Get Your Marketing Wheels in Gear

Marketing Questions Your Team Should Be Discussing Regularly:

1. Are we dedicating enough time to creating new marketing ideas?
2. What is a marketing strategy that works better than it seems like it should?
3. How are we deciding who is in our target market?
4. What is our best marketing tool and why?
5. What is our most cost-effective marketing tool?
6. How are we deciding which media outlets to use?
7. How are we capturing and using comments from satisfied customers?
8. How are we measuring the success of marketing strategies?
9. How has our marketing changed over the past few years?
10. What is the source of our largest frustration related to marketing?
11. What company or organization has the best (coolest, most creative, most cost-effective, etc.) marketing ideas?  Why?
12. What marketing tool or strategy do we need to stop using?

Marketing Ideas to Consider:

• All great marketing starts with a great product or service to market.  Be great.
• Value people first, excellent work second, everything else third.
• Understand the most influential drivers that bring business in, bring business back and drive business away.
• Stay connected with and bring surprise value to your "Torchbearer 23 List" - 23 contacts that carry the torch for you and/or your business. (Read more about Torchbearers below.)  Never ask them for anything, though.  Just stay connected and serve his/her needs when you can.
• Learn where, when and how to start customer relationships.
• Learn where, when and how your competition is starting customer relationships.
• Make the most of your raving fans.
• Foster relationships that will lead to piggy-back, plan B, or other ways to provide value-added options for new customers.
• Create brainstorming moments with your team: Assign an unbiased discussion leader, capture everything, no filters, no initial judgments, pick one or two ideas to try on at low-cost. 

Brainstorming Rules:

• Schedule periodic brainstorming sessions to keep a steady flow of ideas flowing.
• Have an unbiased discussion leader who is in charge of keeping the discussion going.
• Capture everything.  Flip-chart ideas in the moment.  Take a picture of each one when the session is over and save those images for later.
• No filtering of ideas - no matter the cost, the legality, the chance of success, etc.  
• Keep initial judgments quiet.  There will be a time to give pros and cons.  A brainstorming session is not that time.
• At the end of the session, pick a few low to no-cost ideas and try them on.  Also, pick a few that will require resources to implement and make sure those ideas live to be discussed another day.

A Torchbearer:

1. Thirsty for helping company/organization grow.
2. Owns a strong allegiance.
3. Values and fosters relationships.
4. Gains part of identity from organization.
5. Clearly understands his/her role.
6. Knows and believes in company/organization's core values.
7. Speaks positively about the organization, it's leadership and it's members.

These ideas were shared as part one of a three-part series of business development seminars I presented for the BBB Serving Central Oklahoma on May 20, 2015.  Learn more about the series and value the BBB can bring to your business here.

Integrity: The Lance Armstrong Lesson

It is very simple. He doped. He lied. He personally hurt people to protect his lies. He finally told the truth.

Lance Armstrong has now joined the ranks of Pete Rose, OJ Simpson, Tiger Woods, Roger Clemens and many other sport celebrities whose personal failures (yes, choosing to use performance enhancing drugs is a personal decision) out-weigh their sporting achievements.

Lance Armstrong is someone who should not, today or ever, be held up as a model for anything other than a perfect case study of how far someone will go to protect their reputation and win at virtually any cost.

What about his foundation, Livestrong, improving the lives of millions of cancer survivors and family members? Does this (as has been stated by many people in the sporting world) hold up his moral character to a certain degree?  In my opinion, no. He is not making a personal decision every day to improve people's lives. His foundation does. It is their mission and the people working for the foundation care deeply about it.  He invested years making personal decisions to dope, lie about it, hurt others to protect his lie and stand behind that lie for as long as he could.

The Lesson

The lesson here is simple, as well. Leaders must protect people's trust above all else. Without it, nothing else really works.

Lance Armstrong is, and forever will be, a leader.  He has and will continue to influence millions of people through his cycling fame, cancer struggles and foundation work. However, he chose to make personal decisions that undermined his credibility, integrity, moral standing, and trust with everyone he will associate with for the rest of his life. 

Was he in a high-pressure, high-stakes world in elite cycling? Yes.
Did he think doping was justified because it was common place in competitive cycling? Yes.
Was his stature in the cycling world and the humanitarian world going to crumble if he told the truth? Yes.
Will his position, influence, power and abilities as a leader ever have strength and merit again? Sadly, no.

