Professional keynote & seminar speaker using the wisdom & persona of Forrest Gump to inspire individuals and companies to self motivate and control own destiny.
Last week I spoke at a K–12 school in Northwestern Montana. I was asked to address the issue of bullying.
Is bullying worse today than it was forty to fifty years ago when I attended K–12 school? I don’t know.
But I do know that society and schooling have changed.
Today, we are much more aware of issues such as bullying.
Stories of Gumption is a regular column that profiles individuals who admirably demonstrate Gumption as we define it. These are the stories of real people who exhibit gumption in overcoming personal challenges, and validate the spirit of Gumption during their journey. Let’s take inspiration from those who seize 100% personal responsibility and show us how to live a life that exhibits Gump-like character traits worthy of applause!
This past weekend, I had the pleasure to speak to 1200+ of Montana’s finest students representing more than eighty high schools across the state. The annual conference of the Business Professionals of America (BPA) Montana Association met in Billings March 10-12, 2013.
BPA is a national organization with 43,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 23 states. Their tagline is: “Today’s Students. Tomorrow’s Business Professionals.” The mission of Business Professionals of America is to contribute to the preparation of a world-class workforce through the advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic, and technological skills.
In Billy Joel’s legendary song Piano Man , the lyrics go:
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”
The bar patrons are apparently awed by the Piano Man’s talent and performance.
It’s better than expected.
The performance doesn’t fit with the expectations of a local dive bar.
When you’re at work, does anyone ever ask you, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”
Dear Reader. Hopefully you’ll see the irony of this post appearing a few days late. All the pieces were in place for my Responsibility post to appear as originally scheduled last Thursday. Despite good intentions, it did not happen. I take responsibility. Drop-the-ball is as drop-the-ball does.
Tom Rath’s book Strengths Finder 2.0 revealed my top five strengths. My number five strength is responsibility. Wow! It’s a good thing – I’ve based my career on Gumption, or personal responsibility. It’s a relief to learn I’m practicing what I preach – LOL!
People with the responsibility theme, or strength, take psychological ownership for all that they commit to do – large or small. They feel emotionally bound to follow through to completion. When they can’t deliver, they try to make it up to the person to whom they’ve committed.
Responsibility people feel that apologies aren’t good enough. They believe that excuses and rationalizations are unacceptable. They can’t live with themselves until restitution has been made.
Ouch! Knowing this about myself makes me want to be careful for the commitments I make … and explains a lot about myself.
From Tom Rath’s book Strengths Finder 2.0, I learned that a futurist is a person inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.
This is me. I’ve always known it. But I never had the opportunity to hear and read about it so succinctly. I now have a simpler way to understand who I am.
I do love to peer over the horizon. I’ve always been fascinated by the future. I can see in detail what the future might hold … and become. A picture of the future does pull me forward, into tomorrow. It’s exactly as the book describes.
I am a dreamer. I see visions of what could be. And I love creating those visions.
So, how is this new knowledge helpful to me?
See larger image at the end of the post
To achieve my goal of sharing the message of Gumption with every student in Montana, I’ll need to find a sponsor or sponsors.
Here are the main characteristics I’ll seek in my ideal sponsor partnership:
In my last two posts, I’ve mentioned that Montana has total of 148,500 students in the 967 public and private schools. Here is a further breakdown of those numbers and some other interesting demographic details.
See larger image at the end of the posting
In my previous post, I presented a grand vision for speaking to every student (K-12) in the state of Montana at all 967 public and private schools. It will take three-plus years to complete.
Here is how I intend to physically accomplish this big task.
Here is my big plan for 2013 through Spring of 2016 …
I will speak to all 148,500 students in Montana’s 967 public and private schools (K-12) over a three-year-plus time period. My plan is to pilot the program this spring and then roll it out over the next three school years, ending in the spring of 2016.
The message I will deliver to the youth of Montana is Gumption. I equate Gumption with personal responsibility. I want every single child in Montana growing up believing that they can create their own gump-like life. They will also learn that they can create their own results, and that they are personally responsible for creating those results.
Imagine you’re sitting on the same park bench I described in my last post. You are still minding your own business. But instead of a single feather landing at your foot, there are now dozens – or even hundreds – of feathers scattered about your feet.
How do you decide which feather, or feathers, to pick up?
406.396.4611 | steve@speakinggump.com 
Forrest Gump is a fictitious character created in the book Forrest Gump, Winston Groom (1986) and the movie Forrest Gump, Paramount Pictures (1994). Steve Weber has been a Tribute Artist portraying Forrest Gump since 1996. Although Steve Weber has worked for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. under license as Forrest Gump since 1996, nothing herein is intended to imply sponsorship or affiliation with either Paramount Pictures or Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
