today he is called America’s leading reading ambassador.

Dr. Danny Brassell comes from a background that encouraged him to reach for the stars and he has dedicated most of his life to motivating others to reach for their potential as well.

In this episode, you will…

• Hear the four critical turning points that led Danny to the success he has today
• Discover how a steady diet of positive influences has helped him to fulfill his full potential and continue to grow
• Find out how Danny handles setbacks and how he reacts to challenges
• Be inspired by the story of Conrad Hilton
• Learn why reading every day is such an important habit for leaders

Think and Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill

Be My Guest- Conrad Hilton

The Tale of Peter Rabbit-Beatrix Potter

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

The Greatest Salesman in the World- Og Mandino

Psychocybernetics-Maxwell Maltz

The Power of Positive Thinking-Norman Vincent Peale

Swim with the Sharks without being Eaten Alive-Harvey Mackay

Becoming Your Best- Steve Shallenberger

www.lazyreaders.com

www.dannybrassell.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We asked you to let us know what topics you would like us to cover to help you enrich your life personally and professionally. We heard you out and decided to invite best-selling author, international speaker, and leadership trainer, Dr. Will Moreland, to answer some of your questions.

Growing up in Compton,Will’s environment did not necessarily encourage him to realize his own potential. In fact, he faced a lot of challenges early on in life. But after joining the Army and discovering his true calling, Will has worked hard to inspire leaders around the world to “live genius”.

In this episode, Will and I will discuss…

• What set him on a pathway to realize his own potential
• Will’s turning point
• How you can influence and transform the lives of others
• His strategies for staying motivated
• How to find the positive in a negative situation
• The advantage of setting big B.A.G.S (Bold Audacious Goals)
• How crucial accountability can be when you’re trying to stay motivated
• Why it’s so important to not be afraid of failure

CLICK TO TWEET

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST

RESOURCES

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Starting on January 1st, 2016, everyone has a clean slate and a fresh start to make this the year where you become your best self. But what exactly does your best self look like and what can you do this year to better yourself, your relationships, your business, your community, and even the world?

Lead with a vision and manage a plan that will make a difference in your life with our strategy inspired by Rob’s years as an elite fighter pilot. You can turn the impossible into the possible with this four step process.

To make the very best of the year to come, you’ll need to…

1. Begin by reviewing your vision
2. Identify the different roles you play in your life
3. Make sure that your goals are SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Specific)
4. Send your goals to a group of people you admire or trust to hold yourself accountable to achieve all that you’ve set out to do.

This is the time of year that most people set New Year’s Resolutions. This is the year that you stop making resolutions and write down specific, measureable goals to become your best.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might recognize today’s guest from Shark Tank or The Today Show. My guest today is not only a cool guy but a very close personal friend, Jason Hanson. As a former CIA agent, Jason followed his entrepreneurial tendencies to create his own company Spy Escape and Evasion. Today he helps everyday people prepare for the both the extraordinary and the all too common tragedies that pose a threat to our personal safety.

In this episode, you will…

• Learn about Jason’s background in law enforcement and how it influenced his entrepreneurial journey
• Discover 5 impactful tips to keep you and your family safe
• Find out how criminals often choose their victims
• Hear the +3-8 rule of aviation and how it can keep you safer in flight

Click To Tweet

Spy Escape and Evasion

Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you go through the different seasons of your life, things change. One person who has always been there to offer guidance along the way is my guest, Richard Eyre. As a Harvard MBA grad, CEO, and author, Rick has achieved a great deal over the years, but its his role as a father to nine children (and a grandfather to 27 grandkids-and counting!) that really inspires him to make this life count.

With a new book on the market, I invited Rick here to share the lessons he has learned throughout his life that have helped make him a strong and successful leader in his personal and professional lives.

In this episode, you will learn…

• Why you can't control everything (and why it's better that you don't)
• The significance of serendipity
• The pivot points that led Rick to a life of self-determination and leadership
• Planning versus balance
• How to find strength in the autumn of your life
• Ownership versus stewardship

Rick’s newest book that he co-authored with his wife, Linda, is out now. Life In Full: Maximizing your Longevity and your Legacy is about taking care of your health, wealth, and your posterity. Whether you're 20, 40, or beyond, this book will help you to establish the legacy that you want to live your life to the fullest.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you asking yourself questions like, “What should I be doing with my life and time?” If you take stock, discover your passion, focus your future efforts, and work hard, you’re sure to find a niche you’ll succeed in.

Most people succeed best at the thing they have a passion for, but it takes more than passion and a vision to grow a successful company. There’s no substitute for hard work, especially in the beginning of a new venture, but if you do your homework and really prepare, you’ll be ahead of the game.

As an entrepreneur, it can be difficult to step back once you’ve developed the habit of working long days to develop your business, and it’s all too easy to continue trying to do everything ourselves. If you can learn how to rely on the talents of others to help your company grow, it will help you both achieve success and a healthy work-life balance more quickly.

Tune in for insights on work-life balance, putting in the hours, and pursuing your passions, with Tore Steen!

In this episode, you will…

• Discover how to allow others to help you lead
• Learn how to prepare yourself for success while taking risks
• Understand that there’s no substitute for hard work
• Realize that open communication can help you and your company grow
• Be reminded that your passion will always shine through

CLICK TO TWEET

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best Podcast

Becoming Your Best Blog

Becoming Your Best iTunes

1033 Foundation of Utah

Excellence by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.

tsteen@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most people don’t have an idea and a team to start off with.

There’s 10 steps in the process. 

Each step takes you from something rudimentary to something that kind of works, and from something that works to something that works very well.

It starts with writing a personal essay, just to give you direction.

Write down problems and solutions and then talk to people and get them to give you advice and votes on which one to work on.

You can become someone who can start from nothing.

There’s many different ways that you can take initiative.

On today’s episode of Becoming Your Best, Josh and I are going to dive in his new book called, “Initiative” and how he has developed a method that can help you become someone who knows how to create projects, anytime.

Joshua is a TEDx speaker, professor at NYU, host of the award-winning „Leadership and the Environment Podcast”, a columnist for Inc. Magazine, and author of the number one best selling book, "Leadership Step by Step”. He holds five Ivy League degrees, including a Ph.D. in astrophysics. He also has an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped build an X-Ray observational satellite, with the European Space Agency and NASA.

Josh says that his method called, „The way of taking initiative” is designed for people who don’t yet have an identity.

So, get ready to learn how to find your identity and take initiative, on Episode 181!

Some questions I ask

•What's the difference between your method, „Initiative” and what you call, "Dog show entrepreneurship"? (03:00)

•What would be the first exercise? What’s one of the first things you recommend? (11:25)

•Can you share a couple of examples, stories, of people who did the exercises, and the results? (14:00)

•Why did you choose the word “Initiative” for the title of your book? (19:10)

•How long does it take for one person to do all the exercises? (25:55)

In this episode you will learn

•Why Joshua compares entrepreneurship to a dog show. (03:20)

•The difference between entrepreneurial training and initiative training. (16:25)

•How the stories in the book will help you find inspiration. (14:15)

•What is the initiative – action – passion cycle. (21:15)

•Where the excitement comes from. (23:40)

Connect with Joshua Spodek

Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever had an experience that changed your life forever? 

Sometimes that can take place in just one moment.

Ask yourself every day, who is in need today?

Think of some of the greatest leaders in history and how they treated other people.

Not only these individuals changed our world for good, but they are known for treating other people right, for taking time to care.

Research shows that recognizing and building others is far more productive than criticism or, worst, doing nothing.

On today’s episode, I talk about the importance of caring for other people and how you can change your behavior so that you can have greater happiness, peace, tranquility, and success.

There is currently far too much hate and meanness, ignorance, incivility, animosity, jealousy, and impatience in the world today. When there is a greater influence of love, kindness, caring, patience, and recognition of good, the world is changed for the better.

Get ready to learn how you can find time to care, every day, in Episode 182 of Becoming Your Best

In this episode you will learn:

How my wife gave me a lesson I’ll never forget. (01:35)

What leadership is, in terms of caring. (05:20)

The meaning of Principle #5, „Live the Golden Rule in Business and Life” (07:15)

50 Random Acts of Kindness. (09:00)

Methods to become a person who takes time to care. (11:40)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you work to live? 

Or live to work? 

We get one shot at this life, yet 68% of people feel like their #1 challenge is how to prioritize spending their time. While work is critical—and necessary for people to survive and thrive in life—it’s not everything. There must be a balance between working, taking care of yourself, spending time with family, and everything else. 

On today’s episode, I talk about the importance of understanding how to make time for what matters most. Some strategies I discuss include pre-week planning, reviewing your vision and roles and goals, optimizing your morning and evening routines, and staying focused on the mission at hand. 

As a friend of mine said, “The mission will survive without you.” In other words, when you’re at work, give it your all. Be there and be focused. But, when you go home, give your all to your family. Be present with them. 

Get ready to learn how to transform your life to focus on working to live, in episode 183 of Becoming Your Best. 

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

•How to prioritize your time. (2:09)

•What it looks like to live to work, rather than working to live. (5:46)

•How to make the time for what matters most. (11:03)

•How to put our subconscious minds to work for us. (12:40)

Resources:

Becoming Your Best University 

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders by Steven Shallenberger

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The average person works 90,000 hours in a lifetime

So you might as well choose to enjoy as many as you can.

When we talk about humor in the workplace, we're not talking about making the workplace funny, but making it a little bit more fun.

Humor isn't necessarily what you do, but more of how you do it.

There's over 30 business benefits of using humor in the workplace, backed by research, case studies, real-world examples.

The #1 reason why people don't use humor at work is that they don't think that their boss or co-workers would approve.

The reality is that 98% of CEOs prefer job candidates with a sense of humor

And 81% of employees say a fun workplace would make them more productive.

On today’s episode, I’m having a good laugh with Andrew Tarvin and we’re talking about humor in the workplace, improv and business, happiness and productivity, and how all those combined will help us become our best at our jobs.

Combining his background as a Project Manager at Procter&Gamble with his experience as a stand-up comedian, Andrew Tarvin reverse-engineers the skill of humor, in a way that is practical, actionable, and gets results in the workplace. And through his company, Humor That Works, Drew has worked with more than 35,000 people, at over 250 organizations, including Microsoft, the FBI, and the International Association of Canine Professionals. He is a best-selling author, he's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and FastCompany. In his TEDx talk, he's been viewed by more than 4 million individuals. He loves the color orange, he's obsessed with chocolate and can solve a Rubik’s Cube, but it does take like seven minutes.

Andrew is using humor and laughter as a way to deal with any challenges in life because, "there’s less cleaning up to do afterward.”

So listen to Episode 184 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how to effectively incorporate humor in the workplace, and what are some useful strategies that leaders could learn from comedians.

Questions I ask:

•What's your story? (02:35)

•What can leaders learn from a stand-up comedian? (12:25)

•Why don't people use more humor? (18:40)

•How can a leader make it okay to use humor? (20:25)

•Do you have a favorite joke? (23:45)

In this episode, you will learn:

•Humor is a skill that can be learned by everyone. (07:45)

•The four styles of humor. (10:10)

•Great jokes for the workplace. (15:05)

•The benefits of using humor, both for the individuals and for the organization. (16:55)

•Tips on how to use humor to defuse office conflict. (21:45)

Connect with Andrew:

•Website

•LinkedIn

•Facebook

•Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In business, not everything is what it seems.

Are you a big fish in a small market?

 Or are you an average fish in a big market?

If you're a big fish in a small pond, everyone knows you,

So if you can't pull off what you're going to promise, it's going to end badly, very quickly.

You can't cheat people into buying what you’re selling, 

Because they will come back to get refunds.

On today’s episode, I have an interesting guest, Tom Libelt, and we talk about his rich background and how he became a big fish in a small niche.

Tom Libelt had learned from a young age how to sell and negotiate business by getting haggled by Russian vendors. His family moved from Poland to the United States to escape communism and now, Tom spends most of his time in Thailand. He runs Smart Brand Marketing and We Market Online Courses. He has published around 5000 Kindle books and he built a successful SEO in online course marketing business.

He shares with us tips on what you can do to make your online business successful. 

So listen to Episode 185 of Becoming Your Best, and take precious notes from this experienced entrepreneur.  

Questions I ask

•How did you end up in Thailand? (04:15)

•How do you assess which business idea is good and which isn't? (09:55)

•What are the essential SEO things that every website needs? (17:30)

•Can you describe what a backlink is? (19:15)

•Why is ongoing SEO a waste of money for most businesses? (19:55)

In this episode, you will learn:

•What Tom does for his clients. (05:10)

•What Muay Thai is. (09:00)

•Three things that separate successful online courses from courses that fail. (13:50)

•What pull marketing is. (18:05)

•The mindset behind earning a higher income (22:00)

Connect with Tom:

•Smart Brand Marketing

•We Market Online Courses

•LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In order to get the results you want in your business, you've got to have people bringing 100% of their greatness.

It's not rocket science, yet, we still really struggle to figure out how to do that. 

Human beings are infinitely more complex than any machine out there, and we require special care to activate our greatness.

So, what is it that people really need to thrive?

On today’s episode, I have an amazing talk with Moe Carrick, about the human needs in the workplace and how the old Industrial Revolution model of management has lost its efficiency.