Integrity: Six Actions of Great Leadership

How do you know if you are actually creating results as a leader? Focus your work around the following six actions and the results will follow.

#Engage

#Support

#Connect

#Contribute

#Inspire

#Impact

General: Activities for your Leadership Class Series (Part 2)

This is the second post in a new series sharing many of our favorite leadership activities we do with our audience members across the nation. Each activity has a proven track record since we actually present at over 300 conferences, retreats, school assemblies and corporate events every year and have for the past 20 years.  Enjoy and feel free to share via Facebook, Twitter or email with your network of friends, teachers, trainers, speakers or absolute complete strangers!  (We are @pli_leadership on Twitter.)

Super Shaper

PLI Essential – Integrity, Innovativeness, Fostering Relationships, Goal Processing

Objective – For each team to design all of the shapes using only their bodies

Time Needed – 20-30 minutes

Material Needed – List of possible shapes, Music

When not to do it – When the students aren’t in teams

Debrief Possibilities – This activity is primarily just a fun roller-coaster ride for the students, but it does speak to their integrity in playing the game since it is so hectic, it is very easy for the students to cut corners and not get noticed.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Have students in a team pick one runner and then sit in a tight circle on the floor.

2. Explain the rules: When the activity starts (music starts) each runner will come to the activity leader and receive their first shape.

3. The runner will go back to the team and tell them the shape.  The team must make the shape, using only there bodies and hold that position for 10 seconds.

4. After the 10 seconds is up, the runner will come back to the leader, tell the leader the shape they just made and receive their next shape…repeat as many times as desired.

Shape Examples

Square
Christmas tree
Barn
Stop sign
Airplane
Horse
Circle
Computer
Rectangle

One of our most popular curriculum pieces is The Activator.  It contains this activity, as well as 49 other effective leadership activities!

Purchase Activator Here

Integrity: Leadership Threats Blog Series Post Two

This PLI Blog series is inspired by PLI’s support of the California Association of Directors of Activities annual convention and their theme “Licensed to Lead.”

Each day leaders face a myriad of threats that can delay or derail their best efforts. In this series we will concentrate on the top 10 threats to “National Leadership Security” and the specific leadership tool that is most effective at combating it.

Threat #2: Discredited/Fake/Self-Doubt
Leadership Tool of Choice: Integrity

You may have the gift to speak, but, if followers don’t believe the messenger they will not accept the message. You may have the gift of vision, but if followers do not trust that your interests are aligned with theirs they will be reluctant to give you full commitment. If you have not acted honorably, you will carry the added burden of self-doubt and worry that your dark deed will be discovered.

“Credibility is the foundation of leadership,” finds leadership researchers Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. All you have to do is look in the news to find a daily dose of folks whose credibility has been discredited. You see it in your world too. People who act one way in public yet in their Facebook page and pictures reveal a different person in private. People can tell when you are acting. And, while leadership requires action, it is a state of being and not an act.

“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And, if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” Warren Buffett

The second PLI Essential is Integrity. We define integrity as being guided by character and to lead by example. Character and credibility are the model and mold that your followers pour themselves into. You cannot possibly hope to create trustworthy followers strong in character and credibility if their example is flawed and fake.

Here are some insightful questions to help followers get connected to the PLI Essential of Integrity:

• What is the condition of your credibility?
• What do you need to say “no” to in order to keep the “yes’s” you’ve already made?
• Do you under-promise and over-deliver or do you over-promise and under-deliver?
• Who in your world is the most credible, honest, and integrity-filled person you know? How do you know this? What example of theirs can you model and add to your life?
• Who is the least trustworthy and honorable person in your life? Why aren’t they believable? Why do you still associate with them? 

Integrity: Lex Luther vs. Forrest Gump

Which is worse - A or B?

A. A person with intelligence and without integrity.

B. A person with integrity and without intelligence.

Basically, if you only had these two options, would you rather have a team full of Lex Luthers or Forrest Gumps?





PLI Teachers/Trainers - Have your students discuss this question within the context of the current U.S. economic crisis. The part of Lex Luther is played by Wall Street traders/analysts and SEC officials and the role of Forrest Gump is played by your average, everyday investor and middle to low income home buyer. Key terms to research: sub-prime mortgages, credit default swaps, and AIG.

Good follow-up questions:

1. Which is rewarded more in today's society, Lex or Forrest and why?

2. How do we create leaders that are strong in both intellectual and moral prowess? Provide historical and local examples of leaders who had/have both.

3. Why is it so difficult for humans to be strong ethically when large sums of money come into play?

4. How have they personally been impacted by the current recession our Lex Luther Leaders put us in?

5. Who should ultimately be held most responsible for the crash of the mortgage industry? Lex for creating such a risky environment or Forrest for choosing to live in it (knowingly or unknowingly)?

Teaching PLI: PLI Required Reading List

There is a great new book titled "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time." The authors have put together a fabulous collection and did a great job in the book of summarizing the main points of these classics and new-classics. I personally have my reading to-do list done for the year, as I have only read 31 of the 100.

The other great benefit of this book to our PLI teachers and trainers is that it inspired a "PLI Required Reading List." This list certainly isn't all-inclusive, but it is a great place to start to get your students doing some out-of-class, non-curriculum PLI reading.

Again, the following books are all in Jack and Todd's new book. So, you can get a quick synopsis of each by reading their new book. Click on the ^ after each to go directly to that book's 800CEOREAD page, where you can read about the book and/or buy it. If there is more than one book listed in an Essential, I put an * to donate the one I would recommend most.

Vision
Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will^
What Should I Do With My Life?*^

Integrity
Questions of Character^

Innovativeness
The Art of Innovation^
The Innovator's Dilemma^
Orbiting the Giant Hairball*^
The Creative Habit^

Wise Judgement
Influence*^
The Power of Intuition^

Service Mindedness
(This being a business book list, there isn't a book about service leadership. All the service books listed are about customer service.)

Goal Processing
Getting Things Done^

Skill Assessment
Now, Discover Your Strengths^

Emotional Maturity
Emotional Intelligence^

Fostering Relationships
How to Win Friends and Influence People*^
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team^
The Team Handbook^

Masterful Communication
Made to Stick*^
The Story Factor^
Never Give In!^

Following is a list of the books that I would recommend you have your students read, but they just don't fit nicely into one of the Ten Essentials:

General
The Leadership Challenge^
Leadership Is An Art*^
The Leadership Moment^
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People^

Integrity: The Thank You Note Investment

We do an exercise in our leadership trainings where the students write a thank you letter to someone who is very important in their life. They must have their mailing address because the letters are sealed, stamped and we mail them right after the session. Students normally take a significant amount of time writing their letters - sometimes a full hour.

At a recent training, a student noted that his letter was probably the longest letter of any type he had ever written. Ever.

A) As a leadership trainer that is a pretty cool thing to hear. That he (and a ton of other students) put in that much effort into something as simple as writing a thank you letter. It reinforced my belief that our work as leadership trainers, especially in the student market, is more meaningful than just helping leaders learn how to lead their team or organization. Most of the skills and concepts we handle at leadership conferences are highly valuable life skills that, when properly applied, will enable the students to be great at whatever they do.

B) A very cool leadership lesson popped up after the students turned in their letters. It was nine at night. The students were wore out from a full day of high-energy training on how to serve their organization effectively during their term. They had just turned in their thank you letters (again, some of them took almost an hour to complete.)

I held up the pile of letters and asked the group how would you feel if I just took the pile and threw it away? They responded with, I would cry, I would be very mad at you, I would feel like I just wasted a ton of time, etc.

I asked why? Of course they said because they spent so much time and what they said and who they said it to were both very important to them.

I then asked them to remember that feeling when they are half way through their year and they are thinking about not applying or acting on the concepts and tools we spent all day talked about. Not doing something with the learning from the day is just like me throwing away the letters (which I didn't do.) However, in order to do that, you have to care about what you are doing and saying as a leader like you care about what you put in your letter. Maybe it won't be the same level of caring (our personal relationships should always be more important to us than our professional associations), but it should be the same style of caring - passionate, important, meaningful, a guiding force in your life, etc.

It was a very cool moment. Thanks to the elected student leaders of the Oregon Career and Technical Student Leadership Organizations (FFA, FBLA, DECA, SkillsUSA, HOSA, FCCLA and AOFC) for creating it.






Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:


1. When was the last time you put so much time and effort into thanking those around you who have supported you and helped you achieve your goals?


2. What are the advantages of writing thank you notes?


3. What sacrifice does a writing thank you note require?


4. Is the sacrifice worth the debt of gratitude that is paid with a thank you note?


5. If you could thank 5 people in your life for supporting you and helping you to achieve your goals, who would they be? And Why?


6. What obstacles are keeping you from writing those thank you notes?

Integrity: Don't Serve It

Great line from the bottom of Seth Godin's post today...



In my favorite hotel's kitchen, there's a big sign on the way out to the dining room:


"If you're not proud of it, don't serve it."



This is true for all of us in the context of what we are called to serve everyday - a speech, a conversation, a clean floor, a taught student, a completed project, etc.







Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:


1. What is the quality of what you are “serving” everyday to those around you?

2. If you had to rate what you are “serving” on a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate it?

3. Why is it so easy to recognize poor qualities in others, rather than in ourselves?

4. What is more important- recognizing poor qualities in others? Or in ourselves?

5. If you could upgrade one personal quality, what would it be?

6. What can you do on a daily basis to improve this quality?

Fostering Relationships: Three Ideas for Bringing the Best Out of Others

As you read this post, you might wonder, "why the forks in the pictures?" People are like forks. They can be used for good or bad based on the hands they are in. Also, I have a new keynote slide show titled "The Fork." It makes fork-related leadership points: the eating fork, the tuning fork and the fork in the road.

If you are in charge of leading others, the following list highlights three practices to maximize performance.


You need to decide whether or not your people are in the right job. Knowing this requires an intimate understanding of the person and the job responsibilities. My mother was a high-level leader in a hospital for years. A lady worked for her that was a hard worker, but consistently under-performed. Mom found out she was in the wrong position. This lady was an introvert and was working in a very social position. Once mom placed her in a more solo position, she thrived. She was able to give her best because her best was asked of her. When you have people in the wrong type of position, they are asked to engage a weakness every day. Only when people are asked to engage a strength can they perform at a high level.

You also have to make job placement about the table, not the person. It's about the position and the behaviors they demonstrate in that position. Don't make it about them personally. Talk about the duties of the job and what it takes to succeed in it. This will result in everyone being able to keep a non-personal point of view. There are enough reasons for personal squabbles in the workplace - whether someone is in the right position or not doesn't have to be one of them.


This decision is about clarity and expectations. People can naturally give their best when they know what their best should look like, feel like and move like. As a leader, you have to decide what "an amazing job" is for each individual. You then have to put language to it and get them talking about it. Get things out in the open. Keep an eye on their progress and then guide them through the gap between average and amazing. This is where high level leaders and performers live.

Once you get the gap between average and amazing identified, work with your team on getting one percent closer to amazing. Start small. Start with one skill. One process. One job. Figure that out, perfect it and then move on to another. Before you know it, you and your team will be much closer to amazing than average. Just make sure you, nor they ever feel like amazing has been reached. This can be just as dangerous as never reaching for it at all. (See my post on the dirty little secret of high performers.)


I did a post a few months ago about the difference between MySpace leaders and YourSpace leaders. To bring the best out of others, you have to care about them. You must have a genuine interest in seeing them personally and professionally succeed and then communicate this by asking questions, learning what is good with them, what is a challenge for them, etc. These interactions need to be positive in nature, even when helping them improve. Again, make it about the behavior or the job, not the person. Always coach up (here are a few suggestions on coaching strategies) and look for the good. The bad will reveal itself immediately. The positive is sometimes more elusive to find. It is your job to recognize the positive and emphasize it daily.






Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:


Decision 1

1. How can you better position others so that they can thrive?

2. What are the strength and weaknesses of the people on your team?

3. Who would benefit from a slight change in focus?

Decision 2

1. What is your image of an amazing job? Give Specific Details

2. What is one thing you can do to show them what an amazing job looks like?

3. What is the one skill that will move you 1% closer?

4. How can it be improved?

Decision 3

1. What are some steps you can do to make sure you are always coaching up?

Integrity: Inspect What You Expect

Leaders check-in on what they expect to improve. Not for keeping score or ego-boost purposes, but because improvement is at the core of what effective leaders do and they make it a priority to stay on top of things.

