Podcasts about becoming your best global leadership

Buckle up and get ready to learn from an F-16 Fighter Pilot turned international leadership consultant. Rob Schallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, joins the podcast to talk about practical tips that can help RM's turn their dreams into reality. He'll teach you how to take the planning skills you learned on your mission to the next level. Rob combines his professional expertise with his powerful testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ to inspire our listeners to "become their best." To subscribe to the podcast and to interact with the hosts, offer topic and guest suggestions, and provide feedback, please click on the following link and become part of the podcast. https://forms.office.com/r/r7516nkf1m

On today's episode TASBO Chief Learning Officer Jason W. Meek and Chief Communications Officer Tom Greer have a thoughtful discussion with Dr. Jeanene S. Dutt, Superintendent of North Warren Regional School District in New Jersey.Dr. Dutt is presenting one of two Bonus Sessions at the upcoming TASBO Engage Conference. Dr. Dutt is a certified trainer and coach for Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. At our conference she will introduce attendees to the principles of Do What Matters Most training.

Steve Shallenberger is joining us today to share golden nuggets of wisdom on parenting and leadership.Steve is the Founder and President of Synergy Companies and Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. He is the proud father of six, an innovator in leadership and corporate training, and the Becoming Your Best podcast co-host. Steve has provided training and consulting services in more than 25 countries worldwide and has over 40 years of experience as a successful business owner.In this episode, we delve into Steve's excellent background story, from working as a garbage man to selling bibles and then buying a publishing company. Steve shares the lessons learned during the years of working hard down in the trenches, the privileges that made help him go through the success path, and why he decided to research high achievers and their habits.We also discuss the best time to instill in our kids the values we believe will serve them better and the importance of being trustworthy leaders. We highlight the relevance of setting valuable examples for our kids and how having a clear vision can be a life-changer.Some Questions I Ask:I'd love for our audience to hear a little more about your journey and story. How did you get here? (2:31)How did you help teach your children the valuable principles you learned along the way earlier in their lives? (15:43)What top action step you would give to my listeners? What would you have them do in their life to make the most significant impact on them? (27:52)In This Episode, You'll Learn:Steve shares a bit of his background story, his upbringing, and his first steps in entrepreneurship (3:12)Steve talks about what made him start researching high performers' habits and activities (7:43)How honesty and integrity can set a business fate (10:18)Steve talks about the best way to inculcate best practices and values in our children from an early age (15:49)Steve talks about the importance of creating fun experiences with our children (19:33)Steve shares an example of how setting a clear vision can change our lives (24:02)Resources:Becoming Your Best WebsiteBook: Becoming Your BestBook: Conquer AnxietyUnlock Your Unrivaled Momentum TrainingAre you interested in Working with Clint? Send a message to clint@clinthoopes.com.Connect with Steve:LinkedInLet's Connect!WebsiteLinkedInInstagram Facebook See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Download a year's worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Rob Shallenberger is one of the world's leading authorities on planning and productivity. He's trained and spoken for hundreds of organizations around the world. He served as an F-16 Pilot in the United States Air Force for 11 years, was an Advance Agent for Air Force One, and traveled the world working with foreign embassies and the Secret Service. He's the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and is the bestselling author of five different books focused on leadership, planning, and high-performance including his newest, Do What Matters Most: Lead With a Vision, Manage With a Plan, Prioritize Your Time. CONNECT WITH ROB: Website: https://www.bybassessment.com (https://www.bybassessment.com) Website: https://www.becomingyourbest.com/ (https://www.becomingyourbest.com/) CONNECT WITH JOSH LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joshuafriedeman (https://linkedin.com/in/joshuafriedeman) Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuafriedeman (https://twitter.com/joshuafriedeman) Email: josh@friedemanleadership.com Want a FREE list of weekly action steps to improve your leadership? Download the https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (Leadership Action List) TODAY! Mentioned in this episode: Business Bitcoinization Trailer https://www.lifeasleadership.com/bizbit-trailer (Listen to the trailer) Subscribe to Business Bitcoinization https://www.lifeasleadership.com/bizbit-subscribe (Subscribe on your favorite podcast app)

Dear People, Joining me today is Steve Shallenberger, Founder, and President at Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, a company inspired by his best-selling book "Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders." Steve is an innovator in leadership and corporate training; he takes leadership training and team development to a new level using a results-driven success blueprint. Steve's truth is about realizing that his life started to change after meeting the right people and reading the right books. To him, all of us are leaders; at minimum, we lead our lives, and it's up to us to make the right choices and lead ourselves to success. We had a fantastic conversation about what makes a great leader, why leadership is so important, what we can do to lead our and others' lives to success, and how crucial it is to be always open to knowledge. Steve shared the process that led to writing his best-selling book, the traits every great leader must have, and how we can use the three high-performance habits to do what matters most. We also explore the acronym SMART, an excellent tool for goal tracking, and why sharing our goals with someone we admire and respect is a goal-achieving game-changer. In This Episode, You Will Learn:About Charlie "Tremendous" Jones advice and Steve's truth (5:23)What led Steve to write "Becoming Your Best," and what were the findings that led to the creation of the twelve principles (8:35)What makes a good leader (12:23)Why it is essential to lead from a vision (16:40)The three high-performing habits (21:18)One Word Mouthful:Vision (32:21)Writing (32:25)Money (32:29)Brigham Young (32:35)Time (32:50)Utah (32:57)Mentorship (33:00)Mindset (33:05)Steve Shallenberger (33:10)Roxane Shallenberger (33:15)Resources:Becoming Your Best Global Leadership websiteBook: Steve Shallenberger - Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful LeadersBook: Steve Shallenberger - Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, and Prioritize Your TimeBook: Dale Carnegie - How To Win Friends and Influence PeopleBook: George Clason - The Richest Man in BabylonConnect with Steve:LinkedIn See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this HCI Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) talks with Rob Shallenberger about the three habits that will have the biggest impact in someone's personal and professional life. See the video here: https://youtu.be/7WE2ioA0Rus. Rob Shallenberger (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-shallenberger-a7345b6/) is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership, time-management, and productivity. He's trained and spoken for hundreds of organizations around the world such as the Dallas Cowboys, Charles Schwab, and PepsiCo. He's the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and is the bestselling author of five different books focused on leadership, time-management, and productivity. His company has established a top-ranked certification program for other trainers and coaches. Rob began his career by spending two years of service in Bolivia. Following his service mission, he attended Utah State University where he graduated in 2000. He went on to earn an MBA from Colorado State University. He served as an F-16 Pilot in the United States Air Force for 11 years. He was also an Advance Agent for Air Force One and traveled the world working with foreign embassies and the Secret Service. He's been married for 23 years and has four beautiful children. Check out Dr. Westover's new book, 'Bluer than Indigo' Leadership, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/bluerthanindigo. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Alchemy of Truly Remarkable Leadership, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/leadershipalchemy. Check out the latest issue of the Human Capital Leadership magazine, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/hci-magazine. Ranked #6 Performance Management Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/performance_management_podcasts/ Ranked #6 Workplace Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/workplace_podcasts/ Ranked #7 HR Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/ Ranked #12 Talent Management Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/talent_management_podcasts/ Ranked in the Top 20 Personal Development and Self-Improvement Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/personal_development_podcasts/ Ranked in the Top 30 Leadership Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/leadership_podcasts/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hcipodcast/support

Steve is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, a company based on his breakthrough book, Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. His latest book is titled, “Do What matter Most”.

“Pre-Week Planning is the process, it is the habit, that will empower someone to schedule their priorities rather than prioritize their schedule...It's the most important habit a person could actually develop in their lives if they want to live a life by design instead of a life by default.” - Rob Shllenberger, Do What Matters Most Rob Shallenberger is the Founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Rob is devoted to helping individuals and organizations achieve their maximum potential and has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations, in leadership, planning, and time-management. Previously, he served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. Rob, along with his brother Steve Shallenberger, have a new book out called, “Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time.” In this episode of The School for Humanity, I speak with Rob about leaving the fighter pilot world for the business world, the three habits for time management and productivity, his own pre-week planning process, and becoming intentional about what matters most.  Let's dive in! Website: becomingyourbest.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BecomingYourBest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2928286 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomingyourbestglobal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BYB  

“Pre-Week Planning is the process, it is the habit, that will empower someone to schedule their priorities rather than prioritize their schedule...It's the most important habit a person could actually develop in their lives if they want to live a life by design instead of a life by default.” - Rob Shllenberger, Do What Matters Most Rob Shallenberger is the Founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Rob is devoted to helping individuals and organizations achieve their maximum potential and has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations, in leadership, planning, and time-management. Previously, he served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. Rob, along with his brother Steve Shallenberger, have a new book out called, “Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time.” In this episode of The School for Humanity, I speak with Rob about leaving the fighter pilot world for the business world, the three habits for time management and productivity, his own pre-week planning process, and becoming intentional about what matters most.  Let's dive in! Website: becomingyourbest.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BecomingYourBest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2928286 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomingyourbestglobal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BYB  

Do What Matters Most!   In this episode, Steve Shallenberger shared how he started his first company when he was only 16 years old and the lessons he has learned along his journey   Take away: Know what's important to you and act on it.   Action step: Get a copy of “Do What Matters Most” it will change your life.   Money Learnings: Steve's grandfather introduced him to his mentor and he started his own company at a young age.   Bio:  Rob and Steve Shallenberger, Founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, are devoted to helping individuals and organizations achieve their maximum potential. Steve has successfully led companies in four different industries and has a keen understanding of how to thrive in business. Rob has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations, in leadership, planning, and time-management. Previously, he served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. Their new book is Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time (BK Publishers, Inc., May 18, 2021)   Highlights from this episode: Link to episode page   Steve started his first company when he was 16 What inspired him to write his book “Do What Matters Most” Create a personal vision that's written down Living your life by design Steve talks about setting up a pre-week plan   www.BecomingYourBest.com   SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/BecomingYourBest https://www.linkedin.com/company/2928286 https://twitter.com/BYB https://www.instagram.com/becomingyourbestglobal/   Richer Soul Life Beyond Money. You got rich, now what? Let's talk about your journey to more a purposeful, intentional, amazing life. Where are you going to go and how are you going to get there? Let's figure that out together. At the core is the financial well being to be able to do what you want, when you want, how you want. It's about personal freedom!   Thanks for listening!   Show Sponsor: http://profitcomesfirst.com/   Schedule your free no obligation call: https://bookme.name/rockyl/lite/intro-appointment-15-minutes   If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes: http://bit.do/richersoul https://www.facebook.com/richersoul http://richersoul.com/ rocky@richersoul.com   Some music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast   Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.  

793- Rob Shallenberger. Together with Steve Shallenberger, they are Founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, and are devoted to helping individuals and organizations achieve their maximum potential. Rob has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations, in leadership, planning, and time-management. Previously, he served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. Their new book is Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time (BK Publishers, Inc., May 18, 2021). Learn more at becomingyourbest.com. ________ Want your customers to talk about you to their friends and family? That's what we do! We get your customers to talk about you so that you get more referrals with video testimonials. Go to www.BusinessBros.biz to be a guest on the show or to find out more on how we can help you get more customers! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/businessbrospod/support

Steve Shallenbeger, along with his son Rob, founded Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Steve shares tips on how we can all be the best we can be as an individual and in business. In his newest book 'Do What Matters Most' will help readers learn how to prioritize their time and get things done effectively and efficiently. http://www.becomingyourbest.com/

Inner Voice – a Heartfelt Chat with Dr. Foojan on KMET 1490 AM / ABC News Radio.  In this segment –Doing What Matters Most- Dr. Foojan shares the Tip of the Week about ways you might communicate that leads to arguments and fights. Becoming aware and shifting. She shares with you the biggest argument in marriages is over finances, creating the agreement and creating trust is the key in the Ask Me Segment. Dr. Foojan brings you Rob Shallenberger. Rob with Steve Shallenberger, are Founders of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and are devoted to helping individuals and organizations achieve their maximum potential. Rob has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations, in leadership, planning, and time management. In this show, they talk about his new book. Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time.  www.becomingyourbest.com.      Check my website: www.foojan.com

To have something happen in your life that is life-changing, you need to do what matters most! Adam Nugent and Kate Strong welcome Rob Shallenberger to the podcast. He is the co-founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. He talks about his latest book, his time in the U.S. Air Force, and helping people to work towards reviewing their vision and goals, and learn about the12 principles of highly successful leaders that you see over and over in people who rise to the top! Learn More About Rob: https://www.becomingyourbest.com/ Follow Rob On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomingyourbestglobal/ Follow Rob On Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/BecomingYourBest/ Nugent Magazine: www.Nugentmagazine.com  

In a Father's Day edition of Let's Be REAL, Andy Hughes and Denise Russo speak with inspirational authors Steve Shallenberger and his son Rob Shallenberger. In May 2021, they wrote a fantastic book called Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time. In this interesting discussion, Steve and Rob provide 3 key habits to incorporate into your life to live a life by design, not by default. It is strongly recommended to take the Becoming Your Best assessment before and after reading the book. For more information on their company, check out the Becoming Your Best Global Leadership website.

Episode 148 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Steve Shallenberger - Co-author of "Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, and Prioritize Your Time". Steve is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, a company based on his breakthrough book, Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. Becoming Your Best produces transformational leadership, which in turn builds cultures of excellence, which produce high performance individuals and organizations that are at the top of what they do. Steve is the co-author of “Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, and Prioritize Your Time”. Time management remains a huge challenge for most people. This book shares the three powerful habits that will help you minimize distractions, maximize accomplishments, and find time to do what matters most. Drawing on their forty years of leadership research, this book offers three powerful habits that that will help people and teams do what matters most. These three high performance habits are developing a written personal vision, identifying and setting Roles and Goals, and consistently doing Pre-week Planning. People who live these three habits can increase productivity by at least 30 to 50 percent, while reducing stress. For organizations, this means higher profits, happier employees, and increased innovation. For individuals, it means better physical and mental health, stronger relationships, and a greater sense of peace and balance. The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3vcKweM You can find website for Becoming you Best here - www.becomingyourbest.com. You can email the host Lance Peppler at lance@ideastorm.co.za or visit www.businessbookshelfpodcast.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/businessbookshelf/support

Each episode of ‘Six-Pack’ has been a new and exciting exploration into the world of personal development, offering perspectives from individuals who have come from all different walks of life. Today is no exception, as I’m joined by the Founder and Chairman of ‘Becoming Your Best Global Leadership’ and published Author of, ‘The 12 Principles of Highly Successful People’, Steve Shallenberger! Steve describes himself as an innovator within the Leadership and Corporate Training space and has hosted multiple seminars on topics surrounding communication, time management, creativity, and goal setting. Through his work, he has helped tens of thousands of leaders across the globe in becoming their best selves and achieving success in every facet of their professional lives. In this episode, Steve shares his philosophies on personal growth, relationships, creating a clear vision for the future, as well as so much more. To hear more, tune in to Episode 27 of the show! Some Questions I Ask:After graduating from ‘BYU’, did you ever expect your life would turn out the way it did? (1:29)How much do you share with your mentors? (22:07)Do you set time aside to evaluate and reassess how you’re reaching your goals? (23:38)Could you share your principles surrounding pre-planning? (32:26)In This Episode You Will Learn:Some background on Steve’s upbringing in the ’60s, surrounded by various political movements (2:53)What inspired Steve’s book, ‘The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders’ (6:26)How the principle of ‘leading with a vision’ relates to so many aspects of our lives (8:43)The benefits of using ‘I am’ statements (11:57)How Steve’s principles apply to our relationships with family members (13:54)What Steve is imploring my listeners to do this week (18:44)Steve’s advice on how we can gain clarity and get ourselves back on track in the midst of crisis (24:36)The importance of time management and pre-week planning (30:15)How Steve has been impacted by his Wife’s dementia (33:24)Let’s Connect!InstagramWebsiteFacebookConnect With Steve Shallenberger:LinkedInWebsiteEmail: support@becomingyourbest.comResources:Book: ‘Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders’ Author, Steve ShallenbergerBook: 'Conquer Anxiety: How to Overcome Anxiety and Optimize Your Performance' Author, Steve ShallenbergerBecoming Your Best University See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob Shallenberger is one of the worlds leading authorities on planning and productivity. He is the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and the author of 5 books. He trained hundreds of organizations. The tools he teaches are powerful and very relevant for fathers. He was an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Airforce for 11 years and worked as an Advance Agent for Air Force One. He is also the father of four kiddos. This is an incredibly valuable conversation around fatherhood. Rob shares tools that will help fathers live more engaged and intentional lives with their families.

Steven Shallenberger was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and He has lived in Utah, a place that he loves for the last 45 years. He graduated from Brigham Young University with an Accounting Degree and from the Harvard Business School. Steve has organized and purchased 11 different companies in four industries. He has sold a number of those companies, while continuing to be the President of three of them. He's led numerous civic organizations including: Serving as president of the Brigham Young University Alumni Association, President of America's Freedom Festival, Chairman of the Utah County Republican Party, Mission President in Madrid, Spain and Stake President of a YSA Stake. Steve loves the youth! Steve is the founder of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and author of the national bestselling book Becoming Your Best! He teaches leadership throughout the world. In the last three months, Becoming Your Best has completed tours in various countries around the world South Africa, East Africa, Romania, Malta, Rwanda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Alaska and throughout the United States. Steve is currently working on book #3 and #4. He's passionate about helping others be successful in life, but also at home. He's been married for over 44 years and has six children and 20 grandchildren. “remember the formula FFF. And that is when you have an idea don't go directly to execution. The formula for fortune that's a formula for failure. And the formula for success FFS is when you have an idea is put in the discipline of thinking about what product or service you have, your idea that people respond to and see how they respond to the price and service and listen carefully. And then make pivots, make your adjustments, test it, nail it then scale it, and then launch your product. Once you have real confidence in what you have done its you start out with a rifle shot on your testing, and once you got your formula down then use the canon and then execute…. Don't go directly from idea to execution. Go from idea to doing a few things of due diligence then execute”…[Listen for More] Click Here for Show Notes To Listen or to Get the Show Notes go to https://wp.me/p6Tf4b-79h

What sets apart great leaders and high performers from everyone else? Why is it that some people seem to create magic over and over again for themselves in their personal life, with their team, or their organization? This week’s guest, Rob Shallenberger, is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership, planning, and execution. Rob is the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and has spoken to and trained more than 200 organizations around the world. Rob and I talk about two of the 12 principles of highly effective leaders. Rob shares stories and examples of how these principles can transform your life and your team. We also get into the process of pre-week planning, what Rob calls a “game changer” for managers and employees alike. Join the Modern Manager community to get 30% off the Becoming Your Best Planner plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey! Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.  Read the related blog article: How to Become a Great Leader KEY TAKEAWAYS: Rob and his father studied high performers in a variety of roles and industries and distilled 12 principles of highly successful leaders. Putting the 12 principles into action together creates a chemistry of excellence that is predictive of success. Principle 2: Lead with vision - This means having an articulated, written down vision for the team as well as for yourself. And, as a manager, helping each of your team members to define their own vision which will help them achieve their highest potential. It’s incredibly powerful when everyone knows the vision, is inspired by it, and takes actions in line with achieving it. Principle 4: Prioritize your time - 68% of people feel their number one challenge is how to prioritize their time. In order to be a transformational leader or effective manager, you need to focus on the things that matter most. The things that matter least will always be pulling at us, whereas often, the things that matter most, get lost in the chaos. This single biggest game changer for most managers is doing pre-week planning. For 20-30 minutes, between Friday afternoon and Sunday night, look at your vision and goals, the roles you play (parent, friend, spouse, self, etc) then do a mini brainstorm on what you can do this week that matters for each of the topics. Then schedule these onto your calendar. The pre-week planning process is simple, but developing the habit of doing it can be hard. Set two reminders for yourself over the weekend to trigger you to do the pre-week planning. Read Becoming Your Best with your entire team, practice together applying one principle per month. KEEP UP WITH ROB Website: www.BecomingYourBest.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/byb

What sets apart great leaders and high performers from everyone else? Why is it that some people seem to create magic over and over again for themselves in their personal life, with their team, or their organization? This week’s guest, Rob Shallenberger, is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership, planning, and execution. Rob is the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and has spoken to and trained more than 200 organizations around the world. Rob and I talk about two of the 12 principles of highly effective leaders. Rob shares stories and examples of how these principles can transform your life and your team. We also get into the process of pre-week planning, what Rob calls a “game changer” for managers and employees alike. Join the Modern Manager community to get 30% off the Becoming Your Best Planner plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey! Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.  Read the related blog article: How to Become a Great Leader KEY TAKEAWAYS: Rob and his father studied high performers in a variety of roles and industries and distilled 12 principles of highly successful leaders. Putting the 12 principles into action together creates a chemistry of excellence that is predictive of success. Principle 2: Lead with vision - This means having an articulated, written down vision for the team as well as for yourself. And, as a manager, helping each of your team members to define their own vision which will help them achieve their highest potential. It’s incredibly powerful when everyone knows the vision, is inspired by it, and takes actions in line with achieving it. Principle 4: Prioritize your time - 68% of people feel their number one challenge is how to prioritize their time. In order to be a transformational leader or effective manager, you need to focus on the things that matter most. The things that matter least will always be pulling at us, whereas often, the things that matter most, get lost in the chaos. This single biggest game changer for most managers is doing pre-week planning. For 20-30 minutes, between Friday afternoon and Sunday night, look at your vision and goals, the roles you play (parent, friend, spouse, self, etc) then do a mini brainstorm on what you can do this week that matters for each of the topics. Then schedule these onto your calendar. The pre-week planning process is simple, but developing the habit of doing it can be hard. Set two reminders for yourself over

“Sow a thought, and you reap an action. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”  --Ralph Waldo Emerson Growing into the best version of yourself begins with a vision. From there, you program your thoughts around that vision of who you want to become in each facet of your life—as an individual, a spouse, a professional and a member of the community. Thoughts lead to actions, pulling you forward into the future you are creating. Steve Shallenberger is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, a management consulting firm dedicated to developing high-performing employees and teams. Steve built the company around his bestselling book, Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, leveraging his four decades of research around the things high achievers do to accomplish extraordinary results. An innovator in the corporate training and leadership space, Steve has worked with hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of leaders in more than 25 countries around the world. Today, Steve joins Emerald to share his practice of visioning key roles to achieve clarity and using present tense language to program thoughts. He speaks to the capacity of strong leadership to change the world for good and the way a clear vision and inspiring goals amplify our courage. Steve also describes the relationship between the feeling of people-first and positive results, explaining why high-performing leaders build high-trust cultures in their organizations. Listen in for Steve’s insight on leveraging pre-week planning to prioritize your time and determine what matters most! What You Will Learn How an early mentor inspired Steve to be a business leader Steve’s extensive research around prominent leaders What sets high-performing individuals apart from everyone else How strong leadership has the capacity to change the world How a clear vision and inspiring goals amplify our courage Why high-performing leaders build high-trust cultures The relationship between the feeling of people-first and results The difference between personal and organizational vision Steve’s practice of visioning his key roles to achieve clarity The value of using present tense language to program thoughts How Steve leverages pre-week planning to prioritize his time Why Steve share his goals with others and reports back Connect with Steve Shallenberger Becoming Your Best Global Leadership Steve on LinkedIn Resources Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders by Steve Shallenberger The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason Formula for Fortune by Ann Uhry Abrams Hari Mari Flip Flops Connect with Emerald GreenForest Creative Age Consulting Group Emerald’s Website Emerald on LinkedIn Emerald on Twitter Email: listeners@menonpurposepodcast.com This episode is sponsored by the Creative Age Consulting Group. Men - Is it time NOW for you to make your mark? Visit timetomakeyourmark.com to apply for an invitation-only consultation.

3 Invaluable Lessons from Rob Schallenberger Trust is critical to effective teamwork. Gauge each and every one of your team members to determine if they are on "full" or "empty" with regards to trust levels; like a gas meter! Invest in yourself as a leader. Read books, attend leadership and self-development seminars, put time, effort, and financial commitment into your leadership development in order to stay one step ahead of the curve and leverage your competitive advantage! Take responsibility instead of placing blame. Many company issues, particularly with teams and employees, can be traced back to leadership issues. Focus on yourself and what YOU can do to improve as a leader to transform your team and organization! This week, host Sue Dyer interviews guest Rob Schallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Rob is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership and execution. He has trained and coached thousands of people and hundreds of companies around the world (including Fortune 500, Dallas Cowboys, and more!). His work is based on the national bestselling book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 10 audio interview between Sue and Rob. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets! Rob's Leadership Journey Rob and his father Steve started Becoming Your Best Global Leadership 8 years ago, based on decades of research around the question "What sets apart great leaders and high performers from everyone else?" No matter what industry, there are certain people who always rise to the top no matter what situation or circumstance they find themselves in. What sets them apart? What did they do that other leaders didn’t do? Rob and his father discovered the 12 main principles that highly successful leaders have in common. There is such a lack of leadership today, even though it is the greatest predictor of success. The 12 Principles The 4 Principles of Transformational Leadership Principle #1: Be True to Character Principle #2: Lead with a Vision Principle #3: Manage with a Plan Principle #4: Prioritize your Time The 4 Principles of Teams and Relationships Principle #5: Live the Golden Rule in Business and in Life Principle #6: Build and Maintain Trust Principle #7: Be an Effective Communicator Principle #8: Innovate Through Imagination The 4 Principles of Transformational Living Principle #9: Be Accountable Principle #10: Apply the Power of Knowledge Principle #11: Live in Peace and Balance Principle #12: Never Give Up Details of each principle can be found in the book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders.  The Principle of Be Accountable is particularly relevant for the construction industry. It is much better to work with someone who can take responsibility for what they do and try to fix it rather than someone who blames everything on others and who never takes accountability. How are the 12 Principles Important in Construction? Turnover is a real issue within the construction industry, coupled with concerns about the employment and talent pool to draw from. The 12 Principles are very important in construction because a lot of the concerns and potential opportunities/liabilities in the industry are leadership based. The 12 Principles are the pathway to becoming a great leader; each principle compliments the other. As a team member, it is much better to have (and easier to trust) a leader who has a clear vision, a good character, and who can prioritize their time properly. How Organizations Utilize The 12 Principles While developing the 12 Principles, it was clear that they needed to be sustainable so once people learned and utilized them, they would not be forgotten a week later. Rob’s company was inspired by Benjamin Franklin, who came up with 13 virtues. These 13 virtues embodied one virtue such as kindness or patience that he could work on each week, and then repeat when all 13 were finished. During each week, Benjamin Franklin would focus on that specific virtue and incorporate it into his life via thoughts and behaviors. Rob calls it the “success rhythm”, and they invite teams to focus on 1 principle a week as a team and how to make it actionable. The hope is that over the course of weeks and months, there will be the creation of a "culture by design", the team will be transformed, people who don’t belong there will be weeded out, and the best talent will prove themselves. The biggest barriers to implementing success are ego and mindset. People with big egos think they have everything figured out and don’t really need help improving or being better. People with closed-off mindsets are also rarely willing or ready to accept change or improvement.  Best Advice Rob Has Ever Received The best advice that Rob has received are quotes: “You will be the same in 5 years as you are today except for 2 things; the books you read and the people you meet”, which ties into, “You will become the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” One of the worst things a leader can do is become complacent and think they are fine the way they are. Rob encourages leaders to read personal development books in order to stay ahead of the competition and focus on continuous personal improvement. We also tend to rise or fall with the ones we surround ourselves with. Great leaders need to be able to engage their team, so being around people who can bring you up is crucial. Resources for Leaders Visit Becomingyourbest.com and take the Personal Productivity Assessment Grab the book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders Check out The Transformation Challenge: The 6 Steps to Planning and Execution Parting Advice “The art is in the start”, you don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great. It can be very hard to just start something, so Rob encourages leaders to focus on starting something that helps them become a better leader. Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping - the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify! Contact Rob Schallenberger Visit becomingyourbest.com/contact-us to send Rob a message! He and his team will reach out to you! Free Team Lunch Photo Contest We have a Take a Picture of Your Team and Win a Free Lunch Photo Contest going. If you print, post and take a photo of your team with the Construction Dream Team poster, your team will be eligible for our monthly free team lunch photo contest. One photo will win each month – so be creative!! We can’t wait to share your photo of you and your team! Download poster Remember...Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Steve Shallenberger is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, a company based on his breakthrough book, Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. Becoming Your Best produces transformational leadership, which in turn builds cultures of excellence, which produce high-performance individuals and organizations that are at the top of what they do.   Steve’s goal is to help individuals and companies achieve their very best as they implement the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. These principles are crucial to the success of any leader or person.   Steve has provided consulting and training for hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of leaders throughout 25+ countries. An innovator in leadership and corporate training, Steve takes leadership training and team development to a new level using a results-driven success blueprint. His exciting seminars on Leadership, Communication, Time- Management, Goals, Creativity, and Relationships provide an entirely new way of seeing and thinking that can change lives and organizations for the positive.   Steve also co-hosts the popular podcast Becoming Your Best with his partner (and son) Rob Shallenberger. Together, they help listeners uncover the principles of highly successful leaders.   Steve Shallenberger Show Highlights: Research on leadership and how it applies to education What sets apart high performing individuals and organizations from everyone else The 12 principles of great leadership Do you share a vision that is big and inspirational? His process of identifying what sets top performers from average or low performers Top performers often have failures Transformational vs transactional leadership Building great teams Generating the rhythm in your organization Do you use TIGS in your organization? “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson   Steve Shallenberger Resources: Personal Performance Self Assessment   Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders Richest Man in Babylon How to Win Friends and Influence People The Greatest Salesman in the World The Better Leaders Better Schools Roadmap     Steve Shallenberger Contact Info Website Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Podcast Upgrade Download the Creating Your Vivid Vision here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/vivid-vision   Buy the Better Leaders Better Schools Roadmap Show Some Love BECOME A PATRON OF THE SHOW FOR AS LITTLE AS $1/MONTH DID YOU LIKE THE SHOW?  iTunes SUBSCRIBE HERE! LEAVE A 5-STAR RATING AND REVIEW   Join my hybrid group coaching & leadership development community   Website :: Facebook :: Insta :: Twitter :: LinkedIn   SHOW SPONSORS: ORGANIZED BINDER Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework Is an integral component of ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)   You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/   Copyright © 2018 Better Leaders Better Schools

Rob Shallenberger is the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership and strategic planning. He's trained hundreds of organizations on high-performance habits and the 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders found in their best-selling book, Becoming Your Best. He is a former F-16 Pilot and has been married for 20 years. Rob Shallenberger- Fond Memories Rob remembers the Air Force as being some of the best memories.  He had the chance to fly F-16’s for 11 years and the last year and a half was an Advance Agent for Air Force One.  Rob misses associated with these incredible groups of people and recalls the Air Force as being the best times of his life. “The one thing we loved were the people, the people we  definitely miss and flying on a beautiful sunrise or sunset always awesome too.” – Rob Shallenberger Transitioning out of the Air Force Rob developed a vision when he was 16 that he wanted to be a fighter pilot.  His vision really shaped his life. He achieved his vision of being a fighter pilot and realized his dream but knew this was not going to be his lifelong career.  Rob and his father started laying out a vision for a business and after Rob’s commitment of 11 years he has joined his father in their vision. His transition was very smooth.  He new about 5 years prior to getting out of the Air Force that he was going to start a business. “I really was a wayward lost teenager until I said I wanted to be a fighter pilot.” – Rob Shallenberger Building a Training Program Rob and his father have interviewed hundreds of people and put them into categories they call high performers and what set them apart from others.  They found that there were 12 principles of highly successful leaders that are very predictable of long-term success in a company, personally and in their relationships.   “We have built a program around that and have traveled the world on virtually every continent.” – Rob Shallenberger To hear more from Rob Shallenberger and her experience, download this episode. Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you! Rob Shallenberger links: LinkedIn Five Keys to a Successful Leadership and Learning Program Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.   Join the Veteran on the Move on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests! It’s a great place where you can stay in touch with other veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship.  Get updates and free gouge on the people, programs and resources to help you in your transition to entrepreneurship. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 200 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane . The podcast features people, programs and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 1,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, Sound Cloud, itunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.  

“One percent of your week will determine what happens with the other 99% of your week.” Rob Shallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, is one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership and execution. He has trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, including many Fortune 500 organizations. He served as an F-16 fighter pilot in the Air Force for 11 years and was an Advance Agent for Air Force One. He is co-author, along with his father, of The Transformation Challenge, and works with clients to help them discover how to make communication easier and clearer, live in greater peace and balance, manage time effectively, more persuasively lead others with an inspiring vision, and to embrace change—not fear it.  Listen And Learn: The 12 Principles of Highly Effective Leaders. Insights into how companies can create cultures by design not default. The pre-week planning process that is instrumental in creating productive and engaged teams. His recommendations for creating a powerful company vision, including that it “should not be dictated from the top.” How truly effective leaders help their teams understand and manage the process of executing a plan.   TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING YOUR BEST GLOBAL LEADERSHIP CLICK HERE. TO FIND ROB SHALLENBERGER ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE.

Rob is one of the worlds leading authorities on leadership and execution. Hes trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, to include many Fortune 500 organizations. After spending two years of service in Bolivia, he attended Utah State University where he graduated in 2000. He went on to earn an MBA from Colorado State University. He served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. He was also an Advance Agent for Air Force One and traveled the world working with foreign embassies and the Secret Service. He's the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. His company released a national bestselling book titled Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders. He also just released an awesome book titled The Transformation Challenge: The Six Steps to Planning and Execution. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be that he's been married for 20 years and has four beautiful children. Rob's interview is sure to inspire as we rewind back to the first time he was in a stadium to experience an F-16 flyover. After that, he was hooked...and determined to be a fighter pilot. Rob's journey through life is quite impressive; from coaching the Dallas Cowboys staff to presidents and world leader. Rob also shares with us how to actually build high performing teams.

Rob Shallenberger is one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership and strategic planning. He’s trained and coached hundreds of companies around the world, to include many Fortune 500 organizations. After spending two years of service in Bolivia, he attended Utah State University where he graduated in 2000. He went on to earn an MBA from Colorado State University. He served as an F-16 Fighter Pilot in the Air Force for 11 years. He was also an Advance Agent for Air Force One and traveled the world working with foreign embassies and the Secret Service. He’s the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. His company released a national bestselling book titled Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders and a new book titled the Transformation Challenge: The Six-Steps to Planning and Execution. He’s also the author of three other books. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be that he’s been married for 19 years and has four beautiful children. ----- Are you a highly successful leader? Rob Shallenberger discusses the 12 principles of highly successful leaders and how he trains individuals and businesses to adopt those principles into their lives and business practices, so they can reap the rewards of phenomenal success. Rob has dedicated years to studying some of the most successful leaders throughout history to discover 12 principles that set them apart from others. In this episode, he identifies those 12 principles and discusses the tools and techniques he uses when training others how to use them. He goes on to describe why the principle “Be true to character,” is the most critical and why you should adopt that principle first. He also discussed businesses and leaders who have lost sight of that principle, such as Enron, and the devastating consequences that can have. Rob also discusses time in a meaningful way. We all have the same 1,440 minutes in a day. One of the things that sets highly successful leaders apart from the rest of us is how we use those minutes. He goes on to discuss the differences between being a transformational leader and being a transactional leader and how that impacts your success on a personal and professional level. One of the most endearing things Rob talks about, though, is what the 12 principles of leadership mean for him as a husband and as a father and how his vision is different, yet similar, in each of those roles. Are you interested in learning more? Listen to the full podcast now! Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much. Ways to contact Rob: Website: www.becomingyourbest.com

Rob Shallenberger is recognized globally as a leading authority in planning and execution. He is widely known for sharing his experience as a US fighter pilot to deliver fun, energetic, and highly impactful keynotes and seminars. Based on the National Bestselling book Becoming Your Best: The 12 principles of Highly Successful Leaders – which includes 40 years of research from peak performing companies – Rob shares powerful principles that propel teams and organizations to the top. From the cockpit to the boardroom, Fortune 500 companies around the world have used his valuable lessons learned as a fighter pilot to ignite their teams and leaders and fuel high performance at every level. As the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, an award-winning leadership and corporate training company, Rob helps leaders around the world grow and lead powerful teams. He also co-hosts the popular podcast Becoming Your Best with his partner (and father) Steve Shallenberger. Together, they help listeners uncover the principles of highly successful leaders.

Former F-16 Fighter Pilot Offers 'Flight Plan' for Business Success: Are you facing a devastating obstacle? There is no challenge too great if you have an effective problem solving process. Rob Shallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, walks us through fundamental tenets of his best-selling business guidebooks, ‘Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders' and ‘The Transformation Challenge: A New Approach to Winning in Business and Life'. Rob shares six no-fuss steps to lead with intention and create an action plan your whole team can rally behind. Plus, find out how you can attend the upcoming Breakthrough Entrepreneur Conference for only $197. (Offer available for a limited time only. Tune in for details!) [00:00:00] Model the Behavior of Business Experts [00:05:33] Align Your Reality with Your Vision [00:11:30] Lead by Design or Live by Default [00:18:21] 'Becoming Your Best' Teen Edition [00:26:26] 6 Steps to Finding a Winning Solution [00:33:22] Breakthrough Entrepreneur Conference

Steve Shallenberger is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, Steve’s goal is to help individuals and companies achieve their very best as they implement 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders, which are crucial to the success of any leader or person.   Steve has provided consulting and training for hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of leaders throughout 25+ countries   To find out more and get access to bonus content click here   More ways to get involved If you have found anything useful in this episode, then please leave a comment and rate the show.  If you would like to ask Geoff a question or suggest a topic to cover on the show, please email him at podcast@geoffnicholson.co.uk Join my new and growing community on Facebook where I share insights, strategies and special offers.  It would be great to see you their.

How Can I Be Less Cynical? Hello, this is Steve Shallenberger, your host today with the, Becoming Your Best Global Leadership podcast. And this is an ongoing set of podcast on leadership principles that contribute to highly successful results. And today, See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to all of our Becoming Your Best podcast listeners wherever you might be in the world today. This is your host Steve Shallenberger. And we have a tremendously interesting guest today. Our guest is a successful business leader and has influenced many many people for good. Welcome to our show today, Tim Sanders. Tim: Hey great to be with you Steve. Steve: I've been looking forward to this. Tim: Me too. Steve: Well, good. All right. Now, before we get started, I'd like to tell you a little about Tim's background. He spent his early career on the cutting edge of innovation and change. He was an early stage member of Mark Cuban's Broadcast.com, which had the largest opening day IPO in history. After Yahoo acquired the company, Tim was tapped to lead their Value Lab, and by 2001 he rose to a Chief Solutions Officer. And today he's one of the top-rated speakers on the lecture circuit. Tim is also the author of four books including The New York Times best seller "Love is the Killer App," which is an awesome book, "How to Win Business and Influence Friends," I really enjoyed reading that. Tim's book has been featured in Fast Company, USA Today, The New York Times, Boston Globe, and so on. He is a master storyteller who offers his listeners actionable takeaways that produce results right away. So I have been looking forward to having Tim here in our interview today. And to get going, Tim, can you tell our listeners maybe a little about your background, your story? What was it like growing up? And maybe some experiences that helped you see that you could be successful? Tim: Thank you. I grew up in Clovis, New Mexico. It's a farming community just east of the West Texas border. I'm sorry, just west of the...West Texas border. And I was raised by my grandmother. I was a special education student from second to fifth grade, which really, you know, taught me a lot of things. It taught me how to bounce back. That's for sure. Taught me how to fit in when people didn't understand who I was. But most importantly, my childhood taught me that anything is possible if I'm willing to put the preparation work in and seize the opportunity. In my adult life I had a period of time, say 15 years or so, where I was gainfully employed and successful to some degree but just not laser-focused on what mattered. You might say I was in a mediocrity trap. In 1997, I went to work for Mark Cuban about a year after I had gotten out of that trap and had a real paradigm shift about what it was gonna take for me to be successful for my family. When I worked for Mark Cuban you can imagine 1997, the dawn of the internet explosion. It was such a breathtaking opportunity Steve. But I remember those times mostly as being a student of the game. Something I learned from him. And I was a voracious book reader. I was a mentor to anybody I did business with. And by 2001 after he'd sold the company to Yahoo, I became Yahoo's Chief Solutions Officer right after the dot-com crash of 2000. So my team and I went out to rebuild hundreds of millions of dollars of lost business because all of those companies, like eToys, our big advertisers, had gone caput. And through those experiences, I built up a perspective that if we commit ourselves to lifelong learning, and we lead with love in our hearts for other people and expect nothing in return other than that they improve and pay it forward, you can accomplish anything in this world we live in. Steve: Wow, what a rich background and then to be able to take that background and, like, Clovis, New Mexico? You mean you can be successful if you were born in Clovis, New Mexico? Tim: I'll tell you something. Let me tell you something about Clovis, New Mexico. Little town, 30,000 people. I was on the debate team in high school, Steve. And we wanted to be nationally ranked. Now, it was a real kind of a pork chop circuit, right. There was the Las Cruces tournament, the El Paso tournament, the Odessa tournament. We had to get in our cars and drive over two hours to Lubbock, Texas, to go to a decent library to research for our debate. And we had to compete with, you know, Houston's Bellaire and Dallas' St. Marks and all these great folks in New Mexico, and all the big schools from Albuquerque and Santa Fe. But I'll tell you something, my senior year, we won state championship, and we went to the national tournament, and we didn't have nearly the resources of anybody we competed with. But man, I gotta tell you, and I thank my coach for this, we had heart. Steve: Wow! Well, I'll tell you I can attest that people from the salt of the earth communities like this can have a big difference in the world. Tim: Yeah. And I think too Steve, is that there's something in our values raised in that environment that makes us really good connectors. And I also think it makes us hungrier to find some way to get back that edge. And to look for those invisible resources that are out there, like knowledge that can really give us a leg up. And it makes us wanna give back too when we become successful, you know, there's a natural, very deep set generosity. And I gotta tell you, I come from it very honestly. I mean, the patriarch of our family is my great-grandfather the late great Tommy King. And he was one of the founders of Clovis when it organized into a city back around it, you know, after the Great Depression. And he was a successful farmer. And one of the things he did before the Dust Bowl era, right before it, was he engaged with some agricultural technologist and became the first farmer in that part of the country to use a circular farming techniques, which when the Dust Bowl hit, helped his farms survive if not thrive while others withered away. And in our family, one of the most poignant stories about Tommy was how much he gave back to other farmers who were in crisis. The ones that bullheaded, they wouldn't try circular farming knowing that the science said there was something coming in a drought. He was happy to give them microloans. He never collected on them. He would just tell people, "When this happens in the future, you pay it forward." And I believe that his philosophy really represented, you know, small town America. Steve: Oh, that's a great story. And then to actually go from being a special ed student to being successful, that's got to give hope to special ed students anywhere because, you know, they're behind a gun. And so, is there hope? I mean, like, can we make it? Tim: It's tough. I mean, you know, more background here. So my grandmother raised me because my mother abandoned me when I was in four. And it manifest into tremendous depression when I was a little kid. And it exhibited itself in discipline issues. And during those days, Steve, they really didn't have much to do with a kid, you know, when you're seven. So, all they really can do is put you in special education. And that experience was really challenging because it's not just that you're taken out of school, that you're ostracized. And when you go to church you're treated differently because, you know, you go to the other school. And I picked up the nickname Shortbus, and I really didn't shake that nickname till junior high. But I think the thing that I got out of the whole situation is when they put me back into the general population in the sixth grade. I had to deal with bullies for the first time. You know, when you're different you're gonna deal with bullies. For parents, this is a great challenge when a child is singled out into a program like special ed or frankly like gifted for that matter. And I'll tell you, I think my point of view about how I dealt with that traumatic sixth and seventh-grade year had to do with how I felt about love. I'll give you a classic story. So, in the seventh grade, the day that you wear your nice clothes and your nice white shirt for the picture, you know, for the yearbook? Steve: Yup. Tim: I went in and this bully who went to church with us demanded my lunch money and I hesitated. So he punched me right in the nose and I bled all over my shirt. Not gory but I bled on my shirt. It ruined me for the picture that day. When Billy, my grandmother, came to pick me up, I thought she was gonna just, you know, have it out with that boy's mom, or at least give him a good talking to. So when Billy and I are sitting in the vice principal's office and we're alone for a second, she turns to me and she looks at me and she says, "You know the problem here is that you don't love those boys enough." I remember looking at her and I point at my shirt and I said, "What do you mean? He's mean. He's a mean boy." And she said, "In our family, you don't love people because of who they are. You love people because of who we are." And she goes, "That's gonna go a long way with you fitting in at the school." And so she said I should invite him over after church. Because she believed that people were inherently good and when they were mean, or when they were bad, there was something about the story that you don't know. And so he came over after church and stole some of my stuff and still kind of picked on me but he didn't punch me in the nose. And then I guess he felt the duty to invite me over to his house a few weeks later on the other side of the tracks where he lived. And when I visited his home that Sunday afternoon, I realized why he was a bully. His father, a drunk, swore at him coming in through the front door. His older brother whipped him with what, like a horse bridle, in front of me. Later, and I realized that this guy had been going through a lot more than I was. And that he was manifesting it. He was a big guy. He was manifesting it by picking on the only thing that he could get away with picking on, that's a little guy called Shortbus. And once I had that breakthrough, Steve, it really changed the way I thought about people. I truly began to understand that if we give someone our love and we care about them, whether it's on a personal level like this or on a professional level like say someone that I manage, you'd be surprised how many of their problems go away. And how you can convert a bully into a blocker. And I gotta say, that guy and I became good friends. And a little bit more than four years later, he put up posters for me when I successfully ran for senior class president and won. And I realized that for the rest of my life, I'm gonna go out into the market and love people because of who I am, and it's very easy to find things about them that are incredibly easy to love. And that I'm assuming when people don't give back, when they don't do the right thing, when they're mean spirited. I'm assuming that there's something about their story or struggle that I have no knowledge of. And it's made me a much deeper listener and a much more curious person in a good way. Steve: Well, that's a fantastic experience and thank you for sharing it. How grateful are we for the people in our backgrounds that help us grow and develop and overcome maybe some of the deficiencies that we might have that we may or even may not be aware of, that help us start becoming what we're capable of becoming. So that's really an inspirational story. And then love is so powerful and we may talk about it more after our interview but after...well, I was going through my college career I sold books back East. And one of the great books that I read was "The Greatest Salesman in the World", "About the Scrolls," and "I Will Greet This Day With Love In My Heart," and "How Will I Greet Those That Treat Me Poorly Love." And, oh, my goodness, you just fill this tremendous power that comes from it. So I'm so glad you shared that. Tim: Well, thank you. And I will tell you, there's real science or at least there is real psychological research behind this. And if you think about it, this is a manifestation of Maslow's hierarchy, right? Abraham Maslow studied something he called B-love, that is being love. That is a detached form of caring about another person, like I care about another person whether or not you care about me. I care about that person solely because I wanna help that person grow. I don't care about that person because I need a new friend. D-love, Maslow brought about this, a deficiency based love, says, "I need to be loved." So everything I do from being friendly to making, you know, advances, whatever you do to try to go out and help people, you're doing it to solve one of your problems. So, next we'll talk about the idea that when we feel fulfilled in terms of how much we think we're cared about, and that the way we think about love and other people, again, whether it's personal or professional, when we do that, we are making the leap to becoming like self-actualized, if you will. And that it's the most powerful way to think about loving other people because there's no anxiety in those relationships because you're not expecting anything in return. And that's what makes them so beautiful. And I found in my business life, that as a leader, as a manager, as a colleague, this works even more. Because, you know, we need people to encourage us at work. We need people to care about us as customers. And I believe too many people are just traders, transactionalists, and don't bring that Maslovian, you know, B-love to work every day. Steve: Okay. All right. Well, that's a powerful point of view and force in our work lives. Now talking about how to be successful in what we do in business, in our work, and in life generally, it does take work and effort and doing certain things that make a difference. So you shared earlier, that as we visited, that you had made a discovery in your mid-30s that led to ten promotions and helped you achieve a strong financial position and financial security. Can you talk a little about that? What was that? Tim: So this is like 1996, 1997. I had been coming back into my studentship, and I had gone from just need to know in terms of learning to being a voracious reader of books. And not just on stuff that mattered to my current job but anything that was adjacent to it. Anything that I thought was interesting to know in the future. I was at a point Steve, where I would read a book a week. I would burn through these books. I'm not talking novels either I'm talking about complex books in some situations. And what happened was I began to talk about different things with clients. So when I go to work for Cuban, I had this mentality kind of fed by Leo Buscaglia as love on one hand and Steven Covey on the other. I had this mentality that I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna promote other people's success during a time of great change. Because you know the internet was disrupting everything. So I worked a lot with the retailers. So I would go out and work with Neiman Marcus or Victoria's Secret or whomever. And I took it upon myself to learn everything I could about their business future and their business challenges, and then share that with them. And that's where I had the big aha. That if my business practice was to aggregate my intangibles, my knowledge, my network of relationships, my ability to care about people. If I build those up so I can give them away, and systematically help other people make the leap without expecting anything in return, that faith would repay me with endless referrals, a powerful brand, and a magnetic value proposition inside my company. Because I make decisions with Mark, I start to adopt the style. I was a sales person of service out in the community. We accomplished a lot of great things. He sells the company two years later to Yahoo if you remember back in those days. When I transfer out to the West Coast at Yahoo, I've really refined the system of building relationships by sharing my knowledge, and my network, and my compassion in every interaction. And it was like the doors swung wide open. Because now it's 2000, now it's right after the dot-com crash. This idea about helping people finds success during times of great change and expecting nothing in return. Boy, it worked crazy good in Silicon Valley and that's when I begin to train the young Yahoos on this philosophy and this set of values. And that's where I begin to write down the steps I was taking to really document you know how I read books and how I chose books, and why I read books instead of articles, and what I talked about when I was networking. And that's where "Love is The Killer App" came from a few years later. And since then, you know 15 years, I've been traveling around the world meeting people, comparing notes and really building upon that philosophy. Steve: Oh, that's great. And as we've talked about with our listeners the twelve principles of highly successful leaders, these are the things that are present across the board for high achievers. Also they were able to sustain, really, success over a long period of time, both personally and professionally. And one of those was applying the power of knowledge. In other words, gaining knowledge in the first place, and one of the primary ways is being a reader. And so this is a great reminder to every one of us listening here today of the power of reading good books on a regular basis because they're just totally stimulating, aren't they? They just fire... Tim: They are. Steve: ...your mind. Tim: And what I like about books is that books require you to take a deep dive into usually a narrow subject. And you don't just learn a couple of data points and one story, you learn a construct. It's got a thesis, and it's got supporting anecdotes, and it usually has research and it's really meaty. And you can deeply understand the topic so you can give it away, right? So the twist here Steve, is read good books but have a mix. And what I say about this is every third book you read, read for someone else's benefit. I call it prescriptive reading. Think about what... Steve: What's an example of that? Tim: Yeah. Think about information challenges that the people have and go study on their behalf because talk about expanding your resume. Steve: Right. It gives you a whole different perspective to maybe a different discipline. Tim: Absolutely. That's made a big difference for me. And that was another part of my turnaround in the late 1990s that really shifted me away from the idea that, you know, I read books to help myself. No, I read books to help the world, and sometimes it helped me too. And that philosophy will keep you from being too laser-focused on what's in front of you and not focused enough on what's coming in the future. Steve: Okay, great. That's a powerful influence on our success. And you told this wonderful experience that you had personally, this story about the bully and your grandmother saying, "Listen, we need to love him." Tim: That's right. Steve: See things from a different perspective. So you must have learned, Tim, somewhere along the line that love can be applied across the board, in business and as an entrepreneur. What have you found? Have you been able to make the jump of using that in your personal life to a professional life, and what's the experience? Tim: Yeah. I've made it my professional strategy, you know, for the last 20 years or so. I mean, when I say love in a professional sense, Steve, I mean, that I have a set of emotions about you. I care and I am now committed to promote your success by sharing my intangibles with you, my knowledge, my network, my compassion. I want you to think about, for those of you listening, I want you to think about the mentor in your life who's made the most difference to you. There's maybe one. There's maybe two. Maybe some of you might have three, but there's maybe one, right? And I want you to really think about how that person felt about you. And I want you to think about how open that person was to loving someone like you, not as a family but just as a person maybe at work or just a person maybe they did business with. I'm talking about unleashing the capacity to do this every day. I developed strong emotional aspect for almost every single person I do business with, and I don't make them earn it, Steve. It happens quick. Maybe I start out by liking him and I look for things that other people don't look for. I wanna hear their story so I can admire their values and understand their point of view. I find things that are familiar about them. I experience their passion so I can really understand what makes them a unique person. I think our capacity to care about people that work quickly and then maintain that over time. I think that is oxygen for leadership. Steve: Absolutely. That's so powerful. I mentioned the research that we've done for 40 years and these principles that are present, you're doing them? Tim: Well, you know, we're thinking alike buddy. Steve: We are thinking alike. I mean, one of those was living the golden rule, really exceptional leaders. I mean, you can have leaders that are good in different contexts but when you put these together, and exceptional leaders also one that really cares about people. And this is manifest in how they treat others, how they learn about others so that they can bring the best out within others. And this is what starts creating excellence, so great going on this. Tim: Thank you. Thank you so much, man. Steve: And by the way, Tim's book "Love is The Killer App." He talks about these three things, knowledge, networking, and compassion. Would you mind touching on the compassion part a little bit? And I'd like to go back to the networking because you said one thing that is important, and that is how a mentor maybe ought to perceive others with this love, learning what their story is? How do you bring out the best? And you'll find mentors that have done this the same way for you. So, how can you be a good mentor? That's one question. And then we'll hit this other one before we're done. Tim: Absolutely. So, the best way to be a mentor is to remember that the mentor is usually a benefactor, a teacher of sorts. And their job is to give the hero a gift that will enable the hero to make it to the next stage of her journey. When you think about Homer's Odyssey, with the character mentor, when you think about the archetype of mentorship stories in very modern culture, like, say, Star Wars, with, you know, Yoda, or with Karate Kid in Miyagi, that's what it's all about. It's about finding that person that has heroic qualities. That's going somewhere a little too fast. You've got a gift for them, maybe it's your personal experience. You've been where they've been. You have knowledge that they need and you give it to them. You expect nothing in return but that they apply that knowledge and learn and improve. All the mentors, they gain enthusiasm from the student learning. And when they need to, they go beyond just sharing information and perhaps make vital connections to create alliances, to help that hero deal with upcoming adversity. As a mentor I just want you to think a little bit like Yoda. And I want you to not really think so much like a person who's like a fire hose of information, a person who's gonna "Take somebody under their wing." I think you need to think about your role very transitionally. But most importantly, you need to expect nothing in return other than that they hero seizes the opportunity, right? I think that is what changes the game. And by the way, you know, I know you talk a lot about how to be successful over a long period of time. My philosophy that we give without expectation, this is not lip service, Steve. I literally expect them to pay it forward but I don't expect them to pay it back. And I'm telling you that is liberating, because when I meet leaders who were generous for years and years and years and then they "Burned out." This is why they got burned out. Because just enough people didn't pay them back or give them credit or whatever their reciprocity was supposed to be and they were disappointed. And I call it ego economics. And it sets in on a lot of people in their career. Super generous in their 30s, a little bit jaded in their 40s, super protected in their 50s. I'm 55 years old, I've never been more generous because I'm not disappointed in people. And I think that's what comes with being detached about what you get back. Steve: Oh, great. You know that's great. I think even the savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, if you...regardless of what you believe, as it was described when he healed the lepers, and he had one return and thanked him. Nine did not. And if your expectation is that people are gonna thank you, you're probably gonna be somewhat disappointed. Tim: Absolutely. You will. Steve: If that's your expectation. Tim: And it's interesting. So, you know, I love that story and I appreciate that example. I think that, for us, the secret to a long-term career is a very flexible perspective. And I think that if we're willing to go against the grain that there's a quid pro quo. I think we really open up our opportunities in life. You just continue to be great until the day we die. Steve: Wonderful. What a refreshing wonderful perspective. I had a friend, Tim, that I had lunch with last week. He is a facilitator for a very successful training company. He has been, really most of his career 30 years, he's gone all over the world. And one of the things he talked about was precisely this, is that his observation is one of the keys for companies to get ahead today to be able to be a best in class, be the best in their industry, is to have active healthy coaching program within the company where people are able to coach each other. And I think it's really these type of qualities you're talking that would help that be successful. Tim: Absolutely. And for leaders, whether it's a small business or an enterprise, you can create a culture of coaching. So even if there's not a funded program per se, it can be the habit inside that organization. So Tom Ward was brought into Barton protective in Atlanta to turn that company around several years ago and he created that culture. He had something called Vision