Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
We all have a boss. We all answer to someone. Board of directors, supervisor, coach, parents or wife. Even the president of the United States has a boss in the form of millions of citizens.
We may not be in as crazy a situation like the worker in the following video, but you may see some similarities in this “Office Space” clip. If you are like me, then you’ve had bosses that have been good and bosses that have needed some improvement.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted speaker, commentator, and adviser to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks.
In 2015, she gave a TEDx talk in Los Angeles where she discussed the secret to successful crisis management in the 21st century. Agnes is the editor of the Crisis Ready Blog, a contributor to Forbes, and a go-to source for the press, with recent coverage including the Wall Street Journal, VIBE Magazine, USA Today, and many others. As a university guest lecturer, Agnes teaches crisis management in university courses around the world, including at NYU and McGill.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Drew Brees just became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards when he surpassed Peyton Manning in a Monday Night Football game. Brees is surely destined for Canton, Ohio and the Pro Football Hall of Fame once he retires. However, it didn’t look that way when Brees was coming out of Purdue University and was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2001 NFL draft. He was considered too short to be a sure-fire NFL Quarterback. In fact, seven games into his first NFL season, he was unexpectedly thrust into action when the starter got hurt. Brees preceded to fumble the ball the first time he dropped back to pass. In 2006, he tore his rotator cuff and was no longer wanted by his team. New Orleans embraced him and welcomed him. He would reward the team (and city) with their first Super Bowl championship in 2009.
Brandon Bostick is a former NFL Tight End. He is originally from South Carolina and starred at West Florence HS before going to Newberry College. While at Newberry, he played Wide Receiver and scored 19 touchdowns in only 39 total collegiate games (24 starts). Brandon’s journey has been a story of overcoming the odds to achieve his goals. He played two full seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He would also spend time with the Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Jets during his NFL career. Unfortunately, on January 15, 2015 in the NFC Championship Game, he was involved in a play that would be the low point in his career. He fumbled an onside kick, which gave the Seattle Seahawks one last chance to score. The Seahawks scored and would eventually win the game in overtime, advancing to the Super Bowl. Despite this setback Brandon has maintained a positive attitude. He is a good example of a person being resilient and understanding how blessed he is. He had a great career and got to play with some of the best to ever play the game of football.
“Hey, Jamy, do you have a minute?”
This was the question the athletic director asked me as I was getting ready to take my college basketball team on a team-building experience.
It was early January and school had not yet started.
Little did I know that in the next few minutes, I would be receiving my invitation to a well-known club that has plenty of members all across the country.
“Jamy, we are going to go in a different direction at the end of the year and you will not be returning as our head coach.”
And just like that, as one of the younger head coaches at the NCAA level, I was a card-carrying member of the “I Got Fired” club.
Dana Cavalea spent 12 years with the New York Yankees Organization, many of those years as the Director of Strength and Conditioning & Performance Enhancement winning a World Series in 2009.
In addition, he was the recipient of the 2009 MLB Nolan Ryan Award. This award is given to MLB’s top Strength Coach as voted by his peers. During his career, Dana has had the opportunity to train greats such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Justin Verlander, and more.
Currently he is a high performance speaker and consultant to Pro Athletes, Entrepreneurs, Business Executives, Workforces and Universities on lifestyle strategies to reduce stress, improve work/life balance, and most importantly improve daily performance/outcomes. All of this is known as Performance Enhancement.
Dana has formulated plans and strategies to improve sleep, reduce pain, lower stress, improve body composition, speed-strength-power, as well as mindset training for maximal performance.
“Don’t tell them what you’re going to do – that’s vision. Do what you’re going to do – that’s culture. Culture eats vision for lunch”. (John C. Maxwell)
When I first heard this, I wrote it down and thought that it sounded good. However, the more I thought about that statement the more I started to see the truth of it.
We need both a strong culture and a positive vision to reach our fullest potential. If I have to choose, however, I will take a strong culture any day of the week over a clear vision. Even the clearest vision may not be realized if the culture is poor and weighing you down.
Nicole Arbour is a comedian, entertainer, social media expert, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, motivator, and business consultant. Her videos have been viewed more than 700 million times worldwide. She has a great story that can be inspirational to those that want to be a victor rather than a victim. After being an NBA cheerleader, choreographer, starring on the top comedy show on Much Music in Canada (Canada’s MTV), helping mass brands create record breaking digital content, and working her way up to feature films and televised stand up specials, Nicole was involved in a car accident in 2008 that left her on disability and a life of medial treatments. Refusing to accept the lifelong disability diagnosis, Nicole utilized unconventional treatments, created the #GOTEAM movement, and very literally cheered herself and thousands of fans back to life and off of pain killers.
Her hard-hitting, real, and innovative debate starting style of comedy has led her to being one of the Top-7 Youtube Channels Crushing It That You Can Learn From by Entrepreneur Magazine as well as being featured by major news outlets around the world in the last two years alone. Nicole has been seen hosting Style New York Fashion Week at Madison Square Garden, joining the BBC Comedy Writing staff, hosting sold out events in Las Vegas and nightclubs around the world, consulting and creating content for brands that has led to tens of millions of views for her partners as well as beginning her music, beauty and book projects.
Nicole has been humbled to receive a series of accolades in including an Honorary Hollywood Walk of Fame star for special achievement in social media. The Hero of Hope Award from the International Pain Foundation and was the online fan vote winner and finalist for a Shorty Award Best Comedian.
You’ve probably heard of guys like Tom Brady, Joe Montana, John Elway, Terry Bradshaw, and Peyton Manning. These are some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. But none of them – or anyone else for that matter – has ever done what Ryan Fitzpatrick has accomplished through the first 3 weeks of the NFL season. Ryan Fitzpatrick (“FitzMagic” as he is known) has thrown for more than 400 yards in all three games. No NFL quarterback has ever thrown for 400 yards in three straight games. Ever!
Stephanie Harvey, known as “Miss Harvey”, is one of the pioneers in the gaming industry. She is a 5-time eSports world champion. She is probably best known for playing Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (GS:GO). She currently plays for the Counter Logic Gaming Red team. Stephanie has worked with Ubisoft Montreal since 2009. She worked on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (XBOX 360, PS3, PC) and James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes (3DS). In December 2016, she won the 3rd season of the popular TV show “Canada’s Smartest Person”. The French-Canadian was recently-signed by Hewlett-Packard Canada to be its face in the gaming world.
In today’s episode, we discuss: