Jamy Bechler

Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.

Change is inevitable; Growth is optional

The world is always changing.  We are always learning more and more.  Technology is ever-changing.  Athletes are getting bigger, faster, stronger.  John Maxwell says that change is inevitable but growth is optional.

My wife and I have lived in 8 places during our marriage.  We have seen different cultures, perspectives and belief systems.  Ironically, we have found that one thing has remained the same through the years…the world is in a constant state of change.

Your ability to adapt to situations can lead to a higher level of success.  As a coach, I was faced with hundreds of decisions each game.  Some of them I was prepared for but many of them I was not.  I had to be ready to change course if need be.  That is life.

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Episode 057: Motivational Speaker Tony Gaskins, Jr.

Tony Gaskins Jr. is a motivational speaker, author, and life coach who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show.  Tony built his brand from scratch to where he now has more than 1 million followers on social media. At 22, he became an author. At 23, he became a husband and father. At 25, he started his first company, Soul Writers LLC. At 25, he also got himself on globally televised shows to tell a portion of his story. Tony decided to turn his pain into purpose and live a life of service. Raised in the church and being the son of a pastor, there was something about service that stuck with Tony.

 

Tony made his fair share of mistakes like most young men from areas like where he grew up. Many of his childhood friends are serving life sentences in prison. Although Tony was introduced to the street life between the ages of 18–23, he finally found his way. At 23, he allowed love to change his life. His wife was unwilling to be with a man who wouldn’t live up to his full potential. That tough love pushed Tony to be more and to do more.

By combining all of his passions Tony became an author, life coach, and speaker.  In 2015 Tony began working with an NBA team as the team life coach.   Tony also became the life coach for several college teams. His message comes from his mess. He believes that we all are coaches because we’ve all learned lessons that can help someone else. Operating in his gifts also took him around the world as a highly sought- after speaker. Tony has spoken in two other continents and over 10 different countries and counting. Tony was able to accomplish these feats by the tender age of 31.

He doesn’t believe in boxes. “Don’t put me in a box until I’m going in the ground,” he says. He covers a wide range of topics in the areas of life, love, and business. He’s written several books on those subjects with his latest work being The Dream Chaser published by Wiley and available everywhere books are sold.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • His appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show
  • How his background helped shape who he is now
  • Writing books to help people
  • Working with and connecting with NBA players 

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Episode 056: Jeff Brown, Host of Read to Lead Podcast

Jeff Brown is the host of the highly-acclaimed “Read to Lead” podcast. Before beginning Read to Lead, he spent 26-years in radio. Jeff even co-hosted an award-winning and nationally syndicated morning show from 2002 to 2008.

The Read to Lead Podcast began in 2013. Since then I’ve been fortunate to interview a number of New York Times bestselling authors including John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Dan Miller, Daniel Pink, Simon Sinek, Chris Brogan (not once but twice), Gary Vaynerchuk and Liz Wiseman among others.

The Read to Lead Podcast has been a top #10 Business and top #3 Career podcast in iTunes, is an iTunes Essentials podcast (Book Lovers), and has twice been nominated Best Business Podcast. Read to Lead has been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., SethGodin.com, ChrisBrogan.com, Goins Writer, Social Media Explorer, Nashville Business Journal, the Tennessean, and more.

Jeff also helps mentor and teach people how to host their own shows. Since January 2014, Jeff has leveraged his radio background to coach numerous podcasters, helping dozens create, launch, grow and monetize their shows. People like Brendan Hufford, Liz Covart, Harry Duran, Darrell Darnell, Ben Castleberry and Nicole Welch have all been clients. He has even had the opportunity to consult with the US government and several multi-million dollar companies the last few years.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • His early career as a radio DJ
  • How he got started in podcasting
  • Who is on Jeff’s bucket list of guests
  • Some of his memorable guests like Alan Alda, John Maxwell, and Seth Godin
  • Advice for people who might want to start their own podcast

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Episode 055: Best-Selling Author & Business Strategist Matt Morse

Matt Morse is the author of the #1 best-seller “Mental Game VIP” and co-author (with Brian Cain) of “Mental Conditioning for Baseball.” He is a former NCAA Division-I baseball player turned innovative entrepreneur, author, speaker, consultant, and coach who equips top businesses, authors, speakers, coaches, athletes, and teams with the tools and strategies needed to maximize their impact. Matt is also the founder of Kaifect, a full-service impact agency that specializes in online marketing, branding, web development, social media, content creation, copywriting, graphic design, audio/video production, product creation and launches, live events, Facebook Ads, affiliate marketing, research and reporting, and digital strategies.

During his third year as a college baseball player, he got injured and had to redshirt. As an aspiring college baseball coach, Matt used his time while recovering to create an interview series with 21 of baseball’s top mental performance coaches, which evolved into a book and audio program called Mental Game VIP.  At the same time, peak performance coach Brian Cain asked Matt to co-author his next book, Mental Conditioning for Baseball, to add a student-athlete’s perspective and insight on the mental game. Following the success of Mental Game VIP, Matt created a similar project focused on leadership that became Leadership VIP. His passion for coaching quickly shifted from on-the-field coaching to business coaching when he saw the opportunity and demand for business development in the sports arena. Matt has had the incredible privilege to be surrounded by great coaches throughout his life, including Don Beebe, Brian Shoop, and Brian Cain.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • The importance of social media and personal branding
  • Getting started as an entrepreneur while in college
  • Using drones in his business

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Episode 054: Larry Winget – The Pitbull of Personal Development

Larry Winget is known as “The Pitbull of Personal Development”. He was the star of A&E’s “Big Spender” reality show and is the author of many books, including 6 New York Times/Wall Street Journal best-sellers. Larry is the host of the “Grow a Pair” podcast and is popular expert guest on stations such as Fox Business, Fox News, and MSNBC. He has spoken to more than 400 of the Fortune-500 companies. Larry is the best branded, most recognizable speaker in the business. Many speakers claim to be original, but Larry Winget is THE original. He has established himself as an icon in the world of personal development and self-help. You won’t find many people who don’t know or who won’t recognize him as a result of his six national bestsellers, his thousands of on-stage appearances or his many regular television appearances. Larry was the first to be willing to take on the “positive attitude” motivational speakers and the Law Of Attraction bozos with his common sense, back to the basics approach. Larry still believes that hard work and excellence are the keys to success and communicates that like no other person on the planet can! Larry makes you think. He makes you uncomfortable. He offers common sense solutions that are impossible to argue with. On top of all that, he is hilarious.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • His awesome books with great content and creative titles
  • What he considers his best book and his most important book
  • How you can have more money
  • Why personal responsibility is important
  • How we should be making choices in life

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Episode 053: Cory Dobbs, The Academy of Sports Leadership

Dr. Cory Dobbs is the Founder & President of The Academy for Sport Leadership. A former basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. Cory has worked with collegiate athletic programs and high schools teaching leadership and team building as a part of the sports experience and education process. Cory is an accomplished researcher of human experience–a relentless investigator of team building and leadership behavior.  A skilled researcher, Cory actively engages the process of naturalistic inquiry seeking in-depth understanding of social phenomena such as leadership and team building in their natural setting.  A “teamologist,” Dr. Dobbs is an author, speaker, teacher, trainer and a consultant. Cory has been a recognized educator teaching at institutions such as Northern Arizona University, Ohio University, and Grand Canyon University.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • Ways coaches can better develop their team leadership
  • How parents can help their child be a better leader
  • Why we need a leader in every locker room
  • What his thoughts on captains are

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Episode 052: Tim Selgo, 3x National A.D. of the Year

Tim Selgo is the author of the book “Anchor Up: Competitive Greatness the Grand Valley Way”.  He was the athletic director at Grand Valley State University for 20 years. During that time, the Lakers won the Director’s Cup as the top collegiate athletic department an astounding 10 times. Lakers teams won 18 national championships. He was named the national A.D. of the Year three times. He is now teaching part-time at Davenport University and is a Senior Consultant with Athletics Staffing and Consultants.

In addition, GVSU won 18 straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Presidents’ Cup titles as the top athletic program in the 16-team GLIAC. The Lakers’ 23 all-time Presidents’ Cup titles top all GLIAC institutions. Grand Valley State, which won 45 GLIAC titles prior to Tim’s arrival, has won 174 GLIAC titles since he was appointed Athletic Director in 1996.

A well respected leader in college athletics throughout his career, Tim served on the NCAA DII Management Council for four years (2007-11), including serving as Chair of the Management Council in 2009. A term on the NCAA DII Management Council is the highest position is DII athletics. He was named the NACDA Division II AD of the Year for the Central Region (2012-13), while also being named the Division II Central Region Astroturf AD of the Year (2006-07). He was also honored as the Central Region AD of the Year in 2002-03. In addition, Tim was President of NACDA for the 2015-16 year. Before getting into administration, Tim served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Toledo for three years.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • The “secret sauce” of building culture
  • Working with great coaches like Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, and Gary Pinkel
  • His new book and why all business leaders need to read it
  • How to surround yourself with the right people

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My First Time on an Airplane and I had to Jump Out

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (Mark Twain)

 

Guest Blog Post written by Melanie Williams

The day was December 12, 2014.  I will never forget it.  It was my birthday.

My boyfriend said that he had something good planned for me but wouldn’t tell me where we were going.  I had nervous anticipation.  I was soon to be caught completely off guard.

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Episode 051: Best-Selling Author of the “Go-Giver” Bob Burg

Bob Burg was named by The American Management Association as one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders.  He is a much sought-after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences on topics at the core of the Go-Giver books. A former television personality and top-producing salesperson, Bob has shared the platform with some of today’s top business leaders, broadcast personalities, coaches, athletes, and political leaders, including a former U.S. president.  In addition to coauthoring the bestselling Go-Giver books with John David Mann, Bob has authored a number of popular books, including the critically acclaimed, Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales and Adversaries into Allies. His total book sales are well over a million copies.  Bob is one of Inc.’s 100 Great Leadership Speakers. Richtopia named him one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • Various definitions and ideas of what success really is
  • What a Go-Giver actually is – as opposed to a go-getter
  • How a “drive-by” mentor changed his outlook on life
  • A bad first question that most of us ask

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Episode 050: Ed Decosta, John Maxwell Team Faculty Member & Mentor

Ed DeCosta is one of the most engaging executive coaches and thought leaders of our time. He delivers results with companies of all sizes, from high tech start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations. Ed is a dynamic global speaker, who has shared the stage with the likes of John Maxwell, Darren Hardy, Christian Simpson, Les Brown, Nick Vujicic and others. He is an acclaimed author of books focused on personal and professional development, including ASCEND and Release Your Superhero. Ed has impacted countless lives as the developer and publisher of Ascend on Demand, an online personal development training program with users from around the globe. He is a force on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Like clockwork, Ed publishes a long-standing weekly coaching blog, and also hosts a weekly YouTube show called “Get Edified.” He has worked with best-selling author and leadership guru John C. Maxwell, and served as one of a select few international faculty members in the Maxwell Leadership Development Program. Ed is also an ICF certified professional coach.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • Having a better presence on social media, especially Linkedin
  • How we are all salespeople regardless of our job or position
  • Strategies to be more effective in selling anything
  • Why you MUST pay attention to your Linkedin profile above all else

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