Tuesday 24 June 2014

I Start With Why - Simon Sinek fundamentally changed the way I live, work, and play.

I Start With Why.
Simon Sinek fundamentally changed the way I live, work, and play.

Today I saw the new Simon Sinek TED Talk on leadership. It is his second talk, this time digging more deeply into the meaning and function of leadership and the way leaders define organizations. As usual, these connections and discoveries happen with purpose, and this topic happens to be completely appropriate and synchronous with what I am working on now.

I want to share how I was introduced to Simon and his insights into human behaviour, and how it has massively impacted everything I do.

Sometimes we are gifted with moments that define our way of being. For some people this is a religious or faith experience. For others a moment of enlightenment or understanding, or perhaps a connection or relationship that alters our life at a basic level. For those that are open, aware, and seeking, it can be any combination of these moments, or, if you are focused on possibility, maybe even a weekly or daily occurrence. Transcendence, illumination, elucidation... all words that describe a shift in thought that brings greater clarity, purpose, and focus. For me, Start With Why was one of those moments.

I first watched Simon present on the Golden Circle in 2010. It was one of the first TED talks I experienced. Being new to the format I wasn't sure what to expect, and the quality of the video and audio of this early TEDx conference didn't inspire a lot of confidence. That changed as Simon delved into the material. Although I wouldn't describe his idea as groundbreaking or revolutionary, his ability to portray it in a way that was accessible and meaningful certainly was. He was able to distill the concept down to it's most basic tenets, and give concrete examples of why it works in real life. He spoke to me in a way that broke through my perceptions and allowed the seed for change to be implanted in my brain.

It took me a long time to internalize and understand how to make real changes to my way of thinking. To realize that I had to alter both my perception and my reactions in all situations. That I had to not only understand my why, but also the why of the people around me, before I would be able to have a real effect on the outcome of all of my relationships.

I don't recommend people, books, places, or things to my circle lightly. I am keenly aware of the value of my friends' time and space, and I never introduce something into their world that isn't meaningful. There are only two books that I have bought and given away dozens of copies to others. Start With Why is one of them.

This book has made me better in business. It's made me more effective, more aware, more mindful, and more powerful. It has made me a better person, a better partner, and a better parent. It is one of the few insights I have recognized that drastically and deeply changed my perception of the world, and made me better equipped to live in it.

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Friday 13 June 2014

Inspiring Excellence - Choosing to lead by living what you believe.

I believe that inspiring excellence in an individual builds a stronger leader. Inspired leaders build stronger teams, which build stronger companies. Stronger companies contribute to stronger communities, which build better individuals.

I believe that only by working to be exceptional can we expect to achieve greatness. This requires choosing to take the small step every day that will deliver the end result we seek, whether it's days, months, or years in the future.

Leading by taking the first step towards mastery means that others can see that we choose to do what it takes to reach a goal, not just that we reached it. People often see a successful person and feel that the distance between where they are now and where the successful person is, is too far to travel. But if the successful person is leading by allowing people to see their small, everyday steps, people can have a better understanding that the potential of success is not only possible, but do-able.

I know what it feels like to be exceptional at something. I can say with an absolute lack of humility that in my small piece of the musical world, there are maybe a handful of people that are as good as me at what I do. What humbles me is how much I have to learn to be as good at everything else. And it takes work. I played a show this week and someone in the audience came up to me after and said, "It must be nice to have so much talent." It is. It's great to have been given a gift to hear and understand the motive power and grace of music, and be able to feel the emotion that it brings to life. But it has also required 30 years of dedication to get to where I am, and I will probably spend another 30, or 40, or 50 years working on it and never being satisfied. And it's sometimes the smallest things that take the greatest effort, that give me the most fulfillment. A student at a workshop recently commented on how well I played a passage in a particularly difficult tune, and that it looked so easy. She was surprised to learn that to make it look easy took hours and hours of playing a four bar phrase to get it as perfect as I could. 

Peak performance requires work, time, effort, sacrifice, suffering (sometimes), and a commitment to excellence that I still have to choose to make every single day. I don't know anyone, at any level, in any field, that just IS great at what they do. They choose to do what it takes to BE great in every moment. And when they falter, fail, or just simply don't do their best in that moment, they choose to be great the next day. It is simply, always, and only about what you choose to do next that matters. What you choose to do in the next moment determines what your life is and will be.

By choosing to work towards greatness more days than I haven't, by risking failure, and by surviving the brutal failures, I have learned to recognize the value of time, effort, faith, ethics, and belief in others on the same path, and to determine the truth of the quality of people by the choices they make.

I have been offered some amazing opportunities this year, jobs in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. But part of living what you believe is to choose to excel in the environment you want to exist in. And because of the people, the land, and the community, my family has chosen to live in the Okanagan. The story about how I was able to find a position I love, in the place I want to be, is for another day. But I will share my feelings on synchronicity if you're curious enough to ask.

I am both proud and excited to join Inspiring Excellence Inc. as VP, Business Development.

Inspiring Excellence is a formidable leadership training and team building group in Kelowna, BC that works with sports, corporate, non-profit, and individual clients, with a focus on critical thinking, conflict resolution, and communication. I am new to this world of specialized training and I want to learn as much as I can about how I can best influence change for the better in people's lives. I invite you to connect with me and tell me your stories about leadership, training, team building, coaching, and experiential learning. What has worked for you. What didn't. I want to hear about experiences horrible, amazing, or just plain boring. I will gratefully accept all the help I can get, to do my best work at building this company to it's next level of greatness.

With this new opportunity I am dramatically expanding my circle of genius. I am in awe of the people in this group. They represent a quality and a dedication to personal motivation, ethics, morality, business acumen, and absolute excellence in life and work that I am humbled to be a part of. Look at the people around you. These people that you spend your time with, are the person you will become. I aspire to become the people I am privileged to work with. I am honoured to be with people that share my vision for clear communication, visionary thinking, and good business.

I am inspired to learn, explore, grow, and expand my knowledge. To better understand the mechanics and function of teams, players, groups, and companies. To engage with other people that want to be better. And to help share the tools that will allow people to exist in their own realms more effectively, comfortably, and with strength, power, and skill.

I will inspire leaders to understand and implement a better way of doing business. I will inspire teams to work better together. I will inspire individuals to build strong foundations for achieving their own greatness. And I will choose to lead, by living what I believe.

If you have any suggestions, comments, questions or stories please connect with me. I am looking forward to the conversation, looking forward to the new knowledge and experience I will gain, looking forward with my head up and my eyes open, to see the challenge, the possibility, and the opportunity. I get to do what I do best, help people achieve things they never thought possible.


Ben Beveridge
Inspiring Excellence Inc.
VP, Business Development

www.twitter.com/@ben_beveridge
www.linkedin.com/in/beveridgeben

Mentor, Futurpreneur Canada
www.futurpreneur.ca
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