ep41. (blog) The Ripple effect of Rita
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Release Date: 09/24/2014
The Real Magic Needed To Provoke Greatness in Your Team: An Interview with Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President (Retired & Inspired) Walt Disney World® Resort
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Want employees who care greatly about creating remarkable results? Listen to this interview! Lee Cockerell is one of the most down-to-earth and transparent leaders I’ve been privileged to interview. Far beyond management and leadership, Lee got to the heart of what’s needed to provoke greatness in yourself and your team. Enjoy! Resources from the interview: Learn more about Lee Cockerell’s speaking and online courses . Here’s to your greatness, Misti Burmeister
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A Simple Strategy to Get What You Want Out of Your Career
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
“Why don’t they put more time and attention to that client? If they don’t, they might lose them.” “Can’t they see I would be excellent in that position? Why don’t they consider me?” “Don’t they understand that if they’d just have more team building activities throughout the year everyone would work better together? Collaboration clearly improved after our yearly retreat.” “Why don’t they spend a little extra money on the furniture in our waiting area? At least they could provide fresh tea/coffee and relaxing (or energizing) music for guests!...
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Developing a Healthy Sense of Self-Worth is Imperative to Success
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Running beneath the surface of our conscious awareness is a set of beliefs—sort of an autopilot of assumptions and expectations. The role models we’re exposed to as children, along with the stories we consistently hear, instruct our belief system and set us up to repeat patterns that create the results we see every day. Do you know the beliefs you bought into as a child that continue to create your current reality? I thought I did, and then I came face-to-face with the reality of an undesirable result I’ve recreated too many times to count. Frustrated and angry, I’ve found myself...
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Leadership: Here’s How Simple it is to Promote Team Cohesion
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Why do leaders struggle to create collaborative work environments where team members step up and do whatever it takes to create remarkable results? Is it because they haven’t set a vision that is compelling enough? Maybe. Is it because they haven’t counseled their team enough about the importance of working together, despite the weekly—no daily—reminders? Probably not. Is it because the team hasn’t decided on a shared set of values? I doubt it. The biggest reason leaders struggle to rally a team is less about what they’re doing and more about what they’re allowing. While enjoying...
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Why Establishing Core Values is a Waste of Time and Money
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Company culture experts urge leaders to establish clearly defined values to serve as a guide for decisions and behaviors throughout an organization. To ensure they have the best representation of the values shared among those in leadership, companies often spend gobs of cash and time on experts who ultimately produce a document aligning the most common ideals. Mounted on the wall, and often on the website, these key words or phrases are meant to ensure everyone is on the same page about what’s expected and acceptable. While these values are typically...
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5 Questions That Will Truly Impact Your Life in 2017
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
The greatest teachers in life are rarely the ones with great advice. They are remarkable role models who consistently show the way, while asking the kind of questions that stop us in our tracks. Their questions infect us with the kind of curiosity that leads us in the direction of our own answers. You know the kind of person I’m talking about. Their question pierces through our internal chatter and commands the truth we’ve been searching for. In November of 2016, I witnessed a teacher so committed to his craft that he not only showed the way, but provoked questions in...
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The Truth About Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
We shy away from sharing or expanding into what we have to offer in the most obscure ways. We think that getting out of our comfort zone means doing something big, which is exactly what keeps us trapped and doing what we’ve always done. Finishing up lunch with a client at a nice restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, I kept thinking about that beautiful basket of bread (that we didn’t even touch) going into the trash. While a business lunch is perhaps not the right environment to request a to-go box for the bread, I found myself imagining the delight of handing it off to a homeless...
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A Simple Strategy for Increasing Your Impact
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
In a rush to get from one experience to the next, we may miss the simple and seemingly superfluous opportunities to inspire greatness. Believing that inspiration only comes in oversized packages, we may forget to look for the tiny (barely noticeable, really) opportunities to inspire others into action. Having an “off” day and needing a shift in scenery, I headed to the pool for a workout. The moment I pulled into the parking lot, I started talking myself out of swimming—“It’s been a rough day… I could just go across the street and grab a hot tea, read and relax,” I...
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Energy, Enthusiasm and Economic Downturns
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
They should is a trap that kills enthusiasm and growth faster than any economic downturn ever could. When you catch yourself thinking, “They should or shouldn’t,” stop and ask yourself, “How can I help them reach their goals?” Consider letting go of the shoulds (work harder, pay their dues, respect me) and shouldn’ts (go above me, think so highly of themselves, be so lazy), and instead focus on communicating your vision while helping them reach their goals. Their success is your success, regardless of whether you’re the boss or the employee. Embrace this...
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How Stagnation Leads to Poaching…With Customers and Employees
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Greatness chases greatness. Companies and leaders in continuous pursuit of evolution (personal/company brand), worry more about keeping up with demand then poaching. On the flipside, those who hoard resources and acknowledgment wind up losing their most precious assets to the competition. Sitting in one of the nicest business clubs in Washington, DC, just before the start of an event, Lena, a fellow businesswoman, peeked over her computer and asked, “Excuse me, are you familiar with LinkedIn?” “I’m no expert,” I said, “but what do you need?” “If I...
info_outlineThe Ripple Effect of Rita
Several years ago, Rita, an executive for DuPont, sat in one of my leadership workshops and tactfully argued with me about the cause of generational conflict. I don’t even remember exactly whatwe disagreed about, but I definitely remember how much I enjoyed that back and forth with her.
Our discussion was so lively that it spilled over into an hour-long conversation after the workshop ended, and sparked a lifelong friendship.
A few weeks ago, my partner, Yvette, and I headed down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to visit and vacation with Rita, who’s now retired.
On our second evening with her, we ate at The Tale of the Whale, a restaurant with one of the most spectacular views, and delicious food.
Toward the end of our meal, Rita excused herself to use the restroom. When she sat back down, she noticed that her dinner companions were now a strange man, eating dinner with his lovely wife. “Oops,” she chuckled. “I must have sat down at the wrong table!”
Laughter ensued and Rita quickly made her way back to our table. Moments later the woman joined us at our table, nudged Rita over to make room for herself, and proceeded to laugh hysterically.
She returned to her table after a few moments, and we all continued to laugh for the rest of our meal.
When the bill came, I heard Rita whisper something to our waitress, who was also their waitress. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn later that she had taken care of their bottle of wine.
Emulating Remarkable
I keep thinking about Rita’s generous nature, and I’m struck by the ripple effect of knowing her. As a result, I find myself wanting to emulate that level of generosity in my life.
It’s left me asking myself a few simple questions, like:
· What behaviors do I encourage in others by the way I behave?
· How can I gain that same great feeling afforded by Rita’s way of being?
· In what ways can I share my resources?
· Am I generous? How do I know?
· When am I stingy, and why?
· How to I spend more time with people who inspire me the way Rita does?
Sure, Rita is retired from her leadership role at DuPont, but she’ll never be retired from her leadership role in life.
Rather than focusing on how you can get more out of your people, consider helping them discover, grow and share all they have to offer. What is your remarkable ripple?
Join The Conversation: What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from those you admire? How do you pass that learning on?
Thanks to Dexter Britain and Gillycuddy for their music contribution and LN Lurie for producing this podcast.