Image by Mobile Portrait Pros
Image by Mobile Portrait Pros

He stood up before a room filled with over 200 of his Toastmasters peers. With confidence in his voice, he made his pitch to us, the leaders within the District. Elvis shared why we should vote for him as the new Division F Director. He only had two minutes to convince us to trust him with this important position to oversee over 400 people in Division F.

Image by Mobile Portrait Pros
Image by Mobile Portrait Pros

After Elvis’ well outlined speech, he sat down to listen to his opponent do the same. Once they were both done, the District Governor gave the go ahead for the leaders to cast their ballots. The ballot count took about 20 minutes to complete. During this time, the candidates sat nervously awaiting their fate. The election official came in and handed the results to the District Governor.

The winner was announced. Elvis had successful won over the confidence of his peers to entrust the role of Division F Director. A loud cheer went out across the audience. The emotion on his face said it all. This victory was a sweet one for him.

Image by Mobile Portrait Pros
Image by Mobile Portrait Pros

This was not Elvis’ first attempt in his pursuit for the Division leadership role. It was his third! His first attempt was a bruiser. He lost handily to his opponent. In my observation, Elvis was a young leader in his Toastmasters career. The group of leaders felt he had more to learn. Normally, a lot of folks would walk away dejected by this defeat.

Not Elvis, he came back the second year. Again he was defeated. I believe this time his speech was not a winning one. Elvis did not logically state his case: what did he learn in the previous year as a leader, or how he intend to help his Division grow. His opponent did and she won.

Instead of going to the corner and licking his wounds, Elvis did something that make leaders great. He went back to the drawing board. Here are some of the things that I learned from observing Elvis:

  1. Reflect: Elvis took time to reflect on what went wrong. He reflected on what actions he needed to take to demonstrate his commitment to the organization and to improve his leadership skills.
  2. Refresh: Elvis refreshed his attitude and volunteered to be one of the District’s Club Coaches. He went around the division assisting clubs that were struggling in membership growth or needed guidance in conducting successful meetings for their members.
  3. Resilience: Elvis did not give up. He knew he had it in him to be a leader over his Division. He did not quit when he experienced two losses. Instead he committed himself to prove to the District Leaders that he was deserving of their trust.

Some of the greatest leaders known have faced defeat in one form or another. Yet they did not give up. They reflected, refreshed and were resilient. Elvis’ journey to the Division F Director position reminded me of these three points. This was one of the most memorable leadership moment for me that I had to share it with you all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page to allow me to share more Purposeful thoughts, ideas and experiences with you. Feel free to leave a comment or share the article with others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. She is currently the District 47 Public Relations Officer, and leader of the Public Relations Team. She provides her services to over 3800 members throughout the district. Marlene is the owner of Marlene M. Bryan, Corp and Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a speaker, an author, and a coach. Pick up the latest copy of her book:

 Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters  

Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters

Everyone Needs a Hug!

Walking into the restaurant, my eyes locked with a lady sitting at a table with a mound of receipts in front of her. We smiled at each other. She was dressed in the garb of the workers, all in black. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Suddenly I had an intense urge to hug her. I walked over and said: “Hi, I need a hug.” She got up and chuckled: “I need a hug too!” I replied, “I know.” We hugged.

Then she shared with me that her husband is in the hospital. She was with him until 5:30 a.m. that morning and came directly into work. She was tired. I insisted that we hug again. I asked her for her name and her husband’s name. I told her that I would pray for them on my prayer line. She smiled at me, grasped my hand and thanked me. At that point another waitress came to seat my companion and me at a table. Not long after, I saw my hugger leaving.

I don’t know what prompted me to give her that needed hug. There I was tired from hosting an event for 118 people at the Division A Toastmasters Contests. I was drained and hungry because I hadn’t eaten all day. When I walked into that restaurant I was thinking about eating then going home to rest. I believe the Universal Spirit moved in me to show compassion towards my fellow hugger, but my leadership skills gave me the courage to approach her in the right way.

Leadership is about getting things done and inspiring others to do the things you need done. It is about being a visionary, being decisive and being strong in completing the vision. But it is also about being compassionate towards others. If you are not a compassionate leader, chances are you won’t have many people following you for too long. Showing that you care about others goes a long way in leadership. Add some compassion to your leadership bag today!

Live a Diamond Life. Share this article with others.

Learn more about finding mentors and coaches or becoming a better mentor/coach in my book Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cuttersclick the link

Follow me on Facebooksearch

Let’s Link on LinkedIn 

Tweet with me on Twitter 

Marlene M. Bryan
Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters

The phone rang. I picked it up with some annoyance that it interrupted my preparation for my next meeting. It was the security guard in the building letting me know a package is waiting for me. I rushed downstairs to get it. With nervous fingers I ripped open the package like a kid on Christmas morning. I pulled out both my first book and workbook, cradling them like newborn babes.  The guard smiled at my excitement and said “Congratulations. That is a great accomplishment.”

Hmmm. I never that of it that way: an accomplishment indeed. After two years of dilly-dallying, I have finally completed the first book in the Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose series along with the workbook. When I started speaking about living a Diamond Life, I did not envision writing a book. I learned from my audience that they wanted to read about how to Live a Diamond Life; thus, I was compelled to write about it.

