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02.03.10

A (Short) Greater Than Yourself Primer

Technorati Tags: greater than yourself, keynote, leadership, mentoring, speech

02.02.10

Mentoring Month Has Come and Gone…

…and I bet you didn’t even know. It was hardly a blip on the radar screen of “National Somebody’s Interested in This Somewhere” months, days, and weeks.

And, so, Mentoring Month has blipped by, virtually unnoticed. Which is unfortunate. Especially for kids who could use someone like you.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s too late. It never is. And that’s the good news.

An inspiring documentary called Show Me the Way (you’ll find the trailer below), explores the impact mentors have on young people’s lives, and it showcases the phenomenal work being done by The Fulfillment Fund. You can sign up to become a mentor, or you can support their great programs in other ways.

And let me be the first to proclaim this time as International Mentoring Century. I know it sounds a little clunky, but the idea has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Technorati Tags: Fulfillment Fund, leadership, mentoring, volunteerism, youth programs

01.11.10

MyGTYProject.com

In Greater Than Yourself, I made a commitment to document the story of my GTY Project, Tommy Spaulding, which I have done in video (there are transcripts as well) over at GreaterThanYourself.com.

In the book, I also suggested that others should do something similar with their own Projects. My hope was that at least a few folks would be brave enough to publicly tell about their GTY experiences–the highs and the lows–so we could all learn and benefit from one another’s successes and failures.

Well, many people have taken on Projects of their own, and/or are in various stages of beginning them. But at least one is taking us all along on her journey.

Patti Dragland is documenting her work with Angela Simms in a great little blog called MyGtyProject.com. Please go on over, take a look, and cheer her on.

I’m looking forward to seeing yours soon, too.

Hint hint.

Technorati Tags: coaching, greater than yourself, leadership, mentoring

01.01.10

Energy ala Kineticom

Continuing with Kineticom’s stellar example of incorporating LEAP into their own culture and language, here’s a sampling of Energy, Kineticom style:

“Charge a room and elevate everyone to their ‘A’ game…ravenous quest to produce and to not be boxed out in the marketplace…sassy style of dishing it out and keeping it fun…bringing high levels of energy to her personal game…ability and desire for personal development and the development of others…unique brand of energizing comedy…willingness to expand role and reach…reinvention across the function…unrelenting drive for financial success…inventive and creative ‘blitz’ leadership…frenetic energy crucial to a winning environment…infectious energy with a work pace and attitude as a powerful force for change and action.”

Taking a lesson from Kineticom, here’s a good exercise to get this decade started right:

In your own voice, your own words, describe what you and yours are going to do to embody “infectious energy” in the way you work and live.

Feel free to share with the rest of us.

12.23.09

True Love: A Video for the Season

My friend, Timna Pilch, described this video as “the most adorable, weirdest thing” she’s ever seen. “Adorable” and “weird” are words you don’t often hear in combination, but I think they’re fitting in this context.

I offer you this adorable/weird video of our cat, Rudy, and dog, Ellie, as a treat for the holidays. May its message of boundary-less, cross-cultural love stand as an example for us all.

Music is by Greg Brown.

Joyful and Happy Holidays to all…

Technorati Tags: cat, dog, love, video

12.21.09

Love ala Kineticom

The inspiring folks at smokin’ hot  Kineticom (whom I’ve written about many times on this blog) have done a remarkable job of integrating The Radical LEAP into the fabric of their company. For one thing, they give a yearly award for Love, Energy, Audacity and Proof to the team member who best embodies each quality in the way he or she approaches work. This plaque honoring the past recipients hangs in their company’s lobby:

The magic, I believe, is in their ability to identify and describe the behaviors associated with each element of LEAP and put it in their own cultural framework. To illustrate, I’ve pulled some examples from the plaque. For today’s installment, here are some of the specifics of Love as described in Kineticom-ese:

“commitment to our company…willingness to take on any role and additional responsibility…big heart and friendly personality…diligence and willingness to go the extra mile…spreads her own brand of sunshine…beaming smile and infectious laughter…understanding the critical importance she plays as the centralized voice & attitude of the Kineticom brand…heart and soul and desire to elevate our mission and vision…throws her heart and soul into every challenge and opportunity…unwavering passion for our cause and our people…capacity to develop, evolve, inspire and lead…exemplifies Kineticom’s culture…actively demonstrates love of who we are and what we can be”

What does/should Love look like in your actions and in the behaviors of your colleagues, coworkers, and management?

Technorati Tags: culture, kineticom, leadership, love

12.11.09

My Discussion With Montel Williams

The other morning, I was a guest on Montel Williams Across America radio show. It came together kind of fast, so I didn’t have a chance to get the word out ahead of time.