Moe Carrick helps brave people do the hard things that make organizations great and benefit people, their partners, the environment and the community. She is a best-selling author, with two books released, „Fit Matters” and „Bravespace Workplace”, and she is the founder of Moementum.

Moe believes that people make organizations great, and she always seeks to help people build their companies and thrive.

So, whether you’re a leader or an employee, listen to Episode 186 of Becoming Your Best, to find out ways to improve your workplace, so that everyone is more efficient and happier.

Questions I ask:

• Why did you decide to write Bravespace Workplace? (06:25)
• What do we need to do to unleash the genie? (08:55)
• What is at stake for leaders, in terms of the people part of their business? (12:10)
• What are you being brave about, right now? (19:36)
• How can people find out about what you're doing? (22:57)

In this episode, you will learn:

• All the turning points that have led Moe down to the path she is on today. (01:50)
• The reasons why she wrote her first book, “Fit Matters”. (07:00)
• Where she found the inspiration for the subtitle, “Making your company fit for human life”. (09:53)
• Examples from Moe’s book, that will help leaders attract and retain the people they hire. (14:35)
• The results of Google’s Aristotle Project and what does that mean. (18:14)

Connect with Moe:

• Website
• Bravespace Workspace Website
• Fit Matters Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to go the EXTRA MILE?

In the business world, we are talking about engagement.

Research indicates that about 34% of employees are engaged in their work.

This is always a shocking number!

Part of our job as Leaders is to know how to move that percentage up to 50-60-70% to deeply impact a culture of engagement.

Anticipate, be aware of the circumstances, and do something about it!

That is the Power of the Extra Mile!

On today’s episode, I’m advising you to choose Best over Good and Better. It’s not easy, it doesn’t happen overnight, but going the extra mile in order to become your best will make you happier, more fulfilled and prosper.

One of the guidelines in our organization is that we don't talk negatively about anyone in their absence. As a matter of fact, when we have an issue, we take it to the person, and deal with it in a professional way. The no-no is that we don't do the opposite of that because it could be grounds for no longer working together. So we want to be clear on these things. That's the Extra Mile! We think about how to positively lift everybody that we associate with.

The secret is working with the people first. This, then, impacts the culture of the office and you will see how it shifts your entire organization.

So listen to Episode 187 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how you can consistently exercise the Power of going the Extra Mile, both in your personal and professional life.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Examples of what it means to go the Extra Mile. (07:30)
• The 6-Step Process of solving problems. (10:00)
• The meaning and purpose of the Relationship Agreement. (15:50)
• The four steps of the Relationship Agreement. (16:32)
• Practicing the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders can help you go the Extra Mile in your life. (21:40)
• What is Steve’s cheat sheet and how can you get it. (24:48)

Resources

Becoming Your Best website

Becoming Your Best University

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are a few things that it seems like almost all people are searching for

And those are happiness, a sense of peace, and satisfaction in their life.

What's interesting is people in their 40s, 50s, 60s seem to spend their entire working days and lives looking for it,

But they never really find it.

Often times, people are always looking over the fence and say, "Man, the grass sure seems greener over there.”

On today’s episode, I'm going to share with you what I would consider being two very powerful directions to help us find peace, satisfaction, true happiness, that's sustainable and lasts, rather than being this moving target, this allusive thing that's out there, that we never seem to find.

Deference to a higher power yields so many benefits to us - prayer, hope, gratitude - these are things that will help us find happiness, they're at the core of it, and it’s just a matter of living and thinking about them. 

So listen to Episode 188 of Becoming Your Best, and learn how hope, gratitude, and focusing outward rather than inward, will lead to happiness, peace, and satisfaction.

In this episode, you will learn:

•The difference between confidence and cockiness. (04:25)

•How ego can be one of the greatest detriments to our success. (05:00)

•The best leaders are the ones who know their team members. (09:30)

•The difference between a servant leader and a dictator leader. (10:00)

•What is “Service Monday”. (13:50)

•How you can get trainer certification. (16:55)

Resources:

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best University

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The foundation to building sustainable high-performance teams is setting a vision and a challenge,

And giving people the autonomy and the space within that challenge to do their best work.

You're not walking into the room with all the answers.

What you want to do, is you want to build an amazing creative team that understands the vision, 

Then gets very excited about it and brings ideas to the table that you could've never suggested to them.

On today’s episode, we have a great guest, Christopher O’Donnell. He and I talk about imagination, vision and creativity, about the culture of an organization and about the key elements that build a high-performing team and environment.

Christopher has built dozens of web and mobile products ranging from language learning for the US military to the most popular free CRM product in the world, recorded dozens of albums across a variety of musical genres, and spoken to audiences of 10,000+. His role as SVP of Product at HubSpot, a public tech company, makes him a staple in the product management community and frequent lecturer at MIT Sloan and major corporations. Outside of his day job, Christopher spends his time as a songwriter and guitarist for the band The Providers, who release music on a regular basis.

He says that the minute you think you have everything figured out, as a leader, give it 24 hours and the answers are going to change.

So listen to Episode 189 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how to create a workplace environment where daydreaming and asking questions is cool.

Questions I ask:

•Do you actually go out and do gigs with your band? (04:30)

•How did you become involved with HubSpot? (06:00)

•What are the similarities between creating a Rock & Roll album and developing a successful tech product? (09:40)

•Any final tips that you might be able to leave with our listeners that you think would be helpful in their success? (27:45)

•How can people find out about what you're doing? (28:45)

In this episode, you will learn: 

•How Christopher was drawn to technology and music from an early age. (02:30)

•How HubSpot managed to grow from a startup company to a publicly-traded company. (06:09)

•The mindset behind the modern leadership. (12:05)

•The key elements to building sustainable high-performing creative teams. (15:25)

•How his child made Christopher realize the importance of creativity in a team. (22:55)

Connect with Christopher:

•LinkedIn

•Skype: christopherod_2

•E-mail: codonnell@hubspot.com

•Phone Number: 617-800-3446

Other resources:

•HubSpot website

•The Providers website

•The Providers Twitter

•The Providers Facebook

•The Providers Instagram

•The Providers Youtube Channel

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Done correctly, marriage is so much better than being alone.

Is there a risk that things won’t work out?

Can you do a do-over, if they don't?

Well, of course!

But it is worth the risk.

On today’s episode, I want to celebrate my 45th Wedding Anniversary with you, by sharing 6 essential things that I strongly believe have worked in my relationship and that will help you improve your happiness. 

Marriage is definitely a ride. It is amazing and fulfilling! What a journey! With time it becomes like the greatest jewel, the greatest treasure on earth, and it is so nice that you can travel with someone you care for.

So, listen to Episode 190 of Becoming Your Best to learn that a marriage is all about WE and one of the keys to living a long, lasting life together with your loved one, is communication.