A few weeks ago we conducted the first of five speaking skills conferences in the month of January for members of the Oklahoma FFA Association. The great little town of Dover hosted this first training. A good friend of mine is a Dover High School administrator and he came over to say hi. I thanked him for hosting the event and for stopping by. He replied with a very leaderly statement...

"Well, I expect good things today and I always inspect what I expect."

Ask yourself this question, what are you expecting from others today and what is your system for tracking goals, actions, improvement and/or decline?

Regarding your expectations, keep them high, look for the good and remember to separate the person from the performance.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. What are 5 aspects about your leadership skills, team, or life in general that you are expecting to improve?

2. How can you inspect these expectations?

3. Why is it important to revisit, inspect, evaluate, and adjust expectations over the course of time?

4. What does it mean to separate the “person from the performance?”

5. What can you do to ensure that you are always expecting realistic results?

6. As a leader, why is it important to inspect what you expect from others?

Integrity: What Produces Competency and Trust?

(Download and hang up the PDF...)








Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

Know yourself

1. What is your personal mission statement?

2. What is your leadership philosophy?

3. What do you excel at? What are some of your strengths?

Grow yourself

1. Who is a person that can serve as your personal coach for skill you want to develop?

2. Who is a trusted individual that can serve as a mentor and can help you develop a growth plan?

Know others

1. What is the value of knowing the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of those you work with?

2. How can you go about getting to know those around you better?

Grow Others

1. How can you be a mentor to others?

2. Who is someone you can help develop?

3. What is the value in helping others succeed?

Integrity: The Final Thoughts on Leadership

The Final Thoughts
by Rhett Laubach

(This is from a slide show I use in my keynotes. To view the actual slide show, click here.)

Take time to relax… you deserve it.

Grow trust… everything grows from there.

Find balance… it does exist.

Smile… you’ll look much better.

Seek knowledge, not data… data is cheap, knowledge is priceless.

Be enthusiastic… others will follow.

Enjoy your friends… you’ll have more.

Be a student… your brain will thank you for it.

Risk before value… value before valuable.

Communicate clearly… clear is rare.

Buck the system… or the system will buck you.

Create something beautiful… I need to be inspired.

Keep going… the view is phenomenal.

Everything is connected… neglect nothing.

Be a friend… to everyone.

See things differently… you’ll see different things.

Be a team player… the team will let you play.

Make a splash… make it big.

Leave your mark… leave it today.

Ask why… there is a much more to know.

Integrity: When Attending Conferences Is a Bad Thing

During the busiest month for conferences and conventions (October), it is relevant for us to take a quick look at the biggest downside of attending conferences - particularly leadership or other training conferences.

Attending conferences can be a bad thing when you don't keep the promises you make to yourself once you get back home.

One of the upsides of attending conferences is you get to learn new ideas, new methods, and challenge yourself to do better, perform better, and be better. However, if you fail to follow through on some or all of these commitments, you might as well have stayed home in the first place. Our most detrimental broken promises are the ones we break with ourselves.

So, set big goals, bring out the best in yourself and keep it out even after you get back home.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. Why do we not always follow through on what we learned at conferences?

2. How can we work to make sure that we get the most out of the conferences and help ensure our follow through?

Integrity: Leadership is Improvement

Stan Clark, President of Stan Clark Companies and co-founder of the famous Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, Oklahoma, passed on to me some simplifying leadership wisdom he recently received...


"Leadership is improvement."









Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. What are you doing to improve yourself?

2. What are you doing to improve others?

3. What in your school, organization or work can be improved?

Integrity: The End Result of Authenticity

Read these words in the context of how others respond to you being yourself as a leader...

Authenticity leads to transparency.

Transparency leads to
honesty.

Honesty leads to confidence.

Confidence leads to trust.

After all, trust is what it is all about.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. What does being authentic mean to you?

2. How can you be more authentic?

Integrity: The Clark Kent Effect

The corporate and education worlds are full of people who want to be Superman. They want to possess super leadership powers that will allow them to communicate at the speed of light, inspire others to leap buildings in a single bound and see straight through the walls people/competitors/potential buyers put up.

The challenge here is the Clark Kent Effect. If you want to be Superman, you have to be Clark Kent, also. You have to be okay with not being in power. You have to understand that Superman was a hero not because of his powers, but because of what he did with his powers. This strength of character, inspiring integrity and service-mindedness lived within Clark Kent. It just so happened he had the powers to help others in extraordinary ways as Superman.

If you want to be Superman (or Superwoman), be Clark Kent first. Be yourself. Be humble. Be a klutz. Be a person of integrity.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. What is the meaning behind the phrase “Superman was a hero not because of his powers but because of what he did with his powers” and how does it apply to our everyday lives?

2. What strategies can you put to use today so that you too will be able to be a superman?

Integrity: Output vs. Outcome

Expert Leaders understand a project's success needs to based on both the overall outcome, as well as each team member's output.

The concept of hard-work is not directly labeled in the Personal Leadership Insight "Ten Essentials of Leadership" structure (Vision, Integrity, Innovative, Wise Judgment, etc.) However, internally we have always housed this very important leadership concept under the Integrity Essential. We've believe a person of integrity not only does what he/she says they will do, but they give 100% to everything they do.

When judging the success/failure of a project, the final outcome many times has too many moving parts that are out of our control. Thus, this metric can sometimes be a poor test of true success/failure.

However, each team member's output during the project is controllable. Call it what you want, energy, enthusiasm, passion, drive, or ambition, high-level output is what makes great teams outperform the competition. Here are a few of the dynamics that create high-level output...

1. Everyone on the team is engaging a core strength.

2. The team leader is trusted.

3. The mission of the team was created by the team and/or each team member went through an "ownership" process.

4. Everyone on the team is clear about why their individual output matters to the team's success.

5. There is an established protocol for how decisions are made.

If your team is not functioning at the level you know they can, cross-reference this list with the dynamics of your team and look for disparities.

Finally, output discussions are only relevant after a team has determined how and how often it is measured. Once clarity of expectations is obtained, high-level output becomes easier and easier to create and sustain.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:

1. Why is it important to have some way to judge the success or failure of a project?

2. What are some ways to increase your team’s performance in those five dynamics?

3. What is an example of a time when a team had a failing outcome but would of succeeded by output standards?

Integrity: Why we Aren't Always Honest

With expert level leadership skills comes expert level responsibilities and expert level pressures.  Everyone knows it is important to be honest.  Not everyone knows how to remain honest in your dealings with others while having to deal with high level pressure.  Below are a few reasons why we aren't always honest:

1.  Self-preservation. 

2.  Relationship-preservation.

3.  The truth will lead to a difficult conversation.

4.  We can't remember what the truth is (I.e. we are continuing to string lies together.)

5.  We will lose something important to us.

The real challenge here is not identifying the items on this list (which is actually much longer), the real challenge is two-fold:  1)  recognizing the reason for the dishonesty in the moment and 2)  figuring out how to stop trading our trust with others for these reasons.  Obviously the reasons we are dishonest cut to the core.  We deeply want to protect ourselves and our relationships.  We want to avoid conflict with others at all costs.  This only adds to the difficulty of mastering the honesty equation.  There are too many compelling reasons to not be truthful. 

Expert leaders fight this fight every day.  Expert Leaders are very self-aware of their core beliefs and values and they behave accordingly.  The solution to the honesty equation is complicated and varied.  However, I suggest you consider attaching a strong positive anchor to telling the truth.  Dishonesty produces a tremendous amount of unnecessary stress in our lives.  Continually remind yourself the short-term stress of honesty is tiny when compared to the overwhelming weight of lies stacked on lies.

Integrity: The Value of Leadership Conferences

John Maxwell once said that any individual who wishes to improve their leadership expertise needs to have at least three things in their life:  the right people, the right media (books, videos, music, etc.), and the right personal and professional development experiences.

I firmly believe this to be true - especially that last one.  As a full-time speaker and trainer for over 15 years, I have attended literally thousands of conferences.  The change that happens in people who experience leadership conferences is overwhelming and comes in many different forms.

At a recent conference for college level student leaders, an attendee summed it up like this, "I am normally disappointed by the choices I make in life.  This weekend I have surprised myself and those around me by the positive actions I have done, the things I have learned and the people I have met."

The coolest part of watching her say that is she did it while standing in front of all her peers.  That one act is probably one of the most courageous things she has ever done.  A defining moment.