Quest. These values cards everybody carried with them. It was a huge part of the cadence that he had in that company. And the third value was love. "Do you care about me as a person?" He hired based on it. He rewarded based on it. He promoted or did not promote based on it. It made a big deal to how people behaved, because culture at work, culture at work is a conversation that's led by leaders about how we do things here. And that's like software that runs a company, right? So, when you as a leader go to work and say, "We coach other people because of who we are as a company," then the habit sets in. And it's very attractive, Steve, to today's millennial, to have a reputation for a company where we bring each other up as opposed to where we internally compete. So I just want everybody listening to know this is within your power. And you don't need a big checkbook, but you do need to have consistent cadence because you need to manage that conversation about how we do things here successfully. Steve: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I am, like, speechless that we are out of time. I can't believe it. Tim: It goes that quick, man. It goes that quick. Steve: It has been fast today. Now, any...what's one last bit of advice, or any tips you would like to give our listeners before we wrap it up today. It's been fun Tim. Tim: Hey, it's been fun buddy. So I'll tell you a place where you can get some stuff about me, but before that, I'll just give you one of my...it's kind of my new little piece of advice I like to give people. And I can't say that I came up with it but I can tell you I'm championing this idea. If you want to be a happier person in, life in traffic and in work, the next time somebody irritates you, does something that is seemingly rude to you, I want you to assume that that person is operating under the best intentions. I want you to assume that you don't know the whole story. Because more often than not, Steve, people are operating under the best intentions. It's just that their needs clash with our needs. And we spend a lot of our time judging those people instead of inquiring about the rest of the story. So like I said, next time somebody cuts you off in traffic, you might wanna consider that she's trying to get somebody to the hospital before you honk your horn and shake your fist. And this goes double for you as business owners and leaders. Steve: Oh, that's great advice. I hope I can get this right. This comes from an article I read yesterday and it really left a deep impression on me. It was given by the leader of a worldwide organization, a humanitarian service organization. And the fellow talked about 50 years ago, he had a mentor. And the mentor said, "Every time you meet somebody, if you'll say to yourself this person is dealing with a serious challenge," he said, "You're gonna be right 50% of the time." Tim: And guess what? Before, when you just reacted and judged that person, you were wrong 50% of the time. Steve: Exactly. Well, he said, "Man I thought my teacher, my professor was a pessimist," he said, "But I have come to learn what wise advice that was." Because indeed as we look around what's going on in the world, it is often true. And I love your comment that half the time we're wrong. So let's give everybody a lot of slack here, right? Tim: On that, you know, again, yeah, let's put our self in another person's shoes. And let's find out more. You can learn and grow so much more. You can expand your thrive so much more. And, again, you can just avoid those regrettable mistakes we all make. Steve: Yup. Well, these are some great things that we can do to make a difference, to lift others, to build others. Tim has done a great job in sharing these. What a tremendous background. And, Tim, if you'll share how our listeners can learn more about what you're doing, and which is tremendous? We'd love to hear about it. Tim: Absolutely. We've set up a special page for your listeners, Steve. It is timsanders.com/byb. That's timsanders.com/byb. I'll have a huge download excerpt of Love is The Killer App for you to read. I'll also have a way you can connect with me on LinkedIn, and find other resources like videos and other such content on my site. Steve: Well, that's terrific. Thank you Tim Sanders for being part of this show today. This has been enlightening. It's been wonderful. Tim: Oh, absolutely. It's been a pleasure Steve. I really enjoyed it. Steve: Well, you bet. We wish you all the best as you're making a difference in the world as well Tim. Tim: Thank you. Steve: And to all of our listeners, never forget, you are creating a ripple that can never be counted for good as we do the right things, good things. And they do make a difference. They lift our own lives and they lift others. And they help us be more successful, happier and have fuller lives. I'm Steve Shellenberger with Becoming Your Best Global Leadership wishing you a great day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Secret to Peace, Confidence, Success and Trust Welcome to our listeners wherever you might be today. This is Steve Shallenberger, your host of the Becoming Your Best Global Leadership podcast. Now, what thing can you do to bring you greater peace, confidence, internal, strength, greater trust with others? Open many doors to opportunities and just generally provide for a happier fuller more abundant life? More success professionally with other people? Well that leads us to today's subject, which is being True to Character. It's interesting as we think about character there's really a couple of different components to it. One is being honest. Notice the word “being”. This is really an internal quality. It's who we are. Being honest, doing the right things. There's a different component and that is integrity. It's interesting to look at the root words of integrity. It has to do with “being whole” or “complete”. So we might think of the example of a ship hull having integrity or the frame of an aircraft having integrity. It's being whole, this is what people see. Our integrity is really defined by those that are around us. They see that we are whole and especially in the terms of leadership. When we have integrity we create a wholeness. A predictability that people can count on within an organization. It's these two traits, if you will, these two factors: 1) being honest and 2) having an integrity. That literally create a character, something that people can count on, that is both internal and external. So being true to character is really based on being true to those things that consistently make a difference. Or what we frequently call correct or timeless principles. These then define an outcome we have. So being true to character means your actions reflect your beliefs. Your beliefs are based on these guiding correct principles and it's at the very bedrock of character. It's this integrity, honesty, respect for others in alignment with these principles. When you're true to character the feeling is good, solid and confident. The impact is remarkable! Added confidence, increased opportunity, stronger relationships, expanded influence, and certainly an enviable reputation. Now each of us is endowed with a conscience. In other words, you know right from wrong… To listen to the podcast to get the complete episode and Steve’s continued discussion of Being True to Character: https://www.becomingyourbest.com/secret-peace-confidence-success-trust/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What’s Your Innovation Quotient? - Interview with Tamara Kleinberg Steve: Welcome to all of our "Becoming Your Best" podcast listeners, wherever you might be in the world today. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger. And we have a very interesting guest with us today. Our guest has helped and inspired many people on how to improve their lives and be more effective. Welcome, Tamara Kleinberg. Tamara: Thank you so much for having me. Steve: Oh, we're excited to have you. And before we get started today, I'd like to tell you a little about Tamara's background. First of all, this is fun. She's part of an elite group of TED speakers for completing three Tough Muddlers. Tell us what a Tough Muddler is, Tamara. Tamara: Oh, they are these...I don't know if you've done one yet...but they are these extreme sport events. It's usually 12 to 16 miles, 20 obstacle courses, and things like getting dumped in water so cold you can't breathe and electric shock wires. It just...it tests your limits, both physical and mental, every time you do it. Steve: Lovely. Well, we know what the Spartan event is. We've had a number of our family members that have participated in that. I think quite similar. Tamara: I love Spartan events. Steve: Yeah, they're great. And Tamara's life is about breaking through the status quo for game-changing results. And I'll just tell you a little bit more about her. She is the founder of LaunchStreet, an online innovation program, and the creator of a proprietary Innovation Quotient Edge, which we'll talk a little bit about later in the program. It's the only assessment able to help you discover your unique innovator archetype, and we'll talk about that, so that you can innovate on demand. She is a sought-after keynote speaker, CrossFit addict, and a knee-high sock lover. She lives in the Colorado area, has two young children, a husband, and they are rocking and rolling. Tamara: Don't forget my dog. My dog would be very upset if you didn't mention her. Her name is Zoe, and she's a 90-pound mastiff. So she's part of the family. Steve: Well, that's perfect. Okay, well, Tamara, what was life like growing up for you? And what experiences helped you to see that you could be successful? Tamara: Yeah, that's such a great question to open with, you know? So I was telling you a little bit offline that we moved every four years of my life. And the reason for that was my dad was an entrepreneur. So we basically bounced from business to business, and that required moving as well. And while that sounds horrible to a lot of people, what I will tell you is it taught me how to talk to everybody, because I had to start over every four years. I became the queen of reinvention I think before I was 18 years old because I always had to. And, you know, I kinda looked back on my life, and, you know, I realized that that entrepreneurial spirit was inside of me very early on. My very first business was when I was 14 years old. I turned my teenage girl's dream closet into a business of renting clothing, and keep in mind, just to date myself, it was the 80s. So the clothing was bad, and it was before the Internet and [inaudible 00:03:19] could rent everything. But, you know, I was always looking for opportunities to just do things a little bit differently. I think a lot of us have that inside of us, that little spark, and it ignites every now and again. And sometimes we shut it down. And sometimes we let it grow. But in that case, I let it grow. And that summer, I had a ton of money. It was great. But, you know, you would...one of the things that you would ask in a previous thing was, you know, kinda what are some of those defining moments in your childhood. And I would tell you a quick story, because I think this really kinda set up how I viewed life and how I ultimately was able to achieve success. When I was in third grade, I got the most awesome homework, which was, you know, come back on Monday morning and tell the class what you wanna be when you grow up. And I was so excited. And that's the best homework you can give a third grader ever because the possibilities at that point in your life are endless. So, you know, I spent all weekend. I really...I took it very seriously. And I got back to school, and I stood up there, and I was the first to raise my hand. So I got up, you know, in front of that dirty chalkboard. And to see if my...you know, kids in front of me in those low tables, and I said, you know, "I'm Tamara. And when I grow up, I wanna be president of the United States." Steve: Woo-hoo! Tamara: And, you know, then I waited... Yeah. Well, that's what I was hoping for. Thank you. You know, I put my head down waiting for the like obvious standing ovation that was coming. But instead, I got laughter. And it wasn't actually the other kids. It was the teacher. Yeah. She looked to me, and she said, "Tamara, don't be silly. You can't be president of the United States. You weren't born here. You need to come up with a new dream." So I wasn't born here. I was born in Israel. But I...I was born on dual citizenship. And it doesn't matter. In third grade, that's not the point, right? Steve: Right, right. Tamara: You know, I went home in tears, and I went into my dad's office because he's working from home at the time. And I said, you know, "I was told that those are the rules. So I can't be president." I was so upset and ready to be very dramatic. And my dad is very brass tacks about everything. And he looked up at me, and he just said, "Well, Tamara, then go change the rules." I was like "Oh my God." Like that opened my eyes to everything in life. So I can't change the rules to be president. Frankly, at this point, I'm really glad I never pursued that path because it looks like a really hard job. But what it did teach me in life and what I've always applied is how can you go around those brick walls and those rules? How do you go under them, over them, through them? There's always a different way to accomplish what you wanna accomplish. And when I was in third grade, what I was really saying was I wanna make an impact on the world. That's really what I wanted. So when I thought about that in a different way, I was able to do different things and get to that goal. Steve: Oh, I love it. Oh, thanks for that background. And this is a great reminder too. We who have the opportunity to work with others, to give them encouragement, to give them hope, to... I love the assignment. You know, to stoke that curiosity and creativity and... Well, great going! That's terrific. Now, how about...you've been moving along. That was a great setback right there, a little challenge. But what's been some of the biggest challenges in your life or a challenge, just pick one, whether personal life or professional, and how did you handle it, and what was the impact? Tamara: Yeah. So, you know, I think we all have a lot of challenges. And sometimes there are tiny little ones that seem to add up over time. And other times there are, you know, big ones that are slapping us around and leaving a little bit of a sting on our face. And I know...I think when I look back, the biggest challenges have been these tiny little things that constantly added up. And, you know, it really led to...it was me always trying to push the limits and always trying to do something different and getting pushed back. And, you know, when I was...and so when I left university...I graduated from UC Berkeley and went out to New York City because I wanted to be in advertising and on Madison Avenue, which in the '90s was a big deal, you know, different now, but it was then. And I remember getting my first job there. And I was an administrative assistant. And that's not what I wanted to be. I wanted to be in account management. But because I didn't have an in, a connection, a referral...I was new to New York. I moved there not knowing anybody. I mean it was me and my apartment for the first six months of my time in New York City. And I had to take the job that I was provided because that's all I could get. I couldn't get the one in accounts because, you know, I didn't know anyone. However, once I got in, I was able to make my imprint and get to where I wanted to be. So, you know, it seemed like a really big challenge, and I had to look at it and go, "Well, how do I do it differently so that I get to my goal, but do it in a different way, because that path I thought I would get is just not open to me?" The beauty of it, though, the thing I learned, not just that, is I learned how hard it is to be an administrative assistant and how that is they are the gatekeepers to everything. So not only did I learn, you know, what I needed to do to get to where I was trying to be, but I also learned what it really meant to take on that role, which was not easy. But that's really all the challenges...every moment that I remember another time I was working at this, you know, prestigious brand strategy and innovation firm. And I used to get in trouble for going home at four because I would be done with my work, and I would do it well, but I was done because I figured out a different way to prioritize my workflow and not do it like everybody else and get even more accomplished in a shorter period of time. But I got in trouble for it. So, you know, I kind of kept having to push boundaries and I kept... What I learned along the way is I had to keep pushing back. I had to keep pushing back. It was my job to keep that flame going, nobody else's, because they were not gonna do it for me. Steve: Okay. Well, now, I just love it. I love the fact that Tamara is out there pushing the horizons, thinking about possibilities. This is one of the things that we need to do to reach our fullest potential. We just gotta reach down inside and say, "Wow, what is it out there that...where can I make my contribution? Where is my area of interest?" and go for it. Don't let things hold us back. And that might be in the different roles that we have in life. And so great going, Tamara. Tamara: Well, thank you so much. You know, I think this is kinda how life works, isn't it? Like it's...I saw this great quote on Facebook from Sylvester Stallone in what...a movie he's I think recently in. I didn't get to see the whole thing, because, you know, you're on Facebook, you scroll through. But, basically, it's like "Look, life is gonna slap you around harder than anybody else. And it's our job to get back up." And I think that's really how I've tried to lead through life. And when you tap your innovative mind, which we all have the power of doing... I know we don't always feel that way. But it's true. We can talk a little bit about the research that led to that and kinda, you know, the assessment that goes along with it. But when we approach things in a more innovative way, we're able to make a greater impact and go around some of those big barriers that we face. Steve: Okay, good. Well, let's talk about innovation. This is one of your specialties. And it plays such a huge role in our success in life. And I was just reading through my personal vision this morning, which I've had for 25 years. It's been inspiring for me. And on the personal level, one of the aspects was when I have setbacks and challenges, I think of options, options, and options. And then I move again. Tamara: I love that. Steve: Well, this is kind of it, innovation. So what's the greatest barrier to innovation? Let's really help our listeners out today of how we can get to a better place. Tamara: Yeah. So there's a couple of barriers that I wanna talk about here. And let me just back up by sharing my definition of innovation so we're all on the same page because I think oftentimes we think of it as a new product, new technology, or, you know, relegated to a certain point in time, exercise, the brainstorm with scented markers, you know, and [inaudible 00:11:08]. But that's really not it. What innovation is and the definition that I'd like, you know, us to move forward with is people each thinking differently about what's right in front of them to create differentiated value. And that really ultimately comes back to us in how we view things and shifting our own perspective and trying out new things. I think that one of the greatest barriers to innovation is thinking that we're not capable of it and that, you know, Greg down the hall with his blue streak in his hair and his funky glasses and, you know, going the cafes to work. He is the innovative guy. But it's really not me, whether that's because of my, you know, how I've been trained over life or my job description or just how I view myself. And that couldn't be more wrong. I think what we've discovered in our 20-plus years of work and research over here at LaunchStreet is that being innovative is actually universal. We all do it. But how we innovate is unique to each of us. But we gotta own that we're innovative people. You now, we all go to the movies, and we suspend belief, and we watch these crazy sci-fi movies, and we think nothing of it. Yet, we come home, and when we ask ourselves to work and we ask ourselves how to think differently about something, and we shut down. We got to bring that back up. Steve: Okay. Well, that's great, yeah. And I love your definition, thinking differently to get better results to how do we be... As you know, one of the things we talk about a lot is helping people become their best. And this is the thinking is we can do it. We can come up with ideas, and we are capable of it. So as we get into this process, Tamara, why do most ideas die before they even have a chance to get going, before someone leaves the conference room? Tamara: Yeah. There's a couple of reasons for it, and it's so sad, isn't it? I mean even asking the question sounds sad, like "Oh, ideas die." It's so sad, but they do, and they do for a couple of reasons. One is we confuse collaboration and consensus. So if we're working in a team, you know, we would have an idea that we wanna either bring forward or we have a problem we're trying to solve and we get together to form a solution for that, what we do by accident, in an effort to create collaboration, is we pull everybody together at the table. Now we've got everybody's opinion. And frankly, it's too many. And we need to replace consensus with collaboration, real collaboration, which I would define as the right people sitting at the table at the right time discussing the right things. That's not everybody. That's the appropriate people together. So that's number one is, you know, we end up doing this consensus decision-making, and that just waters everything down to nothing. Nobody is excited about it, and we leave with this blah, wet clay-looking idea. That's number one. The second thing is...and this was a really painful lesson that I learned along the way from someone who I called Mr. Mustache, because I don't remember his name, but he had a really big mustache. It moved before he spoke. And he shut down every one of my ideas in this meeting where I was presenting ideas. It was actually to Johnson & Johnson baby care. He worked for them at the time. And what I learned that day was that most ideas die because we don't have the language to champion them and get other people along for the journey with us. We assume that the idea is gonna stand on its own, like "Oh my god, this water bottle is so amazing. How could they say no to this?" But they do say no because they weren't along for the journey of the creation of it. And now we're throwing this one-way tennis ball, you know, across the court expecting them to pick it up. And they don't. What I have discovered, and we have a lot of these tools on our LaunchStreet on demand...I think it's part of the reasons why our clients come back year after year for more and more tools. We have this whole language of innovation method because what we discovered is that when you change your language, you change your outcome. But it is just really unfortunate to think the number of ideas that never see the light of day because we just don't know how to champion them. Steve: Okay. Oh, those are good thoughts. I'd be interested in your thoughts about this. What role...I'm just thinking that sometimes people don't have confidence in their ability to innovate, to be a creative force, and so they're a little shy about it. Would that also be a reason that an idea dies that they don't have enough confidence? Tamara: Yeah, you know, it's so interesting, and it's great that you really kinda brought that up to the surface. We don't give ourselves permission to innovate. So oftentimes...we hear this all the time, don't we? Like "Oh, they don't get it. They don't understand. They're not innovative enough." But what we forget is that we don't even give ourselves permission to innovate. So we...before we ever even say an idea out loud, we put layers of judgment on it. We say, "Well, that's not good enough. I mean who am I to share this? I don't have the experience. They'll never go for it. It'll never work. I'll sound stupid. I'll sound like I don't know what I'm talking about. Obviously, if it was a good idea, somebody else would have said it." So we talk ourselves out of bringing those ideas forward. And in doing that, we're shutting down all of that innovative thinking and keeping it inside. Yet, the question we have to ask ourselves is how do we expect to get to those breakthrough ideas or results in our work and life if we're not even giving ourselves permission to innovate? And, you know, when I keynote, I talk a lot about...we do this exercise when we're together in keynote that really brings this to life about how... It's really incredible. We self-sabotage before we even get it to the world. Steve: Right. Now, that's a great insight. If you don't mind let's talk a little about your innovator profile. I've noticed that in your information you have a unique IQE. Tell us what that is. And how can a person use it to get good results, to get innovative results that are helpful? Tamara: So the Innovation Quotient Edge or the IQE, as we call it for short, is the only proprietary tool that helps you understand how you innovate so that you can innovate on demand, so basically so you can tap your greatest asset, which is your innovative mind, as we talked about, that we all have. And part of the reason we decided to create this tool over at LaunchStreet was because we were tired of seeing people say, "I'm not innovative." It's so and so down the hall. Or "I just don't have it in me," or "I want to. It's in me, but I don't know how." And what we realized is if we can help people understand how they innovate, they're more likely to do more of it. I mean we do more of what works for us and less of what doesn't. We wanna tap our strength. And that's what this allows us to do. So we discovered there's nine triggers of innovation, and it's the combination of the top two that make your unique innovator archetype. And here is kind of the cool thing, and I'll use myself as an example. I am a risk-taker and an experiential. Those are my two things to come together for an archetype. And what that means is that the experiential side of me is I have to learn in motion. I have to innovate by doing. So if you ask me to think in theory and hypothesize and leave things on PowerPoint presentation, I shut down. And the funny part is that's how I used to work because that's how you're expected to work. That's how we're trained in our nine to five jobs to get stuff done. But I was actually working against myself, and it was showing up in my work. It wasn't innovative. I wasn't getting recognized for the value I was bringing to the table. I didn't have a strong enough voice because I wasn't playing to my strength. And then I flipped it around. Now when I build an idea out, I build it out with duct tape and scented markers because I need to see it in real life to be able to innovate. And I can now take things to the finish line. So when you understand how you innovate...it's plain and simple...you work smarter, not harder. And the cool part is if you stay in that...you know that zone we always talk about, that flow, you get to stay there longer because you're bringing that innovation to life. Steve: Well, very good. Now I'm gonna put you on the spot here, Tamara. Tamara: Uh-oh. Steve: Yeah. So what's an example? Share an example of someone that used this and the result that they got. Tamara: Yeah. Ooh, oh, this is like the Oprah question. I'm sitting on a couch, okay. So I'll give you actually an example of a company and some of the people inside their company, because there's two great examples out of this. So the company is called Footers Catering. It's one of the largest catering companies in Colorado. So they do very well. The founder, the president, Anthony, had his team take it. And two really interesting things came out of it. First, I'm gonna talk about Kara. So Kara is...one of her archetype is inquisitive. So that means she innovates by asking questions. For her innovations and the questions is not the answer. And you know her archetype because they're the one... You know them. It's 11:30. You got a quick meeting, and you're dying to get to lunch, and they're over there with their hand up like "I just have 10 more questions, just 10, I swear." But that's because they go deep. They pull back the layers of the onion and challenge assumptions. That's how they innovate. So when Kara recognized this, her team understood this about her, because they talked about their result. And now she's able to leverage that. Where before people saw it as kind of an annoyance, like "She's got 10 more questions," now she understands that's how she innovates. So she's empowered to ask the hard question, and her team understands it and actually...and expecting her to ask questions and is okay with it. So it really opened up her ability to add value to the team in a way that she wasn't able to do before. The second one is named Stephanie. And she's a futuristic. That's one of her two power triggers, which means that she's always 10 steps ahead. She's envisioning what it could be, what the possibilities are. She's solving today's challenges by creating tomorrow's opportunities. So she was in a role that was purely administrative. And she was dying on the vine. It was so hard for her. When she realized this, she and the president, Anthony, got together, and they created a new role for her where she's creating themes for their clients when they bring food to their events, whatever it is. So now she's been put in a role that's all about creating the future versus managing the past. And she is doing incredibly well. And the last I'll share with you is an entrepreneur who is outside of that realm who is a collaborative, which is all about pulling disparate people and ideas and experiences together to create innovation. And so they're all about the conversation, the team dynamic. They're very magnetic in that way, but it's because that's how they pull the data pieces together to create innovation. She had this business. She had a product. It was online. It's doing incredibly well. And she was so frustrated because she felt like this wasn't her vision, her dream. She was stuck in a silo in her house with no one to talk to. So when she realized that she was missing the thing that was feeding her soul, this collaborative innovator, she actually created an entire feedback loop with her customers. When they buy the product, they now have this opportunity to engage with her on a regular basis. Because of that, she's able to bring more and more innovation to the table because she created a business that matched how she innovates. She created a collaborative business instead of a solo business, which is what she was doing in the past. Steve: Okay. So that's excellent. So it helps both the individual and it helps the team of how to work better together. Tamara: That's exactly right. That interplay is really interesting. And what we see is when you understand how you innovate, you bring more of that to the table. And we you understand how other people innovate, you respect and seek out their opinion because now you've got a 360-degree view, different ways to tackle a challenge. The results are 10 times better. Steve: Okay. So, Tamara, what's one thing that our listeners can do right now to up their innovation quotient? Tamara: Well, the first thing I do is say go take the assessment and find out what you are. Like I said, there's nine triggers. That means there's 35 different unique combinations that could be you. If you go to gotolaunchstreet.com, that's the way to do it. But let me give your listeners, if it's okay with you, just a little something they can do right away in their everyday life that's one of my favorite innovative exercises. Can I have a minute to do that? Steve: Yes, yes. Tamara: Okay, excellent. So it's what I call geek out. So you mentioned in the very beginning that I'm a CrossFit addict, which is totally true and a knee-high sock lover. I'm wearing knee-high socks right now. I'm very proud to say. So one of the things, the challenges we have with being innovative is we look in our center, you know, in that same box with the same information with the same people over and over again, and then we don't get any result, and we get frustrated. A great way to bring innovation to your world is to go wide, go far out, and then bring that information back. The easiest way to do that is to think about how the innovative brands and products you love...how they do things and how they might solve your challenges. So for example, for me, I always think about...because I love CrossFit...how would they solve the challenge I'm having with the usability of my website. How would Southwest engage with customers in this challenge? How would Trader Joe's bring this idea [inaudible 00:24:26]. Suddenly, it becomes so easy to think differently when you put yourself in the shoes of the brands and the businesses that you love for being innovative. I mean do you have a few that you absolutely love that you could talk my ear off about? Steve: Yeah, sure. Tamara: Yeah, we all have them, right? So when you do that, it becomes super easy to be innovative because you just put yourself in their shoes. Steve: Okay. Well, that's great. I'm always amazed at how fast time goes. Our time is up. And so how can our listeners learn more about what you're doing, and how can they find out about your information? Tamara: Yeah. So the best way is to go to our website, gotolaunchstreet.com. So it's gotolaunchstreet.com. Or you can find us on social media. We're on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and it's all @LaunchStreet. Steve: Okay, that's terrific. Well, this is a great resource for people. Thank you, Tamara, for being part of our show today. Really excellent ideas. And you're just touching a lot of people. So we congratulate you on that and on making a difference in the world today. Tamara: Well, thank you for providing a platform to share with your listeners. It's a wonderful show. So I appreciate being on. Steve: Yeah, you bet. And to all of our listeners, never forget, you too make a difference every single day, your leadership, the light that you have as you work on these grows brighter and brighter, and it influences everyone around. So we congratulate you as you're in this journey as well. And I'm Steve Shallenberger with Becoming Your Best Global Leadership wishing you a great day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Radical Abundance - It's a Way of Thinking Steve: Welcome to all of our Becoming Your Best Podcast listeners wherever you might be in the world today. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger, and we have a fascinating guest today. I'm really looking forward to our conversation. She has helped and inspired many people on how to improve their lives. So welcome Dr. Sharon Spano. Dr Spano: Thank you so much, Steve. I'm very excited to have this time with you today and to share what I have to offer to your listeners, and to learn more about you as well. So, looking forward to this opportunity. Steve: Well, thank you. Well, now, before we get started, I'd like to tell you a little about Sharon's background. Sharon has a P.h.D. in Human and Organizational Systems. She's an author, a corporate business strategist, a workforce expert, professional speaker, former radio host of Work Smart Live. She and her husband actually run three businesses. And so she understands what it's like to have business challenges, and success, and setbacks, and overcoming those. She empowers business leaders and entrepreneurs to maximize performance. Also works on employee engagement and how to increase bottom-line results. She is a certified professional coach, she loves helping other people, and especially, stepping into radical abundance. And we're gonna talk about that shortly. Her research focuses on wisdom, adult development and leadership, and her work and her new book, The Pursuit of Time and Money: Step into Radical Abundance and Discover the Secret to a Meaningful Prosperous Life. So there you go. This is somebody we wanna have some fun and listen to. Dr Spano: Well, I appreciate it, Steve. I appreciate it. What a great introduction, thanks so much. Steve: Well, you bet. All right, well, let's jump right into things. So, tell us about where you grew up, what it was like growing up, and what experiences, Sharon, helped you to see that you could be successful? Dr Spano: Well, I think that's a great question, Steve, because we all have our story, right? And so, my early childhood story. My parents were divorced and I was literally dropped off at my paternal grandmother's home at probably around the age of five, my sister and I, in the inner city of Los Angeles. And so, we were kind of thrust into this different lifestyle as children, and it was a pretty intense environment back in the day. I can remember growing up and there were gangs and a lot of things like that. But my grandmother in her wisdom, put us in catholic school, which was not an easy thing, even at $15 a month. I mean, we were very poor, so it was difficult for her to make that happen. But that was the saving grace, I think, because she was worried about us being in the public school system with all the gangs and the things that were going on at that time. And I got a very, very good education with the nuns. And so a lot of my success, I attribute to those early years, because the emphasis was on literary work, and reading and writing, and I learned early. I'm a lifelong learner and I'm an avid reader. And so I would say, most of my success, if I could attribute it to any one thing, which of course there never is just one thing, is there? But it has to do with my willingness to learn, but also the ability to communicate, both in the written and spoken word. That has been really, just a big plus for me throughout my entire career. Steve: Well, that is quite a background, not only cultural, from Los Angeles, and that kind of experience in the inner city, but also that type of a tremendous education. Your grandmother must have been some woman. Dr Spano: Yeah, she was. She had nine children, she buried two husbands, lost her younger son in the war, which I've just recently learned his story because I grew up kind of under this cloud, if you will, of an uncle that she always expected to come home. She believed that he was captured by the Japanese. And I only just literally a month ago found out that he actually went down with the USS Houston. So, it was interesting in many ways, in that, I now have come to see how she prepared me spiritually, but she also prepared me for loss of a son, because I lost my own son in 2008. And so, her strength, her spirituality, her wisdom, you know, sometimes when you're growing up, you don't realize how all that's impacting you, but it's really had a tremendous impact on how I've carried myself through the adversity in my own life. You know, and particularly learning Roy's [SP] story now, in my later years and realizing how she handled, you know, that grief and that uncertainty, you know, never knowing for sure what had happened to him, was quite an amazing thing to grow up, you know, under and have within the household. And I didn't realize how much it prepared me, you know, for the loss of a child. Watching her, you know, witnessing her strength all those years. Steve: Having great role models like that have a far greater impact sometimes than we realize, and how fortunate. And I'm grateful for the wonderful women who have had such a big impact on my life, as well as the great role model men. So, good going on that. So, Sharon, what's been the biggest challenge or maybe one of the biggest challenges in your life, whether personal or in your business life, and how did you handle that? Dr Spano: Well, I think it's really to what I alluded to a moment ago. My husband and I, you know, met, I was pretty young when we met. We've had a very strong and long lasting marriage for over 43 years. We've been very blessed in that. Steve: Way to go. Dr Spano: But our son Michael was born in 1981 with a very rare metabolic disorder. So that was sort of the first adversity that hit us. As a very young couple, that certainly wasn't what we had expected to have happen. And he was at that time diagnosed, he was supposed to live till the age two. So those first years were very, very challenging for us. But we transitioned from Los Angeles, moved to Florida for my husband's business in the early 80s. And Michael wound up living till the age of 27. So we had a very full and rich life with this young man, who was wheelchair bound throughout his life. But there were a lot of adversities and ups and downs, as you can imagine, through that process. And we're both entrepreneurs, running our businesses, you know, trying to stay ahead of the game with him. And his death was certainly, probably without a doubt the biggest challenge of my life. Because he was critical for four years, in and out of hospitals. And of course, my business was booming at that time, and, you know, you're at the height of all of that, and of course, if you knew that you're near the end of, you know, this journey with him, I probably would have quit everything, but you don't know that. You're just kinda living day to day thinking tomorrow is gonna be a better day. And as it turned out, it was a very great opportunity for me to exercise resilience, because managing the business and managing his illness, you know, my husband and I just, again, that was the value of being entrepreneurs. We would just pitch ship for each other, and, you know, be what we needed to be for him first, but still kept the businesses going somehow. And then when he passed, in '08, that in and of itself was such a dramatic event, but one that really made us appreciate the sacredness, I guess, of that kind of life transition. We both buried parents, grandparents, but obviously, it's a very different thing when you burry a child because it's unnatural, right? That our child would pass before us. So, you know, really helped me grow spiritually, helped me appreciate the work that I have and how God has blessed me to serve people in the corporate environment. And I love the work that I'm about. I feel very purposeful in it, and I just have a very, very passionate perspective on the value of life and the legacy that I wanna create moving forward. And I feel like God's timing was perfect, in that, if we had to lose Michael, we lost him at a time where we'd had a wonderful experience with him. Really, as a family, you know, we did so much together. And then, yet at the time of his passing, we're both young enough to still, you know, carry forth our businesses and contribute. I mean, that's really what I want, you know, the fourth quarter, as they say, to be about. How do I contribute to making people's lives better and offer what I can in terms of my wisdom and knowledge to those in business and in corporate America. Steve: Yeah. Well, that...I appreciate you being willing to share about that experience. I'm certain that our listeners, every one of them have challenges. Some are more severe than others at different times in life, and just like the type that you've described anyhow, it's probably different for everybody in a sense. But nonetheless, in many ways, it feels the same way, which is, we wanna do what's important and balance things, and... So, if you were to give some advice to our listeners in the midst of their adversity, the challenge, these heavy weights, and yet still try to balance life. Any thoughts on that? What would you suggest? Dr Spano: Well, I think for me it goes back to purpose, you know. I mean, whatever role or whatever business you're in, you know, how do I be the best in that every given day? Steve: I like the sound of that. Dr Spano: Well, and just fulfill that purpose, you know. And I know that sounds very cliché for some people, and if you're in a job or a position where you hate what you're doing, you know, that's certainly a bigger challenge. But part of the work that I'm about Steve, and I know that you're about is, how do we help people really dive deep enough to figure out how to be their best version of who they are. You know, for me, that's a very spiritual matter because I've been blessed in growing that spiritual line of development and knowing who God is and what he's called me to do. You know, for someone who may not have a traditional belief system to lean on, you know, there is so much out there right now to help people, and that's what I love about the integral coaching work that I do, is we really...we're less about goals in our interaction. When I finish with you today I'm going to meet a CEO who is very clear on his purpose, but he's struggling with some of the changes in the economy and the systems and whatnot. So it's, how do we take all of his strengths and match them to another level of purpose such that we maybe shift his consciousness so he can step up into this new role, in a bigger and better way. So, for me, it goes back to purpose and then staying focused. And then how do I continue to develop my own consciousness so that I'm growing, and moving forward, and adapting. Because as you know, today's leaders have to adapt constantly. I mean, every day, things are moving and shifting so quickly. And we're a global diverse society now. And so, that requires a different type of leadership than we've seen certainly, in generations before. And I think it's exciting, you know, it's an exciting opportunity for each of us to dig deeper and ask ourselves that question. You know, what can I do each and every day to make the world a better place? And for me, when I get up with that perspective, there is usually something miraculous that happens in the course of my workday. And that's kind of what I try to get my clients to see is, what is...even in the most adverse moments, what am I being called to learn? What am I being called to lean into, in terms of my own growing edge? And how can I step up and into that growing edge, such that I become a bigger better person, and realize my potential on the other end of it. You know, certainly through the years of my son's adversity and suffering, I had to dig really deep to be what I needed to be for him, for my husband, and for my clients. And I know I'm bigger and better and stronger on the other side of it for having risen, you know, to that adversity. That's part of my research around wisdom, by the way is, we know that leaders who exhibit wisdom handle adversity a bit differently, and they do a lot of what I've just talked about. When they're in the midst of it, they're looking for what is the lesson here and how can I be my best self in the midst of this. Steve: Okay. Well, let's talk about leadership a little bit more. Every one of us, each one of us is a leader of course, and the mental construct that we have on how to be successful is such an important influence in our personal lives as we deal with others, as you've mentioned, relationships, and professionally. So, let's discuss for a second some different aspects of achieving success, and especially from the point of view that, from your background, your experience. So let's start with radical abundance. It's part of your book, what is it, and why is it important? Dr Spano: Well, I think it's vital and it's a lot of things, in that, it's more about a mind shift, less about what you actually have. And of course the focus of the book is on the experience of time and money, and I'm looking at it through a developmental lens. And by that, I mean, what we know through the research is there are 12 of what we call stages of human development. Obviously, beginning from, you know, birth on up. The average American, we know that 60% of those Americans fall within what we call the expert and achiever levels. And so, part of what I'm exploring in this work is, based on your level of development, what are your paradigms or belief systems around time and money? And I came into that quite by accident, if you will, because I saw so much human suffering in corporate America around these two very important resources that impact us daily, and in every decision and choice that we make, but often at subconscious levels that we're not even aware of. So when we talk about radical abundance, I'm talking about developing, again, those growing edges, the awareness of consciousness, such that you can have a meaningful life of joy and prosperity, no matter what your life circumstances are. No matter how much time or money you actually have. It's a place to come from more than it is a place to get to. And so, I'm really trying to open the conversation, getting people to examine their worldview, their paradigms, and often in the contest of those early childhood stories, because that's where it all begins. What were the things you were taught or heard about time and money, you know, and how is it impacting you in terms of your daily choices today. And what we're finding is, when we can open the discussion, and of course, we have instruments where we can actually measure where people are developmentally. That helps a lot, for them to see where they are and to see that you don't have to be stuck there, you can grow in these developmental, what we call developmental lines. There actually 26 lines of development that we enjoy as human beings, that we're aware of today. And I focus in my integral coaching work and in my strategic work with leaders on six of them. And so we can literally see where people are and where there might be some short falls or some faulty premises, as I like to say. Ideas or ways of being, ways of action that are inhibiting you from realizing and maximizing your potential. And then when we can do that, we can coach or help people shift those paradigms, such that they step into more radical abundance. Steve: Okay. So you're saying radical abundance is something that's within us? It's a way of thinking? Dr Spano: Yes. I'm saying that it's a way of thinking, it's a consciousness, if you will. And if you think of the stages, kind of the easiest way that I explain it, even though they're not a hierarchy per se. If you imagine a mountain top, Steve, and you're climbing that mountain. Stage one might be at base camp, okay? And then as you mature, and grow up and into higher states of consciousness and stages of consciousness, imagine yourself at the top of the summit. So, one is not necessarily better than another, but it is a broader perspective. So, for someone who grew up in the inner city like I did, your story, the story that's given to you as a child is, you can never get out of here. You're not smart enough for an education, and you'll never get a really good job. And so, you know, that's why people get stuck in ghettos, right? For some reason, that never resonated with me, and I don't know why, because I always knew I will become educated, and I will get out, and I will have a different life. But for many, they don't even know there is another life outside of that environment. And that's part of the opening that I'm trying to create. Because as you mentioned moment ago, we're all leaders. And I've taught that for years and years, because I don't believe that leadership is a title. I believe that it's...also, it's a mindset, it's a place to come from. You know, you can step into leadership and whatever role you play within an organization. And so, that's part of the exciting work that I've been blessed and able to do, is to help people see, when we change your paradigms and the actions flow from that. And more importantly, when we can shift your consciousness and your whole way of seeing the world, anything is possible. I mean, it really is. And so, you know, that's the work that I wanna be about, and that's the conversation I wanna open up within people whenever I can. Steve: Okay. Well, that's very exciting. So you're really working on transformation with people. And so, it sounds like what you're saying is the experiences we have in our childhood has a big impact on how we see time and money? Dr Spano: That is what we've been researching and we're seeing more and more evidence of that as a reality. And so, one of the examples that I like to give for instance is, as a child, I grew up, again, living with my grandmother and my dad who was supposedly to be the provider, really never was around very much, right? My dad, you know, did his best as most of our parents did, but he wasn't a guy that was really invested in his children. And so, I grew up hearing stories of, "Your dad isn't around. Your dad isn't paying for you. You're a charity case. You know, you're lucky to be here." That was from my aunts, not from my grandmother, of course. And so, the message that I received was, my parents don't value me and I'm not really worth their time and money. Now, as a child, you don't know that. You know, I didn't internalize it to that degree. But later in life, it played out, in that, I didn't think I was worth, you know, the salary, or the raise, or the promotion. You know, and it took me many years to unravel that. Well, then fast forward years later, I'm seeing this in CEOs, I'm seeing it in clients, you know, left and right. And when you get down to, you know, what is the scarcity mentality that's running you? Whether it be corporate wide or just in terms of your own personal life. Almost always they'll go back to a story that says, "Well, that's what I was taught." And the interesting thing, Steve, that I'm finding, that I'm so excited about is, it's fairly simple when we look on the spectrum because we have an assessment that we've developed called, "the time lining instrument." And it's an inventory that will help the individual see where they fall on the spectrum between scarcity and abundance. Scarcity is fairly clean and obvious as is abundance. Where it gets really challenging is when you're in the moderate range. Because for instance, someone who's in moderate scarcity might look like and believe themselves to be highly responsible. And so, they're doing all these theoretically right things that might look like they're coming from abundance, but often, those very same things are fear driven. And so, for instance, it's the father who, and this is a real example that I often share. Who saves, and saves, and saves, you know, from the time he's a young man for retirement, but he saves to the point where, you know, they can't even go to dinner or his kids have never been to a theme park because we don't have money for that because we're saving...we're doing the responsible thing and saving. So the lifestyle is affected. And what the children learn is how to be fearful and worry about both time and money, because that's what dad does. Steve: Okay. Dr Spano: Does that make sense? Steve: Yeah. And there is a big difference between the scarcity mentality and an abundance mentality, and how we treat everybody, and our experiences. So that's a very interesting level of research that's going on. How do we help somebody that may not have had the type of childhood that positions them for the type of success they could have. How do you give them hope? How do you help them with that transformation? Where do you focus? Dr Spano: Well, I think, you know, for me, I always say that with the first moment of awareness comes opportunity for change. And so, what I find is, a lot of the things that I'm talking about here, particularly get into the scarcity, they're very much at a subconscious level. So I might know for instance, that I'm worried all the time, that I'm fearful all the time, or that I feel like I'm being chased by the clock, but I don't know what to do about it. And so, part of the work that I do with groups or even with individuals is, we bring those thought processes to a level of awareness. And then we start to talk about what would a new way of being look like. You know, I'm this way now, but what if I were this way. What would that look like? Because the other thing that we know about development is that people, particularly in the earlier stages, don't always have the capacity to see things moving forward. Like, they can't see things a year out or two years out. Or they don't often understand consequences of certain actions. And so, when you start to connect the two, when you think this way and behave this way, this is the outcome, you start to... I mean, it's literally like you put a mirror in front of them and they're seeing themselves for the very first time. And it takes a while, but once they have that awareness and then you start to, together, paint a picture of how things might be differently. And then of course, obviously, when I'm working in companies, we're looking at infrastructures and systems and processes and all of those kinds of things. Because a leader, whether it be corporate or entrepreneurial who's coming from scarcity, it's gonna impact obviously not only how he leads, but how he builds or fails to build the infrastructure for the organization. And so, you know, we get into a lot of that. And it can be sometimes a very quick process. It can lean on just how open the individual is to change. And sometimes it takes months and months and months, maybe even years. And a lot of times I work with a leader who goes off, and then I hear from them two years later because now they're at another...what we call another growing edge. They're moving into another stage of consciousness, and so now we have to kinda revisit things again. But that's what's cool is, you know, the progress is being made and it's a process. Steve: So, these things that cause success and you talk a lot about, Sharon, time and money and how it correlates to what we value most in life, right? Dr Spano: Right. Steve: So, there is hope for people then, that they can develop these skills? Dr Spano: Well, the skills are the outcome of the shift in consciousness. So, one of the things that I talked about is the cycle of freedom, which I believe begins with understanding the essence of stewardship. And that's a big word that means a lot of things. You know, some talk about it in terms of sustainability, but I'm talking about it in the context of, where your treasure is, there is also your heart. So, I'm gonna put my time and money, I'm gonna utilize these two most important constructs or resources based on what I value and treasure the most, right? So, stewardship is a part of how I make those choices and decisions. And then from that, I believe grows greater compassion, generosity, a greater sense of gratitude, and then eventually, even a greater love for myself and others, because self is a part of it. You know, if I don't value myself, I'm not gonna take the time for instance to nurture my mind, body, my spirit, you know, those things. And then that translates to how I love and care for others, and even my love and care for greater humanity. So, it's letting go of the fear and then stepping into this radical abundance of, there's enough for me and for others, and for me to be generous and to give, and to focus my attention. So like, one of the examples that I like to talk about is, there's this young child that comes from an environment where nobody wanted to invest in me. And then I meet this amazing man who lives in abundance, who believes in the flow of money, and that there is always enough. And when there isn't, he just creates. But he's always invested time and money in me. So, he's kind of the opposite of what I knew as a child. You know, he's the nurturing, loving, caring, generous husband, who, you know, is the president of my fan club, who is always willing to invest in whatever it is that I'm about. And that's a pretty big deal for someone like me because I could have just as easily married an abusive guy, coming from the environment that I came in. Steve: Got it. That's a good example. Dr Spano: I mean, it's truly a blessing, right? That I kind of stumbled into the right guy. I don't know what that says about me, but... Steve: No, I had a friend one time who is the CEO of a major utility company in the United States. And I was the young man and he said, "Now, let me just share with you the three biggest things that will have the greatest impact on your happiness." I said, "Okay, great. I've got my pen ready." He said, "Number one is the person that you choose to spend your life with, to marry." He says, "That's one of the three biggest decisions that will impact your happiness." And it's fortunate that you've found that somebody that helps you see what can be possible. In our language, that helps you see that, you know, you can work on becoming your best. And it's different for really everybody, but to have people like us that can help like that is helpful. Number two, he said is the career that you choose. So you wanna choose a career that you can love, that you can make a difference in. And then number three was interesting, is the first major company that you work with. He said, it will have a huge impact on, you know, on your future, your career. So this kinda deals with what you've just been talking about of creating an abundance mindset, and how it affects everything else. Your time, your money. Well, tell us as we wrap up. I'm always amazed how fast time goes, what was the impetus behind you writing your most recent book? Dr Spano: Well, a lot of what I've discussed and I think anyone can...who's been in business can relate to the idea or the experience, I guess I should say, of hiring someone who wasn't the right fit. And years ago, I had a guy that I hired that I thought had great potential, and he was quite brilliant, and I just was never able to get this guy to make money. I mean, he couldn't get any clients, he couldn't make any money, and I just couldn't figure it out because I had invested quite a bit of time, money, and energy into him. And one day I just asked the question, "You know, what do you believe about people who have money?" And he said, "I think they're oppressive, greedy, and egocentric." And in that moment, Steve, I went, "Well, wow. No wonder I can't get you to make any money. Why would you wanna be like those guys?" And he was one of those guys who came also from the inner city of New York, and he'd had a rough life. And even though he was brilliant, he just could not step into the type of radical abundance, you know, that I'm talking about. So he sabotaged his entire career and even his home life. And it kind of opened my eyes and it began, kind of it was like the first stages of curiosity for me to begin to study this further. And then of course, once I got into the developmental work, I started to see the correlations between where people were developmentally. And I just got very excited about, you know, wanting to be an interruption to some of that in a more concrete way. So that was really the impetus behind the book and some of that earlier research. I mean, my whole body of work is not only on time and money, but time and money to me are just the symptom of the other things that are going on within this. Because again, there are two very important resources that can define, you know, our life if we let them. And what I'm really saying is, have awareness of how you utilize them. Have awareness of how they're impacting your relationship so that you can make better choices, and live a life of radical abundance. Steve: Okay. Well, that's great. Yeah, I had a friend one time say, "You know, money is not the most important thing in life." But it is right up there on the list with oxygen. Dr Spano: Yes, it is. Unfortunately, it is, and we have to learn to be good stewards of it. Steve: Exactly. Okay, well, Sharon, tell us how our listeners can learn more about what you're doing, tell us about your book. I think it's coming out, right? Or is it here already? Dr Spano: Yes. Well, the pub date is August 1st, and they can go to the www.timemoneybook.com/becomebest/, and we have some resources there. One is a manifesto that I've written on radical abundance. The other is, they can have access to our research based time, money, inventory. It's all confidential, but it'll help them see where they fall on the spectrum between scarcity and abundance. So that's the timemoneybook.com. And certainly, they can visit my website, which would also get them there, at sharonspano.com, to learn more about my overall work and the work that I do, you know, as a consultant and integral coach. Steve: Well, congratulations Dr. Sharon Spano. What a great job you're doing. Dr Spano: Well, thank you, Steve. And I would say the same to you. And I appreciate so much the opportunity to be on your show, and to hopefully, have an impact on some of your listeners on some of the thing that they're thinking about, as they too, begin to embrace what it means to maximize performance and step into radical abundance. Steve: Well, great. Well, I'm sure that that will be the case and we appreciate you being part of the show today, you've done a great job. We certainly wish you all the best because you're certainly making a difference in the world. Dr Spano: Thank you, Steve. Steve: And to all of our listeners, never forget, you too can make a difference every single day of your life. I'm Steve Shallenberger, with Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, wishing you, a great day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dogged Perseverance - The Power to Never Give Up Today, we are going to talk about a principle that gets down to our very core, and is what allows us to see everything else through. It is perhaps one of the most noble, necessary, and powerful forces in our life. It's the principle of never giving up. Welcome to the "Becoming Your Best" podcast series. This is Steve Shallenberger, your host today. We welcome you here from wherever you may be in the world. I'd like to share an experience I had many years ago when I was a college student. I had been in South America for a couple of years and returned to my university studies to get an accounting degree. A friend of mine had sold educational books in the South and throughout the country the summer before. He made enough money to pay for his expenses for school. And so, he wanted to know if I'd like to go out and sell with him, this is door-to-door sales, but I said, "Yeah. Hey, let's go do it!" He was a good person and a big influence in my life. And so we headed off at the spring break, at the end of the springs semester, to Nashville, Tennessee with the Southwestern Company. This is going to be a place where we would be working 80 hours a week. The idea was to work as hard as you could during the summer. Make as much money as possible, so that you could pay your expenses for the whole school year and focus really on your studies. Well, anyhow, we had a week-long training, that's called "sales school," it was a great experience. And then we headed off to our assigned area. My assigned area happened to be just north of Aberdeen, Maryland. Communities such as, Bel Air, and Havre De Grace, and Churchville. Wow, what an experience that was. I'll never forget what took place as I had my first Saturday on the job. This is the very first day. I started at 8 a.m., and as I had been taught in that sales school, I went out on time, a little bit early. I was scared to death. And my first house was on a country road and it didn't seem like very friendly country, you know all the mind games that people can play. My first knock brought the reply, "What in the heck do you want?" Only it wasn't heck. I said, "Nothing," I shouted before hustling down the road. The next house I approached with some trepidation. I could tell that it was occupied by ferocious, big dogs. Those dogs were barking and they had deep voices, and I didn't dare to go on to the front door. So I stood outside, outside of the gate and just clapped my hands, which is what people do in South America in place of knocking on the door. And I felt like an idiot. There I was out there clapping away, early Saturday morning. I probably looked like one too, but eventually, a woman came out and after I explained what we were selling, she actually let me into the house. Before I went in I said, "Let's see, have your dogs eaten this morning?" Well, she assured me they were more barkers and not biters. And the woman was very kind and receptive to what we had to offer. She bought the full set of books. I had only visited two houses. I had been on that street just one hour, my career was launched. I got out my calculator and figured out that if I kept on at this pace I'd earn $16,000 in commissions by the end of the summer, so that's not bad for the early '70s. But it didn't quite work out that way. I'd peaked a little too soon. I sold nothing for the next two days. I mean, I knocked and I knocked, I knocked, I knocked, and I knocked, and I was rejected, and rejected, and no, no, no, no. Well, my future earnings calculator dropped to $334 for the entire summer as I figured it out, but I kept at it. And my hard work, slogging from door-to-door, eventually paid off. I hit my stride, and I hit my goal, making enough money to pay for my tuition expenses for the following year in college. Well, what I learned was that if just kept working, putting one foot in front of the other, I would eventually get enough yeses. As a matter of fact, I learned that the more no's I got the more yeses I also got. And so, I discovered the harder I worked the better I did. This is one of the greatest lessons that I've ever learned. That may have been one of the hardest jobs I've ever done, and I figured that if I could make it there, I could make it at anything. I actually made it a game to see how many no's I could get, trying to figure out how to have fun being a failure. I also learned a great deal from failure. It causes a great deal of introspection, and how can you improve? But by the very fact that I kept at it, I was able to build upon those things, and by the end of the summer I was getting a lot of yeses. The next summer I built upon those principles. I became a manager and I made four times the money the summer after that one, and the next summer, five times as much. As a matter of fact, I think about some of those experiences out there. I remember particularly one very difficult street, I wondered what I was doing out there. It was no, after no, after no. I got to the end of the street and I sat down on my sales case, on this busy freeway. I remember thinking, "What am I doing out here?" And as I paused about that I thought, "Well, I'm out there because I felt right about it." It was the right thing for me to do. I took a little look up to heaven and gained new strength. I ran across that highway safely, and I sold in the next three houses in a row. I mean, this is just how it goes in life, and we have these challenges, we have these setbacks. And so this powerful principle is what keeps us going. You know, it is one of those principles. If you master all the other principles, but give up at some point during your journey, you may fail to reach your destination. If, on the other hand, you choose to never give up, in other words, keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep working, we have a much better chance to succeed. And we certainly may have to make corrections along the course, but as long as we refuse to give up, your goals will be much more within reach. So what can we do to be successful as we move forward? It's so interesting to hear some of the statistics about rejection and about being successful. So, for example, did you know the average person has been told no, or that his targeted goals are unattainable about 148,000 times by the age of 18. Well, heavens, is it any wonderful that successful people put aside a "no" and continue to go? It's not easy. We need to work through that and develop a mindset that we're going to move forward. Did you know? In the sales world, for example, 90% of salespeople, on average, give up after four unsuccessful contacts. Yet, 80% of sales are made after five contacts? So what's the difference between the highly successful salesperson and those who gave up? Well, it's the will to be politely persistent despite the challenges and rejection. And if you're in a sales organization imagine the difference of just one more contact, and the impact that would have. Many salespeople give up way too soon. I love what Henry David Thoreau said, "All endeavors calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, to shape the last plan, to endure the last hour's toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one, the characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." So what are some things that you and I can do to never give up? Every single one of us is going to have: setbacks, challenges, disappointments, we'll all be beaten down at some point. So how can we get back up? How can we keep going? I would like to suggest four things that you can do, that I can do to keep moving forward, to keep putting one step in front of the other even though we are pushed back. Here are the four, very quickly. See failure as a stepping stone to success. Number two, when you're beaten down keep your inspiring vision in front of you, remind yourself of the direction that you're going. And number three is to have faith that things will work out. And number four is work, work, work, and keep taking one step forward. And when we get pushed back, then we take two more steps but we keep pushing forward. Now, this is the way it goes in virtually every profession and every walk of life. We have family members or friends that may disappoint us, or we may disappoint them, but we can't give up. We can never give up. I'll never forget, I'm going to share a personal story here that has had a profound impact on my life. When I was 16 I'd had the opportunity to work for Milton Dunlap for two or three years. I did lawns and Mr. Dunlap had lost his wife of many, many years, and he turned to alcohol. He was a wonderful reporter for the Associated Press, known throughout the country. And so, at any rate, he asked me also if I'd clean his house and just help generally, which I did. He had one daughter way back on the east coast, but they weren't able to see each other a lot. So I loved Milt Dunlap. He was a good man. He encouraged me, but I was so disappointed to see that he would fall into this trap of turning to alcohol and a lot of it. He would buy a fifth of whiskey a day, and so, we had a game out of it. I would hide it. I'ld encourage him not to drink. But finally after one point, I wrote a note to him. I said, "Mr. Dunlap, this is gonna kill you," and I said, "I just can't be here anymore and work for you anymore around this type of a situation." And to his extraordinary credit, he quit drinking cold turkey. I mean, it was amazing. He was able to go back to work and just make such a difference. About nine months passed and he's fighting this battle, essentially, alone, and he turned back to the alcohol. And after about two or three weeks, he lived about ten houses from our home, I went in and he was in a stupor, and finally I said, "Mr. Dunlap," I said, "I give up." I said, "Here's all the alcohol you have. Just drink as much as you want." And I left the house. About three or four days later I returned and found him in a coma. I called 911, and the ambulance came, and unfortunately he died that afternoon. I honestly felt like much of that was my fault. The reason being, is because he heard the last words he heard from my mouth, of this young boy, 16, was, "I give up." I vowed that I would never give up again in my entire life on anyone, on anything. And so this is the type of resolve that each one of us needs. We are going to have challenges, these are learning opportunities. We can see these failures as stepping stones. When we're beaten down. Renew your vision. Keep getting back up. Remind yourself of the direction that you're going, have faith, have faith that it will work out. And then work, work, work, and trust in the end outcome, that things will get better. So this wonderfully power, powerful principle, "Never give up," is every part of our fiber to make a difference. This is one of the grand one that makes a difference. As you look back over the history of all the world. Recent history, in the last 100 years. In the last 2,000 years, we see the example of people that have made a difference doing these things. The fact is that you and I can do them as well. It's ordinary people that become extraordinary, as we do these things, and have faith that all will turn bright. This is Steve Shallenberger, your host, from "Becoming Your Best Global Leadership." And, remember, every single day you are making a difference. You're lifting, and building, and leaving the world a better place. Wishing you a great day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lift and Sustain by Applying the Power of Knowledge - Steve Shallenberger Hi, this is Steve Shallenberger, your host for this podcast, the "Becoming Your Best Global Leadership." And today we're going to talk about an exciting principle, which is...and hold onto your seats, folks, because this has a huge impact on us all over the world, and it is apply the power of knowledge. Well, a number of years ago, two of our sons were cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, and during the Parents Weekend we were provided with a tour of the beautiful campus nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. And on the main quad I stood in front of a large statue depicting a falcon and her chick. And the inscription at the base of the statue reads, "Man's flight through life is sustained by the power of his knowledge." Well, the inscription uses words like "flight" which is wonderful, "sustained" which is so important for our success in life, and "power" in relation to knowledge. And indeed, one can be lifted and flight can be sustained by the power of knowledge and the wings of knowledge and enlightenment can help you soar to great heights in your personal life, in your relationships, and at work. And the lack of knowledge leaves you on the ground and at times renders you totally defenseless against the forces of the external environment. So, this knowledge and this metaphor is wonderful as we move through life in thinking about, "Well, how can I be my best?" Because that's really the vision of life, is to be the very best that you and I can be, and in our professional life, to be among the best at what you do. And so, I mean there's such an explosion of knowledge going on today. I was just reading a professional...excuse me...journal, and it talked about the number of abstracts had been increasing exponentially. So, for example, it talked about the number of abstracts published by the 12 leading publishers of secondary science had gone from 550,000 articles published in 1957 to in 1997, just a few years later, 3.7 million articles. Think about that. But that's just one discipline of knowledge. I love getting the Astronomy Magazine. I'm captivated by the universe. And the last article, the front cover said, "Well, astronomers have now said their original estimates were off a little bit by the number of galaxies they thought there were in the universe," and then there was a pause, a hyphen, that said, "by one trillion universes." So here we go. In my life alone, I was just thinking in about 1984. I'm a young businessman and I'm commuting to California to supervise one of our companies, and so I took my portable computer, which was the size of a small suitcase. You could actually unhook the keyboard and it was a three by five green screen and you put in floppy disks. And now we have all of this many, many times over in our devices in our pocket. And so, I think about computers. Internet has come on, the devices, and now digitization, which is going to trump most everything that we've seen in the past, may have as three to five times an impact on us that the internet has had. But this affects us in the economy, world affairs, politics, health, relationships. So the stakes are high. So what do we do about this? I would like to suggest there's two aspects, if you will, to managing this knowledge. And we all have the same challenges. Where do we start? How do we get ahead? I read an article not long ago and talked about the different...the faces of learning, if you will, and how it has also morphed from the nomadic learner to the ageless educator to the lifelong learner. And that's really what it's become, hasn't it? If we're going to get ahead, if we're going to become our best, we have to be a lifelong learner. I saw an article that said, "Well, there's no more three Rs, reading, writing, arithmetic, but it's the four Es and the three Cs." So, what are those? Well, this is an interesting way to think about it, then we'll get back to our two aspects of knowledge and how do we manage. But they're the four Es, which is: exposing knowledge, employing information, expressing ideas compellingly, and ethics. Okay, the four Es. And the three Cs that go right along with it: creativity, communication, and collaboration. Well, these all have to do with this principle, 1 of the 12 principles that I've identified with highly successful leaders, high achievers, and that is, apply the power of knowledge. That's the principle. That's what I've observed that has always taken place with those that have been able to make a difference. And so, here are the two aspects. The first aspect is to gain the knowledge in the first place. You can't apply something that you don't have. And so, how do we gain knowledge on a consistent basis? I love the rule of five. This is five hours. Investing five hours a week into yourself. This is really the minimum of being able to stay ahead of the game, and these five hours we utilize in fitness, physical exercise, but also gaining knowledge. So what are the ways to do that? I'm always thinking about acronyms. Here's a good one. Think of this one, arrl, A-R-R-L. Oh, you're saying, "Well, that's Steve." Well, here's what it stands for. And it is a great way for us to gain knowledge, and that is to ask. Ask for other people's opinions. Ask for their insights. I was...yesterday I had the opportunity to be in Seattle and I was with one of the best financial planners, the most successful planners in the United States, and I asked him, I said, "If a young man or an individual, a young lady, would like to become among the best as financial wealth advisers, what would you recommend?" He thought for a second and he said, "I would recommend that they connect, that they go in business together with someone that is like 65 or 70 years old and that is interested in retiring but they've got it down, they're among the best, and go work with them and learn. And then after 5 or 10 years then they're in a position to succeed the efforts of that person." And there's the opportunity to have a buyout, but this is a very successful profession. Well, this is essentially asking. It's a little bit more of a long-term ask but you can do it on a short term. You may have an issue. Ask people that you trust. You can ask a group of people, "I've been thinking about this and what are your thoughts?" That's the first one, is ask. The second, we have two Rs now. And the first R is to read. There is no doubt that readers are leaders, and this is one of the real signs of how we can get ahead. But we want to read the right materials. So, it comes back to this vision. What's our vision? Well, it's to become our best and to be among the best at what you do, whatever profession that is, a teacher, a professor, a coach, a CEO, a salesperson, a scientist, an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, whatever it might be, this is clearly something we keep doing. We read about how do we become our best. We stay ahead of the game. And so, every single day we make the habit to be reading. We like to say read a book a month at least and this is a good target. Twelve books a year of things that will lift and inspire you. The second R is ongoing research. Oh, by the way, when we read we're reading books and magazines and news information, so newspapers. And also the same thing with research, that's the second R, if you will, we're researching articles that help us get to a better place, to have a better understanding. And then the fourth one, the ARRL, can't forget that L is to listen. And so, we turn our cars into a university, and if you spend any time at all in your car, you can listen to books, you can listen to podcasts, you can listen to TED Talks also while you're exercising. This is another perfect time to listen to these uplifting things that helps us gain knowledge. I've got to tell you some of the absolute most inspiring times is when I've gone out to exercise, and I put on the earphones and I listen to something that is helpful to me in the field that I'm trying to work on. That's it. Gain knowledge every single day. Just take a few minutes to do this. This will help us stay ahead of the game. Now, of course, the next part of this principle is to apply the power of knowledge. We had a friend do a seminar for our group, Jason Hanson. Jason's a former CIA officer and he has now dedicated himself to helping people stay safe, and if they happen to get into a really bad situation, how to escape. He's wonderful. And what he taught us was what happens if you ever...the first thing you do if someone comes up or threatens you, what do you do? Well, you run. Statistics show that gives you the very best opportunity to preserve yourself to stay out of the situation. So run and don't be bashful about it. But let's say that you do, you're caught, you're abducted. The preferred way to subdue a victim is through duct tape. And so, what Jason teaches us how to do is to get out of duct tape in two seconds. How many of our listeners would like to have that knowledge, that skill set? Well, so he would actually demonstrate it. We would put our arms up and he would tie the duct tape around our wrists and, through a process, he would show us how of putting your hands above your head and you quickly come down with a full thrust at your waist, pulling your hands apart, and just like that it's gone. So you have options. This is what it teaches us. We have options of things that we can do. Even if you're in the trunk, heaven forbid, you can saw it off and then try to escape. But there are these options. You keep trying to get away. Okay, so that's with this knowledge. Now you have the chance to save your life. And this is the whole deal. Once you have the knowledge, then you can apply it. Well, this applies in every area of your life. I'd like to recommend every person that's listening, if you don't have one now, that you acquire a notebook. This becomes your thoughts book. And as you're gaining information just on a freestyle, starting at the very front page, you can write down your thoughts, your inspiration, your ideas, and this helps you look for ways to apply those thoughts. And as we think about curiosity and communication and collaboration we look for these three ways and ways to apply these to our situation. So whether it's fitness, our own health, whether it's improving a relationship or a professional application, we're always thinking about these areas of how can we do better. And this idea of good, better, best, never let it rest, til the good is better and the better is best is both the mindset and the skill set. And so, this clearly is mindset, how can I do better in these areas, but it takes the skill set to gain the knowledge and then apply the knowledge. And so, essentially what we do is we get the knowledge. We say, "Okay, I'm gonna take my good to better and my better to best. Let me try it. Let me apply it now." And so, essentially you practice it, you talk with others, you create the strategy, you apply the transformation challenge, the six steps to planning an execution, and you go to work. One of the things we like to say is that you, first of all, practice, practice, practice, and you nail it then you scale it. And this is the idea. This is how we apply the knowledge. One of my favorite approaches as we're working on doing this is to share your idea with others. I've been thinking about this, and if we're to apply this, I think this is what could happen. What are your thoughts about this? And this is how we do it. This is the two-prong approach. Gain the knowledge and apply the knowledge, ARRL. So, what do we do, is we ask, read, research, and we're listening. Turn those surroundings into a university, an ongoing university. Well, I invite each one listening to think about how they gain and apply knowledge and work on doing this on a consistent basis in a way that helps you to become your best, to improve your happiness, your joy, health, and prosperity, to strengthen your relationships and teams, and to teach your teams how to do this. Make this application of this principle cultural and deep so that we're creating cultures by design that are effervescent, that are energized and helping one another. And then this leads to not only prosperity individually but professionally. This helps our companies and organizations to consistently be the best of class. This principle, apply the power and knowledge, in conjunction with the other principles of highly successful leaders, puts you at the very top of your profession and allows you to consistently make a difference for good. Well, this is Steve Shallenberger. It's been a thrill to be able to spend a few minutes with you today, an honor, and a delight, and I wish each one of you the very best as you make a difference. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What Do Walt Disney, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison and Nelson Mandela Have In Common? https://www.becomingyourbest.com/innovate-like-waltdisney-and-thomasedison/ Hi, this is Steve Shallenberger with "Becoming Your Best Global Leadership". I'm your host today for this podcast and today we have an exciting principle that we're talking about: Innovate Through Imagination. So what do the following people have in common? Walt Disney, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Ford, J.K. Rowling, Marie Curie, and many more. What do you think? If you guessed that they all had an active imagination and each one has had an enormous impact on our world, you would be exactly right. Now what's interesting about these people, much like we are, is that they learned to flip on and engage their imagination to innovate and improve with the roles, responsibilities, or vocation that they had. In other words, they took their strengths, their abilities, and built upon them by using their imagination. And get this, there was no instruction book for them. So what did they do? How did they do it? It's interesting to think. How would you explain the 21st century to a time traveler from the Medieval times? It's difficult knowing where to begin. Think about how far we've come and now think about the possibilities that lie ahead of us. Digitization of all things, mind-controlled robotic limbs, 3D printers, space tourism, autonomous vehicles, electric cars, smartphones, and much more. We've already seen that but we haven't even seen the beginning of it. Of course, the many medical miracles that will continue, wearable computers that are part of our body. So all of these things come about from this very same thing which is imagination or innovating through imagination. And from research into what makes individuals, companies, and organizations successful, we've identified common success factors in the long-term highest achievers. And one of them was this ability to tap the powers of imagination to innovate and remain relevant over many years and decades. And it's about creating opportunities and possibilities in both your personal and professional lives. The human imagination is capable of producing endless opportunities and possibilities. And with them come hope and the belief that there are solutions to problems, even the most difficult ones. There are ideas waiting to be acted upon. There are many options available. This is the spirit of innovation driven by imagination. And imagine the effect it might have on your company or your family if each employee felt empowered to constantly find innovative ways to serve your customers and clients better and to make your product or service better. World-class companies have risen to the top of global business by tapping the imaginations of the best and brightest of their resources. And what about your business? What about your family? How might it benefit from inspired and imaginative employees or family members who are constantly striving to do things better, faster, and smarter? This indeed is the spirit of becoming your best. Ideas must be conceived in our minds before they can become a reality. And once an idea is developed, it starts growing and it takes shape. However, you must first dare to use your imagination to get the ball rolling. And as we think about it, every invention sprang from someone's imagination. Elon Musk imagined an electric car that was not a compromise but an advanced in technology and he's created Tesla. The innovative minds at Google imagined wearing a computer and they produced the Google Glass. J.K. Rowling, a struggling single mother, imagined the Harry Potter novels which delighted and engaged millions of fans and transformed her own life as well. Now, these breakthroughs arose from the imagination of regular, ordinary men and women who were working to stay ahead of an ever-changing world. And can you recall a time when you imagined an outcome and then it happened? Well, of course. And this is the ability to keep turning on this switch that we have. I wake up every day and I say, "Is my imagination switch on?" So as we think about imagination, this is the very same for you and I. You are the navigator to plot the course of your life and professional development. This course comes from your intellect and impressions and feelings that you have, research and analysis and thinking. And perhaps the most important is using the foundation of your imagination. So the real question for you and for me is how can you flip and how can I flip this switch to on? And how do you spark your imagination? How do you avoid getting stuck in the mud and stale? Well, I'm going to suggest just a few things that may be helpful to you that I have seen across the United States and the world, where people have been able to turn on that imagination. So number one...I'm gonna suggest three things that we can do. Number one is think of the issue, the problem, or opportunity that you would like to improve. I recommend that you write it down. And can you more clearly describe what it is? Be as precise as possible. And is it the real issue or the real problem, the real opportunity? This is one of the ones that's most important. So we have a piece of paper, we have a device of some type. Let's get it down, let's look at it, it's front and center. Now once we have this idea in front of us, here are four things that we can do to develop that idea. What have or what are others doing right now? The internet is a tremendous resource, so go right in and just research what's happening regarding that issue that you have identified. Another thing that you can do is ask others for their advice. So identify somebody that's already traveled this way or somebody that you respect and just throw out the idea. Say, "Listen, I'm working on this idea. I'd love to get your thoughts about it." And get two or three or four people. This might be people that work right within your own organization. This might be family members. But you would be amazed at how this gets you unstuck. This gets you going. Another powerful tool that you can use is the skill set of brainstorming. Brainstorming is wonderful. What you're really working on is the quantity, getting down as many ideas in a shorter period as possible, and then going to back and adding the quality dimension, which are the best ideas? This can be done by yourself or you ca invite in a small group of people. Put a time, leave it on there 5, 10, 15 minutes, and give the instructions. No criticism. What you're doing is just trying to spark one idea after another, get the best ideas. And then from there take it and watch what happens. And these are all things that we can repeat time and time again. We don't see it as a one-time setting or a checklist. Imagination is wonderful because it's a process of starting got get it out on the table and we actually move in levels. History and research clearly shows this. Not long ago, my wife and I, Roxanne, had the opportunity to visit Egypt. And it was interesting to see where the idea of pyramids actually came from in the first place. There was kind of a crude type of what we currently see as a pyramid. There was a series of platforms on top of one another that a king devised to honor his service and burial so that people could see it. Well all of a sudden, this idea started developing. Hey, we can improve upon it. So this is how it goes. And then the last thing that you might consider doing as you're working on that particular issue or problem or opportunity is mind mapping. This is a vibrant, energetic, current day, virtual technique experience. I might say also another skill set that you develop simply by doing what we just talked about. You put idea in the middle of the page, put a circle around it, and start drawing arms off of that. Let's say that for example, my circle in the middle is fitness. I want to be more healthy and fit. So one arm might come off and it might have exercise. And another arm might come off and it might have diet. And another arm would come off and it would be cardio. And so you just keep going, your mind gets going, and under fitness you have two or three more arms come off of possibilities. Well, these are all things that you can do to flip the switch on immediately . Never sell yourself short. I mean, you have this capability. Everyone single one of us as human beings are endowed with an imagination. It's part of what we have. Now once we have all of these ideas that we start generating, the next thing we do, the second thing of the three is you pick the best ideas that you have come up with. And once you've exercised this creative process, you say, "What are the best things that I can do?" Maybe rank them one, two, and three. And the third thing is to move into action. Do something, try it out, see how it goes, experiment, test. And once you get some experience with this, you can start scaling the idea. So that's it, three things. One is identify the issue and then use your curiosity. These things that I just talked about all are a curiosity asking questions that you might have. And the more questions you have, it sparks this imagination. Number two then is pick the best ideas once you're done with the process. And then three, move into action. Do something. Who's gonna do what, when? So these three things will help us and then we evaluate how it went. We can go back and do it again and again and again. These are things that will spark your imagination. And practice it to reflex and you're on your way to a fuller and more abundant life. And you will be among those that help to innovate to success, regularly solving problems, developing valuable opportunities, and changing the world in the process. Just one last reflection here as we step back now and think about this, I'd like to give a couple of examples. Thomas Edison was born in 1847 and he was an inventor, a scientist, and a businessman. Edison had patented...had over 1300 different inventions. They were all patented, that's a lot. And those inventions included the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting practical, electric light bulb. He greatly influenced life around the world and the list of his inventions staggers the minds. And their impact is so vast that's impossible to measure. Not long ago I recent attended a speech by a modern day creative genius who is following the Edison footsteps, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, and I came away convinced that the imagination is even a more powerful force when it's paired with modern technologies. And it's interesting because Dr. Soon was born in 1952, 100 years after Edison. And Dr. Soon is surgeon, a medical researcher, CEO, a philanthropist, and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. And he is one of the preeminent scientists and medical minds of world today. I just love it hearing the things that he did. Dr. Soon has a great creative vision. He's pioneered treatments for diabetes and cancer publishing more than 100 scientific papers, and finally more than 95 U.S. patents. He performed the world's first encapsulated human isolate transplant, which involves transplanting an isolated mass of tissue from a donor's pancreas into another person to stimulate the production of insulin as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. This remarkable man has also performed the first pig to man isolate cell transplant in diabetic patients. And in addition, he pioneered the use of a process for the treatment of breast cancer. And this a groundbreaking drug and it's now in trials for treating lung, gastric, and pancreatic cancer and melanoma. Dr. Soon is an entrepreneur as well. He's developed and solved two multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies. So as I think about Dr. Soon, how can anyone accomplish so many things? Well, highly successful people fire up their imagination with an insatiable desire to understand how things work. Their curiosity is boundless and their lives and accomplishments are built upon creativity and drive as well as powerful intellects. I love what Walt Disney said. This is something we can all do. Remember--and I feel this way--a very ordinary person trying to do these things it helps us do extraordinary things. Here's Walt Disney's quote: "Around here, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things. Because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Isn't that great way to think? Well, this is the idea, folks. Hopefully, you've gained a couple of ideas. Let's just keep this in mind that as you and I continue to flip that switch on, we will continue to have new ideas, finding ways to solve problems and developing these opportunities in an ever-changing world. And in the process every single day you will be making a difference. This is Steve Shallenberger with "Becoming Your Best Global Leadership", wishing you a great day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you have a great business idea? Or currently running a business but don’t know how to take it to the next level? Do you want to make it unstoppable? Or do you feel overwhelmed and confused? Don’t worry it’s not your fault. We understand, we’ve been there before too. That’s why Becoming Your Best Global Leadership puts on a LIVE 2 Day event called the Entrepreneur Success Bootcamp. The purpose is to help entrepreneurs take their idea and turn it into a thriving reality. Every entrepreneur is at a different place in the entrepreneurial process. Some people are stuck in the idea generation phase. Others are well down the path and looking to grow and scale their business. Today’s special guest is an experienced entrepreneur and successful CEO, Rob Nelson. Rob is the Founder / CEO of Grow.com. Rob is a true entrepreneur at heart. He loves the creative and building process in developing value for others. He discovered when leaders understand and unite their teams around the right metrics, the culture improves to accelerate growth. Rob is inspired by brilliant design, strong culture, competition, and the emotional connection products can give. “I believe in continuous growth and improvement, both personally and in helping others.” - Rob Nelson Grow helps companies accelerate their growth by helping to track and measure the right metrics. Consequently, companies can operate faster, make better and quicker decisions. Rob is a great example of living the 12 principles of Highly Successful Leaders, particularly of CREATING A VISION and MANAGING WITH A PLAN. In this episode, Rob Nelson explains his 5 keys ingredients a new company needs to succeed… Sticking with what you know The importance of recurring revenue Having passion for what you are doing Scalability Solve a problem you are personally acquainted with See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.