Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
“Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching you.” (C.S. Lewis)
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Have you (or someone that you’ve known) ever said something to the effect of ‘It doesn’t matter if I do what’s right. Nobody notices anyway.’ or ‘Nice guys finish last’.
Well, I have a little story that I always think of when it comes to integrity and character.
The U.S. Marshals is the oldest American Federal law enforcement agency. The service was created way back during the presidency of George Washington. Joining a long and storied list of American lawmen, in 2003, Peter Elliott was appointed by President George W. Bush as a U.S. Marshal. Since then, he has been retained by presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Elliot is one of only 94 U.S. marshals appointed by the president to oversee a judicial district within their state. He is the longest-serving U.S. Marshal in Ohio history.
As a college student, I spent my summers as a life guard and camp counselor. During the weekends, the camp director would take the staff for boat rides around the lake. It seemed like every five minutes, he said, “See that turtle over there” or “Look at that turtle sunny itself on that log”. I don’t think I saw a turtle before he saw it at any point during that entire summer. Funny thing is that I also never saw a turtle on my own when I went out on the boat out without him.
Kaya Jones was one of the singers for The Pussycat Dolls, which is one of the most popular girl groups in history having sold more than 15 million albums & 40 million singles worldwide. She was discovered and first signed to a deal by R. Kelly in 1999 (when she was 13 years old). Kaya has worked with Britney Spears, Mick Jagger, D12, R.Kelly, Dada Life, Calvin Harris, Backstreet Boys, Eminem & Katy Perry to name a few. Kaya has also developed the Hollywood Doll brand, which designs and manufactures a line of dolls, and fashion and beauty products for young girls. And, at the age of 26, Jones became the youngest female in history to start her own record label, HueMan Race Records. Kaya has brought her own sound to the masses and developed her career as a solo artist.
In 2017 her song “What The Heart Don’t Know” shot up the chart to #3 behind Taylor Swift and P!NK. She stopped the promos for the song in order to focus on raising money for Hurricane Harvey and was successful in raising almost 3 million dollars for the relief efforts. She also went to Houston to help feed and distribute clothing to churches and food to victims, as well as first responders. In 2017, Kaya became a very out-spoken supporter of President Trump. On October 1, 2017 she was in Las Vegas and on stage with Big and Rich one hour before the worst mass shooting in US history. She became an Ambassador for the NDC (National Diversity Coalition for President Trump) and also a Director for the URC (Urban Revitalization Coalition for President Trump. In 2018, Kaya had the honor of singing the National Anthem for the President and Vice President of the United States over the course of two days at CPAC.
“We don’t have to agree on anything to be kind to one another.” (Toby Mac)One day while I was a high school student, a bunch of us were playing pickup basketball at a nearby gym. I was playing well and doing my fair share of trash talking that day. Finally, my friend had enough of this as some of my verbal barrage was directed at him.
He told us that he didn’t want to play any more and that we all had to leave. You see, he was the one that had the key to the gym and had opened it up for us to play. He literally took his ball and went home. He didn’t have very thick skin and didn’t react to the situation very well. I, on the other hand, was not very respectful as I acted like a punk.
Most of the time, showing respect to people (even those that you don’t think deserve it) is more a reflection of your character than it is a reflection of theirs.
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: