“Eliminating the negative is the first and most important step to take in your work and rest of your life.” — Robert Sutton, Ph.D.
That tension you feel in your spine…the dread you feel as you pull into your office parking lot…the way you walk slowly towards your supervisor’s office…these are warning signs that you work with an asshole.
Robert Sutton, Ph.D., Stanford professor, organizational change expert, and bestselling author, wants to help you rid yourself of the office bully. His book The No Asshole Rule will help you verify that you work with an asshole, realize how assholes are destroying your company, and understand what you can do to handle them and save your sanity.
Diagnosing your asshole problem
What is an asshole? People use the term frequently for anyone that bothers them, but for Sutton assholes are people that use their position to create a toxic environment for you and other workers.
An asshole isn’t an “askhole” (someone who always asks for your advice and does the opposite), nor is it someone who is grumpy, having a bad day, or just has a blunt way of speaking. It’s someone who uses their power every day to make your day worse. If you’re not sure if someone is an asshole, here are two questions you should ask yourself.
1) After talking to the alleged asshole, do you feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled by the person? In particular, do you feel worse about yourself?
2) Does the alleged asshole aim his or her venom at people who are less powerful rather than at those people who are more powerful?
If you answered yes to both questions, your co-worker is an asshole.
If you’re still not sure, then ask yourself if you are often subjected to any of the following:
Personal insults
Invasion of your “personal territory”
Univinted physical contact
Threats and intimidation, both verbal and nonverbal
“Sarcastic jokes” and “teasing,” used as insult delivery systems
Withering email flames
Status slaps intended to humiliate you
Public shaming or “status degradation” rituals
Rude interruptions
Two-faced attacks
Dirty looks
Treating you as if you are invisible
If you answered yes to one or more items on the list, then you definitely have an asshole problem.
Assholes are bad for you and your business
No one wants to be around an asshole. Besides the daily aggravation, they can ruin your career prospects and general happiness.
In a study on employees with abusive (read: asshole) supervisors, Sutton reports that employees “quit their jobs at accelerated rates, and those still trapped in their jobs suffered from less work and life satisfaction, reduced commitment to employers, and heightened depression, anxiety, and burnout.”
But assholes are not just bad for you personally, they are also bad for the business environment. Just witnessing someone being an asshole has a negative effect. According to research by Charlotte Rayner, it showed that 25 percent of bullied victims AND 20 percent of witnesses quit their jobs, compared to a typical quit rate of about 5 percent.
Assholes are even worse for a company’s operations and work environment. A study by Jerald Greenberg found when people “work for insensitive jerks, they find ways to get back at them, and stealing is one of those ways.” Furthermore, a 2008 survey by University of Florida researchers found “those with abusive supervisors put forth less effort, made more errors on purpose, hid from their bosses, and avoided making suggestions or helping co-workers.”
Finally, the daily damage of being in the presence of an asshole is hard to overcome. According to research, Sutton states “negative interactions have five times the effect on mood than positive interactions.” That means you need a lot of good things to happen in your day to make up for that one asshole.
The benefits of an asshole free workplace
While it should be obvious that an asshole free workplace is ideal, two clear benefits are less employee turnover and more commitment to the organization. It also benefits the bottom line in other ways.
Sutton points out that “Costco’s ‘shrinkage rate’ (theft by employees and customers) is only two-tenths of one percent” while “other retail chains suffer ten to fifteen times the amount” because Costco compensates their employees fairly.
Moreover, organizations that rule with compassion instead of fear “share ideas more freely, have less dysfunctional internal competition, and trump the external competition.” In effect, workplaces without assholes are not only nicer places to work, they are more financially successful.
The cure for assholes: prevention and management
If you want to cure your workplace’s asshole problem, Sutton suggests your organization have some sort of “no asshole rule” and that this rule should be “woven into hiring and firing policies.”
According to Sutton, one of the best ways to avoid assholes is to change your hiring practices. First, Sutton suggests only bringing in people who are competent for the position so you can spend all your interview time assessing the cultural fit with your company, rather than the person’s job qualifications. How good someone is at their job won’t tell you if they’re an asshole.
Second, Sutton suggests you involve more people in the hiring process. When interviewing a potential new employee, have this person meet with people above their position, below their position, and at the same level to get a sense of their personality. Also make sure you have very few assholes on the hiring committee, since like attracts like, assholes tend to hire other assholes.
Furthermore, an organization’s “no asshole rule” should extend to everyone. According to Sutton, “organizations that are serious about enforcing the no asshole rule apply it to customers, clients, students, and everyone else encountered on the job, not just employees.” At Gold’s Gym for example, the philosophy is you can fire abusive customers and have them go to another gym.
Finally, the way to keep this rule working is also to make sure that bad behavior is not rewarded. According to Sutton, if people see assholes are not “rewarded for their actions, other organization members will be more diligent about adhering to the no asshole rule.”
Dealing with assholes, if you can’t leave
Of course, you may already be working with an asshole. So what should you do if you currently have an asshole problem? Sutton advises that if you work for an asshole, you should leave right away, if possible.
However, he realizes that not everyone can leave their job. Therefore, if you must work for an asshole for the duration, he has some coping techniques for you.
First, Sutton suggests you can reframe the situation. View the situation as temporary and don’t blame yourself for what is happening.
Second, you can practice indifference and emotional detachment. According to Sutton, “When your job feels like a prolonged personal insult, focus on just going through the motions, on caring as little as possible about the jerks around you, and think about something more pleasant as often as you can.”
If you practice these techniques, you can protect your mental and physical health until the situation changes or you find a better job.
However, the best cure for assholes is preventing them from working in your organization in the first place.
By now every entrepreneur has heard of ABC’s reality show Shark Tank, and most of you have probably considered baiting the hooks with your own business ideas. For those of you unfamiliar with Shark Tank, it is a show where entrepreneurs try their hand at scoring big investments and advice from self-made CEOs and business executives, the “Sharks.”
Week after week, we watch as startups and small businesses present their ideas to the panel of sharks including Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and Robert Herjavec. Some pitches inspire bidding wars between investors and the room quickly turns into a feeding frenzy. Others flounder on the surface as the Sharks look for a meatier catch.
Those that are chosen by a Shark not only have the financial support of a top executive, but also the guiding wisdom to build their product or service into an empire. Receiving an investment from the Sharks is not a far-fetched goal. If you have an idea you need help with, get inspired by past minnows that grew into big fish and follow their lead with a simple application.
With the time and dedication of the Sharks on your side, you can watch your company grow into the booming business you always dreamed of while you were hand-boxing shipments in your garage. Here are the success stories to prove it. Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary split a $150,000 investment into GrooveBook, a photobook-building app that was later sold to Shutterfly for $14.5 million.
Barbara Corcoran’s investment in Grace and Lace, a fashion company, which boosted its sales to a predicted $6.5 million for 2016.
Al “Bubba” Baker reached $200 million in Bubba’s-Q Boneless Ribs’ lifetime sales with the guidance and investment from Daymond Johnson.
Tipsy Elves’ ugly holiday sweaters reached $8 million in sales with the help of Robert Herjavec in 2016.
Be their next success story
I’m sure some of you probably remember watching these episodes and judging from your couch whether or not these ideas/products compared to your entrepreneurial endeavors. We’ve all done it. But being the next Shark Tank success story and working alongside some of the most influential investors isn’t as hard as you’d think.
With an investment rate of 59 percent in their last season, it turns out that the Sharks aren’t as gruesome as you’d expect. Not only are they closing deals more than half the time, but the amount they’re investing has increased dramatically since season 1. They went from shelling out an average of $181,000 per deal in season 1 to an average of $300,000 per deal in seasons 6, 7, and 8.
What it takes to get on the show
If you’re tired of watching other entrepreneur’s win the investments you know your company deserves, give it a go. There are two ways to apply to Shark Tankwith your business idea or pitch: email or open casting call. Either way, you’ll need to know your product/pitch down to the smallest details, as you can see from the questions on the Shark Tank initial application.
You have nothing to lose; even if you don’t receive a life-changing investment the Sharks are sure to give you constructive criticism that may turn you into a success on your own.
There’s no better way to learn how to make a profit than from the advice of someone who has built a billion-dollar enterprise. Billionaire entrepreneurs not only know a lot about making profits but also a lot about starting businesses, growing markets, and investing in industries.
These billionaire speakers and industry leaders have made successful enterprises in every area of business from entertainment to technology to transportation. They have changed lives and the world around us. If you’re interested in being a billionaire or in just running a successful business, BigSpeak is proud to present our list of Billion Dollar Speakers.
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta is chairman, CEO, and owner of Fertitta Entertainment Inc., and star of CNBC’s Billion Dollar Buyer. As a restaurateur and casino owner of Landry’s and Golden Nugget Casinos, Fertitta was able to amass his billion-dollar fortune. Now he spends his time helping small businesses on his show Billion Dollar Buyer, where he gives practical business advice on their business plans and methods and makes real orders for their products for his restaurant properties.
Marc Randolph is a top entrepreneur and innovation speaker, angel investor, and co-founder of Netflix. In 1997, he co-founded Netflix with Reed Hastings, serving as its first CEO until Hastings took over in 1999. While not a billionaire himself, he helped co-founder Hastings and Netflix to become billion-dollar enterprises. Since leaving the company, Randolph has used his expertise as a tech advisor and angel investor for other companies.
Sheryl Sandberg
Sandberg is a top leadership expert, COO of Facebook, and bestselling author of Lean In. She earned her first success as part of the Google team before being lured to work at Facebook. Her bestselling book Lean In confronted the problem of gender biases and career choices, while promoting the solution of believing in yourself and owning your ability to combine both work and family.
Steve Wozniak is a top technology and innovation speaker, co-founder of Apple Computer, and the bestselling author of his autobiography iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon. He is responsible for designing the Apple II, and for his contributions to technology, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2000. While not a personal billionaire, he helped Steve Jobs and Apple become billion-dollar enterprises.
Mark Cuban is a technology and media entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and a very entertaining judge on NBC’s Shark Tank. Cuban made his mark in the technology and entertainment world as co-founder of Broadcast.com, the leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet, and MicroSolutions, a leading National Systems Integrator, both of which he sold. Currently, he is the Chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet.
Peter Guber is an Entrepreneur Speaker, Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, a Championship Team Owner, and a New York Times bestselling author. Known for his “golden touch” as a movie producer, his films have earned five Best Picture Academy Award nominations, with Rain Man winning in 1989. He is the Operating Owner of the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors and his book Tell to Win was a New York Times bestseller. In his spare time, he teaches as a full-time professor in UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. His business acumen in sports and entertainment has helped his companies amass billions.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson is the President of the Lakers and universally known for his 13 year career in the NBA, where he won five national championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Johnson is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises. His business savvy and investments are putting him closer to the billionaires club every day.
Peter Diamandis is a top innovation speaker, futurist, Chairman/CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, futurist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He is most famous as founder and chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions; and as Co-Founder & Exec Chairman of Singularity University, where he counsels the world’s leaders (and billionaires) on exponentially growing technologies.
Sir Richard Branson is a world-famous billionaire and the founder and president of Virgin Group. In 1970, Richard Branson founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, expanded into recording studios in 1972, and never stopped growing and influencing the world through his new businesses (Virgin Airlines and mobile phones) and philanthropic efforts.
Daymond John is a top branding and motivational speaker, founder and CEO of FUBU clothing, reality TV judge on the Shark Tank, and a bestselling author. He has won numerous awards, such as Brandweek Marketer of the Year, and His New York Times bestselling, motivational business book The Power of Broke, also received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Instructional Literary Work. His business sense has helped many billion-dollar enterprises.
Marissa Mayer is the former President and CEO of Yahoo and Employee 20 of Google. At Google, Mayer was responsible for some of the company’s most recognizable and successful products, including Google Maps, Google Earth, Street View, Google News and Gmail, and is widely credited for the unique look and feel that has come to characterize the Google experience. While leading Yahoo, Mayer tripled the stock price, grew mobile users to 650 million, and changed the corporate culture.
Martha Stewart is a lifestyle expert, Emmy Award-winning television show host, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. Starting with her own catering business in 1972, Stewart developed a penchant for elegant recipes and a unique visual presentation style that served as a basis for the book Entertaining, published in 1982. Today her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, reaches approximately 66 million consumers across all media platforms each month, and she is well on her way to amassing a billion-dollar fortune.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the Co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, and the Founder of SpaceX and PayPal. He is well known for his futurist vision as well as his entrepreneurship. Under his direction, Musk has changed and developed both the payment and transportation industries. Currently, he has founded the Boring Company, and is looking at developing hyperloop travel to make commuting underground a faster mode of travel.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon, the richest man in the world, and well known as an empathetic leader. Under his direction, Amazon has become the destination of choice for online shopping and a titan in the entertainment industry with original and award-winning movies, such as Manchester by the Sea and the Big Sick. He has made self-publishing available to the masses through Kindle and has made voice-activated computers commonplace with the Alexa Echo device.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the co-founders of Google, which has now become the Alphabet company. Their algorithm for online search transformed the way people find information on the Internet, making Google into a verb, and themselves and their investors into billionaires. Their various products (Gmail, Maps, Drive) have changed the way businesses save data and collaborate online. And their personal motto, “Don’t Be Evil” has helped the company stay as a force of good for technology users worldwide.
The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.
Russell Bishop, Fortune 500 leadership consultant and educational psychologist, recently led a New Year seminar to help corporate executives plan for their best year yet—in and out of the office. I was fortunate enough to attend the seminar and gained some valuable insight about how leaders set goals.
The intimate conference allowed the leaders to speak openly about their personal and professional hopes and fears. Bishop tailored the seminar to the group’s needs and let the goal setting flow with his guidance.
He left the leaders with six main takeaways for creating a productive year and increasing happiness based on the challenges the leaders expressed. Although you may not run a Fortune 500 company (yet), acting like a leader is the best way to become one.
6 Lessons for Leaders from Russell Bishop on having a more productive year
Praise your accomplishments, while analyzing your disappointments
It’s essential to take an honest inventory of your past success and failure. Oftentimes, praising accomplishments is harder for people than identifying where they fell short. Bishop explains this is because of negative self-talk (how our self-image creates either positive or negative internal dialogue) that’s been instilled in us.
He gives the example of a grade school spelling test score. When you receive a grade at the top of your spelling test that reads “-6” instead of “44/50”, you’re trained to focus on the negative, what you lost. In actuality, this score is a B+ and something to be proud of. With the “44/50” model you also have something to build off of.
By taking inventory now, we can identify negative self-talk and adapt our goals.
Choose areas of focus for your goals
To choose an area of focus, Bishop recommends looking at your personal growth, friends, wealth, fun/adventure, service/philanthropy, career, family, and health. He suggests these topics as a starting point for formulating new goals but encourages you to explore other areas in your life where you place great importance such as spirituality or faith.
Once you’ve chosen your areas of focus, it’s time to visualize what you want in each area. What will make you happy and fulfilled?
Understand the goal symbolizes for you
Now, look at your list of things you want. Try to understand why you want them, and what they symbolize to you. For example, your goal may be to get a 5 percent raise at work. First, figure out why you want this raise: money, acknowledgment, status? Then, determine what these things symbolize to you. You want more money, which really means you want stability or freedom. You want higher status, which really means you want power or pride.
With the experience at the forefront of your mind, it’s time to take a good, hard look at whether these tangibles will actually produce the experience you want. You should also consider whether or not reaching these goals will stunt your experience so severely that it may not be worth it.
Imagine that you have to work overtime five nights a week to get that 5 percent raise that will ensure you have enough money to be free to go on lavish vacations. You’re sacrificing so much freedom to reach your that goal that it may not be worth it.
Set SMART goals
Once you fully understand the true reasons behind your desires you can set goals, but make sure they’re SMART goals.
Specific—Clear, objective
Measurable—How much, how many?
Attainable—At least an 80% chance of success, not so far-fetched they’ll never happen
Relevant—Achievement matters in critical areas of focus
Time-bound—You know when it’s due
By keeping your goals SMART, you are setting yourself up for success and making your goals reviewable. Often, people get lost in trying to decide the actual goal and they flounder between getting a 5 percent raise or finding a new higher paying job altogether.
Bishop says there’s no way to predict what will make you happier in the future, but one thing that definitely won’t make you happier is doing nothing. You need to start moving in any direction and the best part about goals is they’re adaptable. If something isn’t serving you as it should change it.
Positive self-talk
Bishop says as soon as you give your brain a focus it filters through the world through that focus. If you chose to focus on something positive, you’ll see more positive things in life. The same goes for negativity. If you are focused on feeling bad and you tell yourself, “Don’t feel bad,” your brain will only focus on “feel bad.” This is why your self-talk must always be positive.
As a psychologist, he swears by affirmations. By creating positive affirmations about feelings and not actions he truly believes you can build habits. Instead of saying, “I love to floss every day,” he repeats, “I love the healthy way my mouth and gums feel when I floss every day.”
With repetition and a focus on physical feelings, you will genuinely convince yourself. The best part, Bishop says, is that you should never do the action if you don’t feel like it. Only floss when you feel like have a healthy mouth. This will reinforce the validity of your affirmations.
Another key part of self-talk is finding paradigms that you’ve come to believe are true. While some paradigms can be expansive (“I can do anything I put my mind to!”) others can be limiting (“I need other people’s approval.”) Bishops says there’s no room your worldview for limiting paradigms and one of the most helpful things you can do is to rid yourself of these through affirmations.
Review your progress at least monthly
Check-in, whether it’s with an accountability partner or just yourself. You need to be monitoring your progress and reminding yourself of your focus. Some people avoid monthly check-ins because they’ve forgotten their positive self-talk and see this as a time to be critical of any missteps. While being honest about disappointments is healthy, take this time to praise the small accomplishments.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
At BigSpeak, we believe that motivation is the key to your success, whether you need to be motivated to consistently do a good job at work or to finish some big, hairy, audacious goal after years of struggle. Our top inspirational and motivational speakers inspire and delight business audiences all over the world. But where do they find their energy and inspiration?
To find out, BigSpeak reached out to our top motivational and inspirational speakers to discover what is motivating our biggest motivators in 2018. Their answers were as varied as they were surprising.
Top Motivational Speaker, Former Tony Robbins Int’l Point Man, Author, and Sales Leader
I am going back to the basics. I have one of the great personal development cassette libraries around. We just moved and I donated about 80% of them and kept the BEST. I am going old school and listening to the best cassette series from Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley and Napoleon Hill.
There are very few “new” ideas out there. Their wisdom is just as valuable today as it was when I first listened to it over 30 years ago.
#1 Bestselling Author and Digital Leadership Expert, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and Top 50 Professor
I’m inspired to do less this year! You don’t see that on too many t-shirts do you? As I’ve been privileged to interview, research, and surround myself with today’s Digital Leaders one common thread stands out. They’ve all learned that it’s not about adding stuff, it’s about taking away. This is the opposite of what 99% of us do when setting goals and resolutions. We start adding items to our already full plate. Not this year.
This year I’m motivated to do what I’ve learned from interviewing the world’s top performers. I’m going to do less. I’m going to stop multitasking. I’m going to focus. Specifically, each morning and throughout the day I’m going to pause, breath and ask the simple question: “What is the one thing, that if I do it well, makes everything else easier or unnecessary.” This is what motivates me and I hope it inspires you too!
Top Innovation Speaker, Tech Entrepreneur, and New York Times Bestselling Author
For me, two things:
1) The opportunity to elevate the world by unlocking creativity and innovation. If I can help organizations unleash just 5 percent more of these attributes, they enjoy tremendous success, create jobs, and help the world. This is my big dream…to elevate the world’s creative capacity.
2) I’m the proud dad of 1-year-old twins (boy and girl). Talk about inspiring and motivating!
Top Leadership Speaker, Executive Coach, and CEO of Libby Gill & Company
My inspiration for 2018 is the science of hopefulness, called hope theory. I’ve spent years researching this topic and I’m delighted to have compiled my research, along with case studies and client stories, into my new book, The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity at Work.
With this book–endorsed by bestselling authors Stephen M.R. Covey, Bob Burg, Joe Calloway, CEO of Wicked Good Cupcakes and star of Shark Tank, Tracey Noonan; and numerous business and thought leaders–I’ll be able to help people experiencing change, challenge, and chaos. I plan to guide emerging and established leaders to create more purposeful and productive workplaces by shifting mindsets from siloed to collaborative and productivity levels from sluggish to robust.
My ultimate goal is to disprove the old adage “Hope is not a strategy,” and show the world–now when we need it most–that hope IS a strategy!
Top Leadership and Teamwork Speaker, World Champion Adventure Racer, CNN Hero, and Bestselling Author
In 2018, I’m Inspired to help people (and animals:)) discover and reach their huge, hairy dreams and goals…
1) In my speaking business, I love helping corporate clients and their teams embrace the idea that building, leading and inspiring a team for the journey is how we consistently WIN!
2) In my nonprofit, The Project Athena Foundation, I love helping Survivors of medical or traumatic setbacks cross crazy-challenging, adventurous finish lines as part of their recovery. It’s truly a joy to watch our amazing Athenas (and Zeuses!) shock and Inspire themSELVES—and to show them that they’re never defined by their setbacks…they’re defined by their COMEBACKS!
3) In my next nonprofit endeavor, the Valentine Animal Sanctuary, in Sedona AZ (which I hope to break ground on at the end of the year!), I and my family/team want to help homeless creatures, great and small, to live their dream of a happy, healthy, long, and LOVED life by providing a forever-happy home. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Leadership Speaker and Expert, retired Brigadier General, and Executive Director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders
Inspiration and the motivation that follows are simply choices. I choose to be inspired, from the inside out. The beauty of this attitude is that it can take you through really difficult realities.
Kyle Crocco is the Marketing Coordinator for BigSpeak, has a Ph.D. in Education from UCSB, and likes to play guitar in his free time.
If you’re feeling a little sluggish by the end of January, you’re not alone. The holidays are over, the holiday weight is still on, and the early enthusiasm for new goals has waned considerably in the face of everyday obstacles. By the end of the first month, only 60 percent of people are still working towards their New Year’s resolution.
If you find yourself wavering on an old goal, about to start a new goal, or just need a little motivation to keep up the good work you are doing, here are six ways to keep your motivation fresh, inspired from ideas in the bestselling books of our top motivational and inspirational speakers.
Do something meaningful
If you aspire to be successful in what you do, you should always choose to pursue something meaningful. You will know if some activity or goal is meaningful if you find it is something you would do even if you weren’t paid, or you would do despite criticism. Think about the activities that engage you so much that you lose track of time.
(From Mark Thompson, Executive Leadership Coach and Bestselling Co-author of Success Built to Last)
Use unrounded numbers to get off the couch
If you want to get off the couch and exercise more, choose an unrounded number for your target goal. For example, would you rather run a 10k or 9.9k, do 30-minute or a 29-minute swim, go on a one- hour hike or a 59 minute hike?
While the number difference is small, the effect can be quite large for motivation. Robert Cialdini says by using unrounded numbers, the task seems more achievable.
Set a number range to better meet your target goal
In the same vein, you are more likely to complete a goal when you set a number range rather than a single number. For example, if your goal was to lose weight: Would you lose more weight if you were asked to lose 1-3 pounds a week, or 2 pounds a week?
In a study on weight loss, Cialdini stated the 1-3 pound group lost more weight—an average of 2.67 pounds in the first three weeks compared to just 2.2 pounds for the 2 pound a week group.
Cialdini says that people find a number range more attainable. When you have a single number, you might give up if you don’t achieve that number, but with a number range, you are more likely to meet the goal.
(2 and 3 from Robert Cialdini, Behavioral Expert, Bestselling Author of Influence)
Celebrate small wins
When you set goals, don’t wait until they are entirely complete to celebrate. To keep your motivation up, you should break your goal into smaller steps and celebrate those small wins.
If your goal was to start a new business in 2018, don’t wait until you open your doors to celebrate. Celebrate the progress along the way: completing the business plan, getting funding, etc.
There’s nothing like a small victory to keep you motivated for the next victory.
Never let the pursuit of perfection hinder progress
Conditions are rarely ever perfect. The results that we envisioned and reality are often at odds, but it shouldn’t keep us from moving forward and doing the very best we can with what we have in the moment, every minute, every day. Success is a journey, not a destination.
Be flexible
In our experience, “Semper Gumby” (Forever Flexible!) is also one of the hallmarks of a winner, as change is the only consistent thing when we’re trying to achieve world-class results in a constantly changing environment!
(5 and 6 from Robyn Benincasa, Teamwork Expert, Bestselling Author of How Winning Works)
Kyle Crocco is the Marketing Coordinator for BigSpeak, has a Ph.D. in Education from UCSB, and can be easily persuaded to do karaoke.
Everybody wants to be their own boss and watch their startup grow into a prosperous business, but most startups are missing the secret ingredient–purpose. When purpose is added to passion you become invincible. Passion for money and day-cruising in your yacht may seem like enough to drive a company, but you’d be surprised how fast that motivation fades when you run into speed bumps.
The true motivator that will never waiver or wilt is a purpose. Nowadays, you have a 90 percent chance of your startup failing, whether it’s due to market conditions, your product, or funding. But the simple truth is that every startup is going to hit roadblocks that could easily mean failure…or they could mean it’s time to dig deeper. The difference between the strong companies and the floundering startups is the belief that what you’re doing is worth pushing on.
The formula is simple passion + purpose = determination. These top keynote speakers have managed to turn their passions into businesses, nonprofits, and foundations that survived the test of time by feeding off each one’s distinct purpose.
Jess Ekstrom
Jess Ekstrom founded Headbands of Hope, a company that donates a headband to a child with cancer for everyone one headband purchased. She came up with the idea after interning with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, where she saw how much girls who had lost their hair to chemotherapy loved dressing up in headbands. As a junior in college, she created and launched her startup, which has now grown to be a massive success.
Ekstrom struggled with the millennial stigma associated with young college kids trying to make it big in the corporate world. After her initial launch only yielded two sales (her mother and grandpa,) her determination had to kick into overdrive.
Ekstrom believes there’s a “moment in our lives that completely wipes clear everything we thought we knew.” Hers was seeing how her company brought confidence and happiness to so many children. She refocused her brand and has now given 202,314 headbands to children around the world.
Neither brother has a background in business and their company grew faster than they could learn. They made countless mistakes along the way, but their purpose of helping children and spreading positivity carried them on regardless of their business blunders.
She started her company, Embrace Innovations, as a nonprofit. But after losing funding and seeing her company on the edge of failure before it even began, she switched to a TOMS-model and created its sister company Little Lotus Baby, a baby product line for the US market. Now an Embrace baby warmer is donated to a developing country every time a parent buys a Little Lotus Baby product.
Her purpose didn’t allow her to give up, even when failure seemed imminent.
Sebastian Terry
Sebastian Terry started with a bucket list. After his friend died at the early age of 24, he re-examined his life and asked, “What would I do differently if this was the only time on earth I had?” Everything: the answer the spawned his 100 Things List.
After checking box after box, he said he found his real purpose when he came #26, “Help a stranger.” Once he had helped himself to find out who he truly was, he realized he could now help others.
Scott Harrison is the founder of Charity: Water, a charity that provides clean water to those in need around the world. He was inspired by his volunteer trip to Liberia where he documented doctors’ work removing facial deformities for those who could not afford it. On this trip, he realized most of the issues the inhabitants encountered were caused by drinking dirty water.
Previously, Harrison had spent ten years working as a nightclub promoter in New York. He felt he needed to change his life, stop polluting the world, and give back. He struggled to launch the charity because of people’s apprehension around where their money really goes within a charity.
Jean-Michel Cousteau is an underwater explorer, environmentalist, educator, and filmmaker. The son of Jaque Cousteau, he grew up with an affinity and appreciation for the ocean as we are all connected through it and to it. He has dedicated his life to “carrying on the flame” of his father’s activism centered around protecting our oceans.
As Founder, Chairman of the Board, and President of Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, Jean-Michel travels the world, meeting with leaders and policymakers at the grassroots level and at the highest echelons of government and businesses. He is dedicated to educating young people, documenting stories of change and hope, and lending his reputation and support to energize alliances for positive change.
Jean-Michel’s passion for preserving and protecting the ocean has been his life’s purpose. At the age of 80 he celebrated 73 years of diving and feels he can’t and won’t stop until he sees a brighter future for our oceans.
Michael Balaoing
Michael Balaoing is a top communications speaker, entrepreneur, and social activist. He is the founder and CEO of Candellion LLC, a strategic communications group that focuses on guiding people to become better public speakers. His philanthropic work is a little more behind-the-scenes than some of our other speakers, but it is just as impactful.
He brings his communications expertise to foundations focused on women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship. He worked with the Tory Burch Fellows to prepare them for their pitches and give them a leg up in the competitive business world. Tory Burch Foundation works to empower women entrepreneurs and aids them in numerous ways, like arming them with top speaking advice from Balaoing.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
One of our favorite talks is by Derek Sivers. In his short comic presentation, he shows by traveling across the world you can find the opposite of what you believe can also be true. For example, in the U.S and Europe, we have names for streets but not for our city blocks. But in Japan, they name their city blocks and have no names for their streets. Or in China, you pay a doctor when you are well because he or she is doing a good job, but not when you are sick.
So questions your assumptions about how systems work. The opposite might just be as true.
“When you are not afraid of rejection and it feels like you have nothing to lose, amazing things can happen.” – Jia Jiang
This quote may sound familiar to you if you watched Jia Jiang’s TED Talk that ranked one of the most viewed talks of 2017 about his 100 Days of Rejection. With over 3.5 million views, his idea of exposing yourself to rejection to build immunity became the focus of many thought partners and sales leaders.
But for many, the drive stopped there. You watched the talk and felt good about your next rejection, maybe even turned that ‘no’ into a ‘yes,’ but that was as far as your motivation took you. You forgot Jia’s rejection-proof demeanor as soon as a rejection cut you deep enough to break the skin.
If this is you, don’t worry. Jia’s bestselling book, Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible, One Rejection at a Time, will not only resurrect the momentary confidence his talk inspired in you, but it will also help you hold onto a rejection-proof mindset and guide you through the process of becoming fearless once and for all.
Here are some golden takeaways from Jia’s book, served up with hands-on ways to live a rejection-proof life.
18 Lessons Learned From Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang
Rejection Is Human: Rejection is a human interaction with two sides. It often says more about the rejector than the rejectee, and should never be used as the universal truth and sole judgment of merit.
Rejection Is an Opinion: Rejection is an opinion of the rejector. It is heavily influenced by historical context, cultural differences, and psychological factors. There is no universal rejection or acceptance.
Rejection Has a Number: Every rejection has a number. If the rejectee goes through enough rejections, a no could turn into a yes.
Retreat, Don’t Run: By not giving up after the initial rejection, and instead of retreating to a lesser request, one has a much higher chance of landing a yes.
Collaborate, Don’t Contend: Never argue with the rejector. Instead, try to collaborate with the person to make the request happen. Be patient and respectful.
Give A “Why”: By explaining the reason behind the request, one has a higher chance to be accepted.
Start with “I”: Starting the request with the word “I” can give the requester more authentic control of the request. Never pretend to think in the other person’s interests without genuinely knowing them.
Acknowledge Doubts: By admitting obvious and possible objections to your request before the other person, one can increase the trust level between the two parties.
Target the Audience: By choosing a more receptive audience, one can enhance the chance of being accepted.
Be Direct: When giving a rejection, present the reason for the rejection. Avoid long, convoluted setups and reasoning.
Self-Improvement: One can use rejection as an effective way to improve an idea or product.
Worthiness: Sometimes it is good to be rejected, especially if public opinion is heavily influenced by a group and conventional thinking, and if the idea is radically creative.
Character Building: By seeking rejection in tough environments, one can build up the mental toughness to take on greater goals.
Find Value: Repeated rejections can serve as the measuring stick for one’s resolve and belief. Some of the greatest triumphant stories come only after gut-wrenching rejections.
Freedom to Ask: We often deprive ourselves of the freedom to ask for what we want in fear of rejection and judgment. But amazing things often happen only after we take the first step.
Detachment from Results: By focusing on controllable factors such as our efforts and actions, and by detaching ourselves from uncontrollable outcomes such as acceptance and rejection, we can achieve greater success in the long run.
A good business keynote speaker is someone who entertains while informing, but a great one is someone who leaves everyone in the room feeling empowered, like the world outside that conference door is theirs to command. BiSpeak knows the difference between good and great business keynote speakers and we know how hard it is to find someone who reaches greatness. Which is why we at BigSpeak want to make it easier for you to find your next great speaker by sharing our most booked business keynote speakers in the speakers bureau industry.
Whether you’re looking to motivate, inspire, inform, or entertain, these four great business keynote speakers will leave your audience ready to take on the business world.
Marc Randolph is a top entrepreneur and innovation speaker, who is best known as a co-founder of the Internet streaming service sensation, Netflix. Under his direction, he guided Netflix to their initial public offering in 2000. After leaving Netflix in 2002, Randolph co-founded the analytics software company Looker Data Sciences.
As a business speaker, Randolph’s keynotes focus on how companies can be more like startups in terms of ideas and innovation, and the Netflix story. Audiences find his presentations funny and inspiring with useful business takeaways that will help them think like a Silicon Valley startup.
Mitch Lowe is a top entertainment and business speaker, CEO of MoviePass, co-founding executive of Netflix, and a former President of Redbox. As an investor, executive, and entrepreneur he has helped transform and continues to transform the movie entertainment and vending industries. Under his direction, MoviePass has climbed from 20,000 to 1.5 million subscribers in slightly over a year and looks to disrupt the movie theater industry by bringing down prices and increasing theater attendance.
As a business speaker, Lowe’s keynotes focus on tough leadership decisions, building a winning culture, and teamwork. Audiences find that he is a terrific presenter, a pleasure to work with, an incredible resource, and a great thought partner.
Matthew Luhn is a top creativity speaker, story consultant, and a former Pixar Animator and Story Artist with 20 years’ experience at Pixar Animation Studios. His work has appeared in numerous Pixar films, including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., andCars.
As a business speaker, Luhn’s keynotes and workshops focus on using storytelling skills to help Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, and professionals bridge the gap between business and heart so they can build stronger brands, make more engaging pitches, and craft better content. Audiences find Luhn to be an amazing presenter, easy to work with, inspiring, funny, and the highlight of the conference.
Robyn Benincasa is a top leadership and teamwork speaker, world champion adventure racer, CNN Hero, and bestselling author. She has won the World Adventure Race two times, holds three Guinness World Record for long-distance kayaking, and has participated as an Ironman triathlete 10 times. Her book on teamwork and leadership, How Winning Works, was a New York Times bestseller. She has been a San Diego firefighter for 19 years and is considered a CNN Hero for founding Project Athena Foundation, which helps survivors live their adventurous dream as part of their recovery.
As a motivational business speaker, Benincasa’s keynotes focus on building world-class teams and creating a culture of champions. Audiences find Benincasa’s talks to be motivating and uplifting, while re-cetenering teamwork as a corporate necessity.
The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.
Robyn Benincasa -How Winning Works: 8 Essential Leadership Lessons from the Toughest Teams on Earth
1. Total Commitment
“People who have lost heart have never yet won a trophy.” — Greek Proverb
“Commitment starts when the fun stops!” — Robyn Benincasa
“I’m a great believer in luck. I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it.” — Benjamin Franklin
Inspiring and Demonstrating “The 4 P’s of Total Commitment”:
Planning—You MUST have a clear and easily understandable plan (direction, methods, checkpoints, destination) that is consistently communicated to the rest of the team. Ensure that all team members understand their role within that plan and the ways in which they can help one another get to the finish line.
In our experience, “Semper Gumby” (Forever Flexible!) is also one of the hallmarks of a great navigator/leader, as change is the only consistent thing when we’re trying to achieve world-class results in a constantly changing environment!
Purpose—Inspire yourself and your team by focusing on and reaching for something greater than yourselves. Money is powerful as a goal, but great people not only want to do “well” for themselves, they want to do “good” for others and their communities. Give people a way to create a “greater good” through your organization, and watch them rise to the occasion, personally and professionally.
Perseverance—Great winners always find a way, every day, to move forward toward their goals, mentally, spiritually, and physically. Make sure you reward people for their consistent, small, day-to-day steps, and not only the big leaps. Success is often based on consistency, and ultimately, the small steps have a greater long-term impact than the big ones when it comes to reaching huge, hairy, audacious finish lines. In the fire academy, we learned that water is extremely hot at 211 degrees, but it boils at 212 degrees. You never know when that 1 degree of extra effort is going to change outcomes. Perseverance, and going the extra step every day (versus occasionally going the extra mile), is the key!
Preparation—Luck = Opportunity + Preparation. All consistently high performing teams have one thing in common: their world class preparation. How do you think they get so “lucky”!? And not only are they out-preparing their competitors, they are always scanning the horizon for opportunities and creating opportunities by understanding, mining and capitalizing on their unique strengths and core competencies. What do you do better than anyone else in the industry? And are you preparing every day to capitalize on those strengths?
Remember: COMMITMENT STARTS WHEN THE FUN STOPS! You don’t find out if your team is truly committed until they’re faced with times of great challenge and change. For World Class Teams, these times are a catalyst to make them even better…together!
Inspiring and Demonstrating Empathy and Awareness:
Connect to the person before the point
When interacting with another teammate during the course of the day, take just 30 seconds to let that person know that you SEE THEM (the friend, the co-worker, the wife, the dad, the XYZ) before you dive right into what you need from them. It doesn’t take much, often just a “How did your son do on his final exams?” or “How was your daughter’s soccer championship” or even “How ARE you?” (and really actually wait for the answer). This strengthens that bridge to our teammates when they know we care about THEM, as human beings. And when times are tough or there are huge hairy goals ahead, those interpersonal bonds are the key to success. When it comes to motivation and perseverance, we’ll drive harder for our “friends.”
Coaching versus criticism
When we need to address performance with a teammate, always try to err on the side of coaching versus criticizing. How do you ensure that your teammate can tell the difference? When you criticize, you are perceived as “pointing a finger” at your teammate. When you coach, you are genuinely extending a hand and asking how you can help. A slight distinction in intent and delivery makes all the difference. And you will get a heck of a lot more buy-in from your teammate when they understand that you believe in them, are in their corner, and are offering to help them succeed.
Remember that we work for people, not for companies
World Class Teammates are constantly demonstrating and inspiring, in word and indeed, how to be the kind of leader/team member that other people want to work WITH and work for. When the best path/response/action isn’t clear, think about the best, most motivating leader or teammate you have had in your life, and ask yourself “what would X do right now”? You can never go wrong when you consistently DWR (Do What’s Right). It’s a simple code to live by, you will never have any regrets, and you’ll inspire others to DWR along the way!
3. Adversity Management
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Change is the only thing that stays the same…it’s our response to those changes that dictate our success.” — Phoenix Fire Department Chief, Alan Brunacini
Inspiring and Demonstrating Adversity Management:
See challenges versus roadblocks:
Your attitude and your response to times of great challenge and change dictate your long-term success. The best of the best inspire themselves and their teammates to always see a “challenge,” never a roadblock. The human spirit is wired to rise to the occasion!
Be ruled by the “hope of success” versus the “fear of failure”
When faced with a difficult challenge or times of change, observe yourself in action. Are you driven to do what it takes to WIN or are you simply doing what it takes to NOT LOSE? Where you set your focus completely changes who you are and HOW you operate, and leads you down two different paths, to two vastly different finish lines. Try focusing on and planning your next moves based on where you WANT to go instead of focusing on all of the things you are worried might happen. This works for mountain biking too, btw! 🙂 Every time I’ve found myself in the dirt next to my bike, it was because I was focusing on the dreaded obstacle in the trail instead of the clearest path to success!
Embrace setbacks and challenges as a springboard to future success
One of the many hallmarks of a World Class Team is their ability to realize, in the moment, that their challenges will lead them to something much better in the future, and they embrace those times of change and uncertainty as a chance to get a jump on future success. Pain brings progress. With the right attitude and a certain fierceness we tackle our challenges head-on and often look back a few years later and say to ourselves and our teammates, “In a lot of ways, that crazy time was the best thing that ever happened to us.” And it’s true!
Never let the pursuit of perfection hinder progress
Conditions are rarely ever perfect. The results that we envisioned and reality are often at odds, but it shouldn’t keep us from moving forward and doing the very best we can with what we have in the moment, every minute, every day. Success is a journey, not a destination. And the best teammates inspire everyone around them to persevere, make the best of a crazy situation, and never ever lose that drive to do “whatever it takes” to get to the finish line.
4. Mutual Respect
“Loyalty means not that I agree with everything you say or that I believe you are always right. Loyalty means that I share a common ideal with you, and that, regardless of minor differences, we strive for it, shoulder to shoulder, confident in one another’s good faith, trust, constancy, and affection.” — Karl Menninger
Inspiring and Demonstrating Mutual Respect:
Remember the Aluminum Can Theory
The Aluminium Can Theory is an entertaining concept created by Alan Brunacini, one of the most inspiring and engaging Fire Chiefs in history (and one of my personal heroes). He said, “When you have a disagreement with someone on your crew and you’re compelled to go right to the one terrible comment that you know will take them to their knees…remember that comment is an aluminum can…it’s going to stay in the environment forever.” World Class Teams never let those aluminum cans come between teammates. They consistently avoid gossip, criticism, and backstabbing, as those behaviors will destroy a hard-won trust. Conversely, there are Positive Aluminium Cans (i.e., telling a teammate how impactful, amazing, or talented they are and why), and great teammates will share them in abundance.
Mentor unselfishly
World Class Teammates understand that “Knowledge SHARED is power,” and they are consistently bringing one another up to speed on best practices, the latest techniques, new discoveries, etc. Everyone gets better…together, and the rising tide raises all ships! Always be wary of “teammates” who derive their power by knowing things that others don’t know.
Act like a team always…the feelings will follow
Let’s face it! We’re not always going to feel all fluffy and purple dinosaurs (I love you, you love me) about each other! But World Class Teammates will always ACT like a great leader or act like a great teammate, regardless of the feelings. Bottom line: Acting like a team is more important than feeling like a team. The positive feelings will always come back when our actions inspire them.
Believe in teammates beyond reason
What happens when someone believes in us? It makes us want to rise to the occasion and prove them right. And if someone doesn’t believe in us? We tend to want to prove them right as well. Believing in someone is a powerful force… and a gift that great teammates give to one another every day.
Give respect as a gift—not as a grade
Building and leading a World Class Team inherently means that everyone is given 100% respect for their experience, opinions, contributions, knowledge, etc., right off the bat, versus creating an environment in which little respect is given and must constantly be earned. Trust me, as a firefighter, I live in a world where respect must always be earned and can be withdrawn at any moment. It’s definitely not conducive to world-class teamwork or results when teammates are constantly battling one another for recognition or pride. When respect is given as a gift and not withheld as a grade, teammates feel valued, worthy, engaged, free to learn, and have increased ownership of outcomes. Respect is also the super glue that bonds teammates together in times of great challenge and change.
5. ‘We’ Thinking
“None of us is as smart as all of us.” — Ken Blanchard
“The secret is to play less as an individual and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.” — Vince Lombardi
Inspiring and Demonstrating “We” Thinking:
Choose a goal that can’t be accomplished alone and build a world-class team to achieve it
The best of the best in any challenging endeavor didn’t get to the finish line alone; they had mentors, great teammates, sponsors, a supportive family, and they consistently surrounded themselves with people that could push or tow them to the next level. In our business lives, we should always be reaching out to others in pursuit of our goals for ourselves, and, most importantly, our clients and customers. Just like a tree, we can only grow so tall before we need to widen our base and extend our roots; only then can we grow even taller. It’s not a weakness to seek teammates when faced with a big challenge or a huge hairy audacious goal…it’s a strength!!
“Suffer equally”—offer and accept tow lines
This is a funny term that one of my teammates came up with to describe how a world-class adventure racing team operates. World Class Teams are always finding a way to “suffer equally” during the race, whether that means taking some weight from a struggling teammate’s pack when we feel strong, or grabbing a tow line from a teammate when we’re at our lowest point. Teammates who are consistently sharing their strengths AND their weaknesses will always get to the finish line before a team of superstar soloists.
Seek synergy everywhere
The best leaders have a knack for creating synergy in every interaction, because they are consistently operating with the intention of a teammate: They always try to find the win/win, they bring more value than they take, and they walk out of their front door every day and see a world full of teammates versus a world full of competitors. This energy draws people to us and brings out the teambuilders in them. It’s amazing how much people will give when the person across the table from them has the intention to give back.
6. Ownership of the project
“People tend to embrace that which they create.” — Anonymous
Demonstrating and Inspiring Ownership of the Project:
Hire the inspired
When you bring new people onto your team within your business or in your life, make sure they are not only capable of performing at a world-class level, but they are truly inspired at a deep level by your vision, mission, values and the people served by your organization. Many jobs can be learned, but inspiration is an inside job, and in many cases, that real sense of purpose and ownership of outcomes is of equal importance to the technical side of the job.
Inspire your hires
How do we inspire people who are currently on our team? Here are a few key ways to create real ownership of your mission and outcomes:
Discover teammates’ strengths and let them lead in those areas of strength, experience, and ability
Ask your teammates what they are hoping to get out of working with you and your organization. In other words, what is their “why”? What inspires them to do their best? I guarantee you will get as many different answers as you have teammates. Everyone has a different reason for why they do what they do, and it’s not always the drive for more money. Some teammates want mentorship (someone who “sees” their potential and can help them move forward), others want recognition, etc. If you can discover what that is for each teammate and help them get it, you’ll create a great deal of ownership.
Ask for teammates’ input on strategy, tactics, and goals. People tend to embrace that which they help create.
7. Relinquishment of Ego
“You’ve got to leave your ego at the starting line…it’s the heaviest thing in your pack.” — Adventure Racing wisdom
“Strategically placed testosterone has never put out a fire.” — Alan Brunacini, Phoenix Fire Department Chief
“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit.” — John Wooden
Inspiring and Demonstrating Relinquishment of Ego:
Ask for help and accept help—It’s a gift to the helper
One of the tell-tale signs that you’ve got great teammates is how willing they are to rely on one another and ask for help to ultimately help the team success, without the fear that they will appear “weak.” This is easy in an adventure race where we very literally need help to keep moving forward. In the business world, most of us are, understandably, reluctant to ask for help. If asking for help or accepting help is hard for you, think of accepting help as a “gift” to the helper. It always is! Doesn’t it make you feel great when you’re able to advise or guide a colleague? Give that gift to others and let them help you. You’ve also created a great bond between yourself and your teammates when you do. Bottom line is that you haven’t used all of your strength as a leader or teammate until you’ve asked for help.
