I have worked with enough people to observe that inside each person is a piece of magic, a passion, a desire to tap their own brilliance for no other reason than to fulfill their human desire to find that greatness inside themselves.
Yet most will continue to wallow in mediocrity, cynicism and excuses for most of their lives and careers unless something comes along to light them up.
Sarah understands this situation intimately. As a teenager, anyone could see Sarah had “potential” but was sliding quickly in the wrong direction. Something had to change. The school system was not helping her, her friends were not helping her and she needed help. She was in trouble, with failing grades and compromised spirit. Through the support of a few great mentors, Sarah found herself in a teen development program during the summer of her sophomore year of high school. Something hit! Something unlocked! Something turned her around to the degree that when she returned from that program, she was on fire. She had learned how to learn and how to find that gear of brilliance inside. SO much so that she started teaching her teachers how to find that magic in their students. She got a degree in education, became a worldwide expert in the use of alternative and accelerated learning methodologies and has gone on to transform the lives of thousands of individuals and scores of organizations.
Having been in the business of training for over 25 years, I can tell you we have passed a pivotal point in the world of human development in business. It used to be that a company could give its teams basic business and technical skills and could expect a lift in their productivity. Yet the complexity of the world we live in has created an accelerating blizzard of choices, challenges, obstacles, temptations and distractions that can de-rail the best-laid plans.
Once an option, it is now imperative that any organization or individual hoping to survive and flourish must obtain personal development skills to successfully navigate that world. And while many companies give lip service to the idea, it is only visionary leaders who understand and have the courage to open the door to the world of emotion, passion and spirit.
It is these leaders who are now blazing new trails into the realm of unprecedented results, magical creativity and amazing income. By understanding how we learn and how to manage the mental and emotional quotients, you can begin to reach inside yourself and everyone on your team to help them find that magical gear that catapults them to extraordinary results.
Moving the dial is more than managing numbers, more than managing plans and strategies. Today and going forward, it is about truly Tapping the Greatness that has been waiting to be ignited inside us all. I know you are in good hands as you read this book. I know Sarah’s story well, because she is my sister. If you ever meet her, you will know that the spirit of possibility, brilliance and life exudes from her like a starburst. To be a great leader of people, you must believe there is greatness inside you and in those around you. This book is your primer to tapping that greatness.
Be awesome.
- Blair Singer,
Entrepreneur, best-selling author of SalesDogs, Team Code of Honor, Little Voice Mastery, Rich Dad Advisor
“You’re going to be the one…”
Of all the questions a person can ask, two have defined most of my life: Why? and What if?
They’ve inspired me to take things apart to figure out how they could work. And put them back together, better.
“Why does that happen?” followed by “I’ll figure it out” …until I did.
“What if XXX were possible?” followed by “I’ll mess with it to figure out how to make it possible” …until I could.
As a kid I drove adults crazy with those incessant questions. They caused me to hear every ‘no’ from someone as a challenge to find a different angle which would get me a yes. “Hmm… why not? I’ll find a different way to ask the question.”
While these questions got me into trouble in school, from elementary school through my graduate degree as I disrupted the system, they’re also the very questions which have instigated positive change for every initiative I’ve ever touched, and brought this book into your hands. More on that if you’d like in the A Bit About Me chapter, but for now, know that questions like these have fueled and been answered by this book:
• Why can you sometimes crush it and other times flop with the exact same approach?
• Why were we never taught how to really influence or lead?
• Why do four leaders try the same strategy and get four wildly different results?
• Why can’t I get through to XYZ person?
• What if we could decode the secrets to influence and inspiration?
• What if you could be consistently awesome as a leader instead of sporadically great?
• What if you knew how to motivate anyone?
• What if you could authentically choose and change your mood on demand?
If any of those questions intrigue you, you’re in the right place. So let’s get the specifics clear.
Who?
You! This book is meant for you if you’re in a position of influence with others, and suspect you could be having more consistently awesome impact than you are now. The tools here are currently used with powerful effect by the thousands of executives, entrepreneurs, managers, team leaders, trainers, parents, educators and coaches across several industries, professional, educational and athletic worlds I’ve coached in the last few decades.
So while you may have a title of “leader” right now, this is about going beyond your title to become the person they remember ten years after they’ve worked with you, as the one who made permanently positive impact on how they think, the way they make things happen, and how they define their own horizon. You’ll be the person who not only led them in their work, but unlocked possibility for them as people.1
The Other Who?
Me. I consult, teach and coach individuals, groups and companies large and small to transform individuals into impactful influencers and groups into high performing teams. I get called in by leaders to coach them to their next level of clarity and strategic impact, help startups launch with intentional culture in place, guide organizations through disruptive change, take high-potentials to superstar performer level, and jumpstart learning or teaching where it normally flatlines. You can get my backstory on page 218.
What?
Every piece of this book is about how to unlock and expand the deep well of talent, insight and possibility within people beyond the capacity you’ve seen. Those people include every person you touch in your path as a leader every day, and you, too. Designed for you to learn quickly, apply immediately and get results from consistently, you’re holding the best core set of frameworks, tools and strategies to bring out inspired potential and performance in others and yourself. This is not another “you should” book of ideas without practical application- it’s the opposite. I’ve worked the kinks out of the theory through practical application for you over years of leading teams and coaching across industries in the corporate, nonprofit, entrepreneurial and educational worlds, and then distilled it into a book for you here. Behind it, I continuously analyze leaders of all kinds (from horrible to brilliant), learn from the best gurus2 out there in personal development, study the findings of neuroscience applied to learning and performance and closely watch the nuanced impact people have on one another in a way others miss. I’ve experimented in thousands of scenarios, challenges and teams. From it all, I’ve re-engineered the best practices, deciphered the Whys behind their repeatable effect, re-contextualized concepts you may have missed before and created simple paths to layered impact… all