In this episode, you will learn:

•Examples of annual goals and visions, set together. (04:15)

•The sides of the communication coin. (06:41)

•Examples of traditions that you can have as a family. (08:36)

•How being supportive of your spouse builds confidence. (11:05)

•Great advice on how to be faithful. (12:16)

•Advice for younger generations. (16:32)

•A song and a poem that describe Roxanne and my relationship with her, perfectly. (19:20)

Resources:

Becoming Your Best Website

Becoming Your Best University

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What steps are you taking to impact the world? 

All through time, humankind has made groundbreaking discoveries, accomplishments, and inventions that transform life. Each of these accomplishments is a result of individuals and groups of individuals that all share similar traits and practices that produce high performance and overall excellence. 

In today’s episode, I discuss how you, no matter who you are, can employ these principles and transform your own life, your team’s productivity, and the world for the better. 

So listen to Episode 190 of Becoming Your Best to learn how to become a leader that transforms the world. 

In This Episode, You Will Learn: 

• About the strategies behind every single achievement, discovery, and accomplishment by mankind. (1:08)
• What the single factor that makes sustainable high performers more productive than everyone else. (4:16)
• Why accountability is essential to being an effective and productive leader. (7:18)
• What you can do as a leader to unlock enormous potential in your team. (9:43)
• How to become a Becoming Your Best Certified Organization. (13:52)

Resources: 

“The X Factor in Productivity”

Becoming Your Best

Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders

support@becomingyourbest.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How is your language impacting the outcomes in your life? 

There are so many things that we get into the habit of saying in “the negative.” Small, unconscious things such as shifting your language to, “I can’t do this,” to “I CAN do this,” can make a world of a difference. If you change your language, you will change the outcomes that you experience on a daily basis. 

In today’s episode, I chat with Thomas Blackwell, author of The liberty of Our Language Revealed. Throughout the episode, we discuss various parts of his transformational book and the fundamental idea that changing your language to reflect positivity will change your results and outcomes for the better. This will impact all parts of your life: your personal and family life, work-life, and even your health. 

So listen to Episode 192 of Becoming Your Best to learn how to change your language and change the world, one word at a time. 

Some Questions I Ask: 

• Why should someone buy The Liberty of Our Language Revealed? (4:35)
• What proof do you have that reading the book will transform you? (11:33)
• Who specifically would benefit from reading this book? (19:27)

In This Episode, You Will Learn: 

• What inspired Thomas to write The Liberty of Our Language Revealed. (2:55)
• About the “captain and crew” analogy, and how it applies to all aspects of our lives. (5:16)
• How people’s lives have been transformed by changing their language. (11:42)
• Where to order the book. (27:06)

Resources: 

The Liberty of our Language Revealed

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each one of you has a significant influence on those around you, on your team and organization, your families, but how can you really build strong professional and personal relationships that thrive, and bring out the very best in the people that you work with?

The answer is something that we call, “The Triad of a Relationship.” In this episode, we are going to talk about this basic, simple, but yet fundamental agreement, that you should have in place with every employee, from the moment you hire them.

So, listen to Episode 193 of Becoming Your Best to learn these three essential things that should be embedded in your company’s culture. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the three elements of the Triad of the Relationship. (02:27)
• Case study – committing to being trustworthy. (07:28)
• About the four parts of the Relationship Agreement. (08:45)
• Case study – committing to being the best at what you do. (10:52)
• Case study – committing to being fun to work with. (13:18)
• About the Harvard Business School’s study that demonstrated that criticism doesn’t help solve problems. (18:10)

Resources:

• Becoming Your Best Website
• Becoming Your Best University

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of times, when we think about improving our health and wellness it's easy to focus on the things that we put into our bodies - the liquids we drink, the food that we eat - but people often ignore the light that they are subjecting their bodies to.

Companies are realizing that the blue light coming from the screens that we use every day, is dangerous to one’s body, and now they’re trying to limit our exposure to it.

On the other hand, the red light spectrum is beneficial for our health, and Justin and his team, have dedicated their lives to bringing awareness of the advantages of using light therapy for improving your body altogether.

Justin Strahan is the co-founder of Joovv, a global company that delivers the science of light therapy at your door, providing life-changing red and infrared light therapy devices. Before inventing and developing the Joovv, he spent his career as an engineer managing design and development teams.

So, listen to Episode 194 of Becoming Your Best, to find out about this light therapy that has been around for years, but still, few people know about it.

Questions I ask:

• Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey, or at least about how Joovv came about and what the company is and how this started. (02:07)
• What are one or two of your key lessons learned as you've built this company? (08:19)
• What exactly is light therapy? (10:11)
• Can you just briefly describe what blue light is, versus, say, red and near infrared? (12:40)
• What is the future of this? (25:55)
• What's a good place for people to go so that they can learn more about this? (29:34)

In this episode, you will learn:

• How Rob found out about Joovv and light therapy. (07:08)
• How blue light can negatively affect our health. (13:22)
• Some of the health benefits that people see when doing light therapy. (14:43)
• The mechanisms behind light therapy. (19:17)
• The advantages of LEDs over lasers. (22:06)
• The difference between red wavelengths and near infrared wavelengths. (22:43)

Connect with Justin

• LinkedIn

Resources mentioned

• Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you one of the people from all around the world, wishing to live the American Dream?

When you don't have much, there's a level of desire and persistence that evolves. As an immigrant born in India, Andrew came to the United States, with one purpose: to help and positively influence the people around him, and he’s done that for over 30 years now. 

He encourages entrepreneurs to take calculated, bold steps in the direction of a pure and humble purpose because focusing just on making money, won’t bring the fulfillment we’re all looking for. 

Andrew Samuel is the Chairman and CEO of LINKBANKCORP, Inc. and also LINKBANK, and has a long track record of industry success. He has helped take banks from insignificant to really being listed on the Nasdaq Global Market and has been involved in the Mergers and Acquisitions of more than 10 companies, with an aggregate deal value surpassing $1.5 billion. Andrew has shaped workplaces that are listed as the best to work at in their region, and created cultures centered around servant leadership. Andrew lives in the Central Pennsylvania area, with his wife of 36 years. They are blessed with five daughters, four sons-in-law and 12 grandchildren.

He says that our nation allows us to be whoever we want to be, as long as we put hard work into it.

So, don’t miss Episode 195 of Becoming Your Best, to listen to the successful story of a skinny poor little kid from India that came to America and was able to do whatever he set his mind on. 

Questions I ask:

• Andrew, tell us about your background, including turning points in your life that have had a significant impact on you, on what you're doing today, and on your experiences. (02:07)
• What are some of the favorite principles or ideas, for you, from this book? (14:28)
• What have you found is the best way to eliminate distractions? (16:40)
• How do we learn to serve others when we live in a world where everyone wants to be served? (19:34)
• Do you mind just talking about boldness and how does that play out in our success? Why is it important? (24:23)

In this episode, you will learn:

• How Andrew and his family made profit out of cow dung. (03:42)
• How Andrew decided to write his book, “Our American Dream” and what is the idea behind it. (09:52)
• One valuable principle from the book. (14:33)
• Andrew’s favorite chapter of his book. (15:28)
• What are the two parts that “Our American Dream” is consisted of. (19:03)

Connect with Andrew:

• Andrew Samuel - Our American Dream: Cultivating a Life of Success, Joy, and Purpose
• LinkedIn
• Facebook Page

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character and sow a character and you reap a destiny." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The power of Positive Thinking and having a Vision, is beyond imagination, and it can take you to achievements that can only happen if you have positive and winning thoughts.

If you don’t have a personal vision, it’s far easier than you might think, to create one. And if you have one already, it is worth going back and being sure that it reflects all that you want and hope to be and do.

On today’s episode, of Becoming Your Best, we are going to talk about the Principle, “Lead with a Vision” and we are going to share with you some examples of what having a written and clearly understood vision can lead to.

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Some examples of personal visions, quoted from Becoming Your Best – The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders; (02:37) 
• How you can create your personal vision in three steps; (06:21) 
• About the vision for the event called, “The Hope of America”; (10:50) 
• How the vision of Rob and Steven Shallenberger- to fly the F16s over the Stadium of Fire - changed their way of looking at life; ( 15:57) 
• How the vision of never giving up has helped David Shallenberger overcome a traumatic event in his life; (17:42) 
• Steve’s vision for the next 3-5 years; (23:39) 
• Four leadership actions that you can take today, to start changing your life; (28:00) 
• The difference between goals and vision. (29:18) 

Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best Global Leadership Website 
• Becoming Your Best University Website 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diabetes Mellitus is a disease that has been around for ages. There has always been a traditional way to keep Diabetes under control, by taking pills and injecting insulin into our bodies for our entire lives, but to this day, nobody talked about curing it.  

On today’s episode, our guest, Dr. Steven Cherrington talks about looking at Type 2 Diabetes from a dietary perspective. He shares with us a revolutionary approach to treatment, one that can not only prevent Diabetes, but can also cure it. He tells us the four steps anyone with this condition should take, under medical supervision, in order to come off their meds and live a healthy life. 

Dr. Steven Cherrington is a leading provider of family medicine for patients in the Utah County area. He specializes in treating addiction to opioids, runs a very successful weight loss program and recently has started teaching patients to treat their Type 2 diabetes without the use of medications and ultimately reverse or cure their Type 2 diabetes altogether. 

So, whether you’re affected by Diabetes, or you have a family member or a friend that suffers from it, listen to Episode 197 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how to prevent and cure it. 

Questions I ask: 

• What is Diabetes? (07:45) 
• What leads people up to getting Type 2 Diabetes? (11:15) 
• What is the new approach? (16:50) 
• What kind of success have you seen with your actual patients?  (24:54) 
• How did you come across all of this information? (29:00) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The origins of the name - Diabetes Mellitus. (05:13) 
• The definition of Type 2 Diabetes. (09:36) 
• How Type 2 Diabetes was originally treated. (14:47) 
• The four steps people need to do to stop their medications. (18:26) 
• The effects that sugar and white flour have on the pancreas. (21:55) 

Connect with Steve: 

• LinkedIn 
• Premier Family Medical 
• Gentle Revive 
• teachable.pfmweightloss.com 

Resources mentioned: 

• Diabetes Class 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you happy with where you are right now financially? 

Are you happy with your relationships? 

Are you happy with your health? 

Are you happy with the direction in your life? 

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then what needs to change? 

On today’s episode, we are talking about the legacy that each one of us leaves behind, and how we can turn it into something great and memorable, starting today! 

It’s important to self - evaluate constantly, guiding yourself by the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders because they have proved, time and again, to be powerful and eternal. Once we have a clear vision, we're resolute in our character, and we come back to that over and over again, we have a plan, we prioritize our time, we treat people right, and we start working towards these things, it's amazing what will materialize in our relationships, in our finances, in our health, in the way we feel about our direction – it all will improve across the board. 

So, listen to Episode 198 of Becoming Your Best, where you will hear examples of principles and their impact on people’s lives.  

In this episode, you will learn:  

• Why it’s helpful to read the book, Becoming Your Best – The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, once a year. (03:31) 
• How to evaluate yourself according to the “Be True to Character” Principle. (06:20) 
• A different way to look at the “Lead with a Vision” Principle. (07:06) 
• Why listening is one area that most of us need to improve, according to the “Be an Effective Communicator” Principle. (09:24) 
• The strong correlation to reading and success. (12:49) 

Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best website 
• Becoming Your Best University 
• Book: Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Setting an example for those around you is really the power of influence. 

By having your life built on the foundation of correct timeless principles that produce high-performance outcomes, happiness, joy and strong relationships, you set a powerful example that radiates out, and the immediate people that it hits are those around you.

Through your example, you create a culture that defines your strategic direction, your vision, your core values, and your goals and when you’re aligned from top to bottom, you are like a laser in terms of being the best at what you do and making a positive difference in the community and the world we live in.

So, listen to Episode 199 of Becoming Your Best, to find out what you can do, to be an example of living solid principles that influence the people, culture, strategy and ultimately the marketplace in the world.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How you can become a source of influence. (01:04)
• The real purpose of becoming an influential person. (02:32)
• How using the 12 Principles of Highly Successful People and Leaders can help you set an example for others to become their best version. (03:08)
• An example of the outcome and impact of living upon high-performance principles and habits. (09:01)

Becoming Your Best Resources:

• Website
• Becoming Your Best University

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For four years, we’ve been doing this podcast, with the intent to bring value and add value to your life, whether it’s your relationships, your finances or your business. 

Now, as we’ve reached the 200th episode, we want to give you exciting news – what we think is one of the most significant movements we’ve done with Becoming Your Best – and, at the same time, we want to ask you to do something that will benefit the youth all over the world!  

So, listen to Episode 200 of Becoming Your Best, to find out what we’ve been working on, particularly, in the last six months, and why we are confident that it will help change the world to a better place!  

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Our big announcement that will change possibly millions of lives. (02:31) 
• What we’ve managed to accomplish through the Lead With Light Foundation. (03:16) 
• How you can help us in our mission. (04:54) 

Resources 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is another solo episode, another awesome opportunity for a one-on-one conversation with you, our listeners! We will talk about a powerful technique I’d like to share with you called “Chair Flying.” This will help you almost everywhere, in your personal or business life! You can start implementing this technique right away.

In this episode, you will…

• Learn about the background of Chair Flying
• Discover the 4 techniques of Chair Flying
• Find out what sets apart the best from the rest
• Hear Rob’s story of his days as a pilot
• Find out how Chair Flying can aid you to succeed

CLICK TO TWEET

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hard work has always been rewarding for those who keep going and don’t quit if success seems far away. All the powerful and influential people have gone through years of grinding and working 70-80 hours a week, in order to follow their dreams and get to where they are now. 

Jimmy knows the value of sacrifice and hard work, and he has managed to form great relationships, to get incredible mentors, and to invest in himself and in his network of people. Now he enjoys life knowing that the Universe is working in his favor.  

In today’s episode, I talk with Jimmy about how to rise on the top of your game and how to be in the top 1% that live their life to the fullest. 

Jimmy Rex is most known for his career in real estate, where he has sold over 2000 properties and has solidified himself as one of the top real estate agents in the country. Because of his success, Jimmy went on to build his real estate coaching company, which currently coaches hundreds of real estate agents from all across the country. 

Outside of real estate, Jimmy created one of the top business podcasts, “The Jimmy Rex Show” and he released his first book this year. He loves to travel and his favorite types of trips are when he gets to go undercover as part of a select group, helping to find and rescue children all over the world.

So, listen to Episode 201 of Becoming Your Best, to get some incredible golden nuggets that are so predictable of success in any one of our lives. 

Questions I ask: 

• What's done it for you, and what's made such a difference in your life? (03:13) 
• Can you mention what the title of your book is and what the real intent of it is? (19:30) 
• What's the current state of the real estate market from your perspective? (21:15) 
• How do you live an extraordinary life? (24:46) 

In this episode you will learn: 

• The pitfalls of social media. (07:23) 
• The evolution of Jimmy’s mindset. (10:57) 
• Jimmy’s mission statement. (26:11) 
• How the Universe is conspiring in your favor. (27:43) 

Connect with Jimmy: 

• Website 
• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 
• Facebook Page 
• Twitter 
• Youtube Channel 
• Podcast 
• Book: The Next Wave of Influence in Real Estate: The Best Marketing, Sales, and Industry Secrets Shared by the Top Millennial Real Estate Agents in the Country 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To really drive change as a leader, you have to think through it strategically. 

Learning how to communicate data is a critical skill that you need to add to your tool belt because you wind up moving from an individual contributor to a trusted advisor, and becoming a trusted advisor is like the gateway drug to becoming a leader.  

In today’s episode, Nancy shares with us some great insight into what great leaders and successful brand companies use to communicate their data to a broad audience. We discuss how you can create a three-act-story structure, what a STAR moment is, and the meaning of what she calls, “The New Bliss.” 

Nancy Duarte is the founder of Duarte Inc. - the largest creative firm in Silicon Valley, and one of the top women-owned businesses in the area. Duarte Inc. is a global leader behind some of the most influential visual messages in business and culture, and they work with 200 of the Fortune 500 companies. 

Nancy is a communication expert, who has been featured in Forbes, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and CNN. She has also been a contributor to the Harvard Business Review. As a persuasion expert, she cracked the code for effectively incorporating story patterns into business communication. She's written five best-selling books and she's won a number of awards for that. On the list of the Top 250 Women in Leadership, Nancy ranked 67th, and on the World's Top 30 Communication Professionals for 2017, she was ranked number one! 

So, listen to Episode 202 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how you can create your own story, in order to become a high-performing leader.  

Questions I ask: 

• Tell us about your background, Nancy, especially including any turning points in your life that have had a significant impact on you, and maybe even ultimately led to where you're at today. (03:32) 
• What are the services that you provide to your customers? (07:20) 
• How do you define a story in relation to communicating data? (09:48) 
• What are some really great storytelling techniques that help people create this crescendo and just blow people away? (16:58) 
• What are some ways that award-winning brands communicate data? (19:13) 
• What final tips could you leave with our listeners, that you think would be most important for them? (23:05) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The meaning of the hedgehog concept. (04:40) 
• The three-act-story structure (10:43) 
• Nancy’s advice on how to tell your story right and describe your product correctly. (14:23) 
• How to create a STAR moment – Something They’ll Always Remember. (17:27) 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to look at a country’s future, look at what is going on in the classrooms, and you’ll get a great snapshot.  

The education system in America is still far away from being perfect - children often don’t feel safe in schools, there’s a great gap between students coming from different environments, parents have to put a lot of effort to make sure their child receives a proper education, and the list can go on and on. 

In today’s episode, Teru shares her experience with the Asian education system, highlights some of the difficulties that everyone enrolled in the American system faces with, and gives us advice on what should be done to expand our educational bubble in order to align with the rest of the world.  

Teru Clavel is a Comparative Education expert, and the author of the book, "World Class: One Mother's Journey Halfway Around the Globe in Search of the Best Education for Her Children." She has written columns on education for the Japan Times and the Financial Times, she's made appearances on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS, The TODAY Show, CBS's This Morning, CNBC's Squawk Box and Channel News Asia. She has also been interviewed on countless radio shows and podcasts. She spent a decade raising her family in Asia, which includes Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo. She has a BA in Asian Studies and an MS in comparative international education. After two years in Palo Alto, California, Teru has returned to live in New York City with her family. 

So, listen to Episode 203 of Becoming Your Best, to learn the impact that education can have on children and the importance of rethinking our American schooling system. 

Questions I ask: 

• Tell us about your background, especially including any turning points in your life that have had a significant impact on you. What has helped you come to where you are today? (03:04) 
• What led to writing the book in the first place? (05:20) 
• What are some of the personal challenges you faced and overcame having raised your three children in so many countries and having moved so often? (08:20) 
• Do you talk in your book about the role of parents? (17:19) 
• What is, from your perspective, Teru, the single most important thing parents and teachers can take away from your book, "World Class"? (25:00) 
• Any final tips you'd like to leave our listeners with, today? (26:23) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Teru’s life in Hong Kong and the education her children received there. (08:51) 
• Teru’s experience of living in an ex-communist tenement in Shanghai. (10:14) 
• The impact that the international education has had on her children’s view of the world. (15:33) 
• The reasons why Teru calls the US - “The Great American Swiss Cheese”. (18:56) 
• The importance of teaching our current and next generations about globalization and global competence. (21:00) 

Connect with Teru: 

• Website 
• Instagram 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” - Ernest Hemingway 

Making mistakes is human and we all deserve second chances if we are willing to right the wrong, but sometimes people are not given the opportunity to do so. As a parent of two children who got involved with drugs and were in and out of jail, Joseph saw firsthand how incredibly broken our judicial system is, so he and his wife decided to do something about it.  

On today’s episode,  we talk exactly about that - about giving second chances to people that want to go on a different and better path in their lives. 

Joseph Grenny is a four-time New York Times bestselling author and a world-renowned speaker. His work, created over the past 30 years, has been translated into 28 languages and is available in 36 different countries. He’s a dynamic keynote speaker and a leading social scientist for business performance.  

Joseph is the founder of The Other Side Academy – a community that helps create profound human change, that is primarily designed for people with the most broken lives - longtime criminals, drug addicts, or homeless individuals. 

So, listen to Episode 204 of Becoming your Best to learn that if you dress up, show up, and work hard, you’ll find ways to improve your life, regardless of your background. 

Questions I ask: 

• If you could tell what The Other Side Academy is, and just tell us about that group - what your vision and purpose is, the impact, and how does it work? (06:51) 
• How does somebody get into The Other Side Academy? (08:22) 
• From your experience, Joseph, what lessons can a parent learn to help their children and family? (14:48) 
• Were there challenges and setbacks as you got it going? (18:32) 
• Any final tips that you'd like to leave with our listeners today? (22:15) 
• When you have feedback to give, how can you successfully approach another person? (23:44) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• A pivotal moment in Joseph’s life. (04:25) 
• The key element that keeps the students in the house. (09:33) 
• Why some people are scared to take the leap and try to completely change their life. (11:09) 
• About The Other Side Movers – one of the activities that sustain The Other Side Academy. (11:57) 
• How The Other Side Academy started. (17:00) 
• Joseph’s advice on what we can do to make our dreams and ideas become a reality. (19:54) 

Connect with Joseph: 

• The Other Side Academy website 
• Vital Smarts website 
• Crucial Skills website 
• Joseph Grenny website 
• Joseph’s Books 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“A funny thing about life – once you begin to take note of the things you’re grateful for, you begin to lose sight of things that you lack.” – Germany Kent 

Gratitude can change your life by shifting your focus on what is wrong with yourself - and the world around - to what is right, and being grateful every day for every little thing makes a huge difference in how you let the chaos of life affect you. 

Listen to Episode 205 of Becoming Your Best, to learn all the ways gratitude can impact your life for the better.  

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and all those around you – may you all live in Gratitude, Peace, and Balance! 

In this episode, you will learn:  

• How to say Thank You in multiple languages. (01:56) 
• About Principle Number 11 of Becoming your Best – How to Live in Peace and Balance. (02:44) 
• Gratitude is a mindset, a skill set and a habit that can easily be learned. (04:20) 
• How keeping a gratitude journal could be life-changing. (05:49) 
• About the results of a study on gratitude. (07:18) 
• The benefits of gratitude. (08:20) 
• An exercise you can practice with your family or your employees. (09:09) 
• A message from the Becoming Your Best Team. (10:50) 

Becoming Your Best Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University 
• Book: Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the birth of the Internet, a lot of things have changed in the way we handle business, and to keep our organizations on top, we have to rapidly adapt and see a few steps ahead. 

Disruption isn’t something you turn on and off at your convenience, and it’s very uneven, so you never know when it’s going to hit. That’s why you have to always be on the lookout for it because when it comes, there are great growth opportunities that follow. 

In today’s episode, Charlene shares the characteristics of disruptive organizations, the strategies they employ in order to stay ahead, and the mistakes some companies do in their journey through disruption.  

Charlene Li is the founder and CEO of the Altimeter Group. She has over 20 years of experience in tech and business and has been a respected advisor to Fortune 500 companies, especially on digital transformation and leadership. Charlene is the New York Times bestseller author of six books, including “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” and her latest book, “The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform, While Others Fail”. 

Charlene was named one of the Top 50 Leadership Innovators by Inc. and one of the most creative people in business, by Fast Company.  

For the past two decades, Charlene has been helping people see the future, so listen to Episode 206 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how to become a disruptive organization in this complex business world that we live in, today.  

Questions I ask: 

• How do you create a strategy that's inspired by future customers? (08:42) 
• Tell us what a big gulp decision is. (12:21) 
• What are some of the characteristics that you've seen that allow a flux culture to thrive? (18:41) 
• How do you hardwire a flux culture into your organization? (21:02) 
• How can leaders master a new way of developing digital and social relationships for their businesses through customers and clients? (22:01) 
• Any final tips that you would like to leave with our listeners, today, about disruption or about being successful in business or how to really have breakthrough growth? (27:27) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• One turning point in Charlene’s background that has impacted her life and got her to where she is today. (02:57) 
• The real reason why some companies are keeping themselves from growing. (07:27) 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the most amazing gifts that we’ve been given, is the power of choice. No matter the situation, we have the ability to choose how to respond and we can either take it personally and let it affect us in a negative way, or we can look at it with a positive upbeat mindset.  

Think of the alternative to happiness, peace, and productivity. The alternative is misery, frustration, and lack of productivity. So what’s the answer? How do we develop the habit of shifting to only good thoughts? 

Today, in Episode 207 of Becoming Your Best, we answer these questions, by teaching you the Becoming Your Best REFRESH/RESET rule and how it can impact your life for the better. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Some insights from the movie City Slickers, that teach us what’s the one thing that can make a difference in our lives. (01:44) 
• How we choose to look at a situation influences our happiness, health, and productivity in life. (03:38) 
• An example of how choosing to answer positively to negative situations can totally change the atmosphere in the room. (05:32) 
• How to give your brain permission to go back and do a reset. (08:29) 
• How to exercise the Highly Successful Principles of Leadership, in order to be healthier, happier and more productive, leaving things better than when you found them. (14:30) 

Becoming Your Best Resources:  

• Becoming Your Best Website  
• Becoming Your Best University  
• Book: Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you truly listening to what other people say when you’re having a conversation? 

Whether we don’t understand a subject because we’re not paying attention, or we misunderstand a situation because we already think we have the answer, it all comes down to one thing. In order to be efficient communicators, we first have to master the ability to listen. 

A lot of people think listening is about the listener making sense of what the speaker is saying, and although that’s useful, the true conversation happens when you are helping the speaker make sense of what they mean and helping them understand what they say.  

In today’s episode, Oscar and I discuss the key ingredient of being an effective communicator. He shares with us powerful techniques that we can use in our relationship with literally everyone, from our co-workers, clients, and friends, to our family, spouse or children. 

Oscar Trimboli has coached, mentored and advised people in a wide range of roles, from founders, CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CTO and a variety of other leadership roles in financial services, technology, professional services, education, and not for profits. He has been asked to speak to leadership teams and their organizations about the importance of clarity to create change, how to embrace the digital economy and the role values play in the achievement of your purpose.  

So, listen to Episode 208 of Becoming Your Best, to gain a different perspective on mastering the power of being silent and deep listening. 