Give away the credit
A great way to continue to inspire your teammates and build solid bonds with them is to consistently give away credit for success to everyone on the team. You’ve seen the best of the best do this in sports, ala Michael Jordan, who inherently understood that his teammates would work harder to set him up for success when they trusted him to share the credit. The same is true in business. When we gracefully share credit for our success with others, the right teammates will do the same in return. Ultimately the team wins when competitiveness is replaced by loyalty, respect, and the trust that all teammates’ names will be on that symbolic trophy.
Feed your ego with your team’s success—not your individual glory
Our ego is a powerful force, but with all powerful forces, we must harness it for good, not evil. None of us got to a high level in our careers without a strong ego. But world-class teammates feed their ego by helping the team succeed: when they are the strongest team member, they demonstrate that strength by helping someone else versus getting to the top of the mountain ahead of the pack. If they are the smartest or most capable teammate at the moment, they offer that wisdom and guidance to the team or mentor others. When they are the most challenged teammate at the time, they raise their hand and ask for help, knowing that accepting help is the best thing they can do to get their team across the finish line first!
8. Kinetic Leadership
“A company is like a ship…everyone should be prepared to take the helm.” — Henrik Ibsen
“Leadership is not a privilege. It’s a responsibility.” — Firefighter Jeff Akens
Demonstrating and Inspiring Kinetic Leadership:
Change leaders
There is a big difference between management and leadership. Being a manager implies that you are the person formally charged with directing and facilitating the success of others. But a leader is someone who INSPIRES others to be at their best, and who is prepared to step up to the plate and be the person to drive the success of the team based upon their strengths and not their title. Therefore, everyone on the team should be ready to lead (and expected to lead!), and the best managers will allow those “informal” leaders to continually emerge. After all, the most important job of a leader is to create other leaders.
Change leadership styles
It’s poetic and powerful to watch a great leader step up to the plate and become exactly whom their teammates need at the moment. The best teambuilders know their teammates well and are constantly listening for, assessing, and striving to deeply understand the needs of each individual and the team as a whole so that they may maximize potential and outcomes. When it’s business as usual, a team sometimes needs a visionary, a coach, a friend, or to feel like they’re part of the decision making. In times of great challenge or change the team often needs a strong pacesetter to get out front and show them the way or to simply tell them exactly what to do and when (…to be utilized sparingly! But as a firefighter I appreciate those leadership styles when we roll up on a house engulfed in flames ). Bottom line: leadership styles should be utilized and interchanged similar to the way a golfer chooses his clubs. If we continually assess conditions, learn the lay of the land and choose just the right club for the job, we increase our chances of long-term, consistent success from our team.
When historians look back at 2018, they will say it was the Year of the Woman; a moment when powerful women started taking charge. They’ll be wrong, of course. While it most definitely will be the Year of the Woman, powerful women have been taking charge for years.
Powerful women have built businesses, created political accords, fostered change, and stood up for the rights of the oppressed, winning awards and accolades in the process. In short, these powerful, motivational, and inspirational women keynote speakers serve as role models not just for all women, but for all humanity.
BigSpeak is proud to present the 11 most powerful women keynote speakers.
Billie-Jean King
In her life, King has been a champion in sports and the women’s rights movement and is considered one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life. As a competitor, she won 39 Grand Slam titles and as an entrepreneur, she spread the joy of tennis by co-founding World TeamTennis. However, she is best known for the famous tennis match, “The Battle of the Sexes,” where she defeated Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome and fought for women’s equality in front of an estimated worldwide audience of 50 million spectators.
In the world of fashion, Brown is a self-made millionaire, famous for creating a line of simple, flattering and wearable makeup as the founder and former CCO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Her simple approach and her inclusive message of “the secret to beauty is simple—be who you are” has appealed to diverse audiences, making her a sought-after expert in fashion and beauty on television and in print.
Carly Fiorina
Fiorina is a successful entrepreneur and powerful voice for conservative views. She earned her success the old-fashioned way, from the bottom up, starting as a secretary in a small real-estate firm and working smart until eventually becoming the CEO of a major company, Hewlett Packard. As head of Hewlett Packard, Fiorina doubled its revenue to over $80 billion, quadrupled its growth rate to 6.5 percent, and tripled innovation to 15 patents a day. In politics, she has served as Chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, ran for the Senate in California, and made a bid for the Republican Presidential nomination.
Geena Davis
Davis is an Oscar and Golden-Globe winning actor, world-class archer (at one time ranked 13th nationally), member of the genius society Mensa, and the Founder and Chair of the non-profit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which helps reduce gender stereotyping. Davis is also an official partner of UN Women, working toward their goal of promoting gender equality and empowering women worldwide.
Jessica Alba
Alba is a successful Hollywood actress, best selling author of The Honest Life, and the founder and chief creative officer of The Honest Company, whose mission is to provide families with products that are effective, safe, beautiful, accessible, and responsible. Her company has been recognized for its efforts with the ACG Award for Social Responsibility, PC Magazine’s Seal of Consumer Approval in Tech, and the Pioneer in Sustainability Award by the Sustainable Business Council of Los Angeles.
Fortune magazine named her one of the “10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.”
Malala Yousafzai
Yousafzai is an education activist, Nobel Prize laureate, and bestselling author. She is best known for her human rights advocacy, especially in the area of women’s education in her home country Pakistan, where the Taliban had banned girls from attending school. From 2013-2015 Time magazine featured her as one of the most influential people globally and in 2014, at the age of 17, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Her book, I am Malala, was an international bestseller.
Stewart is a lifestyle expert, Emmy Award-winning television show host, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. Starting with her own catering business in 1972, Stewart developed a penchant for elegant recipes and a unique visual presentation style that served as a basis for the book Entertaining, published in 1982. Entertaining was the first of 78 books by Stewart, including bestsellers such as Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook. Today her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, reaches approximately 66 million consumers across all media platforms each month, sharing her lifestyle expertise.
Warrior is a CTO and entrepreneur recognized for her creative, visionary technology leadership in companies such as Cisco and Motorola. At Cisco, she oversees the technology strategy, including cloud computing and data center/virtualization, security, and architectures for business transformation. While serving as CTO of Motorola, the company was awarded the 2004 National Medal of Technology. She has won many accolades, including being named as one of the “25 Most Influential Women in Wireless,” by Business Insider and one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” by Forbes.
Krawcheck is a leadership expert, past president of Global Wealth & Investment Management for Bank of America, and the current Chair of Ellevate, the global professional women’s network. As Chair of Ellevate, she helped created the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund, the first and only mutual fund of its kind, investing in the 400 top-rated companies in the world for advancing women.
The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.