I didn’t do it alone. I had many people that helped me along the way. It is so great to know that so many good folks are willing to give time, feedback and encouragement because they believe in uplifting another human being. I am humble by their love and support!

Here is the description of the book:

Have you ever felt like something was missing in your life? You have a good job, house, car –all those material things that society says should make you happy. You still feel empty and wonder – What is my purpose in life? Many people struggle with these questions. Marlene M. Bryan utilizes the Diamond as a metaphor to demonstrate how you read more…

Click on the images to purchase your copy of the book “Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters” and the workbook.

Marlene M. Bryan
Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters
Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters Workbook
Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters Workbook

Live a Diamond Life a Life of Purpose!   Follow me on twitter: @marlenembryan.

Feel free to share and leave a comment!

Dawnna St. Louis at D47 TLI. Picture by Jesus Diaz.
Dawnna St. Louis at D47 TLI. Picture by Jesus Diaz.

When planning an event for Toastmasters, I wanted to select the Keynote Speaker that would get the event going with the right tempo. I wanted the person that would understand the audience and would get them excited about the event and the upcoming workshops.  As I thought about the folks that I know as great speakers, I thought who better than someone that has been a Toastmaster. Someone that I have been impressed with the way she/he delivered her/his message with such bravado and energy.

An image of Dawnna St. Louis popped up in my head. Dawnna works as a Keynote speaker for International Organizations, Private Corporations, and Direct Marketing companies. She has inspired sales teams and entrepreneurs to have the confidence to close bigger deals, women’s groups to shameless self promote, and executives to become confident leaders and strong decision makers.

I was worried that she may not be available because Dawnna’s schedule has been jam packed with her travels around the USA and abroad. With fingers crossed, I typed a short email message to her: “Keynote, TLI???” She responded: “When?” I replied: “Sat. Jan. 4, 2014 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.” She sent: “For you, anything!” I jumped out of my chair and yelled “Yipeeee!!!” I have known Dawnna for a few years now and she has been my business coach. I know how busy she normally is and I was quite happy that the event was scheduled on a date that she was available.

Dawnna asked me before hand what message I wanted the audience to take away with them. I told her about the theme: “New Year, New You.” I wanted them to learn something she did to improve herself or overcame an obstacle; letting them know that they too can do the same in their lives. The day of the event, Dawnna delivered a motivating and inspirational speech. Her speech did just that and more. She had the audience laughing with her skillful use of humor. She had them empathizing with her when she opened up about her fears. She had them celebrating with her when she faced and overcame those fears. She left them with hope that they too can overcome obstacles and their fears.

Dawnna set the right tempo for our audience. They left out of her session with smiles on their faces and headed off to the other workshops with enthusiasm and great anticipation. Dawnna did not only gain more fans for herself, but she set the stage for the other presenters to shine. Dawnna is a fantastic example of a talented Diamond Cutter! Leave a comment and share this article.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7205kFUPmY#t=23]

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

Please click to like my fan page: MarleneMBryanLLC 

Please visit our website: www.marlenembryan.com  

Maria
Maria

“New Year, New You,” exclaimed Maria as we both walked through the parking lot to our cars. I had shared with her that we needed to come up with a theme for the Toastmasters Leadership Institute. Every six months, Toastmasters International mandates that at least four of the seven club officers in each club (over 14,000 clubs world wide) in the organization should receive leadership training. This training is called Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI).  It is not an easy task to pull together a training session for the amount of people that required training. We wanted a theme that would attract folks to sign up for the event.

Carmen

As the Division Governor of Division A, one of my duties is to ensure that the officers receive this training. Currently, there are over twenty clubs in the division and this equate to a minimum of eighty officers. I enlisted Maria’s assistant in coaching our newly appointed TLI chair, Carmen, with organizing the event. Maria had previously done this and I thought it would be great to have her share her knowledge with Carmen. It was a way to help Carmen develop her leadership skills while helping Maria develop her coaching skills. I am happy to say, “Mission accomplished. “

These two women collaborated with each other on the theme; they came up with great ideas for memorbilia for the attendees to purchase, special raffles, and much more. They visited the venue to ensure that the facility will accommodate all the workshops, the space for the sponsors and for the food. They enlisted the aide of many people to cover registration, hospitality, facilitators, etc. During the planning stages, they conducted conference calls with the major coordinators and kept me updated with their progress. When they needed my assistance, they pulled me in to help guide them when necessary.

TLI New Year New You

I learned a lot during this process as well:

  •     Learn to delegate and not take everything on myself
  •     Assign the tasks to someone that you know has the potential to grow
  •     Provide this person with a partner that can coach him/her through the assignments
  •     Give him/her the power to be creative
  •     Encourage him/her along the way
  •     Recognize him/her for a job well done and allow him/her to shine

_DSC7157

The event was a great success! We had over 200 attendees. The presenters, facilitators, club officers and guests gave rave reviews of the event. My mentor, Norman, who has been a Toastmasters for twenty-seven years, came up to me and said it was one of the best TLI he has ever attended. I was beaming like a proud mom for Carmen and Maria. As I read through the evaluations of the workshops and the event, I realized that the theme was perfect. Many of the respondents stated that the presenters, the keynote speaker and the event impacted them in a positive way. They learned new things and left with great ideas for themselves and their club members. What can you do to become a New You in the New Year?

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

Please click to like my fan page: MarleneMBryanLLC 

Please visit our website: www.marlenembryan.com