Questions I ask: 

• What is deep listening? (03:41) 
• What's the difference between a good listener and a great listener? (11:00) 
• Explain what the four villains of listening are, and what's that other side of the coin? (18:58) 
• For someone listening to this right now, whether they're at home, whether they're in the workforce, wherever they're at, what's one thing that across the board you say, "Do this today, and it will have a big impact in your life." (26:54) 
• For those who would like to find out more about you, Oscar, how could they find you? (29:05) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The difference between active listening and deep listening. (04:25) 
• Two simple but essential phrases you could ask people, in order to hear their full thoughts. (05:04)   
• Three tips to help you remove distractions while you’re listening. (12:13) 
• The story of one of Oscar’s clients, that proves how learning to listen can change your life. (15:54) 
• The difference between how men and women listen. (18:00) 
• Why it’s easier to practice deep listening with strangers than with the closest people. (24:44)  

Connect with Oscar: 

• Website 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Would you like to have greater happiness, joy, closeness, and deep love in your marriage or partnership? 

In our study of 40 years, we documented the things that help people become successful leaders, and we discovered 12 Principles that are universal and produce a predictable result. The good news is that these principles work perfectly well in your personal relationships too, and in today’s episode, we are going to show how every single one of them can help you have a wonderful marriage/relationship. 

So, listen to Episode 209 of Becoming Your Best, to learn that you’re never too old or too young to create a happy and warm environment with your spouse/partner, by applying the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Marriages or Relationships. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• How the 12 Principles of Highly Successful People and Leaders came to life. (04:49) 
• How to be true to character in your relationship. (06:55) 
• The steps to create a couple’s vision. (08:23) 
• How to build and maintain trust in your relationship. (16:38) 
• The 5 steps of being an effective communicator with your spouse. (17:27) 
• How you can apply the power of knowledge, with your significant other. (22:41) 
• The things you can do to strengthen your marriage and relationship. (26:28) 
• An example of how the 12 Principles can help save a marriage. (27:24) 

Becoming Your Best Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University Website 
• Book - Becoming your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every beginning of a fresh year brings new challenges and opportunities. 2020 will never repeat itself, so how can you make it the best year you’ve had so far? 

The answer is pretty simple, and you can accomplish whatever you set your mind on, by being determined to constantly use three powerful tools: having a personal vision, setting annual goals, and doing pre-week planning. 

Episode 210 of Becoming Your Best is filled with amazing quotes, poems, and songs that will definitely boost your eagerness to be your best in the year that is right around the corner.  

Our team wishes you a grand New Year for you and yours!  

In this episode, you will learn: 

• How you can get back up after falling. (03:21) 
• The winner’s mindset of making things happen. (05:00) 
• The skillset to create a new beginning and a fresh start. (05:48) 
• The lyrics of a song that can put 2020 in perspective for you. (08:46) 
• The power of the Principles of Becoming Your Best – they never age but can help you become your very best at any age. (11:00) 
• How to create a deep mental path to happiness and success. (12:36) 
• An inspiring poem by Edgar Albert Guest about the spirit of making things happen. (17:43) 

Becoming Your Best Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University Website 
• Book - Becoming your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How long does it take for you to schedule meetings or daily activities?  

We are what we choose to spend our time on, and learning how to be more productive can give us the freedom to do what we enjoy most. 

On today’s episode, Tim shares with us the story of Woven - an intelligent calendar that helps busy professionals maximize the most valuable asset they have, which is time. 

Tim Campos is the former Chief Information Officer at Facebook. In his 6 years there, he managed to make it the most productive company in the world. Now, he is the CEO of Woven – a company working to reimage how people use their calendars, so they can spend time on what matters most to them.  

So, listen to Episode 211 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how you can easily be more productive, by letting an app do the work for you.   

Questions I ask: 

• Tim, tell us about your background, especially including any points in your life that were transformational, that have had a big impact and maybe led to what you're doing today. (01:57) 
• How did you end up with Facebook? (05:03) 
• Tell us about Woven. (09:47) 
• How do we become more productive? (14:04) 
• I went online and looked at some of the resources that you have, and it looks like you also have some type of group scheduling tool. Did I read that right? (16:55) 
• Let's just wrap up with any final tips of the best productivity advice that you may have, Tim. (21:38) 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The two things that are incredible about Facebook, as a company. (07:38) 
• The reason why Tim decided to leave Facebook to start his own company. (08:39) 
• Why a calendar alone might not be the best time-organizing tool for you. (11:05) 
• How Woven works and how much time it can save you. (11:57) 
• About an interesting feature of Woven that saves even more time scheduling your meetings. (14:24) 
• How Woven can help you with repetitive events. (18:52) 

Connect with Tim: 

• Woven website 
• Twitter 
• LinkedIn 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gratitude can be a game-changer on our motivation, our feelings, and our happiness, as we move forward to becoming our best and to make a difference both in our personal and our professional life.  

Making a habit out of being grateful every day for all the things that we have can help us live in peace and balance – a trait that every highly successful person has.   

We’ve dedicated an entire episode on the powerful practice of gratitude, so listen to Episode 212 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how you can easily improve your performance, productivity, and life altogether, by taking the time to be grateful. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Gratitude helps you follow principle #11 of The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders and People – Live in Peace and Balance. (03:07) 
• A great experiment to see what impact a gratitude practice can have on you. (04:20) 
• A list of the things I am grateful for, that’s meant to be an example of how easy, yet powerful this activity is. (06:02) 

BYB Resources 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University Website 
• Get your Becoming Your Best Planner using the promo code “20 planner 25” 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you stay focused rather than setting a New Year’s resolution that just trickles away after a few weeks?  

There are three keys to being productive and highly successful in your personal and professional life: writing down a vision, setting your roles and goals, and committing to constant pre-week planning. 

In today’s episode, we discuss each and every one of them, and we will take you, step by step, through the process of making this year the best one you’ve had so far. 

So, listen to Episode 213 of Becoming Your Best, to learn how you can use your time in a productive manner and what to focus on when setting your goals. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The importance of writing your vision – your why to get up in the morning. (04:12) 
• The three questions you should answer, before developing your vision. (07:18) 
• The number of goals you should have for each role you play in your life. (11:19) 
• How to write your goals and why the wording is decisive for the success/failure of accomplishing them. (13:03) 
• Some examples of my goals for 2020. (14:50) 
• How pre-week planning can make a real difference in your life. (16:58) 
• How to do your pre-week planning. (18:32) 
• Transactional versus transformational mindsets. (21:25) 

 Becoming Your Best Resources: 

• Becoming Your Best Website 
• Becoming Your Best University Website 
• Get your Becoming Your Best Planner using the promo code “20planner25” 
• Free template for pre-week planning 
• Email: support@becomingyourbest.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.