One Big Surprise I Got in My Internship
(The following article is from Tina Mata, who serves as an intern with us at Growing Leaders. She came as a college graduate, serving the months before her graduate work begins. Thanks, Tina, for the candid insights on your internship!) It wasn’t until I joined the Growing Leaders team as in Intern in August of 2014 that I was able to
My Sweet Time in Hershey, Pennsylvania
Follow @TimElmore Recently, I had the privilege of visiting the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA. It had been years since I’d been to that city, and frankly, I didn’t know if it had any value to add except great chocolate bars. Boy, was I wrong. Way back in 1909, Milton Hershey and his wife decided that since they couldn’t have children
How to Find, Keep and Grow the Best Young Team Members at Work
Click Here to Listen Recently I had the great privilege to talk with Andy Lorenzen, Senior Director, Organizational Effectiveness and Development for Chick-fil-A, and discuss the importance of leading the next generation and creating a culture they will respond to in the workplace. Here are a few notes from our discussion. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Your
Why Leadership Comes with a Microphone
I’m excited to share a guest blog from Jeff Henderson, one of our speakers at our 2015 National Leadership Forum. Jeff is the founder of PRIMED, a company created to teach presenters how to be primed and ready for their next presentation. He has worked with leaders in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors to hone their communication skills in a
Six Steps to Help Students Practice Better Emotional Hygiene
Follow @TimElmore After listening to Michael elaborate on his painful year in 2014—which included spending time in rehab for alcohol, losing a job, fighting with three girlfriends, and incurring deeper debt for college—he looked at me and mused, “Life is hard.” He’s right, you know, and for tens of millions of young adults from Generation iY (those born since 1990), they’re struggling
Helping Athletes Navigate a Short-Term, Shortcut Mindset
Follow @TimElmore I just spoke at an event for NCAA coaches and staff. During the day, I took part in a conversation about how coaches have changed their approach to recruiting and leading high school athletes, now that the TGIF Generation (Twitter, Google, Instagram and Facebook) has emerged. Coaches face challenges they didn’t have to face fifteen years ago. As a
Mastering the Art of Tough Love
Follow @TimElmore Yesterday, I blogged about how parenting has become a “religion” in America, where children have become the absolute centerpiece of the home and nothing negative can be said about them. Yep. Some time between our childhood and the moment we had children of our own, parenthood became a religion. As with many religions, complete, unthinking devotion is required from
The Pitfalls of ‘Rent-a-Careers’ for Young People
Do you remember Sean Aiken? I wrote about him in my book Generation iY. He graduated from college and became a picture of this emerging generation’s longing for work they’re passionate about, and impatience for work they’re not sure about. He literally took a different job every week for an entire year. Yep, he did. In fact, he set up
Why Students Choose Toxic Relationships
Follow @TimElmore Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? A high school female continues to date abusive males. A college male hangs around friends who get him into trouble. Smart adolescents keep returning to the same old social groups that are going nowhere, that don’t push them to grow or mature. I think every teacher, coach, youth worker or parent has mourned a young person
Major Leaders Who Missed the Point of Vision
Follow @TimElmore It’s hard to separate good leadership from clear vision. The two just go together. If you were building a house, your vision would be the blueprint. If you were shooting arrows, vision would be the target. If you were a soldier in a war, vision would be your plan of attack (it’s arguably more important than your weapon). Vision
Rebelling Against Low Expectations
Follow @TimElmore Five years ago, I read a book by two teenagers named Alex and Brett Harris. Maybe you read it too—it was called Do Hard Things. It challenged their peers to not settle into the lifestyle of a typical high school or college student, getting lost in selfies, video games, Facebook updates and narcissism. They gave credence to the idea
How to Keep Winning… After Winning Everything: An Interview With SF Giants Derin McMains
I am excited to share with you a conversation I recently had with the San Francisco Giants' Mental Strength Specialist, Derin McMains. It was a timely discussion as the Giants just won the World Series and we talked about how to stay resilient after a success. I hope you have time to listen to the podcast and read the summary notes below. Derin
What’s Hindering Motivation in Students?
I spoke to an audience of university students recently about balancing the art of staying focused and the art of leading change. Afterwards, several students talked about how difficult that is. The topic quickly swerved to New Year’s Resolutions—which incidentally are all about both focus and change. In essence, we ask ourselves: * “What changes must I make in my life
The One Thing I Do at the Beginning of Each Year
Tuesday, I blogged about a ritual I perform at the end of every year, for the last twenty-eight years. Today, I will share with you a second ritual I do, as a follow up. It enables me to enter a new year “on purpose.” After I invest a morning reviewing the previous year, I spend the second half of the
America’s Most Inspiring Companies
Terry Barber is one of my dear friends. For years, he has worked in conjunction with Forbes magazine to research and publish America’s Most Inspiring Companies on an annual basis. He writes about this year’s findings below. We are proud to announce that our research for 2013 America’s Most Inspiring Companies was recently published in Forbes Magazine. If you haven’t seen it
Two Ways Students Earn the Right to Influence
I just read a story about a young student who decided to stop complaining about problems and start solving them. It all began when 11-year old Peyton Robertson watched Superstorm Sandy wreak havoc across the U.S. coastline. He was intrigued at how the sandbags weren’t efficient to stop the flooding. The sand couldn’t stop the water from penetrating. So what
Young Employees Get a Slow Start on a Career…and What It Means
As students graduate from high school or college—they’re getting a later start in their career. In response, moms and dads are welcoming their kids back home, to help them experience a safe haven as they seek out a steady income. Many find jobs, but they don’t actually start careers—until eight years later. This has far-reaching impact on these young workers. Recent
Three Ways Leaders Reinvent Their World
Today’s blog is a guest post by Mark Miller. Mark is not only a good friend, but an excellent leader and best-selling author. I believe you’ll enjoy the article below. As you think about your childhood, can you remember going by car to some exciting destination? Okay, maybe it wasn’t exciting, but you were in the car and you asked the
Six Leadership Lessons From Diana Nyad
Did you hear? A new record was just set off the coast of Florida. Diana Nyad just climbed out of the water after swimming more than 100 miles form Cuba to the U.S. Diana arrived on U.S. soil, at Key West, 53 hours after she slipped into the water at Havana’s Hemingway Marina. It was an amazing swim, and one
What an Internship Means to Us
With the economy the way it is, it seems we hear more and more about people doing “internships” these days.
Haiti: A Picture of Disaster and Drive
Most of you who read this will remember the Tsunami in Asia a few years ago, and closer to home, Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Both natural disasters caused us all to gasp in disbelief. How could such tragedy happen in such a densely populated area? Sadly, tragedy has struck again. An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook the foundations