Get Motivated

Today I, along with half of the population of Kansas, went to the Get Motivated seminar in Wichita.   I have been to Wichita hundreds of times, and never have I sat on the interstate before 7:00 in the morning waiting at a dead standstill to get off at an exit. 

We covered two miles in a record-breaking 40 minutes, finally found a place to park about six blocks away, and accurately judged walking to the arena to be faster than waiting for a shuttle.  Once inside, we made our way up to the nosebleed section (featured as "Premier Seating") to find the place completely packed. 

This kind of situation always lends itself to some entertaining people watching.  I am intrigued to observe how individuals handle various types of adversity.  Some people were disgusted with the fact that they had to go to overflow seating and watch via satellite.  Many were annoyed that the event planners oversold the number of tickets for seating in the arena.  For the most part, however, there was no major revolting...at least that I saw. 

All in all, it was a pretty good day.  I am not typically hung up on celebrities, but it really was a lot to take in from some fairly prominent people.  Here are some of my favorite points gleaned from each of the speakers.

Rick Belluzo - INTEGRITY MATTERS! - Treat people well, do what you say you will do, set a high standard for behavior.  (Amen to that!!)

Lou Holtz - Do what is right, do everything to the best of your ability, show people that you care.  Never criticize the performer; you may criticize the performance.

General Colin Powell - Trust is the key factor.  When trust is built, people will follow you through almost anything.  When trust is destroyed, there is no foundation.

Rudy Giuliani - Keep Reading Books!  (He said a lot more really great stuff, but that key point was enough for me!)

Bill Cosby - GET UP and just DO IT. Oh, and my favorite....if you want to motivate your employees to do better and work harder.....just start showing them videos of unemployed people looking for work.  I loved, loved, loved Bill Cosby when I was a kid, and he did not disappoint today!

Terry Bradshaw - It's all about people and relationships; show people you care.

Bob Harrison  - I was shocked to hear that when asked what people wanted more of in the seminar, the top answer was spirituality.  This guy did a great job of presenting the Christ in a pretty straight forward way. 

Steve Forbes and Bill Self were also on the list, but one spoke first thing while we were searching for seating, and the other spoke at the very end, which looked to be about 45 minutes after the day was actually supposed to end.  As much as I love KU, heading home at 5:00 trumped Bill Self (not to mention, my Ohio, Alabama, and Florida-raised colleagues didn't have quite so much affection for my Jayhawks!). 

Yes, there were some frustrating moments.  Yes, there were some sales pitches that we had to endure.  No, I didn't win the flat screen TV, the Disney vacation, or the $10,000, but I can safely say my motivation level was raised at least slightly.  That's good enough for me!

But $10,000 sure wouldn't have hurt my feelings.