ALL Setbacks Offer 2 “Plan Bs”

Recently I was having an interaction with an individual who, though they had a challenging but recoverable setback, was considering throwing in the towel on accomplishing something that was important to them. This got me thinking out loud that when we have a setback or disappointment, we have two “Plan Bs”. Specifically, we can either:

BE Discouraged
orBE Determined

It is really a binary solution. You will CHOOSE one plan or the other. That choice, according to a theorist called Seligman really depends on how you view setbacks and disappointments as captured in his theory of Permanence, Pervasiveness, and Personalization. Essentially, if you are prone to follow the BE DETERMINED plan, you will view setbacks as just a TEMPORARY CONDITION and NOT a PERMANENT STATE - a healthier and more empowering attitude I highly recommend! If you are more of a BE DISCOURAGED plan type, then the opposite becomes true. So if you want to become better at bouncing back from setbacks and disappointments, you should believe three very important things:

• Permanence – as shared above, this setback is not permanent, it is only temporary
• Pervasive – it is localized to just this one situation (too many people get caught up in the “if one thing is wrong in my life then everything else must be” theory)
• Personal – a setback is not an indictment on your character, skills, abilities, etc. It is what it is and the lessons you can learn from it along with your reactions can be transformational!

Trust me, I know this is not easy but I am more and more convinced that your beliefs drive your behaviors that eventually determine you results. There have plenty of opportunities that did not fall my way but there have been plenty that have! I can only encourage you to stick with it. Many times it is just that dogged refusal to give up that is the deciding factor between success and disappointment!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

How Young Leaders Jumpstart their Success!

Recently I have been going to some networking events in order to meet new people and add value to individuals and organizations. What usually starts out as a business building endeavor ends up being an incredible experience in meeting some outstanding young leaders. This got me thinking out loud about how such young people have been able to have incredible careers and success in such a short time.

For example, I met one young lady who, even though young for her career, has already been recognized as a top interior designer for the mega-yacht industry here in S. Florida. She is not yet 30 but has already been entrusted to make a multimillion dollar investment (no yachts no smaller than 50 feet!) even better through her expertise. Another young entrepreneur I met has the largest social media network in the state of Florida that she uses to help companies, entertainers, etc. promote their events. Through other means, I have met others such as a young leader who oversees an entire ministry operation in Europe, the youngest state legislator in the history of the state or a medical student who will graduate with not only a medical degree but degrees in law and public health – all while leading the national association of student osteopathic medicine associations!

Where do we get such talented young people? What do they have in common? How have they jumped ahead of the curve and experienced so much success so soon? While not a complete list, I have narrowed it down to the following:

• Drive – these individuals are incredibly driven to succeed and be the best in their fields
• Passion – closely aligned with drive, these young leaders are very passionate about what they do. It shows when they describe to me what they do and why they do it!
• Persistence – these young leaders have chosen to persist even in challenging or difficult circumstances. They just kept going when others quit.
• Hope – these individuals have hope for the own future and that of others. They believe both in their own potential and that of others.
• Discipline – all of these individuals demonstrate uncanny discipline. They focus on what they want and they have made the necessary trade-offs to succeed.

It is easy for us who are a little older to bemoan the work ethic and priorities of millennials but interacting with young people such as these along with the many others who I know are coming behind them give me faith in their future and society as a whole. Here’s the other thing that these young leaders teach me:

If we are going to have the privilege and opportunity to lead them, we best bring our own “A” game! We should review the list above and make sure we are matching them trait for trait!

You see, young leaders still need us slightly older folks! They need our support, our sponsorship, our own expertise, our patience, and our own gifts. We have much to share with each other to make things better for EVERYONE!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Big Dreams Cannot Survive in Small Disciplines

Few events produce such impactful learning as the World Leaders Conference that is held in West Palm Beach every year in early March. One of the outstanding speakers this year was Dr. John Maxwell. During his talk John stated that may people have “uphill goals but downhill habits”! This got me thinking out loud about why we do not always reach the goals that are important to us. One of the reasons is that big dreams often fall prey to small or inadequate disciplines.

As someone who is immersed in the leadership development and personal effectiveness arena, a common theme that emerges from both the success stories and their story tellers is just how disciplined these men and women are. For example, John Maxwell reads, files, writes, and reflects every day. Tony Robbins is known for his incredible workout routine. Grant Cardone constantly blows up my twitter feed at strategic times (i.e. ALL THE TIME!). Further, stories of the most successful entrepreneurs, world class athletes, and noted surgeons will reveal that they are not time wasters and have disciplined their work, leisure, family, and personal time with fine precision.

I know for myself that my most productive times are when I am incredibly busy! Why? Because it requires me to discipline both my time and efforts. I bet the same is true for you! So how can we live more disciplined lives? Consultant Tony Jeary recommends the following:

• Define – what is of most important to you. What is you audacious goal?
• Focus – on those activities that are most beneficial or leveraged to achieving your goals. As John Maxwell stresses, organize your activities as those that are REQUIRED of you, the most REWARDING, and provides biggest RETURN on investment
• Delegate – as much as you can to high impact staff
• Automate – as many of the mundane activities you can (i.e. paying bills, ordering supplies, etc.)
• Eliminate – time wasters and energy suckers. This can include people, social media, and my nemesis, Amazon TV!

I have heard it said that we hope things work out but we expend little effort to create a successful outcome. That is unfortunate because it is important for you to have BIG DREAMS! It is there that lives are changed, causes are created, businesses thrive, and organizations flourish! So go ahead and DREAM BIG, your organizations need you to, your family and friends need you to, and our communities need you to. It is YOU they are waiting for!

For more information about next year’s World Leaders Conference, keep checking:

www.worldleadersconference.com

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

How PERMANENT are your values?

The foundations of our leadership are our values. It’s just that simple and, at the same time, just that hard! Every day we read stories about leaders in business, politics, education, and the faith-based world that established themselves as trustworthy and credible. The problem becomes whenever they put themselves in situations where the opposite is true. This always gets me thinking out loud and asking why were their values so flexible?

I think one of the reasons is that at some point, some people find their values as a hindrance to get what they want. Values they stated that were so important to their enterprise, campaign, corporate brand, etc. become a nuisance when it interfered with higher profits, political advantage, personal gain, or just their desire to win. This is what separates the leaders from the “posers”. I know that sounds harsh but at some point you and I have to decide if we are truly going to lead and live with integrity . . . . or not. The best barometer of whether or not you are depends on, according to author Paul Lencioni, whether or not you are willing to be “punished for your values”. In other words, are you willing to deny yourself some advantage that you would otherwise gain OR be held accountable for your actions as a result of your values? Trust me, I have had both scenarios occur in my life and it is not fun but it is necessary if I want to have any trace of credibility with my clients, students, and (just as important) myself.

So here are some questions to ask of both yourself and your organization.

• Are our stated values Permanent or just Convenient?
• Are our stated values Relevant to how we operate or just Relative?
• When times get tough are our values Expansive or just Expendable?

One of my favorite workshops focuses on this very issue of Ethical Leadership so please contact me if you would like more information. As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc