A Ride Down the Cul-De-Sac (ft. Ken Sterling, Exec VP + Chief Learning Officer, BigSpeak)

A Ride Down the Cul-De-Sac (ft. Ken Sterling, Exec VP + Chief Learning Officer, BigSpeak)Change your mindset, change your lifeOPENING QUOTE:“You really get to the heart of it in any organization when you hit some turbulence. Hitting turbulence is going to happen and good leaders will anticipate this.”—Ken SterlingGUEST BIO:Ken Sterling is the Executive Vice President and Chief Learning Officer at BigSpeak, one of the world's top speaking bureaus on a mission to awaken the greatness within each and every one of us.Along with being an attorney and talent agent, he describes himself as a people whisperer. His background includes being homeless, a Ph.D., and everything in between. Ken is also a researcher at USC and teaches marketing and business ethics at UC Santa Barbara.Show Links:WebsiteLinkedInCORE TOPICS + DETAILS:[13:57] - Simple is Not EasyThe power of turbulence“Building something elegant— thinking of Steve Jobs and the iPod and the iPhone— which on the outside is so seemingly simple…that’s what good leadership does. When you're being a playmaker, you’re setting yourself up and your team up for success by doing the groundwork.”You’ll never be able to make difficult tasks easy for you or your people— but you can make them simple.[22:43] - Anticipate, Communicate, ExecuteA three-part framework for confronting challengesWhen facing turbulence, there are three steps to survival. The first is to anticipate what’s coming. Wear your knee pads, as Ken says. Next, communicate. Speak to the people you trust about what’s going on. Finally, execute. This is when you get to take action and do something. It’s the most powerful step of all, but it’s nothing without the foundation of anticipating and communicating.[33:45] - Life is a Cul-de-sac, Not a One-Way StreetKen’s perspective on adversitySometimes in life you’ll suddenly realize you’re going down a dark, ugly road that won’t get you where you want to be. But life isn’t a one-way street. It’s a cul-de-sac. You’re always able to go slowly, go around that street and come back out as quickly and as reasonably as you can. There’s no road you can’t turn back from in life.[37:35] - The “Five and Five” RuleLessons from being kicked out of schoolOne day as Ken was sitting in the principal’s office of his high school, about to be kicked out, his principal told him something he’s never forgotten. “Kenny, it’s all about five and five. There’s always going to be five people worse off than you, and five people better off than you.” As Ken puts it, “We don’t need to compare who’s been through more s***.” Don’t play the comparison game.[47:16] - Ken’s Parting AdviceCut down on screen timeKen’s an advocate for de-cluttering your mind by reducing your technology use. His advice is to start with a one-hour reduction each day, including the removal of your phone from the bedroom. Let yourself have peace at night and when you wake up in the morning. You owe it to yourself.RESOURCES:[0:54] About BigSpeak[20:59] Ken Sterling’s TEDx Talk[25:20] About the ACE Framework[35:32] About Insight Seminars Follow Ken:WebsiteLinkedInFollow Paul