It’s not too late, though. And while the full-length show is available as a podcast on the AirAmerica website,

you can listen to my excerpt below. And I loved the wrap-up he gave after I signed off–so be sure to listen through to the end:

Technorati Tags: greater than yourself, holiday gift, mentoring, montel williams

12.08.09

A Spectacular Holiday Gift That Won’t Cost You a Dime

So, how’d we do on Black Friday?

The National Retail Federation reports that while the number of shoppers went up compared to last year, the average dollar amount spent per person fell–telling us that “shoppers are willing to open their wallets for a bargain.”

Well…have I got a bargain for you. What if you could give someone a really special gift that will cost you no money at all? And what if that no-cost gift could significantly change another’s life?

Well, you could and it will.

You can give YOURSELF as a “gift” to someone you love by taking that person on as your GTY Project (and if you’re a bit behind on the GTY curve and don’t know what I’m talking about, watch this video to get up to speed).

We’ve put together a gift certificate for you to present to your GTY Project. It reads, in part: “With this gift I promise to pass along my Knowledge, Give My Time, Deliver to you my Connections, Life Lessons, Insights and Counsel….With this Certificate, I dedicate Myself to You and Your Success.”

Please download it and–more important–USE IT. And then encourage your GTY to do the same for someone else.

I wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons.

Now…go change the world. One person at a time.

Download your Greater Than Yourself Gift Certificate here.

Technorati Tags: gift certificate, greater than yourself, leadership

11.02.09

My Discussion on Dubai Radio

I’ve just returned from my first trip to the United Arab Emirates where I spoke at the annual Leaders in Dubai Conference. It was wonderful to meet and listen to the other presenters, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Benjamin Zander, Gary Hamel, Chester Elton, Jack Perkowski and David Plouffe (I listened to Al Gore, too, but didn’t meet him. He had quite the security shield, so I’ll have to sign a book for him some other time. Har!).

On the first day of the conference, I conducted a 3-hour MasterClass on Extreme Leadership, where I introduced the principle of Cultivating Love (as in LEAP–Love, Energy, Audacity and Proof), and opened the idea up for discussion.

Given the cultural business norms in the region, for many, Love in the context of work was a rather surprising idea, and for others, very hard to accept. We had quite a lively debate on the subject. At one point, I even thought I may have lost them altogether. So, when they actually came back after the break, I was–honestly–more than a little relieved.

In the end, the response from the group was excellent. And on a personal note, I found the discussion very stimulating, and the people exceedingly warm, friendly and gracious.

On Day Two, I presented the Greater Than Yourself approach to leadership, and they received the idea with open arms and seemed to embrace it with great enthusiasm.

Time will tell–which is true for all of us, of course.

Later, I had the chance to sit down with local radio host, Richard Dean, and do an interview for his show on The Dubai Eye. We talked about some of the cultural differences between the US and Dubai, and I think you’ll find it interesting. Please have a listen and let me know what you think:

10.12.09

The Best Advice I’ve Ever Gotten #1

During my days at the Tom Peters Company, I once gave an overview to prospective clients of Terry Pearce’s program, Leading Out Loud, which was all about authentic leadership communication. (And, to this day, probably the best program of its kind–offered nowadays by BlessingWhite).

Afterward, one of the participants came up to me and said that, while he enjoyed my presentation–that I spoke well, used slides well, was funny and entertaining, etc.–he didn’t think I’d really modeled what I was teaching. Which is very tough feedback when the topic is authenticity, you know?

Needless to say, I was devastated, and I fretted and obsessed about it for the rest of the day. Was that guy right? Was it true? I’d felt like I was being myself; at least, I seemed real to me. But had I been coming across as disingenuous, or even–heaven forbid–cheesy?

That evening, I called Terry–the master himself–told him what had happened and asked for his counsel.

He said two things to me which literally changed everything about the way I’ve approached my work since:

1. You can’t connect with everybody all the time. Sometimes people just aren’t going to “get” you, and this guy just may have been wrong.

2. Assume he was right and go from there.

That’s become one of my personal gems of life-altering advice: whenever you get negative feedback, understand that it may be wrong/misguided/untrue, etc. But if you assume (for a moment, at least) that it’s right, what could you do differently from now on?

What’s the best bit of advice, coaching or counsel you’ve ever gotten from a mentor, colleague, family member or friend? We’ve been talking about this at the Greater Than Yourself (GTY) Project group on Linkedin. Please join us there or add your contribution in the comments section below.

More to come on this topic soon…

Technorati Tags: advice, blessingwhite, greater than yourself, leading out loud, mentoring, terry pearce